#so the media doesn’t care as much after the first month after launch. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lightsovermonaco · 3 years

Text

A Decent Workout (NSFW Pierre Gasly)

Masterlist

Completely and utterly self indulgent fic inspired by how damn GOOD Pierre looked over preseason testing. Beta read by @acollectionofficsandshit

The buzzing of an alarm woke you not long after the sun had risen over the deserts of Bahrain. You groan, rolling over and smacking the solid shoulder of your boyfriend, startling him awake as well. “Turn it off, Pierre.”

He does as he’s told, then clumsily tucks an arm around you and pulls you to his chest. Voice rough with sleep, he murmurs, “Good morning.”

“Morning,” You echo, nuzzling into his warmth. You curl your frigid hands against his chest, utilizing your personal space heater to the fullest extent. “How long until testing?”

Pierre rests his cheek on your head. His hand traces lazy circles on your shoulder blade like you have all the time in the world. Your eyes slide shut again, sleep beaconing on the horizon. “About an hour.”

You sigh, suddenly awake. “Not much time for lounging around then."

Eagerness mingled with disappointment in his reply. “First day of the new season.”

Pierre's excitement had been palpable the entire week. Buzzing about like a honeybee on the first day of spring, he had prattled on about the specs of the AT02, what changes he was most excited to see, and his predictions on how the car would compare to others in the paddock. You offered your thoughts when prompted, but were just as happy to listen to his happy ramblings and share his enthusiasm.

It had been his idea to arrive in Bahrain early, allowing the two of you a few precious, uninterrupted days with each other. From now on, his weekends would be packed. No more last minute trips to ski resorts or visits to Charles in Monaco. Starting today, his primary focus became Formula 1. He would travel around the world to compete in a total of 23 grand prix this year, and you would follow faithfully to cheer him on.

You lay tangled in each other for a few minutes, trading sweet kisses. “I have to go,” Pierre murmurs against your lips. You tighten your grip around his bare middle, determined to make him stay a little longer.

“You’ll be gone for so long though,” You whine, pouting. The last few days had spoiled you. He smiles and presses a kiss to your forehead. “Eleven whole hours without a beautiful Frenchman to keep me company.”

“I’ll be back before you know it. And besides, you can watch the entire session from the comfort of our suite.”

“It’s not the same as being in the garage.” Damn the personnel restrictions the FIA had imposed for the upcoming season. You wouldn’t be allowed in the paddock for a single race. You understood and respected the decision, but it bothered you that you couldn't be there when he inevitably made it on the podium this year.

“I know.” Pierre tapped your arm in silent request. Reluctantly, you release your death grip and allow him to slide out of bed. He turns his back to you and stretches, granting you a moment to drink him in. He had packed on a significant amount of muscle during the offseason, filling out in all the right places.

Deciding there was no use trying to go back to sleep, you rise and join him at the dresser. He rummages through it, finally settling on a plain tshirt. As usual, you can’t take your eyes off him as he effortlessly slides the fabric over his head. How did he make an everyday act so inherently sexy?

Catching your stare, he fights the smile playing on his soft lips. “What?”

“Just admiring the view,” You say simply. Going up on your tiptoes, you press a meaningful kiss to his cheek. “Be careful out there, okay?”

He holds out his pinkie to you. You smile, wrapping your own tightly around it. “Promise.” He allows you one more passionate kiss before he slips out the door to make his way to the track.

At least one perk of staying in a suite was the fully stocked kitchenette. You grabbed an apple before brewing a cup of strong coffee, taking in the view off the balcony while it percolated. You could just see the track from here, something you knew Pierre had specifically requested. Although it was early, heat already rippled from the pavement. Hopefully his Alpha Tauri would stay cool and not throw a tantrum in the intense temperatures.

After a quick shower, you threw on one of Pierre’s extra shirts and let the comforting scent envelop you. Settling into bed with your coffee in hand and a laptop humming on your legs, you wait for the testing livestream to begin. In the meantime you scroll through your phone, reading the comments on the pictures of Pierre arriving at the circuit.

His carefully selected outfit had caused quite a stir and honestly, you understood why. A loose blue shirt, white skinny jeans and sunglasses. On anyone else, it wouldn’t have been impressive in any way, but on him… He somehow always managed to deliver exactly what his fans - and most importantly you - craved.

And when the livestream started and he stepped out on the track with his white and navy Alpha Tauri suit half undone, the moisture-wicking underlayer practically painted on… You damn near lost it.

In the months since last season, you’d forgotten how mouthwateringly attractive he was in a race suit. The underlayer left nothing to the imagination, clinging to the hard lines of his torso. The famous Bahrain heat didn't help your sanity either, the sweat soaked fabric turning slightly translucent in places. Your eyes stay glued to the screen as it flips between cameras, desperately praying for another glimpse of your frenchman.

How were you supposed to wait nine more agonizing hours for him to return?

As if picking up on your neediness, you didn't see another shot of Pierre for twenty minutes. The camera cut to the Alpha Tauri garage, where Pierre’s car waited in the pit lane. The closeup of him geared up sitting in his Alpha waiting patiently made you slap a hand over your mouth. Those eyes. You knew the little quirk of his brow he threw at the camera was meant solely for you; a way to unravel you when he wasn’t physically there.

You silently cursed him for how well it worked.

Moments later, the tire blankets are peeled off and his car is lowered to the ground. Gasly was one of the first drivers to head out onto the track, giving him plenty of clean air to lay down fast laps. He completes seventeen laps in the first hour, and by lap twenty he holds the second fastest time, less than a second behind Verstappen.

You try to focus on the precision and skill Pierre is displaying, but your mind keeps wandering back to the image of him standing on the track in his race suit. The consuming need to strip him out of it is incredibly distracting. It doesn’t help that your social media feeds are flooded with images of it either, offering you no reprieve.

By the end of the second hour, Pierre edges past Verstappen to take the fastest lap and go purple. He nearly holds onto it at the end of the session, just a few tenths slower than Ricciardo and Verstappen. It doesn’t matter; pride and love swell in your chest when he finally pulls back into the garage, his excitement evident before he even pulls his helmet off. The Alpha mechanics share his excitement, the camera showing them congratulating him before cutting to post session interviews.

As much as you tried, nothing could make you focus on Max or Daniel’s interviews. You spun the ring on your pinkie impatiently, waiting for Pierre to make an appearance. Ages later, he finally took a seat at the press conference. He took no mercy on you. Again dressed in crisp white and navy that accented his sun kissed skin, the ring twin to yours back on his finger…

“Fuck me,” You groaned, throwing your head back. Even with half his face covered, he was still breathtakingly gorgeous. He carried himself with an easy confidence that no one else on the grid could match, on top of the world and determined to make it everyone else’s problem.

The entire time he spoke, you dreamed of running your tongue up the column of his neck, right over his Adam’s apple. You could taste the salt settled in the hollow of his collarbone, hear his breath catching as you worshipped him.

Only half an hour until he came home to you.

The interview finally ended and you snapped your laptop shut, tossing it to the chair at the bedside. The second he came through that door, you’d pounce on him. Ten hours of straight torture, being forced to endure watching other women on social media drool over him and being unable to congratulate him on his amazing morning session at the garage.

And fuck, would you congratulate him.

Minutes dragged by as you mindlessly scrolled through your phone, the endless pictures of Pierre not helping your desperation. You started at the sound of a key fitting in a lock. Throwing your phone aside, you scrambled from the bed, launching yourself at the door as it opened.

“Hey baby-”

You cut him off with a feral kiss, your lust boiling over. To his credit, he didn’t hesitate in dropping his bag and kicking the door shut behind him. He caught you when you jumped, broad hands cupping your ass as you wrapped your legs around his waist.

“I love whoever designed Alpha’s suit,” You mumble between the open-mouthed kisses you pepper along his stubbled jaw. “You look fucking amazing in white.”

“I’ll be sure to pass your thanks along.” Tangling your fingers in his hair, you pull, exposing the thick column of his neck. Your tongue darts across his skin, savoring the softness. He groans, his grip shifting to dig his fingers into your thighs.

You don’t pause when he lays you on the bed, mouth continuing its needy exploration down to his shoulder. He settles over you, his solid body a familiar and welcome weight against you.

“I couldn’t concentrate on anything once you stepped out onto the track,” You tell him, hands slipping under his polo. “Do you know how many women were talking about you today?”

“There’s only one that I care about,” He murmurs, pulling back to strip off his shirt. You take advantage of the power shift to wriggle out from under him. “Where are you-”

“Lay down,” You say, quiet but firm. The corner of his mouth quirks up but he obeys, taking his sweet time. You don’t mind; watching his shoulders ripple as he settles back against the downy pillows.

“Miss me much?” He taunts, the deep baritone resonating with some primal part within you and sending a shiver down your spine. “Usually our roles are flipped.”

You bracket a bare leg on either side of his with a wicked grin. “Do you really think I’d let you set the pace when you tortured me all day?” You bite your lip and let your gaze wander over the hard planes of his pecs, down his sculpted abdomen, finally coming to rest at the line of muscle disappearing beneath his waistband. You don’t miss the way his attention dips to your thighs, your center barely covered by the hem of his band tee you wore.

Pierre grins, folding an arm behind his head. “Do your worst.”

Your shirt joined his on the floor, piercing blue eyes eating up your newly exposed skin. You sink forward, eye to eye with him. You tip your head to the side, letting your hair slide forward to tickle his shoulder as you lean in to whisper, “I will.”

Lips, teeth and tongue float over his skin, leaving small, easily hidden marks in your wake. You let your hands slide across his abdomen as your mouth makes its way down his sternum, pausing to delight in his rapidly beating heart.

Fingers brushing the waistband of his riot-inducing white jeans, you press a tender kiss just below his belly button. "Why do you always insist on wearing white?"

"D-drives you wild," He gasps out, stumbling over the simple words. You hum against his skin in response, cock twitching against your shoulder. One of his hands flies back to grip the headboard, veins in his forearm bulging.

Only when his eyes slide shut in anticipation do you finally undo the button, unzipping his fly agonizingly slow. Your name is a breathless plea tumbling from him as you ghost your fingers over his length. He lifts his hips just enough to allow you to slide his jeans down his thighs, followed by his boxers. The tip of your finger runs along the underside of his shaft, causing him to groan. The headboard creaks under his crushing grip as he tries to stop himself from shattering at your barest touch.

Flicking your tongue over the tip, you spread the bead of precum that had gathered there. Slipping into French, Pierre swears viciously, his free hand tangling in your hair. He may know how to make you squirm from across the city, but you knew how to return the favor tenfold.

"You gonna win for me in two weeks, my love?" You purr, curling your fingers around his cock.

"I'll w-win every race if it means you'll fuck me," He replies immediately, wholly submitted to the promise of your touch.

You hum noncommittally before taking the tip of his cock in your mouth, swirling your tongue over the head. His hips buck, but you're already reacting in anticipation of that very movement. He groans in frustration when your mouth leaves him. A welcome change from your normal games, when it was his head between your thighs, his teasing tongue flicking across your center, your hips rocking in frustration. You enjoy his frustration for a few breaths, lazily drawing circles on his hip like he had done to you that morning.

"I think that could be arranged."

Bracing your hands on his chest, you position yourself so your slick folds brush against his cock. Arching your back, you grind your hips against him, your own chest heaving in time with his. The hours of anticipation had left you dripping wet, evidence of the effect he had on you. You silently praised yourself for your restraint; you wanted to drag out his need and tease him like he had done to you all damn day.

"Mon amour," he murmurs, and you damn near lose your mind. Two words in his native tongue, dripping with honeyed softness but spoken with such rawness, it sets your soul on fire.

You reach a hand back, guiding him into as you sink down. Your pussy stretches to accommodate the thickness of him, and you have to give yourself a moment to adjust to the fullness.

Sweat beads on his golden brow as you begin to ride him in earnest, his hips rolling to meet yours. Panting, you dig your nails into his forearm, leaving angry red crescents behind. No matter how many times you fucked, it always felt like the first. The perfect fit never ceased to amaze you, the angle of your hips putting delicious pressure on that magic spot inside you with every thrust.

"Pierre," You breathe, head falling back. His own thrusts become more frenzied, the wet sound of skin on skin sending a bolt of ecstasy through you.

His breathy moan of your name guides you over the edge into oblivion, your orgasm slamming white hot over you. Your desperate movements begin to slow, Pierre stilling beneath you as you struggle to regain your senses. Limbs shaking, you roll over, allowing yourself a moment to steady your breathing before turning back to him.

Pierre jerks when you take him in your mouth once more, tasting yourself on his cock. Hollowing your cheeks while taking as much of him as you can, you wrap your hand around the rest of him.

"Fuck," He mumbles, over and over as he thrusts his hips into your mouth a handful of times before his release finds him. His hips jerk as he cums, your tongue coaxing every last drop from him. You let him finish before swallowing the salty liquid, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand.

Sighing blissfully, you collapse onto the pillow next to your beloved. His arm hooks around you, still sticky with sweat but you don't care.

“I would say that counts as my workout for today,” He jokes, voice shaking in the aftermath. You laugh, wrapping an arm around his chest.

"Tomorrow, I choose your outfit."

Pierre’s laugh rumbles through you, setting your toes curling. "As long as it makes you attack me when I get home, I'll wear anything you ask me to."

#my writing #pierre gasly #formula 1 #formula 1 fanfiction #formula 1 fantasy #pierre gasly x reader #pierre gasly fanfiction #pierre gasly imagine #formula 1 fanfic #formula 1 rpf #f1 fanfic #f1 fanfiction #f1 fic #f1 fantasy #f1 imagine #formula 1 imagine #f1 rpf

237 notes · View notes

ravenadottir · 3 years

Note

what do you think the characters would be doing after the show/how would they be using their platform? for example, i think lottie would be using hers to give people astrology readings and stuff and i think the season 3 mc would be sooo problematic online

ok but you know what? definitely! s3 mc would be causing the stir she wanted to in the villa and couldn't. i'm almost certain she would be raging and saying absurd things to get attention, something like gabby hana you know? BIG YIKES.

one thing is certain... all of them (purposely or not) would be making thirst traps... and definitely supporting masks and registering to vote. so that's a certainty for almost all of them.

lottie. witchtok constantly. not necessarily giving readings but she would be an apologist and majority on that tag. her instagram would be split into two accounts: one for her personal endeavours like thirst traps and *looks of the day*, and a second for her brand as a makeup artist/personal stylist. cause i think that would be so fucking cool! lottie knows how to perpetuate her personal brand and would use social media for that as well. here's some edits i did in the past to explain it better. i headcanon a collab with elisa for wigs that they would both wear on social media, so that's something i really like! plus, advocating for women's rights, especially when a male politician says something dumb, so you know, EVERY SINGLE DAY.

bobby. in the middle of the pandemic? can't help thinking he would be doing some humorous videos, but in my head they're not the funny type. just some cringey ones... don't get me wrong, but bobby is only funny when he's not trying to, and in social media he strikes me as the type that not only makes videos but also puts the towel over his head to play a girl, so that's probably the majority of his content. some food of course, and DEFINITELY some *cute* selfies that he knows it works as thirst traps. i think he talks about registering to vote and blm, but doesn't give his opinion on anything else, politics wise. here's bobby's feed for the rest.

gary. i'm not thrilled to inform that gary would be thirst trapping all the time. now that he's relatively famous there's no reason why not posting those pics and videos. between tik tok trends to show off his muscles, and instagram to... well, do that exact same thing, he might take some time to show nan and the soup kitchen, but overall... thirst traps. possibly being blunt about masks and registering but his content is very closed off. also, he will get a dog and encourage people to adopt. there's a lot of pranks on dicky and vice versa, so that's something i thought for his social media, just couldn't find a good faceclaim that has a variety of pics.

lucas. mostly bringing awareness about covid and the use of masks, probably pointing it out a couple of political disputes, and definitely advising people to be careful about their votes all around the world. i like to think he's a huge advocate for legalization of a certain practice that women have to beg to have (you know the one), and i think he knows exactly how to make a thirst trap without making one. stop asian hate and blm carrds present, and often giving his followers the incentive to donate. DEFINITELY 'look of the day' for at least the weekend, and lots and lots of landscape from the places he's been visiting or wishing to.

henrik. he's everywhere and he takes his phone to talk about it. no doubt henrik is having the time of his life by travelling alone, or with his wife, and doing lives at all times. i think you would see him doing lives in the middle of the night, or watching the sunset/sunrise with his followers, besides making his *questionable* forest foraging and recipes. survival videos? MOST LIKELY THAN YOU THINK. here's his social media, where i covered mostly of what his relationship would like on instagram. (heavily based off "beyond the hill").

carl. the amount of rpg on his stories? immaculate. chess? you bet! lots and lots of carl's launchings for his company, which does have a separate account but he can't quite separate himself from it and it shows on his feed. his relationship would be discreetly displayed with cryptic captions since he's not so sentimental. here's his feed with some personal things he would be encouraged to post and boost that confidence of his.

anon that asked for more hannah stuff, this is for you:

hannah. i have one for her because i do like her aesthetic. don't mind the faceclaim, it was the only one i could find in so many situations. horses, books, some *cute* selfies, travelling pics and more. on tiktok definitely booktok, no doubt about it. she might do a lot of the "telling the story of my book as a story time" trend to promote it and say "technically it's real life."

elisa. it's all about branding and she knows how to do it well! some influencers might not get political because of how they can be perceived but i think elisa doesn't give a flying fuck about that. she talks often about blm and vaccines on her stories. i get a jackie aina vibe from her when talking about brands that support/encourage dark skin models and influencers, so that's a plus. she will give shit to a makeup brand that doesn't care for shade range and won't hide her feelings about it. here's her usual feed, with looks and tours (that i'm certain she would do a lot). i also think she'll eventually cave and have a brand of wigs, clothes and makeup, AS SHE SHOULD.

hope. there's no question about her activism on social media and i like to imagine she would be speaking up against anti-vaxxers and racism, mostly. just like yewande, she would probably talk about every time she felt the show might've favoured people that don't look like her. we would be getting the hot tea on everything since she's so honest. there's also lots of looks and promoting her friends' products because she supports them so much. priya's clothing line, elisa x lottie collab, etc. here's the feed i made for her a while ago.

chelsea. she might not be that deep into politics but she'll talk about covid and how people should be more careful about it, "wearing all these cute masks my babes lozza made for us!". LOTS of *look of the day* and tours on the spaces she decorates, besides the behind the scenes of parties and weddings (of ex-islanders) that i know she would throw. her feed also includes her closet, supporting her friends' endeavours and promoting them, besides some random mug collection shots and FOR SURE a pug selfie with mc.

priya. there's not much to say except for the occasional thirst trap (with those amazing thigh, ffs she should), lots of vaccine warnings, definitely political anecdotes and her clothing brand. i love to think she would have an actual boutique once things get settled after covid, and she would use social media to promote every line. her feed consists mostly of her travelling, designs, supporting the girls and her photoshoots.

kassam. lots and lots of backstage photos and that *prickly* way of demanding people to use their brains and wear a mask, besides getting the vaccine. in studio or just before the stage, selfies with a clothing line with his logo and definitely pics with islanders he didn't get to meet but is now friends with. during covid he would be using his lives to play for his followers, like lots of dj's and musicians i've seen doing on reddit and tiktok, probably called "late night music" or something like that. encouraging followers to donate for causes as well.

noah. not so huge on social media, might be the most discrete of them all. there would be lots and lots of pictures of the mornings before he opens the library, because i sincerely think he would keep his job. not the most outspoken about certain matters but carrds like the blm's and 'stop asian hate''s are on all of his bio's. i do like to imagine him taking selfies with the boys from the show, like ibrahim. he would be so present in noah's feed it's not even funny. the casual "cute unintentional" thirst trap too. family photos from ages ago and lots of his siblings as well. he does love to write long captions for whenever he posts his girlfriend. one thing though, during the first few months on the outside, he wouldn't be so present, afraid of facing the bashing on him if he got with mc in the show. that could be a reason for him to stay away until people "forget" about it.

marisol. SO - MANY - SUITS - SELFIES it makes me cry happy tears. between advocating for women's rights in a more technical way, she would definitely be using her platform to also talk about lgbtq+, especially after the realization she had during her journey. lots and lots of activism about those things, and i think she would be doing a fine job. definitely promoting the girls' products/services and an occasional thirst trap with a braless suit look.

rocco. covidiot. (i just wanted to use this nickname one more time). he might get a hard time from followers and villa buddies because of his stance on vaccines. i just hope he reads some articles instead of sharing bibity-bobity-bullshit on facebook and instagram. there's lots of vaccine memes on his comment sections no matter what he posts though. it's gonna take a while for the public to move on.

59 notes · View notes

utterlyinevitable · 3 years

Text

About the Future: ODETTE HALL

(sidenote: yes ethan took all those photos. could he be any more obsessed with his girlfriend??? then again, behind this successful woman is her man kindly holding her purse and making sure everyone treats her with at least two modicums of respect 👏)

Reminder: I’ve ignored all of book 3 and half of book 2. The toxin plot didn’t happen and MK and EB merged, though Bloom did donate a butt-ton of money to keep them both afloat.

After Residency

Well well well, residency ended and Odette and Ethan have become a thing. A serious, very adult, very new thing with only a few weeks left of residency.

But it didn’t feel all that new at all.

They were still them. They still did practically everything together. They just kiss now, occasionally. And when they’re alone he’ll reach for her hand, most times. And Odette doesn’t feel as weird about it as she thought she should or would, like she has in the past.

The roomies all get offers elsewhere, some stay in Boston, some move across the country. It’s all a part of growing up.

Ode manages to get her own place on an 18-month lease in the same neighborhood. It’s the first time she’ll ever truly be alone. She’s already hating it and she hasn’t even moved yet.

But she can do this. She can be alone and be okay with the quiet and her thoughts and the stillness.

She has to get through this on her own. Ode knows it’s best if she doesn’t rely on those around her. It’s that reason that she and Ethan have a silent understanding that she needs at least a week alone in her new place.

Surprisingly she thrives. The music Ethan gave her as a housewarming gift really helped dampen the stark space. Soon, with the sun shining through her south facing windows, her mind and fingers felt comfortable enough to wander.

She created so much in these few months.

She’s done so much.

Career

A few months after becoming an attending on the diagnostics team, Odette ran an idea by Ethan about how successful the clinic was when the DT took over.

And, well, Odette began overseeing the clinic in conjunction with her DT cases.

Truly her focus, drive and type-a ocd were an asset. The clinic began running more efficiently and doubling patient care, all without operating at a bigger loss than before.

She got a lot of media attention because of this greatness.

So much so that a developer - two years after she took over, and a few months after moving in with Ethan - propositioned her with an opportunity of her lifetime.

After much drama and self-inflicted stress, Odette took the leap.

She co-founded PocketDoc, a free app and clinic that streamlines patient care and makes it readily accessible for all.

Ode invested everything into this adventure and it really paid off. In their first year of operation (after nearly three years of development) they actually made a slim profit!

She became the face and voice and brand of the service.

The irony isn’t lost on her. That she didn’t want to be a public figure to help the public and now helping the public has made her a public figure. It’s wild.

All the interest in the service and her as a person meant people were doing deep dives into her past. Odette was getting royalty cheques for things she created half her life ago.

As the company grew she got more free time, as delegation calls for.

So she spent more time in the dream house she and Ethan bought together. And with the calming crashes of the waves she’d pluck her guitar strings or stroke the keys of the baby grand piano.

She’d write, sometimes because something’s stuck in her head and sometimes for hire, and she’d send the pieces off to her cousin. And sometimes later she’ll be invited to the Grammy’s or CMA’s or other industry-leading foundations. Sometimes she’d go.

But mostly she likes living life with her person.

She and Ethan travelling and living their best lives.

Just the two of them.

Property Assets

Ethan’s bachelor pad - rented out

Back Bay condo they doubled and renovated - main residence

Greater Boston waterfront dream home - second residence

Pets

Pooka - a small rescue pup they adopt when the dream home becomes their main residence

_____________________

a/n: i just kind of babbled.

all i know is ethan is hopelessly devoted to ode. he also becomes chief around the time her app launches so they’re a total power couple - the press has a field day with their age gap and the ‘ethics’ of working together all those years. he retires just before he hits 50 and he and Ode go travelling for a year. they bring pooka too. her job makes her a ton of money and she barely has to do anything anymore, so why not indulge in the finer things of life??

and she does. ode invests in the arts, gives money to adolescent arts centers and still only dresses in up-and-coming designer clothes.

@openheartfanfics

#ethan x odette #odette hall #open heart #choices open heart #open heart fanfics #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc

26 notes · View notes

unpopularly-opinionated · 3 years

Link

I don’t play WoW but I used to play Overwatch and Diablo and this touches on just the general issues that are inside of Activision Blizzard right now regarding the major decline of World of Warcraft and how they’re losing to Final Fantasy XIV, how if the latest WoW expansion or Overwatch 2 flop as they’re projected to do then Blizzard’s most definitely going to pivot almost entirely to mobile games, and how the differences in age demographics are actually dividing the company into multiple camps.

It’s important to note two things: 1) this could be fake but also 2) the link came from Grummz, a former team lead on WoW and producer on Diablo II and Starcraft. It still could be fake despite this, but if he’s sharing it then I feel like there’s at least some measure of truth in this.

Transcription below in case this gets deleted and/or you don’t wanna click the link. Warning, it’s fairly long.

“I’m dropping this here after getting chewed out for three hours over shit the chewee did at work so fuck it. Assume larp and let me vent.”

>Shadowlands is a shitshow. Critical response, Player drop off and just about every engagement metric outside of cash shop have been catastrophic. No higher up expected this because of their “we are too big to fail, if we built it they will come” mentality. They refuse to accept their focus on the world being a begrudged mechanic to funnel players to raiding is not appealing to the player base at large because it appeals to them. They have spent the last 4 months trying to course correct but there is no solid direction and the response to 9.1 has only made things worse.

>Sylvanas is planned to replace the Arbiter despite so many people in the company and god knows how many online saying this would be a total replication of Kerrigans storyline in Starcraft 2 that killed none competitive interest in the brand entirely and you can only go “no, no they WILL like it eventually” for so many real world years before its time to change course. Thus far that has not happened.

>The elephant in the room is FFXIV. To the people in charge they are acting like this came out of nowhere and don’t even seem to understand why its drawing players away in their tens of thousands. We have all tried to highlight things it is doing that are clearly appealing to an mmo audience and not, in my opinion, focussing more on mobile game style retention traps to keep MAU users and habit forming personalities logging in. Its not that they don’t care. They just seem so pig headed and digging their heels in with their fingers in their ears thinking all the problems will go away because WoW is “too big to fail”, there will never be real competition and “they will keep coming back”. But they aren’t coming back anymore. Not in the numbers they used to.

>The people making the spending choices know this. The new model for WoW is market the hell out of a expansion pack for a huge quarter then use 6 month lock ins to pad numbers for the quarters after that. Even if corona had not happened 9.1 still would have been dropping after the initial 6 month subs expired to “keep the chain holding”.

>The mood in the company is tense but also very much “its just a rough transition period”. Activision has been pushing hard for Blizzard to release more regular product and to generate more income per user. As far as i know this is going to be a transition over the next 5 years to a much larger mobile/tablet gaming focus. By all accounts not just WoW but Overwatch was intended to be the moneymaker in the interim but once again someone had the bright idea to kill a game casual players loved on the alter of e-sports hoping for another Brood War. From what i hear the “told you so’s” were loud and a lot of people walked beyond Kaplan.

>The sentiment that was shared quietly in private but being spoken more often is simply that the leadership at Blizzard are not bad people, nor incompetent people but people who had to fill seats left when the old guard jumped ship wether they were suited for it or not. Brack is a genuinely good man out of his depth, Ion is a fantastic raid designer put in charge of designing a virtual world he has no interest or real ideas for and so on. They have been taking form the roles they excel at to be put in positions where they get to do far less of that purely because there is nobody left with the experience to do so and the trickle down is a lack of concrete direction, ambition and focus.

>2021 has seen the playerbase, media and gaming at large “turn” on WoW to a degree i don’t think the leads in their “positivity dojo” bubble considered possible. Its gone from people going “This is how Blizz needs to fix WoW!” to “WoW is no longer salvageable, time for greener pastures” and i think on some level this was never considered as a possibility so there have never been any major plans beyond the usual “try and minimise player drop off by arranging releases around competitors launching updates/products”. The official forums being filled with talk of FFXIV and worse “why do we actually pay a sub?” hasn’t helped.

>There have been some testing the waters lately from certain higher ups if we can remove the line “No King Rules Forever”. Read into that what you will.

>There are still arguments going on about the Kael’thas Voice actor shitshow. I don’t know much about it but i know its heated, wouldn’t be the first time a knee jerk reaction only seemed to generate bad press. We lost a noticeable amount of pvp engagement after the Swifty thing.

>The Preach interview was treated as a disaster and there was talk of more strongly vetting interviewers for “bad actors” and only engaging with a list of questions Blizzard provides. Some pointed out that could just be used to create some form of Fireside Chat akin to the FFXIV “Live letters” but that fell on deaf ears.

>The two sentiments right now among the team are either “we really need a win” or “theres a dedicated cabal of internet trolls out to kill WoW”. Right now we are crunching hard to get 9.2 ready to wrap up the jailors storyline so we can get an expansion out early 2022. If that doesn’t happen there are talks of major shakeups coming down from Activision that have been threatened for a few years now. Its an all hands on deck feeling thats been around to some degree since the “Is this an out of season April Fools Joke” Blizzcon. A make or break deadline is coming closer and things like Diablo 4 were not planned before then. Blizzard needs a significant win not just in initial profit but consumer goodwill. Nobody likes working at what the public now seems to see as “the bad guy” of the mmo industry.

>This has also made new hires decline. Not significantly but the “you WANT Blizzard on your resume” line doesn’t seem to have the appeal it used to. This has lead to more hiring via friend of a friend, to some rumblings about nepotism, and people severely lacking in experience “because they get great twitter optics”.

>On the topic of Twitter we are not being told to “disengage” from it. Multiple employees like Nervig and Holisky publicly attacking paying customers because they got too heated and couldn’t keep quiet is bad press that could have been avoided. A email reminder has gone around more than once lately stating “if you are not customer relations you should not be representing the company to customers, especially if you cannot remain professional”.

>Lastly the biggest elephant in the room is “yo’ boy” Asmongold. The newer hires cannot stand him. They have used terms like “toxic masculinity” and “dogwhistles to dangerous males” while some of the oldest crowd still remaining have called him “based” or “telling it like it is” which has lead to friction to put it mildly. People are told not to talk about him and the recent FFXIV stuff only made it all worse. The idea that an outside element can have such an effect on the product genuinely upsets people. Like Zach is engaging in some malicious act of cyberwarfare. Many of us have point out the now famous quotes by Naoki Yoshida about understanding that players will drift and we need to make something worth coming back to because they want to but some people for lack of a better word see out customers -or “consumers” as they refer to them nowadays- as some kind of antagonistic relationship where the goal is not being an entertainer putting on a show for a crowd but some kind of game hunter trying to trap a large, profitable kill. I wish i could blame Activision but this is a sentiment from more of the younger crowd than the “tech boomers”. Which personal opinion is probably why so many folks like Metzen and Morheim left.

>Before you ask, yes the topic of “wokeness” has shown up in group talks. Its not all some grand sjw conspiracy, people really do want to feel welcome and represented. However the “we need everything veto’ed by people not working on it to see if its inoffensive and bland enough” rubs some of us the wrong way. Like anything in life you can take something too far and lose sight of the core ideals and with everything gone on since Blitzchung it feels like people are forming little factions to pull people in different directions to decide “What Blizzards identity is now” and how to appeal to new players. There has been some drop offs with “go woke go broke” as the only answer in the survey when unsubbing but honestly we are losing subs in unforseen numbers anyway and still making more money than ever through cash shop “heavy users” so it honestly doesn’t make an impact.

>All in all things are rough right now. Blizzard doesn’t have the love of the customers anymore, is no longer treated as an industry giant and while D4,D2R and Immortal aren’t going to kill Diablo even if they fail the sentiment for World of Warcraft and Overwatch 2 are a lot more tense and stressful. The phrase “it might be good to brush up on your mobile development portfolio if we get another underperformer” has been doing the rounds a lot. If Shadowlands continues its stark decline and Overwatch 2 is looking to underperform like its current projections suggest i think the Blizzard of a few years from now will be imitating King a lot more than trying to learn any lessons from Square Enix’s mmo division.

#random #video games #Blizzard #Activision #WoW #World of Warcraft #Diablo #Overwatch #Starcraft #Activision Blizzard

39 notes · View notes

achaoticeternal · 4 years

Text

THIS IS ME TRYING

AVENGERS X READER (tony stark x daughter!reader, platonic peter parker x reader) masterlist // taglist

Request: @big-galaxy-chaos “Hey so I see that you also need requests as much as I do 😚 so here is mine! So it's Peter x stark!reader angst. Where Tony is afraid of becoming like his father but in reality, he is worst than him. He favors Peter more than her. Even though she is smarter than her own father, and won tons of awards and shit. Tony doesn't realize what he lost until the reader is gone. Btw the relationship between the reader and Peter is platonic! Also, everyone is oblivious to how she is feeling. Just pure angst”

Summary: Dads and daughters are supposed to have a beautiful relationship. But you could never be the song he always wanted. Word Count: 2.5K A/N: Based on the song this is me trying by Taylor Swift. Reader and Peter are both 18+; takes place after Thanos and Tony lives. Warnings: Heavy angst, cursing, self destructive behaviors, mentions death

“Mr. Stark, I’ve been working on the chemical formula of my webbing and I’m pretty sure that I’ve completely perfected it,” Peter talked while walking with your father to the lab.

“That’s great because I’ve been working on your web-shooters. Now, they can shoot up to 200 yards in length and the error rate of them getting jammed is less than one percent.”

Tony rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder as they left the room together. Neither of them acknowledges you on the couch, reading another novel involving quantum physics. But you’re used to the cold shoulder your father has given you since he first met Peter Parker. You’re used to the way he’s turned you away all your life, justifying his choice by saying he’s protecting you.

You knew that he feared to become his father. Pepper explained that to you when you were a child and you couldn’t leave your room until Tony’s lady of the night let. Or as you and Pepper called it at the time “taking out the trash”.

Maybe that was when you became more interested in the mathematics and science you found in the book and the workshop over good ole bonding time with dear old dad. If he wanted to neglect the time and opportunity to raise you, you would at least make sure to put his money and name to good use for your own personal benefit. And in the back of your mind, you knew that part of you was doing this to earn the attention and love you desired from your father.

Tony just saw it as taking an early interest in your future. So he didn’t stop you when you preferred to sit with tutors over playdates, draw out designs for engines and inventions instead of scribbling in coloring books, or even reading through scientific theories over watching Disney movies. He didn’t think it was strange, because that’s what he did at your age. Hell, by the time you were 10 you had won three first-place national science fair ribbons, third place in the national spelling bee, and began developing a prototype to turn the emissions from cars back into breathable oxygen.

Everyone noticed your brain, and how much you had achieved now at 18 years old. You held 2 Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and Organic Chemistry from MIT and a Master’s in Astrophysics from Georgia Tech. And you were now planning out when you wanted to go to Law school and earn your doctorate. But you were living at the compound now, taking a gap year.

When you went away for school, you learned from others how normal life was for everyone else. You met kids who were the first in their family to go to college or were looking for opportunities outside of the small towns they came from. When you came home from your second semester at MIT, you told Tony about all this and he created the September Foundation in order to fund the projects and inventions those kids were creating. It was another punch in the gut to you, because you realized that you would never be enough for Tony.

If you were enough, he would have passed the mantle of Iron Man onto someone else after he almost lost you and Pepper to the Mandarin. If you were enough, he wouldn’t have enlisted Peter to help him in his fight against Captain America. If you were enough, he wouldn’t have gone into space for a final fight. If you were enough, Morgan wouldn’t be in the other room watching cartoons. And if Tony acknowledged you, just even a little but, maybe you wouldn’t be trying so hard to impress him and the world.

“Ms. Stark, your package has arrived. Shall I send it over to the labs?” F.R.I.D.A.Y echoed into the room.

“No, send it over to my personal workshop. In fact, send all of TS-2008 to my personal workshop.”

“Of course, miss.”

“Oh, and F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

“Yes, miss?”

“Please stop referring to me as ‘Ms. Stark’, (Y/N) is fine.”

“Alright, CASS, reboot the system diagnostics and run test C-24,” you yawned as you asked your personal AI system. The personal AI system you built for yourself, bu yourself - no help from Tony at all.

“Systems are checked out, shall I launch the test?”

“Go for it,” you groaned and took to Advil for your poundingheadachee. It was now two in the morning after another long night of coding, calibrating, testing, and perfecting the project you’ve been working on the past two years.

When you were younger, you tried to replicate the Iron Man suit, but your father quickly discovered the helmet and nearly perfected arc reactor you’d created in his lab. He trashed all of it and told you never to attempt to create the suit again. He said you were better than that, that you had more potential than pretending to be a superhero. You realized as you grew older that he didn’t care if you were trying to become a hero or not; but that you were copying his work. His precious Iron Man that he took months to perfect only took a week for his child to solve.

Dear old dad couldn’t let you have things the easy way. So instead after SHIELD fell and Tony began working to finish wiping out HYDRA, you began working on your own original model suit. Now it was almost ready to showcase to the world.

“Test C-24:successful. Shall I continue to run diagnostics to watch the processing and reaction time of TS-2008?”

“Yes, CASS. Run virtual simulations L-29, O-400, and T-38. Let me know when the trials have finished running and whether or not they were successful or not.”

“Yes, Ms. (Y/N),”

You pushed away from your desk and left your workshop. Before you knew it, you were in the kitchen pouring yourself another cup of coffee. You had been through 3 pots already tonight and no one noticed. Guess that was the nice thing about being Tony’s kid. Everyone else acknowledge your accomplishments and paid no mind to your destructive tendencies. In fact, maybe you’d celebrate tonight and snag a bottle of champagne from the extravagant wine fridge next to the dishwasher. You’d done it plenty of nights before when you wanted to drown out and numb the pain in your heart.

“(Y/N)? Why are you awake? And why are you holding a bottle of champagne?”

Ah, Peter... of course he would be spending the weekend at the compound. It’s not likely he has a perfectly good and happy home back in Queens with a guardian who loves him very much and would give the world to him. Guess that’s something May and your Father.

“Hello, Perfect Parker”

“You know I’ve never understood why you call me that, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Of course it doesn’t make sense from your end of the looking glass.Why are you up?” You tried so hard not scowl or be too rude. Peter had tattled to TOny before about you having a ‘bad attitude’ towards him.

“I believe I asked you that first.”

“That you did, but if you want an answer out of me, you’ll have to answer first.”

“I couldn’t sleep. thought I would get myself a glass of water. You?”

“I’m getting wasted, just like all my potential,” You faked a smile and started peeling the gold wrapping off of the cork of the bottle.

“Don’t say that, everyone knows how talented and brilliant you are,” He sighed while grabbing himself a glass and walking over to the fridge, “You’re a Stark”

“Tell that to Dad, because you’ll always be more of a Stark than I’ll ever be,” You huffed as you pulled a corkscrew out of a drawer near you.

“That doesn’t make any sense, (Y/N), are you sure you haven’t been drinking already? Because you sound delirious. Maybe you should spend some time outside of your bedroom, maybe even get out of the compound. When was the last time you left to go somewhere?”

“Thanks for the concern Parker, but I’ve been able to hold my own for at least fifteen years now. And I know I don’t leave here a lot because I don’t have the opportunity too. If there’s a private event, either Pepper attends with Tony or Spider-man makes an appearance with Iron Man. I’m just surprised that there aren’t rumors across the media wondering ‘Is Spider-Man the lost of the Iron Man, Tony Stark?” You waved your hand in the air to match the dramatic tone.

“Haha, you’re so funny,” He took a sip out of your water, “People know you exist”

“Yeah, maybe if they do a quick Google shirt. But I’m not offended, I know that I just live in your shadow. But I’m used to it,” Your poured the alcohol into a glass and began to sip from it, relief flooding through you.

“Okay , I get it. You’re just in another one of your dramatic moods, maybe you should just go to bed before you say or do something stupid,” he took a step towards you.

“Don’t I always?”

“Always what?”

“Say or do something stupid?”

He halted and shook his head, “That’s not what I meant, (Y/N), I-”

“No, that’s exactly what you meant, Parker,” You brushed past him and stormed into the living room, “You don’t understand how lucky you are.”

He came stomping after you, “Oh, so you’re feeling brave, huh? Well you just sound like an idiot. I’m not just some lucky kid! I’ve lost my parents, my Uncle was killed in front of my face, and I disappeared from existence! The only people who care for me are Aunt May and Tony.”

You turned to face him, face completely red, tears threatening to spill, “Well at least you have Tony, because I don’t! I’ve just run around all my life trying to be perfect, be easy for him to deal with, live up to his and everybody's expectations! But I’m not good enough, I’ve never been good enough, and I’ll never be good enough. I’m just Tony Stark’s bastard child who built herself from the ground up without the slightest bit of help from her father!”

“(Y/N)...”

“No, don’t you ‘(Y/N)’ me. You’ve gotten everything you wanted from my father since day one. I never had that. You didn’t have to work to really make your own suite, you didn’t have to endure a lifetime of pain because of his arrogant ass, YOU didn’t have to wonder where Tony was on your graduation day for MIT - his alma mater - because he attended your fucking high school graduation instead!”

“What the hell is going on?” Tony yelled from the opposite end of the room. Pepper stood behind him and you could hear other door creaking open to here the events down the hall, “Not only are you two fighting in the living room and woke up half the compound, but you woke up Morgan and now she’s crying in her room because you two are screaming at each other.”

“Well boo-fucking-hoo, poor Morgan woke up in the middle of the night,” you mumbled to yourself.

“I just came to get a glass of water,” Peter attempted to defend himself.

And from Tony and Pepper’s angle, he did look to be more innocent. He had a glass of water in his hand and was completely cool. While you stood opposite of him; a bottle of booze in one had, dark circles under your eyes, a tear stained face, and looking to be in a mad frenzy.

“(Y/N), explain yourself,” Tony spoke sternly.

You took a deep breath in and wiped away fresh tears with your sleeve, “No, I don’t have to.”

“Excuse me,” your father marched across the room, “I don’t know what’s gotten into you tonight but-”

“What’s gotten into me? Do you even listen to the bullshit that comes out of your mouth? No, of course you do, because you like listening to yourself talk more than you’ll listen to me. So talking to you is as fucking useless as talking to a deaf man!”

Peter and Tony now stood stunned at you and your sudden tantrum, but you knew it had been coming, you had always known. You knew one day you were going to explode, and it just happened to be tonight.

“I get it, I’m not precious Peter, or your beautiful Morgan. I’m just your bastard child from some broad you met on Malibu Beach. Even though I’m just a kid, I’ve always been your competition, a threat to you and your name. And even after every nearly life-ending event, I thought things would change - that you’d finally love me. But that never happened not even after Extremis infected not just Pepper’s body, but my own! And now I’m dying, I’m fucking dying, dad. I’m running out of time and trying to do everything I can. I go to school and get these diplomas and certificates to impress you. I invent and build thing to get your attention. I do it all because I still desire your validation and I’m running out of time,” you fall to your knees, everything becoming to much, “this is me trying, just like I have been all my life- but it’s still not enough.”

The room went silent. Only sobs echoed around the room as champagne poured out the bottle, staining the carpet. Neither Tony or Peter knew what to say or what to do. How could they begin to comfort the crying girl on the floor, or fix everything that ha occured over a lifetime.

Tony finally knelt down, “(Y/N), you know I never meant for any of this to happen, for you to ever feel like this. I’ve always been so scared of becoming your grandfather... I thought I was doing right by never pushing you, I guess it just never clicked.”

“Oh yeah, is that why you pushed me away and found Peter? And then when you realized you had messed up and forgot about your first daughter, you had another one in order to make things up?” You raised to head and shoulder up first, then finally rose back onto your two feet, “well congratulations, you’re worse than Howard Stark. And I hope you’re proud, Dad.”

With that, you left the living room. You couldn’t deal with in anymore that night, maybe ever again. Because when Tony came to check on you the next morning, you were missing. Only a note by your bedside remained as the only proof you had even lived in the room.

I didn't know if you'd care if I came back I have a lot of regrets about that Pulled the car off the road to the lookout Could've followed my fears all the way down And maybe I don't quite know what to say But I'm here in your doorway I just wanted you to know that this is me trying

if you would like to request a work, click here

to join my taglist, click the link at the top of the post

383 notes · View notes

descentintobandom · 3 years

Text

‘Tis the Damn Season

Title: ‘Tis the Damn Season Chapter: One-Shot Pairing: Andy/OC Rating: T Fic Summary: Andy returning to his hometown for the Christmas holidays means one thing: Her. Author’s Notes: Inspired by ‘Tis the Damn Season by Taylor Swift. I meant to write this around Christmas, but some stuff happened in my personal life. Also, I feel like it’s been longer than two months since I last posted, but oh well. The OC in this doesn’t have a name, simply because I didn’t feel like it was important to give her one.

Andy pulled into his parent’s driveway and got out. He was in town for the Christmas weekend, just like every year.

Although this year was different. Life had been since his split from Juliet. He needed to get away L.A. for just a little bit.

His mother was waiting for him on the porch.

“Hey mom,” he said.

She hugged him and they heard a truck speeding up the road.

Andy couldn’t help smiling.

“I’m sorry. I saw her the other day and it just slipped out,” his mother told him.

The truck pulled up to the house and a small redhead got out. “Andy!” she squealed.

Andy turned just in time for her to launch herself into his arms.

“I missed you,” she said.

Andy squeezed her tighter. “I missed you too, babe.”

She smiled at the old term of endearment and placed a small kiss on his neck. She pulled back and Andy looked at her beat-up truck. There was mud on the tires, so clearly she’d been mudding with her brother.

“I’ll let you guys catch up,” she said, “But you’re mine tomorrow, Biersack.”

Andy laughed and gave a small salute. “Aye aye, boss.”

She kissed him on the cheek and made her way back to her truck. She got in, but not before blowing him a kiss. She pulled away from the house and disappeared down the street.

“Well she hasn’t changed,” Andy said.

“All I know is one mention of your name and that girl lights up. I wonder why…” his mother said, giving him a small smile.

Andy shook his head.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day, Andy parked his rental car between the Methodist Church and his old elementary school. The place they first met.

Sure enough, she was waiting for him.

He approached her and sat on the swing next to her. He took out a cigarette and lit it.

“Thought you stopped,” she said.

They sat in a comfortable silence before she stood up.

“C’mon.” She led him to her truck and they went back to her place. As soon as she shut the door, Andy was on her. “God, I’ve missed you,” she whispered.

“Show me how much.”

Her blue eyes sparkled as she led him into the bedroom.

This was their routine.

Whenever Andy came back to Cincinnati for the Christmas holiday, they’d have the weekend to pick up where they left off. Amy and Chris had come to expect to not really see their son for the entire weekend.

Afterwards, as she lay on his chest, Andy started to think. What if he didn’t leave? What if he stayed?

“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked him as she traced the tattoos adorning his body.

He looked at her and she could see the thoughts on his face.

She sighed. “It has to be this way. You know that.”

“But what if it didn’t?”

“Andy, I can’t ask you stay the same way you can’t ask me to wait. Your life is in L.A., not Cincinnati.” She saw his heart break every time he left, but this was the way things had to be. She was the only one who truly knew him. She could tell which smiles were fake and which were real.

But he couldn’t ask her to leave. Cincinnati was her home and she loved it here, whereas Andy’s home was in L.A. “Come here,” he said.

She crawled up his chest and kissed him again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They slept in half the day the next day like they used to and soon it was time for Andy to leave again.

She and Andy drove in their separate cars. After turning in the rental car, she met him outside the entrance to the terminal.

Andy didn’t want to leave her. He wanted to crawl back into the warm bed with her and say fuck everything in L.A.

“Take care of yourself, okay? I don’t want to get another call from the guys saying you’ve broken your leg or something,” she said.

Andy laughed and kissed her forehead. “I’ll try.”

They said their goodbyes and Andy was so tempted to press his lips to hers, but he didn’t want to rumors to start spreading.

The media and his fans knew about her and he spoke about her fondly in interviews. To the outside world, she was simply his childhood best friend, but him she was so much more.

“Go, before you miss your flight.” And just like that, she watched him leave.

Just like the first time and all the times after that.

But she didn’t shed a tear, because this is the way it just was. And neither of them could do anything about it.

#andy biersack #andy black #andy biersack imagine #black veil brides #black veil brides imagine #andy black imagines #bvb #bvb imagines #andy/oc

114 notes · View notes

kewltie · 4 years

Text

cosplayers bakudeku, where katsuki is famous for his really flashy, overly detailed and complicated cosplay at cons and izuku is a nsfw cosplayer who doesn't do cons but is super huge online. katsuki snubs that kind of low level cosplay bc he thinks it’s trashy and beneath him. then their fandom collides at the biggest con in japan bc izuku promised once he got 5mil follows on twitter he'll do a meet up and katsuki who plan to have the most intricate and best cosplay that year at the con... completely got upstage by a bunny boy in skimpy costume and he's FUCKING PISSED.

despite the fact that Izuku mainly produce is lewd and suggestive content in his cosplay, izuku rarely show his face in his photoshoot except only to his highest tier patreons. he often comes off as bold and confident on camera but irl izuku is a mess of anxiety and insecurity. heavily bullied growing up, he came to hate himself and his own skin bc he never felt good on it. his therapist suggested he start taking photos of himself daily to boost his confidence bc if he's able to take control of how he look and present himself to the world it's a first step.

it started small. just a casual selfie each day as soon as he wake up, no prep and no care. he just want to get it out of the way. then he started to rearrange outfits to go w/ his photos. he moved to posing next and then he bought an expansive camera just to take photo of himself. izuku's insecurity didn't get overcome overnight but lil by lil the boy in the photo blossomed from a gloomy unsmiling face to a handsome bright young man. that was how izuku fell in love w/ the camera and the boy in the photo bc he might not love himself yet but he love the *him* in those photos bc they don’t feel like it’s actually him.

once he got into it, he was hooked. he wanted to take better photos of himself, in outfits he normally doesn't wear (a lil more showy and skin), and in setting outside the walls of his bedroom. he wanted to look good bc it made him feel good about himself. it made him come alive. so he set himself up to learn everything that can help him get better photos of himself. like, he cant keep buying and reusing old clothes in his photo so he learned how to sew. and he knew nothing about how to do make up so he took to watching makeup tutorials!! izuku wasnt interest in styling or makeup previously but in the pursue of the perfect photo of himself he actively consumed every piece of knowledge that came his way. that's eventually how he stumbled upon momo's cosplay youtube chn, watching her tutorials on how she went from the start to finish with one of her more famous cosplays.

that vid opened up a whole new world for him, that there are ppl out there dedicating their time and energy into making elaborate costumes and props just to be someone else, something other than themselves and they were all so beautiful. at that moment izuku realized he could just be someone else for a change--boy, girl, monster, alien, animal, doesn't matter who it is as long as the person isn't him. it was ok. NOT THE MOST HEALTHIEST mentality but it worked for izuku. he followed all of momo's tutorials and started to get into cosplay. it was just something small to help him work on his anxiety and insecurity, but it warped into something that consume him bc cosplay empowered him to do more. TO BE BETTER. be brave in the way he doesn’t quite feel yet.

it started as something mainly for himself and his battered self-confidence but one day momo made a comparison tweet about her earlier cosplay and her current one, how ppl improve everyday and that they shouldn't be afraid to push the envelope and try new things!!!! so izuku, feeling strangely brave for once, bit the bullet and post a single photo of himself in one of his selfmade costume of him in his now (INFAMOUS) bunny ears boy in short. his twitter had no post before the photo and he only followed momo's acc. it was completely barren.

he wasn't even anybody noticeable and momo had MILLIONS OF FOLLOWERS so izuku won't even register on her radar at all. he went to bed that night a lil happy w/ himself for being that brave but then he woke up the next day and his phone LITERALLY BLEW UP bc momo rtwted his photo.

now izuku's amateur photo got exposed to millions of ppl and gained several thousands new followers literally OVERNIGHT. izuku's nerves went haywire at the thought of everyone looking at his photo and seeing the cracks, his flaws, all over him. he couldn't bare the thought of ppl judging him but momo not only followed him but even said: "you looks so cute and sultry<333! wonderful cosplay work!" and the comments he received from her fans where all kind and encouraging and they want to MORE. izuku never felt so out of place and yet so strangely right where he should be.

this was his turning point. drumming up every drop of courage he has, he'd dm her and they started a friendship that launched izuku's career as pro cosplayer. w/ momo careful guiding hands, izuku learned the trade by a senior in the industry. the kinds of photo he take didn't start as uh, nsfw, but it kinda end up that way?? bc the photos he take are THE TOTAL OPPOSITE OF WHO HE IS—it makes him feel strong and confidence in a way that he doesn't always feel irl like the person in the photo is just a little braver to show a sliver of skin, to pose suggestively, and to make that kind of sultry face in front of the camera. THAT PERSON IS HIM BUT ALSO ISN’T HIM.

cosplay is similar to a theater, when izuku wears his costume he is shedding his own skin and donning a mask to be someone else. that person is the person he wishes he can be, the person he potentially can be if only a little bit. and w/ cosplay even if it's just a moment, just a flash of the camera and only in the photos he take, he can live on unafraid and untouched by reality of his anxiety and fears.

KATSUKI on the other hand started bc of mina. she was big on cosplay and harassed him to make her props for her bc he's v v clever w/ his hands and he likes making shit lol. the more demanding her request were he became the more obsessed to making it RIGHT AND PERFECT. he wanted to be an engineer bc nothing is cooler than building things and taking it apart. cosplay w/ all the things you have to create bc it doesn't exist anywhere else, so he has to start from scratch but he loves a good challenge. it's a great training ground of his career lol

he never intend to be part of MINA'S COSPLAY project but for her bday she requested that they collab and that he would appeared in a photoshoot w/ her. mina doesn't make bday's wish lightly so katsuki found himself cornered like trapped rat. he begrudgingly complied bc they been friends long enough that she can guilt trip him like NOBODY ELSE but katsuki can’t halfass it. if he's doing it, he's putting 10000% into this and be a fucking boss and OUTDO HER IN EVERY WAY so she can regret inviting him. so katsuki ofc picked the most elaborate, technically complicated, and time consuming cosplay. there were lights, electrical works, armor sets, etc, katsuki had to build them by hand to create it. he DEF show up her up at her own photoshoot and stunned every fucking person there.

for someone who has LITTLE TO NO INTEREST IN IT, katsuki went all in and more. ofc that photoshoot blew up on social media and ppl just hammer for more, wanting katsuki to make their costumes and props but he aint anyone's peons!! if he's going to put time and effort into making cool shit like this than he's only making it for his friends or himself. esp now that he saw how ridiculously hard and annoying it could be and that made him loves it all the more. so that's HOW KATSUKI GOT INTO COSPLAY.

after so many yrs of mina dragging him to cons to showoff his cosplay and w/ all the efforts he put into it, it always stunned the crowd. he even win awards after awards for his cosplay, firmly establishing his presence as one of the BEST IF NOT THE BEST IN the community!! so now he came to the biggest con of the year and is prepped for the show of his life. his costume is a dragon w/ glowing lights, functional mechanical wings that flap and even retract to his back!! it's kick ass and he poured hundreds of hours into it.

his legion of fans have been waiting for this project to bear fruit for months since the first sneak peak. the rumors churn around fandom that once again bakugou would place first again w/ his outstanding crazy out of this world dragon cosplay. nobody can top him, right????? when he arrives at the con w/ his new fucking showy cosplay, there as a blitzkrieg of photos ops and fan signing. everyone wanted to talk to him about his cosplay and then,,,,, someone SCREAMS DEKU and the next thing he knows he's left in the dust over some other cosplayer.

katsuki would be lying if he say he didn't know deku. deku w/ over 5 mills followers on twitter and 10 mils on instagrams, he's recognizable name in the community but for all the wrong reasons katsuki thinks venomously, deku who takes skanky photos of himself and call it cosplay bemismirching real hard works of other more serious cosplayers. it IRKS HIM SO MUCH that deku and his kind get the fame and recognition for wearing less, popping a collarbone and showing off his upper thigh in a photo and his fucking fans EAT THAT THIS RIGHT UP. fucking horny ass fuck ppl ruining everything and deku who catered to that shit.

while katsuki had spent months working super hard get this his dragon cosplay ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, nearly burnt his hands trying to get the wires correct, but all deku needed was put on some makeup, smile to the camera, and flashed his killer thighs and everybody THINK IT'S AMAZING. katsuki, in not one of his most brightest moment, decide to quote rtwt one of izuku's photos op w/ a comment: "you must have work reaaaaaal hard to look that good, huh. just making our community proud w/ that shitty ass effort." TO HIS 3 MILS FOLLOWERS bc he's an ass.

his followers immediately jumped on that tweet, blasting deku and his fanbase for calling it 'cosplay' but all it is is just deku w/ revealing clothes and in sexy costumes and OFC DEKU'S FANBASE DOESN'T GO DOWN QUIETLY, attacking back about their elitism and slutshaming. a war was started bc of a single tweet by katsuki who rarely keep his opinion to himself and he didn't know what he unleashed w/ that tweet. the majority of the community immediately side w/ katsuki who thinks that izuku shouldn't take all the attention from other hardworking cosplayer, blasting Izuku and his fans and all the other lewd cosplayers for not being *serious* enough but katsuki had no clue about it bc he just went there to vent and shut his phone after that bc otherwise he get so mad and break something if he think about it.

he got a competition to win!! which by everyone standard he's a shoe in to win first place again but just HIS FUCKING LUCK bc deku has the audacity to enter the same competition as him like he's gonna win at all?? in his skimpy boyshorts and bunny ears and FUCKING HUGE EYES AND RED CHEEKS AND, AND—. fuming, katsuki has every intention to destroy deku in the competition.

just before katsuki head off on stage for his number being call next, deku suddenly approaches him, eyes downcast and strangely shy in a way he didn't think deku who takes spread his thighs ON CAMERA, tells him with a tremble voice, "good luck, bakugou-san, im rooting for you!"

katsuki is kinda ?????!!! but he has no time to think about it bc it's his turn on stage and as soon as he step up, the crowd roars and he basked in the all their screams bc he knew he fucking got it. this is his stage, his world and deku is fucking dirt on the road. after he is done, he went offstage and waited for all the contestants finish and deku is apparently the last but the moment he on stage the crows is on their feet and clapping so loudly as though DEKU HAD ALREADY WON IT. they scream his names and lay their adoration at his feet.

for the first time in a v v v long time, katsuki felt unsure as though his first place wasn't a guarantee, but when it was time to announce the winner: it's his name that they call. which means all right in the world BUT lol deku is the one who won the audience's favorite award. katsuki won the judges' recognition but deku is the one whom the audience love the most and it's just hurt his ego so much bc he never lost anything in his life but this ??? fucking BRUTAL esp when deku is blushing as he hold his trophy but keep glancing at katsuki while at it.

after the contest end, katsuki broke away from his crowd of fans to stalked over izuku's own group, anger licking at his foot and his tongue sharpens for a battle. he is gonna end deku's entire fucking career right here and then.

just as katsuki makes his way through the crowd, he hears a soft and surprise, "ah, bakugou-san! congrats on your win!" deku says earnestly. "i knew you would win! your dragon cosplay is just out of this world and i'm just so floor , so can I-um, would you mind signing for me?"

katsuki stops. his brain freezes up and he lets out an intelligibility, "huh?" as deku stares up hopefully at him and his crowd of fans titters anxiously w/ worried whispers like they thought katsuki came to start a fight... which HE DID, but deku had surprised them all.

"i dont have a pen," he says, like a total IDIOT against deku's wide earnest eyes bc the image he has of deku doesn't MATCH at all with the sweet shy young man in front of him now. the deku he had seen was confident, sultry, and knows how to fuck you up w/ a curve of his lips but the deku he sees now is like a completely different person who doesn't seem as bold and daring as the deku who took a photo of himself in foamy bathwater and a teasing leg poking above the water that PROVOKED ALL KIND OF INCINERATING IMAGES. it's just--DOES NOT COMPUTE!! FUCK

"oh," deku replies, completely crestfallen like his heart is shattered bc of katsuki inability to acquire a pen. "but i-i, think i have something for you to use," he says, looking down at his chest and feels around for something it AS KATSUKI'S EYES BULGE OUT.

pulling out a pen tucked b/t his tight corset, deku looks on happily. "i got one!" and then hesitantly. "um if you don't mind."

katsuki just stares at him, not knowing if DEKU WAS FUCKING W/ HIM AT ALL OR is this actually real. like, is he that much of a fucking ditz and it's not like the fans DON'T HAVE A PEN but they're kinda too focus on watching this hilarious shitshow go down. some of them want to see katsuki blow up, others stand there protectively around izuku, but most just here for the drama after seeing the twitter fallout.

blankly, he just take the pen from deku. "where do i fucking sign?" he grunts.

"Um, my, um," deku goes bright red suddenly, "my chest--well i mean no wait, uh, my arm if that's okay with you? i didn't bring anything w/ me for you to sign. im so, so sorry for the inconvenience!"

katsuki can feel a headache coming on. "Are you fucking with me?!" he hisses. this is clearly some sort of a fucking joke. deku prob plan to set this up w/ his fans to mock katsuki. that lil shit.

deku's fans titters anxiously as deku's eyes widen shock hurt. "i wouldn't--!"

deku in his dolled up face, bunny ears, corset and fuckING TINY SHORTS w/ white fur linings meant to incite you and fuck w/ your heads but katsuki looks at deku's wounded eyes and he knows, somehow, he's FUCKED UP. this isn't the face of manipulative conman. he's fucking real.

katsuki sighs and drags a hand down his face in defeat. "fine," he says, and grabs deku by the arm to the gasping crowd. he quickly writes his name over deku's bicep as his other hand steady his brushstroke, fingers pressing down soft flesh and it sets off fireworks in his head. deku doesn't even move in the slightest, holding his breath the entire time as katsuki's finish writing his name. when he step back, deku looks at the writing on his arm and traces a finger over it, carefully and reverently.

YEA, katsuki thinks, he'd really, really fucked up.

katsuki isn't known for his mistakes, but even he now knows that he had deku wrong all along bc of his egoism and elitism, he'd almost destroyed deku w/ it. fuck, he messed up but, he's not just going to let that sit. he'll fix it. delete the tweet and apologize to deku.

first though gritting his teeth, he asks, "if you're not doing anything else now," stopping for a moment, he cringes at his pussy ass wording, IT DOESNT SOUND LIKE HIM AT ALL. HOW IS HE EVER THIS HESITANT. FUCK. he coughs and looks away. "walk with me around the con."

deku immediately lights up like a fucking lighthouse. katsuki's eyes are nearly blind with how incredibly happy he looks. "oh-oh, really? can i really go with you, bakugou-san?" he asks, excitement and worry warring on his face. "you won't mind right?"

katsuki huffs. "I fucking told you we're going together, why would i take it back then. im not some shithead that would go back on their words," he snaps.

for one fucking dizzying moment, deku's lips curve upward into a slow and blossoming smile and katsuki is knock breathless. he turns his head away, feeling a strange heat rising in his chest. fuck. this is not good, he thinks as he hurriedly walks off, leaving deku behind in rush. he hears deku yelling at his back to wait for him as his heel clicks and clicks in rapid succession trying to catch up.

katsuki slows his step enough for deku to finally be in line of him, who is a bit breathless having to run in his heels. "t-thank you," deku says, sounding grateful for the FACT THAT KATSUKI SLOW DOWN FOR HIM EVEN THOUGH KATSUKI IS THE IDIOT WHO RAN OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Grimacing, "my fault," he grunts. it's not an outright apology but it's enough trigger another smile on deku's face. katsuki is starting to realize that deku is all nerves and hesitation but for every moment of boldness he manages to sum up and is rewarded for it, he's happy. it's such a small and insignificant thing to be happy about but deku takes it like they're gifts and abruptly all katsuki wants to do is be the one is give it to him.

they both go quiet as they continue move around the con, posing for photos and signing things for their fans. their hardcore group of of fans trail them from a careful distance. he recognizes the trouble but confused expression on deku's circle of fans and then there's katsuki's fan who are all looking at him like HE'S INSANE for shitting on deku one sec to now buddying up w/ him.

katsuki feels like he's insane too since meeting deku his emotions had been running amok on a cocktail of anger, confusion, and an undecipherable emotion he's afraid to give a name to. this is all deku's fault. but mostly it's him--his for being such a prejudiced asshole. if he didn't win that audience's favorite award is only bc he WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH not bc deku cheated his way to that win. if ppl like deku better it's bc deku is sweet and GENTLE AND GOOD and katsuki is an idiot for assuming what he wear and how he present himself say otherwise.

he thought mina had beaten these alpha male elitist preconceived notions out of him but the thought of losing to deku had hurt his pride and he lashed out in all the fucking wrong way like a total bludgeoning idiot. he's gonna have to apologize eventually. he knows it. one step a time though.

it's summer in tokyo which means it blistering hot so the AC been blasting nonstop at the con. katsuki with his punk dragon cosplay got his studded scaled jacket on and also he always run a lil hot so he doesnt feel it. deku next him though is trembling a little under the chilly air. he'd been touching himself more, hands running down his arm to warm up everytime they get a break b/t fanmeets and photos but the moment their fans arrive, his hands drop to his side and he put on a profession front.

after the fifth time it had happened, katsuki can feel the throbbing annoyance growing in the back of his head. "cold?" he says.

deku stops. "uh, no."

"so you're not cold in those clothes?" he asks, brows furrowing skeptically. "really? not even a lil bit?"

deku quickly shakes his head, looking down at his outfit. "this is my armor," he says, smiling softly. katsuki doesn't know what to think of those words but with the way deku have been more than sincere w/ him throughout their entire meeting he believes it, believes him.

katsuki frowns, running scenarios in his head and then says fuck it. he cast off his jacket and throws it at deku. "wear it," he orders. "i dont want you catching a fucking cold next to me or your rapid fans are gonna eat me alive." he shoot a glare at them for equal measure.

"oh," deku breathes, hush and so delighted that he's bleeding happiness. "thank you. you're so kind bakugou-san." he pulls the jacket over his body and it nearly swamp him with how big it is, but fuck deku in katsuki's jacket with bare legs poking through is a FUCKING MASS WEAPON.

He realizes in that heated moment why deku is so much beloved by his fans and it’s partly the long pale legs, the bright green eyes, constellation of freckles, and soft, coy smile but really it’s just plain old awkward deku that they all fell for. He sees it all now, and bitter regrets for his past actions hit him like a goddamn truck and he want to knock some sense into his past self right now. Fucking damnit. If deku who smiles sweetly at him now and who think Katsuki is this amazing ,kind person before him realize what kind of ugly monster he had made of himself earlier on twitter against deku… then that smile will no longer turn toward him anymore and that somehow hurt more than the lost of his trophy.

#bakudeku #not!fic #cosplayers au #sorry i've been busy working on the next part of social media au #and currently working on the regecy abo au again so /o\

305 notes · View notes

olivarryprompts · 3 years

Text

Fanfic Friday #7

Welcome to Fanfic Friday! Each Friday I will post a new fanfic here and on A03. Enjoy x

Read and save it on A03 here https://archiveofourown.org/works/32577124

{the anatomy of caring}

Ships: minor stevetony, focused on Tony & Peter

Warnings: none, it’s just fluff :)

Wc: 2355

It was obvious to anyone who knew the two well. It was Steve and Tony, Iron Man and the Captain. It simply made sense. If the logic wasn’t enough, the two looked at home with one and another. They slipped together like puzzle pieces. Tony always helped Steve through the confusion of a new world, and Steve always knew just how to help Tony deal with the anxiety of their reality. They were the perfect couple, and they both knew that.

Then, the spiderling came along. Tony saw a mirror image of himself in Spiderman. A young, ambitious boy who had the curse and gift of superhuman powers. He defied death each day he swung between buildings, and Tony couldn’t help but be enthralled. He couldn’t help but figure out who the kid was (It was pretty easy to figure out it was a kid, considering he only showed up outside of school hours). Steve, knowing his lover so well, knew instantly how protective Tony felt over the kid he’d merely stalked on the internet.

So when Tony explained the plan to show up at Peter’s with the “Stark Internship” it was no surprise to the captain. To the rest of the team, who’d all moved into the tower, it was a complete shock. The fact that Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, wanted to help this kid hone his powers and skills.

“You,” Bruce said, “Want to help this kid..what? Be a superhero?” “Well, someone’s gotta,” Tony explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Someone has to?” Nat questioned. “He can’t go around swinging off rooftops and beating up bad guys without any training. Or backup.” “Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t your idiot ass do that?” Sam questioned. “I was not a kid. And I had money, friends, people,” Tony wildly gesticulated. “I am beyond confused,” Nat laughed. “Same train as Romanoff,” Clint agreed. “Guys, this is not that hard. Come on. Let’s take this scenario. He ends up meeting some guys, and, instead of, say, winning, he loses. And either he dies, or gets badly injured. Who does he have? No one? He bleeds out. He’s a kid for fuck sake.” “Cap’s been awfully quiet,” Clint pointed out. “What? I knew this was coming days ago,” Steve explained with a smile, “I know my man. He wasn't just gonna let this kid get himself into trouble if he could do anything about it. Plus, Tony doesn’t keep tabs, he violently invades lives.” Tony shot him a look. “With love, invades with lots and lots of love,” he quickly fixes, flashing his million dollar smile at his boy. Tony just rolled his eyes and focused on addressing the group, “Look, I know it’s a lot, but I think it’s just what I have to do. And I own the tower, so, my choice,” he said with a hint of banter in his voice. Tony headed towards the elevator. “Where the hell are you going?” Sam asked. “The spiderling’s.”

Tony left before he could hear any of the exasperated responses. It was a fair drive down to Queen’s where the boy lived. He parked outside the small building, and he then climbed the seven flights of stairs to the apartment. He knocked on the door and greeted, “Hello, I’m Tony, Tony Stark.” He smiled his media smile, extending a hand towards May. “I-I know. Mr. Stark, hello, w-what are you doing here?” “Well, your nephew Peter applied for the Steptember Grant, and well, he got it,” Tony said, thrusting all the enthusiasm he could muster. He maintained his fabricated nonchalant, disregarding manner in most places. “Wow this is, this is incredible! Peter will be home any minute now. Come in, come in. Can I get you a drink?”

He was back at the tower, recapping his meeting with Peter to Cap. “-can you believe no one knows? Well, now it's knew. No one knew this kid was swinging around. And he got these powers with no one to help him through it, and god, it must have been awful. But, he’s good, Cap, he’s so good. He feels the need to help people, beyond just guilt. He’s, he’s-” “Tones,” Steve said, kissing his cheek, “Take a deep breath.” To be fair to the man, he hadn’t slept for at least 36 hours. With all that coffee in his system he had the right to be a bit uncomposed. The two were sitting at the breakfast bar, well Tony was sitting and Steve was behind it, cooking some eggs for the younger man. “I’m just glad I found him before he killed himself trying to save the world.” “Me too. How long has it been since you’ve slept?” “J?” “Sir, it has been 36 hours.“ “Tonyyyy,” Steve said, clearly disappointed. “Steveeee.” “I’m forcing you to bed.” “I have work to do. Plus it’s only eight o’clock.” “Eat then sleep, honey,” Steve said in that voice that you just didn’t ignore.

At first the “Stark Internship” started as Tony upgrading Peter’s suit, monitoring his patrols, and teaching how to fight. Well, Natasha taught him how to fight. After she offered, Tony was in no place to deny. It was overwhelming to Peter. He was being taught about tech with Tony Stark and being taught how to fight from the black widow.

For the first couple weeks, he was a nervous wreck in the tower. He’d hardly speak to anyone and only do and touch what he was told to. He’d change, head straight to the gym, and then Natasha would train him. At first, the training was silent, other than Nat’s coaching. Then, slowly, the two began talking. It started with Nat asking how he first got his power, then it moved to her first missions, and then suddenly Nat knew a lot about Peter. And Peter was one of the few people in the world who knew a lot about Natasha. “-so what, you fought alien robots sent by Thor’s brother?” “Yeah, that's about right. I had to get up to one of the buildings, so, with Cap’s shield as my trampoline, I launched myself onto one of their flying machines. Pretty fun time up there.” “Holy shit, that’s incredible. How’d you stop them?” Peter knew how the battle had gone down, afterall he’d been in New York during the attack, but it was something else hearing it from an actual Avenger. “Well, it was quite complicated. The scientist-” Nat reminded him to keep his wrist straight. He made the fix, and went back to punching the bag. She launched back into the tale,”The scientist, remember him, who Loki’d controlled woke up mid battle. He’d installed a death switch for the portal, but to access it we needed the scepter. But, the thing is, the government basically sent a nuke toward New York in an effort to contain the aliens, so Tony grabbed the nuke and aimed from inside of the portal and threw it at their main spacecraft. This turned off all of the alien tech. He was a he-” “Hey Kid, Nat. Please don’t tell me you're telling the New York story,” Tony said from the entrance. “Hi Mr. Stark.” Nat rolled her eyes, “I am telling the New York story. You were a he-” “Don’t say it. You almost done?” “I’ll call it. Good job today kid.” “Thanks.”

Similar to the gym, he’d become far more comfortable around Tony and in his lab. At first he’d sit silently, doing his work. Then he got used to Tony’s eccentric tendencies, he memorized the layout and where everything was, and he’d also been unofficially given a workspace. It became easier and easier to feel comfortable. The late night coffee and deep chats were simply a bonus. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, it felt like he had a father figure. It was nice.

One day, Tony was vibin’ to ACDC and chatting with Steve whilst working on Mock 50 of his new suit design when Peter showed up. Steve being in the lab was something Peter had also become accustomed to. “Jarvis, please get some good music on in here. Queen perhaps?” Peter requested. He did it to annoy Mr. Stark, and it did just that. “Hey kid,” Cap said. “Don’t “hey kid” him,” Mr. Stark said, faking anger, “Did you just insult my music? How dare you? I am revoking all Jarvis privileges.” Peter laughed alongside Cap. “Sir, you can’t do that. I quite like the kid, and the innovations he is creating require my attention.” “Why did I program you to have a goddamn personality?” Tony said, focusing back to his work, “And Jarvis, put the quality music back now.” “Anway, how was school?” Steve asked. “Good, yeah. The same really. We had another one of your “fitness” videos for class today. Real good,” Peter joked. “Oh god, please don’t tell me they really use those.” “They really use those,” Peter smiled, “I’m going for a shower. See you in a flash.” “Wrong superhero, kid,” Mr. Stark called. “Idiot,” Peter heard Cap mutter into the top of Mr. Stark’s head.

Upon returning, he noticed the absence of the team leader. “Where did Cap go?” “Actual work or something stupid like that.” Peter just smiled as he settled down at his workstation. He wanted to try out some new formulas for his web fluid. He’d had an idea in spanish class, and scribbled it down in his notebook. He fished for it in his backpack.

It was so easy. Too easy. And so so comfortable.

“Come on, I’ve got something to show you.”

Peter had just finished sparring with Nat, and Tony, unusually, came up to the gym to “collect” him. He hadn’t done that for months. Mainly because Peter stopped coming straight down to Tony’s lab. Instead, he went to the kitchen and, mainly because Steve forced him, ate some food. He usually ended up in a random chat with Sam or Bucky. Occasionally he would catch Banner, and he’d end up in a different laboratory. He was always happy to learn about what the incredible doctor was up to. Sometimes, he was even able to provide a suggestion or two. Bruce always looked impressed by the boy. It made Peter smile.

Then he would actually make his way down to the lab, but not before trying to find Hawkeye. He'd wanted to learn some tricks with the bow and arrow. Somehow, Clint would be dragged into teaching Peter how to fire a bow once a week. At least. Clint pretended he minded through teasing and jokes, but realistically he loved hearing about the kid’s week. He’d always been good with kids. It became a running joke that Clint would let Peter know about all the tech upgrades he wanted, and then Peter’d report them to Tony. Most of the time Tony replied with something snarky like, “Tell the idiot he shouldn’t have picked a dumbass weapon like a bow and arrow,” or “do it yourself if you care that much.”

The Avengers Tower had become home just as much as his apartment in Queens was, and it was clear that Tony knew that. Hence the, “Come on, I’ve got something to show you.” He took the little Avenger to the elevator, hitting floor 80. He was a little confused given that floors 75-90 were all bedroom floors for the avengers or just spare bedrooms. “Mr. Stark-” “You’ll see, kid.” In reality, Tony was nervous. He and Steve decided a while back that Peter deserved his own space in the tower, but he had been scared that Peter wouldn’t like it. That he picked the wrong colours, or mattress, or well, anything.

The doors opened and there were two doors facing one another. Tony opened one of them with a key he pulled out of his black suit. The door opened and he was met by a beautiful and modern room. It had a huge bed and tv. There was a desk equipped with the latest stark Holographic technology. In the corner was a suit, specifically a spider suit. That is when it clicked. “Mr. Stark, is, is this all mine?” “Yeah kid, sorry if you don’t like anything. Cap and I did the best we could knowing what you like. And ye-” Peter cut him off with a hug, “thank you.” “Anything for you, kid. Just say the word. Want a tour?” Peter eagerly nodded. “Alright so that’s the bed, obviously. No more sleeping in the guest rooms or that couch in the worksho-” “You sleep ther-” “Don’t say that I sleep there, I am no role model for sleep schedules.” Peter just smiled. “This is a little workshop area I mocked up. You can’t really tinker up here, but do all the designing you want,” he pulled up the most recent project Peter was working on, “Then, just through there is the bathroom, a little lounge area over there and yeah, that’s all. Oh, there’s two mini fridges by the lounge area.” Just as Tony finished his explanation, Steve showed up. “Tones, you showed it to him without me,” Cap complained. “Sorry, babes, you took too long.” he turned around and placed a little kiss on his lips. “It’s fine. How do you like it Pete?” “It’s, it’s-” Peter couldn’t think of any words to describe how incredible it was to have a room at the Avengers Tower, but more importantly how incredible it was to have so many people looking out for him. Before he had just one, Aunt May. She is amazing, but he’d always longed for just a little more. Then, with the Avengers, he’d been given a lot more. They became his family. And now his home. “Thank you,” was all Peter could muster before falling onto the floor.

The two of them, now in each other's arms, just looked down fondly at the boy. “We did good,” Cap whispered. “We did good,” Tony agreed. They did good with more than just the room.

#avengers fanfic #basically peter being unofficially adopted by the avengers lol #irondad #peter parker #tony stark #stevetony #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #fanfiction #avengers #the avenger #found family

11 notes · View notes

terreisa · 3 years

Text

Love Down the Line: Chapter 11

The last thing Indie musician Emma Swan needs is a gigantic wrench thrown in the workings of her biggest tour to date weeks before its launch. When her backing guitarist that caused the problem says she has the perfect solution Emma is skeptical but left with little choice but to accept. Unfortunately she isn’t really prepared for said solution to be former Rock Star and leading man of Emma’s teenage fantasies, Killian Jones. With no other options and a month of performing across the country ahead of her Emma just hopes she doesn’t come to regret letting Killian onto her stage and into her life.

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, AO3

~*CS*~

Vancouver, May 30th

Emma stared out at the large, empty space in front of her feeling exhausted and exhilarated. She was sitting with her feet dangling off the edge of the stage, her heels drumming against the wall without any discernible rhythm. Her hair was still damp with sweat from the show and her arms ached from the intensity that she’d played but she didn’t care. Even the roadies working around her barely paid her any attention, they all knew she was merely basking in the moment.

Her tour was officially done. Seventeen cities in a month and every one of them had been amazing but there was always something extra special about the final show. It was as though everything and everyone had come together to create a perfect moment in time that they capitalized on to give the best show possible. Her playing had been spectacular, the others had been just as great, better even, and the audience had loved every second, sang every lyric, cheered their hearts out. They’d ended up doing two encores.

As her gaze swept across the thousands of empty seats she let out a contented hum. They had sold every ticket for every show and each venue had been just as big. It boggled her mind that every person that filled those seats did so because they loved her music, connected with her lyrics, and appreciated what she was trying to communicate through her art. She only wished she could have personally thanked each and every one of them for it.

The bustle behind her continued on as she soaked it all in. She took no notice of the footsteps approaching her until a pair of familiar, well worn boots stopped beside her. Looking up at Will with a smile she patted the stage next to her. Lowering himself next to her she noticed that he’d taken a shower, the smell of his body wash still strong. With a pang she realized that Killian had used the same brand.

“‘Nother one in the books, eh?” Will grinned, knocking her shoulder with his.

“Yeah,” she sighed happily, “Tonight was really great.”

He chuckled, shaking his head, “Clearly. You haven’t done two encores in ages. Then again, you haven’t been too keen on doin’ the planned one lately.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked, frowning as she adjusted herself so she was facing him.

“Well-” he leaned back and gave her an unimpressed look, “Ever since LA and the shit with Killian you’ve been phonin’ it in a bit. Tonight was the first show you actually looked like you were havin’ fun.”

“I haven’t been phoning it in!” She protested a little too loudly, some of the crew behind her stopped to look over at them. Blushing she gave them a wan smile before glaring at Will, “I played my heart out at every show, asshole.”

“Not possible,” Will negated, his grin unfurled again, “You left that thing back in LA.”

She felt a pang of longing and regret again, even as she scrunched up her face in distaste, “That was really cheesy and absolutely not true.”

“Oy, you’ve put cheesier lines in your songs,” he accused. “Besides, I’m just the purveyor of truth in these troubled times. Admit it, you’ve not been givin’ it your all. Especially in Oakland. That was a rough one.”

She opened her mouth to refute and couldn’t. Will was absolutely right and she kind of hated him for it. Oakland had been more than rough, it had almost been a disaster. It had taken an intense pep-talk from Ruby and Tink combined to just get her to the venue. She’d been able to put on a convincing enough show but the second she’d stepped backstage between the main set and the encore she’d nearly had a complete breakdown. More than once during the show she had looked over expecting to see Killian grinning back at her and found Ruby instead. Every little thing she’d pushed aside had hit her as she’d moved offstage and it had taken everything she’d had to get back out on stage to finish the show.

“Yeah, well... Why didn’t anyone say anything?” She asked accusingly. “Regina didn’t even bring it up and you know she loves to find something to critique.”

“Eh, the shows haven’t been complete shite,” he said with a shrug. “No one’s posted a rant or got a new hashtag trendin’ and you know I’d tell you ‘bout those.”

She snorted, “I don’t know why you’re so fixated on social media. Hasn’t Belle broken you of that habit yet?”

“Ah, but she loves me for all my charmin’ qualities,” he said with a wink. “I’ve her almost convinced to join Instagram. Told her other nerds’ll love to see her books and all those plants her dad’s given her. They like seeing all those uninspired posts you do of your piano after all.”

“It’s the only thing I’m comfortable sharing,” she mumbled.

Will stared at her for a moment before nodding and looking out at the empty seats. She waited for him to finally say what he’d stayed behind to say instead of going back to the hotel with Belle. He loved to tease and stir up trouble but she knew that when he got serious that it meant something. There was no way he’d waited until nearly everyone else had left just so he could not so gently criticize the last few shows.

Instead of saying anything he began humming. Emma rolled her eyes and focused on watching the last of the equipment being packed up and cleared off the stage. It wasn’t until Will began singing under his breath that she recognized the song.

“Backstreet Boys? Really?” She asked with a raised brow.

“Show me the meaning of being lonely,” he said instead of singing, “So many words for a broken heart. Right, luv?”

She recoiled, “My heart’s not broken.”

“Could have fooled me and everyone else ‘round here. Even Belle noticed somethin’s off with you.”

“She did?”

Instead of answering Will looked back out over the empty seats, leaning back on his hands as he did so. He continued to recite the lyrics of the song, as though it was a masterpiece in verse instead of a late nineties pop song written with the sole purpose of being a hit. She watched, impressed and amused by his unabashed performance, spoken in a voice that carried to an audience of one.

Just as she was about to press him about what it was about her, that definitely wasn’t a broken heart, that Belle had noticed he fell silent. His mouth quirked up at the corner as he tilted his head to look at her.

“Have I ever told you how I met Belle?” He asked, his gaze soft.

She blinked, “Uh, no?”

“Broke into her shop,” he said proudly, the other side of his mouth ticking up into a boyish smile.

“You broke into her shop?” She asked slowly, not quite believing him.

“I was quite pissed at the time. That’d be drunk to you, you bloody yank,” he teased and she rolled her eyes, “Had the bright idea that a certain book was all I needed to set things to right.”

“You broke into her shop,” she repeated, “to steal a book?”

“Never said I was stealin’ anythin’,” he said with mock innocence. “I’m not sure I like what you’re implyin’.”

She huffed, “Fine, you broke into her shop to not steal a book. Did you meet her when she knocked you out before she called the cops?”

“Not exactly. You know those squishy little settees she’s got round the children’s nook?”

“You mean the beanbags? Yeah,” she said nodding.

“Well, I tuckered meself out picking the lock, findin’ that bloody book, and drinking far too much whisky. Decided to take a little nap before movin’ along,” he said with a nonchalant shrug.

“So you passed out and Belle found you in the morning?” She surmised.

“The cops found me first, not fifteen minutes after I’d set off a silent alarm. Belle was livin’ above the shop then. She had no idea anythin’ was amiss until after they’d cuffed me and had her come down so they could explain what’d happened-” he ducked his head at that. When he continued his voice was fond, “The constables were telling her what I could be charged with and she just kept lookin’ at my sorry ass. Drunk as all hell and mouthin’ off, as I’m wont to do. When they finished their little spiel she calmly told them that I was a friend and she’d forgotten that she’d offered me her couch to sleep on. Mind you, I’d never even stepped foot in her store before that night.

“Well the officers didn’t take too kindly to that. Blustered and threatened but she never backed down. I was at least sober enough to go along with her tales, who was I to ruin a perfectly good lie on my behalf? Finally, they removed the cuffs and took their leave, not without dire warnings and some more threats. As soon as the door closed behind them Belle invited me up for tea.”

“And you fell in love. Cute,” Emma tried not to sound bitter but failed completely.

“Nah,” he said with a click of his tongue, “That took a while yet.”

“Okay… so why are you telling me this?”

Will eyed her, “You’re askin’ the wrong question, luv.”

She frowned. There were a dozen questions she could have asked, least of all why Belle put up with him. He watched her patiently which only pissed her off.

“I give up,” she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “You’re obviously trying to tell me something so just spit it out.”

“You should have asked why I thought I needed a book that bad in the first place,” he stated, as though it were obvious.

“Fine then, why?”

“To broaden my horizons, of course,” he said cheekily with a wide grin. When she glared at him he grew serious, “Books always have the answer, yeah? Thought I’d find a way to win back my ex in one of them.”

There was only one ex Will could have been talking about and she’d done a number on him. The poems he’d written about her were terrible but the broken heart he’d suffered and lashing out he did was worse. She was still surprised he hadn’t ended up in jail from the stories he’d told her over the years.

“Ana.”

He nodded solemnly, “This was about a year after she’d ended things. I’d already started playing with you lot but I was still hurtin’. Probably didn’t help that we rehearsed across from her new husband’s office. Used to see her stoppin’ by to see him every few weeks. Couldn’t escape her, even if I wanted to.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” She asked softly.

“Why didn’t you tell us about what happened with Jones?” He shot back, though not unkindly. Shrugging he pushed himself forward and set his elbows on his thighs, his hands dangling between his legs, “Self preservation mostly and, yeah, a bit of enjoyin’ the wallowin’. Then Belle invited me for a cuppa instead of pressin’ charges. She’d seen my blusterin’ for what it was because she’d had a bit of a rough go of it herself. A couple of abusive exes will do that to ya.”

She nodded. Belle hadn’t told her much about her romantic history but what she’d told Emma was enough.

“Anyway we drank the tea, I sobered up, apologized, and that was it. I went on my way expecting nothing to come of it but another tale to spin for people over a pint-” the soft look returned, “Then a week later I ended up back at the shop. When it was open of course. Looked around a bit, chatted with her and then left. Kept doin’ that a couple times a week for a month or so before I realized I was stoppin’ by every time I’d seen Ana visitin’ her husband. Stayed away for two weeks after that. Belle took it all in stride, of course, welcomed me back with another cuppa and a book of poems.”

Emma smiled, knowing exactly when that was. He’d suddenly stopped writing his own poems and started reading them instead. She’d noticed that he’d seemed more settled, less angry, and she’d written a song about it. Will had demanded a writer’s credit as a result.

“That’s when I realized I was fallin’ for her. Thing was, I had always believed I’d love Ana forever, even if it meant I spend the rest of my days pinin’ after her like a lovesick fool. Had a real close look at what I was doin’ with my life. Only stayed away a week that time and asked Belle out to dinner before the door to her shop had closed behind me when I went back. She said no.”

“She said no?” Emma gasped, having fully expected a cutesy story of their first date to follow.

Will’s smile was enigmatic, “You see while I was having my little crisis of faith Belle was havin’ one of her own. All she knew about me was I was a terrible thief who played in a band and had an affinity for poetry. That was enough for any woman to be wary of trusting me and with the number both of her exes did on her she had no trust left to give. She wanted to say yes but couldn’t bring herself to put everything on the line if there was even the smallest chance of it shattering beneath her.”

She shifted uncomfortably, dropping her gaze to her hands that were perched in her lap. Unless Ruby or Regina had blabbed no one else knew exactly what had happened with Killian. All she’d told Will and Tink was that things hadn’t worked out, end of story. They hadn’t pushed for more of an explanation and she’d thought that was that. Clearly she was wrong.

“Does Belle know you’re telling me all this really personal information about her?” She asked accusingly, unable to keep herself from lashing out before he prodded a really vulnerable spot.

“Like I said, luv, she noticed there was somethin’ off with you-” he pointed a finger at her, “and before you go accusin’ me of blabbin’ about you to her I haven’t said a word. I can be a wanker but I do know how to respect a person’s privacy.”

“Why didn’t she say something?”

He sighed, “You two are friendly but you’re not exactly the sharin’ type are ya? She didn’t feel it was her place to butt into your life.”

“Oh, but it’s yours?” She asked harshly.

“We’re a horse of a different color, you and I,” he said with a conspiratorial air, “Seein’ as our love of music unites us.”

She smacked him in the arm and he gave her a wink in return. He wasn’t wrong. When they first met they got along like oil and water but she’d needed a drummer and he genuinely liked her songs. It had taken a slew of dive bars and a cramped van to tolerate each other and a little over a year before he was one of the few people she considered a tried and true friend.

“She could have talked to me,” she said petulantly.

“And she still might if this-” he waved his hand between them, “here doesn’t take. But I haven’t finished my story yet.”

“Sorry,” she said, feeling anything but, “continue.”

“Where was I?” He asked cheekily, chuckling at her glare. “Right, I’d decided to woo Belle and she’d wisely decided to protect her heart. Let me down gently, of course, my Belle.

“I was a bit disappointed but I also knew why she’d said no. Stopped goin’ round the shop, thought it’d be best to take a step back. She didn’t need me hangin’ around makin’ things awkward. Surprised the hell out of me when a month later she showed up at one of our gigs and asked me to dinner as soon as the set was done. She said that no one had actually listened to her or respected her decisions before, especially her exes, and that even if she didn’t know much about me she was willin’ to give me a chance. Celebrated three years back in March.”

“I know, you posted it all over Instagram,” she said with only a hint of the frustration she was feeling, “Is that it?”

“Almost,” he said with a chuckle, “Long story short-”

“Too late,” she muttered.

“Belle knew somethin’ was off with you ‘cause she’s been there before and she wanted me to tell you ‘cause she thought I could get you to see what’s in front of your face-” he said with a touch of impatience. “If you broke things off with Jones because he was bloody awful or your personalities didn’t mesh or whatever that’s one thing. If you did it because you’re scared then that’s somethin’ else. Okay, now I’m done.”

Emma sat, stunned, as Will stood up and stretched. He gave the few crew members still clearing the stage a genial wave before offering her his hand. With a scowl and some reluctance she grabbed it and let him haul her up beside him. She gave him a wary look, girding herself against more pointed jabs at her emotional expense, but he just spun on his heel and started walking off stage.

“That’s it?!” She called after him, a bit disgruntled.

“I said my piece, luv,” he parried back without turning around. “Besides I’ve my lady love waitin’ for me back at the hotel. She’s a rare one but I don’t think she’d be too forgivin’ if I spent the whole night with another woman. Even if it’s you.”

She rushed after him, “You’re not going to try to convince me to call him or… or tell me about how much of a great guy he is or something?”

“I ain’t gonna tell you what to do, luv. You’re the one that has to decide if you want to keep bein’ miserable or not-” he pulled his phone from his pocket, “I’m orderin’ a Lyft, you wanna ride with?”

“I’ve got a car waiting,” she said absently, still trying to figure out his game.

“Excellent, you got anythin’ you need to grab?” He asked without looking up, tapping away at his phone, “I can wait.”

“No, Ruby grabbed it all for me-” she grabbed his elbow and swung him around to face her, “You’re really not going to say anything else?”

He sighed, “You’ll do what you want and if you actually listened to what I’ve told you then you know there’s nothin’ else I could say. Now, do you want to stay here until we’re kicked out?”

She looked back across the stage but the magic of the moment was gone. Now it was just a big empty space with the last of the equipment being rolled out through the wings by the sweaty road crew.

“Fine, let’s go.”

The ride to the hotel was quiet. Will had clearly said everything he’d wanted to, spending the whole ride furiously texting someone. For her part she was too pissed off at him while trying desperately not to think too much about what little lesson he’d been trying to get her to understand to say anything remotely close to nice. When they reached the hotel he stopped her from leaving the car with a hand on her arm.

“One last thing-”

“Really?!” She snapped. “I just want to go up to my room, drink the champagne that I know the label sent, and not think about the emotional vomit you dropped in my lap tonight.”

“It needed to be said,” he stated without a hint of remorse. Then he squeezed her arm gently and sighed, “Look, I’m gonna send you somethin’ and you need to promise me you’ll look at that first.”

“First?” She asked warily, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. She’d never taken it off silent and saw that there were way more texts and calls than she’d expected to be there, “What is it?”

“Nothin’ too terrible,” he hedged.

His gaze darted over her shoulder. When she looked she saw a few paparazzi waiting by flanking the front doors of the hotel. She turned back to him and saw his jaw ticking.

“Will-”

He ignored her and leaned towards the driver, “Hey, mate, mind pullin’ round the back so we don’t get ambushed?”

“Of course, sir,” the driver said with a nod, immediately pulling away from the curb.

“Will,” she put every ounce of frustration she could into his name.

“You’ll thank me later,” he said absently, back to tapping madly on his phone, “And you know what, don’t look at it until you’re in your room. Can you do that?”

Just as she was about to grab the hand that was on her arm and twist it until bones cracked the car stopped again. Looking outside she saw they were at some kind of loading dock and one of the doors was propped open.

“Brilliant,” Will said happily. He let go of her and fished in his pocket, pulling out a couple of bills that he handed to the driver, “Cheers, mate!”

“Thank you, sir,” the driver said with a nod. He caught her gaze in the rear view mirror, “Ma’am.”

“Thanks,” she said weakly. Will was already out of the car and she scrambled out after him, “Wait, you can’t be all cryptic and then just leave me like that. What the hell is going on?”

“I know you want to punch me in the face-” he squinted his eyes at her, “Nope, you’re ready to murder me on the spot. Just trust me, luv. Besides, it wouldn’t do to make a scene out here and bring ‘round those vultures we made a point of avoiding.”

“Fine,” she huffed, pushing past him. “But you’re so on my shit list right now.”

“I’m always on it, luv,” he said with a laugh.

The hotel was five star but the door that had been left open led to a not so pretty hallway. She’d worked plenty of shitty jobs to know what a service corridor looked like. There were several stacks of empty milk crates and egg cages lining the walls and from the delicious smells wafting towards her it wasn’t hard to figure out that they were near the kitchens. She turned back and gave Will an unimpressed look.

“It was this or the paps,” he said unapologetically. He pointed ahead of them, “That way and then the second right will get you to the lobby.”

“And where are you going?” She asked suspiciously.

“Got a mate that’s holdin’ a bottle of champagne for me that way-” he hitched his thumb to the left. “I’ll let him know you said thanks for sneakin’ you past those vultures.”

He strolled past her, with his hands in his pockets, whistling the damn Backstreet Boys song he’d been singing earlier. She was torn between wanting to strangle him or begrudgingly thank him. In the end she settled for glaring at his back and muttering obscenities until he turned a corner and disappeared from her sight.

Twenty minutes later she was finally holed up in her room, freshly showered and wrapped in one of the hotel’s fluffy robes with the bottle of champagne in her hand. All should have been well except for the litany of messages she had. Will’s wasn’t the most recent and she would have ignored it if he hadn’t said anything but she had a feeling that whatever he had sent her was the reason behind all the other texts and calls. Her thumb hovered over his message, calculating how much it was going to ruin her night if she ignored it, before she scoffed at herself and tapped on it.

Scarlet: whatever you do don’t kill the messenger ie me

There was a second message, which was a link to YouTube. She hesitated again, even more so with his ominous message. When she tapped on the link she felt a momentary flash of panic, nearly closing out the app, because she knew without a doubt that watching the video was going to destroy any semblance of finishing off the night on a high note.

Her panic quickly turned into longing and heartbreak at the sight of Killian on her phone screen. He was sitting with his guitar in a room she’d never seen before but knew without a doubt was from his place in Boston. If pressed she wouldn’t have been able to explain how she knew but from the small bits of decor she could make out in the background and his sense of ease in the space were big clues. Her attention was drawn back to him as he cleared his throat and addressed the camera.

“Er, hello all,” he began sheepishly, his fingers nervously scratching behind his ear as the tips of his ears turned pink. His hair was in disarray and there were slight shadows under his eyes but he looked good, she would have even said great if there had been anyone around to ask her. He gave a rueful smile, “I’ve never done one of these, honestly never thought I would seeing as I seemed to have missed the metaphorical boat with this whole video blogging thing-”

Emma snorted in amusement despite herself and muttered, “It’s like he’s three hundred not thirty-three.”

“Aye, I may be belying my age but as you can see I’ve retained my youthful glow,” he said with a cheeky grin, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth.

The quip seemed to bolster him, the tension in his shoulders disappeared and he seemed to breathe easier, but it only lasted for a moment. His smile faded and he dropped his chin, his chest expanding as he took a deep breath. When he looked back to the camera the look in his eyes made her own breath catch in her throat.

“As many of my fans-” he paused and then gave a mirthless laugh, shaking his head, “Well, let’s be honest, a lot more than just my fans know my story. My exploits, my tragedies, missteps and extended stays in rehab are just cannon fodder for the gossip mongers that dwell on the internet. All of that led to my taking a much needed step back from the spotlight that’s lasted a good while. In that time I’ve continued to play, the creative soul in me would never stand for me not to, but I never thought I’d put pen to paper with the intention of writing a song ever again.

“The accident, yes that fucking accident, took more from me than just my brother and my love that night. It took the part of me that knew the right words to tease the desired emotion from an audience, how to hook them with a few notes and reel them in with lyrics that sprung from my heart and soul. Without that-” his voice cracked and he paused again, closing his eyes. After a few deep breaths he opened them, looking straight into the camera, his pain bare to see, “Without that it’s a wonder I didn’t drink myself to death within six months.”

Her phone screen went blurry and it wasn’t until a drop of water fell onto her hand that she realized she was crying. Impatiently brushing away the tears she focused back on the video.

He had begun idly picking at the strings of the guitar, “Getting sober was the first step to getting my life back. One of many. It’s been a hard road and every day is a struggle in one way or another but it’s a battle I’m willing to fight. My life, quite literally, depends on it. Next was getting serious about playing music again. I’ve spent the past few years not doing much more than recording backing tracks for what seems like every artist under the sun. I was in a rut and my agent convinced me that it was a sign that it was time to return to the recording booth. This time as the headliner, as it were. With no true argument against it I agreed, thinking that if anything I would enjoy a middling solo career out of it. What I hadn’t counted on was it leading to something that would turn my middling life upside down in the most unexpected of ways.

“You see, I had thought that I would be hoisted off on a producer and bundled to a cabin to write as many songs as possible before being shepherded back to a recording booth. Handled but not inspired. Before that could happen, though, another much more appealing opportunity presented itself.. A friend called needing a favor. One that my agent and the label approved of, though I would have done it regardless”

His finger picking continued as a wistful smile played at his lips. She couldn’t figure out what he was playing. It seemed somewhat familiar but his playing was too slow for her to catch the tune.

“In doing this favor I met someone-” he focused on the camera and gave a slight shake of his head, “You know, I never thought I’d be capable of letting go of my first love, of my Milah... to believe that I could find someone else... until I met her.”

Emma nearly dropped her phone in shock.

“For the first time since I thought I’d lost everything I felt like there was a possibility for me to find it all again. I found myself wanting- no, needing, to write again. I think I filled the first notebook within a week. She inspired me in a way I hadn’t been before. Then, I was privileged enough to become a part of her life.

“Unfortunately even before we met I had decided that there was no need to share with her what was to be a fairly big change in my life. I figured, why tell her about making a return to music when I hadn’t truly wanted it to happen in the first place?” he scoffed. He stopped playing, clenching his hand into a fist, “It was a selfish decision on my part, wanting to bask in the simplicity of what we had for as long as possible before I had to give myself over to the machinations of creating an album. What I failed so spectacularly at was considering her feelings, her expectations and hopes as to what we could be. By omitting that truth from the beginning and trying to shield her from it, even believing that I was doing the honorable thing, hurt her far more than telling her from the start.”

She could see the frustration and self loathing in his gaze. It made her want to soothe him and shake him at the same time.

He blinked, seemingly remembering that he was being filmed and gave a brittle smile to the camera, “It should come as no surprise that it all came ‘round to bite me in the arse. I’ll admit that I spent a good amount of time as the living embodiment of a Morrisey album. Listened to a few of them ad nauseum to boot. It took a good friend knocking some sense into me and a few words of advice Liam had given me long ago: ‘A man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets’.

“I deserve every second of her silence, every ounce of her anger, and I will respect her decision regarding us, whatever it may be, but I have one final plea to make. She may never see this, the bloody idiot that told me to do this will also be editing this and might cut this all out, but I’ve laid myself bare so that she perhaps might come to understand why I’d done the things that hurt her so.

“Sw-” he cut himself off, looking down as his jaw ticked in frustration before he took a breath and looked back to the camera, his gaze sincere and open, “Love, I’m sorry for lying to you. I’m sorry for making you feel used and unimportant and as though you were dupe in a scheme designed to benefit everyone but yourself. It was never my intention to make you feel that way but my actions and my lies did so all the same. I’m sorry, love, for everything.”

Her tears were falling freely but she made no move to brush them away. They were too quick and numerous for her to bother. In the video Killian had started playing his guitar again, his fingers plucking out the notes of a tune she still couldn’t place but that he seemed to know very well.

“I wrote this after an eye opening night in Chicago. This is my truth, love, it was then and it is now.”

With that he began to play in earnest. She could hear echoes of the songs he’d written with Milah and Liam, a distinctive style that even the chasm of a decade couldn’t erase. There was something more to it though, a longing in his voice she’d never heard before but it was far from melancholic, she could almost feel a wellspring of hope bubbling within it. Then she actually listened to the lyrics he was singing.

And all of the steps that led me to you

And all of the hell I had to walk through

But I wouldn't trade a day for the chance to say

My love, I'm in love with you

The phone tumbled from Emma’s suddenly numb fingers. The video kept playing but the audio was muffled in the folds of her robe. Scrambling to pick it back up and muttering curses while desperately trying to hear the rest of the song she fumbled with the phone for what felt like minutes before it was back in her hand and facing the right way. With a shaking finger she scrolled back until the point where he started to play and began watching again. When he played the final note she scrolled back and watched it again. After the fourth time she let the video keep playing, though she could barely focus on it through the sobs she was holding back.

Killian gave the camera a pained smile, his hands folded over his guitar. He seemed on the verge of saying something and she held her breath. Instead he shook his head and leaned forward, reaching towards the camera. The video ended there, an emotionless black screen with links to a few of the more popular music videos that Realm of Jewels had made. Emma sat staring at the thumbnails in a stupor, her mind whirring with too many thoughts to even begin to process what she was feeling. It was only when her screen went dark from inactivity that she made a decision. Unlocking her phone she brought up her contacts and tapped on the name of the person she’d been avoiding talking to for days. They picked up on the second ring.

“I know it’s late but I need a favor.”

#captain swan #cs ff #cs fan fic #cs fanfic #cs fan fiction #captain swan ff #captain swan fan fic #captain swan fanfic #captain swan fan fiction #ouat ff #my writing

22 notes · View notes

thebooksaidthat · 4 years

Text

5 Contemporary Book Recommendations with WLW relationships!

As promised, this is my list of 5 book recs with FF centered relationships! They’re in no particular order and I hope it’ll motivate you to read some good queer works of art!

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32620332-the-seven-husbands-of-evelyn-hugo

Synopsis: Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. When she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways. --> I read this a few months ago and I remembered myself just putting my Kindle down onto the bed and looked into my imaginary camera man’s face thinking about the ending. I loved everything about this book, the friendship, the romance and the style of writing tied them up nicely. Also, apparently there’s going to be a TV series coming soon in the future so yes I’m 110% confident I’ll be crying with a bag of chips at the end too ;’) Seriously though, do yourself a favor and read this! 2. The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53066661-the-falling-in-love-montage

Synopsis: Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out. But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms. Unbothered by Saoirse’s no-relationships rulebook, Ruby proposes a loophole: They don’t need true love to have one summer of fun, complete with every cliché, rom-com montage-worthy date they can dream up—and a binding agreement to end their romance come fall. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters actually fall in love… for real. --> The Falling in Love Montage is one of favorite FF books because I couldn’t not relate myself with the main character, Saoirse. I loved her humor throughout the book. She came off a little strong at first and it did seem like she was annoying but there’s a reason why she’s so sarcastic and cynical and I loved that the book wasn’t all 100% about the romance (although that is one of the best parts of it). I binged this within two days and I was fairly satisfied at the end and I can’t not recommend this enough for those who want to read a happy queer romance book! ALSO I LOVE THE COVER SO MUCH 3. The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36952571-the-weight-of-the-stars

Synopsis: Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the two misfits are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system. Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And its up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more . . . In K. Ancrum’s signature poetic style, this slow-burn romance will have you savoring every page. --> The Weight of The Stars is mostly a quiet read, and when they say slow-burn, they really mean it. I loved this one a lot even thought it’s mostly a character-driven type of book. This is sort of an enemies-to-lovers type of book, though it went fairly quickly from enemies to friends. This book feels like something you should read slowly, just to savor it all and process everything on the pages. 4. Her Name in The Sky by Kelly Quindlen Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20886492-her-name-in-the-sky

Synopsis: Hannah wants to spend her senior year of high school going to football games and Mardi Gras parties with her tight-knit group of friends. The last thing she wants is to fall in love with a girl--especially when that girl is her best friend, Baker. Hannah knows she should like Wally, the kind, earnest boy who asks her to prom. She should cheer on her friend Clay when he asks Baker to be his girlfriend. She should follow the rules of her conservative Louisiana community--the rules that have been ingrained in her since she was a child. But Hannah longs to be with Baker, who cooks macaroni and cheese with Hannah late at night, who believes in the magic of books as much as Hannah does, and who challenges Hannah to be the best version of herself. And Baker might want to be with Hannah, too--if both girls can embrace that world-shaking, yet wondrous, possibility. --> Her Name in The Sky is a beautiful coming age story between two girls in a conservative town. I did find this one slightly harder to read because I usually stray away from books like these but I think it’s good to pick something up like this from time to time. Don’t be scared away though because this has a good and happy ending to it. 5. Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52915426-something-to-talk-about

Synopsis: A showrunner and her assistant give the world something to talk about when they accidentally fuel a ridiculous rumor in this debut romance. Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple. The so-called scandal couldn't come at a worse time--threatening Emma's promotion and Jo's new movie. As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a "source" is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is "no comment". With the launch of Jo's film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously. Emma seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all...but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames? --> Another queer rom-com heading your way with this final rec! This was a fun and cute read about the romance between Jo, who is a Chinese Hollywood star and her assistant, Emma. I read this in a book slump and I loved it, its sort of a fake-dating trope like book and I’ve never read something like this outside of fanfiction so it was an enjoyable experience all the way! Also, when the author described Jo at one of the red carpets with her dress with pockets, my mind automatically imagined Gemma Chan from Crazy Rich Asians as her.

78 notes · View notes