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ducktastic · 3 years

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2020 Gameological Awards

Over on the Gameological Discord, we have an annual tradition of writing up our games of the year not as a ranked list but rather as answers to a series of prompts. Here are my personal choices for the year that was 2020.

Favorite Game of the Year

I didn’t know what to expect when I walked into Paradise Killer. I knew that I liked the vaporwave resort aesthetic from the game’s trailer and figured I was in for a Danganronpa-style murder mystery visual novel with an open-ended murder mystery at its core. Those assumptions were… half-right? The game definitely plays out like the exploration bits of Danganronpa set on the island from Myst but with far simpler puzzles. What I didn’t expect was to fall so deeply in love with the environment—its nooks and crannies, its millennia of lore, its brutalist overlap of idol worship, consumerism, and mass slaughter. It makes sense that the world of Paradise Killer is its strongest feature, since the cast of NPCs don’t really move around, leaving you alone with the world for the overwhelming majority of your experience as you bounce back and forth between digging around for clues and interrogating potential witnesses. And despite what the promo materials indicated, there IS a definitive solution to the crimes you’re brought in to investigate, the game just lets you make judgment based on whatever evidence you have at the time you’re ready to call it a day, so if you’re missing crucial evidence you might just make a compelling enough case for the wrong person and condemn them to eternal nonexistence. Am I happy with the truth at the end of the day? No, and neither is anybody else I’ve spoken to who completed the game, but we all were also completely enthralled the entire time and our dissatisfaction has less to do with the game and more to do with the ugly reality of humanity. I’ve always been of the mindset that “spoilers” are absolute garbage and that a story should be just as good whether you know the twist or not and any story that relies on surprising the audience with an unexpected reveal is not actually that good a story, but Paradise Killer is a game about piecing together your own version of events so I feel that it’s vital to the gameplay experience that people go in knowing as little as possible and gush all about it afterwards. Just trust me, if the game looks even remotely intriguing to you, go for it. I’ve had just as much fun talking about the game after I finished it with friends just getting started as I did actually solving its mysteries myself.

Best Single Player Game

I honestly missed out on the buzz for In Other Waters at launch, so I’m happy I had friends online talking it up as Black Friday sales were coming along. The minimal aesthetic of his underwater exploration game allows the focus to shift more naturally to the game’s stellar writing as a lone scientist goes off in search of her mentor and the secrets they were hiding on an alien world. It only took a few hours for me to become completely absorbed in this narrative and keep pushing forward into increasingly dangerous waters. In Other Waters might just be the best sci-fi story I experienced all year and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys sci-fi novels, regardless of their experience with video games.

Best Multiplayer Game

Look, we all know this year sucked. 2020 will absolutely be chronicled in history books as a fascinating and deeply depressing time in modern history where we all stayed inside by ourselves and missed our friends and family. It was lonely and it was bleak. Which is why it made my heart glow so much more warmly every time I got a letter from an honest-to-goodness real-life friend in Animal Crossing New Horizons. Knowing that they were playing the same game I was and hearing about their experiences and sending each other wacky hats or furniture, it lightened the days and made us feel that little bit more connected. Sure, when the game first launched we would actually take the time to visit one another’s islands, hang out, chat in real-time, and exchange gifts, but we all eventually got busy with Zoom calls, sourdough starters, and watching Birds of Prey twenty-two times. Still, sending letters was enough. It was and still is a touching little way to show that we’re here for one another, if not at the exact same time.

Favorite Ongoing Game

Zach Gage is one of my favorite game designers right now, and when I heard he was releasing a game called Good Sudoku I was sold sight unseen. The game as released was… fine. It’s sudoku and it’s pleasant, but it was also buggy and overheated my phone in a way I hadn’t seen since Ridiculous Fishing (also by Zach Gage) seven years ago. Thankfully, the most glaring bugs have been fixed and I can now enjoy popping in every day for some quick logic puzzle goodness. Daily ranked leaderboards keep me coming back again and again, the steady ramp of difficulty in the arcade and eternal modes means I can always chase the next dopamine rush of solving increasingly complex puzzles. It’s not a traditional “ongoing” game the way, say, Fortnite and Destiny are, but I’m happy to come back every day for sudoku goodness.

Didn't Click For Me

With Fortnite progressively losing me over the course of 2020, finalizing with my wholesale “never again” stance after Epic boss Tim Sweeney compared Fortnite demanding more money from Apple to the American Civil Rights movement (no, absolutely not), I dipped my toe into a number of new “battle pass”-style online arena types of games, and while Genshin Impact eventually got its hooks into me, Spellbreak absolutely did not. With graphics straight out of The Dragon Prince and the promise of a wide variety of magic combat skills to make your character your own, the game seemed awfully tempting, but my first few experiences were aimless and joyless, with no moment of clarity to make me understand why I should keep coming back. Maybe they’ll finesse the game some more in 2021, or a bunch of my friends will get hooked and lure me back, but for now I am a-okay deleting this waste of space on my Switch and PC.

"Oh Yeah, I Did Play That Didn't I?"

I remember being really excited for Murder By Numbers. Ace Attorney-style crime scene investigation visual novel with Picross puzzles for the evidence, art by the creators of Hatoful Boyfriend, and music by the composer of Ace Attorney itself?! Sounds like a dream come true. But the pixel-hunt nature of the crime scene investigations was more frustrating than fun, the picross puzzles were not particularly great, and the game came out literally a week before the entire world went into lockdown which makes it feel more like seven years ago than just earlier this year. I remember being marginally charmed by the game once it was in my hands, but as soon as my mind shifted to long-term self care, Murder By Numbers went from hot topic to cold case.

Most Unexpected Joy

I was looking forward to Fuser all year. As a dyed-in-the-wool DropMix stan, the prospect of a spiritual sequel to DropMix on all major digital platforms without any of the analogue components was tremendously exciting, and I knew I’d have a lot of fun making mixes by myself and posting them online for the world to hear. What I didn’t expect, however, was the online co-op mode to be such a blast! Up to four players take turns making 32 bars of mashups, starting with whatever the player before handed them and adding their own fingerprints on top. It sounds like it should just be a mess of cacophony, but every session I’ve played so far has been just the best dance party I’ve had all year, and everyone not currently in control of the decks (including an audience of spectators) can make special requests for what the DJ should spin and tap along with the beat to great super-sized emoji to show how much they’re enjoying the mix. Literally the only times my Apple Watch has ever warned me of my heightened heart rate have been the times I was positively bouncing in place rocking out to co-op freestyle play in Fuser.

Best Music

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Only one video game this year had tunes that were so bumpable they were upgraded to my general “2020 jams” playlist alongside Jeff Rosenstock, Run the Jewels, and Phoebe Bridgers, and that game was Paradise Killer. 70% lo-fi chill beats to study/interrogate demons to, 20% gothic atmospheric bangers, 10% high-energy pop jazz, this soundtrack was just an absolute joy to swim around in both in and out of gameplay.

Favorite Game Encounter

It’s wild that in a landscape where games let me live out my wildest fantasies, the single moment that lit me up in a way that stood out to me more than any other was serving Neil the right drink in Coffee Talk. Over the course of the game, you serve a variety of hot drinks to humans, werewolves, vampires, orcs, and more, all while chatting with your customers and learning more about their lives and relationships. The most mysterious customer, though, is an alien life form who adopts the name Neil. They do not know what they want to drink and claim it doesn’t make a difference because they cannot taste it. Everybody else wants *something*. Neil is just ordering for the sake of fitting in and exploring the Earth experience. It’s only in the second playthrough that attentive baristas will figure out what to serve Neil, unlocking the “true” ending in the process. Seeing the typically stoic Neil actually emote when they tasted their special order drink? What an absolute treat that was.

Best Free DLC of the Year

It’s still only a couple of days old at the time I’m writing this, but Marvel’s Avengers just added Kate Bishop, aka Hawkeye, and THANK GOODNESS. Almost every character in the game at launch just smashed the endless waves of robot baddies with their fists and that looks exhausting and uncomfortable. Hawkeye (the game calls her Kate Bishop, but come on, she’s been Hawkeye in the comics for over 14 years, let’s show her some respect) uses A SWORD. FINALLY! Aside from that, I’m just having a blast shooting arrows all over the place. She and Ms Marvel are the most likable characters in the game so far, so I hope they keep adding more of the Young Avengers and Champions to the game, and if the recently announced slate of Marvel movies and tv shows are any indication (with America Chavez, Cassie Lang, and Riri Williams all coming soon to the MCU), that seems to be what Marvel is pushing for across all media

Most Accessible Game

Nintendo is, first and foremost, a toy company. They got their start in toys and cards long before video games was a thing, and they still do more tests to ensure their video game hardware is childproof than anybody else in the industry (remember how they made Switch cartridges “taste bad” so kids wouldn’t eat them?). This year, Nintendo got to rekindle some of their throwback, simplistic, toys-and-cards energy with Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics, a Switch collection of timeless family-friendly games like Chess, Mancala, and Backgammon, along with “toy” versions of sports like baseball, boxing, and tennis for a virtual parlor room of pleasant time-wasters. The games were all presented with charming li’l explainers from anthropomorphic board game figurines, and the ability to play quick sessions of Spider Solitaire on the touch screen while I binged The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix made Clubhouse Games one of my most-played titles of the year. Plus, local play during socially-distant friend hangs was an excellent way to make us feel like we were much closer than we were physically allowed to be as friends knocked each other’s block off in the “toy boxing” version of Rock’em Sock’em Robots.

"Waiting for Game-dot"

I get that everyone loves Disco Elysium. I saw it on everyone’s year-end lists last year. I finally bought it with an Epic Games Store coupon this year. This year was a long enough slog of depressing post-apocalyptic drudgery, I didn’t want to explore a whole nother one in my leisure time. I’ll get to it… someday.

Game That Made Me Think

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Holovista was an iPhone game I played over the course of two or three days based on the recommendation of some trusted colleagues on Twitter and oh my goodness was I glad that I played it. What starts as a chill vaporwave photography game steadily progresses into an exploration of psychological trauma, relationships with friends and family, and the baggage we carry with us from our pasts. In this exceptionally hard year, I badly needed this story about spending time alone with your personal demons and finding your way back to the people who love and support you. Just like with Journey and Gone Home, I walked away from Holovista feeling a rekindled appreciation for the people in my life.

#video games #holovista #paradise killer #animal crossing #animal crossing new horizons #spellbreak #good sudoku #fuser #dropmix #in other waters #marvel's avengers #avengers #clubhouse games #coffee talk #2020

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fanfic-scribbles · 6 years

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On the Run: Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen: “What is Love” or “Baby Don’t Hurt Me No More”

Masterlist Here

Overall Story Facts:

Fandom: MCU Avengers; MCU Captain America

Adventure/Romance – James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes/Reader – Female Reader

Warnings: Violence, language, eventual romance, reader character with sassy/abrasive personality

Chapter Summary: You find yourself in a bad way, thanks to your new Hydra pal. He wants to be introduced to Bucky. He should be careful what he wishes for.

Special Chapter Warnings: Reader peril, described torture, violence being visited upon Reader, I don’t know how else to say ‘bad things happen to Reader’

Words: 5954

A/N: I would like to stress that the reader character does not have a super fun time in this chapter and dissociates during periods of torture/interrogation. I was descriptive of it so please take heed; if you need to skip this chapter that is a-okay. Now, that being said…everyone else, please enjoy. Long chapter is long.

Chapter Thirteen: “What is Love” or “Baby Don’t Hurt Me No More”

You are terrified out of your mind, aching from whatever they had injected into you to knock you out, and in pain with a promise of more to come. However, some things just can’t be helped.

Your personality is apparently one of those things.

“Seriously? A dungeon? Do you LARP in your mom’s basement?”

“Do you ever stop talking?” says the wiry looking dork who has brought with him a rolling tray of assorted sharp and blunt objects. Some of them make you want to wet yourself, like the freshly sharpened knives, needles with who-knows-what in them, and a fucking mallet. However, some of them are sort of ‘eh’. Like that old rusted knife that probably can’t hack its way through butter. Ooo, tetanus. So scary. If you were under ten and couldn’t get a booster shot.

Wait, have you had your booster shot? Shit, that might actually be a problem.

But of course, it’s the long, thin, curved knife that the douchebag’s hand hovers over. “I have it on good authority that no, I don’t,” you say and damn it, you're pretty sure he can hear the quiver in your voice. His smile at you confirms it and you look away. Right at Steve, who is strapped down in some kind of tube thing and doing his best concerned face, so you look at the ground instead.

The others are like him too– Sam, Natasha, and even two people you didn’t really expect to be meeting like this: Hawkeye and Iron Man. Most of them are worse for wear and all of them are strapped to gurneys that slant upwards, enclosed in glass covers that you would compare to Snow White’s coffin if these things weren’t filthy with dirt and blood.

It’s hard to avoid looking at everyone when they’re in a half-circle around you. You’re standing, in your underwear, in the center of the room– well, sort of standing. Your wrists are cuffed behind your back and there’s a chain that is wrapped under your arms and shoulders and goes up to the ceiling, while your ankles are chained to the floor to keep you from…wandering, you guess. All that and the most annoying part of this is the grate you’re standing on. The holes are just big enough that if you don’t step carefully your toes get caught in them and that hurts like a bitch and a half when you don’t notice and try to move too fast.

On the plus side, you’re not in an enclosed tube. On the minus side, you’re pretty sure you’re going to be the lesson for everyone who is.

The DM grabs your chin and forces you to look at him. “Focus, sweetheart. I doubt you want to be here all day.”

Your blood rushes at the nickname. “I’m not your ‘sweetheart’, you sack of shit.”

“No, not mine,” he says, looking no less delighted. He purrs your name and you stare at him head on. You’re a woman in the world. If he wants to be the creepiest man you’ve ever met, he’s got some work ahead of him.

Unfortunately he seems to be up for the job, by how he leans in. “That is your name, right?”

“Ugh.” Your nose crinkles at the smell of…an everything bagel? Whatever it is, it does his breath no favors. “Can you breathe somewhere else? I don’t need to know what you had for breakfast. Also, why the rush? You can go brush your teeth; I’ll wait.”

He hits you so fast it stuns you. Your jaw aches and you blink away the stars and immediate pain. Still, at least it’s not a knife. You look at him, playing as cool as you can.

“We have to start slow,” he says and pulls back. “I don’t want to break you before I get my information.” Before you can ask what information you, the creaky fourth wheel on this hellish road trip, can possibly have to offer him, he starts pulling on a smock. “My name is Richard, by the way. I can tell we’re going to be here a while.”

You roll your eyes. Dick. Well, it’s appropriate. “Buddy, I don’t even know what I had for dinner last night. I don’t know what information you’re hoping to get when you probably have more of it than I do.”

“How about that chit chat you had with your boyfriend?” Dick leans in close again. “Hm?”

Well. Shit. Although you didn’t actually find out anything, other than you’d meet up in New York, which is a relief. Not that you’re planning on telling him that, but you figure the less you know, the better.

Dick punches you in the stomach. You gag and try to double over at the force of it. Try, because the chains keep you up enough and don’t give much slack for your effort to preserve those pesky things you like to call ‘internal organs’. You suck in a breath before Dick grabs your hair and yanks your head up. “Where is the Soldier heading?”

“There are a lot of soldiers in this world,” you wheeze. “Though I don’t think I know anybody on active duty.” You think of making a joke about Steve or Sam but ultimately quash it in case you draw Dick’s attention to them. They can probably take a hell of a lot more than you can, but the thought of anyone else being in this position because of you hurts your stomach more than that punch did.

Mother fucking conscience. The second science comes up with a way to surgically remove it you’re going to be first on the sign-up sheet. That thing is nothing but trouble.

Dick punches you harder, making you gasp and pant for air. “You know who I mean,” he says, still creepily level, like nothing about this bothers him at all. Mother fucking Nazis. If you surgically remove your conscience, can you give it away? They need it more than you do, you swear. “Where is the Asset?”

You take a few extra seconds to catch your breath. “You try putting your missing friend on a milk carton?”

Dick backhands you across the face right where he had punched you, only this feels impossibly harder, making you really see stars as a headache begins to swell. You can’t help the way your eyes tear up but you clench your jaw– ow, okay, bad idea. Still, you don’t cry out and that’s something.

“Where is your boyfriend?”

You spit out a little blood. “I don’t have one.” And a tooth. Oy vey; what a mess. “And, uh, if you’re looking to fill the position– buddy, you are going about it the wrong way.”

He presses his lips together into a tight, grim smile, and you weather the hits as they come the best you can. He keeps asking you the same question, ‘where, where, where,’ but you don’t even tell him that you don’t know. Avoiding the topic all together seems safest. As does denying all possible hints of whatever you and Bucky are to each other. You haven’t even gotten a chance to talk about it with Bucky; no way in hell are you talking it out with Dick. He is officially banned from Girls’ Night.

Thankfully, his hitting and occasional kicking is something you can mostly bear. Seriously, high school bullies are more inventive than this shit stain. You kind of sort of really hope it stays that way.

“All right,” Dick says, walking away and sounding as calm as if he hasn’t just been using you as a punching bag. The pain isn’t as bad as you might have thought. Less sharp, more of a constant ache all over, but you’re panting like you’ve gone a few rounds yourself. Fuck, does this make you Rocky? And is it hilarious or awful to cast the wiry white Nazi as Apollo? You’re gonna go with ‘awful’.

Dick comes back. Holding a tape player.

A tape player. Hydra, feared terrorists, ruthless assassins, and government infiltrators, are using fucking cassettes.

God, if Dick plays you his Excellent Eighties mix you’re going to throw yourself on his torture tray and hope something on there hits a vital organ.

“Please, no Air Supply, anything but that,” you say with as much drama as you can muster. It isn’t. Much, that is. You’re a little woozy.

Dick hits play. The tape is scratchy, but you can make it out just fine.

“Wanna tell us who your girlfriend is?” a raspy, strained voice asks. The person sounds pained to a point you can really relate with right now, honestly.

“No,” says your favorite deadly trash vermin. His voice lowers to a register and tone that, frankly, you don’t ever want to hear aimed in your direction. “And you’re going to regret ever finding out about her.”

Dick stops the playback and does an exaggerated shrug.

That’s…huh.

“But the important question is: did he post it on Facebook?” You ‘tsk’ even as that recording plays back in your head. And again. “Not official unless it’s up on the wall.”

Dick hits you again, and again, and again. You take it as well as you can but you’re still left dizzy and barely able to see, between the double-vision and the tears. He stops you from swaying and the weight of his hands on your shoulders makes you tremble. What is he going to do now? “This is your last chance before we get started,” he says, lowly. It’s pretty piss poor compared to Bucky’s looming voice, but Bucky isn’t here. This guy is. “Tell me what you and the Asset spoke about and I will show you mercy.”

Your stomach sinks. You think about feeding him some lies but he’d probably figure it out and then you’d be in even worse shape. Did Bucky even tell you anything of note? You’re pretty sure Dick doesn’t care about your shared emotional immaturity and Bucky only mentioned that everybody was supposed to be heading home. That he would be too. You almost tell Dick that– that Bucky’s going home where he’ll be safe and far the hell away from any Hydra douchebag who wants him– but would that give them a lead, an edge that they could use to hurt him? Is that something Bucky doesn’t want them to know? It’s best to keep quiet, in this case.

Dick pulls up his knife and holds it in front of your eyes. “Going once, going twice…”

You glare at him. “Going go fuck yourself.” You immediately try to brace yourself for the fallout but Dick doesn’t hit you. He does something worse.

He smiles.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he says and presses sharp steel into your flesh.

It’s a weird night. Bucky is silent, in one of his moods, and you’ve had a shit week so you’re not exactly Little Miss Extrovert yourself. Still, you’re going ahead with your plans to make a ‘decent’ dinner by foisting all the work on the guy who had the audacity to complain about the food you buy. Now maybe he’ll appreciate why you go for easy, oven-heated meals.

But as you walk out of your room after changing into something comfier, you find him standing completely still at the counter. As you move around him you see all of the potatoes have been peeled but only one has been chopped up, and another is gripped loosely in his left hand while he stares hard at the giant knife he holds in the other.

Great. This is totally reassuring. “Bucky?” you ask. He doesn’t budge an inch. Yep, totally great to have a former assassin holding a knife and probably having an episode. You take a small step forward, because nobody has ever accused you of being too smart and sensible for your own good. Bucky tells you the opposite whenever he can, in fact. “Bucky, seriously, if you want to check out your hair go use the mirror like a semi-normal person.”

He still shows no sign of life. It’s times like these you wish there was a manual– ‘How to Take Care of Your Formerly-Brainwashed Super Assassin.’ Granted, he’s not ‘yours,’ but he spends enough time at your house that you feel like you have to take partial ownership. Times like these you don’t really want to, but he’s still staring at the knife and you just hope he won't stick it in your brain. “Hey, Trash Panda!”

He flinches and turns his head to look at you with wide eyes. You find yourself a little helpless in the face of such blatant fear, but he schools himself back to his usual aloofness quick enough for it to be just a little blip. Thankfully. You are not good at feelings, though you sometimes try to make an effort at it.

“Geeze, we’re never gonna eat at this rate.” Your version of ‘try’ doesn’t mean you always succeed, but in this case you do get the knife away from him so you can start chopping the potatoes into mostly-okay pieces. Mostly. Bucky observes you quietly for a few moments as you struggle to keep the fucking food equivalent of a bar of soap in your hand without chopping your fingers off.

“That looks painful,” he murmurs.

“I haven’t cut myself,” you say. Yet.

“I meant for the potato.”

You give him the meanest look you can muster but he just looks smug which is totally unfair but even you won't joke about whatever dark place he just visited. So you punch him. Unfortunately, Bucky has turned and your aim is shit, so your knuckles collide with metal. Not terribly hard, but hard enough to cause a little pain, and hard enough to make you drop the knife in surprise, which you fumble to catch like the dumbass you are.

“Ow! Ow!” you whine to both hands, one aching, the other stinging. Bucky pushes you over to the sink to start rinsing the blood off and he quickly holds a kitchen towel to the cut. He’s shaking and for a moment you’re afraid the blood has triggered a bad memory, but when you look at him he’s silently ‘laughing’.

He’s laughing.

“You asshole!” You use your not-cut hand to punch his not-metal shoulder. Even on flesh it doesn’t go much better for you.

“Go sit down,” he chuckles as he bandages you up. “And try not to bludgeon yourself on the coffee table on the way, yeah?”

You’re set to argue out of sheer stubbornness but both of your hands are out of commission and at this rate you’re going to “Final Destination” your way into a truly ignominious death. A strategic retreat from kitchen hell might be in order. “I hate you,” you grumble and shuffle away.

Bucky ruffles your hair and flashes you a genuine smile you haven’t seen on his face before. “No you don’t.”

Dick makes a small but deep cut in your neck that makes you gasp for how much blood flows out. It’s not technically as bad as some of the others he’s carved into you– that one on your leg is tough to look at– but going out via slit throat seems like a real bad time to you.

But Dick is there, with a cloth and, “Don’t worry sweetheart, I’d never let you bleed out so soon. We’re just getting started. Unless you want to cooperate and tell me where the Soldier– where your Sergeant Barnes is heading?”

The way he sneers, like Bucky doesn’t deserve a goddamn name, makes Rational Thought and Reasonable Discourse take a backseat. Right into the trunk. “Cancun. He needs a nice beach vacation.”

Dick slaps you. You give a half-hearted shrug. As much as you can while strung up, anyway. “Yeah, I told him the Bahamas look much nicer, but what can you do?”

He puts his fingers over a gash he made in your shoulder and pushes them in. You scream but he doesn’t stop and for seconds that feel like minutes that feel like hours you can only think I won't give him up I won't give him up I won't I won't I won–

But why? Why won't you? Not that you’ve ever made a habit of selling out people you care about, but you hate pain and you always figured you’d crack like an egg if anybody ever threatened you with so much as a papercut. The question is worth examining if only to find out why your sanity and self-preservation have left the building.

The answer comes in a flash of pain and isn’t that just the most appropriate thing ever? You actually laugh. Dick grabs a handful of your hair and yanks your head back. “What’s so funny?”

“Hell of a time to have a revelation,” you mumble, still chuckling. It’s sort of funny. You had assumed you care so much about Bucky because you can maybe, some day, sort of, perhaps, in the future, possibly, eventually, kind of come to love that insufferable asshole.

You hadn’t really stopped to consider that you’re already there.

Stupid fucking trash panda. But then what does that make you? Ugh. Best not to think about it right now.

Ice cold water is dumped over you and you yell out in surprise. Dick’s mom’s basement is already chilly but the arctic shower you just took is so cold that your body isn’t shivering so much as it’s spasming.

“Don’t worry,” Dick says, going through a toolbox he’s pulled up. “I’ll find something to warm you up.”

It’s hot and miserable. You’ve been trying to sleep for hours, but the night is relentless and you decide to stop sweating through your sheets for a few minutes.

You get to the living room and jump about five feet. Wow, okay, Bucky’s home apparently. “I thought you said you weren’t a robot,” you say as you approach him. He continues to stare blankly at the window. Out of the window? No, definitely just at. Shit, but that expression is too familiar to be good. Still, you stand next to him. “But normal humans don’t sleep like that.”

He blinks. “What?” he asks.

“Where’s your head at?” you ask back.

He presses the hot poker against your collarbone and you scream. It’s harder to tune this out when the cuts simultaneously burn. You’re starting to sweat.

“I told you I’d warm you up,” Dick says and pushes your head to one side, leaving a broad expanse of your neck wide open.

Bucky shakes his head. “Nowhere good,” he mumbles. His throat pulses with a swallow. “I shoulda stayed gone. It’s too fuckin’ hot.”

“Man, you’re tellin’ me.” you fan yourself. “I didn’t know you got back already. You’re lucky I’m wearing clothes.”

“I don’t know if I’d call that ‘lucky,’ doll.”

You choke on air. “Well, Mr. Barnes, I do declare!” you manage to say as he chuckles. It gets quiet again and Bucky looks a little less unnerved, but still not quite relaxed. He’s still…

“What?” he asks you.

There’s no nice way for you to ask this question. So maybe you shouldn’t. But he’s staring at you and ugh, you might as well just ask and deal with the fallout. “Does your head ever go anywhere good?” you say and lean against the couch arm. “You remember stuff before Hydra…is any of it good?”

He looks thoughtful, not angry, so that’s something. “Sometimes.” He squints, like there’s something only he can see in the distance. His lips quirk into a slight smile. “Cool bottles, hot night. Steve laughing about something.”

From the way the smile molds to his face you assume there’s more to that than he’s saying, but that’s okay. He looks content so you go to the kitchen and turn the faucet on, letting it run until it’s cold while you grab a few things.

When you return to the living room it’s with two wet, cold dishtowels and fresh-out-of-the-fridge beer bottles. You’re already wearing your towel and when you drape the other one around the back of Bucky’s neck he lets out a satisfying little groan.

You plop down next to him. “Sounds nice, but it must have been hard not to actually get your drink while it was cold.” But as you hold the sweating bottle to your cheek, you can see the appeal.

Bucky grunts his agreement and holds up his frosty beverage. You hit yours to it and you both take long pulls, and settle in to suffer together.

Dick drags the hot point down your back and you scream and try to pull away but he holds you steady. Your blood feels like fire, molten streaming down your back. He says “hm” in a pleased tone of voice, like his little lightsaber fantasy has been satisfied. Fucking thank god, though, he walks back around to your front and puts the poker down.

“Congratulations, sweetheart,” Dick says, pulling off his torture-approved oven mitts. “You’ve lasted almost six hours already.”

How is it possibly still the same day? You want to ask but all you can do is drool.

“What’s wrong? No smart comments?”

You roll your eyes and pull up some energy by the sheer power of your assholery. “Buddy…if I was…a…vegetable…I’d still be…smarter than…you.” You breathe deep and force yourself to stand upright. “No comments needed.”

Dick grins. “I’m glad to see you haven’t broken yet.” He smooths your hair back. “I’ll let you rest up a bit and we’ll pick this up later.”

You’re spent so you can’t even pretend to fight back when he has two of his buddies come in and unhook you. Everything is stiff and doesn’t want to move and you almost wish they weren’t taking you down. Almost. Though it’s not much better when they stick you in the most uncomfortable chair you’ve experienced outside of a Pier One or Ikea and strap you down.

You don’t realize you’ve dozed until you’re getting doused with cold water yet again and Dick says, “Rise and shine, sweetheart!”

“Buddy, words cannot express just how much I am not here for your “Flashdance” fetish,” you stammer through chattering teeth.

“It sounds like you had a nice nap,” Dick says and pulls up a chair. “I’m glad. Are you ready to chat, yet? If not, we can get started right away.”

This guy is such a tool. “What part of ‘fuck off’ confuses you?”

He holds his heart– or at least, the space where it should be– and mocks a sad expression. “Sweetheart, I thought we were friends. You keep calling me ‘buddy’.”

“You’re right, so sorry. It’s ‘Dick’, right?”

“Richard, actually.”

“Pretty sure that’s what I just said.”

He grips your thigh and digs his thumbnail into the long, jagged cut, dragging his thumb down and through, splitting the wound and making it bleed once more.

You don’t scream but you choke and gasp and hiss, “Son of a bitch!”

“I like that one. We’ll keep it open,” he murmurs. He smiles bigger and says, normally, “I prefer ‘buddy’.”

“Too bad, Dick.” Seriously, what does he take you for. Wait, it’s probably better not to know. “Though if you stop with the stupid nickname you have for me, I’ll consider dropping the one I have for you.” Unlikely to actually happen, but it seems charitable to at least offer to think about it. You’re nice like that.

“What, ‘sweetheart’? But you are one.” He leans closer. “Will you be my sweetheart?”

Your face almost twists right off your body, you’re so grossed out by the idea. “Ohhhh, ugghhhhh. Man, I’d rather sit through a six-hour lecture on safe sex as given by Captain America.” Actually, when you think about it, that sounds kind of hilarious. “Or I’d rather–” have Dick cut out your ‘sweet’ (gross) ‘heart’ out with the tetanus knife.

“You’d rather…” Dick prompts.

“Eh, I’m not gonna say it because you might actually do it.” Sick bastard.

“If it hurts, then it’s likely.” Dick smiles again and pats your cheek. The touch is light but it still makes you flinch. “It’s all right, I understand. You’re taken.”

You're not getting into that again, so you keep quiet. Dick stands up, looks at the ground, and nods his approval before going to the corner of the room to get something. You glance at the floor but it’s just the same old grate underneath you and flat floor everywhere else. Nothing special.

He rolls over a weird looking box-thing, with dials and switches all over the top and a bundle of wires piled on top. “I’m very excited to share this with you,” he says and starts untangling the wires, pausing to show you two circular pads. “It’s not the exact unit, but this treatment was your boyfriend’s favorite.”

You stare at them for a moment, until it hits you.

You’ve never killed anyone in your life, but if you had to kill him, you’d do it right now without hesitation, and you know it wouldn’t keep you up at night.

“Oh!” Dick laughs. That fucking monster laughs. “He told you about this.”

Not in so many words, which makes it worse. You’re not comfortable with this asshole knowing that, though, so you play it off with a little shrug. “Or I saw it on the news or in an interview or something. There was a lot about the Winter Soldier.” You look him right in the eyes. “Especially when he started kicking you guys right in the teeth.”

Dick smiles patiently and holds the pads up. God, is this how they looked when they hooked Bucky up? Did they smile, laugh, joke when they did this to him? You had a TENS unit, once. The day Bucky had seen you put it on your shoulders– well, it was the one time you had feared Bucky. Feared and been so sad for him. That expression on his face was not, is not, one you ever, ever want to see again.

Something that can hurt Bucky like that absolutely terrifies you. Is it just torture? Or will they do to you what they did to him? Will they strip you down and make you forget?

Also, fuck your life where you can think of anything as ‘just torture’.

As Dick is about to stick those wires to you, a door swings open in the distance. Somewhere over…fuck, you can’t even pretend to know. Or care. But some other guy calls out something in not-English and Dick responds likewise, and they converse for a few moments.

Dick sighs and puts down the wiring, and as much as you don’t want him to know how scared you are, you can’t help how your whole body sags with relief. “I have to go report in, but I’ll be right back,” he says and leaves.

You tug at chains and straps but they don’t get any looser and you certainly haven’t gotten any stronger in the past five minutes. Still, it seems better than sitting and waiting for Farquad to mosey on back.

You haven’t checked on the others yet– you’ve periodically forgotten that they’re there– and you still don’t want to. If they’re alive then they’ve been watching you get worked over and you’re not a fan of however they’re going to look at you. You don’t know how much they’ve heard but there have to get air in there somehow.

Unless they’re all dead…

Fuck it. You do a quick scan to make sure everyone’s alive and you ignore Steve’s attempt to keep your attention. Whatever he needs you to do, you don’t think you’re capable, and doesn’t that just suck. If Natasha and you were switched she probably would have snapped Dick’s neck by now. You’d be out of here, not getting–

Gunshots sound on the level above you and your heart leaps into your throat. You pull on the restraints– again, not any looser, but the thought of being trapped in the open while guns are going off is terrifying.

The door slams open and Dick runs in, blood on his face and looking alarmed. Well, that’s a sight. You don’t really get to enjoy it though; he scrambles behind you, grabs your chin and pins your head to his stomach as he presses his gun to your temple. And then you…wait.

Not for long, though. You didn’t hear anyone follow Dick down but there Bucky is, sliding out of the shadows like a ghost rematerializing. You’re speechless in the presence of him. He’s standing tall, suited up in all black, and already wearing what you assume is his best murder face. But then he looks around at his friends, trapped, and then at you, and if you were Dick you’d wet yourself at the look Bucky is giving him.

Then again, if you were Dick, you would have made very different life choices leading up to now, so, to each their own and all that.

“Put the gun down,” Bucky says, while wielding his own. At Dick. Who is right behind you.

Bucky’s murder face is suddenly way, way, way less attractive.

“No, that’s not how this is going to work.” Dick presses the gun even closer. “Stand down, Soldier.”

Bucky stares at him. This really, really sucks, but all you can do is hope it’s quick and…and…

Bucky unloads the ammo from the gun, letting it fall to the floor before he tosses the gun itself far away from him. But Dick doesn’t let up on you. “All of your weapons, Soldier. I’m not stupid.”

“That’s debatable,” you mutter as Bucky rolls his eyes. Well, at least you’re in agreement on that. But Bucky starts removing weapons from his person– knives, guns, holy hell are those bombs, clips, rounds, and things you’re glad you can’t identify. At the rate the pile of death is growing, you have to consider your trash panda is really more of a murder squirrel. The last thing Bucky throws on the pile is a knife smaller than the two Bowies already buried and it’s all so ridiculous you almost laugh. Almost, because Dick still has a gun to your head and that is not conducive to hilarity.

“Upstairs is almost cleared out,” Bucky says. “You should either try to kill me now or surrender already. You’re not walking out of here.”

“Well…not alone,” Dick says. He says a word in Russian that makes Bucky go stiff and wide-eyed. Dick says another and Bucky jerks, like he’s going for one of his weapons, but then Dick smashes your head with the gun and Bucky stops at your cry of pain.

You’re a little woozy but then Dick says another word and finally, finally you get it. And swallow your heart. “Bucky– no!” you shout over the next word, hoping Bucky will just fucking run or something, but he doesn’t, he stays where he is, why is he still standing there?! Dick grabs your head by your mouth and the silence is punctuated with the last few words.

Bucky goes slack– not falling, but he’s no longer so tense. His expression goes flat, and his eyes–

–you can’t look at them for more than a second. There’s nothing of him in there. No Bucky, no Trash Panda, no person.

The Winter Soldier speaks in Russian and you want to wake up now. Because this– this can’t be happening. Bucky can’t drop his weapons because of you. Bucky can’t be forced to listen to those words because of you.

Bucky can’t be lost because of you.

Dick takes the gun away from your head. You don’t feel any safer for it. “How many did you bring with you, Soldier?” he asks, breathing easier. You hate him with every part of your fucking salty soul.

“Twelve.”

Dick practically hisses. “Damn,” he says and walks around. You assume he’s looking at the others but you can’t stop looking at–…at Bucky. At where Bucky was. Still is. You feel dizzy. Passing out would be real nice right now.

“We have no time to take care of the rest. Shame. But…” Dick goes to stand next to Bucky. He puts his gun in Bucky’s hand.

“Let’s make sure you never want to come out of being the weapon you were always meant to be,” Dick says. “Kill her.”

Bucky takes aim and you can only stare dumbly at them. At Dick, smirking, and at Bucky, so cold and distant. Bucky never talked about what Steve did to snap him out of it. He only said that Steve had almost died because of it. And you don’t have that history. You don’t have that innate level of friendship and love. You have less than a year of memories, some good, some bad, and a lot of ‘maybe’s that could have been.

The shot rings out, and you wonder why you don’t feel any pain.

Until Dick crumples to the ground.

Bucky drops his hand, still holding the gun. “Moron,” he sneers at the body and then looks at you, back to his resting murder face and with life back in his eyes.

You…

You breathe.

Deeply.

Bucky is going to regret not shooting you because you are going to murder the FUCK out of him.

You keep the growing well of rage and upset down while he, with some effort, rips the lid off Natasha’s tube, unstraps her, and snaps something in Russian that has her running to Dick’s body. You even hold it together when Bucky puts his hands on you and braces you while he rips at straps and chains like they’re Silly Putty.

It’s when he’s helping you up and you start to fall, only for him to catch you by wrapping his arms around you, that you lose it. “You– you fucking jerk! You bastard!” You hit him. Not hard; you aren’t capable of it and you don’t really want to hurt hurt him, not really, but– “You asshole you scared the shit out of me!”

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair and, shit, he looks really good. Full-bodied and healthy, like he’s eating enough, and his hair is all soft, and is this some sort of weird halo effect from him saving you? Would you be eyeing Steve this much if he had shot the guy?

Ugh. That’s a gross thought.

“It was necessary.” Bucky is half carrying you because your body is in a state of ‘just don’t wanna’ that you feel you can’t be blamed for. “It’s good that you believed it, because he had to.”

It makes sense. It worked. Still. “You’re the fucking worst,” you mumble and lean into him, intending to rest your eyes for just a second. “Officially my least favorite trash panda. Even under that bastard that left a torn up garbage bag in the middle of the sidewalk.”

He chuckles. “I missed you too,” he says with a warmth that you’re convinced you’re imagining. Heroic rescue is a hell of a drug.

“No you didn’t.” Tears slip down your cheeks. “You weren’t ever going to come back. You would have stayed gone forever.”

He sighs. “It was better. Safer.”

After the past couple of days– actually, the past week plus, you have an itemized list on just how much bullshit that is. You can give a lecture on it, even without updating it to include right now. Luckily for him, exhaustion pulls you out of consciousness before you can start your presentation, but he is gonna fucking get it later.

Maybe you’ll make a PowerPoint.

User Tag List: @gravity-9-8 @grey-stardancer @asslikegilinsky @howdoesoneadult @projectxhappiness @jadepc @fandomlover03

#bucky x reader #avengers reader insert #avengers fanfic #james bucky barnes #reader insert #on the run #torture

120 notes · View notes

stylinsonlibrary · 6 years

Note

Do you know any good fics where harry and Louis are girls?

FEM LARRY FIC REC

nobody saves me, baby (the way you do) by ariadne_odair (2k)

Harry snorts, eyes closed. “Wouldn’t want to give off the wrong impression. Harry Styles visits family home of Louis Tomlinson. What a scandal.”

Louis smirks. “Almost as if Larry Stylinson was real, innit?”

Liam sighs wearily, tearing her eyes away from the screen. “Louis, you’re so weird.”

Louis widens her eyes, slapping a hand to her chest. Harry’s lips curve up at the edges at the movement. “What the hell are you talking about, Liam? Me and Harry are nothing but platonic gal pals.”

“Yeah,” Harry grins, opening her eyes and sitting up slightly. “Totally platonic.”

She then proceeds to kiss Louis within an inch of her life, messy and dirty, hands fisted in Louis’ hair, hips rutting against Louis’, until her head is spinning and her clit is beginning to throb, arousal coiling in her stomach and nails digging into Harry’s back.

brighter than the sun by tothemooon (2k)

Harry grins, dimples coming out at full force; Louis has to physically stop herself from reaching out and tracing them with the tip of her tongue. She thinks it might be a bit inappropriate, considering they have just met.

or, Louis meets Harry at a flea market.

your style is a sunny smile by noisystreet (3k)

Harry and Louis paint their friends' flat, soft girlfriends shenanigans ensue.

that time of the month by noisystreet (3k)

"If she wasn’t currently bleeding out from the inside and on a desperate mission to put a stop to that she would probably be more appreciative of the girl in front of her, all long legs and long hair and long lashes, blinking at Louis under the harsh neon lights."

Louis gets ready to go to war over a box of tampons and ends up with something she definitely wasn't expecting. Don't say your uterus never did anything for you.

Baby I’m A Put On A Show Kind Of Girl by Star55 (3k)

“You,” Harry says as she flicks out her tongue, running it over the shell, “are concentrating far too hard.”

Louis hums in the back of her throat and tilts her head to the side, letting Harry have as much access as she wants. “Gotta get this stuff done, babe,” she replies.

In which Harry gives her girlfriend a lap dance.

Magic by dolce_piccante (3k)

Harry and Louis go to Disney for a wonderful holiday filled with familiar characters, fireworks, and some Magic Kingdom magic.

body, baby, body, body (love to funk my) by bottomlinsons (3k)

Harry wants to go hiking, Louis is reluctant and Hawaii is beautiful.

Just Like Mummy by Star55 (4k)

Louis and her daughter spend some quality time together while Harry is away for work. They both pine a little.

It’s A Long Way Down by onlyhuman (4k)

There’s a loud rumble, along with the sound of something shattering below the hood. Louis has just enough time to swerve her car to the emergency lane before it comes to a standstill and they’re stranded on a road. Very public car sex ensues.

All’s Fair in Love and Laundry by larrymylove (4k)

“What the fuck are you wearing there, mate?” A female voice asked, laced with amusement.

Harry gritted her teeth and gripped a t-shirt tightly in her hands as she replied in a taut voice, “Look, I’ve had a long day and this is all that was clean. So I’m obviously doing laundry. Also, obviously, I’m not in the mood to defend my fashion choices right now after said long day, so...”

“Whatever,” the voice said, “You look like you’re wearing a fucking parachute. A fucking parachute with cats on.”

Harry has run out of clothes to wear. So she puts on the hideous nightgown Gemma got her for Christmas and prays no one sees her as she makes a mad dash to the laundry room to fix her clothing situation. Of course, the universe hates her (or maybe loves her) because in walks the most beautiful girl Harry has ever seen. Banter and teasing ensue and maybe a bit of romance too. And maybe, just maybe, that ugly nightgown wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Butterflies by larrymylove (4k)

Louis hates Harry. Harry hates Louis. They don't really know why. It's just the way things have been since they were children. But they aren't children anymore. In fact, they're away at uni together, living in the same student housing. One day, Harry appears on Louis' doorstep with a bit of a predicament, and suddenly Louis realizes maybe she doesn't Harry as much as she thought. In fact, maybe she's a little bit sort of in love with her. Featuring a Netflix and cuddle date, lots of fluff, and an Anne of Green Gables reference just because.

Lips Won’t Let Me Go by LoadedGunn (5k)

This is it. This is the highlight of Louis' life. She hooks her chin on Harry's shoulder, and then says ecstatically, "Driver? Roll up the partition please."

Or, Harry and Louis are celebrity girlfriends who fuck in limos.

We Beat the Odds Together by annewithane (5k)

Louis shoves Harry towards the bed. “Take your top off.”

It’s the first day back after winter break and over a month since Louis has seen Harry’s boobs. Aside from the picture Harry had sent her on her birthday.

And then they’re right in front of her. And they’re pierced.

“What the fuck?” Louis steps forward, grabbing onto Harry’s waist. “When did you get these?” They were definitely not in the photo. Louis would have noticed them having looked at the picture multiple times since Harry first sent it.

University AU where two girl take their time falling in love.

half as much as I love you by ariadne_odair (5k)

How is Louis supposed to compete with that? Louis, in her denim jacket and vans, with her too curvy body, her too thick thighs. She doesn't know how to compete with a 21 year old graduate, with smoky lashes and hair that belongs on a shampoo advert.

She shouldn't have to compete, is the thing. She shouldn't have to fight for Harry, because Harry is her girlfriend. Even if she seems to have forgotten that.

Or the one where Louis is jealous and insecure, and all Louis wants is for her girlfriend to want her, and she's scared that Harry doesn't (only of course she does.)

Lay Down, Decide Me by Bearandleonardwrite (5k)

She sends off a last text reading, "I just really want Lou to pull my hair while I eat her out. Is that too much to ask," before burrowing herself under the blankets. When her phone dings with a reply, she's expecting Zayn to complain about overshare, but instead what she gets is, "be there in 10." From Louis. Which. Oh fuck.

Basically; Harry and Louis meet and then they pine. Harry sends a mildly inappropriate text to Louis on accident, and, well, things happen. Featuring Mr. Snuggles the cat.

Ridiculous by Star55 (5k)

The first time they meet, Harry’s got her tits out and Louis inhales hairspray. The events might be related.

As Time Goes By by 1Diamondinthesun (6k)

Louis found herself enthralled with the way Harry talked; kind of hesitant and drawn out, like she wasn’t really expecting to be heard. Louis wondered who in Harry’s life talked over her or tried to make her stop in the middle of a story. That would be a shame, because Louis was loving their conversation. There was something about the way that Harry’s mouth formed the words, and the rasp of her voice. Louis hated talking on the phone as a rule, but she imagined she could listen to Harry talk for hours. She wanted to curl up next to her on the couch and listen to Harry talk about anything and everything.

Wow. Louis needed to get a grip. They hadn’t even opened the wine yet, and Louis was already fantasizing about cuddling Harry.

inhale and hold the evening by snsk (7k)

harry composes music. louis is making a movie.

You Landed on My Mind by ivegotfireforaheart (7k)

When Harry decides she wants to leave her uni and friends behind for a gap year to get to know herself, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn decide to drag her along to France for a trip together first. And, really, Harry is completely fine with spending time so close to Louis. Really.

Rush Crush by domesticharry (7k)

Louis nodded at Niall and watched as she pulled the double doors wide open, revealing a crowd of unfamiliar faces. Taking a step towards the back of the foyer, Louis let the feeling of rush wash over her; the chanting, the nervous expressions, and the-

Stumbling through the entryway was a slender girl with dark chocolate curls. Louis picked her out of the crowd immediately seeing as how she was the only one who wasn’t wearing something overly feminine. No, this one was dressed in black skinny jeans that accentuated the obscene length of her legs. Her black Chelsea boots were shiny, softly reflecting the glow from the hanging chandelier. Louis’ eyed trailed back up and noticed the faint trace of ink showing through the girl’s white t-shirt.

Clarendon & Gingham by noisystreet (7k)

Harry and Louis both run popular Instagram accounts and despite barely knowing each other decide to spend a week together for a collab. Cue destroyed vegetable gardens, fruits Louis can't even pronounce, and not a lot of Instagram to be honest.

Hawkeye, Not Hulk by kikikryslee (7k)

Everyone at the party was having a blast, but Louis sat on the kitchen counter drinking some of her mom’s sangria. She wished that she could be brave enough to text Harry, because they needed to talk.

But she wasn’t brave. She was eighteen and afraid of her best friend not liking her back.

With a sigh, she took another sip from her cup. It was going to be a long night.Or, the one where Harry and Louis have been best friends since they were kids, and they're the only two people in the world that don't know they like each other.

bright lights (she’s fading) by onlyhuman (8k)

“Alright, are you ready?” Harry smirks and spares a glance at the needles scribbling on the paper, watching the regular movement of the waves so she can spot later on when something seems out of the ordinary.

“No,” Louis answers, crossing her arms. She’s aware she’s coming off as a petulant child, but honestly. Discussing your kinks in a classroom where anybody could hear? Even worse, discussing your kinks with the best person uni could have ever given you and who you want to explore those kinks with? That is Satan’s work, Louis is sure of it.

“So,” Harry’s voice starts, bringing Louis back to the moment, even if she wishes she wasn’t here at all, “What are you into?”

Or: Harry and Louis are psychology students in uni. Their professor is a bit of a fuckwit who makes it seem like kink discussion in a classroom is completely normal. It gets a bit out of hand.

breaking the rules (like we’re changing the game) by ariadne_odair (8k)

“Fuck, what are you doing here?” Louis hisses, hastily grabbing a paper towel to dry her hands. She crumples it into a ball when she’s done and lobs it into the bin. “You have to go now, this will look so dodgy.”

Harry raises an eyebrow, leaning against the door frame. She looks gorgeous, all long and lean, legs that go on forever and cute, little love handles. Louis wants to kiss her so badly. “Boo, we’re in a toilet.”

“Exactly,” Louis snaps, putting her hands on her hips. “What do girls who like girls get up to in toilets?”

Harry blinks. “Um. Pee?”

Louis and Harry try secretly dating. Try being the operative word.

Step Into My Ring by orphan_account (9k)

Before she disappears from sight she turns around. “Who am I fighting by the way? Anyone I know?” Louis asks, and Liam looks up from the discarded boxing gloves in her lap.

“Well, that depends. Have you ever heard of Harry Styles?”

Louis Tomlinson is at the top of her professional boxing career when she gets the opportunity to fight against Harry Styles in a charity match. A rivalry starts blooming between them, but when the two opponents meet at a fundraising gala for the first time, sparks fly instead of fists.

a fool for another day by homelesshats (9k)

It's the middle of December, 1997 in Spring Valley, New York. Louis is a potty-mouthed dancer that wants to make it into Juilliard, Harry is a doe-eyed, amateur photographer, Zayn is the most popular boy in school, Niall is loud and Irish, and Liam's just along for the ride.

i will be the sun (i will wake you up) by tomorrows (9k)

"You're quite cute when you get all fussy about true love, you know that?"

Harry’s conviction falters for a second. “Thank you,” she deadpans. “It means very much a lot to me.”

AU where Zayn gets turned into a mermaid, Harry and Louis are soulmates, and everyone's a princess.

don’t fall in love with the moment (and think you’re in love with the girl) by traumatic (10k)

The first time Louis realizes she's meant to teach is during her final year at school. She's standing in front of her friends, her enemies, her teacher, as she gets a grade on how well she explains the reproductive cycle.She stares at them and they stare back, listening and watching her with careful, attentive eyes. She opens her mouth, swallows back her fear, and teaches.It's the most important moment of Louis' entire life.

or where Louis is a British teacher living in an American world and Harry's just a girl that seems to be a magnet for thieves.

Clap your hands (if you’re feeling gay) by Conscious_ramblings (10k)

Louis has had a shit year involving a shit break up. The last thing she wants when coming to Minehead is to meet someone new. She is 'getting away from it all' by going to work in a language school in one of the crappiest places imaginable. The chances of meeting anyone hot, let alone anyone hot and into girls, are nil.

So why is she so obsessed with the hot, tall, curl haired girl who happens to be her boss? Why does she fall head over converse heels just as soon as she steps foot in the centre? Those are questions that Louis refuses to even acknowledge, let alone answer.

That is until her curly haired boss asks to kiss her, and she has to confront them all.

Lumiere, Darling by dea_liberty (11k)

She’s so gone it’s not even funny. It really isn’t funny because falling in love with your best friend is such a stupid, idiotic, dumb thing to do, and there’s only ever a happy ending in romantic comedies. Louis (she claims, loudly and publicly whenever anyone will listen despite the fact that she’ll watch them with Harry any time Harry asks her to) hates romantic comedies.

The thing is, when it really comes down to it, Louis never stood a chance.

Wild at Heart Ain't Hard to Find by QuickedWeen (11k)

Louis and her best friends Niall and Liam always take an annual vacation together. This year Niall has picked Redwater Canyon, a small tourist town where everyone lives like it's the Old West. There are saloons, stagecoaches, and limited access to WiFi.

The town boasts tours, excursions, activities, and the hottest woman Louis has ever seen in the form of the local blacksmith.

Who Run the World? (Girls!) by dolce_piccante (11k)

A femslash take on the beginning of Relief Next To Me, complete with girl!Direction, lots of tongue action, and lots of hints to the original work.

Your soul could never grow old (it’s evergreen) by orphan_account (11k)

"Okay, so this is what is about to happen. Niall is gonna let off a stink bomb outside Paul's door and then she's gonna run. Paul will come out, stop Liam and then chase her somewhere. Meanwhile, we make a break for it. You ready?"

Harry giggles and stuffs her hand inside Louis's. "Like in films?"

"Like in films," Louis says, rolling her eyes but she bounces up on her tiptoes to press a sticky kiss onto Harry's lips. "Regular Bonnie and Clyde we are. Just you and me, baby."

Or the one where they're in the world's most famous girlband and Louis has a surprise for Harry's 21st birthday that might involve a funfair followed by lots of orgasms.

but I just can’t apologise (i hope you can understand this) by ariadne_odair (11k)

Harry's tired.

It's clings to her like smoke, wraps around her lungs and threatens to choke her. The fatigue slides under her skin like a splinter, sharp and biting and a constant ache.

So yeah.

Harry's tired.

high school au where harry breaks into a thousand pieces. louis puts her back together again. (or girl direction with a whole load of angst but a sappy ending)

The Boxer by benniejets (12k)

Harry never really did anything crazy. She lived with her father, who owned one of the best gyms in West London, with some of best looking people; female and male. She always ran her father's errands when she wasn't study; including bringing him his mail. When she had walked into the gym on an average Thursday, she spotted a new girl in the gym who nearly made her stop breathing.

my heart is untamed, still by ariadne_odair (12k)

"Maybe when you're not ten, sweetheart," Louis sneers, and laughs in her face. The girl blanches, her entire face turning white, bitten nails clutching her plaid shirt.

"Louis," Liam says slowly, watching as the girl leaves. "You know that girl is in our year, right?"

Louis watches the girl go, the way her shoulders are slumped, head ducked down, and fights down the squirming feeling in her stomach. "So?" she says icily, trying to keep her voice steady, "I don't care."

Or the one where Harry pines and Louis' mean, but it's not so fun when the tables are turned.

to love like fools by amemorymaze (12k)

Louis sighs; “If all I can be is her friend, then I’m gonna fucking take it.”

So of course she knows her best friend; she knows her back to front, probably better than she knows herself. But this - this is unknown territory and Louis’ not going to take a step when she’s still blindfolded.

Louis just grabs the entire bag of Malteasers and tips the last few into her mouth, ignoring the way Liam’s looking at her and pretends to focus on the film that’s showing on the screen.

(or, Louis whines a lot, Harry is oblivious, Liam worries about Louis, Niall just wants them to get together and Zayn is the best listener Louis could ever want (even if 80% of the time she's whining about unrequited love and the other 20% about Nick Grimshaw's face).)

The Heat Before We Meet (A Little Bit Closer) by larrymylove (12k)

It was just supposed to be a one night stand. The plan was for Louis to go out, find a cute girl, and bring her home. But somewhere in the midst of that, Louis began to fall head over heels. And maybe it wasn't part of the plan, but Louis was always one for spontaneity.

sink into tomorrow by brainwaves (13k)

For the past five years, she’s been tiptoeing carefully around the subject, steadfastly refusing to talk about the possibility, and putting up a front to hide what she was always terrified of feeling. Maybe it’s been a long time coming. Maybe Louis was just the final push she needed. She tries to see this less as a death sentence and more as an opportunity to tell the truth for once.

Harry is the new (supposedly heterosexual) freshman who gets convinced by pretty blue eyes and soft skin to join a club about body positivity and self-image. Louis is the definitely-not-male upperclassman who makes her come to terms with some things she's been denying.

daydreams are made of this by momentofclarity (13k; series; 2 works)

long way from the playground by ariadne_odair (14k)

“You want one?” Harry asks, utterly oblivious to Louis’ miniature panic attack. “Babe, do you want a cup of tea?”

Babe. Louis is dead. Louis is so dead. She’s a walking corpse over here, oh and apparently she’s hysterical. Well this is just a giant train wreck.

Louis should really get over being in love with her best friend. Harry doesn't help by acting less than platonic. Liam is Liam and Niall is the best wing woman ever.

Calling out for Somebody to Hold Tonight by glitteryhazza (14k)

"What do you want from me, Louis?" Harry whispers.

Louis holds Harry's face in her hands. "Haz, honestly, I'll take whatever you can give me," she replies. "Do you want to kiss me right now?"

"Yeah," Harry answers, her heart pounding like never before. She feels Louis' eyes on her lips.

"Do it."

In which Louis finds herself a bit lost, and Harry is the one who leads her home.

Your love is better than (Spanish) chocolate by Blake (14k)

Harry is invited to practise her Snow Queen solo in a post-class rehearsal with Louis Tomlinson, who is only the most beautiful, charming, talented ex-Sugar Plum Fairy in the whole world.

Blush by orphan_account (15k)

"I've never wanted to kiss a girl but like, every time I look at your lips I just wanna... fucking kiss you all night long." Harry's eyes open wide as Louis' drop to Harry's mouth; her lips are swollen from biting them all night, red and wet and plump.

"Then why don't you?" Harry whispers.

(or, the Christmas FxF Larry fic in which Louis is 99.5% sure she's straight and Harry likes to walk around shirtless and watch lesbian films)

just a touch of your love by Awriterwrites (15k)

Louis looked at her classmate and suddenly felt like she was under a spotlight, the full force of those green eyes on her like lasers — hot and scorching, despite the cool manufactured air pumping through the lecture hall.

“I’m Louis. Louis Tomlinson.” She thrust her hand out, awkward and probably way too polite.

The other girl arched an eyebrow and slid out of her seat. She was tall. And lanky, with knobby knees sticking out from under her thin cotton skirt. Her black combat boots were clunky and ungainly, but her long, tan arms were graceful and pretty as she extended her own hand toward Louis’.

“Harry Styles.”

Their palms slid together like flower petals skating over a newly thawed pond and Louis felt a cool rush of relief slither through her body.

The only thing standing in the way of Harry and Louis getting together are...well, Harry and Louis.

i found my place, i see your face (and it’s nothing like i’ve ever known before) by hazkaban (15k)

Harry and Louis hate each other but they’re forced to be in the vicinity of each other because they’re friends with the same people. They’re also forced to work together for a Christmas concert and end up falling in love, which obviously surprises no one.

and we live like legends now by soleilouis (16k)

harry works at a juice bar, and louis is the cute girl that skates at the park right next door.

No Road Left by Jamboree2 (18k)

Louis waltzes back into the kitchen, and Harry doesn’t remember how she normally acts around her. Platonic gal pals, right.

She decides to lean against the fridge casually. Casual. She’s cool as a cucumber. Louis gives her a weird look. Fuck. She must be giving off weird love vibes or something. “Why are you being weird?”

Oh shit. She’s on to Harry. Harry is in love with Louis and the whole world knows it.

(alternatively: the one where louis and harry go on a road trip. they're in love with each other, it just takes them a little while to figure it out.)

Don’t Wanna Sleep Cause We’re Dreamin’ Out Loud by vanillabeanniall (18k)

A cross-country road trip was symbolic of new beginnings. Graduating high school was the closing of a significant chapter in their lives, and what better way to find your next one than traveling around the country until you get bored, murdered, or your car breaks down?

Louis finds herself on a road trip with her three best friends and the love of her life -- problem is, she hasn't exactly let Harry know how she feels.

We Are Surrounded By All Of These Lies (And People Who Talk Too Much) by orphan_account (19k)

“I can’t keep seeing you,” is most probably not an acceptable way to start a conversation.

Louis seems to think so, too, if her raised eyebrows are anything to go by. “Well, what a way to break my heart, Harry Styles.”

“No, it’s not, I’m not turning you down,” Harry clarifies, glancing up at Louis, “whatever this thing between us is, I mean. I’d definitely like to keep seeing you, but we can’t for the next two weeks since I have exams coming up. That is, assuming that you’d still want to see me by then, or something.”

(harry is a nineteen-year-old philosophy major and louis is a famous actress in her late twenties)

Daisy Chains by objectlesson (20k; series; 2 works)

darling, i’ll take care of you by cinnabonrollouis (20k)

Louis watches the strip turn pink in the shitty employee bathroom of Donny stadium on a Wednesday evening in early April, 2008, and all she can fucking think as she sits there on the too-low, rickety old toilet seat that’s three fucking inches away from the sink with her nasty work khakis and Ann Summers underwear around her skinny 17-year-old ankles, 12,000,000 miles up Shit Creek with zero fucking paddles, is: I don’t even fucking like taquitos.

Across the ocean, in a small dingy-looking hallway in the shadiest part of Los Angeles, 16 year old Harry Styles tries to calm her breathing and wipe the sweat from her palms before she enters her very first audition as a fully grown, adult actor, a very long ways away from home.

...or Louis has a 7-year-old daughter, she's in a band, and apparently whenver she and that actor chick in the custom floral suits get near each other the internet loses it's shit.

back and forth (i kinda like it that way) by ariadne_odair (20k)

There's a ridiculously attractive girl standing by Louis' desk when she gets into work.

"Hey," the girl smiles, "do you want a coffee?"

This is literally every wet dream Louis' ever had.

Louis scrambles for something to say that doesn't make her sound completely brain dead, and comes up with, "Ughfn."

It's too early for this. It is way too early for this. It could be six in the afternoon and Louis still wouldn't be prepared for an incredibly attractive girl standing her desk offering her coffee. She's not completely sure she's not hallucinating.

girl!direction where they all work at a magazine. Liam is the big boss, Zayn is her girlfriend and raises her eyebrows a lot. Louis is 24 and a sports journalist, and not equipped to deal with Harry, who's a gorgeous 21 year old intern, that will be leaving at the end of the summer - so it's not like she should get involved anyway, right?

scraping the skies with our finger tips by tommoandbambi (21k)

She inhales the universe and exhales the stars as she stares into the bleeding sunset and feels all of the stress and worry slowly lift from her veins. She turns to Louis, who is smiling at her with a warm fire blazing in her azure eyes. This girl saved me from myself, she thinks.

"That felt like nirvana," Harry tells her, voice cracking.

Louis smiles at her even harder, "You're like nirvana."

[aka: the fem!slash flower child/punk au that no one ever asked for featuring a sexuality crisis]

Map My Veins by offwiththeirheads (26k)

“I don’t have all day missy.” the girl smacks the gum obnoxiously before shaking her head and moving away to continue her task.

Is it a coincidence when you finally notice the place you've been riding past for months?

When she first laid eyes on the porcelain beauty, all she could hear was a faint buzz and all she could feel was an attraction so great, the cogs in her mind whirred rapidly in flustered palpitation.

The Beautiful Game by sunshiner (28k)

“She always gives you thumbs up,” Zayn says, her legs balanced on a kitchen chair and her head inside the cereal cabinet. “She even mentioned you on twitter once.”

“The twitter that features gems of modern literature such as ‘Orange orange orange.’ or ‘Super hands’? And that’s just recently. Adorable and endearing, yes. Significant, not so much.”

“It said, and I quote ‘@thetommoway’s the best way.’ hashtag welovelou.” Not that Louis needs to be reminded. She’s a knock knock joke away from getting it tattooed on her forehead as it is. or the one with football vlogging, food blogging, salsa dancing, late-night cooking, Brazil sightseeing, way too many bathroom encounters, the recommended amount of unnecessary pining, a bunch of staggering examples of bad stadium etiquette, a Balotelli shirt and a whole lot of snogging.

Guilty Was The Book by florelikeaflower (28k)

Nine days ago. The book was supposed to be back nine days ago. The one book Louis needs isn’t available, but it should be, if only the pretentious fuck who has it now, would be a decent enough person to return it on time.

I don’t care if it’s not available, Louis thinks, I need that book and I’m going to get it.

Or: a girl direction fic where Harry refuses to return her book to the library and Louis has no patience.

Oh, Darling My Heart's On Fire (For You) aiienharry (33k)

At the young age of twenty-two, Harry has her whole life planned out, she was marrying the man of her dreams, moving in with him and his parents, and finding out what she wants to do with her life. Thirty minutes before the wedding starts Harry breaks down and decides to bail.

She meets a familiar woman who never gave her the time of day in college, and said girl, ends up taking care of her as she gets drunk in a seedy bar in a town on the outskirts of Seattle in her wedding dress.

They set off on a road trip, learning many things about each other and falling in love along the way. The more and more they start getting closer and closer to their destination, the more Harry is scared to say goodbye.

Or, two girls fall in love on a road trip that was supposed to last a week and a half, but it ends up feeling like a lifetime.

Nothing Gold by FeelsForBreakfast (35k)

A High School AU where Harry flirts with girls and Louis flirts with danger. Louis jumps off cliffs and drives like car crashes don’t apply to her because she likes the rush. Harry tells stories and tries to keep her safe. (ghosts, glow in the dark stars, and numb hands)

Her eyes are a challenge: Let go of the brake. Let yourself come down. Don’t be afraid. When you’re young, you aren’t afraid of falling and so you go as fast as you can to feel the rush. And you don’t fall.

that good girl faith (and a tight little skirt) by ariadne_odair (43k)

“What the fuck did you do to my shampoo?” Harry shouts, brandishing the offending bottle like it’s a vial of poison. “Is this fucking mud? Did you honestly replace my shampoo with mud?”“Not just your shampoo,” Louis says calmly, then cracks up when Harry visibly pales.

Harry and Louis are camp counsellors. They hate each other. The amount of sex they have in the camp showers probably contradicts that.

The Mighty Fall by MiniMangaFan (60k)

“I want Harry to be my captain,” the dragon says after a long moment, and Harry can feel bitter disappointment radiating from the women.

“I’ve never even seen a dragon before,” Harry tells it, somewhat gently.

“I’ve never seen a human before today,” the dragon counters. “I want you as my captain, or I won’t have one.”

Or, Harry accidentally becomes the captain of a rare dragon, Louis is assigned to train her, and dragon racing is a popular sport.

I love your demons (like devils can) by ariadne_odair (60k)

"I am right here," she says loudly, and she can almost hear the crack when Louis' head whips around to stare at her.

"Why?" Louis asks, and Harry feels her insides shrivel up and die.

Harry didn’t plan to join the football team. She didn’t plan to sleep with the captain of the football team. She definitely didn’t plan to sleep with the closeted captain of the football team, who promptly acted as if nothing happened and left Harry a pathetic, pining mess.

#larry stylinson fic rec #larry fic #larry stylinson #stylinsonlibrary #masterpost #girl direction

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thebrideoftiffany · 6 years

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Things I want to happen in your stories: Someone punches T*ny Stank preferably Noriko or Aunt May but I would settle for anybody. Peter Parker creates a Spider-Man twitter account and mostly uses it to roast T*ny, most of the Avengers think it's Noriko, the Defenders know better. Shuri and Peter start making memes about the Black Sky knowing everybody, and finally when Matt comes back I want him to take Peter under his wing and become the mentor he deserves.

bitch me too, the fuck

I don’t know as far as punching goes, but there is some standoff stuff with st*rk and Noriko in upcoming chapters of Exordium. I don’t know if she’ll ever get physical, but I do know I want to work it into the story to have her call out all manner of things (and I already have written some). As for Aunt May, if the Marvel movies have any balls (which they don’t) i won’t have to write her punching st*rk, because she will have done it in canon.

As for the Spider-Man twitter, the reason everyone (with the exception of the Defenders) is sure it’s Noriko and not Peter is because there are pictures and videos of Spider-Man quite clearly taken by Noriko. In the same vein as Peter selling pictures of Spider-Man to the daily bugle, they did this on purpose to throw off the scent.

The “Black Sky knows everybody” meme takes off in the Harlem/Hell’s Kitchen/Wakanda area, mostly because all of the people there do know the Black Sky (and because Wakandas really do like support whatever memes their princess makes). It only gets more wide renown once the video of her and Hawkeye recognizing one another and telling everybody they met in a dumpster in Hell’s Kitchen goes viral.

Finally, Matt. I’m looking forward to the next season of Daredevil for this reason. I think it’s going to be very interesting to show how Noriko handles the return of Matt and how he and Peter will interact now that they both know each other and have the time to truly talk. I’m honestly not sure where I’ll go with that, but I do predict a conversation that includes Matt saying something along the lines “I can totally nail st*rk on child endangerment and kidnapping, you know that right? It’s still within the statute of limitations.”

#The Kid Series

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scientifically-strange · 7 years

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Poltergeist

High key though this has been in my inbox for weeks now

Submitted by: Guest on fanfiction.net

Okay idea the avenger hear about Danny but due to the episode with the ghost zone portals taking him to different time periods the avenger think he is thousands of years old and appears when bad stuff happens you know like the fire in Rome and the destruction of a temple in ancient Asia that plus the time Walker and Freakshow framed him the now think he is some kind of old evil spirit

——-

The Avengers had grown up learning about Phantom just like every other child of the earth. He was known for the destruction of some temples in Asia, the big fire in Rome, and it had been hinted that he was one of the main causes of the destruction of the Library of Alexandra. He was hundreds of years old, but nobody could ever tell what he looked like because his face was hidden by a black cloak, but it was little nown fact that he had hair whiter than snow, and toxic green eyes that could freeze you in your spot with just a glance. Like Medusa, but with ice.

He was the kind of story you’d tell your friends around a camp fire or at a slumber part. Bruce’s parents in particular told him that Phantom took little boys who refused to eat their vegetables. But eventually, he became less real. The more this band of friends grew up, the more of a myth Phantom had become, until they were just a small, insignificant memory in the back of their minds that was only used for reminiscing. After all, he was just a ghost story.

Or at least, he was supposed to be.

The thing they were starring at could have only been Phantom, except he wasn’t scary at all. Not by any standards. Even Bruce, who had a small fear of Phantom, didn’t seem intimidated. Because jowhere in any of the stlries did anybody ever saw Phantom was a kid.

He was a scrawny thing with white hair and green eyes, bit nothijg about hik seemed even remotely evil. In fact, he gavenoff the vibe ofna good guy.

“What are you?” Clint asked, raising his bow and arrow at the floating being. He held up his hands in defense, looking very worried for his afterlife.

“Um…” he replied, still starring at all of them like they had grown two heads.

“Well, come kn, spit it out,” Iron Man said.

“Sorry, it’s just-when I imagined meeting you guys it was never like this. Um. Okay, right, my name is Phantom. Hi, how are you?”

So it was him. But how? He was just a scarred kid-ghost thing that could take over the world, and here he was, practically trembling at Hawkeye. It was strange.

“Looks like we better talk first, shoot later,” Captain America said, stepping forward. He placed a hand on Hawkeye’s shoulder, and Phantom seriously couldn’t believe it. The Captain America was sitting right in front of him. It was amazing, to say the least.

“I don’t understand,” Bruce said, pushing up his glasses. “Where’s the cloak? The fangs? The evil demeanor, and being able to freeze enemies where they stood? You don’t seem like a big time legend, really.”

“Uh,” Phantom said, looking highly confused. “I’m sorry, I think? Gotta be honest, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Cap turned to Natasha, who shrugged, silently telling him she wasn’t detecting any lies. Maybe there’s some other evil ghosts that destroyed entire civilizations, but Cap doubted it.

“We’re talking about the fire of Rome, the temples in Asia collapsing, the Library of Alexandra being burnt to the ground, to name a few,” Iron Man said. Phantom just stared at him, confused for a moment longer.

“Um, I didn’t do any of that. Who told you I did that?” The boy seemed intrigued as he took a more comfortable spot in the air. His arms were behind his head as he floated on his back. He let his head hang so he saw everybody upside down. Just by watching that it made Cap wonder how this kid could have done all of those things. And then he briefly reminded himself that this was a ghost. They didn’t have to look old and powerful to be old and powerful. But even then he sensed no malicious intent with this guy.

“There are several counts throughout history describing a white haired green eyed ghost destroying everything,” Hawkeye said simply, his fingers itching to shoot something. Phantom’s head tilted to the side as he thought for a moment.

“Oh!I know what you’re talking about! That must have been when Vlad stole the Infi-Map!”

“When who stole the what?” Bruce asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Phantom groaned and flipped over to his stomach.

“Okay, so Vlad is this evil ghost-my arch nemesis. And the Infi-map is this super powerful ghostly artifact that can take you anywhere you want at any when you want. Vlad stole it from my pal, Frostbite, and me and my friends had to stop him, but there were some complications along the way. Like the colusseum thing and when we ended up in Salem and my girlfriend almost got burned at the stake. But we beat him, so I guess that’s cool…” Phantom trailed, rubbing the back if his neck nervously as he made eye contact with each Avenger. He seemed more guarded now that the Avengers had almost hurt him. Steve almost felt bad.

“How long ago did this happen?” Natasha asked, placing a well manicured hand on her hip. Her eyebrow was raised, but other than that she showed no emotion, and part of him couldn’t help but be intimidated. The other part of him was reminded of Sam. Danny rubbed his chin in thought. It had happened around the time he got his powers, so maybe a year ago? Time has become a sort of blur since he had become a ghost.

“Uh…I’m not sure, really,” Danny answered honestly. “I don’t keep track of time very well. But it was recently, like, within the past year. Why?”

The past year? They had been expecting an answer like one thousand years, not just one. That meant that their childhoods had been haunted by this ghost because of something that happened a year ago? Because he decided to play cat-mouse with a guy named Vlad? He couldn’t be serious…Could he?

This kid who didn’t know any better had completely changed history, and they couldn’t help hut wonder if all of that stuff would still be around if he hadn’t been there.

“Who is this Vlad guy?” Hawkeye piped up. Right, Phantom had been chasing him. So really it was him to blame.

“He goes by Plasmius but his name is Vlad Masters,” Phantom replied, not bothering to hide the venom in his voice.

“The billionaire?” Iron Man asked. Phantom nodded and huffed angrily.

“Yeah, he’s a halfa too. Gets on my goddamned nerves, always planning something.”

“Halfa?” Natasha questioned.

“Half ghost, half human,” Phantom offered.

“Why do you hate this guy so much? Other than the fact that he’s obviously evil,” Bruce asked. Anybody who would destroy that much knowledge was a villain in his book.

��He has this thing for my mom and wants me to be his apprentice or whatever,” Phantom waved off. “It’s been going on for years now, but he’s always hated dad for marrying mom. Thinks I should be his. If you ask me I think he should just get another lonely guy cat.”

Mom? Dad? This ghost had parents? Wait, he said he was a halfa. That means he’s also human. Do his parents know? And how does one become a halfa? More importantly how does he know Vlad has a cat? Every time any of the Avengers tried analyzing anything Phantom said they always ended up with more questions, and it was really starting to get annoying.

“Parents?” Iron Man asked, confused. “How can you have parents if you’re dead? Theoretically speaking of course.” Apparently Stark hadn’t listened to the ghost’s word choice like Natasha and Bruce had.

“Uh, dude I didn’t become a ghost like a year and a half ago. My folks are still alive. Geez, you’re as dark as my girlfriend.”

There was a ping from Phantom’s pocket, and he grimaced as he looked at his phone.

“Damn it…” he muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Iron Man asked.

“Well, speaking of girlfriends, I’m gonna be late for my date because of you guys, that’s what. Listen, we can pick this up some other time, but right now I gotta go. See you around!”

With that he disappeared-literally, leaving the Avengers in a state of shock.

“Uh,” Hawkeye drawled, “What just happened?” Iron Man shrugged.

“I have no freaking clue, Legolas. Not a single one.”

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theemichelleb · 5 years

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Avengers: Endgame - Movie Review

I actually saw this movie opening weekend and decided to give everyone a chance to watch before publishing because I know just how important this film was for my generation and those Marvel fans before us. I definitely do not want to ruin anything for anyone so if you have not seen the movie yet DO NOT READ THIS and don’t watch the trailer for the new Spiderman Movie. It will truly ruin your day, LOL.

That was your warning….

Now, for those of you that are not HUGE Marvel fans, if you’re wondering… Yes, I did sit through the 3 hours and 2 minutes of awesomeness known as Avengers: Endgame. Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY! The movie was awesome and everything I imagined it would be. It didn’t even feel like I was sitting there for 3 hours.

I think it was only right for the writers to end the story line with Tony Stark the same way they started this decade of awesomeness with him, and he deserved that spotlight. We have waited 10 years for the powerhouse that was Thanos to come and conquer or be conquered, I had no idea Infinity War and Endgame would play out they way they did, but I think it was genius. I love movies that don’t have the fairy tale happy ending and leave us with scars because that’s how real life is; it hurts, makes us cry, and makes us question how we’re going to move forward after this. I mean, I didn’t cry or anything, and I definitely can’t wait for whatever Marvel has next in our heroes respective story lines, but life isn’t perfect and I admire movies that show these worlds in a more realistic light.

Leaving out of Infinity War, I knew Gamora was gone… although they’ve found a way to bring her back to close out the Guardians franchise without a missing piece. I also knew Thanos had to die and our beloved heroes would need to be brought back to life… there was too much money and too many franchises riding on their main characters being brought back from the dead; especially T-Challa because the black community was going to have a riot if our beloved Black Panther was knocked out of the MCU after ONE self titled film of cinematic genius.

But here is where I have to acknowledge Stan Lee’s amazingness and how I almost dropped a tear to see he actually got to end the game with Endgame… truly iconic and he will be missed.

So! Avenger’s: Endgame… where to start? It’s definitely clear to say if you did not follow the entire franchise with all of the individual story lines that tie into the Avenger’s, you’re going to be lost at some parts during the movie. We took trips back to the first Guardians of the Galaxy, the first Avenger’s movie, Doctor Strange, Thor: The Dark World, Avenger’s: Infinity War, and I know I’m missing a few others but those were the big ones for me that were traveled back to. But honestly, just watch all of the movies to get the entire experience and learn who each character is, there are 22 movies included in the Avenger’s MCU, although I don’t really count the Incredible Hulk (2008)… Bruce Banner/The Hulk isn’t even portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in that movie and I personally don’t think it has anything to do with the series other than it’s an origin story for The Hulk; but, watch at your own discretion and choose if you agree on your own.

Now, don’t be confused. I completely 100% believe that the movies are corny and cheesy, some more than others, but that’s the beauty of taking your childhood comic book characters and making them real; just take a look at the Transformer’s dynasty… Optimus Prime is about as corny as it gets but we still love him on film! Let me not get off topic, though. My least favorite films from the Avenger’s universe are the first two Thor movies (although Ragnorak was absolutely amazing and saved Thor’s story line in my eyes), Iron Man 3 was okay I could have done without it, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Ant-Man… I know those last two may make some people unhappy, but you can definitely share your views in the comments below! I’d love a good conversation on this. My faves, however, consisted of Black Panther, all 3 of the Captain America Movies, Guardians of the Galaxy 1, Thor: Ragnorak, and all of the Avenger’s movies. All the rest were good for what was needed to move the story along, including those that I didn’t care for much.

Only thing I don’t care for are how the movies end with plot holes that are later “filled” in future movies, I think that’s Marvel’s attempt to cover their tracks, but those holes could be left purposely to leave space for flexibility in upcoming movies. There were a couple holes in the plot for Endgame that I’m just not convinced of, however.

If Thanos’ past self is killed, shouldn’t the affects of Infinity War be erased? If he’s dead before he can snap his fingers the first time, technically he never erased half of the universe’s population, which then means Endgame didn’t occur and we should be sent back 5 years prior as though nothing ever happened. I could believe that only those heroes that participated in fixing the timeline would remember what actually happened.

If Gamora died in Infinity War, but her past self was brought forward when Thanos came to the future in Endgame, technically Thanos could not have killed her to get the Death Stone in Infinity War, which also means he never erased half of the universe’s population. I guess they could spin this as since she’s still alive it doesn’t make a difference… still a plot hole to me.

Where did Loki go? He got hold of the tesseract when the team went back to 2012 to get it and the staff, but of course things did not go as planned and he disappeared. I just want to know when we are going to discuss how that throws off the time line, because if he disappears he technically never winds up in jail in Asgard.

I’m sure there’s some round about way to explain all of these, but I’m just letting it be known that it doesn’t completely make sense. Time travel is a complicated nonexistent thing to understand as is, so I won’t sit too much on what was off about it because there was so much more that was right about it.

I was talking to somebody about the movie and appreciated just how amazing the women were in this film, yet again, displaying just how D.O.P.E. we are in real life and the way we always come through in the clutch. Okoye, Shuri, Valkyrie, Wanda/Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Pepper Potts, and our beloved Black Widow, may she rest in peace, kill the game in the movie and aren’t just side kicks. This goes back to my excitement about Black Panther… I don’t care what anybody says or who chooses to believe that movie wasn’t a big deal, it was a HUGE deal to me and the emphasis of D.O.P.E. black women was truly out of this world. They seriously carried that trend through the end of the Avenger’s story.

In particular, let’s highlight Black Widow and her sacrifice to save the world. There truly was no question about who would have to die between her and Hawkeye, unfortunately. They were quite the pair but he had something tangible to gain from saving the world, his family; she, on the other hand, was able to save all of her friends and give his family back to him by sacrificing herself. She had waited and obsessed over how to save the world for FIVE years and this was it; Hawkeye went through the world killing bad guys to remedy the curse that was Thanos. I think it was a beautiful second chance for him. He not only got his family back but his best friend gave her life so he could find his way again and become the hero she knew he was.

This is why I’m so hooked on how D.O.P.E. we are as women!

Captain America also got a loving ending to his story and I appreciate how the baton was passed to Sam Wilson, a glorious black man. Could this be foreshadowing to a branch off for Captain America movies?? I tell you one thing, these crazies in the world today better not start ANY NONSENSE about there being a black Captain America the way they did about Idris Elba being the black James Bond…. and that’s that on that.

For my dear Iron Man… Tony Stark you have truly achieved the level of acknowledgment and heroism that you chased after with your escape from captivity in 2009 and we appreciate you for your sacrifice and getting that 1 in 14,000,605 chance to beat Thanos right! Tony Stark’s path has taken many turns that I didn’t expect it to take following him through the years, but I’m glad he reached the goal he was fighting for in the movie primarily; to save his family. The procession shown at his funeral to close out the movie was so beautifully laid out the only thing that could have made it better was if Stan Lee had made a cameo. I think it was genius how the pan through all of the characters at the funeral was a parallel of the comic book opening for all of the Marvel movies. I think the best part about how Tony is honored is that Pepper was by his side in the fight against Thanos and he had daughter that I’m most certain is going to follow in his footsteps in both brains and courage. His legacy will definitely live on into new movies and through the characters that we got back.

There are truly so many other things that can be said about the movie. Overall, it was the best ending for this struggle to survive than I could have imagined. It truly made the last 10 years worth while, and I appreciate the growth of Marvel over the years in their execution of all of these movies. They sought out to tell an amazing story and ended up with an epic playing field that has provided a ridiculous amount of growth and development for the company. The casting has definitely been A-1, the plots are intriguing, the scripts have gotten more believable, and execution was always pretty on point but have gotten even more intense and engaging for the audience.

The movie is a must see. If you haven’t gotten into Superhero movies, it’s okay but if you want to give something new a chance now’s the time. You can watch the entire story be told from beginning to end and there are so many ways to find the order to watch all 22 movies so the story flows and you’re not lost.

Happy Binge Watching!

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