#that’s not to say it’s all masks - he’s a goofy guy at his core - but he’s more than he lets on and we’re made privy to that in subtle ways | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

write-it-good-imagines · 4 years

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Game night - Im Jaebum

OH MY GOD HELLO EVERYONE! okay i’ll tone down the caps, *ahem*, I just have to say, this was so much fun to write! I want to thank @iwanttobejaebeomsslut for giving me this idea, lmao. It is Jaebum centered, but it also turned into Got7 game night

ajsndjkefnjrfnjdcfndf, it’s better to leave you to read it yourselves! Enjoy

~5.3k words, excessive fun, fluff, romance

“Hyung, hyung, hyung! Is Y/n coming too?”

Jaebum turned his body abruptly to an overexcited Jackson. He quirked a brow as his friend waddled over to Mark, a goofy smile on his face.

“Well,” Mark nodded his head, pushing Jackson’s face away jokingly “She is the one who throws us the party after all. I guess her friends are coming too.”

“Wah, Jackson hyung, we are going to have fun then!” Bambam meddled in, bumping his fist to Jackson’s.

Jinyoung playfully threw his arms around each of them, nudging Jackson with his hip. “Maybe it’s time for you to ask her out, huh?”

Jaebum approached Mark with a curious glint in his eyes. Youngjae and Yugyeom jumped in the commotion, building up their offense to tease Jackson about his transparent excitement. “Who are they talking about?”

“Ah, you don’t know.” Mark smiled at Jaebum. “Remember last time I went home, in LA? I invited Jackson and Bambam and my childhood friend offered to be their babysitter for the day while I spent time with my family. I’ve known her since we were like… infants. You might as well say she’s my younger sister.”

“Oh? She must have left a very good impression on Jackson if he’s this excited.” Jaebum laughed and stuffed his things in his bag.

Mark tapped his chin with his index. “Well, she is his type somewhat. She told me the other day she got an internship at a company in Seoul but keep it a secret from Jackon. I am not in the mood for that.”

The two older brothers chuckled and shook hands to seal their silent agreement. Jaebum approached the herd and clapped his hands in an attempt to grab their attention.

“All right, everyone! Practice is done for the day. Don’t forget we have a flight to catch in the morning.”

“That’s a reminder for you, hyung!” Yugyeom teased and took two steps back under Jinyoung’s deadly glare. All the others laughed in unison.

Youngjae checked a list that he made on his phone, making sure no small detail escaped his mind. “Mark hyung, is there anything we can help with? I feel a bit bad that the girls are organizing everything for us.”

“Those were the instructions, though,” Mark replied, raking a hand through his hair. “I think it was something along the lines ‘sit still and be pretty’.”

“It would do you no good to question that, Youngjae.” Jackson chimed in, gesturing dramatically with his hand. “Y/n is really stubborn.”

“Still, not all of us know her, or her friends.” Jinyoung reminded his friend. “It’s very nice of them.”

Jaebum fixed the cap on his head and smiled at his members, trying to mask and otherwise excited stance. Taking a break was always a nice thing; taking a break in LA with everyone was on another level. “Then all we have to do is make sure we have fun.”

The flight to LA felt relatively shorter than all of their other flights, partly thanks to the contagious excitement the foreign members had. The others were a tad worried about the language barrier but quickly dismissed the thoughts as soon as Mark assured them all of them spoke their language well. The boys started making all sorts of plans, from playing games to telling stories, to the undying game of rock-paper-scissors. It was a pleasant sight to see, being so excited. Jaebum wished nothing but the best for the boys.

However, he couldn’t deny that he was a little nervous. Leaving Jackson and Bambam aside who had already been introduced to the hosts, he was admittedly awkward around strangers. Easygoing as he considered himself to be, he needed some time to open up to people he had never met before, unlike the two who were living social butterflies. He was thankful, of course, that someone tossed their personal schedules aside to organize them something, but there was a certain anxiety in the back of his head.

Papa Tuan was the one to pick them up from the airport, the atmosphere drastically quieter as they did not make their arrival public. Mark went ahead to greet and hug his father and the others gathered around to welcome Mark’s father one at a time.

“Thank you for having us.” Jaebum stated as he shook Papa Tuan’s hand and dipped his head in a bow.

“What are you talking about, Jaebum?” he reciprocated with a laugh, patting the leader on the back. “We missed you guys! Staying at our house was the only option!”

The seven of them followed Mark’s father to his van and threw their luggage in the back, fighting for the comfortable front seats afterward. As soon as everyone was gathered inside the car, Bambam couldn’t push back his curiosity and he extended his neck from the back so Mark’s father could hear him over the blasting music.

“Say, Dad! I heard the girls organized a party for us! Are all of them single?”

Youngjae burst out in his resonating laughter and swat Bambam’s shoulder. Soon, the van was filled with laughter.

“I’d say they are? All four of them are, I think. Y/n broke up with her boyfriend a while ago.”

“Hear, hear, Jackson.” Jinyoung winked at Jackson and won an embarrassed smile. The latter leaned over, placing his hand on Papa Tuan’s shoulder.

“On a scale from one to ten, what are my chances?”

“As you are now, barely a 6.”

Mark and his father laughed together before Mark explained the joke to the others. The members followed their example. Jackson folded his arms over his chest and collapsed in his seat.

“Even so, I promise all of them are very nice girls. Aside from Y/n, whom we all have known ever since she was in diapers, Mark grew up with everyone. They are very nice girls. The boys apologized they wouldn’t stay long, all of them have night shifts.”

Jaebum looked out the window. However assuring Mark’s father was, he couldn’t tame the unknown feeling in his chest. He clicked his tongue as if preparing himself for a completely unforeseeable outcome.

Papa Tuan finally parked the van outside of Mark’s house and he couldn’t contain his excitement as he noticed his mother and his younger brother, Joey, waiting for them outside. Mark got out rapidly and rushed over to glomp them in a tight hug, as well as indulging himself in their presence.

“I missed you guys!”

“Oof, such a big baby you are!” Mama Tuan laughed and wrapped her arms around her son. Joey walked over to the other members to greet them, executing the signature salute with Yugyeom which Bamabam immediately requested to learn.

“I’m telling you, guys,” Joey began, giving Jackson his high-five “the house is going to be such a mess with you here!”

Jaebum shook his hands, panic imprinted on his features. “We won’t destroy anything.”

“You’d better not make a promise you cannot keep, hyung.” Youngjae chuckled and patted the leader on his shoulder. Jaebum swore it was going to be a long and anxious stay at the Tuan residence.

“Hey, Got7!” Mama Tuan called for the boys and all of them turned their attention to her. “Welcome home! Everyone is waiting for you inside!”

The boys didn’t need to be told a second time. Jaebum and Jinyoung stayed back to help with all the luggage as all the others crowded over to the house in turmoil. A loud cheer made Jaebum perk up and he followed everyone inside, a rather large gathering filling up the living with applause. The members exchanged glances among themselves and, under their leader’s guidance, they did their introduction with wide grins spreading on their features. A loud pop signaled a tube of confetti was brought forth.

As he looked up, Jaebum noticed a vast palette of balloons adorning the room with various messages written on them, mostly of a warm welcome. Everyone wore content smiles on their faces as they received the members and warmth engulfed his chest. He chuckled to himself when he saw three men distinctively dressed in formal attire and pitied them for having to go to work amidst such a party.

“Hey, Jackson, cat got your tongue?”

A mellow voice carried the English sentence vividly into the air and hypnotized Jaebum all at once. He tilted his head toward its master and his lips parted unintentionally at the sight of you. Your summer orange dress embraced your figure and emphasized the softness of your skin. The sunflower in your hair embellished your alluring characteristics but it truly was the elegance in your teasing smile that subdued Jaebum’s existence.

When Jackson rushed over to you and threw his arms around you so he could spin you around, Jaebum felt something click inside of him. The wide smile tugging at your lips as he sustained your body in his arms irked Jaebum down to his core. Although he would never admit that.

“Leader-nim,” Jinyoung nudged Jaebum in the ribs with his elbow as everyone scattered to introduce themselves to the hosts, “why do you look like you want to kill our Seunie?”

It took a moment to register Jinyoung’s words. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Eh, stop it!” Jinyoung laughed at his leader. “Your jealousy is showing, hyung.”

“Jealous?” Jaebum’s eyes widened and he scoffed. “Jealous of what? It’s okay, they know each other, it’s only natural.”

“Mhm. We’ll see about that.”

The sound of metal clinking against glass made everyone turn to Mark who found himself by your side. He spoke loudly, enthusiasm in the tone of his voice. “Now that all of us here, our dear host tonight and my oldest friend, Y/n, has an announcement to make!”

A bashful smile was sketched on your face as another fervid round of applause, accompanied by Bambam’s cheers, echoed in the house. “First of all, I welcome Mark and all of Got7 in LA! I hope you will have a pleasant stay here, with us.”

Jaebum nodded his head, his eyes curling into crescents. You continued.

“I know you might be tired from your flight as it is evening already and hungry and all that jazz, but we have to get this party started, right?”

Everyone responded in anticipation. “So I have a proposal to make for our dear boys!”

Jaebum blinked yet again, the clarity of his native tongue coming from your lips taking him by surprise, he had to unexpectedly adjust himself to the change. You turned to him and his eyes found yours effortlessly; the intensity of your orbs humbled him all of a sudden.

“I know some of you might protest because of ‘airport fashion’, Bambam,” you feigned a cough, “but what about we play a round of rock-paper-scissors to see who takes a short dive in the pool to open the fun?”

“Fuck airport fashion!” Bambam protested and walked forward, warming up his wrist. “You are taking a bath, Y/n.”

“Drown him.” Jinyoung chimed in, also getting ready for the game. Yugyeom draped his arm around Jinyoung’s shoulders, cackling at the previous remark. The members gathered around you and your friends in no time, a childish aura of competition flooding the living. Jaebum was the last one to attach himself to the group, his body opposing yours.

“Should we make four people? We are twelve in total.” Your friend’s proposition passed unanimously.

You looked up at Jaebum and offered him a tender smile. “Then shall we play, leader-nim?”

Jaebum lifted his eyes to look at you and clumsily dipped his head, visibly not accustomed to you and your enthralling voice. “Of course.”

You thought you heard Youngjae mocking his leader’s words in a deeper tone and Jaebum caught his gesture too, alas having no time to react. The game ended as fast as it started, miraculously deciding the losers in one round. The boys lost no time to film the unlucky ones, pushing a protesting Bambam along with Mark and two of your girlfriends to execute their penalty. You giggled as Bambam cried out in displeasure for his favorite jeans.

Jaebum approached you, his eyes focused on you rather than on the pandemonium around the pool. He cleared his throat. “As crazy as ever.”

You beamed up at him immediately, your hands clasped together. It was the most beautiful smile Jaebum had ever seen in his life. “They are so cute! They are so fun to have around.”

He couldn’t peel his eyes off you. There was no plausible reason for his actions, why he felt so awkward around your bright and easygoing nature and why he considered everything he wished to say to you twice before actually speaking it. Jaebum knew his silhouette was tense. “They are. I am so blessed to have them.”

“I envy you.” You chuckled and leaned your body over to him. “Can you help me carry the food outside? There’s no chance we move that here.”

Jaebum chuckled and agreed in a heartbeat. He followed you to the kitchen like a child would follow his mother faithfully everywhere. He was grateful he could at least express himself to you freely. “Thank you for this. It means a lot.”

You shook your head. “It’s nothing! Mark took me by surprise when he said all of you would come over for a few days and I wanted to make it special somehow. I hope it is fit to your liking.”

“How can it not be?” Jaebum questioned too fast for his liking. He hated to think you’d doubt yourself. “I don’t need to go out there to tell people are having fun.”

A sheepish smile painted your features and Jaebum couldn’t be more pleased with himself. Merely thinking he was the cause of your smile satisfied him. He helped you with the first set of fried chicken and fries to calm the hunger of the children outside. Much to your surprise, everyone evacuated the area, most likely to change their clothes and put on the swimsuits. There was only Mark and Youngjae outside, setting the table.

“Where’s everyone?” Jaebum inquired, placing the food down.

“Went upstairs to change for battle.” Mark laughed and approached you, giving you a proper welcoming hug. You swayed with him from side to side playfully but eyed him suspiciously. “Battle? What battle?”

“You know the chicken game? Jinyoung bet 20 dollars that Bambam and Yugyeom would not be able to defeat him and Jackson on a, quote, ‘confrontation’. And because we know our maknaes are young and restless, they agreed the losing team would do a sexy dance for all the girls.”

Jaebum covered his mouth with his hand in sheer shock. “And you just stood there and agreed?”

“What is the worst that can happen?” Youngjae stuffed his mouth with fries. “It’s a show however you see it. Literally.”

“Oh my God.” Jaebum sighed heavily. He could feel a headache kicking in prematurely. “There’s no way in hell we’re stopping that, are we?”

“Nope.” Mark and Youngjae bumped their fists together and you witnessed a rare sight of Jaebum at a loss for words. You tugged on his shirt and gestured to him to follow you inside, doing your best to contain your laughter.

“You know,” you began through the giggles, “it’s not a disaster.”

“Never underestimate those guys, Y/n.” he stated, defeated, and lifted a case of beer from the refrigerator. “You should run for your life while you have the chance.”

You carried two bottles of juice and pursed your lips for a second. “Why should I? I don’t mind receiving a sexy dance from one of you handsome males.”

“Should I do it myself, then?”

The clumsy wink Jaebum gave you, along with the mortified sliver of laughter that followed right after made a hue of pink color your cheeks. You watched Jaebum’s broad back as he walked with the drinks outside and bit into the plush of your lower lip. It was an entertaining offer.

You followed outside and the earthly fighters were getting ready for their so-called battle. The cocky attitude the two youngsters had amused you. The older brothers, on the other hand, were either booing or mocking them. The spectacle was just about to start.

You nested yourself by Mark’s side who pulled you close to him. “Who do you wager is gonna win?”

“I have a horrid feeling Jackson and Jinyoung will have to move those hips for you soon.”

The two of you laughed and you looked up at him. “Missed you, bestie.”

“Missed you too, kiddo. Although, kiddo is not quite right.”

“Why? Do I finally become a woman in your eyes?”

Mark poked your nose before pointing to Jaebum who seated himself by the side of the pool, somehow enjoying the uproar despite his protests. “Not me.”

Your best friend took charge of the speakers and opened the big gala with David Guetta’s song, ‘Club can’t handle me’. You dug your nails into the palm of your hand, trying to dismiss Mark’s words. He had always loved teasing you and you tried not to take it to heart. It was reasonably fair to say Jaebum couldn’t have taken an interest in you.

You followed your girls and plopped down next to Youngjae and Jaebum who were aggressively munching on the chicken. The splashing of water indicated the clash had started and you extended your hand to the bowl of fries, watching intently. It was both a comical and serious match, nothing but absurd. It was a close match, with the guys fooling around with one another until Yugyeom took a mischievous step to Jackson who was sustaining Jinyoung on his shoulders and cracked an opening. Bambam seized the momentum of Jinyoung losing balance and pushed him into the pool, erupting in celebration. The maknaes bumped their chests and mocked the disturbed Jackson and Jinyoung.

“Show me the money, losers!” Yugyeom wiggled his hand and earned a huge reaction from the spectators.

“While you’re at it, shake that ass for me too!” Bambam completed and it was the last straw to make Youngjae explode in laughter. Jinyoung would have drowned Yugyeom if it hadn’t been for the oppressing embarrassment of their loss.

“Oh, they are so dead.” Your friend commented and tied her hair in a messy bun. “Guess it’s time to dance.”

“Hey Jackson,” Mark yelled, “what should Bree play for you? Do you have any preference?”

Yugyeom clapped his hands frantically and helped set the chairs for the girls. You allowed yourself to be dragged by your friend to one of the designated seats, laughing under your breath.

“You’d better entertain us, Jinyoung hyung!” Youngjae took a deep breath. Jinyoung ruffled his hair with a towel and then threw it at the vocalist. He grabbed a bottle of beer for himself and downed it in one shot under the devoted cheers of both of the maknaes.

“Jackson, you got me into this mess, better give them something worth staring at.”

“How is it you’re the one excited for this?!” Jackson squealed and placed a hand over his bare chest. All the eyes were on him and Yugyeom let out a whistle. “Look at the muscles, Jackson hyung!”

When Rihanna’s ‘Wild thoughts’ started playing, it was safe to assume everyone collectively lost their cool. You couldn’t bear to look at the abashed protagonists but you also knew they wouldn’t get away without doing anything, especially because they lost to their youngest members. Something had to happen to satisfy their curiosity. Everyone else gathered around you and the girls, sly glints in their eyes.

The humiliation on Jackson’s face disappeared as soon as he walked over to you, opening the show with a slow and controlled body roll, his defined abdomen contracting with every movement. He thrust his hips forward and inched closer to you, effectively seating himself above you as he kept on rolling his hips back and forth. You added fuel to the fire as you attached your fingertips to his chest, sheepishly pushing him away only for him to draw closer to you. Jinyoung was doing fine on his own too. Following Jackson’s example, he ran his hand down his torso and bit his lip as he rolled his body majestically, then curled his fingers into your best friend’s wild locks.

And although Jaebum was smiling on the outside, he was reeking of dissatisfaction. He had no reason to; by all means, he wasn’t entitled to judge you for anything but if he could change something about those events unraveling, he would have seated himself above you, right where Jackson was.

“Jesus Christ, give me something to cool down. I could have died.” You joked as soon as the song ended, causing the spectators to erupt in laughter. You ruffled your hair and caught Jaebum staring at you; he looked away.

“Now we talk!” Bambam went over to a vexed Jinyoung and scarcely avoided a punch. “Cheer up hyung, not even strippers move as you do. You should be proud.”

“Boys, warn us the next time you buckle your hips like this, alright?” Bree chuckled and offered you a bottle of beer. “What would your majesties say about a game of beer pong? The winner decides what we play next.”

Jinyoung waved his hand dismissively and leaned down on the grass. “I’ll sit this one out. I need time to glue my integrity back.”

“Ay, hyung, you do that on stage all the time.” Yugyeom teased and hid behind you in fear. “Boys against girls?”

“Sounds good to me.” You smiled. “Who’s gonna play, guys?”

The members gathered around and started discussing their strategy. It was unanimous that Youngjae and Mark should play, based on their high tolerance of beer. Jackson proposed Bambam play in his stead and Jaebum turned to him at his odd remark. Their leader was chosen to be the fourth participant. They put their hands together to do their lucky chant and scattered. Jackson placed his hand on Jaebum’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry I overstepped the line earlier. I wouldn’t, had I noticed the way you look at her.”

Jaebum chuckled dryly. “Nonsense, Jackson. That’s nothing to apologize for. Whatever did you do wrong, anyway?”

“Hyung.” Jackson cocked his eyebrow. “I think everyone noticed by now. And I won’t be the one to ignore it. You’re too blatant, you know? Take the chance.”

Jaebum watched Jackson walk away and let out an annoyed sigh.

You returned from the house with a brand new deck of cards and placed yourself in the middle of the human circle everyone formed. The night enveloped the nature imperceptibly, the tenderness of the late spring leaving an unusually warm air in its wake. Sparkling dots in the sky made for a splendid tableau and the timid sound of crickets harmoniously completing the acoustic tunes of the playlist.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” you began in a stern voice, “I present you a little game me and my girls came up with. It’s called the next card.”

“Suggestive.” Mark chuckled and lunged for one of the cookies on the tray.

You rolled your eyes at him. “You pick a type of card you want to play with, either the king, or number four, any of the existing types of cards in the deck, and you put all four of them in a separate deck with what everyone else chooses. Not by clubs or diamonds, but by number. We shuffle them and announce a dare.”

“Oh, so the card that is pulled out has to do said dare?” Jinyoung questioned, sharing the remaining fries with your best friend.

“Correct. The fun thing is we don’t know who’s next. It could be me four times in a row for all we know.”

“Question!” Jackson raised his hand. “Can we make something like ‘the next two cards’ do this or that?”

You nodded your head. “Makes it even more interesting.”

“But we can also ask things, like in truth or dare?” Jaebum looked up at you and you nodded once again.

“However, we are a bit tipsy.” You stated and everyone else agreed through a laugh. “Will anyone have a guilty conscience if we do…certain things?”

Bambam folded his legs. “Does this get dirty real quick?”

Yugyeom smacked him. “It’s you who’s the perverted one here.”

“When we used to play with our friends in college, we used to put something like ‘the next two cards kiss’ or ‘the next card fakes an orgasm’. That’s why we ask beforehand.” Bree completed and nudged Youngjae for another bottle. “We could play it without this kind of things if you feel uncomfortable.”

Jinyoung extended his arm to take the deck from your hands, looking for his desired card. Jackson gave him a subtle look before leaning over to whisper something indistinctive in his ear.

“I think we’re all okay with that, are we not, guys?” said Mark and was met by no protest. Jinyoung divided half of the deck with Jackson to help choose everyone’s cards and then boasted his ability to shuffle the cards. He proved to be proficient. You seated yourself in between Mark and Bree just as Jinyoung put the cards in your previous spot.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Bambam interrupted hurriedly, a disgusted look on his face. “So if it’s the next two cards kiss and it’s me and Jaebum hyung, does this mean I kiss him?”

“Hey.” Jaebum scoffed at him. “What’s wrong with kissing me?”

Jackson challenged the first card. “You in, or you out, Bam-ah.”

Bambam muttered a silent prayer in his native language and got cackles out of both Jinyoung and Yugyeom. “He shudders at the thought of kissing Beom.”

You looked at Jaebum who was seated opposite to you and he seemed personally attacked by Bambam’s little antic. You chuckled under your breath. His unhappy expression was adorable.

“Let’s take it slow then. Next card dives into the pool.”

“Let’s take it slow, says Jackson hyung.” Youngjae started laughing when the flipped card belonged to the owner of the dare.

“Well, fuck.” Jackson snickered and threw himself in the water with no second thoughts. All of his members applauded his efforts diligently. Jinyoung was waiting for him with a towel. “Express your wish, Seun-ah.”

Jackson ran his fingers through his wet hair and Bree let out a gasp. All eyes were fast to turn to her before the public cracked up. “It’s not my fault he’s so disrespectful!”

The game continued cheerfully, with dares stretching in a vast domain, growing from eating grass to Bambam licking Yugyeom’s neck and the main vocal watching his soul leave his body as he faked out the sultriest moan he could muster. Anxiety grew as the game took a sharp turn, hands hovering indecisively over the cards. There was a general air of expectancy in the crowd.

“Now to the main attraction of the night,” Bree cleared her throat, trying to compose herself after giving a twerking class, “The next two cards share a beautiful French kiss.”

You clenched your fists. Your card failed to show up during the last few turns and it was a high possibility it could appear at that moment. There were also more boys so it was almost inevitable you would be paired with one of them. Jinyoung extended his body to tend to the cards, wiggling his fingers above them.

“Now, now, now, who should we call out?”

“Stop the bewitching, Jinyoung!” Mark threw a cookie at him and turned his body to Jaebum’s direction. “You might summon Bambam and Jaebum from the abyss of romance.”

Bambam refrained from making any comment. Notwithstanding some member’s objections, the first card flipped was, indeed, Jaebum’s. The leader covered his face with his hands, all the other boys going in a frenzy. They couldn’t miss a chance to explore their leader’s suffering.

“It can’t be. I swear to God, if Jaebum hyung and Bambam kiss, I will sign up for mental counseling.”

“Sign me up for that too, Youngjae hyung. I can picture Bambam drinking bleach.”

“These brats.” Jaebum growled from behind his hands before straightening his body to accept his fate. “Come on, flip the next.”

Jackson hissed and reached out for a dignified pat on the shoulder. “That’s a true man for you.”

Jinyoung poked out the tip of his tongue and slid his finger over the back of the card in anticipation. The look in his eyes was that of a man who knew what was coming next. Jackson folded his arms over his chest, the same twinkle in his chocolate orbs. Jinyoung put the card next to Jaebum’s and you widened your eyes in a stupor. It was yours.

Looks were quickly darted back and forth between the two of you, a bizarre silence absorbing the curiosity of all the people present. Jaebum looked at his card, then at you. Mark shoved your side lightly.

“I mean, we don’t have to kiss if you don’t want to, Jaebum.”

No other team in the world could synchronize as well as Got7 did when they turned to their leader.

“Huh? But I want to.”

You unconsciously pointed to yourself, forsaking any attempt to form coherent words. Jaebum smirked at you as he stood up to walk over to you, offering his hand to help you stand up.

“Look at him, being all sleek.” Bambam clicked his tongue, shaking his head in the process. Jinyoung retreated victoriously to his previous spot, Jackson taking a hold of his shoulders to cling to him. Mark sent Jaebum a wink when you took his hand.

“Go ahead, we won’t watch.” Youngjae stated but failing to disguise the keen interest in his voice.

A laugh escaped your lungs and you leaned your forehead into the crook of Jaebum’s neck. He circled an arm around your waist, a grin of his own expanding on his lips. When push comes to shove, his members were but supportive so they started chanting the magic word, deepening the bashfulness in your chest.

“We have to give the public what the public wants, Y/n.” Jaebum whispered in your ear, sending shivers down your spine. You pulled back and locked your arms around his neck, a velvety smile directed to him only.

“Let us obey, then.”

Jaebum leaned in and bound his lips to yours. You closed your eyes at once, melting into the softness of his touch and the addicting sweetness of his lips. Jaebum lost no time to part your lips with his tongue, deepening the kiss with masterful movements. You dissolved into him, detaching yourself from the hoots and cheers echoing in your ears, and indulge yourself in the sinful ecstasy. You were not sure of it but it felt as if Jaebum longed for you.

You pulled away from the kiss and Jaebum leaned in to steal another peck from you. You lowered one hand to his chest and glared gleefully at him. He chuckled and sent you a cunning wink.

“Get a room!” Jackson yelled. “The tension is so thick I need a halberd to cut through.”

“Fuck off.” You laughed at him and reluctantly released yourself from Jaebum’s arms. He didn’t even bother to conceal the satisfaction. All the more to let you know.

“It’s my turn now, huh?” you plopped down next to Mark who poked your lower back to gain a secret handshake. You adopted a smug look as your eyes fell on the cards.

“Next card lists his three favorite kinks.”

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fangirl-inthe-us · 4 years

Text

Like Lunatics

Gif not mine

Cal Kestis x Reader

Masterlist

Request: Cal x Reader goofily dancing together.

Authors Note: So, I had a lot of fun writing this! Thank you for requesting it! I want you all to know that I thought of this scene when I first read the request. That is what inspired this whole thing. Hope you like it, enjoy!

Word Count: 1.3k

It’d been four days since we had taken a break. Cere had heard whispers about a rebel alliance. Unfortunately, all we found was disappointment. At some point, Greez put his foot down. He was fed up with all our bickering and he flew the Mantis to a faraway system.

Greez didn’t say anything once we had landed. Still silent, he climbed out of his chair. I watched as he scrambled around the ship looking for several items. Cere watched as well.

“I won’t be back for the rest of the day.” With that, Greez walked out the door.

“I too won't be back for some time. I’d advise that someone stays here to watch over the Mantis.” Cere nodded to Cal and me before she left.

Turning to Cal, I voiced, “Okay, I know you’ve been dying to move around. Go out and get some fresh air. I’ll stay here with the Mantis.”

“You sure? I could have BD stay with you.”

“Nah, you two need each other.”

Cal flashed me a small smile. Before he left, he gave me a quick peck on the lips. Then the man was running out into the new world.

The poor thing had been bouncing off the walls for the last two days as we traversed around the galaxy. Cal needed to be out of the condensed space. I, on the other hand, was perfectly okay with staying put. I had a book that I have been neglecting to read.

(:)

With the book finished, I wandered into the main part of the Mantis. I was bored. I didn’t think Cal would take this long. He probably had gotten caught up in something. With a sigh, I decided to take a little walk outside.

The air was crisp. Taking a deep breath, I reveled in how nice fresh air really was. I guess I did need to get out for a bit.

Around me was an amazing sight. Greez had landed on a mountain. A few miles away was a large city. We were far enough away that if there were imperials we wouldn’t be found. Looking further out, I could see the lush covered mountains and the treetops below. It was almost like Kashyyyk.

I sat down on the ground and watched the nature around me. Birds flew around the trees and up in the mountains. I laughed as a flock got close. Some of the birds struggled to traverse around the Mantis.

I took my time outside. I watched the beautiful scenery while taking in the fresh air. I knew it’d be a while until I got to experience this again. It was nice.

After what felt like two hours, I moved back into the Mantis. If imperials were here and somehow found the ship, I figured it’d be a good idea to be inside. This way I could have the upper hand.

Back in the ship the only thing that kept me the company was the little boggling that Cal had brought in. Happily, the little guy scrambled around. I would occasionally see him in the walls. He wouldn’t stay in one place for too long. Always on the move.

I had moved into the cockpit. I was examining the controls when I found a switch labeled ‘radio’. Flicking it on, I jumped at the sudden music. The song blaring through the stereos playing was one of Cal's favorites. Black Thunder by the HU. I smiled thinking about how happy he when he listened to this song.

Examining more in-depth, I found more controls. I switched through several stations until it stopped on an old song I used to listen to. It was a cheesy pop song that I couldn’t quite remember the name of.

Smiling wider, I began to sing along to the music. No matter if I could sing or not, I couldn’t help myself. Soon, I was dancing to the music. It wasn’t the graceful kind of dancing. It was more of me flailing my arms and wobbling my head. If I was caught dancing like this it would throw me into an unimaginable amount of embarrassment.

While dancing, I could feel the music flow through my body. Even if it was a cheesy song, I still felt a connection. It did something to me that made me want to move my body.

Caught up in the feeling, I didn’t notice the door to the Mantis open. I didn’t hear the footsteps that made their way to my flailing body. Not only was the music blaring but my voice was masking the sounds.

When a hand met my shoulder, I jumped with a loud yelp. Whipping around, my eyes landed on Cal. Seeing who it was, my hurriedly beating heart calmed.

“Oh my gosh! Don’t do that to me!” My cheeks warmed as I gave Cal’s shoulder a slight shove. Cal let out a chuckle.

“I can’t help that your singing was louder than my footsteps.”

“Well, you could have said something. People don’t sneak up on each other like that.” I could feel my cheeks getting warmer by the minute. My eyes avoided Cal by looking around the Mantis. Finally, they landed on Cal’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Cal met my line of sight, “I’m sorry, okay? If it makes you feel better, I thought you were quite cute.” Cal smirked. I rolled my eyes. “Here, what if I embarrassed myself? Then we’d be even.” Cal started to move. He was doing a poor version of the twist.

Pretty soon, Cal was in full dance mode. He was flailing his arms as much as I was. I couldn’t hold in my laughter. The laughter was the uncontrollable type and shook me to my core. Cal flashed a goofy smile my way.

He was then pulling me closer. We were both dancing like lunatics. Sometimes I would take lead but then it would switch mid-way and Cal would be leading. Neither of us cared. We were having fun.

Both our faces were beaming. Our mouths were filled with laughter. We were laughing so hard that our eyes were squeezed shut, I couldn’t see where or what I was doing. This resulted in the two of us knocking into the table. This only fueled our laughter.

The mood changed once a slower song came on. Cal drew me in closer. Our bodies were touching. His arms were around my waist. My hand wrapped around his neck. I had my face buried into Cal’s neck. We stayed like that for the whole song.

When the song was over, I moved my head to look up at Cal. Looking down at me, Cal let his forehead fall on mine. A moment passed and we stayed where we were. At some point, one of us was leaning towards each other. Our lips touched.

His lips were chapped. It didn’t bother me. I was pretty sure that mine were chapped as well. I brought him closer. A small smile found Cal’s lips. With the cheesy music playing in the background, Call poured his feeling into the kiss. I reinforced it with the same amount of feeling.

Unfortunately, we needed air to breathe. Cal was the first one to pull away. Once my lips were free, I took a breath. Grinning like idiots, we eyed each other. Cal was then pulling me back to him for another dance session.

(:)

Cere and Greez both had quite the day. With a better mindset, both felt like they could cram back into the Mantis and find those rebels.

Outside the Mantis, Cere and Greez could hear music playing. Cere looked to the captain only to see his eyes squinted. Also, he had an eyebrow raised. He looked to Cere. She just shrugged.

Upon entering the ship, the two companions saw Y/N on top of Cal. The two were asleep and had crashed on the couch. Cere and Greez concluded that the couple had quite the day.

Tags:@takemetoneverland420, @fandom-lover-4, @gray-plants

#cal kestis x reader #cal kestis fanfic #cal kestis #cal kestis fanfiction #cal kestis fic #cere junda #Greez Dritus #star wars #Star Wars fanfic #star wars fanfiction #star wars fic #star wars fallen order #star wars: jedi: fallen order

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parkersvibes · 5 years

Text

finding out peter is spiderman

read part one here

a/n: omg guys. i got so much feedback from you all on part one so i decided to make a part 2. and yeahh i really hope you guys enjoy. if you do lmk and i’ll do a part 3 (:

(i also apologize if the read more doesnt work )))): )

warnings: fluff, a smidge on angst

pt 2. peter parker x stark!reader

• figuring out he was spiderman

• alright you’re a stark

• but no one knows that

• but you’re really intuitive

• so there were little things you started to notice

• after uncle ben died there was some weird shit (if you want a part ab comforting peter ab uncle ben lemme know. he deserves his own part)

• like how he stopped wearing his adorable glasses

•and i guess started almost bulking up????

• he got WAY taller

• and usually you’re used to seeing him shirtless but this one time you walked in on him

• holy mother of god

• IT WAS LIKE HE GREW ABS OVER NIGHT

• BECAUSE FRESHMAN PETE DID NOT HAVE A 6 PACK

• freshman peter also got winded walking up the stairs

• AND NOW HE’S RUNNING LAPS IN GYM LIKE ITS NOTHING ??

• must be nice

• but then things got more sus

• all of a sudden he was skipping class more

• leaving early

• cancelling study sessions and skipping movie nights with ned

• and you and ned were clueless

• you and ned started hanging out more

• MR. LEEDS IS HILARIOUS LEMME TELL YOU

• he was like this little ball of happiness

• you found out his real name is Edward

• HOW CUTE

• and WOW HIS MOM BEING FILIPINA MEANT THAT YOU WERE BEING FED ALL THE TIME OH MY GOD

• ngl pete got a bit jealous

• one night,,, when pete cancelled YET AGAIN

• ned asked you, “hey y/n?”

• “hm”

• “why don’t we ever hang out at your place”

• “i told you ned, my family is just a lot yanno. plus your family and may are really cool”

• “okay but how come you don’t have any social media under your name?”

• “wdym?”

• “like you go by ‘y/n Smith’ but everything that pops up on the internet isn’t YOU”

• “pfff i told you,,, i dont believe in that stuff”

• “y/n, you know you can tell me anything”

• you wanted to be honest. this was one of your best friends. and you’ve been lying to them about your family for over a year now

• “ned i just. it’s complicated”

• “like peter’s family?”

• “nonono, i’m lucky to have both of my parents- well i have a step mom. my real mom wanted nothing to do with me. so she left me on the steps of my dads house. never came back”

• “oh shit bro, i’m sorry”

• “nah don’t worry. my dad is really cool and my step mom... she’s awesome.”

• “what’re their names”

• NATASHA WAS GONNA KILL YOU IF SHE COULD SEE HOW BAD YOU WERE STRUGGLING

• “well- uh- my step moms name is,,, um. well her real name is Virginia”

• THE WORLD KNEW PEPPER AS PEPPER NOT VIRGINIA

• “and my- my dads name is ehm... st, steve???”

• natasha was gonna have your ass

• “y/n,,,”

• “yeah”

• “you’re a horrible liar”

• “PFFF WHAAAT? NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT”

• “dude you left your spiderman fan tumblr open on my laptop that one night,,, and i MAY have done some snooping”

• okay you mightve had a slight obsession with the webslinger. HE WAS COOL. and what better way to keep track of him without alerting your family,,, good ol tumblr

• oh god ned, HOW MUCH SNOOPING”

• “enough to know that you have a weird obsession with that spider guy and that your last name isnt smith”

• so you told him the truth. you were a stark

• and well,,, he reacted with

• “okay cmon,,, don’t lie”

• so you showed him your late night dance parties with Nat when she was feeling goofy

• and your random snaps of steve when he was trying to figure out how to work technology

• videos of you reacting to vines with bucky

(if yall wanna see domestic life with the avengers just lmk)

• which usually results with THE WINTER SOLDIER ALMOST PEEING HIS PANTS. and trying to reenact it with sam or the other avengers

• “heyheyehy y/n guess what?”

• “what bucky?” *is in the middle of doing hw*

• “FRESHOVACADO” *bolts out of the room before you throw something at him*

• only the two of you getting vine and meme references

• (meaning getting in trouble during meetings bc you’ll make eye contact and start laughing)

• OH HIS FAVORITE IS THE “country boiiii, i love you,,, 😛”

• anywaayyy

• ned was SHOOK

• “nowayohmygodyoureanavenger”

• “no ned,,, only when they need me to be”

• *led to him asking 100000 questions*

• “does Mr. America smell like old man”

• “what language does Ms. Widow think in”

• “how many shirts does Mr. Hulk own”

• “so do they wear normal clothes or are they always PREPARED”

• “does your dad have to walk a weird way when hes in his suit”

• “do they ever chafe in their suits”

• “yes ned. we’re stocked up on baby powder”

• which you didnt mind bc it felt nice telling the truth

• ned WANTED TO TELL PETER SO BAD

• “ned no, i don’t want him to think of me differently”

• he understood. but still defended peter and said that hed still treat you the same

• anyway,,, peter started showing up with bruises and stuff which had you v concerned

• “pete what’s up? you’ve been avoiding ned and i and you have skipped out on every movie night since sophomore year started”

• “t’s nothing. dont worry ab it”

• “peter cmon, it’s just me”

• you figured maybe it had to do with ben??? but you gave him his space. you just wanted to be there for him yanno. you didnt want him to shut you out

• “Y/N I SAID ITS NOTHING. FOR FUCKS SAKE CAN YOU LEAVE ME ALONE???” he snapped (and not in the good way)

• and this was on your way to class so the whole hallway heard

• ouch

• so you left him alone. probably more than he meant. but it hurt

• i mean he was your first friend here, and now he yelled at you to leave you alone

• ned felt awful at first. trying to comfort you and tell you it wasnt your fault

• but then he started acting weird. whenever you brought up peter hed be super antsy about it

• you- “i think he got into another fight or something”

• ned- “pFFT PETER? FIGHTING? no way,,, i got-i gotta go”

• so you figured that whatever peter was hiding, ned knew about,, which also hurt your feelings

• so you closed off

• and wow could the super family tell something was wrong

• wanda- “little stark, i can feel your sadness all the way to my room”

• sam/bucky/rhodes- “okay what’s the deal, we’ve played 5 rounds of fortnite and you havent once rage quit even though you’re doing terrible”

• tony- “kid, what’s wrong? everyone here can tell you’re not feeling great”

• nat- “cmon. ive given you 3 opportunities to kick my ass and you havent once complained about me going easy?”

• thor- “lady y/n what is causing you distress? not once have you smiled, i even wore my hair in pigtails,,, and that seems to always do the trick”

• and you gave the same response every time “‘m just tired” “lots of homework”

• they noticed you werent going out on weekends anymore

• so tony figured that your friend group and you were having some Stuff

• pep gave him an idea of meeting his new prodigy

• now tony knew it’d be kinda sus because peter went to midtown but he figured that if the kid kept his mask on it’d be fine

• “dad i don’t wanna see another one of your weird maid robots”

• “wha- no i want you to meet someone”

• “dad college isn’t for another 2 years. if it’s your friend from MIT-“

• then right before your eyes was the insect boy that youve been admiring through the internet

• needless to say

• your jaw dripped

• “y/n meet spiderling, spiderling meet my daughter y/n stark”

• *seconds pass*

• “i uh- oH- um- sp-spidERman, h-hi. biG fan of you- your work”

• *silence*

• you- “oH dad diD you hear th-that? moM is calling mE”

• tony- “what?? pep wouldve called on the interco-“

• spiderman- “y/n”

• you- SHOOK TO THE CORE BECAUSE YOU KNEW THAT VOICE. THAT WAS THE VOICE THAT SOUNDED LIKE HONEY BUT COULD CUT YOU DEEPER THAN ANY WEAPON IN YOUR HOUSE

• you- “p-peter???”

• tony- *shocked pikachu face* “you know each other???”

• you- “so-something like that yeah”

• peter takes off his mask

• “ohmygodpeterisspiderman”

• “ohmygodyourlastnameisntsmith”

• tony- “im gonna let you guys figure this out” *walks backward slowly*

*insert silence*

• you- “so this is what you were hiding, huh?” with a cold tone

• “IM HIDING? YOU LIED ABOUT YOUR WHOLE HOME LIFE TO NED AND I”

• *yelling at each other for another minute. even though you couldnt hear what the other is saying*

• you- *yelling loudest “I DIDNT WANT YOU TO SEE ME DIFFERENTLY OKAY”

• peter- “you really thought id do that?” (heartbreaking voice)

• you- “i- once i got to know you, i knew you wouldnt but i was scared. i didn’t know how to tell you. for once in my life i had found someone my age who liked ME for ME. not for my name or money or my dad. and i didn’t want to change that. i’m sorry i didn’t tell you sooner”

• peter- “... i get what you mean. after ben died everyone gave me that look. except you and ned.”

• you- “why didn’t you tell me”

• peter- “everyone i love or ever cared about dies. my parents and then my uncle ben. so once i got my abilities i knew that the risk was even higher and i didn’t want to put you in that position. i wanted to keep you safe. but it seems like you know how to handle yourself” (referring to the fact that you grew up with THE EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROS)

• y/n- “so how come ned found out?”

• peter *scratches back of neck* “well- he- i- May let him in my room and i happen to be crawling on the ceiling in my suit and he dropped the death star” *head hangs in shame*

• you had to giggle at that i mean CMON

• you stepped closer to him

• “pete you’re my best friend. you can tell me anything okay?”

• “no more secrets?”

• “no more secrets”

• and you both pinky promise and your thumbs “kiss” bc IF THEY ITS THE ULTIMATE UNBREAKABLE VOW DONT @ ME

• peter parker gives you the biggest hug that maKES YOUR HEART JUMP BC PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH A PERSON AS PRETTY AS HIM MAKES YOUR HEART FEEL A CERTAIN WAY

• but you wrapped your arms around his neck and enjoyed the moment

• wow he is really cozy

• * the avengers are watching from the cameras in awe*

• led to MANY questions at dinner

• and so everything went back to “normal”

• it wasn’t until you went to bed that night that you realized peter said the L word

• WHAT

• so much for no secrets

taglist: @silver-winter-wolf @emmmmszy @everythingaboutnothingsstuff @rexorangecouny @wishiwasanavenger @marjoherbo @nologinisoksothatsit @mindset-jupiter @hpnjrph @soup238

some favs/mutrals: @h-osterfield @starksparker @stuckonspidey @sunshinehollandd @keepingupwiththeparkers @hey-marlie @spyder-bites

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ice-magician · 5 years

Text

The Crying Child

So, this was a thing I had been meaning to make for @spaceiplier ‘s AU since forever. Life happened and yadda yadda, but it’s finally done. In case you didn’t know, the main story is an AU mostly surroundly Team Iplier in space, but other Youtubers make appearances. I started to wonder what would happen if MatPat and Steph were there? What species would they be? What would they do? Anyway, here it is :)

The dazzle of holographic camera flashes blinded Matt. He should’ve been used to it by now. Having your own televised program beaming across galaxies came with its share of paparazzi. As the rain began to pour so with it came the onslaught of questions.

“How did you know the Vlocam monarchs were working deals behind their people’s backs?”

“Where do you get your intel, Mr. Patrick? Surely this isn’t all from you and your small team.”

“Do you have people working for you in each planet’s government?”

“HOW do you do it all with a new baby?”

So many questions. Though every species had their differences in appearance, politics, and genetic makeup, one thing remained constant- curiosity. This is what Mat loves most about every universe. Matt wiped soggy brown hair out of his eyes. He turned towards the horde of cameras, and put on his best award-winning smile.

“The secret is quite simple- work hard, and work with those you love. As for how my broadcast was correct, well…” Matt looks into the nearest camera and winked, “... it was just a theory.”

With that, Matt slipped into the parked pod, where an android driver was waiting on him. He was completely soaked from the downpour. Matt felt the water squish in his shoes, confident they would never recover. He continued to ignore the remaining flashes and questions that roared outside as he whisked away. Finally, some peace and quiet.

Matthew undid his all too formal tie, and took in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and became unbelievably grateful that today’s antics were over. Awards were always far too formal. Everyone there thinking they’re better than the person sitting next to them, planning and gossiping. Everyone who was anyone had been there. The Awards for Intergalactic Achievements were no small deal. Matt was no exception to the crowd of “stars”, not just for his show’s intergalactic popularity, but also for his family tree. Matthew was Ahtret, a species renowned for their wide vocal range and ability to copy any sound, including voices. Ahtrets with his vocal range were few and far between, especially on Treo, thus earning him attention Matt felt he didn’t deserve or need. He was a simple guy, and at that moment all that simple guy wanted was to go home, hug his family and pet his cat.

Now that the formalities were over, they would have their show to themselves. The goofy, nerdy, and all out crazy show that never put a mask on the Patrick family’s face. They were never ashamed of who they were, and that’s why it had gained so much traction. Making theories, being proven right time and time again was nice, but nothing was better than not having to wear a fake persona. That was what he loved. Do what you love, and love what you do, and all that.

Although the Patrick family loved their job with all their hearts, it came with drawbacks. Meetings with rather… unsavory individuals. Or that time the show was Matt looking behind the camera at their guest because they refused to be videoed. The show had even received a personal, and slightly threatening, invitation to GAAP headquarters because they believed the program to be hiding or withholding information. That had all been straightened out, thankfully. In the end, the Patricks had been offered to take on cold cases for GAAP. Despite their deep intrigue, Team Theorist declined the offer. Even though GAAP practically ran universes, something about their operations were shaddy… Actually, maybe the fact that they did run universes was what made them questionable at best. His father had taught him to question everything, do your own digging and not rely on what you see in holographic tabloids. So far, it had paid off, and, secretly of course, Matthew and Stephanie Patrick saw GAAP as another potential threat to the freedom that the organization claimed to protect.

They didn’t advertise this, of course… not yet, anyway. There wasn’t enough evidence to pin down GAAP for illicit or violent activities. Higher ups were good at covering their tracks. Well, two can play at that game. With a family to worry about, they had agreed that working directly with GAAP was unwise. Instead, Stephanie insisted that Matt go to GAAP events. They needed GAAP to think that a Patrick on the premises meant GAAP had their trust. Well, so goes the old saying, “Keep your friends close, and enemies closer.”

GAAP needed to believe that the Theorists were simply focusing on minuscule ideas. Who would be the next president of Maxfor? Was the Valsic Union dealing in illegal android sales? Stick to cosmetic topics, Stephanie had insisted. That was why she hadn’t been with him. She was busy at Theorist HO. Her and the building’s AI, JASON, were digging through files on mass servers for their next broadcast. Soon, though. Soon, they’d find something. Soon everyone would see GAAP for who Matt believed them to be.

Still, it was a shame she couldn’t make it to the awards. She would chuckle at the Velm’s dress that probably cost as much as the venue. She would add more flavor to the debate Matt had had with a man who attempted to argue about the state of Treo’s biotech core. Matt thought back to his cheesy response to the reporters before he stepped into the car. He could practically feel Stephanie rolling her eyes. The upstarts of the gala wouldn’t have been the only ones receiving side comments for cringe-inducing antics.

The awards had been held in a ballroom. Rows of decorative chairs lined up to face stage made of shining opal. Stephanie’s golden tinted skin would have dazzled under the shine of stage lights. The glittering gold lines streaking from the sides of her brown Aurumen eyes. Matt would have loved to hear her telekinetic thoughts on the characters that had surrounded him. Stephanie would have made the night bearable.

Speaking of thoughts….

Matt tapped his temple, stirring his eye’s connection to life.

“CHRIS, how’s the house?”

Considering how dangerous their job might get, the Patricks long ago decided it was best to get security links to their home installed. The computer chips comfortably sat in their temples, with contacts containing mini screens on their eyes and micro implants in their ears so they could hear. The chips’ signals were linked directly to their home, and live security camera feeds would be shown via the contacts. The Patricks had built the installments themselves. They didn’t trust that biotechnitions would do it correctly, considering a significant amount of Stephanie’s biological makeup was sunlight.

Sure, Treo had the galaxy’s best and brightest technicians, but the Patricks never shied away from a challenge. Besides, it had meant working together, using their extensive knowledge of tech to grow closer. That’s how they met in college, after all. In the end, Stephanie certainly handled her own with her microtech implant. It worked perfectly; she even used the gold and sunlight in her body to generate energy for the chip. Aurumens could communicate telepathically, but Matt could not. Considering this, Steph programmed the chip to open the conversation both ways. Undetectable telepathic communication made Matt giddy sometimes. It was like he was a kid playing spy, or hide and seek where he always won.

Now that they had a baby, that decision made long ago was truly coming into use. They could check the cameras in their house whenever they pleased. They quite literally had eyes and ears everywhere. CHRIS, their home’s holographic security AI, watched over the house while they were gone. Letting their cat Skip out, making sure their son Oliver’s bedroom was at a heat level comfortable for a growing Aurumen.

This knowledge usually provided a feeling of security. That night, however, when Matt tapped the sequence to his house, the only reply was static. Matt tapped his temple again, making sure the link is stable. Still nothing. No cameras blinked to life in his vision. No audio warbled to life.

“CHRIS? CHRIS?! Are you there?”

Matt was met with eerie silence from their holographic home security manager. A cold chill ran down his spine. It could just be a glitch in the system, but his gut told him otherwise. Matt didn’t care about their collections of Earthen memorabilia of Diet Coke dispensers, or vintage video games; Oliver was in that house, and if CHRIS was not responding....

Matt entered the sequence for Stephanie’s chip. Nothing. She was probably engrossed in her work. A Patrick curse- working to the bone. Matt left an urgent message, trying to keep the strain out of his voice. He said it was probably nothing, but he was en route. Despite his bravado, when he ended the call, Matthew felt his heart beat erratically in his chest.

Matthew leaned forward to the keypad’s microphone installed behind the driver’s seat, “Step on it!”

This time, he didn’t keep the urgency hidden.

Matt jumped out of the pod so fast he almost forgot to pay his driver. He quickly slid the android the required amount of credits, down to the decimal. The driver grumbled something and zipped away. The rain outside hasn't let up in the slightest. Stephanie would be livid when she found the sopping condition of his good tuxedo, but the state of his attire flew out the window when he exited the car. The front door to his home was slightly ajar. Resisting the urge to burst through the threshold and run upstairs to check on Ollie, Matt quietly stepped into the house.

Everything seemed in order. Open family room to the left, kitchen on the right, a hallway in between where with the staircase leading upwards stood, waiting for Matt to rush up. Matt touched the wall of the house. A blue light scanned quickly over his handprint, and a small beep sounded, officially registering that it was indeed Matthew Patrick.

He whispered as softly as he could, “CHRIS, activate.” (Man, when was the last time he had turned on his house’s security system manually)?

A small hole opened in the wall, and several pixels darted out, sputtering and flashing, attempting to take on the shape of a human. Eventually, they gave up and resorted to the small speaker next to the holographic projector.

“Matt?” CHRIS’ voice came out warbled and full of glitches, but there nonetheless.

“Yeah, CHRIS. I’m here.”

“It was… tried to call… busted my system over your network….”

“Shh,” Matt tried to calm him down, “What happened exactly.”

CHRIS’ next response came clear as day, “Matt, he’s still in the house.”

A shiver ran down Matt’s spine, “Where?” A deep pit had formed in his stomach. A part of him already knew the answer.

“Oliver’s room.”

That was it. Matt dashed into the kitchen, nearly knocking over the broken soda dispenser, and grabbed the nearest thing resembling a weapon he could find. His fingers found their way into the cool grooves of a knife's handle. He quickly examined it, making sure it still worked. Matt had been fascinated with its design. Based on an old concept from Earth, the blade could change temperature depending on what you wanted to slice. Matt gently pressed the button to the knife’s highest setting. The blade began to glow a threatening orange.

As Matt quietly slid up the stairs, he was grateful for the awful carpet Stephanie had insisted on, fearing Oliver might hurt himself on the previously hardwood floor when he learned to walk. At the time, the installer bots had been sceptical, saying the shaggy material didn’t match the rest of the house’s decor. It was “outdated and irrelevant”. Clearly, the bots didn’t know the risks of having children installed in their memory banks. Going with Stephanie’s fear that Oliver would inherit Matt’s clumsiness, the carpets had been installed (much to the bots’ dismay). On that night, however, as Matt crept up the stairs, he was grateful for the beige carpet, outdated as it was. It wasn’t serving to keep Matt’s son from bumping his head, but to help him keep his footing, and prevent the intruder from hearing his approach.

Matt reached the top of the stairs, his son’s bedroom directly to his right. He gripped the metallic handle of the knife. Though the handle felt cold, the blade’s heat gently touched his skin like a warm towel, just enough to remind him of its potential. Thankfully, the device was designed to keep the needed heat on the blade, away from the wielder, but it still felt foreign in his hand. It was one thing to theorize and research battles, but being the one actually holding a weapon was entirely different.

An annoyed “Hiisss!” came from inside the bedroom.

Skip? Matt thought.

Skip was usually laid back. He was from Aurumen, like Stephanie, and their animals were known for their lazy nature. Give Skip food and sunlight, and he would be fully content. So, hearing him release a threatening screech set Matt more alert. He gripped the knife tighter, turning his knuckles white. The blade burned a threatening orangish red, reminding Matt of “futuristic” sabers from an old Earth movie he’d watched with Stephanie.

Matthew quietly opened Oliver’s bedroom door. The lights were off, but with the slight light from his knife and moonbeams swinging through a window on the back wall, he could see relatively well. It was a simple space- a closet in the back wall, a bookshelf, rocking chair, various toys and stacks of books hugged the right wall. Matt and Stephanie always grabbed any paper books they could. Scattered and nearly lost as they were, the Patricks knew the power of the written word better than anyone.

The culmination of their work overflowed the small bookshelf, and into the floor. Another small stack had started forming on the room’s left wall, where a cool green crib sat under the glow of an orange heat lamp. Matt silently closed the door and approached Oliver’s crib timidly, almost afraid that his son would not be curled in his blankets. He released a sigh of relief when Ollie’s face looked back at him, face calm in a blissful sleep. The Aurumen heat lamp continued to bask its glow on the boy, ensuring that he would get the necessary amount of sunlight he needed until his body could perfect its own growing energy source. An incubator, of sorts.

Matt peered down, and saw something curious in Oliver’s hand. A piece of metal, maybe five inches across, sat lazily in the infant’s grasp. Careful not to disturb his son, Matthew reached down and retrieved the trinket. It was smooth and black, twisted into the shape of, if Matt didn’t know any better, would be a-.

“Hiiiiiisssssss!!!!!!”

Matt jerked his head up. Eyes now adjusted to the room’s darkness, he saw Skip angrily clawing at the back closet doors. He gripped his knife. It glowed back, as if reassuring him that it could do whatever needed to be done.

“I know you’re here,” Matt tried to keep his voice steady yet quiet, taking a few solid steps towards the foreboding doors. He knew his voice had started to shake, but as long as his hands remained still….

One of the doors creaked open. Matt held out his glowing knife in what he hoped was a threatening stance. Skip hissed a few more times before backing up to Matt’s side. The darkness of the night mixed with Ollie’s lamp cast ominous shadows across the walls surrounding the black vortex of the dark closet.

Matt heard what sounded like metal creaking slightly as a robotic foot stepped into view. It was a male Velm robot, and with the cross stitching of mixed parts Matt could tell that it was homemade. From what he could see, the robot had glowing green eyes, an old fashioned monocle, brown hair, and a strong tail. The one thing most disturbing about the robot, though, was his lack of a jaw. A light crisscross of welded metal bits where his jaw should have been. Slit welded bulged over where the left and right upper corners of a mouth would have been…. Matt inwardly shuddered with realization. The robot’s jaw, and consequently his voice box, had been ripped out. Whatever had the strength to do that, to rip apart something with beyond repair....

The robot stared at Matt silently, wringing his hands with nervous energy. His glowing eyes quickly glanced at the exit.

Matt squinted his eyes. This was what had set JASON on alert? This robot?

Looks can be deceiving, Matt’s mind reminded him.

Matt raised his glowing knife, its burning visage reflected in the Velm’s eyes. Its blade was the color of seething coals, or Matt’s fury at the idea of a monster hurting Oliver. Whether harm had been the robot’s intentions was yet to be determined.

Matt readjusted his grip on the blade, daring to take a step toward the intruder. The dapper robot’s eyes went wild, and he nearly tripped over himself trying to back into the closet. Matt looked at the knife, then the robot…. then the scar on its neck. His Theorist mind whirled.

“M...A…AT...Ttt!” CHRIS’ fractured voice cut through the room’s palpable tension.

The lights flickered on, off, then back on, but low enough to not wake the room’s sleeping baby. Once his eyes had adjusted, Matt got a better look at the intruder. In the light, the Velm looked even more like he’d stepped out of an old film. He wore a vest and bow tie, dress slacks, and wing tipped shoes. Just below his nose was an empty screw hole. Matt glanced at the curious metal piece he had found in Oliver’s grip.

He held the metal mustache up to the robot cautiously, “This yours?”

The robot touched the empty spot above his lip. He nodded slowly. A robot who looked like he belonged in early Earth’s 1920s. This robot’s creator certainly had more of an imagination than any mind Matt knew on his planet.

“I’ll cut you a deal,” Matt said, “mustache for the promise you won’t, you know, attack me.”

The robot started to nod, then froze. He pointed at Matt’s knife. Matt got the hint. Trust has to go both ways. Matt reluctantly turned off his burning blade, and brought his hand back to his side. The robot visibly relaxed. Matt tossed the metal mustache to the robot, who caught it swiftly. He looked at the mustache dejectedly, before pocketing it.

“Sooo,” Matt ventured, “you got a name?”

Before he could answer CHRIS’ voice came back, this time free of static, “MATT! Oh, thank God. I swear, he just came out of nowhere! Disabled me, and I, and… I swear, I couldn’t stop him!”

Matt paused. His home’s AI- CHRIS (Child Homecare Response Internal System), had been activated before Matt and Stephanie left home. That being so, how did the Velm get in?

As if sensing his question, the robot began making wild gestures with his hands. Sign language. The intruder was mute. So Matt had been right in his theory about the voice box.

“Hang on, hang on. Last time I signed was with a disgruntled politician.” Matt tried for a laugh. Nothing. He cleared his throat, “Why don’t you start again, slowly.”

It nodded, “My name is Jameson Jackson, JJ, healthcare robot of….” The robot, Jameson, suddenly stopped signing. Interesting, so he had something, or someone, to hide.

“.... Your door was open.” he continued.

“Wait, what?” Matt spun to the port on the wall where CHRIS’ hologram projector was built in. At the moment he didn’t have enough power to corporeally appear, Matt knew for certain that he could see him glaring.

“... Skip got caught in the rain! He’s Aurumen, remember! Those cats hate water! I had to let him in!” CHRIS protested.

“And you just happened to forget to lock the door?”

A pause, “... A lot was going on. Skip’s meowing and scratching at the door woke Oliver. I had to leave the walls and manually adjust his light to calm him down. Next thing I know Dapper Boy is standing behind me! I tried to call you, but he deactivated my system…. I’m sorry, Matt.”

The rage Matt had felt towards the house’s AI suddenly drained. It made sense. CHRIS rushing to let Skip in, then taking on his holographic form to care for Oliver would confuse any AI. Matt didn’t blame him for forgetting to lock it back. Obviously, he would have if given the time. Still, that didn’t explain one thing.

Matthew pointed at the robot. “Why did you come in? You didn’t steal anything or break any objects. Why are you here?”

Perhaps he’d stopped him in the middle of his scourging? Except, he was in Ollie’s room…. Matt’s wall went back up. Though deactivated, Matt remembered the knife hanging limply in his hand. Had he stumbled across a true enemy, one willing to harm his family? Did he have some personal vendetta? He might not have enough strength to do detrimental damage to the robot, JJ, but Matt needed to be ready. JJ continued to wring his hands, occasionally tweaking his monocle.

“I… I heard crying.” JJ finally signed.

Matt paused, “What?”

“I heard crying,” JJ signed again.

Matt glanced at his sleeping son, “You heard crying, and just decided it was a good idea to break into a house?”

JJ twitched, “I am a health care robot. The door was opened, and I heard his cries so clearly….”

The robot looked sadly over at Oliver’s crib, “He missed you so much. I-I didn’t know about your AI, I just…. It was pure instinct.”

A homecare robot, huh? Matt had heard of how empathetic they could be, throwing almost anything aside to help those who needed it. In a sad way, it started to make sense.

Suddenly, a hologram projected out of JJ’s monocle. It was full of static at first, but eventually it calmed down. Matt only saw the blurred reflection, but judging by the ears he figured it was another Velm. He was completely soaked from the rain, his brightly colored clothes darkened with the downpour.

“JJ!!” The other Velm nearly shouted, “I have been trying this damn line for hours! Screw this new tech! I’m breaking your monocle as soon as I find you, you understand me?! Where are you? You were supposed to meet me at-.”

JJ held up his hands in an attempt to stop the rant.

“No, no, no!” The angry Velm jutted a finger at JJ, “You listen to me! I have been all over this God forsaken town looking for your dapper butt, with nothing-.”

Matt couldn’t see his face, but he imagined the look of horror that crossed it when the robot noticed his friend’s surroundings.

“JJ, where are you? Where’s your mustache?” he asked in a near whisper.

JJ cast a sideways glance at Matt before answering, “I’m fine, Jackie. I just got caught in the rain. I’ll see you soon.”

“No, no. Fuck that! I’m tracking your ass right now!”

For some reason, hearing his story and seeing him in that moment, Matt was sure that Jameson did not have evil intentions. Before JJ could respond, Matt quickly broke the barrier between them. Within a few strides he was directly behind him and could see the speaker clearly. It was another Velm robot. He was identical to JJ, except that he had a mouth, further supporting Matt’s idea that something horrible had happened to JJ.

The other robot stopped whatever he was doing to stare at Matt, then back at JJ, then back at Matt, and finally back to JJ. He started to sign to his friend, apparently thinking that Matt didn’t understand. It was full of expletives, and questions.

“Don’t worry,” Matt signed, “He’s fine.”

The caller’s jaw dropped in surprise.

Matt actually laughed at the other robot’s confusion. JJ’s eyes twinkle with mischief; if he had a mouth he would have been smiling too.

The other robot shook himself from his daze, and huffed. He responded, but didn’t take his eyes off Matt. “Whatever, just get back to… where we came from.”

JJ tipped his hat, and the call ended. He turned to face Matt. Being up close to the robot Matt could see the details over his missing jaw even better. JJ wasn’t a menace, he really was just a care robot who had been lost in the rain. Matt immediately regretted his previous actions. Then there was the empty screw hole, courtesy of rain, a loose screw, and an Aurumen baby.

Matt sighed and patted the robot’s back, “Come on, let’s go downstairs. I can help you with”, he motioned to his mouth, “that.”

JJ touched the vacant spot and nodded in agreement. With one last glance at Ollie’s sleeping face, the two headed downstairs.

No longer needing to slink in the dark Matt called out, “CHRIS, lights please.”

Immediately the lights flickered on. Matt squinted as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Just as he left it, the kitchen was a mess. Matt rounded the island, sheathed the knife he never really needed, and fumbled through a junk drawer. JJ took in everything, every obsessive article of old Earth Diet Coke memorabilia that hung on the kitchen walls, on the counters, and in cabinets.

Matt caught him looking,“I know, I know. Steph says I’m an addict… and I am. I’ll be the first to admit that.”

Matt laughed, and JJ gave him an amused look.

“Ha!” He triumphantly retrieved a screwdriver and screw from the drawer. Matt tossed them across to JJ who swiftly caught both in the air. He retrieved his mustache, and within seconds JJ was restored. He beamed at Matt, who smiled back.

“Right, let’s get you back to your friend.”

JJ started to move, then noticed Matt’s broken soda dispenser. He cocked an eyebrow in question.

“It’s an old Earth soda machine. It’s supposed to dispense Diet Coke, but something broke. I’m no expert on antiques, so I’m having it looked at as soon as I-.”

JJ rounded the island and looked at the machine. He opened its hatch, took a good look inside, and began tinkering with it. Matt heard started to object at JJ’s sudden action. Had he not heard him say “antique”? Anything could break it! Then he’d have to find some new era substitute, which were all flat and boring and…

The sound of fizzling brought Matt out of his thoughts. JJ stood over the soda dispenser, happily holding out a glass filled with a dark, fizzy beverage. Matt gingerly accepted the drink from the excited robot. He took a sip. To his utmost surprise, it was just like new!

“How?...”

JJ closed back the hatch that contained the machine’s innards. He held up tubes clogged with sticky residue. Casually, he shrugged as if to say “All in a day’s work”. Matt laughed heartily, and took another sip.

“On second thought, you can come over as often as you want.”

JJ continued to beam at his success.

“I could’ve done that…”

Matt turned and saw CHRIS’s holographic form, fully functional and very disgruntled. JJ rested his arm lazily across the machine, his stance saying “But you didn’t.” CHRIS scowled, causing a new fit of laughter from Matt. Two pieces of artificial intelligence were having a staring contest in his kitchen. The day just kept getting weirder.

“Come on, JJ. Don’t want to keep your friend waiting.”

JJ nodded his head. He and Matt walked out of the kitchen to the front door. Matt opened it and a clean breeze blew in. The rain had fully stopped. Every so often birds could be heard in the distance.

JJ tipped his hat to Matt and CHRIS as he stepped out the door.

“Oh!” Matt called, “By the way, tell Jack that he has nothing to worry about. You’re safe here.”

JJ’s eyes widen in shock. He looked ready to interrogate Matt, but his expression relaxed. A bemused twinkle appeared in his eyes.

“Just a theory?”

Matt saluted JJ with his glass of Diet Coke, “Now you’re getting it.”

With that, Jameson Jackson walked down the street, leaving Matt with a fixed soda machine, and an aggravated security AI.

“So,” CHRIS said, “what exactly are you planning on telling Steph?”

“Simple, I’ll just blame it on you.”

CHRIS threw up his hands, “Oh, sure, blame the AI. It’s always me or JASON, isn’t it?”

Matt downed the rest of his soda with a smirk, “Exactly.”

#spaceiplier #matpat #youtube #youtubers #jameson jackson #stephanie patrick #steph loves sunlight #mat has a crazy vocal range #so why not?

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

Text

Psycho Analysis: Ego

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Years ago, comic book movies were absolutely, totally afraid to be even a little weird. Raimi carried the weirdness torch for a while thanks to the success of the Spider-Man trilogy, but for some reason he was the only person unafraid to be goofy; even Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a movie about one of the more fun and campy classical hero teams, was completely and utterly afraid to show a big man in purple armor who eats planets and so instead opted to show us an intergalactic fart cloud. The precedent set by franchises like Blade, X-Men, and Nolan’s Batman films lingered for a long time.

Then along came James Gunn.

Gunn is a man unafraid to be weird, and Guardians of the Galaxy really changed the game in 2014. There’s a gun-toting raccoon, a talking tree, a bald blue cyborg woman, and an alcoholic duck, and the movie is a smash hit critically and financially; there is now no excuse not to put the wierdest stuff from the comics faithfully into film. And for the sequel, Gunn apparently saw fit to bring in one of Marvel’s most bonkers bad guys: Ego, the Living Planet.

Ego is the perfect example of how to adapt something utterly bizarre from the comics, changing some major elements while still staying true to the nature of the character himself. Ego here is Peter Quill’s father, something that isn’t true in the comics, as well as a Celestial, something also not true in the comics… but he is still a sentient planet, and he is still completely and utterly evil.

Actor: Kurt Russell, 80s superstar and the reason Solid Snake exists, plays Ego to perfection. Ego is a character with, well, an ego; he’s selfish, self-centered, and lacking in empathy, but he also needs to come off as charming and friendly or we the audience would see through him immediately. Russell is the exact perfect man for that job; this is a guy who managed to play a character who was mildly transphobic and still have them come off as likable. Russell is also able to switch from affable and charming to scary and furious with ease, which is a big help after the reveal when Ego drops all pretense. Russell just kills it, there’s no other way to put it.

Motivation/Goals: Ego has an almost sympathetic goal, one that, from a certain point of view, makes him come off as a bit sympathetic. The guy was drifting alone in the void for eons and had to piece himself together, so is it any wonder he was horrifically lonely when he was finally able to set out to find life? Of course, that loneliness and isolation led to him developing some really nasty personality traits, and so he decided the best course of action after finding out other intelligent life was “boring” was to plant seeds on every planet, sire a child with powers just like him, and then wipe out all life and turn all the planets in the universe into extensions of himself. It is a plan truly befitting a character with the name “Ego,” and while it is true his motivation is at least a little deserving of sympathy, his goals and how he goes about trying to ameliorate his pain is what makes Ego an irredeemable monster.

Personality: Ego is perhaps one of the most aptly named characters in all of fiction, and he’s also one of the few characters one could make the honest claim that his ego is literally the size of a planet. Ego puts forth this identity of a charming, fatherly figure, happy, affable, jokey… just really sweet and charming. But much like the avatar he uses, it’s all just a mask.

Look at how he talks about what he did to Peter’s mom; he says it with such a wistful, resigned melancholy flavored with this “I did what I had to do” smugness that is a twisted reflection of how one might recall their first date, and then follows it up with a horrifically callous response of “I know that sounds bad.” Ego is such a monstrous, unrepentant sociopath with so little regard for life that is beneath his lofty stature that I just don’t think he really comprehends things like empathy. He is the ultimate psychopathic manchild, an arrogant egotist who hides behind this friendly veneer until the moment things don’t go the way he wants, at which point he starts screaming, ranting, and raving. The fact he is completely and utterly taken aback that Peter would unload multiple shots into him after being told Ego gave his mother a brain tumor is really telling of just what kind of person he really is.

Final Fate: The bomb Groot planted on Ego’s brain goes off, and Ego’s avatar crumbles to dust as the planet begins to blow up, seeing as its brain just got obliterated. The beautiful karma of this moment makes it extra delicious; after putting that tumor on Meredith Quill’s brain, is it not fitting he die after having something planted on his brain?

Best Scene: Ego just really dominates every scene he’s in, but I think the big reveal, where he shows just what a sick and depraved villain with a lack of care for life as he reveals what he did to Meredith Quill, is one of the MCU’s finest scenes.

Best Quote: It took only one single line to cement Ego as the most horrible, evil, disgusting monster in the MCU: “It broke my heart to put that tumor in her head.”

Final Thoughts & Score: Ego is fantastic on so many levels, but one level I think should not be overlooked is on a meta level. As I mentioned, for the longest time silliness and weird concepts were out the door when it came to superhero films. One needs only look at the X-Men franchise to see how dour things were, with their dull black costumes and overwhelmingly miserable and unfun atmospheres. More lighthearted or sillier fare did not go over well, as Iron Man 2 and Green Lantern can attest, and magic was totally absent for a while in the MCU probably because of fears audiences wouldn’t take it seriously. But James Gunn changed all that, and I think Ego definitely played a huge role in cementing that audiences will embrace and love in the weirdest stuff out of comics. Thanks to Ego, I think a lot of other creators became unafraid to let that freak flag fly and put things in movies they might have been too worried to put in before, with the ultimate and best example being Mister Mind joining the DCEU in the end of Shazam! It gives me hope that Tawky Tawny might show up there in a sequel.

On a character level, Ego is without a doubt the most punchable scumbag in the entire MCU, with only Mysterio coming close. The fact he casually admits to killing Peter’s mother and expects him to be okay with it… Can you really blame Peter for immediately unloading his guns into his father? I mean, when faced with a man who is utterly unrepentant in killing a loved one that they also claimed they loved and says they had to do it to further their goals, would you not also have a knee-jerk reaction like that? Yes, I am getting at this being a canon moment that shows Peter’s reaction to Thanos in Infinity War was not a stupid moment, it was a moment that was built up by what he did to Ego. And I think that just adds to Ego even more, because he helped cement a character trait of Peter’s that would lead to one of the most horrific gut punches in cinematic history.

Ego is an easy 10/10, and is one of the MCU’s greatest villains. He’s a perfect “love to hate” character, and he’s also a perfect villain for a story about family. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has family as a focal point of the story, with the arcs of every single character revolving around the idea that family doesn’t have to be blood ties, it can be with the people who love you and who you’ve bonded with the most. Yondu’s line of “He may’ve been your father, boy, but he wasn’t your daddy” is what really sells it, honestly; Ego is Peter’s biological father, yes, but Yondu raised him and even if he didn’t always do right by him, in the end he showed himself to be a better man and better dad than Ego ever could have hoped to be. I suppose that’s a bit off topic from Ego himself, but I feel like it’s important to note just how deeply thematic he is as a villain, tying into the core message of the story while also letting loose in utter sociopathic villainy.

I think there is a great irony in Ego’s ultimate plan; for all his claims of being lonely and desiring others like him, what exactly does he think would happen if the entire universe was nothing but himself? Would he truly have been satisfied? Perhaps; he was a narcissistic to the highest degree for sure. But I like that there is some ambiguity to things about Ego, I like how there are some things to think about, I like how a villain who has a plan that is not clearly thought out by them yet that they believe is the proper course of action is something of a setup for what Thanos would be.

And really, out of every other villain in the MCU, Ego is most like Thanos. The obvious part is the plan, though only Endgame Thanos really wanted to reshape the universe in his image; still, as I mentioned, their plans are both something they believe is the true and righteous course of action, though Thanos is far more sympathetic in this regard. They also both felt the need to sacrifice loved ones in pursuit of their goals, and they both have incredibly poor relationships with some of their kids. I think the main difference is that Thanos, for all his faults, does have some empathy, he does have some sympathetic traits even if they don’t redeem how much of an awful person he was. Ego has none of that. Ego squanders any sympathy he could have gained by being utterly unrepentant and casual about his misdeeds, which include slaughtering his other children and killing Peter’s mother despite claiming to have loved her dearly. At least Thanos openly wept at what he did to Gamora, at least he felt sadness, guilt, and regret. Ego just doesn’t care. He did it because whatever he really felt for Meredith, there was only one person he could ever truly love: Himself.

In short, Yondu was right: that guy was a jackass.

#Psycho Analysis #Ego #Guardians of the Galaxy #Marvel #MCU

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

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“After the disappointment of the Andrew Garfield-led Amazing Spider-Man movies, everyone’s favorite wallcrawler has been having a renaissance. Entering the Marvel cinematic universe in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, the webslinger fully redeemed himself with well-crafted live-action film in Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

Yes...okay...that was definitely what Homecoming was....

“and a wildly successful spin-off film Venom, ”

I mean financially successful sure...

“In the midst of all his success, Spider-Man has quietly become one of the most inclusive and socially conscious superheroes of today.”

*raises eyebrow*

Okay...go on...

“Last week, it was announced that Spider-Man: Far From Home would feature two out transgender actors playing trans characters, the first big-budget superhero film to do so. Spider-Man: Homecoming also featured a queer character, as well as numerous people of color.”

Wait who was the queer character in Homecoming?

“It’s also worth mentioning that Spiderverse included a Jewish version of Peter Parker, who is typically portrayed as either secular or Christian.”

....ehhhhhhhhh....yes and no.

In media adaptations barring maybe one (the 1994 show cos I do not remember where he got married) Spider-Man is portrayed as...I guess secular but really it’s more that they just don’t say anything.

It’s not that the character is not a believer in a faith per se, especially if you go by older adaptations during times when hardly anyone was secular. It’s just that they, understandably, aren’t saying anything.

In the comics Peter is some kind of Christian but probably a Protestant (unless you go by Amazing Grace where he is an atheist but that’s hot trash we don’t talk about) but we don’t really talk about it that specifically.

We just know that he and his family celebrate Christmas and very, very occasionally Aunt May references going to church and that she, Peter and MJ believe in a monothetistic deity they refer to as ‘God’.

And really apart from the Church thing there is no clue to Peter’s religion and Marvel probably (wisely) would rather keep it that way. He even got married in a civil ceremony!

However in the SUBTEXT...he’s Jewish. And it’s basically an open secret that he is and always has been Jewish.

“The Spider-Man video game also featured a wonderful easter egg for queer fans by having a giant rainbow flag, as well as several smaller ones, scattered around the game’s fictionalized New York City map. ”

I mean that’s wonderful but I wouldn’t call that an Easter Egg so much as...it’s just what you’d find in modern NYC.

“Even the Venom film got in on the fun, with fans shipping Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the titular male alien-symbiote after the two kissed in the film. Sony even encouraged the pairing, releasing a romantic comedy-esque trailer for the film to promote the home release. While some complained of queer-baiting, most felt that it was all in good fun and included queer people in on the joke, instead of making us the target.”

Again, good for them but I don’t think that was the movie actively trying to be positive towards queer people.

Brock and Venom kissed when Venom was bonded to Brock’s ex-fiance and had a pronounced female form, being an adaptation of a character literally called She-Venom.

And it was based upon a script written in the 1990s so really it was more the movie did it and then people took it as a thing that was shipping Venom and Brock (even though Venom is sexless). Brock and the symbiote have been shipped numerous times in the comics but the subtext has always been that the symbiote, if any sex, is female. In the Spec cartoon it is referred to as Symbi (a pun on Cyndi) and in the Spider-Girl comics it is marked out as female (granted this happens after it’s bonded to a woman).

And again, headcanon away but like...that probably wasn’t intentional at all Sony were just being goofy or unintionally made something people took a certain way.

“Indeed, even in the comics, Spider-Man has always been a fairly inclusive hero. Miles Morales was introduced in the early-2000s, taking over the mantel from Peter Parker for several years. ”

Okay, this is so weird for me to be correcting such a praising point but lets really look at this.

First of all Miles didn’t take over Peter’s role for several years he did it permanently.

Second of all Miles is from 2011 so that’s not the early 2000s, that’s the early 2010s, but okay maybe that was a typo.

Third of all, is it really all that logical to say this franchise that began in 1962 has always been fairly inclusive and then cite a character from 2011 as proof of this? Wouldn’t examples from during the FIRST quarter century have been more apt?

Fourth of all...eh. Has Spider-Man been fairly inclusive from the start? Yes, no, its complicated.

Look there were exactly 0 LGBTQ+ characters in Spider-Man until maybe the 1990s and even then I couldn’t off my head tell you who they were. Felicia Hardy is bisexual but we didn’t find out until the 2000s and it was most prominent in an AU. Really the most significant LGBTQ+ character who’s had the fact that they are queer be more than a one off reference was Max Modell and he debuted 2011 and IIRC wasn’t established as queer until 2012. In defence of Spider-Man the Comics Code literally FORBID any character be anything other than straight until the 1990s and even then it was relatively rare, even in X-Men which you’d think it wouldn’t be.

If we’re talking POC again this one is a bit complicated Glori Grant, Joe Robertson, Randy Robertson are frequently appearing POC characters but not in every run and they aren’t usually as prominent as like Jameson, Aunt May, Harry Osborn, MJ, etc. Characters of other ethnicities are even less frequent and I don’t even know what we should make of Puma/Thomas Fireheart. I mean A for effort, they wanted a Native American character who wasn’t really a villain and wasn’t exactly a sterotype so there is that I guess.

Again though...most other Marvel franchises decade by decade weren’t much better with this and we should give credit where credit is due to the same guy who created Black Panther writing a nuanced scene where 2 black people in the 60s separated by age discuss different approaches to civil rights with neither being proven right or wrong.

When it comes to disabled people, outside of evil insane villains, forget it, there is nothing before Flash Thompson in 2008 unless you count Aunt May’s chronically poor health.

“Spider-Gwen quickly became one of the highest-selling female superhero comics. Spider-Woman was a prominently featured bisexual character, and the female Asian-American hero Silk also had LGBT supporting characters, Rafferty and Lola, who were in a healthy relationship. Additionally, many view vampire villain Morbius, who is getting a spin-off film starring Jared Leto next year, as a metaphor for those suffering during the HIV crisis of the '80s. ”

Again...Spider-Gwen and Silk are 2010s characters so that’s not ‘always fairly inclusive’.

I don’t even know if Jessica Drew is bisexual, I’ve never heard that but I don’t think she is.

Morbius as a metaphor for HIV...MIGHT be true if we are specifically talking about his 1990s solo-book which I’ve never read. But the character as originally created 100% was never about that because he was created in the 1970s before HIV was known about.

“Unlike his Marvel counterparts Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, Spider-Man’s world has accurately reflected real world diversity for years.”

....Not really.

I’m not even saying Spidey maybe haven’t been comparatively better at it than those guys but he’s deffo not been accurate.

Plus to be fair to the other guys, Captain America and Iron Man have had at least one major black supporting cast member and in Cap’s case he was fairly candid about social strife and issues.

And with Thor it’s not that fair to throw shade at him for not reflecting the real world given that 90% of this characters and stories are literally pulled from fantasy and myth. I don’t even know if there are any queer figures in Norse myth let alone poc.

“While it’s a seemingly simple idea that any of us can be a superhero, it’s sadly still a radical concept in a endlessly growing film genre that has predominetly centers straight cisgender white men. ”

Well that’s mostly because the comics the movies adapt are about those types of people.

“That is because relatability and inclusion has always been core to Spider-Man’s appeal and message. It’s why the late Stan Lee decided that, unlike other superheroes who expose parts of their faces, Spider-Man had to wear a full-face mask.”

Stan Lee only speculated that that was part of Spider-Man’s appeal, he never had any input on that design choice it was all Steve Ditko...who frankly was unlikely to have been thinking about that...

“Even further, Spider-Man isn’t the king of a country, a billionaire, a woman out of a Greek myth, or a brilliant scientist. He’s just an average high-school kid from Brooklyn who always strives to do the right thing even while struggling to balance his everyday life and hiding a secret identity.”

WHOA there buddy...Spider-Man isn’t routinely ‘a kid’ nor is he from Brooklyn.

MILES is from Brooklyn but Peter, as evidenced by that great big caption in Captain America: Civil War, is from QUEENS.

“And it’s the idea of balancing a secret identity with everyday life that has always allowed Spider-Man to connect with queer audiences long before comic writers were allowed to explicitly include LGBT characters.”

...I’m not denying this necesarrilly but whilst i’ve heard stories from poc who connected with Spider-Man I’ve never heard this about LGBTQ+ fans of Spider-Man.

“Indeed, perhaps the strongest part of Spider-Man’s inclusivity is the subtlety to which it has been done. While Black Panther, Black Lightning, and Wonder Woman rightly put issues of identity front and center, Spider-Man’s quiet diversity allows audiences who typically cry “SJWs are ruining my favorite characters” to actually see diversity showcased without it being overt.”

Errrrrrr...sure....*represses memories of when Miles Morales was first announced*

Lets um...wait and see what happens when those trans characters show up in the movie this year okay.

#Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Miles Morales

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let-it-raines · 5 years

Text

A Single Riders Christmas

Summary: Emma Swan gets in the “single riders” line for a rollercoaster only to be paired with a handsome stranger for what turns out to be the ride of her life...Christmas Edition!

Rating: Mature (literally the first scene lol)

You guys, it’s the holiday season, my very favorite time of the year! No, like, seriously. I love Christmas! And because it’s my very favorite time of the year, I’m posting this thing that I’m pretty sure I wrote in October (everything also just kind of blurs together at this point in the year)...a new addition to Single Riders Won’t Stay Single!

I’m forever blown away by the fact that my weird little one shot developed into what has to be one of my most well-loved stories (again, every kudo, comment, like, reblog, etc makes my heart swell), and I love all of you for loving it and loving all of the jokes I make in it. Like, seriously. Nothing shocks me more than people thinking jokes I make are funny. The ones in this story aren’t funny. It’s literally just Christmas puns that I now use in my everyday life.

Anyways, Happy Holidays!

Original Prompt | here |

The entire story found on AO3 | Here |

Tag list: @resident-of-storybrooke @profdanglaisstuff @wellhellotragic @onceuponaprincessworld @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @ekr032-blog-blog @winterbaby89 @nikkiemms @mayquita @bmbbcs4evr @teamhook @jonirobinson64 @captswanis4vr @kristi555 @captainsjedi @dreadpirateemma

“Killian,” she moans, adjusting her position on the bed as his lips move up and down her clothed stomach before nosing at the bottom of her sweater to expose the skin beneath and planting a soft kiss there, a shiver coursing through her. “Baby, what are you doing?” she asks, running her fingers through his hair as his tongue dips into her belly button.

Maybe she holds him there for a second longer than he probably intended.

His eyes pop up to look at her even as he nibbles at the skin, soothing every bite with his tongue before harshly marking her again and causing her entire body to pulse in the building pleasure coiled within her. “I am trying to admire and appreciate the wonders of my wife’s body, but she seems to be griping despite me being prepped to do some of my best work here.”

“We don’t have time,” she protests even as her back arches off the bed to encourage him to continue.

“I can be quick.”

“You know that’s not a good thing, right?”

“It is when the kids are likely to wake up any moment now, and I bloody want you.”

She props herself up on her elbows as Killian continues to kiss at her stomach, moving down to the top of her thighs before going to lick and nip across the faint stretch marks on her stomach, tracing them with his tongue and driving her absolutely wild, her toes curling as the wonderful pressure continues to build in her stomach.

“If we’re in a hurry, shouldn’t you just, you know, fuck me?”

Killian smiles against her stomach before crawling up the bed and hovering over her, his lips tantalizingly close to hers, just out of reach really, but she can feel his breath mixing with her own. “I’m getting there.”

“Can you get there a little faster?”

“So impatient, love.”

If she had been the one nipping and teasing him, he’d be a hell of a lot more impatient. But the teasing does drive her mad, and he knows that. And oh man is he good at it.

“You’ve been teasing me for what feels like hours. I need something.”

She bucks her hips up against his to prove a point, and the guttural groan Killian makes causes her to both blush and ache with need as his clothed length brushes up against her.

“Tell me what you need, darling.”

“You either get inside of me right now or your mouth gets to work on something other than talking.”

“So demanding.”

“You literally told me to be demanding.”

“I wasn’t complaining.”

“Killian.”

He smirks at her, the one he does before he’s up to no good, and she’s excited for it. So fucking excited. He moves down her body again, his tongue following his lips, and she swears she’s going to murder him when he dips his tongue into her belly button again instead of dipping his tongue where she really wants him. But then he’s backing off the bed as he slides her underwear off, his knees hitting the floor, and she can hear the slight groan he makes at how his body aches a bit resting on the hardwood instead of the softness of the bed.

“You okay, babe?”

“I may be old, but that’s not about to stop me from doing this.”

She laughs because he is most definitely not old, and he quirks his eyebrow to look up at her, presumably to figure out why the hell she’s laughing at him talking about his age. When she just nods back down at him, he tugs on her ankles and pulls her to the edge of the bed, causing her laughter to turn into a squeal as her ass is practically hanging off the mattress, before he hooks his arms under her thighs and throws her knees over his shoulders, feet hitting against his back.

“How many old men can do that?” he teases before diving in and burying himself at her core, breathing against the already sensitive flesh, the mixture of the heat of his breath and the cool air of the ceiling fan making her unsure of what exactly she wants when a minute ago she was up for just about anything.

Killian’s probably…up…for just about anything, too. Why does she make horrible dirty jokes in her head when her husband is very intimately touching her? Is that normal? It’s probably not, and sometimes she’ll say her thoughts out loud and the two of them have to stop what they’re doing to get control of their breathing after laughing so hard. So, yeah, Killian’s up for anything. Him staying married to her is proof of that.

But then he flattens his tongue and gives a long swipe through her soaking folds, and oh god oh god oh god that’s good. He does that continuously, just licking up her slit and causing her to fist the sheets, bunching them under her hands as she arches her back as much as she can to push herself further into him. He’s building her up, but the two of them both know it’s not quite enough. She needs more from him, and as he eats her out like a man starved, she wonders if he drugged their kids or something so that they could do this without being interrupted by little feet and innocent eyes.

They wouldn’t be too innocent if they walked in on this because this is just indecent.

And so damn hot.

“Emma, stop thinking about the kids while I’m doing this,” he speaks against her flesh, the vibrations almost torturous now, before dipping his tongue in her entrance and thrusting it in and out as she stares down at the black mop of hair nestled between her thighs.

To put it simply, it’s one of her favorite views in the world.

“How do you – ah fuck, that’s good– h–how do you know I’m thinking about the kids?”

He stops his ministrations to look up at her through the dark of his stupid long eyelashes, and he’s so beautiful sometimes she cannot believe it. “I know you, and even if this is the preclude for how we make children, you shouldn’t be thinking about them.”

“Maybe you should be doing a better job at making me go blank then.”

He growls before burying his head back between her thighs, doubling his efforts, and when he finally bites her clit, she practically screams out, her nerves on edge and relieved at the harsh friction. He seems to have taken her words seriously, licking and sucking and teasing until the pressure that’s been slowly building is so good that if she doesn’t come, she might cry.

“Faster,” she moans, and Killian listens, increasing his speed and pushing her thighs closer so that his scruff brushes up against the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs, and when he firmly presses his entire face into her core, she cries out in ecstasy as her back arches further off the bed and her entire body tingles while Killian slowly brings her down by stroking his tongue through her folds, lapping up her essence.

She’d like to thank Universal Studios and the Incredible Hulk for her orgasm. That would be an interesting part of their online advertising.

It’d honestly probably get them more business.

Killian kisses the inside of her thighs, but she can’t really feel anything because they feel like jelly, and fuck that was a good orgasm.

So definitely not making the kids anything involving jelly later.

“You’re a marvel, darling.”

He crawls up her until his legs are nestled between her thighs as he stands at the foot of the bed, stroking himself while smiling down at her with the goofy smile he uses when he’s making a joke and not when he’s about to fuck her. He’s an absolute goofball, and she loves him so damn much that he could wear a clown mask and she wouldn’t care.

Okay, she takes that back. Not a clown mask. Those things have always been creepy, and she’s not clowning around when she says that.

“Killian,” she chuckles when his knees hit the mattress and he pushes her legs back over her stomach to give him more access to her, spreading her opening wider, “why do you have that smile on your face?”

He hums, the smile on his face only increasing. “I was thinking about something.”

“What was it?”

“If I tell you, I ruin a surprise I have planned for you tomorrow.”

She doesn’t know what kind of surprise he could have planned, and she really, really wants to know. But she also knows that the longer they stand here and talk, the less time they have. She’d really like to fuck her husband.

“Get inside of me and then tell me the surprise, okay?”

“Again, so demanding.”

He lines himself up before slowly sliding into her, checking to make sure she’s okay like the gentleman he is. They’ve only been approved to have sex again for two months, but she didn’t feel like it until last week so it’s pretty much been a mad race to the finish line (literally) ever since. He gingerly begins to thrust in and out of her while holding onto her calves to keep them propped up above her. It strains her muscles a little, but it’s totally, definitely worth it.

“So I…fuck that’s good,” Killian grunts, the sound of his pelvis hitting her thighs quietly echoing in the room, “I was going to send you a Christmas related p-pun every day…until Christmas.”

She feels the snort bubble up in her throat, and even as she tries to hold it in, she can’t, the sound coming out of her throat before she knows it. Killian’s thrusts stop, and her snort turns into a whine.

“Keep going.”

“How are we going to have this conversation if I keep going?”

“Because you’re going to tell me the pun, which I already know is dirty, and then you’re going to fuck me into the mattress…And don’t tell me I’m demanding again.”

Killian nods his head, still completely immobile inside of her, and this is pun better be worth it. She sees him stifle a giggle, biting his bottom lip, and that’s hotter than she expected it to be. Even after all of these years she’s not over the way he does things.

She kind of wants to bite his bottom lip.

“When I think about you, I touch my elf.”

Oh wow. That’s worse than she thought.

She loves it.

“Babe,” she laughs, her stomach moving up and down with the motion, “that’s so bad.”

He shrugs. “I never said it was good. I promise some of them will be better, though.”

“Fair point. Alright, man. Chop chop. Let’s get to moving.”

He begins his thrusts again, this time more insistent and powerful and oh boy has she missed having this kind of connection with him. They’ve still got it, not that she ever thought that they would lose whatever it is, but it’s nice to know that they can still badly flirt and fuck…well, not badly fuck. They’re pretty good at that. Great, really. But they really, truly don’t have long, every second already more than they thought they would get, and Killian takes that to heart, pounding into her at such a furious pace that she thinks her eyes roll in the back of her head and her breasts leak milk…yep, that second thing totally happened.

John Mayer probably wouldn’t think that her body is a wonderland, but Killian does. Oooh, instead of Walking in a Winter Wonderland it can be Fucking in a Winter Wonderland…she’s probably ruined Christmas with that thought.

Killian’s breath starts getting a little shaky and his thrusts a little erratic. “You close, babe?”

He nods, choosing not to speak as his jaw clenches, and she already knows she’s not going to come again before him but it’s a nice, pleasurable feeling nonetheless. “I love you,” he grunts out when he starts to pulse inside of her, spilling himself, and that feels so good. She can’t…she can’t quite explain it, but it does as she whispers her love back to him. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers when he practically falls on top of her, mindful enough to prop himself up on his forearms as he kisses at her stomach again, making her truly feel beautiful even with the slightly flabby stomach and leaking breasts.

After he’s cleaned her up in more ways than one and the two of them get redressed in their pajamas and crawl back into bed, she hears the pitter patter of little, loud feet running down the hallway.

“Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse” is the biggest Christmas miracle of them all because that would never happen.

“Who would have thought they’d disturb us before Ada?”

“Me,” Killian answers, leaning over and pecking her lips before crawling out of bed and standing at the door in wait of the two rascals about to run through, scooping them both up and over his shoulders before they get a chance to tackle her on the bed, squeals emanating from their mouths while her heart swells at the sight of Killian with them. “You two been up to any shenanigans this morning?”

“We built a pillow fort in Ada’s room.”

Oh shit. She’s out of the bed before she can stop herself, and how did they not hear any of that on the baby monitor? She really, really hopes that they didn’t mess with her in the crib, and as she slides into the open door and sees that Ada is happily laying down in her perfectly fine crib, her heart practically exits her body before Killian can follow her with Declan and Hope still squirming over his shoulders.

“Oh baby,” she whispers, reaching over and picking up Ada and simply holding her close to her chest because she was a little (a lot) scared that they’d put sheets or blankets or pillows over the crib that may have fallen over her and strangled her without them realizing it. “I’m so happy to see you this morning, Ada bug.”

“Emma, are you okay? Is she okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she whispers, pressing a kiss against Ada’s dark fuzz. “I just…we have to talk to them about coming in here again without one of us.”

“Aye,” he agrees, and the concerned look on his face softens into a smile.

“What do you say we do it over breakfast?”

“Well,” Killian smirks, raising that eyebrow, “I already ate breakfast.”

“What’d you eat, daddy?”

Emma’s worry fades a bit as she tries not to laugh at that extremely dirty joke and the fact that Declan asked a follow-up question. Killian should have known better.

“How do you guys feel about pancakes?”

The next morning is the first day of December, and despite it being a Saturday, Killian has to go over to Liam’s to help build a fence, which she didn’t even know Killian could do, for Liam and Belle’s new dog. She’s going to bring the kids over later, but apparently Liam wanted to get an early start mending fences.

Liam’s going to have to mend fences with her for taking Killian away from her when she’s got three tiny humans all on her own. Maybe she’ll just drop those tiny humans over at his house so that she and Killian can have a date. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.

It’s as she’s pumping her breast milk (or “Jones juice” as Killian so weirdly calls it when he’s helping to feed Ada) that her phone goes off. When she checks it, it’s from Killian, and this must be when the Christmas pun texts begin.

He’s very…pun-ctual.

There’s a reason she’s not the one sending them.

Killian: What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Snowflakes.

Killian: This fits in very well with what we did yesterday. I’ll see you later, love. It’s eight, so I hope you’re pumping it real good right now.

Emma: Love you even if all of your jokes are bad.

Killian: You love me because my jokes are bad. Don’t get it confused.

The next few days pass, and even when Killian is with her all day, she gets a text message with a bad Christmas joke. She has no idea what has driven him to do this, but she likes it. She likes him. Okay, so that may be a bit of an understatement.

Killian: Why did Santa go to jail? He sleighed an elf.

Killian: What was Santa’s favorite subject in school? Chemistree.

Killian: It’s not English and literature because he doesn’t have me as a professor.

Killian: Ooooh, literaTREE!

Killian: What kind of linens do gingerbread men put on their beds? Cookie sheets!

Killian: Can I have a picture of you so I can show Santa what I want for Christmas? Preferably without clothes or maybe in that little red number we never got to try out.

Killian: That also doubles as a sext, in case you didn’t pick up on that.

Killian: Or better yet, you can ride my sleigh.

He didn’t think grading finals would ever end. He thought he’d be stuck in his office forever and eventually die there when the snow piled up outside and no one bothered to look for him because everyone is supposed to be home for the holidays. Well, no. His students would probably want their final essay grades back, and some of them would most definitely dive through the snow to get him to hand over their grades if he doesn’t post them online in enough time.

University students can get violent about their grades. It’s probably what he deserves after he puts them through hell every semester.

And maybe Emma would show up to try to find him once his Christmas puns stopped coming…or maybe she wouldn’t because his Christmas puns stop coming. He’s not too sure which way she’s leaning because he can’t see her face when she gets the texts. He likes to think that she smiles at them.

He knows that she smiles at them.

But he’s just finished entering the last grade into the computer, and he lifts his arms in elation, letting out a whoop that echoes throughout the empty walls of his office. No part of him feels ridiculous. He feels jolly.

He’s been reading too many Christmas-themed jokes.

After he finishes packing up everything he’ll need over the break, he locks his door and makes his way home, walking several blocks from campus to their house where he knows Emma is probably about ready to pull her hair out as she and the kids finish getting the rest of the decorations ready for them to decorate tonight. They’re trying to get it done before Declan’s birthday party on Tuesday, but it’s a bit difficult to get everything done, their lives a constant balancing act. And with him still loaded down with work until this very moment, their house has been awfully bare of anything remotely festive.

It's a crying shame because there’s no one who loves Christmas more than Emma. She’d once admitted to him that she had hated it because she’d never had a family to celebrate with, and ever since that vulnerable moment, all he’s wanted is for her to know that she’s always got him. And now the kids, too. He’s watched her eyes lighten every year as the Christmas season passes, from that first one they spent together with Liam and Belle with Belle’s family in Storybrooke to the one they spent as parents to a two-week old who wouldn’t stop crying and to this one, the five of them in their house with all of the glass ornaments replaced with plastic ones and children’s movies playing on the television instead of his personal favorite of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Of course, they could watch that. It’s not like the kids would get any of the references, but he’s just going to save that for when he and Emma are up with Ada, who will hopefully not be scarred by anything her little blue eyes see. She’s not even four months, so he thinks that they should be fine. They’ll screw her up later.

“Honey, I’m home,” he mock yells as he walks through the front door, kicking his boots off and putting them on the shoe rack that no one else but he and Hope use.

“I know you’re making a reference, but it weirds me out when you call me honey.”

“Why would it weird you out?” he questions as he follows the sound of her voice to the living room to find her standing suspiciously by herself with a baby strapped to her chest as she hangs ornaments on the tree.

“Because you don’t call me honey.”

He hums, walking up behind her so that he can caress her neck with his chin, the bristles of his scruff causing her to giggle and squirm away from him even as he holds onto her hips to keep her next to him. “But you,” he latches his lips onto her ear, “are as sweet as honey.”

“You’re such a flirt.”

“Aye, so are you, but you don’t see me complaining.”

She laughs before turning to fully face him, leaning over the baby now resting between them to press a kiss against his lips. “Hi, babe. I’m glad you’re home.”

“Me, too. Now, I don’t mean to pry but,” he leans down to kiss the top of Ada’s hair, listening to her little giggles she always makes when he kisses her, “don’t we have more of these?”

“They’re napping.”

“Like, actually sleeping or they’re just supposed to be sleeping?”

“Actually sleeping.”

“Well, aren’t you amazing?”

“I am,” she agrees, and she’s not teasing him there. “Now help me hang the rest of these up, but leave all of the blue ones for Dec and the three pepperoni pizza ones for Hope. The two cheese ones are okay for you to hang though.”

“Why in the world?”

“I don’t know. That’s just what they both said. The Hope thing is totally on you for buying pizza ornaments.”

“Well, you know you’re all my – ”

“Pizza prostitutes, yeah yeah. I’m never living it down. I was just trying to make sure you knew that my intentions for sleeping with you were pure.”

“It was a very memorable night, love, and not a single bit of it was pure. I feel like you wouldn’t want to live it down.”

She smiles then, and it’s the smile she reserves just for him. Not for their kids. Not for their friends and families. For him. It makes something swell in his stomach, and he’s so very glad that she loves him the way that she does. He doesn’t know how he ever deserved someone as wonderful as his wife, but he’s thankful for her every day, even on the days where they love each other but don’t like each other very much. Maybe especially on those days.

“So everything but the blue ornaments and the pepperoni pizza ones, yeah?” he questions, squatting down to pick up several ornaments on his fingers, hooking them around the tips, before starting to hang ornaments in the empty spots at the top of the tree where Emma can’t reach.

The two of them, well three, go on like that for awhile, hanging ornaments on the tree so that the winter green bristles are suddenly being covered by the glow of the multi-colored globes, the lights causing the colors to mix together and shine in a way that they usually wouldn’t. When he lived alone, he always decorated his tree by himself, and the ornaments all matched each other, like something you’d see in a magazine. And while they still use his ornaments as Emma didn’t really have any, the tree is also filled with homemade crafts from Declan that he made at school or little tiny things that Emma’s made with the kids over the years. There’s one in the box somewhere that he knows says Jones Family established 2018 and then several more that say things like Baby’s First Christmas. They’ve got a new one for Ada this year, and it makes him a bit sad that it’ll be the last of his babies’ first Christmases. But he wouldn’t change a single thing.

And then, of course, there’s the pizza ornaments and a few trains in there, and a custom-made rollercoaster ornament he bought Emma the first Christmas they were together. She’d laughed so hard when she unwrapped it in the guest room of Belle’s parents’ house, and the sound had been sweeter than any music he’d ever heard.

Almost on cue, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas comes on over the speakers Emma’s got set up with the television, and as she hums the song underneath her breath, almost like she’s humming to Ada more than humming along to herself, and isn’t his life simply wonderful?

Maybe it’s the fact that he’s on a two-week vacation, or maybe it’s just the fact that he really does love his life that all of these sentimental facts are popping into his head.

“Emma, love?” he ponders, letting her finish up the two ornaments she’s trying to hang, her bottom lip between her teeth and her humming stopped while she’s contemplating this very serious decision of where to place the ornaments.

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to dance with me?”

He offers his hand before she can say yes (or no), and she takes it, her small palm enveloped in his as he guides her to the middle of their living room where there’s an open space among all of the furniture and children’s toys. It’s a bit awkward having Ada between them, but it’s nothing he’s not used to as he slowly spins Emma around and sings along with the song, making her laugh and smile with the entirety of her face. The loose hairs that have escaped from her braids start to fall out even further, getting stuck in her eyes and her mouth as she blows on them to keep them out of her view.

“Killian,” she giggles when he spins her again, Ada now firmly snoozing despite all the movement and noise, “you’re ridiculous.”

“Most likely. But I have the smooth moves, don’t I?”

“The moves like Jagger, babe.”

“I was thinking more like Astaire.”

“Just call me Ginger.”

When the song winds down, they’re both a bit winded, but that’s more from the laughing than any physical exertion. He should dance with her more. Maybe they’ll get a babysitter and he’ll take her out somewhere nice. Or maybe they’ll continue to twirl around their home. It probably doesn’t matter too much as long as she’s happy.

Eventually Declan and Hope come running down the stairs, Declan’s long legs carrying him much more quickly than Hope’s small ones, and they “help” finish decorating the tree, the bottom a little blue heavy with a few pepperoni pizza ornaments sprinkled in.

“It’s like magic,” Hope sighs, her high-pitched voice lowering, when they turn the lights off and close the curtains so that they can look at their creation glowing in the darkness.

And it kind of is.

The next few days pass quickly now that he gets to be at home with everyone. Emma stopped taking cases after Thanksgiving so they could have these few weeks together with no work, so when he wakes up every morning with no alarm other than Ada, Emma’s always beside him. Instead of texting her his Christmas jokes, he starts writing them on sticky notes or stationary, anywhere he can think of that she’ll see.

He leaves the appropriate ones outside so the kids can see them as well, but whenever his mind conjures up something that shouldn’t be shared, he leaves that in their room.

You can jingle my balls, baby. He writes that one on a note and leaves it on her pillow right before bed. She laughs so hard before riding him into oblivion while her chest still heaves with laughter.

Why can’t vampires bite snowmen? They’ll get frostbite. He writes that on the dry erase board on their fridge, even drawing a little snowman with fangs that Declan tries to recreate in the snow outside. It doesn’t work out very well, but they have five snowmen in their front yard. The neighbors must be incredibly jealous.

What do baby elfs learn in Kindergarten at the North Pole? The elf-abet. He buys extra bath letters to spell that one out in the bathtub while bathing Hope and Ada.

You don’t need mistletoe to get me interested, my love. It hangs from the mistletoe he puts right over their bed, and Emma’s laugh when she finds it causes his heart to beat rapidly within his chest.

Why are turkeys so good at playing Christmas music? They have drum sticks.That one goes on a note on the turkey in the freezer, and he’s still waiting on Emma to find it. He’s the one who is cooking anyways, so that one is probably a lost cause.

Shouldn’t you be on top of the tree, Angel? Or maybe on top of me. That one goes on her side of the sink in the bathroom, and she simply shakes her head as they brush their teeth before making a promise of later.

Emma somehow convinced Mary Margaret to watch both Leo and all of her children, and that woman’s name is appropriate because she is a saint. An actual saint. Who in their right mind would want to watch three kids of all different ages plus her own toddler all for free? Emma’s not even sure that there’s food in the house for everyone.

“I love you, Marg,” she tells her after she and Killian have hugged everyone goodbye. “Like, seriously. We owe you big time, and if you need anything, call and we’ll come straight home.”

“You’re supposed to be going on a date. I’ve been instructed not to call unless the house is on fire. And maybe not even then.”

She spins around to look at Killian who simply shrugs, like he’s not going to admit to being the one to admit to telling Mary Margaret not to call, even though it would literally not be anyone else. “C’mon, love,” he encourages, placing his hand on her lower back as he not-so-gently guides her to the car. “This is going to be fun. I promise.”

As they’re riding to wherever Killian is taking her (He won’t tell her. He just picked out her outfit of jeans and a fitted black turtleneck sweater with warms accessories, so she really fears that they’re going to be outside in the snow for this entire thing), they listen to Christmas music, songs she knows by heart playing over and over again as she watches the bare tree branches be slowly covered by the white powder of snow. It’s beautiful, and while she hates driving in it, she does like watching it as they travel at least an hour away from home, idly talking whenever either of them have something to say.

“You know, if I were the Grinch, I’d steal you for Christmas.”

“But what are you going to do if you’ve already stolen my heart?”

She turns her head to look over at Killian, and she can tell he’s biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing from the way his jaw clenches. She ruined his joke, and she’s not even sorry. Reaching over to place her hand on the inside of his knee, she squeezes him before resting her hand there, running her thumb back and forth.

“How would that work logistically speaking?” she continues, watching his profile and seeing the sunlight bring out the ginger in his beard. “How would you steal me? And if you did steal me, don’t you think the kids would be able to find me? The first two might not care, but the last one needs Jones Juice. And I hate to break it to you, but you can’t provide that for her.”

He snorts, releasing the steering wheel with his right hand to place it over hers. “You just said Jones Juice out loud, love. I’m finally wearing you down.”

“I know,” she sighs, and they should go for rides in the car more often. None of their kids have needed the car to fall asleep at night since Declan, and she misses it. It was obviously inconvenient, but she felt so close to everyone riding in the darkness of the car, music softly playing in the background as Killian drove them around, the only lights coming from the headlights and the occasional streetlight. Maybe they’ll drive around and look at Christmas lights before the holiday season is over. “It’s super weird, and I’m sure other people would hardcore judge us. But I don’t care.”

“Good.”

When they finally get to this super secret location, a giddy smile breaks out on her face over seeing it’s a winter carnival already full of families running around. For a brief moment she thinks they should have brought the kids, but, no, this is right. They should have time for just the two of them, and this is so much better than simply going out to eat.

“You’re brilliant, babe.”

“I know.”

She doesn’t bother playfully reprimanding him because he should know that he’s brilliant. He really should.

The first thing they do is ice skate. Well, attempt to ice skate. She’s never done it before, and it takes Killian fifteen minutes and the promise of all of the hot chocolates that she wants plus some sort of baked good to make up for when she inevitably falls and busts her ass on the ice.

If you fall on the ice, does the ice automatically start icing your injury? Probably not or hockey players wouldn’t have to have all of that padding. Or maybe that’s to protect against the blades. Or maybe the punching. There’s a lot of punching in hockey. Should she be wearing padding? Like, that should be a requirement for anyone getting on skates and then on ice. And maybe a helmet.

She’s been a mom for too long for all her thoughts to be based on safety.

Or maybe she wants to be able to walk tomorrow.

The only reason she shouldn’t be able to walk the next day is because Killian repeatedly fucks her into the mattress. Ice skating just isn’t going to cut it as a reason.

“It’s going to be fine, love,” he encourages, stepping out onto the little artificial pond, and she feels pathetic watching all of the small children zooming by while she hasn’t even gotten on the ice yet. “I’m going to hold you the entire time, and I’m never letting go, yeah?”

“Do you promise you’re not going to do that thing where you fake drop me?”

His mouth ticks up on one side before he schools his features. “I’ll have to think of another plan to sweep you off your feet then.”

“It doesn’t count as sweeping me off of my feet if I land on my ass.”

“But you won’t be on your feet.”

He eventually gets her out on the ice, and it is terrifying. She hasn’t been this nervous about something since she gave birth for the first time, and she was drugged then. She’s thinking drugs aren’t really a choice now.

An epidural would be a guaranteed way for her to bust her ass. That thing turns your legs into noodles and whew. It’s weird.

The more Killian moves her around the rink, the bastard skating backwards as he guides her in slow circles holding onto her hands through their gloves, the more comfortable she feels. But then Killian lets her hands go and she nearly tumbles forward until he catches her, her arms wrapping around his rumbling chest while she tries to keep her heart from pumping itself out of her chest.

“You are on thin ice, Killian Jones.”

“Was that a winter themed pun, darling?”

“You’re not the only one who can make them. I’ve got one for later that I think is really going to blow your mind.”

“Well that sounds intriguing.”

As promised, he doesn’t make her spend too much time on the ice, helping her off and back into her shoes before buying her the largest hot chocolate they can find. He even goes so far as to walk around to several booths looking for cinnamon for her, and she loves this man so damn much. It doesn’t seem like a big thing, and it really isn’t, but it’s the little moments in life that are most important to her even with all of the wonderful big moments.

They walk around the festival, stopping at all of the little booths until they get to the Ferris wheel that’s set up at the end of the park. She knew this was the main reason they were here the moment they pulled up in the parking lot and she saw the colorful ride.

It’s difficult to find time to go on rides (both the amusement park ones and the ones that amuse the two of them), but even if they haven’t been back to the place they met since she told Killian she was pregnant with Declan for the first time, they make a point to find some sort of ride to go on together every year. At least three times it’s been the carousal at Frog Pond in the Commons, but she wouldn’t trade it for a thing. One time they did that and a Swan boat ride after their fourth anniversary dinner date, and she and Killian only tried to push each other into the water one time for every year that they were married.

Okay, maybe multiple that by five.

As they stand in line, she starts to shiver, the chill of the air nipping at her skin. She really wasn’t expecting it to be so cold even being all bundled up, and she moves further into Killian’s side so that she can rest her head against his cheek, the soft bristles of his scruff pressing into her beanie and parts of her forehead as his arm rests against her waist while his hand runs in soothing circles over her back, tugging her closer to him in a comforting embrace the keeps the both of them warm.

“I love you, darling,” he whispers against her temple, his hand still moving while his cheek nuzzles into her a bit more.

“I love you, too. Why are we doing this again?”

She knows she just thought about it, but she wasn’t this cold ten minutes ago. She’s not Elsa from Frozen. The cold bothers her, and she can’t let it go.

(She may have figured out a way to block that movie on Netflix, though, because she couldn’t watch it one more time.)

“Because it’s tradition, and you were pregnant on our anniversary.”

“Yeah, well, that’s entirely your fault.”

“I believe it takes two to tango, love.”

Eventually the two of them load up into their little pod, and she breathes out a sigh of relief at the warmth inside of the ride only for her to lose her breath as the ride gets higher and higher. It’s just dark enough outside that all of the Christmas lights in the neighborhood behind the park have been turned on, and all she can see is the twinkling of multi-colored Christmas lights and trees lining the streets with the slightest bit of white snow still visible. It’s stunning, and she wishes that they could stay up at the top for the tiniest bit longer.

Not that she wants the ride to break down. She’s not crazy. She’s simply enjoying the moment.

As they start to descend, Killian cups her cheeks and presses a fierce kiss against her mouth, moving his lips over hers and basically doing the equivalent of making out with her until they’re back on the ground and the poor ride attendant has to bang on their pod to get them to stop and get off the ride, the teenager looking thoroughly disgusted.

“Are we so old now that we disgust teenagers when we make out?”

“I still think we’re pretty hot, but I don’t think teenagers want to watch any adult make out.”

“So what was that pun you wanted to tell me earlier, love?”

“How about I slide down your chimney and make this a not-so-silent night?”

On Christmas Eve all of their friends and family come to the house, the sounds of voices echoing all throughout the walls of the home with the voices of Rudolph and Frosty on the television entertaining Declan, Hope, and Leo while all of the adults talk. Of course, he doesn’t really get to do a lot of talking since he’s in the kitchen making dinner for everyone. He doesn’t mind. He likes it, and he knows that it’ll be worth it in the end to eat something all the way cooked through instead of something that Liam or Emma made.

“Hey, babe?” Emma calls, walking into the kitchen in her plaid pajamas, the same ones he’s wearing. Mary Margaret had insisted that each family wear their own set of pajamas, and finding pajamas that don’t look ridiculous on a forty-two-year-old man and a four-month-old is quite the challenge. He thinks he and Ada are pulling it off, though.

He’d like to pull Emma’s off of her, but it’s five in the evening and they have a house full of people.

He also has a Santa hat on top of his head, so he’s probably not the most attractive he’s ever been to Emma.

He hums in response to her question, looking over from where he’s finishing the macaroni and cheese topping to see Emma hopping up on the kitchen counter, her legs swinging beneath her until he stops what he’s doing and settles himself between her thighs, his hand snaking up underneath her shirt, feeling the soft skin of her stomach, while her hand runs against the muscles of his chest. He dips his head to kiss her, his lips slanting over hers while the scent and taste of the cinnamon on the hot chocolate she was drinking earlier invade him. This is definitely not what they’re supposed to be doing right now, but he doesn’t bloody care.

When he pulls back, his lungs protesting for air, he rests his forehead against Emma’s while her fingers start playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, right under his hat.

So maybe he’s still got it going on.

“Now, what was I in here for?” she sighs against his lips, bringing her bottom one between her teeth.

“Does it matter?”

“Obviously not. You’re doing some good work in here.”

“With the cooking?”

“I was talking about the kissing, but I’m sure the cooking is good, too.”

She pushes herself up to capture his lips again, and that’s exactly when he hears the sound of Ada crying and his brother’s soothing tones getting closer to them so the sounds aren’t simply background noise. He and Emma pull back from each other to see Liam smirking at them with an absolutely wailing baby in his arms.

“Look Ada,” Liam coos, “Mummy is kissing Santa Claus.”

“She’s hungry. I’ve got to feed her, babe.” She pushes him back so that he releases her hips, letting her hop down and take Ada from Liam, the cries already calming a bit. Emma sits down at the window bench to feed Ada, unbuttoning her shirt, and Liam almost falls to the ground as he tries to turn to look away from Emma.

“Liam,” Emma laughs, adjusting Ada in her arms, “you don’t have to freak out. You’ve seen breasts before. You’re married.”

“Not my brother’s wife’s.”

“Well, there was that one time – ”

“That we don’t talk about, yes,” Liam insists, not letting him finish his sentence. That had been quite a series of unfortunate events that caused Liam to blush every time he looked at Emma for weeks afterward. “I just don’t think it’s good form. I’ve seen enough of the two of you for my lifetime.”

“Killian, why don’t you get Liam to finish helping you cook? I don’t think he’s going to want to eat in the same way Ada is, and he can’t do that if you don’t finish cooking the food.”

Liam groans like he’s just been stabbed, and Killian has to stifle his laugh. “The two of you are the worst. Just, the worst.”

“I’d say we’re the breast.”

Liam’s groan only increases, his face turning as red as the Santa hat still gracing Killian’s head, and his brother really is so easily embarrassed for a man in his mid forties.

Eventually all of the prep work is finished and while the food cooks, everyone settles down into the living room, Ada now snoozing in the crook of left his arm while his right arm his wrapped around Emma’s shoulder and his fingers are playing with her hair, feeling the soft strands fall between his fingers.

“So how much longer until dinner’s ready?” David questions as he helps Hope and Leo play with some of the toys that are scattered around the room. Their house is a disaster, and he doesn’t even care. He’ll care in three or four days, but right now he can live with it.

“About thirty minutes, Dave, but you’re welcome to eat some of Santa’s cookies if you’re that hungry.”

All three kids in the room who can talk yell out different versions of “no,” their little faces contorted in shock and maybe a bit of anger, and he honestly didn’t think through that comment.

“If Uncle David eats the cookies,” Declan whines, scrambling over to him, his knobby knees digging to Killian’s legs while he tries to adjust Ada in his arm, “then Santa won’t come. And I’ve been waiting for Santa all year.”

“I was just kidding, buddy,” Killian reassures, and Emma pulls Declan further over into her lap. “Uncle David isn’t going to eat the cookies. We all made those for Santa, and they’re staying that way.”

“Good. Because I worked hard on those, and Mommy wouldn’t let me have one even out of our special cookies.”

“After dinner, Dec,” Emma reminds him, pushing his hair off of his forehead. “Remember? We’re good all day, and then after dinner we get one cookie.”

Bribery. The secret to parenthood when you’ve given up on trying to do things the right way.

Hell, Emma bribes him with things sometimes, too.

After everyone leaves and the kids go to sleep (wow did that take forever), he and Emma start getting everything set up for the morning. Being Santa is more difficult than he thought, and as he and Emma place the reindeer slippers they bought for the kids to wear in the morning outside of their doors, he has to be careful not to step on any of the creaks in the floor.

“You know, darling,” he whispers, his voice sounding louder than he intended, “if we keep going how we’re going, we’ll have enough little reindeer to power the sleigh.”

“Santa’s workshop is closed, babe.”

“Well, according to Liam, I’m Santa, and my workshop is still working just fine.”

Her face scrunches up in laughter. “Do you just sit around and thinking of ways to make Christmas dirty?”

“Yes. And I still haven’t given you your pun for the day.”

“I know. I’ve been looking for it all day, but I can’t find it.”

“That’s because I’m going to tell to you later. If you’re nice.” He slaps her ass, and she squeals. “Or maybe if you’re naughty.”

They sneak downstairs to start putting the presents they’ve been hiding in the top of their closet on the couch in the living room, distinguishing from Santa gifts and gifts from mom and dad. Sometimes he feels as if they go a little overboard, and they probably do, but they can give their children the things that the two of them never had. Declan is the only one who made a list for Santa, and one of those things was a lizard, so that’s definitely not happening. But then there were the normal things such as toys and books (okay, so maybe the kids didn’t actually ask for books). Their big thing is a new playset in the backyard, one that will last for years for all three of them, and as much as he loves his children, he does not love the fact that he’s freezing his ass off trying to set it up with Emma at eleven at night with nothing but a flashlight and the neighbor’s kitchen light guiding him.

Sometimes he wishes Santa was real because then he wouldn’t have to do things like this, his breath coming out in white puffs while he tries to silently hammer in the nail to hold the attached swing set up. Emma’s been cursing over on the other side of him as she works on the slide, and this was not their smartest decision. He’s also genuinely surprised by the fact that the two of them haven’t let their language slip in front of the kids. Well, maybe Ada. But she’s not going to remember any of it right now.

Like he continues to say, they’ll screw her up later.

“Baby, it’s cold outside,” Emma complains hours later when they’ve got it all set up, and he’s testing it out under his weight to make sure nothing will fall as he munches on Santa’s cookies.

“Are you referencing the song or are you just trying to get me to go back inside instead of making sure this thing isn’t going to fall and crush our children like the wicked witch of the east?”

“The second part. I think I’ve gone numb.”

She shivers, and even if it’s exaggerated for dramatic effect, he knows that it’s real.

“I’ll hold you to keep you warm.”

“You can do that in inside.”

“I feel like we’re partaking in a different version of the song right now, darling.”

“We don’t rhyme.”

“Give us time.”

“God, you’re stupid.”

He smirks, and she’s going to hate him for this. Or love him. He thinks that she loves his quirkiness. Okay, he knows that she loves his quirkiness.

“But you’ve been hit by the arrow of cupid.”

Even in the darkness he can see her roll her eyes before a smile forms on her face. It’s far past midnight, the two of them are likely to get no sleep, especially since he’s sure Ada’s monitor will go off any minute, and the two of them are most likely delusional. “Wrong holiday.”

Like clockwork, the monitor goes off, and he and Emma finally go inside, the two of them taking care of Ada before he settles down into bed while Emma grabs a sweater out of the closet and rests her hip against the wall of the closet and stares at him. Like, really stares at him. Stares at him with such attention that he thinks she might drill a hole in his head.

“What, love?”

“You missed your pun for yesterday.”

“Technically, we haven’t gone to sleep, so we still have time.”

“Okay then,” she sighs, walking to her side of the bed and crawling under the covers, settling herself on the opposite side of the bed to him, and that just won’t do for his purposes.

Smiling and raising his eyebrow, he tries to keep his voice serious as he speaks. “Why are you over there when there’s a perfectly good lap over here? One could say – ”

“Killian, I swear if you say come sit on Santa’s lap.”

“Dammit, love. That was my pun for the day.”

She laughs before rolling over in bed until she’s settling herself over his lap, her knees and elbows momentarily hitting him until she gets settled and wraps her arms around his neck, her hands playing in his hair while he rests his hands on her waist, feeling the still cold skin there.

“I know you better than you know yourself, Killian Jones. I saw that one coming from a mile away.”

“I know, but I was saving it because my one for tomorrow is much more romantic, and I needed to balance it out.”

“Romantic, you say?”

“I hope so.”

“It’s technically Christmas. Can I hear it now?”

“After we’ve slept. I promise. Now, dare I say, Santa’s not the only one coming tonight.”

He kisses her before they both settle down into bed, falling into each other before falling asleep and hoping that their little elves don’t come running into the room for a few more hours.

The baby monitor goes off again an hour later, and Declan and Hope come in an hour after that. Oh to be young and so excited for Christmas that you can’t sleep. He and Emma also can’t sleep, and he thinks this must be some kind of retribution for all of his sins in life. He’s not sure which one caused him to have his son be so bony that he feels like he’s being stabbed when Declan crawls over him, but damn that must have been a bad one.

Hope is much more gentle with her movements, always soft and caring until Declan says something to rile her up and she stands with her hands on her hips and a look of pure Emma on her face. But this morning, well, she jumps onto the bed, practically squealing that they need to go see if Santa came last night (Santa did, but the kids don’t need to know why he has to hide a snicker).

The entire morning passes in some kind of Christmas-themed blur, reds and greens filling his brain as he follows after little feet to throw away wrapping paper and ribbons that leave seemingly ever-growing trails of glitter on every surface of the house. And then they show the kids the playset outside, and it’s chasing after little hands and feet to make sure they do not break those very hands and feet. It’s a wonderful, glorious morning, and he never wants to forget a moment of it.

Eventually the high of Christmas does run out for the kids, and he and Emma collapse onto the couch. For the first time in two days, not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse. Emma rests her head on his lap, and his fingers play with her hair, messy and tangled from her lack of brushing it this morning. Exhausted, un-showered, and feeling like they’ve just been hit by a truck (or a sleigh) is pretty much their usual state, but Emma still looks up at him with bright green eyes and a small smile.

“You want to exchange our presents now?”

“What makes you think I got you something besides what was under the tree?”

“Because that’s what we’ve always done.”

He smiles, gently moving her head before he gets up to retrieve the small box from behind the television while Emma goes to get a box out of the kitchen, where it’s not so slyly been hidden for a week now. They sit back down on the couch, handing each other the boxes, and it’s almost comical the way they both rip into the packages. The kids obviously get it from someone.

But he waits to truly open his until Emma has opened hers.

“Merry Christmas, my love,” she reads out loud, a smile blooming on her face when she quickly looks over at him, “I’m so glad you marriedme. Aw, babe. That’s my favorite of your cheesy puns yet.”

She kisses him before going to open the small box, revealing the diamond earrings he’s been thrilled to see her open. They don’t give each other a lot of expensive gifts, the two of them not craving such things, but it’s been a hell of a year with a surprising new baby and all that’s accompanied that.

“These are beautiful,” she gasps, her fingers running over the jewels before she looks back at him. “You didn’t have to do this, and now I feel kind of guilty over my gift.”

“Why would you feel guilty?”

“Because I made it instead of buying you anything. Do you know how damn hard you are to buy for?”

“Bloody difficult, but I’m sure I’ll love it. Can I open it?”

“Yeah,” she nods. “Open it. I got the idea from all of your puns, I guess in a roundabout way. We had that box of all of our sentimental stuff just sitting in the closet, and I thought I’d combine it. Something that we could set out on the coffee table and look at all the time. Or maybe you can take to the office so you have a piece of home there.”

When he finishes unwrapping the paper, it’s to reveal a photo album, and the more he flips through it, the more he realizes that she’s chronicled their entire relationship, pictures and small paper souvenirs as well as things the kids have made. It’s, well, it’s everything to him to have small snapshots of all of the memories they’ve made since they met. Sod fancy gifts when he has the life that he has.

He cups Emma’s face with his free hand, and she leans into his palm, her eyes fluttering closed and only opening when he rests his forehead against hers, their lips brushing together when he speaks. “This is wonderful, Emma. I – I love it, darling. This is everything. You’re everything. You and the kids.”

She smiles at him, and nearly every time he sees that smile, he thinks of how thankful he is for a chance meeting in line for a rollercoaster. He doesn’t know what he’d do if he things hadn’t aligned for them to meet that day, but he doesn’t think about it too much. Things have happened how they did, and he’s not going to question a single part of it, not when he has his family.

“Merry Christmas, Killian.”

“Happy Christmas, Emma.”

His life is a wonderful ride, and he never wants it to stop.

#single riders won't stay single #captain swan #cs fic #cs ff #it's disgusting fluffy #I didn't even know I was capable of this much #I had no idea when to post this #but it's December now so whatever

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batarella · 6 years

Text

Endlessly - Jason Todd x Reader

AAAAAAAAALL ABOARD THE SMUT TRAIN EVERYBODY. WE’RE GOING TO SINS-VILLE.

You guys are simply amazing. Your endless support, everything you do that seems to only inspire me to go back to writing everytime I feel like I just cant do it anymore. You guys did this. This is your work. I must say I’m a bit rusty so bear with me, since you guys only deserve nothing but the best. I love you all so much.

WORDS: 1597

WARNINGS: SMUTTY AF. READER’S FIRST TIME. STOLEN VIRGINITY. AAAAAALL ABOARD THE SMUT TRAIN.

He shushed your giggles after he clumsily bumped his head against the door frame. You covered your mouth, then he took it away to kiss you again. Your feet fumbled to get inside the room. The door slammed shut, almost a bit too loud that Jason cringed at that, glaring at you and looking around to make sure no one was about to check on you both. You continued to chuckle at his goofiness as you wrapped your long arms around his neck, staring deeply into the blue tint of his shining eyes.

Jason Todd was beautiful. You loved his eyes, and the way he’d look at you that made you feel as precious and beautiful as any treasure on earth. His hands were as warm as a fireplace in the middle of a stormy winter, and his body, his mind, and his heart, him entirely, was your everything.

The look you had on your face made him stop worrying so much and hold your waist, pulling you as close to his warm, firm body as he possibly could. He lowered his lips until it met yours, lightly wrestling and moving just to let you feel the addicting sensation of his lips on you. You breathed when he lowered down to your neck,, lightly biting and making you whimper from needing more.

You felt his warm hands brush down your waist and under your shirt, only to move up again and bringing the fabric along with him. You gasped at the feel of his hands on your skin, so scorching hot and burning much like his lips on your neck. He soon brought your shirt up above your head, exposing your lace bra cladded breasts. His eyes lit up as he stared at your breasts so blushed and perfect and ready for his touch.

You felt the edge of the bed hit the back of your knee. You were really gonna do this. You had totally forgotten about it, being so lost and your focus being on Jason more than anything else, that you almost neglected the nervousness and doubt you had when you're about to lose your virginity.

Holy shit, you remembered, you’re really gonna have sex.

The light brush turned into a deep red on your cheeks when you realized just what you were about to do. Jason, too, felt nervous that he was gonna see you naked for the first time. What if he doesn’t do it right? or worse…

You continued to kiss his plump, burning lips before he pulled away to look right into your eyes. You felt safe. This is Jason you're with. And when you're with him, nothing could ever go wrong. His large hands held the sides of your face, careful not to break you with his hold when the need for you inside him was growing too strong for him to control.

He needed you. He needed to feel every part of you. He needed to make you moan and writhe and feel good. He wanted to be inside you, taste every inch of you. He wanted to see you naked, unclothed, to satisfy the fantasies in his mind that he’s too embarrassed to reveal. He wanted you, all of you, and to show just how much he loved everything about you.

You both were starting to sweat, so awfully turned on that the anxiousness of doing it for the first time was almost completely masked off. He gently pushed you to the bed until you laid on your back. You never left his gaze, slowly moving up to the headboard on your elbows while he crawled on top of you until you were comfortable. He slowly brought his shirt above his head, showing you his perfectly chiseled chest that was almost god-like.

You were really about to do this. Fuck, this is terrifying.

But the look on Jason’s eyes spoke to you, telling you that it was okay and that you were secure in his hold. His fingers fumbled with the button on your jeans and pulled it down your legs, along with your panties. To you, it was either happening too fast or too slow. You laid there, not really knowing what to do until you realized your wet pussy had been completely exposed. The cold air on your core shook you, made your knees tremble, and the lower region of your stomach engulfed in a burning flame of lust. He stared at you, spreading your legs wide for him to admire your need for him.

You unhooked your bra and threw it to the side. Jason couldn’t stop his predatory gaze on your now unclothed, hopelessly beautiful body. He hasn’t seen you this way until now, and fuck, it was like he fell in love all over again. The bulge in his pants grew undeniably bigger and harder. “Wow…” he whispered to himself, almost as if he forgot you could hear him. You blushed, but his hands couldn’t help anymore but run down your sides, lightly brushing over your breasts like a feather. His eyes lit up so much, you couldn’t tell he was enthralled by your beauty or if he was just horny as fuck.

His eyes met yours again, and he leaned down closer to you, whispering “I love you” before he kissed you hot and heavy again. You heard him unzip his jeans, then something hit the inside of your thigh, something that felt rock hard, solid.

You looked down, and your mouth almost dropped open. You prepared a while for this moment, but fuck you didn’t prepare for a size like that.

“Jason…” you whimpered, but couldn’t say anything else ‘cause his mouth devoured what was left of yours. “Shhh, it’s okay,” he assured you, “I got you.”

You kissed him back and helped him off his jeans. You were now fully naked, and the feel of his skin, all of his skin, and the burning friction that rubbed against you, drew a blank in your head and drove you mad. You were a sweaty, hot mess, writhing on the bed and moaning wordless cries for him.

You pulled away from his kiss when he slowly inserted the tip inside you. “Fuck,” you cried. He stretched you wider and wider with every inch he seemed to fit inside your tight virgin pussy. He almost fell apart at the feel of you around him. “Holy shit,” he cried out. A tear fell on your cheek, which he quickly kissed away.

Thank God, he had the consciousness left still to hold back enough to be gentle. If it weren’t for you and your need for his care, he would've mindlessly fucked and pounded on you by now.

He was now fully inside you, and the new, overwhelming sensation of having Jason’s cock inside made you tremble and in need of his warm embrace. He peppered kisses around you, to make you feel more secure and calm. Your knees were dead by now, but the pain, the goodness, the satisfaction it brought, it only made you want more.

You looked into his eyes. And he read your mind, knowing what that look in your eyes meant. He began to move his hips, slowly thrusting into you.

“Ohhh!” you clawed on his back, shivering and trembling at every push. You felt a mix of pain and pure ecstasy. You never felt so filled up, so full, your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you cried. It felt like you couldn’t do much but just lay there and take it all in. You looked straight into Jason’s eyes, his having the same flushed look as you. You both moaned and cried as you held each other in a tight embrace.

His cock. Fuck, his cock. It was glorious. Perfect. So rock hard and long and so fucking thick that you just knew you wouldn’t be able to walk that well tomorrow or maybe for the next week. You cried out his name, doing anything you can as an outlet to the overload of pleasure loaded deep inside your dripping pussy. It started to build up slowly, the pain soon fading out. You could now only feel this burning, spine-tingling sensation you desperately wanted more of. You couldn’t take it anymore.

At his last thrust, you fell apart. You screamed, tears falling down your face as your body felt electrified with the never ending waves of goodness that flowed all throughout your body. Your whole body trembled, fireworks blowing up on your core and only his hold on you as you shivered at the slow, painfully satisfying orgasm. Your pussy clenched so hard around his hard cock that it pushed him off the edge.

He pulled out suddenly, unloading his cum on your stomach as he pumped it hard and fast. He kept moaning, looking straight at you and the cum that spread all over the flushed skin of your stomach and breasts. You breathed hard, watching him cum all over you before you’d possibly pass out. You looked so fucking hot. He was definitely never gonna stop doing this with you.

You took a bit of his cum off your tits and licked it off your finger. “Fucking shit, (Name),” he groaned, before he laid beside you to catch his breath.

You just did it. You had sex. You came. It wasn’t awkward or awful or anything like they said it would be. It was nothing short of amazing.

Of course, it could be because it was with the man you loved endlessly.

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd smut #red hood #red hood x reader #red hood smut

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dyde21 · 6 years

Text

Olympus University 1: The move-in

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been in a weird mood lately and not too driven to write. But I’ve been wanting to start this AU for a while so here it is! More after the chapter.

XxXxXxXxX

Annabeth stared at herself in the mirror, taking a few deep breaths. Forcing a smile onto her face, Annabeth tried to mask her nerves. She had already gone through an entire week of training, and after two years in this dorm she practically felt at home here. Surely becoming an RA in charge of a floor wouldn't be that difficult, right?

On the bright side, being an RA meant that she got to move in a week early for training, and she could avoid these few days of chaos as students started filtering in one at a time. They were down to their last day of move ins, so after another long, hot day of meet and greets, she could finally relax and settle into her normal duties and prepare for another long school year.

A brief snippet of Taylor Swift playing as an alarm told Annabeth it was time to leave, so she quickly silenced her guilty pleasure before making her way to the lobby to head outside.

It was still criminally early in the morning, so no one had arrived yet thankfully. A long row of tables were set up for students to check in, get their room keys and swag before they started to move in. Saying hello to the odd student or two she saw who had moved in one of the two days prior, Annabeth made her way to the table to help finish setting up.

A chipper girl with a black undercut and far too cheery of a smile for the time of day was already laying out the folders of student names as she hummed a tune to herself.

Smiling despite herself, Annabeth moved over and helped set out another stack of folders. “You're way too awake for this hour.” Annabeth critique as she bumped hips with the girl.

In return the girl just stuck her tongue out. “Not my fault I actually like to get up in the morning. You get to see the sun rise, people wake up, and the world slowly come to life. It's awesome!” She offered.

“Or you just have a screw loose.” Another voice interrupted. Annabeth suddenly saw a cup of something warm being thrust in front of her as she grabbed it thankfully. The smell of coffee warmed her very core and she was suddenly extremely thankful for the other girl. “You're an angel, Reyna.”

Rolling her eyes, Reyna just started assisting as well, ignoring the pouty face from the pixie girl. “What, no coffee for me?”

“If you had any caffeine in you you'd scare off all the new students.”

Ashe pouted, but didn't offer up an argument. A moment later though a blonde walked up and handed her a cup as well. “Hot chocolate should be fine though.” A familiar voice sounded. Glancing over, Annabeth saw the final RA of their dorm finally decided to join them. Judging by the look of him though, Jason wasn't exactly a morning person either.

Ashe sent him an award winning smile before she took a sip of it, sighing happily, and going back to work.

With all four of them, the work was moving pretty quickly now. Which was good, considering students were starting to filter in with their parents.

“Show time.” Reyna mumbled as she turned to face them, a bright smile being plastered on her face.

Annabeth also turned to face the crowd that was now forming as she began to help them find their folders, get their keys, and sort them off into groups to be shown into the building before they started moving.

Luckily it was still pretty early so there weren't too many of them yet. Thankfully Annabeth saw some of the other volunteers show up right about then as well. They took over for the RA's, starting to sort out the new students.

Nodding to the other RA's, Annabeth nodded and moved back towards the growing crowd of students. She didn't exactly want to try and herd them, and judging by Reyna's expression, she wasn't exactly in the mood to do it either. On the bright side though, one of their group just so happened to be a ball of sunshine even during unnaturally early mornings.

“ALL RIGHT EVERYONE!” Ashe's voice cut through the morning air, maybe a notch too loud. She seemed to understand that as she winced, having seen a few people jump at the sudden outburst. A tad quieter, she continued. “We'll start the first round of tours now and show you to your rooms. Floor 1! You're with the blonde guy, Jason. Group up on him. Floor 2, you're with Reyna.” Reyna raised her hand to show them. “Gather around her. Floor 3! You're with Annabeth.”

Annabeth raised her hand this time, keeping a bright smile and waving it slightly. This was their first real impression of the dorms, she had to make sure it was a good one. A few of the students started to gather around her and she took a few steps back to make sure they had plenty of space.

“Floor 4! You're the winners and you're with me. Gather around me then we'll go to the best floor.”

She called out, earning a laugh or two as she stuck her tongue out at Annabeth. Rolling her eyes, Annabeth had to admit having someone like Ashe on the team did make these normally boring tasks just a little more bearable.

“All right! Floor 1. Let's go! If you're still signing in, don't worry we'll have plenty more tours coming up.” Jason's voice now cut through the crowd, as he gestured and started leading his group into the dorms.

Reyna followed not long after, and feeling like it was a good grace period, Annabeth motioned towards her group. “All right! Follow me. I'll give you a quick tour and show you to your rooms.” Annabeth said as she started herding her group towards the entrance. After explaining how you used your fob as an electronic key to open the doors in the dorm, Annabeth ushered them inside. The actual interior of the dorm was rather spacious. There was a large common room that went up two floors, with hallways branching out on either side, and a stair case that lead to a balcony above them that held the second floor rooms.

“As you can see, this is our first common area. Either of those hallways lead to the rooms on the first floor. That big stair case will lead you up to the second floor.”

Moving over slightly, she pointed and two doors across from each other. “This door leads to the laundry room. There's one on each floor. Do not forget your laundry. We're not responsible for what people do to clothes left in the washer or dryer for too long. If you're lucky it'll just end up in a pile on it.” She warned, before smiling again. “The other side leads to the staircase that goes up all four floors. Be careful opening and closing that door, there's a room right on the other side of the wall on each floor so be considerate.”

Moving back across the lobby, she pointed at the other room. “One side is the trash/recycling room that is on every floor as well. The other door is to a media room. Big screen is first come first serve there, and there's one on the first and third floor. If you need to reserve the room for whatever reason, talk to the housing office here on the first floor, or in the other dorm. They can set you up with a reservation that will be enforced.”

“Now follow me.” She offered once people were done commenting on the media room and already making plans. Leading up the large staircase that lead to the second floor, she pointed at the study room that was on the other side of double doors the divided the hallway. “This is one of three group study rooms. This one, and the one on the fourth floor are a little smaller than the main on the third floor. Now then...”

She said, moving the group along towards the elevator. “As you can guess, this is the elevator. Please don't spill food in here, it makes it stink for ages.” Pressing the button to move to the third floor, she leaned against the wall and scanned the crowd. No familiar faces, she figured most of them were first or second years, while she was a junior herself. One face did catch her attention though. A tall guy with deep sea green eyes, and a goofy smile on his face. Annabeth's stomach did a turn, and she realized he was actually really attractive. The fact he was on her tour meant he lived on the third floor too, which was... nice. Taking in more of his appearance, she also realized he was currently chatting with another girl. She had tanner skin, and a feather was braided into her hair. They were chatting back and forth way too easily for two people who just met, so Annabeth figured they must have already been friends. That was also... interesting.

Before she could mull over it any more, the elevator dinged and the doors opened up to the third floor lobby.

“As you can see, the third and fourth floors are pretty much just duplicates of the first two. Except there's less foot traffic since the entrance isn't here, and instead we have the main study room.” Annabeth said with a sweeping gesture towards the large room separated from them by a wall of glass and double doors. Inside were two booths, with windows looking out to the courtyard, then the walls were lined with a counter you could sit and study at.

“Fair warning, it gets kinda hot in there, especially during the spring and when there's a bunch of body heat.” Annabeth offered, having already spent most of her two years in that room working diligently.

Sensing they were about reaching their limits with the the tour, Annabeth decided to wrap things up.

Pointing towards the massive TV mounted on the wall, that had a table and three couches facing it she nodded. “This is the third floor common room, a lot of people chill out here. The TV is also first come first serve usually. Be polite, try not to use it for too long if it looks like other people want to watch something. Though for you night owls, after quiet hours people tend be either studying or in their rooms so that's a good chance for movie night or game night.” Annabeth offered with a shrug.

Once again, people started forming plans of what could be a fun night.

Moving to one of the hallways branching off form the lobby, she opened the door with a fob. “These are the room hallways. Most rooms are segregated by gender, but not all. We're adults now, so there aren't exactly rules about being in other rooms over night and such, but be respectful to your dorm mates, and obey quiet hours. We RA's do do rounds to make sure no one is too loud, and it's our job to be killjoys if we need to. Now then, everyone check out your room, greet your roommates if they're there, and get ready to move in!” Annabeth offered, released the excited crowd of students and a few parents as they quickly rushed up and down the hallways to find their numbers.

Moving back to the lobby, Annabeth loitered around for a few moments to wait to see if anyone had any questions. A shy girl asked where her room was, and Annabeth patiently directed her to the other hallway and waited around a bit. A few parents had questions for her as an RA, wondering about under age drinking, explicit activities, danger the like. They seemed satisfied with Annabeth's by the book answers, and Annabeth didn't exactly blame them. It was a scary thing to have your kid going off to live on their own, usually for the first time. While every RA certainly had different levels of hardass, with Reyna being the strictest and Ashe probably being the most lenient, they all were extremely concerned with the safety of the students and did take their job seriously. Luckily that seemed to be conveyed, and before long Annabeth was making her way back to the first floor. Seeing a large group of students waiting, Annabeth sighed and figured she should speed up her tour a bit to avoid back logs of people.

On the bright side, returning student's didn't bother with the tour so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, especially since their dorm wasn't usually inhabited by freshmen.

Annabeth had very quickly lost track of how many tours she had actually given, and the morning had been a blur aside from the brief moment that Ashe had pulled her aside to shove a muffin and more coffee into her hand, telling her that one of the other volunteers could do a tour or two.

Sitting on the bench outside next to the bubbly girl, Annabeth used it as a chance to catch her breath. Ashe was in the middle of happily recounting some of the cool facts she had already learned about people on her floor. Honestly, Annabeth was impressed by Ashe's people skill. While Annabeth wasn't bad with people really, Ashe really was something else. People were just drawn to her. Glancing over, Annabeth just watched the girl's eyes light up as she continued her story, a genuine smile on her face. No matter how busy they had been, Ashe looked like she was just playing around even with the pressure.

A few moments later they saw Jason and Reyna approaching them with some snacks. Reyna leaned next to them while Jason scooted Ashe down the bench to plop down himself.

“We have a lot of athletes on my floor.” Jason offered with a yawn.

“Says the Lacrosse player.” Reyna countered. “I'm pretty sure my floor is mostly made up of honor students.”

They all turned to look at Annabeth expectantly.

Thinking for a moment while she fiddled with the muffin wrapper, she tried to remember everything she had heard them say. “I think...”

He mind kept flashing back to that boy she saw chatting with the feathered girl.

“I think my floor is going to be fun.”

Reyna raised an eyebrow, while Jason nodded. Ashe just seemed jealous.

She opened her mouth to say something before she paused, suddenly staring past Annabeth. “Hey...”

The rest of their heads turned to follow her gaze.

Farther down there was a boy walking down the path with two older girls, carrying what must have been a heavy, long box. Except one of them had stepped away, and was currently surrounded by a crowd of people who were offering a notebook, as if for an autograph. The girl seemed surprised, but took the pad of paper and started signing. A second later the group seemed to noticed the other girl, and swarmed her, forcing her to take a step back before she started signing as well. This left the boy to struggle down the path with a box that was clearly too much for him.

Annabeth set down her muffin. “Who are they? We sho-” Before she could continue, she saw Ashe already bolting down the road to give him a hand. Jason was only a few moments behind her, and Reyna just looked after them, before shrugging, and stealing Jason's spot on the bench.

The pair reached the boy who had only managed to struggle a few steps. Ashe said something in the distance, and the boy paused, before nodding. Soon the three of them were approaching the building.

Jason had a simple smile on his face, while Ashe was grinning like a little kid. “It's a piano!” She answered Annabeth's unspoken question about the box. “I told you I have the coolest floor. It's a keyboard.” She continued as she lead them inside towards the elevator.

As they boy walked past, Annabeth could see a embarrassed small smile on his face. His gaze flicked over to the two girls who were still being swarmed by students. Just who were they that they had fans? Annabeth didn't recognize them.

Reyna stood up, crumpling her garbage. “That's probably long enough of a break. They're started to back up again.”

Nodding, Annabeth felt a new sense of vigor as she started another tour, trying to be a little more engaging and interactive this time. She didn't want to fall behind the rest of the RA's, as she felt her competitive side getting stoked.

After another tour, Annabeth saw a stack of totes being carried by someone, and the feathered girl from before following behind. She realized a second too late, and her warning didn't make it. “Watch ou-”

The boy's foot caught on the edge of the pavement, and he crashed hard, dropping the three totes he had been carefully balancing. Annabeth was over there in seconds, hoping no one had gotten hurt.

“Percy!” The girl's voice called out, a mix between amusement and concern.

“I'm fine Piper.” He brushed off, a small laugh in his own voice.

“Are you okay?” Annabeth offered, grabbing one of the totes and carrying it.

The guy, this “Percy” Turned, and looked at her before flashing her a sheepish smile. “Oh, hey RA... Annabeth.” He said, after reading her name tag. “Uh... thank you.”

The girl just shrugged. “He's a skater. He's taken nastier spills than that. I'd be more worried about that concrete than his skull in a collision.” She offered, setting down her own tote to shake Annabeth's hand. “You're our RA, right? I'm Piper. Nice to meet cha.”

Annabeth shook her hand, grinning. “Nice to meet both of you. Come on, I'll help you out.” Annabeth offered as they continued up the stairs.

Percy just flashed her a brilliant smile in thanks, and if Annabeth's cheeks flushed slightly, she'd never admit it.

A minute later and they found themselves at one of the doors in her hallway. Percy knocked on the door with his foot, and the door opened up to reveal a woman. It was hard for Annabeth to describe her age, she was one of those mothers that just seemed to always look like the same, caring mom. She stepped aside, letting the trio in as she held the door open.

“Thanks mom.” Percy offered as he passed.

They all set down their totes and turned towards the woman who had been in the process of unloading a bag of groceries and setting up the place with basic necessities. Annabeth offered her hand out of instinct. “Nice to meet you, I'm Annabeth Chase. I'm the RA for this floor.

The woman returned the shake, beaming. “Sally Jackson. So you'll be in charge of Percy this year, thank you for looking out for him.” She offered, a playful smirk on her face. “He can be a bit of a handful so please excuse him.”

Percy groaned in an affectionate way from somewhere behind her. “Come on, mom. Don't get me in trouble before the year even starts.”

The three girls in the room laughed and Annabeth had a feeling Percy would be fun to hang around. Even if it was just the first day, there wasn't the awkward heavy air she had found herself surrounded by in some other dorms when talking to parents. Casting a curious glance over at Piper, she raised her eyebrow as she tried to figure out a polite way to word her question.

As if reading her mind, Piper shook her head. “Nah, we're just childhood friends, not siblings. My dad is busy with a film, so Sally offered to take me up here as well.”

Annabeth nodded, some things making a little more sense. Percy definitely looked like his mom, but Piper understandably had no apparent relation.

“That's the last of my boxes.” Percy said, glancing around the room. “Let's get yours pipes.”

Sally nodded, setting the bag aside as she began to follow Percy and Piper out of the room.

“Do you still need help?” Annabeth asked as she made sure to close the door behind her.

Piper shook her head. “You've been scrambling around all morning, we're good. We can catch up later, I'm sure we'll see plenty of each other.” Piper offered with a smile as she stepped into the elevator.

Waving goodbye, Annabeth took a few steps back towards one of the couches and collapsed onto it. Checking her phone, she noticed lunch had started being server a little less than an hour ago. Time was just flying by today. Sending out a quick message to the RA group chat, all of them mentioned being hungry. It seemed they were starting out the year on the same track at least. They agreed to meet up on the third floor, so Annabeth let her muscles relax for a moment. A student or two had stopped to ask her how to get to the food court, and Annabeth was quick to offer them directions. Before long, Ashe bounded down the stairs, still alarmingly bubbly as she plopped onto the couch next to her. “I'm starving.” She offered helpfully.

Nodding, Annabeth let out a yawn. “Same. Reyna and Jason should be here in a few.” They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment before a thought crossed her mind. “That boy with the piano, did everything get squared away?”

Ashe nodded, her usual pixie like grin being replace with a softer one that definitely piqued Annabeth's interest. “Tyler? Yeah, it's an amazing keyboard, you should see it sometime. He promised to let me hear him play sometime. Apparently he's in the music program here.”

Annabeth quirked an eyebrow as a grin crossed her face. “Oh? You seem happy about that. Making a new friend?” She teased.

Ashe's face just flushed a little red. “No! He just seems... cool, you know?” She defended herself, looking away. “Even if he is a little cute.” She muttered in a voice almost too quiet for Annabeth to catch. Before Annabeth could press her friend even further, the elevator dinged and Reyna and Jason emerged. “Ready?” Reyna asked with a yawn.

Annabeth nodded, but Ashe had already bounded towards the elevator, clearly glad for the escape. She shot Annabeth a sharp glare warning her not to say anything. Laughing, Annabeth just raised her hands in resignment and joined them. Before long they found themselves in the massive cafeteria. There were a number of stations that offered a variety of selections like a grill, salad bar, rice and meat, pizza, the like.

Having decided to just stick with a simple sandwich today, Annabeth took her seat next to Reyna as she began to finally fill her needy stomach. “So how'd your tours go?”

Holding up a finger to tell her to wait, Reyna finished another bite of her burger she was devouring. “Pretty good. Most of my floor seems pretty cool. I doubt I'll have a lot of problems this year. A lot of younger students.”

“I'm in the same boat.” Jason suddenly chimed in as he took his seat. “A lot of first and second years, and most of them are athletes.”

“That's rough. Good luck with your calls.” Annabeth offered sympathetically.

Jason pouted. “Please, you're just biased. Athletes are fine, just because you don't like sports doesn't mean we're bad people.”

Rolling her eyes, Annabeth shrugged. “I don't exactly mind sports. They just aren't my thing. And come on, last year our football team triggered the fire alarm twice, and broke a window.”

“Anecdotal evidence at best.” Jason countered.

Reyna looked impressed. “Someone studied over summer.”

Jason scoffed and nudged Reyna's foot under the table. “Don't be rude.” He said, not unkindly.

Annabeth didn't notice the small fond look Reyna got, even Jason was missing it.

A minute of banter later and Ashe joined them, setting down two plates of food. “It seems like the food isn't much better this year than last years. Shame.” She muttered, still digging in already.

Reyna just shrugged. “You're just all snobby about food. Not all of us are in the culinary program.”

Sticking her tongue out, Ashe took another bite. “Fine, be that way. I don't need to cook for you this year then.”

Reyna looked stricken as she bowed her head. “I apologize for my foolishness, please cook for me again.”

Everyone laughed, and Ashe just seemed pleased. “Apology accepted.”

Annabeth leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. “I think I know someone Ashe wants to cook f-” She yelped as a foot collided with her shin, hard. Reaching below the table and rubbing her poor leg, Annabeth shot a glare at her friend who was still smiling innocently with a mock expression of concern as if she hadn't just attempted to break her leg.

Jason was clearly about to press the matter but Annabeth shook her head dismissively before she could end up in any more pain.

Glancing around, Annabeth saw pretty much what she expected. Most of the students were dining with their parents and families. In one booth on the end she saw Sally eating with Percy and Piper, and they seemed to be having a good time from the looks of it. Following Ashe's line of sight, she found the boy, Tyler, from earlier eating with his parents and his two sisters by Annabeth's guess. Annabeth had to admit that the autograph session earlier still had her incredibly curious, but she wasn't exactly going to press an issue like that at the start of the school year, she was supposed to be his RA, not a snooper. Besides, she had a feeling Ashe would learn all about the boy soon enough, and she could learn from her later.

Lunch ended almost too quickly, and the rest of Annabeth's night was mostly filled with some paperwork and meetings. Now that they were about to actually start their jobs, that meant there were some more boring and redundant meetings to go through for training and what to expect for the first half week before classes started that were full of orientation activities.

By the time she got back to the dorms, it was already pretty late. A lot of the students were out for one last dinner before the parents left if they were still around.

Jason had the first night shift for being responsible for phone calls, so Annabeth could take it easy thankfully. Making her way to the third floor lobby, Annabeth figured she should at least be around for a bit for any questions students inevitably had.

The TV was already occupied from some returning students who knew how things worked and were currently watching Frozen of all things. So, settling into one of the chairs at the small tables in the back Annabeth pulled out some of her notebooks and decided to do a little organizing before classes started next week. She figured it wouldn't hurt to get a head start considering how busy her life was going to be combining classes with the duties of being an RA. She was stopped by the occasional new student who nervously asked her some basic questions, like how exactly the washers worked, what the RA number was, if it was okay to go to her with any problems and questions and the like. Annabeth did her best to reassure them that the questions were perfectly fine the ask her, and that her door was always open if they needed to talk to her, and that it was her job to deal with stuff and they shouldn't be afraid to ask her. Especially the new students, Annabeth did actually care about helping them feel at home and safe. This wasn't just a resume buffer to her.

Before long Ashe had also popped downstairs to join her. She had claimed the seat next to her, and was softly humming along to the songs as they played during the movie, in a surprisingly in key pitch. In vain, Annabeth had suggested Ashe also get a head start on studying and preparation, but Ashe shrugged and said “that was a problem for future me.” Rolling her eyes, Annabeth could tell her friend hadn't exactly learned a lesson from the past year. That meant probably another year of occasional crash courses and late night study sessions.

Percy and Piper showed up rather late that night with a teary-eyed Sally as they stopped by his room. It wasn't difficult to tell that his mom and himself were close, and she had a feeling it would be the first time Percy was away from her. Her heart broke for the mom, but her day had been filled with bittersweet moments like that. Sally had stopped by on her way out, still dabbing some tears out of her eye.

“Thank you again looking out for Percy this year. I know he's grown up, and he'll be fine. But I'm glad his RA seems to be someone responsible like you.”

Annabeth just nodded. “No worries, I'm sure he'll love it here and he'll thrive. Don't worry, I'll make sure he calls you.”

Sally just laughed, but the briefest expression of relief crossed her face. “I'm not too worried about that, I think he'll be good about it but if you keep him in line it'll be a miracle.” She teased. “Well I should get back to the hotel now, but thank you again.”

Annabeth waved goodbye to the kind mother and settled back into her chair.

“She seems nice.” Ashe remarked idly, a small smile on her face.

The door leading to the hallways upstairs opened, and a chorus of voices sounded out. Glancing up, Annabeth saw that boy from earlier, Tyler, leaving with his family. They seemed to spot Ashe, and the family made their way over to her.

Tyler stayed off to the side, near the elevator as he was clearly embarrassed.

His dad was next to him, and they were chatting, and despite Tyler's clear hesitation, they were laughing.

Annabeth saw a tall woman shake Ashe's hand, and two girls slightly older than herself by her guess both shook Ashe's hand again. “Thank you again for taking care of my brother.” The first one said fondly.

“I'm sorry for any trouble we cause him.” The other one offered in a kind of sad tone.

The mother just rested a hand on each of their shoulders. “Ty will be fine.”

Ashe just nodded and glanced over at the boy briefly. “Don't worry, he'll fit right in I'm sure. I'll make sure he calls you regularly too.”

The mom laughed. “If you can manage that you're officially the best RA ever.”

Ashe saluted. “Leave it to me!”

They all said their goodbyes, and Tyler walked them down to the exit.

Once the elevator closed, Annabeth cast a glance over at Annabeth. “Why did they say they'd cause trouble for him?”

Ashe opened her mouth to respond, before she glanced around. “I'll explain later.” She offered in a surprisingly serious tone, once again causing Annabeth to be super curious. Still, trusting her friend's judgment she let the subject drop.

Not long after the elevator on the fourth floor dinged, and looking up Annabeth and Ashe could see Tyler walking back alone, his head kinda hanging low. Annabeth felt her heart sink a bit unfortunately. It was clear he was sad. Glancing over, Annabeth could see Ashe's emotions clearly on her face. She looked like she wanted to go up there and hug the boy. It seemed like she was already invested in him, but Annabeth wasn't exactly surprised by that. Out of all the RA's of this dorm, Ashe was readily the most empathetic.

Still, a moment later the door closed and Tyler must have slunk back off to his room. Ashe looked over to her, and Annabeth shook her head. From their brief interactions, Annabeth could tell he was like herself, and prideful. She doubted the thing he wanted right now was some RA fussing over him.

Ashe just nodded and slunk back into her seat, clearly pouting a bit. Before long though, everyone was yawning and the busy day was starting to weigh on them. Ashe said goodnight first, and soon Annabeth was also calling it a night. Slinking back to her room, a special room for RA's that was a single person room instead of the four person suites the rest stayed in, Annabeth called it night.

It was only the first day, but there had already been a few new people Annabeth was excited to meet.

Thoughts of Percy drifted through her head, and Annabeth had a gut feeling that her junior year was going to be a fun one.

XxXxXxXxX

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I am really excited for this AU and will probably bounce between Cafe Half-Caff and this one to stay motivated to write. Don’t worry, the rest of the 7 will be introduced into this story and get plenty of time, and each chapter will switch between Percy’s and Annabeth POV. I kinda want this story to just be about college, and a lot of the events and stuff are based off my experiences at college. This is a pretty light-hearted story, and my college experience was very positive so that will definitely be reflected in this story. Hopefully for my younger readers can see a different version of college that isn’t as scary, depressing, or full of alcohol or booze. It’s definitely what you make it in my opinion. Anyway, more writing soon hopefully!

Please let me know if you’re interested in this AU at all, no idea if there’s any interest in it. This will also be cross posted to fanfiction.net

#pjo #Percy jackson #HoO #Annabeth Chase #percabeth #reyna avila ramirez arellano #jason grace #Ashe #Tyler #My OC's #PJO AU

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positivelyamazonian · 6 years

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10 Favorite Game/Anime/Movie Characters

Tagged by: @a-super-evil-cat-who-murders (thanks!!! It was fun!)

The Rules: Name your top 10 favorite characters from 10 different fandoms, then tag 10 different people.

Well I’ve already done a tag for FEMALE CHARACTERS so I’ll leave this in case you wanna check it. For not repeating myself, I’ll do this time just male characters.

I’ll tag: @luluvonv @luthienamell @adayka @hydraballista @anyathebloodshell @anentireamazon @jar-cup @kim-v-croft @autumn-star93 @lady-trent

Of course don’t feel obliged to do this. And yes my characters come in not a particular order!

1. Haplo the Patryn - The Death Gate Cycle (book series)

Posting an amazing fanart by Melusaaste because there’s not an official art that shows him so close-up, and honestly, this is the most accurate depiction of him I’ve ever seen.

Haplo is the anti-hero and main character of The Death Gate Cycle series written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Personal childhood hero (despite being an antihero himself), husbando and whatnot, until today he’s one of my fav characters ever, because through him I learnt the most perfect character development, from a cruel, merciless and amoral villain, to... well, not a hero if you think so, but to redeemed human being.

“A 'why' is a dangerous thing... It challenges old, comfortable ways, forces people to think about that they do instead of just mindlessly doing it.” - Haplo in Dragon Wing, the first volume of the series.

2. Johan Liebheart - Monster

You don’t know what’s a villain until you meet this bastard. I am not an otaku or very enthusiastic of anime series, but Monster by Naoki Urasawa are probably the best manga/anime series ever written. And his villain, Johan Liberheart, one of the most twisted fucks ever written by an author.

Tortured, mentally ill, twisted, cruel, amoral, there’s no way to explain Johan. He experiences no character development and he has not a single redeeming quality, yet you just can’t let him go. An unforgettable character, not recommended for the weak and vulnerable.

There's nothing special about being born. Not a thing. Most of the universe is just death, nothing more. In this universe of ours, the birth of a new life on some corner of our planet is nothing but a tiny, insignificant flash. Death is a normal thing. So why live?

3. Geralt of Rivia - The Witcher (book/videogame series)

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I’m so sorry I met this amazing character through The Witcher videogame series, because he existed already in the book series of the same name written by Andrzej Sapkowski, and I really feel like posting this video because it perfectly sums up the spirit of the character.

Geralt is a witcher, a mutant specialist in killing demons and monsters for coin. He’s shaped like an anti-hero and despised by his society because of his nature and his mercenary job, but despite having everything for being just a rogue scoundrel, he manages to become a very rich character. Full of redeeming qualities despite his grey morals, Geralt struggles in a cruel Middle-Ages world to keep something human for himself, when everyone surrounding him tries to turn him in the heartless freak he was trained to be.

“People," Geralt turned his head, "like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.” ― Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish

4. Raistlin Majere - The Dragonlace (book series)

Again, I’ve to go back to a character created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (man, this people CAN write characters I tell you), this time for the Dragonlance series. These books are less original and brilliant than The Death Gate Cycle, but more popular and beloved because they are easier to read. And Raistlin Majere is probably the best character written for these series, being saved among them because of being, probably, the less cliché and the more complex of them all.

And again, anti-hero at times, redeemed hero at other times, tortured, twisted, cynic and cruel, but also able to show kindness and a human heart at times. Raistlin was born weak and sick and sacrificed everything (including his own health) for one sake: magic. And power. His only life desire is what will lead him to his own destruction.

"Of course this means a lot to me, Caramon. It means everything! I have worked and studied almost my entire life for this chance. What would you have me do - cast it aside because it is dangerous? Life is dangerous, Caramon. Just stepping out that door is dangerous! You cannot hide me from danger. Death floats in the air, creeps through the window, comes in with the hand-shake of a stranger. If we stop living because we fear death we have already died."

5. Tyrion Lannister (A Song of Ice and Ice/Game of Thrones series)

This little amazing piece of awesomeness needs no presentation. I am again sorry I met through the Game Of Thrones TV series and not A Song Of Ice And Fire books, but it was totally worth it because it’s one of the most well-written characters I’ve had the pleasure to meet, and I must say Peter Dinklage was born to play him.

What can I say? Tyrion is one of those characters who are worth living. A dwarf, deformed, ugly, with no physical or war skills, relying only in his extreme intelligence and wisdom and his political talent to survive, he’s one of the most strong inspirations one can find. Definitely go check him.

6. Kurtis Trent (Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness videogame)

I included Lara Croft in my female characters list, it would be absolutely unfair to forget Kurtis as he’s the other character that got my heart in TR series. Not gonna rant long about him here, because you already know my opinion. He was amazing. He deserved better. Ex-legionnaire, demon hunter and Lux Veritatis warrior, I’ve devoted all my fanfics to develop him as there was no chance for Core Design to do it so.

Fitting more in the role of a hero, I think he was also the perfect partner for Lara. His background is very well written and he had a lot of potential. The fact I will never see it doesn’t change anything. He deserves his place here.

"And I thought this would be one of my easy days." - Kurtis, The Sanitarium.

7. L Lawliet - Death Note (manga/anime series)

Again, I reinforce the statement that I’m not a fan of manga/anime series, but definitely Death Note is, together with Monster, one of those you should watch. And yes for everyone who loves Death Note, I’m a L fan. You always choose between L or Kira sides, and despite I’ve to recognize that Kira is a very complex, well written character, it’s L who gets my heart.

Supertalented, amoral, brilliant, extremely unpredictable and surprising, L is the first one of the agents that will try to catch Kira, the murderer who uses a Death Note to implant his particular justice world. L deserves your attention more than Kira, I presume. Or at least, it’s what I think.

“There are... many types of monsters in this world: Monsters who will not show themselves and who cause trouble; monsters who abduct children; monsters who devour dreams; monsters who suck blood, and... monsters who always tell lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance. They are much more cunning than other monsters. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart. They eat even though they've never experienced hunger. They study even though they have no interest in academics. They seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster.”

8. V - V for Vendetta (graphic novel/movie)

I know, easy to love him, right? Again I’m sad that I met this character through the movie and not the original graphic novel, though you can’t say a thing against Hugo Weaving’s magnificent delivery. I wish I could get my hands on the graphic novel, so I can know him better.

Anarchist, terrorist, idealist, V is the incarnation of the protest against dictatorship and opression in a dystopian England that has supressed all the rights and human freedom. If you don’tknow him, I strongly recommend at least the movie, for the inspiration this character delivers goes beyond that the mask that has trascended the movie itself to become a symbol of citizen fight.

9. Roger - American Dad (TV series)

Well technically he’s not a he, he’s rather an it, but whatever. Also he’s it’s a different trend in this post since I love him particularly because he’s funny and incarnates all the non-political correct you can expect from someone.

He also gives me, kinda, TR vibes. Roger is an alien who landed in Earth during Cold War and was rescued and sheltered at his home by Stan, a CIA agent who’s the main character of the series. Honestly I think Roger is the best of American Dad - a TV show which basically and mercilessly mocks every American value - because despite being an alien is absolutely, indecently human. I prefer him and this show much more than the overrated Family Guy.

10. Dwight Schrute - The Office (TV series)

Last but not the least, the efficient, clever and adorable bastard hillbilly from The Office. I loved him from the very first moment he appeared. Yeah I know many people hate him or prefer the goofy boss of the handsome Jim but Dwight is really my spirit animal and speaks to me in so many levels. No more comment needed. He’s the best of the show to me.

Well this took forever, right? Sorry for the length of this post but now I’m free I wanted to give it some thought. I see again that I’ve a soft spot for grey morals, redeeming qualities, bad boys and complex characters. This is how it goes! ;)

#lol i'm so sorry this took ages to go #i went too deep insight i'm afraid #also now i did this i regret not having done the same with the female characters #but it was too busy back then to do this #thanks for tagging me #top 10 favourite male characters #tag #challenge #not tr related #personal #positively amazonian

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spxderman-s · 7 years

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Apple Fritters {Part 4}

{part 1} {part 2} {part 3}

word count: 1468

pairings: peter parker x reader

warnings: some swearz

a/n: this last part to my beloved firstborn was the most emotional one of all, i lowkey thought i was about to start crying at a few parts, and i hope it stirs the same feels in you guys. thank you so much to everyone who helped me put my work out there, it means so incredibly much to me. so here is the fourth and final part, im gonna go treat myself to some apple fritters now

tagging: @tronnoristheotp @nedthegay @i-saved-me @theweirdowithablogo @leorai-lemony-lewa

Dark, ominous clouds loomed closer and closer in the sky, seeming to follow you. There was a sudden clap of thunder that shook your eardrums, startling you as you hurriedly made your way home.

You gave up on trying to get in touch with Peter, angrily shoving your phone in your purse, left alone with your mind swimming in all kinds of thoughts. You were angry and hurt that he had just left you, but most of all you were very, very frightened. You came to the sudden realization that you had no idea who Peter was. You were starting to believe that there were a lot of lies he was getting away with telling, and that thought alone was enough to make your jaw clench and fingernails dig into your palms.

Fat droplets of rain began pelting the pavement, and you--not smart enough to wear a jacket with a hood--had no choice but to become soaked to the bone in the heavy downpour. Before long, your teeth began chattering, you tucked your arms tightly against your chest, and your tears of frustration, pain, and fear mixed with the rain stinging your cheeks.

It was a long, cold walk back to your apartment. A sigh of relief escaped you as you hurriedly ran up the steps to the main door, fumbling in your purse for your keys to get in. Your hand began to search quickly, panic rising in your throat, until you realized that your keys were in your schoolbag--you hadn’t remembered to put them in your purse this afternoon when you left, and your brother was working the night shift.

You stood on the steps to your building, dripping wet, feeling completely and utterly helpless. The cold was seeping deep into your core, your teeth chattered like mad and you shivered uncontrollably. You tried banging on the door, peeking in the glass to see if maybe Mrs. Underhill was out, but to no avail. You were locked out.

“Goddammit,” you cursed, viciously kicking the door--only to be met with searing pain in your foot. You wanted to scream at the crying sky, beat your fists against anything solid, but all you could do was sit on the steps, and cry.

But an idea sprang into your head. The fire escape. You knew your window was unlocked.

You sprinted around the corner of your building, down the alley that doubled as your backyard. Shielding your eyes from the rain, you saw that the last rung on the ladder to your fire escape was just within reach--you could make it if you jumped high enough. Slinging off your purse, you easily tossed it up onto the metal balcony, and you moved a few feet back to get a running start.

You took a deep breath, and charged towards the ladder, using all of the strength in your legs you could muster to push yourself off of the pavement, fingers stretching as far as they could go, and….

The cold, jagged metal of the rung barely grazed your fingers before you landed hard, pain shooting up your leg.

“Come on!” you screamed at the sky, the rain paying no attention to you as it continued to release a torrent of heavy droplets onto you.

You tried, again and again and again to reach the ladder, but each time you were just out of reach, and each time the pain in your leg became more and more unbearable. Your hand went to the pocket in your jeans, only to find it empty--when you realized that it was in your purse. Up on the fire escape.

You decided to give up and wait on the steps to your building, shivering and defeated. As you turned to walk back out of the alley, you heard something clatter behind you.

You whirled around, heart pounding in fear. You could barely see anything in the heavy downpour, but what you managed to make out nearly made your heart stop.

Spider-Man just stood there, staring at you, the rain sliding down his blue and red suit. Neither of you said anything, you didn’t know what to say. You were so confused, so many feelings running through your head and so many thoughts swirling around them. But after what felt like a century, you balled your hands angrily into fists, and took a few steps forward.

“Say something,” you demanded, raising you voice to be heard over the raging storm. “Say something!”

Your scream echoed down the dark alley, but still the masked hero stood motionless. You couldn’t deal with this secrecy any longer.

“Peter,” you shouted, your voice cracking and tears spilling over your cheeks. “Take off the mask.”

You stared at him for a long while, waiting for him to move. You could barely see through the rain, and you were shivering violently now, wrapping your arms around yourself to try and get warm. A flash of lightning illuminated the alley, followed by a deafening clap of thunder.

Spider-Man began taking tentative steps toward you, and you remained frozen in place until he was standing within arms reach. You stood there together, in the drowning rain, waiting. His gloved hands slowly raised up to lift the bottom edge of his mask, and you could see that they were shaking--from the cold or nervousness, you weren’t sure.

Suddenly, you reached out to stop him before he could lift his mask any further. Spider-Man froze, but let his trembling hands fall to his sides as you took the lightweight material between your fingers and lifted it off yourself.

His mop of chocolate brown curls fell out in a mess, his eyes--those eyes you were sure you were falling in love with--were red from crying and looking at you with such pain and defeat. It was the face of the boy you collided with your first day of school, who gave you a real reason to love apple fritters, the first person to make you feel truly welcome, the boy who kissed you with such passion and urgency that it left you breathless and aching to be as close as possible to him. His lower lip quivered as he lowered his gaze in shame. He opened his mouth to finally say something, but you gently traced your index finger over his lips, stopping him.

“You owe me so many apple fritters,” you whispered, pulling him to you in a tight embrace. You wrapped your arms around him, holding him as close to you as possible.

You felt his surprise, because he didn’t immediately return the hug. His body was tense for a moment, before Peter gave in completely and collapsed against you in desperation.

“I thought--I didn’t think that you’d--” he shook against you as he cried. You quietly shushed him, and you stood there together, completely wrapped in each other, the rain softly pattering over you.

“So who knows about this?” you asked, grabbing another blanket and laying it over your lap as you and Peter sat on your couch. He managed to get up onto the fire escape, opened the window, and helped you up. You both were soaked to the bone, so you quickly changed into dry clothes and gave him some of your brother’s spare clothes. The old college sweatshirt was entirely too big for him, in an incredibly adorable way.

He pulled some of the blanket over his lap as well, scooting closer to you and resting his head tiredly against your shoulder. “Ned knows, he found out on accident,” Peter admitted. “Mr. Stark knows--he’s the one who gave me the suit.”

“Wow,” you breathed.

“You remember when I told you I’ve been to Germany?”

“Yeah?”

“I was in a battle with the Avengers,” he casually shrugged. His arms snaked around your waist.

Your jaw dropped. “Peter….this sounds like really dangerous stuff.”

“Yeah, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.” You could him smiling against your skin.

“Will you promise me something?”

He lifted his head, a lock of hair falling over his forehead. Your stomach did a flip at this sight of him--getting sleepy with droopy eyelids and looking utterly perfect.

“Promise that you’ll always come back to me,” you whispered, searching his face.

Peter sighed, his goofy smile returning. He leaned in and pressed his lips to yours gently, his grip on your waist tightening. “I promise.”

You both fell asleep locked in each other’s arms on the couch, the soft rain pattering against the windows and the warm glow from the light in the corner of the room washing over you. When your brother came home from his shift, he pressed a goodnight kiss on the top of your head, placed another blanket over the two of you, and quietly left you to get the first peaceful night of sleep either of you had in a long while.

#peter parker #peter parker imagines #peter parker x reader #peter parker fanfiction #spiderman #spider man: homecoming #spiderman imagines #spiderman fanfiction #spiderman homecoming imagines #tom holland #tom holland imagines #tom holland x reader #tom holland fanfiction #mcu #mcu imagines

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nighttimefjaeril · 7 years

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Shipper manifesto (or "why do I ship Houmei/Jyoan?")

Welcome to rareshipping hell, grab a seat, grab a drink, ‘cause this is gonna be a long one.

So, I’m pretty sure that anyone that has ever the slightest interaction with me, can at least tell two things about me: 1. I’m incredibly, borderline insanely passionate about Saiyuki Ibun 2. I love Jyoan and Houmei the most.

Now, I’m sure that most of you also know that I not only I love them separately, as their own characters, but also together. ‘Cause I ship them, you know. Hard. I’m probably not very subtle bout that, am I? But at the same time, I have to say that, unless I’m in an environment where I know people are gonna be accepting, I don’t feel extremely comfortable talking about it. Why? I’m not sure to be honest. This is not a problematic pairing by any stretch of the imagination, the guys are roughly the same age and there are no signs of dub or non-con in their dynamics. I guess that what it all boils down to is my fear of having people come up and tell me “But WHY?”. Which, to be fair, it isn’t an offensive question at all, per se. It’s probably that people wanna know the reasons behind me shipping these two characters. Gosh, they probably never thought about it, they’re just curious, and understandably so. It’s just that my silly, insecure mind can’t help but perceive this otherwise innocent question as judgemental. As in like “How can you ship these two as they barely interacted in the first volume??” , “How can you ship them when you should ship Koumyou with Ukoku (I do) and in his Houmei-form with Toudai (I also do, I’m a shameless multishipper) and Jyoan has Ganpuku (I…sort of do?) as his go-to shipping partner!”. Again, I’m not saying that these are necessarily the other person’s thoughts behind the question, it’s just how my mind perceives it most of the time, and I feel like I have to justify myself for liking it, in a way. Well, today I thought I try and leave my insecurities behind and explain once and for all why not only I ship Houmei and Jyoan, but it’s also probably my OTP. For now. Until Minekura gives us more Ibun and you know, things may change…

Why do you ship Houmei/Jyoan?

There are many ways I could start this… it’s a combination of things really. The easiest way to put it is this: I’m in love with the potential dynamics of their relantionship, based on the chemistry of their personalities… which is definitely the most developed thing about Ibun characters so far. Not the estabilished history with each other, as there is very little of it at this point as the story has just began; not their backround, which is hinted at best, and not their motivations, which in most cases are still pretty murky. But their personalities, their well-roundness… for characters that have only appeared in one volume, they’re all incredibly developed. This is one of Minekura’s greatest strengths: being able to create intriguing and memorable characters within their first apperance. Of course there is room for further development for all Ibun characters (including Houmei, we may have seen more of him compared to but we still know so little about it) but as far as the core of their personalities goes they’re incredibly well-constructed and adaptable for many, many scenarios.

We know that Jyoan is a proud, ambitious, tsundere-like character that wants to be at the center of attention at all costs; we know that Houmei is a free-spirited, kind but sneaky, incredibly gifted boy that succeeds in everything he does with very little effort. With these canon elements in mind, I think it’s only natural to imagine a scenario where Jyoan, who is probably one of the most driven candidates, would feel nothing but a devouring envy towards Houmei, who pretty much surpasses him in everything (hell Minekura even pointed out that Jyoan is one of the best with spells… only second to Houmei :’D) without even trying. We haven’t seen this yet, true, but to me it’s just a natural progression of the premise we’re given with these two. Actually, we have proof that Jyoan is well aware of Houmei’s incredible talent, as he has shown towards the end (he basically wants him out because he knows he’s the biggest threat, and goes as far as to saying that “Whatever they test they put him through, Houmei will manage”. He states that in front of everyone too, and guys, this is Jyoan we’re talking about, someone who would put anyone down in favor of himself at any chance!). So, knowing Jyoan’s pettiness and… not-so-understated personality, I can’t expect nothing but obsessive jealousy towards Houmei. And once the object of his obsession realizes that, after wondering for quite some time why does that purple-haired weirdo keep looking at him like he wants to put a hex on him, wouldn’t you think that Houmei wouldn’t pass the chance to take this to his advantage, or at least have some fun with it at Jyoan’s expenses? 'Cause let’s face it, Jyoan is lthe perfect victim for Houmei’s trolling, more than anyone else; he’s touchy, petty, resentful and while I wouldn’t call him dumb nor exactly naive, I think… he would fall for it? :’D At the beginning at least; I stongly believe that at some point he would be able to tell that Houmei is full of shit, and why you ask? Easy: because Jyoan hides his true personality behind a mask as well. A narcissistic and self-confident façade that hides his insecurities and weaknesses, just like Houmei hides his real nature behind his ditzy and goofy persona. I think that, once they get to know each other a little bit more, it would be pretty apparent to both, and the discovery would lead to some tense and perhaps dramatic moments between them (you know, like “Bitch you fake” “LOL bitch look who’s talking” xD).

So yeah. We have Jyoan’s obsessive jealousy towards Houmei, and Houmei taking advantage of that for his own enjyoment. They both may be calling each other fake at some point and may get into a twink fight. So where does romance come to play in all this?

To be fair, I’m not even sure if I ship this romantically or not. I mean, I do I guess, but not in a “and they lived happily ever after” kind of way (do I ever lol). I will say this: I definitely believe that,given the premises aforementioned, I don’t think it’s hard at all to imagine some romantic/sexual tension building between them as a natural progession. Because you see, obsessiveness can lead to attraction pretty easily, in a “love-hate” kind of way. Isn’t “being attracted to your rival” one of the tropes as old as time (from Jyoan’s pov that is)? Besides, it may be a pretty weak point to make, but Jyoan is obsessed with beauty, too, and well, is there anyone more beautiful than Houmei around the temple (beside Jyoan himself, of course, of course! :’D )? Let’s be honest, Jyoan is a bit shallow that way, he would be attracted to the prettiest person… second to him :p I do however believe that his attraction wouldn’t be limited to that: it’d be a mix of awe and jealousy towards Houmei’s talent, his intelligence, his popularity, his good looks… would Jyoan ever admit that? No, but deep down, would he want to (get) hit (by) that? Probably.

This took only Jyoan’s side into consideration, so what about Houmei? Why would he be attracted to Jyoan?

First of all, I would like to make a point about Koumyou that comprises every other ship revolving around him: usually, it’s pretty easy to tell how the other person involved feels about Koumyou. But how about him? Do we really know how he truly feels about Ukoku, Goudai or whomever? We can imagine that he cares about them, sure, but does he really show it? I think not, at least not to the extent that the other person does. That’s because Koumyou is an incredibly aloof, distant person, with a very complex and detatched attitude towards life itself. His Houmei-form isn’t that much different, quite the contrary: he may hide it more behind his goofball façade, but his thoughts and attitude aren’t less enigmatic than his more mature self.

Having said that… based on what was said earlier, I think that Houmei wouldn’t think much of Jyoan at first. The “rival” narrative doesn’t really hold up for him. He would definitely find Jyoan odd (which he is), maybe irritating even, and perhaps him and Toudai would make fun of him a little, 'cause remember, Toudai doesn’t like Jyoan and viceversa (they would never bully him of course, but maybe commenting something along the lines of “Oh that weirdo is making a fuss again, how did he even end up here?”). But after playing some practical jokes on him and getting to know him better, I feel he would warm up to Jyoan quite a bit. He would find his tsundere-ness and over-the-top-ness pretty endearing, probably because it would make him laugh. He would have fun around Jyoan, in a way or another. They’re both pretty strange, “extra ” kind of people, not in the same way of course, but they do share some similarities and who knows, they may discover they have more stuff in common than they think (like c'mon, like they wouldn’t love spending their evenings with clad in robes, face masks on, catching up with some ridiculous gayass program that only them would be into :’D). Also, I feel that Houmei would be able to pick up on Jyoan’s attraction (or well, weird mix of contrasting feelings and “I-it’s not like I like you or anything, b-baka”) towards him pretty soon, and would he go for it? Sure, why not? I feel that Houmei would be…adventurous that way and would basically go with the flow, it the premises are right. Knowing him, he would definitely take pleasure in teasing Jyoan and well, basically play with him a bit, unless… things turn into a nuisance. If it takes too much effort, Houmei is likely to lose interest fast, leading both parties to frustration and unresolved sexual tension. Which, I don’t know about you, I’m all for. (Also, I have no problem picturing Houmei finding Jyoan attractive, he’s a pretty boy, just like he is. Unless he’s solely into big, masculine dudes, which I think not *cough*Ukoku*cough*, I think that there are good chances that he would find him fuckable. I don’t think he would have a “type” anyways).

Ok, now that we’ve roughly estabilished how their dynamics and chemistry work, what’s next? Would they fuck? If yes how? Would it be hot or not (Hell yeah it would!)?

And then what?

Alright, let’s talk about sex. I don’t know about you, but the temple of hot dudes in fundoshi scenario just works for me. Much like prison, the military etc., it’s one of those things where sexual frustation may lead even the straightest man to… exploration (I don’t think it’s Houmei and Jyoan’s case, BUT). Without elaborating too much on it, I think that, if these two would reciprocate attraction, it’s most likely that they would end up doing it. Why wouldn’t they? They’re young men in their prime and probably suffering from the worst case of blue balls ('cause you know, forced celibacy), it’s only natural that they would find a way to release some tension. I have a thing for Koumyou as a top in general, and with Jyoan, well… Jyoan definitely strikes me as a bottom. I’m not saying he wouldn’t top like ever, but… yeah, it’d be definitely a very rare occurance. Ok, one could argue “the feminine one as the bottom cliché”, but actually, I don’t think it’s quite the case with these two: in fact, they’re both pretty feminine dudes. Dare I say that, between the two, Houmei could be actually the most feminine? Appearance-wise Jyoan has a more androgynous look, but who speaks like a schoolgirl and uses “watashi” between the two? Minekura mentions that Jyoan can be surprisingly masculine at times, and I can honestly see that, as in his demenor is definitely more aggressive and imposing. Despite all that, Jyoan in my eyes would still be the world’s biggest bottom, and a very submissive one at that. Me and others have often referred to him as a “pillow queen”, too, which I think it’s very fitting: Jyoan makes you work for it, only then he would reciprocate…maybe (I headcanon him to be pretty skilled at oral though, blame it on the illustration where he’s licking a lollipop: goddammit Minekura, be a little bit more subtle about it :’D). But all the attention must be on him, all the time. As for Houmei… he would be happy to oblige :D He’s the most adaptable and creative of the two, and he would get a kick out of dominating Jyoan, for sure; no matter the position or role, he’d be the one in control all the time. And Jyoan would be totally ok with it, whether he admits it or not. Also, I could picture them being into some light kink stuff, nothing too extreme, but you know for sure that ropes would be heavily involved (well guys, Koumyou would have had to practice on someone before going all out on Ukoku, wouldn’t he? ;) ). To put it shortly, I think that they would have very good sexual chemistry. Would that reduce their relantionship to the one of two fuckbuddies? Eh, don’t think so. Perhaps it could start that way, you know, once they overcome all the confusing feelings and tension (which may take a while lol). But I do believe that they would definitely manage to estabilish some form of emotional connection and bond, once they get to know each other better. And since we know that they’ll spend at least two years together living under the same roof, I’d say that there is more than enough time for that.

Having said that… do I think that their relantionship is meant to last forever? Probably not.

…

“BUT YOU SAID IT’S YOUR OTP AND YOU DEDICATED THIS UNREASONABLY LONG POST TO THEM AND-” Ok, ok, I know, but hear me out. Not all otps are meant for an happy ending. Some of us prefer some… contrasting and unbalanced dynamics that would lead to drama. Tormented lovestories. Awful people doing awful stuff and making each other suffer. Perhaps it’s one person loving the other more and receiving less in return? Perhaps it’s a crippling inferiority complex leading them to believe that? Or perhaps it’s simply a matter of incompatibility, despite all the love and the good that it’s there? Or it could be also for reasons that go beyond their will. Or it could also be just that Jyoan is an egoistic and childish piece of shit and Houmei is a manipulative insincere bastard, you know. I do sense a certain degree of dysfunctionality between them, of the kind where being together doesn’t bring up the best but the worst in them. I’m not saying that there is no other way to interpret their relationship, and I’d be lying if I said that I wouldn’t dream of a universe where Houmei and Jyoan would grow to become just like the guys from Vicious (if you have never seen it, look it up and tell me that Sir Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi’s characters aren’t Jyoan and Houmei respectively in their sixties :'3 ). But I do believe that, in a way or another, their relantionship is probably not going to be a long-lasting one. Probably too much drama. Too much instability. Lack of trust and fear of committment could play a role in it, too (no I’m not blaming everything on Houmei, like can you imagine how it must be being around a perpetually pissed primadonna for a long period of time? Yeah, can’t really blame him). Even with this conviction in mind, do I still love it and ship it to death? Heck yeah. If anything, this only reinforces my devotion, as it’s said that the most beautiful things are meant to be short-lived…you know, like a butterfly (insert JYOAN IS GONNA DIE IN IBUN!!!! conspiracy theory).

I think that I covered everything. I guess I could get into the whole symbolism topic, bringing up the fact Houmei being very often surrounded by butterflies in Ibun illustrations, including a black one, and well, Jyoan has been associated with both butterflies and the color black (the black kitsune mask illustration and his “mundane” clothes are always monochromatic, too); I could also point out that butterflies are attracted to light (Houmei = light ; Jyoan = buttefly), until they burn themselves to death; I could bring up the fact that their birthdays’ numbers are basically flipped (Houmei -> 29/08; Jyoan -> 28/09 = 29/08 28/09) and more. The thing is, I don’t think I necessarily need to bring any evidence to the table in order to make this pairing acceptable. Or any other pairing, for what it’s worth. 'Cause at the end of the day, it’s all a matter of taste. My reasons for shipping a pairing are personal and legitimate, and don’t require any justification for that. I wrote this so-called manifesto mostly for myself, as a way to rationalize why I like Houmei/Jyoan so much. If, at the same time, this can help others understand my fascination behind it, and who knows, maybe appeal some into learning more about it, then even better. I’m not trying to convince anyone to ship them or that they’re canon, not at all; I just want to prove that it’s totally ok shipping two characters just based on potential and personal, subjective feelings, and that rarepairs aren’t less “legit” than more universally accepted ships, canon or not. If you look deep enough into the characters and use your own imagination as a way of filling the gaps left empty by canon, anything it’s possible. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

So… could all this gigantic amount of text be summed-up as: “I ship it because I like it”? Well, yes. I’m very sorry.

#long post #lol good luck with this one #i don't expect anyone to red this tbh #i wrote way too much #and i even cut and omitted some other stuff #i need to learn a thing called #synthesis #oh well #lunar buttefly #houmei #jyoan #shipping #ibun

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