#you can tell she thinks she is being given up again
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Ghost - Oscar Piastri x UnknownDriver! Reader Part 6
Plot: Reader is the first female F1 driver of the century, however no-one knows that as you are a ghost on the grid. You started in 2022, coming in P12 in the championship. You get moved to Red Bull Racing in 2023 with the off year for Sergio Perez.
Warnings: Talk of reading taking anti-depressants etc.
Credit to yrsonpurpose for the GIF
After Bahrain you still had no word from Christian on whether or not he had contract negotiations for you. However, in this time you'd had talks with Williams, Aston Martin and Mercedes all having positions open. They knew you were an incredible driver and that it wasn't just the car you were given and they really wanted you on board.
You were in a difficult position of wanting to prove yourself to the RedBull team and stay in a top team while letting opportunities being given to you get thrown away.
Saudi was a strange feeling you stormed through FP1 and FP2 being P1 and P3, however by the time Friday racing came Carlos was out the race due to having his appendix taken out. Ollie Bearman the F2 driver was announced to be taking his place right away and he was thrown in FP3.
FP3 and you were told to calm down and work with your tyres meaning you went 5th fastest rather than topping the leaderboard. Qually came around and you qualified third, your team calling you into the pits and holding you there for too long meant you couldn't get another lap in when Charles did which sent him into P2.
Once again Oscar was starting right behind you, and you could feel the pressure was on. You needed to have a great start to get up there with Max.
Sunday came and went and it was another great day for Red Bull, but not so much for you. Once again your margins were showing that you were quicker than Max right now being on fresher tyres and on the softs from a later race stop.
You for the second weekend in a row were denied an overtake and were asked to ride Max's bumper. The last few laps had tears filling in your eyes from how ridiculous this was... Max was the golden boy and you were just not contracted. You couldn't tell what would work better in your favour to try and get a contract. Follow team orders and keep this 1-2 or don't follow team orders and go for the overtake.
After talks with your race engineer you decided to obey team orders. Meaning you got your second P2 of the season.
Australia was the interesting race, both you and Max were reporting problems with the car, Max's seemingly being fixed by the time qualifying came around but you were still struggling. Your engine fully cut out after going over a bump on an out lap meaning you were starting P17, your worst qualifying yet.
"Y/N, not a great qualifying yeah?" the interviewer asks.
"Nah, P17 i think that was a pretty good run!" you joke back making your PR manager elbow you and shake her head.
"No, obviously it wasn't what myself or the team were looking for. They managed to fix Max's car for today but not mine, I know the team will be working really hard on my car now that Max's is all good and I can just hope to fight tomorrow and grab the team some points!" you nod smiling towards the camera on you.
"And any new on contract talks, i'm sure there are many teams that are looking to have you in their driver line up!" she asks and you nod.
"Yeah of course, most drivers will tell you that there are talks with all the teams and it's true. You know if you work in a office and your in HR you go see the legal department, and hospitality and the receptionists from time to time even though they aren't within your area. It's very natural to talk to the people around me so of course there are talks!" you admit and she nods insightfully.
"So the pictures of you talking to Toto Wolff, Ayao Komatsu and Mike Krack are ... not to be read into?" she pushes and you laugh.
"Honestly read as you will into them. Right now I'm focused on Red Bull, regardless of my future there!" you admit, hoping that might be the jog that Christian needed to hear to keep you in the team.
"Ooooo Oscar!" the interviewer shouts beckoning him over. You start to leave thinking your portion of the interview was over and you could move on to going home.
"Wait no! Y/N don't go, we'll interview you together!" she grins and something in your mind tells you its malicious and she's doing this on purpose to spite you. But she was really just hoping to get you both together as you'd been better than Oscar this season.
"So Oscar how does it feel having finally outqualified Y/N for the first time this season? You did really well!" she smiles and Oscar is looking everywhere but next to him, which is where you are awkwardly stood, trying to get your PR managers attention.
"Yeah i mean, she had car issues so it wasn't really on skill?" he asks more than anything else, tilting his head to the side confused.
"Yes, so the battle is pretty tense between you both especially after last year. But now Oscar your looking really high up in the constructors along with Y/N, do you think you can beat her this year?" the interviewer asks hoping to get a little bit of dramatics.
"I mean, the battle for the top field cars is slowly closing with the upgrades we're all getting so we're looking forward to closing that gap that's up there now!" he nods looking down at you to see if you had anything to add.
For the first time, in months there was a softness in his eyes you hadn't seen for ages. He nodded at you to speak but you became a stuttering mess, not even remembering the question.
"Sorry, but I'm needed!" you stutter awkwardly handing back the microphone before trotting off looking around for anyone that could help the shaking of your hands.
You were struggling to breath.
Why now, why did he make you feel like everything was okay again when it wasn't. He was your best friend and he hasn't spoken to you in months, it ... didn't feel right!
You breathing became more and more strained as you looked around for someone familiar. Your eyes dart between the different motorhomes, just looking for any one of the other drivers. You eventually made it to Red Bull trying to get to your drivers room however, a body stopped you holding you shoulders.
"Hey, great race today Y/N!" the voice of Liam comes through and you just nod, a small thank you coming from you mouth as you try to make your way around him.
"Hey, Y/N? What's up is something bothering you?" he asks not fully noticing your panicked expression.
"I'm fine, just want to get some water from my room!" you nod back towards your room and his eyes glaze over you.
"No your not okay, lets go!" he smiles taking your hand and dragging you to your drivers room.
You knew Liam was just being kind and trying to help, but right now you just really wanted to be alone and think about whatever you needed to think about.
"Water... snack ... vitamin ... ooo pill?" he asks turning to you and you look down.
"Y/N, why are you on these?" he asks with a sigh, nobody apart from your trainer knew that you were on anti-depressants. It started at the end of the 2023, with everything with Oscar and it was manageable but the anxiety of not having a contract renewed mixed with it all, you were tipped over the edge when it came to your mental health.
"You werent supposed to see them. Please don't tell anyone!" you say tears building in your eyes as you can only hope he doesn't say anything.
"It's not my place to say anything Y/N, but ... you only need ask for help and you'd get it. We all love you and I just hope you know that!" he smiles pulling you in for a hug, one that felt genuine and like he was putting all of his comfort into it.
"Thank you Liam!" you say softly before tears roll down your race onto his Racing Bulls team shirt.
"Its okay, I get it!" he smiles down at you as he hands you the water, snack and pills he pulled out.
"Sometimes, i just wish i was Ghost again, it was easier back then" you harshly laugh wiping the tears out your eyes.
"Ghost, or Y/N you are still the same driver ... still have the same heart of gold" he smiles and you smile back thankful for the needed compliment.
"So, don't turn round and tell me this ... is boy troubles!" he laughs and you look down laughing a little.
"Well it's safe to say all of my problems are with men right now... so yeah we'll go with 'boy' troubles!" you joke.
Taglist:
@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall l @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @viennakarma @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount
#f1 imagine#f1 x reader#formula 1 x you#formula 1#formula one#formula one fanfiction#oscar piastri x you#oscar piastri f1#oscar piastri one shot#oscar piastri imagine#oscar piastri#oscar piastri x reader#oscar piastri fanfic#oscar piastri angst#op81 fluff#op81 imagine#op81 x reader#op81 fic#op81
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The tragedy of Katara’s parentification
Sokka and Katara were both parentified, and it’s a profoundly life-changing thing for both of them. One of the saddest things in ATLA, though, is how Sokka sort of got to outgrow parentification, but Katara never did.
Sokka’s told to be the man. The provider, the protector. He’s not so good at the former (his hunting failures are a consistent source of comic relief), and he takes failures of the latter very, very hard. He doesn’t manage to save Yue, and that wrecks him. After Yue, he becomes extremely protective of Suki in a way that’s borderline offensive to her. He’s willing to do anything to protect his friends and his family, including something as irresponsible as breaking into the Boiling Rock. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Sokka is the only one of the Gaang who unambiguously kills. The rest of them may technically have clean hands because of cartoon logic, but Combustion Man is very dead, and Sokka is the one who killed him. We don’t know how he feels about it, because the show never goes there, but I have a pet theory that Sokka is so uncharacteristically (remember he was team “leave Zuko to freeze to death”) against Katara confronting Yon Rha in The Southern Raiders because he’s the only who knows what killing feels like and wants to protect Katara from it.
But by the end of the show, Sokka’s in a place where he can start to let go of his need to protect. Objectively, all his friends are unbelievably powerful and can take care of themselves, including his sister and his girlfriend. Suki is the one who saves him in the final battle, representing not only a reversal of his initial cartoonish misogyny, but also demonstrating that he is worthy of protection. And of course, he and his friends saved the world, so there isn’t really an enemy that he has to protect them from anymore. Sokka’s loved ones create the conditions under which his parentified behaviour is no longer necessary. Sokka would still have to take the first step to stop seeing himself as the one who has to lay his life on the line, but at least it’s possible for him.
But not Katara.
Katara had to take on the mom role after their mother was murdered, which meant she was responsible for domestic labour and emotional support. Sokka says in The Runaway that her role was to keep the family together. Unlike protection, that’s always a full time job regardless of the war. We see Katara spending more screen time than anybody cooking, getting food, mending, and generally doing women’s work. We see Katara giving everyone emotional support, including strangers and her enemy. We see Katara putting aside her own discomfort and her own hurt in The Desert because if she falls apart, they all die. Nobody ever showed her that she doesn’t need to be the only one who cooks, or that somebody else can be responsible for the emotional wellbeing of her friends, or that — god forbid — someone else can actually be responsible for her emotional wellbeing.
That’s why I never cared for the Ka/taang argument of “he teaches her to be a kid again!” Putting aside the fact that Katara ends up taking care of Aang a lot more as the series goes on, the whole tragedy of parentification is that you can never again be a child. That part of your childhood, your god-given right, is robbed from you. It is extremely precious and important to still be able to be a kid, but breaking free of parentification is not about seeing yourself as a kid. It’s about breaking free of being responsible for everyone’s feelings and behaviours.
For Katara, that responsibility is not problem of perception, but of reality. Unlike Sokka, who was told and shown that his loved ones are capable of protecting themselves, Katara has zero reason to believe that her loved ones are able to feed and clothe themselves and not fall apart emotionally. Between Toph and Sokka who emphatically don’t want to do this work, it all falls on Katara. Telling a parentified child that they just need to loosen up is akin to telling an overworked mother that she needs to just relax (“happy Mother’s Day! You get a break from chores, which you will catch up on tomorrow because nobody else is doing them”). It doesn’t accomplish anything if nobody creates the circumstances under which it’s possible to let go of responsibilities. A lot of Zutara fans, spanning all the way back to the early days of the fandom, like the “Momtara and Dadko” trope where Zuko also does chores. Why? Because even without the concept and language of parentification, many fans recognized that Katara’s performance of domestic and emotional labour is inequitable and probably very taxing.
Growing out of parentification is about more than just letting go of old expectations: it’s also about finding a new way to value yourself beyond the role you grew up with. I’ve said this before, but it’s very important to acknowledge that just because a kid is parentified doesn’t mean they’re actually good at being a parent. In fact, it’s probably a given that they’re not, because they’re kids performing roles that are developmentally inappropriate! Sokka remains a shit hunter; he becomes a decent fighter but he’s still miles behind his friends. A big part of healing from his parentification is finding another area — strategy, engineering, project management (what else do you call that schedule) — where he actually excels, to which he can dedicate his time and from which he can derive satisfaction and a sense of identity. For Katara, fighting for the oppressed and combat waterbending give her that. Crucially, however, Katara does not stop being a girl when she becomes a warrior. She’s still responsible for domestic and emotional labour. Unlike Sokka, whose protector duties were more or less relieved as the series went on and he found new ways to contribute to the group, Katara continued to perform her old role in addition to her new one (which is depressingly realistic btw, look up feminist theory around the concept of the second shift). Still, it’s important that she found these new ways to value herself and her contributions…
…which disappear in her adult life. Where’s adult Katara fighting for the oppressed? Where’s adult Katara enjoying her status as a master waterbender? Where’s Mighty Katara? Where’s the Painted Lady? Where’s the person who vanquished a whole Fire Lord?
What do we know about adult Katara? She’s no longer a rabblerouser or an ecoterrorist. She did not translate her desire to help the downtrodden into a political role, like being Chief or on the United Republic Council. She’s not known as the best waterbender in the world, only the best healer, even though her combat abilities are what she took the most pride in. Even as a healer, she established no hospitals, trained no widespread acolytes (except Korra, I guess?), and made no known contributions to the field.
What Katara is known for…is being a wife and a mother. The same role she was forced to take on at age 8. One which she performed for the next 80+ years.
#Self-proclaimed feminists who don’t see Katara’s trajectory as a tragedy…I want to know what you’re on because I’d like to use it to cope#Katara deserved better#anti kataang#as always my anti kataang posts are more#anti Bryke#very mild#zutara#pro Katara#pro Sokka#water sibs#They just give me so many feels#my meta
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i can't get kafka off the brain, she's so attractive 😭 she'd be such a huge brat, testing your patience all the time with that smug grin. she deserves to get tied up, gagged, spanked, humiliated and fucked until she's crying and promising to be good 💞 she's 100% a masochist
-🌧️
I am so sorry. This was only supposed to be a short, 2-4 paragraph thirst, but then it turned into pure filth 😭😭😭 Also a bit extreme compared to other things I've written, so it might not be to most people's tastes
nsfw utc (fem reader with strap on, bondage, dom/sub dynamics, use of toys, spanking, dacriphilia, not proofread)
She'd probably rile you up on purpose just for that. There's nothing she wants more than to just lay there and get fucked senselessly until she inevitably ruins the sheets, and she knows you're perfectly willing to accommodate her. Still, getting what she wants so easily would be so boring, wouldn't it? It's not fun if you aren't seething with a kind of irritation only Kafka could make you feel and if she still has some form of control of her body.
It'd start with you tying Kafka up, a bullet vibrator pressed onto her clit. The way her moans sound through the gag is delightful; they show how much of a whore she is for you. You watch her with disinterest and indifference in her eyes, fully clothed as opposed to how the only things Kafka is wearing are a ball gag and fancy ropes of silk the color of your eyes (something she insisted on) digging into her curves and currently unblemished skin.
It's humiliating, really, being forced to feel all vulnerable and owned—but both of you know just how much she loves that. Maybe if you're in a good mood, you'll even let her cum once or twice tonight. Kafka doubts that, though, especially with how bratty she's been acting. Your patience has its limits, and Kafka wants nothing more than to push you over the very brink of it. She starts begging, vulgar and wanton; almost mocking in its tone.
Kafka thinks you've finally given in when you remove the vibrator from her puffy clit. She prides herself in her beauty, after all. No one would be able to resist her "charms" for long... right? Wrong. Instead, you push her down, knees bent so her face is pressed into the mattress while her hips are up in the air. When you start spanking her ass, she begs for the bullet vibrator again. Her abused cunt just feels so empty, fluttering around nothing as your hand leaves yet another mark on her ass. She's already so overstimulated, and you've barely even started.
The woman endures, locks of hair the color of her most favored wine cascading along her back as each moan becomes more strained than the last. Anticipation fills her lust-addled head as she feels the tip of your length rubbing against her folds. You relish in the way her back arches as you finally insert the strap-on inside her neglected cunt, not to mention the drawn-out moan she lets out. God, you're sure her facial expression right now is downright sinful—you can tell by how she's clawing at the bedsheets and eagerly moving her hips to chase yours.
But you don't move.
Why would you? Did Kafka think you'd be nice to her after all that she's done? Her whines are barely audible through the ball gag, but you hear her mention something about "how mean you always are to her." Funny. You've been patient with all of her bullshit for as long as you've remembered, yet now you're the mean one. You were planning to be a bit lenient since you felt bad for her, but she can wave goodbye to any chance of being able to use either her voice or her legs for the next few days.
"Move," you command her. "Don't you think it's time you stopped relying on me to get you off?" Kafka whimpers at your words, looking back at you with glossy eyes. You can't help but snicker in response. It's rare to see her so desperate and needy to be filled. Maybe you should do this more often? She never really learns her lesson, after all. Realizing you weren't gonna budge on your decision, she rocks her hips as much as she can with her limited range of movement. She can feel each vein and bump of the fake toy rubbing against her walls, but it just isn't enough.
It's not rough enough. Not fast enough. Not deep enough. Nowhere close to being enough, but Kafka submits to the humiliation nonetheless. She can't bring herself to care anymore, too focused on making sure to savor each and every bit of pleasure she's feeling. You look at how fervently she's fucking herself on the fake cock, and think of how you've each turned the other into fully fledged perverts. Kafka wasn't this much of a masochist before she ended up in your bed. Or was it hers? You don't remember.
She never understood the people who liked getting hurt. Kafka used to find the marks that ropes left on her skin itchy and unbearable, but now she loves reliving the memories of lust and passion whenever she sees them. She wears them with pride. You, on the other hand—have never felt like more of a degenerate. You catch yourself wanting to break her; to ruin her for anybody else. You desire to know her body in a way completely exclusive to you. You want to own her; mind, body, and soul.
The past few minutes are a blur. Without realizing, you've been fucking Kafka senseless as she sobs from the overstimulation. The smell of sex fills the air as does the sound of your hips colliding with the fat of her ass. You thrust as quickly as you can, much to the other woman's pleasure, but the tightness of her pussy makes it more difficult than it usually is. You've been holding her over the brink for a while now—you're not sure how long exactly, but enough for her legs to be shaking and for her knees to give out. If not for your hands settling themselves on her waist, she would've toppled over. Kafka is powerless, and she loves it.
When you see her cum form a white ring on the base of your strap, you know you've found another excuse to fuck her dumb, and you plan on making full use of it.
#strwb drabbles#kafka#kafka smut#kafka x reader#x reader#smut#hsr#honkai star rail#hsr smut#hsr x reader#honkai star rail x reader#🌧️ anon
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A heart Made of Glass ch. 13
Summary: Ten years ago you left Wanda and the Avengers to heal your broken heart. You never stopped being a hero, just as you never stopped being in love with her. But life had to go on.
Now, after all that time, she is back and with her is a young woman needing help and an enemy that may not be as afraid as Wanda to lay a claim on you.
Pairings: Wanda Maximoff x Powered!F!Reader - Scarlet Witch x PoweredF!Reader - Past Wanda Maximoff x Vision
Warnings: Angst, drama, mentions of cheating, fluff, violence, smut, Switch!Reader, internalize homophobia, hurt, comfort, Wanda being a complete mess, anger management issues, jealousy, Requited/Unrequited love, idiots in love, swearing, mentions of alcohol. More tags as the story progess.
Author's Note: This story is a continuation of Dirty Little Secret I was really surprised at the response I got for the story, I did all the tags you guys ask for but if I forgot someone please do not hesitate to tell me. Thank you for the support.
Oh, I am back and this chapter is a wrap-up for the confrontation between Reader and Wanda. They had been given a moment of solitude before going back to their own reality, can they really get past through everyting that happened to them in the past?
Please, do remember English is no my mother tongue so forgive my grammar, spelling and funny mistakes.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 Chpter 12 - Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Can we change the past?
You never imagined this ordeal would end in the way it did.
The universe you left behind came crumbling down under the weight of its own shaky foundations, it became a cold unfitting world that disappear the moment you and the others touched the land of another Universe.
Everything was kind of blurry from the on.
You knew Wanda was taken away, and soon after you were also being carried to a room in which you lost consciousness after your body finally gave up. Your mind didn’t have the time to think about what had happened or what would happen after you were completely recover. You let things happened, and in that time you gave yourself to a blissful mindfulness in which you knew, sooner or later, you would need to face everything you had been running from.
It soon became evident that time was running out, with people coming in and out of your room checking over your physical and mental well-being before asking uneasy questions. Sometimes you would evade those questions, and some others you would give vague answers that would tell the others you were no fool.
You stretched out grasping thin air in your fist, tilting your head you started making a small sequence of Tai Chi you had learnt from Yelena. After more than a week of being in the hospital, you were finally able to feel your body as yours again. Your muscles flexed, and the shadows under your feet stirred with the silent command of your thoughts. You smiled glancing at your reflection through the window, everything was working just fine and you knew you were ready to go back home.
The door behind you cracked, and the knob turned to the left revealing the single figure of Doctor Jean Grey. The woman was beautiful, and her smile was infectious always putting your mind at ease.
“Hello, Y/N, how are you this morning?”
“Doc, I’m doing better now, thank you.” You spined around slowly, the shadows wavering around until they covered your feet, your smile grew cocking your head to follow the lead of your left arm then your right one.
“I certainly felt much better now.”
“I can see that.” The woman smile stepping closer to your bed while placing a single file on the breakfast table.
“Tell me you cam here with good news.”
Jean offered a single smile while taking a seat, she sat waiting for you to settle down on the bed. The room soon filled with silence that was only broken by the busy morning routine right outside your room. You had learnt your room was in one of the busiest wings in the hospital back in the Tower. Wanda had not been that lucky, though.
“Well, I do come with news, if they are good or not depend entirely on you.” Jean could see the change in you, even through the easy smile you wore the young doctor could see you were being overly cautious.
“Okay, I’m listening.”
Doctor Jean Gray sauntered inside the room with a light blush on her cheeks. Her eyes twinkling merrily glancing at the chart in her hands before settling then on you.
For some reason, the reaction of the woman made you squirm uncomfortably. You had been in this universe for two days now, but it wasn't until now that you were forced to go inside the examination room and get yourself a quick check-up. It was quite evident that in this world mutants and superpowered individuals were treated differently, and the rules governing each one of them were set to get control on the population.
“You seemed rather chirp today, Doc, good news for you or me?”
Jean chuckled, placing the chart on the bed before putting a chair close to the bed.
“It's my anniversary, and I received quite the news today.” She stated tilting her head, you smiled back at her.
“Congratulations, then.”
Jean nodded, putting a strand of hair out of her face, “thank you.”
“So that would be for you, what about me?” You finally asked leaning forward, your eyes drifting to the chart in your bed.
“Everything seems to be okay.”
“But…?” You arched a brow when Jean leaned back on the chair offering a serious facade.
“You had been quite silent in the last couple of days, keeping yourself out of everyone's way and most importantly,” here Jean stopped as if measuring her words, “your avoidance of your particular predicament has raised some concerns on our end.”
Silence followed such a declaration, you dared to lock eyes with the woman sitting in front of you well-aware of her ability to read beyond your initial thoughts. Jean didn't move nor did she give any indication of breaking into small talk, I stead she seemed to sit there and wait patiently for you to speak.
“I’m not sure I want to have this conversation.” You sighed, lifting a hand to the back of your head, scratching the nape of your neck. “But I guess it is inevitable.”
“It is.” Jean softened her features, grabbing the file she left on your bed, she opened it in a single page while presenting the form to you.
“How…how is she?” Your voice was above a whisper, but it was loud enough for Jean to hear it.
The woman leaned back letting you read the file while she started talking.
“She is doing better now, trying to recover her magical core had been quite the challenge but our own team of witches and healers had come together to help around.”
There was nothing much you could do but nod, your eyes drifted to the file with your thoughts trying to focus on a single issue at a time. Ever since the five of you got to that universe everything had been but a blur; your Wanda was taken straight to the hospital and she had been looked after Tony's team back in the Avengers Tower.
“That's good.”
“I just want to do one last check-up before clearing you up, America has been waiting for you and the twins are very excited as well.” Jean chuckled, standing up making her way to the closest drawer and putting some surgical gloves out. “They seemed to think that having a pair of moms at their disposal would give them some kind of advantage in their mischief.”
You tried to hide your expression from the other woman, but it was inevitable. Jean offered a sympathetic smile while getting to work.
“They are just children…” you mumbled feeling your body warm up, your muscles twitching just as Jean started testing your reflex. “I don't think they understand that much.”
“Mm, you would be surprised how much Billy and Tommy understand about the situation.” Jean leaned back, lifting her left hand and letting it hover right on top of your forehead. “They are pretty smart, and sensitive.”
You pressed your lips together not wanting to go into a discussion. Not that you could raise any arguments against that statement, you had noticed just how sensitive they were and how smart they were. They had come that first time into your room calling you mom without a care in the world, telling you about their day while also making you aware of how they had sneaked in to see you and Wanda.
Your counterpart had been amused by your reaction, while her Wanda had been just a tad bit concerned about the confusion the whole situation could create in the children.
“If I were to be honest, you look more confused than them.”
“You told me you don't read minds unless you have permission.” You replied furrowing your brows, Jean had the sense of looking embarrassed but never lost her smile when looking back at you.
“You kind of scream that thought at me, sometimes it is inevitable.”
Jean then leaned back, grabbing your file and writing some notes down.
“I think you're ready to go.” Jean cocked her head when the first thing you did was jump down the bed and go to the closest chair holding your clothes. “But Wanda…”
You winced, grabbing your clothes tightly before turning around, this time around Jean was looking serious, her eyes gleaming lightly.
“What about Wanda?”
The silence grew around the both of you, your body was already tensing the muscles you would need to run. Jean opened her mouth only to close it again as if she didn't know what to say or how to say it.
“I think you should visit her, it can make a difference in her recovery.”
At the end of the day, this last visit from Jean Grey was just that, another attempt from these people to go to Wanda and make sure she was okay. For you to stop running and face her taking ownership of what would happen next.
It was complicated.
And you were unsure as to how to proceed or what was expected of you.
“Look, I just…”
“MOM!!!!”
Not sooner had you heard such a scream, you found yourself being tackled by a pair of bouncing kids. Your heart skipped a beat with your arms lifted at your shoulders height while the kids had their faces up to look at you with toothy grins. They were quite adorable, and in reality a part of you seemed to just instantly loved them, noticing the likeness they had to Wanda and yourself.
“Okay, guys let’s back up a little, remember what we talked to you about?”
The room was suddenly very crowded, your counterpart came right in followed by America and Pietro. It became quite apparent that everyone was waiting for Jean to finish her last check-up on you before getting into the room and see how you were doing. You placed your hands on the twin’s heads ruffling their hair playfully while offering a tentative smile.
“That’s okay, I’m getting used to the enthusiastic greeting.”
“And them calling you mom?” Pietro inquired, quaking his brow while placing his hands in his pockets.
You couldn’t help the little wince, recoiling from the comment with your body turning to the chair and grabbing your clothes once more. Billy and Tommy glanced at one another, with Billy opening his eyes really big while making a gesture with his head.
“Anyway, I’m just glad to know your good to go, because I was thinking we can go right ahead and get a look around and perhaps…” America started babbling making her way to your bed.
You nodded absentmindedly, your attention drifting for a moment to your counterpart and Jean that had decided to step out of the room to have a small conversation. You couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was going on, and what they were discussing with your thoughts going over and over to the woman that was still unconscious somewhere inside the building.
Everything was strange in this universe.
A part of you knew that sooner or later the conversation of Wanda and you going back to your respective reality would come; but it was quite evident everyone was waiting for the right moment to intervene and perhaps get something done.
“Well, I think you better change so we can get out of here,” Pietro broke your line of thoughts, his eyes gleaming mischievously with his lips curling into a familiar expression. “Billy and Tommy prepare something for you, and I bet you are dying to eat something that isn’t hospital food.”
“You are completely right on that one, I’m going to change and then…you guys can show me a good time.”
You offered a tentative smile, your heart dropping for a moment when the twins cheered babbling non-stop to America and Pietro. For a brief moment you wondered…
…was this what you were missing back home?
_______________
You had been welcomed inside the household of your counterpart.
This time around, the guest room had been prepared and you could enjoy the joys of a soft bed and a nice view of the backyard while trying to get some sleep. The day had been quite unexpected, with the twins and America being active participants in different forms of conversations and different sets of games and rambles that you were not prepared to share with these people.
You had tried to get away from it, but Billy and Tommy were very adamant on having you close and including you in every single moment of their afternoon. You didn’t fight too hard to not be there, though. After a while you realised Wanda would not be joining the family outing and actually your counterpart ended up being just a good source of geek material that differed from the one you had in your own world.
Not for a single moment did anyone mention the white elephant in the room.
And for that you were quite grateful.
But now, in the middle of the night with the stars twinkling above your head and everyone sleeping in the house you couldn't help but think about it. Time was running out, sooner or later you would need to go back and face the consequences of what happened back in Norway and in that other universe.
Sooner or later you would need to face Wanda once more.
“It is pretty late for you to be thinking so loud.”
You kept your attention on the stars, the room was completely dark which was one of the reasons as to why you knew she had come home already. The young woman took a few steps forward until she was standing beside you, her face turned to the sky with her arms hugging her tightly.
“I just couldn’t go back to sleep.” You shrugged leaning against the wall, your head tilted to the side. “It was quite an exciting day, I think I’m still in a sugar rush.”
Wanda chuckled, lowering her head, her eyes gleaming lightly, turning her attention to you.
“So I heard. The twins really took you everywhere and made sure you taste everything back in the restaurant, didn’t they?”
Your face fell when the memories of that day came back, the twins had never left your side while telling you stories about their adventures. Not for a single moment did they think or even entertained the idea of them not being part of your life in your other world. For them it had been natural to make sure that you and Wanda did not forget about them. That was one of the reasons why it had been a shock for them to find out you and they didn’t know about that restaurant.
“You should tell our other selves about this place, mom! I know they will love it!”
“Yeah, we love it, and you love bringing us here!”
It still burnt that this life was not yours, but there was nothing you could do.
Wanda could read your thoughts; she could sense your pain and it was something she couldn’t take. Not with you. Wanda dropped her arms, stepping closer to you. Her hand felt warm on your face, brushing away your hair and mapping out the form of your jaw. It was so unexpected you couldn’t help but freeze in place the tension evident in the contraction of your muscles, your left foot stepping back and stopping waiting for the other foot to join. It didn’t happen, though, you stood there waiting for something else to happen.
“They are good kids.” Your voice trembled at the very end of that sentence, but your eyes never waver in their hold of those green irises.
“They are. They are very much your children as much as they are mine.” Wanda offered a timid smile that soon vanished, whatever hold she had on you broke and the young woman turned around as if ready to leave.
The tension in your body didn’t leave, and your mind was poking at you uncomfortably pressing over for you to speak. To say something, to ask the question you were dying to ask but didn’t dare to do so. It looked as if nothing else was going to be said that day, as if nothing else was going to happen and you were trying to get a hold of your beating heart when Wanda stopped by the door turning to the side and locking her eyes with yours.
“You will need to face her sooner or later, Y/N.” Wanda let her words sink in, her eyes softening lightly when she could sense the conflict inside of you.
“Do I have to?” The question left your lips before you could stop it, Wanda lifted her shoulder stepping back.
“I think you know the answer to that question,” she stated letting out a tired yawn, “what you really need to ask yourself, though is what would happen if that confrontation doesn’t come the way you expect it to be? What if it becomes everything you thought impossible with her? Are you ready to face that conversation? Are you ready to make a decision for you and her?”
You hated the fact this Wanda was so insightful and you hated even more that she was right. That was the real reason as to why you couldn’t sleep, as to why you were trying to bury your emotions and your memories, while also running away from what you were experimenting with. Of the changes that had come knocking on your door all those months ago.
“Have a good night, Y/N, rest and follow your instincts on this one because they…” Wanda left the sentence in the air, and it was you the one to finish it.
“They had never failed me.”
There was a flash of a smile and then Wanda left, closing the door behind her.
___________________
But trying to follow your instincts was easier said than done.
A part of you knew the meeting was inevitable, after all, the both of you needed to go back to your respective Universe and this would never happen if you two kept on avoiding one another. But then, there was another part, the one you had been carrying with you for far too long, that was afraid of a confrontation that might broke your heart all over again.
You played with time for as long as you could, taking advantage of Tony’s curiosity and Loki’s infinite questions. You became very helpful of Wong and Hank’s questions, and you couldn’t help but give in the twin’s whims every night before going to bed. Nevertheless, you had the days count on that universe, and it wasn’t as if you really wished to stay. You missed home, and you missed your friends and family; but the final step to get everything ready to go back was something you had never felt ready to do.
On the fifth morning you woke up on a guest room, you knew you couldn't run anymore. America had finished her breakfast and Y/N was reading the paper, no one did or said anything for a moment until you sat at the table with the coffee warming up the mug in your hands.
“Wanda is fully recovered.” Your counterpart stated, never leaving her eyes from the page she was reading, “she is confused, a little weak but ready to talk and go back home.”
“Talk?” You asked a little harsher than you were meant to.
Y/N lifted a single brow, her lips pursing tightly.
“With you.”
You opened your mouth to argue, but a kick on your leg made you stop. America was glaring at you, her head shaking slightly opening her eyes and glancing meaningfully at your counterpart.
“I know, I just…”
Y/N sighed, closing the paper and placing it slowly on the counter. Her eyes pierced you with a gaze filled with emotion, you shifted on the chair trying to look away but unable to do so.
“Whether you want it or not, you will need to have this confrontation. Whatever you are afraid of facing…I think you should get your shit together and face it right away. You are running out of time, and excuses.”
Your counterpart finished her tirade with a slap to the table, shaking her head as she stood up and left the kitchen. You cocked your head until you found America glancing at you.
“I guess there is no running from this, is it?”
America shrugged, biting her lower lip, “I guess not.”
You lowered your eyes to the counter before lifting them to ensure America was paying attention to you.
“Once this is over, are you staying or are you coming back with us?” The question caught her off of guard, America was looking shocked and her mouth tried to form a specific thought but was unable to respond right away.
You chuckled standing up, your hand on her shoulder.
“You would be more than welcome back home, but I know you missed this place greatly.” You squeezed her shoulder before walking away, a single wall of dark shadows spreading before you. “Think about it, America, I'll be back in a few hours and we will talk about me and Wanda going back home.”
“I will think about it.” America mumbled offering a half smile. “Good luck.”
You winked at her trying to show more confidence than you actually felt before crossing over the shadows and disappearing into them. The trip was short, with the shadows embracing you with a cold hold leading through the space until you stepped inside a dimly lit hall.
The place was completely silent, though you could make out the sound of chatter in the distance. You lowered your gaze to the floor, our ears twitching lightly ignoring the rest of the sounds and focusing on your heartbeat.
The last couple of months have been a complete rollercoaster for you. You never imagined, even in your wildest dreams, that Wanda would show at your doorstep with a young woman asking for help. For a very long time, you had put in the back of your mind the confrontation with Wanda. A part of you knew it would come, eventually. But you never intended to be the one to take the first step for the meeting to happen.
When you got to see Wanda face to face, and actually talk to her, your world came crumbling down around you. The barriers you had built around your heart and mind ended up not being as strong and resilient as thought them to be. Your heart still missed a beat at the sound of her laughter, and your hardened façade went away as soon as you saw the suffering and the heartbreak in those green eyes.
Wanda would always be one of your greatest weaknesses.
And you hated yourself for that.
It was as if your own suffering didn't matter, as long as Wanda was fine and didn't have to feel what you felt. Yet you refused to believe her words or even offer forgiveness for the wrong doings in the past. All of this came crashing down in a single meeting, all the doubts and pain came back, but also the yearning and the confusion you were threatening to overwhelm you and leave you without a way out.
You took a deep breath, your hand running through your hair helping your uneasiness. You closed for a brief moment, and your mind went blank emptying any thoughts that might come in and make you falter in your actions. The last couple of days, and actually the last couple of months, you had thought about this moment; you had given yourself and her a chance to step aside and let the past in the past and for the both of you ready to face the present without thinking too much about the future.
The room was in complete darkness, the lights were out and the curtains were still closed. You could hear the monitor in the corner, the bed occupied the left side of the room leaving a big sofa and a couple of chairs on the right. Hanging from the wall you could see the TV that was huge enough to almost cover the wall, the only thing that prevented this from happening was the side door leading to the bathroom. Tony was really into luxury, you closed the door behind you a little unsure on how to proceed.
The tension around the room only increased when you felt a pair of eyes on you. It didn't take too long for you to know who it was, you stepped forward making your way to the curtains.
“Would you mind if I open them up? I prefer the natural light of the day instead of the artificial ones.” You turned lightly, finally locking your eyes with those of Wanda.
Your Wanda.
“That's fine.” She replied, her voice was but a whisper but you could get the strong laced tone that Scarlet used whenever she talked to you.
The room changed under the light of the day, while there was not much sun the sky was cloudless and the position of the tower as well as the floor you two were currently in allowed for the perfect setting for natural light. You glanced around a city that was familiar yet strange, the weight of that stare didn't leave you, not even when you finally turned around to lock eyes with her.
“You look fine.” Wanda lowered her chin, her fingers twitching on top of the bed wanting to do or say something else but unsure where her relationship with you stood at the moment.
“I wasn't that badly injured, but I think I did need the rest.” You took a step forward, then another until you were actually standing beside Wanda.
Wanda hesitated for a moment before moving to the left, she chewed on her lower lip before patting the spot on the bed.
“You can sit here, if … if you want, there is also a chair and…” whatever else Wanda was going to say was cut off by you taking her initial offer of sitting on the bed.
Wanda felt her heart do somersaults, her body tingling at your closeness and the little voice she had come to recognize as Scarlet’s whispering to her telling her to close the distance, to grab your hand, to not let you go. But she held back knowing that her position was precarious at best and whatever you had come to discuss with her needed to be addressed first.
“How are you?” You fixed your position on the bed, well aware that the only thing you needed was to lower your arm and your hand would be touching Wanda's one.
“I'm better now, a little sore and getting use to…” here Wanda trailed off with her brows creasing a little, “to be complete, I guess. It's difficult, but I think I am ready.”
Her words held a decisive tone, but her eyes were flashing the doubts running inside her mind. You realised right there and then that nothing much had changed in the last couple of years, there were things you could still read about her.
“Ready for what?” You asked quietly, Wanda sighed shrugging.
“Going back.” She replied simply. “Getting out of your way, out of your life…I did promise you after all of this was over I wouldn't bother you any more…”
Her words stung your heart, spreading an electrifying pain all through your body until it hit your brain. You didn't understand why, exactly. That had been the deal, to help her out and then get her out of your life. Then, if you knew what was going to happen, how it would end, why were you having these doubts? Why did it hurt?
Wanda was in her own thoughts, a part of her she had tried to suppress, the one she tried to deny stirred in anger. Wanda wanted to speak out, to tell you she didn't want to go and that she certainly didn't want to pretend nothing had happened in the last couple of months. That seeing you had been one of her greatest joys in life, but it had also brought pain and sadness, that being in this universe seeing the twins and facing what could have been…
Without really noticing, tears started falling rolling down her cheeks while her heart shrank with the weight of her emotions. Wanda refused to give in, her fists closing tightly and her tears breaking her composure and without really wanting to she finally broke in front of you.
You observed the full process, the way her face changed and the tears pilling up her eyes. Wanda was trying to bottle up whatever she was feeling, whatever she was thinking. It was so easy to ignore everything the other woman was experiencing; it was easy to hold onto your shared past.
But this was Wanda.
And you couldn't ignore her. That was the reason why you had to disappear after the breakup.
With a tentative touch, you let your hand fall on top of hers. Your thumb drew circles before leaning in and wrapping her in a hug. Wanda held onto you, her sobs filling the room while her hands tried to grasp your clothes. You didn't say anything, but for some reason you could feel it.
The apology you never allowed her to share with you. The broken heart she had been wearing ever since that day.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry…”
Wanda cried and once she started she couldn't stop. Fixing your position on the bed you made sure she was comfortably resting her weight on your left side, putting comforting arms around her while soothing her body with sweet caresses you had dared to make in anyone but her.
Whatever conversation you were meant to have with her, whatever it was you had come to talk to her about soon crumbled under the pressure of her tears and your own feelings for her.
And just like that, you knew you couldn't let her go.
Not without a real conversation.
And not without a fight.
______________________
Wanda was not completely sure when she fell asleep, but right now she was completely aware of being awake resting on top of you with the warmth and comfort of your presence soothing her soul.
Her body tensed right away, though soon she relaxed into the embrace having noticed your even breathing and the relaxed posture of your body. You had fallen asleep as well and, at some point the both of you had ended up sharing the small hospital bed without anyone coming over to interrupt that moment.
Wanda nuzzled her face against your neck, she wished this was something she would share with you every day. How she had missed waking up in your arms, to see your smile in the mornings and your hyperactive body demand for the morning routine. Everything was so messed up, and she didn't know when she allowed her world to crumble into nothingness.
Her heart trembled with emotion, and her thoughts formed an idea Wanda knew was not completely hers but a figment of Scarlet.
You have to fight back! You need to get her back! You need to tell her everything we discovered! Everything we know!
Her voice was demanding, yet it held a hint of desperation that Wanda was familiar with. It was the same voice she had woken up to back in the battlefield after the snap, the same one she had heard countless of times whenever she thought about you or a way to recover her life. Everything had been so complicated, yet it could had been so easy to recover her life to actually try to make a change and reconcile with everyone.
There were no more tears in her eyes, and the sadness and sorrow she had lived with all her life was a burden she was tired to carry with her. With some reluctance, Wanda let go of you stirring in the bed while trying to be careful in her movements, she missed your closeness and the warm that your body had provided but it was time for her to stand up.
You need to fight for her, you cannot lose her. Not again.
The voice echoed inside her head, and Wanda knew this time around she couldn’t allow her fears to stop her from at least getting a chance to be your friend. With that thought in mind, Wanda stood on weakened feet gathering her strength before walking towards the closes wardrobe and grabbing some clothes. She gave you one last glance before making her way to the bathroom, she would need to get ready for what would come next.
It was the cold what wake you up.
The cold and the fact you missed the weight of someone resting on your left side, you sighed blinking owlishly while patting the side of the bed where you were pretty sure your companion had been resting. In those glorious moments between being awake and asleep, you were trying to grasp the reality of the woman you had been holding. Your memory groggily moving through the smell of her shampoo, and the softness of her skin and then…
You remembered.
Wanda had been crying, you had held her, you had fallen asleep…
You stood up so fast that you fell of the bed hitting your head against the night table, while hitting your ass on the ground.
“Ugh, fuck…”
“Are you…are you alright? What…did you fall off the bed?”
You wished you could hide, but instead of that you lifted your face to see Wanda standing by the bed trying to hold back her laughter just as her eyes gleamed with worry. You could sense the blush forming on your cheeks, while your whole body seemed to protest under the pain of the hits you got when falling.
“I…yes, I just…woke up too fast and…I fell off the bed.”
That was all that Wanda needed to start laughing, she couldn’t help herself. She had seen you woke up and then lose all control while getting your feet entangled on the sheets and falling on your ass. It had been funny, and the fact that you now looked all embarrassed and were pouting made for the scene not only something funny but quite adorable.
You huffed trying to stand up, rolling your eyes while the other woman held against the bed trying to control her laughter.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, little witch…” the nickname slipped your lips without giving it a second thought. That made the laughter died and once more the room was filled with a tension neither one of you were ready to maintain.
“I’m sorry it’s just…your face, and the way you fell, so full of grace…”
“I bet.” You rolled your eyes trying to check your head and body before settling your eyes on Wanda.
The young woman had put on some jeans and a white blouse, while her hair was still wet after the bath. You furrowed your brows looking away while catching the time on the clock on the wall. It was almost midday, which would explain why you were so hungry all of a sudden.
“I guess you really are feeling better.”
Wanda bounced lightly checking her hands and body, she wouldn’t say she felt better but she certainly was tired of being in bed while letting everyone come in and out to check her over. This world had a peculiar way to treat people with powers and having so many people with magical abilities come in and check her magical core had been extenuating and rather uncomfortable. The only time she had felt at ease had been with her counterpart, and that had been a whole different situation.
“I just need to get out of here.” Wanda finally revealed offering a half smile, “I heard from one of the nurses they have a nice restaurant right across the street, it has sandwiches and pizza…perhaps…”
You blinked a couple of times at the suggestion, your hand went right away to your pocket and your wallet. You hope the money you carried with you had some sort of value on this place, with a shrugged you nodded your agreement.
“Sounds like a plan. Lead the way, then.”
Wanda couldn’t hide her smile at the acceptance, she turned around and grabbing a jacket dragged you out of the room making her way directly to the elevator at the end of the hall. None of them noticed the camera watching their every move or the shadowy figure hidden in a close-by room. Your counterpart smirked shaking her head, she owed her wife a nice dinner. Wanda had always been right. Always.
In the security room, Wanda Maximoff allowed a tiny smile on her face, she lifted her stare to Tony and Loki, both of them shook their heads still slightly confused about the interaction.
“Now, what?” Tony finally asked staring at Wanda then at Loki.
“Now, we wait.” Loki replied waving away his hand. “For now, I think they are right, I’m starving and you ought to feed us, Stark.”
“Why is it always my responsibility?”
“You’re the one with money.” Loki replied ignoring the indignant huff coming from the older man, and the amused chuckled from Wanda.
_________________________
The restaurant was almost empty.
There were a few empty tables in the back, the one you chose was perfect for a nice conversation by hiding you two away from imprudent ears. The place was cosy, with decorations of blue and green creating a magical atmosphere with the dim lights around the establishment and the sweet aroma of spices that made you remembered home. You sat down facing Wanda who was looking troubled at the moment.
The waitress dedicated you a timid smile while putting a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Welcome to the Sandwich Emporium, what can I get you today?” Her question was directed at you, and her eyes never even bothered to look away as you grabbed the menu she was offering.
“I’m not sure, what do you recommend?” You glanced at the menu then back at Wanda, the redhead was glaring at the menu pursing her lips lightly while you merely frowned.
“Well, that depends on what are you looking for,” her tone of voice didn’t leave anything to the imagination, and you couldn’t help but raise a single eyebrow at that. The young woman opened her eyes wide blushing profusely. “I mean…I…”
“She is having La Tricolore and I’m having La Tartuffo.” Wanda point two pictures on the menu, before handing it over to the waitress, her eyes gleaming strangely while you just blinked slightly confused. “And I’m having some water, and she is having a cappuccino.”
“Very well, I’ll be right back.” The young woman left rather quickly, her ears burning red after having come across the redhead.
You had your eyebrows raised glancing over at Wanda who was trying rally hard to ignore you. After a moment she finally let out a heavy sigh, her head turned away from you.
“La Tricolore has beef, cheese, some hazelnuts, and that pistachio cream you…” here Wanda trailed off opening her eyes when she realized what she had done. “I’m sorry, I…”
“I like it, sounds delicious.” You placed your hands on the table not really bothered by what had happened but rather confused. “I’m surprised you remember.”
“I never forget.” Wanda brushed her hair away lifting her face to finally lock her eyes with yours. “I always…remember, Y/N.”
“I remembered too, Wanda. I remembered everything.” You stated but whatever anger you had held it had given way to bitterness and sadness.
Wanda winced tapping on the table before wiggling her hands together.
“I…I never got to…” She tilted her head, and you could see the tears hidden behind those green eyes. “I’m sorry.”
It didn’t even cover what had happened, all the pain she had caused on that day. But those words made your soul tremble, you scoffed shaking your head leaning back on the seat.
“It is too late, don’t you think?” You could see your words hurt her, and everything you had lived up to that point came rushing in piling up inside your mind until you just put everything away and left what was important.
Wanda nodded defeated, “I know, I just…I never got to say it to you.”
But it wasn’t about asking for forgiveness, and you knew that. And Wanda was also well aware of the fact. The question was not about forgiveness, the question was if you could move forward after everything that had happened.
“I never got to say it, I messed up. I was so afraid, I just…I didn’t know what to do, how to react, how to…deal with everything.”
Wanda spoke with a clear desperation tinge in her words, you could see the crumbling behind her eyes, how her soul would tremble while trying to tell you everything that you didn’t want to hear ten years ago.
“Vision was convenient.” Wanda said, this time around she grabbed the seat tightly her body completely tensed making her neck hurt as she forced herself to keep her head up and look at you. “I was so afraid, so lost and…and It’s not an excuse! I deserve your hatred! I deserved your anger! I just…”
“You could have told me, you know?” You finally said when it was obvious Wanda couldn’t continue talking. “I was there for you, and I could have helped. I thought you trusted me but instead of telling me whatever was happening you…”
This was not the conversation the both of you were supposed to have, or at least it wasn’t supposed to be this way. You weren’t supposed to understand, but to stand your ground and tell Wanda how much of a bitch she had been. But the last couple of days had taught you something about yourself, about Wanda and what could have been. And if Wanda was confused you weren’t fairing any better.
“I know you don’t get it, and that’s okay because you grew with Natasha and then you have Fury and Maria and Yelena…” Wanda waved her hand weakly, her tears rolling down while her eyes revealed the deep sadness she had always carried with herself.
“I lost everything, and I didn’t know how to deal…and you were strong, and brave, you were not afraid of anything and I was only me.” Wanda broke into a sob, with a crooked smile that showed you just how broken she was. How lost she was still feeling.
“I…after it happened I never…” Wanda started but couldn’t finish, you perked up at her words because this was something you hadn’t bothered to find out.
“What happened after I left? Were you happy? Did he make you happy?” You didn’t mean to sound so bitter, but your words carry with them poison that you had been holding for far too long.
“I didn’t stay with him, Y/N. I tried to look for you, to reach out for you but…but I couldn’t and I didn’t stay with Vision, I didn’t feel anything I just… I messed up! Okay? That’s what I did, and I didn’t know how to make it better and I’ve been trying to be good to make it better all these years…”
You wouldn't know about that.
Just as she was trying to do some good, you were trying to forget. It was one of the reasons why you kept yourself out of everyone's business and dealt with the superhero work alone. When Tony and Steve got into that quarrel and you saw what happened back in Lagos you knew you had made the right decision. Then, everything became more complicated and you just busy yourself with other problems, always trying to keep the team away while trying to get glimpses of news about Wanda. You knew it had been hard for her, and you also knew she was never alone.
Vision.
That had always been the main issue, wasn't it?
“I was on the run with the others, but I just wanted to disappear. Vision…he was helping me with getting a new identity.” Wanda leaned back tilting her head to the wall to hide the tears rolling down her cheek.
It was an answer to an unasked question. The conversation died for a moment, the waitress eyed Wanda before offering a smile to you placing the different orders on the table.
“Do you need anything else?”
“No, thank you.”
“Well, if there is anything I can do, I'm Anne.” The waitress offered one last smile walking backwards and then leaving you two alone.
The food smelled delicious; you grabbed your sandwich allowing Wanda the moment of privacy. The silence grew heavier just as you distracted yourself glancing around the place while taking another bite from your lunch.
“I was just trying to live my life, and then when Thanos happened…” Wanda huffed turning to her food, she was no longer hungry if anything she wanted to disappear.
Everything seemed so pointless, the look in your eyes would never leave, and she would go back to a world in which she was despised by the only woman she had ever been in love with.
“This is really delicious; you should try it.” You interrupted her, offering a full smile while grabbing another bite.
Wanda blinked confused; she kept her eyes on you then back on her food. For a brief moment, she hesitated, she was no longer hungry and if she were to be honest she felt tired. You took a sip from your cappuccino, placing your hand on the table, dangerously close to hers.
“I know you are hungry, Wanda. And I also know…I didn't want to know, but I get it.” You passed your hand on your hair pressing your back on the seat. “I'm tired of this, I just…”
“I can't take it when you look at me like that.”
“Like what?” You crunched up your nose, Wanda lowered her eyes grabbing her food.
“As if I am nothing to you, as if you…you hate me and…”
She trailed off putting the food in her mouth and silencing her words. You frowned, pursing your lips while playing those words inside your head.
“I don't hate you.” You softened your features, your eyes glistening under the weight of memories. “I could never hate you.”
Silence followed your statement, the shivering discomfort of what your words could mean infused the atmosphere with questions Wanda didn't dare to ask. You lowered your gaze and focused completely on the sandwich that was still on the plate, and for a good half hour that was all you and Wanda did.
When there was nothing else coming in between the unfinished conversation, Wanda put her hands on the table her eyes down casted. This was actually the very first time the both of you came face to face without anyone or anything coming in between. It was a confrontation you never thought would happen about something you had always imagined. It always came with different scenarios, but the outcome had always been the same. With you finally finding peace and never looking back, and with Wanda filled with regret for what she had lost.
This conversation though was completely different. You lifted your face finding those green eyes staring back at you with longing and a deep sadness that had become characteristic of Wanda.
“How did you end up in Westview?” The question rolled out of your lips with a hint of bitterness you could not hide.
Wanda winced playing the napkin on the table, you waited until the woman started talking again.
“I found the box you hid in your room back at the Avenger's compound.” She stated simply, her lips breaking into a grimace. “I never…after you left I never went back there until after the battle with Thanos and Steve’s funeral.”
Your eyes opened lightly in realisation; you remembered the box in which you had hidden the future you hoped to share with Wanda. The ring, the map, and the picture…everything made sense now; now you understood why Wanda had chosen that place and how everything had fit at one point or another. The only thing that was out of place had been Vision, your expression hardened and Wanda could tell you were thinking about Westview the life she had created there.
“I never thought of him, you know? I went there because I wanted to…” Wanda snorted lifting her face to the ceiling, her voice trembling under the weight of the memories. “I wanted to understand, and in a way, I wanted to find a way to go back to you. Not as…I mean, I wanted to at least be…be your friend.”
You shifted on the chair hearing as Wanda finally tell you her part of the story, how she had been completely alone after coming back from the Blip. Steve’s funeral showed her just how alone she was, and how lost she really felt; she didn’t have a work or a home or even family and friends. She spent her time driving around until she decided to ask for help and went to the only person she could think of: Tony.
In all this time you could see the story behind her eyes, you could read the suffering and the deep sadness in the gestures and the words that carried with them the flashbacks of those days in which you were ignorant of Wanda’s fate.
“I went there to punish myself.” Wanda broke into a bitter smile, “I guess I did a good job.”
“Wanda…” You started but the words tangled in your throat, the other woman waited expectantly but after a moment her face fell.
“You don’t have to…”
“You don’t have to punish yourself anymore.” You frowned lowering your gaze to the empty dishes on the table, you were fully aware of her eyes on you. “All this time, isolating yourself while unable to reach out to anyone…then, finding yourself in Westview with this Agatha…”
Wanda swallowed down her tears, she was trembling with a flame of hope flickering inside her heart. Wanda knew she had created the world around Westview, she knew that her isolation and her grief had broken out into an explosion of her magic to create a reality she could deal with. But she also knew her magic had been tampered with, and her illusion had been corrupted.
“I never stopped thinking about you.” She whispered with her hands grabbing the chair tightly, her eyes filled with unshed tears.
You nodded standing up while making your way to where she was sitting, you offered your hand though your face never changed. For a brief moment, Wanda hesitated, she glanced at your hand and then with a trembling hand accepted it.
“They do look like us, you know?” You stated flatly, your hand warm against hers.
Wanda furrowed her brows, her tears rolling down her cheeks but her eyes gleaming in confusion.
“Why?”
“Billy and Tommy.” You stated simply. “They do look like us.”
_______________________________________
That night you sat right outside the house.
Music and conversation could be heard in the backyard, with the lights of the kitchen projecting shadows on the grass. The sky above hour head was still showered with white dots that resulted familiar yet so different to what you were used to; the air was cold but nothing you couldn’t take in a night like that one.
You took a deep breath filling your lungs with cold air, inside your mind thoughts came crashing down into a myriad of possibilities and plans yet to be executed. The conversation with Wanda had gone unexpectedly well, yet you knew a lot of things needed to be done and said before things would be okay.
“Aren’t you a little cold out here?” America crunched up her nose trying to balance the two glasses she was carrying with her.
You turned to her, chuckling before stretching a little to help her out.
“Aren’t you supposed to be a part of this great celebration?”
America shrugged offering a tiny smile, “the twins are distracted with Wanda, both of them, and the rest is just chattering around.”
“So you decided to come to me?” You shook your head taking a sip from the beverage the young woman had brought with her. “You’re crazy.”
“Not as crazy as you are.” America wrapped her hands around the glass eyeing you out of the corner of her eyes. “How are you?”
“I guess I’m okay, how about you?” You pointed with your head to the house behind you, “this is what you missed, isn’t it? Now that you are back, well…”
America nodded turning her body to yours, “I feel happy, but I also feel lost. I know that I found them again, and I have so many possibilities right now, I just…”
“Don’t know what to do?” You asked, America shrugged lowering her eyes.
“I’m finally starting to understand my powers and to get some control over them, if I keep working on them I would be able to travel without getting lost.” America let out a sigh dropping her shoulders, “those are a lot of possibilities and right now I think I need stability and keep learning.”
“Wise words, you have grown some, kiddo.” You bumped against her shoulder; the young woman blushed lightly offering a timid smile. “It may take time, but I’m pretty sure you will learn to control them.”
None of you mentioned the possibility of America finding her way back home, while it was an option it didn’t mean that America would find it once she had some control on her abilities. But for now, the young woman was happy to learn more about her powers and herself, her heart and soul finally finding a place she could call home.
“You don’t mind me coming back with you and Wanda?” America finally asked biting her lower lip while taking the last sip of her drink to her lips.
“No, I think it’s going to be fun.” You replied glancing at the young woman, “but I have to tell you right now, the training is going to be brutal.”
“I didn’t expect anything else.”
You chuckled nodding, “good.”
America straightened up tilting her head to glance at you then back at the house. You knew what the question was she wanted to ask, but you didn’t rush it.
“Are you and Wanda going to be okay?”
“I don’t know.” The honesty with which you answered that surprised even you, you turned to America with a serious face. “I’m not sure what would happen, America, but I guess I’m willing to find out.”
“That’s good, right?”
You shrugged, and the young woman went back to rest her head on your shoulder still highly confused by your answer. The sound of laughter, music and conversation filling out the sudden silence that embrace the both of you, your thoughts coming back to Wanda and the day you had spent with her.
Only time would tell what would happen next, and you were waiting anxiously what would happen next.
_______________________________
Billy and Tommy were talking non-stop, they were excited showing Wanda the latest project they had been working on back at school. The young woman could hardly hold her tears while letting her children talk to her about school and their lives as if she had always been there.
At first, it had hurt.
Wanda knew they were not hers, and yet she couldn’t help but love them and see them with the same eyes she had seen the twins back in her universe. A part of her never thought she would see Billy and Tommy again, the moment the illusion had fallen around her and she discovered what she had done to Westview she knew there wouldn’t be a way for her to recover her children.
Yet here they were.
In another world, in another universe looking the same as she had imagined them once.
This time around everything was as it was supposed to be, with you by her side raising two children being a happy family. A part of Wanda felt envy for everything her counterpart had and she couldn’t have.
“Are you sure you can’t have a family of your own?”
Wanda huffed turning to the source of the voice, her counterpart stood right beside her with softened eyes staring at the twins that were getting ready for bed. Wanda dropped her arms to her sides, her eyes glancing back into the room then back to the woman standing beside her.
“I’m pretty sure, she…” Wanda wrapped her arms around herself furrowing her brows, “she doesn’t love me anymore. I am nothing more than…and ally, and even that would be to stretch out our relationship.”
The other Wanda pursed her lips, she stepped closer never letting go of those green eyes she was so familiar with.
“You don’t believe that.” Wanda stated holding back a smile when the other woman stepped back scowling.
“I have to believe it, I can’t…” Wanda sighed lifting her chin to the ceiling holding back her weakness, she didn’t want the twins to see her cry. “I have to believe it or I will break my heart once more and I can’t lose control of my magic, I…last time it didn’t go well.”
The room filled with laughter, Billy ran to the bed jumping up and down with Tommy trying to follow up before falling down on his face. Wanda couldn’t help but gasp ready to help out but stopping when a gentle hand wrapped tenderly on her forearm. It was strange to see herself staring at her looking the same yet being so different than she was.
The twins were back in the game, falling on bed while discussing some subject Wanda couldn’t hear pretty well. The fall was soon forgotten and both of them were ready to go to sleep.
“Go on, you can put them to be and I will wait for you here.”
“Thank you.” Wanda whispered to her counterpart entering the room and going to Billy first.
The woman offered a shaky smile, her trembling hand brushing away his dark hair while her lips curved into a smile. Billy smiled back blinking slowly.
“Are you okay, mom?”
Wanda nodded leaning in placing a single kiss on his forehead, “more than okay, Billy. Have a good night, baby.”
“Good night, mommy.”
Then, Wanda went to Tommy who was looking at her differently, he wrapped his arms around her hugging her tightly and this time around she couldn’t help but cry.
“I love you, mom.”
“I love you too, Tommy, now go to sleep.” Once more she placed a kiss on Tommy’s forehead and with that she stepped back walking towards the door. “Sleep well, guys.”
“Night, mom!”
The door close behind her, and Wanda stood there allowing herself the goodbye she had longed to have with the twins. She tried to give the right closure to her emotions knowing full well she would go back a world in which she would be all alone. No twins, no Y/N, only her.
“Thank you.” Wanda whispered locking her eyes with those of her counterpart, the other woman nodded curtly.
“I knew it was important for you.” The woman hesitated for a moment before continuing, “but you shouldn’t lose any hope, Wanda. You and Y/N…”
“Don’t, please.” Wanda said softly. “Don’t give me hope, don’t tell me it is possible because…god, I’ve been breaking my heart over and over again and I just…I can’t take it anymore.”
“Then don’t let it go, don’t let it go without a fight.”
Wanda lifted her face to see her counterpart dead serious, the woman came closer wrapping her hands on her forearms making sure Wanda could not look away.
“You love her, and I am pretty sure she loves you as well, whatever happened in the past it shall stay there.” Wanda then softened letting go of her grip. “Don’t give up just yet, you may be surprised.”
Wanda wanted to talk, she wanted to believe but at the moment she was just tired and overwhelmed by everything that had happened, everything she had lived up to that point. She was overwhelmed by the fact that you were so close to her yet so far away, that she would go back to a world in which the twins were not there and she would be, once more, alone.
________________________________________
It was a sunny day.
America went over the contents of her backpack, her body was tingling all over while a void filled with butterflies settled in her lower abdomen. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath, her hands trembling while she secured the zipper on the backpack.
“You look nervous, you know you don’t have to go, right?” Y/N came into the room glancing around before settling her eyes on America, the young woman turned around offering a tiny smile.
“I know.” She replied shrugging, her hands played with the band on her wrist she tried to look everywhere but at Y/N but at the end of the day she couldn’t help it, she lifted her face and let the tears fall down.
“I’m sorry.” America whispered waiting for a recrimination on her part, for Y/N to finally tell her how bad she had messed up the first time she had fallen on their Universe.
But it never came, nor from her or Wanda, or anyone for that matter. America surrendered to the warm embrace of Y/N’s arms, she let the tears and sobs she had been holding to scape and finally liberated her mind of the guiltiness she had been feeling all this time.
“Hey, kiddo, it’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.” Y/N whispered soothingly her hand drawing circles with a half-smile showing on her face.
“I just…I shouldn’t have run the way I did, I should have fight or something.” America replied, leaning back, she was furrowing her brows while lifting her hands. “I could have stayed and helped around.”
“It wasn’t optional, though. You had to keep going to survive, that’s rule number one in this line of work, America.” Y/N put her hands on her pockets, her hair falling to the side with an easy smile adorning her lips. “You did what you have to at that point and no one should ever blame you for that. If it hadn’t been that way well, I wouldn’t be here telling the story.”
America doubted very much that it would have happened in such a way, but she would never really know it for certain. Ever since she started travelling through universes consciously she had learnt to deal with the different realities, trying to adapt to them and survive them. She never thought she would settle in a single universe, much less that she would get attach to the people in it.
The sound of conversation broke the sudden silence in the room, the twins laughing with Pietro and Wanda yelling for everyone to go to the backyard was the signal America had been waiting for. She stepped closer to give Y/N one last hug.
“Thank you for everything you did for me, Y/N. I couldn’t say this the last time due to the circumstances…”
“Us running for our lives?” Y/N chimed in chuckling, America snorted rolling her eyes.
“Yeah, that, I mean you guys received me in your home and gave me a chance to a family, I just..I will always carry that with me.”
Y/N softened while giving the teen another hug, “anytime kid, you are welcome in our household whenever you decided to come back.”
“I know, I just think I am needed it elsewhere.”
“I think so to.” Y/N stepped back glancing to the open door. “Watch over them, make sure that they are okay.”
“I will.” America smiled grabbing her backpack ready to go.
It was almost midday by the time America and Y/n came out of the house.
The backyard was full with Tony and Loki working around the logistics and the twins just running around between the two Wanda’s and everyone else. You stood by the garden, the conversation that Loki was having with Tony, Wong, Hank and America had lost all meaning as you entertained yourself with the last sight of the world that could have been. Your body was completely tensed, your eyes drifting around until they fell on the form of Wanda, your Wanda.
“Are you ready?” Y/N asked, you turned to her shaking your head.
“Were you?”
“No, I was never ready whenever she was around.” Y/N replied shrugging, “but once we had made our mind there was nothing that could stop us.”
You snorted nodding, “that’s right.”
“Are you going to fight?” Y/N stepped closer, her eyes going from you to Wanda then back again.
“I am going to make things right, I’m not sure if they will end up the same way it did here.” You replied placing your hands inside your pockets. “I guess only time will tell.”
Y/N nodded stretching her right hand to you, an easy smile forming on her lips.
“I hope everything goes well for you and Wanda, Y/N, just remember what’s really important.” Y/N said grabbing your hand with a friendly squeezed. “Please, be happy.”
“Protect them and be for them whenever they need you.” You replied squeezing back.
“I will.”
“Well, I guess we can try the portal once more, are you guys ready? Did you say your good-byes?” Tony clapped before rubbing his hands, everyone went to get in position until the cries of two boys reached them over.
Tommy and Billy came running with Wanda following them close behind, Billy went directly to Wanda wrapping his arms around her while Tommy went to you.
“I’m gonna miss you.” He mumbled looking up at you.
You chuckled ruffling his hair playfully, “I doubt it, pal. You have your mom’s here, but I am gonna miss you.”
“Say hi to your Tommy for me, please? Tell him he has the best mom in the whole universe!”
Those words pierced deeply inside your heart, but the innocence and the smile in Tommy’s face made you held back any reaction that wasn’t one of agreement.
“I will, Tommy, be good.”
At the other side of the yard Wanda and Billy were having a similar conversation, Wanda hugged him tightly before trying to let go. Billy called to her, looking around before wrapping his arms around Wanda’s neck, his lips close to her ear.
“Everything is gonna be okay, mommy, don’t worry, mom will come around.” Billy offered a toothy grin to Wanda who was too shocked to talk. “say hi to your billy for me, love you mom!”
Wanda watched as Billy joined his brother right beside their mother, Wanda locked eyes with her counterpart who offered a half smile and a vision Wanda Maximoff would not talk about until several years later. For now, she was just filled with doubts, and hopes, and uncertainties and soon Wanda was drowned by the voices surrounding her.
“Okay, this shouldn’t be that difficult, everyone remembers their roles?” Loki asked once more standing to the side while pointing at America who rolled her eyes.
“I do, I remember.”
“Good, because if you fail the three of you are going to be traveling around without a proper destination and probably die a horrible dead.”
“That’s so comforting, Loki.” You replied rolling your eyes. 2Stop scaring America and do your job.”
Loki rolled his eyes flickering his hands while putting the golden book out of thin air, he sat down crossing his legs while looking to an invisible spot in front of him.
“Very well, your timeline is not that hard to find, it is the only one with a latent anomaly.”
“How can you tell is ours and not a random one?”
Loki glared at you before going back to his work, “I can sense it, and this one lack something, it is missing something, I guess that would be both of you.”
Soon everyone was taking positions, Wanda stood beside you shifting from one foot to the other, her hands wiggling nervously while she tried to keep her eyes right ahead of herself. You could sense her uneasiness, her hands twitching biting her lower lip. America came forward, she was showing off a frown filled with confusion that Tony helped erased with a whispered explanation.
You eyed Wanda out of the corner of your eyes, the woman was completely tensed still bouncing trying to hold onto something but unable to find herself at ease. You doubted it for a moment before you grabbed her hand in yours.
Her hand was warm and soft, at first she was completely tensed and rigid but as soon as she sensed it was you her hand started to relax and give in the feeling.
“It’s gonna be okay.” You whispered; Wanda offered a smile nodding.
“I know.” Wanda knew that as long as you kept holding her hand everything would be okay, she didn’t dare to say anything else but in a bold move she spread her fingers and soon her hand was intertwined with yours.
You jerked around but Wanda was completely focused on America, after a moment of hesitation you straightened up frowning lightly though your hand clasped tenderly Wanda’s hand.
“Okay, it was nice meeting you all, now let’s begin.” Loki closed his eyes and soon the golden light of his magic started gleaming powerfully forming a tight circle that surrounded you and Wanda alongside America.
America could feel the power, she was sensing it through her muscles and her fingertips while her mind became a mask of pure blankness trying to form an idea. She remembered the lesson, to follow the magic around her while also joining her energy with that of Wanda and Y/N, her power running through her arm in electric jolts and then igniting her eyes until she was finally ready to make it explode.
Pulling her arm back, closing her fist America stretched her arm hitting the space in between her and the backyard creating an explosion in the form of a Star. The portal opened until it was as big as America, you peeked in watching the white plains of Norway, or at least that was what you thought.
With a last glance to your counterpart and Wanda, you squeezed the hand you were holding tenderly.
“Ready?” It was all you could say before the young woman nodded and with a single step she dragged you right through the portal.
The world you three had left behind was waiting for you.
And you were not sure what would happen next, the only thing you knew for certain was that you didn’t want to let go of the hand holding yours.
The portal closed behind the three of you leaving everyone behind with many questions and little to no answers.
Billy and Tommy hugged Wanda still glancing the place where the portal had been moments ago. The woman glanced at her children knowing there was something bothering greatly.
“Mommy, do you think they will love us?” Tommy asked lifting his face to Wanda, Wanda furrowed her brows tilting her head.
“What do you mean, baby?”
Billy scrunched up his nose, “You think they will love Billy and Tommy the way you love us?”
Wanda softened at the question; she knelt in front of her boys not really knowing how to explain that in their world they both didn’t even exist.
“Billy, I’m pretty sure that they would be very lucky to have children like the both of you, and they would absolutely love you very much.” This answer seemed to satisfy the boys, and just when Wanda thought the topic was over Tommy talked again.
“They are gonna love us very much, mommy.” Tommy smiled snugging closer to Wanda. “Just like they love one another very much, that’s how you and mommy made us, right?”
Wanda didn’t answer, but a part of her certainly hope that Tommy was not wrong. She had always hoped that her love for you would survive in every universe, Wanda lifted her face to see Y/N looking at her with tenderness and love, and Wanda knew right there and then that her counterpart would be okay.
You never stopped looking at her like that, you just learnt how to hide it pretty well.
You were still pretty much in love with your Wanda.
And now that you were gone with her, only time would tell if love was still possible.
Wanda sighed wishing you would let go of your resentment and doubts and give yourself and her counterpart a chance.
With a last glance to the space where you and the others had been standing, Wanda turned around hopeful that the past would stay in the past.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Chapter: You are finally back to your universe, everything seems surreal as you and the others are taken to interrogation rooms before resuming your normal lives. Carol doesn't want to leave your side, and Wanda knows she needs to step aside even though that's the last thing she wants to do.
#fanfic#wanda maximoff x reader#wanda maximoff#wandaxreader#female reader#imagine wanda maximoff#wanda maximoff x female reader
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im shaking in need my god pop star f!reader x hockey player price oh god oh god
EXCLUSIVE: john price (2), goalie for the specgru and a nominee for this year’s vezina, seen holding hands with a budding pop star of the era, five years his junior.
both are seen dining together and walking around downtown after this night's victorious game against the florida shadows. the two seemed to be engrossed in their conversation and are happy with each other.
it is important to note that price had stated two years ago that he was taking himself out of the dating market after divorce with now ex-beau martha castillo, his wife of four years. is he rescinding his statement? when was this relationship formed? did… (subscribe to suns net to read more)
"jesus," john rumbles, his words muffled behind his palm as he sags in his chair. he passes the tablet back to laswell, their manager, and refuses to make eye contact with anyone else in the group.
the team were the first to call him since the incident, the incessant ringing rousing him from his peaceful dream. he stretched his arm out to pluck his phone from the nightstand, careful not to jostle you awake.
in the end, his efforts were futile because your own team reached out to you. unlike the specgru's management team, yours were more prepared for the fiasco, sending threads of emails full of instructions how to deal with the situation.
it's not necessarily a scandal, not with how there were more people reacting in favour of the relationship, but john had always been a private person and he is just not used to how his relationship with you ended up being public just overnight.
it's not your fault, no matter how many times you've told him so. he knew what he was getting into when he pursued you. he told his team, their PR department, and even his parents about what might change. even martha was given a lengthy call, the two of them making arrangements how martha and her new wife could possibly avoid being pulled into the spotlight.
so really, everything's fine. it really is. it's just that you've been ignoring his calls since this all started, running out of his flat with a yelled, "be back!", only to disappear for hours. john is worried.
"lassie’s probably doing work. damage control an' all that—you know how it is in the bizz," johnny says, consoling.
"do you know how the 'bizz' even works, 'tavish?" kyle pipes in.
john hears a choked sound, then an abrupt yelp, before scuffling fills his ears.
great. now his team’s tussling.
“out,” kate’s voice pierces through his thoughts. “you all, out. you’re distracting.”
“but missus!” johnny whines, but he doesn’t get to say any more and john looks up, wanting to see how terrifying kate must have looked like to shut johnny up.
oh, yeah, he thinks. that'd put the fear of god in anyone, alright.
he watches as the team shuffles out, all of them sending him comforting smiles, before he’s left alone with kate and alex. kate sits in front of him. “run it by me again, john. where did she tell you she’d be?"
john licks the back of his teeth, hesitating, but before he can respond, his phone rings. three chirps pass when john was finally able to reach for it, ignoring the bewildered look that alex is giving him—kate, it seems, is not even shocked by how agile john is when it comes to you.
"hello?" he murmurs, turning away from his managers in lieu of privacy. from the reflection of the window, he sees alex look away too, in pretense with john, while kate continues to stare, scrutinizing.
"hi, baby," you chirp with a giggle as if you were not radio silent for four whole hours; the afternoon is about to swell at its peak, the summer sun sweltering from every corner of the city. "i missed you lots."
and just like that, john feels himself relaxing. his shoulders sag in the newfound comfort wafting from within his chest, his bruised lips—he didn't even know he had been biting them in his worry—slipping between his teeth, and his forehead easing from all his frowning.
john feels like he's won another game; like they've defeated the shadows and claimed the cup for themselves already.
"s'alright," he says, a touch softer. "all is well f'r you?"
"all is well," you reply, voice curling like you’re smiling. "i'm gonna do somethin' soon so all i ask is that you trust me, okay?"
"of course," john instantly replies before his mind could even comprehend what you just said. "wait what-"
"okay then. bye!"
the line drops just like that.
"oh god," kate hisses from behind john. john can't quite say he mirrors the sentiment because anything you do is good. everything that you are is bright.
he would trust you with a goal, if he could—you have his heart already, after all.
.
"holy shit!" mactavish shrieks before a phone is shoved underneath john's face.
he goes cross-eyed, blinded by the blue light for a minute, before he is finally able to push johnny's hand away. he plucks the phone from his friend, grunting when the rest of the squad flank him, heads butting his own as they try to get a glimpse of what was on mactavish's phone.
simon begins to laugh while kyle repeats johnny's words.
john can't blame them. holy shit indeed.
it was a new post from you, in instagram. it was a picture he remembers you asking him to take for you from the night before, all coy as you danced in front of him, both of you ignoring the obvious tent underneath his sweats.
"i want a keepsake," you murmured while batting your eyelashes. "please?"
"it's all yours, if you want," john remembers replying, all parched with his need.
"no," you said with a giggle. "a picture's enough."
"okay," he had said with a croak, his eyes blown wide as desire bloats from the pit of his belly.
so here it is now, posted for everyone's eyes in your account, the product of your seduction—you, sitting on the back your legs, stretching out on the bed, clothed in nothing but his jersey for a top—the bold and white-coloured 2 almost covers your whole back—and a black bikini for a bottom.
his eyes flit to the caption: comfy in his shirt. #letsgospecgru
"holy shit," john rasps out loud this time, his need growing teeth.
keller bursts into the locker room. “your turn to post with her merch.” he throws something at john and it is only his reflexes that allows him to catch it with his hands.
he looks at it—it’s a cream jumper sold during the release of your new album. the material is soft, the embroidery so smooth. the logo, even, is beautiful.
say less, he thought, already slipping out of his practice shirt and into the jumper.
.
[image]
pricejhn2: her number one fan #newalbum
#john price x reader#john price x f!reader#captain john price#tf 141#john price#suns#hockey au#LOSING MY MIND THIS IS SO FUNNT#pls let me be delusional bc i would 100% cry if yall @ me with hatred in ur heart </33
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𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕚𝕕𝕠 𝕋𝕠 𝕄𝕪 𝕃𝕦𝕚𝕘𝕚
Alessandro Fusaro x Fem!Reader (she/her)
Where taking your niece to a race has an unexpected, very stressful (but eventually very welcome) outcome.
Warnings: None! Maybe some brief talks of the dreaded emotions!! (also probably some bad Italian translations 😅)
Ember's Notes: I really hope you like this one @pear-1206 because I actually loved writing it so much oml 🫶🫶
(I left it kind of open ended so if there’s a decent demand for it, I can write a part two that focuses mainly on the pairing)
For as long as you could remember, your family had been staunch Ferrari supporters. You had been part of the Tifosi for your whole life. It was something that you had found so much joy in, being able to cheer and root for the same team as the rest of your family. Which is why you had asked your younger brother if you could take your 7 year old niece, Gianna, to the Imola Grand Prix. He had told you a few months ago that he was trying to get Gianna to be a Ferrari fan (a fan of motorsport in general) but it was turning out to be tough work.
Originally your father had planned to take you with him, but given the circumstances, he had told you to take Gianna. So you brought it up to your brother and his wife. Your sister-in-law had been worried that something might happen to Gianna (and you of course) but she swiftly agreed to let you take her daughter when you promised to facetime every morning and every night that you were away. All that was left to do was to tell Gianna that she would get to spend a whole weekend with her Zia Y/n. [Auntie]
A few weeks have gone by and it was finally time for you to introduce your niece to the world of Formula One. You hoped that she would have fun, especially given just how excited she was when her parents told her about the trip. You desperately didn’t want that excitement to have been for nothing.
“How long will we take this weekend, Zia?” You heard her ask from the backseat of your car, your beloved 1959 Fiat 500. Your car had been another thing that Gianna was excited about for the weekend, as you usually only drove it around on special occasions.
“We’re going to be here all weekend, Bambina. Nonno was kind enough to get us passes into the garage for the whole weekend.” You told her. [Baby] [Grandpa]
“Are we going to meet important people?” She asked, twiddling with her thumbs timidly. You became worried as this was so far away from how she usually was.
“Mmm, I’m not sure Fiore. Why? Are you nervous?” [Flower]
“Un po’” [A little bit]
Your heart melted and seized simultaneously. You reassured her that being nervous was normal, because she had never gone to a race weekend before. Wanting to see her smile again, you offered to teach her about who was who in the paddock as soon as you settled into your hotel room. Gianna quickly agreed and was back to her vibrant, excited self in no time.
Walking into the paddock on Friday morning was a feeling that you would happily get used to. Gianna had asked if you could try and get there earlier than all the drivers. When you asked, she told you that she still wasn’t 100% confident about who was who, despite spending well over an hour the night before looking up pictures and matching them to names. Gianna said that by getting there earlier than the others, the two of you could find a nice spot somewhere near the entrance where you could point and tell her who was walking through.
Thinking about it, you couldn’t fault her logic. So here you were bright and early. You had arrived with enough time to buy some breakfast and find a nicely shaded spot where you could settle in while you waited. Gianna had insisted that you both sit at a table that was both directly opposite the paddock entrance and under a rather large tree. Sitting down you gave Gianna her breakfast, a freshly toasted bacon and egg croissant, and made sure that she was drinking enough water from her Cars themed bottle. Similarly you also began to eat your own croissant while you sipped your scalding hot coffee.
Gianna spoke to you about what she was most excited for this weekend while you both ate. Occasionally someone would walk through the entrance that she recognised. You were surprised just how often she had noticed someone that you mentioned the previous night. So far she had pointed out some drivers, a few of the team principals and the occasional mechanic or engineer.
When Hannah Schmidt had walked through though, Gianna had nearly fallen off her seat as she pointed and told you that she had recognised and remembered the iconic woman. Said woman had heard Gianna excitedly cry and she had smiled and waved at your niece as she walked to the Red Bull garage.
You smiled when you noticed that Hannah had waved at Gianna. Happy that this trip was definitely living up to what you had promised your niece. Seeing that the two of you had long since stopped eating, you packed away your rubbish and cleaned up the area you had been sitting.
“Should we walk around for a bit, Gigi? Stretch our legs a little?”
“Yes please, Zia.”
So you packed away your things and threw away your rubbish in a nearby bin. You held Gianna’s hand and walked around for a bit as you didn’t need to be in the garage for a little while still.
Walking around the paddock with your niece made sure to point out all the things she thought were interesting. You were giving her little tidbits of information throughout the whole walk, about a bunch of things that had to do with motorsport. Granted most of the information was directly about Ferrari but hey, you were trying to induct a brand new member of the Tifosi.
Unbeknownst to you, just as you were starting to tell Gianna about the extensive history of Ferrari, a member of the Scuderia Ferrari media team had strolled past you and had heard you speaking about Enzo Ferrari. They had quickly turned around and you found yourself being approached by a small media team no less than 2 minutes later.
“Hi, I’m Sophia. I’m part of Ferrari’s media team, I was just wondering if we could film you answering some Ferrari related questions for a youtube video?”
Having not expected this change of events at all, but also knowing you wouldn’t get another chance, you agreed to let them film you. So long, of course, that they didn’t get Gianna’s face in the shot. As they started to set their equipment, you gently kneeled next to your niece and asked her to stay within a few metres of you so that she wouldn’t get lost.
“Te lo prometto Zia!” [I promise Auntie!]
“Bene.” [Good.]
As you stood up they told you that they were ready to film when you were. Giving them the go ahead they pressed record and started asking you questions. First general questions about Formula One but soon they started to ask more obscure questions about Ferrari specifically. You smiled and gave as many answers as you could. Which was a lot. Later when the video would come out, a lot of people would comment that had you not introduced yourself at the beginning they’d’ve thought you were related to Enzo himself.
The questions had ended after almost twenty minutes. Sophia had apologised because she wasn’t aware how long that would take but you assured her it was no problem at all. You readjusted your shoulder bag and went to grab Gianna’s hand, only to not see her where she was supposed to be standing.
“Gianna?” you called, trying not to panic. She was right beside you, where could she have gone?
“Gigi?! Fiore, this isn’t funny!” you tried to call out again. “Zia’s getting really worried!”
Having already excused yourself from the media team next to you, disregarding their shocked and worried looks, you quickly started walking around trying to find your niece. Walking towards the end of the paddock you kept calling out for her, hoping that someone would take pity on you and help you look. Thankfully you had taken a “fit check” photo with her this morning, meaning that when you went up to people asking if they’d seen her, you could show them a picture of what she was wearing that day.
Too many people had said they’d not seen her at all for you to be comfortable. You were starting to get frantic when another 10 minutes had gone by. There was no way you were returning home without your niece. You’d turn into Liam Neeson if you found out that someone had taken her. Speed walking past the Ferrari garage, you finally heard the sound you had needed to hear.
Gianna’s giggles.
Letting her giggling lead you to her, you ended up in the garage where you needed to be for the beginning of the practise sessions. Looking around for Gianna, you noticed that one of the mechanics was crouching down but not facing the car at all. Walking closer you finally saw that the mechanic was entertaining you niece, whose face was lit up with the biggest smile you had ever seen.
Emotions washed over you like a tsunami. She hadn’t been taken. Tears welled up in your eyes at the utter relief you felt finally knowing that she had been safe the whole time.
Rushing over to her, you quickly scooped her up into a hug, wrapping your arms around her tightly.
“Gianna! Mia cara ragazza, non hai idea di quanto fossi preoccupato! I thought someone had taken you away and you were lost forever! Sono così felice che tu stia bene!” By now your tears had begun falling down your face. [My darling girl, you have no idea how worried I was!] [I’m so glad you’re okay!]
“Zia! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to break my promise but someone pushed into me and I fell and when I got up again I couldn’t see you and then I bumped into Alessandro and he asked me why I was crying and so I told him that I couldn’t see you and that we were supposed to go to the Ferrari garage for practise so he made sure I got here without anyone else pushing me!” She rushed to tell you everything that had led to this moment. You finally let go of her, moving your hands to stroke the hair away from her face. In the back of your mind you noted that she had bumped into Charles Leclerc’s head mechanic, but that could be focussed on later.
“It’s okay Principessa. You found help, I’m proud of you. I was just worried when I couldn’t see you, that's all.” You said, finally able to wipe your own tears off of your face. “Did you say thank you to Mr. Fusaro?”
Alessandro decided to cut in before Gianna could tell you that she had indeed said thank you. “Please, there’s no need for thank you’s. I didn’t want her to get more lost or upset.”
Standing up, you gently placed a hand on Gianna’s shoulder as you faced the man in front of you. “I must insist, you just saved me from a horrible phone call with my sister-in-law.”
You both chuckled a little as you spoke. He brushed you off again saying he loved hanging out with Ferrari’s biggest little fan.
“Zia, he has a tattoo! It’s so cool!” Seeing Alessandro get a bit bashful when your niece spoke made you curious, but you decided to not bring a lot of attention to that.
“Does he?” You said. Of course you already knew. Being part of the Tifosi for as long as you had, Alessandro’s Guido tattoo was common knowledge. Funnily enough it was one of the questions Sophia had asked you. Which ferrari mechanic has an iconic tattoo and what is the tattoo? It was your favourite question to answer as it allowed you to bring up your precious Fiat 500 that you had named Luigi after the Fiat from the Cars movie. It technically also allowed you to bring up your own tattoo which was, again, based on Luigi from Cars. Not that you did bring it up. You’d never hear the end of it from your father.
“Uhuh! It’s a red Guido from the same movie as yours!” Trust your innocent niece to blurt to all Ferrari that you also had a Cars themed tattoo.
Alessandro was now less bashful and more intrigued about your tattoo.
“The same movie as yours?” He asked.
You chuckled and continued to smooth out Gianna’s hair as you faced Alessandro. “Yeah, a few years ago, maybe a month before Gianna was born, I got a tattoo of Luigi from Cars. In a pale red instead of the usual yellow.”
Gianna nodded her head quickly and began to excitedly tell him all about how the first movie she had ever watched with you was Cars and how it had become your thing together.
All too quickly time caught up and it was soon time for Alessandro to go back to work. Gianna had deflated a little at the knowledge but she perked up again when Alessandro had said that he would try and talk to them again after both practise sessions had finished.
“After all,” he said, kneeling in front of her but looking up at you, “I’d love to get to know you better.”
I actually love this so much (When I get back home, I'll be making a new masterlist for the non-drivers that I'm gonna be writing for) ((also, while i’m away from my computer i’m gonna be typing up some dusty requests and maybe some drafts as well on my phone so please excuse any irregular formatting i’ll try and fix them before i post them))
this is also being posted a lot later than i initially thought it would be. i had planned for it to be posted before Monaco but 😅 (also something will be coming for the monaco race but i want it to be perfect so it might be a while before that comes to light)
#formula 1 x you#f1 x reader#f1 fluff#formula one#formula 1#alessandro fusaro#alessandro fusaro x reader#alessandro fusaro x y/n#alessandro fusaro x you#alessandro fusaro fluff#ferrari#scuderia ferrari#ferrari mechanics#forza ferrari
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Do you think that Charlie also undergoes retconning/revision as the series goes on? In Twilight he seems somewhat distant but still buys Bella a truck, worries about her, etc. By Eclipse he can't work a microwave and is (at least through Bella's PoV) an unreasonable brute of a man. Do you think that Meyer needed to make Charlie more distasteful to the readers so that Bella essentially abandoning him (and Renee) wouldn't come off so cruel/harsh? Or did she just evolve the character as she went to mesh better with New Moon and Eclipse, even when those new character traits DON'T mesh well with FD/BD? Charlie was still in Bella's life in FD and presumingly Nessie was also still named Carlie as well.
Charlie is interesting because if you think about the idea that it was originally just Twilight and Forever/Breaking Dawn, Charlie seems to exist mostly so Bella can move to Forks and be largely unsupervised. I mean there's a story there about a girl reconnecting with the father she barely knows, but that's not the story SM is interested in and for the most part is not the story she is telling. I'd argue the movies made a bit more of an effort there, or at least Billy Burke made people care about Charlie. I don't remember people being all that invested in him when it was just the books, but movie!Charlie is largely beloved.
But yeah I think a lot about Bella's homelife is the way it is so that choosing to become a vampire doesn't seem so terrible. If she were close to her parents, if she had siblings, hell if she had any actual human friends she cared about, that decision would be a lot harder to make and there would be consequences, things she had to give up. But she doesn't really have anyone. She likes Angela well enough, but doesn't spare her a second thought after the wedding. Her grandparents are dead, no cousins or aunts or uncles. No friends back in Phoenix. Just Charlie, Renee, and Phil. And she gets to keep Charlie and doesn't seem to care about Phil at all.
I think some of the problem with Charlie is that SM was going for humor. Similar with Renee, I never really believed he didn't actually know how to cook. I assumed it was Bella exaggerating for effect. I didn't actually think Bella was paying the bills and doing the grocery shopping at 10, either. But then we get Charlie not even knowing how to boil pasta or not to but metal in the microwave. Like he hadn't lived on his own for nearly two decades, like he hadn't cared for his parents? It's just "haha look how clueless he is!"
I do think his disdain for Edward is largely justified, though, given what he actually knows. The "break-up" after the baseball game where Bella ran back to Phoenix and ended up in the hospital, and then her depression when he breaks up with her again, then her disappearing for three days because he needed help. Yeah, I'd think this guy wasn't good for my kid, too. But because it's a romance and Bella's the narrator, she paints him as unreasonable and Edward being a saint for putting up with it.
I don't think he was retconned as much as Renee; I think they both started off as well-meaning but comically helpless/clueless and that Renee took a darker turn whereas Charlie may have benefited in later works from how beloved movie!Charlie is.
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PLOT THEORY FOR S2 - Fallout
**MANY FALLOUT SPOILERS AHEAD - read at your own risk**
i have this weird theory that the juxtaposition we see between Cooper's outwardly grim appearance vs his morals being intact, and then Max's outwardly normal appearance vs his morally neutral choices, might be a way of telling us more about looks being deceiving for future developments.
hear me out.
Max is knocked out as soon as he finds out about Shady Sands, but he was definitely intending to do some damage, revenge had its hooks in him from the beginning. it was always there, whether it be to regain the honor the Brotherhood took away from him, then evolving into being part of the trio that was now after Hank. the man who robbed him of his home, family and hope for the future.
i saw a video essay discussing the moral choices of Lucy and Cooper's characters and i really liked the criteria they created for measuring it - ill link it below.
she says there's 2 main parts:
1. loss of control
2. being unrecognizable after enduring hardship
whether you agree with this criteria or think there's more to be added, i like how simple of a base it provides, when approaching these complex characters.
so if we then apply this to Max, he is the only member of our main cast who exhibits both points.
1. loss of control:
this is distinct to me in the Philly shoot-up, where he isn't able to control the T-60 power armor enough to put up a fair fight against The Ghoul. literally crash-lands it and then gets flung into the atmosphere LIKE PLS
he mistakenly attacks the people of Vault 4, once again losing control of his power.
the chicken-guy .... trying to derail that argument but saving the wrong person ><
Note: it's FASCINATING if you look at his character metaphorically, because the power armor is someone having the means for good but not having the understanding of what true 'good' means to them, yet. the power armor is LITERALLY his OUTWARD POWER like who is he really, underneath it??!!!!
we don't have this problem with Cooper and Lucy right now, their power is shown to be INWARD. the Ghoul's experience/connection to the beginning, and hers is her obvious moral strength and perseverance. they overlap.
i feel that his character is supposed to lean into the apprentice archetype, where he is currently lacking a proper teacher to show him the ropes. at first we expected Lucy to fit this role because of her inexperience on the surface, and yet when given a 'mentor' she not only challenges him but proves she can handle herself. ruling that one out, and leading us to believe the fate-intertwined aspect of ghoulcy has a touch more to it. implicit rather than explicit.
2. being unrecognizable after enduring hardship
Max to me fits this point too, because we still don't get a glimpse into who he truly is, besides knowing his past. from the beginning, his goal is to be a Knight of the Brotherhood, that's how he defines himself currently.
when he fights off the gulper, he reiterates this line to himself: "i am a Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel".
he says it AGAIN in response to Lucy's advances in the vault. which is a clue into how much he relies on it for his moral code, to the point where it crosses into his personal decisions. not just for 'missions' or survival.
this is like foreshadowing a tipping point for me, because without the Brotherhood, what does he want? he's acting in alignment of the code that was pushed on him, but it always feels like he has to remind himself to BE that.
that it doesn't come naturally, the way the other characters' do. we see this at the start where he gets the answer wrong in class, he's bullied, an 'outcast' within his own community (for lack of a better term).
by comparison, the Ghoul isn't even a real 'outcast' in the way cowboys are stereotypically portrayed, because he fits in the wasteland better than anyone.
so point 2. becomes relevant when he gets the armor and is unrecognizable from where he started. this is a point he never thought he'd get to, but he sacrifices his real identity to get there.
SO ALL THIS TO SAYYYY...... that's where i feel his character will be vulnerable to a villain-arc!
in the ending, he gets accepted as a Knight, but his expression betrays him. there is a continuous inner conflict within Maximus that is SO SUBTLE and its written so beautifully. i think we're going to see ghoulcy pushing each other in the right direction. their shared journey seems to be about regaining HOPE.
but for Max, i feel in my bones that something darker is coming for his arc, it feels like revenge. the goofy, lovable boy in the clunky armor, may very well end up having the darkest battle to face. and it's because he's alone in doing it.
this was a lot to digest, so if you made it this far i thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!!!!!
AND if you have anything to add i would love to hear it :) !!!!
youtube
#fallout prime#the ghoul#ghoulcy#cooper howard#lucy maclean#maximus#fallout theory#spoilers#fallout spoilers#vaultghoul#Youtube
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Introductions (Werewolf AU)
Summary: You wake up after being attacked and find out werewolves do exist and you're now one of them.
Word Count: ~1.3k
A/N: Reader is female. No physical descriptors used.
Warnings: Hospital setting, Implied violence
Prologue --
You’re startled awake but you’re not sure by what. Last you remember you were walking home and…and that monster attacked you. He looked human but his strength suggested something else. You remember more types of pain than you thought possible to feel at once. There’s also the vague memory of fangs, claws. But that couldn’t be real, right? Just something your brain came up with as a trauma response?
You take in your surroundings. It feels like a hospital, given the machinery you’re connected to and the IV in your hand. But it feels too homey to be one, given the non-standard furniture and warm paint on the walls. The ice cream smell definitely adds to the homey atmosphere. Taking a closer look at the furniture you see blond, spiky hair peeking out from underneath a blanket on the couch. A pair of glasses on the table next to it.
Trying to get a better sense of things you try to sit up only to find yourself feeling too weak to do so. The door opens and in walks a tall man with short brown hair and blue eyes, carrying a giant box of what smells like food.
You freeze in place as it feels like your sense of smell is out of control. You know every food item that’s in that box. You can even smell the plastic silverware. There’s also the hint of…you’re not sure but it makes you think of summer nights.
The stranger sets the food down near the couch and gently wakes up the stranger with the spiky hair.
“Mmph,” spiky hair responds.
“C’mon, Jakey,” the stranger coos. “I know you had a late night. Got some food for ya.” He gently shakes Jake’s shoulder some more before looking around and seeing you. “Oh, the lady’s awake! Jake! She’s awake!” He starts bouncing a little as he shakes Jake more roughly. “You eat some of this breakfast, I’m gonna go get the doctor!” He points to you, “you’re a survivor! So glad to see it!” And then he runs out of the room, leaving you more confused.
Jake wakes up enough to put on his glasses. He looks your way and his eyes go wide, “you’re awake! That’s amazing! Let me get some of this food for you.” He goes to the box and starts pulling out smaller boxes of food, compiling them into a plate that you assume is for you. Your stomach growls so loudly you know he heard it but he doesn’t comment. You try to take the plate but your hands are too shaky. “Let me grab a chair and then I can feed you. Help you out.”
“What’s going on,” you ask, your voice barely louder than a whisper.
“Oh, I should get you some water first,” he replies, setting down the food and getting a glass of water from the sink.
As he turns to head towards you again, the stranger returns with another stranger. They almost look like brothers, but the new stranger has shorter hair and a leaner, more professional look.
“Hi there,” the new stranger smiles at you. “I’m Dr. Beck, you can call me Chris. Hal tells me you woke up just a bit ago. Can you tell me your name?” You give him your full name as best you can. When the doctor hears how hoarse your voice is he motions for Jake to give you some of the water he got for you. “Can you tell me what you remember about what happened to you?”
Between sips of water proffered by Jake you tell him about your abduction, walking home from work and being pulled into a truck by an inhumanly strong person. You tell them about how he tied you down and bit your shoulder. And then the pain. So much pain. You start crying and feel Jake gently, reassuringly, rubbing your shoulder. You don’t know when the stranger, Hal according to the doctor, had walked to your other side but he was mimicking Jake’s actions.
Dr. Beck nods and takes notes as you tell your story. You’re nervous about telling them some of the more outlandish things you think you remember but each time you do you’re met with understanding. Dr. Beck really seems to be taking you seriously and you’re very grateful for that.
“I know I probably sound crazy,” you shake your head. “I know it’s likely just a trauma response from my brain but I swear he had fangs and claws. Or at least everything hurt like he did.”
“That’s because he did have fangs and claws,” Dr. Beck tells you. “I’m sorry to have to tell you, but werewolves are real. You were bitten by a lone wolf, or loner. The various packs try to keep them from creating new werewolves but, as you can unfortunately see, there’s only so much we can do.”
“Is…is that why I can identify all of the food in that box?”
“It is. That reminds me,” Dr. Beck looks to the two other men, “Hal would you please get a plate of food for the lady? She’s got a lot of calories, vitamins and minerals to catch up on. Jake, please keep up with the water.”
“To catch up on? How long was I out?”
“Just a couple of days,” Dr. Beck assures. “Full moons have three days. From what we can tell, you were bitten on day one. Jake and his team rescued you on day two and we have been taking care of you the best we could since.”
“And, what happens now? I turn into a wolf every full moon? If that’s the case, how did you take care of me?”
“That’s a misconception in popular media,” Dr. Beck smiles. “If the full transformation happened so quickly, no one would be able to survive it. It’s a progressive process that takes several months. And when you’ve been a werewolf for a decade or so, it becomes easier to control yourself under the full moon. Especially for pack members whose primary role in the pack is to help other members.”
“So, what’s going to happen to me?”
“Well, for the immediate future you’re going to focus on resting and building up strength for the next full moon.” He gestures to the plate of food Hal has prepped for you. “Your metabolism is going to be changing so don’t be afraid to eat. At this stage you kinda can’t eat too much. Especially protein. And sleep as much as you want or need. Your brain is having to make a lot of changes as well to adapt to the enhanced senses you’ll be getting."
“Is it just the three of you in this pack?”
Hal chuckles, “no worries, you’ll meet more of the pack after you’ve built up some strength and gotten approval from our Pack Alpha.”
“I get why Dr. Beck, Chris, is here, but you two aren’t doctors or nurses, are you,” you ask, indicating Hal and Jake.
“That’s correct ma’am,” Hal responds with a smile.
“When me and my team first found you, you were mostly unconscious,” Jake added. “You seemed calmest when you were holding my hand, not even Aisha could calm you as much. We figured it would be safest for you if I stayed nearby.”
“And because Jake and I are bonded,” Hal smiles lovingly at Jake, “I’m here to take care of him, and do what I can to help you out as well.”
Your stomach growls loud enough to interrupt your thoughts and Dr. Beck smiles gently, “how about you focus on eating and getting some sleep. You have time to ask questions as you get better.”
You nod and, with Hal’s help, you dig into the food on your plate.
Tagging @alicedopey and @icefrozendeadlyqueen. Please let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list!
#werewolf au#jake jensen#hal carter#chris beck#female!reader#alpha!hal carter#beta!jake jensen#omega!chris beck
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On Krile, Thancred, and Minfilia
Reviewing post-Heavensward dialogue for fic purposes, I came across this utterly bizarre conversation between Thancred and Krile:
Krile: Why must you be so disappointingly brusque? You're not at all as Minfilia described, you know. I don't think you've favored me with so much as a single compliment since we set out.
Krile: Tell me, did your time in the wilderness sap you of all your charm, or are you holding it in reserve for your beloved?
Thancred: This is neither the time nor the place.
Krile: Well, call me old-fashioned, but when I'm risking life and limb infiltrating an imperial castrum, I like to be sure of my comrades' motivations.
Thancred: I see now where Alphinaud gets it from.
Thancred: Minfilia is dear to me, it is true─but not in the way you think.
Thancred: Fifteen years past, when she was still but a child, there was an incident at a parade. A goobbue broke free of its fetters and ran amok through the streets of Ul'dah. Had I been more attentive, I could have prevented it...but I was distracted, and her father was killed.
Thancred: I feared she would never recover, but in the years that followed, she showed herself to be more resilient than I had ever imagined. And when she learned of her gift, she did not flinch from the responsibility, but sought to guide others on the path.
Thancred: She touched the hearts of all around her. Mine, Louisoix's, every Scion's. In those dark days following the Calamity, she was our guiding light─our hope for a brighter future.
Thancred: She had so many dreams...and I would give anything to make them come true.
Krile: My apologies. I can see she means the world to you. I did not mean to pick at old scars.
Thancred: No harm done, I assure you. But fair is fair, my lady─what is Minfilia to you?
Krile: You mean you don't know? Only my dearest friend.
Krile: When I finally emerged from my torpor, I learned that nary a day had passed without her asking after me. She never gave up hope.
Krile: And neither will I.
So, this takes place in 3.2, when Minfilia is still missing and Krile and Thancred are on the trail. Krile has clearly heard Minfilia talk about Thancred--she meets him with a certain expectation about his manner, which Thancred isn't presently living up to because he's too worried about Minfilia to be flirting. However, Krile also seems to have no idea what Minfilia's relationship to Thancred actually is. In fact, she misinterprets Thancred's concern for her as romantic, in the same breath as she's expressing surprise that he hasn't attempted to charm her. She's so curious about this that she interrupts a covert operation to demand he explain his motives.
Thancred, meanwhile, seems to have never even heard Minfilia mention Krile... who describes Minfilia as "my dearest friend." Despite the fact that Minfilia was asking after her every day while she lay unconscious, she apparently never spoke to Thancred about her worries. She even mentions Krile several times while we're in the room, calls her "my dear friend" and rejoices when she's found alive, but Thancred seems not to have been aware of any of it.
So these two characters, ostensibly the two people closest to Minfilia apart from her adoptive mother, know shockingly little about one another.
That's weird, right?
I would also like to note that Shadowbringers pretty much completely forgets about Krile being Minfilia's bestie, because when we finally get to see her again, Minfilia calls the Warrior of Light "Dearest friend" and has absolutely nothing to say about Krile. Thancred also doesn't mention her in his dialogue about the people who care for Minfilia and want to see her again, only himself and F'lhaminn. And Krile herself has little presence in Shadowbringers beyond the caretaker of the Scions' bodies, and I don't think she gets any reaction to Minfilia's death in the First, which, given how much time and attention is given to Thancred's feelings about it, is... certainly a choice. Even F'lhaminn gets a little follow-up sidequest, but Krile gets nothing.
What do we make of this?
I think from a Doylist perspective it's impossible for me not to see this in light of the issues I have with Minfilia's writing, and the lack of interest the writers seem to have generally in exploring the depths of female characters' inner lives the way they do the male characters. Minfilia is a major character and yet she is allowed so little interiority, and I've complained about that before so I won't get into the weeds here, but it's just so frustrating. If I had to watch Thancred spend all of Shadowbringers making her sacrifice about himself, I would at least have liked to have had it shown, and not merely told, that he was so close to her. That he knew her in some way that everyone else didn't. But we're not shown that! I've asked this question before, but if Thancred and Minfilia were in a room alone together, what would that talk about that isn't Scion business? Who knows! Did they talk at all? He didn't even know about her best friend!
I also think this is probably in part the writers trying to play a bit of catch-up with all the stuff they left only vaguely implied in ARR because they were afraid to rehash anything returning players already knew. Like they got to 3.1 and by now the new game is a success and the first expac is a success and now they're realizing they need to catch new players up to speed a bit on things that were assumed to be Known when they wrote 2.0. This isn't a particular graceful execution of that but you can see how it would serve that function. No, Thancred isn't into Minfilia like That; here's what their history is.
Whatever the reasons, they wrote what they wrote. And I'm also interested in it from a Watsonian perspective, and what it says about Minfilia as a character.
She's this person whom so many people knew and loved... and at the same time, maybe no one really knew. The one scene we do get that sheds any light on what kind of connection she and Thancred share in the present is after Ifrit, when Thancred is berating himself for not being good enough... and shuts up the minute he realizes someone else is in the room. He does show a vulnerability to Minfilia that he doesn't show to anyone else. He shows vulnerability; she really doesn't. Minfilia has vulnerable moments in the story, but they're pretty much always a matter of circumstances putting her in a vulnerable position rather than her specifically opening up to another character because she trusts them. She is always kind, and generous, and caring, and willingly hands herself over as a sacrifice for the greater good multiple times. When she speaks of her worries, it's usually for the safety and wellbeing of others.
How much you want to bet that Minfilia was the kind of person who was always listening to others and supporting them and making space for them in her life, and checking in on them to see how they were doing, and always had an encouraging word, asked about their day, offered help if they needed it...
...all while never talking about herself?
ARR loves to make Minfilia a damsel in need of rescuing, but how often does she ever ask for emotional support from anyone? She makes mention of Thancred watching over her, but often it seems to have been from afar. Thancred himself talks about how resilient she was, how many lives she touched. Krile talks about how Minfilia asked after her every day.
I wouldn't be surprised if Krile isn't the only person who considers Minfilia to be her best friend. I've known people like this in real life. Their friends are often surprised to find out they're "like that" with everyone, and they weren't actually unique. The care was genuine, but they weren't the only one receiving it.
I think it's consistent with her character, but it also breaks my heart
#afk by the aetheryte#ffxiv critical#thancred critical#just a lil bit#i swear i don't mean to keep picking on him#unfortunately it's functionally impossible to talk about minfilia without bringing him up!#minfilia warde#krile baldesion#thancred waters#heavensward spoilers#shadowbringers spoilers
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Every Rose Has Its Thorns - Part Forty-Four
pairing: Ricky Olson x ofc x Chris 'Motionless' Cerulli
warnings/tropes: slow burn, soulmates, strangers to enemies to lovers, betrayal, angst, fluff, smut, language, online bullying, panic attacks, stalking, mental health issues, conspiracy theories.
summary: In a world where soulmates inexplicably receive a tattoo that will match that of their soulmate the moment they turn eighteen years old, being famous and covered in very visible tattoos can make finding your true soulmate a questionable fate. For everyone involved.
author’s note: Unbeta'd as usual, enjoy!
To read from the beginning, check out the Masterlist Here!
tags: @faceless-mirror @missduffsblog @tamtam-elizabeth @witchyweeb34 @tearfallpixie
@wild-child-7747 @shilohrosechicken @lacktoesandtoddlerants @blackveilomens @valiantroeagleangel
@bngurngheart @dominuslunae @collapsedglasshouses @embracethereaper42 @emmmm127
@sunsshinesunny @spicywhenspeaking
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Their drive to their next destination was just as full of laughter, this time less about their day, and more devoted to Ricky surrounding his argument that he couldn’t possibly be vegan anything, thank you very much. He ate far too much meat, it just wouldn’t work. That was about the time that Talia decided that if they were going to be testing her tonight, it was about time she could try to test them just a little bit too, and she was going to. That was where the remark came from next, she was sure.
“Well, Rick, if you aren’t vegan anything, how could Chris possible get to enjoy eating you then.”
Looking out the window so calmly with a little knowing smile as her tattoo flared, whether the origin was Chris, or Ricky, who could say. The silence in the car, aside the traffic they were driving through, was telling as far as she was concerned, she very much had their attention dying down from the laughter and the jokes.
“We both know Spookie wants to swallow something.”
She only glanced over to Ricky then when she heard the choked sound in the back seat.. Giggling slightly, Chris having not expected that.. Obviously. Perfect. If she thought she was able to catch both of them out, however, she seemed to have to think again with the mischievous look in Ricky’s eyes as he pulled up to a set of lights. As he focused on her at that moment, the smirk on his lips,
“Oh, Sweetheart, I don’t think he’s the only one that wants to swallow, desperately.”
Damn you, Richard Olson. Mostly because as she felt her tattoo tingle again, she knew they likely both felt it too. Talia could only console herself that it had also flared up before, but it didn’t change the fact that it had given her away, just as it did them. She longed for the days when the only tip off to give herself away was the state of her face. With how warm her skin felt, she felt like she might as well be lit up like a damn Christmas tree. Bright and ruby red, she didn’t have a doubt about it. Though, with Chris sitting behind her, and Ricky had to pull his eyes back into the road as they started driving away, she had some reprieve from them looking right at her.
They didn’t have much further to go after Talia tried to tease them, Ricky was sure she was probably a bit grateful for that, or miserable as she didn’t have a lot of time to calm down. Either way, Ricky was pulling the car into a small little park with other vehicles.
“No, way, really Ricky?”
That was what he got from Chris in the back seat when he saw where they were, and Rick just grinned wide,
“Why not, trust me, just trust me.”
Ricky climbed out of his seat and got out of the car, walking around the front quickly to get to Talia’s door so he could help her out. Yes, yes he was aware she could get out of a car just fine on her own, but now he would admit, he wanted to see her reaction. That was what was going to seal the deal whether this place was going to be a good idea.
Mini-Golf.
She did a double take, her eyes going a little wide before she looked at him, a bit quizzical.
“You aren’t friends with me on my socials, and I made them private after Grace’s live, how have you been stalking my accounts…”
Smiling a little.. Before then, they both said at the same time, him confirming her guess,
“Ava.”
He had been attempting to try and figure out something fun to do, and he wanted it to be fun, not just sit around boring, so, of course, he wanted it to be special to them as people. They could do hang out, other days normally, but there was something about a first date you just wanted to remember… and with Talia, Ricky had so much to make up for.
“I asked her for help, however I didn’t want her to just tell me where to go. I just wanted her to give me a guide, so, she sent me to your personal Insta, and this, this, was what I came up with.”
Ricky sighed as he glanced towards the building behind her, it was an indoor mini-golf course, admittedly specifically designed to play at night. Black Light Mini-Golf, his hope was it was exciting, and different enough that she wouldn’t be triggered, and still enjoyable for her. As he turned back to Talia now,
“I know you used to love it, and I know your family ruined it for you. You deserve to have fun memories again, Sweetheart, but if you say the word, I’ve already looked it up, there is a movie in the park event tonight that is going to start soon. I have some blankets, we can all snuggle up and have a fine time.”
He didn’t want to pressure her into playing. Ricky had seen the way she talked about the wonderful memories she used to have about mini-golf, how she’d played with her grandmother before she passed, and then how after she did her family had just destroyed everything about it. Every chance they got, it had turned into a mockery, and they’d turned into something, pathetic, and cruel towards her. Ricky thought it was about time it became fun for her again.
Holding his breath as she looked into his eyes, Ricky for the life of him couldn’t tell how she felt about his choice. Whether she was upset, about to scream and cry, or whether she was overjoyed, she just was looking at him for a long moment. As much as he wanted her to be happy, really, what he wanted was her to be safe, and okay. If what made her happy the most was for them to leave this very moment and never come back here, he’d do it, in a heart beat. He’d fucked up enough already with her, he didn’t want to keep going,
“Talia, I-”
Next thing he knew, she was stepping closer to him, and pressing her lips gently to his cheek, with the softest whisper,
“It’s perfect, thank you, Ricky.”
As she leaned back then, she had this shy smile on her lips, and he could just tell she was biting the inside of her lip. It made him want to reach up and pull her lip from her teeth and kiss her properly, not some kiss on the cheek, but he swallowed, as much as he wanted to, he didn’t. He knew that he’d only get all kind of distracted if he did, and the whole rest of their night would be derailed. As much as he was sure that Chris probably wouldn’t mind the detour either, at all, Ricky meant it, what he said, Talia deserved those fun memories again.
“Alright, Sweetheart, come on then, let’s go get our putt putt on.”
Ricky reached to take her hand, smiled to her before glancing to Chris, raising an eyebrow, grinning as he got the picture when he took her other hand in his so they could all head into the building together. Once they were inside, Ricky paid, already calling ahead and making sure it would be fine if they just turned up and didn’t need to book. Seemed, as long as they weren’t a massive party, and they didn’t have to provide catering of any kind, they were free to roam. Sure enough, they headed out to the course.
Talia absolutely lit up at everything in the course, giggling like crazy as they played through the different holes in the course. It was such a silly little thing, and she couldn’t explain why she felt so giddy right then, but she did. It wasn’t just that she was here, but who she was with. That were having a completely wonderful time, she, was having a completely wonderful time. From the deranged looking clown under the black lights, to the freaky looking dinosaurs, and then there was the iconic windmill that you couldn’t forget.
Just because they were inside, didn’t mean you could forget the windmill, it was always electric powered anyway. Not to mention, the black light effect made the colours blur like streaks of neon paint in the air as the turbines blades spun even more dizzying. As she stood at her ball, biting her lip, she felt hands curl around her hips, causing her to shiver, especially with the way she’d semi hiked up the skirt of her dress. She didn’t know who it was at first until he was leaning against her back, leaning close and whispering low against her ear,
“Be sure not to miss, JellyBean.”
She didn’t mean to, but the low timber of his voice had a roughness to it, and in the semi-darkness, even with all the bright colours around, it had just the most distinct effect. The tiniest moan slipped out from her at the sound of Chris’ voice.
“Spookie.”
She could feel the way his lips curled into a smile against the shell of her ear, and she had to bite her lip a little more to stop herself to make any more of a sound. Soon as she did though, she felt another hand on her, fingers gripping her chin firmly, directing her to look at Ricky, his thumb gently prying her lip from her teeth.
“Now, now, Sweetheart, none of that, or we can’t be held responsible for what we’ll do, and the date isn’t over yet. You wouldn’t want to disappoint us by ruining our fun, now, would you?”
Whimpering as she shook her head. No, no, she didn’t want to disappoint them, at all.
Her score on the windmill hole was an utter disaster. Utter. Disaster.
Ricky better be driving them directly home, all Chris could think about was getting home, home, and his hands on both of them. Seeing the way that Ricky was with Talia, was the hottest fucking thing in the damn world, if he was honest. If he wasn’t going to get his mouth, hands, anything involved with at least one of them tonight, he was going to need some serious alone time because damn. His only other option was going to be an ice-cold shower and really, and he had to deal with that enough on tour, thank you. Hell no.
It was safe to say that when Ricky pulled over at another food truck to the side of the road, Chris groaned,
“I’m going to kill you, Olson..”
Ricky just smirked over his shoulder,
“We are almost home, don’t you want dessert?”
Before Chris could even reply though, Rick was already climbing out of the car, and Chris huffed, he was going to be impossible, but he supposed it was only fair. They’d had something for Chris, dinner, something for Talia, mini-golf, dessert could be for Ricky, how could he complain? Ice-Cream sundaes.. And yes, there were vegan options. Rick had thought of everything. Chris got the Banana choc brownie vegan sundae.. And he’d admit it, it was good.. But it wasn’t until he was walking back to the car, sucking on a spoonful of sundae that he heard a groan from Ricky… and glanced over at him.
He had a dumb founded look on his face, staring at Talia… the moment he looked at her, it wasn’t hard to tell why.
Fuck. She was getting them back for all their teasing tonight, and then some. Talia had gotten a strawberry ice-cream sundae… She had gotten a strawberry ice-cream sundae, and it had real strawberries on it, which she was staring Ricky down as she wrapped her lips around the plump fruit, biting into it slowly. Chris felt the groan that came from his best friend and soul mate.
“Fuck.. Can we go home, now, Rick?”
If that question wasn’t rhetorical, he was going to kill him, hear that, kill him.
“Get in the car.”
Dividers by @saradika-graphics
#motionless in white#miw#ricky olson#ricky olson fanfiction#original female character#soulmates#fanfiction#miw band#soulmate au#ricky olson fanfic#chris motionless#chris cerulli#chris cerulli fanfic#fic: every rose has its thorns
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sharing my thoughs on main because I refuse to sleep right now with this show on my brain
Spoilers Under Cut
Darius;
I'm sadly a tad disappointed. He wasn't changed, persay, but I'm sooo upset he didn't spout One Single Dino Fact! Obviously he's not a kid anymore, I expected them all to grow up and change a little, but he felt very, lacking. I get it, he was depressed and guilty about Brooklyn, but I feel like there were times he could have shined through his old light. My favorite scene was when he was in awe of the glowing Saurolophus's. It's so boring that they gave him a crush on Brooklyn, can they not think up any new plot ideas?
Kenji;
He, Yaz, and Sammy are all tied with best, good character progression. He's still the same guy who wouldn't abandon his camp fam when push came to shove, and his breakdown when his dad died was a new peak for this show to top on giving me emotions. (I literally made a sad/sob noise when he said father in his native tongue, proving once again how much he longed to impress the dirtbag that didn't deserve him.) Every moment he had with Darius made me crave more, I long for flashbacks of the Bowman family. Also, him punning his name is my new favorite thing, I demand at least one Kon pun a season now, please and thank you
Ben;
Love his energy, as usual, he had some of the funniest moments easily and I'd cry too if someone was abusing my dino! I can't believe he left Bumpy behind twice!!
Yammy;
While I give slight credit they didn't do a breakup/ back together thing, it feels like they almost did, but since we don't know how long they spent not speaking I'm going to pretend this was a recent development and Ben and Darius just dropped on the tail end of it. As said above with Kenji, I appreciate they kept their characters consistent and progressed previous storylines without making them feel like whole new people. Regardless, happy they're still together and just being the best life goals for a partner
Brooklyn;
I'd honestly hoped they had the guts to really kill her. It would have given the show a much more dangerous feel than they'll ever manage now, and I'm sooo looking forward hearing what her great plan was for not telling the others she's alive. She was always my least favorite and least relatable and I appreciated her not even being in this season and I hope they draw this out as long as possible so I don't have to deal with her
#camp cretaceous#camp fam#chaos theory#jurassic world chaos theory#jurassic world chaos theory spoilers#kenji kon#ben pincus#darius bowman#brooklyn#sammy gutierrez#yasmina fadoula
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Theory:
Penny was a surrogate for Sheldon and Amy's daughter.
Evidence:
Sheldon suggested using Penny as a surrogate for their child in season 4 (The Robotic Manipulation), back when his relationship with Amy was just starting out. The writers seem to like making callbacks to lines from the start of relationships, whether they still make sense or not (see: "Our babies will be smart and beautiful").
The suggestion is made again in season 11 (The Neonatal Nomenclature) when Sheldon tells Amy he does not expect her to bear all their children, they can find a uterus to rent. Both look to Penny at this, showing that Amy is open to the idea.
In the Young Sheldon finale (Memoir) Amy mentions that when she was giving birth, Sheldon zoomed into a seminar. She does not give any specifying information (e.g. "When I was giving birth to your son" or "The last time I was giving birth") which suggests that she may have only given birth one time. Yet we know they have 2 kids. It is possible that their kids could be twins, but with Sheldon being a twin himself it seems like that detail would have been mentioned somewhere if it were true.
Other Considerations:
Amy would have been 40 at the youngest when giving birth to their first child. Pregnancy past age 40 can be difficult to achieve and carries more risks. It would make sense that Amy may not want or be able to go through it a second time. While Amy is the eldest member of the group, Penny is the youngest.
It makes kind of a fun parallel to that whole sperm donation storyline Leonard went through in season 12.
Sheldon and Amy can leverage the fact that they named their firstborn son Leonard to persuade Leonard to agree to the arrangement.
It makes that line in the Young Sheldon finale about how their daughter wants to take acting lessons a lot funnier.
Really I don't think we can overstate just how many hilarious situations this would create, the possibilities are endless.
Conclusion:
I'll leave this up to you.
#insert that gif from sharp objects where the one woman is writing and the other woman takes her pen away#amy farrah fowler#sheldon cooper#shamy#penny hofstadter#TBBT#the big bang theory#my posts
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Ur a pretty fair voice in my opinion when it comes to the whole mess in miraculous. Would you mind telling me what your favorite things are about Marinettes appreciation of Chat Noir in Canon? Not fanon, CANON.
I'm still grieving LadyNoir and recently I'm feelin very down in life in general and now I don't have my comfort show and ship anymore the way I used to love them for.
The way Marinette treats Chat Noir in and outta her transformation never stops hurting my poor broken LadyNoir heart n as much as I wished I could love the potential of her love for him as I once did, it just feels so paper thin and shallow to me now after everythin this show did.
The show is clearly trying to have her feelings for him be smth now, but for me it never seems to go beyond her infamous vague heart eyes the show likes to hav her throw around for damage control & surface level appreciation of his presence when she has to. But if you'd tell me that she still has no real feelings for him, I would believe u, cause he as a person doesn't truly matter at any given moment her words have to MEAN something more than a vague "<3" she's never asked to back up with anything worthwhile (srry, I know you've heard that complaint a million times before. It's at least comforting to know that others feel the same)
Wasn even her taking any interest in Chat for his person in the first quarter of season 5 only caused by Marinette wantin to proof Alya wrong and that her love for him instead of Adrien is real and valid? That's so disheartening...
Going through the tags isnt helping either, cuz most i find it is either much more fanon than Canon, or it's in line with Chat prrty much being her servant now instead of her finally giving care back
Idk, I hope I'm not bein too much of a downer. So imma get back to my question now. Maybe u can help me see Canon in better light again.
Could you tell me what you like most bout Marinettes and Ladybug's connection with Chat Noir? Things she does for him, what she values in him and so on and so forth?
I like the times we see her getting upset when Chat's hurt, or when she comforts him when he's clearly not feeling good. I adored how angry and upset she got in Timebreaker when Chat was "killed" in front of her for the first time, how she suddenly became more vicious. She doesn't want to lose him.
Or like, for times when she's comforted Chat, I adore how calmly and patiently she spoke to Chat in Reverser, after his courage was taken away, how she gently coaxed him where he needed to go. I took great solace in that, the first time I rewatched that episode, since I'd been exposed to a lot of Saltinette at the time, and I needed the reminder that Marinette does, in fact, care about people, even when it's inconvenient.
While I wish that Marinette had really thought through Chat's potential reaction to someone new showing up with her Miraculous without warning, I DID love that Marinette had this long list of protips. I especially liked this one:
Marinette: (v.o) Protip 33: When Cat Noir tells a joke, try to laugh at it even if it isn't funny. It makes him happy.
Even in episodes where I have a problem with the way Marinette conceives of Chat Noir, I generally still like elements of it. Like even in Ephemeral, while I think it was very, very wrong for her to try to trick Chat the way she did, she WAS doing it because she didn't want to risk Su-Han taking Chat's Miraculous from him. Or in Kuro Neko, when she didn't want to give the miraculous back to Plagg to give to Chat Noir, because she was afraid they'd end up back in this same situation, and she didn't want to keep hurting him.
At her core, Marinette cares about Chat's feelings and wants him to feel good, to be happy. The issue comes from her not seeing things from his perspective, from being terrible at reading him. Marinette has a lot of compassion towards Chat Noir, she just doesn't understand him.
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tams azula is sooo fascinating bc while canon azula doesn't really show her age at all like she's completely desensitised to so much shit 'she is fourteen' is not a justification for ANYTHING both in her own mind and in other people's, in tams she has zuko. and yes the world has been abundantly cruel to her but zuko hasn't. he's basically raised azula and he's done so in a way that she's allowed to show her age, but she still only shows her age in very azula-esque ways. there's no reluctance to see violence like you'd expect from a fourteen-year-old, and like ive said before, that means zuko can't play on that reluctance in order to shield her, but he still wants to shield her from that violence because regardless of what SHE feels about it, as the eldest he knows fundamentally that she shouldn't be seeing certain things no matter how well she can handle them. and seeing zuko effectively PLAY azula in order to protect her is so interesting and complicated and fun
#and also a little heartbreaking bc it's the 'you protect azula but who protects you?'#like in order to shield azula from these things zuko is metaphorically standing in front of her and seeing them himself#as if he's not only sixteen and a child too#but yeah taking azula's canon traits and manipulating into the tamsverse is soooo fun#like the example that inspired this post is how canon azula is logical NOT cruel#like time and time again she follows only the logical route and even actively avoids the cruel route#e.g calling off torture in the boiling rock bc she knew that he was telling the truth and therefore continuing to torture him was illogical#im not saying azula is averse to/incapable of cruelty i just hc that she genuinely just thinks it's stupid#just like any other unnecessary act would be considered stupid. if it's not logical or being used for a greater plan then what's the point?#and tams azula STILL HOLDS THIS TRAIT except because i lean more into her age in tams bc she's been given the freedom with zuko#to liberally be a CHILD without any consequences as a result of that simple thing#her intense logic actually becomes a certain naivety on azula#like she cannot comprehend other people NOT coming to the conclusions she comes to#and that expands to needless cruelty. like she wont factor a person's cruelty into her calculations#because in her head all she needs to dismiss that calculation is 'excessive cruelty here would waste time which is illogical'#she assumes everyone is as smart and to-the-point as she is so when they ARENT and will actively waste time just to do dumb shit#it catches her off guard and she DOESNT PLAN FOR IT so it can really fuck them over sometimes#so this is one instance where zuko has azula beat despite it being STRATEGY aka azula's strong point#bc zuko's immense cynicism and assumption that Everyone Is Awful doesn't hold up against logic 9 times out of 10#but the one time it does is the time azula gets caught out#i just think tams zuko and azula's dynamic is so fucking interesting im so clever for that tbh#twice as many stars
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feeling batshit insane over makima and the few glimpses we see of her being sincere and vulnerable and longing for any kind of intimate company, coupled with the little we see of the government officials who had her raised and forged into a tool and who even now after having made her into a lonely god keep shaping her worldview of seeing other sentient beings as dogs that she cannot connect to in any way. give me a few hours i have to go home but this is driving me uo the fucking wall she's like reze she's like denji she too was purposefully alienated from others and cut off from any chance of growth or love because what use would she have had if she were ever allowed to connect with anyone. they gave her all material comfort and purposefully severed her ability to forge bonds to make her a more effective weapon and instead what they got was a deity beyond anybody's reach who is willing to burn down the world in order to alleviate her loneliness even a little. fuck!!!
#eli talks#csm#the utter venom when she tells denji 'and yet for some reason chainsaw man chose /you/' makes so much sense#she had everything denji didn't have growing up. she was given every material comfort possible#but she was also forcefully prevented from developing the ability to connect to others in any other way than through control#and denji grew up with nothing but poverty but he had pochita!!! the one being makima thinks can understand and lovd her#and instead of being by her side for years pochita chose to remain and then become one with this little rat child#that has to drive her utterly nuts!! shes never been denied anything on a material level but shes been denied love again and again#and to her pochita choosing *denji* is a rejection and denial from the one person she believes could love her#no wonder her plans for denji are so singularly cruel she doesnt see him as a person but she utterly loathes that he has what she needs#all without asking. all while being the crudest dog she's ever met
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