#but my team is spread through 3 states so it’ll be fun!! some i have never met!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

alluringjae · 3 years

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[ 23:45 ] ⮕ END

part of my collection of cookie cuts from all i do is wait

in order to understand, read the main story first here.

pairing: ghost!doyoung x female!reader

genre: angst, sum fluff if you really squint

warnings: death, grief

author’s note: someone asked me how i would interpret this scene, so here it is. this hurt A LOT. have fun though!

leave me some feedback, constructive criticism or hellos!

Mid-1953

At long last, the Korean War has ended after 3 years.

Over 5 million people dead, and to be one of the lucky survivors was a miracle.

The remaining soldiers who’ve fought through it all could return home, whilst civilians can properly rebuild all that was devastatingly destroyed in their cities. Their own normal lives included.

The fiercest 3 years of your life must you say, too engaged with self-studying your history books saved pre-war while dealing with the bargaining stage of your grief towards Doyoung. Every day, you couldn’t go on without overthinking the what-ifs. On top of that, your toddler Areum was at the stage where she loved creating a mess on the walls with her crayons. No matter how many times you’ve corrected her because it wasn’t your house, she continued anyway.

Now, she’s full-blown crying after you confiscated them and you’re on the verge of it. Thankfully, your mother stepped in to take her out for a walk in the neighborhood so you could unwind for a bit.

Since news broke out that the war ended, everyone from every street cheered and danced on the streets. You hailed with praise along with them, positive that things were going to get better. Yet deep down, you’ve selfishly wished that he was one of the lucky few to come home.

If only you didn’t chicken out so easily after he told you he was enlisting so you had a few more seconds with him.

If only you compromised him to join another field.

If only you told him about Areum earlier so he could go home.

These thoughts revolved your mind the most, instantly getting you to break down wherever you were. Even photos of him and you together were enough to tear down your walls. So, they remained hidden until the day you’re in a much better state of mind.

Dear god, you longed for him. Everything that consists of him.

In hopes to forget this tremendous loss in your life, you poured hot tea in a cup and started on this new book from this ongoing series, The Chronicles of Narnia. Getting it during this harsh period was tough, bartering it with old books you’ve owned in the market.

Fully preoccupied in the fantastical universe, flipping the pages quickly, you almost missed the continuous knocking on your door. You let out a tiny gasp and made your way to the entrance. As delusional to think it was Doyoung, you knew it wasn’t your mother and Areum either because they would’ve simply walked in. Opening it anyways, you were met by two young tall men. One had a bandage on his cheek while the other had a cast on his right arm. Noting their growing hair, they must’ve fought in the war.

Oh, if Doyoung was one of them.

“Hello, may I know who you two are?”

The one with the bandage spoke up, bowing first. “Hello, I am Lee Taeyong and this is my friend, Kim Jungwoo. We were good friends of your late lover, Kim Doyoung.”

Late lover.

Haven’t heard that since people in the neighborhood gossiped about your taboo pregnancy, but it’s not like they knew anyways. But from the letters exchanged with Doyoung before, he talked about these two highly. Whenever there were times of ease while serving, Doyoung was always up to mischievous things with these two. In a situation where they had to man up, they brought out his inner child.

“Oh, yes! Doyoung used to talk about you two in his letters, but I had no clue how you guys looked.”

By instinct, you invited them inside for tea by the patio. You’ve always wanted to meet them despite the circumstances. Bringing in a tray with a teapot and treats, mostly you were inquiring about their lives. Aside from knowing their positions in the team, you learned of their new plans moving forward.

“I want to return to university to finish my studies in mechanical engineering, maybe travel the world too.” Jungwoo stated, blowing on his cup before sipping it. He’s said to be an organized man according to Doyoung, always cautious of his surroundings. It balanced out his liveliness.

“Me too! I want to complete my major in finance, then marry my childhood sweetheart after a few years.” Taeyong expounded, his round eyes glowed in wonder. He must’ve been looking forward to this day, and you were content for him. Meanwhile, it processed to Taeyong what he said, realizing that it may have been insensitive.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” He burst out instantly. “I got stuck in my feelings there.”

“It’s okay, nothing to worry about. You shouldn’t apologize for how you feel.”

“I do think we should feel worried about you though.” Jungwoo interrupted, sighing heavily. “What happened with Doyoung-hyung all those years ago, we’re really concerned for you especially.”

At the mention of the painful memory, this wasn’t the right time to crumble. You weren’t capable to show your vulnerability to anyone but yourself. Plastering a wrenching pretend smile, “I appreciate the concern, truly. But I’ll be okay again. I’m planning to return to university too, then proceed to law school. A shared dream of mine and his.”

Taeyong and Jungwoo transparently viewed you like glass, coping with the grief of it. They were on the same page as you, and unaware to you, they knew his final words. With their interpretation, it only felt right to reach out to you. Befriend you, aid you in any possible way.

At the end of the day, three of you equally shared the suffering over the death of a loved one.

Sitting in peaceful silence, the front door creaked open followed by a tiny, high-pitched voice squealing.

“We’re home!” Your mother shouted.

“I’m at the patio, we have guests over!” You replied, pouring more tea for the two quiet boys.

From such a low-spirited atmosphere only did it liven up when an energetic Areum came into your setting. She had pigtails this time, satisfying herself with fresh bungeo-ppang from the neighborhood. No matter what you’re feeling, it took a single glance of her with her small moon-like eyes to recharge you.

“Mom, who are your friends here?” She pondered cluelessly.

The two boys exchanged looks at each other first, then to you in one breath. Their expressions of perplexity by how one’s hand was on their mouth and the other boy couldn’t stop staring at Areum, you identified exactly what they were thinking of.

“Areum, these are your dad’s friends in the army.” You animatedly confirmed. “The one with that tiny bandage on his face is uncle Taeyong, and the one with the white cast is uncle Jungwoo.”

Doyoung’s death was already so heavy to take in, but upon discovering this hidden surprise, Jungwoo wiped his tears on his sleeve. But you were fast to hand him some tissue. He was younger than you, so your older sister instincts kicked in.

“This is unjust, (Y/N).” He murmured across you so Areum won’t pick up his words. Your lips pressed against each other, maintaining a straight face at him. He was right.

With Taeyong, his arms spread out wide for the small girl who willingly walked to him. He loved children, having a nephew back home. He caressed her smooth hair down to her jaw. The first thing he distinguished was her pretty eyes followed by her squishy cheeks, resembling so much of his late friend.

“You’re so pretty, Areum. Did your mom tell you that you mirror so much of your dad?”

“Yes, she does! But I’ve never met him and I don’t when I will, uncle Taeyong.”

A tragedy how the splitting image of his best friend doesn’t see what everyone sees. But again, she’s only 3 and she can only process so much. She doesn’t know the real truth behind her father’s location, except that he was working far, far away. There are days she’d ask if he’d come back soon, yet your only response is not now. This isn’t the right time for her purity about life to stain.

“Well Areum,” Jungwoo gathered his senses again, crouching down to her level. “As his friends, we know that you look just like him! Prettier even.”

“Really? Tell me more about him, uncle Jungwoo!”

It’s about time someone else shared stories about your late lover because yours was short-lived. It’s even more intriguing to listen to what other people have to say about Doyoung that weren’t his parents. Some stories told by Taeyong and Jungwoo were new to you too, giggling along to their ridiculousness when they’re not training or fighting. Loving their presence, you invited them to stay for dinner with your family, which they couldn’t reject.

What started as a tense conversation transformed into a heartwarming experience. These two boys earned a spot in your life, aspiring for longtime friendships with them. The tender way they cherished for Areum like they’re own after meeting for the first time, it’ll fill in bits of her void. In exchange, they insisted to chip in for you and her lives so it wouldn’t be just you and your family. Struggling already with the consequences of the war, it only felt proper to do so.

“Doyoung has always been there for us, now let us return the favor and be there for you and Areum.”

Your protests were deemed useless, so you allowed them to do so. Once you finished law school and take the exams, you could pay them back. It’s phenomenal how Doyoung’s good influence towards others multiplied even after his passing. Maybe if you began to view things this way, you’d recover sooner. Although he’ll always be in your thoughts, it wouldn’t be as sensitive as it is now.

For now, you’re just going to enjoy the bliss Taeyong and Jungwoo brought, retelling old tales of a drunk Doyoung on the dining table.

From behind your garden fence in secret, Doyoung secretly observed as his treasured companions interacted at last with positivity. His only daughter mirroring his adored smile, he lived in that moment vicariously through her.

What a good time to visit today, truly.

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saturnwritings · 4 years

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freeze your brain

—after a disheartening start to the evening leads you to hide under a table at a party, a chance encounter with kenma leads you to have one of the best nights of your life. | based on a pov by a cosplayer on tiktok (@/sea.kaninchen)

pairing(s): kenma x reader, past/brief daishou x reader

word count: 3993

warnings: cheating, hints to sexual themes (only briefly)

a/n: i think i should mention that I DONT HATE DAISHOU!!! i think hes a complex and interesting character and ppl shit on him a lot but i did need a villain for this so im sorry for being basic he doesnt deserve this 😪also i was honestly really excited to do this?? like tiktok cosplayers’ povs are not bad i love cosplayers its just straight tiktok’s povs im sorry 😔

9:32pm.

You let out a sigh as you glance at your phone for what seemed like the thousandth time that night, the numbers moving slow, in almost a mocking way. The blinding, multi-colored lights dancing around the room kind of made your eyes spin, and the air around you made you wonder if it was possible to describe air as ‘sticky’ and what… questionable ways it could get to that state. There were bodies moving all around the room, most likely all around the house, doing a multitude of things: dancing, talking, loitering.

You had been coerced by your friends, as well as your boyfriend, Daishou, to come to this party, with promises of letting loose and free food. As reluctant as you were, your boyfriend had assured you that he would personally make sure you had a good time; said boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.

As you leaned against the wall, you raised your phone screen to your face as you mindlessly scrolled through various social media feeds and such, trying to pass the time. Ultimately, there’s only so much you can do constantly refreshing pages. On top of that, it might have just been your imagination but people seemed to stop and sneak looks at you, probably wondering why you were staying by yourself in a corner for so long.

Putting your phone away, you decided to approach some of Daishou’s friends - after all, the least he could do was to hang out with you at the party he kind of forced you to go to. Taking a quick look around the room, your eyes landed on a group of boys hanging out on the couches, you recognized them as your boyfriend’s friends. You greeted them as best as you could over the loud music, almost pounding your eardrums.

“I was just wondering, have you seen Daishou anywhere?” As soon as you mentioned his name, that atmosphere within the group grew tense. They all seemed to avoid eye-contact and some even started fidgeting. Suddenly, one of the boys spoke up.

“I- uhm, I think I saw him go upstairs?” He was met with pointed looks from the rest. Confused, you thanked them nonetheless and located the stairs.

Maneuvering your way through the many bodies on the stairs, you start searching through the many rooms of the house as you think to yourself: Who’s house is this? Why are there so many rooms? You must’ve looked through the first 4 rooms of the hallway (bathroom, storage closet, bedroom, bedroom) before reaching another door.

When you opened the door, thankful it wasn’t locked, you immediately saw two figures in a bed in the middle of the room. Upon closer inspection, you saw that they were very much not having a nap together but instead moving in tandem. You were about to exit before they could see you when one of the figures, a girl, locked eyes with you. She immediately fumbled and pushed the other figure, a boy, off of her and drew the sheets to cover herself. Feeling awkward and frozen in place, you started to spew out apologies.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, I, uhm,” you hands out in a defensive motion “I didn’t mean to walk in! I was just…” You trailed off when the boy turned around and you got a good look of his face. It was then when you had realized it was your boyfriend in a bed with his ex-girlfriend, Mika.

“Suguru…” Your face morphed into a disheartened expression, “You’re…” you couldn’t finish your sentence though, your eyes frantically shifting between Daishou and Mika, who you had just realized the identity of, in confusion as you opened your mouth to say something, but the words lay stuck in your throat. Fat tears welled up in your eyes, eventually falling down your cheeks, but you had yet to move.

“y/n! It’s not what you think!” Your boyfriend started as he moved off of the bed and towards you, fumbling for an explanation, but his lack of clothes told you everything. No matter what excuse he came up with, the intentions were clear.

You choked up and you pushed him away. “Save it! We’re through!” Your voice wavered as you turned and ran out the door, covering your mouth with your hands in an attempt to stifle your crying. Unfortunately, you moved to hide in the bathroom to gather your thoughts, gripping the door handle and pushing when you realized it was locked.

You looked around for something, you weren’t really quite sure what, but you knew you needed to be away from your boyfriend (ex-boyfriend, you reminded yourself) no matter what. In the heat of the moment, you stumbled your way downstairs and into the dining room. It was completely empty, which came as a surprise, but you realized it was probably because the living room was big enough for everyone to do what they wanted and the food was spread out in the kitchen and living room.

You managed to take a second to catch a break. You were about to take your phone out to call an Uber when you heard Daishou calling your name. In a moment of panic, your eyes landed on the dining table in the middle of the room. Swiftly, and with less gravitas than you’d like to admit, you crawled under the table, thanking the lords above that it was covered in a table cloth that reached the floor. An interesting style choice? Sure, but you were thankful nonetheless.

Holding your breath, you heard your name being called before you heard footsteps leave the room. So there you were, crying under a table at a party. You could still hear the loud techno and pop music from the other room, albeit muffled, and let it drown out your sorrows.

You thought of calling an Uber now, but you figured it would be smart to take the time to let your thoughts regroup so you at least stopped crying hysterically.

***

“Please, Kenma?!” Kuroo pouted as he clasped his hands together, “C’mon, it’s not gonna be that bad, it’ll be really fun!” Kenma sighed. He looked down at his paused game of MonHun and took note of the time.

3:51pm.

It was nearing 4pm and Kenma still had yet to clear this level. “I already told you, I don’t wanna go,” Kenma started, “I don’t like parties.” That had Kuroo bouncing and flailing around.

“But Terushima always throws the best parties, they’re fun for everyone!” Kenma grunted in response, he had started playing his game again, Kuroo narrowed his eyes and pouted even harder. “Pleeease?! Everyone’s gonna be there, it’s gonna be great! But it won’t be fun without you,” Kuroo pleaded. Kenma scoffed at that, he considered agreeing just so shut Kuroo up, but he wanted to know what he was getting into first.

“Who’s gonna be there?” Kenma asked, not looking up from his PSP.

“Everyone!” Kenma thought it was almost comical how Kuroo immediately perked up. Kenma shot him an incredulous look. “Uhm, okay, so I know Bo’s gonna be there, which means Akaashi’s gonna be there… You can hang out with him!” Kenma hummed, only partially listening, “No, you’re right, you’re right! What was I thinking? Obviously Akaashi’s gonna hang out with Bokuto, which means I’m gonna have to third wheel!” He tuned Kuroo out as he went on.

Just as Kenma had lost another round, Kuroo seemed to have finished his rant about being a third-wheel and the dynamics between Bokuto and Akaashi.

“Um, well, I mean pretty much all of the Volleyball teams are gonna be there, Terushima really wants this to be epic! Uhm, other than that… Oh! Isn’t there that girl? I forgot her name but she’s dating… Daishou…” Kuroo shudders, Kenma hummed in response. “She’s in your class isn’t she? What’s her name, you can hang out with her!”

“y/n.” Kenma offered, still not looking up from his game.

“Yeah, that’s it! Ugh, she’s kinda strange… like, Daishou? Really? Last time I saw him, he was wearing that ugly sweater…” Kenma tuned him out once again.

While Kenma continued his game, he subconsciously pondered on your relationship. You guys had never really been close, save for the occasional group and partner projects you guys did together, as was expected, you were in the same class after all. If Kenma was being honest, the only time he paid you any mind was when Kuroo brought up how Daishou was most definitely blackmailing you into dating him or something or the sort.

Fed up with Kuroo’s whining, Kenma spoke up after another round lost. “Kuro, I’ll go to the party,” Kuroo’s eyes widened as he gasped, sporting a surprised smile, Kenma continued, “But if I get bored or stressed, I’m leaving.”

Kuroo nodded.

***

Needless to say, Kenma wasn’t having a good time. While he did enjoy seeing his friend, Hinata, again, the loud and, quite frankly, annoying music was starting to hurt his ears and the food provided was decent at best, meaning fast food pizza and about a million different bags of chips.

“Kenma! C’mon, get over here! We’re playing beer pong, I need a partner!” Kenma sighed as he heard Kuroo call out to him. From where he was leaning against a wall, he could see Kuroo, Bokuto and Miya Atsumu setting up red solo cups on a table.

This had been happening all night, Kenma minding his own business, occasionally engaging in conversation with Hinata or Akaashi if they crossed paths, with Kuroo swooping in to try to get him to play some sort of party game with him. The first was Just Dance, which Kenma avoided by saying he was hungry, next came truth or dare, Kenma used the bathroom excuse on that one, and so on and so forth. The cycle continued, Kuroo hunting down Kenma and Kenma finding any way he could escape.

That led Kenma to this moment: leaning against a wall in the kitchen playing on his PSP, with Kuroo struggling to maneuver around everyone to get to him. Kenma checks the digital clock on his PSP.

9:46pm.

That seemed like a good time to leave, Kenma thought. As he was pocketing his PSP to get ready to make a dash for it, Kenma panicked for a moment, realizing that to get to the front door, he would have to pass by Kuroo and the beer pong table. Contemplating for a moment, he concluded that he would much rather wait it out and leave a bit later than have to explain why he was leaving.

When Kenma came to his senses, he realized Kuroo was even closer to him than he thought. Scanning for options, he ran the only direction he could, through the arch connecting the kitchen with the dining room.

In a moment of desperation, he ducked under the table cloth.

***

You checked yourself again in your phone camera. Thankfully, you had calmed down and stopped crying hysterically, and were only left with the occasional sniffle. Unfortunately, the redness was still very much present, as were the tears when you thought too hard about Daishou. Despite all the nasty things other people, especially in your school, would say about him, he was a kind person, passionate about many things and was very caring towards you: always cheering you up and lending an ear when you needed to vent.

I guess he just… really liked Mika, then, huh, you thought to yourself as you hugged your knees close to your chest.

Deep in your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed the frantic footsteps making their way towards you. You only realized something was off when the table cloth rustled and was lifted open, only for someone to slip in and under the table with you.

The boy seemed to be catching his breath when you made a startled noise of surprise. Hearing it, the boy snapped his head up to meet your stare. You were both just staring at each other with wide eyes, after a moment you both started fumbling out uhms and i’s, glancing around to avoid eye contact.

After accidentally looking up at each other at the same time, you realized who the boy was.

“Wait… Kenma?” He blinked.

“y/n?” He responded with a tilt of his head, “Uhm, I’m sorry, I was just… trying to get away from someone…” You shifted in your spot, casting your eyes away in embarrassment hoping he wouldn’t see your red face and stray tears. “What about you?”

“Hm?” Your eyes widened in confusion.

“Why are you, uh,” he paused awkwardly and gestured around vaguely, “What’re you doing under a table?” You didn’t really know how to respond to that.

“Uhm… well,” you felt tears welling up in your eyes again, “I-” a sob wracked through your body. Completely overwhelmed with emotions, you burst into tears. Kenma’s eyes shifted frantically before he regained his composure, he had never really been good and expressing emotions or helping others with theirs.

Kenma thought to himself: What would Kuro do in this situation? Sure, Kenma had gotten upset lots of times, and Kuroo always knew how to help. He realized that one thing that Kuroo did was ask him if he wanted to talk about what was going on - of course, Kenma never did, but for some strange, unknown reason, it made him feel just the tiniest bit better. In the back of his mind, Kenma thought that it made him feel better because it told him there was someone who cared about him.

“Do you, uh, wanna talk about it? Maybe?” He winced at his awkward delivery, his hands fidgeting.

“Is that,” you sniffled, “is that okay?” Kenma tried his best to give a reassuring smile, he was sure it came off as strained.

“Yeah, sure.”

You told Kenma about your relationship with Daishou; how it started, all the ups and downs, and finally how it ended. How you kept having chance encounters: at school when you were out shopping and even late one night at a public library - that was the night he asked you out for the first time, and you couldn’t have been more smitten.

During your relationship, he was so kind and considerate to you, and he never failed to make you laugh. You told Kenma how he even said that despite going to different schools, there was no one else he'd rather be that: that apparently didn’t stop him from hooking up with another girl.

After you went silent, Kenma found that you were finished. Despite only thinking of you as ‘that other girl in his class that was dating a volleyball player Kuroo hated’ until recently, seeing you cry and pour your heart out gave him a strange, internal attachment to you.

“Do you wanna get out of here?” Kenma asked suddenly, turning to you and planting a hand on the floor, learning towards you ever so slightly. You blinked.

“What?” Surprised by his own outburst, Kenma decided to roll with it.

“There’s an arcade a few blocks down… sometimes when I get upset, I go there and it always cheers me up?” To be perfectly honest, Kenma wasn’t really expecting you to say yes. He expected you to brush him off, say you were feeling better and ready to go home.

Kenma himself didn’t know why he asked, he usually didn’t really like spended excess time with people he didn’t know that well, but subconsciously, there was a part of him that wanted to help.

“Oh, uhm, yeah! Sure, why not?” You metally cursed yourself for your stuttering, it was bad enough you were info-dumping and completely oversharing, you didn’t want Kenma to think you were that weak. You sniffled again, realization dawning on you.

“We gotta find a way out of here first, thought.” You said. Kenma cringed.

***

Long story short, you and Kenma managed to escape the table without anyone seeing you. You were extremely thankful, as it would have been very awkward if someone saw the two of you crawling out from under a table.

Getting outside was another thing, thought. Kuroo and the beer pong table were still very much blocking the way out, and there was always the risk of bumping into Daishou again. After a bit of asking around, you found out that there was a backdoor in the kitchen, so you and Kenma were able to make your escape.

Now you were playing away to your hearts’ content to some random racing game at an arcade. You both were playing side-by-side, versing each other. To no one’s surprise, Kenma was beating you. Deep down, though, Kenma was a little impressed you were able to keep up with him so well, being a religious player of Mario Kart himself and all.

You both fleeted from game to game, playing almost every game available from shooting games to claw machines to even a Space Invaders-esque game. You had managed to earn a good amount of tickets, all thanks to Kenma’s membership card and the loose tokens he found in his wallet.

Eventually, you had played until the arcade was empty and one of the employees came up to you to tell you they were closed. They did mention that you could still buy some prizes if you wanted to, to which Kenma turned to you.

“Do you want to?”

Over the time you had spent playing games together, you had gotten to know Kenma better than just ‘the quiet boy in your class’ in between passing conversations and empty, teasing threats, some of your favorites had been: I will steal your kneecaps and If you play with that character you don’t deserve rights.

“Yeah, sure!” You replied, a genuine smile crossed your face.

In the end, you had gotten a keychain with a mini funko character on it and Kenma settled on a cute sticker that, with much encouragement from you, he stuck on the case of his PSP.

After exiting the arcade, Kenma took a moment to glance over at you. The empty street illuminated by semi-faulty lampposts, and he found it showed your face more clearly than all the neon lights of the arcade. Your tears dried up, although there were still hints of red in splotches on your face.

As he watched you talk excitedly about your new keychain, he couldn’t help but feel a strange way, an unfamiliar feeling he had never felt before. It was warm in a way, something akin to stepping home for the first time after being away for so long. It was weird, in all the years he had known you, or been partnered up with you for whatever, he had never thought of you as anything other than a random classmate. However, after everything you had both gone through together that night, something new was forming.

Little did Kenma know, you were thinking the same. You noticed the little things about him; you thought back to how his nose would scrunch when he would mess up in a game or you would surpass him in something, or how his eyes lit up and almost sparkled ever so slightly when he was picking out stickers. Now that you were outside, you could see how his dyed hair swayed gently in the crisp November wind, or how his eyes would somewhat crinkle as he laughed when you made a joke.

After a few moments of silence, you spoke up.

“Hey, so, I didn’t really get to eat at the party… Do you maybe wanna get something to eat nearby?” You asked, turning your head to Kenma. Realizing how that sounded like you were asking him on a date, you quickly stuttered out “Of course, you don’t have to! We can just get a small snack or, or maybe we don’t have to get anything!” You laughed awkwardly as Kenma showed no obvious emotions, however his eyes were slightly widened and his cheeks growing more red, but you chalked that up to the colder weather and surprise.

Kenma suddenly remembered how he didn’t get a chance to eat as well, but in all the games you guys were playing, he didn’t get a chance to feel hungry. Realizing he had not responded, he quickly thought of a place to get food, his mind immediately wandering to 7/11.

“Oh yeah, sure. There’s a 7/11 down the street, if you want?” He said, and you were off.

***

Sitting in the 7/11 with Kenma under the fluorescent lights was oddly comforting. You were happily eating your warm soba noodles (topped with tempura) as Kenma ate his apple pastry (having already eaten half of an egg salad sandwich and wrapping the rest for later) as you engaged in mindless conversation, Kenma periodically pulling out his PSP to either play or check on things.

During some random conversation about a new game Kenma was playing, you noticed him occasionally glancing behind you. Eventually, you looked behind you to see what looked like a newly installed slushie machine, touchscreen and all. Realizing Kenma wouldn’t speak up about it, you decided to take charge.

“Do you wanna get slushies?” You said with a grin. Kenma looked surprised for a second before lightly laughing.

“Sure.”

Over the machine, you tapped the screen to get a strawberry lemonade slushie, while Kenma opted for cherry one.

Slushies didn’t exactly pair well with warm soba, but tonight was apparently a night full of surprise, what with finding out about your boyfriend (ex, you reminded yourself), not to mention these spontaneous adventures with a random boy who was, you thought, not so random anymore.

“Wanna have a competition?” Kenma’s voice interrupted your train of thought, “Let’s see who can drink theirs the fastest.” You grinned.

“You’re on!”

After Kenma counted down, you both tried to down your slushie. Halfway through, though, you had to stop.

“Ah! Brainfreeze!” You exclaimed, clutching your head with one hand. Kenma also stopped drinking and laughed, “My head feels so numb, argh!” You hummed. “At least now I won’t think of Daishou anymore… My brain feels like it’s pounding like, like it’s having a rave or something!” It was getting late, meaning you were dangerously close to your stage of drowsiness that caused you to infodump like crazy. Kenma’s smile dropped every so slightly.

“Hey, uhm,” he looked as though he was looking for the right words to say, “I’m really sorry about what happened, uh,” he scratched the back of his head nervously, “Sorry, I’m not great at… feelings… but, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

You blinked for a second before smiling.

“Thanks, Kenma.”

As you were finishing up the rest of your slushie, you turned to Kenma.

“Hey, uhm, I know this is pretty random but do you want to be my partner for the project we’re doing in science?” Kenma looked up from his PSP and stared at you, as if trying to remember what you were talking about, “The one about incomplete dominance and sex-linked traits? The teacher said you had to find a partner of the opposite gender so you could create a ‘hypothetical baby’, which, honestly, I find kinda dumb… Like, if the baby’s just hypothetical, then you could partner up with anyone, right? It’s not just me that feels that way?”

Kenma remembered what project you were talking about, but he really enjoyed when you would continue on these rants. Being one to not talk that much, he liked how you were able to fill in the silence, although the times when you would be eating and he would be playing in silence were not as awkward as he thought, they weren’t awkward at all.

“So… Do you want to pair up?” Kenma flushed, realizing he was mindlessly listening to you talk.

“Oh, uhm, yeah, sure.” You beamed.

bonus: you did your project on incomplete dominance and sex-linked traits and learned about the wonders of co-dominance in blood types. also kuroo was very worried about kenma leaving and thought he got kidnapped by a van that said ‘free games’ but it was all cool when he learnt kenma left with a girl ;)

#fics #written in June 2020 #woah this took me a while #like since may o_o my bad #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu imagines #kenma x reader #kozume kenma #kenma scenario #fanfiction #fanfic #anime fanfiction #anime imagines #im very proud of this wow ;-;#my baby ;-;#at this point i only write kenma x reader im so sorry #i have plans for other characters i swear!!!

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changingourdestiny · 3 years

Text

Beyond Light Part 3: Behemoth

Summary:

After running into her along with Drifter, Eris and the Exo Stranger, Marcia joins the team on their mission to stop Eramis. But after realising Light alone might not be enough to take down the dark Kell’s house, Rae, Tif and Marcia accept the Stranger’s offer to wield the Darkness.

Previous Part: Here

Next Part: Here

“I know. I owe you an explanation for all of this.”

Back at the campsite from before, Rae, Blaze and Tif were talking to the Exo Stranger while Drifter and Eris remained around the campfire and Marcia stood a few feet away keeping watch.

“An explanation would be nice.” Rae replied, “But that aside, it’s nice to see you again. It’s been a while.”

“Indeed.” The Stranger nodded, “The last time we spoke was when I asked you to destroy the Black Heart. To prevent Darkness’s arrival. Success may have been achieved, but now I know that fate comes knocking sooner or later. The floodgates are open. The Darkness is here. I wield it now with intent to stop our enemies where the Light cannot.”

“So you guys wield Stasis too then.” Rae said looking back at Drifter and Eris. “Not me. Not yet anyway.” Marcia interjected as she made her way over to them, “I was waiting for you guys in case you showed interest. Who better to help you control Darkness than someone cursed by it for over a thousand years?”

“She’s not wrong.” Tif added. “I almost feel bad for ya. Being stuck with Huffy the Magic Dragon, Crazy McHobo, and Negative Nancy: Creepy Edition.” Blaze chuckled.

*BONK!*

“GYAH!”

Blaze was knocked to the ground as a dark blue sphere crashed into the back of her head before returning to Eris, who was glaring at the Awoken Hunter, and reverting to its Hive bone state. “You deserved that one.” Rae said shaking her head as Blaze got to her feet while Drifter laughed from behind them, “Nice aim, Moondust!”

“And ‘Huffy the Magic Dragon’? Really?” Marcia raised an eyebrow as she folded her arms.

“Uh, you were talking about Stasis?” Tif attempted to get the conversation back on track. “Right.” The Stranger nodded, “From what I’ve heard from Marcia, your resilience within the Pyramid proves you’re capable of wielding it too.” She motioned to the temple in the distance, “Before us lies what we call a ‘Ziggurat’. Its purpose is temptation. To begin your training, you must give in.”

Rae glanced at Blaze who shook her head, “Nah. Don’t get me wrong, I trust ya. But I already have my fire and vision bs to deal with. Don’t wanna add another mysterious power to the list.”

“Fair enough.” The Stranger replied before facing Rae and Tif, “And you two?”

“I…I’ll try!” Tif volunteered, “If it means I can help people better, then I’ll do it.” The Stranger turned to Rae who sighed, “If it means we can take down Eramis a bit easier, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try. I’m in.”

“Good. Take these.” The Stranger handed Rae, Marcia and Tif a splinter each, “Please understand. The line between Light and Dark is so very thin. Let’s cross it together.”

“That line sounds familiar…” Blaze muttered under her breath. “Alright.” Rae began, “Let’s see what this Ziggurat has to offer.”

“I’ll hang back with Drifter and Eris.” Blaze said, “Lemme know when we’re heading out.” Rae nodded before she, Marcia and Tif began heading toward the Ziggurat. As they approached the stairs, Ghost piped up, “I understand why you’re going along with the Stranger’s plan, but…well, she’s clearly not telling us everything.”

“When has anyone?” Rae replied, “If we want to stand a chance against Eramis, we need to level the playing field and fight fire with fire. Or in this case, ice with ice- ARGH, AGAIN WITH THE WHISPERS!” Rae exclaimed as the whispers re-entered her head. “Yeah, I’m with ya.” Marcia grumbled as they reached the top of the stairs, “After a while it gets less creepy and more annoying.”

Upon reaching the top, four large shards stood floating in front of them. “I feel drawn to that one at the front. I think it wants us to attune to that one.” Marcia pointed out. Rae took a deep breath, “Here goes nothing…” The three Guardians held out their splinters to the shard, causing it to glow a bright orange before disappearing. “You guys feel that?” Tif asked, “I feel like I’m being drawn to somewhere.”

“Yeah, I feel it too.” Rae replied. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Marcia began heading back down the steps, “Let’s see where this leads us.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tracking down the pull of energy, Rae, Tif and Marcia found themselves in what appeared to be a Vex-constructed area where another shard was floating. “Another shard?” Rae muttered.

“Uhh…”

Rae and Marcia turned to Tif, whose shard was glowing. “Does it want you to go to it?” Berhane asked. “Let’s find out.” Tif hopped off the ledge they were standing on and made their way towards the shard before holding their splinter up to it. Suddenly there was a pulse of energy, causing Tif to stumble backwards before feeling their joints begin to freeze up as Stasis began to surround them. “Tif!” Rae was about to run to her but was stopped by Marcia placing a hand on her shoulder. “Wait.” Marcia said. Rae was about to argue with her until she saw Tif suddenly break free of the Stasis, panting heavily. “Vex incoming!” Ghost alerted and several Vex began to teleport in. Rae went for her gun but was stopped again by Marcia, “Wait for it.” Rae watched as Tif turned to face the incoming Vex horde. Stasis crystals began to surround their right fist before completely solidifying. Tif charged towards the Vex before launching themself up into the air and slamming their fist into the icy ground below. As they did, three lines of icy spikes emerged from the ground and impaled some of the Vex while freezing the others. With their gauntlet, Tif went lunging forward through the frozen Vex, shattering them instantly. Marcia and Rae watched as Tif mowed down more and more Vex with Stasis, not having to touch their gun once. Rae was awestruck while Marcia just smirked, “That’s the power of Stasis right there. I was pretty baffled too when I watched Eris and Drifter use it. And that’s only it when in the hands of a Titan! Imagine what’ll be like if you or I use it.” Marcia’s sentence was punctuated by a loud crash and a cloud of snow erupting upwards. It cleared to reveal Tif in a three-point landing with three minotaur bodies skewered by ice spikes, successfully taking out the last of the Vex. Tif stood up, out of breath but looking pretty proud of themself. However their moment of pride was interrupted by feeling energy being sucked out of them. Tif glanced down at their hand and saw that their energy was solar again, not Stasis. “W-wha? Where’d the Stasis go?!” they exclaimed. “Calm down.” Marcia reassured as she hopped off the edge, “You don’t get it right away. What you just experienced was just a sampler. The process of achieving Stasis is a test. The Darkness wants to see if we’re worthy of using it and introduces Stasis gradually. But unlike Eris and Drifter who had more time to hone theirs, we’re cut for time thanks to Eramis. So our training will be more like a trial by fire. Hope that it’ll kick in when we need it most.”

“And by the looks of it, it’s testing us one-by-one.” Rae added, “Not the most practical way, but we don’t really have a choice. I’ll have Blaze meet us back at Variks’s place. It’s time we get to planning our first strike on Eramis’s house.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We’re back.” Rae announced as she walked in the door to the base, “Sorry we took so long.”

“Can it be?” Variks narrowed his eyes at Rae, Marcia and Tif, “I can smell that poisoned power on you. Does corruption spread so quickly? Or do you hope to fight Eramis with her own weapons?”

“The latter.” Marcia replied as she followed the group inside. “Who is this?” Variks asked. “This is Marcia Wyverk. She’s a close friend of ours and a fellow Paralian.” Rae explained. “Variks the Loyal, right? Nice to finally meet you.” Marcia grinned, “Rae briefed me on the Eramis situation and I’m ready to help.”

“As for Stasis, yeah. An old friend of ours is helping us to use it properly.” Rae explained, “So far, Tif is the only one that’s used it.”

“Temporarily.” Tif added, “Marcia says that the Darkness wants to test us first.”

“You walk a very dangerous path.” Variks warned, “Take this recklessness to Phylaks, then. But beware. She is Eramis’s most skilled warrior. She made her name at Twilight Gap.”

“Yeah. Tif told us as much.” Rae replied, “Any ideas on where to start?”

“Prove yourself a worthy opponent, and she will show herself.”

“Sounds easy enough. Cause a ruckus, get her attention. The rest is sure to follow.”

“Causing a ruckus is what we do best! Right, Marci?” Blaze grinned.

“Aw yeah! This is gonna be fun!” Marcia chuckled.

“Ooh! I wanna cause a ruckus too!” Tif beamed.

“Yeah! Tif’s on team chaos!” Blaze whooped. Rae held her head in her hands, “I swear I’m gonna have a nervous breakdown dealing with these three…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“OHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAPOH- GYAH!!!”

Marcia let out a yelp as she was thrown from the missile blast of a brig. Quickly scrambling to her feet, Marcia ducked behind a block of ice where Rae also was hiding, sniping from a distance. “Can we agree not to tell Drifter about these? Gambit will be a nightmare if he manages to lure one in.” Marcia panted. “Agreed.” Rae replied, “Oh no. Move!” Rae grabbed Marcia and dragged her away from the ice block as missile strikes came from above. “Nice reflexes.” Marcia breathed as she activated her Shadowshot bow and began firing at the brigs. “Take this, ba sloat!” Tif yelled as they charged at one of the two brigs, managing to slice at its front with their arc blade and cutting deep enough to down the large mech. “Tif, watch your six!” Blaze called out as she launched a rocket from her rocket launcher at the last brig, causing it to stumble backwards, “Go for it!”

“Thank you!~” Tif cheered in a sing-song voice as they took advantage of the stunned brig and stabbed the blaze right into its centre, digging in as deep as they could before the brig let out a low, fading whir and collapsed to the ground, Tif just managing to duck out of the way. “That’s the last of them.” Blaze let out a sigh of release as Tif removed their blade from the brig, “You think we got her attention yet?”

“I think so. Incoming message from Phylaks.” Ghost called out as Phylaks’s message came through.

“Machine-spawns! I admire your thirst for the fight. Come and find me.”

“She’s…transmitting her location to us. Looks like we won ourselves an invitation.” Ghost announced. “I’ve a feeling it’s not a dinner party sort of invitation.” Marcia muttered, dismissing her super, “Phylaks doesn’t seem to be the fancy type.”

“It’d be funny if it was!” Tif giggled, “I wouldn’t complain.”

“Where’s the coordinates at?” Rae asked. “Looks like Nexus. Beyond where Tif used her Stasis.” Ghost replied. “Well, let’s not keep our hostess waiting.” Blaze smirked, “Let’s go party, Paralight style!”

To Be Continued…

#Changing our Destiny #rae drakyx #blaze kiria #marcia wyverk #tif kariuki #fireteam paralight #exo stranger #The Drifter #destiny drifter #Eris Morn #destiny eris morn #variks the loyal #variks #destiny ghost #ghost #destiny 2

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simonsaidthat · 4 years

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First Time Reading All of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, 4th Best

Trying to catch up on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure so that I can even the playing field with my friends, I’ve decided to list off which Parts I’d be genuinely interested in seeing the Anime versions of. So far my ranking includes:

8th Place: Phantom Blood (Part 1) 7th Place: Battle Tendency (Part 2) 6th Place: Stone Ocean (Part 6) 5th Place: JoJolion (part 8)

I said this one was a toss up between itself and JoJolion, but ultimately I think having a less bizarre continuity than Part 8 helped tip the scales in it’s favor.

Part 5: Vento Aureo/Golden Wind

(Because this one is the latest to have an anime adaption, and I have at least one friend who has not finished watching the series, I’ll try to keep spoilers to an even greater minimum.)

One of the problems I had stated concerning Stone Ocean was “it’s reverence for Part 3″ trying to be a direct sequel to Part 3 or at least try to elevate the “Legacy of Part 3″, which burdened itself onto the story of Jolyne Kujo who had nothing to do with DIO or his posthumous plans. It isn’t even really about Jolyne reflecting on the relationship with her father. The entire story is kinda weighed down by the continuity of being a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Part 5′s Golden Wind on the other hand strangely isn’t. It’s not trying to be a sequel to Part 3. It just... kind of ends up being another Part 3.

You’d think that that the story of Giorno Giovanna, the son of the major antagonist for 2 separate JoJo Parts would have a greater focus on his complicated legacy, being technically a member of the Joestar family. Or for there to be one character who had met DIO somehow recognize Giorno as the vampire’s offspring, resulting in a brief period of mistrusting the main hero.

But nothing really comes from being DIO’s son. There’s lip service to the audience about “Nature vs Nurture”, but ultimately as far as I can tell, the sole purpose of having Giorno be DIO’s son, is solely for the Audience’s benefit and for the Author’s justification of having a Joestar protagonist without skipping too far into the future.

And to be perfectly honest, Part 5 is all the better for it.

The lesson I learned through reading Part 6 was that too much continuity causes a lock-out for potential new readers if they just want to jump into any one of the individual 8 parts. So the less continuity there is, OR the less the story actively cares about the continuity, the quicker it’ll be to just enjoy the ride.

(References are safer and not the same as continuity).

As far as the Continuity of Part 5 is concerned, it starts with a cameo from the previous entry to serve as the point of view until the story is comfortable focusing in on the protagonist, then the cameo character is completely dropped, never to be seen again. Giorno is the son of DIO but his lineage is never meaningfully brought up in the story, and the Golden Arrows established in Part 4 as a means to grant Stands to individuals are brought back to justify an entire organization spread out across the country to have enemy Stand Users.

Incidentally the application of the Golden Arrows are fairly straightforward in Part 5, with a great “initiation” ritual that makes the organization feel grander, but I still think the Golden Arrows as a concept are a step in the direction of “over-thinking things”.

(While there are explanations for Stand Powers in Part 7 and 8, the origin becomes less of a focus and people can “just have stands” for narrative expediency. I’m sure by Part 9 or 10 we’ll finally just have X-men “mutants”).

The last thing I’ll say about Continuity is that Golden Wind probably fairs best among the entire JoJo Anthology (second only to Part 2 being a direct follow up on the story of the Stone Masks and Vampires as established in Part 1), and even though there are few characters with direct connections to previous Parts, it treads through familiar enough ground to become probably “the best version of itself”, or at least the “best sequel series”.

What I’m trying to say is: Part 5 is an argument in favor of advancing the continuity of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure... but Part 6 is an argument against it, resulting in the Part 7 soft-reboot.

But even if Part 5 is the “Best version of itself”, maybe even the “best JoJo”, if we’re talking the culmination of all these stories from Parts 1-5; I don’t know if I liked any of the characters.

When writing about Part 2, I said that Joseph, Caeser and Lisa Lisa had the best group dynamic/personalities, and I said that Part 8 had my favorite Stand Powers, but I think Part 5 has the best “Team of Stand Users”. To be clear I’m not saying I like any of the individual members of the Hero Team, or that the Hero Team has a better dynamic than the Trio in Battle Tendency; but as a group, a gang, a unit, a party, an armed force, a team, the hero cast of Golden Wind might be the most strategically cohesive and complimentary group of mercenaries of all 8 JoJo’s.

Like most JoJo’s will have a dedicated healer in the Party, but we’ve also got 2-3 Fighters, 1 Extreme Heavy (that was so broken that the Author had to kick the character out of the story) and 2 different Support/Reconnaissance members with their own unique fields.

They display the best visually engaging teamwork during combat, but outside of it I thought they were kind of “amusingly obnoxious”. Their dynamic/relationship to each other kind of reminds me of the O.G. Ninja Turtles from the 80′s Cartoon (this was probably the best compliment that I could have given them when it was sort of intended to be a criticism).

Also, and I feel like this is kind of a cheap shot, but I think their clothes are dumb. Granted Josuke of JoJolion is still the silliest looking JoJo, but Giorno is definitely a close second.

I’ll say this though, Part 5 character designs might be the most... “Araki”, of all 8 JoJo’s as well (lending further to the idea that Golden Wind might be “Peak JoJo”), and even I’m not entirely sure what that means. Like, all the Men have transitioned from being impossibly bulky to androgynous thin, everyone wears some degree of revealing clothing, their gunman in tiger pants looks like he’s wearing a ball of Ham on his head, it’s kind of distracting.

Of the characters that I might like, the closest I can think of is Bruno Bucciarati and Doppio, the former being the cool-headed, mentor type (the Piccolo of the group) and the latter for... okay I genuinely like Doppio, but he might just barely be spoilers for the production of the English Dub of Part 5, so I won’t say any more.

I like their pet turtle-and-living room.

I’m admittedly a little disappointed in the main villain though. He’s perfectly functional for getting the story where it needs to go, but I kind of wish there was more to him than what seemed to be just a reveal of what he finally looks like. And honestly outside of his hair colour, I wish the villain looked more like Trish, maybe even being a female villain or Trish herself. I don’t know, something to help justify why his paranoia locked himself away so completely that no one knew what he looked like, only for the audience to finally see his true form and... it’s just another dude. A JoJo, androgynous dude sure, but still just a dude.

Golden Wind might be the most Clever, most Cohesive chapter in the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Anthology.

...it’s just not as fun as some of the other entries.

(Also could we maybe not have a stand that impregnates a woman to manifest a robot baby to attack the hero when your stand could instead be, I don’t know, a robot baby that attacks people without the r*pe?! Is that so hard to ask?)

#jojo's bizarre adventure #vento aureo #golden wind #giorno giovanna #part 5

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hobiorbit · 5 years

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hopping into love II (m.)

pairing: (mainly) park jimin x hybrid!reader, hybrid!jeon jungkook x hybrid!reader. will probably contain future pairings warnings: male masturbation, blowjobs (m/f giving), panty kink, dirty talk, exhibitionism, voyeurism, creampie, threesome (m/m/f), reader is biologically female summary: In which Jimin has no idea what he’s getting himself into when he adopts you, and he finds both him and Jungkook sexually and romantically infatuated with you. A/N: (most) of the sexual tags will be put into effect in chapters 3 and onwards!

When you finally woke up, you were greeted with the sight of Jungkook hovering curiously above your face. Like anyone else, you jumped and let out a startled squeak, to which he leaned back and giggled.

“Sorry, you just looked so cute and content. I didn’t want to wake you up yet.” Jungkook told you, sounding anything but sorry. You tried not to focus on the fact that he called you cute, heart thumping faster due to his silly comment.

“Oh… ‘S okay.” you mumbled sleepily, rubbing your eyes and smoothing down your hair that had became disorganized in your sleep. Jungkook hummed suddenly, making you open an eye to gaze at him. He was staring at you, of course.

“You probably want to shower, right?” Jungkook asked you. Your sleepy state quickly diminished with the other hybrid’s comment, thinking about how nice a hot shower sounded. He must’ve seen you excitement, because he smiled gently. “Do you need clothes?” He asked you, nodding his head to your still blanket covered form. You thought for a moment before memories of the night before popped into you head.

“No, actually. Jimin gave me some of his clothes when he saw my pajamas.” You said shyly, averting your gaze as you muttered the last part. Jungkook was silent for a moment, but seemed okay with your answer nonetheless. “Alright then, I’ll let you get to it. In the meantime, I’ll make some breakfast- I make a pretty mean bowl of cereal.” He joked, making you laugh softly. You thanked him before getting out of your bed and grabbing your clothes, padding down the hallway to where you remembered the bathroom was.

The linen closet was located conveniently next to the bathroom, making your trip a lot easier. You grabbed a towel and shut the door to the tiled bathroom, turning the shower on and brushing your teeth as you waited for the water to warm.

You had to do your best to keep a moan from ripping from your throat once the hot water hit your skin. You thought the food from the night before was good. The bed you slept in was insanely comfortable and it was the best sleep you’d had in a long time. However- the shower probably topped every single one of those, leaving you to stand under the hot stream feeling the most intense rush of euphoria known to man. You’d be lucky if your cereal wasn’t soggy by the time you left the shower.

With that thought in mind, you went to grab Jungkook’s shampoo. You felt bad about having to use it, knowing fairly well that hybrid related toiletries could be quite expensive. As you lathered the soap into your hair, your thoughts wandered to your new owner and… hybrid friend.

It felt wrong, but both men were undeniably attractive. Jimin was so loving and caring toward you, giving you so much appreciation and love in such a short time. Jungkook was the same; except he oozed such a dominant energy, making you eager to please. It was probably your hybrid instincts- the pesky things.

However, compared to the way the other two men thought to you, your thoughts were vanilla. The farthest you went was thinking about kissing them on the lips, and the thought made you hotter than the shower; uncomfortably hot. Due to your embarrassment, you quickly soaped up your body, rinsing the residue off before turning the shower off completely.

You grabbed the fluffy towel you obtained from the linen closet, taking great care to make sure every inch of you was dry as possible before putting on the clothes Jimin had lent you. You slid the boxers on before putting on the shirt you’d opted for. The sweater was nice, but you figured the freeing fabric would be best after a hot shower.

As you stepped into the hall to find Jungkook, you could already hear him munching on his breakfast. You walked faster, wanting to spend as much time eating with him as you could.

When you walked past, Jungkook did everything he could to drink in your form. How the shirt practically his the boxers you were wearing, how the thin fabric left little to the imagination. Your nipples were already stiff peaks, poking at the barrier before them, bearing your glory to the other hybrid. He could already feel his cock inflating in his pants, and he shook his head to try and stop thinking such dirty thoughts about you.

“Was the shower as good as you hoped?” He inquired to get himself back on track. You looked at him, cheeks puffed out and filled with cereal. Of course, you swallowed before answering.

“It was better than I could’ve ever expected, actually. I guess I really needed it!” You said excitedly, feeling energized from the morning shower. Jungkook smiled warmly at you, happy to see you settling into his home so well. He was worried it’d take you a while- not that it mattered, he would’ve kept trying to get you comfortable no matter how long it would’ve taken.

“That’s really good to hear, bunny. Once hyung gets off work I assume we’ll head straight to shopping, because knowing him it’ll take a while…” Jungkook trailed off, as if experiencing flashbacks. “He’ll get off early today ‘cause it’s Friday. I know I said movies, but there’s something else I want to show you. That okay?” Jungkook asked, searching you for agreement or distaste. Instead you just sent him that cute smile of yours, wanting nothing more than for him to show you everything he knew.

“Yeah! That sounds fun.” You nodded, scarfing down the rest of your cereal before standing up. Jungkook took both of your bowls to the dishwasher before leading you to the office, which confused you.

“What’re you gonna show me in here?” You asked, feeling puzzled. Jungkook himself had called the room boring the day before.

“Remember? I said all this room is good for is YouTube videos and video games. And today, I’m gonna show you my favorite game: Overwatch.” Jungkook told you proudly, making you smile despite not knowing half the vocabulary he was using. “Sounds good.” Were the words that left your lips, watching him sit down in the only chair in the room.

That realization must’ve just hit him, because he made a weird noise before sighing. He spun around in the computer chair, legs spread wide and planted to the ground. “We only have one chair, and there’s not much room for me to pull in another one. How about you just sit on my lap, bunny?” Jungkook asked you, hoping you didn’t find the proposal creepy. You seemed worried.

“What if I hurt you?” Was your concern, which made Jungkook’s heart squeeze. He really hoped you weren’t self conscious, because you were easily the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. So, he shook his head vigorously in opposal. “You’d never hurt me. Now c’mere.” Jungkook said, leaning forward grab your waist with his big hands, pulling you down on his thigh before turning back around to face the computer.

Your weight seemed to hardly phase him, something that made you relieved. You watched as he speedily signed into the computer, observing how he worked the device intently.

“Is this it?” You asked once the computer finally logged him on, showcasing his homepage to you. Jungkook laughed heartily at your cluelessness, causing his body to shift under you, making you slide more directly onto his lap. His soft groan went unnoticed by you, who was more concerned with his laugh.

“Huh? Did I say something funny?” You asked him, twisting around to look at him. He was staring up at you, pure enjoyment and adoration shining through his eyes.

“Of course you said something funny… Funny Bunny,” He laughed once more, causing you to also laugh at the nickname he’d given you. “But no, this isn’t the game. I’m booting it up right now.” He told you and resumed to the computer, making you refocus your attention to the machine once more. Soon it was taken over by bright colors, different characters and weapons making you stare interestingly.

“What do you have to do?” You asked him as he started up the game, watching as he controlled a girl with purple-ish skin and dark hair. His eyes never left the screen, but he continued to speak to you.

“Have you ever heard of capture the flag?” Jungkook asked you, his arm coming around your waist to tap at the keyboard, effectively locking you into your position in between his arms. You nodded, but verbalized yourself anyway.

“I think so.” Was all you said, trying to resist moving forward to get a better look, knowing it would probably obscure the other hyrbid’s vision. “It’s basically just that- I have to work with my team to get their flag, but we can’t let the other team steal our own flag.” He told you as he controlled his character with skill, reacting so fast you could barely tell what was going on.

“Woah.” You muttered in wonder, eyes wide as you stared at the screen, so interested with the game itself and how good Jungkook seemed to be at it. It was cool.

However, disaster seemed to strike when a large man with a mask and a hook with a chain practically slapped Jungkook’s character from the screen. You jumped from the suddenness, causing all of the pressure of your body to go straight to Jungkook’s cock. He groaned and cursed, happy that he’d died so you’d think his frustration lied with the game.

Despite his luckiness with the character death, now not only was the other team making a push to his base, but his dick was making a push against his sweatpants. Not the best situation, especially with you situated right above him.

To make matters worse, you were getting increasingly interested with the gameplay, and it showed with the way you would move and jolt with the characters you were watching as an act of imitation. Jungkook thought it was cute, but would’ve found it one hundred times cuter if he didn’t have to constantly will his boner away because of it.

“Kookie! Right there, get him!” You pointed excitedly, leaning forward and pressing your ass back against him. You were signalling to the player who had killed Jungkook moments before, and despite the pleasure you were unknowingly giving him, Jungkook was still able to take the enemy down.

“Good job, bunny. Warming up to a couple of hyung’s nicknames for me, I see.” Jungkook teased lightly, hoping you couldn’t tell how flustered he was from the use of the nickname or his sexual frustration.

Now it was your turn to be embarrassed, because you hadn’t even realized the words had come from your mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…” You trailed off, thoroughly flustered with yourself. Jungkook only leaned forward and rubbed his lips against your scent gland, something that immediately calmed you down.

“Don’t worry, bunny. I like it.” Was all he said before growing silent again, leaving you to think about how much you liked the feel of his lips against your skin… And why had only just realized he had his phone in his pocket- it was kind of uncomfortable.

The rest of your day spent with Jungkook went smoothly. After he had his fill of overwatch, he told you he was going to shower. You were fine with that, but ended up growing worried when you realized how long he stayed in there. You swore you heard a couple of grunts- maybe he made the water too hot. When the hybrid came out he seemed to feel better, so you didn’t comment on it.

After that the two of you pretty much lazed around, mostly because not much could be done without an owner present. Hybrids weren’t allowed to be out on their own, and even if they did have a collar or identification collars, the laws clearly stated they should be with an owner at all times. You always thought that was distasteful.

Despite being confined to the house, things never grew boring. Jungkook’s company was something you found yourself starting to love, enjoying every moment you spent with him. He was a way of making everything he did with you fun, and you always were content.

When you heard the door unlock and Jimin’s voice in the doorway, you bounded over to say hi. Any other time you would’ve been embarrassed, but the emotional attachment you already held for the man made you go a bit crazy once he returned after a long while. Jimin indulged you nonetheless, grabbing at your frame and pulling you against him, greeting you.

“Hi, pretty girl. How was your day with Kookie? Kook, did you have fun?” Jimin asked the two of you when he pulled away from you, trying not to pay attention to how much he longed to have you in his arms again. It felt right. Jungkook nodded. “Yeah, we had fun. I showed her Overwatch and we watched some stuff on the TV.” Jungkook filled Jimin in, making him hum contently.

“Well, as much as I’d love to sit down and talk more, I fear that if I do I won’t get up. Why don’t you two change and we’ll get going to get Y/N’s things?” Jimin asked, giggling when he saw the excitement in your eyes. You and Jungkook both went to your bedrooms, throwing some clothes on before stepping out.

While your decision was easy because you really only had one outfit, you still frowned. Your dress was the only thing that you had, and any other time you would’ve been fine with it, but the weather definitely contradicted the lack of fabric. Deciding you’d have to brave the cold for the day, you slipped it on before stepping out. Jungkook was already dressed, jeans and boots on his bottom along with a short sleeved tee and a long coat.

“Bunny, you’re going to freeze!” Jungkook cried when he saw you, practically running over to you and grabbing your arms. You pouted in response. “This is all I have.” You told him solemnly. Jimin hummed and went back to his room, brushing past the both of you. Jungkook and you both shared a curious gaze as you waited for your owner to come back. When he did, he had a huge, chunky cardigan in his hands. Put this on over it. It’ll warm you up. Okay, Y/N?” He asked you, handing the fabric over as you nodded in confirmation.

The thing was huge on you, but thankfully it seemed pretty chic. Not to mention how warm it was, and it was coated in Jimin’s scent.

“Thank you, Jimin.” You told him graciously, holding the fabric close to your face. Jimin shook his head. “No need to thank me, Y/N. Alright guys, let’s go- we’re gonna have a pretty long night ahead of us.” Jimin told the two of you.

Jungkook followed Jimin out and you followed suit, waiting behind with Jimin as he locked the door before going to his car. Jungkook took the front seat, leaving you to have the back by yourself. As you buckled yourself up, Jimin locked eyes with you in the rearview mirror.

“Is there somewhere you’d like to go, Y/N?” Jimin asked you. You puckered your lips in thought, before shaking your head. “I’ve never really been out shopping, so I don’t really have a store I want to go to.” You told him honestly, figuring wherever he took you would be good enough. Jimin nodded.

“To the mall we go, then!” Jimin cheered, making Jungkook and you giggle. Jungkook took his phone from his pocket and plugged it into the car, playing some of his own music. You spent the car ride in a comfortable silence, blissfully enjoying the soft whirring of the engine coupled with Jungkook’s music.

When the three of you arrived at the mall, Jungkook pretty much barrelled inside, saying something about the last one in being a rotten egg. You might’ve raced him but Jimin interlaced his fingers with yours before you got the chance to, so you obediently stayed behind and watched as Jungkook pouted at the two of you behind the glass doors of the mall entrance.

“You guys are boring.” Jungkook told you, making you frown in mock hurt. Jimin rolled his eyes playfully. “We’re safe, is what we are. You need to look before you go running through a parking like that.” Jimin chastised the younger. “Yeah, sure, dad.” Jungkook said sarcastically, making you laugh.

“Ah, look! We need to go in here.” Jimin said as he saw a sign. When you looked up, you realized the store specialized in hybrid accommodating undergarments, making your body heat up with embarrassment. A small whimper left your lips, something that did not go unnoticed by the males.

“Is there something wrong?” Jungkook leaned in closer as he asked you, making your lips seal into a thin line. “I-It’s embarrassing…” You trailed off, hoping they’d get the idea. However, Jimin laughed while Jungkook averted his gaze, clearly even a little uncomfortable. “I’m sorry Y/N, but you know you need some. I won’t make you show me if you try anything on, I just need to make sure you get what you need. Deal? I’ll try and make it as quick and painless as possible.” Jimin told you, making both you and Jungkook sigh in relief. At least you wouldn’t be spending an eternity in the store.

As you walked in you barely made it a couple feet into the store before a bubbly clerk came to talk to you. She was a human, which shouldn’t have surprised you, but it felt weird seeing one work at a store catered to hybrids.

“Hi guys! Anything I can help you with?” she asked politely, gaze immediately going to Jimin, seeing as he was the only human of the group. Jimin nodded.

“Yes, actually. We need to get her some underwear and a couple bras, please.” Jimin said with completely no shame, making you hang your head low as embarrassment consumed your entire body. If the clerk noticed she didn’t say anything, immediately walking you over to the section of the store that would work best for you.

“You’re a bunny hybrid, right?” She asked you, to which you nodded your head in confirmation. “Thought so, just had to make sure! Ohmygosh, you’re so cute. Anyway, we have a couple underwear lines that cater toward bunny hybrids, due to the fact that your guys’ tails can be a lot fluffier than that of a cat or dog hybrid’s.” She told you, talking with her hands more than her mouth. She signalled to multiple racks that would work for you.

“Is there any kind of underwear you prefer? Comfy? Cheekster? Maybe even a couple thongs?” She asked you as if the other two boys weren’t just right behind you, making you blink rapidly. “I, um, don’t really have a preference.” You squeaked, making her giggle lightly.

“Well, I suggest these ones for comfort. They come in a lot of different styles and colors,” She signalled to a large display before turning back to you. “And even if you’re embarrassed, I recommend getting a couple of these thongs. If you were a dress or leggings, the worst thing ever is panty lines. Trust me.” She told you caringly, making you nod.

“And before I leave you on your own, do you know your bra size?” She asked you, not discrete at all. You swore you could hear Jungkook choke from his spot next to Jimin a couple feet away. You shook your head, not trusting yourself to even speak at that point, feeling thoroughly exhausted despite being in the store for downwards of ten minutes.

When she saw that you didn’t know your bra size, she immediately grasped the measuring tape that hung around her neck, dangling it in front of you. “I’m going to measure you, okay? Can you take the coat off so I can have a more accurate measurement?” She asked you, to which you shrugged off the cardigan and handed it to Jimin, who was looking at the assortment of underwear. You swore he had already started picking some out for you.

Your thoughts were disrupted by the worker, who was carefully wrapping the tape under your bust. One she got that measurement she measure you a couple more times, before proudly telling you your cup size. Well, you and everyone else in the store due to how she practically yelled it.

“These over here are what’s going to work for you. You can kind of judge what you like or what you’re looking for. If you have anything that you want to try on just come and find me, but I’ll leave you guys alone now!” The worker told you before trotting off, making you exhale a breath you didn’t know was lodged in your throat.

“She was nice.” Jimin said when neither you or Jungkook spoke. The other hybrid nodded. “Yeah.” he said, staring hard at the floor so he didn’t have to look at any feminine undergarments.

“Is there a certain style or color you like, Y/N?” Jimin asked you as he stepped forward to the wall of assorted bras. You thought for a moment, before nodding. “I like pastel colors. And maybe like, ruffles or something? Whatever, as long as the color isn’t dark or harsh.” You told him quietly, grabbing for the cardigan that hung over his arm. He gave it to you before turning to face Jungkook.

“Kookie, go get us a basket, will you?” Jimin asked sweetly, to which Jungkook nodded hastily, happy to have some activity to distract him from the current situation. There was so much lingerie in the store, the only thing he could think about was you wearing it for him before he tore it off of you.

Jimin began grabbing at a couple bras, holding them up to you. One was a pink plaid pattern, a cute bow tied in the middle. The other was more sheer, a lavender color that looked like it’d be comfy. “How about these?” Jimin asked, not seeming to have a care in the world about bra shopping with you. You nodded. “They’re pretty.” You said- and they were, the delicate fabric and colors made you want to put them on immediately. “Great!” Jimin said happily, chucking them into the basket Jungkook had come back with. He repeated the same process a couple of times before he felt you had enough bras, deciding to revisit the underwear section as Jungkook trailed behind with the basket.

You started to feel a bit more comfortable, hands ghosting over different panties you decided you liked, holding them up and studying them before handing them to Jimin, who would put them in the basket. Even with the innocent color scheme you had decided for yourself, both men couldn’t help but think about how everything would look on you. When you chose a pair of underwear that had a bow on the back, Jungkook practically lost it, because he could picture the bow nestled perfectly above your perky little bunny tail.

Thankfully, it didn’t take you long to pick out the rest of your underwear. Within a couple minutes all three of you were stood in the checkout line, Jungkook seemingly getting better now that he could practically smell his one way ticket out of the store.

“Thank you for shopping with us!” The cashier told you as you guys walked out of the store with your bags. Both you and Jungkook were happy when you finally stepped into the main area of the mall. You looked to Jimin for direction as to where to go next.

“Why don’t we head down here? There’s a store I think Y/N would like a lot. Then we can go into the decor store and see if there’s anything you like.” Jimin told you, making you nod happily. You were excited to actually go clothes shopping, something you’d never really gotten to do before. Hundreds of different ideas of clothing flashed through your mind, making you walk just a bit faster to get to your destination quicker.

“Someone’s excited.” Jungkook said as you began to separate from them a bit when the store came into view. “Calm down Y/N, we’ve got time.” Jimin tried to scold you, but your attitude was just so endearing, he couldn't really make himself sound all that serious. You mumbled an apology but didn’t feel all that sorry. Even with just seeing the display case for the store, you could tell you were going to fall in love with the clothes.

As you walked in, Jimin began chatting with a clerk as you and Jungkook went off to find things that you fancied. Well- you fancied everything, but as much as Jimin wanted to buy you the whole store, he knew his bank account would get pretty mad at him.

With the help of the store clerk, both Jungkook’s and Jimin’s arms were filled with clothes in a very short amount of time. “Would you like a changing room?” The lady asked and before you could respond, Jimin nodded in confirmation. They piled the clothes up in the room before leaving you to yourself.

“Make sure you show us everything!” They told you, making you giggle. You started off with a nightgown, figuring you should probably get some pajamas so you didn’t have to continuously steal Jimin’s clothes. It was a bit short, but the material was some of the softest you’d ever felt and you adored the style.

When you opened the door Jungkook whistled jokingly and Jimin clapped. “It looks cute! That’s the yes pile.” Jimin told you as Jungkook gave a thumbs up, leaving you to try on more clothes.

For the most part, everything was a yes according to the boys. They seemed to enjoy everything you put on, so very little garments went to the ‘no’ pile. You’d chosen some pretty cute stuff, and you considered your little haul a success. Jungkook had especially liked some silky shorts you had on, though you weren’t very sure why. You weren’t too keen on them because they were pretty short, but both your owner and Jungkook insisted on it. The rest of your shopping trip was pretty fast and exciting as the rest of it. By the time you guys left the mall it was pretty late into the night, and you all opted to eat at a restaurant so Jimin didn’t have to cook. The entire trunk and other half of Jimin’s backseat was filled with different items he’d purchased for you, making you feel a bit guilty. However, whenever you said you were getting too much he’d shut you up by scratching your ears and kissing your forehead, claiming you deserved even more than what he could give you.

“Alright guys, all we’ve got to do is carry this stuff inside and then we can go to bed.” Jimin said, making Jungkook groan and you yawn. Nonetheless, you pulled your weight and grasped as many bags as you possibly could, not wanting to come out into the cold for a second trip. Jungkook seemed to have the same mindset, because between the two of you, there were only two bags left for Jimin to carry. The human speedily unlocked the door, moving to the side so both you and Jungkook could rush to your room and set your new items down. You flopped onto you bed immediately, feeling every bit of your energy leave your body when you hit the mattress.

“Get some pajamas on, Y/N. That nightgown is too cute to neglect,” Jimin told you, digging through the bags to find the gown before tearing the tag off and setting it on your bed. “Do you want me to tuck you in tonight, too?” Jimin asked you. You smiled but shook your head in response. “I think I’m good. You should get some sleep, you’re probably tired, too.” You smiled at him sleepily. Jimin laughed and nodded in confirmation.

“If you say so. Come here so I can at least give you your goodnight kiss.” His words flustered you but you shuffled forward anyway, allowing him to hug you before he placed a kiss on your forehead and each one of your cheeks. You smiled at the feeling, giggling at the light sensation of your owner’s lips against your skin.

When Jimin left the room, you immediately changed into your nightgown before climbing under the covers. Within a couple seconds, you were knocked out.

Jungkook watched as Jimin emerged from your room. He smiled at his hyung’s blushing face, knowing that the other male felt the exact same way for you as Jungkook did. “She’s cute, isn’t she?” Jungkook told him, making Jimin laugh shyly.

“She is. I guess I did a pretty good job.” Jimin said, walking into Jungkook’s room and sitting on his bed, staring at the other hybrid. Any other time it would be innocent, but with the way Jungkook gazed at the older, Jimin wasn’t so sure his intentions were innocent.

“Is your rut coming up, Kook?” Jimin asked worriedly. “Should I get your suppressants? Or get you a partner?” Jimin said concerned. Jungkook just smiled and shook his head, walking over to Jimin and pushing him lightly so he was laying down, leaving his waist exposed for Jungkook to straddle.

“I can’t remember the last time I was so fucking sexually frustrated, hyung,” Jungkook said, punctuating his words with a roll of his hips into Jimin’s. The older groaned at the sensation, feeling his cock grow in size from the other’s actions. Jimin didn’t respond, waiting for Jungkook to continue.

“Yeah, she’s cute hyung. So fucking adorable that all I can really think about is bending her over every single surface of the house and claiming her as mine.” Jungkook rushed, moaning at his own words and the feeling of Jimin’s cock straining against his jeans.

“Kook, I-” Jimin said, trying to think of anything to say. He didn’t really know what was going on, but he couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy it. Jungkook began pulling at his shirt, yanking it off and throwing it onto the floor. He then began to undo his belt and pants, standing up.

“Hyung, suck me off. I’ll return the favor, but I need something. I can’t sit here and pretend she doesn’t have an effect on me, and the last thing I want to do is make her uncomfortably. I know you feel it too, Jiminie.” Jungkook said lightly, closing his door and kicking his jeans off, leaving himself in his underwear, fully erect cock straining against the fabric. Jimin nodded, licking his lips and salivating at the thought of Jungkook’s heavy cock on his tongue. Even if he wanted to fuck you too, this would be the best thing he could get… At least for a while.

Jungkook moaned in anticipation, rolling onto the bed next to Jimin and waiting for the other to get into position. Jimin wasn’t too far behind, hovering over Jungkook’s underwear and kissing the tip through the fabric, making the other grunt deep in his throat. “Don’t tease me, hyung.” Jungkook said sternly, and any other time Jimin would fight for his dominant role, but he was too horny to care.

So he obeyed, pulling Jungkook’s briefs off and spitting into his hand before wrapping it around Jungkook’s cock, stroking is as he watched the pearly precum bead at the tip. Jimin stuck his tongue out tentatively, licking the salty substance from the skin as Jungkook bucked his hips forward.

Deciding to give the hybrid exactly what he needed, Jimin immediately lowered his mouth onto Jungkook’s cock, as far as it could go. His throat constricted around Jungkook’s cock, making the other fist his hands into the sheets.

“Fuck, hyung, your mouth’s so fucking good. Taking my cock so well, looking all messy while you do it.” Jungkook took one hand from the sheets to thread it into Jimin’s hair, making the older one moan. The vibrations caused Jungkook to thrust his hips up, making Jimin’s eyes roll into the back of his head. “Oh, you like it rough, huh?” Jungkook asked him breathlessly. When he saw Jimin nod even with his mouth stuffed full of cock, Jungkook practically lost it. He began thrusting his hips into Jimin’s mouth with a constant pace, moaning freely at the feeling.

“Fuck, you’re so good. So, so good hyung.” Jungkook praised, looking lazily into Jimin’s teary eyes. The sight of him so fucked out was so pretty, made Jungkook want to do a lot more to him. His rhythm stuttered when Jimin started to swirl his tongue around the head of his dick, making stars appear behind his eyelids.

“Hyung, I’m gonna cum. Shit, I’m gonna cum.” Jungkook said breathlessly. Jimin slid his mouth off of Jungkook’s cock, immediately starting to jerk it with his hand. Jungkook moaned aloud again when he put together what Jimin was doing.

“You want my cum on your face, huh? You’re that desperate? You’re gonna get it then, hyung.” Jungkook growled, pushing his hips against Jimin’s hand, moaning as hot spurts of white shot out onto Jimin’s face, making the human moan at the situation. He was shivering.

When Jungkook finally calmed down, he handed a couple tissues to his owner. “Do you want me to suck you off, too?” Jungkook asked caringly, as if he hadn’t been saying the filthiest things to him just moments earlier. Jimin shook his head slowly, hand running through his now messed up hair.

“Actually, I’m good. I might’ve… came in my pants.” Jimin muttered, making Jungkook giggle. “Am I really that good, hyung?” Jungkook asked, making Jimin roll his eyes and punch the hyrid’s arm lightly. “Shut up! It’s been a while.” Jimin said, sitting on the edge of Jungkook’s bed as his thoughts wandered to you. He hoped you were asleep and didn’t have to hear any of that.

“She’s not that much younger than me, right?” Jungkook asked out of the blue, making Jimin look at him quizzically. “Yeah, why?” Jimin asked, making Jungkook smirk.

“Hyung, don’t you remember?” Jungkook said softly in that soft voice of his. Jimin’s eyebrows only furrowed farther together, clearly not understanding where Jungkook was going with his words.

“Hybrids go into their first heats and ruts when they turn twenty.”

Oh, yeah.

Oh, fuck.

#bts smut #bts fanfic #bts #hybrid bts #bts hybrid au #jimin x reader #jimin smut #park jimin x reader #jeon jungkook x reader #jungkook x reader #jungkook smut #hybrid jungkook

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neutral-nobody · 4 years

Text

Cake

A/N: But Noots, it’s December, why are you writing a fic set at Halloween? Because it’s the only motivation I’ve had to write in 3 years so I’m going to bloody well do it. Finally my babies get some love.

Synopsis: The stars align, Operation Cake is a go.

Word Count: 2795

Virus World belongs to @voiceoflarka

“So you’re definitely coming home, right?”

“Mana, for the last time yes,” Mu chuckled, shifting his weight to his other leg as he leaned against the wall. “How many times am I going to have to say it?”

“Hm...” Mana pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment, mouthing to Liadan in the other room “one sec”. Liadan nodded and went back to chatting with the rest of the team, currently all sitting on the couches together, waiting for Mana to report back.

“Come on, am I that unreliable?”

“No!” Mana exclaimed, immediately jumping back into the conversation. “No, of course not. I’ve just never heard of you getting an early mark from the Haul.”

“It does happen,” Mu looked over his shoulder to check on the others, who looked like they were gearing up to get back on the move. He bit his lip but then softly chuckled. “Usually through injury though.”

“And you’re not injured right? Mu please-”

“Mana."

“Alright, alright,” Mana sighed and dropped that point of conversation, knowing it wouldn’t get them anywhere. “You’re not injured, you’re heading home early, and we’ll be seeing you in two days. Promise?” Before Mu could reply, Mana heard shouting on his end.

“Gotta go!”

“Mu, wait-”

Mana’s pleas went unheard as Mu hung up on her. A groan escaped her as she made her way into the lounge room, her teammates immediately turning to her as she entered the room.

“I take it that things didn’t go well with Operation Cake?” Nao asked bluntly, noticing Mana’s deflated expression.

“Well... not exactly...” Mana mumbled, rubbing her right arm awkwardly as she tried to find the right words to say.

“Usually ending a conversation yelling ‘wait’ isn’t a good thing,” Xav mused.

“There was yelling on the other end, couldn’t make out what it was about though. Whatever happened, Mu had to go.”

“And he’s not coming back?” Suv asked, a frown on his face. “Of course he’s not.”

“He didn’t say that...”

“What did he say? No interruptions,” Liadan insisted, looking at the rest of the team. “Tell us Mana.”

“He said that a few of them were going home early, since things had been settling down over the previous week there,” Mana said, sitting down next to her. “By early, he meant on Halloween, so not exactly early, but he’d be here in time.”

“Did he promise?” Suv asked, before being glared at by Liadan. “What? It’s a valid question.”

“I... asked him to promise,” Mana sighed and leaned back in the chair. “But when I did it was when he hung up.”

There was a collective groan as everyone else fell back into their chairs as well. Nao crossed his arms and pouted.

“So we don’t know if he actually will be,” he said bitterly. “And if we go through with this it might be for nothing.”

“We’ve got the M.E.S.S Test on the first of November,” Liadan stated, scrolling through the planner on her phone. “Tomorrow’s the 30th. If we try to plan his birthday now, we’re risking a lot of study time. Delta’s been getting on our case to be ready for this one as well.”

“But if Mu does come back...” Suv had a determined look on his face as he spoke up. “And we haven’t done anything for him, how bad are we going to feel? I’d feel awful!”

“With you there, mate,” Mana agreed solemnly.

“Normally we don’t even have any contact with him, and he’s never said anything like this,” Suv turned to look at Xav pleading, to break the deadlock. “You know I’m right.”

“We need to pass this test, and I don’t like our chances of Mu showing given how the phone call ended,” Xav stated, but then sighed. “But you’re right Suv. If we don’t do anything and he shows up, we’ll regret it.”

“Ugh fine, you’re right,” Nao groaned, but nodded. “It’ll suck if we don’t.”

“Well then...” Liadan stood up, tucking her phone into her pocket. “I’ll spend the night making some flash cards for everyone.”

“And tomorrow?” Mana asked. Liadan offered her a wide grin.

“Tomorrow, Operation Cake is a go.”

---

“Are you sure you don’t want us to buy a cake?” Suv asked, grabbing a shopping list from the kitchen counter. “It’ll give us more time to study.”

Liadan, who was whizzing around the kitchen, shook her head. “No, if we’re going to do this, we do it properly. Which means I make the cake.”

“You got it,” Suv nodded in agreement. “Don’t let Mana near the kitchen.”

“Hey!” Mana scowled. “You’re right, but you don’t have to say it.”

“Alright kids, enough bickering,” Nao pushed past them and grabbed the other shopping list. “No, wait, I wanna go get the snacks.”

“I’ve got that list,” Suv showed it to him. “If you want to come with me, Xav and Mana can be in charge of decorations then.”

“Done, I’m hungry,” Nao shoved his list into Mana’s hands and stood next to Suv.

“Just how much do we need to stick to your lists, Liadan?” Xav asked, peaking over Mana’s shoulder and her’s.

“As long as you get the stuff on there, I won’t mind if you get any extra,” Liadan said, eyes not leaving the recipe on the book propped open in front of her. It had a recipe on it for black forest cake. “Now everyone out of my kitchen! I need to focus.”

“Alright, mum, we’re going,” Nao whined, grabbing Suv by the arm and dragging him out.

“We’ll see you this afternoon,” Xav gave her a half wave, but put his arm back down when he realized she would not be responding. Liadan was mumbling something about ‘aesthetic’ when Mana closed the door. The group headed for the train station, catching the train to the Disney District, at the request of Liadan. Mana, giving the decoration list a proper lookover once they were seated, narrowed her eyes.

“Apparently we’re having a Halloween themed birthday, I guess,” she mumbled. Xav gave her a light smack on the shoulder.

“Mu actually likes Halloween,” Xav stated. “Don’t be a party pooper.”

“Plus, at this stage? Birthday stuff will be hard to find,” Suv added. “Well, hard to find compared to Hallo- OH NO!”

“What?!” Nao shrieked, jumping back at Suv’s sudden exclamation.

“I promised I’d be at the Hallo-Palooza,” Suv sighed. “It’s tomorrow night, Nova forced me to go.”

“Tell her you’re busy,” Mana said. “It’s important.”

“Don’t tell her no yet,” Xav shook his head at that. “If Mu is home in the afternoon, we could still go.”

“We?” Suv’s eyes sparkled.

“I... was also asked to go by Luccia,” Xav rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “It is the biggest party on campus after all.”

“Last year was so fun,” Nao reflected, looking wistfully in the distance. “I managed to scare the shit out of both of you.”

“Only cause I had a paper bag over my head!” Xav whined. “Spatial awareness would’ve saved me that night.”

“Too bad.”

“Guys,” Mana interrupted. “Even if Mu comes early tomorrow, going to the party leaves no time for studying.”

“Ah fuck, right,” Suv face-palmed. “M.E.S.S Test.”

“We’ll study tonight,” Xav assured her. Standing up, he grabbed the list off Mana. “We’re at our stop, and since I am the one in this pair who celebrates Halloween, I’ll hold the list.”

“Fine then,” Mana huffed, stepping ahead of him. “I’ll just carry all the stuff, like I carry your weight on this team.”

“And just like how I do all the brain work for you,” Xav chided back. As the two bickered, Suv and Nao shook their heads.

“Maybe we should’ve picked different pairs,” Suv said worriedly. Nao just shook his head and laughed.

“Nah.”

---

“Alright everyone, bags on the table for examination,” Liadan ordered, grabbing her tablet and opening her checklist. The team complied, placing everything carefully on the bench. Carefully going through them, she tapped on the screen whenever seeing something on her list.

“I thought Operation Cake was your plan, Mana?” Xav asked tauntingly.

“It is,” Mana agreed, grinning and giving him a small salute. “I just know to go to the experts on these types of affairs.”

“Glad you admit you suck at this,” Xav laughed, but gave her an appreciative smile.

“Oh good, you guys are fine,” Suv breathed a sigh of relief, and put an arm on Nao’s shoulder.

“Bickering is just our dynamic,” Mana assured. “Trust me, we’re good.”

“Told you,” Nao laughed and held out his hand. “Now give me my money.”

“Your what now?” Xav asked.

“We had a bet on whether or not you two would fight and not get your jobs done,” Nao explained, smiling coyly as Suv handed him $20. “I bet you two would be fine. Suv didn’t have any confidence in you!”

“I did!” Suv exclaimed, running up to Xav and taking his hands. “I trust you both, you just...”

“Are idiots,” Xav offered.

“Yes- No!”

“Yes,” Mana agreed, and the group all laughed together. Suv smiled, relieved at his friends acceptance of their dynamic. He turned to Liadan, who was still mumbling to herself as she finalized her verdict.

“How’d we do, Li?”

“Everything I wanted is accounted for,” she had a big smile on her face as she made the last tick. “Snacks are all excellent, and the choice to add some red vines? Inspired.”

“Thanks!” Suv gave her two thumbs up. “I figured Mana would complain about their being no red snacks otherwise.”

“Exactly,” Liadan gave him a wink as Mana pouted. Turning to her and Xav, Liadan gave them an encouraging nod. “You’ve both done good as well. I can’t believe you found a Halloween happy birthday sign!”

“It took a lot of digging,” Xav explained, admiring the banner proudly as she held part of it up. “It was right at the back of the display!”

“Thank god you knew what you were doing,” Mana said gratefully. “I had no idea what to grab.”

“Either way, both shopping lists, were a success,” Liadan assured her. A wicked grin then spread across her face. “Now to show you what I’ve been working on.”

“Let’s see the cake!” Nao shouted, nearly jumping on the table. Liadan opened the fridge, careful not to open it too wide lest she spoil the surprise. As she turned back, the group’s excited face turned to dismay as she instead pulled out her flash cards from the previous night.

“How could you betray us like this,” Xav whined. “I was so ready!”

“You can all wait for tomorrow,” Liadan chuckled, enjoying the effect her little joke had on her friends. “For now, we study.”

“You’re right, Liadan,” Mana agreed, heading for the couches. “Let’s all have it as a surprise for tomorrow, so we make it through studying tonight!”

“We’ll set up the decorations tomorrow,” Xav said, sitting down next to Mana.

“And prepare the snacks!” Suv added, sitting next to him.

“And hopefully he shows,” Nao sighed, taking one of the solo seats.

“Whatever happens, happens,” Liadan decided, sitting down and passing out the cards. “For now, we study.”

---

The day started out with excitement, as everyone clambered out of their beds to prepare for what was to come. An orange and black banner, with triangular hanging parts, spelt ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ across the top of the wall. Decorative cobwebs were placed beneath it, the spiders on it wearing makeshift party hats thanks to Suv’s brilliant idea. The wall on the other side of the room had a new corkboard on it, with photos of the team over various stages of their time together. A spot was left in the middle, waiting for a photo from the day to come. The frame was now caked in orange glitter, with some still left on the floor due to Nao going a little overboard. The table had a black and white table-runner going across it, little cats and ghosts dancing on it. Xav had placed some birthday glitter confetti across the runner, which was coloured gold and black, and there were orange and black balloons in every corner of the room.

As the afternoon rolled around, the excitement had waned a little, but immediately picked up once Liadan had finally brought out her cake to place on the table. The cake, black forest flavoured, was shaped like a pumpkin, covered in orange icing and decorative gold cake-glitter patterns. On top was a black cat decoration, with a red party hat that Mana had snuck on when no one was looking. Xav tried to say it looked to Christmassy, but after the flip of a coin courtesy of Nao, Mana won and the hat was allowed to stay. The snacks were placed on the table, every kind save the red vines were Halloween themed colours. No one dared to touch them, despite their rumbling stomachs, as they waited for the guest of honour. And waited.

And waited.

The clock on the wall chimed for the 7pm hour, as Suv let out a heavy sigh.

“Hallo-Palooza is starting now,” he grumbled, pulling out his phone. “I’d better tell Nova I can’t make it.”

“Same for Luccia,” Xav agreed, following Suv’s lead. “Hope they won’t be too mad.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“I can’t believe we’re gonna wait all night for Mu,” Nao groaned, rubbing his eyes. “This test starts at like 8am, holy shit!”

“We’ve come this far,” Liadan tried to assure them. “We may as well keep waiting, right Mana?”

As Liadan looked to her, Mana did not turn from the window she had been looking out for nearly the last two hours. Her arms were crossed, head turned to the side as she leaned against the wall next to the corkboard. A bitter smile crept onto her face as she turned to her team.

“No, we’re done,” she said, heavy defeat coating her voice. Liadan looked at her in bewilderment.

“But, Mana-”

“We’re done,” she insisted, joining them all sitting on the couches. “Nao’s right, the test is tomorrow and we’re woefully underprepared.”

“But to waste all this-”

“Liadan, this isn’t a waste.”

“Mana’s right,” Xav reached out to take Liadan’s hand comfortingly. “He’s probably been held up.”

“We knew he might not come,” Suv added, taking her other hand. “But we had to try, right?”

“R-Right,” Liadan nodded, squeezing both of their hands. The group looked to Mana, and Liadan sighed. “What do we do now?”

“Clean up, hide the evidence,” Mana ordered, standing up and dusting her hands. “If Mu sees any of this, he’ll feel super guilty for missing. I don’t want that, not when it wasn’t his fault.”

“Good plan!” Suv agreed. “Let’s take it all down.”

“We’ll text the girls, tell them we’re studying like proper gentlemen,” Xav said, giving Suv a wink.

“After that I’ll pull out the flash cards,” Liadan added. “We’ll do a crash course tonight so we’re ready for tomorrow.”

The group worked in a silence of understanding as they put everything away. Most of it was taken to a bin faraway outside, not wanting to leave any trace behind for Mu to sleuth for. They agreed not to throw out Liadan’s cake, since it was too much work to go to waste. The corkboard was taken down and wrapped in wrapping paper, to be used for a gift whenever they saw Mu next. The snacks were brought to the couches as the group began their cram session.

“Shit!” Xav yelled suddenly. As everyone stared, he turned to Mana. “Did you send him anything for his birthday? A text?!”

“Fuck!” Mana cried out, immediately pulling out her phone. “I was waiting to do it in person!”

“Make sure it’s from all of us!” Liadan exclaimed.

“I’ll do you one better,” Mana said, composing herself as she opened the camera app. “Let’s take a selfie of us studying, make it look like we’ve been busy today!”

“You’re a genius!” Suv grinned as he pulled everyone in. “He’ll never suspect anything!”

“Okay, everybody say study!”

“Study~”

“Excellent! Okay...” Mana sat back down as she began to send her text, reading it aloud as she typed. “Dear Mu... happy birthday... sorry for not messaging earlier... we’ve been studying for M.E.S.S... text us when you’re home, love the team!”

“Perfect,” Liadan said. “Send us the photo would you?”

“Oh, okay!” Mana nodded, quickly typing and sending the photo to everyone. Everyone pulled out their phones to look admiringly at the photo. A quiet peace fell over the group, until Xav narrowed his eyes at something in the background of the photo.

“Who left the cake on the table?!”

#larka's virus community #lvc #neutral tries to fanfic #it's been 84 years gif here kids #can't wait for my next fic in like 10 years

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destiel-love-forever · 5 years

Note

Hello! I saw your post about wanting prompts.... As a cheerleader in the midst of my competition season, I've recently been itching for some kind of cheerleading au, but it's kind of hard to find. I love your work and if you find time to write something like this, I'd def give it a read!

Thank you Anon!! Here it is (:

Dean Winchester is the Angel's star quarterback. It's his senior year and he should be focused on one thing: getting a college scholarship. That's what his dad - and coach - has been telling him. Then a distraction in the form of a new cheerleader with bright blue eyes and a gorgeous body comes along and things change. Will Castiel ruin Dean's chances at a future, or will he turn out to be his lucky charm?

AO3 link:

Lucky Charm

The warm sun falls on Dean’s exposed back as he leans over his extended legs in the grass, stretching them out. He holds the position longer than necessary because of how good the lingering summer heat feels on his skin. Any day now, autumn will sweep its way into the small town and even though it’s his favorite time of year because of football, he’ll still miss the hot days out on the lake and the warm nights around bonfires with friends.

Nothing compares to football season, though. The freedom he feels out on that field. How everything melts away. And the cheerleaders. Oh boy, does he love the cheerleaders.

“Winchester,” his best friend Benny grunts, flopping down onto the field with him and beginning his stretches.

“Lafitte,” Dean says back in acknowledgment, looking over at him and grinning when he sees his best friend’s bare chest and neck is covered in scratches and hickies. “Better put a shirt on or coach will be pissed.”

Benny rolls his eyes. Dean’s dad is the coach and he’s a total hardass, but he has a soft spot for Benny. John Winchester gets a kick out of Benny, the young boy from wealthy parents, destined for greatness, no cares in the world. Sure, he gets pissed when the boy drops passes or shows up to practice hungover or late, but it’s always a few extra sprints and he’s letting it go.

Unfortunately, Dean doesn’t have the same privilege. John Winchester puts the weight of the world on Dean’s shoulders, the young boy with a widowed father, no money to send him to college, not intelligent enough for good grades, so many cares in the world he could suffocate on them. Dean’s father planned his future before the boy could even throw a football. The rage that comes out when Dean fucks with the plans is violent and terrifying.

“Where the fuck is Ash?” Benny asks, referring to their other best friend. The three of them are captains this year and John wanted them to come do drills and review plays before the first practice of the night tonight, when the entire town is welcome to come watch the season officially begin at midnight.

Dean pulls himself out of his anxious thought tornado and shrugs. “Probably getting laid. Or napping.”

“Fuck both of ya. I’m right here.” Ash throws his bag down and sits beside it, not bothering to stretch yet. Instead, he lays on his back with his four limbs spread out, soaking up the sun. “Can you guys believe school starts in a week? Senior year. I can’t wait.”

“We’re going to be kings of the school,” Benny adds.

Dean just looks over at the two of them, snorting. “We already were. But, yeah, it’ll be fun.”

Benny rolls his eyes and looks at Ash. “Someone’s being grumpy today.”

“This should cheer ya up,” Ash says with a smile in his voice. Dean looks in the direction he’s pointing and straightens his back, puffing out his chest without meaning to. It’s only a group of five cheerleaders but all five are scantily dressed and gorgeous. Especially the one with black hair and bright blue eyes, his strong legs sticking out from short-shorts in the blue color of their school. His belly button shows beneath his t-shirt he’s made into a cut off, the hem stopping where he cut through the team’s logo.

Fucking gorgeous.

“Who is that?” Dean half asks, half demands. Both of his friends just shrug, neither having any information on the new guy.

The group comes closer, since they’re sitting right next to the table set up with the water jug and the stereo. Jo, the squad’s captain, goes to the stereo and plugs her phone in like she’s going to play music. Benny, her nearly permanent on again/off again boyfriend, hops up and waves his hand in the air. “Woah, woah. No. We’re using that today during warmups.”

“Well, you can have it then, Benjamin,” she spits over her shoulder. Dean wasn’t aware they were off again, but it’s looking like that’s the case. “We have the field for the next forty minutes. We’re practicing our routine for Midnight Madness.”

“Right. Midnight Madness.” Benny walks toward her with a goofy smile as he talks about the kick off practice they have tonight. “I could drive you to that. Pick you up. Drop you off after.”

“Oh, you think so?”

They continue going back and forth, Benny’s flirting softening her up. Dean stops listening though. He can’t concentrate when blue eyes starts stretching. The boy brings an arm behind his head, grabbing his elbow and pulling, his gaze falling somewhere off in the distance. His shirt rides up and with Dean sitting on the ground he can see his rosy nipples. He licks his lips.

Something hard hits him in the side and he jumps, grunting before yelling, “What the fuck?”

Ash has a knowing smile as he wiggles his eyebrows at him. “Careful there. You’re popping a hard on.”

Blushing, Dean grumbles something generic about Ash’s mom giving him a hard on as he hurries to adjust himself. His friend laughs at him and he’s seriously considering punching him until he glances up to see blue eyes looking straight at him.

Act cool, Dean. Act cool. You’re the star quarterback of a team who won the State Championship last year. You can handle a cute boy. Act. Fucking. Cool.

“Hey,” he says with a - if he does say so himself - very casual head nod.

The boy’s cheeks turn pink and he looks at the ground. “Hey.”

High on the fact that he made him blush, Dean pushes further. “What’s your name?”

“Oh. Um.” The boy fidgets, looking at him with wide eyes. “Castiel. Cas. Castiel.” He laughs nervously. “Either works.”

“Alright, Cas. I’m Dean.”

“Hi, Dean.”

Dean gives Castiel the smile everyone tells him is charming. “You must be new? I’d remember a face like yours.”

He hears Ash whistle and say under his breath, “Smoothe.”

Ignoring his idiot friend, he waits for Castiel to respond. It takes the boy a minute. He rocks on his heels and looks at the grass instead of Dean before nodding and saying, “Yeah. New.”

“Where ya from?”

“New York.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah. Cool.”

Dean tilts his head, having decided this is definitely his conquest for the school year. There’s an irresistible pull to the boy and they’ve known each other for five minutes. Hell, he’s not even thinking about just hooking up with him. He’d bring this boy out on a date. Dean Winchester’s first ever date.

“So, you’re a senior?” The boy nods. Dean smiles. “Nice. Me too. And you’re a cheerleader. That’s exciting.”

Castiel blushes. “Yeah. Uh, are you a football player?”

Dean laughs softly. Understatement of the year. “Yeah. Quarterback.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah. So, I guess we’ll be seein’ each other often.”

The boy bites his lip and looks over at his new friends. They’re all staring at him in wonder, probably because they’ve gone to this school long enough to know Dean’s reputation. Castiel looks back at Dean with a nervous smile. “Great.”

“Great.”

“Yes. Great,” Ash says with a dramatic eye roll. “How about we put an end to the most boring conversation I’ve ever had to endure?”

“How about the football idiots stop talking to the cheerleaders?” Jo snaps, grabbing Castiel’s hand and tugging him. She tells a girl sitting in jean shorts and a shirt, presumably a friend not on the team, to start the music when she gives the signal. Then the group all heads out onto the field.

Free to look without any risk of getting caught, Dean tilts his head to the side and appreciates the view of Castiel’s ass bouncing slightly as he hurries with the others. “Fucking hell,” he whispers in amazement.

“Oh, boy,” Ash laughs. “You’re fucked.”

---------

Castiel’s thankful that the only obligation he has for Midnight Madness is the team’s dance routine. The rest of the time he can sit with his new friends and zone out on the hot as fuck quarterback that’s prancing around in a shirt with the sleeves cut off, the slits going to the bottom of his ribcage to reveal the tanned skin beneath the fabric. His black shorts hang loose on his hips and skim the tops of his knees. He’s the opposite of Castiel. Huge muscles, flirty smile, high confidence, extremely attractive, and popular. At his old school, Castiel wouldn’t have even been on the cheer squad. He was far too shy and geeky. But he promised himself at this new school he’d reinvent himself. So here he is. And now the quarterback was flirting with him. Surely only for fun, not because he’s actually interested, but it still has Castiel flustered.

“Popcorn?” his new friend Chuck offers, pointing the bucket in his direction.

With a thankful smile, Castiel takes a few kernels and pops them in his mouth. He’s not sure how he got so lucky. Chuck’s his neighbor so when he moved in earlier this month he had an almost instant friend. It was him who convinced Castiel to go out for the cheer squad. He had great logic. It was something Castiel actually thought he’d enjoy, and their school was the perfect place for a guy to be on a cheer team, because the popular kids at the school didn’t put up with any jokes about being a fag or whatever. At the time, Chuck had said it was because the most popular guy at the school is openly gay. Now he’s burning to ask if Chuck meant Dean.

The coach blows the whistle and all the boys hurry over to the sidelines for water. Castiel watches as Dean takes off his helmet and squirts his water bottle over his head before tilting his chin back to squirt some in his mouth. Once he swallows, he shakes his head, wet hair going wild. One of his friends - the one Jo claims she hates but Castiel thinks she loves - says something, and Dean laughs. Hard. It carries through the air and Castiel shivers at the sound.

“Damn, that boy is hot,” Chuck mutters, looking in the exact same spot as Castiel.

Castiel’s stomach drops. The way Chuck said that was wistful, a tone Castiel’s used himself multiple times. The sound of a gay man appreciating a straight one. Since there’s no harm in agreeing with Chuck, though, Castiel sighs wistfully himself. “Yeah. He is.”

“Great kisser too. God, his mouth, man. I’m tellin’ ya - you haven’t been kissed until you’ve been kissed by Dean Winchester.”

Nearly choking on his second bite of popcorn, Castiel coughs and asks in a squeaky voice, “You’ve kissed him?”

“Well, jeez. Don’t act so shocked. I’m an attractive guy.”

“No. I mean, yes. You are.” Castiel doesn’t bother being embarrassed by admitting that. Within days of knowing each other, Castiel knew nothing was going to happen between them. Ever. They’re just great friends. “Dean’s gay?”

“Yeah. Well, he’s bi, actually. But yeah.”

Castiel turns his gaze to the field, stunned by the revelation. The swirl of possibility makes him ten times more nervous about Dean Winchester. It was one thing getting flustered by a straight boy being flirty but an entirely different thing if Dean is someone he could realistically be with. That makes the fear of rejection so much worse.

“Did you guys date?” he asks quietly, eyes tracking Dean as he backs up with the ball in his hand, then throws it across the field in a high arc. The ball goes toward some other boy but Castiel keeps his eyes on Dean.

“No. We were just fuck buddies for a while.”

“Why did you stop?”

“I wanted to be exclusive, to maybe try and date. Dean Winchester doesn’t do that.”

“Why?”

Chuck shrugs. “He claims he doesn’t believe in love but he’s a great guy and I don’t believe that for a second. Once you know him, you’ll see what I mean. He loves everything. One of those people that’s just completely full of life, you know? Always smiling.”

Castiel nods, still watching Dean. He can definitely see that, yes, but he has a feeling there’s much more to the story. Dean stands in front of his coach now. His helmet is on so Castiel can’t see his face, but his hands are in a constant state of clenching and unclenching by his sides. He notices that when the coach begins to yell, Dean takes the slightest step back, a shiver running through him.

“Why do you think he doesn’t date, then?” Castiel asks, wondering out loud.

“Everyone thinks it’s because of his dad. Relationships are a distraction.”

“Distraction from what?”

Chuck gestures to Dean and the coach. “Football.”

“God forbid,” Castiel mutters, rolling his eyes.

“Really god forbid, though. Dean’s getting scouted by Division 1 schools. People think he could one day make it to the NFL. A long shot, but a possibility. He’s good. Wait until you see him play.”

The coach advances on Dean and grabs the front of his jersey, yanking him forward and screaming into his face. Castiel leans forward, alarmed. “Oh my god. He can’t do that, can he?”

“Who? What?” Chuck looks in the same direction as Castiel and cringes, his frown deep. “Oh. Actually, he can.”

“Dean’s parents don’t get upset?”

The look Chuck gives him is incredibly sad. “Cas, that is his parents. His mom’s dead and his dad is right there.”

“His dad is the coach?”

“Yup. Real loving guy, hey?” Chuck shakes his head. “Wait until you see him during a real game.”

Castiel looks at the field. Dean’s getting a drink again, along with the others, but this time he doesn’t laugh afterward. He just ducks his head and places his hands on his hips, glaring at the grass in silence. Everyone gives him a wide berth. They must know better than to bother him.

Castiel knows for sure now. There’s something else lingering beneath the surface of Dean Winchester. A version of himself that’s not happy all the time. That doesn’t smile. That believes in love. That desperately wants love.

In seconds, Castiel has fallen for the boy. The boy beneath the surface.

-------

A hand hits the back of Dean’s head and he snaps his head in the direction of the person hitting him, cheeks turning red as he worries he got caught. His dad looks at him with a scowl and his eyebrows pulled in. Dean prays he didn’t notice Dean watching a certain cheerleader on the sidelines. When his dad’s eyes look over his shoulder at Castiel, he deflates.

“Somethin’ more important than the game, boy?”

“No, sir. Of course not.”

“You sure?” His dad turns to gesture at the field, where the other team is only ten yards from scoring a touchdown and tying the game. There’s only three minutes left and the Angel’s defense is exhausted. It’s not looking good. “Because the game is this way. Not that way.”

Dean bites the inside of his cheek and tries to remain calm so he can play this off. “Someone was shouting. I looked over there quick. Sorry.”

His dad just stares at him, unimpressed and probably not believing him either. The ball is snapped and a play begins. His dad leaves Dean alone to start coaching. It takes everything inside the young boy not to look at Castiel again. He gets closer to the white chalk of the field’s official edge and tightens his fists at his sides. His dad is right. He has to focus.

The opposing team scores on the next play and Dean’s gut sinks. He glances at the clock. Now there’s only two minutes and ten seconds left. It’s not impossible but it’ll be hard. As the players start to switch, Dean’s dad grabs him and yanks him close before he can run off. “This is your fault. That interception in the first could cost us this game. Go out there and fucking fix it.”

“Yes, sir.”

His dad shoves him toward the field and Dean stumbles for a second before jogging to his position. The other players start to line up. He feels sick as he waits for the ball. His dad is right, this is his problem to fix now. They can’t start the season off with a loss. Especially when the loss would be his fault.

His throat clenches and makes it hard for him to breathe. He hears the crowd shouting and the cheerleaders cheering and his dad screaming at them. The cheerleaders. Dean sucks in a breath and takes a chance, glancing over at the sidelines. The cheerleaders are facing the team right now instead of the crowd. Castiel’s in the front, right next to Jo in the center. He’s shaking his pom poms but his mouth is closed as his eyes bore into Dean. When he realizes the quarterback is looking at him, he gives a wave of a pom and a nervous smile.

The anxiety in Dean’s chest unfurls and he’s left with a floaty feeling. When he turns back to the game, he feels invincible.

-----

Castiel stands on the sidelines, anxiously waving his pom poms. His knees are wobbling in anticipation as he keeps his eyes glued to Dean’s every move. The clock is winding down and Dean’s managed to push the team down the field a good amount. They’re only thirty yards from the end zone now. The problem? There’s also only twenty-four seconds left on the clock.

The coach calls a time out and Jo orders them to spin around and do a certain cheer. He goes through the motions, forcing his eyes to stay on the audience, forcing his mouth to stay in a perky smile. The second they’re turned back around to watch the game, his face is serious again, his heart racing.

“Come on, Dean,” he whispers below his breath. “You can do it. Come on.”

The ball is snapped and Dean takes his steps backward, arm cocking in the air. His head swivels and Castiel scans the players, trying to find an open spot, praying there is one. Praying wherever it is, Dean sees it.

Castiel holds his breath when the ball is launched through the air. He watches it’s slow descent, realizing it’s heading for Benny Lafitte. The entire stadium turns quiet. It’s as if the air is charged with electricity.

When the ball lands on the ground, two or three yards further left than Benny, the opposing team cheers and the whistle blows as Dean’s dad calls another timeout. From his left, Castiel hears Chuck suck in a breath and whisper, “Shit.”

He doesn’t have to ask what’s wrong. The second Dean’s within reach, the coach is grabbing his face mask and yanking him to the sideline. The boy’s neck twists in a way that must have been painful - and quite honestly dangerous - and then the coach’s bright red face is pressing right up against the face mask as he screams. They’re close enough to hear parts and bits but too far to make sense of much of it. Castiel hears something about a ‘goddamn failure’ and ‘home.’ Something else about ‘embarrassment’ and ‘benched.’

Castiel’s eyes burn as he watches the scene. He glances around, astonished that no one cares that this coach - this father - is manhandling his son and screaming at him. When he looks at Chuck, his friend gives him a sad smile. Castiel just shakes his head, still shocked, and looks back at Dean and his dad. The whistle blows to signal the timeout is over and Castiel wonders if the man even had time to tell Dean a play or what to do. It seems he spent the entire time berating him. He says something else, something not yelled, then slams the palm of his hand twice against the side of Dean’s helmet and sends him off.

Six seconds. Final play. Too far away still to kick a field goal. “Come on, Dean,” Castiel shouts without meaning too. His cheeks burn with embarrassment but the other cheerleaders join him with words of their own. Then the Angel’s side of the bleachers start shouting encouragement at the young quarterback. Dean glances at the crowd, scanning it, then his helmet drops lower and he looks at Castiel like he did earlier. Instead of getting flustered this time, Castiel nods once, reassuring, and yells, “You can do it!”

The boy’s shoulders straighten and he turns to the team. The ball is snapped. Dean falls back. His arm is cocked. The crowd goes silent. The air becomes electric.

The ball flies through the air. Toward Benny again.

This time, it lands right in the boy’s arms. Three steps and he’s in the endzone. The crowd freaks out, jumping up and screaming. The boys on the sidelines storm the field to celebrate. The other cheerleaders are yelling and kicking their legs up in excitement. Castiel sees Jo fly away from the squad, heading straight for Benny, and something idiotic takes over his own body. One second he’s wishing he could hug Dean and the next second, he’s sprinting toward the boy with the number one on his blue jersey.

He launches himself at the boy, taking him by surprise. Dean releases a soft grunt before chuckling and returning his hug. His large arms wrap around Castiel’s bare waist, huge hands spreading across the small of his back, and he shivers at the calloused touch. One of the hands leaves so Dean can pull his helmet off. His hair is all over the place as sweat clumps it together, and sweat is rolling down the side of his face from his temple. Castiel’s mouth goes dry watching it travel down to his strong jaw. He wonders what it would taste like it.

Staring up at him in awe, Castiel accidently whispers, “You’re amazing.”

Instead of the cocky or flirty response he expects, Dean smiles softly and holds him tighter. “I’m pretty fond of you, too, Cas.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Dean leans down, slowly, making sure Castiel understands his intentions. When the cheerleader does nothing but lift up on his toes to make the journey shorter for him, he smiles and closes the distance, molding his lips over Castiel’s. Dean drops his helmet to the field so he can use the hand to cup the back of Castiel’s neck and hold him steady, his other hand increasing pressure on his back to pull him in closer. When he breaks the kiss off, he stays with their lips almost touching, so he can breathe him in. He whispers against Castiel’s mouth, “I think you’re my lucky charm.”

Castiel leans back to look him in the eyes, grinning like a total idiot. “Then I guess you’ll just have to keep me around.”

“Yeah.” Dean nods, feeling dizzy with happiness. “I guess so.”

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escapingreality1992 · 5 years

Text

Sex in the Rain and An Engagement (part 3 of A Midnight Swim and Some Fun)

“Will it ever end? It’s way too hot to do anything productive. Every time I step outside it feels like a fucking furnace,” Tony complained, wiping his brow free of sweat; not that it did any good in this ongoing heat wave. Sweat kept dripping everywhere and I mean everywhere, the heat relentlessly torturing our bodies.

We were all huddled in the lounge watching the weather report, watched as it became evident that we had a few more days to boil in the heat.

“Alright, that’s it. No training today. The temperature won’t do us any good and I don’t want anyone overheating. You’re free to find anything to help you cool off,” Steve stated, turning off the TV, his hand threading through his sweat soaked hair.

“What we need is a vacation. A nice, cold vacation to get away from this heat. I wonder where we could go that is much cooler than here,” Tony stated, getting out his tablet and searching for any place that might suit his needs.

“Tony, I don’t think-,” Steve said, about to make a point of us staying here in case some trouble popped up.

“We could go to Ireland. There’s no heat wave there and it’d be a gorgeous country to visit,” Tony interrupted.

“But…”

“Come on. It’ll be fun. We all need it and it’ll give us a chance to get away from this heat,” Tony argued. A chorus of pleases echoed around the room. Wanda and I looked at each other and giggled.

“We can’t just leave. What if some trouble pops up and we’re needed here,” Steve pointed out, his arms crossing his chest.

“Okay, okay. If you’re really worried about it then I’ll stay here. Maybe I can convince Strange to help out if needed. Tony’s right. This heat is killer,” I stated, earning a frustrated sigh from Steve.

“I still don’t think-,”

“I’ll stay here with her. Go on vacation. It’ll be fine. We’ve got it handled here,” Wanda volunteered, squeezing my hand in support. Steve rubbed his face in defeat, a low groan escaping his throat.

“Okay, fine. If there’s trouble, you call Strange. Understood?” he stated, clearly annoyed that he’d been out-voted. Cheers from the others sounded around the room, most scurrying to their rooms to pack.

“You’re sure you two don’t want to come with us? When I said all of us deserve a vacation, I did mean all of us,” Tony commented.

“Yeah, it’s not a problem. We can take ours when you guys get back,” Wanda answered, draping an arm over my shoulders.

“I’m sure Strange could handle…”

“GO!” we both shouted, his hands coming up in surrender.

“Alright. Jeez, it’s as if you two are in a hurry to get rid of us,”

“If you don’t leave in the next two seconds, I’m going to strip my girlfriend and have sex with her right on this couch…in front of you,” Wanda threatened, my jaw dropping at the suggestion.

“As entertaining as that might be to watch, I think I’ll opt out. Have fun and be safe. If there’s trouble…”

“Call Strange. We got it,” I told him, pushing him to the elevator. He got on once it arrived, leaving Wanda and I to wait as one by one, our friends departed to go on a much needed holiday. They’d be gone for a few days, allowing Wanda and me time alone. Who knew what we could get up to?

“There they go and here we stay. What should we do to keep ourselves entertained?” Wanda asked, kissing me and circling her arms around my waist.

“Well, I thought we could fix some dinner and then maybe make-out for a little while,” I replied, kissing her cheeks, then her neck; it was meant as a tease for what was in store for her later.

“Mm, okay. I like…no I love that plan. Does it include being naked while we make-out?”

“Hmm, perhaps. I guess you’ll have to wait and find out,”

I removed my body from her reach to prepare some tuna and asparagus before we engaged in anything that would lead to my most perfect girlfriend naked in front of my eyes.

“I hate it when you tease me,” she complained, walking over to sit on one of the barstools, her head in her hands; her soft, supple lips formed into a pout, a trick she had perfected to make me come back for another kiss. I prepared the asparagus, putting them in oven to roast once the temperature came up before making my way towards her again.

“No, you don’t. You love it when I tease you. Especially when I kiss you here…and here…and definitely right here,” I told her, kissing her jaw, neck, coming around the island to leave a kiss in the middle of her chest. She closed her eyes, the tingles shooting through her. At the last kiss, she opened her eyes, her breathing changing from relaxed to almost a pant.

“You’re right. I definitely don’t hate your teasing. Truth is, it really turns me on,” She confessed, making me smirk.

Let’s just eat first. Then we can see about getting you out of those clothes,” I told her, winking at her returning to the stove to cook.

“I can’t wait. I’m certain it’ll be exciting,”

I waited until the tuna steaks seared on one side before flipping it to the other side letting it sear on the other half and set them on two plates to pull out the asparagus. I plated the asparagus as well, bringing both plates to the island, setting them down and grabbing drinks from the fridge.

We ate in silence, the idea of a naked make-out session weighing heavy on our minds. We cleaned up our mess and sat down on the couch, the desire for each other strong. I leaned in to kiss her, pulling her body to mine and cupped her face. Drifting my hands down to her shirt, I moved the straps of her tank top down, kissing her shoulders, then finding a place on her neck that had her moaning for more.

I slid off the straps, exposing her breasts to the semi-cold air conditioning, her nipples slightly perking up with the cool air. I rolled her nipples between my thumb and forefinger, her back arching at my touch.

“Gemma,” Wanda breathed as my mouth connected to one of her breasts, my tongue flicking her nipple every so often. Satisfied with the one breast, I moved to the other, pushing more fabric down to get access to her stomach, pushing her flat against then couch, trailing my lips down, occasionally nipping at her flesh causing her to cry out.

I pulled down her shirt, along with her shorts, leaving her underwear on for the moment, kneading her breasts, her hands reaching the hem of my shirt.

I let her sit up to take it off of me, her lips meeting mine again, our hands massaging and pulling on each other’s breasts and nipples; we whimpered in pleasure, breathy moans escaping out lips. She pushed me down to pull off my shorts, no underwear underneath to save me from her fingers entering my body.

My back arched, my hips bucking against her hand as she played inside, stroking and pumping intervals of slow and fast paces, teasing my orgasm and pulling out just before the edge and letting her mouth do the rest of the work.

“Oh god. Wanda!” I screamed as she continued eating me out, a cause of the second orgasm that night. She got up and pulled off her underwear prompting me to turn the tables and enjoy my own feast. After her second orgasm crashed down, the sound of water hitting the skylight captured my attention.

“I think the heat wave just broke. It’s raining…come with me. I have an idea. A final way of cooling off if you will,” I told her, helping her off the couch and to the elevator.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“The roof. There’s a loft up there that I think will be fun to continue our entertainment,” I told her, pulling her out once we arrived. The rain drenched our naked bodies as we made our way to the loft and to a bed with rubber mats on it. I laid her down, kissing her and inserting two fingers inside her and pumping in and out, as her moans got higher and louder, coming all over my hand. I kissed her again, my tongue slipped inside her mouth, continuing my actions sending her over the edge once more.

She rolled me over to spread me wide and fucking me with three fingers instead of two. The rain was cold against our skin and already we could tell the difference in the air as we cuddled, breathing hard from our sensual activity.

“Hey, Wanda?”

“Yes?”

“You know I love you right?” I asked, thoughts of what lied ahead for us in the future filling my head.

“Yes, I love you too,” she told me, facing me, her head on my chest.

“Good. I’ve been thinking about things for a while. Our relationship has been magical…”

“Wait, you’re not breaking up with are you?” She interrupted, sitting up, worry etched in her features.

“No. I’m not breaking up with you. I was thinking about the opposite actually,” I told her.

“What?”

“Let’s go back inside. I have something I’ve been meaning to give to you. I’ll explain in our room,” I told her. We took the elevator down to the second floor to our room.

“Should I get dressed?” She asked, sitting on the bed.

“No. Stay there. Stay naked,” I told her opening a dresser to pull out a small box. I walked over to her, kneeling in front of her.

“Wanda, my love. I would love to move our relationship forward and I want you part of my everyday life so I can kiss you whenever I want. I love you and I don’t want you going anywhere. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?” I proposed, opening the box to reveal a ruby stone on a silver ring band, the perfect engagement ring for my perfect Scarlet Witch.

“Gemma, it’s beautiful. Yes, I will marry you. A thousand times yes,” she answered. I smiled and slipped the ring on her finger, getting up to kiss her. The rest of the night was spent cuddling, kissing and marveling at each other’s beauty. We talked about wedding details figuring out what we’d like as a theme and where we would like it to be. When our friends came back from their vacation, we told them the news of our engagement and received congratulations from the team. As we continued to figure things out, I couldn’t help but to think about the exciting future we had in front of us.

#wanda maximoff #wanda x oc #scarlet witch #love #smut #avengers #tony stark #steve rogers #captain america #iron man

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anagentinwriting · 5 years

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To Catch a Thief - Part 3

Summary: Being an FBI field agent was your dream job but having been stuck behind a desk for most of your career you’ve almost given up. Fortunately, a series of robberies with minimal evidence forces you to assist a team in the field to help solve the case. But when the only thing left behind is a series of song lyrics, will you be able to find the perp? Or will the number of obstacles and lack of evidence keep you from solving the case?

Pairing: Peter Quill x Reader

Word Count: 2592

Warnings: Swearing, Fluff

To Catch a Thief Masterlist / Main Masterlist

Gamora appreciated your added intel on SL’s profile but it didn’t give you any real information. You may know more about your thief, but it left many unanswered questions. The only thing you had on him was that he was looking towards a brighter and better future. It’s almost like once he finds all these necklaces he can move on and forget it ever happened. You suspected SL to be working with someone because there was no way these crimes could be done by one person alone. You didn’t find much but Gamora liked the effort and Kraglin did, too.

After working this case for a few weeks, none of you were finding anything new. Everything you accomplished only led to more unanswered questions. Gamora studied over the security camera footage from Vegas and the blueprints from both scenes trying to figure out how SL pulled it off. Kraglin tried to locate the other four necklaces but had little to no success. You continued to try and find answers about SL. You searched the database for previous cases over the past 20 years where the suspect left a note, but nothing even mentioning an SL.

“YN, you're still here. It doesn’t matter how long you slave over the information because sometimes you hit a dead end. Besides, it’s been weeks since the last thief and we haven’t had any luck locating the others,” Gamora said, walking over to your desk.

“I know. I just want to be prepared.”

“It’s Friday night, you should hit the town and meet a cute guy,” she winked with a slight smirk. “Kraglin and I are going out with some other agents and you’re more than welcome to come along. Besides, it’s not healthy to stress over this and stay cooped up in here. Trust me, I know first hand.”

You nodded, “I’ll think about it. Thanks though.”

“Look--" she plopped down in the chair next to your desk “--I know this is your first case, but don’t get too caught up in it. It'll only make your head hurt and you’ll think your going insane. I was a nervous wreck when I got my first case, I wanted to get everything figured out and solved by the end of the week. I wanted it to be like it is on TV where they solve everything in an hour,” she chuckled. “But that’s not reality. Would it be more efficient? Yes. Would it make our job easier? Hell yes. But, I want you to know it’s okay to mess up or hit a dead end because it gives you the best reason to go out and drink. I don’t know about you, but when I drink I get a new perspective on things and sometimes there’s a dumbass in the bar who admits to committing the crime.”

“Wait, did that happened to you?”

“Yeah, I must have one of those non-cop faces at the time,” she suggested, sporting a smirk. “Anyways, don’t stay here too much longer or I’ll send Luis in here to kick you out.” She stood slipping on her jacket.

“I won’t,” you promised as your eyes widened. “Oh my god, your right!”

“Right about what?”

“Luis.” You wandered out of the room with Gamora following beside you. “Luis knows everything going on in the criminal world as well as in law enforcement. He basically knows everyone so he could have some idea who SL is.”

“Great idea! Run with it and let us know if you come up with anything.” You nodded as Gamora walked out of the building.

You went up to Luis sitting at the front desk reading what looked to be a trashy romance novel. “Luis!”

“Whoa, hey chica. How’s the case?” Luis grinned, shutting his book and hiding it out of view. You gave him a knowing smile at his poor attempt at hiding his guilty pleasure.

“It’s tricky, but you might be able to help me?”

“How can I assist?” Luis twirled his chair around knocking over his water bottle in the process. He quickly straightens it up and puts his hands together in front of him wearing a carefree smile as if nothing happened.

“Does the name SL ring any bells? Or have you seen his signature before?”

“Waitwaitwait, you’re looking for SL?” You nodded. “Man, he’s like a legendary outlaw, right. You know a few years ago, he exposed some companies involved in illegal animal testing. Man, what were their names again?” He hummed, trying to think it over.

“So, he’s a guy, just one dude.” You asked, hoping to keep Luis on track instead of letting his mind wander.

“Yeahyeahyeah, but he’s a good guy though. If SL’s behind this, there’s a reason for it; everyone knows he only steals if he has a motive, right. You know he’s kind of like Robin Hood in a way, but I guess Rohin steals from the rich and gives to the poor, and he did it all in tights; I mean, that’s dedication, right. You know, Kevin Costner was great in that movie and Morgan Freeman has a voice of a….”

“Luis, focus,” you tapped your hand on his desk until he stopped talking and looked at you. “Have you ever met him?”

“No, but I heard from my man, Scotty, that when SL was exposing those companies, Scotty learned his dad was big into thieving, too. Man, but what was his name again? Eggo?” He narrowed his eyes as a smile spread across his face. “No, but those waffles are delicious, right. With their gooey goodness, especially when you add maple syrup---”

“Luis back on point.”

“Sorry sorry sorry,” he hummed, tapping his finger to his chin until his eyes went wide. “I got it. Ego. Yeah yeah, Ego was his dad’s name. Scotty told me he heard all this from a dude who calls himself Taserface.” Luis burst out laughing as tears started to form in the corners of his eyes, making you laugh along with him. He let out a deep breath to try and get himself back under control. “It’s a ridiculous name, right. As for Ego, he taught SL everything he knew. You know, some people even say he’s been stealing since he was in diapers.”

“Wow, okay. What is the reason for the S and L? Are those his initials or something?”

“Nah….that’s too simple, chica. If I remember correctly it stands for like Star-Leader or Space-Legend. All I remember is that it’s a pretty badass name. Like really badass.”

“Thanks, Luis. You have no idea how much you might've helped us out on this.”

“That’s why I am here. Now go home,” He grinned, making you laugh. “I’m serious. I'll escort you out if I have to," he stated with a serious face. "Besides, Gamora scares me...a little bit." He held up his thumb and pointer finger showing you how much.

“Okay, fine. I’ll go home and continue this later,” you smiled, giving him two thumbs up.

You walked into your apartment lobby and hit the elevator button. You made a ton of progress with Luis’s help and think you finally understood this guy better. His father was the infamous Ego, so now all you had to do is find out his real name and then find his son. Easy, peasy. You stepped out of the elevator and went to your door. You sifted through your purse for your keys, but couldn’t find them.

“Shit. I just had to take the bus today. Dammit,” you groaned, staring at the ceiling. You riffle through your purse one more time coming up with nothing, but you did find your lock pick set. “Uhh….let’s give this a go.”

You crouch down and stick both tools in the lock but are unsuccessful. You hear someone walking down the hall, but you ignore them as you continue working on the lock. “Motherfucker.....fuck....why the fuck did this fucking have to fucking happen today,” you cursed under your breath. Someone clearing their throat makes you stop to look in the direction of the noise only to find Peter.

“Are you trying to break into your own apartment? Don't you have keys?” Peter smirked, leaning against the wall beside his door with his arms crossed.

“Yes and no.” You answered through gritted teeth.

“Do you need any help?”

“Yeah like you can get in,” you scoffed, rolling your eyes.

“I have magic hands,” he winked, walking over to you.

You rolled your eyes handing over your pick set. The worst case scenario you go back to the office, but if you could make fun of Peter for not getting into your apartment then why not give him a shot. He kneeled down in front of the lock and within ten seconds the door opens.

“There you are, neighbor.” He turned the knob and pushed the door in. He gave you a lopsided smiled handing the lock pick set back to you.

“How did...where did you learn...who taught you to pick locks?” You stumbled over your words still in shock that he got the door open so fast.

“My dad, but you have a good rest of your night.”

“Um….thanks, you too.” Peter walked back to his apartment door. “Hey you wouldn’t happen to be interested in some leftover pasta, would you? It’s the least I could do since you saved me a trip back to work.”

You weren’t going out tonight or this weekend, like Gamora wanted you to, but might as well try to make a new friend, even if it was your horny rambunctious neighbor. You had to admit it though he was very easy on the eyes.

“Sure, why not. I haven’t had a home cooked meal in...while I don’t remember when. Lately, it’s been microwavable meals and bar food.”

“And you still look this good by eating crap food.” Your eyes couldn’t help themselves but travel over his muscular physique until you made eye contact with him and realized you said it aloud.

“Excuse me, but did you just call me good looking?” He raised his eyebrows, forcing a slight blush to tint your cheeks.

“Nope,” you said, popping the p’. You turned away from Peter and pushed the door open as he followed in behind you. You headed for the kitchen to put the pasta in the oven to reheat it while Peter strolled past you wandering around your plain empty apartment. You didn’t have much, you never spent much time at home, so you didn’t feel like you needed to add things to it. You had a couch, TV, record player, and your vast music collection. And the many pictures of your family scattered all over your apartment. You cherish photos because they keep memories alive when people left this world without an explanation.

“Well, your apartment is very...um...what’s the word? Empty,” Peter commented, staring at the pictures on the wall.

“Yeah, I work long weird hours, so I am hardly ever home.” You opened the fridge, shooting him a look. “Beer?”

“Yeah, I’ll take one.” He took a seat on the stool next to the small island in the center of the kitchen. You grabbed two beers twisting off the tops and handed him one.

“Your apartment’s been quiet the last couple days. Are you sleeping over at your lady friends places now?” you inquired, making him scoff.

“Not exactly. It’s too much work to go to their homes because then I have to remember to wake up early and sneak out. It just becomes this whole thing,” he waved it off. “I would rather just fake sleep until they leave my apartment or engage in a little morning…”

“I am just gonna stop you right there.” You wrinkled your nose holding up your hand to stop him. “I don’t need you to tell me since I can usually hear it through my bedroom wall.”

“Shit. That’s right. I’m sorry about that.” He gave you a tight smile as you took a sip of your beer. “I was actually away on business for the past couple of days.”

“But, aren’t you a bartender?”

“I am,” he chuckled, taking a sip of his beer. “I went to mixology conference that my boss couldn't go to so I took his place. How’d you know I was a bartender?”

“Honestly, you dress like you’re still in high school with the weird graphic t-shirts--” you pointed at his JJ’s Diner shirt “--I notice you always come home at odd hours and have a faint smell of booze on you. It’s pure observation; it’s part of my job.”

“So, you’re either stalking me or you’re a c--” Peter was interrupted by your phone ringing. You peeked at the screen seeing Kraglin.

“I should take this.” Peter nodded for you to answer. “Hey Kraglin, what’s going on?”

“YN, hey. Don't be alarmed, but another necklace was stolen,” Kraglin informed with a slight slur in his voice.

“Are you serious? Do you know what one?” You questioned, running your hands down your face. How could this happen? How was this guy finding these necklaces so fast when the team couldn’t even find one?

“The blue one. Um--" he hiccuped "--the Space Stone. It happened in Norway.”

“Shit, okay! I can be there in about--”

“No no, tomorrow. Come tomorrow. To work. We aren’t capable of much right now,” he burped.

“10-4 Kraglin,” You chuckled, hanging up. “Shit…”

“Boyfriend trouble?” Peter asked, keeping a watchful eye on you.

“Boyfriend? What?” You stared at him confused before shaking your head. “No, something big happened with this case I’m working on, so I’ll have that to look forward to tomorrow.”

“Hmm...so you are a cop,” he smirked, pointing the tip of his beer bottle in your direction.

“I am,” you smiled, pulling the pasta out of the oven and splitting it up into two bowls. You hand him one bowl as you sit in the stool across from him.

“What’s the case you're working on? Maybe I could be of assistance,” Peter asked, blowing on the pasta before taking a bite.

“Sorry, but I can't really talk about it. I want to more than anything, but this is my first case to prove myself and I don’t want to fuck it up.”

“I get it.” He took a bite of his pasta as his eyes grew wide. “I thought about being a cop when I was younger.”

“Really, what happened?”

“Family issues,” he shrugged. “I take it your parents were in the FBI from the picture over there.” You smiled at the picture he was mentioning. It was one of you and your parents standing in front of the FBI Quantico sign when you were about 12 years old.

“They were. When I was younger, my parents gave a few seminars at Quantico. They’d take me along, and I ended up wandering the halls and getting funny looks from everyone. It was fun, especially on our long drives down and back. My dad made us listen to all his favorite classic rock and pop songs." Your smile spread bigger at the memory.

“My mom was the same way when I was growing up. She liked sharing all her favorite pop songs with me that she loved growing up, too.”

“Yeah, it’s something about those songs that... I don’t know... I relate to better than the stuff popular today.”

“Oh, I agree. At least I know I’m not the only one who appreciates the classics,” he said with a contagious smile. He took another bite of pasta and hummed.“This is superb by the way.”

“Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

A/N: Thanks for reading Part 3! Couldn't help but add a Park & Rec reference in there. Looking forward to hearing what yall think!

#peter quill x reader #peter quill #peter quill reader insert #peter quill au #peter quill image #star-lord x reader #star-lord au #star-lord #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel image #guardians of the galaxy #gotg #avengers #to catch a thief

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ijustwant2write · 6 years

Text

Wrong Lover-Steve Rogers x Reader x Bucky Barnes (Part 8/?)

(GIF credit to @letitia-wright)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

Summary: After Steve and (Y/N)’s romantic getaway, tension continues to rise between the love triangle. (Y/N) is still conflicted, confused as to why she felt love for the two super soldiers, even though she has her memories back. But when (Y/N) and Wanda are sent away on a mission, another problem arises.

Characters: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader,

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

(Y/L/N)=Your last name

Warnings: Cheating, swearing, slight violence

Tags: (if you want to be tagged, just ask) @lovely-geek @projectxhappiness @seargantbcky @pluckastarfromthesky @crazy-little-thing-called-buck @aznkim @buckyness-intensifies@youreahandsomedevil @florenceivy @slender–spirit @rebelfleur22 @sarahp879 @loislp @yafriendlyfangirl @iza-lc

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

I couldn’t stop looking at Steve as we laid together in bed, me laying on top of his broad chest, hand placed over his heart. Laying like this made me miss him, it made me want to just get up and leave with him. We never had enough time for each other anymore, it was sad. For fucks sake, why did this have to happen to me?!

Why had fate decided that I would be the one to have amnesia? That my boyfriend’s best friend and I would have some sort of love affair? I had never done anything bad in my life, and I could stand by that; whenever I had killed or hurt anyone, it was because of my job and I knew that they were the bad guys. Though when I thought about it, I had made some bad decisions very recently.

I sat up, pulling the covers up to keep me warm. As I leaned against the headboard, I scanned the room, reminiscing on the amazing times we had shared together. I didn’t want to leave, it just felt so much safer here. This was my home, my home with Steve, not the HQ or anywhere else. The only time I wanted to be at the HQ was for work....and also maybe Bucky.

“(Y/N)?” Steve mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

I smiled, laying back down on his chest.“I’m here.”

“I was hoping that this was all a dream. That you might remember everything.”

Goddammit, put the poor man out of his misery and tell him! How are you resisting those puppy dog eyes?

“Well, I still remember last night, and yesterday. That’s got to be an improvement.”

He kissed the top of my forehead.“Always so positive.”

“Steve, do we have to go back?”

“Go back?”

“To the HQ. I...I dunno, it feels strange being there now.”

Hmm, I wonder why?

“I understand how you feel. But believe me, they’re all so excited for you to get better, they’re your family. I really think you should tell them that some of your memories are back.”

I hesitated, hoping he hadn’t noticed.“Yeah, I probably should.”

He kissed me on the lips before getting out of bed to enter the bathroom. I smirked as his naked body disappeared, clutching onto the covers to warm me back up. But the smirk soon faded. I realised that I had to grow up, make a choice, sort things out. How was I going to do it? I had no idea.

A muffled vibrating noise disrupted my thought, making me groan. My phone was ringing in my bag, but I was so adamant not to answer it. Taking Steve’s pillow, I pinned it over my head, hoping that it would stop soon. When it finally did, I settled down again, removing the pillow from my face, until it started ringing again. Grabbing the pillow again, I threw it in the direction of the phone, letting out a frustrated squeal. It had to be important, they wouldn’t call twice. I knew who it was as I slumped my way over to my handbag, sighing as I answered.

“Hey, what’s up?”

It was Wanda.“We need you guys back here, big mission that we need briefing on.” And just like that, she hung up on me, though I wasn’t surprised.

As I was about to call for Steve, I heard the water from the shower start to run, changing my actions. Dropping the phone on the bed, I saw that the bathroom door was slightly open, giving me one last chance to have a bit of fun before returning to the chaos.

Much to my surprise, Steve was really angry when I told him that we were needed back at HQ; not at me, but at the others for ruining the weekend. He couldn’t understand why they needed us, especially since this was part of my recovery. Through his anger, he was mindlessly throwing his things into his bags, not neatly packing them away like the Steve I knew. Without thinking, I grabbed his arms, talking over his rambling. He was so pent up, showing me how much he still cared about me; would he still feel this way if he ever found out about Bucky and me?

Do pigs fly?

When we arrived back at HQ, we had expected agents to be bustling around, preparing for this big mission or at least supporting the Avengers. But there was none of that, it seemed to be like every other (non-alien threatening) day. We spared a glance at each other, wondering what was really happening here. Pulling an agent to the side, Steve asked what was going on, receiving the confused yet panicked face from the woman, who wondered if she had missed something; after much reassurance from us, she explained that no one had been called to action.

“Hey, Wanda, what’s going on?” Steve called out as he spotted the young woman down the hall.

She turned around, two files in her hand.“Oh, sorry for rushing you. I called the wrong protocol, thought the mission was worse than it actually is.” She apologised, though I wasn’t sure how much of it was true.

Steve sighed, running a hand over his face before scolding Wanda.“We just rushed back here for no reason then?”

“Why, was it going well?”

We ignored her comment. I decided to divert the topic.“So is there a mission or not?”

“Actually there is,” she held out a file,“here you go.”

Steve instinctively went to take it. When Wanda held it away from him, he raised an eyebrow, looking down at me.

“Wait,” I took the file,“you want me to go with you?!”

“Not gonna happen.” Steve interrupted.

“Yeah, Wanda, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m still in recovery.”

“But you remember old missions right?”

“Uh, I guess.”

“This is one of the ones you’ve worked on before. The guy you put away left all of his info behind, we need you to retrieve it.”

“So why are you coming?”

“For protection. And I need to get more experience under my belt.”

“Then I’m coming too.” Steve stated.

“You could ruin the mission. This is part of her recovery, she has to remember me as well. If you’re there, she might only remember the times you shared, not us.”

“I’ll think about it. But it’ll be a no. (Y/N), you coming?” Steve started walking, expecting me to follow.

“I’ll be right behind you, just give me a sec.” I answered, not looking away from Wanda.

As soon as Steve was out of sight, Wanda’s face changed; it wasn’t anything too drastic, but something in her eyes told me that the sweetness was gone. I had anticipated her confrontation. Folding my arms over my chest, I waited for her to speak, wondering what sort of telling off I would receive.

“Have a nice time?”

“Why are you dragging me into this? You knew that wasn’t an important mission.” I said.

“We need to do this. It might actually help.”

“You would be a big help if you just stayed out of this. What if I was telling Steve everything and you ruined it?”

She scoffed.“If that were true, you wouldn’t have walked in hand in hand. Speaking of which, Bucky hasn’t come out of his room since you left. And I don’t mean for a few hours; as soon as you guys left, he locked himself away.”

“OK, well of course I feel bad about that-”

“You’re coming on this mission. We need to settle this.”

Wanda briskly walked away, ending the conversation. I wanted to scream, kick and punch the walls. What the fuck had I got myself into?

Taking Steve’s advice from earlier, I called everyone to the common room for a meeting. As I waited for everyone to arrive, I could feel my palms getting sweaty, stumbling over my words in my head. How was I going to do this? What if Wanda revealed my secret? I was a good liar in front of Steve, but I was certain at least Natasha and Clint would see through me, if not all of them. My heart rate increased dramatically when Bucky walked in, our eyes connecting and not breaking, even as he walked across the room. With a scowl on his face, he perched on the arm of the couch, finally tearing his eyes away. The others were spread out amongst the couches, waiting for me to speak. When I found that I couldn’t, I looked to Steve, relieved when he stood beside me and spoke.

“(Y/N) wants to tell you all something. It’s very important that you hear this and remain calm.”

“Hold up,” Sam quickly interrupted,“why are you two back already?”

“There was some urgent business that came up. It’s sorted, but I thought I would get this over and done with.”

Silence followed, leading me onto the confession.

“Right, uh...So, for some time now, I’ve been recalling memories, not a lot, but a few.”

Here we go...

“Steve helped me think of a few more the other day. I...I didn’t want to tell anyone just yet, in case this was all I could remember, but it felt wrong to keep it from you all.”

And the award for ‘Actress of the Year’, goes to....

“(Y/N), that’s amazing!” Nat exclaimed, hugging me.

Not revealing my shocked expression, I hugged her back, welcoming the foreign feeling. The team had believed me, everyone asking what I now remembered. For a moment, I felt at peace, that everything had fallen into place and things were back to normal; however, reality gave me a slap to the face when I gazed towards Bucky and Wanda. They were stood at the back of the crowd, arms crossed as they scowled at the celebrations before them. Now that I was back on edge, I was terrified at the thought of Wanda ratting me out, and Bucky admitting to everything we had done. Last night was my last night of proper rest, because from now on, I’d have to sleep with one eye open to ensure I didn’t give myself away.

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

“I really don’t think you should be doing this. Wanda doesn’t need you, she just misses you.”

If only that were true.

“Exactly!” I exclaimed as I threw a bundle of clothes into my duffel bag.“Steve, I can’t stay cooped up in here, I need to get out there again..”

“Do you remember the last time we did a mission?”

“It was fake, a simulation. And that was when I first lost my memories, it’s different now.”

“Have you talked with the doctor-”

“Steve,” I dragged his name out, stopping my packing and standing between his legs as he perched on the bed,“I know you’re worried. But what were you going to do when I recovered? Stop me from ever going on a mission again?”

He sadly smiled.“That was sort of the plan.”

“It’ll be a quick mission, in and out.”

“Then I’ll come with you.”

Although I wished that he could come with me, I knew there was a reason that it was just Wanda and I going. Now that I was relaxed with Steve, I didn’t want to leave, or tell the truth.

“You can’t. I promise I’ll be back soon.” I reached down to kiss him, squealing as he grabbed me, throwing us back on the bed.“Steve, we don’t have time for this.”

“Course we do, it’s not an important mission.”

But just as he started kissing my neck, someone cleared their throat at the door. Steve casually looked over his shoulder, sighing as he climbed off of me.

“You really pick your moments, don’t ya’ Buck?”

“Sorry, didn’t see anything.” He replied.“Wanda needs you in the bay, wants to make sure she’s set things up correctly.”

“Apparently, so does she. I’ll see you down there?”

I nodded as I sat up, both Bucky and I watching as he left the room. Bucky’s smile disappeared as he shut the door behind him, the tension rising between us.

“You guys seem great after one day of being away. Maybe you would have come back with a ring on your finger if we left you alone any longer.” He started.

I huffed.“Bucky-”

“Was that an act too? Or are you pretending with me now? Sorry, it’s just that you’re so good at lying to everyone, I can never tell anymore.”

I ignored him, continuing to pack my things. In all truth, I didn’t know how to respond. My feelings for Steve were returning, and it felt so right, but I couldn’t forget about Bucky. However for now I would have to, see if this mission helped with the situation or whether I should take this packed bag and run away right now.

“Don’t be like this. I’m still working this all out.”

“Working it out? It’s simple, you choose me or him!”

“But it’s not, is it? Whatever decision I make effects everyone else, not just the couple. Bucky, I’ve got to go, Wanda will be waiting.”

Bucky blocked the door.“Promise me you’ll make your decision soon. This can’t go on any longer.”

“I need to stop making promises. Hopefully things will become clearer soon.”

When Bucky didn’t move, I gently placed a hand on his arm, trying to subtly push him out the way. His hand rested over mine, obviously in need of some contact, until he finally let go and moved for me. Rushing away from him, I tried to put all my focus into this mission, praying that I wouldn’t have to make my choice any time soon.

“Ready to go?” Wanda called to me as I made it to the landing bay, Steve and her standing by the quinjet.

“Yeah, feels strange being back here.” I said through a sigh.

“There you go, you shouldn’t be going if it feels strange.” Steve stated.

“Nice try, I’m still going.”

Wanda took my bag from me, heading into the quinjet, leaving Steve and I. This was on purpose, she wanted to see how I was around him; well fine, I’d show her.

“Please don’t worry whilst I’m gone.” I pleaded, reaching up to wrap my hands around his neck.

“But you’re allowed if I go away? That hardly seems fair.” He joked as he pulled me closer to him.

“Wanda wouldn’t want to face danger with the two of us, OK? You’ll have communication with us as well, it’ll all be fine.”

“I know. You’ll be great.”

What I thought would be a brief kiss, turned into a full make out. I didn’t care that Wanda was watching, she was up to something and I was going to enjoy what could potentially be my last kiss with Steve. A harrowing thought, but a realistic one nonetheless.

Finally letting go of each other, I headed into the jet, closing the back before making my way to the pilot chair. Making sure everything was set up, I could feel the same tension I had with Bucky, and I hated it. Neither of us said a word, not even when I started the engines, communicating with the bridge before taking off. It was another ten or so minutes before I set it to auto-pilot, finally standing up to speak with Wanda.

“Nothing to say about earlier?” I asked, standing across from her.

“Hm? Oh, you and Steve, yeah, that was cute.” She dismissed it.

“I’m surprised, thought you would have a lot more for me.”

“No. That comes later.”

“Wanda, why are you doing all of this?”

“Because it’s what needs to be done.”

We fell into silence again, keeping to ourselves on opposite sides of the jet. Luckily we weren’t travelling far, it was an hour tops, making me feel a giant relief when I was able to pilot again, landing us safely. Wanda explained that we were heading into an old, abandoned army training camp, one that housed the information that needed retrieving. We had the keys, the only people that were able to get in and out were us. Although I knew that there was something more to this mission, there was a part of me glad to be back in this sort of situation, I was trained for this, this was my life. After surveying the perimeter, we were clear to go, the both of us stealthily making our way there.

It was a barren land, the grass stopped growing as soon as we reached the edge of the base, as well as the trees. It was just dirt; the place was empty besides the buildings, bunkers and marked out training grounds. Wanda led me into the main office in the building, where the information would be hidden. How we had missed this before was bizarre to me....wait.

“Wanda, how did we miss this before? If it’s all on the computers, how did-”

I let out a yelp as she tore my coms out of my ear, crushing it with her powers. Cradling my ear, I watched as she did the same to hers.

“I wasn’t lying about the information. Someone tried to re-upload it here, thinking we were done with the place.” she stuck one of our code encrypting USB’s into the hard drive, causing all the computers to turn on around us, g]sorting through their new files. There must have been at least twenty computers in there, all of them sat on desks at cubicles, when people used to work here.

“So what was that for?”

“It just needs to be us talking, no one listening.”

“Fine, go ahead. Lecture me on how I’m a piece of shit and that I’m ruining everyone’s lives.”

“You’re finally understanding.”

“Wanda, let’s stop the sarcasm and fix this. You know I’m confused, I’m tired of having to figure this out for myself.”

“You have had plenty of time to think over this.” She didn’t say it in a nasty way, more like she was getting upset.

“Wanda...”

“I’ve been mean to you because...” her voice was cracking,“because I was scared that I would lose all of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since my parents died, Pietro was my only family. When he died, you all became my family. And I can’t stand living with this guilt for much longer.”

“Guilt? What are you...” my words trailed off as we heard a slamming door in the distance.

Remaining silent and as still as possible, we looked at our only way out, though whoever was with us right now seemed to be making their way towards us. Grabbing the USB, Wanda and I crouched underneath a desk, hidden inside the cubicle. Wanda’s eyes were tearing up, though I knew it wasn’t because of our current situation; holding her hand, I nodded to her, hopefully sending the message that we would get out of this alive. Now that the room was pitch black again (due to the USB shutting down the computers), I hoped this would send the person away; of course, luck was never on my side at the moment.

The door creaked as it was opened, the person’s footsteps barely audible. Their flashlight was searching the room, our only source of light that could help us, or give us away. They were getting closer, we had to make a move soon. As one of their feet passed by us, I leapt out of our hiding place, taking on the unsuspecting guard. Wrapping my arm around her neck, I used the other one to twist her arm, making her drop her gun. Before she could scream, I covered her mouth with my hand, kicking the backs of her knees to make her fall to the floor. Wanda scrambled out to me, using her powers to send the guard into some sort of hypnotic state.

“She was an amateur, but I’m guessing there will be more.” I informed Wanda, taking the gun and turning off the flashlight.

“There wasn’t supposed to be anyone here, I had to make this work!”

“Shh! Wanda, stay calm, we can get out of here quickly and quietly. Come on we’ve got what we need.”

As I took her hand, she yanked me back towards her, waving her glowing red hand in front of my face. I realised what she was doing, but before I could stop her, I was already in a trance.

Opening my eyes, I found myself standing in the common room back at HQ, surrounded by the other Avengers, except Bucky and Steve. Looking around, all I saw were solemn faces, no one was looking back at me.

“Guys, what’s going on?” I asked, scared of the answer.

“What are you still doing here?!” Tony raged, storming towards me. No body stopped him.

I stumbled as I stepped backwards.“T-Tony, what do you mean?”

“You caused this mess! I just got everyone back together, now we’re disbanded again!”

“But everyone is here, look around you!”

“You can stop your games now, you won, you got what you wanted, a huge mess.” He turned around, walking away from me. As I watched him, I realised that the others were gone, disappeared just like that.

“Tony, wait!”

“Agent (Y/L/N), I am hereby dismissing you from S.H.I.E.L.D.” Fury’s voice bellowed from behind me.

Spinning around to face him, I gasped as he tore my badge away from me.“On what grounds?!”

“For disrupting the work of our mightiest heroes, and letting the Earth remain defenceless. You caused the attack, you caused millions of deaths.”

“What attack?! When did this happen? Why wasn’t I there to help?”

I ran after him, grabbing onto his long, black coat; my heels were digging into the floor was I tried to pull him back, only to fall flat on my ass. Getting back up, I realised I was in a different surrounding, it was pitch black, so dark that I couldn’t even see my own hands in front of me. Two sudden spotlights illuminated far in front of me, revealing Bucky and Steve arguing with each other. I couldn’t hear a word they were saying, needing to get closer, even though I could tell they were shouting. I began sprinting as fast as I could, seeing that they were now getting physical with each other; however, as harsh punches were thrown, I found myself not moving anywhere. Although I could feel my feet moving, they appeared not to be, staying completely still as I glanced down at them. Out of breath, I tried to shout as loud as I could, praying that they would hear me.

Bending over, I rested my hands on my knees, exhausted from shouting and running. As I looked up through tear stained eyes, I saw them standing opposite each other, guns pointed straight at the other person’s face. This time, it seemed my scream reached them, as they both turned their heads towards me. Waiting to see what happened next, my eyes widened as they pointed the weapons towards me.

Gunfire startled me awake from the trance, making me think I had been shot. My hands patted against my body, panicked that I had been injured, but couldn’t feel it due to shock. There seemed to be no time, because somebody dragged me off the floor, throwing me over their shoulder.

“(Y/N), it’s me, Steve, I’m getting you out of here!” Steve shouted as he sprinted down the hallway.

“Steve?! Where’s Wanda?” I shouted back.

“She’s fighting in there with Bucky. Don’t worry, these guys are awful fighters.”

I let him carry me outside, thankful to be set on the ground as my head started to spin. Gripping onto his arms, I took a moment to breathe, trying to focus again.

“You alright?”

I nodded slowly.“Yeah, just need to get back to the jet.”

I needed to get those images out of my head, what the fuck was that?

“Come on, you can explain later.”

It was only five minutes after we sat on the jet that Bucky and Wanda joined us, both out of breath. Bucky took the role of pilot whilst Wanda collapsed in the seat opposite me, looking stressed. Gently pushing Steve away from me, I knelt in front of her, holding her hands to get her attention.

“Wanda, take some deep breaths OK? Just copy me.”

I started to breathe deeply with her, instructing her as I went along. Her hands shook less as I helped her, she was finally looking me in the eyes. Once I felt that she was better, I sat beside her.

“What’s got you so shaken?” Steve asked.

She glanced towards me, obviously trying to come up with something.

I covered for her.“I got caught off by a guard, they were able to knock me out so Wanda took them all on. Guess it was a bit of a surprise for her, sorry for leaving you.”

“It’s OK. I’ve never been in that situation before.”

“You did great out there, rest up now.” Steve smiled, watching as she walked to the other side of the jet, settling into a much comfier seat.“Doesn’t explain why you’re coms were shattered to pieces.”

“What?” I acted clueless.

“Doesn’t matter now. Seems like you do need some training after all.”

I rolled my eyes.“Oh please, it was one mistake on my first mission back.”

“A mission that could have cost you your life.”

“I don’t think it will ever matter how many missions I go on. You’ll always worry.”

“That’s exactly right.” He pecked me on the lips before explaining that he was going to tend to Wanda. As he walked away, Bucky set the jet to autopilot, bending down to whisper in my ear as he passed.

“He’ll get the truth out of you, he didn’t believe a word of that.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at him as he walked away, still freaked out by my vision from Wanda. It kept replaying in my mind, I couldn’t force it to stop. They pointed the gun at me, why would they do that? Looking at Wanda, I saw that she was already staring; something about her looked guilty, as if she regretted her actions. Why had she made me see that and what more was she hiding from me?

#steve rogers #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers imagines #steve rogers one shot #steve rogers x reader #captain america #captain america imagine #bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes x reader #marvel #marvel imagine #avengers #avengers imagine

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racingtoaredlight · 3 years

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THE DEGENERATE’S GUIDE TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL TV WATCH ‘EM UPS 2021: WEEK ONE, TIME FOR THE GOOD STUFF

This is by far the best “opening” slate of games we’ve had in at least a couple of decades. The great thing about having a bunch of cross-country, inter-conference, top 25 matchups in the first week of the season is that we’ll all have a clear expectation of every team involved and will mostly have those ideas flipped over by the end of the month. Answers to questions but wrong, you know?

That’s ok because, really, the whole college football season is that same cycle over and over. And we love it, don’t we folks? We love it more than dying unfulfilled and for no reason with nothing at all to show for it in the larger scheme of the world. College football is a metaphor for life which is just an elaborate metaphor for college football.

Blah, blah eastern times and websites. There have already been approximately one million games played this week with a few FCS over FBS upsets and, upsettingly enough, Kansas was not one of the losers. Whooooooooo! Let’s get it on!

Saturday, September 4

Fordham at Nebraska 12:00pm BTN

Fordham +46.5 might be the safest bet you can make this week.

ULM at Kentucky 12:00pm SECN

What can you say about Kentucky being favored by 31 over anybody except that it seems incredibly overconfident. They aren’t ranked in the top 10 so I assume they either skip Bama this year or don’t play them until October.

Temple at Rutgers 12:00pm BTN

In real time the scheduling is fine but these first handful of games feel like a punishment for me crowing about the general quality of this week’s matchups.

Tulane at 2 Oklahoma 12:00pm ABC

These are the games that come back to win Heisman trophies for Oklahoma QBs later in the year. If the Sooners don’t beat the spread (-31.5) they probably shouldn’t keep their ranking next week.

Holy Cross at UConn 12:00pm CBSSN

If you can still get UConn -4 anywhere don’t. Holy hell that’s bleak. 4-points at home against Holy Cross. It’s getting real close to time to turn the lights off on the Huskies football program.

Colgate at Boston College 12:00pm ACCN

If the Toothpastes can just score more than 7 they will have outperformed expectations. If they score more than 7 and hold BC under 60 they will likely have beaten the spread. Chomp ‘Em, Colgate! (I don’t think that’s really their motto but it should be.)

Western Michigan at Michigan 12:00pm ESPN

I could’ve sworn Michigan played last week and lost but maybe I’m just used to that.

Stanford vs. Kansas State (in Arlington, TX) 12:00pm FS1

There have been times over the last 25 years where this would be a matchup befitting of a premium neutral site but this is not even close to being one of those years. Definitely not in week one, at least.

19 Penn State at 12 Wisconsin 12:00pm FOX

Nobody will ever make it make sense that Penn State still has a football program, let alone a football program that puts some of the best athletes into the NFL year after year in a post-Sandusky world.

Army at Georgia State 12:00pm ESPNU

I can’t be the only one that thinks if the troops put together a football team with the best training and facilities available they’d still get their asses handed to them week after week like they do in illegal wars of aggression.

Fresno State at 11 Oregon 2:00pm P12N

Kayvon Thibideaux didn’t make the list of “freaks” this year in the Athletic and I can’t tell if I’m just wildly overrating his abilities or if there was some weird oversight due to him announcing that he’ll be playing more standing up on the outside than with a hand in the dirt. Anyway, he’s fun to watch when he’s just pinning his ears back and rushing the QB and Fresno State throws a lot so this could be worth a few minutes of entertainment in this weird in-between time slot. Though, be warned, early kickoff Pac-12 games do tend to suck.

Lafayette at Air Force 2:00pm Stadium

Air Force favored by 42.5. You don’t see that often.

Rice at Arkansas 2:00pm ESPN+/SECN+

A beautiful reminder of the old SWC. Nothing else. And that’s probably not enough reason to watch this. Arkansas is probably pretty bad but I have trouble believing Rice is going to keep it within 20 of anybody on the road.

17 Indiana at 18 Iowa 3:30pm BTN

B1G’s plan is to prime the polls early so their teams seem better later on. I’m not falling for it. These are two shit teams that will only look good within the context of the B1G.

14 Miami (FL) vs. 1 Alabama (in Atlanta, GA) 3:30pm ABC

Miami’s starters are about as old as an average NFL team’s and they’re still gonna get run over by the Bammers. The Canes do actually have a decent stock of pro prospects right now but a lot of these guys were on the field against UNC last year watching as the Tar Heels put up 3,492 rushing yards. So it’s a bunch of middle aged mid-round prospects against a shiny new crop of future stars. Bama should just get an auto-bid for the playoffs at this point until they prove they don’t belong anymore. I’m calling it now: it’s fine, I had a bunch of chores to do around the house anyway.

Marshall at Navy 3:30pm CBSSN

Ah, the AAC. So dear to my heart. I hated everything Navy did last year but last year was a mulligan anyway. This year might be, too, in the end but for now we can pretend it’ll go off without a hitch.

Miami (Ohio) at 8 Cincinnati 3:30pm ESPN+

The Bearcats are the darling of mainstream coverage if you’re looking for a playoff Cinderella. Which usually means they’ll lose three games in the regular season and won’t even make it to their conference championship.

West Virginia at Maryland 3:30pm ESPN

Wait, is this a conference game now? A future conference game? I won’t be paying close attention to realignment. This should be a rivalry of some sort but I can’t quite put myself at ease with WFV in the ACC and Maryland will never belong anywhere but the ACC.

UMass at Pitt 4:00pm ACCN

Pitt being favored by 35.5 feels like a trap.

Louisiana Tech at Mississippi State 4:00pm ESPNU

LaTech must be sliding backwards as a program judging by the +23 line. I got nothing else here.

Montana State at Wyoming 4:00pm ESPN+

I’m intrigued by the screaming amateurism that this game projects. I won’t actually watch it but the way it will look like a 4k remaster of a game from the 60s is appealing on a spiritual level.

Central Michigan at Missouri 4:00pm SECN

Fuck Missouri.

23 Louisiana at 21 Texas 4:30pm FOX

The line has moved heavily towards the Ragin Cajuns since it opened. Texas is still a solid favorite but there is something here that I have not been paying attention to so if you want to dig a little you might find some relatively easy money.

Northern Iowa at 7 Iowa State 4:30pm ESPN+

Iowa State, #7 in the preseason. What a weird fucking time we live in.

San Jose State at 15 USC 5:00pm P12N

Clay Helton is still the coach at USC. That’s crazy. This program has been sleepwalking through the last decade and they’re still able to pull a #15 ranking because they only have one or two teams on their schedule with a relatively equal talent level.

Gardner-Webb at Georgia Southern 6:00pm ESPN3

Campbell at Liberty 6:00pm ESPN3

Liberty’s QB is this year’s unheard of draft prospect that every self-styled draft expert/prognosticator on god’s green twitter is touting as a first round pick. I don’t have an opinion on him because I generally feel gross watching Liberty do anything.

Nicholls at Memphis 7:00pm ESPN+

Go, Tigers, go. I don’t actually have any expectations calibrated for this year’s Memphis squad. I saw Kenneth Gainwell made a 53-man roster for the Eagles and couldn’t remember him being anything other than a freshman. Time is cruel.

Missouri State at Oklahoma State 7:00pm ESPN+

If Oklahoma State can’t hit for at least 60 in this game they aren’t real and I hate them.

Monmouth at Middle Tennessee 7:00pm ESPN3

Ah, Monmouth, Monmouth! These chips are too spicy!

Texas Tech vs. Houston (in Houston, TX) 7:00pm ESPN

The future of the Big 12 is the SWC, as it always should have been. Well, I mean, aside from the SWC’s tentpole programs. Ah, fuck, it’s so weird and stupid.

Syracuse at Ohio 7:00pm CBSSN

I still love CBSSN but no thank you.

Southern at Troy 7:00pm ESPN3

Fading fast.

Oregon State at Purdue 7:00pm FS1

Fading faster.

Norfolk State at Toledo 7:00pm ESPN3

I’m evaporating.

Central Arkansas at Arkansas State 7:00pm ESPN3

Eyes are closing.

Eastern Illinois at South Carolina 7:00pm ESPN+/SECN+

Snoring softly.

Baylor at Texas State 7:00pm ESPN+

Snapping to just to talk about how evil Baylor is in general, aside from the horrifically cursed athletics department.

Akron at Auburn 7:00pm ESPN+/SECN+

Back to sleep.

Abilene Christian at SMU 7:00pm ESPN+

Snoring loudly.

5 Georgia vs. 3 Clemson (in Charlotte, NC) 7:30pm ABC

Ah, shit, here we go! It is party time! On paper this is an insanely good “opening” week matchup. But this is also the game that I most had in mind when I wrote about how kind of useless this week’s games are for the season going forward. Clemson is in the DJ Uiagalelei era now and even if he’s better long term than I suspect him of being, he’s still bound to be raw against a Georgia team that might actually have more overall talent than Clemson right now. But if he shows out he’ll be an immediate Heisman darling until he starts throwing lawn darts for a few weeks in a row. It’s fun but meaningless.

NIU at Georgia Tech 7:30pm ACCN

Trash.

Northwestern State at North Texas 7:30pm ESPN3

Crap.

UTSA at Illinois 7:30pm BTN

Garbage.

William & Mary at Virginia 7:30pm RSN/ESPN3

Funny if William & Mary wins but probably just miserable all around.

Florida Atlantic at 13 Florida 7:30pm SECN

I don’t often fall into the trap of daydreaming about mascots fighting but an owl fighting an alligator is too good to pass up. There are owls of some sort pretty much everywhere in the world so they have to cross paths in nature with a gator every so often. If you have any videos of an owl winning these fights, please share them.

Southern Miss at South Alabama 8:00pm ESPN+

Hell, yes. I can’t fully explain why this shitbox gets me a little bit excited but it does.

Kent State at 6 Texas A&M 8:00pm ESPNU

Always root against Jimbo. Don’t always bet against him but definitely always root against him.

Montana at 20 Washington 8:00pm P12N

Now this is interesting brand building to me. I don’t think there’s much here for UDub other than an expected win but Montana has been a pretty good team in I-AA over the years. If they can run closer than the +24 they’ve been given it could boost their profile quite a bit.

Duquesne at TCU 8:00pm ESPN+

I’m not falling for this one.

ETSU at Vanderbilt 8:00pm ESPN+/SECN+

Vanderbilt is a 21-point favorite and I am telling you, gentle reader, that is a mistake.

16 LSU at UCLA 8:30pm FOX

UCLA hasn’t been a top talent draw on the West Coast in the last 20 years for whatever reason. This is what I meant by USC sleepwalking. It feels like, to me, going to school in Westwood and playing home games in the Rose Bowl would be a bigger draw than University Village and the Coliseum. But maybe being able to walk to games is important to recruits. Whatever, LSU is going to fuck the Bruins up right there in the Rose Bowl so that’s not gonna help anything.

Bethune-Cookman at UTEP 9:00pm ESPN3

This is as close to a bodybag game as UTEP can get, at least where they’re the favorites, but I will say this for BCU: their uniforms are usually pretty cool.

New Mexico State at San Diego State 10:30pm CBSSN

This is that real MWC shit. Lovely to me for reasons I have not been and never will be able to articulate.

Arizona vs. BYU (in Las Vegas, NV) 10:30pm ESPN

This game is Mormon as hell. If you know any Mormon football fans then they probably have an interest in this game. Bless ‘em, nobody else will have an interest but readers of Moroni sure as hell will.

Nevada at California 10:30pm FS1

Hmm. Maybe. I doubt I can sink much time into it but I do like the overload of different dark shades of blue threads involved here if nothing else.

Utah State at Washington State 11:00pm P12N

And here we have a ton of red, depending on alternates and whatnot.

Portland State at Hawaii 11:59pm Spectrum PPV

A historic showcase for the run & shoot but I don’t know what either offense is supposed to be right now.

Sunday, September 5

9 Notre Dame at Florida State 7:30pm ABC

Notre Dame is only favored by 7. Did FSU get a huge influx of talent that I totally missed or is the line just something nice in honor of Bobby Bowden? From what I know of these two programs from last year, the Irish should be at least a 3 TD overdog. Was Ian Book really all that great? I thought he was a good QB but I am thoroughly confused by what’s driving the odds on this one.

Monday, September 6

Louisville vs. Mississippi (in Atlanta, GA) 8:00pm ESPN

Yehaw. What a weird way to close things out. Why aren’t the UGas and the Cocaine Tigers playing in this slot? The racist south is favored by 10 but, off the top of my head, I don’t think they’re actually any better than Louisville. Whatever, there’s close to a zero percent chance I even remember this game is happening.

#football #college football #Tv watch em ups #gambling #rtarl watches tv

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auburnfamilynews · 4 years

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Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

You ain’t seen bouncin’ back!

Alright, well let’s dust ourselves off and get back out there. At least most of us nailed the under! This is a bounce back opportunity for Auburn. Arkansas is coming off of their first conference win in 20 tries, but that’s what happen when you let BERT run your program.

What’s that?

No, I really don’t think they ever really gave him a chance. What was he supposed to do with all of two years to recruit to a completely different system?

Anyway, Auburn needs this game to work out offensive line issues, especially in the run game. Unfortunately Arkansas appears to be strong against the run. This might be one where you challenge the fortitude of your football team and make them guy through it. How do we feel it will go?

Note: Most of us started to pick this before Hurricane Delta started to move the line a bit. There’s a decent chance one of the bands could hit during the game, so that could affect scoring. I updated to what Bill Connolly used to judge SP+.

Auburn (-14) vs. Arkansas (O/U 46.5)

SP+ Pick: Auburn -16.6; Total 49 (OVER)

Yeah I’m still boiling over last Saturday’s abject failure and now am even more enraged at the notion that if we coach/play like we did in Athens in the middle of a hurricane on Saturday that we could end up losing to this team and ultimately wind up with a $50 million+ decision to make in a pandemic. I am not ok and will not be ok regardless of what happens Saturday.

Still, we should beat this team and cover this spread. Don’t let Mississippi State looking like ass fool you here, Arkansas is the worst team in this league, and the only debate to the contrary involves Vanderbilt. The problem is they are very well coached, WHICH MATTERS WHEN YOU WANT TO BEAT A MORE TALENTED TEAM ON THE ROAD IN THIS CONFERENCE NOT THAT I AM REFERENCING ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR NOPE JUST THROWING OUT SOME RANDOM BIT OF ANALYSIS HERE.

/takes a deep breath and attempts to rationalize anything in this stupid year…

Auburn needs to run the football 35-40 times. Not a single one of those carries should be a called run by Bo Nix. They will not be given a better opportunity to use a game to get better than this one. They need to figure out run blocking regardless of how tight that keeps the score. And it’ll mean a sloppy game where things get weird, but it can pay dividends in the coming weeks. They absolutely must use this game to settle the offensive line and get some confidence, because if you don’t you’re going to get bullied by Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, and probably be dared to get into a shootout with the Mississippi schools.

I think the offense looks rough as hell thanks to the weather and a need to grind through the deficiencies up front, but ultimately eek out an ugly win that feels similar to Ole Miss a year ago, where the game is in question on the scoreboard and the stats don’t align with it.

Auburn 27, Arkansas 10 (Auburn wins and covers; under)

—Josh Black

I am still pissed about last Saturday & will remain so for quite some time. The Tigers had a golden opportunity to change the AU/UGA narrative & establish themselves as a legitimate CFP contender. Instead, they got their butts beat & looked outclassed from head coach to student manager. It was embarrassing.

But despite the hopeless feelings of this week that AU fans have expressed quite verbosely on the internet wherever anyone would listen, the season isn’t over. The Tigers still have a chance to put together a season of football to be proud of but it has to start this weekend.

Auburn must win this game. That’s obvious but I’ll go a step further. Auburn must dominate this game. This team needs an emotional kickstart just as much as the fanbase. No, winning Saturday doesn’t make last weekend any better. It doesn’t even mean this team will end up being any good but a win at least gets this team going back in the right direction. A dominating win let’s this group feel like a GOOD football team again. I still believe the ingredients are there to be a good football team but it’s going to take some players at key positions elevating their play.

The weather might be nasty Saturday which could force both offenses to the ground. In the past, that would be a very good thing for Auburn. But I don’t feel as comfortable in 2020 about that situation. Still, despite the Hogs capturing their first win last week, they haven’t necessarily looked like an elite squad. It took 4 turnovers including a pick 6 for the Hogs to pull off last week’s upset. Their offense has yet to cross the 300 yard threshold & are averaging a pretty terrible 4.2 yards a play. If they win Saturday it will be because the Tigers turn the ball over too much & aren’t able to mentally shake last week’s loss.

However, I think this team shows up Saturday and plays better football. Specifically, I think Saturday becomes the Tank Bigsby show with the Tigers leaning on their explosive freshman and he responds by going over the century mark and putting some TDs on the board. On the other side of the ball, I expect the Hogs offense to make some big plays but struggle to finish drives. Franks can be turnover prone at times & I think a couple of picks turn this game into a blowout in the 2nd half.

Auburn 48, Arkansas 17 (Auburn wins and covers; over)

—AUNerd

Arkansas fans haaaaaaaaaaaate Chad Morris. Arkansas fans haaaaaaaaaaaaaaate Gus Malzahn. I don’t think our head coach much cares for Arkansas, either. These revenge games haven’t worked out for Arkansas very well. Auburn’s got some stuff to work out Saturday. If this game is close, Auburn has some soul searching to do. But this game won’t be close.

Auburn 56 Arkansas 3 (Auburn wins and covers; over)

—Josh W

I think this is a case of two teams who need a win desperately for various reasons. Auburn needs to win this game to prove to itself that it isn’t a bad football team, it just had a bad game. Arkansas needs to win because they got bad blood, but they used to have mad love. Now they got problems and I don’t think they can solve them, etc.

If Auburn and Chad Morris drop a fifty-spot on the hogs, they would be so angry they may never recover. However, if Gus has proven anything to us it is that he is vindictive.

Auburn 55, Arkansas 17 (Auburn wins and covers; over)

—Son of Crow

Man, I’ll admit, my confidence is shot after last weekend. It is really hard for me to trust Auburn beating anybody, much less by 18, right now. Nevertheless, this is the type of game Auburn wins big time under Gus, with the fanbase already too ticked off to be able to enjoy it. Auburn has a severe talent advantage, and even though we’re nicked up with some injuries, I expect the Auburn offense to come out with their hair on fire. Down KJ Britt, I do worry the defense may struggle, but I don’t think Arkansas has the ground game to take advantage of it. Tank Bigsby becomes the first Tiger to break 100 yards rushing since Boobee Whitlow in the Iron Bowl. 38-13 Good Guys. (Auburn wins and covers; over)

—Ryan S. Sterritt

If there was ever a weekend that could make me not want to watch football after the extended sports break we had with COVID, it was last weekend. I don’t need to tell you the myriad of ways in which Auburn sucked, but it was disheartening as hell. Now, we get to play a team that might actually be just what the doctor ordered. Gus and Chad clearly don’t have any sort of sentimental feelings toward the Pigs, but I think this is going to be a little tougher than the past few seasons have been. Still, there may be two teams each season that Gus saves a little fun for, and it’s Arkansas and Alabama.

With an impending deluge, we might not be as crisp as we’d like to see, but I can only imagine that the team got its ass kicked in practice this week. Not having heard any “good week of practice” quotes coming from the head man may indicate that we did indeed have a good week of practice. We still need to work on the run game, and I’m definitely not alone in believing that it’s going to be an emphasis this weekend. Pound it and don’t stop until you get it right. Tank shows us more from last weekend, only this time he won’t be alone. Auburn 34-10. (Auburn wins and covers; under)

—Jack Condon

I am really between a rock and a hard place. I am so hurt and disheartened that I am drifting into crazy fan territory of “JUST LOSE SO WE CAN BE DONE WITH THIS”. Auburn will win this game, more than likely. The talent is just there and this is the path Gus takes, looks terrible against the upper tier of the conference (because Auburn is not part of that this year), and then dominate the lower half (the Mississippi’s and Arkansas) of the conference. I don’t know what to expect or what we will see but Auburn should win. I will take the piggies and the points because...this offense isn’t good. Auburn 28-17 (Auburn wins, Arkansas covers; under)

—Drew Mac

The Tigers come into this game on the lowest of lows while Arkansas comes into this game on the highest of highs. Auburn has blown out Arkansas the last 2 times the Hogs had come to the Plains, but after what I saw last week, my confidence in this group has been shaken quite a bit. The lines on both sides of the ball need to take a major step this week as last week was just brutal to watch. With KJ Britt out, it’s time for someone to step on the defensive side of the ball and become the leader of this group. The hope is Auburn will have Jaylin Simpson back this week and not have anyone get thrown out for targeting 5 minutes into the game.

I think Auburn wins this game but it’s going to one of those that will frustrate the fanbase. Auburn 27 Arkansas 13 (Auburn wins, Arkansas covers*; under)

—Dr. Will (*-pick was made with previous line. This is a push on the new line)

After what we saw last week, it’s hard to imagine this Auburn team beating anyone. I’m now convinced You could take any auburn team from the past 15 years and have them play a Pop Warner team in an empty Sanford Stadium, and the Auburn team just wouldn’t win. That said, this Arkansas team is like one of those houses you see from war movies has been shelled, burned, and barely even has a foundation to speak of. We have some serious problems on our hands if we can’t beat this team, especially at home, where over the last 14 months, Auburn has been much better than when they are playing somewhere else. I look for Bo to bounce back from last week’s struggles and see us to an ultimately comfortable win. Auburn 38 - Arkansas 12 (Auburn wins and covers; over)

—Chief

Are we sure we still have to do this? The Panthers have shown signs of life. Everton haven’t lost in what feels like months...because it has been. The Braves won a post-season series for the first time since I was in high school, and then they won another one for good measure! Do I still have to watch Gus and Chad try to get this offense out of first gear against Arkansas?

YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT I DO! This game is “get-right” city. Arkansas is good against the run, and they don’t give up big plays. So guess what, it’s time to put up or shut up with Bo throwing the ball 5-15 yards downfield and over the middle. If you’re going to do it, Saturday is the day. Work those tight ends early. Get your timing down on RPOs. Feed the Tank!

I think things look a little out-of-sorts for the first half, and the defense bends a little more than we like. Then Auburn breaks out in the second half. Think a better version of the Kentucky game. 10-6 at the half, but the final is Auburn 34-9 (Auburn wins and covers; under)

—James Jones

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/10/10/21508523/staff-picks-13-auburn-vs-arkansas

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reikisessions · 4 years

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Beating the Coronavirus Pandemic: It’s All About Endurance

“When you’re going through hell, keep going.” ~Winston Churchill

A couple weeks ago the Greek government announced that our quarantine would continue “well beyond April 6th,” the original date for which it had been set. We knew this was coming, but it was still hard to hear. And it was this same moment that my memories as a long-distance runner came flooding back.

I started running track and cross country when I was eleven years old. I joined the Los Gatos High School Track and Cross Country team when I went to high school where we trained hard and all year round. Our coach would give us a program for the summer and at the end, we’d spend a week in Lake Tahoe, training where the air was thinner. This thin air made it so our lungs had to work harder, and we’d get stronger.

I wasn’t just a long-distance runner, I was a long-distance runner with asthma, and that made things a little trickier. Running wasn’t a matter of mind over body for me, it was a delicate balance of my mind pushing my body but staying within range of what my lungs were capable of.

Most of the time, my asthma wasn’t an issue. But sometimes it was, and if you’ve ever suffered an inflammatory lung condition, you know that even the strongest will is rendered powerless if you can’t breathe. It humbles you, and that humility is useful.

As a former asthmatic long-distance runner, I understand we can’t beat the coronavirus through force of will. We beat it with patience, intelligence, discipline, and persistence.

We stay home so the virus has fewer opportunities to spread. We wait while doctors develop first an antibody test, so we know who is now immune, and then a vaccine, so we actually can eliminate it. This takes time, and this will take patience.

When I focus on my day-to-day life in the middle of a lockdown in Athens, it feels familiar—it feels like I’m on a cross country running course again.

The first week of self-isolation was like the first half mile. I started out fast and optimistic. “This is going to be fine. I’ve got this!” I told myself as I cleaned my house, made healthy food, set up video meetings with my friends all over, bumped up my at-home workout regime, and organized my new work life.

But at week two, the second half of the first mile, I started to feel the effects. It wasn’t so fun. I missed going out to restaurants and events. I missed human interaction. “When will this end?” I wondered. On a cross country course, this is where your body starts to settle into what it understands will be a long journey peppered with pain, and that’s if you do it right.

Because I’ve been a distance runner, when I look over the horizon of this pandemic, I know what’s coming. It’s waves of pain, moments of boredom, and waves of determination all threaded together. In a race, I’d keep my mind on the long view, the finish line, but I wouldn’t obsess about it. It’s too far away.

Mainly I’d look down at the ground in front of me to make sure I didn’t trip. I’d manage my breath, check my energy, push myself when I saw other people getting tired, and pace myself for the long stretches in between.

When I’d start to get really tired, I’d begin to count in my head. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 and then start again. Something about putting order and structure around the situation made it easier for me to go on.

This quarantine is sort of the same. I break my day into tiny chunks and just focus on the piece in front of me. I take the dog for her morning walk, I prepare my home studio and teach a live-streamed yoga class, I make my next meal, I spend two hours answering emails and writing, the list goes on, and the day finds a rhythm. It’s more solitary than it was before, but I’m adapting and finding my way.

And I learned to have a flexible understanding of the finish line. I had a truly great coach in Willie Harmatz. He’d push us hard, but he cared about us so we worked hard to make him proud. And his efforts paid off. Our teams were some of the best in the state.

I remember one track meet at a neighboring city where we’d raced, done well and were heading back to our school. About a mile and half away, he had the bus stop, told us to get out and run home. I was shocked. But he looked us straight in the eyes and said “You’re tired. It’s a good time to run.”

I hated him in that moment, but he trained me well since that’s probably going to be how this pandemic journey will be.

It’ll be hard to know when the race is over. And probably when we think we’re done and we’re tired, that’s when we’ll be called on, one more time, to do a little more. But if your thinking is stable and you have the right tools, the road might be long, and the journey might be painful, but it’ll be okay.

About

Lynn Roulo

Lynn Roulo is an American Kundalini Yoga and Enneagram instructor living in Greece. If you feel like you’d like more “tools” for this pandemic, please join her from anywhere in the world for her donation-based Zoom Kundalini yoga classes. The schedule is here.. Check out her books and read about her journey from being a San Francisco CFO to an Athens yoga instructor. And connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.

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sacriilegious · 4 years

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Wedding Traditions - From Bridal Showers to Wedding Receptions

Romeo- Oh Romeo- Where thou Is My Romeo

Oops, incorrect story but you have now observed your Romeo and you're now making plans your wedding ceremony. Typically there are trendy wedding traditions the bride and groom follows, from the bridal shower, bachelorette and the bachelor birthday party, the bridal ceremony through the marriage reception.

Most brides choose the maid of honor which most probable is her high-quality pal who has stood by her aspect thru the best times and the awful times. Someone the bride is aware of and trusts! The maid of honor will assist her via the planning process of the marriage or even assist in, or organizing the occasions including the bride's bridal shower. The bride may even choose 3-five bridesmaids whom will now not simplest stand beside her at her wedding, but, can even help her with the making plans or her wedding ceremony. Did you already know the bridesmaids have been a marriage culture for centuries? A one of a kind meaning again then from these days! What was said, that the bridal celebration were there to confuse any evil spirits by dressing the same as the bride. Today of path, the bridal birthday celebration is there to aid the bride Image Credit The Diamond Club.

The groom will do similar to the bride in selecting a exceptional guy to stand beside him on the marriage ceremony. Typically he's the nice friend whom have shared many adventures together and held every other up thru the coolest and horrific instances as well. He could be the one to arrange a bachelor party for the groom that's taken into consideration his closing night time out as a single man. Did you know that in the historic years, the satisfactory man turned into not best the grooms best and trusted buddy but he become there to protect the bride's own family off? The cause...... The groom might are looking for out his destiny bride, then, he would capture her to make her his wife. Hmmmmm, I don't think that would work thoroughly in today's society. Although, I agree with there nevertheless are Shot Gun Weddings! But that is an entirely special wedding story. Along with the quality man, there are 3-five groomsmen whom stand beside the groom thru the length of the marriage making plans.

The bridal shower is wherein all the bridal party, the girl friends and the bride get together and have a party occasion. They will organize a spread of occasions in the course of the bridal shower event. If your bridal bathe starts offevolved to slow down, deliver out the video games you would typical play at a bridal shower occasion. One recreation may be, "How Well Does the Bride Know the Groom". Prior to the bathe occasion, put together numerous questions to ask the bride. Some questions may additionally consist of "How old changed into the destiny groom while he had his first kiss" or Where became his first date or greater easy ones could be his favored shade, fortunate range and so on. There are many video games that can be performed at some point of the bridal bathe. You can find many internet site that have bridal shower video games in your event. Many of the video games are easy and could price you nothing to arrange and participate. Another tradition at the bridal showers are bridal shower favors. Used to be your could get some mints, goodies or chocolates and wrap them up in tulle or in a small choose field. Well women, the ones days are over and there are numerous styles and designs of bridal shower favors. Whether your shower is a themed occasion or with the aid of shade that matches the marriage decor, there is a favor designed for the occasion. These are cheaper bridal shower favors you may gift to each of your visitors or even use as a present for the winner of your a laugh filled shower celebration video games.

Now for the first-class part of your wedding. The bridal ceremony, what each bride needs! As both the bride and groom are nervously ready, and the clock is ticking down by using the seconds, the bride is constantly rehearsing the wedding ceremony through and via, wearing some thing vintage (linking to her own family's past), something new (desire, true fortune and success), some thing borrowed (from a happily married female for right fortune), and some thing blue (love, fidelity, and purity). Recapturing all her choices with the wedding traditions and making plans so she has that ideal wedding she has dreamed of. Yes, nowadays is the day the each of you stroll down that isle to become as Husband and Wife, a Unity of one, Wedding Bliss, Holy Matrimony, Yes, nowadays is your Wedding Day............ Traditionally, you have a white runner down the church isle (as long as the house of worship allows), The flower female is ready to unfold the rose flower petals, the hoop bearer, fidgety, however patiently waiting with the jewelry softly placing at the ring bearer pillow. Ok, we will pause a minute. How a lot of you realize the that means of the wedding ring and WHY you put on them in your 0.33 finger? Do you surrender !!!, Oh you're trying to find the answer now, no fair......... The ring is a in no way ending circle which symbolizes by no means ending Love, the marriage ring worn to your 0.33 finger is that the Romans consider that the vein in that finger runs immediately for your heart. I recognize, I recognise, get lower back to the traditional weddings. If your doing the lights of the harmony candle ceremony to bond the bride and groom in unity as one, have the team spirit wedding candles setting on a table with white linen and lace on your ceremony. All your bridal celebration in location and the marriage guests are patiently waiting as nicely for the traditional wedding march music to start. Let the Wedding Begin.................................. Don't forget about the marriage favors, allow your wedding ceremony guests throw rice as carried out within the early days, however today, there are numerous alternatives for wedding favors to your guests. Wedding poppers filled with streamers, rice formed as hearts, or dried vegetation made into sachets. Any of these wedding favors you can discover nicely package with brilliant presentation to in shape your wedding subject matter, colours or ensemble. Oh Yeah, one extra aspect, tossing the bridal flower bouquet as the bride and groom are making dashing away to the horsedrawn carriage which awaits them. The bouquet has the same that means because the brides garter, the single lady who catches it'll be the subsequent one to Wed.

Now that the bride and groom have emerge as as one, it's time to birthday celebration - have fun a brand new starting and journey of lifestyles together as husband and spouse. The wedding ceremony reception can be amusing and much greater enjoyable than your marriage ceremony. As lifestyle, there are greater ceremonies that are prepared at the reception. The bride and Groom toast, each of the bridal celebration will supply a small speech and toast to the bride and groom stating many a laugh crammed statistics and adventures they have shared with every of them or as an person life lengthy buddy , and how every, the bride and groom are made for each different.....Soulmates for existence. The garter toss for the subsequent fortunate unmarried lady for her wedding ceremony bliss. The wedding ceremony cake ceremony, I recognise what your wondering!! Yes it's miles conventional for the bride and groom to make the primary cut of the marriage cake and, nicely....., you already know what happens next.

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xb-squaredx · 4 years

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Gaming in 2019: A Look Back

2018 was a quieter year for gaming. With new consoles on the horizon, Sony and Microsoft were in a transitional period, and while Nintendo hit the ground running with the Switch in 2017, aside from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at the end of the year, they seemed to stumble a bit. By stark contrast, 2019 has been absolutely bonkers, with tons of quality titles and bigger announcements littered throughout. With 2019 now at its end and the end of a whole decade upon us, let’s take a look back at the world of gaming over the past year, and take in the highs and lows.

BACK TO BACK HITS

In going over all the releases this year, I was surprised at the sheer number of quality titles spread across 2019. New games release all the time, but 2019 in particular seemed hell-bent on keeping customer wallets empty with release after release. January kicked things off with a bang; Capcom graced us with the remake of Resident Evil 2, a gorgeous, terrifying reimaging of the survival-horror classic and it seems 2020 will follow suit with a remake of Resident Evil 3. Speaking of threes, Kingdom Hearts III released and…while many fans seemed happy with it, the hype surrounding it was nowhere near as high as I had always imagined it would be. Of course, the fact that this is the twelfth installment might have something to do with that. But hey, it finally happened and that counts for something. I suppose the same could also be said for the long-awaited and shadily-funded Shenmue III. It doesn’t seem like it made a huge splash; the general consensus is that while the gaming industry grew in-between the releases of Shenmue II and III the Shenmue series itself largely ignored those advancements. A game that, much like Duke Nukem Forever, would have likely fared better had it released in a timelier manner. All this talk of threes and somehow Half-Life 3 remains in development hell…but at least we’re getting a VR game, right? R-Right?

As the year went on, we saw a lot of high-quality action games like Devil May Cry 5, Astral Chain and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and for some reason racing games made a bit of a comeback with Team Sonic Racing and a remake of the Crash Bandicoot racers all in one package. Fighting games in particular had a lot of titles throwing their hats into the ring. From the bloody Mortal Kombat 11 to the titillating Dead or Alive 6¸SNK also introduced a new generation to the Samurai Shodown series with a new installment, and Smash Ultimate slowly unveiled a stellar lineup of new characters as DLC throughout the year. Remakes seemed particularly in-vogue this year, from the previously-mentioned Resident Evil 2, to Final Fantasy VIII, Medievil, and Link’s Awakening. I feel that “games as a service” are starting to decline in popularity, however. With Anthem, Bioware’s last hope, bombing, EA had a bright spot in Apex Legends showing up out of nowhere and momentarily drawing players away from the likes of Fortnite, though Epic’s smash hit remains to be truly toppled. With the monetization of these games still under fire, I think the public is starting to wise up about the often-predatory practices put in place that come at the detriments of the games they’re attached to. While these titles continue to be popular, we’re well past the saturation point, and players have a limit to how many of these games they can fit into their lives. They’re called “forever games” but nothing lasts forever…

There was a steady flow of releases throughout the year, but for whatever reason, September was the month where it seemed everything was coming out, with a few notable titles in late October or November. No real droughts to speak of, really. While Hideo Kojima’s crazy new game, Norman Reedus and his Radical Fetus er…I mean Death Stranding caught a lot of people’s eye, and the Pokémon franchise continued to make bank, some smaller indie titles managed to stand out from the pack. Really unique titles like Hypnospace Outlaw, GRIS and Untitled Goose Game come to mind, as was the unexpected collaboration of Crypt of the Necrodancer and the Legend of Zelda franchise with Cadence of Hyrule. Not to mention a certain slipper-wearing skeleton got into Smash Ultimate as a costume. At this point, indie developers can stand shoulder to shoulder with the bigger dogs in a lot of ways. I mean, when indie-darling Disco Elysium can walk away from The Game Awards with four wins (including beating out Reedus’ Fetus), that shows how far we’ve come as an industry in many ways. Every time I stop to remember some of the more interesting games that came out this year, a lot of them come from smaller developers. Seeing how the bigger companies have embraced indie developers, when they were once shunned, is also pretty great, even if relations aren’t always perfect.

THE BIG THREE (and google)

Focusing on the larger companies for a bit, we’ll start with Microsoft…who were a mixed bag this year. On the one hand, Gears 5 seemed to be alright, and on the other hand, Crackdown 3 came and went without so much as a whimper. Then came the long-awaited reveal of their new console at The Game Awards, of all places. Introduced as the “Xbox Series X,” Microsoft seems set on trying to confuse as many people as possible when it comes to discussing their different consoles. Or maybe they’re rebooting the brand to just be Xbox. Whatever helps them sleep at night.

(Expect confused parents at launch!)

Sony largely got through this year without too many issues. They continue to underwhelm with their “State of Play” direct announcements, but in general they have several upcoming exclusive games to look forward to. Buying Insomniac and securing them as first-party is also a pretty big move on the whole, and they ended the year with Death Stranding finally seeing release. Nintendo, meanwhile, provided a bunch of unique game experiences throughout the year. A unique action game in Astral Chain, ghost-hunting fun in Luigi’s Mansion 3 and they even found a way to make exercise fun with Ring Fit Adventure! With fairly solid Directs throughout the year, they’re a lot more consistent in quality and general hype this year in comparison to last, when it seems like all hopes were riding on Smash, which has gone on to be the best-selling fighting game ever, by the way…

I suppose I should pay lip service to Google’s own attempts to break into the gaming scene with their release of the Stadia, a streaming platform that they swear is the future of gaming. It’s billed as a “work-in-progress,” and initial reaction to it seems mixed. Some find delay so bad that games can be unplayable, and there’s been several shenanigans at launch, but maybe by this time next year all the kinks will be worked out and it’ll be hunky dory! Or maybe Google will abandon it like so many other products. I’d be surprised if it’s still relevant by this time next year.

DELAYS, DOWNERS AND DEXIT

2019 had its highs, but a fair share of lows too. Delays seemed to also be common this year. Right as 2019 was starting, Nintendo had a fairly transparent announcement that the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4 was restarting development from scratch. Animal Crossing: New Horizons and DOOM: Eternal also ended up delayed into March of next year, though interestingly enough fans seem to take such announcements much better than in years past. Reactions to delays are often one of disappointment, but understanding, especially if it’s all for the game’s benefit. It’s perhaps for this reason that the DLC roadmap for Mortal Kombat 11 saw a massive delay in character release from the usual schedule, following reports of crunch at Netherrealm Studios. After 2018 shone a light on the often hazardous work environments of game development, it does seem that delays are being used as a way to take some pressure off of developers. It’s too early to say that things are genuinely improving across the board, but it’s a start at least. Not all stories have happy endings though, and the continued fate of Telltale Games remains in a strange limbo. With Telltale Games bought by LCG Entertainment, it appears at least SOME of the former employees have a new home and even a few of their games can live on, however at present it’s not quite known if things are going to be any better for the employees there, so let’s cross out fingers. As 2019 neared its end, it’s also unfortunate that Alpha Dream closed its doors, after years of producing some well-regard RPGS starring everyone’s favorite plumber. The industry can be pretty volatile, even when you often work with the bigger dogs.

For me personally though, the biggest downer this year was the fallout surrounding the Pokémon fandom. Following an announcement that the newest games in the series, Sword and Shield, wouldn’t be compatible with all of the veteran Pokémon, the fandom seemed to split in half, one side overly critical of the games and their apparent declining quality, while the other side seemed overly defensive, casting aside legitimate concerns. It got really ugly, and even though I enjoyed Sword and Shield for what they were, the discourse left a sour taste in my mouth. 2018 made a big show of how rough some game development studios have it, facing tons of pressure for sticking to deadlines and facing crunch periods that leave people battered and broken. With Game Freak having to kowtow to the demands of higher-ups at Nintendo and The Pokémon Company to hit that release window, delays weren’t an option for them, and they even cited various game development problems in interviews before the game launched. But people want their product and they don’t seem to care how they get it. If there’s something I hope the Pokémon fanbase can learn following all this, is that there’s a big difference between voicing concerns over something you love, and harassing people that are trying to make the best of a bad situation. Looking at the bigger picture, Sword and Shield’s “Dexit” debacle isn’t the biggest gaming controversy of the year, but it was the one that affected me the most and it kind of puts a damper on ending the year strong.

TO THE FUTURE!

I’d rather NOT end on a downer though, so looking towards the future, if 2019 is any indication, there’s a lot to be excited for in 2020. For starters, we already know of a lot of hotly anticipated games set to hit next year, most of which seem to be targeting March…g-great! From the long-awaited Final Fantasy VII remake (or…part of it anyway), to Cyberpunk 2077, we also have what are set to be the swansongs of the PS4, The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima. At year’s end, the PS5 and uh…Xbox…will hit store shelves and while there’s still a LOT we don’t know about either machine, be it specs, features or launch lineup, a new console launch is always cause for celebration. New possibilities! Classics in the making! A clean slate! 2020 will likely be a year to remember just on that alone.

The world of gaming is one I’m always invested in; there’s a lot of grimy stuff I’m not partial to, but plenty of good sprinkled throughout. Every passing year I see many new, innovative games come out of small, passionate developers who want to keep pushing the medium forward. Certain larger companies have also started on a “redemption arc” of sorts, with Capcom leading the charge. The “Big Three” routinely have new and exciting things to show, and we’re at a point where the video game industry is fully ingrained into popular culture. eSports continue to grow and expand, we’re getting rare video game films that don’t suck like the Detective Pikachu movie, and looking back on the last decade, things have come a long way. The greater focus on online continues to allow us to connect and play with others, and the last few years have had more conversations surrounding Cross-Play between the major competitors. If Microsoft and Nintendo can work together, who knows what can be accomplished! We’ve seen the medium mature, or at least attempt to mature, and variety has become more important than ever. After years of dull, grey shooters littering the market, games are allowed to be colorful again! We see studios pushing for diversity, for games with greater focus on mature themes, and while we still have a long way to go in a lot of areas, progress is being made. If Kratos, the God of War, can learn to chill out and become a (moderately) better person, then there’s hope for the medium yet, and with a new console generation and new decade waiting for us, 2019 lets us end on a relatively high note.

Here’s to a great 2020.

-B

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