#like they thought they could have a tv/movie version of me and think I wouldn’t notice?

[dissectiontime]

self-proclaimed 80’s losers with good tasting music and undiagnosed ADHD my beloved:

#it’s very personal to me #like they thought they could have a tv/movie version of me and think I wouldn’t notice? #stranger things #stranger things 4 #eddie munson #joseph quinn #peter maximoff #evan peters #xmen #marvel #eddie munson x reader #peter maximoff x reader #t originals

[fastlikealambo]

So I went to see The Little Mermaid today and I loved it. Here’s a dissertation no one asked for 

The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous, I saw people were complaining prior to the movie’s release that the lighting was too dark, it was perfect, a lot of films and tv do not know how to light people of color correctly and they hit it out of the park every single shot.

The singing was ON POINT.  The live action films have tended to not cast real singers but every single song was on point, they were SANGIN

People have been absolutely disgusting towards Halle Bailey and they are about to cry harder because when I say she is The Ariel, I mean that. Not only was her singing like a crystal champagne flute, her acting was phenomenal. She was so ANIMATED, and got every single emotion and attribute of Ariel that was in the 1989 version and elevated it. She is elevation, hope, and curiosity and you can’t help but fall in love with her every time she was on screen. While I do love the actresses in other disney live actions, you can tell with their acting that they are acting like they put on the  smile and the costume and go to set.  Halle is Ariel, it would have been so easy for her to do a cutesy imitation for 2 hours and collect a check ( and I wouldn’t mind it one bit if she had did that get that bag sis) but Halle was in complete control of the character instead of drowning in it.  There is no one else who could have played Ariel and she will go down in history for this performance. 

I have to admit that the disney princes for the most part in the animated films with very few exceptions are the most milquetoast aspect of the story so I was fully expecting to kinda put Jonah to the side when the film started but he made me eat my words.  He was excellent, he was such a breath of fresh air and gave Prince Eric such depth, he had me swooning and I was not prepared to swoon over Eric today.

I too had my doubts about Melissa McCarthy but just how good her singing was surprised me. She was so damn good and hit all the beats for Ursula with charm and humor. I’d like to see Melissa play more villains, she has the range.

I think the weakest part of the film was Javier Bardem. His acting was kinda all over the place, in some scenes he was perfect but in others he was phoning it in. That end scene though was his best scene and I did start crying and hugged my own father who I dragged to the movie with me.

The way twitter overhyped Vanessa is very telling. Jessica Alexander is gorgeous and had some great facial expressions but for the majority of her role she literally just a mouthpiece for Melissa McCarthy and Halle Bailey. I’m not sorry to say this but while stanning the villian is normal we all do it and she is great in her 2 and half minutes of screen time, but a lot of this is an attempt to decentralize the black lead in this film and that is rooted in racism. The fact that the actress has had to block multiple people who keep posting about her not to truly compliment her but to harm Halle says a lot about how  even when the focus of a piece of media is a black woman there are always people willing to dismiss her in favor of championing whiteness.  Jessica deserves her flowers but this behavior I see right now is not praise, it is erasure and neither Jessica nor Halle deserve that.  

finally thoughts ( prepare for me to get sappy)

I saw this in a theater primarily filled with kids and parents and it was fun to hear kids’ reactions to certain scenes but there was one moment I need to talk about. While kids were laughing and screaming the whole time having fun, I looked over at one point and I saw a little black girl in the row across from mine just twirling to the music.

So often as black girls we are told to we are too fast, we need to be quiet, I remember seeing a post about  Cardi B. and Offset’s children posing at the premiere of the little mermaid and how those two little girls needed to “ lose the attitude” when they were two little black girls in pretty gowns getting their picture taken.

To see a little black girl dance with abandon without having to humble herself or lose an attitude because she sees herself on screen, taking up space in this moment because she is safe to be herself made my prehistoric ass want to cry.  You see this film wasn’t just a cash grab, or “ forced diversity”,  this movie was for her, for all the little and not so little ones to unleash the wonder that is so often ripped from us before we have a chance to shape it. 

Go see it and get a little bit of wonder for yourself. 

#the little mermaid #the little mermaid 2023 #halle bailey #the little mermaid spoilers #also THAT cameo was so sweet

[cosplayinamerica]

Cosplayer : @scrappercostuming / media @making.with.megan

The Classic Batman TV series, to my memory was my first real exposure to superhero media- my parents were both the right age to watch the show growing up, and around the time I was 4 or 5 I remember knowing when Batman would air on TV land in the evenings. Even as a kid I remember loving how over-the-top the show was, even being amazed that the Batmobile had its own computer. I’d watch the movie very frequently on DVD on car rides, the Shark Repellant Bat-Spray and the bomb run scenes especially stuck with me (as I’m sure they do most people) I had watched all the movies that came after it, and though I thought they were great, Adam West always immediately came to mind whenever I’d think of Batman.

What I did NOT really expect though was the level of interaction that this character can evoke at conventions. The bomb was always a clear accessory choice to bring to conventions because of how famous that scene is, but I remember the first time I wore the costume this incredible thing happening where I decided to lift the bomb over my head and start running, and the crowds of people IMMEDIATELY recognized what was happening and parted to allow me through. In those moments, it felt like even more of my responsibility to bring the spirit of the Bright Knight as much as I could.

My absolute favorite part about wearing it, especially at New York Comic Con, is the discussions I get to have with people about the show. I don’t think i really understood just how special this version of Batman was to so many people beforehand. Getting to talk wit people about fond memories of their childhood watching the show as it released, perhaps people recalling being introduced to the show by their own parents, and parents explaining who Adam West and his Batman were always bring a smile to my face, knowing that all sorts of extremely different people share similar fond memories as I do with the character makes me happy to have brought the suit out and been able to put a nostalgic smile on their face. At this year’s NYCC when I wore it, perhaps my favorite memory in it was a father asking me to take a photo with his young son, who was dressed in a Pattinson style batman outfit- there was just some symbolism present there that reminded me of how crazy this incredible cross-generational impact of Batman as a character is, and makes me think about how much of that wouldn’t have happened had Adam West never put on the cowl.

#batman #Batman 1966 #cosplay #Nycc #nycc2023

[eddiemunsonspantschain]

Can You See Me? - E.M

Note: There is going to be a second version of this! I couldn’t decide if I wanted to do reader discovering they needed glasses or reader who wore contacts all the time and no one knew about the glasses....so I decided I’m doing both. The other one will eventually be posted, possibly in a few days. Enjoy! - A fellow near sighted bitch

Pairing: Eddie Munson x nearsighted!reader

Warnings: Fluffiness, assumed fem reader, pre-establushed relationship

You do not have permission to copy, translate or repost my works onto other platforms. 18+ only.

Eddie was getting suspicious. It wasn’t hard for him to notice that his sweetheart seemed to be struggling with something. She squinted any time she had to read something far away. He thought maybe it was just how her face moved when she read something but then one day she had gotten frustrated not being able to read a sign the guys had pointed out to her. She ended up huffing and saying that the guys were stupid for egging her on to try and read the sign. Eddie quickly told them to stop seeing that his girl was getting really upset. 

Over time, the squinting got worse. He noticed she started to do it more often and that things she was able to see fine before, she was squinting more to see. Even for class she was struggling to see the blackboard but when he suggested they move their seats up she had huffed at him. So instead he just shared his notes with her, which she had encouraged him to take in the first place. It was clear to him after a while: Y/N needed glasses. Now this was something he knew she wasn’t going to admit herself since she got annoyed any time someone even suggested she couldn’t see. So he had to come up with a plan.

—-----------------------------------------------

I didn’t want glasses. I didn’t think I really needed them. When things that were farther away started to be blurrier I thought it was just a normal part of growing older. As time went on though, the blurriness got worse and worse. Now if something was too far from my face I couldn’t see it. Hell the Hellfire boys gave me shit once because I couldn’t read a sign up on the movie theater's board. My boyfriend, bless him, at least got them to stop it. I thought I could ride this out longer. I didn’t want glasses. I’d look absolutely stupid with them on. 

“Y/N, honey. I think it’s time we go see an eye doctor.” Mom murmured one day as she dropped her hand. We tried to watch a movie together but the screen was half blurry and my face was starting to hurt from squinting all the time. Mom had stood up, walking to stand behind the TV and held up a book. I couldn’t make the title out clearly.

“Noooo, mom!” I whined, shoving a throw pillow over my face. “I’d look absolutely stupid with glasses on and like a total nerd!” my muffled whines came from the cushion and I heard mom sigh.

“The longer you go on like this, the worse it is going to get. Trust me.” The couch shifted with my mother’s weight as she sat down beside me and rubbed my back.

I lifted my head from the cushion. “My boyfriend is gonna laugh.” I mumbled and mom scoffed.

“Eddie wouldn’t. It’s Eddie. I’m making you that eye appointment.” 

I whined, dramatically flopping onto my back.

—-------------------------------------------------

“Eddie, what are you doing?” Y/N asked Eddie from his bed.

“Nothin.”  Eddie answered with a small smile, “I just wanna see something.”

Y/N huffed quietly. She had come over after school, like she normally did on Thursdays. Eddie had been planning this for days now. Y/N had been in a bad mood and mentioned that her mom wanted her to go see an eye doctor. Eddie told her that was great and she leveled him with a glare saying her eyes were fine. Eddie decided to prove her wrong. He managed to swipe a small dry erase board from one of the guys. Now he stood by his bedroom door, his girlfriend sat just on his bed. He pulled the cap of the dry erase marker off with his teeth. He chose black, deciding to not be totally unfair to her. He quickly wrote ‘I love you’ on the board itself. “Okay, I just want you to read this to me.” Eddie told her.

“Eddie.” She wanted with a tight frown on her lips.

“Just, read it for me.” Eddie turned the board around and waited. He knew she couldn’t see it. He just needed her to admit it.

Y/N looked towards the board then up at Eddie’s face. Could she even see his face? He wasn’t so sure. He smiled to himself and tapped the board with the dry erase pen. She huffed as her eyes moved back down to the board. A second later one of his pillows was hitting him in the face. “I mean, violence wasn’t the answer, babe.” Eddie laughed. 

Y/N flopped back on his bed and covered her face with her hands. Of course seeing her try to hide from him only made Eddie immediately move to the bed. He set the dry erase board aside and climbed on top of her. Hearing her tiny sniffles and whimpers made his heart ache. Eddie leaned down, pressing kisses on the hands that covered her eyes from her nails down to her wrist. Slowly, her hands fell away from her eyes revealing moisture. Eddie reached up, wiping away the tears smeared around her eyes and kissed the top of her nose between her brows. “I don’t wanna go to the doctor.” She hiccuped gently.

“You have to go, baby.” Eddie murmured as he curled his arm around her waist. “Gotta check those beautiful eyes. You gotta be able to see my pretty face from far away.” He smiled at the pout on her lips, leaning down to kiss the jutted out lower lip.

“They’re gonna give me glasses…” She mumbled and Eddie nodded.

“I know.” He murmured, “You’ll look so cute.”

“Edward, stop.” She murmured.

Eddie grinned and kissed her again. “I mean it, babe.” He told her, “I’ll go with you if you want me to.”

“No, it’s okay.” She mumbled and Eddie leaned down to hug her body tightly to his.

After a few minutes of sitting there, Y/N finally stirred under him. “What did you write on the board?” She asked softly.

Eddie grinned as he lifted his head. He grabbed the board and leaned off of her a little, showing her the board. His grin widened even more seeing the blush that settled on her cheeks. 

“I love you too, Eds.”

—----------------------------------------------------

The eye doctor wasn’t fun. He had me look at a board with a bunch of letters on it. I tried to be confident as I answered but really… I wasn’t. In the end he had decided that, yes, I did need glasses. He explained that I was nearsighted and it was okay. Just that things far away were hard to see. He explained all about how to take care of my eyes and went ahead fitting me for glasses. I tried to ignore the ‘I told you so’ look from my mother. I had picked out frames and they said in a few days I would have them.

After only a few days, my glasses were ready. Mom picked them up while I was at school and Eddie was being insufferable. He kept asking every day when I was getting my glasses after I broke the news to him that he and my mother were right about my deterioration in vision. So today, I finally told him they were done. As soon as school ended, Eddie was tugging me out to his van.

“Why are you so eager?!” I laughed, slapping at his arm as he opened the passenger door for me.

“Because, I want my girl to be able to see!” He laughed, turning to wrap his arms around me. He pressed a quick kiss to my lips before helping me into the van and shutting the door like the gentleman he was. 

The drive to my house was short as was every drive with Eddie Munson at the wheel. I unlocked the front door and walked inside, calling out a greeting to my mother as Eddie walked inside. I kicked my shoes off, Eddie following in stride. I grabbed his hand to try and make a break for the stairs.

“Not so fast!” Mom called and I froze, shooting Eddie a glare when I heard a deep chuckle from him. Mom held out a case and wiggled it at me.

I sighed and took it from her hands. “Thanks!” I cheerily said and started up the stairs again, practically dragging Eddie behind me.

“Y/N!” Mom called after me, “Eddie, get her to put them on!”

Eddie called back to her. “I’ll try!” and I turned to gently tap him on the head with the hard glasses case.

I pushed the door open to my bedroom and sat on my bed, toying with the case in my hands. Eddie soon joined me, sitting across from me on the bed. I sighed and opened the case. Inside was a small cloth, used for cleaning the glass. Inside sat a simple black frame. They had a lot of options inside the doctor's office. Lots of different colors and designs to choose from but I wanted something simple. The lady at the counter told me I could always get a different pair especially if my prescription changed. To my horror, my vision could get worse.

“We can wait if you want.” Eddie spoke up and I sighed.

“I think I waited long enough, don’t you?” I mumbled, raising a brow at him. He only offered a smile. I sighed, taking the glasses from the case and unfolding the parts that go over my ears. I looked down at them. Everything was slightly blurry except for where the lenses sat inside the frame. I frowned, putting the glasses onto my face. I pushed the middle up the bridge of my nose and looked at Eddie. While he was close enough to see for the most part from where he sat, his features were sharper and clearer than they had been before.

“How well can you see me?” Eddie asked softly.

“Very well. Clearly.” I mumbled with a small pout. I hated it. I was either going to be practically blind or be able to see at the cost of looking dumb.

“So now that you’ve gotten to see your boyfriend's face clearly, do you still want me?” Eddie teased with a grin.

I gasped at him and smacked his arm. “How dare you insinuate I wouldn’t!” I screeched at him with a small smile.

“Well, it occurred to me that most of our relationship you couldn’t see very well! I thought I’d check, princess.” Eddie grinned at me.

“Of course I still want you, handsome. You’re still my pretty boy. Just… in better detail.” I laughed.

Suddenly, Eddie launched himself at me. I leaned back, letting his body rest on top of mine as he kissed me. My head swam at the intensity of his kiss and after a moment he finally allowed me some oxygen. I raised an eyebrow at him. “I know you said you thought you’d look bad in glasses or like a nerd but, babe… they’re kinda hot.” He grinned at me.

“Oh, my god.” I shook my head at him and tried to wiggle out from under him.

Eddie chuckled and pressed kisses to my face, arms circling around me so I couldn’t escape. “Hey, just letting you know it’s doin something for me. Glasses or no glasses, you’re hot.” He laughed and kissed the tip of my nose. 

“Yeah?”

“Hell yeah.” 

Maybe glasses weren’t so bad.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female!reader #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson drabble #eddie munson fluff

[bunting27]

can i request 'you look good with my hands around your throat' from the suggestive prompt list for Bunts?

photoshoot ✏��� m. bunting

bunting27's 100 follower celly !

a/n: i got slightly carried away w the plot for this one

prompts: “you look good with my hands around your throat"

wc: 1.1k

taglist: @nylwnder @kenanlotus0 @sidcrosbyspuck

✏︎

michael had been her best friend since they were in high school, that’s why the first (second, actually) thing she did when she found proof she’d been cheated on was show up at his doorstep layered in clothes she’d taken from him throughout the years, accompanied with a bag full of ben and jerry’s pints.

“i don’t even know why i stayed with him, it’s not like he was beneficial at all” she mumbled, curled up under michael’s arm with a spoonful of ice cream ready to eat as soon as she was done talking.

michael chuckled at that, taking his own mouthful and hitting play on his tv before responding to her.

“fuck is that supposed to mean” he asked with his mouth half full, eyes wide and curious.

“i don’t think i’ve had a satisfying orgasm thanks to anyone but myself sicne, like.. you, actually. when you came back to toronto and we got wasted” michael grimaced, thinking back on the night and how long it had been since then. 

she’d been dating the guy for over a year and not one good time? 

“that’s pathetic. i don’t think i’ve left a girl hanging like that since high school” she hummed in agreement, and then a small smirk took over her lips as she swallowed her last bite of ice cream and looked at him.

her eyes had a glint of mischief, the same kind that he saw the first time they’d met, the same kind as when she’d managed to help their friend group sneak captain morgan’s into their prom, and the same one she had when they got drunk and fucked each other.

“oh, god. i know that look. it’s like your own twisted version of a light bulb” she giggled at that, pausing the movie and moving their containers of ice cream to the side.

“how about we take some pictures to piss him off a little” michael raised an eyebrow, considering it, but he knew that wasn’t feasible now with his job and how public his life could be sometimes.

“not anything that would have you trending, relax. your face won’t be in it, just your hands” he sighed and rolled his eyes, making her squeal and smile, knowing that he was going to agree. when he confirmed that for her, she hugged onto him tightly, thanking him excitedly as he chuckled.

“if i get in shit for this i’m kicking you off my doordash account and all of my streaming shit, mark my words” she gasped sarcastically 

“you woudlnt” he smiled, shaking his head at her and leaning her onto her back with her head over the side of his couch.

“where’d you want me, vengeance,” she rolled her eyes at the nickname, taking off the hoodie she’d taken from michael and adjusting her sweatpants so her panties could be seen on her hips. his eyebrows went up.

“you wore a matching set to come watch movies with me?” she scoffed, pulling her hair out from behind her shoulders and adjusting her front layers.

“no, i wore a matching set to go get fucked in a bar. but i thought ice cream might treat me better than shots when i wake up tomorrow” he hummed, moving so he was hovered over her thighs and facing her.

she grabbed his hands and placed them on her hips, and he took it upon himself to hook his thumbs under her panties. she took a couple photos, then moved him up to her waist. he squeezed, giggling as she took more photos. 

this hadn’t been the first time he helped her with pissing off an ex, and he hoped it wouldn’t be the last. he got to spend time with her, she was single again and she was half naked in his living room? a win for everybody 

“you wanna take my bra off? we can leave it on” he shrugged, keeping one hand on her waist and configuring the other one so he could unclasp her bra, since this one had been a front clasp.

he waited until she adjusted her phone camera before snapping the magnets apart and letting the bra fall. he kept an eye on her phone to make sure it captured him brushing off the straps from her shoulders and her back arching to let him pull it out from under her.

she took his hands again, placing them on her chest and he squeezed, then she moved him again, this time to her neck. he gulped slightly, watching as she let her lips part and made it look like she had been moaning for him.

“let me get in the next one” he mumbled, staring down at her with his hands still squeezed around her neck gently.

she furrowed her eyebrows “you sure?”

he licked his lips, nodding slightly. he could have grabbed her chest a thousand more times and it wouldn’t have affected him as much as this did. he didn’t understand, and honestly he didn’t want to, but this was hot in ways he couldn’t describe. 

she hummed contently and moved his hands from her, telling him to sit back and then seating herself on his thigh, facing the same direction as he was. she nodded so he would bring his hand back to her throat and then looked up at him, letting an innocent look take over her face as they stared at each other for the picture.

she then casually moved herself off him and pulled his hoodie back on, smiling and kissing him on the cheek.

“thanks, mikey. i owe you one. wanna see them?” he ruffled her hair and nodded, trying to pretend like he wasn’t unreasonably worked up from their little shoot.

she leaned her head on his shoulder and started scrolling though the pictures, selecting which ones would be sent to her ex and which ones she would delete.

when she got to the ones with his hands on her throat, she heard his breath hitch and she smirked to herself.

“maybe we keep this one for just us two?” she mumbled, pushing her nose into his jaw and moving his attention to the one she’d taken with his face in it.

he nodded, watching as she sent it to him and then sent off the rest of her favourites to the other guy. he’d never liked him, he never really liked any of them, actually. it was selfish and shitty of him to say, but this was his favourite part of each of her relationships - the end.

when his phone buzzed, he pulled it out to look at the image again and he sighed.

“fuck, you look good with my hands around your throat” she smiled up at him, moving back towards his lap.

“maybe i will get fucked tonight, just not in a bar”

#michael bunting #michael bunting x reader #m bunting #nhl blurb #hockey blurb #toronto maple leafs #bunting27's 100 follower celly

[tmntxthings]

Part two: Rise!Leo falling in love for the first time

-author’s note: i don’t know where we are going but we shall keep moving forward c: hope you all enjoy <3

-warnings: angst, mentions of violence, death, guns, blood (really not too bad), cursing, slow burn, fluff, unedited

previous - next

—————————————————————————

previously. . .

“LEO?!” He was a cheeky bastard! Leaving you hanging like that, winking and making you blush furiously. At least he didn’t have the opportunity to see how red you became. He kept shocking you, of course he could actually teleport!

That night you stayed up pretty late watching Jupiter Jim episodes. You figured you’d save the movies for last. As you watched the animation your thoughts keep wandering back. Back to two hours ago, to Leo. He was a mother-flippin turtle, mutant, and ninja! And let’s not forget to tack on the super power of teleporting.

Leo was incredible, nothing like what you had imagined. But incredible nonetheless. You didn’t view him differently, in fact your crush might’ve grown a little, he did save you, and squeezed your hands making you feel all warm inside, him flirting in person all up close and personal sure was more effective than just hearing his voice!

God you were going to die of embarrassment, was it even possible?? To be embarrassed of one’s own thoughts?! Looking back at the tv, you tried to refocus on the show. Jupiter Jim. Jupiter Jim. Jupiter Jim… Leo’s smiling face crossed your mind. “Agggghhhhh” you groaned in defeat as you paused the show, there was no way you would be able to give it the attention span it needed, not when you were just so, distracted!

。・゜・( pov change: leo)・゜・。

“What’s up Leon!” April answered his call on the second ring. “You busy April? I can call bac-“

“No I’m not-“ Leo immediately pounced as soon as April said no. “Great! I’ve got a favor to ask, think you have time to spare tomorrow night?” Leo’s voice had gone all nonchalant. No need for April to know just how badly he wanted- no needed, her to come with him.

That way you and April could bond over being humans and knowing about mutants. Knowing about him specifically. Then you wouldn’t be all in your head. You would be comfortable around him again, and everything would be perfect! His plan was in motion.

“Doing what exactly?” April questioned, when it came to Leo anything was on the table. So April wasn’t exactly saying yes right off the rip. “Uh well, you know” Leo responded, very vaguely. He hadn’t really thought about actually having to come clean about what he had been doing these past couple of weeks. It made him chuckle awkwardly and April quickly deadpanned, “No, I’m not really catching your drift here Blue.”

Leo cursed inwardly, here goes nothing! “So,” his voiced turned into a whirlwind “Imetthisgirlawhileagoandwereallyhititoffbutijustshowedherwhatilookliketodayandnowshesprocessingeverythingandiwantyoutomeether!” Leo was trying to catch his breath, there he said it. “I’m gonna need a slowed down version of that” April harped, annoyed that she only caught about half of that.

“Oh come on!” Leo whined, “April I want you to meet someone who has become important to me. They just found out about me being a mutant and I thought you could help them through, you know, everything!” He huffed, not wanting to explain anymore. April’s eyes had bugged out, she couldn’t believe her ears, “You’ve got a girlfriend?!” she yelled into her phone. Leo had to pull the phone away from his ear, “They’re NOT my girlfriend” Leo exasperated and made it very clear to April to not say that ever again.

“Okay okay, calm down. I’ll go, okay?” April’s agreement had Leo sighing in relief. Plan definitely in motion! He just knew the two of you would get along great. Leo couldn’t wait to introduce you to everyone! His brothers, pops, Cass, the whole crew. Leo thought April would be the best step at bridging whatever gap that might’ve formed between the two of you.

The call ended after the details of when and where were exchanged. Leo was entering the sewer lair feeling pretty mighty. “Leo my man, you do come up with the most brilliant plans” he complimented himself.

“I think I’d switch out the adjective Nardo,” Donnie quipped as he passed Leo to go to the kitchen. “Donnieee whatcha been up to” Leo ignored the jab and followed after his brother. “Just your normal genius routine, though I am trying to see if we have any pizza left.” Donnie responded as he swung open the fridge. His eyes slanting in anger as he felt the weight of an empty pizza box in their fridge. “Who just leaves a empty box IN THE FRIDGE???” His voiced raised in annoyance.

“Chill Dee we can order some more” Thankfully Leo knew this time that it hadn’t been him, he had been out of the lair and skating around the sewers while he debated on how to get April on board with his masterful plan. “If I had to take a stab at it I’d guess-“

“Mikey” they both said in unison. Donnie grumbled as he tossed the box in the trash. “So what’s this plan you were boasting about?” Of course Donnie would ask about that. Tell the truth or lie? Would it matter if he’d have to come clean sooner rather than later since April already knew? Leo’s mind was turning and Donnie could tell as his question went unanswered for a couple of minutes.

But he was also scrounging around for something to snack on before they all decided to order some pizza. “If I tell you, you have to promise to keep it a secret from everyone else until I say so,” Leo crossed his arms as he watched his brother’s shell flit around the kitchen. “I solemnly swear” Donnie said sarcastically, prompting for Leo to spill. “Alright, well, about a couple weeks ago-“

“Wait wait,” Donnie interrupted turning on his twin. “Let me guess” he cupped his chin in thought for a couple of seconds before he said, “you met a human and they saw you!” Donatello pointed at Leo with one finger daring him to say otherwise.

The blue turtle was completely flabbergasted, “how’d you?” Leo started to say but Donnie had anticipated that question, “I know you better than you think” Donnie said tapping the side of his head, “and I’m just good like that.” He smirked, making Leo roll his eyes. “Let me find out you’ve been listening in somehow on the tracing device and I swear” the threats were stopped as Mikey came into the kitchen.

The younger brother eyed Leo and Donnie. “You wanted that pizza box chilled for some reason Michael?” Donnie quickly remembered his earlier aggravation with whoever (it was probably Mikey) ate the last slice and didn’t have the courtesy to throw the box away. “Heh, about that… When we ordering? Cause I’m starving” Mikey asked sheepishly, there was no denying the accusations. He was definitely guilty, but it was an honest mistake! He just forgot all about the box when he held up the last slice of cheesy goodness up to his mouth.

Donnie sighed, “Alright I want pepperoni,” Leo quipped in, “and a supreme!” Mikey had his phone out the pizza place number was on speed dial. “Coming right up!” Mikey gave them a thumbs up and took a seat at the table. “Hey what about my order?!” Raph burst into the kitchen just as the other line picked up. “Cheese!” Raph said before Mikey could ask.

。・゜・( t i m e j u m p )・゜・。

Leo woke up around 8:30, he groaned and stretched out in his bed then jumped up. Tonight was the night. His amazing plan would take way and then he would get to introduce you to everyone else. April would be here in thirty minutes and then they’d portal out to your place.

Leo was excited, slightly nervous, but mostly pumped. This was gonna be great! He quickly got ready, putting on his gear, one can never be too careful… plus it made him look that much cooler. He posed in a length size mirror, he was ready!

“So how much do they know exactly?” April asked as they portaled out onto the rooftops of New York City. The night air sure was getting colder, October finally bringing in fall. “Just about everything” Leo said as he portaled again this time directly on your rooftop. Looked like they were early, you weren’t in your usual spot. “Anything I should know??” April continued to question feeling like she was going into this pretty much blind. “Just befriend them, I’ll head out after the introductions and pick you up later,” Leo explained the rest of his plan.

。・゜・( pov change: y/n )・゜・。

You opened the door that led out to the rooftop. Immediately noticing Leo and someone else sitting in chairs. The girl had her back turned towards you so she didn’t notice your entry but Leo’s eyes saw the door movement instantly.

“Y/n!” He smiled and you gave him a smile back, it hadn’t been a dream. “I want to introduce you to my friend, April O’Neil!” Leo said as April turned to meet you face to face. She was pretty was your first thought. Then the name clicked from what Leo had told you last night, she knew everything, the one chased by aliens and other mutants. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you, I’m (your full name).” April reached out and shook your hand, “Likewise! It’s about time another girl came into the group,”

You continued to smile, until Leo cleared his throat and said, “Alright well I’ve got some uh, errands to run, I’ll be back later!” Before you could speak up he slashed one of his swords, gave you a tiny wave, and portaled away. You sputtered, did he really just leave you with his friend?? All alone? You guessed you’d have to push away your anxiety for now. “Sooo” April said, eyeing you up and down, then circled you.

“I can’t believe he just left!” You said flustered, “All part of his ‘master plan’” April put air quotes around the master plan part. You wondered what exactly this ‘master plan’ was all about but even though you weren’t in the loop you trusted Leo. “Wanna go walk to Central Park?” April suggested.

You chewed on your lip, it wasn’t exactly late. But you wondered if your parents would let, they were super overprotective. New York City at night could be a dangerous place. “Yeah sure!” You just wouldn’t ask, they’d assume you were in your room for the night since you had snuck out here in the first place. Usually by the time you and Leo’s late night talks were done it would be around 1 am. They were never up that late so the coast was clear to sneak back in on most nights.

You led April back inside the complex and towards the elevators. She told you how she first met the brothers, it had been all four of them. How they became fast friends. As the both of you walked down the sidewalk you started asking questions. About Leo and his brothers, how they became mutants, about the aliens Leo told you about. In the end the conversation flowed smoothly and April was super funny. “They’re great guys Y/n” April said, with a genuine smile on her face.

“I can’t wait to meet everyone!” It was the truth, April made you feel like this was just a new normal. That mutants and aliens weren’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, in fact April had said that the brothers were more human than those who claimed to be. “I hope you don’t mind I kinda led us away from the park, I got hungry!” April said sheepishly as she put a hand on her stomach. A soft growl came from April’s direction.

“Oh yeah no worries, what did you have in mind?” You didn’t want to laugh and call out April’s stomach growls. So you focused on the billboards, the sidewalk cracks, the strangers passing by. Anything to not laugh! “I was thinking this noodle pla-“ April had been in the middle of her sentence when someone pushed past her, bumping into her shoulder.

“Excuse you!” She called after the rude pedestrian. “Are you okay?” You asked, looking back to the person who kept walking and April. “Yeah I’m fine, but someone else needs to be taught some manners!” April sure was angry! Maybe hangry?

“Don’t let that jerk get you down April, let’s go get the noodles you were talking about!” You tried to steer April’s thoughts back to food.

“Jerk?? Maybe if you two pigs weren’t hogging up the whole pavement!” The guy had stopped in his tracks, he was still a couple of feet away but you had a bad feeling now that he was talking back. “PIGS???” April was fuming as she turned to face, well actually she had to tilt her face up because this guy was huge. He was also covered head to toe in a dark robe that made it impossible to see his face.

You leaned back, grabbing at April’s arm, “April… noodles” you whispered sharply. You were not confrontational at all. “Y/n this guy called us pigs, when he ain’t even showing his ugly face!” No sooner had April pointed that out the guy started marching forward. “Alright time to run!” You said quickly as you started pulling April away, she hesitated only a second before running too.

“Yeah that’s right! Run!” He hollered as the two of you kept going. By the time you reached the noodle place you were huffing and puffing as you slid into a booth seat. “Ughh that sucked!” April heaved as she slid into the seat across from you. “Sorry April, I don’t know if I could’ve taken on that guy” you felt bad for not standing up for yourself or April. “It’s okay, he was pretty scary,” she laughed remembering how swiftly he started approaching.

The two of you ordered noodles and the conversation was stunted by the good food. “Wow I think these are the best noodles I’ve ever had!” April nodded in agreement still chowing down. It was then that the door opened, a bell signaling another customer. Except it wasn’t just one, a group of people in dark drab robes entered the restaurant.

“Aw hell,” April started choking on her food as she scrambled to get her phone. The men were looking around and you noticed a particularly large figure at the head of the group. He turned and even though you couldn’t see his eyes you could tell he had made contact. “April I think we should go..” you’d never been in any type of situation like this. The only thing you could think to do was run, even though you had just ran here!

“Donnie” April coughed and cleared her throat as she brought her phone up to her ear. “Can you get to my location asap? I’m in a bit of a pickle”

“There they are,” a gruff voice called out and the group shifted to the corner where your table was. You squeaked, it had to at least be 14 guys. “Oh my god what are we gonna do?!” You looked over to April, trying not to freak out. “Don’t worry I’m on the phone with one of Leo’s brothers-“

“Yes Donnie like right now I swear they have a group of weirdly dressed men about to come over here and-“

“Talking about us?” The leader sneered, the both of you couldn’t possibly escape now.

“Is everything okay out there?” The cook who had served the food called out from the kitchen. To which one of the henchmen immediately went in and screaming proceeded. You were cringing down in your seat, fearing for the worst. “Hear that? That’s about to be the two of you.” The leader said as he slid into April’s side of the booth.

April’s hand curled around her phone, you could see her fingers trembling. “Leave us alone!” You said leveling your stare and trying to mean business. “Or else I’ll call the police.” Your phone was in your back pocket of the jeans you wore. The leader chuckled, and put his hands up mocking you. “Oh no! Not the police,” he turned and looked at his henchmen who all started joining in laughter.

You took him looking away as the chance to start dialing 911. But April kicked you firmly underneath the table. You looked back up at her in confusion as she mouthed the word “guns.” You felt all the blood drain from your face as you heard a loud bang from the kitchen.

“Damnit!” The leader shot up from his seat and the crowd parted to let him go check what had happened in the kitchen. One of his goons was dragged out sporting a bloody nose and some gruesome gashes, he was bleeding badly. “Fucking cook tried chopping me up Boss, I didn’t know what else to do!” He was groaning and grunting from his injuries but the leader batted him upside the head.

“You do what I tell you to do, now we’ve got a dead guy in the kitchen! I wanted a free meal!” He hollered. “Gimme your gun,” the guy did begrudgingly and then another shot rang out. Your eyes had been wide with fear earlier but now you were pretty sure you were going to die.

“Don please tell me you’re almost here,” April whispered, you hadn’t realized she was still on call, and you couldn’t hear him reply.

“Sorry about that piggies, now where were we?” The leader started approaching, blood splattered his robes from the shot he fired just seconds earlier. He sounded so casual. He was definitely a murdering psychopath. And you were going to die in a noodle shop. Somehow you hadn’t passed out yet, maybe holding onto the sliver of hope that was April calling for the turtles.

Ding! The doorbell rang out clear and everyone’s head turned, you hoped whoever it was turned and ran for help. “Anyone call for a- BUTT WHOPPING?!” A flash of orange whirled into the room, nunchucks spinning and flying out knocking two henchmen out cold. Before anyone could move blue light shined in the middle of the room. You knew it was them. They had come, your heart swelled with hope. Leo had come to save you!

#rise leo #rise leonardo #rise tmnt #rise turtles #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise donnie #rise donatello #rise raph #rise raphael #rise mikey #rise michelangelo #teenage mutant ninja turtles #turtle bros #tmnt fandom #tmnt #donnatello #leonardo #raph #michelangelo #mikey #raphael #rottmnt april #april o'neil #rise leo x reader #slow burn #fan fic #fan fiction #romance #angst #leonardo hamato

[astxrwar]

sooo super intrigued by motorcycle accident bucky….. bucky with tbi… u said it’s niche and it IS and it’s so special to me and i feel like only u could do it justice :* mwah

me @ you ,,, i am swooning dramatically. real time reaction

AUGH i’ve already spent an obscene amount of time thinking abt it and the specifics of how it affected his relationship with Steve and his general like… life trajectory.

i was gonna have it be grad student! stark(implied adopted)reader x bucky where she needs a place to live that’s affordable on the grad stipend and bucky lives ~10min from campus and has a room for rent that’s Cheap because he knows her family. kinda ended up fusing it with “dad’s best friend except it’s dad’s worst tenuous acquaintance” thing I was playing with where the motorcycle accident that fucked his whole life up was also the one that killed tony’s parents. technically it wasn’t his fault but also if he hadn’t been there it wouldn’t have happened. the canon parallels r paralleling. anyway i just like the “oh my god your dad is going to literally kill me” vibes and then also the thought of the OG6 avengers + co as a group of average suburban white people who have lame bbqs and other such get-togethers fairly often. in my little au Tony and Steve becoming friends probably happened when RC was around ~10 years old and Bucky only ever started being dragged to these little events when RC was 17-18 and only ever when Steve’s hosting because tony hates his guts. he knows it’s irrational and it wasn’t actually bucky’s fault but as per canon he’s an emotional manchild (affectionate… i still love u tony you’re just a fucking hot mess).

anyway as you can imagine he’s less than thrilled about her moving into Bucky’s spare room but she’s 22-24ish and that’s an Adult, also it’s her stipend and thus her call and Bucky is charging criminally little. and then,,, Oh No, He’s Hot :/ she kind of already knew that because he’s occasionally at the little gatherings even if it’s just standing in sullen silence on the outskirts of the group of people. but one-on-one it’s Worse because he’s also pretty cool and funny and nice? and then. Developing Relationship. he starts cooking extra when he makes dinner because he discovers RC only eats Garbage College Food and finds it frankly unacceptable. eventually she gets comfortable with him as a roommate and they will both hang out in the living room and watch garbage TV or whatever movie is on which devolves over time into actually watching stuff Together. maybe some weedsmoking elements (common in ppl w chronic pain who can’t take painkillers for whatever reason but also just makes my brain go brrrr i would sooo smoke with him. sighs longingly)

and then because im a massive fucking sap there’s the psychological elements of Guilt and Trauma and how life-altering events can separate you from your friends and stunt your development while simultaneously making you weirdly wise in some ways. and the kind of double-sided coin that is the fact that when truly terrible things happen to people sometimes nobody takes the time to really try to save them, and they’re not necessarily owed the time and sacrifice that would entail, but it still really sucks. for this specifically im thinking abt how steve maybe kind of just grew apart from bucky during his Struggles with his new disability + the pain meds thing + his life basically being changed beyond recognition in the blink of an eye. not out of malice or anything, he just… went off to college (for architecture. According To My Terminally Overdetailed Mind) and wasn’t around as much and didn’t really notice Bucky sort of slipping away until it was too late. and then he’s busy with his career and has a steady girlfriend and even getting married while Bucky is trying to not get fired from another shit blue collar job in their hometown for being either in too much pain or too sick to work. this is essentially the modern version of the dreaded fucking time travel scene in the sense that steve grows up and moves on and bucky’s just. trapped. missed out on a lot of normal development because he was kind of just fighting to Stay Alive and not like. living. the canon parallels paralleling AGAIN.

anyway eventually he manages to get clean and stay that way, but he does it for the most part alone. and i imagine the first time he tells RC all this she’s BLINDINGLY mad at steve the way twenty-somethings with limited irl experience and an idealized view of the world would be. and he’s like :/ no, he didn’t really do anything wrong, the world is just Like That. it wasn’t steve’s job to save him or put his own life on hold trying to get Bucky’s back on track and while it’s kind of shitty and definitely unfair, Steve had his own life to figure out and bucky wouldn’t have wanted him to waste it trying to drag him out of the hole he was in. sometimes bad shit just Happens and nobody will save you and you have to just keep going anyways, and that’s Life.

(in her little romantic 20somethings head like ‘i would have tried to save you consequences be damned’ the hubris of youth etc etc)

on the flipside of that Bucky thinks he’s going to be stuck in this sort of passive limbo of being Fine but not necessarily happy, healthy but not necessarily Thriving, etc Forever, n what he gets from RC is somebody who HASN’T been jaded by an ableist and hypercapitalist society yet. who, instead of looking at him and seeing a guy who missed the chance to do anything with his life due to trauma and addiction and whatever, sees somebody who survived so much and has the drive and willpower to do literally whatever he wants and plenty of time left to do it.

obligatory bucky riding motorcycle again scene. idk what he wants to do with his life but he’ll do it by god. maybe he wants to be a mechanic and open his own shop, maybe his parents left him money and he’d always just figured he’d let it sit until he died. idk yet. The Power Of Love Babey (more like the power of having even one (1) person look you dead in the eyes and be like ‘you haven’t missed out on your life, you’re not a fuckup you’re a survivor and i really think you can do anything!!!’ vs people who grew up with him kind of treating him either like he’s fragile or immature or kind of a failure. )

also the first person to find out you two are fooling around is nat who’s married to clint (i h8 natbruce u will never see me cop for natbruce.) and im thinking clint is probably ~15 years older than her which is in part why she Recognizes what’s up between you two n its not like she’s going to judge but she’s definitely like girl,,, your dad is going to flip if he finds out and also like… just Be Careful.

anyway the second you tell me you like my weird little AUs i puke out all my thoughts like a cat with a hairball THANK YOU FOR INDULGING ME WLFJGJGKGJGJFKFKFKFJGJF *unintelligible noises*

#ask #i have BRAINROT #no thoughts just modern bucky and all his problems. #luke’s brainworms

[arrow-guy]

Within the Ashes (3/??)

Summary: You’ve spent your life working for someone else. You watch their back, you protect them, but you’re left feeling empty and unfulfilled at the end of the day. What happens when a freak accident transports you to a different dimension, very nearly identical to your own?

A/N: Okay, it’s been a Rough couple of weeks, so i haven’t been able to post this, but hopefully the content of this chapter will make up for that lmao. Nothing traumatic happening this chapter, only friendship and vibes. Please enjoy!

Page dividers by @carryonmyswansong

Pairing(s): StevexReader, background Spideytorch

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: None

Part 2

“You think she’s telling the truth?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Steve says. “At the very least, she thinks she’s telling the truth.”

“Of course she does. But everyone’s truth is different.”

“Right.” Steve asks, “Have you contacted Strange?”

“I did. He should be dropping in some time next week.”

“Okay, good. He should be able to give some insight on where she might’ve come from.”

“Provided she’s from a different reality.” Steve nods. “(Y/N) mentioned that there might be a version of her in our reality, so I looked into it.”

“And?”

“And there’s no (Y/F/N) (Y/L/N) anywhere that I can find. Never has been. So, unless this person is currently in utero, they don’t exist.”

“(Y/F/N) (Y/L/N) could be an alias.”

“Oh I checked. No mention of the name anywhere. TV, movies, books. Nothing.”

“Huh.”

“Mhm.” Tony leans back in his chair. “Really gets my hopes up for proof of alternate realities. Not that I’d want to bounce from one reality to another. Just for the sake of it being true.”

“I get it.”

“Have you talked to her?”

“Not today.” Steve frowns. “She’s different. Weirdly easy to talk to.”

“Really? She seemed guarded to me.”

“She opened up a little after you left. I get the feeling that she’s used to a society that’s far more different from ours than we initially would’ve guessed.”

“If it weren’t different, the reality wouldn’t be an alternate one. It’d be a one for one copy.”

“I understand that, I just mean that it sounds like people with powers are significantly more common where she’s from than they are here.”

“Sounds like you want to know more.”

“Don’t you?”

Tony shrugs. “Of course. But you’re the one who thinks she’s so easy to talk to.”

“I didn’t say it like that.”

“You didn’t have to.” Tony looks him over. “You untied her, right?”

“She said she might accidentally break the bed railing.” Steve folds his arms. “It’s not like she’s going anywhere.”

“No need to get defensive.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “I’m not defensive.”

“No.” Tony smirks. “Not at all.”

“Tony.”

“You’re allowed to take an interest, Cap. She’s interesting. And if her version of Richards was capable of figuring out interdimensional travel, then I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to bring her home. Whether or not he'll figure it out before I do, I don’t know. But we should learn as much as we can from her while she’s still here.”

“Okay.”

Steve abruptly rises from his chair and heads for the hallway.

Startled, Tony asks, “Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna have lunch with her.”

“Really?”

“You’re the one who said we should learn as much as we can from her while she’s here. Easiest way to get her to talk is to have a meal with her.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yup.”

Steve’s gone before Tony can say anything else.

"Maybe I should stop teasing him." He shrugs. "Probably won't, though."

"You sure you should be walking around like that?"

(Y/N) smiles and turns to where Captain Rogers stands in the doorway. "I'm wearing clothes, aren't I?"

“I just meant that you haven’t been conscious for very long. You might not be very steady on your feet.”

“I’m a little wobbly, but I’m no newborn deer,” she says. “I appreciate the concern, though.”

“Just take things slow, okay?”

“Sure.” She sits on the hospital bed and draws her legs up onto the mattress as she pushes up the sleeves of her sweatshirt. “What’s up?”

“Thought you might be hungry.” He holds up a large, brown paper bag as he approaches (Y/N)’s  bedside.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to.” He drags over a table and pulls out to-go containers from the bag. “I figured we could talk after.”

“Okay.” She pulls her food closer and laughs. “Ah yes, chicken, kale, and wild rice. The exact meal someone with your physique would choose.”

Rogers takes it as the joke it was meant to be and laughs. “Oh yeah, nothing but dry chicken breast, steamed rice, and broccoli for me.”

She giggles and shakes her head. “I’ll never understand how anyone can eat like that.”

“Can’t say I understand it myself. And I imagine it doesn’t taste like much.”

“What’s the point then?” She pokes at her chicken thigh before cutting it up. “Like I get that food, at the bare minimum, is supposed to fuel your body. But you shouldn’t have to subject yourself to torture under the guise of being quote unquote “healthy”, when it’s not even all that healthy in the first place.”

“From what I understand, they’re more focused on the aesthetics of their body than enjoying their food.”

“Life’s too short to not eat good food,” (Y/N) mumbles around a bite of food.

“I agree.” He squints at her food and tries not to laugh. “Did you mix everything together?”

“Was I not supposed to?”

“No, that’s not it. It’s just something I hadn’t thought to do.”

“Hm, that’s fair. My boss’ kids are in a phase where they want to try anything you’re eating and the only way to avoid sharing is to make whatever it is look as gross as possible. The fastest way to do that is to just mash n’ mix everything together.” She pauses. “I swear I don’t spend a weird amount of time with my employer’s children. I live in their building so they’re usually just around.”

Amused, Steve says, “Okay.”

“That just sounds weirder.”

“No, I’m just surprised your boss has kids. You said he’s a superhero?”

“Right. The whole family’s in the business, actually.”

“Interesting.”

“What, are heroes not allowed to have kids in this universe?”

“No, it’s just incredibly uncommon.”

“Huh. Well I mean, it’s not common where I’m from. I’d say there are more kids who are superheroes than heroes with kids.”

“Really?”

“Older heroes do what they can to make sure they stay out of the big trouble and that they’re prepared when it can’t be avoided, obviously. I mean, they’re kids. They grew up watching the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and the X-Men take on villain after villain. It’s pretty hard to stop them when they’re determined to follow in their idol’s footsteps.”

Rogers hums. “I know a kid like that.”

“So do I.” (Y/N) smiles fondly. “He’s working on a doctorate right now, though, so I guess he’s not really a kid anymore? If anything, he’s kind of a mentor at this point.”

“Someone you work with?”

“No, actually, I work with his boyfriend. My parents were close with his aunt and uncle, so we practically grew up together. He started dating Johnny, Johnny begged me to take the job with Reed, and now I’m here.” She sighs and stabs at her food. “He’s probably blaming himself right now.”

“People in my line of work tend to do that.”

“I know. I’ve watched it happen more times than I can count.”

“That’s not surprising.” Rogers leans back in his chair and folds his arms. “Does the uh… Fantastic Four work with your reality’s Avengers much?”

“Mm, not much. They occasionally team up, but Peter’s usually the one who gets dragged into whatever drama they have with their villain of the week.”

“Peter?” Rogers sets his meal to the side. “Peter Parker?”

Warily, (Y/N) says, “Yes.”

“As in Spider-man Peter Parker?”

Her brows draw together. “How would you know that?”

“He’s been working with us on the side for the last couple years.” He shakes his head. “As far as I know, he’s graduating high school this year.”

“That’s so odd.”

“So he’s your family friend?”

“Yeah, we met during the holidays after he lost his parents.” She frowns. “He’s really still in high school?”

“He is.”

“I guess things would be different in an alternate universe,” she mutters. “He’s an Avenger?”

“Not quite. It’s more like he’s Tony’s intern.”

“Huh.” Before she shovels a bite into her mouth she says, “Well that’s interesting.”

“How so?”

(Y/N) takes her time answering while she chews. “I don’t think my Peter would ever want to work with Stark. Doesn’t really seem like his scene. Though, I don’t think he’d really want to work with my boss, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because he’s a shitty boss.”

“What kind of work do you do, anyway?”

“I lug things hither and thither and make sure Reed doesn’t get hurt by his… I’ll say more explosive projects.”

Rogers frowns. “That sounds incredibly dangerous.”

(Y/N) shrugs. “Like I said, Captain, I’m just the muscle.”

“And you don’t do any field work?”

She shakes her head. “No, I ruled that out a long time ago. Too many late nights spent patching up my best friend.”

“Peter came to you for medical attention?”

“He wasn’t friends with the Avengers. Couldn’t call Tony Stark and politely ask to use his medical specialists and supplies.” She pauses for a moment, realizing how hostile she sounded. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad your Peter has those resources. But mine had to make every mistake for himself and break far too many bones without that support.”

“But he had you,” he says after a long pause. “And having someone who cares about where you are and whether or not you're hurt is more important than having big names backing you up.”

The corner of (Y/N) mouth quirks up. “Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”

Rogers tilts his chin up. “I am, actually. I got into a lot of fights when I was younger. I didn’t have the money to keep myself healthy, I just had my best friend who did his best to keep me out of trouble.”

“You do seem like the kind of guy who would’ve gotten into a lot of fights as a kid.”

“You didn’t even know me then!”

“Well, no, but I know enough about the version of you from my reality to match up what they taught about him in school with what I’ve learned about you, specifically, and piece together something resembling what you were like pre-serum.”

She watches Rogers fight back a smile. "Does a lab assistant job require strong deduction skills?"

"No, but when you've been blown up as much as I have, you learn to read people and situations quickly."

“You’ve been blown up?”

“Oh yeah. Reed doesn’t really think much of it because I heal so quickly.” She shrugs and stabs at her food. “Still hurts, though.”

“How long have you been working for this guy?”

“About eight years.”

“Wh-eight years?” She nods. “And you haven’t quit?”

“Oh, I’ve thought about it. Threatened to in the middle of the last experiment, and probably would’ve followed through had I not been blown up and shot into a different reality.” Rogers shakes his head. “Look, again, I appreciate your concern, but it’s not like you can really do much about it.”

“Sometimes having more than one person upset on your behalf does something.”

“What?”

“Shows you that things should be different.” He holds up one hand. “I’m not saying that you don’t already know that, but knowing on your own can feel a bit like shouting into an echo chamber.”

“I…” She frowns and her shoulders sag. “You’re right.”

“That little extra support counts for something.”

“It does.” (Y/N) bites the inside of her cheek. “Thank you, Captain Rogers. I think I really needed that.”

“It’s no problem,” he says. “You know you call me Steve, right?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Feels a little wrong.”

“Why?”

“Well… because you’re you. You’re Captain America. And I’m just some random civilian.”

“I wouldn’t say that. You have intimate knowledge of superheroes. You have powers. Civilian, maybe, but not random.” She opens her mouth to protest further, but he says, “Besides, I’m not in the military anymore. Don’t even work for S.H.I.E.L.D.. So I’m technically a civilian too.”

“Still feels wrong.”

“Well I’d prefer it if you used my first name. The only time someone calls me Captain is when I’m in trouble with government officials.”

(Y/N) laughs. “You, in trouble with the law? Never.”

“More often than I’d like.”

“I’m sure they’ll get tired of harassing you eventually.”

“Not sure they will. Seems like a sport to them sometimes.”

“Yeah, I think that’s just a universal thing between governments and superheroes. They hate heroes until they don’t have them. Either way, everything that goes wrong is their fault.” She jabs at the last few pieces of chicken in her dish. “I’m not bitter about it at all, by the way.”

Rogers-Steve laughs. “It’d be hard not to be. I’m sure everyone on my team has a few choice words for the men breathing down our necks right now.”

“But you can’t say anything because they’d use it against you.” He nods. “Yeah, fun times.”

“Would you want to meet the rest of the team?”

Surprised, she asks, “Would they want to meet me?”

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t. Natasha's asked about your progress as you've healed.” He smiles at the look of shock on (Y/N)s face. "Honestly, I'm a little surprised no one's dropped in to talk to you yet."

Her mouth hangs open as she tries to find her words. All she can come up with is, "Really?"

"Yes, really. I thought you were supposed to know all about the Avengers," he teases.

"I never said that. All I have is publicly available information. It's not like I know what the literal Black Widow does with her time."

Steve smiles. "So you're up for meeting them?"

"Hell yeah I am." He cocks one eyebrow and (Y/N) laughs. “Sorry, too eager, I know.”

“No, I’d say you’re at a normal level. Honestly, we’ve had adults be a little too excited to meet members of the team.”

“Not surprising. I’ve had my fair share of weird encounters even being Fantastic Four adjacent.”

“Oh, really?”

“Mhm. I could tell you some crazy stories.”

"Could you, now?"

"I could." She shoots him a sly smile. "You want me to?"

--------

Part 4

I love love love writing the parts where everyone’s becoming friends, and I particularly like it with this fic. The dynamic that’s building between the Reader character and Steve has so much banter and it’s so much fun.

As always, I’d love to know what you thought of this chapter! Do you think Steve eats like a fitness nut? Do you think the Reader’s relationship with the Fantastic Four might change because of how she’s treated in this reality? What do you think will happen when the Reader meets the rest of the avengers? Be sure to reblog, comment, and/or shoot me an ask and tell me all about it!

Tag List:

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#steve rogersxreader #readerxsteve rogers #steve rogers x reader #reader x steve rogers #captain america #steve rogers #steverogersxreader #readerxsteverogers #reader insert fanfiction

[spnhunter4life]

So Long Version 2 Chapter 4

Word Count: 6.5k

A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this one. Sweet, protective Dean is the best.

Series Masterlist

Ages 16 and 17 December 3, 1996

I groggily opened my eyes, trying to determine what had woken me up and then realized it was the pounding on the adjoining door. 

“Jenna?” I heard Sam call. “We were supposed to leave five minutes ago. Are you coming?”

Right. School. Well there’s no way I was going while I was feeling like this. My nose was so stuffed up I couldn’t breathe, my whole body ached, and I was so cold I actually wondered if the door had been left open to the winter air all night.

“I’m not coming today,” I said as loudly as I could manage. My head was pounding, and raising my voice would only make it worse.

“What?” Sam asked, opening the door and peeking his head in.

“I’m not going to school today,” I repeated. 

“Are you ok?” He asked, brow wrinkling in concern. 

“I think I caught that flu that’s been going around,” I told him miserably.

“That sucks,” he said sympathetically. “Do you need anything before we go?”

“No, I’ll be fine. Thanks, Sam.” He left the room and I curled up in a ball under the covers, trying to warm up.

I thought that would be the end of it, but about a minute later Dean was walking into the room.

“Sam says you’re sick,” he said, clearly already in full caretaker mode. 

“Go to school Dean. I can manage by myself for a few hours,” I told him as firmly as I could. 

“I don’t mind staying here for a day to take care of you,” he told me, walking over to sit on the edge of my bed.

“I know you don’t, but you really don’t need to. Besides, you have to take Sam anyway, so you might as well just stay there,” I said, trying to reason with him. He looked unconvinced, but nodded in agreement anyway.

“If you’re sure. Do you want me to at least call your dad?” He asked. We’d been here for about a month and a half so far. John and Dad had been able to continually find hunts close by, so instead of moving to a new school again, we were staying put. They were currently a few towns away and wouldn’t be back for at least another week. “I really don’t like leaving you alone.”

“No, don’t. If you call him he’s going to think it’s worse than it is and he’ll either be distracted during the hunt or he’ll come back here, which really isn’t necessary.”

Dean stood up and walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the handle. 

“Promise you’ll call me if you need anything,” he insisted, patting his pocket where he kept the cell phone his dad had left us for emergencies.

“I promise.”

~~~~~

When the boys got home from school that afternoon, they immediately came to my room.

“How are you feeling?” Dean asked as he and Sam walked over to me. I was nestled into the couch, doing my best to stay warm under a throw blanket, some movie I wasn’t paying attention to playing on TV.

“Cold,” I replied. I had already put on a second pair of socks that morning in my attempt to warm up and when that hadn’t helped I’d gone into the boys’ room and stolen one of Dean’s oversized sweatshirts. That plus my pair of sweatpants and the blanket and I still felt like my teeth could start chattering any second.

“Here,” Sam said as he grabbed the comforter off of my bed and placed it on top of me. 

“Did you eat anything today?” Dean asked. 

“Not hungry,” I told him. 

“You can’t just not eat,” Sam said as he walked over to the kitchen. “I’ll make you a piece of toast.”

“Have you had anything to drink today,” Dean asked, continuing his evaluation. I sheepishly shook my head.

“Jenna,” he sighed. “If you want me to leave you here alone when you’re sick, you have to do a better job of taking care of yourself. Sam, get her a big glass of water too,” he instructed.

He gently placed the back of his hand against my forehead, checking for a fever. 

“And some Ibuprofen,” he added. “So you’re cold and not hungry. Any other symptoms?” He asked me.

“My nose is stuffed,” I told him.

“I can tell,” he said with a small smile.

“And everything hurts,” I admitted.

“Well the Ibuprofen should help with that at least,” he said as Sam came back over

“Here you go,” he said as he handed everything over. I sat up to take everything from him.

“Is that my sweatshirt?” Dean smiled as the blanket fell off my shoulders.

“I told you, I’m cold,” I defended, taking a small nibble of my toast.

“I’m not mad,” he assured me. “I think it’s cute.” I blushed. “I want that whole glass of water gone in the next 15 minutes,” he told me sternly. “And then I’m getting you another one that better be gone by supper.”

I managed to eat the whole piece of toast and finished the glass of water as instructed. I curled back under the blanket while Dean left to refill my water. Sam was sitting at the kitchen table, books spread out before him.

“Are you warming up yet?” Dean asked when he returned with more water. 

When I shook my head in answer, he sat beside me, settling himself under the blankets and as close to my side as he could.

“Dean, I don’t want to get you sick,” I protested.

“If I’m gonna get sick, I’m gonna get sick. I’m already surrounded by your germs, I don’t see this making much difference,” he told me.

Sighing, I moved to rest my head on his shoulder. It took about 10 minutes for me to finally start warming up for the first time that day.

~~~~~

The next day was much the same. The boys had slept in my room last night, despite my protests that I would be fine on my own. Dean slept in my dad’s unused bed and Sam slept in mine, bringing in the comforter from his own bed. I stayed on the couch. I had tossed and turned all night and was exhausted. 

Dean asked if I wanted him to stay home from school to take care of me. I told him not to. This time he brought me a large glass of water before leaving and told me I’d better keep myself hydrated today.

I took a bath around 1, hoping the warm water would soothe my aching muscles and warm me up. After soaking for about 20 minutes, the heat finally seemed to seep into my body and ease the chill I couldn’t escape.

I was feeling a little better when I got out an hour later, the warmth being a much needed boost to my mental state, but I still ached all over. After getting redressed in my warm clothes, I took a couple of Ibuprofen and tried to sleep before the chills came back.

The rumble of the Impala’s engine is what caused me to give up on my fitful attempt at a nap. I was shivering under the blankets and hadn’t managed more than 20 minutes of sleep.

The boys came in and fussed over me. They were both pleased to hear I’d drank some water today, but I still hadn’t eaten anything. Sam made me another piece of toast and grabbed a container of yogurt for me to eat too.

Dean curled up with me under the blankets again and I sighed, grateful for his warmth. His body heat radiated off of him directly into my side where we were pressed together and the blanket kept the heat trapped.

If I hadn’t been feeling so terrible I might have shied away from this level of closeness. We were very comfortable with physical contact, but this was more than the casual touches I was used to. The closest we had ever come to cuddling in the past was Dean’s arm slung across the back of the couch behind my head when we watched movies. And he wasn’t actually touching me when he did that. 

The realization of how close we were was something I wouldn’t process until later when I was feeling better, but for now I just appreciated the comfort he so easily provided me.

~~~~~

“Where’s Dean?” I asked on the third day, spotting Sam sitting at the table reading a book. 

Dean had skipped school today. No matter how much I protested, even when I told him I was feeling a little better, he told me he refused to leave me by myself again. He dropped Sam off and came straight back to the motel. He’d kept me company all day and made sure I drank plenty of water. I was even starting to get my appetite back a little bit. I’d managed to eat half a peanut butter sandwich and a few crackers.

I’d fallen asleep shortly before he left to pick Sam up. I halfway sat up in the spot on the couch that had become my semi-permanent residence – a place I left only when my bladder made it absolutely necessary – and looked around the room.

“He went to the store,” Sam told me. “He should be back any minute. Are you feeling any better?” he asked.

"If you wanted to put some poison in my water or something I wouldn't complain," I told him. This might be a bit dramatic, but honestly, if this was going to be the state of my life from now on, then life really wasn't worth living. 

“Can’t help you there. I just used the last of my poison last week on my friend Ethan. He had the flu too,” he told me seriously. “Besides,” he continued, switching to a teasing tone, “I don’t have a death wish. Can you imagine what Dean would do to me if he came back and found you dead?”

“I don’t know what to tell you Sam. I guess you need to do a better job of covering your tracks,” I told him. He smiled.

“Seriously though, how are you doing?” He asked again. 

I sighed and sat up the rest of the way, noticing the comforter was back on me. I’d started taking it off when Dean was sitting with me, partly so he wasn’t quite so overheated and partly because the throw blanket was enough when combined with his furnace-like body temperature. He must have covered me back up when he left to get Sam.

“I’m doing better,” I told him. “I still can’t seem to keep myself warm, but the migraine and muscle aches are a lot better. My appetite is starting to come back too.”

“Yeah, Dean said you actually ate something today. That’s good. Hopefully you’ll be better tomorrow,” he said.

“Hopefully,” I agreed as we heard the Impala pull up. 

A minute later Dean came in the door, hands full with grocery bags, immediately looking towards the couch.

“Hey, you’re up!” he said cheerfully. “How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty good, actually,” I told him, looking at the clock and realizing I’d slept soundly for about an hour and half.

“I’m glad to hear it. You definitely need to catch up on your sleep,” he said as he unpacked the groceries. “I hope you’re still hungry. I got stuff to make chicken noodle soup,” he told me.

That did actually sound really good. I told him as much.

“Good. I’ll get it started,” he said, grabbing a big pot from the cupboard above the stove. “I got some more Ibuprofen too if you need some,” he told me offhandedly. “I noticed we were about out.”

“I’m good. Thanks, though,” I said, not for the first time grateful for his thoughtfulness and attention to detail when it came to taking care of people.

“Do you want some help?” Sam offered his brother, already getting up from the table.

“Nah, I’m good. I’m sure Jenna wouldn’t mind you sitting with her and keeping her warm until I’m done though,” Dean said, looking at me for confirmation.

“Actually, I was just thinking about taking a shower,” I told them as I tossed the blankets onto the couch beside me. I hadn’t showered in three days and I was starting to feel really gross.

“Aww, you hear that Sammy? She doesn’t want to sit with you,” Dean teased.

“You know that’s not it,” I told Sam as I looked to make sure he wasn’t offended.

“I know,” he assured me, waving off his brother’s joke.

I was already getting cold without the blankets, so I hurried off to the bathroom, leaving Sam to his book and Dean to his soup preparation. Closing the door behind me, I immediately turned the water on, setting it to a nice warm temperature, before undressing and stepping in. I let out a content sigh as the hot water hit me.

As I was working on combing the tangles out of my hair, I realized that in my rush to get in the shower, I hadn’t brought any clean clothes with me. Crap. Now what? I considered my options. 

I could put on the clothes I’d been wearing for the last three days. I quickly discarded that idea. Though I’d been cold, I’d still been sweating. I wasn’t putting those clothes back on. It would completely defeat the purpose of showering.

I could walk out into the room in my towel to grab my duffel bag. I didn’t like that option much more than the first. While I would be completely covered, something about them seeing me in nothing but a towel, Dean especially, felt extremely… intimate. It wasn’t something I was comfortable with.

I heard a muffled conversation through the bathroom door as I tried to figure out a third option. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I could hear them talking. I could hear Sam saying something in an exasperated voice when it occurred to me.

“Sam?” I called as I rinsed the conditioner from my hair.

“Yeah?” he called back, sounding like he was standing just outside the door.

“I forgot to grab my bag. Could you get it for me?” I asked.

“Yeah, no problem,” he told me before his footsteps retreated. I heard more muffled conversation, a door opening and then closing a few seconds later, and finally a knock on the door.

“Here you go,” Sam said as he opened the door and I heard the thump of my bag being set down.

“Thanks, Sam.”

“No problem,” he repeated. The door closed. I stayed in the shower for a few more minutes, appreciating the hot water, before steeling myself to get out into the cold. 

I pulled the curtain back, grabbed my towel, and started drying my hair. Once it was no longer dripping, I moved to my duffel bag to find some clothes. I felt a rush of warmth in my chest at the sweatshirt that was laying on top of it. Another one of Dean’s.

Once I was dressed, I spent a few minutes blow drying my hair. I normally didn’t bother, but I didn’t need water dripping down my back for the next hour when I was already cold. I stepped out of the bathroom and saw that the brothers had been busy. 

Dean had finished putting the soup together and it was currently sitting on the stove to cook. The blankets I had been using for the past three days were in the corner designated for dirty laundry, and new ones – presumably out of the boys’ currently unused room – were waiting for me on the couch.

Sam and Dean were sitting on either end of the couch, The Untouchables on the TV screen, paused at the beginning. It was one of four movies we had, so we’d seen it a lot, but it was one of Dean’s favorites. Sam and I weren’t tired of it yet either.

Dean patted the spot next to him, and I sat down, curling into his side as he wrapped a blanket around me.

“Feeling better?” He asked.

“Much,” I sighed. “It feels so good to be clean. Thanks for the sweatshirt,” I added as an afterthought.

“You’re welcome,” Sam and Dean responded at the same time, looking at each other in surprise.

“It’s my sweatshirt,” Dean told Sam.

“Yeah, but I’m the one who grabbed it for her,” Sam argued.

“Because I told you to,” Dean countered.

“This is a ridiculous argument,” I said, lightly hitting Dean’s chest and nudging Sam with my foot. “I was thanking both of you anyway, so can we just watch the movie?” Sam scowled, but agreed and pressed play. 

~~~~~

We were about three quarters of the way through the movie, soup eaten and bowls dumped in the sink, when there was a knock at the door.

We all looked at each other, confused and a little on edge. Dean’s arm tensed around me and Sam started walking to the bed, going for the knife Dean hid under his pillow.

“Jenna?” The person outside called.

I immediately relaxed. It was just Bailey.

“Let her in,” I told Sam who had paused a foot from the bed. He obeyed, looking through the peephole before opening the door.

Bailey was standing there, as expected, as well as Dylan. The three of us had become pretty close in my time here. I always had friends wherever we went, but I didn’t usually connect with people the way I had with them. They were definitely the best friends I’d made at any school, and we spent a lot of time together outside of class.

“Hey guys,” I greeted as they made their way into the room, stopping a few feet away from the couch. “What are you doing here?”

“Well you haven’t been in school for three days, so we wanted to check on you,” Dylan explained.

“Yeah. I mean at first we just assumed you were sick. But after three days we started to worry,” Bailey added.

“Three days isn’t an unusual amount of time to be sick,” I pointed out.

“No, but then Dean was gone today too,” Bailey said, a smug little glint in her eye as she looked at me. “So we wondered if maybe you guys had left town.”

“Nope. Still here,” I said unnecessarily.

“Good,” Dylan said, slinging a bag off his shoulders and moving to sit in the armchair. “Because we brought homework.”

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Dean said, standing up and throwing the second blanket over me before making his way to his own room. “Come on Sam,” he called over his shoulder. Sam sighed, but followed Dean out.

“Thanks,” I told them, genuinely thankful they’d thought to get my homework for me, but also not looking forward to having to do it. Bailey grabbed a chair from the table and set it next to the couch.

“So,” Dylan said casually as he took everything out of his bag. “Anything you want to tell us?” He asked teasingly.

“Um… no?” I said, confused.

“Are you sure?” Bailey continued for him. “No new developments you want to share?”

They both looked at me expectantly. I quickly scanned the room, looking for anything that might stand out to them. Not seeing anything, I just slowly shook my head. 

“No, nothing. Why? Is there something new with you guys?” I asked, thinking maybe this was their way of segueing into giving me some type of exciting news. They just looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

“I can’t tell if you’re just stubbornly ignoring it, or genuinely oblivious to what we’re saying,” Dylan told me.

“And if that’s the case, it really makes me question if you’ve been telling us the truth,” Bailey said.

“The truth about what?” I asked, starting to get frustrated.

“You and Dean looked awfully cozy,” Bailey stated, not beating around the bush anymore.

I blushed. Oh, right. That. I thought.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I told them, not wanting them to make too many assumptions. They knew very well how I felt about Dean.

“Well how about you let me tell you what it looks like, and then you can tell me if it’s right or not?” Bailey said. She didn’t wait for my answer before continuing. “It looks like you’ve been sick for a few days. When Dean didn’t show up to school today, it looked like he might have gotten sick too, if you guys hadn’t just up and left. Now that we’ve seen him, I think we’re in agreement that he’s not sick?” Bailey looked to Dylan for confirmation.

“He didn’t look sick,” Dylan agreed.

“So, it looks like Dean stayed here to take care of you. Now the way the two of you were cuddled up together,” she mused, smirking at me. “That looked like two people who were very comfortable with each other. In a more than friends way. Which looks like either you haven’t been entirely truthful about the status of your relationship with him or there have been new developments. Am I missing anything?” She asked Dylan.

“No, that about covers it I think,” Dylan said.

“I know exactly how it looks,” I started.

“Of course you do because we just told you,” Dylan cut in. “So which is it?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Were you not telling us the truth before about you two – which I don’t find likely, by the way – or has something new happened?” He asked. I could tell they were both excited for me. They had spent plenty of time talking with me about Dean, and they knew how crazy I was about him. 

“Neither,” I told them, seeing immediately that they were unconvinced. “Seriously,” I insisted. “Dean is a total mother hen, especially when one of us gets sick,” I explained. “If you don’t believe me, there’s a pot of homemade soup in the fridge. Dean never cooks. None of the guys do.” 

“That doesn’t explain why you were practically in his lap,” Bailey fired back.

“Okay, first of all, that’s a huge exaggeration,” I said. Bailey snorted. “It is! We were sitting next to each other, that’s not ‘in his lap.’ Dylan, back me up here!” I pleaded.

“Well…” he looked between us, considering his answer carefully. “I do think that was a bit of an exaggeration,” he said.

“Ha!” I shot at Bailey.

“But,” he continued, “you were pretty snuggled up with him. More than you realize, I think.”

“Ha!” Bailey shot back.

“Whatever,” I conceded. “It’s still not what you think. I’ve just been really cold. As you might notice,” I pointedly waved the corner of the blanket. “He’s just been sitting with me to help me stay warm.” 

“You still looked awfully comfortable with each other,” Bailey said, not ready to entirely give up.

“Because we are,” I said exasperatedly. “I told you about how we constantly travel and our dads aren’t around much. The three of us are pretty much all we have. People in that sort of situation tend to be pretty close.”

“I guess,” Bailey sighed.

“So do you guys cuddle like that a lot?” Dylan asked, moving on, but not entirely changing the subject. I blushed again.

“No,” I told him without elaborating.

“Honestly?” he pressed. “You know you can tell us. We won’t judge. Plus, I’d say that would be a good sign-”

“Really. This is the first time we’ve ever… cuddled.” I told him, not wanting to hear another speech listing all the reasons the two of them were certain Dean liked me back. Despite their intentions, it really wasn’t helpful. It could really only mean one of two things.

One, they were reading into things. They were wrong and he didn’t like me back. Or two, they were right. He did like me. But it didn’t matter because he clearly had no intentions of doing anything about it. I didn’t know which was worse.

“So,” Bailey cut in, breaking the growing tension. “Tell us all about mother hen Dean.”

I smiled and told them about how I’d spent the last few days. They updated me on the goings on at school and then gave me a quick rundown of the homework, telling me to let them know if I got stuck on anything. I thanked them and we said our goodbyes. 

Either through eavesdropping – I sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case – or, the more likely option, watching out the window, Sam and Dean knew when my friends left and immediately came back into the room.

“You want to finish the movie?” Dean asked as he moved a pile of papers onto the coffee table. Sam settled himself back on his end of the couch and Dean pulled me back into his side.

“Yeah, sounds good,” I said, resting my head on his chest. I was much more aware of our position after Bailey and Dylan’s visit, but I decided to enjoy the closeness while it lasted. 

When the movie was over, Sam went to the kitchen to grab some snacks while Dean flipped through the channels on TV. Sam came back with beef jerky, Doritos, microwavable popcorn and a bottle of water for me. I wasn’t hungry, but accepted the water. 

Dean stopped on a channel playing some old western movie. As he settled his arm around me, I decided that I would happily spend every night like this.

Ages 16 and 17 December 11, 1996

"Oh good, you're back." I called to my dad when I heard the door to our room close behind me. "I was just leaving you a note," I told him, dropping the pen I'd been using and turning to face him. "Oh. Dean. I thought you were my dad."

"So I gathered," he said, looking over my outfit. "You look nice," he said. "Why do you look nice?" He continued before I could thank him for the compliment. 

"Uh… I'm going out with some friends. What's up?" I asked, a little distracted as I finished the note for Dad.

"Well I just came to see if you wanted to do something tonight. I guess not though. What friends exactly?" He questioned, sitting on the table next to where I was writing.

“The usual ones,” I told him, finishing the note and moving to the bathroom to double check my hair.

“Try again,” Dean said as he followed me.

“I’m sorry?” I asked, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

“You’re not going out with friends dressed like that,” he said.

I looked at my outfit in the mirror. I didn’t see anything objectionable about the tan sweater and black leggings combo.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” I asked. 

“Nothing. I already told you, you look nice. I’m just saying that’s not what you usually wear to hang out with friends,” he said pointedly.

“And I can’t try something new?” I snapped. I left the bathroom, pushing past where he stood in the doorway and grabbed my coat off my bed.

“Why are you getting so defensive?” Dean asked.

“Why are you suddenly so worried about who I hang out with?” I shot back. 

“I’m not worried about it. But it’s a date, right? I just don’t understand why you couldn’t just tell me that. Why lie about it?” he wondered.

I sighed. I felt bad about snapping at him. I didn’t mean to, I was just feeling really anxious about tonight. Dean wasn’t entirely right about the date thing, but he wasn’t entirely wrong either. I was following Bailey’s advice. She’d told me to either get it over with and make a move with Dean or move on. 

So, I was moving on. Or pretending to. I was making an effort at least. 

“It wasn’t a lie,” I told him. “I am going out with Bailey and Dylan.” I peeked out the window to see if they were here yet.

“So… it’s not a date,” he said, somewhere between a statement and a question. “It’s just you going out with a couple of friends?”

“Not exactly,” I said, going to sit on my bed while I waited.

“Then what is it, Jenna?” He asked as he came to sit beside me. “This is a yes or no question. Why can’t you just give me a straight answer?”

“It’s… a double date, I guess,” I told him.

“Ok,” he said calmly. “And Dylan is your date?” he asked.

“What?” I asked, surprised. “No. Dylan and Bailey are dating.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize that,” he said. “So who’s your date?”

I couldn’t decide how I felt about this conversation. While I was comfortable talking to Dean about anything, boys was a topic we’d never covered before. Mostly because there’d been no reason to. There had never been any boys I was interested in and wanted to talk about. Never in more than a friend way at least. 

Dean was being very casual about it. More than I expected. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about that, but I was thinking I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t have minded him being the slightest bit upset about it. I had been expecting it, really. He was usually so protective. 

“His name is Jake,” I answered.

Dean pursed his lips, thinking for a minute before responding.

“Can I ask you something and have you promise not to get mad at me? Because I’m not trying to be a jerk, I just really want to know,” he said.

“Okay,” I agreed a little warily. I had no idea where he might be going with this.

“Do you even like this guy?” he asked. “Because you don’t seem very excited.” 

“Well… to be honest, I’m not really,” I admitted.

“Then why are you going?” he asked. I sighed.

“Because the problem is that I don’t really know him. And isn’t that the point of a date? To get to know someone?” I pointed out.

“I guess so,” Dean agreed. “But usually people go out with someone they’re interested in.”

“I told you I don’t really know him. How could I know if I’m interested yet?” 

“You don’t have to know someone to know you’re interested. Haven’t you ever met someone and known right away you wanted to get to know them better? Because you found them attractive or because even from a short conversation you could tell you would get along?” He asked.

“No. Not really,” I said.

“Never?” he asked disbelievingly.

“No,” I repeated. “I’ve just never really been interested in anyone.”

“Oh,” was all Dean said in response. I couldn’t quite read the tone of this voice or the expression on his face.

Feeling a little awkward, I stood up and walked over to check out the window again. They still weren’t here.

“You know you don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Dean said from where he was still sitting on the bed.

“Yes I do. They’re on their way to pick me up right now. Too late to back out. Besides,” I told him as I went to sit beside him again. “I always like hanging out with Bailey and Dylan. And they like Jake and think we’ll get along. I trust them. I’m sure it’ll be fun.”

“Then why do you look like you’re dreading it?” Dean asked.

“I’m not dreading it,” I told him. “Really, I’m not.” I insisted when he just gave me a look. “I’m just… nervous I guess. Regardless of whether I like him or not, it’s always weird for me to spend time with someone I don’t really know. So I guess I’m just anxious about that.”

“In that case, I hope you have fun,” he said with a small smile. He sounded sincere, but it also seemed a little forced. 

Before I could think very long on what that meant, there was a honk from right outside the door.

“There’s some leftover stroganoff in the fridge you can have if you want it. Just make sure to leave enough for my dad,” I told Dean as I grabbed my purse and slipped on my coat. “See you later,” I said as I opened the door.

“See you later,” I heard him echo as the door closed behind me.

~~~~~

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Bailey teased. We had just dropped Jake off at his house and were headed to the motel now. 

“I never said it would be bad,” I replied.

“Maybe not in so many words. But I could tell you weren’t happy about it,” she said.

“Look,” I sighed. “I understand what you’re saying. About moving on. But it’s not that easy,” I told her.

“It’s not easy to move on from the person you’ve been into for half your life?” Dylan asked with a smirk, looking at me in the rearview mirror. I frowned at him.

Bailey turned in her seat to look at me. 

“Obviously you’re not going to get over it overnight. We wouldn’t expect that. And to be completely honest…” she trailed off, looking to Dylan. He thought about it for a second before nodding at her to continue.

“We don’t really expect you to get over him at all,” she said.

“Then what was the point of tonight?” I asked, frustrated. I’d had fun and Jake was a nice enough guy, but I definitely wasn’t interested in anything more than friendship with him. All they had really accomplished tonight was making the next few days at school awkward every time I ran into Jake if he didn’t feel the same way I did. And I honestly couldn’t tell what he thought.

“You said you’d never been on a date before, right?” Bailey asked.

“Right…” I said, dragging out the word, confused about where this was going.

“We just thought it might make Dean jealous. Or at least make him realize if he didn’t make a move, someone else eventually would,” she explained.

“So what you’re saying is you lied to me. But it was to help me?” I questioned.

“Yeah. Well that’s the hope anyway,” Bailey said. 

“What about Jake?” I asked, a little annoyed. I could have told them this plan wouldn’t work and saved everyone the trouble. I did appreciate that they were trying though. “Did he know it wasn’t a real date?”

“He didn’t think it was a date at all,” Dylan replied. “We just told him we were planning on hanging out and asked him to join.”

“Thanks guys. I know you meant well, but I wish you would have just told me. This isn’t going to change anything with Dean,” I told them.

“Why don’t you wait until you get back to decide that. See how he reacts first,” Bailey said.

“I don’t need to. You realize Dean goes on a lot of dates with a lot of girls, right?” I asked.

“So you’ve said,” Bailey sighed. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

“Well he’s never shown any interest in me. Not like that anyway,” I said.

“Yeah, but I don’t think you’d actually notice if he did,” Dylan countered.

“Look,” I said tiredly. “I know you want to help. But you’ve got to just let it go. Every day I work on keeping my emotions under control. I’m constantly reminding myself not to read into things and not to get my hopes up. It’s hard enough as it is. Having you two always telling me how you think he likes me… well it gets my hopes up despite my best efforts. And letting yourself hope is how you get hurt when things don’t go the way you want. So can you please just leave it alone?” 

“We didn’t mean to make things harder or overstep,” Dylan said. “You just talk about him so much, we wanted to–”

“To help, I know,” I cut in. “I appreciate it. And as for talking about him… well there’s not much in my life worth talking about, so I guess he just comes up a lot. I’ll try to stop though.”

“No, you don’t have to stop,” Bailey insisted. 

“I should though. It’s not helping things either,” I said.

“Neither is keeping your feelings bottled up. We’ll back off. I promise. But only if you keep talking about him when you want to. The way you always have with us,” she bargained.

“Deal,” I agreed with a smile. It would be really hard having to leave this town. I’d never had such great friends.

“But just out of curiosity,” she continued as Dylan pulled up to the motel and parked. “On Monday will you let us know how he reacts tonight?” she asked.

“He came over before you guys picked me up. We talked about it a little. He just said to have fun,” I told them.

They frowned a little at this, clearly not happy that there hadn’t been more of a reaction. They didn’t say anything more about it though.

“I guess we’ll see you Monday,” Dylan said as I got out of the car.

“Yeah. Thanks for driving,” I said. I closed the car door and waved as they backed out of the parking lot before unlocking the door and stepping inside.

Dad was sitting at the table, writing in his case journal. 

“Hey kiddo,” he greeted, looking up from the book. “How was your night?”

“It was good,” I told him. “When did you get back?”

“About an hour ago,” he answered.

“Did you get something to eat?” I asked as I made my way to the bathroom to shower. That’s when I noticed Dean. He was sprawled out on the couch, looking at me over the back of it. There was an episode of Scooby Doo playing on low volume.

“Yeah, I did,” Dad answered before going back to writing.

“Hey,” Dean said when I stopped beside him. “How’d it go?”

“It was fine. We just got something to eat and then went bowling. Nothing too exciting,” I told him.

“Did you have fun?” He asked. I wondered if I detected something under his casual tone, but I couldn’t tell for sure so I just ignored it.

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t think I’ll be going on any more dates with Jake though,” I answered.

“Why not? Did he do something?” 

“No, of course not. We just didn’t really hit it off,” I said.

“That’s… too bad?” He questioned. I smiled.

“Not really. What are you doing here, by the way?” I asked as I grabbed my bag.

“Sam was hogging the TV so I just figured I’d hang out here for the night. I assume that’s ok with you?” Dean asked teasingly.

“Of course. As long as you don’t mind sharing when I’m done showering,” I said.

“I think I can manage that,” he smiled. I showered quickly and then Dean and I watched Scooby Doo reruns until we were too tired to stay up any longer.

Chapter 5

#supernatural #fanfiction #dean winchester #sam winchester #original female character #original characters #soulmates #soulmate au #dean winchester x ofc #dean winchester x soulmate!ofc #so long v2

[murfeelee]

IWTV 2022 INSP - EPs 3 & 4

Claudia: “Diary, you’d think a girl whose mama died in childbirth, whose daddy gave her away to a mean old auntie who beat her ‘cause no one said she couldn’t, who died in a fire but came back by the blood magic of two demons, well, you’d think that girl wouldn’t know what funny was. But you’d be wrong, diary. And if I told you, dumb diary, that that same girl was being raised to kill like her demon parents did, to take two souls a day so she could stay in the same flat-chested, hairless-crotched 14-year-old baby doll body as her mind and spirit turn 19, 20, 25, 63, 358, you dumb, dumb diary, I bet you’d say to anyone who’d listen, ‘Fun? Fun? How does she even get up in the morning?’"

-- Interview with the Vampire (AMC 2022, S01E04)

MY THOUGHTS & CC CREDITS

MY THOUGHTS

If I were Claudia--book, movie or tv show version--I’d be BEYOND pissed. Eternity as a kid? Hard pass. Either turn me in my physical & mental peak or not at all. Then again, I got my first period when I was midway through 14, so heck, never having to go through cramps is a pretty good trade! XD

Anyways, other than his masquerade ensemble, Louis in his shades are my absolute favorite looks on him--eff his homophobic mama; Louis had style.

WERK, bish.

___________________________________________________

CC CREDITS

- Shades in beta by me

- Claudia hair, sailor uniform, eyes (same as Lestat’s BTW)

#sims 3 loustat #loustat #interview with the vampire #sims 3 vintage #sims 3 gameplay

[whynotzoidbergdotorg]

Hi, I was just wondering what are the other reasons you dislike Ali Nahdee. I personally thought she had good point in native rep but she sometimes gets into anti stuff. She acts like seeing abuse relationships on tv will cause people to get into them. I personally didn’t like her but I still thought she had something to say.

she was personally racist to me.

back when all of the marketing around the princesses being in wreck it ralph 2, she had gone to the disney store to “critique” the pocahontas merchandise (totally normal behavior for someone who’s not even powhatan….) and had made a comment that a pocahontas doll was “paler than she was” (and provided an image in poor lighting—I would grab the tweet in question but not only did she block me, but she also nuked the whole thread after blocking me)

now, I didn’t follow her, and I actually had found the tweet in question in early 2019 when I was searching for reference images of disney’s pocahontas (as I had been commissioned to draw all of the disney princesses for someone) and her tweet came up in the results, because i specifically had been looking for the version from that movie (commissioner wanted me to draw those versions of the princesses in specific)

anyways I pointed out that not only was pocahontas not actually that dark skinned in the movie (providing a direct screenshot from the film as proof), but that historically she wouldn’t have been that dark skinned either (because get this, I’m actually part powhatan—and while I am admittedly white passing due to being mixed race, my maternal grandfather, who is native american, isn’t that dark either. he does have copper colored skin, and does tan rather than burn, but he isn’t like. super dark like ali was complaining pocahontas wasn’t on that specific toy.) anywho i prefaced my tweet with my heritage (I’m actually related to the real pocahontas’s family, funfact. not a direct descendant, more like…a distant cousin??? though in the past I have remarked on how in the portraits of her that exist, I look fairly similar in certain facial features, mainly my nose, eyes, hairline, and overall head shape)

anyways, after i pointed this out, and made it clear I didn’t think she was saying this maliciously, I just think she might have had a warped view of how pocahontas is meant to look…she blocked me, and then started subtweeting me…

first, she accused me of using a “poorly photoshopped image” of pocahontas to prove my point (I didn’t, I screenshotted directly from the movie off a cartoon website, so likely the source was a DVD since there was no logo in the corner, and from what I could tell the colors of other characters and scenes looked correct)

THEN she accused me of lying about my heritage—and mind you this was AFTER she blocked me so I couldn’t reply to defend myself or further expand on my native heritage—which anyone who has EVER talked to me for an extended period of time knows I am HAPPY to infodump about. Because both I and my mother have done tons of research about our family tree—and that part of our family in particular (since its one of the few parts of my mothers family thats well documented and in a language we both natively know.) I mean I even know the specific name of a shawnee chief I am directly descended from! (Cornstalk—funfact, the mothman mythos is closely tied with Cornstalk’s curse, which is an alternate belief about the strange events associated with mothman sightings)

Now, again, anyone who knows me knows there are THREE things that really really tick me off in regards to my native heritage—and that is 1) calling me, or any other woman of native descent “pocahontas” (because first of all, her name was actually Matoaka, AND she’s not event the only significant native american woman in history), 2) being asked if I am related to Pocahontas/Matoaka (I actually punched a kid over this once when i was little. ironically I then later found out I actually am distantly related to her. what a small world!), and 3) being accused of lying about my heritage for “oppression points”. (well, there’s more than three, but that would just be getting into a whole other tangent, and I’ve already gone on like, four tangents in this post alone)

This last one makes me absolutely furious because I’ve had people (all white) say I can’t be native because “don’t look native” to them. when like. that’s not even fucking true??? other native american people (specifically other cherokee people—which is one of the tribes I am descended from) have recognized me as looking native american, and like other members of their tribe. I literally have the facial features, I just happen to have fair skin, and lighter hair. I mean hell, if you looked at my baby pictures (which I don’t have any on my device right this moment unfortunately) I did not look like a “white baby”. I didn’t start “looking white” (as in my hair lightening) until I was older. I’ve had white people try to gatekeep and erase my heritage from me because of their own perceptions of my appearance (based solely on my skin-tone).

So yeah, the bitch accused me of lying about a significant part of my heritage, a part that’s very VERY important to me, a part that I refuse to let others erase (especially since I’m SURE the colonists who murdered Cornstalk and his son—both my ancestors—would love to erase that misdeed and bury it).

I mean, imagine claiming to be all about the rights of indigenous women, and then smearing and making sweeping accusations about another queer, indigenous woman! Could never be me.

But I guess I could never understand the brainrot of someone who spends all day complaining about fictional representations made by white people, instead of raising up indigenous creators who worked hard to create their own, better representation instead.

#ali nahdee #native american #native stuff #long post #rant #texts posts and miscellaneous #also if anyone wants to misinterpret my last sentence: I am not saying we shouldn’t talk about or critique past bad representation #but rather we shouldn’t be bogged down with it #when there are indigenous creators who have been working on media based on their heritage in order to create better representation #we should be supporting and amplifying those creators voices

[allthingsfangirl101]

Rocket’s Red Glare–Joe Keery

Joe's POV

I walked into my apartment, the weight lifting off my shoulders as I shut the door. I took my backpack off my shoulders and plopped it onto the table. I opened it and immediately started emptying it. Once the contents were spread around the table, I ran my fingers through my hair. I was just about to sit down when my phone started ringing.

"Hey," I answered.

"What are your plans tonight?" Dacre asked.

"Nothing," I shrugged, finally sitting down.

"Nothing?" He scoffed. "Come on, man. It's the Fourth of July."

When I didn't say anything, Dacre sighed. "Look, I know you haven't been feeling like yourself since the breakup. I get it. But it's been two months. You can't keep living like this, man."

"Dacre," I sighed, trying to interrupt him but he was on a roll.

"You've done nothing but work the past two months, Joe," Dacre continued. "You come to work and then you go home. We invite you to get dinner or drinks almost every day and you always refuse. I get you need time, but you can't keep yourself locked up forever."

"I know," I mumbled. "I just. . . I'm not ready."

"I understand," Dacre sighed. "I don't want to push you, Joe, but we're worried about you. If you're up for it, Matt and Ross are hosting a Fourth of July party at Matt's house. It's at 7 if you're up for it."

"I'll think about it," I said even though I knew I wouldn't go.

                                * * * * *

Later that night, I was watching a Fourth of July movie marathon, slowly drinking through a six-pack. I muted the tv when I heard the fireworks starting. I went out onto my balcony and watched as the sky began to light up.

I nearly dropped my beer when a blood-curdling scream broke through the fireworks. I looked down but saw no one hurt or screaming for help. I didn't realize where the scream was coming from until another firework went off. That's when it all clicked.

My next-door neighbor, Y/N.

Y/N's lived in the building longer than I have. I didn't know much about her. She pretty much keeps to herself. From the gossip that's spread around the building, Y/N was in either the Army or the Navy until she was medically discharged. The rumor is that she was taken as a POW in Afghanistan or Iraq or Iran and was tortured. The country changes every version. So does the level of tragedy.

I put my beer bottle on the table outside, not caring that it fell over. I turned on my heel and ran out of my apartment. I stood in front of her door, knocking as hard as I could.

"Y/N!" I yelled. "Y/N, it's me. It's Joe. Open up!"

I held my breath but couldn't hear anything coming from inside. I knocked again, but still nothing.

"Come on, Y/N," I mumbled. I cleared my throat, raising my voice. "Y/N, I thought. . . I thought I heard a scream. Are you alright? If you're okay, say something. Please."

I raised my hand to knock but a stream of fireworks went off. As soon as they went off, Y/N screamed from inside.

"Y/N!!" I tried yelling but the fireworks lasted longer than expected. I pounded on the door and rattled the doorknob. My heart jumped into my throat when I heard Y/N sobbing inside. I took a few steps back when I realized what had to be done.

"I'm sorry, Y/N," I mumbled.

I brought my leg up and kicked in the door. I felt a little guilt when I saw the broken door but that went away when another firework went off and Y/N let out another scream.

"Y/N!"

I ran through her apartment, my chest tightened as it took too long to find her.

"Y/N?" I tried again.

Another firework went off, a small shriek coming from behind me. I turned and ran into her room. I looked around but her room was empty.

"Where are you, Y/N?" I mumbled. I held my breath when I thought I heard someone say something.

"Y/N?" I said louder. "Talk to me."

"Here."

My head snapped to the left. I ran over and yanked the door open. My heart jumped into my throat when I saw Y/N sitting in her empty bathtub. She had her knees tucked to her chest and her hands were pressed tightly to her ears. Even though she was basically curled into a ball, I could tell she was shaking.

I ran over and jumped into the bathtub, kneeling across from her. "Y/N?" I said gently. "It's okay. You're safe. They're just fireworks."

She was mumbling something to herself but I couldn't make it out. I gently touched her arm but she jumped. I quickly pulled back.

"I'm sorry," I stuttered. "I just. . ."

I ran my fingers through my hair, struggling to figure out what to do. I wanted to help her but I had no idea what to do. I sat back and studied her. It was clear she was struggling with PTSD.

I stood up and jogged back to Y/N's room. I looked around until my eyes landed on her laptop. I saw her noise-canceling headphones and got an idea. I grabbed them and ran back to the bathroom. I knelt in front of her and gently slipped her headphones over her ears. I slowly lifted her chin, instantly seeing the tears streaming down her cheeks. I reached up and caught one.

"Joe?" She whispered. Her voice was so soft, I wasn't sure she even heard herself. "What are you. . ."

She started to take the headphones off but jumped when a group of fireworks went off. I quickly fixed her headphones, making sure they were covering her ears, and pulled her into my chest. I could feel her shaking and that made me tighten my arms around her.

"It's not that," she started mumbling. "You're home, in America. You're not there."

I may not have known exactly what happened to her or where she was, but it was clear she was struggling with PTSD.

Once it seemed like she had calmed down a little, I slowly stood up, bringing her with me. She was still tucked into my chest as I helped her out of the empty bathtub and led her to her room. I had her sit on the edge of her bed. I wanted to talk to her, but I was too nervous to take off her headphones.

I cringed when a firework went off. I studied Y/N but it was clear she hadn't heard it. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I watched as she reached over and grabbed her phone. She typed something and then showed me her screen.

Thank you.

I smiled as I grabbed my phone and started typing my response.

Of course. Are you going to be okay?

As she typed, I could see her face slightly turning pink.

I'll be fine. Other than the embarrassment.

I instantly started typing back.

You have nothing to be embarrassed about.

I showed her the message but as she read it, I decided to add something. I saw her tilt her head slightly as I pulled my phone back and typed another message.

PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of, Y/N.

Her breath got caught in her throat when she read it. She looked up at me, hesitating before shakily typing something.

You know about that?

I sent her a soft smile as I showed her my answer.

Just rumors.

She rolled her eyes and slowly took off her headphones. "What are you doing?" I panicked.

"The rumors are mostly true," Y/N sighed, running her fingers through her hair. I studied her as she started playing with the headphones in her hands.

"Mostly?"

"I wasn't a prisoner of war. I was missing in action," she said. "My plane was shot down. I successfully ejected but my wingman. . . I guess his got jammed or stuck. We aren't sure why his chair didn't release. He went down with the plane. I was stranded in the middle of nowhere for two days before they found me. All the while, I was hiding in a cave as the fighting continued above me."

"I'm so sorry, Y/N," I whispered.

"As soon as they took me back to base, I went into a coma and didn't wake up for two and a half weeks," she said, her voice breaking. "When I woke up and they had told me that Jeremy hadn't made it. . . I didn't want to be one."

"What didn't you want to be?"

"A survivor," she whispered.

"Y/N." Her name got caught in my throat. I don't know why but I reached over and grabbed her hand, instantly intertwining our fingers.

"I went deep into depression and it took months of therapy for me to snap out of it," Y/N sighed shakily. "Once I hit the one-year mark, I confessed to my therapist that I wanted a fresh start. So I moved here."

"I had no idea," I said softly. "I'm so sorry, Y/N."

She just shrugged but I could see the weight holding her down. Her shoulders were tense and there were bags under her eyes."

"I'm sorry for all the screaming," she whispered. "I didn't mean to ruin your holiday. Please tell your girlfriend I apologize."

"Actually," I laughed, "there is no girlfriend anymore."

"Since when?" Y/N asked.

Before I could answer, a stream of fireworks went off. I instinctively pulled Y/N into my chest. I looked down when I felt her wrap her arms around my waist and bury her face in my chest.

"Two months," I said.

"What?" She asked shakily.

"My girlfriend and I broke up two months ago," I started to say to try and distract her from what was going on outside.

"How come?" Y/N whispered, tightening her arms around me when more fireworks started.

"I'm away a lot with my work," I sighed. "She didn't like not having her boyfriend around."

I looked down when I felt Y/N move her head so she was looking up at me.

"I'm sorry, Joe," she said gently. She smiled before leaning back into my chest. "She doesn't know what she's missing."

                                * * * * *

After several minutes of Y/N trying to reassure me that she was fine and didn't need me to stay with her, I still didn't feel right about leaving her. Y/N and I spent the rest of the night, watching a movie–with headphones–on her computer.

I kept my eyes on the clock, knowing that the fireworks wouldn't go too late. Even if they did, I'd stay with her until they stopped.

We ended up watching not one, but two full movies. Halfway through the third, I noticed Y/N had fallen asleep. I gently moved her so she was laying down instead of propped up against the headboard. I took off her headphones and tucked her in. I couldn't help myself as I moved some hair out of her face.

I quietly got out of her bed and was starting to walk away when I felt Y/N grab my wrist. I smiled down at her as her eye fluttered open.

"You okay?" I asked as I knelt down so we were at the same eye level.

"Stay," she whispered.

"Are you sure?"

Y/N nodded as she pulled on my hand. She didn't let go until I climbed into bed next to her. The second I did, she laid her head on my chest. I dragged my hands up and down her back as both of our breathing slowed.

"Thanks for everything, Joe," she said, the sleep coming through her voice. "It really means a lot that you were willing to sit with me all night."

"Anytime," I whispered. I cleared my throat as I added, "By the way, you're gonna need a new door."

#joe keery #joe keery imagines #joe keery x reader #fourth of july #army #navy #Top Gun #stranger things

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

I am deeply saddened to see that actor David McCallum has died. While 90 hardly a short life, when someone has mattered to you, even in the distant way of an actor playing make believe for a living, you always wish the life were longer.

I expect I am about to ramble, and not very coherently (sleep deprivation), so all of it will go under the cut.

Actually, he was about the first actor I ever remember recognizing. When I was 3 I adored an obscure tv series called The Invisible Man, where he played the title character. It bares little resemblance to the original story, instead following the adventure show of the 1970s-1980s formula. I think the fact he played a scientist, married to a scientist, and that the couple happily worked together had a lot to do with it. Reminding me of my parents was a natural thing to appeal to a preschooler.

To be honest, I only remembered fragments of the show, but I remembered him vividly. Even as a little kid if I saw him anywhere my first thought was “lt’s the invisible man!!” and a wave of affection would wash over me.

Affection is something you wouldn’t find with my favorite of his tv shows. Steel, in my beloved Sapphire and Steel, is hardly a warm character. How can I describe the show…Well, the title characters aren’t human, but beings that are sent out to deal with problems in time, or maybe you can say caused by time. Nursery rhymes, photographs, and gas stations take on a menacing quality. If these two show up you better be afraid because while they will go to extreme lengths to stop the threat, those lengths might involve sacrificing you.

Steel the cool, sharp edged, and anything but the lovable nice guy I’d adored as a tot….and I adored him here too.

I was late seeing Sapphire and Steel, but I was even later seeing The Outer Limits (original version) where he starred in two of my favorite episodes.

In one, The Sixth Finger, he played a coal miner experimented on by a scientist until he evolved far beyond a connection to his humanity. I have an action figure of that one!

The other, Forms of Things Unknown, has an obvious inspiration in a certain famous French thriller, but then in comes McCallum, a man experimenting with time. While in the other episode he played a man shedding his humanity with every mutation, here he actually is unearthly from the start, a peculiar characterization that reminds me of the madness of characters that have seen to far into the void, but also of a child lost to forces far beyond them….

TBH, I went through a period where this episode was comfort viewing. I would day dream up back story details for McCallum’s character, and even ways to connect it to Sapphire and Steel.

What? just because I was going full geeky fangirl on a single episode of a tv show made well before I was born isn’t THAT weird on here!

And here is another obscure one I’m fond of, a movie called The Ravine. It’s a movie set during WWII where he’s a German soldier sent to capture a woman that’s been acting as a sniper picking of his side like crazy. The concept, that they end up trapped together and do the enemies to lovers thing, seemed like the usual contrived thing. Still, out of mild curiosity I watched a horrible print on Youtube and I was surprised how effective it was. I was actually sold on the tragic relationship, and I’d gone into it expecting to be rolling me eyes. In fact , since it isn’t (or at least wasn’t) available on DVD in the US I got one from Europe. Good thing the acting and setting are more important than dialog, cause I don’t speak Italian!

Frankenstein: The True Story has about as much relationship to the original novel as Bram Stoker’s Dracula has to the book, but it’s actually a rather fascinating take on subject. Tumblr would approve of the gay subtext (more like text, cause how could even folks in the ‘70s miss it) McCallum’s part is supporting, but crucial being both Frankenstein’s mentor and brain donor. I’ll be honest with you, my weakness for mad scientists is showing because I swooned over even has he enthusiastically collects raw materials (ahem) for their work.

Is it weird that this is the roll he played that had me properly, classic fan girl swooning?

There are couple of adaptations that are notable for me. There is that adaptation of Kidnapped he was in. I got it on DVD for my father because the sequel to Kidnapped was a childhood favorite of his, and this was the rare version to use that book (TBH, Pop had a fanboy crush on the girl in that book, from the way he talk! LOL) Unfortunately Pop died before seeing it, so it colors my thoughts on it. And there was an adaptation of Our Mutual Friend, one of my favorite Dickens novels, but I watched it in a “see all the adaptations” kick so it’s a blur of compare and contrast.

I will end this with the most peculiar way a part he played connected with me.

It started unexpectedly, with me watching The Man from UNCLE on a DVD set my father had gotten for Christmas. My parents had liked the show, but like a lot of shows from before I was born I’d heard a lot about it before I’d seen it.

To be honest I wasn’t particularly impressed. Oh, it was fine, and I did like the warm dynamic of the main two characters. **It’s just sort plain potato chip tv, tasty but forgettable. Plus it was sooo of it’s time that the sexism irritated me no end. I have watched, and loved, a lot of 1960s tv, so maybe I just expected more. I enjoyed it, but if you asked me to rank my faves of the “ Sixties lets do the Spy Thing” tv shows I would pick Wild, Wild, West or The Avengers or Danger Man or Get Smart*** even before it.

So it was fine, I enjoyed it while we watched, and then didn’t really think about it anymore.

And then my father got sick.

My father’s illness, and eventual death, hit me hard. Very hard. I was alone dealing with it. I had no friends, and wasn’t even on Tumblr yet. I couldn’t weigh my parents down with my emotions when they had so much of their own. And with my father’s chemo and such I was often actually alone. Obviously not as much as now, but so many days completely alone was new to me then.

So there I was, on the verge of being an emotional but holding it together, desperately aching for someone, anyone, I could turn to….

And then I started dreaming.

Of course I always had dreamed, but this was different. This was nightly dreaming. Serial dreaming. Stories that continued on for days or weeks. And fictional characters started creeping in. Up until then the characters in dreams had always been my OCs, but now suddenly tv shows, books, movies, comics…they were all fodder for the stories helping me escape.

The part may be one of his most famous roles, but it still came as a huge surprise when I found myself dreaming about Illya.

Actually, the first dream was a general Man from UNCLE dream. It was fun, even if it seemed weird to be dreaming about the show. But then the next one had Illya only.

And so it started, an epic series of dreams, chapter after chapter, night after night. Adventures with Illya.

Well, and aliens and time travel and so on. It was, after all, my subconscious spinning the story, not screenwriters. Gotta get time travel and/or alternate universes in there somewhere if it comes out of mushed up brain.

After a while the dreams had bigger gaps between them, but the dreams with Illya still came. In fact over months they dominated my dreaming. Illya was there all the time.

It got so I spent time when I was awake, thinking about the dreams and the character. What would Illya think of this? What would Illya listen to? What would Illya say? What if Illya were in that situation? What if…

Now, I admit, the Illya I was imagining is only inspired by the one David McCallum played. It looked like him. It sounded like him. I even found myself replaying select episodes to remind myself of his “voice” so my brain could make him seem more authentic. But the truth was he was my interpretation of Illya, my head-cannon, my quirks, my obsessions..

Actually I guess it was my need. I needed someone. My dreams even created characters to be my avatars for interacting with him. I those dreams I could talk to him, laugh with him, cry in front of him, save him or be saved by him, and be his friend.

And in a weird way, that is what my brain was doing. It was giving me an imaginary friend while I slept. Someone smart and kind and brave, to save the world…just like the imaginary friend I’d had when I was little.****

I’d given myself an imaginary friend that looked and sounded like Illya!

Well, in dreams. I wasn’t so far gone I talked to him when I was awake!

But it was comforting. I found myself thinking about those dreams, almost cuddling up to them in those painful dark days. I confess I worried that if I ever were in a delirium or under anesthetic or something might call out to him and have some very embarressing questions asked.

Eventually the dreams stopped. Time moves on. Maybe I didn’t need them anymore, or maybe my subconscious got bored.

TBH I kinda wish I still had dreams about him, or some other characters. Any dreams with a repeated cast or continuing story would be beyond welcome. I could REALLY use their company now.

And now, writing this, I realize just why I actually gasped when I saw David McCallum had died. Yes, as an actor he had played many parts I enjoyed, but other actors have done that without the shock of their death knocking the breath from me. But the fact is no other actor has had their performance gift me with something that felt like a friend when I needed one most.

So that’s why I am sad. It isn’t just a list of parts he played that I loved or that he had been a familiar face as long as I can remember. He got stored in a special part of my mind, the strange area of the imagination where strangers and friends get blurred and fiction protect a fracturing heart.

I am eternally grateful he lived. Even if I didn’t have a list of credits I enjoyed ******, as long as I had those dreams he helped inspire when I needed them most I’d mourn his passing.

Condolences to all that loved him, be they friends, family, or fans.

**Though I would end up in fandom exile for seeing them as like brothers or little boy best friends instead of shipping them. Good on you if you do. I think it’s beautiful every character everywhere gets shipped with someone, but dang, what is with the hate for the non-shipping fans?)

*** The Prisoner, possibly my fave tv show ever, isn’t really in this category to my mind, but a lots of folks would disagree.

****My childhood imaginary friend was the ghost of a little boy murdered by his uncle during the American Revolution. Still, the smart, kind, brave, save the world stuff was there too.

*****I didn’t mention something he did that I enjoyed. For instance, Mother Love, a wonderful bit of tv that criminally isn’t on DVD, because it’s Diana Riggs’ showcase. But then I’ve also never seen any of the six billion years of NCIS (I think those are the letters). Who knows how many other of his work I never saw.

#rambles #david mccallum

[anonymouscatt]

For posterity, my annual New Years meme:

1. Your main fandom of the year: Baldur’s Gate 3! It’s funny, the last two years in a row I listed it as something I was interested in getting into but I wanted to wait until it left early access. And I am so glad I waited! I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy this game so it was a nice little surprise, plus I’m glad I got to experience the story in its entirety rather than waiting for content to be slowly added to the beta version. This game was a master example of my favorite type of game to play- namely, an RPG that allows you to develop a custom character’s appearance, attitude, and relationships with other well defined and interesting characters. This is something that, up until now, I’ve only ever gotten from BioWare, and recent developments from that studio have been disappointing, to say the least. I’m really glad to see there are other studios out there who can create this kind of experience, and craft it with such obvious love and care. I fell in love with all the characters and their stories! I also had a lot of fun watching the actors who brought them to life stream the game and experience how all their work came together. A truly well deserved Game of the Year.

2. Your favorite film this year: This is the year of DnD I guess because my favorite movie was Honor Among Thieves! Another very fun romp in the Forgotten Realms, this fantasy heist movie was a joy to watch. The unconventional family relationship beteen Edgin, Holga, and Kira was especially sweet and I nearly cried at the end when they had to choose how to use the resurrection spell. I also really enjoyed the Hunger Games prequel ; I thought the music and the sets were especially well done. I really enjoyed the art in Across the Spiderverse but I didn’t like that they ended it on a cliffhanger, especially when it could take quite a while for the next film to come out. Not a fan of splitting one story into two movies; I didn’t like it when the original Hunger Games trilogy did that either.

3. Your favorite book this year: The fact that I initially couldn’t remember what I read this year and had to go look it up in my Libby account probably says something about the state of my reading this year, hah. I remember checking out and starting several books from the library that did not grab my interest, and which I then returned without finishing. Unfortunate. Of the books I did finish, I enjoyed Martha Wells’ Witch King and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Witch King had a really interesting mythology and setting, and I’d be interested in reading more stories in that setting. Project Hail Mary is another of Weir’s stories that grounds itself in a modicum of science but makes it fun, and had several twists that kept me turning the pages. I also listened to Martha Wells’ latest Murderbot novel; however I was sick and slightly delirious at the time so it didn’t really stick with me in the way that I would like, lol. Hope to get a physical copy to read soon so I can properly appreciate it.

4. Your favorite album or song this year: Machine Learning by J. Maya.

5. Your favorite TV show this year: Probably the Last of Us! I think they did a really good job at adapting a video game story to television, and at bringing new elements to a story I already loved. Pedro Pascal probably wouldn’t have been my first idea for someone to play Joel, but he absolutely killed it, as did Bella. Could have used a few more zombies, though. ;) Also really enjoyed season 2 of Good Omens! It was a delightful romp until suddenly it wasn’t.  I was a bit peeved at the end because I didn’t know this story wasn’t going to be self contained either, and therefore relied on Amazon renewing the show for it to be completed. Bleh. But! Now that we know it has been renewed and we will absolutely see the finale on screen, I can be more forgiving of that absolutely gut wrenching ending. Oh! Also enjoyed Silo, an adaptation of the Wool trilogy of books I really enjoyed. The sets in this show were fantastic and looked exactly like I had imagined the silo to look while I was reading; I’m very excited to see how they deal with later developments in the story. And shoutout to Resident Alien, which I watched for the first time this year. Alan Tudyk is absolutely delightful and believably alien.

6. Your favorite tumblr moment this year: just the fact that we continue to exist as every other social media website sinks to previously unfathomable lows I guess.

7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year: I mean I guess it’s Baldur’s Gate 3? Something new I started doing this year that ties into that is watching other people play video games, which. Is kind of a weird way to spend your time but I’m still having fun. I’ve watched each of the cast members of BG3 stream their own playthroughs of the game and I’ve enjoyed that. I’ve also been watching Friends at the Table stream games, which they’ve been doing more often this year. It’s kind of nice to just have a bunch of friendly voices on in the background and to see how they problem solve together.  

8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year: I guess I can talk about my disappointment with BioWare here. They haven’t released any new information on a game that has been in development for uh. A decade? They’ve also, according to reports, treated their staff absolutely horrendously and laid off a bunch of key developers in a game series I used to love. I know they are quite literally not the same studio that made the games I love because those people are gone and because they’ve been bought out by a larger, solely profit-driven company. Still sucks tho.  Friendship ended with BioWare now Larian is my Best Friend etc. etc.

9. Your favorite male character of the year: …It’s going to be Astarion, isn’t it. I didn’t even like him when I first started playing BG3, because I like to make kind choices and he constantly disapproves of that lol. And then I got to the end of his questline and just had this like. “Oh.” moment.  And then in my next playthrough I abandoned my original plans in order to romance him instead and I have been captivated ever since.

10. Your favorite female character of the year: Shadowheart! My first romance in BG3 and another companion with an absolute banger of a questline.

11. Your biggest squee moment of the year: Getting the epilogue for BG3 to finally play! It was a bit dicey with mods but I managed it, and it was so sweet to feel like I was meeting back up with these characters again after being away.

12. Your most missed old fandom: I haven’t talked about Doctor Who yet! So this year had the three specials with David Tennant and Catherine Tate back, and the nostalgia was just. Overwhelming. The chemistry between these two is impeccable, and I knew it was just going to be those three episodes but wow. I could have watched another full season of their hijinks together. Also just missed good old RTD and the little touches that defined his era. The specials were a real treat. Looking forward to the new adventures with Ruby and 15 but the tone did feel somewhat different, the sort of fantasy element that they are bringing in is new and fresh which is good but will take some getting used to on my part. Still very glad to have RTD back at the helm!

13. Your fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to: Once I finish this current playthrough of BG3, I’m going to try another one of Larian’s games, Divinity Original Sin 2. It looks kind of similar in terms of gameplay, if a bit dated, but I’m curious about what else Larian has done and this seemed like a good fit. I also did plan on playing Starfield at some point, but… reading reviews and watching some Let’s Plays makes it pretty clear the game is not what I expected. Might wait for an even bigger sale before I drop money on it. Which is funny, because I upgraded my computer this summer in order to play it… and then BG3 came along and reset my expectations, lol.

14. Your biggest anticipation of the New Year: New Doctor Who! Definitive edition of BG3! (DLC perhaps???) And I guess DA4 if it doesn’t crash and burn… I am skeptical…

#new years fandom meme #happy new year #this is me

[the-assignment]

Blog #1 - Afrofuturism??

Okay, honestly, straight up. I had no idea what Afrofuturism was and how it related to pretty much anything else. Well, I guess that’s only partly true because while I didn’t know the name or that it was even a “thing,” I definitely enjoyed and consumed Afrofuturistic content – just without knowing it. For example, Black Panther, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyoncé are all Afrofuturistic art/artists that I know and love.

I also didn’t know there are different definitions or various ways different people can classify Afrofuturism – so I really like that it can mean different things to different people. I find that to be super inclusive! In general, I learned that Afrofuturism is more like Black Speculative Arts (as referenced by my professor) and can include Science Fiction, Futurism, Black Futurity, as well as some fantasy elements and even horror. What I personally found really interesting was one of the propellers of creating this type of genre – the aspect of the lack of inclusion often found in mainstream – *ahem* white – futuristic, fantasy, and dystopia films. Like, a lot of those films don’t feature Black people at all (or only briefly or they die) and while I could recognize that obvious lack of representation before, I didn’t really think about the bigger implications.

Like, the actual erasure of Black people in the future. If they are not in most versions or creations of peoples ideas of what the future is – Where are they? What does that say about how people see (or don’t see) them now? What happens to them? What about their future? Where do they belong? What does this exclusion say to them about their role in society? I know many may say it’s not that deep – but isn’t it tho? It’s an interesting train of thought that I have, unfortunately, never considered before in the context of Afrofuturism. And if I’m being honest, I’ll have to admit that stems mostly from me never having to be worried that I wouldn’t see a person like me – a white woman (even if only for the eye candy) – on a screen or in the future. (Though it is also in minor part because I don’t really watch a lot of futuristic / dystopia / utopia films in general).

But this lack of inclusion is what makes Afrofuturism so important and interesting! Because, much like I learned in my last AfAm Studies class about Black horror, this genre too is being reclaimed and rewritten. The idea of an apparently white utopian future is being challenged in really impactful ways and in various artforms – from movies and TV shows, to books and music. It’s been really fun to get introduced to artists I’ve never heard before (like Sun Ra) even if their sound isn’t really my thing. But it’s important to remember that it isn’t so much as whether I like the music or not, but about the way he challenged and changed the sound of music with (mostly) only his keyboard and how his style and imagery has had a lasting impact on musicians I do love – like Janelle Monáe! And now that I know what to look out for, I can see the references and callbacks – like the hooded mirrored faced entities present in both Sun Ra’s music videos and Janelle Monáe’s. I think its good to know what inspired some of my fave works of music and art – and the how and why of its creation.

#the assignment #afrofuturistic #afrofuturism #ucla #homework #tananarive #due #the more you know

[anniethelen]

Saw Multiverse of Madness. Thoughts under the cut. There will be spoilers

That was definitely a Rami movie. I loved the cinematography.

I thought it started a little too fast? Strange goes to see Wanda for help and she’s like “Hi I’m evil!” Then she’s all about kidnapping America Chavez.

If people hadn’t seen Wandavision they are going to be confused.

I do like Wanda as a villain. I thought she and Pietro were introduced way too early and wish Marvel had waited until Disney had acquired Fox. I never liked how she was supposed to be a teen (until Wandavision) Nothing can convince me that EO is a teenager.

If that was the end of Wanda then it was very underwhelming. If she isn’t dead then going forward is every appearance of her going to be her doing something because she’s hurt, realize she is in the wrong, correct it and disappear? Because that will get old. I wouldn’t mind if she’s a darker character or an anti hero/villain. Or just hope she is on your side.

I actually liked Christine in this movie. I had forgotten about her after the first Strange movie until What If. And I do like that they ultimately can’t be together because of circumstances? I think not getting the man/woman you want but being happy for them and moving on is a very powerful message and we need to see more of this. (Side eyes another character)

That said, Strangewong. Strangewong can work.

Mordo was very hot in this movie. Men with long hair are my weakness.

I loved America Chavez and I can’t wait to watch her going forward. I know there were issues with the casting and I wish they hired and AfroLatina. The character herself as she was written I loved.

Enjoyed zombie Strange. It was just so weird and out there.

The Illumanati... what was the point of them? They are in the movie for five minutes and they all just die.

I wanted to see Mr. Fantastic do something. Instead he just stood there and died. Did he ever stretch? Where were the other Fantastic Four?

Black Bolt, they just kill him off in a gory way. I wanted to at least see some redemption for the Inhumans TV show but nope. The should have just continued to pretend that one didn’t exist.

Captain Carter... lasted way longer than she should have. Its like Wanda forgot how powerful she was when she went up against her. The I can do this all day line followed immediately with her death felt like something out of a parody. I was waiting for a laugh track after she was hit with her shield. If they decide she didn’t die, then I guess she couldn’t do it all day.

Maria... should have lasted longer. We could have gotten a cool fight between Maria and Wanda settling the who is stronger? Maria went down way too easily. But she totally could have survived that so I’m gonna pretend she’s still alive.

Prof X actually had a role. I hated seeing him die on screen. This better not be them symbolically killing the Fox verse.

I liked how they stopped Wanda. She’s still the strongest and America had to convince her to stop fighting.

Wanda was trying to find a new version of her kids in the multiverse, what about Vision? Where is White Vision?

Final verdict? The movie kept my attention but it’s one I don’t necessarily want to see again? It was fun to watch once.

#Just my immediate thoughts #or the stuff that stood out to me #it was a marvel movie #I had fun watching but its not one I necessarily want to watch again #If they rehashed Wanda's story #I hope they don't do the same with Sam in his story