From Hellfire to Heaven (Eddie Munson x reader) Part 2

**This is a Stranger Things/Eddie Munson x reader SMUT fanfic, so it's most definitely 18+ONLY!! Kids, GTFO!!**

Synopsis: You were recently dumped by one of the Jocks of Hawkins High and thru a chance encounter, ended up hooking up with Eddie Munson, which has now turned into a regular thing and is kinda headed towards a relationship

Trigger warnings: (some of these aren't here yet but will be in future parts)

• Mentions of kink (top/bottom power exchange, corruption, orgasm denial,eventually leading to pain play and edge play)

• M/F sexual interaction (penetration, oral, teasing)

The bell rang and students shot up, clamoring to leave the classroom and head home for the weekend. Your cheeks flushed. Grabbing your bag, you quickly made your way through the halls, stopping for a moment at your locker to grab a few things. And that's when you noticed it.

Hanging in your locker, near the back on the hook for your book bag was a braided leather chord necklace. Dangling from it, was a black and red guitar pick that had messily been engraved with "kitten". Your heart stopped as your fingers wrapped around it. Quickly, you pulled it free and slipped it over your head, being sure to slip it under your shirt so no one would see.

Students and teachers milled all around you, but you felt like you were a thousand miles away. Every mark Eddie had left on you the night before felt like fire against your skin, reminding you of exactly who you belong to. A wicked grin crossed your lips as you thought back to that.

"Ms. Williams," a voice pulled you from your trance.

Whipping around you saw your third period teacher, Mr. Morris. He was carrying a small stack of papers and wore an unusually concerned expression. "Would you mind staying after school for a bit?" He asked, as you closed your locker. "I've had a student whom," he chuckled slightly, "whom I never expected to do so, express interest in our after school tutoring and I was wondering if you'd be willing to work with him one on one?"

The request didn't shock you.

After last semester and the test scores you'd pulled in, several students and teachers had been asking for your help. With the assistance of a few close friends and the permission of Mr. Morris, you'd even managed to start an after school program to help any of the students who were falling behind; you were quite proud of that.

"Of course, Mr. Morris, I'd be happy to help." You smiled up at him. The relief that crossed his face was visible and it made you wonder who exactly this mystery student was.

Mr. Morris straightened his tie and motioned for you to follow him. "If you'll come with me, Ms. Williams, I already have Mr. Munson set up in my office. The two of you should be able to work well in there without any sort of disturbances." He coughed a bit, before continuing. "Normally I wouldn't trust my office to a student like this, but I know you're trustworthy and with this cough, I may have to go home early. If I do, just be sure to lock up once you're finished.

"Mmhmm, of course." The words fell from your lips automatically, but your mind was reeling. What the fuck was this boy up to?

The teacher opened his office door and stepped inside. You followed and there he was, Eddie Munson, the town freak and man of your dreams. Clad in leather and smelling strongly of tobacco and cologne, he was propped up on Mr. Morris' desk like he owned the place. Your heart skipped a beat when he winked at you and you thought you'd melt into a puddle right there on the floor.

Mr. Morris quickly explained what Eddie needed help with, gave you the keys to his office and after a few moments of conversation left the two of you alone, closing the door after him.

As soon as he was gone, Eddie practically launched himself off the desk. Within seconds he had closed the space between you and his lips were on yours. His hands gripped your hips, fingers sliding under the edge or your shirt making you gasp as his nails lightly dug into your skin. As your lips parted for him, Eddie laughed. He plunged his tongue past your lips, swirling it with yours as he pushed closer, backing you against the door.

Click.

In a flash he had locked the door and now his hands were back to you. His calloused fingertips glided along your curves as your arms snaked around his neck, fingers tangling in his dark curls. He pulled his lips away from yours, pressing his forehead to your shoulder and whispering in your ear, "Hey there, kitten. Ready to help me study?"

Eddie laughed again, his teeth grazing across your skin as he littered your throat with kisses. That's when his tongue brushed against the leather chord and you felt his entire body tense.

"You're wearing it," he whispered, the excitement and shock evident in his voice. He pulled back to look at you. Those chocolate brown eyes drank you in. Your cheeks flushed, hair disheveled, shirt tugged up nearly exposing your breasts, and his guitar pick necklace hanging there around your neck. "I wasn't sure you would," he breathed out, hooking s finger under the chord and freeing the guitar pick from your shirt.

"Of course I'm wearing it," you whispered back, red traveling across your cheeks. Even softer you added, "I'm your kitten, Eddie..always."

Eddie's eyes shot open. "What did you say?" He asked nearly breathless.

You shifted in his grasp, the weight of his body pressed against you combined with the cold door at your back made you shiver. You took a deep breath. Looking up, your eyes met his and you repeated yourself a bit louder this time, "I'm your kitten, Eddie..always." Immediately you dropped your eyes, unable to look at him and terrified he would deny you. This was never supposed to be about feelings or love; it was just a fling.

"Oh, my darling girl!" He exclaimed, picking you up and twirling you in a circle as he hugged you close and kissed you deeply.

You were lost in him—lips locked together, twirling and dancing with one another as he stopped spinning and sat you on the teacher's desk, deepening the kiss even more.

He pressed against you, your legs instinctually going around his waist as his teeth nipped at your bottom lip. Your arms went around his neck. You clung to him as his kisses made you breathless. Your fingers curled into his hair, pulling him ever closer. As he pressed against you, you could feel his hardness straining against his jeans. Scooting forward to the edge of the desk, you leaned back slightly and arched your hips towards him. His cock pressed hard against his pants as he grinded his hips against you.

With a wicked grin, one hand slid up your torso and his ringed fingers wrapped around your throat. He squeezed gently and your eyes immediately fluttered closed. "Mine?" He questioned, as he pressed against you, "My kitten?" His free hand slid up your leg, brushing your skirt up as his fingers gripped your thigh.

You nodded, eager to show him jus how much he meant to you.

"Answer me, kitten," he breathed out, releasing the pressure on your throat but leaving his hand there against your pulse point. You could feel him everywhere and you reveled in that feeling.

"Yes, Eddie..yours."

His eyes darkened as his hand slid further up your thigh, finally making contact with your soaked panties. Pressing gently, he drew circles around your fabric covered clit and moaned as he watched you fall apart in front of him.

"Hawkins' golden girl, the straight A Princess of Hawkins High," he laughed softly as his fingers dipped beneath the material and his cold rings slid across your clit. You were already soaked. "Little do they know who you really are..my dirty little kitten." Eddie pulled back, his hands going to your waist and quickly sliding your panties off as he dropped to his knees in front of you.

Grasping your hips, he pulled you to the very edge of the desk and quickly dipped his head between your legs. A gasp ripped through your lips, followed by a drawn out sigh as Eddie's tongue flicked against your clit. Your body shivered in his hands. His fingers gripped your hips, holding you still as he licked and sucked on your clit, ever so gently grazing his teeth across it as he looked up at you. Your head was thrown back, eyes closed, back arched as you supported yourself on your arms. He drank you in. His tongue dipped down to your soaked hole, toying with the entrance as one hand dipped down and swirled against your wetness.

Eddie lifted his head for a moment, reveling in the sight of you as he slowly buried 2 fingers deep in your soaked pussy. He curled his fingers against your g-spot, his cold rings pressing against your flushed skin, causing you to moan loudly. His head dipped back down between your legs. Slowly, he slid his fingers back and forth through your wetness, his tongue drawing circles around your clit as he sucked on it softly. You could feel yourself approaching the edge.

Pleasure shot through your body as Eddie moved his fingers faster inside of you. One of your hands went desperately to his head, grasping at his curls as your legs clenched. An orgasm ripped through you as Eddie coaxed you on. "That's my good girl. Cum for me, kitten." And you did, one orgasm flowing into another as you clung to him. Your body shook and shivered as Eddie slowly removed his fingers from your hole. Standing, he caught your eyes and held the gaze as he licked his fingers clean before leaning over you and kissing you deeply.

"Eddie," you whispered against his lips. "Eddie, baby..please." You moaned out as your hands dropped to his hips and pulled him closer. You were dying to feel him inside of you.

He laughed softly, dropping a hand to his belt and undoing the buckle; you bit your bottom lip as you watched. Your hips bucked towards him, your body begging for him to use you.

"Ms. Williams, there's one thing I forgot," Mr. Morris' voice called from the other side of the door.

"Shit! Fuck..okay, hang on," Eddie whispered frantically helping you off the desk and doing his best to fix his clothes. Your face was blood red, hair a mess, and you could barely stand. But you quickly pulled yourself together,tossing your hair up in a ponytail, and opened the door as Eddie plopped down into the office chair near the back of the room. A quick exchange, a few papers and books handed to you, and a permission slip from Mr. Morris for you to have access to his office and then, jus as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone again.

You both erupted into a fit of laughter, the panic you had felt melting away as you walked over to Eddie and sat down on his lap, straddling him.

"Now, Mr. Munson..where were we?" You asked playfully, your hips grinding against him.

His fingers held your hips as his own arched up towards you, his hard cock pressing against his jeans, begging to bury itself in your soaked pussy. "I believe, Ms. Williams, that you were going to help me study a bit." He leaned forward, kissing you deeply before continuing. "But why don't we take this somewhere a bit more private so we don't get interrupted like that again?"

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**Author Note: I wrote this completely off the cuff, with NO idea where it was headed so I hope you enjoy it lmao it'll be updated, though I don't have an exact schedule due to being chronically ill/disabled.

**TAGLIST** (y'all, I know it's dumb but I can't tell you how over the moon I am that a tag list has been requested for updates lmao LMK if you wanna be added!!)

@raptorbait529 @riffcrusader

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Part 1

tagged by @kukiyuuri ur so sweet ty for the tag <3

ONE. Are you named after anyone?

*Office stare* whatever gave u that impression? :3c

yea my queer ass swiped Roxas' name as my own. I had a major identity crisis after leaving a cult a decade ago so it kinda felt fitting to pick the name with his own history with cults & identity issues hehe

2. When was the last time you cried?

couple days ago, tho I have a very hard time crying anymore. thaaaat's probs not good ^^;; I used to be a huge crybaby.

3. Do you have kids?

thankfully not. I'm enough work as is tyvm

4. What sports do you play? have you played?

I played street hockey with my neighbors quite a bit growing up, tho it was rather short-lived when they suddenly had a problem with playing with a girl (boy do I have news for them). in high school I joined the tennis team. I wasn't stellar at it but I had a blast. wish there were more opportunities to play but that requires other ppl wanting to play.

these days I've been reconnecting with my childhood love of rollerblading. I'm close to being as good as I used to be which is so exciting cuz there's so much I never mastered! so I'm about to cross over into new territory!

5. Do you use sarcasm?

what's sarcasm? ovo

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?

looking at the world thru an artist's lens, I notice things like posture, expression, body language first. which can tell u a lot about a person in the moment without a word being spoken.

7. What's your eye color?

blue! I think they're turning gray as I get older which is kinda cool but also a little sad.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

depends on my mood; both are good. so long as the story is told well anything goes really.

9. Any talents?

I suffer from the good at the arts but bad at everything modern society deems useful disease. my main talent is probs drawing, writing coming second (if I ever get the spoons to do it again). I'm also decent at singing with my long history with choir & leading worship services.

10. Where were u born?

the most boring place on earth -- the US Midwest. Siri, play "Sidewalks" by Story of the Year.

11. What are your hobbies?

a lot of my free time lately has been getting back into studying languages. I'm mostly focused on Japanese atm but I'm also at an intermediate level in German & conversational in ASL.

I game quite a bit too, primarily retro games. *screaming crying throwing up that PS2-era is now considered retro* seldom do I play things upon release except of KH.

oh, I'm also a casual fashion doll collector (mostly Barbie & Monster High). old media as well (vhs, retro games, music, etc). lost media & preservation of the arts in general really interests me.

I play guitar a bit too but lol I suck at it.

other hobbies previously touched on in earlier q's include drawing, skating, singing & writing. :3c

12. Do you have any pets?

I have a kitty! she's a dilute calico & a huge diva cuz she knows she's gorgeous. she's loud af just like me & loves talking to her fave humans in the sassiest tone possible.

13. How tall are u?

not tall enough. 165cm

14. Favorite subjects in school?

German (easily my best subject), art & English.

15. Dream job?

I've been thinking a lot about circling back to an old dream job. something utilizing my knack for picking up languages. maybe interpreting or teaching? I'd really like to go back to school so I can maybe have a decent shot at something overseas. where? I'm still deciding. being trans kinda complicates it a bit. with that in mind & having several instances of homelessness this past decade I've concluded the US isn't a viable place for me to continue living. I have a unique opportunity to rebuild rn & I intend to utilize it. even if that means allowing my art to return to being just a hobby.

ahh! sorry I'm totally ending this on a bummer note huh? uhh uhh... puppies! think of puppies!! & kitties!!!

anyway, I'll tag uhh... whoever wants to do this? >w<; u can obvi say I tagged ya.

The Owl House Finale Review: Watching and Dreaming: So Long and Thanks for All The Magic

Hello all you happy people. Here we are. After reviewing all of season and the previous two finale specials… we're here. The end of the Owl House. It had a heck of a journey going from a fairly promising and fun show I missed several episodes of … to one of the best animated shows i've seen and one of my personal faviorites period. It's a true masterpiece. It may have some rough spots from disney cutting the finale off at the knees, but even with that Dana Terrace and her stalwart crew created a truly one of a kind show.

I also feel something I didn't think i'd have at the end of this series.. hope. While I admit I was annoyed at disney for only starting to see the show's popularity after gutting it… it resulted in the best kind of revenge. MILLIONS of views for each special in their free youtube release and at the time of this writing the show became Disney's 3rd most popular show period in DIsney+. For scale the #1 show? The Simpsons. And I feel it has the potetial to pass it which is not an easy task. It is very hard to kill the simpsons. Many have tried, none have succeeded.

The show's final three episodes brought the fandom out in huge force, and only caused it to GROW, something that rarely happens as a show is near it's end. The show is more popular than it's ever been.

It means that once Dana is ready.. a sequel, prequel, interquel, whatevertheywantquel is all but assured, and wether that's via another series or a graphic novel or even an in universe book like Amphibia got, the franchise really has a bright future ahead. Sure Disney could ignore this.. but even they aren't THAT stupid, and that threshold. At the very least the odds of the show getting an art of book like ducktales at some point just shot up exponetnially and i'd dearly love that given the show's attention to background detail. It's clear we'll get something more somehow and i'm pumped for it.

But with Dana taking a well deserved rest, disney taking 80 years to do a lot of things, this is the end for now.. and even if it's the end for keeps, it was a hell of a note to go out on. It took me several days to get to it just because I was so … not ready for it to be over, but once I got there the end.. was truly satisfying. Not without some bumps, but truly great. So let's go under the cut one lass time through the door.. and into the boiling isles.

The Power of Three

For starters the finale decided to mostly zero in on our main trio. The Hexasquad get plenty to do sure, but they feel kinda shuttled to the side. I'm mixed about this: on the one hand given how personal a foe belos was for Hunter, it does feel like a bit of a cheat that he gets no real final confrontation with him or even get to join in stomping him into even more paste than he already was. They get the intro which is DEEPLY disturbing and I had to pause multiple times just because it was a LOT to sit through, and amity gets both helping Luz realize what's going on and later freeing everybody, but as a whole their just kinda there rescuing the people from the archives. It's not a bad thing and it has some great moments, like Camilla rallying all of them with Glyphs, the parent reunions, and Hunter finding someone was waiting for him.. but it feels genuinely like since they decided to have the final battle just be the power trio veruss belos, with Rahne helping in the final act of it, they had no idea what to do with the rest of the leads in any signifigant way. It's where the time crunch shows the most as important moments like Hunter getting justice for flapjack, Camilla getting a proper meeting with eda and king (though the silent moment is nice) or the Collector's decision to leave are all just kinda relegated to narration. It's clear they ran out of time and just had to do what they could, and it's only feels so off because the first two specials packed so much in. The second lagged a bit with the boscha and kiki subplot but evne that felt like it had a good payoff with Boscha's tearful reunion with her girls and Kiki beign forced to help rebuild the world into something better. This finale is by no means bad an dI giv ethe wrtiers decent slack given the circumstances, it's just clear they streched this time as far as they could and the lins show. It's still remarkable it got THIS FAR without the time crunch really showing too bad.

The reason this dosen't wreck the episdoe though.. is the feeling of things coming full circle> We started this journey with just these three weirdos: An awkward teen who no one fit in with, a rogue witch fighting an unjust system alone and having closed herself off to everyone but her son, and a small dog monster unaware of his past with delusions of tyrancy. Three people who had really no one else and found each other. We end… with a strong and powerful witch whose finally got the understanding she craved from her mom, an adorable snake thing, a sibling and friends who would go to hell and back for her, a harpy who finally opened herself back up to people, decided to help others, and reconnected with those she'd shoved away, with her family once again close, and the love of her life back with her and a king who went from being lost, to being scared finding out just WHAT He was, to a brave titan who when held captive by a mad god for months.. still sees the poor kid as the lonely child he is and does everything he can to help. It's that growth that drives the episode. The only thing to really keep them on their toes is the nightmare guilt trip sequence. Which I have to be honest isn't great. The horror aspect is great and all.. but when you stop to think about it it makes absolutely no sense. The collector ended episode 2 snapping his fingers.. but this setup was clearly Belos' plan he told the kid, something he didn't have time for. There's also the fact that Belos and Collector seem to know things like Gus and Willow missing their parents, the whole encounter with the titan trappers, and eda's issues with her mom

It's just a very messy opening and we probably coudl've gottne to "luz's loved ones are abducted and she runs into the others alone", without all the extra steps. The actual reunion is heartwarming but getting there made no sense.

Thankfully the episode picks up right after that, including one of hte best gags in the show's history as Belos finds out the truth King's a titan and can counter the collector… and his response is the brilliant delivery of "the dog?" as if all the gears in his head are turning at once that he could've kidnapped King a THOUSAND TIMES at this point and sped up his plans exponetially.

We'll get to more of a belos in a bit, but honestly while his stuff with Rahne is neat… the real great stuff in act 1 is the main trio and the collector. The intiial games sequence continues that growth: in the opening episode, our heroes struggled against warden wrath of all people. In the finale? their going up against a god child making them particapte in reckless an dangerous games.. and easily counter each one: Luz has come so far that even getting eaten by a pac man head .. is something her PALISMEN easily fixes. King takes out super monkey ball and eda easily aces jenga. Despite being uncomrfortable and painful.. each one easily steps up and ends the game for the rest of them.

It's the next part though that defines who they are: when the collector goes off to cry instead of run or try to hurt him while he's distracted… Luz's only instinct is to help him, with King backing that up. Eda's isn't, but it's less pummel the child and more "I want my kids to be safe". Our heroes could probably beat the collector even with them being a god… but it's clear that's not the way to go. It builds off the series history: Amity, Lilith and Hunter weren't in the best places.. but by simply offering forgivness and understanding… Luz got the love of her life, a cool aunt and a dorky older brother. You can't save everyone, this episode makes that ABUDNATLY clear… but it's better to try first. To try and find out WHY someone is lashing out instead of simply lashing back.

And we find out the Collector, as i've always figured. For starters he had no real concept of death and thus his worse actions like the puppets or the draining spell were just him needing to be taught those were bad.. as I always said

And that it turns out he had NOTHING to do with the genocide of the titans: turns out the others of his species were his siblings, the archivests.. and it turns out his playing with king.. was genuine. The Collector was given the "task" of studying them, really just classic shoo out the younge rsibling stuff. But he genuinely loved them, being best friends and it was genuine… and then it all went to crap: the archivetsts murdered all of them, then most of the adults. The Collector got sealed.. because THE Titan thought it was his fault, and made a hasty mistake. The result was an innocent child got sealed for someone elses mistkaes, none were left.. and Belos got his hands on the kid instead and did far FAR worse.

It also shows once again that understanding each other.. is the real lesson here.. that by trying to understand WHY the collector did this and trying to show him empathy… our heroes save the world. The final fight with the collector isn't some big battle where they have to teach him during or requires some big trick. It's a responsible mom, a good friend, and a kind teen teaching a baby god baby empathy. And it's really nice. But given we have a gooey genocidal racist monster ot deal with it can't last.. which leads us to You Never LIstened Anyway and That's the Hell of It

Naturally Belos was always going to be the final boss. The series was centered around him, everything was building to fighthing him . It's why he lived on, and evne with the collector brought in to help provide some plot thrust for the last act… it was always going to end with him versus our heroes.

The how though.. is really fucking cool. I never thought of Belos fighting the titan and it makes for a perfect final boss form for him: he used "speaking" for the titan to give himself crediblity, stole his words to propel his own dark plans, and corrupted the land to serve himself. it only makes sense that Belos final plan.. is taking the island itself: he took the boiling isles in every other way… it makes sense his final battle is BECOMING them. A symbol of all the horror and death he's caused. The Meat Moss is also GENUINELY creepy, from the way it creeps, to how our heroes are barely keeping it away, to how it easily infects a CHILD with the collector. As he's always been, Belos is an infection to the island, and making it literal was a stroke of genius. It also adds a nice timer: this should in theory make him the victor… but he's still aclimating to the body, understandably given it's a gods, but it gives our heroes only so much time to stop him.

Well that and the fact Luz dies and comes back. And i'm.. mxied on this. I do think her death serves a purpose: it unlocks eda and king's super modes, and crystalizes the Collector's development, allowing them to finally understand death, break down sobbing before going to help the others.

The problem is that it feels like a poorly set up deus ex machina. She dies just so she can come back with a super mode that was never remotely foreshadowed. It seems sloppy and wreaks of how little time they had left to resolve this, and even then that's not a full excuse: Steven Universe's ending was ALSO rushed.. but the solution to that fight still felt entirley baked in and so damn cathartic: steven loosing his gem, us finally finding out what that means.. and steven finding out that no he's not rose. SHE'S GONE. After an entire series of doubt… he is himself, and he knows it. Here it's just "Hey i'm king's dad here's some super duper power with a time limit, go kick that guys ass. Oh and Hooty's a parasite. Byeeeeee"

Okay jokes aside… the scene with King's Dad IS pretty great. While Titan Form is the epitome of

The conversatoin itself is really good. Luz has one last burst of doubt and while I felt the camilla speech was a great ending.. it's entirely realistic that sometimes even after so much caharsis.. your self hatred dosen't entirely go away. I also like the Titan's "You assume he comes from a genuine place" I know many didn't.. but it dosen't really ERASE the tragedy or nuance in belos. He can both have started this mad quest due to a combination of indoctrination and wanting to save his brother.. and still be a selfish prick who wants to be the hero. His goals to start are noble.. but he could also still have a hero complex on top of that. It meshes with his character: all those people he killed didn't matter because their just monsters because baby it's all xp. He lashed out at Caleb just as much because he felt betrayed… as it clashed wit hhis worldview. He was the brave hero saving his brother from kidnapping… in this story instead he was a misguided man who murdered god knows how many witches to save someone who was happy where they were and simply didn't know Phillip was even looking for him. Belos narcisim.. is a key part of him: he built a religion around himself, sees luz holding to her values as "can't argue with crazy" and assumes that OF COURSE he'll get some big reward. This was always there, this line simply makes it more noticable.

King's dad is also just incredibly likeable. As Steve said he's just a guy. He wears a fun t'shirt, has a bear gut and has a giant eye parasite. Sidebar, I find the reveal Hooty is a titan parasite BRILLIANT. IT's done simply as a background detail, but it explains hooty JUST enough to be fun, but not enough to ruin the joke of Hooty being dnelssely baffling. We still don't know his full phislogy, but a few parts of him, why everyone is confused what he is despite being a bug demon, his ability to eat so much, the fact he seems to be the only one of his kind.. it all clicks together. I also find it hilaroius a giant clue to King's past that could shake the very foundation of the world.. was in our heroes living room being obnoxious this whole time. Hell he WAS their living room. And again while Titan Form is very "NEED A LAST MINUTE POWER UP RRRGGGGGHHHYYARRRRGGGGH" and I will never apologize for pointing that out.. the actual final battle?

The Final Battle is a beauitful work of animatoin, showing our power trio at full power: luz has a power boost, and eda and king still support her perfectly, with each acting awesomely in sych as the bat away belos , cumilating in the three seeing the entire isles. I also like the destruction he causes: the titan simply MOVING uproots the entire arm so it's verticle and whoever wasn't a puppet likely died, and the entire island shakes, and seeing the isle changed from above is great, as is them diving straight for wher emagic comes from , the heart, cumilating in one tense final push. I also love the Rhaneunion and while hunte'rs absence in the final battle is still felt…. I do feel Rahne deserved the spot. They've been fighting against belos as hard as they could, while belos has attempted to hypnotize them then taken their body to use as a puppet. They needed this. And crecsndoing the fight with Luz repearing the opening lines of the series as she tears him out of the titan.. fucking poetry. I will also give Titan Luz this: it looks visually impressive and giving it a time limit at least makes it not wreck the whole episode. She can only use it this once and if it runs out they die.

As I hinted out and outright said before the portion after this.. feels ab it rushed. The reunions are nice, but we miss a proper meeting between Camilla , Eda and King, the Collector decides to leave in narration, and generally it feels like a few important post final battle moments are left behind so we could have that opening. That said there are more touches I ddin't mention earlier that helped: the fact that for as little as we get Camilla simply hugs king and eda, Amity, being both good with kids and having learned to forgive, is the first one to offer a hand to the collector, and the titan's magic, his words, going away with him is bittersweet. Luz still has her staff, so she's not cut off from magic, but it takes an iconic part of the show away with it, in a really fitting manner. We also get some nice cutaways to wrap up the loose ends: the various coven heads are being kept from trying a hostile takeover by Darius and Eber (and likely the rest of the CATS), while the CATS themselves stop the coven scouts.. while also having steve offer an olive branch so they can throw away the masks and move on. That said none of this would work half as well if it weren't for what they likely also spent a lot of their time and budget on and this time, gloriously

Here We Are In The Future

The Epilogue.. is brilliant. For starter it makes the apocalyptic ending of belos and the collector having each trashed the island pretty bad easier to swallow in a way that dosen't feel cheap: while we do cut to the good part of the isles being stable again… it's made clear via Luz having helped out every birthday and impliclty every weekend she wasnt busy with high school that restoring the isles took work. It took time. It reminds me of what amphibia similarly did with their flash forward, showing it took ove ra year to even get back a semblance of the world afte rall Andrias did to it. But it also shows that the isle has recover: the market is back up, the school is back up, everything has recovered.

It also shows things are BETTER: the emprial castle is now simply dust and in it's place? A University of WIld Magic. It's both brilliant and hilarously off that Eda became a college dean after all this, that instead of having to hide constantly and hope she isn't caught.. she can teach what she's learned, teach the real history of the isle, and help create more wild witches. Hexside's still there, with multitracks now clearly the norm and some crossover between the schools, but they now have a next step. What happened to the necessary parts of the coven system?

But whatever replaced it, possibly eda herself.. has made a better place in the process. The two basilks, vee's siblings that escaped with her, happily sleeping in the trees is also really neat. It also dosen't suprise me that Edric is now a dorky professor and that Gus is teaching at only 16. It does suprise me GUS is the cool teacher, or at least look it, but good for him.

As for everyone else the futures all fit: Willow stuck with Flier Derby and is likely going pro, something I like> She and Hunter are clearly together despite how many edits people try ot make to the coutrary. Guys , they have a prom photo together where to quote my friend Kammie "She looks like she's going to eat him like dinner and hunter is happy to be the plate". The ship is canon. You can stilll ship whatever the fuck you want. Please stop. But yes that's adorable as is Flaps' grave and his new sister Waffles. She is certainly there, like any good palismen but I like how angry she looks from a distance… and when you zoom in you see it's just because she's a bird, birds can look like that. We also get Amity who apparently been traveling the world in an airship scrooge mcduck style to help his research

We also get some small followups for the recurring cast: Boscha is apparently peddling grudgby gear (though I say she's simply doing it as a job as while Luz is moving for college since finals JUST ended for her school she might just be leaving early to enjoy a summer with her pals, so Boscha may be simply going to the pros.. or maybe this is her life who knows?), Matt is a construction man with a construction mustache, Kikimora is working off her horrible crimes and LIlith gets to build a library while Hooty gets to live his best life on her back.

Of course saving the best for last, Luz staying to do high school has grown on me: while Camilla probably sin't going anywhere (With vee it's vauge), I like the idea that she stayed, and not only waasn't alone thanks to her sister, her sisters partner and her sisters friends along with other weridos who turned out where there all along, but found stuff to do: she did a sport, she graduated. Sure she'll probably be moving to the demon realm full time, but this way her leaving isn't jarring or puts her mother in an awkward situationa nd Luz can go forward having known she did the hard work. Also for those wondreing Masha probably wasn't in the Grom photo because they were eithe rholding the camera or releasing spiders into the ventlation system, like any good prom.

The ending party is also sweet… even if the spider cake ruins my ablility to sleep, I will never not love the horror of hooty holding a bat full of nails. But it ends iwth the collector popping by..a nd our heroes all bidding him and us farewell.

Watching and Dreaming is an excellent finale. It has holes but it should be clear by the week it took me to write this that it was an impactful, moving closing act to one of the best animated shows. It wasn't perfect.. but frankly who is. For what it i is, it's truly fantastic and if you haven't watched it.. go.. go do that. And if you have… then you can join me in crying. I will… dearly miss the owl house. There was nothing like it on tv and may not be again. In a shifting animation landscape where many a shows future is in question, netflix seems to be close to death, and wbd is under investigation for being absolute garbage, it' snice to have a great show like this, even if it was shoved out the door, go out on it's terms, with a solid ending. Until we get more, we're now exiting the boiling isles. Watch your step.. and thanks for reading.

Daddy’s Birthday 2022

Dearest Daddy,

Happy birthday! You’re 63 today. I almost forgot to order you a cake since I for some reason, get easily distracted nowadays. Maybe it’s me getting old. I’m not so sure. I’m thinking maybe I’ve developed an attention deficit thing, but who knows really.

Here’s the cake!

It’s me and your son-in-law singing. I got you a Brazo de Mercedes. One, because it’s the least sweet cake I know and second, because it’s been a while since I last had it. I was kinda craving it. I contemplated getting only the half-size cake because it’s only your son-in-law and I at home, but I ended up getting the whole thing anyway.

Your child number 3 apparently made some sardine pasta for you. You would have loved it.

Do you remember how I used to bake cakes at home? And how you would always say “that looks delicious” when I’m eating something to hint that you want me to get you some? I miss you Dad.

So, since the last time I wrote, a lot of things have happened. Mom had to leave the house they’ve lived in for the last decade, the one Kuya purchased in his name. Since Kuya isn’t regularly boarding ships and your pension Mom was supposed to receive from the military wasn’t released to her for about 13 years, they failed paying for the monthly amortization. My husband and I struggled trying to help them financially, all the bills and food was up to us, but fortunately, several months ago it was finally released. I can’t tell you how many times I wished to disappear the past decade, cos the weight of everything was on my shoulder. But I had to soldier on, cos if I don’t I fear they won’t survive. I don’t know how you did it Dad. I remember how everyone was your responsibility when we were growing up, you were so strong.

They reluctantly moved to your mom-in-law’s house. Our grandmother was diagnosed with dementia, so she isn’t really herself now and is unfortunately not the one calling the shots. Your brother in law, that is, the youngest brother of Mom, who, unfortunately, is a complete asshole. He treated Mom like shit, made them sleep in the rat-infested garage. I hate that asshole. They (your siblings-in-law, except two) also set Mom up, made her attend a group video call and just completely humiliated her. In the end, she suffered a stroke and we had to bring her to the hospital. At that point, everyone went quiet. Of course I and my husband have to pay for the whole thing. None of those supposed siblings reached out to help (except the two aunts, L&J, who was on Mom’s side). They caused her to almost die, we almost lost her.

You and Mom have always raised us with compassion. You’ve taught us to be kind, to be patient and understanding. But, I can’t help hating them Dad, I can’t believe they’d do that to Mom. If Mom’s siblings (except L&J) were to stand on a cliff, I will 100% push them off. But since I can’t really do that, I just wrote them out of my life. I don’t consider any of them as my family, they are out of my family tree.

There’s also something I really can’t write down online, but we’re dealing with it. I honestly thought after successfully getting Mom her pension, since we don’t need to support them financially anymore, life will be a lot easier for me and my husband. I thought it was finally time for us to start taking care of the plans we have for our life. I thought the time has come for us to take care of our happiness. But unfortunately, another roadblock. We’re taking care of it, but it is getting a huge chunk out of our savings… savings that we were hoping to use to finally start our own family. To finally build our own home.

We are hoping for the best, that the outcome in the end will lead us to pure happiness.

I’ve always said that everyone has their own crosses to carry. This, this is our cross.

I’m sorry that my letter doesn’t really contain a lot of happy energy, but I do hope next year, it will be a lot better. Please pray for us. Please pray for me.

Oh, I remembered something that is on a more positive side: we moved houses! Now the whole house is ours, the other house next to us is fortunately not making too much noise, and the other side is a vacant lot. I also seldom hear the neighbor at the back, only if I am actually in the home office that is nearest the back of the house. It’s also much bigger than the last one. We actually have a front yard, a long garage, a small backyard and sideyard. So it’s quite nice. Two babies who live with their parents in their grandparents’ house live across us, so the random loud singing of the toddler is making me smile every once in while. He’s the cutest. Hope he doesn’t lose his cuteness as he gets older, cos unfortunately it is a fact that most people do.

Also, look at my tree this year:

It’s a whole lot nicer than last year, isn’t it?

Wherever you are Dad, we are still waiting for your return. We love and miss you so much.

Know that we will never stop hoping. Please come home soon.

In behalf of all your children who loves you, I love you Dad. Happy birthday!

Love, always,

Child Number 2

(aka Daughter Number 1)

(aka Nini)

Hey fam 💕

I know it has been forever since I actually posted something....but here is something?

Shout out to @spinnersendslytherin​ for throwing some really sweet fics my way when I was having a bad day. I promised you a drabble that you could prompt, and I am so so sorry it took me literally two entire (3 entire?) months to come back to you with this, but I really hope you enjoy my first jump back into the fandom!

Paring: Drarry

Tropes: Oblivious Harry

Word Count: ~1700

October

Harry squinted, and rubbed at a smudge on the window.

“Mate, don’t tell me you’re looking at Malfoy again.”

Harry jumped a little and sheepishly adjusted his glasses. “I don’t know what it is, Ron, I just feel as if I need to keep an eye out for him. He’s always alone, and he hates the forbidden forest, why is he even going in there?”

Ron flipped a page of the comic book Harry had brought for him at the beginning of term. The fact that the main character could fly on demand without a broom psyched him out a little, but he seemed like a good enough bloke, and the drawings held his interest.

“Why don’t you walk with him then?”

Harry glanced back. “We aren’t friends. Besides, maybe he wants to be alone.”

Ron snorted, but didn’t look up from a particularly nice looking drawing of the superhero in some tight latex. “Yeah, sure, mate. Maybe he really wants to just be left alone. In the forbidden forest. The worst place on Earth.”

---

November

Harry was frantically scrabbling to swing his robes on without dropping his bag or tripping over the moving stairs when his wand conveniently dropped out of his pocket and rolled down the steps and off of the staircase in mid-swing.

“Fuck!” He swore, and glanced over the bannister, only to see his wand flying back up to him and smack him in the face.

“Ow,” Harry said, fumbling with the wand until he caught it between his two palms. “What,” he continued, staring straight at it.

“You should keep a better eye on your possessions, Potter,” A voice said from somewhere above him. Not that it was a mystery voice. Oh no. Harry was all too familiar with this lazy cadence and posh accent. “You never know what could happen.”

Harry glanced up, but couldn’t see against the light coming from above.

“You’re going to miss your staircase if you don’t get moving, Potter.”

“Malfoy, I--” Harry started.

“Don’t mention it, Potter.”

It didn’t occur to him at the time that this had meant that Malfoy had Harry’s schedule memorized. But then again, Harry was oblivious to quite a lot.

---

December

Something wet hit Harry’s cheek.

“Harry! Pay attention to us! We’re neeeeedy!”

Harry rubbed the potato off of his cheek and pushed Seamus’ shoulder. “Sorry, mate, what were you saying?”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Listen, Harry, I know I’m one to talk but how long is it gonna take you to realize?”

“Realize what?” Harry asked, but he was already preoccupied with looking back over to the Slytherin table, and a small pile of wrapping paper starting to build up on the floor. “He’s smiling,” Harry said to himself.

Dean raised his eyebrows at Seamus. Seamus rolled his eyes and readied a spoonful of potatoes.

---

January

Hermione poked Harry’s thigh. They were all sitting in a circle, and she was laying down with her head in Pansy’s lap as Blaise, Ron, and Draco argued over the origin of some ridiculous pure blooded tradition of putting a dragon scale in your drink at New Year’s for good luck. Hermione, interested in how red Ron’s face could turn and how fast Blaise’s leg could bounce, thought she would keep the origins of the dragon’s scale (or should she say, mermaid’s scale) to herself.

“You’re staring again,” she whispered. She felt Pansy tug at her hair playfully, and looked to see a small smirk on her face.

“I don’t stare.” Harry was pouting. Hermione turned her attention back on him.

“Why don’t you just go for it? I’m sure it would end well. I have insider information, you know.” She wiggled down further into Pansy’s lap.

Harry shot her a confused look. “Hermione, really, you aren’t good at being cryptic. What are you on about?”

“Oh, I think it’s fairly obvious what she’s talking about, Harry,” Luna breezed, sitting down next to Harry in a puff of yellow and lilac skirts.

“Luna? What--”

“You like him, Harry.” Luna said, looking over to the arguing boys. Draco was gaining an interesting color to his face, Hermione noted, and he seemed to be refusing to glance in their direction.

“What! Sh! What are you--I-I would--what are you trying to imply here?” Harry said, running his hands over his jeans and through his hair.

Luna just looked at him. “I think, Harry, if you didn’t already know and it wasn’t true, you wouldn’t be getting so worked up over it.”

Harry slumped, dumbfounded. “Oh,” he said, and stared straight ahead. Hermione giggled.

---

February

“You’ve been acting weird.”

Harry dropped his broom cleaning supplies all over the floor. “I--what--no, I haven't!” He sputtered, bending down to pick up Miraculous Marcle’s Polishing Potion from the floor. That is, until a black leather shoe, shined to perfection stepped on it first. Harry gulped, face turning red, and looked up at Draco.

Draco took his foot of the bottle, and shuffled a little, in a very uncharacteristically Draco move. “Look, Harry, it’s not as if I don’t appreciate you letting me be a part of your friend group, and if you feel like you’ve done enough, I understand, but--”

“No!” Harry burst out, and Draco looked up startled. “No, I mean I don’t feel that way! I like hanging out with you, I do! I just felt...maybe I was getting a little bit clingy,” Harry ended weakly with a hand on the back of his neck, and eyes focused anywhere but on Draco.

Draco swatted him.

“Ow!” Harry said, looking up and rubbing his arm.

“Idiot!” Draco said, and straightened his robes. “We are friends, now, Potter. Stop ignoring me. It won’t do. I have grown too accustomed to your oafishness to have you distance yourself now.” With that, he turned on his heel and was off.

Harry’s eyes drifted a little lower. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe I am fucked.”

---

Valentine’s Day

Everything was going wrong for Harry today.

His alarm hadn’t woken him up in time for him to set up for that evening, let alone eat breakfast, and the outfit he had laid out last night (and had started planning a full bloody week ago), he found under a pile of cat hair, with pulled yarn from the hems.

To make matters worse, he had absolutely made a fool out of himself when he spilled pumpkin juice over himself seeing how good Draco was looking that day during lunch. And then, and then, Draco had used the anonymous letter in the shape of a heart Harry had sent to him to mop him up. Laughing. When Harry had asked him if he had read the note first, Draco had had a strained smile and said it didn’t matter, that it was probably just someone setting up to prank him.

Fuck.

Harry had skipped dinner to finish preparations, and he wasn’t even sure how he was going to get Draco to follow him to the Herbology greenhouses if he thought someone who hated him was going to be there.

Sighing, Harry lit the last orb and sent it floating into the center of the room, and started the treck back up to the eighth year dorms.

On his way, and in his hurry, Harry crashed into someone. Someone who smelled very nice. Someone who looked very nice. Someone who Harry thought was very nice. Fuck.

“Draco! Shit! I’m so sorry!”

Draco straightened with a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Harry! I--you weren’t at dinner.”

“No, I, er, needed to do something,” Harry said, fumbling.

“Oh,” Draco seemed to retreat a little, and took his hand off of Harry’s shoulder. “Are you going to be like the rest of our friends on dates and leave me alone on Valentine’s day, too?” His chuckle seemed forced, and he seemed to only hear what he had said after it had already come out of his mouth. He winced.

“Um, no, actually,” Harry said, taking a deep breath. “I was actually hoping you might was to follow me somewhere?”

Draco glanced up, surprised. “Me? I--Sure. Where are we going?”

Harry’s lips turned up in the corner in a half smile, and he shrugged a little. “I was thinking it could be a surprise?”

Draco was smiling hesitantly, and Harry’s heart spun a little. Maybe not quite everything was going wrong today.

Harry paused with his hand on the door handle, and stole a peak at Draco out of the corner of his eye.

Draco seemed nervous. He was fiddling with the buttons of his shirt, and kept glancing behind him, as if he was expecting someone to pop up and scare them.

Harry almost palmed his forehead.

“Harry, maybe we should--” Harry cut Draco off before he could continue.

“Sorry, sorry. I should have said, I--that it. Um.” Harry released the door handle and scratched his head. “It was--it was me.”

Draco shot him a look, one eye brow raised.

“I, uh, I sent you the letter today,” Harry mumbled.

Draco’s brows rose, and his mouth formed an O. “You! But, you, I?” Draco ended hopelessly.

Harry gave him a sheepish smile. “Here, just....” Harry swung the door open and watched as Draco’s tension melted off his body and a smile appeared on his face.

“Oh, Harry,” He said. The greenhouse was decked in golden orbs floating at different heights, gently rocking off of each other and shedding light on a small picnic blanket bedecked with a couple of loose flowers and some chocolates.

Harry’s hands were shaking, and he looked down again. “I know it’s, well, yeah. And I know you might not, but Hermione said--” Harry was cut off with a gentle squeeze of his hands in Draco’s, and it gave him just enough courage to look into grey eyes.

“I’ve been waiting for you to catch up, Harry,” Draco said, leaning in. “I was almost afraid I had gotten it all wrong.”

“No,” Harry said, drawn into Draco like he had his own gravitational field. “I’m just a little slow.”

But slow was good, he thought, as lips met his. Slow was very good.

Distraction

Summary: As a junior CIA agent you are added to a mission to help with scientific analysis, but when half the team are hospitalised you have to suddenly become a hands on field agent, alongside August Walker and Will Shaw. When the final part of the mission at a tropical plant glass house has an unexpected side affect, you have to work as a team to survive the night.

Pairing: August Walker x Female Reader x Will Shaw Fandoms: Mission Impossible: Fallout (Movie), The Cold Light of Day (Movie), Henry Cavill - Actor.

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Sex Pollen, Threesome, Oral Sex, Unprotected Sex, Vaginal Sex, Blowjob, Cum Play, Double Penetration, Anal Sex.

A/N: This is my first time writing the Sex Pollen trope, so i hope you like it. Fic is unbeta’d; only the finest free range organic typos for me. I do not run a tag list, but if you follow @angryschnauzerwrites​ and put that blog onto notifications, you will then get an alert when i post something new.

Back catalogue can be found on AO3 Link Here, or you can follow my facebook page HERE.

 Distraction

 If there had been someone narrating a movie of this mission, the first line would have been ‘it was a simple mission’. However, they would have been lying. The mission was far from simple, it was convoluted, complicated, and the team fucking hated each other.

 The team were scheduled to arrive via two flights, from opposite directions of the globe as not to arouse suspicions that a large team would do if anyone was picked up on facial recognition. You had been brought on board because of your scientific and tech background, and as the team were tasked with retrieving the formula for the most dangerous biological weapon in the world, you were the one that would check they had the right thumb drive before the mission was able to be called a success. There would be multiple extraction points, numerous undercover assignments that would all lead to the final extraction at the gala dinner.

 That was the plan. What actually happened was the half of the team coming in from Dallas ended up with severe food poisoning and were currently being hospitalised in a local treatment facility. That left just your half of the team, and the senior agent now in charge was none too happy about it;

 “I’ve got a fucking chemistry nerd and a number cruncher for a hands on mission that requires multiple scenes where infiltration and distraction are needed, and neither of you have any fucking field work!”

 August Walker hated everyone and made sure he did everything he could so that everyone hated him in return. The other member of the team quietly ground his teeth, Walker never once let him forget that he came into this agency completely by accident following a rogue faction and a situation that started with the death of his CIA Agent father, and resulted in smashing up half of Madrid’s traffic in a 24 hour long series of car chases;

 “I was a stockbroker, and i didn’t hear anyone complaining when i discovered the currency discrepancies that found us the targets insider trading”

 Will Shaw was so similar yet so different to Walker it was startling, you even thought they looked similar enough to be long lost brothers, but never dared to mention it.

 The hotel suite had all the facilities you needed to set up a small command post, with enough counter space to set up the laptops and work-stations, whilst not getting under each other's feet. However it was still small enough for the two men to continually bicker and make snide remarks at each other, and you had to push the earpiece of your surveillance equipment closer to your ear to hear, finally you heard what you needed to, holding your hand up and clicking your fingers at the two men who immediately silenced and crossed the room;

 “They’re going to be at the MMA Gym in thirty minutes”

 “Okay” Walker huffed; “We need to extract the codes from his device that will give us access for the holding location. You and Shaw take the gym and cause the distraction, i’ll get the codes”

 Will shook his head;

 “Not gonna work”

 “It's not?” you were surprised

 “The gym is men only, the only women are administration and janitorial”

 “That’s fucking antiquated” August spat out in disgust.

 You had to hide the smirk that tugged at the corner of your mouth, that August Walker of all people would be an advocate for equal rights, but nonetheless started to prepare for the first distraction.

 -

 Walker and Shaw had entered the building separately but within 5 minutes of each other, signing in under false names and keeping it simple and silent as they started training on the weights and cardio machines in the gym. You had already entered through the basement deliveries door which you’d been able to pick the lock of, finding a staff uniform t-shirt in the storeroom and pulling it on over your top. You could hear both men through their hidden comms, and within a couple of minutes pretending to sort out a cleaning kart that you knew the morning crew had finished with, you heard the code word that the target had entered the weights room.

 Seconds later you were tentatively pushing the door to the locker room open, calling out;

 “Housekeeping!”

 You had no idea if they called themselves housekeeping or janitorial staff or whatever, but when you didn’t get a reply you quickly entered the room and did what needed to be done. 

 Through your ear piece you could hear the first stage of the distraction starting, with your two fellow agents starting to challenge the other to out lift each other, and from the muffled background noise you could tell that they were drawing a crowd of onlookers.

 Tapping your comms you alerted Walker and Shaw that you’d been successful, and that it was time for them to leave. But as you got no response you quickly made your way out of the locker room through the other exit, only to find yourself in a glass walled corridor, the gym on the other side of the glass. What surprised you however was that there was now a huge crowd of spectators as they watched your two agents try to pull out more reps on the bicep curl machine. Scowling you grabbed a cloth and bottle of spray cleaner and squirted the glass, glaring at the two of them before they finally saw you;

 “Its time to go, dumbasses. Finish the contest. I’ll be in the car in the street behind the building”

 -

 Pushing through the door of the hotel suite you scrunched your nose as Will pushed past you, August not far behind;

 “You two need a shower… did you really need to get that sweaty?”

 “Well… you wanted the distraction to look convincing, didn’t you?” Will shot back, stripping his t-shirt off, already halfway to the bathroom.

 A quiet cough behind you drew your attention away from Will’s sculpted back muscles;

 “When you’re done staring at Shaw…”

 “I...I wasn’t stare…”

 “Whatever sweetheart, either way; you two need to change”

 Looking down at your outfit you pulled at the gym t-shirt;

 “Yeah, i can just find a utility shirt or something…”

 “No, you’re front of house with me. Will’s taking the extraction of the thumb drive”

 “But...I didn’t bring an outfit…”

 August nodded to a pile of bags in the corner of the room from the agents that hadn’t made it to the mission but their luggage had;

 “So check Marianne’s, she is about the same size as you. Either way its you and me sweetheart, now get dolled up, you can’t go to a gala looking like that”

 -

 Twenty minutes later you took a deep breath; you’d found Marianne’s bag and had found that although she was a similar size to you, it was one size smaller. She also had a completely different taste and style to makeup and you were now way out of your comfort zone. The red lipstick however seemed to work, a touch of gold bronzing powder across your shoulders and chest made the red silk dress really work for you. Adjusting the straps so they sat over the top of your bra, the pretty floral pattern hopefully not too noticeably jarring against the sultry silk. Taking a deep breath you stepped out of the small dressing room and came face to face with Will;

 “Oh hey” he looked you up and down before clearing his throat; “Looks good”

 “Yeah?” you smoothed the dress down over your stomach

 “I mean… the bra kinda takes away from the look… but yeah, it looks really good”

 “I...I didn’t have anything suitable for a gala, this is Marianne’s… from her bag…”

 Will stood in front of you, reaching his hand around your back and with a quick snap of his fingers he’d unfastened your bra;

 “It really will look better without the bra… trust me…”

 Without another word he turned and crossed the room, pulling his tie from his bag, fastening it as August emerged from the other room;

 “Agent. Bra off, now”

 Shimmying the offending garment down your arms you pulled it out of your dress as he crossed the room;

 “I don’t see why…”

 “Because the people at this gala have got so much money they flaunt what they’ve got. You’ve got to fit in” He held his finger out and you hooked it over the protruding digit.

 “We’d better get going… the gala is about to start”

 With a nod August grabbed the keys to the BMW you’d been assigned and tossed them to Will; he was taking on the role of Driver and Bodyguard to your’s and August’s ‘couple’, the three of you filed out of the room and into the elevator.

 The ride down the highrise hotel was slow, and you could feel both men’s eyes on you as they stood behind you, before the doors finally opened to the basement parking. You struggled to keep up with them as they strode out with their long legs, the heels of your stiletto sandals clicking on the cement. Finally as you reached the car you were surprised as August opened the door for you, not uttering a word as he watched you climb in before he rounded the car and slid into the back seat beside you.

 You’d barely had time to fasten your seatbelt before Will was peeling out of the hotel parking with a squeal of tyres and you were heading to your destination.

 “Panties, off” August’s words surprised you

 “W-WHAT?!”

 “Panties. Take them off”

 “Agent Walker…”

 “They dig into the meat of your hips and take the attention away from the sexiness of the dress. You need to fit in tonight”

 “B-b-but…” you attempted to stall, but without another word August pulled your knees towards him and slid his hands beneath your dress. He grasped the thin elastic straps that ran over your hips and pulled hard, snapping the fragile pieces of fabric and pulling the now ruined undergarments. Glancing at Will he had a brief smirk on his face but quickly looked away, concentrating on the road ahead. 

 -

 The gala was amazing, and it was hard not to get absorbed into the evening as if you were a real guest. You could hear everything through the hidden comms units in your ears, and apart from the occasional grunt as Will silently passed the guards as he made his way further into the underground chambers that ran below the massive glasshouse the gala was in, it seemed to all be going exactly to plan. The host had announced for everyone to celebrate, and you had found yourselves being swept onto the dancefloor, and suddenly you were in August’s arms as he held you close, the music thankfully loud enough to drown out your conversation from the ears of others;

 “Do you think he’s getting on ok?”

 “He’d say if he wasn’t” August assured you as he moved in time to the music, his hand on your lower back pulling you closer to his body. At that very moment you both heard a guttural cry through the comms, your eyes wide in panic as he grabbed your hand and you quickly made your way through the crowd;

 “Shaw, come in… are you ok?”

 You heard gurgling on the comms and watched as August pulled out his phone and activated the trackers that you all wore, the two of you coming up together on screen, but the third - Will’s - showing as on the level below and not moving.

 -

 The stairs had been hell in your heels, eventually you’d kicked them off and had run barefoot behind August, chasing him around corners and along corridors, before he’d finally come to a halt in front of a sealed door, his phone showing that Will was in the room behind it.

 “Stand back”

 You took a couple of steps back and watched as August kicked the door, the deafening bang as it broke from its hinges and splintered in was immediately forgotten as a sudden rush of air came out of the room, covering him in a dusting of strange grey-pinkish powder. He fell to the floor coughing and you rushed to his side;

 “Check on Shaw! I’m fine!”

 Quickly entering the room you looked around, finally seeing Will laying on the floor, he too was covered in the powder. Kneeling at his side you checked his pulse, relieved to find one as he opened his eyes and groaned.

 “What happened? Are you ok?”

 “Stop fussing, i’m fine… we gotta get out of here. Security will be on their way…”

 At that moment August appeared at your side;

 “Did you get it?”

 “Yeah, i got it”

 Will held out the thumb drive and pushed it into your hand as August pulled him to his feet, and they attempted to dust themselves off as the three of you staggered down the hallway and out of the fire exit.

 -

 Pushing into the hotel room, both Will and August had already shed the majority of their clothing, now dressed in just their smart dress pants and under shirts, still coughing from the dust cloud that lingered in their airways. You’d run the briefest of tests with the tiny blood monitor that you’d kept in the car to ensure it wasn’t a known nerve agent or poison before you’d even left the extraction point, thankfully the results being negative, but both men needed to wash off whatever it was as soon as possible. But first, you needed a proper sample;

 “Agent Shaw, i need to take some blood, hair and saliva, run it through the test software, to see if whatever it was has synthesised into your bloodstream” you nodded to the small scientific station you’d set up at the end of the table, the case having contained tiny gadgets that amounted to a microscope, a mass spectrometer, and other testing equipment… the whole point of why you in particular had been placed on this mission.

 A minute later you’d collected the samples, trying hard not to get flustered as Will had stood in front of you bare chested and in just his underwear, heat radiating from his body;

 “So what do you think it is?”

 “I have no idea”

 “Well i’m burning up, i need to take a shower”

 Quickly loading the samples into the rapid mass spectrometer you turned to Agent Walker to check his vitals and let out a tiny squeak of surprise when you saw him sitting on the edge of the bed in just his underwear. His chest was flushed and he had a sheen of sweat over his entire body;

 “I guess i’m next?”

 Pressing your hand to his forehead you could feel he was burning up;

 “I’m going to check your temperature first”

 Quickly using the thermal reader you could see that his core temp was heading towards fever;

 “I’m going to take the samples then as soon as Will is out of the shower you need to get in there”

 “Yes Ma’am” he chuckled, closing his eyes as you pushed your fingers through his hair to pluck a sample strand. The powder had caught in the strands and it was only as you combed your fingers through the dark locks did you realise he had soft curls. As you tried to separate them he let out a groan as you stroked his scalp. He swayed a little even though he was sitting down, and before you could do anything his hands were on your hips to steady himself, the heat almost searing through the silk of your dress. 

 Finally having got all the samples you needed you reluctantly pulled away, not saying a word as he simply flopped back onto the bed with a smirk on his face. You busied yourself preparing the test samples from Agent Walker, the machine finishing with Shaw’s. You were vaguely aware of the shower being turned off and the men moving around the room, before the shower was on again and you presumed it was August in there.

 Peering at the saliva samples through the microscope you frowned, the particles present completely organic and very familiar.

 “So what is the diagnosis Doc?”

 Will’s voice surprised you, and as you jumped and turned your eyes went wide when you saw he was in just a towel, tied low on his waist as he drank from a bottle of water.

 “Y-You don’t want to put some clothes on?”

 He looked down at himself, almost surprised to find he was only wearing a towel and shrugged;

 “No point, the way i’m burning up i’ll be naked soon” he nodded to the screen; “So?”

 Turning your attention back to the screen you swallowed hard, your throat suddenly dry;

 “Well… it seems organic, spores of some kind. Its hard to tell what they are from, but their chemical make-up is unique. The only time i’ve seen anything similar is in isolated microclimates that are cut off from the rest of nature… there was this one… in a volcano… a pollen from a plant that grew in tropical climates…” you trailed off as you sensed another presence now flanking your other side, glancing away from the microscope, taking in the sight of August in an identical outfit to Will, his broad expanse of chest at eye level as he bent down to look into the microscope.

 “Hmmn… so, how’s it gonna affect us? The gala was in a fucking giant greenhouse; you saw the plants they were growing there, some of them were 20ft tall and looked like they’d come from another planet. Do we need to pop an antihistamine or something, what’s it gonna do?”

 Standing you quickly slid out from between the two barely dressed men, checking the mass spectrometer and frowning;

 “It seems to be elevating your testosterone levels…” you peered at the saliva results; “...and pheromones… your bodies are heating up where your body is fighting against the pollen, its affecting all your hormones...”

 “Pheromones…” Will mused; “... that’s the sex hormones, right?”

 “Urrr…” you faltered, looking up at the two men who were now looking at you like hungry wolves.

 August stepped closer;

 “Sweetheart, i think you’d better get yourself tested too…” he paused, his finger hooking beneath the thin strap of your dress, making you acutely aware you were completely naked beneath it; “... cos’ i could smell you from across the room… and you smell so sweet right now…”

 You went to take a step back, only to bump into the hard expanse of Will’s naked chest, his hand curling around your arm;

 “C’mon, lets get you tested…”

 You were suddenly putty in their hands, your head swimming and it was only then that you realised you were burning up. It felt like you had a core of lava within you, and the only thing you could liken it to was a hot flash, your body flushed with heat. You recalled the time you’d overheard a much older agent talking to her friends, unaware you had been in the room and she’d spilled the beans on how she would recover from an episode and calm her hormones down... with the help of her husband.

 As your head had been swirling, Will had taken your blood sample and had loaded it into the mass spectrometer, having watched as you’d shown him before the mission. But you could barely concentrate;

 “I...I know how to counteract the affects of the pollen…” you panted out, unsteady on your feet as you swayed and August caught you in his arms

 “Oh yes?”

 “En… Endorphins… they counteract… they burn off the pheromones…”

 You felt hot breath on the back of your neck as Will pressed against you;

 “I’m not a scientist, but i know how to create endorphins…” 

 His lips made contact with your neck and you turned to jelly, your head resting against his shoulder and your eyelids drooping, barely open, yet you had enough of your senses to be aware of August in front of you, pulling the straps of your dress down your arms, you pliable in his hands as he stripped you of your only remaining garment, pressing his lips to your over heated skin as went as the silk pooled at your feet;

 “So beautiful…”

 “Absolutely” Will agreed from behind, his lips grazing over your jawline as his arms reached around you and cupped your tender breasts; “We need to work as a team to get through this… what are the hazards of hot flashes then Doc?”

 “Y-Y-You can over heat your brain… your heart could give out…”

 “Uh-huh… and endorphins will help stop this?” August enquired, his breath hot on your naked chest

 “Y-yeah…”

 That was the last word spoken for a very long time. From that point on the only sounds in the room were hums of pleasure combined with the carnal soundtrack of three bodies moving towards the inevitable. By the time you got to the bed both men had lost their towels, hard naked bodies pressed against your soft curves, sculpted hard muscle available everywhere you touched, and oh did you touch… and caress and stroke, the second you’d reciprocated their affections they had softened to your touch, sighs of pleasure as your fingertips gave them just the slightest relief.

 You found yourself sandwiched between the two men on the soft covers of the king-size bed, each taking turns to capture your lips for searing kisses, each having their own unique talent and style with their tongues. When you were deep in August’s embrace you felt Will move down the bed, his hands pulling your legs apart before he pressed kisses up your inner thighs and his mouth made contact with your soaked folds. The cry of pleasure that erupted from your mouth broke the kiss, yet August didn’t seem to mind as your hand had found its way to being wrapped around his weeping shaft, tugging him sloppily as you struggled to concentrate;

 “That’s it Sweetheart, you don’t need to be gentle… i like it rough…”

 You tried to answer, but Will’s tongue had found your soaked entrance as his hand curled around your thigh and sought out your clit, the pleasure he was giving you was too intense to allow you to form coherent words. August claimed your lips again for another searing kiss, humming his appreciation as you worked your hand over his heated flesh.

 Before you knew it you were coming hard, your orgasm tearing through your body as you ground your core against Will’s face, his eyes sparkling from between your thighs, and as you were floating on the high of the afterglow you could feel the two men moving you, adjusting you to suit their needs.

 On all fours on the bed you were faced with August’s dick, opening your mouth instinctively to take him deep, the heavy weight on your tongue a welcome feeling. Saliva spilled from the corners of your mouth as you struggled to stretch around his girth. At the same time you felt Will’s powerful thighs pressing against the back of your own, the velvet touch of his bulbous crown pressing to your still trembling hole before with a grunt he thrust into your soft body.

 There were only grunts and gasps of pleasure, the two men rocking your body between them as they defiled you in the basest of ways, but that you were eager to participate in, the mixing of pheromones in the room removing your inhibitions, knowing that it was an act of survival. You could feel your body climbing again, your orgasm imminent. You felt the first salty tang of August’s seed on your tongue, the tensing of his muscles as his body prepared to release into the welcome warmth of your mouth. His massive hand cupped your chin and pulled your head up to look him in the eye as he finally reached his peak, grunting curses as he pumped thick ropes over your tongue, raining praise upon you as you swallowed everything he gave you. 

 August fell back onto the pillows, but before you could let gravity take hold of you too Will wrapped his arms around your torso, pulling you upright until you were pressed against his chest, his hips thrusting as he filled you so deliciously from behind. Through lust soaked gaze you watched August watching the pair of you as you fucked in front of him, his eyes travelling down your heated body until he was watching where your bodies were joined, how Will’s thick cock stretched you out so well.

 “Get your finger on her clit Shaw, i wanna watch you make her come undone”

 Doing as the senior agent instructed, Will snaked a hand down your stomach, rubbing tight firm circles against your sensitive bud as he continued to fill you, until you were shaking, hanging onto the precipice of pleasure and that final flick of his finger was enough to set off another orgasm. 

 The vice-like grip of your velvet walls was the final trigger for Will, and with a sin filled groan he pushed in one last time and you could feel him spilling deep inside you.

 Finally he pulled out, carefully setting you down onto the soft bedcovers. Your eyelids felt heavy, but the burning deep in your body seemed to be sated. You felt the men moving around the bed, a large hand cupping the back of your neck before lifting you from the bed a little;

 “Drink…”

 Opening your eyes, you watched as August lifted a water bottle to your lips, making sure you gulped down the chilled water before pulling away;

 “How… how are you guys feeling?”

 He turned and sat on the bed beside you, his finger trailing down your neck and between your breasts, and only then could you see the sheen as his skin glistened with sweat, a droplet running down his abdomen to where his cock stood hard and proud from a thatch of dark curls;

 “Not… not quite done yet…”

 Gently pushing you back down onto the bed he tossed the empty bottle aside before crawling atop of you, capturing your mouth with his as you felt the nudge of his hardened dick breach your body, his wide expanse of chest pressing you to the bed. He didn’t start out gentle and it only got rougher, ploughing into your body as he sought to relieve the effects of the pollen coursing through his veins like fire, burning within him until all that was left was red hot embers of passion. Your body writhed beneath him, begging for more, eagerly taking whatever he could give.

 He hit spots you didn’t know existed, your back arching with pleasure as he filled you, your hardened nipples almost too sensitive from his chest hair roughly rubbing against them, the stimulation almost too much until the levy broke and you came hard, your fingers digging into his back to leave dark welts, the pain his trigger for the final thrust as he pumped you full of his seed. 

 Finally he rolled off you, laying at your side as your chests heaved, struggling to catch your breath when you felt another hand grasp at your wrist;

 “Babe… please… i need you…”

 Looking to Will you saw a pained look on his face as he sat partially propped up against the pillows, his chest soaked and his dick standing hard and proud;

 “Please…” he begged.

 Somehow you found the energy to move, your body still shaking but yet you straddled his lap, pushing his sweat soaked curls from his face;

 “It’s going to be ok Will, i’ll take care of you… its ok…”

 You sank down onto his waiting body, taking him where August had been only a minute before, the comingled seed lubricating you as this new angle found yet more pleasure points that had remained undiscovered until then. Wills hands moved to your hips, his grip tight as he gritted his teeth and moved you on his lap, rocking you to ride him like a rodeo stallion. Sweat dripped down your body, rivulets running between your breasts as you threw your head back and basked in the flood of pleasure chemicals soaking your brain. The haze of lust clouding time and space as you came to another orgasm, Will filling you with another load of his thick cum, your cries of pleasure finally ebbing away as you collapsed on his heaving chest, his hands stroking your back whilst your bodies stayed joined.

 A pair of strong arms lifted you off of Will and set you down on the mattress, August’s dark smile haunting over you as he parted your legs and kissed down your thigh, before with a smirk he bit the soft flesh. It wasn’t enough to break the skin but the pleasure pain receptors in your mind were immediately set off again, and you knew that even if you couldn’t see the mark you’d feel it for days to come. He lifted your legs and parted them, his face at your centre, yet where his tongue ended up you let out a squeak of surprise as he circled your back entrance. 

 “Oh, OH… August…”

 “Mmmnnfff” was all that could be heard as he pushed his tongue at your asshole, his thumb pressing against your clit as he worked you open, your body deceiving you as a fierce orgasm washed over you almost immediately. When he pulled away he had a smug look on his face;

 “Thought as much… hold tight…”

 He quickly disappeared to the bathroom, before returning with a small bottle in his hand. Pouring some of the liquid contained within on his fingers, he worked the oil over your skin before pushing his thick finger into your ass, eagerly praising you as he worked your body until you were ready.

 “Walker… hurry up and fuck her… i’m burning up here, i need another round…” Will gasped out as August moved you.

 “C’mere then Shaw, we’re never gonna get this out of our systems if we have to wait to take turns…”

 Even through the haze of the pollen Will immediately got what August was saying, the pair of them pulling you from the bed before Will took you into his arms;

 “Jump…”

 With a surprising amount of strength Will pulled you up, your legs hooked over his forearms as he angled his hips to push his dick back into your cum soaked cunt, letting gravity help as he sank deep. Just as you thought you were about to overbalance a hard chest pressed against your back, August stooping behind you as he took his iron hard dick in hand and sought out purchase on your ass;

 “Gonna take this as slow as i can Sweetheart…”

 Slow didn’t seem slow enough, and you cursed Newton and the laws of physics as the same forces that had pulled you down onto Will did the same with August, leaving you gasping for air as you were filled in both holes. The boys held you up, in place and still whilst they resisted ravaging your body, fighting against the pollen until they could no longer hold back and they unleashed their raw power upon your body. Fucking you in tandem with the thinnest of walls separating themselves inside you, they defiled your body as you begged for more; harder, deeper, faster. It was never enough.

 -

 The night ebbed away into the mists of time, each sex act more depraved than the last, the three of you driving the deadly force of the pollen from your bodies in an endless battle of lust.

The last thing you recalled was the sun rising as the two men stood before your kneeling body, spraying your face and breasts with a final load before sleep finally claimed your sated body.

 -

 Bright light streamed in the window and you winced as your head pounded. A deep voice could be heard but you weren’t listening. A warm body beside you shifted and a large warm hand pressed to your aching abdomen, soothing the overworked muscles. A soft pair of lips pressed a kiss to your shoulder, and the lack of moustache told you it was Will that was spooning you.

 “C’mon Agents, rise and shine” August barked from the bathroom doorway, packing his things; “Got a flight to catch in two hours, debriefing in twelve”

 -

 Closing the file you nodded at your superiors, their approval of a good job done ringing praises in your ears as the debriefing ended, people pushing their chairs out and making small talk as they were dismissed for the weekend and a well deserved rest.

 Walking to the elevator you didn’t make eye contact, trying hard not to wince as your thighs rubbed together and you felt the bite that August had given you, wanting to avoid any probing questions. You’d skimmed over a lot in your report, mainly the sex-pollen induced orgy that had taken place, but as the thumb drive with the vital data on had been recovered no-one was concentrating on the part between the retrieval and the debriefing.

 The elevator dinged as the doors opened, and absentmindedly you stepped in, looking out of the glass windows as you were only partially aware of just a few other passengers. It was only when you realised you were flanked on both sides did you look up and see that August and Will were either side of you. 

 With a smirk August handed you a file;

 “This wasn’t needed for the debriefing”

 You flicked it open and saw that it was the mobile test data from the hotel room;

 “Yes, probably for the best” you agreed, your throat dry.

 As you held the pages Will pointed to a trio of lines towards the bottom. For a moment you stared at the numbers before you recognised what they meant;

 “That’s our results…”

 You felt August’s breath hot on your ear as he whispered;

 “Look at yours…”

 You saw the readings of Will and August’s blood count, of the pheromone saturation… then you saw yours;

 “But… but that can’t be right…”

 “You know that equipment better than anyone else… when has it ever been wrong?”

 The elevator reached the Lobby and everyone filed out, August and Will stopping and nodding to the bar across the street;

 “We’ll be catching a drink or two… you’re welcome to join us once you’ve taken in the test data…”

 You nodded, speechless, staring at the data in black and white. It couldn’t be wrong; it was never wrong. It was clear as day.

 You hadn’t been infected by the pollen.

2) "I know you hate me,"

h) Bodyguard

H) Royal

with Prinxiety? Angst seems kinda inevitable, but a happy ending would be nice 👉👈

Okay so I got out the angst and accidently dumped all of it in V's backstory. So this might be a touch different than you expected. you'll see what i mean. CW: gunviolence, shotwound, manipulation, cult, angst, kiss

“Damn it!” Roman flinched as he heard Virgil curse. He was injured. Virgil was injured because someone took a shot at Roman and Virgil not only caught the bullet for him, but took out the assassin while biting through the pain in his shoulder. After that, Virgil had grabbed Roman by the arm and rushed him away, leading him down several stairs and into a passage way Roman didn’t know was there. This wasn’t his castle after all. He’d been a guest of their neighboring country for diplomatic purposes. Being a crown prince in this day and age was different than it used to be. Very few countries were still really led by their royal family. The title usually came with duties like this. Maintaining a good relationship with other countries, go on humanitarian missions, representing the people among the leaders of the world. Roman was trying to take a more active role than his father had, and some people, clearly, did not like that. There were those who wanted to dismantle the monarchy entirely. And Roman taking interest in the wellbeing of his people and trying to be a voice for their interests in the government didn’t fit in their propaganda. His brother was more chaotic and liked to enjoy the perks of being a monarch in modern day more than Roman tended to do. He wasn’t a bad person, but no one had expected him to even make a claim on the throne since they were ten. They were twenty now and Remus had yet to show signs of growing up or be interested in ruling. Apparently, the more extremist anti monarchists figured that if Roman didn’t take the throne, Remus would have to and do such a terrible job that the monarchy would fall on its own. All they had to do was take out Roman before he could be crowned and become even more protected. His coronation was set to happen next year. His father had decided to step down and leave the throne for a younger generation and let his son actually lead his people rather than wait until he had great grandkids that were old enough to take the throne. Again, leading being a big word. The only times where Roman would have to make any political decisions would be if the country encountered a big political crisis and was left without a functioning government for a period of time. Which hopefully wouldn’t happen. Anyway, whoever just shot at him, didn’t want that crown to ever be put on Roman’s head. The attacker hadn’t counted on Virgil though. Virgil had been Roman’s bodyguard for ages. Though he only was officially hired as his main protective detail two years ago. Before that he was a protégé of Roman’s previous bodyguard Remy. A surprisingly fun-loving guy and Virgil’s guardian, Virgil refused to talk about the details that led to that family situation. Virgil had traveled with Roman since they were young. Especially when Roman went out undercover to get to know his people. And he had taken to protecting him from bullies who made fun of the way he talked and such. Roman had a love for fairytales and was supremely disappointed to find that he wouldn’t grow up to slay dragons or rescue handsome bachelors in distress. Which led to him attempting to be a hero whenever he could. Leading to Virgil getting in fights to keep him safe… Roman might’ve developed a crush on his knight (he wasn’t a knight but no amount of reminders from Virgil would get him to drop that) even though he knew Virgil only took protecting him so seriously because he wanted Remy to be proud of him. Which was fair. Still, Roman couldn’t help the way his heart responded every time Virgil defended him. This was not like that at all though. Virgil was bleeding. A bullet was still in his shoulder. And when Virgil dragged Roman away, there was screaming and another gunshot heard. There were others hunting for them. Virgil was leaning against the wall catching his breath. “Damn it,” he said again. “How did you know this was here?” Roman asked, not ready to acknowledge what was going on. “My job to know all exit routes,” Virgil said simply. “This is going to be a pain,” he groaned. “Can’t… We can’t stay here too long. We need to get to

the surface… There’s a safe house…” “You need a doctor!” Roman objected. “I’ll figure it out your highness. Remy is at the safehouse. He’ll take care of me until we… Until we can safely leave,” Virgil insisted. “I… But. Virgil…” Roman pleaded. “No buts. As long as you are in danger, I’m the one in charge. You can’t order me around right now,” Virgil bit. Roman flinched. Ever since they were kids, when Roman wanted to hang out with Virgil outside of their shared lessons and Virgil was being shy or hesitant Roman would make it an order. It was a playful thing and he never made Virgil do anything bad. They went to play tag with his brother and the son of his dad’s advisor in the gardens. Or they built a blanket fort. As they grew older Roman would put on a disguise and go see a new movie in the theater and drag Virgil along. Or go shopping. Or they’d just sit in his room and watch Disney and Roman would do whatever it took to make him laugh. Virgil had a very nice laugh, even though he hated it. But… Did Virgil genuinely not like hanging out with him? Did he feel forced? “I… You… I’m sorry Virgil… I didn’t know you minded…” Roman said, hating that tears were welling up. Virgil was in so much pain right now. This wasn’t the moment to get upset and make him pander to him. And Roman was not surprised to see Virgil’s face fall. He acted though and distant while on the job, but he was a kind and caring person. He just expressed that with though love. “Princey,” Virgil sighed, sounding tired, and sad and in pain but not just the physical kind. It occurred to Roman that Virgil never once shot someone before. God he must be freaking out right now. “I didn’t mean it like that… We can talk about it later, but I’m not upset with you okay? I’m just…” Roman reached out and squeezed Virgil’s good shoulder. “V. Are you okay? You… You had to shoot that woman. I…” The whole situation was slowly registering. His would be killer had worn a gorgeous gown in deep purple. Long hair pinned up, a slender but definitely feminine body. He even remembered the way she reached for the wound in her abdomen, her face shocked… She’d been so full of hate when she took a shot at him… Her cheeks glistening. Had she been crying? “It doesn’t matter. She would’ve shot you again if I didn’t give her bigger problems to deal with… She’ll be fine… I. I know where to hit to make it hurt without being a killshot. Remy taught me… Gotta go to Remy.” And with that Virgil took Roman by the wrist and led him through the tunnel which came out in a shed. Every time Roman tried to talk Virgil hushed him. He led him through a forest for what was way too long for Roman’s liking. Virgil had torn of the sleave of his jacket and tied it to his shoulder with his tie. But that wasn’t going to stop the bleeding enough right? He needed better care and soon. He had to lean on him for support every two steps by now. How was he even still walking around at all? Just when Roman was starting to think Virgil would collapse before they got to the safe house, the forest gave way to a small bungalow. Roman could see the porch where someone was pacing. Remy. Remy spotted them and immediately came running. Jumped right over the banister. “He’s shot in the shoulder,” Roman said as soon as Remy was within earshot. “Damn snitch,” Virgil grumbled. “Let’s get you both inside… Virgil did you not treat this at all?” Remy asked in a scolding tone. “I didn’t exactly have anything on hand. The prince is fine. That’s most important,” Virgil insisted ad Remy guided them both to the bungalow, up the stairs into a room with no windows. “Of course he is fine. You were with him,” Remy sighs. Virgil’s mouth lifted a little in a smile as he took off his jacket and shirt. Remy got out some tools and Roman looked away. Very sure he was too squeezy to look at this field hospital situation. “Seems you got lucky…” Remy muttered. “Virgil… I heard from agents at the scene… You shot her.” Roman frowned. It sounded like this ‘her’ was a person both were familiar with. “She was targeting the prince. I did my job… She…

She will live right?” Virgil sounded genuinely worried. “She’s taken to the hospital with police escort. I got an extraction team on the way. We need a real doctor to take this thing out. I’m not comfortable messing around with it here,” Remy concluded. “Figured. Don’t pack it up too much. Until we have a full team I’m the only back up you got,” Virgil reminded his adoptive father/ supervising agent. Roman turned back to look and found Remy securing the bandage around Virgil’s shoulder. Any other day, seeing Virgil shirtless would have made Roman a mess. But now it just made his stomach turn unpleasantly. He got lucky. What if that bullet had hit him a bit to the right? “We’ll be out of here in 20 minutes, max. Nothing’s gonna-” A shot from outside interrupted Remy, who jumped up and took out his gun. “You two stay here,” he instructed tensely before rushing down. “Like hell…”Virgil grumbled loading his gun, wincing with ever move of his left arm. Then he reached for his calve and took out another, handing it to Roman. “Turns out it was a good thing you nagged me into teaching you how to shoot,” Virgil huffed. Roman looked at the gun hesitantly. At the time he’d just been looking for a reason to come with Virgil when he went training at the range. Guns terrified him. And he knew Virgil was not a fan either. Even less so after today. But right now their lives depended on them. He took the weapon with shaking hands. “Virgil… I…” Roman flinched as he heard shouting downstairs and gunshots. Virgil shot up, opened a closet and took out two vests. He shrugged one on before handing the other to Roman. Bullet proof no doubt. “Stay here,” he said. Roman grabbed his hand. “Virgil wait… You… You have to come back. Please,” his voice broke with emotion. God he was really going to do this. But… What if this was his last chance? “I… I never told you this because I was scared you’d resign and stuff, but… I’m. I’m in love with you. I know I’m a pain and you don’t feel the same way but, please. Please just come back,” he pleaded. Tears in his eyes. To his surprise Virgil pulled him in for a hug. “You are an idiot. You know that?” he sighed. “Wh… What do you mean?” Roman asked, scared to hope. “I mean, I have had feelings for you for a long time too Singalot… In fact. Would it be too forward of me to ask for a kiss for good luck?” Virgil teased. Probably genuinely joking. Expecting Roman to insist on a date first so he could ask him out for after they dealt with this. But Roman stepped out of the embrace, took Virgil’s face in his hands and kissed him. He kissed him and he wanted it to be enough to make him stay. But he knew that downstairs, the man who’d raised Virgil for the past twelve years was possibly pinned down by an unknown amount of enemies. He couldn’t ask him to stay with him. Virgil moved away. “Well… Now I definitely need to come back,” he said. Tears in his eyes. But he didn’t seem afraid. Virgil’s thumb ghosted over Roman’s cheek. “See you soon,” he whispered and headed down. Roman started pacing. Remy and Virgil were excellent at what they did. They’d be fine… Right? But what if they weren’t… There was a lot of shouting now. No shots. Roman got nervous, and curious. The stairs were out of view of the entrances, shielded by a wall on both sides and facing a wall. If he was quiet he could make it down them without anyone knowing. Virgil and Remy would be upset… His parents would be livid. Remus would probably think it was wicked cool. And it’s rarely a good idea to do something Remus would approve off. Just for your health and decency’s sake. Still, Roman found himself putting on the jacket and sneaking down the stairs, singing musical tunes in his head to calm his nerves. He had Hamilton on the mind which was probably not the greatest idea when holding a gun. He heard the voices. “Hand the hell spawn over. You know this is where your live has been leading you Virgil. Redeem yourself!” A woman’s voice shouted. “You are insane! I’ll die before I let you anywhere near him!” Virgil shouted back. Roman wished he could safely

check the situation around the corner. “The time is now. Reject their sinful ways. Return to the light you were born into!” A deeper male voice. Roman knew that people out to kill him were likely to be insane. But hearing it first hand was something different. None of this made any sense. “Go to hell!” Virgil insisted. “You heard the man!” Remy growled. Roman heard movement, and maybe it was the adrenaline giving him massive deductive reasoning or maybe it was just because he was still trying to soothe himself with “my shot” of all songs. But he stepped around the corner and aimed the gun at one of the apparently three people that had come in. The three opponents were distracted by Roman’s sudden appearance, which was good because his shot ended up in the wall way to the left of the guy he’d been aiming at. But his distraction was all the time Remy and Virgil needed to take out the three of them before they could get a shot off. Virgil turned around and Roman relaxed when he saw he was fine. It was over… And then he fainted. He woke up to white walls, in an uncomfortable bed. “Hey there Princey.” Roman turned his head and found Virgil with his arm rebandaged, also laid in a hospital bed. “Are you alright? How long was I out?” he wondered frantically. Virgil was still in his dress pants, his torso still bare safe for the bandaging. “Yeah. I’m alright. You are in big trouble though. Once the anesthetics wear off I’ll kick your ass,” he grumbled. “He was too fidgety so they dosed him just enough to keep him still for an hour. He woke up ten minutes ago. Bullet’s gone, he’s all stitched up,” Remy offered. Roman let out a relieved sigh and sat up. He felt fine now. The stress had just wore him down. “I’m not sorry,” he said as he got out of the bed and went to stand at Virgil’s side. He looked okay, all things considered. “The people who came at me… Did we get them all?” he wondered. Virgil and Remy nodded. “We found their community too. They are all being arrested and handled as needed,” Remy informed them, glancing at Virgil cautiously. Virgil looked… Angry, sad… Just a lot of things. “Virgil?” Roman asked gently. “I…” Virgil was interrupted by an agent. “Director Dormus. Your highness. Agent Dormus,” he greeted formally. “The shooter apprehended at the ball has woken up. As you predicted she is very uncooperative,” he informed them. “That’s Noia,” Virgil sighed sadly. “You… You know her?” Roman asked. Virgil nodded. “She’s my sister.” That… Wait. “Virgil… you shot… Are you okay!?” he asked perplexed. That was so much more upsetting than he’d presumed today to be. Virgil let out an empty laugh. Yeah. That was a redundant question. “I’ll take care of things. You two should talk,” Remy said as he got up and followed the other agent out. There was a moment of heavy silence. “I guess… If um… If we are doing this I should come clean,” Virgil said, not looking at Roman. “Before Remy adopted me, I was raised in a cult. The very one that attacked you today. So you can guess what lovely rhetoric I was fed for the first eight years of my life. They believe those of noble blood are in league with the devil and conspired to kill Jesus.” Okay. That explained some of what those people had been shouting about. “As you know I was born on Christmas eve. So my parents and the whole community... They put some meaning to that. My sister Nora was the only one I really liked. She didn’t treat anything I said or did as if it was either gospel or blasphemy. I felt safe with her.” Roman could emphatize with that part actually. To have everyone expect big things from you from birth. “What I watched and entertained myself with was closely monitored. They only showed me Disney to teach me Royals were pathetic and stupid. But that wasn’t all I learned from it. I… I liked the kind princesses and stuff...” Virgil admitted with a blush. “Anyway. Despite their attempts at brainwashing me into becoming the messiah of their believe system, when I heard them plan something big with her as a key player,” his voice cracked and a tear escaped. “I called the

emergency line and they sent the police and I got out of there. The entire community vanished within an hour. Until today, I hadn’t seen my sister, or my parents since the night the police came.” Oh no. Virgil had to shoot his parents and his sister today? That was so messed up. He deserved a vacation. Not that he’d accept it. Roman would have to come up with something.6 “Remy was part of the team questioning me to see if I knew anything else. He saw something worthwhile in me, adopted me, set me up with a therapist who is now his partner, and they decided it was a good idea to let me get to know you and Remus so I could form my own opinion on you. And the rest is history,” he finished, still not looking at Roman. “Virgil… I can’t imagine… I’m so sorry you went through all of that,” he said sincerely. He wanted to say more, though he couldn’t imagine the right words to say. They got interrupted by a knock to the door. “Your highness. I apologize but I need the room to check up on my patient,” a doctor said carefully. Roman nodded. “Yes, of course,” he said as he squeezed Virgil’s hand and left the room. Two agents stood at the door. They would follow him wherever he went no doubt. It took two regular agents to make up for the absence of one Virgil. “I want to see the one who made the first shot,” he said in a tone that didn’t leave room for argument. He didn’t know what he’d say. But he wanted this Nora to be ready to talk to Virgil without upsetting him. He’d give Virgil his big sister back in some capacity. Though he had no clue what that meant. “Yes sir,” the agents replied without hesitation. Virgil would’ve given him lip. That thought made Roman’s heart race. He’d gotten so close to losing him today. Instead… They. They were a thing now right? Roman wasn’t officially out, though there were rumors. But at some point he’d have to confirm to the people that he’d never take a queen. They led him to a room not too far from Virgil’s. There was shouting. Mostly curse words. Some that Roman had never heard before. He stopped to wait for a good moment to enter, or to listen in. Either way the agents didn’t move. They didn’t question his actions. They just kept an eye out for possible unfriendlies. “Are you quite done throwing a tantrum?” He heard Remy ask. “Remy,” a different voice. Roman knew this to be Remy’s other half, Emile. “She’s clearly under a lot of emotional stress. I was just telling her V…” “Don’t you dare say his name you monsters! You took him from me! You messed with his mind and now he’s… He’s…” The woman’s voice was indeed very distraught. Roman couldn’t imagine what it was like. To see the little brother you’d lost years ago appear on the side of the man you’d been thought was evil incarnate. “Alive and well. Probably won’t use that arm for a bit. But he’ll live,” Remy said calmly. Not showing he'd been sharing her terror just a few hours ago. “V is alive…?” Nora whispered in disbelieve. “I want to see him. I want prove of life!” she insisted. Roman could hear Remy scoff. “This is not a hostage situation missy. And even if it was. You are not in the position to make demands like that,” he stated coldly. “How dare you? You stole him from us!” Nora cried. “Did I?” Remy said, unimpressed. And then Roman heard another voice. But this one low quality. A recording. “554 What is your emergency?” A calm feminine voice. “Hello? A- are you the people who help when bad things happen?” Nora gasped and Roman suspected that it was because she, like him, recognized the voice of a younger Virgil. “Yes sweetheart. We’ll do our best. What’s your name?” the operator wondered. “V Virgil Reinders,” little Virgil replied. “Okay Virgil. How old are you?” “I… I dunno…” Virgil’s voice broke. “I remember how scared he was in the beginning when he couldn’t answer or thought he did something wrong,” Remy recollected with an icy voice. Roman remembered too. He seemed terrified of their tutor though he was very patient despite Roman and Remus not making it easy for him.0 The recording continued. “That’s alright. Are you somewhere

safe right now?” the woman asked. “Y- yes. But mommy will be back soon… I don’t think I’m supposed to call,” Virgil whispered. “It’s alright Virgil. I won’t get you in trouble. Why are you calling?” the woman wondered. “The bunny on the tv said to call this number when we saw something bad… Mommy and daddy… It’s Noia. They are going to make her do a bad thing,” Virgil said. “Can you tell me a little more Virgil?” “They… They have guns. And guns hurt people. And they were telling Noia to hurt someone tomorrow,” he cried. “Please. I don’t want Noia to do a bad thing!” the younger version of his bodyguard sobbed. “We’ll try and keep that from happening. Who is Noia Virgil?” “My big sister.” “And is she a lot older than you?” the woman wondered. “Dunno. Mommy and daddy say she’s almost an adult but she’s much smaller than mommy.” Roman’s heart ached for the young boy trying to explain to a stranger what was going on. Out of concern for his sister it seemed. “Okay. And what do mommy and daddy want her to do with the guns?” the woman asked. Roman could hear that it was getting hard for her to keep her composure. “They are gunna go to the big round circle on the map. It’s got a big green square next to it,” Virgil said. “You are doing very good Virgil. Did you hear anything about the people Noia has to hurt?” the operator asked tensely. “Hmmm… I can’t remember their names. But they help the princes and the princesses. Mommy and daddy and Mr. Father don’t like that,” he said. “That’s enough I think,” Remy said. “He… He called us in?” Nora said softly, more to herself than to anyone in the room. “He was quite distraught you didn’t run back to get him when he pretended to trip. He thought you would. Hoped to free you both from your parents and ‘Father’,” Remy said, sounding like he was barely holding back anger. “I wanted to… They wouldn’t let me,” the woman said quietly. “He never gave up hope you know? Kept hoping you’d come for him. Thought he could convince you to stay with us and you’d both be safe.” He was definitely angry. “No… No I didn’t… Virgil. Oh god…” Nora sobbed. “Nora. Remy is Virgil’s boss. But he is also his legal guardian and…” Emile meant well. But that was clearly the wrong thing to say. “He did what!?” If he ever was going to step in. Now was probably best, before she got even more worked up. “Oh, you know. Dressed him, clothed him, took care of him when he got ill. Dad stuff,” he said as he walked in, closely followed by his guard. Emile shot up and bowed, Remy went to stand at attention. “Please, don’t,” Roman said gently, his eyes trained on the woman who’d shot at him earlier today and was looking like she’d happily do it again. She was slender… She looked on the edge of underfed honestly. Her dark straight hair in a pixie cut. She was in a hospital gown and couldn’t sit up well due to her injuries. “You…” she growled. “I know you hate me,” he said calmly. “But this isn’t about me. Or you. This is about Virgil. He told me some of what happened. As Mr. Dormus told you, he still cares for you. You are still his sister. And though you probably won’t believe me, I do care for him too. He is a good man. And the most reliable friend I could’ve ever hoped for.” Nora just glared at him, glancing at the guards with him. He let out a tired sigh. “I’m sorry for the pain you’ve endured. I can’t imagine going through that with my brother. He’s a pain, but I love him dearly. From what I heard you and Virgil were very close. I hope you can be that once more. But his wellbeing will take priority. If you use your visits to upset him, I can’t in good conscience support it,” he stated firmly. “That sound fair.” Roman spun around. Shocked to find Virgil standing there, bracing himself against the door. “Virgil! You should be in bed!” he objected. “My shoulder is fine Princey. Just a little off balance because of the meds,” he objected, eyes focused on the room behind him. “Which is exactly why you shouldn’t move around! I swear! If you keep this up I’ll have to appoint someone to protect you from yourself,” Roman

huffed. Virgil just chuckled. Roman rolled his eyes and stepped aside so Virgil could properly enter the room, ready to catch him should he need it. Virgil’s face became serious and he strode into the room. “Between me and the boss, the prince will be fine. Give us the room,” he said. It was always odd to see how well respected Virgil was among the ranks of the royal security team. He was much younger than most, but the team took orders from him as though he was the senior operative. And that while most of the politicians seemed a bit put off by the fact that Roman would soon take the throne. Once the door closed Roman looked at Nora. She was staring at her brother, eyes going from his bandaged shoulder to his face, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. “You’re so grown up,” she whispered. “Tends to happen when you don’t see someone for over a decade… They cut your hair short,” he noted. “It’s… They…” she said, touching her hair self-consciously. “You loved it long. What else did they do to you…?” Virgil wondered worriedly. “No, it’s not that. It’s… It was penance for losing you. I chose this,” she insisted. Virgil scoffed. “Yeah right. I’m sure father nor or parents ever suggested that you had to in any way.” Nora flinshed. Virgil walked farther into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. “You need to eat better Noia,” he said softly. “Look at you… Don’t worry. Emile is really good at teaching you to take care of yourself. He even got Remy to cut down on caffeine,” Virgil smirked. “Cut down, but not quit! So it’s a draw,” Remy pointed out smugly. The trio chuckled. Nora just looked uncomfortable. “Virgil…” she said. “We don’t need to talk about all that now. You have twenty five years of manipulative BS to work through. Please cooperate with the investigators? I’m testifying against the community. So what you do will only decide whether you are considered a victim or a willing participant. I know how they treated us, what they did to the kids there. And I’ll advocate for you. But the decision isn’t mine. You fired a shot in a room filled with high officials past our borders. I’m not even sure if you’ll be trialed by us. I’ll do my best Noia. But you are going to jail.” Virgil’s voice cracked with emotion. Roman wished he could hug him. But he did not want to enrage Nora. “…We… They said we were cleansing the world,” Nora insisted weakly. Virgil sighed. “I know,” he nodded, taking her hand before looking at Roman. “But even if they were right, their methods were wrong. Deep down you have to know that too,” he whispered. “I just wanted to have you back,” she sobbed. This made the tears in V’s eyes spill over. Roman silently left the room. It was not his place to be here. He waited for Virgil’s return in his room and he was brought in not too much later. “Everything alright?” he asked as he got up. Remy sent the guards outside and Virgil waited until they were gone to respond. “I could use a hug,” he admitted. Roman rushed to his side at once and embraced him carefully. “I can’t imagine how hard today was for you,” he whispered. “I’ll be fine. You got shot at though. You should let Emile make sure you are doing okay,” Virgil pointed out. “If you promise to let yourself rest from now until the doctor says you are fully healed.” Virgil groaned in protest. “No kisses every day you overexert yourself,” Roman teased. Virgil let out a whine. “No fair… Does that mean I don’t get a kiss now?” he pouted. Roman pretended to think about it. “I suppose the rule was not in effect yet. So I’ll allow it. But only because I love you,” he teased. Virgil let out a laugh and moved back just enough to allow Roman to lean in for a kiss. “Never mind me,” Remy said from his place at the door, making both men jump apart, look at each other and Remy embarrassedly before bursting out laughing. Today had been a nightmare. But also a dream. And Roman was hopeful that things would work out in the end.

@moonlightshow00 @naturallyunstablegamer @alias290 @meowthefluffy @frida0043 @angelic-cali @selenechris @theblackveilinreverse

When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love.

I was tagged by @trickztr (my sweet syrup pie) and @alexturne. Thanks guys 💖

I don’t have that many fics unfortunately? I used to write a lot on my teens, I still have some stuff on my AO3 (and I barely remember what they were about), but I didn’t write for YEARS after that. A few one-shots here and there, but mostly I went on a 7-ish year drought until may 2021 when I picked it up again, and fortunately it doesn’t look like I’m stopping any time soon! 

you cannot turn away (but nice try)

Alex/Miles, 145k, completed

Alex Turner thought he got over the love of his life, but then they run into each other again a decade later. Whether they’ll be able to let the past go or not, only time will tell.

Still posting this one, as many of you know it, but it’s by far the story I’m the happiest about. Even outlining this one was a challenge because of the two timelines, but I’m really happy with the result. 

It’s also the biggest thing I’ve written (so far, we never know what the future might bring), and I love revisiting some things and realizing that every word that’s in this story needed to be there. It was also the most personal thing I’ve ever written, so if you read it to the end you have to know there’s a really big piece of me in this story.

c’est horrifique!

Alex/Miles, 116k, completed

Alex Turner and Matt Helders are vampire hunters in what was supposed to be an ordinary hunt, but they have been stuck in it for a month with no signs of actually finding the vampire they’re hunting.

Their fate starts to turn when Alex crosses paths with Miles, a mysterious man who seems to come out of thin air, and Matt finds out rumors about an old castle that may have what they’re looking for.

Ah, c’est horrifique! my beloved. This little monster started as a challenge (@thranduil-aran-edhil​ this is all your fault) that was basically like ‘hey, you know that crazy vampire AU idea you have? You should write a page of it’. One page became several pages and sooner than I realized I was knee deep into a story about love and friendship and betrayal and grief and it was SO fun.

This was The thing that drove me out of my writing drought, and it was also fun because it was the first multi-chaptered thing I’ve ever written in my life. It was also the first big thing I’ve ever written in English, and though I was pretty familiar with English by then (being here + reading almost exclusively in English + working for an american company where I’m required to speak English all day long... you kinda pick up some stuff), writing (especially something as big as this one) is just a completely different thing altogether.

I love it, even though I feel like I would change some stuff here and there (especially at the beginning), but overall I’m really proud of what I did on this one! I have very solid plans for the sequel and it’ll probably happen after my current WIP. I’m still not done with that funky lil vampire hunter and his vampire boyfriend. 

i’m beginning to think i imagined you all along

Alex/Miles (with some side [REDACTED] (this is a surprise for when I post it I guess) ), ~25k for now but it’ll be much much longer, WIP

In the summer of 1814, a mysterious author wrote a love story between two men, so naturally Alex moved heaven and earth to find him, and they start corresponding even though they’re unaware of each other’s identity.

On another, completely unrelated note, a series of mistakes lead him back home, to Yorkshire, where he’s given a mission by his father in order to restore what’s still left of the family’s reputation.

This came to me when I was watching Bridgerton S2 and I did absolutely 0 effort to stop it and I will make everyone go through that with me.

Again, this one is still in progress, but it’s already my beloved child. I can’t say much about it because... reasons, but coming up with the letters and the regency vibes and all that kinda stuff is SO FUN. 

Also the first smut scene of this fic is on the first chapter and I’m weirdly proud of it. I’m earning that Explicit rating EARLY in the game, y’all.

i’m gonna let myself love (and i’m not scared of the end)

IT, Richie/Eddie, 2k, unpublished one-shot

Richie has an encounter with his younger self while Eddie recovers in the hospital.

I wrote this lil one shot back when everyone was all over IT Chapter 2, but it’s been sitting on my google docs ever since. The reason I added this here was because this was the first thing I’d written in years, and I revisited it a few months ago and it was really interesting to see all of the elements present in all my recent fics are all there: the long paragraphs of internal monologue because I’ve always been a whore for character study stories, Richie’s scene with Stan and the huge focus on friendship that’s present on all of my fics, that constant bittersweetness that actually ends in something sweet--

I’m a consistent bitch that’s my point 👌

also I may or may not have thought about writing an IT milex au but you did not hear it from me

breathe in, breathe out

In The Flesh, 2k, one-shot

Jem has a nightmare and ends up finding a friend in Simon.

Rewind to 2014. I had three big obsessions at the time: Arctic Monkeys (again, I’m a consistent bitch), Shameless US and In The Flesh. For those who didn’t touch this corner of tumblr back in the day, In The Flesh was an excellent BBC3 show about zombies that end up being “reformed” to live in society. It touched on a lot of heavy shit like homophobia, depression, religion, suicide... and in my honest opinion it still holds up in 2022. I think it’s a little difficult to find it to watch nowadays, but if you happen to come across it, give it a chance. The whole thing has 9 episodes and you can watch it in a weekend.

Anyway, I was obsessed with the main couple of the show, Simon and Kieren, and I ended up writing some stuff back in the day. I didn’t even remember writing this particular fic before being tagged on this, so I was just going through my AO3 and this was the one that surprisingly caught my attention even though it’s not a romantic fic, and instead focuses on the bond between Simon and Jem, Kieren’s sister.

It’s not really good compared to the stuff I write nowadays (I was 18 when I wrote that, for starters), but again it’s really interesting to go back and see that all of the elements I would later explore much much better on my recent fics were all there from the beginning. 

I probably would’ve done a much better job if I wrote that today, but 18 yo me didn’t do such a bad job. Good for her!

This was a lot of fun! I don’t really know who to tag anymore because tbh all the writers I know have already been tagged in this jdlsjdlsj so if you’re a writer and are seeing this and want to do it, have fun? I’m giving you my blessing

Dark Side Of The Moon Ch. 1 - Dark! Loki x Reader

Chapter 1: Speak to Me/Breathe

Chapter Summary: The last thing you remember was being mortally wounded, now having woken up in a completely different reality. And you’d soon need to face the horrors of who would seek you out...

Warnings: Violence, Blood, Suicide Attempt, Graphic Descriptions of Death, Dark! Loki, Spoiler you kinda die but kinda don't

Words: approx. 3800

[Story Masterlist]

Masterlist to my other works right ->Here<-

Lyrics used from the Song: Kina ft. Snow - Get You The Moon

“Y/N, look out!”

The piercing sounds of gunfire nearby made your eardrums ring, yet Steve’s words got through to you nonetheless.

But you were determined to end this, here and now.

Tony was the first one at your side, catching you in his arms before you hit the floor. However, you could only do so much as whimper a silent apology to your friends, who now had to live with the consequences of your actions.

“Why did you do this?!” you heared Dr. Strange yell as he unsucessfully tried to close the deep cut in your gut. Too afraid of what you might see if you’d look at the wound, your glare was locked on the beautiful sky - yes, the sun was almost setting, and it was somehow calming to you that this would most likely the last thing you’d set eyes upon.

“There was no reason to be this reckless!” Steve followed close by, his scolding soon turning into desperate screams. “Fuck. FUCK!” If Captain America himself is cussing, then it’s as severe as you thought it to be.

Your wounds were lethal, that much was sure.

And of course they were right, as always: You didn’t need to play the martyr here, throwing yourself into danger to shield your comrades - well, you did anyway, and there was no going back now.

On the other hand, they were the ones taking a gravely depressed widow onto a dangerous mission. But you did not want your precious friends to blame themselves for that, for it was your own wish.

Dying in an honorable battle was what would send you to Valhalla, after all - where you could finally meet him again, hopefully.

The only one not having spoken a single word up until now was Thor, very well knowing what all this was about. It was no secret that you were sick and tired of how your life had turned out to be, ever since the Infinity War.

You felt empty. Incomplete. Desperate. Hallow.

The God of Thunder had turned his back to you, yet there was still agony radiating from that already broken man. Your almost-brother-in-law was the only one who could possibly understand your pain. Thor Odinson had lost everything: His homeland, most of his tribe, his family and best friend - and soon, you as well.

All this time, you wanted to be strong. For them, who had also lost so much!

But at some point things just got out of control.

“You can’t leave me alone, Lady Y/N! Not you too!” Thor finally whimpered as he fell onto his knees, softly squeezing your hand. “You’re the only thing I have left from him!

So this is what dying feels like.

The bloodloss caused your limps to go limp, and when the pain began to stop and got replaced by numbness, you knew it would soon be time. Your brain lost the remaining control over your body, and you found yourself encoated by pure nothingless.

Only able to listen by their screams, cries and kind words - at least you’d die surrounded by those marvellous people. It sure was a privilege knowing them.

You weren’t afraid - all in all, it had been a good life, after all. 

There were no regrets.

“Shh” you hushed them, using your last bit of strenght so your lips formed somewhat of a most broken smile, forming words between gurling on your own blood.

“It’s alright, I-” you cut yourself off, trying to scream as a last, torturing pain shot through your whole system. “I-I-I’ll-- meet him again...you know?”

“I’m no-not strong enough, please...” Thor cried out like you had never seen him before, feeling a tide of guilt wash over you. “Loki wouldn’t have wanted you to go like this! He told me to protect you, so you could lead a long and happy life!”

Without him? Impossible!

“You gave me a shoulder when I needed it

You showed me love when I wasn’t feeling it

You helped me fight when I was giving in

And you made me laugh when I was losing it”

Yes, indeed: You had been to selfish to keep on living just for the sake of your friends, burdening them with yet another loss.

“I-I don’t wanna go...this was a mistake, I- please...”

How badly did you want to soothe them right now, telling them that everything would be alright and you’d meet them again, eventually?

It was too late now.

Your body gave up earlier than your soul, which had endured and kept on all this time, even in it’s shattered state.

And when Tony’s palm gently closed your eyes, making it easier for you to embrace the cold darkness, the last thing you heared before your senses gave up were startling you enough to almost bring you back to life:

“I’m so sorry, Y/N.”

That voice was familiar, yet it didn’t belong to Loki. Dr. Strange, no- Stephen Strange, your friend and mentor of the mystic arts.

“I don’t have the heart to allow this to happen” he stated frantic, making you wonder if that was a dream of your hypoxic brain or if you were still able to hear them? People tend to say the sense of hearing dies last, after all. “She still has a pulse, even though weak. Hurry!”

Their voices were far in the back, words way too far out of your reach to understand. As if you were an outsider, only observing from a distance.

Your friends were fighting, or maybe discussing something. That much you could make up from their tone, but your mind was too exhausted to make sense of anything.

It felt as if you were already without a body, floating through the unknown like a feather in the wind - not knowing where fate would lead you to next.

Everything was numb - even your pain. It was soothing, somehow.

Because you had been a ghost way before, when you were alive even. An empty shell of a human, acting like they weren’t dead on the inside.

Coherent thoughts, memories, emotions...even the fractions of your own past you had both collected and surpressed. Right now, they were all restrained and pushed far in the back of your very core, where you were finally able to evaluate them without earthly bondings.

Was this heaven, hell - or maybe both or none or them?

____

"Be aware of the limits this tactic has. It’s a very drastic measurement that can most likely be used only once in your lifetime, and it is not guaranteed to work either.”

Stephen’s voice again. You recall that scene, it’s been long in the past...but why are you remembering it now?

Yes, this was familiar. All of you had been invited to the Sanctum Sanctorum, a fitting place to teach about this ancient knowledge.

You clearly remembered that Loki was absent in any of the Doctor’s lessons, feeling that a “puny human” was “unworthy” to teach him, and “it would be nothing new anyway, Y/N, I am a god and the way better wizard, I know it all already.”

What he was about to tell you back then was some kind of crazy emergency-plan: Dangerous, unpredictable and escpecially untested.

“I’ve only read about this tactic up until now” the mage pondered loudly as he picked at his goatee, earning some childish giggles by you and Tony. “So I cannot promise that it will function as planned. The Multiverse is dangerous and acts in unforseen ways.”

“Very reassuring” you had mocked at the time, not really biding the topic any importance or thought ever again.

But now...

The trick sounded way simpler than it actually was, being as complex as it is only natural for something like that, costing a huge prize at that:

Dr. Strange would send any of you who were on the brink of death through a portal, thus leading you into a random dimension of this endless Multiverse.

That dimension, in which your alternate self has most likely died, will gladly accept you as a “replacement”. Some kind of what Peter Parker called a “glitch” will occur, instantly healing all of your wounds - even fatal ones, so you could remain in the timeline that was missing you. 

Yet the consequences of this maneuvre would be unspeakable.

_____

“That bastard...” you gnarled internally, finally realizing why you would remember this of all things after apparently having just taken your dying breath. “He didn’t just-”

Eventually, you realized having escaped death’s grip, slowly beginning to regain your senses - yet still refusing to open your eyes.

“I don’t want to leave this place. My friends -- will I never see them again? No. NO! Life is meaningless. Just let me be with him. Please! Loki...”

“’Cause you are, you are

The reason why I’m still hanging on

‘Cause you are, you are

The reason why my head is still above water

And if I could I’d get you the moon

And give it to you

And if death was coming for you

I’d give my life for you”

Another part of Strange’s lesson echoed in your head, revealing that you were now in fact up on your own.

“Not even I can tell just how much this timeline will differ from what you know. Of course I will search for you right away, but considering the countless possibilities, it might very well be that we’ll never meet again. But you’re alive, and hopefully safe. That’s all that counts.”

Grass tickled your palm as you twitched your fingers, testing the limits of your body, which had literally just tricked death. Suddenly, you felt a stinging pain, almost like lightning boring into your temportal. The origin of this pain remained unknown.

When you finally found the courage to sit up, your flesh still feeling as heavy as lead, you realized that Stephen was most likely wrong: He assumed that you’d find yourself in a place you had a deep connection with, yet that place was unrecognizable to you.

Then why were you here of all places?

Actually, this location was incredibly beautiful, managing to stop the aching in your heart, if only for the fraction of a second.

Your former lover would’ve loved this place.

“'Cause you are, you are

The reason why I’m still hanging on

'Cause you are, you are

The reason why my head is still above water

And if I could I’d get you the moon

And give it to you

And if death was coming for you

I’d give my life for you”

Even though not all of Dr. Strange’s speculations were correct, you decided to stick to his emergency plan: Find as much information about this “new” earth as possible, point out the differences to your initial one, and then contact the Dr. Strange of this dimension.

Two mages working on crossing each other’s path would at least higher the stakes to find your original timeline.

Well, no one could guarantee you that the Avenger’s existed on this timeline, and they could as well be evil in this one...what a weird and horrifying imagination.

Knowledge really was power - that was another thing Loki had taught you a long time ago, and it would prove valuable, especially in this situation.

As you wandered this surprisingly extensive garden and getting lost in admiring the beauty of it’s nature, you found yourself devoid of any weapons. That fact made you slightly uncomfortable, even though your current location seemed absent of any ememies, making a peaceful impression. 

Seemingly there weren’t any evil schemes going on in this dimension.

It basically were only minor differences, at least that was your first impression. At least there were no changes in natural laws or something as big.

“I miss the days where magic and science didn’t mix up like this” you whispered, mainly to yourself as you examined the new, large scar on your abdomen - the only memory left of your “almost-suicide-mission”.

To be more precize: The only thing left from your former life, now leaving you able to start completely anew, wether you wanted it or not.

Sun had almost drowned behind the horizon, diving the sky in a deep orange. Your eyes were still adjusting, yet you could’ve sworn to see the silhouette of a person. It was far away, at the entrance on what appeared to be a palace belonging to this garden.

Apparently, you had invaded someone’s propery, and you could only pray that it was noone important - or worse, a owner who would defend their ground with violence.

You don’t think your earth had a place this...flashy. The castle was way bigger than any you knew on the other timeline. The first difference you had figured out, yet it was only a minor one.

Maybe the headache you were experiencing was from someone making you  out as an intruder?

One thing was sure: You had been noticed, and you immediately were on high alert.

Where to run to or at least hide?

There was a maze made out of bushed parting you and the palace, and since there was no better option, you’d enter it. Talking to that person and convincing them of your goodwill would make it way easier to gain information.

“You may come out” you declared as you made your way, unable to evaluate the situation properly. “I mean no harm. I’m just lost.”

Was it dangerous to be here? Obviously, you were not allowed to be here anyway.

However, when you had finally found the escape to that maze, only several hundret meters away from the building, the person was already gone.

Had your mind just played a dirty trick on you again? Wouldn’t be the firt time it’d betray you like this...

No. You clearly felt someone watching you.

And as soon as your senses had sharpened to your usual self again, you instantly jumped back, gaining some distance to the Citauri that had just appeared behing you.

Shit! You weren’t ready to fight again just yet. Not like this.

And where one of those vile beasts were, many others would appear. You knew that much.

Had Thanos invaded this earth? Oh god, not again...not him. You were so damn tired of those fights, escapes and especially the pain that always inevitable followed after.

Just when it was about to swing it’s weapon at your head, you felt dizziness crawl up your nerves, making you collapse on the floor. Lucky for you, because only like that, the stike didn’t hit you.

Even though having been taught basic magic skills, that certain kind of spell you were unable to fight against - only true masters of the art were able to perform a sorcery that well.

The Chitauri had left your line of sight, yet the other figure from before reappeared in a pace so fast that your eyes couldn’t follow. They sweeped you off the floor just before your head would meet the hard pavement.

“And now you will answer to me, shapeshifter.”

Once again someone robbed you of the control of your life and body, leaving you without a free will.

How long had you been passed out now? You didn’t know and honestly didn’t care either - since you had nothing to lose anymore.

In the meantime, the owner of those lands had dismissed his guards, not wanting to be disturbed as he was left alone with you in the giant throne room.

The apparent ruler of that unclassified location was sitting on his throne, warily observing you from above. You were lying to his feet at the bare floor, every piece of clothing robbed from you and restrained by a pile of chains. He watched every twitch, all breaths you’d take or groans escaping your mouth until you would finally awake.

Oh, how you really were just like he remembered you, with every little detail he had adored.

At long last, you would finally open your lids again, blinking heavily as you took in your surroundings - but when your eyes met certain emerald ones, they immediately sprung wide open, the emptiness in your heart being filled with all kinds of emotions once again.

The man - it was him!

“'Cause you are, you are

Oh, you are

Oh, you are

You are'Cause you are, you are

The reason why I’m still hanging on

'Cause you are, you are

The reason why my head is still above water

And if I could I’d get you the moon

And give it to you”

“Loki!” you screamed from the bottom of your heart. Without a single coherent thought, your legs would carry on their own as your weakened body stumbled in their attempt to climb those stairs.

For both of you, that momend of reuinion had waited far too long.

The god was temptated to approach you, his trembling hands already reaching out to catch your fragile body should you fall - but suddenly, you felt his knuckles digging into your cheekbone.

“Stay away from me, you fake!” Loki yelled furiously as you hit the ground, rubbing your cheek as you tried to understand what just happened.

Yeah, that sure brought you back to reality again, after such a short high.

Right.

That isn’t your Earth - and not your Loki either.

You couldn’t even be sure this world’s Y/N and Loki had the same kind of relationship the two of you had back in your timeline! The only thing you knew was that he knew you from his past, but as it seemed not pleasantly.

Now that you looked closely, he even had less scars, almost looking untouched and pure - like a true, invincible god. Maybe life here had treat him well, unlike his counterpart from your timeline.

He was still wearing that excessive outfit with the golden horns, and much to both your amazement and fear, it seemed that he still possessed theTesseract.

Could it be...

Before you could connect the dots, the king would soon interrupt your string of thoughts. “Drop that disguise, scum!”

Loki kept on degrading you as he paced in front of his throne, brow sinking deeper and deeper. “Don’t think you can somehow appeal to those pathetic sentiments” he explained, “I’ve freed myself from them long ago. Just stop making a fool out of yourself, and maybe I’ll reward it with a quicker death.”

Yet when he saw your most innocent smile, even this Loki would stand frozen in place, deeply in shock.

How he yearned to see it, all those years - to tell you just how sorry he was for everthing he’s done.

No.

He had left all of this behind - to claim his birthright and rule.

“I-I’m deeply so-sorry...that is a mistake” you whimmered with a broken voice, wiping a tear of joy out of your face. “My feelings overwhelmed me, I guess. I’ve never thought to see you again, even if you’re not the same Loki I know.”

Still cowering on the floor, you looked up to him with compassionate eyes, as if he had not just beat you before. You did not dare to make any more, wanting for Loki to try and understand himself.

“A variant?” he gnarled, just like you did when he realized.

No force in the world had allowed him to access other parts of the Multiverse, no matter how desperately he tried - and now fate had literally dropped you in front of his door.

Loki balled his fists in anger, making you flinch as you anticipated yet another blow.

“Dear, I-”

“Shut up!” the God of Mischief shoutet, causing his magic to break free. The walls of the palace were shaking, most windows and furniture having been destroyed. “It’s no use, woman!”

That man was way more powerful than the “puny god” people called names back on Asgard - and his sheer might made you quiver.

Just what kind of monster had he become, and why?

“L-Loki, please...” you tried to appeal to the last bit of humanity  he might possess, and your begging made his guts twist in agony. “You’re scaring me.”

“You better be scared!” he exclaimed, grabbing you by the chin and forcing you to look at him. “No matter what disgracefully weak “alter ego” of me you knew, I am built different. Stronger. Better. Everyone in the Nine Realms fears me, and I desire nothing else! Everything distracting me from fulfilling my destiny and reign over you dull creatures I got rid of. You’re nothing more than an insect I might as well crush right here and now!”

Choking on a sob, he tried to relish that last chance he got to admire you, smell you, touch what he cannot possess...no matter how many universes there may be.

A flood of tears cracked down your face at his words, yet you couldn’t be helped.

No matter what he would say - he looked just like him.

And that was enough for you to feel alive after such a long time of being a walking dead. There had to be a reason you landed right at his home, of all places in this universe. You had a connection, both of you felt it ever since you had been transported here.

"May I ask-” you disrupted yourself, awaiting some reaction. But the conqueror had seemed to have spoken what he thought important to say, not declining your question at all.

Whenever he seemed fit, he could disintegrate you - yet right now, this situation was way too intriguing.

“What happened to myself in this reality?”

Loki swallowed harshly, letting go off of you as he threw you down the stairs. He wouldn’t even bide you one look as he tried to surpress the turmoil of emotion still running through his veins, desperately keeping it from breaking free.

The outcome would always be the same: Suffering, for both of you.

“And if death was coming for you

I’d give my life for you.”

He only ever wanted it to stop hurting. To become unfeeling, since love had always been poisoning his mind, sometimes being gifted with it even though he knew he would never be worthy of anything else than disgust and hate.

And that contradiction caused him to throw away anything good that happened to him, through you. Let it be taken away from him just shortly after finally learning to remotely enjoy.

You deserved the truth, a reason to hate him even more than you probably already did.

Had you only come to his salvation earlier, then he might have been helped - yet now, he was beyond redemption. Broken. Sick. Dangerous.

And when the Chitauri dragged you away, his last words let your blood run cold:

“She died through my hands.”

_____

If you want to get on the taglist (or deleted from lmao) feel free to ask! ♡

Feedback is always appreciated!

Maybe a snippet about Hyrule hitting statues for potions? (Like Legend’s statues in Holodrum/Labrynnia or maybe Mipha’s statue)

Ask and ye shall receive! In no reasonable amount of time, but receive ye shall!

(This was a ton of fun to write!)

Everyone in their group had some... irregularities...

Time’s issue with pottery for example, or Legend’s need to collect every item that could conceivably (and sometimes inconceivably) be used for anything ever. Wars had a need to know where everyone was all the time, and Twilight had a tendency to gnaw on things, made worse by Wild’s propensity for giving him meat with bones still in it, bones that Twilight would gnaw on for the rest of the meal until someone pointed it out.

It was funny, really, to see his pup flush and spit out the bones with a startled expression, apparently never having realized what he was doing. It was funnier still that if the pup seemed particularly keen on one, that Wolfie would appear later to finish chewing it.

But chewing bones and collecting items, and even digging through pottery (which wasn’t a good thing he knows, Malon has scolded him a million times for it) are hardly comparable to Hyrule’s tendencies.

Hyrule liked to hit things.

Not people mind, or animals, or even buildings. Hyrule liked to hit statues, and apparently only statues.

The same look would come over the traveler’s face every time, considering and curious before he took off like a rocket towards whatever stone or metal figure lay before him. But no matter how consistent the behavior was, no one was ever fast enough to stop him.

The first time it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just the traveler, the veteran and himself, and they’d been wandering about in Wild’s Hyrule trying to figure out where exactly the others were.

Usually, they wouldn’t have split up, but both he and the vet were fighting with their arthritis and Hyrule had insisted on taking a look to try and figure out something to help them. It was late, and neither of them had felt overly keen on arguing against the order, but the others were half asleep on their feet, so Time had encouraged them to hurry along to the village Wild had promised was nearby.

Finding the village was the easy part, the hard part was stopping Legend from wheezing up a lung when his protégé's first instinct was to smack the statue of Hylia in its center. Hyrule had looked disappointed for whatever reason after soundly punching Hylia’s likeness in the side, and it had only made the vet wheeze harder, leaning against Time heavily in order to stay upright as he cackled uproariously. Time didn’t really get why it was funny, but the fact that Hyrule’s first instinct was to smack Hylia did pull a smile to his lips.

Legend didn’t laugh the second time it happened though, in fact, he looked hurt.

They’d been dumped in a place that Legend called Lynna City, and while the vet wove his way through the streets with practiced ease, the others trailing after him like ducklings as he’d explained some of the history of the place, even telling them that it was the sight of one of his adventures.

“It’s changed a lot since then though,” The vet drawled, eyes glimmering in a way Time wasn’t sure he liked. “But there’s some things that don’t change.”

“Like what?” Wind had bounced in place, gripping Legend’s hand tightly as he had been doing since they found themselves in one of the cities alley ways.

The vet flinched, eyes darting to the side as he’d ushered them further along the pathways, only to be stopped by Warriors’ voice exclaiming in a breathy manner. “Like that?”

In the middle of the town square, there was a statue. A bright smiling face, sharp eyes and the vet’s signature messy bangs stared out at them from a face of stone, much younger looking than the vet himself, but easily recognizable.

Warriors whistled. “They have a statue of you? Wow, impressive.” None of his usual snark tainted the words, and the captain even looked vaguely uncomfortable as he stared at the fixture (if he remembered right, there was an exact replica in Cia’s rose garden).

“Like that.” Legend drawled, irritation on his face, but ears darkening and twitching in embarrassment. “I told Anbi not to but-”

The vet’s words were cut off by Hyrule running across the square and promptly smacking the statue. Legend’s irritated façade cracked to reveal a hurt expression beneath as he watched Hyrule wring his hands out and return to the group with a disappointed expression. “’Rulie?” The vet’s eyes shimmered with hurt as Hyrule shook his head.

“Nothing.” Came the disappointed sigh.

Legend was very nearly pouting out of hurt for a second before he shrugged it off stiffly and continued to lead them all through Lynna. Nothing was said of the statue hitting after that, save one time where Wars tried to bring it up only to be on the receiving end of a stink eye from the vet.

For not wanting a statue, Legend seemed rather hurt that Hyrule would hit the thing.

Wild was even more touchy, but it made sense that he would be, after all, the statue that Hyrule tried to go after next was, apparently, very important to the Champion.

They’d landed in Wild’s Hyrule again and the young hero was taking them all to the Zora’s Domain to investigate rumors about an infected lynel. Three heroes had flinched at the mere idea, and while time didn’t know what a lynel was, he was beginning to dread it, what with the hesitant murmurs and fearful looks shot between the trio.

They’d hardly entered the domain before Wild was suddenly catching hold of the traveler, prompting several curious looks from his party and from passer bys. But then they saw why.

Rising up in the center of the domain was a tall and graceful statue of a zora woman, and the minute Hyrule’s eyes fell on it he was surging forwards in Wild’s arms, barely held back as the Champion scowled.

“Rule, so help me, if you smack that statue I will toss you in the pools and not let you out for an hour!”

The traveler turned to his growling friend in confusion. “What?”

“Don’t hit her, that’s my fiancé.” Wild threatened softly, eyes glinting unnaturally blue as brows shot up.

“Sky could have said the same thing, yet here we are.” Legend drawled, earning curious looks from all those who hadn’t witnessed the first incident.

“But statues have rupees inside.” Hyrule blinked owlishly. “We’re hard up for funds, why shouldn’t I get us some.”

There was a moment of silence before Wild released the traveler with a weary sigh. “That’s not how it works here, ‘Rule.”

“Or in my world, I’d like to add.” Legend butted in, looking somewhat relieved.

Hyrule looked from one to another of their group, confusion clear on his face. “Then how do you get money?”

“I have a job.” Wars shrugged, and was echoed by both Twilight and Time himself, as Four motioned at the captain.

“I’m a smith.”

“I do odd jobs for people.” Wind added on.

“Same!” All anger had drained from Wild’s face as he smiled brightly at the sailr.

“I do landscaping work.” Legend drawled, inspecting a hand distractedly, nly to be met with th stars of the others. “Oh fine, I cut grass and blow shit up, happy?” He frowned in thought, cokcing his head. “And trees. I also work on trees. We also sell stuff out of the orchard and honey as well, and I kinda rent out the house to Ravio-”

“Point is.” Warriors broke through the vet’s murmurs. “We don’t hut statues for money. That would be considered rude in our worlds.”

Hyrule nodded. “Alright.”

And they thought that was the end of it.

The first time they saw a statue in Hyrule’s world, a goddess statue to be exact, Hyrule ran up and bopped the thing over the head, much to the horror of Sky.

A rupee bounced to the ground, glimmering and bright, prompting a smile from the traveler.

“But- but- but-”

“It’s just a pagan god.” Hyrule shrugged, rubbing the rupee off on his tunic. “And everyone does it here.”

Sky looked like he might either scold or cry, and Legend had devolved back into cackling, eyes watering as he looked up at his protégé with a fond smile.

Time shook his head. They all had their irregularities.

Robin Jason, a friend and ally of the Titans.

PART 2.

Hi! Welcome to Part 2 of this post, as I said in the last one, I will be talking about Robin Jason’s moments and not reviewing the issues from a story point of view but I think I will have to give a little more context in this one because honestly I am a little lost with this particular storyline, there is too much going on and Jason isn't part of many pages so yeah, I hope this post isn't too boring or bad though.

I will link part 1 Here!

Let’s begin!

·         NTT (1884) #26-28

In my last post I talked about how Jason would be called by Donna to help the Titans save Dick and Raven from Brother Blood’s people. We start #26 with Mother Mayhem giving a public speech on television. What you have to get from this is that this cult is using the image of the two Titans/Heroes (Nightwing and Raven) that they captured as propaganda for their intentions, their intentions being resurrecting Brother Blood and making the world believe that they are good people. Obviously, Dick and Raven are not there because they are supportive of their cause, they were both brainwashed.

In this issue the Titans team that had fallen apart in issue #19 is back, so we find Donna, Beast boy, Cyborg, Joey and Wally together once more and they are trying to figure out what to do because they have two problems, on one hand Beast Boy’s father is killing people and captured Garth and on the other a whole ass cult is doing cult-y shit and captured Dick and Raven. In the end they choose to go save Dick and Raven first but they do it because Beast Boy says this “I…don’t know. I can’t say what we should do. We need Dick here…he’s a tactician. We need him as out leader”. Never in my life would I have thought that I would agree with beast boy but yeah…hard agree.

Donna understands that even though the team is (mostly) back on its feet they still need more firepower and that’s why she calls Jason. While it was kinda rude of Cyborg to say that Jason is not all that (in terms of firepower) any kind of tension is quicky gone because Starfire comes back (talk about firepower).

We have various moments of Beast Boy being a perv towards Kory (thanks a lot Marv) but that’s not important, what’s important is that now the Titans have to tell Kory that Dick has been captured and they are on their way to save him.

They all leave to Zandia (where Brother Blood’s Church is located) and a fight ensues as soon as they arrive, they fight but their goal is to get to the Church as fast as possible. Jason doesn’t say anything in these panels but he is fighting alongside the others. When things get a bit more complicated Jason starts to feel that maybe he isn’t that capable of handling himself but he doesn’t have to do anything by himself because this time he has a team that can back him up. Kory gives him a lift as soon as Jason is surrounded, he is of course thankful and a little bit pervy (thanks a lot Marv).

Kory is shot just after she gets him out of trouble and Jason as the adorable kid that he is becomes worried for her well-being. After Beast Boy is also injured in the fight the Titans decide to leave back to camp. Thankfully both Kory and BB are okay but they are all still worried about how they will get to the Church. We see here once more Donna being a bit overwhelmed with leading the Titans and beating herself up over what happened in Switzerland (#20 and #21) but Jason reassures her instantly that she did a good job and she doesn’t need to be so hard on herself.

This interaction here is particularly nice because Jason reassures Donna without her asking for it. In my last post Donna looked for reassurance in Robin several times but she didn’t do it because she actually wanted Jason to give his thoughts, she did it because she was hoping Jason would act like Dick and eventually take over the team’s leadership. Here that isn’t the case, Jason just tells her what he thinks.

After Donna talks about her doubts Kory says that she is impatient and worried about Dick but also expresses being unsure because the last time that she saw Dick they kinda left things off on “bad terms”. I say this because just like it happened with Jason and Roy, Jason and Kory also have differences, she is a grown and experienced woman that is going through adult problems and Jason is a kid that is just happy that he was called to join them on another adventure.

If we back a few panels to when Jason said that Kory “was a sight for sore eyes” Kory responds saying “first Changeling, now you. It’s got to be puberty”, she is obviously not pleased about Jason making that comment about her and it’s also made clear that he is just a teenager.

This is where I rant about how different what we see here is from what we get later in New 52. Just like Roy (in New 52) Kory is also seemingly very close or the same age as Jason and she is the one that is written as wanting to take Jason to bed or, at the very least, attracted to him. Kory being an adult in comparison with Jason is taken away from her and she is just transformed into something to fit Jason’s new beginning as the Red Hood. Lobdell didn’t do Kory any favours, he annihilated her character and made her out to be just eye candy that can come off as stupid and way too reckless just to prop Jason up, believe it or not Jason sometimes was the voice of reason to both Roy and Kory’s antics.

It’s even worse when you consider the fact that in this issue Kory is feeling better and more confident because she finally understands what she wants and has accepted Earth as her real home, all of that is gone in New 52, Kory is lost, insecure, she even depends on Jason a bit too much at the start (because she “didn’t remember” her time on earth or Dick) and goes back to killing. All in all, Lobdell’s version of Kory was very damaging and a disservice to her past history.

Back to the issue, as Donna and the others are going to start coming up with a plan (with only two days until resurrection day) we move scenes and find ourselves in a meeting where people are complaining about the Titans messing up their plans, but that is not what matters, apparently the people in that meeting wanted to “summon the Brotherhood” and here is where we are introduced to the person who will make the Titans’ lives a little more complicated…Twister. She is one of the people that were victims to Brother Blood’s brainwashing and experiments.

In the next page we see the Titans resting but Cyborg is awake so thanks to that he hears someone coming straight to them, here Kory takes the lead and she says once more that she will not kill whoever that is, that she can’t and won’t do that anymore…I wonder if Lobdell ever read these issues, maybe not.

The attacker was Twister and in seconds she twists the Titans’ reality and leaves them all incapacitated. She then goes to look for and recruit the Brotherhood of Evil. While she did that though the Titans slowly made their way back to the city and are now getting ready to attack. Donnas plans as we soon find out don’t include Jason as one of their front line fighters, in fact he has to be left behind as back up.

Jason is not very happy about this; he is the boy wonder! But because it’s the plan and the Titans are experienced, he decided to stay put (at least for now). Its funny to me that even Beast Boy calls Jason a kid. What is sad from these panels is obviously the last thing that Jason says “I can’t wait until I am sixteen!”. I mean, this issue came out exactly two years before Jason’s death, there was no way they could have seen that coming but yeah, it’s just sad. Jason really was in a better and happier place around this time, little did he know everything would turn upside down after a while.  

The rest of the Titans fight, Donna starts to feel like she is finally in control and that she is doing a great job at keeping the Titans together, Kory is having her inner turmoil about Dick but she is doing her job and when she decides to go help Cyborg and Joey they come across the Brotherhood of Evil. This is where #26 ends.

Issue #27 starts with a very difficult fight for Kory, Cyborg and Joey, it ends with Kory injured, Joey captured and with Cyborg thrown off a window. The only one of them that Donna, Beast Boy and Jason are able to save is Kory.

The Titans that re left have to retreat and find a place to recover, Jason is very silent all the time but Donna and Kory are the ones that are having interesting talks, they have to find out where the Brotherhood has Joey and Cyborg and their time to save Dick and Raven is running out but if they don’t save the others they might die. It’s a complicated situation and they are both impatient but Donna tells Kory this “Dick would be the first to tell you to plan first, attack later”, I bring this up because nowadays its very common for fanon and current writers to think of Dick as someone that doesn’t plan, that doesn’t think before jumping. Even Beast boy called him a tactician, I know this is a Jason post but its also a post about how characterizations are also kinda destroyed. Dick has suffered a lot from mischaracterization so its nice to go back to these stories and see that what we think Dick should be now isn’t something that we once imagined but something that mas modified or taken away from him either by fanon or current writers.

After the Titans decide to wait for the storm to pass to go looking for Joey and Cyborg, we actually see that Cyborg is in the city looking for shelter, he is injured and as he falls unconscious we meet a couple that decides to save him. Back to the Titans once more we have Jason say that the storm that is forming look “like something out of Ghostbusters” its then that the Brotherhood makes itself known, they are taunting them and they have roped Joey to the top of the capitol building and they are asking the Titans to surrender or Joey dies.

Its here where Donna takes full control of the Titans and even though she and Kory have different ideas of what to do she says that she is the leader now and what she says gets done. Donna will be in charge of saving Joey while the others will make their way towards the Brother Blood Church to help Dick and Raven.

Before they go their separate ways Jason says this about Donna “Wow! I wouldn’t wanna be in her shoes for all the garbage pail kid stickers in the world.” I am going to be honest, I had to look those stickers up and all I have to say is what the hell. But I am not here to talk about stickers I am here to talk about how funny its that Jason is being so uninterested about leading a team. Now, don’t get me wrong, Jason has the ability to lead, yes, but he is better at leading himself or an operation, we have all read UtRH, we know how well the Red Hood can handle himself and his plans but a team of heroes? Controversial opinion but I think that Jason should have never been given a team and I am talking about Kory and Roy as well as Artemis and Bizarro. Was Rebirth better than New 52? Absolutely. But I just don’t see Jason as a leader of a team of heroes and it’s also incredibly repetitive, just because he was Robin doesn’t mean that he needs his own team. I know that Robin Jason and Red Hood Jason aren’t the same person and that they might think differently but if Lobdell had never come into Red Hood/Jason Todd’s life when he did we might have never seen Jason lead his own team and that to me is proof enough that it should have never happened. I quite enjoyed the Prince of Gotham storyline in Red Hood: Outlaw, he didn’t have a team but he had an operation going on and people working FOR him not WITH him. In my opinion that’s better for Jason (if you would like to see me review that storyline let me know).

There is a lot happening story wise and I am finding it more and more difficult to continue talking about Jason’s moments here without giving context so I am going to resume what happened between Donna leaving to save Joey and Jason’s next appearance in this issue. Here we go, Brain tells Monsieur Mallah that he decided to “help” Twister take down the Titans because he wants to use Brother Blood’s Blood Pool because he is dying, Twister goes back to her family’s home and we get to see how brainwashed she is, her family is shocked to see her and they are also the ones that took care of Cyborg while he was unconscious, Cyborg leaves to find the Titans but Twister sees where he left to, she tells the Brotherhood where he might have gone to but protects her family by not telling them that they were the ones that protected Cyborg in the first place and Donna was able to save Joey. I think that was everything.

We see Jason again when he is just outside Brother Blood’s Church with Kory (who is giving him a lift) and Beast Boy. But because life can’t be easy for them the Brotherhood of Evil teleports there and a fight ensues. Kory takes the lead and Jason gets to work.

Kory praises Jason for his work here not because she can’t do anything but because she is seeing that a kid is doing an excellent job. Make no mistake, she is the one with experience but she is nice and gives credit when its due.

Cyborg arrives and the fight continues. We see Beast Boy warning Jason about some of the villains’ powers and Jason being the excellent Robin that he is pays attention and escapes Plasmus’ touch.

I might not think that Red Hood is a team player but Robin Jason absolutely is, and the Titans are nice and care for his safety.

While all of this was happening, Cyborg had made his way to the Church and there he gathers all kinds of information including the location of Brother Bloods main Church in the US. He also makes the alarms sound so everyone leaves because he set up the Church to blow up. Somewhere else Monsieur Mallah is threatening to kill Brain after the later insults him again. And there is where this issue ends.

In issue #28 Jason and the rest of the Titans appear after several pages of Mother Mayhem being a creep, Azrael the angel rising and trying to resurrect Brother Blood through the power of prayers, people watching the live broadcasting of the event and Dick trying to break free from his own head but as soon as he does it Mother Mayhem brainwashes him right away.

The Titans are back in their tower where we see Wally again but that is not all, Frances Kane and Robotman come in too. After all the people who are willing to fight get together the Titans make their way to Brother Bloods Church.

It’s in the jet with Wally that we see Jason and this time he gets to talk too! Jason is talking about how much braver the Titans are compared to him but Wally calms him down by saying that even though he has been doing this for a while he is also scared.

The fact that Jason joined the Titans on another adventure without mentioning it to Bruce is funny to me, he was probably so happy that Donna called him again! Maybe Jason was more bored of being with the Bat than he let on and maybe he didn’t feel appreciated enough or heard. I also like to think that Donna got Jason’s number through Dick, like do you remember that Dick gave Jason his number if he ever wanted to talk shit about the Bat with him? What if they did talk and then Dick put Jason’s number on the Titans’ data base? That would be cool and really sweet!

Jason continues to be a team player and being useful during the fights, he has the Titans’ back as much as the Titans have his.

They fight their way in Brother Blood’s Church and once there they find a dude called the Confessor with Arella (Raven’s mother) but he tells the Titans that she is dead. Somewhere else though is where the real trouble is at, between Azrael and Raven, Brother Blood has finally been resurrected. 

It’s in the last page where Brother Blood is looking all mighty and powerful that Dick seems to have broken free from his brainwashing once more.

 That’s the end of that issue and this part of the post. This one was super difficult to write and it’s even longer than part one, I hope I didn’t make it super difficult to read. At some points I felt like I was explaining too much and in others too little. I guess it’s very difficult to show how one character participates in a story without giving context but I just didn’t want this post to be too plot heavy.

These issues had some cool Jason moments but the ones in issues #29 to #31 are even better!

will you do an oompaville x reader.? like maybe one where you’re at a wedding with him and he asks you to dance.?

Omg an oompaville request!!! I'm so grateful dear! Thank you so much for your lovely request, please enjoy the one-shot 🥰

Perfect Sync

Pairing: Oompaville (Caleb) x Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: None

Genre: FLUFF, RPF (Real Person Fic)

There are certain pros and cons to being so distanced from your extended family. And I mean DISTANCED, in all capitals. I actually live in a completely different state on the completely opposite side of the US and yet I still somehow got an invitation to my cousin's wedding. To be fair, it's not that surprising, seeing as how she's the only cousin I have comprehendible memories with from my childhood. She's a really sweet girl - no, woman - and it kinda sucks that we haven't had the chance to catch up in so long.

Among the many other cons is the fact that I don't know a single person at this wedding. Not. A. Single. Person. Sure, there have been several elderly and middle aged couples who've approached me, claiming they know me and given me a huge hug, asking me how my parents were doing. Speaking of my parents, they are a pair of sneaks who avoided coming to the wedding themselves saying they were stuck with a stomach virus while they're actually vacationing in Canada. How wonderful of them, don't you think?

They are chilling in Canada and I'm over here boiling and sweating over my third, possibly forth glass of champagne of the evening, not to mention the wedding hasn't even properly started yet. Count on me switching to whiskey when it does.

Sitting at the table I was pointed to upon arrival, I let my gaze skim over the immense garden decorated with beautiful flowers, fairy lights and handmade décor pieces. Each table and bar is under a white tent, just like the one I’m currently sitting under. It’s a beautiful sight and I can only imagine it’s only gonna get even prettier when the sun finally sets completely and all these fairy lights come on. That’s one of the few good things about my attendance at this event today. The ‘good’ things have been so little in number I can probably count them on the fingers of one hand: 1.I briefly saw and chatted with my cousin who was practically trembling out of excitement, anxiety and happiness. Good for her; 2. I’ve downed so many drinks that would probably cost me a fortune at a club or bar and I’m decently buzzed. Very cool; 3. I made friends with one of the bridesmaids because I had time to kill - turns out she wanted to be at this wedding as much as me: not at all; 4. I caught a whiff of the dinner which was still being cooked and damn am I excited about it; 5. The garden is absolutely breathtaking and it’s a sight worth sticking around for. See, as I said, few enough good things to be able to count them on the fingers of one hand.

And what about that cute guy from earlier?, my subconsciousness nudges me teasingly, causing me to almost evidently roll my eyes.

The hot guy being referred to right now is the one I damn near ran over when I was pulling up to this fancy estate. In my defense, I’m still getting used to the rental car I got when I landed in Texas two days ago, and plus he came out of literally nowhere. Luckily, he wasn’t mean or upset about it, took it quite lightly which was relieving and surprising. 

Not gonna lie though, he was really cute.

I see the people all over the garden hurriedly take a seat when it gets announced that the newly weds are about to have their first dance. I cross my legs, finishing the champagne in one go before I can focus my attention on the lovely couple that’s just stepped out of the mansion-like house and onto the soft grass of the lawn, slowly making their way towards the center where they’re supposed to have the dance - aka where everyone will be dancing afterwards too.

Everyone but me, I’ll be busy chilling by the bar, hopefully in the company of that bridesmaid who I can crack jokes with without feeling guilty.

The two dance in perfect sync, their movements almost mesmerizing to the human eye. I’m no professional dancer but I don’t have two left feet either, yet I’m still amazed by this perfection before me. I bet all the cash I took with me from New York - which is a lot, I expected to spend a lot - that they’ve practiced this more than once. Or at least I hope they have as to make me feel better about my own skills - or the lack thereof.

“I take it you’re a lot less dangerous when you’re not behind the wheel.“ A quiet comment emerges next to my ear, loud enough for me to hear but hushed as to not disturb the couple nor the mob of people watching them in awe.

My eyebrows shoot up. I’ve maybe heard that voice only once before but that teasing tone made me blush like mad earlier and that’s hard to forget. I have a hard time forgetting embarrassment.

Biting my lip, I slowly turn to face him, “I can’t guarantee, there are plenty of sharp objects around after all.“

There’s that same wide smile I saw earlier when my entire life flashed before my eyes. His probably did too but unlike me, he didn’t show it. “Some luck I have sitting next to you then.“ He chuckles, handing me a glass of whiskey. I take it hesitantly, giving him a suspiciously raised eyebrow. “You look like you could use one.“ He shrugs, taking a sip of his own. When my expression doesn’t change and I don’t make a move to ingest the beverage, he rolls his eyes, “Yeah I’m someone you’re seeing for the second time in your life, and yeah you might think I could want revenge for my nearly damaged health, but I don’t. And if you don’t want the whiskey...” he reaches to take it back but I quickly put it up to my lips and take a long sip, causing him to smile. “There you go!”

Oh boy does the taste of whiskey hit different after sipping on champagne for hours. I nod to him in gratitude. “Thanks, I strongly appreciate this.”

He nods back, his smile now a smaller one but still preserving the same amount of joy as when it was a full-blown grin, “I’m Caleb, by the way.”

“Y/N, nice to meet you.“ I reply, feeling the tension in my shoulders easing and the embarrassed blush fading. This guy just has such a chill aura, it’s nice being in his company. Hell, I’ll even go as far as to say if I simply had to almost hit someone with my car today, I’m glad it was him.

As more and more people emerge from their seats, heading hand in hand to the dancefloor to join the newlyweds, I finish my whiskey and am contemplating on going to get myself another but before I can decide, Caleb arises from his seat as well. He takes a stand in front of me, offering me his hand, “Well, there’s very little damage you can do you me out on the dancefloor, right?” He chuckles when he sees he’s made me blush again - third time today, damn it - but then he assumes a more serious facial expression, his smile never faltering though, “Care to accompany me for a dance, Y/N?”

I pretend to think the offer over, weighing my options and its pros and cons when in reality I dam near accepted the same second he asked. “Hmm, ok...“ I say finally, resting my hand in his, “That is, if you promise not to step on my feet. These are some expensive shoes I’m wearing.“

He lets out a genuine laugh as he leads us to the dancefloor, one that I’ll admit is hella contagious, “Says the person who almost ran my ass over earlier. Am I not expensive, huh?”

I give him a confused look, hiding fits of laughter, “I don’t know, Caleb. Are you?”

He shakes his head, “Nah, best offer you’d get for me on Craigslist is like, a dollar? Two if you’re lucky.”

And that’s all it takes to break the dam holding back my laughter, sending me in fits of giggles as we start dancing. My laughter ends just as quickly as it starts though when I realize how in-sync our dancing is. Perfectly synchronized. 

Huh, wonder why, that annoying voice pokes at my peace again. But I don’t let it get to me. Not now at least. I’m just gonna enjoy this moment, dancing with a practical stranger, gazing into his warm and welcoming eyes.

Suddenly I need another hand to count the good things about this wedding since I have to add three new points: 6. Almost hitting Caleb with my car; 7. Officially meeting Caleb; 8. Dancing with him.

Dancing with him in perfect sync

Oh, shut it, I don’t wanna start blushing again.

Sweet as Sugar- Tom Holland One Shot

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Prompt: Tom’s on a strict diet to bulk up, meaning he can’t have sweets… but you keep baking too many desserts for just you and your housemate, so you decide to share with him, your neighbor.

Word Count: 3100

Warnings: low key body positivity issues on tom’s end i mean tom’s on a bulking diet so idk, does that count?? , mentions of sex, maybe swearing

Masterlist   Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

A/N: i got an ask yesterday that kinda pushed me into completing this fic, so here it is :) enjoy me actually finishing something for once

~~~

“Why do we have baby food in the fridge?” Harry asked, holding up a suspicious looking bottle of yellow slosh.

“That’s my lunch.” Tom grumbled as he came into the kitchen, taking the bottle from his brother. Harry just shrugged and moved along to get his own lunch out, which was leftover nachos from last night.

“Ah, it’s that time of year again.” Harrison laughed when he noticed Tom’s scrunched up nose, trying to drink his protein shake without having it touch his tongue.

“Oh yeah,” Harry chuckled, “You have to bulk up.”

“The rest of the diet is fine. I can handle the cut back on sweets and carbs, but this shit?” Tom held up the yellow drink in his hands, “I hate it.”

“You have fun with that while we enjoy these.” His brother teasingly held up the nachos that Tom desperately wanted to eat, but he knew couldn’t. Instead, he took a drink out of his shake, physically restraining himself from gagging on the flavor. It wasn’t like he could add anything to it to make it taste better; his trainer had a very strict meal plan for him for the next several weeks, and that was accompanied by a very strict exercise routine. He just had to suck it up— literally.

Meanwhile, you let out a sigh as you stood in your kitchen, looking at the two dozen cupcakes you just made. Of course your cousin would cancel her baby shower that you were catering with desserts after you made said desserts. You only had one housemate, and there was no way that the two of you could eat all of them before they go stale.

“Oh no, are they the wrong color?” Your roommate asked, stepping into the kitchen once she saw the frustrated look on your face.

“I just spent hours making these vanilla cupcakes and now the shower’s been canceled. I don’t know what to do with all these cupcakes now.” You explained as you leaned on the counter, eyeing the now unnecessary cupcakes.

“Too many cupcakes— I never thought we’d have that problem.” She laughed. “Why don’t you give them to Tom?”

“Our neighbor?” You looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“I mean, unless you’re into another guy living in that house, but as I recall, Tom’s the only one you can’t talk to.” She said as she picked up a cupcake for herself, “Whoever you give them to, save us a few. I love your baking.”

“There’s no way I’m doing that.” You shook your head at her.

“Come on, this is the perfect excuse to talk to him.” She encouraged you through a mouthful of blue vanilla cupcake.

“No, I can’t just give him cupcakes randomly.”

“Sure you can! The way to a guy’s heart is through his stomach.” She teased. “Look at the guys that live in that house; they can definitely eat two dozen cupcakes before they go stale. You know I’m right.”

“I hate you sometimes.” You grumbled, taking off your apron and putting the cupcakes into your carrier, specially designed for keeping them stable for traveling.

As your housemate continued to eat her cupcake in pure bliss, you made your way to the house next door with your cupcakes in hand. You felt like it was a stupid idea, but you couldn’t let the cupcakes go to waste. With a small sigh, you knocked on your neighbor’s door, hoping that anyone would answer it besides- well, besides Tom, but by the time you thought that, he already had the door open.

The moment you looked into his chocolate brown eyes, you froze, completely blanking on the reason why you’re there. It wasn’t the “you’re a celebrity” shock; it was the “you’re my super attractive neighbor and you’re really nice and you work out in front of your house sometimes and it kills me” shock. Luckily, he was kind enough to save you from furthering your own embarrassment.

“Are those cupcakes?” He asked curiously as he looked down at the container in your hands.

“Oh, um, yeah,” You answered. “I made these cupcakes for my cousin’s baby shower and it got canceled, so now I have 20 cupcakes, and I thought maybe you’d like them? You don’t have to, if you don’t want to, and I realize now that this is incredibly weird and random, but I swear I haven’t poisoned them or anything.”

Tom laughed, nodding his head, “Poisoned or not, I’ll take them. I’m sure they’re fantastic anyway.”

“Thank you.” You handed him the container, and he immediately opened it up, reaching for one. You saw the smile drop from his face as he slowly retracted his hand.

“Sorry, I-“ He paused, clearing his throat. “I’m about to have lunch so I shouldn’t spoil it. I’ll definitely have one later though.” And just like that, the smile was back on his face.

“No worries.” You smiled.

“Well, thank you, Y/N.” Tom smiled, and you felt your heart flutter. You didn’t know he knew your name; you hadn’t spoken in the three months you lived next door to him (unless you count his football landing in your backyard and you throwing it back over the fence for him).

Without another word, you turned around and darted back into the safety of your house. Tom stayed on his doorstep, watching your retreating figure in confusion. As he stepped back inside his house, he let out a sigh, looking down at the cupcakes in his hands.

“Who was that?” Harry asked through a mouthful of nachos.

“Y/N from next door.” Tom replied, trying his best to hide the small blush on his cheeks at the thought of the random encounter.

“The cute one that doesn’t talk to you?” Harrison inquired, and Tom was quick to send him a glare.

“She gave us cupcakes.” He put the container on the counter as a way to wordlessly let his housemates have at them.

“Marry her.” Harry stated, nachos abandoned for a sweet cupcake. Harrison barely even chewed the first one, making his way to a second.

“It’s just cupcakes.” Tom tried to play it off.

“Uhuh, just cupcakes.” His younger brother nudged him teasingly.

“Stop pouting and go back to your protein shake.” Harrison joked. Grumbling incoherently, Tom did just that— he went back to his protein shake and continued the art of keeping the disgusting taste from touching his tongue.

A few days later, the cupcakes were cleared from the container, eaten and enjoyed by everyone except for Tom (even Tessa got some because Paddy dropped crumbs on the floor when they came over). With your cleaned container in hand, Tom made his way over to your house next door. He nervously smoothed out his t-shirt one last time before knocking on your door.

“Coming!” He heard you call from inside. A couple moments later, you opened up the door in surprise.

“Oh, Tom.” You said quietly, feeling insecure as you looked down at your messy apron.

“Are you baking more food?” He asked, his signature smile on his face.

“Technically not right now. I’m filling eclairs.” You replied, and his eyes went wide in surprise.

“Wow, you really know your way around the kitchen.” Tom admired, making your cheeks heat up.

“Do you- do you mind helping me for a minute? I’m having issues piping.” You sheepishly admitted. You fully expected him to say no, come up with some half-ass excuse about how he was busy, but then he surprised you with a nod.

“Of course, I’ll help.”

You stepped aside and let him inside. Leading him back into the kitchen, you asked, “How’d you like the cupcakes?”

“Oh, they were great. Really good, thank you.” He didn’t hesitate to compliment the sweet that he’d never tasted. Considering how much his friends and family loved your cupcakes though, he could only assume they were the best. He thought maybe you caught his lie, but then you just got straight to work at your eclair-covered counter. Tom set the container aside on an empty counter and quickly washed his hands.

“They keep losing their shape as I pipe them, so can you just hold them upside?” You asked, holding up a bare eclair. Tom held it as instructed and you got your piping bag together. He watched as you concentrated on filling the treat, your eyebrows furrowed together and your teeth sinking into your teeth a little. He felt his stomach begin to grumble from the intoxicating smell of your kitchen. It seemed like you had everything he couldn’t eat, just out on your counter.

“Are you hungry?” You spoke up, a few eclairs later when Tom’s stomach groaned loudly.

“Oh, no, I’m fine.” He insisted. Looking at the eclairs on the counter, he knew you’d offer him one without a second thought, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could fight off the urge to break his stupid diet.

He continued to focus on you as you focused on the eclairs. With all but a few pastries filled, you grabbed another empty one. You let out a frustrated huff as your piping bag struggled to cooperate with the pastry.

“Get in there.” You grumbled, annoyed at the difficult eclair.

“Too tight?” Tom asked.

“No, it’s just-“ You trailed off as you finally got it to work. You smiled proudly, happy that it was finally working right.

“Am I about to walk in on kitchen sex or can I come in?” You heard your housemate jokingly call out from the hallway. While you froze up in embarrassment, Tom shook with laughter. She walked into the kitchen with a smirk on her face, sending you a very obvious wink that Tom completely saw.

“You’re the worst.” You muttered, moving on to the next eclair.

“So you two just, uh, filling eclairs?” Your housemate asked, grabbing one of the filled pastries and taking a bite out of it.

“Yes, it’s a very important two person job.” Tom chuckled, and she nodded.

“Y/N, how the fuck are you so good at this?” She turned to you, taking another bite of her food. “Oh my god, Tom, you have to try these eclairs.”

“I’m good, don’t want to eat Y/N’s food.” He answered, but his stomach betrayed him with another growl.

“You seem really hungry. Are you sure you don’t want any?” You inquired, and Tom shook his head politely.

“It’s okay, really.”

“Do you want to take some home? For you and your housemates? I’ve made too many again.” You offered, making him laugh.

“You have that problem a lot, don’t you?” He teased. You playfully rolled your eyes at him as you finished the last eclair. Grabbing the container from the other counter, you began to reload it with eclairs.

“Here you go.” You smiled, holding it out to Tom.

“Thank you. I should probably get going.” He trailed off a little, sounding a bit disappointed.

“Let me know how they are.” You bid him one last farewell before he left.

When he returned home a whole minute later, he set the container full of fresh eclairs on the kitchen counter and immediately went in search for his scheduled snack, which was simply just an apple, but, compared to the eclairs he just helped make, an apple never seemed so disappointing.

“More free dessert?” Harry asked, eyes lighting up when he spotted the familiar container.

“They’re eclairs today.” Tom replied.

“On a scale of one to ten, how much does this suck?” He teased, taking a massive bite from the eclair. Tom glared at his brother before leaving the room to enjoy his apple in an eclair (and Harry) free zone.

This all became a routine between you and Tom. He’d bring you back your container after a few days and you’d fill it up (or switch it out) with more freshly made treats. Tom had to just sit back and watch everyone around him enjoy your pies, brownies, cookies, tarts, even croissants. You even made a cake and he had to bring it to a family birthday party. The more time he spent with you though, the more he found himself really liking you— but there was also the catch that the more time he spent with you, the more he struggled to maintain his diet. He almost snuck a cookie when no one was around but then he remembered the last time he broke his diet and shuddered at the thought of it.

One day, a few weeks later, Tom heard the familiar sound of your special knock on his front door. Confused because you’d given him fudge just yesterday, he opened the door.

“I got locked out.” You said as soon as he opened the door. As if you didn’t feel awkward enough around him before, now you’re really asking him for a big favor. “If it’s not overstepping, could I stay here? My housemate should be back in a bit and she has her key.”

“Come on in.” Tom stepped aside for you to come into his house. You had never actually been inside it before, and it seemed to be just as homey as yours, but with a tad more frat boy mess in it, complete with video games stashed on the shelves of the entertainment center and random beer bottles in the house.

“Sorry, I’ve been meaning to clean up.” He apologized, rushing to grab the empty bottles to recycle them. You just laughed in response, still taking in the home, “Do you want water or anything?”

“Water would be great, thank you.” You replied. You followed Tom into the kitchen and leaned against the counter as you waited for your water. “I’m thinking of making these cookie bar things. Are any of you allergic to nuts?”

“No food allergies here.” Tom answered with a laugh, passing you the cup filled with water. You spotted the half eaten block of fudge on his counter and smiled.

“How’s the fudge?” You asked before taking a sip of your water.

“It’s the best. Truly the best I’ve ever had.” He stated definitively.

And it happened to be at that moment that Harry came into the room, scouting for more fudge. As he picked up a piece, he realized that you and Tom were in the room, “Thank you, Y/N, for all of the food.”

“It’s no problem. I enjoy sharing it.” You smiled kindly at him.

“Too bad you can’t have any.” He teased his older brother before shoving the large piece of fudge into his mouth. As Harry left the room, Tom went red in embarrassment.

“Best fudge you’ve ever had, huh?” You asked, crossing your arms defensively.

“It’s not that I don’t like fudge— I love fudge—“

“But you don’t like mine?” You weren’t sure why you were so upset over it, but maybe it was the fact that you thought he truly enjoyed your desserts. “Did you eat any of it?”

“No.” Tom answered honestly, defeat present on his face as he hung his head in shame.

“Then why did you lie about it?” You stated, unwavering in the hurt look in your features.

Tom mumbled something, and you furrowed your eyebrows at him, unable to understand a word he said. A little bit louder, he spoke up again, “I’m on a bulking diet and I can’t have sugar, but you were really happy giving me things and— and it gave me a good excuse to actually talk to you.”

With a sheepish smile on his face, he finally looked up at you. You paused, processing his words before finding your own voice, “You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yeah, I’m kinda really into you.” He said. “I was going to ask you out on a date, but, uh, I can understand if you don’t—”

“I’d love to.” You cut him off quickly, not giving yourself the chance to think about your response. Tom’s eyes lit up, hopefully.

“Really?”

“Really.” You nodded. Before you could say anything further, your phone began to ring and you looked down; it was your housemate, meaning she was home now and could let you in. “I should get going.”

“Does tomorrow work? I could pick you up at 7?” Tom offered, and you smiled as the two of you made your way to his front door.

“7 sounds great. I’ll see you then.” You said, stepping out onto his porch. “Thank you, again.”

“Anytime.” He answered with a grin. Knowing he’d watch you as you walked home, you had to maintain yourself from skipping a little in happiness.

Even with your big date tomorrow though, you still barely slept, spending all night searching through fitness sites for new recipes. That night, right as the clock struck 7, you heard a knock on your door. Eagerly, you grabbed a new container full of your latest bake and opened your door.

“Before we leave, can you try this?” You asked, handing Tom the container. He looked at the appetizing bars questioningly. 

“Is this a test? I can’t have—” Tom started, but you cut him off, shaking your head.

“They’re not sweets. They’re protein bars.” You explained. “I found a recipe last night. It’s peanut butter and rice protein.”

“You made me protein bars?” His voice almost broke as he looked at you in disbelief.

“Well, yeah, I feel bad for giving you so many things you couldn’t eat, so I wanted to do something for you.” You could barely get your words out before he was unceremoniously stuffing a protein bar in his mouth. He knew he had a routine that he was supposed to follow but, hey, at least this was filled with protein.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been dying to try your baking, and these are so good.” Tom sighed in relief with a clear mouth.

“So I’ll keep that recipe then.” You laughed. You stepped out of your house and closed the door behind you.

“I should drop these off. One moment.” He jogged back over to his house and threw the door open.

“These are mine! No eating them!” He shouted to his nosy housemates, putting the container of protein bars on the side table.

“Marry her!” Harry and Harrison both called back out to him as he shut the door. With a twinge of embarrassment from you hearing their words, Tom turned back to you.

“Ready?”

~~~

Tag List: @viagracex​ @theamazingtomholland​  @harrisonosterfieldhazmyheart​ @joyleenl​ @t-o-m-holland​ @lonikje​ @sleepybesson​  @sunkisseddreamer​ @hollandsamor @in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh​ @gorrillaglue13 @petersoftboyparker @musicalkeys

Tom Tag List:@quaksonhehe​ @tomkindholland

It never stops

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: A lead in the ruins of Sokovia brings a face from the past back.

Ask:

Warnings: Set post-Endgame, swearing, a lil angst.

A/N: I have a bad feeling I’ve butchered your ask @badasseddy​ but I hope you still like it. Feel free to complain if you hate it. Currently writing a request a day, so I will get to everyone’s.

I cannot for the life of me remember who made this divider, so if it’s yours or you know who’s it is, please tell me so I can credit them.

81 years had passed since Bucky had last gone dancing, and he felt as though his eardrums were going to burst. Adrenaline shot through his veins, the alcohol having no affects. Sam nodded his head with the beat and Bucky groaned. Is this really what music passed for nowadays?

It took several punches to the arm for Bucky to realize that Sam was trying to get his attention, and he whipped his head around so fast they almost knocked each other out. Sam yelled and smacked Bucky’s metal arm, before screaming in pain.

 ‘Serves his right for dragging me to this hell’, thought Bucky. He watched as Sam pulled out a photograph and waved it in front of his face, “We’re looking for this girl. She’s undercover. Locate her and contact me on coms.”

 Bucky yanked the photo out of the air and stared at, memorizing the girl’s face. He vaguely remembered her, but he didn’t know why. Her Y/H/C hair was tied in a lose ponytail, with striking Y/E/C eyes and a distinctive smile. Her arms were wrapped out Sam’s shoulder, while Steve’s arm rest on her shoulder. Bucky tried to ignore the youth of his friend and chose to focus on the fact that the girl was pretty. The natural kind of pretty that all the girls wanted but compensated with layers of makeup. Bucky tucked the photo into his jacket with slight reluctance. It was the type of photo where he would have cut the girl out and tucked it into his army uniform, reminding himself what he was fighting for.

 The pair separated, Sam heading towards the dancefloor and Bucky the bar. A beacon of escape, Bucky decided. Sam had said no drinking on the job, but fuck Sam, if he wanted to drink, then he would. Bucky was immune to the addictive buzz anyway.

 The bar was empty aside from a man in a suit at the end, but he seemed a little distracted, a girl on his lap, giggling at something that probably wasn’t very funny. The girls in this club knew how to make their living. Bottles were stacked almost floor high, dirty looking glasses and a few dripping taps. A girl stood at the end, scrubbing a smeared flute with a grubby cloth. Bucky tapped his fingers and she sauntered over, “What can I get ya, pal? Looking a bit lost there…”

 “Well, I don’t really fit in. You see a lot of faces here?”

 “As a bartender? More than I care to count. Need help with something?”

 Bucky pulled the photo out, folded out Sam and Steve, and slid it across the wet bar, “I’m looking for this girl. Have you seen her?”

 The girl lifted it up gingerly, letting it drip. As she analyzed it, Bucky gave himself a chance to look at her, weighing her up. Her hair was black with green highlights, ending on her shoulders. Her eyes were the same as the girl’s in the photo but the smile, it wasn’t the same. This wasn’t who they were looking for.

 The girl slid the photo back, “She’s pretty, but I’ve never seen her. I think I’d remember her if I did.”

Bucky tucked the photo back into his jacket. The girl straightened up, a crease forming across her brow, “Are you sure you don’t want anything? A dry martini?” the girl looked up at him almost expectantly, but Bucky shook his head, “I’m good. I’ll probably be here till closing time, so if you see her, pull me over.”

 -

 “We can sink no lower…” mumbled Bucky, the toilet creaking dangerously below him. Sam hushed him quickly, “The girl is here. We have to stay ’till we find her.”

 “And that means hiding in the toilets?” snapped Bucky, meriting another hush from Sam. Bucky frowned, “Hey, this is your fault! This was your idea! She never turned up, we could have come back another day, but no, we’re here, hiding in this hell hole.”

 A thump from outside silenced him. Carefully, Sam left his cubicle, closely followed by Bucky, and propped open the door, enough for them to see and hear what was happening.

 “Club’s closed boys. You need to leave…” the voice of the bartender echoed around the room. Several guffaws responded, “We weren’t satisfied with our service.”

 “Not my problem. I run the bar, not the brothel.”

 “I don’t think Batroc will be very happy with that. He employs you, does he not?”

 “Yes…” the bartender’s voice trailed off nervously, “What are you going to do to me?”

 “Show you what we do to unwilling workers. Grab her and strap to the table… That one, in the corner…”

 Without hesitation, Bucky grabbed onto Sam’s arm, mouthing, “I can’t listen to this. We have to help her!”

 Sam’s hand flew over Bucky’s mouth, “We’re not here for her… Stay put!”

 Bucky pushed against Sam, trying to free himself from the Falcon’s grip, but Sam held him fast. A brief squabble broke out, Bucky and Sam fighting against each other, until Bucky used his metal hand to break free, rushing through the door to shocking sight.

 The bartender wiped her lip, staring down at three men, “Touch me again, and I will fucking kill you.”

 “Fuck…” thought Bucky, ‘I should not be this turned on…’

 “Hey, pretty boy? Pretty boy? Pay attention to me!” the bartender’s voice snapped Bucky out of his daydream, “Meet me in the alley in 5 minutes. Bring Sam.”

 -

 The dingy alley smelt of piss and sick, but the bartender seemed unperturbed, flinging her arms around Sam’s neck, “Oh, I’ve missed you Birdie!”

 “I’ve missed you too! We’ve been looking for you all night! Where have you been?”

 “At the bar! Your friend approached me, I thought he would recognize me, but no, and when I said the words, he didn’t reply with the code!” the bartender shot Bucky an angry glance. Bucky snapped, “What words? I wasn’t told of any words. And why would I recognize you? I’ve never met you in my life! This is so stupid!”

 The bartender huffed and pulled on her hair until it come off in her hand, revealing Y/H/C underneath. The black hair was a wig. Next, she pulled out the photo from Sam’s pocket and pulled up to her face and copied the smile. Bucky saw the resemble immediately, “It’s you…”

 “My name’s Agent Y/N L/N, I’m undercover here. You probably don’t remember me, we didn’t really meet, but I helped Steve and Sam disappear in 2016. I saw you from a distance, but you were kinda wiped out, no metal arm and longer hair. As for the words, I was told to offer you a dry martini, and you should’ve responded with ‘I don’t like my martini’s dry’.”

 “I hate martini’s altogether! And I gave you a photo of yourself!”

 “I’ve had 4 people give me a photo of myself today alone! The people after you are on your case!” Y/N’s chest heaved with anger and frustration, “Baltroc will be in the old Sokovian church tomorrow at midday. He’s made several attempts to take over the Sokovian people after the country fell with Ultron. We’ve tried to enlist the help of Wanda Maximoff, but we’ve had no response.”

 “She’s gone MIA… No one knows where she is…” responded Sam slowly, “If what you say is true, not that I am doubting you, then we need to get moving now. You are relieved of your duty. Where will you head?”

 “To New York. I’ll go to the compound.”

 “Well, I’m looking forward to seeing you there…” Sam pulled Y/N into a tight hug before turning to Bucky, “We leave in 10.”

 Bucky nodded his head and looked down at Y/N, “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you.”

 “Not your fault. I’m sorry I lost my temper.”

 “Not your fault…” Bucky shifted awkwardly. Y/N smiled slightly, “Do you miss him?”

 Bucky’s eyes widened almost comically. He hadn’t expected that from her, the mention of Steve. He noticed the way her shoulders slumped at the question, her eyes losing their sparkle slightly. He wondered how the snap had affected her, and, for the first time, wondered what an Agent like her was doing here, in the burned ruins of Sokoiva. He tried to match her smile, “Everyday… It’s hard… I know that he is still alive, but the whole world believes him dead, and I don’t actually see him very often now, so sometimes, it’s like he’s dead to me too. It just never stops, this life. It’s fast and hard.”

 “I understand…” Y/N nodded her head, and Bucky spied a tear, and felt a pang in his heart, “Did… Did you love him?”

 “Oh God no!” gasped Y/N with a chuckle, “Me and Steve were more like siblings or best friends. He helped me and I helped him… I wasn’t snapped away, so spent the last 5 years with him. I trained with Natasha, and when Scott came back, Steve sent me away. To protect me, he said. I don’t doubt him, but I wonder, if I stayed, would’ve I been able to stop him from leaving?”

 “No. He had his mind set on it…”

 “Why’d you ask if I love him?”

 Bucky cheeks reddened, “Well, after I messed this up so bad, I wondered if once I got back to New York, you’d like to go for drinks… or not?”

 “Sargent Barnes, are you asking me on a date?”

 Bucky shivered at the use of the title, but tried to cover it, “Would you be opposed to the idea?”

 “No…”

 Bucky smiled at her as Sam yelled at him to hurry up. There was another moment of awkwardness before Bucky turned on his heel. Y/N stood still for few seconds before gasping, “Bucky! Wait!”

 “What?”

 It was Y/N’s turn to blush as she pecked a kiss on his cheek, “Be safe. Baltroc has a rep for maximum of casualties.”

 “I promise, doll…” Bucky smiled at took her hand in his, “Never thought the night would end like this. And now, I must really go.”

 -

 Sam frowned as they stepped onto the Quinjet, “How do you do it, man? 5 minutes ago, you barely knew the girl, and now you’re going on a date with her?”

 “It’s called charm, Birdbrain, you should try it some time.”

 “I have charm! And a wingman.”

 “Redwing does not count.”

 Sam huffed and sat down in a seat, “He so does. Besides, when she realizes you have a cyber-brain, she’ll be gone.”

 “Nah, I’ll just charm her again.”

 “Not with that grouchy face. If the wind changes, your face will be stuck like that.”

“I hate you…” muttered Bucky. Sam burst out laughing, nudging Bucky’s shoulder, and the man let out a small snort, smiling gently. 

It might never stop, but Bucky couldn’t deny, when it did, it was nice. Steve was gone, but he had Sam and now, Y/N too. Yeah... All was good.

Allies, Pt. 2

Jet

Pairing: Sokka x F Reader  Warnings: Injury  Word Count: 5,386 Summary: In your travels with Team Avatar you meet Jet. You do not like Jet. 

-Navigation- | -Allies Masterlist- | -Atla Masterlist- 

After a while of travelling, Y/n, Aang, Katara and Sokka found themselves resting in a clearing, alongside Appa. Y/n sat on the ground, leaning against one of Appa’s legs. While the others gave a short explanation as to why they wanted her to join their group, she still didn’t completely understand. It felt like there was something else that none of them wanted to bring up. But what other reason could there be exactly? It made perfect sense they’d want her survival knowledge if they were travelling the world and having to be outside a lot, there shouldn’t be a different reason.  It wasn’t often her instincts were wrong, but it didn’t make sense for them to be right on this.  Aang stood up from where he sat, looking around. “Where’s Momo?”  A yowl from the lemur echoed through the forest.  They all started to look around, trying to tell where it came from.  “That way.” She pointed to the trees in front of her. “I think.”  Nodding, Aang ran off in the direction, Katara, Sokka and Y/n close behind. It didn’t take long for them to get to another clearing, Momo had been caught in a snare.  “Hang on Momo!”  Aang used his airbending to leap between the trees, and reach up to where Momo was trapped. After a few short moments, Aang, Katara and Sokka had gotten Momo down and out of the snare. The animal was quick to go at a handful of nuts on the ground, seeming to forget that he’d just gotten trapped, from what she could guess was something similar. Groaning, Sokka hit a hand to his forehead.  Breathing out a quiet laugh, Y/n reached down and snagged the nuts from the ground. Momo jumped up onto her shoulder and took them from her palm to eat. She patted the lemurs head, watching as the other three freed some Hog Monkey’s from another snare. “Let’s be a little more careful, alright Momo?” He chittered quickly, before going back to his nuts.  Sokka approached one of the traps, and kneeled down to examine it. “These are Fire Nation traps- you can tell from the metalwork. We’d better pack up camp, and get moving.”  They went back to their little camp, and started to pack their things up on Appa.  “Ah-ah… no flying this time.”  “What?” The three paused, looking at Sokka with question.  “Why wouldn’t we fly?”  “Think about it. Somehow Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation keep finding us. It’s because they spot Appa- he’s just too noticeable.”  Katara was about to say something, but Y/n stopped her before she could. “Woah woah woah. Wait. You guys are being chased by Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation?”  Aang, Katara and Sokka looked between each other. Katara glared at her brother. “Did you not tell her?” “I thought Aang was going to tell her!” “Wait, Katara I thought you were going to tell her.”  Sighing, she rested her forehead in her hands. “That would have been nice to know before I agreed to help… Okay it’s fine. I’ve had run-ins with the Fire Nation before, this is fine. I think Sokka is right, if you’re running from the Fire Nation, it’ll be pretty easy to be found when you’re riding Appa. He is pretty noticeable.”  “He’s not that noticeable!”  “Thank you Y/n- Yes he is! He’s a gigantic fluffy monster with an arrow on his head- it’s kinda hard to miss him!”  Appa turned his head to look at Sokka, and groaned at him. From where he sat, Aang patted his head. “Sokka’s just jealous ‘cause he doesn’t have an arrow.”  “Listen, I know you two want to fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe this time and walk.”  Katara crossed her arms over her chest. “Who made you the boss?” Sokka raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m not the boss- I’m the leader.” “You’re the leader? But your voice still cracks!” “I’m the oldest and I’m a warrior.” Pausing, he tried to speak in a deeper tone. “So… I’m the leader.”  Y/n scoffed. “What kind of warrior gets scared by an arrow?”  “A warrior that doesn’t want to die?!” “I thought warriors weren’t supposed to fear death?”  “You know what-”  Getting between the two, Katara shot glances to both of them. “If anyone’s the leader, it’s Aang. I mean, he is the Avatar.” “Are you kidding- He’s just a goofy kid!”  The three looked over to Aang, who was dangling upside down from Appa’s horn. The bison looked unimpressed. “He’s right.”  Groaning, Katara rolled her eyes. “Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader? I bet you wouldn’t be so bossy if you kissed a girl.”  The girl's comment caused Y/n to break into laughter, receiving a glare from Sokka.  “I-I’ve kissed a girl- you...you just haven’t met her.”  “That sounds like something a person who’s never kissed a girl would say.”  “You stay out of this! I bet you’ve never even kissed a boy before!” She looked at him with a blank expression. “I’ve lived in the forest by myself since I was ten, I have an excuse.”  “Sounds like a poor excuse to me-” Once again Katara had to reinsert herself into the conversation. “Who Sokka? Gran-gran? I’ve met Gran-gran?”  “No- Besides Gran-gran! Look, my instincts tell me we have a better chance of slipping through on foot and a leader has to trust his instincts.”  “Okay, we’ll try it your way Oh Wise Leader.”  Aang stepped over to the group, wearing a backpack. Momo sat on top of it. “Who knows- walking might be fun.” 

The group trudged through the forest. Sokka was in the lead, Y/n not too far behind him. Aang and Momo, then Katara and Appa followed behind them.  “Walking stinks! How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?”  “Usually by walking…” Her comment was ignored.  “I don't know Aang. Why don’t you ask Sokka’s instincts- They seem to know everything.”  “Haha. Very funny.”  “It was kind of funny-” “I thought you were on my side?!”  “Hey! I just agreed that Appa was noticeable, I never agreed to force everyone to walk when they didn’t want to. Anyways, my instincts say that your instincts are wrong. This was a terrible idea.”  “Oh yeah because I’m sure your instincts know what they’re talking about.” “You know, they’ve never been wrong actually so-”  Aang groaned. “I’m tired of carrying this pack.” “You know who you should ask to carry it for a while? Sokka’s Instincts!”  “That’s a great idea Katara! Hey, Sokka’s Instincts, would you mind-” “Okay okay! I get it. Look guys, I’m tired too. But the important thing it that-” He pushed a branch to the side, looking back at Aang and Katara. “-we’re safe from the-” “Fire Nation..” “Yes! Thank you, Y/n.” “No, Sokka. Look.”  Sokka turned to look back in front of him, expression dropping at the Fire Nation camp that sat in the clearing in front of them. Most of the soldiers were seated on logs at the opposite side of the camp, bowls in hand.  “RUN!” The soldiers leaped up from the logs from Sokka’s exclamation, swords in hand. One of the soldiers launches a fire at them, it misses them, but sets the bushes behind them on fire.  “We’re cut off!”  “Sokka, your shirt!” Looking at his shirt, Sokka yells in panic at seeing that it got caught on fire. While Katara used her bending to put out the fire, Y/n got her bow ready. The four stood with their backs together once they had been surrounded by fire and soldiers. “If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you.” Katara whispered to her brother quietly. “What are you doing?” “Bluffing?” The one eyed caption smirked. “You? Promise not to hurt us?” Y/n aimed an arrow at his good eye. “Yeah. I suggest if you want to keep that eye you call off your men.”  This time it was Sokka who whispered. “What are you doing?!” “Not bluffing.”  A quiet zip then a thud sounded. A surprised expression took over the captains face for a moment, before he groaned and doubled over. His men lowered their swords some.  Aang glanced at Sokka. “Nice work, Sokka! How’d you do that?” “Uh… instinct?” “Look!” Katara pointed up above them. A figure stood on the massive branch of a nearby tree. The person dropped something, and drew two blades from the middle of their back. They stepped back off the branch, but instead of falling, they used the blades to catch onto the branch, allowing the person to sling themself in the direction of the camp. Thet kicking over two of the soldiers furthest from the group, landing with a foot on each of their backs.  Now that the person was closer, Y/n could tell they were a young man, who looked to be around her and Sokka’s age.  The boy rushed forward, sword in each hand, hooking the ends of the curved blade on two soldiers' legs making them fall backwards. “Down you go.”  Y/n was about to run into the fight, but was stopped by Katara grabbing onto her arm. Lowering her bow, she shot a glare at the girl, but stayed. Katara looked pleased at the help, Aang was in awe, while both Sokka and Y/n weren’t very happy about it.  The boy had fought off two more of the soldiers, one of the soldiers who’d managed to land on his feet looked up. “They’re in the trees!”  A small boy dropped down from above, and landing on the soldiers shoulder he spun his helmet around blinding him. He staggered, while the boy on his shoulder laughed. Before the last three soldiers could react, several arrows shot down at them, disarming each of the soldiers without hurting them.  After a few minutes, the group joined the battle.  “Finally..” Y/n mumbled, running at one of the soldiers. He swung his sword at her, but she was quick to duck out of the way, and swipe her leg under his feet knocking him down. She kicked the sword out of his hand, and used it to block an attack from a soldier who approached her from the side. Before she could get an attack on him, the boy from before ran by, knocking him down with his curved sword.  She glared at the boy. “I had him.”  “My bad.” He shrugged with a smirk before rushing back off into the battle.  A grump Sokka walked over, leaning an arm on Y/n’s shoulder. “He did it to you too?”  “Yeah.” 

After a bit more fighting, and a bit more aggravation on Sokka and Y/n’s end, they gathered back together. Aang looked at the boy in awe. “You just took out a whole army almost single-handed!”  Sokka scoffed. “Army? Pfft. There were only, like, twenty guys.”  Next to him, Y/n crossed her arms over her chest. “I could have done that…”  The boy seemed to ignore them. “My name is Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters. Sneers, Longshot, Smellerbee, The Duke, and Pipsqueak.”  Aang approached The Duke and Pipsqueak. “Pipsqueak- that’s a funny name.”  The larger of the two bent down to Aang’s level. “You think my name is funny?”  Despite being nervous, Aang plastered a smile on his face. “It’s hilarious.”  After a short moment, the three of them ended up in laughter. 

The Freedom Fighters had started to raid the camp. Jet leaned up against a trunk, Katara approached him. Y/n was sitting on the ground, close enough to hear their conversation.  “Um… thanks for saving us Jet. We were lucky you were there.”  Y/n rolled her eyes. Again, she could have taken care of those guys. Wouldn’t be the first time after all.  “I should be thanking you. We were waiting to ambush those soldiers all morning- we just needed the right distraction. And then you guys stumbled in.” “We were relying on instincts.” “You’ll get yourself killed doing that.”  Y/n scoffed, causing the two of them to turn to her. She pushed herself off the ground.  “Following wrong instincts will get you killed. Not the right ones.”  Katara gave her a look, but didn’t say anything as she walked away. Sulking, she moved to sit next to Sokka. He leaned close to her ear.  “Please tell me you don’t like these guys either.” “Not one bit.”  “Glad to know I’m not the only one…” 

They’d ended up following Jet to the Freedom Fighters hideout. After a little while he stopped. “We’re here.” “Where… there’s nothing here!”  Jet held out a rope with a loop at the end to Sokka. “Hold this.”  “Why… What's this do?” The loop was put around his wrist, without warning he got pulled up by his arm. “Woah!” It didn’t take long for him to disappear among the branches above.  Jet offered a similar rope to Aang and Momo. “Aang?” “I’ll get up on my own.”  Momo launched himself from Aang’s shoulder, the boy following with an airbending move. Jet then offered the rope to Y/n with a smile.  “Here, Y/n.”  She snatched the rope from him with a glare, using one hand to hold onto the loop she used the other to keep a good grip on her bow. Not too long after she got up to the tree house, Jet and Katara appeared. It did not take an expert to realize Katara was having a teen girl crush on this kid. Yikes.  Taking a look around she had to admit, it was a nice treehouse. The craftsmen ship on it was amazing.  Aang and Momo fly over to the landing area. “Nice place you got!”  Looking around, Katara nodded in agreement. “It’s beautiful up here!” “It’s beautiful… and more importantly the Fire Nation can’t find us.”  Smellerbee landed near them. “They would love to find you. Wouldn’t they Jet?” “It’s not gonna happen, Smellerbee.”  The group walked along a bridge, sans Aang and Momo, who were zip lining around the tree house. Katara looked at Jet with raised eyebrows. “Why does the fire nation want to find you?” “I guess you could say I’ve been causing them a little trouble. See, they took over a nearby Earth Kingdom town a few years back.”  Jet and Katara had been leading the group, Pipsqueak behind them. “We’ve been ambushin’ their troops, cutting off their supply lines, and doing anything we can to mess with ‘em.”  Behind Pipsqueak, Sokka tried to see over the large boy, hopping to get a peek over his shoulders. He wasn’t doing very well. Y/n didn’t have as much interest in trying to see past him as Sokka did. Jet started to talk again.  “One day, we’ll drive the Fire Nation out of here for good and free that town.”  “That’s so brave.”  Grabbing onto Y/n’s wrist to pull her with him, Sokka managed to push past Pipsqueak and get behind Jet and his sister. “Yeah, nothing braver than a guy in a treehouse.” Y/n laughed at Sokka’s sarcasm.  “Don’t pay any attention to my brother or Y/n.” “No problem. They probably had a rough day.”  “So, you all live up here?” Sokka sulked and slinked back at being ignored, Y/n resting a comforting hand on his shoulder.  “That’s right. Longshot over there? His town got burned down by the Fire Nation. And we found The Duke trying to steal our food. I don’t think he ever really had a home.” “What about you?”  Jet stopped, and aside from Katara the rest of the group moved on. 

Later that day, they all gathered at a banquet table. While everyone ate, Jet stood up and climbed up onto the table.  “Today, we struck another blow against Fire Nation swine.”  The fellow Freedom Fighters cheered, Aang and Katara watched with smiles, Sokka and Y/n watched grumpily.  “I got a special joy from the look on one soldier’s face, when The Duke dropped down on his helmet and rode him like a wild hog monkey.”  A helmet-less Duke stood up and joined Jet on the table. Amid the cheers, he took a victory walk around a fish platter.  “Now, the Fire Nation thinks they don’t have to worry about a couple kids hiding in the trees.” He paused, taking a drink from his wooden cup. “Maybe they’re right.”  The Freedom Fighters booed.  “Or maybe… they are dead wrong.”  This time they cheered.  Jet hopped off the table, and took a seat on the platform between Katara and Sokka. Katara turned to look at him.  “Hey Jet, nice speech.”  “Thanks. By the way, I was really impressed with you and Aang. That was some great bending I saw out there today.” He paused, turning to look past Sokka, and at Y/n who sat on the other side of him. “And your fighting was really good too, Y/n. You definitely have a good mark of intimidation on you.”  She didn’t say anything in response.  “Well, they’re great. Y/n is a great survivalist and Aang’s the Avatar. I could use some more training.” Katara blushed softly, when Jet turned his attention back to her and Aang. “Avatar huh? Very nice.” “Thanks Jet.”  “So I might know a way that you and Aang could help in our struggle.” Sokka stood up from his spot. “Unfortunately we have to leave tonight.”  “I have to agree.” Y/n said, standing up herself.  “Sokka, Y/n, you’re kidding me! I need you two on an important mission tomorrow.”  Stopping, Sokka turned around to look at Jet. “What mission?”  “Seriously Sokka…?” Y/n face palmed. 

Somehow, Y/n had been convinced to come along with Sokka and Jet. She really didn’t like it, but would rather not leave Sokka alone with that guy. Something about him rubs her the wrong way. The three of them were perched up high in the trees. Jet cupped his hands together and made a bird call whistle. Several trees down Pipsqueak and Smellerbee step into view from their branches. There is a reply call back.  Sokka rammed his jawbone knife into the trunk of the tree, gaining a skeptical look from Jet.  “What are you doing?” “Shh… it amplifies vibrations.”  He looked impressed. “Good trick.”  Cupping his hand around the pommel bone, Sokka put his ear to it. “Nothing yet.” He lowered his voice. “Wait! Yes, someone’s approaching.”  At his words, Y/n prepared her bow.  “How many?” “I think there’s just one.”  Jet whistled. “Good work, Sokka. Ready your weapon.” He looked at Y/n with a smile. “You get prepared fast, huh?”  She simply offered a nod to him.  “Wait! False alarm… he’s just an old man.”  Despite Sokka’s words, Jet still stood. Extending his hook swords, he leaped down to the ground. As she lowered her bow, the two watched in horror.  “What are you doing in our woods, you leech.” “Please sir, I’m just a traveler.”  Jet stepped closer to the old man, swiping his sword at his cane. It flew to the side, as the old man backed away. He tried to flee, but ran face first into Pipsqueak’s chest, the force of the impact knocking him to the ground. “Do you like destroying towns? Do you like destroying families? Do you?!” The poor man looked horrified. “Oh… please.. Let me go… Have mercy..”  “Does the Fire Nation let people go?! Does the Fire Nation have mercy?!” Jet got ready to kick the man, but Sokka snagged his foot with his club to stop him. Y/n jumped down from the tree, landing in between Jet and the old man.  “Jet, he’s just an old man!” “He’s Fire Nation! Search him!”  Pipsqueak grabs onto the man and holds him up, Smellerbee steps up.  “But he’s not hurting anyone!” “Have you forgotten that the Fire Nation killed your mother? Remember why you fight?” “The Fire Nation killed my parents too, Jet! That doesn’t mean you get to go around harassing everyone who’s from there! This man has travelled through my forest before, he’s not a danger to anyone! You aren’t supposed to fight to hurt others, but to protect those you care about! This is pointless. ”  “This is protecting the people we care about!”  “We’ve got his stuff Jet.” Smellerbee holds up the satchel the old man had.  “This doesn’t feel right.”  “It’s not right.” “It’s what has to be done, now let’s get outta here.”  Jet pushed past Sokka, as Smellerbee and Pipsqueak pushed past Y/n. The two looked at each other, before looking at the old man.  “Come on you two!” Y/n ignored Jet, as she helped the man up, giving him his cane. Sokka waited for her to be finished, before they ran back to the others. 

Aang leaped off the zip lines and onto the platform. “Sokka! Y/n! Look what The Duke gave me!”  He wore a satchel, and pulling a small pellet from it he tossed it at the platform next to Momo. It exploded with a pop, Momo puffed up like a startled cat. He growled, before lunging for the satchel. Momo crawled up onto Aang’s shoulder, and tossed pellets at his feet.  “Ow! Quit it!”  Sokka sat oblivious to his friend, sitting with his back to one of the tree trunks, he looked up at the platform above him. Y/n sat next to him, her head resting on her knees. Katara approached the two.  “Hey Sokka. Is Jet back?” “Yeah- he’s back. But we’re leaving.”  Aang looked at him with confusion. “What?”  “But I made him this hat.” Katara pulled a cap made of stitched leaves and flowers from behind her back.  Y/n lifted her head to look at them. “Jet’s a thug.”  “What? No, he’s not.”  “Your boyfriend is messed up Katara.”   “He’s not messed up, he’s just got a different way of life- A really fun way of life.” “He beat and robbed a harmless old man!” “I wanna hear Jet’s side of the story.” 

“Sokka, Y/n- You told them what happened but you didn’t mention that the guy was Fire Nation?”  The four of them and Jet were in a lantern-lit hut. Jet was sitting on a hammock bed, the others standing. Sokka and Y/n stood as far away as they could. Aang had donned the hat Katara wore.  “No, they conveniently left that part out.”  “Fine! But even if he was Fire Nation, he was a harmless civilian.” “He was an assassin, Sokka.”  Jet pulled out a knife and thrust it into a nearby block of wood. The blade was curved, and four spikes evenly spaced along the grip with enough space for singers to go between them. There was a ring on the butt of the knife.  “See? There’s a compartment for poison in the knife.” He pulled on the ring, and removed a small glass tube filled with red liquid. “He was sent to eliminate me- you two helped save my life.” “I knew there was an explanation.” “I didn’t see any knife!” “That’s because he was concealing it.” “See, Sokka? I’m sure you just didn’t notice the knife.”  Arms crossed over her chest, Y/n glared at Jet.  “Sokka didn’t notice it, because it wasn’t there. He’s lying!”  “Yeah, there was no knife! I’m going back to the hut and packing my things.”  Turning around, Sokka left the hut. Y/n was close behind him. 

When Aang and Katara entered the hut they had been staying in, Sokka and Y/n were both getting their things together.  “We can’t leave now with the Fire Nation about to burn down a forest!”  “I’m sorry Katara. Jet’s very smooth, but we can’t trust him.”  “Sokka’s right, there’s something seriously wrong with that guy.” “You know what I think? You two are just jealous that he’s a better warrior-” Katara paused, looking at Sokka. “And you’re jealous he’s a better leader!”  “Katara, I’m not jealous of Jet. It’s just that my instinct-” “Well my instincts tell me we need to stay here a little longer and help Jet.” “That’s great Katara! But my instincts agree with Sokka’s, and they’ve never been wrong before.”  “Come on, Aang.” Katara left the hut.  Aang looked between the two. “Sorry Sokka, Y/n.” He followed her out. 

That night inside the group's hut, Katara and Aang slept on their bedrolls, while Sokka slept propped up against his still packed stuff. Y/n found herself awake. “Let’s go.”  She reached over, and shook Sokka awake. He stirred awake, looking at her confused. “Wh-”  She brought a finger to her lips to shush him, and nodded outside. On the ground below them, the Freedom Fighters were quietly pushing a loaded wagon as Jet led them out of the camp. Sokka and Y/n stealthily followed them.  They emerged from the forest, onto a bare cliff that stood above a dam. Jet goes to the edge of the cliff and looks down at the dam, before turning back to the wagon.  “Now listen, you are not to blow the dam until I give the signal. If the reservoir isn’t full, the Fire Nation troops could survive.” The Duke jumps off the wagon. “But what about the people in the town, won’t they get wiped out too?” Jet placed a hand on his shoulder. “Look Duke, that’s the price of ridding this area of the Fire Nation.” He turned to Longshot. “Now, don’t blow the dam until I give the signal- got it?” Longshot nodded.  Sokka and Y/n watched them incredulously from the bushes. Rustling could be heard. Before they could react, Pipsqueak grabbed them by their hair, dragging them out from the bush. Smellerbee had a knife to each of their throat’s in seconds. “Where do you think you’re going?”  Jet watched as the two were dragged out. Pipsqueak kept his grip on their hair.  “Sokka, Y/n. I’m glad you decided to join us.”  The two were pushed onto their knees. Sokka rubbed his shoulder. “We heard your plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom town.”  “Our plan is to rid the valley of the Fire Nation.”  Y/n glared at him.” There are people living there, Jet. Mothers and fathers and children.”  “We can’t win without making some sacrifices.”  “An entire town isn’t some sacrifices!”  Sokka pointed an accusatory finger at Jet. “You lied to Aang and Katara about the forest fire!”  “Because they don’t understand the demands of war, not like we do.”  “I do understand. Understand that there’s nothing you won’t do to get what you want.”  “I was hoping you’d have an open mind, Sokka, but I can see you’ve made your choice.” Jet looked at Y/n, as Pipsqueak and Smellerbee grabbed Sokka. “You understand where I’m coming from, don’t you Y/n? I mean we’re basically one in the same, parents killed by the Fire Nation, living in the forest with no one but who we run into. You get it, right?”  Gulping, she glanced between him and Sokka. “Yeah, I do get it.”  As Sokka’s expression fell, Jet offered a smile. “I get that you’re just as ruthless and horrible as the Nation you hate so much.” She was quick to flip backwards onto her hands, kicking Jet in the chin as she flipped into a landing.  Jet stumbled back, as she jumped up to grab onto a branch and pull herself into the trees. “We can't have them warning Katara and Aang! Get her!”   Longshot offered a silent nod, pulling himself up into the trees. Jet looked at Pipsqueak and Smellerbee. “Take him for a walk. A long walk.”  “You’re not gonna get away with this Jet! Y/n is going to get to Katara and Aang!” “No, she won’t. But cheer up Sokka. We’re gonna win a great victory against the Fire Nation today.” 

Y/n was quick to jump between the branches of the trees, behind her she could hear someone following. Jumping across a long gap between trees, she was barely able to grab the branch. Before she could pull herself up, an arrow zipped through the air, stabbing through her right hand and pinning it to the branch. She shouted in pain. Using her teeth, she bit down on the arrow and pulled it from the wood in the tree. She didn’t have time to try and get it out of her hand, so she opted to break off the end with her teeth so not as much was sticking out. As she was pulling herself up onto the branch, another one lodged into her ankle. Not having time to deal with this one, she just left it there for now.  Gritting her teeth, she did her best to keep jumping through the trees. With the two arrows in her it was hard to move around, and it made her slower. Longshot was catching up to her. When he jumped onto the same branch as her, Y/n jumped down to the ground, hitting it with a roll. The arrow sticking out of her leg hit the ground awkwardly, making her yelp in pain, but at least some of it broke off. She groaned in pain, but forced herself up.  “Y/n!”  Turning around, she saw Sokka running at her, Smellerbee and Pipsqueak hot on his tail. Longshot jumped down to the ground, landing right as Sokka passed him. Running past Y/n, he grabbed onto her wrist and started to drag her along with him.  The two of them jumped over a pile of leaves, while their three chasers did not. Smellerbee, Pipsqueak and Longshot all ended up getting caught in a snare, hanging several feet in the air.  The two stopped, turning to look up at the snared trio.  “While you two are up there you might want to practice your knot-work.” Sokka held up the bindings they had been using for him as he spoke. Y/n laughed quietly at his words, following him as he turned and walked away.  “You have a plan, Sokka?”  “Yeah-” His expression twisted to concern when he looked at her. She was limping a bit. Were those broken arrows sticking out of her hand and leg..? “You’re hurt.”  “I’ll be alright.”  Wordlessly, he grabbed onto her arm, and pulled it around his shoulders, wrapping his other arm around her waist to help her walk. She breathed out a quiet sigh of relief. “Thanks.” “No problem. C’mon we need to get to Appa. I don’t think we’ll be able to stop Jet, so we’ll just need to warn the town.”  They’d been quick to find Appa, and ride out to the town. Y/n had stayed up on Appa while Sokka warned the town. When they doubted him, the old man from before vouched that he was telling the truth. The town was completely evacuated, a few minutes before the dam was blown and water flooded it. They flew up to the cliff Aang, Katara and Jet were at.  “Sokka and Y/n didn’t make it in time.”  “All those people… Jet! You monster !” “This was a victory, Katara. Remember that. The Fire Nation is gone and this valley will be safe.” “It will be safe, without you.”  Their entrance really didn’t need to be so dramatic, but she was sure that Sokka would disagree if she brought it up. Katara and Aang looked at them with relief. “Sokka! Y/n!”  “We warned the villagers of your plan, just in time.”  “What!” “At first they didn’t believe me. The Fire Nation soldiers assumed I was a spy. But one man vouched for me- The old man you attacked. He urged them to trust me, and we got everyone out in time.”  Jet glared at them. “You fools! We could’ve freed this valley!” Scoffing, Y/n rolled her eyes. “Who would be free? Everyone would be dead.”  “You traitors!”  “No, Jet. You became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people.” Jet looked over to Katara. “Katara. Please, help me.”  “Goodbye Jet.”  After Katara and Aang climbed up onto Appa, Sokka flicked the reigns. “Yip yip.”  “We thought you guys were going to the dam. How come you went to the town instead?” Katara leaned forward on her elbows, looking at her brother. “Let me guess- Your instincts told you.” “Hey! Sometimes they’re right.” “Um… Sokka? You know we’re going the wrong way right?” Y/n let out a laugh.  “...And sometimes they’re wrong.”

Adeuce, You Say!

Yeah, I couldn’t come up with a good title for this one, sorry. XD This is a birthday gift for a dear friend of mine, @belliesandburps. He mentioned he wanted to see Ace Trappola drinking a LOT of soda. I couldn’t think of a concept that featured JUST Ace, so I decided to throw Deuce Spade in for good measure. Hopefully he won’t mind this. ;) Happy Birthday, BNB! You’re one of the best friends a twisted whacko like myself could ever ask for. <3

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“I can’t believe you talked me into this…” “Aww, come on, don’t be a spoilsport!” You couldn’t help but blush a bit...and cursed yourself for doing so. The “fun” hadn’t even begun, and already you could feel your heartbeat with anticipation. “Don’t worry, Deuce,” you muttered. “The feeling is mutual, on my end…” Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade turned to look at you. The three of you were gathered in Ace’s room in Heartslabyul; you had cleared a table he kept in the room - which was designed to resemble a carefully-arranged house of cards - and now both he and Deuce sat at opposite ends of the short furnishing. On the floor directly in front of the table one of them had placed a recycling bin - litter was not allowed, per the Rules of the Queen of Hearts - and on the table itself were four large boxes. Two of the boxes, which sat nearest Deuce, contained twelve packs of Vanilla Cola. In contrast, the two boxes closest to Ace contained Cherry Cola. Ace smirked, tossing some of his carrot-colored hair out of his face, and winked his tattooed eye, the crimson heart shape around it flickering as his one visible cherry-toned iris twinkled with mischief-making glee. “Well, we all know why YOU agreed to this,” he teased. “C’mon, you can’t deny you’re a little...EXCITED, huh, Prefect?” “I hate you,” you droned, grumbling as you squirmed where you stood. “I hate you so much…” “Is this the reason you decided to have this contest?” frowned Deuce, his own turquoise eyes narrowing, the black spade tattoo over one of them crinkling slightly behind his dark blue bangs. “To make the Prefect a blushing mess? I think you could have waited till the next lunch hour for that.” “You are NOT helping,” you grumped, glaring at Deuce half-heartedly.

Neither of the Heartslabyul duo seemed to notice. Ace snorted and waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, that’s just a nice bonus,” he chuckled, and grinned roguishly. “Cater just told me this kinda thing is trending right now. I figure, with my talents, I’ve got a shot at getting some preeeetty good views. That’s why I asked the Prefect to film this.” He jabbed his thumb towards you; you fiddled with the cell phone in your hands, biting your lip and saying nothing. “And why choose ME to be your competitor in this?” Deuce droned. “Does humiliating me just make you feel better about yourself?” “It does. Yes. Absolutely. One hundred percent,” grinned Ace. Deuce glared. He looked to the sodas, then back at Ace...then huffed and turned away. “No,” he stated. “I’m not doing it.” “Awww, come on, you’re already here!” Ace whined. “This won’t take long!” “He does have a point,” you spoke up. “Speaking with as little obvious bias as possible…” “I already mistrust your judgment,” Deuce muttered, while Ace snickered. “...You agreed to this and came here, so you might as well see it through to the end.” “And I don’t expect you to go easy on me!” snapped Ace, lifting a finger rather dramatically. “I want a challenge!” “Then you should have asked somebody else!” Deuce exclaimed. “Why not try someone from Savanaclaw, or one of the Leech Twins?” “I said I wanted a challenge, not a suicide mission,” Ace said, bluntly. You couldn’t repress a snort of laughter. You apologized under your breath as both frowned at you before looking back to each other. “Forget it,” Deuce said firmly. “I’m not engaging in something as infantile as a soda-drinking-” “Soda-CHUGGING, Spade. Get with the times, Mr. Delinquent.” Deuce glared violently. Ace lifted his hands and mouthed a quick apology. Deuce calmed down...but only VERY slightly. “...Soda...Chugging...Contest,” Deuce corrected, grinding his teeth and turning faintly red in the face at Ace’s taunt. “I’m not doing it for you, and you can’t make me.” Ace narrowed his eyes, frowning, looking Deuce up and down for a moment...then grinned anew. “Okay,” he said, slyly. “Then don’t do it for me. There’s other reasons to try.” Deuce looked suspicious and skeptical at the same time. “Such as?” Ace responded by opening one of his cases of cherry cola and pulling a single can free. He waggled it in one hand indicatively, raising an eyebrow in Deuce’s direction. Before either yourself or Deuce could comment on the actions and ask what he was doing - he popped the can open. It hissed and crackled as the pressure was released...then, without a hint of hesitation, he tipped his head back and quickly slugged down the contents of the first can. GLUG, GLUG, GLUG… You felt those familiar stirrings start within you, as your eyes immediately zeroed in on Ace’s strong but slender throat. You watched his Adam’s Apple bounce like a rubber ball with each gulp of soda. Internally, you couldn’t help but put yourself in the drink’s place...cascading down his throat, rushing down his gullet towards the ever-hungry black hole that was his belly… You shivered at the same time he finished the can. He crushed it in one hand with relish and pitched it into the recycling bin. It clattered loudly, making Deuce jump slightly. He opened his mouth to question what all this was about, and perhaps to protest again… ...And looked up just in time to find Ace leaning over the table, mouth wide open...burping four words out. Right in his face. “YYYOOOUUU...AAAARRRRE...AAAAAA...CHIIIIIC-KEEEENNNN-UUUUURRRRRP!” Ace smirked smugly, eyes half lidded as he rested his chin in one hand and licked his lips, eyeing Deuce expectantly. Deuce blinked fast several times, his expression stunned, face speckled with spittle after the messy, wet blast...then glared. “Alright, Trappola,” he almost growled. “Now…” He opened a box. “...You’re…” He pulled out a can of his own. “...On.” SNAP-CRACKLE-POP. The first can of vanilla cola was opened, and Deuce began to chug it down with relish. Ace laughed, and quickly pulled out a second can of his own. “I knew it would work!” he sang out, and popped his own can open, and began to drink down some more cherry cola as fast as he could, eager to catch up with Deuce. You sighed; you were a captive audience to this display. Not that you minded too much, you had to admit...especially given your current position. You decided to sit down rather than stand, but there was no third chair for you to use...so you simply crossed your legs and sat on the floor. This inevitably meant looking up at the pair, and some mean, self-shaming fraction of your submissive little brain couldn’t help but mock you as you watched Deuce hurl his first can into the recycling bin carelessly before moving onto another...imagining your own self being treated with the same nonchalance. Just fuel for a greater being. “I hate my life,” you muttered to yourself. “What - HIC-URP! - what was that?” Ace chirruped. “Never mind. Keep going. First to finish all 24 cans wins.” Keep going the pair did. Gulping and slurping echoed out almost non-stop, interrupted only briefly by the crushing of cans and the sound of them falling into the bin. GLUG-CRUNCH! GULP-SCRUNCH! GOLLOP-GRUNCH! Ace frowned as he hurriedly downed his sodas; his goading of Deuce had seemingly backfired, for Spade had quickly taken a surprising lead. He was only a can ahead of Ace, but one can was all it would take. He kept glancing to Deuce to gauge his progress, eyes burning hotly like crimson flames as he gulped down soda pop after soda pop. Deuce, for his part, remained focused on the sodas themselves, chugging them down as rapidly as he could; you could actually hear the fizzing and sizzling of the carbonation as it raced down their gullets at record-breaking speed. Naturally, all that air being ingested meant pockets of gas were building up inside of both students’ guts. Ace had no problem letting those pockets burst. “BRRRRAAAAAAP! Oof...oh - UUUURRRRRRP! Ha Ha...that was a good one wasn’t it...mph...PRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEFFFFEEEEEECT?” You had to fight yourself NOT to squeak, as Ace laughed and slugged down more and more soda, burping and belching like a crass pig between every single can, clearly delighting in showing off. You wanted to tell him that this wasn’t going to get him the lead back...but you were a little too loopy from the sickly-sweet smell of soda-scented stomach gas filling the air to care much. Deuce, meanwhile, handled things differently. He didn’t burp at all. Honestly, that was actually getting you even more excited; by now, he had finished six cans and was working on a seventh. (Ace was just starting his sixth can, in contrast.) The effect of so much bubbling cola pooling in his belly was starting to become obvious; he looked slightly green as his stomach audibly ROARED with all the gas building up inside...and he breathed heavily, panting almost like a huge dog in-between each can, starting with the fourth. Something had to give, and it wouldn’t be long till something did. Sure enough, after polishing off his eighth can, Deuce couldn’t hold it all in anymore. His stomach let out a lurching GRORBLE noise, and he grunted...before his eyes widened and his cheeks ballooned. He lifted a fist in a vain attempt to stifled the blast...but it was no good. His lips flapped as it bellowed forth with tinnitus-inducing volume. “GUUUUUYYYYYUUUUUHHHHHUUUUURRRRRLLLLLUUUUURRRRRP!” The explosive burp seemed to rock the room. Ace yelped, jumping in his seat just as he had finished his seventh can. He blinked with some alarm as Deuce covered his mouth. Spade hiccuped sharply and blinked, flushing red in the face as his other hand clutched his belly. The look of ripe embarrassment on his face was priceless, and you found yourself starting to giggle. “Good one,” you complimented, with a blush of your own. Deuce glared at you reproachfully. Ace began to laugh, slapping his knee. “HA HA HA HA! Wow, you’ve been holding back on us!” he cackled. “I bet even the lion would have a hard time matching that ‘roar,’ ha!” “Sh-sh-shut up!” Deuce stuttered, turning redder than ever. Ace was still sniggering as he grabbed his next can of cola and quickly swallowed it down. Deuce paused for just a few moments more, seemingly to catch his breath after that enormous eructation, but soon got back to drinking. Now the two were neck and neck. And as they drew nearer and nearer to the end of their first boxes, you realized that gas was not the only thing starting to swell and fester inside their guts. Each of the two were dressed in their Heartslabyul dorm outfits: black and white jackets lined with gold, white undershirts under color-coordinated vests - Ace wore strawberry red, and Deuce wore jet black. As they swallowed up more and more of the soft drinks, you could hear the fabric and buttons creak. The fluid and the carbonation it carried were causing both of their bellies to start to swell and stretch, growing rounder and more bloated...you bit your lip and fidgeted in place. It was so hard to stay focused on the video you were taking when real life was right before you...and ooooohhhhhh, how appealing it looked… Speaking of the video, you checked the time...and couldn’t help but whistle, impressed. “You guys work faster than I realized,” you said, with a slightly nervous chuckle. Deuce smiled almost sheepishly. Ace beamed proudly. Both cracked another can open at the exact same time. Nine cans, ten cans, eleven cans...it was no time at all before each reached the last can in their first twelve packs. You could actually hear their stomachs: their bowels growled and their guts “gulunked” as all that thick, fizzy, sugary stuff bubbled inside of them like a cauldron full of good ol’ fashioned witch’s brew. The difference was you didn’t have to worry about Mr. Crewel yapping at you about how you forgot a tablespoon of some ingredient...or the room exploding into frog zombies as a result… ...Potions class was hard… “BEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLUUUUUUURRRRRRRLLLLLLLLCH!” Two blasts of gas - simultaneously synchronized - sonorously blew forth, sounding out like a foghorn and causing the table legs to rattle. You blushed bright red as the abrasive sound caught your attention, and you found yourself looking up at the pair as they paused in their drinking. They had each polished off their first twelve pack, and were lounging back in their seats. Deuce grunted as he began to fiddle with the buttons of his vest, grumbling under his breath about how they had “shrunk in the wash” recently… ...Bless his heart… Ace, meanwhile, let out another crass, shameless belch out of the corner of his mouth - “BRRRRAAAACK!” - and sighed as he drummed his fingers over his swollen stomach. He winced with discomfort at the tightness of his clothes on his belly...but made no move to loosen anything. Instead he looked down at you...and smirked cockily, holding his head high. “Heh heh...havin’ fun down there? Enjoying the show?” he teased. “You know, if Riddle found you both like this, he’d have you both beheaded,” you answered. Deuce froze. Ace gulped nervously. “You wouldn’t,” both said at once. “If Ace here doesn’t stop kink-teasing me, I might,” you smiled oh-so-innocently. Deuce sighed with relief; that was a sure sign to him you weren’t serious. Ace, meanwhile, frowned and grumbled, looking off to the side with a pout. “If I was that lion, you’d be melting like ice cream,” he grumbled. You were about to respond to that when suddenly, Deuce let out a deep sound - somehow groaning and burping at the same time. “Grrrrooooouuuurrrrrrllllllph...mmmaaahhh…” You almost swore your heart skipped a beat as you looked towards him. He had undone his vest and his trouser buttons, and his eyes were fluttering. From under his plain white undershirt, his pale-skinned belly spilled into his lap, his shallow navel winking into view as it sloshed into place, freed of most restraints and sloshing full of soda. “Ohhhh...that feels so much better,” he sighed out...then blinked...and blushed bright red as he realized both you and Ace were staring at him. “Er...uh...I just...um…” “Well,” smirked Ace. “So much for the stuffed shirt Honors Student, huh?” ‘I-I am not a stuffed shirt!” exclaimed Deuce. “Nope. Just a very stuffed Spade,” you couldn’t help but quip. Deuce gave you a look that was best described as “Et tu, Prefect?” Ace cackled; his gut sloshed and bounced with his mirth. Then, a lightbulb seemed to go over his head, and he began to fiddle with his own buttons… GUBLORSH. “BRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOORRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIP! Whew...MAN, that feels good…” You were internally squeeing, and biting your lip almost hard enough to draw blood (almost) as you saw Ace’s belly spill into his lap. He sighed, eyes fluttering with relief...then gave a grin to Deuce, who was staring as if he didn’t know how to react. “There. Now we’re even,” Ace sing-songed. Deuce looked somewhat dubious. “Is that why you did that? Or just to try and make the Prefect’s ears steam?” Now it was YOUR turn to give Deuce the “Et tu?” look. Ace shrugged cheerfully, and patted his belly with pride. “Neither! Just wanted to relieve the pressure. But come on, even if I HAD been, would it be right to hide this perfection away?” “Do you ever think of anything but yourself?” “If you looked like this, would you?” Both you and Deuce shared a look as Ace grunted, stifling a burp with one fist before opening up his second twelve pack. “HHHRRRLLLMMMPH...well, twelve more to go...game’s not over yet. Unless you wanna throw in the towel…” “Not a chance!” declared Deuce, opening his next twelve pack up. “I’m getting you back for that belch in the face!” Ace just guffawed as he pulled another can free, popped it open, and began to drink again. GLUG, GLUG, GLUG… Deuce was quick to follow suit; once again, they were consuming soda almost at the same speed and time. The first can for each vanished within three seconds flat...then came the second...then the third...and then the fourth… It was as they began to guzzle down the fifth can each - which, really, meant the seventeenth - that you started to notice a few things. The first was that you could hear the soda pooling inside their bodies. You could actually detect the sound of it pouring down their gullets and into their massively swollen tankers, like twin waterfalls dropping down into huge basins. You felt your toes curl in your shoes; the heavy saturation of sugar was making them sound aggressively “grumbly,” gurgling and sloshing with the might of ocean waves. These sounds only seemed further amplified by the second thing you noticed, which was the view. Again, you were seated before the two, looking up at them...which meant those giant bellies looked even bigger and more looming than usual. You were NOT going to give either of them (especially Ace) the satisfaction of acting like a mouse, but it was so hard not to FEEL like one...especially as those massively rounded guts continued to swell and grow as they drank more and more. By the time they had begun their second round, their midsections looked as if each had swallowed a football whole. Now, they were inching out further and further, rolling into their laps and making their shirts ride up further and further, exposing more and more of their soft, tender skin… Forget the soda chugging; the real contest in YOUR mind was which belly you wanted to just bury your face and fingers in the most! You somehow held back, though your fingers twitched around the phone you held. The mixture of the noises and the continuing growth, however, led to a third realization: as the pair plucked up their sixth cans each, you abruptly noticed both were starting to slow down. They were huffing and puffing from the weight in their bellies, and once in a while would flinch as their guts “blurgled” sloppily around their hyper-saccharine contents. “Oooof,” groaned out Ace, as he cracked his can open. “I’m...mph...g-gettin’ kinda heavy…”

“Same - HIC! - ugh, same here,” hiccuped Deuce, and gave a determined glare. “But...b-but I’m not quitting yet.” His words were ruined by his stomach ROARING, and he winced, clutching it with his free hand. Ace just smirked, saying nothing, and the two clinked their cans together as if in toast before downing their sixth drinks. Eighteen down now, and only six more to go. GRORLP...BLLLRRRG...RRRRRAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRLLLLLB…! The sounds of gastric effort resounded through Ace’s room as he and Deuce continued to consume their sodas. Deuce was no longer holding back his gas; Ace certainly hadn’t started doing so. They hiccuped more than once, each letting out a BELCH or BURP freely in-between drinks as they downed their nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first sodas. The recycling bin, by now, was overflowing; you glanced back over your shoulder, grateful you had locked the door. With cans now just dropping to the floor in crumpled heaps, if Riddle Rosehearts were to walk in, it would be off with all your heads, you had no doubt. You were also glad Grim was out practicing his fire magic with Ortho; the loudmouthed imp might have caused problems there. It was a miracle all the gassy eruptions hadn’t roused much attention beyond the room, to begin with. Each of the competitors reached for their twenty-second cans; your eyes widened as you looked towards Deuce. Ace was panting and grunting, but his general motions hadn’t slowed down much. However, Deuce had clearly grown more sluggish: he had a lot more inner capacity than most folks realized (though certainly no match for the likes of some aforementioned students), but he was “out of training” on that front. It was obvious that he hadn’t consumed this much soda at once in a long time (if ever at all), and he looked both tired and a little queasy. He drank more slowly, and it looked like he was trying hard just to get it all down… Ace had pulled ahead at the very last minute: he was now on his twenty-third can of soda, and Deuce had just finished the twenty-second. By the time Deuce had started on his twenty-third, Ace was about to begin his final drink! Deuce let out a sound that was somewhere between a grunt and a whimper - a difficult noise to describe, indicating sickly desperation - and tried to chug down his twenty-third cola as fast as he could… It wasn’t fast enough. Ace cracked open his twenty-fourth can - the last one in his box - and swilled it down so swiftly, you could have sworn he just inhaled it all in a single swallow. “Guh!” gasped out Ace, and hiccuped loudly - he bounced in his seat from the force of it, his gut sloshing like a water balloon against his thighs - and let the can drop from his grip. “Oooooh...ohhhhh, soooooo full...UUUURRRRP! Ah...haaaah, I f-feel like I’m gonna - HIC! - ohhhh, gonna burst…” He shivered; his expression still bore a smile - though it was slightly forced. You couldn’t help but imagine the phrase “hurts so good” applied to how he had to be feeling right about now. Lazily, languidly, he turned his head to look at Deuce as Deuce moaned with discomfort and tossed his second-to-last can of Vanilla Cola aside. “I win,” Ace grinned. Deuce looked at him in a slow, bleary way, as if he were struggling to stay awake. He hiccuped and groaned; his cheeks swelled, as if he were trying to keep his stomach’s contents in place. He didn’t say a word, just glared at Ace, sullenly. “Awww, don’t be...mph...like that,” Ace said, shifting his posture in his seat. “There’s...ngh...still one can left...g-go ahead. Finish it off.” “What’s the point?” huffed Deuce, and clutched his bare belly tightly as it “glarbled” in a nauseous way. “You already...ow...beat me..” “Well,” Ace cooed, “If you don’t think you can handle...just...one...more…” He started to subtly reach towards Deuce’s box. Something seemed to flare up, and Deuce’s aquamarine eyes flashed with newfound fire. He snatched up his final can of cola before Ace could grab hold of it. Ace smirked triumphantly as he watched his friend down the last of the sodas with gusto. “Gets ‘im every time,” he muttered to himself. You just rolled your eyes. Deuce threw his final can aside and groaned louder than before. He hiccuped and once again looked as if he had to struggle to avoid feeling sick as his breath became shallow and shaky. “Grrrrooooohhhhhh...wh-why...why did I...UUUUUURRRRRRK...agree to this…?” “Wimp,” mumbled Ace, only to quiver and let out a raspy breath of his own, as his stomach rumbled so loudly it visibly vibrated. “Hhhnnnaaaaahhhhhh...Chernabog’s horns, I’m - BRRRUUUOOORRRLLLK - soooooo STUFFED now...haven’t - URP - drank that much in my...m-my life…” You quickly turned off the video, stopping the recording...mostly because you did NOT want it to pick the inevitable “meep” sound you made as you openly ogled your two friends and their bloated bodies. It looked as if they had swallowed a couple of prize-worthy pumpkins whole, their sagging, sloshing stomachs as round and heavy as a pair of medicine balls. “I don’t feel so good,” moaned Deuce. “Speak for yourself,” Ace sighed. “This is AMAZING…” “You can say that again,” you gulped to yourself. “Huh?” both slurred out. “Nothing, guys, nothing,” you said, shaking your head. You got up onto your knees and shuffled towards them. Ace gave you a slothful smirk. “Hey, kneeling before my superior awesomeness?” he teased. “I always knew you would.” You gave him a bored look and responded by lifting a hand and jabbing at his stomach. His belly wobbled with a sound like a water bed. He hissed through gritted teeth before belching messily like a total pig. “BLLLLLLUUUUUURRRRRYYYYAAAAAOOOORRRRRRLLLLLLGP! Oof...okay, okay, sorry...ow, that one kinda hurt,” grunted Ace, thumping his chest with a fist and working up a shorter, softer after burp which you could barely hear. Considering how much your ears were ringing, that wasn’t necessarily a bad point. “You won the match,” you said to Ace. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna start treating you like some kinda overlord or whatever.” Ace grumbled unintelligibly. Deuce smirked with satisfaction, tainted only slightly by his clearly ill state. It vanished as his belly burbled noisily however, and he had to fight back a whimper. You smiled sympathetically. “Maybe next time you’ll beat him,” you suggested. “You’re insinuating there may BE a next time,” Deuce groused. “Never. Again.” You had a feeling Ace would find a way to push the not-so-stoic student’s buttons in another direction, but you didn’t say so. Instead, you started to stand. “I’ll get you something to settle your stomach,” you offered Deuce. “Uh...c-could you get me somethin’, too?” Ace asked, and let out an embarrassed, soft laugh as he winced courtesy of a loud gut rumble of his own. “I, uh...mph...I think maybe I’m gonna need it sooner or later...ouch…” You rolled your eyes, but said you would, and started to stand up, patting your knees… ...Only to freeze up short as, suddenly, Deuce grabbed hold of your arm. “Wait...um...maybe you...don’t have to go anywhere?” he suggested. You blinked at him, confused, and cocked your head to one side questioningly. Deuce bit his lip...took a breath...and then tried to elaborate. “You, uh...we both know you have those… ‘Magic Fingers’ of yours, so...maybe...maybe a little bit of that m-might help?” You blinked again, more slowly than before, trying to process what Deuce was asking. “...Are you saying you...want a...a belly rub?” you checked, cautiously. “Only if you don’t mind!” Deuce insisted. “Heeeey, you can’t hog the belly rubs!” Ace cried out. “Besides, we all know mine is a lot softer and smoother than yours!” “Is not.” “Is too!” “Is not.” “Is too!” “Is...this REALLY an argument we’re having?” “Yep. Seems that way.” You were blushing too much to remember how to laugh. “I mean...if you’re...SURE you want it,” you said, in a quiet, quavering voice. Deuce nodded, an almost pleading look in his eyes. Ace grinned and nodded as well, more enthusiastically. You took a deep breath to steady yourself - it was hard to believe you were this lucky - and directed the pair to move closer together. They did, pulling their chairs forward and sideways...and you scurried between them, biting your lip as you looked between their twin bellies, almost identical in shape, size, and apparent texture. Then...unable to repress a little happy shiver of your own...you placed one hand on each of their stomachs, and began to work them over. Your fingers kneaded into the flesh, feeling the soft, supple surface of each titanic tummy. You trailed your fingertips over the plumpened sides and across the curve of their silky-smooth underbellies. You patted them, making both guts bounce and jiggle, and even drew figure-eights around their navel areas. Both of your friends sighed deeply and all but melted at your touch, their arms going limp, heads lolling back, jaws agape as they savored the sensations. “Oohhhhh...oh, no wonder you like doing this,” Ace drawled out. “This is...mmmm, this is AMAZING…” “That’s...ahhhh...mmmmm, that’s soothing,” Deuce crooned. “Thank you, Prefect…” “My pleasure, guys,” you blushed, giving their guts a couple of smacks. “My pleasure.” The pair just grinned and made happy humming sounds as they were pampered and spoiled. You couldn’t help but smile wider as you gave their greedy guts a couple of jiggles, hearing the thick soda-fueled stew slosh and splash and swirl about inside their bodies, so close to you… You were unaware of the fact that, as you worked on both bellies, the two opened one eye each, and looked to each other. Ace grinned wickedly...and Deuce smirked with faint impishness as well… ...And then… WHURLMPH. You let out a muffled yelp as, without warning, the pair shifted their postures...and now, both bellies were smushing agaisnt you, the warm curves of each swollen stomach heating up your already nearly-steaming cheeks. You blinked up shyly as you pushed against both guts to try and find some wiggle room...and your friends smiled down at you with almost identical expressions of mischievous affection. “Beter enjoy it while you can,” whispered Deuce. “Yeah,” chuckled Ace, and winked. “It’ll only be a week till we have our eating contest!” “Eating contest?” Deuce scowled. “Who said anything about that?” “Well...if you don’t think you have a chance at winning…” “I can eat you under a table any day!” “I dare you to prove it!” You sighed and shook your head, the soft flesh sliding across your own as you kneaded and caressed the bellies of your best friends. “Friends with benefits,” you were discovering, was a phrase with more than one definition… ...You hoped their argument wouldn’t go too quickly, though...right now, there was nowhere else you wanted to be, as you nuzzled against Ace’s stomach and patted Deuce’s with a smile. One of these days, you figured, you’d need to see a psychiatrist. But it was not this day.

The End