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godshaper · 3 months

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honk honk

(shirtless under the cut 😉)

#2024 #fallen hero #wei chen #marshal steel #ricardo ortega #chargesteel #chentega

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sidesteppostinghours · 19 days

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WIP its-not-Wednesday-but-close-enough

tagged by @autistic-sidestep! thank you for the tag :D i have,,, so many wips rn. pulp stop starting a million projects challenge. all of these are very rough, and a lot of them feature other steps, but i wanted to share a few :]

for writing, ive got these:

“What the hell, man!” Mitchel hisses. He’s let go, but he hasn’t bothered lowering his voice. Too loud, but real. Caine groans, pulling themselves up from the mattress. At least it wasn’t the floor– this could’ve hurt a lot worse. They wince at the throb in their shoulder as they reach for the wall, probing for a light switch. When he flicks it on reality re-establishes itself once more. It’s Caine’s room, familiarly bare-bones. There’s only a singular twin sized bed in one corner of the room and a desk just across, with a heap of laundry they haven’t bothered to do taking up the chair. Mitchel stands on the mattress in the middle, both parts pissed and bleary eyed. His cheek is a lightish colour that’s a telltale sign it’s going to bruise, and a portion of his blanket stubbornly clings onto his shoulder. There’s no threat in here, or at least nothing more threatening than Mitchel annoyed. The knowledge doesn’t stop the blood pounding in their ears.

-caine wakes up and gets jumpscared by @hyper-pixels mitchel. they react to this calmly.

Marshal Steel has hair stuck in his finger joints. That's the first thing Daniel noticed when he came in to work this morning. Steel has his civilian hands on, which is normal when he has admin work. Those civilian hands will usually have hair in it too, mostly from Spoon. That's also normal. What's not normal is the colour; because instead of the odd tufts of grey fur Daniel's used to seeing scattering Steel's joints, this is a single, longer strand that he's sure wasn't left on purpose. Because the hair strand is brown. Suspiciously similar to Ortega's own brown hair.

-herald is suspicious that his boss is having another secret relationship with a pretty old man, but its none of his business! not at all. thats why hes eavesdropping on them from the breakroom pantry.

“What are you two talking about?” Ortega jerks, nearly spilling coffee all over Wei, tearing a curse out of him as he yanks his head to the direction of the voice. Speak of the devil. Caine glances between the two, head cocked. When did he get here? Ortega doesn't remember inviting him, and nobody told him he was coming either. Not that Ortega isn't happy to see him, but the timing… “Dios mio, Spot, how long have you been standing there?” he mutters. He gives his coffee a once over, but nothing's spilled. He turns back to Caine and double takes. The poor guy looks like he's just run a marathon– he's drenched in his own sweat. He's not wearing his raggedy sweater, for once. Instead, he's got a skintight suit with a simple white tee over it.

-a multi-pov fic featuring the same conversation, but told from the perspective of ortega, chen, and caine. trying to practice voices with it, and so far its been fun digging into each of them!

as for art wips:

-arde and vera based on the song "the villain i appear to be"! i actually made this today after playing the new revelations demo lmfao. i do not remember what arde looks like 😔 im so sorry ive done you a disservice

the next two have blood+mild gore in them, so im throwing them under the cut!

-cyrus gets Fucked Up by a dream version of fawn from @villainsidestep, based on this absolutely vile(/pos) soul read of him:

because why not fuck him up even more??

-mitchel painting i have yet to put down colours for that i am lovingly dubbing "cannibalism (NOT ROMANTIC)". chew it out with your teeth mitchel!!!!

ill be tagging everybody mentioned in the post, plus @idlenight, @disastersteps, and maybe @euelios if you all wanna give this a shot?

#caine is a cringefail loser that cant place the fact that he is. fucking scared of mitchel. and i love dancing around that fact in writing #herald is fighting for his Life trying to mind his own business but his gaydar is beeping incessantly at him everytime chen is in the room #theres a line in the multi pov fic that is. accidentally really sus. but i find it so funny im keeping it like that #i love vera so much yall you dont understand #no spoilers for the rev demo but something about her that gets brought up makes me want to gnash my teeth w the implications of it #think its actually really fucked up and evil of me to make fawn hold both of their brothers tenderly by their faces #during the two times ive drawn things between their brothers for this fight #pov: u are cyrus getting held by your younger sib and realizing theyre way better at protecting and loving u all than you ever will be #the last drawing was based on a line kore casually threw out there while talking about ortega being a bitch #and it made me so insane i opened medibang like. immediately. help #caine lynzal #cyrus becker(s)#nmoc: mitchel becker #nmoc: fawn becker #sidestep #ortega #chen #chentega #herald #dove #arde #fhr #pulp writes #pulp draws

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mihqorio · 1 year

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WIP Wednesday

I have forgotten who tagged me last, but I know i owe at least two people a WIP. Here is one I started a while ago, but then put on the back burner because the mods are so difficult to draw.

Tagging: @eydika @griever-receiver @punkranger @kruk-art and @pearl-kite

#FHR #Fallen Hero: Retribution #Chentega #my art #WIP #Consider this my contribution for celebrating the coming release of the next book #I will figure out the mods for these two

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rangerdoubt · 10 months

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i have yelled at length on discord about stepverse interactions and yet

cut for length and rambling good god but this is going out there because i refuse to be a chicken shit on my own blog

i never thought either miguel or miriam would particularly like any of the other steps. (wrong on miriam’s end--tbf she doesn’t like anyone to begin with, ever, but she truly isn’t that hard to win over, despite her best efforts. absolutely dead correct for miguel--although he is by far more stubborn and less avoidant than i had previously pictured him.)

but they absolutely do not like each other. i thought maybe perhaps a grudging respect (which is miguel @ elmo weirdly enough) but no. they both think the other one is like--a massive loser lmao.

for one thing, mob boss vs hero hunter: miguel thinks miriam is short-sighted and violent (yes). miri think miguel is cowardly and dependent (also yes). vastly different methods of approach that put both of them off of the other: miguel resents how miriam uhhh just shamelessly rips things up. kicks the shit out of the least important person in the room and leaves. like what in the self-centred shit--? but miri thinks that miguel is just as bad as the people he’s coming after--replacing one with another does nothing. there’s no net improvement, no accountability, just power changing hands as it has for literally forever. how’s that for self-centred?

both of them are pursuing their own little side plots that are just... running adjacent to the actual issue but by god will neither admit that those are side plots. what a waste of talent, they’ll complain to their respective partners, if they weren’t such a (miri: stuck up asshole/miguel: cruel idiot) i think i would be able to turn them around.

(it’s worse too because miriam’s not. shy. or polite. when she doesn’t like someone. she’s a wetwork agent, an assassin--fighting is her job and she’s her own best tool. the faster she can get things clear the more effective she is. whereas miguel has shades of social anxiety and is relentlessly, strenuously polite, especially if he doesn’t like somebody. you get around in his world by making friends, and he’s not that good at making contacts to begin with. so he settles for being a powerful asset, and easy to work with--make it hard for people to dislike you, and maybe they’ll keep you around. miguel would have allowed himself to be won over if miriam would just condescend to civility but he makes her skin crawl, not knowing where she stands with him but knowing he’s hiding something.)

also, miri is very willing to die in whatever form it takes. all of the walls she’s been keeping up between the three selves are collapsing. there is physically no way she can keep all of those plates in the air and get a good emotional ending: she has to drop at least two of the lives. tbh if she lost all three, it might be a relief. and this would not jive well with miguel at all--whose dearest wish is to feel like he belongs to his life. like, not even ask for a better one: he can learn to love the one he has. he wants to feel entirely at home in this body that he’s forged himself. to stop feeling like the world is just a globe on a desk, a ship in a bottle. as a fate step he feels like he’s trying to pull a plane out of a nosedive while accepting that this is just slowing the inevitable crash--trying to fall with a little style. in his eyes, miri’s trying to crash a car that would otherwise have driven straight--on its own even!

and i think--at the core of it, they’d be soooo so so fuckin envious of each other. like that’s all it is. miguel sees miriam’s drive and independence and intensity of feeling and wonders what that would be like. he loves the crew, but imagine that. being able to go off on your own and trust that it would be fine. imagine believing in something unconstrained by practicality or reason--you’ll make it happen. imagine being swallowed up in someone else’s love or anger or what-have-you, able to be there in that moment instead of somewhere before or after. and then miri’s just. furious with this guy who acts like he can steer anyone around--but can’t he? she says has the strings, and she knows what to do and where to go. but does she? if miriam feels like she’s face down in the puddle of her own life, miguel might as well be walking on water. more than that, all of her kindness is wedged behind some--block or whatever: there’s no time or space for gentleness even if she wanted to, even for the people she loves. she watches miguel deftly fit himself into any team he wants and realizes that he never works alone because he never has to.

if they were in the same universe, they’d be staring at the unholy mess the other one is making of the the life they dream of, asking each other and asking themselves:

why the fuck are you unhappy?

#tw sui #brief discussion anyway: the tag is part of miriam and something i staunchly will not give to miguel.#i haven't figured out how to write characters that aren't mine yet so why not practice on my personal blorbos #love that they're both juliamancers--miri is a julia main and miguel has a chentega vee route even though he's mostly w chen #what can i say jules has the Range #they are profoundly estranged siblings! they are the rival smart kids who had a fistfight in the parking lot the night before graduation #they are cats looking at themselves in the mirror #miriam basri #miguel serrano #apropos of me realizing their tags bleed together a little

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autistic-sidestep · 5 months

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just some highlights i was reminded of while in voice

You wonder what she will remember once she woke up. What story will she tell him? But that isn't really your concern anymore, is it?

sidestep, being dragged back to rangers hq by ortega to "help" argent: [clown noises]

Marshal Steel speaks the way he stands, as if he was two seconds from punching you in the face.

surprisingly, not a wholly inaccurate assessment when he's pissed???

When the door closes, he finally lets out the breath he has been holding. That could have gone worse. He did not punch her, though he thought about it. It would have felt nice.

[also the fuckign. line in the chentega Haircut blog story]

"Mhm," Chen mumbles, still not looking up. "Hip." Property damage. Could they have minimized the damage? Perhaps. But that missile sure felt nice. He needs to come up with a tactical reason for its use.

chen Does think about punching people. he does things impulsively or for kicks. unpopular opinion but i think chen is almost as nuts as ortega. (i mean cmon. if they've been best friends as long as they have, either they're at least a little alike, or ortega's rubbed off on him.). he's just better at hiding it from other people.

"I can't," Steel interrupts, raised voice overpowering yours. "I'm not doing this again. For once in your miserable life, just talk to me. No bullshit. No lies. Just talk."

chen's at the end of his fuckign tether. hes so tired.

#fh codediving #this has turned into a 'God I Fucking Love Wei Chen' post and. i cant bring myself to care.#also oh right. i should make an update post abt the archive folders + jsons. ngh #no more spoons. just go look in there or w/e

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grapecaseschoices · 9 months

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For the oc ask meme: dusk | enemy | winter | wildfire | ocean. 👀

Ty for the ask @galpal95 ! And so so sorry for the delay.

Dusk: Lala Sandoval [infamous] - It is faded but still eye drawing reds, oranges. It is the unusual but maybe expected streaks of dark, navy blue. It is soft haze - of the sun, the clouds, the mood. It feels like it is both time to wind down and filled with excitement. You could stay in, you could go out. You could sit on the porch and watch your side of the world fall asleep, calm and feel safe and untouchable. You could go out and start the night life, start an adventure-- the world being your oyster. It is the sun and the stars visible to you at once. It feels special, it feels comfortable, it feels magical, it feels... quiet. It is dusk. I feel that is Lala too: chill but daring. Unbothered yet mischievous. As comfortable in their sweats as they are in fishnets and black lipstick. Understanding and perceptive and patient and bold.

Enemy: Erkan Yasar [Exile; but Andy's in general, especially OG Andy] - "Tell you you're the greatest. But once you turn they hate us."

I considered Anouck, my Fallen Lights MC, and a couple of OCs for personal projects -- but I wanted to do someone I've spoken about. And in that case, it can't be anyone BUT Andy [especially this version who is willing to make the kingdom that danced at his suffering burn to the ground. And then some.]

Calm, shrewd, vindictive, amused, angry, violent, Erkan Andrew Yasar.

Winter: Emile Ryan [KOTSAM] - Picture a widespread ground of thick white snow that goes as far as the eyes can see, only marred by an iced over lake, a leafless and stark tree full of icicles, and the occasional blow of sharp wind.

At first glance it feels bleak, but in truth that bleakness is really the suffocating unease you feel. It is dangerous out there. But if you're lucky you might find a cabin that seems like an oasis at first ... do you dare approach to make certain?

Emile is a Bitch. And not only a Bitch but That Bitch. They are exceedingly cunning and occasionally cruel. They are as indifferent and unbothered as a stark, snowy landscape. But if you're LUCKY you might find solace and comfort. Warmth, even. If you're treasured enough.

Wildfire: Is a bit hard for me. I feel none of mine are fully wildfire. At least not the ones I talk about regularly. [Not even Erkan]. I had Rene Casimir here before. I considered Kendis. And their temper and anger would definitely fit here, but I try not to structure Kendis solely around their anger. Aleena's anger and sense of betrayal fits here, she's also a jerk -- but I think she may have a lowkey softer side than I expected [so something like lava or volcano would be better]. I considered Hiyam but IDK.

I'm LEANING toward Reuben Casseus. He is one of my sidesteps. And honestly the only reason he isn't a complete murdering antisocial is because I want the Chentega polyam and I dont have the heart for it sindhdhd. But Reuben is SO angry. And he is definitely striking quite a few things off his path. It also doesn't help that he is too honest for his own good.

Ocean: Tristan Terrell [disenchanted] - Seemingly still at times, vast. Deep and filled with unknown -- so much unknown. Can be tumultuous and dangerous. Can be rocking and soothing. Tristan is reserved, MatureTM, far too numb, and a basilisk with gray eyes. Ocean seems fitting.

Plus xe is going to be this trope: "... a character who's competent, collected, and has their life thoroughly together, and also has one specific thing that's deeply wrong with them." @/prokopetz

#character insight #grapecase answers #galpal95 #i did this - not this version - before so im trying to pick different characters #insight: lala sandoval #insight: andy yasar #exile: erkan yasar #insight: emile ryan #insight: reuben casseus #insight: tristan terrell #i keep thinking of tisiphone when i think of tristan. im not sure why. yet.#maybe when xe snaps it will be worse than aleena #i feel xe is also vindictive but in a justice sense but we shall see #also creeped when i did this last time and funnily i put reuben in tsunami #which works #they both do

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sidestepping · 2 years

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For the favorite things list, Ortega or if you got them Herald!

I have not gotten them! Thank you so much ♡

favorite thing about them: I love a lot (a lot) of things about Ortega... I think I'll go for their loyalty and its consequences--their stubborness, their devotion, their willingness to listen, to understand, to relate, to defend, to grow in their interaction with the people that matter to them. They're clever and pragmatic and full of smoke and mirrors, but the warmth they reserve for a select few nuances those traits beautifully.

least favorite thing about them: Ricardo's mustache. Julia you're doing amazing babygirl.

favorite line: too many to count, but I'll quote an excerpt instead of a line (as always, open alpha compliant):

Ortega catches up with you a little too fast. Does ${he} think this is a race? Maybe it is because you lengthen your step as well, leading to a collision as you both try to get through the kitchen door simultaneously.

"Sorry," ${he} mumbles, but ${he} doesn't move, a warm block of flesh and muscle in your path, just enough space for you to squeeze past if you want to.

"You're in the way, ${ortega_name}." Your voice does a little hiccup you hadn't planned.

"I said I was sorry." And still, ${he} doesn't move. Just smiles softly down at you.

"You're in the way," you whisper, not breaking eye contact.

"Do you want me to move?" Ortega leans in, too close--

BRRR. The METAPHOR and the UNSAID and the villain VS. hero subtext and the pull and the push here--it just HITS me in the face everytime.

brOTP: More like a dadTP, but I love Hood and Charge's relationship (or the glimpse we get of it). Other than that, of course Ortega and Steel, and Ortega and Sidestep (when you're their friend, at least).

OTP: Chargestep all the way, I'm the basic-est person on the block. Alternatively, Chentega.

nOTP: HG and Ortega. I will spray you with holy water you heathen.

random headcanon: Ortega is a horsegirl who calls their horse spanish love names, Ortega has enough skincare products to run an under-the-counter deluxe skincare boutique, Ortega left voicemails on Sidestep's phone after HB, Ortega turns their own head on the street everytime they pass a window.

unpopular opinion: see least favourite thing about them.

song i associate with them: anything slutty enough to make me cackle, but I'll go with Una's ultimate chargestep song instead: Heat Lightning by Mitski.

favorite picture of them: a TON, so. A few choice pictures:

@ardellian: Ricardo, Julia, Julia, and Ricardo on Chargestep (that's subjective, it's just the masterpiece of my heart etc).

@mihqorio: Ricardo.

@kruk-art: Julia.

@punkrangerdraws (that's you! lhshlglgsh): Julia (with Nicholas)

#charge

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sixleggedboar · 2 years

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Both of them deserve better than Elvis so I guess I have to mush their faces together now to make them kiss.

#fhr #fallen hero rebirth #fallen hero #fhr steel #fhr ortega #wei chen #ricardo ortega #chentega

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ladyshivs · 4 years

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Late Night Drive

Fandom: Fallen Hero: Rebirth (all disclaimers to @fallenhero-rebirth)

Pairing: Chentega (Ricardo/Chen)

WC: ~4500

Tags: Slight retribution spoilers, references to platonic chargestep, references to improper drug use, references to Farm headcanons

Ricardo and Chen take a detour on their drive back.

“Jesus,” Which wasn’t a bad opening, all things considered. The sigh from the passenger’s seat was long and Ricardo caught the movement of Chen pinching the bridge of his nose. “Jesus Ricardo,”

The quick flashes of light, shadow, light as streetlamps whizzed by outside threw everything inside the car into distorted relief. Almost leeching the color. Setting a fast tempo that Ricardo could feel keying him up inside. The radio was blasting some terrible pop song and the mumble singing was grating on his nerves in just the right way.

“Well what am I supposed to do?” Ricardo tightened his grip on the steering wheel and swerved into the next left lane, cutting off a taxi with a particularly loud horn. Leather creaked under his fingers. “Let him run in on his own to get killed in a fucking blaze of glory? Or no. Now the plan is to wait around for this bitch and her little pets to waltz in and put guns to our heads. May as well walk into Hollow Ground’s personal penthouse and start pointing out preferred dumping grounds for him to leave my body,” What were they thinking?

Just waiting? For what? A polite knock on the door and written request for the return of stolen. Ricardo clenched his teeth and didn’t let himself finish the thought. No, they couldn’t wait. They had to move quickly before Regina could really get a chance to organize herself. Hit her hard. Hit her fast. Make her go on the defensive. Make her the one who was panicked for options and then don’t give her any time to make a choice. Control the flow of whatever this was.

He pulled to a stop at a red light, watching the cars whip through the intersection.

“You don’t get it,” not the best choice of words, but they were out and Chen was only half glaring but there was no real heat in it. “Torture? Doesn’t cover it. And he was in there for years. Years being. Being fucked with and experimented on. And believing the things they told him because he couldn’t be sure I wasn’t the one who sent him there. And why shouldn’t he? He was stuck there because,”

“Not because of you,” Chen cut in, sharper and harder than a kick to the ribs.

“Don’t give me that. If he had been able to trust me back then I could have done something. I would have,” he paused, the words catching in his throat. He would have done anything if he’d known what the alternative was going to be. What the reality was going to be. “He wouldn’t have had to go back,”

“Or you would have done something stupid and gotten both of you killed,” the voice came from a thousand miles away and just because it was right didn’t make it any kinder to hear. “Just like you’re probably going to do now,”

The light turned green.

“You didn’t see.” Zips of electrical energy were pooling around his fingertips, desperate to be let out. His spine ached with it. “You didn’t see the,” stomach dropping low and fury rising to match it. Nowhere to go but build up. Up up. God fucking damn it he was going to have nightmares about those “Fucking pictures,”. It had taken Daniel practically picking him up off the ground and the security guard assuring him that she wasn’t in the building at the time anyway and Ricardo had still accidentally fried every electronic he touched for the rest of the day. Which reminded him that he needed to send a check to the hotel for their security system getting blasted. “He was there because he thought if anyone knew he was a regene that they would send him back. Because he couldn’t trust any one of us,”

A sharp merge back into the faster lane. There was a bit too long of a pause from the passenger’s side.

“Wei?” a half hearted push—still too tense behind the teeth. Slight squeaking from the car accompanied Chen’s shrug. His hand dropped from his temples to rub over his mouth before coming to rest alongside the other in his lap.

“I would never have,”

“I know you wouldn’t have! You would never send someone to,” the shudder ran up his spine and settled between his temples. “Even if you didn’t know what they were really doing there...I know you didn’t hate him the way Richard was afraid you did,” that hit a chord. A loud one. Chen’s face tightened and then softened again.

“I’m not proud of how I treated him back then,” it was a heavy whisper. Filled with sharp, hard edges. “I never would have,” he repeated, and Ricardo couldn’t be sure if he was the one it was directed at.

“Apparently you could have treated him like your best friend and it wouldn’t have mattered—he still wouldn’t have trusted you,” too much bitterness in that. Too much. Felt it burning in the back of his throat like stale vomit. He felt Chen’s eyes on him and stared out the windshield. Another red light. Always fucking red lights when all he wanted to do was floor it. “You know he doesn’t want her dead?”

“He claims he doesn’t,” Chen said slowly. Clearly not entirely believing it either, and he didn’t even know half the things Regina had done.

“If she’d been in that hotel I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself,” Ricardo heard himself saying the words but didn’t really register that they were out of his throat until silence made its way back into the car. He let it. Chen had done necessary things before and had never once said anything about the necessities Ricardo himself had taken.

Then, finally. “That bad?”

“Worse,” Another pause. He shook his head as if that could do something to clear away the images threatening to spill into his head. Regenes had always. Always reminded him of sick, creeping things in the dark. Ghoul faced nightmares out of his childhood imagination. Punching up from their shallow graves with their blue grey skin and dead eyes and unstopping resolve. They went and went until there was nothing left of them to go. Dead things. And it hadn’t been hard to separate Sidestep from that pack, with his constant twitching and live wire, first taste of freedom, energy. But he’d been like that in the pictures. Withered and broken and like someone had dug him up from a shallow grave and were doing things to his corpse for fun.

Green light. Ricardo slammed the accelerator.

There had been scribbled notes in the margins of the pictures that Regina had been showing the senator. Ricardo hadn’t been able to stop the morbid curiosity and had zoomed in enough on one to make out shaky chemical equations along with the suggestion to up a dosage or two ‘to see if they can make him stop that damned screaming.’ Chen made a noise in the back of his throat. “He wanted to go back on his own. Not to kill her but to kill himself. And that’s all that waiting is going to accomplish. If we give him time to think about it, he’ll try to find a way to keep us out of it and let her kill him,”

“That’s why you kicked his ass?” Chen’s voice was steady. Even. Unfair if only because of the swell of nausea that rose up Ricardo’s throat.

“I thought he was,” Couldn’t finish it. He’d wanted that fight ever since Richard had told him he never trusted him. Wanted that fight because he was hurt and he wanted Richard to know that he was hurt and. Maybe it was selfish of him. But he hadn’t known. The light was yellow, rail tracks coming up and the lights flashing and Ricardo wanted to gun through before the fucking slow goddamn train but the car ahead of him braked early. He laid on the horn and ignored Chen wincing. The driver ahead of him flipped him off. “He needed some fucking sense knocked into him. I’m not going to let him die again. And I’m not going to sit around waiting for her to come to us,”

“Alright,” Chen raised a hand in a peace offering. The train horn blared and the infuriatingly slow cargo mover began chugging by. “Arguing about that gets us nowhere. I say defend, you say attack,” which they both knew was a deliberate over-simplification but. “Either way, we both know you’re going to support him, no matter what he chooses,”

“Now what is that supposed to mean?” a little pip of exasperation bleeding into his voice. Maybe more than a little.

Another shrug. This time with a slight head shake.

“It doesn’t mean anything Ricardo,” but Chen shifted his position slightly, giving Ricardo a better view of the back of his ear and bullshit, bullshit bull. Shit. The tone of voice alone was. “Watch the road once the train is gone, pedestrians are terrible on this part of town,”

“Fine. You’re pissed that I didn’t tell you about Mad Dog,” thankfully, at least those pieces slid neatly into place. Formed a neat little puzzle-map to help Ricardo know exactly where he was standing. It was just at the intersections of ‘You’re In’ and ‘Deep Shit’. If he angled it right, he might just be able to cut through the ‘The Clear’ alleyway. “But I couldn’t just,”

“Trust me either?” resigned sounding and Ricardo felt the blood leave his face for half a second before his rising blood pressure sent it rocketing back.

“What?”

“I was kidding,” Chen blinked at him and then apparently the expression on Ricardo’s face was enough to communicate how much he didn’t believe that. “I’m not upset that you kept it from me,” Chen corrected. Tried to correct. He’d turned to face Ricardo briefly an then turned sharply back. It was enough to see his expression even if Chen was now either avoiding making eye contact or suddenly fiercely interested in the Toyota truck waiting next to them at the light. He was doing that thing with his eyebrows where they told the truth even when he didn’t.

“Yeah, and I’m the Pope,” Ricardo felt his anger simmering away just below the surface of his skin, little zips of electricity wriggling along and making him drum his fingers impatiently. The buildup of energy set his teeth on edge. They didn’t have time for this either. He needed to get back to his office and bring up everything his contacts had managed to find out about the Farm. “You know I would have told you as soon as I thought it was safe to,” which wasn’t. Entirely true. It didn’t feel like it was entirely true, and Ricardo wasn’t sure what to do with that information. He would lie if Richard asked him to. He knew he would, because Richard had asked him to lie and Ricardo had.

“It’s not about--,” a harder sigh and this one sounded more genuine. “I understand that you were protecting him. Are protecting him. It’s okay,” something curved in Chen’s words that made Ricardo’s fore-brain sit up a little straighter. The gathering silence flung it’s arms out and wrapped them around their shoulders. The train kept moving along. The light stayed red. Ricardo turned off the radio. The silence stayed red for a few more seconds. And then Chen sucked in air between his teeth like he was trying to pull his words back into his chest. “Fine. I am pissed about Richard,”

“I knew it,” Ricardo couldn’t stop it from coming out and so was forced to grimace at himself in the faint reflection of the dashboard. There was a very loud and very obvious ‘but’ clinging to the end of Chen’s sentence, waiting to be spoken. It didn’t come. At least, it didn’t come from Chen.

“But?”

Chen’s mouth twisted down into a frown, the scars pulling in off directions making the expression more extreme. It took a car honk to force Ricardo into realizing that he’d been staring at Chen’s lips while the train had moved on. Green light, go. “But I can be mad about that later.” End of sentence. End of discussion.

Ha. Good luck with that, buddy. The little annoying bug in the back of Ricardo’s brain had scuttled over “You’re mad about Richard…but it’s not about the Mad Dog thing?” because there was a difference there. Something inside him hoped that Chen wasn’t actually making a distinction. Without realizing what his body was doing, Ricardo turned left instead of right, heading for the office rather than Chen’s apartment. Driving to work with muscle memory and only one eye actually on the road.

“What it is, is nothing important. Forget I said anything, I’m just overthinking things,” dismissive but his eyes were still watching out the window.

“It’s the thing with Daniel, isn’t it?” They hit another goddamn fucking red light and Ricardo braked just hard enough to make them both rock forward in their seats.

“No,” A bad lie. Maybe only half of one.

“It’s because I didn’t tell you I knew he was a regene?” Chen shook his head and opened his mouth but Ricardo cut him off, “Is it because I didn’t tell you that you were right when you told me you thought something was off about him?” because Chen hadn’t quite made the accusation. It had been weeks ago and Chen had haltingly admitted that he’d done some digging after heartbreak. That he might have found out some things about Sidestep. But nothing solid. No real evidence. And he apparently hadn’t been willing to come forward and tell Ricardo what he’d seen or how he knew, only that he had reason to think Ricardo should be careful around him. Hedging his bets because he knew Ricardo hadn’t known back then.

And because he hadn’t said ‘hey, Richard isn’t human’ Ricardo didn’t feel like it was lying to keep his lips sealed and not say anything to confirm or deny the accusations Chen hadn’t made.

“I never said it like that. But no. Seriously, it’s nothing you...he said something when you were in the kitchen, but it’s nothing,”

“If it was actually nothing, you wouldn’t be trying not to answer,” Ricardo shot back and Chen winced. Hardly visible unless you were waiting for it. Like getting water from a damn stone sometimes.

“It’s stupid of me,” Chen resisted, a shallow last attempt.

“Bullshit,” empty airwaves. He saw Chen drag a hand through his hair. The light turned green. “What did he say? Wei?”

“He only,” apparently a dead end, because Chen’s attention turned from the window outside to his hands in his lap. A surprisingly small gesture. “He said that he told you everything the night those heavy monsoons were flooding everything,” not phrased as a question but Ricardo realized after a moment that Chen was waiting for confirmation. “When you had dinner together,”

“Uh, yeah?” the sudden gear shift had unseated a good amount of his rage and was replacing it with slow blinking confusion.

“That was the night you came to see me, wasn’t it?” another long pause. Another request for affirmation.

“I did,” he found himself hesitating, not sure what road Chen was going down and not entirely sure he wanted to see what was waiting at the end of it. “I remember my head was spinning,” it had felt like the world’s worst migraine had gotten married to a nasty hangover and they were using Ricardo’s brain as a honeymoon spot.

“You were a mess,” not unkind, which was nicer than what it could have been.

“Hey,” Ricardo made a face of mock offense and shoved Chen’s shoulder. Light. Glad that this wasn’t some heavy lecture and instead was just going to be some sort of buffer zone until Chen realized they were headed for headquarters. “The term is ‘roguishly disheveled’ and you know I look fantastic wet,”

“Yeah, but you know that too,” Chen muttered and Ricardo almost took his eyes off the road to see if what he had heard was right. But Chen was already moving on. “You looked like a drowned rat,” Ricardo hoped that was a smile starting to show up. He couldn’t get a good enough look.

“It was storming out!”

“And you’d been self medicating,” nope. Not a smile, then. Grimace. And not as light as Ricardo had been hoping for. No tripping over the term anymore, because that was another fight waiting to start. “And even that wasn’t why you were,” he trailed, voice growing both more grim and softer. Ricardo made the final turn towards headquarters and from the way Chen shifted he could tell the location change had finally been noticed.

It wasn’t remarked on. “I wasn’t that bad,” Ricardo felt like he had to say something to defend himself. He’d felt like shit, sure, but he hadn’t looked like terrible, had he? Wet and maybe a little unfocused from the painkillers, but he hadn’t taken enough to make a fool of himself.

“You were. He broke your heart, Ricardo,”

Red light. Slammed the brakes. Tires squealed. That’s what this was about? He still thought?

“I told you Richard and I weren’t--,”

“The two of you didn’t have to be in love. He still broke your heart,” Chen shifted gears again and drove a semi-truck through whatever Ricardo’s mind was trying to come up with. “And you decided to come to me,” and whatever the hell was going on with his tone of voice made the built up adrenaline in Ricardo’s system try to twist his lungs into a pretzel.

“I did, yeah. What? You’re pissed because I came over?” the tension had moved from his lungs and was starting to do a piece of performative art with his heart. Because it had been the morning after that, when Chen had finally said something. Followed up the first hit that Ricardo had taken from Richard with a punch to the back of the head. Then Chen had. And they had. Together. And. “Okay. Okay so you’re upset because you felt like you had to…before you wanted to?” his stomach twisted. “Or? What am I missing here, what did I do wrong?” Green light. Chen made a noise somewhere between a groan and a sigh.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” tight teeth but the frustration wasn’t directed at him. “I told you that I’m being stupid about this,” just a block away. Ricardo ran the next red and barely gave the gate arm enough time to raise before he sped into his parking spot. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” Chen repeated, quieter this time. He unclicked his seat belt even before Ricardo had a chance to switch the engine off. The car door swung open and the car creaking with released tension as Chen stood up echoed through the mostly empty parking garage. “You had your heart broken and you came to me because you knew I wouldn’t turn you away,” he said it quietly, as though he didn’t want his words bouncing around off the concrete. Almost an afterthought as he shut the door.

Leaving a partly stunned and fully bewildered Ricardo sitting in the driver’s seat. And then all of his limbs reacted at once, getting him out of the car as quickly as humanly possible and out into the same space as Chen.

“Wait,” except for the seat belt tangling him back. “Hold on,” He could hear heavy footsteps moving away from the car as he struggled with the belt and briefly thought about ripping it off. “Fucking, espérate you ass,”

“You knew I would let you in to vent and rant at me and that I wouldn’t ask any uncomfortable questions,” no bitterness anywhere in the words. Not so much as one errant sour note. Which was somehow making it sound so much worse. Resigned and even. “And I did. And didn’t. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I’m overthinking things,” finally the belt lock clicked and Ricardo had to catch himself from tripping out the door. Kicked it shut and turned to see Chen with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting by the elevators. He hadn’t pressed a call button yet. “Why are we here Ricardo?”

“Because I left my office light on,” he sounded like an asshole. “You still haven’t explained why you’re upset. And if it’s upsetting you, it’s not stupid,” cliché maybe, but he meant it. Ricardo reached up and placed a hand on Chen’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “I want to know,”

A deep sigh. Chen pressed the call button and sucked his teeth for a long second. Ricardo let his hand follow the curve of Chen’s back until it rested against the center plane, flat and steady. Pretty solid contrast to the fact that if Chen said he felt like he had to rush into something with him, he was going to. “Fuck,” he muttered softly. The elevator dinged its arrival and the doors slid back noiselessly. The pleasant female voice announced it was going up. Chen paused for a second before walking in, forcing Ricardo’s hand to slip away. He blocked the sensor with his hand, leaving the doors open for Ricardo.

He stepped into the box. And after what felt like an eternity the doors shut and the humming mechanics began to lift them. “It’s going to sound like I’m accusing you of something,” Chen grumbled. “Which I’m not,”

“Wei, for Christ’s sake,”

“Are you settling for me?”

Well. That wasn’t what. “No?” couldn’t help the tightness in his throat. Couldn’t miss the way Chen flinched. “Hey. No. Absolutely not,” panic was tying its running shoes and doing its stretches. He watched his own hands reach up to cup Chen’s face. Chen didn’t pull away but didn’t lean into the touch either.

Ricardo didn’t even know where to begin with that one, buying time by stroking his thumb over one Chen’s broader scars. And then the smaller pieces lined up into the rest of the image. That because he couldn’t be with Richard he’d gone in for something that might make up for it. Right. Shit. Okay swallow something flavored like pride and, “I went over to your place that night because…,” harder to swallow than he’d been expecting “I knew I could fall apart there and still be alright. That you could see me being a fucking mess and,” not think less of him for it. “Because I’d be safe there,” and he’d ended up leaving the apartment the next. What? Late morning? Early afternoon? With the sparkly revelation that his other best friend had been keeping softer secrets from him. He shook his head, too many words getting caught in his throat. Quick change. “Do I seem like the kind of guy who settles for anything?”

Chen let his eyes slip shut, lips pressed into something narrow and grim. “I told you it--,”

“It’s not stupid but, Jesus,” Ricardo reached behind himself and nailed the button to keep the doors closed just as the elevator arrived at their floor. “I don’t do second best, Wei. Especially not when it comes to who I love,” which Chen was going to have some things to say about. Would have to wait to say some things about, because Ricardo had pulled him hard into a kiss. The body under his hands stiffened for a moment. Chen let the kiss happen but didn’t quite return it. “You’re not my second choice,” Ricardo whispered it against Chen’s mouth. Second time around, Chen responded slightly to the kiss, lips moving gently against Ricardo’s. After a moment Ricardo slid one of his hands around to hold the back of his neck and felt Chen relax a minor fraction. “I’ll be sure to make it obvious from now on,” he snuck his other hand down from Chen’s cheek to squeeze his other cheek. Chen exhaled through his nose and Ricardo let himself fold, leaning forward to press a smaller kiss onto the corner of Chen’s mouth. “I’m serious,”

“So am I,” voice still steady and smooth. “I’ve been that guy before,” and apparently Ricardo’s expression asked the question for him. “The place filler,” oh. Fucking ouch.

“That’s not what you are. God as my witness, that’s not what this is,”

“I’m not the sort of person you usually go for,” one last attempt, feeble and wavering. The issue wasn’t put to rest for certain because. Jesus. That was going to take some time. But it signaled that Chen was tired of dragging it out and just wanted to stop airing his personal anxieties for a moment. Ricardo was mostly willing to comply.

“Oh? And who do I usually go for? People who are say…dangerous? Intelligent? Beautiful? You fit the bill so far,” And while the ‘beautiful’ comment got a snort, Chen didn’t make a move when Ricardo stopped the half assed grope of his backside and trailed a hand around to his front, fingers slipping under the edge of his shirt.

“Women,” Chen said plainly and something inside Ricardo cursed loud enough to almost make it up to his lips. That had been the real revelation that Richard had brought up. Even if he wasn’t the right guy, he’d brought up the slightly vertigo inducing possibility that maybe there could be a right guy. Which had forced Ricardo into more than a few late night stare down sessions with his blank tv screen, trying to figure out what that even meant about him.

He still hadn’t figured it all out by the time Chen’s confession had happened, but it couldn’t have mattered less by that point. He’d got enough worked out to know he wasn’t about to let Chen slip through his fingers.

“Well,” Ricardo drew out the word, hoping to get some extra seconds in for his brain to catch up. “It turns out not all of my metrics apply across the board,” which wasn’t nearly enough to cover that. “But maybe the man I am going in for could tell me about his own requirements? I assume the classics? Tall, dark and handsome?”

“Those are good. Add stubborn and reckless and you’ll be getting somewhere,” a slight lilt to his voice. Alright, that was something. He could work with that. It looked for a moment like Chen was going to add something, but Ricardo cut him off.

“I could add those to mine, I guess. You cover the first three already,” another snort but this time when Ricardo pushed their lips together, Chen kissed back. Slowly, granted, but it was there. “And as for reckless,” he tapped his fingers against Chen’s abdomen. Slipping up. Up. Almost up to.

“There are cameras in here,” but Chen’s mouth was betraying him, twisting into an unbidden smirk.

Ricardo slid his hand back down an inch or so, playing with the edge of the fabric. “Gotcha. Not too reckless,”

“I’ve heard there aren’t any in your second office, though,”

“Oh you’ve heard very correctly,” he reached out behind himself to open the doors. “As it turns out, I was on my way there just now,”

#fallen hero: rebirth #fallen hero fanfic #fhr #chentega #ricardo ortega #wei chen

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aced0g · 5 years

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i’ve fallen hard for chentega so have Ortega roping Chen into dressing up for Halloween to celebrate it with him. Chen and Spoon go as Shaggy and Scooby and Ortega is a vampire

#fhr #fallen hero #fallen hero: retribution #fallen hero: rebirth #wei chen #ricardo #spoon #chentega #marshal steel #charge #my art #im tired so its just a little doodle #but im love them

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mihqorio · 2 years

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WIP Whenever

Got tagged (countertagged?) by @eydika You’ve already seen this, but I don’t think I’m going to have anything newer anytime soon, so here’s some Chentega smooches since you sparked this one.

Tagging: @sixleggedboar, @gingerbreton, @danielsullivan @kittlesandbugs and @sidestepping

#FHR #Chentega #haven't put too much thought into this yet and not sure yet where to go with this

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