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daryl-dixon-daydreams · 3 years

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Words: 6,247 Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader Reader pronouns: she/her Era: Alexandria Warnings: language, some fighting, that's it! A/N: Jealous!Daryl Dixon? YES PLEASE. Summary: Daryl finds himself in a bad mood when Y/N is asked to attend a community event by a local man.

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“What the hell are you two gigglin’ about over here?” Daryl asked, emerging from his space down in the basement. Maggie and Rosita spun immediately and they seemed to clam up a bit, exchanging a look with one another which only furthered the archer’s curiosity. “What?”

“Nothin’,” Maggie said.

“Uh huh, that’s real believable,” he mumbled. “Ya’ll goin’ to this bonfire tonight?” he asked.

“There’s supposed to be booze and food, so I’m in,” Rosita laughed. Maggie nodded.

“Glenn and I are planning to go for a little while. Rick still wants us all to try. Even though it does feel a little silly considering what’s goin’ on outside.”

Daryl scoffed. “Silly is right. Feels like we’re playin’ pretend while the world is on fire,” he said, withdrawing a cigarette and fishing into his pocket for his lighter.

“You’re clean,” Maggie commented. “You look nice,” she said.

Daryl simply avoided her eyes and changed the subject. “Who else is goin’?” he drawled.

Maggie and Rosita exchanged another look.

“What?” Daryl prodded again, increasingly annoyed.

Rosita cleared her throat and sank down on a stool at the kitchen island. “I think pretty much all of us. Carol, Abraham…” She left a long pause until Maggie nudged her with her elbow and gave her a pointed look. “Oh, yeah. Right. Y/N is going. Apparently, someone from here asked her to go with him.” The two women carefully watched Daryl’s expression.

“Mmm,” he hummed, averting his eyes as he felt his stomach twist. Maggie thought she saw the muscle in his jaw tense as he clenched his teeth.

“That’s it? ‘Mmm’?” Rosita said, a small smirk on her face.

Daryl glared at her. “The hell am I supposed to say?” he growled, feeling a hot swelling of jealousy rise up in his chest. He breezed past her to the front door and was reaching for the knob when you were suddenly there at the bottom of the stairs, almost bumping into him.

“Oh! Sorry,” you said with a nervous laugh. You felt your face grow warm with a bit of a blush. You were rushing to ask Maggie and Rosita what the hell you should wear to the bonfire for your—date? Was it a date? You didn’t know what to call it. In any case, you hadn’t expected to quite literally almost run into Daryl.

He had to try really hard not to blatantly look you up and down. You looked stunning, freshly showered and dressed in your own sensible style, standing there looking a bit nervous. “S’alright,” he said, backing up toward the front door to get out of your way.

You noticed that he was in clean clothes and his brown hair was clean and shiny. He’d obviously showered and tidied up. You gave him a small and somewhat bashful smile and breezed past him into the kitchen. Daryl quickly let himself out onto the porch and sank down on the top step, flicking his lighter and fiddling with the cigarette in his fingers, but not lighting it. Inside, he could hear Maggie and Rosita’s jovial voices and loud laughter.

You all had hardly been in Alexandria a month and some guy already had the balls to ask ya out? Daryl felt another swell of jealousy and suspicion. He really wanted to know who the hell this guy was…

“You look amazing,” Maggie said with a wide grin, taking in your outfit and smooth and shiny hair. “Really. It’s perfect.”

“His jaw is going to hit the floor,” Rosita said. You gave her a skeptical look.

“You’re really making way too big a deal out of this. It’s just a bonfire,” you said, glancing down at your clothes. “It’s nothing. I don’t even know if it’s fair to call it a date,” you said. “I don’t know if I even want to call it that.”

“Why not?” Maggie asked. “He seems plenty nice.”

You shrugged. “Yeah, he seems to be... It’s just… he’s a complete stranger practically. And it’s just been us for so long.”

Rosita laughed. “No one is telling you to marry him. Just go and have a good time… and if it feels right,” she gave you a suggestive look and laughed when your jaw dropped open.

“Stop!” you scolded her, eliciting loud laughter and an appreciative grin from Maggie.

Rosita grinned. “What?! I’m just saying! Like you said, it’s been just us, just you for so long!” You rolled your eyes and sighed at her. “You’re ridiculous,” you said.

“That’s why you love me,” she said. “Now go and finish getting ready. He’ll be here to pick you up in like a half an hour.”

“Wear that black jacket you have!” Maggie shouted after you as you headed back toward the stairs.

“Okay!” you called over your shoulder. You caught sight of Daryl’s broad shoulders as you passed the front window and you felt a sort of empty, sinking feeling in the middle of your chest, right between your lungs. Sometimes you’d wondered if there was some spark with the stoic archer. You were definitely attracted to him, but he’d never made any explicit sign that maybe he was interested in you. At least, none that you had noticed or admitted to yourself… You were quite adept at denial. But what you couldn’t deny was the leap your heart did every time your name left his lips with that easy southern drawl and how the air always seemed to be charged and crackling with electricity when you found yourself alone with him. You sighed and climbed the stairs. Oh, well. Rosita was right. You’d just go to the bonfire and try to have a good time, see how it felt.

Daryl was still outside on the porch, finally smoking his last cigarette when he saw a figure coming down the street. He was tall, with neatly trimmed brown hair, and had his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans. He noticed Daryl as he came up the front walk and gave him a tight smile.

“Hey,” the guy said. “You must be Daryl, right?” he said, holding out his hand.

But Daryl just eyed him suspiciously. “Don’t think we’ve ever met,” he said, putting the butt of his cigarette out underneath his boot. The guy finally let his proffered hand drop a little awkwardly.

“No, we haven’t, but I’ve heard about you. From Y/N and Aaron. You’re going out to find people with him, right?”

Daryl’s blue eyes were still narrowed, trying to get a read on this guy and he simply nudged his nose up once in a nod and hummed a noise of acknowledgement.

“Right. That’s—that’s great. I hope you can find some more people out there who need help.”

Daryl didn’t respond and just let the silence stretch longer than it was comfortable.

The guy cleared his throat and awkwardly rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Well, um—I’m here to see Y/N. Is she inside?” he asked, jutting a thumb in the direction of the front door.

Daryl straightened up and walked over to it before pushing inside and leaving it standing wide open behind him. He headed straight for his space in the basement without another word, but he heard the guy let out a hesitant “Y/N?” from the entryway as he descended the stairs.

He couldn’t stand the thought of watching you come down and leave with this guy, seeing the bright smile that would probably light up your face like it always did. He sulked for a while, sitting on the edge of his bed before finally deciding that you had probably both left by now. The archer climbed the stairs again and met Glenn in the hallway, heading toward the front door.

“Hey,” Glenn greeted him cheerfully. “You heading to this thing?”

“Guess so,” Daryl said, his expression a little uncertain.

“Maggie and the others already went ahead. I’m heading over there now. You coming?”

“Mm,” he hummed, nodding and chewing on his bottom lip anxiously. “Alright.”

As he and Glenn headed toward the center of town, Daryl could already hear loud conversation and laughter and he wondered why the hell he was even going to this thing at all… But your face popped up in his mind and he knew he wanted to make sure that you’d be alright, make sure this guy wasn’t up to no good… Not that you needed his help. You were plenty capable on your own but… just in case, he told himself.

“Come on. Let’s grab a drink and then find everybody,” Glenn said. Daryl followed him through the crowd of people milling around. The noise was overwhelming and immediately Daryl wished he was almost anywhere but there. Glenn pushed a beer into his hand and gave him a sympathetic look. “This is weird, right?” he said, glancing around.

“Yeah,” Daryl agreed. “Feel like I’m in a goddamn Hallmark movie or some shit.”

Glenn let out a sardonic laugh and nodded. “Yeah… Oh, hey. There they are.” He tilted his head toward the edge of the circle of illumination from the fire and lanterns. Daryl followed him in silence, edging past people he felt were all glancing at him like he was some kind of criminal. He could have been imagining it, but then again, maybe he wasn’t.

He stood quietly with Glenn, Maggie, and Abraham as they talked. Each of them just sipped their drinks. Occasionally, silences would fall that were heavy with unspoken thoughts and memories that contrasted so sharply with the scene they now found themselves in that it was unbalancing.

Eventually Daryl broke off using the excuse of getting another drink and he let his eyes scan the crowd for you. He finally spotted you sitting across from the guy who had picked you up at a picnic table, a plastic cup in your hand. He was talking to you animatedly and you were nodding along, occasionally responding with a smile or a few words. Daryl thought you looked… bored? Or was that just wishful thinking?

He was kicking himself at that moment, realizing just exactly how much he really cared about you, and how he truly couldn’t stand the thought of you ending up with someone else. Especially, this guy. Looking at him Daryl had a feeling he wouldn’t know what the fuck to do if a walker or some living asshole came at him. It’s your own damn fault. He heard it in his own mind. If he wasn’t such a goddamn coward he would have told you by now that he thought you were the most amazing person he’d ever met.

His mood significantly darkened, Daryl made his way back over to the refreshment table and grabbed another beer. He came to stand at the edge of the circle of light again and lit up a cigarette, allowing himself to glance over at you occasionally, trying to read your expression.

“Hey.”

Daryl turned to see Abraham beside him suddenly. He followed Daryl’s gaze and spotted you sitting across from your “date”. “Here,” he said, nudging Daryl’s shoulder gently with a bottle of bourbon. “I’m sure you could use this,” he said.

Daryl gave him a questioning look and Abraham only nodded. “You really gonna argue this point? Come on,” he said, shaking the bottle again. “I know love sickness when I see it.” The strong military man sighed. “I’ve seen it on myself in the mirror.”

“I ain’t—”

“Call it whatever you want, but stop lying to me about it. And to yourself,” he said.

Daryl gave him an uncomfortable look but accepted the bottle of liquor and drank deeply from it before passing it back.

“Yeah,” Abraham said, taking another pull himself. “Life’s shitty sometimes. But it’s shittier if you sit on your ass.”

The two men stood side by side, passing the bottle for quite some time and it wasn’t long before they were both pretty drunk.

“Man, fuck this,” Daryl drawled, tossing his cigarette down and putting it out with his boot. If you hadn’t been sitting with a stranger, the archer would have surely left by now. But he couldn’t bear the thought of laying on his bed back at the house and wondering if you were still with him, if you were home yet. What if you went home with that guy? Daryl’s stomach twisted again with jealousy. “I’m gonna go get another beer. Ya want one?” he asked Abraham, who shook his head. He was even more drunk than Daryl and mumbled something before wandering away back toward Rosita and the others.

Daryl wove his way through the crowd, his eyes ahead on the table of refreshments. He grabbed another beer and popped the top when he felt eyes on him. Looking up, he saw Deanna’s son Aiden and a few of his cronies eyeing him. Aiden said something to Nicholas that made them all burst out into laughter, and Daryl had the distinctive feeling that it was something derogatory about him. He felt like his blood was about to boil.

The archer strode over to them, already knowing this was a bad idea, but at the moment, with the toxic mixture of jealousy and bourbon coursing through his bloodstream, he wanted to pick a fight. “The hell ya staring at?” he demanded, getting right up in Aiden’s face.

A little smug smirk grew on Aiden’s face. “Nothing,” he said. “No, literally nothing. I mean, you’re nothing. Why don’t you get the hell out of here and head back to whatever trailer park you crawled out of? Nobody wants you here.” This was born of booze and arrogance too.

Back at the picnic table, you laughed politely at some little remark and spun your drink in your hands a little anxiously, glancing down into the amber liquid inside the red plastic cup and feeling distinctly out of place. It had been a long time since you’d been on anything even resembling a date but… was this how it was supposed to feel? You didn’t feel at ease at all. And you weren’t even really enjoying yourself. You were—there was no other word for it—bored.

You suddenly realized he had just asked you a question and you glanced back up. “Sorry? Say that again?”

“Oh, just… your group. You were out there since the beginning pretty much?” he asked.

You nodded. “Mhm. Most of us found each other not too long after everything really went to shit.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine. I was pretty much in here since it happened.” There was a thoughtful pause before he went on. “What was it like out there? I mean, what was it really like? Those of us on the inside hear a little bit from Aiden and those guys who do the supply runs, but you can never really tell how much is true and how much he’s embellishing.”

You stared at him for a long moment. He seemed completely clueless that he was asking you to dive into a topic that was wrought with a lot of trauma, not something you even talked about with most of the people in your group. You gulped and avoided his eyes. “It’s, um… hard to talk about. We—we lost people out there.”

He seemed to realize based on your response that he had dug too deep too fast, realized his mistake, and was immediately apologetic. “Oh, God. What was I thinking? I’m sorry. I—I shouldn’t have asked you that. I—”

But a commotion suddenly drew your attention and you looked up just in time to see Daryl wind a fist back and punch Aiden squarely in the face. He dropped like a lead weight and you jumped to your feet, your jaw dropped open. “Shit… I—I’m sorry. Excuse me—sorry,” you said hurriedly. You left him behind and immediately rushed straight over into the fray.

Aiden was on the ground with blood pouring out of his nose and three of his friends were immediately on Daryl, who was trying to shake them off. You were there in an instant.

“Get off him!” you yelled, pushing Nicholas off the archer. “Everybody just stop!” you yelled over the commotion.

Daryl was still raging, trying to get back to Aiden and grappling with the two other men holding him back. “Ya better keep looking over your shoulder, ya fuckin’ asshole!” he roared.

You could easily hear the drunken slur in his voice and smell the whiskey on him. The other men had obviously been drinking heavily too. Now Rick and Glenn were rushing over, trying to squeeze their way through the crowd. “Daryl! DARYL! Stop!” you moved in front of him and pressed your hands to his chest. “Daryl!” For the first time he realized you were there and he froze immediately, suddenly overwhelmed with worry that you’d get hurt in the chaos if he kept fighting. He stilled and you pulled your hands off his broad chest, trying your hardest to ignore the heat you suddenly felt in your face. You watched his chest heaving with exertion and caught his blue eyes. “Just stop,” you said, more gently this time. You turned to look at the men still hanging onto him and glared at them. “Let him go.” Neither of them moved. “I said fuck off!” you yelled, pushing one of them off Daryl. The other one released Daryl’s other arm and turned to help Aiden to his feet.

“What the hell is going on?” Rick asked in an angry undertone. “Daryl,” he growled, giving him a sharp look.

“S’nothin’. Forget it. Just a buncha assholes,” Daryl drawled. “M’outta here.”

Glenn sighed heavily, clearly realizing how drunk Daryl was. “I’ll walk back with him,” he said to Rick in an undertone. Rick stalked off, rubbing a hand over his face and shaking his head.

“I’ve got it,” you said to Glenn. “Just—stay with Maggie and try to enjoy yourselves, okay?”

Glenn glanced cautiously at Daryl who was still staring daggers after Aiden and his crew as they walked away. “Are you sure? Aren’t you supposed to be out with somebody?” Glenn asked you, quiet enough so Daryl wouldn’t hear him.

“Yeah, but—” you shrugged. “I’ve got him,” you insisted.

Glenn hesitated but finally nodded and headed back over to Maggie.

You touched Daryl lightly on the arm. “Hey. Come on. Let’s go home, alright? Those guys are dicks. It’s not worth it.”

Daryl glanced down at the spot where your fingers had rested on his arm a moment before. He’d felt a zap of electricity when you touched him. His eyes drifted up to your face and although they were a little bleary you thought you saw a softness in them that was startling considering the anger that had been there a moment before. Finally, he nodded.

“Good. Okay. Umm… Just wait for me over there a sec, okay? I’ll be right there,” you said.

“Where ya goin’?” Daryl asked, his brow drawing down low over his blue eyes.

“I just need to get my jacket. It’ll only take a sec.”

Daryl glanced back over at the guy you’d been sitting with, who was now standing next to the picnic table, his eyes fixed in your direction. “Alright,” he said.

You nodded and watched Daryl walk off, a little unsteadily. You made your way back over toward the picnic table and gave your date a tight smile. “Sorry. I’ve gotta go,” you said apologetically, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “I’m gonna make sure Daryl gets home alright and see if he’s okay. He’s pretty drunk...”

He looked disappointed. “Oh. Okay. That’s too bad… but I understand.” He glanced over at Daryl, who was now waiting impatiently just a short distance away. “I can’t blame him for hitting Aiden.”

You let out a small laugh and rolled your eyes. “Yeah… Let’s hope that’s the end of it. Honestly, Aiden is lucky Daryl’s drunk. Would have been much worse if he wasn’t,” you said. “Anyway, umm, I’ll see you around,” you said a bit awkwardly. You bent to grab your jacket from the bench and when you straightened up, he was standing quite close to you.

“This was really nice,” he said. “I hope we can see each other again.”

You were trying to formulate a gentle rejection in your mind, gathering the words to say something like “It’s not you. It’s me.” when suddenly his hand landed on your waist and the other pressed onto your lower back. You realized he was going to try to kiss you. You opened your mouth to speak and started to pull away, but before you could get any words out Daryl was suddenly there and pushed him off you forcefully.

“The hell are ya doin’?! Can’t ya tell she didn’t want that?” he roared. “The fuck is wrong with you?!”

You felt your face burning with heat. “Daryl!” you yelled at him, snapping his eyes back to your face. The archer watched your jaw clench angrily. “We’re leaving. Now.” You cast a brief glance at your date but were too embarrassed to hold his eyes for very long. “I’m—sorry,” you mumbled. You turned on your heel and got the hell out of there as fast as you could. You could sense that Daryl was right behind you.

You pulled on your jacket as you reached the sidewalk and turned to look at Daryl. His blue eyes were already on you as you turned around. “What the hell is the matter with you?” you snapped at him. “What the fuck was that?”

He stopped abruptly and stared at you, his eyes slightly narrowed. “Did I read the situation wrong? Ya wanted to kiss that guy?” he growled.

You scoffed. “No, but I didn’t need you to burst in there and shove him off me! I can handle myself! First, you’re hammered, then you pick that fight with Aiden and those guys, and then this? What is the matter with you tonight?!” You stared at him, bewildered.

He chewed anxiously on his bottom lip and let out a huff before striding past you on the sidewalk. “Nothin’,” he growled.

You let out a noise of frustration and rushed after him, falling in beside him and racing to keep up with his long strides.

“Sorry I ruined your night,” he said. There was a sharp flintiness in his voice. Daryl’s stomach twisted again with jealousy. “Ya can go back. I dun need a babysitter.”

He’d hardly finished saying it when he stumbled a bit on a slightly uneven part of the sidewalk and you reflexively grabbed onto him to steady him. Your eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You sure about that?”

Daryl gulped at the sensation of your hands on him and ducked his head. He slowed his pace a little and you walked side by side again. It was silent for a short time and the air between the two of you was tense.

“So… do you want to tell me why you decided you needed to get shitfaced and pick a fight?” you asked him, shoving your hands into the pockets of your jacket.

“Mmm,” Daryl hummed a noise of acknowledgement. “Who says I started it anyway?”

“You are the one who punched Aiden in the face,” you pointed out, giving him a look.

“He was askin’ for it.”

You nodded and sighed. “I don’t actually doubt that. But it’s not like you to drink this much. What’s going on?”

He ignored the question. You’d now arrived back at the house and Daryl started up the steps cautiously, feeling that his balance was not so great. He’d made it two steps up when he started to pitch backwards and you rushed to grab onto him again. “Whoa, whoa!” Your hands flew around him and landed on his sides. He steadied but you still didn’t release your gentle hold on him. You were standing a step higher than he was and it put your eyes almost right in line with his. You could feel the tension in his muscles beneath your fingers and the thin cotton of his shirt. You felt like you were suddenly paralyzed, yours eyes connected. Daryl watched your lips part slightly, and he felt like he was being drawn in. You gulped, feeling suddenly nervous and overwhelmed at the tingling and warmth that was suddenly radiating through you.

Finally, you blinked a few times, your eyelashes fluttering as you came to your senses, almost as if out of a daze. You tried your best to ignore the butterflies that you now felt in your stomach. You moved beside him and wrapped an arm around his back. “Okay. Easy. I’d rather not have to take you to Denise for a broken bone,” you said softly. It seemed like your anger with him had suddenly evaporated.

Daryl was still staring at you beside him and the sensation of your hands intimately on his sides a moment before, even if it just had been to steady him, had him reeling. Even your arm around him was sending sparks up his spine.

He allowed you to lead him into the house. You broke from him to fill a glass of water up in the kitchen and Daryl watched you with an urgent desire growing in his chest. His thoughts were interrupted as you nudged your head in the direction of the living room.

“Come on,” you said quietly. Daryl trailed behind you and sank down heavily on the couch. You set the glass of water down on the coffee table in front of him before grabbing a seat in the oversized arm chair nearby.

Daryl was leaned forward staring down at his hands, elbows on his knees, fighting an internal battle between wanting to tell you everything that had been on his mind since that guy showed up at the house to pick you up and knowing that he was was drunk and that perhaps now wasn’t the time… Finally, he resolved to keep his mouth shut and simply downed the glass of water before flopping back and stretching out on the couch. The ceiling wavered before his eyes and he planted a boot on the floor to ground himself and try to offset the nauseating spinning feeling.

You leaned your chin on your elbow and sighed, staring at him as he laid on the couch and wondering what the hell had gotten into him. He’d been silent for a while and based on the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest you could tell he was asleep.

You got up and quietly tiptoed over to, unlacing and pulling off his boots as gently as you could. Not gently enough, however, for the always vigilant archer. Daryl shot upright on the couch and gave you a somewhat startled look. You were frozen, kneeling beside him, and he registered his boot in your hand. You gave him an apologetic glance before discarding it on the floor next to the other one. “Sorry. Go back to sleep,” you said, straightening up. Daryl’s eyes followed you as went and grabbed a blanket from a nearby basket. His eyes were still on you when you turned around and approached him again, hesitating at the queer expression on his face. “What is it? Are you okay?” you asked him.

Daryl nodded almost imperceptibly and flopped down again on his back.

You unfolded the blanket and were draping it over him when you felt his blue eyes still fixed on your face. You met them and gave him another questioning look, taken aback by the softness in them.

“Yer beautiful,” he drawled quietly.

You straightened up in surprise, your stomach flipping as you registered his words. You bashfully avoided his eyes and adjusted the blanket over him. “You’re drunk,” you murmured.

“Dun mean I’m lyin’.”

You gulped at the nervous tightness in your throat from his words and gave him a long look. Daryl’s eyes flickered between your lips and the endless hues in your eyes. “Get some sleep, Daryl,” you said gently, turning to sink into the armchair again and puzzling over the archer.

_ _ _ _ _ _

The next morning, Daryl awoke with a nightmare of a headache. When he sat up on the couch, getting his bearings, he felt the blanket slip off him and remembered how you’d covered him over with it and pulled off his shoes. His heart jumped at the memory of your hands steadying him.

He glanced over and you were still asleep, curled up in the big stuffed chair. Daryl got up and grabbed the blanket, crossing the space as silently as he could and draping the blanket over you before heading for the front door.

He leaned his forearms on the railing, kicking himself for getting so drunk the night before. Not because of his hangover, however, but because you probably now thought he was an idiot.

He sighed heavily and chewed the side of his thumbnail, lost in his thoughts. After a while, he headed back inside and grabbed a quick shower before flopping down on his bed in the basement, fiddling with a bolt for his crossbow.

“Daryl?”

Your voice drifted down from the top of the stairs.

He sat up on the edge of his bed. “Ya?”

“Um. Can I come down?”

“Of course,” he hollered back at you. Your soft steps sounded on the stairs and soon you emerged through the doorway. You looked luminous, even in the dimness of his basement space. “Hey.”

“Hey,” you said. “How are you feeling?” you asked kindly.

He let out a scoff. “Hungover. But that’s what I get for being a dumbass,” he drawled, still twirling the bolt between his fingers.

You gave him a sympathetic look. “You’re not a dumbass,” you said.

He gave you a long look. “Ya here to yell at me again?” he asked, one corner of his mouth twitched up so you could tell he was only half-serious.

“No,” you said, moving closer and standing directly in front of him.

He chewed on his bottom lip a little anxiously, feeling his heart beating faster with you standing so close now. In fact, he was exceedingly nervous with you there in his space. During late sleepless nights, ge’d imagined you there with him but he didn’t think you’d ever even really come downstairs. He hazarded another glance at you. “M’sorry I ruined yer night.”

You shook your head, your eyebrows drawing down low over your eyes. “You didn’t.”

He gave you a questioning look. “But ya had to leave cuz of me.”

You nodded and surprised him by coming to sit close next to him on the edge of his bed. “Yeah. But that’s okay. I wasn’t having a good time anyway.” You glanced around his space, feeling your heart flutter with nerves being alone with Daryl. It was quintessentially Daryl. His crossbow was leaning up against the nightstand and there were layers of richly colored blankets draped on his bed. Little bits of collected treasures were set on a shelf nearby—deer antlers, brightly colored leaves, glistening fragments of mica. Being in his space down there, tucked away from the rest of the house, felt strangely intimate.

“Mmm,” Daryl hummed in acknowledgement. He gathered every bit of courage he could muster. “Ya asked me why I drank so much.”

You caught his blue eyes again and nodded as your heart skipped a beat.

“I was—I was jealous…” He nervously licked his lips and stared down at his hands, afraid that he’d see rejection in your eyes. “Soon as that guy came to pick you up I was just—pissed off. And I ain’t got no right to be. I’ve wasted so much time instead of just tellin’ ya—”

You were holding your breath now. “Tell me what?” you said, not intending for it to come out in a whisper, but it did.

Daryl gulped and continued. “Tellin’ ya that—” He forced his eyes to yours and drank in the inquisitive and somewhat puzzled expression on your face. “—I think you’re the most amazin’ person I’ve ever met. And I don’t want ya to be with anyone but me.” He braced himself for your reaction, feeling suddenly sick and anticipating a gentle rejection.

But when he looked up again your eyes were just a little wide with surprise.

“Well, Christ, Y/N,” he drawled, held in suspense. “Just at least say somethin’.”

“I—I’m sorry. I’m just—Daryl,” you said. There was happy laughter in your voice and you broke into a brilliant smile that sent his heart skipping a beat again. “You never—I mean, I didn’t think you were interested in me like that.”

Daryl was cautiously optimistic based on your reaction and he ducked his head. “Yeah, well I… I ain’t good enough for ya. And I didn’t know how to—” He shook some hair out of his eyes and glanced back over at you. “Anybody would be an idiot not to want ya and it wasn’t until that guy yesterday showed up that I realized that means eventually somebody else might—” He broke off as you suddenly climbed to your feet and moved around in front of him.

His knees were angled wide enough apart that you were able to step in close to him. Daryl studied the somewhat pained but soft expression on your face and a blaze of warmth grew in his chest as you brushed his hair away from his face and clasped it gently. “Not good enough for me?” You shook your head. “Daryl. You’re the best man I’ve ever known. And I’ve been crazy about you almost since day 1. I just didn’t think you wanted—”

His arm looped around you, his hand flattening out on your lower back and drawing you in closer. His other hand went lightly to your face, his fingers tangling into your hair. He hesitated only one more moment, his eyes flitting between yours and then down to the soft pout of your lips, before he pulled you the rest of the way into him and kissed you hungrily.

You hummed a noise of pleasure into his lips and looped your arms around his neck, arching against his strong chest, kissing him back feverishly, hardly believing this was happening. Daryl could feel you smiling into the kiss and after several long moments of heated bliss it softened and you pulled back, but just slightly. Daryl watched as your eyes flitted open again. There was a rosy glow in the apples of your cheeks and a soft smile on your face. The light in your eyes was staggering. You pressed a hand flat against his chest and felt the urgent racing of his heart.

“You never said anything,” you whispered.

He shrugged, not releasing his arms from around you. He didn’t know if he ever would. “Ya didn’t either,” he pointed out. His hands smoothed down your sides and landed lightly on your hips. He focused on the feeling of you beneath his fingers.

Your smile grew wider as you looked into his strikingly blue eyes. You gently clasped his face again and ran your fingers over the stubble on his jaw. “Still feel hungover?” you asked.

“Umm,” he chewed his bottom lip and shook his head, not taking his eyes off yours. “Nah. Not at all anymore.”

“Good.” You crashed your lips into his again, relishing the feeling of his hands smoothing over your back and lightly gripping your hips. Daryl pulled you tightly against him, like even though you were already pressed together it wasn’t close enough. Your lips moved effortlessly with his and the gentle trailing of his fingertips down your spine sent electricity running over your skin.

He clasped your face in both hands and his kisses softened again until you finally broke apart, staring right into those blue eyes you loved so much.

“You know I don’t want you to think that getting drunk and punching people magically gets you what you want,” you breathed, a sparkle of teasing in your eyes. “Don’t make a habit out of it.”

“What else could I possibly want?” he drawled.

You grinned at him, giving him that megawatt smile, before leaning into him and kissing him again.

#daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon twd #the walking dead #twd fanfics #daryl dixon drabbles #daryl imagines #daryl dixon x reader #fanfics #writers of tumblr #twd drabbles #jealous!daryl

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miraculouswolf99 · 3 years

Text

I Put A Spell On You (Song Fic)

My first miraculous salt fic. Doubles as a song fic and a Halloween fic. Features the best song from the best Halloween movie of all time. Hocus Pocus.

youtube

*****

Adrien was happy. No one else in class knew why he had been smiling all day. Chloe was probably the only one in the room that knew why he was so happy today. But she was not going to tell anyone and ruin his day when Liar Rossi would would just use it to make up some more lies and ruin his happiness.

Things had not gotten better since the lying Italian had joined the class. Even though now that Marinette had transferred to Mendeleiev’s class, things had not gotten better. If anything, things had gotten worse since now Lila thought that she could not freely lie and manipulate almost non-stop with no one there to attempt to expose her.

The class was now half and half with who believed the liar and who doesn’t. The ones that don’t believe her being Adrien, Chloe, Nathaniel, Kim, and Juleka. Sabrina was decided to be a neutral part and not take a side. She listened to Lila’s tales, but normally stayed by Chloe’s side. Alya, Nino, Alix, Max, Ivan, Mylene, and Rose were all firmly on Lila’s side and nothing could ever change their minds.

Adrien had finally been starting to stand his ground against the liar since he had seen her chase Marinette away. He was reaching his wits end with her constantly hanging on his arm and never letting go when he asks or even demands her to. Adrien had managed to convince Bustier that he was too bust with his schedule to tutor Lila and that he would be better off sitting in the back with Nathaniel since it was more quiet than being next to Lila “never shuts up” Rossi.

“What are you so happy about today, Sunshine,” Nathaniel asked his friend.

“I have some friends coming today,” Adrien answered. “They were visiting their grandparents in the United States and decided to stop in France on their way back to their home in Greece. Their names are Lyon and Vallia Garden.”

“You know Greeks, cool,” Nathaniel said. “When did you meet them? Obviously it wasn’t a time close to now since you have not left the country and no Greeks have showed up here either, to my knowledge.”

“I met them about a year before my mom disappeared,” Adrien says. “Their family owns and operates an incredible animal and nature sanctuary that almost takes up the entire island they live on. They host a lot of charities there. Concerts, celebrity birthdays, auctions, art shows, even cooking contests. I was there with my parents for a charity fashion show.”

“Do you speak Greek or did they speak French,” Nathaniel was curious since he did know that Adrien already also spoke Mandarin and English.

“They speak French,” Adrien says. “They were the only ones there that were my age, so I was glad to have someone to talk to. We’ve kept in contact ever since.”

“Sounds great,” Nathaniel smiled at his friend. “Do they know about... everything going on?”

“Dear god, no,” Adrien stated. “Lyon is fiercely protective of his friends. He is a master archer and when he caught poachers trying to break into the sanctuary, he actually shot them all before calling the police.”

“I am not sure whether to be terrified of him when they come or in awe of him,” Nathaniel admitted.

“Nothing wrong with both, as Vallia would probably say,” Adrien chuckled. “I do admit that they can be pretty scary. Especially since when they help out at their family sanctuary, Lyon seems to have a way with their wolves and Vallia seems to be a lion whisperer.”

“I am both terrified and looking forward to meeting them,” Nathaniel nervously laughed. “I just hope Marc doesn’t faint when he learns this stuff about them. I love him, but we all know he is naturally timid.”

“I know,” Adrien chuckled. “Remember when he first met Kagami?”

“I will never let him live that down,” Nathaniel smirked, loving it when he is able to tease his boyfriend.

Before the two could continue their conversation, there was sudden yelling from outside the classroom and coming from the courtyard. It sounded like four people arguing, two of them not sounding like they were French.

“What is that,” Nathaniel wondered as they stood up.

“I’m a little worried to find out,” Adrien stated.

The two had stayed behind to chat after the bell rang and everyone else left for the day. They immediately left the classroom and looked over the railing and into the courtyard. They were soon joined by Marinette, Marc, Kagami, Aurore, and Mireille from Mendeleiev’s class, who had also heard the yelling.

“What’s going on,” Marinette immediately asked.

They all look over the rail. They see two people arguing quite loudly with Alya and Lila. They certainly were both unique-looking teens.

The first was a girl that was quite beautiful and had a grace and elegance to her style. She had long blond hair braided with roses and butterflies and had pink streaks. Her eyes were a stunning silver that you could see, if you were close enough, had specks of blue in them. Her style was a red, pink, and purple dawn colored dress with gold flats. On her wrists were diamond rose cuff bracelets, a butterfly on the one on her right wrist.

The boy next to her gave off a very icy exterior that also screamed honor and loyalty that only a knight would have. A tall boy with hair that was actually black with streaks of white and blue in it, coming to the length of Adrien's. His eyes were the opposite of the girl's, blue with silver specks. His outfit of choice was a sky blue t-shirt under a white jean vest, matching the blue pants with white boots. On his hands were white fingerless gloves. Around his neck was a sword and shield pendant as well as a white cloak only going down to his knees.

“Lyon, Vallia,” Adrien gasped.

“Those are your two friends from Greece, Adrien,” Kagami asked, Adrien having told her during their last fencing practice.

“Yeah,” Adrien said. “Their plane must have landed earlier than expected and they decided to come here.”

“Why are they arguing with Alya and Lila,” Mireille wondered.

“If it has something to do with that liar, it’s probably her fault,” Marc, of all people, stated.

It was a pretty open secret in the school that literally everyone but most of Bustier’s class, plus Bustier herself and Damocles, were all aware that Lila was nothing but a manipulative liar. In fact, most of them were shocked that the class, teacher, and principal believed her outlandish lies in the first place.

“Maybe Lila tried to cozy up to them and they caught her in a lie,” Marinette guessed.

“Lyon and Vallia do come from a rich family,” Adrien said. “Not only is their family known for their sanctuary, but they also have the largest jewel collection in the world. Like the medallions on their foreheads.”

They all looked and saw that the two did indeed have crystal medallions on their foreheads. Vallia’s was a rose quartz butterfly and Lyon’s was a sapphire wolf.

“What is up with that book that Lyon has,” Kagami noticed.

They all looked and saw that Lyon was holding a pretty large book that looked very old. It was bound with brown leather that had Frankenstein-like stitches all over it along with old silver metal on the cover as well. It also had a very large buckle.

“They did say they wanted to show me something,” Adrien said. “They went to the US to celebrate Halloween with their grandparents so maybe they got some type of prop and wanted to show it to me.”

They all quickly started to get into the courtyard and make their way over to the four. In a city plagued by a terrorist that uses negative emotions, arguments usually lead to someone getting akumatized.

“My brother does not worship the devil,” Vallia shouted at Alya and Lila.

“That book is a Book of Shadows,” Lila pointed at the book in Lyon’s hands. “It’s a tool of witchcraft, which is all about worshiping the devil. I should know. My great uncle is a world renown priest back in Italy.”

“Not all witchcraft is devil worship, you pathetic liar,” Lyon sneered. “And there is no world famous priest in Italy since the last well-known one was arrested five years ago for killing people using fake exorsisms.”

(Reference to an episode of Criminal Minds.)

“Lila is not a liar,” Alya yelled. “You are, you devil witches.”

“This isn’t even a real spellbook,” Vallia screamed at them. “It’s a movie prop out grandparents won in an auction. They knew we loved Halloween, so they got us a prop from out favorite Halloween movie.”

“See, that proves you worship the devil,” Lila accused. “Halloween is a devil cult holiday, my great uncle proved that years ago but America rejected his facts and still celebrates it.”

“It is not,” Lyon yelled. “You are the worst liar I have ever come across. You should be ashamed to insult an entire holiday just because you don’t like it. Pathetic, just like all you other mythology copying Italians.”

(Reference to the Roman and Greek rivalry from Percy Jackson.)

“How dare you,” Lila screamed.

“Lyon, Vallia,” Adrien called. “Calm down.”

But it was too late. A black and purple butterfly already came flying down. It went inside of the book Lyon was holding. The butterfly outline appeared over his eyes.

“Your favorite holiday and your culture insulted all at once,” Hawkmoth says to him. “Hocus Pocus, I am giving you the power to right this wrong. All I ask is for the miraculous of the ladybug and black cat in return.”

“I will show this liar some real magic,” Lyon said, transforming.

“What the hell,” Vallia gasped, backing away.

Lyon had changed into an almost male version of Winifred Sanderson. He was in a mostly green outfit with a green leather vest and pants with black leather boots that matched the black silk shirt under the vest. He also wore a long and shiny green cloak with a hood. He was still holding the book.

“Is it wrong that he actually looks hot in that outfit,” Adrien let slip, then instantly covered his mouth.

“Okay, we will come back to Adrien’s crush later,” Marinette stated. “For now, let’s run.”

Adrien immediately rushed forward and grabbed Vallia.

“Adrien,” Vallia was confused and worried. “What’s going on? What happened to Lyon?”

“Hawmoth is a terrorist here in Paris,” Adrien gave a quick explaination. “He takes advantage of negative emotions to turn normal people into his mind controlled villains.”

“Someone is mind controlling my brother,” Vallia was pissed. “When I get my hands on him, Hades will look like a puppy in comparison.”

“Maybe later, but we all need to hide so that Ladybug and Cat Noir can save your brother,” Adrien said.

Hocus Pocus then opened his book. He smirked as it glowed.

“Wicked ways beneath the skin, let all who taste it now join in,” he cast.

(Reference to Descendants 2.)

Out of the book came magical glowing chocolates. They all shot around the school and into the mouths of multiple people. It forced them to eat the magical treats, including Vallia, Nathaniel, Marc, and Kagami. Music then started playing out of nowhere as Hocus Pocus smirked again.

“Oh crud,” Adrien swore, running away along with the few students and staff that managed to avoid the chocolates.

He transformed and was soon on the roof of the school. Ladybug soon joined him. But they were shocked that the school was now in a full-blown musical moment. Hocus Pocus took “center stage” with Vallia and Kagami as his main back-up singers.

“I put a spell on you And now you're mine You can't stop the things I do I ain't lyin'.”

“It's been three hundred years Right down to the day Now the witch is back And there's hell to pay.”

“I put a spell on you And now you're mine!”

Hocus Pocus seemed to have used the chocolates like mind control treats. Everyone that eaten one had was now dancing around the courtyard in very Halloween-like manors. Some even seemed to be doing Micheal Jackson’s Thriller moves.

Alya and Lila, who had not gotten chocolates, were not allowed to leave as the dancers forced them to stay in the courtyard.

“What the heck in going on,” Ladybug was so confused.

“I guess whatever movie his akuma form is based off of had a musical number in it,” Cat Noir guessed.

“I put a spell on you And now you're gone (Gone, gone, gone, so long!) My whammy fell on you And it was strong (So strong, so strong, so strong!)”

“Your wretched little lives Have all been cursed 'Cause of all the witches working I'm the worst.”

“I put a spell on you And now you're mine.”

Hocus Pocus walked around the courtyard as he sung, Vallia and Kagami making amazing back-up singers. Alya and Lila still looked terrified even with the catchy song playing around them.

“Even as a back-up singer, who would have thought that Kagami could sing,” Ladybug said.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Cat Noir agreed.

“(Watch out! Watch out! Watch out! Watch out! She ain’t lyin’)”

“If you don't believe, You better get superstitious.”

“I put a spell on you... I put a spell on you...”

“Ah say into pi, alpha maybe upendi!”

“In comma-coriyama"

“In comma-coriyama”

"Hey hi, say bye-bye-i-i-i-i-i-i-i"

"Bye, bye"

The song ended with a pose from Hocus Pocus and his two back-up singers. He still had his menacing smirk on his face.

“I think it’s time our little liar had her own spell placed ob her,” Hocus Pocus stated. “Like... a truth spell, perhaps.”

Let’s just say that the heroes were petty and decided to let the liar’s kingdom fall before defeating the akuma. And Adrien was certainly glad to have his friend back and a really cool book from their favorite Halloween movie. He just wished that the name of the movie would stop slipping his mind. Oh well, gives him an excuse to talk with Lyon more.

#lila salt #Lila exposed #ml salt #halloween #akumatization #original character #original akuma #hocus pocus

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khaleesiofalicante · 3 years

Note

OK I’M HERE! I READ IT! I’M LATE BUT IT DID IT! SERIOUSLY REGRETTING NOT READING IT EARLIER! FUCK SLEEP WHO NEEDS SLEEP!

I LOVE THE TWINS SO MUCH SHCDUJUHKFDUISVFDHYDEBCSJ

LEXI TELLING EVERYONE THAT SHE CAN TALK TO RAZIEL BESTIE YOU DOING GREAT!!!

“Lying is wrong!” Selena had told her sister.

“Yes, but cookies are delicious,” Lexi had pointed out, munching on them.

“Daddy!” Selena had said. “Tell her it’s wrong.”

“Lying is wrong!” Daddy had said, but she had barely heard a word since his mouth had been stuffed with cookies too.

LYING IS OKAY IF YOU GET COOKIES

She did not care much for jewellery, especially expensive ones. But Magnus had given this to her – and she didn’t want to take it off.

She combed her long hair and tied it into a high ponytail. If she was going shopping with Magnus, she had to look her best.

It was fine. There were worse ways to spend your tenth birthday. She got to spend it with Magnus. She was not going to complain about it.

AWWW SHE’S LITERALLY MAGNUS’ NO.1 FAN UHSDUCSDUYSDCFUYKSVCD

“Oh!” Selena had beamed. “Like Magnus! He always looks so magnificent!”

“Sure,” David had said, his ears pink in the cold. “That’s who I was thinking about.”

I don’t know much but I do know that his ears were not pink because of the cold and he was not thinking about Magnus.

Selena remembered wishing she caught the fever so Magnus could take care of her too.

Same- I MEAN WOULDN’T WE ALL??

ALSO, MAX STAYING WITH DAVID WHEN HE WAS SICK DWHYDYGUFEYUKGFYEUGFEWUYG

Oh, Jocelyn died.

Rip I guess?

OOOO THEY INVITED THE COHORT TO TALK ABOUT THIS STUFF BECAUSE SHADOWHUNTERS ARE DYING OF MUNDANE ILLNESSES

I say we kill them.

Selena had never felt anger like that before. She had wanted to drown that awful man in the lake she floated around in her dreams.

BESTIE SAME

“Lettuce?”

“Yes?”

“No screaming when I show you the gift,” Daddy said. “We have visitors at the institute.”

“Is it a sword?” Lexi asked.

“No,” Daddy replied.

“Then I won’t scream,” her twin shrugged at him.

AHUEDCHGUHFEWUIFUIRUI SHE’S SUCH A HERONDALE I LOVE-

PUPPY OH MY GOD IT’S A PUPPY!!!!!!!!

“IT’S A PUPPY! IT’S A PUPPY! OH MY GOD, IT’S A PUPPY! DAVID GOT US A PUPPY!”

Her twin had jumped – no, leaped – off the counter and dashed towards their father, who was holding a small grey puppy in his arms.

“I AM SO SORRY I TOLD YOU I DON’T WANT YOU, LITTLE FRIEND. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. I WILL PROTECT YOU WITH MY TWENTY TOY SWORDS!”

“Lexi, stop screaming!” Mommy said. “You will wake everyone up.”

“EVERYONE WAKE UP AND COME MEET MY PUPPY!” Lexi screamed even louder.

I LOVE HER SO MUCH DHJBSDCHJBFSJSFEDSF

She drew the unlock rune on the door the way her daddy did on his office door and sneaked into the Consul’s office.

I’m not even surprised anymore-

AWW, SELENA GOING THERE TO LOOK AT THE MURAL OF IDRIS. YOU’LL GO THERE ONE DAY BESTIE I PROMISE

ANJALI IS HERE Y’ALL!!!!!!!

Anjali walked over to her father’s desk, sat down on the chair, and put her feet on the table.

The Inquisitor’s table.

Only she could get away with something like that.

THERE’S MY FAVORITE PERSON EVER Y’ALL

EVEN ALEC IS WARY OF HER UHJSDVCUHSVDUUHSVUHSUIVGRVSR

Selena loved Idris with all her heart. But she knew Idris was not a perfect place.

Any place that was mean to Magnus could never be perfect.

EXACTLY

“Well, it turned out well for me,” Anjali winked. “Now when he gives me shit for my ‘bad judgement’ I just throw his dating history in his face. Dated Zara Dearborn? Broke up with Cristina Rosales? Yikes. Could not be me.”

BESTIE YES! HOW CAN DIEGO JUDGE PEOPLE’S JUDGEMENT WHEN HIS DATING HISTORY LOOKS LIKE THAT???

“Just because he looks like a movie star, it doesn’t mean everything should be handed to him,” Anjali answered, rolling her eyes. “Entitled piece of shit.”

You know I kinda ship them-

“Dang, girl. No practice swords for you, huh. You just straight up went for the mortal sword. I like your style.”

“Uncle Kit!” Selena yelled and ran towards him.

KIT KIT KIT KIT KIT KIT KIT KIT HISDUIDEUYKFSFUS7IKKIYGVFSDLY7TKGVFEDYTGFECYGU

ASH OMG ASH IS HERE TOO!!!!

"some man called Anus" BYE-

PARABATAI KIT AND ASH OMG

The whole pre-meeting prep is kinda giving me pre-wedding vibes idk how to explain but the whole rush and organizing that day and making calls and stuff.

“Ash was very beautiful. After Magnus of course” “She liked Aunt Izzy best. After Magnus of course,” GIRL HAS HER PRIORITIES STRAIGHT

"How bad can the cohort be?" well you see-

“Is that the cohort?” Selena asked, her voice a whisper.

“No, that’s a bitch.”

Yup. that’s accurate

“Is he here?”

“Whom?” Daddy asked.

“Alec Lightwood,” the woman asked.

“You mean the Consul?” Daddy asked.

“I meant Alec.”

“The Consul?”

“Alec!”

“Who also happens to be the Consul?”

“Fine, yes, the Consul!” the woman sounded impatient. “Is he here yet?”

It’s Lightwood-Bane bitch

AWWW SELENA DESCRIBING ALEC AS REGAL THAT’S SO CUTE

And accurate-

IT’S THE SAME BLUE AGAIN

Selena noticed her father was looking very emotional. She couldn’t blame him.

“My liege,” Daddy bowed deeply.

“Cut it out,” the Consul smacked him. “What’s the status?”

Yup, that’s them. Also same Jace.Same.

“I always expected the offspring of these two to be like…”

“Like what?” Daddy demanded.

At that moment, Lexi ran past the hall, yelling and screaming as she carried a toy sword in one hand and Dorian Gray in another.

“MAKE WAY FOR ALEXANDRA THE GREAT AND HER LOYAL COMPANION DORIAN GRAY! CHRISTOPHER! BRING ME MY OTHER NINETEEN SWORDS! WE MUST SET FIRE TO THE EVIL EMPEROR AND SAVE THE PRINCESS!”

“Like that,” Magnus chuckled.

Will in the afterlife, wiping tears: A true Herondale.

“I hope so too, Magnus,” Selena said shyly.

The Consul frowned at that. “It’s Uncle Magnus to you.”

Selena ignored that. The Consul was not the boss of her.

Well, technically he was the boss of everyone. But still!

UHNJCSDUHUSDHSVUDVUD SELENA

Do not remind me. I would like to remain blissfully unaware that not all of them are mortal :D

The Consul grumbled and turned to Mommy. “You were right to name her Fairchild. She is going to be a pain in my ass.”

“Hey!” Daddy covered Selena's ears again. “It’s like you guys didn't get my monthly newsletter on language modification!”

“No one here reads your newsletter, Jace,” Aunt Izzy rolled her eyes.

"I do," the Consul put up his hand.

Of course, you do Alec. I can totally see the LBAF gang defying Alec left and right UHKGXUYCSUYGCSYCFSED

“Izzy, how many times!” the Consul grumbled. “No placing bets on the children. Besides, everyone knows it’s going to be Alexandra.”

“Hey!” her parents said at the same time.

“What are y’all doing here?” Lexi came running then, cause her superpower was to magically appear whenever someone was talking about her. “We have shit to do! Come on!”

“Not helping, Lettuce!” Daddy shook his head. “Clary, take the lead.”

Of course, it’s gonna be Lexi.

FHUJCSDUHSDUHJ SELENA NOT UNDERSTANDING THE INNUENDO MAGNUS MADE LMAO NOT IN FRONT OF THE KIDS

“My name is Alexander Lightwood-Bane. I’m the Consul of the Clave. You will talk to me with respect.”

Selena saw Zara flinch at that. It was satisfying to watch.

Zara, I will gladly feed you to sharks stfu

“You sound a little jealous,” Zara grinned. “If you want to come back, we can arrange that. You could leave that good for nothing husband of yours and-”

“Zara, I swear by the angel,” Aunt Izzy said through gritted teeth. “Insult my husband again and see what happens.”

ISABELLE YES! I NEED MORE SIZZY WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH OF THESE TWO

SHE DID NOT JUST INSULT MAX AND RAFE FUCK YOU BITCH

OH, NOW SHE INSULTED THE TWINS. I WILL DROWN YOU DO NOT TEST ME

“They called me a freak too,” her mother spoke. “Insult our children again and I will show you what freaks can do.”

YES CLARY

Max and David were really close. Like Daddy and Uncle Alec.

Maybe even closer. Like Uncle Alec and Magnus - cause one of them was a warlock! And they always gave each other dopey looks.

HJBASYUGJCESDYUTGVCSDUTVSDT6U7VSDC THIS! (I think they get together because of the snippet but if they don’t-)

The moment Magnus left, Max snatched the credit card and whistled. “Y’all, Christmas came early.”

“We can’t just buy anything, Max,” Rafe rolled his eyes. “Dad will be pissed when he finds out.”

“Maybe we should buy little things we can hide,” Max winked. “Little…but expensive things.”

“Oh, like diamond rings?” Lexi gleamed.

“What would you even do with diamond rings?” Selena demanded.

“Sell them in the black market in exchange for cash,” Lexi replied.

“By the angel, Lex,” Rafe chuckled. “I'm gonna keep both my eyes on you.”

LEXI YES OMG YES YES YES YES

“Your demands are unacceptable,” Rafe said, imitating his father. “How about ice-cream?”

“I accept your counter proposal,” Lexi nodded, imitating Daddy. “Let’s unleash hell in Baskin-Robbins.”

BASKIN ROBBINS BOUTA BE RAIDED BY 4 CHAOTIC CHILDREN LET’S GO

Holy fuck she has children. Who’s the poor father?

“These are my sisters Saraquel and Remiel and Michael,” the boy pointed at the girls, completely ignoring Rafe’s comment. “Our parents named us after the archangels.”

“And they called us angel freaks?” Lexi muttered incredulously.

“I know, Lexi. Fancy names indeed,” Max nodded. “But kinda hard to pronounce to be honest.”

A very genuine what the fuck

“My name is Alexandra James Herondale,” Lexi said, her voice steady. “And I am named after the greatest Consul and dopest archer of all time. He is a better man than any of your dumb archangels.”

YES LEXI YOU GO, GIRL

“Idris is lame,” Max snorted now. “You don’t even have internet.”

Lexi shuddered at that.

The reason I would never want to live in Idris

THE WAY SELENA WAS READY TO BEAT THE GUY UP WHEN HE INSULTED MAGNUS AND HOW MAX GOT ANGRY WHEN HE INSULTED DAVID

SELENA’S 10 BITCH FUCK YOU

“Holy shit!” one of the girls said. “That was kinda cool. Is that a twin thing?”

“It’s a common sense thing,” Lexi rolled her eyes. “Duck!”

People are idiots

But Selena tried not to think about the other girl. It didn’t matter whose daughter Michael was – it only mattered whose daughter Selena was.

And she was the daughter of Clary Fairchild and Jace Herondale.

She was not going to run.

GIRL YES

Y’ALL DON'T GET KILLED

AYY MAGNUS IS HERE THEY’RE ALL GONNA BE OK NOW

“It’s warlock magic,” the boy whispered – but not too quietly. “It’s demonic.”

Some of the ichor from the demons fell right on the boy’s head.

“Oops,” Magnus said. “Warlock magic is also a little clumsy.”

HVBCDSHJCSDYCDYJGCD THE BOY DESERVED IT!!!!!

“Manuel has an important meeting,” Zara rolled her eyes. “I’m stuck babysitting them.”

“It’s not babysitting when you do it!” Daddy said incredulously. “You’re their mother. It’s called parenting.”

GODDAMIT WOMAN DON'T HAVE CHILDREN IF YOU CAN’T TAKE CARE OF THEM

“He called David a bastard,” Lexi said.

“He did what?” her mother demanded.

“And he called Max a freak,” Selena said.

“He did what?” the Consul demanded.

“And he flirted with Selena,” Rafe made a face.

“HE DID WHAT?” Daddy looked murderous.

NAH BECAUSE WE’RE ALL DOWNRIGHT READY TO KILL THIS BITCH

ALSO, SELENA WAS SO RIGHT TO BREAK THE BOY’S NOSE.

“Look at them! Cahooting in demonic languages,” Zara sniffed.

“It’s Spanish,” Aunt Izzy said incredulously. “Your husband speaks it too!”

Zara you dumb shit-

That part where Magnus was checking up on all of them and seeing if they’re ok and the kids looked like they had never seen anything like that-

They deserve better. GODDAMN IT JULIAN BLACKTHORN MANAGED TO BE A BETTER PARENT 12

Her father held Selena’s hand in his. “You better raise your son to respect women, Zara – Because I’m raising my daughters to break noses.”

YES YES YES YES

He knelt down next to her and put a strand of hair behind her ear. “Can I tell you a secret, cupcake?”

Selena nodded. She loved secrets.

“People call me a freak too,” Magnus winked.

“You?” Selena gasped.

“Yes,” he nodded. “If people call you a freak, it means you are doing something different. Something bold. Something small minds will never be able to think of. So, it’s not an insult. Don’t forget that.”

YES THIS

AWWW THE LITTLE GIRL GAVE SELENA HER NECKLACE.

“Some people don’t like women in power.”

“Why not?”

“Because women get shit done.”

Selena giggled at that. “You said a bad word.”

“It’s not bad. Say it with me, Selena,” her mother said gently. “Women get shit done.”

YES WE GET SHIT DONE

“Are you saying I shouldn’t be afraid?” Selena asked. “I should be strong?”

“I'm saying you should be anything you want to be,” her mother kissed her head. “You can be brave like Izzy. You can be fearless like Emma. You can be kind like Cristina. You can be cool like Dru. You can be sensible like Maia. You can be confident like Lily. You can be smart like Tessa. You can be fierce like Diana. You can be geeky like me.”

Her mother held her face closely. “You get to decide what kind of woman you want to be. I want you to remember that - because there is no wrong way to be a woman.”

THIS! WE NEED TO HEAR THIS MORE OFTEN!

“The next time someone points fingers at you because you are a woman, go ahead and break them.”

DO IT

This was her mother.

Clary Fairchild. One of the most powerful shadowhunters.

Selena sometimes forgot that. Sometimes you forget your mom is so much more than your mom.

There is a person underneath that – someone full of dreams and hopes and talents you could never imagine.

SHE’S LITERALLY SO POWERFUL AND AMAZING IF I SEE ONE MORE PERSON HATE ON HER I'M GONNA KILL THEM

THE IDRIS VISION EDYUGYFEUGYUKGFEWUYTGFEWUTFEW7FE

Rafe was going to be their leader. He would be Selena’s Consul. She knew it.

Gigi was going to be just like Aunt Izzy. An amazing inventor. A chaos to be reckoned with.

Lexi was going to be the best fighter in the whole world. She would fly above everyone and everything.

And David and Max…Well, they seemed very happy with each other. Selena supposed that was enough. Like Uncle Alec and Magnus. To find something you can be happy with no matter what. Because sometimes there was no greater purpose than love.

And Selena….She knew exactly what she was going to do.

She was going to lead all of them back to Idris.

Explain why I'm crying reading this. I love them all so much. They mean so much to me already. SELENA ONE DAY YOU’RE GONNA LEAD THEM ALL BACK TO IDRIS I KNOW YOU WILL

This chapter was beautiful. I'm gonna be in a corner crying in case someone needs me. See ya on Friday!! (well technically it’ll be Saturday for me since for me the updates come after midnight)

THIS GAVE ME LIFE. LIFE, YA HEAR ME?

Also my favorite comment (which I might print on something) - GODDAMIT WOMAN DON'T HAVE CHILDREN IF YOU CAN’T TAKE CARE OF THEM

Also this made me laugh out loud so hard >> - GODDAMN IT JULIAN BLACKTHORN MANAGED TO BE A BETTER PARENT 12

#my bad about them tears but I am glad you enjoyed this one!!#lbaf #thank you!

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the-second-tonks · 3 years

Note

Hai! I've seen your Marvel game and I wanna participate in your Narnia one. I'm a 5'0,Bi demiromantic,Aquarius sun, Taurus rising, Virgo Moon, INTP, Hufflepuff with black hair, glasses and brown eyes. I've been told that I look intimidating and unapproachable by my friends especially since I don't smile much because I think I look awkward.

They also say I'm very reliable and supportive. I'm very introverted and shy but I always try to be nice . Once I get close to someone I show my more chaotic and mischievous but loyal side. I constantly seek out my friends company when bored unless I know they are busy. I usually don't talk much unless needed despite being considered academically smart. I'm bilingual. I consider myself open and fair minded. I'm an insomniac. I'm mostly not a violent person but when I am I like to plan it out carefully. I'm very emotionally reserved and oblivious. I'm still trying to figure out what I want for my future that still has my friends in it. I sometimes unintentionally lose myself thinking about my goals and friends.

My favorite color is blue. My hobbies normally change but its currently reading, writing and art. My interests are history, movies, true crime and supernatural. I constantly daydream and have a vivid imagination. My sense of humor is pretty cursed and dark at times. I don't really consider people my enemies but when I do I try to be mature about it. My style is definitely comfort but stylish. I tend to wear darker colors. My aesthetic is light academia. I have a habit of playing and watching horror games/film for the thrill of it.

I like the rain and find comfort in it. I perfer to be left alone most of the time especially after socializing. I love making/getting things for people I'm close to for important events and put a lot of thought and effort into it. I feel a very nice feeling of achievement when people recognize and praise me for something I did.People who are protective and have a soft spot for me make my heart go <3. I dislike people who are egotistical and refuse to listen to others. I'm not really fond of going outside on a very sunny day since I perfer indoors and cloudy days.

Thank you in advance :D

P.S: Can it pls be s/o instead of husband/wife? If I sent my request twice pls ignore this one, my tumblr has been acting up

Hii ! No worries it was just once in my inbox :) . I'm really sorry , it's just husband and wife , I- okay I'll ship you with your soulmate :)

How you enter the magical world of Narnia

You were enjoying yourself in rain when you literally saw a bright light coming from a bunch of trees, a small but was there . One of your family members who was with you really got scared as to that was the only place you could stay at and started worrying since you both were alone but you reassured them and walked towards the light , as it slowly blinded you . You kept walking until you felt sharp stingy things right on your face . Pushing the door open , whoosh , you felt the cold , very cold air . You were already wet and the cold wasn't helping , but you couldn't care more as you saw not an old fashioned house , but a big area , snow covered to be precise , Narnia - to be exact .

What weapon you yielded

Bows and arrows , no doubt . Just like you , they're quiet and silent while they attack , but won't hesitate in killing you if you're the one who's to be attacked . You'll definitely be trained under two of the best archers in Narnia - Edmund and Susan . And surely, you'll make them proud by mastering the weapon soon .

The Era / Movie you enter Narnia

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe .

Your s/o would be

Susan Pevensie

She's so similar to you and you both have so many things to learn from each other . Definitely soulmates .

What the Narnians think about you

They think of you as the supportive and reliable one . The one who's smartly observing everyone from the corner of the room while everyone's busy in their own little world . They might also feel a sense to protect you and respect you , as if you're a fragile diamond to them . They'll adore you . They'll also love how open minded you are and would definitely consider it as a talent to be bilingual .

What the Pevensie siblings think about you

Peter Pevensie : Him and you have a strained relationship (mostly in the Prince Caspian movie) because you hate arrogant people and that's how he behaves sometimes . Overall , he really respects you a lot .

Susan Pevensie : Oh . My . God . She liked you from the first day you met . You both were similar in so many ways (almost all) . You both also had a lot of things to teach each other. Basically , you were the only one(stranger) to whom she opened up . She won't let you loose yourself while you think about your goals and stuff . She's definitely protective of you and has a soft corner for you . Even she might feel a bit intimated , but her smile will force you to smile back (you'll feel how cold you not smile at such a welcoming and warm smile). You'd smile at her despite the awkward thingy

Edmund Pevensie : Okay , this guy really loves you (as a brother) . He and you are again, a lot similar . He and you would often spend wonderful time together and you'd be his favourite person to spend time with . He'll always trust you with be it his life . He trusts you a lot and respects you too . He'll also be protective of you , but like a brother would be .

Lucy Pevensie : She adores your and Susan's relationship . Just like you , she loves comfortable and soft clothes . She would always come to you and talk because you both are very open-minded people. She'd never be busy so you can always seek for her company .

What does Caspian think about you

Simple . He adores you . He really had a minor crush on you but nothing much . He respects you and you're one of his favourite people to spend time with . He often opens up in front of you because you're so reliable . But he also loved your logical and planning side . He'll often be supportive of you and your hobbies , goals and stuff

What does Aslan think about you

Okay , I can't read that clever lion's mind , but I'm sure he's really proud of you . He really loves you and just wants you to remember that you're amazing ! You'll always have his blessings with you and he'll always be by your side, even when there's no one .

A short blurb on your life in Narnia

You'd reach Narnia before the Pevensie siblings and luckily , Aslan will find you before the witch . It was close , the witch had almost got you , you had almost seen her . You trained yourself and spent time with Centaurs learning to discipline yourself like them . Finally , you met the Pevensie siblings and Susan to be precise . You helped them with the war and the prophecy was , Aslan's daughter , who helps the kings and queens . Yep , you were Aslan's daughter . From fighting in the battle of beruna to engaging with Susan , you life was happy until suddenly , you lost them while hunting for the white stag . But you didn't give up , you were Aslan's daughter after all . You ruled the Narnia (you had stopped aging) but you could see it falling apart . You battled the telmarines , wishing for your father to help you , but no . You had left a letter in the chests of the kings and queens , who lost your faith too . Your never thought they'd return , spending endless nights crying, fiddling with the engagement ring . Narnia was over , the telmarines took control and you had to hide yourself with the Narnians in the dark forest. Again, finding Prince Caspian with Susan's horn to reuniting with them and from fighting in another battle to saving susan when she and lucy went for searching your father , you were now standing beside your father , crying as Susan left. But Aslan's words bought a faint smile on your face 'Go..' he said . He explained you that you'd return to Narnia always , but the others who weren't from Narnia couldn't (you were born in Narnia , sent outside of it for your safety and the prophecy to be true .) Now , I'll leave it to you if you wanna go or not , but in the end , you and Susan did live happily ever after ..

Your post

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe - Queen Y/N , the reliable/faithful , Aslan's daughter

Prince Caspian - The Queen of the old , Queen Y/N , Aslan's daughter

Dawn treader - The reliable/faithful Queen , the loved queen , the daughter of Aslan.

Your race would be

Centaur for sure. The ones who appear to be serious and kinda scary lol , but are actually nice , reliable and introverted , open up only in front of their fellow friends.

I hope you liked it !

Thank you for participating !

#tani's game #game for you all

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stonecoldjerseyfox · 3 years

Text

Jersey on my mind (part 35)

”So yeah, consider the mall a no go zone, unless we don’t bring a flamethrower or throw a couple of grenades in there first. It’s infested with walkers.”

Mila gives herself a moment to breathe and adjusts Juri’s position at her aching hip, feeling slightly sore from her falling into the crowd of walkers. Her attempt to conceal a groan of modest pain doesn’t go unnoticed and Juri hugs his little arms tightly around her neck, in an attempt to comfort her, just as she comforts him when he’s hurt.

Juri had had a good day; Carol had fixed him breakfast, lunch and snacks and then found a whole pack of new street crayons for him to play with. He’d kept himself busy the whole afternoon drawing. When he saw Mila and Daryl walk down the street, after returning from their eventful day out, he dropped the crayons and scurried up to them as fast as his short legs could carry him and threw himself into Mila’s arms.

”Moya lyubov.” Mila exclaimed joyously and dug her nose into his hair. An immediate sensation of calm wrapped around her motherly heart when she felt him close and could inhale the scent of the soft skin in his neck. Was it even possible to be that soft? ”Moy malenkiy malchik.” She cooed. “My little boy.”

Juri pulled away and looked her in the eyes, let his crayon stained fingers run over her face, over her ears into her hair. He squished his nose towards hers and mimed ‘missed you’. Then he turned his small sunny face to Daryl, reached out his hand to invite him into the ‘welcome back’-hugging committee.

“Hey kiddo.”

Slightly awkwardly Daryl took Juri’s small hand into his big, dirty, and squeezed it, on which Juri placed his entire weight on Daryl’s big arm, giggling happily as Daryl lifted him from the ground. With a cheeky smile Juri clung like a little monkey to his forearm before he reached for Mila again.

With Juri clasping her neck like a boa constrictor, Mila got up from the ground, with an internal cry of distress; there and then, when the adrenaline rush subsided, she began to feel the effects of the drop throughout her body. She felt sore, but bull-headed as she was, she refused to admit it out loudly. Over her dead body! She had to deal with the self-inspection later, inspecting the outcome of their expedition in solitude, locked inside the bathroom while taking an invigorating shower.

While Juri smoldered her with affection, pointing out his crayon drawings of a blue smiling sun with freckles, his stuffed animals sunbathing and a couple of random shapes, apparently symbolizing different sorts of cars, Rick and Michonne came out of the house. From over the construction site of the wall, Aaron came running as well and joined them around Juri’s joyful street art. Daryl began to tell about the scouting, the unknown group of men who looted the gun shop and the mall, now infested with walkers. Every now and then while they were talking, Juri placed small light kisses on Mila’s neck, and when they came to the part, told in an as easy way as possible, where Daryl dropped her an entire floor into a hoard of walkers, Juri squeezed her neck to the point of where she thought he would hug her to unconsciousness.

“The looters who plundered the arms deal is probably a bigger problem.” She continues and looks at Daryl, who nods. Juri begins to twist and turn in her arm and Mila puts him down on the ground. “You never know.”

Rick sighs, puts his hands on his tight hips and puts weight on his right leg; proper displeased sheriff style.

“What do you think?” He looks at Daryl.

“Given the amount of ammunition-” Daryl raises his eyebrows slightly. “One doesn’t need that much ammunition unless there’s a threat. Or if they’re the threat.”

Mila grins a little at his words, literally borrowed from herself as they sat hiding in the bushes earlier.

“Okay-” Rick’s eyes wander around the gathered group as he contemplates Daryl’s words. “Gotta stay watchful from now on. If there’s another group out there, heavily armed, we’d better lie low.” The voice is calm but his eyes express something else. “We put out extra guards.” He turns his gaze downwards to Mila who has squatted down on the ground next to Juri. He has returned to his chubby street crayons and is in full action to draw a happy tree with red apples. “You sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Go to see Denise, just in case.” It’s not an order, but he says it firmly.

“I’m fine.” Mila emphasises and gets up. “Bit bruised, but I’ll be okay.”

“You’re bleedin’.” The sheriff nods and Mila looks down at her hand, that’s stained with blood. Her hand seems fine but her elbow does actually feel a bit sore. Rick smiles faintly at her and Daryl. “Make sure to patch that up.”

Then he turns and walks, with swaying cop-hips, towards the construction site at the wall.

“Good to have ya’ back.” Aaron smiles at them, then turns around and scurries after Rick.

Mila looks at Juri, completely rapt in his crayons and has forgotten that she’s even there; she’ll have to show him the things she got for him later. She then shifts her gaze to Daryl, who gives her a searching look.

“What?”

”Come on, ya’ need to be patched up.” He says.

”It’s a flesh wound.” Mila replies snappy.

”Those can get pretty nasty.” Michonne shrugs with an amused grin. “You heard the sheriff.”

“Thought you were the sheriff in your relationship?” Mila replies surly.

“Well then you should really listen to my advice.” The athletic woman in front of her winks at her. “Two against one, Jersey. Three, if Dixon’s on our side.”

“Bozhe moy, since when did you two turn all mother hen on me?” Mila rolls her eyes at her fierce friend and her beloved, broody archer. Then her eyes wander to the crossed swords sticking out from behind Michonne’s back. “Going somewhere?”

“A run.” Michonne shakes her head with a smile. “You’re not invited.”

“Fine, I didn't even want to go.”

“Sure.” Michonne gives her a soft, loving pat on the shoulder before starting to walk toward the gate. “Take care of her, Dixon.” She calls over her shoulder before turning round the corner.

Mila rolls her eyes and sighs. She’s fine!

“Hey, you're back!”

From the direction of the small hospital building, Glenn and Maggie come walking towards them, hand in hand, looking very much newly in love.

“How’d it go?” Maggie asks when they’re gathered around Juri’s drawings. “Looks like ya’ been stuck a dryer.”

As quickly and undramatically as possible, Mila recounts what happened during the run once again. But when Maggie and Glenn also say that she really should look over her arm, just in case, she sighs.

“You can’t be serious?” She laughs. “Once again, for the hundredth time, I’m fine.”

From his spot on the ground Juri nods in agreement; with a clever look he signs to her that he always must be examined after he’s fallen, so why should she not do the same? She smiles in response, but inside her head Mila curses herself for having brought up such a smart little person, too smart sometimes and absolutely way more clever than herself at that age. Who the heck was that guy she had a one night stand with, Einstein? However, that decides the matter.

“We’ll keep him company.” Maggie smiles and squats next to Juri. “Right?”

Juri nods with a grin and Glenn sits down at his other side, picks up a crayon and asks for instructions for what he should draw. Juri, excited by all the attention he’ll be smoldered with, waves at Mila to ‘go away, mommy’. Right now he wants to be at peace with his babysitters and draw.

“Hear ya’ kiddo.” Daryl winks at Juri and steers Mila towards the porch, up the stairs and into the house.

The downstairs is empty and quiet, everyone’s out doing their thing. He leads her on, up the stairs and into the bedroom, where Mila sits down onto the bed and Daryl starts to look for something to patch her up with.

“There’s bandaids and stuff in the cabinet.” Mila calls when he starts to rummage around in the bathroom. “Top shelf.”

She stretches out her arm a little and feels a stinging, aching sensation shoot out of her usually fine elbow. She managed to hit every goddamn nerve it feels like, but at least it doesn’t seem to be broken. Daryl returns with a towel and the first aid kit box, filled with bandages, plasters, scissors and tape and sits down in front of Mila, in the chair she uses as an extra wardrobe.

”Get that off.” Daryl nods at her leather jacket.

Once again Mila sighs, but does as she’s told; she swears as she pulls her arm out of the jacket, exposing a laceration on her elbow. The skin is cracked and the dried blood has stuck towards the satin lining of the jacket.

“Gotta clean that up.” Daryl looks around the box. “Some alcohol or somethin’-”

“Under the bed.” Mila says and scratches her nose. “There’s a bottle in there somewhere.”

Daryl leans forward, his head touches her knees as he puts his hand under the bed. When he sits up again he’s got a bottle of vodka in his hand. It ain’t the first time she has cleaned bruises and wounds with booze, especially vodka; might be an illusion but it somehow feels like they heal faster after a lavish splash of Russian Standard.

”I’m fine.” Mila repeats with emphasis, as Daryl places the towel on his knee and shakes the liquor bottle. “Really.”

”Bite the bullet.” Daryl removes the lid from the bottle. “It’s gonna sting.” He grabs her arm, turns it upwards over the towel and pours the clear liquid over her cracked elbow. Mila flinches and twitches, swears as nasty as she possibly can in both Russian and English. ”Quit squirmin’!” reluctantly Mila quits squirm, jibbers in Russian as reply. ”Well ya don’t want it infected do ya?” Daryl says, almost commanding. ”Hold still, christ.”

Mila lifts her eyebrows. Woha, did he actually order her something? It might be the adrenaline rush, or the fact that they didn’t finish what they started earlier at that chair in the store, but it’s kinda rousing.

“Fine.” She mutters.

“Sorry.” Daryl murmurs. “Ya’ flunder about like a fish on dry land.”

“No offense taken.” Mila says, listening with half an ear, while feeling her body temperature increase and her breasts tingles pleasantly. Despite the injured elbow she definitely has to end what they started, pronto, or she might explode! “Sorry too ‘bout before.” He says. “Droppin’ ya-”

“That wasn’t your fault.” Mila interrupts. “Just- don’t. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

The fact that he’s so terribly caring doesn’t calm her arousement for a second. Daryl wipes the wound with a piece of bandage, then tosses it on the floor before he starts to wrap her elbow tightly with the rest of the bandage.

”There. As new.” He throws the towel into the bathroom. “It ain’t broken at least.”

”Ten points in nursing.” Mila looks at the bandaging and the corners of Daryl’s mouth turns upwards slightly, in a so called smile.

He stands up, ready to put away the first aid kit, but he pauses when he meets Mila’s eyes.

“What?”

”How long we got before they’ll look for us?” Light as a feather, Mila lets her fingers caress the crotch of his pants. ”Glenn and Maggie-”' Judging by the impressive effect her light touch has, she comes to the conclusion that he didn’t feel completely done over at the mall either. She bites her lower lip, smiles. ”You heard what they said. Take good care of me.”

He groans faintly, but doesn’t seem entirely sure about her suggestion, throwing glances towards the window before seemingly making his mind up. Softly he shuts the bedroom door, before shifting all his attention at her. He drops the first aid kit on the bedside table, then digs his hand into her tousled hair, bends down and gently, hesitating, presses his tongue into her mouth. Mila can’t evade to let out a moan as she feels his twirling tongue softly exploring hers and pulls him closer. Without breaking the kiss Daryl puts a strong arm around her waist, lifts her from the bed and sinks down on it himself. Gently he backs her up towards the bed frame, continues to explore her body with his free hand as she starts unbuttoning his shirt.

“What about that dress?” He groans.

”You really think we have time for that now?” Mila pants with a smile through their frantic kissing, wishing more than anything that they’d had at least an hour for themselves.

“Shh.” Daryl says husky through their kissing. “We’re wastin’ time.”

If he says so. Mila breaks the kiss by the time she’s done with the worn shirt buttons and rips the dark fabric apart, while Daryl lifts her t-shirt and bra over her head, exposing her breasts. His lips travel down to her neck and they once again fall down onto the bed. As their bodies collide she feels his erection banging through the pants for attention. They start a frenzy undressing process, ripping clothes from each other while unbuttoning and unzipping pants. Cargos and jeans are thrown on the floor as well as a pair of lace underwear. Despite being horny to the point of not feeling anything else than that, Mila still notices, when she lies there all naked, that she’s more bruised than she thought. She was maybe lucky after all.

”That’s five.” While placing his hand between her legs, Daryl starts to fondle her, biting her lower lip.

”Thought you didn’t keep time.” Mila teases and lets out a moan when the touch of his hand sends shivers from the tip of her toes to the top of her head.

He pauses, holds himself up with the elbow and looks at her as he nudges his knee in-between her legs. Mila eagerly pulls him towards her, expresses with all of her being that she needs him now, badly. He adjusts himself and smoothly enters her body. With a moan, Mila closes her eyes and bends her head backward to the headboard as he reaches her core. She lifts her leg, wraps it around him, allowing him to reach even deeper as she pushes him closer.

“Oh shi- yes!” She exhales in something between a moan and an ecstatic laugh.

Daryl digs his feet down the soft bedspread and continues, deep and determined, to move his hips, thrusting into her; his eyes are fixated at hers, hazy with pleasure, growing more desperate for each second it seems. He puts his hand on her left shoulder, uses it as a leverage to get even deeper.

”Oh my god” Mila gasps and stretches her neck backwards while fumbling with her right hand, doesn’t know what to hold on to, until she grabs a hold of the sheet. ”Oh shit!”

This is way better than doin’ it on a lousy chair in an abandoned, almost pitch black mall, she manages to think in between the thrusts that make her eyes roll back in her head with pleasure. With a firm grip round her thigh, not decreasing the pace, Daryl lowers his head, rests his forehead against hers.

“I love ya’” He pants husky in a low voice. “I fuckin’ love ya’”.

The impact of words; She feels a rush of delight flow throughout her entire body, her pussy contracts and she closes her eyes, clings to the sheets to the point of her knuckles turning white as she reaches the peak. He releases himself into her with a loud groan before burying his face into her neck with a last deep thrust.

”Shhh-” Mila hushes, very vaguely and not very convincing; her voice being slightly louder than a whisper and it breaks as Daryl pushes his hips into her again, really cementing himself into her core.

Daryl gets up on his elbows and looks down at her, the long brown bangs wet with sweat.

”Ya’ think you’re the one to hush?” He pants and swallows.

Before Mila answers, they both turn their heads to the left, as the door knob rattles and is turned. The door opens and Glenn’s face turns from its usually relaxed state to pale as the bed sheet and his eyes widens to double their size.

“What the-” Glenn’s pale face turns red in merely a second. He swears and throws up his hands in front of his face. “Fuck- shit-”

“What the heck’s wrong with ya!” Daryl barks, somewhat pantingly, at Glenn, while Mila covers herself as best as she can, unable to utter a word. “The fuc- get outta here!” He scoffs and waves his arm at Glenn who almost falls backwards as he stumbles out in the corridor again, while searching for the door handle with closed eyes. “Fuckin’ hell!”

The door slams shut and Mila feels a burst of hysterical laughter build up inside her body, but she does her best not to start laughing; Daryl looks anything but amused.

“I didn’t see shit, man! I swear!” Glenn calls through the shut door.

“Don’t ya’ fuckin’ knock before opening doors!?” Daryl once again barks, angry to the point of him almost shivering. He doesn’t know what to do with himself. “Son of a-”

“Yes- no, I mean yes!”

“Well why the fuck didn’t ya do it ya moron?!”

“I- I…” Glenn clears his throat. “Sorry, man. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah ya’ better be-”

“We- eh, we’ll set up for dinner over at the wall.” Glenn continues, in an attempt to sound just as usual, only slightly more high pitched. It doesn’t really work. “Some of the others have started to prepare soup...”

Daryl’s about to climb out of bed and, in all his naked sweaty glory, rip the door open and ask Glenn to beat it. But Mila digs her fingers into his strong, tensed arms and prevents him from going anywhere.

“That sounds- great! Great.” She hollers towards the door, in an attempt to ease the strained situation. “We’re on our way.”

“Ouch! Ya’ have bony sharp fingers.” Daryl exclaims, while hasty walking footsteps on the other side of the door, tattles that Glenn has fled the field, downstairs. “Great!” Daryl sighs. “Just fuckin’ great.”

“I think we did pretty good, loverboy.” Mila grins. “If you’ll excuse, I and the rest of that bottle of vodka have to take a shower.”

#jersey on my mind #daryl dixon #daryl dixon fanfic #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl x oc #daryl fanfiction #daryl dixon x oc #twd daryl #twd #twd fanfiction #twd fanfic #the walking dead fanfic #the walking dead fandom #the walking dead fanficition

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fatesdeepdive · 3 years

Text

Entry 50: Oops! All Supports Volume #8

The portal babies are going to be weird. Most of their Supports are going to come from the OAS entries. Add it onto the pile of close to thirty Birthright Supports I didn’t get to. Also, because this is Entry 50 and I hate myself, I’m doing twenty different Supports today instead of ten. God help me. I’m already a few days behind and this won’t help.

Support: Mana/Sophie

C: Kana manages to befriend Sophie's horse Avel, despite Avel normally being horrible.

B: Kana and Sophie see a burning building and Avel happily allows Sophie to ride him so she can save people.

A: Kana and Sophie discuss how Avel is loyal to Sophie, despite his assholeness, and will follow only her into battle.

S: Kana gets friendzoned.

Review: Not bad. Avel being a good horse when the chips are down is great. Also, this is the second time Kana’s been friendzoned. Poor kid.

Support: Corrin/Hinata

C: Corrin finds Hinata training. Corrin is surprised, because they heard Hinata was lazy.

B: Hinata beats Corrin in a duel, so Corrin runs laps to get stronger.

A: Hinata reveals that he trains so hard because he lost a fight to Takumi once and wants to beat him.

S: Hinata does the promise to protect blah blah blah I like you blah blah thing.

Review: Not necessarily awful, but very generic and lacking any spark to make it stand out.

Support: Mitama/Shiro

C: Shiro finds Mitama sleeping outside. He wakes her and she heads to her room so she can take another nap.

B: Shiro explains that falling asleep on a battlefield is dangerous, Mitama explains that she's ensuring she's fully rested for battle.

A: Shiro takes a nap outside. Mitama agrees to stop sleeping outside as much.

S: Shiro asks Mitama to be his girlfriend.

Review: Very shallow. Mitama is somewhat amusing, but other than that this is completely forgettable.

Support: Dwyer/Selkie

C: Dwyer is woken up by Selkie chasing a bird.

B: Selkie gurts herself climbing a tree. Dwyer, not wanting to ignore a not-ugly lady in distress, tends her wounds.

A: Dwyer tries to convince Selkie to stop hurting herself. Selkie drags him off to go frolic.

S: Dwyer decides to tend to Selkie's wounds for the rest of his life. Selkie decides they should get married and claims she planned this from the beginning.

Review: A fun, cute fluff Support.

Support: Azura/Saizo

C: Saizo tells Azura that she doesn't trust her because she's from Nohr.

B: Saizo injures himself protecting Azura. Azura tends to his wounds. Saizo notices a scar on Azura and Azura explains that some noble children beat the shit out of her when she was a kid. Again, who the fuck thought it was a good idea to bully the violent sadistic king's stepdaughter?

A: Saizo apologizes for forcing Azura to relive painful memories. Azura says he only has to say thank you and that she wants him to be her ally.

S: Saizo offers Azura a magic salve that can heal any scar. He doesn't use it because his scar is important and also HE'S A MANY MAN AND NOT A DELICATE LADY. Azura says she loves him despite the sexism.

Review: A very good Support that gives good characterization to both Azura and Saizo.

Support: Felicia/Takumi

C: Felicia runs into Takumi while carrying the laundry. Literally. Takumi grumpily helps her clean it up.

B: Takumi tries to yell at Felicia to be careful, she ignores him and talks about her hometown. Takumi insinuates there's a problem with how Felicia was raised and apologizes when she calls him out.

A: Takumi keeps an eye on Felicia to keep her from messing everything up. Felicia cries. Takumi praises her for being a hard worker.

S: Takumi asks Felicia to tell him about her village, because he likes her and she cares about it.

Review: Not bad, but could have had a bit more lore about Felicia’s village or had Takumi play a more active role.

Support: Kaden/Mozu

C: Kaden has a fatty piece of meat, which he doesn't want to eat because it's unhealthy. Mozu offers to cook the fat off. Kaden offers to split it.

B: Mozu makes a really good soup. She compares Kaden to a little kid for being impatient.

A: Kaden guts a fish, which makes Mozu think he's wise and mature. Sure, why not. Mozu says he's like a brother to her, because this game didn't have enough pseudo-sibling fucking.

S: Mozu says Kaden is everything she wants in a man.

Review: Overall, a fairly mediocre Support lacking a consistent throughline.

Support: Kagero/Setsuna

C: Setsuna is tasked with delivering important messages during a battle and forgets them, so Kagero is ordered to help Setsuna become a better messenger.

B: Kagero gives Setsuna sentences to repeat back to her. Setsuna forgets them immediately because she has the memory of a goldfish.

A: Kagero comes up with a better solution: babysitting Setsuna to make sure she doesn't fuck up.

Review: An overall decent Support. Although it raises one big question: who the hell thought it was a good idea to make Setsuna a messenger? They’re the real idiot in this army.

Support: Azama/Subaki

C: People have begun saying Azama and Subaki are training together. This angers Azama, who hates Subaki for pretending to be perfect. Subaki doesn't mind.

B: Azama goes on a hike and finds Subaki training alone so other people won't see him get tired.

A: Azama explains that the difference between them is that Subaki cares what other people think about him and Azama just doesn't give a shit.

Review: Overall a bit bland. Also how did the training rumors start? Part of me feels like this is an “oh my god they were roommates” scenario.

Support: Hinoka/Jakob

C: Jakob finds Hinoka training and praises her courage and fighting skill. Hinoka says she used to be trained in formal princess behavior, but through all that away to spend more time training. B: Jakob offers to train Hinoka in etiquette again. Hinoka ends up remembering everything anyway. A: Jakob explains that war is more than battle and courtly training is just as important. S: Jakob says he loves Hinoka. Hinoka points out how sudden this is, and Jakob offers to leave and come back later. They get together.

Review: Wow that romance came out of nowhere. They even point it out! Aside from that, this Support is very lackluster. It avoids all conflict by having Hinoka not have anything to learn and leaves Jakob without any development.

Support: Hisame/Kiragi

C: Hisame acts subservient and loyal to Kiragi. Kiragi asks him to treat him like a friend, similar to how Takumi and Hinata act. Hisame rejects this, saying Hinata should treat his betters with respect. Also they mention that Takumi and Hinata bathe together, which is interesting.

B: Kiragi says that they don't have to be master/servant just because their fathers are. Hisame suggests that they play shogi to become friends.

A: The two of them have fun playing shogi. Hisame acknowledges they're friends now.

Review: This one is interesting, analyzing that Hinata doesn’t really act like the retainer of a prince. Kiragi just wanting to be friends with Hisame is nice, and Hisame acting like an actual medieval person is interesting. I do wish this Support, and the game as a whole, had more analysis of class divides, though.

Support: Setsuna/Silas

C: Silas is attacked by an enemy archer. By an enemy archer, I mean Setsuna, who fell into a pit and fired arrows out to get his attention.

B: Setsuna does it again, almost injuring her fellow soldiers. Setsuna blushes while talking to Silas for...some reason.

A: Setsuna falls in a pit and accidentally kills a bunch of enemies while firing arrows.

S: Silas proposes. Halfway through the proposal, Setsuna falls into a pit. Silas rescues her and she immediately does it again.

Review: This is a fun Support. Setsuna being more willing to shoot Silas than ask for help is relatable. Setsuna taking out enemies by accident and wandering off in the middle of a confession is hilarious. Also, between this and the Kagero Support, I’m starting to think Setsuna is a liability.

Support: Midori/Shigure

C: Midori shows Shigure her herb garden. In the middle of it is a pretty flower bub that Midori likes.

B: Shigure helps Midori garden.

A: The flower blooms; Midori says it's a rare flower that is a symbol of happiness.

S: Shigure tells Midori to stay out of battle because he can't bear to see her hurt. When Midori refuses, Shigure instead vows to protect her throughout the war and after.

Review: This one had a surprisingly good S-Rank. I like the idea of Shigure being paranoid about his loved ones getting hurt because he’s already lost his entire village. Unfortunately, other than that, this Support is fairly bland.

Support: Asugi/Dwyer

C: Dwyer somehow manages to beat Asugi in a fight. Asugi challenges him to a rematch and Dwyer leaves to take a nap.

B: Asugi spies on Dwyer all day to find out how he trains. Dwyer does nothing but nap. Dwyer reveals that Jakob beat fighting skills into him as a kid so he doesn't have to train anymore.

A: Asugi challenges Dwyer to a baking contest. Dwyer forfeits before it even begins.

Review: Not bad. Dwyer completely shutting Asugi down out of laziness is fun.

Support: Hinata/Rinkah

C: Rinkah watches Hinata fight. She tells him it's a miracle he isn't dead, considering how sloppy he fights.

B: The two of them spar. Hinata is surprisingly powerful, but Rinkah matches him hit for hit. Rinkah decides to mix Hinata's moves into her one fighting style. A: Hinata and Rinkah fight again, drawing.

S: Hinata asks Runkah to take him to the Flame Tribe...as her husband.

Review: Fairly mediocre. I’ve seen a dozen sparring Supports already and this one lacks anything new.

Support: Jakob/Takumi

C: Takumi asks Jakob to help him train in secret. Jakob says no.

B: Corrin orders Jakob to help Takumi. Takumi snipes arrows off Jakob's head like William Tell.

A: Jakob tells Takumi that his need for others to recognize his skill is immaturity.

Review: Goddamn, Takumi. There are better ways to train than accidentally killing your sister’s retainer! Other than that this is mediocre; Jakob calling out Takumi’s immaturity is nice, but it isn’t built up properly.

Support: Caeldori/Hisame

C: Caeldori and Hisame are tasked with cleaning a shed together because they're the only competent soldiers. Caeldori brings up her respect for her father and Hisame changes the conversation.

B: Hisame explains that he doesn't respect Hinata because Hinata is a moron. Caeldori is disgusted by the idea of not respecting her father.

A: Caeldori apologizes for being forceful. Hisame says that he actually hates Hinata because he's jealous of Hinata's laid-back attitude.

S: Caeldori and Hisame get together because they're smarter than everyone else.

Review: Contrasting their differing views towards their fathers is nice, but the idea that Hisame is jealous of Hinata is ridiculous.

Support: Kiragi/Selkie

C: Kiragi and Selkie race through the woods and notice a group of suspicious men hanging around.

B: Kiragi saves Selkie from the men, who are poachers.

A: Selkie criticizes herself for being too trusting. Kiragi it wasn't her fault and that her kindness is one of her best traits.

S: Kiragi apologizes for allowing Selkie to be captured in the first place and asks Selkie to date him so he can protect her.

Review: Look, follow up to Selkie’s Paralogue! Kiragi being heroic is nice, but Selkie is a bit of a damsel in distress in this one.

Support: Fana/Midori

C: Kana has a sore throat. Midori's medicine doesn't work.

B: Midori tries new medicine. It still doesn't work.

A: Midori realizes Kana needs dragon medicine.

Review: That was a bunch of nothing. I think this is the shortest Support line I’ve read, and damn is it forgettable.

Support: Corrin/Hana

C: Hana is mean to Corrin because Corrin made Sakura sad by being kidnapped. Sakura isn't very smart.

B: Corrin asks about Hana's family, who are also Samurai, and says they apreciate Hana's ambition because they didn't have any when isolated. Hana mentions that her inspiration is her father, a samurai who prerished honorably protecting Sumeragi. Corrin says that dying in and of itself shouldn't be respected. Hana gets mad and storms off.

A: Corrin explains that Hana shouldn't throw her life away because it would make Sakura sad.

S: Corrin says he actually wants Hana to keep living because he has feelings for her. Protect eachother yada yada yada.

Review: I’m torn on this one. It gives backstory for Hana and at least tries to say something meaningful about dying in battle, but the C-Rank has Hana act ridiculous.

#fire emblem #fire emblem fates #fe 14

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

Text

Essential Avengers: Hawkeye #1-4

September, 1983

Listen to the Mockingbird

Now for something completely different.

-OR- Further justifying why the posts are titled Essential Avengers when I’m just going to put a colon and then an Avengers to get Essential Avengers: Avengers. Its because sometimes its not Avengers!

Sometimes its Hawkeye.

Since I’m doing four issues in one post, I’m not going to go as in-depth as I usually do.

So, last times on Avengers as related to Hawkeye: Hawkeye was cut from the Avengers due to a limited roster. He eventually got a job as the security chief at Cross Technological Enterprises with the same lack of restraint that got him a job with the Avengers. He’s been doing that for a while, since pre-200. Recently the Avengers needed beef up their roster and Cap and Iron Man convinced him to rejoin, which Hawkeye has done while also keeping his security chief job.

During an Avengers mission TO RESCUE THE PRESIDENT, he broke his leg and was put on medical leave from the team. He got one of the CTE people to build him a rocket-sled that he could putt around in. Judging by the lack of cast, his leg is better but he’s still using the cool rocket-sled.

And that’s where we are. Hawkeye has a cool rocket-sled and is actually holding down an actual job at Cross Technological Enterprises. He’s seems to still be on leave from the team despite his leg being better.

The miniseries starts with Hawkeye congratulating himself on getting a cool rocket-sled, even though it cost all of his money.

Hawkeye: “‘Bad guys beware -- Hawkeye’s in the air!’ Hmmm, not the worst slogan an aerial archer could have... but close.”

At least he’s self-aware. Some days that’s all you can ask of Hawkeye!

He spots three suspicious characters suspiciously sneaking and swoops down on the rocket-sled, taking them out with ease with his totally sweet trick arrows.

Hey, note to comic makers of our modern day. Trick arrows are sweet. I don’t need to see people getting shot in the eyes with arrows when I can see like a net arrow or whatever.

The three suspicious characters are actually CTE employees that Hawkeye asked to come in on their off time to help him get a hang of archering from the rocket-sled. Including the scientist, Jorge, who built it for him!

Wow, Hawkeye!

Jorge at least was happy to do build the thing because he feels like his talents are wasted at CTE and Hawkeye encourages him to go into business for himself.

Which is probably the kind of thing that’s going to get Hawkeye a reprimand but hey, good looking out, Hawkguy.

One of the other CTE employees asks why Hawkeye uses a bow and arrow instead of... a gun. Why not just shoot people with a gun.

Hawkeye: “The bow is quieter, more versatile, and in my hands the deadliest weapon in the state. Or hadn’t you noticed, Howie?”

He doesn’t mention that its also more believably non-lethal than if he were going around with a gun. Because Hawkeye says its the deadliest weapon in the state but he’s also a huge proponent of “superheroes don’t kill!”

But point being, you can buy a comic book guy pinning people to walls with arrows or using trick arrows or shooting weapons out of their hands without killing anyone way more than you could if Hawkeye was just using a magnum.

Also, this:

I believe he is literally flexing on that dude.

CTE’s new public relations lady Sheila Danning shows up for a date with Hawkeye because I guess there’s no rule about dating co-workers. Or at least if they’re not in the same department?

Having a woman showing positive attention to Hawkeye is his cue to have a little internal monologue that’s a little bit sad.

Hawkeye: Man, this is the life! A ridiculously high-paying job, a fast machine between my legs, and a foxy lady who’s nuts about me. What more could a guy want? Until Sheila came along, I thought I was put on this world for women to dump on. Women... like the Black Widow and Scarlet Witch. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get them to care for me like I did for them. Sheila’s different. Even though we’ve been seeing each other for only a month, what we have is special, real, like nothing I’ve ever known.

I don’t want to ruin his good times but I will remind the audience that he once rage-quit the Avengers because Scarlet Witch didn’t want to kiss him.

Anyway, Hawkeye is pretty enamored. He’s even thinking maybe it’s time he settles down.

He takes her back to his place and they start dancing to some Mantovani as he recaps his entire backstory to her.

In fairness. In faiiiirness. She asked.

But you should know the drill. Clint and Barney ran away from the orphanage to join the circus. Swordsman saw potential in Clint and trained him in archery and Clint began seeing Swordsman as a father figure so threw himself into training in hopes that Swordsman would be proud of him.

Which is funny in an odd way because there’s some same-face going on and Swordsman looks just like Tony Stark!

I wonder if Clint ever slipped up and called Tony dad and had to cover it up by continuing into a daddio.

Anyway, he caught Swordsman with stolen money and Swordmaster left him in a broken heap and skipped town when Clint wouldn’t promise to keep quiet.

Later, he saw the adulation that Iron Man got when he flew over the circus and thought wait I can do that. Got a costume and tried to become a hero. Oops, tripped into being a supervillain and enemy of Iron Man. Annd then joined the Avengers.

Hawkeye: “I’ve done many a stint with my Avenging buddies, but I think I’m finally ready to wing it solo for good. Much as I like ‘em, they cramp my style a bit too much.”

Sheila: “Fascinating story, Clint. Looks like I’ve got a real self-made man. How about if I try to unmake you a little?”

And then they’re about to do sexy times when Clint’s emergency beeper goes off. Because somehow the emergency always knows when you’re horny or mid-ablution.

Hawkeye has to suit back up and head out back to work

Hah.

But anyway, he catches a lady in a very sleevesy costume prowling around and during some back and forth and further back and forth pinned you no pinned you action, she introduces herself as Mockingbird, an ex-shield agent and freelance crimebuster (I think that means superhero?).

Some underworld contacts of hers led her to investigate Cross Technological Enterprises under suspicion that CTE is manufacturing mass mind control technology right under a certain Avenger slash archer’s nose. I.e., Hawkeye.

She wants him to lead her to warehouse 10 but their conversation is interrupted by a security night shift who rush in and surround Mockingbird despite Hawkeye ordering prior to the action scene to let him handle it.

They cuff Mockingbird and take her away but oddly claim that they thought Hawkeye sent the signal for them to charge in.

Hawkeye is perplexed and vexed wondering if there’s anything to Mockingbird’s story. He doesn’t know the full extent of what CTE manufactures and there was some shady business in Marvel Fanfare #3 where a vice-president was using CTE facilities to manufacture a bomb.

Mockingbird’s story bugs him so much that he returns home to Sheila and tells her that there’s something he has to take care of and sends her home in a cab.

He returns to Cross on his sweet rocket-sled and investigates warehouse 10, finding it empty but with a lot of fresh tracks in the dust, like something was moved in only the past hour or so.

Also, a bunch of security staff show up and point guns at him.

That’s also a red flag.

When reminding them he’s their boss doesn’t settle them down, he rolls to the floor to shoot out the lights like a cool action guy and then starts taking them out in the dark just by shooting whenever he hears one of the idiots make a sound.

But one of the guards has Sheila hostage even though she was supposed to have gone home so Hawkeye has to surrender.

The guards toss him into a pit with Mockingbird. Just an oubliette that CTE has on premise, as ya do.

Hawkeye demands to speak with Sheila so he knows she’s alright and whoops she’s in on it.

Sheila Danning, heartbreaker: “Barton -- you stupid fool! Why did you have to be so conscientious? It was my job to keep you distracted so you’d have no time to notice the operation Cross had been contracted for -- a very costly, deadly operation.”

Hawkeye, heartbroken: “What are you talking about, Sheila? Are you saying they paid you to -- to --”

Sheila: “Yes, they paid me. I was pretty convincing, wasn’t I? You never had the slightest idea that I could sooner love a dog than a cornball Romeo with delusions of adequacy like you.”

Hawkeye: “You can’t mean that! They must’ve brainwashed you, poisoned your mind against me! Or -- or maybe you’re not Sheila at all, an imposter, or a robot -- !”

Sheila: “Don’t kid yourself, Barton. I’m the one and only. The woman who could barely keep from snickering when you told her your carnival story this evening.”

Ouch.

I like to mock Hawkeye because he deserves some light ribbing but ouch, she slipped a knife right between those ribbings.

That poor dolt was thinking about proposing and she was paid to distract him by feigning interest. Oof ouch.

Anyway, since CTE has suddenly become Bond-esque, they start dumping liquid industrial waste into the pit to drown and/or melt Hawkeye and Mockingbird.

The stuff is like acid but Hawkeye is kind of wallowing in being dumped and doesn’t care.

Hawkeye: “I ain’t moving. All my life I’ve been dumped on. I’m beginning to enjoy it.”

Mockingbird tells him that if he lets himself be melted by industrial waste because he feels sorry for himself, his ex wins. But that doesn’t move him so she has to mock him into action. This is what she was named for!

Mockingbird: “So this is what they taught you in the Avengers? What a bunch of jerks! They should see you now. I’ll bet you let them down in a pinch, too. Whenever your feelings get hurt.”

Hawkeye: “SHUT UP! I’m gonna get us out of here, lady. Then I’m going to kill Sheila for what she did to me. Then you’ll get yours, too.”

Mockingbird: “Sure, sure. Get us out first.”

Hah, I like Mockingbird.

And I like Hawkeye too. He makes good use of what he has to escape this Bond-esque trap. He doesn’t have his bow or his arrows but he keeps a fifty foot length of cord in his boot and spare arrowheads in his tunic. He calls his rocket-sled with the remote control, ties the cord to a spare rocket arrow-tip and rockets himself and Mockingbird out of the pit and up to his rocket-sled.

Then Hawkeye says he has to go attend some private business and Mockingbird is like cool, I’ll wait for you and hops onto a roof.

Hawkeye rams the rocket-sled through the window of Sheila Danning’s office and jump kicks the guards she has with her and confronts her.

Hawkeye: “You hurt me, Sheila... More than anything ever hurt in my life.”

Sheila: “Stay back, Hawkeye! I - I --”

Hawkeye: “I could kill you for what you did to me. But I won’t. I... can’t. I just don’t care anymore... about you or about whatever scheme Cross is up to! Give me my bow and quiver back and I’ll go.”

Tangentially, like an anime, his shirt is a lot flimsier than his pants and melted off in the acid while his pants are tattered but intact. If only they made shirts out of pants...

And if only they made any outfit out of lady outfit. Mockingbird’s outfit has a few holes and tatters but her whole top didn’t dissolve like Hawkeye’s did!

Sheila does give Hawkeye his archery stuff but warns him that he Knows Too Much and Cross will come after him.

Kind of a weird flex to pull on AN AVENGER WHO KNOWS THOR but you do you, Cross Technological Enterprises.

Hawkeye just takes off on his sweet rocket-sled without responding, zooming past where he left Mockingbird who has to jump onto the moving rocket-sled because he does not slow down for her.

Mockingbird: “Got your business taken care of, sport?”

Hawkeye, crying a little: “Shut up, just shut up. If you hadn’t shown up, none of this could have happened.”

Oof.

That’s the hurt speaking buddy. Ignorance wouldn’t have been bliss here because as soon as Cross didn’t need to distract you any longer, Sheila probably would have found some excuse to dump you.

Also, their scheme was asinine! They don’t have other facilities? Just build the mind control doohickey somewhere else instead of paying someone to distract Hawkeye with horny!

October, 1983

POINT BLANK!

So after having his heart broken and wallowing in some acid sludge in the last issue, Hawkeye is in a bad place. Emotionally. And also geographically.

He’s standing on some abandoned railroad tracks under the West Side Highway and shooting arrows at a bullseye he crudely drew on a cement block.

And Good Archer Hawkeye has not hit a single bullseye because of all the emotional turmoil. Also, since he’s shooting at concrete, he’s breaking all of his arrows.

He’s also wearing his no-shirt acid-tattered costume.

And he’s been here for 42 hours without sleeping, eating, or managing to hit a bullseye.

He’s in a bad place.

So he passes out and he’s eventually found by some random street toughs who recognize him as an Avenger (although they think his name is Nighthawk womp womp) and decide ‘hey lets kick his ass and do him a murder maybe.’

Hawkeye comes to, as one might when people are kicking them in the head, and manages to nail three bullseyes on the three toughs he didn’t kick unconscious.

Hawkeye: Three bullseyes. Two kayos. Five sleezos in dreamland. Thanks, creeps. You gave me a reason to go on living. I’m just not sure what it is!

But now Hawkeye is at a loss of what to actually do. He refuses to go to the Avengers for help because blah blah blah muh pride. He can’t go and “mooch” off of them. So he decides to go check out the apartment he had through Cross Technological Enterprises and see whether they’ve cleared him out or not.

They have.

Everything he had to his name except the clothes on his back and bow in his hand gone. Arrow-making tools and spare costumes gone too.

But he also finds Mockingbird waiting for him.

Mockingbird: “Hello, Hawk. Can I buy you some breakfast?”

Hawkeye: “MOCKINGBIRD! Lady, you’re not one of my favorite people, but I know a good offer when I hear one.”

A free breakfast is a free breakfast.

Mockingbird takes Hawkeye back to her apartment and apologizes for blowing up his life but also says that it would have happened eventually anyway even had she never come along.

Which, yeah, you can only pay a person to pretend to love someone they hate for so long before the mask slips.

She also offers to mend his costume. Not sure how she’s thinking. Its not torn. Its half gone.

Hawkeye says yeah sure but hey why don’t you narrate your ENTIRE BACKSTORY.

So Mockingbird introduces herself as Barbara Morse, Bobbi to her friends.

She was a biology whiz at Georgia Tech and went with her favorite professor when she signed on to a government project to recover the super-soldier serum that made Captain America so super.

SHIELD was one of the sponsors of the project so Bobbi got to know several SHIELD agents and realized ‘hey being a spy sounds AMAZING’ and signed up with SHIELD’s spy school.

She graduated top of her class and was sent on a mission to track down Ka-Zar who SHIELD wanted to hire.

Mockingbird: “I found the jungle man all right. Even got involved with him, if you know what I mean. But things never quite worked out between us.”

Oh my god, what a power move to brag about nailing discount-Tarzan while recapping your life story.

Later, she investigated SHIELD itself at the request of a Congressman under the identity as the Huntress. But not the crossbow one. But because of her actions, she gained the reputation as a traitor to SHIELD.

So she changed her name to Mockingbird and took the evidence of corrupt agents to Nick Fury. And got shot a couple times in the attempt.

She had to spend six months recovering and after turned down a SHIELD promotion to go solo.

Mockingbird: “Not that I had anything against S.H.I.E.L.D... I just got used to operating alone. It wasn’t long after I got back into circulation that I came across the lead that took me to Cross Tech and I bumped into you. So that’s my lifestory in a nutshell, Hawk.”

I don’t know why I thought Mockingbird debuted in this series because she has a lot of backstory here. She showed up in Astonishing Tales #6 unnamed, was introduced as Dr. Barbara Morse in Astonishing Tales #12, was introduced in her Huntress (but not that one) identity in Marvel Super Action #1, and even Mockingbird debuted in Marvel Team-Up #95! Geez, Bobbi!

Annnnnd then Mockingbird realizes that Hawkeye fell asleep on her while she was recapping her entire life!

Bobbi doesn’t hold it against him, realizing how exhausted he must have been.

She tucks him in and heads off to go pick up some supplies to fix his costume.

Later, someone picks the locks to the apartment door and silently comes up and puts a gun to the sleeping Hawkeye’s head.

Perhaps it is instinct -- a survival sense honed in hundreds of life-and-death struggles... But somehow Clint Barton feels the cool gun metal at his temple, instantly recognizes it for what it is -- and reacts.

(We actually see a hint of this dingus at Hawkeye’s apartment when he meets Mockingbird there. Implying that he somehow followed them from there to Bobbi’s apartment. Somehow. Even though Hawkeye and Bobbi took Hawkeye’s sweet rocket-sled. Good tracking, this guy.)

Hawkeye manages to dive away from the guy’s gunfire and hide behind one of those tables that looks like a giant spool. He weirdly realizes that the assassin’s gun isn’t making any sound when he fires and the bullets aren’t making any noise when they hit.

He’s in a tough spot unable to reach his bow in time when Mockingbird comes back to save Hawkeye, flipping the assassin and telling Hawkeye to grab his gun.

The assassin jumps out the window rather than deal with the both of them (Bobbi speculates its because she’s not on his hit list).

Hawkeye tests the gun after and discovers that its not silenced which means that the silencer was all in the guy’s suit, muting all the sounds he makes.

He dubs the guy Silencer and he has a pretty neat gimmick but doesn’t seem to ever appear again after this issue.

Shame. Imagine this guy against Daredevil.

Anyway, Mockingbird also managed to make Hawkeye a new outfit while she was gone.

Mockingbird: “Here -- better put this on. Half-naked men with guns make it hard for me to concentrate.”

Hawkeye: “Sure.”

God. Hawkeye’s non-reaction to that blatant flirt makes me laugh. He may as well have Saitama meme’d.

So the new outfit.

The blue is a lot darker now. The dangly part of the tunic is a lot less dangly now. And the outfit has some asymmetrical sleeves. Also, its not entirely clear on this shot but the gloves are weird. They don’t cover the sides of his fingers. I don’t know if that’s an archery thing or what and I don’t know if that’s going to be a detail that lasts once other artists start drawing this costume.

All in all, not a bad looking new outfit. Its better than that time he didn’t wear pants.

Later that night, Hawkeye figures that they need to return to Cross and figure out who hired them to build that mind-control thing. But, they’ll need help getting back into Cross.

(Hey, I just realized. Hawkeye was double Cross’d by his employer. Hah.)

They go to visit Jorge Latham, the guy who built a sweet rocket-sled for Hawkeye so probably the guy he trusts the most now.

Jorge: “What happened to you, man? We got a memo two days ago that you were fired for incompetency, and I haven’t seen you since!”

Aw man, insult to injury! They told everyone that Hawkeye was fired because he sucked too hard!

Hawkeye tells Jorge the story, in brief, about how Cross is up to something, gets information on where the special projects are done, and tells Jorge to maybe get his resume in order in case he accidentally shuts the whole company down in the course of blowing this thing wide open.

Jorge is a lot more chill about learning he might be unemployed soon than I think a lot of other people would be. Although he had already expressed he wasn’t really satisfied in his job.

Hawkeye: “The info he gave us is going to save us a lot of hassle. Sure is good to have a few folks you can trust.”

Mockingbird: “You still don’t quite trust me, do you, Hawkeye? Even after I saved your life.”

Hawkeye: “No offense, lady. But it’s going to take me a while before I can fully trust any woman again.”

Geez, really hope that doesn’t last. He already teetered into disrespect of women without becoming a full-on misogynist.

Drink your respect women juice, Hawkeye.

The two return to Cross Technological Enterprises and Hawkeye uses his electronic security neutralizer arrowhead to neutralize the security on a window so they can jimmy it open and get inside.

.... Why do you need an electronic security neutralizer arrow? The way he uses it is tracing the circuit in the window and I don’t think you could shoot an arrow in a way that did that. And if you did shoot an arrow at a security system in a window, I think you’d break the window and set off the alarm?

What a mystery.

Hawkeye has never been in the special projects department but it doesn’t take a genius to find some filing cabinets.

Mockingbird: “Locked, of course. It also doesn’t take an electronic gizmo to open a locked file. Just a hairpin. See?”

Hawkeye: “Showoff.”

This would be banter if Hawkeye didn’t look so somber.

But Hawkeye gets to be useful too when he pulls out his....... penlight arrowhead?

WHY WOULD YOU EVER NEED TO FIRE A FLASHLIGHT? WHAT PURPOSE DOES THAT SERVE??

Mockingbird: “I just don’t know how I ever got along without you and your handy tools, Mr. H.”

DON’T ENCOURAGE HIM

The Silencer guy sneaks up on the duo as they’re snooping the files and something cues Hawkeye in to swivel around and fire an electro-stun arrow. Couldn’t have been a sound so lets say air flow?

The electro-stun doesn’t stun the Silencer so him and Hawkeye end up grappling right out the window. Because that’s the kind of life Hawkeye leads.

Luckily the rocket-sled (although he’s changed the name to sky-mobile by this point) was hovering right outside so the two wind up grappling on it as it rockets around the CTE compound.

The two wind up falling off the sky-mobile and onto a smokestack... God, its starting to be like one of those giant chicken fights...

Anyway, the Silencer catches the edge but Hawkeye misses and goes plummeting into a smokestack, hopefully not to find a Spider-Man skeleton.

The Silencer drops his guard to try to figure out how the heck he’s going to get down from here and Hawkeye reemerges, yanking the Silencer down and pulling himself back up.

Not sure if the implication is that Hawkeye killed him. Hawkeye is famously vehemently ‘Avengers don’t kill!’ and the Silencer isn’t confirmed dead but also never shows up again.

Hawkeye summons the sky-sled (the caption changed the name on me again) and rockets back to where he left Mockingbird and in the meantime she’s found all the information they need to find who hired Cross to build the thing.

Hawkeye: “Run into any trouble?”

Mockingbird: “Not really.”

Hah. Apparently she beat up a room full of guards while he was gone. Good on you, Mockingbird.

November, 1983

Beating the ODDS

Pretty neat cover.

Also, pretty neat logo. I didn’t mention it earlier but yeah you have a neat logo, Hawkeye.

Mockingbird and Hawkeye return to her apartment after breaking into Cross Technological last issue.

Something that they may have done well to ponder is whether maybe it wasn’t a safe HQ anymore if that Silencer guy was able to track them there.

What I’m getting at is that there are two more assassins - Oddball and Bombshell - watching from an adjacent rooftop as the heroes head inside.

And then the apartment explodes.

Hawkey and Mockingbird manage to escape the explosion though because Mockingbird never sweeps and noticed footprints in the dust and Hawkeye used a thermite-tipped bomb-sniffing arrow.

... Okay, that gimmick arrow is valid.

Mockingbird watches her apartment burn “in increasingly sullen fascination” for two hours before Hawkeye suggests maybe coming back after everything is cooled down.

Alas, the sky-mobile was destroyed in the explosion. Alas, alas, we barely knew ye and now you’re gone.

Mockingbird has an odd sense of what’s romantic because she decides that her apartment burning down and losing all of her possessions is.

Wow, she’s been friendly and flirty with Hawkeye but she’s downright into the lug. Right during the one period in his life when he wouldn’t enjoy that. How’s that for bad timing?

Also, someone is clearly shipping these two.

Mockingbird has assorted appearances before this miniseries so I wonder who got the idea to throw her together with Hawkeye. I’ve heard rumors that it was to copy the Green Arrow/Black Canary pairing. I don’t know if that’s true or just an assumption.

Anyway, Hawkeye also finds an 8-ball in the wreckage which is odd and a clue because Mockingbird didn’t have one of those.

The two heroes realize that Cross obviously sent more hitmen after them so they got to figure out this plot before they get got.

Mockingbird withdraws the rest of her money from an ATM (only $97. Freelance superheroing just doesn’t pay...) and Hawkeye insists on spending some of that money on some arrows since he’s down to his last one.

Mockingbird: “I thought you needed specially made arrows.”

Hawkeye: “My new modular arrowheads fit on any target arrow... get ‘em at any sporting-goods store.”

This issue is a gift.

And since they now don’t have enough money to take a cab to where they’re going, they get on the subway.

Where in one of those amazingly contrived comic coincidences, Steve Rogers Captain America happens to be riding the same car!

Cap recognizes that Hawkeye is on a mission and offers to drop everything to help him.

You’re a cool guy, Cap.

Hawkeye has concerns.

Hawkeye: Aw, no. Cap is Mr. Avengers himself. I know I’m at the end of my resources, maybe way out of my depth, but if I let Cap in on it, he’ll wind up running the show... and I’ll end up on the sidelines again, just like it was back in the Avengers.

Pride goeth before something, Hawks.

Although, knowing vaguely what I know is soon upcoming, its a very timely time for Hawkeye to worry about running the show.

Hawkeye: “Ah, it’s nothing I can’t handle, old timer. Just the same old bopping the bad guys stuff.”

Cap: “I read you, soldier. Anyway, you know how to reach me if you get in a jam.”

You’re a really cool guy, Cap.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird get off at the next stop and Mockingbird grills Hawkeye about the hunky stranger, recognizing that he was probably in the superhero biz. Adding some context to Hawkeye not wanting Cap involved perhaps. Although its still a lot of dumb pride.

Hawkeye: She meets Cap in his civvies and is bowled over. No wonder I always looked like a piker around him. You know, I never realized how second rate Cap makes me feel. I’ve just go to solve this whole mess on my own. If I don’t, I may never be able to stand on my own two feet.

Anyway, then an 8-ball rolls and bonks into Hawkeye’s feet and he sees one of the assassins lurking around the corner doing him a taunt.

This issue is a gift for out of context panels. I swear.

Hawkeye realizes Oddball is baiting him but also is the exact kind of impulsive person who takes the bait. So he runs off after Oddball.

Oddball is..... apparently a juggling based assassin. Dunno why that’s such a common thing in comics. But here we are. He’s a juggling based assassin.

Hawkeye runs on ahead after Oddball and Mockingbird gets ambushed by a nun as she follows.

Its that kind of book, I guess.

Also, the nun is the other assassin Bombshell.

She’s got a Black Widow style wrist launcher for incendiary charges.

Hawkeye and Oddball get into an archery vs juggling based standoff, yes really, and then Oddball jumps onto a subway train, further luring Hawkeye. Who should really know better but ignores the part of his brain that some call common sense.

Oddball, by the by, is somewhat of an oddball. He’s just giggling and joking his way through this mission to kill an Avenger. He’s definitely following the maxim that if you do what you love, you don’t kill for money a day of your life. Or something.

When he jumps on the train he goes with “We’re having fun now, all rightee! Care for another shot, sport? I’ll match my speed to yours anyday and twice on Sunday. Time’s up, gotta go. Ta-ta!”

Hawkeye jumps onto the back of a departing subway train to keep up the pursuit and you know what, he seems like he’s having a good time too?

Hawkeye: Man, there’s nothing like a good chase to make me feel great about myself again. Wonder if Oddball would consent to be my regular sparring partner? Cap’s got the Red Skull, Iron Man has the Mandarin. Me, I never had anybody all my own.

He must be feeling some chemistry with this dude if he wants to make him his archnemesis after only one fight.

Although after this

Hawkeye decides that Oddball is way too much to be his nemesis. He’s got standards, dammit!

Oddball runs off the train, pursued by archer.

Oddball: “I could pick him off any time I want. I know I can throw faster than he can shoot. But I’m having just plain too much fun to cut it short.”

Sure, guy.

Oddball and Hawkeye wind up having a stand-off in the rafters of the subway station because that’s the kind of guy Oddball is.

Hawkeye manages to pin the guy down with an arrow to his throat but while he’s been chasing an oddball, Mockingbird got her ass kicked by a bombshell.

So a distracted Hawkeye gets knocked out via bomb to the back of the head.

Bombshell catches Hawkeye as he falls from the rafters and Oddball wonders why not just let him die.

Bombshell: “I just got a call from [the boss]. He wants these two birds brought to him to use in some kind of experiment.”

And so the third issue ends with Hawkeye and Mockingbird being carried off to the perpetrators which saves some time but being brought in as prisoners is less than ideal.

Shoulda taken up Steve on his offer, Clint.

December, 1983

“TILL DEATH DO US PART...”

I guess Hawkeye fuckin’ dies.

He sure has a lot of friends but Johnny Storm looks like he’s annoyed that he has to attend. ‘What the heck, I barely knew the guy!’

Anyway, between issues, Oddball and Bombshell have dragged Hawkeye and Mockingbird to a place and strung them up on a thing.

The place is apparently a mortuary.

And they’ve been strung up for hours judging by how their limbs feel.

The man behind it all shows himself and guy knows how to make an impression.

Not necessarily a good one.

The cross shaped codpiece is killing me.

As is Oddball juggling in the background to remind us that he is a juggler.

Crossfire: “I am Crossfire -- master subversive, brainwasher, and entrepreneur.”

Credit where its due, that’s a funny line.

Crossfire: “In the typical fashion of someone who holds all the cards, I’m going to divulge to you more than you will need to know about me and my business...”

I want to question this but he’s too self-aware about how stupid it is. I have no room to operate here.

Here is something I WILL make fun of.

Crossfire’s real name is William Cross. He is related to the guy that founded Cross Technological Enterprises. So them screwing over Hawkeye was like a family activity.

But he’s using Cross in his codename. Like if Hawkeye was instead Bartonman. It’s a choice.

Anyway, Crossfire was a CIA agent but when he realized that his real interest lie in fomenting disorder for profit, he decided him and the CIA weren’t on the same path.

Which. Guy. Dude. Fella. No.

Crossfire also realized that superheroes would eventually get in his way so he decided that his first goal is to eliminate all costumed superheroes.

Moon Knight and the Thing thwarted a prototype over in Marvel Two-in-One #52 but Crossfire managed to get away to refine his plan.

(For bigger)

His plan is pretty ingenious actually.

He’s going to kill Hawkeye. So far so good. Then dump his body in Central Park where it will be easily found.

The Avengers will find out about his death and have a funeral for him. And Crossfire made sure they’ll use Restwell Funeral because it has the best name! But more seriously because its the funeral parlor the superheroes used for Whizzer’s funeral and because Crossfire will make sure every other mortuary is booked.

HE’S PLANNING EVERY ANGLE.

Then at the service, he’ll activate the Undertaker machine which will send a subliminal RAGE signal to all the superheroes and they’ll fight to the death.

Crossfire: “Yes, I fully expect my lovely chapel to be thoroughly demolished. Don’t worry -- insurance will cover it.”

This is such a hilariously mundane concern.

Anyway, probably the whole funeral party won’t kill each other but it’ll thin the numbers, the survivors will forever be traumatized at what they did, and the government will crack down on superheroes.

And as for why he chose Hawkeye?

Crossfire: “I would think it was obvious, Hawkeye. You are the weakest, most vulnerable known costumed crimefighter in town.”

Ouch.

There’s planning to kill a guy as part of a larger scheme to kill all his friends and then there’s just being hurtful.

Further insulting injury? Crossfire is not just going to kill them. He’s going to make Hawkeye and Mockingbird kill each other by testing the Undertaker device on them.

That settles it. This guy is a dick.

The Restwell mortuary has a super sealed room for testing the device. Twelve inch thick concrete and steel walls and a door sealed with electronic lock. It would take even the Hulk some effort and Hawkeye and Mockingbird don’t even have their weapons.

Plus, there’s three cameras watching the room and the Undertaker speakers are hidden and durable.

Alas, Crossfire wouldn’t make a good Bond villain. He’s too not leaving a blatant way out of his death trap out of arrogance.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird get up close with their backs to the camera so they can whisper and make a plan.

Unfortunately, they can’t really think of a plan other than ‘try to resist brainwashing I guess?’

Mockingbird knows some SHIELD techniques and Hawkeye just promises he’ll try really hard to resist.

Hawkeye: “I really don’t want to hurt you. In the last couple days, I’ve actually kind of started, well, liking you.”

Aw.

Aww.

But Crossfire is a dick still and activates THE UNDERTAKER right after they kiss.

They try to resist but yeah that plan wasn’t a plan and wasn’t even a concept. They start fighting to the death. Ironically, Bobbi “I know SHIELD techniques” Morse throws the first kick while Hawkeye is still trying to resist.

And Mockingbird is a lot better at martial arts than Hawkeye whose muscle memory keeps tripping him up into using a bow that he doesn’t actually have.

This issue is a gift.

But yeah, Mockingbird beats the crap out of Hawkeye. Not that he doesn’t get some hits in. He even manages to surprise Crossfire who was heavily betting on Mockingbird to easily trounce his ass.

Also, during the fighting, Mockingbird manages to kick one of the cameras, jarring it so it points at the ceiling.

And then double kicks Hawkeye in the dick.

Oof.

Watching two people fight to the death, Oddball has a question. How long does the brainwashing sound effect last after being turned off?

Crossfire decides hey actually that’s an interesting thought and turns off the machine to see. Plus, for dick reasons, giving them a brief respite will “make their plight all the more poignant.”

What a dick.

The brainwashing ends almost as soon as the sound does and the two heroes stop beating the crap out of each other to be disgusted by what they were doing.

In desperation, Hawkeye finally comes up with a plan.

It’s not a good plan but he had only a couple seconds and its impressive that he has a plan at all in that brief period of lucidity.

Hawkeye huddles into the corner that the jarred camera no longer covers and goes through his spare (mispelled as space for some reason, shrug) arrowheads and finds a hypersonic arrowhead.

And if he puts the arrowhead in his mouth and activates it, it will be really loud and drown out the ultrasound! Also, shooting hypersonic frequencies INSIDE HIS SKULL will probably be bad for his hearing but what can ya do.

Crossfire reactivates THE UNDERTAKER and Hawkeye activates the mouth arrowhead with his tongue. Which feels like a “dull knife lacerating [his] brain” but at least he doesn’t want to murder all the time.

That’s something!

(Also, it’s a neat touch but the EEEEEE of the hypersonic arrowhead covers the NNNN of the ultrasonic signal. Good SFXing.)

With his wits about him, he can actually beat Mockingbird by using his strength advantage, closing in, and not letting her use her fancier jumpy techniques.

After beating the shit out of Mockingbird and feeling like shit for having to do it, Hawkeye tosses her to misalign another camera, and then feigns that he collapses from exhaustion.

Crossfire thinks that there’s no way that Hawkeye could play dead under the effect of the RAGE NOISE so he’s really down. He sends Oddball and Bombshell to retrieve the two heroes to examine.

While being carried like a potato sack, Hawkeye grabs one of Oddball’s odd balls and knocks out the juggler and then bonks Bombshell unconscious as well before she has a chance to react.

Then, he runs to get Crossfire before the guy has a chance to figure out what’s going on.

Except, Crossfire has cameras all over the dang place and knows what happened and decides that Hawkeye is such a resourceful, worthy foe that he deserves to die by irony.

(Hawkeye has no idea what the guy is saying because he can’t hear a thing after sticking a hypersonic arrowhead in his mouth)

Crossfire tries to kill Hawkeye with his own bow but whoops, remember when Hawkeye was flexing on that guy earlier about his bowstring having an absurd draw weight?

Yeah.

The dingus got irony’d by his own ploy at irony.

Hawkeye ties up Crossfire, grabs his bow and arrows because they make him happy, and runs back to check on Mockingbird.

Hawkeye: “Mockingbird -- ? You with me, sweetheart? We won. I beat them. Every last bloody oen of them. Mock -- ?” She’s not breathing. I - I killed her...!

Mockingbird: “Those tears for me, sport? Aw, shucks.”

Even beaten to hell, Mockingbird gonna sass.

And then they kiss. Which strikes me as... not a good time for it? Her face is all bruised up and she’s got a little blood going on. Ah, whatever.

Awww.

An hour later, the police show up to arrest Crossfire, Oddball, and Bombshell. Presumably Mockingbird called them as Clint still cannot hear a single thing.

Which is unfortunate because Mockingbird comes over to talk and Hawkeye is like ‘geez what is she saying right now? I hope it’s not important’ and decides to get out of the conversation ASAP before she finds out he’s gone deaf and gasp pities him!

Mockingbird: “Look, I’m not much of a joiner or anything. But I must admit that the two of us made one heckuva team. I was thinking... maybe we ought to become an item, you know what I mean? After all, you are one of the cutest --”

Hawkeye: “Yeah, well, see you around then.”

Hawkeye, you absolute fool.

THANKFULLY

Thankfully, Mockingbird isn’t the type to just go ‘wow what a jerk’ without going and ripping a person a new asshole, verbally.

So she did do that. She ran after Hawkeye and ripped him a new asshole, verbally, forced him to explain himself, probably rolled her eyes, and then dragged him to get a hearing aid.

And one week later, they’re married and relaxing in a heart-shaped tub!

Wow, they operate fast!

I mean, in fairness, we knew Hawkeye was like that. He’d known Sheila Danning for like a month before he was contemplating marriage. And we can assume Mockingbird was like that too considering she knew Hawkeye like a minute before waggling her eyebrows and insinuating sex at him.

Mockingbird: “You owe me, pal. Sure, you saved my life. But what I’m going to do to your life is more than just a one-shot deal. I’m not just talking about helping you get a hearing aid. Or the blood test, or the license, or even arranging for a quaint little cottage in the woods. I’m talking about the rest of your life, and the difference having me around is going to make in it. Maybe eloping was my idea, but I’m going to see to it that for the rest of your life, you believe that it was the best idea you didn’t quite hear.”

Hawkeye: “I hear you, Mrs. Hawkeye. I hear you.”

Awwww. They’re a cute couple. And I do like their chemistry.

So that was the Hawkeye limited series. And it was pretty good!

It introduces some lasting changes like ‘being deaf’ and ‘being married’ to the character. Of course, because comics, both of those things will come and go. And in some cases come back. Lets enjoy them while they last.

Next time on liveblogging: something a little different.

Follow @essential-avengers because I just covered a miniseries. And then I had to redo the fourth issue in just an hour because tumblr didn’t save it. Please reward me. Also, like and reblog if you’d like to reblog.

#Hawkeye #essential avengers #essential marvel liveblogging #Mockingbird #Crossfire #you'll get caught up in the #a very important miniseries for hawkeye

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simpingforthisonedeer · 3 years

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Chapter 7: Silver

Summary: tw: non-graphic suicide attempt but other than that, the chapter is completely sfw. The final battle with the diamond kingdom.

Notes:

- Today's chapter is shorter than usual bc im working on making the other chapters sfw so rewriting scenes, deleting them, making some stuff into innuendo etc so more people could read.

- I like to write bit more for the side characters because everyone's the main character of their story but they are relevant to the plot trust me ;)

- Be sure to check the notes at the end <3

Aika danced between spells aimed at visible enemies as she strolled towards Julius’ general direction. She took mental notes of his general attitude on the battlefield as she fiddled with her amulet, the same one she used in the Headquarters to move around unnoticed. The Amulet of Ignorance, the single most expensive magic relic Aika possessed, didn’t make her invisible, but it rather made everyone ignore her presence. If anyone were to look in her general direction, their eyes would glaze over and their gaze would move elsewhere.

Her own gaze landed on Julius’ figure, whipping around too quickly for ordinary eyes to track, but her eyes and brain processed images faster than any other man, except perhaps the only other Time Mage. She focused on observing his technique as she ignored the pangs in her heart. It’s been a week but he was still fresh on her mind.

Aika wondered if he would end up being one of her regrets.

She sighed heavily and put her feelings aside for the moment.

Julius may seem like all sunshine and smiles, but on the battlefield, he was vicious as he made split-second decisions and cut down enemies with efficiency. Clouds of enemies-turned-dust flew around him like an Augury, warning any and all of their fate if they foolishly chose to fight him. She noticed how he used the Chronostasis over a large area and immobilized enemies, but the spell only expanded so far if it touched someone first.

“He could improve that technique with mana method,” Aika thought as she moved her attention over to Evan and Jayce who insisted on fighting. Evan with his Hellfire Magic was raining literal hellfire on the enemy troops while Jayce with his peculiar Shape Magic deftly changed the terrain to his advantage as he tested out his newfound swordsmanship. Aika’s lips quirked up in pride.

He insisted she teach him herself but she was reluctant at first because as much as he was a genius, he was incredibly lazy. But Aika caved into his puppy-dog eyes and taught him the basics but he quickly developed his own style with the foundational knowledge and wielded his strangely-shaped sword quite well. He was no match for Aika due to her decades of experience but most mages these days don’t know how to counter swords well so he was pretty deadly on the battlefield.

Aika sidestepped a falling body as she winced at the mage in pity. It was an enemy mage, but she muttered a little prayer nonetheless to ensure his soul would rest in peace. Perhaps she should start praying after battle again. She used to sing a hymn in her fighting days to ensure the battlefield wouldn’t be tainted by restless souls and she could deign to do it again.

Right as she came to a decision about which prayer to use, an arrow struck her chest, more specifically her precious amulet. She stared in shock at the archer who had even detected her in the sea of mana. The masked archer lowered their bow and looked at Aika almost tauntingly before disappearing behind a hoard of mages charging at each other.

She wanted to go after them, but her first priority was to dodge the mages who turned on her because a mysterious woman just materialized out of thin air. She didn’t even have any identifiers such as a crest or a uniform, so as far as everyone is concerned, she was their enemy. She was glad that her scarf at least covered the bottom half of her face.

Aika cursed when she noticed from the corner of her eye that Evan had begun his ultimate spell.

Another reason why she was observing today’s battle was to contain the range of Evan’s spell, “Hell on Earth,” but this was not the time. She tucked the broken amulet and arrow into her cloak pocket and shot up into the sky with a sigh. She loved her amulet, but she could afford to mourn later.

Aika threw her hood over her head until it covered her eyes and spread her biggest Mana Zone spell—Queen’s Domain—until it encompassed the whole battlefield. She peeled off her black leather gloves, which suppressed her mana, and unleashed her aura of forbidden magic and smirked at the poor bastard who fell out of the sky when he neared her on his broom. The three horns that sprouted from her forehead lifted the cloak and her vision zoomed in on the growing sphere of blue flames, swelling and stopping at the impossible size of 100 meters wide in the distance.

Everyone on the battlefield froze as they stared in dumbfounded awe at the second Sun in the sky. The silence was deafening, but it only served to make the ringing in Aika’s ears louder as she concentrated on immersing her mana into the sphere and ousting Evan’s out.

Mana existed on a different plane, another realm if you will, but it had the special ability to affect other realms while staying in its own. But the opposite isn’t allowed. Controlling mana that wasn’t your own or in a way that wasn’t permitted by your magic was forbidden by the Gods themselves. In fact, interfering with other realms outside the limitations of your own given magic is forbidden magic.

Aika didn’t believe in limitations. She knew her potential was endless, as characterized by her grimoire. She sacrificed parts of herself to break through the ceiling above her, so Gods be damned. They can’t stop her.

A feral grin spread across her face as the Blue Sun slowly began moving as per her command. She controlled her breathing as she controlled two large spells simultaneously. One spell moved the flames, the other was Queen’s Domain, which combined with a sliver of forbidden magic, froze enemies in place at the sheer amount of fear coursing through their veins. She moved closer to the Diamond troops that were about to be annihilated for better control.

This magic brought out the worst in her, and right now, it relished in the screams that filled the air as the army in front of her lit up in flames. Aika ignored the ugly feeling and concentrated on her breathing again as she prayed. They even sounded like the damned.

Aika thought the battle had ended at the horrific scene she had created, but the Spade Kingdom joined the fray, forcing Master Raymond, the Wizard King himself, to join as well. After she had made sure Evan was safely off the field to recuperate his mana, she stayed high in the sky, away from most of the spells as she continued to observe Julius while keeping an eye out for the assassin who broke her precious amulet. Her heart nearly stopped when giant tree roots whipped around her to strike at the ground. How in the world was she supposed to expect roots to sprout from the sky?

As she maneuvered around them, she watched as the eye-catching hair of the Captain of the Silver Eagles fluttered in the distance. To her absolute shock, the man stayed completely still right before spikes of hard rock impaled him. Aika shot towards him with a bone-rattling bang and caught him right before he collapsed. A young man, that was the mirror image of Captain Silva, raised his spears of fluid metal at her, ready to strike but she froze him where he stood with a stasis spell of hers.

“Miss Tolliver?” Lord Silva breathed as blood dribbled down his chin. Aika’s weg vanished as worry and empathy filled her. She quickly threw up shields around them as she rewound the time until the spikes disappeared back into the ground.

“Yes, It’s me. Everything’s going to be fine. I can heal you—”

“No!” he exclaimed, then let out a violent cough. She stared at him in horror at the implication of his words and actions. “I don’t want to be healed,” he whispered, confirming her suspicions.

Aika began closing his wounds at a slow pace, slow enough so he wouldn’t notice.

“Why?” she asked mutely.

To her absolute shock, his stoic face crumpled as tears streamed like molten silver down his cheeks.

“I just want to see her again,” he choked out. He just wanted to see Acier again.

His tears and the sheer heartbreak in words made her heart clench. Aika steeled her resolve. She wasn’t going to let him do it no matter his reasons.

“No life is worth more than your own,” she spat, caught up in her own emotions. His attempt to take his own life brought back memories she would rather forget.

The Captain slackened in her hold, unable to retort. She instantly healed his wounds and watched as the blood receded. Aika picked him up with a sigh as he quickly lost consciousness at the abrupt changes to his body. Healing fatal wounds in this manner wasn’t recommended but it was necessary during battle.

“Is he alright?” Julius’ voice piped up out of nowhere. Her heart leapt to her throat. She turned around and there he was, a few meters away, brows furrowed, and eyes full of worry before they widened in surprise when he realized who he was talking to.

“Aika…”

The roar of the battle and the clanging in her head deafened as she took in his appearance. Wild hair, stormy eyes, blood-smeared cheeks and singed robes that whipped around in tandem to spells being hurled behind him.

She felt a sort of burning betrayal as she cursed her foolish heart because only one thought echoed in her mind:

He was breathtaking.

“Aika!” He exclaimed in alarm.

Julius was suddenly up in her space, forearm pressed against her collarbone as he pushed her aside. He stopped a flaming spear aimed at her back in its tracks as he barked,

“She’s an ally! Stand down!”

The Crimson Lion magic knight lowered his grimoire and looked helplessly at the frozen man next to him.

“Aika, please undo your spell on Vice Captain Nozel,” he commanded softly as she stared at him, wide-eyed.

Her spell fell as per his request and Nozel stumbled into an upright position, an indignant expression strewn across his face as he turned to Aika.

“Who are you? ” he asked shakely, and cleared his throat with an embarrassed flush.

“She is an ally, ” Julius asserted firmly. “We’ll take the Captain to the medical tent and you continue leading your men, understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” Nozel threw one last look at Aika before he ordered his men to focus on the enemy.

Julius turned to her with a grim face. “I will take us to the tent, if you are ready.” She nodded curtly. He laid an arm on her shoulder and she was whisked away, her vision adjusting to find that she was facing the heavy drapery of the medical tent.

A few healing mages around them jumped in alarm but quickly realized the injured man in Aika’s arms. She was quickly led to an empty bed with privacy curtains and she laid Captain Silva on it carefully as the healers took over and diagnosed him.

She explained his injuries and that she healed him but they wanted to be sure just in case.

Aika stepped back to let them do their thing and looked around to find Julius worryingly examining Silva’s prone form. He looked up and their eyes met.

Strangely enough, there wasn’t a shred of awkwardness in their gaze, but an intimacy of silent understanding, a mutual decision to set their yearning aside in the face of this war.

They both smiled in relief, almost in unison. He cocked his head at her.

“No hard feelings?” He mouthed. Aika nodded back, her heart lighter.

“No hard feelings.”

“I have to go,” he announced quietly as he bowed his head. She nodded again, her mood souring once more as she stared at the unconscious man next to her. She watched his back as he moved to leave the tent from the corner of her eye. She clenched her fist as indecision rocked within her, but she finally gave in to her first instinct.

“Be careful,” Aika called out. Julius whipped around in surprise and a grin lit up his face.

“Of course!” he replied eagerly, happy that she was actually speaking to him. “See you around!” And he vanished.

His enthusiasm brought a smile to her face but her mood was quickly interrupted by the sound of crashing waves as the ground shook. She braced herself against the metal railing of the bed’s headboard as she let out a heavy sigh.

That must be her Uncle Raymond with his grandiose water spells that could wipe out armies. She just hoped he wouldn’t use his mana zone spell that could choke people. That spell horrified even her of all people.

She shrugged off her backpack which stayed secure under her cloak and whipped out a chair. She plopped onto it wearily and glared at the silver-haired man next to her as if he was the reason for all her problems.

Aika slipped her gloves back on and rubbed her face with a groan as memories of friends and fellow comrades who have stood still and let themselves be ripped apart flashed in her mind’s eye.

She knew she shouldn’t care. He was not a friend of hers. In fact, he was quite rude to her, but this needless worry and giving into the empathy reminded that after all these years that she wasn’t corrupted, that she was still alive, that she was still human.

Aika watched with a proud grin as one last final move from Julius concluded the battle. Cheers erupted across the whole field when the Magic Knights realized their victory.

The Captains, with the exception of Silva, and the Wizard King gathered with the Diamond Kingdom’s Shining Generals to negotiate the terms of surrender. She desperately wanted to eavesdrop on their discussion but General Whomalt was still alive by the end of this battle and Aika promised him that the next time she saw him, he would be dead.

She made her way back to the medical tent and Silva was already up and about. He sat up on his bed and stared at his blanket-covered lap as emotions raced across his face. She silently strode over to her chair by his bed and he made no indication that he noticed her but Aika knew he did. He was most likely embarrassed by his moment of vulnerability in front of a near-stranger but she didn’t particularly mind it.

She sat down patiently and waited for him to speak but they just sat in silence.

“We won,” Aika informed in a subdued tone.

He grunted. His response irked her but she held her cool.

“I’m not going to tell anyone,” She assured him kindly.

“See that you don’t,” he snapped at her. She held her tongue but couldn’t help but sneer at his tone. This was exactly why she didn’t work with the Magic Knights as closely. Most of them she had observed were quite rude and had a superiority complex. His attitude was only making her miss her amulet even more.

“Arian!” A familiar voice exclaimed as the tent flaps flew open. It was her Uncle. Mages and injured Magic Knights around her suddenly scrambled to attention as the Wizard King homed in on the silver-haired Captain.

“Sir,” the embarrassed Captain gritted out. He pulled out a folded piece of parchment paper as Aika and Raymond nodded at each other in acknowledgement. She would need to tell her uncle at the very least so she can make sure that he talked to someone.

“Are you alright, Arian?” The Praying Mantis Captain boomed as he walked right in after the Wizard King. He pointedly ignored him and the other Captains as they voiced their concerns as well. He tossed his blanket aside and stood up as he handed the paper to her uncle.

“My resignation, Raymond.”

“What?!” His eyes darted between Silva’s cool face and the crumpled paper. “But the war just ended! You have still got loose ends to tie up before the resignation.”

He adjusted his uniform gruffly as he said, “I’ll let the Vice Captain take care of it.” He pushed past the captains, eager to leave. “He is more than capable.” He turned and looked back one last time. “But now, I must say my goodbyes to the men that served me.”

“What's the hurry, Arian?!”

Raymond’s question was followed by silence as Silva left. Everyone watched tensely at the bizarre exchange that raised more questions than anything.

“Well,” the Blue Rose Captain began as she cleared her throat. “We did say that we were going to resign right after the battle.” Her sharp eyes turned to the Wizard King. “I will hand mine in, tonight.”

All Captains except one echoed her sentiments and Raymond’s shoulders fell as his age seemed to catch up to him.

“And I would be the last to resign,” he sighed. He looked up at Julius and everyone’s attention turned to the Wizard King to-be. “I hope you are ready, Julius.”

The young Captain stood up straighter, his eyes eager and attentive for the responsibility that will soon be thrust upon him.

“Though, I hope you do like paperwork,” Raymond laughed, knowing very well he doesn’t. “Because there’s going to be three times more work.”

All formality melted away as Julius groaned at the thought and the Captains laughed.

Aika released the breath she didn’t she realized she was holding. She just witnessed history firsthand, yet again, but it all felt so new to her. She touched her chest.

Oh.

It wasn’t newness, no. She had witnessed far too much to feel as if anything was new. It was actually the gratitude that set her heart racing.

Notes:

- In the future, Julius will get character development, because as lovely as he is as a person, he can't be a centrist as a leader if he wants to create real change. - In this fic, you'll see him be more proactive with the kingdom's problems and actually use his power outside the Magic Knights. - I'm not only planning development for his character but also his powers. As I have heavily implied throughout my fic, Julius is not human here and we will see that more in the future as the secrets unravel. - I'd personally recommend reading the wiki page on the tree of sephiroth and even better, catch up with the manga. But you don't have to, bc by the time i get to the manga spoilers part of my fic, the anime will prolly be there(fingers crossed).

#julius novachrono #black clover #demons run #black clover fanfiction #julius novachrono x oc #julius novachrono x reader #julius & aika #oc: aika tolliver #diamond kingdom #nozel silva #black clover nozel

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wherearemyglassesbro · 3 years

Note

yes please ramble about genshin impact

I wanna talk about play style babes ❤️😭 so I WILL 🤪🤪

Disclaimer! Every character is amazing in their own way! Anyone can be a main dps or any play style is great!! This is just my opinion, which isn’t worth much lmao

Everyone shown will be written about from left to right!!!

Archers:

Fischl: annoying. I can’t stand her voice lines and she’ll stay at level 20 until everyone else is level 90 and I take pity on her and level her up like everyone else. Her charged attack confuses me and she’s just. Annoying. She’s been on my team ONE time! Her first and last time

Venti: This bitch...I’m blessed to have him. His ult attack is epic!! Once I get him artifacts to increase Anemo damage it’s all over for you assholes :) I typically don’t enjoy archers or catalysts because I like being up close and personal with whatever I’m fighting so I can SEE my sword hit it y’know? But Venti makes domains and fighting camps of enemies so easy!! Treasure hoarder camps? Obliterated. Though keep in mind, I really only have him on my team for his ult and charged attacks, everyone else deals the rest of the damage

Amber: She used to have a permanent spot on my team before I found out Venti was actually really good...Didn’t fully understand the game yet :) she’s good! Basic and easy to understand play style! Once I got Bennet though...She is no longer my go-to Pyro :’) sorry girlie...

Diona: I’m sorry but no ❤️ I personally can’t stand playing as the tiny characters. Her voice lines are cute and from what I’ve seen, she’s a great healer!! But I won’t use her, it’s just too much of a hassle since she’s so small. She can’t climb or run as fast as taller characters and it’s just annoying to be so much shorter than whatever I’m fighting :/

Childe: I don’t have him but I got to play as him in his story quest as his play style was??? Confusing??? The whole switching from bow to swords was confusing and hard to keep up with cause I’m just mashing buttons babey!!! If I’m being honest, if I had him I wouldn’t use him much. He’s cool and I love him as a character but he just wouldn’t fit in my team anywhere! That pains me to say...;-;

Ganyu: Regretting skipping her banner :/ I didn’t do her character trial either but I finished her story quest and uh...I missed out! That’s what I get for giving into the ‘cryo Amber’ mindset! Her play style is very fun! I love her ult attack...Damn...I missed out man she would have been awesome on my team for sure.

———————

Claymores:

Beidou: 100/10, she is SO useful!! She’s on my secondary team and even though she’s only a level 40, she’s a C6!! She’s my ONLY C6 character so I’ve been dumping all of my electro materials into her lately, she is SUCH a hard hitter I love her! I love electro and ice or fire reactions!! She’s the queen of them babe. Shes fast and strong...Pirate woman...

Razor: I’m conflicted cause he’s fun to play as but I have a lot of beef with him. The first problem is a problem I cause myself because one hit and he’s dead. If I don’t have a shield up, he’s a goner two seconds into any fight. My other gripe is that his ult doesn’t carry over to other characters. An example of that is Kaeya’s ice ring or Noelle’s shield! Those carry over between character switches but Razor’s does not. Annoyingggggg!!!

Chongyun: Admittedly, I kinda gave up on building him. There’s only room for one cryo character on my team and that’s Kaeya. His fighting style isn’t all that special but I feel like the game is trying to get me to level him up cause the last 4 domains I’ve done, I’ve been paired with level 80 Chongyun players and they were pretty awesome so...When I have the materials to spare, I might have to invest in this guy lmao

Xinyan: I JUST got her like last week or something so she isn’t leveled up a whole lot but oh man...Her ult is sick. I LOVE the rock and roll theme for her, she’s just awesome! I don’t see her becoming part of either of my main teams but I will definitely use her for domains once I can spare materials to level her up ;-;

Noelle: I used her alllllll the time until I got Zhongli. Her shield is fantastic, you really can’t go wrong with a shield! Other than that...I can’t really say anything else about her :’) her play style is similar to the other claymores which doesn’t really allow her to stand out much

Diluc: he’s an honorable mention. I don’t have him...But I want him so bad. My pity is at 50/50 so I’ll either get Hu Tao or him!! (Or Qiqi, Mona, Keqing or Jean but I don’t wanna talk about that). People make him so strong, even when he’s lower leveled he still hits hard! I’d love love love to have him on my team

—————

Catalysts:

Lisa: the og catalyst...I like her as a character but man oh man...She just doesn’t fit on any team! Her play style is fun! Her voice lines are flirty, she’s just a fun character uggghhh I’d love to actually play with her more! Beidou is just the better electro for my team so Lisa will sit on the sidelines for awhile :’)

Ningguang: I poured all of my geo resources I to Zhongli so she literally never got the chance to even be on a team. I leveled her up enough to get that free wish but...Yeah...I have only played as her during a character trial even though I have her! Idk, she just wouldn’t fit on my team. Some people make her super strong which I admire!!

Barbara: fantastic I love everything about her! She and Bennet swap places on my main team every hour or so but when she’s paired with Kaeya, she’s just awesome!! She just works well with others! And she sings :’) other than that her play style isn’t exactly anything special! She’s just a character I can swap out a lot and she just FITS in my main team?? Amazing

Mona: Still in the process of leveling her up, I really enjoy her play style! Not a fan of catalysts but... I did something the other day when I switched artifacts around and now she does pretty good damage?? Idk what I did but she’s more fun to play as now! My only gripe is when she sprints, she turns into a puddle! So when I want to dodge or do short bursts of sprinting she leaps in and out of the floor like STOP IT HAJSLSSK the splashing is SO LOUD for WHAT lmao I love her though! Solid spot on the secondary team

Sucrose: she is so underleveled but I made an all Anemo team just for giggles...And now I want to actually buff her up. It’ll take a lot of time and material farming but she has a lot of potential to work well with Pyro and hydro characters with her swirl effect!! :)

Klee: Again, not a fan of the kiddos. I don’t even remember when I played as her, it might have been her trial or in a story quest somewhere but I just didn’t enjoy her play style. She throws bombs which don’t always go off immediately so I’m sitting there like ???? Blow up??? And then they don’t? Confusing!!!

——————

Swords:

Kaeya: Oh yes my big sexy man hello sir 👀 he is never leaving my team!! Never! I’ve formed an emotional attachment to him and uh well he’s level 74 now and overpowers all of my 5 stars except Zhongli. When he’s paired up with Barbara and they both activate their water/ice swirls?? That’s my favorite thing in the whole world I LOVE freeze reactions! Ugh absolutely flawless! My only gripe about his play style is that sometimes he turns away when firing his ice and I’m like NO THE OTHER WAY it’s called auto aim or something idk, most characters do it at some point...It’s just ten times more annoying when he does it :)

Jean: I got Jean very recently so she isn’t at her best yet but WOW she is an amazing healer!! Like wow, she’s giving Bennet a run for his money. I have no complaints about her! Her play style is kinda basic. I do love how she can just blow enemies away though, that’s fun!! Especially in co op when I can blow my teammates off cliffs :) I don’t really use her though...She isn’t on my main or secondary team...rip

Bennet: Benny’s adventure team!!! He and Barbara swap spots on my main team a lot! He’s a great healer! Not as good as Barb but I’m still working on him!! He’s kinda just there for moral support, he’s too under leveled to really do any damage :’) he’s just...a cute lil guy :’) I like having him on my team :’) his play style is very basic which makes it easy to swap him in and out for other characters

Xingqiu: his ult and charged attacks take FOREVER to load!! I love him as a character but I have no patience for load times. Off to the sidelines he goes! He’s cool and fun but man!!! In the heat of battle I don’t have time to wait!! I need that hydro burst so I can get an elemental reaction!! I don’t have 30 seconds to wait, my liege!!

Aether: there’s a difference between Anemo traveler and Geo traveler!! Geo traveler is better BUT when he produces thise rock balls?? That’s beyond obnoxious especially in domains. STOP MAKING BALLS IN DOMAINS!!! You’re just raising enemies into the air and now your teammates can’t reach!! The geo ult is good though :) Anemo traveler is alright, I cant complain but geo is just superior :)

Albedo: I don’t have him but I tried him out during his character trial...He’s hot but I’m just not a huge fan of his play style. He summons an elevator...Eh. If I had him he would kinda just...sit on the sidelines

Keqing: oh wow she is just SO AWESOME!! If I got her instead of Diluc I honestly wouldn’t be mad. I’d have to frantically rearrange my teams for he to fit somewhere but it would be worth it. Her character trial showed me how fast she is and how fast her ult/charged attacks charge up! Her ult looks AMAZING and if I activated a shield around her and Kaeya’s ice thing I think she’d obliterated domains! I’d love to have her on my team golly jeez

Qiqi: Again, not a fan of the small characters :( people use her in domains all the time and she’s an awesome healer! But if I had her I probably would not use her :/ anti child

————————

Polearms:

Zhongli: I can’t imagine NOT using him on my team. Having a shield is a must because I’m a huge wimp!! And I’ve finally built him enough that he will occasionally do 10k damage...Only when he feels like it I guess. It’s happened like 4 times and I just scream every time it’s awesome!! His burst attack is awesome and I know I’ve said it already but I enjoy being up close when fighting, not standing and shooting from the side. When his shield is up, this man takes zero damage and just deals hits left and right!! He’s a staple for my team for sure

Xiao: I really loved his story quest and his fighting style is fun HOWEVER he is just....Annoying to fight with. He takes damage with his own ult attack???? That’s obnoxious! And then I have to make room on my team for a support when I play with him :/ it isn’t a huge deal, I enjoy playing with Barbara and Bennet but my dream team (Zhongli, Venti, Kaeya and Xiao) just can’t work out cause Xiao’s constantly on life support. Other than that, I like his dash attacks and even though his ult kills him, it deals a lot of damage! Still building him up to add him to the main team :)

Xiangling: I love her, she’s adorable and I love Gouba but I just poured all of my materials into Bennet and everyone else so I never got the chance to properly build her. She’s kinda just stuck at level 31....Waiting for her chance to be on a team. I used to use her often when I was like ar20! I’ve kinda grown away from her, I’m not even sure why I guess :’) her play style is fine! I just like...Other characters more ;-; I feel mean saying that lmao she’s very fun!! Just not what I’m looking for

Honorable polearm mentions:

Hu Tao: She literally comes out tomorrow but I’m not gonna wait to try her out before posting this. Her play style looks very fun! The way she phases through enemies is strange but very cool!!! I’m a bit confused about the way she moves but hey! I’ll get to do her character trial and see for myself! Very excited about her being introduced to the game

Rosaria: we haven’t gotten a preview of her fighting style but I feel bad about leaving her out! She’s close to being released! She deserves recognition!

My thumbs are cramping....remember that every character is awesome and they all have back stories and cool voice lines! This is all my opinion and my team builds! Nothing against these guys and gals! :)

#this took 80 years I have arthritis now #I’m so tired but I had to shit this post out before bed lmao

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mousehole5000 · 3 years

Text

this is it... the final post.... 226 through THE END!!!!!

this shit with mu qing and the river of lava is SOOOO dramatic im loving it

oh my god theyre on a FUCKING bridge of course they are okay let’s go boys

“You’re right. We’re alike. You think me odd, I think you to be rather weird too.” - so what im getting from this is that xie lian and mu qing are the only characters in this book with working gaydar okay yup got it this checks out

god... the fact that xie lian is ready to be like “look mu qing we can just forget about the past it doesnt matter we dont have to be friends i know you dont like me but im not gonna let you die over it” and then mu qing is like “.... god i really do admire you huh”

“You...certainly...are rather amazing. You’re...also...a better person...than me. Long story short, I...very much wanted...to become your f-f-friend.” - going to think about this for the rest of all time im about to become utterly unintelligible im overcome with emotions

“And, at the end of the white silk band, Feng Xin was gripping Ruoye with one hand while the other was holding on to a steel-faced Mu Qing, and he shouted towards him.” - the fucking IMAGE of this im gonna cry this is everything i could have asked for im so happy also mu qing dangling there like “ welp. guess ill live“

“Feng Xin was almost burnt by that pillar of fire, and he shouted in outrage. “WHAT’S WITH THIS BAND OF DOG SHITS, ATTACKING PEOPLE WHILE THEY’RE DOWN, SO VILE! FUCK YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY!” Xie Lian responded, “IF THEIR ENTIRE FAMILIES ALL LOOK LIKE THAT, YOU SURE YOU WANT TO FUCK THEM??” - theyre so funny!!! and theyre best friends!!! theyre joking together now in the middle of all this i could cry theyre back!!!

“Using sticks as arrows, he held the bow with one hand and used his teeth to bite back the bowstring.” - no clue how practical this is but okay archer boy. hot

i actually have so many little quips between the three of them highlighted but we’d be here all night if i included them all. im literally so delighted by this omg worth the wait

“Each sabre strike slashed to the bone. It wasn’t like Xie Lian had never seen Hua Cheng use the sabre before in the past, but his style had always been easy and leisurely, nonchalant and casual. Rather than say he was handling a weapon, it was more like he was toying with a small knife. Yet those blade marks were filled with killing intent. It was easy to imagine just how skilled the one exchanging blows with him was, and how perilous this battle.” you have no idea how mad i was when i read this and thought we missed witnessing the fight between hc and jw omg

“Behind him, Feng Xin muttered, “Dear fucking god, may all the gods and buddhas grant their blessings, that better absolutely be Crimson Rain Sought Flower, otherwise he’s gonna go mad!” “Stop your rubbish,” Mu Qing berated. “We’re all the gods and buddhas ourselves and we can’t grant shit, just keep up with him! Look at the stumbling way he’s running, he’s gonna trip and fall to his bloody death before he even sees the man!” - okay i know i said no more quips but this is literally too funny i just wanted to read it again

“ However, for whatever reason, that vicious ghost, in its muddled state, took that large group of live mortals under its wing and fled for many days. In the end, they were still surrounded by millions of ghosts, trapped in a dead end, and it was going to be eaten along with those humans.” [...] “That vicious ghost almost made a move against those humans, but for some reason, in the end, it didn’t. It instead used one of its own eyes as the price to forge a blood weapon. That vicious ghost was already forcibly hanging on with its last breath; after digging out its eye it should’ve broken apart completely. Yet somehow something had shocked it, and it instead woke to its senses completely. “ - THIS IS AMAZING ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? IS THIS ALL WE GET ABOUT HIS GHOSTLY LORE?????? HUA CHENGGGGGGGG

“What a terrible offence, his old habit had come out, and he quickly apologized. “I’m sorry! You don’t have to listen to me!” Hua Cheng, however, only smiled happily. “Everything gege tells me is the best advice, so why wouldn’t I listen?” - this isnt the fucking time afjdkfjsdkl they really never stop

“So you can hold the illusion of a perfect Crown Prince of Wuyong to face and dismiss the Jun Wu now. Isn’t that your objective? Did you think I don’t know what you’re thinking?” “THAT’S NOT IT!” Guoshi cried. “Stop getting tied up in right and wrong, victories and defeat, I’VE NEVER THOUGHT THAT WAY BEFORE!” - jun wu only being able to see xie lian as his successor and believing that thats all anyone else sees too... okay

honestly this whole final showdown was a blast i cant put everything in but it was so much fun to read. the DRAMA the LAVA the SHOUTING t

“Hua Cheng had poured too much spiritual power into him. There really was too much, so much that it was completely outside the amount the cursed shackle could withstand.” - okay.... okay... the love you give will set you free... okay....

“With Jun Wu in his grip, he carried both their bodies and forcefully slammed into the incomparably-solid rock wall! He used all of his power in this smash, and in the rumbling and crashing of rocks, he also heard the sound of something breaking.” [...] “A moment later, Jun Wu suddenly asked, “That move. What is it called?” “...” Xie Lian raised his sleeve and wiped away the blood on the side of his face. “Shattering boulders on the chest.” YES!!!!! YES!!!!! xie lian actually lived that life!!!!!! i loved this detail so much

“After a moment of silence, Xie Lian took off the bamboo hat carried on his back, took it in his hand, and covered it over Jun Wu’s face.” - xie lian... good... another detail i love. a hat that protects from the rain, given in a moment of need, even to someone who has caused you hardship... we do not forget the kindness granted to us

“There was gratefulness, there was shame, there was heartache, there was wild joy, but above all else, there was incurable love.” - :pleading: i wish it was just that easy tbh. “i have to tell you about the worst parts of myself” “ive already seen them and i dont care i still love you“ truly the dream

“ It’s been so long since anyone listened to me talk, won’t you stay? Don’t...actually do this. I won’t be able to take it. Twice, it’s been twice already! I really don’t want there to be a third time!!!” - the bit about just wanting someone to listen to him talk... xie lian... :(

emily corpse bride moment.... i knew it had to happen.... butterflies.... death and rebirth.... inevitable

xianle trio bickering about ruoye..... mu qing complaining but not letting anyone else fix it... im so happy

“The Rain Master sat down on the spot, looking like she was going to perform a passing service for her. After all, Xuan Ji was the only one left of the Kingdom of Yushi besides herself.” - xuan ji you sure the hell were... a character. this little moment tho..... yushi huang... many thoughts

“ Who hasn’t made promises, or swore to the mountains and the seas when they were young? Talking of affection, of love, of forevers. But, the longer I hang around in the world, the more I understand, something like ‘forever’ is impossible. It’s never going to be possible. Having it once was already good enough. No one can truly achieve it. I don’t believe in it anymore.” - jian lan im happy for you bummer it didnt work out with feng xin but yeah that was looooong ago. also this quote me same mood kin but its chill. having it once was already good enough

although yeah tbh if theres anyone who can have a forever like that... it would be a ghost and a god

fasdfjadklfj GOD... pour one out for ling wen.. but is that not the truth of this world? the one can be pardoned for being good at paperwork that no one else wants to do? isnt that the plot of the shawshank redemption?

okay but the fact that all xie lian’s friends come to visit him while he waits for hua cheng is making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.... fengqing coming together to try to get him out of the house but get scared off by his cooking... amazing

“Last time, they spent eight hundred years running towards each other. This time, it only took an instant to fall into each other’s embrace.” - im completely unaffected by this. im not lying i swear (i am lying im very emotionally affected)

okay i love this final wrap up chapter party its so fun. mu qing moving on from the broom thing!!! good for him!! the beggars get their reward!!! the fun ghost city chefs!! SQX!!!! and he xuan is?? here too??? he’s hungry??? fjadlkfjsdl

“The grounds that Feng Xin and Mu Qing had just swept were once again filthy from that giant crowd of muddy feet. Mu Qing gripped his broom, looking like he felt someone had infected him with fleas, and his eyes were wide.” - me when my dad comes into the kitchen when ive just finished washing dishes i get it king

the little folklore bit... fun!!! oh my god its over..... :(

that was really fun i had a blast reading it and on the whole really liked it i WISH soo badly that hua cheng had gotten more outside of being cunty and devoted even tho those are both important i just wish there was more about like how he got by during those 800 years and like did he ever have doubts? what shaped his worldview was it all xie lian or was it his experience as a mortal as well? why is he so mean to e’ming? theres bits and pieces here and there and i know it was already SO long but that really would have been great if there was more about hc cuz tbh by the end, at least for me, the hualian relationship didnt actually feel as fleshed out as the xianle trio relationship like i still liked hualian’s dynamic and it was really sweet how much they clearly really liked each other and everything but i kind of wish some of the other subplots had been dropped or diminished in favor of more hc development i think that would have been cool

but anyway thats some of my thoughts and i really did enjoy the hell out of book 5 that was a riot and uhhh thanks to everyone who read these or commented *lends you spiritual energy through a high five*

#tgcf liveblog #it is Complete i can move on now #i actually have a lot more thoughts about hl because i uhhhh relate. to things. and have opinions due to my experiences #but its also quite Personal soooo i might just keep them tucked away #anyway im freeeeeee #mouse mumbles

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witchymarvelspacecase · 4 years

Text

Spread Your Wings: Part 12: The Angel

Summary: Reader is a HYDRA experiment (like the Maximoffs, but not voluntary) who grows wings (like Angel from X-Men). She escapes, and is now trying to rescue and prevent further kidnappings and experiments.

Word Count: 2507

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of violence… honestly, I’m not even sure anymore

A/N: I swear I’m still alive!!!

Send all the love to the bestest best person ever: @writingwithadinosaur

Spread Your Wings Masterlist

Funny, you hadn’t realized how annoying that faint buzzing sound in your head had been until it stopped. You couldn’t figure out what the noise was, or when it had begun, but it was familiar, like you’d heard it before.

Odd.

All you could focus on was that sound. You were vaguely aware that there was something else, something important that you needed to be paying attention to, but you couldn’t seem to remember what.

“Weird,” you thought. But what was weirder, was the fact that the memory lapse wasn’t concerning. All you could focus on was that buzzing. Where had it come from? And why, when it stopped, did it leave a ringing in its place?

It felt like your head was full of bells.

…

Y/N’s eyes glazed over. Her facial muscles relaxed, and suddenly she was just… gone. The Angel stood in her place, and it took the team a moment to notice. That moment cost Natasha a gash across her cheek and a sizable chunk of her hair as she shoved Tony out of the way of a dagger that Y/N had been carrying just a second ago.

“Clear the fucking room!” Nat shouted as she evaded the next blow, aimed for her torso. Not that her command was taken as one. Tony was in his element already. His suit was engaged and covered his body seconds after Natasha had pushed him out of the way. Clint, who already had a full arsenal of weapons on his person was also clearly planning to stay in the room. That left Steve and Bruce.

Steve would fight literally anyone, but Bruce, he was best kept out of a fight until there were no other options. As the already injured party, Natasha pulled Bruce from the room herself, leaving Steve, Clint & Tony to handle the Angel. All they had to do was incapacitate her and get her back into the cell. At least that was all she hoped they had to do.

“FRIDAY, lock down the lab until given further instructions,” Natasha called as she pulled Bruce through the doors.

The doors swung closed and a loud series of clicks could be heard immediately after.

“That’s only gonna hold her off for maybe a minute,” Bruce said as he jogged down the hallway. “She can hack that.”

“All it has to do is hold her back long enough for the guys to incapacitate her.”

“Do you really think that’ll work?” Natasha shot him a look. “I read the reports from your fights with Barnes. Incapacitation is not gonna be easy. We need a backup plan for when this goes even further into shit.”

“FRIDAY, locate Sergeant Barnes!”

…

Bucky was halfway to the common room when he was practically knocked over by not one, but two people. Bruce and Natasha came sprinting down the hallway, stopping bare inches from him.

“What the-”

“Angel’s been activated.” Bruce couldn’t have gotten Bucky’s full attention any faster. “Tony, Steve and Clint are blocked in the lab with her.”

“They know to incapaci-” Natasha began.

“They can’t be aiming to incapacitate.” Bucky interrupted, his voice gaining a cold edge that hadn’t been there before. “She’ll notice they aren’t willing to hurt her, she’ll take advantage of that. They can’t be worried about hurting her or they’re toast.” Bucky was halfway to the lab before he realized it.

…

Bucky was right. With the men unwilling to potentially cause damage, the Angel was wiping the floor with them. No one had fought with her enough to have learned her style, or her tells. Only Clint had spent any time in combat with her, but that barely counted considering they’d been protecting each other. Already, Tony’s suit was nearly useless. It provided protection against her knife blows, but the electronics were overtaxed. Y/N was smart, and the Angel was ruthless. The chip in her head would already have made her a threat, Tony had hoped that HERMES would have been a bit of a safeguard, but she had overwhelmed HERMES’ safety protocols in seconds.

“I know this is a bad time, but I really gotta remember to offer this kid a job when she’s done trying to kill us,” Tony half-shouted as the Angel forced him back. That was when the hydraulics in the legs of his suit jammed. He couldn’t release the suit, and he couldn’t move his legs. “Well fuck.”

Steve had no shield, and Clint didn’t have his arrows, but they were both doing what they could. Neither had an issue using whatever they could find as a weapon. Their biggest problem was that the Angel had more knives on her than either of them realized, and they were both bleeding.

Even worse, if ever she was left without an opponent, the Angel was at a computer terminal. Tony shouted at FRIDAY to close all access, but it was likely a moot point.

…

Bucky, Natasha, and Wanda rounded the corner at a sprint just as a shattering sound filled the hall. Steve had been thrown through a wall, and he’d taken what had been a large and probably insanely expensive piece of equipment through the wall with him.

Natasha cursed and moved to help Steve up. As they’d run back, she had taken a moment to arm herself, and though she would have rather had her widow bites, she felt better with a gun in her hands.

Bucky and Wanda advanced, sharing a quick look. Wanda would try to enter Y/N’s mind, if that wasn’t possible, she would restrain Y/N until Bucky could release her.

A horrible metallic screech echoed in everyone’s ears a moment before Tony, in his Ironman suit, flew through the hole that Steve had made just moments before.

“She’s on the workstation. No idea what she’s into, but I’m not optimistic,” Tony groaned, pulling himself from his now useless suit.

Bucky quick-peeked through the hole.

...

It felt like hours had gone by, but you still couldn’t place that buzzing sound and the ringing wasn’t stopping. It wasn’t annoying, but you did wish it would stop. You had the oddest sensation that there was something you were supposed to be doing, but that noise; you just couldn’t focus on anything else.

…

Clint was dancing just out of the Angel’s reach; close enough to provide a distraction, but managing to avoid most of her attacks.

The Angel’s emotionless mask was beginning to show a shadow of rage.

Wanda’s eyes were glowing red as she reached for Y/N’s mind, only to come up against what seemed like a solid wall. A solid, cold, and translucent charcoal barrier blocked Wanda’s access to Y/N’s mind. She could see the other woman’s mind, or at least where it should be, but there was no way she would be able to get through that wall; not quickly, and not without trauma to Y/N’s mind. She moved to her second option; restraint. Her tendrils of power wrapped around the Angel like a vice, and clamped her as tightly as possible.

“This won’t last long,” Wanda warned, strain already evident in her voice.

Bucky moved into the room then. He didn’t hurry, or hide himself, but strode slowly, and purposefully towards the Angel, maintaining eye contact the whole time.

“Mission report,” he demanded, hopeful that the Angel would recognize him as had happened before.

She looked at him, assessing, but instead of answering him, she struck out, or at least she tried to. Wanda’s power held her, but only just.

The second time the Angel attempted to break free, she succeeded, and Wanda dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

Bucky was on the defensive as the Angel swung sharp, and well aimed knives in his direction. It actually took him a moment to remember that he was trying to deactivate her.

What should have been easy; touching her with his metal arm, was nigh on impossible. It appeared, some part of the Angel was aware of Bucky’s ability to shut her down. Every time Bucky reached toward her, she evaded.

Clint and Steve were helping, and though three men, two of whom were well armed, were against her, the Angel wasn’t slowed. Despite her injury, she was flaring her wings, alternatively hiding and freeing them, and using them to force her opponents back and away from her.

The men were all unwilling to harm her, and like Bucky said, she noticed and took full advantage. The Angel didn’t give a shit if she got hurt, she was focused on killing her opponents.

Exhaling sharply, Bucky ducked a knife before swinging out his own. As much as he didn’t want to hurt Y/N, the Angel would decimate him and his friends if they stayed on the defensive.

Bucky had expected Steve to be the one to adapt to his change of pace first, but to his surprise, Barton was right beside him. They hadn’t fought together much in the past, but the archer seemed to pick up his style almost immediately.

Clint was at his back, and despite his wounds, the two of them were able to corner the Angel. It took three of Clint’s hidden daggers to pin one of Y/N’s soft, dove grey wings to the wall, and even then, Bucky took a deep gash to his thigh before his left arm finally came in contact with the side of the Angel’s neck. Her body froze a moment, before she began to shake violently.

“Pull the blades out, Barton. And grab any of hers you can find,” Buck muttered, keeping his hand, and eyes, on Y/N. Her mind was being split in two. Hoping he could help, Bucky started talking.

“Ya know, I never thought I had a fear of heights, or fallin’. I guess that developed after the train. Never knew the name for it, though, I don’t think I cared much really. Don’t know why you went and learned about phobias. Maybe you’ll tell me one day.” As Bucky talked, Clint moved slowly around to Y/N’s other side, checking her for weapons. He moved steadily, not hiding, but not moving too quickly as to draw her attention. “Didja learn about phobias to keep yourself occupied? I had a hard time with that too. Wanda suggested photography. I thought it was dumb at first, but I have a couple different cameras now. I take pictures of all sorts of weird stuff, or at least Sam tells me it's weird. I just like how it looks, ya know?

“Sometimes I just see somethin’, and I don’t recognize what it is right away, I just know it looks cool, or whatever. Then Sam sees the picture and gets all ‘why’d you take a picture of a sewer grate, Barnes?’”, Bucky mimicked Sam’s voice, and brushed some hair off Y/N’s forehead using his right hand. His left, stayed where it was, on the side of her neck, the fingers along the back, and his thumb rubbing from the front to the side gently. “Birdbrain just doesn’t understand art.” When he paused, unsure of what to talk about, Y/N blinked and her head fell forward, her forehead meeting Bucky’s chest.

“Y/N? Doll, you okay?”

“Oh god,” she groaned, her voice gravelly, “What did I do?”

…

Looking around the lab, you felt your heart in your throat.

The moment Bucky’s vibranium hand touched you, the ringing cut out, leaving utter silence for all of a millisecond, before it seemed like the world went into fast-forward; the volume increased to ear shattering levels. Part of your mind tried to cling to the silence that had been shattered, the other desperately tried to make sense of the movie clips being played in your mind’s eye.

That movie was all you would get. The only parts of your time as the Angel that you would be able to recall would come from this, but no matter how hard you tried, you could only catch brief glimpses. Only remember tiny snapshots. Even watching a recording, you couldn’t recall everything that happened. You couldn’t remember the ringing sound at all, nor the silence; your brain was overloaded.

“Y/N?”

Bucky. You mentally latched onto his voice. Reaching slowly, you rested a hand on his metal forearm, letting the feel of the cool vibrainium ground you further.

You took a deep breath before speaking again. “Put me back in the cell.” Your voice only shook a little.

“Doll, ya don’t-”

“Please.” You wouldn’t let the tears fall, but they were blurring your vision. “Please put me back in the cell. I can’t trust myself.”

It was Clint and Natasha who came forward. Natasha offering you support as she walked with you to the cell, and Clint stepping to Bucky’s side as they watched you leave.

Wanda was sitting up, leaning back against the wall and rubbing her temples, and Bucky moved to crouch by her.

“She feels out of control. The cell offers a sense of security,” Wanda spoke softly. “It’s not that she feels at fault, James. She just doesn’t feel it’s safe for us.”

It wasn’t that Bucky didn’t understand. Hell, that had been his reason for going back on ice in Wakanda, he just really didn’t like the lost, fractured look on your face when you realized what had happened.

“Do we know how to clear her triggers?” Steve asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Tony brushed debris off his arms and shoulders and crossed the room to a largely undamaged computer terminal. “Yeah, we know how Barnes’ were cleared, but his were specific to one language. FRIDAY?”

“Still here, boss.”

“Scan Y/N once she’s settled in the cell. We’re gonna go through her brain with a fucking microscope.”

“Yes, boss. HERMES is disengaged, but functional. Should I reboot him?”

“Let’s give her a minute. She just got back in her head, let her adjust before we throw another voice at her.”

Bruce and Tony tossed ideas back and forth for a while after that. Bucky only understood every third word, but he wasn’t ready to leave just yet.

“Something in my arm deactivated her, right?” Bucky asked into a pause in conversation.

“Yes, it looks that way,” Bruce replied.

“Can you scan it and see if there’s some sort of connection between the two?”

“Actually,” Tony said, “it shouldn’t even work anymore.” When everyone looked confused and more than a little concerned, he continued, “Practically nothing about the arm you have now is even related to the one HYDRA made.” Tony began pacing and gesturing as he talked. “Whatever it was that deactivated the Angel, shouldn’t be there anymore.”

“Unless it’s the vibranium itself,” Clint said quietly. You could have heard a pin drop.

“FRIDAY, contact Wakanda, and get their full specs on Barnes’ arm.”

“In all my spare time?” the AI sassed.

Tony sighed loudly before adding, “please.”

“Do you want King T’Challa or Princess Shuri’s line?”

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

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#syw #Spread Your Wings #bucky x mutant!reader

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fanficwriter013 · 5 years

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The Tower: Unexpected - 16

The Tower: Unexpected An Avengers Fanfic

Series Masterlist Previous //

Pairing: Avengers x ofc, Bruce Banner x Bucky Barnes x Clint Barton x Wanda Maximoff x Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x Thor x Sam Wilson x OFC (Elly Cooper)

Word Count: 1840

Warnings: pregnancy

Synopsis: A little over 2 years after moving into the Avengers Tower, Elly finds herself pregnant against the odds. While some are excited, others are terrified, and pregnancy that none expected to happen causes rifts through the group and threatens to end the relationship.

Author’s Note: Written with @avengerscompound whom I am slowly driving to insanity with my murderous temper

Chapter 16: Thor

We all settled into the new house. It was far enough away from the construction and with the forest to act as a barrier so it didn’t really bother us. When the offices were mostly ready operations began to start up again. Including recruitment and liaising with the government.

None of that affected me very much though. There was always a few people at home and they were all planning to be there full time for a while after the babies were born until they gradually eased back into things after the compound was done.

At 35 weeks not much had changed. I was still on partial bed rest. Which meant very little really. I mostly just hung around the house or garden and took it easy. It was nice having them around as much as they were. It was nice all of us going to bed in the same bed and eating our meals together. This change was good for us. They had been my family for years but it was only really now that we were acting like it.

We were all eating together when a storm hit us out of nowhere. A full thunderstorm, complete with pummeling rain and lightning.

“That wasn't in the forecast,” Steve said, glancing out the window.

I sat up straighter and looked out the window. “Is it Thor?”

Steve glanced over at Bucky and Bucky nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably a safe bet,” Steve said.

“Oh man. If you guys have orgies and I can't participate I’m gonna be so mad at you.” I half-whined.

“They wouldn't dare,” Natasha said.

“Good,” I said sitting back again. “They better not.”

“If it is him, how’d he find where we live?” I asked.

“Heimdall, ya dork,” Bucky said.

“Oh yeah, right,” I said and went to take a bite of garlic bread, pausing just at my lips. “You think he’d bring Loki this time? Oh my god, you think Loki will be their Aunt slash Uncle?”

“El. Zolotse. Relax okay?” Natasha said rubbing my back.

“Lady, Elly!” Thor boomed, striding into the room. “I hear you are with child.” He paused and looked me over. “My child.”

I looked up at him opened my mouth to say something. Closed it. Then opened it again. “Yours?”

“Aye, one is mine. The other belongs to the Archer.” Thor said.

I looked down at my stomach back up at Thor and then over at Clint feeling completely dumbfounded. “I - I - I’m having a demigod and a normal human?”

“Aye. That’s right.” Thor said as Clint made a soft noise like he was trying to hold himself together.

“How do you know?” I asked.

Thor chuckled and crouched down in front of me. “Have we not done proper introductions?”

“What do you mean?”

“For how I am qualified to know this?”

I shook my head and looked around at the others to see if they understood what was going on. They all looked as confused and shocked as I was feeling. Thor chuckled and cupped my jaw, caressing my cheek with his thumb. Thor chuckled. “I am Thor son of Odin. I am also as you would phrase it. A god. Gifted in fertility.”

I dropped my jaw. “You did this to me!”

“Well, it is my child.” He said, looking slightly confused.

“No, I mean, I was on birth control. You… You did it.”

“That is … a possibility.” Thor said. “I’m sorry if it caused you any distress. It was certainly not intentional.”

I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his neck. “No. No... I'm thankful. These are our babies, Thor.” I said against his skin. “All of ours.”

He hummed and held me close, rubbing my back gently. “That is good to hear.”

He moved and sat beside me, keeping an arm around my shoulder. “What does this mean for them? Will yours have powers?”

“More than likely,” Thor said.

“Will they be born with them? Will we have to worry about someone getting hurt because of them?”

“No, they'll come into them,” Thor said. “And they can be taught.”

“What about their lifespan?” Steve asked. “Will they outlive their mother and their twin?”

Thor nodded, a frown set on his features. “That is probable.”

I looked down and ran my hand over my stomach. “What do we tell them?”

“That, I don’t know. This is a surprise to me too, Elise.”

I looked up at him. He looked so earnest and had that same fear the others had when they found out. But he wanted this. I could tell. I just couldn’t help but think about how we barely saw him. I loved him, but he almost didn’t feel like part of this thing we had. He was our part-time boyfriend. How did that work if you were a father? “Are you going to be around, Thor? I can’t have them think they aren’t wanted.”

He frowned. “As much as my duties allow. I will make sure they know they are loved.”

“Do we tell them you’re their biological father. We weren’t going to find out. But… are they… if they’re yours and you’re the king. Do they need to know that?” I babbled a little. I wasn’t sure how that would work at all. They were not full Asgardians, being raised by other people on another planet. Did that still make them in line for the throne?

“My child will have the claim to Asgard. But you don't have to tell them.” Thor said, rubbing my back gently.

“They - they will?”

“It's their birthright.”

All I could think was how do you raise royalty? We were not royalty. Shit, Clint had grown up in the circus. How were we supposed to do this? “We have to raise a monarch? How do you do that?”

“Well, no,” Thor said. “The training and such would be my responsibility.”

“And will you take them to Asgard to live? I mean… when they’re grown up?”

“If they wish,” Thor said. “It’s not immediately important to immerse them in that world.”

“Okay,” I said with a sigh. “God…”

“Literally,” Tony said making some of the others laugh.

“They're gonna be a handful,” Natasha said.

“Thank god, there’s so many of us,” I said and looked over at Clint. “How are you doing little bird?”

“My? It’s. The. Mine?” He babbled.

“It already was right?” I asked him.

“Well, yes. But…”

“So this is just biology,” I said, trying to reassure him. “Hey guess what we now already know definitively?”

Clint shook his head. “Don’t know.”

“These kids have blue eyes. It’s a recessive trait and we three all have it.”

“My babies are going to be adorable,” Wanda said.

“That would have been trying regardless because they are related to me.” I joked.

“Okay, El,” Sam teased.

I laughed and looked back over at Clint. “If you need to talk about it, Clint. You know… I went through the same thing already.”

“Right,” Clint said.

I leaned back against the couch and ran my hand over my stomach. “This was a lot to process. Do we need to worry about Loki? Will there be a Scar and Mufasa style problem?”

“I don’t think so,” Thor said.

I smile and look at him. “Thor has seen the Lion King. All is right in the world.”

He kissed my forehead gently. “I’ve been around.”

“Yeah, you have. As evidenced by this.” I said and pointed to my stomach. “I’m sorry. I just realized that this is a shock to you too. Are you okay with this? You didn’t plan for it.”

“No, I didn't plan for it. But it's a pleasant surprise.” He said.

“Do you want to feel them?”

“Oh, yes.” He said sitting up a little straighter.

I took his hand and put it on my stomach. It wasn’t long before there was a hard kick. He smiled widely and looked around the room. “They shall be quite the fighter.”

Everyone laughed and I leaned against him. “I guess they will be. They’ve very strong.”

He kept his hand there and just felt them, a soft, slightly drunk looking smile on his face.

“Which one do you think is Thor's?” Natasha asked.

“Which was the bigger one? Riley?” I said.

Thor looked up at me. “They have names?”

“Oh yes, sort of. We don't have a middle name for the boy yet.” I said rubbing the back of his hand. “We're having a boy and a girl. The girl is named Riley Maria. And the boy is Pietro.”

“Those are fine names.” He said, looking down at his hand on my stomach.

“If they are yours and Clint’s maybe one of you might have an idea for our boy’s middle name. Your father, Thor? Or you had a brother right, Clint?”

“The middle name should not be Odin,” Thor said.

“You want to name him after Barney?” Clint asked.

“If you want to. I don’t know Barney. Except for the trying to kill you, robbing banks thing. You still talk about him like his the best thing ever though.” I said with a small shrug.

“You would do that?” He asked. He still sounded quite shocked. It was strange really. Almost like he’d just found out I was pregnant in the first place.

“Yes, of course.”

“Then, yes please.”

“Alright, so Barney? Pietro Barney... whatever the heck we settle on as a last name?”

Clint shook his head. “Oh no, no. Not… Barney wasn’t his name. It was just what we called him. Charles. Pietro Charles?”

Natasha seemed to relax a little. “That’s much better than Barney.”

“This has been quite the night. Found out their biological dads. Finished naming them. Now we just have to agree on the last name.” I said, rubbing my side where one of the babies was kicking me.

“I might have an idea for a last name. One that encompasses all of us rather than just branding them as having one father.” He said.

I turned and tilted my head. I knew the Asgardians still named children after their father, it was quite progressive that it was him suggesting a blended name. “Oh, what is it?”

“Skjoldbærer.” He said.

“That sounds nice, but does it mean something?” Steve asked.

“It means bearer of shield.” Thor said. “Which is what we all do, is it not.”

We all turned and looked at Steve and he raised an eyebrow. “Why are you all looking at me like that.”

“I don’t know… You’re the guy who’s good with ideas.” I said.

“It sounds good to me.” He said simply.

“Maybe we should vote?” Clint suggested.

“There’s no need, everyone likes it,” Wanda said.

“Everyone?” Steve asked and Wanda nodded.

“Do we really just agree on the kid's full names?” Sam asked.

I smiled and relaxed, running my hand over the swell of my stomach. “Hello, little Skjodbærers,” I said softly. “I can’t wait for you to come out and join us.”

// NEXT

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skinks · 4 years

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Do you have any works (i.e.; books, fics, poems, even movies, etc.) that inspire your writing?

ahhh thank you for this question!! I’ve been thinking about it for a few days, sorry this is so long. I hope this doesn’t sound too pretentious either, but who doesn’t like talking about the shit they enjoy?

In terms of the technical aspects, like style and structure, I love really visual and evocative writing. Clive Barker is great. I read a book last year called Days Without End by Sebastian Barry and he would occasionally bust out these fuckin gorgeous metaphors in the middle of the character’s very guileless narration, one that comes to mind rn is a giant herd of American buffalo stampeding over a hill, described as looking like bubbling molasses, and I thought holy shit, what an amazing way to describe something like that.

Then, and I’ve mentioned this a few times, but the Dreamboy podcast has absolutely beautiful writing, it’s lyrical and hilarious and blunt and horny and gross all at once in a way I wish I could do. One great metaphor I remember is describing a driveway as a “gray loaf”. Literally the way we’re introduced to the main character is him describing a recurring dream, with stuff like: “I open my mouth and the icy water rushes in, it hits the back of my throat and zooms down into my stomach. I feel it fill me up, and then it zig-zags its way through my intestines like a cold knife, and just before it gets to the back of my asshole — I wake up. And I throw off the covers and I look down, and my dick... is rock hard. Like — so hard that it’s actually like, bobbing up, and — oh fuck I’m late for work.” I dig those very nasty visceral descriptions of sensations, and how it doesn’t shy away from how bodies react in weird ways to weird things.

structure-wise, I’m really into writing where seemingly insignificant details are revealed to be more meaningful later on, long-form stories where everything fits together neatly. I think that’s why I like heist movies so much, Logan Lucky and Oceans 11 are great. I also like stuff where actions have real consequence, where you actually feel the stakes, y’know?

That last part about stakes doesn’t really apply to ithots because it’s super fluffy, but the small details thing, I was trying to do. I love the writing in shows like Barry and Fleabag for those aspects, or films like Hereditary, or Guy Ritchie’s better gangster movies. I tried to lay some breadcrumbs throughout the fic for stuff I knew I wanted to become significant in the last chapter, like the “you brought me weeds” thing in ch11, or their Olive Garden date in ch2. Or in ch6 at the aquarium there’s a line about Eddie rubbing his right arm if he stays in the pool too long, because I wanted to make a point about it and old breaks later. Richie saying “manhattan’s all shitty and cold this time of year” in ch1, then Eddie saying it again in New York. Everything Eddie talks about in his Big Speech lmao.

Pennywise appears to Richie as a werewolf in the novel (queercoding imo) so I say he feels like a dog “territorial and owned at once” in ch5, “a neglected dog” in ch6, follows Eddie like a dog in ch11 as well as hugging Eddie til he’s “squeaking like a dog toy”, shakes his head like a dog in ch12, feels like a dog with its head out the window, as well as saying his love for Eddie as a kid was “hairy and howling” in ch13, “lycanthropic” in ch15, and THEN it all culminates in him literally howling his love at the moon at the end, because he’s a dawwwwg but he’s a good one. Not a monster.

There’s a lot of that specifically with stuff Eddie says too, because I was kinda trying to show that he listens to Richie and values the stuff he says by having him parrot/emulate him a lot. Richie makes the Tozieritis joke in ch12 and Eddie says “There’s your Tozieritis” later For the Banter. Richie says “pull a groin, then?” in ch14 and that’s what Eddie tells him before the SNL show. Richie says “I’d have made a good cowboy” in ch5, so Eddie starts calling him “cowboy” in bed, the Die Hard quote comes back in ch13. Richie calls the Losers “chucklefucks” in ch9 and that’s the name Eddie calls them when he goes berserk in Atlanta, as well as him doing a Voice, saying “yessir” at the end because Richie says it all the time throughout the fic. And Eddie wearing Richie’s clothes a lot is a physical manifestation of that whole Thing he’s doing, kinda taking small parts of Richie onto himself. In a healthy way ofc.

So yeah, I’m into writing with good continuity, stuff like Archer or Arrested Development is the god tier for good continuity. I really wanted to try to do that.

as for like, mood and tone and visuals, I love surreal/liminal feeling stuff, I like how super hot lazy weather can feel otherworldly. Whatever feeling I get from watching The Green Mile, Donnie Darko, Happy as Lazzaro, Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, or the parts in Ghibli or Makoto Shinkai movies where the cicadas are so loud and everything else is so still because it’s too hot to go outside. That hypnotised feeling. The illustrations in Shaun Tan’s book, Tales from Outer Suburbia, they were hovering in my head a lot, all the gold and long shadows.

The poems Snake by DH Lawrence, and Los Angeles/Boys by Rachel Sherwood. Definitely I Remember by Anne Sexton, since I put it at the start. The song Mad Man Moon by Genesis.

Also like, I write by basically imagining what I’d want to see if it were a movie, where the edits would be, what the camera’s seeing, what colour everything is. So I’d say the last two biggest visual inspirations would be the films The Fall by Tarsem Singh and Mandy by Panos Cosmatos. Idk how to describe it except that the imagery in those movies is the kind of stuff I see in my head when I close my eyes, like the line in ch15 about the stars falling to hang around in the canopy, that’s actually a dream I had when I was like 9 and the image always stuck with me. So yeah, all the surreal space stuff in Mandy or the strange nature in The Fall really speaks to me:

#long post

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raywritesthings · 4 years

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Torch Song

My Writing Fandom: Arrow, DCU Characters: Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, Circe, Thea Queen, Felicity Smoak, John Diggle, Barry Allen, John Constantine, Mari McCabe Pairing: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen Summary: When Circe decides to put Team Arrow in its place for daring to stop a sorcerer like Damien Darhk, Laurel must reveal something long-hidden about herself to restore Oliver to his rightful form.

None of them had seen it coming. Of course, none of them were all that knowledgeable about magic-users they hadn’t personally met, so it was hard to prepare for a sorceress out of mythology.

Laurel wasn’t convinced that this wasn’t an assumed name on the part of the self-styled supposed Circe. But that didn’t matter much when her powers were the same as in the book and she’d chosen to demonstrate them on Oliver.

“Think you’re clever enough to defeat a sorcerer? Try fighting your way out of this.” The unknown woman had cackled before zapping their teammate with a jet of light. They’d all watched in horror as Oliver had shrunk, the bow falling to the ground and arrows spilling from the quiver as a pig tripped over the shafts, oinking and squealing with distress.

Thea had screamed and launched herself at Circe, who had disappeared in a blinding flash before the smaller archer could make contact. Laurel had been more concerned with stopping the newly transformed Oliver from running blindly down the alley.

“Ollie? Ollie, if you’re in there, just calm down,” she’d tried. It had been impossible to know if he could understand the words, but he slowed to a stop in front of her long enough for John to heave him up into his arms.

They’d brought him back to the base and immediately began calling around to their friends to see if anyone might know some way to undo the damage. Laurel was currently on the phone with Vixen, though it wasn’t sounding promising.

“My speciality is connecting with the spirit of an animal, not literally changing into the animal. Much less changing another person. And the research I’ve done into magic so far hasn’t extended to the Mediterranean. I’m sorry, Laurel, I wish I could help.”

“That��s okay. I had to try.”

The elevator dinged just as she hung up, and Laurel was shocked to see Felicity stride into the room, the first time since she’d quit the team a few weeks prior.

“Where is he? I have got to see this. Oh!” Felicity drew up short upon spotting the pig who was currently penned in via strategically placed chairs and very unhappy about it. “This is such a Spirited Away moment right now. I can’t even tell if it’s him.” She spun around to face them. “So what did he do to get cursed by a witch?”

“Nothing,” Thea replies with a hand on her hip. “That lady showed up and cursed him out of nowhere. How do you even know about it?”

“I called her,” said John. “We need Constantine’s number, so I thought she could get it off Oliver’s phone.”

“We don’t need his phone,” Laurel countered. “He gave me his number on a card when he was here.”

Felicity’s eyebrows raised in interest. “And did you call him?”

“Haven’t needed to. Until now.” Laurel went for her purse, digging around in it until she located the card. She smoothed out the corners and dialed the number, waiting as it rang.

“Hello?”

“John? It’s Laurel Lance. We met last fall.”

“Laurel, love! Not that I’m not happy to hear a birdsong right now, but I’m headed into a tricky bit of work. Can we make this quick?”

“Okay.” She drew in a breath and said in one go, “Oliver’s been turned into a pig by a woman who claims to be Circe for being able to beat Darhk.”

Constantine let out a low whistle. “Circe, eh? She’s impulsive like that.”

“Then she’s real?” Laurel asked in bewilderment. It was hard to imagine that a character from a story — one of the few novels Oliver had ever read in school, ironically enough — could be a real, breathing person. And still alive, no less.

“Yeah, but listen, she’s in it for the ego, really. You lot stopped Darhk, and she must have felt a bit threatened, right? Wants you to ‘know your place’,” he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

That seemed to fit with the woman’s behavior.

“You’re going to have to appeal to her sense of vanity,” he continued.

“How do we do that?”

“There’s a club she frequents. I’ll send you the address. Take Oliver there and beg her to change him back. She’s the only one who can, stuff like that. She may want something from you in return, though make sure of what it is before you agree to it. That ought to satisfy her.”

“Okay,” she replied. Laurel knew it would have been a lot to expect him to drop everything and come help — assuming her could even break the curse — but she was not enthusiastic about going back to the sorceress who had done this to Oliver.

“Good luck, love. And give Oliver a scratch behind the ears for me.”

“Goodbye, John,” she said, ignoring the request before hanging up. “He says we have to ask Circe to undo it.”

“Why would she?” John asked.

Laurel sighed. “Apparently, it will prove to her that she’s more powerful than us and calm her down.” Her phone buzzed with a text. The Amphitheatre. “Constantine just sent me the address of the club she frequents. It’s on Mykonos, so we’re going to have to take some days off.” She could always call in a couple personal days. She hadn’t used any yet this year and was unlikely to later.

“How are we going to transport Oliver?” Thea asked, and they all frowned. None of them were exactly familiar with the procedure of getting a farm animal cleared for travel.

“Barry could just run us,” Felicity pointed out. He’d want to help out.”

Laurel grimaced. She’d been hoping to avoid involving Team Flash. They made light of things at the best of times, which was good, but would Oliver see it as making fun of him? She could tell he valued that role of mentor to Barry and didn’t want him to feel embarrassed around the other hero after this. But it was the quickest way to get him back.

Felicity was already calling besides. “Barry, we could really use your help right now. It’s about Oliver.”

Fast enough, the Flash was in their base. “What’s going on, guys? And uhh, what’s with the pig?”

“Oliver’s the pig,” Felicity explained, and Laurel couldn’t help noting she seemed happy to say so. She rubbed her temples; now was a bad time for the two of them to be on the rocks.

Barry whirled back around to gape at the enclosure of chairs. “What happened to him?”

Oliver made a sort of squealing noise, and Laurel couldn’t tell if that was meant to be in answer or if he was simply agitated by Barry’s fast movements. There was little way of knowing just how cognizant of everything he was, though she could only hope for his sake that it wasn’t all that much.

“This witch named Circe cursed him, and we gotta go talk to her,” Thea added. “Laurel’s got the address.”

To his credit, Barry took all this information in stride with only a few more shocked looks here and there. “Okay. How many people are going?”

All of them raised their hands, even Felicity. “I mean, I can’t pass up meeting the actual Circe,” she defended.

“Digg, you first, then Oliver?” At John’s nod, Barry and he were gone in the blink of an eye. With another zip of electricity, Oliver disappeared from the makeshift pig pen. When Barry next returned, he paused with his hands on his knees.

“I think he’s heavier as the pig,” he wheezed.

“Well, I should be much lighter,” Felicity remarked, walking up to him. Barry scooped her up, and they were gone.

“Have you ever traveled via speedster?” Laurel asked Thea in the ensuing silence, unable to help a bit of nerves.

“Once. It was disorienting, but awesome.” That was all Thea got to say before she, too was whisked away.

Laurel replaced her mask over her eyes and shook out her wrists, trying to feel ready.

The next thing she knew, there were arms at her back and under her knees as everything blurred together. Laurel squeezed her eyes shut until she felt herself placed back on her feet.

They stood outside what counted as the stage door to the Amphitheater. John struggled to hold Oliver in order to keep him from running off again while Thea patted the pig’s head in an effort to try and calm him.

“Thanks, Barry,” Laurel said. “You don’t have to stay if you need to get back.”

“You’re sure?” When she nodded, he returned it. “Alright, call if you need me.” With that, he was off.

Felicity looked around from where she’d been peeking through the stage door. “Wait, did Barry just go? How do we get back?”

“A plane? He’s got a whole city to protect by himself,” Laurel pointed out. “And I’m not sure putting him up against Circe is going to make it look like we’re begging.” She might be more likely to see a metahuman as a threat, and then who knew what she’d turn the rest of them into?

Laurel joined Felicity at the stage door, easing it open more. “We can do this, Felicity. The whole team.” It would probably do Oliver some good to know Felicity had come all this way with them. He’d been struggling to stay positive since the breakup, but maybe this predicament he’d been put in would draw the two exes back together. Laurel could only hope for that much for him.

She held the door open for the others, then followed them through the backstage area, following the sounds of singing.

“Circe’s back in town!”

Thunderous applause sounded from out in the house, and they heard the sorceress speak. “Thank you! Oh, my adoring public!”

Thea glanced back at her with a disgusted look Laurel felt herself. Before she could respond in kind, they heard their quarry exit the stage for the side of the wings they were waiting at the edge of. Circe’s eyebrows raised as she stopped short at the sight of them. “Well, that was fast.”

“We want him back,” John answered plainly.

“Please,” Laurel stressed. “We didn’t mean any offense to the magical... world? by stopping Darhk. He came to our city and was hurting our people. We did what we had to, and it was very difficult. We wouldn’t want to fight anyone with that skill, or better, under ordinary circumstances.”

Circe appraised her, though her eyes narrowed as she locked gazes with Felicity. “I don’t remember you.”

“I don’t do any fighting,” Felicity said quickly. “Just here for moral support and to, um, see you! Wow, you’re really… real.”

“None of us can do magic, so you’re the only one who can help us,” Thea continued in the wake of the awkward pause their friend’s rambling had caused. “So will you?”

Circe hummed in thought. “No, I don’t think I will. Not with just that.”

Laurel opened her mouth, ready with another appeal, hands already clasped together, when the woman held up a hand.

“Convince me why I should bother restoring him. What do you stand to lose, here? What place does he hold in your heart? I want to be moved to tears. I want — a performance.” The sorceress gestured up on stage.

“We have to sing about Ol— uh, Green Arrow?” Thea asked skeptically.

“Oh don’t worry. The microphone’s enchanted. It will take your thoughts and feelings and put them to the right music. I’ll even allow you to decide amongst yourselves whose solo debut this will be.”

“Like a magic karaoke? Weird.” Thea shrugged and made to step forward. John, however, shook his head since his arms were too full of pig to reach out. He motioned them all to retreat into a sort of huddle, Oliver’s hooves jutting out into the middle of it while he squirmed around.

“Thea can’t be the one who does it. If this magic is about pulling the truth out of her, she might let slip that Oliver’s her brother, and we don’t know who these people all talk to,” he pointed out in undertone. “It could get back to Ruve, and that makes her anti-vigilante task force's job that much easier.”

Thea grimaced but seemed to acknowledge the point. As one, their group looked to Felicity. She backed up a step.

“Oh no. No way.”

“But Felicity—”

“I have terrible stage fright. And besides! I don’t really have the best feelings about Oliver, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“You can’t want him to stay a pig forever,” John said.

“No, but I also can’t really think of anything flattering enough to make a sorceress change him back. I mean, I’m more likely to get up there and sing ‘I Will Survive’ at this point.”

“Felicity, come on.”

As John and Felicity continued to argue, Laurel watched Oliver’s anxious eyes, still blue despite the transformation. He seemed to sense the tense atmosphere, even if he couldn’t know they were fighting over his very fate. How could they be this close and not be ready and able to get him back? He would do it for any one of them, she knew that in her bones. No matter what it cost him. She couldn’t worry about what it might cost her.

“Why don’t you do it?”

“I’m the only one strong enough to hold him.”

“Well give him a tranq dart or have her make a cage or something, I am not—”

“I’ll do it.” Laurel felt just as surprised as the others looked to hear the words come out of her mouth. But she couldn’t exactly take them back. “We need Oliver, and he needs to have this spell broken.”

Thea bit her lip and looked about to say something, so Laurel pulled away from their group and stepped back towards Circe. “I’ll sing.”

A wide smile broke out on the sorceress’ face. “Excellent. Of course, we want you in something a little more suited to the stage.” She snapped her fingers, and Laurel felt a sort of strange rush energy as her jacket, undershirt and pants were suddenly replaced by a strapless floor-length evening gown in all black. Her fingerless gloves remained, though the fishnet pattern extended to her upper arms.

“I’ve left the mask,” Circe said before she had even finished bringing a hand to her face to check it was still securely in place.

“Where exactly are my real clothes?”

“It’s an illusion, my dear. It will lift once you’ve upheld your end of the bargain.”

Right, she still had to sing. Laurel exchanged brief, worried glances with John and Thea, the latter of whom still looked like she was holding back from saying something. Something Laurel had a feeling Thea had been suspecting for some time. It didn’t matter; her suspicions were about to be confirmed one way or the other.

Circe’s hand pressed against her back as she guided Laurel out of the wings with her. Right away, a spotlight hit them and she resisted the impulse to shield her eyes as she was guided towards center stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Circe said, her voice somehow magically amplified. “A special songbird all the way from the West Coast of the United States. The mysterious, melodious Black Canary!”

A smattering of applause rose from the audience. She hoped she wasn’t blushing. At least no one seemed to question the mask.

As soon as she stepped up to the mic, Laurel felt a powerful wave of something wash over her as an unseen orchestra — perhaps no one was playing, perhaps it was all magic — started up with a swell of mournful notes. Laurel didn’t know how she knew when to come in. It was as Circe had said. She just did.

“He doesn’t say the things he should. He acts the way he thinks he should.” She closed her eyes, feeling herself being pulled into the music, for lack of a better word. Into the truth of this song. “But all the same… I’ll play this game his way.

As long as he needs me.” Laurel could feel a slight shake to her voice as she sang. “Oh yes, he does need me. In spite of what you see, I’m sure that he needs me.”

It was everything she had ever felt these last few years. The weariness, the doubt, the bone-deep certainty that, nevertheless, she had to continue on.

Laurel teared up when the word finally came falling off her lips. “The love I feel inside. The love I have to hide. The hell—” She nearly felt choked. “—I’ve got my pride! As long as he needs me!”

She didn’t dare look at the others. It was easier facing the audience, backlit by the spotlight on her and making them indistinct. There was going to be no coming back from this when it was all said and done. The team would all know her secret, even if Oliver didn’t. And how long could that feasibly last?

She was the Black Canary, but she was singing her swan song.

---

Oliver didn’t know what had happened to him. One minute they’d been patrolling the streets when a woman in a green dress had appeared out of nowhere, declaring him an upstart for daring to defeat a sorcerer like Damien Darhk, and the next minute — well, the woman in green was still there, but the streets were gone. Instead, he found himself on hands and knees in the wings of some sort of theater as an orchestra played under a woman’s singing.

He felt John’s hands pull him up and he was crushed in an embrace for a moment. “Good to have you back, man.”

Someone reached for his hand, and as he squeezed back automatically he could tell it was Thea’s. Over John’s shoulder, he saw Felicity watching him for a moment before looking down. When had she joined them?

“What just happened?” He asked. Some time had clearly passed. But what had he been doing? What had his team done to get him back?

“Shh!” The very sorceress who had cursed him hissed at them, eyes never quite leaving the stage. And the more he paid attention, the more it occurred to him — was that Laurel’s voice?

Oliver felt drawn towards the edge of the wings, mouth falling open as he took in the sight of Laurel in her mask and a beautiful dress, standing before a sea of strangers.

“I miss him so much, when he is gone,” she sang, a delicate sweetness in her voice that was at odds with the tortured look on her face. “But when he’s near me, I carry on… The love I feel inside. The love I have to hide. The hell—” He saw her struggling. “I’ve got my pride! As long as he needs me!”

“What is happening?” He demanded in a low tone. Who was making her do this? And why?

“Payment for reversing my little spell on you,” the sorceress answered just as softly. “I asked them to demonstrate just why they wanted you back. Needed you, even,” she added, her eyes sparkling.

Oliver’s head whipped back to look at the others. John’s gaze, the little he could make of it from behind his friend’s helmet, was lowered and somber. Felicity’s head shook side-to-side sadly, though the tips of her ears had turned very pink. Tears leaked from under Thea’s domino mask as her lips pressed tight together.

His fists clenched as he turned back to the woman who had started all of this. “You undid the spell. She can stop now.”

But the sorceress extended an arm across his path before he could march out onto the stage. “I undid it so you could listen,” she explained as though he were a child. Then she let out a dreamy sigh. “After all, it’d be a shame to waste such a torch song.”

Laurel’s torch song. Laurel had been carrying a torch all these years… for him? His breath caught and a lump rose in his throat.

“If you are lonely, then you will know,” Laurel’s voice came out soft, then slowly grew. “When someone needs you, you love them so…” She carried the note through, her head raising with defiance in the set of her jaw. Strong to the end. “I won’t betray his trust, though people say I must. I’ve got to be. True. Just…” the music faded out for a breath, and it was into that silence that she declared, “As long as He! Needs! Me!”

The music rose, flooding his ears. Laurel held the note until she couldn’t, until her legs — which he could only guess had been trembling for some time — gave out from under her, and she landed on her knees.

Oliver rushed forward without thought, distantly hearing a door slam behind him somewhere. He reached Laurel’s side and pulled her up, her eyes widening at the sight of him. “Ollie?”

There was so much, too much that he wanted to ask, but all that came out as he looked into her eyes was, “I’m sorry.” How could he have been so blind?

“Thank you, thank you all!” The sorceress declared, standing near the floor lights. She snapped her fingers, and Laurel was suddenly wearing her Black Canary suit again.

This seemed to jolt her, for she ripped out of his hold and bolted off the stage. Oliver hurried to follow, just catching up with Thea and John on their way out.

“Laurel!” His sister was calling.

“Felicity already left, now this,” John muttered under his breath. He cast a look Oliver’s way as he drew up beside the other man. “What are we gonna do, Oliver?”

He didn’t have an answer. His mind was still racing. Felicity had shown up when he’d fallen prey to a curse, but she was leaving now. Laurel had confessed to feelings he hadn’t thought she possibly still held and now seemed terrified to be in the same room as him. What had he done?

Felicity was nowhere to be seen when he exited out into a back alley where Thea stood, one arm around Laurel and their heads bent close together.

“Where exactly are we?” He asked.

“On an island off of Greece. Long story. Look, we gotta figure out which way Felicity went.”

Scarcely had John finished speaking, when a trail of lightning announced Barry’s arrival.

“Hey, you’re you again!”

“You’re here,” Oliver replied, thrown by the sudden appearance.

“Oh, well Felicity called for the ride back, so I figured I’d double back here to get the rest of you. Glad they broke your pig curse.”

“Pig curse?”

“Never mind, Oliver. Barry, you gotta get him back to the base to catch Felicity,” John said, adding in an undertone, “Thea and I’ll talk to Laurel.”

Oliver looked up in alarm. “Wait—”

But his surroundings were whisked away as he felt himself carried over land and sea, only for it all to come crashing back into solid, jarring shape. A crackle of electricity and Barry was gone again, leaving Oliver to notice Felicity waiting at the elevator.

“I—” He didn’t know what he was supposed to say. Was she upset? And why? Oliver couldn’t begin to wonder when Laurel’s stricken look and voice were the only thoughts in his head. “I’m sorry if this has made things more difficult,” he decided on lamely.

“We broke up and realized we couldn’t work on a team together, Oliver. Things can’t get more difficult,” she stated bluntly. “I thought there was something wrong with me. After all, Laurel could still work with you, right?” She laughed, but it wasn’t a funny one. “Now we both know why.”

“I didn’t know.” He couldn’t believe he hadn’t known.

“Of course you didn’t. No one in their right mind would ever want someone to know they still had feelings for them after they broke their heart. Just… just try to be empathetic with her, alright? I would want to die if I were in Laurel’s shoes right now.”

He swallowed heavily. Was that really how Laurel would feel?

The elevator doors opened, and Felicity stepped inside. “For the record, you weren’t a very cute pig.” Then they closed, and Oliver could only watch the lights signify that it rose up to the ground floor and let her out.

He slowly wandered back towards the conference table and sat, resting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. It didn’t seem as though the others were coming back for a while. Probably consoling Laurel. Something in him ached.

Why had he been forced back here to try and rehash something that had already fallen apart? Felicity had walked out on him twice now, had he really needed a third time? He just felt hollow when it came to the end of his engagement. There was nothing left to feel. Not when his oldest friendship might be on the line half a world away, depending on how badly Laurel’s secret being exposed affected her.

Laurel… Laurel had always been there when he needed her. Because he needed her, he realized now with bitter irony. He had asked her all those years ago at Tommy’s grave, and she had never disappointed him. No matter how many times he’d disappointed her in return. He didn’t know how it could be that she could love such a man like him. A man of the island.

Beneath the shock, beneath the sudden rush of regret, there was a quiet awe beginning to grow. Laurel loved him. Him, Oliver Queen. She had seen the man he was plain as day, had fought him, been hurt by him and called him out on all his lies and hypocrisies. Yet she loved him still.

A strange sound left him, a stifled sob. His shoulders shook, and Oliver found himself crying in a way he rarely let happen. He could count the times on one hand since he’d gotten back, perhaps even since the island. Usually they were times of extreme grief, but that wasn’t what this was. There was a sense of loss, yes, but only of time. Time was something he could make up for.

He was wiping his cheeks dry when John at last appeared in the base, Barry presumably going back for their remaining teammates. “You alright, man?”

“Fine.” Oliver stood. “How’s Laurel?”

“Calmer. Look, you might wanna just take a walk round the block for a bit till Thea can get her home.”

“I need to talk to her.” No more putting it off, no more running away.

“You were supposed to be talking to Felicity,” his friend reminded him.

“John, I let her go.” It was what she had asked of him last month, and he knew that it had truly been the right call. Maybe he’d known it for a while, but it had taken tonight for it to finally sink in.

With another whoosh of electricity and wind, Thea stood in the base. “What are you still doing here?”

“Says he needs to talk to Laurel.”

“She doesn’t want a scene,” Thea said with a severe look that came straight from their mother.

“It’s not going to be a scene,” he insisted. “But I can’t just ignore what happened.”

Barry zipped into being with Laurel in his arms. He set her down on the floor and looked around. “Okay, all back. Everything okay? Is there anything…?”

“Go home and rest, Barry. And thank you,” Oliver told him. His friend nodded, but Oliver reached out and clasped his shoulder before he could depart. “Not a word to the others,” he added in a low voice.

Barry’s head bobbed up and down quickly a couple times. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” Then he was gone.

Laurel was gone, too, disappearing back into the changing stalls. Oliver headed that way as well.

“I think we should talk,” he called out.

“There’s nothing to say.”

“I haven’t said anything.”

“Exactly.”

He could hear things being thrown around, could picture her kicking her boots off out of some potent mix of anger and shame. Oliver sighed.

“Laurel, please?”

There was silence.

“Give me a minute,” was her request. Oliver nodded to himself and went back to the main area, passing John on his way to change as well.

Thea stood by the conference table looking worried. He wanted to tell her it was going to be okay and the realizations he’d had about himself and his feelings — but this was something Laurel needed to hear first. She was owed that.

Laurel slowly made her way towards them in her civilian clothes, hands flexing with nerves.

“Go ahead and change,” Oliver asked his sister, before indicating the side room with a tilt of his head. Laurel nodded and followed him.

“If we are actually talking about what happened, I just want to make clear that it doesn’t change anything,” Laurel said right away the moment they were alone. “My feelings are just that. They’re not some declaration of intent.”

He knew what was on her mind; Tommy, and the way things had ended between the three of them. He could appreciate the irony of their roles being flipped now, and the irony, too, that they always seemed to end up back here.

“I understand,” he said out loud. “If you don’t want to address it, we don’t have to.”

“Okay,” Laurel said with clear relief.

“I was thinking we could address my feelings.”

She fixed him with a look, and he only very narrowly kept a straight face. Slowly, he began walking towards her, closing the gap between them.

“I feel grateful for what you did to help me. I feel angry and sad that you were forced to reveal something about yourself you’d kept secret. And—” he drew up to her at last, watching Laurel watch him with an intensity in her gaze. “—I feel lucky, selfishly lucky, to know how you feel about me.”

“Ollie…” She stared up at him in disbelief.

He nodded. “It’s still gonna take me some time to heal from what happened with Felicity. I know I shouldn’t rush that. But Felicity and I, we began because I had thought I’d lost my chance with the first woman I ever loved. I had no idea that wasn’t true.”

“What are you saying?” She asked, barely above a whisper. He thought of the way she had poured herself out in that song and how her voice had been a very force. He wanted to give her that strength back.

“I’m saying that you are a part of me, and I will always need you. And if you can just give me some time…”

She reached out and touched his cheek. “Whatever you need.”

Oliver placed his hand over hers, then turned his face into it, ghosting his lips over her palm. He heard her suck in a breath, and he lowered their hands before pulling her gently into a hug.

Laurel rested there in his arms, head tucked under his chin, and he never wanted her to leave. All the reasons he had ever left ran through his head, and they all sounded pointless now.

“We’ll figure this out. I promise,” he murmured, and her arms shifted up his back a little. Then they slowly drew apart.

Laurel was smiling now, softly, and his heart felt full the way it had as he’d listened to her sing.

“You know, I never realized you had such a good voice,” he remarked, and grinned when Laurel ducked her head with a breathy laugh.

“I think it may have been the magic.”

“I don’t buy it.”

A throat clearing softly had them both looking up. Thea stood at the edge of the archway. “Is it okay?”

“It’s gonna be,” he said while Laurel nodded.

She walked over to join Thea. “Let’s call it a night.”

Thea seemed to take some assurance from whatever she saw in Laurel’s expression, for she relaxed and actually smiled in his direction. “Sure. Night, Ollie.”

“Goodnight,” he told them both.

Laurel exchanged a last, long look with him, and they left the base. With John having departed on his own it seemed, Oliver was left alone to change and to get ready for sleep. Yet it hardly felt as lonely as the other nights since he had moved down here.

He had people in his life who loved him. Friends, family, and Laurel. Always Laurel, who was both of the former categories in her own way and yet so much more.

She was home, and he was finally on his way back there.

#lauriver #laurel lance #oliver queen #laurel x oliver #arrow #green arrow #black canary #my writing

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thefinalcinderella · 5 years

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Tsurune Book 2 Chapter 6-Door (Part 2)

It’s the Inter-High finals! Who will win, who will lose? Read on to find out! Also some really weird shit happens and by that point I was just like “...yeah okay”

This part took forever, but I hope it isn’t so tedious to read

Glossary here

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

1. Heki-ryu Insai-ha is one of the styles still active today

2. Sakae Urakami was a 10-dan hanshi rank archer who was very well known in the kyudo world. He shot in the Heki-ryu Insai-ha style

3. Mato-tsuki means pointing the arrow at the target and teki-wari literally means dividing the target, which means turning the bow with the arm outstretched apparently. I could only find one English source for this the rest was in German hahahahahaha

4. Meigen is the ceremonial plucking of the bowstring. It is primarily done for the Imperial family. It’s believed that the tsurune helps drive away evil spirits

5. Fudou Myouou or Acala is a Buddhist deity who is a Wisdom King. He usually looks angry, carries a sword in the right hand, and has flames at his back

6. This isn’t the first time I came across wabi-sabi, and you’ve probably heard of the term before, but it’s a “world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection

7. The “Bow Saint” is a title given to Awa-hanshi

Previous | Afterword

At the moment one step foot in that place, one was invited into another world.

A tsurune, a matooto that pierced through the chest.

The shouts of "Alright!"

Bows and arrows came into this world as tools to sever the lives of others, but archers used them to sever their own lives.

And then, be born again.

Minato slept like a log after he returned from the hospital, and the next morning, his fever had completely receded. Even though there was still some pain left, his body felt lighter than he expected.

The fourth day of Inter-High, the last day.

The venue was wrapped in a tingling atmosphere. The number of spectators was also the most on this day out of all the days. There were many famous schools that had won, and their bow covers and bags with their schools’ name on them let their tradition and self-confidence peek through.

Next to Seiya, who was stretching, Ryouhei and Nanao were having the mysterious conversation of "Did you gooshura last night?” “Of course I did.” It was somewhat comforting. Here was the same scenery as when they were at Kazemai High School.

Kaito, with a sullen look, suddenly struck Minato’s back.

“Ow!”

“Yesterday you seemed to be gasping for breath, but since you’re able to cry out that loudly, you’re fine.”

“Your way of making seems a bit rough, Onogi.”

“Whatever. Right, we going soon?”

Prompted by Kaito, the five bumped their yugake-covered right fists.

Their opponent in the quarterfinals was the winning school the year before last. Kazemai won with seventeen hits against fifteen.

After the deciding matches for fifth to eighth place were finished, the semi-finals began. They won and advanced, but it was hard to listen to the sobbing from the people crouching behind the venue or from the washroom stalls. This was the path that they had taken, and for this tournament as well, there was the bitterness everyone except for the winning school tasted equally. The insides of their mouths felt coarse and rough.

Kazemai’s opponent in the semi-finals was Tsujimine High School.

In the hallway before the waiting rooms, Nikaidou had an amiable smile on his face. His large eyes were so full of vigor and spirit that one wondered if his panicked self from yesterday was an illusion.

He approached Minato, who was swinging his white headband.

"Why, if it isn’t Minato-chan. We were both miserable yesterday, weren’t we?”

"No, it was a good experience for me.”

"Heh…what a mature way to handle it.”

Behind Nikaidou, Fuwa was standing at a distance. He did not like to get friendly with others, so this sense of distance felt comfortable to him.

In the extreme cases of Ootaguro, Higuchi and Aragaki, they did not belong to any group from the start, because they had the air of people marching to the beats of their own drums. They were neither ashamed nor proud to be minorities—they had a natural attitude towards it. They wouldn’t feel insecure or worried even if they weren’t connected to large number of people.

Minato fixed his gaze on Nikaidou.

“Nikaidou-senpai. I’ve been recalling a lot of Saionji-sensei’s words since then. Because of that, I am convinced of this. Even if Saionji-sensei opened his door wider, your uncle would never be his disciple.”

"I’m shocked. Minato-chan, the always good boy, is provoking me? Do you feel like doing whatever it takes for the sake of winning? You sure have grown, Senpai is so proud of you.”

“Your uncle shoots in the shamen uchiokoshi style of the Heki-ryuu Insai-ha, correct? (1) Also, taking the ‘sanbun no ni’ is from the Urakami school, isn’t it? (2) Saionji-sensei talked about it. He said that since nowadays most people did shoumen uchiokoshi, he didn’t want the number of shamen archers to decrease. He also said that since he could only teach shoumen uchiokoshi, if we ever wanted to try shooting in shamen style in the future, that we shouldn’t hesitate to seek other teachers.”

“What?”

"I think Saionji-sensei knew the difference between who each archer wanted to be, and where they are aiming for. He wasn’t amazing because he hit a hundred targets. Hitting a hundred targets doesn’t have that much meaning, but the figure of someone shooting a bow is cool.”

"Heh…Thank you so very much for your valuable opinion. You must have an awful lot of free time to think about things like that the day before the competition.”

“I loved seeing you shoot, Nikaidou-senpai. The Heki-ryuu taihai you showed us several times: mato-tsuki, teki-wari and the yudaoshi towards the front of target—it was all truly cool. Yeah, you really love kyudo, Senpai.” (3)

“…I’m doing kyudo out of a force of habit. It’s just that since I’m doing it, I don’t wanna lose, and when I need to, I can use it for university referrals. It’s only insurance for broadening my future course.”

"Even so, I looked up to you when you were holding a bow. Those kinds of sharp movements could only be done by someone who trained a lot, and even now, you don’t seem like you’re doing kyudo out of a force of habit at all.”

"Hah…you two really are alike. Just as I thought."

"Huh? What do you mean ‘alike’?”

“You and your master.”

A corner of Nikaidou’s mouth lifted, and he left while fluttering his hand at him.

At the convocation call, they went on towards the third waiting room and passed through the door.

In the space enclosed by white cloth, there were also five to six staff members in addition to the competitors and managers from the two schools. Minato’s team placed their bows and arrows in the designated place and sat down in their seats with Tommy-sensei, their manager, at the end. To verify the identities of the competitors and manager, they underwent inspection of their equipment and numbers, as well as their attire, hands, and other body inspections. The staff told them that even if they lost, the deciding matches for third and fourth places would begin immediately, so they would need to come back there again.

Tommy-sensei collected the ID cards hanging from their necks, and took with him a small basket containing things like reserve arrows stuck in palm-sized, three sun (9.1cm) targets and spare bowstring reels, then they moved to the second waiting room. The competitors put down their bows and arrows again and sat down.

They would be entering the shajo once they left there. Tsujimine’s Ootaguro was cramming his left hand into a flat can filled with fudeko powder, and next to him, Seiya was doing things like rotating his shoulders.

At the signal, the ten competitors took their bows and arrows in hand and lined up in one single line.

When they entered the kyudojo, Tsujimine and Kazemai entered the first and second shajo respectively and sat down—it was finally time.

“Rise, begin!”

They did their yuu bows simultaneously, advanced to the shooting line and nocked their arrows.

First to shoot was Tsujimine’s oomae, Nikaidou.

A yugamae done in the shamen style involved making the tenouchi small to make it look like red leaves piling up, and pushing open the bow diagonally to the left at a third of one’s yazuka. Keeping that form, one raised their bow, and then at hikiwake, the right hand passed over the ear, and the arrow stops at a height that is almost level with it, which is the “sanbun no ni” position. After doing kakehodoki—making a grinding noise with the yugake at kai—he flicked his thumb, and the sharp flight of his arrow invited a matooto.

Next was the second archer, Fuwa.

His hoozuke was slightly higher than those for shoumen uchiokoshi, and his arrow was placed in between his cheekbone and the corner of his mouth (kuchiwari). He continued to stretch his arms as though they were holding the ends of a piece of string and he was extending it evenly to the left and right. He waited for the "yagoro"—the moment that led to the perfect opportunity for hanare. He also hit the target.

The third archer, Ootaguro, was very conspicuous due to his bamboo bow that was unusual for a student, the huge size of that bow, and not to mention his massive and bulky body. His amber bow bended so much that it seemed to engulf other people, and his arrow pierced the target with such a force that it made the azuchi cave in.

Conversely, the fourth archer, Higuchi, slowly lifted his bow. He drew his bow so gently that it verged on being too careful, and even if one thought that he finally reached kai, he took a considerable amount of time to release his arrow. After the spectators, wondering what was going to happen, were kept in suspense, finally at last, his arrow drew a parabola and fell to the target.

The ochi was Aragaki the maskman. Of course, he took off his mask in the shajo. Since he was narcissistic about his profile, he was extremely particular about the angle of his face. He fixed his gaze on the target to ascertain it, as though his name was being called from the target. He did not blink even once since he started uchiokoshi. He performed nobiai at kai as though to thoroughly worship his own profile.

The five got a kaichuu, and there was applause from the stands.

Kazemai did not succumb to them.

Elderly people, even if they were great archers, could never imitate the lively and youthful shooting they performed one after the other. They captured their targets in succession, and heated shouts of “Alright!” flew from the stands. The frog fans were shaking faintly.

In the second round of shooting as well, neither school missed.

Aggressive Kaito, cheerful Ryouhei, intelligent Seiya, sparkling Nanao, and cool and clear Minato――.

They increased the freshness of the colours each of them possessed, and painted a picture rich with those five colours.

Suppose that the settings book for the story called life had been written in one’s genes before one was born. Inevitable large events were prepared at each important point. However, it was up to the person themselves to write a heavy and dark story or a fun and bright story. Even if the plot was the same, it would become something else depending on the episodes one chose, and even for the same episode, just changing its arrangement would change the implications and meaning of it. There were endless ways to write, and each person had their own impressions and feelings.

Just as everyone’s faces and voices were different, no one had the exact same shooting form. No one could always shoot with the exact same form. Humans were creatures who kept on changing moment by moment. What one ate became flesh and blood, the information that entered from the eyes and ears was processed and stored by the brain, and skin cells were reborn in two weeks. One’s faces yesterday and today were similar but different. Even if one came to a stop, hung one’s head, bent over, crouched down, or shed tears of blood, a wind would still blow somewhere.

A new wind blew.

Supple limbs danced.

The color of evergreen.

Let’s etch these moments that would never fade into our memories.

The third shooting round. Seiya missed.

In the fourth shooting round, Nanao also missed, and Kazemai had the result of four, four, three, three, and four for a total of eighteen hits.

For Tsujimine as well, Fuwa and Aragaki both missed one shot each, and the results of four, three, four, four, and three—a tie.

For the tiebreaking match, each archer would shoot one arrow, and the school with the most hits won. Each person received a spare arrow from their manager, who acted as the kaizoe and sat in a reserved chair, and steadied their breathing. Even though it was just one arrow, it felt heavier than the four arrows they always had, and it was slippery in their hands from all the sweat.

“Begin!”

After finishing yugamae, both schools’ oomae raised their bows grandly. Both were marked with circles.

The second archers hit. The third archers hit.

And then, the fourth archer. The ochimae.

Tsujimine’s Higuchi missed, and Kazemai’s Nanao hit.

In the stands, the spectating Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo shouted while holding each other’s hands.

The last was the ochi.

As Aragaki’s matooto sounded, Minato was inserting himself into the centre of his bow. He performed nobiai in all directions, and waited for the moment of release. After he let go of his arrow, a circle was displayed on the scoreboard.

In the midst of the applause, they exited the shajo, and Minato’s team clapped each other on their shoulders. Ryouhei carried Nanao on his shoulder and they were shouting joyfully as though the championships were already decided for them.

Kaito, overcame with emotion, covered his mouth with his hand.

“…Did we just break through the semifinals?”

Seiya answered him.

“Yeah. We defeated Tsujimine.”

“Crap, my stomach kinda hurts.”

“Again?”

While Kazemai was shouting for joy, the competitors from Tsujimine were silent. They walked as though they were heading towards the practice venue.

Nikaidou and Fuwa looked at their two senpai.

“Higuchi-senpai, Aragaki-senpai. We should hurry on back to the waiting room.”

“I’m sorry for missing…”

“It’s fine, Higuchi-senpai. That’s just how kyudo is.”

Aragaki also nodded deeply.

Nikaidou turned his back on Minato’s team and started walking. His eyes were tinged with a quiet heat.

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

So frustrated, so frustrated, so frustrated, so frustrated…

I will not be finished. This isn’t over――.

Fuwa laughed scornfully.

“It still ain’t over yet. Let’s go take third place. Then, after the closing ceremony, we’ll have a strategy meeting. When we win third, I’ll turn the information I learned into a souvenir, we’ll snatch permission to use the gym, and then we’ll reassemble a practice regimen for next year’s Inter-High.”

“…You serious?”

“If you don’t wanna, then I don’t really care.”

“…You’re still a crafty bastard, as ever.”

“Aren’t you the same?”

Nikaidou gave Fuwa a good punch in the stomach.

Tsujimine High School won third place.

The finals match.

The school that lasted to the end was, as expected, Kirisaki High School. It was a match between schools in the same prefecture.

The five Kirisaki team members were face-to-face, and Motomura gave them his final words.

“Let’s make this our greatest stage. There is nothing that can frighten us. Let’s show everyone the shooting of the powerhouse, Kirisaki!”

Shuu and the others got goosebumps at strong and confident Motomura’s words. No, they were trembling with the excitement of warriors. It felt like a burning in the pits of their stomachs. An impulse only understood by archers were in love with the bow, who were at the mercy of the bow.

Bargaining with the target.

One must not let it know that you wanted to shoot through its heart.

The five light bumped their yugake-right fists together.

Meanwhile, Kazemai was also gathered around Tommy-sensei. Masa-san spoke.

“Forget everything I’ve said up to now. You should shoot as you want, as though this is the first time that you are holding a bow.”

Tommy-sensei spoke after him.

“I feel the same way as Takigawa-san. All of you are plenty cool as you are. The best archers. This is today’s final mission. Now, let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Tommy-sensei put out his hand, and Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, Minato, and Masa-san placed their hands over it.

After they entered the second waiting room, the two schools sat next to each other.

Kirisaki High School—Motomura, Senichi, Manji, Sase, Shuu.

Kazemai High School—Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, Minato.

There had never been a scene that was so tense. The prefectural finals felt like it had happened a long, long time ago.

Shuu was on Minato’s left side. Even at this tournament, he got a continuous kaichuu and accomplished a monster-like act, but didn’t that put more pressure on him instead? You couldn’t keep on hitting forever. No matter how masterful an archer was, the moment when they missed would inevitably come.

However, Shuu was indifferent to Minato’s worries; he seemed happy. When he met Minato’s eyes, he smiled gently. It was like the time when they played with Souta at Saionji-sensei’s house, like even now he was planning a trick. Seeing him like that, Minato unintentionally guarded his left flank. He was far from his persona of being the “Young Prince Shuu” who many archers knew him as. He was just like a child.

Where did that calmness come from? He said that he would embody “one shot and expire,” but Minato didn’t even know what that meant.

What he did know was that his heart was pounding, and that he was excited.

The joy from being able to shoot on the same stage as Shuu.

At the signal, they stood up, and Kazemai and Kirisaki faced each other and bowed, saying, “We look forward to competing against you.”

It was the start of nyuujou. The five sat down simultaneously in the chairs of the first waiting room in front of honza. Tommy-sensei also sat down behind the competitors. The arena was different from the kyudojo they had always shot in, and even the smallest sound was picked up. It felt like everyone could even hear the sound that persisted in Minato’s chest.

His exposed heart.

The immovable target.

At the order to “begin,” the two schools went towards the shooting line, their yellow-green and purple headbands swaying above their shoulders. Masa-san, holding his breath as he watched over the group with the same-color headbands, was also at the very end of the shajo.

The oomaes began to raise their bows.

Motomura had the face of a young family head, and his true form was that of an extraordinary exorcist. When admonished by his gentle face, one would forget suspicious things and uncanniness. There were “sounds” and “words” that made people uncomfortable and those that soothed them, and seeing miracles on the bow since ancient times was because of the beauty of its form and shape. Before true beauty, people lost their wickedness, and a beautiful tsurune possessed the wavelength to heal people.

Meigen—the sound of joy. (4)

A sound that reset everything, returning them back to zero.

Kaito did not hide the heat that slept within him, and suppressed the demon with his look of anger. Like Fudou Myouou (5), he held a sword in his hands and carried flames on his back, waiting for sprouts of new life in a burnt field.

The second archers after them were Senichi and Ryouhei.

For both of them, their ideal archer was Shuu. His shooting that surpassed those of the same generation as him always captivated those who saw it. They groped for how close they could get to him, how it could superimposed over them, and how to recreate it. It was fascinating how even if they copied him, it wouldn’t be exactly the same as the original, but another way of shooting was born, mixed with their own colors. Senichi was delicate, and Ryouhei was bold and heroic. They both hit their targets.

The third archers were Senichi’s younger brother Manji and Seiya. They painted layers of muddy paint and hid their own inborn colors.

Manji had sealed up his fast shooting and kept on practicing to shoot carefully and without rushing in order to not have hayake. Just like how Senichi chased after Shuu, Manji chased after Senichi. The two of them absolutely couldn’t stand was being left behind or surpassed. A circle was shown on the scoreboard.

Rather than imitating someone, Seiya pictured his ideal image of what he wanted to do in his head and simulated it. He repeated that until he tricked his brain into believing that was truer, so even he himself completely forgot who he was originally, but from Kaito’s point of view, he didn’t seem to be able to change completely. His intricately calculated hanare induced a matooto.

Sase was an idol lover, and he himself had the talent of an idol. Like a refreshing and easygoing sportsman, he was not bashful at all, and was always in the center of a circle of strangers. He started talking to Motomura, who was brimming with wabi-sabi (6) even when he was young, not because he worried that he felt out of place in class, but because he wanted to talk to him and so he did. He also started doing kyudo because he wanted to try doing it. That was all it was.

Nanao was actually quite straightforward. He knew very well that his popularity with girls would make him the enemy of some boys, and that was exactly why he spread love. He couldn’t keep his overflowing feelings in his chest. I smile because you smile. I’m happy when you’re happy. Your angry faces, your troubled faces, I want to see lots of you.

After he snatched a magnificent hit, the yellow-green frogs in the stands swayed.

The ochi were Shuu and Minato.

When Shuu raised his bow, the world changed completely. One got lost in a shining golden land. Before that divine and beautiful archer, everything that had life stopped breathing. The fire he released from the depths of his body created an updraft, which started up and quickened. He slowly raised his two wings and spread his white feathers.

Sound was what fell.

A sound that stole away people’s memories.

When the watchers recovered their senses, the area was engulfed in the echoes from shouts of "Alright!" It gently rained with the sound that made their skin tremble and scorched their chests.

At the same moment, Minato raised his bow up high. He held his bow at kyuuha, with a strength like he was playing with it—not too strongly, not too weakly. The beautiful tsurune he heard when he was young. When that sound rang, Minato’s world changed. On the other side of the rain that fell beside him, a rainbow from thick clouds spread.

Even if he tried to not recall what was taught to him, his body remembered it all perfectly. The disciple inherited the master’s colors. Kazemai had Kazemai’s colors, and Kirisaki had Kirisaki’s colors. Even from among the many archers, when told, "You are from Kazemai High School Kyudo Club, aren’t you," he could continue hitting.

In the silence that made one even hesitate to move, the shouts of "Alright" bounced off the surrounding walls, continually going back and forth.

From right to left.

From left to right.

Thud, thud.

The sound, similar to fireworks, echoed.

The instrumental trio of tsurune, matooto, and shouts.

In the second shooting round also, tsurune were played in succession. It was all hits. Two five-person kaichuu were carried out, and there was applause.

When they entered the third shooting round, A bead of sweat ran down Minato’s cheek. His hearing wasn’t working normally, as the way he heard things was somewhat strange. A sensation of having dozed off, like he was being talked to in his head, like he was talking to someone in his dreams. Where was he right now? What was he doing? Even the act of drawing his bow felt like he was doing it in a dream-like state and lacked a sense of reality.

In the stands, Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo whispered to each other.

"They are so good it’s kinda scary…"

"I agree. I feel chills, even though it is the middle of summer."

"――This is divine possession."

Seo’s words made their surroundings more and more frozen.

In the fourth—final—shooting round, the oomae Kaito missed. At someone’s sigh, the tension in the shajo was broken for a moment. Perhaps overwhelmed by the change in the flow of that wind, the arrow the second archer Senichi released also pierced the azuchi. Since it was an indoor azuchi that didn’t use soil, a tap sound, similar to a matooto, resounded.

With that, both schools had one miss――. Once more, it became a one-on-one battle between the two ochi.

The spectator’s gazes were fixed on Shuu and Minato.

When Minato raised his bow, Shuu also raised his to follow him. They parted their bows grandly and inserted their bodies into the middle of them. They slowly released their breaths from their filled and content dantian. Upon doing that, the target itself approached the archer and assimilated into him.

The target is me, and I am the target. The great I, whose boundaries as an individual had blurred, will draw my bow.

They extended in all directions and formed crosses.

Nikaidou had asked Minato, "For what reason do you shoot a bow?", but that question didn’t make sense to him. He didn’t draw the bow to win or to train his body; he faced the target to breathe. Breathing was the proof of living. Therefore, on the days when he wasn’t holding a bow, he felt like he was dead.

It wasn’t "correct shooting makes for true hitting," but "correct questions make for correct answers." A good answer was born from a good question. If one were to ask Minato a question, it should not be "for what reason," but "How do you shoot a bow?" He embodied the answer to that question every single day.

Minato and Shuu were no longer thinking anything.

They didn’t hear anything.

They returned to the time when they met, losing themselves in drawing their bows.

For honing one’s body and entering a state of absolute concentration, it was annoying and hindering to have words inside one’s head. Thinking interfered with physical activity. Therefore, deep breathing was what helped empty one’s head. Along with breath, one would make "thought" get out of one’s body.

The one who shaded the event of an arrow hitting a target with good or bad, or emotions, was the "self," and the opposite of hayake and Yips was the state of "selflessness", or the zone. Being unconscious, in a sense, was like being someone who had expired. Dead people had no consciousness, and babies played innocently and without thought. Words did not intervene there.

――One shot and expire.

The archer dying at kai and being born again at hanare was the greatest shooting technique in the ultimate secret techniques left behind by the one who was called the Bow Saint. (7) The two were making use of that technique—Shuu intentionally, Minato unintentionally.

They cried their yagoe in their hearts.

Fly, yagoe.

Clear your path.

Run, yagoe.

Today’s a day of beginnings.

The two arrows were sucked into the bull’s-eye.

Amidst thunderous applause, the bell signalling seven-and-a-half minutes sounded. Minato and Shuu turned to face their targets and moved backed towards honza, and then sat down in their chairs.

Nineteen hits to nineteen hits. It was a tie.

The two schools’ managers handed their archers one backup arrow each. Each team shot a total of five shots, and if it couldn’t be decided in one set, then they would repeat the process. It was like an izume match for group competitions.

"Rise, begin!"

The Kazemai and Kirisaki archers nocked their arrows. With a single arrow, victory or defeat was decided. An arrow that was too heavy.

My chest hurts. My chest hurts. My center of my head feels hazy, and my fingertips are getting really numb. The insides of my ears sting. To get away from this choking feeling, I’ll breathe slowly, slowly.

The first shooting round. Both schools got hits.

Next was the second round.

Ryouhei’s arrow landed to the right of the target. Sighs overlapped with shouts of "Alright" from the stands.

Third round, hits.

Fourth round, hits.

And finally, the fifth round.

Minato and Shuu made beautiful tsurune ――.

After they exited the shajo, Kazemai and Kirisaki bowed to each other. Kaito and Motomura, feeling just like Ryouhei and Senichi, mutually smashed their yugake together. Minato and Shuu also bumped the backs of their yugake.

When they passed through the exit, the press gathered to interview the winning school. Minato and the others passed by them. On the return path, there was the staff room partitioned off with white cloth, and large windows on the left side. It was dazzlingly bright outside the windows, the trees swaying in the breeze.

Ryouhei came to a stop in front of the wall between the windows, and collapsed on the spot. He pressed his head against the wall hard, and his shoulders were shaking. He got on his knees temporarily, then he couldn’t stand up anymore.

"If I…If I hadn’t missed… I wanted to shoot more, and more… It’s my fault we lost…”

Minato put his arm around Ryouhei’s shoulders from behind.

He couldn’t say anything. That regret he himself had also tasted. That intense anger and sadness towards himself.

If one was experiencing such painful emotions, then they shouldn’t be doing things like kyudo.

I’m so frustrated, I’m so frustrated, I can’t forgive myself――.

Seiya also bent down in that spot and placed his hands on the two boys’ shoulders.

"Me, Kaito, Nanao and Minato—we’ve all missed before. We’re all the same. Someone who never missed before doesn’t exist."

"Uugh…ah…"

Kaito was watching over shoulder at Nanao folding Ryouhei, Minato, and Seiya together into a big hug. Kirisaki, having finished their interviews, passed by them there, and Shuu remained behind as the other members continued on.

When Nanao and the others noticed him, they removed themselves from Ryouhei, and Shuu knelt down before him.

"Ryouhei, Sae wants to meet you. Summer vacation is still long, so would you come and play with us, if you like? It seems Toujou would also like another bout with you."

"…Alright. I won’t lose, after all."

Ryouhei had his hands taken by Seiya and Minato and stood up. He then smiled.

Shuu left them.

In the hall, competitors could be seen chatting with their families. The accompanying children, perhaps bored, ran around in their slippers while making pitter-patter sounds.

Suddenly, Shuu remembered that it was the day of Sae’s violin lesson today. He turned his face towards where the sun was shining and narrowed his eyes. He could see an illusion.

"…Sae? Why are you here?"

“Shuu-niisama, congratulations. We came here to support you, of course. We thought we would make you nervous if you saw our faces, so we made sure to not be seen. It was hard.”

Next to her, Shuu’s mother was also smiling.

“Congratulations, Shuu. You were wonderful.”

Unexpected words, from an unexpected person.

As Shuu was at a loss for words, a man appeared from behind. Without needing to cross swords with anyone, he gave off the air of someone who made others lose their will to fight—someone who had the nickname of “Samurai.”

“Father…”

“Congratulations. Your shooting closely resembled that of Saionji-sensei’s in the past. I can see that you trained a lot, Shuu.”

“…Thank you very much. I am truly sorry that you had to come all the way here while you were the one who was busy, Father.”

“To tell you the truth, I received many phone calls at my company. From Sugawara Senichi-kun and Manji-kun, Motomura-kun and Sase-kun, as well as Narumiya-kun and Yamanouchi-kun. All asking me to please come and see Shuu shoot. It seems that my son has some good friends. I am looking forward to seeing the growth of all of you from now on.”

Shuu wanted to respond, but couldn’t make words come out of his mouth no matter how hard he tried.

The unseen words written on that Tanabata paper strip were, “From your son, Shuu.”

To be able to heard the word “son” come from you--.

When the wind came dancing in from the doors, the light that reflected off the windows hid Shuu’s face.

Meanwhile, Minato and the others exited the hall to find Masa-san waiting for them.

He smiled, and while saying things like “Alright!” “Okay!” and “Let’s go and eat something tasty”, he roughly tousled the five boys’ hair. Tommy-sensei also patted their backs.

Even though Minato had been holding it back for a long time, it was at that moment that his tear glands loosened. Seiya, Ryouhei, Nanao, and Kaito were the same.

Masa-san, Tommy-sensei, you’re both awful.

Even though the closing ceremony is going to take place after this, isn’t it super uncool to mess up our hair like this…

The five boys formed a circle.

And then, they shouted that they would stand on this stage again.

At dusk, the train carrying five boys departed.

On the screen of Ryouhei’s phone, there was a picture sent by his sister.

It was a picture of overpowering mountains and a tall sky.

The first star of the evening, which couldn’t be seen from the windows of their rooms, shone.

Fragrant ears of rice and the sound of cicadas.

Before he knew it, Minato dozed off, and leaned on his teacher beside him.

Previous | Afterword

#tsurune #tsurune translation

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she-is-tim · 5 years

Text

Will you catch me if I fall for you?

Elu Marvel AU

mostly written for @anxetyt1me and everyone else that are going to enjoy this

Summary:

Eliott is an ambitious archer boy who decides to join the Avengers when an opportunity crosses his way. Little does he know that his heart is going to be captured by one of the twins HYDRA experimented on. Lucas and his twin sister Manon just survived the attack of Ultron in Sokovia, but they are already training to become Avengers. The boy is a cheeky bastard who likes playing games. This time his target is Eliott and he can always get what he wants.

Enjoy *finger guns*

Eliott knew the compound will be huge, he saw it on tv, but he was still in shock as he got out of his taxi. He paid for the ride, it wasn’t cheap, but he was willing to sacrifice all he had just to get here. He grabbed the strap of the quiver attached to his torso, feeling the weight of the steel arrows and his bow pulling him down. It felt like his legs were turned into concrete, heavy and immovable. Every step was like an eternity, his palms started sweating as he made his way inside the gigantic front yard towards the Avengers building. There was a chopper on his right, just waiting on the parking spot, ready to fly away at anytime. He knew the people who lived inside wouldn’t use it, they had flying supersuits, special wings, superpowers and quinjets. They liked to make a fancy entrance, especially Tony Stark. Not like any of this mattered in this exact moment.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, continuing his road towards the front of the building. Feet still heavy, heart thumping, threatening to burst out of his chest. Now that would be a good introduction.

As he got closer, he had to squint his eyes, protecting it from the piercing sunlight that was reflecting from the gigantic windows. The weather was nice, not too hot, soft clouds swimming through the endless, blue pool above. He stopped, looking at his outfit. Black leather, tight and well fitting, belts snaking around his waist, his thighs, keeping his throwing knives - silver ones with handles carved out of bones - safe. Boots perfectly melted on his feet, thick sole, strengthened with steel. Hands covered in leather gloves that let his fingers free, except the index and middle finger on his right one. Designed especially for professional archers like him.

He got kicked out of his thoughts rather literally when a blue flash appeared out of nowhere. During his years of hard practice and training, it was clear that his senses were extraordinary, just like his reflexes, but he still had problems focusing his attention. That’s what made this situation possible where he was laying on the ground, the handle of his bow hardly pressed to his back as a feet on his chest placed pressure on him. Gasping for air he tried to open his eyes, which wasn’t so easy considering the sun was shining right at his face, but then a shadowy silhouette leaned over him. His eyelids fluttered open, trying to take in his surroundings and for a second Eliott was sure it would be less blinding to stare at the sun.

The boy was gorgeous. Fluffy brown hair surrounding a beautiful, smooth face with perfectly curved nose, pink lips and those damn blue eyes. Eliott wasn’t a poetic boy, but he could write long essays about the beauty of just those irises alone. He knew he was staring, mouth agape, not able to form the words, but it seemed like the boy had a clue who he was. With a slight movement he tilted his head to the side, cocking an eyebrow. The smirk that appeared on his face was probably the most beautiful thing Eliott had ever seen, hands down.

“You are the boy Clint is waiting for?” He spoke up and fuck, his voice was soft and smooth like warm honey, having a slight french accent, which just made him 1000 times more attractive. His foot was still pressing the archer boy down, not like he had any problems with it. He could put a leash around his neck, there wouldn’t be a complaint coming from his side.

After long minutes of just staring into each other’s eyes, Eliott realized that there was a question he needed to answer. The boy above him didn’t seemed to be annoyed, on the contrary there was a playful spark in those ocean blue eyes. Trying to take a deep breath wasn’t a good idea considering he was pinned to the ground, but he did anyways, just to help himself find some confidence to speak with this angel.

“Yes…” he muttered, voice sounding rather raspy. “My name is Eliott.” He managed to say it, but he kept finding himself at a loss of words under the gaze of the person above him.

“Welcome to the Avengers compound, pretty boy.” He said, leaning down even more and with that placing more pressure on Eliott’s already hurting chest. “You are going to have fun.” He added with a cheeky smile on his pretty face. Eliott knew he would already do anything for this boy without a single question just to see him smile again. He was pretty much fucked.

“Lucas, what are you doing?” The high pitched voice came from where the entrance of the gigantic building was. Eliott could see the outlines of a girl, slim body, wearing black skirt, a grey shirt with a scarlet red jacket. Her curly hair was like a brown waterfall, surrounding a pretty face. Eliott could notice the similarities between her and the boy, Lucas’ features, not mentioning the soft French accent of both.

“Nothing.” He replied and within a blink of an eye the pressure was gone from Eliott’s chest.

He could only see the blue flash as the angelic boy returned to his sister. Now he knew who they were, the Lallemant Twins, Lucas and Manon. Orphans that were used by the psychopath HYDRA scientists, experimenting and torturing them, making them have special powers to then use them as weapons against their enemies. But they got out, sided with the Avengers and helped them defeat the army of Ultron, the crazy robot that tried to drop the city of Sokovia on the Earth to destroy humanity with it. Of course Eliott didn’t know the details, but he had seen a lot of videos, read articles and interviews with people who were there during the battle. Lots of the citizens died or got hurt, it was a hard price to pay for saving everyone else. That’s what it means being an Avenger, Eliott knew it.

He slowly got up from the ground, being sure that his back has a bow handle shaped hole now. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t take his eyes off the boy, who was now having a quiet conversation with his twin sister. He just realized what Lucas was wearing and he just didn’t know how to process that sight. The pants were fine, loose ones, black colored with two white stripes on the sides of his thighs, but the top… He was wearing a well fitting, long sleeved shirt, a combination of dark blue and grey mixing on it with lighting bolt shaped white stripes just on the place where his stomach area started. And it was tight, like really tight.

Without realizing that he started walking forward, he suddenly found himself being close enough to catch some of their talk. It turned out to be difficult to focus on the actual words being said while seeing and hearing Lucas speak. The boy was just so soft and beautiful, Eliott couldn’t believe he actually fought with an army of lethal robots alongside big names like Clint Barton, Thor or Captain America. It just seemed impossible for this soft looking boy to hurt even a fly.

“-cking care what he said, I’m going to handle this one.” Lucas sounded just a little bit frustrated as he was talking to his sister. Manon looked at Eliott over her brother’s shoulder and then let out a frustrated sigh.

“Fine, but I am not going to save your ass from Clint again.” She said and with a smooth movement she spun around on her heels, disappearing behind the glass door.

Eliott just stood there dumbfounded, as the other turned to him, wide smirk plastered to his face. Realization hit like a truck, only noticing now how small the boy in front of him actually was. He could hug him from behind, resting his chin on the top of his head easily. And damn if that didn’t make him want this brunette even more.

“So, why are you here actually?” Lucas asked, trying to sound nonchalant with little success. He opened the door for the tall one who nodded as thanks, walking inside.

~°~

Eliott was glad when they arrived to the training room where Clint Barton waited for them. Their walk was really awkward, at least to him, Lucas seemed to enjoy circling around him, asking the most random things. ‘How old are you?’ ‘Where are you from?’ ‘Are those knives on you thighs?’ ‘Wanna try throwing one at me?’ ‘Is this your natural hair color?’ ‘Can I touch your hair?’ ‘You wanna touch my hair?’ Of course he could barely stutter out a few words, completely embarrassing himself. This was the first time he felt so nervous around someone that he lost his voice and wasn’t able to speak. Usually he had too much confidence, being aware of his looks and skills, but this very short and also very fast boy seemed to make him turn into a shy, stuttering mess.

As he stepped into the huge, empty room made out of steel and concrete. Half of the floor was covered in what looked like auburn linoleum, while the other half had epdm rubber flooring. In the middle stood the guy himself. The person Eliott looked up for ever since he heard the rumors about him. Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, the best archer in the whole world. Hair perfectly styled, oil green shirt loosely hanging on his well trained body, tight jeans wrapped around his legs, tucked into black boots. Suddenly his nervousness got doubled, hands getting sweaty. Lucas stepped forward, putting his hands on his waist. The man squinted his eyes at him before his face broke into a wide smile.

“There you are, you little bastard. I was looking for you.” Cint said, walking to the boy and patting him on the shoulder. “I see you found my visitor.” his eyes wandered towards the tall boy, who had to swallow, wiping off the sweat from his palms.

“Yeah, he’s fun, but very quiet.” Lucas responded, now turning around, another pair of eyes landing gazes on Eliott.

“I… My name is Eliott.” he managed to force out the words. This would be much more easier, if that angelic brunette wouldn’t be there with them in the room.

“Yeah, I know.” Clint said, looking at the boy next to him now. “Leave us alone, Lucas. I think you have training with Nat and Manon today.” he said cocking an eyebrow, sounding like a father who’s talking to his rather stubborn son. It was endearing to see this kind of relationship that Eliott could never had in his life.

His father left him and his mother when he was just a baby, not even bothering to pay child support or visiting his son. He grew up in bad circumstances, struggling with money, which lead his mother to borrow cash from the most shady people. That’s why she ended up with a bullet in her head, that’s why Eliott got captured when he was 12, being tortured and trained to be their deadly assassin. To their bad luck, they couldn’t erase all the memories he shared with the mother they killed, so he waited. When the perfect opportunity came, he killed them all and escaped. Since then he was roaming the countries, leaving Paris and all its filth behind. Until he found out that the Avengers are looking for rookies, training them to become fighters. So he called the number, talked to a few people and now he was here. After long years of suffering, loneliness and fear, he found the place where he can get a reason to live.

He got dragged out of his spiraling thoughts when a blue flash, probably Lucas passed by him, leaving with the feeling of soft fingers brushing through his hair. It was so sudden and unexpected that he almost lost his balance, barely saving himself of landing on his back yet again. That boy really liked to play with him, using his speed to get maximum advantage.

“I’m sorry about the kid.” Spoke Clint now, walking closer to Eliott, who quickly shook his head as weak try to get rid of the clinging feeling of the brunette’s touch. “I guess he’s excited. He is not allowed to leave the compound, so he doesn’t really have the chance to meet new people.” He explained with a soft smile on his face.

“How old is he?” Eliott decided to ask, because he was genuinely curious about the boy. It felt like something inside him was pulling him towards Lucas, like they were connected.

“He’s 17, too young if you ask me.”

“Life doesn’t care how old you are, it just throws shit at your face and expects you to handle it.” Eliott replied, looking at his personal hero, who seemed to be impressed by his words.

“I can’t wait for you to meet Nat, I think she would like you.” He said smirking.

~°~

A whole week passed, filled with long hours of training with either Clint or Natasha. They were really good, like real professionals, which made Eliott realize that his skills weren’t much above average compared to them. But this just kept fueling his determination to become stronger, faster, never missing a shot.

Sometimes as he met Lucas on the hallways or in the kitchen, but they didn’t have much time to talk both of them occupied with their own training. It still couldn’t make the archer boy forget about that soft touch or ignore the way sometimes the other was looking at him. Those ocean blue eyes haunted his dreams, chasing away the usual nightmares he had ever since he slaughtered his torturers. He knew they were bad people, that they deserved to die, if not for their other crimes, then just for killing his innocent mother. And still flashes of spilling blood, echoes of death screams and the sight of lifeless bodies were the only thing he could hear and see once he closed his eyes. Up until he met this gorgeous boy.

It was Tuesday, his usual training were canceled due to a mission both Natasha and Clint had to participate in. Something happened that involved a guy named Brock Rumlow, so Captain Rogers decided to follow the leads. Eliott only had the chance to see the actual big names from afar considering both Tony Stark and Captain America were busy people. He once had a chance to chat with Sam Wilson, he’s a sympathetic dude with great humor, Eliott liked him a lot. Then there was Manon, the quiet one out of the twins. She’s spending most of her time with either Vision, the android with crazy powers or Natasha, trying to learn how to use her abilities in battle.

Since there wasn’t much thing for him to do without training, he decided to spend his time outside by the river. He sat on the side of the wooden platform, back resting to one of the pillars that held the roof above his head. He looked at the sketchbook placed on his lap, opened on two blank pages, pen laying on his right ear. It was a long time ago since he had time to actually draw something, but he knew exactly what - or more like who - he wanted to draw. The person that got stuck in his mind ever since they met on the driveway of the compound. Someone with eyes so blue that the sky feels jealous, the ocean wants to hide by the sight of them.

He let out a deep sigh, dragging his eyes away from the sketchbook to the calm water, trying to enjoy the quiet. There wasn’t any noise coming from inside the building like always, no one was arguing with F.R.I.D.A.Y. or training with explosives. There wasn’t a thing that could ruin this perfect moment. At least he thought so, until a certain fast boy appeared out of nowhere, creating a wind that almost flew Eliott’s sketchbook out of his lap into the river. Thankfully he had enough consciousness to catch it in time, saving it from getting soaked. He shot an angry look at the short boy, who was standing in front of him now, innocent smile plastered to his face. He was wearing sports grey sweatpants and a white shirt with the word ‘Désir’ written on it. Eliott hated the fact how he looked fucking gorgeous in those clothes too.

“How’s it going?” he asked, running his fingers through the already disheveled hair. Eliott rolled his eyes, clutching his sketchbook to his chest to protect it from the chaos that this brunette was.

“I was doing fine just a second ago.” Eliott replied. Just because he had a crush on this demonic angel, it didn’t mean he can’t be annoyed with his behavior. During the time he had spent here, it became crystal clear that Lucas lived on annoying the hell out of everyone. Which wasn’t that hard considering his abilities.

“Wow, someone’s grumpy.” he smirked and crouched down just so their eyes could be on the same level. “I didn’t know you are drawing.” he said, nodding his head towards the sketchbook.

“Only when I have time.” He said, his sudden anger starting to fade away, giving more space to the fucking nervousness again. This boy was affecting him in ways no one ever did before, which was a tad bit scary. Like the way he smiled made his heart beat crazy fast. “What do you want anyways?” he managed to ask.

“Well, since we both have some free time, I thought we could hang out.” he shrugged and sat down now too, pulling up his knees to his chest, resting his arms on it. Eliott tried not to focus on the veins that were clearly visible on his hands and forearms like this.

“I would prefer to be alone.” He mumbled and that was the biggest lie in the history, because he wanted Lucas to stay, even if they don’t talk.

“Yeah, I don’t care. I am going to stay.” He said with a wide smirk, resting his chin on his arms now, long eyelashes fluttering at him. Eliott was afraid that his heart is going to burst out of his chest. “So… you are an archer boy and an artist? What other talents you have?” He asked curiously, wiggling his perfectly curving eyebrows. The tall one sighed and dragged his eyes away from the boy, just to make talking easier.

“That’s all basically. I am good at shooting and throwing stuff. I rarely miss my target.” His eyes followed a piece of grass floating down the river. This place was so calming and peaceful. It was a long time ago since he got a chance to appreciate nature and its beauty in any kind of way. He forgot how nice the summer breeze can feel on a heated day. How beautiful water looks when it’s mirroring the cloudless, bright blue sky. Everything in this world seemed to be so nice, innocent and sweet in this very moment, almost letting him forget about all the horrors he had seen in his life. All the things he had done. People he killed, tortured and hurt. These just faded away in the bright sunlight, the soft wind taking them far away, leaving nothing but serenity behind.

“What about the drawing?” Lucas voice dragged him out of his thoughts so suddenly he got startled, letting his sketchbook go that was falling towards the water. Everything happened so fast, but within a blink of an eye, his sketchbook as home from his sight. He turned his head towards the boy in front of him, the black notebook in his hands. “That was close.”

“Can you give me back?” He blurted out instead of saying thank you, which was not very polite, but he couldn’t care less. That sketchbook was too important for him.

“What will I get if I give you back?” Lucas asked, playful smile appearing on his face as he got up and took a few steps back, keeping the notebook behind himself. Eliott squinted his eyes at the boy.

“Nothing, that’s mine!”

“But I saved it for you, therefore I deserve a reward, right?” He kept grinning as the archer boy got up, trying to get his sketchbook back, but he started just swaying around quickly and flawlessly.

“No, it’s not how it works. Give it back, Lucas!”

“Come and get it, Robin Hood!” He smirked, sticking out his tongue, slowly backing towards the building. Eliott walked forward with a determined look on his face, but deep inside he kinda enjoyed this little play. Lucas was adorable as he used his speed to get an advantage over him every time he tried to get back the little book.

“You are so annoying! Give it back!”

“I want a reward!”

“What reward?” Eliott sighed, stopping now, placing his hands on his waist. The other one also staying put, looking at him mischievously.

“Stay there and close your eyes.” he replied, bouncing on his feet excitedly. It was just so fucking adorable that Eliott couldn’t resist him, so he just let out a defeated sigh, closing his eyes slowly. He could feel the wind brushing through his hair, his nose filling with a scent he couldn’t recognize at first. It was like the smell of air right after the storm. Then before he could react, soft lips touched his own ever so slightly and carefully like being afraid of rejection. He opened his eyes just a little, taking in the sight of Lucas being so damn close, his features seemed even more beautiful, eyelashes casting long shadows on his pink cheeks. Hair falling to his face, making him look like the young, innocent boy he actually was. And fuck if Eliott didn’t fell for him in that exact moment.

His hands moved on their own, grabbing the brunette’s waist, pulling him so close their bodies were almost pressed at each other and he captured those cherry lips with his own. He could feel the boy gasping into the kiss, the notebook falling out of his hands, landing on the wooden floor with a soft thump. Soft hands were snaking their way up on Eliott’s back, grasping into the black shirt he was wearing. Their kiss started off slow, searching, trying to see how far they can go with the other. In the next moment Eliott found himself pressed to a wooden pillar, the rough material digging into his skin, while a soft body was grinding on his front side. That was probably the best thing he had ever felt. With one hand he kept holding the boy’s waist, while the other was sliding down to grab his thigh, pulling him even closer.

After long minutes of kissing and trying to eat up the other’s face, Eliott pulled back, examining the boy, his flushed cheeks, swollen lips and his ocean eyes that were filled with desire. At least his shirt was accurate, which made the older one smirk. Lucas smirked back at him, fingers gripping into Eliott’s messy locks, pulling him down for an open mouthed kiss this time. Tongues swirling around each other. Not even the soft summer breeze could cool down their bodies now that they were burning in passion.

Their heated up making out session was disturbed by the sound of the Avengers quinjet landing not too far from them. The boys broke apart, looking into each other’s eyes, smiling like idiots. Before Eliott could say a word, Lucas grabbed his hand, squeezing it slightly and started to walk towards the building with him.

“Let’s go and welcome the others.” he said on a cheerful tone, trying to fix his mess of a hair with his free hand. Eliott let out a heartfelt laugh and placed a soft kiss on the top of his head.

“Sure thing, Sonic.” he muttered into his hair to which he got a disapproving look from the boy.

“Fuck off.”

“Nah, you convinced me to stay. Now you gotta deal with my shit.” his smile didn’t seem to disappear anytime soon and damn if that wasn’t feeling good. Lucas gasped, placing his hand over his heart, faked shock plastered to his face.

“Oh, mon dieu! What have I done to myself?” voice dripping from sarcasm, while he was still holding Eliott’s hand. The tall boy laughed, pulling him closer and disentangling their fingers just so he could throw his arm around Lucas’ shoulder, realizing how well he fits there.

“Just shut up.”

“Make me!” Lucas retorted, stopping in their tracks, turning his head to the side. That expectant look on his face was so alluring and sweet, Eliott couldn’t resist. Why would he resist? Therefore he closed the short distance between them, locking their lips together in a soft, slow kiss.

When the weight disappeared from under him alongside with the soft mouth that was pressed to his just a second ago, he almost lost his balance, landing on the floor. He heard laughing from afar, turning his head towards the sound. Lucas was standing in the doorway, leaning to the frame, swinging Eliott’s sketchbook in his hands victoriously.

“Come on, Robin Hood! We have to go.” he said with his cheeky smile that made the tall boy’s heart beating faster. He shook his head with a soft laugh, jogging towards the building where the other was waiting for him.

Now in this very moment Eliott felt like his life had a reason, that all those things happened to him in the past weren’t just to fuck him over, but to lead him towards this moment. He was meant to be here, meeting Lucas, falling for him. It sounded cheesy, so he would probably never admit it out loud, but in this playful boy he found his reason to keep going. And so he will, because he is not gonna let anyone take this away from him. Not this time.

~°~

Make sure to leave a comment or your opinion on this ficlet! I am super nervous, cause I can’t decide if this is a good one or not, but I really wanted to publish it already.

Bious

#Skam France #Elu #An AU no one asked for #Elu MARVEL AU #Eliott Demaury #Lucas Lallemant #Elu fic #Elu fanfic #LEAVE COMMENTS #Lucas and Manon are twins yes #Eliott is a stuttering mess #but he's coming thru #they kiss #ony Clint Barton is presented #because reasons

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