#what on saints green earth did I do to deserve this
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You’re telling me… that the Six of Crows duology, the series that has gotten me into reading again, has a SHOW? That might actually be GOOD?? And IT’S BEEN CANCELLED???????????
#what on saints green earth did I do to deserve this#why does Netflix want to destroy everything I love#before I even know I love it#dammit#six of crows#shadow and bone#kaz brekker#jesper fahey#nina zenik#mattias helvar#wylan van eck#inej ghafa#helnik#wesper#kanej#netflix
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shaymien: "good boy." , "For you, always.", "I want to believe you."
hoo boy, okie buckle in for some fantasy-au noble shayne/captain of the guard damien mildly spicy business beyond the cut
“I want to believe you, Shayne, I really do, but you’re just like the other nobles,” Damien said, voice rough as he pinned Shayne beneath him, sitting firmly on his hips and trapping his hands above his head. Shayne was not a willowy, untrained Lord’s son: he had muscle and his body was one of a soldier, but Shayne hated training, hated the mornings he spent in the ring with his father’s knights and their squires. Not because of the work and the effort, though. It was because he didn’t want to fight. He wouldn’t fight. Not him, not his father’s enemies, maybe even not what was happening right now, on the cold earth at the edge of a dark forest.
As that thought permeated his hazy thoughts, Damien knew his previous statement, uttered out of a bizarre and drunken mix of anger and want and self-loathing, was wrong. Shayne was nothing like them, was so different from them and the proof was in the way the blonde man was looking up at him now.
There was hurt on his handsome face, laced with indignation and… something else. But Shayne didn’t bark orders at Damien to get off of him, didn’t shout and fight back at the way the Captain of the Guard pressed his hips down against his own. There was no mistaking that a part of Shayne, no matter how distant or instinctive that part might be, was enjoying this.
“You’ve never said that to me,” Shayne whispered, his voice unusually weak. No, not weak. Simply quiet, and gauging. As if he were trying to determine just how far this was going to go. “You don’t really… believe that, do you?”
“…No. No, I don’t, because other nobles would have killed me by now. Other nobles,” Damien leaned in close, the sickly sweet scent of mead rolling off of Shayne. It made Damien’s head spin. His whole life he’d had to put Shayne on a pedestal, just out of reach. He wanted to take. Just this once. “Other nobles wouldn’t let me do this.”
And he kissed him. Deep and wanting and claiming and all of the things he’d always wanted to say to Shayne but couldn’t because despite what Damien thought and said and wished for Shayne still was a noble and Damien the lowborn who had clawed his way to his position and would never be the sort of person Shayne deserved, had no right to have him pinned down beneath him, to be leading this dance the way he was. He had no right to be leading him at all. But gods and saints, did he want to. So damn badly, did he want to. And maybe Shayne would let him.
Because when Damien finally broke away, panting and flushed and he looked down to see Shayne in the same state, pulling gently against the Captain’s grip on his wrists and pleading with him to continue, Damien’s cock twitched, and he knew in that instant he was going to take this too far.
“Hush,” Damien ordered, sitting up and releasing Shayne’s wrists. “Don’t move.”
The blonde’s eyes widened but he nodded and kept his hands above his head, watching as Damien almost clumsily untied the silk sash he wore around his waist, the narrow slip of bright green and blue fabric bearing the colors of the Lord of the Seven Valleys and the mark of his role as Captain of the Guard. Without preamble Damien wrapped the soft sash around the Lordling’s wrists, binding them together. Shayne’s breathing grew heavier, his eyes lidded as he watched his friend work.
“I want-“ Shayne started but Damien’s hand flew to the other man’s mouth, covering it roughly.
“If we do this,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “It’s how I say. It’s what I want. Do you agree?”
A look flashed in Shayne’s eyes and a more sober Damien would know that it was realization, followed closely by agreement and then unmitigated desire. Damien pulled his hand away for the blonde man to answer.
“For you, always.”
His answer had come so quickly that Damien blinked once, twice before he realized what his friend had said and another moment passed before he realized Shayne’s fingers were pressed against his length, straining against his leather riding trousers. It became abundantly clear that while Damien wanted to take, Shayne was prepared to give. A wicked smile bloomed across Damien’s face as he watched Shayne look up at him, his usual aloof neutrality replaced with nearly wanton desperation. Damien reached down and cupped Shayne’s jaw, tracing his thumb along his lower lip. Much to the silver-haired man’s surprise, Shayne took the digit into his mouth; a silent plea for more. Damien’s smile widened.
“That’s a good boy.”
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A great silence and the fragrance of prayer in Heaven
but severe Judgment upon first earth.
this is what is coming but there is an Ark of safety (in Spirit) to escape the wrath
Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 8th chapter of the book of Revelation:
When the Lamb cracked open the seventh and final seal, a great silence filled all heaven penetrating everything for about half an hour. Then I saw seven heavenly messengers, the ones who stand before God, receive seven trumpets.
An eighth messenger came and stood before the altar carrying a golden censer. He received a large portion of incense to complement the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that sits in front of the throne. From the hand of the eighth messenger, the smoke of the incense mixed with the prayers of God’s people and billowed up before God. The messenger filled the censer with fiery coals from the altar and cast it upon the earth, causing a great commotion of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The seven heavenly messengers raised the seven trumpets and prepared to sound them.
The first messenger sounded his trumpet, and a blast of hail and fire mixed with blood was cast down to the earth. As a result, one-third of the land was set ablaze, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was scorched.
The second messenger sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, with bright flames of burning fire, was cast into the sea. As a result, one-third of the sea turned into blood, one-third of the living sea creatures died, and one-third of the ships were obliterated.
The third messenger sounded his trumpet, and a great star called Wormwood dropped out of heaven, flaming like a torch as it fell on one-third of the rivers and the springs. As a result, one-third of the waters turned bitter like the herb wormwood so that many people died from the poisonous bitter waters.
The fourth messenger sounded his trumpet, and one-third of the sun, one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars were darkened. As a result, one-third of their light flickered and failed. For one-third of the day, the sun did not shine; and likewise for one-third of the night, the moon and stars did not give their light.
Then I saw an eagle flying through midheaven, and I heard it cry with a loud voice.
Eagle: Woe, woe, woe—horror, disaster, and calamity—to the earth dwellers! The rest of the trumpet blasts from the last three messengers are about to sound.
The Book of Revelation, Chapter 8 (The Voice)
A note from The Voice translation:
Throughout the ages God’s people have been asking Him for justice in their prayers and laments. Now, in response to these, God pours out His judgment.
Today’s paired reading from the First Testament is the 9th chapter of the book of Daniel:
Daniel: In the first year that Darius the Mede (Ahasuerus’ son) ruled over the Babylonians, I, Daniel, was studying the word of the Eternal One according to the prophet Jeremiah and discovered in the scrolls the number of years that Jerusalem must lie desolate before it is restored, that is, seventy years.
After learning this, I turned to the Lord God, praying diligently, begging for His mercy, grieving and fasting in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Eternal One my God, praising His greatness and confessing our sins: Lord God, You are great and awesome! You are always faithful to the covenant You made with us. Your unfailing love extends to all who love You and keep Your commandments. But we have sinned and wronged You. We have acted wickedly in our rebellion, going so far as to disregard Your commandments and regulations. We have ignored the message given through Your servants, the prophets, who spoke on Your behalf to our kings, princes, ancestors, indeed every last person of the land. O Lord, You always do what is right. It is Your due, but we deserve nothing this day but public and open shame. The people of Judah, Jerusalem—indeed of all Israel, those who are in neighboring regions and those who are in the farthest reaches, driven into exile by You for all the treacherous acts they committed against You—we all deserve nothing but shame. Eternal One, public and open shame is our due, for we have sinned against You, all of us, our kings, princes, and ancestors. But You, O Lord our God, still show us compassion and forgiveness even though we have openly rebelled against You. We have not obeyed the voice of the Eternal our God, for we have failed to live by the teachings You gave us directly through Your servants, the prophets. All the people of Israel have abandoned Your teachings, deserted Your covenant, and refused to obey Your voice. This is why the curse and the oath inscribed in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us—for we have sinned against You. By unleashing on us this great calamity, You have carried out Your solemn words warning us and our leaders who led us astray. Under all of heaven, nothing like what happened to Jerusalem has ever happened before. All the calamity that has befallen us fulfills the warnings written in Moses’ law; but despite our adversity, we have not sought the favor of the Eternal our God by walking away from our sins and pursuing insight into Your truth. And now we have earned the misery that the Eternal has stored up for us. Truly, the Eternal our God was right to do all He has done, for we refused to obey His voice.
Now, Lord our God, You have made Your name great among the nations to this day by liberating Your enslaved people from the land of Egypt with powerful deeds; yet we have sinned against You, our Liberator, and we have acted wickedly. Lord, the reputation of Your city Jerusalem has suffered, and Your people are mocked by those around us because we and our ancestors have done wrong. I beg You to spare Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; turn away Your burning anger and fiery wrath from Your people according to all Your covenant mercies. Now, God, please hear the prayers and petitions voiced today by your servant. Shine Your face on Your destroyed and desolate sanctuary for the sake of Your name, my Lord. Lend an ear, my God, and hear this prayer. Open Your eyes and see our deserted streets and witness the devastation across the city that bears Your name. We are crying to You and asking for mercy, not because we are righteous and deserve it. No, we bring these petitions to you because we know of Your great mercy. Lord, hear our prayer! Lord, forgive our sins! Lord, pay attention to our plight and act without delay, not for our sake, my God, but for Yours because these people and this city bear Your name.
For much of the day I was pleading and praying, confessing my sin and the sins of my people Israel, presenting my case to the Eternal One my God on behalf of Jerusalem, His holy mountain. About the time of the evening sacrifice, while I was still pleading and praying and almost completely exhausted, the man Gabriel, who had appeared to me in an earlier vision, appeared again and reached out to me.
Gabriel (to me): Daniel, I have come for one purpose: to offer you insight and understanding into these matters. When you began your pleading earlier today, a word was issued. I was instructed to come and tell you about it, for you are highly regarded by God. So pay close attention so you can understand the vision.
The decree has been issued: your people and your holy city have 70 sevens of time to bring rebellion to a close, to put an end to sin, to wipe away guilt, to bring in a righteousness that endures, to seal up the prophet’s vision, and to anoint the most sacred place. Know and understand this: from the proclamation of the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the arrival of the Anointed Ruler, there will be 7 weeks of time. For 62 weeks of time the community will be restored, the city rebuilt with broad streets and deep defenses, even through times of trouble. After those 62 weeks of time the Anointed One will be cut down and have nothing; then the warriors of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and defile the sanctuary. Its end will come swiftly as in a flood and to the end there will be war. The decree has been issued: Desolation.
And that prince will make a binding treaty with many people for a one-week period of time. In the middle of that one period he will put a stop to all sacrifices and offerings to the Lord. And at the height of his atrocities he will set up an abominable idol that desecrates the most holy place, until the desolation decreed is finally poured out on the defiler.
The Book of Daniel, Chapter 9 (The Voice)
A note from The Voice translation:
Daniel is just one man, yet he carries the sins of his nation to God and pleads with the Almighty to forgive and rescue His people. Their collective failures to live up to the covenant they made with God has scattered the chosen people to the four corners of the earth and have brought ruin to Jerusalem. After reading the prophet Jeremiah, Daniel knows that the calamity will not be over until God’s people come back to Him. With fasting and prayer, Daniel hopes to begin the process of restoration.
God’s covenant with Israel includes provisions for both blessings and curses. When the people follow God and keep His teaching, they can expect to live peacefully in the land God promised. But when the covenant people rebel against God and ignore His teaching, their actions—or lack of actions—bring into effect the curses. Daniel appeals to God’s own interest as the One who cares about His name and His reputation. The fate of Jerusalem and His people reflects on Him.
A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Saturday, december 23 of 2023 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New) of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms
A post by John Parsons about "God with us":
Though the world system profanes the message of the birth of Messiah for the sake of avarice and greed, let us take a moment to reflect on its ongoing spiritual significance, namely, that God emptied Himself (κένωσις) of His regal glory and power to become your Savior and High Priest, able to fully sympathize with our weakness, frailty, shame, and chronic sinfulness (Heb. 4:15-16; Phil 2:7-8). Almighty God, the Presence of Love, the Heart of Reality, clothed himself in human flesh and bone to become Immanu’el (עִמָּנוּ אֵל) - "God with us" - so that we could be touched by Him, healed by Him, and redeemed by Him... In light of this, it is only fitting we should join the refrain of heavenly host: "Glory to God in the highest, and upon earth peace, good will among all people!" (Luke 2:14). Amen! Yeshua is the Eternal Sign and Wonder of the LORD God Almighty...
Consider the absolute humility of God as He chose to enter into this world as "baby Jesus." Meditate on the glory and sheer paradox of God's love! "Baby Jesus" is the perfect disguise to hide the truth from the proud eyes of the flesh, though the humble of heart can see... "For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching" (1 Cor. 1:21). For "who comprehends the mind of the LORD, or gives him instruction as his counselor?" Through his great plan to redeem people from the dominion of Satan and his agents in this evil world, God emptied Himself to become clothed in the frailty of human flesh, born in a manger as the great Lamb of God, and born to die as the ransom for all who will believe. Ah, what would we do without the gift of God, friends? What hope would we have? Regardless of the exact date of His birth, let’s thank God that our Moshia (Savior) was willing to be born into this dark world to offer Himself as our sacrificial Redeemer! “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).
But what are you to do, then, if you sincerely want to follow the Torah’s calendar in light of entrenched Christian customs? Well, we certainly may commemorate the birth of Messiah during the holiday of Sukkot (or Shavuot, etc.), though we must be careful to show charity and use the "good eye" toward those who may adhere to the traditional date for “Christmas.” Likewise we commemorate the death and resurrection of Messiah during Passover and Firstfruits, respectively, though we do not begrudge those of good faith who honor these great events of salvation during what they call the "Pascha" or even the "Easter" season. Often we are tested in exactly this way, chaverim! We must not miss the "weightier matters" of extending grace to others, as Yeshua clearly taught (Matt. 23:23). As it is written, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Rom. 14:5; Col. 2:16).
Friends, we must test the spirits -- and that particularly includes our own! How do we treat the “stranger” among us? How do we regard the “weaker brother?” Do we demand that our doctrine be esteemed, or do we allow room for others to seek the Lord and his wisdom? Ask yourself: Does this person (or group) honor Yeshua as God the Son, the Redeemer of Humanity who died for our sins and rose from the dead? If so, then keep your heart warm and soft toward him or her, even if he or she has yet to discover the Jewish roots of their faith. “Strive for peace with everyone” (Heb. 12:14). “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you” (Phil. 3:15). Though we desire unity with one another (John 17:11), we cannot reasonably insist on doctrinal uniformity, especially in light of the frailty of our shared human condition... The truth of God is known in humility and love.
[ Hebrew for Christians ]
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Luke 2:14 reading:
https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/luke2-14-jjp.mp3
Hebrew page:
https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/luke2-14-lesson.pdf
12.20.23 • Facebook
from yesterday’s email by Israel 365:
Isaiah describes the final redemption of the world at the end of days, and the ultimate spiritual achievement is the day when non-Jews will come to Jerusalem to study Torah. The Fast of Tevet should remind us that in our generation we are indeed witnessing this major historical turning point. May Asarah B’Tevet – and all of our fast days – quickly turn into feast days!
Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research
December 23, 2023
God's Standards
“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
It is remarkable how different are our human standards of value from those of God. But what should be the criteria by which men recognize hearts of lovingkindness, attitudes of justice, and characters of righteousness? These are the attributes of our Creator and Savior, and it is our achievements in these areas that determine our real standing, in the scales of eternity, before Him. Human wisdom, might, and riches easily generate pride, and pride is “the condemnation of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:6).
Thus, the Scripture has to remind us “that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:...That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:26, 29). We should, indeed, desire wisdom, might, and riches, but not as measured by the world. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). “As poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:10). “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Let lovingkindness become the standard of true wisdom, justice the measure of real power, and righteousness our criterion of riches. All are found fully only in Jesus Christ.
If we must “glory” in something, let it be the cross. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14). HMM
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10th June >> Mass Readings (Except USA)
Saturday, Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
or
Saint Ephraem, Deacon, Doctor
or
Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Saturday, Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical Colour: Green: A(1))
First Reading
Tobit 12:1,5-15,20
'I am one of the seven angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of the Lord'.
When the feasting was over, Tobit called his son Tobias and said, ‘My son, you ought to think about paying the amount due to your fellow traveller; give him more than the figure agreed on.’ So Tobias called his companion and said, ‘Take half of what you brought back, in payment for all you have done, and go in peace.’
Then Raphael took them both aside and said, ‘Bless God, utter his praise before all the living for all the favours he has given you. Bless and extol his name. Proclaim before all men the deeds of God as they deserve, and never tire of giving him thanks. It is right to keep the secret of a king, yet right to reveal and publish the works of God. Thank him worthily. Do what is good, and no evil can befall you.
‘Prayer with fasting and alms with right conduct are better than riches with iniquity. Better to practise almsgiving than to hoard up gold. Almsgiving saves from death and purges every kind of sin. Those who give alms have their fill of days; those who commit sin and do evil, bring harm on themselves.
‘I am going to tell you the whole truth, hiding nothing from you. I have already told you that it is right to keep the secret of a king, yet right too to reveal in worthy fashion the works of God. So you must know that when you and Sarah were at prayer, it was I who offered your supplications before the glory of the Lord and who read them; so too when you were burying the dead. When you did not hesitate to get up and leave the table to go and bury a dead man, I was sent to test your faith, and at the same time God sent me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of the Lord.
‘Now bless the Lord on earth and give thanks to God. I am about to return to him above who sent me.’
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm
Tobit 13:2,6-8
R/ Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
By turns he punishes and pardons;
he sends men down to the depths of the underworld
and draws them up from supreme Destruction;
no one can escape his hand.
R/ Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
If you return to him
with all your heart and all your soul,
behaving honestly towards him,
then he will return to you
and hide his face from you no longer.
R/ Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
Consider how well he has treated you;
loudly give him thanks.
Bless the Lord of justice
and extol the King of the ages.
R/ Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
I for my part sing his praise
in the country of my exile;
I make his power and greatness known
to a nation that has sinned.
R/ Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
Sinners, return to him;
let your conduct be upright before him;
perhaps he will be gracious to you
and take pity on you.
R/ Blessed be God, who lives for ever.
Gospel Acclamation
cf. Luke 8:15
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Alleluia!
Or:
Matthew 5:3
Alleluia, alleluia!
How happy are the poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Mark 12:38-44
This poor widow has put in more than all.
In his teaching Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets; these are the men who swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers. The more severe will be the sentence they receive.’
He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the treasury, and many of the rich put in a great deal. A poor widow came and put in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.’
The Gospel of the Lord
R/ Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
-------------------------
Saint Ephraem, Deacon, Doctor
(Liturgical Colour: White: A(1))
(Readings for the memorial)
(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)
First Reading
Colossians 3:12-17
Be clothed in love.
You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful.
Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God; and never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 36(37):3-6,30-31
R/ The just man’s mouth utters wisdom.
If you trust in the Lord and do good,
then you will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your delight in the Lord,
he will grant your heart’s desire.
R/ The just man’s mouth utters wisdom.
Commit your life to the Lord,
trust in him and he will act,
so that your justice breaks forth like the light,
your cause like the noon-day sun.
R/ The just man’s mouth utters wisdom.
The just man’s mouth utters wisdom
and his lips speak what is right;
the law of his God is in his heart,
his steps shall be saved from stumbling.
R/ The just man’s mouth utters wisdom.
Gospel Acclamation
John 15:5
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the vine,
you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me, with me in him,
bears fruit in plenty,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Luke 6:43-45
A sound tree cannot produce rotten fruit.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. For every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. A good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart; a bad man draws what is bad from the store of badness. For a man’s words flow out of what fills his heart.’
The Gospel of the Lord
R/ Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
--------------------------------
Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Liturgical Colour: White: A(1))
(Readings for the memorial)
(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)
Either:
First Reading
Genesis 3:9-15,20
The mother of all those who live.
After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’
Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,
‘Be accursed beyond all cattle,
all wild beasts.
You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust
every day of your life.
I will make you enemies of each other:
you and the woman,
your offspring and her offspring.
It will crush your head
and you will strike its heel.’
The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live.
The Word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
OR: --------
First reading
Genesis 12:1-7
All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you
The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing.
‘I will bless those who bless you:
I will curse those who slight you.
All the tribes of the earth
shall bless themselves by you.’
So Abram went as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there.
Abram passed through the land as far as Shechem’s holy place, the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘It is to your descendants that I will give this land.’ So Abram built there an altar for the Lord who had appeared to him.
OR: --------
First reading
2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-11,16
The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House
Once David had settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest from all the enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘Look, I am living in a house of cedar while the ark of God dwells in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go and do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.’
But that very night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:
‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel; I will give them rest from all their enemies. The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”’
OR: --------
First reading
1 Chronicles 15:3-4,15-16,16:1-2
They brought in the ark of God and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for it
David gathered all Israel together to bring the ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it. David called together the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the shafts on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered in accordance with the word of the Lord.
David then told the heads of the Levites to assign duties for their kinsmen as cantors, with their various instruments of music, harps and lyres and cymbals, to play joyful tunes.
They brought the ark of God in and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered holocausts before God, and communion sacrifices. And when David had finished offering holocausts and communion sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.
OR: --------
First reading
Proverbs 8:22-31
Before the earth came into being, Wisdom was born
The Wisdom of God cries aloud:
The Lord created me when his purpose first unfolded,
before the oldest of his works.
From everlasting I was firmly set,
from the beginning, before earth came into being.
The deep was not, when I was born,
there were no springs to gush with water.
Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills, I came to birth;
before he made the earth, the countryside,
or the first grains of the world’s dust.
When he fixed the heavens firm, I was there,
when he drew a ring on the surface of the deep,
when he thickened the clouds above,
when he fixed fast the springs of the deep,
when he assigned the sea its boundaries
– and the waters will not invade the shore –
when he laid down the foundations of the earth,
I was by his side, a master craftsman,
delighting him day after day,
ever at play in his presence,
at play everywhere in his world,
delighting to be with the sons of men.
OR: --------
First reading
Ecclesiasticus 24:1-4,8-12,18-21
From eternity, in the beginning, God created wisdom
Wisdom speaks her own praises,
in the midst of her people she glories in herself.
She opens her mouth in the assembly of the Most High,
she glories in herself in the presence of the Mighty One:
‘I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,
and I covered the earth like a mist.
I had my tent in the heights,
and my throne in a pillar of cloud.
Then the creator of all things instructed me,
and he who created me fixed a place for my tent.
He said, “Pitch your tent in Jacob,
make Israel your inheritance.”
From eternity, in the beginning, he created me,
and for eternity I shall remain.
I ministered before him in the holy tabernacle,
and thus was I established on Zion.
In the beloved city he has given me rest,
and in Jerusalem I wield my authority.
I have taken root in a privileged people,
in the Lord’s property, in his inheritance.
Approach me, you who desire me,
and take your fill of my fruits,
for memories of me are sweeter than honey,
inheriting me is sweeter than the honeycomb.
They who eat me will hunger for more,
they who drink me will thirst for more.
Whoever listens to me will never have to blush,
whoever acts as I dictate will never sin.’
OR: --------
First reading
Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10
The maiden is with child
The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then Isaiah said:
‘Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
OR: --------
First reading
Isaiah 9:1-6
A Son is given to us
The people that walked in darkness
has seen a great light;
on those who live in a land of deep shadow
a light has shone.
You have made their gladness greater,
you have made their joy increase;
they rejoice in your presence
as men rejoice at harvest time,
as men are happy when they are dividing the spoils.
For the yoke that was weighing on him,
the bar across his shoulders,
the rod of his oppressor,
these you break as on the day of Midian.
For all the footgear of battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
is burnt,
and consumed by fire.
For there is a child born for us,
a son given to us
and dominion is laid on his shoulders;
and this is the name they give him:
Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God,
Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace.
OR: --------
First reading
Isaiah 61:9-11
I exult for joy in the Lord
Their race will be famous throughout the nations,
their descendants throughout the peoples.
All who see them will admit
that they are a race whom the Lord has blessed.
‘I exult for joy in the Lord,
my soul rejoices in my God,
for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation,
he has wrapped me in the cloak of integrity,
like a bridegroom wearing his wreath,
like a bride adorned in her jewels.
‘For as the earth makes fresh things grow,
as a garden makes seeds spring up,
so will the Lord make both integrity and praise
spring up in the sight of the nations.’
OR: --------
First reading
Micah 5:1-4
He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord
The Lord says this:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me
the one who is to rule over Israel;
his origin goes back to the distant past,
to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore going to abandon them
till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.
Then the remnant of his brothers will come back
to the sons of Israel.
He will stand and feed his flock
with the power of the Lord,
with the majesty of the name of his God.
They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power
to the ends of the land.
He himself will be peace.
OR: --------
First reading
Zechariah 2:14-17
'I am coming', says the Lord
Sing, rejoice,
daughter of Zion;
for I am coming
to dwell in the middle of you
– it is the Lord who speaks.
Many nations will join the Lord,
on that day;
they will become his people.
But he will remain among you,
and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you.
But the Lord will hold Judah
as his portion in the Holy Land,
and again make Jerusalem his very own.
Let all mankind be silent before the Lord!
For he is awaking and is coming from his holy dwelling.
EITHER: --------
Responsorial Psalm
1 Samuel 2:1,4-8
My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.
My heart exults in the Lord.
I find my strength in my God;
my mouth laughs at my enemies
as I rejoice in your saving help.
My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the weak are clothed with strength.
Those with plenty must labour for bread,
but the hungry need work no more.
The childless wife has children now
but the fruitful wife bears no more.
My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.
It is the Lord who gives life and death,
he brings men to the grave and back;
it is the Lord who gives poverty and riches.
He brings men low and raises them on high.
My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.
He lifts up the lowly from the dust,
from the dungheap he raises the poor
to set him in the company of princes
to give him a glorious throne.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
on them he has set the world.
My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.
OR: --------
Responsorial Psalm
Judith 13:18a-19
You are the highest honour of our race!
May you be blessed, my daughter, by God Most High,
beyond all women on earth;
and may the Lord God be blessed,
the Creator of heaven and earth.
You are the highest honour of our race!
The trust you have shown
shall not pass from the memories of men,
but shall ever remind them
of the power of God.
You are the highest honour of our race!
OR: --------
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 44(45):11-12,14-17
Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words.
Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words:
forget your own people and your father’s house.
So will the king desire your beauty:
He is your lord, pay homage to him.
Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words.
The daughter of the king is clothed with splendour,
her robes embroidered with pearls set in gold.
She is led to the king with her maiden companions.
Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words.
They are escorted amid gladness and joy;
they pass within the palace of the king.
Sons shall be yours in place of your fathers:
you will make them princes over all the earth.
Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words.
OR: --------
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 112(113):1-7
May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!
May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
From the rising of the sun to its setting
praised be the name of the Lord!
High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.
May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and earth?
From the dust he lifts up the lowly,
from the dungheap he raises the poor
May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore!
or
Alleluia!
OR: --------
Responsorial Psalm
Luke 1:46-55
The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name!
or
Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.
My soul glorifies the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.
The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name!
or
Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.
He looks on his servant in her nothingness;
henceforth all ages will call me blessed.
The Almighty works marvels for me.
Holy his name!
The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name!
or
Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.
His mercy is from age to age,
on those who fear him.
He puts forth his arm in strength
and scatters the proud-hearted.
The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name!
or
Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.
He casts the mighty from their thrones
and raises the lowly.
He fills the starving with good things,
sends the rich away empty.
The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name!
or
Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.
He protects Israel, his servant,
remembering his mercy,
the mercy promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and his sons for ever.
The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name!
or
Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.
Gospel Acclamation
cf.Lk1:28
Alleluia, alleluia!
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!
Blessed art thou among women.
Alleluia!
Or:
cf.Lk1:45
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who believed
that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.
Alleluia!
Or:
cf.Lk2:19
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed is the Virgin Mary,
who treasured the word of God
and pondered it in her heart.
Alleluia!
Or:
Lk11:28
Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy are those
who hear the word of God
and keep it.
Alleluia!
Or:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary,
and most worthy of all praise,
for the sun of justice, Christ our God,
was born of you.
Alleluia!
Or:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy is the Virgin Mary,
who, without dying,
won the palm of martyrdom
beneath the cross of the Lord.
Alleluia!
EITHER: --------
Gospel
Matthew 1:1-16,18-23
The ancestry and conception of Jesus Christ
A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram was the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,
Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother,
Obed was the father of Jesse;
and Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Azariah,
Azariah was the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah;
and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
After the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor was the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud was the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob;
and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary;
of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
OR: --------
Gospel
Matthew 1:18-23
How Jesus Christ came to be born
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
OR: --------
Gospel
Matthew 2:13-15,19-23
The flight into Egypt and the return to Nazareth
After the wise men had left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him.’ So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
I called my son out of Egypt.
After Herod’s death, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you and go back to the land of Israel, for those who wanted to kill the child are dead.’ So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, went back to the land of Israel. But when he learnt that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as ruler of Judaea he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he left for the region of Galilee. There he settled in a town called Nazareth. In this way the words spoken through the prophets were to be fulfilled:
‘He will be called a Nazarene.’
OR: --------
Gospel
Matthew 12:46-50
My mother and my brothers are anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven
Jesus was speaking to the crowds when his mother and his brothers appeared; they were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. But to the man who told him this Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.’
OR: --------
Gospel
Luke 1:26-38
'I am the handmaid of the Lord'
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
OR: --------
Gospel
Luke 1:39-47
Blessed is she who believed the promise
Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’
And Mary said:
‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit exults in God my saviour.’
OR: --------
Gospel
Luke 2:1-14
'In the town of David a saviour has been born to you'
Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a census of the whole world to be taken. This census – the first – took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and travelled up to Judaea, to the town of David called Bethlehem, since he was of David’s House and line, in order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to a son, her first born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.
In the countryside close by there were shepherds who lived in the fields and took it in turns to watch their flocks during the night. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid. Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the heavenly host, praising God and singing:
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace to men who enjoy his favour.’
OR: --------
Gospel
Luke 2:15-19
The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and found the baby lying in the manger
Now when the angels had gone from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.
OR: --------
Gospel
Luke 2:27-35
'A sword will pierce your soul too'
Prompted by the Spirit Simeon came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:
‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel.’
As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
OR: --------
Gospel
Luke 2:41-52
Mary stored up all these things in her heart
Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.
Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’
‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.
He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority.
His mother stored up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men.
OR: --------
Gospel
Luke 11:27-28
'Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!'
As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’
OR: --------
Gospel
John 2:1-11
'My hour has not come yet' - 'Do whatever he tells you'
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’, and they filled them to the brim. ‘Draw some out now’ he told them ‘and take it to the steward.’ They did this; the steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from – only the servants who had drawn the water knew – the steward called the bridegroom and said, ‘People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink; but you have kept the best wine till now.’
This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.
Or:
Gospel
John 19:25-27
'Woman, this is your son'.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.
The Gospel of the Lord
R/ Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
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Can’t Help Falling in Love
Loki x Reader (f)
Valentine’s Day with the God of Mischief
Based on suggestion by: @squadleaderchase
A/N: Thank you so much for the suggestion! I loved writing this, it was so much fun!
Happy Valentine’s Day y’all!
There is also a gender neutral version of this fic, and will be posted shortly after this one! Read it here!
I recommend to putting on Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis towards the end just for that finishing touch!
Summary: When Loki learns about the traditions of Valentine’s Day, he asks you to be his Valentine- and reluctantly takes advice from Steve Rogers.
Word Count: 2.9k
Warnings: none; just fluff
“Can’t Midgardians have a holiday that doesn’t involve such a grotesque display of… red?” Loki asks walking into the living room of the Avengers compound. Loki arrived at the compound a few weeks before Christmas and so far, he’s experienced two Earth holidays: Christmas and New Year’s. Of course, Tony had picked the theme for both parties to be elaborately red and gold- he claimed the fact that it matched his suit was merely a coincidence.
“Just wait until next month,” you reply casually, your eyes not leaving the brief you were reading while you sat cozied up in one of the large armchairs. “I think you’ll like St. Patrick’s Day much more… color scheme wise at least.”
Loki looked up curiously at the hearts of all shades of red and pink Natasha had hung up to decorate the Avengers’ living quarters. She had gone to visit Clint’s family and his kids spent hours making Valentines and decorations out of construction paper and glitter. Loki looked almost puzzled at the lopsided hearts that hung from the ceiling on transparent line so they looked like they floated mid-air.
“Perhaps I might,” he mumbled to himself, the lovesick aura of his surroundings making him slightly disgusted. “Though I suppose I find your rituals as bizarre as you’d find on Asgard.”
“Mhmm,” you mumbled in response to his thinking out loud. It was rare that the compound would be this quiet. It was a Friday evening and in the middle of a team meeting earlier today, Tony declared exhaustedly that everyone needs to start the weekend early and dismissed everyone despite Steve’s protests. You weren’t sure where everyone else went and you didn’t particularly care- enjoying the rare peace and quiet.
You didn’t mind Loki’s company. He was a little aloof but overall, you found him more to be misunderstood than anything else. He wasn’t like Thor and sure, he had a very trouble ridden past to downplay it- but he’s confided in you all it wasn’t entirely his doing. Out of everyone living at the compound, he probably had grown the closest to you, or as close as Loki would allow himself to be to someone.
“What even is this holiday?” Loki asked, pulling his attention from the decorations to where you sat, binder in your lap. You looked up and closed the brief, tossing it onto the coffee table in front of where you sat.
“Sunday is Valentine’s Day,” you say looking back over to him, meeting his eyes. “I mean overtime the traditions and how we celebrate have changed but it’s originally the day meant to honor St. Valentine and commemorate his death. There’s a lot more to it than that and there’s all different of different origins, but now it’s more like a day where you celebrate love, because he was the patron Saint of Love.”
Loki nods, liking the idea of this holiday much more than New Years already. He didn’t mind Christmas, but the elaborate parties made everything not very appealing to him. You can’t blame the god for not having a good time at parties where every guest fears him or hates him. He walks over and takes a seat on the couch and crosses his legs. He was intrigued enough to continue the conversation and ask you more questions. “What are the traditions?” He asks curiously.
“Traditionally, you would ask someone to be your Valentine, and that’s the person you want to spend the day with,” you answer with a small shrug, trying to explain a holiday you’ve never had to explain before. “Some people have it easy and they ask their significant other, and if you don’t have one, you ask someone you’re romantically interested in to be your Valentine. Then you give each other gifts, like chocolates or flowers, anything really that’s romantic and you go out on a date, like a nice dinner but it doesn’t have to be. That’s the basic gist.”
“Thank you, (y/n),” Loki said, mulling over your explanation. “You’ve been helpful, as always. Tell me, who’s your Valentine?”
“I don’t have one,” you answered honestly. The only time you really celebrated was when you had been with someone. You’d never really participated otherwise. You planned to just spend the night alone or with Nat if she also didn’t have plans and probably watch a movie- most definitely Pride and Prejudice.
“Shame,” Loki said with a tsk. “Perhaps, if you would be interested, you could be my Valentine?”
“Really?” you ask, honestly surprised.
“I actually like the idea of the day,” Loki shrugged. “And I don’t know many people, people seem to hate me on this planet- no idea as to why. You’ve always been kind to me, and you are the most tolerable person I’ve encountered on this planet.”
“That’s oddly very kind of you,” you say with a chuckle. “I appreciate the sentiments. Um, yes. I’d be happy to be your Valentine.”
“Excellent,” he grinned. He clapped his hands together and stood up. “Splendid. I’ll ask Thor to help me plan something.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” you smile, picking up your paperwork again as Loki heads off to find his brother.
***
“Brother,” Thor’s voice echoed in the training room. “Spar with me?”
“As much as I would love to,” Loki said sarcastically, “I need your help with something I need to plan.” Loki walked over to the side of the mat where Thor had been training with Captain Rogers.
“Plan what?” Captain Rogers asked curiously. It was an innocent enough question but Loki took it as Rogers insinuating his distrust in him. Of course, Loki can’t blame the man but it did rub him the wrong way.
“If you must know Captain Rogers, I’m making plans for this upcoming Valentine’s Day,” Loki said matter-of-factly. “I’m sure since you have quite the active love life recently, your words of wisdom are probably of infinite value.”
“You can learn a thing or two from me,” Steve retorted as he put the punching bag beck into place. “But I don’t like your attitude.”
“I don’t know how I’ll ever manage without you,” Loki scoffed. He turned his attention back to his brother. “I need help to determine where I should take (y/n) and what I should get her.”
“(y/n) agreed to this?” Thor asks, his eyebrows raised in confusion. Rogers kept his mouth shut, deciding to see where this conversation will go before
“Yes, brother. I asked her to be my Valentine as stated by tradition and she said yes.”
“Ah! Good for you, brother!” Thor exclaimed, happily. “I’m glad you’re immersing yourself in the Midgard culture.”
“Yes, yes,” Loki waved him off, “Now, please, tell me what I should do.”
“I’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day,” Thor says with a shrug and a sympathetic look. “I haven’t had much opportunity to explore the culture. Every time I’m on this planet I’m a little busy preventing its destruction. Perhaps Rogers can help you?”
Loki let out an exasperated sigh. He avoided Rogers as he knew the man had such a smug look on his face. Loki refused to give him the satisfaction. However, he realized that wouldn’t be fair to you. Rogers not only knew what to do, but he was also close friends with you. He quickly realized if he wanted to celebrate with you properly, he’d need to rely on the infamous super soldier.
“Captain Rogers,” Loki said with a charismatic smile, turning back to the man. “I wholeheartedly apologize for my lack of… social niceties. If you’d be willing to help me, to ensure your dear friend enjoys her holiday, I would be sincerely grateful.”
“Only because of (y/n),” Rogers says skeptically, waving a finger at Loki. “She deserves to enjoy her time and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I let you screw up her evening.”
“What a loyal friend.”
Years later, the Avengers would still talk about the fact Loki cared about you so much, he sought out advice from Captain America and Thor. And as Captain America said, he helped Loki with every last detail and Steve never let Loki forget it.
***
Loki had told you that he’d come to your room to get you at 6 o’clock Sunday evening. He wore clothes he had picked out, black dress pants, a white button-down shirt and shiny, black dress shoes. He had kept the last button of the shirt unbuttoned and he had rolled the sleeves up, a styling tip he had gotten from Thor. He had his long hair gelled back and tamed, ignoring Captain Roger’s horrible suggestion for a haircut. He felt very weird not wearing any green, but he took the advice he was given on his ensemble.
You were just putting on your heels when he knocked at your door Sunday promptly at 6pm. Of course, Loki would be very punctual. You gave yourself one more quick once more in the mirror in your room before heading to answer the door.
You had on a pair of dark green heels that perfectly matched your dress. You also layered over the outfit a suede brown jacket, that complimented the jewel tone of the dress and shoes nicely. You kept your appearance simple, sticking to how you usually styled your hair. Not wanting to keep him waiting, you quickly opened the door, your jacket and bag both in hand.
“Wow,” you say with a grin, when you take in Loki’s appearance. “You look very nice.”
“You look stunning,” Loki said, his eyes widening, taking in your appearance. The compliment made you have butterflies.
“Thank you,” you said with false confidence. Underneath, you were a nervous wreck as you took the arm that he extended to you.
“So,” Loki began to walk down the hallway with you. “Apparently, this planet has something called reservations, and anyone who tries to get one a few days before Valentine’s Day is a “moron,” according to a very rude young man I had the pleasure of speaking with- the first time using a phone too on top of that. So, I hope you don’t mind if the evening is a little… makeshift.”
“I’m sure it’ll be great,” you reassure him. You feel him relax slightly. You found how hard he was trying so endearing.
Where else did he bring you but just down the hall to the living room. At night with the lights dimmed, combined with Natasha’s homemade decorations, it actually looked quite beautiful. He had decorated with an eclectic array of candles as well that covered most surfaces of the room. It also looked like he had swiped every throw pillow in the whole compound and had them arranged the coffee table in the center of the room.
“Did you do all of this?” You ask in awe.
“Yes,” he replied, just watching you. “Do you like it?”
“It’s perfect.”
“I had to make my own version of advice I received,” he disclosed to you. You sat opposite each other on either side of the coffee table, you kicked off your heels and he did the same with his shoes. “Captain Rogers said- and I’m trying my best to quote verbatim, ‘You need to show a girl a good time. You gotta take her to dinner and dancing.’” He even mimicked Steve’s voice perfectly. It made you laugh.
“I can’t believe you subjected yourself to Steve for me, I’m touched,” you smiled. “I mean I love Steve,” you continue, “But I can’t imagine you too being best friends anytime soon.”
“No, I suppose we probably won’t be,” Loki chuckles.
“I hate to point it out,” you continue, “but I think you missed both the dinner part and the dancing part of that plan.” Loki smirked and when you blinked, he transformed the whole room.
“Did I?” he asks, with an eyebrow raised. You gasp, looking around the room you were now in. You knew it was an illusion, but it felt very real. The atmosphere, the breeze coming in from the large bay windows that weren’t there before. The coffee table now a table now one of many dining tables in an incredibly high-end restaurant. The table had food, and a bottle of wine. You were stunned. There was a live band and other couples in other tables and out on the dancefloor.
“Loki?” You exclaimed, looking around at your new surroundings. It was amazing. You couldn’t believe the magic right before your eyes. Of course, you knew it was just one of his tricks, but it felt so incredibly real. You picked up your fork and took a bite of the food in front of you. It was incredible, you questioned if you were even eating.
“It’s real,” Loki said, like he could read your mind. Honestly, he had only just anticipated your next question. “I made it. Well, I made it with Friday’s supervision.”
“It’s fantastic! I can’t believe you went through all this trouble just for me.”
“Sweetheart, you are very much worth it- worth much more than this,” he responded casually, throwing in the term of endearment to see how you’d react. He caught the way it made you smile.
You continued to talk for a little while, and shared stories. You were worried that compared to his life on Asgard, he’d find your stories incredibly boring and mundane. It seemed to be the opposite. His attention was only on you and he held on to every word you said. He created this elaborate setting just to keep you the center of his attention.
“Should we dance?” He asks suddenly, a glimmer in his eye. You looked down apprehensively.
“I’m not really a dancer,” you tried to insist.
“Do you actually not want to dance, darling? Because if so, I will not bring it up again,” he says earnestly, “But, if you’re saying no because you’re afraid I’m going to judge you, I honestly can promise you I would never dream of doing so.”
You give it another moment to ponder over his words. You were taken aback at how well he seemed to know how you were thinking. You let out a sigh of defeat, and smile. “I’d love to,” you reply.
He stands up and offers you his hand. His smile is enough to make you weak at the knees. You take his hand and he leads you over to the dancefloor as the band starts playing its next song. “Does that singer sound like Elvis?” You ask, the small glitch in the illusion throwing you off for only a moment.
“I don’t know who that is,” Loki says with a laugh. He pulls you in close and rests one hand on the small of your back and the other grasps your hand close. You wrap your other arm around his shoulder. You are both pressed up incredibly close to one another. You rest your head on his chest comfortably, and you can’t see how much the action makes his whole face go red. Guiding your movements together, it mostly just swaying in place. The steps were small, and with the music playing for the two of you.
“This place is incredible,” you sigh happily looking up at him. “But I think I liked the first place a little better.”
He nodded in agreement and you got to watch a green hue encompass the walls of the restaurant as they almost melted away, and everything around the two of you just fade away. The sconces on the walls, revealed themselves to be the candles that cluttered the living room and the couples evaporated with the green mist. The table you had both sat at, turned back to the coffee table but the empty plates remained. The elaborate statues that surrounded the room turned into the furniture you knew well, and then the live band faded away to reveal Steve’s record player indeed playing a 45 of Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley.
When the room finished revealing its true appearance to you, you laid your head back on Loki’s chest and mumbled that now it was perfect. He smiled to himself, thinking about how without a doubt in his mind, Valentine’s Day is his absolute favorite holiday on Midgard. He now couldn’t believe this reality was real. If he wasn’t holding you, he’d pinch himself. You were here, with him, in his arms, dancing in the middle of the living room on this godforsaken planet.
“(y/n)?” he whispered softly as the song was coming to an end.
“Mhmm?” You responded, your eyes closed, really just basking in the feeling of being so close to him and the smell of his cologne.
“Will be mine?” He asks carefully, remembering the phrase from Captain Roger’s advice. That phrase apparently being very important if today went well and he wanted to ask you to “go steady.” You chuckled softly, hearing Steve’s influence in the phrase.
“I would love to,” you say with a shy smile looking back up to him. He beams, incredibly happy you said yes. Swept up in his emotions, he swiftly leans down and presses his lips to yours capturing them in a passionate first kiss.
“Oh gross!” You hear someone exclaim, making you both pull away. It’s Tony- who was currently holding his side in pain as Pepper elbowed him in the side.
“You really had to do that?” she chastised him, rolling her eyes and giving an apologetic look to you and Loki before pushing Tony down the hallway to give you both your moment back, as sullied as it had become thanks to Tony.
“I’m so sorry,” she said embarrassed by his outburst, ushering him out as quickly as possible.
Loki turns his head back to you, immediately after they are out of view. “Where were we, darling?” He smirks, pulling you in for another kiss.
#loki laufeyson#loki x reader#loki x you#loki x y/n#valentines day imagine#marvel imagine#mcu loki#loki imagine#loki fluff#fluff imagine#tom hiddleston x reader#tom hiddelston imagine#tom hiddleston x y/n
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Drowning in the Distance | Chapter XXII
✩ haechan x fem!reader | terminal illness au! series ✩
SUMMARY ⇾ confined to a life of detachment from the only people on earth who understand them, the patients of saint evangeline’s can only watch as those around them drown in themselves, in more ways than one, while they themselves drown, in a much more literal sense. haechan is tired, tired of moving from place to place with no real chance of getting better. y/n is tired too, tired of living solely for the purpose of staying alive. maybe, just maybe, despite the space that separates them, they can guide each other to a life worth living.
WARNINGS ⇾ ongoing theme of terminal illness (cystic fibrosis); talk of christianity, the afterlife, heaven/hell, death; ongoing mention of surgeries, scars, medications, drug trials etc.
CHAPTER WORD COUNT ⇾ 2.01k
CHAPTER MASTERLIST
XXII | Donghyuck
✩
I sit in my chair, waiting for Doyoung to come to take me to isolation like I deserve. The morning has rolled into afternoon, afternoon into evening, evening into night, and I still haven’t heard anything from him, the threat he gave yesterday buried under what has come to pass. My eyes travel to the clock on my nightstand as another minute ticks by. Every change in the red numbers putting yesterday further in the past. Putting Jaemin in the past. Na Jaemin died on my birthday. I shake my head sadly, remembering his laughter at dinner. He was fine and then just like that… I kick myself, the shock and horror that filled Y/N’s face as she looked at me, the anger as she pushed me away, haunting me for the millionth time today. Why did I do that? What was I thinking? I wasn’t. That’s the problem. Y/N thought out all the rules and I couldn’t just follow them? What’s wrong with me? It’s only a matter of time before I do something really stupid. Something that gets us both killed.
I’m getting the fuck out of here.
I launch myself out of the chair, grabbing my big duffel from under my bed. I throw open the drawers and shove my clothes into it, clearing everything out as quickly as I can. Calling an Uber, I pack my art supplies and sketchbooks into my backpack, the pencils and the papers all shoved messily inside after the important stuff. I put the framed cartoon from my mum gently on top of the mound in my duffel bag, wrapping it carefully in a shirt, before zipping my bag closed and dropping a pin for the driver to meet me at the east entrance. I put on my coat and slip out of my room, booking it down the hall to the double doors and down the elevator to the east lobby. Pulling my beanie on, I shove open the door with my side, heading just inside the lobby doors to wait. Tapping my foot impatiently, I check the status of my car, squinting when I see movement on the other side of the doors. The glass fogs up and I watch as a hand reaches up to draw a heart. Y/N. I can see her now, in the darkness. We stare at each other, the glass of the door between us. She’s bundled up in a thick green jacket. A scarf is wrapped tightly around her neck, a pair of gloves on her small hands, her backpack slung over her shoulder. I reach up, pressing my palm to the glass, inside the heart that she drew. She bends her finger, telling me to come outside. My heart jumps. What is she doing? She has to come back inside; it’s freezing. I have to go get her.
I push carefully through the door, the cold air hitting me right in the face. Pulling my hat down lower over my ears, I walk over to her, my footsteps crunching noisily as I walk through the perfect blanket of white.
“Let’s go see the lights,” she says as I stop next to her, the invisible pool cue between us. She’s excited. Almost manic. I look in the direction of the holiday lights, knowing how far they are.
“Y/N, that’s gotta be two miles away. Come back inside-” She cuts me off.
“I’m going.” Her eyes meet mine, resolute, and full of something I’ve never seen there before, something wild. She’s going with or without me. “Come with me.” I’m all for being rebellious, but this seems like a death wish. Two kids with barely functioning lungs walking two miles one-way to go look at lights?
“Y/N. Now isn’t the time to be a rebel. Is this about Jaemin? This is about Jaemin, isn’t it?” She turns to face me.
“It’s about Jaemin. It’s about Yeji. It’s about you and me, Hyuck, and everything we’ll never get to do together.” I stay silent, watching her. Her words sound like they could come straight from my mouth, but when I hear them from her, they don’t sound the same. “If this is all we get, then let’s take it. I want to be fearless and free.” She says, giving me a look, daring me. “It’s just life, Hyuck. It’ll be over before we know it.”
We walk down an empty sidewalk, the streetlights over our heads making the icy patches shine. I try to stay six feet away from her while we walk, our steps slow as we carefully try not to slip. I peer at the road in the distance and then back at Y/N.
“Let’s get an Uber, at least?” I think of the one that’s already on the way. She rolls her eyes.
“I want to walk and enjoy the night.” she says, leaning in and grabbing my hand in hers. I jerk back, but she holds on tight, her fingers lacing through mine. “Gloves! We’re good.”
“But we’re supposed to be six feet-” I start to say as she moves away from me, stretching our arms out but refusing to let go.
“Five feet.” She shoots back, determined. “I’m keeping that one.” I watch her for a moment, taking in the look on her face, and let all the fear and nervousness melt away. I’m finally outside a hospital. Going to actually see something instead of looking at it from a roof or a window. And Y/N is right next to me. Holding my hand. And even though I know it’s wrong, I can’t see how it possibly could be.
I cancel the Uber.
We trudge on through the snow, the lights beckoning to us in the distance, the park border coming slowly closer and closer.
“I still want to see the Sistine Chapel.” She says while we walk, her footsteps assertive as she crunches through the snow.
“That’d be cool.” I say, shrugging. It’s not at the top of my list, but if she’s there, if Y/N’s there, I’d go too.
“Where do you want to go?” She asks me.
“Just about everywhere.” I say, thinking of all the places I’ve been but missed out on. “Brazil, Copenhagen, Fiji, France. I want to go on a worldwide trip where I just go to all the places I’ve been in a hospital at but never got to explore. Johnny said if I ever could do it, he’d go with me. She squeezes my hand, nodding, understanding, the snow clinging to our hands and our arms and our jackets. “Do you like warm weather or cold weather?” I ask her. She bites her lip, thinking.
“I like snow. But, aside from that, I think I prefer warm weather.” She looks over at me, curious. “You?”
“I like the cold. Not a huge fan of trudging through it, though.” I reply, fixing my beanie and smirking at her. I bend down, scooping up some snow and packing it together. “But I am a huge fan of snowballs.” She holds up her hands, shaking her head and giggling as she steps away from me.
“Lee Haechan. Do not.” Then she scoops up a snowball and with lightning-fast speed pins me right in the chest. I stare at her in shock, dramatically falling to my knees.
“I’ve been hit!” She tags me with another one in response, hitting me in the arm with a sniper-like aim. I chase after her, the two of us laughing and chucking snow in each other’s direction as we head toward the lights.
Way too soon, we both begin gasping for breath. I grab her hand in truce as we huff and puff up a hill, turning around to look back at it all when we finally reach the top. Y/N exhales, fog swirling out of her mouth as we look back at the snow and the hospital, far behind us.
“Sure looks better behind us.” I give her a look, watching as the snow falls gently onto her hair and face.
“Was this on your to-do list? Break out with the handsome, charming Lee Donghyuck?” For once, the sound of my birth name upon my tongue does not sound nor feel so wrong. She laughs, the sound happy, real, despite everything.
“No. But my to-do list has changed.” She spreads her arms wide and falls back onto the hill, the snow giving way around her, puffing softly as she lands in it. I watch as she makes a snow angel, laughing as her arms and legs move back and forth, back and forth. No to-do list, no suffocating hospital, no obsessive regimen, no one else to worry about.
She’s just Y/N.
I spread my arms and fall down next to her, the snow moulding to my body as I land. I laugh, making a snow angel too, my whole body cold from the snow, but warm from the moment. We stop and look up at the sky. The stars seem an arm’s length away. Bright enough and close enough for us to just reach out and grab them. I look over at her, frowning when I notice a bulge in the front of her coat, on her chest. Not that I’ve been looking, but her boobs are nowhere near that big.
“What the hell is that?” I ask, poking at the lump. She unzips her coat to reveal a stuffed Moomin plush, lying limply against her chest. I smirk, looking up to meet her eyes. “I can’t wait to hear this one.” She pulls the patchy Moomintroll out of her jacket, holding it up.
“Yej gave this to me for my first hospital trip. I’ve had it with me every time since.” I can see her, young and small and scared, coming into Saint Evangeline’s for the first time, clutching that ratty plushie. I laugh, clearing my throat.
“Well, that’s good. ’Cause I didn’t want to have to tell you that a third boob’s a deal breaker.” She glares at me, but it gives way quickly. She tucks the plush back inside, sitting up to zip the coat back up. “Let’s go see your lights,” I say, standing. She tries to join me but jerks back to the ground. Kneeling, I see that the strap of her O2 concentrator is caught on a root. I reach out, taking the strap off it, and hold out my hand to help her stand back up. She takes it and I pull, her body swinging up, the motion moving her inches away from me. I look into her eyes, the air coming out of our mouths intermingling in the small space between us, doing what I know our bodies can’t. Behind her I see our snow angels, a perfect five feet apart. I let go, quickly stepping back before the dizzying urge to kiss her overwhelms me again.
We keep walking, finally making it into the park and to the giant pond, the lights just a little bit farther. I watch as the moonlight glints off the frozen surface, dark and beautiful. Looking back, I see Y/N breathing heavily, struggling to catch her breath.
“You okay?” I ask, taking a step closer. She nods, looking past me and pointing.
“Let’s take a breather.” I glance behind me to see a stone footbridge, turning back to grin at Y/N’s pun. We walk slowly toward the small bridge, edging carefully along the shoreline of the pond. Y/N stops short, her foot reaching slowly out to touch the ice, and she gradually puts more and more weight on it, testing it out beneath her shoe.
“Y/N, don’t,” I say, picturing her going clean through it into the freezing water beneath.
“It’s frozen solid, Hyuck. C’mon!” She gives me a look. The same look I’ve seen all night tonight: brave, mischievous, daring. Reckless comes to mind too. But I push that aside.
If this is all we get, then let’s take it.
So I take a deep breath, taking her challenge, and grab her hand as we slide onto the ice together.
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Hi! I love your works! 71 + 72 for Luffy and Jinbei?
PROMPTS LIST
71. “I’m going to protect you.”
smile again
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As a watchdog journalist, Jinbei's work takes him everywhere. He isn't always in the best position to receive phone calls. Sometimes, depending on what story his group decides to chase after and what far-flung corner of the world it leads them to, Jinbei goes weeks without internet access.
By the time he gets news of the accident, Luffy has been out of the hospital for a month and Ace has been dead just as long.
Jinbei has to go home.
His colleagues-- a group of solid, hard-working people he's known for going on twenty years, has worked with on the field and off, in smoke and fire and claustrophobic office spaces-- are entirely understanding.
Tiger drives him to a small airport, the truck bouncing along a bumpy gravel road. There's a single, hastily-packed duffel in the bed of the pickup. Jinbei isn't even sure what he shoved in there, having only made one mindless pass through his room. He would have left without his passport if Hatchan hadn't shoved it into his hands on his way out the door.
"It may be time for me to retire," Jinbei says aloud. His mind is ebbing and rising like a tide, a vast ocean of grief. Thoughts go bobbing away like loose buoys before he can get a grasp on them.
All he can think of is the last video-call he made home, over a month ago now. Ace and Luffy, pressed cheek-to-cheek so they'd both fit in-frame, competitive in all things and unwilling to take turns, even as Jinbei laughingly promised he had plenty of time to talk.
They made him promise to call again soon. He meant to.
"Don't worry about us over here," Tiger says. His eyes are on the road, hands tight around the steering wheel. He carries Jinbei's grief like it's his own. "Just worry about your boy."
His boy, Jinbei thinks. Not by blood or by law, certainly, but by something less quantifiable than that. Those scrappy kids that spilled into his yard one muggy summer evening, hiding in the hedges from their well-antagonized CPS caseworker and somehow claiming a piece of Jinbei's heart from the moment he first laid eyes on them.
Ace was so angry back then, and Luffy was so easily frightened, and they clung to each other in a practiced way, as if they were so used to the world trying to claw them apart that they didn't expect anything else, even from a perfect stranger. They didn't seem to know what to do with kindness. Ace watched Jinbei like a hawk for weeks, long after Luffy warmed up to him. His trust, when he finally gave it, felt like a prize.
Jinbei was working long, unpredictable hours, and knew it wouldn't be fair to drag two children into his household if he couldn't afford them the time and care they deserved-- but after school? Weekends? Holidays? Those he gave up freely.
His days gained some semblance of routine again, for the fist time since he finished college. His kitchenware came down from the cupboard, the pockmarked kitchen table was often set for three. He made dinner at home, more than he ate in the office with his colleagues.
Hell, his colleagues ate dinner with him at home more often, too. Within an hour of meeting the boys, each of Jinbei's friends, to a man, would have taken a bullet for either of them, no questions asked.
The sense of structure did wonders for the brothers. With a safe place to return to when they needed it, and someone to fall back on, Ace stopped looking at every potential foster home as if it was a threat. Luffy came out of his shell, bolder with each new day. He made a friend in the village, a boy with vivid green eyes, and they hardly spent a moment apart.
They were finally placed with a couple who lived nearby. Shanks was wry and good-natured, and Benn had the patience of a saint. After
a few weeks, when Jinbei asked how they were settling in, his worries were soothed: Luffy clearly adored them, and even Ace grudgingly admitted they weren't so bad.
And when the time came, and Ace applied for emancipation as well as custody of his brother, he had a small army in his corner. A patchwork family collected in little bits and pieces, ready to support him through anything.
"I will always be here for you both," Jinbei had promised him, countless times. "You'll never be alone as long as I'm alive."
"Thank you," Ace said, a little bashful. But he was so pleased, and so full of hope for the future, and he said, "I'll feel better, knowing someone's around to look after Luffy if I can't."
He immediately got shouted down by his entire strange extended pseudo-family for daring to suggest they'd ever let anything happen to him, and it made him laugh so brightly, and now the memory sticks like needles in Jinbei's throat.
Tiger hugs him hard before Jinbei boards the plane. In the back of his mind, where there is a tiny corner free from drowning, Jinbei can't help but wonder when he'll see his friend again.
He keeps thinking of that last video call. He can't remember everything they talked about. He doesn't think he said enough. He almost certainly didn't tell Ace everything he deserved to hear. Foolishly, he assumed there would be another time.
He's learned from this. He won't take it for granted any more.
"Call me when you land," Tiger says. "Give the monkey our love."
"I will," Jinbei replies. His heart is so heavy he doesn't know how he manages the steps onto the plane. He doesn't know how the pilot manages to lift them up from the tarmac. It's a wonder they aren't sinking, straight through the earth.
Nami and Usopp are waiting for him at the airport, wide-awake even though it's well past two o'clock in the morning. They're familiar to Jinbei from the stories Luffy has told him, from the numerous video calls they've bullied their way into over the years, and the handful of birthdays and holidays Jinbei was able to make it home for.
"Luffy wanted to come with us to pick you up, but he fell asleep," Usopp says, apropos of nothing, as they're waiting for their Uber. "Sanji said it was a small miracle, and Zoro looked like he was going to hunt us for sport if we even thought about waking him up, so--"
"He hasn't been sleeping, then?" Jinbei asks quietly.
"After he came home, he was on some pretty heavy meds, and he slept a lot," Nami says. Her arms are folded tight against her chest in the nighttime chill, her eyes trained somewhere far away. "But he had bad dreams and he would wake up disoriented. Now he fights sleep tooth and nail."
"We've all sort of become the insomnia squad," Usopp pipes up. "Thank god I'm not taking any classes this summer."
"Sanji's gotten really good at making lattes," Nami adds with a small smile. "Wait till you see his shiny new espresso machine."
"I'm like eight-five percent sure he stole it from the Baratie."
Jinbei listens to their chatter, feeling at once anchored by them and adrift at sea. It makes sense that they would be ahead of him. They've been here all this time, practically from the moment of the accident, facing it with all the bravery and endurance of sailors in a typhoon. Jinbei, meanwhile, had been living in an unchanged world.
For the last month, Ace has been dead. How many times had Jinbei thought about him? Mentioned him to a friend? How many times had Jinbei wrongly said his name in the present-tense?
The house is warmly-lit when they arrive, but quiet. An old blue Irish wolfhound greets them at the door, wagging his tail. Robin looks up from the papers she has spread out on the coffee table and smiles. Chopper is fast asleep beside her, his head on her shoulder. Behind them, Jinbei can see Sanji at work in the kitchen, shaping dough. Something is baking that smells of cinnamon and apples.
They weren't kidding about their sleep schedules being a mess.
"Hello, Jinbei. It's good to see you," Robin says. Her voice is soft, in deference to the sleeping teenager. "Luffy is asleep, but you can see him if you like."
"Please," Jinbei replies hoarsely.
"I'll take him," Nami says. "Usopp, would you bring his bag to the guest bedroom?"
"'Course," Usopp replies, but he makes a detour into the kitchen first.
Nami takes Jinbei's hand and leads him toward the stairs. "I feel really stupid about this, but I was so angry at you," she admits as they make their way up. "It's hardly the first time we haven't been able to contact you, and I know why that is. But-- I don't know, I think I was going crazy. I wanted Luffy to have everything he wanted. I wanted everyone who loved him to be here every time he woke up. So I-- so there might be some angry emails waiting for you, but please don't hate me for it."
"I won't even read them," Jinbei promises gravely, his heart cleaved clean in two. "I can't imagine how-- how hard it must have been. I-- if I had gotten the messages sooner-- "
"I know," Nami assures him, pausing outside a closed bedroom door. "Franky spoke to you like six hours ago, and you're already here. You dropped everything to be here. We know the kind of person you are."
She stands up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, and Jinbei bends to accommodate her, the same way he does for Koala. Then Nami reaches out and pushes open the door.
Zoro is awake, sitting against the headboard with his phone in hand and earphones in, and his eyes are as bright and sharp now as they were when he was a child. He looks up when the door opens, and seems to relax when he sees Jinbei stepping in behind Nami.
"Go to sleep," Nami whispers, pointing at the second bed across the spacious room.
"Don't tell me what to do," Zoro replies, just as quiet, but he pulls his earphones out and extracts himself from the bed with all the exacting precision of a bomb disposal technician. Nami takes him by the arm, helping him get up so carefully that the mattress hardly moves. It's such a well-practiced maneuver that Jinbei thinks he honestly might cry.
"If one of you would stay for a bit, I'll grab a shower," Zoro says.
"Sure, stinky," Nami says, nudging him toward the door. "Jinbei?"
He nods, unsure of what he's agreeing to. Now that he's finally next to Luffy, nothing else seems to exist. He sinks into the chair beside the bed, only half-aware of Nami and Zoro leaving. Their murmured conversation is cut off by the closing door. The room is silent, save for the gentle, unobtrusive sound of Luffy's steady breathing.
He's lost weight since Jinbei saw him last. There are shadows on his face that don't belong there. He looks both older and younger than he has any right to, even now, when his face is untroubled and slack with sleep.
"Hello, little monkey," Jinbei says. His voice is quiet, but it still breaks. He's crying, he realizes, thick tears rolling down his face with abandon. "I'm sorry it took me so long."
He thinks of two little boys, spilling into his life on accident, taking up room in his home and his heart as if they always belonged there. They weren't his, not really, but he loved them anyway. Loves them still.
"I'm here now," he whispers. His hands are shaking. "I'm going to protect you, like I promised. I'm here, Ace. Please believe me, wherever you are. I won't fail you again."
#one piece#op#opfic#knight of the sea jimbei#cat burglar nami#god usopp#my writing#smile again#i woke up and chose violence#but i mean a couple people were wondering where jimbei was so u brought this upon urselves
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VIO CONTENT PEKASE PLEASE DKJNEOIAJEPLENSENEIWN OIYUEB NWPL EHAHAHAHhSNJKNKNKSLMFDLKSFNKLNFEOIFNEOWIFNEWOFNEWOFIWEMV
Thy....... ok here you didn't give me an AU so I just f***ed around and found out.
Vio headcanons (for all Au’s and general)
General HC:
- Vio crochets. People can fight me on this!!! He crochets and knits. He does it to calm his thoughts, just to slowly zone out. Catch him plotting his own story in his brain while doing so.
- Speaking of stories, this man is probably an Author. He most likely had written a fluffed-up version of their adventure. There wasn’t really a point of him doing so but it did get all of his feelings out on paper.
- Out of all the colors I feel like he would get the most night terrors. It will lead to him having bad insomnia.
General Love HC:
- Indifference. That’s the base emotion he is feeling towards a Reader that ended up traveling with the chain. He does like you! Don’t get that wrong. It’s just the situation calls for his attention to be on the goal. The other colors are better at social interactions then him.
- Reader in a normal traveling with the chain au, would be from a more modern timeline. Not fully but like one of that mixed technology and Medieval fantasy-based era.
- It honestly was weird that you just hang out with Four with him in control. You seem like you just gain energy from just talking or interacting with the others and Vio isn’t…really… that social.
- It was a slow bonding experience. It started as you sitting nearby when he was reading or working on a project. Nether talking nor really minding the other's company.
Isekai HC:
- This man is super anxious around you. The sobs when you were also convinced, he killed green, along with your cries from his betrayal still ring in his ears even now. He hates knowing that you might not trust him anymore because of that. The other Colors think he is just overthinking it because you did welcome him back with open arms after.
- Vio is kind of just dancing around you when they finally realize you’re the voice and presence that they felt during their adventures. While the other colors jumped on to the opportunity to get to know you better. He just… can’t?
- You’re his and the other’s anchor. They consider you their (ex. Imaginary) friend. The one person that was always by their side. Cheering them through the toughest of times, and Vio feels like you would leave them if he even tries to get close.
- He really, truly wants to standby you. He wants to not feel guilty enjoying your hugs. He just… wants you to be happy.
Divide and conquer. That’s normally how Four dealt with supply runs. Four was accompanied by you today. Which meant the others were in town. So, Four decided to let the colors stretch their legs. It was nice for each of them to actually speak to you one on one. However, they had limited time and still needed to get the items before sundown.
With five people it should go a lot quicker than normal. So, with the promise of being able to hang out after. Each Color and you went their separate ways. Vio was almost done with his list of items. The last thing he needed was some more personal items.
“Sneak attack!!” A warmth from behind engulfs the purple hero. Picking him up briefly to give a small squeeze. You were smiling brightly down at Vio. “Hi again.”
It was a miracle that his brain didn’t just short circuit just looking up at them. “I- Hello??” One of the many things you’ve said on their journey came out as, Vio was scrambling for a sense of, for the lack of better words, ground to root himself to. “Why are you here?”
“Is it against the law to hug someone I am closed to?”
“No, but…” he didn’t understand why you wanted to shower him, in affection and love. But how can he ask you that? You’re always giving Four hugs and small platonic kisses. He didn’t want you to stop. He and his brothers loved and craved that warmth you brought with your presence.
Vio didn’t know if he was deserving of it. The others were, that’s for sure. Despite how rough blue is, how bossy Green could be or how much Red cried in their adventure. You always had the patience of a saint. It was him that tested that and found how far that patience went. “Viiiioooooo, earth to my favorite grape color hero!” He was finally put back down on his feet. “Are you ok?”
“Define ok.” He was quick to answer, after finally getting some semblance of his ability to think back. He took his chance to back away from your presence.
That wasn’t the right thing to say apparently as your face slowly twisted to a pout. “Are you mad at me?”
“Mad… at you?” He repeated to confirm he heard you correctly. You gave a small nod now doubting your assumption. “Why?”
Your shrug didn’t give him much of an answer. “Well, it just seems when Four is influenced by you he is more distant.” You paused trying to figure out what to say next. Vio on the other hand was mortified that you were able to read his body language so well. Actually, he should have expected it. That’s how you knew that the colors exist in the first place. “If I did anything-“
“No, it’s not you!” It was him. It was all him. Vio knows logically being still hung up about the past was ridiculous. Emotions are annoying. He isn’t built to deal with them. “I just thought.” There was no nice way to explain this to you though. “You were still mad at me.”
“Oh.” Well, this got awkward really fast. Vio kept up his indifferent front hoping that his cheeks weren’t still as red as his brother’s tunic. “But I like you a lot!” You took his hands suddenly. “Don’t get me wrong I was mad. But I know you’re a good person Vio! I like you; I like your brothers and I like Four!”
Ah. There he goes.
- The first of the Colors to realized he loved you in this AU. Which just makes everything even worse for him. Since he knows the other colors feel the same but are in denial because of your connection with Four.
- He could help the others…..Nah…. Vio wants to watch them suffer.
Cafe HC:
- Coffee? If he feels like death. Yes. Tea mostly though. He tends to get the blunt of the headaches. Tea also helps with his ability to sleep.
- He is the type of customer that comes in and stays for hours. In his case just writing and/or reading. You’ve only ever spoken to him a few times before. Mostly to get his order and asking about his day. Small talk!
- Slowly you learn more about him. You learn that he has brothers. Is an author, (you’ve bought his book and teased him about having it signed now.) Had traveled around the world a few times before.
- You’ve met some of his siblings before. They actually come as often as he does. Striking up more of a conversation than him. Sometimes even getting him to talk to you more…
It’s has occurred to you how much time has passed since you last saw a Vio. It was a long time. A few months honestly. It kind of hurt that he and his brothers just up and left without giving you a fair warning but, it’s their personal business and not yours. Yet…
You thought you five were close.
It’s fine. Maybe Link was around! They were his siblings and you could just go to the forge and ask. Though you weren’t too close to Link so maybe it would be a bit awkward to ask him about his brothers.
They are probably fine.
There is no need to worry, they are all seasons’ adventurers!
It seems like this day was just going to be a slow one. Where you couldn’t get your mind off of your friends. It was almost closing time so another day without any word from your favorite color-coded brothers.
You decided to clean the shelves early tonight. Leaving some smaller bits for the Minish that may or may not be inside your small cafe. Lifting the chairs onto the tables to clean the floor. Making sure they get every nook and cranny. To make your life easier the next morning.
As you picked up the finally empty tray off of the counter you were heading into the back. Until the door to your small shop swung open and a group of similar-looking Adventurers comes stumbling in. “(Y/n)!”
“Vio?” You turned around quickly, only to see him helping to keep one of his brothers up. They looked like they ran through ten monster camps just to get to your sleepy little shop. You felt dread came in full force as the empty tray slips from your grasp. You bolt to his side ordering the others to get in the store. “You lot are staying over here.” You didn’t ask it was a demand. No room for argument. “There are potions in the back. You can use what you need.”
“Thank you, Ms.” a larger man with a scar across his eye went in the direction you pointed.
You gather the knocked-out brother to help Vio. “Thank you.” He said sheepishly.
“It’s no problem,” You smiled back at him. “Let’s make sure your brothers are safe. I was about to get dinner ready. How does something hearty sound?”
“That sounds lovely thank you.”
- You might have not known Vio and his brother for long but they really do consider your small little cafe as a safe space. A little heaven that they don’t need to be a Hero.
- Now when he stops by on this adventure you tend to give him packs of supplies and a bunch of treats for the road.
- You also started writing him letters and care packages when you can. Now that you know that he is traveling around. Though you don’t know how the mailman knows where he is… that’s… not something your gonna question really.
#🐠 anon#linked universe#linkeduniverse#linked universe x reader#London Fog Tea#Mocha Latte#Ye Sheng Tea
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MCU The Avengers - How did the fandom came to believe Loki was tortured by Thanos? (aka when God, Saint Paul and Dante seem to say the same thing)
Everyone has probably heard how there are people who say that, after falling into the Void at the end of “Thor”, Loki was tortured by Thanos and then sent to Earth. Of course every time this story comes up there’s a debate because this is not explicitly shown and some say it’s just a theory (word of Dante), some say someone involved with the work said so (word of Saint Paul) and some says the creators, be it Marvel or Joss Whedon or another director/scriptwriter said so (word of God).
Well, the truth is a collective chat about the three.
But first...
SOURCES MENTIONED:
Movies: “The Avengers” (2012), “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2″ (2017), “Avengers: Infinity War”
Series: “Loki” (2021)
Comics: None mentioned
Direct-to-video animated film: None mentioned
Motion comics: None mentioned
Books: “The art of The Avengers” (2012)
Novels: “Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: The Avengers” (2015)
Webs: The official Marvel web
Others: Interview: “‘Thor: The Dark World’: Tom Hiddleston on boom times for evildoers”, Interview: “Tom Hiddleston - live on stage Q&A: Popcorn Tax.i October 8, 2013, Event Cinemas George Street, Sydney”, Interview: “Tom Hiddleston THE AVENGERS Set Visit Interview”, Interview: “Joss Whedon told Comic-Con the question he doesn’t want us to ask ever again”, Interview: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ director explains why a major death had to happen so early in the movie, Script: “The Avengers”, Interview: Secrets Revealed in Joss Whedon’s Avengers DVD Commentary
Let’s start with...
WORD OF DANTE (aka fancanons)
Undoubtedly fans noticed some suspicious things in Loki which has brought them to draw certain conclusions.
1) At the end of “Thor”, when he control Selvig, his face seems to be bruised, as if he had been beaten. It’s easy for fans to assume if he seems to be beaten maybe... well, he was?
2) When he arrives, in “The Avengers”, in some scenes he seems unsteady on his feet and in poor shape as if he’d been beaten and, in one scene, he seems unable to stand straight. Same as above, Loki will prove through the movie he’s very resistant. If something made him unsteady on his feet... well, this can mean someone beaten him.
3) The Other threatens him and keeps him under surveillance, as if he’s controlling him somehow, both during the movie and in a deleted scene, which seems to imply Loki is working under coercion more than willingly.
THE OTHER: You will have your war, Asgardian. If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can’t find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain. [The Avengers]
4) Some wondered if Loki could have ended up being possessed as well by the sceptre as the sceptre could control minds.
5) Some noticed how Loki’s eyes appear as blue in “The Avengers”, a characteristic of the possessed guys, while in “Thor” they seem to be green was a hint Loki was possessed, same as Selvig and Barton.
6) Some wondered if Thanos might have tortured him to force him to cooperate as Thanos is known for having tortured people working under him. We saw him torturing Nebula in both “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame” and we also have those bits:
Gamora: He’s not my father. When Thanos took my home world, he killed my parents in front of me. He tortured me, turned me into a weapon. [Guardians of the Galaxy]
Nebula: You were the one who wanted to win. And I just wanted a sister! You were all I had. But you were the one who needed to win. Thanos pulled my eye from my head… and my brain from my skull… and my arm from my body… because of you. [Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2]
Gamora: All my life, I dreamed of a day... a moment when you would get what you deserved. And I was always so disappointed. But now... you kill and torture... and you call it mercy. The universe has judged you. You asked it for a prize, and it told you no. You failed. And do you wanna know why? Because you love nothing. No one. [Avengers: Infinity War]
7) Others assumed that, if Thanos didn’t do it personally, another of his children could have done it for him. We saw Ebony Maw torturing Stange in order to get the stone for Thanos.
Ebony Maw: You’ll only wish you were dead. [Avengers: Infinity War]
8) Since Thanos was willing to kill Rohan should he fail to bring back to him the orb, Thanos would have killed Loki if he hadn’t brought back the Tesseract so Loki was working for him under coercion.
Thanos: I shall honour our agreement, Kree. If you bring me the Orb. But return to me again empty-handed... ...and I will bathe the stairways in your blood. [Guardians of the Galaxy]
Ebony Maw: In all the time I’ve served Thanos, I’ve never failed him. If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be... judgement. [Avengers: Infinity War]
9) Loki’s willing cooperation wasn’t needed if Thanos had the feeling Loki could do it. He had blackmailed Gamora into giving him the location of the soul stone and he had killed Tivan to get the reality stone.
World of Dante is, as usual, very charming but if not supported by anything else it can’t ascend to canon. This doesn’t mean it’s false unless Word of God ends up stating the opposite, but this doesn’t mean it’s true either. Just possible but unproved.
So is there someone else that’s a little stronger than fan theories?
Enter...
WORD OF SAINT PAUL (aka what Tom Hiddleston says)
For start that he has blue eyes and, from the way he speak, apparently he was never made wear green eye contacts.
Loki is a sexy villain, but that’s not part of his ambition, is it? He doesn’t seem to be interested in love or sex but he has this sexuality about him, maybe it’s his lust for power. What do you think of Loki as a sexy beast?
[Laughs] That’s the first time anyone has ever used that phrase about Loki. It’s fascinating isn’t it? I don’t know because it’s not a part of the conscious construction. I take relish in playing him. I think there’s a physical self-possession about him, a self-acceptance. Of course I’ve been very exacting about his physicality. You know, I was born with very blonde, curly hair, and a mixture of Scottish and English genes, and my complexion is very ruddy and healthy. In making him with this raven black hair and blanching my face of all colour, it changes my features. Suddenly my blue eyes look a lot bluer, which lends a severity to my face. And even my own smile has a distorted menace to it. Whatever comes through me naturally is distorted. It’s almost like a filter on a light. [‘Thor: The Dark World’: Tom Hiddleston on boom times for evildoers]
This disproves Fan theory point number 5. You might have noticed though that the theory about Loki being possessed by the sceptre is point 4. You’ll see later why I hadn’t placed those two points together.
And now let’s see what he has to say about what happened between “Thor” and “The Avengers.
In your opinion, what happen to Loki when he fell in to the void? Like, what did he experienced?
HIDDLESTON: “You mean at the end of Thor?”
“Yeah.”
HIDDLESTON: “I think he went like with everything else to… Joss Whedon and I discussed it, to a sort of… hum… as… It was like the worst place imaginable. I think, he went to sort of all of the darkest recesses of the Universe, you know. I’m sure he had a brush with… with... with... several brushes with death. I think he ran into the shadiest characters you can find in the Nine Realms. I think he had to rely on his wits to protect himself. Hum… It was really, really, really unpleasant, I think. Umm… and all I have to, you know, I don’t have any frame of reference for that, really, except for imagining what it might be like to be… I don’t know, to be kidnapped by sort of a terrorist cell or something. And have to survive very very frightening and precarious existence. But whatever it was, it was important when Loki came back for the Avengers. Whatever compassion he had left, was absolutely kind a shrivelled to a minimum. Because of the experience he had. Harrowing, I think, and scarring for life. In a way that Odin and Thor, and Frigga find very, very difficult to understand. It’s a good question. Happy Birthday.” [Tom Hiddleston - live on stage Q&A: Popcorn Tax.i October 8, 2013, Event Cinemas George Street, Sydney]
How different is Loki in this film when compared to how he is in Thor? I think that he comes into his own power at the end of Thor. Is he just very angry and bitter in this film?
HIDDLESTON: Well, what can I say here? I swear to you that in that building over there, there are sniper rifles. [laughs] I think that what was interesting about the journey of Loki in Thor is that he went from second string and damaged prints to being the God of mischief and God of evil. I think somewhere between the end of Thor and the beginning of The Avengers, Loki has been to the Marvel equivalent of the 7th circle of hell. At the end of Thor you see him let go. He lets go of the spear, he lets go of Asgard, and he lets go of the need of his brother and father’s affection and approval. He has bigger plans now. [Tom Hiddleston THE AVENGERS Set Visit Interview]
HIDDLESTON: “At the end of Thor, Loki lets go of that spear and falls into a wormhole,” Hiddleston said. “And the question in the audience’s mind, one hopes, is what happens to Loki in that moment? And in the time between the end of Thor and the beginning of The Avengers, Loki has explored the shadowy highways and byways of the universe – and he’s met some terrible, terrible people and probably has some awful experiences, which he has survived and overcome. So by the time he arrives in The Avengers, he knows the extents of his power – and he’s unafraid to use it. And more importantly, he’s unafraid to enjoy it.” [The Art of The Avengers]
There’s actually more but I think I’ll stop here.
Overall Tom Hiddleston seems to be a big supporter of something terrible happening to Loki, something equivalent to being ‘to the Marvel equivalent of the 7th circle of hell’* evidently at the hands of someone, the ‘shadiest characters you can find in the Nine Realms’, ‘some terrible, terrible people’.
Basically he says ‘I don’t have any frame of reference for that, really, except for imagining what it might be like to be… I don’t know, to be kidnapped by sort of a terrorist cell or something. And have to survive very very frightening and precarious existence.’
[*7th circle of hell: For who’s curious the 7th circle of hell in Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia is where are punished those who had committed violence against others and against themselves (suicides). Loki committed both sins. For Dante people who committed violence against people is immersed in a river of boiling blood with centaurs shooting arrows at those who try to escape while suicides are transformed into bushes and trees, gnarled and thorny, fed upon by the Harpies for all time. Likely that’s not what was done to him but anyway that’s not a nice place to be.]
Yes, Tom Hiddleston never said it was Thanos and his men who ‘kidnapped Loki and put him through the equivalent of the 7th circle of hell’. He’s very vague on this but we now Tom Hiddleston is careful not to give information which could constitute spoilers.
He also never mentions Loki being mind controlled as far as I know.
So we need an even higher source.
We need...
WORD OF GOD, or, in this case the WORD OF GODS, plural, because in the Marvel world there’s plenty of people who can claim authorship for the stories of those characters.
Whedon avoided speculating about his future plans, claiming he had too much on his plate to think about what will come next, but he did reveal that he’s bothered by a bit of unresolved backstory for Loki. At the end of Thor, Loki was emotional conflicted, but at the beginning of Avengers, he’s a demented villain, with no qualms about unleashing alien hell on Earth. Asked about how happened in between, Whedon said:
“Well, I can’t tell you exactly what went on because it’s this dark, dark secret that I didn’t make up yet. But, the other day, I had trouble with that because he had this very passionate Shakespearean tragedy thing going on in Thor and then I needed a villain who’s not only capable, but ready and willing and anxious to take on all these heroes. For me, he just basically went on some horrible walkabout… That was pretty much as far as I got.” [Joss Whedon told Comic-Con the question he doesn’t want us to ask ever again]
God confirms what Tom Hiddleston said, Loki went through something terrible... but he had no idea what because he still had to work on it. He didn’t want to establish what. But, as I said, Marvel has plenty of Gods willing to talk.
After Loki fell in the wormhole... where did he fell?
Arriving at the Sanctuary through a wormhole caused by the Bifrost, Loki met the Other, ruler of the ancient race of extraterrestrials the Chitauri, and Thanos. Offering the God of Mischief dominion over his brother’s favorite realm Earth, Thanos requested the Tesseract in return. Gifted with a Sceptre that acted as a mind control device, Loki would be able to influence others. Unbeknownst to him, the Sceptre was also influencing him, fueling his hatred over his brother Thor and the inhabitants of Earth. [MARVERL official web]
So no, after falling into the wormhole Loki didn’t go on a touristic trip through the universe, met someone bad unrelated to Thanos, changed and then met up with Thanos.
He straight out ended up at the Sanctuary and met with the Other who worked for Thanos.
Yes, they don’t say he got tortured in this bit but they confirm the sceptre was influencing him, ‘fueling his hatred over his brother Thor and the inhabitants of Earth’.
There’s some more that comes from Joe Russo and Stephen McFeely.
If you’ve watched every movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you shouldn’t have been too surprised Thanos killed Loki. His death has been a long time coming since 2012’s “Avengers.” You may not recall, but it was Loki’s job in “Avengers” to secure the Tesseract and deliver it to Thanos. Loki never made good on that promise. It was only a matter of time before Thanos came after him to collect. Co-director Joe Russo says Thanos ultimately murders Loki “for disobedience.”
“Remember, he [Thanos] had a relationship with Loki, even if it was off-screen where he entrusted him with a duty in ‘Avengers 1’ and Loki failed,” pointed out “Infinity War” screenwriter Stephen McFeely.
“He’s [Thanos] making him [Loki] pay,” added Joe Russo.
“Thanos has a long memory,” McFeely concluded. [‘Avengers: Infinity War’ director explains why a major death had to happen so early in the movie]
And then... then there’s something that’s even above World of God.
So finally we have...
CANON, aka what the movies say, and they say the weirdest canon lines in this regard if I can say so.
Thanos: [Walks over and drops Loki’s body in front of Thor.] No resurrections this time. [Avengers: Infinity War]
Loki: Is that the only reason you brought us here? To kill us? I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been killed, so go ahead. Do your worst. [Loki Ep 4]
How all this translates? (aka Word of Dante comes back because God and Saint Paul are just too obscure and canon is no better)
If Loki after falling into the wormhole ended up straight to the Sanctuary, the ones who played the part of the terrorists and lead him to an experience similar to ending in the 7th circle of hell where he had many brushes with death where either Thanos or his men.
Do your pick if the Other took care of it personally, if Thanos did the job or if he let the pleasure to Ebony Maw and what they did to him, if they forced him to fight with others same as Gamora and Nebula where forced to do, with the loser also losing a body part or if they just beat him.
The fact that Loki, in the “Loki” series say he has been killed so many times he lost count and that Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War” says there will be no resurrection this time seem to be connected.
That Loki as far as we know only attempted suicide by letting himself fall in a wormhole once, and Thanos couldn’t know Loki was given up for dead in Svartalfheim so the idea that Loki was killed many time and that Thanos know he had been resurrected should be connected.
How? That’s beyong my understanding as, as far as I know, no one in Thanos’ group has resurrecting powers. Can the mind stone do it? This would open up another theory.
As for the sceptre controlling him ‘fuelling his hatred over his brother Thor and the inhabitants of Earth’ what does that mean?
That he’s clearly not completely brainwashed as Selvig and Hawkeye.
So which is his level of brainwashing?
Very likely it’s at the same level as the one of the Avengers when they are in the same room and start arguing and the discussion degenerates to the point they seemed about to go at each other while the gem in the sceptre starts to glow, which is something both the script and the novelization reference...
[As the “team” argues, they don’t realize the BLUE GEM on Loki’s sceptre is glowing brightly.] [“The Avengers” Script]
None of them noticed when the gem set into Loki’s sceptre started to glow. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: The Avengers”]
...and that the visual remark, turning the scene upside down as the gem is in full focus.
The novelization describes them as arguing without even knowing exactly what they’re arguing about.
Tony and Cap squared off over an argument that they couldn’t remember starting. Tony was still mad about the last thing Cap had said to him... whatever it was. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: The Avengers”]
We also see Bruce picking up the sceptre without realizing, something that’s referenced both by the script and the novel.
BANNER: You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?
[BLACK WIDOW and Fury have their hands down to grab their guns.]
STEVE: Doctor Banner... put down the sceptre.
[BANNER LOOKS DOWN AND IS SHOCKED TO SEE HE’S HOLDING LOKI’S SCEPTRE. The computer beeps. They all turn to it.] [“The Avengers” Script]
“Dr. Banner,” Cap said. “Put down the sceptre.” Bruce looked down. He hadn’t even known he’d picked it up. He looked back up and saw Natasha’s hand on her sidearm. Fury was also ready to draw. The others were drawing back from him as well. Even though he could see what was going on, the hostility in the air was still tick enough that Bruce didn’t know wherever he could back everyone down... or wherever he could back himself down. He could feel the tension rising inside him. He could feel the monster trying to get loose. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: The Avengers”]
The implication is that the sceptre is influencing them, pulling out their worst feelings and competitively and whatever which matches with what it did with Loki, it fuelled his hate.
It’s interesting how, when Loki arrives on Earth, the gem is glowing...
Also, the stranger held a kind of spear in his right hand. Set into its head, a gem glowed the same icy blue as the energy that had spilled from the Tesseract. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: The Avengers”]
...and he also looks at the sceptre as if he hadn’t realized having it in his hand.
“Sir,” Fury called as armoured S.H.I.E.L.D. agents closed nearer, “Please put down the spear.”
The man looked at the sceptre as if he had only just noticed he had it. Then, slowly, he looked back up at Fury, and a vicious smile spread across his face. [“Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: The Avengers”]
It’s worth to mention though, in that scene in which the Avengers argue, none of the Avengers has his eyes turning blue, although they weren’t themselves any longer.
So, it’s possible this is the distinction, Clint and Selvig have completely lost their will and are subjugated to Loki’s will, and as a result they’ve the blue eyes, Loki and the Avengers instead only had their mind warped by increasing exponentially their negative feelings to the point they might have started losing focus of the situation and only operate on negative feelings... if that’s make sense. They’re still themselves but their perception is warped so they’re acting in a way that’s not normal for them.
On another note it seems that in Joss Whedon’s Avengers DVD Commentary he said that
Hawkeye’s blue “possessed eyes” were added in post very late in the game, to make it more obvious that he and Eric Selvig were under Loki’s influence. [Secrets Revealed in Joss Whedon’s Avengers DVD Commentary]
This means that originally they weren’t meant to turn blue.
In the novel there’s no mention of it, in the script they’re described just as glowing black and then nothing more.
LOKI: You have heart.
[Loki places the tip of the spear against Barton’s chest. Barton’s eye glow black, and he stops resisting. Loki begins controlling other agents around the room. Fury sneak up, grabs the Tesseract, and places it in a briefcase, trying to sneak out.] [“The Avengers” Script]
In the movie instead they turn all black for a moment and then settle on blue.
It’s an unnatural blue though, where Loki’s normal.
But again, this too is a fan explanation. A fan explanation based on canon, but still a fan explanation since God didn’t bother to explain further and at this point I’m afraid he’s not even interested in explaining it since the “Loki” series could have dug on this and instead expressed 0 interest in digging into the past movies.
Sometimes we’ve just to accept that fan theories are all we have and that we can like or dislike them.
And that’s all. Thank you to who remained till the end of this long post!
#loki#loki odinson#loki laufeyson#thanos#gamora#nebula#ebony maw#tom hiddleston#9 worlds study#joss whedon#joe russo#stephen mcfeely#clint barton#erik selvig#thor#thor odinson#tony stark#nick fury#bruce banner#steve rogers#natasha romanov#mcu the avengers#mcu avengers infinity war#mcu thor the dark world#mcu guardians of the galaxy#mcu guardians of the galaxy vol 2
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Dearest aria,
it is currently 12 in the afternoon and despite it being October, I'm dying out of heat here, I live in a tropical country so I can tolerate it and yet I complain that winter isn't coming everyday
I came to ask that how are you doing, if you're fine or not and if you're too burdened with work or anything and mostly, I hope you're fine and not burdened because I would hate to see my friend distressed
Speaking of friend, which I hope you consider me one of yours, even though, we barely ever talk.
And mostly I wanted to let you know how often I'm reminded of you and how often you haunt my mind, I sometimes stand outside in my balcony when there's a storm and I live besides a big forest and the way that the trees move when there's heavy wind and the way that I can see past the trees but not quite because it gets dark, reminds me of you everytime, we have a ceremic teacup set that has a sunflower on every cup and it reminds me of you, I pick up my green velvet gown and it reminds me of you, I look at the sun, I cut pomegranates for my mother, I talk to the clouds and everytime I polish my daggers, I'm reminded of you
And I don't mind being haunted by you because I'm always haunted by everyone and you're the most peaceful one by so far
And I hope to let you know that I started writing because of you, my writing is nothing, burned, bitter and lonely compared to yours but I started writing because of your light, because of how you write
I started writing because you make writing look so easy, so sweet and serene, so silver-toned, bell-like and honeyed
Your writing makes my worst days better and my best days even better, god, I hope you never take your pen off of your paper
God, how I love you and your golden pen from which you write from
I started writing because I got the inspiration and it was you who delivered it to me, not any big authors, not any of those writers that people talk about on a daily, not the first writer that I read about.
you did it, aria, because for me, you're my favourite writer and you will always remain to be.
And I will go now, I don't want to disturb you as I said what I had to.
The nightmarish lady who lives upstairs as my little cousin calls me,
Taba.
lovely taba,
do not leave so quickly, in your haste. will you not sit at my table and take tea?
it is four in the afternoon here, and autumn is sprawled over the earth, all curling crimson hair and pale graceful limbs. she slumbers within her cage of cold. sometimes i miss her. sometimes i long for snow.
a lover is a dangerous thing, and autumn is more dangerous than most. she never lingers long.
i am well. i am always well. i am young and mortal and lush, and there is no elixir sweeter than youth. these days, the hours stretch long and blur, and i am a tangle of spilling laughter on my bedroom floor. i want to tell you about this, the awkward sprawl of limbs and the ache of joy in your chest.
i'll tell you a secret too:
some days, i think i don't deserve it.
some days, i feel as though i should be making up every drop of my laughter with a traded tear.
(you need never fear you are not my friend. i love you.)
little cause have i to be loved by you so, however. my love, i am no saint. i am only a girl.
(i do not know. perhaps they are the same thing. perhaps they are not.)
but you?
a friend likes to say i write as though i have lived through every slender frame of time. if this is true, i've never met the likes of you before.
you remind me of a storm. you remind me of chaos. you remind me of furious, flashing life. nothing so soft and shy as a rainfall or fogged day. something alive.
and maybe this is foolish of me, but i think perhaps we are supposed to live.
lizzie has never thought of fate, and lyra imagines it as a future laid out, but what is fate if not a feeling? what is fate if not the hope it is? i might be carved an artist, a poet; in an heirloom life, i might have been a girl in a pale dress, still writing, still in love.
in your lives, i think you've been a storm.
taba, my lovely taba, do not leave so quick. linger. lay your coat in the closet, and come for tea. we can leave flowers in the thin pale cup and play at being gods.
you are a god.
and you are mine.
with love,
aria
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Still Star-Crossed Part Nine
Sequel to Star-Crossed Lovers, please read Sad Ending Version Two for this to make sense
Pairing: Jason Todd x Fem!Reader
Requested: No (Requests are closed unless they are apart of the pinned post)
Word Count: 2.1K
Warnings: Swearing, angst, slightly nsfw no major descriptions but you know what they’re doing. This series and the one its based on is 18+, blood, torture, violence
Description: Jason’s been gone for nearly two years. Y/N has taken up the Red Hood mantle, but things are about to become complicated.
A/N: The epilogue will be up later today! And I’ve begun working on the version where it relates back to Sad Version One.
The warehouse was empty and Jason felt like he wanted to tear it down brick by brick. This was the place where the other Jason had died. This is where she had held him for the last time as he had taken his last breaths. He wanted to rage and scream, but that wouldn’t be productive. Y/N was still out there somewhere and she needed help. She might only have hours left and he didn’t think he could handle walking in and seeing her dead.
He couldn’t do that to himself again.
The others were going back to the drawing board, but it was Damian who walked over to Jason. “We’ll find her.”
“But will we find her in time?” Jason asked.
Damian didn’t want to let that thought cross his mind. “She’s tough, I know she can handle this.” Then a look crossed his face, “There’s one other place, the warehouse where she supposedly died the night she ran to Metropolis. The entire building wasn’t destroyed in the blast. They could be there as well.”
“Give me the coordinates,” Jason told him.
“Don’t go alone,” Damian knew that if he handed that over then Jason would leave without them.
“Damian,” his tone was full of warning.
Damian sent the coordinates to his suit, “We’ll be right behind you.”
That was all Jason needed to hear before he took off toward his bike.
“Sweetheart, I need you to wake up,” the voice was familiar and comforting.
Y/N cracked her eyes open, “Jay?” How could this be possible, hers was dead and the other one was back on his earth. When she took in the sight of him she noticed that it was her Jason. The only thing that tipped her off was that his eyes were blue instead of green. “Am I dead?”
He gave her a sad smile, “Not yet, sweetheart, but you will be if you don’t hold out for a little while longer.”
She groaned, “Everything hurts, Jay. They’re not going to find me in time.”
“Y/N, listen to me,” Jason turned serious. “He’s coming okay? The other me, he’s on his way. Just hold on, he’ll be here soon.”
“No he’s gone, he’s on another earth,” she said.
Jason shook his head, “He came back sweetheart, he’s racing here right now so you need to be strong for me.” She felt his lips press against her forehead, “Me and the other you will be waiting for you two when it’s your time, but until then the two of you gotta look out for one another, do you hear me? We’re waiting, but it’s not your time yet.” He looked around and then said, “I gotta go, I love you.”
“No don’t go, Jay,” she whined. “Stay with me, stay until he gets here.”
His hand held onto hers, “I’m always with you, sweetheart. I’ll never leave you.” There was a commotion and Y/N turned her head to see what was going on. Her vision was growing fuzzy but she saw a Red Hood entering the warehouse and Sionis shouting something about how he was supposed to be dead. “Told you he would come,” her Jason whispered, almost a little cockily, before she felt his hand slipping from hers.
There was more activity as Clark and the others also entered the warehouse but Jason had already made it to her and the last thing she heard before the world went dark was, “Stay with me, sweetheart. I’m here.”
“He said you’d come,” was all she managed before the world went dark again.
Jason didn’t know what that meant, but he untied her and lifted her into his arms, cradling her close. Her body was bruised, bloodied, and broken but her heart was still beating. Small miracles, he had to remind himself. She was still alive, he had made it. In the distance, he could hear police sirens and the Joker laughing, but his eyes were solely on her.
He reluctantly handed her off to Bruce who sped away toward the cave. Jason turned back to where Sionis and Joker were kneeling on the ground. Barry and Clark respectively holding them. Dick seeing the way Jason’s hands were flexing, placed a hand on his chest, “Don’t Jay.”
“They deserve every ounce of pain,” he seethed. “What they did to her. What they were going to do to her. I want to do that to them.”
“And they’d deserve it, but if Y/N can keep from murdering Sionis then you can too. It’s not our job to play judge, jury, and executioner.”
“If she doesn’t live, neither do they,” was all he said before heading toward his bike to follow Bruce back to the cave. He could let the others handled things from here, he didn’t trust himself not to murder them if they said anything to him.
There was an ache deep in her bones and she had to force herself to open her eyes. Everything was bright and there was something warm holding onto her hand. Turning her head she winced slightly but found Jason lying there asleep. She managed to squeeze his hand slightly and he jerked awake and found her staring at him.
His green eyes were right and filled with relief, “Oh thank God, you’re awake.”
“You’re here,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “How are you here, Jay?” She began to sob and Jason quickly maneuvered himself onto the bed and pulled her into his arms making sure that he didn’t hit any of her injuries. “Barry came to get me as soon as you went missing, they wanted more people looking for you. The others have been in and out of this room checking on you.” He kissed her forehead and she cried harder, both in relief and because she didn’t think that anyone was going to find her, but he had. “Let it out,” he whispered.
When she was done sobbing into his shirt she said, “Are you going to go home again?”
He swiped at her tears with his thumbs and smiled sweetly at her, so different from how they were when they had first met. It seemed like ages ago when they were both at each other’s throats and they seemed to hate the other. “No, I’m staying right here. Someone’s gotta make sure you stay out of trouble, sweetheart.”
Relief and happiness surged through her and she snuggled closer to him, not caring at how her body protested. “Good, I think they’d have to pry you out of my hands if they wanted you to go back.”
He held her quietly for a moment and then asked, “Sweetheart, when I came for you there was something you said. You told me that he said I would come for you. Who was he? For all intents and purposes, everyone in that warehouse knew that your Jason was and is dead.”
Y/N remembered what she had assumed was a hallucination and said, “My Jason came to me. I think I was on the verge of dying and he told me that he needed me to hang on.” Her voice was soft, “He said that you were coming and that I had to stay strong. Then he told me that the two of us needed one another and that your Y/N was with him and waiting for the two of us, but that it wasn’t our time yet.”
Jason didn’t believe in a lot of things, but he wondered if her Jason had actually come to her. “He mentioned my Y/N?”
“Yeah, he told me that they were waiting for us, but it wasn’t our time,” she looked up at him. “I don’t know if the pain was just making me hallucinate or if he was actually there, but it makes me feel better that they’re both looking out for one another.”
Before Jason could respond there was a knock on the door and Alfred entered the room, “Miss Y/L/N, it’s so good to see that you’re awake.”
“Hey Alfred,” she managed to sit up and give the older man a smile. “You got the good stuff for me.”
Alfred chuckled and handed over the pain pills, “I’ll let the others know that you’re awake and feeling better. Are you hungry? I can make something for you if you’d like.”
“That would be great, thank you, Alfred,” she said after she downed the pills. He left the room and Y/N turned back to Jason, “I give them five minutes before they descend upon this room like a pack of hungry wolves.”
“Oh I give it three minutes, they’re probably waiting at the end of the hall.”
Almost immediately after he said that the door to her room burst open and the boys and girls were there. They came in like a tornado surrounding her and asking her how she felt and if she were all right. She answered all of their questions and promised them that she was feeling better already since the pills would be kicking in soon. They stayed for a little while until Alfred brought food for her and then gave her and Jason some privacy.
Y/N was halfway done with her food when there was another knock on the door. Both of them expected it to be Bruce but Barry poked his head inside. “Clark had to return to Metropolis Y/N, but he sends his well wishes and told me to tell you to call him when you were awake and feeling up to it.” His gaze then went to Jason, “I went back to your earth to tell them that you wouldn’t be returning. The Dick from your earth asked me to pass this along.” He held out an envelope with Jason’s name scrawled on the front. “Glad you’re awake Y/N, call me if you need anything.” Then he was gone too leaving Jason staring at the envelope.
“You can leave if you need a moment to read it privately,” Y/N said softly. She knew how personal letters could be.
“No it’s all right, I don’t have anything to hide.” He pulled out a knife and sliced the envelope open and took a breath before taking the letter out and beginning to read.
Littlewing,
I’m glad to hear you made it in time to save the girl. Tell her that I say hello and maybe someday I can meet her. I’m sure she must be a saint if she has to put up with your stubborn ass all the time.
But in all seriousness, I’m glad to know that you’re chasing your happiness. Like I told you the other night in the bar that’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. I just want you to be happy and if being with her on her earth is what does that then more power to you.
I’ll miss you, and don’t worry I’ll make sure Y/N’s grave has fresh flowers and that people visit her. I think she’d be happy for you too, I saw the way she looked at you and I know that she would just want you to be happy.
Good luck, Littlewing. And go to Metropolis. Don’t keep up the vigilante life, settle down and get an actual job. You always wanted to be a writer, do that.
Your brother,
Dick
Y/N squeezed his hand, “You okay?”
Jason smiled at her, “Yeah, I’m okay. So how do you feel about a change of scenery?”
That made her laugh and then she winced at the sharp pain around her ribs, “Okay laughing is not a good thing to do right now.”
He kissed the side of her head, “I’ll kiss them and make them better later.”
“I’m going to hold you to that, Todd,” she pointed a finger at him and then shifted again trying to recapture the comfort she had had moments ago before she disturbed her bruised and broken ribs. “But to answer your question, I could definitely use a change of scenery, but maybe once I’m not in so much pain.”
“Sounds like a plan, sweetheart,” he began talking to her about what they could do, and soon they both drifted off to sleep again.
Bruce entered the room and found them like that. Dick stood beside him, and only looked at Bruce when his adoptive father said, “They’re going to move to Metropolis.”
“It’s for the best, they both could use a fresh start,” Dick said.
Bruce couldn’t agree more. Maybe it had been a mistake to ask Jason to go back to his earth the last time. He wouldn’t make it again, not when he saw them looking peaceful together on her bed. His brain was already forming plans in his head about how he was going to help them out in the future and a rare smile graced his features.
He already knew he’d face some pushback from them, but he didn’t care. He wanted to take care of them and he was more than happy to do anything to ensure they were safe and happy in their new lives.
#Jason Todd x Reader#Jason Todd x Fem!Reader#Jason Todd x Reader fluff#Jason Todd x Reader angst#Jason Todd#Jason Todd fanfic#Jason Todd fanfiction#Jason Todd fluff#Jason Todd angst
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Afterstory (Diavolo)
Arc 3: The Cursed Witch Seduces the Wild Prince
@karmaaf @mac-the-oregonian @imagine-my-hero-and-vills @lady-naho @viptrash @cinnamon-bisquit xxnio-chanxx @pen-observing I wanna be friends with you, too <3
“Princess … ”
Diavolo cradled your body closer to him. Your warmth seeped out with each second. Stale blood dripped from your wounds.
Diavolo chuckled drily.
Those gentle hands that would pat his head, the calloused but lovely fingers that drove him crazy with each touch--he will never feel them again.
Chuckling became laughing.
His flames blazed brighter and pitch-black smoke rose from earth. Rising higher into the sky, Diavolo’s wings grew and stretched so far they covered the sun and engulfed the city in darkness. From his flames swung out a tail with scarlet scales. It swept across the buildings, killing hundreds and destroying everything.
“Beast!” The humans screamed. “The witch summoned a beast!”
“Witch?” Diavolo repeated.
His maniacal laugh thundered throughout the city.
“You killed her for that?” The woman he loved was a soul who would never use her magic selfishly. You never turned away a patient even when they disrespected you.
The red dragon tenderly gazed at the lifeless body in his hand.
The skin had lost its vigor, scratches covered your face, and the arms …
How long did you suffer? How much did you suffer?
If only … if only he stayed with her.
“Unholy beast!”
Diavolo’s thoughts were interrupted when the human soldiers started shooting arrows at him. One arrow flew past his claws and almost hit your corpse.
The red dragon roared into the sky.
The large city that once bustled with life was reduced to ashes in less than half a day.
Diavolo flew back to your home. When he found the squatters wearing your clothes and the kids trampling the flowers you adored, he almost sent them to the next life. But he sensed the mana that radiated from them. It was your mana.
“Take off the clothes that aren’t yours and leave behind what belongs in this house,” he ordered with glowing eyes.
There were a foolish few who disobeyed by pocketing a ruby Diavolo gifted. They were two kids, the ones who threw rocks at you--
Half their faces were melted off.
“A saint touched your souls so I won’t kill you,” Diavolo said. “But don’t test my patience.”
The refugees ran for the mountains and Diavolo was left alone.
“I’m here,” he whispered, kissing the top of your head. “I’m right here, princess, so come back soon … ”
Gabriel and Lilith arrived a few weeks later. They’ve only now just heard the news.
Shock didn’t begin to describe what they felt at the scene that welcomed them.
Your humble mud house was transformed into a wooden cottage. The tiny patch of soil you proudly called a garden was bigger, lining the side of the river with herbs and flowers and other plants.
Life seemed to overflow
Gabriel barged inside the cottage.
The crown prince of hell sat on the edge of a bed. He was wiping the feet of a corpse, his eyes full of mad love while telling a story about how big the pomegranates were.
“I promise I didn’t use any magic. When you wake up, let’s make some dessert with them--”
A fist flew and Diavolo landed on the ground.
“You crazy … ” Gabriel’s chest heaved. He didn’t even know where to begin.
Luckily, Lilith was there. She patted his shoulder before approaching the prince. “Cousin, this is wrong.”
Diavolo lifted his head, eyes empty before focusing on Lilith. He grinned mechanically. “Oh, I didn’t notice you coming in.”
The angels exchanged glances.
“Do you like the house? I built it myself.”
“Diavolo--”
“I was giving princess a bath, she’s so spoiled--”
“Diavolo,” Lilith cut him off. “Diavolo, MC is dead.”
“She’s sleeping, Lilith. She can’t be dead, she’s going to be the queen of hell. We promised we’d be together so there’s no way she’s dead.”
“Oy,” Gabriel stepped forward, glaring at the prince. “Stop running away from this, bastard. MC is dead. She’s gone.”
“Gone,” Diavolo repeated with a whisper.
Your soul was gone.
Your soul was gone.
Your soul was gone.
But that’s not possible. When you became one, he reinforced his seal so you would be bound to him forever. But your soul was gone. You weren’t just dead, your soul was gone. He couldn’t feel it anymore. Your soul vanished like a whisper in the wind.
Gone--
You were gone.
Diavolo clawed at his chest, cutting skin and drawing blood. His insides twisted. He buckled down and threw up.
“Right--” He croaked as angry fat, angry tears blurred his vision. He pulled on his hair. “She’s gone. She’s gone … Even Barbatos said her soul … she’s gone.”
“Do you think that’s true?” Lilith knelt down and looked straight into his eyes. “Diavolo, think again.”
“A soul is immortal. She may be lost,” Gabriel said. “But she’s not irretrievable. And when she comes back is this how you want to greet her?” He gestured at the ice-cold body.
Diavolo chuckled wearily. “What do you know?”
“I know that you didn’t deserve her--”
“Gabriel--” Lilith tried to calm him down again but he shrugged her off.
“--I know that she deserves more than a pathetic, sobbing mess who avoids responsibility.”
The demon prince couldn’t bring himself to retort. Gabriel was right, he was pathetic.
“I know this doesn’t sound much from an uncultured girl like me but … but I want to work together with you. I want to be a partner who can help you with your problems.”
Your words echoed in the back of his mind and Diavolo laughed again. With a tearful smile, he looked out the window and into the clear morning sky.
“You win, princess. You always win.”
Meanwhile, in a roofless room surrounded by stars and with walls that stretched so far you could not see the end, two men played a game of chess.
The one who held an ebony pawn sighed. It was King Drakul of Devildom.
His opponent, a man with greying hair crudely dyed purple at the tips, quirked an eyebrow. “Something wrong, old friend?”
“I was just thinking--it’s very hard being a father.”
“Oh.” His opponent nodded in agreement. “I feel ya. Lately, Lili has taken an interest in the human realm and Levi…the one with the bowl haircut keeps messing with the time warps. He’s already reading literature that shouldn’t be in existence yet.”
“First of all, their names are Lilith and Leviathan. Secondly, my case is different from yours. Diavolo--”
“It’s about time Diavolo fixes his behavior.”
“I suppose … ”
“Cheer up, Drakul. Our plan worked, or rather, it’s going to work. Ain’t that right, Barbatos?”
Barbatos appeared with a burst of green smoke. He refilled their teacups. “You are correct, Lord God.”
Drakul sighed again.
“Hey now, you can’t start regretting it now,” said Lord God. “I went AWOL for an extra five thousand years just for this moment.”
He disappeared for millenia, causing conflict among the angels, and then arrived in time to stop a full-scale war. Not to mention, he had to create a random body and puppeteer it from the sidelines while waiting for a Host.
“You can’t soften up now. Otherwise all that effort to educate Diavolo would have gone to waste. Think of those poor souls who failed and got sent to punishment worlds because of him, think of those humans he killed when he went feral the other day--think of how many loops Barbatos has gone through--and the beating Diavolo almost gave him!” Lord God dropped a sugar cube into his cup.
“I know, I know … But those 2430 souls are on you. You could easily have asked Barbatos who would be the successful Host.”
“You know I don’t roll like that. It’s boring to know everything—why do ya think I sealed away my powers?” Lord God added another sugar cube. “Ah, speaking of, what do you think of my newest recruit? The second genius I’ve encountered since I started this gig.”
“Hm, let’s see.” Drakul grabbed a flower-shaped cookie. “Sharp-witted, competent and ruthless. I say, they’d be an excellent queen.”
Lord God spat out his tea. “You can’t--cough--you can’t be serious.”
“You can't deny that there is a possibility." He turned to his butler. "Right, Barbatos?”
A mysterious look ghosted over Barbato's eyes, then he grinned subserviently. “It is as you say, sire.”
Author’s note:
If you know me from Tumblr then you already know that I have this headcanon: In the past Diavolo was a wild, rebellious blood knight but now he is desperate to maintain peace in the three realms because he fell in love with a human in the past and patiently waits for her reincarnation so he can welcome her as his queen. Also, he's only the crown prince in the Obey Me! storyline because he refuses to become king without his beloved.
Man, I know I poke fun at him for being a reckless idiot in the story, but damn.
And imagine all the crap he deals with for uniting the three realms--all that effort for a soul who didn’t even look back when she left. 🤧
(To have that kind of power on a man... Ate MC, paturo naman po. Charot lang. We must aspire to be good people haha)
Oh, and by the way--
I would like to clarify something since you guys keep making so many conspiracy theories.
Regarding the characters from the fictional worlds and the real world:
The Obey Me! Characters that manifest in the fictional worlds are treated as separate entities from those in the Real World. E.g. Lucifer from the CEO’s arc is different from the Lucifer in Diavolo’s arc/Real World, so if the same character appears twice, our MC will not compare their names, appearances, etc. Think of it as a perception filter. However, you can say that they are still connected because they are alternative selves of each other. So residual affections felt by CEO!Lucifer will be felt by Real World!Lucifer.
What was the third party interference at the end?
Unless the above story wasn't clear enough, the interference was Diavolo.
Will MC have a harem?
Who knows.
Hope that makes things clear :D
(And please keep up with the praise, this madam would sell her firstborn for more praises from you guys.)
Until the next arc, my dear readers!
#obey me#obey me swd#shall we date#diavolo#diavolo x mc#diavolo x reader#afterstory#lore#obey me backstory#headcanon#imagine#scenario#angst#angssst
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Hello, and welcome once again to member appreciation time! Every week, we post a snippet from everyone’s blogs that we felt was jaw-droppingly fantastic, as both a thanks to you for being here and putting your character on the dashboard, and so other members can appreciate your artistry as well. Thank you so much for letting us get to enjoy your work!
AGRIPPINE: This fleeting respite from the world lulls and soothes them. So much so that Agrippine does not tense at a stranger’s nearness, dark eyes transparent like glass, open like the sky above them. She’s approached Agrippine in the eye of their storm, where memories do not matter and only the simple routine of tending to horses does.
BEAU: Seeing them for the first time, Beau’s own heart betrayed itself. It started again after eventually adjusting to the heavy weight of it. After so many nights unable to sleep without seeing their face, without hearing the echo of their family crying at the loss of another child; grief had become synonymous with her name, no matter how hard Beau tried to stay distant.
CECILE: Yet Cecile knows her limits well - watching drink take it’s hold on her late father had been more than enough to instill her with a sense of caution around the stuff - and even when she was searching for him everywhere, never did a stranger’s face nag at her so perniciously. Cecile would have half a mind to find the host and politely say her premature goodbyes - Odeline knows she has no shortage of invitations this week - if she wasn’t utterly certain that the feeling would only remain, like a scab begging to be picked, if it she left it unaddressed.
CYRIL: At that moment, the offer she makes is solely what she wishes she had already done — if she had already enchanted the Chevalier’s jacket, then maybe she wouldn’t not be so painfully unaware of what she is wearing over her white gown. She’s still trying to distance herself from the fact that the jacket she wears, so kindly offered to her, had splatters of someone’s blood. Or maybe more than one someone’s blood.
DEGARE: He’s grown rather attached to his curious turns of phrase, his strange idioms, furnished with antecedents he fails to place. He’s heard them so many times over by now, he sometimes even knows what the fellow is talking about. But then—ah, sometimes not. Savatier sticks out to him, all conspicuous, like an anachronism which betrays itself. Beneath every skin, there is another skin. He’s an eye for such things.
ETIENNE: Whether or not that was her intention in that moment mattered little, for Etienne had committed the route to crawling under Rosalind's skin to memory. "It's giving pouting puppy dog at best. Although, you know I'm always here for pointers on your overall intimidation factor.”
GISELE: To Gisele, that was the crux of everything wrong with this city: The flagrant dismissal of nobility’s purpose. They were meant to be born and raised with nothing but rulership in mind, molded into perfect arbiters for their respective lands. As soon as one began to cast aside their responsibilities, or, worse, assign them to the unready, the undeserving, there would be no point to anything.
HELENE: Her intuition has served her well, rising through the court and fiercely defending her position from the vultures who had sought to take it, and her suspicion has foiled plots far and wide, diverting their intended sacrifice that sat atop the crown. Sacrifice was in the cards for her, for all of those who had sought to serve crown and country, and she had offered too much to be taken from her for all of this to be for naught.
ISEULT: The chevalier with his guard down, and a denizen of the quarter taking to his shadow with ill intent. Iseult, the ever observant, knowing pursuit when he saw it— seeing that one for its lethal intent. The assassin saving the chevalier’s life by taking another— forging a connection in the crook of an elbow, in the fatal wrench of a neck. The observant freelancer calls it saving a life; the astute one calls it an investment.
LIANE: There are times when Liane believes she is more wolf than woman, all bloodied jowls and gnashing teeth, but she has done her best to devour it, to stitch her fingers into the green of the earth and bury it beneath the richness of the soil, but there are some things that are impossible to rid yourself of.
MATTHIEU: Inevitable like folding wings, the bastard snapped an insolent remark. Fops, mimicry, snake shedding and sloughing the skins of their betters; they’ve waded through it already. He didn’t particularly care to raise his cuffs again. He remembers rolling his eyes, rolling the matter under. But the alternative, violent and familiar, gathered on the promontory; the waters were rising, deep and sluggish in the chambers of his mind.
PATRICE: He’d almost given himself away in that moment, shock and appall taking over his being. Surely this could not be the same girl he watched grow, the same who wove flower stems and sang cheerful folk songs in the gardens behind his childhood home. But he’d asked around in the day he’d been in Val Faim, and there was no hiding the truth of the wretchedness that had squandered the child he once knew.
ROSALIND: Her hand curves around his wrist and yanks it back toward her. The demand: don’t walk away from me, look at me, answer for your betrayal and do not think you can escape me this time. The defiant boast to Odeline or whatever gods Rosalind isn’t sure exist at all: I won’t be forgotten again.
SAINTE: Although, in a way, really, so many places feel sacred to Sainte. Not the way the tomb is, but it isn’t the only place she prays. She prays in her little room above the Lion’s Mane, in the Empressian Gardens where she meets Michel. In the palace ballroom, silently, for a man lies dead on the floor. Everywhere is sacred, really, if prayer is what makes it that way.
SAVATIER: It’s not that he doesn’t think her unworthy of worship; more that blind adulation is the least she deserves. She should be known beyond her sacrifice, beyond her tragedy, her posthumous triumph. How very like Jaster, to deify and discard the rest.
SIDONIE: You win, Liane says, and the admission feels more like a trap. Sidonie’s breath catches again, helplessly, as it the spymaster’s words seem to curl around her throat with the intent to squeeze. “What?” she says, having finally found her voice in spite of the way her lower jaw just barely trembles under Liane’s touch. Sidonie detests the ways in which her body so easily betrays itself, but she continues, “I stopped begging for you long ago.”
VIOLAINE: “I've been to plenty of commoner households, for you information. And you aren't exactly what I would delineate a textbook commoner, monsieur chevalier,” Violaine coos, drawing out his title melodramatically. “Gauging the reach of someone’s power is easy— just see how quickly information spreads about them throughout the nobility. Real or not real.”
YVON: If there was a way to describe this difference, Yvon did not know it because Yvon simply did not think of it. The exactitude of muscle memory is a strange and wonderful thing. Often it exceeds even what a mind can hold.
ZHENYA: Seven days had trailed by in a chain of ruinous, revelrous events, and as could be expected of any occasion marking a grand ruler’s legacy, blood had at one point threaded itself into the links -- like rot as it made its inevitable slither through ancient roots. A cancerous spread that could only ever halt at the severing of its foundation. As such, Zhenya anticipated that the brutish bloodletting would go on to pave the way for the remainder of Queen Calandre’s celebration, quelled by nothing other than the decisive end of its path. Indeed, nothing glorious was ever unsullied.
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Can’t Help Falling in Love
Loki x Reader (Gender Neutral)
Summary: When Loki learns the traditions of Valentine’s Day, he asks you to be his Valentine- and reluctantly takes advice from Steve Rogers.
Warnings: none; just fluff
Word Count: 2.9k
A/N: Thank you to @squadleaderchase for the suggestion! This was so fun to write!
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
I recommend listening to Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley towards the end of this imagine!
There is also a female reader version of this fic, available here!
“Can’t Midgardians have a holiday that doesn’t involve such a grotesque display of… red?” Loki asks walking into the living room of the Avengers compound. Loki arrived at the compound a few weeks before Christmas and so far, he’s experienced two Earth holidays: Christmas and New Year’s. Of course, Tony had picked the theme for both parties to be elaborately red and gold- he claimed the fact that it matched his suit was merely a coincidence.
“Just wait until next month,” you reply casually, your eyes not leaving the brief you were reading while you sat cozied up in one of the large armchairs. “I think you’ll like St. Patrick’s Day much more… color scheme wise at least.”
Loki looked up curiously at the hearts of all shades of red and pink Natasha had hung up to decorate the Avengers’ living quarters. She had gone to visit Clint’s family and his kids spent hours making Valentines and decorations out of construction paper and glitter. Loki looked almost puzzled at the lopsided hearts that hung from the ceiling on transparent line so they looked like they floated mid-air.
“Perhaps I might,” he mumbled to himself, the lovesick aura of his surroundings making him slightly disgusted. “Though I suppose I find your rituals as bizarre as you’d find on Asgard.”
“Mhmm,” you mumbled in response to his thinking out loud. It was rare that the compound would be this quiet. It was a Friday evening and in the middle of a team meeting earlier today, Tony declared exhaustedly that everyone needs to start the weekend early and dismissed everyone despite Steve’s protests. You weren’t sure where everyone else went and you didn’t particularly care- enjoying the rare peace and quiet.
You didn’t mind Loki’s company. He was a little aloof but overall, you found him more to be misunderstood than anything else. He wasn’t like Thor and sure, he had a very trouble ridden past to downplay it- but he’s confided in you all it wasn’t entirely his doing. Out of everyone living at the compound, he probably had grown the closest to you, or as close as Loki would allow himself to be to someone.
“What even is this holiday?” Loki asked, pulling his attention from the decorations to where you sat, binder in your lap. You looked up and closed the brief, tossing it onto the coffee table in front of where you sat.
“Sunday is Valentine’s Day,” you say looking back over to him, meeting his eyes. “I mean overtime the traditions and how we celebrate have changed but it’s originally the day meant to honor St. Valentine and commemorate his death. There’s a lot more to it than that and there’s all different of different origins, but now it’s more like a day where you celebrate love, because he was the patron Saint of Love.”
Loki nods, liking the idea of this holiday much more than New Years already. He didn’t mind Christmas, but the elaborate parties made everything not very appealing to him. You can’t blame the god for not having a good time at parties where every guest fears him or hates him. He walks over and takes a seat on the couch and crosses his legs. He was intrigued enough to continue the conversation and ask you more questions. “What are the traditions?” He asks curiously.
“Traditionally, you would ask someone to be your Valentine, and that’s the person you want to spend the day with,” you answer with a small shrug, trying to explain a holiday you’ve never had to explain before. “Some people have it easy and they ask their significant other, and if you don’t have one, you ask someone you’re romantically interested in to be your Valentine. Then you give each other gifts, like chocolates or flowers, anything really that’s romantic and you go out on a date, like a nice dinner but it doesn’t have to be. That’s the basic gist.”
“Thank you, (y/n),” Loki said, mulling over your explanation. “You’ve been helpful, as always. Tell me, who’s your Valentine?”
“I don’t have one,” you answered honestly. The only time you really celebrated was when you had been with someone. You’d never really participated otherwise. You planned to just spend the night alone or with Nat if she also didn’t have plans and probably watch a movie- most definitely Pride and Prejudice.
“Shame,” Loki said with a tsk. “Perhaps, if you would be interested, you could be my Valentine?”
“Really?” you ask, honestly surprised.
“I actually like the idea of the day,” Loki shrugged. “And I don’t know many people, people seem to hate me on this planet- no idea as to why. You’ve always been kind to me, and you are the most tolerable person I’ve encountered on this planet.”
“That’s oddly very kind of you,” you say with a chuckle. “I appreciate the sentiments. Um, yes. I’d be happy to be your Valentine.”
“Excellent,” he grinned. He clapped his hands together and stood up. “Splendid. I’ll ask Thor to help me plan something.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” you smile, picking up your paperwork again as Loki heads off to find his brother.
***
“Brother,” Thor’s voice echoed in the training room. “Spar with me?”
“As much as I would love to,” Loki said sarcastically, “I need your help with something I need to plan.” Loki walked over to the side of the mat where Thor had been training with Captain Rogers.
“Plan what?” Captain Rogers asked curiously. It was an innocent enough question but Loki took it as Rogers insinuating his distrust in him. Of course, Loki can’t blame the man but it did rub him the wrong way.
“If you must know Captain Rogers, I’m making plans for this upcoming Valentine’s Day,” Loki said matter-of-factly. “I’m sure since you have quite the active love life recently, your words of wisdom are probably of infinite value.”
“You can learn a thing or two from me,” Steve retorted as he put the punching bag beck into place. “But I don’t like your attitude.”
“I don’t know how I’ll ever manage without you,” Loki scoffed. He turned his attention back to his brother. “I need help to determine where I should take (y/n) and what I should get for a present.”
“(y/n) agreed to this?” Thor asks, his eyebrows raised in confusion. Rogers kept his mouth shut, deciding to see where this conversation will go before
“Yes, brother. I asked (y/n) to be my Valentine as stated by tradition and they said yes.”
“Ah! Good for you, brother!” Thor exclaimed, happily. “I’m glad you’re immersing yourself in the Midgard culture.”
“Yes, yes,” Loki waved him off, “Now, please, tell me what I should do.”
“I’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day,” Thor says with a shrug and a sympathetic look. “I haven’t had much opportunity to explore the culture. Every time I’m on this planet I’m a little busy preventing its destruction. Perhaps Rogers can help you?”
Loki let out an exasperated sigh. He avoided Rogers as he knew the man had such a smug look on his face. Loki refused to give him the satisfaction. However, he realized that wouldn’t be fair to you. Rogers not only knew what to do, but he was also close friends with you. He quickly realized if he wanted to celebrate with you properly, he’d need to rely on the infamous super soldier.
“Captain Rogers,” Loki said with a charismatic smile, turning back to the man. “I wholeheartedly apologize for my lack of… social niceties. If you’d be willing to help me, to ensure your dear friend enjoys the holiday, I would be sincerely grateful.”
“Only because of (y/n),” Rogers says skeptically, waving a finger at Loki. “They deserve to enjoy their time and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I let you screw up their evening.”
“What a loyal friend.”
Years later, the Avengers would still talk about the fact Loki cared about you so much, he sought out advice from Captain America and Thor. And as Captain America said, he helped Loki with every last detail and Steve never let Loki forget it.
***
Loki had told you that he’d come to your room to get you at 6 o’clock Sunday evening. He wore clothes he had picked out, black dress pants, a white button-down shirt and shiny, black dress shoes. He had kept the last button of the shirt unbuttoned and he had rolled the sleeves up, a styling tip he had gotten from Thor. He had his long hair gelled back and tamed, ignoring Captain Roger’s horrible suggestion for a haircut. He felt very weird not wearing any green, but he took the advice he was given on his ensemble.
You were just putting on your shoes when he knocked at your door Sunday promptly at 6pm. Of course, Loki would be very punctual. You gave yourself one more quick once more in the mirror in your room before heading to answer the door.
You kept your appearance simple, sticking to how you usually styled your hair. Not wanting to keep him waiting, you quickly opened the door, your jacket in hand.
“Wow,” you say with a grin, when you take in Loki’s appearance. “You look very nice.”
“You look stunning,” Loki said, his eyes widening, taking in your appearance. The compliment made you have butterflies.
“Thank you,” you said with false confidence. Underneath, you were a nervous wreck as you took the arm that he extended to you.
“So,” Loki began to walk down the hallway with you. “Apparently, this planet has something called reservations, and anyone who tries to get one a few days before Valentine’s Day is a “moron,” according to a very rude young man I had the pleasure of speaking with- the first time using a phone too on top of that. So, I hope you don’t mind if the evening is a little… makeshift.”
“I’m sure it’ll be great,” you reassure him. You feel him relax slightly. You found how hard he was trying so endearing.
Where else did he bring you but just down the hall to the living room. At night with the lights dimmed, combined with Natasha’s homemade decorations, it actually looked quite beautiful. He had decorated with an eclectic array of candles as well that covered most surfaces of the room. It also looked like he had swiped every throw pillow in the whole compound and had them arranged the coffee table in the center of the room.
“Did you do all of this?” You ask in awe.
“Yes,” he replied, just watching you. “Do you like it?”
“It’s perfect.”
“I had to make my own version of advice I received,” he disclosed to you. You sat opposite each other on either side of the coffee table, you kicked off your heels and he did the same with his shoes. “Captain Rogers said- and I’m trying my best to quote verbatim, ‘You need to show a special someone a good time if you care about ‘em . You gotta take ‘em to dinner and dancing.’” He even mimicked Steve’s voice perfectly. It made you laugh.
“I can’t believe you subjected yourself to Steve for me, I’m touched,” you smiled. “I mean I love Steve,” you continue, “But I can’t imagine you too being best friends anytime soon.”
“No, I suppose we probably won’t be,” Loki chuckles.
“I hate to point it out,” you continue, “but I think you missed both the dinner part and the dancing part of that plan.” Loki smirked and when you blinked, he transformed the whole room.
“Did I?” he asks, with an eyebrow raised. You gasp, looking around the room you were now in. You knew it was an illusion, but it felt very real. The atmosphere, the breeze coming in from the large bay windows that weren’t there before. The coffee table now a table now one of many dining tables in an incredibly high-end restaurant. The table had food, and a bottle of wine. You were stunned. There was a live band and other couples in other tables and out on the dancefloor.
“Loki?” You exclaimed, looking around at your new surroundings. It was amazing. You couldn’t believe the magic right before your eyes. Of course, you knew it was just one of his tricks, but it felt so incredibly real. You picked up your fork and took a bite of the food in front of you. It was incredible, you questioned if you were even eating.
“It’s real,” Loki said, like he could read your mind. Honestly, he had only just anticipated your next question. “I made it. Well, I made it with Friday’s supervision.”
“It’s fantastic! I can’t believe you went through all this trouble just for me.”
“Sweetheart, you are very much worth it- worth much more than this,” he responded casually, throwing in the term of endearment to see how you’d react. He caught the way it made you smile.
You continued to talk for a little while, and shared stories. You were worried that compared to his life on Asgard, he’d find your stories incredibly boring and mundane. It seemed to be the opposite. His attention was only on you and he held on to every word you said. He created this elaborate setting just to keep you the center of his attention.
“Should we dance?” He asks suddenly, a glimmer in his eye. You looked down apprehensively.
“I’m not really a dancer,” you tried to insist.
“Do you actually not want to dance, darling? Because if so, I will not bring it up again,” he says earnestly, “But, if you’re saying no because you’re afraid I’m going to judge you, I honestly can promise you I would never dream of doing so.”
You give it another moment to ponder over his words. You were taken aback at how well he seemed to know how you were thinking. You let out a sigh of defeat, and smile. “I’d love to,” you reply.
He stands up and offers you his hand. His smile is enough to make you weak at the knees. You take his hand and he leads you over to the dancefloor as the band starts playing its next song. “Does that singer sound like Elvis?” You ask, the small glitch in the illusion throwing you off for only a moment.
“I don’t know who that is,” Loki says with a laugh. He pulls you in close and rests one hand on the small of your back and the other grasps your hand close. You wrap your other arm around his shoulder. You are both pressed up incredibly close to one another. You rest your head on his chest comfortably, and you can’t see how much the action makes his whole face go red. Guiding your movements together, it mostly just swaying in place. The steps were small, and with the music playing for the two of you.
“This place is incredible,” you sigh happily looking up at him. “But I think I liked the first place a little better.”
He nodded in agreement and you got to watch a green hue encompass the walls of the restaurant as they almost melted away, and everything around the two of you just fade away. The sconces on the walls, revealed themselves to be the candles that cluttered the living room and the couples evaporated with the green mist. The table you had both sat at, turned back to the coffee table but the empty plates remained. The elaborate statues that surrounded the room turned into the furniture you knew well, and then the live band faded away to reveal Steve’s record player indeed playing a 45 of Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley.
When the room finished revealing its true appearance to you, you laid your head back on Loki’s chest and mumbled that now it was perfect. He smiled to himself, thinking about how without a doubt in his mind, Valentine’s Day is his absolute favorite holiday on Midgard. He now couldn’t believe this reality was real. If he wasn’t holding you, he’d pinch himself. You were here, with him, in his arms, dancing in the middle of the living room on this godforsaken planet.
“(y/n)?” he whispered softly as the song was coming to an end.
“Mhmm?” You responded, your eyes closed, really just basking in the feeling of being so close to him and the smell of his cologne.
“Will be mine?” He asks carefully, remembering the phrase from Captain Roger’s advice. That phrase apparently being very important if today went well and he wanted to ask you to “go steady.” You chuckled softly, hearing Steve’s influence in the phrase.
“I would love to,” you say with a shy smile looking back up to him. He beams, incredibly happy you said yes. Swept up in his emotions, he swiftly leans down and presses his lips to yours capturing them in a passionate first kiss.
“Oh gross!” You hear someone exclaim, making you both pull away. It’s Tony- who was currently holding his side in pain as Pepper elbowed him in the side.
“You really had to do that?” she chastised him, rolling her eyes and giving an apologetic look to you and Loki before pushing Tony down the hallway to give you both your moment back, as sullied as it had become thanks to Tony.
“I never gave Rock of Ages permission to be… lovey dovey in my building! (y/n) you can do so much better than that greaseball!”
“I’m so sorry,” she said embarrassed by his outburst, ushering him out as quickly as possible.
Loki turns his head back to you, immediately after they are out of view. “Where were we, darling?” He smirks, pulling you in for another kiss.
#loki x reader#loki x you#gender neutral imagine#loki laufeyson#loki x y/n#tom hiddelston x reader#tom hiddleston x you#fluff imagine#marvel imagine#mcu imagine
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DESERVING
Title: Deserving
Summary: A one-shot love story featuring Arthur Morgan and John Marston in which John struggles to understand Arthur's new behavior around camp.
Word count: 1.6k+
Notes: mild cursing | feedback is appreciated!!!
Tags: @southernlynxx @rdr-secret-cupid
I’m your secret cupid, @southernlynxx !!! I'm so sorry this took forever dear; the past few weeks have been totally insane and out of my hands to control. I chose your first wish and decided to mix it up with some good reassurance (happy) angst which i found fitting for the theme;
John trying to understand & accept Arthur’s affection around camp! I hope you enjoy it, happy late Saint Valentine’s day!!!
P.D → I was inspired by this photo I took in my game! Totally worth it.
John never thought it would be like this.
At first, it was awkward—maybe bizarre. But that was just the beginning.
As the sun rose from the West, John walked out of his tent like a dead man; dark bags under his eyes and scratching his side, yawning without shame. Thirty minutes of sleep—or less—felt great. Just what he needed, right? Taking guarding rounds at night for the past few weeks to avoid him. Yes, that man. The one who had become his greatest relief and headache at the same time, Arthur Fucking Morgan.
While John agonized, Arthur was at his best. Refreshed, clean, and glowing like a damn pearl who had found its way to the surface, gleaming under the Sun—too shiny for John’s liking. Thankfully, his tormenting and seductive eyes were nowhere to be found yet. But, why was John avoiding him as if he was a pest? It’s complicated, you’ll understand later on.
John walked to the empty soup cauldron and grabbed the coffee pot next to it and a metallic cup nearby. He sighed as he sipped from the coffee he had just poured himself; feeling the smoke coming off his mouth like locomotor steam. He needed it to be functional, it had become his coal and main source of energy.
He stood next to the fire in the common area, waiting for Dutch to give a speech he had asked everyone the night before to hear. Why the hell would he give a speech so early in the morning when even the rooster hadn’t yet given his call to the sky? He wondered, staring his distorted reflection in the coffee in his hand.
It was a quiet morning, everyone who woke up, quickly waved at John and left to grab a coffee, or so it remained until the feared one appeared. He walked graciously without effort, his shirt had some buttons undone that showed his chest and collarbone, looking like a damn angel. He rinsed his face and John saw with detail from afar how every drop of water dripped down his face and neck. It made him thirsty. That man was no other than Arthur Morgan.
Arthur ran his hand through his hair and over his nape. To John, that man could’ve been the Devil himself walking on Earth, an angel who had fallen from Heaven for his ego. He was too full of himself, afly in making everyone blush in a moment’s notice. Before John could realize, Arthur was staring at the red in his cheeks and grinned, satisfied from his reaction.
“Damn you!” John whispered, looking anywhere but at him as he burned his tongue and narrowed his eyes.
Arthur, with his smug grin, quickly grabbed his coffee and sat next to the fire a few feet away from John, who didn’t know Arthur was just mesmerized with his foolishness, head over heels for a stubborn and reckless but loveable little piece of shit—a nickname truthful to his nature. A true rascal! Against his better judgement and all prognostics, an all-standing jinx befell upon him like rain in a desert.
He admired John from the ground, his strong jawline, the scars on his cheek that ran to his nose and the corner of his lips. However, his foul mouth didn’t catch up with his beauty—quick witted and far too fast for his train of thought that always got him in trouble. Arthur drank from his coffee and looked at John in the eye who, this time, didn’t turn their gaze away but held it dearly.
“What are you thinkin’ about?” John asked with his raspy voice, trying to sound uninterested but contradicted by the widened pupils in his curious eyes.
A walking contradiction, Arthur thought with a grin. “Wanna’ know?” He took a long swig of his cup and let it sit in his lap.
John hesitated for a moment. "No." Nevermind.
The blue-greened eye man cleaned the corner of his mouth with his thumb and licked it and slightly blushed. "What a shame."
John couldn't stop staring Arthur, something had lit in the corner of his mind.
"Anyway, what does Dutch want this early in the morning?"
"Don't know, don't care." Arthur rolled his eyes and looked at his feet.
John gulped, bothered by Arthur's sudden behavior to which he decided to blind the eye on.
"He's been acting... strange," John mutters, making a long pause.
He was right. Dutch had changed; it was the gleam in the eye he had always told them to not have—those of an ambition far too great, burned by being too close to the Sun. Everybody had noticed but kept quiet, making a silent agreement in not talking about the matter. John had a hunch of what it meant, but also kept quiet.
"No more than you; what's going on with ya'? Did the wolves eat the brain whole? You've been avoiding me!"
Did he notice? He knew he wasn't hiding the fact so well, but admitting it hurt his pride.
"The hell you sayin'?! No, I haven't!"
Arthur smiled in response, as if it was the answer he was expecting.
"Why?"
John narrowed his eyes.
"Why what?"
"You know."
He stood up, spilt the coffee left in his cup into the fire and slowly walked to John. His body swung with temptation, a fierce cat-walk with a daring look in his eyes. John felt like his feet were stuck to the ground, unable to take just one step aside to avoid the storm walking straight to him. His metallic eyes were bewitched by Arthur's; he sure knew how to charm him every damn time.
He didn't stop until he towered over John, trapping him with his voluptuous figure.
"Why are you so shy?" He whispered to John in the ear with a burning breath that heated and tinted his cheeks in deep red.
John forgot how to breath. He was so close that he felt their bodies touch and their minds collide.
"I, uh..."
"you what, dear?"
How shameless could the bastard be? Didn't he have any limit?
"I don't wanna talk here; let's go somewhere else." John imposed in a soft mutter.
"Alright."
They went to John's tent taking hands. They were cramped in such a small place, where their breathing burned eachother's skin and only a dim light shined through the entrance. A long pause arrived when the world had seemed to stop rotating and time had gone somewhere else, making everything but them oblivious and unimportant.
"I don't understand why are you doing this," John said with long sigh, finally giving in.
John rested his head in Arthur's shoulder, feeling his body finally relax after the tense moment.
"I thought we were a secret, ya' know?" he muttered, "a thing only you and I knew. Our thing."
Arthur combed his fingers through John's black hair, softly caressing the back of his head and humming in agreement.
"I don't seem to understand why you smile at me every time you see me or why you, like, want to touch me every time you can—or when you look at me like that."
"Does it make you uncomfortable?"
"No! I, ugh... I don't know."
Arthur chuckled. “I get it.”
John sighed in relief. Did it mean he would stop acting weird? I mean, Arthur would always be a bastard no matter how you look at it, but he called it an improvement.
“I'm sorry” he continued ”, but there's no stopping me in loving you.”
What. In. The. World. That's not what he meant!
“Arthur, you're not listening—”
“Every damn word, of course I do...”
“Then why are you doing this?!” John buried his head deeper, frustrated. “I'm an asshole, okay, I get it. But that's not a reason for you to do this to me.” Enchanting me, making me drunk with every word you whisper. Damn you.
“John, I—”
“I don't deserve it.”
A long silence between them came to be except for the more recurrent footsteps outdoors, stumping into the grass and dirt. John held tighter to Arthur, who stepped back only to take a closer look to his face, eye to eye.
“Listen closely, you little piece of shit.”
John flinched to the sudden grab by his collar, wanting to look away but Arthur only held his gaze closer.
"There's no denying that you are an idiot— but my idiot. I'm a fool myself, an old dirty bastard that's only getting older with every day that goes by, thinking that I'm the happiest man alive every damn time I look at you and even though I know I don't deserve it either. I ain't a good man, John. And you fucking know it." He grabbed his collar stronger as if it was a threat, with that dead look in his eyes that had seen the deeds their owner had done.
After Arthur realized what he did, he let John go.
“If it was about deserving, John, you would've never been mine."
He gently took John's hand laid it in his face, placing a gentle kiss in the back of his hand.
John couldn't speak a word. His mind had gone blank except for the beautiful image of Arthur lovingly playing with his fingers, laying kisses in the tip of his fingers, and the words that uttered in the corners of his mind, echoing Arthur's whispers.
"I'm sorry, John. But I beg you, let this damn fool love you and show it to you."
John placed his hand in Arthur's earlobe. As if both had read their minds, they looked into each other's eyes before leaning into a soft, gentle kiss.
Their kisses never tasted sweet. It was rough, with sweat and blood that was so common in there lives. Neither of them deserved the sweet taste of paradise, but they were making one of their own.
“You make me feel like a fool, Arthur.”
“You too.”
John wished this moment lasted forever. He wanted to enjoy the moment when their souls had gotten closer, but a voice outside called.
“Arthur, John, Where are you?!” Dutch called, irritated of waiting.
They separated and held each other's gaze for a moment.
“We should go,” John whispered tenderly as he rolled he eyes.
“Let's go,” Arthur chuckled.
Arthur gently held John's hand before heading out of the tent, ready for the world.
#rdr secret cupid 2021#Morston#Morston2021#Arthur Morgan#John Marston#rdr2 fanfic#rdr fanfic#rdr2 photography#rdr2 community#rdr2#red dead redemption two#red dead fandom#red dead photo mode#rdr2 Morston
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let’s be sinners (to be saints)
Jonathan Kent/Damian Wayne. Damian centric. Hurt/Comfort. Hurt Damian Wayne. Damian Wayne Feels. 2k words.
Shoutout to my babe @darlinglissa for betaing!
read it on ao3!
Damian Wayne is a sinner in a world full of saints. That is a fact that is abundantly clear, and Damian is privy never to forget it.
He was brought into this world as a weapon, a tool to use against the world, and that is something he will never escape.
“You were made to conquer the world,” his mother used to say. But the world was not his to conquer. He knows that now. He knows that fact so well it hurts.
He will never be a hero—not really. He knows this, and he’s come to terms with it. He will never be a Superman or a Green Lantern. At this point he doesn’t even think he’ll be a Batman. And that’s okay, because he could never be a hero anyway.
Because when it boils down to it, Damian Wayne is a weapon and that is all he will ever be. And so he does what a weapon does best.
He fights.
-
Damian has always been an all or nothing kind of person. And where he comes from, nothing is never an option.
And so he gives it all he’s got, in everything he does. First in his training with the league, then with his father, and then with Grayson. And now? Now he gives his all to the mission.
What else can he do? He saves people. But no amount of lives he saves can wash away the horrors of his past, the pleas for mercy made with a last breath, the lives he’s taken. Though sometimes it is nice to pretend.
So he saves everyone, everyone he can. And even then it doesn’t feel like enough. But that does not stop him from trying.
It doesn’t erase what’s happened, it doesn’t erase what he’s done. But if for every thousand lives he saves it makes up for a fraction of one that he’s taken, then, well, that’s a start.
-
They say they love him. They say they care for him, his family. And they must; on a base level, Damian knows this is true. They brought him back from Apokalips, didn't they?
But they're afraid of him, he can see it in their eyes. Not of him as an adversary, that he knows, but of what he might do.
They all know what he’s capable of. He’d made sure to make that clear when he first arrived. They say that they know he’s changed, that what happened in the past wasn’t his fault. But everyday he toes the line and he sees it, he can see it, on every one of their faces, that they’re just waiting for him to cross it. And maybe one day he will, again.
He knows what they think. And he knows that they’re right. He’s nothing but a monster.
-
Every time he wonders what the point is, every time he feels like giving up, Damian has to remind himself of why he’s doing this in the first place. When the world is so dark that it doesn’t seem like there will ever be light, he reminds himself of where he came from.
Damian comes from darkness. And every day he has to beat that darkness back with a stick. He will not let it take him, he will not let it consume him. And he will not let it consume anyone else.
In the end Damian knows that no matter how much good he does, the good will never outweigh the bad. But maybe he can tip the scale.
-
If Damian is darkness then Jonathan Kent is the sky on a clear, sunny day.
He knows it the second he lays eyes on him, with the sun in his smile and the sky in his eyes, that Jonathan Kent will be a hero. Shaky and unsure of himself, sure, but he’ll get there, Damian knows it. Because Jon is good. Jon is a hero.
Damian looks at Jon and he sees everything he could never be.
-
Damian knows that his version of Robin is different from Grayson’s Robin or Todd’s Robin or even Drake’s Robin. They’ve each brought a part of themselves to the role, always making it their own.
But at the same time, Damian can’t help but be aware of the differences between himself and his brothers. Robin has always been a spirit of joy, a symbol of happiness, a childlike excitement next to Batman’s brutal force. Robin is what keeps him from going off the deep end.
Robin is the light to Batman’s darkness.
Damian can be better. He has to be better. He’s Robin, after all.
-
Hero or not, sometimes Damian has to take a step back and realize just how young Jon is.
Not that his twelve is that much younger than Damian’s thirteen, but Damian has never been a child.
There was a casualty on a mission, a family found dead in their home. What was left of it, anyway. They didn’t have time to count their losses, though, because the big bad was already on their way to their next stop. They had to keep moving if they were to prevent what was to come.
But Jon didn't want to leave them.
“Come on, Superboy,” Damian had pleaded. “We don’t have time for this.”
“No!” Jon had screamed, on the verge of tears. “No, we can’t—They’re dead, Damian! They’re dead!”
“No names in the field,” Damian tried to warn, voice a low growl.
“It doesn’t matter!” Jon yelled. “They’re dead, and we didn’t save them! We have to call our dads, Damian. This is bigger than us now. People are dead.”
“This is our mission, Superboy,” Damian reminded him sharply. “We don’t need any help from our fathers.”
“But people are dead! They died and—”
“And so we need to keep moving, to make sure no one else does.” Jon turned his tear-filled gaze back to the broken bodies, but Damian reached out to tilt his gaze back to him. “Don’t look at them. We have to keep going, Superboy. More people will die if we don’t.”
Jon kept his eyes locked on Damian’s, wide and glassy and so, so blue, and Damian stared back through his domino, retracting the lenses so that Jon could see his own eyes. “How can you be so calm about this?” he whispered. Damian broke their eye contact and re-deployed his lenses, turning away and starting to walk.
“I have to be,” he said quietly, not looking back to see if Jon was following him.
Because since the moment he was born, Damian has never been a child.
-
Damian has been to Hell. And he knows he’ll go there again.
He’s come to terms with that. He knows he’s a bad person, but that’s okay because as long as he’s doing good on Earth then at least he’s being productive.
It’s all he can do, help people, while he’s here. He helps as many as he can before he has to go back. And if he’s careful, that won’t be for a long time.
He doesn’t want to go back there, but he knows it’s inevitable. The good he does now won’t undo what he did then. Once a sinner, always a sinner.
And all sinners go to Hell.
-
With Jon, Damian feels like he’s finally the kid he never got to be. He’s not an assassin, he’s not a vigilante, he’s just Damian. And Damian rather likes it that way.
It’s nighttime, the two of them having a sleepover at the manor. They played a new video game that Jon had been raving about wanting to try and Damian had bought just to get him to shut up about it. Their banter was easy and they played straight into the night, the world growing dark around them. Damian hasn’t bothered to get up to turn the light on yet, so the only light in the room is the soft glow of the end credits as they scroll across the tv screen.
It was a good game. It was fun. Damian understands why Jon was so looking forward to playing it. They’ll have to go back and see what other endings they can get, but it’s getting late now so that’s something to do tomorrow. Today? It might be early morning by now.
They shouldn’t make a habit of staying up so late, but with their nightly activities it was inevitable. Even so, Damian will be starting high school when summer ends, and his father has made it very clear that school comes first.
Jon starts giggling about something, and Damian finds himself giggling too. “What? What’s so funny?”
Jon looks at him, eyes crinkled in the corners. “Nothing, just—That was a lot of fun.”
Damian returns the smile easily, taking in the happiness in Jon’s face. “Yeah, it was. I’m glad I got to play it with you.”
“I’m glad I was able to convince you to get it.”
Damian rolls his eyes good naturedly. “There is a difference between convincing and annoying.”
“It did the trick, didn’t it?” Jon asks, and Damian hits him with his pillow. Soon they’re rolling around on the bed, pillows as their mighty weapons, trying to reign in their laughter so as to not wake up the rest of the manor. When they settle down again, breathing heavily, Jon looks up at Damian through his lashes.
Then he does something Damian never expects.
He surges forward and kisses Damian, who takes in a sharp breath of surprise before he registers what’s happening. And once he does, he let’s him, his eyes fluttering closed for just a moment.
But then he comes to his senses, pulling away and scrambling off the bed in a hurry.
Jon blinks up at him from the bed, confused. “Damian?” he asks, concern etched in his voice.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Damian says in a rush, trying so hard to control his heartbeat because he knows Jon can hear it. “Your parents would have my head for this.”
“What? No they wouldn’t, they’re not homophobic or anything.”
“Not for being gay, Jon, because I’m me.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Damian?”
Damian squeezes his eyes shut, turning away from his best friend. “I’m not a good person, Jon. I’m not good for you.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Jon says, and he means it, because Jon never swears unless he really means it.
“I’m serious, Jon,” Damian insists. “I’m a horrible person. You deserve someone so much better than me.”
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I’ve been to Hell, Jon,” Damian hisses. “I’m a bad person. Bad people end up in Hell, that’s how this works. The things I’ve seen, the things I’ve done…”
Suddenly Jon is up off the bed. “But that’s not you! I don’t know what made anyone send you to Hell, but they’re wrong, Damian. You didn’t deserve it, not then, and definitely not now.”
Damian finds himself backed up against his desk, and his hands grip it behind him as it presses into his back. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Everyone I care about gets hurt, it’s a side effect of being around me.”
“It’s a side effect of being a hero.”
Damian looks away again, unable to meet Jon’s eyes. “I’m no hero.”
“You can’t seriously mean that.” Jon is so close Damian can feel his breath on his face, but he doesn’t dare look up. “Damian, you can’t mean that! You're one of the best people I know, Damian, you’re a hero, you’re—you’re my hero.”
Damian finally looks up at that, and Jon holds his gaze. He swipes a thumb across Damian’s cheek, and it’s then that Damian realizes he’s been crying.
“I have looked up to you since the day I met you,” Jon pushed on. “I thought, ‘That is what a hero is like. I’m going to be just like Robin.’ You don’t know how amazing you are.”
He takes Damian’s face in his hands, forces him to look him in the eyes. Even in the dark, they’re so, so blue.
“They’re not going to send you to Hell again, Damian, I won’t let them.”
And looking into those blue, blue eyes, Damian believes him.
All the warmth and comfort of the sun lives in Jon’s lips. And if the sun lives in Jon’s lips, then maybe there can be light.
#my fics#dc fic#batman fic#superman fic#super sons#supersons#jondami#damijon#damian wayne#jonathan kent#jon kent#dc#dc comics#batman#robin#superman#superboy#jay writes
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