#sniper gets points because he's pathetic like that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall · 5 months

Text

True feelings

Pairing: Crosshair x F!Reader

Words: 9 064

Warning: Angst, fluff, mentions of deaths,

Summary: Crosshair is a dick, but you still love him.

A/N: I haven't double-checked, cause if I did I would have never posted it... I apologise my dear, beautiful anon that asked for this. It has taken ages, but I hope this one is to your liking :) (despite I changed it a bit when I now think abotu it... Sorry :( ) - If you hate it I will try again soon :)

I also post on AO3, if anyone’s interested :)

“You’re angry”, normally his voice would make you melt, but not today. You were tired. You were supposed to go home, take a bath, relax. But here you were, at 2 a.m. patching up that idiot because he couldn’t have just waited until morning.

“Am not”, you barked at him, tapping the blooded wound, a bit harsher than it was necessary, ignoring the little hiss from him. A part of you knew he was exaggerating, as always. A damn drama queen. All this was just a show. The wound wasn’t even that bad. You were sure Tech with his medical knowledge would be able to patch him up. Damn, even Hunter wouldn’t fuck it up. And yet, here you were, bandaging this big baby, because you knew you couldn’t say no to him.

“You’re a terrible liar”, he continued, not getting a point across, that you weren’t in a mood to talk. And so you rolled your eyes and put on a protective layer of bandage on it and sighed, while cleaning up the place around. No reminder of it being clean, before he came to you. “Isn’t it your job to take care of us?” You turned at him and sent him one your death stare, weaker now that you were more than tired. You didn’t even care about fighting him. After all that was what he was here for. Most of the time. Just to annoy the hell out of you. And for some reason you loved that about him.

“You’re welcome, Crosshair!” You murmured and shook your head. There was no way you would get tangled in his little game. You haven’t slept for almost three days, and you really needed your bed right now. And arguing with the Clone would only postpone your rest with at least an hour or two.

“Again, it was your job to help me, so…”

“What's your kriffing problem, Crosshair!” you hissed, angry at yourself he got under your skin so easily. You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, shaking your head. “You know what? Never mind. My job, as you nicely put it, is done here. I’m going to sleep.”

“Must be exhausting to sit in this safe little barrack all day and enjoy the safety of the Coruscant.” That was Crosshair at its best. Despite knowing he was a jerk, despite his words cutting deeper than any knife, despite his overall, misunderstood annoyance towards you, here you are always there for him. Always being ready to help him and his brothers. A one call, a word that he would be back and you would abandon anything only to make sure he was safe. Just like today. In the beginning you would lie to yourself, trying to believe, you were like that towards the whole Batch, but when even Echo gave you that smirk one day, you knew it was a lie. And despite having those bizarre and pathetic feelings towards the Sniper, he was still nothing but a jerk to you.

“It’s how he is”, Wrecker once told you, but you knew it was way beyond that. You saw Crosshair with his brother, hell he wasn't like that even with the Regs. You never asked, too afraid to know the truth. Being close to him in those few moments was enough for you, at least that’s what you believed, what you wanted to believe. Yet another lie.

You didn’t even know how to answer that. Not like he wasn’t right. You were safe here, no War surrounded you, you weren’t on the battlefield. You were just a station medical help. And despite knowing it all, it still hurts hearing him say it. You hoped he would at least respect your work a bit, but it seemed it was again another lie. How many times can a person lie to themselves before it becomes pathetic?

And so you packed your bag, unable to even look at him. Because if you did you would lose any composure, already so damn close to losing yourself to a sob that is threatening to come. Putting everything away, you turned off all the equipment and stood at the doors. When he didn’t move you sighed and turned off the light.

“Make sure you change it in the morning, Corporal.” And you left, not caring how petty it was to call him by his ranks. If he wanted to act like any other Trooper around here then beat it. You would treat him that way. And before you even left the barracks, you let the tears fall down, hoping no one would see you.

***

“I hope you were nice to her.” Hunter murmured, when his brother came back to the ship. They decided to stay on the planet to refill and actually rest a bit. Letting Crosshair get checked up. “She looked tired.”

“Well, she did her damn job, so what’s the issue?” He barked at his brother, walking towards his bed, ignoring the stare from the Sergeant.

“Well, that went well.” Echo murmured, making Hunter sigh in annoyance. “Has he ever told you what the issue is with our little medic?”

“I kriffing wish! He’s just getting more and more snappy whenever he sees her. Like a damn spoiled brat!” Echo chuckled at it and patted his brother on the shoulder. “She’s got a terrible taste in men!”

“I told her the same thing!”

***

It’s been a while since you’ve seen the Batch. They were off to whatever planet and you were left alone again. Well, not really alone. You were surrounded by Clones and Jedi and other medics and yet you felt lonely. And hurt. Crosshair's words were still cutting deep and you couldn’t get them out of your head. Maybe that’s why when the opportunity to join a small team of Clones to one of the missions came up, you were more than ready to join. You’ll show him. You weren’t just a nobody that spends her time in a safe barrack. You are a capable medic, able to do her job wherever. At least that’s what you were telling yourself at night, when you were unable to sleep.

You didn’t know the details of the mission. It was a last minute thing and you were just being lucky (or unlucky, as some thought) that you were at the right place at the right time. A medic was needed and you were a medic. Easy as that. Your first field mission. And so you packed whatever you may need, reading everything that there was to read. At least whatever was given to you about the field missions. Nothing new really. You were meant to stay back and only go out of the hiding when the fight was over, to patch up the actual soldiers. It felt new, exciting, but still you could imagine Crosshair's snarky comment about “always hiding”.

No! It was something new and exciting for you. You would not let that man destroy it for. You will kill that mission and when the Batch is back, you will proudly tell him to shove his opinion up his ass. And maybe, just maybe, he would start to act normal towards you. You didn’t expect him to be nice to you, but at least respect you for a human being, for a medic, for your job.

“You look ready!” You jumped at the voice behind you and smiled, seeing a familiar face. “You packed for at least a week?”

“Yes, Sir!” Cody smiled at you and looked at the special bag near your legs. “I don’t know how Kix does it, really! I packed and unpacked at least five times, unsure what I would need.”

“Don’t worry, kid. Knowing Tech, they would have a nice medical back up on the ship.” Your smile dropped hearing the name. No. That was not possible. Your first field mission could not be with the Batch. Not with him. “You ok?”

“You have got to be kidding me”, something big in your stomach dropped, hearing the sneering hiss behind you. A voice you knew well already. And a voice you hoped not to hear for a while yet.

***

“We need to make sure that these bases are destroyed alright. These aren’t big, but are guarded well, so we would need a special team to infiltrate them.” Cody briefed them in, but you weren’t able to focus. You tried hard not to look at Crosshair who was looking at the map, with the same bored stare as always. Leaning on the wall, biting on his damn toothpick, he looked even more pissed than ever. And that itself pissed you off. He had no reason to act like that. It was your first mission being screwed because he was being a part of him. And yet, that stupid part of you was so happy to be able to go on a mission with him.

“So why do we need a civic with us?” Crosshair finally asked, his glare directed at you, his toothpick still between his teeth, angrily being bitten by its owner. You weren’t sure if you wanted to be that toothpick, or wanted to use it to stab him with it and watch him bleed out. Maybe both.

“Maybe those bases don’t look tough, but there are quite a lot of them there”, Cody answered, looking between the Sniper and you, apparently unaware of the ‘lovely’ relationship between the two of you. “You need a medic, and as we are a bit behind with the Clone medical team, we are accepting the help from civilians. And you will need a medic on that mission. Having only Tech as your medic isn’t going to be enough this time, no offense.” He looked at Tech, who nodded, almost not paying attention to his words, already planning something out. “Our little friend here has saved many asses back at Coruscant. She will be a good help to you as well.”

“Oh, we are familiar with our little medic”, Hunter murmured and you couldn’t help but chuckle, nodding to Cody.

“Who do you think patches them up when they land at Coruscant?” The Commander smirked and came back to the map.

“There is no timeline for this, but I advise you that when you start the operation you don’t stop for too long before you take out the other bases.” His eye landed on Echo and there was a minute, you thought he was about to say something, but he only nodded and left you all, probably going to his own briefing.

“Your first field mission, kid! How ya feeling?” You raised your brow at Hunter and sighed, unable to stop the giddy smile from showing.

“Quite excited if I’m being honest!”

“Great! That’s what we needed a civic for whom that whole damn War is some kind of a game!” You turned towards the Clone and opened your mouth to say something, but stopped when he took some steps towards you, stopping centimeters away from you. You could feel his breath on you, if you raised your hand, you would be able to hear the beat of his heart. “It’s not some night out on Coruscant to get excited about, princess!” The nickname was new, and if it was spoken by anyone other than him, maybe, you would have taken it as a compliment. But the way he spit it at you, it was nothing but another way to hurt you. “Just so you know, I don’t play by the books. You get in our way, I don’t care if you’re a medic. I leave you behind, get that?!” The venom in his voice took you off guard. Yes, you weren’t friends, he always seemed to enjoy bringing you pain, but this was new. The way he spoke, the way he looked at you, it was like you were the enemy. And it broke your heart into pieces.

“Crosshair!” Wrecker interjected, but the Sniper turned and walked into the ship, leaving you all behind. You stared at his back and swallowed, biting harshly on your lip, trying to stop the tears from appearing. “Come on, kid, he didn’t mean it. He’s just tired, you know!” You nodded and sent the boys one of your most beautiful fake smiles. You were thankful to Wrecker for standing up to you. But deep down, a part of you knew that Crosshair was right. It wasn’t a game, and the thought that you even saw it as one for a millisecond was a mistake. War wasn’t something you used to show others your strengths, and he was right to call that upon you.

“So… Which one of you is going to show me around?” Echos smiled softly and let you in, hoping that at least for the mission sake, Crosshair would try to behave.

***

“Not bad!” Echo commended, looking at the target which you just shot. “I didn’t know you could use the blaster.”

“Just because I’m a civic doesn’t mean I can’t protect myself”, you shrugged, getting rid of another of the targets. More like spotchka bottles, which you didn’t even dare question about.

“Sounds like there is a story behind it”, he started, raising a brow at another target being hit. It wasn’t that he considered you a friend. But he did like you. He enjoyed talking to you, whenever the Batch was stationed at Coruscant. You were polite, nice, funny, a bit sarcastic at times. But what’s important, you were kind and really good at your job, so he had no idea why Crosshair was being a complete jerk towards you.

“You should at least buy me dinner first, Echo”, he chuckled, letting you win this one. He was the first person to understand if there were topics someone didn’t want to discuss. You never forced him to talk, and so he wasn’t about to do it to you. “I may not be a soldier, but I am not a defenseless little girl. I would rather sit in one place my entire life than to bother any of you.” You sounded so small, so broken at that moment, that Echo was close in actually finding his brother and kicking his ass. “I have never left this planet. I… Is it really that bad that I’m excited?” You put the blaster away and took a deep breath, trying to gain control over your body again. “I’m not excited about the War. I.. I just want to experience more… Does that make me a bad person?”

“No!” He was fast to answer. Of course it didn’t. He understood you well. He remembered how he felt leaving Kamino as well. Like an excited child, finally able to do more. To be more. “Curiosity is normal. And no one should make you feel inferior for feeling that.” He wasn’t good at that, and an actual human contact was always Fives’ forte, but he pulled you to him, hoping it would calm you down, just a bit. “Do you want me to talk to him?”

“No.” You shook your head, reciprocating his hug, with a small smile on your face. “The last thing I want is to make someone uncomfortable. And to be a reason for the fight between brothers.” You pulled away and gave him a real, big smile. “I will just stay away and ignore him as much as I can.”

***

And you kept that promise for the whole two days until it was time for you to leave Coruscant. You helped Tech with the list of the most important things. Or more like he let you stay while he did the list. And added some medical things you considered to be essential, but he may have forgotten (which he of course haven’t).

“Am I really needed?” You joked at him, making him smirk a bit at that.

“I keep asking myself the same question.” Crosshair stared at you, while cleaning his rifle. You shook your head and smiled at Tech, looking through your list. “Hunter asks if we’re free to go.”

“We should have everything”, Tech looked at you and you nodded, giving him back the list. “I’ll get the ship ready.” And he left, leaving the two of you alone. You waited, getting yourself ready for some more snarky and hurtful comments. You decided that you won’t let that affect you. You will do your job. Make sure the boys are safe on that mission and come back to that planet. You decided to close off your heart to that man, not letting him play with you. You still couldn’t understand why you yearned for his approval so much, but this had to end. You weren’t some pathetic little girl.

“I won’t cause any problems. I will do my job and stay away from you so as not to bother you.” You started, not even turning around to face him. You didn’t need to see him, to know the way he looked at you. With annoyance and anger, for whatever reason. “This mission ends and you won’t have to see me again.” And so you got past him and got into the ship, ignoring the sick feeling in your stomach.

***

He looked at your fascinated face and couldn’t help but snark under his breath. You were all getting into hyperspace and you sat next to Tech to see it for the first time. You looked like a damn kid making him even angrier. If anyone asked, he wasn’t really sure why he despised you so much. Echo was right, you were a good medic, at least from what he saw. You did patch him and his brothers up a couple of times already. And you did it well. Additionally, what he did hear from Regs was that you are capable and good at what you do. But if he was being honest with himself, hearing it from the Regs could not really be considered a compliment.

What irritated him about you the most was the way you were always happy and cheerful and how so damn gullible you were. Always smiling to everyone, always pleasant, always so damn kind. You were so easy to manipulate and hurt that he never realized when he actually wanted to see you fall, to see you hurt, to see that damn smile disappear from your face.

“I hate seeing you hurt”, he clenched his wrists remembering the first time you patched him up. It wasn’t anything serious, but it was an order to see a medic and as much as he hated them, he knew which fights he was able to win.

“You don’t even know me”, he remarked, making you giggle at that. He watched your small hands work over his wound and he liked how warm they were.

“Doesn’t mean I want to see you hurt!” You winked at him and it was then he realized how foolish you were. How innocent and he wanted you gone, before that War would take any resemblance of innocence from you. “That’s why I’ll be here, waiting to patch you up when you need it.”

And so here you were. Not on the damn Coruscant, but here with them. It was over a year since that first meeting, and the more he saw you, the more he heard of you, he was becoming more irritated, with you, with this War, with the Sepis and with himself. He was so pissed when he found out that the medic assigned to them was you. He hoped all his remarks would get to you but apparently that never worked.

He looked at you once more and bit harder on this toothpick and grimaced. He shook his head in anger and left the cockpit, hoping to have you off his head as soon as it was possible. Missing the way your eyes were following his moves.

You frowned looking at his retreating form. You tried to understand him. You thought and tried to remember if you offended him someway, but the more you thought the more certain you were that nothing really happened. Sure he was pissy when he first met you, but it was far from how he was now - cruel.

***

“A quick one, boys. We go in, get the disc, destroy everything else and get here. Best case scenario without an extra job for our medic here.” You chuckled and closed the last little bag you were preparing.

“I want you all to have each”, you started handing them to the boys. “They aren’t big so it shouldn't be an issue for either of you. But they do have the most essential things you may need. Each one of you have an adhesive spray, a mix of bandages that may be of need. I added bone-knitters there as well. I wasn’t sure how long you guys may be gone, and when it comes to fractures in bones, it's best to take care of it as soon as possible. It’s nothing special, a normal medpack so you know…”

“How the hell did you manage to get all that equipment from Coruscant?” Wrecker gasped seeing all of the best supplies. Something he would expect was given to the Jedi Generals not Clones. At least not the non-medic ones.

“I have my ways”, you winked at him and stopped in front of Crosshair, extending his medpack to him. For a second there you were sure he would ignore you. But he did take it and added it to his tools. “I added some eye drops for you, just in case.” And not expecting any kind of response from him you turned and stood next to Echo. Missing the way his eyes softened a bit, only to quickly come back to the way he was. “Be safe there, OK?” They all nodded and left the ship, leaving you alone. Hating that you couldn’t come with them.

***

“You do know, you don’t have to check up on all of us after every mission”, Tech asked, when you scanned him, looking for any injuries that he may have hidden. It would not be the first time when a Clone would hide that he was hurt or wounded. Like one particular Captain of the 501st.

“I know, but I do enjoy it. It is my job, but more than that I want to make sure you guys are OK. Believe it or not I kind of like you guys.” He smiled softly at that and you felt your heart melting. Tech seemed like someone completely unavailable when it came to feeling, but you found that he was probably the most welcome to any kind of interaction that anyone would be willing to give him. And so you gave him all the attention you could whenever you had a chance, enjoying the way he always seemed to seek you out to tell you about whatever the hell he found out. “I’d like you guys to take the vitamins I prepared for you. I know it seems silly, but with the amount of missions you participate in, it is crucial to keep even the basic functions going.”

“We appreciate it, really!” Hunter murmured, smiling at you softly. “Even if not everyone shows that.” His eyes landed on the far away place, where Cross normally went into after every mission. Normally you gave him space, not wanting to bother him. But it has been three missions already and you were not able to check on him since then. And you promised yourself you would have to do it this time. Even if it meant fighting him over it.

“You boys are good to go. I’m gonna check up on Mr moody”, you smiled hearing Wrecker’s booming laugh at your nickname and took a deep breath, readying yourself for whatever the Sniper got to offer. “Crosshair?” he didn’t move when you walked to his space in the ship. You sighed and swallowed trying to find a way to start this all, without making you even more angry that he always was. “I need to check you up and I brought you vitamins.” You tried to make your voice sound soft and gentle. You didn’t need him to know how nervous he made you feel. But deep down, you were sure he knew.

“I’m OK, so leave.” He murmured and you frowned, biting your lip nervously.

“You said that after each and every mission so far.” You started, taking a step closer. “But I need to check, you know, even if it's just to sleep better at night.” You tried to joke, but seeing no reaction from him, you rolled your eyes at his childish behavior. “Come on, Crosshair. It won’t even take ten minutes. You make it more difficult than it needs to be. Stop acting like a kid!” You yelped when he was right there, pushing you on the wall behind, making you drop your kit. One of his hands landed close to your head on the wall, and you closed your eyes from the shock of it all. When you opened them, you looked up at him to see nothing but annoyance and irritation.

You were never afraid of the Clones. Sure they were all respected and intimidating, but you knew that they were all good people. But today, at this moment, you felt yourself shiver. You felt your legs shake from an actual fear from one of them. And it was the man that you stupidly fell for. The man you tried so hard to be accepted by. But despite it all, you could see nothing but anger and disgust in his eyes right now.

“Don’t you dare call me a child, you spoiled, little brat!” He hissed and something broke inside you. It was not fair. He didn’t know you. Didn’t even try to get to know you and yet it was so easy for him to push judgment. The one who has been ridiculed for something he couldn’t control - his genes. Here he was calling you a spoiled brat not knowing anything. And so you have had enough.

You pushed him away from you and clenched your hands angrily. Whatever calmness and control you tried to maintain was done for.

“What the fuck is your problem, Crosshair!?” You shouted, pushing him away, once again. “What have I ever done to you for you to hate me so much!? Why do you have to be a jerk to me all the damn time?! You don’t want me to call you a kid, but since the damn mission started, fuck, even before that, you yourself have been acting like a spoiled brat!”

“Don’t you dare!” He started, but you didn’t let him finish. You took one more step and looked him deep into his eyes, that you once loved. Tech laughed at you once when you said that you would be able to differentiate them all just by their eyes, lecturing you how being a Clone meant they all had the same eye color. But that wasn’t it. Each of them had something special in their look and Cross wasn’t different. You loved that darkness he held, something so very different. So special, something so lovely. But now, after loving them for so long, you hated to look at them. Hated the solemn fact that you let yourself be so vulnerable for a man who didn’t care for you.

“No, Crosshair!” you stopped him and felt yourself breathing harsher with every sentence that left your lips. You didn’t even care that you were now surrounded by all of the crew. You didn’t care anymore. You have had enough of it all. “For almost a year I have been trying to get you to like me, to notice me, to make you see me as something more than whatever you thought of me. All I ever was, was be nice to you and your brothers. I was always there for, even when my shift was over, even if I had a day off. I know it’s my bloody job, but I wasn’t born like you to fight in this war!” You didn’t even realize when you started crying. You weren’t screaming anymore, but your voice was more stern and angry than any of them have ever seen you before. “I’m just a civic who wants to help you all in this awful time. I’m not perfect, but I work on my weaknesses everyday and try to be stronger to be sure I will be able to help however I can!” You pushed him again, and to your surprise he let you. You were never the one to get physical, but you were so damn furious right now, that you didn’t care for anything. “What have I ever done to you! What made you cruel towards me?! What made you hate me so much?” You hated how your voice broke a bit in that last sentence, but you kept on looking at him, with the same determination as before. You needed to know to be able to move on.

“You wanna know what irritates me so damn much about you, princess?” He sneered and took a step towards you, but you didn’t step back. He was close, closer than ever, but you didn’t pay attention to that. You were too angry to care for something like that. You did, however, notice how Wrecker tried to interfere, but was stopped by his brothers. “You are so damn happy all the damn time. You are acting like a spoiled brat that joined the damn army because you were bored. You are pushover that let everyone do and say whatever they want because you need to feel fucking liked by everyone. I hate that fake smile you always give to everyone, I hate that stupid innocence of someone whose life was nothing but nice and comfortable. War isn’t a place to make friends, Princess! People die everyday, and that annoying smile of yours isn’t going to change that. You are pathetic, and I hate that about you!” There was silence after his outburst. You felt like you were just shot straight to the heart. Each and every of his words hurt more than anything you have ever experienced before. And not because they were true - which they weren’t- but because this is what he thought of you. Without even trying to meet the real you.

“My mother died at my birth”, you started, taking a step back, looking down on the floor, unable to continue to look at the eyes of a person who hates you so deeply. “My father was a bounty hunter, and didn’t care much about being a great parent. You asked me once where I learned to shoot Echo.” The Clone shifted uncomfortably being mentioned now, during the fight between you and his brother. “My father was never really a dad to me, but he did believe I had to be able to defeat myself. So he taught me, shaping the next bounty hunter in his head. He was cruel and demanding. I was 9 when he died and I didn’t even feel sad about it. After that I lived on the streets, living from day to day. I learned how to patch myself, because if I didn’t I’d die. And I would probably keep on living on the streets if the War didn’t break. I enlisted myself as a medic, because I thought of a reason to live. Not to kill as my father wanted, but to save.” You looked up at him to see softness in his eyes. For the first time since you met him. You noticed how his body shifted, how he took a step back. How his anger evaporated from him. “I was given a purpose to my life. And I promised myself I would never come back to that dark place I was, when I didn’t feel anything when my father died. And so I smiled, and laughed and made sure that no one around me would ever need to feel like that. Because Crosshair, being alone and broken is the worst possible feeling in the world, and I hope you will never have to feel it.” You wiped your tears and turned around tired of this all. “And Crosshair?” You turned one more time and looked up, finding his eyes again. “My smile was never fake with you.” And you walked to the small, little place the boys designed for you, to feel at least a bit comfortable.

“That explains her easiness with a blaster” Echo started, hoping to cool down that anger he felt from both Wrecker and Hunter. He just hoped Crosshair would stay quiet, because he wasn’t sure anyone would be able to stop Wrecker in actually beating the hell out of his brother.

“I will go see if she needs anything”, Hunter barked, shaking his head in anger at the Sniper, then leaving everyone to tend to you, hoping he would be able to help at least a bit. “Come on, Wrecker, she always enjoyed your hugs.” The Clone stared Crosshair down and with one of Mando’s curses directed at him, he went with Hunter.

“I have some things to deal with, but I believe you owe her apologies, Crosshair!” Tech murmured and not waiting for the response he left, leaving Echo with Crosshair alone.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Crosshair spit at him angrily, unable to even look at his brother. At anyone. This sick feeling in his stomach was nothing he has ever felt before. He never knew your life wasn’t this comfortable as he thought. A part of him hated himself for being a jerk to you, but another one was angry at his brothers for taking your side in this. An irrational one and he knew that.

“Seeing you right now? I don’t think I have to.” Echo answered, and clapped his brother on the shoulder, leaving him alone as well. He hated how this went, but he knew that the two of you needed that serious talk. You needed that to get rid of those feelings towards his brother. Feelings that only brought you pain.

***

You spent that night cuddled in the protective arms of Wrecker, crying your eyes out. It hurt so unbelievably. The memories of your child, the fact that you said it all, when you promised yourself you would never come back to it. And how all this came about. Now when you were calmer you regretted all of this. You were even close in going there and stupidly apologized to the Sniper, but Hunter stopped you. He even talked to you and asked if you wanted to continue the mission. Because he could always contact Cody and ask for someone else. You smiled at how thoughtful he was and promised him you would end what you started and that what happened just now would not affect your work. You wouldn’t let that happen. They needed a good medic, and you wanted to finish the mission to be sure that they would come back safe.

And so the professionalism stayed. Or more like ignorance. You knew that the only way for you to focus on your work was to ignore Crosshair, at least as much as it was possible. And so you still organized the medpack for him before each of their missions. You still checked if he was OK, and to your surprise he let you actually make the check up. You acted as his medic and just that. There were no more talks, smiles or desire to get to know him. You were kind of thankful for this whole ordeal. At least it helped you open your eyes, and saved your time on a man who saw you as nothing special. And who hated your own existence.

“I need to get to the market to buy some things”, you mentioned to the boys, when you landed on Tanalorr for fuel. “We are running out of food, thanks to someone.” You looked at Wrecker, who chuckled awkwardly, sending you one of his charming smiles you couldn’t resist. “Not to mention I did not think the mission was going to be that long.” It has been almost a month, “We are running out of medical equipment as well.”

“Do we even have enough credits for all of this?” Echo asked, looking troubled at the perspective of having to go back to Coruscant only to re-pack. “I’m not gonna lie, I don’t feel like coming back only to get it done.”

“Don’t worry about the Credits.” You smirked and winked at him. “I was sent here by the Republic on a mission as your medical support and I am responsible for you. Which means the Republic will take care of things.”

“If the credits weren’t an issue before why didn’t we let loose a bit?” Crosshair asked. Since that encounter between the two of you, he didn’t speak much, but when he did, there was less and less spite in his tone. At least he was trying, you thought.

“Well, it’s not that I have no credit for the money I spent. The Republic checks what we spend the money on, and if it turns out to be something not necessarily needed it is taken out of our own private money.” The boys frowned and you chuckled. “Don’t worry, I have worked for the Republic long enough to know what they accept and not.” You grinned and sighed. “Ok, which one of you volunteered to be the bag carrier?”

***

“I may not be as perceptive as others but are you OK?” Wrecker asked, after what seemed to be ages. He has been acting strange since you both left Marauder and you couldn’t help but smile softly at the way he cared for you. You still remembered the way he looked that day, when they all came on you and Crosshair fighting.

“You may think that, but you are as perspective as any of them, if not more, Wreck.” He chuckled nervously at that and you leaned into him and kissed his cheek softly, making him blush. “I’m not, but I will be.” He nodded and let you walk in front of him. You smiled softly at the way his whole body acted like some kind of shielding for you. His eyes were roaming the surrounding looking for anything fishy, being your guardian Angel. "I see how you're always standing just two steps away from me. Whether it's with my little confrontations with Crosshair or whenever we go outside." He looked away sheepishly, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, almost shyly. This is what you liked about him. He was a giant sweetheart. "I am the luckiest doctor in the whole Galaxy" you winked at him and he chuckled softly, following your steps.

***

It has been a while since your mission with the Batcher. You haven’t seen them for almost two months, and if you were honest with yourself you started to worry. The war was slowly getting to an end. Everyone knew that, but no one really wanted to agree on it. It was like if you spoke too loud, you would have jinxed it. Childish, and yet no one wanted to actually say anything. The Batch were being sent on more and more restless missions and they didn’t even come to the Coruscant anymore. And damn you missed them. At least most of them.

You forced yourself to believe you were too busy to think about him, and yet there were times when his face appeared in front of your eyes and you hated yourself for that. When you left, you hugged all of them, except for Crosshair. He didn’t even come out from the ship to say goodbye. You forced yourself to believe it was better that way. After all you hoped you weren’t as pathetic as long for the man who didn’t give a damn about you.

And now all this seemed like a mean joke. The memories of that mission was one of the few things keeping you going. You knew, you wanted to believe that finding them would make that hell a bit better. Seeing Wreckers smile, talking until the morning with Echo and Tech. Spend the night away just sitting with Hunter, doing nothing. And him. Just knowing that he is close was all that you felt that you needed. Now that the Republic fell and the Empire rose to Power, you needed something common, something familiar. You needed the Batch, like a man needs air to breath.

You stopped in front of what seemed to be a bar. Ord Mantell wasn’t the most friendly place in the Galaxy, but the last four places you checked were just some silly rumors. And right here, right now you had a feeling like that was it. You hid behind your hood and walked into the building, hoping. Hoping to finally see them.

Your heart skipped a bit, when you heard a booming laugh of the one and only Wrecker. But what made you stop in your trek was the little girl that was sitting with him. She couldn’t be older than 13. A kid. A child with a Batch. So the rumors were true. They were traveling with a little girl.

“Can I help you?” Your eyes traveled to a voice next to you. A Trandoshan female was looking at you with a raised brow, her arms crossed at chest. You opened your mouth to say something. But now that you have finally found them you weren’t sure if it was a good idea to have come here. Looking at how happy Wrecker was, it didn’t seem like a good idea to get into their little life now. They were all a family and you were just a medic. A nobody. You took a step back, unable to do anything else but just run.

A familiar voice stopped you. You looked up to see Echo standing in the middle of the room, staring at you in a mixture of disbelief and relief. The sound of your name was all you needed. Forgetting about the doubt you had just seconds ago, you ran at him, hugging him with all you had, sobbing at his chest like a little child wanting to be comforted.

“Long time no see, Doc.” Echo whispered, hugging you back, smiling, happy to see you again.

***

You didn’t want to believe Hunter, when he said that Crosshair has joined the Empire. It didn’t feel right. There was a lot to be said about the Sniper, but the fact that he would abandon his brothers and join scumbugs like an Empire was the last thing you would expect. Hunter told you about how he tried to kill them twice already, and you couldn’t help but feel anger burning inside you. Not towards the Batch, not towards Crosshair, but towards the Empire that was taking everything from you.

You told them how you escaped from Coruscant when the Empire rose. How you were traveling from one planet to another looking for them. Hoping you would be able to join them in whatever they planned on doing. Whatever it was, you let them know you were not leaving them. The moment you told them you weren’t leaving, you were once again a part of their team. A part of their family. First few nights you spend cuddling with Echo, Hunter or Wrecker. To keep the nightmares away. It was awkward at the beginning especially with Hunter, but the more frequent they became the more protective he became and was pulling you to him automatically. His senses always knew when you were stressed. When even the hugs didn’t help, you stayed with Tech. Awake talking about everything and nothing really.

You met Omega and you could not fall in love with her. She was a sweetheart with a sense of humor similar to the Batch. It took you a while to process that she was a Clone as well. And biologically older than them. But you tried to ignore it, and look at her as what she was. An amazing, beautiful and smart teenager. She quickly became an integral part of your life. Like a little sister you never knew you needed in your life.

You were a family. You finally found your place on Pabu. Saying goodbye to Echo wasn’t easy, but you were happy to know he was following what he truly believed in. And so you moved to this peaceful Island, far away from everything and everyone. Becoming an integral part of the population here. And despite your life finally becoming normal you were still missing something. Missing someone.

“You better come back! Come back with him!” You made Hunter promise, before they left. Tech got a signal from a base, a signal from Crosshair himself. You didn’t want to get your hopes up. But you did hope he would come back. And not for you. Because you knew that even if he did come back you would be the last person he’d like to see. But for himself, for his brothers and for Omega. You made a decision, that you would take a step back, make place for him if it was what he needed. All you wanted was for him to come back. To be reunited with his family. Even if w=you would never be able to be a part of that family.

***

Crosshair didn’t know what he should feel. It was like a damn dream. One second he was strapped into that damn electrolight, and another second his brothers with Omega, were saving him. He didn’t oppose this time. He followed them and he let Omega hug him, when they were back on the Marauder. He wasn’t ready to hug her back, but he was thankful. He would never say it out loud, but he was damn happy to be back with his family.

He wasn’t sure what to say. Anything he thought of felt too trivial to say out loud. A thank you wasn’t enough. I’m sorry; just didn’t sit right with him. And so he just stayed quiet, observing the Five of them. There were times when he got himself smiling softly at something Omega said, there were even moments when he let himself roll his eyes the same way he did in the past, when Wrecker said something idiotic. It felt familiar, it felt like home again and when Hunter caught his eyes once he smiled at him softly nodding his head. And that was enough, Enough for his brothers.

***

Seeing him again was like a mixture of the most painful and the most amazing feeling ever. When the Marauder appeared on the landing platform one afternoon you actually cried in relief. And you laughed out loud when Omega jumped happily at you, giving you her biggest and brightest smile. You were so happy to see them back, that you almost missed the one person, who was the reason for your feeling of emptiness. Here he was standing at the exit of the shuttle, looking at you. There was something unrecognizable in his eyes. Something you have never seen before. His stare was still as intense as ever, but his eyes were some kind of softer.

You wanted to go to him. And hug him, but seeing him now it was like realizing that you longed for something that could never be yours. Those words, that day was still a reminder of what he really thought of you, of how he saw you. And so you nodded at him and took Omega with you for a walk, listening to everything that had happened when they were gone.

“She made me promise I will bring you back.” Hunter started, standing next to his brother. “When she heard that message from you, she was determined to make us go get you. She cried when I told her you went with the Empire.” Crosshair frowned, still looking at your retreating form. He didn’t expect to see you here. He would never have thought that it would be you who would cry for him. “She never gave up on you. Even when I did.” Crosshair looked at the Sergeant and raised his brow. “You tried to kill us. Twice. Just a reminder there.” He couldn’t help but laugh softly at that.

“She looks happy”, he finally stated, see how you laughed with Omega and Wrecker about something he couldn’t hear.

“Don’t change that”, the Sniper frowned at Hunter’s tone. “She is ready to step away if it means you’d feel comfortable.” Crosshair scoffed. It was something you would have done. Apparently you haven’t really changed. Always putting someone else's feelings before yours. It was one of these things that annoyed him about you. It did. And it still did, but for some completely different reason.

“You should talk with him,” Tech murmured, thinking of the next move. You were one of few people he actually liked to play against. True, you never won against him, but at least you gave him a challenge. “You have been stopping away from us since he came back.”

“You’re imagining things, Tech.” You answered, already trying to think of another move, hoping that today you would maybe, somehow win against him. “I am giving him space. Our last real conversation didn’t end well.” You bit your lip and sighed. “I’m not sure I would be able to handle another rejection from him.”

“Rejection?” He asked, looking up at you. You have never talked with Tech about your feelings. Especially not about your feelings towards his brother. You loved Tech, but he wasn’t the best person of the Batch to talk about it.

“I love him. It's so stupid and illogical, I know” you rolled your eyes and crossed your legs. Something you always did when you felt overwhelmed. Something he noticed quite quickly. “I remember that day like it happened yesterday, that’s why it hurts so much. Because I know that nothing really changed. This is the same Crosshair as the last time I saw him. It is the same man that said he hated me, he hated everything that I built to become someone better. It broke me then and it breaks me every time I see him”, you sniffed and closed your eyes, to stop the tears from falling down. “I am so happy that he is back. I am happy your family is full again. I am happy he is safe and back. I am incredibly happy that you all are happy again. And I am happy to step back to make sure you all will stay the same way. For as long as it's needed.” Tech frowned looking at you. It’s not that he didn’t know about your feelings for his brother. But he never understood how deep they were until now.

“You said you love him. Not, loved him.” You smiled softly and nodded.

“I did. Didn’t I?”

‘I love him’. He would never have thought he would hear those words directed at him. Well, they weren’t really directed directly at him, but they were about him. You said it. You told Tech out of all of his brothers of your feelings. You told Tech about how much pain it brought you to love him. Against many opinions, Crosshair wasn’t heartless.

He hated the words that left his mouth that day. It’s not that he lied. No, he wasn’t one to lie. But the words that left his lips then weren’t really true to his true feelings. He never knew what irritated him about you. He always felt angry whenever he was with you, but at the same time, he longed to be with you. He didn’t understand his feelings then, and he wasn’t sure if he understood them now. But he knew something now, that he didn’t know then. It wasn’t hate that he felt towards you. It was this lack of power to be able to protect you. You seemed so innocent, so powerless, so damn happy all the time and he was afraid. So damn afraid that this damn world would screw you and destroy that innocence inside you. He liked it. He longed for these smiles you sent his way. He enjoyed seeing you annoyed, because it meant that maybe you were able to fight for yourself. And so he took the role of a bad guy to teach to defend yourself.

And the more he focused on this role, the more he hated the world around him. He hated the thought that this world will destroy you one day. That it will wipe away that beautiful smile you sent everyone. And so there was so much hate inside him, that he didn’t know where he should direct it. And despite wanting to protect you from the pain, he was the one bringing you the biggest pain of all. He made you remember something you were sure you wanted to forget about. Your past.

A past where you had to be strong to survive. The past where you couldn’t smile. The past where you fought everyday against the tyranny of the world. You fought for so long and he was too stubborn and too blind to see that you didn’t need his protection. You just needed for the world to go on. The same way as it went. For him to be there for you. Just like his brothers were.

Just like you were for him.

“This one is on me”, he smiled softly seeing the way your eyes widened seeing him, behind you, ready to pay for your Caf. He wanted to laugh at the way your mouth would open and close, unable to say anything. “It's nice weather, how about we take that outside?” There was no smile on your lips that day. But there was something in your eyes that made Crosshair believe that not all was gone. He still had the opportunity to let your world go on and maybe one day be once again a part of it. A better part of it.

It was strong and beautiful and it made him act on his true feelings. It was hope.

#star wars #star wars fanfiction #the clone wars #the bad batch #star wars the bad batch #crosshair #crosshair bad batch #crosshair fanfiction #crosshair tbb #star wars tbb #tbb #angst #fanfiction #anon ask #tbb season 2 #bad batch #clone force 99 #tbb crosshair

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presidentbungus · 1 year

Note

Scout has incredible street smarts! While it seems irrelevant in the base dropped in the middle of nowhere, he is invaluable during contract missions located within urban areas.

He can notice an undercover cop in a second, distinguish accents, recognize a scam happening, pinpoint a drug dealer who looks like a sweet old granny and see the signs of some group's terf markings. The team is looking for some local hotshot and they have no leads? Scout runs to the downtown and locates the first bodega/laundromat/bar/gas station/pizza parlor, blends in and befriends some entry-position-apprentice who gives him all the info he needs.

South Boston is the top school in the world for the street-smarts and Scout graduated it with honors.

yep! while scout has resigned himself to the position of “the stupid one” alongside a crowd of extremely talented, socially awkward PhD owners, once somebody finally has the idea that he seems good at talking and drags him along on a mission they figure out pretty quick that holy shit this kid is good at talking.

Engie’s usually the negotiator if they need one at all, mostly because he knows how to say please and thank you when it seems necessary, but he still has sort of a… distrustful aura around him. the accent’s disarming, sure, and does a great job pushing through a crowd of white middle-aged church moms, but it turns out there are a lot of parts where a moderately-wealthy-looking fourty-year-old white man with a little bit of a weird glint in his eyes ain’t really that welcome. so they might send scout in, since he really, really wants to go in and they’re all out of options (unless they want to send sniper, and he’d probably leave the building having bitten at least four people on reflex)—and when he comes back out he’s got everything they need to know, plus some free snacks, plus an invite to some teenage boy’s birthday party.

it turns out that little air of authenticity goes a long way—and the team watches him flip from polite upstanding church-boy cashier to poor sad orphan boy on the streets to egregiously annoying emotional armor-shredding “class clown” in what seems like seconds, and I guess it should occur to someone at some point that he’s spent his entire life figuring out how to blend in places like that and get what he wants.

(everybody would joke he got the ‘good actor’ gene from spy, if it didn’t just make them sad. also, a few people see him effortlessly skating his way person-to-person, molding his conversational targets like putty, and wonder exactly how much of an act he might be putting on back at the base, too.)

addendum: of all the characters he is able to axt in, “suave” or “ladykiller” or anything along those lines is not one of them. please don’t get me wrong. he’s the friendly face you see on the other end of the sidewalk, or the guy you run into at the grocery store that turns towards you and awkwardly tells a whole bunch of jokes in a row and it’s so weirdly pathetic and charming at the same time you can’t help but laugh, but he’s still terrible at romance, and as a matter of fact most things Involving charisma in general. he just takes advantage of that sad wet kitten energy, you know? it works out

#there’s the ‘he’s super perceptive’ thing too but I’ll write another post for that later. this is enough rambling for tonight #tf2 #thanks for the ask!#tf2 scout #tf2 engineer

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wackyrumble · 11 months

Text

Barry the Chopper v.s. Roommate

Barry the Chopper - Fullmetal Alchemist

Barry was a butcher turned serial killer, who as punishment had his soul bound to armor and let him keep his murder weapons in exchange for guarding a place. He agrees to not kill when meeting the main-ish cast because of a woman he's fallen for and doesn't want her mad at him. He remains comedically docile aside from jailbreaking a woman who shot him in the hand. Read more about Barry below.

Roommate - Diary of a Tourney Kid

A clone of Adam Ruins Everything that came out wrong. He debunks things in the same way as his original, but completely incorrectly. Bill Cipher turned him into a hand puppet and fused him with a clone of another character. Fought Walter White and his evil shadow self, Walter Black. Read more about Roommate below.

Full description of Barry:

"i really dont think theres ever been another character quite like him. hes so much. his backstory is that he was a butcher who decided to be a serial killer one day because chopping up animal meat wasnt doing it for him anymore and then when he got caught and sentenced to death the government instead had his soul bound to a suit of armor that looks like sans undertales fursona and let him keep the knives he used to kill people in exchange for guarding the lab they did it to him at. and then he spends the show as a comic relief character. like hes the funniest guy in the whole thing. after his first appearance the secondary "good guy" squad run into him and decide to make him their sidekick in exchange for intel, and because they have Some moral standards they tell him chopper no chopping and he agrees because one of them is a strong confident sniper lady hes decided hes in love with and he doesnt want her to be mad at him, and then he just sits in an apartment and has sitcom shenanigans for the next couple volumes. except for when he randomly decides to stage a jailbreak for a different lady who he met once and whose only interaction with him was shooting him in the hand. and then he goes back to playing chess with his roommate. he meets his own soulless body and his first instinct is to try and chop it into little pieces and assumes anyone else would do the same thing. said body later kills both of them on accident and after that hes never mentioned again. like theres just a comic relief serial killer for a while, who doesnt actually kill anyone after being told not to but is constantly bringing up how much he loves to chop people to death with a big knife, and everyone is like "classic barry" and then he dies and the narrative goes "well alright time to move on from that". hes scared of other souls in suits of armor despite being one himself. he has cat ears. jerma likes him"

Full description of Roommate:

"OK OK OK SO LIKE. HE'S FROM THIS MASHUP TOURNAMENT HOSTED ON SOUNDCLOUD & DISCORD CALLED "DIARY OF A TOURNEY KID, RIGHT? YES, IT IS BASED OFF OF DIARY OF A WIMPY KID IN NAME, THEMING, AND A BUNCH OF THE CHARACTERS IN IT. AND YES, THE ENTIRE PREMISE WAS STARTED BY GREG HEFFLEY TRAPPING A BUNCH OF PEOPLE IN THE DIARY. LOOK. OKAY. THAT ISN'T THE POINT HERE. (including a few real people but. roommate isn't one of those real people, LOL)

so Roommate is, like, a WEIRD case. he's a clone of a TV personality version of a real guy(adam conover specifically the whole thing he does in, like, adam ruins everything), but is SPECIFICALLY STATED TO BE A SEPERATE CHARACTER IN LORE. LIKE. HES A WHOLE OTHER GUY. HE DOESNT EVEN ACT LIKE HIM. HES LIKE. THE SCOOBY DOO VILLAIN EQUIVALENT OF A MAN. all he does is run around and "Debunk" shit but hes getting it all totally WRONG. It's like, if someone who never watched adam ruins everything before took one look at its name, the blonde, glasses wearing combover having guy on the cover, and went. "oh, this guy is gonna be HORRIBLE, isnt he". and in the shows case thatd be wrong but in roommate's case, he's...he's so pathetic. he's not even the same guy at this point. (and also literally isn't. but)

He never even manages to intimidate anyone even once. not even mr beast and ninja fortnite, (part of a team called Dubious Duo) who he just. VERY much annoyed via "ruining" twitch. He also got turned into a meaty handpuppet and fused to another clone of a different character by BILL CIPHER, of all characters but then immediately fell into a hole. He got his shit beaten out of him by a 19 year old punk catboy JUST before this, too. the punk catboys name is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart BUT HE IS IN NO WAY RELATED TO THE REAL GUY. HES LITERALLY JUST. SOME RANDOM TEENAGER.

Also, extra fun facts about him include: during an event that happened on the discord, he canonically went ":3". He made his own ytp and posted it on the soundcloud account, too. he put a bunch of goofy wacky cartoon sounds in it. (his mashups use these sounds a lot outside of the ytp, too.) (incase you REALLY wanted to hear the ytp, though. here it is: https://soundcloud.com/doatk/ytpmv-02?in=doatk/sets/bonus )

P.S: extra information from a friend because they like to infodump this sort of thing & this isn't nescessary at all. but: He gets the fandom nickname of "Roommate" from his connection to Collegehumor & the Insane Clown Posse song In My Room, which he used in the tournament & is strongly associated with. He's so. He's so normal.

(P.S, P.S: THE IMAGE I SENT WITH THIS IS TECHNICALLY ART OF HIM FROM A CROSSOVER WITH ANOTHER SOUNDCLOUD TOURNAMENT THAT HAPPENED. BUT. its the best render i have that isnt done in like. ms paint LOL. IN SAID CROSSOVER (WITH A TOURNAMENT CALLED "THE PERFECT TOURNAMENT") HE ALSO FOUGHT WALTER WHITE AND HIS. EVIL SHADOW SELF, CALLED WALTER BLACK. WHO WAS LITERALLY HIS SHADOW.)

also: nobody in the fandom knows what his deal is, either. they literally just couldnt catch the real adam conover at first so they (In canon) just went "well! time to make a clone, i guess!" and then he came out WRONG."

#barry the chopper #fullmetal alchemist #roommate #diary of a tourney kid #wacky quarter finals

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geowrites03 · 2 years

Text

Winning the Attention (and him) pt.1

Damian Wayne x Cobblepot!Reader

Summary: Kids of villains and a massive party at Wayne manor. What could go wrong?

A/n: I’m using some portrayals of characters from the ‘Gotham’ tv series such as the Penguin, the Riddler and Victor Zsasz.

I sat there staring into his eyes, lost in a jungle of different shades of green. They weren’t as pretty across the classroom as they were up close, but he’s still making me fall more head over heels, than I already was.

Sure Damian and I are on talking terms, but we’re not friends, he just can’t seem to let go of that tough exterior and the ‘i don’t need friends, they disappoint me’ mindset. Or maybe I’m just telling myself that it’s his exterior and mindset, because in reality he’d never want to associate himself with a villain’s child. Nobody does.

“Y/n Cobblepot! Would you like to stop drooling back there and actually answer a question or better yet, actually learn something, for once?” Instead of the rest of the class snickering or laughing at the teacher’s pathetic attempt to embarrass me, they were all shocked and concerned. The last teacher who tried to put me down, ended up found in a ditch on the news.

“Well Miss, considering you said my last name I’m guessing you’re aware of who my father is, yes? And I also assume you know what happened to last math teacher, right?” She didn’t falter, surprisingly, that’s what it took for most other teachers to back down but this one’s dumb enough to hold her ground.

“Did you just threaten me?” She tried to sound strong and menacing, but I just kept prolonged eye contact to make her uncomfortable. “Well, that’s not going to work on me, little missy, we’re not all chess pieces on a board for you to play with. And you don’t scare me, either.”

I only continued to stare into her eyes, she was started to get uncomfortable and shifting a bit. I cocked an eyebrow and the bell rung to signal the end of the school day. Whilst it was ringing I pointed to my forehead.

There was a red dot from a sniper directly in the middle of her forehead.

“Do I still not scare you Miss? All I have to do is give him the hand signal and he’ll blow your fucking brains all over the chalkboard, while us students watch.”

“Look, I’m sorry just, call him off.”

“You didn’t ask nicely.”

“I’m not gonna ask nicely to a stuck up brat.”

“Really? Not even when the stuck up brat has your life in her hands? You really are as dumb as the last one.” I signalled for him to shoot.

At least I keep my promises, her brains did end up on the chalkboard. Only two people in the class jumped, they were the two girls that had only just moved up classes. The rest of us are all children of villains and have gotten used to all the gore. Damian, obviously wasn’t a child of a villain, but most villains and their kids know that the Wayne’s are actually the bat-family.

“Well, I guess class is dismissed then.” Joker Jr practically jumped out of his seat next to Damian and ran out of class. The two shaky girls were second to leave, just wanting to get out of there already.

I quickly left after everyone else so I could the keys to the faculty lounge off her dead body. I skipped out of the classroom and went to find Poison Ivy’s daughter, Flora.

She just so conveniently happened to be at her locker which is right next to Damian’s, come on, would you have combusted into flames if you waited for me anywhere else? Oh well I sucked it up and walked over.

“Here you go ma’am.” I dangled the keys next to her and she grabbed them.

“Thank you!” She hugged me tight. “Now I can get those Venus flytraps outa there, the teachers always close the windows so no fly get in for them to eat. Not that they’d even eat bugs on they own because they were grown indoors and actually have to be fed.”

“So, let me get this straight, you can’t even look after yourself, but your gonna care for 4 Venus flytraps?”

She nodded then skipped down the hall. I chuckled and quickly ran to my locker. The whole time I was over there I could feel his eyes on me, I didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing, but my worries and doubts got the best of me. They made me feel as though he was judging me the whole time.

Hell, he most likely was. I mean, come on! Why would the son of Batman like a villain’s daughter? Especially me. Even with the slightest ever chance of him liking me, it’s destined to go down in flames.

“Boo!” Jack grabbed onto my shoulders and shook them lightly. “Why weren’t you boarding this week, your dads just keeping you locked away at home?”

“Nah, they weren’t gonna pay an extra $10,000 just for me to sleep in the shitty dorms with an even shittier curfew.” He nodded but still looked a little confused. “What?”

“Nothing, just wondering why they’re not jumping at an opportunity to get rid of you for a week…” I laughed and shook my head.

“I’m barely at home anyways.” Which was half true, I wasn’t home a lot this is just due to me wondering around the city, somehow finding something new and exciting each day. Finding something exciting in Gotham which doesn’t lead to instant death is rare and I somehow manage to do it at least 3-4 times a week.

“Yeah but, I thought they wanted you to start having rules and discipline, including a curfew.” He always thought it was weird that 2 villains would want their kid to have discipline.

“Yeah, but that’s nothing, the curfew is at 11:30 because they still want me to have a little freedom and fun. The rules are only a few and more about my safety and if I get caught by the police or something. Then with the discipline they only want me to have self-discipline to get homework and assignments done.”

“Imagine your parents wanting what’s best for you, therefore implying that they care for you.” He scoffed and straightened his blazer of his uniform. “Sometimes my dad just doses me with a bit of his fear toxin when he doesn’t want to deal with me.”

“Damn sucks for you Crane! But I need to steal her away for a sec.” I looked at Jack with a sorry look as one of the shitty student council members dragged me down the hall. Jack nodded at me and started walking towards the dorms.

“What do you want?” I looked at her while she looked me up and down, I knew she was judging me but I need an excuse to make her pissed. “You know you didn’t have to pull me aside to check me out, I kinda like people admiring me from afar.”

“Shut up! I just need you to stay away from Damian.” I looked at her with my eyebrow raised, as if asking her to continue. “He doesn’t need somebody like you dragging down his reputation, or grades.”

“Somebody like me? What do you mean by that Jessica? Because last time I checked, I actually earn my good grades, you just think with your tits and let your parents bribe the school to get your grades and even let you attend, let alone be apart of the student council.”

“Um, excuse me!?” She scoffed, I started to walk away but she gripped my arm and dug her nails into my skin causing it to bleed. “You don’t get to lie like that and expect to walk away from me without a beating.”

“A beating!? Ha! You literally can’t even hurt a fly.” She tried to slap me but I manoeuvred my head out of the way and swung a punch to hit her nose, clouding her vision for awhile. While she couldn’t see properly I punched her again on the eye and tripped her over.

When she fell her head slammed into the ground and a teacher made her way through the crowd that had formed around us. Just as she got through the crowd I made a break for it. Since it was the end of the school day they weren’t too bothered about chasing after me, but checking up on Jessica to make sure she was okay.

I put on my blazer so parents outside wouldn’t see then complain to the school about health and safety, and ran out the building and around the corner to where the richer kids would get picked up in their fancy cars, by their butlers/parent’s personal staff because they were stuck in ‘very important meetings’. All the other kids were picked up, besides Damian who usually got picked up at the same time as me.

It’s usually 3:40 when we get picked up, that’s a 40 minute wait from when school finishes. Neither of us minded the late pick-ups, it gave us more time to do homework, or sometimes we would actually talk to each other instead of sitting in silence.

“Only 5 minutes today? I thought you were talking to Jack, you two talk for much longer than that.” I rolled up my blazer sleeve to show the bleeding nail marks. “That looks bad, come here.”

He pat the space next to him on the bench signalling for me to sit down. I put my bag down in front of the bench and sat down next to him while he rummaged through his bag for a small bandage. He held out his hand for me to give him my arm. I hesitantly laid my wrist in his hand.

“Jeez, who even did this? And how on earth did they manage to do this much damage?”

“It was Jessica, she still had her stiletto acrylic nails on, she dug em into my arm.” He hiss at thought. “Worst part was while her nails were still in my arm, she scratched them around and shit. Then when she pulled her hand back after I punched her the nails got ripped out of my skin. Stung like a bitch.”

“I could imagine.” He chuckled at my last comment and wiped off the blood around the deep cuts in my arm. “How did she even lay a hand on you though, your guard’s constantly up, even around people you trust.”

“I actually don’t know to be honest, I guess I just got distracted when I was talking shit about her.” He took a short pause of wrapping the bandage around my forearm to look at me as if asking what I said he looked back down when I told him. “I said she only thinks with her tits and her parents have to bribe the school for her grades and all that.”

“I mean… You’re not wrong.” He shook his head and chuckled at me, I blushed only just now noticing how close we were. “Awe, are you all flustered for me?”

“What? No. It’s just really hot out here.” I started to fan my face but he just laughed. Fuck!

“There you go.” He smiled at me and I retracted my arm. It was rare to get a smile for him, it made me blush even more. He must’ve noticed my blush get darker because he chuckled and teased me more. “Y’know if you’re that infatuated with me you could’ve said something.”

“Pff- Infatuated with you? No. Absolutely head over heels for your mom? Fuck yeah!” I giggled a bit and Damian only shook his head, almost disappointed in me.

“You’re ridiculous.” I laughed a little more. He looked at me again causing me to stop laughing, thinking he found it annoying. ��You’re laugh is pretty, why’d you stop?”

“Sorry, I just thought you found it annoying.” I looked down at my fidgeting hands. He grabbed one of my hands and squeezed it reassuringly.

“I don’t think it’s annoy-” He got cut off by Zsasz calling out.

“Y/n! You dads want you back early, we gotta go.” I sighed and he let go of my hand as I picked up my bag with the other.

“Bye Damian.”

“Bye Y/n.”

We were half the drive home when Victor starts teasing me about Damian.

“Oooh la laa. Who was that back there, huh? Your little boyyfriendd?” I blushed and looked out the window.

“Heh, I wish.” He just let out an over-exaggerated gasp and chuckled and decided not to press too much more knowing I was embarrassed. “Do you know why my dads wanted me home early?”

“They didn’t say.”

When we arrived I opened the door and both my dads were already standing there waiting for me.

“Y/n, your father and I have decided to go on a little cruise for 2 months.”

“Do cruises even last that long?” I said in a bored and tired tone.

“Yes, in fact there is actually a cruise that lasts 9 months. Now you’re lucky we didn’t go on that one.”

“Yeah, lucky, because you would’ve ended up dragging me along on it.” They nodded in agreement and chuckled. “When are youse leaving anyways?”

“Tonight.” And that’s why they wanted me home early, to tell me that they were leaving for two months, tonight.

“Why tonight? Couldn’t you have chosen a cruise that’s longer away?” I asked with a sad face causing them to hug me.

“Awe, sorry. We were planning this for awhile and they’re non-refundable tickets.”

“ ‘S okay.”

The first morning with them was boring, every Saturday morning we would clean the house then go do something as a family. But my mood completely changed when Damian sent a message to the group chat with all of our friends.

DW=Damian FI=Flora JJ= Joker Jr JC=Jack

DW: Party at my house

JJ: Bro, what about ur fam?

Dw: They out for 2 months, left last night

Y/n: Cruise?

FI: Geez calm down stalker

DW: How’d you know? lol

Y/n: My dads went on the same one

JC: Still don’t explain…

Y/n: Wdym, i just connected the dots, they all left for 2 months on the same night not much of a coincidence

JJ: Bro, what speed does your brain work at

FI: *photo of flash*

DW: So youse coming or not?

JJ: I’m down how many other people did you invite

FI: Knowing Dames it’ll either be A: only us or B: Nearly the whole fucking school, I’m down for either

DW: The latter

Y/n: As long as Jessica’s not there I’ll go

JC: I’ll go, need to get away from my dad anyways

DW: Welcome to the shit parent club

JJ: Bro, wdym your dads Bruce Wayne/Batman

FI: A: you literally cosplay (on a daily basis) the dude that despises his dad B: he said parent not dad so he could’ve meant his mother

Y/n: Even tho he meant his mother, tell me that you won’t get atleast some trauma when your dads a 50/50 billionaire playboy/emo dude who dresses in all black who’s a bat furry

DW: Wtf

FI: bahaha

JJ: 💀

Y/n: Tell me I’m wrong

When I got there, some people from school were already there. I made my way through the crowd to get to my friends. When I saw them Damian and JJ had worried looks on their faces.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t freak out, Jessica’s here.” I rolled my eyes they’re getting worked up over nothing.

“I thought her nose was broken though, and she’s not good at hiding bruises, how is she going to go hide that black eye?” They all looked at me after I said this.

“That’s the thing, she’s flaunting it and telling everyone that you attacked her, unprovoked.”

“Of course this bitch would, she’s an attention seeker.” I scoffed and took off my jacket so I could take off the bandages. “But! Two can play at that game.”

“Holy shit! There’s no way she did that!” JJ called out when I unwrapped the bandage and took off the gauze.

“I know I was surprised too.” Damian spoke up.

“Well you don’t sound surprised Wayne.” I shot him a wink and walked off into the crowd. Completely ready for the shit I’m about to start.

#damian wayne #dc #dc comics #damian wayne x y/n #damian wayne x you #damian wayne x reader #damian wayne x villain!reader #damian wayne x female reader #damian al ghul #damian al ghul x reader

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jaesxnuwu · 1 year

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Chapter IV: Conversations & Food

I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be kept waiting while backup came to shuttle the perps and victim away. Sometimes we ended up getting spread thin, so situations like this couldn’t be helped. I checked my phone periodically just to see how much further away backup was. I also made sure to keep a close eye on the three I was watching over.

Initially the criminals would not stop apologizing, probably because they hoped I would let them go if they looked pathetic enough. It didn’t take long for them to realize that I wouldn’t budge, so they turned to just sulking quietly instead. The victim was a bit roughed up from earlier, but it was nothing life-threatening so I left him to do his own thing for the time being. I couldn’t let him go yet either though, since he still needed to be taken in for treatment and questioning. After he had his nerves under control, he began pacing around and making some calls, probably to some people who were looking for him.

I wonder if I can just freeze them to the wall and get some food. I still need to figure out what to do about dinner, and my options are getting limited as the night goes on. I could probably manage to pin them down without giving them frostbite or permanent damage, but the main problem would be if some of their friends show up after I leave and break them out before backup arrives. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some friends hoping for exactly that. I guess it’s not worth it. At this rate, I will probably have to stop by the convenience store on my way home.

It's not that I mind that either, but I was hoping for some fresh food today.

“Do you need my assistance, captain?” a familiar deep voice called out to me. It was my lieutenant. I almost flinched when I heard him. For some reason he was pretty good at sneaking up on me. It was probably his training as a sniper, or at least that’s what I always thought.

“Oh, Crow. I didn’t see you there or on the map actually,” I looked up, trying to hide my surprise, “Were you dealing with a case just now?”

“Yes, captain. I had my location concealed for security purposes.”

“Gotcha,” I nodded.

I guess to be fair, I also turn mine off, even when I just don’t want to be bothered. But I’m not going to tell him that part. Even though he probably wouldn’t say anything, I know serious types like him would probably judge me for it.

I slipped my phone back in my pocket for the time being to give Crow my full attention. He looked back down at me with his bright amber eyes. I felt like I was relatively average in height, but he always made me feel so much smaller when he looked down at me.

I’m standing at around his chest level, so I have to tilt my head up slightly to look at him. Realistically, as his captain, I could just tell him to kneel when he speaks to me from now on, but I’m not really that type of person. From our interactions, I don’t think he would care either, with him being so loyal to the hierarchy.

I just think I would feel awkward with that sort of special treatment.

He did have a naturally intimidating stare, especially since you couldn’t make out his expression behind his mask, but again because of our difference in rank, I knew he didn’t mean anything by it to me. I always wondered what he was thinking about whenever we would talk though. I almost got lost in thought again before I remembered what he asked me.

“And regarding the situation here, captain?” Crow signaled toward the group on the floor.

“Oh, right. No, I’m fine. As you can see,” I pointed over my shoulder, “I dealt with the situation. I just sent out a request for backup, so they could transfer the criminals and victim over and also deal with the cleanup.”

“I understand. Then I’ll be on my way as well then, captain,” Crow nodded and began to turn away.

It was always like this whenever I talked to him. He was short and to the point with everything. If I didn’t need him, he would just go back to work. I still wasn’t sure which division he used to belong to either, since I barely managed to get a word in, and I didn’t really think to make friends in general within the Guard.

Now that I think about it, based off how quickly he managed to respond, he was probably dealing with something nearby. I mean maybe if he would have finished whatever he was dealing with sooner, then I wouldn’t have had to cancel my dinner plans!

I knew it was dumb and illogical, and it wasn’t really his fault. It was just an unlucky string of events for me tonight, but I was hungry, and maybe that made me a bit grumpy. I just wanted to eat, and maybe chat with someone for a bit to unwind. I didn’t really have anyone else I could hit up on such short notice either.

Screw it. I may as well get to know my own lieutenant anyway.

“Wait, hang on Crow,” I walked up, intending to rest my hand on his shoulder, but realized how awkward of a position it would be to reach that high, so I settled on tugging on the back of his shirt instead, “If you don’t have anything urgent that needs to get done, I did want to ask you for a favor.”

“Of course. What can I do for you, captain?” Crow stopped and turned his head back just enough to meet my gaze.

“Have you had dinner yet?”

“No, captain.”

“When were you planning to eat then?”

“Unplanned at the moment, captain.”

I remember why I stopped trying to talk to this guy already. But I did decide to take him out tonight, so I’m prepared to have to deal with this level of stiffness at least.

“Well, I kind of had my dinner plans ruined tonight because of those idiots. I was going to stop by the convenience store and get something from there. Do you wanna grab something with me, too?” I asked casually, trying to get him to loosen up a bit from the start.

“Are you asking for my company, captain?” Crow’s eyes widened for just a split second before returning to normal. It seemed like my question caught him by surprise for just a moment, but he immediately continued without missing a beat, “I can eat with you, if that is what you’re requesting.”

I guess for now, I’ll take that answer as good enough.

“Mhm, that’s exactly what I’m asking” I gave him a friendly smile and nodded, “And you can ease up on calling me ‘captain’ after everything you say, by the way.”

“Okay, I can do that for you.”

Even though we had our plans set now, I still had to wait around in silence with Crow for a while. I tried to make a bit more conversation, but quickly realized it was best to give up. He mentioned something about his concerns over leaking sensitive information with civilians and criminals being able to hear our conversation. I was planning to make small talk anyway, but we could do that later. When our backup finally arrived, I ended up explaining the situation to them while Crow hovered over me quietly.

It’s not that I feel uncomfortable with how he carries himself, but I feel bad sometimes because I’m worried he might be bored being on standby mode all the time. That’s why I told him to ease up on all the protocol crap while we’re off duty.

We walked side by side down the chatty streets in silence. There was a convenience store on the corner just nearby, so I decided to take us there. Most of these stores also had a few designated tables for people to eat because of how many people ended up coming here just for the quick meal or pick-me-up. Bright lights and neon signs surrounded us at every direction, but it was clear more than a few shops were starting to close down for the night as well.

Every so often I would take a quick peek up at him to see if there were any hints of how he was feeling, but he always had that same intense look. He would catch me every time too and look down to meet my eyes. I smiled each time, and he, in return, gave a small nod in affirmation before we both turned our heads forward again.

This is awkward. I really hope this actually works.

We finally arrived and entered the convenience store. A familiar musical jingle greeted us as the sliding doors parted and the refreshing cold air blew in our faces. I glanced over when I remembered how minimal Crow’s uniform was.

“Aren’t you cold?” I asked as I took a glance at him.

“No. I’m used to much more extreme conditions anyway. You don’t have to worry about me, captain,” Crow assured as he adjusted his shirt slightly.

“Oh, alright,” I nodded, half expecting a response like that anyway.

There was a guy in uniform, probably around my age, who was stocking one of the shelves with some snacks by the checkout area in the front. He looked up briefly at us to give us a defeated greeting before returning to his task. That worked out for the best anyway, I usually preferred using the self-checkout systems in these stores.

I walked Crow over toward the opposite side where all the machines and cooking stations were. A bunch of little snacks, like wings, sushi trays, and sandwiches lined the shelves nearby.

“What do you feel like eating?” I looked at Crow, still perched right next to me.

“I’ll just get onigiri” Crow reached up to grab two rice balls.

“That’s all? I was going to make some instant ramen and add some stuff to it. I can get you one too if you want.”

“No, this is enough.”

I sat down across from Crow after I finished adding a boiled egg and some slices of chicken to my ramen. The package said it was the spicy flavor, but it was relatively mild in my opinion. Crow looked at me silently with his two onigiri sitting neatly between his arms.

“Oh, sorry about that. Were you waiting for me?” I felt bad for making him sit still like that.

“It’s not a problem. I wasn’t going to start before you since you did say that you wanted to eat together, captain.”

“Well, thanks for waiting for me then,” I smiled as I took my chopsticks in my hand and went in for my first bite.

It was pretty good, much better than I had expected. I let out a small moan in satisfaction. It certainly wasn’t as good as what I would have been able to eat earlier, but it was still pretty damn tasty. I got caught up taking several mouthfuls of ramen before I remembered to look up and see how Crow was doing.

He peeled back an opening of his mask by his mouth and silently took a bite of his rice ball. He definitely seemed to be a bigger fan of them than I could ever be since I noticed immediately a small smile had formed after his first taste.

I couldn’t help but smile a little myself. It was nice to see him show a bit of emotion after all our short exchanges today.

“Is that one of your favorite things to get when you’re on the go?” I took this window of time to try asking something simple.

Crow looked up, still smiling slightly and nodded.

“Yeah, it is. I’m not a guy who is big on carbs, but anything with rice is alright in my book,” Crow continued before stuffing another bit of rice in his mouth.

It’s not the first fact I thought I’d learn about him, but I’ll take it.

Art: @/holysarvel

#Kalecia #JaeVerse #Crow uwu

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mermaidsirennikita · 4 months

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Any books with pathetic man? I love pathetic men

I also love pathetic men!

Historical:

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. Now! Gracewood has good reasons for being pathetic, but he is... not in great shape when Viola meets (technically reunites but he doesn't know ssh) him. He's like, a PTSD-ridden, depressed war veteran who's def killing the pain with alcohol. And of course, he's also super pathetic over Viola. This book has a trans heroine, and he and Viola were besties before she faked her death in the Battle of Waterloo. He initially doesn't recognize her; but when he does, it's because he recognizes her FRECKLES. Tell me that isn't both romantic and incredibly "DUDE. GET UP. GET UP MAN."

Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean. Ewan is basically attempting to make up for some PRETTY abhorrent behavior, and he's flopping!

Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. I personally find Derek Craven very pathetic. Like, he's competent, but he's an emotional wreck. Again I say "you've had me like a drawn dog" is one of the most vivid descriptions of a boner in romance history. If someone said that to me I would marry him immediately.

Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas. Oh Kev. Oh Merripen. You self-loathing mess of a man. Honestly, one of the best moments in this book is when Kev requests a sex worker right after Win comes home, and Win has decided to visit him and DOES NOT KNOW THIS, and she's wearing a hood so she shows up like "hello!" and he thinks she's that sex worker and bends her over the table, only to realize it's Win and do like a six foot jump backwards. LOSER BEHAVIOR.

Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale. Obligatory "first sex scene is noncon" warning but dude Allegreto is like... SO dramatic. Like, he's a very effective assassin and all that. But he's also like "I hate myself please beat the shit out of me during" and she... acquiesces.

The Bride Goes Rogue by Joanna Shupe. Preston Clarke does some truly pathetic groveling, and I personally love a hero who's like... pathetic AFTER we see what kind of competence he's capable of? Like, she destroys him.

Contemporary(ish):

Preferential Treatment by Heather Guerre. Not because the hero is a sub, but because he's a pathetic individual who enjoys being pathetic lol. There's a chess scene in this book that is..... so good.

All of heroes of Kings of Italy by Mila Finelli are pathetic, especially the first three. But special shoutout to Enzo D'Agostino (Mafia Madman) for being like *SIGH. SIGH. SIGH.* when Gia's not around... to the point that in a bonus scene you get his internal monologue where he's like SHE'S A SICKNESS. I LOVE HER SO MUCH and his brothers are like "he has a goldfish brain when she's not around, just let him go find her".

Aaaand Alessio Ricci in Mafia Target because he is the world's greatest sniper and he's sent in to kill this mob boss and then he sees the mob boss's son and is like "THAT. Is the hottest man I've EVER. Seen" and ruins the shot. Literally was too distracted by the hot man to do his job. (Also: Giulio being sickeningly hot saved his father's life and it is hilarious.)

New Camelot by Sierra Simone. Ash is not pathetic lol. Embry, my beautiful baby man, is DEEPLY PATHETIC and he knows it, and he hates it, and he loves it, and I LOVE HIM. Embry constantly being [belabored sigh] "you're probably wondering how I got here" in his POV chapters is one of my favorite things lmao.

Auden Guest from the Thornchapel series by Sierra Simone also deserves a callout, because though he is quite a dominant figure in a lot of ways, the amount of INSANE. SHIT. This man does and is like "is this being a good boyfriend? :)" .... deeply pathetic and desperate. (OOOOOH THERE'S A "LET'S DO A MOCK HUMAN SACRIFICE BUT SEXY" MOMENT IN THIS SERIES WHERE HE'S THE SACRIFICE. OH IT'S GOOD.)

The Master by Kresley Cole. Russian mafia book, the hero is a powerful billionaire and literally ends up staring at her through a window in the rain texting her like "WELL I HOPE YOU DO WELL ON YOUR TEST :("

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid. Shane and Ilya are both very pathetic over each other, even though they're super amazing athletes, even though Shane is like, a perfect player, even though Ilya is so charismatic and well-liked. I think Ilya even has a line where he calls himself pathetic because he's so in love that he's become a loser. Shane is like... very.......................... into being MANAGED lol................... and his internalized monologue is always like "here I go again, being an idiot".

Paranormal:

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole. This is, uh, definitely a dark book, but so good. The hero is introduced in a previous book, and you're like omg he's so dangerous, he's so competent. Then you get in his head and it's like a) he's super depressed b) he's incredibly traumatized c) he's basically being controlled by this organization via a crippling addiction d) he's so dead to the world that he doesn't even have hookups UNTIL HE MEETS HEEEER. Super enemies to lovers. He hates what she is (or does he?). There's a really delicious moment where she's like "you can touch me" but he doesn't want her to see his bare hands because he has super bad scars from the Trauma Thing... So he has her like, naked on a countertop, blindfolded with his tie, so he can touch her without her seeing his scars. AMAZING. I'm a Declan Chase apologist. Also??? Later in the book he's trying to get Regin back and takes advice from a) Thad, a seventeen-year-old boy who calls him "DC" (DC!!!!) and b) Lothaire, who at this point hasn't slept with anyone in like 3,000 years and is, it must be said, canonically CRAZY. Declan can't talk to girls.

Lothaire by Kresley Cole. I recommend Lothaire a lot but that's because it's everything. I don't know that I've ever read a scene as vividly pathetic as Lothaire being presented with the opportunity to sleep with his only supernatural equal (superior probably lol) at that time in the series, the stunningly gorgeous Nix, leaning in, being unable to kiss her, and like punching the wall and going "SHE'S RUINED ME!!!!!" He can't sleep without Ellie, he can't think without her, he can't even think of other women, he spends his evenings inhaling her pillow lmao. Also, on another level, he's deeply into puzzles, which isn't pathetic inherently but is when you realize he's like, one of the most feared characters in this universe and is actually like. That guy. Also, there's a scene where Ellie is tanning in a bikini and he traces (like, teleporting?) back to his apartment in order to grab a pair of sunglasses to see her better from the shadows. And then offers her crucial information in exchange for her moving the top a little each time to show him more skin. LOSER.

Moonglow by Kristen Callihan. Begins with our Victorian werewolf rake man having a... dysfunction... with a woman, after which he meets the heroine, who he's besotted with. At one point they're at a tavern and someone begins singing a song about his rumored performance issues and she's like *eyebrow raise*.

A Demon's Guide to Wooing a Witch by Sarah Hawley. The hero is a demon who was the villain of the previous book, and he now has amnesia and begins the book getting his ass kicked by another demon, only for our heroine to run in and reluctantly save him. He does that thing where he's very powerful but also basically a baby, which is MY DEAL.

Fantasy:

The Winter King by C.L. Wilson. Wynter is extremely powerful, but also an extremely sad loser man who makes elaborate ice sculptures of his ENTIRE DEAD FAMILY in order to like, have them around still lmao. When the heroine finds out she's like "this is so sad and sexy of you".

#romance novel blogging #romance novels #book recs

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galactic-star-bruiser · 1 year

Text

Fear pt.9

Enjoy my loves and lmk what you think xx

Where we left off: Reader was drugged and used as bait by a spice ring to get Din off their back.

Warnings: blood, violence, abduction

reader is a bit feral and I love it LMAO

The last thing I remembered was the searing pain in my neck... no wait, no I remembered waking up on that strange ship and being beaten into compliance... and I remembered seeing Din but I wasn’t sure if that part was real or not...

I went to lift my arm and found it cuffed tightly to a rigid board, bright white lights surrounded me and I could hear the drone of footsteps, in time, like an army....

An imperial ship.

fuck.

The bastard who abducted me must’ve tipped off someone inside the empire who wanted Din, or me...or both. He might be wanted too, let’s be honest.

Maybe they thought he’d come running to save me...but I don’t know, I couldn’t be sure I was enough to risk being on an imperial ship for.

The only faces I saw were covered by storm trooper masks as they walked in and out of my cell.

My body was still sore from the beatings I received back on the ship, and I imagined they dragged my body haphazardly through the halls of this one.

A man dressed in all black, gleaming armor, slunk his way into the room, smiling as if I were a friend he was happy to see.

“I see the rebellion lives on” he chuckled, “So is this what the new republic is sending to take out imperials now?”

He gestured to my body, obviously looking worse for ware.

“I work only for myself and I take out who gets in my path. I had no orders to take out those troopers” I looked up smiling sadistically “I did it because it felt good.”

“Youre a fighter, I’ll give you that, girl.” He circled like a shark.

“Call me ‘girl’ again and I’ll make you pay for it.”

“I think you fail to see that you’re the one in restraints. You also fail to see that I’m offering you something...a chance to work for me. Your aim is impeccable and I could use that.”

“I rather marry a Bantha.”

He scoffed and threw an unexpected punch square at my jaw. It had me spitting blood.

“Dont make me do that again, girl. If you continue to spew such mean things at me... I’ll distort your pretty little face until you agree to be a private sniper for me.”

His hand caressed my face, inches away from my mouth.

Mistake.

I took the opportunity to bite his finger hard enough to almost sever it and I spit the blood back in his pathetic face.

“I told you not to call me ‘girl’. “

“And I told you to cooperate.”

Lights out.

///////////////////

I had never taken commands from anyone before. I fought on my own terms and have always gotten what I wanted out of a fight.

I felt weak giving in to this scum’s demands but my girl was too much to risk.

I completed the first task set by the man and guarded the warehouse operated by the Pyke Syndicate on Tatooine. Easy enough...even if I had to fight the urge to hurt them.

I knew that if I didn’t provide protection here I would screw up getting her back safely.

I returned in order to show that I had done what he asked only to find him gone....no trace, no sign or clue...nothing. She was gone as well.

The scream that erupted from the pits of my very being rung out through the dark basement as I began throwing anything in sight just to release some of the anger. It was useless.

Curses flowed from me as if it was a language of its own and I interrogated any person who came in my path back to the crest.

I didn’t even know how to proceed... I had no way of tracing her, no way of....

I still had her tracking fob.

I ripped through the crates of useless crap I’d accumulated, duffle bags, and different flight packs.

I finally found it buried under some clothes of both hers and mine combined. We had probably meant to clean them at some point...

“Dank farrik...” I cursed, hitting the side of the small device, “C’mon work.”

The sound of beeping filled the cock-pit and I was able to chart at least an idea of a path.

I thanked the goddess that I was in love with a wanted criminal... In love...It surprised me to say it so easily even in my own thoughts still.

---A few hours of anxious flying later, I was greeted by an imperial ship... they just didn’t know when to quit, huh? It wasn't a prison ship either and it was pretty off radar...I just followed coordinates.

It would bring me great pleasure to shoot blindly at anyone in my path, but I was sure she was brought here for a reason... was was wanted by an imperial anyways. I wasn’t too above taking credits from them when I was desperate...and the price on her head would put me in an extremely good position.

I was grateful to be off the radar myself with the crest and I was able to dock my ship without blaring too many alarms.

A few storm troopers came to check my credentials for landing.

It was safe to say that they were taken out easily, bodies moved as so not to cause alarm, and the beskar I swore to never take off was replaced by the disgusting white suit of a trooper.

I’d really do anything for her

I stalked the cold, bright, hallways of the ship. I nodded at passerby’s, stood at attention for admirals, and walked in time with the other troopers.

I couldn’t fucking stand it.

I found a small cantina type area with a few troopers sitting to eat. It was strange to see... I couldn’t help but wonder who was employing them if the empire had fallen.... But, I was on a different mission today.

I sat down across from a lone trooper, helmet off and eating a sort of grey sludge.

“Hey, you hear of that new prisoner they brought in today? Heard she was wanted for murder against a few imperial higher-ups and troopers.” I said, practically begging for some information.

He chuckled without looking up, “heh, yeah she’s a looker, eh? Heard she’s a real pill too”

Hearing him call her a ‘looker’ felt like the understatement of the millennia and I wanted to rip his tongue out for even looking at her... but I continued playing, especially since his last comment made it certain in my mind that it was my girl. She was a fighter.

“I’d like to know where they’ve got that piece of ass locked up so I could pay her a visit.”

Literal bile was in my mouth by this point.

He leaned in and whispered, “Second floor, mate, number 264. Give her a grope for me, will ya?” he finished with a wink.

I probably should’ve thanked him and stayed in character but I couldn’t even pretend anymore.

Red blinded my vision as I let my heavy legs drag me to the second floor, scanning every cell until I found hers....

She looked worse than before, cuffed to a stiff board usually used for interrogations. She was bleeding and bruised over every inch of skin that was visible to me.

Her head whipped in my direction when she heard my heavy footsteps.

“Oh... a storm trooper this time? Don’t they have any intelligent lifeforms on this godforsaken ship?”

A soft laugh erupted through me, but the pain in seeing her so torn up hurt too badly.

I whispered her name... “It’s me.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“It’s Din. The Mandalorian?”

Hope flashed before her eyes until it dulled, “I don’t believe you.”

“C’mon we don’t have time for this” I responded, undoing the cuffs that left dark bruises on her delicate wrists that I grabbed to sooth only for her to rip them back.

“It really is me.... And I came to get you out of here.”

“This better not be a trick.... What ship do you fly?”

I scoffed at her questioning, “Razor Crest. Lets go.” I said, grabbing her hand and blocking her frame while trying to move us soundlessly through the halls.

“What’s my last name.” She asked.

“Trick question, when we met you said I’d have to torture it out of you if I wanted it.”

I could tell she was smiling when she squeezed my hand and quickened her pace behind me.

“Troopers.”

With that word as a warning, we ducked behind the large metal beams that lined the halls leading to the landing pads.

I was hopeful that they didn’t see us, but something made them suspicious.

A loud modulated voice rung out from the speakers “Prisoner 264 has not been accounted for. All floors are to be locked down effective immediately. Prisoner is dangerous and erratic.”

A smile crept on her face and I could see... blood caught on them, “dangerous and erratic, huh? Thats a compliment.”

Thats my girl.

“We need to move. Now.”

We both crouched and ran, the crest just in sight now.

More troopers. A shootout.

I watched her pick up two rifles off of the troopers bodies and I couldn’t help the smirk of approval and pride that danced its way across my lips.

That was until I heard a scream of pain and I caught her holding her shoulder, “Keep moving, I’m right behind you”

Fuck

#din djarin #the mandalorian #mando #din djarin gif #mandalorian fic #din x reader #star wars #angst #mandalorian #canon typical violence #blood #Protective Din Djarin #Imperial ship #rescue mission #fear #pt 9

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problemswithbooks · 1 year

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Just one small thing- "inaction". Shoto told Endeavor willingness doesn't mean enough without action. And he fails that too. I think everything changed since when Horikoshi had him contradict himself by saying the rain slows him down or maybe it was set in stone ever since the resolution of the war and the hospital. Because they took the first step for him so Endeavor has been lagging from the start. Rei is the true hero who moves own while Endeavor is pathetic and the root of all issues alone.

Yeah, I know that's what the text said, but why is that?

If the entire point of this side plot was to continue to have Enji fail and be shown up by his family why bother to spend so much time on Enji at all? Yet, if he's supposed to change by the end and step up, why have him never get the opportunity to actually do anything?

Enji is not a real person--he is a character being written by a person. He is not inactive because he chooses to be, no, Hori wrote it this way for a reason, and so far the only one I can find is because he thought having Enji do anything past inner monologues would strip Shoto and the family's moment in helping Touya, or take away from his final change of heart. Yet in doing so he has only made Enji's character worse, and caused some readers to think he hasn't changed at all.

And, again, it's said he's inactive in situations where that literally doesn't make sense. When he was with Izuku and the other Heroes they were specifically looking for the LoV and any leads to find them or AfO. If they had leads on Touya, even if Enji didn't want to go after him, the other Heroes and Izuku would have persuaded him regardless. On top of that Shoto says he had to learn Phosphor in the short time between the first War and second, so even if Enji had searched for Touya with him, they wouldn't have had a counter for him.

Hori only presented him as avoiding Shoto so the kids didn't have a way to find Izuku and could confront the adults in a dramatic moment.

Also Enji only looks bad in contrast with the rest of the todofam because he's the only one acting like a person. None of the others have any issues or conflicted feelings about Touya after the reveal. Enji is the only one that actually has human emotions about such a life changing event. Shoto in particular has been reduced to a shadow of his former self and is now just the 'Family Hero' who has zero negative feelings for a brother who he has no good memories of and who has nearly killed his friends and leveled Japan with the LoV.

As for being the true Hero while Enji is pathetic, that's not true and I don't think 388 is saying that from what I've seen. Enji didn't continue to fight AfO once Touya showed up or leave him to the other hundred or so Heroes on site. Like Rei he saw him and engaged him, and did the best he could to lead him away because he didn't want to attack him which would have killed Touya faster.

Enji is also not the root of all issues in the family; if he was Rei wouldn't feel the need to apologize to Touya. Yes, Enji is the most at fault, but Rei made mistakes to. She knew going in what a Quirk marriage was and agreed to marry Enji anyway. Yes, her options were limited but she never showed any discomfort with the idea of having kids for the purpose of legacy--probably because that was the same thing her family had been doing for centuries.

Again, this is a story written by a person, and Hori has the one that decided Enji wasn't allowed to do more, probably because he felt it'd takes away from the final climactic ending of this sub plot.

*ps, I'm almost 100% positive Enji was slow in the rain so Izuku got to fight Lady Nagant alone. Both because it gave Izuku a win, and because she would have been incredibly ineffectual against multiple opponents being a sniper. Not because it's trying to show him not trying. There was no reason for him to avoid that fight since Touya wasn't there.

#ask #enjj todoroki #bnha #bnha spoilers #endeavor #mha

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spider-bren · 10 months

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two sinners can’t atone from a lone prayer | Rukenna (Quinn Mckenna x Billy Russo)

Welcome to my insane rare pair because Pinterest put the two of them next to each other on my feed!

This #Rukenna fic started as a brainrot of drabbles on my Twitter (sanktbren) which is collected here and added onto to create a fic. This will probably continue for a while hence it is multi-chap. This work was originally posted on AO3 under the pseuds: angelwriter

Premise: Billy Russo meets Quinn Mckenna, a US Army ranger sniper, through Frank Castle.

The pair end up hooking and somewhere along the way realise they have feelings for each other.

Billy Russo is played by Ben Barnes from the series The Punisher (2017)

Quinn Mckenna is played by Boyd Holbrook from the film The Predator (2018)

There is an edit (along with some frankbilly edits if that's your thing) on my tiktok for this pairing (sanktbren)

enjoy!! (if you like this PLEASE come scream at me in the asks or comments)

CHAPTER ONE

Billy came back from the bathroom fully naked. He never saw the point in slipping on underwear afterwards if they were just gonna do it again. And they always did it again.

Quinn was staring out of the window of his room. Glass reflecting the first rays of morning light. He must have drawn back the curtains while he was pissing. He looked contemplative. Almost drained. But not in the sexy way. Billy had seen that look on Frank too many times. He wanted to make him forget what was bothering him.

He never had the courage to outright pursue his long-standing crush on his best buddy, Frank Castle. And he was pretty sure Frank was straight anyway. He had only met Quinn McKenna once or twice before. He wanted to fuck him almost immediately

Guys like them needed to forget.

Billy pulled back the covers and slid into the bed. Quinn turned to face him. He was struck by the stunning blue of his eyes. Billy had never really been into blondes. To be honest, McKenna wasn't his usual type. But there was something about him.

"You're pretty in the morning," Billy sweet-talked with a smile that he knew was charming.

"Almost as pretty as you. The guys must have been rolling their tongues out at you."

Billy gave an uneasy chuckle. "They knew their place with me. Gave a few of them a quickie between raids. And you, Cap? Fuck any soilders?"

"Nah, I didn't know I was bisexual until after I left. I divorced my wife some years ago and got drunk too many times and wound up in gay bars. That's when the shit started. What about you? How'd you know?"

Billy pulled onto Quinn's hair. "I guess I was always a slut. I had both from very young. Knew what I was into."

Quinn hummed as Billy trailed his hands down his neck and along his chest. He bit into Quinn's earlobe and felt the lurch in his stomach at the feeling he was missing. The feeling of being full. Quinn was one of the best shags of his life. Okay, he was the best shag of his life. Although he'd never admit it. Once Quinn had him down and whining, begging, drooling it was hard for Billy not to become addicted. This man had a cock on him and he knew how to use it.

"Fuck me again." He wasn't above begging.

Quinn grinned. "Say please."

Billy bucked his hips into Quinn's thigh.

"No."

"No? Babyboy don't want to be dicked down until he cries again?"

Billy pouted. God, he was pathetic. A pathetic whore. He needed to get a grip.

***

Billy hardly heard it. Could hardly feel his body and his mind fuzzed out, a disconnection between the two. It was like he was in water and everything was silent. The rush of warmth suffused into him and his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Ah," Billy made a high, keening sound. One that he never made before. It didn't help that his blood supply to his brain was being cut off as well. It was loud. Thready. It couldn't have come from him.

"God, you're a needy one. I barely touched you."

McKenna.

He could hear him in the distance. His voice was gruff and thick in his ears like cotton wool.

"Just breathe," the man coaxed, his voice sounding like what he would imagine smooth whiskey over ice to sound like. That tightness and heat that had the same effect on his body when he talked to him.

"You can take one more," McKenna said.

Billy grunted. "No, no, no."

He threw his head back. His body wanted to curl into itself. Try to push away the onslaught of pleasure that was currently wrecking him.

"One more. You can do that for me, can't you?"

Billy growled, fighting back. Nails pressed into the arm that pinned him down.

"I can't take any more of your fucking fingers!" He hissed with teeth. He wanted to bite McKenna's ear off.

McKenna clicked his tongue. "And why's that?"

Suddenly a flush of shame overcame him. Billy settled back down. Quiet now. Silence except for his heavy breathing.

"Your fingers are thicker than mine." He swallowed. "When I do it myself it doesn't feel the same...and..." He breathed heavily, forcing the images away. "They never were gentle with me."

Billy met McKenna's eyes.

"Not like you. You...took your time with me. Your fingers are...fuck. like that!" Billy cried as Quinn curled in again in the way he liked.

"What are my fingers like? Good?"

Billy licked his lips, closing his eyes.

"Fucking religious." He sighed.

Quinn pulled out his fingers just as Billy relaxed into the pillow. His eyes shot open, a deadly look in his eyes.

"Why did you stop?" Billy asked, a bite to his tone.

"Because I'm done playing with you."

Billy rolled his bottom lip between his teeth, hiding a pout. He didn't need to be called a brat. Again.

"But what—"

Whatever Billy was going to say died down on a moan as Quinn let the tip of his cock nestle between his ass cheeks.

"There now. Good?"

Billy nodded. "Yeah. Yeah."

His fingers came to press into the skin of Quinn's pecs. He was already breathless as Quinn slid inside. He trembled from the intensity of it. The pleasure curling in his stomach, his muscles tightening, trying to force it away. Sometimes Billy wondered if he deserved it. If this was the only way to experience anything other than the fear that the nightmares brought him. The pain from his past echoing into his daily life. Sex was the one time Billy didn't have to feel so shitty about himself. He was good at sex.

But this was different. Billy wasn't the one fucking this time. He let himself be fucked by Frank's friend. He let him inside his body. To touch him in places he never allowed anyone to touch. He hadn't fucked a man since the last time he was…forced. This was….consensual and it made him scared in another way. Quinn was kind to him. Quinn focused on his pleasure. He wanted him to feel good. Did he deserve to feel good? To just take it? Take it all and everything Quinn offered. Billy nearly cried from a particular good thrust. It was too much.

"Da---oh!! Jesus, fuck!"

"What's that? Da? Da what?"

Billy fought against Quinn's hold. He intended to flip them over, twist his body to gain the upper hand. Quinn was strong. Almost as strong as Frank. When Frank and him used to grapple, Billy's only advantage was that he was small and lithe.

"Go on," Quinn coaxed. "Tell me..."

"Fuck you. Just fuck me! I didn't say nothing."

Quinn grinned. He pinned Billy's hands down hard on the floor with one hand. The other pushed his leg further up and made space for him to fuck into him harder.

Billy whined so prettily.

"You were gonna call me Daddy?" He laughed.

"I wasn't!" Billy protested.

"You like big strong men, don't you? I've seen your Punisher friend. I know Frank Castle. Made of steel that one. All rock hard muscles and abs. You like men who could throw you against a wall."

Billy was reminded of when he would watch transfixed at how Frank would use his brute force to snap bones.

Dammit Frankie, I love to watch you work.

Billy flushed. He knew he liked Frank's body.

"So what if I do?" He was drooling as Mckenna set a harsher pace.

"Just need to be told what to do. Need to be fucked quiet. I know when a man has too many thoughts. You just need to be fucked so hard you forget, don't ya?"

"Yeah, yeah. Make me forget....Daddy." Billy raised his brow in question and Quinn loved every second of it.

"Daddy's got you, pretty boy."

Mckenna rolled his hips in a steady rhythm. His eyes never left Billy. Billy's mouth opened, his eyes shut. He looked lost in it. Lost in Quinn. There was a deep guttural sound that scraped through Billy's throat when his cock hit on that spot inside of him. Quinn took it slow, pulling out and back in, making him feel every inch. Making sure he felt every slide of his cock, he wanted him to know every part of it.

Quinn loved it when Billy struggled. He loved the hitch in his breath when he first slid in. He loved the way his voice would kick higher when Quinn forced himself inside and stretched him open.

"That's it, Russo. Take it nice and easy. Come on, you've done this before. Got a bigger body count than a kill count." Quinn chuckled as he pushed in further, holding a firm grip on Billy's neck.

"You're..." A hitched breath. "Bigger than I've had…"

"I'm the biggest you've had? Damn. Then I guess I have to prove it to you."

Quinn gave a hard thrust and Billy moaned, startled by the force.

"Prove what?"

"That there is no one after me."

***

Mckenna laughed. A smile stretched on his face as he covered his face with his hands. Billy smoothed over his taut stomach. Smooth creamed hands gliding over his abdomen and playing with the hair there leading into his dark grey sweatpants. Billy admired how Quinn looked this rainy morning. His hair spilled in bronze tendrils on the white pillowcase. The man who could twist him into shapes was actually a softie.

"Lemme see those beautiful blue eyes!" said Billy, playing with the sensitive parts of his sides.

Quinn choked on a laugh. "Ah! It tickles!"

"That's the point, dumbass. I wanna see the sparkling blue irises of yours!"

"Shut up!"

"You're blushing! Look at you! You're glowing red. That's fucking adorable."

"I swear to god, Russo, if you don't stop now I will take you over my knee."

"I kinda want you to take me over your knee. Since I've been so bad…I'm in need of a good spanking. Want me to take off my pants? I know you like to see the marks you make."

Quinn tackled him down onto the bed and pinned him with his hands around his wrists. Billy reached up to kiss him, moving his body so that their chests brushed up against each other. He was whiny and desperate and Quinn could barely keep up sometimes with how much Billy wanted him. It was almost all the time. Every time after they were done, Billy would cuddle into his neck, have his head pet like a needy cat and then roll onto Quinn begging for it again.

Quinn kissed him back with force, sucking on his bottom lip, rolling his hips in a way that made them both breathless. Billy whined in the back of his throat. Quinn pulled back and sat on the end of the bed. He patted his lap.

"Come on. Bend over."

Billy rolled onto his stomach, all too eager, and showed his bare ass to him. Quinn loved this part. He couldn't see Billy's face. He covered it with arms, but he could see the tips of his ears go red, a beautiful flush that emerged down his neck. And the way his hips gave an involuntary jolt when it got too much. Quinn licked his lips. He couldn't wait to spank him until he was panting, watch him whimper and drool for it.

Quinn knew the danger he was in. How badly he wanted to stay here with Billy every day. Pretending like he didn't have work to go to. Staying over like this was what they strictly agreed not to do. If Quinn was honest with himself, he was attached. Seeing Billy made me smile. He cared for him and he never thought he'd care for anyone since divorcing his wife.

He wanted this. He wanted whatever they had. And he sure as hell wasn't about to give it up easily.

#rukenna #billy russo #billy russo x quinn mckenna #quinn mckenna #boyd holbrook #ben barnes #ao3 fanfic #rairpair

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