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#and whatever stance you take afterwards is your decision
notetaeker · 8 months
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You know, if this conflict was a movie you would easily figure out who the protagonist is. These nations slap on a few labels ‘religious conflict’ ‘terror*sm’ ‘antisem*tism’ ‘self defense’ and suddenly we can’t see what’s right in front of us.
Open your eyes people. Do your own personal research. Don’t just believe what you see. This is your chance to actually dig up the issue from both sides and figure out what’s going on.
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anisespice · 2 years
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“ so what? ” || tokyo rev. pt.2
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                                 “ boy, I know you miss me, so what? ”
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[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] 
synopsis: when you showed up to his bike shop out of the blue, homie thought this was his shot at a second chance — a real shot in the dark. 
pairing: college!draken x gn!reader
word count: 1,247
warnings: mature language, angst (for him), mentions of cheating and stabbing, i think that’s it.
notes: part two is complete!! there will probably just be a total of three of these, unless i’m hit with inspiration after the last one...ion know, we’ll see ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
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Man nearly broke his neck doing a double-take when you walked into his shop, wrench slipping out of his hand with a harsh CLANG as memories came flooding in almost instantaneously.
There were tears. God, there were so many tears.
Even in that moment back then, you looked absolutely breathtaking; he just hated how he had to be the reason behind it all. DRAKEN didn’t want to continue the relationship knowing he was starting to drift, mind no longer occupied with thoughts about you, but someone else. He didn’t cheat on you, thankfully, but he came close one too many times. Before it got to that point, he cut things off without much hesitation. And not a day went by where he didn’t feel the weight of regret.
That was over a year ago.
Looking back, he wished he had handled it better. Then, maybe seeing you now wouldn’t feel like such a kick to the stomach. You looked better than ever, as breathtaking as the day he lost you, even beneath the unflattering lights from above. Eventually, your wandering eye landed on his stiff figure, rooting him right into the ground.
“Ken.”
His name used to sound like warm honey pouring from your sweet lips, each letter blanketed with adoration. Now, it feels sour. Detached, one could say.
“[_]-[____]…” he rasped, immediately clearing his throat afterward. Not knowing what to do with his hands, Draken crossed his arms, almost like a defensive stance. “What, uh…what are you doing here?”
“Look…I know this is sort of awkward but…I need your help.”
“My help?” He immediately thought the worst, especially since you came to him of all people. However, you were quick to squash whatever horrid thoughts began swimming in his head.
“It’s nothing bad! It’s repair related. If I remember correctly, you were pretty much a wiz at this stuff without charging a hefty price. That still true?”
Draken exhaled, relieved. Then, he shrugged. “Sure. I mean, I’m pretty reasonable depending on the damage. But, y’know I repair motorcycles, right?”
You hummed softly before reaching for your phone, tapping away until you found what you were looking for. In a few small strides, you entered this man’s personal bubble…it took everything in him not to flinch away in surprise. How could you be so calm about this? The last time you saw him, you cursed his name and threatened to castrate him with your bare hands if you ever saw him again. Now, you acted as if you were conversing with a total stranger; it was unnerving.
And, dare he say it…kinda disappointing.
He wasn’t expecting theatrics, but at least a little emotion would’ve been better than none whatsoever. After you parted ways, the mechanic tried to give his other relationship a try, only for that to end up going nowhere and leaving him completely devastated. Draken buried himself in his work to try and block out the pain from his impulsive decision, finding some sort of sick comfort in the idea that you’d be feeling the same emptiness.
Clearly, that wasn’t the case.
With you standing so close to him now, the former blonde couldn’t help but notice the airiness in your demeanor. The bags under your eyes were gone, hair a lot shinier, and even your scent gave off rejuvenation. You practically flourished while he was stuck living in the past.
But, Draken knew that’s what he deserved. Hell, he should be grateful you’re considering his business despite everything that’s happened between you two.
“…so, you think you can handle it?”
Uh oh. What did you say? What should he say??
He blinked a couple times, scratching the back of his neck as he registered exactly what you were showing him on your phone. The picture was of a slightly banged up looking Cobra Black 6493B. It caught him off guard that you’d be talking about such an expensive ride, not to mention a damaged one at that. Draken gave a low whistle, shaking his head in disbelief; that’s definitely not gonna be cheap. “Well it’s uh, it’s difficult to say from the photo alone. But I can say whoever did this must’ve been a real dumbass.”
Tilting your head to look up at him with an arched brow, he immediately realized his mistake. He visibly glitched. You couldn’t help but snort, “I take it you missed the part where I mentioned it was my fault?”
“…and about pretty much everything else, minus that last part, yeah.”
It’s a rare sight to see the mountain man so flustered, but luckily you were kind enough not to comment on it. Even though he knew you really wanted to, Draken appreciated it nonetheless. If anything, it might’ve just lowered your price.
“Well, you’re not wrong. I was definitely being a dumbass. I mean, I was doing fine until I forgot how to break properly, then immediately panicked and jumped off the bike at the very last second before hitting a tree.”
Draken blinked widely, completely appalled. “Why the hell were you even on it to begin with if you didn’t know what you were doing?!”
He knew he had no right to scold you, but, as much as he’d hate to admit it, Draken still cared. Even after you broke up, his love for you didn’t just shut off. If anything, it merely grew—Seeping its unforgiving talons deep into his chest, refusing to relent no matter how many he slept with. The constant need to protect you came in full swing at the idea of you doing something so reckless, it was like a second nature. However, you merely brushed it off, scrolling through your phone to find a better visual of the overall damage.
“I just figured it would be like riding a regular bike. It’s not like my goal was to crash, y’know.” Draken rolled his eyes. You scrolled through your gallery until you finally found what you were looking for. “Ah! Here it is, bastard actually video taped it. He better be glad I don’t sue his ass for endangerment.”
“Huh?” Draken squinted, dumbfounded.
“Hm? Oh, my boyfriend’s older brother. It’s his bike. Yeah, the fucker bet that I wouldn’t last more than ten seconds on the stupid thing. Obviously I wasn’t gonna let him keep talking shit, and I swear I was gonna be totally safe about it, but then my boyfriend tried to talk me out of it and that sort of made me wanna do it even more because…”
Even though you were explaining the whole backstory, Draken had completely tuned you out. The only thing his mind latched onto was the last thing he wanted to hear.
Boyfriend. You had actually moved on.
The former delinquent had experienced many terrible things in his life, being stabbed and nearly bleeding to death being one of them. But this?
Frankly, he’d prefer the stabbing.
You said it so nonchalantly, too, as if you were talking about the weather. Were you trying to piss him off, or something? Probably not.
You weren’t a spiteful person, even though you had every right to be, you most likely said it because you felt it necessary to be mentioned. Besides, you gained nothing from making him jealous. Except maybe a reaction, but you weren’t even looking at him as you rambled on about what’s-his-face and the bike.
Either way…you maybe should’ve kept that piece of information to yourself.
Because now, the price just doubled.
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© 2022-2023 anisespice ッ all rights reserved. likes, comments & reblogs much appreciated!
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krazyforkicks · 1 year
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Continued from here
CW: Inhuman character, shape-shifting, mentions of eating people, accusations of slavery, exhaustion
((Additionally, the entity shape-shifts into a more human looking form, but... it's just... not quite right.))
Soldier felt rested now. Or... at least more rested than they had been. They sat up cautiously and swung their legs out of the bed noiselessly.
They stood, crossed the room, and tried the door. It was unlocked and opened with complete silence. They could have been free— they could have run, but... the entity was watching the door. As it opened, they stood.
Just as before, Soldier froze. As the entity approached, however, they managed a weak, "... What do you want..??"
The entity seemed to shrink a bit as they moved closer, their form changing rapidly as they appeared more and more human-like. By the time the entity stood in front of Soldier, they appeared as a tall, muscular human, with blackened sclera, too sharp teeth, and long sharp nails. "I want to apologize."
"A... apologize..?" It took all of Soldier's strength to keep their knees from buckling.
The entity nodded. "Yes. When you were wounded on the battlefield, I made the decision to save your life. Afterwards, I wrongly assumed that your prejudice against me would decrease. When it didn't, I allowed myself to become angry and reacted poorly to your questions. I want to apologize for that. On the battlefield, you asked me what I planned to do with you. I can assure you that my only intention is to ensure you are able to leave here safely."
... That didn't make sense though. "... What? A-are you trying to... to lull me into a false sense of security so you can eat me when I fall asleep? I-it won't work! I'm not scared of you! I'll escape! I'll—"
"Good heavens... I'm not going to eat you. Who put that idea in your head?" The entity ran a hand through their long black hair. "I happen to be pescitarian, so unless you're a plant or a fish, you have no reason to worry about being eaten. What on earth are your people saying about me??"
Soldier took a slow, deep breath. "I... if you really plan to let me go safe, then get out of my way and let me leave now."
The entity's stance slackened a bit. "I can't do that yet."
"Why not?" Soldier took a small step back. "Look at me. I'm fine. If you plan to let me go, why not now?"
"Because you’re about to collapse from the simple strain of standing for a few moments."
"No I'm not." But Soldier's legs were starting to feel a bit wobbly.
"... Perhaps you can enlighten me. Exactly what have I done to your people to convince them I am a monster? Do you know?"
"Y-you... you've enslaved the people of this region." Soldier managed to say. Really they were mostly focused on remaining upright at this point. Fuck... they were going to fall if they didn't sit down soon. They managed one step and had to stop. If they moved again, they were going to end up on the ground.
The entity looped an arm of inhuman strength under Soldier's arm and helped them to the bed. "My people are not enslaved. They are happy."
Soldier gave the entity a hesitantly skeptical look. "What makes you say that?"
"... I will show you when you are strong enough to go on a walk within my lands. For now, though, I believe you may need to rest again. Your injuries were extensive and it took most of the energy you possess to heal you. It will take a while to regain that strength."
"How would you know my strength?" Soldier snapped, yanking their arm away from the entity"
"I can see your muscles shivering from the effort it took to simply walk to the door. Do yourself a favor and rest. Your door can lock from the inside if that makes you more comfortable."
"Whatever... it's not like a single lock could keep you out..." Soldier grumbled and turned away, rolling over in bed so his back was to the entity.
"Would you like something to eat?"
Soldier glared at the wall, suddenly becoming aware of the pangs of hunger they had been ignoring before. They chose not to respond, and eventually the entity left them alone.
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luckyqueenreign · 2 years
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Ngl I want cute banter between the winning couple (with MC being able to say whatever they want and choose how they feel ofc) about the money before they receive it because a) for those in the burn the villa routes it would be so much more satisfying afterwards b) would be nice to see some character dynamics before the sappy end c) I want to see each character's stance on the money. It would be nice if on one of the routes even if you choose the money, for that specific character it wouldn't matter.
Example:
MC: 50,000 huh? Maybe I should keep it all, that's as much as you make in a day and a half anyway.
Suresh: Considering I still have the ring, you owe me an invoice unless... you give me a reason not to return it.
MC: Don't you dare. (optional response)
(THEN THEN you can choose who gets the check but if you choose him, he teases you a bit, but gives it to you whole 🥺)
Suresh: Guess this'll have to do for my dowry then.
DAKNLKASMD I know it won't happen but it would be so cute.
omg I love this I'm going to imagine yours instead 🥹🥹 the banter is so much cuter than anything we're going to get 😭😭 FB is just going to be something lame like MC hesitates before making the decision and Suresh looks at her "you're taking quite a long time to make this decision aren't you...😬" BOO FB!
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after-witch · 3 years
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Corsets and Blackmail [Yandere Dabi x Reader]
Title: Corsets and Blackmail [Yandere Dabi x Reader]
Synopsis: Dabi wants you in a corset. What Dabi wants, lately, Dabi gets.
Word Count: 1630
Notes: Yandere, implied noncon, mentions of body mods, improper use of a corset, very uncreative title
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You inhale, eager to catch your breath, and you instantly regret it. The relief of a full breath is instantly replaced with an uncomfortable pressure, as he uses the moment to further tighten the corset he’d tossed at you earlier that afternoon. It took bribery, then outright threats, but you eventually agreed to let him put it on you.
Another decision you’re regretting.
“It’s not--” you try to exhale, to catch more breath. “It’s not supposed to be this tight.”
In response, he merely gives the bottom laces another firm tug, and you can feel the flesh of your hips underneath the leather squishing out, pushing in vain against the firm material that he’s tightened to a ridiculous degree.
You grunt, and squirm, but there’s nothing you can do about it. Your hands are pressed up against the wall, and you occasionally lean your forehead against n the cool material for support. But it’s not like you could fight Dabi off (you never could, even when you were actually dating and your fights were playful) and even if you could manage to get away from his grip, you’d never make it out of the room without a bruising grip and heated warning.
“Don’t be so dramatic, babe. Just think about all the women in history or whatever who wore these all the time.”
You bite back a smart-ass response about the myths of corsets and how movie scenes depicting women being laced into them like torture devices were based on misconceptions and myths. A corset should be supportive, not so tight that it makes you feel faint. But he’s not in the best of moods based on your initial refusal to play dress up, and so you keep your knowledge to yourself.
When he’s done--you hope he’s done, your entire midsection feels compressed and uncomfortable and your breath comes in shallow intervals--he spins you around. A few months ago, this would have been cute. It would have made you feel good. The way he’s looking at you appraisingly, approvingly, pinning you with his gaze would have made your stomach flip into butterflies.
But that was before you broke up with him. Or tried to, anyway. Before he threatened you--and your family, and your friends, and any neighbors you were particularly fond of--and eventually forced you to move in with him. To keep an eye on you, he’d said. To spoil you.
If dressing you up like some kind of fetish doll in an exaggerated shiny black leather corset counted as being spoiled.
He hums in approval and grabs your now-compressed waist, pulling you closer. You can smell his cologne and body odor and smoke, mingled together in a way that used to get you excited. Now it triggers an instinct to run.
His lips brush against your ear, kissing and teasing, and you can’t help the way your skin prickles in goosebumps, the way your stomach flips. You hate him. You wish your body would get the message more often.
“You look so fucking good. I could just eat you up.” He pulls back and tips your chin up with a finger, tilting your face to the side like he’s inspecting a prize pet at a county fair. You suppose he is, in a way.
“You want me to do that? Make you feel good?”
You shake your head, softly. It’s a stupid move, you know. You know you’re on thin ice. You know you should nod and let out a breathy sigh and let him lead you to the bed, where you’ll lay in an uncomfortable position as he slides off your underwear and makes your body respond in ways that your mind hates. But you don’t.
The instant you decline he’s gripping your chin, hard. The thin ice is definitely cracked--and you’re falling into ice-cold water.
“Why are you being so damn difficult?”
The oxygen must be getting to your brain, you think, because instead of placating him by backtracking and begging him to take you on the bed, you want to explain yourself. As if rational thought has anything to do with your current situation.
“You know why I’m so--so--” you inhale, sharp and short, hating the way your chest feels for a myriad of reasons. “--difficult, Dabi. Why can’t you try to understand how this makes me feel?” 
You feel tears pricking at your eyes and you wipe them away, not wanting to deal with the drama, the fighting, the back-and-forth guilt tripping that crying usually brought on. 
“Fine,” he says, practically spitting on your cheek.
He drops the subject--and drops your chin-- as his eyes stray to the side, where there’s a dust-streaked mirror propped up on top of the dresser. He stares at his own reflection for a moment before looking back at you, his expression far less pissed and far more thoughtful. Thoughtful scares you more than pissed, and you can feel your nerves begin to tingle in anxiety.
“Hey, you know what would go perfect with this corset?” His voice is softer now, all the harsh edges from earlier gone. It worries you just as much as his thoughtful expression.
You shake your head. You don’t know. You don’t want to know. But he’ll tell you anyway.
“How about some piercings, huh? We can match.”
Your stomach feels like it’s dropped out of your body. Your gaze flits from his grin to his own modifications. He wouldn’t--would he? Before all this, before you tried to break up with him, he’d casually suggested them once--but never again once you made your stance clear. No piercings, no tattoos, no body mods. And now…?
“I--” You swallow down your stronger objections, very aware of the dangers lurking if you chose the wrong words. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. But thanks.”
“No, no,” he argues, voice so jovial and light that it’s making you want to throw up. “It’ll be fun! Like a bonding exercise. Couple’s therapy. You’d be surprised how quickly tongue piercings heal, too, so don’t worry about missing out on takeout.”
You want to cry. Could you even breathe right if you started crying right now? The more emotions you feel, the tighter the corset feels against your waist. You swallow and dip your head back, fighting against the tears.
“Dabi… you… know--you know I don’t want piercings.” You keep your voice level, even as your stilted breathing. Avoid a fight, avoid a fight, avoid a fight.
“Oh?”
He shrugs. A casual, fuck-you gesture that stings. 
“And I want to throw you on the bed and eat you out. But if you won’t give me what I want, why should I care what you want?”
You don’t have an answer. The thick, blubbery tears you’ve been fighting are practically screaming to be let out. But you dip your head back again, determined not to cry. Crying reminds him that you don’t want to be here, and it never ends particularly well. 
So instead you force yourself to be casual. As if you’re not a captive begging your captor to not forcibly modify your body. As if you’re his… partner, having an argument about what to eat for dinner that night. As if he couldn’t just push you onto the bed and have his way with you, if he really wanted to do so.
“Dabi, c’mon…” 
The thought occurs to you--to throw in some of the snarky bite you two used to share for good measure. It’s a risk. It’s a big risk. But the idea of Dabi shoving needles through your tongue, into your skin, wherever he pleases to remake and modify you, makes you take a leap.
You grin. And oh, is it forced. But it’s all you can manage.
“Don’t be such an asshole.”
His breath is hot on your cheek as he suddenly leans grabs your arm and pulls himself in, his nose pressing against your cheek in a way that would have been endearingly mocking before; now it’s only another invasion of your space, another way to make you uncomfortable. Or maybe he’s trying to pretend that it’s the old days, too.
“Hey, that’s up to you, doll. You know that. So you gonna be my sweet girl? Let me spoil you?” He trails the back of his hand down your cheek, your neck, your collarbone; down, down, until he’s gripping the waist he laced so tight just a few minutes before. “Or do you want me to run out and get a pack of needles?”
You have a choice. 
You can’t hesitate to jump into the opening he’s given you, so you don’t. You lean up and kiss him, a soft little chaste kiss, part of the routine you used to share; you start with sweetness, with pecks and whisper-light touches, and he grips your hair and doesn’t let you go until you’re breathless from his kiss. Then he’ll take you to the bed and you’ll hate yourself afterwards.
Your thoughts are bitter as your mouth responds automatically to his own lips, to his tongue that finds its way into your unwillingly inviting mouth. 
At least the corset will make you breathless faster.
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Hey~~ could you write Annie x reader? What I had in mind was towards the end of s1 when Annie was trying to climb up the wall, could she try and take reader with her because they always talked about being together? Kinda like when Ymir took Historia in s2, and I really love your writings 💕 thanks~
TAsdfhjksfadh you didn’t specify whether Annie made it over the wall with the reader or not so uh I just kinda picked one lol hope you don’t mind
Also, sorry this is a little late, I've been feeling just a little sick for the past couple of days.
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Prove It
(Annie Leonhart x Reader)
AU: Canon
Warnings: Season 3 spoilers
Category: Mostly angst, little fluff
Summary: When Annie was outed as the Female Titan, she didn’t have a lot of options on where to go. And, as the fight between her and Eren progresses, it becomes clear her best option is to flee. Yet, there’s just one thing she can’t leave without. And it seems the feeling’s mutual.
Words: 3.1K
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That wicked laughter.
It rung through the empty streets of Stohess, abandoned specifically for this military operation.
The goal? To lure out the suspected Female Titan, Annie Leonhart. Your girlfriend.
At first, you were violently against participating in the operation. You weren’t going to incriminate her, that would be incredibly faithless. Really, you wanted nothing more than for her to be vindicated, and to prove the the world the the “heartless” Annie Leonhart is a loyal soldier, not the traitorous snake they started to make of her.
It got in your head, most certainly. Within hours of the first discussion, ‘Annie Leonhart’ and ‘Female Titan’ had become synonymous with each other, and you hated every bit of it. You always defended her fiercely, because you could only hear so much distasteful talk towards her before you started to broil over with rage.
So, you agreed. You were going to lure Annie down in to the tunnel and prove once and for all that she wasn’t a monster. You could clear her of suspicion, and the two of you would go back to your ordinary lives with each other.
And oh, if only that was what happened.
But you watched in horror as Annie refused to go down the tunnel. She laughed, laughed, when you pleaded with her to follow you, that all she needed to do was come along with you to be unshackled from the scrutiny and doubt.
But her feet remained planted in her rigid stance of defense.
“Y/n...” She slurred out, laughter finally subsiding. “I’m glad I could be a good person to you.”
The slope of fear seemed to lose it’s steadiness, and the drop-off into the pit of empty horror occurred when she held up her hand to her mouth, preparing herself for the bloodshed to follow.
“You’ve won your bet. But this is where my bet begins...!”
The signal flare fired, and the countless soldiers waiting in ambush jumped from all angles. You watched, wide-eyed and frozen, as they restrained her and gagged her, like muzzling a dog. But, it was no use. Her ring, the silver ring she never let you touch, sprung up a spike out of it’s side, and a quick slide of her thumb across the tip opened up a bloody gash in her finger.
And then came the lightning.
Mikasa had thrown her arms around you and Armin, dragging you down into the tunnel to get out of harm’s way of the transformation.
You knew she had finished her transformation when the thundering stopped, and chunks of debris rolled to a stop at your feet, stirred dust slowly settling itself back onto the stone ground. For a moment, everything stilled, and only the ragged breaths of Armin and the sheathing of Mikasa’s blades were audible.
And then something moved.
You weren’t sure what it was, until around the corner, the light was consumed by a large shadow, growing closer and closer and absorbing more of the sunlight until it rounded the corner.
A fingertip. Then the finger. Then the hand. An arm—and it was traveling down the hallway, fingers frozen in a pose as if it were trying to grab onto something, something it couldn’t see.
“Shit!” You let out a terrified yelp and took off running, Mikasa hot on your tail and Armin stumbling closely behind.
It sought after the three of you, until a distant thump could be heard. You whipped your head around and stopped running, noticing the hand—ever present, it’s finger stretched desperately in an attempt at grabbing something, but it was no use. You caught a glance of it’s upper arm, flush against the wall of the curve.
She couldn’t reach any farther.
You let out of a sigh of relief, falling to your knees and gazing at it. It’s shaking fingers stopped, finally, and went limp into it’s palm in defeat, before slowly pulling itself out. You had no clue whether it was trying to grab you, or Armin, or Mikasa, or if it was planning on killing you or not. Bottom line, it was unsuccessful.
But then more thunder.
It seems Eren finally got his cue, because the signature yellow hues of transformation shone even into the dark abyss of the wrecked tunnel.
The three of you took a deep breath and shared a collective glance. Before long, the unsaid instructions were followed, and the three of you scurried out of the tunnel to witness the action.
And action it was—the first sight you were greeted with upon exiting was that of Annie delivering a decisive punch to Eren’s jaw, sending him flying backwards into the streets of Stohess.
Eren returned to his feet as fast as he could, and let out a menacing roar as he charged at Annie, arms low like a football player preparing to pounce on something.
He charged, but her feet remained planted, arms bracing for impact.
You watched as the two of them brawled furiously. You didn’t even notice that Mikasa and Armin had left your side—you hadn’t moved. You couldn’t find it in your heart to fight Annie, but neither were you going to fight Eren. No, all you could do was watch, helpless.
The battle continued fiercely, absolutely wrecking the city in the process. Building were destroyed and crumpled, streets of stone completely upended as one or the other got helplessly tossed around.
It came to a head as the fight eventually progressed to a wide, open space of stone, and the two of them were fighting hand to hand, both of them looking worse for wear. You shot your ODM gear into the roof of a nearby building, watching the fight with a slacked jaw. You had no clue how Eren was even standing a chance to Annie, since you yourself had seen how skilled she was in martial arts.
Soon, though, a decisive kick to Annie shin sent debris and rocks flying everywhere. Annie lost her footing, tumbling to the ground with a thump.
And you had been so fixated on Annie in that moment that you failed to notice the debris, and it was headed right towards your face.
Something—rigid and powerful—collided with your head, and you fell to the ground instantly.
Your vision was already fading, and you watched as tiny streams of crimson flowed over the shingles and down the roof—no doubt stemming from the newly opened gash on your scalp.
The distant clinking of the rock as it tumbled down the slope of the roof was the last thing you heard, and the world around you faded to black.
---
Through the darkness, a memory flashed through your mind.
---
It was dark out, of course it was. Shadis would never let you have leisure time at all when the sun was up.
You leaned against an lone oak tree, fingers brushing through the soft grass idly. The air was cold and crisp, and a soft breeze flowed through the air, just barely enough to rustle your soft hair.
Annie sat silently next to you, shoulder brushing up against yours. Slowly, she slinked her hand over yours, hesitantly grasping at your hand. You entwined your fingers with hers, and she looked away shyly.
She often had bouts of insomnia, lying awake at night for hours, unable to get her body to relax. And, the first night she tugged at your nightshirt, waking you up to go outside with her, she fell asleep in your arms due to exhaustion almost immediately.
So, it had become an unspoken ritual from that day on. She couldn’t sleep, she’d wake you up, the two of you would go outside, and talk or busy yourselves until sleep inevitably caught up to her.
But today was different. For whatever reason, something had been keeping her up for a lot longer than usual. You knew something was weighing down on her heavily, but you weren’t going to pry it out of her.
Deciding to break the tense silence, you squeezed her hand gently, getting her attention before you spoke.
“It’s nice out, isn’t it?” You observed. You weren’t talking about the weather per-say, but the thousands of white speckled stars that dotted the sky, and the bright, full moon that illuminated the grass and dirt beneath you.
“It’s cold.” She said bluntly.
You chuckled softly, her bleak attitude was so characteristic of her.
“I guess that’s true.”
More silence.
And then she sighed, bringing your hand into her lap to cusp it in both of her palms, clinging onto it as if it were grounding her.
“What do you plan on doing later in life, Y/n?” She huffed, leaning her head backwards against the back of the tree and gazing up at the sky. “You don’t possibly plan on staying in the military your whole life, do you?”
“No, of course not.” You sighed.
“Then do you have plans afterwards?”
You paused for a minute. She raised a good point, you didn’t really think of anything after the military. Deep down, perhaps you understood that by joining the Cadet Corps you didn’t have much ahead of you. You can only survive so many brushes with death before it’s your turn to go.
“I guess not...” You hesitated, deep in thought. You swallowed a lump in your throat before changing the subject. “Why, do you?”
Even through the darkness, you could feel the shrug of her shoulders against you.
“Not really.” She muttered. “Just... stay with the MPs, make a living wage, retire somewhere in the interior, and... relax. I just wanna... find somewhere to relax.”
She paused for a second. Clearly there’s something tugging at her mind, something she wants to say. So, you sit back and wait for her to find the confidence.
“Do you promise me that... sometime, after a while in the Scouts, that you’ll come back to be with me?”
The future between the two of you was always painted with uncertainty—whether the two of you could ever truly stay together. It would be difficult, between soldiers, to be able to settle down and stay together no matter what, especially from different regiments. But you could always try.
She exhaled shakily, struggling to get the words out of her throat.
“I just can’t imagine living the rest of my life without you. ‘Cause... if anything ever happened to you in the Scouts...” Her voice trailed off near the end, and you assumed she was trying to plan out her next words carefully, until you heard a small sniffle pass her lips.
Surprised, you turned to face her. She was trying to fight off the tears at the corners of her eyes, lip trembling as she struggled not to cry. It wasn’t until now that you realized just how tightly she gripped your hand.
“Annie- Annie it’s alright.” You stumbled, trying to comfort her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was upsetting her—she was scared of living a life without you.
You hooked an arm around her lower back, pulling her closer to you and putting your other hand on the back of her head and guiding her to your shoulder.
“I promise you, no matter what, I’ll live. And one day, we can spend all our time together. I’ll go wherever you go, I swear.” You ran your hand through her hair, undoing the bun she kept it in and evening it out over her shoulders.
“You promise?” Her voice sounded shaky and weak, a vulnerability to it that she rarely showed. “No matter what happens to me, you’ll trust me and stay with me?”
“I promise. Of course I do.”
---
Warmth.
It was the first thing you noticed upon waking up. The second was darkness. You sat up, noticing how wet the surface beneath you was. And how how fleshy.
Your face paled in realization. You were in a titan's mouth.
You raised your arm up, cringing at the trail of saliva that connected you to her tongue.
Immediately, you searched for a way to get out. You didn't plan on leaving her behind, but you'd rather not be stuck in a place as slimy and dark as this either. However, your efforts were pointless, since her jaw was clamped shut, her teeth caging you in and preventing you from escaping. Your heart dropped a little, wondering if she didn't trust you not to run away.
Suddenly, you felt a large thump, the unexpected movement causing you to grab desperately at anything that would keep you grounded in one spot.
But then, another thump. And another, and another. It felt like running, almost, but far too slow. You pondered it for a moment, before you realized what was going on.
She was trying to climb the wall.
But then, the thumping stopped. She wasn't falling, thank god, but all movement has seized.
Hesitantly, her jaw started to open, giving ample space for you to squeeze through. A sudden thought came to you—she needed your help.
With no hesitation, you drew your blades and burst through the skin of her cheek, not even waiting for her to part for lips. Adrenaline pumping through your veins, you immediately search for the source of the problem. And you found it in the brute of a soldier, Mikasa Ackerman.
The girl was perched on Annie's nose, staring down at her. A quick glance to your side and you realized, with horror written all over your face, that Mikasa had cut off almost all of Annie's fingers—one more and Annie would easily lose her grip.
You understood, as soon as Mikasa drew her blades towards Annie's hand, you only had one option.
You shot your ODM gear towards her, not even caring when the hook dug into Mikasa's shoulder, causing her to yelp in pain as she turned to you.
She wasn't even given a moment to process as you came hurtling towards her, colliding with her shoulder and sending both of you flying through the air and towards the ground—fast.
Despite the small voice telling you that it would be easier to just ditch Mikasa, to release your ODM gear and let her fall, you shot the other hook into the wall, and your momentum halted to a stop.
She peeled her arms away from their protective guard around her head, processing that the two of you had stopped before looking up to you in surprise. You looked back down at her, an expression of sorrow in your eyes. It hurt you to betray her, and all of your comrades, like this, but you knew as soon as Annie placed her trust in you by opening her mouth that you only had one choice.
"Y/n what are y—!"
"I'm sorry Mikasa!" You yelled, trying to put aside your emotions for the time being. "I can't... I can't leave her, I promised I wouldn't!"
You took a deep breath, positioning on your finger on the trigger, preparing to release Mikasa from your ODM gear's bloody grip in her shoulder. "I'm sorry..." You muttered, before pulling the trigger, watching Mikasa tumbled towards the ground, her betrayed expression still glued helplessly on her face.
You decided that it would only hurt you to look at Mikasa—engraining that image into your head would certainly plague you later on.
You finally turned to look back at Annie, and your heart picked up a couple paces at the sight.
Her head was turned to you, watching—waiting—for you, her hand outstretched in your direction. You smiled, firing your ODM and flying into the palm of her hand, quickly climbing up onto her shoulder to allow her to finish her ascent up the wall.
You turned back one last time, looking over at the destroyed city, and the furious and betrayed faces of your comrades. You sighed, turning back around. That's in the past now, you thought. It doesn't matter. I... made a promise to Annie, I can't betray her. I can't...
---
The line of trees in the distance grew closer and closer as Annie jogged forwards, having made it over the wall and all the way to the forest inside Wall Maria.
She slowed down to a walking pace as she neared the trees, kneeling on the ground before releasing herself from the nape of her titan. Steam flowed from her body as she immediately collapsed forwards, and you instantly lurched forwards to catch her exhausted body in your arms.
"Grab on." You instructed, waiting for her to securely wrap herself around you before you flew through the air and onto a tree branch, making sure you were safely out of the reach of any mindless titans before you let go of her.
She took a deep breath, leaning against the wooden trunk of the tree to recollect her strength. After all, even as a titan, the fight had done numbers to her body.
You sat there in comfortable silence for a little bit, waiting for her to catch her breath while you idly readjusted the straps to your ODM gear.
Finally, she reached over to take your hand, grabbing it in both of hers just like she had during your conversation with her years ago.
"I'm so glad..." She sighed, voice weak and wavering. "I was so scared when I opened my mouth that you would just... run off without me."
Slowly, she shifted, wrapping her arms around your neck and leaning her entire body weight on you. You could feel some of the tension leaving her body as she sighed against you, burying her nose in the crook of your neck.
"I was terrified that if you found out my real identity, you would just leave me. I don't know how I would've handled it. I was just..." She took a shaky inhale as she continued, and you felt a few wet tears against your neck. "Scared. So... So scared..."
You set a comforting hand on her back, hugging her tighter in an attempt to sooth her.
"Annie..." You cooed in her ear. "I promised you, remember? I would never leave your side. I'm gonna stay with you for the rest of my life."
Her breathing started to calm against you, your words managing to ease her worries.
"Yeah," She sighed, pulling away from you. "I shouldn't have doubted you, sweetie."
You smiled and placed your hands on her shoulders, bringing her in for a quick kiss before wiping her tears with the back of your hand.
"It's fine. Just remember," You leaned in and hugged her, exuding a warm feeling that made Annie's heart swell with love. "I'll always be on your side, no matter what."
"God, I love you so much, you dork." She muttered, heat rising to her cheeks with a content smile.
You chuckled, "I love you, too."
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MAN THIS IS ASS
This is what happens when you force yourself to write with a headache whoops haha
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notdonesimpin · 3 years
Text
Wants And Needs ~d.a.~
daiki aomine x reader
warnings: kinda angsty, kinda fluffy. it does have a happy ending
synopsis: two people with a love for sports, finding themselves on opposite sides of the spectrum. One never puts in the effort and the other wishes they could touch the court once more.
a/n: its long haha :) self indulgence got the better of me. hope you enjoy :)
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Being the second manager of Touou Academy’s basketball was a fairly easy task until Momoi decided to put you on babysitting duty because Aomine seemed to be too hard to reach or find nowadays.
You’d argued her down on why it had to be you since they had been close since they were kids, but you knew it was because she couldn’t do proper stats or research if she had to worry about him.
Despite your better judgement, you agreed, putting the team’s needs before your own feelings. 
The only thing you couldn’t shake is how she said that you’re the only person he’ll actually listen to. What does that even mean? 
You’ve only had a few conversations with him and most of them seemed pretty tame. You’d never asked him to do anything. It was only ever minor suggestions to better his game or to help him heal afterwards but that was the extent of your friendship.
He’d just known you since you went to the same middle school as him but you both lived in different worlds then. He was the ace of the basketball team and you were the ace of the volleyball team. Your paths almost never crossed with how busy and committed you both were to your clubs, but you both respected each other and watched the other play whenever you had the chance.
“Why are you following me like a lost puppy? Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Aomine asks, snapping you out of your thoughts as he begins to ascend the ladder to the roof.
“Well, Momoi has gotten too busy to keep an eye on you, so you can call me your babysitter. It feels more like I’m supposed to be your secretary, though.”
“You can quit early. You’re not making me go to practice. There’s no point if I’m better than everyone.”
You huff, following him up. “You’re so arrogant.You know, that there’s going to come a day where someone will knock you off of your high horse or you might just do it yourself.”
He shrugs, laying down and letting his eyelids close.
“Daiki. Get up.”
He ignored you, faking a few snores in hopes that you’d give up and leave him alone. 
You let out a huff, contemplating on how to get him to go to practice. “What will it take for you to start going to practice?”
“I already don’t go, and my performance is fine.”
“But your teamwork is shit,” you blurt, quickly clamping your hands over your mouth as soon as you could.
He opened one of his eyes, glancing at you. “I don’t need a team. I’m strong enough on my own.”
“Then prove it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s go to practice. You’ll play by yourself versus three guys on the team. If you win, I’ll stop pestering you about practicing or being on time. If you don’t, you’ll practice on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and do strength training with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Aomine scoffs, “You must be expecting me to win with your outrageous request.”
You shake your head, “I know you’re going to lose, so I need enough punishment to get you off of your high horse. Plus, we’ll have a 3 on 1 game every week until you beat them or you admit that you can’t do it by yourself. Do we have a deal?”
He sits up, looking at you in amusement, “We have a deal if you agree to let me take you on a date after I win.”
“Then, we have a deal, Mr. Optimistic.”
He jumps up, heading for the ladder. “Let’s go. I don’t want to eat too late.”
Your eyes widened at his sudden determination to go to practice, even if it was under an agreement. You quickly followed him, having trouble since his legs were decently longer than yours.
He pushed the gym doors open and all eyes went to the two of you. They all fell silent when Aomine began to speak. 
“Imayoshi, Sosa, and Harasawa. Play me. 3-on-1,” he challenged.
“Daiki-kun! What are you doing?” Momoi asks, looking in between you, him, and the three players he’d just called out.
“I’m just here to win a bet that Y/N made with me. That’s all.”
He jogs onto the court, getting ready to play and disregarding everything Momoi, you, and the coach were saying to him.
“How about we go to 21? My baskets will count for 1 or 2 points and yours will count for 2 or 3,” he smirked, passing the ball to Imayoshi as he got in a defensive stance.
“You cocky little asshole.” The match began moments later.
In only about 15 minutes, Aomine had won in a landslide. 21-5.
Your jaw dropped, “Daiki…”
He grabbed his bag off of the ground with a triumphant smirk, grabbing your hand to pull you along with him as he left. “How do burgers sound? I’m starving.”
You fell silent after you caught up with Aomine, walking beside at a leisurely pace. He let go of your hand and let out a sigh.
“You’re quiet,” he notes after a few minutes of silence, “Do you really have nothing to say to me if it isn’t about practice?”
“I’m just trying to get my thoughts together. I don’t want to say anything that I don’t really mean,” you mutter.
He nods, letting the two of you fall into silence once again as he opens the door for you to walk into the fast food restaurant.
About five minutes later, Daiki sat down across from you with a large pile of food. He hands you two burgers and some fries, knowing that you usually didn’t eat much.
“Alright, I can tell you’re mad at me,” he leans against his chair, looking at you.
“I’m not mad at you.”
“Yes, you are. You have the same look on your face when I do something extremely reckless during the game or when I almost get hurt because I didn’t take your advice.”
You huff, “Why do you spend so little time practicing basketball if you love playing so much?”
“It’s no fun when no one is a challenge anymore. I’m the only person that can beat me.”
“Can you shut up with your superiority complex bullshit!” you snap.
His eyes widened. You’ve never lost your cool before. Why did you care so much about him skipping practice?
You took a deep breath and spoke in a calmer tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just- you claim to love the sport so much, yet, you subconsciously have given up. You’ve stopped having fun, but you don’t want to admit it.”
“Shut up,” he muttered.
“You hate the sport because you have no one to play against. Yet, winning isn’t the only reason to play. You play for your team or are you just too self-centered to realize it.”
“You don’t get to talk to me about the decisions I have made. You have no right to say that I need to play for the team when you were the best volleyball player at Teiko. You were the only person talked about as much as we were, but you quit. You gave up on your team. Don’t give me shit when you walked on the thing that made you who you are,” he sneered, getting up to leave.
“I didn’t give up. I’d committed to Rakuzan, but I got injured. They didn’t want me anymore. No strong team wanted me. Since Touou’s volleyball team is rather small since it just started last year, they still wanted me. That’s why I’m here. So don’t tell me about giving up because my love for volleyball is too strong. Everything I’ve ever done is to better myself and my team. That’s why I can have fun even if I’m beating the other team by a landslide. I can imagine how upset I have made you, and I apologize. I just- I would kill to step on the court right now. My doctor says that if I have surgery, I’ll be out for another six to nine months but my volleyball career will be guaranteed. I’ve thought about throwing away the rest of my career to play another season right now. Excuse me if seeing you flake off when you have so much potential makes me upset. I’m sorry for ruining our supposed date. Have a good night, Aomine.”
He couldn’t deny the way his heart ached after hearing your story or the way he swore that his heart broke when you called him by his last name. You haven’t done that since middle school.
His chest felt heavy, but there was nothing he could do now except to walk away. His pride being too large for an apology to fall across his lips.
It had been two weeks later and neither of you have tried to talk to the other. The team could practically feel the tension between the two of you as you sat on the opposite end of the bench to avoid being beside Aomine.
You were always the one to keep Aomine’s head afloat during games, so they weren’t sure what to expect without you quietly coaching him. They needed his complete focus during the game against Seirin and they were afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep his mind from drifting to whatever caused a rift between the two of you.
You stood up giving each of the players a pat on the back as they stepped onto the court. You placed your hand on Aomine’s shoulder as you stopped, causing him to stop and glance at you. He was going to open his mouth to say something, but you just gave him a tight lipped smile and continued to the bench and sitting by Momoi.
She gave you both sympathetic looks, knowing of the situation due to you both coming to her on separate occasions. Only Momoi knew how much of his play depended on your reassuring words and guided coaching. It wasn’t that he was terrible without you, but you gave him a purpose that neither of you realized.
The game has favored Touou for the most part, but Seirin was staying somewhat in the game. Everyone could tell that Aomine wasn’t giving his all, but no one knew how to approach him about it. They knew only you could bring him back to reality.
“Y/N, you do know that he’s started to come to practice, right?” Momoi says without taking her eyes off of the game. “He told me that he’d be there on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only because he has strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
“Why are you telling me this?” you asked, trying to hide the shock you felt that he actually listened to you even though he won the bet.
“He said that you put some things into perspective, and he shouldn’t take his time playing basketball for granted when there are people dying to even be able to do a percentage of what he does.”
You quietly nodded, not noticing the smile that crept on your face.
Halftime came and the team quietly went to the locker room. Everyone could tell how close to breaking Aomine was.
You refilled the water bottles and grabbed some colder towels as you walked into the locker room. You gave all the players that came off of the court a towel and a bottle, receiving a small thanks as the coach talked to them. 
You noticed Aomine staring at the ground, trying to keep his focus on the game. You unfolded the cool towel, placing it over his head and bent down to set the bottle in front of him. 
As soon as you tried to  walk away, he grabbed your wrist, pulling you towards him until his head rested on your torso and his arms were wrapped around you. You paused, unsure of how to respond. You could have sworn you heard a soft sniffle come from him.
“Uh, Daiki-kun-” Momoi started, realizing how uncomfortable you looked.
You cut her off with a reassuring smile, “It’s okay, Momoi. Let him be.”
You look down at him, moving the towel onto his neck so you could run your hands through his hair.
The buzzer sounded to signal that there were two minutes left until the game began. Everyone piled out, but Aomine didn’t budge.
You fell silent as he looked up at you with a few tears rolling down his face. “I’ve never felt so lost on the court, Y/N. Please, tell me what to do out there! Tell me how many mistakes I’ve made. Yell at me. Hit me for being such a dumbass! I just need you to- just please- please, talk to me. I can’t take it anymore.”
“Kagami goes based on instinct, like you, so any movement that could give a hint about what you’re going to do is guaranteeing your loss in a one-on-one battle. Beating him is easy if you let yourself have some fun. This may be the only time I tell you this, but don’t hold back.”
His eyes widened, “Really?”
“Yeah. Don’t hold back and win this game for the team.”
“I’m still struggling with the team thing, but I can win this game for you, if that’s okay,” he confessed as he gets up, keeping his arms loosely wrapped around your waist.
You lightly laughed, “I guess it’s okay. I just want you to have some fun.”
“Can I kiss you?” he leans down, ghosting his lips over yours.
Knowing your words would fail you, you pulled him down, crashing his lips onto yours. His arms tightened around you as he tried to pull you impossibly close to deepen the kiss.
You pull away with a small smile on your face, patting his chest. “Let’s go before they think we’ve murdered each other.”
Aomine instantly picked you up, and rushed out of the locker room despite your protests.
“Daiki! Put me down!” you yell as the tunnel begins to end.
The team looks over at the sound of your voice to see Aomine carrying you out. They all let out a deep sigh of relief to see that the two of you were getting along again.
He sits you down and you hit him in the shoulder. “If you weren’t playing right now, I swear I would murder you!”
He laughs, giving you a quick kiss as the buzzer went off for the game to start again. “I want to cheer as loud as you can for me, yeah?”
You grin, “I’ll do my best.”
~~
A few months later, you were at the hospital, waiting to be wheeled back for surgery when Aomine bursted into your room with wide eyes and his uniform on.
“Daiki? What are you doing here? You have a game like right now!” you exclaim.
“I couldn’t play. I tried, Y/N. I really tried to stay focused during warm ups, but I can’t when you’re here, getting the surgery that brings you onto the court you love. I can’t just show up after it’s done and ask if you’re okay.”
“The team needs you.”
“The team is the reason I’m here. They’re worried about you, too. You may not play on the court, but you’ve been there for every single one of us when we needed it the most. It’s only fair that I do that same for you as your teammate, but more importantly, as your boyfriend.”
“Daiki…” your eyes soften, noticing the tears threatening to leave his eyes. 
He wasn’t typically a vulnerable person. This was the first time you’d seen him so upset since that fight.
“You’re here alone when you shouldn’t have to be. Your parents are out of town. Who’s going to take care of you, baby? I know you put up this big front that you’re strong, but I don’t think you actually want to go into surgery without a comforting and familiar face.” Daiki’s voice cracks as he walks over to you. His laces your fingers together. “Let me take care of you.”
“Okay.” Your voice was small. You felt all of the emotions you’d been holding in start pouring out as tears began to fall down your face. 
He wipes a few tears off of your face, pulling the chair closer to the edge of the bed to sit down. “How long until it’s time?”
“Ten minutes.”
He nods, letting the both of you fall into a comfortable silence.
“Daiki?” you asked after a few minutes of silence.
He hums in response as he looks over at you.
“What if I’m a part of the unlucky 25 percent that can’t play again?”
“Y/N, you’re overthinking. Everything will go perfect. You’ll be playing volleyball next season, and I’ll get to cheer my girl on from the sidelines. If anything other than that happens, we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it. Either way, you have me.” He bends down to rummage in his bag, pulling out a teddy bear and handing it to you. “I got you this to hold onto during the surgery.”
“Thank you, Daiki.” You grabbed it from him, wrapping your arms around it tightly as you noticed that it smelled of his cologne. Your heart swelled as he successfully calmed you. 
Five minutes later, the nurse came in to wheel you to the back. He gave you a soft kiss on the forehead and watched them wheel you out.
The next three hours were excruciating for Aomine. He sat there in silence for the most part, checking his phone for updates on the game from Momoi.
After she informed him that they won, he made a plan with them to drop by your place later to check on you and celebrate later that night after they released you.
The nurse rolled you back in and you were still asleep. 
“How did it go?” he nervously asked.
“It was a success! As long as she does everything right, she should get back to volleyball in no time. She should wake up in the next thirty minutes or so. After that, we’ll see how she feels and go through everything that you guys need to do for the next two to three weeks until her check up.You guys should be out of here in another hour.
He nods, “Thank you.”
Just like the nurse said, you woke up thirty minutes later and felt a little groggy. He softly smiled at you, rubbing circles on the back of your hand.
“Hey, baby. How do you feel?”
Your eyes flutter open and you make immediate eye contact with him. “I want to go home, Dai,” you pout.
“I know. We’ll be going home soon. You’ll be back on the court before you know it, too.”
“Really?” you beamed.
He couldn’t help but match his smile to yours. “Yeah, they said it went perfect.”
Later that night, you and Aomine were quietly watching a movie when there was a knock on your door. 
You look at him confused as he gets up and walks over to it. “Aomine, who’s here?”
He smiles without answering your question as he opens the door to reveal the team standing there. They all piled into your home, asking if you were okay. Some of them handed you flowers and sweets while others brought movies and games for you to do in your free time.
“What are you guys doing here?” you ask in shock.
“We wanted to make sure that everything went well. Aomine thought it’d be a good idea,” Imayoshi informed you.
Aomine cheeks heated up as he scratched the back of his head. “I figured since you brought us closer as a team, you wouldn’t mind.”
“Not at all. These are moments with you guys that I won’t get often after I start playing volleyball again.”
“Nonsense, the volleyball team and basketball team schedules almost never clash because we only have one gym. The only time it’d be troublesome is during tournament season. Even if you can’t be at most of our games, you can still come to a lot of the practices,” Aomine interjected.
Everyone looked at him with wide eyes. “Why do you know this information?” Momoi asked.
“I wanted to see how much time I was going to get to spend with Y/N once she was released to play.”
“Oh you are so whipped.”
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At the beginning of age of avengers, someone assumes that Tony is the leader and he corrects them and say that it’s Steve.
And that surprised me because I assumed that Steve and Tony were co-leaders, but no, Steve was CHOSEN as the leader of the avengers. I was about to say that Tony was second in command, but I’m assuming that’s Nat.
But, as surprised as I was about this revelation (I literally hadn’t seen the movie in 8 years until 3 days ago), it instantly made sense.
As much as the anti Steve crowd hates on Steve, on several occasions we’ve seen Steve not only inspire people, but also get them to follow him. After someone commits to following Steve, they’re typically loyal to him.
We do not see this with Tony.
The issue with Tony isn’t that he’s flawed and has trauma, it’s how he treats others and how he processes trauma. When you lash out at others, ignore them, insult them (for your own amusement); don’t consider anyone else, etc, you more times than not will alienate people who are ok your side or, at least, want to be. A person having trauma doesn’t excuse how they treat others. And there is only so long most will people up with that behavior before leaving, which is their right.
I believe the only person who stayed by Tony’s side no matter what was Happy. Tony and Rhodey commonly fought and Rhodey even sided against Tony as well. Pepper had to take a break from Tony due to his own actions.
People can forgive flaws, but often struggle to forgive habitual poor behavior and various transgressions that comes with it.
We cannot except people to respect Tony or want to follow when he makes a joke about the PTSD (Capsickle), their traditional clothes (Thor), job endangerment (Rhodey; Tony made a transphobic joke about an event that didn’t happen), as well as sexual remarks (Natasha). And that’s not all that he did. This goes beyond being flaws, especially when you’re supposed to work with these people and they’re allegedly your friends.
He also doesn’t tell anyone about his trauma and OFTEN deflects, which may include insults or cracking inappropriate jokes. No one should have to deal with that all because someone is traumatized, especially as ALL OF THEM are dealing with their own and equally valid trauma.
Comparatively, Steve does not do that.
The people who work with Steve and are friends with him take him seriously. They support him and he supports them.
We see this going back to the 1940s. Peggy believed in Steve based off of his resilience and faith of convictions. She challenges him when he accepts his current circumstances.
After Steve saves literally over 400 men by himself, he earns the respect of not only colonel Phillips, but the men he saved as well. When he says he wants to pick his own team, in addition to the wish being respected, the chosen men flat out say that they’d follow Cap anywhere.
This must be stressed: these men were held prisoner and knew they’d encounter the most dangerous weapon and men in the entire war and readily agreed because Captain America asked.
In winter soldier, Steve is declared a criminal and is on the run. When he breaks into the shield headquarters, he gives his speech and EVERYONE minus hydra agents refuse to launch the coded because Captain America explain to them that some dangerous shit was going down. They believed his word because his actions and his character is THAT respected.
See the trend here: people listening and following Steve because they believe he’s genuine and wants to do what’s right.
In age of ultron, we hear a reference that he was chosen as leader. The events in this movie proves why Steve was chosen and Tony wasn’t.
Whether or not you believe Tony was right to crested ultron, he still should’ve told his team what Wanda made him see AND explained why he wanted to create this tech/weapon. Instead, he deliberately kept it a secret and pressured Bruce into helping him. Ironically, despite the claims that Steve feels like he knows that’s best, this is exactly what Tony assumes.
Let’s be clear: not only are Steve, nat, Bruce, hawk eye, and Thor adults, they are also avengers as well. They don’t need Tony to protect them and they all of the capabilities of deciding if they want to do something dangerous and risk their lives. And it’s ego centric as hell for him to actually believe that Steve, of all people, would guilt him by saying he should’ve saved them. Steve wouldn’t have done such a thing both saying that or even making Tony feel bad if he did all he could do.
Despite creating his murder bot due to not consulting his team because he knew they’d say no, Tony did it AGAIN.
Again, where’s the leadership? Where’s the accountability? Where’s the understanding that he may not like the answer, but he does owe it to his team to talk to them? And, again, he thinks he knows what’s best.
What does Steve do in this same movie? The twins start fighting besides him, which he doesn’t interfere with because ultron is the bigger threat. But, rather than fight them like his instinct tells them, he stop and listens to what they have to say.
I want to note that people like to say (and some are thinking), it’s good that Tony built what eventually became ultron, well, it’s good that Steve extended a hand to the twins. They also played a huge role in why the world didn’t lose half its popular, which was a consequence of Steve’s decision making.
Once Steve heard them out and was willing to let them into the fold, he defended them when other avengers tried to attack them. He didn’t leave them out to dry.
Then, when the actual fight happens Tony reveals a few minutes in that they have no other options but to abandon civilians and let them die.
Steve flat out refuses that as an option and makes the PERSONAL decision to stay until every civilian is safe. Not one person will be left to die.
I don’t know about anyone else, but Steve comes off as the clear leader and Tony doesn’t.
What happens next is that literally every current avenger and the twins stay to help. Nat literally tells Steve that this would be a beautiful place to die and explicitly says she’s fighting alongside him.
Whether or not Steve spoke to people, he inspired them to follow him by his actions.
Who is inspired to follow Tony?
Tony flirts with retirement, which no criticism against that.
But, alongside nat, Steve personally trains Sam, Rhodey, and Wanda for team avengers. After accepting Wanda into the fold, he treats her life everyone else.
In civil war, Steve was hands on with wandas training so she could control her power and made sure was protected. He accepted responsibility for not accounting for unforeseen threats, such as the explosives and explained to Wanda the realities of their job. He was realistic with her, but used that as motivation as to why they should strive to be better. Steve was outraged when he found out that she was locked up and freed her from Tony’s unlawful imprisonment.
Even if someone argues she should be locked up, Tony did not talk to her. Wanda didn’t consent to being confined to the house. This is another example of believing he knew what was best for people rather than talking to them and seeing how they feel. He isn’t giving others the right to make informed decisions for themselves and in general.
Steve, on the other hand, consistently considers what people feel because he TALKS to people. He has meaningful conversations with people, such as nat and Sam. Steve formed connections to people, which made them feel close to him.
But, let’s circle back to Tony, he takes a MINOR without the explicit consent of his guardian. Not only does he take Peter without May’s permission, he takes Peter OVERSEAS and to fight at that.
To make matters worse, Peter doesn’t know WHY he’s fighting or what for.
Where’s the oversight or accountability in any of that?
During the fight, someone flat out asks how old Peter is. Tony follows up after the fight, during homecoming, with almost inviting Peter to stay at the avengers compound. As a reminder, Peter was still a literal teenager and Tony still DID NOT ask peter’s guardian if this was okay.
Where as Steve explicitly tells people what they are getting into. He lays out what to expect and that you have a choice in it. Steve never pressures people into helping him and they usually volunteer. And, whatever happens afterwards, he’s there for them.
How was Tony’s mentorship with Peter?
He’s not actively involved with Peter after taking him in as a mentee, pawns him off in Happy, thinks at status reports are sufficient, and ignored Peter’s concerns. Peter was a minor who just had the most surreal experience of his life and Tony doesn’t think this kid would be amped and itching to do more?
Tony doesn’t think Peter might need some hands on mentorship? Tony thought he could mentor from afar with updates and camera footage, but it actually engage.
Them damned accords!
Tony signed the document due to guilt and tried to get others to sign it despite him being mostly responsible for why the accord even exist or, at least, did a lot of shit that is now being penalized. I’m not sure if he actually read it OR if someone summarized the point.
Whereas Steve DID read the accords and his stance wasn’t one of guilt, but concern and ethical issues with what’s in the accords. Steve was prepared to retire because his beliefs didn’t align with what was being asked of him and others. He didn’t ask anyone to back or follow him.
But, people do eventually back him and follow his lead. They know exactly what they’re getting into. And, despite knowing the risks and eventually getting arrested, they stick to their convictions.
When Tony finds out that Bucky killed his parents, despite knowing that Bucky was brainwashed for LITERALLY decades, he tries to kill him. When cap realizes this, he constantly tries to neutralize Tony.
Let’s go back. Steve knowing that Bucky needs to be arrested, decides to save Bucky both for Bucky’s protection AND so those trying to bring him in doesn’t get hurt/killed. Once Bucky is safely arrested, Steve lets the situation go.
Oh, before I really get into infinity wars, there is no mention of Wanda harming other people even accidentally. :)
Tony, as usual, ignores what others wanted, like strange, and think he knows what’s best. He plans to fight thanos henchman by himself as well as thanos completely ignoring the concept of teamwork. (He also jumps to insulting others for his own shits and giggles—keep in mind, these are people he doesn’t know).
What does Steve do?
He was successfully on the run with nat and Sam and they worked together as a TEAM to save vision. They then meet up with rhodey and formulate a plan as to how to stop thanos. Steve coordinates with various people to have the battle in Wakanda. He doesn’t assume he can fight thanos by himself or should.
Steve refuses to trade lives because every life is valuable.
When the Snap happens, Tony fucks up into his cabin in the woods and lives his life.
And what does Steve do?
Run a support group to keep hope alive for people who are trying to see the best in a shitty situation.
He stays an avenger and does whatever needs to be done because he’s there to serve the people regardless of the despair he feels.
Don’t get it twisted, Steve is not perfect, but he constantly led by example, put the wants and needs of others before himself, was a hands on mentor, listened and supported others, and refused to leave anyone behind and/or die. He was always willing to be the only man fighting the battle and even to die for his beliefs.
And this man is called selfish by some.
Where as Tony consistently believed he knew what was best for others, was willing to let people die, was a shit mentor, mocked and ridiculed others, put his own feelings first, etc.
And this is seen as a leader???
Let’s not forget that dangerous tech he left to a MINOR after he died. Peter was so overwhelmed by the responsibility, he gave it to the first person who listened to him and who he believed to be responsible. This isn’t a condemnation of people. Again, his a literal minor—15 or 16. Who is overwhelmed about the shit stark left on his shoulders.
When old cap spoke to Sam, he gave AN ADULT, his shield. One with loved experiences and who knew how to handle complicated feelings. He knew what Sam was willing to handle and could handle.
And another thing: the fact that people were willing to go on the run with Steve says a lot. This is the second time Steve has been on the run and people, Sam and nat, were willing to follow him and assist (both times).
Tony couldn’t even get people to stay faithful to the legal accords. Rhodey said peace out as soon as cap returned. Nat abandoned Tony to join Steve. Vision questioned his life choices, and then went black to be with Wanda. And Peter didn’t know what the fuck was going on.
And Tony stans think he should’ve been leader based off of using his money for the avengers and giving them a place to crash.
LOL!
People want Wanda to apologize to Tony for invading his mind when he should apologize for her parents dying. If you’re a weapons manufacturer, there’s no such thing as believing only the “good guys” will use your weapons. You know your weapons could and will get into the wrong hands. And you also know that without war, you’d be out of a job. But, also the “good guys” are usually imperialist who fuck over other countries as they undermined these government structures to steal resources from them and other shit.
Just because starks stopped manufacturing weapons doesn’t mean he can escape accountability for what his weapons did to others.
Tony also ratted out that Clint had a family and was fine with them being jailed because they took the “wrong” side. Did he apologize to any of these people? The ones he had jailed and the ones who were forced to go on the run for a bill he supported, and then admitted was fucked up? (The same law he later broke twice.)
But, he’s a leader???
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amiwritesthings · 3 years
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Established deanjohn. The argument that leads to Sam leaving to Stamford were he ends up screaming at John that he knows about his relationship with Dean. Dean tries to explain but Sam starts accusing him too and John kicks him out. Cue afterwards either soft deanjohn scene or them starting fighting, leading then to a more rough scene
so i said i wasn't gonna fill this prompt BUT- here we are. just a warning, sam is, well, let's say harsh
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Dean pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the headache he can feel coming on from hearing his father and his brother yell over his head for a solid half hour. He had given up trying to referee a few minutes ago, hovering uselessly in the middle as a buffer, just in case things turned physical.
“I’m disappointed in you, Sammy. Family comes first. Thought we raised you better than that,” John says, almost eerily calm now, and Sam bristles at the words, fists clenching tightly at his sides. Dean straightens just as a precaution, grounds his stance.
“It’s Sam, I’m not a fucking child anymore! And you really think you have a fucking leg to stand on here? Father of the year, right here, huh? Neglecting one son while fucking the other.”
Dean freezes for a second, more from the shock of Sam knowing than the actual words, his eyes, wide, unsure, flickering to Sam, who’s curled so tight Dean’s afraid he’s going to explode any second. Dean instinctively takes a step closer to his father.
“What, you think I don’t know about that fucked-up twisted thing between you two? You haven’t exactly been hiding it well, not for a long time!” Sam rages and behind him, Dean hears John draw in a breath, feels his father's body tensing, and Dean gives him a short look, silent communication – let me handle this -, before turning his attention back to Sam, stepping closer.
“Sammy-,” Dean starts but then doesn’t continue when Sam huffs, a whole-body thing, his shoulders rising, his chest puffing out, eyebrows drawing together as he narrows his eyes.
“Sam,” he corrects, ignoring the sting in his heart at being forced to do so, “whatever you think you know, it’s not-“
“It’s not what, huh, Dean?” Sam interrupts, nostrils flaring. “He’s got his dick so far up your ass, you don’t even know right from wrong anymore! You know there’s more to life than following orders and bending over, right?”
Dean reels back, feels more than sees John move behind him, only manages to turn and bring a hand up to John’s chest in the last second.
“Don’t Dad,” he tries, but John’s eyes are firmly fixed on Sam over Dean’s shoulder, furious, jaw ticking with anger, muscles tense beneath Dean's palm.
“Don’t do something you’ll regret, please, John?” Dean tries again, quieter, putting some pressure into his touch, and John finally tears his gaze away from Sam, eyes softening just a little as looks at Dean.
“Oh, it’s John, now, is it? God, I don’t know who’s more deluded, him for thinking this is okay or you for thinking you actually want this! I’m so sick of both of you!”
Dean recoils at the words, from John, from Sam, and when he finally turns to face his brother, hurt in his eyes, and says ‘c’mon Sammy, you don’t mean that’, so quietly, Sam almost – almost – seems to feel bad, his scowl softening, eyes going wide. It has the opposite effect on John, though, anger flaring, shoulder squaring, as he bellows “You wanna leave so fuckin’ bad, boy? Take your shit and go. Go to Stanford, live a normal life. But you leave now, you don’t come back, you hear me?”
Dean tries his hardest not to flinch, at the words, at the sudden determination in Sam’s eyes.
“Fine by me! You just keep living your backwater hillbilly fantasy, ruin him some more, tell yourself it’s okay. See if I fuckin’ care,” Sam yells back as he shoulders his duffel, slings his backpack over the other shoulder.
“Sam, c’mon,” Dean tries again, hovering uncertainly, itching to stop his brother from leaving but not quite daring to move.
“Sam,” Dean implores when Sam reaches for the door handle and while there’s a slight halt in the movement, it doesn’t stop his brother from opening the door. Dean tenses when fingers curl around his wrist, John’s voice low in his ear a moment later. “Let him go, son. He made his choice.”
Sam doesn’t look back when he walks out, the door falling shut behind him with a heavy thud. The silence feels suffocating, makes Dean swallow against the lump in his throat. John’s fingers are still on his wrist, a light touch that should ground him, would ground him in any other situation, the slight stroke of thumb against his pulse point.
He wrenches his hand free, rubs at the skin as if he could chase John’s touch away. He’s feeling untethered, his whole life upended with the slam of the door, a constant removed, just like that.
“Dean.”
“I need a minute,” Dean manages to choke out, stumbling over the words, stumbling away from the looming presence of his father and out into the dark.
Part of him hopes to find Sam still outside, sitting on the porch, on the curb, but there’s only darkness and rain, cold and damp, and God, he wishes they weren’t staying in this god-forsaken residential area with nothing around them for miles, wishes he was at a motel, a truck stop, somewhere with a bar around.
But here, there’s nothing, no people, no bar, no Sam. Just trees, a rotting porch and darkness. He sinks down on the steps of the porch, the rain only hitting his shoes and legs, fat drops that soak through his jeans.
He couldn’t care less.
He takes a deep breath, releases it again in a shudder, his breath forming a cloud in the cold. He wonders if Sam really meant it, if he’s really sick of them to the point where he can’t even stand being around them anymore. If the boy he’d raised, the boy he’d carried out of their burning home on unsteady feet, can’t look him in the eye anymore, can’t accept what living this life has made of their family.
And Dean knows he should feel bad about what he's doing with John, for loving his father too much, that it’s dirtybadwrong for anyone who doesn’t know this life, their circumstances, how Dean has always been more of a partner than a son.
Sam knows all of this, first hand, and he still doesn’t understand. Doesn’t want to understand.
It hurts more than anything ever has, claws at his insides, makes him feel raw and ripped open and he quickly runs a hand over his face when his eyes well up. He’s not going to cry, not over this.
Fuck Sam and his high and mighty attitude, he thinks, and his brain cheers, but his heart keeps aching regardless.
The door opens, closes softly, heavy footsteps that stop just behind him.
“It’s raining,” John says as he sinks down beside Dean on the steps, the old wood creaking ominously under their combined weight.
“Yeah,” Dean mutters, keeping his eyes on the ground, the patchy grass in the front yard, the muddy puddles forming in the spaces between.
They sit in silence for a while and Dean lets John’s presence soothe his nerves, lets his warmth seep into him where their shoulders touch. He’s thankful, for once, that they don’t talk about shit like feelings. They are Winchesters after all, stoic and focused, with no room for something as pesky as emotions.
Dean releases a shaky breath when a big hand settles heavily at the back of his neck, squeezing softly. He bites his lip against the tears surging up again, the sharp point of pain enough to keep them at bay. “C’mon, back inside.” The low rumble of John’s voice is comforting, something that bypasses his brain and goes straight to relaxing his body.
“Yeah,” he breathes, soft, as he follows John in rising, grimacing at the feel of wet jeans sticking to his legs. It’s uncomfortable, like the whole evening has been. And he’s so ready for it to be over, for all of this to be over, for John and him to get into the Impala and just drive, hunting whatever comes their way and forget about Sam.
Not tonight though. John has been drinking, he can smell it on him when he follows him inside, their shit isn’t packed and it’s coming down in sheets outside. Tonight, they are not going anywhere. Tonight, they are stuck here, in this ramshackle house with the memory of Sam haunting the space.
“We’ll leave in the morning,” John says, as if reading his mind, and Dean is glad he doesn’t need to ask for this, doesn’t need to ask to get away from this place.
He follows John up the stairs, to the bedrooms, where they each had their own, a rare luxury. John doesn’t say anything when Dean hovers in the door to his room, doesn’t ask for him to join him in John’s, doesn’t push.
“Night,” is the only thing he says, quietly, before he disappears into the bedroom, leaving Dean alone in the hall. Dean’s eyes linger on the door across from his, the room where Sam slee- used to sleep, and his teeth dig into his lip again, the flesh already sore, the pain a welcome distraction.
His bedroom is dark safe for a sliver of moonlight through the curtain, finding its way between heavy cloud as the rain momentarily lets up. He sinks onto the edge of the bed with a sigh, toes off his boots, then peels the wet jeans down his legs. His calves are clammy, cold, and he shivers in the cool air, mind still whirling.
Did Sam really hate him that much for finding comfort, love in his life? Did he really think he-
Dean clamps down on the thought, forces it back. Fuck Sam. The thought is foreign, forced, leaves a bad taste in his mouth.
He strips out of the rest of his clothes, slips into his sleep shirt, one of John’s old USMC shirts that still hangs long on his frame.
He eyes his bed, the lumpy pillow, the ugly comforter with the stupid roses.
It’s not even a conscious decision to leave his room, pad down the hall to the door that’s left slightly ajar. “Dad?”
There’s rustling in the dark, like John’s turning over to face the door.
“C’mere,” John says, one hand lifting the sheets for Dean to climb in. Dean hovers for just a second before crossing the distance and sliding under the sheets, fitting himself to John’s body until he can’t tell anymore when one ends and the other begins.
It reminds him of simpler times, when he was just a boy, climbing into his dad’s bed to escape a bad dream, letting his father hold him until his mind quieted down.
There’s a hand softly running through his hair now, the other resting just lightly on his belly. It’s warm and comfortable and familiar and for the first time since Sam had whipped out that stupid envelope, Dean begins to relax.
“Do you really think he hates-,” Dean starts after a while, not even sure if John is still awake, letting his words trail off into the dark. John tightens the arm around him, presses a kiss to the back of his neck. “No,” he answers, a puff of warm air against Dean’s skin, and he sounds so sure that Dean can almost believe it.
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I listened to the TAZ Grad finale!
Fellas is it gay to become imbued with the essence of the sea after influence from your water genasi teammate, pester said teammate afterwards to name a boat after you, and sail away with them into the sunset to run a cruise line scam and become morally righteous pirates?
Ive been looking at people’s reactions on the finale and yeah I loved the chaos magic parts! The whole issue with the mishandling of D&D mechanics was never really a problem with me, although I know some people feel more strongly about that than I do.
Personally, I’ve always listened to TAZ for the story and not the actual D&D so I never really took issue with any of the DM-ing mistakes Travis did. Parts of the actual story had problems (the centaurs, Ranier, other points where Travis tried to be inclusive but implemented it where it wasn’t relevant) but overall I think the enjoyable parts far outweighed the bad.
And the McElroys in general are funny as hell so even though Grad wasn’t as profound as Balance or as sad as Amnesty I still enjoyed it a lot! I would probably put Grad above Amnesty but below Balance, but of course Balance holds a special place in my heart.
A problem people had with the finale that I didn’t notice while listening was that of all their talk of “destroying capitalism,” the trio settled down to comply with capitalist society at the end. And while I do agree that the “this system is bad but let’s slowly make change from within” message has been done to death, I don’t think that the ending was necessarily performative and disingenuous on the McElroy’s part.
The first point is that even though the trio decided to participate in Nua’s society in stereotypically “exploitative” careers, (particularly in Fitzroy and Firbolg/Gary’s case) they did so explicitly to keep people from being exploited by the system. Not to mention their paths fit their character arcs pretty well. 
Fitzroy’s “who will protect the weak from the strong” speech doesn’t indicate a sleazy lawyer willing to exploit the law to make a quick buck. One person described him as one of those pro-bono lawyers and I agree with that comparison. Fitzroy is a morally good person at his core, and he initially thought the hero society would help him do good, and after becoming disillusioned with hero society, he decided to carve out his own system to allow him to do good, both by being a lawyer and by being a pirate that only attacks rich assholes. (I really like that he clarified he would only attack rich assholes my chaotic good lawyer boi <3)
Firbolg’s whole character arc of being conscientious of resources to help the community instead of hoarding things to himself, in my opinion, culminates neatly with his decision of becoming a financial advisor. He has learned that both the “share all your resources without regard for the future” ideals of the Firlbolg and the “hoard all your resources for your own benefit” ideal of Nua’s society are both flawed extremes, and has dedicated his career to helping communities find a balance between the two.
Argo’s cruise seems more of a small business to me than a capitalistic venture, but I have never taken an econ class in my life so I digress. His character arc was about finding something to live for other than the past and I think it’s a good conclusion to his arc that he commemorates his mother and friends with the cruise line but still seeks out his own future outside of that by becoming a pirate. His original plan was to go with the establishment and work with one of the most powerful heroes in the world until he gets revenge, so it’s nice to see him grow to find his own self sustaining outside of the establishment.
The second point is that TAZ Grad was never about destroying capitalism. That was a joke that Travis laid the foundation to, but it was the players who made that joke and rolled with it. Tumblr user @fitzroythecreator wrote a really good analysis of how the main theme of Grad was self reliance which I agree with. While that is one of the main themes, I will be focusing on the theme of capitalism that a lot of people tend to focus on.
The characters’ goal was to destroy the HOG, which was an allegory for how organizations function under capitalism, but never a direct parallel with capitalism as an ideology or functional system itself.
When they first joked about “ending capitalism” by blowing up the HOG I was concerned because that’s not how anything works. The HOG was just one cog (heh) in the capitalist machine that was Nua’s society, and while destroying it would cause significant damage and change, it wouldn’t immediately shift everyone’s worldviews to discard their capitalist society as a whole. If the boys carried out the mission and all of a sudden the whole world was fixed, it would be even more disingenuous to present a utopian solution to a pressing, real world problem that simply cannot be solved this way.
I’m glad that they didn’t end capitalism. Social issues like this can never realistically be resolved by three spunky heroes on an adventure. You would need action from an entire population. Often violent action. There were already issues with too many NPCs in the spotlight so describing and entire population’s uprising would have exacerbated the problems even more. As four white men, the McElroys neither had the answers for how to end capitalism, nor would their medium of a D&D podcast have allowed them to present them effectively.
From my perspective, the way they would have actually ended capitalism was to go to war like Chaos and Order wanted. In this case, the entire social order and way of life for Nua would have been overturned. The main characters, Fitzroy most vocally, reject this option because of the human toll (or elves, or dwarves...whatever the term for that is for D&D races). Instead, they disturb the system to expose its flaws and let society recognize said flaws in the background. (Again, they couldn’t focus too much on it as it would take away from focus on the main characters.) Then, they choose to find their own place in the system and fix it from within.
I’m not surprised that the McElroys would pick the “change the flawed system from within” route over the “use continuous and possibly violent action to force rapid social change” route in the end. While the second stance could work if written correctly, there’s a lot more room for the message conveyed to be catastrophically bad if the writing doesn’t work. I’m personally glad that the McElroys, who don’t have a solution, presented the tamer first take instead of trying to give a solution with the second take and failing spectacularly.
TAZ: Grad was social commentary on the problems of late stage capitalistic society, but it never tries to present a clear answer on how to end this society. Rather, it recognizes that this is a problem that can’t be solved by one small group of people. It presents several possible solutions to navigate this society to bring yourself happiness within this soul crushing system while slowly changing the attitude of the society. After all, if everyone quietly changed societal attitudes for the better, then perhaps one day the population will be united enough to bring about the drastic social change that we all hope for.
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reignstormz · 3 years
Text
✓WORK IT OUT✓
|IMAGINE; PART TWO|
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INTRO; Continuation from Part One, I couldn't type the entire imagine on just one smh. Still hope you enjoy!
WARNINGS; Sexual content ahead, still. Read at your own risk.
CAST; Same as the first chapter
MINI PLAYLIST; Beg For It - Chris Brown / Someday Is Tonight - Janet Jackson / Hold On - The Internet / Rather Be - H.E.R. / Finesse - Bryson Tiller.
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🦋Tampa, Florida
🦋July 25th, 2021
Ever since then, you and Roman stayed in touch. You got to know each other very well over the past couple of months, and became good friends, close friends to be exact. Roman was like the other half to you that you never thought you needed; You both had a lot in common as well as differences which complimented each other, everytime you were together there was never a dull moment, you could talk for hours to this man about anything and laugh about pure nonsense that only you two could understand. He always gave the best advice whenever you were down, and did whatever he could to make you smile. Roman wasn't just the fine ass guy from the gym that you fawned over back then, he was your best friend, which made it harder to contain your feelings believe it or not.
You loved him, but it wasn't just a friendly love, you were in love. Overtime, you started to realize that he was truly your soul mate all this time. You had an idea of that beforehand, but you always denied it, mainly because you didn't want to rush into things, or get hurt again. As you guys got further into your friendship, you had revealed to him about what you went through, and how crushed you were. There wasn't a day afterwards that Roman wouldn't tell you that you deserved better, someone that would treat you like the queen that you were.
He'd always tell you that you were special, beautiful, and sometimes even got a little touchy with you. There was always a flirtatious vibe that he would give off, and you of course didn't mind. You had a strong feeling that he felt the same way, you knew he did, but you didn't want to say anything. You wanted him to make the first move. However, you were making moves of your own as well.
After your ex finally moved out of your apartment, you wanted to completely turn your life around. You wanted to boss up, and bring out your alter ego for a change. It was time to reach for the lifestyle that you always wanted, and sitting around feeling sorry for yourself wasn't going to do anything. So, you went out and did just that. First, you searched a new job. Even though you loved your current one, you strived for something bigger, and a better salary. You searched, and searched, you honestly thought that there was going to be no luck until you came across something that captured your interest.
It was an assistant job at a business company named 'Roman Empire Enterprises' and though it had a nice ring to it, it also reminded you of Roman. Anything reminded you of him, due to how head over heels you were. So, you decided to take a leap of faith and apply. You were interviewed by an older, white man named Paul Heyman, and he had informed you about every little detail this business had. He talked about how this was a family ran business, and how he's worked with them for generations. You noticed that, he never really talked about who you were going to be assisting, but addressed the family as the 'Anoa'i Family' which was Roman's last name. You got a little curious, wondering if he had anything to do with this or if he even owned this place. So, you flat out asked if he worked there and Paul didn't hesitate to answer your question. Apparently, Roman was the boss of the entire company and that's what you signed up for, to be his assistant.
You were extremely confused as to how you didn't have this information before you applied for the job, but you were even more confused at the fact that Roman never told you about his occupation this entire time you've been friends. You'd ask about it sometimes, but he would always brush it off. When you got a moment alone, you told him everything about what you found out, and he revealed something to you as well. He admitted to owning the company and being the boss, but he never told you about it because it was more than that, and he didn't want to scare you off. Roman wasn't just a regular boss, he was a Mafia boss and this position had been handed to him after his father stepped down. His family has been doing this for years, and he's dealt with some pretty dangerous, horrific things being in control, but he loved it at the same time. Roman's cousin Jey was apart of it, so was his brother Jimmy that you ended up meeting was too, including Paul, who was his special counsel.
You didn't know what to think if it, and it took you awhile to process all of it. You honestly thought about turning down the job, and maybe even keeping your distance from him, but you couldn't, you loved him too much. After all, you trusted Roman, you knew he wouldn't let anything happen to you. When he found out you were the one that applied for the job, he was happy and begged for you to take it. You gave it some thought, knowing this was something way different than you have ever done before and it wasn't like any regular job, but it didn't take you too long before you accepted his offer.
It was the best decision you ever made, you loved working by his side. It did take a little bit of time for you to get the hang of things, but he taught you everything he knew about the Mafia game, his family, the business, and how important it was to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. You worked really hard, and he spoiled you with just about everything. Jewelry, your dream car, and your salary was big enough so you could get a new, spacious penthouse. Your life really turned around and you were proud of yourself for moving forward.
Currently, you were with Roman at the moment in his gym at his new house he moved into about two months ago. It was large, very grand, typically Roman's style. Another thing that you loved doing together other than going to the movies, and even going to dozens of restaurants was working out together. This time, you didn't have any accidents thankfully but you two still goofed around at times, like now.
You were on the ground, in a deep lunge, stretching after an intense workout. You thought Roman had left the room for a little bit to take care of some business calls, but he creeped up behind you and smacked your ass harshly. You winced, and then sighed, turning your head around to glare at him, "Can you stop doing that?"
"Doing what?" He shrugged, with a playful smirk on his face as he sat down on the edge of the bench press. You rolled your eyes, getting up from your lunge and stood in front of him in a challenging stance, "Don't get smart, you punk." Then you hit his arm and a grin grew on your face by his reaction.
He rubbed his arm in pain and laughed out loud, and he quickly grabbed the both of your hands as tried your best to get out of his grasp, "What did I say about you hitting me, babygirl?"
You bit your lip, instantly you got a tingly feeling in your stomach, whenever he called you by your nickname, or one of the many nicknames he gave you.
"Don't bite your lip and get all shy now, come here." Roman licked his lips with a settle, sensual smile on his face. Jesus take the wheel, you thought. Your heart started to beat really fast and you could no longer hold his stare, instead you continued to try to fight him off but it didn't work. He dropped your hands and quickly reached for your stomach to tickle you, making you giggle uncontrollably and fall into his lap. You were trapped in his gentle, yet firm hold as he kissed you repeatedly on the cheek, making you blush and hide your face into his neck.
This wasn't the only time that you guys were intimately close like this, there's been multiple occasions where you got really close, but no moves were made. Times like this made it really hard for you to control yourself or your feelings, you wish you could just say it, but you were scared.
You inhaled his sweet scent and your arms were wrapped his neck. His large arms were wrapped around your waist, embracing you. As you continued to hold each other in silence, the air started to thicken with heat and your body started to have a mind with his own from how turned on you stared to feel. Your body clinged onto his, giving you goosebumps, and you felt a waterfall starting to form between your legs as you sat directly on his area, which you could've sworn you felt a bulge. You then felt his hands briefly wander over your ass once, which you tried your best not to react to and keep quiet, but the second time he lightly squeezed it, causing you to jolt your hips gently against him. Your breath hitched, and you pressed your lips together, holding back a moan.
"Do it again, Mama.." He whispered deeply into your ear, sending shivers down your spine. You nervously sighed, knowing that you've gone pretty far and there was no turning back now. If he didn't know before, he definitely knew now. You slowly pulled away from him, stopping your actions and looked down, with his large bulge in your view.
"Roman-" You began to say but he cut you off, hushing you.
"Shh." Roman tilted your neck to the side, leaving trails of kisses down your neck, "Roman what, huh?" He asked seductively. Your eyes slowly fell closed, falling into every kiss and touch he planted on your skin.
"I-" You muttered but he slapped your ass, shutting you up. Roman chuckled, and moved to the other side of your neck.
"Do you think I'm stupid, babygirl?" He trailed kisses up your neck, leaving one last kiss close to your lips before pulling away a little but still close to you. As you avoided eye contact with him, he watched your every move, "Look at me." He demanded carefully.
You hesitantly looked down at him, meeting his gaze before and shook your head shyly, answering his question. He just simply stared at you, as if he was trying to read you while a faint smirk was on his face.
"Then what's with all the games, hm? Why are you playing wit' me?" He questions darkly as his hands roam your body, "You think I don't know how you feel about me?"
You stayed quiet, which was the exact reply he needed to be proved right. You were on the fence, nervously anticipating what he was going to do or say next.
Roman chuckles, and his hands find his way inside your shorts, taking a handful of your ass in his hands making you gasp, and you got even more wet.
"Or were you too scared to tell me?" He said quietly, and was about two inches away from your face. You inhaled slowly, and your eyes fell to his lips.
"I wasn't scared.." You trail off, lying through your teeth. Roman licked his lips, alternating his attention between your eyes and lips.
"If you're not scared," He challenged, bringing you even closer, trapping any space between you both, giving you no choice to give in, "Then show me."
You stared into his lustful eyes for one, lingering second before you smashed your lips into his, resting your hands on his face while he returned the kiss right away, tightening his grip on your ass. Lord knows how long you've wanted to do that, there was a whole bunch of emotions running around in your mind; Relief, Happiness, Lust, but most importantly, Love. You loved Roman more than anything and it was beyond overwhelming that you finally got the chance to show him, through your mind, soul, and body.
As the makeout session got more heated, your bodies reacted with it. Your hips began to move in sync with his, creating a huge amount friction and pleasure. You moaned softly into the kiss, giving him the opportunity to slip his tongue inside of your mouth, having a battle with your own. His hands trailed up to your waist, holding them firmly as you moved against him and he broke the kiss, resting his forehead on yours, "I want you to say the words." He says, trying to control his heavy breath.
You both stare intensely into each other's eyes as he moves your hips faster, making you come undone, "Say it. Say it to me."
You nodded quickly, knowing exactly what he meant, wanting nothing more to get to the point, the teasing was driving you crazy, "I want you to fuck me," You say bluntly with a shaky breath. Roman smiled lazily, slowing down your hip movements and pecked your lips, "That's my girl."
He picked you up from the bench with your legs wrapped around his waist, and switched you around so that you were sitting down. Your face was instantly met with his pelvic area, and his member that damn near poked out of his shorts. He looked huge, you gulped, startled from the surprise. Roman tilted your head up gently to look at him, then took your hand and put it on his bulge.
"You see what you do to me?" He asked, licking his lips slowly, and you could even spot how glistened they were. In response, you smirked, tracking your hand up a little to grab the waist band of his shorts but he quickly stopped you.
"Not so fast, baby girl." He warned you, and you frowned a little, wondering why he wouldn't let you continue.
"You come first, always." Roman caressed your cheek and nodded his head toward the bench, motioning for you to lay down, "Lay down for me."
You laid down against the bench, adjusting a little bit to more comfortable and Roman dropped onto his knees his front of you, running his hands over your thighs and briefly on your stomach, taking in your body.
"Look at you.." He trailed off, opening your legs and licked his lips. "Not being able to hold still, why are you shaking, Mama?"
You sighed, looking down at him, meeting his lustful stare. You shook your head, and whispered, "Stop teasing me."
"After all the teasing you've done this entire time?" He questions, slightly looking at you like you were crazy, and gives you his sexy smile along with shaking his head, "Nah, that's not how this works."
His finger trailed down your slit, tracing it through your shorts. Your boy was so hot, wanting even more, you knew that you were drenched down there.
"I don't think you understand who you're dealing with." He says carefully as he continues to trace the outlines of your pussy through your shorts, "When you tease me, your teasing Daddy.."
The way he said Daddy made your breathing pace quicken, and your heart beat faster. You didn't know much you could take.
"And when you tease Daddy, there's consequences." Roman presses harshly on clit, making all of your nerves shoot through your body. You bit your lip, closing your eyes trying not to utter a sound.
"You're going to learn not to mess with me," He kisses the inside of you thigh softly, "And you're going to learn what happens to pretty girls like you who don't wanna' listen." He leaves one last kiss on your other inner thigh before he pulls off your shorts, revealing your blue, soaked panties.
"So here's how it's going to go down, Princess." He rubs your clit gently, teasing you painfully, "I call the shots, and you're gonna' do what I say. You're going to listen to Daddy, and if you disobey me in the slightest, your punishment will get worse. Do you understand?"
You were at loss of words, and didn't know what else to say. You had absolutely no idea what you were in for, but you couldn't wait. He smacked your thigh, not too hard but to get your attention making you jump, "When I ask you something, you answer." He demanded in a raspy voice.
"Y-Yes." You stuttered, letting him take full of control of your body. Roman smirked, watching you unravel under his touch, "Good."
His eyes then trailed down your soaked pussy and his mouth watered, dying to get a peak and a taste. His captivating fingers started to move faster, massaging your clit and you couldn't help but squirm a little, and the minute he felt you move, he put his hand on top of your pelvic bone, holding you down.
"Don't move," Roman warned. You had no where to go, and you tried your best to keep still as he played with your pussy, but it was extremely hard too. You inhaled deeply, and a soft moan followed after not being able to hold in it anymore.
"You like that shit, don't you?" He chuckled darkly, finding your sweet moans very sexy. To drive you more wild, he lifted your panties to the side, revealing your pussy to the bleak air.
"Damn, baby. All this, for me?" He says, talking about your wetness. Your hand traveled over your sports bra, clenching your breast, not knowing what to do with yourself.
"Please.." You beg, Roman presses his thumb onto your clit, rubbing it slowly and his pace gradually gets faster.
"Already not listening to Daddy?" He questions, with an innocent expression however as he stares at you, he places a long, slow lick on your slit. Your eyes roll to the back of your head, and he stops there, sliding your panties off all the way and stands up.
"Get up," He orders. You follow his demands getting up off of the bench and he grabs a hold of your waist, bringing you close to him and smacks you ass.
"What did I tell you?" He whispers in your ear, with his hands briefly roaming your ass before he smacked it again, making you jump.
Before you could answer, without warning, his hand slips between the both of you, reaching your pussy and his finger slips inside of you. You gasp, tightly holding onto his shoulders and burried your face into his chest.
"Roman.." You moaned into his shirt as his skilled fingers had their way with you. Roman kissed your forehead, and then kissed your ear before he whispered.
"It's okay, baby." He cooed into your ear as his fingers moved fastly between your folds. "You wanna be bad and show out? That's fine. If you wanna' act like a brat, I'll treat you like one.
His fingers slipped out of your wetness and he turned the both of you around, laying on the bench and pulled you on top of him. He scooted upwards the bench as you straddled him and he motioned for you to come forward with his finger, "Sit on my face."
You sort of zoned out, not being able to prepare yourself for what was about to happen. Your pussy clenched just by his words, and your breath became shaky.
"I'm not asking you again." He warned intensely, and you snapped out of it, doing what he said and slowly adjusted yourself over his face. He grabbed your hips firmly, keeping you still as you held the weight bar for support.
Then, as you lowered yourself onto him, his tongue met your wetness and began exploring your folds like no tomorrow. You closed your eyes tightly shut, throwing your head back, not being able to think straight. He moved your hips back and forth, tasting every inch of you as you moaned uncontrollably. His tongue truly had a mind of its own, it moved so fast that you could barely think straight
Sounds of him tasting you echoed across the room, pushing you over the edge as he was lost between your folds. His tongue circled around you clit multiple times before taking it fully into his mouth, sucking the life out of your soul. His eyes trailed up your body and onto your facial expressions, getting even more hard at the love faces you were making. He loved the fact that he was making you feel good, trapped with no where to go. Roman would have fantasies like this all the time, and he's been wanting to do this to you for a long time. His dreams were coming true right before his eyes.
He slowed down his pace, and inserted his tongue inside of you. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head, and he couldn't help but smile partly in response as he tongued your folds. He let go of your hips, and his hands slowly traveled inside of his shorts, pleasing himself as he let you take control.
"Ride my face." He said sexily, winking at you. You held the bar tightly, making your balance steady before you slowly started to bounce up and down his tongue gently.
"Oh my God.." You trailed off, whimpering, feeling yourself come close to the edge. If you kept going, you weren't going to be able to hold it any longer.
"I'm gonna' cum." You say, not being able to catch your breath. Roman groaned lowly against you, loving the way you tasted and from the pleasure he was giving himself. He let go of himself and placed his hands back on your hips, moving you faster.
"Cream all over my face, baby girl." He encouraged you, gripping your hips tightly, not daring to take his eyes off of you. His hand reached up your body, sneaking underneath your sports bra and massaged your breast. You closed you eyes shut, repeating the word yes yes yes over and over again before you finally reached your peak, along with your legs shaking slightly. He slowed down your movements, leaving one last kiss on your slit as you took deep breaths, trying to recover from your orgasm.
You got up slowly, swinging your leg around to get up off of him. Roman propped his elbows, helping himself get back up and he wasted no time in pulling you on top of his lap, kissing your lips passionately, and you giggled in response, which made him smile into the kiss. You took the opportunity to undo his hair from his bun, letting it all fall down to his shoulders as you tasted yourself on hips lips. As you continued to make out with him, he took your sports bra off and you helped him take off his shirt. His arms were wrapped securely around your body, picking you up from the bench and your legs were wrapped around his torso as he backed you up against the wall gently.
He let go of your legs carefully, setting you down on the exercise step-stool. You were now at his level, which was exactly where he wanted you to be.
Roman broke the kiss and grabbed your wrists, placing them above your head against the wall dominantly, he stared into your eyes, then looked you up and down slightly before leaning forward, whispering into your ear once more making your body lose all it's feeling.
"Hear me clearly, and hear me good." He directed you with ease, "You can't fool me, baby. I can tell just by the way you look at me, that I make you nervous. Whenever I have you this close to me, you get shy, and easily embarrassed. You can hardly look me in the eye half of the time because of how you feel towards me. I can read you like no one else can, and you're still doubting yourself. I've told you time, and time again how perfect you are. There's nothing about you I wouldn't change, and I'd give you the whole world if I could, if would you just give me a chance."
"I don't deserve you." You denied, looking away from him, with a hint of sadness in your voice trying to process everything he was saying. He remained holding the both of your wrists, kissing you cheek gently so you would look at him.
"Look at me," He pleaded softly. You eyes watered, and you hesitantly turned your head back at him.
"Stop saying that," Roman rested his forehead against yours. "You complete me, you always have."
You stare at him lovingly, feeling like you could get emotional by his words alone despite how good he made you feel. No one has ever made you feel the way he did, and at times he seemed too good to be true. That's why you often thought that you weren't good enough for him. You weren't shocked by him feeling the same way, because you knew he did, but you were shocked at how after all this time, you were so close to getting what you wanted, which was him.
Roman leaned forward, pecking your lips sweetly, and pulled away a little from you to take off his shorts along with his briefs, showing himself to you. You're eyes slightly widened at the sight, and your breath thickened as you saw him stroke himself slowly, aligning his dick to your entrance.
"Let Daddy please you.." He slapped his dick gently onto your pussy, making you squirm underneath his grasp, biting your lip as you both stared intensely at each other. Roman grabbed your right leg, placing it over his shoulder so he could have more access to you. He loved where he had you, especially loving you flexible you were, "Let me show you how much I love you. I don't care how loud you scream, how much you squirm or how badly you can't take it anymore. I won't stop until I have you cumming over, and over again. You will say my name, and you will acknowledge me. Listen, shut the fuck up, and take this dick."
Without warning, he slams inside you, causing your mouth to fall wide open and your eyes to roll back in pleasure. There was a little bit of pain since you were caught off guard, but not a whole lot. He groans, cursing under his breath and tightens his grip on your wrists, "You're so tight, babygirl. Shit.." He trails off as he slowly thrusts into you.
You bit your lip so hard that you started to feel blood drip from how harsh you attacked it, trying to be quiet like he said. Roman closed his eyes in pure bliss from how good you were making him feel. He loosed his grip on your wrist, letting one of your hands fall down while his other hand interlaced with yours on the wall as he kept stroking you. He leaned his forehead onto yours again, kissing you deeply as he continued to stroke you.
You wanted him to go faster, you were dying for him to go faster. You broke the kiss, throwing your head back, trying your hardest not to moan but there was no way you could hold it in anymore. Roman took the opportunity to leave kisses on your neck, and whisper nasty things to you.
"You feel so fucking good, my sweet girl." He moaned into your ear deeply, breathing heavily. You felt him inch closer and closer to your G-spot and you couldn't help but blurt out a sound of love, and Roman chuckled darkly, licking your earlobe slowly, "Whatchu' gotta say now, huh? You like the way Daddy's deep inside you? Making love to you? You love that shit? Yeah? Talk to me."
"Roman.." You beg, not being able to take it anymore. "Stop teasing me, baby. Please."
"Then say my name." He growled into you ear, with bass in his voice, "You hear me? Say, my name. Beg for it. Beg."
"I want you to go faster, please. I'm begging you." You're eyes started to gloss over from how good you were feeling, "Please, Daddy. Fuck me." You shakily whisper into his ear, and he instantly switches positions. He brings your leg down gently, and picks you up while he's still inside you. You wrap your legs around his waist tightly with your arms around his shoulders, and his hand firmly on your ass, holding you up.
"Hold on tight," Roman warns you briefly before railing up into you roughly, bouncing you up and down his dick. You screamed so loud that the neighbors could've heard you from so far away, but you didn't care, neither of you did. He was making you feel so, extremely good that it nearly made you want to pass out, you never had dick like this before, ever.
You held onto him tightly, running your fingers through his hair as he continued to fuck you. Both of you muttered insanely dirty things to each other back and forth the entire time while heavily breathing, moaning loudly. The pleasure was so overwhelming that tears began to roll down your face.
"Fuck, yes." You sighed heavily, and whimpered in ecstasy, "Don't stop, baby. Please please please." You repeatedly fastly, feeling yourself about to finish.
"Who's pussy is this?" He questions, squeezing your ass harshly, going even faster.
"It's yours, Daddy." You answer helplessly, starting to lose a little energy from how good he was giving it to you.
"And who do you belong to?"
"You, I'm all yours." You promise him. Your eyes slowly started to shut and your climax was building faster and faster, "Shit, I'm gonna cum."
"Cum," He egged you on. "Cum all over this dick."
Once he said the words, you held him even tighter than before and let your climax take over. You shook a little bit, trying to catch your breath. Roman's wickedly fast strokes came to a stop, slowing down, and kissed your cheek before sitting down on the exercise stool with him still inside of you but you were still on top of him.
He put his hands on your hips, trying to guide you but you put your hands on his wrist, wanting him to stop. You didn't think you could take anymore. Roman shook his head with a tired smirk, running his tongue over his bottom lip, "Don't even try running away, you're not done. Keep fucking going, you don't stop until I tell you too."
Since you were a still sensitive from your last orgasm, you goosebumps and shivers jolted across your body as you continued to ride his dick slowly. It was really hard, and you could barely keep a rhythm going, but Roman helped guide to since he knew that. As you threw your head back, he leaned down and took your nipple into his mouth, alternating between the both of them occasionally. His hand trailed down your ass, squeezing it, wanting you to pick up the pace.
"Come on, put in that work. You wanted this dick so bad, take it." He whispered lustfully to you, staring into your eyes and was about two inches away from your face. As you picked up the pace and went faster, Roman's eyes fell shut and he bit his lip, leaning his head against the wall.
"Fuck," He moaned, emphazing the word and dragging it out as your hips circled. Roman looked beyond sexy, and you couldn't take your eyes off of him. Just looking his reaction to how you were making him feel, it could make you cum again right then and there.
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"Just like that, lil' Mama." He brought you closer to him, embracing you as he continued to ride him. Then, to bring you and himself close to the edge, he pinned your shoulders down and railed up into you, getting close.
"You're gonna' make me fucking cum." He groaned lowly into your ear as you continued to moan uncontrollably into his, "You want this nut? You wanna' have my kids, baby?"
You nodded quickly, clinging onto him as you felt another orgasm approaching you. You couldn't even cry anymore, you were so out of it that you couldn't even explain what you were feeling, "Cum inside me, Daddy." You begged.
He stroked harshly a couple more times before they eventually became sloppy, getting ready to release inside of you. Your G-Spot was hit just enough by the Samoan, making you cum all over again, but this time with him. Both of you moaned loudly, trying to catch your breath and held onto each other tightly, trying to come down from your high.
Then, you both heard the doorbell ring, making you both jump and pull apart from each other. You both looked towards the gym door and back at each other. You grinned, trying to hold back a laugh and he did the same, but you both ended up laughing. He grabbed your face, adoring your smile and infectious laugh, "You're so beautiful." He gushes to you as he kisses your lips tenderly. You smile into the kiss, kissing him back and pulled away partly.
"Do you think anyone heard us?" You asked, he shrugged, squeezing the life out of you, making you laugh again.
"I don't know, but if they did, I don't care." He pecked your lips twice, and hugged you, nuzzling his face into your neck.
"I love you so much." He says with his chest, meaning every word he said.
You smiled softly, rubbing circles on his back gently, and your heart warmed. You wanted nothing more than to hear him say that, you felt complete.
"I love you more."
Tags; @gold--gucciempress @wwzentertainment @serenityfiretrash @flawlessglamazon @nicolewoo @romanreignshairdresser @sassymox @pennysky @msnikkimoneypenny @jazzy-tzw @lemonjvicey @thandiwethagirl @haharollins @reignsprint @rollinshield3 @sheerbeautyreigns @zaddyreigns @brookethegamer @glowinnbabyy
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wiypt-writes · 3 years
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Stark Spangled Banner
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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
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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**
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anime-corner · 3 years
Text
One or The Other
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A/N: When I first saw this, I was like: "Gah! Can't choose! They're too precious!" So, I made two endings!! Hope you like it! And like the previous one, sorry for taking too long.
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The streets were dark, only illuminated by the lampposts that scattered. You were walking home alongside your fellow managers when a thought popped into your head, a question that lingered in your mind ever since you returned from Tokyo.
"Kiyoko, Hitoka?" You stated, eyes locked on the pavement in front of you.
"Hmm?" The third year manager beside you answered while the blonde first year looked at you curiously.
"H-hypothetically speaking… What do you do if someone confesses that they like you while there's this person who keeps telling you to avoid the other and you're not quite sure what to think or who to side with?"
"Hypothetically?"
"Well, not to you since there's Noya and Tanaka who're pretty much open with their feelings towards you." You pointed out, earning a nod from your junior.
"Oh! Is this about Nekoma's captain and Sugawara-san?" Hitoka asks as you slumped forward, a sigh escaping your lips.
"Was it that obvious?" They both nod, straightening up and fixing your hold on your bag, you repeated your question, "So, what do I do?"
"Well, what do you think (y/n), about the two of them individually?" Kiyoko answered with a question.
"Ah see, I've known Suga since that time he asked me to help you out and the team. I guess you could say that we've been close after that. He's really protective and caring so, I kinda get why he'd tell me to avoid the guy. And about the rooster…" You hummed, thinking of anything about the captain of the cats.
"R-rooster?" Hitoka tilted her head to the side, confused at the nickname.
"That bed hair of his, it sort of makes him look like one. It's funny and sort of… cute, in a way? No wait, that laugh of his was hilarious though! Also, he seems pretty laid-back too despite being captain. Daichi should learn a thing or two from him!" You chuckle, wiping off an imaginary tear in your eye as you remember the tokyo tower event, "But, like I said, I'm not sure who to side with."
"Well, it's still the first day. We're still going back for the training camp and more time for you to think. Just be careful, words are dangerous enough as it is, even more when feelings are involved," Kiyoko orated, both your and Hitoka's eyes shining in awe.
"K-Kiyoko… That was the most wisest advice I've ever heard in my entire life. And I'm in the same class as you!" You could feel your eyes begin to water, the words your friend had said already sunk within the depths of your heart, forever to be remembered.
"(y/n), please calm yourself down. We can't afford calling one of the guys at this hour to help you." You took offense and playfully hit her arm before the three of you erupted in laughter.
• • •
At Shinzen High, you noticed the captain of Nekoma glancing your way every now and then, talking to you whenever the both of you were available or during the times Sugawara was out of sight. The grey haired setter was glaring the life out of Kuroo every time, and you were confused. Did they do something to each other behind your back?
"Oi, Karasuno's manager-chan! Kitten hey!!" You heard the black haired captain call out, ushering you inside the gym. You took note that he was not alone, with him were two from Fukurodani, a teammate of his and Tsukishima Kei.
"Kuroo-san, you should already know my name at this point besides the fact that I keep telling you not to call me that nickname." You stated, greeting the others present.
"What? It's a cute nickname befitting a really cute manager!"
"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Sugawara-san heard this." Tsukishima commented, the rest turning towards the door, waiting for a certain setter to appear, except for you.
"Well, what do you need Kuroo-san?" You asked, bringing everyone's attention away from the gym entrance.
"Would you believe me if I say it's you?" Raising an eyebrow, you earned an awkward laugh from the captain before clearing his throat, "Right. Uh, could you help us with practice? That is if you're not busy preparing with the other managers."
"I guess I could lend a hand, I'm on wash duty today anyways," You picked up a ball, bouncing it lightly, "So, what do I do?"
"We're working on blocks, Lev over there has to work on it while Four Eyes just needs a few pointers." You nodded and took a stance, preparing to toss.
"Ready?"
"Yeah. Oh wait! Lev!! Get your ass over here!!" Kuroo called for the first year lying on his back on the floor, who sprung to his feet at the mention of his name, running to Tsukishima's side of the court, "Okay, now we're ready.
It has been five days since you've agreed to help the little group with their practice and you took the opportunity to learn more about the captain. Despite being so casual, he was actually observant, noting everything his opponent does. Kuroo was also a provocative guy, something you only took note of when you asked the blonde first-year blocker what made him join their practice, having Daichi answer your question with a tale of the incident.
Honestly, your interactions with Kuroo were nice. He'd make a few compliments and small talk here and there and sometimes would act shy whenever he asks you for something. And during those times, a pair of eyes would linger in your direction, turning around, your grey haired friend would always be within your vision. It confused you, the feeling inside of you confused you and you hated it. So, instead of letting it be, you dragged Sugawara away from his group during their individual practices.
"Hey (n/n), something wrong?" He tilted his head slightly, his eyes scanning your expression.
"You tell me."
"What? What are you--"
"It's about Nekoma's captain, right? I'm aware that you don't want me hanging around him. Although, I just want to ask why?" You asked, noticing the way his gaze avoided you in an instant. Sugawara was silent for a minute or two, trying to find a better wording for his explanation, "Well..?"
"I just… didn't want you to.. I mean, he's here in Tokyo and you're in Miyagi. You don't even know him that well. I don't want to see you cry afterwards, when the two of you get together and break up! Can't I just worry for you?" You hadn't expected the third year to react the way he did. Yes, he was dubbed as the mother figure of the team but, that's just the way he cares for his juniors so why does hearing him say these words to you make you feel like there's more to it than just care, "I'm sorry if I'm acting like this. I really care about you, (y/n) so please understand, whatever you choose, I'll respect your decision."
He left you there, surprise etched on your face. You were conflicted, you knew he was right because that's what your mind kept telling you but then there's your heart, who genuinely wanted to know more before you decide.
• • •
That night, while everyone was asleep, you confided once again with your co-managers inside the darkened room, phones on, providing a bit of light.
"I'm really… I don't even know how to describe what I'm feeling right now after I pulled Suga aside to talk. And I'm desperate for an answer." You whisper yelled, making sure none of the others were to wake up.
"M-maybe you could describe it for us? The f-feeling I mean, it's okay if you don't want to!" After all the times you spent with the blonde first year, she was still nervous around you.
"No, no. I think it's best if I talk about it if I'm asking you guys for advice. So, um, where to start…" You thought of the past few days and your interactions with them, "Okay, I guess it started when Kuroo asked me to join them for practice, tossing when needed and handling the scoreboard during their two-on-two matches. In the morning, he'd come up to me from time to time and Suga would be glaring at our way. I thought that it was only because he was worried about me being around the captain. I mean, who knows what he's thinking inside that head of his! I'm kind of  not surprised he's getting along with Tsukishima, not that he'd admit it."
"And then..?"
"And then the talk with Suga just a few minutes ago… Somehow, there's this lingering feeling that I should trust his words a-and limit my contact with the guy. I've known Sugawara for three years ever since that day, so it makes sense that he kind of gets what'll play out. Plus, he's also a guy. I mean, he's just looking out for me right?" You ramble a bit, a crease on your forehead, "I really want to get to know Kuroo, he's really cool and funny, surprisingly on my part. But, I trust Suga's suspicion, he's still technically a stranger. Besides…"
"Besides you're much more comfortable with Sugawara, right?" You nodded at Kiyoko's words, shifting on your futon, "I could take a guess and say you like him but you want to give Kuroo-san a chance."
"(y/n)-san like likes Sugawara-san?" The black haired girl hummed in response, adjusting the position of her glasses, "Is this true?"
"That… I don't know. Maybe I just like him 'cause we're close?" Perhaps you were just trying to make yourself believe that it is only because of that or maybe it's the truth. Kiyoko glanced down the first year before turning towards your figure.
"Well, this training camp will end soon and until then, you've still got a chance to sort things out. Giving someone false hope is a feeling that makes you feel an intense amount of guilt, because you played with their feelings the same way you thought they were playing with yours."
So, in a few more days, the choice to make is in your hands. On the last day, you were going to talk to him and tell him what you think. And you just hope it was the right choice to take the risk with.
[ Kuroo Tetsurou ] • [ Sugawara Koushi ]
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ancientstone · 4 years
Text
Alright so AU where Geralt doesn’t realise he’s been given a decoy Ciri
Perhaps Geralt goes to fetch Roach, maybe someone stops him to mention the ballads they’ve heard or some guard decides to question why he’s there, either way, he doesn’t notice the hidden passage in the palace, and therefore, not half an hour later, leaves Cintra not with Ciri sat scared under a cloak on his horse, but this girl:
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In my head I’ve taken to calling her Alice, so that’s her name now.
Full name: Alice Cavannah of Cintra
Calanthe needs a child who can pass as Pavetta’s daughter, and it just so happens that currently staying in the palace for the banquet set to take place that night is a nobleman and his family - in particular, a nobleman who is on the wrong side of Calanthe’s temper, has been trying to redeem himself for years and gain a better position in court, and has a daughter roughly Ciri’s age.
For her parents, the decision wasn’t hard, mainly because her Father, who she is almost completely distant to, declared that she would go. In comparison, Alice is far closer to her Mother, but that doesn’t stop anything as her Mother goes along with whatever her husband says, merely absently nodding her consent as if being asked if she would like fish for dinner.
Alice also has an older brother, one who would be knighted not a few hours later (the knighting scene in episode one), and sending off their daughter in place of Ciri and having a son knighted in Cintra firmly puts their family name in Calanthe’s good books, much to their delight.
It also helps that Alice had a similar schooling to Ciri, and knows of the local nobles, lords, and ladies. If they tried to play off a peasant girl, their ploy would be blown within minutes.
“You’ll be back soon, I’m sure.” Calanthe promises breezily as she digs through Ciri’s wardrobe to find a dress for her to wear, to give her a more princess-like appearance. “Once all this nonsense with Nilfgaard has blown over, the Witcher will bring you right back.”
“Yes, your majesty.” Alice whispered, squeezing her hands together tightly to try and save off crying.
She’s told to quickly says her goodbyes, and then gets a cloak dumped over her head to avoid prying eyes who could call out the fraud. The Witcher, who she is told is named Geralt of Rivia, the Butcher of Blaviken, helps her onto a horse, and slowly they leave the city, Alice glancing back to see if her parents are watching. They’re not.
Her brother is, though. He waves at her from a window. She hesitantly waves back.
So, they head out, a tense silence between them. Alice is scared stiff, mainly because she’s never heard much about Witchers, being in Cintra most of her life. She knows Calanthe hates them, and doesn’t entrust this Witcher to look after her granddaughter, so tries to be as quiet as possible, less she angers the man with two very sharp-looking swords. 
Alice is also terrified that Geralt is going to figure out that she isn’t Ciri, and, not being a princess, will be killed for it. Her parents are unlikely to avenge her death (gods, her death might even be good for them - sacrificing their only daughter in the name of the Queen is sure to get them higher titles), so it wouldn’t matter if he did.
She spends the time nibbling her lip, a habit her Mother is always scolding her for, and praying to any God willing to listen to the thoughts in her head that she sees this out alive.
Geralt, meanwhile, is having a Panic™
What do you say to a princess? How does Ciri expect to be treated? Will she mind camping, or will he have to get inn rooms every night? Does he have enough coin for that? They gave him a bag of her belongings, does she have a bedroll, blankets, more suitable clothes for travel, better shoes? Is it rude to ask? 
The only other princesses he’s ever met either stabbed him in the gut or tried to eat his organs. Ciri probably won’t do that. He hopes. Then again, if she’s Calanthe’s blood, maybe he’ll be dead by morning.
Should he take her to Kaer Morhen? Or will the Nilfgaardian threat blow over before they get there? Is it better for them to head to the Blue Mountains or should they just hide out in the forests somewhere and wait and see?
Whatever he decides, the one thing he does know for sure is that this girl is completely petrified.
“It will be okay, Princess.” Geralt says roughly, as awkward as anything. “No harm is going to come to you.”
Her eyes are huge as she stammers, “T-Thank you, Witcher.”
“Call me Geralt.”
She flinches, squeaking, “Thank you, Geralt.”
Fuck, Geralt thinks.
They don’t come to any inns as dusk begins to fall, so Geralt tries to find the cleanest spot he can among the trees for them to make camp. He helps her down, and she shies away from his offered hand as if expecting to be hit before eventually taking it, and then sets about making camp.
Turns out, the palace didn’t think to give her anything practical, surprising for the granddaughter of the Lioness. The bag is mostly dresses, shoes only suitable for palace floors, and a hairbrush and a few toiletries.
He goes to swear, and then reminds himself not in front of the Princess.
“We might have to get you some new clothes.” He says, and she jumps at the sound. “We want to hide from Nilfgaard and anyone else who may try and find you. That will be easier if you dress plainly.”
What Geralt expects, he doesn’t know, a bit of a tantrum, perhaps? Something about how a lady of her status can’t go around in cheap fabrics like a commoner? Tears?
He doesn’t expect the girl to bite her lip, nod, and then hunch her shoulders around herself, trying to look as small as possible, swamped in her cloak and eyes to the floor.
The night is spent almost entirely silent. He goes out and hunts, gutting and skinning the hares away from camp so he doesn’t spook her, and then cooks a pretty bland stew that the Princess seems to force down out of politeness than a real hunger. He then gives her his bedroll, something she’s hesitant to do until he reassures her that he can go without sleeping, and meditates most of the night, listening for threats and the sound of her breathing. 
She cries at one point, trying to stifle her sniffles in her hands.
Over the next two days they move fast and far, not talking to anyone and putting as much distance between Cintra and them as possible. Slowly, as if she realises that Geralt is not going to eat her alive, the Princess begins to relax. That doesn’t exactly make her chatty by any means, or any less stiff and jumpy, but in their brief, stilted conversations, she seems less worried that he will bite her face off. A small improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.
Surprisingly, it’s Roach that brings them together.
Ciri takes to the mare straight away, and voluntary begins brushing her down each night, muttering soft things that she thinks Geralt can’t hear into the horse’s ears.
“She doesn’t tolerate most people.” He says as he builds a fire, pausing to observe them.
The Princess ducks her head. “O-Oh.”
“It means she likes you.”
“Oh!” For a split second, her face brightens, and she spins on her heel to gently pet Roach’s nose. “I like her too. What’s her name?”
“Roach.”
The Princess turns towards him, her face not quite disgruntled, but showing more emotion than she has so far. “Like the fish?”
“Hm.” Geralt nods.
“Why did you name your horse after a fish?”
“My brother named his horse Scorpion.”
“Is it...A Witcher thing?”
“Not reall-” Geralt stops, thinking about it. “Actually, I suppose it is.”
The Princess turns before he can see her expression, but he thinks she may be giggling. A lump forms in his throat, and he swallows it down.
Meanwhile, with Alice, she can’t decide if this is fun (she gets to explore the countryside, see other places, have a horse, camp, get dirty) or most frightening thing she’s ever done (she’s pretending to be the Princess of Cintra, if she messes up, the Lioness with solely blame her, not to mention punish her family. There’s so much on her shoulders that at random moments all she wants to do is weep)
Geralt doesn’t seem as frightening as he first appeared, and he’s actually been really nice, not asking complicated questions she doesn’t know the answer to (does he already know about Cirilla’s life? Her favourite foods? Her favourite song? She doesn’t, and dreads saying something that could contradict what he already knows) and keeping his distance.
He also named his horse after a fish.
On the morning of the second day, they camp outside a town, Geralt wanting to wait until most of the main morning traffic has passed before entering. To pass the time, she carefully twists braids into Roach’s mane (who preens under the attention), watching out the corner of her eye as Geralt goes over sword practice.
In a brief moment of boldness, Alice asks, “Is it...Hard, to use a sword like that?”
Geralt pauses, glancing towards her. “In a way, like most skills it becomes easier over time.”
“My-” Alice nearly outs herself by saying brother, quickly redirecting, “Grandmother uses a lot of swords.”
“Yes. Did she ever teach you?”
Oh Gods!
“My...My Mother didn’t let me. Said it’d make me brutish.” The news of Pavetta’s death was widespread, when it happened. She can recall her parents talking about it for years afterwards. “When she died, my Grandmother kept her wish.”
Geralt’s expression does several different things, and the longer the bout of silence draws on the closer Alice finds herself huddling against Roach, as if asking the horse to hold her up.
Stupid! She chastises mentally. That’s the Lioness! Of course she taught Ciri! And you just insulted her daughter! Wait until the Queen finds out about that!
Finally, Geralt grunts, something he seems to do regularly, before easing his stance, relaxing his shoulders. “Would you...Like to learn?”
Alice blinks.”M-Me?”
“Being able to defend yourself is one of the most important skills you can have, and I’m sure your Mother would prefer you alive and wielding a blade than dead and weaponless.”
The Lioness is going to be fuming by the time she gets back.
Still, somehow, Alice finds herself nodding , and Geralt hums, putting down his sword and pulling out a smaller dagger. “Come here.”
She does, and he places the dagger into her hand, adjusting her grip and inching her fingers into the correct positions. It’s heavy, surprisingly so, and Geralt carefully puts his hand around her wrist.
“Ideally we’d do this with one made of wood, but I only have this, so we won’t do much just to be safe, but I can show you how to hold a blade, and how to use it in a pinch.”
“Okay.”
“It’s not a toy.” He says sternly, meeting her eyes. “Don’t swing it wildly, don’t touch the edge, and when in doubt, drop it and step back, understand?”
“I do.”
He hums again, pleased, and then carefully starts the lesson.
Alice, surprisingly, finds herself enjoying it. She can see what her brother saw in it when he was younger and still in training. There’s something about learning the different stances, the hand positions, the control, that feels good, right, almost like the beginnings of a new hobby.
Her favourite hobby is still needlework, though. Alice adores a night by the fireplace carefully stitching away.
They keep on going until lunch, which is when they stop to eat (a little to her disappointment), and then head into town, Geralt dropping a handful of coins into her palm and pointing out a shop.
“Go buy yourself a few set of clothes, ones good enough for a winter outside. Don’t go with fashions, go with practicality. I’ll be outside.”
“Okay, I understand.”
The fabrics on offer are cheap, bland, and all variations of dim green or brown, however, with a little help from the shopkeeper, Alice is able to find some items which work. She switches into one of her new purchases, pulling on a new pair of boots, before heading back outside.
She keeps the dress she’d been wearing, though. It belongs to a Princess, and the Queen may be angry if she loses it. Alice gently tucks it into her bag.
“Good.” Geralt nods his approval and Alice finds herself smiling shyly, before they turn to leave.
It is as they walk away, following the road northwards, that they catch wind of a conversation by another set of travelers passing by, on their way south.
For a split second, Alice freezes, before whipping around so fast that her head spins dizzy. Her eyes follow them, and her vision mists with fear-struck tears as her jaw drops low in horror.
Beside her, Geralt goes as still as a statue, his skin pale.
Cinta has fallen.
......
Anyway, this is getting super long so I may have to come up with a part two, but I’ll leave this here for now
Oh, and I’m totally naming this the Double Trouble AU
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peachy-inserts · 4 years
Note
HCs for Todoroki, Deku, and Bakugou on their reactions when their (s/o) is ill, but trudges through their ailment to support these guys (despite the boys’ protests not to) in the Sports Festival and passes out in the audience due to the illness and fatigue, resulting in quarantine, please?
Sorry for the wait! God… you can really tell I don’t write for Bakugou enough by how off topic I am. I just have so much to say about this lovable dick that I don’t typically have the opportunity to 
Warnings: Cursing
Midoriya:
When you first began to show symptoms of sickness, Deku became a worrying mess and found himself slacking off on training despite the sports festival being so soon
Not that he really needed it, but it’s Deku
Like I said before, he’s a total worrywart. We know this about him! No matter what it is, he is an absolute anxious mess. You’d better not tell him that you came out to watch him anyways!
He knows how much it means to you, and while you got good seats as a result of being in general studies, you could always watch it from home! It was broadcasted nationally, and it’s not like you would miss anything; they did a pretty good job covering all of the details!
We’re gonna go with the scenario where you don’t tell him you came out to support him, because if you did he simply wouldn’t participate until you caved in. Deku is a chaotic force of good and more importantly, incredibly fucking stubborn. I know he’s a sweet boy, but good God he does NOT take no for an answer. Kid doesn’t listen for absolute shit!
In the middle of the festival, he notices a little bit of a commotion in the crowd but shrugs it off; he’s gotta make sure he impresses you, since you’re supposedly watching him on the television!
It’s not until afterwards that he hears about it, being informed that you’ve been put on quarantine as well
Let’s just say he is heartbroken. More than anything, he was looking forward to coming back to the dorms to pay you a visit and relax after a long, tiring day. With the sports festival off of his chest, he can take care of you without being so stressed about it… Except, that’s not the case
Since you’re contagious, you’ve been sent to your own house. That way the sickness doesn’t spread, and you can be properly taken care of
As soon as he gets permission to, he is on his way! ...Only to be greeted at the door by a family member who shoos him away, since you are quarantined after all
Deku would (impatiently) wait it out with you, trying to make it as easy as possible. He’ll run to all of your teachers collecting work, and even try to do some of it for you. He does spend a lot of time studying, after all, so you don’t have much to worry about
He had the next two days off after the tournament to recuperate and rest, which was spent almost entirely on FaceTime with you, showing you his new injuries (we all know it happened, the boy has no rationality), trying to help you with your makeup work by the tutoring the best way he can, and fawning over your tired but loving expression. Actually, mostly just that last part
Delivery man Deku! He’d pick up all of your favorite snacks, candies, and bottled drinks, then deliver them personally to your house. Being shooed away the last time though, he opts to leave them in a woven basket with a poorly tied bow and a note in the bottom, which is just for you
Todoroki:
While he would be worried about you, he ultimately believes that it’s your decision on what you do. If you wanna come to the sports festival and watch him he won’t stop you, but he can at least try and persuade you by telling you just how he feels about it
That’s not to say he isn’t disappointed, though. Like Deku, he wouldn’t know that you had passed out until after the festival; either because he’s so focused or even because he’s just too dense. It could even be a combination of both, knowing him
Shouto would be quick to chastise you, almost akin to Bakugou in the way he wastes no time in telling you just how you fucked up. However, he’s still timid and suffers from commitment issues stemming from insecurity and his upbringing. He’s just as quick to apologize, sighing and wishing you get wells from the bottom of his heart
The sports festival is long off of his mind by now; to be honest, he didn’t really care about it in the first place. Whether or not you saw it is beyond him, although he appreciates the thought
He knows better than to try and come see you while you’re quarantined, but he doesn’t really give two shits. If he gets sick that’s his own problem, so he won’t stand for being denied time with you; he’ll at least take precautions and wear a mask, though. 
Besides, you’re in this situation because of him. Even though he stands by his stance on this being your choice, he still feels deep down like it’s his fault
Shouto is sort of the awkward type in this stage of your relationship, so he won’t necessarily go out of his way for you. He’d gather your work for you since he’s still at the school, but if he’s unwelcome in your home due to the sickness he won’t fight it or show up again. 
Still yet though, he misses you and is worried more than he would like to admit. Lots of random calls and texts from him
He would spend all day looking for those cutesy heart edits and sending them to you, or finding shitty memes and teasing you over them, saying it reminded him of you
ONE MORE THING: He’s sappy as shit, and being inexperienced and sort of isolated from society in a way (he didn’t even know what a concert was) he’d try and stick to cheesy romantic ideals. This man would write you a whole ass poem to give to you with some chocolates whenever you returned to the dorms, waiting on your bed
Bakugou:
The most assertive in telling you to stay home. He’s hyper aware of your sickness and how it spread, but most importantly aware of how badly it’s going to affect you. Let him catch you coming anyways and he’ll kill you
Because he’s so knowledgeable on the topic, he’s easily the most worried by far. It’s not that he’s scared for your safety so much, but more so your general wellbeing. Katsuki is miserable whenever he’s sick, so the thought of you going through the same thing is almost agonizing for him
He acts like a total mom and you can’t change my mind on this. Also, I don’t agree with fanon Bakugou being arrogant and hateful towards his s/o. This man is putty in your hands, and although he acts annoyed at times he prioritizes making sure that you’re comfortable and know how he truly feels. He’s always had trouble communicating his feelings because of his relationship with his mother (we all love her but I will die on this hill) and as a result of it, is honestly terrified of fucking up and losing you by being too closed off
Anyways though, back to the point: he would be a total mom when you’re sick! Bossing you around, don’t do this, eat this, breathe some of this in, here, have some tea- It’s honestly exhausting having to listen to whatever miracle cure he’s concocted for you next, but you know he at least means well. He really does go above and beyond for his s/o, especially when they’re unwell. The most important part in a relationship to him is being able to lean on each other when you can’t stand up on your own, and by God he’ll carry you for as long as you need him to. Literally and figuratively 
I know I’m going off on a tangent but I just have so much to say about my interpretation of Bakugou: he’s the boyfriend who insists on trying to fix all of your problems instead of just listening to them, and it’s one of the most frustrating things
ALSO BAKUGOU DOES NOT, CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, CALL HIS S/O NAMES LIKE ‘IDIOT’ AND ‘BASTARD’. HE DRINKS HIS RESPECT (WOMEN) JUICE
Katsuki is very intuitive; even though you most likely lied about staying home to get him off your ass, it doesn’t take long for him to know that you’ve come anyways, and HOOOO BOY is he pissed (not that he’d ever take that aggression out on you, though. He’ll save that for the finals)
His head is swirling throughout nearly the entire tournament, and he’s thrown completely off of his game. On a typical day, he’d be trying to show off for you and flexing whenever he can while flawlessly demolishing his opponents, but this time he only makes it into the top ten
He can’t stop stealing glances into the stands, his mind wandering into the empty seat beside you and dying to know whether or not you’re okay, all while absolutely fuming. More than anything, he’s mad at himself. It’s been proven to us time and time again that he tends to blame himself for things, and takes it way too personally, to the point of being self destructive as a result of a sweltering, nasty inferiority complex
Immediately after the tournament, when he’s released and free to head back to the dorms and rest, he sits down in the locker room and calls your cell. Two times, three times, and finally four times with no response. Ok, now his heart rate is shot
By the time he finally comes into contact with you he’s in a cold sweat, brow furrowed in aggravation and concern; a strange mixture. Calm him down, let him know you’re alright, and assure him that you’re perfectly safe and comfortable at home, well taken care if
Once that’s over with, expect a lengthy lecture about the dangers of exposing yourself while you know you’re sick, thoroughly chastising you and expressing just how worried about you he truly is (Seriously guys, if you’re sick even in the slightest STAY HOME)
Like Deku, he would want to spend as much time with you as possible, even if it’s over FaceTime. He tends to be a little paranoid over germs, though, so since it’s not like you live together he won’t pay any visits to your house. Quarantine means business! 
However, though, he will prepare a nice little surprise in your dorm room for when you come back. A carefully decorated array of dried flowers, candies, and small snacks. Katsuki prides himself in all that he does and strives for perfection in every aspect of life; this is no exception. He lives to impress you!
Once you’ve beaten the worst of the sickness, he cracks down on you and will begin to act like he’s a professor on Zoom; man schedules FaceTime meetings between the two of you for him to catch you up on everything that you’ve missed. Let’s not forget, he’s at the head of his class and devotes a large portion of time and dedication into his academic studies
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razzle-zazzle · 4 years
Text
1032 Words; the Mask Thing
TW for death
The Knight was on a mission.
It was a simple task of trailing and defeating his target, but he was as dedicated as though it were the most difficult task he could be given. Any less effort would be a disgrace to his Empress.
It was a simple matter to stay out of his target’s sight; as long as the Knight stayed in the trees, only moving when his target’s footsteps crunched in the snow, he could remain unseen.
The Knight wasn’t entirely sure as to why this particular target needed to be taken out, but he trusted his Empress. She would never lead him astray—only to greater and greater heights the more he served her. And he was so grateful to be her Knight—he would be lost without her.
The Knight shook himself from his reverie. He was on a mission. He had to focus.
His target stopped, kneeling down in the snow. The Knight tensed. Opportunity to engage?
The Knight’s hands tightened around the staff of his hammer. Silence reigned. He moved to strike—
His target whirled around suddenly, forcing the Knight to dodge to avoid the twin shurikens thrown his way.
Well, looks like he had little choice. The Knight jumped down to the snow, sizing up his opponent.
“Who are you?” His opponent asked, brandishing the shurikens. “Why were you following me?”
The Knight said nothing, for he could not speak. His Mask had no mouth painted upon it—not that the Knight would ever question his Empress’ decisions, for she always knew best—so even if he tried, no sound would come out. Not that he would ever try; to do so would be to disrespect his Empress, a sin that he would never commit.
As he couldn’t speak, the Knight instead opted to shift into a defensive stance.
His opponent shifted into a similar stance. “Well, if you won’t answer my questions, then I’ll just get the answers out of you.”
He charged forwards, preparing a kick, only to pause at the sight of the Knight’s hammer.
“That hammer…” He paused. “I recognize it—Co—”
Whatever he was about to say was cut off as the Knight’s hammer connected, taking advantage of his opponent’s moment of weakness. A horrible clanging sound rang out as the Knight’s opponent stumbled back, his shoulder looking worse for wear. It sparked slightly.
“Right.” His opponent—or should the Knight refer to him as the android?—gritted out. “I suppose I shall get the answers out of you afterwards, then.” He surged forwards.
For the next few moments, the snowy forest was filled with the sounds of their clash—of the clanging that rang out whenever the Knight scored a hit, or the thuds of the Knight being knocked to the ground.
But the Knight was slowly gaining the upper hand. He would not fail his Empress.
The android was looking worse and worse with each strike of the Knight’s hammer. For some odd reason, though he could have mortally injured the Knight several times by now with his shurikens, he was holding back.
“Who are you?” The android asked, hitting a glancing blow on the Knight’s Mask.
The Knight staggered back, dazed. What had—why—what—
The android charged forwards, taking advantage of the Knight’s sudden pause. “Why do you have Cole’s hammer?”
A name. Meaningless. The Knight surged forwards again—he would not fail his Empress.
Indeed, this blow struck true, knocking the android’s head clean off.
The Knight paused, looking over his fallen foe. He—
He suddenly doubled over, searing pain all across his body as his head pounded. From somewhere far off, a voice called to him.
My Knight, it crooned, and the Knight vaguely registered it as his Empress. Your Mask has cracked. You need to return to me, my Knight.
Return to her, yes, that made sense. So why was there a reluctance to do so? Her orders were clear. But the Knight’s head wasn’t.
He trembled, the voice suddenly lost to him. Who was he? He wasn’t a knight, he was a ninja. He was Cole.
He was Cole.
Cole snapped back to sudden awareness as he stared at Zane’s headless body. What had he done? What had that woman made him do?
He moved to get Zane’s head, to do something—
But he couldn’t move. His body wouldn’t respond. The Mask wouldn’t let him.
My Knight, the Empress’s voice crooned. Come back to me.
Cole shuddered, fighting the overwhelming urge to follow her commands. He wouldn’t, he refused—
If you will not return to your Empress willingly, then I will make you return.
Against his will, Cole stood up. Against his will, he swung the hammer down on Zane’s body, denting the metal in several places and smashing the arms and legs. Against his will, he rifled through the metal until he found the memory drive, pocketing the item.
Against his will, Cole began walking away. His body trembled with every step as he fought the Empress’ will.
It was a losing battle.
+=+=+=+=+
“Zane?” Jay poked the snow with his foot uncertainly. “You out here, buddy?”
This was the general area in which they’d lost Zane’s signal. It made Jay uneasy. First Cole disappears off the radar entirely, and now Zane’s down.
“Find anything?” Lloyd called out, coming over to stand beside Jay.
“No, noth—” Jay shrieked as he tripped on something.
Something metal.
“Oh no.” Lloyd fell to his knees, picking up the item over which Jay had tripped.
It was a hand.
Zane’s hand.
“No…” Lloyd’s eyes pricked with tears.
Jay had already run ahead, picking Zane’s head out from the snow as Lloyd investigated the body.
“Is the memory drive intact, at least?” He asked, sitting down beside Lloyd.
Lloyd frowned. “It’s missing.” He snarled. “Whoever did this, we’re going to find them. We’re going to get Zane’s memories back, and then we’re going to make them pay.”
Lloyd stood up. “C’mon. Let’s try to find… all the pieces.”
Jay nodded. Maybe he and Nya could salvage this.
He cast an uneasy glance at Lloyd. They had to be able to salvage this. For Zane, and for Lloyd.
Jay just hoped that Cole hadn’t met a similar fate.
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