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shxtodxroki · 19 days

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Match-Up Exchange

This is a Haikyuu match-up exchange done for @mysterystarz for a match-up exchange we arranged! Hi hi Nova! Doing this exchange with you was a lot of fun, and I noticed from your info we have quite a bit in common (for example French music! I’ll probably DM you to ask for recs at some point since I took French for several years and really liked a lot of the music we heard lol) and you seem like a really nice person, so I hope you enjoy the match-up I gave you and that we can keep in contact after this :> I worked really hard to make this nice and I'm lowkey a little nervous to post it after how cute yours was lol so I really hope you enjoy it! (Also apologies for any typos, I only briefly proofread this before posting so I hope I caught them all!)

I’d Match You With:

Keiji Akaashi! :)

Reasoning:

While I was reading your description I initially had a few people in mind, but as I learned more about you and especially the things you look for in a partner, he’s definitely the one that stood out the most to me. Akaashi would be able to be pretty much the perfect partner for you based on your needs, and I think he’d admire and respect you a whole lot as well because you have so many traits he looks for in a partner as well.

He thinks you're so intelligent, both in terms of like, book-smarts and also emotionally, and he also finds you so beautiful and just a wonderful person to be around. The two of you fit together like puzzle pieces and your relationship would genuinely be so loving and healthy, the perfect model of a communicative, sturdy relationship and he loves not only how secure your relationship is, but also the way you still make him feel butterflies even after you’ve been together for so long <3

Headcanons About Your Relationship:

- First of all, Keiji definitely respects how you need some time to yourself, in fact he thinks it’s a good practice and tries to do the same for himself. He’s more on the introverted side, so getting that time to recharge, enjoy some of his hobbies, and just think about what he plans to do in the future allows him to be a much better, more present and attentive partner to you when you are together. He really respects that you know yourself and your needs so well, and is happy to give you some time to yourself whenever you need it

- If you want soft, content love, Akaashi’s also definitely the man for you. Seeing you wake up with bedhead not only makes him giggle but he’ll either run his hands through it to tame it or sometimes even playfully ruffle it a bit depending on how he’s feeling, and he’s also the kind of boyfriend who makes you lunch and writes a sweet, unique note in it every single day no matter what <3 He’s also always taking your hand in his and rubbing his thumb over your knuckles or bringing them up to his mouth for a kiss, or helping you to bed when you've had a long day and passed out on the couch waiting for him to come home as he tucks you in and snuggles up to you with a kiss on the forehead <3 Your guys’ relationship is so soft and domestic it’s absolutely adorable

- And he definitely plans the cutest, sweetest dates for the two of you. Sometimes he gets ideas online and fits them in with your interests, like the time he took you to a cozy little bookstore and you each got to pick out a new book for each other (except he ended up getting you a whole series, he wanted to spoil you a bit </3) and then you walk to a nearby cafe and get drinks and pastries while you each enjoy the book the other got you :> Or the time he set up a date night where you each start a painting and swap every few minutes to create art together <3 He loves doing things together and is definitely the type to hang one of the finished paintings on his wall so he can look at it and be reminded of what a fun date that was and of how much he loves watching you paint and getting to make something with you

- Keiji’s also a very good communicator. He’s the type to never raise his voice at you no matter how upset he is, he doesn’t find it productive or helpful at all and it only hurts you (and honestly, he just doesn’t like yelling at all) so he never does it. He tries his best to always resolve issues before going to bed, and whenever he’s upset, he won’t hide it but will bring it up in a gentle way. When you come to him with issues, he does his best to listen without getting defensive and apologizes when necessary, and because of how well you both communicate with each other and how you both prioritize each other’s feelings even during disagreements, you rarely ever have serious arguments and are constantly bettering yourselves and your relationship together

- He’s also so, so good at comforting you <3 He knows it can be hard to tell even those you’re closest with when you’re feeling anxious or just having a rough day, so over time he’s learned some of the biggest signs and tells of your anxiety worsening so he can comfort you without you needing to explicitly ask him to. He always starts by making you a nice warm cup of tea and putting a nice, clean set of the softest sheets you own on the bed, and then he invites you to join him and lay in his arms in bed, though he doesn’t push if you say no. If you let him he rubs your back or rubs his hands gently up and down your arms, listening if you want to vent or tell him about how you’re feeling and reassuring you with such kind, loving words it makes your heart melt. He never gets tired or annoyed of reassuring you, he loves you and is more than willing to make sure you know that all the time

- And when he knows you’re going through a rough patch mentally, he likes making you little self-care packs filled with some of your favorite things. He keeps a list of specific things he knows you enjoy in his phone, like specific scents you mention liking a lot, so when you’re having a tough week you’ll come home one day and find a basket sitting on your bed filled with a new squishmallow, some cozy, fuzzy socks with cute patterns on them, your favorite brand of tea packets, a lotion/perfume duo in your favorite scent, some new lip balm, a few sweet snacks he knows are your favorite, a brand new mug or a new book, and his hoodie tucked beneath it all along with a note detailing all of the many, many things he loves about you <3

- He also really, truly appreciates how perceptive, and empathetic, and comforting you can be when he’s going through a hard time. He’s not always one who’s quick to speak up when he’s feeling down or going through something, so having a partner like you who knows him so well that you catch his troubles before he tells you about him is such a relief to him, and your comfort and emotional support during these times is the one thing that keeps him going when he feels like he can’t share that part of himself with anyone else <3 He’s careful to never take for granted your kindness and support or abuse your gentle side in any way, but he’s truly thankful for the way you open him up to receiving kindness and support

- On a lighter note, I think Akaashi is definitely the kind of boyfriend who’s willing to deal with bugs for you :> He usually prefers to take them outside if he can rather than killing them, but they literally don’t phase him at all so when he hears you shrieking across the house about a bug you found he just lets out a soft chuckle before grabbing some paper and a cup and getting up to take care of it for you <3

- He love love loves listening to your rambles too, he thinks one of your most endearing habits is how you love to share all the things you learn with him even when it’s about totally random things like the effects of glucose :) And he IS genuinely listening I promise, he actively engages in the conversation and adds stuff if it’s something he knows about because he loves being able to go back and forth with you and give you a chance to share all of the knowledge you collect (and be able to share his as well when he has the opportunity!)

- Also he definitely thinks you’re so so pretty, and he tells you this very frequently. He thinks your glasses look absolutely adorable on you, and he’s particularly fond of the beauty mark beneath your eye and your dimples :> They’re prime kissing points for him, he’s constantly absentmindedly leaning in and kissing you in one of these spots because he just finds them so unique and pretty and does it without even thinking most times

- He also really like participating in more of your active hobbies with you! Biking and hiking are both things he finds super interesting and help him get his work-outs in during volleyball season, so he loves going out with you and even sometimes brings stuff along so that once the two of you have finished your hike, you can have a cute little picnic at your final destination with some of your favorite homemade foods and treats <3

- Bonus: This is short but honestly I just think he'd really vibe with your music tastes and would listen to a lot of the same artists you do (I get the feeling he'd be a Lana fan in particular personally) so he loves sharing playlists with you since you two already listen to so much of the same music!)

Second Choice:

I very, VERY seriously considered matching you with Daichi, and he was actually my initial thought when I read about the things you’d like in a partner in particular (since he has a lot of those same qualities as Akaashi, where he’s the level-headed, gentle kind of person and a great communicator as well). However, you mentioning your interest in academics and reading and wanting someone you could learn from him and vice/versa was when Akaashi came to my mind and eventually won out since I definitely feel like he’d be more interested in those kinds of things, though I think Daichi would be a good choice too :>

Song For Your Relationship:

You Are In Love by Taylor Swift <3

#{✏️} - bee's writing #{💭} - bee answers #{💬} - requests #{🌸} - bee's beloveds #{🌻} - mysterystarz #haikyuu matchup #haikyuu matchups #haikyuu match-ups

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finniestoncrane · 2 years

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11 and 31 with Arkhamverse riddler, but when he still worked for the GCPD. After a shitty day at the cybercrime division at work he leaves the GCPD to catch a taxi ride home. Then boom, it starts raining heavily and the man is drenched to the bone. While he was just sitting on a bench cursing the weather, he suddenly noticed that the rain stopped trickling onto him. He looked up to see someone holding an umbrella over him. This wasn't just some ordinary someone, it was one of his coworkers, they don't talk much, but they are the only person at the GCPD that Eddie doesn't hate with every cell in his body.

Want Some Company?

Arkham!Riddler x GN!Reader, word count: 900 poor wet rat of a man, my god i love him! thank you for this request it's so good!! 💜 request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi minors DNI!! 🔞 cw for nsfw stuff: none omg this was fluff, pure fluff

Nothing had gone right for Ed on that Thursday. Nothing.

To begin with, his coffee order had been wrong, but the line was too long to queue again, and the barista kept whispering to their colleague and pointing at him as he stood to the side, trying to get their attention. He tried a sip, grimaced, and put it in the trash can outside.

Then, he’d had to face three of the cops he detested most as they demanded to know why he hadn’t done whatever it was they had asked of him the day before. “Because I’m not a machine.” They scoffed at him. “Could have fooled me, weirdo.”

He’d tripped on his way back from lunch, in the middle of the bullpen, dropping his cup of soup and then slipping in it in an effort to clean it up and avoid the stares of the officers, who were sniggering not so quietly as they watched, not one of them offering to help.

The system had run slow, his computer crashed and deleted three separate files he was working on, he walked in on two cops making out and was consequently berated for not knocking the door to his own office, and then he had to stay behind to finish something that was tossed onto his desk and marked urgent at 5.13pm.

And yet, he had kept his cool entirely, even when he stepped outside just as the rain fell in what seemed like sheets from the gloomy clouds, a policeman standing at the station across the street yelling at people that due to an incident, there would be no more trains that evening.

No, Edward Nigma, a man of considerable intelligence, emotionally regulated in order to maintain a strict control of himself and his environment, was capably handling everything the day had thrown at him. Until he had stepped out to hail a taxi and instead had been drenched, not that he wasn’t soaking already, in disgusting, filthy puddle water. With very little will left, he resigned himself to the worst day ever, where he had left his coat at home, and his wallet on his desk, with no food inside of him and only crappy break room coffee seeing him this far. He sat down on a bench against the wall of the GCPD, feeling very morose, letting out a little chuckle at the sky as he wallowed in his sodden, miserable, self-pity.

“Want some company?”

He turned to look in the direction the voice came from, noticing a similarly soaked figure that he recognised after straining past the rain droplets on his glasses. A colleague from the GCPD, clerical work, he was sure. Nice. Nice to him. Efficient, capable, little to no social standing much like himself. If he were the type of person to bother himself with making friends or…more…then they would be a strong contender for sure.

Upon reflection though, he didn’t even know their name. And yet, here he was, completely flustered by their appearance, the fact they had noticed him. What confused him more was that he wasn’t even the slightest bit perturbed by their presence. Usually, distance and unfamiliarity were the two things Ed valued most in any ‘relationship’ he had with someone, even a passing crush. But after the day he had, he actually welcomed someone to share it with. Still, the fact you recognised him, knew of his existence and wanted to extend a modicum of kindness to him was suspicious to him, and he needed to make sure this wasn’t going to be yet another incident in the long list of things that had royally pissed him off today.

“Company?…What?”

“Would you like some company?”

“I’m…you want to sit in the rain?”

“Not particularly, but you looked like you might need a little bit of a reprieve from sitting here wallowing!”

Every muscle in his face strained against the instinctive urge to scowl or roll his eyes at the assertion that he might be sitting in his sorrow, maybe even enjoying the rain on his skin, letting his day get completely horrible in the hopes that something, anything might come along to make it seem even a tiny bit better. And now it had, and he couldn’t be mean or he might scare that good thing away.

“I’m not wallowing. I’m…absorbing the feelings of pity I have for myself.”

“Yeah…same thing, smart guy.”

It was hard for him not to smile at the comment. Sure, it was meant to be in jest, but any time his intellect was praised he ate it up. It came so infrequently from anyone but himself, he needed to make sure he appreciated any positive comments when they happened.

“Come on, I think there’s a taxi rank somewhere on the next block. If we’re quick we might beat that group of people heading to the station now. Share a cab?”

“Do we live near each other?”

“I guess so, you take the train and get off at the same stop as me. Not that I’ve been stalking you!”

They were laughing sheepishly, and Ed couldn’t help but join in. Although internally he was cursing himself for never paying attention to the people around him. If he’d know that their laugh was so sweet and pleasant, he’d have made it his mission to listen to it on the train home every evening. It might have made the commute bearable.

Nevermind though, it would make this evening much brighter, which he definitely deserved after the day he’d had.

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13eyond13 · 3 months

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Hey! What do you think about Berserk’s secondary characters? Such as Judeau, Luca, or Skull Night? Who’s your most and least favorite?

Ooh, thanks for asking! THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MORE MINOR BERSERK CHARACTERS:

BAND OF THE FALCON/HAWK: So the members that made the biggest impression on me aside from Guts/Casca/Griffith, in order of how much I liked them, were:

1. JUDEAU: he was probably my next most favourite member of the Band. I thought he was pretty kind and emotionally intelligent - I liked his loyal/thoughtful/peaceful mediator vibe, and I always wanted to hear what he had to say about everybody else. I'm still not ok about what happens to him in the end, it was one of the most emotionally upsetting parts of The Eclipse to me for sure...

2. RICKERT: He started standing out to me way more post-Eclipse as a character when he starts having to make more decisions on his own. I love the ways he's dealing with his grief and I was very proud of him whenever he stood up to Griffith, hahaha. I'm really interested in seeing what part he's going to play in the finale of the story, too...

3. PIPPIN: the only scene I can really remember about Pippin now is when he literally picks up Guts and drags him down to force him to hang out with everybody else, which was great. Hahaha I liked him, but I don't remember a whole lot else about him other than that? I think that he was pretty quiet most of the time.

4. CORKUS: He's probably the one you're kinda supposed to not like as much as the others in the group, as he's pretty abrasive at times. He added some spice to things for sure, and I could see why he might feel negatively about Guts, and some of the stuff he says made for interesting contrasts to the positivity/comradery going on otherwise. I didn't feel a ton of love for him at any point, but also I don't think he deserved what he ended up getting in the end either, of course...

BLACK SWORDSMAN PARTY:

1. PUCK: I'm attached to him quite a bit simply because of how much he was with us in the beginning / during the parts where Guts was wandering around all surly and angry and alone. I think he sort of gets reduced to only comic relief a bit much in the later parts of the story, but he definitely kept me going through some of the darker and more nihilistic parts with his cuteness and kindness and the way he always pointed out the stuff that was at times bugging or concerning me about Guts, hahah. Also, I love whatever weird thing he has going on with the Behelit, hahaha. It's like his little pet... feeding it cheese...

2. SCHIERKE: OK so I was kind of like OHHHNOOO at first about the kid characters permanently joining Guts traveling party, because I didn't really want the story to start attempting to pander to kids a bunch when it's so clearly adult in subject matter and themes and tone much of the time. But Schierke definitely grew on me more over time, especially in the scenes where she's interacting with Guts alone - I think her witch powers are pretty impressive, her quiet/nervous personality is usually cute, and her crush on Guts is endearing as well, haha - the way she's self-aware that it's because "he's an adult who paid attention to me, and I liked it" reminds me of the kind of things I would've been saying at that age myself. I was always trying to be serious and sensible and cautious and adult all the time as a kid about such stuff, too...

3. FARNESE: She had some of the most dramatic and interesting character development of any of the characters in the entire series, I would say. Thinking about who she was when we first met her versus who she ends up becoming later on is pretty impressive. I especially like how hard she works at humbling herself, learning new things and opening herself up to new people and new ways of thinking and being, even though she also feels completely useless and incompetent at it much of the time.

4. SERPICO: I feel almost like I'd have to reread the story to really get a handle on this character better, because he often slipped into the background for me? I think his fights with Guts were pretty interesting, but otherwise he just didn't really resonate that strongly with me or stand out to me that much, and I never felt that attached to him at any point tbh

5. IVALERA: sassy and cute, but I don't have that much else to say about her

6. ISIDRO: My least favourite of the bunch, because he often actively irritates me whenever he's on the page, and the comic relief he's supposed to provide never really hits the mark for me. I feel like he just throws off the tone of the story a lot with all the loudmouthed insecure spunkiness, like he's out of place and was meant to exist in a Shonen series like Naruto or something else instead, haha. IDK... maybe I'd warm up to him more and see why he's necessary to include more upon a second read...

OTHER NOTABLES: 1. SKULL KNIGHT: I love him a lot, haha. He's got such an oddly chill and polite vibe for what a dramatic and scary-looking presence he has. He definitely can feel very plot-devicey as a character at times, but it doesn't mean I'm not always glad to see him whenever he shows up, and I think his personal history with the Berserker Armour is pretty interesting as well

2. NOSFERATU ZODD: I like him quite a bit too... definitely the most chill of the monsters to me, haha. Chill is almost always a plus to me, especially when the character is otherwise a bit larger than life

3. LUCA: I liked her! One of the more palatable characters in that arc. Was glad she was watching out for Casca like she was...

4. CHARLOTTE: I worry about her, but I feel for her too! The fanart she kept making of Griffith made me lol tbh.. I hope nothing too bad happens to her now that she's actually hitched to him...

#berserk #berserk spoilers #ask #anon #p

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laurelslegacy · 4 months

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KallZeb Overcoming: Betrayal

a few weeks after "Forgiveness" or the time Zeb and Kallus married their relationship is tested. notes: very little is actual cannon and all my head cannon going back from the very "beginning" with Deicide till forgiveness but before events on Hoth. Secondary, though I am just in aw of all the work and appreciation Anath_Tsurugi has put into her amazing Lasana Lexicon, I decided to make my own Lasat language and so I can grow it as need be as there were some words and phrases I needed for my stories and I Congratulate and understand COMPLETELY about the wonderful things in Anath's life that keeps them her away from advancing it (and it's OK to lose interest!) so the Lasat will be easy to spot and the translation right next to it in ( ) This is a multi chap story, due to Tumblr's policies the X rated stuff will be left out (written yes but left out) but will be implied in the next chap so that anything significant happens people are kept to date. Trigger warnings: Alcohol abuse, blood, abusive partners, stalkers Betrayal chap 1

“Zeb get the bay 25! Kallus has been reported injured!” Lieutenant Jantel is a kind technician, survivor of Alderaan and therefore working side by side with Zeb they formed a sort of trauma bond, but they were a pair to see together as Jantel was only 4’8”. She keeps her ear on the ground, he does the heavy lifting. She was always the first to know something,glued to the com lines. So with news of his husband of only a few weeks being injured of course she would speak up “I’ll let the commander know where you’re going!”

Zeb was stopped in his tracks barely having time to put down the large engine part he was carrying and took off running giving a wave of thanks. He knew Kallus would be on the mission but it was to be covert and informational. So what did that fool do now?! He got whirrls of protest from droids he leapt over, shouts from other rebels that he dodged around. Nothing was going to stand his way till…

That.

The scene he came upon was Kallus being held up by another intelligence officer and some petite small human with her hands on Kallus’s face half pulling him down and up on her tippy toes kissing him. On the lips. Zeb just stood there feeling his world start to crumble after everything was so… so as perfect as it could be. Turning around to go back to work as the emotions just drained from him. That cold numbness of shock and heartbreak that freezes you over faster than… than Bayrin.

The commander and lt Jantel stared at him, shocked to see him back so soon. “Captain, what happened?” He looks to Jantel fearing the worst.

“Don’t wanna talk ‘bout it. Got these engines to put in, right?” Zeb thundered past, nothing like a man mourning. But the way he walked looked like a man dragging his heart.

“You heard the man…” The commander swallowed not wanting to bother such a large emotionally unstable person. His words were soft however, not demanding. “Let's get back to work, looks like he needs to lose his head for a bit.”

Losing his head he did and when General Syndulla found him she got pissed like no one on base had seen before and the cantina started to file out quickly. “GARAZEB ORRELIOS!”

“Mut… m’ off duty.” he looked at her crouched over a whisky-his usual drink back in the dark days- looking at her glassy eyed.

“You Promised me and AND Kanan you’d stop this! You’d come to *us* first.”

“Just it Hera, ain’t us ‘nymore. Tch, I sure pick ‘em” He raises his hand for another from the tender.

Poor tender trying to stay at the far side of the bar away from the commotion starts to reach for the bottle of whisky and gets the worst lazer sharp death glare from Hera. He pulls his hand away from the bottle and turns to make a drink… “Whisky Sour, extra sour cause it looks like you need it pal.” he gave a wink to Hera who saw there was no alcohol going into the drink.

“Tanks…”

“Are you going to explain to me what happened or what? Kallus has been asking for you and says you are not answering his coms… NOR mine!” she bit.

“He don’t need me anymore.”

Signing with frustration, she tries to breathe and get a hold of her anger “you need to eat something and come back to the Ghost. We can talk there.”

“Been released?” He asked vaguely, gaining a wrinkled brow from Hera.

“No, it’s not bad but it’s not good either. You should go see him tomorrow. Zeb, let's get you some food.” She placed a cool hand on his arm.

“Naw…” he staggers up “Gobba…. Get back ta the Ghost ‘fer this last shot hits.” Completely falling backwards into some chairs the half flayals as he tries to stand but it takes Hera’s hand to steady himself. Looking back he picks up one of the chair he broke lifting it up “Eh… I’ll fix it fer ya…sorry ‘bout dat.”

“Don’t worry about it Captain, have a good night…” The tender goes back to his busy work of cleaning glasses.

Zeb actually was able to utilize the three legged chair to wobble back to the ghost where Hera has to guide him not to the room but the main area. She gets him to sit down and promptly brings him some water and a ration bar. “Ya….ya know…. I hate these kriffing things…taste like sand… ‘n I’ve tasted a lotta sand.” He nods as if confirming it and promptly stops, weaving a little.

“Yes, they’re pretty terrible but you need to eat it, that's an order sir. And drink this water.” She stared at Zeb in disappointment. The early days on the Ghost he would drink like this, got terrible, he changed to someone else but yet, Kanan explained that people do different things to escape tragedies like they had gone through. She waited till Zeb had drank half the water and at least taken a few bits of the bar. “Ok Zeb what happened?”

“I… I ran….” Small kreens that stopped his next few words, a hand on his forearm to help calm him, a few drunken deep breaths and he mostly got the kreening under control “I ran so hard ta get there ta his bay after hearing he was hurt… and… karabast, i pick them. First Leyhla and …and now.. Now Ale-… Kallus. He was bein helped out b’an intelligence officer…’n nother one was kissin him… on the LIPS!” And he collapses into heavy kreens.

“Doesn’t seem right, there has got to be something more to the picture Zeb.” she mutters under her breath rubbing Zeb’s back and letting the man cry it out here rather than out where everyone could see him.

Zeb shakes his head on the table “Shoulda known he’d rather be with his own kind ... shoulda not…KRABAST” and he slammed his fist onto the dejarik table, startling Hera, but also cracking the table.

“ZEB! Oh sith spit, the table -your hand! I’ll get the med kit” She goes to get up and get snagged by Zeb’s grip which is a little too tight.

“No… no bacta.” He looks up from the crook of his arm, his eyes almost brown, they're so bloodshot.

“Let me bandage it at least” she puts some resistance on his durasteel grip.

He takes an awfully long time to think it over “yeah… k”

“While I’m away, drink that whole glass of water and take a few more bites of the bar, that’s a request from a friend.” Hera gives a small smile as he nods in acknowledgment even if she doesn't feel he may accomplish said task seeing him on the verge of falling asleep. Her mind is so busy she nearly runs Sabine over. “Oh!”

“Whoa wow! Why does it smell like a bar in here?!” She wove her hand in front of her face.

“Never mind that, to your room please, give me 15 minutes.”

Sabine is taken aback, it slips Hera’s mind about ‘trust’ and Sabine. The mando narrows her eyes suspiciously “Hera….”

A long deep breath “Zeb is drunk…”

“Did he drink the whole bar, smells like it!”

Hera sighs a bit “You have to know, he is an ex-alcoholic. To drink like that now after all these years is going to be a rough night and a couple of days I fear.”

Sabine’s eyes narrowed “I thought Kallus was just injured, not dead.”

“It’s complicated” She put her gloved hand to her forehead and shook her head, lekku swinging with the motion. “Yes Kallus is alive but Zeb’s injured himself so I’m going to get the med kit, so please-”

Putting her hands on Hera’s shoulders Sabine’s face was serious “Hera, you look frazzled, I took care of so many drunk cadets while in the academy, let me take care of him.” Hera looked hesitant “trust me on this one. You said “ex-alcoholic” which tells me you’ve been dealing with this for a long time. Let me take care of him. Please.”

Hera’s brow furrowed and she gave a nod “Alright. Go ahead, I need to lay down, feeling a little, well not good.”

“With that smell, I feel tipsy myself, go, I got this.”

“Thanks Sabine.”

“Hey…. hey Big guy, you have your ears on?” Sabine gave a long arm reach out and shook Zeb.

“Yeah..” he was still right where Hera had left him. He rolls his head over and looks, blinking a few times “Ya turned inta Sabine?”

“That I did, now Hera said you had an injury. Sit up for me if you can.”

“I do…?” He slowly sits up revealing the broken Dejarik table and the cerulean trail of blood to his hand. “Oh… I do… “

“Oh you’re one of those blackout drunks. Tch. give me your hand.”

Zeb held his hand back like a little child “No bacta spray” and proceeded to sulk.

“Ohhhh kay… then let me clean it and wrap it before you bleed all over the circuits and I can't fix this.”

Zeb awkwardly turns and half holds his arm out like someone would if doing an arm stretch. “Fix wha? Oh…karabast who did that? Those things are nearly indisbustible.”

“Apparently you.” She says taking forceps and an antiseptic and dabs at his hand earning a deep breathed hiss of pain from Zeb “oh you big baby. Sure you don't want to go to medical? Looks deep.”

“Naw…. need Bacta… f….fer..” he tries not to cry in front of Sabine but the alcohol inhibits him and he starts kreening again.

“Ah ok, hm saying that a lot tonight. Big breaths, big guy, there, all cleaned and wrapped up. Let's get you some aspirin and go to bed.” She offered a hand out to him, staggering with him as he leaned too much upon her. He gets him to the room and sits him down handing him the aspirin which before she can say she was going to get water he just ups and downs it.”Alright, just lay down and sleep.”

There’s a humm of confirmation before he just lays down and is almost immediately out. Sabine sighs and goes to clean the Derjack table up the best she can from the blood and grab a pot for Zeb. Stopping as Hera’s door opens “He’s had some aspirin and is to bed. I’ll… sleep in Ezra’s bed tonight just in case he needs anything alright?” she reports.

“That’s very kind of you. Thank you.” The concern clearly written on her tired face.

“Yeah, G’night Hera, tell me what happened tomorrow alright?” Sabine gave her a small smile and let Hera disappear back in her room.

“HE WHAT?!”

“Shhh keep it down” Hera took a deep breath, a temporary plate over the board so until repaired no one else would be hurt. She glanced down the hall towards Zeb’s “I think something else is going on. I mean how many times have we had to bang on their door to quiet down. Not to mention the puppy dog eyes they give each other constantly. I feel there’s something else we don't know.”

“Well he gave his life to the empire and turned from that. I’m going to punch him.”

“No you will not.”

“Will not what? Ungh…” Zeb slowly slauntered in looking like big bongo and chewed him up and spit him back out.

“She will not punch Kallus.”

Zeb stops, an ear twitch and his face just droops “naw, see if I care.” He pours himself some caff and pauses “What happened ta the table.”

Hera crosses her arms “Do you remember Zeb?”

He looks at the table and then his hand “uhhh yeah sure I do, Hera I wasn’t THAT bad! Just a couple, c’mon give a man with a broken heart a break!”

“No I will not! Because you PROMISED GARAZEB ORRELIOS! Do you remember that conversation?”

“Hera I’m sorry, I do, you ‘n kanan and..”

“No it was last night!”

Zeb winces “Alright alright keep it down Karabast m’head is killin ‘m”

“And you have the shakes again.” Hera points to the trembling mug, this only makes Zeb curl and slouch, ears crestfallen even further. Hera takes a big deep breath “Go see him Zeb, get the real story.”

Zeb slowly shakes his head and wobbles with it “Naw, he’s good at lying and that’s his job. ‘Sides, they all lie. Goin back to my room fer a lie down.”

“I’m telling you Hera…”

“Please trust me this time, let me see what else I can do before we do anything rash..like Zeb” at Sabines cross armed sulk she smiled “Thank you.”

“General Syndulla, may I ask where… Where is he?” Kallus looked up from the med bed, genuinely concerned and hurt.

Hera crosses her arms “He will be nursing a hangover, a bad one for the next three days. I believe you’ll need to see him first.”

The brow creased tightly “What why? Three day bindger?”

“No Alex, Zeb is an ex-alcoholic. One night of heavy drinking leads to three days of a hangover. I understood why he drank after Lasan, but would stand it for only so long. Kanan was usually our buffer.” Clearly not telling his own Husband of this, though it felt like a back stab, perhaps if anyone could talk permanent sobriety into Zeb it would be his beloved husband.

“Why.. why was he drinking, did he think I died?”

Hera was kind about her words but kept to a stern level “No, he knows you’re alive. But it’s you I think who needs to tell me why he was drinking.”

Kallus was thinking it through struggling through the mired memories “I was out of it, lost a lot of blood, Lieutenant Gibson was helping me inside.. And…. and… Oh… oh Karabast he saw that. Enson Terry has a crush on me, new to the Intelligence department and I remember her grabbing me and… Gibson said I should press assault charges but I wasn’t completely sure I could remember why; she’s just a kid.”

“Who has almost ruined your marriage.”

“Wait what, Zeb’s not… He’s not going to…argh” Kallus grips his side, likely the first time Hera has actually seen the man show his pain.

“He thinks you’re the one leaving. He told me about his wife and what happened. I could see why Zeb, silly as he is, would jump to conclusions. He’s hung over right now, today will be the worst of it, tomorrow maybe if you’re out. But I agree with lieutenant Gibson, you should press charges as it may save your marriage. Also she assaulted a senior officer and we can’t have that.”

Kallus laid there in the bed being contemplative “I would like to keep my dignity.”

“Reporting someone for a crime can’t be emasculating can it?” she crossed her arms “The way I see it, to report someone as a male would have a bigger impact allowing other men who have had to deal with such things a voice. If men cannot do it to women, women should not be doing that to men. If the roles were reversed and you were the one to be kissing her while she was wounded and partly incapacitated it would be absolutely appropriate for her to call assault charges on you. We are trying to build an equal society, and the pendulum swings both ways. Think about it. Besides you’re a tall, intimidating man with a 2.3 meter tall Lasat husband who could easily rip someone’s arm off and I’m saying that as a witness.”

“Garazeb?” He raised a brow in doubt as if he had forgotten all their battles together “Thank you Hera, I’ll think on it. Please tell him I wish to see him.”

“Good man, rest.” She patted his arm and left the infirmary.

Sabine was right outside the infirmary door as Hera left, she was propped against the wall with her arms crossed, eyes sharp and ready for battle “Well?”

“As I thought, something more is going on. I need to talk with Lieutenant Gibson, care to join me?”

“Yes.” Her voice still held a hiss.

Pressing her com Hera looked blankly down the hall “General Syndulla to Lieutenant Gibson, do you read?”

“Yes General, what may I do for you?” the voice cracked over the com.

“May I speak with you? I can come to your location.”

“Yes, Intelligence office”

“See you soon. General Dodona, come in”

“General Dodona here, go ahead General Syndulla”

“I’m doing a personal investigation, something I will let the officer in question bring to your attention but I will need to pull a couple of your people for only a few minutes. Do I have your permission?”

“Go ahead General, I will have a side interrogation room reserved for you.”

“Most generous, thank you.” Hera looked to Sabine with a smirk. “Good to be a General sometimes.

Of course lieutenant Jantel heard of what happened, or at least bits and pieces but it was easy enough to put the story together. Captain Orrelios saw his husband kissing another officer. The rumorers made it sound like they were embraced and just impassioned with each other but from everything and how the Captain spoke of his husband, something seemed remiss. In the mess hall she saw the culprit, Enson Terry. Thankfully sitting alone so, on the behalf of the Captain…

“Hi there!” Jantel put her tray down at Terry’s table “you looked like you could use a friend, everything ok?”

Enson Terry blinked and looked up to see someone at least close enough to her age she lit up a little “oh! Hi, um, kinda I guess. Sorry I’m Anna Terry.”

“Jan Jantel, my parents were not very imaginative.” both of them giggle a little “So how long have you been with the Rebellion?”

“Three months by this time, I joined because of …of what they did to my parents.” Terry looked at her food and pushed it around a little “you?”

“Been with the Rebelion for a few years and… well I come from Alderaan.” Jantel gave a smile at Terry’s sudden wide eyed snapped look, she shook her hand as if it was no big deal “So that’s what’s got you down? The Loss of your parents, no wonder you need a friend!”

“Oh well, yes that still hurts but…” she looks around and leans in as if it was a big secret “There’s this guy I like, but he’s kinda taken by a monster”

Jantel choked on her bit of food almost dropping her fork “A monster? Well, does he return your feelings?”

“I donno…” back to pushing the food about on her plate “He was almost killed on a mission and I was so relieved to see him alive I ran up and kissed him, he didn’t resist ya know but he’s still in med bay and from what I hear his monster partner only went out to get drunk without seeing him at all! What kind of partner is that?!”

“Oh sith spit that’s pretty cold!”

“RIGHT?! He’s just so tall, handsome, standoffish but has the most beautiful smile!” Terry sighs dreamily, allowing her to take a bit of her food.

“Oh it’s so hard not to go for the tall ones. Have you seen that one kid? Skywalker, the supposed Jedi I think he’d Hoooot” Jantel fanned herself with her hand.

“Oh? I have not seen that one. There are quite a few pilots that are just gorgeous! Ugh I’m just so taken with this guy.”

“But you said he has a partner right?”

“Yeah but it’s one of those alien freaks, there’s no way that’s going to last, ungh i can’t even.” Terry scrunched up her shoulders.

“I donno, ever kissed an Andorian, it’s weird but kinda fun, makes the mind wander. Also have you seen J’stan the blue Twi’lek who usually works in cargo, those muscles, girl, and he has the most stunning ice blue eyes. Look not into aliens thats fine but some of us have tried and has been, eye opening.” Jantel had a smile on her lips, more over the idea that now Terry had a disgusted look on her face but also was -she felt- defending Captains Kallus and Orrelios.

“Ungh I guess I’ll have to see this J’stan for myself to decide, it just never really happened from where I was from.” She thought on it “it’s like a beauty and the Beast story, the guy I like is the beauty and his partner the Beast.”

“You do know at the end of the story they get together.” Jantel catches a glare from Terry “I’m just saying, there are some HOT guys on this base and I’m talking Human. You should wander down to maintenance at some point at the height of the heat and watch the eye candy stroll!”

“Look I know what I want and when I want it I’m going to get it! Nice talking to you.” The last part was certainly not true as Terry rose from the chair with her try and exited the cantina.

Jantel leaned on her elbow “Boy is she in for a rude awakening.”

“I’m telling you General there is no way that was consensual, the Captain could barely stand. I feel partly responsible because I should have convinced him to take a stretcher

and might have avoided all of this.” The young Lieutenant Gibson, a brown haired young human, shook his head.

“Lieutenant, there is no convincing Captain Kallus anything once he puts his mind to it. He even walked around a frozen moon with a broken leg, so no you did everything in your power” Hera spoke softly while Sabine leered from the corner of the room.

“With a broken leg?! Sheesh, that man is unreal!”

“Tell me about it. The way you describe this Enson Terry sounds like if you had him on the stretcher she might have just jumped on with him. I think you did the right thing.” Sabine spoke up with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Look I don't want to cause trouble for anyone but … you know how fast the rumors spread in this place and I would like justice to happen for Captain Kallus and incidentally it sounds like Captain Orrelios as well.”

Hera’s brow raised “Incidentally, rumors? Please tell me.”

Lieutenant Gibson took a deep breath “look its not a secret that the Intelligence and repair crews dont get along so the fact that Captain Kallus and Captain Orrelios are in a relationship; It becomes the talk of the cantina, especially when something like this happens. Ok so what I’ve heard is…”

“CONVENIENT that Enson Terry is on lunch break, ungh. So what are we going to tell Zeb?” Sabine asked as they made their way back to the Ghost with electrolyte water for Zeb.

“Good question.” She swallowed “I have a feeling we won’t see him till tomorrow.”

“Captain Kallus!”

The fact he felt himself flinch at a young girl’s voice calling his name made him curse internally. Kallus cautiously turned and worried at first but then relaxed seeing a technician running towards him. He perked a brow and deflated to his Imperial stance as she came running breathlessly up.

“Glad I caught you.” she panted with her head down between her knees before standing up and looking up at the imposing figure “Whoa, you ARE tall!” she gasped, still catching breath.

“Contrary, you are short.” A scowl started to form on his lips “May I help you with something Lieutenant?”

“Yeah… I’m Lieutenant Jantel, I’m Captain Orrelios’s coworker. And I have something to tell you before you go see him, if, and please say you are! I’m worried for him!”

“I see so we both have short shadows.”

“Yeah, but I’m not a freak of a stalker like yours… some place private we can go so I can tell you this?”

The only thing to change on Kallus’s face were his brows.

Having talked with Lieutenant Jantel, Kallus wore his IBS face all the way to the Ghost, clutching the data pad in his hand harder. He had PLANS to put an end to Enson Terry’s infatuation. How did Zeb end up with a technician that was more information security capable than his tiny shadow? Thankfully it was Sabine he ran into as she sat on the edge of the ramp cleaning and taking care of her blasters. She looked up in surprise.

*Is he in?* Kallus signed, not wanting to give himself away. If he did, it was certain that Zeb would run.

*Yes, still hung over and grouchy as HELL* Sabine warned signing ‘hell’ with a big bold gesture.

Kallus gave a curt nod and headed up the ramp trying to ease the sound of his boots making smaller strides, all to mask his coming. He would be lying if he wasn’t nervous. Always knowing how much Zeb holds himself back as if he had forgotten that he too has fought not just Zeb but countless Lasat, he knows their strength and what they could do. The idea of gentle Zeb ripping someone’s arm off is hard to imagine however-perhaps because he has seen that soft side more often than the pure violent one.

He stepped into Zeb’s room, the Large Lasat curled up in a thick blanket, a couple of cups of coffee and empty bottles of water strewn across the floor, his armor uncharacteristically tossed wherever. (uncharacteristically if things were not about to happen) However the oddest thing was the thick blanket, Zeb never slept with a sheet let alone a blanket unless he was there. He slowly sat at a “zeb” vacant spot on the bunk and put his hand on Zeb’s shoulder feeling the constant shivering.

“Hnngh no, not hungry Hera.” the voice was strained gravely.

“It’s not Hera.” Kallus watched Zeb’s ears twitch up for a moment.

Then promptly tucked in as he curled under the blanket “Roosh ro”(go away) He growled in Lasaneese.

“Prsta.” (never) he rubbed at Zeb’s back. “I have something for you to look at.”

“Still don't roll your “r”’s right.” he grumbled as he thought it over “Fine” he snaked a purple striped arm from under the blanket, the disheveled fur indicating Zeb’s feelings, a bandaged hand out for the pad. He took a moment to read the data pad under the blanket, the soft tings and bleeps meaning he was looking through the pad thoroughly. He slowly sat up and looked at Kallus, those eyes the least green Kallus has ever seen them. “Can I kill her?”

“No you may not.” Kallus took a deep breath “I have a better way of dealing with her, but it will take a lot from you and to suddenly trust me once more.”

Zeb handed back the pad and picked at a claw “Ya really reported a kid?”

“How could I not? I was bleeding out, weak and she took advantage of that. On top of that she hurt you by not just actions but words. I will break her.”

Zeb’s ear twitched “Ya need yer hair slicked back when ya say it like that.” he was actually feeling sorry for the little girl now, she invoked Kallus’s wrath. “What’d she say?”

Kallus’s expression did not change “Nothing good, and I may be asking for your Lieutenant Jantl to replace her position, she did some great undercover work.”

Ears dropped and the big puppy eyes started “Nooo not my little ear bug!”

Eyebrows raised “Trust me on this. Besides, she could always decline. Are you willing to hear my plan?”

“Yeah… neh…rushta kerrura rsh Borshla (I am sorry my husband lit: in the act of being sorry husband)” he reached out, that bandaged hand shaking terribly, but he still tried to brush it over Kalus’s cheek “I shoulda trusted ya more, I just… rushtnerka (foolish)”

“Yes you are.” he gave a smirk at Zeb’s insulted look “but you are MY fool, but i also understand. There is a good chance that in my adrenaline infused brain I too would have been led to that assumption, certainly with a past like yours. But Garazeb, by the moon and the stars, I need you too and I will never leave you. When I said I’d bond with you I meant it forever.”

As Kallus leaned over for a kiss, Zeb attempted to meet him halfway, a slight kiss before Zeb shoved Kallus back and covered his face with his hand making gagging noises trying not to lose whatever he had in his stomach. Momentarily insulted before realizing Zeb was nauseous for other reasons. Kallus gave a bit of a grumble “speaking of…” he punched Zeb as hard as he could in the pressure point on Zeb’s thigh “That is my one condition, you drink again and I will divorce you because it means you love the drink more than I. Have I made myself clear?”

Zeb let out a yelp at the punch instantly going to rub at it looking at Kallus with WIDE eyes that looked a touch more green than before, holding his leg where struck, ears flat “ Re Rsh Keeroh (by my honor)”

“Good now with that out of the way…” Kallus softly brushed over the fingers of Zeb’s wounded hand “What happened? Why didn’t you put bacta on it?”

Zeb curled up in the bed more “Broke the Dirjack table… cut m’self. ‘N… though I thought ya left me for human; knew ya were hurt, needed the bacta more than I did. Was worried, was hurting in m’heart so…easier to deal with a physical wound than emotional. Can focus on that pain instead.”

Kallus took a long slow breath “The duality of my feelings right now. I’m furious with you for not taking care of yourself and yet to think of me first despite your false conclusions; Truly you have the biggest heart, one I am ashamed I broke.” Kallus intruded on Zeb’s personal space, where Zeb had his back to the door Kallus wiggled (as much as a man his size could) between Zeb and the wall to face the big green eyes looking out from under the blanket. “Hopefully only momentarily?”

Looking deep into his eyes, Zeb felt his heart start beating again, the sincerity, regret; How did humans give off more emotion in their eyes than anything else? Zeb scootched to accommodate him but yet tried to mold around him as well, lifting the blanket and using the blanket covered hand to pull Kallus to him pressing his forehead to his “Of course I do. Mahsh. (Always) Now tell me o’this plan o’yers before I execute mine.”

“I hope that was just a pun.”

“Maybe….” Zeb grinned.

“Alright so…”

#zeb orrelios #star wars: rebels #kalluzeb #alexsandr kallus #kallus x zeb #fanfiction #ongoing #multichapter #headcannons #hera syndulla #sabine wren #original character

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mama-qwerty · 2 years

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Wade's Characterization

Okay, so in actuality, the movies portray Wade as some bumbling idiot, likely to contrast Tom's intelligent, in-control personality. He's a very minor side character, so we don't give it too much thought. Ha ha, what a dolt, moving on to the characters we actually care about.

But, since we're a fandom and this is what we do, I took a harder look at the guy and really thought about what makes him tick, and what makes him so 'Wade'.

Buckle up, kidlets. Mama's got some theorizing to do.

Theory 1 - He's on the spectrum

Wade seemed to be almost a different person when doing his job (ie, when he stood up to Robotnik at the end of the first movie, and attempted to take Stone into custody in the second), meaning he's more confident when he knows what to do, and has a specified routine to follow. Bad Guy doing Bad Things? There's procedure for that. So he does what he knows he should.

The scene in the first movie when Sonic's blast took out the power and he called Tom in a panic because he had no idea how to handle it seemed to reinforce the idea that, when confronted with something out of the ordinary, he was completely unprepared for what the next steps should be. When Tom hung up on him, he simply sat, as though overstimulated and overwhelmed with everything that was going on.

He didn't know what to do, so he did nothing. He shutdown.

This spectrum theory can also be backed up with the fact that, at the beginning of the first movie, Tom claimed he was (wherever, I don't remember at the moment) with Beyonce, and Wade totally believed it. Yes, that could also point to Wade's "bumbling idiot" persona, but could also show how literal he is.

His emotional age also seems younger than his physical age, which is something I have experienced with my daughter (also on the spectrum). She is physically 14, but emotionally more like 7. Which could explain his very child-like views and interactions with those around him.

Theory 2 - He's a Mama's Boy

In the second movie he mentions how he'd like to introduce a woman "who's not my mom" to the 'Wade Cave'. He also mentions in a deleted scene that his mom makes 'ants on a log' as a snack for him. This tells me he likely lives with his mom, and his behavior seems very fitting for an incredibly coddled Mama's Boy. Mommy didn't want him to grow up, so he really didn't.

I touched on his theory, very incidentally, in After the Dust Settles, and I think it has some merit, but I don't know that's all that's going on.

Theory 3 - He has anxiety, fairly badly

This one is more in combination with the others, as his slightly nervous nature seems to suggest he has some bad anxiety going on. This could explain his discomfort at being put 'on the spot', or having to deal with things he's unprepared for.

Again, the SCU likely only made Wade the bumbling idiot to contrast Tom's character (and for comic relief) but in over-thinking him (as I tend to do with just about any character) I think there's more going on and will probably explore that in my stories.

I also am a little bothered by the way people treat Wade in the films, like he's some annoying idiot they're forced to deal with. It's disrespectful, and rude, and it just doesn't portray Tom and Maddie in a very flattering light.

But. Anyway. Just thought I'd throw the things that have been bouncing around in my head out there for the masses to chew on. I'm trying to wrap my head about his motivations and thought process so I can write him better in future stories.

#wade whipple #my fics #sonic the hedgehog #sonic hc #sonic headcanons

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synonymouswithanonymous · 2 months

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New magazine interview!

I've only read the excerpt from the article so far.

I think she sounds like a well rounded, positive, intelligent woman. She had a good childhood, has great parents, been through some hard times emotionally and romantically. The emotional/romantic troubles are certainly not a fairytale story by any stretch of the imagination. Especially not to those that have had to suffer from disorders or bad (abusive) relationships. But she came through it, worked through it to find peace, love, strength, and balance in her life which has led to her now healthy relationship and more success. She stood up for her life and is winning that battle. ❤💚💜💙💛💖 wishing continued happiness for her and him. And lots of success for both.

I'm happy she has supportive people around her, from parents, friends and her boyfriend. I'm glad he has her too, bc she probably helps him too, as he also has struggles with mental health. They've both been through the proverbial wars, they know, love, and understand each other. She's right couples are a team, bc you're a unit growing together. 😊😊 love and support.

It also goes to show just bc you have a strong confidant personality, or are strong willed, that abuse can happen to anyone. Disorders can happen to anyone. Hard things can break too, or be broken.

I liked that she helped the older gentleman who had fallen. It was probably fresh on her mind since is happened the morning the interview took place. So many people would/will walk by something like that without even helping, or even making eye contact, or just filming it for their own content. I'm glad she was respectful and helpful to him. Also I'm glad she got angry bc it's not right that no one else cared enough to be bothered to help, how long had he been there? With people walking by ignoring him bleeding like he doesn't matter. But I'd bet they'd want help if it was them.

I also liked how well she described her anxiety, even with examples of her thoughts, a very vivid portrayal of how your own mind can attack you. The visuals. Her describing her having to hold her parents hand made me sad. It reminded me of Sally Klempton's words "it's hard to fight an enemy that has outposts in your head."

And I also like this quote and want to throw it in here bc I think it applies to everyone, not just us women. Her interview made me think of it. If you're not there yet, trust yourself that you will get there, even if it takes awhile.

"There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity." -w Irving (it's been attributed to several so don't know where it originally came from)

Good for her, I'm glad she's doing better now and is happy. 😊😊 And she's so pretty! I love all those pics of her.

Edited to add, read the part of the interview where she talks about AHA and their relationship. I like how she talks about challenging each other. How well they understand/process each other in a healthy way. They're imo adorable. I like how she and he did take it slow, they may have dated a few months before getting officially together. But that's normal, reasonable and responsible.

That's better than meeting, and two weeks later living together, engaged, or married lol. Like she said you can't live at 180kph and expect not to crash. So I was probably right they started as friends and it grew to more than friends, then dated and then realized it was serious. It's always good to be sure and secure in yourself before becoming a couple. She learned from past mistakes of jumping in head/heart first, and now it's worked out great for them. I'm glad she's not afraid to be in love and receive real love anymore. 💖💖

And I like how she talked about she used to feel she always had to be "on", having to be funny all the time bc she was afraid to be seen as not good enough. I'm glad she's worked through that and can just be herself and take time for herself when needed.

Also really glad they don't take strangers opinions of them seriously or let it get to them too much. It's the best way to handle it. Just ignore that and focus on themselves And their lives. I'm sure it was an adjustment for her, but he probably already knew haters would happen (like with every female acquaintance, friend, possible love interest, coworker in the past that was researched and then trashed online. Every single one). He liked that "insufferable fans" comment, which maybe means he finds it horrible and frustrating that people act like that towards him and her. I don't blame him. But I'm glad they're able to brush it off as something they can't help, and that such opinions have no bearing on reality. None of us know him or her in real life. As I've said before he knows who his GF is, good days and bad. This interview helped solidify my opinion that she's really lovely. 😊😊😊

#alex høgh andersen #johanne milland #New Interview

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mysteriousangels · 8 months

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Solo Para (Ada/Felix/Della): Lovelace

Ada sat there shell-shocked. She felt as if her heart had stopped beating and there was nothing in her head. She stared at her pet lynx, body crushed by the trailer that they used to live in and suddenly a heartwrenching scream came from her lips. There was a stabbing pain in her head as the connection she had to Lovelace was gone. She wasn’t open about it but Ada had experimented on Lovelace in her spare time back when she was working in England. Of course, what she did to Lovelace she did to herself, and in the end, she created a telepathic link to the cat and it had also become far more intelligent than normal.

She started to panic as she felt like a part of her was fading away and dying. This was the first time she had ever cared about a death. Ada had looked at the victims of genocide in the eye and felt nothing, even though they died because of her work and her ego. But here she was finally paying the price for her past by losing the thing she cared about the most outside of her work.

The air around her was foggy and slightly tinted blue from the toxins created by her. She didn’t mind if this was the way she would go out. She was okay with dying by her own poison because she no longer had the will to live right now. Ada closed her eyes and took in a breath when suddenly a hand grabbed her shoulder. She looked up and saw Felix Fitzherbert looking back at her with pity in his eyes.

“I know this is hard, I don’t know how you and your pet were but you can’t end your life here just because she’s gone. Plus if you die here, we’re gonna die because you’re the only one who can make the antidote and I have a little sister and my crush kinda hoping I won’t die. I don’t know about my twin 'cause I haven’t spoken to her in almost a year but that’s a can of worms we can open somewhere safe.” Felix told her and sat down beside her. He rubbed her back softly and looked around a bit worried about the air around them since they were breathing it in more and more.

“I’m not going. I can give you the instructions to make the antidote but this is where my story ends, it ends with Lovelace. Tell my parents I’m sorry, I was so focused on being better than The Jimmy Neutron and The Cindy Vortex I started playing God. I don’t regret the work I did or the millions I killed because why guilt trip myself? But I’m apologizing because of karma biting me in the ass.” She said as she started to reach out to her pet. Felix quickly grabbed her hand and turned her to face him.

“Fuck your shitty ass apology. You’re one of the worst people I have met after hearing you say that shit and I know quite a few in fact they’re my sister's friends because for some reason she decided to become besties with her bully. To each their own though, anyways I’m not letting you get out of this. Atone my living.” Felix pulled Ada to him and threw her over his shoulder. He stood up as Ada thrashed around. He was glad that both of them were weakened due to the poison because it wasn’t that hard to carry Ada while she was thrashing. But at the same time, he was weaker and that was a nuisance in this situation.

Ada thrashed around. He was glad that both of them were weakened due to the poison because it wasn’t that hard to carry Ada while she was thrashing. But at the same time, he was weaker and that was a nuisance in this situation.

Della had slipped in behind him and knocked Ada out by injecting her with a muscle relaxer and made sure that he was okay to carry her. “I’m sorry I was late and you had to deal with her alone for a bit. I had to make sure there was no one else around and that the toxins didn’t go that far. It seems like Morgiana was already here and dealt with that problem. She left a note, it had blood on it but she left it.” Della explained as she walked next to him. “You should go find your family as someone who has that power and freedom to do so.”

“And leave you to deal with your emotionally broken friend alone, what kind of guy would I be if I did that to you?” He asked joking around with her. She was right though, it was just that he was pretty stubborn and he had some idea of where Ruby was due to the tracker. He naturally assumed that she was with the Navy and was right since the tracker was moving, but he could be wrong. Along with that, he was also with her when things first went crazy so he wasn’t too worried. Then there was Diana, of course, he liked her, but he also assumed she wasn’t really worried about him and needed to fully sort out her feelings. Yes, they kissed but he wasn’t sure if she was okay with herself and her feelings on the inside. “They all need space right now and you two don’t have a lot of people to help you right now. From this past month, I learned that both of you decided to just run into death if no one watched you carefully. So here I am.”

“Here you are, Inessa was a better three musketeer than you though. She would just run into the fire with us.” Della smiled sadly.

“Been there done that.” He replied with a sigh. “We aren’t gonna die in like an hour right?”

“Nah I give it 48 to 72 hours with how much we breathed in.” She shrugged

#askstorykidshqevent #askstorykidshqapocalypse #it's not stealing it's borrowing forever|| felix #the world is quiet while when you're flying through the air|| della #a good nail polish can always double as a chemical weapon||ada #event: apocalypse #solo para

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angelofthenight · 2 years

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Last Man Alive Pt.7

(Dano!Riddler x Reader)

(Link to list of chapters)

Warnings: Edward is a yandere, Dark themes, Bombs, Male rage, I’m v bad at making up riddles so pls bear with me, mention of drugs in a flashback

(She/Her Pronouns)

Word Count: 2.5k

(E/l) = Ex’s last name

(F/f) = Favorite flower

“Say hello to my followers, darling. We’re live.”

(Y/n)’s eyes widened, what the hell did that mean? She looked over at Batman with a panicked expression only to be unmet with his distracted eyes that were glued to the phone screen. She bit her lip in nervousness that steamed up from her stomach, returning her line of vision back to the screen.

The Riddler continued his introduction to his dark little twisted game. “They’re here to watch our little game show. Our contestant, the man across from you; (E/n) (E/l).” Said man perked up in a flinch, panic visibly shaking his skin. “Jesus Christ can we fuckin’ get somebody on here this thing’s gonna kill me!” He called out to no one in particular.

“SHUT UP!” The Riddler snapped threateningly, jumping up and throwing himself at the phone to clench it close to his face. (Y/n) jumped from the sudden raise in volume, scared even though his anger wasn’t directed to her. But it deeply frightened her how angry he could get.

“Shut up, you should be dead after I found out what you did to her! YOU HEEEEEEEAARRRRR MEEEEEEE!” He screamed like a rabid banshee, (E/n) recoiled and bit his tongue to silence himself.

Although still emotionally cowered from the screaming, her thoughts lingered on how he said ‘what you did to her’. Was the Riddler just being delusional and grouped (E/n) with her other loved ones that he saw as “evil pests” or did (E/n) actually do something bad? Or was it maybe even both?

The Riddler inhaled slowly in a giddy way then began giggling like someone just told him a joke. He exhaled an excited breath, the phone screen still positioned very close to his masked face. “I’m giving you a chance, the others didn’t get a chance.”

(E/n)’s composure faltered as he slowly turned the phone to face him with his suspicious, scared expression on his sweaty face. “Ever since I was a child I always loved little puzzles. For me they were a retreat from the horrors of our world. Maybe they can bring comfort to you too, (E/n).” The Riddler said. “So you want me to do a puzzle?” (E/n) questioned nervously.

“Don’t think of it as a puzzle, think of it like a quiz testing your worthiness.” You could practically hear the smile through his voice, and (Y/n) hated that. She clenched her jaw and stomped over to the phone, grabbing (E/n)’s wrist to force the screen to face her. She glared at the masked man who looked at her with too much admiration. “You’re gonna rig it. How do we know you’re gonna play fair?” She asked sternly, not trusting this evil mastermind’s good sportsmanship.

The Riddler giggled out lightly, tilting his head at her as his face took up most of the screen. “Oh, sweetheart. The only way this won’t seem fair is the difference in I.Q.” He said smugly flirtatiously, like he was trying to impress her by bragging about his stronger intelligence than her ex boyfriend.

She huffed with a quiet scoff, wondering how he had the nerve to flirt with her at a time like this after everything he’s done. She slowly let go of (E/n)’s wrist, her fingers softly caressing his skin before sliding off. She returned to her spot next to Batman, somehow feeling safest when next to him.

“Three riddles, 2 minutes. You give me the answers and I’ll give you the code for the locks. Did you understand?” The Riddler asked slowly in a menacing way. (E/n) stood up stiffly, cradling the phone with both hands. “So I just-you want me to-” He was cut off by the device around his neck buzzing and making a beep noise, a countdown starting on it. “Riddle number one!”

(Y/n) watched in panic as he began pacing the floor, focusing and concentrating on what the riddle was going to be. “It can be given to be forgiven, it can be seen at the scene of a grave, but it can be given to continue the love driven. What of it does the old flame crave?” (E/n) was hyperventilating already, his voice breaking and quivering. “W-wait can you repeat that? Forgiven, grave…”

Batman thought over the riddle quickly until the last part of the riddle revealed something, along with the memory of what the Riddler said to think of this as. He turned his head slowly over to (Y/n) who was chewing on her lip and relentlessly playing with her fingers and cracking her knuckles in a fidgety style. “It’s a quiz about you.”

(Y/n) snapped her head over to him with an anxious look. “About me?” Batman quickly looked back over to the pacing hostage. “Flowers.” (E/n) perked up and turned to Batman with a hum. “What’s (Y/n)’s favorite flower?”

(E/n) thought for a second, his eyes darting all over the room to remember. (Y/n) was about to say the answer for him until he finally remembered. “Um, (F/f)’s?” “Yes! (F/f)’s!” The Riddler chirped out, (E/n) exhaled with a laugh of relief.

“And youuuuu never once gave her a bouquet of (F/f)’s. Never for a date, never for a holiday, never to just make her smile. You were supposed to brighten her gloomy days along with (B/n) (B/l) and (R/n) (R/l). Were you not, (E/n)?” The Riddler lectured loudly with an accusing, bitter tone in his voice.

(E/n) nodded shamefully to the screen to agree with the psychopath, looking over to (Y/n) with an apologetic and guilty stare. (Y/n) frowned, wanting to tell him that she didn’t care about that and to not let the Riddler make him feel bad about it. Was that seriously what the Riddler was talking about when he said “after I found out what you did to her”?

A sinking feeling deepened into her stomach when her mind lingered on the question and answer. How the hell did the Riddler know what her favorite flower was?

“Riddle number two.” The Riddler started again in a malicious voice. “In the spring of a love affair, one must give. What was the price to start the season?” (E/n) shook his head in confusion, his body almost collapsing from the intense pressure.

Batman figured out the simplification of the question. “Price, spring of a love affair. He’s asking how much money you spent on your first date.” He said hurriedly, trying to get the answer out of the ex couple as soon as possible.

(Y/n) placed her hand on her chin, her fingers tapping on her lips as she tried to recall what their first date was, it was so long ago. She flinched and ran closer to (E/n), making sure she didn’t let her eyes wander to the screen of her new worst enemy. “It was junior homecoming! You paid for both our tickets!” She exclaimed in a panicked pace. “How much were the tickets?” Batman pressed on.

(E/n) opened his mouth but no words escaped, his head shaking again in a crumbling sense of hopelessness. “I-I can’t remember, it was so long ago.”

“58 SECONDS!” The caller yelled, making both (Y/n) and (E/n) practically jump as they forced themselves to go back to the beginning of their relationship and think of the price of the tickets that made the most sense.

(Y/n)’s hands twitched in the air around her head, the price at the very tip of her tongue. She remembered she talked about the price with her prom group when the event was only months away, she knew she knew so it was tearing her apart. She squeaked when she got a brief flashback to when her and her friend calculated the prices together. “It was like 20-30 for each ticket!” She said, giving (E/n) a base to remember how much was taken out of his highschool wallet.

(E/n) looked back down to the screen. “I think I spent like 65, maybe 70 bucks? Please just give me the last one!” He begged, a birth of new tears swelling up his stressed eyes.

The Riddler bellowed out a cruel laugh, amused. “Alright, okay! Okay! Don’t lose your head, (E/n)! Just one more to go before your time runs out.” His voice slowed down. “Laaast riddle~ A long run slows to a stop before splitting into two paths. What was the cause?”

“The cause that ended a long run.” Batman reworded. “Why did you two break up?” “20 seconds!” The Riddler giggled excitedly.

“It was a mutual agreement.” (Y/n) said simply. “We just weren’t working out as well, the spark was gone.” (E/n) nervously nodded, looking back down at the screen. The Riddler’s voice darkened, his eyes burrowing into the other ends. “You have to confess the true cause, (E/n).”

(Y/n) looked pointedly at her ex. “What was the real reason?” (E/n) lowered the phone with a defeated look, his eyes casted down to the side. (Y/n) moved her head to force him to make eye contact before she started talking faster, wanting him to say the answer before the countdown reached single digits. “Come on just be honest, we’ve been done for five years so it won’t even matter.”

Batman walked closer as well, his voice becoming more forceful and pressuring. “He’s gonna kill you.” He gripped onto him, shaking him a little to force the answer out of him. “I’m a dead man either way, you’re talking to a dead man okay?!” (E/n) spat out, accepting his fate because if he told the truth his whole life would fall apart and (Y/n) would literally kill him.

By now he was just given the decision who he wanted to be killed by. And he honestly never wanted to be the victim of one of (Y/n)’s rage outbursts.

Senior Highschool student (Y/n) marched down the school hallway, huffing like a bull. Her shoulders ramming into her peers who either gave her glares or confused looks, since she was always so polite and respectful. Her vision was focused on one person and one person only, everyone else appearing as blurs in her vision.

Her quick steps came to a halt when the traitor that was on her mind came into view from the other end of the hallway, freezing when she noticed (Y/n) spotted her. She didn’t bother faking a smile as nervousness washed over her face. (Y/n) clenched her jaw and began shoving her way through the hallway to approach her.

“Okay, I know you must be really mad at me-” The girl started with a frightened voice, lifting her hands up as a sign for (Y/n) to calm down. She didn’t calm down. She switched from walking to jogging as she screamed, “I’m going to fucking kill you, you cunt!”

The girl turned to run the other way but (Y/n) already reached her and grabbed onto her long hair to bash her head against the wall of lockers. The girl groaned in pain before sliding against the locker to the ground.

Everyone around them gasped and made a circle around the two girls as (Y/n) gripped onto the girls t-shirt and threw her to the center of the floor. ‘Ooooo’s’ and chants clouded the air from the teenagers that stood as audience. (Y/n) got on the ground to straddle the girl's waist before throwing a harsh slap across her face.

The girl hissed in pain as her head was forced to turn one way. She slowly turned it back forward before (Y/n) pulled her fist back to throw a punch across the same pink cheek, the side of the girl's face hitting the floor with a ‘thud’.

“You backstabbing bitch! Why the fuck would you tell the cops that your stupid boyfriend got all the illegal drugs from me! They fucking tore my whole room apart searching for drugs that I never even had in the first place! I had to spend two nights in a holding cell!” (Y/n) yelled down at her, throwing punches with both her fists in between her sentences. Her face was contorted with absolute rage and fury.

“Beat her ass, (Y/n)!” Teenage (R/n) cheered from the sidelines with a teenage Selina beside her who looked very entertained, “Go for the eyes!”

(Y/n) continued to punch the girl she always got bad vibes from as a teenage (E/n), who was her boyfriend at the time, watched from the side as well with a look of disbelief. He wasn’t encouraging the fight but certainly wasn’t going to stop it as he watched his kind girlfriend beat the crap out of the girl who was never really a good friend in his opinion.

It wasn’t until (Y/n) swung her bloody knuckles back again when (E/n) finally got a good look at the girl. Her whole face was pink and purple and her right eye was swollen shut, blood trickled down from her now broken nose.

(E/n) gulped, noting to himself to never screw over his girlfriend.

Present day (E/n) was shaken out of the flashback by Batman, yelling at him to just say the real reason behind the break up. The countdown began buzzing in a high pitch, making the moment even more tense. (Y/n) began begging with Batman, both of their voices overlapping in (E/n)’s ears.

(E/n) squeezed his eyes shut as tears began dripping from (Y/n)’s shaking orbs. “Five! Four! Three!” When he realized there was no use now, Batman grabbed onto (Y/n) as she tried to desperately reach for her past lover, not wanting to lose him too despite their connection being dry now.

“Two! Bye!”

(Y/n)’s vision was blinded with a bright orange light and her eardrums were ringing so loud that everything else was inaudible. She felt her body slam onto the floor and slide across it while Batman's body was on top of her to act as a shield. Using her sense of touch instead of hearing and blurred sight, she knew they crashed into the row of chairs like a bowling ball to pins.

She forcefully sucked in breaths as she felt her vision fuzz and fade in and out of darkness, unconsciousness creeping up to her. She used her body weight to turn her head to Batman, whose arms she was still enveloped in. A sense of deja vu sprinkled over her body before they both fluttered their eyes closed.

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just-another-blog-of-fluff · 3 years

Text

How to Win a Breakup

Word count: 6200

Warnings: mild swearing, kissing

Despite this fic also having a fall theme, it's not intended as a sequel to the last one. But, I mean, come on... Loki, in a pirate costume for Halloween... mm 😉

“Guys… I need costume ideas,” you whined, plunking yourself down on the couch between Nat and Wanda, leaning your head on Nat’s shoulder.

“What kind of costume are we talking here?” Wanda inquired.

“The kind that will make my ex sorry that he ever cheated on me,” you grumbled, scowling.

“Ah.” Nat wrapped her arm around your shoulders comfortingly and giving you a squeeze. You lifted your head off Nat’s shoulder, leaning your head back against the couch with a frustrated sigh.

“I just don’t understand why he had to be coming to this party. Doesn’t he know I’m going to be there? It’s at my best friend’s house.”

“Boys are ignorant sometimes. Either he doesn’t realize how stupid it is for him to be going, or he just wants to make you feel bad.” Wanda glanced toward the kitchen where Vision stood making dinner. “Take it from me – it’s easier being in love with an emotionally intelligent android.”

“Yeah, well there’s only one of those around here,” you groaned.

“Hey – not all guys are ignorant,” Bucky cut in, turning his attention away from the television.

“Yeah, some of us are just emotionally constipated,” Sam jested, patting Bucky on the shoulder as he glared back at him.

“Alright, we’ve strayed away from the real problem here – I still need a costume idea.”

“What in the Nine Realms do you need a costume for?”

You glanced up to find Loki striding regally into the room, taking a seat in the open armchair across from you. As he often did, he had a book tucked under his arm. You were surprised he’d decided to grace you all with his presence instead of just reading in his room, as he typically preferred. Perhaps he’d heard you all talking and was curious.

“Because she’s going to a Halloween party tomorrow night. And she needs to show up her asshole ex-boyfriend,” Nat explained snarkily without waiting for you to respond.

“I’m not sure I follow.” Loki looked to you with a tilt of his head, urging you to elaborate.

You scoffed. “Since I’m not bringing a date, I at least need to show him that I’m confident in my single status.”

“And how does one achieve that with a Halloween costume?”

“She needs to pick something that makes her look good, makes heads turn in her direction, but doesn’t look like she’s overcompensating. So, not as oversexualized as a hot nurse in a short dress, but also not frumpy in a loose onesie cat costume,” Wanda explained.

“It has to look effortless,” Nat added. Loki raised his eyebrows, looking at you incredulously.

“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just bring a date?”

You huffed out a sarcastic laugh, smiling in self-depreciation. “Like who? It’s not exactly like I have a guy lined up waiting to take me to my friend’s Halloween party. A-and even if I did, even that isn’t that simple – it has to be a guy that he’d be jealous of to see me with, not just some random guy off the street.”

“It seems as though there’s a lot of complicated aspects to winning a Midgardian breakup,” Loki observed, a ghost of a smirk teasing at his lips.

“It’s not winning, it’s… it’s just… ok, yeah, it’s winning I guess.” You sighed, leaning your elbows on your knees, and putting your face in your hands. “Maybe I’ll just tell my friend I’m sick. Then I can just avoid this altogether.”

“You can’t do that – it will only make him realize he got to you,” Wanda countered, placing a comforting hand on your knee.

“I would go with you.”

Your head snapped up from your palms, eyes darting over to the last person you’d have expected to offer to participate in a seemingly foolish Midgardian tradition (as you imagined he would refer to it). Loki’s eyes were fixed on you, his head tilted slightly, brows raised as he waited for a response. You squinted at him, trying to identify any hint of a jest behind his questioning expression.

“You would go with me?” you asked, incredulous. “Youwould go with me?”

He furrowed his brow, nodding slowly. “I… do believe that’s what I stated.”

Sam and Bucky appeared as surprised as you did, watching Loki with their jaws hanging slightly open. Loki wasn’t typically one to go out of his way to help other people in the tower. You suspected part of that was because many of them had fought against him all those years ago, and while publicly all was forgiven, there was still a hint of bad blood between the God of Mischief and the other Avengers. Although, admittedly, he had done a favor or two for you in the past; helping you to train to fight with a dagger was the first, although you’d asked him to assist you with that, knowing he was the most practiced with a blade. He also had lent you a book of his a couple times, after you’d asked him to tell you about what he was reading. But those other times, you’d prompted him to do something for you. Never in a million years would you have expected him to just willingly offer you his Saturday evening to attend a party with a bunch of Midgardians he didn’t know.

Undoubtedly, you were intrigued by his offer. You liked to consider yourself his friend, having spent quite a bit of time together in the training room, and over discussions about your love of literature. He certainly seemed to tolerate you more than he did the others in the tower. At the very least, he didn’t scowl when you walked into a room he was sitting in, as he sometimes did when his brother entered with his boisterous voice and thundering footsteps. Maybe he saw himself as your friend too. It made you smile a little to think about.

“What would be in it for you?” you asked, allowing a smirk to cross your face to let him know you weren’t interrogating him, but genuinely were curious what was going on in his head.

“A cheating ex-boyfriend, and a party with aforementioned ex-boyfriend present? The obvious need to make a show of being happy without his dreadful company? The chance to play tricks on an unsuspecting mortal?” The dark-haired Asgardian’s eyes flashed as a sinister grin spread across his lips. “Sounds like exactly the sort of task for the God of Mischief, don’t you agree?”

“Hmm. I suppose that is true…” You leaned back into the couch, gazing across at him with your finger pressed to your chin in thought. “And you think you could make him jealous?”

Loki chuckled deeply. “Darling, is that even a question? I am a literal god. Of course, I can make him jealous.”

“Don’t go getting a big head now, Loki,” Nat teased, but she too had a smirk on her face. She looked at you, shrugging. “He kind of does have a point, though. It’s the perfect opportunity to make him regret his decisions.”

You remained silent for a moment, thinking.

“You’d have to wear a costume, you know.”

“Not a problem.”

“What about matching costumes?”

“Naturally. It’s only logical. I would be your date for the evening, after all.” Something about the way he winked at you after saying the word ‘date’ made your face feel warm.

“Well… if you’re sure… alright. I’m in. But you need to help me figure out a good costume.”

“Excellent.” His grin was practically wicked now. “When do we start?”

You spent the afternoon chatting with the others about possible costume ideas. Wanda seemed a bit wary about your decision to accept Loki’s offer, but Nat was thrilled you’d have someone as snarky as Loki to attend the party with you. She knew he found no shame in tricking other people, especially if it was to make someone else angry. What a perfect guy to help you get back at the tool you used to date.

You ran through a few ideas, finally landing on a classic. Pirates.

But, not like cheesy hook-handed pirates. Full-on Pirates of the Caribbean style.

One added benefit of attending the party with Loki was that you didn’t need to actually shop for a decent costume – he could simply magic one up for each of you before the party. He’d never tell you how he did it, of course. You suspected it may involve thievery of some sort, because how can someone just conjure fabric from thin air? Still, you weren’t about to question his methods. He had graciously offered to help you, after all.

And, boy, did he deliver. The next evening, you found your costume sitting in a neatly folded pile on your desk. Changing into the outfit, you turned and looked yourself over in the mirror. You left your hair down, a three-pointed pirate hat atop your head. With a tight-fitted, long red dress shirt underneath a black knee-length leather coat on your upper half, you wore fitted pants with knee-high black boots on your feet. To complete the look, a black sash worn around your waist, with a sheath and a cutlass that looked all too real (and probably was, but you didn’t want to find out.) It was the perfect mix of sexy and badass. You put on a bit of makeup before heading out of your room to meet Loki at the car Tony had lent you.

The thought had never crossed your mind to see Loki in any sort of costume (other than his Asgardian leather, of course; because honestly, you couldn’t say that wasn’t a costume of sorts). Certainly not a pirate costume, of all things.

But damn did he make it look good.

He, too, wore a three-pointed hat over his dark locks, which he’d tied back in a low bun at the nape of his neck. His torso was adorned with a loose (well, loose by Loki’s standards) white button-down shirt with a thick brown belt around his waist and a brown leather captain’s coat with gold trim along the sleeves. On his lower half, brown pants with a darker brown leather boot.

As you approached, he shot you a half-smirk, adding another one of those sly winks for good measure. You suddenly felt weak in the knees.

“You look… wow. Pirate looks good on you,” you breathed, trying to hide the tint in your cheeks.

“Yes, but not nearly as good as it looks on you,” he flirted, taking your hand in his and raising it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to your knuckles.

Ok, there was no hiding the color in your face now.

“A-are you ready to head out then?” you stammered, glancing at the car to give yourself an excuse to avert your eyes from his piercing gaze.

“After you.” He opened the back door for you, allowing you to duck inside before following you. The driver backed the car away from the tower and headed down the street toward your friend’s house.

You allowed the silence to press on for a bit, not really knowing what to say to this demigod who had offered his time and attention simply to make your ex jealous. Do you say thank you? Come up with a game plan? What exactly is the protocol in this sort of situation?

“Would you like to set any ground rules?” Loki’s deep voice actually startled you from your thoughts, and you turned to look at him, forgetting how close he was sitting in the back of the small car. You cleared your throat, trying to hide your flustered appearance.

“Ground rules? What sort of ground rules?”

“Well, I am your ‘date’ to this event. And I am not your romantic partner in reality, so I assume you’d want to set some limits as to how far you’re willing to go to make this horrible man jealous.”

“Oh. Right.” You swallowed, not having given this much thought. “Well, uh… you can hold my hand.”

“Child’s play, darling. Go on.”

“And… uh… I’m gonna need some examples of what you’re referring to,” you mumbled, happy that it was dark out because your face was on fire right now.

“Examples? Honestly, did this ex of yours treat you well at all?”

“Loki! That’s not… I didn’t mean…”

“Examples would include affectionate gestures normally seen in Midgardian romantic relationships. As in, would you prefer to limit this fictitious relationship to hand-holding? Or are you looking to drive the dagger up to the hilt in your ex-lover’s chest and share a passionate kiss in front of him?”

“O-oh my god Loki,” you squeaked, hiding your face in your hands despite the fact that he couldn’t see how flushed your face was getting. “Ok, uh… let’s just limit it to a kiss on the cheek at most for now.”

“Noted.” He pondered for a moment. “What does this ex-boyfriend of yours look like?”

“I’ll point him out to you when I see him.”

“And this man was unfaithful to you?”

“Yes, I believe we’ve established that.” You turned to stare straight ahead again, trying not to think of that day. The day you learned he had hooked up with his neighbor in the apartment next door. You were glad it happened before things got too serious between the two of you, but you had been dating for seven months by that time. You may not have been ready for an engagement or anything, but it was still a slap in the face.

Loki reached over and placed a firm hand on your knee. You glanced up at him in the darkness, the glow of the streetlights illuminating the fierce look on his face.

“We’ll give him hell.”

You chuckled, smiling weakly. “Thanks.”

The car arrived at your friend’s house, and Loki quickly got out so he could open the door for you like a true gentleman. You took his outstretched hand and stepped out of the car, lacing your fingers through his. With one last deep, steadying breath, you led Loki inside to join the party.

You preferred to be fashionably late so as not to be the only person there, and so the house was already fairly crowded with costumed friends and strangers alike. Politely, you greeted your friends as you passed by them, making your way to the host across the room to introduce your ‘date’ to your best friend.

“Y/N! You made it!” Your friend threw her arms around you the moment you made your way over to her. “Oh! And you’ve brought someone?”

“This is Loki,” you introduced him, introducing your friend to Loki as well. “He’s my date for the evening…” Leaning closer, you whispered, “…so that asshat ex of mine doesn’t think I’m still single.”

“Oh, you’re so bad!” she teased, shoving your shoulder playfully. “Well, he deserves to see you happy.” She turned and pointed at Loki. “You’d better make her happy.”

“That is my intent.”

“Oh!” She leaned closer to you to whisper, “There he is – he just walked in.”

Cautiously turning around to avoid making a scene, your eyes landed on your ex, Adam, walking in with the pretty neighbor from next door. He was dressed as a doctor, with his date dressed as – you guessed it – a sexy nurse.

“Lovely. He’s still with her,” you grunted through gritted teeth. “That’s not even what nurses actually wear! How impractical would a dress be?”

“Why don’t we go get a drink and find somewhere to sit for a while,” Loki urged, tearing your focus away from your cheating ex-boyfriend. You nodded, waving goodbye to your friend as you allowed Loki to lead you to the refreshments table.

With a beer in hand, the two of you found a seat on a sofa in the living room. Your eyes flitted over to your ex standing across the room chatting with his new girlfriend and one of her friends. Adam glanced over briefly, his eyes landing on you. Immediately, you stiffened, hand squeezing Loki’s hand still laced with your own.

Loki unwound his fingers from yours and slid his arm around your waist, prompting you to look at him. His eyes were soft, an unusual look on him as you were used to his cold or calculated stares, or otherwise his trademark mischievous smirk.

“Don’t look at him. It will make him believe you care about what he thinks.”

“Well, I do,” you whispered.

“You shouldn’t. He is a villainous lowlife. Or, an ‘asshat’ as you’ve so titled him.”

You laughed despite yourself. “Alright, you tell me then – is he still looking?”

“Not yet, but he’s glanced over numerous times.”

“Well, when he does… feel free to kiss me on the cheek so he sees it.”

Loki’s eyes flashed, a subtle smirk crossing his face. “If that is what you wish, then certainly.”

You chatted for a bit, trying everything in your power to avoid looking over at Adam despite your brain screaming for you to glance in his direction. You trusted that Loki would let you know when he was looking your way. And sure enough, he did.

“He’s looking this way,” he whispered, squeezing your side where his hand rested on your waist to get your attention. You jumped at the ticklish touch, letting out a small giggle. Loki leaned in and kissed your cheek as promised, but before he pulled away, he paused to whisper in your ear. “Oh dear. Are you ticklish?”

“What? I- ahaha no!” He didn’t wait for your response, repeating the squeezing motion against your side a few times. You buckled under his touch, rapid giggles flowing from your lips.

“This is adorable.”

“L-Loki wahait! I’m holding a drihink, I’m gonna spill ihit!” you pleaded, shoving at his hand on your waist. His fingers stilled, and you allowed yourself to relax again into his side. He reached over and took the beer from your hand, turning to place it on a side table next to the couch.

“No longer a problem.” He brought his other hand down to your hip, kneading his fingers into the bone while picking up with squeezing your side again. Giggling frantically, you pushed weakly at his hands, helplessly melting into his side.

“Hehehey-AHaha noho!” He let his arm around your waist travel up to your lower ribs, scratching into the spaces and grinning as your laughter pitched up in volume.

“He’s certainly watching now, darling,” Loki whispered, sliding his hand at your hip down to squeeze above your knee.

“Okahahay we win then! Nohoho more!”

He stopped his ticklish assault, chuckling as he leaned in to kiss your cheek again. “You’re no fun, darling.”

“No fun?? Because I won’t let you torture me?”

“Let me? That would imply that I couldn’t overpower you and tickle you senseless.” Your face flushed. “In any case, it certainly seemed to bother your ex-lover.”

Sneaking a brief glance, you saw Adam with a sour look on his face, no longer holding his new girlfriend’s hand. Looking back to Loki, you grinned smugly.

“Alright, I’ll give you that.”

Loki’s eyes lit up. “So, you’re saying I may continue?” His fingers clawed into your belly, causing you to double over, a renewed bout of giggles bubbling up in your throat.

“NOho! That’s nohot what I meheheant!”

He relented, removing his fingers from your belly. Leaning in close to your ear once again, he whispered, “Don’t think that this is over, darling. You’re not off the hook yet.” You shivered, a squeaky whine escaped your lips, making Loki laugh, a warm, gravelly rumble in his chest. He pulled you in closer to rest more firmly against his side.

Loki was a well-mannered date, mingling along with you with the other guests, getting you food and drinks throughout the evening, and above all, making sure he was holding your hand or gripping your waist whenever Adam was looking in your direction. There was music playing in the sitting room, and as people had a few drinks and became more relaxed, guests gradually began to dance to the Halloween-themed tunes.

“Would you do me the honor of dancing with me, darling?” Loki asked, slipping his hand into yours.

“Certainly, my dear,” you teased, allowing him to lead you to an open space in the sitting room. He wrapped his arms around your waist, and you clasped your hands around his neck, swaying gently to the music.

“Your friend is staring again,” Loki whispered. You glanced out of your peripheral vision, accidentally catching Adam’s gaze. He turned away from you, looking into his girlfriend’s eyes and leaning in to press a kiss to her lips.

The feeling that washed over you, you wouldn’t call jealousy. No, more like pure rage, thinking about the fact that this man had broken your trust to run off with this woman without a second thought.

“You’re allowing him to get in your head, aren’t you?” Loki’s voice brought you back to the present, and you realized you had clenched your hands into fists against the back of his neck. You turned to meet his eyes, glowing blue green as he analyzed your expression. He took a breath, then asked, “Do you trust me?”

“I… yes?” you replied cautiously. His gaze was so intense, you felt as though he could see into your mind, read your thoughts.

He slowly, carefully, leaned forward, bringing his face closer to yours with his brows pitched up in silent request for permission to be this close to you. To push the boundaries of your ‘ground rules’ that you’d set in the beginning. But only if you allowed it. His eyes flitted down to your lips for only a moment, and you knew what he intended to do. Subtly, you offered him a nearly imperceptible nod. The corner of his lips twitched up into a grin, and he leaned in a bit closer.

Your hats bumped when he leaned too close, making you laugh. With a grunt, he reached up and removed your hat from your head, closing the distance between you to slant his lips across yours.

You weren’t sure what you were expecting, kissing Loki. Maybe that it would feel weird, since you were friends. Maybe even that it would be awkward, or that you’d feel grateful that he was even willing to stoop himself to this level and kiss a mortal such as yourself just to help you get your revenge.

You didn’t expect the fireworks. You didn’t expect your knees to buckle, your eyes to flutter closed in bliss, your skin to tingle as he weaved his fingers into the hair at the nape of your neck. You certainly didn’t expect the low growl that came from Loki’s throat as he tugged you in closer, or for him to deepen the kiss as he dipped you backward slightly.

Oh, gods, it was wonderful.

You were smitten.

When he finally pulled away, the only thing that mattered in that moment was the god who held you tightly in his arms. Even if it wasn’t real, to even feel for this moment that it could be was wonderful, if only until you left this party. Loki looked entirely too pleased with himself knowing he was the reason you had a dizzy, hazy look in your eyes, but you didn’t even mind. He ducked his head down to move his lips beside your ear.

“I believe you won this breakup,” he whispered.

Oh. Right. Your ex. The whole reason Loki was even here with you tonight.

You stole a quick glance to where Adam had been dancing with his girlfriend and found he was no longer there. Instead, you saw his back retreating through the door to the next room, his girlfriend following hot on his heels as she shouted something at him.

“Good.” You grinned half-heartedly as you looked back at Loki. “I need to go to the bathroom for a sec, I’ll be right back.”

Loki’s eyes skimmed over your face as if searching for something, but he nodded and released his hold around you. Before you backed away, he swept his arm up to place your hat back atop your head. You laughed a little, straightening the gaudy hat before heading in the direction of the bathroom.

You needed a moment alone, if only just to breathe and recenter yourself on the true intent of this date. Loki was helping you get back at your ex. Nothing more. And he didn’t owe you anything more. It was kind enough of him to offer to attend the party with you to help you save face. He played the part excellently.

“Hey.”

You stopped dead in your tracks, confronted with the one person you didn’t want to talk to this evening. Folding your arms protectively across your chest, you shot him a hard look.

“Hi.”

“Can we talk?”

“What for?” You laughed humorlessly, shaking your head. “There’s nothing to say.”

“Y/N, come on… don’t be like that. I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not. You’re not sorry for what you did. What you’re sorry about is that you’re having second thoughts, and you think you can just come sweet talk me into forgiving you.” The fire in your eyes burned into his, and you felt your muscles tensing as you bristled from his words.

“No, it’s not like that…” Adam reached out to try to take your hand, and you took an abrupt step back.

“Don’t. You don’t get to touch me.” He retracted his hand, giving you a desperate look.

“Please, can’t we just go talk outside for a minute?”

“I’m afraid she’s spoken for tonight.” A pleasant thrill ran through your chest at the sound of Loki’s smooth, velvety, dark voice behind you. He stepped up to stand by your side, sliding an arm around your waist and tugging you closer, twisting his body so he was standing a step in front of you, almost protectively closer to your ex than you were. Adam shrank back a little as he took in Loki’s intimidating, proud posture. Not waiting for him to say anything, Loki turned his head to look at you. “Are you ready to leave now, darling?”

“Yes, let’s go.” You shot one last look in Adam’s direction, setting your jaw. “See you.”

Allowing Loki to lead you with a hand at the small of your back, you made your way over to say goodbye to your best friend before taking your leave.

The both of you were silent on your way to the car, remaining so even as the driver pulled away from your friend’s house to begin the short drive home to the tower. There were so many thoughts running through your head as you stared out the window at the streetlights and building racing past the car. Naturally, the fact that your ex thought he could corner you and talk you into forgiving him infuriated you. But despite that, the dominating thought in your mind was about the prince of Asgard sitting beside you, and the memory of the feeling of his lips against yours. You would never regret the decision to allow him to kiss you. But now that it had happened, and you actually felt something, where did you go from here?

“Did that horrid ex-lover of yours upset you?” Loki asked suddenly, breaking the heavy silence.

“A little, yeah. Who does he think he is? What makes him think he has the right to try to talk to me after the way he treated me?” You kept your gaze focused out the window, afraid if you looked at Loki’s face you’d stop breathing.

“He’s a witless swine. He doesn’t deserve you.”

You barked out a laugh at that. “He found someone prettier than me anyway. I’m not sure why he was so interested.”

Loki grabbed your arm and squeezed hard, almost painfully so, prompting you to look at him. His eyes were dark but fierce, brow furrowed in anger.

“Don’t you ever say such things about yourself.”

Taken aback by his stern words, you allowed the self-depreciating smirk to drop from your face. “Wow, alright, no need to be so intense.”

“I’m serious. You are beautiful, and not only that, but you are intelligent and witty, gentle and kind. Any man should consider himself fortunate to call himself your romantic partner.”

“Ok, now that is an exaggeration.”

“You’re doing it again.” Loki narrowed his eyes at you. “Keep that up, and I’ll be forced to tickle you.”

“W-whahat?” Your heart leapt into your throat, heat creeping into your cheeks. A slow smirk spread across his face as he watched you react to his threat.

“Say you were wrong to speak so negatively of yourself. Tell me you are beautiful. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to teach you a lesson.”

“I am not saying that – no, wait a minute, L-Loki…” His smirk broadening, he scooted a bit closer to you, snaking his arm around your waist and resting his hands threateningly against your sides. “… y-you can’t be serious, that’s not… that’s not fair!”

“I’m still waiting, darling. I’ve yet to hear the words that will save you from this.”

You jolted a bit, giggling as his fingertips contracted into your sides to punctuate his threat. “I-Ihi won’t say it, uh-uh. No way – no, noho, NOHOHO!”

Sighing as if it pained him, he dug his fingers into your sides again, unrelenting as he squeezed and pinched up and down to reach your lower ribs. Giggling hysterically, you twisted to try to break his hold, shoving weakly at his hands with your own. You had limited space to squirm around in the back seat of the car, and it only made you feel more trapped in his hold as he sought to break your stubborn resolve with his deft fingertips.

“It would have been so simple to just say something nice about yourself. Is this really worth it? Being so stubborn?”

The real answer was yes, absolutely. If the consequence of refusing to say something kind about yourself was for Loki to wrap you up in his arms and tickle you to pieces, well, you’d accept your fate. The pleasant warmth of his arms around your waist, the way he knew exactly how to wiggle his fingertips into your skin to draw the most desperate giggles from your mouth, and feeling so comfortable allowing yourself to release such silly laughter in front of him… it almost made you forget about the looming question of what you were going to do about this sudden surge of feelings you had for the god.

“Ihi still wohohon’t say it!” you cried defiantly. With a growl, he slid one hand up to pry his way under your arm, the other darting over to the center of your belly, clawing rapidly into both spots and laughing himself as you snorted before dissolving into loud belly laughter.

“You’ll need to submit eventually, dear.” His voice rumbled right in your ear, the proximity flustering you further. Glancing out the window, you saw you were pulling up to the tower already. The moment the car stopped, you whipped your hand down by your hip to unbuckle yourself and jumped out of the car, making a run for the door while you continued to giggle from the sheer absurdity of it all.

You should have known better than to think you could outrun the God of Mischief. Within moments, his arms latched around your waist from behind, tackling you and dragging you down to the side into a pile of leaves. The fallen foliage softened the landing, and you took a moment to catch your breath as best you could through your giggles as you looked up at the dark-haired god hovering over you. His curls had fallen out of the hair tie just slightly, a few stray strands hanging loose around his shadowed face. More striking, though, was the bright smile on his face as he laughed along with you, almost childishly so. He propped himself up a bit more firmly on his elbows to get a better look at your expression, with your eyes squinted nearly shut and your cheeks squished up toward your eyes from the wide grin on your face.

“Eheh… now, I need to hear you say it,” he demanded through his laughter.

“No! I wohon’t do it!” Loki leaned his weight onto one arm, bringing the other down to knead at your ribcage. His grin only broadened when your giggles pitched up in octave, affected by his touch. “NOHO LOKI IT TIHIHICKLES!”

“That would be the point, love,” he laughed, allowing himself to drop and press his whole weight into you to free his other hand to tease your other side. You shoved at his shoulders with your hands, but he was dead weight against you, effectively holding you down without hope of escape.

“YOU’RE HEHEHEAVY!”

Loki gasped facetiously. “So rude!” He slipped his hands under your coat to get better access to slide his fingers under your arms, scratching gently at the skin through the thin layer of fabric you had left to protect you. You threw your head back in hysterics, feeling your hat slide off your head.

“NOHO LOKI GEHEHET YOUR HAHANDS OUT!”

“Why? Is it too much, darling?” His grin was maddeningly flustering, so you shut your eyes tight to avoid looking at him as you pressed your arms down to your sides as best you could.

What happened next was quite possibly the most flustering thing he’d done all evening. More than the vicious tickle attack, more than the hand holding, the cuddling, the staged kissing… all of it combined.

Overwhelmed by adoration, looking down at your face scrunched up with laughter, Loki instinctively ducked down and pressed his lips to yours again without a second thought. You squeaked in surprise, eyes snapping open. He stilled his fingers, still pinned under your arms, as he lifted his head to give you a somewhat apologetic look.

“I-I didn’t mean to overstep, I- mmph!”

You silenced his stammering apology, wrapping one arm around his neck and dragging his face back down to yours to kiss him again. He picked up where he left off without missing a beat, lifting one hand up to cup your face. You tangled your fingers through his hair, undoing the hair tie a bit more in the process, but the satisfied moan he made against your lips was worth it. His hand slid around your neck to return the favor, gently weaving his fingers into the hair at the nape of your neck and tugging gently to send a wave of goosebumps down your spine. A contented sigh into his lips told him you appreciated his reverent touch.

The peaceful contented feeling was short-lived, however; dissipating when the fingers of his other hand that were still pinned under your arm began to dig into your uppermost ribs with renewed vigor. Your desperate giggles were muffled against his lips, and though you tried to pull away to scold him, he only pressed his hand harder against the back of your neck to prevent you from breaking the kiss.

You finally managed to turn your head a bit to regain the ability to speak, still laughing at the ticklish feeling of his fingers vibrating under your arm.

“LOHOKI YOU’RE – AHAHA – YOU’RE RUINING A MOHOMENT!”

“Just making sure you’re aware that I haven’t forgotten – you still haven’t said one kind word about yourself,” he teased, grazing the fingertips of the hand at your neck along the sensitive skin below your ear. You squealed and made to open your mouth to scold him, but he silenced you once again with his mouth against yours, reveling in the fact that despite the giggling mess he’d made of you, you still leaned into his touch.

When he managed to pull his hand out from under your arm and move to dig his fingers into the front of your ribs, you kicked your feet against the ground and shook your head.

“MMOKAY I CAHAN’T!” Loki paused his tickling fingers, looking down at you expectantly as you gasped desperately for breath. “Ihi… whahat was I supposed to say again?”

“Cheeky little…”

“NOHO WAIT I’M SEHEHERIOUS!” you cried as he began to drill his thumb into your ribs again. He stopped, chuckling at you.

“Tell me you’re sorry for speaking so negatively of yourself. Admit to me you are beautiful.” The resolute look in his eyes, mixed with a touch of soft reverence, made your stubbornness melt away.

“Fine. I’m sorry I said such things. And I’m… beautiful.”

Loki looked at you with a hint of sadness in his eyes. “What do I need to do to make you believe it?”

You gazed up at him, subconsciously tucking a piece of his hair behind his ear out of his face. “Just… look at me like that a little more often, and maybe I’ll start to believe you.”

“Anything for you, love.”

“Good. Now kiss me again.”

“Mm. As you command, darling.” He ducked down to catch your lips with his, but you stopped him with a finger pressed to his lips.

“Without tickling me this time,” you winked.

“You’re no fun.” Chuckling, you allowed him to close the distance and kiss you once again. In that moment, held so reverently in Loki’s arms, you began to believe that, maybe, you were worthy of him.

#ticklish!reader #sfw tickle fluff #tickle fluff #loki tickle #tickle fic #marvel tickle #ler!loki #lee!reader #loki x reader #Loki in a pirate costume

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pascalpanic · 3 years

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Lovely Josie! Can I request a Frankie piece? Where reader is part of the friend group and really into Frankie. She knows he's also into her but just typical insecure Frankie. So she flirts with him and tries to seduce him every chance she gets until one day she's had enough and really goes for it. And if course Frankie likes it 😇 Merci!

Spicy-Sweet (Frankie Catfish Morales x f!Reader)

summary: ^^

W/C: 4.3K

Warnings: lots of talk of alcohol, food, god Frankie’s an idiot but a cute one, so much pining and flirting, implied age gap and Frankie’s insecure over it, Frankie has a brief and mild anxiety attack but is comforted

A/N: this is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written, I really hope you guys enjoy it!

Bucky- that was what the men called you. When you’d first joined the group of men, it’d been as Pope’s friend, a shock to all of them; you weren’t sleeping together, weren’t sneaking around. Just friends. That threw them for a loop. You were always at his side, his right-hand wing-woman. Frankie had been a little put off at first that he’d been replaced, but he grew to like you just as much as the other men. That’s how you’d earned Bucky: Cap’s sidekick, Pope’s sidekick.

When you finally bonded with the rest of them, became friends with them, you were less Pope’s sidekick and more yourself. You grew to love the men for different things. Benny was always there to cheer you up, full of bad jokes and energy. He’d take you out when a date stood you up, buy you a beer on your shittiest days. Will Miller was a shoulder to cry on. He was smart, strong, emotionally intelligent. Wise beyond his years, Ironhead always had the best advice for you. Pope was the partier, and was the one who got things done. Organizing plans was his forte. He loved getting the group together to hang out, and was the only one who could rally the group.

Frankie was all of that and more. Everything. Frankie had caught your eye the moment Pope introduced you to the men. Frankie was the quietest, even quieter than Will. He never enjoyed the spotlight, especially when you were new, but he loved making his friends laugh. He was comforting and helpful, lending you a jacket or helping you with a manual labor task you couldn’t quite get.

Frankie is the one you have a crush on. All of the men have their attributes, and you have to admit that any of them would make a good boyfriend and surely a good lover, but they are and always have been brotherly first. Frankie was something different. You wanted to stay in his arms forever, wanted to kiss the bald patch on his jaw and steal his Hawaiian shirts. You tease him endlessly to hide your feelings, though never in a mean way at all. Always soft and joking, always reciprocated by the teddy bear of a man.

You were the same to him; the first time he saw you, he thought he wanted to marry you someday. He loves your laugh and your humor, loves the way you nudge his side and even though it’s a little painful, wants you to do it again just so he can feel your body touching his. He loves how you can hold court over the men with your stories, can get them to agree on the most divisive of issues. He’d even proposed once that you become Cap, not Bucky. You were clearly a leader. But Santiago brushed it off by saying that Bucky was getting his own show now, so he’s just fine, and besides pendejo, you can’t change a nickname once it's been given.

Emotionally constipated Frankie is just fine to sit to the sidelines. If he has one principle with love and friends, it’s that he’d rather have you as a friend than not have you at all. That’s why he doesn’t necessarily openly flirt with you, why he suppresses his feelings until it’s late at night and he’s alone and can daydream about your pretty face and tight jeans and the crinkle of your nose when you smile.

You’re different. You wear that green shirt you know Frankie always ogles you in when it’s a night out. You buy him a drink or two. You insist he dance with you, take him on errands with you on a Saturday morning. You can read the man; you’re pretty damn sure he likes you too, but you don’t want to ruin it. Rushing him is the last thing on your mind.

As you wander through the farmer’s market on a spring Sunday morning, you shiver as the breeze rushes past your bare arms. Frankie doesn’t notice; he’s too busy admiring a booth selling hot honey. You can’t help but laugh as he delightedly samples a spoon of the syrupy-sweet-spicy product, and turns to you with wide eyes. “Bucky, you gotta try this,” he insists, handing you a sample spoon.

Nodding, you give in and taste it. The flavor on your tongue reminds you of Frankie if he were a flavor: a little spicy, but more of a warm feeling. Infinitely sticky-sweet, floral and tasting of sunshine. There’s heat, just a little, enough to awaken your tastebuds and mingle with the honey perfectly. “That’s good shit. How much is it?” You ask the vendor.

A few minutes later, you walk away with two bottles. You hand one to Frankie. “Here. This is for you,” you tell him with an earnest smile.

Frankie’s brows slide together beneath the brim of his favorite ball cap. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to,” you shrug and pat his cheek, your path curving to the right as you approach a bakery stall.

The morning is sunny and just slightly cold, making you shiver every so often. Sweet Frankie walks dutifully at your side like the dogs and their owners similarly strolling the tent-lined sidewalk. His eyes light up as he sees breads and flowers, homemade jerky and beautiful jewelry. The variety is exciting, and you often hear Frankie shouting for you from a new booth.

While you admire the jewelry made of local stones, something warm and soft covers your shoulders. You look down to find that it’s Frankie’s suede brown jacket. “You looked cold,” he tells you and turns a little pink before patting your shoulder and wandering off.

At the end of the day, you have a full reusable bag, brimming with goodies: a small bright bouquet, two loaves of bread, cookies, fresh berries, and a bottle of hot honey. Frankie’s is similarly stuffed, though it’s with much more unhealthy choices. The two of you sit on a grassy hill, munching on a pack of thumbprint cookies Frankie purchased.

The morning sun is just starting to warm up, but the jacket you’re now wearing is cozy. You lean your head on Frankie’s shoulder as the two of you rest there without words, lost in your own thoughts.

God, he’s so cute. So sweet. A little stupid. Just how I like them. Is my flirting not obvious enough to him? You wonder internally.

Frankie’s thoughts are similar but different. She’s so sweet. She’s so nice to me. I wonder if she’d ever like me like that.

Partying is Pope’s favorite pastime. The man enjoys getting shitfaced and taking a similarly drunk date home. Lord knows what they do; you’re glad you don’t. That leaves you and the Millers and Frankie. You and Benny dance and sing karaoke, twirling and shouting the lyrics to the song blasting in the bar. Frankie and Will sit on the sidelines.

That’s exactly where tonight has found you. A surprisingly sober Pope has gone home with a pretty girl he flirted with briefly before she tugged him by the jacket sleeve. He shot a look of excitement at the four of you before leaving.

Now, Benny requested his favorite song through the pay-per-tune machine in the corner. You’d squealed and dragged him out, dancing with him on the wooden floor the bar provides. Frankie can’t help but think the two of you would make a good couple. The two of you are full of sarcasm and energy at most times, around the same age. Frankie’s a bit older, and he can’t help but think that it would be weird for you, that it would prevent him from liking you. If only he knew.

Benny does, actually. He’s annoyed that your group doesn’t give him enough credit for his smarts. He might be mostly muscle, but he’s packing brains too. He’s great at observing social interactions, and he can especially tell that there’s something between the two of you. He’s learned his best friend like he knows how to drive or what his own phone number is. Benny knows Frankie, and he knows he won’t make the first move for fear of upsetting you. That’s why he’s taken it upon himself to be your blonde, blue eyed Cupid and queued up Frankie’s favorite song next.

You know it’s his favorite song. Of course you do. When it comes on, you turn to the bar with wide eyes and wave to catch Frankie’s attention, then wave him over. Benny says something or another and wanders off. It takes some nonverbal persuading, some pleading eyes and pouting to the man, but Frankie eventually adjusts his jeans and gets up, leaving that suede jacket behind on his barstool.

“It’s your song!” you exclaim as you throw your arms around him, starting to dance along with him. He moves back with you, though nowhere near as fluid or free.

He shakes his head but smiles, and you flick the brim of his cap. “Oh come on, you love this song. Don’t be such a dope,” you tease and grab his hips, forcing him to move them a little more than the stiff motions he’s making.

“I am a dope,” he mumbles and you roll your eyes, moving in a way that invites Frankie to move back against it. It’s a two-person dance, and you’re starting to get him moving.

Chuckling, you look up at him. “You ever seen Footloose?” you ask him.

He blows a raspberry into the air, laughing. “Of course I have. It’s my favorite movie.”

“Then how come you can’t dance?” You tease.

Frankie makes a noise of mock-injury, clutching his chest. “Damn, Bucky. Right in the heart.”

You giggle and rest your head on his shoulder. “I was going to say that you remind me of Willard. I guess that’s fitting though. You can’t dance.”

His scent is the only thing you can think about, the way his cologne is spicy and sweet on his flushed skin, warm from having you in such close proximity. “Does that make Pope Ren?”

“And it makes me whatever the girl who dates Willard is named,” you shamelessly flirt, swaying him to the side as the song changes in keys.

If there was anything in Frankie’s mouth right now, he’d be choking. Maybe it’s just because you’re dancing together, he rationalizes. Maybe it’s just because you wouldn’t want to date Pope. It can’t be because you like him. That’s not even a thought that crosses his mind. “Ha. Sure,” he shakes his head, taking off his cap and teasingly placing it backwards on your head.

It’s loose on your head, and you laugh as you look up at him. Frankie has that feeling again in his gut: he’s going to marry you someday. It can’t be the alcohol, not in either of you. You’ve both only had a drink each. No, in this moment he realizes the depth of how bad he wants you, but he cannot comprehend that you want him too. There’s no way you could ever love a man like Francisco Morales, he tells himself. But he wants you to. He aches for you to.

The song ends and the ache only grows. Frankie is not a dancer. This is his time to retire to the barstool. “Well, thank you for holding my hat,” he teases you and steals it back, putting it on himself and patting your side before wandering back to his spot next to Will.

You frown, but then Benny finds you again and the energy returns somewhat. You long to feel Frankie’s arms around you again, to dance with him and whisper jokes next to his ear so that you can feel the way his laugh buzzes in his chest. You consider buying another play of Frankie’s song later, but that would be suspicious. You’ll have to find another way, but you have to do it soon; you’re not sure how much longer you can last before you combust from not getting to kiss his soft lips, to feel his scruff beneath your fingertips as you cup his face and finally close the gap between the two of you.

Frankie is much too old for parties. He’d decided that even a few years ago now, that that sort of thing was best left to the young bucks who could drink endlessly and awaken with only a mild headache. How the hell Benny had talked him into attending this party, he wasn’t sure, but he knew that you’d be there and that was enough for him.

You’re not a big partier either; you can get wild, but only around your friends, usually only with Benny there to egg you on and hand you shot after shot. You don’t particularly like getting drunk, just enough alcohol to make things a bit lighter. Benny and Santiago were the ones who’d insisted you and Frankie come along to this party a mutual friend of theirs is hosting.

Of course, the boys wanted you two there but had failed to mention they were each bringing dates. When you wandered in with Benny and a girl flung herself onto him, peppering his blonde stubble with kisses, you’d quickly learned that you weren’t going to get a good night with your favorite guys. Santiago was similarly taken, a girl draped across his lap in a busy living room, each of them holding a drink. He’d given you a two-finger salute as you wandered to the kitchen, kind of annoyed.

You’d dressed a little nicer, though nothing too special, and you immediately hoped at least Frankie and Will would be around tonight to hang out with. Will’s not a big partier, though he’s a little more social than you and Frankie. Your phone buzzes in your back pocket and your face falls as you read the text.

Ironhead: sorry guys. Not gonna make it out tonight.

He provides no explanation why; Will never does. You know better than to question it. Your only hope now is that Frankie doesn’t blow you off.

Frankie could never. The promise of you being at the party was enough for him to meticulously shave and spray that cologne he knows you love on his flannel, which you’ll surely ask for because you’re always cold. He’s not here yet, so you lean against the kitchen counter and crack open a hard seltzer as you look around. Bringing your drink with you, you hit the bathroom and when you return, there’s a familiar ball cap poking above the crowd, labeled with Standard Heating & Oil. Frankie.

Sneaking up behind him, you snatch the cap from his head and put it on yourself. “Hey, pilot,” you sing as he turns and his face lights up to see you. His hair is still slightly damp from the shower, leaving an indent in those curls from where the cap was.

“Goddamnit, Buck,” he laughs and tries to steal it back, but you dodge out of the way.

“Looks like it’s just us tonight, flyboy,” you sigh as you prop an elbow on his shoulder and look around, finding Benny and his girl making out on the dance floor and Santiago playing with a woman’s hair on the couch.

Frankie has to admit he’s okay with that. “They didn’t tell me they’d be bringing dates,” you grumble. Frankie holds back a chuckle. This was most definitely planned, Wingman Benny embracing his role in forcing the two of you together. Frankie couldn’t say he was too upset about it, in all honesty. “Come on, let’s get you a drink,” you shake your head and grab Frankie by the bicep, trying not to shiver at how muscular his arms are.

In the kitchen, you toy with the hem of his shirt as he mixes himself an old fashioned from the vast cocktail bar. “I love this one,” you murmur absentmindedly, admiring the worn fabric and the ripping seams at the hem. It’s so perfectly Frankie: an old black Fleetwood Mac shirt, nearly falling apart. There are holes in the hems and under the left armpit but it always smells sweet and spicy, just like him, and feels like a security blanket. “Looks good on you.”

“Looks like a piece of shit. I need to just throw it out, but I can’t bring myself to,” he chuckles as he finally takes a sip of his drink. He knows the reason he can’t: you love it too much.

“Good,” you nod and set down your hard seltzer, making yourself a drink.

“What you got there?” he asks as he watches you stir up a concoction.

“Essentially the same as you. Old fashioned but with Fireball instead of regular whiskey.”

“You seem to like the spicy-sweet thing, don’t you?” he teases.

God, if only he knew. “Spicy-sweet, just like someone else I know,” you tease him and nudge your shoulder with his. “Maybe that’s why I like you so much.”

Frankie’s heart does several backflips in a row, complete with a roundoff and a cartwheel. He’d earn the gold in the Olympics, the way his heart tumbles and turns in his chest. “Ha,” he laughs dryly, looking down at his own drink, swishing it and watching the ultra-sweet cherry spin through the dark liquid.

The music gets louder from the other room as you and Frankie drink in silence, both of you leaning against the kitchen counter as the amount of alcohol per cup steadily decreases. “I’m gonna go see if I can find Pope,” Frankie finally speaks over the loudening noise, nodding to the living room where everyone is clustered.

“Sure,” you call back, even though he’s just a few feet from you.

It’s practically a maze, trying to find his way through the people. They’re all moving and bouncing, the sound overwhelming him. It’s like a goddamn mosh pit, he thinks, or how it must feel to be buried inside one. How did this party become something like this, and why the hell is he here? Frankie wanders through, getting turned around as the group moves and sways.

His breathing gets heavier, and suddenly Frankie feels suffocated. His primary objective no longer is finding Pope, it’s getting the fuck out of here before this herd stampedes him to death. He feels pathetic and small, like a single fish in a giant school wandering through an abysmally deep sea.

When the tide loosens its hold, when Frankie sees a path, he takes it out. He’s not sure how long he was trapped in there- 20 seconds, a minute, five minutes, but he’s overwhelmed and his head is spinning, his drink somehow gone and lost in the shuffle.

You see him stumble out, looking terrified, and rush over. “Hey, hey, Frankie,” you murmur as you grab his forearms. “Are you okay? Did you find Pope?” You ask, your thumbs tracing over his pulsing veins.

He shakes his head, and you take it as a no for both. “Okay, come on, did you drive here? Is your truck out there?”

He nods and grabs his keys, putting them in your hand. “Alright, pilot, come on. Let’s get you out of here.” You stick the hat back on his head and hope it could maybe bring a sense of normalcy back to him.

Frankie’s head feels like radio static as you bring him to the truck, unlocking it and sliding in first across the bench seat. He follows in after you and closes the door, and he turns the air conditioning on full-blast, feeling desperately hot.

“Hey, hey. Talk to me,” you beg of him, cupping the side of his face with one hand. You shiver under the quick breeze of the vents, the cold air immediately filling the cab of his truck. “What happened?” You ask, just above a whisper, fingers tracing the stubble of his jaw.

His eyes are getting more normal, less panicked and more sane. He must’ve had some kind of anxiety or PTSD moment in the crowd. “Just… thought I was gonna get crushed,” he murmurs, not looking at you.

“Frankie. Let’s breathe together, okay? Look at me.” His eyes find yours and you smile. “Good. Follow me.”

You ground him nearly instantly, your chilled skin under his hands as he grips your upper arms, your soft lips parting to breathe in and out. The flutter of your eyelashes when you close those beautiful eyes, the one that have such a distinct unique color. He would kiss you right now if he had the courage.

He breathes along with you and is calm enough by the second breath to think rationally again. The wave has passed, leaving his body feeling tired and limp. “I-I’m good,” he assures you, tracing his fingers across your skin. “Bucky, you’re freezing.”

“Frankie,” you give a sad chuckle. “I’m supposed to be calming you, and-“

“I’m super hot, please, take this,” he says as he shucks his flannel and hands it to you. “It would help me,” he says simply, enjoying the way the air conditioning more directly contacts his skin without it on.

“Well, okay,” you laugh and slip it on, breathing in the warm scent that is Frankie and sighing contentedly. “See? I love the sweet and spicy thing, like your cologne.”

He shakes his head and looks away. “Oh, stop. You don’t mean that.”

You frown at him. “Frankie. You’re thinking straight again, right?”

He nods.

“Then how aren’t you processing how in love with you I am?” You ask with a soft laugh, resting your head against his shoulder. “I flirt with you endlessly, and it feels like you never pick up on it. So now I’m just going to say it: I like you, Frankie.”

Biting his lip, Frankie looks down at you with slight confusion. “Really?”

You laugh incredulously, burying your face in his neck. “Yes, Frankie, really. I like you a lot. I have since the moment I met you. And I’d like to think you like me too.”

There’s a beat of silence and he nods, taking one of your hands in his and lacing the fingers together. “I really like you too. I’ve been in love with you since the moment we met, Buck,” he admits, wide brown eyes looking down at you with all of the love in his massive heart. “I just… didn’t want to assume anything. You’re so good to me, but you’re so good to the other guys too.”

“Do I buy the other men bottles of hot honey? Have I ever brought a date around like the other guys do?” You ask, lovingly and hoping he sees your point. “I’ve been pining for you for so long, Morales. I just want you to get it through your thick skull that I care for you and I’ve been in love with you for quite a while.”

“I feel stupid,” he mumbles, ears turning pink at the tips. “It was pretty obvious. You’re right.”

“Hey, you’re not stupid,” you assure him and squeeze his fingers. “I personally think it’s fucking adorable that you didn’t want to assume that. I like that, that you didn’t want to do anything first without knowing the same about you. I like all of you, Frankie, from that scruffy beard to these cozy flannels you always let me borrow.”

His heart melts in his chest, reducing him to a puddle. “Then I guess I should ask if you’d be my girl.”

His girl? If you thought he couldn’t get any cuter, you were wrong. You can’t hold back any longer and you swing your leg across his lap, straddling him in the bench seat of his truck. “Can I kiss you, Frankie?” You ask, gently removing his cap and setting it aside.

“God, yes please,” he practically whines as he cups your face in both of his big hands, kissing you deeply and breathing out heavily through his nose.

It’s the best thing you’ve ever felt, Frankie’s body pressed to yours as your lips meet. You both taste that perfect spicy-sweet flavor, the way that’s so Frankie in your head. This might be the sweetest and softest man alive, you think to yourself, and goddamn, you’re lucky, Bucky.

His body radiates the heat of his love and stress and everything, completely melting into yours. You’re never going to stop doing this now that you’ve started. You’re never going a day without holding Frankie like this.

Your legs are firmly planted on either side of him, and Frankie moves his hands to grip your waist and pull you in closer. Shivering at the way he practically manhandles you, you moan into his lips, murmuring his name breathlessly. It’s like the most perfect melody, the way you say it. He mumbles your name back, your real name. Not Bucky.

Your arms wrap around his neck and you press yourself tight against him, running one hand through the soft curls at the nape of his neck. He tastes like heaven, just as perfect as you’ve dreamed about for as long as you’ve known him. When you break away, you smile softly, admiring the way he’s panting beneath you. His head is tilted back to look at you on top of him, his eyes glazed over and cheeks warmed with pounding blood. You gulp and trace the side of his face with feather-light fingertips, admiring his beauty. “God, Francisco,” you murmur. “Why didn’t I do this sooner?”

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