#me when i wrote my last short story: wow this is kinda dark I wasn’t expecting to write a tragedy today

[jmeldog]

Wow thank you so much for that very detailed reply! That was such a fascinating read, I had no idea this was how the series is atm. I really thought that Win's middle school arc was done and Lost was the sequel, I wasn't aware at all that they're co-existing series. I was really worried and sad for the last few months that Win had the same terrible fate Shobu did so this is a bit of a relief for the time being.

So is this the same case for the anime as well? Both the middle school and Lost arcs have their separate anime adaptations at the same time as well? Win having these darkness powers seems really dark for the show considering the screenshots I've seen of certain eps, is the anime going to go down that route at all in your opinion?

No problem! Again, I am always happy to infodump. I can infodump about duema as much as anyone wants. Just ask me to elaborate on near anything and I very gladly shall.

Long story short for this ask:

Honestly. I have no clue what they’re gonna do with the mainline adaptation 😭 darkness and horrors aren’t new to duema at all, even when seasons seem silly. But they handle Win weirdly. They drag their feet a loooooot.

However, the door still seems open for it to continue with what the manga’s doing. Even though Nonno didn’t show up, the monster that messed with Win’s friend had a woman’s voice, and said it’d come back. So. Shrug. She could be related.

We have no clue when Duewin anime is actually coming back, it’s on hiatus. But the Duelost anime is coming to YouTube this fall. It’d be awesome if it wasn’t region locked, but my hopes aren’t high, per se. YouTube uploads of the TV airings have always been region locked, but an anime exclusively to YouTube could be different.? But again. Idk.

Now the ramblings… (i really really rambled a lot whoops……… but there’s a lot that goes into how I think about this series………….)

But yeah, it’s is kinda strange to have Duewin and Duelost running at the same time, but like I think I get why. Dai-sensei wrote a letter about why he wanted to make Duelost, and basically he wanted a story for all the adults who grew up playing duema who still make time for it throughout the struggles of adulthood. So in that sense, yeah I can see why they’re existing concurrently—one for kids and one for adults.

In regards to how Duewin and Duelost anime counterparts are going… I honestly wish I could say what’s going on.

We know for certain Duelost anime is getting an anime adaptation by JC Staff in fall this year. Seems like it’s gonna be uploaded on YouTube.

As for mainline Duewin anime………? I don’t think we know anything about when it’s coming back???

Afaik, we’re in a fucked up purgatory of

Duewin anime: hiatus

Duewin manga: currently monthly

Duelost anime: coming out in fall

Duelost manga: hiatus

So anyway, in regards to the statement

“Win having these darkness powers seems really dark for the show considering the screenshots I've seen of certain eps, is the anime going to go down that route at all in your opinion?”

My answer is… maybe…? I don’t think it’s too dark for duema at all…….With an incredibly large asterisk.

Yeah, duema’s absolutely goofy, but it also gets pretty fucked up too. So much so on both ends that I’d say the violent emotional whiplash is a feature of the series.

The powers that Win has—disintegrating living things—are pretty similar to the powers that a king of darkness character from a different era had. And that character literally killed the MC’s best friend, killed the best friend’s dad, killed tons of other bg randos, and tortured many with those powers. So. Eh yannow.

Here’s my friend, Ze-ro. From Joe era duema.

Here’s some kids getting tortured and killed by him (burning in flames, turning into sand)

And here’s Joe in the Minecraft parody ep.

But honestly, maybe they just don’t want their protags to look bad. In the manga, the previous protag, Joe, also had a breakdown, started using dark power, and killed the guy who killed his dad.

But um. Granted I haven’t seen all of the anime adaptation of this half of Joe era because I was warned that it sucked in comparison. . . But I went to watch the “you killed my dad” revenge match in the anime and Joe just did a magical girl transformation on him 😭 no murder.

Later Joe has a depression arc, and looks horrible and unwashed in the manga. While in the anime they kept him squeaky clean. Among many, many other changes that I’ll spare you the paragraphs about.

However, it’s not like the anime never adds things that are fucked up. They’ve done horrible things to my sanity. But I’m trying to prevent this essay from getting any longer, so for this section I digress…

The manga’s prolly always gonna be darker when it wants to be, because Dai-sensei is a visionary who’ll put his protags through whatever the hell kinda horrors he wants. Though it is generally because he believes in a light at the end of the tunnel.

Sorry for the but rambling about the prior seasons, but they all kinda play into what I expect from following duemas.

So anyway

They were building to Win snapping in duewin anime, but just kinda…? Pussied out??? Put it off??????? I guess????????????

Because they wrote the story so it could be cut off quite cleanly literally before Win snapped. It’s such a strange and slightly frustrating decision after they dragged their feet the entire 47 eps of the season. Like 🫠 I guess they can’t outpace the manga but… wagh who knows. Maybe it’s just one of those things that’s frustrating to have watched live, but if I were to binge it I wouldn’t be as annoyed. Maybe.

But what gets me tho is the anime even added some extra stuff to torment Win. The anime gave Win mommy issues + made him canonically atheist (really funny, btw) because his mom wouldn’t come back after leaving him no matter how much he prayed. But despite Jashin poking Win with it over and over, they didn’t do much with it in the season. (While the manga just never touches on how Win’s mom isn’t around)

But like I said at the very very beginning of this rambling.. yeah the door’s still technically open to follow the manga route.

So like I mentioned in a previous ask, in the manga Nonno messed with one of Win’s friends, Ugata. In the anime, it was just the monster that Nonno gave him. And a possessed mouse.? But in the anime the monster had a woman’s voice and said it’d come back, so………

But alsoooooo I really wonder how they’d get Win as pissed in the anime as he was in the manga 😭 he was so pissed off at her cuz he was fresh off finding out Ugata had been bullied in elementary school and was jealous of Win, and that Nonno had taken advantage of that. She’d gotten Ugata to destroy the school, attempt to kill Win, and hurt their other friend, and afterwards she was like “lol lmao whatevs why r you even so mad over something like this xD” while Ugata was still unconscious on the ground with tears staining his face, yannow? Like yeah they could always try to build the tension back up, but the moment was just really good.

(Also I’m 99% sure Ugata getting bullied in the past just wasn’t apart of his backstory in the anime. Weird.)

While the anime on the other hand had a really happy ending lmao. Everyone was around Ugata welcoming him back to being normal.

The difference in Win’s vibes between getting Ugata back to normal in the anime vs manga is well…. Well it’s pretty dang noticeable, alright!

Like obviously if they want to continue Win era they have to go somewhere with Win being a king of darkness, but if they’re being so deliberate with dragging it out I really wonder what they’re gonna do.

There’s a lot more I could get into over studio changes, amount of volumes being adapted per season, and shit like that but um I think I’ll cut myself off here. I rambled enough.

I think I lost the point of what I was talking about a while ago. Whoops.

This is like all speculation. thanks for reading I’m not proofing this anymore 👍

Fun fact this hiatus after Duewin anime is the first hiatus in the history of the show. Which tbh I’m happy they’re having a break, because the animation industry is hell and adapting an ongoing manga for 20+ years seems insane.

#this mel speaks #answered asks

[sagasofazeria]

These Hearts of Fire and Stone

Another short story I wrote! Used a prompt for this one (the first paragraph), which meant I had to write in first person AND in present tense which was a fun challenge.

taglist (reply/reblog/etc to ask to be added or removed!): @talesfromaurea

content warnings: burn injuries, self-harm, violence, cursing, mentions of war and death, the apocalypse

word count: ~3700

She believes in me. She has always believed in me, in a way no one else ever has, and no one else ever will, and I’m betraying her. And the worst part? She doesn’t even know. She still thinks I deserve her faith, like I’m some sort of slightly broken saint.

I close my fist around the piece of glass, and its edges draw blood. It’s an interesting feeling, inflicting pain on purpose. It hurts, but I have to do it. There’s no choice. I grit my teeth and squeeze harder on the shard of the mirror.

As my blood drips to the floor, I feel the spell complete, and I look back up. Something else has replaced my reflection in the broken mirror, a faceless smoking cloud, its only features two eyes, bright and yellow like searchlights. Though I shouldn’t be able to, I can hear the thing hiss.

Its eyes lock onto me, clawing at me with nothing but a gaze. “Oh my, you’re an interesting one.” An engine-like hum rolls from the mirror. “ You’re trying to fight fate… to have everything at once. You want to, but you can’t, can you?”

I say nothing.

“Your world is doomed. You are doomed. And she’s the only one that can save you all.”

Smoke curls from the cracks in the mirror.

“But you… you know what that costs. And you can’t bear it.”

“No, I can’t. I’ll give you whatever it takes to save her.”

A screech like a thousand machines grinding to a halt fills the abandoned building, and the thing laughs. My heart stops in my chest, skipping one too many beats.

The smoky figure inhales, and I can practically hear it grinning. “Now she cannot die, no matter what happens. But know that there will be consequences for defying destiny.”

Footsteps sound on the street outside, echoing up through the ruins of the complex. The creature in the mirror disappears, and my own ragged reflection returns. It seems to judge me too, so I scowl at it.

“Vic, where’d you go? You finish your spell yet? We’ve gotta move, I think they’re getting closer!”

At the sound of her voice, I drop the shard I’d been clutching and kick apart the ash and rubble I’d used for the summoning.

“Vic!”

I take a deep breath. What have I done?

”Up here! I’m heading down, just hold on a sec,” I shout down, my voice echoing through the concrete bones of the building. A short climb back down the elevator shaft and I’m back on the streets of the city, where Alexei is waiting.

“Hey, wh-- wait. What happened to your hand?”

I hadn’t even realized, but as I look down I can see that my climb has only made the bleeding worse.

“Nothing, just… cut myself climbing around in there.” It wasn’t technically a lie, but it still feels gross coming out of my mouth. I’d lied a thousand times, but to her? It felt wrong.

Alexei sighs an all-too-familiar sigh, but she doesn’t seem to notice my hesitation. “You’ve gotta be more careful, Vic. I’m not gonna pretend I understand the intricacies of your magic, but still, you could be more cautious. Give it here,” she says as she grabs my hand, pulling bandages out of her bag.

“How many of those things do you have in there anyway?” I say, desperate to change the subject as I watch the bag nearly spill from the strain of all the random things she’s got stuffed in it.

“Hm. Not enough to keep up with you, if that’s what you’re wondering,” she says, gently flicking my nose. “Nah, in all honesty, I just snagged a few offa that airship we stowed away on last week. Rest’a this is just the usual scavenging stuff.” She finishes the bandage, and pauses, looking down at the wound like she’d left something important in there. “Get the feelin’ I won’t be using ‘em much after today, though.”

I close my eyes as my chest tightens. She keeps talking like this, like she’s not gonna come back.

“You don’t have to come along, you know,” she says, quieter than I’ve ever heard her before. She sounds… scared?

“It’s my choice,” I say, cutting her off before she can keep saying those terrible things. “It’s my choice, and I’m coming with you.”

She smiles, but her eyes are sad. “Thank you.”

“Don’t. If anything…” My words catch in my throat, and I’m reminded of the screech of metal. “If anything, I should be thanking you. You’re the heroic one. I’m just me.”

She sighs again. She didn’t used to sigh like that, but it’s been too long since we’ve slept in real beds, since we’ve had decent food, since we’ve woken up to the sound of something other than the sounds of distant artillery and war-magic.

“But you’re also my friend. If I’m gonna repel into the core of the planet and try to end the apocalypse with anybody, I want it to be you,” she says after a moment.

“We could still leave. Maybe try to sneak onto another airship, make for the other side of the planet. Let somebody else stop the end of the world,” I say, barely whispering. Before she speaks I already know the answer.

“No, Vic. There is no one else, we both know that. If the imperials catch us you know what’ll happen. They’re never going to give up their power, not when they can just hide away and let the rest of us take the fallout of their hubris.”

As if to underline her point, a distant boom echoes through the streets, and we share a look. They’re getting closer.

“Shit, we gotta go,” she says, taking off into the streets.

The dreary broken buildings we run past are a familiar sight now. We’ve been in the old capitol a few days, trying to get to the center, where the well to the core of the planet is. Old shattered windows and twisted husks of metal are scattered in our path, remnants from when the wars first broke out. Despite being the biggest city on the planet, it was the first to fall. Ironic.

Now, the whole city is buried in ash-colored snow. It’s like this all over the world, but especially here. Nothing lives, nothing dies, it’s just… cold. Since the fire was taken from the core, our planet’s been spiraling into an apocalyptic winter. Then resource wars, and imperials, and suffering, and now, us. The two of us, trying to fix it all on our own.

It takes a long time to reach the city center. Alex keeps just ahead of me, leading me through the maze of stone and steel. We don’t talk much. What is there to say? We’re about to try and reignite the core of a fucking planet.

It feels like a fever dream. The whole world’s fallen apart like a house of cards, and somehow I’m the one staring down a mineshaft to the center of the world with the bright idea to just go magically flip the lights back on.

The old walkways and wires still descend into the well, hanging as if frozen in a moment long past. I can see the ash-marks on the metal, and the feeling of death permeates the air: still, stale, and silent like the scaffolding all around us.

As we begin our descent into the well, I look one last time at the surface. Sickly clouds and falling snow blot out the already fading light, and Alex and I plunge into the depths. The darkness doesn’t last long, as the orange glow of hot metal begins to light the path ahead of me.

Alex turns back to me, a pained smile on her face as she super-heats her cyborg augmentations for light.

“Can you see alright Vic?”

I watch the orange heat flood the scar tissue that surrounds the metallic implants. “Yeah, I can see. You’re sure you’ll be alright?”

“I’m used to it.”

I sigh, and nod, and we keep climbing deeper. The further from the surface we get, a chill starts to settle in, and I lose all track of time. Hours or days could have passed, and we wouldn’t have known the difference.

As time wears on, the chill turns to a vicious freezing cold, and I’m practically clinging to Alexei for warmth. The icy air is accompanied by the sound of frantic and fading whirring. It’s close now.

The tunnel gets smaller and smaller and smaller, until there’s barely enough room for the two of us to climb down single file.

My cut hand still stings with every clash against the rock, but something feels… different. The next time we stop to rest, I hide my hand and unwrap the bandages just slightly to peek at the wound. I curse internally. Where the cut is, my skin is cracking away to reveal something beneath: my palm, as gray and rough as the rocky walls around me. I can hear that damn thing I summoned laughing in my head, and I know: this is the price of my deal.

I wrap my hand again, so Alex doesn’t see, and we continue ever downward. No need to worry her now, and have to lie again.

And even as I feel my hand petrifying, some small part of me, watching her glow go deeper into the well, whispers vain hopes.

Maybe she’ll survive the energy transfer.

Maybe she isn’t lying about being used to the implants, maybe they won’t actually kill her.

Maybe my deal won’t be necessary, because everything will work out.

That small voice doesn’t last long, silenced in awe and horror as I stare at the frozen core of the planet below us.

The spherical core is probably hundreds of miles across, suspended in midair at the center of a massive cavern. The millions of rusty metallic parts are either frozen solid or weakly sparking and spasming, like a malfunctioning mechanical heart for the entire world.

All the breath escapes my lungs and freezes in the air. Next to me, Alexei throws her rope down to the surface, her lips tight with finality.

“This is it. You ready?” she asks.

No.

“Yeah, ready as I’ll ever be,” I say, wishing I could lock my heart in my chest so I wouldn’t want to scream and tell her I was lying.

Alex takes a deep breath, then chuckles. “Let’s fuckin’ save the world.”

Together, we drop down to the outside of the core.

As we land on the icy metal, there’s a moment where my foot slips, and I feel myself falling, but before I can blink Alex has caught me. Wordlessly but gently, she brings me back to my feet.

She nods to me, and I focus my mind. I breathe deep once, twice, and then all of my fears rip out of my throat in the form of magic. We both step back as the rusted metal below us bends and tears away from its protective shell, revealing a heat exhaust vent plenty big enough for us to climb down into.

“Oh joy, more climbing,” I mutter.

Alex laughs quietly, then ducks into the vent. The inside of the core is a labyrinth of machinery either long gone or nearly gone, and what faint power still trickles through it wheezes like a quickly dying beast.

I have to use my magic to clear the path a few more times, and each time I can feel the petrification spreading. By the time we reach the nexus, my elbow can barely move, but Alex hasn’t noticed yet. Or doesn’t care. I know it’s not true, but I can hope it’s the second one.

Maybe it’ll lessen the sting if she never cared.

No sooner did the thought cross my mind, and then I was falling, unable to hold on to the rope as my elbow and hand refuse to move.

I cry out in shock, tumbling out of the vents and slamming to the cold metal floor of the core’s center.

My view of the nexus is instantly blocked by Alexei rushing over to me, panic written on her face. “Whoa, Vic! What happened, are you okay? How— Oh shit, your arm.”

I groan in pain. Should’ve known I wouldn’t be able to keep the secret forever.

“It’s nothing, Al, I—“

“Bullshit. Why does it look— Are you turning to stone? What the hell, Vic? What’s going on?!?”

I pull back at the anger in her voice. This is it, this is what happens.

“It doesn’t matter, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, you have a planet to save.”

“Like hell. I couldn’t’a got here without you, I’m not just gonna stop caring. Can you walk?”

I nod.

“Then come on. Don’t make me do this alone,” she says, pulling me to my feet by my good arm and putting her arm around me. I lean in, still shivering from the freezing cold that coats the place.

A massive machine, a faint ember of a glow surrounding it, sits in the center of the spherical room, supported on all sides by metallic pillars and pistons. The entire outside of the room is coated with ice crystals that point inward like jagged hungry vulture’s beaks, but the nexus itself seems to hold some small shred of heat. A thin metal walkway connects it to where we’ve landed.

Together, Alexei and I walk up to the heart of our planet.

On the side of the nexus is a door. The vault is long since broken into, and it hangs open, revealing the port that all the energy that powered the core once flowed through. Al stares at it for a long moment. Then she closes her eyes, and her implants begin to glow hotter and hotter. Power courses along the wire inlays on her skin, and she looks me in the eyes.

“Alright, here's the plan. I’m going in there. I’m gonna lock myself in as the power source and try to restart the core. Do not pull me out.” She says, her voice eerily still.

“Al-“

“No, Vic. I gotta do this, and you gotta let me. I love you, and I’m sorry, but this is my fate,” she whispers.

Before I can argue, she steps into the chamber, and locks it from the inside, the light burning beneath her skin shining through the single window.

I run up to the door, beating on the glass, but she turns away. She clasps thick metal bands around her arms, takes a deep breath, and then places her hands into the energy port.

She screams.

Blinding heat blasts from the nexus, shooting along the walls and shattering the ice crystals. The mechanisms in the walls begin to rotate, buzzing to life as Alexei pours her own life into the core of the planet, and I’m stuck on the outside, watching. Her skin begins to smoke and melt, her face contorted in perpetual screaming. I can’t watch, but I can’t bring myself to look away for fear she’ll die as soon as I do.

My heart shatters in my chest. I keep beating on the door, crying and shouting to her even though she can’t hear me. Even my own skin begins to sear from the heat, except where it’s become stone. I can feel the very planet itself rumbling as Alexei burns. And in the back of my mind, the final thread snaps.

I drop to my knees, screaming to whichever direction I think the sky might be. “Can’t you see it’s killing her? It’s killing her, please! You swore! You swore she wouldn’t die! Uphold our bargain! Save her, dammit!”

The words leave my mouth, and all around me the mechanical heart of the planet grinds to a halt, an eerily familiar screech. Yet still, light cascades from the nexus. Summoning up any magic I can, I rip the door from its hinges and am met by another blast of heat.

Alexei’s skin is still smoking, but her metal implants lie cool and her eyes lack their glow. She desperately reaches for the energy port, but nothing happens. “What? I- how? Is… it’s not enough…” she growls, voice coarse and laced heavily with pain. I reach forward to grab her, pull her away, anything to save her, when the nexus explodes.

Thick smoke and shards of metal fill the air, and we’re thrown back from the center with the force of a massive bomb.

We land together, but before I can stand, Alexei shoves me away, desperately running back towards the ruined nexus. “No, no, no! What the hell did you do?!?” she cries, whirling around on me, a different kind of firein her eyes now.

“I- I can’t lose you. I saw you in there and I couldn’t take it and I had to get you out,” I say, rambling now.

“Fuck’s sake, I just said not to do that, Vic! And that still doesn’t tell me what exactly just happened— oh no. Your whole arm is stone now. Does that have something to do with it?”

She’s right, and I can feel it spreading to my chest. I nod, ashamed, but then I see it: her hands are stone too.

All my shame gone for the moment, I stand up, rushing to her. “No. NO.” I turn to yell into the smoke. “This is my punishment, not hers! She’s supposed to live! This is my curse!”

In the smoking wreckage, two searchlight eyes appear. “That was not our deal. I claimed only that she would never die, not that she would always live.”

“You—“

“You made the deal,” it laughs. “This is your fault. Now, you’ll both be stone forever, on a dead planet you sacrificed just to fail to save your only friend.”

“Vic. What the hell is that?”

I can’t speak, my heart sinking as I realize my terrible mistake.

“Vic. What. did. you. do?”

I try to respond, but nothing’s making sense.

”SHE DENIED YOU YOUR FATE,” booms a deep monotone voice from behind us.

Alex grabs their ears, looking at me. “Is this you too?”

Tears streak down my face as I shake my head, slowly turning to see a massive ethereal face made entirely of machines and gears.

“I AM THE CHOSEN OF DESTINY HERSELF. I AM FATE. AND YOU HAVE DENIED ME, HUMAN.” As the face speaks, the machinery around them grinds, glows and sparks. “BECAUSE OF YOU, YOUR FRIEND WILL BECOME STONE ALONGSIDE YOU, RATHER THAN BE CONSUMED BY FIRE, BUT YOUR WHOLE PLANET WILL DIE. SUCH IS THE COST.”

“No, wait, there’s got to be another way—“

“THERE IS NONE. I AM FATE. MY WORD IS THE FUTURE. YOU NOW FACE THE REPERCUSSIONS OF YOUR OWN FOOLISH TRANSGRESSION. WALLOW IN IT. SUFFER IN IT. BECOME STONE IN IT. IT MATTERS NOT. THE DECISION HAS BEEN MADE.”

Enraged, I lash out with magic at the smoke-shrouded demon as well as the face of Fate, but they both seem to ignore me.

“DEFY ME ALL YOU WISH, IT WILL NOT CHANGE WHAT HAPPENS NOW.”

I have no words, so I just scream at them and fall to my knees.

The demon laughs, smoke curling into every corner of the room, and Fate seems to reel back from it before dissipating. The smoke burns my eyes and throat, but I can’t make myself move.

I don’t even register Alex picking me up and climbing out of the smoke-filled nexus, out of the core, and back to the well. Everything’s blurring together. I was willing to sacrifice the world, but I was supposed to take the punishment, not her. Somewhere along the way, we find a cave, and Alex sets me down, her own arms already nearly petrified.

My breaths are shaky, and I can barely look at her. I wonder if my lungs are turning to stone too. In my mind, I can’t stop repeating the question: What have I done?

“Alexei, I—“

“I forgive you.”

“What?”

“I forgive you,” she says again, meeting my eyes, and she’s smiling that soft pained smile again.

I’m still crying, my ash-gray skin cracking as my whole body shakes, the rumbling of the destruction of the planet’s core surrounding us.

“How can you say that? I ruined everything and you still love me? How? I’ve doomed the whole damn planet and you’re still here lookin’ at me like I’m the victim! I’ve killed us all, can't you see??”

“I can see just fine. I know why you did it. And I get it. You couldn’t let go, so you… broke the world,” she sighs, exhaustion and resignation heavy in her voice.

“I… I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s okay. I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t have done the same thing.” She pauses for a long time, staring at the mouth of our little cave. “Maybe… maybe someone will find us. Find a different way to still save everyone.”

“And spite Fate herself?” I ask weakly.

“You did it. Why can’t they?”

She sits next to me against the stone of the cave. Slowly, she puts her hand on my cheek, and it’s warm, the only thing here that is. I lean into it, still choking on my sobs. “I’m so, so, sorry,” I manage to say through the tears.

“Shh. There’s nothing to say now. What’s done is done.”

She starts to hug me, but I pull away. “I-“

She chuckles weakly. “What did I say about shutting up? If we’re gonna watch the world die, at least hold me?”

“But it’s my fault, I’ve failed you and—“

“—and I’ve already forgiven you. Please.”

So I shut my eyes, wrap my stony arms around her, and bury my head into her shoulder, and she does the same. We never really feel the onset of the ice, because our bodies turn to immovable rock long before the planet’s final breath.

•••

Thousands, maybe even millions of years later, humans descend from the stars again, rediscovering this distant planet. They will uncover the ruins, and they will rebuild, and they will dig. And somewhere deep within the planet, they will find two embracing statues, miraculously untouched by the whims of time, crystalline tears still frozen on their faces.

#short story #my miscellaneous writing #not story #(not my main story anyway) #These Hearts of Fire and Stone #me when i wrote my last short story: wow this is kinda dark I wasn’t expecting to write a tragedy today #me when i got this idea: I’ll fuckin do it again #thanks for reading!

[zet-sway]

@the-wip-project day 35:

I don't know what today's question is but I gotta write a wall of text about what happened last night because holy shit

I was on the verge of falling asleep and, like I usually do, I decided to hunt for some spicy fanfics to read on my phone. I found one.

All my posts are long but this one is real fucking long. CW for touching on dub-con and injury mentioned in the type of context it probably shouldn't be.

It's time for me to admit that not only am I a oneshot writer, I'm also a oneshot reader. I am drawn to short fanfics. If I click on a chaptered fic, it's (usually) because it's rated E for smut and I'll go in with every intention of skimming it for the spicy bits. I'm not proud of this. I've avoided saying this for years because I don't want to disappoint people who work hard on their very long and well thought out chaptered stories. I have a short attention span, and I know what I want.

But anyway, last night I clicked on a fic with 5 chapters and some amount of words, around 30k? Long, by my standards, but I was tired and I just wanted something to read while I dozed off.

This particular fic hooked me in, though. I still skimmed it, but the writing was so unique in a way that made me writhe with writer's envy and admiration. Whoever wrote this had their own language - nothing borrowed - their own vision.

I guess I should tell the good people who read my posts (ya'll, seriously, thank you) that the fic in topic is called Fault Lines by Recidiva on AO3. I would link to it but uhhhh I may be using my work PC for "extracurricular purposes" right this moment ^^; so maybe when I get home I'll remember to add it.

I skimmed it - like I said above - for the spicy parts. It generally follows the plot of Bioware's canon. Thane begins as possessive and manipulative, likely uncomfortably close to dub-con for a lot of people. He kisses her and knows full well that his kiss will make her willing but intoxicated, and how he will use that to fulfil himself. But as the story progresses, he falls in love. Their relationship is what I'll call "edgy." Both of them are renegades. There's a scene where they get down in the shuttle after a fight and they're both still injured and it borders on downright unrealistic but fuck it, it's fanfic and I bought it. However their relationship develops a certain heart-wrenching tenderness. She asks him what Siha means over and over again, and eventually tells him she thinks "bitch" when he says it. But in that moment they have a playful banter, he knows full well she's probably already looked it up on the extranet, and they fall into bed together. The smut is mind-boggling.

By the time it gets to Shepard's arrest, he's taken up a place on Earth and visits her, breaks into her house arrest. There's a scene where they see each other for the first time in a while, she tells him how much she's missed his mouth and how it's not right how bad she wants him, and wants him bad enough to smother him with affection. She says something to the effect of "if you're looking to die, I'd volunteer to be the cause," implying that her lust is powerful enough to endanger his life. And it was at this moment I realized I fucked up.

It's established that I live in my own headcanon and I'm not burdened with considering the end of Thane's life as part of my fics. And the suspension of disbelief was such that I forgot he doesn't make it. So at this moment in the fic, chapter 4 out of 5, I realized "Oh shit this isn't going to have a happy ending." I skipped to the end right away, I wanted to confirm my fears.

In their final exchange, she asks him to lie to her - something that's repeated in other chapters of the story. I forget what he says, I was reading desperately, but he asks her in return to tell him something true. She kisses him and tells him she loves him, and he breathes his last breath with the lingering tingle of their kiss to carry him to the other side.

I was so entrenched in the depth of their relationship up to that point. The level of fathomless love the author conveyed, unlike anything I've ever managed to write before, but more realistic to my own understanding of love as I've experienced it. Not because they're renegades, but just the selflessness with which they feel, communicate, banter, and make love.

When I read that last paragraph, something inside me broke. That sounds dramatic but that's honestly how I would describe it. It felt like waking up from a night terror, when you bolt up in bed from a dream so bad you immediately get up even if it's 4am because nothing feels real and you're so terrified you have to get up and do something - literally anything to take your mind off it, to ease you back into reality. I put my phone down and stared into the darkness of my bedroom and told myself "it's just a fanfic, no need to get upset." And then I started to cry and I didn't stop for 30 minutes.

My husband was downstairs watching Bohemian Rhapsody and I went down there and wrapped myself around him so tight and cried. Bless this man, from the bottom of my heart - bless him - for his unfathomable kindness. I felt like a fucking fool because I was crying over fanfiction but he paused his movie and just listened while I tried to articulate how it wasn't exactly about the character death, or the characters at all, it was just the writing and how it wormed into my brain so convincingly. I felt the loss like it was my own loss. I am terrified of losing my husband. So many feelings coalesced and I realized one day I may be in that situation, kissing the man I love goodbye for the last time, never to hold him again. I'm at work right now and I'm tearing up because it's so hard.

I tip my hat to the author, but I genuinely wished I hadn't read that fanfic. And isn't it kind of funny after that grandstand I took yesterday about not wanting to write the pain of loss and grief, that I ended up reading it instead and probably fucking myself up just as badly, if not worse, than if I had tried to write it myself?

It gets worse, too. Because it got me thinking about my own writing, and how I could never hope to achieve what that author did. So I sat there crying out my painfeelings while simultaneously feeling like a shit writer and like nothing I put out matters. I got up from the couch, sat down at my PC and picked up where I left off in the Omega DLC in ME3 because video games are great for taking the mind off things. It didn't exactly help with the intensity I'd hoped for, but I managed to fall asleep, by 3am.

Fast forward to this morning. I dragged my sorry ass out of bed 4 hours later and drove to work. By some fucking miracle, no one is here right now except our field director. And I'm stewing in how this one fic really fucked me up bad, reconsidering everything. I feel like I've been put in my place.

So what changed?

Yesterday I posted about how I'm struggling to write a plotline. I know what happens, but I'm not interested in the little bits that tie it together. I want to write the romance. I think there's a way to write the plot and the romance at the same time, but it's damn hard.

I started doing this because I wanted to grow my skills as a writer, and I knew it might be more than I could chew. I'm at that moment now where I'm about ready to give up.

Even if I felt like a shit writer last night (and still kinda do this morning), I know that the stuff I've put out has value. We can't all write these epically tragic smut-romance-renegades-to-lovers tales, we'd all be sad all the damn time. There's a time and a place and - I would argue - even a need for lighterhearted fic out there. There are really no rules. I'm confident in what I know how to do.

But the plot. Fuck it, man. I think maybe I'm trying too hard to be something I'm not. I'm trying really hard to write like other people. I may have mentioned before that I saw a post about how many artists spend their time pining for the skills of others, thinking "wow, when I can draw like that, I'll have made it as an artist." That same post cautioned against this, basically saying you already have your own unique style, it's just harder to see through the lens of your own eyeballs. It's fine to challenge yourself but try to acknowledge what you do that sets you apart already. I feel like I have that something - maybe not to the extent that I wish, but I have something.

So what's the point of the plot? Why do I need to tell my readers how I cured Keprals? I'm asking myself important questions here. I like to think I've come up with ideas that no one else has, but as I said above, I don't read a lot of chaptered fics. I very well may have come to the same ideas as other writers and I'm not even aware of it. I don't know if my ideas are unique but I still arrived at them all by myself.

The challenge here - the thing I'm struggling so much with - is how to put them together with the same elegance of my fellow writers. I'm looking at you, shrios fam (yeah I'm calling you that, yall know who you are). I know I can write words, but it's like I have a bunch of pieces from completely different jigsaw puzzles and I'm struggling to make a new picture out of them. I struggle with the transitions between them.

The point here is I have to find my own way. And I have to stop taking myself so seriously. In fact this level of "seriousness" is one of the things that got me into so much angst over World of Warcraft over the last two years. At least I know how to recognize it.

I have to find my own way. I have my own things that are worth sharing. The author I read last night had a language all their own, and I have a language all my own too. Their wordplay was actually more choppy than I would ever write. I've talked before about how I'm scared of starting too many sentences with pronouns, how I maybe write too many run-on sentences, whatever. This author did that with reckless abandon. It worked for them. So if they can make that shit work, I can make my own shit work.

I have to find my own way.

My most current WIP is Thane and Shepard's first time. I've been working on it pretty nonchalantly because I hadn't intended to publish it until I built up to it. It takes place further into my timeline, and it would probably ruin the point of a slow burn if I put it out there now. There are some really memorably moments in this WIP, and there are other moments that need to be smoothed over as well. I never knew what I'd really imagined for their first time but I think I've mostly developed something that's unique in its own right, and I think will be fun for people to read.

I'm just so fucking torn over what to do with it. I feel guilty for working on it. I should be writing "other shit" leading up to it but I don't fucking want to. I actually wrote probably 2-3k words this weekend, which is a pretty staggering amount by my standards. Some of it was for this smutty WIP and some was for something I just threw together, Thane observing Shepard on Horizon and the emotional toll it takes on her. He's seeing her humanity. I don't know if it's worth it to continue but I wrote a lot of it and the words are more precise than usual for a draft, I don't know. I have so much fucking insecurity. Fuck dude. I want to write this longfic, but I don't want to write it. I want to skim to the spicy bits like I always do.

I am wracked with insecurity, of my own making. I know what I can do but I feel compelled to see this idea through. Somehow I have to find my own way.

TLDR I feel like if I don't publish something soon I'm going to burst and I don't even know what the fuck to work on first and fjslfjsojoiejrj

I would be really down for, like, a bunch of hugs and a bowl of ice cream shared over memes and fanservice.

#this post is EXTREMELY fucking long send help #ITT: i read something that probably changed my brain chemistry for a few hours and it's painful #zet vs 100days #i'm just glad to get this off my chest good lord #anyway if people want to send me links to their favorite shrios fluff i would welcome it

[seriouslysam8]

For the ask game, would you please answer questions numbered 2, 8, 14 (all of your titles have such cool names), 18 (I hope Abditory isn't one of them as that story rocks), 21, 24, 29, 30, 33, 34, 44, 51, 62, 76, 82, 85, 88, 90, and 98.

Sorry for asking so many, but I love your work! Entombed gave me so many feels! I found your stories because author Breanie said to read them in her author's notes. Best rec ever! Thank you for answering.

Wow, that is a lot of asks! Thank you so much for wanting to know so much about little ole me. I think I hit them all in this and my apologies if I missed one. Let me know if I missed one. @breaniebree is awesome and my writing BFF. She is amazing, and I love her.

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

So, I’ve written for The X-Files, Supernatural, and Harry Potter. I currently only write for Harry Potter. I would say Harry Potter has always been the most fun.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Random shit. Brontide came to me because I was browsing the HPFanfiction subreddit looking for a story suggestion and someone asked for a story where Harry was addicted to Felix. Only one unfinished dimensional time travel story was listed. It idea sparked me to write my own version. Entombed came to me because I was rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Buffy was buried alive. I knew I wanted to bury Ginny alive. As I stated in the author’s notes of last Kalopsia chapter, I drew inspiration from the Djinn storyline in Supernatural. I write about things I know, too. I have young kids at home so I like writing the Potter children as young because I can mimic their mannerisms in my writing. I’ve even asked my kids to say certain words to emulate their speech pattern in my writing if I’m writing that age group.

14) How did you come up with the title for the XXX? You can ask about multiple stories.

I HATE coming up with titles. My newest trend has been to literally Google “unique words”. There are a ton of Pinterest accounts who make fancy word and definition pictures. I scroll through all these little unique words and pick out ones I think fit a story. Sometimes I Google a unique word for BLANK and see if I can get a cool version of that name. @breaniebree actually helped me with Entombed.

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Sadly, I would put Abditory in this category. Never say never though. I think about it from time to time. Honestly, I abandoned it due to such a negative response I was receiving and the lack of positive response. I became discouraged. It wasn’t even negative response due to my writing, it was literally a bunch of “why would you waste your time writing a story about the biggest plot hole in the books? JKR butchered the whole SK storyline and it’s unbearable to read.” So, basically, my reviews and PMs were filled with JKR hate over that plot point in the books. They heavily outweighed the positive reviews I received. Honestly, I think that’s why a bulk of stories get abandoned - lack of positive reviews or enthusiasm for a story. If I didn’t get so many great reviews for my stories, I don’t know if I’d be able to finish them or continuing writing new ones. Fanfiction is free, (as it should be) but it’s a lot of time and hard work. A little appreciation goes a LONG way. So, my advice, review everything you love reading and encourage writers to keep writing. I always say in my authors notes that reviews make me want to write and inspire me. That’s the truth. The moment I stop getting reviews will probably be the time I take a writing break again.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

@breaniebree. I mean she’s dedicated years to a single story with so many plot lines and characters that I’m amazed she did it. She’s a fantastic writer, and I definitely consider her my writing BFF. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from her and enjoy talking about writing with her so much. I’m so glad we’ve become friends.

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

Horrified. Anytime I get a little steamy in my stories, it goes immediately to @breaniebree who usually adds way too much smut and then I cut it down to still be somewhat PG-13 in order to appeal to a wider audience.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I feel like Kalopsia isn’t getting as much love as my other stories. I’m way behind in my normal review count per chapter. I wonder if it’s just the confusing storyline or if it’s just not as fun to read? But I was definitely worried it wouldn’t get the love I thought it deserved when I started writing it and it’s lived up to that expectation.

30) In contrast to 29, is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Cronus Rising. People still recommend it occasionally and I still get random reviews. I’m like, “why????” Its horribly written and a stupid plot line. I literally was getting back into writing after not writing for a good five years, so it’s abysmal. I’ve often wanted to rage delete it.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

When someone tells me I should write an original novel and they’d buy the hell out of it. I do have some original novel ideas floating around (one I’ve been writing since I was like 15), but crippling fear of rejection from publishers have stopped me from ever actually finish an original novel.

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I got some criticism in Brontide for having drama for drama’s sake with no real purpose or goal for said drama. I felt my drama served a purpose, drove the story along, and I add a lot of fluffy and cute family moments. I feel like in real life, when you to your loved one is going through sometime, it feels like nonstop drama and bad news and like a dark cloud just follows you. I wanted to emulate that in real life. So Harry’s POV was often drab because HE was the one going through something horrific and it was all doom and gloom for him.

44) What is the last line you wrote?

“You never think I listen to your ramblings, but it’s kind of hard to block out, mate.”

51) From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)

Um... I’d say a 3. I think I have some good and unique plots for stories but sometimes I struggle on how to execute those on paper effectively. I struggle with descriptions, action, and showing rather than telling. But I do think I’m good at dialogue and capturing a character’s personality. So, 3.

62) Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

A lot! I have a Teddy/Victoire stalker story in the works that I’m excited about. I have (this is going to sound weird) but an outsider rom-com planned where Ron/Hermione breakup right before Hinny’s wedding and Hinny struggles to get them back together before the big day. I have a Potter family vacation fluff/comedy story planned. I have a game night one-shot planned. I have a short story about Luna’s wedding. So many that I want to write and don’t know which one to write first!!

76) Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?

I’d say no. I’ve always tried to write my ideas down. Some I’ve never finished because inspiration peters off and some I plan on finishing once my newest big project is done.

82) Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less.

Harry goes through some shit, and Ginny is his soulmate.

85) Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

I don’t understand why people don’t ship Harry/Ginny more. I don’t understand the Harry/Daphne obsessions (like just why???) or the Harry/Hermione ship at all. I always see people asking for story recommendation and they specific say “no Harry/Ginny”. They are literally perfect for one another and they are soulmates.

88) If you could ask one other fanfic author three questions about their writing, writing process, or works, what would they be and who would you ask?

@breaniebree .

1.) How do you organize all your charts? Send me the ALL the charts. Because I don’t understand how you keep everything straight!

2.) How do you write so much? You’re like a little writing machine in a cute little package.

3.) Where do all the ideas come from? In a dream? Just thinking? Driving? Do you write everything out in your head like meeee? Can I have some of your writing mojo?

90) How do you process and deal with negative reviews?

I obsess over them. I analyze them. I may get bummed out and not write for a few days. If you don’t like what I write, then don’t read or review. It’s a hobby. I do this for free. I’m not asking you to critique me. Give me a nice review or ask me a question, but don’t be cruel or mean because you can hide behind a keyboard and be a bully to make yourself feel superior.

98) If you had to give up either snacks and drinks during writing sessions, or music, which would you find more difficult to say goodbye to and why?

Music. I grew up with three older brothers. My house was always rowdy and loud and obnoxious. I need it to be loud. I can’t stand the silence or focus when it’s silent. I need music to help me think and write. When I’m home alone, I always turn on the TV or music, because I can’t stand when it’s silent. I think I’d go insane.

[judylicious]

“I’m glad we both have found back to you.”

     ____________________________________________________

Preamble: Sooo... our BluesBrothers Discord Server made me do it. I wrote my first very own fanfic. 😊 It has gotten a lot longer than I intended it to be, so please bear with me, if there’s not too much going on in part 1 but part 2 will follow asap :)

      ____________________________________________________

Alan Rubin x fem!Reader (chapter one)

Word Count: 2.060

Fandom: Blues Brothers

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Blues Brothers characters or movies.

Warnings: none

The story takes place before the movie and before Jake went to jail for sticking up a gas station.

It was one of those afternoons Kelsey spent at the Soul Food Cafe at West Maxwell Street. She was sitting at her “regular” table at the window, sipping a cup of coffee and listening to those beautiful tunes from John Lee Hooker and a few other musicians who were performing outside in the streets. Occasionally she took a look at the opened book in her lap but couldn’t seem to focus on anything she read. If only he would stop staring.

Across the room 2 guys were seated dressed like Hasidic diamond merchants, black suit and tie, black hat, black boots, they even wore their dark sunglasses inside. Kelsey wondered if she had seen them before, surely they must have caught her eye. In any case one thing was certain. The taller one was permanently watching her. Although he was wearing his glasses she could feel his eyes on her and it annoyed the young woman to no end. She usually came her after work to relax and calm down but being watched certainly didn’t make that any easy. From the corner of her eye she saw the tall one getting up and walking over to her table. “Hiya, how are you doing? I’ve seen your face a couple of times before.” Slowly the girl turned her head from looking out the window to the man who, without asking, took the seat at the other side of the table. “Err… Hi, thanks I’m… doin’ good?” Was that a question? Get a grip girl “I spend quite a few afternoons here, that’s right. What about you?” As the man spoke the blonde girl took a closer look at him. He was actually kinda cute, well, from what you could see under all those black accessories. “Same here. Me and my brother play in a band”, he said as he pointed to the shorter guy who still sat at their table but gave Kelsey a small nod. “The two guys in the kitchen are also in our band, they work here for some side cash.” She chuckled “Sounds like your band isn’t in great demand then.” He gave her back a little smile “You know some times are easier and some are tougher on us. It ain’t easy out there. But perhaps you’ve heard of us…? The Blues Brothers?” The girl shrugged her shoulders. “Well, one more reason to come by when we’re playing our next gig. This Saturday we’re at the…” He got interrupted by his brother, who was standing in the door, followed by a slightly pale, thin man with long, blonde and fluffy hair and a dark skinned, very muscular guy in a tight shirt. “You comin El?” “Yeah s-sure!” He assured the three men then turned back his attention to Kelsey. “Listen I gotta go, we’re on our way to rehearsal. Can I meet you again sometime? How about tomorrow, same time, same table?” And before Kelsey could agree or disagree the strange dressed man was dragged on his collar and out of the cafe by his brother.

“Jake we weren’t finished you know?” His brother sighed “I love you Elwood but you’ve been working up the courage to talk to that girl for what feels like weeks now. Thought you’d speed it up just a little once you finally did make a move.” Elwood looked shyly to the side “Yeah.. it’s just, you know I’m looking for something serious, that takes some time.” “I do. And I do want you to be happy. But I don’t wanna be late for rehearsal, everyone will blame me again, when it clearly was your fault.” Jake joked and gave his brother a soft bump with his elbow. The next day Kelsey left work, as she checked the time she still felt unsure about what to do. Usually she would go to the cafe but then again there could be that guy waiting for her. Was he even coming? Kelsey never agreed on meeting him again though. Did she even want to meet him again? He definitely was cute and I barely know any people in this city beside my coworkers, so why not? And so she found herself sitting at “her” table again, waiting for the man in his suit to show up. When the doorbell of the cozy dine up rang she was torn from her thoughts but greeted with a friendly smile by him. “I wasn’t even sure you’d come but here you are, I’m so glad.”, the handsome man spoke as he took a seat. “My name’s Elwood by the way.” “Hi, I’m Kelsey. Yeah you got torn away rather quickly yesterday.” “Sorry for that, today I’m all yours. We only rehearse on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So.. you enjoy music?” “Oh absolutely. I adore jazz and blues and cannot do much with today’s music to be honest. I don’t know anyone who feels the same so this feels like my sanctuary. Did you grow up in Chicago” And so Elwood told Kelsey about the St. Helen orphanage where he and Jake grew up, how they became interested in music and founded the band. And Kelsey told him how she was raised in NewYork and only moved to Chicago a couple of weeks ago since she needed to leave NY and her past behind, to make a fresh start.

A couple of days later Elwood and Kelsey met for their 2nd date. They agreed on Kelsey picking him up right after rehearsal and they’d go out for dinner. Fortunately there was enough time for her to go back home after work and before her date. She took a shower and made sure to take extra care of her blonde, curly hair. Typical. When it matters those curls do what they want. She decided on her favourite dress, a black sleeved gown with golden ornaments, tied around her waist with a cute matching belt, ending just above her knee and a pair of black laced boots. Kelsey rarely felt self-confident. Over the years she did realise that she was pretty but her figure always made her feel unsexy. She wasn’t much overweighted but simply curvy, with a wider hip and some bigger thighs and butt. That dress though made her feel pretty, so she was satisfied with her look in the end as she left the house with a few butterflies in her stomach.

The young woman took a glance at the note the musician gave her and looked rather insecure at the building in front of her. No doubt this was the address Elwood had written down for her but this looked nothing like a place for rehearsal. Well, how does Bo Diddley state so well in one of my faves songs “Can’t judge a book by it’s cover” She started humming the tune as she entered the old, abandoned-looking building. Not having a clue in which room the band was practising she simply followed the sound of music and as she got closer and the sound become clearer she could identify the song. It was “Green Onions” by Booker T and MGs. Wow. She hadn’t heard that one for ages but she instantly started to feel the vibe. When she finally found the boys, their rehearsal had already came to an end. What a shame, I’d love to listen to some more songs, they sound quite talented. “Kelsey! There you are!” Elwood yelled from the other side of the room, raising one arm. The girl felt uneasy being on display but as she let her gaze wander through the room she noticed that aside from Elwood, Jake and one of the man she had seen in the cafe before no one else as giving her great attention. Most of the band members were busy with their instruments, they were either cleaning or doing some maintenance work on it. Elwood took a few big steps to catch up with the blonde girl “Hi, glad to see you!” He seemed to be pure excited for her to meet the guys. “C’mon I’d like you meet the rest of the band. You know, they became like family to me. Hope you like ‘em too. I know you will!” he said eagerly. “So you already know Jake of course and I believe you have met Blue Lou and Matt before.” “Yeah I have, nice to see you again.” Kelsey stammered. Wouldn’t say I “met” them but rather took a short glance at them. “Sure, we know ya’, a regular at our diner. 2nd table at the window…” Matt started “A chopped cheese and one big white coffee.” Lou finished for him. Yeah okay that’s crazy. The girl laughed nervously “Haha, alright, you scare me! Think I might order something different next time.” She then got introduced to Tom Bones at trombone, Donald Dunn at bass guitar, Murphy at keyboards, Steve at lead guitar and Willie at drums. One man was left, he was standing with his back to Elwood and Kelsey and seemed incredibly deepened in whatever he was doing, looked like the zipper of his instrument case was stuck. They approached him when Elwood continued “And last but not least of course we have Mr. Fabulous…” The man quickly turned around as he heard his nickname when not only his jaw dropped a few inches.  “Alan?” “Christ Almighty! Is that the McAllister girl? I didn’t know you where in Chicago!” “Well right back at you!” Kelsey grinned. “You.. two know each other?” Elwood asked confused. “Yeah, Alan was my trumpet teacher back in NY.” “Oh didn’t you tell me you had just started learning since you moved here?” “Err.. right, I.. err.. quit and picked up playing again”, Kelsey stumbled somewhat embarrassed. She felt strangely awkward admitting that she had quit at some point in front of Alan. She swore she could see some disappointment in the trumpeter’s eyes or perhaps it was the disappointment in herself. “Well if you need a brush-up I’d be glad to help.” Alan smiled. “Really?”, Kelsey bursted out and tried not sounding too excited as she went on. “I sure would appreciate that.” “How are Mr. and Mrs. McAllister doing?” That question caused a sudden change of the girl’s mood, Alan could read her facial expression immediately. “How about we catch up over coffee sometime? Guess you might be pretty interested how I ended up with these lunatics!” He laughed and gave Elwood a little flick against the brim of his hat. She gave him a little smile when Elwood grabbed her hand “Shall we?” Before neither one of them could say anything, he twisted her around, leading her to the door. “He really has a talent to kill the mood, hasn’t he?”  Elwood joked. “Nah, everything’s alright”, she assured the handsome man at her side but turned around to meet Alan’s gaze who was looking after her.

The trumpeter closed the door and threw his keys at the table, letting his instrument bag slide off his shoulder onto the sofa. He then grabbed a bottle of beer, a cloth and the tube of polishing creme from the drawer, unpacking his horn. He couldn’t believe he stumbled into her today. It had been ages. Back in NY her parents had hired him as her trumpet teacher. That was over 10 years ago, she was only 14 back then. A teenager. Not the kind of girl that stood out in the crowd to be honest but that girl today, that woman - looked nothing like the teenager from NY. She really had grown into a looker. He remembered how she used to straighten her hair when she was younger, what a shame after seeing those beautiful blonde curls today, she looked like an angel. That dress perfectly hugged her curves and loosening it up with those black boots suited her a lot. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, that smile simply didn’t want to disappear from his inner eye. We was torn out of this thoughts when he’d realised he almost put the entire tube of polishing creme on the cloth  - and into his lap. He sighed in annoyance and went to the kitchen to clean himself up. After getting rid of the mess, he made a couple of sandwiches and slumped in front of the telly… with a certain young woman on his mind.

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

#blues brothers #blues brothers fandom #Alan Rubin x fem!Reader #Mr.Fabulous #fanfiction #blues brothers fanfiction

[adamarinayu]

Can you tell us more about your author au, back in action au, and Notre duck au? Sorry if I'm asking for a lot but I just saw them on your AU list and they caught my interest 😅

Haha sure! I haven’t worked on any of them in a while but here we go! It’s a bit long, especially the Back in Action section....

In the Author AU, Donald is an author who works under a pseudonym, so that he and the triplets can have some normalcy in life while also being able to support them comfortably. He’s the author of a best selling series, which is the Paperinik series (maybe in this AU it’ll be called Duck Avenger, idk). 

He began writing the PK stories during highschool, and they were published as shorts regularly in a small magazine. Of course, being a teenager, it began as a fantasy- it was how he vented his frustrations. Gladstone, of course, figured it out, as did Della, but Scrooge had no interest so no one else outside of Donald’s closest circle (that is to say, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and Goofy) knew. It soon grew to be a hero story, rather than a story about vengeance. At this point there are no nephews in the story.

After highschool, his story got picked up by a publishing company and Uno was his agent. He ended up including the character ONE based off of Uno, which Uno is equal parts amused and exasperated by (”Honestly, I thought you said you wanted to be anonymous.”). The two don’t officially become friends, however, until a couple of years later, when Della went missing. Donald had taken a surprisingly dark turn in the story which would have resulted in killing off the main characters, at which point Uno decided to intervene and talk to him. With Uno’s support and growing friendship Donald rewrote the story, keeping the darker tone but ending it on a higher note with all the characters alive and happy.

Donald also gave PK a family of his own, having him be a single father to three children (hinted heavily at them being adopted, after PK saved them as eggs), a decision which forever changed the direction of the books from being about a duck who fights because it’s all he’s good for, to being about a duck who fights because he has something worth fighting for. He and Uno obviously become very close over this time.

Gladstone reads every book that comes out. He always wins a free edition but insists on buying it, as his way of helping Donald out. He uses the tone of each book and the events that happen in them to determine whether or not he needs to come and kick a little sense into Donald.

Donald ultimately concludes the book series after Della comes back, with the story having a happy ending all around. Which definitely includes ONE getting a physical body and joining the family. Unsurprisingly he and Uno get married. Scrooge and the kids find out he’s the author of PK after Scrooge announces his studio bought the movie rights to the film lol. Della and Gladstone are just like “wow seriously, you guys didn’t see the writing clear on the wall?”

--

The Back in Action AU is basically, PK was a TV show and Donald was the titular character, PK. His co-star was Uno, who lent his voice and face to the character ONE (the names of all the characters in PK are changed, ofc, their real names are the actors’ names now, except for Uno and Xadhoom). The entire cast (yes, including Angus Fangus) were a pretty tight-knit family, of a sort. So while Della and Scrooge were adventuring (as he had left the adventure life behind, feeling as if he wasn’t contributing or seen as an equal among the group) he became part of a family of his own. Daisy also played PK’s love interest, though the two of them are actually more like Best Pals. They went to highschool together so. Daisy wasn’t in the main cast and was just a recurring character, as she had a main role in another series.

The triplets in PK were just babies, but PK wasn’t their primary caretaker. They were more like background characters, but occasionally PK would get roped into babysitting them and having to balance watching the children and saving the world because “oh god even if I stop the Evronian invasion if any of their feathers get singed my sister will kill me!” (Note, PK’s sister was only seen in photos and was a blonde, like in the original comics. You can hear her voice now and then though)

Donald was close with everyone (oh the bloopers he and Angus had.... and of course the Evronians, something ALWAYS went wrong with their costumes!) but Uno became his best friend (and his almost-more). The series was the most popular thing on TV for a while, and Gladstone and Fethry were so proud of their brother cousin and so sad that Scrooge and Della were missing the best moments of his life. Gladstone and Fethry are much more involved in Donald’s life than Della and Scrooge are in this AU. That isn’t to say they don’t all love each other very much, it’s just Della and Scrooge’s interests laid elsewhere.

Anyway, every series hits its end, and more often than not it comes much faster than planned. PK ended a whole season sooner than expected, due to the sudden buyout of their studio and the new owners choosing to shut PK down in favour of one of their own shows (couldn’t afford both at the same time, and their own show had a smaller budget). So the series ended on the cliffhanger of PK losing ONE and (Lyla’s character), the Evronians being defeated and PK choosing to hang up his cape because of just how much that final battle cost him. It was an ending that angered many people, extremely upsetting especially knowing that it hadn’t been the planned ending of the series.

The entire cast and crew split up, most still staying in acting but a few leaving. Donald went back to adventuring with Scrooge and Della while Uno went back to Italy with his brothers (Due and Tre, the former of which played a major part in 2-3 episodes) to work in their father’s lab. They ended up falling out of contact (not by their own choice, just due to the nature of their jobs). Then a few years later Della went missing and Donald was left caring for her three children- it was a bit ironic, perhaps.

In the 10-12 years Donald was taking care of them, a “sequel” movie and a spinoff came to be with different actors and stories, but neither were well received because they lacked the “spirit” and charm of the original series. Especially the spinoff, which was animated in a very Saturday-morning style.

The triplets don’t really know about the OG PK, only knowing it by the spinoff, or that their uncle used to be a big name actor. However, 10 or so years later it’s announced that PK is coming back.... with the original writers and actors (except for the kids). Including Donald Fauntleroy Duck, the actor who played the titular PK. They are shook.

The original children who played PK’s nephews were unavailable (”We were like 2 during all that, we really don’t care”) and, besides that, had already aged out of the roles (the comeback was a Ten Years Later kind of deal, and it had been more like 14 or 15 since the end of the show, so the original kids were already mid-late teens. Therefore, when the director discovered Donald was now caring for his three nephews (convenient that there were three) he suggested they play the role of the triplets. Donald left it up to the triplets, under the stipulation that they would have minor roles (as the triplets always did) and this wouldn’t interfere with school.

They actually made a whole new role for Webby in the show! Because the triplets agreed on the condition that Webby gets to join them. And that’s how Webby began to play the triplets’ younger sister. The director decided to take a page out of Donald’s real life and wrote PK’s sister out (this was also partially because the actress had died) so PK was now being a full-time father to his kids who had no idea who he really was.

But then Donald finds out that not only is Lyla there, not only is Angus there... so is Uno. Uno and both of his brothers. It’s quite a reunion. And of course everyone expects Donald’s most emotional reunion to be with Daisy, but no. It’s Uno. And Uno is the one he ends up on the front of a magazine with lol.

Also yeah they get married :3

Man I think I may have overspoke about this one XD But I really enjoy this one what can I say jkkghfdsjlk

--

Notre Duck!! That’s another one I enjoy though it isn’t as in-depth as the last. So basically Everett came to Earth, and it’s kinda like.... a Duck version of medieval times. He came here for inspiration, then ended up building Uno, who became like a son to him. However, when other flesh-and-blood ducks realized he was an android, they became fearful and called him a monster, and tried to attack and run him out of town.

After that, Everett hid him away in a tower attached to a church, where no one but the church staff would go. He didn’t want to lose his android son. But Uno watches the world below his tower change, dreaming of a day when he could go out there too.

One day he meets Donald, who is a street performer with an association to Scrooge McDuck, a king in a neighboring kingdom. Donald finds out very quickly that he is an android and doesn’t judge him for it, instead encouraging him to leave the tower because “life is about the adventure.” This, of course, does not sit well with Everett, who forbids Uno from leaving the tower or seeing Donald.

Donald is wanted by the lord of the city, who wants to use him against Scrooge (and earn favour with his own king). There’s no creepy old men lusting after young women and no slurs being used casually so.

Also anyway this actually spawned from me imagining Uno to the song Out There so yeah.

#Ask #DT17 AUs #They're all DUno

[susiequaz12]

Like Usual

CW: Not really whump- just an emotional sad little drabble I wrote a bit ago. It’s kinda sad, but also fluffy and light if that makes sense? Some medical stuff referenced and implied and vomiting/medicine and stuff too. But that’s about it.

- - -

“Okay. Uhh- what am I wearing this time?” He asked.

“Umm- cargo shorts, with a ridiculous amount of pockets. And a Hawaiin shirt. But you look a lil dumb cause you’ve got a hoodie tied around your waist in case I get cold, and, uh- I’m in those blue shorts I got from Walmart, and my white shirt with flowers on it.” 

He laughed. “Okay, so what’s the occasion? Where are we at?”

She thought for a second. “The amusement park.” 

“The amusement park?! You mean the one across the highway? I-I could never handle that. It, it just wouldn’t work.”

She looked at him, folding her arms across her chest. “Dude, this whole scenario is imaginary anyways, just roll with it. You can do whatever.”

“Do I really have to be in a Hawaiin shirt and cargo shorts though?” He complained.

“Yes. It adds to the realism.”

“Okay then, what’s first.” 

“Food obviously, and then those little stores and the magic shows and stuff so we can digest- then all of the rides. And games in between.”

“Games?”

“Yeah, the carnival games that are rigged and make you lose all your money. You have to win me one of those ridiculously oversized stuffed animals so that it looks like I’m your spoiled girlfriend. It’s the rules. But I make you carry it around the entire time afterwards, and then it sits on my bed and I do nothing with it, but it’s a cute reminder of that one time we went to the park together and you won me that giant blue panda.”

“Wow, I thought you said this was an imaginary scenario? That sounds oddly specific to me.” He laughed, and the girl punched him in the arm. “Ouch! Careful, I’m fragile.” 

“Sorry...”

“Okay food. What are we eating?”

Her excitement perked up again. “Um, let’s see- we have to get all staples. Corn-on-the-cob of course, and those barbecue sandwiches they have, and then the cheesecake on a stick. Dip-n-dots, churros, pizza. Everything that’s so greasy it clogs your heart- And, and then deep-fried oreos! Oh! And that lemonade that thye’ve got- the one that says it’s so fresh you’d slap it!” 

She bounced up and down on the edge of the bed, visualizing all of the food in front of her. 

“Oh my gosh... deep fried oreos...” He said. “What have I been missing?” 

He sighed, but became immediately silent as his face went pale. One hand covered his mouth and the other went to his stomach as he sat up quickly. He grappled about for something, and she found the tan bowl that was on the opposite side of the bed. He gripped the sides with both hands and she held up the bottom of the bowl, her other hand rubbing his back as he emptied the contents of his stomach. Once he finished, she set the bowl on the side table, his head falling onto her shoulder, her hand still on his back.

He waved his hand. “Go on. We had just finished the food.” 

“Uh, okay- yeah. You good?”

He sat up and smiled, wiping his mouth off with the sleeve of his paper-thin gown. “Like usual.”

She nodded. “So there’s all those stores and vendors there. So, while- um, while holding hands if you wanted, we’d just walk around. And comment on the artwork and the merchandise like critics. Then we’d try on ridiculous pairs of sunglasses, or hats, and pretend that we’re actually considering buying things when in reality everything is too overpriced.”

“And I’ve spent all my money trying to win you that stupid panda.”

“Yeah!” She laughed. He smiled.

His hands reached over to hers and the two teenagers sat criss-cross-applesauce on the bed, facing each other. 

“Your hands are cold.” 

He laughed. “Yeah, they usually are.” Then he smirked- “So- exactly how dumb did I look in those sunglasses?”

“Oh, considerably. Enough that I’d almost consider buying them for you out of spite.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.” 

“Oh, maybe I would! After all, you wasted your money on winning me that blue panda, so I’ll waste all my money on a dumb pair of sunglasses for you.”

“As I recall from this fantasy, it wasn’t a waste- because I got you that blue panda, so you’re welcome!” He laughed, erupting from his belly. She couldn’t help but smile.

The times when he laughed were the best times the two had shared together. It helped add to the normalcy. It’s why the girl still came there almost every day after school, bringing his homework, and creating these stories. 

“So then what’s next?” He asked.

“The Ferris wheel. Obviously. It’s the best ride that there is! You get to spend a lot of time just sitting up there, and watching the view. You can see the horses at the farms in the distance, and the mountains. And then if it’s dark you can see all the stars. And then the lights from the rides below, and all of the cars and houses. It just creates this sort of eerie, and, and ethereal glow. It just sets the whole mood.” 

He was looking out the window now. It was nearing after dinner time. The cream colored curtains seemed as dead as the atmosphere as they hung loosely around the window frame. 

“You know, that’s something I could do.” He stated, never taking his eyes off of the window. “Just go outside, ride the Ferris wheel. Even just look at the stars.”

It was too cold for him to go out and look at the stars. The ground was still covered with snow and the wind was still too harsh.

She nodded. “Yeah. Maybe, maybe this summer. We’ll do it this summer.” 

He nodded but still didn’t look at the girl. 

They both knew he wasn’t going to make it till this summer. 

Shaking his head, he came back to reality. Well, their make-believe reality anyways. 

His voice was soft. “So, uh, we ride the ferris wheel. Then what?”

“Um, well…” She pushed her hand through her hair. Struggling to find words to continue the story. Her mind had gone back to the much darker reality from their make believe world. The girl sighed and took his hand again, this time it was her turn to look out the window. 

“Uh, listen. I’m, I’m sorry... I’m sorry that you can’t actually come and eat cheesecake, or deep fried oreos and crap, and- and that the park is so far away. And that this- none of this, is ever going to come close to actually being able to actually go out and do all of it, or even just coming back to school, and I’m sorry that I-”

“Shut up.” 

“What?” 

“Yeah.” He said. He fiddled with the edge of his blanket. “Shut up! Do you think I enjoy being cooped up in this hospital? Being poked and prodded, and left alone all day? I live every day having everyone feel sorry for me, I don’t need sympathy from you too.”

He sighed and she wiped away a tear that had dripped down her cheek. His voice softened.

“Don’t you think I want to go back to school? Gosh, I sound ridiculous, but I want nothing more than to have homework- and to try out for the swim team, or go to movies or the park, or just be a dumb teenager? I’m seventeen for goodness sake! I should be out going to parties, and driving around town, and taking the ACTs, and, and taking you to Prom! Not taking medication, and getting tested and having treatments, and, and balding! So shut up, okay? -please?”

“You want to take me to prom?” She asked tentatively.

“Yes! I want to swirl you around the floor in your dress and your tennis shoes and then mess up your hair and spill punch on your dress and kiss you behind the lockers while hiding from the chaperones.”

A hint of a smile crept across her face and she wiped away another tear. He brushed away the hair that had fallen in her face and let his fingers rest by her cheek.

“This. This is the best part of my day. When you come in here and tell me the dumb thing that one kid did in history, or the new song you’re playing in band. Or you tell me what your grandma did during sunday dinner and I tell you what the nurses did during my checkup. And especially, especially when you come and make up these dumb stories. These fantasies of things we go do, memories we’d create.” He chuckled and pulled her hands down into his lap. “Honestly, that one where we robbed the ice cream shop and ran from the police is still my favorite.” 

She smiled. “Yeah- I had to be kinda creative with that one.” 

“So please-” he squeezed her hands. “-please don’t apologize or feel sorry. Or think that what you come and do here every day isn’t enough. Because like usual, I’ve come to expect it as part of this daily routine I’ve got going on. And like usual, it never fails to put a smile on my face, and make me laugh.” 

His volume lowered and the boy leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers. “I don’t want to think of a day when I don’t get to see your nerdy face, and hear these dumb stories and, and hold your hand, okay. Okay?”

She nodded. “Me too.” 

But she would have to think of that day. She was the one who’d eventually have to stop coming to see him. The one who’d have to let him go. 

But like usual, she’d keep coming in here every day until that happened- eventually. And like usual, she’d sacrifice her time, and her emotions to be there for him. To keep him strong until he couldn’t be there anymore.

She heaved a sigh, choked back a sob, and pressed her hand against the back of his neck, pulling them closer together.

Her voice was shaky but her words were clear. 

“You all good?” She asked.

He nodded. “Like usual.”

- - -

Why do I write stuff that’s sad? So I wrote this like, at the end of last year. And thought I’d bring it back and edit it and post it and stuff. It’s not related to anything, just a weird little drabble, that, that gave me the feels ngl. So sorry--- but not really I guess. @imagination1reality0

#writing #my writing #my ocs #cancer tw #implied medical stuff #I dunno I meant it for him to seem like he had cancer but I don't know if that was clear? #I had so many qualms about posting this #it's legit a year old so it got some heavy editing #and I changed up their dynamic a lot but I'm happy with it #I have a couple other drabbles and things like this written that I might post too #but idk of course #also some poetry? #like should I post some of my poetry? #I got a lot of anxieties about my blog and what I post #cause right now it's primarily whump #but like should I keep it that way or just post whatever #and then again it's my blog and I can post whatever the heck I want right? #thanks for listening #yall's are great

[x-bitterly-jittery-x]

@masterconstellation​ I finally wrote it! Sorry it took so long for me to get to, lol. And wow this ended up being a lot longer than I had expected, but I hope you like it!

Warnings: hypothermia, crying, cursing/swearing, Remus being Remus, panic attacks, some slight sexual innuendos, almost character death (he doesn’t die but ya know, gets real close :/) And that’s all I can think of, please tell me if you think I should add more!

Plot: Janus is cold blooded. On one particularly cold winter, everyone insists he come out with them to play in the snow. Janus doesn’t want to admit his weakness, so he goes out with them.. But what happens when hes out there too long?

Ships/pairings: Its kinda DRLAMP, but hardly any (if any) explicit romantic affection is shown. Roman and Remus are the only non-romantic pairing in here

It was around mid to late December. Christmas was on its way, and everything was cold. Patton and Virgil were making cookies, while Roman and Remus sat by the fire, discussing what extravagant statue they wanted to make out of snow this year. Logan sat with a mug of hot coffee in his hands, smiling fondly at the twins. Janus was the only one avoiding the festivities.

Janus hated winter and everything about it. The Christmas songs were annoying, and all the smells were too strong for him. The decorations were obnoxious and the stupid tree dropped its needles everywhere, often leaving just him and Logan to clean it up.

The only good thing was the excuse to wear big sweaters and drink tea. He did this all year round, but it was more accepted in the colder months. 

At the moment, Janus was in his bed and wrapped in all the blankets he could conjure. He was wearing a thick black turtleneck sweater, with his classic hat and gloves. On his bedside table was a large thermos full of hot, minty chamomile tea. The deceitful trait held in his hands a copy of The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. He had already read it many times, but it was one of his favorites. 

It was all quiet, warm, and peaceful, until-

“JANUS! Come outside with us! We’re having a snowball fight and me and Remus want you on our team!”

Janus jumped and hissed at the newcomer, before realizing it was Roman and getting his snake instincts to relax.

“Don’t just burst through my door like that Roman, I could have been naked for all you know.”

“Oh its nothing I haven’t seen before. Come on, there’s tons of snow! And its the kind that’s perfect for snowball fights!” Janus sighed tiredly and rubbed in between his eyes.

“Roman, we live in Florida. It doesn’t snow here.”

“In the mind palace it does! Now hurry up!” The taller man grabbed Janus’s wrist and pulled him out of bed and down the stairs. In the living room, everyone was getting their coats and snow gear on.

“Hey Jan Jan!” said Patton happily upon seeing the deceitful trait. “We’re gonna have a snowball fight and then eat some cookies!” Janus sighed. Patton knew he was here, now there was no way of getting out of it.

Remus caught sight of Janus and screeched enthusiastically. “Janny! Come on, me and Roman are gonna shove snow up someones ass!”

Patton gagged, and both Roman and Logan sighed.

After a few more minutes of playful bickering and Remus throwing shoes at people, they were finally ready to go outside. As they were walking out, Patton looked back at Janus. 

“Jan, that’s a lot of clothes. Don’t you think you’ll be kinda toasty?”

Janus was wearing two coats, two pairs of gloves (winter gloves over his normal ones) and three pairs of pants with thick, woolly socks and winter boots.

“I’m fine.”

“No, that’s too much. At least take off the extra pairs of pants.”

“Or all of them! “ Remus chirped from outside.

Patton sighed. “No, not all of them.”

Janus rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, and the extra two pairs of pants disappeared. “There, happy now?”

Patton smiled and grabbed Janus’s hand, leading him outside. “Very”

The first 15 or so minutes were pretty uneventful. Janus stood near the door shivering in the cold. He summoned himself a scarf and wrapped it around his neck, the thick black scarf also managing to cover most of the bottom half of his face. Remus and Roman worked on making a small wall of snow to block out snowballs from the other team. Patton struggled to make snowballs while Virgil and Logan worked on their protective wall. When everyone was done, Remus and Roman called Janus over. Janus attempted to protest, but they insisted, so he gave in.

He sat down against the surprisingly sturdy snow wall, and pulled his knees up to his chest, trying desperately to keep warm.

It didn’t last long.

Janus was short enough that most snowballs flew over his head, but snow was still dropped on him, and as time went on the night got increasingly colder.

He was soon shivering badly, more than anyone really should be. His body was shaking an uncomfortable amount, but it went unnoticed by the preoccupied twins. 

They were only about 25 minutes into the fight when it all went wrong.

The fight lasted almost 45 minutes before everyone was tired and went inside. 

Logan followed the others in last in line, when he realized he hadn’t seen Janus go in. He turned back to the yard, and saw a dark shape leaning against Roman and Remus’s now tattered and worn-out wall of snow.

“Janus,” Logan called. He was met with silence. “Janus? The games over.” Not a sound.

Logan grew worried and walked towards the dark shape. “Janus..?”

From inside, the others heard Logan scream.

They ran outside and were met with a panicked Logan, holding an unconscious and very pale Janus.

“I-I found him like this!” Logan stuttered. “H-He wasn't moving, s-so I-”

“L-Logan, Logan, its gonna be okay.. just- just bring him inside, please” Patton said, to witch Logan responded with a nod and quickly brought Janus inside. They wrapped Janus in blankets and lay him by the fire.

After almost 15 minutes of watching Janus lay there unmoving, Remus finally spoke.

“I- I don’t think its working..”

Logan approached slowly and slid the gloves off Janus’s right hand and checked his pulse. After a few seconds his expression turned from serious and worried to more scared and sad.

“He’s cold to the touch, and his heart’s barely breathing..”

Patton gasped and started crying. Virgil was shaking and breathing heavily. Roman looked shocked and scared, but held Virgil and tried to calm him down. Remus stood up.

“I have an idea,” he said. “And I think this is one of the rare times its a good one.”

Five minutes later, a naked Remus was holding an also naked and still unconscious Janus as he stepped into the shower.

Remus had a high heat tolerance. Like, inhumanly. He could sit in boiling water and not get burnt. He had proposed the idea of holding Janus in a shower that would be too hot for any of the other sides to handle to speed up the process of warming him up. Virgil and Logan were hesitant at first, but it was the only plan they had. 

Remus stepped into the hot water, holding the small side close to his chest. Janus’s cold skin made Remus want to pull away, but he held tight anyways.

The others sat outside the bathroom door, waiting anxiously for them to come out. Roman went between pacing and taking turns with Patton to calm down Virgil. Logan muttered under his breath, trying to figure out the likelihood of their plan working.

It was almost an hour until they heard the water shut off.

A few moments later, Remus (still naked) walked out of the bathroom with a relieved smile on his face, holding Janus in his arms. Janus was wrapped in a large fluffy towel that Remus had summoned, he made it so that it would always be warm, as if it had just came out of the dryer. 

Janus was significantly less pale, and his breathing was soft but steady.

Everyone ran over and hugged the two tightly. Never had they been so relieved. 

They were all left with one question though.

“Why did he freeze like that?” Patton asked.

Logan sighed. “It’s so simple, we were all stupid not to realize it sooner. Janus hates the cold, and hes half snake, half reptile. Reptiles are cold blooded.”

It tool the others a second before it sank in.

“But, if he’s really affected by the cold like that,” Virgil asked, “why didn’t he just say so?”

“Well, I expect he didn’t want to disappoint you,” Logan answered. 

They all continued to stand there for a few moments before going to huddle up together on the couch and wait for Janus to wake up.

When he did, all he wanted to know was where his hat and gloves were.

#sanders sides #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #Janus Sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #thomas sanders

[lucy-sky]

Opposites (Ezra x Reader)

Summary: Being a freelance digger you landed on The Green Moon in search for treasure, and found more than you expected. You meet Ezra - a man you used to work with in the past. You had a history, but this relationship led to nothing. Is it a good idea to team up with him again, or not? Soon you’ll find out. 

Words: 6 130

Warnings: Sexual content (quite fluffy, but still)

Note: Okay... I totally didn’t expect this movie to hit me THAT hard, but I guess it happened - I wrote a fic. And it’s rather long, omg. So... What you need to know about me is that I very seldom write about not Sam Rockwell characters, so this story is smth a bit out of my comfort zone. Also this is only the 2nd time I’m trying to write some kind of an action scene and it’s a real struggle for me to put such things into words (English is not my native language). Anyway, since I’m new to Pedro Pascal fandom and since I haven’t seen much content with this particular character (why though???), I’m very curious (and slightly anxious) about people’s opinions on this story. So, your feedback is greatly appreciated! But please be gentle :’D 

@biobiopsy​, you asked me to tag you, so here you go :)

That day was totally not the best in your carrier. After spending hours wandering over the wilds of The Green Moon, all you had in your case was a couple of gems. It was getting late and your filter was almost spent, but you still haven’t found a decent aurelac deposit.

After a short break you decided to head back to your ship. The filter wasn’t going to last long anyways. Maybe tomorrow you’d be luckier… But as you were just about to leave, something caught your eye. The ground… Was it what you thought it was? You got closer, took off your backpack and reached for the kit.

No way. No fucking way. It was a freaking goldmine!

Finally the fortune seemed to smile upon you! But now you had a problem: he deposit was large; getting the gems takes time, you knew from experience that rush is your worst enemy when it comes to this. Damn it! Why didn’t you just take a spare filter with you?

A sudden rustle from behind interrupted your thoughts. Your reaction was fast - you turned around abruptly, jerking out the thrower.

- Whoa, easy… Y/n??

You blinked in confusion. The man, standing in front of you, was someone you totally didn’t expect to meet right here and right now.

- Ezra?

Yes, it obviously was him. A man you used to work with about a year ago as a part of diggers team. He didn’t seem to change at all: same bold look in his dark brown eyes, same bright smile… You still remembered kissing those lips once - something you wished to forget, and almost succeeded in this… But life was never predictable.

- Damn, y/n, is it really you? Long time no see… It’s been a year, huh?

- Guess so, - you nodded, the weapon still pointed at him.

- Hey, come on, I came in peace, - Ezra chuckled, but you didn’t move.

- It’s my place, - you said harshly.

- Is it? Forgive me, but I don’t see any signs saying it’s exclusively yours.

- I got here first. The Green is big enough, go find your own.

- So we’ve just met and you’re already asking me to leave? That’s not very nice. Didn’t you miss me? - He smirked cockily.

- Not really.

- Shame. Cause I did. Where’s your team, y/n?

- I’m working for myself now.

- Oh. Why’s that?

- People can betray, - you snapped. - Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean.

- Really? So that’s the reason you’re so mad? My so called “betrayal”?

- You stole the gems and disappeared. What else should I call it?

- Hey! Let me remind you, I didn’t take the entire harvest, just took what’s mine. I think that’s fair enough. And… Whatever you call it, you should know - it has absolutely nothing to do with you. It’s all about the asshole we used to work for these days. As far as I remember, you thought he’s an asshole too, right?

- Right. You knew that. So you could at least let me know about your plans.

- I… - He stumbled, - Only didn’t want to get you in trouble. Plus you kinda pushed me away so I didn’t want to be too persistent.

- Wow, you’re such a gentleman, - you replied sarcastically. Ezra let out an annoyed sigh.

- Anyway, I’m not here to steal anything from you. I would never do such a thing. I just wanted to offer a helping hand, - he continued.

- So far, I somehow manage without you.

- And I’ve never called it in question. But hey, this deposit… it’s really impressive. There’s more than enough aurelac for both of us, and together we can harvest it way faster. I mean… you don’t want other floaters to come across it, do you?

There was something suspicious about the way he talked… You narrowed your eyes examining his face through the glass helmet.

- You need something from me, right? Apart from the gems.

- Huh?.. - It was his turn now to look confused.

- What about your team, Ezra? - You cocked an eyebrow. - Where is it?

- I uh… See, I’m not always work in a team, sometimes I run solo as well…

- Okay. What about your ship than?

- Uh…

- Let me guess. They flew away and left you here, did they?

From his expression you could already guess the answer.

- Something like that. We had a kind of a… Misunderstanding.

- Well… Guess now you see how the karma works, - you couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

- Haha. Very funny, - he grimaced. - Look, I’m really sorry about what happened… Between us, okay? Believe it or not, I don’t wanna cause you any harm. I’m actually really glad to see you… Even though you keep pointing this thing at me. I’m not an enemy. Just think of it - we can be really helpful for each other. I’ve no doubts you are prehensile enough to understand.

“Prehensile”... Only Ezra could use such kind of a word in his regular speech... Maybe that’s why he was always good at convincing. But this time it wasn’t even about benefits or something. Was he helpful or not, one thing you knew for sure: you couldn’t leave him like that.

There was also another, less noble reason to accept his suggestion: you couldn’t stay here any longer, and leaving right now meant giving him your deposit.

- Fine, - you finally put the thrower down. - My filter is very low. Could you share?

- Sure, - Ezra smiled, his posture instantly getting more relaxed. - Although mine’s not new as well… Not much for the two people… But at least we can start working. There’s still time until it gets dark.

- Deal, - you agreed.

- Hey, y/n.

- Yes?

- I’m glad you’re doing well. Really.

“Sounds like he means it”, you thought.

- Yeah… Glad you’re doing well too… Or at least you’re alive and optimistic.

- This is the way I am, sweetheart, - he winked.

- Please don’t do that.

- What?

- Don’t call me “sweetheart”. Or I’ll change my mind about giving you a ride.

- Alright, no problem, - Ezra made a serious face. - You’re the boss.

- Let’s get to it, than.

***

Darkness already blinded the sky above The Green Moon completely when you finally reached your ship.

- So this beauty is all yours, huh? Not too bad! - Ezra nodded approvingly, looking around.

- Well, I’m actually still paying for it… But yep, it’s mine. This ship is my home, so treat it respectfully, okay?

- Of course. I bet after the harvest we’re about to get you’ll be able to pay the rest easily.

- That’s why I chose working for myself. When you work for someone, it’s exhausting as fuck, and you don’t get nearly as much profit as you expect. Plus the people are sometimes assholes. But that’s not even the point. The point is - I have no idea how much time it would take me to earn enough if I kept working like I used to.

- You’re right, that’s a hell of a job. Don’t do that anymore either… Well, maybe some occasional contract gig when I’m not occupied with something else… Only I still prefer working with partners, you know… Someone who shares my views.

- Yeah, you’re apparently too talkative to stay alone for a long time.

- What can I do? - Ezra scoffed. - I’m a heart and soul of a party.

- And here’s where it took you… - You remarked. 

He just shrugged.

- Everything happens for a reason. You got something to eat?..

After an improvised dinner you spent a couple of hours revising supplies and preparing for tomorrow. When everything was ready, you took a wise decision to get some rest. Even though you covered the deposit with mud and moss as much as you possibly could before leaving, you still had to return to the dig early, or your place could be discovered by someone else.

- Hey, can I ask you something? - You said when you both were lying on the cots opposite each other.

- Shoot.

- What were you actually going to do? I mean… You’re alone here, with no ship, with the last filter left…What was your plan?

- Plan?.. Well I thought of finding some settlers and ask them. Perhaps I could bargain for something…

- Like what?

- No idea. I’d figure something out, I always do. That’s how I survive, - Ezra shrugged.

- This is crazy.

- Maybe. But you just can’t be prepared for absolutely anything.

- I’m at least trying to.

- Yeah, right. You hate asking for help, do you? Also I think you’ve got trust issues, sweetheart.

- I just choose to rely on myself, not someone else in the first place. And I don’t consider it an issue, end of story. And by the way, what did I tell you about “sweetheart”?

- Fine, fine, whatever you say, - he threw his hands up jokingly. You rolled your eyes.

- You know what? We could actually make a great team, - Ezra suddenly went after a pause.

- Seriously? - You huffed. - What makes you think so?

- Opposites attract.

- Bullshit. Go to sleep already.

With this you turned away from him. As you closed your eyes, you could hear him chuckling. What a cocky bastard. Yet you had to admit, at least to yourself - you really kind of missed him.

***

You woke up even earlier than expected. Partly due to nervous anticipation and partly because another person’s presence on your ship next to you felt a bit awkward. 

Ezra was still asleep, and you caught yourself staring at his calm and peaceful features with a subtle tender sensation deep inside your chest… What’s wrong with you, y/n? A guy you had a vaguely romantic relationship with about a year ago appears out of the blue and you’re already melting. What a shame. And yet… You couldn’t help thinking about what may have happened if you didn’t push him away, if you weren’t afraid… What exactly you were afraid of? Getting too close?.. Perhaps he was right about trust issues though… No, this relationship would most certainly lead to nothing. You’re too different in many ways…

Opposites attract.

You shook your head. There was no time for self-scrutiny at the moment. You had to concentrate on work. Once it’s done, you’d have time to figure out your feelings. And also find out if you can really trust him or not.

Decidedly, you stood up and reached out to shake his shoulder.

- Wake up, sleeping beauty. The gems are not gonna dig themselves out.

The man let out a soft grunt.

- Seriously, Ezra. I’m not gonna tell you twice.

- Alright, alright, I’m awake, - he squinted at you. - You’re not very sweet in the mornings, you know that?

- I’ll take it as a compliment.

***

It was an extremely productive day. You had to admit: working with a partner was way more effective than doing it alone. With Ezra’s help you also managed to bring and set a tent where you could have breaks and eat without returning to the ship. It saved you lots of time.

One of today’s trophies you were particularly proud of. You already sensed something special as you pulled out a cocoon way heavier than usual. The color was slightly different as well.

- Ezra, look, - you called out. He frowned, carefully examining your finding.

- Why do you think it’s like that? - You asked.

- No idea. But we have to be careful. Let’s find out, - he reached for a knife. - Hold it like that…

You both held your breath as he made a cut.

- Ha! Perfect, - he gave you a triumphant grin.

Once the meat was removed, you saw an aurelac gem you’ve never seen before. It was huge, and almost entirely golden.

- Have you ever seen something like that? - You asked, staring at the gem in awe.

- Never. Just heard something about it. I thought it’s a myth…

- Hey.

You took your eyes off the trophy and faced him.

- We’re not splitting the gems, right? We take the harvest, return to the center, sell it and then split the reward evenly. Agreed?

- Sounds fair to me, - Ezra nodded. - I’m in.

- Awesome. Let’s get back to work than?

- Yes, Ma’am! - He replied with a chuckle. - By the way, what are you gonna do with all this money, apart from paying for the ship?

- Didn’t really think about it…

- I’d go somewhere for a nice long vacation, - he said dreamily. - Kamrea maybe… I’ve heard it’s a lovely place... Care to join me for further inspection?..

- I don’t know.

- Ah, come on! Why not?

- I’m not completely sure if I can trust you yet, - you said honestly.

- Okay… - He paused, then smiled. - Anyway, since we’re stuck together, you still have plenty of time make up your mind.

***

Walking back to the ship that night you both felt tired but pretty content. It gets dark quite fast here on The Green Moon, so you had to use flashlights. Ezra was telling you one of his many funny stories as you walked, when you suddenly heard a rustle from the bushes to the left of you.

- Hey, did you hear it? - You asked, tensing immediately, your hand slowly moving to the thrower.

He nodded, ready to grab his weapon as well.

The rustle continued.

- Who’s there? - Ezra asked out loud, pointing the gun at the bushes. - Show yourself!

At first nothing happened. You looked at each other, shrugged and decided to keep going, but once you started moving again, three silhouettes stepped out of the darkness, blocking your way. And they were pointing throwers at you as well.

- What the hell… - Ezra muttered. - Hey guys! Maybe we’ll talk like civilized people first, how ‘bout that?..

The tallest person said something, but you didn’t understand a thing - apparently these people didn’t speak your language. And they didn’t sound very friendly.

- Harvest, - you finally heard. - We need harvest.

- Sorry to upset you, buddy, but I’m afraid it’s not gonna happen. Our harvest is ours, - Ezra replied boldly.

- Ours.

The following things happened really fast: the tallest guy pointed the gun at Ezra, but he was faster and managed to injure him. Dropping the tent on the ground you rushed to the right, shooting on your way. The enemies were shooting back. One of them fell. But it was just a start: there were more of them, to the right and the left, you couldn’t tell exactly how many. All you could do at the moment was run. And shoot. It was too dark already and you had no idea if you actually managed to hurt any of them or not… Good thing they didn’t have any night vision devices either. The ship wasn’t far. You could already see it. But damn! These people just didn’t let you go. They seemed to be everywhere. Whispers and rustles of the forest and darkness didn’t help you at all. But still you managed to move forward somehow.

At some point you lost Ezra and the panic immediately started rising up inside you. In this darkness you could easily hurt each other instead of the enemies. With a shaky voice, you called out his name, knowing full well that shouting is not a good idea, but you instantly felt relieved when his hand found yours.

- I’m here. C’mon!

He pulled you with him behind the nearest tree.

- Fuck! Who the hell are they?? - You whispered frantically.

- Pretty sure they ain’t no floaters. Just bastards who don’t wanna dig but prefer ravaging the others… Fucking pirates! They found the ship and set the trap.

- But we can make it, right? It’s not that far.

- We have to. Come on, let’s go.

Still holding hands tightly you proceeded moving towards the ship.

- Ezra, look out!

You saw a pirate stepping out of the bush right behind him, and you shot. When you pulled the trigger again, you realized the thrower was empty.

- Shit!

Ezra shot a couple more times, before his thrower went off, but thankfully his shots were tidy enough to fetch down the opponent. You ran a few of meters more and hid behind the tree again, catching your breath.

- Got more cassettes? - You asked him.

He searched in his pocket.

- Just one.

Damn. The situation was getting even worse.

- Okay, got an idea, - Ezra said decidedly. - Here’s what we’re gonna do. You take the case with gems and run to the ship as fast as you can. I cover you with the thrower. Get inside and start the engine. If I won't be there in… Two minutes - you take off. Clear?

The plan was risky, but what else you could do? In these circumstances you just had no other choice than to trust him.

- Y/n? Can you do that?

- Yeah… Yes, I think I can, - you nodded, breathing heavily. - Let’s do it.

- Okay.

Ezra reached his pocket and recharged his thrower with a new cassette.

- Ready? - He asked and you nodded again. - Oh, wait.

He took something off his front pocket and tucked it into yours. You thought it was probably his empty cassettes to recharge on board the ship.

- There. Now go!

- Two minutes, right?

- Two minutes, - he nodded reassuringly and squeezed your hand in his for a split second. Enough to make your heart shrink. - Go!

Without further hesitation, you took a deep breath and rushed towards the ship. Your heart was hammering wildly inside your chest; all you could hear was your heavy breathing and the shots behind you. Someone wailed in pain. You were hoping with all your heart it wasn’t Ezra.

Only a few steps were separating you from the ship when suddenly a dark figure appeared right in front of you, as if out of nowhere. You had no time to think about what you were doing. As you saw the thrower pointed at you, you had to use the only possible weapon you had - the case with gems. So you did. Before the stranger managed to pull the trigger, your case crashed against the front of his helmet. You heard the sound of cracking glass and hit again; suddenly the case popped open and about a half of its content scattered to the ground. Apparently you broke the lock somehow, but there was no time to collect the stones. Taking the advantage of your enemy being disoriented, you rushed to the door and entered the security code with shaky fingers. Whoever these pirates were, they definitely weren’t smart enough to crack this code and break inside the ship.

Taking off your helmet and gloves, you ran to the cockpit, quickly started the engines, and then recharged your thrower in case if Ezra needed help.

“Two minutes.”

The time was running out. All of a sudden you realized how you’re actually afraid of losing him.

- Come on, Ezra!.. - You muttered through clenched teeth, staring at your watch. Less than half a minute left.

“I’m not gonna take off without him.”

You stood up, grabbed the thrower, and headed back to the door. A sudden loud noise following by a low grunt made you flinch.

- Ezra? - You shouted. - Ezra, is that you?

There was no answer and you felt like sinking.

- Ezra?..

- Yes, that’s me! Take off! NOW!

You let out a deep sigh of relief and ran back to the cockpit.

“Alright than… 3… 2… 1…”

- Ezra, hold onto something!

The engines roared and the ship took off. You closed your eyes, trying to breathe evenly and compose yourself.

“It’s over. We’re safe now.”

***

In a few minutes the ship left the planet’s orbit, so you could finally switch on the automatic flight control and go check on Ezra. He still wasn’t around and you worried he might be hurt. The dust of The Green Moon made every single scratch a possible lethal danger.

You found him next to the door, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

- Ezra… Is everything alright?.. - You asked anxiously, hunkering down next to him. - Are you injured?..

He opened his eyes and looked up at you.

- I’m fine… Y/n… You won’t believe it, but… I think I twisted my ankle, - he scoffed.

For the second time tonight you didn’t know if you wanted to laugh or to cry because of relief. Unable to contain yourself, you leaned into him in a swift motion and hugged him tightly. Your reaction was so sudden it caused him jerk a little, but the next moment you felt him hugging you back.

- Hey… He whispered softly, letting his fingers run through your hair. – What did I tell you? Take off in two minutes. And how long did you wait?..

- I’ve always been stubborn, - you smirked against his shoulder.

- That’s what I always liked about you.

 ***

Later in your quarters, after you both finally got rid of the suits, you were helping Ezra to fix his ankle with a bandage.

- See, I was right, - He pointed out. - We really do make a good team. We have to think about working together in the future, huh?

- You know, I was really pissed at you, - You confessed. - When you left. I didn’t really care about the gems and stuff... But... It’s just that you simply disappeared without saying a word... As if I meant nothing for you.

You weren’t completely sure why you were telling this to him. Just a sudden desire to finally make it clear about how you felt. Ezra looked at you carefully, knitting his brow.

- I mean... I agree that it’s my fault as well, I really did pushed you away myself, so what else did I expect, but... still... - At this you stumbled, lost for words.

- Y/n, don’t. That was really shitty of me to leave like that, ‘cause it’s absolutely not true about you meaning nothing... I just... - He sighed deeply and the soft look in his brown eyes made your heart skip a beat. - I totally should have been more persistent.

Having said that, he reached out, his fingertips grazing against your cheek. A soft, barely perceptible touch, yet still so full of affection.

- I’m sorry, - he whispered, and leaned in.

The next thing you felt was his lips, warm and gentle against yours. The kiss was incredibly tender and quite chaste, but nevertheless it made you weak. Ezra pulled away a little, as if waiting for your reaction, but when you gripped onto his shoulders, he didn’t hesitate any longer. His lips crushed back on yours feverishly, his breath hot, and his tongue pushing inside your mouth decidedly, sending millions of shivers down your spine. He tasted and felt exactly the same as a year ago, but this time you both were way more desperate and needy at the sudden realization - you could have died tonight. In a way this kiss was a celebration of life, but also only now you realized very clearly how much you needed this, how long you’ve been completely on your own; and how you actually missed him, his touch and his warmth.

You gripped the back of his neck, pulling him even closer, melting against his frame with a trembling gasp as he let go of your lips only to nibble on your jawline. Your head felt light and dizzy of his closeness, sloppy kisses on your neck, tickling sensation of his facial hair against sensitive skin.

Deliriously, you let your hands wander to the hem of his shirt, slipping underneath and caressing his belly. Ezra let go of you for a moment to pull the t-shirt off over his head and toss it aside. His body was firm and tanned and you marveled at the sight. Your shirt went next, and then he pulled you back in his embrace. The skin-to-skin contact almost made you shudder, almost too much for your touch starved body. Almost unbearable, but you still craved for it. Your breath quickened as his tongue traced your collarbone while his fingers struggled to undo your bra. You reached behind your back to help him and soon your breasts were exposed to his hungry eyes, darkened with lust. You bit your lip as his thumbs brushed against your hardened nipples, it was like the sparks of electricity flashing through your body. Greedily, he kissed your lips again, pulling you down on the cot with him, on top of him.

As you straddled him, you could feel how hard he already was underneath you. Unable to let go of his lips, you started slowly grinding against him to release the pressure building in your core, earning a quiet moan from him. It encouraged you to go further and trace his neck with your tongue. You could feel him shivering, tightening his grip on your hips.

He let you explore his body for a while, tracing his chest with your fingertips, peppering his collarbones with soft kisses, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to take it for too long. It’s been a while since someone touched him with real affection. At some point he just couldn’t contain himself any longer. Letting out a low groan, he seized your waist and flipped you onto your back. Your surprised gasp was muffled by his lips capturing yours again, before moving further down your body. The tip of his tongue just barely touched a hard peak of your nipple, but it caused you whimper out loud. Tenderly, he kissed his way between your breasts and down your belly, along the hem of your sweatpants, before tugging them down slowly.

When he pressed a soft kiss on your mound through the thin cotton of your underwear, you were about to scream. There was too much of him, to many sensations at once, and your insides were tingling and aching for release, but you couldn’t get rid of a slightly awkward feeling. You’ve never been that exposed to a man before. Emotionally and physically.

Ezra seemed to feel your tension. Frowning, he looked up at you.

- Uh, y/n… did you ever…

You felt blush creeping up your cheeks.

- Sorry, I… didn’t have much time for romance… - You mumbled.

- It’s okay, - he hushed, his deep brown eyes looking at you with such warmth and affection you couldn’t help but smile. - Just relax. You won’t regret it. Trust me.

You nodded, taking a deep breath. Trust him. Yes, you did trust him.

Once your panties were gone, he positioned himself between your thighs, and his hot breath against your center made you tremble with anticipation. Then his tongue carefully slid past your folds and you almost purred at the blissful sensation. After a few long and unhurried licks he settled at your throbbing clit, sucking on it gently, and it didn’t take long before you finally exploded, writhing and moaning shamelessly, fingers entangled into his soft messy hair. He kept going through your climax, licking you clean until the overstimulation caused you flinch. You were still a panting mess when he made his way back to your parted lips.  

Slowly kissing him back, you could taste yourself on his tongue, and even though your insides still fluttered a bit in an aftermath of your climax, you still knew you needed more of him.

- You alright? - He asked quietly, stroking your cheek with his knuckles.

- Uh-huh, - you made, kissing his upper lip while reaching between your bodies to cup his bulge. He sighed, slightly bucking his hips at your touch.

- Ezra, - you whispered, your face so close to his your noses touched. – I… think you should take off your pants now…

- That makes sense, I guess, - he snickered mischievously, placing one more quick kiss on your lips before getting on his feet and tugging off his pants and underwear.

Hovering over you, Ezra pressed his forehead against yours, closing his eyes and humming softly as your fingers trailed down his torso, through the hairs on his lower belly, to stroke along his length. The throbbing, teasing sensation was driving him crazy, yet your sweet caress, so gentle and intimate, almost made him melt. He both craved for release and wanted it to last forever. He opened his eyes, met your gaze, and kissed you again, deeply and passionately, causing you tremble beneath him.

- I need you, - you breathed out against his mouth, and he obeyed. The sensation of him filling you up was overwhelming. He moved slowly at first, allowing you to adjust, but soon your moans and gasps of pleasure encouraged him to pick up the pace. Clinging to him, you enjoyed every second of this intimacy. Everything felt so good: the weight of his body on top of yours, his hot breath on your skin, quiet moans and grunts escaping him… Digging your nails into his shoulders you arched your hips to meet his thrusts, urging him to go deeper. His hand slid under the bend of your knee, lifting your leg a bit to get a better angle. You whimpered desperately, jolts of pleasure flashing deep within your core as he hit that sweet spot of yours, bringing you closer and closer to the edge. A couple more thrusts and you clenched around him, a wave of pure ecstasy washing all over your body from head to toes. Ezra felt dangerously close too. He pulled out with a groan and let go. Through the haze of your post-orgasmic bliss you could feel his warm load spilling over your belly.

He collapsed on top of you, panting, and you were simply lying like that for a while, his face buried into the crook of your neck, your fingers caressing his hair. You felt warm and sated, and completely safe in his arms. Ezra lifted his head lazily to look at you. His eyes were soft and sparkling, and you felt so much tenderness for him at the moment, that you couldn’t possibly put it into words. Instead, you kissed him. You kissed the corners of his mouth, the tip of his nose. You kissed that little wrinkle he had between his eyebrows and let your fingers run through his tousled hair. He had this little blond streak and you remembered asking him about it once, but he wasn’t sure himself when and how he actually got it. Anyway, you always found it adorable. Ezra took your hand in his and brought it to his mouth to kiss your knuckles.

- That was… Pretty intense, huh?.. - He smiled.

- Oh yes, it was.

- You know what we need right now? A shower.

- True, - you agreed. - You can go first then. The shower cabin is too small for the two of us anyways…

- Bullshit. Pretty sure we can fit. If we get close enough, - Ezra smirked. - You’re going with me, sweetheart. End of subject.

- Yes, sir, - you laughed.

Finally you could admit - you actually liked him calling you “sweetheart”. A lot.

***

You woke up lying on Ezra’s chest instead of a pillow. His calm and even breath and the warmth of his body against you felt nice and comforting, and not awkward at all this time.

In the world you lived, there was one thing you knew for sure - you had to be tough. Showing weakness was never safe. But now, with him for the first time in ages you weren’t afraid of being opened up and vulnerable. And it didn’t even matter how different you were. Yes, you’re the quiet one and he’s talkative, he’s chaotic and you’re organized, he’s spontaneous and you always need a plan… But none of these was important. The most important thing was - deep inside you both felt loneliness. Now you weren’t lonely anymore.

You felt like you could spend a lifetime just snuggling like that, it was perfection, except one thing - you realized you were hungry as a wolf. Unable to bear with the rumbling of your stomach any longer, you carefully slipped out of the bed, put on some clothes and headed to the cockpit.

Your backpack was still lying there on the floor. You opened it and grabbed a couple of protein bars and a thermos bottle. Sitting on the floor with your legs crossed, you took a sip of warm drink. Your body was aching but it was a pleasant sensation. You glanced at the timer on the dashboard to find out you still had a few hours until landing. No rush.

The case was there too, next to the backpack. You reached out and opened it. Damn. More than a half of your harvest was lost, including that rare big golden gem. You sighed. Well, at least you were alive and well… And in fact, you found something way more valuable than gemstones.

“Everything happens for a reason. “

You heard his footsteps behind you and smiled.

- Morning… - Ezra’s voice was a little hoarse after sleep. He bent down and kissed the top of your head before sitting next to you.

- Morning. Are you hungry? - You handed him a protein bar.

- I sure am, - he chucked, leaning in and gently nibbling on your exposed shoulder.

- I didn’t mean that hunger, - you scoffed.

- Well, that too, - he took a large bite of his snack.

- Hey, what’s wrong? - He frowned, as he followed your gaze and spotted the opened case.

- Well, nothing particularly terrible. It’s just… I guess your dream vacation has to wait for a while… - You shrugged, and told him what happened on your way to the ship.

- Oh yeah, I saw that guy with a smashed helmet… Almost tripped over him actually… That’s pretty badass! - He nodded in appreciation. - Um… By the way… You didn’t check the front pocket of your suit, did you?

- Nope, - you narrowed your eyes. - Why? I thought you just gave me your empty cassettes…

- There were cassettes, yes… But… There was also something else…

Intrigued, you got on your feet. Your suit was hanging next to the door. You dove your hand into the front pocket and fished out something wrapped in a piece of cloth. Carefully you unwrapped the bundle and gasped in surprise: it was the big golden gem.

- B-but… - You stuttered, turning to Ezra and giving him a questioned look. - How?... Did you steal this gem?..

- What? No! You saw all the gems when you closed the case before heading back. How could I possibly do that? Magic powers?

- Than I’m confused.

- Don’t be. It’s not the same stone, it’s another one. Remember I told you I’ve heard of these gems? Well I also heard there are usually two of them, on the opposite sides of the dig.

- Opposites… - You murmured softly and he gave you a broad smile.

- That’s right. Just like you and me, huh?

- But why didn’t you tell me?

- Just wanted to surprise you. It’s simple as that. And it seems to me that mischief managed, - he chuckled.

- Bastard, - you laughed.

- Love you too.

- Is that… A confession? - You blurted out.

- Most likely it is, - Ezra smirked, stepping closer to you and cupping your cheek. - All I know is you are way, way more precious than any gem, sweetheart. Ugh... This actually sounds a bit cheesier than I expected…

- It’s okay, - you hushed, leaning in for a kiss. - I think I can deal with it.

***

For everyone who read until the end - thank you very much for your time and patience!

#pedro pascal #prospect 2018 #ezra x reader #fanfiction #reader insert #prospect #prospect movie #ezra #ezra (prospect) #lucy tries to write

[shittylongcatposts]

I’m sorry that it took me so much time to write this nonnie! (i just forgot to imply the keep reading link and had to upload it again- silly me) It took me way too long and at first I panicked a little because- boi- I never wrote smut in my whole life. Not even in german. But a very good friend of mine said: hey you can do it! And well, here I am, I did it! Weeehee!! Hope you like, nonnie!

warning: fluffy smut alert! Don’t read this when your uncomfy with reading smut. 

Hot Ice

⦁ Jumin took off his glasses, massaging his temples and let out yawn. He looked next to him where Mc was still captured in the adventurous world of the Witcher. ⦁ After she finished the current chapter she lowered the book and let her gaze wander over his face, his exhausted eyes told her how tired he must be. "I think I'm having enough for today too, wanna go to sleep?" He leaned over to kiss her softly, a smile on his pretty lips. "Sounds good, now, sleep well my dear."

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

⦁ When Mc came home after a long day of work, she felt the need to slip into something more comfortable. She walked over to the bedroom to change when something on the floor catched her eyes. It was the book Jumin was reading currently, it must have fallen down, when Elizabeth the 3rd jumped on the small drawer. ⦁ She leaned down to pick it up and turned the book around in her hands. "The Never Ending Story? I never knew Jumin liked this book." she shifted it around one more time and opened it, expecting to find the story of a boy, saving the world on a flying dragon-dog. ⦁ But the words were different, everything was different. She read a few sentences and recognized it as Fifty Shades of Grey. ⦁ "Oh my god. That's why he was acting so strange the last couple of days. Elly~, Look at this- our Jumin reads smut!" Her laugh caught Elizabeths attention and she ran towards her. "Mrow" "Yes, smut!" ⦁ When Jumin came home he found Mc sitting on the couch, Elizabeth the 3rd sleeping on a blanket next to her. "Hello, my princesses. I hope you already ate something, I'm sorry I'm coming home this late, an important business partner from China called today." Jumin quickly kissed her forehead as a greeting. "I'll be right back my love." He turned around and hurried to the bathroom. ⦁ When he came out again Mc was nowhere to be found. "Mc?", he looked around in the living room, he could hear his precious cat snoring a little bit, but beside from that there was only silence. ⦁ He walked over to the bedroom, where Mc sat on the bed. "There you are, haven't you heard me?" The smirk on her face made him stop in his movement. She looked like she knew something that he wasn't aware of. Yet. His curious side wanted to know though so he cocked an eyebrow and walked over to the bed. "What is it my dear?" ⦁ She giggled again and with one hand the young woman lifted a book in between them, nearly shoving it into his own face. "The never ending story, Jumin? Really? I thought you'd do better." "Oh, so you found out about my little secret?" He layed his right hand on top of the book to lower it down, his eyes seemed to get darker when he saw her devilish grin again. ⦁ "And which one did you like the most?" "What do you mean, Mc?" "You know exactly what I mean, Mr. Han." ⦁ "Well, l could tell you, but I think it would be cooler to actually show you which... interaction I liked the most, but you have to trust me on that. I would never do something to hurt you, like this guy does, he really is pretty.... strange- that whole book is kinda strange, but I overheard an important business man talking about it in a short break of that meeting in the middle east i told you about, and..." "Jumin?" "Yeah?" Mc cupped his cheeks and smiled. "You're getting distracted again, honey. It's alright, I'm not judging you, just show me if you want to. I trust you." A little redness spread over his face, and he looked down. "Oh right.", he nodded more to himself, stood up and showed her to wait on the bed. ⦁ When he came back he held a small bowl in one of his hands and walked over to the drawer where he stored his ties. He hooked his finger around a silky, red one and picked it up. ⦁ After he turned around he placed the bowl on the drawer and took off the tie he was wearing until that very moment. "Ok, you're ready?" "Only when you are, Jumin." In an instant his lips crashed hard on hers, he pinned her down on the bed, softly lifting her hands above her head. In the next moment she realized that her hands were tied to the bedpost - wow, that was fast. ⦁ She looked up to meet Jumins dark gray eyes, he sat on top of her, his knees resting on both sides of her hips. Mc watched him play around with the red tie a little bit. Jumin really seemed to enjoy the view of her tied up beneath him. She felt a bulge growing in his pants. ⦁ "I need you to lift your head a little bit." He said with a dark voice. Mc did as she was told and lifted her head, at the same time he bent down and kissed her again, this time it felt more passionate. After a few seconds he blindfolded her and whispered into her ear "Now, lean back, Mc, and like I said trust me." ⦁ They kissed again, she felt his hands touching her body, slowly wandering up and down, when they finally crawled under her shirt, she gasped. His cold fingers wandered up to her breasts leaving a trace of goosebumps where they touched her hot skin. It felt so good. ⦁ Mc felt that he tried to lift her shirt with his other hand, she helped him by arching her back a little bit. When he was ready his fingers tapped downwards on her skin, he hooked his fingers around her shorts and underwear to pull them down. ⦁ Jumin moaned when he saw her bare beauty and enjoyed the view a little too much. The young man shook himself out of his trance and rose up. Mc heared him rumble around and heard him opening his shirt and his belt. The pressure of his weight came back when he finished taking off his shirt and he continued to caress her breasts. ⦁ When they kissed again she suddenly felt something ice cold on her nipple. The sudden coldness hardened it instantly, and she sucked in air through her teeth. Jumin hummed at her reaction. "Oh you seem to like it~ Well then,..." ⦁ He took the ice cube between his teeth (ouch) and slowly wandered down on her body with it. He stopped at her belly button, placing it right ontop of it. The ice melted, filling up her belly button with cold water, which made her shiver even more. The moans of pleasure coming from her were music to Jumins ears, which made him even more excited. ⦁ She heard him reach out for another ice cube, this time it met her lips, tracing the lines of softness that Jumin cherished so much. Mc couldn't hold back her moan and let her tongue playfully run over the ice cube. A soft growl escaped from the young man on top of her. Oh how much she wanted to see her lovers face in that moment. ⦁ The coldness wandered down her body again, but this time it stopped when it met her soft spot. She gasped for air and pulled on the tie that held her hands up. He teased her wet center by moving the cube around a little bit. Then she felt a finger slowly pushing inside of her. "Oh, Jumin~, you're killing me." "My love, you're so wet already, stay still, please" The finger curled inside of her, making it hard to follow his orders, she moved her hips around, inviting him to move his long fingers around.   ⦁ With his free hand he tried stopping Mc from moving around to much. He lowered his head and started to tease her with his talented tongue but had to  give up after a few moments. As a small punishment Jumin decided to pause and got back up to free himself from his pants. While he gave his member a few strokes he took his time to look over Mcs beautiful curves. She was still moaning, missing his presence, his finger and his tongue. ⦁ But he got impatient too, wanted to feel her again. He positioned himself before her again at her entrance, slowly moving his tip through the wetness between her legs, nearly pushing himself over the edge with it, because it felt way too good to him. She begged him to finally start, arching her hips up, to let his tip slide inside of her. He pushed deeper and gave her some time to adjust herself to him. ⦁ They quickly found their pace and started to dance in sync. His hands were all over her body again, exploring every little bit of her. They shared lustful kisses and moans. His thrusts became deeper, faster and quicker after some time, and he felt her walls getting tighter around him. He stopped in the middle of his thrust to look down on her again, smiling. "Oh Jumin, please don't stop. I beg you." He chuckled and kissed her again, thrusting inside her one last time shoving both lovers over the edge. ⦁ After they both came down from their high, he untied her, layed down next to her and put his arms around her, kissing her in the crew of her neck. "Wow, Jumin that was... amazing. You're so much better and hotter than Christian Grey." "I'm glad you liked it." He felt a smack on his thigh. "But next round it's your turn to be tied up."

#mystic messenger #mysme #jumin han #juminxmc #shitty longcat #lemon #wow this took me way too long #I'm sorry nonnie

[lov3nerdstuff]

Dark Stars {Part 8}

*Loki x OFC*

Part: 8/10

Words: 3.3k

Warnings: violence, blood, the usual

Summary: ~Loki could just let her die here and now. His problems would be solved and he could go back to his usual ways. But then he would forever be left with an unsolved mystery and he hated the prospect of that even more than the fear of what would happen if she lived.~

A story of what happens when Loki stumbles upon someone who is like him in every way. Only better. Oh, and they just happen save Asgard too.

A.N.: I hope you guys don't kill me for the beginning of this ehehe 😅😂 To celebrate over 1000 people following me (how insane is that?!), I decided to share the newly edited version of the very first Loki fanfiction I ever wrote! Enjoy the mischief 💚

All Parts can be found on my Masterlist!

________________________________

Because absolutely nothing happened. Not one part of Loki's body touched her at all, nor did he say anything more, but she could still feel that he was standing right behind her, as the warmth of his body so close to her scorched her skin even though her clothes. A second later, she found herself standing in the middle of a small alleyway in the city. Slightly confused, she turned around to face Loki.

"You said let's go, and I only wanted to help." He smiled innocently, looking down at her in the sweetest feigned calm.

Ivy rolled her eyes, turning towards the nearest crossing of the alley with a busier street. It was around noon, which meant they needed to disguise themselves if they wanted to find out anything at all, without being found in return today. She let out a long breath, crossing her arms over her chest. Her last times in the city hadn't gone too well, and she felt her confidence slowly slipping.

"Ivy…" Loki said quietly and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, making her turn around once more. "You'll be fine. I'm right here with you." He said softly, reassuringly.

Ivy nodded, even if only to convince herself of his words. "Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't worry." She let out a small sigh and shifted her shape into the blonde woman once again.

Loki followed her example, changing into a brunette man with curly and rather short hair.

"Lookin' good!" Ivy commented, smiling at him.

"You look horrible." Loki responded, smirking. "I think you're way more appealing as yourself."

Ivy rolled her eyes and headed towards the busy street with Loki following closely behind.

"So… What are we going to do now?" He asked quietly, once they walked down the streets next to each other.

"We'll see." Ivy replied, tense from the crowds around them. "Let's think… Who has an interest in poisoning a lot of people?"

A few people pushed past them in that moment, forcing Loki and Ivy apart for a few moments too long, and they lost sight of each other. Ivy only saw incredibly tall people around herself, pushing her into every direction, stepping onto her feet and ignoring her presence, as she whined at the pain that followed as someone elbowed her into the ribs.

Suddenly her hand was grabbed by a larger one and she heard Loki's voice closely behind her. "Is it alright if I hold your hand?" He asked softly. "I don't want to lose you in the crowd."

Ivy nodded confidently, interlacing their fingers and pulling him with her through the masses until they reached an emptier street.

"You know, if I were to poison a lot of people with different plants from Midgard, I firstly would have to even get access to all those goods that people will consume." Ivy said, finally, turning to face Loki who was still holding onto her hand tightly. "You know, it has to be someone who has access to the poisons, and also to the things they want to put the poison in."

"Maybe someone working in the palace?" Loki suggested, watching the people around them with the highest attention. He really wasn't up for another surprise.

"Quite possibly… But that still doesn't explain why someone would make all this effort if they merely wanted to harm the royals. You know, there has to be a reason behind it being so incredibly random. Even if the reason is 'just for fun'."

"You think 'just for fun' is a reason to kill people?" Loki laughed under his breath.

"Yeah…?" Ivy answered with a frown, unsure what answer he had expected her to give.

"Oh by the gods, are you even real?" He whispered to himself with a silent sigh.

"You know… I kinda have a theory." Ivy said, and stopped in the middle of an empty street, leaning against the wall of a house.

"Then spill the tea, my dear…" Loki stood in front of her, shielding her from the bypassers, and watching her face while she explained.

"I think something that seems just so random as this must have the most complex pattern behind it. It needs a very specific pattern to create a completely random selection of places where to put the poison. You know what I'm aiming at?"

"To be honest, not really."

"Well there's the places we got our poison, which lie exactly at different ends of the city and then there's the palace in the exact middle, and if you do a little math, well… it seems like all these poison attacks were only… experiments. In the most diverse parts of the city, to test which would have the most reach."

"Do you know where they will go next, if you believe to see a pattern?"

"Well, no, but I know where WE will go next." She mumbled, frowning to herself as she thought of the limited possibilities for a maximum reach. Nope, they would need to walk the extra mile, then.

"Lead the way, my lady…" He smiled, gently pushing a strand of hair out of her face as he simply seemed unable to keep his hands off her.

Ivy smiled back for a short moment, but then she took his hand and brought them out of the city in an instant.

When Loki looked around, he immediately knew where they were... Right at the bifrost. He changed back into himself and so did Ivy.

"My prince, I believe you are searched for." Heimdall spoke up once Loki and Ivy entered the small dome. "But I know why you are here and I must say, I'm surprised at your intentions."

"Well, hello to you too…" Ivy rolled her eyes.

Heimdall looked at Ivy for a long moment before he spoke up. "I'm glad you found him." That's all he said to her, and for some reason Ivy knew that he was talking about Loki.

"Heimdall, I know you have seen what has been going on in the city. We want to put an end to it." Loki said without any emotion. "We need your help."

Heimdall looked at Loki, then at Ivy and back. "I know why you want to find him. But you must be quick, for it is only you who can stop him."

"Please, tell us where we can find him and we will leave you be." Ivy's voice was friendly, yet determined.

"You might want to search in the tunnels…"

"Thank you!" Ivy said in a breath, grabbing Loki's hand and off they were once more.

Once in the city, Ivy held onto Loki and immediately started off towards the center of the city. Even when running, they needed a while to get to their destination and Ivy was quite out of breath once she came to stand in front of a dark, small building.

"What exactly is this?" Loki asked with a deep frown.

"You know, as a prince you should really know your own city…" Ivy commented, earning a glare from Loki.

Ivy went to the front door of the building, entering without even knocking. A few feet into the dark room, there was a ladder down into a dark hole in the ground, leading into a black abyss of uncertain terrain.

"This looks really uninviting…" Loki commented with a sigh, looking to see if Ivy was serious about this.

"This is the entrance to the water supply for the city and also for the palace. If you've never been down there, you'll get lost." Ivy replied, starting to climb down the ladder without any hesitation.

"And I assume you have been here before…?" He followed her without another complaint. "At least you knew what Heimdall meant by 'tunnels'."

"Think about it. I showed it to you." She simply said while descending into the darkness.

Upon her request, Loki went through the pictures of her life he still had stored carefully in his head. He didn't enjoy doing it, for there were mostly negative, painful ones, but he found the right one after a while.

"You used this as a hideout?" He furrowed his brows, looking down at her below him.

"Yeah, for a couple years." She said and reached the bottom at last, jumping down onto a narrow pathway next to the probably knee deep, but luckily clean water. Loki remained quiet, but followed her example.

Once they looked around, they both were quite stunned… An entire garden was blooming down here, and multiple plants Ivy recognized from the book were blossoming around the whole place. Luckily they hadn't touched the water, otherwise they both would be dying right now, most likely.

"I feel obliged to let you know that I am only still here because I couldn't possibly let you go alone." Loki commented with a tense voice. "Be careful, alright? I would rather not have you dying down here. Preferably I wouldn't have you dying at all."

They walked almost a mile in utter darkness, until they found the one dam that, if opened, would lead the heavily poisoned water into the waterway that distributed the water in the city.

"Wow..." Ivy said quietly, looking around. "This is brilliant!"

Loki eyed her curiously. "You're not at all frightened, but rather fascinated by all this, aren't you?"

"Yeah of course!" Ivy was indeed fascinated and kind of impressed, while she knew that she probably should've felt scared to some degree. It was ridiculous, really… she was scared of crowds, but not of things she should really be scared about.

She walked a few more feet, turning around to look back at Loki to talk to him, when suddenly she felt a blade pressing against her throat.

Loki hadn't yet noticed, for he was still looking at one of the plants with too much interest, but also with great alert.

"Loki…" Ivy spoke with a shaky voice. He turned around to her immediately, his face first surprised, but then it darkened and darkened until his expression was utterly furious. If Ivy wouldn't have know him, she would've felt fear indeed at the merr sight of him. He looked beyond dangerous, exactly like the first time they met.

"Hello, Loki…" A raspy voice said, and Ivy could immediately tell it was a man. "I'm glad we finally meet."

"You might want to let her go." Loki said rather calmly, his eyes fixed on Ivy's. She still didn't look frightened… Loki wondered if she trusted him just that much, to be certain that he would safe her. Or if she simply had seen things so much worse than this that it didn't scare her anymore. Considering her memories in his head, he opted for the latter.

"Nah, why would I do that? You two would kill me in an instant. Two of the most powerful beings in the universe, completely at my mercy." The man sighed softly, making Loki's stomach twist.

"Honestly, if that's what you're thinking I am, then you can just kill me right here. I'm not at all powerful." Ivy said and the blade pressed even tighter against her throat, drawing blood as it broke through her delicate skin.

"I'm just keeping you for the fun. But I'm hoping Loki will help me with my plan." The man said, his one hand holding the blade while the other lay on the mechanism to open the dam.

"Why do you need me for your plan?" Loki questioned neutrally, not letting his emotions show.

"I want to kill them. The people in the palace, people in the city… everyone who mistreated me. Everyone who mistreated you, too." The man said, pressing his body against Ivy's. "I have served the allfather for decades. I was part of his council. And yet, nothing was done to repay me for my losses. I was always working… I could never think of myself. I could never live my life, never meet my family. Never enjoy the pleasures life has to offer." He hissed at Ivy's face, moving to holding her arms behind her back tightly.

"But what do you want from me that could compensate what is the allfather's wrongs?" Loki asked, raising his eyebrows at him.

"I need you to be held responsible for this. And I will walk away, living a life with this girl as my servant. You however will need to break the dam, and get rid of the plants afterwards."

"Are you talking about me by any chance? Because that isn't happening. Me as a servant… I think you would starve and drown in dust and ashes. Really, I'm horrible at serving anyone but myself." Ivy commented coldly. She didn't fear for her own life, she had been on the brink of death way too often to care. But she didn't dare using her magic. If it would do what it had done to the bar, the dam might break and all efforts to save the people would be in vain.

"You should just kill him and end this madness here." Ivy then said to Loki, as easily as only she could in a situation like this.

"If you try, then she will die as well!" The man shouted at both of them.

Loki thought for a second. He couldn't risk losing Ivy, but he wouldn't risk losing her to this man either. He didn't know what to do, how to hurt him without hurting her.

"Actually, I don't want to wait…" The man purred into Ivy's ear and began stroking her hair.

"If you continue to do that, I will end your life painfully and slowly until you beg for you death." Loki growled, an icy blade appearing in his hand and he looked ready to strike without another thought.

"If I continue what?" The man laughed. "This?" He groped at Ivy's waist, his hand under her shirt, his grip painful and likely leaving bruises along the way. "If you don't mind, I want to finish this once and for all." He said with a dark laugh.

Ivy had enough of this madness, of this fool of a man seeking personal revenge for wrongs done to him by the god of wrongs honestly. She wouldn't let him get away with this, and she would stop him without harming the dam.

In a mere second, she let a blade appear in her hand like he had done, and held it out in front of herself. For one more moment, she looked into Loki's horrified eyes, before at last she drove the blade through her own body, right into the man behind her. He went still immediately as did she, dropping the sword and the lever as he fell backwards, landing on the ground with a loud thud that echoed through the tunnels.

Ivy stared at him for a second as she still somehow managed to stay on her feet, then she fell forwards onto her knees and let out a pained yelp, before completely collapsing onto the floor. In an instant Loki was at her side, pulling her body against his own as he began to heal her wound as quickly as possible to keep her from bleeding out.

"Why by the norns did you do that?!" He breathed, as he put every energy he had into healing her.

"There was nothing I could do without harming the dam." She hissed through the pain.

"That was fucking stupid!" Loki frowned at her. "We could've found a different way."

"But it worked, didn't it?" Ivy smiled tiredly and closed her eyes with a soft sigh.

"Don't you dare dying now!"

"Calm down… I'll live. You're gonna save me."

"Yes, and you saved the whole kingdom." He smiled at her affectionately. The wound had almost completely closed a couple minutes later, and Ivy could use her own magic to heal the rest of it.

After another few minutes, she sat up carefully and smiled at Loki as if she hadn't just almost died. "Well, that was fun!"

Loki let out a small laugh of relief and stood up, offering her a hand which she gladly took.

"That was pretty brave of you, even if it was stupid." He said quietly, once they made their way towards the ladder up into the city once more.

"Oh, that… It was nothing." Ivy laughed, but he could hear the bitterness in her voice. "We should let someone know how to clean up down here…"

Loki smiled, taking her hand in his. "I know just the right person to report it to." Then, he brought them to the palace. To Thor's bedroom, to be more precise, and the sun was just about to set when they found themselves standing on his balcony.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Ivy asked, looking around the room with curious eyes. Now that it was still bright outside, she could see way more of the beautiful place.

"I don't. But you wanted to have someone clean up down in the tunnels before anyone gets hurt, and this is the best way to go."

"Since when do you do what I want?" Ivy smirked, coming to stand directly in front of him.

"Since I realized that I want you to be mine." He said with a serious expression. "That is, if you wish to be."

Ivy's lips parted slightly as she watched his eyes turn from tense and cold to intense and longing.

"Yes." She smiled at him. "I would love to be yours and yours only."

Her smile was infectious and soon Loki found himself smiling along. He had known of her feelings and she of his, but he wanted her to say it… he wanted to make sure that this was truly what she wanted too.

"Uhm, I mean that's cute and all, but why are you two on my balcony?" Thor's voice made both of them jump a second later.

Immediately, Loki glared at his brother, letting an ice blade shoot towards him. Thor caught it with one hand, laughing. "I'm glad you're not dead, brother!"

"Be nice to him, he helped saving you after all!" Ivy nudged Loki in the ribs, earning herself a small glare as well.

"You shouldn't tell me what to do…" He grumbled at her. "...just because I'll do it."

"Well, but if it works? I appreciate that you listen to me." Ivy laughed lightly, before smiling at Thor.

"Alright…" Loki murmured and looked at Ivy with a frown, then with a half smile.

"Wow. What did you do to my poor brother? He's so… obedient." Thor laughed out loud, and a second later another ice blade was thrown at him. He could jump out of the way in the last second only, looking at Loki angrily. Loki on the other hand shrugged and pointed at Ivy.

"Careful, thunderbird. I can end you just as easily as Loki could. Maybe even quicker." Ivy mused, rising an eyebrow at Thor. Loki only smirked at that, pride filling his very being. This incredible woman, this strong fighter, this utterly ravishing being was truly his alone, and she adored him just as much as he loved her. What were the odds for that to happen to the unluckiest being in all the worlds?

Thor on the other hand lifted his hands in surrender. "You two are just scary."

"I know, it's awesome!" Ivy laughed in utter contentment. "But we are here because we have news."

"Oh no…" Thor breathed in return, already frowning at what was to come.

_______________________________

Tags:

@vodka-and-some-sass @t-sunnyside @lokis-high-priestess

General Tags:

@its-remy-not-ratatouille @wegingerangelica @thidls12333 @tomstoobeautiful @dreary-skies-stuff @averyhill4445 @wiczer @lotus-eyedindiangoddess @theweirdlunatic @caretheunicorn @kthemarsian @lady-of-lies @sadly-falling-through-wonderland @strawberrysandcream @noplacelikehome77 @theoneanna @mishaandthebrits @mygodisloki @i-am-a-mes @nonsensicalobsessions @exygon @hiddles-lobotomy @rjohnson1280 @annwhojumps @spookycatqueen @salempoe @headoverhiddleston @fanfiction-and-stress @createdfromblue @halszka-potter @thecreatiivecorner @themusingsofmany @inthemarvelvoid @from-hel-i-with-love @kinghiddlestonanddixon @scorpionchild81 @foodthatsgoodforyoursoul @crystal-28 @adefectivedetective @lokis-girl-in-mischief @booklover2929 @iamafangirl-fightme

I hope you enjoyed this my darlings 😊☺️💗✨ We're getting closer to the end now, woohoo! I'm kinda busy with the real life at the moment, so stories are a bit slow 🙈💗 sorry for that, but I promise it'll be better!

#loki x oc #loki #loki fanfic #loki x reader #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki of asgard #loki (marvel) #incorrect loki quotes #loki imagine #loki x original female character #loki x ofc #loki x you #loki x y/n #tom hiddleston imagine #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston fanfiction #tom hiddleston

[trulycertain]

the spaces between

Something I wrote a little while ago. Jensen/Malik, huddling for warmth, and belated revelations. About 5.7k. Title courtesy of @themortalscout .

Faridah raises a brow, and tries not to stare. “Wow. Sarif always told me about that with the newer models. Never got somewhere cold enough to see it.” It comes out a little odd; her teeth are chattering.

Adam doesn’t say anything, just keeps steaming gently. It’s a lot more obvious now that he’s taken off the trench. The trench… which he drapes around her shoulders, tucks a little.

It’s the kind of little thing she’s still getting used to. He stopped being Jensen sometime after Frank hauled his ass back onto the grid and Faridah was so relieved she physically couldn’t speak. Or after they got pizza and she all but passed out on his couch over in Prague. He still calls her Malik most of the time, though, even while they’re obviously some kinda friends. Now it’s just with a smile and a tone like it’s familiar and comfortable.

She tries not to be embarrassed at the favour – he’s the one that looks like a dumpling left out in the snow, he doesn’t need it – and tugs the coat closer. “Thanks. But that’s not gonna help all that much. Look at it out there.”

He does, white snow reflecting off the shades as he glances out the window. Outside, the storm is howling. This place is all concrete, an old research lab that’s gone to hell since the Incident. And the systems janked out after the storm set in. Even Adam couldn’t haul up the doors, and they can’t do a system reboot from in here. No power. And that means no heating, either. But Pritchard has their coordinates, and that might be the saving throw. ‘Til then, though...

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she says, trying to sound light and not like her heart’s pounding in her chest. But hey, if it’s not slowing down, that’s something. Tells her she’s still alive.

He looks back to her, raising a sharp eyebrow of his own. Yeah, he knows what she means. “I’ve got thermal venting.” He lifts his arms just slightly to show the steam, like Sarif’s most awkward show model. Exactly like he never wanted to be. “I could...”

She says, “Just tell me we don’t have to get naked.”

He huffs a surprised little laugh, glancing aside. “Not if this works.” His mouth’s still twisting with a little embarrassment. It surprises her, the few times she catches glimpses of it; the tough-guy Detroit cop, and he’s… almost shy. He’s never seemed into the shitty locker-room jokes, even when he came almost fresh from SWAT and with something to prove.

“So we hug it out ‘til help arrives.” Her cheer sounds stretched thin but she tries to keep it. “Let’s do this.” She gestures to him.

“You sure?”

She smiles at him. “Come on, Spyboy.”

He crosses the distance between them, and then polymer arms are wrapping round her. There’s something slow and careful about it, like it’s the first days after the augs when she caught him with chopsticks and he looked like he wanted to head into a trapdoor straight through the floor. It’s a little like being hugged by a sandwich toaster, when you lift the lid: sudden, surprising warmth, all around her. If the sandwich toaster was six-foot-something and had myomer limbs. She feels the heat even through a padded flightsuit and a borrowed coat. His skin’s softer than she thought it’d be, though she can feel the scars just a little. And then there’s… She tries to stifle a noise, and fails.

“You alright?” Adam asks her, sounding worried.

She lets out the sneeze-laugh she’s been holding in. “Beard tickles a little.”

She realises belatedly that she can’t feel smooth lenses, and then remembers the noise she heard. She feels him smile, cheek shifting against her ear. Her heart clenches just slightly at that. He always holds himself back, always keeps his distance from everyone. She’s never touched his skin, not really. It was different when she maybe clasped him on the shoulder, two layers of flightsuit gloves against the leather coat, or punched him fondly on the arm.

He says, “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Soft, though. Thought it’d be scratchier. You condition it?”

He says dryly, “Mm-hm. Put in a little oil after. Kinda thought it’d all have frozen, by now.”

“Yeah. Keeping it short helps, but I was starting to figure my hair was a goner.”

Silence falls around them, and all she can hear is the howl of the wind, their soft breathing, the faintest sound of servos in his arms as he shifts position a little – she figures his arms can’t go to sleep, and then she realises it’s probably for her comfort rather than his. That makes a warm ache rise in her chest, spread a little. He has that effect on her. It started somewhere around Hengsha, and it’s never entirely worn off. She tries not to think about it, and fails. She feels his hand settle hesitantly, slowly, on her back.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this,” she says at last, soft.

He hums, and she feels it against her skin. “Yeah,” he responds easily. “When you said ‘come over for the weekend,’ I thought you meant hit a few bars, maybe get takeout.”

It’s the kind of thing she almost never got to hear on comms, when he was all business or dodging bullets. The hours between, though, the few times they ended up in the canteen, or on a long journey... She didn’t realise how used to it she’d gotten ‘til she left Detroit and started flying journeys and kept expecting the weird little observations, the gravel-rough sarcasm when someone had asked a stupid question. The silences would feel too loud when they didn’t come. Still do, sometimes. They’d known each other maybe a year then; he just used to be her tall dark and weird coworker. The one who’d helped her find Evelyn’s killer; the one who’d exhaustedly, silently snapped a candy bar in half and offered her some at 3 AM; the one who’d remembered every security guy by name and read Confucius and was trying to save the damn world. Weird, the way someone can mold into your life so thoroughly that when they leave it, they rip out a piece of it.

“What can I say?” she replies. “I like the rush.” It comes out shaky and unconvincing, not helped by the fact she’s shivering.

He sighs, chest deflating against hers. “I knew what I signed up for, Malik.”

“You signed up for a place with goddamn heating.”

His head falls onto her shoulder, and she feels a thin tremor run through him. He’s... cracking up, almost silently. He’s always had a kinda weird sense of humour. They both do.

   A flash of lightning and then a clang, something landing on the side of the VTOL. She looks out the window, and meets a pair of shades.

She jumps. “Jesus, Jensen!”

She’s pretty sure anyone without augmented arms would’ve missed that jump. Or wouldn’t be able to hold on.

He gives an awkward half-smile – it looks a little weird with all the lethal black augs and the blood on his face and the fact she can hear bullets - and then pants through her infolink, “Sorry.”

She raises the doors, then, and she hears the clangs of him working his way back and through them. She says, “When you said ‘coming in hot’...”

He half-falls into the back and straps himself in, still breathless. She listens to him get his breath back. Doesn’t sound like he’s badly injured, at least.

She gets them the hell out of there, and then: “Jesus, Sarif gave you an Icarus? I didn’t even know you could do that.”

“Neither did I,” he says, and sounds as surprised as she is, maybe amused. And then she hears a soft, deep sound, and his voice is rougher than usual when he says, “...I really am sorry. Didn’t mean to freak you out.”

“I wasn’t freaked out. I was just… adjusting. To the new weight.” She realises what it is. “Stop laughing, Jensen.”

It’s not the polite thing of water-cooler small talk. It’s a deep, quiet sound, rusty like he hasn’t done it in a while. She hasn’t heard it before. It’s a little dorky, and she realises… she kinda likes it. She looks and he’s leaning on an elbow, hand against his face like that’ll make it subtler. He coughs, and sobers. “ Hell of a landing.” The confession’s surprising, somehow; he always acts like he just gets on with it, like defying death’s a fact of life. His voice is quiet, and he sounds like he didn’t mean to say it. “Malik?”

“Yeah?”

“...Thanks. That was some flying.”

“Anytime, Jensen.”

   He says, “Heating, and usually a few more guys shooting at me. I kinda like the change.” He pauses, thoughtful. She knows that he’s trying to keep her talking and check the cold’s not making her stupid, and she goes with it. “The Collective suits you,” he says, eventually.

“And you. You seem - “ Happier is a relative term for a guy like Jensen. His life seems to hop from one disaster to another. But then, so does hers; she’s done some crazy jobs, especially since she left SI. Nearly died a few times, but so have all of them. And he seems more exhausted than ever. But… She realises she means Less hung-up on Megan, and shuts her mouth. That’s not something she can say. Maybe not ever. But she remembers the way he’d go quiet, or the way he’d say Megan’s name. Remembers the first days when she’d catch him exhausted and staring into space in the back, looking like the world was one step from crushing him, and then he’d meet her eyes in the mirror and tuck it all back away. She doesn’t get those pained silences anymore, not when they’re around each other. “Better. Maybe. Would’ve been a different story if the Act had passed, for both of us.”

“Mm-hm.” He’s listening, though. She can tell.

“Heard you had a little to do with that. Jesus, how do you get yourself into this stuff?”

That smile, and he’s trying not to fidget. God forbid you ever give the guy a compliment. “No comment.” He turns his head toward her, just a little. “Heard the Collective had a damn good pilot in Pakistan.”

“No comment.” She pauses, and admits, “Always nice to hear it, though.”

He snorts. “Should say it more often. Pretty sure I wouldn’t be alive without how you fly.”

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be here without you.” It comes out too earnest, and she wants to pull it back. Instead she makes herself follow it through. “Hengsha was… I still remember how close it was.”

She hears him swallow. “Hm.”

She remembers him appearing next to the cockpit, asking her breathlessly, “You alright?” while she tried not to stare at the blood on his face and the way he was obviously wild-eyed behind the shades.

“That was the first time I saw you in action, after the augs. Really saw.” And she can feel him tensing up, knows that if they weren’t in a freezing room he’d be making an excuse to pull away and hunt through the lockers by now. “You were kind of amazing. And that was after Evelyn... And now we’re here in some damn shack, just because you wanted to do me a favour.”

She feels him shift back, and her heart sinks; she knows she’s said too much. She’s about to apologise, but then he’s looking at her - intent, gold rings shifting in his eyes, and the words die in her throat.He says, “What else was I gonna do?” The words are soft, and there’s something soft in his expression, too.

“You always come through for me.” She tries to laugh off words that taste too true. Because the alternative is dwelling on those nights where she figured that maybe if she’d just put up a fight, not done her job for once and said What the hell are you doing, you’ll die, he might not be at the bottom of the goddamn ocean. When she tried to move on and she always kept coming back to him. “So there was the time you disappeared off the grid for a year. But that wasn’t exactly your fault, huh?”

He puts a hand on her arm, surprising her. His hands are warm, always warmer than she thinks they’ll be. “You still found me.”

“Pritchard did that. He just gave me a GPS marker for the hideout.” She tilts her head, and tries, “Coat looked pretty expensive. Figured I had to give it back.” She gets halfway to a smile, but damn it, she can’t do it. All these times they’ve talked around it, tried to make jokes about it, and she can’t. Not today, not here. “I thought you were – Jesus, Adam.”

She suddenly feels the weight of all those nights, and all the times she was certain that she’d screwed up and she’d let another friend die; that hell, maybe she was a curse. All those times watching him try to get some sleep in between missions, watching him mourn Megan, watching him stay still when someone made a comment about the augs and curl up on the inside. Him offering to help her with this like it was easy – the same way he always tries to help out every time she sees him.

He stares at her. “Faridah...”

She swallows. Looks away. “How’s life in Prague?”

His hand twitches on her back, and she knows he’s thinking of making an issue of it. Instead he moves forward and tucks his head on her shoulder, eases her back into his arms. “Quiet. Quieter than Detroit.”

“You picked up any new Czech?” She’s been trying to teach him, as much as you can by infolink; she’s done enough jobs in Europe that it’s come up. Still isn’t half as good as him sitting on her couch, stumbling through words and scratching his beard and looking like he wants to die a little but he’s glad she’s there. They don’t get to do that enough.

He sighs. “I’ve got ‘Where are the cigarettes?’ and ‘Coat’s not for sale.’ Tokyo?”

“Pretty good. They’re less brutal on augs than a lot of other cities. Keeps things easy.” She remembers last week, and snorts. “One of my friends over there, she tried to set me up with some pilot from Beaumont Shipping. Looked like he’d been surprised too.”

He feels his fingers shift and tap on her back, and he exhales. “How’d it go?”

“We ended up buying each other a drink and talking for a couple hours. Mainly about how we were too damn busy to date anyone.” She laughs a little. “How about you?” She suspects she knows how it’s going, from the times they’ve seen each other; Adam’s still keeping to himself, still getting the occasional solitary drink and then heading home to fix something. “Fighting off the Czech ladies?”

It’s his turn to huff a humourless laugh. “Yeah, they just love the crazy American aug who’s never home.”

“Come on. You’re a good guy, Jensen. And kind of funny, once a year.”

He only moves his head a little, but she feels him pretend to glare at her, and that fast-stifled half-smile.

She exhales. “I know you’re playing dumb a lot of the time. Get why you had to, with Sarif, but I’ve seen your notes. And I remember the time you fixed up that pocket sec for me.”

   She falls asleep on the couch next to him while he’s still working on it, fingers glinting in the light. Slow, careful, the way he always pretends not to be. She wakes up with the blanket from the back of the couch thrown over her, tucked in at the edges. And she’s spread out a little while she was asleep, but she guesses he’s just kept working... ignoring her feet in his lap. And hey, it’s comfortable and his thighs are aug-toasty and he doesn’t seem bothered by it, so she stays where she is and lets herself wake up a little more. He’s looking at her, that same uncertain scared-softness in his face, eyes a little gold in the dimness. Like he’s wondering something.

She sticks her head out from under the blanket, knowing her hair has probably gone crazy.

He pauses, swallows. “Hey.” He swiftly turns his head and gets back to work.

And later, he does the same for the night, in a worn old shirt that has ridden up a little, black and gold feet on an arm-rest. They’ve seen each other maybe five, six times since Detroit, and at her place he always insists on taking the couch, or the floor, like him spending a little time with her is inconveniencing her. She’s passing to get her stuff to head to bed, and she pauses. His toes flex a little, and there’s a soft whirr of servos as he shifts in his sleep. For a second she sees the old scars on his skin under the shirt, how different his face looks when he isn’t holding himself back or pained or pissed-off.

Sometimes she forgets how damn handsome he is. Before, he was mourning his ex and they had a damn job to do, and a lot of the time he still acts like he’s a blunt instrument, hides behind the shades and the grunting and tries to make himself less human. But times like this, with his hair in his face and the beard getting stubbly and him breathing softly, she suddenly sees who he was before he came to Sarif.

It was a strange enough in-between feeling in the back of a VTOL, but this is… more. Not like just hanging out with her coworker.

She runs a glass of water and wonders at the weird ache in her chest. Because she isn’t used to seeing him like this, she guesses. But suddenly it feels like it would be easy to get used to it... like she’d like to see it more often. She wonders why it feels like it’s almost enough – and that thought’s too much, aches in a way she just can’t afford to think about. She shakes her head and goes to bed.

   He snorts, and somehow she knows that he’s looking away. He shrugs, just a little, trying not to jostle her.

It’s easier to say these things when she doesn’t have to look at him. “And you’re kind, when you’re not riling Frank up. Reliable.”

That laugh of denial, but she feels him tense, feels him get serious again. “And you’re not?” he says, desert-dry. He exhales, then, hand shifting on her back. “When I came back to Sarif, everyone treated me like I was a freak or the new show model.” Sometimes, times like these, he can’t hide the bitterness. “You were the only one who asked if I was alright. Nearly bit your head off for it.” He moves, and he must be looking away. “You saw... me. Felt like you liked what you saw.”

They’ve had their share of comfortable silences, but this one… isn’t. It’s surprised, curious. She isn’t sure he meant to say that, from his uncomfortable stiffness. He doesn’t talk about this stuff, not with more than ten adjacent words - unless he’s drunk or it’s been a damn close mission, or he’s so tired he’s practically drunk.

“I didn’t mean, uh...” He clears his throat. “I’m just saying, the queue in Tokyo should be round the block. Get the time constraints, though.”

“Yeah, Interpol must be pretty busy.” She considers leaving it there and getting them back to safer ground. She means to, honestly. Maybe any other time she would’ve; without being too close to him and too far away, without another year of chewing it all over, without him exhausted on her couch, without him freezing with her and telling her he doesn’t understand why people don’t wanna date her. She says, “I remember the first time I saw you.”

His head tilts, just a little.

“I was heading down to the coffee machine in the lobby – you know, where they put the actual good stuff, for the visitors.”

“Mm-hm.” It’s soft, amused but wary. He’s obviously wondering where the hell she’s going with this. That makes two of them. “Colombian.”

“I’d been flying all night and half the morning. I needed some damn sleep, but I figured I might survive another hour to get home on good coffee. Had to take the train. And… you know when Renee used to work at reception?”

“Maybe.”

“Yeah, you probably wouldn’t. You must have only met her a few times. Before you worked for SI. And I’m walking past, and there’s this cute guy talking to her. And he smiles at me, that polite smile you do when you accidentally made eye contact and you don’t want it to be awkward. And it’s nice, you know? He looks nice. And I’ve gotten to the coffee machine when I hear Megan come down, and… I don’t even know why, she must’ve gotten out early.”

“Anniversary plans,” he says, softly, like he’s realising it as he speaks. “We were going out for dinner.” She can feel him looking at her. “...That was me?”

“And I don’t know, I think she said your name and I was like, oh, this is the mystery guy. The cop who made her a coffee table and put a bow on it.”

“She told you about that?” He mutters, “Was easier than figuring out flatpack.”

“Uh-huh. She always told me it was a good coffee table.” She swallows, and tries to find her courage. “And she says his name, and he just… lights up. Subtle, he smiles like a cop, but you could see it. She walks over to him and he hugs her, kisses her, the whole nine yards. Looked crazy about her. And I forgot about it, but a couple years later Sarif introduces our new security chief, and he looks familiar. And I realise, ‘Oh, that’s the guy on Megan’s desk pictures.’”

“And you figured I got the job cause of Megan,” he replies, with a bitter half-laugh. “Yeah.”

“No. I just remember thinking that the man I saw had looked so… happy, and you looked like you’d had it beaten out of you. I wondered where that guy had gone. Wasn’t my business, we didn’t even know each other. But I realised pretty quickly… you were still in there. Even after the augs. And I liked both the guys I’d met.”

“I don’t… Malik...”

She means to explain. What comes out instead, soft and raw, is, “I did.”

“Hm?”

“I did. Like what I saw.”

She feels his surprise, feels him tense up against her. “Huh.”

She remembers thinking one day that she got it, whatever had led Megan into their… thing. Why Megan still looked at the guy like her heart was being ripped out of her chest.

She doesn’t know when; could’ve been one of all those little acts of kindness. Could’ve been the first time he smiled at her, really smiled at her, not the tight smirks of completing a mission and getting out alive: kind of toothy, sharp white against the beard. Could’ve been the first time after the augs he took off the shades, like he wasn’t just waiting for the next fight or infiltration, and she got to see the eye crinkles that went with it. Could’ve been the time she landed and found him on the street, talking to one of the women from Hung Hua, telling her that he got it, that augs should always be a choice, that he hadn’t got the choice either, that it was gonna be alright, all gonna be alright. And Faridah pretended not to hear it.

   “How the hell… I heard what Sarif said. Sandoval was gonna shoot himself.”

It’s 3 AM and for once they’re the only people in the cafeteria, not even Frank or R&D heading down for all-nighter snacks. They’ve got a flight in fifteen minutes, and she has to ask.

He ducks his head. “Before SWAT, got sent to a lot of domestic stuff.” He scratches his beard and leans his arms on the polished table, smiling wanly in that way that isn’t really a smile at all. “Knew half the people in that neighbourhood anyway, but… they said I was pretty good at talking people down from the ledge.” He gestures at his face, his other arm, and the smile turns false. “Guess that was before I got these."

You still are, she thought, and she didn’t just mean that. She meant a little of everything. You still are.

   “Faridah,” he says softly, carefully, and she feels it down her spine. She’s never heard it like that. When she doesn’t respond, he says, “You’re right, Interpol is pretty busy. But it was more… I wasn’t looking for anyone in Prague.”

Shit. Here’s where he says something polite, something about how they can stay friends, something about Megan. This is him letting her down gently. Because the other option is that that gentle, rough tone is...

She stares at his tacvest, because she’s pretty sure this can’t actually be happening. Something like a year. A damn year. He’d have done something by now. He’d have… She tries to find something casual to say, something that won’t be… dangerous. “I know, things with Megan were still pretty...”

“I don’t mean her.” And he sounds like he actually means it, like it’s easy. “I… started thinking, in Prague. After we met again. Started to realise a few things.” He breathes, and maybe it shakes a little, and she thinks that in all the time she’s known him… she doesn’t think she’s ever seen Adam actually scared before. Maybe once, when he was heading to Omega Ranch and he wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t just find a body, that he’d get there too late. Never like this. Never soft-voiced, hand too-still against her back like he’s ready to take it away, like he figures she’ll tell him to get the hell away from her. “I thought maybe… you might be realising them too.”

   She stares at him - relieved, pained. “Jesus, it’s good to see you again.”

He stares back, wide-eyed, through long, wild hair and a too-long beard. The worst thing is, he still looks pretty good, because he’s Adam. Or maybe because she’s that much of an idiot. He puts aside the stun-gun he was checking. “Malik?” And just for a second, he forgets to put the privsec mask on, and it’s all stunned relief. “Did Pritchard - ”

“Yeah, Frank had to tell me. I thought you were dead, Jensen.”

“I...”He shuts his eyes. “Shit. I’m sorry. We couldn’t get comms in Alaska, but after – I should’ve said something.”

She’s got pretty good at keeping her eyes dry over the years, so she’ll be taken seriously in a flightsuit, but she damn near breaks. “Yeah, you should’ve.” She breathes, and tries not to be angry. There really weren’t comms in Alaska; Frank said it was a miracle he could get through. She tries to clear her head. “Here. I kept it, because I thought maybe… I don’t know what I thought.” And she thrusts the coat at him. It’ll be weird, not having it folded somewhere in the back of the VTOL like an unlucky charm. “Just in case.”

He unfolds himself and climbs to his feet, slowly. Tilts his head, in a little disbelief. “I figured you’d have forgotten.”

She realises, then. Jesus Christ, Adam. Her anger cracks and shatters. She raises the trench a little. “This, or you?”

He opens his mouth. Blinks, and looks away.

She crosses the space and hugs him, then. He draws in the smallest, startled breath. Then his arms are around her, too, his hand settling on her back, and his head falls onto her shoulder. “Thanks,” he says, in a breath, and holds her tight. Somehow, it feels like a life she thought was gone.

   “Adam...” she manages.

“Unless I’m wrong.” He swallows. “Pritchard’ll be here soon. Could kill the time playing I Spy.”

“Adam. You’ve got the craziest timing. But you’re not wrong.” She hears his drawn-in breath before he tries to hide it, feels his sudden stillness. Suddenly she needs, more than anything, to look at him. “You’re…” She snorts. “You’re really not wrong.”

He breathes out, heavily. He says, “First time I saw you fixing up the bird.”

“Huh?”

“Sometime after you came to my place in Prague. Guess there must have been SI engineers before, or I was dodging bullets. I’d never seen... And you were smiling. Like you were home. And I thought... she’s something special. Wish I could tell her that. And I realised that I wasn’t just… thinking it without thinking. Realised I was wondering. You were half-out of the flightsuit and you were covered in grease, and your hair was crazy, and you were…” He inhales and says, in a breath, “...you were beautiful.” She feels him shift and turn his head, eyelashes brushing her cheek. Feels the warmth of his breath.

She takes his arm, feeling the warmth of the augs and the faintest hum of Sarif tech, feeling his surprise. Jesus, he’s warm. Her hand slips downward until her fingers are on his, augs against gloves. She laces their fingers together, and he exhales, with that surprise again. This time she moves back, too, just enough to look at him.

He’s getting those particular frown lines between his eyebrows, when he’s worried as hell. The shield-ports just draw attention to them. He looks at her, eyes wide and green, face even paler than usual. Some part of him’s already resigned to rejection, like always – and that’s too much for her to stand around and take. He must see something in her face, some part of the wait, don’t go she’s feeling. He stares at her like he feels it, like he’s just starting to realise… His gaze traces over her eyes, her mouth. And then it lingers there.

Her heart clenches. She knows she’s gravitating toward him, can’t stop herself. He leans in, slowly, eyes constantly snapping back to hers like he isn’t sure of his welcome. His free hand comes up under her chin, gently raising her head -

- and then he’s kissing her. It’s soft and brief and dry, the barest breath against hers. She feels the slightest brush of beard, and she thinks his hand’s trembling, just a little; she didn’t know the augs could do that. It’s the furthest thing from the gruff shadow who came back to SI and pretended he didn’t have time for people. She tightens her hand against his and kisses back. She feels more than hears his surprised, delighted little noise. She kisses him with at least a year of confused, crazy longing, and he opens up and breathes with her, hand shifting, spreading against her cheek to bring her closer.

He pulls back first, breathless. He blinks at her and looks a little like someone just EMP’d him, or like he’s wondering if that just happened, too. She knows the feeling. He looks at her like he’s drinking her in.

She breaks first. She pulls him back and kisses him, and he responds in kind, hand clenching against his borrowed coat – like it’s the last chance they’ll get, like she’s not gonna see him for months while he goes off to try and get himself killed. I figured you’d have forgotten. Like hell that’s gonna happen again. She can take the extra flights, he can meet in the middle, they'll work something out.

“Faridah,” he pants against her mouth, “when did…?”

She hangs onto him, while she can. “I don’t know. Guess I was a little too busy flying you out of the fire to think about it. And I figured… there was Megan, and you were still in Europe. Figured it was never gonna happen, but I had a friend, and that was enough, right?”

“You too, huh?” And he almost looks like he’s gonna crack up at that, but it’s too sad. He looks down, consideringly, and says, “There wasn’t exactly much time to – Shit.“

Frank’s voice crackles to life in their infolinks. “Where are you two? This says you’re in some kind of remote… cabin.”

They sigh.

“Laboratory,” Faridah says, at the same time Adam does. They glance at each other, briefly. He’s still a little flushed. She says, “This is where the labs are. You think the weather’s clearing out enough for an exit?”

Frank hums. “I think you can try. The systems were failing from the… unexpected conditions, but I’ve got the weather doors open.”

“Thanks, Pritchard,” she says dryly.

There’s a pause over the comms. An assessing kind of pause. “...I don’t want to know, do I?”

Adam grits his teeth. “Francis...”

“Right, then that’s a no.” Frank cuts off the call with his usual fanfare.

Faridah can’t help herself, then: she laughs, head against Adam’s shoulder. She looks up, and he’s watching her, eyes so soft she has to stop a second and look back. She suddenly wonders how the hell he kept tucking this away, how she never noticed. Maybe it was the shades.

She says, “I think I’m gonna be all right for the walk back.” She steps back, and braces herself to freeze. “Here goes.” She starts walking, and he falls into step with her, a comfortable shadow a little way behind. It’s only when they reach the doors that she pauses. “Shit, I forgot.” She lifts her hands to the coat…

He puts a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be all right.” He looks down to the augs, where there’s still the faintest steam, then back to her, significantly. “Looks kinda cute with the thermalsuit.” He gives her a half-smile and a tilt of his head.

She shakes her head back, appalled, and grins.

He grins back, like he doesn’t even mean to: wide and kinda dorky, eyes crinkling. She’d almost forgotten what it looks like; in fact, she’s pretty sure she’s never seen this one. She’s... really glad she has now.

Yeah. They’ll work something out.

They head out into the storm, and he leans into her just a little, and not even the cold can dull the warmth in her chest.

#faridah malik #adam jensen #adam jensen x faridah malik #deus ex mankind divided #deus ex #my fic

[lululawrence]

Hey! Have you read any good abo fics recently?

ahehehehehe okay, so, i put this off until now because i needed to be able to look at a few things. so, by recently i am taking that to mean since i last did an a/b/o fic rec, which apparently was june of last year (and january before that). that’s far too long ago, meaning this rec is going to have about 30 fics on it. hahahaha i’m putting them in no particular order other than the order i bookmarked them in, meaning most recent bookmarks will be last, so if june of last year wasn’t recent enough, you’ll wanna scroll a bit. :D

I have also written two more a/b/o fics since my last rec, so i’ll start with a bit of self promo and then start lauding the work of others (hope you don’t mind)

The World Will Open Its Arms - this one is actually one of my more popular fics from last year, which i wasn’t expecting at all. haha my entire goal for this fic was to take a feeling i got while listening to a song on a random drive to take my daughter to her ice skating camp and capture it in a fic. i think i did, and i love the little bit of insight we get into their lives with this one. pregnant and unbonded omega harry, alpha louis. :)

How I Feel Inside - i wrote this one also for wordplay, and while there’s omega harry and alpha louis in there, the real focus of the fic is the fact that niall is missing. you find out why at the end, so i’ll try not to give it away, but i did it kinda as a gag and a joke and loved it so i hope you enjoy it too hahaha

okay! and now to the rest. Let’s do this.

Take What's Mine by @jaerie / jaerieall i’m really gonna say about this one is i first read it as a dark fic read and then she took it off anon so i figured if she was brave enough to say she wrote it then i was brave enough to say i loved it haha so here we are. it’s a bit of a dark fic but is ultimately healing and beautiful imo.

was it all a fake? by @jaerie / jaerieso this is a fic i didn’t realize she was gonna publicly gift to me and i asked for it, so fair enough, but i love it. i love it and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so please, like with the fic before, check the tags (i feel like this rec isn’t starting well with me warning about things before people read them, but i really do love these hahaha)

These Lover's Eyes by chasingxrabbitswhat i love most about this fic is it’s a pack fic. i feel like packs are something that used to be explored more in older a/b/o fics in the fandom but that it is often ignored unless it’s in the almost tribal sense of packs, and this is very different. like the summary literally reads “A/B/O verse where Liam is an alpha, Josh, Niall, Louis, and Harry are his betas and an unlikely little omega stumbles into the picture.” and i can’t really say much more than that, but i love it so much. haha so if you’re looking for a totally different dynamic to this verse, this older fic will defo give you that. (if someone also wants to kind of explore this idea and dynamic in their own ways as well, please tag me when you post lol)

hard to confess by @hereforlou / hereforlouACCIDENTAL MPREG! gosh i love fics like this so much and they did this one really well. accidental mpreg with assumptions made that might not be entirely correct and friends to lovers and just SO MUCH GOODNESS OKAY

Desire A/B/o series by @reminiscingintherain / reminiscingintherainthis series is an established relationship, somewhat canon compliant a/b/o series that was such fun to read. super fluffy, super sweet, super cute. basically, if the dark fics i kinda started this rec with aren’t your thing, this probably is. lol

I'm Sure It Happens To All Alphas by @jaerie / jaerieALPHA. LOUIS. HAS TROUBLE. POPPING A KNOT. gosh i died reading this fic. i love it so much. she works her magic, as usual, and does it in style.

The Wilds by @jaerie / jaerieThis fic was just. it was wow. it was such an interesting world for things to take place in and fascinating how it all played out. there are quite a few sensitive subjects that this does broach, so while i wouldn’t necessarily say it is a dark fic, you do need to be sensitive to the tags, so please be careful with those!

You Gotta Swim, Swim For Your Life series by @jaerie / jaeriei swear i do read a/b/o that isn’t done by jenna. lollll but this series is so good. it’s a really incredible fic that takes you through harry’s journey with grief and illness and all sorts of things, so if that’s triggering for you, then please don’t read this, but it’s so so so beautifully done. the emotions in this series are gorgeous.

Where You Lay by @ham-palpert / HamPalpertTHIS FIIIIIIC! gosh it’s a perceived enemies to friends with benefits to lovers fic but there’s such a journey along the way. it’s so so so amazing. it ended and i just felt so complete. hahaha it’s one of those fics. so yeah, love love love.

The Nearness of You by @louisalbumnow / theweightofmywordsTHIS FIC. the nesting in this fic! the description and emotions and just ALL OF IT. it’s just gold. in a 2k wrapper. it’s amazing. i don’t even have words just read it.

One Love by @13ways-of-looking / 13waysthis fic is SO EMOTIONAL. it hit me hard and was another one of those that packs a lot into few words. it was so interesting and a really fascinating world and just. yeah. it’s a great read!

I'll Take Care Of You by @dimpled-halo / dimpled_halojacky wrote me a part 2 of my fic for my birthday! she wrote the part 1 for my birthday too, so i guess she loves me a lot if she was willing to revisit it and write me some more. i love this ‘verse so much, though. the throw back to high school/college like it’s done here is so pure and complex and i love it.

I Know How To Whisk (But Teach Me Anyway) by @2tiedships2 / 2tiedships2mel comes and delivers another great a/b/o fic! i love how she always ties in the idea of soulmates with her fics. and this one is so fun and i love that it entirely revolves around an obsession with a bakery hahaha a great read, as always!

Alpha Seeking Alpha by @jaerie / jaerieOKAY OKAY OKAY. i love this one too. gosh i say that about everyone of these, don’t i? i suppose it’s a fic rec so i would hope i love them all but i’m not thinking well tonight so all you’re getting is read this cause i love it but like ALPHA/ALPHA THROUGH A SERVICE AND JUST AAAHHHHHHH

I Wanna Be More Than Friends by @2tiedships2 / 2tiedships2this is my fav mel fic yet. i kept throwing ideas at her hoping something would stick and then she came up with something completely unique that i’d never heard of before and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. alpha harry does not have a sense of smell. OMGGGGGGGG anyway. toooootally amazing twist on the a/b/o verse.

If I Loved You Less by @allwaswell16 / allwaswell16REGENCY A/B/O!!!! did you hear me? I SAID REGENCY A/B/O!!! With side shiall! i adored this fic because even through the end i was like HOW ARE THEY GONNA MAKE THIS WORK but it does and it’s magical and so great. gosh. so so great.

The Unsuccessful Promise by trysomecatsthis fic actually just got a part 2 added recently and i only just read that part 2 last night! lol good timing, i suppose! anyway, this one is sooooo fun because it’s got feisty didn’t think he’d be an omega louis with super sweet and obviously misunderstood harry with louis’ parents being ZIAM!!! it was a fun story that i really enjoyed reading lol my fav part might have actually been zayn and liam, i loved how they were written

Moments Like These Are To Die For by @fourdrunksluts / alienharrythis is one of those fics that sucked me in and spat me out afterwards and i keep thinking about it! months later i still think about this fic. it stayed with me and i love it. it’s an arranged marriage royalty au where harry and louis are from different packs and AHHHHHHHHH i love it so so so much. PLUS!!! THERE’S AN ACE CHARACTER!!! AN ACE CHARACTER IN AN A/B/O!?!?! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! so yeah this fic means a lot to me and i love it so much so please read it.

Your Touch Is The Only Thing I Feel by @2tiedships2 / 2tiedships2mel delves into touch depri here and i love that being explored! i felt like she did it in a different way than i’d seen it in other fics too, so i really like that as well. as usual, the relationship dynamics in her fics are spot on and hysterical while also making you just love every second. 

The light is coming by @pocketsunshineharry / ishiplouislisten. i have a soft spot for hurt/comfort, especially in a/b/o, and this fic just harnesses ALL OF THAT and makes it just. i can’t. i can’t say much more but i just loved this dynamic and how much louis just needed help and the war within himself and frustration with that but harry was patient and did what he could to help and it was just so great.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year series by @2tiedships2 / 2tiedships2louis and harry didn’t exactly have the best first meeting hahaha it’s okay, though, because niall is there to force them to be friends. this is a super fun christmassy/birthday style two part series that not only explores the up to the point of finding louis’ alpha, but also what comes after that. it’s a lot of fun and i loved it hehe

Do Not Falter (There's a Star Ahead) by @londonfoginacup / LadyLondonderryNESTING HARRY. NESTING OMEGA HARRY. NESTING OMEGA HARRY NEEDING A SAFE PLACE. MUTUAL PINING. CHRISTMAS EVE. AHHHHHH this fic is short and sweet and i want to sit and sink into harry’s nest. it evokes the same warmth and almost magical feel all of emmu’s fics do. i love it.

You Should Be Here With Me by @dimpled-halo / dimpled_haloexes to lovers at christmas with pining and miscommunication and bonding and ahhhhhhhhh. i don’t even know what more to say, other than jacky is queen of exes to lovers, so make it a/b/o and christmas themed and you know you’ve got gold on your hands.

Merry Birthday by @jaerie / jaerieSOULMARK A/B/O. where they don’t even realize they’ve met until afterwards so then they’ve gotta find each other again and it’s just. gosh it’s so great and it’s so much more than just a christmas fic, even though it’s that too, it extends beyond and i love it.

Let Me Feel Your Heartbeat by @angelichl / angelichli love that “louis tomlinson wears harry styles’ clothes” is a legit tag in ao3. anyway. this is another one of those tentative enemies to friends to lovers with heaps of miscommunication and pining and confusion and everything are thrown together when mating cycles come into play and i love it. gosh i love it so so much. it was a great way to kick off the new year with a/b/o haha

Leave Your Mark On Me by @fullonlarrie / FullOnLarriespeaking of kicking off the new year with some amazing a/b/o, lauren tried her hand at it and I LOVED IT. it had so many twists i did not anticipate and i loved it so much. it was as wonderfully written as hers always are and with her signature humor and feelings and development and i adored it.

so that’s what i’ve got for you! i hope you find some on here that you haven’t read yet and that you like them as much as i did! hit me up again in another six months and i’ll see what i can do with another a/b/o rec update hehehe

#fic rec #a/b/o fic rec #abo fic rec #my fic rec #sorry it's long but like #there's been so much great a/b/o lately #and i've gotta read it #lollll #Anonymous #asks #mine

[jaywrites101]

The City In FreeFall; Chapter Three

When I woke up, it was thirty minutes past noon. SmashStone and his thugs were gone. And so was my wallet. Mac left a note on my face that read, be at the east side of Warehouse 15 by eight-thirty or you're a dead man. At least, I assumed it was Terry Mac who wrote it since I didn't think anyone else in the entire gang was capable of writing. Except you, a lingering sense of guilt reminded me.

The cigar hole in my chest still burned. My chest throbbed along dully until I tried to take a breath. It caught halfway and red-hot knives cut into my esophagus. I needed to go to a hospital… But there'd be no way a hospital would let me just walk out in a couple of hours… Besides… I… I wasn't finished being an absolute total dumbass yet… 

I still had to talk with the BloodBlades.

This part of the plan was much less thought out than everything that's come before it…  Somehow…  

I had to make it into BloodBlade territory, find someone who wouldn't just shoot me at the first sign of my new "tattoo," and convince them to get to Warehouse 15 at the same time as the SmashStones… 

The walk out of The Rock and back into BloodBlade turf gave me plenty of time to realize just how totally whiffed I was. Could I have still gone to the police? Yes. Did I?

You underestimate just how damned stubborn I can be.

No more kids in caskets, I told myself. No more kids in caskets. Every step felt like my bones were filled with lead. No more kids in caskets. Jerry's face at the visitation, so pale and porcelain. It was profane! No more kids in caskets. Did I have brain trauma? I passed Old Man Yin at his noodle shop. He looked at me like I was a nightmare. Dried blood running down my sides, No doubt he thought I'd been mugged… No more kids in caskets, no more kids in caskets! The BloodBlade hideout was plain as day. An old gym that closed down long ago. Was I really going to just walk in there? The thugs by the door just stood there in shock as I marched past them. NO MORE KIDS IN CASKETS!

"I demand to speak with Cutter!" I roared at the building. There were three fighting mats all lined up with people in and around them. My shout stopped them all in their tracks. I always did have a strong voice. Everybody in the room could see the hole in my chest, and no doubt every single one of them knew what it meant.

"The only way you're getting to see Cutter is an execution," a voiced jeered from the side.

"You're not going to live that long!" another thug exclaimed. 

Someone pinned my arms from behind, while a dude with long silver hair came at me with a knife. In case you couldn't tell, BloodBlades love their knives.

“Oh wow!” you might be thinking, “Is this how you died the first time?” Nope! That's still yet to come! No, this time around I jumped back against the guy who had my arms and kicked the guy with the knife with all my might. I immediately dropped to the floor and lay there like a worm, too busy bleeding to death to really take note of the chaos that was exploding around me. Fun Fact: doing just about anything while one of your ribs is broken makes everything 100x's worse! Fighting for your life? Don't try that at home kiddos.

The silver-haired guy pulled me up by what was left of my T-shirt and shouted… something at me. My vision was getting kinda blurry. Whatever he asked, my witty response was to bleed on him.

Oh, yeah. Who's got the makings of a vigilante superhero? This guy.

Another guy dressed in grey sweatpants and a hoodie showed up and garbled something at Silver Hair. Next thing I knew, I was being dragged backwards through the gym while the others gawked at my broken body.

Side note, what is it with bad guys and dark rooms? Seriously! Don't they know torture rooms are completely unreliable? At best they were just putting me in a place where no one would hear my screa--on second thought everything checks out now.

The big guy tied my arms behind a chair and bound my legs for good measure. I tried not to panic. 

Unlike the backroom at The Rock, this place had a proper ceiling over my head and charcoal grey drywall all around, so I didn't have to worry about Cutter just dropping in from above. But then again, I didn't get a good look at the room, so the iron door in front of me might not have been the only way in or out… but then again, again, if it wasn't the only way in or out of the room, why make the door out of iron?

I overthink pointless things like that. If I spent half as much effort thinking about my plan as I did about that small room I wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place. Bio101 was looking better and better each second… 

After a short spell, the guy who stopped Silver Hair from gutting me returned to the room.

Tying me up so I couldn't move and then putting me alone in a room for a few minutes was, honestly, the best thing they could've done for me. Sure, they could've also left a hot girl in the room to nurse my wounds and make sure I had plenty of water, but this wasn't too bad all things considered.

My head had cleared up a little. The world wasn't black and red anymore, and I was able to hear when the door opened. My body was still screaming pain signals to my brain, yes. But I wasn't about to pass out.

"You've got a lot of guts coming here alone," the man said.

"Unfortunately I seemed to have left half of them back on 21st street," I joked weakly.

A swift smack to the face showed just how much they cared for humor in the BloodBlade gang.

"Do you even know who I am?" he glowered.

Everybody and their cousin knew what Cutter and SmashStone looked like. Those two had been running wild down in the Heap for years. This guy wasn't Cutter. But he clearly had some authority to keep ol’ Silver Hair from giving me a chest piercing. That could only mean the man before me was… 

"Friday."

The man shook his head. "No, be thankful I'm not him. You'd already be in the ground if I was."

"Oh."

"I'm Seth Bridgess," he said as if it meant something.

I vaguely remembered a news report about Seth Bridgess, but I couldn't pin it down… until I could.

"Wait, you're just Cutter's drug pusher--" Bridgess stepped forward, his knife appearing in his hand like magic. "I-I mean--you're his drug kingpin. Ha-ha, yeah. Big guy, Seth Bridgess. The biggest drug dealer in the town."

Bridgess looked like I'd kicked him in the groin. Figures… 

"Then I'm sure you know why I've left you alive?" he spit. This guy clearly had something going on behind the scenes… … But… I saw an opportunity.

"It's because of the second shipment," I said as casually as I possibly could.

Seth's face was priceless. "What second shipment?" Hook, Line, and Sinker.

I embraced as much of my inner coward as I could. It wasn't that hard, I had a lot of terror built up throughout today. "Oh, uh. O-of course not, you're k-keeping me alive because of… w-why exactly are you keeping me alive?" 

"What second shipment?" Bridgess asked again, putting his knife to my throat for dramatic effect. It's a common misbelief that when someone holds a knife to your throat you can feel the knife against your skin. I didn't. What I did feel was a drop of warm itchy wetness that ran down my neck.

"I have conditions."

The knife at my throat twitched. It was a small movement, but enough to draw more blood. I felt pain now. A line of warmth at my Adam's apple that burned more the longer I waited.

"I want to be the one who kills SmashStone," I growled.

As I expected, Seth pulled his knife away. Bad guys are funny like that. Beg for your life and they'll just laugh as they kill you, even if it hurts them too. Tell them you want to kill their greatest rival? They'll give you a frickin weapon and let you walk out the door with it. As far as they're concerned, it's still a death sentence. 

Bridgess peered at me suspiciously. What I said wasn't a lie per se. He could see it. But he was sharper than the usual thug. He had to be.

"SmashStone and his damned bricks are destroying this city," I claimed wildly. "I hate them! If they weren't tearing up the city, you lot wouldn't have had to steal from them--Jerry wouldn't be dead!" 

"I get it," Bridgess snorted. "You're just a brat out on a revenge scheme. We get boys like you every other weekend."

I let go of another breath I didn't know I was holding. I tried to speak up again but Bridgess cut me off with a furious look.

"But no one. I repeat, no one walks in here with a SmashStone burn on their chest and leaves unscratched."

"But I hav--"

"NO ONE chooses BloodBlades as a second choice! You're playing with fire and now you're going to get burned. Twice."

"I joined the SmashStones to find out where the second shipment was." Seeing as how Bridgess didn't just skewer me on the spot, I took that as permission to continue. "It's high-grade Rock, like the first shipment. SmashStone always keeps half of the drugs that come through."

"Because he's a user," Bridgess interrupted. Everyone knew SmashStone was addicted to Rock; it's what caused his body to mutate so aggressively.

"Right," I said thinking quickly, "But he had some left over from the last shipment." It was a shallow excuse, but it was one Bridgess bought. He twisted the knife in his hand anxiously. Like he wasn't sure if he wanted to stab me with it, use it to cut my bonds, or stab himself. Now that I had a train of thought, the rest of the story came easily. "He has enough left over to feed his habit this month too. But it's bad. SmashStone's pissed! He wants to retaliate for the raid even more than he wants the money from this shipment."

"That's preposterous!" Bridgess spat. I was impressed. I hadn't thought he'd know the meaning of the word, let alone correctly use it in a sentence.

"It's true! He's giving the whole shipment over to his boys tonight at ten. They'll be marching here to pull this building down brick by brick before eleven."

Bridgess punched the drywall. His hand tore right through it. "Over my dead body."

"Probably," I noted. Bridgess glared murderously. "I mean, probably--if I didn't know exactly where the second shipment was and when it was unguarded."

"Unguarded? How? Where?"

Hook, line, and sinker, I thought again.

Out loud I said, "Warehouse 15. You guys have caused more damage to them than you might think. Half their boys are out of commission and they've been forced to only post one guard during daylight hours."

"How--"

I cut him off for once. "I'm the guy assigned from nine to ten. The last chance for you and your crew to really put the hurt on SmashStone."

Seth Bridgess looked like he'd found religion. He made a show of distrust, much like Terry Mac before him, but in Bridgess' case, it was just the motions. He was halfway out the door before he remembered that I was still tied down in the room.

He neatly flicked his wrist and the knife was at my bonds. It was a casual move, one he obviously didn't plan on, because his hand jerked to a stop mere millimeters away from granting me my freedom. It was clear, even in the moment, that some part of him was conflicted.

This was a dangerous moment for me. Technically, Bridgess had everything he needed for the op. I wasn't necessary. But on the other hand, if things went wrong and I wasn't alive to take the blame, Cutter might just shift that blame.

"If I don't show up to my shift--on time--at nine o'clock the SmashStones will know something's up." 

Bridgess hesitated. Whatever train of thought he had was shaken. "That's not enough." His breath washed over me, stinking of cigarettes--and something else. At the time I couldn't place that something. But it was a scent I would soon become intimately familiar with. I smelled almonds on his breath.

"If I take this to Cutter he'll cut me. I need something damn good to tell them before they'll trust you."

Just like before, I held the goon's gaze. I thought hard about Jerry. It hurt so much to think about my friend. The only white kid in the Heap. Out of all of us, he alone had a chance to make good on his promise to escape. The rest of us would need a miracle. I was looking right at the guy who probably lead the raid on the SmashStone drug transfer. If hate were a flame, I had enough fire to burn Bridgess alive. No more kids in caskets.

"You have what you need," I told him. "There's only one thing on my mind. I'm going to kill SmashStone."

Bridgess let his knife fly. My bonds came loose and I slumped in the chair. My arms were weak. I'd already lost so much blood. My breath was ragged. My lungs couldn't have hurt more if I'd gotten a faceful of fiberglass dust.

"Thanks," I grunted. "Take this-take this information straight to Cutter. You'll need everyone. Have everyone there on the west side of the warehouse by eight-thirty. When nine o'clock rolls around, it's all yours."

Bridgess bobbed his head several times. "One more thing, kid."

I started to ask what it was, but before I'd even opened my mouth, Seth Bridgess poked his knife into the burn on my chest and twisted. For the second time that day, I screamed bloody murder.

"The pain. You take that, and you walk outta here with it. And just remember, if you back out now, there's much worse we'll do to you before we kill you."

I don't think I answered him. He shoved me through the door where I stumbled and fell. The other members jeered and threw red Solo Orbs at me. The Orbs are just some kind of mouth-sized seaweed compound that replaced plastic cups after the Great Corporate War. The company died along with the rest of them, but their name stuck around for some reason. Anyway, the Orbs didn't hurt too bad when they hit, but they did burst open like water balloons and drench me in various sports drinks.

I made it past the goons. The daylight struck at my eyes like a lance. My eyes burned even as I blinked about a million times to try and get them to adjust.

"Good luck kid," one of the guards murmured as I passed him. I couldn't tell you who it was, I never found out. As out of it as I was, I couldn't even tell you what the guy looked like.

I'd been through hell. There was only one place I wanted to go now. Home. And fortunately for me, the place would be empty.

#The City In FreeFall #new #superheores #fantasy #current wip #StreetTeam

[therealkn]

David’s Resolution - Day 18

Day 18 (January 18, 2019)

Blade: Trinity (2004)

“In the movies, Dracula wears a cape, and some old English guy always manages to save the day at the last minute with crosses and holy water. But everybody knows the movies are full of shit. The truth is, it started with Blade, and it ended with him. The rest of us were just along for the ride.”

In 1997, Batman & Robin was released to theaters and... well, a lot of people didn’t like it. In fact, many say it’s one of the worst movies ever made. The first part is true as it was slammed by critics and audiences upon release and has cultivated a considerable notoriety for its badness; the second part is false because trust me, it is FAR from the worst ever made. If you unironically consider Batman & Robin one of the worst films ever, please tell me what your criteria are for determining whether a film is “one of the worst ever”, because I think that criteria is lacking. But one thing that is for certain about Batman & Robin is that it, along with the failure of Steel that same year, more or less killed DC Comics’ hold in the box office. They struggled for several years with other films until finally seeing success again with 2005′s Batman Begins, which was a critical and commercial success and started Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight Trilogy” of Batman films.

In between those Batman films, however, Marvel Comics decided to take another shot at movies after some... not-so-great films. And we got Blade. Hell yeah.

Telling the stylish and action-packed tale of the half-vampire Blade (Wesley Snipes) who hunts down vampires and does so in the coolest way possible, Blade - released one year after Batman & Robin - was a critical and commercial success, Marvel’s first in the box office. This was impressive not only because it was a comic book movie and people were questioning the viability of the genre after Batman & Robin, but also because it was an R-rated comic book movie featuring a more obscure character instead of someone more well-known to audiences. Blade was a pretty cool, stylish, badass movie and while X-Men and Spider-Man would become bigger and more famous successes, I’d like to think that Blade started Marvel’s new era of superhero movies and influenced their approach to making future films, especially when it came to looking into more obscure properties to adapt to film like the Guardians of the Galaxy.

And then there was Blade II, released in 2002 and directed by my guy Guillermo del Toro. This was a sequel that was even better than the original in practically every way. The villain was cooler and surprisingly sympathetic (not being mean to you, Stephen Dorff, you were great in the first film, but I’m just saying), the story has some neat twists to it, the characters are great and memorable, the action’s exciting and one-ups the sequences in the first movie, and it has Del Toro’s distinctive visual style for days.

And then came Blade: Trinity, which cocked the whole thing up. In order to properly prepare for this film, I watched the other two films (I’ve seen them before, which is why I’m not writing full reviews for them). I had actually tried to watch this years ago but only got as far as the first act because younger David somehow thought it was that bad. That’s the younger David who would have probably disliked watching sex, lies, and videotape.

This movie’s premise is simple: the vampire world has decided that in order to destroy Blade, they hit the Godzilla threshold and awaken Dracula (Dominic Purcell), the very first vampire ever to exist, to help them fight. And this time, Blade’s not doing it alone. Okay, he wasn’t always alone, as he had his mentor Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) in the other two films and- oh, they kill off Whistler in the first act, wow, that’s some bullshit. Well, now Blade has become part of a group of vampire hunters called the Nightstalkers, and accompanying him is the wisecracking Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) and Whistler’s daughter Abigail (Jessica Biel). Okay, the stakes are raised - pun unintended, promise - and this is going to be the biggest challenge yet for Blade.

Speaking of Ryan Reynolds... he’s the best thing in this movie ,getting that out there right now. His character, Hannibal King, could best be described as “Deadpool Lite”. He calls his vampire ex a cock-juggling thundercunt, which is one of the greatest insults of all time and that alone makes him great. I can see why some people would find him annoying or grating, but I like to think of it as a dry run for his playing the Merc with a Mouth, which is funny considering that around this time, Reynolds was hearing about the Deadpool character. In fact, after this movie, Reynolds would begin the twelve-year-long journey of bringing DP to the big screen, which would involve playing a character named Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

I’m sorry, this movie is not great. It’s just a big disappointing letdown. One of the problems with the movie is with Blade. Not the character himself, he’s still pretty cool and Wesley Snipes is great. I mean that this doesn’t feel like his movie. In the other two movies, it was pretty clear he was the guy in charge, especially in Blade II when he made it clear to the vampires he formed a truce with that he was not someone you screw with. But in this one, he just kinda gets shunted off for several other characters. To their credit, Marvel would get better at ensemble films (The Avengers, ‘nuff said), but in this one, it just feels sad. We watched this movie because we want more of Blade. But it feels like they put him in the back seat to focus more on other characters. He’s the title character for fuck’s sake, and yet he feels like he’s a side character in his own movie. Just like what happened with Tom and Jerry...

What doesn’t help either is that the film is one of those “too many things happening for its own good” films. The movie’s got too much going on and it feels confusing. What’s this film about? Is it about Blade fighting Dracula with the Nightstalkers? Is it about the vampire world finally getting the law to crack down on Blade? Is it about the vampire’s plans to completely subjugate the world? It doesn’t seem to know which one it wants to focus on, which really hurts considering that this is supposed to be the biggest threat that the vampire hunters of the world ever faced, and yet Dracula seems like less of a legitimate threat than Deacon Frost in the first movie or the Reaper virus in the second. And it’s not the only third film in a superhero film series to have this problem, as X-Men: The Last Stand had this same problem with too much happening. Again, Marvel at least got better at juggling multiple plotlines in superhero movies with their cinematic universe, so there is that.

There’s a lot of other problems big and small, and a good chunk of them can probably be traced back to Wesley Snipes. The production of this film was pretty screwed up, and a lot of it is due to him. David S. Goyer, who wrote all the Blade films including this one, ended up directing it when no one else wanted to take the job. Snipes was unhappy with Goyer’s decision to direct, and both he and Kris Kristofferson were unhappy with the script, which is probably why Kristofferson’s character is killed off early on. (Reminds me of what they did with RoboCop’s partner in RoboCop 3, another third movie in a series that sucked.) Not only that, but Snipes was hostile to Goyer as well as Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel; at one point, Hannibal King says “He doesn’t like me, does he?”, which was not Hannibal talking about Blade, but Reynolds talking about Snipes. Snipes also apparently refused to leave his trailer for any scenes that didn’t show his face, so his stunt double did a lot of the Blade scenes. His working relationship with Goyer got so bad that he called him a racist several times for no reason and refused to speak to him, communicating only in Post-It notes. The fact that the final film got finished and is... watchable... is pretty impressive.

This film, sadly, killed off the Blade franchise. New Line Cinema’s problems with Wesley Snipes led to them making a short-lived TV show on Spike TV with someone else playing the Daywalker, and then Snipes got sent to prison for tax evasion and the Blade character’s film rights reverted to Marvel during his prison term. He’s been in talks with Marvel Studios to bring the character back, but so far they’ve said they have no plans for the character in the future. Here’s hoping we get more Blade in the future.

I should also mention that the version I saw was the unrated cut, which doesn’t really add more violence or swears or other things cut for an MPAA rating as all the Blade movies were rated R. It has some more plot and character stuff, but that doesn’t help the movie much when compared to the theatrical version. The biggest change is the ending, which includes the infamous shot of Blade’s opening eyes being superimposed over his face when Snipes refused to open his eyes in the scene.

This movie’s a mess, plain and simple. It is without a doubt the weakest film in the Blade trilogy, which sucks because it could have been better. If they had trimmed some of the plotlines and focused more on Blade than his companions, it would have been better. Like Mimic 3, I don’t hate the film, I just find it disappointing with how it could have been better. For what it is, it’s still watchable, but it’s just a muddled mess of a movie. Not sure if I’d recommend it. I’d definitely recommend the other two Blade films.

Also, if any of you are hoping for me to review more Marvel movies as part of this resolution, you may be out of luck, sadly. I’ve seen all the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, as I had to catch up in time for Avengers: Infinity War, as well as all the X-Men films and spinoffs and the 2003 Hulk, which I actually really liked, even more than some MCU films (to which someone will say “it’s okay, you can just say Thor: The Dark World”). ...Although I haven’t seen the Amazing Spider-Man films yet...

Next time: How about a GOOD comic book movie from 1997?

#David's resolution #Blade: Trinity

[waldowski89-blog]

Tumblr Written Return.

So, I’m back here doing my usual routine. Hello, I guess… you guess? In any case, I enjoy these don’t get me wrong. My abrasiveness is just something acquired, I think. Or not talking to people, I don’t know. Okay, that started off on a wrong foot, left or right you decide… god this is rubbish. So I’ll split this into 3? I didn’t say that last time. I think three segments is enough for 1,000 words… enough for anybody.

I think I’m at the point where most people give up [Edit 20-02-19: I kinda wanna.]. I want to be relentless with this. This notebook seems like it may take longer to fill. Anyway apparently there’s a point where people quit or feel like it but it comes just before take off as it were. Not that that was ever the plan of course. I always felt if it made one person laugh or happy or entertained etc. then it was worth it. I’ll take regular in writing this or these [Edit 20-02-19: I seriously don’t know what that means… oh breaks I think I meant.]. I won’t include times though just dates. All that was probably only interesting to me anyway. I don’t really know.

Wow, can you believe I’ve been here on and off for about two years now? Does it seem like that? I don’t know. Don’t roll your eyes at that. It really has been a while, hasn’t it? Do you look forward to another two years? I’m smiling so I must be. I never cared about popularity or getting paid… hint hint. Eurgh, all that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I just want to entertain but one has to make a living too. Can one really trade in blood… that’s overly creepy. I meant metaphysically. I don’t always talk about positive subjects. Also I was about to talk on where I’ve been this past month. The thought is conflicted… who really cares anyway. Why am I so grim and grey? Cue Bohemian Rhapsody. Actually that’s interesting that’s a nonsense song and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a nonsense story. I really want to get around to reading that. I want to do a reading on a new channel of mine. It’s not set up properly though and I have nothing to post there yet. Just a few maybe dumb outtakes of Jane Eyre. I wanted to read that first… for an old friend. I LOVE YA BUB! BUB. Hey that’s a point, I forget to do ending ideas on my streams. I shall begin that again too… I mean I already started streaming again but I meant the Ending Ideas™ IN ANY CASE! (My talents are wasted) (What talent?)

Where I’ve Been? been up to?

Right hello again, next section. So I’m not going to go into depths as to where I was and what I got up to. Suffice it to say that it was an education. An ongoing education. Also one that technically started years ago. There’s no need for me to go into great detail anyway. Clearly there’s something wrong with my mental health. I have been determined to have a mental disorder. That is or it has been observed that way. I don’t disagree. Oof, I don’t like talking about it. It always brings the mood down. Put short I am depressed and this could be due to anxieties I have. Fear not though for I am getting help. Deers. Should I call my audience deers? Jeeze why the fuck do I have an audience for this? It’s not fun. Hopefully talking helps. Openly or at least as openly as one would like. I want to move on already. With life, with everything. Again, fear not, for I will stay here as I can. It’s too dour. Let us move on shall we? I’ve barely broached the subject though. However I feel I’ve said enough. I hope.

In any case, hope is a good tool in these situations. Hope that things will get better and that it just takes time… it’s taking a pretty fucking long time, huh? That’s about all I’ve got on this subject for now. Oh, except that there was an app about all this. Link! Hey you! Yes you! Got crippling depression? Feel anxious all the time? Yes? Then there’s an app for you.

Okay, now that was overly facetious (I’ll have to edit in whether I spelt facetious right or not later) [Edit 20-02-19: I did.]. Anyway I’ll link (spelt tink wrong it’s early… and I did it even wronger just then). I’ll link it at the end. I haven’t used it myself (fear perhaps) but I will in time. It sounds very helpful bringing each other hope in depressing times/situations/circumstances.

I’ve always wanted to help people. Entertain people. Keep people smiling. It’s nice. Like Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid: “I’ve never used my powers to help people before… It feels… kind of… nice…”. I can still hear that in my head. Gosh, I played Metal Gear Solid a lot as a child… David Hayter in that Christmas message about it was like: “Yeah, well it’s a dark world.”. That was epic where he just dropped into The Voice™: “Brother” and Cam Clarke too: “Dear brother.” I FUCKING LOVE THAT GAME AND ALL THE VOICE ACTORS AND CREATORS AND EVERYONE! … In any case… FFFOXE DIE DIE DIE… calm down Andrew. Counterintuitively I’m listening to the Hitman Blood Money Soundtrack.

Been Looking at Microphones.

Anyway, time to move on. I wrote the above title a few days ago. I’ll read back this thing to get a better idea of where I am. I usually write these in bits over a few days.

Okay, so that seems like a waste of time. It’s just my usual pontificating. So the microphones. I don’t know or remember why I wanted to dedicate a whole section to that but hey ho here we are (I’m listening to the album Hollow Bones by Rival Sons by the way. More Links!). Um basically I was thinking of investing in a much more expensive microphone. That’s it really.

So moving on from that… jeeze it feels like one of these mission constraints in Assassin’s Creed. “Write only about buying a professional microphones only” Well I’ve broken that constraint but there’s no checkpoint here.

In any case, that was it. Interestingly though I found the album Hollow Bones by chance or by how I usually find music and that’s through the recommended on iTunes. I actually do usually judge an album by it’s cover and this one is cool. It has what could be an arctic fox on the front. I’ll put a pic in here.

[Edit 22-02-19: Nice vape, yo.]

I found this album from the recommended in Victorious by Wolfmother. That album gives me nostalgia (what doesn’t?) for a few years ago. It was when I was in the grip of psychosis I think (That’s brave? Don’t post this) I thought I was in a TV show or something. I can’t be the only one to ever have felt this way… Derren Brown more specifically anyway. That’s all over with now. I wasn’t it turns out. I thought the music was a message to me directly as if created for me… I know it’s or may be narcissistic of me. Anyway I tried to listen and applied the lyrics to my life… ANYWAY… I guess I finish this by linking a Jack White video: “Let the music tell you what to do” I haven’t even watched it yet. I will now but alas we are at the end of another Tumblr. I look forward to working with you again friend… The Internet. My name’s Waldowsky (with a ‘y’ why? for now) and thank you to every single one of you who read. My hand hurts (Stop complaining, Andrew).

Just watched it. Well I was going to say I can write a bunch and keep it all. I hardly delete anything. I’ll link Death Letter too… I really love that track. Curiouser and curiouser, I just realised it’s from De Stijl… what a coincidence that he should mention that song.

[Final Edit 20-02-19: A lot of this made no fucking sense.]

[Final Final Edit 22-02-19 or P.S.: The app was called Wisdo. Still haven’t tried it yet.]

Links

Wisdo

Hitman: Blood Money Soundtrack [Edit 22-02-19: I nearly forgot to add this. I need to find a soundtrack for Metal Gear Solid too. I have some music from that game, so don’t you worry.]

Hollow Bones - Rival Sons

Victorious - Wolfmother

Jack White - Speech: "Let the music tell you what to do" | Producers & Engineers Honoree | GRAMMYS

Bonus

Bonus Bonus [Edit 22-02-19: There ya go.]