#I lost my 50/50 on his banner again so I had to draw this to console myself | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mayullla · 2 years

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Title: Genshin Banners and Pulls

Character(s): Childe, Kaeya, Hu Tao (Genshin Impact)

Summary: Sagau; The new re-run banners are up and Aether and Lumine are desperately searching for their little lucky charm sister.

Note: This is inspired by Starlight anon ask~! Writing this instead of music I was listening to Kaeya and Hu Tao's dialogue.... (it is hard to write dialogue alright guys ;-;)

Warnings/tags: Fem!reader, child!reader, purely platonic, yandere themes (platonic yandere), mainly fluff

Links: The first part; Siblings' Account

It is not like the twins are cheating when they grab their little sibling placing her on their lap when the new character comes out or there was a rerun for a character they didn't have. The first one to grab you while you were probably drawing or doing your homework, tossed in their arms as they ran to their room while the other sibling screamed that it wasn't fair that they got to you first.

"Aether, you pulled the character first last time! Give _____ to me!!" Lumine yelled as she tried to catch Aether who had you on his shoulder carrying you like a sack of potatoes running to his room's computer. "Sorry Lumine, I got her first!"

Taking a seat with you on his lap he showed you the screen, "Sis don't you wanna see this character more often? If I get them you can make another friend here~ so long as I get them here alright?"

That caught your attention as you looked at the screen, wondering which character was on the banner. "Ohh it is Hu Tao!! You don't have Hu Tao Aether?" You asked rather happy to see Hu Tao again, it was nice to see her again as you waved at the picture. "Lost the 50/50 last time" You heard a small mumble in pain.

"You can meet Hu Tao again in the teapot if you just click that sis!" Aether told you as he pointed at the screen a button that was for a ten pull. Lumine leaned on Aether's shoulder as she and Aether watched you grab the mouse moving the arrow towards the button.

It has been a while now since they started taking you away from whatever you were doing and making you pull almost everything in the game. So often did it happen when you grabbed the mouse and click the wish button did the character they wanted show up in the wish.

It wasn't like your luck was absolutely amazing that you would get like 10 5 stars in a row. But when the two try to wish luck would only let them get a 5 star past 70 wishes with that 50/50 percent chance to worry about But whenever you pulled the character come home a little sooner and almost 80 percent of the time they actually get that character they were hoping for.

It was at around 40 pity most of the time when the wish turned gold did Lumine and Aether jump in excitement.

Hu Tao was ready to show up on the banner stretching her legs. Lumine already have her on her account so it was only Aether that didn't. She already has a bond with you but it is nice to see you on both accounts.

"Well time to get rea-..." She noticed Mona walking over did Hutao quickly notice what she was planning.

"No, no Mona it is my turn to show up don't you think so?" Hu Tao said walking up to the hydro girl with a smile on her face. Mona sighed telling Hu Tao that it was basically fate and that it was her turn to appear in game right now.

It was only natural for a fight to happen right after no?

This is what always happens while you wish, the banner characters would have a fight with one or two standard characters before appearing. Not to the point of death no, no, but more so like a race on who gets to reach that door that was basically the way to that gold wish.

"HU TAO!!! I GOT HUTAOO!!!" Aether jumped as he tossed you into the air cheering that he finally, finally got Hu Tao after so long. You giggled, laughing as you got launched into the air only to get snatched by Lumine who ran to her room asking you to help her pull for Tartaglia and later in the standard banner for Amber. "Just say their name and they will show up, alright sis?" Lumine told you.

Lumine was able to get Childe after 30 wishes which she cheered over but was a little let down when she got another character than Amber when you pulled that 10 standard wishes she saved but she shall take getting another constellation for Kaeya a win!

It was around then when Aether who was also in Lumine's room did the two started talking about how to build Hu Tao. Childe was a character that Lumine already have but wanted a constellation for so she already kind of built him, but Aether needed a little help from Lumine about Hu Tao and asked her to move to his room for a moment.

"Psst! Pssst!! Hey, girly!" You looked at the screen of Lumine's computer and smiled waving at Childe, Hu Tao and Kaeya who were at the screen.

"Hello big brother!"

"...why are you so cute-" Childe asked, covering his face when he heard you call him big brother. Really you remind him so much of his siblings, especially Teucer, if he could just grab you right now, hug you and introduce you to his family you would fit right at home.

Should he do it?

You are just a few steps away for him to just grab you and bring you here. How unfortunate it was when that Kaeya had somehow read his mind, placing a hand on his shoulder as a warning with a smile on his face.

Too bad… This was Childe who we are talking about who just smiled right back.

"Hello, little one. How are you?" Hu Tao greeted and smiled when you called her sister. Really you started calling many characters sister and brother if not that then aunty or uncle. It is funny when Zhongli tried to make you call him uncle yet you continually called him grandpa.

"Isn't Amber a bit mad right now because of you Mr. Kaeya?" Hu Tao asked slyly.

"She was so close to releasing that arrow on you comrade." Childe chimed in.

"Brother Kaeya just wanted to tease Sister Amber a bit!" You said cheerfully, mentally you already knew that you will be seeing Amber in the next 10 or 20 wishes or even less if she is that determined to push the 3 star weapons away somehow.

"You know me very well, _____." Kaeya nodded at your words, a smirk still on his lips. "I am sure she will forgive me. I just have to get her a drink or two."

"Sister, where is the ghostie?" You asked soon changing the topic, you could not see the little ghost. Hu Tao giggled when you asked her hat moving a bit till you saw the small ghost peeking from the cap.

The two of you, started to talk as Hu Tao started to ramble about the things that she has done to make a business. If Zhongli was here he would have tried to stop her from talking anymore in fear that you might become like her but unfortunately, it was only Childe and Kaeya who could stop her.

Which unfortunately they won't, they find it too amusing to stop the two of you when you were only having fun.

“You know comrade, you shouldn't stop me like that I would have taken it as a challenge when I noticed your glare,” Childe said in the background small enough for you not to hear it, with a smile but Kaeya could hear the threat behind it.

“Don’t think for a second I didn't see your hand flinch when she removed her attention from you. Be honest comrade, you are jealous when the attention isn't on you.”

“Is that why you took Amber’s place on the standard wish banner? How sad my friend.” Childe was smiling, yet his eyes were mocking and cold. “How sad really that we could only ever see you in the standard banner. You will never get a rate up, unlike others.”

Kaeya looked at you his eyes hardening at every insult thrown at him, he started to understand Diluc’s hate towards the harbingers now. Should he join him one time to clean up Monstade of them soon?

He also had a smile on his face, “You are rather good at jokes it seems for a fatui. I only want to tease Amber and Lumine a little, nothing wrong with that.” Kaeya chuckled a bit, “I was just worried really seeing such…odd behaviors coming from the 11th harbingers, I was worried that he was dumb enough not to understand something as simple as not doing something entirely stupid.”

“You must be in a bad mood today just to appear here in the banner, you had to fight with master Diluc no? To be honest I thought that you would lose seeing how much hp you lost compared to him. Barely managing to scrape by.? You aren't much are you.”

“Hmmm, it seems that there is a quarrel between the two boys.” Childe and Kaeya looked towards Hu Tao and you behind the screen. “We should not fight when it is a happy occasion that we get to talk to _____.” There was a glint in Hu Tao’s eyes, telling them to be careful of what they say.

Watching them argue like this Hu Tao wondered if maybe it was the stuffiness that they were nothing but a puppet to many. The words that they must repeat over and over for others, and that even with you they must be careful.

And you. You who are are like a little sister to all of them, a family, yet a sister who they adore so far out of reach.

“Not it is nothing of that sort I assure you,” Kaeya said, his voice airly as if it didn't hold that sharpness it had earlier.

“Yes, nothing wrong here.” Childe too had a smile on his face, natural in your eyes yet his lifeless eyes were still so obvious to the other two.

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sagau-my-beloved · 2 years

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What if during one of venti’s reruns the reader is spending dozens of wishes to try and get him, and venti wants more than anything to come home to his creator, but has to grapple with the highest power of them all- the gacha system. After losing the 50/50 to qiqi on the player’s 4th ten pull, he’d probably start trying to sabotage the draws by causing problems in teyvat, distracting the other characters so he’s the only available character and therefore has to be chosen (creator can’t pull any other characters if they’re not there to be pulled, right?). Venti will have a lot of explaining to do when he finally comes home.

Also can I be 🫧 anon pls?

This seems fitting considering his now confirmed banner coming up, also of course!

"Oh my god not again."

You wanted to throw your phone, the insatiable urge to destroy what was causing you so much grief was only stifled by your frankly incredible amount of self control.

This would make the third time you've lost to Qiqi on a 50/50, and that previously mentioned self-control was wearing rather thin.

Your luck was never particularly good, but come on, this was frankly getting ridiculous.

You let out a soft sigh, taking one more brief glance at the banner header to see Venti's joyful expression looking back, the exact opposite of what you were currently feeling.

Maybe a break was an order.

Sure, you had a few more pulls up your sleeve, but you were running low on primos and perhaps the passage of time would somehow manage to soften this obvious favoritism the game seemed to have towards paying players.

You looked at the banner with a forlorn expression for a second longer before logging out and shutting off your device, promising yourself to do something more productive with the next hour.

Venti, similar to you, was far from happy.

Really it was completely out of his hands, if his universe would allow him to be reunited with you, and so far the answer to that seemed to be a resounding no.

This was the second time you had attempted to reunite the two of you. He remembered watching the golden glow of falling stars fondly the first time, eyes shinning with hope and wonder, later to be replaced with sorrow when his spot was taken, stolen right out from under him.

He didn't understand why it took you this long to try again, pouting and looking desperately at the sky every night with the small hope that he would once again see that same glow of falling stars.

It became ritualistic in a way, downing a glass and humming a song, staring up at the stars for a while, trying to forcibly will them to behave.

He could feel his heart beating right out of his chest when he did see it again, hope bubbling up in its place, only to once again be dissolved into nothingness when the glow didn't quite reach him, passed right over him in the direction of Liyue.

Was this your will? Or was the universe simply destined to keep the two of you apart-

He wouldn't stand for the latter. Universe be damned, if it was him you wanted then it is him you shall have.

When the light grew dark he was still there, that was simply the way it was, you would try again, right?

How long would it take you this time...

'It isn't fair', rang out in his head, similar thoughts bouncing around.

Was there not anything he could do?

A few thoughts came to him in that moment, most simply the irrational product of frustration, but one rang out amongst the rest.

It was immoral sure, incredibly selfish too, but the more Venti thought it over, the more it seemed like the only option.

You must want him, right? That can be the only explanation as to why the stars presented themselves to him yet again, so would it really be wrong of him to help?

He could justify it under the premise of simply enacting your will, and in that case, not doing so would be considered blasphemy.

Venti quickly stood from where he sat on the edge of the hands of his own statue, it was a beautiful place to watch the stars.

How would this distraction work? Did he even have a way to hide people from the universe's view?

It took a minute longer for an answer to dawn on him, his spirit immediately perking up when it did.

It's not as if the stars could claim someone they couldn't see—

He jumped from the statue immediately, using a wind glider and his own powers to propel himself higher, high enough to see the streets of Mondstadt clearly.

He just had to spot any vision bearer that happened to be outside and lead them in, somewhere where the brilliant glow of the night sky didn't reach.

That didn't sound particularly difficult.

The first one Venti spotted was Diluc, standing idly outside the tavern with his back against the wall, looking up at the sky with the same frustration and barely hidden dismay that Venti had previously worn.

He dropped into an empty nearby ally silently, any sound covered by the light rustling of wind.

"Oh Diluc!"

The man instantly snapped his gaze up, a rather irritated expression forming at the sight of the energetic Bard.

Venti wasted no time running up to him, grabbing the taller man's arm and practically dragging him into the tavern.

Diluc almost tripped over himself at the sudden force, "What are you—"

"I'm in the mood for a particularly difficult cocktail," Venti cut him off immediately with that same singsong voice, "And there just isn't anybody else who can make it nearly as good, I'm lucky to have found you here!"

Lucky huh? Diluc's luck, on the other hand, seemed to be getting worse by the second. First the stars didn't deem him worthy, and now this?

The bar was just as bustling as it usually was with the same nightly crowd. Venti quickly pulled Diluc to the counter, listing off multiple complex instructions at light speed while doing so.

"Charles can make anything I can, it's not as though I hire incompetent bartenders—"

"I'll pay double."

Diluc promptly closed his mouth, it was rare to get the Bard to pay anything at all, much less more than full price, and this was already one of the more expensive drink options because of the outsourced ingredients...

With a sigh and a slight nod, Diluc went to the back in order to obtain the proper glassware, giving Venti just enough time to empty one of the ingredient jars.

Ground mist flowers. While he didn't doubt that Diluc had extra mist flowers in the back, the powder didn't last long by itself, so it was unlikely there was any spare. That meant that it would have to be ground fresh, a process that took at least half an hour due to the elemental nature of the flower.

Diluc promptly notice the absence of the necessary ingredient upon his arrival, face darkening slightly.

"It... Might be a minute—"

Venti could hardly keep the smile off his face, "Perfect, I have somewhere I need to be right now anyway, so take all the time you need!"

Without so much as another word Venti dropped the necessary amount of money on the table and darted out the door.

The astronomer lady who had recently settled in to the Inn was another threat, but that solution wasn't nearly as difficult as the previous one.

A magic seal on the doors and windows seemed simple enough, and it's not as if he wouldn't come back and lift it after his reunion with you.

Liyue was a fair distance away too, the chances that he could make it all the way there and back before you decided to try again were rather low...

Maybe it was about time he cashed in one of his many favors from Zhongli.

You knew you had previously said you were going to wait an hour, but the suspense was really starting to get to you.

So you found yourself here, once again on Venti's banner with only twenty pulls available to you. Even though you did technically have a guarantee, getting a five star character with zero pity wasn't an easy task.

You took a deep breath, mentally lowering your expectations as you clicked the ten pull button, watching intently for the star color.

So you were shocked, to say the least, to see the same golden hue you had seen on your previous pull light up the screen.

Was this actually happening?

You couldn't help the laugh of complete disbelief that escaped you when you saw him, you felt the need to personally thank whatever God had just blessed you.

Immediately opening up his character menu and working on ascensions that you had farmed for, Venti felt as if he could pass out from joy.

All that running around had been worth it, he was yours. He could feel your energy interwoven with every fiber of his being, practically hear your laugh ring out amongst the night sky.

He was yours he was yours oh he was yours. The stars had accepted him, you had accepted him, nothing else seemed to matter.

As long as you didn't happen to notice the large dark clouds covering the star's light from shining on Teyvat, how the only hole that appeared in them seemed to be right below where he was currently standing.

Sure, Venti now had a pretty hefty debt to pay back to Ei, but that was neither here nor there.

All that mattered was your gaze that now shown down upon him, enveloping him completely in a feeling of comfort long forgotten.

#genshin impact #sagau #genshin venti #venti x reader #genshin x reader #yandere genshin au #yandere genshin x reader #🫧 anon

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the-francakes · 1 year

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I posted 1,871 times in 2022

That's 1,871 more posts than 2021!

323 posts created (17%)

1,548 posts reblogged (83%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@the-francakes

@mxlfoydraco

@scatteredstrings

@a-maidens-fantasy

@schmem14

I tagged 302 of my posts in 2022

#dramione - 57 posts

#draco malfoy - 41 posts

#microficmay2022 - 31 posts

#hermione granger - 25 posts

#harry potter fanfiction - 24 posts

#drarry - 23 posts

#hp fanfiction - 22 posts

#harry potter - 19 posts

#dramione fanfiction - 18 posts

#thefrancakes birthday pancakes - 16 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#are they dating are they fucking or are they something in between that? i dunno but you say the nasty shit in bed and its fucking awesome

My Top Posts in 2022:

“It’s Zabini’s birthday this Friday. Stop by for drinks?” Draco asked.

“Friday? But that’s Valentine’s Day,” Hermione blurted out. No idea why. It’s not like she had a date; she and Ron had ended things months ago.

“True,” Malfoy hummed almost to himself. Then he looked at her, those soft eyes moving to the dark metal. “Are you free?”

“Yes. I’m free."

CUPID. on AO3

48 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

@microficmay Day 9: ferocity

“Albus Severus is a stupid name!”

“And Scorpius isn’t?!”

Neither man was backing down. Again.

“I think my water broke,” Luna said softly. Both father-to-be’s didn’t hear and continued yelling with fury. She grabbed her go bag and headed to the fireplace; they’d notice she was gone eventually.

50 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

Hi! Here’s my rec list of 22 fics to share with everyone. thank you for such a fun year and more to come in such a loving community! These are in no particular order except laziness because i don’t want to put them in ABC order... I also did not have banners for all of these cause i lost track of time so... that’s pretty much on par with me actually i have no excuses.

MAIN POST

Far Be It From Me by @riptey

voici mon secret by secretpersona

What is this, fucking Jeopardy? by @lumosatnight

The Letter of Intent by @aauroraluna

Doppelgangland by damnedscribblingwoman

A Dress with Pockets by @pacific-rimbaud

Seeker’s High by @corvuscrowned

All’s Fair in Love, and War, and Paintball by @schmem14

8 Simple Rules For Loving A Vampire by @simplifiedemotions

Lemon Colour, Honey Glow by trishjames

Ab Intra, Ab Extra by @arrisha-ao3

Choices by MesserMoon

The Mirror of Ecidyrue Series by starbrigid

Isolation by bexchan

Not Friends, Some Benefits by devdevlin

Vis-à-Vis-à-Vis by @vukovich

[Podfic] The (Third) Worst Year By TheFrancakes by @ellamcsmellbella

favourite crime by Anonymous (this was a gift for me and i still dunno who it is but !!! dramione if the drawing room incident went very wrong!!!)

Secrecy by @Shadowmu

just lovers (like we were supposed to be) by @zeppazariel

Warm Bodies by Betty_Hazel

Rewrite the Stars by KenzieSpenc (this is my cousin and im SO PROUD of her starting to write!!!)

50 notes - Posted September 22, 2022

me: ughhh i dunno what to write

my wips: (ง •̀_•́)ง

89 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

@microficmay Day 28: epilogue

Draco closed the book and scoffed loudly. “Pure trash.”

“What is?” Harry asked, wrapping his arms around his husband’s middle.

“The ending,” Draco leaned back, still annoyed. “She wrote that you married Weaslette and that I'm balding.”

“Trash,” Harry agreed, kissing Draco’s shoulder.

“Right?” Draco muttered, “balding? As if.”

181 notes - Posted May 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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genshin-impact-fics · 2 years

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Can I please have a headcanon for the streamers au where they get your character on a rerun of your banner?

You most certainly can! I really do love the streamer au a lot, probs my favorite to write for Genshin :3 I hope you enjoy~ <3

Venti:

Having been the first ever character banner of the released game he wasn’t even prepared in trying to wish for your character

Since then he’s had to live through his friends who were fortunate to get you, but hearing word that you’d be getting rerun was so exciting

He made sure to save up every primogem he could and even saved up money for the just in case funds (he’s had to hold back on buying alcohol or at least buy cheaper brands)

The moment your banner is live he’s already streaming eager to go to start wishing. His chat is sending good luck and good vibes as the chaos begins while Venti is singing for you to come home

He’s probably calculated things so that he was close to his pity as he could only pray that the archons will let him win his pity:

When getting the gold star he’s eager, but seeing it was a different 5 star he didn’t have or added constellation he’s very sad; however there’s still hope as now he had you guaranteed

But if he won his 50/50 he is spinning in his chair out of joy; he’ll be even more ecstatic if he gets multiple of you in a 10 pull, it’s a miracle

You are instantly going into his party, he’s going to level you up since he had prepared himself beforehand so he’s all set. You’re at the front of his party and you will forever stay there

Albedo:

He was one of the few that really wanted to get you when your first banner was released. It was rather disappointing when he was unable to get you from failed pity

Though now that the announcement that you’d be getting a rerun at some point he was getting his hopes up again as he is very much prepared this time around

He has been very good about saving up as also he has been very strategic of what banners he wanted to pull on before you came out wanting to have others that would best support your skills and burst

When the time has come he has been drawing during the whole maintenance time on stream. Mainly it was doodles of you or even possibly an oc he was working on

When it’s finally live he is very confident, since he probably has it all calculated out especially if he had failed his last pity. This will be one of the rare moments when his viewers get to see him show a lot of emotion. You are being put right into the party and before he does anything of building you with what he got prepared just for you; he’s going straight to the voicelines to hear your birthday dialog since his birthday was in September, life is good

Childe:

Truly it was a shocker that he didn’t manage to get you on your banner when your first banner was out. He was very bummed out as you were so cool but also really attractive for an “enemy”. On one bright side of things he did get your weapon so that was all prepared for when you do come home

He is the MOST impatient one out of the other streams when having to wait during maintenance, but he will not sleep until he can finally wish for you. But of course he’s gonna stream Doom or some other fighting intense game to hang out with his viewers for the meantime

He probably would be doing giveaways as well in celebration of your banner returning or just sending surprise donations to other genshin streamers that happen to be streaming during the downtime as well

When the time finally comes he is literally bouncing in his gamer chair with pure excitement. But of course before he starts wishing he absolutely has to have your plushie in his arms because he just loves you that much

Regardless if he had won or lost his pity, the moment you first appear and he sees your splash art he’s crying tears of joy that you’ve finally arrived and he can spoil you (tho of course he ain’t gonna stop until he gets all your const.) As of course you’re first in his party and he literally has all the materials to not only ascend you to level 100, but to crown your talents too (he wasn’t playin around) all in all he was very prepared for your arrival

Ayaka:

She was devastated when she failed to bring you home during your first banner, but upon hearing that you would be coming back again fairly in a close coming update she was filled with hope once again

Of course she had been trying to save up (though sometimes she couldn’t help but dip into her wishes for other characters) but now that it was confirmed that you were coming back she got back on track of saving her gems as of course she is more than willing to spend some money if she needed to

When it comes maintenance time she probably would kill time hanging out with Thomas and Ayato (who also play) just so she could distract herself since it felt like it was taking ages to finish

Or if she wasn’t with the two she was seeing to other important matters that needed to be taken care of that needed her attention, but even then she’s a little distracted wondering if the update finished

She would certainly stream once she was able to get into the game to play as she’s just excited that you would be finally coming home to her. She was going to be happy if you had come home once, but if it was possible to unlock your consts then she’d be even more happy. She just loves you a lot and it definitely showed since she had all she needed for you all set and ready to equip and of course you would be placed in her teapot so your character was the first one she saw when she went there

Raiden Shogun:

Even though she tried to not show it to her viewers, she was rather disappointed when you didn’t come home when your banner was first out: she had your weapon prepared, she collected artifacts that she thought would best suit you, she had even started collecting the materials needed for you. Sure it was unfortunate she couldn’t play as you, but that just gave her some extra time to be even more prepared for whenever they would rerun your banner

It was a surprised to hear that your rerun would be much sooner than she anticipated since you were still a fairly new character to the game, but nonetheless she was happy to hear she would get another chance to finally bring you home

She’s another busy person so she’s not even thinking about the maintenance time unless she has a moment of downtime during her work.

Yae stays teasing Ei about your character because she knows how much Ei adores you (of course Yae had gotten your character during your first banner so she tends to playfully tease her best friend).

There. Will. Be. Sweets. Of course she’s also a big sucker for desserts herself so what better way to bribe you to come home than to have your favorite food with her while she wished on your banner. She’s someone who doesn’t show much emotion during her streams, but when your splash art appears on her screen she’s going to have a smile on her face and the chat will probably blow up about how pretty her smile is and congratulating her

Ganyu:

Sweet baby had been so sad when she lost pity and failed to bring you home during your first banner but she was already starting to save up for whenever they’d ever re-release your banner again. So when she finally got news of your rerun she was so happy that she wouldn’t have to wait as long as she originally thought she would have to

She already is a very busy person and very hard working so when it comes down to the maintenance time her job makes it easy for her to be distracted during that time frame. Though if she had some free time when she was all done with work for the day she’d probably do some writing

She would never work on her short fics on stream, she would be too embarrassed if her viewers were watching her while she was writing it, but it makes her happy knowing that they rather enjoy reading the cute stories of her oc and you together. But she is totally cool with talking about story tropes and about her oc, it sometimes helps inspire Ganyu for things she would possibly want to work on in the future

She’s so nervous when the time finally comes though she probably wouldn’t start wishing as soon as your banner is live. She’d probably do the things like commissions and maybe gathering the few things she needed left for you before trying to wish on your banner

She totally would close her eyes during the ten pulls, too nervous to possibly watch the shooting star glow gold. She’s definitely a player who would scream when first seeing the silhouette of your splash art appear on her screen; you finally have graced Ganyu’s day with your presence. You’re going right into the party and she can happily go exploring with you, she can’t help but gush over you and express how happy she is that you’re home

#genshin impact #streamer!genshin x character!reader #streamer au #venti #kamisato ayaka #genshin albedo #raiden shogun #genshin ganyu #ganyu #childe #tartagilla #genshin x reader

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saintprinsessa · 3 years

Text

Feeling You: Wanda x Fem!reader

Summary: You were in the middle of a war zone, the Avengers had found Hydra’s base and planned on attacking them by surprise, but the plans didn´t go as initially thought.

You saw how Wanda was in danger and you just went to help her.

Even if it cost you everything.

Trigger warning: Explicit descriptions of serious injuries (broken bones and burns), just a bad word, a little self-consciousness, and a lot of angst.

Words: +5000 (Got carried away)

Author´s note:

I don´t love this one, it made my heart ache a bit tho.

This takes place when Vision was still awkward with the Avengers, so he is going to talk with more estimation.

Also more Agatha ones are coming! :)

Any mistakes are on me and me only!

Anyways, please enjoy!

--------------------------------------

The team was trapped, you were going in front, trying to clean the way to give access to Cap and Widow, they needed to enter the building and destroy the heart of it.

While fighting some guards, you looked up instinctively and saw Wanda attacking from a high position in the air, throwing energy blasts towards some armored trucks.

She is safe.

A bad feeling hit your gut, and your eyes searched around the field.

They landed on a guy who was standing on a tall rock not so far from you.

Before you could react, he shot an electric net, which captured Wanda, instantly wrapping leaving her motionless and shocking her until she was unconscious.

With widened eyes, following her all the time, you ran into the guy, throwing him into the nearest tree, knocking him over, and ran to catch Wanda.

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

You gave yourself an electromagnetic impulse, and then your body was collapsing into Wanda’s in the air, but as soon as you touched her, the electric shot went through you, you shut your eyes tight and groaned.

You grabbed the net, your eyes started blooming with light, and with an inhuman effort, you tore it from her body, making her fall from you.

The net was giving you electric shots but you did your best to let Wanda land without her getting hurt.

Her body landed gracefully.

Yours not.

You were like a ragdoll being thrown into the ground, your ribs crunched, twisting inside you and making your organs turn, one of your arms twisted backward, you grunted loudly as your head hit the ground in a bumping motion, and you were dragged various meters, the hard rock floor cutting through your skin and bruising you.

Slightly dizzy, you managed to lift your head.

You needed to see if Wanda was okay.

And when you saw her chest rising slowly, you let go a relieved sigh.

Widow, Cap, and Bruce screamed at you, and by the time you were processing what they said, an explosion was the last thing you heard.

And then everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wanda jolted awake terrified, breathing sharply, holding the sheets for her dear life.

What happened?

She cleaned some of the sweat on her forehead and started to ease her nerves, trying to calm herself.

Wanda left her room and went to the kitchen, the halls of the Avenger’s tower were empty.

Strange.

When she arrived, they were all gathered in there, all with worried looks on their faces, some facing the ground, some staring at something.

And then, the realization hit her.

Someone was carrying her back to the ship, in the middle of all the shouting and explosions, she saw that they were winning, she could remember that something hit her and she lost balance, but she was confused, she was falling from high, why her body was unharmed?

Then she saw another body being carried near her, and she quickly recognized who it was.

You.

But she couldn’t see your face, it was blurry and fading, your body seemed...

Lifeless.

Then she fainted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where is (y/n)?”

The question was hesitant, almost like a whisper, and bit her bottom lip.

Maybe she just didn’t want to hear the answer to that question.

Wanda searched between all of them, they looked at each other with sad faces.

Clint avoided her eyes, Natasha was fiddling her fingers, lost in her mind; Cap looked at her but quickly returned his gaze to the floor.

Vision was leaning onto the counter with his arms folded.

“Vision.”

He flinched, Wanda used a stern tone, not a good sign.

“Where is (y/n)?”

Her thick sokovian accent slipped, the question was venenous, her eyes flashed red for a second.

Vision couldn’t bear it anymore, that was too much pressure.

“This compromises me a lot, Wanda, (y/n) fervently asked us to not tell you.”

He said nervous, clasping his hands together while he approached her.

“She is currently at Dr. Banner´s laboratory.”

As soon the sentence left his mouth, Wanda hurried off the room.

Vision turned around to watch the other’s faces, who only nodded, and quickly followed Wanda.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doors of the lab flushed brutely open, Banner jumped backward losing balance and fell, Wanda made her way towards him stomping, her magic surrounding her menacing.

“Where?”

Her eyes lighted up dangerously for a second as a warning.

Bruce only pointed on a left hall, quickly shooting up on his feet and guiding Wanda, she was following closely, every step as a threat for him to walk faster.

He unlocked the door and Wanda pushed him aside, not having a pinch of patience.

She gasped.

You were nowhere to be seen.

If looks could kill, Banner would be three meters underground.

“I- I swear I left her here.”

He put his hands as if surrender, he quickly went to check your last vital signals registered on the machines.

“Her body was recovering quickly.”

He smiled nervously at Wanda, her anger was replaced with concern.

Thousands of negative thoughts were racing on her mind.

Vision appeared, traversing through the wall, his eyes saw the empty gurney in front of him and then settled on Wanda.

“I bet she is breathing and stable, Wanda.”

He tried to comfort her while he patted her shoulder, just for Wanda to turn and hug him.

She started sobbing like a child, she couldn’t contain herself.

She had so many things to tell you.

Vision soothed her, caressing her back awkwardly, he didn’t know what to do with human emotions.

-----------------------------------------------

Four weeks had passed.

You hadn’t shown any signals of life.

Tony had sent multiple drones to seek for you, the other avengers were searching every day in your favorite spots around the town.

Wanda, on the other side, every day that passed, the first thing that she did was go to your room, and run her hand through the sheets of your bed, your figure still draw in them, she would spend the whole day locked in there.

She also had a shirt that you gave her, she would sleep every night in her bed, hugging the shirt tightly.

“I should have told you, I should have done so many things, (y/n).”

She felt heavy, her eyes swollen for crying till she was dry, her throat sore, she was tired.

She still hoped that one day, she would wake up, go to your room and you would be there.

You would be sleeping peacefully, waiting to the alarm to wake you and spend your day making the avengers laugh at your silly jokes, training almost half of the day, and in the afternoon, while everyone was occupied, you would approach silently to Wanda’s bedroom, hesitantly deciding if knock or not the door, which she would sense you and would permit you to enter, you would find her sitting leg-crossed in her bed, while watching a 50’s black and white sitcom.

She would invite you with a warm smile and a slight nod, asking silently for you to sit on her side.

At some point in the show, she would look at you from the corner of her eye.

You would be watching the show attentive, trying to understand what was happening, but your thoughts, were flooding with Wanda’s presence, how warm she felt, how her company calmed you, she made you happy, she made you feel safe.

You would feel that someone is looking at you, and you would turn to see Wanda, who is now looking at you fully, with a small blush on her cheeks.

You would smile at her, your heartbeat would rise and your eyes would gleam with emotions.

Wanda would retrieve the smile.

“Hey.”

You would say cheerily.

“Hey.”

She would reply sheepishly.

The show would end and you would ask if she wants to see another episode.

She would say yes.

She always says yes to you.

And you would spend the entire afternoon watching the show, maybe you would leave Wanda for some snacks and then would return with your arms full, making Wanda laugh.

Or maybe you would fall asleep because the show not more entertains you, and she would look at you with devotion and adoration.

Some nights you would stay there, Wanda always let you stay, she would hug you, let her head rest on your chest and sleep with you, the next morning you would jolt awake and shower thousands of apologies to Wanda, she just would laugh and say that it was okay.

Some nights you would wake up in the middle of the night, super embarrassed, apologizing and leave, saying that it won’t happen again.

Wanda despised that kind of nights.

She loved your company.

Vision entered her room once again, always forgetting about privacy.

He would do this every day, bringing her some food, and she would eat half of it, just for respect.

Wanda’s head shot up, watching Vision approach to the bed.

“What do you want, Vision?”

Wanda asked dryly, her accent became evident these past weeks, it seems that it tended to appear when she was annoyed.

“I excuse myself for the bargain, Wanda, but I kindly remind you to ingest the nutrients your body needs.”

He replied while gesturing towards the plate he left that afternoon, deep in him, he was hoping that Wanda at least, ate, because her lack of resting and lack of self-care was clearly evident.

She scoffed and returned to her curled-up position.

Vision sighed, this needed to change.

She was not fine.

“Wanda.”

His voice was stern now.

No response.

He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

“You need to eat something, if you continue like this, you will pass out.”

Still no response.

“The Avengers, including myself, are doing everything in their limits to find (Y/n)”

He trailed off a bit in the end.

Wanda turned her head to look at him.

“She will appear, I can sense it.”

Now her whole body was facing him.

“I think she would like to find you doing well.”

He dedicated Wanda a slight smile, she replied with another.

“Thank you, Vision.”

He just nodded and left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks passed after that.

Wanda recovered some color on her face, her lips were plump again, and her eyes were refreshed, she would give a small smile if she encountered someone on her way to the kitchen or returning to your bedroom.

When she opened the door, she squealed when she found Vision inside but smiled afterwards.

“Vis, what are you doing here?”

He was in the middle of the room, looking outside through the gigantic window.

He glanced over his shoulder but didn’t move.

Wanda, slightly confused, approached him.

“Are you okay?”

She grabbed his shoulder, slowly turning him to her.

She locked her eyes onto his.

But they weren’t Vision’s eyes.

They were (y/e/c).

“Wanda...”

Vision talked, but that wasn’t only his voice, there were hints of yours too.

“(Y/n)?”

She smiled hopefully and cupped Vision’s face.

“You look stunningly delicious, Wanda.”

Vision smiled fondly like he was feeling your excitement.

The compliment was a joke between you and her, she was trying to learn english compliments and asked if the Froot Loops could be described as “stunningly delicious” .

She laughed a bit and looked into your eyes.

It was you but how?

“How have you been? Have you lost weight?”

The Vision-controlled-by-you asked pressing her cheeks together, her face now looked like a Blowfish.

The body quickly retracted his hands and took a step backward.

His eyes turned blue again.

“I’m sorry, Wanda, I hope that didn’t bother you.”

That was Vision, embarrassed of grabbing Wanda´s face like that, even if that was you.

You apologized mentally to him, he said that it was fine.

Wanda laughed a bit, she realized that you two were talking mentally as he had his eyes closed but they were moving furiously.

“How are you doing all this?”

She approached Vision again, he opened his eyes and they were yours.

“It’s a long story, but we are somehow connected.”

You smiled a little while remembering something.

You sighed and looked at her again.

“I just wanted to see you, to check if you were doing fine, Wanda.”

Her eyes started watering, and she shivered a bit.

Oh how much she missed you, how much she missed your face.

“Where are you right now, (y/n)?”

She simply asked and that took you by surprise.

You gulped and tried to take Vision back, but she grabbed your shoulder to keep you in place and grasped your chin so you couldn’t avoid her gaze.

“Where are you!?”

Her voice broke, she was crying.

Your eyes closed shut, you were concerned for her, you wished, no, you dreamed of being there, replacing Vision.

“I’m sorry, Wanda.”

You cupped her face and hugged her tightly so she won’t move.

“I really am.”

She shoved Vision backward so she could look at your eyes.

“Wait! (Y/n)!”

She shook Vision when she saw how (y/e/c) were fading to give access to Vision´s ones again.

“Don’t go...”

Wanda trailed off when he saw the pitiful look on his eyes, she started sobbing loudly.

“I apologize, Wanda.”

He hugged her, but not like you.

Nobody could hug like you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They stayed in the room after that, it was quiet, Vision was sitting beside Wanda the entire time, she stopped crying after some time; when it got too late, he left the room and quickly returned with some food.

“How...”

Wanda mumbled as Vision was setting a little table in front of her.

“How is she connected with you?”

Wanda asked nervously, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear and scratching her arm.

Vision nodded and sat again, giving Wanda a glass of water and observing her.

She took the hint and began to eat.

After a few seconds, he started talking.

“I don’t have a proper explanation of it.”

Vision said frowning.

“One day, (y/n) just approached me, she touched the stone...”

He motioned his hand hanging over the stone a little.

“And suddenly, I could feel not just me, but her too.”

He looked at his hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And it was true.

When you arrived at the tower, Vision was a really interesting being for you.

You quickly befriended everyone, even him; he would ask about some human things, and you would gladly tell him everything you knew about it, still amazed at the fact that he could think properly and feel too.

One day, the curiosity took the best of you, and you asked if you could touch the stone, slightly embarrassed, you didn’t know how Vision could feel about it.

He smiled at you and nodded, bending a little so you could reach his forehead.

You thanked him and softly pressed your digits into the rock.

Click.

Everything made sense, his existence, how his body worked, how he could feel things, you now could see how he was conformed, you watched his energy flowing in his body.

He was a sophisticated invention, and when you looked at his eyes, the stone glowed.

Your eyes flashed.

Vision could see your brain working, your veins pumping and your nerves functioning, you were something more than a simple human, yet you were made in blood and flesh.

He could feel you and you felt him.

You two shared a smile.

He was a good artificial friend, and you were the closest he has been to a human.

When you got hurt in the battle, he left the Avenger’s tower, even if told he had to stay and not intervene, and when he found you, lying unconscious on the ground, he carried you to the lab immediately.

He felt how you were physically hurt, while you were screaming to the others from pain in the lab, crying.

He felt.

He had felt you thinking loudly while you escaped.

Then he felt how you were hiding from the avengers.

No.

You were hiding from Wanda.

He could feel...

Your sadness.

So he contacted you, through a mind bond you both had, at first that scared the shit out of you, but quickly was replaced by relief.

He was... happy to be talking to you, you two agreed that he would check on you, but he wouldn’t say anything.

In his visits, he told you about everyone, you felt horrible, and when he told you about Wanda’s breakdown, you made him promise that he would take care of her.

And he gladly did.

Because this was not an order, like the ones that Stark gave to him.

This was something that you asked.

And while you were asking, he felt your sorrow.

So when he returned another week and told you that Wanda was doing better because he raised her hopes about seeing you again, you had to do something.

You couldn’t appear, no.

His stone was enlightened again.

And you understood that this connection was deeper than you initially thought.

When you looked at him, he nodded, and you hugged him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wanda stopped chewing and gazed at him, in disbelief.

He sighed.

“Wanda... is there any possibility that I could see inside your mind?”

She gave him a confused glare, frowning, and shook her head.

“It’s just... I feel like...”

His stone gleamed for a second.

Wanda’s eyes shot up and she approached him, she slightly raised her hand, and Vision stiffened.

That was not what he wanted, and Wanda caught up.

She closed her eyes and let her hands rest on her legs.

Vision nodded and softly pressed his hand into her temple.

Now, he no only felt how you were observing, but now, you were feeling Wanda too.

She felt painfully broken, flooding with anguish and melancholy, she felt like someone tore apart half of her soul.

You felt her.

And now you were crying disconsolately.

Vision quickly drawled his hand back, he had his eyes closed and a pained look on his face.

Wanda blinked a few times and give a concerned look at him.

“Vis, what happened?”

Vision opened his eyes.

A tear ran down his cheek.

“I know where is (y/n).”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were gathered in a corner of the room you were living in, crying, you couldn’t stop your tears anymore.

You missed Wanda, you missed her laugh, her voice, her eyes, her warmth.

You missed the moments you spent with her.

I should have told her...

You heard someone bursting into the living room.

Vision?

You didn’t have the forces to confront him right now.

“(Y/n)!?”

You froze.

It wasn’t Vision.

It was Wanda.

“(Y/n)!? Where are you!?”

She screamed with hope in a faint voice.

Everything was dark, Wanda quickly lighted the only bulb that was in the room.

“(Y/n)! Please!”

She cried out, her heart pumping hard in her chest, her face tear-stained was desperate looking around.

And from all the darkness, you appeared.

Wanda went through thousand of emotions when she saw you.

You were different.

Skinny, almost in your bones, your body slightly curved, like you were using just a foot to put your whole weight, one of your arms was bruised; the other one holding a cane.

You stepped more into the light, and she took in your face.

Your lips were dry, you had a big cut in the bottom one, half of your right ear was missing.

And the whole part of your eyes was bandaged.

You were wondering if your mind tricked you, there was no sign of someone in there.

Until you felt an arm wrapping you tightly.

You dropped your cane and hold onto the figure.

Wanda started sobbing into your shoulder, she had one of her arms grabbing you strongly by your back and the other one was grasping your shoulders, trying to feel you as most as she could.

“I thought that I had lost you.”

She continued to cry until she had little hiccups.

You were crying too, your bandages were damped at this point.

“I’m sorry...”

You replied breathlessly.

She left the embrace, but she continued to hold you, her hands were now at your waist.

“I won’t leave again.”

You nodded slowly, trying to reassure her that it was a promise.

She observed you and reached the bandages to tug them off, but you quickly grabbed her hand, stopping her.

“Wait, Wanda.”

You called quickly, your heartbeat raised, and your breaths became shorter.

“You don’t have to.”

You were anxious, repeatedly trying to put her hand down.

She cupped your face with her other hand and caressed your cheek with her thumb.

“I want to, (Y/n)”

For a moment, you dug your nails into her wrist but you quickly surrendered.

It was Wanda after all.

As soon as you nodded, she retrieved her hands and used her magic to undo the bandages.

It all happened slowly, she carefully took every layer, hesitating a little, because every layer she took off made you stiffen more.

At the final layer, she used her hands, she grabbed gently the last strand, removed it, and let it fall into the ground.

She gasped and her eyes softened.

The superior part of your face was the most affected.

The whole upper area was in a dark crimson pinkish color, burned, and in living flesh.

It covered all of it, and it reached from ear to ear.

It seemed like it was healing slowly, but the worst part was your eyes.

They were covered mostly in a milky white layer, leaving a quarter of your (e/c) at sight, swollen and sticky, tears staining your eyelids.

Now they were moving, desperately trying to seek something.

Wanda sensed your hesitation.

“I’m happy to see you.”

She smiled and leaned forward but stop inches enough so you were feeling her hot breath against your face.

“Does it hurts?”

You blinked a few times.

“No, it doesn’t.”

She brushed her nose with yours.

She read about it in a book, it was told that Eskimos couldn’t kiss because of the cold weather, so they brush their noses gently to show affection.

It was something that she liked, and you despised.

You crunched your nose and smiled.

She smiled too.

“Wanda, I have something to tell you.”

You took a step back, trying to make some room but you almost tripped so she caught you by your back.

You had one of your hands grabbing her coat and the other one her arm.

“And if I don’t say it know, It seems that probably I won’t have the chance to do it other time”

You chuckled quietly.

“ I...”

You sighed, she was giving you time to talk, you thanked that.

“I love you.”

She became ecstatic.

Your eyes stared forward, unsure, moving rapidly, waiting for an answer.

The room was silent.

You were trembling at this point.

She shook her head rapidly, coming back to reality, and when she realized that you couldn’t see her, she grabbed your hands and let you cup her face.

You eagerly touched her features, going from her forehead, tracing the corner of her eyes, caressing her cheekbones, and when you cupped her jaw, you could sense that she was smiling.

“What do you feel, (y/n)?”

A tear touched your hand and you carefully wiped it away.

“I just feel you.”

She kissed the palm of your hand.

“Good.”

She said softly and her eyes shot up red.

She was letting you into her mind.

Memories, feelings, and thoughts of her were being shown to you, so you shared yours too.

You saw how she would check on you while you were training, using a facade of “I like to see some moves to use later” knowing that she doesn’t use close combat, or how she would prepare foods that you liked in a thankful form for missing dinners when you preferred spending the night with her.

You saw how the high ranked members on meetings would make her feel less saying that she was dangerous, so it was safer to not use her in order to protect the civilians on there; but she would simply shrug it off because, in the afternoon, she would see you again.

You saw how she spent these weeks going to your bedroom and hugging your shirt, crying until she fell asleep.

You saw how she was shattered into million pieces and made her best to compose herself in the hope of seeing you again.

On her side, she saw how your eyes were fixated on her in Stark’s parties to see if she was having fun, and when you come to realize that she was getting a bit uncomfortable, you would smoothly distract anyone that was talking to her to give her some space, or how would you seek for her in every mission just to see if she was doing fine, even if you were the one that needed help.

She saw how you would have a terrible day and it all disappeared when you saw her.

She saw how you caught her while she was falling in the mission, and made sure that she was okay.

She saw how your body fell, twisted, and cracked, how the mine near you exploded.

How you screamed in agony, crying loudly and begging the others to not let her see you like this.

Because in every thought that you had.

She was present.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You abandoned each other’s mind, her magic burst in a blast in the room when you broke the connection.

“Wow.”

You both said in a whisper at the same time, with your foreheads pressed.

“(Y/n)?”

Her gaze was fixated on you while she was brushing her slender fingers through your long hair.

“Yes, Wanda?”

This time, your eyes were searching for something, it seemed like you were searching for her lips.

“Can I kiss you?”

Your eyes shot up and somehow they looked into Wanda’s

“You can.”

You closed her eyes and stood still, Wanda closed hers too and leaned, kissing you dearly, making you both melt into the kiss.

It felt good.

Like new stars forming in the universe, like a laugh of a newborn or the soft caress of a mother.

Her lips had a faint taste of salty tears mixed with her sugary strawberry lipstick.

Your lips felt softer than they seemed, they had a taste of chocolate syrup covered with a hint of mint.

You had been eating your favorite candy, Vision had brought a box of them without being asked.

It’s a gift, he said, smiling.

Your hand tried to reach her face so she took your hand, grabbing and squeezing it lovingly.

You were the one that broke the kiss, with your eyes still closed but you didn’t pull apart from her, her body was emanating the heat you missed and craved.

She didn’t try to move away neither, she was enjoying the moment.

“I love you too, (y/n).”

She murmured against your lips while you formed a smile.

She laughed, and took you into her arms, picking you up, and started swirling you around.

You chuckled and screamed startled at her to stop, she stopped and lifted you higher, with a smile on her face that quite reached her ears and observed you for a moment.

Your hair was falling in cascades on her face, it framed your features perfectly, your eyes were squinted because of your wide smile.

She lowered you a bit, so now you were hovering her face.

You instinctively inclined your head, searching for her face and she made it easier when she guided your lips to hers.

This one felt like shooting stars too.

Your heart was doing stunts in your chest, she hummed into the kiss and both of you sighed excitedly.

You let your hands rest on her shoulders and wrapped your legs around her torso, then she had her hands securing you by the waist.

She broke the kiss this time, your body was melting into her touch.

You let your chin rest on her shoulder and closed your eyes, letting go a deep breath.

This felt right.

Wanda nodded, and raised her hand to rub your back, she agreed.

This indeed felt right.

“I’m sorry.”

You said suddenly, swallowing a sob, the guilt tightened your chest.

“Don’t be.”

She was smiling sadly, she still couldn’t conceive the thought of never seeing you again.

“But I only caused problems, I made you feel miserable.”

You buried your head into her neck, your voice was quiet.

“I was sad because I remembered all the happy moments that you shared with me, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you, but you are alive, (y/n).”

She was excited now.

“I have the chance to show you how much I love you.”

You giggled and kissed her neck, making her laugh too.

You backed a bit, forgetting that you couldn’t see her, but that didn’t bother you in the slightest, she was there, and you could feel her.

“Wanda?”

You asked knitting your brows.

“Yes, (y/n)?

She cupped your cheek, watching you with a goofy smile.

“Are we floating?”

You laughed a bit, you could somehow sense that you weren’t on the floor, but it became obvious when you let go of your legs from her waist and your feet just felt air.

And you were right.

Absently minded, Wanda started floating while sharing the kiss with you.

“Yes, we are.”

She was laughing sheepishly, she slowly started lowering you both, holding you tenderly, until she reached the ground and she helped you to stand.

You both had your hands intertwined.

“I’ll stay with you from now on.”

She stated, taking your expressions, you were thinking.

“First me disappearing, then you gone? The others will freak out.”

You chuckled at the thought, imagining the chaos that would lose Wanda’s disappearance.

She kissed both of your hands, and leave them to grab your temples and rest her head over yours.

“Vision knows where are we, if they need us, they can talk to him.”

You shook your head, smiling.

“Poor him.”

You could hear a soft voice in the back of your head.

I wouldn’t mind in the slightest.

“Oh and (Y/n)?”

Wanda asked, a smile could be heard in her voice.

“Yes?”

“You look stunningly delicious.”

She snorted and gently kissed your nose.

#wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x you #mcu #marvel x y/n #mcu reader insert

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ladyeliot · 3 years

Photo

It will always be you

Prequel: Stay with me

Pairing: Tony Stark x Avenger Female Reader

Summary: The snap has happened, the return of Wakanda has not been as you all expected, but now you have to face reality, and you just can't stop thinking about him, about Tony.

Warnings: Angst, Fluff.

Word count: 4101

A/N: Post Infinity War. Some of the dialogue is taken from the film. Sorry for my spelling and grammatical mistakes, English is not my native language, I am learning.

Reader Powers: Psionic. You use psionic force to track any sentient being. You also create psychic shields to protect yourself. You can project psychic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind, causing them pain.

Life is a continuous struggle of choices that you have to make without stopping to think for a second. It is said that hope is the last thing to be lost, probably because the choice you made almost left you without it. You must also learn that happiness is the last thing to be found, probably because the choice you have made has made you unhappier than you will ever be. Your life has been full of choices, you might have regretted many of them, but you decided at the time to make them, so you never allowed yourself to regret your actions, until that day.

Three weeks after Thanos snapped, hope was completely lost. The new facility has been uncharacteristically silent, no one has been able to say more than two words in a row, and you had barely managed to say one since your return from Wakanda. Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, James Rhodes, Bruce Banner and you, those were the surviving Avengers, the ones that life had given you a second chance, but it didn't really feel like one.

You were in your old room, old because two years ago one of your decisions had taken you away from that place, yes, you were against the Sokovia Accords, that had led you to take the side of the Captain and to fight against the side of Iron Man, who had been the person who had saved you from the madness that your powers had generated in your mind. But even if you had turned against him, you knew you owed him everything. Evidently this was something he didn't understand, which led to a wide rift that had never been bridged on either side, and which led to a breakdown in your relationship of closeness.

Every corner of that room had been kept exactly as you had left it that night when you fled with Wanda. Your drawings together with the charcoals scattered on the desk, the book 'In Search of Lost Time' by Marcel Proust on the bedside table and that bracelet that Tony had given you for your 26th birthday that you had left next to the open jewellery box on the bed. It was really painful to see all of this, knowing that those facilities would probably never be what they once were, that Wanda would not suddenly appear at your door, that you would never sit around the dinner table and that Tony would not occupy the armchair next to your bed to try to cheer you up after a mission that hadn't gone so well. You didn't know whether frustration was taking over the fear and sadness or whether you just didn't know how to control your feelings on that occasion.

The days were long, each of you working in silence trying to make sense of what had happened, looking for a solution that would never come to the problem. You shared the hours, but the solitude that enveloped you was too austere to realise that there was a person by your side. You didn't know Thanos' location, however, even if you did, especially if you did, it had become clear that you could not stand alone against his entire army.

"Would you like some?" asked Natasha offering you a plate with a veggie sandwich on it, which you took with an almost soundless 'thank you'.

Yes, actually that had been your first word in five days, since you said goodnight to Bruce last Sunday, food and sleep were not high on your priorities, especially when you spent the night using your telepathic detection trying to find some sign of life that would make you believe Tony was alive, but it was useless. Your psionic senses allowed you to track any sentient being, you were able to scan large areas, but your ability did not address the entire universe.

That night your spirits seemed to be running low to the ground, three weeks without having achieved anything that would allow you to have any lucidity in your plans was too long as the situation stood. You could hear in the background a soft murmur coming from a conversation between Natasha and Steve, but you weren't really paying attention to it, it was all in your thoughts. But at that instant, an inner burst made them evaporate. A signal came into your brain, a psionic emanation that alerted you to the presence of a spaceship entering the stratosphere, with a fixed direction, yours. You rose from your chair, standing upright, capturing the attention of the people around you. You closed your eyes, heightening all your senses, taking in all the information that was coming to you, at that moment you felt it. You opened your eyes and looked at them.

"He's here," were the only words you could utter before you rushed outside. Your companions soon followed your path, asking questions to explain what was happening, but your inner euphoria prevented you from saying a single word.

That ship appeared above you as you raced across the garden, night was falling relentlessly and you could only glimpse a halo of light that seemed to direct the ship as it landed delicately on the wide grassy esplanade. The five of you paused, taking in the scene, discovering how a side door opened to project a flight of stairs. When you saw his face for the first time your lungs deflated, letting out all the air they had accumulated over a long period of time. Your body went rigid and you didn't react until Steve ran past you and approached the ship to help him down.

He looked terrible, it was evident in every facial feature and in his body movements, you knew what you had been through, but you had no idea what Tony had been through since his disappearance in New York, although you could get a pretty good idea. Before your eyes were Steve and Tony in custody, reunited again, after all that had happened, none of it mattered, at least not to you, and perhaps you had a vain hope that it didn't matter to anyone else either. Even so you didn't know how to act when your eyes connected with his, for a slight moment you wanted to approach him, offer him a hug and tell him that you were relieved to discover that he was there, with you, after all, but you chose to stay where you were, next to Natasha.

It wasn't until you headed inside that the stiffness disappeared from your body. A whispered 'are you okay' from Steve made you react again and pay attention to Natasha's words that were projecting all the information gathered during those days.

"The governments are destroyed," she reported as she projected images showing the missing, like Wilson, Maximoff and Parker, among others, "the working parts are trying to do a census, and it looks like he did it. He did what he said he would do. Thanos wiped out 50% of all living things."

Silence echoed around you, you were sitting in an armchair, somewhat away from the other members, playing with your fingers, trying not to look up, until he spoke.

"Where is he now?" asked Tony. "Where?"

"We don't know," Steve informed him from beside you, sitting at a table. "He opened a portal and went through it. We looked for Thanos for three weeks, with deep space scanners," Steve looked at you, "and satellites, and we found nothing." He looked at Tony. "Tony, you fought him."

"What are you talking about?" asked Tony from his wheelchair. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the wizard gave away the store. That's what happened, there's no fight..."

You took a breath and sighed, because you could contemplate what was about to happen right now, the nerves were there along with the negativity and failure of some of the superheroes on that planet and others, and you knew it could explode at any moment.

"Tony, I'm going to need you to focus..." Steve repeated again hoping that Tony would offer him some clue as to the whereabouts of Thanos.

"I needed you," interrupted Tony in a raised tone. "as in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry." He used a second of his silence to look at Steve and another second to look at you, who stood beside him. You took in most of the feelings hidden in his gaze, and none of them were positive or forgiving. "You know what I need? I need a shave," he tried to get out of the wheelchair, taking everything on the table in his stride. "I don't believe I ever remember telling you this..." he ripped out the IV that connected the drip to his left arm. "To the living and the dead, What we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not," he looked back at you and Steve repeatedly. "That's what we needed!”

The discussion continued, avoiding an upset Tony explaining everything he thought about the current and past situation, ignoring the suggestions Rhodes was giving him to calm down and take his seat again.

"[...] Bunch of tired old wheels!" he pointed at Steve. "I got nothin' for you, Cap! I've got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options! Zero, zip, nada. No trust - liar."

Almost ipso facto he turned to you ripped off the reactor prostrate on his chest and handed it to Steve in his hand, leaving those present virtually speechless, if you still had any left.

"Here, take this. You'll find him, if you put that on. You hide-"

After those words you gazed again into his eyes full of resentment at the past, before his body could take it no more and he collapsed in the middle of the room.

In the hours that followed, you were the shadow of a ghost gazing at him from a distance from the door frame of one of the recovery rooms in the new complex. On the one hand fearing his reaction against you when he woke up, while on the other hand wanting to hear it because you knew that sooner or later it would come but you wanted it to come as soon as possible so that you could face it. Those words she had said to Steve were harsh, but they were really nothing to what you expected might happen. It seemed absurd at the time to have entertained the idea that it might have been forgotten.

"Bruce gave him a sedative," Rhodes said, looking up at you, who were leaning against the doorframe. "He'll be unconscious for the rest of the day. Do you want to sit down?"

"No...I'd better..." but Rhodes didn't allow you to finish your words, as he had risen from the armchair next to Tony and offered it to you. "Thank you."

The door to the room ajar to offer you some more privacy. As you turned your gaze towards him you realised the fragility his body conveyed in those moments, he had spent weeks wandering through space not knowing if he was going to get the chance to return home again and yet he had been able to stay alive and find himself there. You closed your eyes and settled back on the couch, you remembered the first time you did that with Tony, he had spent too much time without sleep after the events after the Chitauri invasion, he could barely sleep because of the nightmares and he begged you to stop them every night, so with your eyes closed you concentrated and invaded his mind with caution releasing the tension you found in it and giving him the peace he needed. When you opened your eyes again, her expression seemed to have changed, she seemed to have found some relief inside her, that fact made you smile. But a knock on the door woke you up.

"We need to talk," Steve's words sounded serious.

A new piece of information about Thanos' whereabouts came as a surprise, but for you the surprise came right after.

"Wait, is this some kind of punishment or something?" you said completely dumbfounded, just outside the room where Tony was, with what Steve was proposing. "Why me?"

"Because we need someone to stay with Tony," he said calmly crossing his arms.

"Is it because I'm the smallest of the whole team? Because I could really knock you all out right now with the blink of an eye," you said crossing your arms too.

"It's because Tony needs you," Steve lowered his tone, "and you need him."

There was nothing but truth in those words. You didn't know if Tony really needed you, but what you had assumed was that you'd needed him for a long time, and you'd put a lot of things before that need, creating your close relationship to go to shit, basically.

"I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you on this mission," Steve said frankly. "And he wouldn't forgive me either if I said that happened."

You lowered your face as you nodded, accepting his words and the job you had been given.

"Be very careful," you said before Steve disappeared from in front of you to take a path that you had no idea what could be in store for them.

From that moment on, the hours went by really slowly, you took your position in that armchair again, you needed to have a clear mind, you couldn't continue martyring yourself with all the events that had happened, so you started reading 'In Search of Lost Time', that book that had been forgotten on the bedside table since you left that place. News was nil, you barely got a sign of what might be happening and you knew it would probably be days before you got it.

Night was falling on the compound again, Tony was barely making any sign of waking up, which also gave you time to consider how the situation would play out, and various possibilities for coping with it. Some of his belongings had been salvaged from the ship, and his helmet, or rather what was left of it, stared at you from the dresser in the room. Without having a reason in mind you approached him, causing a blue light to suddenly flash across his eyes, showing you his figure in the middle of the room.

"Is it on?" a figure of a seated, completely haggard Tony appeared before your eyes. "Hey, Ms. Y/L/N, Y/N," your brow furrowed, but you approached his reflection. "If you find this footage don't put it on social media, it'll be really tearful," his words brought a sad smile to your face. "I don't know if you'll watch these videos. I don't even know if you're still... Oh god, I hope so..." there was a silence from his words, but you could see him bring his hands to his face, something inside you cracked. "I guess it's easier to do this if you know the chances of seeing you again are practically nil," something inside you made your heart shrink. "I probably should have realised this a lot sooner," he fell silent, "yeah, but I was busy trying not to hate you too much, you know, when you decided to abandon me and choose the other side," exhaustion almost prevented him from keeping his eyes open. "Anyway, anyway that made me realise how important you had been to me," he let his gaze wander, "I tried to be there for you ever since I met you and... god, this is getting too depressing," he ran his hand over his face. "I just want you to know that I wish you were here, because you're the only person I'd like to share my last hours with," he nodded slightly, you knew what he was trying to say with those words, which made your eyes water. "Don't feel bad about this, I mean, if you stay prostrate for a couple of weeks... and then move on with immense guilt..." he hid his face in the palm of his hand and closed his eyes, you wiped away a tear that ran down your cheek keeping the bitter smile you had been wearing all along. "I want you to know... when I've fallen asleep, it will be like the nights we spent together. I'm fine. All right," he gestured towards you. "I'll dream of you. Because it will always be you."

Suddenly, as if nothing had happened, his image disappeared in front of your eyes, leaving you with hundreds of feelings invading your body and mind. You looked up and there he was, still there, sleeping pleasantly, barely knowing what had just happened. You hurriedly wiped away the last tear running down your cheek and sat back down, putting your feet up on the couch, unable to take your eyes off him. Perhaps those thoughts were drawn from his most desperate moments, believing that his life was about to come to an end, perhaps he was unwilling to show them to you now that he had resumed the course of his life, so even though it was not possible you tried to send them to a hidden place in your mind.

You had hardly slept in those three weeks, your mind hadn't rested for days and you didn't know why, but finding yourself curled up in that armchair next to Tony was giving you back the tranquillity your body hadn't known for too long. It was impossible to stop your eyelids from closing, on the contrary you were willing them to do so and for sleep to warmly invade your body, no matter how long you could stay asleep. That's how it happened, making the hours pass without you even noticing.

Like a little gust of wind, something in your body made the light enter through your eyelashes. Slowly you opened your eyes, feeling in various parts of your body a tightness due to the position in which you had fallen asleep in that armchair. You discovered that a woollen blanket covered your limbs, but what kept you alert was the bed next to you was completely empty. Tony wasn't there. You jumped up, looking around, the bedroom door was ajar and Iron Man's helmet was missing.

"Tony?" you asked, raising your voice, stepping out into the hallway. "Tony! Where are you?"

You barely heard an answer, so you were thankful those powers were within you, you stopped in the middle of the corridor and closed your eyes, your receptors picked up a signal coming from downstairs, it was him. You found him leaning on the kitchen counter, his eyes closed as he tried to stand. You ran to him, grabbing his arm to hold him up.

"What do you think you're doing?" you said, leading him to the nearest armchair in the living room.

You discovered that he had shaved, taken a shower and was wearing one of his Tom Ford suits that were so recognisable to you. That meant he had been wandering around the house unsupervised for over an hour without waking you up. You knelt down next to him.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" you asked with a worried look on your face as you contemplated that he was extremely tired. "Bruce gave a set of instructions for you to follow, you can't just walk around..."

"It was your turn?" he cut you off with an angry tone. "Be my babysitter? How did you do it? Did you draw lots?" his countenance was serious, you could still see the puffiness in his eyes and his face fully dehydrated. "Whoever draws the shortest stick gets to look after poor Stark, all right, listen..."

"No! You listen to me," you cut him off, raising your tone above his, standing up and resting your hands on each armrest "Tony, we all lost. We all fought and lost, none of us made it," your face was three feet above his. "So now all we can do is try, in some completely illogical way, to move the situation forward. And if we can't, at least look to the future by doing our best to honour those we have lost."

Silence flooded over you.

"So please don't make the situation more complicated," you continued, lowering your tone, almost begging him. "If I've stayed with you it's because Steve has made me understand some things, because yes, it wasn't really my intention to stay with you from the start, but then I realised that if anyone had to stay with you it was me. I realised that if I had to risk my life again I didn't want to go on the mission, because that would mean never seeing you again.And I've also realised that I've needed you for a long time, that I'm finally by your side and I have no intention of separating from you. Whether you like it or not." Tony cut his gaze with yours by ducking it, but brought his right hand over yours.

That gesture provoked you to bring your other hand to his face, placing a gentle caress on his cheek.

"I know there are a lot of things we need to talk about, but one thing we do have is time," you explained as Tony intertwined his fingers with yours. "So please, don't do anything more stupid and don't disappear," maybe it was the atmosphere generated by the situation, but you risked saying the next words. "Because it will always be you."

Tony closed his eyes a little regretfully, a little embarrassedly, and brought his free hand to his face.

"I knew you saw that," he added calmly removing his hand from his face. "Well, at least I've saved myself from having to repeat it in person."

"I'm not sure I got it right," you said falsely. "You know, there was a lot of interference, and besides, I couldn't really understand what you were saying, so..."

"Sorry, there was only one pass for the film," he said wryly which caused you to smile widely as you rediscovered that the old Tony was still hidden in it. "We won't know when there will be a revival."

"Too bad, I really liked that movie," you sat down on the armrest without letting go of his hand and looking up at him.

"Really?" he asked for the first time modestly, and putting aside all the irony that surrounded the situation.

"Totally," you nodded, trying to express all the many feelings through your eyes.

Silence again kept you company, until Tony somewhat uncomfortably broke it.

"I suppose you know that by now I would have kissed you and created a fully effective plan to make love to you for hours until you begged me to stop in pleasure," he stated lamely, "although I think if you give me a couple of hours..."

"All right, Don Juan," you cut him off with a chuckle, "we'd better leave all that for later, and I'll take you back to bed now."

"I think it's a good start if you take me to bed," he continued with his insinuations.

You got up from the armrest and helped him put his arm around your shoulders, even though he repeatedly told you he could walk unaided.

"Have we heard from the team?" he asked, slowly climbing the steps of the ladder.

"Soon," you said with a halo of hope.

You definitely made it back to the room, having made it successfully through the journey. You helped him get rid of the shoes and shirt that his pride had forced him to wear, but which now made no sense when he was going back to bed.

"See, you're finally going to get what you wanted, I'm undressing you," you said jokingly causing a smile to appear on Tony's face as he lay back down. "You rest, I'll be here. I'll always be here."

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whitherliliesbloom · 3 years

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fate matrix

[ ffxivwrite2021 ] ★ [ masterlist ] ★ [ prompt #05 (free) - fate ]

[ alphinaud/wol & cameos and mentions of some friend ocs, you’re gonna have to read to find out who :) ] ★ [ 5,241 words (oof) ] ★ [ fate matrix au ]

fate: be destined to happen, turn out, or act in a particular way

in a world where the hands of destiny are ones and zeros, at the center of the matrix was a little goddess who would soon find out that she too, isn’t immune to the pull of fate

Day ???? | 07:07am | Day of Destined Meetings

An alarm rings, beeping in an increasingly loud volume as the monitors begin booting up. As light from the screens flood the room, the sound of cotton ruffling can be heard, followed by a soft little yawn.

The girl stirs, clutching at her duvet for warmth before her eyelids flutter open. Bright violet eyes stare up at the ceiling, where the patches of glow up star stickers have lost their radiance in the midst of the fluorescent bulb lighting up. Blinded momentarily, she grimaces, before rolling onto her side and sitting up.

“Good morning, alpha.” A melodic voice chirps out merrily from her parted lips, and she raises a hand to pet the head of the stuffed chocobo that she had been laying beside. “It’s time for work again, huh?”

Stretching her arms high above her head with a final, long yawn, the girl shuffles over to the minibar that was tucked under the table, pulling the door open before grabbing a small tub of yoghurt and peeling it open to peer inside curiously.

Oh, it’s strawberry today, how wonderful! Whoever or whatever magical force is behind stocking up the minibar seems to be in her favor this morning.

Grateful now for her breakfast, the girl slides over to the front of the bed, and places her hand on the mouse after taking a spoonful of the yoghurt into her mouth.

System booting... Please enter password. >illyaskawi03112 Log in successful. Fatematrix.exe starting. Welcome, Alice.

The monitors that surround her begin loading up window tabs after window tabs - and at the center on her main monitor, a sizeable grid of glowing icons pop up, along with a smaller, more discreet window showing a map tucked away at the corner of the screen.

Visual stimuli overload aside, the girl seemed to be completely unphased as she bites into yet another scoopful of yoghurt before setting the tub next to her white keyboard, as if this were a scene she’s had to see countless times now.

It’s a routine, a well rehearsed routine that the girl effortlessly goes through the motions of daily. The fate matrix is ever in need of use and she, the center of it all, was more than happy to take control.

That is, after all, the will of her late mother... the previous Alice and goddess of the fate matrix. It is simply her duty to carry on in her legacy. And as per her duty, she begins to spin the wheel of fate, clicking on the very first icon that boots up the fate matrix’s tool assistant. A bright blue pop up appears that the girl drags to the side, and text begins to appear.

Good morning, Alice. Today is a day of destined meetings. I would suggest working on getting soul mates together for the day.

Internally, Illya is delighted. Soul mates were one of her favorite types of work to focus on... and though they were rarely ever more urgent than other types of assignments like accident prevention, weather management or economic balance, it was one that often brought her a great amount of joy.

After all, what was sweeter than nudging two souls who were meant for each other closer? It was the very concept of soul mates, and the tales of the red thread of fate after all, that drew her mother into the concept of fate and caused her to develop the fate matrix.

A soft smile graces her features, and she moves her cursor to click on the second icon, which loads for a second before breaking apart into smaller, glowing dots that scatter across the map - with two dots that indicated soul mates being linked by a dotted line.

Time to get to work!

01:46pm

When Illya clicked on the glowing two red dots upon the map, she hadn’t expected to be shown live footage of the two targets in the very same room.

It’s not uncommon for soul mates to have already met each other, or even be familiar with one another already despite not having made their feelings for each other known yet... but they were cases that were, in Illya’s experience, a little more difficult to work on.

It was easy to nudge two strangers in the same direction or plant small, innocuous thoughts that would help draw two acquaintances into wanting to spend more time with their soul mate. It was far more difficult to convince stubborn people who have, despite many fateful circumstances, refused to confess their feelings to the object of their confession.

After all, the fate matrix was capable of many things - but controlling or taking over the will of people was not one of them.

Illya has convinced two stubborn souls to finally open up in the past though, she was certain she could do so again - she did so with the likes of the two childhood friends, Moth’ir and Thancred... a case which she would never in a million years soon forget... or the infuriatingly obstinate refusal of a pink haired miqo’te girl to confess to her close friend and personal trainer, Haurchefant Greystone... who had been more than obvious with his flirtations for years.

Alice, you have yet to eat your lunch. A quick break is highly suggested.

The tool assistant sends a reminder through a text in it’s window, which Illya is swift to ignore. She can eat once she’s done with this case.

She watched through the monitor as the pair sat on the couch, a girl with straight cut bangs and piercing red eyes lounging lazily with her back propped against the arm rest and her legs laid over her taller, lankier male friend, who seemed to be frustrated at the girl’s refusal to pay him any attention.

“Why invite me over if you’re just going to play your game?”

“Hmph! Says the guy who invited me over to his place only to kick me out halfway through because some of his friends were going to pay him a surprise visit!”

The man lets out a hefty sigh.

“I already apologized for that. And that was over a week ago. Are you seriously still-”

“Yes, yes I am!” Without even looking up from her smartphone, the girl lets out a dramatic huff while admonishing her friend. “I don’t get why you’re so adamant about me not meeting your friends. Why, are you scared they’ll misunderstand and think I’m your girlfriend?”

“That’s- That’s not-”

From the heartrate monitor, Illya can tell that was only part of the reason for his behavior. The true reason, and an explanation that the girl understood full well why he would refuse to tell his friend was written in text in a separate window next to his heartrate monitor.

The girl, Totomi Tomi, or better known by her stage name as Mint, was something of a minor celebrity on the internet. Known for her jovial personality and the many covers of vocaloid songs she posted on her well known eorzeatube page, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call her an idol - even if she wasn’t officially acknowledged or employed as one by some idol management company. Her friend, Estinien, and the object of her very strong feelings towards, had friends who were apparently fans of hers.

It was for that very reason that, for her protection and to spare her the oogling of strangers, that he’d kept his friendship with the young idol a secret from others.

In his eyes, perhaps dating her would be the quickest way to convince his friends to back off... but that would only come after they’d confessed their feelings - which they haven’t.

“That’s not important.” Estinien finally retorts after stumbling after his words for a moment, and Illya has to resist the urge to slam her head against the keyboard.

“Ohhhh... Kay.” Mint rolls her eyes, Illya mirrors the action.

What Illya doesn’t anticipate however, is Estinien’s next words, for as bold and uncharacteristic for an emotionally closed off man such as him.

“Why? Are you disappointed? You almost sound like you want to be known as my girlfriend.”

Mint chokes on her spit, sputtering and gurgling out incomprehensible words until she recovers - but only barely... and now with a dark red blush plastered over her freckled cheeks.

“I-In your dreams, maybe!” Her blatant lie is apparent to all but... the ones who are present in the room. “Besides, I already have someone I like!”

“Oh?” Illya can hear the sheer contempt from her headphones, and she grimaces at the man’s deep frown. “Do tell, who is it?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, dunderhead!”

“Tell me. I’m curious.”

“Nope nope nope nope nope noppetty nope! Why’d you think I would ever tell you, huh??”

Mint sticks her tongue out at the man, who scowls deeper and nudges the woman’s legs off of his lap.

“Fine. How about a bet then.”

“What bet?”

The man points to the phone she has in her hands.

“Since you’re so fond of your gacha games, and you’re always bragging about how good your luck is, why don’t we make a bet using your game?”

Snatching the phone out of Mint’s hand despite her protests, Estinien taps on the settings button before clicking on the gacha button, the screen switching to the current limited rate up banner of a popular event character.

“If you get a character of the highest rarity within 50 draws, you have to tell me who your crush is.”

“W-why would I even agree to that?? I’ve been saving my primos for Xi-Ao you know?!”

“I’ll pay for your pulls. It’s a win-win for you that way, no? You get free pulls from the game, I get to know who your crush is if you get a shiny new character.”

Mint pulls back, hesitant and suspicion clear in her eyes, but still enough to hint at consideration.

“And what’s in it for me? What if I do pull a 5 star character?”

After much consideration, Estinien responds once more.

“I’ll let you whale for whatever character you want next on my credit card. And I’ll cosplay with you at the next convention.”

At the condition of his loss set, Mint’s face lights up with pure elation, as she snatches her phone back from her friend with a cheeky grin on her face.

“Deal! You’re so going to lose, long bean! My luck in Genshin Impact’s second to none! I can’t wait to make you cosplay sailor moon!!”

An equally devious smile spreads across the face of Alice, whose hands are swift to pull up another window tab reserved specifically for video game and gambling luck.

She has always admittedly been favorable and gracious in giving out good draws to people who deserve it - the program she has running in the background is testament to that... And she has no doubt in her mind that the fate matrix has been generous in it’s givings to Mint, if her boastings are anything to go by.

Mint must thusly, be a good person.... and she deserves a fate more fulfilling than virtual characters on a screen.

The girl must truly feel confident in herself, as she hits the draw x10 button without a single hesitation.

Illya begins typing the code into the new window, and sympathy wells in her heart as she hears Mint huff in minor disappointment.

“Only one 4 star? Eh, it’s just a fluke, I have 40 more pulls and I’m close to soft pity too!”

“Good luck.” Estinien chuckles mockingly, and Mint lets out a growl before pressing on the draw x10 button again.

Nothing. The third ten pull is no better - with nothing but a single 4 star weapon to show for her efforts. Mint is evidently getting more nervous as her finger shakes, pressing down on the button that will decide her fate for the fourth time.

She was so certain she’d get a 5 star by now - she normally gets what she wants within the first thirsty pulls, and it’s a normal occurrence to even pull multiple 5 stars within the same roll... So... why?

Her 40th pull ends with two 4 star characters, a sight better than the ones before... a sign of Illya’s pity on her... but still not a condition for her win.

“Oh, someone’s getting nervous.” Estinien smirks, “You’re on your last pull away from telling me who you have a crush on.”

“H-hah! That’s where you’re wrong!” Mint exclaims, jabbing a finger at him. “The chances of getting a 5 star increases with each pull, so i’m almost a hundred percent certain I’ll get one this time!”

Mint’s heartrate monitor is going off the charts, and Illya has to intervene by lowering her vitals enough so she wouldn’t pass out from sheer nervousness. It does little to hide it from Estinien, however, who could only relish every second of Mint’s rapidly darkening blush as she finally taps on the draw x10 button one final time.

The shooting star across the screen flickers, before bursting into a shade of pink that has Mint leaning back with mouth agape, a mixture of sheer shock and terror on her expression.

Hopelessness is all she feels as she taps, taps and taps, and the roll summary page shows naught but a single Benny - the unluckiest character in the game, grinning widely at her.

“Well, well, well. Looks like I won.” Estinien sounds way too casual and smug, unaware of the monumentally immense amount of bad fortune that had just befallen his friends. “As per our deal, you’re going to have to tell me who your crush is.”

Illya feels sorry for her meddling, and she makes a mental note to herself to bless Mint’s future rolls with as many of the highest rarity characters she could possibly afford to give without breaking the laws of probability too much... but when Mint finally breaks out of her stutter and sets her phone down on her lap, hands grasping so tightly at the hem of her skirt that her knuckles turned white, the girl knew that she’d dealt the woman a hand far kinder than if she had not.

“I-It’s...... It’s you, okay?”

07:32pm

Alice it is time for dinner. The curry will get cold if you leave it out for too long.

Illya’s tendency to ignore the tool assistant in regards to her own wellbeing was concerning, but not an anomaly. In fact, it was far more rare for the text in the pop up to be spared more than a single second’s glance from her.

Whether it was reminders for her to eat, for her to sleep early, to hydrate or to stretch after hours hunched over her keyboard in front of glaringly bright monitors for a good whole of her day, the tool assistant’s well meaning messages would always go ignored.

It’s a natural part of it’s program, Illya tells herself, as she filters through lists of finished cases before moving on to pending ones. Much like the fate matrix, that ran on a code that was, in admittance, far more complex than even she could fully comprehend... the tool assistant ran on code. It was an artificial intelligence her mother had created during her last few months of life, something that, according to the note left in the hard drive of the fate matrix, would help Illya better slip into her role as adjudicator of fate.

She’d remembered when she first awoke in this room and on the bed, not having any recollection of how she’d even arrived in the first place. The momentary panic and confusion had been replaced with a sense of obligation... of duty and honor when she booted up the computer for the first time to be greeted with the words from the tool assistant - as well as a lengthy message from her late mother.

We who do not belong to the realm of mortals... we who possess the blood of fate. We bear the burden of watching over the world and making sure that it is a safer, happier, better place for everyone. Only you alone can take possession of the fate matrix in my stead, and I pray you’ll forgive me for not being able to say goodbye to you in person.

Family meant the world to Illya, it has ever been that way. She spent a good amount of her childhood in the company of her parents, with little understanding of the world beneath. She had no concept of the idea of fate, of how destiny was dealt... only that her mother had a significant role to play, and that her time with her family was soon to be cut short by a crippling, unkind illness that not even the fate matrix could undo.

Illya’s never tried stepping out of her room before. She has always assumed that it exists in some kind of void or overworld that overlooked the mortal realm. It mattered not, really... The only thing important was that mother had left this place behind, and wanted her only daughter to inherit her role as Alice.

It was with that responsibility in mind that drove Illya to stay seated in front of the monitors for as long as she has.

Time is no longer being a concept, the rising and falling of the sun no longer visible to her eyes aside from a arbitrary number on the clock that served more as a timer for how long she has left to work until exhaustion would consume her.

Do you not wonder what it’s like to have friends, Alice?

Recently, however the tool assistant has been sending her more and more pointless questions... questions that went far beyond the daily self-maintenance reminders that she could understand her mother programming in for her wellbeing, questions aimed to be poignant and was targeted to making her feel more isolated and alone than it did help. It was bordering on annoyance.

You could leave this room any time you wanted.

And why would she do that? She murmured to herself as she typed in code to program a heavy storm, forcing a raven haired lalafellin man to offer his umbrella to his soul mate who had been stranded under a lone busstop - a pink haired woman with olive green eyes who seemed utterly smitten with him upon first sight.

Her purpose was here, to take control of the fate matrix, to grant happy memories, to save lives, to fulfill wishes and dreams. There can be no greater and heavier responsibility to bear in the world.

Truthfully, the reason why Illya stayed at first had solely because of her mother’s wishes... But now, it was more than that.

Because the idea of separating herself from the fate matrix... and not being able to grant the kindness of fate that so many people in the world deserved... it was a pain that was worth her own sense of self.

Are you not lonely? Do you not want someone to love you?

Why did it matter if she was lonely? The envy and curiosity she feels upon watching a group of friends hanging out together is nothing in comparison to the pain mortals felt from a love unrequited, or a loved one losing their life.

She taps furiously on a historian with bright red hair and eyes, forcing him to get a wardrobe malfunction that would push him to visit a tailor where an impish lalafellin fashion designer with snow white freckles awaited him with choice words of ridicule. She tips over a telephone pole that causes two surf shop co-owners who were on a road trip to park by the roadside so that they may witness a falling star, wishes made leading to their confession. She painstakingly guides a woman with silver hair and golden yellow eyes towards a drycleaner, where she initiates easy banter with a man who she later finds out was her old schoolmate.

Juno and Ysayle, Bianca and Varis, Niqesse and Zenos, Nowi and June. She remembers the soul mates she pushes together by name, and treasures the happiness they are sure to feel from their memories as if they were her own.

Detached from their world she may be, it is through the fate matrix that she can experience a sliver of their joy and love... even if it is for a fleeting moment before she must move on to the next.

11:17pm

One more assignment, she tells herself, eyes bloodshot and fingers sore from typing. One more case and she’ll eat before going to bed. She has done much for the day as it is... but she cannot rest until she’s closed one particular case that has her vexed for the entire day.

A pair of glowing purple dots that has been plastered on the map since morning has her thoroughly vexed... because for some reason or another, she cannot seem to gather information on one half of the pair.

She’s able to view the other half just fine - a dashing young man who seemed to be a senior in university despite his age, having skipped two grades due to his academic prowess. He is incredibly gifted, possessing not only of superior intellect but also an artistic hand and charismatic demeanor that makes him quite popular at his school.

But no matter how much she clicked on the other purple dot, or made futile attempts to manually search for data on his other half, nothing would show up. No windows, no tabs... What was even more perplexing was that the dot hadn’t moved on the map at all.

Illya had paid especially close attention to the purple dots ever since she’d found this anomaly in the fate matrix... she was certain she would have noted movement if there had been any at all.

But whereas the icon of the boy had understandably been moving throughout the city of Sharlayan, the icon of his mysterious other half hadn’t, laying stagnant on a singular point of the map in the middle of what appeared to be an old apartment complex.

It was as if his soul mate just... didn’t exist at all.

The boy didn’t have any romantic feelings for anyone, nor did it seem like there was anyone at his school that would have an attachment to him that extended beyond admiration or a short-term attraction, which she’s long learned to tell apart from genuine love. If the tool assistant had a text saying that her target simply did not have a soul mate at all, she’d have been inclined to believe it.

But the other purple dot that connected to his does not lie. If he didn’t have a soul mate, his icon wouldn’t be connected to the other. Her tool assistant wouldn’t have told her, very deliberately she may add, that he did in fact have a soul mate and that it was imperative for her to unite them.

But how was she to make two people meet when she could not even tell who the other was? It was the first time Illya’s wondered if there was even any point to her efforts.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, then. It may be unnatural for a piece of note to fall from the sky, but it was perhaps her final chance to get the boy to meet his soul mate before the opportunity would be lost forever.

Assignments from her pending window are known to disappear all of a sudden, and soul mates who were attached and at their prime for a fated meeting for the moment often times disappear from the map entirely... a tragedy as a result to the slipping of time that the fate matrix cannot rectify... and she’d be damned if she let it happen to this case just because of a simple glitch.

The boy, Alphinaud Leveilleur, star student of the nation’s most prestigious academy, had been walking home from his late night seminars. His position was unnervingly close to where his soul mate is, and since she could not think of any way she could naturally nudge him in the direction of the apartment complex, she writes a note posing as his soul mate and drops it from the sky.

“W-what in the twelve?”

The boy catches it in mid-air, looking at the haphazardly scribbled words on the paper.

PLEASE HELP ME. I’M BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL. I’M BEING TRAPPED AT _______________

She made the handwriting disorderly intentionally... just to sell the idea of a person being trapped better, of course. She’d even slathered on a small smudge of blood on the corner of the note to make it more convincing... and it seemed to have done the trick as the boy widens his navy blue eyes in alarm, head turned up in the direction of the apartment complex he stood next to.

Illya can tell he has his doubts, and she doesn’t blame him... It’s suspicious enough that the call for help would just so conveniently fall towards him as he was walking past... but he’s never known any criminal activity to have taken place in that apartment complex - Sharlayan is relatively safe compared to it’s neighbor, Mor Dhona.

A few simple thoughts however, might just do the trick into getting him to spring into action.

Injecting into his mind, Illya types out frantically into the text box for thought processing.

What if this is real? What if there really is someone in need of rescuing and I just walked by without helping them? What if they appeared on the news tomorrow? I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. What if... what if this note really is fate?

She’s preying on his upright and morally upstanding character, she knows that... and it never feels good to take advantage of a objectively good person’s kindness... But her determination to grant him lifelong happiness wins as she watches through the live feed the as the boy clutches onto the note close to his chest and begins to run into the carpark of the apartment complex before heading inside.

Zooming into the map, she sees that her target is taking the lift up to the highest floor, his heartrate skyrocketing at an alarming pace as she panics for a moment and has to manually adjust it back down. He’s nervous... and she must admit that she is too.

When he leaves the lift, his footsteps are unsteady and hesitant... But a few more encouraging thoughts was enough to get him to push forward until he’s standing in front of a door - the only door on the last floor of the complex, as it would happen.

Illya tries to look into the room, but the window that pops up is but a single black screen that has her sighing. No matter. The fact that there even was a window in the first place is progress.

She’s gotten this far into leading him here... all he has to do is open the door where his other half is sure to be on the other side.

The boy tries to twist open the door knob, the metal rattlingly noisily in Illya’s headphones. But it doesn’t budge or give way.

Figures that it’d be locked. How is she supposed to lead him inside? She can’t ring the doorbell because, for as odd as it is, there is none... and she cannot pull up any information on his soul mate, let alone inject into thoughts into their head to open the door. It’s far too suspicious to drop the key to the door right in front of him.

With each second that passes, it seemed like the boy was letting his doubts begin to sway his decision to stay more and more... and Illya’s heart drops into the pit of her stomach when she sees the boy begin to step away from the door and reaching into his bag for his phone, a thought bubble popping up above him.

I should call the police, instead...

“No! You mustn’t!” Illya yells out by instinct.

“Huh???” the boy’s eyes widen once more, and to Illya’s utter confusion, he bolts forward and is now banging his fist against the door. “Hello?! Are you okay?! If you’re in there and you need help, please say something again!”

He must’ve heard a voice.... Illya mused, eyes glistening with intrigue... her voice. Did her mic turn on by accident? Or perhaps she’d projected her voice onto the door out of instinct. She wouldn’t be surprised if she did... but the most important thing is that it worked, and it got the boy to stay.

“Y-yes! I’m... I’m in here!” Illya responds, intentionally letting out sobs into her microphone this time, “p-please help me... I-I’m really hurt and I don’t know when they’ll get back!”

Alphinaud’s heartrate is beating faster than it’s ever had before... and Illya makes no attempts to lower it as she watches the boy grit his teeth and set his bookbag down.

“A-alright! Stand back! I’ll try to knock the door down!”

Good thinking, Illya hums to herself in silence. The door seems old and rickety on its own... unless his soul mate has very deliberately barricaded the inside, there shouldn’t be any reason why he’d not be able to knock it down.

The boy begins to slam his torso into the door, pulling himself back before once more rushing into the door, and the sound of banging fills Illya’s headphones. It’s oddly loud and deafening... but she makes no attempts to lower her volume as she grips the edge of her keyboard in anticipation.

“Don’t worry miss! Just a bit more! I’ll get you out, I promise!”

His sincerity touches her... and though it is wholly unnecessary, Illya is moved to speak into the mic once more... and her words causes a surge of renewed energy to flow through him.

“Yes! I believe in you! I’m waiting!”

Illya has never known what the outside of her room looked like... nor the time or space that occupied it. It was never necessary, she’d convinced herself... She was simply content with watching the outside world through the lens of the fate matrix while playing the ultimate puppet master.

She has never smelled the outside air, never seen the light of the sun, never once touched the hands of another... not since she arrived here.

When the door to her room clattered noisily onto the ground, so loudly that she could not chalk it up to being a result of the projection in her headphone, the girl spun around... and stared with wide, bewildered and confused eyes at the boy in front of her - clear without the pixels of the screen obscuring him... clear and oh so very real.

Beads of sweat trickling down his brows from exertion... his usually neat fitting uniform disheveled from strain...

And in his clear blue eyes was the reflection of herself, staring back at her as if they were a window to her future.

“Y-you.... you are....?”

The tool assistant of the fate matrix sends another text, which goes unread and ignored by Alice once again.

You watch over the fate of others. But even you aren’t immune to the hands of fate.

#ffxiv #final fantasxy xiv #ffxivwrite2021 #ffxivwrite #kiwisffxivwrite2021 #alphinaud leveilleur #alphinaud #illya skawi #we've come so far #fanfic #mine #lots of cameos and mentions of friends but i'm not gonna list em all out here kek #holy fuck this turned out longer than i expected #and i already had to cut down a lot of this fic!!!#Like... i planned to expand each friend ship into their own dedicated segment but #it got too detailed and bleh

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wiypt-writes · 3 years

Text

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch51: Captain America Homecoming

Intro: The team at the compound begin their experiment with the Quantum Tunnel, but it doesn’t all go according to plan. But just as everything seems lost, Tony appears having rethought his initial stance. And he has a little surprise for Steve.

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: I can’t give @angrybirdcr enough credit…she makes my images into, well, erm, images…

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 50

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Bruce needed a day to calibrate the computer and systems to the right configuration to use with Scott’s Quantum Tunnel (which was, amusingly yet completely unsurprisingly, in the back of his ugly brown van). Katie took the chance to head into the office to catch up and then inform Soraya she didn’t know how much she would be available in person over the coming week.

They had another day before they were due to collect Emmy from the train station, her five day trip to Philly was drawing to a close and when they had spoken to her last night she had been equal parts excited to come home and fed up that it was ending. But she would be back at school soon, and she had an important few weeks coming up as she was studying for her end of year exams. Neither of them were particularly concerned about that, however, as Emmy was a complete brainbox. Although she was only a freshman, she was taking APs in Human Geography and Psychology (having told her parents she wanted to be a Therapist) and was already being touted by her tutors as Harvard potential. Steve wasn’t overly keen about his daughter being in a different state, but all things considered, Boston wasn’t too far. And he knew he had to let her make her own decision so they’d cross that bridge when they got there.

For the time being, the only bridge Steve wanted to cross was the one he and Natasha were currently planning on making to reach out to the remaining original Avengers, Thor and Clint.

“Thor should be easy, surely?” Nat asked, swinging her feet up onto the table as she sat back in her seat. She looked to Steve for confirmation, but instead he sighed and shook his head.

“Has Katie not told you?”

“Told me what?”

Steve scratched at his chin. “He had a disagreement with one of the Elders about three months back. From what Valkyrie told Katie, there was a bit of an argument over the rebuilding of their army and the elder took a shot at Thor, saying he wasn’t fit to lead any kind of battalion as he had failed to keep them safe from Thanos.”

“That’s harsh.” Nat frowned.

“Yeah, I know.” Steve bit his lip. “I think it was more anger speaking than the guy actually thinking that, but it sent Thor into another downwards spiral and he’s ignored Katie’s attempts to reach out to him again so she’s given in.” “Okay, so, maybe a little harder than we anticipated.” “Least we know where he is. Any luck on Barton?”

“Rhodey thinks he’s targeting a gang in Hong Kong.” Nat sighed. “But I won’t know for sure until he arrives.”

Steve, nodded. “Well when we find out where he is we can scramble a jet and…” “No.” Nat shook her head “Not we, me. I’ll go alone.” “Nat.” Steve frowned “Clint, he’s been leaving a trail of utter carnage behind him, I don’t think you-“

“He wouldn’t hurt me.”

“It’s not him I’m concerned about, more the people he’s taking on.” “I can handle myself.” Nat replied, firmly as she looked at him. Her eyes were sparkling with that Black Widow venom Steve had to admit he had missed over the past few years. He took a deep breath and against his better judgement conceded.

“Alright. We’ll do it your way.”

Natasha frowned, and smirked. “Really? That’s it, no argument?”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “You want an argument?” “Not really.” She shook her head, smiling.

Steve gave a chuckle and then they were cut off by an incoming call springing up in front of Natasha. She swiped to her right and the hologram form of Rocket appeared on the desk.

“Hey Nat.” He nodded, turning to Steve, “Cap.We’re wrapping things up on that latest lead, then we have to nip to Contraxia as I need a few things,” he Raccoon explained, looking at them both, “should be with you day after tomorrow lunchtime, ish” “Rocket, you were close to Thor right?” Steve spoke, an idea coming to him.

“Kinda, why?” “We need him.” Steve stated simply. “He knows about the stones, but convincing him could be a bit of a task. So I was thinking maybe you could help and go with Katie to New Asgard.” The animal pondered for a while before he shrugged. “I can try.”

“That’s all any of us can do.”

The raccoon nodded again “Alright.” He turned to Nat. “We’ll see you soon.” And with that he disappeared.

Steve stayed at the compound until late afternoon, popping in to see how Bruce and Scott were getting on, before he made his way home. Katie and Jamie were already back and he could hear the two of them in the living room.

“Who’s that?” Jamie asked as he pointed to the photo in the album that his Mom had open on her lap.

“That’s your Uncle Sam.” She smiled at the photo of Steve and his best man at the reception of their wedding “You know you get your name from him, well one of them anyway.”

“Where is he now?” Jamie asked.

“He err…he went away” Katie said slowly as she tried to figure out how to explain this to a three year old. “You know how daddy has told you about his friend, Uncle Bucky?” “Yeah.” “Well, a few years ago, before you were born, The Avengers, well they had a fight, with a nasty man, and your Uncle Bucky and Uncle Sam, and one of our other friends, a lady called Wanda…they had to go away afterwards.”

“Was Uncle Tony in the fight?”

“Yeah, he was.”

“And Auntie Nat-Nat?”

“Yeah. And Thor. There were a lot of people involved?”

“Did you and daddy fight with the Avengers?” Jamie asked, his eyes wide.

At that point Katie looked up and saw Steve hovering in the door way. He swallowed and walked into the room.

“A long time ago buddy, yeah.” He nodded.

“Did you know Captain America?” Jamie’s eyes were now almost the size of dinner plates.

“I did yeah.” Steve nodded, kneeling down in front of his son. “But he gave up fighting.” Jamie pondered something as Katie looked at her husband. “Not for much longer though.” She locked eyes with him.

Steve took a deep breath and swallowed once more. He wasn’t sure he’d ever hold that shield again.

“Maybe.” he said, shrugging, before he stood up and settled on the couch at the other side of his son.

Jamie made to turn the page in the album and the next photo was one of Steve’s favourites and one they had a large framed version of on the mantel piece. It showed him and Katie at their first dance, heads pressed together, huge smiles on their faces as he held her close.

“Momma you look real pretty!” Jamie smiled and Katie dropped a kiss to his head.

“Thanks, Baby.” “Your momma always looks pretty.” Steve smiled “She’s the most beautiful girl on the planet.” “Charmer.” Katie looked at him as he stretched his arm over the back of his son and pulled her in closer.

“Only for you.” He winked, dropping a kiss to her cheek.

****** Tony stood at the sink, rinsing down the dishes from dinner whilst Pepper settled Morgan down for the night. He’d spoken to Kiddo earlier, she’d told him they were running the first Time Travel trial tomorrow. He’d managed to push it out of his mind for most of the afternoon but now, as he stood alone, he kept thinking about it over and over again. He knew Bruce was clever, but this really wasn’t his area…

What if something went wrong? Not his problem.

Tony’s grip on the attachment to the tap slipped and it jerked out of his hand, spraying water all over the place. With a sigh he turned it off and grabbed the tea towel, mopping up the water from around the sink and then the shelf which it had squirted all over. He glanced at the photos, and paused for a moment at the frame that was placed just to the right of the one which held a picture of his dad. He took a deep breath as he wiped the water off the faces- him and Peter Parker holding the fake Stark Internship Certificate upside down, each one pulling peace signs behind the other’s head. He swallowed.

“We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back.”

Tony looked around his kitchen, his stomach turning slightly. Yes, he had something to fight for, something personal, the kid. They all had something personal right? Natasha had Clint’s family, Rogers and Kiddo had Barnes, Wilson and Wanda… Scott had his girlfriend, or whatever. But he couldn’t risk it. He shouldn’t risk it….

But they were going to risk it. He knew that. And they could, probably would, fuck it up without him.

“Damned it, Rogers.” He mumbled, placing the photo down and heading into the dining room.

Two hours later, Pepper was out in the greenhouse as she often was later at night and Tony was talking to FRIDAY, with whom he had been brainstorming a number of ideas for the past hour and a half. He looked the holographic model in front of him and tapped at the pad on the table.

“Look at a mod inspiration, let’s see if it checks out.” He instructed, watching as the image changed in front of his eyes. “So…” he pressed a few keys again, “run one last sim before we pack it in for the night,” he clapped his hands together and paced round the side of the table, “this time, in the shape of a mobius strip, inverted, please.”

“Processing.“ FRIDAY replied as Tony crossed his arms and watched.

“Give me that Eigen value,” he reached out to spin the image with his hand, “that, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp,” he grabbed the bottle on the side of the table to take a drink of the smoothie he had made, “that will take a second.”

“Just a moment.”

“And don’t worry if it doesn’t pan out,” he replaced the top on his drink and grabbing a blueberry from the packet he had been eating, “I’m just kinda…” he trailed off chewing the fruit, as he watched FRIDAY do her business.

“Model rendered.”

The red words ‘Model Successful’ with a rating of ‘99.987%’ flashed in front of his eyes and Tony felt his mouth drop open, utterly bewildered by his discover. He fell back into his chair, looking up at it and his mouth flew to his hand. He, Tony Stark, had figured out how to do exactly what Lang had proposed, how to safely travel time.

Despite himself, he felt a certain level of pride and smugness, and he threw his arms out to his side. “Shit!” He laughed out.

“Shit.” A voice spoke from behind him, followed by a giggle. He paused, and turned to see his daughter was sat on the bottom stair, grinning at him.

He held his finger to his lips and shook his head. “What are you doing up, little miss?”

“Shit.” She repeated again.

“No, we don’t say that. Only Mommy says that word. She coined it, it belongs to her.”

“Why you up?” Morgan looked at him.

“Cause I got some important shit going on here,” Tony jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the hologram, “what do you think?”

Morgan shot him a frown and he took a deep breath, when she pulled that face she looked ridiculously like her Auntie. ”No, I got something on my mind,” he explained in a softer tone.

“Was it Juice Pops?” Morgan asked, hopefully.

“Sure was.” Tony looked at the other side of the room before he turned back to his daughter, “extortion. That’s a word.” He stood up and looked down at her. “What kind you want?” He asked, taking her hand and she stood up. “Great minds think alike. Juice Pops, exactly was on-” he looked back to the model then turned towards the kitchen “-my mind.”

A little while and a juice pop later Morgan was back in bed, demanding a story.

“Once upon a time, Morgoona went to bed. The end.” Tony grinned.

“That is a horrible story.” Morgan looked at him with a glare.

“Come on, that’s your favorite story.” He grinned and as she rolled her eyes he smiled. “I love you tons.” He made it clear that was the end of the conversation by standing up, kissing her on the forehead.

“I love you three thousand.” Morgan looked at him and Tony smiled.

“Wow.” he said, quietly. His daughter had an ability, very like Kiddo, to say things that sideswiped him, and made his chest burst with love, and this was one of those moments. He contemplated that for a moment before he stood up and turned off her lamp. “Three thousand, that’s crazy.”

He walked to the door, and closing it behind him, still grinning he told her “Go to bed, or I’ll sell all your toys, night night.”

By the time he reached the living room Pepper was back inside, sat on the couch reading a book.

“Not that it’s a competition-” Tony spoke and Pepper looked up at him “-but she loves me three thousand.”

“Oh does she now?” Pepper smiled.

“You were somewhere on the low six to nine-hundred range.” Pepper laughed and turned back to her book. Tony, still chewing on the juice pop stick looked back to where the model was still projecting over his table.

“What you reading?” He asked, although he wasn’t particularly interested. His mind was racing once more.

“Oh, it’s just a book on composting”.

“What’s new with composting?” His eyes were still on the image. “Interesting science…” she began, but he cut her off.

“I figured it out, by the way.” Tony looked back at her, removing the juice pop stick from his mouth.”

“And, you know, just so we’re talking about the same thing –“

“Time travel.”

“What?” Pepper whispered as Tony glanced back at the hologram, arms folded. “Wow,” her gaze dropped down slightly, “that’s amazing, and terrifying.”

“That’s right.” He dropped down beside her, his left arm hanging over the back of the sofa.

“We got really lucky.” Pepper said, stroking his arm.

“Yeah, I know.”

“A lot of people didn’t.”

“No, but I can’t help everybody.”

“Well, it sorta seems like you can.” Pepper pressed again.

“Not if I stop.” Tony shrugged, and Pepper gave a small huff of a laugh. “I can put a pin in it right now, and stop.”

“Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures of my entire life.”

Tony gave a soft laugh and his right arm gently rubbed the hand that was laid over his left arm.

“Something tells me I should put it in a locked box and drop it at the bottom of the lake, go to bed.”

There was a pause, before Pepper looked at him again, her eyes soft and her face rearranged into a knowing expression.

“But would you be able to rest?”

Tony didn’t reply, he didn’t need to. They both knew the answer was no. *******

“Alright, Emmy, remember what I said?” Katie looked at her daughter who was sat on the couch in the living room of their old quarters.

“Yeah, I can’t leave here until someone comes to get us.” Emmy nodded

“No matter what.”

“Yeah mom, I got it. We’ll be fine, wont we Jamie?”

Jamie nodded, grinning up at his mother “Yeah, fine.”

“Okay, love you both.”

With one last glance over her shoulder at her kids, Katie made her way back to the hanger.

“Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby.” She heard Steve call out as he strode back towards the computer. Katie couldn’t help but admire his ass, he looked pretty good in a pair of black denims, light blue shirt as always tucked in, belt circling his toned waist. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow with a smug smirk as he caught the expression on her face and she shrugged.

“Good, ‘coz if we blow the grid, I don’t wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950s,” Bruce said through gritted teeth, jerking his thumb at Scott, only his comment wasn’t quite as quiet as he thought. Scott, who was stood in his suit, fiddling with something on his helmet heard perfectly.

“Excuse me?” Scott glared at Banner as Katie and Steve exchanged a glance. .

“He’s kidding!” Natasha said in a playful voice, shaking her head as she tapped on the tablet she was holding which would be used to track Scott. She looked up with a smile, which Katie knew perfectly to be false and laughed. “You can’t say things like that.” Natasha looked at Bruce.

“Yeah, sorry, it was…just a bad joke.” He smiled as he looked at Scott. Scott nodded once as he walked back to the van.

“You were kidding right?” Katie looked at Bruce.

“I have no idea!” Bruce hissed. “We’re talking about time travel here, either it’s all a joke or none of it is!” He looked away from Katie and flashed Scott the thumbs up. “We’re good.”

Steve crossed his arms and let out a breath as Scott pulled his helmet on. He gave Bruce a double thumbs up and Katie smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

“Alright Scott, we’re gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?” Bruce asked as he tapped at the keys on his desk with a pencil

“Perfectly not confusing.” Scott shrugged.

Okay, so now Steve was nervous. He took a deep breath and looked at the man stood by the back of the van, his hands dropping to his hips.

“Good luck Scott. You’ve got this.” He refrained from adding I hope.

“You’re right. I do Captain America.” Scott grinned, proudly, as Bruce hit a button, sucking him into the tunnel.

“On the count of three-“ Bruce called, and Steve dropped his hands, his fists clenching, mouth open slightly as he watched . At the other side of Bruce, Katie and Nat shared a nervous glance. “Three… two…one…” Steve breathed a sigh of relief as someone appeared but it was short lived as he realised the person in front of them could be no older than Emmy. Katie frowned as did Natasha, confusion etched across her face and next to them, Bruce adjusted his glasses.

"Guys, something doesn’t feel right.” The boy informed them nervously.

“What’s going on?” Steve asked, as Bruce set about pressing a load more buttons. “Hang on…”

“Is that Scott?” Katie’s eyes grew wide as she looked at Bruce, who ducked down to hit something on the console, her eyes locking with Steve who looked as utterly perplexed as she felt.

“Yes, it’s Scott!” The boy exclaimed.

Teenage Scott was sucked back into the tunnel, Natasha watching Bruce as he straightened up and the four of them looked back to the tunnel to see another person thrown out, this time an elderly man.

“Ow, my back!”

“What is this?” Steve asked

“Can I…I need a little space!” Bruce demanded as he moved to his right.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Steve hastily moved out of the way and going to stand in between his wife and Natasha. “Can you bring him back?”

“I’m working on it.” Bruce hit one of the screens. Katie, Steve and Nat shared another panicked look as Old Scott was yanked back in only to this time reappear as…

"That’s a baby.” Steve deadpanned.

“It’s Scott!” Bruce defended.

“As a baby!” Steve snapped as the infant looked up at them wide eyed.

“He’ll grow!” Bruce said, attempting a joke.

“Bring Scott back!” Steve instructed sharply.

“Nat, when I say kill the power, kill the power!” Bruce called and Natasha ran off to the breaker at the side of the hanger.

Katie and Steve watched as Bruce jabbed more buttons, before he yelled out “Kill it!”

Natasha pulled the lever down and Bruce slapped a large red button. This time Scott Lang returned exactly as he had been before he left.

“Somebody peed my pants.” He called out loudly, standing stiffly still. “I don’t know if it was baby me, or old me. Or, just… me-me.”

“Time travel!” Bruce beamed excitedly, throwing his hands out to the side as Katie, Steve and Natasha looked at him. “What? I, I see this as an absolute win.”

Steve simply stared at Bruce in silence for a moment, before he shook his head, placing his hands on his hips. He looked down at the floor before he walked off, Katie watching him as he left the hangar and stepped outside.

“I think we should take a break.” Katie took a deep breath. “Nat can you check the kids, I’m gonna…” She jerked her thumb after Steve and Nat nodded.

Steve stood outside by the large metal pillar at the side of the building, hands still on his hips as he stared at the floor. What was the point of being able to time travel if you couldn’t control it? The worse thing being that he wasn’t even sure if they would be able to perfect it with practice, and was he willing to keep risking Scott to do that? They had been so close, but Tony was right, it had clearly been a pipe dream.

“Hey.” Katie’s hand fell gently to his elbow. “Honey, we knew it was a long shot.” “I know.” He sighed, looking at her. “But I thought it might have worked, you know. That we might have had a chance to…”

He was cut off as a loud engine growled in the distance. They both looked out over the compound to see a familiar Audi R8 speeding down the drive towards the hangar. Katie and Steve exchanged a glance as the car pulled up to where they were stood, but overshot their position slightly. Steve followed the car with his eyes as it backed up and Tony rolled down the window and looked at them both. Steve raised his eyebrows, looking away.

“Why the long face?” Tony asked, directing his question to Steve. “Let me guess: He turned into a baby”

“Among other things, yeah.” Steve replied, an edge of frustration in his voice as he looked back at Tony. “What are you doing here?”

Tony opened the car door and climbed out, walking to the back, completely ignoring Steve’s question as he spoke.

“That’s the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might’ve wound up pushing time through Lang.” Tony looked at Steve “It’s tricky. Dangerous. Somebody shoulda cautioned you against it.”

“You did.” Steve deadpanned, not in the mood for a lecture.

“Oh, did I?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow and Katie felt a grin cross her face at her brother’s sarcasm “Thank God I’m here. Regardless, I fixed it” Steve raised his eyebrows as he glanced at his brother in law who held up his right hand which bore what looked like a watch of some description. “A fully functioning Time-Space GPS.

At this Steve let out a genuine smile as he realised Tony was here to help. Tony returned it with one of his own

“I just want peace.” He made the sign with his fingers. “Turns out, being angry and bitter is corrosive, and I hate it.

“Me too.” Steve nodded softly, recognizing this for what it was. An apology for the other day, and he was happy to provide his own.

“Guys, we got a shot at getting these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities.” Tony urged softly, looking from Steve to Katie and back again “Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs”.

“So do we, Tony.” Katie implored. “Our Kids, they’re the most important thing to us.”

“Nothing we do can jeopardise them.” Steve dropped his left arm round Katie. “Any of them.”

“And maybe if we could manage to not die trying, that would be nice.” Tony shrugged.

Steve smiled and held out his right hand. “Sounds like a deal.”

Tony shook it, before he smiled, cheekily, and headed to the trunk. Steve looked at his wife and she shrugged, before the two of them followed him, Steve watching curiously. Tony lifted something out, turned it upside down to dislodge the teddy bear sat on it and Katie’s hand flew to her mouth as she saw it was Steve’s shield.

Steve hesitated, taking a deep breath. “Tony… I don’t know..” He swallowed, the nerve twitching in his jaw. He wasn’t worthy of that shield, not anymore.

“Why? He made it for you.” Tony held Steve’s gaze. “Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding.” Steve looked over his shoulder at Katie, who was fighting back her tears and she gave him an encouraging nod. He lifted his arm and Tony slid the shield straps over his shirt and Steve looked down at it, taking a shaky breath. It felt like slipping into a familiar pair of sneakers.

“Thank you, Tony.” Steve looked up at his brother-in-law, his voice choked as behind him, Katie dropped a hand to his shoulder, pressing a soft kiss to the spot between his shoulder blades, her face resting on his shirt.

“Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn’t bring one for the whole team.” Tony hesitated for a moment. “We are getting the whole team, yeah?

“We’re working on that right now.” Katie moved so she could see Tony, before she heard a yell behind her.

“Uncle Nee!” Jamie shot straight by her and launched at his Uncle.

“Hey, Sport!” Tony grinned, picking him up. “What you been up to?” “Me and Emmy were colouring and making dinosaur models.” “Wow!” Tony nodded, turning to Emmy who was walking towards them.

“Mom?” Her voice was a whisper as she spotted what Steve was holding. “Dad’s…” “Yeah.” Katie smiled at her, dropping an arm round the teenager’s shoulders as she continued to glance at his shield. Never one to miss anything, Jamie glanced at his Sister, then his dad and his eyes widened.

“Why you have shield like Captain America?” Jamie frowned as Steve ran his fingers over the edge of the Vibranium before looking at his son as Tony placed him on the floor, struggling to find the words to explain.

Tony clapped Steve on the shoulder “Alright, I’ll leave that one with you. Time to go see what a mess of my compound Brucie has made. ”He walked passed Emmy, dropping an arm round her shoulders. “Walk with me kid, tell me about Philly.” He shot a glance at Katie who smiled as he steered the teenager back to the compound whilst she began excitedly telling him about her trip.

Steve turned to look Katie, his eyes glistening with emotion.

“Still suits you.” She smiled to him and he gave a little chuckle.

“Daddy!” Jamie insisted, tugging on his trousers, annoyed at his question being ignored.

“Sorry Pal,” Steve crouched down, shield still on his arm. “I have a shield like Captain America because I was Captain America.”

Jamie frowned before his eyes grew wide. An older kid might have laughed and told his dad to stop being silly, but Steve had never lied to Jamie before and it would never have occurred to the three year old to ever think he would.

“You were Captain America?” Jamie frowned. “When you fighted with the Avengers?”

“Yeah” Steve sighed, running his hand through Jamie’s golden hair. “I was.”

“Are you still Cap now?”

“I dunno.” Steve glanced back at his shield before he looked at Jamie, smiling gently.

“I think you are.” Jamie cocked his head to one side as his hand reached out to touch the shield. “Because Cap’s a hero and you’re my hero”

Katie saw Steve’s eyes water instantly as he pulled Jamie closer to him, dropping a kiss to the side of his head as the boy’s arms wound around his dad’s neck. He glanced up at Katie and she swallowed, leaning against the column to her left, wiping her eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had called any of the Avengers that, and to hear it from his son meant more to Steve than anything.

“Daddy?” Jamie mumbled against his dad’s shoulder, where his head lay.

“Yeah?” Steve cleared his throat.

“You got a helmet too?” Jamie pulled back to study his father’s face as Steve gave out a soft laugh

“Yeah buddy. I do.”

“And a uniform?”

“I have a few.” Steve nodded.

“Can I see?” Jamie’s face lit up and Steve glanced at Katie who smiled, nodding encouragingly.

“Sure… come on.” Steve stood up, Jamie easily lifted in his free arm. “You coming?” He stopped at his wife’s side as she reached up a hand to smooth down Jamie’s jumper which had ridden up slightly.

“I think this is a hero to son moment, don’t you?” She smiled, standing on her toes so she could give his lips a peck. “Besides, someone’s gotta stop Tony creating havoc in there.” “Good luck with that.” He muttered, giving her another kiss before he carried Jamie into the compound, striding through the hangar doors and across to the corridor. Katie waited for a moment, composing herself before she headed back inside.

**** True to their word, Nebula and Rocket arrived the following lunch and it wasn’t long after that Katie and Rocket headed off to New Asgard, along with Banner. Banner and Thor had shared a lot during the events leading up to Thanos’ attacking the Asgardian ship and Katie was hoping that together they stood a better chance of convincing the God to help. Katie sat in the passenger seat of the truck belonging to one of the Asgardians who had come to greet them. She couldn’t help but smile as they rolled past the sign at the side of the road WELCOME TO NEW ASGARD, PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY. They stopped at the small port, and Katie hopped out of the truck, thanking the man, whilst Bruce and Rocket climbed out of the back.

“Kind of a step down from a golden palace for an Avenger highness and whatnot.” Rocket mused, looking around.

“Hey, have a little compassion, pal.” Bruce said gently. “First they’ve lost Asgard, then half the people. They’re probably just happy to have a home.”

Katie spotted Valkyrie who smiled at her, and then her face rearranged into surprise as she saw Bruce.

“You shouldn’t have come!” She warned as they approached her.

“Ah, Valkyrie! Great to see you, Angry Girl.” Bruce smiled.

“I think I liked you better either of the other ways.” She almost chuckled, taking in his appearance.

“This is Rocket.” Katie gestured to the raccoon.

“How you doin’?” He greeted her.

Valkyrie nodded at him before she turned to Katie. “He won’t see you.

“Still that bad, huh?” Katie folded her arms.

“We only see him once a month, when he comes for-“ she looked over to the pile of kegs on the side of the port, “-supplies.

“It’s that bad?” Bruce mumbled.

“Yeah.”

“We have to try.” Katie bit her lip, looking round before she turned to Bruce and Rocket. “Come on.” She led them down the side of the harbour and they walked up the small, cobbled street towards the fishing hut Thor was living in. Katie paused, and tried the handle. It opened and Rocket stepped in first. Instantly, Katie was hit with a smell that made her nose wrinkle. It was a combination of dirty clothes, stale beer and old take-outs.

“What the… woo!” Rocket grimaced, waving his paw in front of his nose. “Something died in here.”

“Hello? Thor?” Bruce called.

Thor’s voice rumbled through to them from another room. “Are you here about the cable?”

They made their way into the main room and Thor, who was shirtless, having definitely put on more than a couple of pounds since Katie had last seen him, was walking across the room gesturing to the TV.

“The Cinemax ran out about two weeks ago, and the sports are all kind of fuzzy.” He grabbed a beer from the ice bucket and Katie looked at Bruce who was frowning.

“Thor?” He asked, his voice disbelieving.

Thor turned and took a moment to look at the three of them, before his face cracked into a smile

“Boys!” He laughed out. “Little Stark! Oh my God! It’s so good to see you!” He crossed towards Rocket, trying to hug him, his knuckles rubbing the raccoons head. “Come here, you little rascal!”

“No, I’m good. I’m good. That’s not necessary.” Rocket groaned, wriggling away.

“Hulk, Little Stark, you know my friends, Miek, Korg, right?”

Miek and Korg were sat on a couch, the Rock creature in a Hawaiian shirt, play station controller in his hand playing what looked to Katie like Fortnite- one of Emmy’s favourites.

“Hey guys!” Korg raised his hand in greeting.

“Hey!” Bruce smiled. “Long time no see.”

“Beers in the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously.” Korg said cheerfully as he turned back to his game, growing suddenly serious. “Thor, he’s back. The kid on the TV that called me a dickhead again.”

“Noobmaster.” Thor growled out as he spun round. Miek threw a piece of pizza towards the TV in disgust, giving a little click.

“Yeah, Noobmaster69. Called me a dickhead.”

Thor stomped over to Korg, took his headphones and spoke loudly into the mic.

“Noobmaster? Yeah, it’s Thor again. You know, the God of Thunder? Listen, buddy. If you don’t log off this game immediately, I am gonna fly over to your house, come down to that basement you’re hiding in, rip off your arms and shove them up your butt! Oh, that’s right. Yes, go cry to your father, you little weasel!”

Katie and Rocket exchanged a look as Thor returned Korg’s head set, before she glanced up at Banner who was watching, a look of disbelief on his face and Katie couldn’t help but echo his feelings. Seeing their friend, their once mighty Avenger partner, in such a state made her beyond sad.

“So you guys want a drink? What are you drinking? We have beer, tequila, all sorts of things.” Thor asked, using Stormbreaker to open a bottle of beer. Bruce walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Buddy, you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine! Why, don’t I look all right?” Thor frowned.

“You look like melted ice cream.” Rocket crossed his arms, but despite his joke Katie could tell he was concerned.

Thor simply laughed and looked at them all. “So, what’s up?

“We need your help” Katie spoke gently “There might be a chance we could fix everything.”

“What, like the cable?” Thor burped. “Cause that’s been driving me bananas for weeks.”

“Like Thanos.” Bruce spoke and Katie saw Thor’s smile slowly disappear. He put a shaky hand on Bruce’s shoulder and pointed at him.

“Don’t you say that name.”

Behind Thor, Korg stood up, taking off his headphones. “Um, yeah. We don’t actually say that name in here.”

“Please take your hand off me” Bruce’s tone was quiet as he brushed away Thor’s grip on his shoulder. “Now, I know that… guy might scare you…”

“Why would, why would I be scared of that guy?” Thor scoffed, turning away. “I’m the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy? Nope. Didn’t think so. Korg, why don’t you, tell everybody who chopped Thanos’ big head off.”

“Umm… Stormbreaker?” Korg offered.

“No, who was swinging Stormbreaker?” Thor shot back.

“Thor.” Katie started gently. “I get it, we all get it. You’re in a rough spot right now-”

“I’ve been there myself.” Bruce picked up from her “You wanna know who helped me out of it?”

“I don’t know…Natasha?” Thor snorted and Katie rolled her eyes.

“It was you. You helped me”.

Thor walked back over to Bruce and pointed out of the window with the hand holding his beer. “Why don’t you ask the Asgardians down there, how much my help was worth?” he dropped onto the chair “The ones that are left, anyway.”

“We think we can bring them back.” Katie looked at him.

“Little Stark, please stop. Stop, okay?” Thor pleaded, opening a packet of M&Ms. “I know you think I’m down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I’m fine, okay? We’re fine, aren’t we?”

He looked at Korg and Miek eating pizza and playing once more on the Playstation.

“Nah, all good here, mate!” Korg nodded.

Katie looked back at Thor as he stared up at her. “So, whatever it is that you’re offering, we’re not into it, don’t care, couldn’t care less. Goodbye.”

“We need you Thunder God.” Katie swallowed as she shook her head sadly. ”Please.”

Thor shook his head and ignored her.

“There’s beer on the ship.” Rocket broke the silence, crossing his arms.

Thor paused, and without looking up he spoke again, this time his words softer. “What kind?”

**** Chapter 52

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fic #mcu #mcu fanfic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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simisunny · 4 years

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Broken Hero

I could hear my heart pounding as I entered a war zone.

I didn’t want to leave my home, but duty was calling. Like me, every man and woman are sent here—-willingly and unwillingly. But one thing for sure, our livelihoods are on the line. Whether it’s bills to pay, families to feed, we had to do it, even though taking care of the sick is risky these days.

Before I’d go in, I put on my protective gear—-ready for whatever war I was facing. I know it’s supposed to protect me from danger, but it felt so heavy to wear. I wondered how army men and women deal with this, but I’m sure as hell am living like one.

“You’re late, Jill” my supervisor barked when I entered the third floor.

“By a minute,” I pointed out lazily. I was too tired to argue with my boss since I had a restless night’s sleep. Behind her, everyone wore heavy gear like mine—-running around to every patient’s beck and call.

My supervisor pursed her lips as she shot daggers through her thin lens. Then she relaxed and gave out a small sigh. “Well, thank you for coming out while Becky’s out. I need more men and women here.”

“I know.” Last night, I got excited to have the day off today, but when I found out that my co-worker is out sick and quarantined, my boss called for help. I had no choice but to step in and do it, or I’d be out, jobless. I hoped Becky would get better sooner and help me.

As I was told to get working, I went from one room to the next. Usually, most of them were bored and irritable, probably because they didn’t want to be here. A couple of patients I dealt yelled at me, even though I tried to do my job.

Then I relaxed when I entered the last room. A slight smile bloomed behind my mask to see my patient. It eased me to see him, but at the same time, I was not happy when tubes and machines hooked up to him for his own sake. This was never there before, but I don’t want to think anymore. Instead, I kept my cheerful disposition up, knowing that this patient’s still breathing and fighting. “Morning, Mr. Jones,” I said as I walked in. “How are you doing?”

“Could’ve been better, Jill doll,” his voice was gruff, but his tone was light upon seeing me. “But seeing you sure brings a smile to my face. Say, I thought your pal’s working today. What happened to her?”

“She called out sick, sir,” I told him.

He tsked and shook his head. “What a shame. Tell her she should get better soon.”

“I will, Mr. Jones. Now, let me take your vitals and then draw some blood.”

“Do I have to?” he whined playfully.

I chuckled and started assessing the patient. I started taking care of him two weeks ago when he was first diagnosed with what everyone else had. Poor guy; he was in his 50s but has low immunity.

“So Jill doll,” Mr. Jones said while I was recording his blood pressure onto the computer. “What’s new and good with you?”

“Nothing much. What about you?”

“The same.” He glanced out the window and sighed. “If only I could see my family again instead of being stuck here. I really missed them.”

I lowered my gaze slightly; there was so much pain in his eyes from the fact that he wasn’t able to see his family; what with the restrictions the hospital had to put up. As much as I wanted to keep him company, there was little I could do to ease the pain—-literally and figuratively.

“Do you… think I’ll ever get to see them again?”

My eyes widened from Mr. Jones’ statement; I didn’t want to hear him giving up on me or his family like that. “Don’t fret, sir. As soon as you get better, you will see them again, and I’ll make sure you do that.”

A soft smile bloomed on his face. Slowly, his eyes fixed on something and grinned. “Your pendant looks new to me.”

I chuckled. He must be talking about that golden, heart-shaped pendant I was wearing, dangled around my neck where it was visible to everyone. “Thank you. It was a gift from my mom when she was visiting her family in India.” I lowered my gaze, thinking about her. It was the last thing I had from her before this war had taken her life.

The man nodded, noticing my disposition. “Well, it looks pretty on you.”

“Oh stop, Mr. Jones.” I waved my gloved hand dismissively. I chuckled when and knew what he was trying to gain.

“I mean it. You’re so pretty, and you treat me nicely, compared to other nurses here.” He leaned close, but not too much as he whispered loudly, “But don’t tell anyone I said that. This is between you and me.”

“Alright, Mr. Jones.” That definitely cheered me up a bit.

He started laughing before it turned into a coughing fit. “Jill, could you hand me some water for me?”

“Sure.” I quickly grabbed a paper cup and water jug before pouring it and handing it back to him. He took some gulps before there was no more; however, he was breathing raggedly. My heart was lurching from the sight of the poor man gasping for air as he was clutching his chest. “Jill…” He rasped while throwing in a coughing fit. “Help me…”

“Quick, someone help me!” I yelled without hesitation.

In no time, the EMT arrived by Mr. Jones’ side and did everything he could to help him breathe normally, but the man kept huffing and puffing before I could see his eyes closed. One man was shouting orders as the rest of the crew did what they had to do to revive the man’s life. All I did was stop and stare, as his life was draining before my eyes. I wanted to save the man so much, but I froze in fear. I don’t want to lose another life, but somehow, death was pulling me back—-making me watch, as it does its magic.

And it worked. I heard Mr. Jones’ flatline as my heart dropped.

What have I done, I wondered.

As much as I wanted to walk away and enjoy my break, I had to write up the report since I was present at the time of Mr. Jones’ death. It felt so long that I wanted to escape. I thought I wouldn’t be able to breathe until I could take a break and compose myself. I wanted to be out of the building and take a seat on the bench, enjoy the fresh air as much as I could before I could head back. If only I could never go back, knowing that I lost another life.

Over and over, one person died in my hands after another, and it was sickening me. I couldn’t eat my lunch, knowing that I lost this war as death was scoffing at me.

Then I noticed a banner hanging on the wall, and I frowned at the words, “To the front liners, we thank you. You are our heroes.”

I gritted at the sight of those words; they were meaningless. I’m no hero. I was called to be one because I’m risking my life while others didn’t have to do anything but watch us sacrifice. I hate being called a hero when I’m already feeling broken. No one understood.

No one.

Feeling so overwhelmed, I couldn’t stifle the tear that escaped from my cheek. And next thing I knew, I brought my knees up and buried my face as I cried quietly. I didn’t care if anyone looked at me oddly. They should see their so-called “hero” is broken.

There was so much that has been stored in my mind, and I wanted to let it out so much. I wanted this everlasting nightmare to be over. I kept hoping and praying for this to stop, but no matter how much I tried, there were no answers coming. No help that I needed, no matter how much I ask. And the worst of all, no one could make it stop.

I wanted this to be over.

Since I couldn’t produce any more tears, I dried my eyes with a napkin I brought and, from the corner of my eye, I noticed something next to me. A dandelion? Where did it come from? I lifted it with care and inspected it before I scanned the area. My eyes stopped at a little girl who was grinning at me, as she was holding her mother’s hand. They both smiled while I was sobbing. But they never cared, probably because they wanted to see me smile more than anything.

And it worked when I realized I chuckled lightly and gave them a friendly wave. They waved back before they turned to leave.

I glanced back at the flower and let out a sweet sigh. It wasn’t much, but it gave me solace. So I tucked the flower inside my pocket—-didn’t care how foolish it was. It was a sentiment to keep going and do the best I could.

#amwriting #short story #fiction #coronavirus #reader #writer

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momo-de-avis · 5 years

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Wordtober Day 4: Freeze

[This one is a bit longer than the others, mind you.]

My dearest Nieve,

Have you ever imagined what does the world look like when it freezes completely?

It’s something that has never really crossed my mind, curiously enough. Just a concept I never thought of. I saw this movie a while ago, a suggestion by an old boyfriend I think, about a man who had that power. Though not quite… he didn’t freeze the world, he froze time. And there was this voyeuristic element to it, because he was an artist and he enjoyed the peace and quiet of drawing the, I think he called it, ‘intervals of time’, and he went about lifting women’s shirts and painting their breasts, or pulling down their pants—it was a very skewed concept of sexual deviancy, if you ask me. Either way, it was framed around this notion of ‘guy just wants to appreciate women’s bodies so he freezes time’, because maybe the director was too much of a coward to call his fantasies ‘sexual assault’. I hated the movie, truth be told. My ex loved it, though. I wondered why, but never asked. To each his own, I suppose. And then I never thought about it again.

Now, let me tell you a story.

Last Friday, I didn’t really want to leave home at all. It was raining, really cold, and there were a few episodes on The Good Wife I wanted to catch up on. But… Jun was insistent on it. And you know how I am. A good, supporting friend. Plus, I might have been a little lonely. Ever since my flatmates moved out, living on my own, I have been missing that ruckus of two people shouting at each other over a lost game of Trivial Pursuit, or something. So, without them, most of the time, all I had was Julianna Marguiles.

Worst of all, it was Black Friday. And I hate Black Fridays. How the crowd goes ravenous for things, for materialistic things they will just throw away in five years’ time, how they all go animalistic on themselves for a price inflated for the sole purpose of being lowered drastically, with appeasing numbers like ‘50’ or ‘70’, splashed in red or yellow to make it all the more alluring, it just—it transcends me, honestly. I get the whole opportunity thing, of buying something you need on the advent of a big sale, but really? Really? You know what I mean. Those people, punching each other over a coffee machine, or a hair straightener, the majority of them don’t need it. It’s a greedy spur-of-the-moment thing. I try to understand it, really, but I can’t.

So, Jun really wanted to go to Black Friday last week, and I said, okay. I was willing to put up with an event I detested if only I was rewarded with some warm coffee or tea at a cosy shop and some nice catching up. It couldn’t have been too complicated, I thought.

Yet it was… far more than I can describe.

We got there at ten, and the crowd was already raging. If by crowd you imagine just a swarm of people wafting by violently like ants before winter, you’re severely down-playing it. Curiously enough, I noticed there was something new to the place. We went to the local mall, of course, but Jun wanted a new pair of skates, so our obvious destination was the sports store. And there, strangely enough, between Adidas and Nike displays, was a banner. It shined bright in blue and it was written with white letters that, for some reason, seemed to dance.

‘Special Show Today at 11 by Aleneus the Magnificent.’

I laughed, of course. What kind of nerd would name himself that? What bloody LARPing, D&D, con attendee idiot would bother to name himself something straight out of a default Runescape character? And who the bloody hell was Aleneus the Magnificent? I thought: some trashed, bankrupted clown, at the end of his career, who was about to set up a kiddie show in the middle of the sports store. Maybe the manager had thought it would ease the frantic crowd and just take a moment and enjoy a card trick by some weirdo wearing a cape and pulling colourful scarves out of his sleeve.

I mean, this bothered me more than tit-spying lunatic from time-freezing movie.

The air inside reeked of body odour, absolutely unbreathable, and everywhere people ran and clashed against one another. Exactly what you’d expect of Black Friday, I suppose. I saw an older woman, clad in pink and the ugliest pair of crocs I have ever seen, entering a shouting contest with a suburban mum over one of those pairs of child sneakers that lights up at every step. Two guys—one muscly, clearly in the right store for him—and the other slender thought intimidatingly tall—reached over for the same pair of shorts and proceeded to try and conquer it through a game of tug-of-war. The shorts lost, in the end, being ripped at the centre, and nobody even bothered to call a worker or anything, they just tossed it aside into the pile of already discarded items. A group of teenagers started a brawl over a couple of pairs of Nikes, and it escalated to punches and scratching, until one of them bled slightly from the nose and security had to be called in.

Security had to be called in a lot, but the poor fellas waddled through the sea of rage, barely able to move, with warning shouts like you’d hear at a riot. Disperse! Disperse! Insane, I tell you. These poor chaps just marched on, at one point pushing people aside with swift enough force for a corridor to form, though even they weren’t spared the angry screams of customers just dying to get their hands on a 70% discount over some football team’s jersey. Even me, not being one for cops in general, I felt bad.

Now, imagine the poor workers, there. The sea of clothes scattered about, rising up to mountains of products either trashed under a brawl or left forgotten by some middle-aged, self-entitled office worker, who couldn’t even spare a second to fold a t-shirt back into place, just made you angry on sight. You’d see shoes being kicked around, boxes tumbled over, shoelaces spilling out like swarms of snakes, hangers thrown over their shoulders, footballs and basketballs thumping the floors loudly as one petulant child insisted they must try it out before deciding, only to kick it away and watch it hit a rack of sweaters and then the head of another angry customer who would turn back and scream, but got no answer.

I just wanted to get out of there, but Jun was set on getting a pair of skates, since the wheels on hers were too worn out and the boot was starting to come off, or something. So she spotted a pair on a rack, black, hot-pink and purple, and went straight for it. Though when her hand hit the boot, another came flying. This other person had, of course, been a tad too late, and I could vow for Jun’s first arrival, but that usually doesn’t matter to Black Friday attendees. With a violent tug, she plucked the skate out of Jun’s hand and then shoved her hard. She nearly fell, had she not bumped into my chest—but she was having none of it, of course. Even I was ready to throw hands. I mean, the face on that woman… Blistering self-entitlement, believe me.

This stranger—a woman that looked about her age, early twenties maybe, and quite fit—began to turn around, when Jun caught a grip of her ponytail and gave her a shove. Her neck almost snapped, and there was a cry, though in the midst of angry bellows, I couldn’t tell exactly if she had been that hurt. But in that moment, I began to panic, as the woman turned around with eyes glinting in fury and one hand raised. Now, I had not signed up for a fight, and the prospect of it sincerely scared the soul out of me.

Then, the speakers growled. Like someone was trying to use them but either a microphone or an old phone got too close and it wheezed and groaned and pierced all our ears. Everyone flinched—me included—like the sound shattered all our brains. Skaters fell on the ground forgotten, as did almost anything anyone was holding at all. And for a split second, everything was so silent I was starting to believe they did bring in riot gear and they were beginning to… disperse the crowd, I guess. It was just peaceful for one second a half.

It passed, and in the far end, between the sea of heads that jumped right back to tussling against each other for a new backpack, a figure appeared. Something cold then grabbed hold of me. He was a slender man, cartoonishly dressed in a top hat and a cape, and I suppose a typical magician’s outfit, modelled after some 19th century caricature—high-waisted pants and bland, white shirt, as you have. Ready to entertain a bunch of middle-schoolers with some cheap tricks. He smiled, too. And it was his smile that was disconcerting.

Nobody paid mind to him, naturally, but I was enticed. I was even ignoring Jun’s tussle with the woman over the pair of skates, and something drew me in. I walked. Amidst the ravenous tumble of bodies fighting each other, I pushed everyone away and walked ahead.

Have you ever felt you were doing something against your will? Your body is moving, but there’s a screaming voice inside your head that tells you to stop, yet you can’t answer to it. You just keep moving and moving, and the more you fight it, the more suffocating it becomes.

It’s frightening at first. But once you let it settle, it becomes… easy. Like walking up an escalator. It takes you where you need to go, not where you want to be. And to be taken where we need to be can be dreadful, but once you reach the destination, it becomes… comforting.

You might be wondering, at this point, Nieve—why am I writing to you? Why am I telling you this?

Oh, you will see.

The man raised his eyes from the crowd, and against all my expectations, found mine. I suddenly felt bad for all my prior misconceptions, upon reading his name—which, by all accounts, is quite ridiculous—because he was nothing like the stereotypical image I had composed in my mind. Something danced around him. Like the air rearranged itself, particles clashing against one another and atoms rubbing together to rearrange reality, but so faint, so slight, you could barely see it. And I was the only one paying attention to it. A soft vibrancy, like when you hear the humming of a television in another room before actually knowing it’s turned on.

I stopped, and his smile turned into a grin. Between the dimples of his amusement, something sombre fell, and I must admit, it was then I felt terror. Gripping, paralyzing terror. He leaned forward, his eyes now so close to mine I felt every muscle in my body contracting and tensing up, like the lid of a box smacking shut, and I looked into his deep, purple eyes. I remember thinking it was quite the unnatural colour.

He tilted his head and murmured: “Would you like to freeze the world over?”

I realize now he must have summoned me because, in the middle of this inane rumble happening inside a sports store, of people gnawing at each other like wild animals over a pair of sneakers or a new tennis racket, I was the only one grounded enough to pay attention. Because I didn’t want to be there at all. And he knew. Until that moment, I was quite shaken, terrified even, but then it felt like the truest, most honest beckoning amidst the rise of the Apocalypse. Like the archangel Michael handed me the sword of silver himself to decide upon the mortal souls who should enter Heaven. And besides, the confusion was brewing a headache in me. I just wanted everyone to be silent for a moment.

So I answered honestly: “Yes.”

He drew away, tipped his hat and cast one paralyzing glance over the crowd, and the world… froze. It just… stopped.

I cannot express to you, Nieve, how beautiful a sight it is to see a world frozen like God hit the pause button. Maybe tit-spying peeping Tom from the movie was onto something, because I have never before experienced such peace in my life.

Just try to imagine it. Chaos coming to a halt around you, all the sounds of the world sucked out of existence, and there’s only absence The people that, just before—minutes before—existed in a revolution of egoism, fighting and screaming and shouting over owning things, buying things, purchasing things, and things, and more things—suddenly turned into statues. I felt a queen amidst the blind.

I trudged down the cluttered aisles, stepping on discarded clothes and broken hangers, plastic cracking beneath my soles and fabrics caught into my fingers and hairs, and watched: hissing growls frozen mid-scream, clenched fists hoisted in interrupted challenges, even a couple of fingers gripping the hairs of one another. I touched the arm of a woman whose face was cast into stony anger, eyebrows pushed together in ravenous hatred, and she didn’t move.

The magician, or what was he, appeared next to me, calmly placed a hand on my shoulder and said: “Try hurting her.”

I should have fought it, I know, but I was far too curious to deny the opportunity. If one could freeze the entire world over like this, just to bring a moment’s peace, and watch the carved animosity of these brutes clashing over materialism, what else could one do with it? I mean, it’s wrong to do it, to take advantage of someone’s body who’s stuck into a liminal space between life and non-existence. I know that, I’m not a monster. But so is so many of the things these people were doing. You just had to look at the workers and cashiers there to understand it. And who’s to say they don’t deserve a little pain?

The magician produced an ice pick from his pocket; his hand touched mine softly—and, oh, I cannot express to you how cold those fingers were—and placed it gently on my palm. “Try hurting her,” he said again. The voice was tuneful, like a chirping bird, and I almost want to say it carried something charming with it, perhaps an enchantment of sorts (at least, he had the clothes to go along with it). But I’d be lying. I wasn’t moving against my own free will, anymore. I was too curious, and this world was too silent for me to let it go back to that irritable cacophony of screams and aggression from just seconds before.

So I did. I picked up the ice pick and pressed it gently against her puffy white skin; I felt the surface of her arm sink below the sharp tip as it pressed on deep into the flesh until the cold blade hit her bone and a silky thread of red sprouted from the puncture wound. She didn’t move; yet as I looked up at her face, I saw a tear sliding down her eye. Like a wax figure that somehow contained a soul inside of it, and upon the alien touch felt every pain a human could, only twice as hard. I thought I was enacting some proper punishment, I won’t deny. I saw that woman hit a kid with an empty box. It was an accident, but maybe if she hadn’t been so concentrated on shoving aside all and any who got to her precious ugly sneakers first, she wouldn’t have hurt a child—would she?

Do you want to know what I did next, Nieve? To each and every one of them? Because I did things. I simply relished in this immense power I was still unsure where it came from. So I did things.

Alright, I won’t tell you all of it. But I’ll tell you part of it. The muscly guy who played a game of tug-of-war and threw the ripped shorts apart, I poked his eyes out—oh, yes, both of them. That’ll teach him to watch where he throws things, next time. And the slender, tall man he fought—I pierced both his hands and feet. The woman with the ugly crocs? Who smacked three people that I could see with a plastic hanger? I broke every single one of her fingers and watched her tears run silently down her pale, reddish skin. The group of teenagers who had started a brawl? The one stuffing watches in his pockets—well, I stuffed socks down his throat—one, two, three, and four, and five, and six, until his trachea was so filled with cloth his eyes swelled and burst into red as he suffocated. At one point, I even stole money from a few of them and filled the pockets of every single one of the workers there. I think they deserved it.

There were more, but these, I think, are enough to paint the picture. Perhaps I’m more of a pervert than tit-spying freak from the movie.

I asked the magician then, after I had my fun, who had this amazing power. I certainly thought it had to be him, because he had called upon me, he had summoned me. But imagine my astonishment when he leaned into my ear and whispered: “You.” I asked how—how could it be possible, and why hadn’t I just… discovered it before. He simply said: “I gave it to you.”

We walked back to the doorway. Outside, the mall was packed full with people walking up and down the corridors, not minding the hell I had frozen over. As if they didn’t even acknowledge the existence of that store.

“You can do it again,” he said. “Whenever you like.”

I did, a few times, of curiosity, just to see how it works. And every single time, I watched their bodies turn rigid and stony, their muscles constrained by that burning wish of wanting to move, but utterly unable to. And me, their God, deciding what to do upon them as their lives hung suspended before my power.

Though I’m not as greedy as I might sound. I didn’t do anything, this time.

When I was done, the magician chuckled briefly, tipped his hat again and said: “Use it wisely.” I watched him away, sliding through the passing customers, and in between the silhouettes, he disappeared. A flicker of reality, gone within a second. Maybe that’s all he had been.

I think about just what he was often, you know. Maybe he was an agent of chaos, a trickster of some sort. Maybe he was a god, playing a prank on mankind by leaving this gift of immense power in the midst of chaos, waiting to see who would be worthy of possessing it. And he chose me.

When I turned my back to the sports store and walked home, the screams began. I can still hear them, Nieve. I can still hear those bellows of panic filled with just enough of a flutter of confusion as they wondered: where did all that pain come from?

Did you see the news article they published about it? ‘Black Friday Turned Bloody’. They just accepted, with no further ado, that these morons plucked each other’s eyes out and broke each other’s fingers over shorts and sneakers! There were a few mentions of something the press labelled ‘paranormal’, but the police just chalked it all up under ‘trauma’ or something. I mean, who cares, at this point?

I did leave Jun there, for pity’s sake. I didn’t want to hurt her, she’s nice, I like her. You, on the other hand, is quite the different story.

I’m sure, by now, you’ve figured out where I’m going with this. I mean, you’re one monumental bitch, but you’re not daft. Certainly, you remember—don’t you? We used to be friends when we were kids, in year nine, really close too. Until you decided you were too good for me. Oh, far too good for poor, ugly Suranne, with her thick hairs and bushy brows, and all that. Remember how it all ended? That day you invited me over for a study group at your house, only for me to find out it was a set-up?

I still have the scars on my body. They never really went away, and I’ve been forced to look at them every single day of my life since. Worst of all was erasing the mental scars you left me. Leaving school and some good years of therapy just didn’t seem enough. I think I found the right therapy, though. Freezing the world over can be chilling for others, but for me it’s just… peaceful.

But do try to remember, Nieve—how I cried that day and begged you to stop punching me, or how much I screamed when you pressed a burning hot rod against my skin to, and I quote you, ‘brand me like the cow I was’. Please, remember every single instance of pain you inflicted on me—the cuts, the pinches, the poking needles, the slaps—because, in no time, you will be the one feeling them. I will freeze the world—your world—and I will make it last three times more than it did for me, and you will feel every inch of horrifying, excruciating, humiliating pain I felt. And it will go on for so long your frozen body will try to wither and jerk itself free from me and nothing will happen, because that screaming, bristling terror you will feel will be all locked up inside that head of yours like in a panic room. No one will hear your thoughts, and no one will know your pain, and once you wake up, no one will hear your cries for help because I will make sure you will have no tongue for a plea.

You might think it a petty thing, to be given this power and then decide to use it in a quest for revenge, and one that’s over ten years old, but you know what? I’m not really one for heroism, anyway—never was. This world is far too big and complicated for me to go out and just become a vigilante or something. And I just… don’t care like that.

Then again, you did bring this on yourself.

So, please—do remember that day and keep the sordid details in mind because… I am coming for you, Nieve.

From your former best friend,

Suranne.

P.S.: I just remembered the name of the movie! It’s called Cashback, though it’s just dreadfully boring and too voyeuristic for me. Well, but—you know. Men.

Past Challenges:

Wordtober Day 1: Ring

Wordtober Day 2: Mindless

Wordtober Day 3: Bait

#wordtober #writing #my writing #creative writing #fiction #my wordtober

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unclejuho · 5 years

Text

sf9 in london event + concert experience ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

this is my 5k essay on what happened 190512 // enjoy reading!!!

so i got to the venue at 11pm the night before bc i was so stressed by the other concerts (ppl at la started lining up at 6pm??) i really wanted to be near the front since im coming all way from the netherlands anyways i better go big or go home!!!! so like i waited there for an hour amongst other fans who were still waiting from a diff concert and when they left other fantasy arrived so we started queueing up. i rlly have to thank sf9 uk casue they were so nice to me and they kept letting me use their hotel next door to let me go to the bathroom and change ♥️

i ended up getting nr1 (or nr21 ig isbdhs) so!!!! we did it LMAO succesfully got a good spot even though my feet and butt were dead by the time anything even happened,, its so hard to wait for 16+ hours to go to a concert but its sf9 so who cares about health 🤡 we didnt get knifed and a lot of ppl came up to ask who the fuck we were waiting for hdbshsh it was so funny

so i started handing out my juho stuff ofc and ppl seemed to like it!!! so im glad haha eventually even i didnt have any anymore so i was happy ppl liked it!

skip to like 1pm which is when the members arrived at the venue, i was a lil late noticing cus i was waiting for those signed narcissus albums but i ran to the front anyways n saw youngbin chani tae leave the van (like what they posted in the travel preview) so that was!!!!! jdbdbsb they were so unbothered it was so cute so i went to get my albums and came back to line (i got all hwiyoung pcs oshshah)

also there were so many other fans handing out fanmades it was so sweet the entire atmosphere was fantastic bc everyone was nice to eachother, rlly everyone i talked to was super sweet!!! also so many fansites with slogans or fans so i went broke once more but it was all worth it theyre so pretty...

at like 4.30 was the special event which lmao i rlly was so tired and i got sooo nervous i had my already signed fanfare from mwave bc if ure gonna sign any album it should be fanfare (looking at ALL the ppl that gave them narcissus) sooo us 20 were led upstairs to some sort of bar area and they had a long table w water bottles so we had to wait a lil while the staff checked our signed items if they were ok and then we had to form a line to wait (they were late) i met another dutchie so that was nice hdhshsh

finally the members walk out and im shaking bc baek ju is the first to enter the room!!! he was wearing that leopard sweater and i didnt even hate his mullet seeing it upclose...

jae was wearing that stupid unbottoned shirt skbssbsb and he came in giving ALL the fanservice like him and inseong were here for the entire thing osbdbsb the other members just sat down and sociaized with eachother like yb kept being adorable and pulling faces at the table it was everything and i couldnt see rowoon bc ppl were standing in front of him but i was!!!! shaking already bc whos idea was it to start off this event with fucking rowoon lmao is like immediate heart attack! ju was last which was oof...

so i had like ideas of what i wanted to talk abt w each members but lmao??? i didnt talk abt any of it to any member my mind was so shook...

first up was rowoon and he just hdhshsh???? the eye contact of this man and just seeing him upclose was so intense tf he rlly was.. so gorgeous n bc of his hair up his eyes looked even bigger n shimmered and the pics rlly dont do him justice... so the first thing i said was wow so handsome bc why not.. i was gagged indeed hdbdbsb he said like woooow our debut album and you already have it signed oabdbs i didnt explain the entire mwave thing bc wud he understand haha but he opened n he saw the pic of himself hes like what do u like better me now or me here??? me being myself im like fanfare bc ur hair down is so cute oahdhshs i rlly not a narcissus hag anyways but fanfare was best rowoon as always... so rowoon did his sign and i asked him to do sky castle impersonation he didnt understand so i just repeated sky castle he was like ah the voice thing im like yes cha minhyuk isbdbsh so he did the fucking thing and i was dying lmao great to have seen it in the flesh ofc...

after rowoon was taeyang and taeyang!!!! was so hyper and attentive like hdnsb whenever u see him in vids hes usually very casual but he was soooo sweet and he too was like ahhh fanfare he took a while to say but he said his heart was still in there hdhdhsh so i was 🤧🤧 i just asked tae if he was doing okay or if he wasnt feeling tired and he said he was doing great bc i was there im like dying hdhshsh so i said yah me too!!!!

jae was after taeyang n jae was jdhshshs soooo into it i know korean fans say ppl change biases to jae after meeting him and i have to say i can see why!!! i didnt rlly know what to say to jae beforehand but he said oooo i really love london and im like haha i dont like it here im like im from the netherlands so he was shocked he said thank you for coming to travel here and he held my hand isbdbsbsb

next was inseong and... the eye contact level was sooo severe he rlly threw all into it hes like hi thank you for coming so much so i was wearing this shirt w a 🥩 on it and im like inseong do u like my shirt bc i know u love meat iahdhahsh so he was laughing n said yea wow this is my favorite shirt oshdhshs rlly had me going LOL he asked if it was my first time seeing them im like yea but im going to korea in the summer tho oshdhshs he said that was great n asked how long i was staying for,,, so im like im going a month so he asked why i was going so long im like im going for u!!! hdbshsb he gave me some hearts and i moved on ndhsbsab

so chani was next up and he looked so shy,,,, im sad bc i forgot to say everything i wanted to say to him at the beginning and i was just like chaniiiiiii and he laughed and signed my album before i went i quickly pushed in a URE MY FAVE DANCER n he highfived me hdhsbs

so youngbin was next and i... lmao... i was weak haha he just read my name hes like hiiiii gia im here being depressed saying HI YOUNGBIN I LOVE U SM thank u sm for everything u do for us and i shit u not my eyes like tearing up oshdbsbs yb asking me how im feeling im like YEA GREAT tears in my eyes oabdbs i rly couldnt speak otherwise id actually have them roll down my face so i just nodded and moved on iabsbs

hwiyoung im so sorry... i was still emo from yb and i even forgot to say happy birthday like pls hit me... hwi cheered for the fanfare album and im like yess hwi i love ur hair here i love the blonde;; hwi thanked me for coming

next up was dawon and jdbsbs i came in saying hi fantasy president so he said yeeee fantasyyyyy and hes an unbothered legend oabbdhssbn he signed quickly and within a minute i was away again jdhdhs

so juho.. my god oshdhshwh hes so:((( pretty let me breathe liek... i came there im like juho i love u oahdhshsh hes just nodding his way going to sign my album and he drawing that heart stickman so im like i have a question can u draw— hes like this is my signature drawing LUCKILY i drew the jucasso next to my name so im like pointing at it being like lmao boy we dont want this heart flop bdhdhsh so he quickly drew it and i said i hope u feel better soon and i was off again,,, rlly dawon and juhos signing went so quick...

so we moved on to the pictures and they were grabbing the chairs and ju was standing all way back at first but then no members went to sit on the chairs oahdhs so JUHO THE MAN WENT FOR THE SEAT NEXT TO THE MIDDLE HDHSHSH and hwi on the other side and jae behind so im blessed like juho... he rlly did it... hdhshsh i quickly go to grab one of my banners bc im like bitch i gotta fucking rep for it now otherwise i wudnt know a pose anyways oahdhshs so i quickly took off my glasses as well

so its my turn im going up and sitting down and like handing this banner to ju and hes like ???? oh???? he quickly reads it n was impressed hdbsb so there was one pic and tae was sitting next to ju and wanted to read what was on the banner so he turned to us but then we had to take another pic so he had to turn back quickly again oahdhshsh and then i had to go again but as i walked away ju was explaining to the members what was on my banner so i :((((

after everyones picture was taken they said goodbye and waved and inseong stayed behind a lil to joke abt drinking beer (i rlly hate him but also me?) and then they left and we got our merch bags n went back downstairs

so i quickly ran over to my bestie to tell her abt it before realizing we had to line up to go inside for the concert so i was like stressed running away i rlly almost lost my first spot LOL but we were let inside the venue i had like 50 bags but i ran to the front and BLESS IT there was like tiny space left at the left side which is were i wanted to be bc juwoon!!!!!! so i rly did get barrier thank god i could put down all my bags as well and the fantasy next to me were great as well!!!!

// i’ll add the concert later as im tired rn and this is already 5k osjbhdbhjas

#sf9 concert #thsi is sooo long wtf #hate this oashjbdbajsd

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firstofficerhobgoblin · 5 years

Text

Happy Birthday @luck-over-logic !!!!

To the most wonderful James Tiberius Kirk in the TOS RP community!!!!!

I've now known you for a year and change and I'm ever so very glad I ran into you!! The muse has been silent as the grave of late, but have some Birthday minific! I did Fourth of July Last year, so this year have Pride. And I hope I have to think of summer themes for you for many years to come!!!

________________

Spock liked talking walks during the hottest part of the day. Jim had always known that, but as they got older he began to realize the true implication of the habit. It meant that all damn summer Jim was going to sweat like a horse. Why it was only June 30th, and it was only 11 am, and he was only wearing a t-shirt and lo and behalf he was damn near soaking through it, and was starting to get a little self conscious about the fabric clinging to what it aughtn't, and really he probably shouldn’t be wearing shorts at all at his age, and he wouldn’t have if it wasn’t so hot; he just wasn’t as trim as he’d once been. Bones had taken to calling him good old fashioned fat. He stared at a well built young man in short shorts and a painted on tank top, chatting loudly on his phone as he jogged past them, clearly late for something. He remembered when he looked like that….

“You look perfectly fine to me.” Spock said softly, giving Jim a start. But he smiled at the sentiment. Spock could read his mind even when he wasn’t….well….reading his mind. But he could be a little frustrating when it came to looks, for even in this weather he looked dignified in all blacks and greys and never a day over 50.

Spock reached down and squeezed his hand. Jim, as always, squeezed back, returning the gentle pulse of adoration Spock had sent his way and they carried on.

A minute later a young woman bathed in pink, purple and blue glitter bounced past them, accompanied by a tall man in corresponding pastel pink, blue and white glitter. Spock observed them with quiet curiosity, that peaked when the sparkly pair met up with a girl wearing rainbow body paint, and little else at the end of the block.

“Human youth culture never ceases to amaze.” The Vulcan observed quietly. “Where could they possibly be going looking that conspicuous?”

But when they reached the end of the block and looked uptown, they got their answer. They were nearly bowled over by a wall of sound, emanating from a seething, screaming crowd of people flamboyantly dressed people, all congregated under a massive rainbow banner that read 'San Fran Pride'. Jim laughed aloud. Spocks eyebrows shot up so high they nearly disappeared into his bangs and his grip on Jim’s hand tightened.

“I forgot about LGBT history month!” Jim said. Spock stared at him in a way that indicated his comment had in no way explained the multicolored cabal of glitter and feathers that had appeared before them. “Humans used to be kinda awful to each other, remember? And homosexuality used to be kinda an issue.” He explained.

“I am well aware of your history…” Spock replied, with a gaze canted uncomfortably towards the parade impling Jim’s explanation had not in fact explained a damn thing about the mass of humanity doing their best impersonation of so many birds of paradise. Just then the obligatory Stonewall float passed by, and that was how Jim Kirk found himself shout-explaining the history of pride, from riot, to protest, to party, to historic commemoration, a few feet from the current incarnation of the event. The era when it was a protest. When corporations tried to take it. When it was declared a History Month, like it always should have been. Spock listened with his typical intensity, regarding the display of flamboyance with changing opinion and increasing regard as Jim spoke.

He was just beginning his own tale of “Why, I remember my first Pride. I was about seventeen. I hadn’t quite figured out what I was feeling for men yet and my friend from……..” He trailed off as a float grabbed his eyes and stole all his attention.

The Starfleet sponsored float was topped with a beautiful starship made of iridescent sequins, and the float below was covered in pictures honoring LGBT figures from Starfleet history. The First Homosexual Captain. The First Trans Captain. The first Asexual Captain. But Jim's eyes nearly bugged out of his head at the fifth photo.

The youngest Captain on Record. And his First Officer.

“Now you see here!” He hollered so loud that everyone in the vicinity turned to look at him. “I’m not history yet! I’m still right here!”

Everyone around them was staring, looking back and forth between the oversized image in the approaching float and the pair of old men standing in the back of the parade crowd. Finally someone declared the obvious.

“Holy shit…..it’s them!!! It’s Captain Kirk and Commander Spock!!” someone yelled.

“Admiral and Captain.” Spock corrected, but his insistence on precision was lost in the deafening cry of shrieks that rose up from the crowd around them, loud enough to draw the attention of the older man Marshaling the Starfleet float. The man, who neither of them recognized at first, immediately signaled for the float to stop and started waving like mad.

“Kirk!!!” He shouted, vaulting himself off the float with a spry leap that seemed inappropriate for his advanced years, and bolted to the edge of the Parade barricades. “Jim! Spock!”

It was Spock who saw through the rainbow wig and over the top makeup first. “Captain Sulu?”

“Yes!!!” He shouted back. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? You’d have had a place ON the float!! C’mon! Get up here!! C’mon guys!! Let the infamous Captain James T. Kirk and Commander Spock up here with us!”

Jim tried to insist that they hadn’t planned this at all, but his words of protest were lost in the happy cries of the crowd as they shuffled him and Spock forward and helped them climb the barricade into the parade proper, where Sulu took the Captain’s hand and yanked him up onto the float as it started moving again. Spock, who was still, clinging to Jim’s arm, got dragged along with and was surprised to find himself and Jim’s presence getting aggressively cheered.

Sulu immediately began fussing over their appearance, swapping out Jim’s t shirt for a multicolored tank with the image of a frying pan on it that they both found hilarious but Spock found confusing. Spock, to his great displeasure, had a tub of glitter dumped on him after he’d selected for himself on a small, tasteful button that read “Elder Queer” from the box Sulu had pulled Jim’s new shirt from. But once the parade got going again, they both had to admit that the energy was infections. And people were so very happy to see the pair of them, Riding together astride the great glittering starship float.

“You mean so much to them.” Sulu beamed at the pair at one point. “Not just the gay couples….but the interspecies couples. The offworld queers. You’re icons to them. And watching the two of you, always at the forefront…..you give them so much hope.” After that comment Spock was a little more visible about his affections with Jim, even managing a human kiss when they reached the grandstand.

And Jim? He was having the time of his life, playing back and forth with the crowds, throwing out rainbow Starfleet insignias, and rousing cheers every time he touched Spock. Gone we’re his previous doubts about his age. His looks. Everything. As he so eloquently put it…he wasn’t history yet.

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laurasinele · 5 years

Text

To bring him back (a Fictober19 Stucky drabble)

Prompt 21: “Changes is annoyingly difficult”

Fandom: MCU

Tags: light angst, canonical memory loss, implied past relationship, stucky

Warnings: none apply

Ao3

It comes a time in one’s life when, after being confronted with the impossible enough times, nothing is impossible anymore.

Steve Rogers had faced enough impossibles to believe almost anything. That’s why he didn’t second-guess much his gut when it jolted at the close sight of the ultimate assassin’s eyes. He could have sworn that was Bucky’s brow, Bucky’s nose bridge, Bucky’s determined gaze. He just needed to confirm with some authority that whatever unbelievable lost link in this narrative was a reality. Time travel, cloning, more super-soldier serum… He didn’t even questioned why his childhood friend, his best and only true friend, was trying to kill him. There sure must have been a reasonable explanation for it. Like extraterrestrial forces. Or fairies.

The following months of fights and disagreement, of conspiracies and treason, were just a blur. Nothing compared to the fact that Bucky was alive. Nothing as hurtful as the fact that his childhood friend, his best and only true friend, didn’t remember him. Nothing as plunging as the realisation that this was the proverbial end of the line. Again.

In the end, at a great cost, the Avengers assembled anew, and they took Bucky in. Better with them than against them, was the reasoning behind his recruitment. He underwent a gruelling neuro-psychological procedure to get rid of each and every trigger mechanism. The matter of getting his pre-Winter Soldier memories back was never risen. When Steve asked, everybody from SHIELD’s medical staff to Banner and even Loki and Dr. Strange told him it could happen or not, but there wasn’t a way to bring them back on purpose. As knowledgeable as they all were in their own fields, the human mind, they said, was still one of the greatest mysteries of the universe.

The Avenger known as Winter Soldier was a quiet superhuman with an enhanced metal arm. His face and voice and date of birth were those of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, declared missing in action during a Howling Commandos mission against HYDRA. There’s where any similarity ended. Where Bucky had been good-humored, the Winter Soldier was brooding. Where Bucky had been extroverted and easy-going, the Winter Soldier kept to himself and was always one fraction of a step away of inabiliting the closest menace. Where there used to be that famous charming smile of Bucky, the Winter Soldier’s lips where always pressed thin, downcast, and his gaze was the closest thing to the void Steve could imagine.

After all, the end of the line had arrived when Bucky fell of that moving train and Steve failed to catch him. There was no impossible turned true for them. His childhood friend, his best and only true friend, was gone.

The world underwent several catastrophes, most of which never made the public eye, a handful of them solved without even leaving the Avengers headquarters. Old frictions smoothed, new friendships were born. Steve only looked longingly at the Winter Soldier every now and then, trying to find any sign of old Bucky’s personality resurfacing. It was an afterthought now. Those who had been worried for him and called it obsession in the first weeks didn’t even noticed.

The first time the Winter Soldier smiled, Steve dropped his mug of coffee. He said it was lack of sleep and everyone believed him.

It wasn’t a big smile. His face relaxed for a moment and the corners of his lips perked up slightly. Steve had made a joke that he thought no-one would get when they’d asked him about being in “active service”. They meant literally, as in the military, but he made a sexual innuendo, because in his time “active service” could mean being sexually active. He said it rejoicing in the fact that no-one would get it and he would left them wondering once more about his sex life. But Bucky, no, the Winter Soldier, had smiled imperceptibly as he kept his head down, studying the history of the decades he had missed.

Wanda catched the mug before it shattered against the floor, Steve made his lame excuse about not sleeping enough, retrieved his coffee and headed to his bedroom to try and calm down. It had been just a smile. A smile because of a joke that could have been funny in the forties. A joke he did several times with the Howling Commandos. “I’ve never been officially in active service in my whole life”. It could mean anything and it was funny because, literally, it was true but, figuratively, it left them wondering. But the Winter Soldier surely didn’t remember that. He probably smiled because that bit of slang was in his vocabulary, nothing more. Bucky was gone. He was the Winter Soldier now.

Steve wasn’t sure if he needed a nap or a 50 miles sprint, now. He took his sweatpants off and put on a pair of rated jeans and a zipped hoodie over his plain white tee. He put on his baseball cap and fake glasses and headed out, to his exhibit. That, he reminded himself, was the only place where he could see Bucky, the real one. He looked more alive in the black and white footage than the Winter Soldier had ever managed to look in the real world. Now Steve needed to punch something, since there was no one left of those who did that to Bucky. The ones that killed Bucky. The ones creating an impossible in this stupid world where everything could be but this. It was a too loud world, too bright, too fast. Steve needed some respite. Maybe sleep would have been a better idea.

He couldn’t help but try, because of course he couldn’t. He had never been known for dropping things. He had been known for following his gut and ending up being right. So he kept peppering his speeches and chats with subtle hints to the thirties and forties in Brooklyn. Very specific things that only someone who’d been there would get, but not as singular as to catch the other Avenger’s attention.

The Winter Soldier got them all. And Steve emboldened with each smirk, huff and glance. They were all very subtle and never led to a meaningful conversation. The Winter Soldier’s acknowledgement of Steve’s strategy finished in the non verbal hints of getting the reference. Tony Stark’s acknowledgement of Steve’s strategy was more direct.

“A word, Cap”, said Tony after a briefing. When everybody left the room to their assignments, Steve cocked his head and waited for Tony to say something. “You know I am not against him anymore, do you?”

Steve rolled his eyes.

“Tony…”

“Because I don’t. I swear, I learnt. We all learnt. He was a problem, until we realised he was a victim, and now he is a very valuable asset”

“What’s your point?”

Tony sighed through his nose while pursing his lips and weighing Steve with a stare.

“I wouldn’t want him to become a liability”.

Steve felt the all anger of their Civil War creep in and zero into Tony’s solar plexus. He managed to refrain but he wasn’t amiable when he spoke.

“Again, what’s your point?”

“I know what you are doing. I don’t think anybody else has, I just happen to pay a lot of attention to you. Well, probably Nat knows too, because she’s rolled her eyes at me a couple of times when you drop…”

“Okay, enough”. Steve knew better that denying it, but that didn’t mean he was willing to discuss it. “Your advice is noted. I won’t let it become a liability, but I won’t let it go either, because if there is a single chance to bring him back I will try. I won’t put it before the Avengers or the world’s safety, but will keep trying until he’s back or until one of us dies, whatever happens first”.

When Tony spoke he did it softly, measuring his words, the ghost of their past enmity very much present.

“Captain. Bucky is gone. You mourned him. If he ever comes back, that’s great, but chances are he won’t. And we cannot afford to have the greatest strategic mind of the planet distracted with psychological games and grief. It wouldn’t be betrayal if you let it go”

“It would”, he said defiantly, before speaking more calmly: “Advice noted, Stark. I will bear it in mind, I promise. You don’t have to worry”.

It had been a long time since Steve had gotten in the exhibition outside opening hours. Still, the guard tipped his cap as he opened the door for him.

“Long time no see, Captain”

“Been busy”, he smiled. “How are things, Alan?”

“Great as usual. You’ve got company by the way”, added Alan when Steve was about to round the corner. He stopped on his tracks to ask who, a cautious, calculating expression on his face, but then he saw the Winter Soldier standing in front of one of the panels. He turned his head and saluted, wearing that blank expression of his.

Steve approached him and stood by his side for a while. When the video on the screen had finished a loop, Steve talked in a low voice:

“Never took you for a nostalgic”.

The Winter Soldier hummed and turned to Steve:

“Me or your good ol’ pal Bucky?”

Steve looked at him not really sure if that was a genuine question, and accusation a retort or what in hell. The Winter Soldier walked to the next panel and Steve followed him.

“I come here every now and then. I try to make sure we won’t meet, because I don’t want to disturb you. I know this has some importance for you”.

“It has. I appreciate the thought”. And then, after hesitating for a while, he added: “Why do you come?”

The Winter Soldier shrugged.

“To see if it all comes back. It never does though”.

Steve’s face fell and the Winter Soldier noticed. He continued, this time looking at Steve.

“I come here after certain dreams or flashes. I don’t remember much aside from my.. HYDRA missions. And some unconnected things. More sensations than images or memories. Sometimes I dream a game of throw in an alley. Sometimes it’s me lying on a couch, looking at a chapped ceiling. A fan is buzzing and someone is drawing. I can hear the pencil against the paper and I can feel boredom and frustration, because I want them to stop and go play. I remember some things from the war too. As I said, only flashes. I come here and look at the pictures and try to find some link between them”.

Steve breathing was heavy and his jaw was set without him even realizing. He made himself look away from the Winter Soldier and into Bucky’s mugshot in the panel. Their expressions were so different it could have been an entirely different face.

“Why haven’t you come to me? I could help you figure out those memories. We were joined at the hip, I probably remember those moments too. If I had known you were starting to remember I’d probably…”

“Change…” interrupted the Winter Soldier in his low monotone voice, “is annoyingly difficult. Specially when your mind has been set to a single track and you were excellent at it. It feels slow. It feels like disappointment. I don’t really remember you. I know we were good friends because I’ve been told, and I’ve read here”, he said nodding towards the panel in front of them, “but I don’t know why. I don’t know what happened. And I see what you do to try and bring this guy back, and the faces you make when I just don’t react. I didn’t want to give you false hopes in case he never really comes back. I know you must miss him a lot”.

“Oh, yeah? How would you know that?”, asked Steve with a sad laugh. The Winter Soldier turned his back to the panel, sighed and put his hands in his pockets.

“There’s this feeling whenever I look at you. Like I want to punch you and kiss you at the same time. And during missions, there’s this need to protect you at all costs, as if you weren’t a virtually immortal super soldier. I don’t know where it comes from, but I know it’s Bucky’s”.

Steve looked at him, mouth hanging slightly. The Winter Soldier sighed again, turned his face to Steve and tried a small, apologetic smile.

“That’s how I know, pal. He misses you too”.

Steve watched the Winter Soldier walk down the hall towards the exit. He turned back to the panel and Bucky’s mugshot. And he saw the very same smile the Winter Soldier had just given him. Steve smiled in return. It wasn’t a sad or unrealistically hopeful smile. It was the smile that had always made his way to his lips whenever Bucky was around. The one with which he said “hello” to him, and “goodbye”. The one with which he said “thank you”, “I’m sorry” or “I’m glad you’re here”. The one that loudly stated “I love you” for nobody to hear but his childhood friend, his best and only true friend. And he might be getting the echoes of it.

#fictober19 #stucky #steve rogers/bucky barnes #steve rogers #Bucky Barnes #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #captain america #Winter Soldier

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princeshroob · 5 years

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Okay, so those of you who’ve seen my Dragalia Lost posts would probably find it no surprise that I also play GBF. I actually started it a few months ago back during the last day of the roulette event back in...I believe it was March, since the April Fools event happened soon after. In any case, I didn’t really feel a real urge to post my pulls in the game. However, this time is special. I actually managed to do my first spark. I started saving for a spark a while ago, and after I got a nice number of crystals, I did some calculations and found out that I “might” be able to do a spark as of then. Of course, Cygames’ famous generosity made that goal quite easier to attain. My most wanted unit was Drang, cuz I find him hilarious. However, my main goal was to pull on Flash Gala while either he or Sturm was on rate-up, because let’s be honest, those two HAS to stay together! Little did I suspect that THE VERY NEXT FLASH GALA WOULD HAVE HER ON RATE-UP! Seriously, I had to accelerate my plans and skip through most of the side stories, free quests, and fate episodes in order to get enough resources for 300 pulls. But anyways, enough talk! Let’s go over what I pulled in my mission to obtain Drang...oh, and Sturm, of course! And let me tell you, there’s a LOT to go over!

First off, I got Dark Cagliostro. I did pull her Earth version before, but I really like Cagliostro, so of course I’m always happy to pull more versions of her. My Dark team is very damaging as is, but I wouldn’t call it tanky, so hopefully Cag’s heals can fill in that gap.

Next up, I got Water Societte. Now, Water used to be the element I was sorely lacking in SSR characters, but the free 10-part summons gave me 3 of those (Lancelot, Silva, and Macula Marius) so I’m not QUITE as desparate for Water, but I’m still happy to get more of them!

Speaking of Water characters, I also pulled Summer Sandalphon! This was really great, because from what I hear he’s one of the better SSRs in the gacha, so my water team should be even better than ever!

Now we’re going somewhere a bit less exciting. I got Earth Eustace, which is fine and all, but Earth is one of the elements where I have a large number of Earth characters, and I don’t know how I would fit him into my team.

To take a break from the characters, I got Summer Rose Queen. I’m...not sure what her call does. It doesn’t really do a good job of what “rose passion” is supposed to be, but it should be something good? I dunno. :/

Next up...I got my spark target already!? Seriously, he’s not even the one on rate-up? I was completely at a loss for words. This basically means that I already got my main target, but I still wanted Sturm to go along with him, so I kept pull anyways. Worst comes to worse, I’d use my spark on her instead.

Anyways, back to the pulls, I got SSR Ladiva! I absolutely ADORE Ladiva back during the No Rain, No Rainbow event, so of course I’m stocked that I managed to pull her! Again though, my Earth characters are pretty crowded comparatively to most other elements, but I’m still very happy I got her. Btw, I don’t have her SR version yet, so I find funny that I pulled her SSR version first.

Anyways, shock of the century, I managed to pull Sturm. Okay, to be fair she’s on rate-up, and that’s the whole reason I decided to pull in the first place, so this really isn’t THAT much of a shock. What IS a shock is that I PULLED DRANG BEFORE HER! But yeah, with both of these, I should technically be done, right? Wrong! I already felt like I spent too much on this banner to stop the sparking already, so I decided to continue pull until I reach that 300 draws threshold! And oh man, we’re not done with this crazy train yet!

Anyways, continuing forward, I pulled Summer Yuel. FYI, I do have her fire version, but I haven’t used her much (Probably should since Fire’s not quite as populated in the SSR department for me) but pulling a Summer unit is still really nice!

Next up, I surprising pull yet another Grand character, Grimnir. Like Earth, Wind is pretty bloated for me, but since Grimnir is a Grand character, he should still find a spot in my Wind team, so this is very nice!

btw, I also got his summon. I always liked using him as a support summon, but having my own is very nice since I can effectively use him twice in one battle. He’s seriously that good, imo.

Next up, oh god I pulled Vira. But not just any Vira, I pulled GRAND Vira! Seriously, that’s 4 Grand characters in one spark session! What are the odds of that? Speaking of, I do also have a couple Grand characters from Premium Gala, Rackam and Eugen. So that basically gives me 6 Grand characters. Oi, and I’ve only played for barely over a third of a year, too. @_@

Anyways, at this point, I was only 50 cerluean sparks away from 300. I decided that I would show the entirety of the last 5 10-part draws for this.

First of the final 5 was nothing special, just a minroll, moving on

Second wasn’t too much better, but I DID get SR Ferry, so that’s something at least!

Third at least had 3 SRs, so it wasn’t a total bust, plus Razia as well!

Fourth I got Anubus, who is one of the SSR Carbuncles, so they’ll be very useful in my Dark team. And also Randall. Don’t know much about him, though.

And my final 10-part draw gave me SSR Nicholas and SR Ryan. Again, Dark is currently the team that does the most damage for me, but I do still have only a few Dark characters, so he should still be useful.

Now, with that, you’re wondering who I decided to spark for, since I already got both my primary and secondary targets. Well...

I’ve decided to spark Shiva because 1. My fire team is still kinda lacking in SSR units, and 2. because the crew I’m in practically worships him, so it would honestly feel like a crime if I didn’t get him after getting my top 2 targets. Anyways, that’s all of my summons. Getting 5 Grand characters in one spark session was completely unexpected, and getting a couple Summer SSRs and a Summer summon was a nice bonus. It honestly felt great being able to spark, even if only just once.

#Granblue Fantasy #Seriously this was one crazy spark session #My luck is incredibly powerful

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frizz22 · 5 years

Text

Ch. 3 After Vormir

End Game canon divergence fanfic.

SPOILERS for movie.

Read on ao3

“You’re not Nebula.” He muttered, stepping closer, eyes narrowed in suspicion and examination.

“Of course, I am!” She exclaimed, though her eyes were a little wild. “Who else—”

Shaking his head, Tony circled her. “No, I spent over three weeks on a dead-in-the-water spaceship with Nebula. I helped her repair some of the damage Thanos inflicted. You have the bronze head plate, but not the one on your arm. In fact, that’s not the arm we rebuilt together at all. We played a game, what was it?” He demanded. Nebula just gaped at him. “It was paper football, you won.” Tony looked at her sadly and Nebula looked dazed at the words.

“I won?” She whispered.

Before Tony could say anything else, Rocket shot up from where he’d been sitting then. “It’s past Nebula,” he concluded, stunned. “From before we encountered her and defeated Ronan.”

Shock rippled through them all, but none more so than Nebula. “You, you defeat Ronan?” She breathed in disbelief.

“We defeated Thanos. Chopped off his head.” Thor muttered, “too late, but he is dead.”

Nat leveraged off the table, despite Steve’s quiet protest. “If you’re here, where is our Nebula?”

Shaking her head, Nebula pressed against the wall behind her hard, as if hoping it would swallow her up.

Just then, Tony sat abruptly, knocking some instruments to the floor on accident and drawing their attention. “I knew.” He whispered.

A chorus of “what’s?” went up and Tony covered his mouth and shook his head.

“I knew. I knew there was a price. For the soul stone. I—” He looked at them all wretchedly, “when we were trying to calm Quill down, when the bug lady said he was grieving…. You said,” Tony turned to Nebula and then blinked and shook his head. “Our Nebula, she said Thanos went with Gamora to get the stone but returned without her.” A horrified expression crossed his face and Tony stood again and started to pace. “I am so sorry. I should have remembered, I should have warned you.”

Nat smiled at him softly, how was it that he always managed to find a way to shoulder the blame himself? “What would that have accomplished? You remembering? We’d be a stone short if we’d known.” In her anger at the situation, Nat hadn’t realized what knowing about the sacrifice would have changed.

Everyone looked at her speechless.

Chuckling slightly, and then wincing at the movement, Nat let her eyes sweep over them. “I was just as angry at Nebula as the rest of you, but think about it. If we’d known, what would we have done?”

“We’d have figured something out,” Steve murmured, hand still holding hers.

Shaking her head, Nat turned her gaze to him and smiled sympathetically. “Because not trading lives worked out so well for us the last time.” It was a low blow, but one that needed to be dealt. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. It worked out somehow, I’m not dead.” She shifted her attention back to Nebula then. “But we do need answers.”

Nebula clenched her hands into fists, “I’ve already failed my mission; I won’t tell you anything else.” Her expression hardened and she straightened up as if preparing to fight.

Hopping off the bed he was standing on, Rocket approached Nebula. “Oh, I think we can come up with ways to make you talk. And I always have use for mechanical body parts…” Something dangerous gleamed in his eye and Nat knew he was thinking about Groot, the talking tree who’d perished in the snap.

The others seemed a little uneasy with Rocket’s suggestion, but Nat was the first to step forward. “No.” Her tone brokered no argument; she knew what it was like to not only inflict but also withstand torment and torture—she refused to revert back, in any way, to the monster the Red Room had tried to make her. “Put her in a holding cell, I’ll be there in a moment. No one else goes near or touches her.” Nat turned to each of the men in the room in turn, daring them to defy her.

Clint and Steve simply moved forward and bracketed Nebula to escort her to a more secure room should she attempt to escape. Rocket turned to her, “look, I know you have a soft spot for—”

She turned and glared at him, “don’t you have lives to save? There’s no time to waste, you, Stark and Banner need to start working with the stones, see if you can recreate the gauntlet.” The trio backed away from her intensity and nodded and left. “Stark,” she called after him and he stopped in the door. “Stop blaming yourself for everything. After what happened, after weeks on a spaceship with no chance of survival… who would’ve remembered that small of a detail?” Tony gifted her with a small smile before he spun on his heel to follow the other two.

Sighing, Nat leaned back against the exam table and pinched the bridge of her nose. Rhodey touched her shoulder, “you okay?” His forehead was creased with concern.

Nodding, Nat gave him a tired smile. “Would you three mind starting some dinner? I think everyone could use some food after the day we’ve had.”

Scott smiled, “oh, I can try, but Cassie always said my cooking was passable at best.”

Clapping Scott on the back, Thor smiled. “I’ve never cooked either! This will be a learning experience.” He propelled Scott out of the room, looking happier than Nat had seen him in ages.

“I’ll go make sure they don’t burn down the compound.” Rhodey chuckled, squeezing her shoulder before following the other two.

Nat rolled her neck again before pushing off the exam table and making for the holding cell. There’d been arguments about the need for a holding cell at the compound. But in the end, they’d included them, the cell was comfortable, humane and could house probably Thanos himself without the stones. The reasoning being if they encountered more powerful beings that could not be contained in a standard cell, they could at least be temporarily held at the Avengers compound.

When she reached the cell, Clint and Steve were standing guard, talking in hushed tones. They broke off their conversation as she neared and smiled at her oddly. “Boys,” she greeted, arching a brow.

“We’ll both be out here the whole time.” Steve informed her, clasping his hands in front of him. Clint nodded curtly in agreement.

Rolling her eyes, Nat pushed past them and placed her hand on the scanner to admit herself into the room. “You don’t need to; we’re just going to have a little chat. Girl talk over shared experiences.” Despite her assurances, Nat knew neither one of them would budge until she’d exited the cell—the thought warmed her. She spun and pushed through the door before closing it securely behind her. Nebula eyed her warily from where she was pressed into the corner of the room.

“I won’t talk.” Nebula spat defiantly, tipping her chin up, though Nat could see the fear in her eyes.

Slowly taking a seat, a hand pressed to her aching ribs, Nat inclined her head. “Then you can listen.” Studying the woman in the corner, Nat started to talk, her tone neutral. “You told me once, that growing up when you lost a fight, Thanos would replace a piece of you with metal and gears.”

Nebula blinked, clearly shocked her future self felt comfortable enough with her to share this deeply personal information.

Nat exhaled slowly, “when I was growing up, if you lost a fight in the Red Room, there was a 50-50 chance you’d die. Your opponent waiting for the instructors to give that dreaded signal that you’d been disappointing enough, failed enough to no longer be of use to them. You waited for them to signal your death. We were disposable. I was. And for a very long time, I believed that. Believed I wasn’t good for anything and the only way to keep from being disposed of was to do what I was told and to do it better than anyone. Then Clint found me.” She glanced towards the glass where she knew he was watching closely, and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards a tiny bit. “He thought differently, saw something more. Helped me realize I was more too, that I wasn’t disposable.”

While she’d talked, Nebula had carefully moved away from the wall and come to sit across from her at the table in the room.

“Thanos thinks you’re disposable. Though he hasn’t killed you yet, he will, when it benefits him.” Nat’s heart clenched when Nebula looked away and flinched at the comment. Though it was difficult to hear, it was a cruel truth that Nebula had likely been aware of for most her life. “Do you want to know how he got the soul stone? How we knew you were an imposter?”

Nebula jerked her head and shrugged a shoulder, as if trying to communicate she didn’t care either way. But Nat could tell from the subtle way Nebula leaned forward that she was desperate to hear.

Resting her arms on the table, Nat leaned in as well, just a bit, to make the conversation seem more intimate, more personal; make it easier to forget they were having it inside a holding cell. “You’re aware now what he had to trade… the life of the person he loved most. Why do you think future Gamora isn’t here with us? Why do you think she isn’t the one telling you all this, trying to convince you that you both turned on Thanos?”

Suddenly, Nebula shoved away from the table, her chair clattering to the floor and Nat held up a hand to the glass to keep her boys from barging in. “LIAR!” Nebula bellowed, pacing the room, hands running over her head and face in distress.

“I wouldn’t lie to you about your sister, Nebula.” Nat replied calmly, eyes following the woman as she prowled the small space. “I know this is difficult to accept. But you and I, future you, we’re friends. We have similar pasts; in case you hadn’t noticed. We both had someone see there was more to us, Clint in my case, Gamora in yours. We’re a lot alike, Nebula. You’re my friend and I don’t lie to my friends…” She trailed off, waiting for Nebula to process everything she’d said.

Chest heaving, Nebula turned back to her and Nat knew in that moment, from the look in Nebula’s eyes, that she’d gotten through to her. “Thanos wanted me to sabotage your machine.” Nebula blurted and then sat, unsure how to process her sudden betrayal of the man who’d forced her to call him father.

Tentatively, Nat probed the topic further. “Sabotage it how?”

“Rewire it, to bring him here, to this time period. We saw his death in the memory files of future me.” Her brow furrowed at the absurdity of the situation. Shaking her head, Nebula continued, talking faster—as though now that she’d decided to turn she had to get it all out before she changed her mind. “Thanos realized that, though he’d been successful, that you people would never rest, would never stop trying to change what he’d done. And since you were acquiring the stones, well, he formed a new plan.”

Careful to keep her expression blank except the raise of an eyebrow, Nat clasped her hands together. “And what is this new plan?”

A shudder ran through Nebula. “To not just wipe out half the life in the universe, but all of it. Once that was done, Thanos would recreate the universe to his liking.”

Nat couldn’t control her face this time, despite all her training. “An, an extinction event.” She murmured, eyes widening. “Alright, well, we don’t have to worry about that, we have the stones, he can’t...” Nat paused and then swore, startling Nebula. “Thank you for your help, I’ll be back.” She rushed from the room without another word, panic roiling inside her.

The expressions on Clint and Steve’s faces when she exited the room told her they’d had the same thoughts.

“The plan was to always return the stones to their original timelines moments after we took them. But if we do that now…” Steve ran a hand through his hair agitatedly.

Clint shook his head, “we can’t do that now. Thanos knows about the future, has already changed his plans. If we take the stones back now and he gets them…”

“Past us will still lose the fight and Thanos will still snap his fingers. Only, only this time…” Nat swallowed, “this time he’ll wipe out everyone and there won’t be any of us left to fix it.”

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