#like I get it I recently got promoted its kind of weird

[queenimmadolla]

NEED MORE PENNY AND DAD!EDDIE ITS SO CUTE

yeah, this little family kind of owns my ass now so i’m glad you love them! and thank you for being my first request, i literally dropped everything i was doing cause i wanted to get this out tonight! sorry if the formatting is shit, posting on mobile is weird for me. will tweak any mistakes tomorrow!

Look Who’s Talking

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

summary: eddie takes his three year old shopping. obviously, cuteness ensues. **sequel to Penny for Your Thoughts**

warnings: none, i think. oh, except PREGNANCY WHAAAAT.

gif by corrodedcoffins

“We’re gonna get you some cool new threads, pretty girl. I’m thinking slacks.”

The look Penny gave him made him snicker, her eyebrows furrowed together as she eyed him like she regretted not being able to opt out of this. Sure, she had no idea what slacks were, but clearly she was not fond of the word.

Penny was in need of some new clothes, the now three year old was beginning to outgrow most of her wardrobe. She even had little high waters, and that made his eyes water. His baby was growing, and he didn’t like it one bit.

Normally, shopping was a family activity but you were incredibly irritable lately and Eddie figured you could use some alone time to relax. You hadn’t protested too hard when he offered to take Penny to pick out a couple of new toddler ‘fits. Now that she didn’t demand a nipple every once in a while, it was easier to take Penny places with him.

Like the outdoor shopping center, a recent addition to Hawkins.

“Can we get snacks, too?” Came her cute little voice as he unbuckled her from her carseat.

She’d always been a bit of babbler from the moment she started trying to communicate, was speaking a couple of broken phrases here and there a little after she had turned two but it wasn’t until after her third birthday that she figured words out. Like really well. Scarily, well.

Penny went from baby talk and referring to herself in third person to asking him if he could sit down with her on his lap so she could tell him about how ‘tiwed in the hawt’—she still had trouble with her ‘r’s—she’d get when she spends her day making a city with her building blocks before her bedtime only to wake up and find the city back in her toy box. All her hard work gone.

From just ‘Daddy, no eat Penny’s toes! Penny’s toes not fo’ eatin’ to ‘Daddy, why awe you twying to eat my feets foe? Thewa not vewy yummy, not wike ‘spetti.’, all within the span of less than a year. Broke and warmed his heart. She immediately clung to him like a baby koala as he pulled her entirely out of the van and shut the door, letting her dad press a multitude of kisses into her still baby fat filled cheeks. “Yeah, we’ll grab something on the way out.”

“You got a big nose, daddy.” She also had no filter, something you both had to be incredibly cautious about because it wasn’t a matter of if she would repeat something. It was when. And Penny had already told Wayne how ‘fuckin ‘cited’ she was with her approaching promotion.

Eddie smirked at the memory of last Christmas and the way you’d immediately disappeared into the kitchen—because it had totally been you that fucked up—as he made his way to the kids clothing store you bought most of Penny’s clothes from. The bell above the door sounded as they entered, and Eddie crouched down to set Penny on her legs.

He loved holding her, but he wanted to get her comfortable with walking around in public, and a confined setting—while she had a lot more of her impulses under control, the need to immediately run free and wild when her parents put her down in most settings was still hard for her to ignore—such as a store was the perfect opportunity. He just couldn’t take his eyes off of her or he’d have a heart attack.

“Alright, lucky Penny. What colors are we thinking about for your fall wardrobe?” He asked, pulling something tan and fluffy off of a rack for her to inspect.

She reached a little hand up to scratch at her head, fingers gripping the curls for a moment as she tried to figure out a way to convey to her daddy that what he was holding up was very ugly.

“Uhm, I dunno. Not that. Maybe Gween? I wike gween, and yellow. And pink. Owange is a hawd colow, huh daddy?” He had no idea what she meant by that, but he agreed nonetheless. His baby was always right.

Eddie put the ugly article of clothing back, letting Penny wander around to whatever caught her eye.

Except, she just kept walking, didn’t even bother looking at anything. “What about this one?” He asked, pulling a random little green sweater out for her in an attempt to catch her attention. Before he could even get a good look at it, she was letting out the most dramatic of little screams.

“DUCK! WOOK! WOOK, DADDY! ’S A DUCKIE!” She pointed at the embellishment on the front of the sweater, and sure enough, it was a duck. And not even a cute little cartoon one, it was an embellishment of an actual duck. Eddie knew it was her latest obsession, along with city construction, but he hadn’t realized the form of it didn’t matter to her.

“Alright, we found our first pick.” He double checked to make sure it was the right size before letting her hold onto it. The way she cradled it to her chest, mumbling gibberish to it reminded him a lot of Gollum. Two minutes later she got tired of holding it, so it ended up thrown over his shoulder.A blue blouse, a pair of pink overalls, pink sweats, pink pants, three pairs of little jeans, an orange sweater, two care bears shirts, three packs of socks—those she wanted to hold, cradling them like babies despite the fact that Eddie knew how much she hated socks—and the green duck sweater later, Eddie was pretty satisfied with their little shopping haul.

Penny had kept up a continuous stream of commentary ranging from her opinions on the selections to fleeting thoughts she had a couple of ‘yestertimes’ ago with absolutely no relation to their bonding time, but it was still endearing to Eddie. Everything she did, was. Eddie absolutely adored how random she was. She’d be going on and on about how ducks aren’t scary like chickens, how you promised her you’d protect her from them forever, then she’d remember he existed or something because she’d turn around and hug his leg—and she put her all into hugs—giving his jeans a kiss before looking up at him with those big, beautiful brown eyes. His eyes looking up at him through a face so similar to yours.

Fuck, you guys made a whole, perfect little human together. That’s all the proof he needs to know magic is real.

“I wuvs you, daddy.”

His heart wouldn’t ever not melt for her.

“I love you, too, baby.” He choked out through the emotions making his throat feel tight. “Daddy loves you so much.”

“Yes.” Is all she said, leaning up on his leg for a few moments before she was off again. Eddie followed immediately after her, eyebrows pinching together in confusion for a moment. Something didn’t feel right. Something was missing.

“Penny.”

“Yes?” She responded, curls bouncing as she felt the need to start trying her hardest to hop along instead of walk.

“Where are the socks?”

“Yes.”

After they’d double backed around the store and found the pack of socks—Eddie only needed to watch her glance nervously at a certain shoe box a couple of times—he figured it was check out time.

So did the woman who rang them up, only it wasn’t just the clothes she was checking out, her blue eyes raked over his frame with lust clouded eyes.

“She yours?” The blonde asked, folding all the little articles of clothing before placing them into a bag.

“Yeah.” Eddie’s response was bleak, doing his best to mask his annoyance. He had gotten used to being hit on when it was just him and Penny, but it didn’t mean that he liked it. The thought of any women thinking they could take your place—whether they know you existed or not—in his and Penny’s lives made his blood boil.

“Figured. She’s cute. Must have got it from you.” And he really hated it when they did it right in hearing range of his daughter.

He glanced down at your little mini me, relieved to see her distracted by something in the display case that was eye level with her.

“She looks more like her mom,” Eddie took great satisfaction in seeing how red with embarrassment her face got. Served her fucking right, hitting on guys with babies with no knowledge of whether or not they’re going home to someone.

“O-Oh, she must be really beautiful then.” She didn’t look back up at him as she rang him up, and before Eddie could hand her the money, a chubby little hand started tapping at the glass display.

Eddie popped down in a squat to Penny’s height, mouth breaking out into a wide grin when he realized exactly what it was Penny had decided she wanted.

Oh, you were gonna lose your shit.

“Honey, we’re home!” Eddie announced as he unlocked the front door, the bag of clothes in one hand, and Penny in the other arm.At the sound of their arrival, you put the ice cream you’d been eating straight out of the carton back into the freezer and made your way towards the living room to greet them.

The overwhelming amount of cuteness stopped you short.“Oh my god.”

Eddie had his sunglasses on. Paired with the dark long sleeve and his leather jacket, it was a dangerous combo. You would have jumped his bones if it weren’t for the real attention grabber in his arms.

“Imma medohead, mama!”

Penny’s curls were significantly more wild when compared to how they were before the two of them had left, she had what looked like cinnamon smeared around her mouth and all over her pink ‘Girl Power’ shirt. But it was the mini pair of sunglasses on her face that did you in.

Identical to her dad’s.

They were fucking matching.

If you weren’t already waiting for the current bun in your oven to be ready, you would’ve been setting it to preheat for tonight.

But wait, there’s more.

Eddie leaned forward to give you a thorough—but kid-viewing friendly—kiss before he pulled out another small pair from the pocket of his jacket.

“For whenever our little guy decides to make his entrance.”

May whatever God is around help you.

“Don’t move, I gotta get the camera.”

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader fluff #dilf!eddie munson #girl dad!eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x black!reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson blurb #stranger things 4 #stranger things #st #dad!eddie munson #joseph quinn #joe quinn #stranger things fanction #eddie munson fanfic #pennyverse #joseph quinn x reader #joe quinn x reader

[avianyuh]

Hi! Can you please write headcanons for BTS members where they overhear that a txt member has a crush on their crush? They get jealous and insecure because reader is close to their age, so they don't confess because of this reason but tries to distance reader from them. Thank you ❤️ ❤️

BTS Getting Jealous of Readers Relationship with TXT

{A/N;Hellloooo, so for context, reader is an idol and has a flirty relationship with the member. I'm assuming you mean that the reader is close to TXT's ages, so I'll guess around like 2000? For Jin and Yoongi it'd be weird to go any younger than that imo so the set age is like 2000/01 for all members. Some of these are confessions, some aren't. Like I said, age ranges are tricky so idk, like for the maknae line it was fine because they'd be only 3-5 years younger (if its 2000) so it's not a problem. Hope you enjoy :)}

*Honestly, the rest are mid, just skip to JK for some drama*

Jin;

Jin had met you backstage at an award show

You immediately became friendly

This was further amplified by the fact that you needed up being on a few of the same variety shows

So Jin had thought that everything was going well

Problem was that you were a bit younger than him

8 years to be exact

So he thought it was kind of weird at first to be anything more than friends with you

Your company had ended up being bought by HYBE

So Jin had started to run into you around the building a lot more often

But that also meant that you'd be around other groups a lot more often

This included TXT

You had filmed a promotional dance challenge with TXT for your comeback and had become pretty friendly with Soobin

Jin didn't think anything of it and to him he SHOULDN'T care, right?

So he forgot about it for awhile

But then one day BTS and TXT sat down together

(idk where just go with it lol)

And you know...everyone starts to gossip

And Hoseok was like, "So...you guys got anyone special in mind???"

And TXT being in the presence of their seniors are like "😳"

But the Yeonjun being himself, blabs

"Soobin thinks Y/n is hot"

Now Jin

Jinnnnnnnn

Why would he have beef with a dude 8 years younger than him?

But you know he's thinking in his head, "Pfffpt, as if he has a chance"

And his face on the outside is like this, "🥸", but on the inside he's a bit of a combination of, "🤬&😨"

But as I said, he knew that you'd #1; Probably be more comfortable with someone like Soobin and #2; Be safer getting a relationship exposed with someone like Soobin because you're the same age and it would probably be 5% less of a scandal.

So, he kinda watched from the background for a few weeks

Noticed how you acted around Soobin and noticed that you seemed happy with him

But you noticed that Jin had become distant

You'd see him around and he'd find a way to get out of having a conversation with you

So one day, you confronted him

"Did I do something wrong?", you asked him one day as you passed each other in the hallway.

Jin stopped walking and turned around to face you. He looked at you for a minute, silent, not knowing what to say.

He hadn't expected you to notice the change in behavior

It broke his heart to distance himself from you but he didn't now how to get over his feelings for you.

"No, it's just..."

"What Jin?"

"I've been going through some things lately, it's nothing personal"

He just couldn't do it.

Yoongi:

You had been an idol under BigHit

The first few years, the two of you didn't interact much

Most likely because you were 7 years younger than him and there was no reason to talk to you for quite a long time

But recently, Yoongi had approached you

Mainly because he had heard a song that you had produced and wanted to compliment you on your work

You became friendly and had actually been invited to his studio a few times

(which many know is a huge honor)

If Yoongi was being completely honest, he had developed a bit of a crush on you

You had a lot in common; both produced music, worked at the same company, had the same profession, etc...

But like already stated, there was just a little problem

You were way younger than him

(and we've seen the way he acts around people younger than him, he acts like a grandpa lmao)

So, he had every intention of keeping it platonic.

But then, after filming the Suchwita episode with TXT

After filming, Yoongi was jokingly asking a very drunk Yeonjun a lot of questions

And Taehyun was teasing Yeonjun about basically anything

And then Taehyun accidentally mentioned your name

And Yoongi was like, 'What about Y/n?'

And Taehyun was like 'Tehehehe, he likes Y/n'

And Yeonjun was all blush-y and passed out so he wasn't even denying it

And Yoongi was kinda jealous not gonna lie

So he played it off well and sent them off

And he checked his phone, saw that he had a text from you

And you know how you can clear messages, lmao, that's what he did

He knew that you and him probably wouldn't work

And similar to Jin, he was too afraid of the backlash to an age gap if it ever came out that the two of you were dating

So he needed some distance.

Hoseok:

Hobi had become very protective over you since you had meet back in 2018

You had debuted the year before and had nervously approached him backstage and told him how big of a fan you were of BTS

And Hobi just thought that you were so cute

So you had become friends

But honestly...flirty friends

He had his suspicions that you liked him

And he liked you

But he never really knew of a way to express any of his feelings

You were a bit younger than him, and speaking in seniority terms, his group was older than yours

So to him, it was a tricky slope to navigate

Well...until now

Hoseok had been in the practice room with Yeonjun (sorry but like anyone in TXT younger than Beomgyu is just awkward to write about lmao, like imagine Hobi (1994) beefing with Heuning Kai (2002) )

Anyways....

Hoseok was having one of those heart to heart type things with Yeonjun and Yeonjun had actually mentioned you out of the blue.

And Hobi (loving to talk about you cuz like we said, there was something there) was like , "Do tell :))))"

So Yeonjun was like, "Well, I know you and Y/n are close and I was wondering if you could give her my number?"

And Hoseok was like,"Why? For a work-related thing?"

And Yeonjun explained how he was interested in you.

So Hoseok did give him your number (he couldn't come up with an excuse not to), but right after he came up with an excuse that he had to leave.

And he rushed over to your dorm.

And he was knocking frantically, and you opened it all confused

And BOOM

Grabs your face and kisses you.

Start of a power couple.

Namjoon:

So apparently Joon is an extrovert??

Yeah he's an ENFP

I was shocked to find that out a few months ago

Anyways

Extroverts love to party and all that jazz

And you know how idols have album release parties, etc...

Well, that's how you met

At an album release for someone else

But you bumped into each other at a table and you laughed and apologized and by the end of the night had exchanged numbers

Well, since then, you two had spent a lot of time together

But you had also been in the midst of a comeback recently

And while promoting, you met TXT at one of the comeback showcase thingies (idk Inkigayo or something sorry I can't think of the name)

And your managers were like "Omg you should film a dance challenge with *yep you guessed it* Yeonjun!!!"

{A/N; IKKK, Yeonjun is breaking a lot of hearts I guess I'm sorry}

And you and Yeonjun became good friends too after that

Namjoon saw the video and thought it was cute, but didn't think much of it

As TXT and BTS are label mates as you know *fighting🫶*

But then one day he was walking down the hallway past a dance studio room and overheard the TXT members talking about you

So Namjoon being nosey hid outside of the door where they couldn't see him and listened in

"Yeonjun, you should take Y/n out on a date", Beomgyu said as everyone laughed

Namjoon felt like going and unliking the video he saw of the two of you, he was so jealous {A/N; LMAO, that line sounds so dumb, but it made me laugh as I wrote it so I'm keeping it in😭}

He snapped out of his jealous rage and headed back to his studio.

Trying to be rational, Would the two of you even work? You are a bit younger than, you're only year younger than Yeonjun, would you be better off with someone like him?

But when he arrived and closed the door as he walked in, he looked over at his desk and saw you.

There you were, sitting in his chair, smiling up at him

"Joonie!!!!, I texted you but you didn't text back", you said as you got up to greet him.

But before you could pull him into a hug, Namjoon bent down and pulled you into a kiss.

Jimin:

Jimin had always been a supportive label mate

To TXT and your group

Actually, Jimin kind of had his suspicions that you liked him

Mainly because every time he would see you, your group mates would nudge you and giggle.

He thought it was cute, but actually after getting to know you, he had developed some feelings for you

Neither of you would confess though

Yeah, you were 5 yeas younger, and that's what kind of held Jimin back

And in return, Jimin was five years older, so you would never make the first move.

But what if an event pushed him to?

Like I said, TXT, BTS, & your group were all label mates

So, you knew BTS, which obviously meant that you knew your other label mate

So on that side of the pond, you were very friendly with Beomgyu.

And just like with Jimin, you were oblivious

Avianyuh? What do you mean oblivious?

Well...Beomgyu liked you too

LOVE TRIANGLE

I'm just kidding

Now the one person who did know about Jimin's feelings for you was Jungkook

Who was very friendly with TXT

And one day, Jungkook calls Jimin and he's like, "Hyung...you have some competition"

And Jimin's all confused so Jungkook explains that Beomgyu mentioned that he liked you

And Jimin is like, "Oh shit", because he knows that the two of you are friendly

So he immediately heads out the door to your apartment and he calls you and is like, "I have something important to tell you, can you meet me outside"

So when he gets there, you're standing near the entrance to your apartment

And he starts with this long speech, 'Y/n, we've known each other for awhile and I think that there's something between us and-"

You cut him off with a kiss

#BigHitpowercouple

Taehyung:

Taehyung isn't about competition

I actually see TAehyung as being a very forward person

Like, I know I keep writing all of these requests for crushes and shit, but honestly with Taehyung I don't see him being one for crushes.

Like I think if he wants you, then he'll just confess

So this will be brief

He's probably been friends with you for awhile

But he kind of develops feelings for you

And one day, probably like Jin, he'll be sitting down with the TXT members

And one of them (probably Yeonjun idk) mentions that he thinks you're cute.

And Taehyung is straight up like, "Oh I think she has a boyfriend, sorry"

And then the next time he sees you, he confesses

And you're like, "Where'd all this come from"

And he's honest

"One of the TXT members was talking about you and it got me thinking..."

👏Kim Taehyung everybody👏

Jungkook:

He gives me drama queen vibes

Like he loves the chase of a relationship

Unlike Taehyung, I think he loves having a crush

Blabbing to his friends about her

Having his members tease him about it

Plus he's the youngest (so for me this is less weird and I can start some beeeeef)

You two are four years apart

Not bad, but ehhhhh some people could side eye idk how judgmental people are lmao

I think more people would be bothered about the fact that you were a fourth gen idol and he was third

So like, the public views him as more experienced than you

But you know how I said that I think JK enjoys having crushes

Well, I also think he's very hard on himself

And BigHit has protected him a lot from public scrutiny so I think a relationship where you two aren't the exact some age would maybe ruffle a few feathers

So he hasn't really made any moves on you

And a tiny part of him is afraid of getting rejected

So for now, it's some harmless, shameless flirting

Won't hurt anyone, right?

Well, trying to not crush on someone, but continuing to flirt with them can cause some problems

And TXT and Jungkook are close

So one day, Jungkook was talking with Soobin and blah blah blah, Soobin ends up saying he thinks you're hot

And JK is like, "Ummmm, why?"

And Soobin is low-key offended for you because he gets the impression that Jungkook was calling you ugly

*I told you there'd be beef*

And Jungkook is like, "Idk out of all the people, why her", now what he really means is; I like her, so why do you have to crush on MY crush?

But Soobin still thinks JK is just being a major dick

And Jungkook is now feeling like HE has competition

Kook loves competition, but he hates losing

So, he goes home

And now he's all bothered

And then the next day, he sees YOU with SOOBIN

And you're giggling and Soobin's looking at you all loved up

And JK wants to punch him

And then you see Jungkook and wave him over

And Soobin is giving JK a death glare, and JK's giving him back one

And now you're looking between the two of them and you're just confused

So JK is like, "Y/n, can I speak to you for a moment?", and as he asks, he isn't even looking at you, he's looking at Soobin

And son you follow him down the hall and Kook presses you up against a wall

And he gets all up in your face you're like, "😳"

And he starts asking you all of these questions

"Are you into him?", "How could you not tell me you were dating him?"

And now you're REALLY confused

"I'm not dating Soobin, what're you talking about?", you say.

"You aren't? But, but he's all over you", Jungkook asks.

"Wait a minute, even if I was...why would you care?", you ask him, crossing your arms.

Well shit, now he's outed himself

"I, uh, just wanted to know, that's all..."

"...that's all?"

"Do you want to go out with me", he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Took you long enough", you said as you walked away.

#bts #bts headcanons #jungkook #jimin #taehyung #suga #jhope #jin #rm #namjoon #kpop #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts scenarios #bts writing #bts masterlist #txt #txt yeonjun #txt soobin #txt taehyun #txt beomgyu #txt imagines #txt x reader

[foreverindreamlandd]

Sweeter Than Honey • 1

Pairing: Mechanic!Bucky x Fem!Personal Assistant!Reader

WC: 6.4k

Summary: It all started with a failed attempt to buy your boss a new phone, and then suddenly you're in the middle of nowhere in Ireland crying your eyes out in front of a handsome mechanic who would do just about anything to make you smile again...

Note: This scene was loosely based on a very real moment from a few months ago when my boss asked me to buy him a new phone and Best Buy said no <3 And then I said okay what about this but in Ireland lol. No warnings for this one. Enjoy!

Series Masterlist

“I’m sorry,” you said, pinching the bridge of your nose as your brain tried to form one coherent thought through the force of stress radiating through your body. “I can’t just, like, buy a phone from you guys?”

The customer service rep, Seamus, shook his head. “Sorry darlin’,” enunciating his r’s so harshly with his thick, Irish brogue in a way you would have found charming had he not been making your day especially difficult. “We can’t set up international lines on the fly like that, especially for business accounts. Takes a wee bit of time to contact the right prodivers. We can get things started and have it for ye in the next five business days.”

You nodded, understanding and yet totally not understanding what the kind man was saying. After waiting for almost an hour just to have a fruitless conversation with him for 30 minutes to try to get sorted, you knew it was time to give in and call it quits. He had already put in a bunch of effort and you couldn’t let the line behind you build up any further in fear of them acting on their very apparent frustration.

So with one last, weak smile, you thanked Seamus and headed out the door onto the cobblestone sidewalk, face pointing up to the sky as the light rain gently kissed your skin. You took a few deep breaths, then made your way to your car.

The original plan for today was to spend your afternoon off exploring Dublin on your own before the book event that evening. You were going to go to the different shops, find the rowdiest pub and treat yourself to some stupidly expensive whiskey, do all the fun touristy things to celebrate your first visit to the place you had always dreamed of traveling to.

And then your boss's phone shattered into a million pieces as it cascaded down the Cliffs of Moher, and you were back on the clock before the destroyed device had even made its way into the Atlantic.

Tony had of course offered to go buy the phone himself, seeing that he was the one who had tried to hold it at a weird angle to try to get ‘the best shot possible,’ but you insisted you go. You were his personal assistant, after all, and it had only been about a month since you took the job, and since you were on an all-expenses paid trip to Ireland thanks to your new boss, you wanted to work your ass off to make sure he didn’t regret hiring you.

Besides, you had thought this task would only take 20 minutes tops, and then you’d be on your way to having a protagonist, P.S. I Love You moment with Gerard Butler.

But here you were, already failing your new boss with what theoretically should have been an easy task.

Once in the car, you took a deep breath, holding your phone to your ear as it rang.

“What’s taking you so long?” Quentin’s voice aggressively whispered into your ear. 

Rolling your eyes, you rested your head on the steering wheel. Quentin Beck was Tony’s former PA, but recently got promoted to his Brand Manager, which shocked you because ever since you started working for the international bestselling author Tony Stark, the guy had been nothing but rude to you. That was his trick, though. As soon as Tony or anyone else important was in the room it was all charm and smiles. “Can I talk to Tony, please?” you asked.

You heard a loud, dramatic sigh, then a few sounds of shuffling before the familiar, ridiculously charismatic voice came through.

“Hey, Y/n,” Tony said in his bright, careless way, “Any luck?”

You felt tears prick your eyes in disappointment. Tony was such a nice person, and you hated that you had messed this up for him. “Sorry boss, apparently international phone purchases are a lot more complicated than we thought.”

“Damn,” he breathed out, but his voice remained the same. “No worries, it’s just another week. Pepper and Morgan will be fine.”

Your stomach sank. Of course that’s why he wanted the phone so bad. Not for work, but so he could talk to his freaking wife and daughter. “No no, let me just give you my phone so you can talk to them. I feel awful.”

“Don’t feel bad, Y/n. I’m the one who dropped it off the damn cliff while taking photos. Had you slapped it out of my hands, that would have been another story.”

You laughed softly. “Still, I’ll head back now so you can call them once Morgan gets back from school. And you can use it after dinner. We’ll make it work.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you, but I promise I won’t need my phone that much. I’m sure you and Beck can alternate nights so I can at least call them before bed. That’s all I’ll need to get through the rest of the tour.”

You grimaced, picturing Quentin’s classic scowl perfectly.

“I promise it’s fine, Y/n. This is just the universe’s way of telling me I should have studied tech instead of becoming a writer. Just enjoy the rest of your afternoon and I’ll see you later for the event, okay? You’re in Ireland. As your boss I order you to have some fun.”

You breathed out a small laugh. “Alright, boss man. If you insist.”

“I do. See you in a bit.”

“See you in a bit!” you said, then hung up the phone.

Okay, that could have gone way worse, you thought. Maybe I’m not a total screw up. 

All you had to do was get Tony to the event and make sure that nothing else went wrong.

And until then….

You checked the time on your phone and smiled. Though you didn’t have enough time to have a true protagonist-adventure, you could take a slightly longer detour to get back to the hotel and still get your P.S. I Love You moment. 

With that, you opened your GPS and turned on the ignition, determined to salvage this day.

The Wicklow Mountains were even more glorious than you could have ever imagined; its vast, green landscape peppered with gorgeous wildflowers. It was still cloudy with a tiny bit of rainfall, but in the far off distance the sunshine peaked through, illuminating pieces of the hillside like a beacon. You blasted your favorite Irish Folk instrumental music with your hand out the window, letting the rain dance along your skin.

You didn’t know if you wanted to laugh or cry from this beautiful moment. It ended up doing a bit of both. As you sat on a part of the stone wall lined along the road for a quick stop to soak in the views, taking photos of the stunning scenery, tears welled in your eyes as a smile threatened to split your face in two.

It was perfect.

Until…..the pothole came out of nowhere.

Well, technically it didn’t come out of nowhere. That crater looked as if it had taken up permanent residency there for years, almost perfectly centered in the middle of the narrow road. There were crevices within its crevices. A seemingly endless pit that laughed at you as you noticed it too late, and you tried to slow down and turn away. This had, apparently, been the worst thing to do because as your right wheel went into it at too slow a pace and turned too much to the side, you managed to wedge it snuggly within the pothole.

And then….the car slammed to a stop.

Heart pounding from the sudden adrenaline rush, you sat there for a few seconds replaying what just occurred in your head. 

Then, looking up to the hood of the car in a silent prayer before looking back to the road ahead, you pressed on the gas pedal.

The engine revved, trying its hardest to go foreward, but you weren’t moving.

You were stuck.

“Are…you…fucking….KIDDING ME,” you wailed, slamming your palms on the steering wheel between each word. You checked the clock, which showed that you had about an hour before you had to pick up Tony for the event, and Tony was about 40 minutes away.

Tears burned your eyes as you took a few deep breaths, willing yourself to get your shit together. This was your job; you had to be the problem solver. You had to find a way to get Tony to the event.

Or else you might not have a job by the end of the day…especially if Quentin had anything to say about it.

Scrunching your face in frustration at the image of your coworker's smug expression as he watched you fail for the second time today, you pulled out your phone and tried to google a nearby garage. 

No internet connection. 

You bit your bottom lip, fighting back a scream when you looked out at the road ahead. There was a sign about 15 feet away that read:

Stuck in BHOD?

Confusion made you furrow your brows until you noticed the slightly small text below:

Car problems? With a phone number listed.

You jumped into action, dialing the number and muttering, “Pleaseee come on come on come on…”

“Wilson’s, how can I help ye?” a woman asked on the other line and you let out a sigh of relief.

“Hi,” you said, “I’m…I’m hoping I can get some help? I’m at the Wicklow-”

“Did the Black Hole of Death get ye?” the woman cut you off.

Ah….BHOD: Black Hole of Death. Funny, you thought, not laughing.

“Yeah,” you muttered, embarrassed.

“That thing is a beast. Hold on. I think I can get a car to ye in ‘bout an hour..”

“I’m sorry,” you said, voice raising a few octaves as you fought back tears, word vomiting to this kind Irish lady who had no idea who you were, “It’s just…I’m supposed to pick up my boss in an hour and I already couldn’t get him a new phone and the asshole I work with is going to probably get me fired if I can’t get there in time and I just-”

“Calm down, darlin’,” the woman said, her voice soft and soothing. Then, she let out a long breath. “Let me give my brother a call. He should be finished up with a job nearby…”

“Oh my God, thank you. Thank you thank you thank you,” you replied, wishing this lady was in front of you so you could give her the biggest hug.

She chuckled. “Can’t let yer asshole coworker win, can we?”

You laughed, shaking your head. “Hell no.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Alright, keep a lookout for a blue truck. And don’t mind Bucky. He does know how to talk, he’s just weird with new folk.”

You narrowed your eyes but nodded. “Gotcha, I think.”

After you hung up, you decided to step outside and at least enjoy some more of the fresh air. The rain had stopped, leaving behind your favorite smell. It always amazed you how a bit of rainfall could heighten the scent of nature, and standing here surrounded by green fields in Ireland….it made it that much more amazing.

So amazing, that you were able to forget all of your stresses for a few moments, and just be.

Now all I need is for a gorgeous Irishman to sweep me off my fee-

The distant sound of an engine pulled you from your daydreams as you looked over to your right.

It had only been five minutes since you got off the phone with the woman at Wilson’s, and already here was the blue truck to come to your rescue.

You were going to have to call her back and get her name so you could name your first child after her.

The person in the car - Bucky, you recalled her saying - had on a black baseball cap, obscuring his face from you as the car pulled to a stop.

You stood up from leaning against the car to prepare to greet your rescuer, but as soon as he stepped onto the pavement, your body seemed to have lost any sense of balance and you found yourself leaning back against it for support.

He was the most gorgeous man you had ever seen.

Though his body was covered by a red henley and brown leather jacket, you could tell by his frame that underneath all of that material was a strong, muscular body. A black hat covered the  brown wavy hair that rested right at his shoulders.

The worst part about this ridiculously good-looking giant man was his jaw. You knew in an instant that it was one of those sharp jaws that Hollywood searched high and low for to get those swoon-worthy profile shots of a kissing scene, covered in a thin layer of stubble that you found yourself wishing you could scrape your fingers over.  

And he was so tall. The closer he got the more he towered over you. He gave you a quick up and down, that glorious jaw clenching almost imperceptibly, then moved his attention to the rental car.

You had expected him to say something when he approached, but even when he was only feet away from you, he remained silent. Apparently his sister wasn’t kidding…

The silence made you so uncomfortable that you decided to fill it.

“Hi,” you started in a light, drawn out tone, before immediately shifting to rambling, “You must be from Wilson’s. Gosh, that was fast. I just got off the phone with your sister and she said you’d be able to help. Thank you so much for coming out here so quickly. I have to go pick up my boss before he’s late for an event-”

“Can ye put the car in neutral?” Bucky finally said in a low, grizzly voice. You had yet to hear the accent from such a deep baritone and it caused you to have to take a beat and swallow as you gathered your composure.

You nodded, opening the door and sliding into the driver’s seat as you followed his request, continuing your nervous rambling, “I guess it was dumb of me to come all the way out here, but I didn’t think I would get stuck in a massive pothole-”

Your words died in your throat, mouth hanging agape as you watched Bucky positioned himself at the front of the car, squat down, clench his jaw once more, and lift it.

With you still inside. 

You let out a soft oh as he pushed the car back and out of the hole, standing up straight and wiping his hands in front of him as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened.

As if he hadn’t just lifted a car without breaking a sweat.

You sat there for a few seconds, gaping at him as he made eye contact with you. As soon as he saw your awestruck expression, the corner of his mouth twitched up and he let out a soft chuckle.

And then your insides turned to mush as the beautiful man became infinitely more beautiful.

Finally, you cleared your throat and got back out of the car, feeling both elated by the fact that you weren’t going to be late to grab Tony and from being rescued by the literal man of your dreams whom you would probably never see again.

Of course, had this been P.S. I Love You, you’d both instantly fall madly in love and kiss at the bridge and he’d move back to America with you and you’d both live happily ever after until he got sick and-

Yeah, maybe it was best that you just left it here.

“Thank you,” you said breathlessly, eyes locked on his. They were a bright, cerulean blue; a shade you were certain you had never seen before. “This was a huge help. I cannot express how grateful I am.” You checked your phone and once you saw the time your eyes widened. “Shit, I really need to get going… Um, thanks again. I’ll call your sister and have her bill me if that’s okay?”

As soon as you were about to turn to get back in the car, Bucky’s glorious jaw clenched again and he shook his head, causing you to stop in your tracks.

“That’s not gonna happen,” he said.

Your eyes narrowed, and you realized that his lack of talking was getting kind of annoying. “I’m not going to call your sister for the bill or…” or are you about to kidnap and murder me?

He shook his head again, then cocked it over to the right side of the car. “Tire’s flat. We gotta tow it back to the shop.”

You felt all of the blood drain from your body as you walked over to the tire.

Which didn’t have a single ounce of air in it.

Fuck.

And then, all of the composure you had been desperately holding onto crumbled as your bottom lip began to tremble.

“Great,” you said, tears welling in your eyes. Your body sagged against the hood of the car. “So I officially, totally fucked up then,” your voice broke and you breathed out a wet sob. “Literally my first big work gig and I’m going to get fired after only a month because Quentin will finally have proof that I can’t do anything right-” 

That was when your weeping totally overcame you, and speaking was no longer something you were capable of.

It was almost poetic, sitting here in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the most beautiful scenery you had ever laid eyes on standing next to an even more beautiful man while you cried into your hands.

What wasn’t poetic was the snot that was starting to build up your nose and threatening to leak out.

You quickly moved a hand to wipe it away, horrified by the scene you were displaying in front of an innocent bystander. But you were completely overcome, powerless to your emotional breakdown.

Suddenly, you felt something touch your hand.

A thin, soft, paperlike material.

A tissue.

You looked up at Bucky, his hand extended out to you with the offering, a small sympathetic smile on his face.

Grabbing the tissue and wiping your nose, you grimaced as you regained composure. “Sorry,” you muttered out, “I’m sure witnessing a crazed pathetic woman having a breakdown wasn’t on your bingo card for today.”

He shrugged. “Not a huge deal. Besides, I’ve witnessed way worse from Becs.”

Your brows knit together questioningly. “Becs?”

“Becca, my sister.”

You nodded, brows relaxing. “Looks like I’m naming my first child Becca.” Bucky’s head cocked to the side questioningly and you continued, “I decided that’s the debt I must pay for her doing me such a solid.”

The corner of his mouth twitched again as he fought back a smile. There was a mischievous light in his eyes, and he looked like he was debating whether he wanted to say something else or go back to being his mysterious, quiet self. He thankfully chose the former and responded, “But I’m the one who actually came to yer rescue. Shouldn’t ye name your kid after me?”

There is no fucking way this guy is flirting with me right now. But if - by some glorious chance - he is let’s do this.

You feigned innocence and shrugged. “I could, but the problem with that is I don’t actually know your name.” A lie, but he didn’t need to know that.

Then the universe decided to finally gift you something good today as Bucky’s mouth pulled back into a full-on grin, and it felt like you were looking at the sun.

He extended his hand out for you to shake. “James.”

You frowned as you shook his hand, speaking before you could control yourself, “I thought your name was Bucky.” 

All he did was chuckle. “Thought ye didn’t know my name.”

Your right eye twitched in horror and he bit his bottom lip, smile still plastered to his face.

“Bucky is my nickname,” he continued. “Friends, family, and those who have gone head to head with the Black Hole of Death and lived to tell the tale can call me Bucky.”

Giggling, you rolled your eyes, taking mental note of the way Bucky’s face brightened at the sound of your laugh. “Well then, nice to meet you, Bucky.”

You both realized that you were still holding hands, and you thought that you felt him squeeze yours the tiniest bit before letting go.

“So,” he said, clearing his throat, “And what do they call the soon-to-be mother of mah namesake?”

Damn, he’s smooth, you thought as heat rose to your face. “I’m Y/n.”

He nodded, still smiling. “Y/n.”

That was the moment you decided you never wanted to hear your name unless it was spoken with a husky Irish accent. Bucky’s husky Irish accent, really.

Unfortunately, the romcom moment you were experiencing was ruined as you remembered the reason that the beautiful Irishman was here, and you let out a long sigh as you grappled with the inevitable.

“Well, Bucky, I guess I gotta go meet my fate. Any chance your shop is hiring? I have very little skill with cars, but I make killer itineraries,” you said with a half-hearted laugh.

Bucky puckered his lips, then switched his gaze between you and the rental. When he locked his eyes on you once more, they narrowed. “How much time till ye have to pick up yer boss for the event?”

You checked your phone. “Forty minutes. There’s no way-”

“Grab yer stuff,” Bucky said, pulling out his own phone.

“What do you-”

“I can get ye there in thirty.” He tapped a few buttons then held the device to his ear. “We can grab yer boss, take him to the event-”

“But what about the car?”

“I’ll take care of it. We gotta move though or else I won’t be able to stop him from sacking ye.”

He walked back toward the truck and you stood there for a second, shaking your head. “Bucky!” you whined out.

“Y/n!” he whined back before muttering into his phone, and you found yourself laughing incredulously as you moved to the trunk to grab your ‘Oh Shit Kit’ work duffel and purse.

“Listen Stevie,” you overheard Bucky grumble, “Please just do me this solid and I’ll buy ye all the pints in the world tonight. Right…thanks, ye daft brute.” He hung up, opening the door to the passenger side and turning to you. As you approached, he reached out to grab your things to load them into the back seat.

“Dare I ask again about the car?” you asked skeptically.

He wiggled his eyebrows once. “It’s taken care of. All I need are the car keys and we’ll be good to go.” 

You narrowed your eyes at him, still smiling. “This isn’t actually some plan for you to kidnap and murder me is it?”

He shrugged. “Guess you’re gonna have to find out, love.”

Love.

It was then that you knew that - even though it seemed like your job was no longer in jeopardy - you were totally fucked.

All you could do was shake your head, eyes glued to those beautiful blues before you as you handed Bucky the keys.

He gave you a small wink as he closed the door for you, then walked over to the Stuck in BHOD? sign and hung them against the other side.

Once Bucky was in the car, you told him the name of the hotel you were staying at and the two of you hit the road. 

You only lasted about a minute before the silence made you uncomfortable again and you looked over at Bucky and asked, “So…how long has the Black Hole of De-”

“Ye can call it BHOD-” Bucky pronounced it like bod, smirking at you, “Makes it easier.”

You nodded. “Okay, well, how long has BHOD been terrorizing the good people of Dublin?”

“Long as I can remember,” Bucky said and you scoffed.

“Why hasn’t anyone done anything about it?” you accused.

He rolled his eyes, glancing over at you for a moment before focusing back on the road. “Well isn’t that an idea,” he said sarcastically. “Listen, love, that beast cannot be tamed. We’ve tried many, many times. Each time we try to fill the hole, it comes back bigger and stronger than ever. Eventually we gave up trying to mess with the forces of nature and instead decided to spend the money on putting up the sign.”

Couldn’t argue with that.

The silence had returned, but before you had the chance to end it, Bucky beat you to the punch. “So, yer boss is…?”

“Tony Stark,” you answered. “He’s a children’s author.”

Bucky smiled to himself. “Oh, I know who Tony is. Sarah’s kids are obsessed.”

Ah, so he was with someone. You felt your stomach turn to knots as you asked, “Sarah?”

“In-law. Her brother is married to my sister,” he said.

The knots unraveled and you bit back a smile. “Are they going to the event tonight?”

He shook his head. “Nah. Sold out in seconds, apparently. The boys were gutted.”

“I’m sure I can get them in!” you said. “Tonight would be the only night I could, probably, since I’ll most likely be unemployed by tomorrow.”

Bucky furrowed his brows. “Why are ye still saying you’re going to get fired when I’m drivin’ ye to pick him up right now? Ye should be fine now.”

“Maybe, and I cannot begin to express how much I appreciate you doing this for me,” you instinctively reached out to rest a hand on his forearm. He flinched, bringing you back to your senses and you pulled it back immediately as if you had been burned. Well, in a way, you had.

But then you saw the redness rise up his neck and into his cheeks, and you realized that the giant, gorgeous Irishman was blushing.

It was a delightful sight.

“Anyways,” you continued, thumb rubbing over the palm that had just touched Bucky, “Hopefully I’m in the clear, but not likely. How am I supposed to explain his ride to the event being a pickup truck rather than the rental he’s been paying for these past few days? And then there was the whole phone shitshow-”

“What’s the phone shitshow?”

You groaned. “Tony dropped his phone off a cliff and I tried to get him a new one but because of international reasons and shit that a very nice tech person tried to explain but went right over my head, they couldn’t do it. And Tony seems like a really nice, super understanding guy, but I’m so new and have already shown I can’t handle the tasks I’ve been hired for and Quentin is definitely going to fight for me to get fired.”

“And who the fuck is this Quentin?” Bucky asked, annoyance in his voice.

You groaned louder. “He sucks. Ugh he sucks so much. He’s basically the PR/brand guy, so he’s really good at being two-faced and pleasant to the people that matter. Then he turns around and treats booksellers and me like shit. But Tony’s never seen it and Quentin has worked with him for years, so it’s my word against his.”

Bucky scrunched his face in disgust. “What a dick.” But when he said dick, it sounded like deck, which pulled you out of your grouchy mood and you giggled.

“Yes, a real deck,” you said.

Bucky scoffed. “I’m sorry, love, but are ye making fun of my accent while I’m going out of my way to save your arse?”

You kept laughing. “I know, I know, I’m sorry. I promise I think your accent is amazing.”

“Really now?” he said cheekily.

“Are you kidding? If you say my name or call me love one more time I’m pretty sure my heart is just going to give out.”

It was silent after that, and you were worried you crossed a line. But after a few seconds, Bucky responded.

“Whatever you say, Y/n.”

Bucky pulled up to the entrance of the hotel, and you jumped out to go grab Tony. Thankfully, Quentin wasn’t able to go to the event because he was handling preparations for the fundraiser dinner tomorrow night, so you didn’t need to deal with his dramatic ass for the rest of the night.

Your boss was a bit confused when you led him to the blue pickup truck and saw a giant man in a black baseball cap and a red henley in the driver’s seat waving to him with an awkward smile, but he got into the passenger’s seat nonetheless as you climbed into the back. 

You noticed that Bucky had been on the phone with someone as you approached, quickly putting his cell away when he caught sight of you.

He kept his gaze on Bucky as he buckled his seatbelt and said, “Uh…Y/n, who is this?”

“Tony, this is Bucky. Bucky, this is Tony.”

Bucky nodded, holding out his hand. “Pleasure, sir.”

Tony shook it. “Likewise.” Then he turned around to face you. “It thought we were taking the rental?”

You opened your mouth, ready to tell him about the situation with the flat and bracing yourself for his reaction, but Bucky spoke before you had the chance.

“Turns out there was an electrical issue with the car. It broke down while Y/n was on her way and she called our shop. We offered to tow it and call her a cab but she was quite insistent that she needed to get ye to the event. She’s very persuasive, that one.” You stared at Bucky in the rearview mirror and he winked at you.

Tony nodded. “Alright then. Well, good job thinking on your feet, Y/n. I’ll be sure to call the rental company to make sure they cover the charge of the work seeing that it wasn’t our fault-”

“Already taken care of, sir,” Bucky responded. “We have this thing called BHOD Warranty that’ll cover everythin’.”

Tony gave you an impressed look then turned back around, murmuring to himself about never hearing about a BHOD Warranty and allowing you a moment to gape at Bucky’s reflection. He just shook his head.

The hotel was about 15 minutes away from the venue, and Tony spent the entirety of the trip  chatting with Bucky. He asked about his job, his family, this awesome truck he was driving, and, of course, if he had ever heard of Tony’s books.

“I have, actually. Got two nephews who are big fans.”

“Are they coming tonight?” Tony asked.

Bucky nodded. “Originally no because tickets sold out so fast. But Y/n said she’d be able to get them in.”

“Good,” Tony said. “If they’re willing, they’re welcome to hang out for a bit afterwards to chat and take some photos.”

Bucky beamed, a sense of boyish excitement painted across his features as he looked at Tony with a smile. “That would be absolutely grand, sir. Thank ye.”

Tony shook his head. “It’s the least I can do for your help today. I might even get to an event early for the first time in ages.” He turned over to you and wiggled his brows, and you felt a sense of ease wash over your whole body. 

Maybe you’d still have a job tomorrow after all.

Once you got to the venue, Bucky got out to help you with the work bag and escorted you inside.

“Will you stay for the event?” you asked once you got to the green room, eyes wide and hopeful. Normally you would have cared way more about the desperation in your voice. But you knew that your time with Bucky was limited, and you didn’t seem to care all that much how obvious it was that you didn’t want him to leave.

And based on the look on his face, he felt the same way as he smiled. “What, and miss an opportunity to hear a bigshot author speak? Not a chance, love.” 

You beamed, smiling to the point that you almost split your face in two. “Good.”

He smiled back, ocean blue eyes piercing yours. Tony was out in the hallway talking to the event coordinator, so it was just the two of you in the room. Not that you would have been able to notice anyone or anything else that existed in this moment aside from the man before you.

You felt your pulse quicken as Bucky’s pupils began to dilate, and you realized that the distance between you was beginning to close in. And then his eyes flashed down to your lips…

And then his phone started ringing, causing the two of you to jump back in surprise.

Bucky swallowed, eyes still on yours as he pulled out his phone. When he finally looked down to see who was calling, he groaned, pulling the phone to his ear.

“Stevie,” he said, annoyed, “Have I ever told ye your timin’s shite?”

“All the time,” you overheard the mysterious Stevie say on the other end. “Just letting yer ungrateful arse know I’ll be there in twenty.”

“Fine,” Bucky responded.

“You’re welcome, jerk.”

“Thanks, punk,” he said, hanging up the phone. “That was Steve. He’ll be here with the car soon.”

Your head hung back as you looked up at the ceiling, letting out a huge sigh of relief before looking back at him. “Thank fucking God. Thank you Bucky. You really didn’t have to do all of this.”

He shrugged, giving you a side smile. “What can I say, love? I hate seeing a pretty lass cry. Gotta do whatever it takes to see her smilin’ as much as possible.”

Just as you were about to respond to that stupidly romantic statement, Tony walked in and it was time to get the show on the road. Bucky excused himself, saying he was going to wait by the entrance for Sarah and the boys.

You spent the next half hour helping Tony get ready, touching base with the bookstore staff running the event, and making sure everything went according to plan. This was the part of the job you loved, the rush right before a big event where everything was chaotic and you were hyper-focused on smoothing any issues out.

Then, it was time for Tony to get on stage. Before he did, though, he turned to you with a small smile.

“I’m really glad you’re on this team, Y/n. Couldn’t have gotten a better hire.” He rested a hand on your shoulder and squeezed it, then turned around and walked out to greet the crowd, leaving you with a fresh sheen of tears in your eyes.

Once you were convinced that Tony was all settled and the event was in full swing, you moved from backstage to the very back of the venue hall, leaning against the wall as you watched your boss do his thing. He was so charismatic, and the audience couldn’t stop laughing as he spoke, yourself included.

A few minutes into his talk, you felt a large, muscular arm brush against yours and you turned to see Bucky standing next to you. 

You smiled, cocking your head to the side questioningly and you whispered. “Are Sarah and the boys here?”

He nodded, leaning over to whisper into your ear, and the heat of his breath made you have to fight back a shiver. “Just got in and sat down.”

“Don’t you want to sit with them?” you asked, though you wished he would stay with you for the rest of forever.

“Had to get something to ye,” he said, and he leaned back, hand extended out to you.

He was holding out a small shrink wrapped box with the image of a phone on it.

You stared at it, eyes wide.

“Did I mention earlier that Sarah works in tech?” he asked.

You shook your head, eyes still glued to the phone.

“I guess her company keeps stock of American devices, because - shockingly enough - yer boss isn’t the only one to lose or break his phone while traveling abroad. It’s all legit, all he needs to do is log into his plan and everything should be set up in less than 20 minute-”

Bucky let out a soft oof as you hurled your body into his, wrapping your arms around his neck. He only froze for a few seconds before wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you closely to him.

“Thank you,” you whispered into his shoulder.

He chuckled. “Anytime, love.” He pulled away to look at you. “Unfortunately, phones are expensive as shit so I can’t necessarily waive this charge like with the tire…”

“Absolutely,” you said. “I’ll give Sarah my number and I’ll cover that bill. Though that still doesn’t feel like I’m adequately making up for all of the miracles you’ve pulled off today.”

Then, for the second time today, Bucky blushed, and he scratched the back of his neck. “Well, actually. I was wonderin’ if ye might be willin’ to make it up to me by, erm….goin’ out with me tonight?”

Your jaw dropped, and Bucky’s eyes widened in panic as he frantically whispered, “It’s not a big deal. Ye can say no. It’s just, I figured it’s yer first time in Dublin and my friends and I always go to the pub on weekends and I thought it might be fun for ye to get a real taste of Ireland-”

“Yes.”

His eyebrows rose. “Yes?”

You nodded, biting your bottom lip. “I’d love that, Buck.”

His chest rose and fell as he let out a sigh of relief. “Excellent,” he said, and then the two of you turned your smiling faces around to watch Tony speak.

For the rest of the event, you both stood side by side against the back wall, your cheek leaning against his arm.

After all the shit you had gone through today and all the stress that had previously consumed your body, you couldn’t help but feel grateful that you had accidently driven your car straight into a ditch.

Sure, you could have easily gotten fired, but even if you had, at least you got to meet Bucky.

Hillary Swank would be proud.

Chapter 2

No pressure at all, but if you'd like to support me for my writing, please consider buying me a Kofi!

Header image taken by the woman who requested this magical fic, @w0nderw0mansw0rld <3

#bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #bucky barnes #sweeter than honey

[chaifootsteps]

I have so many conflicting ideas about Hazbin/Helluva, where I can't ever join the hate watching crowd because I still, to an extent, enjoy the show if only for its potential. The most recent music video kind of cemented this for me, because... I really liked it. I don't want to feel bad for liking it, because that's silly and separating art from the artist is indeed a thing, but knowing what goes on behind the scenes... it's a bit tricky to reconcile with.

Stolas' songs (You'll be Okay, Owl in a Cage, Look my Way - even though that last one wasn't written by Sam Haft) have always been my favourites, and if I'm being frank, the only ones I've liked. I really like his character design too. Even now I'm uncertain about admitting that because so many people who send in asks to you rag on about how ugly Viv's character designs are, and while I do think they're confusing and impractical I have never considered them "ugly". Maybe I'm writing this so if anyone else feels this way they don't feel so alone? Not being a part of any sort of crowd is a bit of a terrifying place, even if it is ultimately a good thing.

I have ideas for possible Helluva and Hazbin fanworks but I'm scared to do anything about them because, with the creepy adolesent mob mentality the fandom seems to have, I'm afraid I would look as though I'm promoting the show, when I really just got inspired by, again, the potential. I don't want to write out a whole long explanation (that no-one will read) detailing my thoughts on the series and Viv because I might get taken the wrong way, and saying zilch and staying silent seems like the best option and yet also just as poor of a choice.

On a final note, and this is just whishful thinking of a better universe, but I think Hazbin and Helluva would have been a lot more successful and potentially less controversial if it had done the same thing as Daria Cohen, where each "episode" was a music video (because I honestly got more whole enjoyment out of the Look My Way animation than I have out of like, the whole of Season 2), and the whole entire thing could have been told through song (allowing for the more abstract imagery that Viv seems to have a better grasp of while also keeping the projects possibly more manageable). Obviously this would demote it purely to a passion project because she wouldn't be making nearly as much money off of it... which, when you think about it, is probably a good thing anyway.

Sorry for the length!

You don't have to apologize for a thing, Anon! As long as you're not giving her money or making weird excuses for Vivzie herself or named DaniDraws, there's no wrong way to love HH/HB. It's why for every ask I get trashing the designs, two more want to hug these characters close and steal them. We've got people here who hate it all and think it's always been a port-o-toilet fire full of ugly characters, but plenty who genuinely love it -- and I think as more of the fandom sadly hang their heads and come over to the critical side, that number's only going to increase.

Seconding the Daria Cohen bit. I don't know that it would have saved the show in the long run from its biggest problem, which is Viv's cruelty and ego, but a more Vampair or Mystery Skulls Animated-esque setup where each episode is a music video would have played to Viv's strengths and masked her weaknesses.

#Anonymous #vivziepop critical #helluva boss #helluva boss critical #actual blog post

[some-pers0n]

You do realize Ao3 is inherently a proship space, right? Like one of the people who created it was an incest shipper. I'm not even saying you HAVE to like all content that's on ao3, but getting upset when people on ao3 related forums are talking about the things that ao3 was built for and refuses to censor is nonsensical

Okey now on my PC so I can actually respond to this in a coherent manner. General TW here for talking about pornography relating to minors and sexual topics.

I've seen this argument countless of times from pro-shippers. I do understand it. I know about the history of Ao3. It's mostly a space used because of areas like FanFiction.Net censoring 18+ works and generally leaving way for sexuality of any kind being censored for being deemed too mature, including same-sex couples at some point.

I am not anti-censorship. Not in the slightest. I think there should be sites like Ao3, where people are allowed to post whatever the hell they want. It's the site full of Freaks and Weirdos. It's the place where Freaks and Weirdos made to host their own freaky and weird content because everywhere else was censoring the word "dick". Censorship is a slippery slope and I think it's bad to simply say: "We should ban this" since it leads way to loopholes that our oppressors would want to exploit.

That being said: it's still disgusting to see people making and posting writing of IRL children who had been forced into the limelight have porn made of them. "Oh it's the internet of course it's going to be there" IT'S STILL FUCKED UP THAT IT'S THERE TO BEGIN WITH AND SHOULDN'T BE ENCOURAGED OR CONGRATULATED. It's like seeing somebody make deep-fake porn out of a picture of a child and being like: "Well I mean it's not really being done to an actual child, only a picture of it, and besides it's the internet what can you do :P" THAT IS CHILD PORN.

I'm not sorry for thinking it's hysterical and absolutely pathetic to come whining to a bunch of people that your fic where you wrote a child being raped and turned into a sex toy for a 50 year old man is getting "mean ol' antis" telling them that it's disturbing and gross. Holy shit please find a better way to cope with your trauma than to make writing that is designed to titillate and arouse people with this stuff happening to teenagers.

Not to also mention that Ao3 itself can censor stuff too! Recently that one volunteer got kicked off because they had "from the river to the sea" in their bio because it ""promoted violence"". So it's perfectly okay to have people post about nazis and racist pedophilic shit on there, but to have somebody have a message in their bio??? Shut it down folks.

I respect Ao3 on some level for its insitance on censorship (most times)(unless you support Palestine and don't want an entire culture wiped out then apparently that's bad), but I still find it disturbing and incredibly disgusting how its normalized and how these people have a victim complex. I've seen how they act whenever they're called out for writing gross stuff.

Self-proclaimed proshippers will make antis out like they're moronic teenagers who send death threats to people over writing enemies-to-lovers. Obviously, no, you shouldn't harass people over fictional ships. You shouldn't harass people in general. Harassment over something as simple as a person making a kinky smutty oneshot is dumb. Sending death threats is worse.

It's a mentality that antis are just hysterical and can't think for themselves, brainwashed by sex-negativity and can't just let people be people. Yeah, obviously that's bad. Anybody who sends hate, death threats, and harassment to a person who's just writing normal smut with nothing really bad about it (ie, no children, no incest, nadda nothing), is just stupid. It's ESPECIALLY moronic when it's a ship that is only a smidge problematic. That's stupid.

What isn't stupid is being upset over extremely taboo content being hosted on the site and people just being like: "Well you're just a snowflake anti for saying the author is weird for liking this". I don't think you should deliberately seek content like this out just to hate (again, harassment dumb), but it's so disgusting to act like it's completely fine and dandy for smut of real children to be hosted there and just be like: "Eh, what happens happens".

I'm here on those subreddits just to talk about fanfic and tropes. I like being silly and doing the funny little stuff. What exhausts me more than anything is when people will come whining about getting a hate comment when, surprise surprise, their fic that is mostly children being raped is being hated on for being a fic about children being raped for the sake of sexual pleasure.

Write as much as it as you want, just don't act all surprised and like you're the victim here when people think you're vile.

#ask #anon #anti-ship #long post #tw pedophila mention #tw rap3

[discluded]

hi! this is regarding their recent airport pics and videos, is it not weird that there are fans taking pics and videos of them at the airport? wheres the privacy lmao? like how are they allowed to follow them around everywhere? and also that person who put up the duty free video? thats taken from so close as well? im just concerned like is this supposed to be normal cause mileapo seem like very private people who wouldn't be okay with that

just wanted your opinion!

Yes. Is the short answer. It's weird, and kind of creepy, and a violation of privacy. Anything I say after this is not an excuse or justification that it's OK, but more a reflection of how we (collectively, culturally in the fandom culture sense) got to this point, and why BOC is powerless to stop it even if they had any interest in doing so.

Part of it is that airport fashion became such a prominent part of kpop culture, really being pushed by cultural and fashion icons from Big Bang. So it hasn't been that long really - maybe 15 years at the most, but now Korean idols especially dressed to be seen. if you promote a culture where stars are dressed to be seen at the airport, then it follows that fans will go to the airport for a chance to see their idols. It's that simple.

Just as BTS inherited a lot of fans from 1D when 1D broke up in 2015, KinnPorsche's release in relation to BTS's hiatus announcement also in part helped pushed KinnPorsche to even greater heights. BTS fandom still remains incredibly active, but it's the same way it was with 1D -- the fandom wouldn't get regular updates, and suddenly there was a something interesting and at least worth filling the time with until BTS came back. It's the same reason BrightWin and 2gether became such a big thing when by itself, 2gether was fairly typical of other Thai BLs of its era. Or why Animal Crossing was such a massive hit. The timing affected its success.

(For more context, you should watch this video about the science of luck. A little funnier tidbit, when he talks about running the simulation 1000 times to pick candidates -- that is in fact how machine learning (my job!) works. The tl;dw version of that is to say that talent itself isn't the only factor - success is very reliant on luck.)

So back to your question - inheriting fans from a kpop fandom also means inheriting some of kpop culture. And many post-Hallyu Wave fandoms originating from Asian countries as a collective push for soft power via media output fashion themselves after Korea's success. For example, we don't see this airport culture retroactively affecting jpop fandom (which has a long-standing history) the same way. It's more in countries which fannish cultures are still more malleable and developing their own identities.

In the same way, it's inherited a lot sasaeng culture as well from kpop - specifically, individuals or groups who have way to much access to private information they shouldn't, like flight information.

There's two other factors: few Thai actors(/idols) have been flying out of the country to work and promote as much as MileApo have. At the beginning (for KPWT stops), BOC wasn't encouraging fans to show up at the airport; they were just there. And also going to the cities because they were dedicated enough to support KinnPorsche and BOC outside of the country. And then when it became difficult to manage, BOC more formally organized these more airport sendoffs because they knew people would show up anyway. It was at least a way to help control the chaos, as a courtesy for the airport staff.

Airports are public spaces; BOC really does not have any ability to limit an individual person's presence at the airport, even if they try to discourage as a whole.

That leaves a weird space for these follow-the-actor sessions at the airport when there isn't a send-off announced by BOC, but groups get flight information and word spreads around. Or, when they're past security, which is not a public space.

From Mile and Apo's perspective, I don't think they're necessarily "ok" with this, but there is also very little they can do about it, to an extent. Following them and recording them on a plane has loudly been declared a no-no, as well as openly exposing their travels when they request fans don't because it's for business under wraps (eg. Pond and Apo flying to Europe to iron out the Piaget deal). Unfortunately, it seems like in the general space of the airport, they have to trust fans be judicious in what's an appropriate distance to stay away, and what is appropriate to do/photograph. When fans do violate that perceived barrier (e.g., mil3mile/CaiCai trying to hand Mile a note then throwing it at Apo's head, or the fans who kept stalking Apo in Shanghai despite requests to leave him alone on his trip and irritated a man at the airport into throwing a bottle at Apo's direction), other fans are at least more quick to punish these offenders to this perceived violation of space... though, again, if we're honest, photographing them esp past security, or seeing them off at the airport when they didn't announce it was for fans is... already that.

It's really hard for BOC to curb. But if they want to even address part of the root issue -- which is that there's someone internally who's leaking information to sasaeng/groups likely for financial gain -- they have to be more willing to clean house too. Apo's Shanghai flight wasn't the only thing leaked -- fans knew he was going to show up at iQIYI headquarters too, at what time and date. There's a lot going on that Pond can't control here, and I don't fault him for. Even if they catch one or two internal instigators when they find out who, the damage is already done.

So tl;dr yeah it's weird and sometimes uncomfortable, but become kind of normalized through the way that fandom has developed recently. And it's also very hard to curb, if BOC tries. So some of it is just managing it as much as they can at this point.

Thanks for the question. I think I'll also be more judicious in the airport I stuff going forward. It was always something I said I would continue to revisit, and post at my own level of comfort.

#mileapo airport

[josefavomjaaga]

Napoleonic daily soap, episode 2:

Scene: Barras’ study. Louis XV style furniture, lots of gold inlays, book cases filled with expensive looking leather-bound volumes, all kinds of fancy knick-knacks on side tables and in showcases

Barras [admiring a bouquet of roses in a porcelain vase]

»So, general, you wanted to talk to me about your plans.«

Napoleon [eagerly]:

»That’s right. You see, I feel that my career has not advanced much since my glory days of Toulon.«

Barras:

»You were immediately promoted brigadier general after Toulon. I’d say the Republic has proven its gratitude.«

Napoleon:

»But I got nothing to do. I want to do stuff. To work, you know?«

Barras [astonished]

»You want to work? You are one weird fellow, general.«

Napoleon:

»I do. I’ve been so depressed over the course of this summer I actually contemplated working for the Turks.«

Barras:

»Inadvisable. I’m not an expert on foreign relations but the Ottoman Empire is not known for its pleasant working atmosphere. I understand they still cut off a lot of heads. [musing] Though, maybe we’re in France not in the best position to throw stones when it comes to that...«

Napoleon [interrupts]:

»Yeah, anyway, I’ve realized that the military isn’t really my thing. Or rather, not my only thing. I see myself more as something of a politician, you understand?«

Barras [admiring another bouquet]

»What position do you have in mind then for your future career?«

Napoleon: »Why, your position.«

Barras [turns around, eye brows raised]

Napoleon:

»I mean, a position like yours.«

Barras:

»That’s better. But, general, I have to admit you are fairly young to take on the responsibilty of government. Voters tend to prefer somebody a bit further advanced in life, if you know what I mean.«

Napoleon:

»Not really. Further advanced in life?«

Barras:

»Like, someone older. A gentleman in secure circumstances. With a family. I understand you’re a bachelor?«

Napoleon:

»I am. But I can change that. So, you’re saying a family would be good? A wife, and kids, too? I’ll see to that. I’ll get back to you when I have reached that goal. Thanks for your advice.« [Turns around and hurries out of the room]

Barras:

»What a strange fellow. Well, even if he gets himself married tonight, I should be safe from his complaints for another nine months.«

CUT to new scene: an evening street in Paris. Dim streetlights. A carriage rattles by. Behind it appear Napoleon and Junot, on foot.

Junot:

»So, who are these people we are visiting tonight?«

Napoleon [walking briskly]

»Old acquaintances of mine. Well, actually of my mother’s. We’ve had a bit of a fall-out recently. But that’s to be expected, we’re Corsicans, after all.«

Junot:

»The lady is Corsican?«

Napoleon:

»She married a Frenchman and moved to Paris. But most importantly, she’s a widow now. And old. Like, fourty or something. And she has several kids, the youngest daughter still living with her. She’s perfect.«

Junot:

»For what?«

Napoleon:

»As my wife, of course. Barras said I should get a family. Become a husband and a father. Respectable and stuff. People like that. Of course I could start from scratch. But why would I, when I can just take on an abandonded family? It’s a shortcut.«

Junot:

»I’m not sure these things really work that way, Naps.«

Napoleon:

»Why not? Madame Permon is without a husband and lonely. At her age, she must be glad to attract a young suitor and to be able to give her children a new father. What could possibly go wrong?«

CUT to new scene: A rather small living-room of shabby elegance. Junot sits next to a teenage girl [Laure] on a sofa. Both stare at a closed door. Muffled voices can be heard behind it.

Junot [in order to break the silence]

»So … what’s your name, kid?«

Laure [twists a strand of hair around her finger]:

»Laure. You can call me Loulou. And you are working for Napoleon?«

Junot [proudly]:

»I’m his aide de camp. And his friend.«

Laure:

»Really? I was unaware Napoleon had any. As his friend, do you know what he wants from my mother?«

Camera cuts to the door. Resounding female laughter behind it.

Junot:

»I do. And I think it’s not going well.«

#napoleonic era #shitpost #we really need a daily soap

[palialaina]

I...

am wiped out.

What the hell was that temple????

Okay, so, Einar sent me a letter asking if I could come see him, and told me he'd picked up a signal from another galdur asking for help. He and Hekla tried to get into the place, but it was sealed down and they weren't able, so... turn to the humans time!

Holy shit.

First I had to lift the lockdown. Which means finding the places where the lockdown was engaged. There was one by Mirror Pond in Kilima, and the other two were in Bahari, and I knew that underground space near those two geysers was important for something!

Also, it felt weird to be doing something for Hekla without Jina noticing.

But anyways.

So, we get into this temple and like...

First there was this door. I talked to Einar and Hekla before we opened it, and this place isn't so much a temple as it is some sort of factory, where galdur are built! Hekla didn't remember much, but Einar did, and he thought it was odd coming back after so long.

There's a crumbling wall once we get inside, so I take my pickaxe and have a go. It... broke a lot easier than I expected, and I do, in fact, have new bruises and bruise balm from Chayne. (He gave me a look, but you know what, I've been good recently!)

And there was this stuff. A whole rail system carting parts and pieces around. I wonder if it's possible to make new galdur though? I haven't seen any other than Einar and Hekla around Kilima... If there's a whole factory for them, where are they coming out?

I had to activate several flow gates, still running on that weird 'humans only' protocol thing. But once I did, Hekla and Einar could join me, which....

Well, in retrospect, I kind of wish they hadn't.

We got to the main factory door, and no one could open it except this... weird thing. I think the Galdur in charge here made points of access instead of having a body to roam around in? Which seems... I don't know, kind of sad and lonely at the end of it.

But it took exception to Einar having more than one Oneness, and tried to factory reset my boy!

I don't fish a lot, and I don't often hang out with Einar, but he is probably the least complicated of all the villagers, and the most willing to help when I need someone to put something up high.

I freaked. Not even going to pretend I didn't. I just kind of blew through most of the factory, only stopping in a couple of places because something caught my attention

I wanted to just hug this galdur. No, they don't have life, but... Ugh. It hurts to see them like this, okay? Also, those pink beams in the back hurt, and I am never telling anyone how I got these new scars. I'll never hear the end of it...

We were finally able to confront The Gardener and interrupt the process of the reset, which... well. Did not go as well as I'd hoped. I was thinking we cut the flow access, Einar goes back to himself, but no dice. He was stuck between blank slate and old, and could restore, so I had to go reason with The Gardener about putting him back the way he was.

I don't think it really understood in the end, but... well, I read the logs that were scattered along the way, and The Gardener basically got abandoned by its creator when they got a promotion. And I know people get loopy when they're left alone, so a galdur, based around humans to start and in charge of producing more of their own kind?

Yeah, I'm super lucky that didn't backfire on me. I guess being sad and gentle and anxious at it worked pretty well.

Einar's almost back to his old self, but I'm going to keep checking in on him for a few weeks, just to be certain. That was definitely not my idea of a good time, even if it all turned out okay.

I wonder if I can go back and talk to The Gardener again? The logs said it had a body at one point, maybe...

Hm. I'll talk to Jina and Naj, about it. Maybe Zeki too. Between the four of us, I'm sure we can come up with something.

Oh, and it doesn't end there either, though I kinda wish it did.

Because as ever, with that stupid sliding puzzle done, I had to go see what changed in the Sky Temple, and see what the next set of things to collect are, and... welll....

I have multiple questions.

Apparently this beam of light shot down from the moon (humans lived on a fucking moon????), when I finished the last puzzle (or thereabouts. Jina assumes that's when it happened) and unlocked this. Whatever this is. She thinks I'll get it when I finish putting things in the vault, but like... I don't know that I want it. Something about it gives me the creeps.

That's not stopping me from going and getting all the things I can for the vaults though. Muujin Bahari still remains the worst recipe possible and I have no idea how I manage to keep making it so well... As it stand, right now I have only two things left. The five rootseeker medallions somewhere in Bahari, and that absolutely absurd amount of apples.

Why 100 apples? W h y?

Granted, the chaos doesn't end there either. I got back to the village, and Subira wanted to talk to me again. I had to run all over Bahari and Kilima to find out that Kenli of all people was delivering the weird packages to the lighthouse. I like Kenli, but this man is occasionally as dumb as a box of rocks.

There's no way he's helping the cartel deliberately. Subira agreed with that assessment, at least, and apparently the shipment was being used to smuggle flow stones. She thinks it's someone in the Order, smuggling things to Gimalkin or others, and you know... not to be all I knew it, but like.

I kinda knew it.

She gave me the weird nightlight Zeki ordered to keep an eye on, so I stuck that in my temple for safekeeping.

Honestly, it looks like something Tamala should have.

Speaking of Tamala...

She asked me to grab something from her room, and much as I don't like her, I obliged, and saw a weird recipe hanging out on her desk. I admit it, I'm nosy. I went and asked her about it, so she suggested I make it because 'she didn't know either'.

I don't know why I believed her...

But I got everything it needed, made it, and then she insisted I test it on myself, then go talk to five adult Majiri and report back with what I found.

I'm never touching anything of hers ever again, just for the record. Or talking to her if I can avoid it. Ugh. I still feel sick from that potion...

But I did, I went and talked to my boys, Reth, and Jina, and everyone showered me in compliments and food. It was... weird. I mean, Reth usually has me taste-test food for him, but this wasn't the norm. And Jel, I love him, but that man should never be allowed near a stove. (He made me sushi. I love him, but not that. I can it to the palcats, they loved it) Hodari and Hassian both gave me meat dishes, and Jina gave me some stuffed mushrooms, and I feel bad, but all the food is in my chillbox...

Anyways, went back to Tamala and asked her what the actual fuck. She told me that the potion releases the inhibitions of the people I talked with, and those were their true feelings. She also said that I was cruel for doubting them, and like...

I don't like Tamala. I don't trust her. And I didn't need some potion to give me insights to how my friends and loves felt.

Ugh, I'm going to be stewing on this for a while, I'm so mad at her.

I need to rest. I'm gonna be busy with my apple trees for the next little while, and then hunting down those medallions. Auni's also found out that bugs have flower seeds attached (this kid, I swear), and now I've grown gardenias, hydrangea, and roses. It's delightful.

I did finally get my aquamarine. It's... soothing. To have it right there with the amethyst. Dad also helped me build a koi pond, and was very impressed with the fancy Duskwing I caught.

And that, I think, is all the chaos I've had to deal with. I am going to rest, put ointment on my bruises, and try not to fret too much over Einar.

I really did not need that heart attack...

#palia #palia online #singularity 6 #berry plays palia #palia game #palia journaling #palia journey #palia mmo #palia roleplaying #That temple gave me Emotional Damage #Yes I know it's a game he'd have been fine #Fite me

[romegaketh]

for the fic writer meme, questions 1, 37, and 50!

ps!!!!! thank you!!! i love you!!! i'm sorry to keep givng you wrestling answers LOL.

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

Hm. If you can handle hockey RPF I think the demons-are-in-sports worldbuilding in we let our battles choose us (which I drafted concussed after my first/only trip on mushrooms) really rocks, thank you emilie for all the collaboration (i think this was our first big Shared World which makes me feel soft for it). It's like a creepy but also beautiful story about exploitation and comradery and also, Toronto, a city very close to my heart. Obviously hockey as a sport and as a social project is very fraught for me now but I do often feel mild regret that I never finished the broader story that this fic was supposed to anchor.

If that one's too long, I think i guess it's all working out, now (Men's Hockey RPF) is a good introduction to my style and interest; it's an intergenerational story about finding yourself in someone you want to protect, and not really knowing how to do that, and it does a lot of fun stuff with things that aren't said; I love a narrative that is 45% negative space, and I think it's really successful in that story.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

Literally every wrestling fic I wrote but especially settle for a handshake (All Elite Wrestling), my feral baby. This is the story of two men named Adam who used to fuck realising that, for both of them, extenuating social and societal expectations pushed them into situations they might have otherwise not chosen. I love this fic even though I definitely see its flaws; I think it really tries so hard to be saying something that I am interested in saying, which is what do you do when you basically have coerced yourself into aligning with what you thought you should be, and now regret it? Are you allowed to regret those choices? Who do you even blame? (Society.) It has a lot of my own ambivalence about what I've loved and what I haven't, and I think it does fun stuff with a broader universe. Also telling a story about a failed relationship that doesn't reconcile is just like.. that's stuff I like a lot and find enjoyable to read. And I think parts of it are the kind of complicated-hot that I wanted to evoke; a knife's edge of feeling, if you will excuse my pretension, lol.

I also fucking love safe like springtime (AEW), which is one of the few just straight-up romance stories I've written recently, and I think has a really lush but also grotesque narrator. It's a mildly awkward first sex scene but I think successfully carries a lot of weight, and the way Jon Moxley narrates his own life is just like, so poetic and dramatic and weird that it's always a joy to sink into it.

50. Answer any question of your choice, or talk about anything you want to talk about!

I started getting like... more textually/explicitly political over the past couple of years and have found it really rewarding! Obviously I've generally radicalised over time, but being able to talk about the things that matter to me in spaces that are dear to my heart has been, obviously, something that makes my stuff probably less palatable to a broad audience, but that I've found really empowering. For example, a sense of scale (All Elite Wrestling) has so much of my own climate anxiety in it, which is also a feature of the character as he is in canon, and I think they combine really well to get like... grim but not defeated, if you like.

red tongues & hands (The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself) has a fully-drafted sequel that is aggressively political in a revolutionary sense, but I think a little of that comes through here. I sat down with Mao for this!!! Just really cool to be able to think, fictionally, about colonialism and imperialism and to make a space for myself to care about it in the shapes of fictional characters.

#meme #ask: meme #ask: psidn #fic: mine

[themattress]

Assorted “Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog” Opinions, Complaints, and Observations

(This post and this post serving as references.)

- The Classic Era remains the comic at its best. It knew exactly what it wanted to be at the start, a silly colorful kids’ book promoting SEGA’s mascot, but then decided it wanted to get more serious with a continuous narrative and character development, and for the most part (excluding the stuff Ken Penders did with Knuckles) it did it well. The first 15 issues are totally AoStH-style silly, the next 10 issues have a more dramatic SatAM-style undercurrent, the following 10 issues flip it so that the AoStH-style silliness is the undercurrent, and the last 15 issues are totally SaTAM-style drama, with the only weird instances of tonal off-ness being the more serious Princess Sally miniseries early in and the more goofy Sonic Blast special later on (and we do NOT talk about Sonic Live!, it isn’t canon so it may as well not exist.)

- Discounting the Knuckles series and many of the increasingly asinine Super Specials, I am also incredibly fond of the Adventuring Era, which was full of good writing, world-building and characterization for everyone not being written by Ken Penders, and was even able to pull off a Sonic Adventure adaptation that made sense in the context of the series and was better than it had any right being given the troubled circumstances behind its production. The comic series during the Classic and Adventuring Eras WAS Sonic for me throughout my childhood.

- But like many, the Declining Era is where the series lost me. I don’t blame Karl Bollers for this; a lot of his writing was still solid. But the editor for some reason or other decided to push the serious tone too far and add romantic furry teen drama to the equation for good measure. Worse still, after #105 Robotnik suffered from some massive villain decay and a general loss of direction. THE villain of the series began to feel like an afterthought, and it pissed me off. With that said, I’ve....kind of softened on the Declining Era in recent years. It’s still not good, there’s plenty wrong with it (especially the artwork), but compared to the era that followed it’s perfectly tolerable, and #125, with some re-working, would have made a decent series finale.

- Yes, the Miserable Era was the nadir of quality in the series and Ian Flynn being hired was a marked improvement. No, I do not agree he was the savior of the Sonic comics he’s been made out to be - not in the Renewal Era, not in the Burdened Era, not in the Reboot Era, and not even in the current IDW Comics. There’s just way too often where his stories are transparently advancing an Agenda(TM). And whether or not you agree with the Agenda(TM) being advanced is irrelevant, because after enough instances of it happening you just get sick of the characters and world of Sonic being manipulated for Agendas(TM). I feel like prime examples of this are the King Scourge arc and the Iron Dominion arc. Ian previously wrote some truly epic sequential story arcs that lasted anywhere from 2 to 5 issues, as is the norm for this series. And yet these two arcs lasted 9 issues and 12 issues respectively. Why? Because Flynn had an Agenda(TM) to push these edgy reinventions of old lame villains as major league threats in order to show just how talented a writer he really is. The co-running King Naugus and Mecha Sally arcs were a similar deal, as was the Zeti stuff in IDW. And it’s all just so tiresome, just as tiresome as anything Penders and Gabrie put the comic through.

- One thing I appreciate both the Archie comic series and SatAM show for is establishing a distinct world, supporting cast and mythology for Sonic long before the games got around to doing it. With that said, I liked Archie’s better since it had elements of the games and AoStH in addition to SatAM, and the stuff that was taken from SatAM was mostly executed better; the glaring exception being the characterizations of King Acorn and Sally post-Classic Era.

- Speaking of which, worst characters over the course of the series: King Maximillian Acorn, Geoffrey St. John, Drago the Wolf, Hershey the Cat, Tommy the Turtle, Colin Kintobor Sr., Evil Sonic / Scourge, Fiona the Fox, Monkey Khan, the entire Iron Dominion, Dr. Ian Droid, Locke and the Echidna Brotherhood, Dimitri and most of the Dark Legion, Monk, Hunter, Tails’ douchey parents, Zonic the Zone Cop, Mecha Robotnik, Thrash the Devil, and Lara-Su.

- In regards to shipping, the Sonic/Sally/Mina love triangle was stupid and should not have been a thing, and then after #134 Sonic and Sally should have remained broken up and Sonic shouldn’t have pursued any form of romance afterward. As for Knuckles, he should have had a period apart from Julie-Su where they both better figured themselves out without the other around, and then they could get back together (in a poly threesome with Rouge).

- The reboot was largely for the best; even without Ken Penders’ lawsuit bullshit there was so much baggage weighing the series down and it had drifted so far away from the rest of the franchise that a reboot honestly felt logical. Don’t think I’m absolving Penders though, as such a reboot absolutely should have happened on better terms than the forced way it did.

- I will always maintain that the place we ended the series at was, in fact, a good place to end the comic series. But sadly, it wasn’t a good place to end the reboot, which for all intents and purposes had only just begun and had so much more that could be done with it. I will always hold some resentment toward SEGA for not just allowing the reboot to continue under IDW, especially when Ian Flynn keeps trying to make the IDW series like the Archie series anyway.

- Favorite story arcs: Sally’s Crusade (#17-18, SP1), the Uncle Chuck arc (#30, #32, #34, #37-38), Mecha Madness (#39, SP6, #40), the Death Egg Saga (MS4), Endgame (#47-50/SS6)*, the Naugus Trilogy (#64-66), the Return of Robotnik (#72-76), Sonic Adventure (#79-85 + SS13), Sonic Adventure 2.5 (#124-125), Return to Angel Island (#138-141), Darkest Storm (#162-164), Order From Chaos (#168-169), Eggman Empire (#175-177), Enerjak Reborn (#180-184), Mogul Rising (#185-188), The Egg Phoenix Saga (#198-200), Genesis (#225-230), and much of the Shattered Earth Saga (#253-272 and #276-287).

*Almost solely for #50/SS6, although I enjoy aspects of #47 and #48 as well.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Opinion #This has been a PSA

[thisaintascenereviews]

Echosmith, I’ve Loved Nosebleeds For So Long – A Triple Review

Now that I’m back into writing reviews more regularly now, and I feel more of a passion for it than I have in the last five years, give or take, I wanted to try out different ideas when it comes to reviews. Anyone can say if an album is good or bad. There’s no talent or skill in doing that, but explaining why, as well as getting people invested in what you have to say, that matters. If I don’t have anything to say about an album other than whether I like it or not, I won’t cover it. That’s been my unwritten rule this year, and there are a handful of albums that I’ve listened to that I just haven’t talked about, such as the new Goo Goo Dolls album, or the new Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness record. Both are great albums, but I don’t really have a ton to say, so I don’t see the point in talking about them in more than just a few sentences. I had the idea, however, to talk about a few albums at once when I feel very similar about them, such as when I talked about the newest EPs from Yellowcard and Jamie’s Elsewhere. The review was less about the music, and more so about how these two bands both releasing comeback EPs on the same day was cool. If I’m going to talk about something, I want to have something to say, and that’s all to preface what this review is all about – three albums that came out pretty recently that I feel very similarly about, but for different reasons, and they all share a common thread of being a “comeback” in some way, shape, and form.

I think what I’m going to do is talk about each album in its own paragraph, and then wrap everything up at the end, because I don’t have a lot to say about each of these records, but there are themes and ideas that tie them all together for me. Starting with the new Echosmith record, released just a few weeks ago, this is a very interesting release, because it’s a self-titled album. I mentioned this when The Maine released their self-titled album about a week ago, and how weird that is when bands release self-titled albums so late in their career, but I look at that as a reinvention and/or a reintroduction, and if there’s a band that deserves both of those, it’s Echosmith. You might remember them from the semi-big hit “Cool Kids” from 2013, and their debut did pretty well when it came out, but due to them being shuffled around at their label so many times, and never being able to release another album (as well as decide on what band the label wanted them to be), they broke free from any label and released their first comeback album, Lonely Generation, back in 2020. Didn’t something happen that year? Oh, right, the pandemic, so they couldn’t tour with that album or promote in almost any way. I had no idea that came out until I saw this self-titled album coming out, but this record is their first proper album in three years, and it’s a very pleasant, catchy, and fun slice of indie-pop / alt-rock. The band sounds great here, and their sound has matured quite a bit, considering it’s been a decade. While their sound is somewhat generic, it’s done well to the point where I enjoy listening to this record quite a bit.

Speaking of bands from the early 2010s, MisterWives is another band that you may remember, although I don’t know if they had any kind of “hit” from that time, but they did have a lot of buzz in the indie-rock / indie-pop sphere. They got lost in the shuffle for me, and they never really did much for me, but they suffered a fate similar to Echosmith. They signed to Fueled By Ramen, and released a record in the early parts of 2020, and from what I’ve read, that record was a big deal, because their vocalist got divorced from their drummer and that was a record that processed everything. I never listened to it, because again, I didn’t even know it came out, but this record is a catharsis to that record. They went back to longtime label Photo Finish, and released Nosebleeds, an album that’s very angry, pissed off, and has a lot to say. This record is interesting, because it reminds me a bit of Paramore’s new record, This Is Why, because the first few songs on this album are more dance-punk in tone, but it’s weird, because the album turns into a synth-pop that sounds like their earlier stuff a few tracks in, and it keeps that tone, so this album is sort of misleading. It’s good stuff, and it does have a couple of songs that I think are fantastic, but overall, its tone is a bit strange and like Echosmith, their sound is kind of generic, despite executing that sound pretty well, so it’s still an enjoyable record with some good hooks and interesting lyrics about the last few years.

Finally, The Aces came back with their third album, and their first in a couple of years, entitled I’ve Loved You For So Long. This band is super interesting, at least this record specifically, because they came out of the closet around the time of their last album, as each member of this all-femme presenting band is queer in some way, shape, or form, and this album deals with a lot of queer relationships, so it’s really cool to see that representation. I’d consider this album a comeback album, kind of because they took a risk on their last album, 2021’s Under My Influence, and they went more into a pop and R&B direction, but it didn’t really work, so they pivoted back to their signature indie-pop-meets-80s-alternative sound and this record is fantastic. This is easily the best of the three, although all three albums are worth hearing, because it’s concise, focused, and catchy as all hell. I don’t have a whole lot to say about this record, either, but it’s really damn good. At 33 minutes, this is a breezy and quick listen that has some interesting lyrics, great hooks, and a somewhat varied sound that never feels too unfocused. This album may or may not show up on my favorite albums list of year, so time will tell, but I have a feeling it’ll show up somewhere on there.

Comeback albums are interesting to me, and I wanted to talk about these three albums in particular altogether, because this year is seemingly becoming the year of comeback albums. A lot of bands that have been gone for years have been releasing new records, and a lot of them are great. These all just came out pretty recently, and since I feel similarly about each of them, I figured I’d just talk about them all at once. These albums are worth hearing, so if you enjoy indie-pop, alt-rock, and the like, they’re all worth hearing, and you may enjoy quite a bit, so if they sound interesting to you, pick them up or stream up. I just didn’t want to dedicate three separate reviews to say the same thing in pretty much all three, but I want my reviews to be a bit more “elevated” now, I suppose, but the main idea is the same – these albums are quite good, and in terms of comeback albums, I think they were successful in what they were trying to do, so I hope more people hear these.

#echosmith #misterwives #the aces #cool kids #nosebleeds #i've loved you for so long #pop #alternative #rock #1980s #indie #indie-pop #alt-pop #alternative pop #alt-rock #photofinish records #red bull records

[thefullmetalriver]

hey, hope this isn't too weird to ask! I've followed your tiktok for a while and love your cosplays and videos. I just did a little stalk on your IG and saw you got an OF page. Super cool and I'm kind of curious to sign up and see, but do you have anywhere where you have any teaser pics? I just have no idea what you post there! Is it just clothed cosplays? or like nudes? I have no idea hehe so just curious. also not sure if you gonna post more or not? Right now i'm worried if i sign up you might not post anything new for a few weeks. Most people do a sort of teaser on their like instas or twitter so you know what you're getting etc Sry for weird msg, keep doin what ya do!

Hi!

Thank you so much for the message, its really lovely to hear people actually enjoy the tiktoks I spend so long working on 🥰

Currently my OF is mostly lingerie shots OOC but I do have plans to get some IN cosplay as well, just need to find the time and energy😅

I know most people do post about it on other socials but I have a lot of people I know in real life on insta, hence why I don't post anything over there, and I deleted my twitter with all the recent mess Elon Musk is causing over there.

I'm currently running a promotion on OF where the first five people to subscribe get 10% off their first month, so now's kinda the best time to see what you think! And I do post relatively regularly over there, don't you worry about that!

[wallabby]

as a woman I always kind of expected to face sexism in the work force at SOME POINT in my life. especially sense I plan on becoming a lawyer. however. I did not expect to face problems for being a supervisor at a fucking fast food chain

#bro #I have two workers who... very clearly... #don't like the idea of working beneath me #and of course they don't say it #but its fucking obvious why #they act the same way to the main food court manager who is a woman #one of them even went a whole fucking rant on how women were very emotional and crazy people #who cant control emotions #ok #the other treats me like I haven't been working there the past 6 months #like theres nothing I can do about it #bc they haven't out right said it #its just fucking stupid like its just a supervisor position at a fast food chain in a food court pls #personal #they both constantly fucking undermine me #its just annoying as all fuck #one of them (the same one who went on that little rant session) told me no one respects me #like I get it I recently got promoted its kind of weird #but hes a prick #ANDD HE TRIED TO TAKE THE JOB FROM ME #my manager specifically worked w me and trained me for the job #he finally opened applications for me to apply when I was ready #AND MY COWORKER APPLIED TOO #like BRO you knew they weren't going to hire two #hes such an entitled shit #Im. #annoyed

[flatstarcarcosa]

not to be illegally sawft or too indulgent but man, been thinking the past couple days about like.

norman really does find my ability to function, and even excel in what i do at oscorp nothing short of amazing. a part of it is because of his own bias/privilege and his initial inability to change his thinking.

initially, he thinks it’s fascinating considering my education is minimal and that it was, largely, me bullshitting my way into the one open position i could skate into it by using my pharm/retail rx tech experience as a launching pad.

so, at first, he’s entranced bc on paper “they’re incredibly stupid and out of their depth, and yet”.

but it changes, over time. i go from just another cog in the machine in the medical/health R&D department, to working my way up to being the head of my own lab within the department, and the defacto department head eventually.

the promotions i get after we end up having a relationship have nothing to do with us having a relationship, but at the same time, it kind of does.

it does, because like i said, his thinking changes over time. it goes from that rich person snobbish “look at how hard The Poor is trying” to norman eventually realizing i’m not good despite my education/work background, but probably because of it.

and then, it evolves even more when he idly makes a comment one day about how if there was ever a person he’d be more than happy to bankroll a degree for, it’d be me. it’s in reference to oscorp having a few programs for that kind of thing, and he’s saying it mostly as a joke, but once he’s said it, it suddenly dawns on him that like.

fuck.

if i’m this good, and this able to learn and stay on top of things and exceed what i need to know to do my job and do it well, correctly, and safely then, like...

what else could i be doing, what else could i have done, where else would i be if i’d already had the chance for a degree? to get the same kind of education he got?

sure, i’m perfectly content with where i’m at, and i only end up being the department head by norman kind of being sneaky about it anyway*, but...still.

he thinks on that for a while, and eventually it just gets shuffled around to the back of his mind for the most part, but every now and then, especially when he really starts having me around for a lot of his personal pet projects, i’ll say something or do something or bounce a concept right back at him without missing a beat, and he thinks about it again.

and, eventually, he thinks about the statistical fact that there’s countless other people just like me out there that have the mind and the drive and ambition for more and they’re just. fucking stuck at walmarts or gas stations because they have to prioritize surviving before anything else.

so maybe he quietly funnels money into educational programs, maybe oscorp expands their scholarship and on-the-job education/training programs without him making a PR move or spectacle for it.

maybe he stops making the jokes about me getting a degree when he realizes that i don’t need an overpriced piece of paper or another title attached to my name to feel fulfilled.

and maybe, sometimes, on those occasions that i look down at something that’s been stumping him and driving him nuts for days and point out a possible solution he’d completely overlooked,

maybe he thinks that while it probably would have been a lot better if the world had been kinder to me,

maybe he’s still glad it wasn’t. because if it was, maybe i never would have ended up where i did, when i did, and maybe he wouldn’t have learned what it’s like to feel humbled without threatened.

#txt.txt #ship: masks & menace #*so technically the original department lead gets canned not long after norman and i first meet and it's kiiiiiiiinda my fault #i exposed his ass by putting him on blast in front of norman because i don't know who norman is at first #and even after he introduces himself i got the Dumbass Disease and don't make the connection on 2+2=4 with his name #for a while there's no official department head. there's a few different interim ones norman cycles through and then for a bit #he's just kind of overseeing things himself as he's shaking up the titles and roles in oscorp #when we meet its also like and remember comic!timelines are weird so i'm thinking shortly after the whole #dark avengers 2.0 thing and the red goblin carnage weird ass arc i mostly skipped bc seriously the fuck was that #so it's like i'm going with he was 'indisposed' wrt the running of oscorp for a long while and has only recently #gotten mostly sane and out of prison/mental bins and even gotten ownership of oscorp again #anyway. after a bit he promotes me to leading my own lab while still reformatting the departments on the basis of #i know what i'm doing and i know everyone in MY lab and we all work well so i'm like eh. okay whatever. #a while after that he wants to make me lead of this subsection of R&D and i'm like ah. ah no. no thanks i'm good #and he realizes that i have a huge thing about being In Charge on that level and authority and blahblahblahblah #so he basically hoodwinks me with the concept of 'department sub-head' and i'm like okay well i'm not actually in charge it's fine #but here's the thing ladies: when norman switches up the way the company positions are run what's he done is change #his OWN position. technically HE is the head of EVERY department. it was the easiest way for him to keep tabs on them & #catch up on what the haps been fuckening while he's been out of the picture. he does not tell me this. #'department sub-head' just means 'department head' since norman isn't there to handle the day to day of every department #him techinically being the lead on them all just means he gets EOD and EOW reports easier #the actual running and authority of the departments falls on these 'sub heads' who are still the defacto leaders #so basically i'm running this corner of R&D myself for a good bit before this all comes out and he thinks it's super funny #also these tags were mad long i shoulda put this in the post body but whatever

[yaboymercury]

(Contains hypno if you're into that)

Ugh doing interviews is such a pain. The recent promotion was worth it for the pay rise but didn't make the job hiring any more fun. Luckily this was the last one of the day. You ordered your new secretary to send the final guy into your new office and you sat back in your clean new chair feeling happy with yourself.

You heard the door open and you didn't even want to look up.

"Hey, take a seat, I'm just finishing something." You dragged your mouse around pretending to do anything just to set up a power dynamic.

"Ah well I have places to be." You registered the snide retort as you heard him sit down. You looked up at the other guy staring back at you. He seemed familiar but you couldn't place it.

"Do I know you?" You bluntly questioned.

The guy smirked. "Yeah we were in high school together, don't think you were a big fan though." You stared back at this confrontational guy and picked up on his well groomed appearance. Oh shit he was that gay kid, yeah you kinda bullied him a bit but damn that was years ago.

"Ah well we're adults now," you tried to take a professional tone, "so you're looking for a job here?" You weren't in the mood for apologies.

"Oh wait before that." He cut you off before you could elaborate adjusting his position in his chair crossing one leg onto the other and lifting his butt up a little.

PPPPPPRRRRRRAFFFFFFTTT

The undeniable sound of a fart blew out into the chair and diffused into around the room.

"Phew that was a stinker!" He relaxed back into his chair taking a big sniff. So much for professional you thought covering your nose with a handkerchief. This didn't do much however as you'd already gotten a noseful of the interviewees cheesey stink.

"Not making a great first impression here." You condescendingly raised your eyebrows at the smug looking man.

"Are you sure, I think the stink is gonna go down a storm." He winked as he lifted up his ass again making you grimace.

BBBBBBRRRAAAPPPPPTTTTTTTTT

"Whew gotta love it!" The man took another inhale of the putrid smell which was tainting your once fresh office. You unfortunately got another whiff yourself and the rotten smell even got in your mouth making you wretch.

"What kind of weird revenge, I'm calling securi-"

"Nuh uh!" He got up cutting off your threat and bent over pointing his ass right over your desk.

FFFFFFFFRRRRRRRARRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPP

The blast blew your hair back and it was the worst smell yet making you gag and unluckily breathe in a massive amount of flatulence. And just then your body began to feel sluggish.

He leered back over his stinky ass at your plain expression. "Ah third time's the charm." He chuckled.

You willed you arm to reach for the phone but your body wouldn't move. Your mind was racing but you had lost all control of your physical being. Your former classmate was now sitting on the desk ass pointing at you as he smiled down at you.

Pssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The hot quiet rush of stink was aimed directly at you forcing you to suffer in silence unable to hold your breathe. "Ah when you torment people in high school I assume you never take into account mind-controlling farts but here we are?" He laughed down at you. You could tell he could see the suffering in your eyes based on his malicious gaze. "Whew and such a toxic brew as well!" He wafted the seemingly never ending SBD in your direction while leaning over to get a good sniff himself.

He stood up finally cutting off the fart. It seemed like your office was now hazy from the rancid smell permeating every corner. "Okay let's switch seats, its my turn to interview!" He playfully smiled as he watched you pull yourself up and walk over to the other side of the desk and sit on the polluted chair. It was a horrific sensation, you could still experience every sense perfectly, unfortunately smell included, but you were in control of none of them. You moved as you normally would but it wasn't you doing it, it was like someone was playing you in a game.

"Yeah it is scary, but you deserve it." He broke his playful tone giving you a much more serious look. Could he read your mind or was your fear just that obvious. "And no I can't read your mind, fart sniffing slaves like you are just easy to read." You wished it would wear off but no matter how much you willed it you weren't moving.

"Your company posting your promotion really was a death sentence for you." He sneered at your mournful eyes. "Which is why I've got an even better position for you." He reverted back to his maliciously playful tone. "So first your gonna walk out of here and say that you're quitting from the stress, then you're going to call your family and say that you've always been gay and you're moving far away to live with the man of your dreams." As he began to give the orders your eyes trembled. What kind of hell was this? Could he really make you do all that? "But of course that's not true, after selling all your assets and transferring them to me you'll need something to do!" He grinned evilly, your heart was sinking so deep it felt almost as painful as your stinging eyes and intoxicated lungs. "So since your face looks so comfortable I think you'll serve a much better purpose in this world as my fart cushion!" He seemed ecstatic to inform you of your fate while you wished for this nightmare to be over. "Any of my foul fragrance which I think needs a second set of nostrils to appreciate will be yours to sniff." He rubbed his stomach. "So how about a trial shift to finish this interview?"

He stood up once more and turned around. "So you want the job?" Everything inside you was saying no but the potent pheremones controlling you thought otherwise.

"Of course!" Your voice replied eagerly and your face twisted into a subservient smile as your body climbed over the desk and you nestled your nose between his tightly covered cheeks. This was when the level of control he had over you sunk in. This was real. The maniacal laughter coming from your new boss solidified it.

"Ah don't worry the first day on the job always stinks!"

BBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPTTTTTTTT

-

ko-fi if you wanna tip or make a commission

#eproctophilia #fart #fartfiction #gay fart #male fart #fart story #fart caption #hypno fart

[babyboibucky]

Stages - Part 5

Pairing: AU!Bucky x Fem!Reader

Summary: Bucky slowly realizes that he wants to cross the line of friendship with you.

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings: Ehhhhhhhh slow Bucky as usual lmao

A/N: SURPRISE HOES, cleansing my tumblr of its filth with this wholesome update before I get back to posting smut drabbles lmfao

STAGES MASTERLIST || MAIN MASTERLIST

-

FIVE: SEPARATION

After your first heartbreak, you had resigned from your job. It was your first job then and aside from needing to work with Lance after the break-up, the job itself was stagnant and didn’t have any room for growth. You swore off love or any kind of romantic relationship and decided to focus on your career.

You found a new job at a marketing firm where you started off as an account manager. It was pretty rough the first few months there but you’ve gotten the hang of it eventually.

Bucky watched you grow to become a successful woman and he was so proud of you. You managed to move out of your mom’s house on your first year in your new job and Bucky made sure to be there for you when you got homesick. Besides, his apartment was just a few blocks away from your new place

Bucky loved seeing you grow but the more you did, the more he felt like he was running out of time. You got promoted which meant more hours at work. Before, you and Bucky managed to see each other almost everyday. Nightly dinners turned weekly and eventually, these weekly meet ups were slowly turning into a monthly thing.

It wasn’t only you who was excelling at work. Bucky was recently hired by GQ Magazine as their editor-in-chief too so even on weekends, he had work to do. It was becoming more difficult to see each other because of this making it almost impossible for Bucky to confess to you properly.

Phone calls or texts were out of the options obviously. He didn’t want to do it during the monthly dinners with everyone else too. Whenever the two of you would meet, it’d only be for a quick catch up session.

Bucky feared the day that you two would grow apart and unfortunately, that day came unexpectedly.

Bucky was in his office when he received a call from you at 10am which was weird because you were always busy at this hour and wouldn’t message him until lunch break.

“What’s up”

“I got a fucking promotion! A major one this time!” You squealed into the phone.

Bucky found himself smiling at the good news. Your voice was hushed though but Bucky knew you so well that he was sure you excused yourself to the bathroom to break the news to him.

“Congratulations!” He greeted happily. “That’s amazing!” He said.

“It was so unexpected! Are you free tonight? Please be free tonight, I wanna tell you everything! Dinner’s on me!” You excitedly told him.

“Yeah, I am. Definitely.”

Bucky wasn’t actually. He had plenty of shit he needed to finish for his presentation tomorrow and he figured those can wait ‘til midnight.

“I’ll pick you up at seven?”

-

Bucky was already waiting outside your building when you walked out. He was just about to wave when you screamed and ran into his arms, hugging him tightly.

It was the second hug you gave him. The first was that night when you had your heart broken. You and Bucky were never really the touchy type but now that you were in his arms again, clinging onto him for dear life, Bucky wondered why he never initiated this intimacy before.

Even after a long day the office, your hair still smelled like your shampoo. Bucky couldn’t help but run his fingers through them (if it still isn’t obvious, he had a thing for touching your hair) and god did he want to confess right then and there. How much Bucky wanted press a chaste kiss on the side of your head followed by the three words he had always wanted to whisper to you and only you.

But not tonight.

And how Bucky badly regretted that he didn’t tell you those three words because it was the beginning of the separation he had been dreading.

“You’re moving?” He asked.

Your promotion to Marketing Director required relocation. The marketing firm you’ve been working for decided to expand and create a subsidiary where they wanted to assign you to.

Bucky let out a soft sigh, “But Los Angeles...it’s so far from New York.” He said.

“I know but I couldn’t turn down the offer, Buck. I finally feel like I’m getting where I wanted to be.” You explained.

“Your mom already know?” He asked.

“I called her after I told you. She cried, of course.” You chuckled as you tossed your pasta around your plate.

Bucky wanted to be happy for you but the distance, the separation...he just couldn’t process it yet.

Silence followed after the small conversation about your decision to move.

“You’re gonna miss me, aren’t you?” You teased.

Bucky snickered, “Good riddance, actually.” He chided.

“Fuck you, asshole.” You chuckled.

“For real though, I’ll miss you.”

You smiled, “I’ll miss you too, Buck. But it’s not like I won’t come home to visit.”

-

Bucky wanted to throw up when the day came. The last two weekends were spent with the entire group. Bucky had to endure everyone’s concern for him the entire time. Sam suggested that he follow you to LA and declare his love for you like the sap that he was. Steve on the other hand recommended handwritten letters. Too sappy.

“You know you’re too late for a confession, right? If you confess to her before she leaves it won’t end well and you know that.” Nat told Bucky.

“So I should just give up?” Bucky asked.

“Let her settle first, find time to visit her and then tell her. Don’t wait too long though, you might lose your chance.” Nat warned.

The drive to the airport was filled with silence, well Bucky was a bit quiet but you were ecstatic. It was a new chapter in your life and you were excited to explore it.

Bucky walked you to the entrance of the airport and with each heavy step, his fear grew bigger and bigger. LA was so far and...he worried about you conquering it by yourself. What if some asshole takes advantage of you? He wouldn’t be there to protect you. What if you needed him? It’s not like he could fly from New York to Los Angeles that easily.

What if you decided to fall in love again?

As the both of you neared the airport, Bucky started to sense that you were slowly processing your big move. Would it help if he confessed now?

“You nervous?” He asked.

You swallowed the lump in your throat, “I kinda want to back out now.” You admitted. “Fuck.” You cursed.

Bucky laughed, “C’mon, you’re brave. Besides, if you start to miss me you know where to find me.” He teased but in all honesty, he wanted you to back out.

“Shit, I’m really leaving, aren’t I?” You asked.

There was a tiny bit of quiver in your voice and Bucky knew how hard you were fighting back your tears. Because again, you don’t cry unless it’s for an animated movie.

The both of you stood there, staring at each other with sad smiles on your faces. Bucky opened his mouth to say something but then he remembered Nat’s advice.

Should he follow it though? Would it be selfish he confessed to you know and leave you feeling confused or shocked?

“You know I love you, right Buck?”

Well, that was fucking unexpected.

“You do?” Bucky stammered.

You chuckled, “Of course, you’re my best friend!”

Oh, bummer.

“I know it’s fucking sappy. But I really do and I honestly don’t know how I’d survive there without you beside me. I mean, you’re pretty much always there for me ever since. Even when I shit myself.” You laughed at the memory.

“That’s fucking disgusting, wish I can burn that memory out of my fucking head.” Bucky chuckled.

You surprised Bucky when you hugged him. It was the third time (yes, he was keeping count). Fuck, Bucky was going to miss the scent of your shampoo and the way his fingers would always get caught in the tangles of your hair.

Bucky tightened the hug and kissed the side of your head, unable to hold back the urge.

“I love you.”

Three words. Those three words were finally whispered.

But given the context and situation, those three words meant differently for you than it did for Bucky.

-

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