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#endless lenas
misandriste · 16 days
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↳ endless gifs of lena luthor ✰ 75/∞
Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor SUPERGIRL ⪼ 6.16, "Nightmare in National City"
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justaboot · 4 months
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Losing a best friend is hard.
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bonniehooper · 2 years
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Endless List of My Favorite Movies
The Wiz (1978)
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drownedbycoffee · 3 months
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THEY AREN'T THE FEARS ANYMORE!! THEY'RE DESIRES
(SPOILERS for TMA, and all of TMAGP episodes so far)
Okay, here me out
Tmagp1: Darla wants to hear Arthur's voice again. She even says: "I just couldn’t face the thought of the rest of my life never hearing him again, I had to try" and later on she even says: "But I had to know, so I went to the cemetery."
Tmagp1: RedCanary wants to know about the Magnus Institute. They want to know why it's listed under 'cleared' when there's no evidence of it. Hence why they go and explore it.
Tmagp2: Daria wants that absolute perfection. She wants to change who she is and get out of that dark place. When she talks about the thing that she felt was missing, she says, "... and that’s when I decide I need a tattoo. I had a couple already – just little things on my shin and my wrist – but I decided I needed something big. Something that really changed my look." She also mentions when talking about Ink5oul that "they just kept pressing me about my life, about why I wanted the ink" instead of asking what design she wanted. And when she got the tattoo she describes herself as now being, "Someone I wanted to know more about." Afterwards she even says how "For the first time ever [she] wanted to attempt a self-portrait. Something real and physical, [she] wanted to feel the brushes in my hands and the oil on [her] fingertips." I think a lot of her statement is about her desire and impulsive need for that perfection and that wholeness that she has been aspiring to for her whole life.
Tmagp3: Samuel wants to stay hidden. He wants and he "need[s] to get up, get out of here for treatment." He wants to get better and most of his delirious thoughts are the things that he wants, or feels like he needs. E.g. "I so much want to see it [the sun] again. This night seems endless. I want to be warm again. I am terribly afraid. Thank god for Maddie. I need to treat her better."; "I just need to rest."; "I need to be careful or we’ll drift apart." And then obviously as the narrative continues, Samuel wants to grow and 'put down roots'.
Tmagp4: The narrator wants to be revered and accepted into the Royal Court Orchestra of the Palatinate. He wants to show off and impress. The violin "was a creature with needs and purpose of its own. The needs were simple enough. Blood. Flesh." It has these needs and desires.
So far, I'm interpreting it to be that everything so far can be interpreted as a desire of sorts, varying in the strength and intensity of it. Obviously, fear is still a big part of it all, because if you want something so badly, aren't you afraid of it being stolen from you? Of it being out of your grasp? Of it being unachievable or impossible in some capacity? Of it being a lie?
Even Sam wants to find out more. He wants to know the why and the reason for things. Gwen wants Lena's job. Collin wants to fix all these bugs and keep Freddie running. Alice wants to just get on with it because she found out that wanting to know the 'why' of things is dangerous.
I think that somehow when the Web took all the Fears into a different universe, they morphed into something else. Or they changed to fit what was the most prevalent thing in that universe, because after all, everyone wants something, even if it's something small and inconsequential. Life and aspects of it has always been characterised by that desire for something. Like people wanting food, shelter, safety, love, warmth, happiness, etc. And I think since the Web was so intwined with Jon and Martin, it absorbed some of their emotions when it found its way into this new world, because after all Jon and Martin wanted to stop Jonah/Elias, to stop the apocalypse, to destroy the Panopticon, to be safe, and they wanted each other. I think the wanting and fear of things are really entwined in it all, though this could be absolute bullshit haha
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fandom · 1 year
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Ships
If it's not canon, at least there's always fanfic.
Byler Will Byers & Mike Wheeler, Stranger Things
Steddie Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson, Stranger Things
Destiel -2 Dean Winchester & Castiel, Supernatural
Blackbonnet Blackbeard & Stede Bonnet, Our Flag Means Death
Ronance Robin Buckley & Nancy Wheeler, Stranger Things
Buddie +2 Evan Buckley & Edmundo Diaz, 9-1-1
Lumity -5 Luz Noceda & Amity Blight, The Owl House
Nandermo Nandor the Relentless & Guillermo de la Cruz, What We Do In The Shadows
Geraskier +11 Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier, The Witcher
Piltover's Finest Caitlyn Kiramman & Vi, Arcane
Hannigram -1 Hannibal Lecter & Will Graham, Hannibal
Supercorp -5 Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Supergirl
Ladynoir +10 Ladybug & Chat Noir, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
Huntlow Hunter & Willow Park, The Owl House
Adrienette +15 Adrien Agreste & Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
Bakudeku -12 Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Boku no Hero Academia
Wangxian -3 Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian, Mo Dao Zu Shi
Ineffable Husbands +8 Aziraphale & Crowley, Good Omens
Symbrock +12 Venom (symbiote) & Eddie Brock, the Marvel universe
Dreamling Dream of the Endless & Hob Gadling, The Sandman
Daemon x Rhaenyra Daemon Targaryen & Rhaenyra Targaryen, House of the Dragon
Marichat +11 Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Chat Noir, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
Tomgreg Tom Wambsgans & Greg Hirsch, Succession
Wolfstar -3 Remus Lupin & Sirius Black, the Harry Potter universe
Patpran Pat & Pran, Bad Buddy
Jayvik Jayce & Viktor, Arcane
Kathony Kate Sharma & Anthony Bridgerton, Bridgerton
Raeda +49 Raine Whispers & Eda Clawthorne, The Owl House
Merthur +7 Merlin & Arthur Pendragon, Merlin
Stucky -19 Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes, the Marvel universe
Harringrove +37 Steve Harrington & Billy Hargrove, Stranger Things
Lumax Lucas Sinclair & Max Mayfield, Stranger Things
Narumitsu +9 Phoenix Wright & Miles Edgeworth, Ace Attorney
Drarry -12 Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, the Harry Potter universe
Imodna Imogen Temult & Laudna, Critical Role
Jonmartin -18 Jonathan Sims & Martin Blackwood, The Magnus Archives
Twiyor Loid Forger & Yor Forger, SPY x FAMILY
Catradora -29 Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Elmax Eleven & Max Mayfield, Stranger Things
Hualian +15 Hua Cheng & Xie Lian, Tian Guan Ci Fu
Percabeth +19 Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase, the Percy Jackson universe
Cockles -15 Misha Collins & Jensen Ackles, actors
Jegulus James Potter & Regulus Black, the Harry Potter universe
Superbat Superman & Batman, the DC Universe
Villaneve Villanelle & Eve Polastri, Killing Eve
Nick x Charlie Nick Nelson & Charlie Spring, Heartstopper
Solangelo -6 Will Solace & Nico di Angelo, the Percy Jackson universe
Dreamnotfound -43 Dreamwastaken & GeorgeNotFound, streamers
Satosugu +41 Gojo Satoru & Geto Suguru, Jujutsu Kaisen
Thasmin Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan, Doctor Who
Drukkari Druig & Makkari, Eternals
Sasunaru +26 Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Naruto
Suselle Susie & Noelle, Deltarune
Eddissy Eddie Munson & Chrissy Cunningham, Stranger Things
Sterek -11 Stiles Stilinski & Derek Hale, Teen Wolf
Tarlos -18 TK Strand & Carlos Reyes, 9-1-1: Lone Star
Spirk +14 Spock & James Kirk, Star Trek
Fexi Fez & Lexi Howard, Euphoria
Jopper Joyce Byers & Jim Hopper, Stranger Things
Jikook -45 Park Jimin & Jeon Jungkook, BTS
Chenford +38 Lucy Chen & Tim Bradford, The Rookie
Sambucky -59 Sam Wilson & Bucky Barnes, the Marvel universe
Zukka -47 Zuko & Sokka, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Obikin +36 Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, the Star Wars universe
Ladrien +28 Ladybug & Adrien Agreste, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir
Dinluke -42 Din Djarin & Luke Skywalker, The Star Wars universe
Bumbleby -50 Yang Xiao Long & Blake Belladonna, RWBY
Shadowgast -33 Caleb Widogast & Essek Thelyss, Critical Role
Sonadow Sonic & Shadow, Sonic the Hedgehog
MileApo Mile Phakphum & Apo Nattawin, Actors
Klance -32 Keith & Lance, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Kanej -38 Kaz Brekker & Inej Ghafa, Shadow and Bone
Yennskier Yennefer of Vengerberg & Jaskier, The Witcher
Sashannarcy Sasha Waybright, Anne Boonchuy & Marcy Wu, Amphibia
Loustat Louis de Pointe du Lac & Lestat de Lioncourt, Interview with the Vampire
Batcat Batman & Catwoman, The Batman
Codywan +7 Commander Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Jancy Jonathan Byers & Nancy Wheeler, Stranger Things
Kiribaku -54 Kirishima Eijirou & Bakugou Katsuki, Boku No Hero Academia
Harlivy -11 Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy, the DC Universe
Kinn x Porsche Kinn Theerapanyakul & Porsche Kittisawasd, KinnPorsche
Soukoku Nakahara Chuuya & Dazai Osamu, Bungou Stray Dogs
Jargyle Argyle & Jonathan Byers, Stranger Things
Korrasami -52 Korra & Asami Sato, The Legend of Korra
Stolitz Stolas & Blitzo, Helluva Boss
Damianya Damian Desmond & Anya Forger, SPY x FAMILY
Spideypool Spider-Man & Deadpool, the Marvel universe
Dramione -43 Draco Malfoy & Hermione Granger, the Harry Potter universe
Zutara -61 Zuko & Katara, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Mileven Mike Wheeler & Eleven, Stranger Things
Marcanne Marcy Wu & Anne Boonchuy, Amphibia
Zelink -55 Zelda & Link, The Legend of Zelda
Sasharcy Sasha Waybright & Marcy Wu, Amphibia
Griddlehark Gideon Nav & Harrowhark Nonagesimus, The Locked Tomb series
Tomdaya Tom Holland & Zendaya, actors
Johnlock -45 John Watson & Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock
Jily -9 James Potter & Lily Evans, the Harry Potter series
Calliette Calliope Burns & Juliette Fairmont, First Kill
Malex -19 Michael Guerin & Alex Manes, Roswell, New Mexico 
Serirei Serizawa Katsuya & Reigen Arataka, Mob Psycho 100
The number in italics indicates how many spots a ship moved up or down from the previous year. The ones in bold weren’t on the list last year.
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lightdancer1 · 1 year
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Next chapter of Desolation Row up:
Here's the excerpt:
But the one that stung most is Destiny and I keep wondering what he saw that made it so easy. So no, nothing of my big brother's sphere. I simply wanted to give immortality to someone I was sure wouldn't misuse it.
Hob was thoughtful at that.
"Do most people?"
Have you met any other immortals?
Hob winced. "Oh. Right." And he had. Vandal Savage and General Immortus, and that strange Arab man in the Tibetan monastery.
"How did I avoid that when they didn't?"
Death shrugged.
No one size fits all answer there. Savage was always a bit of a dick even when he was a Neanderthal among Neanderthals. Immortus is a general, they don't get their fame by kindly gentle means and good intentions. Al-Ghul was a Ghazi before he discovered the pits and there's no such thing as a good holy warrior of any tradition.
Hob laughed, a bit bitterly.
"Yeah, I don't think I ever really liked any of the Crusaders. I fought at Nicopolis and Varna, as a part of the last Crusades and...." he shook his head. "I still remember what a shock it was when the Sultan's armies just shot down the attempts to run them down."
He sighed.
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etfrin · 5 months
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18 + | cockwarming Coryo | arranged marriage au m. list | drabble | bc: @cafekitsune | taglist |
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You squirm under his hold. His arm wrapped around you like a snake catching its prey. You weren't sure how you ended up in this position either, one thing led to another and here you are on his lap. Your panties down to your knees and his pants unzipped, his hard cock out of its confines.
His length twitched against your puffy folds, making you gasp softly. Your eyes close as you lean back onto him. A whimper leaves your pretty lips as he uses his opposite hand to press his cockhead into your cunt, stretching the little hole with his tip. He slides in your gaping cunt that was begging to be filled. His cockhead pressing against your g-spot makes you whimper. Your pliant body is to ruin however he wants.
“Coryo,” you moan when he thrusts in, once, twice, thrice before he stops. He takes in deep breaths, his cock getting to know all the sensitive nerves your cunt had to offer.
“Coryo?” You whimper in question as to why he stopped. “There's dessert left, dove,” he whispered to you, his lips pressing a hot kiss to your nape. “We shouldn't waste food,” he adds.
Then you suffer for minutes (it seemed endless) as he spoon-fed you whatever delicacy cooked when all you wanted was to bend over and have him fuck your cunt.
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Current tag list: @stelleduarte @nowitsmissing @lifeonawhim @le-lena @dollfacedalls @motley-baby @champomiel @slytherinholland @randomstuff2040 @justacaliforniandreamer @emmalinemalfoy @hyuk4s @theamuz @watercolorskyy @littlebiwitchsworld @eir964 @skywalker1dream @darkangelkathiecookiesmith @ben-has-arrived @bucksdonkey @xyzstar @ellie-luvsfics @sunny-deary @daughter1of2anita3dearly @eir964 @nowsyhozey @ayaya-aa @serving-targaryen-realness @hansbasement @louweasleymalfoy @lettersandwhiteroses @arzua10 @wotcherpeak @ever8ea
a/n: next in line is their wedding night, a one shot about Sejanus, and another Ghostface! Coryo
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ceilidho · 3 months
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exit, no entry wound joe bear graves x reader; part 1 (3.8k)
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Local time at destination: 0500 hours.
And then the world rushes back to him like the culmination of a terrible dream.
Bear wakes up in another rosebush outside the front steps of the local library worse for wear. Blinking out of sleep-crusted eyes, shapes diverging in blurry unfocus before slipping back into material objects. A bench. A door. The thorny stems of roses already on their way out, already depetalling, the ground below covered in a thin layer of them. One petal even sticking to his cheek when he pulls himself off the ground, wincing at the branches that crunch around him, that tug against his skin and clothes.
His clothes smell of cheap liquor. Gin. Bourbon. It hurts to open his eyes, to sit up. 
“Morning, sunshine,” someone says. He remembers hearing it in his dream too. 
He looks to the source of his awakening, blanching when he notices the man staring at him.
Rip sits on the other side of the bushes on his haunches, looking deeply unimpressed. Hair slicked back for a change. “This what you get up to when I’m gone?”
Bear doesn’t respond. He struggles to his feet instead, hangover only just creeping in. Still drunk, to an extent. His knees threaten to buckle under him, forcing him to lay a hand flat on the wall to keep himself upright. One foot in front of the other. The walk home feels endless in the hour before dawn, hardly any light to guide him. 
“Pretty pathetic shit, Bear,” the man says, trailing along behind him. Not quite mockingly, but bordering on it. “Getting piss drunk and passing out in a bush? Really? C’mon, man. You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”
There’s no sense in responding, Bear knows that now. No sense in even turning around to look. One foot in front of the other. Stumbling home alone under the cloak of night, dawn just around the corner; terrified that one day he’ll have to see it—the sun coming over the mountains, over the horizon. 
It’s been less than a year. He hasn’t yet made his amends with God. Forgiveness sits outside of him. Not quite the right time to let it in. Maybe that time passed a long time ago, a small aperture that shuttered closed at the approach of his eyes. He missed it sometime between killing a boy and losing his mind.
A man cannot hold himself up on the scaffolding of the world alone. There has to be something beneath him. There is no sense in repeating the horrors of the world back to him; he’s already lived them. He’s got something of a Midas touch for death. 
The months have been long since the divorce was finalised, since Lena left for good, since Buckley died, since Rip—since it all went down. If he thinks about it for too long, it seems like a nightmare that he woke up from still mad about; a nightmare he had no choice but to drink himself into a stupor over to escape. That’s the reality of the world. 
“You know, Bear, you’re not the one that’s fuckin’ dead,” Rip spits as he follows behind, matching Bear’s stumbling gait stride for stride. “So you can stop acting like it.”
There’s a truth in Rip’s words and it leaves him feeling nauseous. There’s also a kink in his neck and a headache threatening to split his forehead open. In the belly of him, he has a truth that says that the firmament of heaven is beyond his reach. When he looks up and the sky is void of coruscating light, the meagre stars like an exit with no entry wound, it doesn’t surprise him. Of course there wouldn’t be anything there.
On a good day, his heart feels like it’s weathered a siege. 
“So she left you! It’s time to fuckin’ move on. Go to a bar—I mean, you already are, so step one done—and pick someone up. Go on Christian Mingle or something. You keep living your life like this and you’re going to wind up killing yourself. And then the fuck good that’ll do?”
It takes everything in him to not turn around and do something rash. Only the nausea keeps him from making any sudden movements. Even if he were to turn around and do something, his knees would probably buckle under him. Probably throw up the contents of his stomach. Not much in there either. It rumbles when he thinks that, clenching at the thought of food. Then it twists, the nausea returning. 
One foot in front of the other. The walk home takes twice as long, his whole body aching.
“Heard you almost quit. Wouldn’t be the worst idea you ever had. Let Buddha take over—he’s earned it. Get yourself a nice piece of land in fuckin’…Montana or something. Couple cows, maybe some chicken—you could get a dog, Christ. You look like a guy who’d have a dog. Why don’t you have a dog, actually? You would’ve told me if you didn’t like dogs, so it’s not that.”
His forehead is greasy when he touches it to rub his head. Body secreting poison in his sleep. Oily. The corners of his lips crack when he yawns. It’s not like he’s never thought about a dog, about having something to care for, another living thing in his house. 
But—
(“Bear? …I don’t think we should have a child.”)
What he wants often falls to the wayside, slides off him like a glancing blow. 
Her old, familiar shape appears at the sudden loss of a dream: one where Lena’s gaze lingers on him long enough to burn; but then it is the sun.
Bear watches dawn break. Sunday morning. In a different life, he would’ve squinted into the light of a new day and closed his eyes against it, curling into the slighter body tucked into his chest for another hour of rest. Felt the rise and fall of her chest. Woken up to a hot mouth on his cock or fingers curling in his chest hair, petal lips seeking him out. Church after that, showering off the remnants of their morning, solemn in their pews with their chests still holding the laughter of an hour previous. Light as air, as a feather. 
He won’t go to church today; hasn’t in months. Not with the guilt of missing it the week before trailing after him, each missed week compounding month after month. The cracks in his faith webbing. Splintering out like stepping on the lake when it freezes over in the winter, crunching under his boot until he holds his place. Conscious that it could break under his feet.
“I grew up with a dog,” Bear finally responds, voice hoarse. First thing he’s said since last call at the bar. 
“Yeah. Figures. What kind?”
“Black lab. We called her Daisy.”
It���s another lifetime ago. Still living in his parent’s house, Daisy curled by his dad’s feet, her favourite spot to sleep. Television playing at a low volume, mom at the kitchen table doing her crossword, ink bleeding into the side of her hand. It’s been a long time since Bear buried all of them. He’s buried countless people since. 
“What—can’t get another? One and done? That’s how everything works for you?”
Teeth raze across his skin again. Trust Rip to always cut to the quick. Finally back in his neighbourhood at least, the street empty apart from the cars parked in their driveways or along the sidewalk. Bear’s stomach rumbles something fierce now, entreating him to eat. Worse than hunger is how he’d kill for a glass of water though. Anything to settle his head.
“Haven’t wanted a dog,” Bear grumbles, then clears his throat.
“Yeah, you have,” Rip scoffs. Bear hears him kick a rock, sending it skidding across the asphalt. 
“Fuck off.”
Heart silicified in his chest, composed of fossilised shells and rocks and bones. It feels heavy in his chest. 
He turns down the street leading to his house. 
“Gotta let someone else in, Bear. Girl, dog—whatever. You can’t keep this up forever or it’ll kill you.”
When he turns around at the door, fishing in his pocket for his keys, the sidewalk beyond his house is empty. 
(So a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.)
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Every Friday like clockwork, Bear stops at the diner down the street for a coffee and a slice of cherry pie before heading to the bar. 
Today is like any other. He leaves the house with only his keys and wallet and walks the long twenty minutes to the diner. Every time he fights the urge to drive, but there has to be something holding him in place. A reason not to throw it all away. 
It’s never completely empty when he shows up, but it’s never full either. His seat at the back of the room is open as usual, like they put up a sign before he comes ambling down the street that says Reserved for Joe Graves and then pluck it away before he opens the door. It’d be nice if that were the case. Nice to have something just for him for a change. The thought comes with its accompanying pang of shame. Desire is a dangerous thing; anything he’s ever wanted has come at him with sharpened teeth, clamping down on his leg and ripping through the flesh. Bear trap for old Bear. 
He slides into the booth and waits for someone to notice him. Never bothers to flag someone down—if it’s ten minutes or even half an hour before he’s served, that’s fine by him. 
“Hiya,” a clear voice says to his right, pulling him away from staring through the blinds out the window. “Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, tea?”
The face Bear turns to meet is pleasant, smiling. Wide and untroubled. It’s not a face he recognizes though, despite months coming to this diner and becoming familiar with the staff. If he had to guess, he’d bet she only started a few days ago, maybe a week at most. She still has the sparkle of someone who hasn’t had the goodness beaten out of them yet. 
“Coffee,” he says, his own smile strained. “And a slice of pie.”
“Sure—we have key lime, blueberry, apple—”
“Cherry,” he interrupts, not letting her build steam. The wick in his chest burns too low for any conversation. The quick flicker of her brow makes the shame in his chest swell again. Forgive me sitting on his lips, unsaid. I’m sorry, I don’t know why I do this. 
She nods and scurries off to the back, skirt swishing with her movements. Bear notices only because his eyes get stuck there, somewhere between the curves of her hips and the roundness of her ass. When he realizes where he’s let his mind wander, he pulls it back, flattening his lips into a hard line. Any sort of indulgence feels wrong, a taking that shouldn’t be taken. He hasn’t even begun to pay penance for all the damage he’s wrought. 
It’s only on her way back that Bear notices the small bump protruding from under her apron. His mouth goes dry. When she reaches him again, he wordlessly accepts the cup of coffee and her reassurance that the pie will be out in just a minute. For a moment, he can hardly meet her gaze, eyes locked on the gentle curve of her belly, caught off guard in a way he hasn’t been in months. 
The first thought with any clarity is, what is she doing working here? A crummy diner on a Friday night. Down the street from an even sleazier pub. His second thought is to look outside at the poorly lit stretch of road and think that this is no place for a pregnant woman to be alone. He recognizes each car in the parking lot save one, likely hers. Drove herself here with the expectation of driving herself home at the end of the night.
If it had been Lena—well, he never would’ve let it be Lena, but if it had been, Bear can’t imagine letting his pregnant wife drive herself home in the middle of the night. Can hardly stomach the thought. 
She’s not Lena though, so he has no right. 
She’s gone before he has time to say anything else, skirt swishing behind her. It catches his eye again. When he tears his gaze away for a second time, he swallows back the metallic taste of self-loathing. It curdles in his mouth. It’s the sign telling him to stop coveting, stop looking out into the world and wondering what he can take. It’s his hamartia, his fatal flaw; thinking himself above the reproach of God. Thinking that he can kill, fuck, curse, and stray farther and farther from the light only to find his way back in the dark. 
The bell above the door rings when someone else comes in and Bear tenses. His shoulders only relax when two older women step in and head to a table. 
He watches as she picks up a plate from the pass-through window and heads back towards him. When she places it in front of him, he draws a deep breath in, trying to catch more than just the aroma of fresh baked cherries. 
“Here we go…one slice of cherry pie, straight out of the oven.”
“Thanks, honey,” Bear rumbles, smile finally meeting his eyes. 
“No trouble. The guys in the back said they make it special for you. Joe, right?”
That gets him to levy her with the full weight of his attention. The thought of her asking about him. “I go by Bear.”
“Oh. Alright, Bear.” She twists the word around in her mouth and seems to find it satisfying. “I think I’ve heard your name before. You were—I mean, you’re part of Pastor Adams’ parish, right?”
He clears his throat, cutting off the triangle point of his pie with the side of his fork. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Me too,” she confides, voice a low whisper. A secret between strangers. She doesn’t glance around though, doesn’t bother to draw out the ruse. “Or, I was, anyway. Haven’t been to service in awhile. I, um…I remember you. From a year or so back. You and your—um…you and your wife used to always sit up at the front.”
The fork scrapes against the plate. “Ex-wife.”
He catches her wince from the corner of his eye. “Oh. Sorry. You just—” She doesn’t have to say it. The slight dip of her eyes tells him all he has to know, and besides, it’s his own fault for still wearing the ring. Even with the paperwork signed and dated, even with Lena in another state now, starting a new life without him, the thought of taking it off makes him break out in a cold sweat. 
“It’s not—” Bear starts before giving up. He curls his fingers into a fist on the table. 
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s fine. Not a big deal.”
She fidgets in the silence. Bear can’t bring himself to break it or make the atmosphere less oppressive. He tenses under it, the ache in his low back worsening. These days, he always aches. Nerve damage, a disc on the verge of slipping, an old ankle injury that flares up whenever he goes running. A ghost that follows him from haunt to haunt. The ring on his finger is just another old ache. 
“So, uh—” he clears his throat, nodding to her belly. “Your first?” 
It’s inappropriate, hardly his place to ask. Incredibly intrusive for someone he’s met for the first time, a stranger just trying to do her job and serve him coffee and pie before he goes off to drink himself half to death again at the dive bar down the road. 
Still, he asks. 
Only the faintest wrinkle of her nose betrays any embarrassment. “Oh. Yeah. First one.”
“Congratulations.” It’s sincere. The envy in his gut is old, but it’s a manageable pain. 
“Thanks,” she says, with a small, private smile, hand resting absently under her belly. “I’m excited. I’m only a couple months along, but, uh…it’s been a journey. Just me and baby against the world, you know.”
That stops him in his tracks. Screws up the whole course of his evening because suddenly the sound of the bell over the door jingling doesn’t draw his attention away. It stays fixed on the smiling girl to his right that just opened her mouth and said something unacceptable. 
“Where’s the dad?” he asks, far too bluntly. 
She shrugs. “Somewhere. Didn’t stick around long enough to tell me where. It’s fine though—I’ve got my little peanut. That’s all that matters.”
“You told him and he left?” 
The pie sits cooling in front of Bear as a pit in his stomach opens up. It’s a terrible, empty hole that holds truths like the fallibility of the body and the good shouldering the burdens of the world.  
He only regrets being so direct when her lip quivers, a little motion that betrays her until she wrests control over her face again. “It’s not his fault. I don’t think he was—well…you know, it was a surprise.”
“That’s—” he struggles to find his words, “—that’s not right.”
Again, she shrugs. “That’s life.”
Bear feels his eyes go hard. A coldness settles under his skin. 
In the deep, dark gut of him, only anger lives. He spends his days questioning why God has allowed everything else in his life to fall apart, has allowed countless other people to die, but refuses, for reasons unbeknownst to him, to kill him. He’s given him enough opportunity and enough reason. 
The answer he circles back to time and again is the same. An eye for an eye. Divine wrath. The litany of his sins could be sung until the end of time and there’d still be more to sing. It’s only right that there would be consequences for him. 
The rage that simmers in his blood now is twofold. It begins with the sharp pang of injustice, of witnessing a punishment meted out to someone innocent. The girl standing by the booth he’s shoved himself into, almost too small for a man of his size, cannot be deserving of the same punishment that he’s brought upon himself. She has never killed. The babe in her belly has never killed. The two of them should never have to meet at the point of two paths converging with the likes of someone like Bear and proceed down the same road together. 
Then it sinks into a familiar territory. A place at the core of him where righteousness gives way to envy, as it always does. After what he's been through, the thought of someone having everything that he's always desperately wanted handed to them on a silver platter and then sending it back leaves him feeling a bit off-kilter. Not quite right. 
“Bear?” Her voice breaks the silence. When he blinks, concerned eyes stare down at him, brows furrowed. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” he rasps, dragging a hand down his face. Shaking it off. “Sorry, I—got lost in my head. Sorry.” 
“That’s alright,” she says, again gentle in her voice and smile. “Easy place to get lost in, isn’t it?”
He makes a sound in acknowledgment. Drags the silence out. Her mouth twists shy under his scrutiny. 
“Anyway, I have a few other tables to get to, if you don’t mind. Enjoy your pie. I’ll check on you in a bit.”
He eats his slice of pie in silence as she leaves, eyes following her to her next table. Rage still sizzles under his fingertips. It makes his hands shake, old nerve damage and anger problems. 
It’s like a gun punch to think of her all on her own. It’s not right. For someone like him, well, it’s—deserved, earned. Inevitable, even. Every step taking him further away from grace, from its light. No one who knows his story would think otherwise. 
She’s a pretty thing though, this new waitress. Too tired, the bags under her eyes testament to that, no matter how well she hides them with makeup. Slightly puffy anyway, maybe from a lack of sleep or too many tears. His stomach aches at the thought. It must have come as a shock, the bottom of her world dropping out from under her when the baby’s father took off. Dragged away from the church not through her own doing, but the fault of another. Not her shame to bear, and yet. 
He forces the pie down. Bites that taste like nothing, 
Bear hears the lilt of her voice from two tables over. “Refill on your coffee, hun?” 
A supplicant sits in his place as he sips his coffee. The hour slips by into the next and it starts to come together in his mind. Why he's been forced down this long road alone, why God hasn't struck him down yet despite every terrible thing he's done. His eyes follow her flit across the diner, the light seeming to bend around her like a halation. 
When Bear looks across the room at her, he thinks, Lord, do not think I am waiting patiently for your hands. Every part of me trembles with anxiety.
(O Lord, show me I can fall apart together again; but not just yet.)
He stays until the last customer has finally left, waiting for her to come back to his table with an apologetic smile. When she does, Bear hands her his empty plate, watching her take a step back when he scoots out of the booth, rising to his full height. He makes note of the way her eyes round as they follow him up. Taller than her, unsurprisingly. Surprising though, the way her bottom lip droops just the slightest bit. 
“Is it just you closing up?” he asks, voice a tad too gruff. He clears his throat again, looking around for anyone else. 
“Well, the chef’s cleaning up in the back, but, uh—” she looks around the diner, conspicuously empty apart from the two of them. “Yeah. Just me.”
Bear gestures with his chin towards the door. “I’ll wait ‘till you’re done, then walk you to your car.”
“Oh, Joe—”
“Bear,” he corrects.
“Bear,” she amends, fingers twisting together now. He relishes the sound of it on her lips. “You don’t have to. I’m used to it, honestly. I know I just started here, but I’ve done closes before, you know.”
“I’ll wait outside.” A statement now. Stubborn. He’s always been a bit mulish, hard to shake off. 
He can tell the second she relents, shoulders slumping. “Alright. I shouldn’t be too long…you can leave if you get bored though. Won’t blame you.” 
He fights the urge to tilt her head up by the chin to make her meet his eyes. Just barely restrains himself. 
Leaning against a tree out front, he twirls the ring around his finger as he watches her clean up. For the first time in a long time, he slips it off.
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natalievoncatte · 8 months
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“We don’t have a friendship, Supergirl.”
It took a moment for it to sink in. Lena stood before her, chin proud, staring her down with enough force to that Kara knew she wasn’t the most powerful woman in the world, no matter what they said. She wasn’t even the most powerful woman in this room.
Kara could push press an attack submarine. She could move between the ticks of a clock, perceive things so small and so fast they could barely be said to have happened at all. She’d bested foes that had humbled the Man of Steel. She’s outclassed even him.
Yet in this moment, she was all but powerless. There was nothing she could do with all her strength. All of this had been about weapons. Kryptonite. Lena needed neither to destroy Kara. She needed only cutting words.
“U-understood,” Kara mumbled.
She felt her shoulders draw in and sag, felt herself shrinking back into her own skin. Supergirl was banished instantly, and suddenly a defeated, frail Kara Danvers stood in her place, feeling silly in her cape and skirt. Her boots pinched her feet and everything was too tight. She could barely breathe.
“Ishouldgo,” she gasped out, fleeing, running, getting the hell away from here. She took the fastest available route until she was airborne, slipping the burly bonds of Earth.
The rush of pressure and the concussive wave built up around her skin and cut loose, releasing a rolling boom over National City. By the time Kara slowed and came to a hover, she was over the Pacific Ocean, calm blue seas stretching out in an endless expanse.
She relaxed, hanging impossibly above the clouds, absorbing pure sunlight.
Bitterly, she remembered when she’d tried to abandon Kara Danvers, not long ago. It had seemed that a life outside of Supergirl, outside of endless battles and self-sacrificing service, was pointless, and hurtful. Fitting in brought pain, forced her into a world that was all angles and wrong turns, lying to everyone around her and forbidden the simple concepts they all had. She was a stranger in a strange land, always seeking acceptance and understanding of peculiar customs, dogged by an incessant need.
It was one she barely admitted, but it was there, always there, just over her shoulder and ready to lead the assault when the walks came closing in.
Why her?
Out of all her people, her entire race, why was she the lone survivor? And she was, because while Kal was Kryptonian by birth, he had escaped Krypton. Kara had survived it.
Survival offered no escape.
For him, his birthright was a joy. Incredible powers, a sacred calling, a love of adventure and excitement. Kara could only imagine how wonderful it must have been for him when he discovered it all.
Oh, he mourned, or tried to. Kara bitterly indulged his laments for his lost world; a world he’d never walked, customs he’d never shared. His parents were a blessing to him, but to her they were her aunt an uncle, real people that Kara had lost.
Being Kara Danvers was difficult and painful. Being Supergirl was difficult and painful- now with the world killers, it seemed to Kara that Earth might have been better off had Krypton never noticed this yellow star or the beautiful blue world that orbited it.
Maybe Krypton was meant to end, and maybe Kara…
Maybe Kara…
Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them away. She’d ruined everything. Lena Luthor was kind, and good, and had spent weeks risking her life trying to help a friend, and what had Kara done? Made it about her. She’d wrapped everything around herself. She’s torn Lena’s relationship apart because she just could not believe that her best and most trusted friend wouldn’t hurt her.
It made sense when she was doing it. Was she not doomed? Had she not watched her world die? Kara had been a little girl one day and the next she was trapped in hell, her mother’s touch still felt on a tear-scored cheek.
Kara screamed. Red-sun fury exploded from her eyes, burning the sky itself. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fucking fair!
When the scream faded from her throat, leaving it ragged and dry, her eyes aching from the wild energy blast, she was still hanging in the air.
A terrible inevitability settled within her chest. She knew what she had to do, but she didn’t know if she had the strength. She could overcome any foe, break any barrier, reach any height. She was Supergirl. She could do anything.
“I have to take responsibility for what I’ve done,” Kara told the sky.
The sky didn’t answer her. She closes her eyes and absorbed Sol’s warmth. Sometimes, Kara really wished these stars were gods, that the golden light that gave her limitless power could give her answers, that Sol could be a nurturing mother, taking in a wanderer so far from Rao’s grace.
It wasn’t. It was a superheated ball of hydrogen undergoing nuclear fusion. There were no answers in the sky. There were none anywhere. She’s have to find them on her own.
Kara first went back to her apartment, resolving to do this right. She changed into one of her favorite outfits (Lena had once made a curious compliment about Kara’s biceps, the last time she’d worn it) and texted her best friend, asking to meet soon.
Lena, predictably, replied that she was busy.
Kara thought of Lena, not as Supergirl, but as herself. Lena toiling in that lab in desperation, not feeding herself
She was tempted to say that Supergirl told her about the lab and the situation and beg to be allowed to help, but there had to be a better way. An honest way.
I know you’re busy. I just want to make sure you get something to eat and you’re okay. Just a few minutes.
The reply came a moment later.
Oh, alright. You know I can’t say no to you.
Kara’s heart leapt and crumped at the same time. She let out a slow breath and decided to grab something on the way, something she could leave if Lena threw her out.
When she arrived, Lena had moved to her office. She was sitting behind her desk, and as much as she’d look remarkable out together earlier, she was showing her fatigue now. There were bags under her eyes and she’d changed into a loose sweatshirt, and Kara thought she might fall asleep on her desk.
When she looked at Kara, her face lit up with such admiration and affection that Kara’s heart could have burst in her chest. In the fading afternoon light, most like that of her lost star, Lena seemed impossibly beautiful and perfect, the sharp-tongued being of cold fury replaced by someone small and soft that Kara simply had to cup in her hands and protect and…
Oh.
Oh Rao.
FUCK.
Kara almost dropped the bag of donuts. She couldn’t do this. Not now. Not today. She couldn’t do this she couldn’t, she couldn’t lose… couldn’t lose…
Lena.
It was like seeing her for the first time. Kara sucked in a drawing breath and had to let it out very slowly, as a new and perilous understanding took root and changed everything.
“Do I look that bad?” Lena said, but there was no heat in it.
“You look beautiful,” Kara answered in a breathy voice, before she could stop herself.
Lena smirked. “You’re too nice. Are those donuts?”
Kara gently placed them on the desk, and she looked. Stared.
One of the gifts, and curses, of Kryptonian physiology was an eidetic memory. This moment would live in her mind and heart until the day she died, so she dragged it out for as long as she could, to keep it. To keep the sight of this woman who truly treasured Kara. Just Kara.
“Kara?” Lena said, confused and maybe a little scared.
“I have to tell you something,” said Kara.
“What is it?” said Lena, always so eager to help.
Kara’s hands balled into fists, arms trembling. The tears broke before she worked up the will to say it.
“Earlier today, you asked me why it’s so important to me that we be friends.”
Lena stared blankly for a too-short moment, and then her eyes went wide. She rocked back in her chair as if struck, then bolted out of it, rounding the desk. Kara stood still, unable to face her, and watched it all reflected in the desk.
“Look at me.”
Kara didn’t move.
“Look at me!”
Kara looked. With shaking hands, Lena grasped the frames of her glasses and pulled them free, setting them aside. Kara then flinched as Lena reached behind her, the gesture so much like an embrace, so curiously intimate that Kara’s own body betrayed her, her heart hammering in her chest.
Lena released Kara’s hair and it spilled in curls around her shoulders.
“Oh my God,” Lena whispered.
“I’m sorry,” Kara whimpered, the tears hot on her cheeks. “Lena, please, I’m sorry.”
“It was all a lie. You were lying to me the whole time.”
No, she wanted to scream, I never lied, I didn’t, you had no right to know, I was protecting you. A hundred futile excuses crashes through her mind and when they were gone only the truth remained.
“I was scared,” Kara choked out. “I was so scared and then I messed it up and I was even more scared and I just kept trying to fix it. I’m sorry.”
Lena was crying, too. The tears fell freely, though her expression remained still, calculating.
“I would do anything for you. I would die for you. I don’t know why I did what I did…”
“You pretended to be another fucking person and talked my boyfriend into spying on me while pretending to be my friend.”
“I wasn’t pretending,” Kara pleased. “I am your friend. You mean so much to me, more than I’ve ever told you and I was scared.”
“Of what?” said Lena. “That I’d make Kryptonite and kill you with it? Make weapons to kill you? I thought you really believed in me, Kara. I listened to your bullshit and I believed it and you were just fucking… you were… you bitch!”
Kara stood, transfixed, as Lena came apart in front of her.
“Why did you have to do this? Why did you have to tell me now? Why did you take my Kara away from me when I needed her most?”
Kara sucked in a shuddering breath and hugged herself.
“Because I deserve this. You deserve the truth and I deserve the consequences for what I’ve done. I did hurt you just like you said, and I thought I could just smooth it over and charm my way into fixing it, but I can’t. I’m a fuckup. I make things worse just by existing.”
Lena shuddered and formed her hands into fists. “Don’t you say that. Don’t you say that to me ever again.”
“This is my fault. I made this happen. I should have told you after you saved the world. The first time, with Medusa. If I trusted you, you could have come to me and we could have saved Sam together. You trusted me and I hurt you.”
“Are you going to ask for forgiveness? Is that where this is going?”
“No. I don’t deserve it.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Let me help you with Sam, and then I’ll leave you alone. I know I can’t come back from this. I can’t fix it. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Leave me alone?” Lena snapped, jabbing a finger into Kara’s chest. “What the fuck? You think you can just crash into my life like this and then just leave?”
“I… I…”
“How about this,” said Lena, stepping closer, her green eyes full of fury. “How about you ask me what I want instead of telling me?”
Kara swallowed.
“What do you want?”
Lena stepped back.
“I want to save my friend. I want Ruby to have her mom back. I want to fix the world. I need your help to do that, whether I want it or not.”
“And then?”
“And then…” said Lena. “Then I want to know why. I want to know why you did this to me and what the hell you really want, and then I’ll decide if there’s anything worth saving with you, or if I’m going to go back to Metropolis and rebuild my life.”
“That… that’s… I’ll help.”
“What do you want?”
Kara swallowed.
“I… I ummm…” Kara reached for glasses that were no longer there. “I want to try again. I want to be your friend again, as my whole self. There’s so much I could share with you.”
Lena swiped the tears away from her eyes, and stilled herself, regaining her control.
“I’ll be in the lab. I’ll call for you when I need you.”
Lena heard for the door, stopping at the threshold.
“Kara,” said Lena, without turning.
“Yeah?” Kara said, thickly.
“The night Edge was trying to set me up… the plane. Would you really have dropped the chemicals if I couldn’t make the jump?”
Kara took her glasses from the desks, turning them in her hands, and drew in a breath.
“Yes,” said Kara. “I’d have found a way to fix somehow, but if it was the only way, yes. I’d have let them fall, but I’d never let you fall. I said I’d always protect you, and that was the truth. I always will. No matter what.”
Lena hesitated at the door, then left without a word.
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karalovesallthegirls · 2 months
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“i’m not going to write this” you say as you simultaneously create a tag for any future instalments in the same universe. (i see you and i agree lena should have two wives.)
Listen obviously I’m not going to write this story BUT just imagine…. The tension, the forced conversations as Kara and Lena both pretend to still be the women they were all those years ago, pretend like they aren’t strangers with nearly a decade of distance between them. With Kara and Lena experiencing an anxious desperation to get away from each other as deep as their desire to never leave each other’s sight.
Andrea goes to bed before them - she has to, she’s trying to be strong but even she isn’t strong enough to navigate the sleeping arrangement - and when she wakes up in the middle of the night it’s not a surprise to find Lena’s side of the bed empty and untouched. The predictability doesn’t lessen the burn. The guest room sits empty, though, and instead she finds Lena curled up in a ball on the couch with Kara sleeping beside her. Not on the couch, no, instead sat propped on the floor at Lena’s feet, her hands gripping right at her ankles in her sleep. Like she was scared if she let go for a second Lena would vanish.
Everyone wants to know what this means for them - Kara was dead legally, so their marriage was voided in the law, but then Kryptonians mate for life, and it’s not like Lena ever really let her go in her heart - but they have no answers. It’s clear they don’t fit together anymore, not any of them, but the idea of any one of them letting go is unimaginable. So they fight and they fake it and they find ways to connect as the new, scarred versions of themselves, and there’s a palpable jealousy between the three of them.
Andrea can feel Kara’s eyes burning into her when she comforts Lena, when they share well-worn jokes Kara never learned. And Andrea can see the longing in Lena’s every move, every word, and it burns and burns and burns. Andrea stares at Kara and wishes she had stayed dead. Her dreams are filled with the other woman: dreams of her dying again, of her never returning at all. Of her smirk as Lena tells Andrea they’ve run their course because “really, did you think I’d pick you over her?”
Andrea dreams of what Kara’s mouth must taste like, of how her lips and tongue might move against her own, what she must do to have Lena so fully under her spell. Perhaps if she could kiss her then she could know how to give Lena everything she’s been missing for seven years. Maybe then she could be enough for her. She feels almost desperate thinking about it.
And Kara burns just as deeply in her own way, Andrea can feel it. Kara’s eyes track her every move, always studying and analyzing and overwhelming her. The questions are endless every day - tell me about your life, what do you love to do, what makes you tick.
“You are the one person she chose after me. She wanted you,” Kara explains after Andrea’s furious refusal to answer her forty ninth question about her perspective on things. She’s staring at her with a hunger Andrea feels in her toes. “I have to understand. I have to know every part of you.”
Kara looks at Andrea like she wants to devour her whole. Andrea feels the same.
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misandriste · 22 days
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↳ endless gifs of lena luthor ✰ 74/∞
Katie McGrath as Lena Luthor SUPERGIRL ⪼ 2.03, "Welcome to Earth"
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fairyofthehollow · 3 months
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sending a cease and desist to a college student because you don’t want people to know how much of a climate criminal you are…. Absolutely Insane White Woman Behaviour
genuinely I don’t know how I never realised it before but Taylor Swift is an awful person. from her white feminism to her silence on gay rights, trans people’s rights, palestine, etc., to her endless cash grabs, her nonstop pollution, her dating Ratty Healy, + being friends with Lena Dunham the list goes on. before I could somewhat manage to still listen to her music but now that’s completely tainted for me. like Shut the hell up. She’s not a tortured poet or locked in prison (aka fame). She’s a money-hungry peak white feminist capitalist. Hope her new album flops
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bonniehooper · 2 years
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Endless List of My Favorite TV Shows
Game of Thrones (2011 - 2019)
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goldenempyrean · 4 months
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Making Amends
« Day 18: Making Up »
« Pairing: Lena Luthor x Reader »
« Notes: sorry this is a little late, I’ve been busy and just needed a little time to polish it up! I’ll fix the title in the morning ;) »
〘 Check Out My Masterlist! 〙〘 Advent 2023 Masterlist! 〙
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“Lena I don’t want to hear it!” You growled the words as your girlfriend tried to explain why she had been home so late. This wasn’t the first time it had happened. You knew how she struggled with communicating or losing track of her work sometimes but this was different. She had promised go be home on time. She had promised to share the evening together with you, like you’d planned. She had promised to make the anniversary of your relationship special.
It didn’t matter now anyway. The dinner you’d made sat untouched on the table, stone cold. You didn’t even want to hear her reasoning for being late. You already knew in at heart. She’d gotten caught up in her work and had simply forgotten. Thats how it always went.
In the tense silence that followed, Lena's eyes pleaded for understanding, but you couldn't bring yourself to soften. Frustration and disappointment lingered in the air, wrapping around both of you like an unwelcome shroud. As you stood there, the weight of unmet expectations pressed on your shoulders. The room felt like it was growing hotter. Getting smaller. Everything seemed to sway and swoon as your vision hazed in and you out of focus. You needed some fresh air and you needed it now.
You stormed out of the apartment, the door slamming shut behind you - not even bothering to grab a jacket. The cool night air hit your face, providing a momentary relief from the stifling tension inside. Your mind raced with a mix of anger, hurt, and confusion. As you walked the dimly lit streets, you found yourself at a nearby park, seeking solace under the stars. Looking up at the unknown was always something that relaxed you. The endless possibilities of space. At heart you knew it wasn’t Lena’s fault entirely. She’d come home exhausted just last week as a result of the stress work had been causing her but it just hurt when her work got in the way of your personal lives.
The distant rumble of thunder interrupted your thoughts, and as you looked up at the night sky, raindrops began to fall. The gentle drizzle soon turned into a steady rain, drenching you in seconds. The cool water on your face felt strangely soothing. It was a good kind of cold.
However even the rain seemed to turn on you as you shivered involuntarily and giving a reluctant sigh, you decided to finally head back home. The rain soaked through your clothes as you hurried back, each step feeling heavier than the last. By the time you reached your apartment, you were drenched and exhausted. The door creaked open, revealing the aftermath of your heated argument. It was quiet inside. Lena had most likely retreated to the bedroom into the bedroom. But you were unwilling to face the bedroom just yet, so instead you settled on the living room sofa. It wasn’t warm nor did you have a blanket but sneaking into the bedroom to grab a change of clothes wasn’t exactly something you were eager to do.
Instead you curled up on the sofa, trying to ignore the uncomfortable sensation of the wet clothes against your cold skin. Turning over you let your head fall onto one of the pillows and you shut your eyes, hoping to slip into a peaceful sleep.
The next morning, you awoke with a heavy head and a throat that felt like it had been scraped with sandpaper. The remnants of last night's argument lingered in your mind, but they were overshadowed by the unmistakable signs of an impending illness. Stupid rain. Stupid cold. Stupid lack of a jacket! With a groan, you dragged yourself out of the makeshift bed on the sofa, your body protesting every movement as forced yourself to get dressed for work.
Despite the creeping heat of an uncoming fever seeping through your body, you trudged into the DEO, determined to fulfill your responsibilities as a agent there.
Colleagues shot concerned glances your way, but you brushed them off with a forced smile. The familiar hum of the high-tech agency felt louder than usual, pounding against your throbbing head.
As you attempted to focus on your tasks, the overhead intercom crackled to life. "Agent Y/L/N, report to Director Danvers' office immediately," the stern voice echoed through the facility causing you to grumble in annoyance as you pushed yourself up stumbled towards Alex's office.
Upon entering, you found yourself friend sitting at her drsk, concern etched across her face. "You look terrible," she remarked, her voice a mix of sympathy and scolding. "I've already called Lena. She'll pick you up. You need to go home and rest. You can’t work like this.”
“Ale-“ You couldn’t even begin to sigh her name before you were interrupted with a rough throat scraping cough, “Why did you-“
She raised a stern eyebrow before pulling a bottle of water out from her drawer and sliding it over the desk towards you, “That’s exactly why. I’m not just telling you this as your boss but as your friend. You’re sick. You need to go home. This is not an option.” You knew Alex’s stern voice and this was definitely it. There really was no point arguing with her, she was the director after all.
Lena didn’t take long to arrive. Less than 10 minutes which was very impressive given the traffic at this hour. All it took was one look at you sitting slumped in Alex’s office, your exhausted drooping eyes looking up at her as a box of tissues sat open in your lap to make her heart melt.
Your girlfriend was by your side in an instant, concern etched across her face. "How did this happen?" She crouched down, brushing a gentle hand over your forehead, her keen eyes not missing the subtle way you tensed beneath her touch.
The weight of the previous night's argument lingered in the air, but the genuine worry in Lena's expression softened the edges of the tension between you. She spoke with a gentle tone, "You should have told me you weren't feeling well, darling. I hate seeing you like this."
You managed a weak smile, appreciating Lena's concern despite the strained circumstances. "I didn't want to bother you. Besides, we had enough on our plates with everything - last night - already."
Lena shook her head, her fingers brushing through your hair comfortingly. "You're never a bother to me. We're in this together, remember?" She glanced up at Alex, who had been pretending to make herself busy in order to not intrude on your conversation, "I'll take her home, Thanks for looking out for her."
Alex nodded, her stern facade softening. "Always. Now you two ake care of each other. And Y/N, don't come back until you're fully recovered. That’s an order. I’ll come round tomorrow to check in if you’re feeling up to it.” She smiled over at you.
Lena helped you up, offering a supportive arm as you made your way out of the DEO. The car ride home was quiet at first, both of you lost in your thoughts. Lena finally spoke, breaking the silence, "I'm sorry, Y/N. I know I messed up last night, and I should have been there for you."
You sighed, leaning your head against the car window. The cool glass working wonders to soothe your pounding temples. “I overreacted, Lena. It wasn't just about last night. It's this constant struggle with your work taking precedence over us. I miss us, Lena, and I just want to find a balance." You sniffled.
Lena's grip on the steering wheel tightened, and she took a deep breath. "I promise, Y/N, I'll make it up to you. We'll figure this out together. I love you, and I don't want us to keep hurting each other like this."
As she parked the car, you both sat in almost silence for a moment. The rain from the previous night was still pattering down, drumming against the windows as it filled the car with its steady thrum. Lena turned to you, her eyes sincere, "Let's take care of you first. We can talk about this more later, okay? You’re the most important thing to me right now and right now what you need to be is looked after. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
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imagine-lcorp · 4 months
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Perfect Sense (Part I)
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Request
Soulmate AU, please? (With A/B/O you're comfortable?) Fem!Reader (or Gender-Neutral) hasn't experienced much in her life, other than the experiments CADMUS had done to her shapeshifting powers. All she knew of the world outside the facility was what she'd learnt in the stories a sympathetic scientist would sometimes tell her when she was still a kid, to calm her down during testing. After 2 decades the scientist had enough and helped her escape, landing her in the arms of another Luthor.
A/N: Aaaand here another request you guys, writing a few fics in parts due to how long they get to be at the end. Thank you to the lovely person that sent this one, I'm sorry it's been ages, i still hope you can enjoy it. Love you guys
Lena Luthor x Fem!R/Shapeshifter//Word Count: 2,413
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"Subject C-308, ready for testing." A voice sounded through the speakers of the room and immediately the lights went on, blinding your eyes.
You couldn't use your hands to cover your face. They were tied to your sides with restrains to the medical bed you were laying on. It was the same with your feet, where the restraints were even tighter. Silhouettes started to moved and hoover above you, all covered in masks, blue suits and white gloves, looking down at you.
"Phase one of Project Lykaon, subject C-308, ready for intervention." A deep voice, from one of the silhouettes said. "All things set. Ready to start protocol."
"Initiate procedure." The same voice of the speakers sounded and the figures above you started to move.
You would have wished to tell them about the lights, how bright they were and how they hurt your eyes. About the ties around your wrists and feet, how uncomfortable they were, but the gag in your mouth didn't allow it and before you could even think of making a sound, it all went dark.
That was one of the first memories you ever had in your life, and it looked almost the same for the rest of it. It was all uncomfortable restrains and chains, white walls and white lights, the constant smell of antiseptic and cleaning products, knives, syringes, and endless surgical procedures. With no contact outside four walls of that place that felt more like a cage.
A cage fit to held the animal you were sure you were becoming.
After each intervention, after each transformation, with this savage instinct inside of you always in the edge of taking control. You were more beast than human, they used to say and you almost believed them.
But Dr. Jeremiah wouldn't have any of it. He was a different memory, a kinder, softer reminder that you were indeed human. The only person to ever treat you with compassion.
Before your interventions, on those terrible moments when you felt the anger and fear building up inside of you, threatening to tear to shreds anyone that dared come near you, he would come to talk you down. Dr. Jeremiah seemed to understand, how you would have done anything to put a stop to it. The numbness, the tiredness, the overwhelming sensations and pain that came each time after you were taken out of your room. But he would talk to you, speaking softly, assuring you you were going to be just fine, because you were stronger than you thought.
He would come after the operations to check up on you, sitting beside your bed with a worried expression, telling you stories about what awaited for you in the outside world, a world that was bigger than an operations room and your own. A world full of wonders like grass, sunsets, the sunshine, flowers, snow, and love. Whatever those things were.
"What's love?" You have asked once. He had paused then and thought for a long moment.
"Love is when two souls find and want each other." He had explained.
"What's a soul?" You asked then.
"It's something inside of you. The strongest part of you, (Y/N)" He smiled, only he called you with a name. "Your soul is everything you feel, and when you feel something so strong for someone else that means you have found your soulmate."
"A soulmate." You have whispered and frowned, still unsure of that idea.
"You will know it when you see them. It will feel as if you have known them all your life and everything you have been through will make sense." At that moment you had been too young to understand what he meant, but you would do it in due time.
Years passed, you became older but he kept telling you those stories. The ones you liked more where about the people. People that didn't hurt others just because they had the power to do it. He would even speak highly of one scientist he knew, so different from the ones you had met so far. A woman he had met time ago, someone so kind and loving that you liked to imagine her sometimes too and dream about meeting her in the outside world, to finally know something else apart from the nightmare that was being trapped there.
The dream came true a decade later, when you had grown up so much that it took them more and more people to control you. Dr. Jeremiah had been right, you were stronger and even stronger than they thought you were. That was one of the few joys you had then, besides the stories Dr. Jeremiah retold for you. Your powers grew too, the size of your body as you transformed, the length of your claws and teeth, the range of your sense of smell, the vision of your eyes. More powerful than the child you had been once.
Still, it wasn't enough for them.
"I think you enjoy your time with her a little too much, doctor." The voice of a woman caught your attention as you tried to fight the numbness of the strong sedatives.
You had been injected after being taken to the testing room, after finding out you could take three men with a single swing of one of your clawed hands, to keep you under control.
"I'm just trying to be comforting. Seems to help with her neural responses." Dr. Jeremiah was as indifferent as he could be.
"Well, you won't have to worry about that for much longer." The satisfaction in that woman's voice was noticeable and also the way you seemed to respond to her, with a terrible feeling of submission that was difficult to shake compared to any other people. You never felt like that in the presence of Dr. Jeremiah. "Project Lykaon has been terminated. She will be taken to another facility, and you can perform her last surgical procedure if you are that attached to her."
"Are you sure you want to dispose the only test subject that has survived all the interventions, Lilian?" His word came with a hint of outrage and concern. "With her powers she could still-"
"I spent too many resources already on this project, doctor. Besides, she's still incapable of following directives from her superiors, even when she seems compliant at first. And we can't do much with only one successful specimen, can we?" The woman cut him off and there was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "There's no need for more interventions. She will be taken tomorrow. After her autopsy, we will see which parts of her can be salvaged."
After the conversation was over, you tried to open your eyes looking for Dr. Jeremiah but he wasn't there anymore. You felt a certain heaviness in your chest, but you couldn't dwell on it as the sedatives finally won over you.
You woke up after a deep slumber restrained to a metal bed, only wearing a simple set of pants and shirt. As your senses returned you noticed you were being transported through the dark narrow hallways of the facility you had known all your life, but there was something different this time. You still felt a fog clouding your mind and the heaviness in your chest came back. It lessened when you heard Dr. Jeremiah's voice, who was talking with the armed men that transported your bed, giving them instructions on where to take you.
You moved your head, trying to catch a glimpse of the place you were going and noticed those weren't the usual turns and hallways you had grown accustomed to. When Dr. Jeremiah noticed you were awake, he put a hand on your shoulder to calm you down.
After a moment the movement stopped, you were left looking at the ceiling while Dr. Jeremiah talked with the men. He convinced them of leaving you and him alone for a moment, before they had to put you in the van. The men left without much complain, and the doctor seized the moment to act.
"(Y/N), listen to me." He rushed to try to loosen up your restraints. "I'm not letting them take you. You understand?"
The only thing you could do was nod as he kept moving, loosing the restraints on your naked feet and hands.
"You must remain on the bed. Don't move until I tell you to." You nodded once again. You saw him then take a vial and a syringe from his pocket and prepare it. "This will counteract the sedative in your system, you will be more alert in a few minutes, but remember, don't move."
He had injected you just in time before the armed men came back. They pulled your bed around and finally pulled you into the back of an armored van. They sat around you, two men at each side, guns in hand, along with Dr. Jeremiah on your left, who kept an eye on you at all times. As the vehicle started to move you also started to feel less and less numb with each passing minute. You were aware of each bump of the road, hear the sounds of the city in the distance, and your sight adjusted to what was around you as you squinted your eyes to see, trying not to get noticed. Just when you felt like your body was completely awake, you started to wonder what Dr. Jeremiah would do. Not much time had passed but the minutes felt like hours as you tried to be still.
Then you saw movement. Dr. Jeremiah was pulling something out of his pocket, and you opened your eyes to see him better. He looked at you, nodding slowly and with a fierce expression. Almost like telepathy you understood, you had to get ready, and in a second everything turned into chaos.
Dr. Jeremiah, in a faster move than you thought him capable of, pulled a teaser and attacked the man next to him. Almost immediately the rest of the men responded raising their guns at him. However, they didn't expect you to act as quickly as them or even you breaking your restraints so easily.
You grabbed one of the men with your right hand by his bulletproof vest and tossed him against the other one. Your strength, without the need of transforming, was enough to leave them on the floor. You didn't get the change to feel pleased with your work as a deafening bang went off on the left side of your head. You screamed as you raised your left hand towards the last man remaining, ignoring the ache in your head you managed to slash his side and right arm with your nails, now turned into claws. He had tried to eliminate you, but Dr. Jeremiah had managed to push him before he could do it.
The van stopped abruptly and took a sharp turn that made you fall from the metal bed. With your restraints already loose, it was easy to free yourself from them but as you tried to recover from the fall you felt a dizziness making it hard for you to stand up. A hand on your arm pulled you up. Dr. Jeremiah was on your side hurrying you up before the back doors opened. You couldn't hear his exact words but it didn't matter, with the adrenaline running once the back doors opened and you looked at two other agents pointing at you with your guns, you went feral.
Bullets flew the moment the agents saw the enormous black figure lunching at them, but your white sharp teeth showing as you growled and your black nail claws heading straight for their heads were enough to put a final stop to it. You jumped out of the van, leaving two more bodies behind you. A couple of bullets managed to hit you in the chest and arms but you would be recovering quickly, interventions had been done to make sure it didn't take too long.
Dr. Jeremiah jumped out of the van a moment later, gripping his shoulder. You smelled his blood and approached him with a hint of worry in your transformed face.
"It's alright. I'm okay." He smiled softly at you and looked around the streets. They were empty and there seemed to be no people around. "You have to go now. More will be on their way."
You protested with a whimper.
"I'll be okay, don't worry about me." Dr. Jeremiah moved his hand to one of his pockets an pulled a small piece of black fabric. "Run and don't stop. Not until you find her."
You came close to it, sniffing the fabric he held for you. Many scents were mixed on it, from Dr. Jeremiah, from the woman he had talked before, and another you couldn't identify. It wasn't as different from the woman, but it was distinctive enough you believed you could find it without confusing the two. You guessed you had to search for another woman and, feeling like it was a sort of treasure hunt, you let yourself imagine you would find that scientist he had talked about to you years ago.
But doubt filled your head as you looked at him, wondering what would happen to him once you left. There was also that pressure in your chest once again, as you thought what awaited in the outside world now that you had the chance to leave all this behind. All, including him.
"I have to stay." Dr. Jeremiah said catching his breath. He raised his good arm at you, caressing the black fur of your head with his hand as a way of last goodbye. "You go now, (Y/N), go and don't look back."
You pressed your head against his chest, listening to the beating of his heart. The last comforting sound you heard before screeching tires approached in the distance. They were coming for you. You had to leave.
You ran, darting into the shadows of the city, focusing on the memory of the scent Dr. Jeremiah had given you. Moments later you heard shots behind you, but you had been too long gone for them to even catch the sigh of you. You hoped those hadn't been directed to the doctor instead.
You used all your strength and speed to wander between warehouses and factory buildings to reach the urban lights on the other side.
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coochiequeens · 1 year
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This is why we still need Women’s History Month.
By Martha Gill
What was life like for women in medieval times? “Awful” is the vague if definite answer that tends to spring to mind – but this is an assumption, and authors have been tackling it with new vigour.
The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society by Eleanor Janega, and The Wife of Bath: A Biography by Marion Turner both contend that women were not only bawdier but busier than we thought: they were brewers, blacksmiths, court poets, teachers, merchants, and master craftsmen, and they owned land too. A woman’s dowry, Janega writes, was often accompanied with firm instructions that property stay with her, regardless of what her husband wanted.
This feels like a new discovery. It isn’t, of course. Chaucer depicted many such cheerfully domineering women. The vellum letter-books of the City of London, in which the doings of the capital from 1275 to 1509 were scribbled, detail female barbers, apothecaries, armourers, shipwrights and tailors as a matter of course. While it is true that aristocratic women were considered drastically inferior to their male equivalents – traded as property and kept as ornaments – women of the lower orders lived, relatively, in a sort of rough and ready empowerment.
It was the Renaissance that vastly rolled back the rights of women. As economic power shifted, the emerging middle classes began aping their betters. They confined their women to the home, putting them at the financial mercy of men. Female religious power also dwindled. In the 13th century seeing visions and hearing voices might get a woman sainted; a hundred years later she’d more likely be burned at the stake.
“When it comes to the history of gender relations, storytellers portray women as more oppressed than they actually were”
Why does this feel like new information? Much of what we think we know about medieval times was invented by the Victorians, who had an artistic obsession with the period, and through poetry and endless retellings of the myth of King Arthur managed somehow to permanently infuse their own sexual politics into it. (Victorian women were in many respects more socially repressed than their 12th-century forebears.)
But modern storytellers are also guilty of sexist revisionism. We endlessly retread the lives of oppressed noblewomen, and ignore their secretly empowered lower-order sisters. Where poorer women are mentioned, glancingly, they are pitied as prostitutes or rape victims. Even writers who seem desperate for a “feminist take” on the period tend to ignore the angle staring them right in the face. In her 2022 cinematic romp, Catherine called Birdy, for example, Lena Dunham puts Sylvia Pankhurst-esque speeches into the mouth of her 13th-century protagonist, while portraying her impending marriage – at 14 – as normal for the period. (In fact the average 13th-century woman got married somewhere between the ages of 22 and 25.)
But we cling tight to these ideas. It is often those who push back against them who get accused of “historical revisionism”. This applies particularly to the fantasy genre, which aside from the odd preternaturally “feisty” female character, tends to portray the period as, well, a misogynistic fantasy. The Game of Thrones author George RR Martin once defended the TV series’ burlesque maltreatment of women on the grounds of realism. “I wanted my books to be strongly grounded in history and to show what medieval society was like.” Oddly enough, this didn’t apply to female body hair (or the dragons).
This is interesting. Most of our historical biases tend to run in the other direction: we assume the past was like the present. But when it comes to the history of gender relations, the opposite is true: storytellers insist on portraying women as more oppressed than they actually were.
“The history of gender relations might be more accurately painted as a tug of war between the sexes”
The casual reader of history is left with the dim impression that between the Palaeolithic era and the 19th century women suffered a sort of dark age of oppression. This is assumed to have ended some time around the invention of the lightbulb, when the idea of “gender equality” sprang into our heads and right-thinking societies set about “discovering” female competencies: women – astonishingly – could do 
things men could do!
In fact the history of gender relations might be more accurately painted as a tug of war between the sexes, with women sometimes gaining and sometimes losing power – and the stronger sex opportunistically seizing control whenever it had the means.
In Minoan Crete, for example, women had similar rights and freedoms to men, taking equal part in hunting, competitions, and celebrations.
But that era ushered in one of the most patriarchal societies the planet has ever known – classical Greece, where women had no political rights and were considered “minors”.
Or take hunter-gatherer societies, the source of endless cod-evolutionary theories about female inferiority. The discovery of female skeletons with hunting paraphernalia has disproved the idea that men only hunted and women only gathered – and more recently anthropologists have challenged the idea that men had higher status too: women, studies contend, had equal sway over group decisions.
This general bias has had two unfortunate consequences. One is to impress upon us the idea that inequality is “natural”. The other is to give us a certain complacency about our own age: that feminist progress is an inevitable consequence of passing time. “She was ahead of her time,” we say, when a woman seems unusually empowered. Not necessarily.
Two years ago, remember, sprang up one of the most vicious patriarchies in history – women were removed from their schools and places of work and battoned into homes and hijabs. And last year in the US many women lost one of their fundamental rights: abortion. (Turns out it was pro-lifers, not feminists, who were ahead of their time there.)
Both these events were greeted with shock from liberal quarters: how could women’s rights be going backwards? But that only shows we should brush up on our history. Another look at medieval women is as good a place to start as any.
 Martha Gill is a political journalist and former lobby correspondent
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