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httpsserene · 6 months

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im back to request another x male reader hehe🤭a plot inspired by moth to a flame by the weeknd, what do ya think?

𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐰/𝐥𝐧𝟒 & 𝐨𝐩𝟖𝟏

📖𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: lando has many regrets, the most painful one being the fact that he encouraged you to date oscar. 📖𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: angst. beta read. emotional infidelity. implied future possible cheating? established relationship w/oscar piastri. unhappy ending. but also, open ending (sick n twisted). 📖𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 2.3k words 📖𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: lando norris & male!reader | oscar piastri x male!reader 📖𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: oneshot. 📖𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸: moth to a flame • the weeknd & swedish house mafia

𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲: i HATE writing cheat*ng fics, like the idea genuinely makes me sick to my stomach–i never understood why someone would cheat when they can literally just break up 😐, it pisses me off. it’s purely greedy behavior, manipulative, and disrespectful as fuck. but honestly an emotional affair would borderline break my heart more than a physical affair—like you love somebody else more than me??? and you’re not even having sex with them, you just have more emotional intimacy with them??? i fr would shatter into pieces—ANYWAYS: wikipedia was my source for the timeline, so if doesn’t canonically make sense…it is what it is :p sorry for hurting lando, i didn’t want to 😔i think this is my first true angst fic ever? enjoy, loves !!!

thank you to @biancathecool for beta-reading this fic for me !!

want to be added to my taglist? want to submit a request? send me an ask!

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lando wishes he never invited you to the silverstone grand prix in 2022. he knows you would’ve been insulted if he didn’t; you’ve been his best friend since the two of you were in diapers, and you’ve avidly supported him during each race. so, bringing you along to his home race was a given. however, after his meeting with the team post fp1, he caught you sneaking back into his driver’s room with heart-eyes, flushed cheeks, and a new number saved in your phone. it was the first time you met oscar piastri, who at the time was a reserve driver for alpine. when lando teased you for details, you downplayed the interaction, but you also asked him if it was fine if you got to know the australian rookie. he snorted, you didn’t need his permission to associate with other drivers.

four months later at the the circuit of the americas, you told lando you were dating oscar.

he’s thankful that you waited until after the race to tell him because he would’ve shunted into the barriers. lando’s heard of how people struggle to get over someone they’ve dated and fell in love with—but how does he recover from getting over someone he’s never allowed himself to fall in love with?

lando feigned happiness for you, his shocked laughter passing for joy. he ushered you to sneak into oscar’s room to “make the most of the time you had together,” while he went out to celebrate max’s pole and his p6. the brit did congratulate his friend, and then for a man who claims to not like alcohol, he proceeded to get wasted. he was a mess, enough that he had to be escorted back to the hotel by daniel and carlos—as if being babysat by one of them wasn’t embarrassing enough. he broke down, sobbing into the spaniard’s shoulder about his missed chance, and was eventually soothed to sleep by daniel awkwardly rubbing his back.

he knew it would be difficult to pretend that he wasn’t distraught at your new relationship. he’s had you to himself his whole life; and now he has to see you love another man. when oscar joined mclaren for the 2023 season, sure, he first-handedly witnessed how well the rookie driver treated you. good morning and good night texts aren’t forgotten even with ever changing time zones, you’re spoiled with gifts, lando catches how oscar’s phone has three alternate home screens with photos of you, oscar’s car passenger seat is adjusted to you, he has a list of things you like written in his notes app, he has your coffee order memorized. you’re wearing oscar’s mclaren merch instead of his, you stay on the australian’s side of the garage and calm his nerves instead, you game with lando half as much as you usually did and go out on dates with oscar instead, the collection of stuff that you’ve forgotten in lando’s flat decreases and he spots your stuff in oscar’s flat when he came over to hangout with you two one day. you’re rarely in your own flat, lando has to call or text you to find out what you’re doing instead of just randomly appearing like he usually does, you practically live with oscar when he’s back home, and it becomes very clear to lando that he’s your best friend, not your boyfriend. something else becomes clear to lando. while you may be infatuated with oscar, you’re still his other half.

your phone battery may die during several hour long facetime calls with oscar, but does he know that when you sleep in your own bed, that you call lando and plug in your phone so it charges while you fall asleep to the sound of his voice?

the passcode to your phone may be oscar’s birthday, but does he know that you have lando listed as your emergency contact?

you never order any seafood dishes on dates with oscar, but does he know that’s muscle memory from years of knowing lando gags at the smell?

oscar kisses the scar you have on the knuckles of your right hand, but does he know that’s from when you broke your hand punching a group of older boys who were bullying lando after he beat them in a kart race?

does he know that lando was your first kiss?

it all comes to a head in qatar. oscar won the sprint race, lando hasn’t won anything in the five years he’s been in formula one. you were late to the party the team is throwing for oscar because you were cradling lando as he sobs into your chest. max won the grand prix, and lando was the first loser to cross the finish line; as usual.

at two in the morning, there was a knock on his hotel room door. lando knew it was you from the cadence. you were dressed for bed, clothes wrinkled, voice deep and throaty from sleep, hair mussed to one side, and pillow lines were indented on your cheek. you asked him if he wanted to talk, that you noticed he was off this whole weekend. all lando could think about is the fact that you woke up in the middle of the night, slipped out of the bed you shared with oscar, and continued to wander to lando’s room half-asleep because you were worried about him. waiting until the morning didn’t cross your mind. lando’s heart ached—he shouldn’t be in love with you, he can’t be.

he let you in anyways, how was he supposed to turn you away? you were blinking at him with sleepy eyes, swollen cheeks, pouted lips—he’s only a man. you made yourself comfortable on top of his bed, and lando stared before he shrugged and laid down next to you; this is fine, this is a completely normal thing the two of you have been doing for years. just not while you have a boyfriend, or while he’s suddenly been accepting his feelings for you.

you didn’t say a word, and kept your eyes shut (you’re used to lando, he’ll speak when he wants to or he’ll be fine with your presence next to him while he sorts out his thoughts). you almost fell asleep before lando’s torrent of words startled you into awareness.

he was tripping over his words, his brain moving faster than his mouth. self-deprecating and over critical views fell from his lips—the way they sounded clued you into everything you already knew. the brunet had been thinking this for a while, the phrases sounding too practiced to be sudden realizations. the remaining whisper of sleep was vaporized from your mind at lando’s harsh evaluation of the weekend and his entire career.

you rushed to sit upright and bodily forced lando to turn and face you; your hands warmly blanketed the sides of his face and applied enough pressure for his words to become unintelligible before they tapered off. he knew that you were disagreeing with his monologue from the way your brows were furrowed and how your eyes were alight with anger. the air between you vibrated with the force of your speech, and lando knew you were probably ranting about the only reason he isn’t world champion is because of his car, not his self-perceived lack of skill.

the sharp edge of your jawline was far more interesting to brit—the length of your fanned out eyelashes, the shape of your lips shifting as they formed syllables, the strength coiled beneath the skin of your hands, the broad spread of your chest—lando’s tongue flicked out to wet his lips distractedly and the sound of your voice returned to his ears.

“…you better understand me, okay?” is all that he caught. the senior mclaren driver (how weird), hummed half-heartedly in agreement. his stare tunneled to the part of your lips, and he knew his appreciation was discovered by the audible catch of breath in your throat.

it was like all the air was sucked out of the room, a perfect vacuum created. lando hesitated, before he redirected his gaze to meet yours, and he was sure what he saw was more catastrophic than anything he could’ve imagined. your eyes were locked on his lips, as well. the brunet can’t tell how much time passed by, the two of you were busy taking turns admiring the idea of a kiss. both of you continued to stare; eyes flickering across faces, tongues wetting lips, breath quickening in anticipation, and bodies leaning closer to each other steadily. when lando felt your exhales ghost faintly over his mouth, his eyes fluttered shut and he shivered slightly, a sense of satisfaction flooded his brain; you were going to kiss him—and then he heard you gasp.

lando’s eyes flew open to see you scrambling off the bed, a horrified look painted on your face as you stared at him.

“this never happened,” you started, running an anxious, guilt-ridden hand through your hair, “and it will never happen again.”

it felt like his world was crashing down, he was frozen in shock. you moved to rush by him and leave the room, and he finally defrosted, and caught you by the arm.

you turned around furiously, tears gathering in your eyes as you forced your arm out of his grasp, a scathing, “let go of me,” leaving your mouth.

lando’s hands were shaking, mouth wobbling as he held back his own tears, and he rambled, “you're just going to forget what happened? were never going to talk about that? you’re not going to tell oscar?”

“NO!” you screamed, “no—i won’t tell oscar. and, i don’t have to tell him anything, because nothing actually happened. it was a mistake.”

he heard his heart shatter, and he couldn’t hold his tears back anymore. lando angrily brushed them away as they fell, knowing his face was embarrassingly red with anguish, and his insides burned at the look of pity and longing mixed in your gaze.

“so, you’re just going to pretend that you don’t have feelings for me,” lando questioned disbelievingly, “like i don’t know you better than oscar ever could? you’re just going to forget this ever happened and run back to bed with oscar, and continue to have him believe that everything is fine?”

the air was still for a minute, your shared breaths the only audible noise in the room.

“you’re only going to hurt him more if you act like everything’s okay,” lando whispered, “he doesn’t deserve that.”

your first tear of the night fell, your arms wrapped around your torso to hold yourself, trying to find any glimpse of protection and comfort you could. “oscar’s good to me…he treats me well, perfectly, even. he’s sweet, i really like him a lot.”

“you ‘like him a lot,’” lando repeated, staring into your eyes desperately, “but, you love me.”

the flame of rage and distress reignited in your eyes, “lando—i loved you for years. and, not once have i ever tried to make a move on you because i didn’t want to ruin our friendship. i didn’t even know you liked men until almost three fucking years ago! and, you still never gave me any sign that you were romantically interested in me. you had plenty of time and chances to date me, and you only realized that you wanted me when you lost me to oscar.”

“that’s not true,” lando murmured, “i’ve always been in love with you.”

lando watched the fury falter in your expression, and saw the conflict dance in your gaze. your stare softened, and you stepped forward to hold his face in your hands.

“i can’t do this. not to oscar—he doesn’t deserve it. i can’t break up with him.” you said in a muted tone, “we shouldn’t be together.”

the brunet whimpered, eyes watering again. his large hands came up to hold yours against his cheeks, nuzzling into the warmth of your palm. you sighed brokenly, and leaned forward to press kiss on lando’s forehead. a muffled sob vibrated through lando’s chest, and you blinked rapidly to avoid crying again. your thumb swiped under lando’s eyes, brushing away his fresh tears, and you gently swept another kiss along his cheekbone.

lando cries messily when you pull away, and can only hold himself as you leave his room without glancing backwards at him. when the door shuts, lando falls to the ground, leaning back against the bed as he sobs into his hands. he understands what you said, but he can’t help but yearn for more. his chest aches painfully, and he doesn’t know if he can give you the time you need—the distance you need. lando will pretend to be okay, he’s good at that. he’ll let you be for as long as he can manage, but he’s reassured at the knowledge that you’re in love with him.

eventually, the two of you won’t be able to fight the pull of what you really need—you’re moths to each other's flames.

taglist: @saintslewis@cherry2stemss@lorarriri@inloveallthetime@mindless-rock@biancathecooll@barnestaticc @my-ylenia @katekipshidze @darleneslane @lovingaphroditesworld @smoothopz

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thetriumphantpanda · 1 year

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The Way You Miss Me | Joel Miller (Chapter One)

Joel is your Daddy's best friend and work colleague. One evening, when your dad has to work late and you've been babysitting Sarah, tequila emboldens you to tell Joel what you've always wanted to tell him.

Pairing | Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings | Smut, Oral (F Receiving), Protected PIV intercourse, age gap, nothing else I can think of but let me know if I've missed anything.

Word Count | 4.1K (I will not apologise)

Author's Note | So, back on my Joel Miller hype again. I've got plans to turn this into a multi-chaptered fic that spans the timeline of the show so if you liked this and want to read more let me know! Feel free to slide into my asks with feedback/love! Enjoy.

Read on AO3 here.

It was hot. Austin was having the hottest summer you could remember in years. You threw down the magazine you were attempting to read and stood up from the couch. There was no air in this damn house - you wondered how Sarah was sleeping upstairs.

You checked the clock on the wall. 9:15pm. Joel was supposed to be home an hour ago. Not that you were complaining. The extra time spent babysitting Sarah meant more money Joel would hand over to you. You’d been babysitting for Joel since you finished your last semester at college. You were waiting to go back at the end of the summer to start your master’s programme and needed all the help you could get in boosting your savings. Your father had worked with Joel for years and when his last babysitter had left town, he’d offered you the opportunity which you were only too happy to take.

Deciding to check on Sarah, you tiptoed up the stairs. You could hear soft snoring coming through the door. You silently cursed the teenager for her ability to sleep through the heat. You knew once your father picked you up it would be a sleepless night. Tossing and turning, sweating into the sheets.

As you were walking back down the stairs you heard the telltale jangle of keys in the door and there he was. Joel Miller was quite possibly the most handsome man you’d ever laid your eyes on. Taller than you with broad shoulders and a face that you could only described as carved by the angels. Forget the fact he was 12 years your senior as well as one of your father’s closest friend, you’d be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t want him.

“Evenin’ Darlin’,” He spoke, dropping his keys on the entryway table, “How was Sarah?”

“She’s fine, fast asleep upstairs,” You replied, reaching for your bag, “How she does it in this heat I’ll never know.”

Joel chuckled as he pulled out his wallet, pulling out the wad of notes to hand over to you, “Sorry I’m late, the delivery was late this morning,” You gratefully accepted the money he handed over, folding into the back pocked of your shorts, “Your dad will be a bit later tonight, he had to stay on site but he’ll drop round and pick you up later.”

You nodded and smiled at Joel, “No problem, do you mind if I sit outside and read?”

“Be my guest, darlin,” Was his reply, “I’ll go and check on Sarah and come and join you, too damn hot to be cooped up in here.”

Once he was bounding up the stairs two at a time, you reached into your backpack and picked up one of the books you needed to read for your upcoming course. You settled yourself in one of the chairs on Joel’s back porch, folding your legs up underneath you to get comfortable. You’d only read a few pages when the back door opened and Joel appeared with two glasses in hand, one filled with ice and an amber liquid you knew would be whiskey and the other which he handed to you.

“What is it?” You asked, folding the corner of your page to mark your place before taking the glass.

“Tequila and pineapple,” He replied, “I remembered it was what you liked from the cookout last month.”

You smiled, sipping the ice-cold drink, “Very perceptive Mr Miller.”

A comfortable silence fell between the two of you, the only sound was the slight tinkling of ice against glass as you sipped your drinks.

“How much longer do you have until you leave for school?”

“About another month,” You spoke, “Although I decided against moving out from home, cheaper to stay living with my dad and it’s a master’s degree so I shouldn’t expect to have much of a social life anyway.”

“You didn’t want to run away to another city again?” Joel pried, referencing the three years you’d spent in California getting your undergraduate degree.

“Strangely no, the University of Texas has exactly the course I wanted, if I don’t have to move away then I won’t,” You shrugged, “Contrary to popular belief I like living at home with my dad,” you punctuated talking with a drink, “Sure he works long hours and at this point I spend more time with Sarah than I do with anyone else, but I like it here.”

“So if you’re staying, you think you’d be able to carry on a few evenings a week with her?” Joel asked, “We’ve got a big job coming in September, she’ll be back at school so it’ll just be evenings, but she’s really taken to you darlin’.” You smiled, “I’ve really taken to her as well Joel, she’s a lovely girl,” you took another sip of your drink, realizing it was going down far too easily, “Of course I’ll help out, I should get my timetable soon so I can let you know when I’ll have time.”

Joel did nothing but nod, finishing his whiskey with a final drink, “You want another?” he asked, gesturing to the dregs of your drink in the bottom of your glass, “Your dad said he would call when he was leaving, and I’ve not heard anythin’ so we’ve got time.”

He was a hard many to decline, you extended your glass to him, “I suppose in that case it would be rude not to.”

Joel was back quickly with your second round of drinks, handing it over to you before taking his seat once more.

“Your dad said you were havin’ boy troubles…” Joel trailed off, “I don’t mean to pry.” He added quickly.

You chuckled, “Can you call it boy trouble if you were never official you asked?” Scoffing into your drink before sipping, “I guess he just found someone else, didn’t even have the balls to call me, just text me and said he’d found someone he liked better.”

If you hadn’t been intently listening, you’d have missed what he said, “Idiot.”

“You can say that again.” You replied, looking Joel straight in the eyes.

“Maybe you need a man and not a boy.” He offered as the solution.

A lump appeared in your throat as well as the tell-tale sign of butterflies in your stomach, “Oh yeah?” You countered, emboldened by the tequila in your veins, “A man like you?”

“Darlin,” Joel began, you could tell he was having an internal battle with himself, “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I’ve had two glasses of tequila Joel, I’m not wasted.”

“That’s not what I was sayin’,” Joel countered, “I’m old and I’m your daddy’s best friend, that’s not what I was suggesting at all.” “You’re 36 Joel, that’s not old,” You smirked, placing your book on the floor beside you, “And I’m 24, I’m old enough to make decisions about what I want.” “I’m what you want?” He asked, “Really?”

“Have you never noticed the way I look at you Joel?” You asked, “I have never met a man quite like you.”

“You’re too kind darlin’,” Joel smirked and you could swear he was blushing, “Why don’t you come on over here and sit next to me?”

He was gesturing to the empty space on the bench he had chosen to sit at. You don’t think you’d moved so fast in all your life. Within seconds you were sat next to him, glass abandoned on the floor by your old seat. You sat in a similar position to before with your legs wrapped underneath you, close enough that your heart was beating through your chest, but far enough away that you weren’t touching each other.

Slowly you watched as Joel drained his second drink, putting the glass on the floor in a similar fashion to you, before reaching out to touch the skin on your leg. It was a soft touch, but it lit a fire within you.

“Unwrap your legs baby,” Joel whispered, “Lay them out on my lap.”

His hands were rough against the smooth skin of your ankles as he pulled them into the position he wanted. Resting on his lap with his hands running up and down as far as he could reach. Your breath was hitched so far into your throat that you were sure you would suffocate.

“Joel,” was all you could managed to choke out at his touch, “Joel you need to kiss me.”

You couldn’t quite believe what was happening. The man that you had been crushing on for years, who should be completely off limits, was caressing your legs, his hands moving closer to your thighs with each second. No man had ever had this effect on your – you were sure if either of you dipped your hands beneath your shorts, you’d be the wettest you’d ever been.

“I need to kiss you?” Joel asked, his eyes boring right into your own, “Is that so?”

So, he was a tease. Under any other circumstance you’d be delighted in knowing this. However, you knew you were on borrowed time. It was only a matter of time before his phone rang and your dad would be on his way to pick you up and you’d be damned if you were leaving here without knowing what it felt like to have his lips on yours. Or any other place on your body for that matter.

“Joel I swear to God if you don’t put your lips on me I think I’m going to die.”

“I don’t know what’s worse,” He murmured, “Having your dead body on my hands or having to look your dad in the eye knowing I’ve made out with his daughter.”

Joel Miller and his smart fucking mouth. You could feel your arousal pooling in your lower stomach and you’d had enough. You grabbed the collar of his shirt and unceremoniously pulled him to you. For a man as large as Joel he moved with a grace you didn’t possess in that moment, landing right where you wanted him about an inch from your mouth.

For what felt like an age the two of you stared at each other, Joel’s dark and hungry eyes looking directly into your soul. You felt his hand cup your cheek – his rough thumb making soft strokes to your skin before it was all over.

Joel softly pressed his lips to yours and it was like you exploded. It was light, some would say barely there, but it was enough to ignite the fire within you. You ran one of your hands around the back of Joel’s neck, feeling the expanse of curls at the back of his neck before pulling him more firmly to you. Within seconds he was deepening the kiss and it was all open mouths and tongues. You bucked your hips up into his own, feeling a growing bulge in his jeans.

Without thinking, your hands moved from being wrapped around Joel’s neck to resting at the top of his jeans. His mouth was overwhelming on yours and you couldn’t think straight but what you did know is that the sooner you got his clothes off the sooner you would be consumed by pleasure.

“Slow down darlin’” Joel chuckled, finally pulling away from your mouth, “I can’t fuck you on my back porch for everyone to see now, can I?”

A blush crept onto your cheeks at his brazen words. You had no idea where your brazen behavior had come from, normally shy and willing to please anyone. But Joel had you pinned down on a bench, legs spread to accommodate his hips and a growing hard on that you could feel through your shorts. He could actively invite the neighbors around to watch from the back lawn and you wouldn’t complain. All you knew was that you needed him.

“Let them watch,” You managed to breath out, “I don’t care where you do it Joel or how for that matter, but if you don’t start taking my clothes off, I’m going to explode.”

He took a moment to look into your eyes, almost as if he was trying to talk himself out of what was going to happen next. It was one thing to make out with his best friend’s daughter – he could chalk it down to whiskey and tequila and keep his distance from now on – but another thing entirely to strip her naked and plunge his cock into her until she didn’t know her name and the only thing she could ask was for more.

“Get up.” Was all he said, standing up himself before wrapping his hand around your wrist, “Do you promise to keep quiet?” He asked.

Words failed you so all you could do was nod in response, “If you promise to be a good girl and be as quiet as possible, then I’ll take you upstairs.”

“I promise.”

Joel all but grabbed your hand, dragging you through the humid house and up the stairs as quietly as you could manage. Safely ensconced in his room you took a moment to take in the surroundings. Messy, just like it always had been when you’d peeked your head in to look at Joel’s space whenever he wasn’t around. The bed was unmade, like it usually was but none of it mattered. All that mattered and all you could focus on was Joel’s hand at the small of your back, pushing you towards the bed.

“Lie down for me baby.” He whispered into your ear as you felt the loss of his hand.

You did as you were told, getting onto the bed on your hands and knees to crawl up to the headboard, hoping and praying that Joel was focusing his eyes on your ass as you did so. Once you turned yourself around and propped yourself up on the pillows you could tell you’d had just the effect you wanted.

“Jesus girl,” he moaned, undoing his belt and freeing it from the belt loops on his jeans, “I’m going to have to make a rule of no shorts in this house from now on, I’m never going to be able to look at you the same now.”

A giggle erupted from your mouth at his words and you fumbled to undo the button of your shorts – immediate relief flooding your stomach as they loosened.

You watched intently as Joel mimicked your move from before, crawling up the bed to settle in the space between your thighs.

“Shall I tell you what I want to do, darlin’?”

You nodded, reaching your arms out to slowly unbutton his shirt.

“I’m going to take all these clothes off and then I want you to sit on my face, that okay with you?” You replied with a moan as the last button came undone, “And then, once I’ve got you nice and wet, I’m going to pin you down underneath me and fuck you until you don’t remember your name,” Another moan in reply as you slipped the shirt down his shoulders, Joel moving enough to take it off and discard it to the floor, “But you gotta remember to keep quiet baby, okay?”

“I already promised, didn’t I?” You challenged, “Take my clothes off already Joel.”

Like a rehearsed dance, it took next to no time for Joel to have you naked and spread out underneath him.

“You look like a goddess, darlin’.” he breathed against your neck as his hands wandered down from your breasts to between your thighs, hovering just above where you really wanted those fingers.

If you hadn’t been so overwhelmed about the fact that his fingers were mere millimeters from your clit you probably would have curled up and died at his compliment. No-one had ever made you feel this way, like you were the only woman they ever wanted to look at. No-one was likely to come close to this again so you were trying to savour it the best you could.

All of a sudden Joel had moved, he was on his back led next to you, “Come on darlin’, hop on up here.”

You did as you were told, momentarily taking the time to straddle his hips before Joel used his hands to scoot you up until your pussy was spread and bare against his face.

“I said sit,” Joel murmured, “Not hover.” He used his rough hands to pull your hips down so that you were indeed sat right on his face.

From that moment you were done for. Joel’s tongue licked long and slow stripes all the way from your entrance up to your clit. Every time the tip of his tongue hit your bundle of nerves your legs would shake but he wouldn’t focus there for more than a few seconds. It was driving you nuts.

You moved your hips against his mouth and then grabbed a fistful of hair from between your legs to hold his mouth on your clit. Before a moan could leave your mouth you clapped a hand over your lips. Joel’s tongue was focused entirely on your clit with devastating consequences, you were unashamedly grinding against his tongue and every now and again a groad would echo through your body from Joel’s lips.

“Oh my god Joel,” You whispered as quietly as you could manage, “I’m going to cum.”

Joel stopped briefly enough to respond, “Good, let go for me baby.”

That was all it took for you to come undone. Your legs clasped at the sides of his heads as your orgasm ripped through you, a hand yet again moving to cover your mouth to muffle the sound of your moans. Joel’s tongue continued flicking against your clit, sending aftershocks all the way up your body.

“Such a good girl for me, doin’ exactly what I asked.” He spoke as you lifted yourself off and flopped down onto the bed, attempting to catch your breath.

Joel had other ideas that didn’t involve resting and was quickly up and shedding himself of his jeans. You watched intently as his slipped his underwear off, you’re sure your eyes widened at the sight of his cock. Thick and long, almost uncertain that it would fit at all.

He climbed back onto the bed, settling himself effortlessly between your thighs, “Look at you baby,” He breathed out, “All spread and waiting for me.” He took a moment to reach into his bedside drawer and pull out a condom, tearing the packet open and fitting it on himself in the blink of an eye.

He settled once again between your thighs, looking you directly in the eye as he rested his hands on either side of your face, “You ready for me baby?” He whispered.

“I’ve never been more ready for anything.”

He smirked down at you as he lined himself up with your dripping pussy. He slowly eased himself into you, centimeter by centimeter, watching closely for any signs of discomfort, but finding none. In fact, Joel almost fell apart as he watched you spread your legs wider for him.

“Joel,” You mewed quietly as he bottomed out inside of you, “Fuck that feels good.”

“Darlin’ you have no idea how good you feel around me,” He spoke, “I’m not gonna hold on for long.”

In response all you did was grind your hips up into him, “I’m not going to break Joel, you need to start moving.”

He did exactly as he was told and began pulling out and fucking into you in earnest. The stretch of his cock inside of you was heavenly and the growls falling from his mouth as he fucked you were overwhelming.

“Touch yourself for me,” Came a demanding voice above you, “You can give me one more baby.”

You didn’t need to be told twice. Your hand immediately focused in on your pussy, your fingers working your clit with that telltale feeling in your abdomen that told you it wouldn’t take much work to have you come undone again.

“God you look fuckin’ perfect baby,” Joel moaned as his eyes fixed on your hand between the two of you, “I can feel you getting tight around me, you like that?” He asked, “You like my cock inside you?” “Oh Joel,” You moaned, “I’ve never liked anything so much before.”

“Go on baby, let go for me.” It was like your brain was in his command – almost immediately you felt your pussy clench around his cock as you arched your back up into him. A hand flew to your mouth that wasn’t your own – Joel trying to keep you quiet so you didn’t wake Sarah up in the next room.

“Fuckin’ hell baby,” Joel could barely speak, “You get so tight around me when you cum.” You could feel him faltering, his thrusts were speeding up but they were messy and you knew he wasn’t going to hold on for much longer.

“Joel,” Your voice was broken, “Joel, pull out and cum on my face.” “Fuckin’ filthy baby,” Was his response but he did as he was asked, quickly pulling out and discarding the condom before straddling your chest, “You ready?” All you could do was nod, watching with an open mouth as he jerked himself a few times before it was all over. Ropes of Joel’s warm cum hit your skin as a low moan left his mouth. He was still for a moment, eyes closed in ecstasy before opening them to look at you.

“Pretty as a picture.” He spoke with a smirk.

You smiled back, looking him dead in the eye as you ran your finger through some of the cum painted across your cheek, bringing your covered finger to your mouth.

“I don’t think anyone has ever looked so good covered in my cum.” Joel said as he hopped off the bed and fetched a towel that was draped across the chair in the corner of his room.

“You spend a lot of time finishing on women’s faces?” You chuckled, gratefully accepting the towel to clean yourself up.

All of a sudden a high pitched chime filled the room, “Shit!” Joel exclaimed, “Where’s my fuckin’ phone?”

He found it strewn on the floor next to his jeans, he answered quickly, “Hello?” Came his gruff voice, “Outside now?!” Joel’s eyes were wide open as your bliss was shattered, “Alright mate, no problem, she’ll be out in a little while.”

He hung up the phone and flung it onto the bedside table as you scrabbled around the room for your clothes, “I can’t find my fucking panties.” You muttered, pulling your shirt over your head.

“You haven’t got time darlin’,” Joel replied, throwing your shorts at you, “Put these on, hurry up.”

If it wasn’t for the absolute terror that you dad was waiting outside for you, the way Joel was rushing you might have hurt – would he have led with you and whispered sweet things into your ear in the dark if you’d been able to stay? Or would he still be rushing you to get out and leave him alone?

Once you were dressed and Joel had managed to throw something on as well, you were both bounding down the stairs. You picked up your bag and threw your sandals that you’d discarded earlier in the evening back onto your feet before taking a moment to catch your breath and smooth your hair.

Just as you were about to head to the front door, Joel’s hand wrapped around your wrist and pulled you flush to his body – he captured your lips in a kiss so passionate that you were even more breathless than you had been before.

“Just know darlin’, if he wasn’t waiting outside for you, I’d wrap you up in my bed and never let you leave.”

“That mean’s I can come back then?”

“Of course,” another chaste kiss pressed to your lips, “Baby, you’ve got me in a spin but I’m not giving you up, not yet.”

Then, with a swift slap of your ass, he was pushing you to the door. Keeping his distance as he watched you walk down the steps and climb into your dad’s truck he did his best to act normally.

“Thanks for keeping an eye on her Joel!” Your dad called out of the window, “I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.”

Joel could see you sinking into your seat at your dad’s words, even through the car windows.

“Oh not at all!” Joel called back, “Good as gold, as always!”

You swear you saw that son of a bitch wink at you. Motherfucker.

PREV | NEXT

#joel miller #pedro pascal #the last of us #the last of us hbo #joel miller smut #joel miller fic #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x you #joel miller pedro pascal #TWYMM

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calmlyerratic · 2 months

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Encounters of the Future Sort

Chapter 1: Disappearing Cauldrons is Never a Good Sign

by @calmlyerratic

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Read it here on Ao3.

Fic Summary: AU & headcanon-oriented time travel. A freak cauldron explosion leads the Marauders hurtling forward into the future where they come into contact with Harry and friends. Alternating POV's. Anything is possible. Lots of shenanigans, but also an emotional rollercoaster. Silly, Jily, and Wolfstar. Read full summary here.

chapter wc: 2.3k — rating: T — cw: none

Notes: 1976 Timeline—takes place before the willow prank and Snape's worst memory, both of which happened in the spring of 1976. That's all I'll give away for now, happy reading :)

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April 1st, 1976

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun was twinkling through the lofty clouds, casting rays of warmth on the freshly thawed spring grounds of Hogwarts. Most students were outside, lounging along the banks of the Black Lake and enjoying this sudden heat wave.

But if someone just happened to journey up to the school's seventh floor, their nose would detect the foul stench rotten eggs, and their eyes would see through the fog that was consuming the corridor, and they would be led to a room that could be found only if you knew where it was. And in this room, they would discover four boys hovering over a giant, brass cauldron.

"Shut up Moony! We're fine."

"I agree with Prongs—shove it."

"No one cares what you think Padfoot!"

"Ouch, Moony. And I didn't realize words could bruise..."

"Oh—sod off. It's not my fault that you two have some absurd death wish."

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew had been bickering for the better part of the past hour. Each had a curious bubble around their heads to protect them from the horrid smell of the simmering potion.

"Stoke the fire a little, will you Wormtail? Prongs—what's next?" Sirius set a long wooden stirring spoon on a bed of parchment, serving as a makeshift spoon rest, and adjusted his dragonhide gloves. "Your hands are so tiny, Wormy. I dunno how you wear these."

Peter had drawn his wand from the pocket of his robes and murmured, "Incendio." He then held up his hands, inspecting them. "Do I?"

"No, Padfoot just has long delicate fingers." Remus huffed as he eyed the spoon anxiously, his eyes flickering between the thick, murky greenish contents of the cauldron to the spoon rest that was turning an odd, startling red as liquid seeped through the ivory parchment. "Why are we doing this again? This isn't even close to proper procedure..."

"Oh, just relax Moony," Sirius flexed his fingers in Peter's gloves and stretched his arms leisurely. "You did say we needed some extra potions practice for our O.W.L.'s."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I meant you should ask Slughorn for some extra lessons, or something. Not attempt to brew a complicated and potentially fatal potion! You do know that I'm a Prefect and this is exactly the kind of thing I'm supposed to prevent?"

"But you're here aren't you?" James pointed out, grinning mischievously. He was sprawled over a table, leafing through several different ancient, thickly bound books.

"I'm only here to make sure you don't blow yourselves up," Remus stood in exasperation and began pacing.

"We'd be simply unhinged without your supervision," Sirius bit his lip to hold back a grin.

Remus glared at Sirius, who raised an eyebrow and winked. Remus flushed slightly, crossed his arms, and sat back down, muttering.

"Okay," James checked his watch, "we're getting close now."

"What next?" Peter asked, pinching his nose through the bubble charm. "The smell's getting worse, we've got to be almost finished? We've been working on this for months now—"

"Months?" Remus was alarmed. "Wait, I thought you said—"

"No time, Moony," James was scanning through the colossal books, a frown on his face. "In this book, Potions for the Potentially Challenged, it says to add one additional scoop of lacewing flies. But in this one, If You Can Brew it, You Can Do It...calls for three scoops total. We already did one yesterday when we added the unicorn hair—"

"Unicorn hair? Where are you getting these books?" Remus peered over at them discerningly, as though to check their authenticity.

"My father's library," Sirius shrugged. "Nicked them when I left."

"You're in way over your heads," Remus massaged his eyes shut.

"If you care so much about our safety, you should really be the one doing this, Moony. You know the rest of us are all dead awful at potions." James pointed out, turning a page and pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his long nose.

"Yeah, but you insist on being the high and mighty Prefect instead." Sirius shook his head, clicking his tongue in disapproval. "You know, the more I think about it, your position of ensuring safety is truly more of a hazard."

"Safety equals safety hazard," Remus moved a finger in midair like he was solving a complicated arithmancy equation. "Check."

"Okay, we're in a time crunch here so I say we—what did you say again, Prongs?"

"Add the lacewing flies," James nodded. "Just a scoop, Wormy."

"Right," Peter passed the ingredients to Sirius, who threw them in the cauldron.

"Okay good—now stir it three times counterclockwise..." James read carefully. "And I think we've done it!"

The four boys watched the cauldron with bated breath. The thick, murky liquid began to bubble, like boiling mud. James and Sirius beamed at each other and high-fived, Remus let out a sigh of relief.

Then suddenly, despite the steady flame, the potion went very still.

"Um, is that supposed to happen?" Peter shifted nervously.

"No," James hurriedly leafed through his books. "It's supposed to...turn red, I think? No, this one says it's supposed to have a greenish tinge—"

"Great, " Sirius huffed, "we muffed it up. So much for that prank—"

"Prank?"

"Oh hush Moony, it's April 1st for Merlin's sake. Like you didn't know we weren't doing this purely for academia—"

"Hold on," Peter gazed into the cauldron, its contents casting a luminous glow over his bubblehead charm. "I think it's doing something…"

The muddy potion began to vibrate, then whole cauldron began to gently shake.

"That doesn't seem right..." James flicked through more pages.

Remus clasped his hands together. "Well, you tried. Let's call it a day?"

"No way, Moony." James stated firmly. "We've spent way too much time on this to just give up. There has to be a way to fix it..."

"Too bad you're on the outs with Evans, mate, she's Slughorn's red headed prodigy." Sirius considered, stroking his chin. "Well, she's a stickler, anyway. Hey—where are you going?"

Remus had jumped to his feet. "I'll be right back! Don't move!"

• • •

A short while later...

"It needs to be bubbling—"

"Well let's just turn up the heat then?"

"Hold on just let me read a bit more—"

"What is this place?"

Sirius squinted his eyes at this new voice and put a hand to his forehead of his bubble, like a crow's nest lookout on a foggy evening. "Evans?'

James head shot up from his reading and he ran a hand through his untidy, raven hair, as if it was a reflex to hearing her name. Through the thick, vapid air covering the room, three figures approached the cauldron.

Lily Evans had her nose between two fingers. "Well we found the source of the godawful smell, ugh."

"I told you," Remus shrugged sheepishly. He glanced towards the other boys with poorly concealed guilt. The origin of this became apparent when another person stepped out of the misty shadows.

"Snevillus?" Sirius crossed his arms like he'd been mortally betrayed. "Really, Remus?"

Snape glared forcefully, like a giant sulking bat. "Lily, I told you this was a bad idea—"

"She can do what she wants, Snevillus." James glared too, his hand twitching towards his wand.

"Oh shut up, the both of you. You can bicker later," Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm only here because Remus asked me."

"Look, this is beyond me—that cauldron is dangerous." Remus drew his shoulders back with as much dignity as he could muster, given he was revealing their secret shenanigans to the Marauder's worst enemy. "Lily and Snape are the best in our year at potions, and you know it."

"Yeah, real Slug Club royalty." Sirius scoffed.

"We have it under control," James insisted firmly.

"This—" Lily glanced around, her voice nasally from pinching her nose, "does not look under control. Or smell like it, either. You're smoking out the entire seventh floor."

"I think it's steam, actually." Peter offered. "It feels rather moist—"

"It's a figure of speech," Lily said shortly.

"We could smell it from the Library," Severus sneered as he waved his wand to produce a bubblehead charm.

"I can smell you from the—"

"Padfoot!" Remus warned. "It's gone too far, okay? We need to fix it. Or vanish it, or something." He turned to Lily. "What do you suggest?"

Lily waved her wand and produced a bubblehead charm too, inhaling the fresh air. She approached the cauldron and peered over the edge.

"I for one suggest," Sirius began haughtily, pointing his wand at the base of the cauldron, "that we are incredibly capable of finishing this potion ourselves. It just needs a little more heat—incendio."

The flame under the brass cauldron grew and the mucky potion began to bubble.

"There!" Sirius grinned victoriously.

"It looks just like the description..." James ran his finger along a page. "Thick, mud-like, dull green—"

"Er, P-prongs?" Peter stammered, his eyes widening. "It's bright green."

The bubbling potion had suddenly become the shade and consistency of algae and had begun to vibrate oddly again. The base of the cauldron began to shake.

"Er, Potter?" Lily was backing away from the cauldron slowly. "What kind of potion is this, exactly?"

"You imbeciles! Aguamenti!" Severus flicked his wand and a jet of water shot out of it to extinguish the flames. It didn't seem to make a difference. The cauldron was now vibrating so violently that the stone floor beneath them began to shake.

"Sev, what do we do?" Lily's eyes were wide with apprehension. "I've never vanished something this temperamental before—"

"It might settle down," Severus stood with his wand at the ready. "I removed the heat so there's no further catalyst. Let's give it a moment."

However, the cauldron continued to vibrate even more violently. The walls began to shake. The fog around them became thicker and dense—with a spectral, syrupy magic that couldn't be seen, but felt.

"I say we get the hell out of here," Sirius suggested. "Moony, you were right okay—"

The bright green algae potion suddenly turned a vibrant shade of red. Severus went rigid.

"RUN! JUST RUN!"

But it was too late. The cauldron exploded mere seconds later with a giant BOOM and the next thing the Marauders, Lily, and Severus knew, they were lying face down on the hard stone floor.

"Bloody hell," Sirius groaned as he sat up, massaging his temples.

"What happened?" Peter blinked around, in a daze.

"Uggggh..." Lily was sprawled out on her back.

"You okay, Evans?" James jumped to his feet and offered her a hand.

"We all appear to be fine," Severus sneered jealously as he scrambled to his feet.

Lily glared at him as she took James' hand. "So glad chivalry isn't dead."

"Speak for yourself," Sirius grunted. "Oh, Snivellus—help a damsel out?" He batted his eyes, extending his hand gracefully.

Severus looked down and flushed. "I meant—"

"Where's the cauldron?"

All heads turned towards Remus, who stood where the cauldron had been just moments ago.

"I-it's gone." Peter stammered, biting his fingernails.

And sure enough, it was. They all stared for a moment in silence, eyes wide with shock. Disappearing cauldrons is never a good sign.

"The fog is gone too..." Remus broke the silence as he removed his bubble head charm, causing the others to do the same. "And so is the smell."

In fact, the room was totally empty. No tables or books or leftover ingredients. The cleared fog revealed the familiar structure they had willed the room to take, starkly resembling a stone dungeon classroom with slightly higher ceilings.

"Huh." James contemplated, tousling his already messy hair. "Weird."

"Yeah," Peter echoed. "Weird."

"It could be the room?" Sirius suggested. "But it usually only changes before you enter, not while you're inside it..."

"What the hell does that mean?" Lily raised an eyebrow. She had never been in the Room of Requirement before. "Never mind—I don't want to know, there's been enough surprises for one day."

Severus opened his mouth and looked like he rather did want to know but had too much dignity to ask, so he shut it again.

"Let's go, Sev." Lily turned towards the door.

"Thanks, Lily!" Remus called after her sheepishly. "I owe you one."

"You never owe me anything, Remus." Lily threw him a kind smile. "You other three better pay up, though."

Severus shot them all one last gaunt glare over his shoulder before he sauntered after Lily and into the corridor.

"Snevillus?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at Remus, still stuck on this. "Our dear sweet Moony...why?"

"He was with Lily when I found her," Remus rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry..."

"Thank you, but your apology is kindly rejected." Sirius shook his head disapprovingly. "And you're supposed to be the discerning one—"

"In my defense, I thought you were going to blow up half the school."

"You always overreact, Moony."

"Well, something blew up!"

"Yes but we're fine, aren't we? Crises averted."

"So, you admit it was a crisis?"

"I admit you were very concerned there would be a crisis."

"If you two are done bickering like an old married couple," James tapped his foot impatiently, "I'd quite like to move on with my day."

"Too bad we wasted all that time brewing..." Peter sighed.

"Unicorn hairs aren't cheap either," James exhaled deeply. "Oh well, let's get out of here. This room feels...weird."

"You feel it too?" Remus asked, eyeing their surroundings. "I didn't want to say before—but this place reeks like powerful magic. I've never smelled anything like it."

"I don't smell anything?" Peter knit his brow and sniffed deeply.

Remus put a finger to the side of his nose. "It's a wolf thing."

"Let's go mull it over outside," James stretched his arms. "I need some time to grieve our best laid plans, and all that."

"Anyway," Sirius blew a stray hair out of his face, "what could possibly happen?"

"I dunno," Remus wrapped his hands around his elbows and shuddered. His hair was standing on end. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

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Read chapter 2 here.

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Notes: I started writing this 11 years ago and just recently rediscovered my love for the Marauders and fanfiction. Initially, I posted it on another site and was shocked to see how much love it's gotten over the years. So here we are! Rewriting this is totally healing my inner child, hope you enjoyed :)

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chipsncookies · 2 months

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Bravern ep 9 spoilers)

I've been dumpster diving on twitter in search for supe fanart (I didn't find many) but i came across an interesting analysis. Ep9 has shown that the popular theory was right, there are multiple timelines, and this user claimed that we've seen multiple timelines in past episodes. There are some evidence that look really convincing.

In ep 2 smith busted the door to the torture room open, but after that the door looks completely fine

In the scene where they changed lulu's hairstyle, the background changed drastically (seaside + runway turned into buildings, with isami watching) they shouldn't have walked that far for the place to change so much

In japan, the command people were first shown observing the events outside by binoculars, but then changed to monitor. Why go inside? If it's safe to observe in the beginning why bother going inside

Also, remember the risque scene of smith with lulu? It seems the bg also changed between what seemingly looks like seamless scenes. The green duvet is messy in the first scene, but neat and undisturbed in second scene?

Also, this is my own observation, but the place where superbia meditated also changed. In the beginning the place is completely clear, but in ep9, there are many dead trees very close around him.

You could argue he moved, but if you look closely he's on top of a rather tall hill(?) and there's no other place with the same height in immediate vicinity. He'd also made the decision to sit there and think, plus (from what i understood) he could get a good grasp of the situation with bravern vs deathdrives so it's not like he changed place to get a better view

There's a post by another user pointing out that hibiki's injury has changed from head to hand (or vice versa? I don't remember) but I couldn't verify this yet.

There are many more things pointed out in the thread, but they're non visual stuff that require checking and might be affected by subs. Please check it out yourself. I think bravern really needs rewatching after all the revelation.

I think it makes sense that there are different timelines. Because these different timelines could be based on smith/bravern's memories (before and after transformation). But I wonder if we'll continue seeing these in ep10 and so on because starting from knuth's explosion, he can't possibly see what happens in the future

#bang brave bang bravern #bravern spoilers #seeing all these differences feel like im being gaslighhted (?) or having berenstein bear effect(?)#since these are things we never notice but once stacked up amounts to huge difference #chipsays #join me in the most difficult find the differences game ever

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 5 months

Note

WIBTA if I posted my art from a zine early?

I (23nb) joined a zine for a semi obscure 2000s manga/anime as a page artist with two of my friends. I enjoy this media but I don't really consider myself in the fandom, I only joined because one of my aforementioned friends is a huge fan of it and the other friend is also a casual enjoyer and we thought it would be fun if we all did a zine together.

However.

Most zines have a timeline of around 9-10 months from beginning to publishing but this one's been in production for almost 2 years. I've been in a few zines and this one has the worst organization I've ever seen in any project. The timeline on the discord only covered the first 5 months and had no estimate for how long the production would be, but a year and a half for publishing is pretty unheard of. The only check-in for progress that I remember didn't even require sending in your piece, you just had to say if you were finished or not and only a handful of the 30ish people on the discord responded lmao. Both of my friends ghosted at this point and the Singular mod (there might be two mods. I can't really tell) didn't dm them to see if they still wanted to participate or anything. Since there is only one person doing everything me and a few others have asked if they need any help and every time the mod(s) say that they're fine. every month or two someone will ask how the production is going and the mod will answer, and then another month goes by and the cycle repeats. I think the zine has finally gone into its “preorder interest check” stage (so not the actual preorder) but judging by how long everything takes i estimate that it'll be another 2 months at least before it actually goes into preorder. Its also never been clear if this is a free zine or if the sales will be donated to charity or distributed among the contributors. Since there's Allegedly going to be a physical copy it's gotta at least use the sales money to pay for production and shipping costs, but I have no idea if I'll be compensated with a physical copy or any money, especially if I do the thing that I might be TA for.

So here's my actual question. WIBTA if I posted the art I made for the zine before the mod says it's ok to do so? A big part of zine etiquette is that you do not post the final piece until the zine is finished, and the repercussions for someone who does range from a mod dming them to take it down or being kicked out of the zine entirely or in the absolute worst case, called out and blacklisted in the fandom and zine circles (I don't think anything that serious will happen to me but I have anxiety so I'm always imagining the worst thing) Most of the people on Tumblr in this fandom are kind of annoying fandom mom millennial types so I don't really want to deal with any possible backlash from them lol. If I just posted my art on Instagram idk if any of them would see it, but they Definitely would if I posted on Tumblr since the zine originated on there and it's such a small tag. I'm also so frustrated with the experience I kind of want to write something cunty in the description about how it's a zine piece for a zine that probably will never come out but I know that's just being petty and would probably invite drama. Also since I drew this thing a year and a half ago it's a little busted looking so I might redraw parts of it, so posting it would still be kinda shitty but it would technically be a different piece from the original one I submitted to the zine.

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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vltnoire · 1 year

Text

the 5 love languages

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ suna x reader. enemies to??? 🤔

understanding your way of expressing love is something suna’s good at.

If only you’d listen to what your friends had to say about the party earlier, maybe you wouldn’t end up being drunk on a Monday night and to make it even worse, perched on none other than Suna Rintarou’s lap.

But you’re drunk out of your mind and you’ll end up forgetting about it anyway, right?

–

“Sweetheart, just how much have you had to drink tonight?” When Suna gently pushes your hair away from your face (definitely not a result of pushing people out of the dance floor and claiming it to yourself earlier), that catches your attention. You’re quick to slap his hand away and you remain on his lap with your shoulder in the crook of his neck.

“Enough that the embarrassment from dancing like a dimwit is starting to kick in.”

“I’d say you’re a natural.”

“Shut up.”

“Why’d you come here alone? You could’ve called me and I’d pick you up.”

“Bold of you to assume I’d even have your number saved on my phone.”

“You’re not answering the question.”

“Why should I?” Your eyes start drooping and he doesn’t want you to fall asleep just yet. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to see you drunk out of your mind and the fun has yet to begin.

“Let me guess. Your boyfriend broke up with you?”

“Huh. It truly fascinates me how smart you can be sometimes.”

“What’d he do this time?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because I just do.”

Suna loves it. He loves the feeling of your cheek on the side of his neck. He loves the feeling of you tracing unidentifiable shapes on his arm. He loves it when your physical affection is rolling your eyes at him and punching him in the arm at his witty remarks. He loves it when your words of affirmation would be coming across your tweets, most of them regarding a guy who seemingly needs to get off his high horse, on his timeline despite knowing that you blocked him on Twitter the last time he checked. He loves it when your quality time with him consists of you and him frittering away time by arguing about the most insignificant and trivial matters during lectures and without fail, getting kicked out by the professors. He loves it when the gift he receives from you is the absolute hatred you have for him. He loves it when your act of service is you calling him Rin and when he gives you that look with a lovesick smile, you kick him in the shin and run away. He loves how expressive you can be when it comes to conveying love.

“Rin.”

Did he also mention how much he loves it when you call him Rin?

“Yeah?”

“Why’d you take the last piece of brownie during that sleepover?”

“It happened once!”

“So you’re saying it’s possible for it to happen again?”

“Don’t tell me you’re upset about that.” As petty as you can be, he doesn’t mind it one bit.

“I was 12! Of course I’d be upset. Or did you forget that you looked at me before running away with that piece of brownie and ended up dropping it on the floor? I hate you.”

“Fine. Continue to act like you hate me.”

“I do hate you. Wholeheartedly.”

“Lying doesn’t suit you, sweetheart.”

Suna shoots you a lopsided grin that makes you internally fold. But then you give him a look most sane people would say inscrutable, Suna thinks it’s love.

Do you know how irresistibly charming your eyes are?

“Our kids can have them if you want.” At that his face instantly reddens and his skin grows hot. Are his thoughts that loud? Maybe he should take your advice and learn to hold his tongue sometimes.

Your snore pulls him out of the daze.

“I know you’re not asleep! You can’t just say that and pretend to fall asleep!”

Suna’s constant whining turns out to be your lullaby as you end up dozing off on him with a slight grin on your face that he does not fail to notice.

#suna fluff #suna x reader #suna headcanons #suna rintarou fluff #suna rintarou x reader #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu headcanons

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sawyer-is-eepy · 6 days

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i like you, here are my favorite awesome and underrated outer wilds fic + comic recommendations in no particular order

interpolation by @tippertot . its got base game spoilers, possibly dlc spoilers? unfinished but it's currently being updated wooooo!!! it's very interesting and i dont exactly understand whats going on but i really like it and am SO excited to see where it goes. keep in mind i've only read up to chapter 9 so idk what comes in the other chapters. but its so so so good, i need to make fanart for it sometime wahh. (and of course. also finish catching lol.)

hearth's shadow by @spitzyyyy . got dlc and base game spoilers - only 2 chapters out but they're decently long(and very angsty) and it was last updated in january and im pretty sure spitzle is still writing other fics so even if they drop this one, im sure they've got plenty of other, very good ones too. this is just the only one that i've read from him (YET) it's very sad though so like. brace yourself. BUT CHAPTER 2 IS ALSO CUTE THOUGH SO ITS FINE

and uh also anything by @crimsonquill-086 is very good ::) i havent finished all their stuff yet but i think(so far) on my own terms is my fave.

also i read like one chapter of the rule of quantum certainty by TimeturnerJay(i don't *think* they have a tumblr? not sure) and i've been meaning to return to it so im gonna read it after i finish this post so there's also that!! chapter one was gut wrenching i needed a break lol /pos

then i cannot recommend elwensa's comics enough. she makes so many and they're all very good, some are sad and some are cute, and some have headcanons that i basically accept as canon now for literally no reason.

here's a whole timeline i found of a bunch of her comics that i *believe* is up to date -https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/comments/18uuy7z/elwensa_ow_comics_grand_timeline/

she's also got an entire au called the legend of outer wilds that's basically just outer wilds but its zelda inspired and it's got a ton of cool concepts so like. its very good it has its own carrd check it out - https://tloow.carrd.co/

and if we're talking comics i of course can't just like, not mention @cobaltbluesu 's "thrill chasing." pretty sure he only recently posted chapter one so im not sure how much there will be in the future but definitely go check that out, their art is so so cool(and a big inspiration for me.)

feel free to reblog with any other recommendations there are so many but if you find something good please tell me

#outer wilds #outer wilds spoilers #outer wilds fanart #echoes of the eye #echoes of the eye spoilers #outer wilds fic #outerwilds #outer wilds hatchling #outer wilds protagonist #outer wilds nomai

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tsukimefuku · 2 months

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Human resources, tasukete!

You're concerned and decide to ask your friends about Jujutsu High's HR policies regarding romantic relationships.

Tags: Implied/Past Nanami x OC/f!Reader. Higuruma x OC/f!Reader. Slight jujusanpo vibes. Crack taken (somewhat) seriously. Slice of life vibes. Humor. Angst. Fluff. Gojo, Shoko and Ijichi are at a loss. Reader is terrified of Shoko.

This is part of my "Jujutsu Partners Canon Divergence AU". A sequence of short stories and random drabbles for a Nanami x Reader x Higuruma long fic I might write. To see the ever-growing list of one-shots and short stories, please visit my masterlist :)

Disclaimer these stories are NOT written and posted in chronological order of events. To see where this story fits in the timeline, please check the masterlist mentioned above.

"So, Hiromi, I have some concerns." You said, sat beside him on a bench, as you both took a break from strolling around Tokyo. You had a bag of sweets to bribe Gojo the following day, and licked mindlessly at your popsicle.

"You always have concerns, my dear." Higuruma answered, sipping on his soda through the straw, glad the cold beverage provided him with some relief in such a hot day. "What is it?"

"I have no idea if we should be publicly involved. I mean, I don't mind keeping it to ourselves, but-" You stopped to ponder for a moment. "Does Jujutsu High even have some kind of policy regarding relationships in the workplace?"

He looked at you and shrugged. "Whichever you decide is fine by me." He took another sip. "They might, given there are some missions involving two or more parties."

"Yeah, but there are those two weird siblings that usually go together on every mission, so I don't know, really." You paused. "Do you think they need to follow labor laws of any sort?"

Higuruma snorted at the sheer absurdity of it, grinning sardonically. "Well, I really don't think so. And if they do, any sensible lawyer would refuse their case. I mean..." He vaguely gestured in the air.

You smiled, a little embarrassed at the stupid question. "Yeah. Probably not. But it is a possibility they have some sort of internal policy about it, so I'll try finding out about it, okay? Because they barely tolerate me, and your sentence is merely suspended, as far as we know."

"Well, if we make our relationship known," he said, pulling you from your waist to press against him. You chuckled, and he planted a small kiss on your lips. "I'll get to kiss you whenever, wherever. I'd like that very much."

***

"Spill it." Shoko said, turning around and looking straight at you, while holding her cup of coffee. You were both seated at the morgue, as you helped her with her reports, having nothing else to do today. She clearly noticed your eyes burning a hole through her back, choked up on words.

"So, if someone hypothetically had a relationship with a co-worker here in Jujutsu High, how should they proceed?"

"What?"

"I mean, paperwork. What should they do?" You explained.

She was silent for a few moments, a little taken aback by your question. "Are you and Nanami-"

You sighed. "Shoko, the question is hypothetical."

She walked towards you, putting her coffee cup over one of the gurneys, and hovered, ominously. You involuntarily made yourself smaller, pinching your shoulders, as you sat on a small bench.

"Well, hypothetically, are you and Nanami together?" She inquired.

Shoko had seen the glances, smiles and eventual hugs you two had shared in vulnerable moments. On top of that, she was familiar with Nanami ever since high school, and knew for a fact he wasn't the smiley-huggy type of person. The tension between the two of you was palpable to anyone whenever you and him were both in the same vicinity.

"I don't know what you're talking about." You answered, slightly scared.

The ominous energy grew dire. Shoko wanted her tea and she was going to have it one way or the other.

You leaned back, defeated. "No, it's not Nanami."

"Say what now?" Shoko asked, surprised. "Who is it?"

"Can you promise me not to talk to anyone about this, please?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine." She dismissed your concerns, shaking her hand in the air. "Now who is it? Don't tell me it's Gojo-"

"What the hell, Shoko!? Ugh, no, never." You answered, shivering, and not in a good way. A great friend, but a man child, after all. "It's Higuruma."

"Oh..." She let out, "He's kinda brooding, I can see the appeal. But... I always thought you and Nanami-"

"Me too. I was wrong, clearly." You replied, sharply, feeling a knot bubbling up your throat.

"What do you mean?" She inquired.

"Ask him." You spat out, grabbing her cup of coffee and taking a sip. You grimaced. How does this woman drink this with no sugar or sweetener whatsoever?

Shoko noticed your face twisting, taking the cup back from your hands. "Sugar is for the weak."

"Then, I'm a weakling." You retorted, getting up. "I'll try to find out if there is anything I should or not do about this regarding Human Resources, or whatever the hell you have in place here."

"I mean, if I were you, I'd just keep it to myself." She pointed out, earnestly.

"Well, I thought about it, but I'm worried that saying nothing might be detrimental to me or him, given our... Particularities."

"Hm. Maybe you're right." Shoko answered, as you made your way out of the morgue.

Nanami how tf did you let that happen?! Shoko chastised him, texting as soon as you left the morgue.

Ieiri, I have no idea what you're referring to. Could you please be more specific?

The woman you so clearly love is dating what's-his-face black suit.

The typing icon appeared and disappeared on Shoko's screen around six times. It disappeared for a minute, and then came back, lasting a long time.

It's for the best. I hope she's happy.

On the other side of the conversation, Nanami was splayed over his sofa, staring at the ceiling, trying to not feel too sorry for himself. His efforts weren't working as well as expected, as he drowned in a mixture of jealousy and longing for you. But at least, like this, he'd surely have no other chance to slip up and hurt you like he did ever again.

At least, he tried muttering to himself, willing this fantasy into existence.

At... Least. He covered his face with his forearm, sighing deeply, as he picked his book up to resume his reading session. The words on paper were no longer making any sense.

***

Gojo saw you approaching him in the dojo. He had his casual on, white long sleeve shirt and glasses, after training one of the first-years.

"Hey, Satoru! How are you?" You said, walking towards the sorcerer holding a paper bag. "So, I remember you liked this particular type of kikufuku-"

"Stop right there," Gojo answered, leaned against the wall, tilting his head to the side with his frivolous smile plastered on his face. "I know bribery when I see it."

You sighed. "I mean, do you actually care that this is bribery or not?"

He chuckled, extending his hand and motioning you to proceed. "Of course I don't. Give it to me. What flavor are those?"

"Matcha."

"Oh, yeah. Very nice." Gojo said, satisfied, as he took the paper bag from your hands. "What do you want from me this time? Saving somebody else's life? Just my fantastic company? Tell me!"

You chuckled, sitting on the ground, looking up at him. "Human resources."

"... The what now?" He answered, pushing an entire kikufuku inside his mouth, looking very pleased. "Wow, I need to know where you bought these. Is it a new store?"

"That's unimportant right now." You shut down his rising antics. "If someone has a relationship with a co-worker here at Jujutsu High, do they have to report it?"

Gojo looked at you, surprised, swallowing his sweets. "Hm... Seriously?"

"What?"

"Why would I know the answer to that question? Do I look like I have a secret sorcerer affair or something?"

"... Huh? This isn't about you, Satoru. What the hell." You retorted, incredulous. "I just need to know if there is any paperwork involved."

He simply shrugged, munching away. "Beats me. No idea."

This was useless.

You got up, in frustration, and that was when Gojo actually processed the words you just had said. "Wait, what do you mean 'you need to know' anything about that? Are you-"

"Bye, pretty boy!" You said, leaving the dojo completely empty-handed. What a waste of money on those kikufuku. Gojo seemed happy to receive them, at least.

***

"Ijichi, you're my last hope!" You jumped him, almost yelling, and the man nearly passed out when you left the bushes looking like a maniac. He thought Master Tengen's shields could have been compromised, and he was being lunged at by a curse.

You were walking around the campus relentlessly, like a predator in the middle of a hunt, trying to catch Ijichi before he left, considering most of his days were spent at home office, from what you had gathered.

"Y-yes, Ms.? H-how can I help you?" He asked, shaking briefly like a frail twig, before recomposing himself and adjusting his tie.

"How do I report a romantic relationship to whatever you guys have for human resources? Or I don't have to?" You asked, holding his shoulders, looking intently at the man, while taken by some kind of desperation.

He was, indeed, your last hope, before you had to speak directly to Yaga in order to inquire him about it.

Ijichi blankly stared at you, buffering your question before he could muster up an answer. "We don't really deal with those kinds of things administratively. So you don't have to report anything, I g-guess." Are she and Nanami-san...? He began pondering, mentally.

Ijichi never got to finish his thought, though.

You sighed, relieved, and pulled him into your arms, hugging the assistant tightly, almost jumping like a schoolgirl. "You're my hero, thank you!"

His face faintly blushed at the sudden appreciation received from a sorcerer, with no back-handed innuendo. "Y-You're... Welcome."

You let him go, smiled, and started frolicking your way out of the campus, glad there was nothing to report to any kind of higher authority other than your own anxiety due to this whole situation.

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kosomolski-dolls · 1 year

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How to spot a Recast store.

First of all, what is a recast?

A recast is an unlicensed copy of a BJD, a knockoff, a fake. Usually the dolls are bought from a legit company (sometimes not even from the recast company itself, but from supporters), a mold is made (either making a physical mold or a 3D scan) and then the dolls can be mass produced. Usually made in China, but there are exceptions to this.

I'm not going into detail here on why they are a big problem, there are tons of posts about this on the internet. They are bad, they destroy the dollmakers and artists that I love, if you're fine with that, this blog isn't for you.

This blog is for those, that want to buy legit BJDs and don't want to accidentally buy a recast, which is getting harder and harder.

I'll put this under a cut, because this is gonna get a bit lengthy.

What not to do: Google "buy BJD", you'll literally get a ton of Ali Express listings of knockoff BJDs.

You will have to do some research up front, you need to know what company you want to buy. For that, you can go to the BJD hashtag, here, on instagram, sometimes even Twitter, and see if there is something you like. Usually people also tag the company and sculpt, and if not, asking usually gets the reply.

You can also go to one of the many official dealer pages and just click through their dolls to see if you find something that you like.

Stay away from Ali Express and Amazon. Both of these pages are riddled with knockoffs. Idk if there are actually any legit sellers on Ali, if there are, they are few. I think Dollzone sells on Amazon, but seriously, most of the dolls there are fakes.

Ebay and Etsy are also full of recasts, but you can find some legit dolls there.

So, how do you spot a recast store? Let me show you some hints, that are usually a dead giveaway.

A lot of different styles.

This is the header of an etsy shop. While the two on the left might be from the same maker, the other two are very different. (The one on the right is a doll from Fairyland, one of the, if not the most recasted company out there).

Different styles only make sense, if the seller is a distributor/dealer. If it's not a dealer, back out.

Which brings us to the next point:

Generic names.

If a shop were a dealer, they would give you the names of the companies and sculpts.

Example from an official dealer:

See how you can choose the company, size, and then the sculpts? Recast shops don't give you that (there's one exception, that I'll mention later).

They give you "1/4 BJD Doll MSD", "Girl BJD 1/6" or if they wanna go all out "1/3 BJD Doll 60.5CM Full Set BJD Doll With Clothes Resin Toys Best Gift for Girls Hand Made Doll Custom Dolls OOAK Art Doll diy Dolls".

They want to stay as generic as possible, so the newbies that google for "buy bjd" will be redirected to their pages.

If you find generic names, back the hell out of there. I don't know a single company or dealer, that do not tell you what doll exactly you're buying!

Short production time

BJDs take time to make. They are not mass produced dolls, they are casted, sanded, strung and packed by small companies. Even the big names in this hobby usually are just a hand full of people. So it takes time.

Usually between 2-6 months. I don't know any company that actually gives you an estimate below 60 days. Sometimes they ship faster (maybe it's a popular sculpt and they have actually made some for stock, maybe they didn't have a lot of orders during that time, etc), but they don't usually give you a shorter timeline.

If your listing claims the doll will be shipped in 1-2 weeks? Bad news for you, that's usually a recast store.

Price

I hate to say it, but this is an expensive hobby. Dolls usually cost at least $200, oftentimes more. There are some companies that have cheaper prices, but if it goes below $150, I would definitely have a closer look.

Now, the price is usually the last thing that I mention, because before the price tag, you should check for all the things mentioned above. Only if you have a consistent style, specific names, and a timeline that makes sense, then you should check for the price.

I say that, because I know of one Recast store, that tries so hard to look legit, they actually put effort in it.

And that is the BJD Shop.

Look at that. You have company names, you have sculpt names, it looks like a legit dealer (if you ignore that their production time is 1-4 weeks).

But now look at the prices.

Not taking into account that this specific sculpt isn't even available from Fairyland anymore, the price? Is not even $100 (for blank doll).

Now let's look at the actual price by FL:

Rule of thumb: If a price is too good to be true, it very likely is.

So I recommend actually looking for the doll company, if you find a dealer you're not sure is legit, and compare the prices.

A good page for information is Den Of Angels. It's a forum, but a lot of things are easily available without account through Google. For example their dealer list. Is it complete? I don't know, maybe not, but it's a good start.

I hope this is helpful for anyone who isn't sure about a shop they want to buy from.

#BJD #bjd knowledge

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nickfowlerrr · 2 years

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keeping secrets -

chapter three

series masterlist / chapter four

pairing: bucky barnes x curvy!reader (dark!soulmate au)

warnings: this is an +18 only series. this chapter is really just backstory. slight angst.

words: 3.4k

notes: i know what you’re thinking. isn’t that a gif of nick fowler? why yes it is. that’s bc i caught myself picturing artem as nick and bucky is in this for like .5 seconds so i thought it fit better than a bucky gif would have lol. also, i didn’t check the timeline i’ve vaguely set up so if it doesn’t track let’s just pretend it does, okay? thanks 🥰 as i posted yesterday, what i had planned for ch three is now ch four because i wrote more than i thought i would for the backstory and decided to split it up. but i swear we’re gonna get to the good stuff soon 😙 as always, feedback and comments are welcome and appreciated. thank you for reading 🖤

All of Tuesday was spent in your room. You never received an updated mission brief, so you had begrudgingly accepted the fact that Bucky would be accompanying you. It was shitty and you felt embarrassed when you thought back to his clear rejection of you in the gym, but you were a professional. You could set it aside to get your job done. It’d be fine. That’s what you kept telling yourself. You made sure you had what you needed packed and worked on as many different plans for all the scenarios you could imagine taking place once you were back in Belarus.

The quinjet was scheduled to take off late tonight and you’d arrive in Minsk sometime around 8pm Thursday. The Ivanov family was having some phony charity gala Friday and the plan was for you to infiltrate their estate while they would be at the gala and retrieve the files and records you needed to finally put Sergey, the patriarch of the family, away for good. SHIELD would come in during the scramble that was sure to ensue once they had him in custody and be able to put most of, if not all, the rest of them away, too. They were ill prepared for a change in power and the organizations they controlled would fall easily in the chaos.

You knew the layout of their home intimately so you knew exactly where to hit and how to get in and out as easily as possible. It should go smoothly.

Get in, get the files, get out.

Simple.

But something was warning you it might not be as easy as it sounded. You knew you’d have to be on high alert the second you got to their estate, and you knew you’d have to trust Bucky to keep an eye on your movements should anything unexpected go down. Trust didn’t really come easily to you, but you didn’t have much of a choice.

Sergey was the guest of honor for the event, so you knew his private security would be with him, meaning his office should be unattended. You felt confident that his wife and his son, Artem, would be in attendance with him. The only people you had to get around would be the perimeter security, whoever the two guards they’d have inside the house would be, and the house staff. In your experience, the in-house security would most likely be hanging around in the main living room in the main house of the estate and the staff would be in their living quarters, the house off the back side of the grounds. They were really only in the main house mornings getting their work done and at nights when the family was home, preparing dinner and then cleaning up once they went to bed. Since they’d be gone Friday night, you were positive they’d keep to their quarters. You’d just need to get into the estate without being detected and enter through the back house to avoid whoever would be on guard. Once you were in, you’d make your way to Sergey’s office, get the files transferred, and get out. You’d be headed back to the safe house before 11pm and on your way home, hopefully, not long after.

You focused on replaying the plan over and over in your mind as you rechecked your luggage and gear. And again, repeatedly as you boarded the quinjet nearly an hour early. You were anxious to get this mission over with, for more reason than one. You hadn’t even given yourself permission to think back on the last month you had spent in Belarus and the memories that would be waiting there for you. There was no point. That life was gone. That woman was gone. Hell, she never really existed.

None of those relationships did, you reminded yourself. It was designed by you, you knew exactly what you were getting into. Maybe you just hadn’t expected your players to play their part as well as they had. You were set to betray them from the beginning, you had done it many times over to many bad people without blinking an eye. But Artem was different. This was different. And all too personal.

You knew you screwed up the night it happened, but you couldn’t help yourself. Looking back, you were pathetic. And weak. And stupid. You knew better. You knew who he was and you knew who you were.

Yet you still wound up in his bed. Night after night. You had never felt so enchanted by someone. Now you weren’t the first spy to sleep with a target undercover before, you did what you had to do to get the job done, but you knew you couldn’t excuse it as that. You could have found a way around it if you had really tried.

You can’t help but think now, if you hadn’t been so desperate, so love starved, you never would have given into his charms to begin with. You had only yourself to blame, but in the same vein, you were only human. Tough to believe at times, but you were. As on top of your game as you always were, you just fell weak. There was no other way to put it. It just felt easy, and you felt wanted. You wanted to believe he was different, better. You tried to tell yourself that if you could just explain to him, he’d understand. He’d be on your side. He wasn’t a bad man, you told yourself. But that wasn’t the case, of course.

You were found out. You still weren’t sure exactly how, but you were. You were set to meet up with Artem for a date night at one of the many restaurants Sergey owned. Though when you showed up, you knew immediately something was off. There was an alarm bell ringing in your head, but as you sat in the back of the chauffeured ride, you knew you had to play it cool. Scanning every exit and making notes of possible escape routes, you stepped out of the car and slowly made your way inside. You could tell the place was empty before you walked in the door and that realization made your stomach drop. You worked to maintain your breathing and assured yourself you’d get out of there fine. Keeping your head held high as you strode in, silently grateful you had opted for the black bodysuit under your dress tonight despite originally having wanted to wear a matching two piece set. If you needed to get out of the tight dress you were wearing to make a run for it, it wouldn’t be too exposing.

You gripped your small purse concealing your pistol, reaffirming it was still there. At least you had that. You weren’t necessarily prepared for this tonight, but you wouldn’t be as good as you were if you arrived anywhere completely unprepared. You didn’t have much in the way of weapons on you, but you doubted you’d be able to utilize them if you had. The black heels you wore would do the trick if they had to.

As you approached Artem, sitting alone at a table set for two, you realized that there really was no one else there. Just him. You walked up behind him and saw the pistol he had in his lap, poorly hidden beneath the table. You continued around him and took the seat across from him. The plates were clear and the glasses still empty.

“Tatyana,” he said solemnly.

“Artem,” you returned, his clear blue eyes watching your form with an intensity you hadn’t felt from him before. It was a darker look when his eyes met yours, harsher. Angry, though the rest of his demeanor appeared cool.

It was tensely silent for a minute as you sat across from him, just staring at one another. You weren’t going to speak first, and so only the sounds of your breathing could be heard until he finally spoke again.

“Tell me it’s not true,” he said. You didn’t answer immediately, waiting for just a moment.

“Tell you what’s not true?” you asked, instantly causing him to lose his feigned calm. His fist, the one not holding his gun, hit the table, causing the still empty glasses to shake with the vibration.

“Don’t play stupid with me,” he roared.

You clutched your purse in your lap, but didn’t move to pull your weapon, not just yet, as he kept his in his lap as well. His eyes burning into yours, neither one of you wanting to move first.

“I trusted you,” he nearly whispered. “I gave you everything. And this whole time, all of… it’s been a lie?”

You took a moment, trying to decide which way to go with this conversation, finally opting for the truth.

“I had a job to do,” you began quietly, but were cut off by Artem hitting the glasses and dishes off the table in his fury, along with a string of curses in Russian flying from his mouth.

“You had a job!?” he said, disgruntled and disgusted. “Well, so do I.”

He raised his pistol up pointing it at your face and you fought the impulse you had to disarm him. His hold on his gun was weak and flimsy, it’d be easy enough to do. But the light quiver of his lip and the almost imperceptible shaking of his hand gave you pause. You looked to the safety and saw it was still in place. You swallowed the small lump in your throat and took a breath.

He may have been told to kill you, but there was no way he was going to. You put your hands up slowly as he looked at you, hurt and anger clear on his face as you slowly rose from your seat, him following your every move.

“You’re a good man, Artem,” you began gently. “You’re not like them, I know it. I know you,” you tried to placate.

“If you think I’m a good man, you don’t know me at all,” he argued, voice tight.

“I do. You think all of it’s been a lie, but that’s not the truth. Getting this close to you, it was never part of the plan,” you explained, his dry laugh interrupting you. “I should have never let it happen. You were innocent in all of this. You still are,” you tried to remind him, only earning you a sneer in response. “I just needed an in, and you-”

“I what?! Was an easy target?” he accused, offended. “Is that it?!”

You didn’t know what to say, a knot reforming in your throat. It was never supposed to go down like this. But the second you got too close, you should have known it would be inevitable. You had been slowly stepping back, getting yourself closer to the exit as he continued aiming the gun at you.

“You’re family,-” you started, again being cut off by him,

“Don’t you fucking dare talk about my family,” he warned you. You had known deep down, since the start, despite what you wanted to believe, Artem would always choose his family. And that exclamation just solidified that fact. There was no reason to try and win him over, there would be no changing his mind. You might get out of here tonight, but you knew that didn’t mean you were safe. If he couldn’t do it himself, his father would surely send someone else to.

“How could you do this to me?” he asked, pained.

“I’m sorry,” you told him. “But it’s not about you,” you said, shaking your head. “It was never about you.”

“You just switch it off so easily, don’t you,” he grimaced, almost dejected. Like he thought maybe you cared enough about him to make things okay. As if he thought you’d apologize and beg for his forgiveness and you could put this all behind you. That couldn’t happen, though. It wouldn’t.

You had no response to his accusation. You stood across from him, eyes bearing into one another’s. Eventually, he gave up. He threw his pistol on the table, appearing exhausted, his eyes never leaving you. You stayed where you were as he moved toward you, approached you closer until he was standing right in front of you. You let him take hold of your chin as he tilted your face up gently. Like he was trying to save to memory your face and the feeling of your soft skin beneath his touch as he caressed your cheek. He leaned down, getting nose to nose with you before he took your lips in his. It was almost like an apology. You to him and him to you. He pulled away slightly and spoke against your lips.

“You’ve broken my heart Tatyana,” he told you, the name he called you by was another reminder of the endless lies you had fed him since the day you met. Just another part of the job. He pulled away from you completely, his hands slipping from you as he walked further away before he turned around, dragging his hand down his face before he looked back at you. “We both know I can’t do it. I can’t kill you,” he admitted aloud. Then suddenly his resentment was back in full force as his face hardened once again. As if his resolve to do right by his family had returned. “But I won’t stop anyone from doing what I’m too weak to do,” he nearly seethed.

You held eye contact for a moment longer, wanting to say something, but thinking better of it as you walked backward to the exit, your eyes still trained on one another. One last look and you were gone. Once you were out in the cool night air, your only focus was on getting out of the city without being seen or running into anyone from their operations. You couldn’t dwell on what happened. Couldn’t dwell on all the mistakes you’d made that led you there. You acted on instinct alone.

You knew you didn’t have much time, if any, to get out. Your apartment was a no go, seeing as you were staying there under your alias, Tatyana Volkova. The carefully crafted identity you had taken on months ago. You got yourself out of the city that very night, your head on a swivel everywhere you went. The second you had left the restaurant, you knew there would be a bounty on your head. And you were right. You had stupidly left your passport and fake ID in the apartment you had been living, and your contact couldn’t seem to get you out of Belarus without hitting every snag he possibly could have. It took way too long to get another passport and ID, longer to get a flight out of the country, and no safehouse or transport available.

You had been staying in cheap rooms under fake names, constantly on the go, but that didn’t put you in the clear. You knew you should have been more prepared for the reality that you'd have a hit on you, but you didn’t realize how high a reward the Ivanov’s had set. The payday had quite a few highly skilled assassins after you. Luckily for you, you weren’t too shabby yourself on that front. You knew all the tricks and saw them coming from a mile away every time. Each attempt made on your life only served to piss you off more. They were relentless. None of them nearly as skilled as you, but still. You soon realized you didn’t have much of a choice left. You were alone, no one to have your back in the encounters you faced, not that that was new to you, but it was getting wearisome mentally. You weren’t sure how long you could stay on top of your game like this. But you knew they wouldn’t stop until Tatyana was dead. So…you’d just have to kill her.

For whatever reason, you and your contact, Walt, had a way easier time faking your death than you’d had on simply getting out of the country. Walt pretended to be taking on your hit and you and him easily followed through on their instructions. Three days and one anonymous wire transfer later saw Tatyana Volkova deceased and you on your way back to London, where you had been based for the past few years.

When you got back to your apartment, your real apartment, that was when everything started to sink in. Your body was sore and your mind was reeling. You felt utterly alone. You were alone. If you hadn’t kept yourself so closed off all of your life, maybe you wouldn’t have been so susceptible to the advances of Artem. It’s not like you were in love with him, you just… needed someone. And he had been there. You were loath to admit it, but you were starting to realize that maybe being as alone as you kept yourself for so long was more detrimental than you thought it could be. You needed to reevaluate your life. You needed to get your head on straight and reorient yourself. You had fucked up on this mission and it wasn’t like you. Maybe it was time for a change. Reintroduce yourself to the world of people around you.

That sounded absolutely terrible. And honestly, made you a little anxious.

You didn’t know where you’d even start.

After some time trying to figure things out, plan your next steps, you just so happened to see some of the world’s mightiest heros on the news. You’d remembered what Kate and Yelena had said the day you’d met, they talked to you about joining the Avengers. Being part of a team.. Without thinking much, not wanting to talk yourself out of it, and choosing to trust your gut and follow your intuition, you found yourself getting into contact with Tony Stark. You were in New York a week later. And now here you are. As anxious as you were to get this mission over with, you were grateful for the opportunity in the first place. You were looking for a fresh start here. You needed to finish what you began before you could really move into your future, whatever it might be. No regrets holding you down. Working on forgiving yourself for your past mistakes and making up for them now. You were damn good at your job, and you refused to let this one mission make you think otherwise. It was time to redeem yourself in your own eyes, and finally put an end to this one.

The plan you made had been replaying in your mind over and over once again until the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the door of the quinjet caught your ear. Bucky entered, throwing his luggage down as he did. Scowl maring his beautiful face as usual. He didn’t so much as glance at you, and you didn’t acknowledge him either. Was it your pride or embarrassment? Didn’t really matter, they were two sides of the same ego driven coin. You recognized your lack of maturity, but told yourself it was merely a reflection of Bucky rather than you. You were simply avoiding him in the same way he was doing to you. You stayed where you were seated as he went to the controls, taking the pilot’s seat. Within no time, he had the jet set to take off.

“Are you ready?” Bucky asked, his voice breaking the silence between you, while his eyes stayed fixed on the controls. You took a breath before you answered.

“Yeah.”

With that, you and Bucky were on your way to Belarus. It’d be an enjoyable, not at all awkward or tense 15 hour flight, you were sure.

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dangerously-human · 3 months

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Still fighting for my life with tuition benefit stuff, in case anyone was wondering. I would like to submit my request for this semester, but we're still duking it out over last semester because of a problem from over a year ago and I don't want to swing at two hornet nests at once, so. Took every single dollar out of my savings account to pay tuition for this semester and am just praying I can get reimbursed before another rent check needs to go out (and Lord willing, my car won't need massive repairs at inspection this year). I'm doing an actual research study for my mixed methods class this semester, and the professor keeps saying she's fine with giving us an incomplete so we have another year to wrap it up in order to actually get something meaningful out of it. I finally talked to her last night to explain that I cannot afford to take another incomplete and ask how I could do a legitimate study on such a condensed timeline. Thankfully she was understanding and came up with an idea I think will work, since it involves basically just doing the quantitative portion under an existing protocol at work and a qualitative portion that doesn't count as human subjects research, so I don't have to deal with an IRB pissing contest between institutions, nor the debatable ethics of collecting data without compensating people for their time, given that it's unfunded research (and I really can't afford to pay people out of pocket when I'm already paying through the nose to be in this class in the first place). I'm still reworking my research plan, but I do feel a lot better about this in comparison to my plan as of last week, which would have required either submitting to both IRBs (and my work IRB is notorious for having different standards than most, and they/the data lawyers that often end up getting involved move slowly in this kind of situation) or submitting twice to my university IRB, once per phase.

Anyway, dealing with all of this today had me looking at what I really have left to do before I graduate. I'm halfway through the program now, though it feels like I've done way more. After I'm done with this class, which meets my advanced methods requirement (although round 2 of statistics probably did too), I have to eventually go back and take the foundations of the program course that was a scheduling conflict my first semester and somehow hasn't been offered since; another research apprenticeship (I'll probably write another manuscript, ideally one that's already been in progress for a bit at work - if I can get a loan, maybe I can do that this summer with my brief report I'm first authoring); plus two electives, which I was hoping to concentrate on measure design but would also happily do more advanced statistics courses if I'm allowed to take them through the school of psychology (I've tapped out the school of ed on that score). I guess I should ask if I'm allowed to say my job counts as an internship, which from the course catalog it looks like it should, but idk. Theoretically that puts me graduating... fall '25? Maybe? I could go so much faster if it weren't for the financial aspect. I do have to meet with an advisor at some point, but I still don't have one at the moment (again), which really seems like a problem for future me to figure out. But future me before May, because I think I'm still recorded as supposed to graduate this semester, even though it's been clear from the beginning that I was not a full-time student. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

They really do make this grad school thing as complicated as possible, don't they?

#personal #grad life gazette

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sherifftillman · 1 year

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come along, one and all, to the hawkins fair! a special event held in honor of two thousand of you fine people being here. why not have a look around? we’ve got two wonderful parks for you to peruse, writer’s world and gifset grounds, so take your time, pick an attraction or two and be sure to check out the fireworks show at the end!

●・○・●・○・●

-ˏˋ Writer’s World ˊˎ-

🪞 hall of mirrors: you’re here, you’re there, you’re everywhere! which is the real you? who are these doppelgangers? – send me a description of yourself and i’ll write you a short blurb about what i think your role would be within the stranger things timeline! (+ add a 💕 if you also want to be shipped with someone)

💜 tunnel of love: they can’t stay still. your breath is shallow. awkward laughter as you catch each other’s eye, crammed in a boat with a strangely ominously glowing void ahead of you. – send a character or ship (please specify if the ship is standalone or an x reader polycule! i’ll assume all ships are standalone unless stated otherwise) and i’ll write a romantic blurb. (+ add a 🔥if you want smut)

🎠 carousel: the music fills your ears, the cool metal pole pressing against your warm, flushed cheek as you see your best friend next to you, having the time of their life. – send a character or platonic ship (please specify if standalone or x reader) and i'll write a friendship blurb. *this is the only option where i will also accept members of the party as options, but not directly interactive with the reader UNLESS as a side character/sibling of reader. (e.g. i won't accept dustin x reader but i would include dustin (+ other kids) in a henderson!reader x older teen scenario, or dustin with other canon characters)

🎪 big top: sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! this one’s all about celebrating you, dear audience, so we’ll need volunteers! volunteer yourselves, your friends, your idols. everyone deserves a spotlight! – send a fic you’re proud of! send a fic you love! this totally isn’t a thinly-veiled attempt at me trying to farm fic recs since i’ve slipped so much! it could be a reader insert or a ship. i don't mind any ship (as long as it doesn't include b*lly or j*son), especially rarepairs!

🌀 a portal?!: uh-oh, looks like HNL’s been at it, again. this time, it seems as though they’ve opened a portal through the entire multiverse! people are appearing that look strangely like existing hawkins residents. – send another character that a stranger things actor plays and i’ll write a romantic or platonic blurb for them, too! (+ add a 🔥if you want smut)

●・○・●・○・●

-ˏˋ Gifset Grounds ˊˎ-

🤹 the juggler: that’s right, i’m the juggler, baby! i can juggle almost anything you want, anything at all! i might even toss one your way, get ready for it! – make me choose between any number of things! people, ships, scenes, locations, seasons, etc.

🎈 balloon stall: get your balloons here! we got all the colours here, you want one? two? all?! you got it, kid. – send a character/ship and as many colours as you want to be featured.

🐤 hook a duck: feeling lucky, duck? why not take a chance on one of these rubbery fellas? anything could be under it, anything at all. you won't know unless you try! – send this and i'll have a randomiser decide who i make a gifset for.

🎡 ferris wheel: far above the shrieks of an excitable crowd, the blaring lights, the aromatic mix of sickly sweets, sweat and smoke; a moment of peace. just you, the world beneath you, and a simple song to guide you. – name a character and either choose a song/artist yourself or leave that up to me, and i'll make a lyric gifset for them!

👻 ghost train: what is dead may never die. what lurks within the dark depths of the unknown? truly anything can happen, if you dare to take the leap and open yourself to possibility. – give me an au (literally anything non-canon-compliant) and i'll try and make a gifset about it!

●・○・●・○・●

🎆 fireworks! 🎆

i just wanted to take a moment to thank every one of you. it's been insane how i can once again fall in love with writing, be this close to finishing a majorly hefty writing project, and learn a new skillset that i actually enjoy right from the get-go. being a part of fandom again has me getting out of the house again, going to conventions again, making new friends wherever i go, making plans to go to places i've never been before with those people. i thought that part of my life was behind me. i've never been more proud to be wrong.

all of you have encouraged me in ways i couldn't begin to explain, but the mutuals i'm tagging inspire me with their support and creativity every dang day. i'm so lucky to have these people in my life in any capacity, whether we talk every day or we've never spoken (though if the latter's the case, i'd love to fix that!) 💜

@denim-mixtapes @fanatictypist @keerysquinn @userquinn @hellfirehoe @reysorigins @eddieandbird @heroeddiemunson @roykentt @iero @hellfireclubs @corroded-hellfire @munson-blurbs @lunatictardis @loveshotzz @quinnsbower @newlips @wroteclassicaly @usedtobecooler @corrodedbisexual @dindjarins @stargyles @mulderfcx @enidsnclr @elizabethgillies @sebuckyverse @wordscomehither @eddiemunsons-missingnipple @hearsegrrl @mcbeanzontoast @pitifulbaby

#*mygifs #*2kcelebration

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writingwithciara · 1 year

Text

For Your Protection ~Bucky Barnes~

summary: despite never really interacting with bucky, all y/n wants is for him to be safe. but she doesn’t know that the only reason he puts himself in harms way is to protect her.

word count: 2.5k

pairings: bucky barnes x reader

warnings: mentions blood

a/n: it’s day 2 & today’s trope is ‘protective’. i tried to keep it within the FATWS timeline as much as I could. Also, in the first half, bucky is nowhere to be seen. I guarantee you he’s there. And I know bucky is pretty close to invincible, but I needed to have it where he could get seriously wounded for my idea to work properly

masterlist

“You’re leaving on another mission already?” y/n followed Sam around his house as he searched for something.

“Yeah. The world is in constant need of saving.”

“Oh. Well can you keep Bucky out of danger?”

“Seriously? He doesn’t listen to me. He jumps into a situation without even thinking about the dangers that lie within it.” Sam chuckled and picked up his bag.

“Still, can you at least try?”

“Why are you so worried about him? You’ve known him for 3 months and you two barely interact at all.

“I have no idea why I care so much. Just promise me, Sam. Please?”

“I can try but there’s no guarantee I can actually keep him out of danger.”

“Thanks, Sam. And as always, I will be here when you get home to patch up your injuries.”

“So you figure I’m gonna get injuries, but you don’t want Bucky to get them? I get it. You love him more than you love me.”

“Not true at all.” y/n smiled. “Just go save the world. But be as safe as possible.”

It was 2 days later when Sam came home. He was covered in minor scrapes, and he had a few bruises on his arms. Bucky was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, where’s Barnes?”

“I have no idea. As soon as we got back to town, he took off. Didn’t tell me where he was going either.”

“Oh, well did you guys succeed on the mission this time?”

“Uh, no. Not this time. I gotta go back to New York though.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, you are not. It is way too dangerous out there for you.”

“I don’t mean I want to go dive into the crime world with you. I just want to go to New York and be right there if something bad happens, which it won’t. Please?” she placed her hands together and looked up at her best friend.

“You know I can’t resist that look.” Sam shook his head. “If I agree to let you come along, do you promise that you’re going to stay out of danger, and not leave the hotel?”

“Yes sir.”

“Okay. Then you can come with me.”

“Oh, thank you.” y/n smiled and threw her arms around his shoulders. “When do we leave?”

“As soon as possible. But we’ll need a backstory. I hope you’re good with being undercover.”

That night, y/n and Sam quickly checked into their hotel room. As they made their way to the elevator, y/n spotted some guys staring at them.

“Do you see that?” she whispered.

“See what?”

“There’s two guys over by the front desk, one by the front door, and another one by the restaurant entrance. They haven’t taken their eyes off us since we walked in.”

“It’s probably just security. I’m sure it’s fine. People tend to stare when a good looking couple stays at a nice hotel.”

“Good looking couple? Really?”

“Hey, we gotta sell this to be able to go undetected here.” Sam pressed the button required to take them to their floor. When the doors opened again, he checked the card and walked to their room. He placed his bag on the bed and sat on the edge. Y/n joined him a few seconds later.

“You’re sleeping on the couch, right?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want.”

“Well, if we have to play a couple in public, I don’t want to have to pretend to like you in the privacy of our own room.” She offered him a smiled and pulled out her laptop.

“You’re lucky you’re my best friend. Otherwise I would be greatly offended.” Sam looked over at the couch. “I’m sure if it was Bucky, you’d offer the bed up to him, wouldn’t you?”

“Not a chance. And if you two were the gentlemen I know you are, you wouldn’t make me sleep on the couch.”

“Touche.” Sam smirked and looked towards the bathroom. “Since you get the bed, I get first shower.”

“Fine. But I have to bandage that large cut on your chest.”

“Wait, how did you-“

“You can’t hide anything from me, Sammy. We’ve been friends forever. I know you by now.”

“You’re good.” By this time, he was already in the bathroom and 2 seconds later, y/n heard the shower running.

While she waited for Sam to shower, she took the opportunity to go out on the balcony. Down below, drivers in their cars rushed by and the lights across the city were bright. She had never been to New York before and she wanted to enjoy every part of it, even if she was only there for a dangerous mission.

“Hey, there you are. What are you doing out here?” Sam approached her and looked out at the lights. “It’s your turn in the shower.”

“Thanks, Sammy.” y/n headed back into the hotel room and grabbed her clothes. The shower was calling, and she could already feel the warm water cascading off her body.

As she rinsed the conditioner out of her hair, she heard a crash coming from the other side of the door, followed by hushed voices.

“What are you doing? Are you trying to break stuff?”

“Look man, is y/n around? I need her help.” Bucky clutched his lower abdomen and winced a little.

“She’s in the shower. But I don’t think she’d be up for cleaning up any more of your wounds. She’s exhausted.”

“This one…it’s serious.” He lifted up the bottom of his shirt enough for Sam to see the large gash that looked like it had been leaking blood for a while already.

“Damn, that’s-“

“Oh my god. Bucky, are you okay?”

“I could really use your help.” He looked towards y/n as she moved closer to him. She reached out to touch around the wound and Bucky jumped back at her touch.

“I’m sorry. I’ll go get my kit out of my bag.” As she hurried over to her bed in search of supplies, Sam and Bucky continued their conversation.

“You’re lucky to have her, you know.”

“She’s the best.” Sam smiled and looked back at Bucky. He was watching y/n’s every move. “Oh my goodness. I just realized why you keep coming to her to patch you up.”

“What do you mean?” Bucky responded without taking his eyes off of the girl currently on a mission to help him.

“I mean, you could go to anyone for help, but no. You come to the only girl you know that has very little experience in this field. I think the main reason you do it is because you have feelings for her.”

“What? That’s crazy. The Winter Soldier doesn’t have feelings.”

“True. But you’re not the Winter Soldier anymore, Buck.” Sam smiled. “You can let yourself be open to love now, you know that.”

“I guess you’re right.” Bucky looked down at his shirt and watched as the blood soaking through the material was finally starting to show. “But I can’t risk falling in love with someone while doing what I do. There are a lot of bad people in the world, and it would break me if one of them actually hurt y/n. Like, what if she gets caught in the crossfire? I would not be able to live with myself if that happened. So even if I did have any feelings for her, I would not be able to act on them. Bad guys use that as leverage. You should know that.”

“You know, honestly, I’m surprised one of them hasn’t come after her yet. She’s been in my life forever and I’ve made some pretty powerful enemies.”

“We have to promise to keep her out of trouble.”

“I agree.”

“Alright. I got everything I need to fix you up. Sit on the bed and make sure you stay still.”

Bucky did as he was told and only winced when it stung, which was almost constantly.

That was 5 months ago…

Y/n was currently enjoying a relaxing day back at Sam’s place, but it was interrupted when she heard the front door flying open. She got off the couch and grabbed the nearest object she could find to defend herself. Fortunately, there was no need to attack. It was only Sam, dragging in a badly beat up, barely conscious Bucky.

“What the hell happened to him?”

“Two words. Flag smashers. They got to him and there was nothing he could do to fight back.”

“What about his vibranium arm?”

“Yeah. They, uh, ripped it out and destroyed it.”

“Oh my goodness. I’ve never seen Bucky looking so helpless.” y/n sighed and pulled out the kit from the end table drawer. She kept glancing up at Bucky as she searched for the necessary supplies. When she found everything she needed, she quickly cleaned him up and dressed any wounds she could find without being too invasive. When she was sure he was asleep, she slowly made her way into the kitchen where Sam was pulling a couple drinks from the fridge. He handed one to her before opening his own.

“I figured you’d need this after everything that’s happened today.”

“Thanks, Sammy.” As the each sipped their drinks, y/n kept looking out towards the living room. “Did you get hurt?”

“No. Well, just a minor bruise on my ribcage, but it’ll go away shortly. No need to worry, darling.” Sam offered her a smile

“Why does this keep happening to him?” Y/n sighed and set her empty bottle on the counter before grabbing another one and downing half of it in seconds. “I hate seeing him like this.”

“I know you do. And I know why you’re so eager and ready to take care of him when this does happen.”

“Hmm. And why is that?”

“Over the past 8 months, the two of you have grown incredibly close. Most of that is because you’ve spent so much time patching up all of his cuts and bruises. You’re healing him and I think you enjoy healing him because you have feelings for him.”

“That’s ridiculous. Bucky is just a friend. I would do the same for you if you ever got incredibly hurt like that.”

“That may be true, but this is deeper, and you know it. Why do you keep running away from your feelings? There’s nothing to be afraid of. Bucky is a good guy.”

“Who you hated for the longest time.”

“That’s all in the past, y/n. Besides, I have never seen anyone have this much of a positive impact on him ever. Your kind heart is the reason he feels so compelled to save people.”

“Me? Why on Earth would he do it because of me?”

“Maybe you should ask him.”

“Y/n, you’re still here, right?”

“Yeah. Just in the kitchen. I’ll be right there.” y/n set her bottle down and went back out to the living room, leaving Sam behind in the kitchen. She sat on the edge of the coffee table and looked at Bucky. “Glad to see you back in the land of the conscious. How are you feeling?” y/n pulled out some new gauze and ointment and began to change the bandages.

“I’m feeling better than I was an hour ago, thanks to you.” He pulled himself up enough so she could wrap the gauze around his stomach. As she came back around, he gently grabbed her arm. “You have no idea how grateful I am that you continue to take care of me.”

“You would do the same for me if the roles were reversed.” She offered him a genuine smile and he returned one.

“That is very true. Although, I think I would lose it if the roles were reversed.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked while rubbing ointment where his arm should be.

“Well, for one, Sam would absolutely kill me if I let anything bad happen to you. Let’s just get that out of the way. But I would lose it if you were in as much pain a I am right now. I would want to hunt down the monster who did it and make them pay.”

“That’s awfully sweet. Thankfully we don’t have to go through that.” As she placed the supplies back in her kit, a question came to her mind. “Why do you always come back from a mission in far worse of a condition than Sam does?”

“We both work really hard together, but whenever the bad guys mention you or threaten you in any way, I just can’t help but fly off the deep end. I would never let them hurt you so I always need to make sure they can’t. I risk my life so you can stay as safe as possible.”

“Bucky, is that true?” she looked at him and smiled softly. He nodded and reached for her hand.

“It’s very true. It started when we first met. Sam said you were important to him, and because he’s kinda my best friend, I felt this urge to just protect you whenever possible. I know we barely interacted at all for a few months, but when you first patched me up and took care of me, something inside me changed. I’ve never felt this strongly about protecting someone I barely knew. Now I know that you’re way more than just Sam’s friend. You’re y/n. A strong, smart and insanely beautiful human being.”

“Awe, Bucky.”

“I’m not quite finished yet.” He tried to chuckle but winced when he felt a pinch in his chest. “When you and Sam were staying in New York and I came to you for help, Sam and I had a discussion. He informed me that feelings can be real, and even though the Winter Soldier didn’t have any feelings, he told me that I should be open to love again. I’m glad he told me that because it was then that I realized that whenever you were patching me up, I had slowly fallen in love with you. And not just because you take care of me all the time. But because you have the world’s kindest heart. It makes me want to be a better person.”

“Sam and I had a similar conversation just now, back in the kitchen. He asked me why I keep running away from my feelings. But now, I don’t want to run anymore. You are an incredible man Bucky Barnes & I really think I love you too.”

“Really? You love me too?”

“Of course I do.” She smiled again, squeezing his hand tightly.

“I’d ask you to kiss me to seal the deal, but Sam is currently staring at us and I don’t want to make this awkward for him.”

“Sam can deal with it.” She placed her lips where Bucky needed the healing the most. He immediately kissed back, finally thankful that Sam was such a good friend.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #mcu

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tobiasdrake · 3 months

Text

It's over. All we can do now is find ourselves again. Then hold our heads high and walk forward. To violence.

Appreciated. This kind of mourning isn't something you can just do overnight. Some agonies can take weeks, months, or even years to get over. Some, you never do.

Though it helps to have friends with you who can share your pain. The worst impulse after a terrible loss is the impulse to bury yourself away from the people who love you.

Erlina knows what it's like to have someone so precious to you that you would scorch the world to see them safe. Someone whose wellbeing is so valuable that any indignity, any cruelty, any humiliation is worth it if it means they'll be able to smile again tomorrow.

She understands that kind of love. That kind of fear. What she doesn't understand is that kind of loss. If she's lucky, she never will. Hopefully, she'll never have to see what's surely become of Brugaves.

But I'm sure she can imagine what it feels like. It's kept her up at night for years.

So when she dies, when she's bleeding out onto the floor and staring up at my eyes full of despair and hatred, she'll understand why. Because she would do the same for hers.

The time for dismal showers is past. I'm ready to be a hurricane.

Appreciated. Is our deal fulfilled? Are you going to give us our vindictive passage?

Hold up, we're going down? I figured we were going up. Like, the Sea of Stars was a poetic term for space.

Is that not how this works? We can't access the other timelines by flying into space like Kingdom Hearts worlds?

Goddammit. ChatGPT wants me to fill out paperwork. Resh'an, is there a jailbreak or something we can use to skip this step?

See, if you'd ever bothered to fill out the proper forms for a legal name change, this wouldn't be a concern. You should think about that. Bureaucracy can be an asshole to navigate for anyone with personal information that isn't found on their birth certificate.

Yep. Lunar Monk, Pirate Co-Captain--

Serai: I never agreed to that!

--and Headmistress of Zenith Academy. Also Wheels Semi-Champion, co-Founder of Mirth, sponsor of a child labor workshop, liberator of Kiln Mountain....

...and Warrior Cook Apprentice. Just apprentice. I'll never be as good as the master but it would be my privilege to carry on his teachings.

Is that enough titles for my registration?

O.O Okay, yeah. That settles it. We are going down to reach the other timelines. This is throwing me for a loop. I did not anticipate down.

I thought the Sea of Stars would be more stars and less sea. Good thing I know how to make paths across water.

Oh, did I mention that one? Yeah, I fixed your bridge. You're welcome.

Down we go. I am excited to finally see what the titular Sea of Stars is.

These look like the crystals we can infuse with Solstice energy that we see lying around sometimes. But glowing with a power that's neither Solar nor Lunar.

And the place is protected not by creatures but... what? The idea of creatures given form and substance? Their memory?

By the moon. It's beautiful. And terrifying. And eldritch. A tapestry of realities and possibilities in a vast ocean of impermanence.

If this is our destination, then it's likely a timeline that's been completely overrun by a World Eater. It's unlikely Aephorul would make his fortress in a plane that's still in conflict. And he can't access ones defended by Guardian Gods.

What manner of world have we even--

Oh, we've crossed genres to get here. OKAY. THIS IS FINE.

My staff could use the warm-up. How about you, Zale? Blood in your eyes?

Blood in your eyes. Check.

The past isn't going to tell us jack shit about this place, Teaks. That's the wrong direction to be looking.

This is a world of technology. I. Was. Not. Expecting this. I need a moment to wrap my head around it. There's no way to predict what's going to happen here; We need to be prepared for anything.

ROBOT SKELETON OKAY I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THAT

BUDDY

...

I'm cool with it, I just... Of all the things I imagined your secret could be, this never even crossed my mind.

Does it hurt? Or... Wait... Are you a cyborg or an android?

YEAH I CAN SEE WHY

That's not an easy conversation to raise with people. Especially medieval people. There is a non-zero chance you would have been burned as a witch.

Hon, our ship is crewed by the Ghost of Melodies Past. This is a shock, but far from a dealbreaker.

I'm sure Teaks has a million questions for you. And I have a million questions for Teaks once she's finished. But we're as tight as we've ever been.

#sea of stars #drake plays sea of stars #finally #the sea of stars #it's more beautiful than i ever imagined

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inkdemonapologist · 1 year

Text

JDS Bankruptcy Thoughts????

Okay so the latest news article has got me thinking about JDS’s bankruptcy, now that we actually have a year. I was checking the bankruptcy notice in Joey’s apartment to see if this lined up with information we already knew, and Boo pointed out something far more interesting: Joey filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

(source)

So, I checked with an accountant friend who was happy to dissect my silly fandom things and explain business terminology to me, and the first thing to get out of the way is that Chapter 11 wasn’t an option for corporations until 1978. But, you know, this is BatIM, where we have tape recorders in 1929, so maybe this just happened 30-some-odd years early in the BatIM timeline. (or maybe Joey’s apartment isn’t real and none of the letters in it can be trusted. That’s also possible). (or maybe this was just a mistake and will be quietly dropped from the lore without explanation THATS ALSO FINE)

But if we assume this did in fact happen, then this is interesting: Chapter 11 lets a corporation stay in business despite their outstanding debts, as long as they have a plan in place to pay them off. Accountant friend described it as “reorganisation” and “essentially, asking for more time.” When Boo had looked it up, he found big companies doing things like liquidating many many stores in order to focus on supporting a smaller number of stores that they felt could remain sustainable and keep making money. So you’ll get headlines about COMPANY BANKRUPT, CLOSING 400 STORES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, but they’re not fully shutting down.

We don’t know if BatDR and BatIM will have consistent lore between them, bUT IF SO, then the 1948 newspaper article announcing the the animation studio is CLOSING ITS DOORS FOREVER doesn’t seem to match the kind of bankruptcy that Joey Drew supposedly filed for. How would he keep the company going if he’s getting rid of everything?

When @inkyvendingmachine and I were trying to make sense of this, he offered one possible explanation: WHAT IF… THERE ARE TWO STUDIOS.

We’ve already been given two conflicting studio locations – TIOL in 1942 describes a studio in the Meatpacking District, which Joey could be lying about I guess, but there’s no reason we can see for him to lie about that – especially when it’s not exactly a normal or glamorous place for an animation studio to be – versus Buddy’s description of Joey Drew Studios being on Broadway in 1946, with Joey purchasing a theatre next door and promising to bring toy merchandising in-house by the end of DCTL. The 1948 news article specifies it is the Broadway location and the company’s land in New Jersey (likely intended for Bendyland) that are being liquidated to pay off debts – so what if the Meatpacking District location still exists?

iirc Halfusek brought up the concept of two studios WAY BACK WHEN we first got this info from TIOL – the idea that there could be a reason Joey specifies “the Old Workshop,” the place Henry used to work, as opposed to the newer fancier place that he’s having to abruptly sell in 1948. By promising to downscale his ambitiously expensive projects and go back to doing what JDS does best, Joey might be able to make a case that JDS could bounce back… which DOES seem in-character. And he’s moved the machine before – just stash it in the Meatpacking District location now, and nobody’ll be the wiser.

This… probably didn’t work out for him. There’s hints in the 1948 article that Joey might have gone missing (which I’m sure (???) we’ll get more information on soon), so that would sort of get in the way of a bankruptcy hearing if he didn't turn up again before the deadline (abandoning the business is a whole OTHER legal thing). And the August 15th notice above is not actually the bankruptcy going through, just the first step, where JDS is found to qualify for Chapter 11 and the plan to pay back debts has been approved – as far as my accountant friend could tell, it still needs to be approved by the company’s creditors, and there would be more hearings after this. So… we don’t know that the bankruptcy actually went through just because Joey filed it, and if he were found falsifying information about the company’s finances (something im sure joey would NEVER do) or trying to stuff company funds or assets in his own pocket (again, something TRULY unthinkable for mr drew [meaningful glance at the ink machine in joey’s apartment]) then that could also be an explanation for why Joey does NOT seem well off in 1963, if he ended up without bankruptcy protection and was found personally liable for the some of the company’s debts.

Anyway, we don’t know enough to know anything for sure, and this might all get jossed with the next press archive release, but I found Boo’s idea such an iNTERESTING THOUGHT that I'm sticking it up here anyway lmao WE'LL SEE HOW LONG IT LASTS!! in the meantime def interested to know about alternate takes on the BANKRUPTCY SITUATION if anything stands out to anyone else 👀

#batdr #batdr spoilers #we all write on the walls #joey drew #batim #bendy and the ink machine #i could prob edit this a lil more but gOES AHEAD AND POSTS IT NOW IN CASE IT GETS JOSSED TOMORROW LMAO #i think its reasonable to not deeply research bankruptcy for a fun horror videogame but i AM going to sit here thinkin way too hard abt it

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