#oh my gods I was wondering why it felt like a build up season

[artists-ally]

I think Harvey would be thw type of person who makes love specially when he’s feeling sad. Like he needs comfort and to be as close to his s/o as possible, fingers intertwined and all that nice shit. How do you think reader would comfort him after he had a discussion with someone of his family?

{Oh, My Human Heart} Harvey Specter x Reader

So my mind went to [SEASON 8 EPISODE 5 SPOILER WARNING] where Harvey went up to Boston to defend his brother against his wife's divorce. That shit crushed my soul man, so this is based on that! Enjoy!! Title is a lyric from this song.

Word Count: 3,191

Warnings: fluff, hurt/comfort, angst, smut, Season 8 Episode 5 Spoilers

Summary: When Harvey returned home from visiting his brother unexpectedly, there is an obvious weight to his shoulders as he slumps inside. And it’s your mission to find out what it is and wipe it from his memory.

Tagging: @kjbg-fantasymoon (your request is next babes <3)

~~~~~~~

The door slammed. Hard. Concerningly hard. 

“Harvey?” You shouted out into the kitchen, taking off the towel from your shoulder and set it on the counter. No one responded. Worry coursed through you, and you grabbed the knife from the cutting board. Just in case. 

Your husband rounded the corner and you jumped, but let the fear drain from your held breath and set the knife down. “Jesus Harvy, you could’ve… hey, what are you doing back here?”

Harvey looked indecipherably pissed. He had hard creases in his face and his lips pressed in that flat line that meant someone was about to see that side of him that meant he was gonna raise hell. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out, and he let his hands fall to his sides. 

“Okay, okay come sit, love,” You reached for him and guided him to the island. “Do you want to talk about it? A distraction? To be left the hell alone?”

That communication strategy had worked wonders when Harvey came home from a lethal case. All the details you knew about this one involved his brother and a divorce from his wife. It had already shattered Harvey’s heart to hear they were splitting up, but this was… this was rage. Raw fury. 

“I am going to open my mouth and let the floodgates go with it, and I just need you to try and make sense of it. Because for reasons only known by Jesus-fucking-Christ himself can this be possible.”

You just nodded, letting Harvey take some deep breaths. You noticed his hands were shaking. He was shaking. What the fuck happened in Boston?

“Marcus called me up there to represent him for his divorce,” Harvey started, thumbs in his eyes. “He told me that it was because she had an affair. I was ready to go kick down her door and take their kids away myself. Turns out, he lied to me. She was divorcing him because he started gambling again and he told Haley not to tell Katie.”

Your blood ran cold, all remorse leaving your body for Marcus. How could he fucking do that? 

“So, tell me this Yn. Why would my own god damn brother, who I spent my money on to build him a dream restaurant, lie to my fucking face? Not once. Not twice. Four times. Four opportunities he had to tell me and he waited till the last fucking second. I-I can’t even begin to describe how sick it makes me feel to have Haley be put in that position.”

“It is wildly unfair for her, and for their son,” you felt awful for them. They were the sweetest kids and didn’t deserve to have that weight on their shoulders. 

“I mean, was he not apart of the fucking family when mom did that to me? Did he suddenly just show up on our doorstep one night looking for a place to sleep like a stray cat? No, he didn’t. He’s my fucking brother. He was there when mom did it to me. And he saw what it did to our family. What it did to me. He was the one trying to fix our fucking fucked up family. To piece it together after the fall out and he expects me to do the same when he did the one thing worse than practically fucking cheating on her.”

“Harvey I think that's a little-”

“Now he’s destroying his own life. No, not even destroying, destroyed. He has ruined all chances of working things out between him and Katie and honestly, I can’t be fucking bothered to watch it crumble to the ground. And the worst part of it is he had the audacity to ask me to win this case. He doesn’t deserve to win let alone ask me. What a selfish, lying son of a bitch-”

“Harvey,” you placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from walking away. He had been moving around animatedly, now up out of his seat and waving around. “Take a deep breath. Please.”

He did.

“Good,” You smiled softly. 

He took another. And another. “Sorry… just- sorry.”

“It’s okay,” You came and stood in front of him, hands flat on his chest. “Let’s go and get you changed and we can keep talking through it. If you’d like.”

Though Harvey’s eyes were harsh, that anger wasn’t directed at you. You’ve dealt with him like this on more than one occasion, and you’ve learned to recognize the difference. He didn’t dare look at you the way he is now.

After taking his hand and leading him up stairs, you took your time undressing him so he could be more comfortable. Once upon a time he had told you that the feeling of your hands on him could make him forget anything and everything. It was only in your best interest to do that for him now. To calm him so he could see the full picture.

Starting with his tie, you walked to the closet and hung it up in the empty space from where you picked it out this morning. Much the same with the jacket, tossing his still crisp white-shirt in the laundry. He handed you his belt and shoes, and while you put them away, he took off his dress pants and put on sweats by the time you came back. 

“Better?” You asked, placing his hands across your middle. 

He smiled, “Better.” 

Harvey was still sitting, but he rested his forehead against your stomach, just breathing. With calm hands you massaged his scalp and neck, his shoulders and arms. It was important to give Harvey his space at times like this, letting him speak when he wanted. Otherwise he’d just get defensive and shut down. That was not beneficial to either of you.

“I’m so fucking mad at Marcus, Yn.”

“I know, my love. I know,” You spoke softly, kissing the top of his head. “So am I.”

“I just don’t understand how he could do that after what mom did to me. I thought- I thought we were brothers again.” 

His voice cracked, and you could feel the first tear drops soak through your shirt and cool your skin. Your stomach clenched and dropped. You know Harvey and Marcus have been rocky for decades, but since he forgave his mom and started rebuilding their relationship, things naturally got better with Marcus. 

So much for all that hard work. And you had been so proud of him for taking those steps. And you knew the toll it took on him. Now it was all back at square one. 

“I am so sorry, Harvey.”

“What the fuck do I do?”

You paused for a long while. “I don’t know.”

When he looked up at you, eyes all red and bleary, you wanted to fly to Boston and smack Marcus yourself for putting Harvey right back where he was when he was sixteen. He may not have been the one asked to keep a secret this time, but he knows what it’s like to be in that situation. To feel so pinned and powerless. The looming decision of whether he should betray his mom or dad, a constant threat, and either outcome will ruin the family. 

“Are you up for listening to my ideas or do you still need to get things off your chest?” All you got was a shrug and a few spilled tears. “Okay, there’s no rush.”

“I just don’t know what to do, Yn. I have no fucking clue what I’m supposed to do. I want to beat him into the dirt the most. I want to hold Haley and tell her that none of this was ever her fault and she is not the one to blame. Goddamn do I want to hug Haley right now…”

You had to close your eyes. You didn’t want to see Harvey in this position, especially because you knew what this did to him. It stirred up all those memories and emotions from decades ago. Now they were all at the surface, controlling every one of his thoughts. And there isn’t a whole lot that you can do to get them to stop.

“I think you’re angry.”

“You’re goddamn right I’m angry,” Harvey huffed, making you let out a weak chuckle. 

“And I also think that I know you when you’re angry. And that you don’t think clearly when you are. So, how about we distract you for a while and then we get some sleep. Then, maybe in the morning, we lay it all out again and go over what we know. Look at all the facts and whatnot. Because, despite your very much warranted anger towards Marcus, he is still your brother. And family means more than anything to you, Harvey. I can’t let you spend the next thirty years in regret for not trying. You owe that to yourself. Not anyone else.”

“I don’t even know where to start with all this bullshit.”

“That’s where I come in,” You smiled, sitting in his lap with one leg on each side of his. “Look Harvey, you have every single right to be upset. I am pissed at Marcus for doing that to Haley. But I will not let this drive another cavern between you and him. The two of you have been through enough. He fucked up, and he knows it because you’re Harvey goddamn Specter and you told him he did. But you forgave him once. And you forgave your mom. It is worth a shot to hear him out, and I’m not saying it has to be right away either. Just eventually.”

Harvey’s brown eyes darted around your face, that tight line still on his lips. When you tilted your head and batted your lashes, he sighed out, nodding. “Okay, okay fine you’re right.”

“Of course I am,” your smile made him finally unclench the space between his brows. “It’s because I’m really good at knowing who you are, and knowing how to approach a situation. You’re good at being a kick-ass lawyer and I’m good at taming that kick-ass lawyer.” “You love it when I let that animal out of the cage,” he smirked, hands stroking down your thighs. 

“If you refer to yourself as an animal in a cage again I will walk out that door and spend the night at Donna’s.”

“Okay okay,” he grinned ear to ear, pressing kisses on your cheek, then down your neck. “I’m sorry for being so… hostile. Thank you, Yn. For calming me down.”

“You’re welcome, my love.”

“I don’t know what it is that you do, but you make it all disappear.”

“It’s my secret,” you whispered, kissing his lips. “And I won’t ever tell.”

“I bet I could make you tell me,” Harvey winked and grabbed around your waist, taking you with him when he leaned back. 

“Oh, is that a fact?” “No, but it is a challenge.” 

He tangled his hand in your hair, bringing your mouth to his. He tasted like whatever cheap whiskey he had on the plane and mint. You let your body form to his and didn’t mind the way his tongue found yours. Harvey’s hands were gentle as they peeled away the cardigan on your shoulders, tossing it away to be picked up later. 

He took his time, slowly stripping you and easing you on your back. You wrapped your legs around his waist and needed to have his mouth on yours again. He was such a good kisser. So thorough and precise with what he wanted to do to you. 

And he was always very thorough. 

Harvey placed kisses down your chest, down your stomach and to each hip.

“Babe-”

“Shh,” he hushed. “Just let me do what I want. You just lay back and look pretty. Fuck do you look pretty, my love.”

Your heart melted. Normally he had a wicked, dirty tongue but tonight was obviously different. He wanted something to focus on, and if that was going to be you, then so be it. You surely weren’t going to stop him from spreading your knees and tucking his head to your core. 

If Harvey could do one thing for the rest of his life, he’d sure have a hard time picking between you and the law. While he loved his work, your mind and body were two things even the high of winning couldn’t compare to. Harvey loved you. Ferociously. With every part of his body he loved you. 

His tongue circled your clit, and your hand went in his hair to keep him there. The laugh that tumbled from him was nothing short of star-seeing. One thing about Harvey is if you weren’t satisfied and thensome, neither was he. He loved making you cum on his tongue, loved how you tasted. 

It wasn’t long before you warned him you were close, and he just hummed into you, vibrations making you arch up off the bed, tugging equally as hard on his hair as you did the sheets beside you. 

“I will never get sick of making you feel good, Yn. I love that I am the one who gets to spend these moments with you.”

“Harvey,” you swooned, cupping his face to bring him back up so you could kiss him. Your scent was strong on his lips and made you only need him that much more. All it took was a few impatient grabs at his shirt to make him take it off so you could finally get your hands on that body of his. 

All that time in the boxing gym surely paid off. 

Harvey brough your knee up and pushed it flat on the bed, pulling the other one around his hip. He pushed in, chest to chest with you as he sat still for a few moments. 

“I love you so much, Yn,” Harvey whispered, thumb training down your cheek, your neck. He slid it all the way down your arm and laced your fingers together, kissing them as he pulled back. He wouldn’t leave your lips alone, not that you wanted that in the slightest. He was all soft words and pleas of desperation. Telling you how good you felt.

It was like your wedding night all over again. When the two of you met, it had been in a fury of hands and tongues. All fast because there wasn’t a second to waste when it finally happened. But on your big day, he laid you down, just like this, and worshiped you all night long. 

Every word from his mouth was just him telling you how much you meant to him, his body seconding that omission. He was so dedicated to you, to making you feel good. It was all long, smooth strokes of his body inside yours, the warmth of your combined breaths. Swallowing each other's noises of pleasure.

“I am so in love with you,” Harvey smiled. “I am so fucking in love with you.”

You couldn’t hide your smile if you tried. It wasn’t rare that Harvey was affectionate– per say– but this was an illusive moment. He wine and dined you whenever you asked, you were always his plus one anywhere in the world. But it was these small, yet enormous moments of intimacy that you cherished the most. This was a side of Harvey that took a very long time to bring to the surface. And he too realized the weight of just taking his time and being soft with you. 

“I love you too, Harvey,” you whispered against his face, his mouth now busy with the side of your neck. Harvey couldn’t keep his hips slow for long, and they snapped to yours. Air pushed out of your mouth and right into his ear, right where it drove him crazy to hear what he did to you. 

“Fuck, my love, if you keep making those sounds this isn’t exactly going to be how I-”

“Now it’s my turn to take care of you,” you responded, locking your ankles together behind his back.

A shiver ran through his shoulders and he dropped to his elbows, hips driving into you faster and faster. Harder. It didn’t take him long to reach his high, fucking you through it. His heart pounded underneath his skin so hard you could feel it. A slight sweat at the back of his head where hair met skin. 

When he lifted his head, his eyes looked less… weighted. He looked much more himself. Muc more like Harvey and a little less like Mr. Specter. 

You mentally patted yourself on the back. 

There wasn’t anything you could do to convince him to not drag you into the shower down the hall. The warmth of the water, the heaviness in your body only made his fingers on your scalp that much better. He kissed all over, giving your ass a loving smack when getting out before wrapping a big towel around the both of you. 

“Promise in the morning that we can do this all again and then I can make you a big breakfast?”

“Only if you promise that there will be sausage and bacon,” your eyes were droopy, but the smile reached them anyway. 

“Good thing Postmates will go to the grocery store nowadays,” Harvey slipped one of his shirts over your head, straightening it out over your body. “You look so adorable in my clothes.”

“I know, why do you think I wear them when you’re gone?” “You wear my clothes when I’m gone?” You pff’ed out some air, “Don’t act like you don’t notice the suspiciously large pile of your laundry in the hamper when you come back.”

“I don’t think you know how happy that makes me, Yn,” Harvey’s smile was nothing short of pure adoration. He was never short on pure adoration when it came to you. 

“Yes I do,” You smiled, wrapping your arms around his neck. “Why do you think I do it?”

“Because you know me. Really really well.”

“That I do.”

Harvey breathed out, shaking his head. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me for something anyone would do for their husband.”

“Well, in my experience, most wives aren’t nearly as observant or as dedicated as you are, Yn. And I want you to know how much I appreciate you and everything you help me through when I don’t know how to help myself.”

Your eyes melted, much like your heart when he hugged you. Nice and tight and just how you liked them. You always felt impossibly safe with him, and his hugs were impossibly your favorite thing in the world. 

Harvey would listen better in the morning. Especially after a good night's sleep. You just hope that all your efforts will lead him in the right direction. And that direction isn’t the clearest right now, and that’s okay. Both of you know it’s okay to not make a decision as big as something like this.

But you know Harvey will try. And that is all you can ask of him.

#harvey specter #harvey specter suits #harvey specter x reader #harvey specter smut #harvey specter fanfiction #suits smut #suits fanfiction #suits fanfic #suits tv #suits

[loreleismusings99]

Two Body Problem

Ch 4

[Masterlist]

Qualifying exams are stressful. coming to terms with budding romantic feelings is somehow even more stressful. In which Mark and the reader critique each others' work and a surprising amount of sleep happens.

Thank you for reading! sorry this took so long to get out, I just graduated(can't believe I have a bachelor's degree now omg), and my life has been kind of a whirlwind lately, but I'm glad I was able to get this out. I don't think this is my strongest chapter, but I can move on to other parts of the story now this is done. As always, please let me know of ways I can improve this and if there's anything that should be fixed about this. Tysm, and I hope y'all are having a wonderful holiday season! Happy Perihelion Day!

also, y'all, I am running out of Matt Damon gifs to use for these so if you have any suggestions, please send them to me!

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God, my back hurts…

You shift under your blanket and grumble at the uncomfortably stiff structure that's currently cradling you. Cracking open an eye, you look around at your surroundings, becoming increasingly familiar as the clouds of sleep part and slowly return your senses to you. Why am I in the living room? Cracking open the other eye, you’re nearly blinded by the morning’s sunlight. Letting out a raspy “ugh…” at the unpleasant stimulus, you turn your head into your blanket again to shield your eyes from the offending ball of ionized hydrogen.

A new piece of sensory information halts your thoughts almost completely when you bury your face in your blanket though; notes of honey with an afterthought of what might be soil flood your senses, layered with something bergamot-y and a mystery spice that gives warmth to the smell. The smell reminds you of your night in the library, labs full of undergrads extracting caffeine from tea leaves, and office hours in the too-cramped grad office in the biosciences building. You remember a hand brushing yours as you both reach for the same homework packet, then mousy blond hair, striking green eyes, and a smattering of freckles.

The realization that your blanket smells like Mark hits you like a freight train and you're suddenly ripped from the clutches of sleep as he fills your senses. You try to find it within you, but you can’t quite locate the discomfort you thought you’d experience being confronted with Mark’s presence--however fleeting and ephemeral-- first thing in the morning. The feelings it stirs within you are… pleasant?? Being enveloped by the earthy scent is calming for whatever reason; like being held, wrapped in a profound sense of home and safety that you rarely have felt in your adult life. He must wear lavender… you think, trying to explain away the state you're in before drifting off again, sleeping in for the first time in a long while.

☆☆☆

“I'm sorry, you did what?!” Mark whirls around, his sandwich still clutched in his left hand while his right is holding his laptop in a precariously loose grip.

Colin rolls his eyes before responding to Mark's dramatic outburst. “Oh please, don't act so scandalized; that's a completely normal and average thing to ask--”

  The door slamming at almost midnight tonight was certainly not on Colin’s bingo sheet for the evening’s events, but it was a harbinger of more unexpected happenings starting with Mark’s sour mood after returning from what should have been an enjoyable get-together with his colleagues in the bioengineering department.

“Sure, yes, normally, but they’re about the least average individual I’ve met up until this point in my life, Colin; you can’t just--” Colin has had a front-row seat to Mark’s gradual descent into denial for almost 6 months at this point. As Mark starts waxing poetic about how inviting you over to do moc quals presentations together would be the single worst decision Colin’s made, he remembers the night he came back from that mixer the two of you met in late spring earlier this year.

“The fucking audacity, how did they get this far being so unprofessional--” Mark tosses his bag onto their shared couch a mere foot away from where Colin was sitting writing up a first draft of the introduction for his thesis proposal on improving science communication with the general public while avoiding misleading sensationalism. Mark storms off into his room before poking his head out the door to say, “Did you know using a switch case to find the number of elements in an array is apparently--” Mark mimes air quotes “‘so clunky that it should be considered a syntax error’? Fucking hell…”

As Mark ducks back into his room grumbling, Colin responds with,“ Mark, I promise you I had no clue… and good evening, why do you look and sound like someone just told you agriculture and botany are the same thing?” Colin waits for Mark’s response as he stomps out of his room, having exchanged his business casual garb for his pajamas, and sulks into their kitchen.

“Oh, no reason. I just had the displeasure of getting publically ridiculed by a EE who wouldn’t know the difference between a spanner and a set of calipers, their head’s so fucking deep in electronics they don’t know how to communicate with other humans.” after grabbing a bottle of lemonade from the fridge, Mark collapses down on the chair to Colin’s left, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut.

  He has it bad… Colin remembers thinking, as he does now, as he watches Mark run up his blood pressure, postulating about critiques you haven’t even had the chance to make on his quals paper and presentation yet. “Mark… Mark, listen.” Colin says to interrupt his wayward roommate’s self-sabotage. “It’s not that serious. They’re going to come over to get their paper looked at too--actually, they’re presenting the same day as you. They’re coming here with the same level of vulnerability as you. I don’t think they’ll go easy on you, but I don’t think they'd be cruel either.”

Colin waits a couple of seconds before asking,“... what’s their name?” Mark pauses and looks up at the ceiling with a faraway look in his eye before saying your name, calmly for the first time since he’s returned home for the evening. Colin and Mark sit in this pause before Mark continues, describing how you were a vision of confidence and poise in your sweater vest, oxfords, and slacks--likely due to unfounded pride, he added after snapping out of his momentary revere. It took everything in Colin’s power not to laugh in Mark’s face every time he tried to explain away every positive thing he noted about you, from your ‘surprising competence in biomechanical design to your managing to land a graduate assistantship in one of the best-funded bio-instrumentation labs in the department.

“How would you know? Hell, they were probably thrilled by the idea of getting to take me down a peg and ruin my faith in my thesis in the process--”

“Well, they certainly seemed eager, but likely not for the reason you think…” Colin responds absent-mindedly as he returns to prepping his presentation materials for their moc quals presentations.

Mark pauses in his nervous pacing and looks finally directly at Colin before asking, “What… exactly did they say? When you asked?”

“My, you’re awfully interested in the minutia of their reactions to you. I wonder why…” Colin postulates slyly, looking up from his computer and smirking.

It takes a few seconds of gear-turning in Mark's head before he finally picks up on what Colin is insinuating before the man in question lets out a guffaw and states, “Absolutely not. No. Impossible, inconceivable--”

“Explain yourself then; you've been emotionally constipated since the day you met them,” Colin crosses his arms before continuing, “You aren't very good at hiding the inner machinations of your head you know, it's written all over in how you act.”

“What I feel for them is probably the farthest thing from affection, they make me sick to my stomach--”

“You sure those aren't just butterflies?--”

“Can you please just answer my question?” Mark sighs in exasperation, and Colin lets out a chuckle before explaining how the events transpired.

“So, I found them in the lab--I think they were soldering something? Honestly, it's beyond what I was willing to ask about so I don't know, but I asked them how they were doing and if they're interested in doing moc quals with us--”

“How do you know where their lab is?”

“I majored in journalism, Mark--I have my methods, don't worry about it. Anyway, they perked up at the mention of moc quals and said that they're about to give their presentation on Friday and that they'd love to have extra practice presenting to people who would ask similar questions to what their committee would ask them. They even mentioned that, quote,‘ despite your likely lack of appreciation for their work, your opinions would be useful,’ end-quote.” Colin utters the last sentence with a chuckle.

Mark opens his mouth to say to retort before he's interrupted by a gentle knock at the door.

Mark looks up at the door and then frantically around the apartment, looking at the mess of dishes he had left from his dinner yesterday before uttering a soft “shit!”, tossing his computer onto the couch next to Colin, and holding his sandwich in his mouth as he picks up his dishes and runs them into the kitchen. “You didn’t say they’d be here now!!” Mark yells from behind the divider wall that separates the kitchen from the living/dining room area, hiding dirty dishes in a panicked frenzy as Colin gets up to let you in.

“You didn’t let me get that far before you started questioning me--Hi there, welcome in!” Colin calls over his shoulder before greeting you and stepping to the side of the open door to let you into his and Mark’s shared space.

“Hey, thanks for inviting… me…” You look around like this is the first time you've seen a room before saying“Wow, you two have a nice place” with what looks like a sparkle of awe in your eyes.

“Thanks,” Mark finally decides to pipe up after exiting the kitchen and leaning against the wall. “Sorry for the mess though, I didn't know we were going to have company.” Mark forces through a fake smile as he looks over to Colin with thinly veiled, panicked irritation.

“Ah, so the clutter and dirty dishes aren't a half-baked preparation strategy?” You jest, dawning a coy smirk before turning to Colin and asking, “Shoes on or off?”

Colin's barely able to get in an ‘either is fine’ before Mark rebuts with, “You wound me with how much you underestimate my very complex plan to distract you.” Colin almost sprains an ocular muscle rolling his eyes at Mark's attempt to play it cool after nearly having an aneurysm about you coming over as the man in question ducks back behind the false wall before saying, “I'm making Pizza Bagel Bites for us.” There's a short pause before Mark pokes his head around the wall to regard you again before asking, “Do you like Bagel Bites?”

“Yeah, Bagel Bites are fine.”

“Are you sure? I can make something else if you want; we also have hot pockets, an actual frozen pizza, and we might have some leftover soup from Thanksgiving too--”

You rest a hand on your hip and sit into it before asking, with a huff, “Mark, honestly l, anything is fine; are we going to do this or are you afraid my presentation's going to be better than yours?”

At this point, Colin has sat back down on their couch and is having the time of his life watching what's unfolding before him. He looks over to the kitchen where Mark is still hidden and listens as he hears a clamoring commotion of a pan being filled with frozen Bagel Bites and the furious beeps of the oven turning on to pre-heat before he rushes out of the kitchen, picks up his laptop, sits down, and opens it.

Mark dawns a haughty smirk and a competitive gleam sparks in his eyes as he says, typing away on his computer, “Oh, you have no idea the magnitude of scrutiny you've just unleashed upon your work…”

You let out a huff of a laugh before saying, “I expect nothing less” and opening up your laptop and sharing with the two of them your paper and presentation as the lot of you get started on your moc reviews.

The process is fairly simple: one of you presents while the other two act as your panel committee, asking questions, and making suggestions at the end of your presentation. Colin goes first, presenting his findings from his literature review of surveys and short-term studies of the efficacy of popular science news and the need for more long-term studies. This is something he's practiced hundreds of times, so the questions you throw at him aren't surprising--though, he is quite taken aback by how well-versed you are in pedagogical techniques in science communication and makes a note to pick your brain about your experience later.

You go next, Mark having half-offered half-volunteered you to go next, he's probably still trying to calm his nerves, Colin thinks as he watches Mark shift awkwardly in his seat while you stand from your spot on the couch next to him after setting up your presentation on your computer. Colin tries his best to focus on the lovely presentation on flexible electronics and their use in vitals monitoring, but he can’t help but be distracted by Mark's increasingly adorable investment in your presentation, actively listening and asking questions but with a faraway look in his eyes as he gazes at you with what can only be described as adoration as you passionately expound upon the process of medication release in implantable medical sensing devices. You finish your presentation and Mark enthusiastically jumps up to present last, evidently forgetting his nerves from earlier and diving straight into the complexities of irrigation and sustainable crop cultivation in extreme environments. Colin takes note of the understated excitement you exhibit at Mark's passion for his field, so reserved that he almost missed the way you attempted to block a blush and giggle at his peculiar use of casual, nearly comical lexicon in a presentation meant to convince the academics at the top of the botany ivory tower to give him a chance at becoming a professional scientist.

After presenting you all went over the notes you made on each other's presentations, discussing why certain word choice decisions were made, how each of you dealt with being confronted with A gap in your knowledge, et cetera. Mark was chewing on the end of a red pen while looking over the notes and suggestions you provided for his presentation before making a face and asking, “What’s wrong with my wording here? I think this is a perfectly valid term to describe nutrient uptake efficiency in--”

“Mark, do I need to tell you why you can’t say ‘slorp’ in a Ph.D. qualification oral exam?” You look up from your paper, now marked up with notes from Mark and Colin, and look pointedly at Mark, your mouth quirked into a poorly concealed smirk. Mark starts falling over his words trying to explain his reasoning--or lack thereof--while failing at holding back enthusiastic laughter.

Mark turns to Colin and asks, “Well, what do you think--do you see the academic value of using slorp in a presentation?”

Colin rests a hand gently on Mark’s shoulder before responding. “Mark, my dearest friend, I absolutely do not,” Colin says through bouts of laughter and it puts you in stitches next to Mark, laughing so hard that the only noise you can make is a high-pitched wheeze as you’re doubled over by your glee.

Mark dramatically clutches his shirt right over his heart and says, “Et tu, Brute??” before succumbing to his laughter.

☆☆☆

The empty chair to your right buzzes with the vibrations your restless leg sends through the floor as you await the panel's decision on whether or not you need to reconsider your place in the Ph.D. program. Every time you try to listen in on the conversation your advisor and mentors are having in the room behind you, Hana gently squeezes your hand to remind you to at least try not to obsess about your presentation. It's done now, the ball's in their court. All you can do now is wait and try not to send your blood pressure through the roof.

I think that went alright…you think, threading your fingers between Hana's in an attempt to ground yourself. I answered all of their questions correctly… I think. They didn't say so if I didn't; would they have done that? Fuck, what if they just decided to say nothing-

The door to Hana’s and your left opens suddenly to reveal your advisor, Dr. Ameer, poking his bald and bespectacled head out from behind the door before stepping out and standing to his full height, imposing from your current seated perspective.

He looks down at you for a moment before smiling proudly and holding out his hand. “Congratulations!” You take his hand and shake it feeling like the air got kicked out of your chest, only able to let out a breathless squeeze of a ‘thank you’ that your advisor lightly laughs at. “Excellent treatment of the current gap in the literature on the use of implantables for tissue regeneration for rehabilitative purposes in particular--it makes a great start to a thesis project.” He states, taking off his reading glasses.

You nod and say another “thank you,” stronger this time now that your tensed muscles have finally relaxed and Hana's got you wrapped up in a sideways hug. “I'll make sure to, uhm, send you my availability for the next week so we can discuss how I did and how I can improve. We should also start to discuss my thesis--where to start, what we're capable of doing, et cetera.”

“Absolutely. Don't forget to celebrate too, though. You work hard, you deserve the rest.” He says, sitting down in the chair to your right.

“Oh, don't worry about that,” Hana says, clapping you on the shoulder, “I'll make sure they have at least a little fun within the next 24 hours.”

“Thank you for your work keeping them sane.” Dr. Ameer says through a laugh.

“Is this an intervention?” you ask, looking back and forth at the two of them as they both guffaw at your bafflement.

“Alright,” Dr. Ameer starts, standing back up before saying, “Congratulations again, I'll see you on Monday.”

“Thank you, and see you then.” You respond, allowing yourself to finally smile with a gleam of pride in your eyes as he nods and walks off, presumably to his office.

You wait until you know he's out of earshot before bellowing out a, “Thank fucking God…” as Hana squeals, shaking your shoulders in pent-up excitement.

“Hey, don't act like you didn't nail it in there, I heard you, you were great!! Oozing confidence and academic splendor!” Hana responds, dramatically clutching a fist over her heart. “We have to celebrate properly tonight; maybe drinks and dinner at my place--”

“Please don't make it a big thing, it's not like I just defended my thesis,” you say through an exasperated sigh.

“Fine, but we're at least inviting over Colin and Mark--they just passed their quals too.”

An Incredulous and confused look twists your face when you ask, “How do you know? I thought they were presenting just now too?”

“Trivia night people have a group chat--here, look” Hana takes out her phone and shows you a text from Colin with a picture of him smiling with his arm around what looks like Mark, his head tilted back in relief while Colin ruffles his hair.

Your eyes linger on Mark's neck a little too long before you pull your gaze away and clear your throat, saying, “I see.”

“Hey,” Hana says, putting a hand on your shoulder, “we don't have to invite them, or anyone for that matter, especially if they'll make you uncomfortable.”

“No no, thank you, uhm, there's nothing wrong with that. If anything, I probably owe the two of them a thank you, we presented to each other and they both offered some awesome suggestions that I wouldn’t’ve thought of otherwise.”

Hana regards you silently for a moment, eyes narrowing before they widen in shock as she says, “No fucking way.”

“… What?”

“I mean, the two of you becoming civil with each other finally was to be expected, but I never would've thought--”

“Oh,” you say rolling your eyes as you go to stand up, “Okay, I see where this is going--”

“So I'm right then?” Hana grabs her bag and goes to follow you.

“Absolutely not.”

“You were just gazing longingly at Mark!”

“I do not gaze at him,” you wheeze out with a laugh as you push open the doors to the Tech building.

“Okay, so why did you just freeze right now? I refuse to believe it was a nondescript brain fart and you just so happened to zone out looking at Mark's trachea--” Hana finishes her sentence in a whisper to not attract the attention of the undergrads walking past them in the courtyard.

You whip around to look Hana in the eye as you whisper-yell, “What I feel for Mark is the farthest thing from attraction, I can't possibly think of a world where he would inspire anything other than disgust--”

“Denial is a river in Egypt, my friend, and we are in the midwest--”

“God, I can't believe you--” You whirl back around and start walking off in the direction of your apartment.

“I'm inviting them over, and be at mine by 5!!” Hana shouts at your retreating form and you throw up a thumbs up to show your acknowledgment.

  Your mind wanders on your way back home; you remember eating a Pizza Bagel during your moc quals with Colin and Mark, the latter suddenly saying, “Wait! Hold still” causing you to freeze in your tracks and your eyes to widen into saucers, thinking a bug or something crawled onto you. He reaches over and gently swipes a thumb across the corner of your mouth before saying“ Rogue pizza sauce” before moving on to the next thing that caught his attention. You're still frozen in place, trying to process what just happened, when Mark absentmindedly licks the tomato sauce off his thumb like he forgot that that was just on your face and not his. Now, something like this usually wouldn’t surprise you--especially given Mark's tendency to forget the simplest of things--but for whatever reason your brain short-circuited; at a complete loss for words, for once in your life not a single thought crossed your mind--just complete radio silence and a faint fluttering feeling in your chest. You didn't notice it at the time, perhaps because you didn't want to, but that fluttering felt different than you expected. You wanted to feel a flush of anger wash over you at his invasion of your personal space but all you could muster was the nauseating fondness you felt that night he walked you home after trivia night.

This realization makes your face twist into a scowl. “Shit…” you say, burying your face deep into your coat.

  When you enter Hana’s apartment building, the weight and warmth from your jacket and the building hallway make your skin prickle with sweat. You unzip your jacket and tug a little on your turtleneck’s collar before knocking on her door. A muffled “Hold on!” sounds from behind the door before Hana flings the door open a few seconds later. “Come on in!” she hurries you in while carrying a pan of what looks like an attempt at caramelizing… something?

You take off your shoes and place them on the small rack set up next to the front door before hanging up your coat next to Hana’s on a nearby coat hook. “What are you making?” you question, the medley of smells hitting your nose almost making your eyes water.

“Chicken parm--assuming I'm doing this right,” says over her shoulder while rushing back into her kitchenette, trying not to spill the contents of the very hot pot on her person.

“Hana, I'm not sure if you're supposed to caramelize anything in a chicken parmesan dish?” you follow her timidly into the kitchen, not entirely sure you want to bear witness to what she is concocting.

“You’ve gotta have more faith in my process,” Hana says confidently over her shoulder right before the pan on the stove in front of her bursts into flame. There's a brief scramble As the two of you try to put out the fire, eventually being left with a charred mess sitting in the pan with the two of you staring at it blankly.

“... Portillo's?”

“Yeah,” you respond with a light huff.

  You're drying off and putting away dishes as Hana passes them to you after giving them a thorough scrubbing to get off the char from her attempt at cooking dinner. After about two minutes of this Hana puts down the dish she's working on and huffs before saying, “I'm putting on some music, any requests?”

You pause and think for a moment before answering, “Um… I don't know; What've you been listening to lately?”

“This is gonna sound kind of weird, but I've been on a bit of an ABBA kick lately.” She says, drying her hands off before retrieving her phone from the front pocket of her ‘That's not Burnt, that's Flavor’ apron.

“Knowing you, that's not weird at all.” You deadpan before the two of you let out a stream of giggles. Hana taps away at her phone for a couple of seconds, and Chiquitita starts playing from a speaker on the far side of the kitchen to your left. “Oo, that's a good one.”

“Darling, they're all good ones,” Hana says through a playful smirk, making you laugh. The rest of the otherwise boring task goes by much more slowly but more enjoyably with the two of you intermittently stopping to sing along at the top of your lungs with whatever song caught your collective attention, Hana occasionally using whatever cooking utensil was within her grasp as an impromptu fake-microphone. She's in the middle of a surprisingly impressive belt during Lay All Your Love on Me when a confident knocking echoes through the apartment. “Ope, is that them?” she inquires in a suddenly quieter voice with what you detect as a hint of bashfulness--possibly at the prospect of being heard through the door. She briefly checks her phone while you dry the last plate and put it away. “Yep!” she says before doffing her apron and nearly prancing to her front door.

You turn around and open up a cupboard to put away the plate you're holding, but as you reach up you feel a pair of eyes on your back. You close the cabinet door and whirl around only to be met with a pair of infuriatingly disarming green eyes. In your periphery, you can see Mark’s shoulders pitch up slightly before a toothy smile blooms across his face, catching you off guard with the sincerity of it. You clumsily return his smile before congratulating him before dawning a defensive smirk and saying, “I’m glad our corrections weren’t ignored” jokingly implying that was the only thing stopping him from failing.

A grimace distorts Mark’s smile before he opens his mouth to speak, pausing for a second before finally letting out a laugh and saying, “I was about to say that I had to because Botany isn’t exactly as easy as what you do, but saying something is only biomedical sensor engineering doesn’t exactly have the punch I ‘m looking for.” He and Colin take off their shoes and you and Mark close the distance between the two of you before he continues. “Glad to hear you passed too--what is that smell, is something burning?” Mark interrupts himself, halfway through crossing his arms when he finally catches a whiff of the residual char in the air from Hana’s cooking.

“That would be the aftermath of Hana’s attempt at cooking; don’t worry, we called Portillos as soon as the pan lit on fire.” You quickly add after seeing the color drain a bit from Mark’s cheeks.

You wonder if they’ve always been that rosy before he frantically looks between you and Hana and asks, “You lit a pan on fire?!”

“Only a little bit, we put it out quickly--the alarm didn’t even go off.” Hana dismisses Mark’s worry with a wave of her hand while walking over to her speaker to turn its volume down.

“That’s a shame, we could’ve roasted non-stick flavored marshmallows,” Colin jests from his spot at Hana’s kitchen island before she sticks her tongue out at him, sending the lot of you into a laughing fit. “Well, what do we want to do until the dogs get here?”

Hana pauses to think for a second before ducking to rifle through a set of board and card games she keeps under her living room speaker and reemerges with a small red box. “‘We’re Not Really Strangers’?” she punctuates her question by lightly shaking the box, “I’ve got a few packs mixed in here, so we shouldn’t get any repeats if we’re waiting a while.”

Colin responds in the affirmative before enthusiastically walking over to her couch and plopping down with a ‘whoomph.’ Mark shifts next to you before stating in an almost whisper, “This ought to be interesting.” The two of you look at each other and you scan his face, taking in the mirth evident in his lightly freckled face and you lightly nudge him with a wheeze of a laugh before walking over to get a seat at Hana’s coffee table.

  How can one person be so fucking warm?? You internally hiss to yourself while sitting next to Mark. The two of you still have about an inch of separation between the two of you but even so, you feel like the warmth radiating off his body is smothering you in a calm you’re trying to steel yourself against. You’re sitting in a half-crisscross position with your leg resting on top of your foot now to make it harder for you to subconsciously inch closer to Mark to try to remedy the ever-present chill that usually plagues you--with what appears to be little success considering the two of you stared out on this couch with about 6 inches of space between the two of you. Mark guffaws heartily at Hana’s answer to the card Colin just pulled and you can feel the seat shake with his laughter, the proximity of his person to yours making your heart ache dully. This is miserable, I’m miserable, why is this happening, why me? Why him?? You wonder to yourself with a slightly pained smile and chuckle while Hana pulls a card from the pile in the center of the table.

“Let’s see--ough, I hate this one; ‘What are your plans for the future?’ survive this Ph.D.” Hana immediately answers with a wheeze of a laugh putting the card in the discard pile.

“Honestly, same--I’m just glad my quals are done so I can focus my time and energy on research,” Colin answers before taking a sip of his water and looking to Mark for his answer.

“Alright, are we talking about, like, the next five years or more of what my endgame is for what I want to do with my life? Because I wouldn’t be able to securely pin that down if my life depended on it.” Mark laughs after Hana tells him to say whatever he has an answer for. He pauses for a moment before continuing. “Well,” he begins, crossing his arms, looking up at the ceiling, and slightly adjusting his position, spreading his legs slightly; it takes every ounce of willpower in every atom of your body not to look down at his legs as he does so. “I’m planning on submitting to the NASA GSRP soon, so, assuming I get awarded it, I’ll be working more with botanists at Kennedy Space Center to develop cultivation experiments for the ARES missions--If they ever happen at all.” Mark finishes with a scoff, making you frown. With the tumultuous nature of how government is run, it's becoming increasingly difficult to gauge if there’ll be funding for ambitious space missions like the budding ARES program. Mark abruptly turns to you--itching to turn the attention away from himself--and asks, “What about you?”

You’re given pause by the way Mark abruptly changes the subject, but answer anyway. “Oh, um, I’m headed to Pasadena in the spring; I’m working with one of the engineers there on electronics for a Lunar water surveyor--seems like we’re both NASA-bound. You’ll have to tell me more about the project you’re submitting for, it seems interesting--we might even be able to collaborate a little bit, depending on how far my work on this surveyor goes.”

You end your answer with a coy smirk and for a flash of a second, you could've sworn you saw Mark’s eyes briefly cast downwards to your lips before rocketing back up to meet yours. No, that can’t be possible. God, I’m losing it-- you think to yourself before the man in question interrupts your internal agonizing. “Oh, so you think I’m good enough to get the fellowship?” He inquires with a jesting tone, ducking his head to look up at you through his eyelashes, his vermillion eyes scrutinizing you through the varying shades of blond and brown.

You look at him incredulously and answer before thinking better of voicing your knee-jerk reaction, “Of course; I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.” The realization of what you said hits you like a ton of bricks flying at you at Mach 1 as you see Mark’s cheeks flush. Again with the rosy cheeks? Did I make him uncomfortable? Was that too much? Shit, does he think I like him now? Fuck--

“Ah, well, I’ve got nothing to worry about then--if even you think I could do it.” Mark laughs and claps a hand on your shoulder, making you let out a huff and a chuckle in relief at his jovial tone, thinking you’ve narrowly escaped being found out.

“Alright, enough work talk--” Colin captures your attention after letting out a light chuckle and motions for you to pick up a card. “Your turn, Inspector Gadget.”

You lightly chortle before reaching over to pick a card up from the top of the pile of unused cards. “‘Do you think I’m a good kisser?’ Hana, I thought you said these were from the friendship pack???” The whole table bursts into laughter while Hana chokes out a confirmation that it is indeed from the friendship pack. “Alright, out with it, what are your verdicts?” you ask through an exasperated sigh.

“Honestly, I think you’d be a great kisser, remember when we visited Vanessa’s mom in Vegas and you somehow tied two cherry stems with your tongue? While drunk no less--” Hana interrupts herself with her own laughter as you choke on the water you’re drinking at the mention of that night.

“Fuck, I forgot about that!” you cough out. “If it means anything, I had to use my teeth for most of that--I was afraid I was going to swallow the things both times,” you confess with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I don’t know how good of an indicator that is; one of my exes also could tie a cherry stem with his tongue, but the first time we kissed he practically shoved his tongue down my throat.” Colin weighed in with a scoff before continuing, “What do you think Mark?”

Mark pauses for a moment and in that calm, you notice that he’s draped his arm over the seat cushion behind you. In an unexpected wave of wreckless confidence--at least, that’s what you’d call it--you decide to lean back into his arm, immediately relishing in how warm he is. He considers you for a moment, a surprised look on his face before answering, “Honestly I feel like you could go either way; either you’re a mind-numbingly great, or criminally terrible, no in-between” Hana and Colin break into a side-splitting laugh and you ask him to please explain what his reasoning is behind that answer. “You… you--” Mark interrupts his sentence with a breathy laugh, looking up and away from you before continuing. “Alright, look, you… have a lot of surprising things about you and they’re all, like extremes--”

“Yeah???” you interject, your face contorted into an incredulous smirk.

“Yes, let me finish--”

“Please do--”

“So, I think it would be one of those things that you’re, like, inexplicably good at for no fucking reason, or you’d exceed my expectations and be worse than I thought you’d be.” He finishes, barely able to hold back his chortles.

“And what exactly were your expectations?” you ask, feeling warmth flood your cheeks at the revelation that he’s thought about kissing you before. You try your best to stamp out those thoughts before your infuriatingly lovesick brain can indulge in them, thinking God, I’m hopeless. Mark pauses for a second, looking at you apprehensively. You can feel his arm shift on the cushion behind you as he agonizes about whether or not to tell you. “...Mark--”

“That you’d be kind of mid--” he admits with a grimace.

“WOW!” you exclaim, laughing like you just got the air punched out of you. “The amount of confidence you have in me is truly inspiring--is there anything you think I do well?”

“Piss me off--” The four of you lose your minds with laughter; you go to grip your leg to brace yourself against but accidentally slap your hand against Mark’s. The muscles in his leg tense and you freeze. You feel like you should--no, have to--move your hand but for whatever reason the signals your brain is sending to your arm are getting lost in transit, leaving your hand planted steadfastly on top of his quadricep. A spark of surprise flashes through his eyes for a moment before he moves his hand to grasp at yours, still resting on his leg. “You do that perfectly--”

“Fuck off,” you draw your hand out of his grasp, laughing to yourself and unable to look him in the eye.

☆☆☆

After your Portillos arrive you all dig in, opting to put your card game away in favor of watching a Seinfeld rerun while you all eat. Mark tries to focus on his hot dog to get the memory of how your hand felt on his leg out of his mind. I suppose that’s my fault for not noticing how close we were getting. Did they want that? Why did I want that?? Fuck, I hope I didn’t make them uncomfortable-- Mark takes a deep breath after swallowing a mouthful of hot dog to try to calm his racing thoughts. He feels a pair of eyes on him while he zones out watching the TV and turns his gaze in your direction. You stare back at him with an indiscernible expression before asking, “You okay?”

He smiles and nods, trying not to let his inner turmoil show, “Yeah, I’m good--just starting to get a little tired.” At least that much was true; the fatigue of the past couple weeks of preparation for his quals had decided to dump itself on him now that the adrenaline of the whole ordeal had dissipated. You hum and nod before patting him on the back, an alarmingly comforting gesture that Mark didn’t expect to appreciate as much as he did. The four of you continued to watch Seinfeld until he could feel his eyelids begin to droop. Shit, he thought, I can’t be this tired right now, I still need to get home-- His train of thought is interrupted when he feels you slump against his shoulder gently. He looks down at your now asleep form and huffs out a silent laugh, finding you asleep for a second time that week. He looks up to Colin and Hana, who both seem to be engrossed in the exploits of George and Jerry, before he decides to rest his eyes for a second as well, thinking there wasn’t any harm in taking a moment to rest for once. Mark nods off before he can hear Hana and Colin snicker to themselves.

===

tag list:

@oliviabelova , @anna-withnn

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#the martian #mark watney #andy weir #the martian(2015) #mark watney x reader #gn!reader #mark watney x gn!reader #academic rivals #self insert #no use of y/n #two body problem

[scintillating-galaxias]

oh my god, i am. actually so pleased and relieved about the way good omens season two handles an adult wlw relationship. just... idk, there's something nice that, even though the whole point of aziraphale and crowley's meddling was a weird, magical, happily ever after for nina and maggie--it wasn't meant to be. not yet. lesbian rambling under the cut . no editing we typo like. lesbians

i feel like it would have felt really hollow and cheap if aziraphale's and crowley's interference paid off and went off without a hitch. it'd feel like... i don't know, the process, the journey, would have been dismissed, and it'd end with nina in particular not understanding why maggie feels the way towards her as she does and maggie missing out on a lot of important milestones while seeing someone. she's known nina for a week. if the Plan worked, the End Result is all that matters, right? which would contradict the show's core message about how wonderful the time and grace to know someone is, (especially as long as crowley and aziraphale have known each other, cough) and how it's necessary to really understand what 'us' means without forsaking 'you.'

that plan was fated (i know, loaded word) to fail. they weren't in love with each other. maggie is in love with nina, sure! but again, she's known her for a week, and nina isn't ready for a relationship and had broken up with a seriously horrible partner not 12 hours before the time the last episode takes place. there is no 'love' to see! aziraphale didn't Make Up love ("miracles don't work like that") and i don't think he would have particularly wanted to even if he could. no wonder they were so baffled and bemused at the strange 'feel happy and lovely and wholesome to your fellows' air he soaked the place in at his ball.

the scene of maggie fetching the milk and other supplies nina needs and being with her at the counter shows that nina can trust her with helping out with the coffee shop (which, yknow, also parallels neatly with aziraphale trusting crowley with his shop), which is obviously something deeply important to her. again and again, she worries about opening, about getting the night-workers their coffee, and refusing to let it go even due to a partner that constantly degraded her and blamed her for their failing relationship. that's a huge opening-up. nina says it herself, she's closed off, but nonetheless, that's a branch she's extending out for maggie! she's willing to do that much, and maggie handles it wonderfully. they both know a relationship would just be too much. nina is still willing to try, despite her hurt, because she can trust maggie to put in the work.

these last thoughts ramble even more than the rest, but i'm glad the last ep left the off where it did. no time skip to go, 'oh they talked and they waited, and it all worked out!' or something, but it ends like... realistically. relationships don't just, happen, without a good deal of talking. look how that worked out for az and crow. acknowledging the need for space (and a good chiding to meddling forces of heaven and hell) but not pushing each other away completely and isolating themselves one another, i think, is a sign that they can do well together. even though maggie knows she is completely head over heels for this women, she doesn't even make a move towards her while they're sitting down with crowley in episode 6. and then they end in their own shops with the space they requested. its respect and trust, and that's the foundation you really need to build before a relationship can start anyway!!

#good omens 2 spoilers #good omens spoilers #go spoilers #good omens 2 #good omens #maggie #nina #i wonder what their ship name is #ill tag it properly later #also . as a lesbian #really glad they didnt do the 'how funny that the wlw rush into a relationship after rebounding from a pretty horrible one!!' #like they said! we're people too! #and we deserve space and time when we request it

[sequinsmile-x]

Alacrity

It was Mother’s Day here, but it wasn’t back at home.

-x-

I don't know why I thought the poll I did would have any other result than doing a Mother's Day fic today and when it's Mother's Day in the US haha

So here is your first Mother's Day fic of the season. You'll be mad at me for the first couple of minutes hehe

-x-

Words: 2.2k

Warnings: None!

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

March, she thought, was a strange month. On the cusp of two seasons, the weather was unpredictable. Cold with the wind biting at your ears one day, and a textbook spring day the next. Warmth that you could feel on your face if you stood in the sun for long enough, a sure sign of all the new beginnings to come. 

Emily wonders if anywhere was stranger than London. 

She sighs as she’s jostled on the underground, the train busy despite it being a Sunday, and she finds herself yet again asking herself why she ever answered Clyde’s calls. As she steps out onto the street she’s hit by cool air, the almost suppressive heat from the train dissipating, but she smiles as she walks towards the Interpol building. Clyde offered her a car, although caveated that it would take some time because it was Mother’s Day, so she’d decided she would make her own way over. 

It was Mother’s Day here, but it wasn’t back at home. She shakes the thought off, knowing it would make her emotional, tears something she didn’t want to shed. 

Clyde has the audacity to smirk at her as she walks into his office, as if she hadn’t trekked across a city for him on what was supposed to be her day off. 

“Darling,” he says, his smirk widening as she glares at him, “You made it.” 

“Can we get this over with, Clyde?” She asks, taking a seat facing his desk. 

“Oh,” he replies, leaning forward on his desk, his hands clasped together, “You are grumpy.” 

“Clyde, I swear to God-”

“What, you had plans today did you?” 

She rolls her eyes at him and crosses her arms over her chest, “I was going to go have some breakfast, and then maybe go to the Tower of London.” 

He chuckles at her, “Quite the little tourist aren’t you?” 

She laughs, shaking her head, embarrassment that feels misplaced spreading through her, tinging her cheeks pink. She’d grown up without roots, always somewhere new, leaving whenever a place felt familiar. She’d never felt as if she could explore a place as a visitor, never had the chance to look at a city and wonder what it would be like to live there because she already had the answer. It was different now she had a home, somewhere she belonged, and it allowed her to enjoy travel in a way she hadn’t thought she ever would.

Even if it was for work. 

“Well, I am here for a whole week by myself, I had to do something with my time off.” 

Clyde winks at her, always insistent on trying to flirt with her even after all this time, “Just think, if you’d taken me up on my job offer all those years ago this would be your home.” 

For a second, she’d almost taken him up on it. Fear and adrenaline from the bank explosion coursing through her, her body practically vibrating with it as she stepped outside, briefly wondering if she should just leave. Then she’d spotted Aaron. He’d wrapped his arms tightly around her, rushing over and pulling her into a hug that left no doubt in the rest of the team's minds about their relationship. A secret they had kept for months in rubble at their feet, just like the building behind them. 

Fear had almost made her leave. Her past constantly chasing her. Visible in every dark corner. But love made her stay. Love for Aaron, for his son. Her future a bright light that reminded her that her monsters were dead and buried, no longer hiding in the shadows. 

She looks down at her hands in her lap, at the wedding rings that shone in the bright lights of Clyde’s office. 

“Well,” she says, smiling at him like she did every time he brought it up, “I would have been giving up a lot more than a job if I had.” 

He hums, barely hiding a smile before he leans back in his chair, “You can go.” 

It takes a moment for his words to sink in, and she frowns at him, her eyebrows knitting together, “What?”

“The issue rather resolved itself,” he says, shrugging nonchalantly, “Sorry you wasted your time coming down here.” 

She clenches her teeth and clears her throat, “You couldn’t have called me?” She asks, staring at him, irritation licking at her insides, “Told me to turn back around, go back to my very comfortable bed in my hotel room?” 

“You were on the underground,” he smirks, “You would have had no service. You go home on Tuesday?” 

She shakes her head as she stands up, “Yes, I do. I’ve got an early flight, so tomorrow is your last chance if you need me for anything else.” 

“Until next time of course,” he says, eyes fixed on her as she walks towards his office door.

“You’ll be lucky if I ever answer the phone again,” she quips, and she hears him laugh behind her, “See you next time, Clyde.” 

“Do thank that husband of yours for letting us borrow you,” he replies, and she flips him off over her shoulder, smiling to herself as his laughter increases.

If she’d turned back, she would have seen the fond smile on his face.

___

Emily sighs as she walks back into her hotel suite, ensuring the door is closed behind her. She takes a sip of her coffee and freezes when she hears a sound that comes from one of the bedrooms. She turns slowly, staying quiet as she places her coffee down on the side. Her fingers twitch for the gun she doesn’t have on her hip, her weapon left all the way at home back in DC. She swallows thickly and takes a moment to gather herself, trying to reassure herself that it would likely just be housekeeping, before she calls out. 

“Hello? Who’s there?” 

There’s a beat of silence, and then one of the doors swings open, followed by an all too familiar voice. 

“Surprise!” 

She’s hit full force by Jack running at her, the young boy wrapping his arms tightly around her. She hugs him back just as fiercely, choking on a laugh as it escapes her.

“Jack!” She exclaims, leaning down to kiss the top of his head, “What are you doing here?” 

“We thought we’d surprise you.” 

She stands up straight to see her husband walk into view, their two-year-old daughter on his hip. Olivia reaches out for her as soon as she’s within reach, her tiny hands grasping for her mother. 

“Mama!” 

“Hi sweet girl,” she says, pulling her daughter into her arms. She presses a fierce kiss into her hair, feeling a tension she hadn’t realised was in her chest easing at the familiar weight against her, “Mommy missed you,” she kisses Olivia’s head once more before smiling down at Jack, ruffling his hair with her spare hand, “I missed both of you.” 

It was the longest she’d been away since she’d had Olivia, the longest she’d ever been away from her daughter. She’d almost turned Clyde’s request for help down because of it, but Aaron had gently encouraged her. Told her to go as she would have without a second thought a few years ago. 

“What about me?” 

She looks at her husband, her eyes drifting over his polo shirt, the way the muscles in his arms shifted under his skin as he puts his hands on his hips. She smiles at him, her lips sinking into her lower lip as she adjusts her hold on their daughter. 

“I guess I missed you too,” she replies, her smirk giving way to a smile as he raises an eyebrow at her as he closes the gap between them. He leans in to kiss her, and she chases him as he pulls back, stamping another kiss to his lips, “What are you doing here?” 

He shrugs as if the answer was obvious, “It’s Mother’s Day.” 

“We brought you presents. And cards!” Jack explains, his excitement clear. 

She looks back at Aaron and shakes her head, “Honey…” 

He senses her confusion, her inability to understand why he’d fly their family to come to see her when she was due home in a few days anyway. As if she wasn’t the glue that held them all together, the very thing that made them what they were.

“Jack,” he says, gaining his son’s attention as he takes Olivia from Emily, placing the little girl down on the ground next to her brother, “Take your sister into your room, and why don’t you help her pick out her outfit for today? We’ll go out for lunch soon. Mom and I will be in to help her change in a minute.” 

Jack nods, taking his little sister's hand, “Come on Livvy,” he says, walking slowly enough for the toddler to walk in tandem with him, “That’s Daddy’s way of saying the grown-ups need some time alone.” 

Emily laughs at that, her heart swelling in her chest as she watches her children walk towards the spare bedroom that had been empty her entire time in London. Aaron chuckles too, shaking his head as he meets his wife's eyes. 

“He gets that from you, you know,” he says, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her properly into his embrace, “He had nowhere near as much attitude before you moved in.” 

She smiles, and she links her hands behind his neck, pulling him in for a kiss, “You love it,” she replies, scratching at the back of his head with her blunt nails, “Aaron…”

“We wanted to come, Em,” he says, his hand firm on her lower back as he pulls her closer, a fond smile on his face, “The kids were insistent on it. Livvy especially.” 

“Oh,” she says, smiling widely at him, “Our two-year-old insisted you all boarded a trans-Atlantic flight just two days before I was due home?” 

“She was very vocal about it,” he quips, leaning in to kiss her again, enjoying having her back in his arms after a week apart. Emily hums in response, “Besides, Clyde let us use one of the jets.” 

She scoffs as it all slides into place. Clyde’s insistence she trekked across town to see him, only to send her back almost immediately. He was buying Aaron time to sneak into her hotel.

“That bast-”

“Little ears in the next room, sweetheart,” he says, a smile spreading over his face that lets her know he’s proud of himself, “He called me the first day you were here,” he explains, running his hand up and down her back, “Something about you looking more miserable than he’d ever seen you. And that that was saying something.” 

“Ce bâtard moralisateur.”

“Em.”

“Neither of the kids speaks French, Aaron.” 

“Neither do I,” he jokes, pressing a kiss to her cheek, “But even I know that wasn’t a compliment.” 

She laughs and then nods. She bites her lower lip, her joy at seeing him, at seeing all of them, bubbling under her skin, “It’s still a long way to come just to see me.” 

Aaron frowns at her and moves one of his hands from her back to cup her cheek, holding her in place so he can look at her properly, “You’re our favourite person, Em,” he says seriously, the previous teasing nature of their conversation nowhere to be found, “We’d all travel all the way across the world to see you if we needed to.” 

She doesn’t know what to say to that. Somehow, even after all this time, still taken aback when he said something so open. So full of affection it makes her old tactics of running scream at her from deep inside where she’d buried them long again. It’s fleeting, barely a second before she lets herself enjoy the feeling of being in his embrace, the muffled sounds of their children talking through the thin hotel room wall. She simply nods before she leans in to kiss him, stamping her lips against his twice before she pulls back and rests her forehead against his. 

“I love you.” 

“I love you too,” he replies, “What were your plans for today? It is Mother’s Day after all, so it only seems fair that you decide.” 

She beams at him, “Well, I was going to eat and then go to the Tower of London,” she scrunches her nose up, “Although with the kids with us that might not be-”

“You’re kidding right?” He cuts over her, smiling widely, “Jack is a 10-year-old boy, going somewhere like that is a dream come true. And Livvy will likely sleep in the stroller all afternoon anyway because of the time difference.” 

She nods, “Ok, that sounds perfect,” she kisses him once more before pulling back from him entirely, “We should check on the kids, at this rate we’ll be hauling Livvy around in whatever the most mismatched clothes you packed are.” He chuckles, his hand on her lower back as they walk towards the kid's room, “I hope you know this doesn’t mean you get out of Mother’s Day in May.” 

He laughs and kisses the side of her head, “I wouldn’t dream of it.” 

-x-

Tag list:

@ssa-sparks, @lukeclvez, @lyds102, @glockleveledatyourcrotch, @hotchnissenthusiast, @danadeservesadrink, @ssamorganhotchner, @emilyprentissisgod, @notagentprentiss, @freesiasandfics, @emilyshotchniss, @thecharmingart, @paulitalblond, @hancydrewfan, @camille093, @whitecrossgirl, @moonlight-2-6, @rawr-jess, @florenceremingtonthethird, @jareauswife, @ms-black-a, @beebeelank, @aubreyprc, @zipzapboingg, @psychopath-at-heart, @criminalmindsgonewrong, @fionaloover, @kinqslcys, @prentissinred, @ccmattis-22, @denvivale317, @thrindis, @hotchsguccitie, @cmfouatslota77, @alexblakegf, @aliensaurusrex, @prentissxhotch, @emobabeyy, @victoiregranger, @stormyweatherth, @wanderingdreamer009, @ssablackbird, @luhwithah, @lex13cm, @prentiss-theorem, @dont-emily-me, @mrs-ssa-hotch, @jocyycreation, @itsmytimetoodream

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#hotchniss #hotchniss fanfiction #hotchniss fanfic #aaron x emily #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #hotch x prentiss #aaron hotchner fanfiction #emily prentiss fanfic

[unsleepingtales]

MENTOPOLIS REACTIONS EPISODE ONE

Here we go babeyyyyyy. (this is so long. you have been warned.)

Right off the bat the cc says (cool opening noir music) and I'm in love

Mind of a scientist ok!!

brainstorm I'm dying already

HE'S BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME <3<3

I'm so excited for Hank Green in the dome guys

Also I love that Hank gets to show just how big a dropout fan he is here

I love that they hacked the system by hiring the people who wrote the original system lmao

God the table is SO COOL

Oh god is this gonna be corrupt

It would be so cool to see theoretically moral 'people' have to deal with being the mental functions of a not necessarily 'moral' person

closeups on the buildings this is SO cool

Dome antics AND light antics??? We're being so spoiled this season <3

First episodes are usually one of my favorites in any given season because I love getting introduced to the characters and watching a story get set up and this looks to be no different

I love the custom office scene for Trapp is there going to be a unique backdrop on the dome for each intro??

Brennan found a list of slang terms for detectives somewhere and decided to have a good time huh

A rubbery kinda guy

Tropes!

I for one LOVE the puns

Siobhan is gonna kill it as a femme fatale I can already tell

They're being so dramatic I love them I love this so much

ooh okay different time system? That's really interesting I wonder why like is it just because the scale is smaller or is there some larger reason within the world logic?

"I understand the sequence of the words you've said, I don't understand how it involves me just yet" FELT

ooh that's a cool feat

what the fuck are you two talking about

they have a mayor?

Does stuff being in the newspaper mean that it comes to the attention of the big guy?

(nat one sound) I love that that's a normal caption <3

Halving mechanic my beloved!! King Solomon that shit

(sad, New York accent) me every day of my goddamn life

is one of god's own children a real saying that I've just never heard in my life

Brennan was just waiting for Danielle to ask what their name was and I'm so glad he was able to slip it in even though she didn't

Norrel Ojiccle I'm gonna lose my mind

The clunk means failure :D

Entirely unrelated but I can't wait for merch of this season I just know it's gonna slap

so many reporters, just one fact checker. so real.

Ooh okay so A probably has ties to a rich/powerful family but left to make her own way

So when an attention being goes somewhere it actually calls the big guy's attention to it? Like if A went to the red light district it wouldn't matter if she reported it or not, the very fact of her being there would do something?

"I heard you say a lotta words there but deep down I really don't wanna pay attention" FELT

Also the word play of he doesn't want to pay her. Because she's A Tension.

Also I didn't write it before but. I think there's more going on with her name than just being a play on attention. Tension means something else. We've gotten clues that the Pulse family has impact on the big guy's actions, implying that they have something to do with the circulatory system, I'm thinking something similar could be going on and that the ties A has could be to a musculatory family? Idk maybe I'm clowning.

(making those sounds you make right before sneezing) cc writers I love you

I was prepared to have mild distaste for this character I was not prepared to be charmed

I love that the names in the red light district all seem to be things that feel good or are a luxury or connect to a physical pleasure trigger in the body I think that's neat

Dan Fucks and Donny Urges. Man.

Ohohoho intrusive thoughts. Oh boy.

The lighting on Brennan's eyes as he said that lmaooo

That one time a barber whispered in your ear. Is this just like a universal experience.

It's not sexual. It's also not not sexual. (being satisfied) it's nooOt sexuAl

oh my GOD oxytocin being hot chocolate but also oxytocin being outlawed because the big guy is lonely and touch starved

I silence with my arms. Also my gun, if necessary. I love you.

Why is he vaguely french

The big guy doesn't DESERVE pleasure???

Deserve.

Hmm.

(saying "yeah" back and forth in increasingly horny ways)

(Hank trying to control his laughter and himself)

(weirdly tense mouth sounds)

They're all so delighted by what's happening this is wonderful

Nobody's allowed to feel good until the job is done this is such neurodivergent guilt shit. This is gonna nerf me I think.

You're telling me that the giant hitman has bad sneak? Unbelievable.

Tropes!

I am once again begging for posters of the dome art. Please. Like retro style travel posters.

oh he's good at this. he's really good at this.

fuck why was that kind of hot.

(Brennan silently laughing in terror and awe) me too babe meee toooo

He can use sharp instead of slick 'cause he's Menacing another cool feat!!

Also yeah that is menacing

I don't think Brennan was prepared to be that flustered and honestly besties neither was I

Hank's satisfied little smirk <3

Trapp so fed up and simultaneously delighted with the puns

But what happens when he's hyperfixated on something that is of no use to the main ambitions of the big guy? What happens to him then?

He's so prepared for it to be a pun

He feels a feeling that he does not know and is not comfortable with. I was so right when I said the audhd rep (explicit or otherwise) would nerf me in the emotions.

Ooh I just noticed on the map it looks like the university is in the red light district? Fascinating.

"Would a good guy do a bad thing?" oh my GOD??

I gave him all the facts and he made a choice KIDDO

He put the papers out of order on purpose?

(old timey speech music)

And all of this makes sense!

Bonjour, hello- Oh well I don't speak that!

"Please reconsider" reconsider what?? Just the illegality of it? Or did he get rejected for a job or smth? I feel like I'm overthinking this.

OOH STAT BREAKDOWN LOVE IT

Are they gonna alternate spellings of his name because if so that's hilarious

My MORTAL ENEMY (referring to a child that was introduced as small, too small, and whose character sheet refers to him as teeny tiny.)

We need lore on the Fakename family please

Oh of course they know each other!

Does that imply that Imelda is somewhat related to intrusive thoughts?

They also know each other!

Babe what are you saying

Notably slightly shinier than most rocks!

It's very satisfying to me that Conrad's stat dice are in descending order.

Wayward interests...

That's not what a superlative is?

OKAY I'M GLAD HE AGREES WITH ME

I love him

The wayward interests are past hyperfixations?? Or maybe interests that were deemed unhelpful?

They both know so many facts this is going to be a wonderful season

I like when it is very clearly explained thank you

What are youuuuu

List of Lists kid <3

Oh my god magic kid. I'm gonna cry.

Key??

Okay so she has an insane amount of power.

Cousins! Ok!

A also has a key! Noted!

Is this kid about to get shot

oh GOD WHAT

Oh what have you done

I loved that so much cannot wait for next week <3

#mentopolis #The Fix #brennan #HANK #dropout art team <3 #rick perry appreciation hours #verbal component #reactions

[granitenotgranted]

I'm gonna need ur reaction and thoughts about the RaM finale once you've watched it

I only watched it yesterday so im not gonna have any hot and spicy new takes for yall but ya girl DID have some thoughts lets go (obviously spoiler warning)

thank you SO SO much for asking!! I’m honored that you want my takes<33

Listen I hate to say it but I KNEW IT WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!! GOD!!! 😭😭😭

I just need to come out here and say this but first of all I dont think Rick replacing himself was really a bad thing,,,, like at all LMAO especially knowing that it was Rick who made him I mean it was more than just a replacement he was made to be the grandpa he wants for morty but he just knows he can’t be right now.

I can fully understand how it would absolutely feel like a betrayal to Morty but looking at it as a viewer I mean Rick was fully spiraling, to me his intentions were completely pure. Also I thik im just grateful they gave us a time stamp for when the swap was made so we didnt have to wonder forever how much of Rick this season was Rick. He still did piss master, he still kept Jerry blissfully ignorant just out of good will, he STILL WILLINGLY WENT TO THERAPY. All these wouldve been out the window if theyd overlooked that detail. 

Him recognizing that he was starting to go off the deep end again and not only removing himself but having his familys best interest in mind ( “Im no good to anyone until I resolve this” ) while doing so AND literally while mad at Morty is still INSANE character growth from where we started but this way is REALISTIC character growth. It was WEIRD how black and white the difference between literally yhe last two episodes and even just the rest of the season (which has famously been Rick in his peak good grandpa career) was. At some points it felt like I was reading fanfiction.

(Why do his knees look like that oh my god) Rick is fully capable of recognizing where he can be better, he always has been, he is not stupid *however* he is CLUTCHING onto the idea of being more logical than sentimental by the fucking neck rn. Men will literally build an anatomically flawless ai to be the perfectly calculated percentage nicer to their grandson and to be the man they wish they were before just going back to therapy.

Someone else mentioned this but ill also point out how much I appreciated just seeing Rick working? Like just in his space completely focused building shit with his brain and hands that hit the fucking spot. 9/10 times we only get the finished product and idk if its just me but I love when we SEE Rick living up to the Rick Sanchez tm reputation.

And Morty... my sweet summer child. It is not at all a shiny new take to say oh he’s so done with ricks shit we all know that but I really really want to point out something that I’m not really sure what point I’m trying to make with but have we noticed almost a switch morty flips when on adventures? He cried because Christmas was ruined like not even a full 6 hours before he was fully ready to kill a man while looking him in the eyes. Maybe the two were cause and effect idk bht I think that’s definitely something present in other episodes too this sorta “just get it done” attitude.

Also how much he sounded like rick this ep? That whole “don’t be too flattered he’s been actively trying to die” sounded EXACTLY like a Rick line I literally had to play it again. And the complete apathy for robo rick wanting to die until he ACTUALLY lunged himself into the void was also just textbook rick bullshit. Like grandfather like goddamn grandson.

The ending to me was a little disappointing tbh I think I was hoping for a more,,, structured? Cliffhanger? Like we dk what’s gonna happen in this storyline instead of the introduction to a new storyline yk? MAYBEEE I’m just salty we have to wait another year for more you can’t prove anything.

Rick being borderline manic ab RP at the end was my favorite it’s nice to see him just rant ab anything really and like not make some bullshit elaborate Halloween house to take his anger out but just legit vent ab what this guys been doing to him for the past fucking 40 years. I didn’t even notice the ep was over when the credits rolled in my mind we were only like 10 minutes in and I lost my MIND when mr poopy butthole pulled up again good to see he’s thriving (kinda)

On a final note when he called him Rick prime please let me know if I’m off but is that not an internet term for him? Like the fandom came up with it? Rick and morty writers are tumblerinas confirmed question mark?

And lastly: Neurotypical. Cooties.

#I don’t want to edit this post anymore than I have accept this or nothing #god I have so much to say ab robo rick too but this was getting too long #thank you for the ask!! <33 #rick and morty #rick sanchez #morty smith #summer smith #jerry smith #rnm #talk to me guys!! what do we think!!

[collecting-stories]

Thoughts on YuYu Hakusho Live Action:

spoilers under the cut

Characters – 

Team Urameshi:

Urameshi Yusuke – I feel like the live action did such an amazing job with Yusuke. From the classic green uniform (which somehow looks even cooler in the live action than the anime?) to his attitude and even some signature poses (the deep squat has my heart!). I think the live action did a great job of building on Yusuke’s character and adding some great elements to his personality. There was nothing missing for me here, I was really happy with him throughout the entire season. 

Kuwabara Kazuma – Basically the same way I feel about Yusuke. The actor who played Kuwabara did a brilliant job bringing that attitude and over-the-top behavior to life in the live action. I don’t actually like Kuwabara in the anime, he’s one of my least favorite characters (here’s looking at you anime!Keiko) so I was surprised to find myself absolutely loving him in this adaptation! His outfit was perfect and I didn’t even mind the blond instead of orange hair. 

Hiei – Oh Hiei…I will say the actor playing Hiei did a great job. I liked the change up to his origin story for the Jagan (I’ll talk more about that in storyline) but the outfit…it wasn’t doing it for me. I missed the cloak and the “balloon” cut of the pants. If Yusuke and Kuwabara can keep their original silhouette why did they change Hiei’s so drastically. I’m not so peeved about the hair, there’s only so much you can do to real hair to make it look like anime hair. That said, the fighting? The dragon? The SLICING A CAR IN HALF? God I love him. 

Kurama/Minamino Suichi – Speaking of hair…what the fuck? Okay, Kurama remains looking absolutely beautiful but that hair…it was not the fiery red that I love from the anime. I’m not even asking for the style really, just the red guys. It was like, fuchsia or something. Hair aside I will say that I LOVED the uniform. The silk? The floral detail? Damn it if they couldn’t give me the hair they gave me a beautiful fucking suit for him to wear. And his rose whip looked awesome! 

I’m making a second paragraph to talk about Youko (Yoko?) cause I’ll be honest, I wasn’t feeling it as much as I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, I feel the same way as I felt about his Kurama look, he’s beautiful but there’s just something missing for me. It was frustrating to say the least. 

Genkai – I loved her look…she was a little tall but I get it, it’s live action. I’m not trying to be unreasonable here. I was bummed that she died so early though but I’ll talk more about that later. 

Spirit World:

Koenma – I missed baby Koenma but that said, I love the look. They were spot on with Koenma, the sass, the beauty, the pacifier (mafuken). I loved it all! Same as Kurama, I loved the detailing on his robes, I thought it added such a wonderful element to his costume. 

Botan – I’m not sure if this is controversial to say because I know this Botan wasn’t quite as over-the-top personality wise as I feel the funamation-dub I grew up with is, but I loved her. She felt like the perfect Botan to me honestly. Her kimono was beautiful and I loved the little heels with it. I will say that I missed the oar! 

Team Toguro:

Elder Toguro – Team Toguro might be my favorite part of this live action costume wise. Elder Toguro was spot on honestly. He was so creepy and perfect. I loved the look and it felt so authentic to the original to me. And the special effects on his powers were brilliant. 

Younger Toguro – I feel the same about Younger, Toguro looked so spot on for me. I thought the powered up look was even creepier in the live action and the actor who played Toguro did such a great job of bringing him to life. 

Bui – My only disappointment is that it felt so dark in the room where Bui and Hiei fought and I wanted to see Bui’s look more clearly. His outfit was perfect and I loved the effect of the stone breaking as he dropped the elements of his armor on the ground. They did such a great job bringing the armor to life and creating this character. 

Karasu – Again, no complaints aside from I would have loved more Karasu scenes. I loved his look and his powers, the bombs in the air looked so cool. He was perfectly creepy and beautiful, I was so happy with him.

Sakyo – Okay, my only real complaint here is that Sakyo had wavy hair! What was this hairstyle…like I know Hiei’s hair is hard to recreate on an actual person but Sakyo? This bitch had the most beautiful long black hair in the anime and it made him look so much more evil. I just wasn’t feeling this look as much as the original. 

Other:

Tarukane – My only thought for Tarukane was literally “how did they reach into the anime and pluck him right out?” like this whole look/behavior was spot on. 

Yukina – I really loved Yukina in this. I think her costume was absolutely beautiful. Like Botan, I felt like the live action just increased the beauty of her costume in a way that a drawing simply cannot. Her hair, eyes, and overall character were brilliant too. I felt like she really embodied Yukina in the best way. 

Keiko – As I said before, Keiko is by far, my least favorite character in the entirety of YuYu Hakusho. She spends the entire anime whining over Yusuke and generally being useless to the plot. That said, live action Keiko was brilliant. Hair/costume were spot on. Her personality was great and I loved her relationship with Yusuke in this, she really felt like she knew him so well as opposed to the anime when I never could fathom their relationship. I loved her interactions with Atsuko and Yukina as well. 

Atsuko – Not much to say because she isn’t super important in the anime but I did love her in this and thought the changes to the show really helped deepen her character for me. 

Storyline – 

The driver of the truck being infected with the bug: I liked that the driver of the truck that hits Yusuke was infected by the Makai bug. I felt like that really added foreshadowing to the storyline that the original lacks. It made more sense in a way to hint at what was actually starting to form in the Living World with Sakyo and helped set up the student who gets infected later. 

The continuation of the little boy’s storyline into the fight with Goki: I liked that the little boy Yusuke saved was seen again in the show and sort of helped him in his first official mission as Spirit Detective. I felt like it really captured some of Yusuke’s empathy and helped create a more complex character. 

The bullied student getting infected as Yusuke’s first mission: Again, I thought the bullied student helped to develop who Yusuke really was for us as viewers and I liked that it was him who got infected. I think it showed Yusuke’s ability to decern when and how to fight because he recognized the kid and refused to simply kill him to stop him. Reminded me of the fight with the doctor during the Dark Tournament.

Kuwabara and his friends in the alley fighting the student: I feel like all the scenes with Kuwabara and his friends really helped to develop that side of Kuwabara that has this unfailing honor code. He is a really good guy who always does whatever he can to help his friends and I felt like this scene and the scenes in the hospital later were great examples of this. 

The origin of the Jagan: I don’t know how other people feel about this but I liked the change up in Hiei’s origin story. I was a little upset at first but it makes sense to me simply because Hiei kidnapping Keiko and trying to turn her into a demon never really made any sense to me in the anime and he never really redeems himself from this action. I think just skipping over that and having his main goal be finding Yukina with the dagger makes more sense. 

Keiko getting kidnapped by Elder Toguro disguised as Hiei: I loved this scene! And later when Elder Toguro reveals that it’s him that kidnapped her, what an insane reveal! I thought this was really well played and a great nod to the original storyline while creating depth for the new story. 

The introduction of Sakyo early on: I liked that we got to see Sakyo from the beginning. One of the things I never liked about the original anime was how abruptly Sakyo makes his appearance and then becomes the bad guy. I feel like in this live action we really got to see his plans and they hinted at his depravity. (I actually would have liked this season to focus solely on Yusuke becoming spirit detective and them saving Yukina because I think Sakyo deserved a second season. I know Team Toguro did).

Keiko and Yukina breaking out of the jail together: Keiko and Yukina being in the jail together helped to deepen the relationship they have as well as show us a different side to Keiko that the anime never really showed us. She got to be self-sufficient and strong and really felt like she was her own character not just a love interest for Yusuke. 

Kuwabara seeing Botan: I thought it was cool that they changed the way Kuwabara came to figure out that something was going on with Yusuke. I liked that they didn’t take away his spirit awareness and I thought that this made sense as a reason that he would seek out Yusuke. (I will say that I missed Botan showing up at Yusuke’s school as a student though, and her and Keiko fighting the Makai bugs together…I know, I know, Keiko fought the Makai bugs in the anime but tell me she didn’t whine the entire time for Yusuke? You can’t can you?)

The emergence of Yusuke’s spirit energy in the house when he saved Keiko: I liked the entire fire scene way better than in the original and this was a key moment of it. While I’m bummed Yusuke didn’t have a little egg to throw in the fire I did love him coming back to life right then and saving them both. 

The updated fire storyline: How it started, how Yusuke comes back to life, the fact that Keiko runs up as Atsuko is saying that she saw him move. I think it makes so much more sense than the original fire storyline and honestly I love Yusuke running out of the house alive after his LITERAL FUNERAL to go chase down a demon. So on brand for him. 

The introduction of Team Toguro early on: I will say that Team Toguro deserved a whole season and not like, the two episodes they actually ended up with. I was so excited to see them early on but the elements of their story that I love (Bui and Karasu’s hatred of the Toguro’s, their basic slavery to Sakyo, the power imbalance between Elder and Younger) didn’t get their fair shake. So initially I was thrilled to see the four of them together but then it was kind of disappointment.

The dark network of humans keeping demons as slaves: I thought the gambling and the introduction of the committee would have been much better utilized in a dark tournament centric season. I liked that Sakyo introduced the fighting for sport aspect and the gambling but I felt like this could have gone a lot darker and I wish it would have. I really think it could’ve transitioned into Sensui’s storyline really nicely if they had explored more of Sakyo’s character and bridged that vague gap between the Dark Tournament saga and Chapter Black saga

Genkai’s death: What the actual fuck? We didn’t even get to see them really fight. I was robbed of Genkai. I also felt like her premature death robbed Yusuke of his time with her. When she gives him the spirit wave orb in the original series and they go through the trial together, it really built up Yusuke’s character. And her death scene in the anime? Yusuke being there and holding her? I just felt like we didn’t get the depth and complexity of the Genkai/Yusuke/Toguro relationship that we could have gotten and I’m kind of pissed about that. Also, I genuinely felt like Genkai fighting with them in the Dark Tournament saga strengthened the relationship of the team as a whole.

The lack of transition between the three objects and the fight with Sakyo: I felt like Yusuke was still tracking down the final object (which technically he was cause Hiei still had it?) when they boarded the boat to go to Sakyo’s island. There wasn’t enough of a clue in for Yusuke as to what he is getting into and I wish that there had been. I liked the idea of the four of them going together but I felt that rushing into Toguro knowing Yusuke’s power and Yusuke gaining that power so quickly and then the island…it all felt like they were trying to wrap up a storyline they didn’t know what to do with.

The rush through the storyline with Genkai/Toguro. Again, all we got was a measly flash back and some backstory supplied by Elder Toguro…none of the nuance of the anime. I was bummed. And I felt like missing lead up to the Genkai/Toguro storyline took away the hints of power imbalance between the brothers. I think the anime did a better job of showing that Younger had grown sick of Elder. 

The lack of the Dark Tournament: So many great characters, so much team building and character development lost (where was the reveal of the Dragon and Hiei fucking eating it! Kurama’s fights with Shishiwakamaru and Touya? The even cooler spirit sword, PUU!). I think the dark tournament is one of the best story arches in anime (sorry not sorry) and I felt like throwing that away really took something from the overall story. Jin, Touya, Chuu, Koto…so many great characters just missing from what could’ve been an even darker and more complex dark tournament had they developed it fully. I think it would have added to Sakyo’s character and the relationship between him and Koenma as well. Koenma betting his life at the end of this season didn’t hit as hard as it did during the Dark Tournament saga. 

The Absence Maze Castle: I’ll admit that there were parts of Maze castle that were long and unnecessary but overall I think the added mission helped to build the bond of Team Urameshi that was lacking in this season. I mean, there was no friendship building really, not like they had in the anime and I think some version of a maze castle could have really aided in that. 

Kurama’s transition to Youko: What was this? He just transformed like, with no help. I just felt like the whole transition lost the reveal factor and internal struggle that Kurama goes through. I mean, if he can just transform whenever he wants what’s the big deal. Youko is supposed to be a part of himself he never thought he could access again and then he does and ultimately decides he never wants to or may never want to (you know Kurama is indecisive). 

Lack of relationship between team Urameshi: I said this under Maze Castle and I’ll say it again, I felt like they just weren’t as in sync with each other as I wanted them to be. 

All of them fighting Toguro: No. I didn’t like this change, I felt like it was a cop out. I would have preferred to see Toguro fight Yusuke and win and then (of course) had a tournament where Yusuke becomes stronger and can fight him. I was annoyed that they all fought him together and then Yusuke won cause I feel like Toguro’s fight is with Yusuke, not everyone. I feel like this live action didn’t do Toguro’s character justice the way he deserved. He was a really complex character and I felt like they could have leaned into that more and given him the screen time he was supposed to have. 

Final Thoughts: Overall I really liked it and I’ll definitely watch it again. I’m interested to see where they go with season 2, if they’re renewed. I hope they do the Chapter Black saga, especially since they did the Elder Toguro reveal at the end. I went into this with as open a mind as I could and honestly I wasn’t really let down. There were parts that I missed and felt like they should’ve done but I realize nothing is ever going to be exactly how I want it. There were definitely parts of this that I liked better than the anime, same as there were parts of the anime that I liked better than this.

#If you read this whole thing let me know your thoughts #yuyu hakusho #yu yu hakusho netflix #yu yu hakusho #yuyu hakusho live action #yu yu hakusho live action

[romanarose]

Sunshine, Starlight, Sweetheart, Brightside: Part 9

Series Masterlist

Chapter 8 : Chapter 10

A lil time jump, we meet two friends of Sam's briefly. They aren't gonna be a huge part of the story, but I feel a lot of these fanfictions have OC's or readers that aren't really fleshed out, that don't have lives. I want Sam to have a job, classes, friends, family... not just trauma.

WARNINGS: reference to rape, creepy guy, slight threats here and there. I don't want to give too much away so just read with discression.

 A month had gone by without incident. Marc and Steven had been getting along better, they bickered like brothers but they loved each other as such. Marc and Sam had been spending time together, Marc had been showing Sam The Walking Dead. Sam thought she wouldn’t like it at all, but said she’d watch it since Marc was so excited. She ended up really liking it, at least through season 3, where they were now. Sam had been staying over at Steven’s at least once a weekend, and Steven stayed with Sam once or twice during the week, going to bed when she did to allow her proper sleep and buying her a coffee in the morning.

 She was more in love than she thought possible, in love with both her Sunshine and her Starlight. She hadn’t told Marc how she felt yet, but she knew she had to eventually. Steven knew, but how long could he keep a secret from his own head? She considered how she might broach the topic with him. Maybe she could make him dinner? It’s not like they hadn’t been getting  touchy and a little flirty. Plus, Marc was usually there when Steven and her had sex. Sometimes, he would give them alone time, but he had seen her in every intimate position possible. Sam practically skipped down her stairs, wondering if Marc would be different. Would Marc be rough where Steven was tender? Would he call her Brightside? Would he spank her? Manhandle her?

Her day dreaming was interrupted when he exited the door and stopped at the flower cart outside her door, thinking Steven would like flowers.

“Sammie?” a hand on her back. She whipped around. It was him.

“Jordan?” A wave of fear flooded through her. She wanted Marc. She wanted Marc to be here and beat his ass, maybe kill him. Steven, Marc, Chris, her friends, someone… She needed help. She considered attempting to dial Steven, hoping he would hear the convo and come, but she froze, her brain was fuzzy.

“Hey Sammie, what are you doing here?” He looked at her apartment building “You live here?”

Thinking quickly, she replied “No, no it’s my friend Emily’s, I was visiting. I live on the east side” Why was he talking to her?

“Can I buy you a coffee?” He smiled at her charmingly, like he hadn’t raped her.

“Oh, uh, I gotta work, sorry” A lie, it was a sunday. 

“Maybe I’ll see you around then.” the way he asked… it wasn’t a question “I just moved to London… Yeah I think I’ll see you around” Yeah, it wasn’t a question.

“Okay, yeah, I gotta get going” 

“Right, I’ll see you, Sammie” He grazed her back as he passed by her, and she heaved, attempting to hold back a shiver. When he passed around the corner, she ran upstairs, into her apartment and locked the door before going to her bathroom to puke. She felt her breakfast leave her body. Steven. She needed Steven. Yanking her phone out of her purse, she pulled up his number and saw the smiling face of the man she loved on the screen “Pick up pick up pick up”

“Oh? Hello love? Steven sounded confused. “Are you okay?” a little panic in his voice. 

Instinct to protect him took over “Steven? Are you okay?”

“Yeah… I just woke up when you called me… In Bath?”

“What? Like… did you black out?”

“I guess so… Something is trying to pull me back into it.. Are you okay? You sound off, Sweetheart?”

“Yeah I just… I saw him, Steven… Jordan. He showed up as I was leaving my building…”

“What? Oh my god, I’m gonna try and get back to London, okay, are you safe? Where are you? Where is he?”

“No, Steven please be careful! Just… do what you have to do and come back to me safely… Okay?”

“I don’t know how much of a choice I have to be honest, I honestly can’t believe I came to when you called.”

“You only came to when I called?”

“Yeah, bit odd, innit?”

“Yeah… We are something… Can I… Steven, I think he knows where I live… Can I…”

“Stay at my place? Oh my god, absolutely, stay as long as you need, you have a key, stay as long as you need, I don’t know when I’ll be back… just get away from the apartment and make sure no one is following you, you can use my clothes and whatever you need.”

“Please don’t worry… I’ll pack a bag, I’m in my apartment right now.”

Steven grunted “Please be careful, call the police if you have to. I know you don’t like them but do it if you have to, okay?” a small gasp from him “I’m so sorry love, It’s pulling at me, I don’t think I can-” he was gone. Sam hurriedly packed bag of clothes for a days at day care, charger, tooth brush, hair stuff, tampons. 

She took a long way to Steven’s place, staying near people, and double checked her surroundings before entering Steven’s building. She was alone for 3 days. Sam took this opportunity to catch up with homework and see her friends/coworkers, Jess and Elena. She had been a little MIA the last month, but they understood. They were used to not seeing her outside of work for long periods of time. 

“Steven treating you right?” Elena asked, always one to check in.

“Yes” Sam looked at her friends raising her eyebrows “He’s treating me sooooo right” she winked

“Only took you guys long enough to start fucking”

“Jesus christ Elena” Jess laughed “but she has a point. Who the fuck says I love you before they have sex, must be a catholic thing.”

They liked Steven, this was important. Jess and Elena had given her places to stay on a few month rotations while Sam was getting on her feet after her parents cut her off. Her parents had, of course, said she could move back home, but Sam refused to go back to her dad's mercy. Jess got her a job at the daycare and Elena joined later. Their approval meant almost as much as Chris’s. Jess was a little suspicious. She said he was too nice “It’s always the quiet ones” she said “Like Jeffery Dahmer”

Elena walked Sam home after drinks and waited for Sam to call her from the apartment that she was safe. She had been doing this after work every day since Sam saw Jordan. She even offered to let Sam stay with her, but she didn’t want Elena or Jess mixed up with Jordan’s shit. She couldn’t bear it if they got hurt. She went to bed early, after finishing up an online BIO lab.

Until the lights turned on in the room. Sam had the blanket over her. The heat was low and she didn’t want to mess with Steven’s thermostat since she wasn’t paying the bill, so she stayed under the blanket during the night. The light being turned on rang some alarm bells in her head, even though she was relieved Steven was home. Not that Steven didn’t have the right to turn on the lights, but it was unlike him, and unlike Marc to do anything that might wake Sam when she slept. She briefly got scared that it wasn’t Marc or Steven, and threw off the blanket to see. To her relief, it was Marc, she could tell by how he was standing, pouring himself a drink of liquor. Steven only drank wine or the occasional mixed drink. “Marc?” she called out, and he froze, back turned to her. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed “Are you okay?” He seemed off. She stood up “What’s wrong, are you hurt?”

“You weren’t supposed to be here.” He began pouring his drink again, taking a long sip.

“Did Steven not tell you? I was staying here for a few days… I called him, he said he blacked out and was in Bath…” She didn’t want to tell him about Jordan, as he seemed stressed enough as it is “I’m sorry if I startled you”

“Right, the call…” he muttered. His voice was off.

Sam walked up to him. She was scared, but this was Marc, her Marc. If something was wrong, she needed to know “Marc? What’s wrong”

He finally turned to her with a sarcastic smile.

“You’re not Marc, are you…”

“No.”

“Oh.” The third alter… the one who appeared only long enough to kill whoever was in his way. She stumbled a few steps back

He must’ve noticed her change “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you”

She needed information, something she could bring back to Steven and Marc to help fill the gap in their head “What’s your name?”

He ignored her question “Why are you here?”

Why did she feel like she was the intruder? “I needed somewhere to go for a few days. Steven said it was okay. You can talk to him-”

“You called him? And you talked to him?”

“Yeah.. he woke up in Bath… then he was gone again…”

“That’s odd…” he didn’t seem to be talking to her “I’m not supposed to be the one blacking out…” he seemed like he was trying to figure something out. “His subconscious must’ve registered that you were calling and that was enough to pull him to the front by force.”

Sam noticed a slight Latin accent that she couldn’t quite pinpoint “what are you talking about?”

He suddenly seemed more interested in her “Have you ever noticed that? If he’s not expecting a call from you and he gets one, he always answers in a panic, he asks if everything is okay or if somethings wrong, like he’s constantly waiting for something bad to happen.”

“I mean… sometimes he answers like that but-”

“I didn’t think you’d notice at all”

Sam was offended “What is that supposed to mean?”

He leaned over the counter, drink still in hand “of course, something was wrong this time” he studied her “That’s why you’re here. Tell me”

She didn’t want to tell him, but something about having the face of the man she loved, mixed with a little fear, she spoke “I saw…Jordan, or I guess I saw a man outside my building who had hurt me before. I was scared he knew where I lived…”

“Right” he seemed to recognize the name “The Cabron who assaulted you”

Sam felt like he suddenly knew too much “What?! You were there for that conversation?”

He smiled wryly “I’m there for most things, Carina.”

Fuck. “UGH!” She grabbed the nearest blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders

He laughed like he had gotten her with a prank “Relax, I have enough courtesy to know when I’m not wanted, I leave for that.”

Sam remained wrapped up “Then you should know I wouldn’t want you around for those talks.” she glared at him

“I know, but that concerns them, so it concerns me.”

“Them? Marc and Steven?” Who the hell was this guy?

“Yes. And you concern them, so you concern me”

“What I do is none of your business? You think you were protecting them by keeping them in the dark about you?”

He took a few steps around the corner of the counter, making Sam step back “Do you realize how much stress you bring them? They are constantly worried about you. They have enough going on between the two of them, they don’t need you adding more.”

“What?”

“Steven and Marc are much more fragile than they pretend to be. Marc likes to think his job is to protect Steven, but Steven was literally created to protect Marc. Marc has seen enough for several lifetimes. They both have enough going on without you.”

“So what? You want me to leave?” she crossed her arms in the blanket “That’s not happening. We’re in love”

“Yeah” He laughed “I know, you love both of them, they both love you. And you are too selfish to leave them alone. They will drain themselves dry trying to fix you, and when you leave, it’ll shatter them.”

She only took a moment to register that he said they both love her. Steven and Marc. She’ll have to revisit that mentally. “Are you kicking me out? Cuz I’ll fucking go.”

He finished his drink, still smiling. It wasn’t comforting “No, I’m not making you walk alone in the dark while a predator is after you. I would’ve killed him myself last month, but I thought it would get Marc in trouble.”

Now she was confused “Why do you care what he did to me? You don’t even like me”

He laughed “Whether I like you or not is irrelevant. Men like that deserve slow deaths. And it’s not that I don’t like you. I find you quite funny, actually.  It’s not personal.”

She threw her hands up “Jesus Christ, you are confusing as hell.”

“You can’t tell them about this”

Now it was Sam's turn to laugh “Or what? You’ll hurt me?”

“No, it's just best if they don’t know.”

“You act like you’re protecting them, you act like I’m hurting them, but you literally leave them with several day black outs, chunks of time missing, worrying what they’ve done  or what will happen next. How can you say I am the one who stresses them out?”

Sam walked past him and bumped his shoulder deliberately as she passed. She grabbed the wine Steven always kept for her and poured a glass.

The man didn’t let that go either “Well there's that, for one.”

“What?” A big swig.

“Your drinking.”

She rolled her eyes, she just wanted Steven back “What?”

“You drink excessively. Then there's the fact you aren’t taking your meds, which worries Marc. Then there's the burning.”

“I stopped that,” she said defensively.

“Are you so sure about that?”

Sam was mad now “I don’t need a lecture from you. I don’t know you. Can I please have Steven back?”

He ignored the request “You don’t know me, but I know you.”

She groaned “Can’t you see how creepy that is?” She finished her drink “You have one week to introduce yourself to them, or however it fucking works, or I’ll tell them.”

“Carefull, Carina, you don’t want to make an enemy out of me.” he was still smiling that smile, like he was 10 steps ahead of her at all times.

She scoffed “Is that a threat? You gonna fucking kill me? I’m not keeping a secret from Steven.”

“Except your secrets, right?” he seemed agitated

She leaned onto the counter, facing him “Yeah. Because their mine.” she grabbed a bottle from the medicine cabinet “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m gonna take some meletonin and I’m probably going to have the craziest fucking dreams of my life after whatever the fuck this interaction was. I’m going to sleep on the couch and you are going to stay the fuck away from me, I’m going to work in the morning and you have until I get back to explain yourself to them.”

He narrowed his eyes “You said I had a week.”

Crossing her arms, Sam replied indignantly “Yeah but now you’re pissing me off. I don’t appreciate you insinuating I don’t really care about them or that I’m using them.”

“You aren’t sleeping on the couch.”

“Well I’m not sleeping with you.”

“I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No-” before she could argue, he had walked to the couch and was laying down.

“Go to bed.”

She was going to fucking kill him. “Good night” She may be mad, but her manners had a life of their own.

He didn’t respond. There was silence. “My name is Jake Lockley”

“Samantha Waters” 

#moon knight fanfiction #moon knight #steven grant #marc spector #moon knight smut #steven grant smut #jake lockley #moon knight series #moon knight fluff #fanfiction #oscar issac

[theresawritesstuff]

Prompt: Instinctively pressing your hands against your lover's cheek as they passionately rave, only for them to stop talking and gape, completely distracted by the lack of distance.

Noah x Astrid Edition!!!

Noah has never been known for his upper body strength. He'd accepted that his lot in life was in academics, not athletics long ago.

Still, he can't help but wish, at least a little, that he had made a few visits to the campus weight room this semester as he grappled inelegantly with removing an enraged Astrid from the quad along with their combined textbooks.

He might not be all that strong, but Astrid is.

Strong enough, it turns out, to knock a fellow co-ed flat with a solid left hook.

Still, he manages, all but carrying her kicking and screaming with a pent up righteous fury the likes of which he's never seen outside of an ill advised end of season sales outing with his mother and sister four years prior.

He shuddered at the memory.

Astrid didn't stop lecturing the jerk's cronies until Noah had practically dragged her inside the chemistry building.

And still even when it was just the two of them and he felt relatively safe putting her down, she fumed.

"--the absolute gall! I can't believe someone supposedly smart enough to make it into this school could possibly be capable of such vile, ignorant, pigheaded–"

"Astrid. Astrid, breathe!" Noah begged, placing a hand to her cheek, directing her eyes up towards his own in a desperate attempt to calm her. 

She grew still at his touch, looking up at him with those wide blue eyes of hers.

He wonders if he'll ever get over just how beautiful she is. And smart. And kind. And endearingly passionate…

God, why did this woman even give him the time of day, let alone volunteer to be his friend?

"It's not exactly the first antisemitic comment I've heard," he assured her lightly, remembering friends is all he ever really could hope for. "While I appreciate the enthusiasm for defending my honor, that guy wasn't exactly a shrimp. You could have gotten hurt."

"I…" Astrid blinked up at him breathlessly. "I couldn't just stand by and let him get away with saying something like that. Especially not to you."

"People say stupid stuff like that all the time."

Astrid looked down. "Well, I still say we should report him to his track coach or the Dean or…I don't know. Someone!"

Noah chuckled. "I think that left hook of yours is probably a worse punishment than he'd get from anyone else."

She winced as he reached to inspect her hand, but didn't pull away.

"We should probably get you some ice," Noah murmured thoughtfully.

"I'll be okay."

He cocked a brow at her, shaking his head  "Astrid. If you're going to punch jerks on my behalf, at least let me patch you up after."

She smiled softly, looking down at her fingers resting in his hand.

"That fountain usually runs cold," she conceded, nodding to one down the hall.

He escorted her the few places there, holding down the button for her with one hand, helping her ease her hand under the flow of cool water with the other.

Her knuckles are already bruising. She probably doesn't need his help but…

"Where'd you learn to throw a punch like that anyway?" he wondered instead of finishing the thought.

"Church camp."

He looks up at her, waiting for the real answer.

"The pastor's daughter played center field with the Fort Wayne Daisies for a little while. She held a sort of unofficial self defense class for the young ladies of the parish one time," Astrid explained. "Neat gal. Great story teller."

Noah nodded, laughing a little to himself.

He was still used to his sister's retorts. Astrid, on the other hand, was all earnesty.

"Oh, sure. Naturally."

"It's true!" she insisted, a little affronted by his laugh.

"I don't doubt it for a second," Noah assured her. "I'm just marveling at how full of surprises you are. You're an amazing woman, Astrid."

Astrid scoffed, rolling her eyes modestly. "Sure. I'm amazing."

"You are. You absolutely are."

She looked up at him then, searching his face for any falsehood, any teasing at her expense.

And when none was to be found, she leaned up and kissed him.

Like it had been something she'd dreamed of doing, possibly for just as long as he had.

When she parted, she licked her lips slightly, looking up at him through her lashes.

"You know… I heard ice cream is really good for bruised knuckles."

Noah nodded dumbly as her uninjured hand wove into his, leading him towards the dining hall. "Okay."

#tmmm fanfic #Noah x Astrid #Calming tender cheek touches are a family trait now

[chidoroki]

After waiting patiently for many months, my copy of the TPN art book finally arrived and I am SO EMOTIONAL!

It honestly feels a bit surreal to actually have it my hands?? like I remember pre-ordering this back in..December I think? so not only did time fly by since then but to have such easy access to so many of Demizu’s beautiful works whenever I want? It is FANTASTIC and I swear I had a smile on my face the entire time while looking through this, and it took me a few hours to do so!

Seriously, I knew there was gonna be a lot but damn, it surpassed my expectations. Sure I’ve seen many of the colored manga & Shonen Jump pages, covers & illustrations before, but seeing them again in such a nice quality was refreshing! I felt like I was experiencing the whole story all over again, especially the handful of pieces that feature Goldy Pond and everything else the second season decided to ditch completely. There were even a couple I don’t remember at all, which was lovely!

And speaking about new stuff, oh my god, all of the concept art! There is literally so much of it! Early designs of the fullscore trio were to be expected, but what surprised me was just how many variations the three of them went through! I was happy to see little sketches of the other children too like those from GP and Lambda. And I absolutely adore every single one of Demizu’s comments & notes she wrote alongside everything too, even stuff about the buildings and the demons and sweet lord there were so many different ideas for them I felt overwhelmed!

What I really enjoyed were the rough drafts of the volume covers, SJ pages & graphic novels that went unused. I know it won’t ever happen, but I’d love to see some of them actually drawn out and finished because Demizu had really clever ideas in terms of layout and you can tell which designs influenced the final choices. There are some really wholesome ones too and of course I’d never pass up on the chance to see more GP art.

OH there were a couple of interviews with Shirai & Demizu as well! Those were a treat to read through. Shirai is such a big fan of Demizu, it’s precious. I really hope they team up again for future projects. They’re a wonderful duo!!

Throughout the book there were several double page spreads that were shown in the manga, SJ and wherever else, but towards the very end there were a couple more and those.. oh boy, those were beautiful. Even the single page illustrations that followed caught me off guard too but I love them all the same! A real nice way to end the whole book. Reading through everything served as a brilliant reminder about why I cherish this series so much.

Aahh if I had the time and energy to chat about this more then trust me, I definitely would. I’d love to share the overabundance of pictures I took and ramble on about every little detail I found interesting, but I won’t because 1) it would honestly take me forever due to how much content this book contains, 2) I obviously never know when to shut up when it comes to this series, and 3) it is such a lovely collection of artwork and information that you just have to witness it all for yourself!! So apologies for being so vague for once, but if you have the chance to receive a copy of this book for yourself, then definitely do so! Very worth it!!

#the promised neverland #chido-comments

[alexihawleys]

Do you think Tim FINALLY realizes he has feelings for Lucy? That moment at the door seemed like he might have understood that he feels something, in my opinion. I wonder if they are finally going to acknowledge it or if will it be a brush it under the rug type of scenario?

listen, tim knows something's up, that's for sure. i think he knows he feels a lot more for lucy than he ever meant to, wanted to, thought he would, etc. like..........that man white knuckled home and pretended he doesn't know what lucy chen tastes like. will be dying on that hill, thanks so much.

i actually do want to say tho: god, do i love the way they did these feelings realizations. lucy's was a slow build throughout the last several episodes (tbh, throughout the last season – from 3x09 on) – it was more emotional, more philosophical, very lucy. she ran hypotheticals with tim, listened to his answers, and didn't understand why they didn't sit well with her until they were turned into (fake) actions. she didn't understand until she saw him actively do something that overwhelmed her in a bad way that oh, that thing she's been feeling? the nagging in the back of her brain? that's not just unbridled annoyance. lucy's a thinker, so at the end of the day, her realization being more of a mental game was such a great move.

then we have tim, who is a self-described "show me" kind of guy. he's a man of action – so, yeah, you can throw ideas at tim and he can think all he wants, but the physical, tangible action was always going to be the thing that pushed him over the edge. it took something like a kiss to push him into that realm, because he can trick his own mind into doing whatever he wants – he's resilient like that. tim needed that physical element in order to get him into a headspace where he could even consider that the way he feels about lucy is bigger than the platonic "she's the best rookie i ever trained and now we're friends/partners" vibe. but now that he's there? oof. OOOF!!!!!!!!!!!!

i do think that scene in the parking lot (notice that 1, it wasn't the garage!!! important!!! and 2, it was the same place as the fake proposal!!! also important!!!!) was meant to tell us, tho: they're going to sweep that under the rug for now. like. they're going to be more up each other's asses than ever, obviously, but they're going to play that off (for now!) like it was just...work...and let the absolute visceral need they have to touch each other simmer just beneath the surface until it boils over and they're doing something stupid in an interrogation room i mean what.

but yes: i do think tim realizes he feels things, now! that felt clear and i for one am obsessed with how it happened!!

#anonymous #ask #chenford #the rookie #the rookie spoilers #i fear i actually may be losing it i have not stopped internally screaming for like 20 hours

[waitimcomingtoo]

Honey, I’m Home

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Synopsis: You’re not a normally an affectionate person but when Tom comes home from filming, you can’t keep your hands off him. He happily accepts your cuddles and fluff ensues

thank you to the anon who requested this! I deleted it on accident 

Masterlist

“Honey, I’m home.”

“Honey, you’re home.” You ran into the room when you heard Tom’s announcement and threw your arms around Him. He stumbled back in surprise as he dropped his suitcase, not used to you showing affection. He wrapping his arms around your waist as you coiled your legs around his torso to keep yourself up, all while pressing kisses along his cheek. You pulled away briefly before grinning and pulling him into a long, well awaited kiss. It lingered much longer than usual before you pulled away, staying in his arms as your feet touched the ground again.

“Hi, darling.” He spoke softly as he rubbed your back. “I missed you.”

“I missed you more.” You said as you took in his scent. “Never leave again.”

“I missed you most.” He smiled fondly, cupping your face in his hands and rubbing your cheeks with his thumbs.

“I seriously doubt it.” You chuckled out of the corner of your mouth. Tom noticed you were still holding on to him and flushed a little. You’d hadn’t been dating very long, just a few months, but he was already well aware that you were not a very affectionate person. You were never cold to him, you just weren’t as into cuddling and touching as he was.

“What have you done today?” He asked you, keeping his arms firmly around your body.

“I’ve waited for you to come home.” You laughed. “And that’s about it.”

“Aw.” He grinned. “I’ve been counting down the minutes until I got to see you again.”

“Me too.” You leaned up on your tip toes to rub your nose against his. “Take me with you next time, okay?”

“I was thinking the same thing.” He smiled and pulled you in to a kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” You pouted as Tom began to walk away, feeling the urge to follow after him.

“The bathroom.” He told you, and you relaxed. “I’ve been in the car for four hours.”

“Oh.” You laughed lightly. “Right.”

“I’ll be right back.” He kissed your forehead before going to the bathroom. You sighed once he left and wheeled his suitcase into the bedroom, finding him washing his hands at the kitchen sink when you returned.

“There you are.” You came behind him and kissed his shoulder. “Are you hungry?”

“Starving.” He touched a hand to his stomach. “Do we have any food in the refrigerator?”

“I don’t know.” You shrugged coyly. “Take a look.”

Tom gave you a knowing look before opening the refrigerator.

“Oh My God.” He looked at you over his shoulder. “You angel. You got the ingredients for a roast chicken.”

“Not just any roast chicken.” You came up behind him and wrapped your arms around his waist. “It’s that weird one you like with the apples on it. I was gonna make it for when you got home but I figured we could do it together.”

“You’re a genius.” He turned around and kisses both your cheeks. That’s why I love you.”

“I aim to please.” You giggled as you wrapped your arms around his neck to kiss him. You let it linger longer than usual, but he wasn’t complaining.

“This is going to be so good.” Tom grinned once he pulled away. “I’ll start peeling the apples. Could you get started on the seasoning?”

“You got it.” You kissed him again before getting the chicken out of the refrigerator.

Tom went to the kitchen counter and began to wash and peel a few apples. After a few minutes, he felt your arms around his waist as your head rested on his shoulder.

“Hi.” You greeted as you kissed his shoulder a few times. Tom smiled to himself as he looked at you.

“Hey.” He said softly. “How’s the seasoning going?”

“All done. The chicken is marinating in it now.” You told him before peppering kisses along his shoulders and up his neck.

“Feels good, baby.” He mumbled as he stopped peeling the apples. He wiped his hands off on a paper towel and rested them on on top of yours.

“Well you’re doing such a wonderful job peeling those apples.” You giggled before kissing behind his ear.

“They’re almost done.” He told you. “What’s next?”

“We have to make the rice.” You said as you walked over to the cabinet.

“But we don’t eat rice.” He smiled, knowing what was coming.

“We eat quinoa.” You finished his thought as you handed him the quinoa. Tom chuckled as he took the quinoa and poured it into a pot.

“Hey.” You said suddenly, walking over to him and wrapped your arms around his neck. “I missed you. I missed seeing your face everyday.”

“I missed you too, love. It’s not a good day for me unless my eyes meet yours.” He rested his forehead against yours as you scratched his scalp with your nails.

“Who knew you were such a poet?”

“Being away from you really put me in touch with my inner tortured artist. In other words, I cried every night.” He joked, making you laugh.

“Never leave me again.” You sighed as you rested your head in the crook of his neck. You swayed together in the kitchen for a moment, just staying in each other’s embrace.

“Not planning on it. I think you’re stuck with me forever, actually.” Tom told you as he kissed the top of your head.

“Sounds good to me.” You pressed a kiss to his neck just as your timer went off.

“Chickens ready to go in the oven.” You sighed and reluctantly pulled out of his embrace.

“I’ll put it in.” He offered. “How long?”

“30 minutes.” You answered.

“Okay.” Tom slid the chicken in the oven and shut the door. “I’m gonna unpack a little.”

“By unpack do you mean throw all your clothes in the hamper?” You raised on eyebrow at him as you squeezed his hand.

“Yes I do.” He pulled you by the hand into his body and gave you another kiss before retreating to the bedroom. You watched him leave before going to set the table, smiling widely when he came back into the kitchen.

“Hi honey.” You greeted as you set two plates on the table. “Did you unpack?”

“Yes. I’ll help you with the laundry tomorrow.” Tom promised, going to the oven to get the chicken out.

“Thank you.” You said as you set the drinks out. “I just want to sleep in and have a lazy day.”

“Trust me. Once I get in that bed with you I’m not leaving for a week.” Tom clicked his tongue as he pulled your chair out for you.

“Dirty boy.” You gasped as you sat down. Once you were both seated, you rubbed your foot against his leg just to keep contact.

“I meant for cuddles.” He whined, face flushing. “You’re very cuddly today.”

“Why thank you.” You gave him a poised smile while serving him some chicken.

“I’m not used to it.” He continued, trying to get an answer as to why you were especially clingy. “I know I’m a lover of snuggles and whatnot but you usually react like a cat being touched.”

“Aw. Just what every girl likes to hear.” You replied sarcastically as you held his hand on the table.

“I’m sorry.” He squeezed your hand apologetically. “It’s a nice change.”

“Well I missed you.” You shrugged. “I didn’t get to touch you for two weeks. I’ve been building it up, you know?”

“I know the feeling. And the chicken was amazing.” Tom said as he wiped his face with his napkin. “Thank you so much for getting the stuff.”

“Of course. You work so hard. I wanted you to have a nice meal.” Your told him as you collected your plates. You kissed the top of his head before putting the dishes in the sink.

“I appreciate it.” He said as he turned around in his seat. “And I appreciate you putting my favorite sheets on the bed. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

You walked over to him and draped your arms around his shoulder as you bent over.

“I’ll put the comforter in the dryer before we go to bed so it’s nice and toasty.” You whispered into his ear before kissing his cheek several times.

“How did I get so lucky?” He craned his neck to look at you fondly.

“I ask myself that everyday.” You kissed his neck and patted his shoulder before continuing to clean off the table.

“I’m gonna shower real quick.” Tom told you as he put the cups in the sink. “I feel gross form traveling all day.”

“Okay.” You frowned a little upon hearing he was going to be leaving again. Before he walked away, you tugged on his shirt and kissed him. He chuckled against your lips when he pulled away and let out a sigh.

“You really missed me, huh?” He teased.

“You have no idea.” You sighed. “Don’t take too long.”

“I won’t.” He promised as he left for the bathroom. He showered quickly, also feeling the tug at his heartstrings from being away from you. He dried off and got dressed as fast as he could before taking a seat in the living room.

“Hey.” Tom smiled up at you when you padded into the room. You climbed into his lap and curled up against his body, wrapping your arms around his shoulders to stay in place.

“Hey.” You snuggled into his chest and took in a whiff. “You smell good.”

“Thank you.” He chuckled and rubbed your back in circles.

“Did you clean behind your ears?” You teased as you looked up at him.

“I did.”

“Good.” You looked down again and held him tighter. “They’re kinda hard to miss.”

“Hey.” He pretended to be offended, smiling when he felt your body shake with laughter.

“Sorry.” You mumbled as you toyed with the strings of his sweat pants. “Just teasing.”

“Are you okay?” Tom asked finally. As much as he appreciated all your affection, it was very out of character for you.

“Yeah.” You assured him. “Just missed you, is all.”

“You’re never this affectionate.” He pointed out. “Is something bothering you?”

“No.” You said and took your head off his shoulder. “Sorry. I’ll stop.”

“No!” Tom practically shouted and pulled you right back. “I like it. I love it, actually.”

He bent down to press kisses all over your face, a giggle emitted from your lips each time he did. Once your laughter died down, you looked up at him and stroked his cheek.

“Does it bother you that I’m not an affectionate person?” You whispered as you traces his freckles with your fingernail.

“I mean, I’d love to be doing this all day every day, but I want you to be comfortable. That’s more important to me than anything else.” He told you. “My love language is touch but yours isn’t, and I’m okay with that.”

You smiled fondly at him and sat up a little so your faces were close.

“Tommy?” You asked softly.

“Yes?” He matched your tone.

“This was the first time you were away, and it made me realize something.”

“What’s that?” He tilted his head as the setting sun lit up his eyes.

“I love you.” You smiled shyly as you told him. “And I don’t like being apart from you.”

“Aw, darling.” He put his hand on your cheek and rubbed his thumb softly against your face. “I love you too.”

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[midgardianweasley]

The Royal Ball

The Royal Ball

Loki laufeyson x Fem!reader

Summary: There is an Asgard ball being hosted in the palace, Y/N is yet to find a date to accompany her. She’s disappointed when a certain God doesn’t ask her, however, what happens when he sees someone else getting a little too close for comfort throughout the night?

Warnings: lil bit angsty, self doubt, JEALOUS LOKI, fluffy ending

Word Count: 3.3k

Message/ask if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

Requests are open loves <3

Y/F/N - Your Friend’s Name

It was a beautiful autumn’s day, crisp brown leaves were falling off of the large trees in the courtyard and scattering the cobbled ground. Loki and I had been wandering around for some time now, discussing everything from the books we’ve been reading to the dreams that have come to us in our sleep.

“And then this huge ghost thing was chasing me around the halls! and if that wasn’t weird enough, you popped up-”

“Ah, seeing me in your dreams are we, darling?”  Loki chuckled, taking great pleasure at the fact that he had made an appearance in my subconscious, completely ignoring my distress at being chased by a supernatural being.

“Funny you should say that, right after seeing you, I woke up. The sight must’ve given me quite the scare.” I scoffed, a smile unable to stop itself from making its way onto my face, eyes meeting his, face etched with shock. With a hand to his chest, he spoke again in disbelief.

“You have truly offended me, love. I never knew you had this side to you.”

“What can I say? I’m a woman of many talents.” I winked, nudging his side slightly with my elbow.

“Really? Can you produce illusions?”

“No.”

“Look inside other people’s heads?”

“Well, no, but-”

“Turn yourself into a snake to scare your eight year old brother?”

“I still can’t believe you did that”

“My greatest achievement yet.” He smirked, the memory never failing to amuse him.

His stories always had me in awe of his capabilities, even if it was to give his brother a long-term fear, it was still an incredible talent. Whenever he tells me of his latest adventures or tricks, I always think of how well his title fits him. God of Mischief. Maybe that’s why I liked him much more than what a best friend should, not that I'd ever admit it. Not to him anyway.

We soon found ourselves standing next to one of the windows of the hallway, the crystal clear glass giving a beautiful view of the city of Asgard. From here, you could see the Queen’s gardens, full of flowers in all different colours and types, grass cut to perfection. You could see the families in the town, walking around the different buildings, children playing. It was lovely to watch, seeing everyone enjoy the seasonal weather and the light bounce off of the windows, it was ethereal.

“I never get tired of this.” I sighed, voice only slightly above a whisper

“Tired of what, love?”

“Just, this. This view, this kingdom, it’s incredible.” I looked up at Loki, trying to see if he was seeing the same beauty that I did. He was already looking at me when I met his eyes and upon seeing the way they sparkled, I assumed he did.

“Actually, speaking of the Kingdom, I have something to tell you. There’s-”

Abruptly stopping him from continuing his sentence, voices were heard from the other end of the hallway, though we couldn’t make out the words until they came closer. We gave each other a quick look of confusion before turning to see where the commotion was coming from, hearing the quick and heavy footsteps before being able to put names to the faces.

“Loki! Y/N!” A deep voice bellowed. Was that Thor making all of that noise?

Before I could process any more information, a blur of a pastel pink dress was in my face and hands were placed on my shoulders. I smiled down at the slightly out of breath figure using me as a support stand, it was Y/F/N.

“Wow, Y/F/N, you sound much different than when I spoke to you yesterday, did you drink something funny?” I chuckled, receiving a glare from my friend and a quiet laugh from the God beside me. Thor soon appeared next to Y/F/N, hands on his hips and head thrown back as he tried to compose himself.

“My God, Y/F/N, you run fast.” He pants.

“Care to tell us why you’re both running like madmen through the palace?” Loki speaks, one eyebrow raised in curiosity and what looked a little like concern.

“We..had to..tell you..there’s a ball..next week.” Y/F/N spoke, a bit more stable now, but still in between breaths.

I felt my eyes widen, a ball? I didn’t know Asgard held balls.

“Father is opening up the palace next week to neighbouring kingdoms, in hopes to be closer with them, open Asgard up to more trade opportunities, build relationships and whatnot.” Thor explained, emitting a loud sigh to come from Loki.

“I was just about to tell her, brother. Thank you for interrupting.” He rolled his eyes, half joking, half serious. I reached up and patted his shoulder gently, a small smile on my face.

“Maybe next time Lok” He nodded in response, I didn’t get a chance to comfort him much more before I was being pulled away by Y/F/N. With a small huff of surprise, I gave Loki a glance, silently apologising for our conversation being cut short, receiving a shake of his head in reply, affirming me to not worry about it.

“So.” she begins. “We need to find you a date and a dress. I’m thinking blue. I’m wearing purple so it’s probably best to avoid that one. Hmm. let’s see..oh! I know! we could- Y/N? You listening?” I snapped my head around, not missing the sly smile that was plastered all over my friend’s face.

“Y/F/N, don’t-”

“Loki! He has to be your date. You could wear green and match! If he’s even going to wear green, I'm sure I can get Thor to find out, I assume they’ll get ready together. And black accessories! I have so many ideas.” She clapped her hands, over-excited about the opportunity to plan this evening for us. Except for one minor detail.

“That sounds great, Y/F/N, it sounds wonderful, you’re just missing something.”

“Missing something? Oh, if you mean our hair then i’ve already-”

“No, not our hair. Loki hasn’t asked me, and I doubt he will.” I spoke, the second half coming out more as a whisper, my heart dropping a little at the thought. He’d never really expressed having those kinds of feelings for me and I'd always seen him be close with different girls around the palace, he’ll probably ask one of them.

“He might ask you, you never know what’s around the corner.”

“I guess so, we’ll have to wait and see.”

And that was the last we spoke of it before she went into full planner mode again, while I continued to ponder over all of the thoughts running through my head. I mean, he could ask me, right?

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

He didn’t.

After talking about it with Y/F/N, I had a glimmer of hope that maybe I was wrong, maybe I hadn’t noticed something that she had, that Loki would approach me and ask me to be his company for the evening.

I spent the next couple of days with him, hoping he would ask me, everytime a pause would appear in conversation, maybe he was finally going to do it. And everytime, a little bit of the hope I had, had fizzled out.

I’d even considered other reasons as to why he hadn’t asked, maybe the King didn’t want him and Thor to have dates so that they could mingle with members of the other kingdoms. Of course that theory had flown right out one of the Palace’s windows when Y/F/N told me that Thor was going to be her date. I was right then, he wasn’t wanting to go with me.

I guess I understood, I’m the best friend, we’d always been that. I think a part of me just thought that maybe he, like me, wanted something a little more. Clearly, I was mistaken.

Y/F/N and I had been getting ready for a while now, our hair was styled to perfection, our dresses were on and both of us were fully accessorized. We were looking at ourselves in the mirror, doing spins and curtseys and gushing over how good the other looked.

“You look amazing tonight, Y/N, really. Loki is missing out.”

“Thank you, and I'm sure his date is beautiful.” I spoke, fidgeting with the fabric of my dress, trying to avoid the subject and the twisting knot in my stomach at the thought of him with someone else all night. “You look incredible! You were right to pick purple, it’s definitely your colour.”

“Y/N’s right, you look gorgeous.” Thor declared, leaning against the doorway sporting a black suit and a dark purple tie, the perfect match with his date’s dress. I could feel my eyes light up when seeing how happy the simple, yet effective comment had made Y/F/N. Rushing over, she engulfed Thor in a hug before leaning up slightly and giving him a peck on the cheek.

“Ah and can’t forget, Y/N, you look stunning tonight.” He gestured to me, arm almost scanning me up and down.

“Stop, you’ll make me blush.” I laughed. “You both head off, I’ll catch up.”

“Are you sure? We don’t mind waiting?” Y/F/N questioned.

“Don’t be silly. You guys go on ahead, I'll meet you there.”

With a nod and a wave, they were off. They really did look like a perfect match tonight. I continued to look at myself in the mirror, fixing any stray hairs, flattening any kinks in my dress. Realistically, I was probably trying to prolong leaving for as long as I could. I was excited, but I was turning up on my own while everyone else had someone, it was a bit nerve-wracking. I still wanted to look my best though.

“Stop trying to convince yourself that you look good, you could literally blow an army of men away by looks alone.” A voice spoke, I spun to see who was speaking, the flash of green was enough to decipher who it was.

“You look lovely tonight, darling.” He grinned, the pet name had set off butterflies in my stomach.

“Thank you. As do you.”

“Well, I did put in an effort, nice to know it’s appreciated.” He joked, a breathy laugh left my lips, entertained by his words.

“Yes, well, I'm sure plenty of others will too.”

“The eyes will never leave me, I'm sure. Unless they’re on you, then I'd be surprised if I get even so much as a glimpse in my direction. Someone is a very lucky guy tonight, that’s for sure.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked, confused by his statement.

“Well, they get to be beside you all evening, it’s a beautiful view.” He winked.

It could’ve been you, I thought. I knew he was joking, however that didn’t stop the fire in me from igniting.

“I could say the same for you, someone is a very lucky girl.”

“I’ll be sure to let her know if she ever thinks otherwise.” Joking, again.

So he had asked someone. Albeit disappointed, I'm happy he’s happy. Though I still wish I was the girl in question, I couldn't stop him if he was interested in someone else. That wasn’t fair.

Giving him a brief nod and a tight lipped smile, I picked up the front of my dress a little bit and made my way out of the room and downstairs to the ball. I could still enjoy myself, the night is young, I've got this.

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

“It was crazy! And let me tell you, my dad was so angry with me. He didn’t let me serve Turkey again after that year.” Charlie, a guy that I had met an hour or so ago, finished his story of the Christmas horror he had, allowing me to relax for the first time that evening. Up until now, it had felt like all I’d seen was either happy couples, or stares from across the room. Usually the second and usually Loki. The same Loki who had a girl’s arm linked with his and was looking at him like he held the world in his grasp. I broke the gaze, finding it difficult to look at the pair for any longer, as I turned back to Charlie so he could have my attention again, a lazy smile was present as he took a sip of his wine.

“I don’t blame him, really, it sounds like you started a riot!” I exclaimed, sending us both into a full on belly laugh, thinking back to the story. This continued for another five or so minutes, laughter turning into a low chuckle, as if we were about to be told off for how loud we were being. Just as my hand had reached his arm to help hold me up, saving me from laughing myself into the ground, Loki and his date had made their way over.

“Enjoying ourselves, I hope?” He beamed, taking one look at me before giving his full attention to Charlie.

“Yes, yes we are, thank you. How about the two of you?”

“Ye-”

“It’s been fine, yeah, good. So, what’s your name then?” Loki interrupted, his date having no choice but to leave him to respond instead.

“I’m Charlie Fernsby.” He held his hand out, greeting Loki. A gesture that was very awkwardly not reciprocated as he let his hand fall back to his side before Loki spoke up again.

“Charlie..Charlie, now, isn’t that a girl’s name?”

“Loki!” I scolded, giving him an evil side glance, what was he doing?

“No, no it’s okay. Yeah, it can be used for girls too, but it's common for boys to have the name Charlie.” Polite as ever, he responded. A mischievous look made its way onto the God’s face. Oh no.

“So, I take it your parents wanted a girl?”

“I- I’m sorry?”

“I assume your parents wanted a girl, considering they’ve given you a girl’s name?” I rolled my eyes, this teasing was unnecessary.

“Charlie, let’s go and get a drink.” I tried to tug him away, only to be halted by another sentence leaving my best friend’s mouth.

“It was only a question, I'm sure he doesn’t mind answering, do you Carl?”

“Charlie.”

“That’s what I said.”

“You said-” I tried to interject, but he was quick to stop me

“I know what I said, Y/N, but I'm speaking to him. Let him answer the question.”

Loki’s date was long gone by now, she’d left to speak to another group of people, presumably another few couples, leaving us three to have this discussion, thing, whatever you would think to call it.

“I’m just saying, maybe they would’ve preferred a daughter, seeing as they’ve very obviously made that clear.” He beamed, expecting me to join in and agree with him, I don’t find this funny. At all.

“Can you excuse us, Charlie? Loki, A word.” I pointed to the door, giving him a look implying for him not to test me.

“I’m in trouble. Wish me luck Carlos.”

“Charlie.”

“I know, that’s what I said.”

I pushed him all the way out the door, into the hallway and round the corner so as not to disturb everyone else’s evening. When I’d made sure there was no one else around, I looked up at the Asgardian, my arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed, I wasn’t impressed anymore.

“So, are we out here for some hide or seek, or?”

“What the hell was that in there?!” I raised my voice slightly, his need to always make everything a joke wasn’t working this time. He had his night, his date, he didn’t need to come over and insult mine.

“What was what, darling? I was making conversation.”

“You were making fun of him.”

“No, I showed some concern about his parents choices, that’s all. Friendly advice if anything.” He looked a bit more frustrated with me now, as though he was stating the obvious and it was going over my head. I wasn’t having it this time.

“No, Loki. You weren’t and you know you weren’t. You had your date, she was fine, you were fine-”

“Well-”

“Let me finish. Everything was fine. Until you caught sight of me having a friendly conversation with another guy who wasn’t you. But guess what Lok, I’m allowed to do that! I’m an adult, I can speak with whoever I like!” My arms were all over the place now, my frustration was starting to show itself, it seems I had a bit pent up.

I saw his lips move, I heard something, but it was so quiet I couldn't make it out.

“Speak up, Loki. I can’t hear you.”

“I said, if you think he was just being friendly, you’re clearly out of your mind.”

Is he serious?

“Are you- Loki, you have no right to make a judgement on who and how and why I interact with other people. Not that it should matter to you anyway, you’ve spoken to other women before and I've never said a word or tried to stop you. Why does this matter so much?”

Silence.

“No, please, go on, tell me, enlighten me as to why this bothered you so much tonight, because trust me, I'm dying to know, truly.” I was shouting now, I just wanted answers for his behaviour, I didn’t think it would be this difficult.

His hands had made his way into his trouser pockets, eyes looking everywhere before settling on mine. He looked conflicted, I wanted to drop it when I saw his troubled gaze, but I couldn’t go back in there without an explanation.

“Ple-”

“I like you, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear, love? That I was so uncomfortable seeing some you get close with some guy that I had to embarrass him in front of you? Something I'm sure my father won’t be so impressed to hear, but there, you’ve got your confession.” His voice had gone much louder than mine, taking me by surprise, so much so that it took me a minute to process what he had said. He liked me?

He turned to leave, I assume because I hadn't said anything for a matter of minutes, but I gently grabbed his arm, tugging him back towards me. I looked up into his eyes again. I was so close that you could see the specs of different colours spotted in them, they were flawless. This view beats the Asgard view anyday.

“Why didn’t you mention this before?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. Worried I guess. We’d never spoken of moving past friendship and I didn’t think you’d be interested.”

“I’m more than interested, Loki.” I grinned, my smile meeting my eyes, never leaving his.

“Not Chelsey?”

“For the love, it’s Ch-”

I couldn’t say his name, a certain pair of lips had stopped me from doing so. As they molded against mine, my hands went up to tangle themselves in his hair, his hands falling to my waist and pulling me closer, I didn’t even think that could be possible. We pulled away when we needed to catch a breath, foreheads falling against each other, smiles painted on both of our faces.

“I bet I'll be in your dreams again tonight.” He whispered.

“I bet I'll be in yours.”

“Always are, Darling. Always are.”

taglist: @horrorxweasley

#loki #Loki Laufeyson #Loki Laufeyson x Reader #loki x fem!reader #loki x reader #loki x y/n #loki odinson #loki odinson x reader #loki odinson x y/n #loki smut #loki x reader smut #loki fluff #loki angst #loki laufeyson smut #loki laufeyson x reader smut #loki laufeyson oneshot #loki laufeyson imagine #loki laufeyson x y/n #thor odinson #loki fanfiction #loki fan fiction

[slafkovskys]

Angst 7 with jack hughes, possibly some brother angst

7. “do you think about them when you look at me?”

you’d known jack for a while, so it was easy for you to tell when things were off. to say that it was the first day that he was acting cold towards you, would be a lie. in fact, it had been going on for the better part of the summer ever since he had come home from new jersey. instead of grabbing onto your hand when you had held it out, he had brushed past you easily and started walking alongside jim, leaving you to walk with quinn. you cross your arms over your chest and quinn nudges your side with his elbow, “look at us, the alumni are back.”

you swallow the lump in your throat, tearing your gaze away from the back of jack’s head to glance at his older brother, “i think to be alumni, you have to graduate, and that only applies to one of us.”

“oh, that’s how it’s gonna be,” he laughs, throwing his arm over your shoulder and you giggle as you shove him away. the noise draws jack’s attention and he turns his head, face falling as he spots the two of you. he sends the both of you a glare before turning his head around. quinn makes a noise, “what was that for?”

“he’s been acting like that ever since we got to your parent’s house. has he-,” you lower your voice because you now knew that he was listening to you, “has he said anything to you? like, at any point this summer?”

“this has been going on all summer?”

you shrug your shoulders, “only when we-”

“‘when we’ what, y/n?” he raises his eyebrows as he shoves his hands in his pockets. you were getting closer to your cars now and you were about to be separated from quinn, but it all started to make sense. he chuckles, “so you’re just gonna leave me hanging?”

“it’s when we’re around you, quinn. he only acts like this – gets cold and acts like someone pissed in his cereal – when you’re there,” you look at quinn and he freezes. you can see jack’s car when the lights flash as he unlocks and you stop alongside quinn, “is he- did you- you said that he was okay with it. he told me that he was okay with it.”

that was the thing with you and jack, jack wasn’t the first hughes that you had been involved with. you were a couple of years older than your boyfriend, meaning you and quinn were the same age. you had met quinn in high school during his time with the ntdp. it wasn’t until college where you started messing around with each other. it fizzled out after a couple of months, but you and quinn decided to stay friends.

you had met jack through quinn, obviously, and from the moment that you met him his crush on you was obvious. he was quinn’s little brother though, and that was a boundary that you didn’t want to cross.

well, until jack invited you to the draft. he was thrilled when you pulled on his jersey for a picture (just as you had done for quinn the year before) and to this day his lock screen was a picture of you, new jersey devils hat perched atop your head and a big smile on your face. it wasn’t until just before new years during his first season that you finally agreed to go out with him and here you were, almost two years later, about to move out to new jersey with him for the season.

with the way that he had been acting, however, you were starting to second guess your decision.

“he knows the truth. i told him a million times that it doesn’t bother me and that the feelings i had for you are gone. we’re friends, y/n,” he insists and you nod. you hear someone clear their throat and you both look at jack, who’s suddenly a few feet from you.

“are you going back with quinn and my dad?” jack’s question is directed towards you, but he’s staring holes through his brother.

“if that’s gonna be how you speak to her, yeah she is,” quinn steps up and your hand wraps around his elbow, a move that jack takes notice of. “y/n-”

“it’s fine, q, see you at skeeps, yeah?”

quinn pulls you close, which really doesn’t help the situation, and his mouth hovers over your ear, “if he says anything to you or if you need me, text me. my dad and i will set him straight.”

he presses his lips to the side of your head, shoves his brother as he passes him, and gets into the passenger seat of their dad’s car. you and jack stare at each other for a moment before he holds out his hand. you give him the same treatment that he had given you, pushing past him to get into the car.

you stare out of the window as he gets in the driver’s seat, starting the car and pulling out of his spot. he gets behind his dad and with the post-game traffic, you knew it was likely you would be here for a while. “what is wrong with you jack?”

he scoffs, “there’s nothing wrong-”

“please don’t lie to me. i’m about to pick up and move my whole life to jersey for you in two weeks and if that’s-” your voice cracks as tears threaten to spill out of your eyes, “if that’s gonna be a mistake, i want to know now.”

“why would it be a mistake?”

“because of you, jack,” you lean your head back against the headrest and look at him. his hand rests on the steering wheel and his jaw is tight, “you’re not the same guy that you were a few months ago. you’re so, so cold towards me. like, we sleep in the same bed every night, but i have never felt further away from you.”

his breath hitches.

“can you please just tell me what’s going on? because if it’s about me and quinn-”

“do you think about him when you look at me?” his words make you tense up. he doesn’t look at you as he inches forward out of the parking lot, flicking on his blinker to go in the direction of his parents’ house. “when you look at me do you wish that i was quinn?”

“jack,” your voice shakes, “whatever happened between me and quinn is over. it’s in the past. you said that when we got together you were fine that we had history, but that you didn’t care.”

“he looks at you, y/n. he looks at you the way that i look at you. anyone can see that he still has feelings for you. the way that you acted around him at the game earlier-”

“how did i act, jack? because my boyfriend was ignoring me and i didn’t want to mope around the whole night? is that why you’re upset?”

“i’m upset because i’ll never be quinn,” his words form a pit in your stomach, but his next sentence makes your whole world crumble, “is that why you’re with me? because you couldn’t have quinn, you settled for his little brother.”

“jack, oh my god, i didn’t settle,” you reach out to grab onto his arm, but once again, he pulls it away, “me and quinn, we weren’t anything serious, ever. we’re better off as friends and that was a mutual decision. to this day, we still feel that way.

“i was with him tonight because you were acting like you wanted nothing to do with me and it was obvious. everyone fucking noticed, jack. do you know how embarrassing it was to get looks of pity because i was being shooed away by my boyfriend?”

“you were embarrassed?” he spits, “my girlfriend was all over my brother. even niko noticed.”

“you’re not even listening to me!” you let out an exasperated sigh and the two of you fall into silence. it stays like that for a minute before you break it, “take me home.”

“that’s where we’re going,” he scoffs.

“no, i don’t want to go to your parents’ house. i want to go to my house, alone.”

his eyes flick to you and he shakes his head before changing lanes, “whatever.”

ten of the most painstakingly quiet minutes of your life pass before he pulls into the guest spot of your apartment. your hand wraps around the door handle and you pause, turning to look at him for the final time, “i love you jack, so much, but if this is going to keep coming back up and being an issue, i think that it’s best that we don’t see each other anymore.”

“so, what does that mean?” he keeps his eyes glued to the building in front of him, hand covering his mouth, “we aren’t together anymore?”

“i think we both have some things that we need to figure out before we have that conversation,” you slide out of the car and plant your feet on the ground, closing the door.

you make it up onto the sidewalk before he calls out your name softly. you turn to look at him and you can see his watery eyes, “i love you.”

“let me know when you get home, please. you know that i worry,” you send him a nod before turning and making your way up the stairs to your apartment. he waits until you get inside before pulling away from your complex. you watch his tail lights as they disappear into the night and you wonder,

what did i just do?

#jack hughes #prompts

[marvelouspeterparker]

a warm december

pairing: college!peter parker x reader

request: Since it's the holiday season, I was wondering if I could request something with Peter and female!reader where they're dating but reader doesn't know that he's Spider-Man and one night when it's particularly cold, Spider-Man comes crashing through reader's window. Turns out the heater in his suit failed and since he has issues with thermoregulation, it's up to reader to warm him up? Can be either fluffy or smutty or a combo. Author's choice! 😉 by anonymous

warnings: some soft-ish smut, unprotected sex (u already know to be safe, wear protection y’all) 

word count: 3.6k

notes: so i was clearing out my inbox but when i came to write this i figured i should make it a full fic instead––also u can imagine this takes place like the second week of december so it can be for either hanukkah or christmas or kwanzaa or anything! happy holidays <3

It felt good to be back home for the holidays. You had a good time at college but you were happy to be done with exams. You were also more than grateful to be able to sleep in your own bed in the comfort of your own home. You had made a lot of good memories thus far in all your classes, in your dorm that you were able to decorate the way you wanted with your roommate, Gwen––but you had missed your family and you had missed your boyfriend as well.

You and Peter’s colleges were only a few hours away from each other, so you could have visited each other, but your schedules were too busy and something always seemed to come up on both your ends. You were both swamped with work and sometimes you just didn’t have the energy to travel, but you both understood. 

So instead, you and Peter had facetimed and even used zoom to talk for hours after class when you both were free or at night before you went to bed. He’d even met some of your friends and he’d won them over almost immediately, his charm never ran out. You’d also met some of his friends as well, the one you’d seen most was named Harry. He was a flirt, but you knew it was all in good fun––you both liked to see Peter flustered and annoyed, but out of love of course. 

Unfortunately, you had yet to see Peter since you had gotten back. You understood that he needed some time to settle in, and you knew for certain that May missed him more than anything. You’d been home for a couple days now and you’d spent your time catching up with your parents, and helping decorate the apartment. You put up some white fairy lights in your room, wanting to feel the holiday spirit a little more in your space––the lights always made you feel more cozy too. You smiled to yourself as you turned them on, already feeling more calm before looking in your desk and grabbing the small spider-man snow globe you’d gotten at the store a few years back. Peter got weirdly blushy when he first saw it, but you never really asked why. 

You set it down on your dresser and went to find your midtown high sweatshirt, it was one of the warmest ones you had. Though the heat was on in your home, you could still feel the cold air seeping through from the walls and the windows that looked out into the city. You could see the small figures of people walking down in the cold street, bundled up, the lights in every window of the buildings across the street. 

You were about to make sure the window was closed properly when a figure appeared on the outside of your room, slowly opening the window. You stood frozen in fear, too shocked to even scream. Your eyes widened when you realized who exactly was making their way into your room, the famous red and blue suit contrasting with the white specks of snow falling outside. 

“You––You’re Spider-Man––” You were stuttering in disbelief as the hero stood in your room, closing the window quietly. He turned around immediately, it seemed he hadn’t thought this through. The eyes of his mask were wide, almost frantic as he looked at you and put a finger up to his lips, gesturing for you to be quiet. 

You nodded slowly and quickly closed your door, making sure your parents were nowhere near. You locked the door just in case. You had already said goodnight, so they probably wouldn’t come by anyway, but you never know. 

You turned back around and took a few deep breaths to calm yourself down. Surely there was an issue? Spider-Man wasn’t known to make home visits––

Your brows furrowed when you focused on the masked hero in front of you. He was almost hunched over, his limbs moving slowly as they trembled. You stepped towards him, your hands outstretched but sticking close to you as you were unsure of what to do.

“Are you okay?”

He paused, looking down, muttering something to himself that you couldn’t quite hear. “I––Shit. I didn’t want you to find out like this, I swear.” 

You only looked at him, even more confused. 

He tried to stand up straight and you could hear him wince as he looked up at you. “I––” He cleared his throat. “Please don’t be mad, okay? I just didn’t tell you because I wanted to protect you and I could never figure out the right time to say it––” He pulled off his mask and your eyes widened, a gasp escaping you when you took in his familiar features. His eyes were wide and apologetic, his hair fluffy and messed up, but as you looked closer you noticed his nose, cheeks and red were all a painful red, his lips almost blue.

You closed the distance between you, your hands coming up to hold his cheeks and you could feel his body sigh in relief from the warmth of your palms. “Peter, oh my god! Are you okay?” Your eyes were scanning his features, the only thing on your mind being your worry for him.

You could feel his eyes watching you carefully up close as you held him gently. “You––” Your eyes flickered up to his when you noticed the trembles in his voice as he spoke up quietly, almost as if he was scared. “You’re not mad?”  

You pouted at him, “No baby I’m not mad. I understand, really. It makes sense why you were so busy all the time.” You gave him a small smile but it quickly slipped off your face when you focused on the boy in front of you. “But you’re freezing Pete. Doesn’t the suit have a heating feature or something?” 

He looked at you for a moment, his eyes sparkling as he wondered how he got so lucky. “I um––” He shook his head, trying his best to pay attention when a shiver ran through his body. “Yeah it––It does but the thermoregulation malfunctioned earlier when I um…” He trailed off and you raised a brow, trying to catch his eye.

He looked down and licked his lips, already starting to feel his face a little more in the temperature of your room. “I kinda…” He scratched the back of his head. “Bumped into a building earlier?...” 

You paused and Peter looked up when you didn’t say anything, whining your name when he noticed you trying your best to suppress a smile. “Oh come on it’s not funny!” 

You bit your lip, nodding as you tried to calm down. “Of course, right. I’m sorry.” You rubbed your thumb across his cheek and you could see him warming up to you again, subconsciously pressing his face into your palm. “It’s just, you really bumped into a building? How did you even do that, Pete?” You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

He rolled his eyes but you could see a sheepish smile tugging at his lips. “I uh––I was swinging by the park where we had our first date and I kinda got distracted, started daydreaming about you honestly.”

You smiled at him, recognizing that the fresh blush on his cheeks was no longer from the cold.  “Aww Pete,” you cooed, pulling him in for a sweet kiss. Your lips connected softly, your movements familiar despite the months you’d spent apart. When you pulled away, the both of you were smiling wide. “Missed you, Pete.” 

He wanted to reach out and hold you so badly, but he knew that his suit was cold, especially his hands, so he let his arms lay limp at his sides. “Missed you more and more every day.” He leaned in and pressed a short kiss to your forehead, the small gesture making your cheeks heat up. 

“I’d let you take a shower to warm up, but my parents would probably see you…”

He nodded, “No, it’s okay! I was...Actually hoping you could warm me up? If you don’t mind, of course––”

Your eyes brightened as you watched him stutter, he was still as cute as ever. “Okay. I think you have some clothes left over here too, so I’ll get them.” You went over to your dresser and looked through the drawers to find the sweats and hoodie he’d left over for you. 

Peter pressed the middle of his chest and sighed as he let the damp material slide off of him. He stepped out of it and put it on your chair along with his mask, before putting his hands together and blowing hot air in between them. He was shifting from side to side, rubbing his hands together quickly as he waited patiently. He just really wanted to hold you. 

You quickly turned around when you found the clothes, pausing in your tracks when you noticed that he’d gained some muscle since the last time you saw him. Your mouth ran dry as your eyes trailed down his body. “Um––” You set the clothes at the end of the bed. “You know I think sharing body heat is a good way to warm you up.” 

His eyes widened, “Yeah, I mean, sure. That––that should work.” 

You took your sweats off, then your sweatshirt, along with your shirt and you could feel his eyes burning through you. You got into the bed, beckoning your boyfriend to come closer. “C’mere.” 

He rushed over and got under the covers, a small smile on his face as he laid down next to you. His hand was inching towards your waist but he paused, looking into your eyes. “I tried to warm my hands up but they’re still a little cold––”

You laughed at how cute he was being and grabbed his hand, bringing it over to hold you. If anything the cool feeling of his fingertips soothed you as he dug them into your waist softly. You moved closer together until you were sharing a pillow, your noses almost grazing each other’s.

You brought a hand up to play with his hair, your legs tangled together as he pulled you as close as possible. He sighed contently and let his eyes flutter shut for a moment. There was a satisfied and almost reminiscent smile on his face when he looked back at you. “Missed this.” 

You bit your lip and took your hand away teasingly. “Missed what?”

He immediately pouted, “Hey––” He whined, dragging out the word. He took your hand and placed it back in his hair and you couldn’t help but laugh at how adorable he was being. “Don’t be mean to me. I had a rough night.” He gave you the best puppy dog eyes he could muster and you rolled your eyes.

You leaned in and pressed a kiss to his nose. “Such a baby.” 

He gave you a cheeky smile. “Your baby.” 

“Yeah,” You smiled, still playing with his hair. “My baby.” 

You pressed your lips against his and he pulled you impossibly closer, breathing slowly as he kissed you deeply. Your heads tilted in sync, your mouths moving together, softly and sweetly. He raised himself up on one arm so he was hovering over you slightly and unintentionally rubbed his thigh between your legs, making you sigh and squeeze your legs around him, your arms coming up to wrap around his neck. He pulled away when you hummed into the kiss.

You looked up at him, pure want and adoration in your eyes. “Need you, Pete. Wanna feel you.”

He nodded and looked into your eyes, his thumb caressing your cheek. “Haven’t felt you in a while, have I?” His voice was soft as he took in your features. “I’ll give you anything you want, princess.” He pressed a quick kiss to your lips before sliding his boxers off, as you slipped off your underwear. 

He climbed over you and settled between your legs, and as cheesy and weird as it was, he felt at home. “Do you want me to––” He looked down, and you easily filled in the blank. 

You raised a brow, “How exactly is that going to warm you up, Pete?” 

He blushed, his eyes darting around you. “Well I just––I haven’t tasted you in a while…”

You could feel yourself getting flustered and he could hear your heartbeat quicken but chose not to comment on it. “Maybe tomorrow, babe.” You swore you saw his eyes light up. “But for now, get in me please.” 

He nodded immediately. “Yeah, yeah okay. Let me just––” He was about to slip a hand down when you stopped him. He paused and you grabbed his wrist gently and brought his hand up to your mouth, slipping two fingers in eagerly as he watched you in shock, his jaw dropped. Your eyes were innocent as you looked up at him, your lips wrapped around his fingers, sucking and wetting them thoroughly. 

When you let them go with a pop you simply smiled and shrugged. “They were cold.” 

He let out a breath of laughter in disbelief, before coming down to kiss you passionately. Your hands came up and held his face and you sighed when his fingers came down to spread your lips and rub your clit. “God, I missed you.” He said when pulled away, looking down at you in awe. 

He rubbed his fingers along your slit, collecting and spreading your wetness and teasing your clit before slipping his fingers inside of you, biting his lip at the way your head tilted back, your eyes fluttering shut as you moaned. He leaned forward and pressed small kisses along the column of your throat, enjoying the way he could feel your pulse under his lips. He trailed his kisses up to your sweet spot, each one lasting longer and becoming more sensual as he reached it. 

The vibration of his voice felt good as he spoke up against you, his fingers thrusting into you at a pleasing pace. “That feel good, baby?” 

You swallowed and nodded, licking your lips. “Mhm. So good.” 

His lips curved into a smile against your skin, still pressing kisses as he marked your neck––it’d been a while since he’d been able to do this and he was going to savor it as much as he could. When he was done putting the finishing touches on his first love bite, he sped up his fingers and decided to press his thumb against your bundle of nerves. You gasped as your thighs clenched around him unconsciously, your hands coming down to hold his arm. 

He pulled away from your neck reluctantly, finding that he’d found comfort resting his lips against your skin––he’d have to ask you if he could leave more marks later on. He noticed the look of desire in your eyes, the way your lips were parted almost in a silent plea. 

You were close but you still wanted to feel him. You wanted all of him. “Pete I need you––”

He licked his lips “Can tell you’re close though, baby.” He pressed harder against your clit and you whined, your hips bucking desperately, making him smile. “Just wanna see you fall apart on my fingers. Haven’t seen it in way too long.” He was looking at you from under his lashes, his eyes somehow filled with both hunger and tenderness. “Gonna let me watch you cum on my fingers, princess?” 

You breathed out and nodded, the pleasure clouding your thoughts. “O––Okay.” 

He kept the same pace, knowing what you needed to tip over the edge and grinned absentmindedly when your thighs trembled and weakly tried to shut around his hand. He gently pushed them apart and slowed his movements, rubbing your clit softly as you mewled and ground your hips into his touch slowly to feel the extent of your climax. His eyes were trailing over your features, the furrow between your brows, the way your eyes rolled back before they fluttered shut, the way you bit your lip when the peak of your orgasm washed away. He was so in love with you and everything about you. 

He gently slid his fingers out of you and brought them up to his mouth to lick and suck them clean. His eyes were still watching you absentmindedly that he didn’t even realize you were staring at him, your mouth open in shock and lust. He only snapped out of it when your hand reached down to grab his cock.

“Shit––” 

You rubbed his tip through your folds, getting it wet as you stroked his hard member. He easily took over for you and held your thigh as he slid in slowly, letting you accommodate to the stretch and feel every inch of him that you’d missed for all these months. 

“So good––Feel so so good.” He groaned as he bottomed out and felt your walls practically suck him in where he belonged. His head fell back for a moment as he got lost in the pleasure––you felt much better than his hand. 

His hands dug into your thighs as he took a moment to collect himself, not wanting to finish just yet. He leaned forward so that his body was pressed up against yours, since you were doing this to share body heat after all. You wrapped your arms under his and around him, letting your fingertips dig into his back as he started to thrust into you, slow and deep.

“Missed being inside you.” He grunted out, his lips grazing yours. It felt nice to finally be connected without any barriers in the way, skin to skin as you poured your hearts out to each other. You could feel your heartbeats and your breaths syncing together as you went on, Peter’s hips thrusting into you at a faster pace as one of his hands squeezed between you to rub at your sensitive clit. 

“Gonna give me one more, yeah?” His remark was more of a statement than a question as he stared into your eyes, the look in them warm and wanting. You found yourself nodding anyway, smiling to yourself when you noticed his lips curve up at your response. 

With a few more purposeful thrusts and rubs of his thumb, you were tipping over the edge, Peter not far behind as he pressed his lips against yours urgently to muffle the both of your moans and cries.Your legs tightened around his waist, pulling him in as he rutted his hips into you, releasing inside you with a long and satisfied sigh against your lips. 

As you settled down from your highs, your fingers slowly released their grip on his back, your limbs sinking back into the sheets as you relaxed. You pressed a few small kisses to each other’s lips, the last one lingering a bit before you pulled away from each other. Peter watched you for a few moments before kissing both of your cheeks and pulling out of you slowly, biting his lip as he focused on the sight between your legs.

Though you tried to let Pete stay in bed in the warmth of the sheets, he insisted that you’d done a good job warming him up, and kissed you hand before making his way over to find the package of baby wipes on you always kept on your dresser to clean you up. He noticed you’d already taken out the little spider-man snow globe and smiled to himself, feeling a light coating of blush rise to his cheeks.

He made his way back to you and pressed a knee onto the bed as he cleaned between your legs gently, apologizing quietly when you jolted at the feeling. The wipe was wet and cold, but it was also soothing––Peter’s hand that was caressing your leg also helped soothe you as well. He quickly discarded the wipe in the trash near your bedside as you plugged in your phone and got ready for bed, the two of you working like clockwork. 

Peter made his way back under the covers with you and with open arms as you scooted closer to him, resting your head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around you, pressing a kiss to your forehead. You nestled further into him, the both of you had sappy smiles on your faces. 

“So, are you warm enough now?” You asked, slinging your arm and leg around him.

“Definitely. That was way better than the heating system in my suit.”

You laughed and pinched his side teasingly, making him whine playfully. 

A comfortable silence fell upon the room and you waited a moment before speaking up again. “I’m glad we can do this again.” You admitted quietly.  

He knew exactly what you meant, how you felt––because he felt the same. He’d been counting down the days until he’d be able to hold you again. He held you tighter. “Me too. Couldn’t sleep as well at first without you by my side, you know.” His hand mindlessly traced patterns on the bare skin of your back.

You looked up at him. “You never told me that.”

He shrugged, looking up at the ceiling. “Didn’t want you to worry.” He looked back down at you and his eyes were so focused on you that he didn’t blink for a moment, just taking all of you in. “Now that I’m with you, I’m not letting you go until I absolutely have to, though.” 

You let out a sound between a hum and a content sigh and tilted your head up to meet his lips with yours for one last sweet kiss before you went to sleep. “I’m okay with that.” 

He smiled cutely and you rested your head back on his chest. 

“Goodnight Pete.”

“Night sweetheart.” 

––❊––

give me feedback! :)

#peter parker #peter parker fluff #peter parker smut #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker request #peter parker fic #peter parker oneshot #queue tell em #happy holidays

[ca-8]

Yakko x Reader Scenario: When You First Meet

'This is it. The beginning of the end.' 

Gripping on the straps of her backpack, (Y/n) exited the bus and stared up at the water tower that displayed the famous Warner Bros. logo. As expected, it emitted a smug aura onto the entire area; however, surprisingly, there was a slight twinge of mystery to it as well. But she didn't have time to ponder about it, so she only gave it an uneasy look and headed straight for the entrance.

Her heart stopped. She knew the place was going to be busy, but it was like an entire New York City packed in one section! So many writers, producers, actors, large men carrying heavy sets, every type of person working in film was scattered all over the place. It was like an ocean, with the people as marine life doing what they're designed to do, and (Y/n) being the puppy that was abandoned at sea.

The moment it all settled in, an involuntary realization invaded her thoughts. 'I don't belong here.'

The young girl reminded herself to breathe and rushed over to a vacant wall, then pulled out her phone. She had already sent her mother about a thousand messages telling her she was here, but since she hasn't responded, a few more shouldn't hurt. Fingers rapidly typing away, she bit her lower lip, already wishing she had stayed on that bus. 

"Oh, you're just gonna love it!" Her mother's squealing voice had already filled her skull. "You're so talented, I know you're gonna fit right in."

'Yeah, standing around all day with a bunch of people I don't know while doing something I suck at is exactly how I wanna spend my summer.' She let out a soft sigh. 'It's fine. Just shut up and make her happy, (Y/n).'

Several attempts of calling and texting later, no response. (Y/n) sighed again, and her eyes wandered over to the bustling crowd. 'No way. Absolutely no way.' But if she wanted to get the day over with, absolutely yes way.

First, she walked up to a lady looking down at the clipboard in her hands. "Um, excuse me," (Y/n) said. 

The lady's head snatched up. "KYLE!" she yelled, her eyes now ablaze with fury, "YOU IDIOT! THAT GOES IN THE WAREHOUSE ACROSS THE STUDIO!" And like there was nothing but a breeze behind her, the lady stomped off to the poor soul that had to face her wrath.

The breeze took a step back and ran around the corner. 'Maybe I'll find someone else instead…!' (Y/n) stopped and spotted a man sitting on the steps that lead to the entrance of a small building. She swallowed whatever was left in her mouth and reluctantly approached him. 

"E-Excuse me, sir?" she stuttered, hoping her voice was louder than the last time. As she got closer, (Y/n) noticed he was chuckling, and his gaze was glued onto a small piece of paper. 

"I...I did it…!" he said. She yelped and shrinked back when he suddenly jumped to his feet. "I FINALLY DID IT! WE'LL SEE WHO'S REGRETTING THE DIVORCE NOW, MARGARET!" And with a manic laugh, the man dashed into the building. 

'...Or maybe I'll just find it myself.'

It wasn't too long before (Y/n) got herself lost. Despite the help of maps that were stuck to some of the buildings, all of them seemed exactly the same. It was like a maze, and with each passing minute, she was more and more convinced that there was no finish line. Even worse, her mother was too busy to respond to anything she sent her. 

'Oh, what should I do?' (Y/n) thought for the thousandth time. No matter how hard she pinched or held them, her arms refused to stop trembling. Not too long ago, the outside of the studio became deserted and she'd hate to walk in a warehouse and possibly interrupt something important, so asking for help again was out of the question.

...Or, perhaps it wasn't. 

A tiny, hopeful smile crossed (Y/n)'s face when she heard the sounds of frustrated grunts around the corner. It was the first time she was so relieved to see a stranger. 

And thank god that stranger was a security guard. Though she wondered why he had a giant net in his hand, she shoved the curiosity as far in the back of her mind as she could and reached up to gently tap his shoulder. 

"Um, excuse me sir?" she asked as loud as she could. 

His head whipped around, revealing angry eyes and a scowl that said he was ready to kill. But right as his gaze landed on her, it changed within an instant. 

"Oh, hello!" he said with a bright smile. 

(Y/n) blinked, cocking her head. ‘What was this guy up to?’

"I'm sorry to bother you, but do you know where (M/n) (L/n) is filming? I'm her daughter, (Y/n), and I'm trying to look for her. She's not answering her phone either."

His joyful expression slowly melted into a confused one. "Uuhhh…(M/n) (L/n)?”

“Yes. She’s a part of Animal Kingdom? Do you know where that’s being filmed?”

“Oh! I know there’s a zoo around here called Animal Kingdom! I don’t think you’ll find it in a film studio, though.”

(Y/n) frowned. “...No, I mean the show. Aren’t they filming in a warehouse today? Do you know where that is?”

“Who’s ‘they’?”

Her eye twitched, and she was just about ready to drown the entire studio in the nearest ocean. “N-Nevermind, I’ll just-”

As if the universe wasn’t satisfied with tormenting her enough, the security guard suddenly launched up into the air and flew into the sky. Right before her eyes, the heavens were coated with explosives of every color that ever existed. 

“Oh my god!” (Y/n) yelled. ‘Who strapped fireworks on that guy?!’

“Oh, I knew you’d love it!”

Her eyes were ripped from the loud fireworks show as she was immediately smothered in a hug. “It’s so nice that another girl’s here! All the other ones here are either too busy or just keep shouting about a restraining order for some reason. I dunno, but anyway, I just know you're gonna love it here! Anyway, my name’s Princess Angelina Louisa Cantessa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the third! But since we're friends now, you can just call me Dot.”

This confirmed it. This was a trap set up by her mother to deliberately drive her insane, because how else can someone explain the nut jobs and talking dogs in pink dresses? 

A combination of those two things happened to be clutching her head and digging her face into hers. “...Huh?” (Y/n) mumbled.

‘Dot’ jumped off of her and smiled widely. “Sorry about Ralph by the way. I figured out you were coming at the last second and I really needed someone for your welcoming gift.” she said.

(Y/n) glanced up at the sky where the fireworks were slowly dying down. “Um...Is he gonna be okay?” she asked.  

“Of course he will!” her backpack said.

The teen screamed and threw her bag on the ground. A hand popped out and unzipped it with impossible ease, then a taller boy version of Dot jumped out, pulling up his long brown pants and flashing a grin. 

“H-...H-H-How did you…?!” (Y/n) stuttered, pointing at him. 

“What? Never heard of cartoon logic?” he said, approaching her. “And Ralph’ll be fine. His skull’s so thick, concrete’s the last thing that can kill him.”

“What-?”

“Anyhow,” he walked over to Dot and put an arm over her shoulder, “The name’s Yakko, this here’s my beloved baby sister Dot, and this is-” He stopped, staring at the empty space to his left. He leaned into Dot, whispering, “Say, uh, you don't mind looking for Wakko, do ya sis?”

Dot glanced at (Y/n) for an uncomfortable moment and suddenly shot her brother a glare. "I've got eyes all over this studio, Yakko," she warned, slowly stepping away.

Now (Y/n) certainly knew she didn't see pairs of eyes appear around every inch of her sight. 'Oh god, I didn't breath in drugs on the way here, did I? Actually, that would explain whatever the heck's going on.'

Yakko smiled as he watched his sister leave and turned to (Y/n). He walked closer to her, and she realized that his half-lidded eyes had a strange glint in them. “Sooo, your name’s (Y/n), right? A pretty name for a pretty girl.”

(Y/n)’s face heated up. ‘First I get lost, then see a guy get blown up, and now some other guy’s flirting with me? ...To be honest, this is still better than what Mom had planned for today.’

“So what brings ya’ here?” he asked.

“O-Oh, well, my Mom was supposed to give me a tour of the studio, but I’ve been giving that to myself all day. I tried finding her, but I’m pretty sure I’m nowhere near it by now.” Her eyes wandered over to the ground, but a realization made them perk back up and over to Yakko. “Hey, do you happen to know this place by any chance?”

“Know it? Please, my sibs and I live here, we know this place by heart and soul!” He mumbled something else, along the lines of “Basically made our hearts and souls”. 

Her heart jumped; finally, a piece of good news. “Really?” she said, a smile spreading across her face.

He nodded. “So where do ya’ need to go?” Before she could answer, he pulled out a piece of folded paper and moved in so close, their shoulders were smooshed together. Yakko unfolded it, and it turned out to be the biggest map (Y/n) has ever seen. “Well, from here, you’re gonna need to take a right and continue straight until you get to the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts exhibit. But be careful, I heard some of them escaped, and if anyone asks if you’ve seen any of them, don’t tell them I gave one to Dot as a late birthday gift. Anyway, you take a left from there, then a right where you’ll see the lot where they used to shoot Game of Thrones. Now this is only a rumour I’ve heard, but I think some of the producers are still on that set. If you happen to see them, do not, I repeat, DO NOT mention season eight, or maybe just don’t mention the show at all. Actually, don’t even look at them. As a matter of fact, you probably shouldn’t even go there at all, just keep heading straight until you get to the D.C. Universe lot. Then you just take left there, then a sharp right over over, then you keep going straight until you get to here, turn up over there, turn right there, and then you’re there. Did ya’ follow all that?”

(Y/n) stared at his face, which was practically radiating with enthusiasm, and she felt her eye twitch again. “...No,” she said, shaking her head.

His smile dimmed, but it became just as bright as the sun again a split-second later. “Ah well, maps are gettin' old anyways,” he said, throwing the map over his shoulder. “WAKKO!!”

And, low and behold, another anthropomorphic dog popped out of nowhere, and (Y/n) was starting to question if there was an army of them hidden somewhere. But she had to admit, it was pretty cute how this one was dressed in an oversized blue sweater and red hat. 

“Tablet, please,” Yakko said politely, holding out his hand. 

‘You're not gonna walk me there-?'

Wakko suddenly held his head back with his cheeks puffed out, then leaned into Yakko’s hand as he forced out a small object from his mouth. After an incredibly uneasy moment, a tablet glazed in spit was in Yakko's grasp. While he praised the little guy, (Y/n) forced back the urge to vomit.

“E-Ehhhh…?” She couldn’t say anything else while her gaze frantically went back and forth from Wakko and the regurgitated tablet. 

“Oh! Where are my manners?” Yakko said. “(Y/n), this is my dear little brother, Wakko. Wakko, this here’s our new special friend, (Y/n).” 

“Hello!” Wakko greeted, who was suddenly in her arms. “You’re really pretty!”

“Ehh? Thank you? I guess??” she said apprehensively, and finally managed to make eye contact. Despite his...quirks, he's actually a little adorable... She let herself grin a little.

The moment of semi-peace was ruined when she took notice of Yakko’s narrowed eyes. “ALrighty, (Y/n)!” he said loudly, grabbing his little brother by the collar and gently setting him on the ground. “Animal Kingdom, right? Let’s get ya’ right over there.” He moved right beside her and taped the screen a couple times. 

“Um, what’re you doing exactly?” she asked.

“Doing what every person does to get somewhere nowadays.” He grabbed her waist and pulled her against him, and (Y/n) flinched from his touch. “Please keep your arms, legs, and personal items inside the tablet at all times.”

Just when she was about to question him for the hundredth time, he pressed the screen again, and her vision became nothing but white. Her body felt like it was launched into a tornado; a strong force of wind thrusted her back, and somehow, the boy’s arm kept her from flying off from his side. A second later, her feet were back on the ground, the sky was where it needed to be, and reality was back in place. 

Except for (Y/n)’s mentality. 

She stumbled around, trying to find her balance as the world unbearably whirled around her. Finally, she shook her head, and quickly turned back towards Yakko, whose face tried to tell her whatever happened was perfectly fine and normal. 

“What was THAT?” she yelled, staggering towards him and gripping his shoulders.

And he still had the audacity to have that 'why-are-you-freaking-out-so-much-we-do-this-every-Friday' smile. “Thank you for attending Warner’s Travel Tours! I would say my Agent Ralph’ll take your bags, but I left him alone with my sibs, so he’s probably in the middle of the Pacific Ocean by now.”

(Y/n) could only stare at him. Her mind was twisting and turning, trying so hard to make any sense of what happened but only making her headache grow larger and larger. And then, her thoughts just went blank.

She smirked. Then giggled. And a few seconds later, she had burst out laughing whilst holding her stomach. (Y/n) looked back up at Yakko, wiping a tear from her eye. “Th-Thank you…” she said, catching her breath. 

His smile had grown and she thought his white cheeks were red for a moment. Yakko had opened his mouth, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by a net suddenly covering his entire body. Ralph was behind him, his skin and clothes burnt and ears practically smoking. “You’re coming with me, Warner!” he said.

And yet, Yakko only grinned. Like physics was his enemy, he disappeared from inside the net and appeared sprouting from the security guard’s back, cheerfully waving at (Y/n). “I’ll see ya’ around, yeah?” he said, then ran around the corner with Ralph sprinting right after him.

(Y/n) giggled and reached for the straps around her back. But when she only felt the (f/c) fabric of her shirt, her smile dropped, and a deep sigh escaped her lips. “Great…” she whispered.

“(Y/N)!” 

She gasped as a pair of arms squeezed the life out of her. Her mother spun her around to face her gleaming smile, which was immediately replaced by an apologetic frown. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get your texts! That scene took forever, but I’m glad you found your way here! You’re so smart! Anyway, I know we don’t get as much time now, but there’s still so much we’ll be able to see!...”

She rambled on and on and on and on. Her daughter’s shoulders slumped and she followed her to where she wanted her to go, but the frown on her face didn’t last long when she remembered the fun she had just a few seconds ago. ‘Maybe this summer won’t be that bad.’

#is this how you write him lmao #i love this boi so much #animaniacs #cartoons #x reader #fanfiction #the reader in this is like 15 dont worry lol #im bored #yakko warner

[ecoamerica]

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