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#but more likely eventually since i’m already planning out other drawings

pdflayn · 2 months

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BEACH DAY PT. 1 (1.1K)

oscar piastri x reader

summary: Oscar makes sure his girlfriend experiences the perfect vacation in his hometown, Australia. warnings: smut under the cut ! note: this is only part 1, part 2 will be posted once i find time again. reqs r open btw, enjoy!

It was already one in the afternoon and you were all behind the time planned to leave the house. Recently, Oscar had this brilliant idea to have a day or two at the beach with his whole family as a chance for you to be able to bond with them, something you’ve always wished for the moment Oscar asked you to officially be his girlfriend.

Everyone, excluding your boyfriend, were pretty calm about the situation. Oscar has been walking back and forth in the living room while holding his checklist. You couldn’t help but to chuckle at the sight of him. Little moments like this made you adore him even more. He really wants your stay in his hometown to be perfect. What he doesn’t know is it already is. What you meant by bonding with him and his family only meant to spend time with them even in the comfort of their own home and eat dinner at the table.

“Love, sit down for a bit. You’ve already triple-checked that list of yours.” You whisper to him as you run your hands on his shoulder, trying to ease him. It worked eventually and he flashed a smile to you. “I’m sorry, I just want this vacation of yours to be perfect. Especially since it's your first time here in Australia. Wouldn’t want you to hate the place and not think about going back here now, do I?”

You giggled at his silly remark and placed a peck on his lips. “Silly baby, of course I’d want to go back here. Even if you show me the dirtiest and ugliest part of Australia, I'd still want to go back. It’s your hometown, it’s basically you in many ways so why would I hate it?”

“Even the spiders?’

“No, Piastri. Not the spiders.” you say as you glared at him and he just laughed as he ruffled your hair. You didn’t mind really, but if it were other people you would already burst in flames.

After a few more minutes, everyone has already finished packing and finally placed their bags in the trunk of the van. Oscar and his mom were even fighting at first because Osar wanted to drive but his mom won’t let him. Eventually he gave in knowing how much of a mama’s boy he is. The both of you sat at the back of the van, it was your favorite spot in every van because you felt more comfortable since you feel no eyes watching behind you. Aside from Oscar’s of course.

“Will you ever stop staring at me?” you joked as you turned off your phone. you heard Oscar release a small chuckle and felt him scoot closer to you. you didn't mind at all, physical touch was your love language and he knew that too well. you took it as an opportunity to rest on his chest and close your eyes but Oscar had different intentions.

As you relaxed on his chest, you felt his cold hands linger on your clothed body. tracing your curves and drawing circles on your back, slowly making its way on your thighs which he had easy access to, all thanks to you deciding to wear your favorite skirt. “Oscar, not here.” you mumbled as you enjoyed his touch but the thought of being caught by his family members is such an embarrassment.

“Hey, can you get the blanket in ma’s bag? It's cold back here.” Oscar said as he took out his cousin's earphones in front of us. Oscar smiled as he reached for the blanket and gently covered you up as he placed a kiss on the side of your head. “no one will see now, you just need to be quiet if you want me to continue.”

“Do you want me to continue?” you nodded as a response. “I need words, baby.”

“Continue please, love.”

Oscar guided your head to rest on his shoulder as he rested his arm on your waist and his free hand slid under the blanket. you can feel his hands wander around your body, starting from your knees, to your thighs, to your hips, up to your waist, cupping your clothed tits. your breathing hitch as you struggle to be quiet. “Look at you, struggling so hard to keep it down already and I barely touched you yet.” Oscar whispers to your ear, adding fuel to your fire.

“Osc- fuck!” you yelped as he suddenly pinched your nipple. He responded quickly, covering your mouth with his free hand and chuckled in your ear. “Be quiet, love. you wouldn't want them to know how desperate we are, don't you?”

You bit your lip, hoping it would help you stop the lewd noises that might come out of your mouth as Oscar slipped his hand inside your panties. His fingers playing with your clit and teasing your hole. “Do you feel how wet you are, love? I can easily put my finger inside you.” he said as he slid two fingers inside you without warning, making you grip tightly on his arm as you battle with yourself to prevent yourself from releasing a moan or a whimper or a whine, you weren't sure anymore what sound would come out of your mouth. But you know it would be trouble if people in front of you heard it.

“Osc, please.” you whimpered as you felt yourself trembling and clenching around his fingers. “are you near, love?” you nodded quickly, almost sobbing from the feeling. “Of course you are. Look at you, such a needy baby enjoying my fingers. Imagine if it's me inside you and not just my fingers. the sounds you'd make will be heavenly.”

“Fuck- oscar, i'm almost-” you struggle to complete your words as he adds another finger inside of you, fastening his pace even more. He curled his fingers inside of you, reaching your spot which made you scream. Thankfully, he was fast enough to cover your mouth as he continued to fuck you with his fingers as you reached your high.

You were left breathless as he removed his hand inside you and licked his fingers clean.

He took his bag and grabbed a roll of tissue and wiped off a few of the residue left on his finger. He took another sheet of tissue and wiped the tears from your eyes, you didn't even feel it. “I think I stressed you out too much. we both know how much of a screamer you are." Oscar jokes, you slapped his arm with no energy at all. He took some wet wipes from his bag as well and slid his hand back on your underwear and wiped you clean.

“You can still get some sleep, I'll just carry you to our room when we arrive.” Oscar said as he moved towards the other end of the seat so you could use his lap as a pillow which you were more than happy to do.

#layn archive !#formula 1 fic #f1 imagine #oscar piastri #oscar x reader #oscar piastri x reader #oscar smut #oscar piastri smut #op81 #smut #mclaren

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ecoamerica · 23 days

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youtube

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leadpoisioning · 1 year

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Xavi Doesn’t Know

Tyler Galpin x Fem!Reader

SMUT (18+) ((oral, car sex, phone sex?, jealous!xavier, possessive!tyler))

Word Count: 1,204

Xavier doesn’t know that you and Tyler do it in his car every Sunday, that when you’re shopping Tyler’s really not stopping and it’s a three way call and Xavi doesn’t even know.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” Xavier calls out to you, jogging to meet you where you stand in the courtyard. You take a deep breath before turning to the taller boy. Everyone knew Xavier was infatuated with you, ever since you spoke to him during orientation on the first day of freshman year. Unfortunately, he never mustered up the courage to actually do anything about the feelings he had, other than harbor them. You waited, you really did, but eventually his game got tiring and you found someone else.

“Yeah what’s up?” You nod.

“Do you want to hang out in my shed on Sunday? I was thinking we could have a chill day, like we used to.” You cringe at the mention of Sunday. You already had plans.

“Sorry Xavi, I’m already going to a church thing with Wednesday.”

“Oh, okay! No problem, some other time then.” You smile politely and nod, watching as he trudges away. It killed you to lie to him, but he’d hate you if he knew what you were really doing.

“Oh shit baby-“ Tyler gasps bucking up into your mouth. Your hand rests on the center console of his car while you bob your head up and down, messily drooling all over his cock. He screws his eyes shut, focusing on the heavenly feeling of your tongue. His knuckles turn white, gripping the steering wheel as if it might float away. “I’m so close baby, I can’t hold it much longer.” He breathily warns. His noises spur you on, going faster as he gasps harder. Tyler can’t find the words to say anything as his hips stutter, cum shooting up into your mouth. You swallow what you can, and clean his cock with long swipes as his chest heaves. His hand grabs your neck, bringing you to his face for a sloppy kiss. You slide over onto his lap from your seat and kiss him harder.

Meanwhile, Xavier is sat in his wooden chair at his desk. He rolls his eyes and tears out the doodle, throwing the crumpled page to the floor amongst the countless others. He runs a hand through his hair. He hated liking you this much. Too bad Xavi doesn’t know that you do it in Tyler’s car every Sunday.

A few days later he tries again. You and Enid sat next to each other, talking about some assignments.

“Hey, I was thinking we could reschedule that hang out sesh for today if you weren’t busy.” He sheepishly grins. You frown.

“I’m sorry, Enid and I were gonna go shopping in town today.” You and Enid were going into town, except Ajax was coming along as well and you’d be dropped off at Tyler’s house. His mouth draws into a thin line as he nods curtly.

“That’s fine, you two have fun.” He huffs walking off, discouraged but not completely set off.

“Harder, Tyler please-“ You whine, your legs drawing him in by his waist. He obeys, leaning down to kiss you as he does so, swallowing your increasingly loud moans. Your hand curls into his hair, gripping it tightly as he groans into your mouth. His cock feels so nice rutting into your pussy.

“Bet our little friend Xavi can’t fuck you this good.” He snidely remarks, having pulled away from your mouth just to comment in your ear. You shake your head quickly.

“No- only you, only you can fuck me this good-“ You babble, feeling the heat in your stomach grow. Tyler smirks at your quick assurance and dips his hand down to your clit, rewarding you.

“Good girl, that’s right.” He hisses with pleasure as your pussy squeezes his cock. He swirls a finger around your clit faster until your hips are bucking up into his, cumming as he finishes in your pussy. He gives you a few more rolls of his hips, making sure his cum is deep in you, before pulling out.

Xavier carefully moves his hand, making the painting before him come to life. You sat on a blanket in the grass, smiling through the paper. He sighs, slamming the sketchbook shut. He was never going to have that, not if he didn’t man the fuck up and tell you what exactly he wanted. He wasn’t ever completely honest with his intentions, he figured that’s what kept pushing you away. He was going to call you, and instead of tip-toeing around it he was going to ask you out.

“On your hands and knees, baby.” Tyler kisses you before letting you bend over. He gently grabs your ass and presses it back against himself. Your pussy clenching around nothing as he lightly slaps it with his hard cock. Right as he’s about to slide home, your ringtone goes off. Tyler picks up the phone and sees Xavier’s face light up on the screen. Smirking, he clicks answer and tosses the device near your head.

“Hello?” You answer, kind of annoyed about the interruption. Tyler makes it a little more bearable by easing into you.

“(Y/N)! Hey, I really needed to talk to you about something serious. Are you able to talk right now?” You roll your eyes, biting your lip as Tyler slides in and out of your cunt slowly.

“Yeah I’m good, what’s up?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot lately. About me and you, us, I mean…” Tyler speeds up his thrusts. “I know why you’ve been avoiding me, and I totally get it! You’ve been wanting me to just be straight up with you.” He states, you’re trying not to moan or laugh into the phone. Tyler wraps a hand around your waist and toys with your clit.

“Xavier, I-“ You quietly muster.

“Wait, I’m not done.” He interrupts.

“Me neither.” Tyler murmurs, you squeeze his cock, making him chuckle softly.

“(Y/N), will you go out with me?” You gasp as Tyler hits a spot deep inside of you, no doubt getting off on this conversation. A three way call and Xavi doesn’t even know. Xavier waits, hearing the gasp and getting excited for your acceptance.

“I’m sorry Xavier, it’s just- ah- you really should’ve told me sooner.” You try your best to sound sorry for him while pleasures fill your senses. The line stays quiet. Tyler reaches for the phone and holds it between his ear and shoulder while he grips your hips for more leverage.

“I’m sorry Thorpe, you snooze; you lose.” He pouts, letting Xavier hear the sinful slaps of his skin against yours before hanging up. When the phone is out of sight, he continues thrusting- harder and deeper than before. You finally let out the pent up moans and push back against his cock. He leans over you to whisper in your ear. “So good for me, denying him while my cock is deep inside your pretty little cunt.” Your breathy moan is all he needs to hear before stilling his hips and filling you up once again while your cum mixes with his, dripping onto his sheets below.

Xavier throws his phone across the dorm room, the device clattering to the ground. He couldn’t believe he was so trusting. Xavi just didn’t know.

#wednesday #x reader #wednesday netflix #tyler galpin #xavier thorpe #tyler galpin x reader smut #tyler galpin smut #smut

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mrs-kodzuken · 2 months

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Can I have a timeskip!Ushijima comfort fic? Like Ushi doesn't understand the concept of skinship like holding hands and hugs so he often shrugs off reader's attempts in skinships, which of course made reader feel sad ㅠㅠ

Thank you and have a nice day! <3

Understanding you ♡

Pairing: Aged up! Wakatoshi Ushijima x fem!reader

WC: 1.6k

Genre: slight angst to comfort/fluff

CW: fem!reader, inexperienced in relationships!Wakatoshi, slight angst from ushi :( , fluff and comfort all in the end :)) , maybe some self deprecation from reader, best friends with tendou, communication is always key

note: thank you for requesting this! I hope it’s up to your expectations, sugar!! <3

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Being the girlfriend of the Wakatoshi Ushijima was something I didn’t expect would hurt this much. As his girlfriend, I understood the importance of volleyball since it quite literally is his career path. However, being in a relationship is a whole other aspect to think about.

There never really was anything that really stood out to me about his wrongdoings. He always made it to every dinner plan, he didn’t forget the classic month to month anniversaries, he seemed like he was just a gift from heaven.

I knew it was too good to be true when I realized we, or I, was severely lacking in the physical department of our relationship.

Ushijima and I never really got closer within touching or skin-ship distance. That really sucked for me and hurt my feelings since he aced every other aspect of our relationship, no pun intended.

I wasn’t sure if he was just uncomfortable with touching me or if he had some kind of weird feeling about touching me. However, with physical touch being my number one priority of love language I wasn’t sure how to go about telling him my feelings.

Giving Wakatoshi free rein to plan out his schedule, except for date nights, was a must. He is a grown man and I’m not his mother, but I always felt bad when there was something important, like this, to be talked about.

I couldn’t help but to bite my lip as I stared at our private text messages. His contact name, ‘Ushi baby’ stared right back at me whilst I tried to work up the courage to send a text.

Deciding against it, I threw my phone onto my bed and sighed loudly. He was at practice and had a game tomorrow so I didn’t want to bother him or cloud his mind with meaningless things like what I need to talk about.

I couldn’t help to wallow in my own pity. The clock on my white painted walls doing nothing but making the sound of ticking throughout my room which eventually annoyed me enough to leave.

It was around the time for Ushi’s practice to be over and I really wanted him to come over, I just didn’t know how everything would go.

Whenever we had first started dating I got introduced, and interviewed, by Wakatoshi’s best friend, Tendou. And now, Tendou was one of my closest friends so I decided to call the Chocolatier himself for support.

After the phone had rang for three seconds it picked up, “Hello! Hello!” the familiar voice sounded throughout my kitchen.

“Hey Ten! I am in need of advice and company.” I admitted due to the facetime call revealing his apron on with some stains of colors on it.

“Oh really?” He asked, drawing out the ‘really’.

“Yes, really. I need to talk to Wakatoshi, I’m just not sure how. Any ideas?”

“That depends on what you’re going to talk to him about. Saying the wrong thing could make him easily misunderstand what you mean and vice versa.” Tendou tried to poetically explain, as if I didn’t already know that.

“Yeah, thank you so much,” I rolled my eyes, “I’m feeling a bit.. lonely in our relationship lately. I need more physical affection from him and I’m not sure how to really bring it up because times that’s happened before.”

That little spill from me made memories pop up into my head of Ushijima rejecting my attempts for physical love.

I could only remember how he shrugged himself away from holding my hand or kissing me after I brought him a well-balanced lunch meal one day during practice.

I never felt more embarrassed or ashamed in my life. My own boyfriend rejected my advances to give him, and to receive love from him in front of his entire team.

It wasn’t the only time that that had happened. I tried doing it behind closed doors just in case he didn’t like publicly displaying affection. However, that didn’t work either when he moved away from me one night after being out to dinner.

From that point on it’s just been messaging, very little facetime, some phone calls, and occasionally visiting each other’s apartment. I wasn’t sure how to proceed with this, and I certainly didn’t think it was anywhere near enough to breaking up.

However, that doesn’t mean he didn’t hurt my feelings nor have been continuing to hurt them. Whether on purpose or not.

With Ushijima being a member of the Schweiden Adlers, I knew some of his teammates and occasionally talked with them about how my boyfriend was doing time to time.

However, I couldn’t help to not reach out to them within the last couple of weeks. I didn’t have the courage to confidently ask about him.

Tendou’s voice brought me back to where I needed to be, which was having this conversation to communicate my needs across to him.

“And since knowing him for a while helps my understanding, I think a simple conversation would do the trick. Honestly, I’m not sure why you called if you knew that too?” He questioned me, eyes peering dangerously close to mine through the tiny phone screen.

I bit my lip, “It’s just… he has a game tomorrow. I don’t want to ruin that by spouting dumb nonsense about how I’m not feeling this or that from him.”

Growing up, I’ve always considered other peoples thoughts, opinions, feelings before mine. It was just the kind of person I was, and now it hurts me the most when I need to express myself.

“Girl. Fuck that game.” He rolled his eyes at me.

“Yes Wakatoshi loves his career and it’ll always be there but you’re something in his life that can disappear at any moment. I think he’d want to know,” Tendou tried reasoning with my dumb logic as he pointed a wooden spoon in my direction.

I gave up. I knew in the back of my mind that Tendou was definitely right and I wasn’t but it was my own self that was keeping me from doing what I needed to do.

“Alright, I think I’ll ask him to come over tonight then.” I tried to say confidently after I made up my mind of what needed to be done.

“Great! When I’m in Tokyo next I’ll be sure to bring a little something for you and him.” Tendou winked at me before ending the facetime call.

That only left me to do one thing, text my boyfriend. I quickly sent him a text asking if it would be okay for him to come over after practice.

My nerves were all over the place as I waited for the tall, olive haired man to show up at my place.

Soon the door bell brought me out of my mind trance and when I opened the door I saw the one and only Ushijima.

“Hey Toshi, come in,” I widened the door after taking a good look at him.

It seemed like he came here right out of practice, he was still in his whole practice uniform. His usual stoic face didn’t change once I sat down on to my living room couch.

“Is something the matter, (Y/n)?” He bluntly asked, getting straight to the point with me.

I took a deep breath to prepare myself, “Yes, Toshi. There is something the matter. My feelings are hurt and have been hurt for a while due to the lack of physical touch in our relationship.” I paused for a moment to look over his face.

He seemed to be intently listening on every word I was saying which gave me the impression to keep going.

“I just want more skin ship with you like hugging, kissing, hang holding, or even just sitting beside you with arms touching. I feel deprived of that because you seem to always move away when I try to initiate it. Is there a reason or..?” I trailed off, finishing what I was saying and asking a question to see his side.

“I’m sorry for making you feel that way, (Y/n). I don’t understand the idea of that. It makes you feel more loved than usual?” He asked, trying to work around in his head of what I had mentioned.

“Well, yes. Without it I feel upset or rejected by you sometimes.” I hung my head low a bit, it was embarrassing having to discuss this. However, I was always one to get embarrassed or ashamed at anything I needed.

“I will try, for you.” He promised, his large hand reaching over to me and placing it on my knee. He was very warm and it traveled through my body.

I smiled a bit, “Thank you, I really appreciate it. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”

I scooted closer to him on the couch and he gave me his one million dollar small smile that I love. His arms wrapped around my shoulders whilst I hugged his torso. His lean but built, very built, body touched my soft one, I loved this feeling.

We stayed like that for a minute, nothing heard but the low volume of my living room TV and our breathing.

“Thank you, Toshi. I really appreciate that you’ll try for me.” I pulled away, already missing the hug but needing to say that to his face.

“Of course, love.” His hand came up to caress my face and I leaned into his touch.

The aching in my heart and body went away after discussing that with him. It was all just a bit miscommunication which was easily fixed after I expressed what I needed to.

I couldn’t be more content.

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a/n: I hope you enjoyed anon!! I’m terrible at writing for Ushijima but thank you for helping me extend the people I can write for :))

you all know my header rules, if not see pinned post!!

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batneko · 1 year

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Okay I got another bowuigi idea.

Koopa Kingdom gets infested with Legally-Distinct-From-Tribbles and nobody can figure out how to get rid of them, they're eating everything, fire only makes them multiply somehow, and one day Bowser is trying to come up with ideas and mutters "What would Princess Peach do?" and one of his minions says "Call the Mario Brothers probably." They both have a good laugh over this.

But time goes by and the not!Tribbles are still everywhere, and finally Bowser is like "okay I'm at least going to ASK, can't hurt to ask, but I'll address it to the green one, that'll be less embarrassing."

Meanwhile Luigi has been feeling a little down about himself, so when he gets the letter he's like "Maybe if I do it it'll prove I can solve problems by myself!" (he was the only one who was doubting this). So he rolls up to the castle determined to Be A Hero and only changes his mind and turns around three times along the way.

Bowser is kind of a dick at first, naturally, but Luigi manages to stand up for himself and insist on being paid at least. This is an extermination job, not a rescue mission. After some back and forth Bowser agrees to give him a Kidnapping Rain Check - next time Luigi just isn't feeling it, he can use the rain check and make Bowser give up on his latest Kidnap Peach plan.

So Luigi goes around, studies the not!Tribbles, comes up with some plans for keeping them out of the food, etc. At first he's having to power through the fear, but eventually he realizes Bowser is mostly bluster (this time) and focuses more on doing the job.

A lot of time passes with both of them being surprised by each other. Luigi learns that Bowser rules through respect, not fear, and that he cares about others. Bowser learns that Luigi is more than just an inferior copy of his brother. I'm picturing a scene where Bowser (who has been casually talking down to Luigi this whole time) says something insulting, and Luigi snaps back with an insult of his own, and Bowser is so surprised that he busts out in genuine laughter. "Okay that's a good one. If you ever repeat it I'll throw you off something, but that's pretty good."

And maybe a scene where they're planning a Public Awareness Campaign so people will keep their food in sealed containers and stop burning the not!Tribbles already seriously you're only making it worse, and as they're talking about it Bowser Jr. wanders in and demands to be able to help. Bowser is like “Sure, you can make the artwork for all the posters we're going to put up, here's what I need you to draw.” Luigi watches this and thinks to himself, in order, “huh, I didn't think Bowser would be a good dad” and then “wait a minute, why didn't I think Bowser would be a good dad? That's not fair to him,” and then “wait since when have I cared about being fair to Bowser?”

Bowser definitely falls first, though he doesn't realize it for longer. He finds himself actually caring what Luigi thinks of him, and gets angry at himself for caring. At one point they're looking for cracks that the not!Tribbles might be sneaking in through, and have to take down a portrait of Peach that Bowser had put up in a secluded corner. Once that's done he completely forgets to put it back up for like two weeks, only realizing when he stumbles over it that he's barely thought of her at all lately.

Luigi, on the other hand, one day thinks to himself “Bowser is so cute when he laughs” and realizes instantly that he's sunk.

Finally they start making progress with the not!Tribbles, so Luigi is like “okay I'll come back in a week and see if the numbers have gone down,” and Bowser is like “yeah sure whatever.” But the next day he's listless and grouchy (he'd barely been grouchy at all lately, what's up with that?) and takes until almost evening to understand he misses Luigi. They both miss each other.

When Luigi finally comes back the not!Tribbles have gone down, but not enough, so he's back to coming over every day to do more research. Bowser is still barely clinging to denial, but he's started trying to look nicer, polishing his shell and combing his hair. Luigi notices and tries very hard not to notice.

If fire makes them multiply, maybe ice prevents it? So they put together some kind of giant mousetrap with lots of food and successfully manage to trap most of the not!Tribbles in a giant ice cube. It only takes another couple of days to track down the stragglers. They've done it! Luigi has saved (for a certain value of “saved”) the Koopa Kingdom.

And... that's it. There's no reason for him to stay anymore. Bowser scribbles out the rain check and starts to hand it to him... And stops.

“Don't take it.”

“What?”

“Don't take that. It's useless.”

“You're not going to honor it?” Luigi asks. He'd almost been allowing himself to think Bowser might like him back, a little bit, but now he's reminded that there's been someone more important to him since before all this started. Before they even met.

“I mean you're never going to have a reason to use it!” Bowser says.

He's never going to kidnap Peach again. At least, not the way he used to. Bowser still wants to take over the Mushroom Kingdom – as well as everywhere else, but Peach... she doesn't mean anything to him anymore.

He can't bring himself to say that though, and frustrated and angry he snaps at Luigi to take something else from the castle too, treasure or tools, anything he wants. And goes up to his bedroom to mope.

It's not until days later that he realizes one of his portraits is missing. It was a good one, he thought he looked really imposing in it, so he yells at people until somebody admits that the portrait was the thing Luigi took as his “payment.”

It wouldn't have been worth much. The frame was nice, but not THAT nice. If Luigi took Bowser's portrait it must be because he wanted it.

Bowser writes Luigi another letter, this time inviting him to dinner.

#I wrote half of this at work lol #another free idea if anyone wants to flesh it out!#or just steal the bits you like #feel free #bowuigi #luwser #long post #longpost #batfics #kinda #mario bros #super mario bros #bowser #luigi

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snackugaki · 11 months

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more AU visdev shenanigans because I have both a problem and am trying to trick myself into doing visdev for my actual projects

my tmnt au (where everyone made it past their 20s, splinter’s alive just old, venus is here, and they deserve some goddamn respite and shenanigans)

tmnt au part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

tmnt au omake 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

lny visit 1 | 2

AU musings under the cut cuz truly, i have a goddamn problem and most of it is from my brain always go brr

uhhh... hm... Mirage spoilers pmuch right out the gate... probably IDW, and prrrrobably Next Mutation spoilers for the kids who haven’t started/caught up because surprise that’s where I pull from (aside from the 87 cartoon and 90s movies because who doesn’t pull mainly from their childhood turtles)

April being into punk, goth, alt, what have you just makes sense to me

...because she gravitated to the outsider nature of those subcultures since she, herself, didn’t feel like she quite belonged anywhere

which is natural when you’re a drawing made real

(it’s fine, she’s flesh and blood now)

shout out to poly styrene, april loved her

keeping them short kings just like my childhood turtles

Jennika absolutely comments to Donnie if he’s found any good cheese in any walls lately

god i hate plowing through the first couple of passes of a design

alas, the process

Venus ended up being dressed in hanfu since other clothes didn’t fit her quite right; a specific group of old women were ecstatic at breaking out hanfu patterns to use.

Chung I doted on Venus so much, the only thing that kept her from becoming spoiled was when she started taking up cultivation alongside Chung I and his sect

nothing more humbling that carrying 3 buckets of water up a steep mountain side while your sifu hurls mystic blasts at your feet

Venus progressed pretty quickly though; enough to be trusted with plans to circumvent Vam Mi’s return and reconnoiter with the sect’s allies in NYC

(it didn’t work but it’s okay they defeated Vam Mi anyway)

shit now I have to come up with a name for the sect hhhhh

Chung I’s sect is one of ?? who, like the ninja, have a responsibility (among others) to regulate the mortal plane with the less mundane ones

Venus IS training to serve in his role (give or take one of her brothers or sisters being bestowed the responsibility)

hmm... Venus likes keemun tea best if she has the choice, and for soup... oxtail soup and black sesame soup

and because it was fkkn metal in Next Mutation, Venus is primarily a pugilist who occasionally uses her cultivation techniques ; she trains a little with a fan when she gets to weapons training but she prefers the spear (link has blood and some real violent fighting but fuck Fog Hill is fucking siiiiick)

...a nickname Venus gains is ‘the spear fairy’ ‘cuz i’m indulgent :)

the supernatural side of NY was already getting antsy and unruly when Venus arrived so of course she and the boys ended up fighting upon first encounter

The fight happens after hours at a local walk-around market; Raph barges in and Venus fishes around for something that isn’t the requisite staff she was saddled with before setting out (because she knows how to deal some damage with it and she wasn’t about to do that to complete strangers she didn’t know the alignment of)

she ends up using a mannequin; one arm came off so Venus attacked with that and defended with the upper part of the mannequin; Raph was getting outmatched while Mikey and Donnie were laughing in increasing volume

at a certain point Leo tried to intervene but Venus assumed it was a double team, ripped the other arm off the mannequin and defended with both against Raph and Leo; eventually her hood was flipped and they saw she was a turtle so cue Venus using the opportunity to get them both on the ground and about to smash the now armless mannequin torso onto Leo and Raph before Donnie called for a truce

at which point, as is established, Mikey quipped up at the scene, “I call this... ‘Venus de Milo, triumph over dorkus maximuses’”

Leo DID try to address her by her actual name but his not-quite-right tone made her pity him and insisted he just use Mikey’s new nickname

Venus absolutely asked why the boys were running around half naked when she came across them; they didn’t have an answer they just shrugged and let Mikey change the subject with asking if she’s tried NY pizza yet

Venus is ambivalent in the end, she knew humans wore clothes since their bits are just ...like, out there dangling around; the yaoguai around her also dressed and thought they were just adhering to the custom out of simple consideration

Venus eventually gears up like the boys to help hide her mission from the sect trying to resurrect Vam Mi

Leo gives Venus a spare mask of his; it came from a bin of incorrectly dyed masks when he was attempting shibori dye experiments

Mikey was so enthusiastic about it, having only known April at the time he asked if he could try out braiding her mask tails since Leo didn’t bother tailoring it after he botched the dye job

Splinter helps Venus make contact with her sect’s allies ala Rescuers Down Under

NM!Venus canonically knows how to pick locks why not in this AU too

The boys take Venus to the library one night, Donnie pleads for Venus to break into the reference shelves, stoops to fibbing a little that information she might find handy could be in those shelves (they weren’t)

A hilarious exchange happens between April and Venus when Venus cycles through like 3 dialects and 2 languages before finding out April speaks Canto; Venus starts calling April Ah ze, in kind April calls Venus Ah mui

hmm hmmm... still torn between April meeting the boys once as little kids then running into them again when she’s an adult or having her meet them as little kids but connecting a little earlier, 1-2 years from graduating HS

mostly just cuz I wanna have this AU April taking them to GWAR concerts so they can enjoy being out without getting clocked

Casey and Raph absolutely dressed as the Bash Brothers for a couple of halloweens

I like the idea of Casey thinking of himself as the fifth turtle brother because it’s sweet, thassit AU canon it is done

I feel like Jennika probably ran into April and Casey at separate music venues; befriended Casey first tho

Jennika spent two years in China with Venus, getting her handle on her new turtle body; when she came back she nearly cleaned out 3 thrift stores and basically commandeered a portion of Donnie’s lab for almost a year to tailor clothes for herself

Donnie basically made himself a mini-clothing manufacturing factory by salvaging and rebuilding embroidery, pattern cutting, and industrial sewing machines

Jennika and Mondo have jam sessions

The brockhampton parody in this AU is northbrockton, Jennika and Mondo are rotational members

Mondo can speak hawaiian pidgin, he speak liddat when he go an talk story with Mikey ova some grinds, Mikey also starts picking it up

Mondo sometimes refers to Mikey as Braddah Honu

One of the stolen waste/mutagen barrels from That Night rolled and got shunted conveniently to a desolate lot where it leaked for years

Mondo came across it looking for a place for his band to jam without getting interrupted, pop goes the lizard mutation

tl;dr a video of urban explorers stumbling on it got onto Mona’s feed (and I’m smudging her original start as a physicist to a biophysicist) and since she’s a can do sort of girl she goes to check it out herself before reporting it to the proper organizations-- bam, mutant lizard Mona Lisa rip

that same video came across on one of Donnie’s feeds, Raph’n Mikey go to investigate and come upon a distraught lizard Mona Lisa; Mikey uses her assumption they were also originally human to bring her back to the lair and get her calmed down

god it’s so messy, thankfully Splinter, Leo and April are far better at helping Mona come to grips with her mutation, Donnie helps out in setting her up to survive the first couple months of transitioning between her old human life to navigating her mutant one

For me, she’s now Mona Lisa Saperfeld purely for this exact reference link

Raph and Casey also get the occasional treats from the local bodegas, but for running off extortionists and other assorted dipshits with too much time an not enough supervision

Jennika, Mondo, and Mikey are constantly replacing each others’ high scores in Guitar Hero and DDR in Donnie’s arcade

When Donnie, Casey, and Raph are left in the garage for too long... they end up making the weirdest shit (link to a Handy Geng playlist, a dude who makes funky inventions)

#i was using my little AU visdev to get myself going #to do it for my own projects #but oh #how quickly i ended up doing it to relax #because motherfuckers keep trying to start shit with people I know #hhhhh #which i have to reiterate #why be rude #when you can just shut the fuck up #or do it off anon so I can fucking block you too

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sandradoodles · 2 years

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Part nine! It’s that good marichat time again.

First | Prev | Next

(Keep reading for notes)

The timeline is established, things are getting serious now! Here’s some in-between stuff I don’t have time to draw and assorted other ramblings:

After the finale, Adrien and Ladybug teamed up to try to chase down the Felix lead and somehow hit a dead end very quickly because I suck at writing antagonists and I respect Felix too much to involve him in my lovesquare nonsense. Just imagine that for the purposes of this comic they learned he’s like... hiding out in the Amazon rainforest or something. Gabriel will be around eventually though, because I do not respect him I am going to use him for plot purposes and because he’s part of Adrien’s story.

(Speaking of whom, I’m not going to be leaning in to the sentimonster Adrien theory. It hurts me and I have already allocated this story’s angst quota for other things.)

Ladybug is still dealing with the immense blow of losing all the miraculous, but Chat Noir has been her ROCK, her LIGHT, her SAFE PLACE, and her feelings for him just keep getting softer and softer (oh no this is dangerous. Ladybug used DEFLECT AND DENY! It’s not very effective...)

But she has been making an effort to be both more open with him and more sensitive towards his feelings. To that end, she gave him the cliff notes version of Chat Blanc and, based on what she remembers about the Ephemeral episode, shared her suspicions about identity shenanigans leading to disaster a second time.

Also this isn’t as important to the plot but I had them recover the dog Miraculous first because it’s hilarious to me to imagine Gabe being like “THIS MUST SECRETLY BE THE MOST POWERFUL MIRACULOUS” since Felix had it for like an hour and broke the world, only for Dogmoth to lose it immediately because compared to his nephew he is severely lacking in imagination and it turns out that ~imagination was the real superpower all along~

Final note because I am ~self-conscious~, I would like to reiterate that I wrote this story in one day after extremely limited interaction with the fandom (like less than a week of digging through a couple tags) and I am beginning to suspect that some of my “very clever ideas” are more likely well-established tropes at this point?? (That’s what happens when you get to a fandom five years late I guess.) I’ve already warned that this is an extremely self-indulgent comic so I’m just going to forge ahead with what I have planned and hope the journey is still fun for others too even if some of the themes aren’t wildly original fff.

If you read all this then you are a trooper, take a figurative gold star!

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain-cheng #chat noir #marichat #lovesquare #confessions comic #once again I would like to lodge a complaint against Marinette's extremely complicated room #how am I supposed to establish character positioning if I'm also supposed to draw giant beams in front of them #as you can see I simply elected NOT to draw them #her room is cute tho I'm just whining #ngl I'm extremely happy with how the first page turned out #we've come a long way since part one visually speaking #s4 spoilers #sandra draws

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darklydeliciousdesires · 8 days

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Nobody's Girl - Chapter Eight.

Fuck it, it's Friday, I'm feeling generous, have another chapter! Enjoy, besties!

Previous chapters - One Two Three Four Five Six Seven

Taglist - In the comments, please DM to be added/removed

Words - 3,145

Warnings - Adult content throughout, minors DNI!

Hundreds of times. Hundreds? She didn’t know why, when infidelity was infidelity, but having the assumption that he’d only partook of a few extra marital dalliances shattered by the fact that it had been over a hundred women throughout the eighteen-year span of his marriage, was suddenly so much worse to bear. Especially when he’d surmised it as “a few” when confessing that to her.

Hundreds was far from few.

Not really knowing what to do or where to go, she wandered through the rooms, hearing her name called eventually when she got to the sprawling lounge.

“Dolly, hey. You alright?” Greta asked gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. She turned, the woman feeling her heart sink. “No, you aren't. Come on, come here.” She let herself be pulled into the hug, crying further, feeling tumultuous inside. “Scared, huh, that he’ll do the same thing to you.”

“No... maybe... oh, god, I don’t know,” she sniffed, pulling back, thanking Greta for the handkerchief she offered. “He says it’s different with me, that he hasn’t cheated and doesn’t plan on doing so either. Am I stupid to believe that? When he told me he’d been unfaithful in the past, he left out the part detailing exactly how much. He said a few, Greta. Hundreds is not a few!”

Her friend sighed through a sad smile, her eyebrows drawing up, eyes full of sympathy for the poor girl. “I can’t answer that question for you, toots. All I can say though is, and I dunno if this is wishful thinking or not, but maybe he’s got it outta his system now? He’s forty-three, more grown than he was back in his twenties when he and Fil got married. Maybe he just didn’t wanna scare you by being so candid with the exact number?”

She was attempting her best to stick a dressing over her pain, and while Emily thought such charity was very indicative of Greta’s kind nature, it wasn’t what she needed. “Do leopards ever really change their spots?”

Shrugging, Greta called upon a few examples. “Well, the man used to chain smoke like a chimney, but quit two years back since he said, and I quote, ‘I don’t think my chest is meant to fuckin’ rattle when I breathe’, which he noticed went away the less he smoked. S’why he always has the...”

“Toothpick,” Emily finished for her, “to distract himself from wanting to light up. Yeah, he told me about that. It isn’t the same, though. Smoking is a habit.”

“So’s fucking other women, dolly. Habits can be broken, if you want it badly enough.”

Sighing, she looked down at her feet for a second, lips pursing as she twisted them from side to side, still under the duress of discomfort though her tears had finally stopped. “It’s the fact he glossed over it that bothers me more than anything.” Leaning to Greta, she kissed her cheek. “Thanks for being a good friend. I’m going to take a little walk; I need to calm down.”

Her walk took her across the property over to a long line of trees, a dirt road that looked to lead down to a group of outbuildings. She’d have taken the lake, but she didn’t want to run into Luca on his way around it with the kids. Besides, she wasn’t ready to face him yet.

It was conflicting to her, having virtually no temper, always preferring the calm approach regarding conflict and now being left with nothing but fury in her belly and the desire to slap his face for downplaying his infidelities. Why had he lied? If he’d opened up enough to tell her in the first place, be candid, then why was he hiding the complete truth?

Her mind could only go to one place; the place of him knowing deep down, he’d probably do it again. That was, if he hadn’t already.

Fear shunted through her veins like a freight train, the distressing thought of losing him because he couldn’t be faithful to her. The pain of it crushed her fragile spirit, and that was only in imagining what it would be like to discover his deceit. It flew in stark contrast to the fact that Emily well knew his gaze towards her was fonder than anybody else, save his children. Love came in at the eyes and took a path directly to the heart, and every time he looked at her, she felt it beam his adoration right into her chest.

Truly, she had no reason to doubt his sincerity, and she honestly had believed him when he’d sworn he hadn’t ever been untrue to her. Funnily enough, she was perhaps the only person in his life who knew when he was lying. He didn’t do it often, but every time he did, his thumb stroked over the crucifix tattoo upon the middle finger of his right hand, as if silently asking forgiveness from god for his sins. It was a barely noticeable tell, but she’d picked up on it when witnessing him bullshitting people.

Reaching the outbuildings, she saw that it had once housed a stable block, the structure now crumbling from rotted wood, in no fit state to house a living creature. It was a shame, she thought, imagining what it must have looked like back when it was built, which she guessed was likely in the eighteen seventies, going on the overall design of the property.

He said he lost count when he hit triple digits.

Filomena’s words smacked her sharply again, raking a hand through her curls as she sighed, kicking a pebble across the dusty ground beneath her feet. Would he, though? Was the man who was all hers truly looking to seek out an alternative to it just being him and her? The man who confessed his sins to her in the dead of night as they lay talking, truly, would he forsake the bond they shared for the dalliance with a warm body that was not hers?

She’d truly liked to have thought she was much less naive than she had been in the almost six months she had been in his life for, learning from him how not to let anyone take her for a ride, learn how to be shrewder, wiser, less easy to manipulate. Why teach her to be anything else, if he indented to hoodwink her? Surely, the man would want her to remain the unworldly little waif who always put her trust in the wrong people, should he have planned to be deceitful to her?

It didn’t make sense.

A frown knitted her dainty features, turning to slope off back the way she’d come, her ears picking up on the sound of a cawing coming from one of the huge trees to the side of the path. Looking up, there upon the branches slowly becoming thicker with the lush green of spring, sat a pure white crow. She’d never seen one before, stopping to look up at the bird, its blue eyes staring back at her before it began to caw again, ruffling its feathers.

A second bird then swooped down, its coal black wings wide, folding neatly as it landed beside its white counterpart, the creatures making soft noises of greeting to one another. She witnessed it, the little display of affection, the black one beginning to preen the white, gentle beak clicks sounding its contentment.

They reminded her of she and Luca; the light and the dark, bonded effortlessly despite being so different.

Walking back towards the house, she still had no idea what on earth to say to him when they came face to face, picking out the figure of Filomena still sitting outside, hearing the sound of the children screaming with mirth as they ran up from the lake. She thought he’d maybe gone inside already, but as she took the stone steps that led back up the rolling garden, she heard him shout behind her, telling Guiseppe not to throw rocks at his sister.

She hurried her pace, wanting to move back into the house and avoid him, but that wasn’t easy when her man had legs longer than the average Derby winner. “Hey, where are you rushing to, amore?”

The face he was met with took him aback, her expression hardened a little as her eyes darted and she dropped her chin. “Inside.”

Of course, he persisted. “What’s wrong, huh? You’re not your usual self.”

His hands prevented her movement, Emily pulling herself from his grasp, her hand moving to strike him sharply across the cheek. It was the first time she’d slapped anyone, and she hated it, especially watching the confusion and anger flit across his face, his mood darkening rapidly. “I never am when I’m lied to. A few, you told me of your affairs. Not over a hundred women, as I learned.”

He bit his back teeth together, his head snapping to look up at the house, where Filomena sat, a very captive audience to it. “I told you not to listen to her poison, Emily. I explicitly told you that.”

The fact he couldn’t meet her eye confirmed it. “It isn’t poison when it’s true though, is it? No matter how malicious her intent was. It’s still true, and you still tried to hide that from me.”

Walking away, she was just stepping back into the house again when she heard Luca explode like a bomb, hurling insults towards his ex-wife in savagely delivered Italian, his fury let loose. “Excuse me, please can you show me up to the bedroom?” she asked Catherine, the housekeeper who had come with them, the woman nodding as she changed direction immediately.

She looked relieved to be escaping the immediate proximity of the Italian hellfire being flung back and forth outside, Emily closing her ears to it as she trotted up the many steps comprising the marble staircase behind the woman who looked like she had seen the two people they’d left in their wake becoming furious with one another one too many times before.

“End of the hallway, miss. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go and help chef prepare dinner.” Pulling her shoes from her slightly sore feet, she carried them while padding along the carpeted hallway, again studying her surroundings as she went, trying to take her mind off her current predicament.

Entering the bedroom, her mouth fell open, the space absolutely beautiful. It was all art deco, the decadence actually very simply done, black walls with white mouldings and ceiling, the hardwood floor furnished with fluffy white rugs, and as Luca had already revealed, a very big four poster bed in the centre. Sitting on the edge, she fell back into the comfort of the fresh, white linen, her eyes picking out the details of the ornate moulding around the chandelier that hung above, glad she was surrounded by silence.

Needing something to do in order to keep her mind occupied, she moved to where their belongings had been placed, Luca bringing very little with him since he of course already had everything he needed right there. She began to hang up her own items in the large, sparse wardrobe, knowing that she’d packed too much, remembering back to that morning when he’d told her that, too.

Just as she was placing her jewellery away, her peace was disturbed by a tightly wound looking Luca, coming in and clicking the door shut behind him.

“Emily, I’m sorry for what she said to you.”

An interesting choice of words. “You’re sorry for what she said, but not the fact you tried to hide the extent of your philandering from me?” She spoke tersely, fingers untangling her multi-stranded pearl necklace. She knew she should have brought it up in a box as opposed to the silk bag she’d stashed everything in to save space.

He moved to her, standing there in imposition, giving her no choice but to eventually look up at him once she’d finished her task. “Please, honey. Don’t let her get between us. This? It's exactly what that fuckin’ rattlesnake of a woman is lookin’ for.”

She couldn’t believe her ears. “It might be what she’s looking for, I don’t deny that from what you’ve told me about her. She isn’t coming between us, though. I asked you straight up, how many times you’d been unfaithful to her and what was your reply? A few. A fucking few! Losing count when you got to a hundred isn’t a few, Luca. Jesus god!”

Moving to the window, she needed space between them, irritated when he followed her. “Emily, just listen...”

“To what?” she snapped, “more lies?”

“I didn’t tell you ‘cuz I wanted to spare you it, the fuckin’ ugly truth of the man I was with her.” He reached for her cheek, stroking it, his chest a field of sharpened glass when she knocked his hand away. “I ain’t that man anymore, baby. Not now I have you.”

Her nostrils flared, eyes fixing him sternly. “You still lied to me. I needed to know the whole truth, Luca.”

“Oh, you fuckin’ did, huh?” he replied, his agitation winding once more, like somebody weaving thread into a loom. Why wasn’t the fact he wanted to be better for her enough?

“Yes, I fucking did!” she yelled, tipping him to explosion.

“What is it that you want me to tell you, Emily? You wanna hear it all, huh? How I was fuckin’ everything with a pulse from day one? You wanna hear how I took a waitress into the bathroom at my own wedding and fucked her over the sinks? Or how about when nobody could get a hold of me when Fil was in labour with Milania, because instead of bein’ a good husband and waiting outside for my first child to arrive, I was at a private sex club in Manhattan in the middle of an orgy? How about that, huh?”

It hit her in cold waves, to hear of such behaviour, delivered so loudly too. He never shouted or went on angry tirades, and she hated bearing the brunt of it. It wasn’t her he was angry at, though, and she saw it so clearly. He couldn’t meet her eye, pacing slowly as he dropped his head and ran his hand over the back of his neck.

She moved to him, reaching for his arm, stroking the lean muscle beneath the white shirt. “It isn’t Filomena you’re mad at, is it?”

His eyes locked onto a point in the distance, jaw tightened, offering only silence.

“Luca, you can’t make amends for how you acted in your marriage by being flawless in your relationship with me. And I love that you are, I believe you when you say you haven’t and won’t stray from me. I’m not the one who needs your apology, though. She does. She’s still hurting because you hurt her.”

There it was, the truth his ego had successfully stuffed down for the last year, tried to mask behind the lie he told himself that his wife didn’t care about his infidelity when in fact, she did. She simply didn’t want to break her heart or her marriage by confronting him over it, until she was literally confronted by his adultery right there in their bed.

He’d never be a good man, not truly. He was the head of an organised crime family, after all. He could, however, be better to the people who cared about him, though. Even if it was now in past tense. His pride still swelled, much too strongly to come out and tell Emily she was right in that moment, his eyes finally finding hers as he turned, taking her hands in his and squeezing them.

“Gimme a minute.” Striding out of the room, he moved through the house, Emily looking down at the lawn below where Filomena stood, Luca joining her after a few moments.

She turned around, her eyes glassy, looking up at the man who had torn her heart out, Luca opening his arms and wrapping her in a hug. He stroked her hair, kissing the top of her head multiple times as she wept against his chest, finally - and earnestly - delivering the words she’d so sorely needed to hear.

“I’m sorry. For everythin’ I put you through. Wasn’t your fault, it was all me.”

She cried harder upon hearing the apology, looking up at him, her eyes pleading as she stroked his face. “Then if you’re sorry, come back to me. Please. We’re you’re family, Luca. Send the girl packin’, let’s start again.”

Her statement took him by huge surprise, seeing the sudden vulnerability in the woman so formidable, so embittered by her need to hurt him as much as he had her. It truly rocked him for a few seconds, letting out a long sigh. He covered her hands for his own for a moment, removing them from his cheeks. “No, Fil,” he spoke, shaking his head, “my future is with her now. I’ve been angry at myself all this time, not you, and you needed to know that. That’s all. I ain’t ever gonna be no one else’s but hers.”

“She won’t love you like I do,” she tried, Luca shaking his head again.

“She won’t, no. She loves me differently, holds me fuckin’ accountable, makes me wanna be better. I shouldda been better to you, though. Just know that I know, but we ain’t tryin’ again. It’s not what I want.” He walked away then, knowing she likely wouldn’t take his rejection lying down. It wasn’t the woman she was. The man he’d become, though, was somebody he intended on remaining, going back into the house, finding Emily still within the bedroom, and taking her in his arms to plant a passionate kiss upon her mouth.

“What was that for?” she asked, a little breathless from it, her cheeks flushing.

He rested his forehead to hers, hands stroking her neck. “For being you, cara mia. I ain’t ever gonna be a good man, but I will be to you. Because of you.” His mouth met hers again, fingers beginning to tease the buttons of her dress undone, their need and longing for one another flickering into greater heat, his big hands grasping her narrow waist and carrying her to the bed.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” he began, lips planted kisses on her neck, “and I’m sorry I yelled at you.” His lips rained hot over her breasts, pulling her brassiere from her after flicking the clasps undone, “and I need you to know how much I fuckin’ love you.”

“Don’t tell me,” she gasped, hands all over him, desire charging over her skin. “Show me.”

Oh, how he showed her.

#luca changretta fanficition #luca changretta #luca changretta smut #luca changretta x ofc #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky blinders #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders fic #luca changretta fanfic #luca changretta fic #nobody's girl #luca and emily

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midorisudachi · 3 months

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“The Inquisitor And Her Commander”

As some of you may have noticed, I am a huge fan of the Dragon Age games, especially Dragon Age Inquisition. Last year, I had planned on drawing all the main [playable] characters up until Dragon Age Day (which took place on December 4th), but I just didn’t have time to draw more than three characters (the Inquisitor, Solas, & Varric…please check them out in my gallery) due to being busy with work and other things. I’ll eventually draw the other characters when I gather more motivation to do so.

For now, please enjoy this piece. I hope everybody likes this. I worked very hard on this artwork. It took longer than usual to create, due to all the small details, the poses, & the armour. (Armour is not easy to draw for me!) For those of you who are DAI fans, you may recognize the flowers: Crystal Grace on the bottom and Andraste’s Grace on the top. I know Andraste’s Grace is not in DAI, but I thought it would be pretty to add to the artwork (since it technically exists in the Thedas world).

My OC Inquisitor is named Bryony Trevelyan. She is actually my 2nd Inquisitor character, the first one having been an elf (which I may draw someday). I had been playing DAI for the 3rd time, a few months ago, as a male character (since I wanted him to be in a romance with Dorian, so yes, my male Inquisitor is gay), but I stopped for a bit since I am playing Skyrim at the moment (with updates & mods). Anyway, back on the main subject: I drew Inquisitor Bryony Trevelyan in the Armor of the Dragon Hunter outfit (from the Jaws of Hakkon DLC), which I had altered the colours by tinting it with Veil Quartz. I based her crown from concept art for DAI. So much armour in the game! Which I love, especially since the DA games don’t give female characters the stereotypical skimpy outfits…I love that I get to make my female characters wear bad-ass armour.

Cullen Rutherford is such an adorable and slightly awkward character around my Inquisitor. I knew I had to romance him right away, because his looks are the type of man I am attracted to in real life. (I’m not going to lie…in the game, he’s hot for a video game character. Ha ha!) I’ve always enjoyed the flirting in the DA games when it comes to the relationships. The best scene was right before their first kiss, when Cullen got interrupted by a member of the Inquisition, and then got mad about it. Ha ha. I liked when my Inquisitor asked Cullen, “The day you kissed me on the battlements…how long had you wanted to do that?” And Cullen replied (with a laugh), “Longer that I should admit.” Awwwww.

I also liked the part in the Winter Palace, when all these people were flirting with Cullen, and one asked him, “Are you married, Commander?” And Cullen replied, “Not yet, but I am…already taken.” Double awwww, because a loyal man is so dreamy. :3 I actually had Bryony & Cullen get married in the last DLC. :3 They adopt a Mabari (dog), too!

I love DAI too much. :D It’s such a fun game with the most gorgeous graphics (especially on the Xbox Series X).

Drawn with Sakura Pigma Micron pens, then coloured in with a mixture of Copic Markers & Ohuhu Markers. I used Koi Watercolours for the background. White accents done with both a gel pen and white watercolour. Gold acrylic was used for the Inquisition Symbol & the lines, which the scanner absolutely murders...the gold is such a pretty, shimmery metallic in real life. The light green around my art was done in Photoshop Elements.

Dragon Age Inquisition © Bioware & Electronic Arts

Fan artwork © Jacqueline E. McNeese

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cookeybg · 2 months

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Unexpected Cohabitation a JonDami fic

Oh, the rollercoaster of emotions I have been on. I am simultaneously excited and fill with anxiety about posting my writing. Thankfully it has been more excitement than anything else (I couldn't even sleep the night I posted the 1st chapter.) Thank you so much to those that read it and even commented. It really made my day and encouraged me to post again. :)

Anyways, here's the next chapter!

Title: Unexpected Cohabitation

Main Characters: Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne (some of the others show up too, the list is too long)

Eventual relationship: Jonathan Kent/Damian Wayne (my fave)

Stuff to know: No capes, reverse robins, high school AU, no smut, no Brucie Wayne, I know nothing about sports but it will show up, (aaand I think that's it, will add more if it comes up)

[In case you missed it Chapter 1 ]

Part 1 - Chapter 2

“I’m home!” Jon called out, taking off his shoes and placing them on the shoe rack next to the entrance. “Welcome home honey!” Lois popped her head out into the hallway from the kitchen, one hand covering the speaker of her cell phone, “Where’s Conner?” “He’s with Bart.” Jon saw his mom nod and resume the call she was on. He walked into the room he shared with Conner, dumping his school bag on the floor next to his desk. Both boys had loft beds with desks underneath to give each a sense of personal space in such a cramped room. Jon changed out of his school uniform into a pair of sweats and an old Cheese Vikings t-shirt. Two warning knocks stopped his from sitting and Lois opened the door. “Want to help me with dinner?” Lois asked. Jon nodded, smiling as he followed Lois into the kitchen. While prepping dinner Lois watched her son from the corner of her eye, laughing to herself at how cute her son was. He hummed and moved his hips to a beat only he knew. A slight blush graced his face and he had a smile he could not hide. “Was today a good day?”” Lois asked, amused. “Yeah.” Jon said without elaborating. “That’s good. You can tell us all about it while we eat.” Jon nodded and thought about how he had seen Jay twice after lunch. He even got to speak with him and sit in front of him in the drawing class they shared. When he had first seen the elective on his schedule he was determined to change it since he wasn’t very interested in sketching. Now, though, he was planning on staying with it. He saw Jay again when he turned in his application to the journalism club, he had even waved at him!

“I’m home!” Called Clark from the entrance, “You’ll never guess who I ran into in the lobby.” “I bet it was an escaped convict.” Said Lois while dividing up the oven baked chicken breasts into four plates. “Nope, it was me!” Conner said, emerging from the hallway already wearing a pair of jersey shorts and a tank. “Close enough.” Laughed Lois, “Help set the table please.” Conner nodded, grabbing some paper towels and utensils, placing them in their rightful places on the table. Clark ruffled Jon’s hair as he passed by turning on the living room television. Their television was old and had a couple of missing pixels on right top corner, but the sound still worked. It’s not like it was in the middle of the screen so Jon’s parents didn’t see the point of replacing it. Jon placed mashed potatoes on each plate next to the roasted carrots his mom had already plated. He could hear some lady drone on about the stock market. “Hon, turn off the TV.” Lois said, placing each plate on the table mats Conner had set. “Seems like Lex Corp. and Wayne Enterprises are going head to head in some bidding war.” Clark said, turning off the television he draped his tie on the back of the couch. He walked to the fridge to grab the pitcher of lemonade that he placed in the center of the round dinning table. Conner was already sitting and sampling the carrots with his fingers. The rest of the family joined him. Jon sat between Lois and conner and Clark sat next to Lois. “You and I know that Bruce is going to place some exorbitant bid just to get under Luthor’s skin and then win it.” Lois said smiling at Clark. “True, it’s one of his charming qualities. Clark said, filling everyone’s cup with lemonade. “Charming, eh?” Lois smirked, “guess you would know.” She smirked teasingly drinking from her cup. Clark bit into a chunk of chicken, winking at his wife. “So, boys, how did the new school year treat you today?” Conner perked up and started regaling his first day of high school. He compared the size of the school to his middle school and how much taller everyone looked. He mentioned that Bart was in his math class. “Oh! I also met this one guy whose super smart.” Conner said excitedly, “Like seriously a genius and he’s in three of my classes. Bart wants to try and form a study group with him.” “That’s a great idea, hun, maybe your grades will be better this year.” Lois teased. “My grades weren’t that bad!” Conner spluttered. Lois patted Conner’s hand and turned to Jon. “You wanted to share something with sweetie?” “Yeah.“ Jon looked up at Lois, turned to look at his two other family members, swallowed his food and cleared his throat. “I’m joining the baseball tryouts next week. The couch remembers who I am.” “That’s great news!” Clark exclaimed, “You’re basically a shoo in.” “That’s what I was thinking too.” Jon nodded, a wide grin spreading on his face, but it quickly turned nervous, “I’m also joining the journalism club.” Lois looked pleasantly surprised while Clark looked confused. Conner’s eyes ping-ponged between all their faces while shoving mashed potatoes into his mouth. “Isn’t it going to be hard juggling both baseball and the school newspaper on top of your normal school studies?” Clark asked. “Dad!”Jon rolled his eyes. “Lot’s of people take more than one club. Plus I didn’t get to take any last year due to my leg…” “Did you ask Coach if it was acceptable?” “Yes, I asked Coach and Mr. Thompson and both said that it shouldn’t be a problem, but that I had to take both commitments seriously.” “A team relies that all members pull their weight but, if you think you think you can do it-” “I think it’s a great idea!” Lois cut in.”Sounds like you’ll have lots of fun this year.” Jon beamed at Lois and Clark relented with a fond sigh.

#damian wayne #jonathan kent #jon kent #damian al ghul #damian and jon #high school au #no capes au #jondami #supersons #fanfic #fanfiction #first time writing #i hope someone likes it #be gentle

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petertingle-yipyip · 2 years

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DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER - MATT MURDOCK

finale - devil on my shoulder

tags: @astrobees @americaarse @dusstory @johnmurphys-sass @ironprincessstranger @ahoytherebean // nine // bonus chapter // masterlist

Pairing: Daredevil x Reader (Matt x Reader)

Word Count: 11,816

Summary: Daredevil, Exodus, and Elektra v. The Hand. Three go in, two go out and nothing is quite the same between the ones who remain.

You were lying on Matt’s living room floor after tying up Stick, at Matt’s request. He told you to hang out on the couch or in one of the chairs but you waved him off, saying you’d hate to stain them. You were flat on your back instead, mask sitting at your throat and hands folded over your stomach.

What you thought was funny about that moment was that neither of you had actually told the other your secret, yet you were so comfortable around each other it was like you already knew.

“Do you even have a plan?” Stick challenged.

Matt was quiet as he thought for a moment. You turned your head to face him, partly wondering the same thing.

“I’m working on it.” He answered finally.

“You got me.” You called from the floor. “That’s a start, no?”

He offered you a small, grateful smile. “Yeah.. Yeah it is.”

“While you’re working on it, do me a favor and pull your head out of your ass. The Black Sky-“

“The Black Sky is the same type of manipulative, peer pressure tactic that was used on me growing up.” You cut in, sitting up quickly and almost instantly regretting it. “I used to think that whatever made me good at this-“ You shook your wrists. “-meant it was who I was always gonna be. Then I learned that it just takes the right people and some effort.”

“You think love and therapy are gonna help Ellie?” Stick mocked. “I guess I was wrong about you.”

“And I would care why?”

“You’re just as naive as he is. What are you two going to do about the war?”

“What I’m good at.” You shrugged and got to your feet. “Because it’s my choice. And El should get to choose too.”

You left after that, heading up to the roof to check on Elektra. You found her standing on the ledge, and if that were anyone else, the sight would’ve been startling.

“Came a long way since college, eh?” You tried as you came and stood beside her. When she turned to face you, you gestured to your suit and tugged your mask lightly. “Never would’ve seen me in this back then.”

She cracked just the smallest smile and it only lasted a second.

“How can you be so calm?” She asked in gentle disbelief. “I’m the Black Sky!”

“And I’m a Black Widow.” You countered. “I’ve probably killed more people than you have. I’ve had to leave everyone at some point… Yet we both ended up here, in Hell’s Kitchen, with Matt. Gotta admit, could be a point to it.”

“You think Matthew can save me?”

“I think he’ll try… He tried like hell to change me. I went for months with this little voice in my head, the Devil on my shoulder, chirping at me to do the right thing.” You chuckled slightly. “And I swore I’d never get mixed up with him again, yknow? Try to keep safe from that little Devil. He just knows me so well that he kept looping me back in… Everytime I think I’m free, he’s calling me and pulling me right back in.”

“But he gave up. And eventually, he’ll give up on me.”

“He won’t.” You gently put a hand on her elbow. “You are different to him than I am. In this suit, I’m not… I’m not the person he knows. You are still Elektra, whether you’re in this outfit or a dress or a t-shirt.”

“I really wanted to be better, for him…”

“I get it. And I’m not saying it’s the wrong reason to change but, El, what do you want to do for yourself?”

“I don’t know…” She said sadly.

“Can I give you an opinion?”

“Everyone else has.” She sighed heavily.

“I think that Matt brings out the good in both of us. He sees something in each of us that maybe we don’t always see in ourselves. But at the end of the day, I do this to protect people. What I think you need to figure out - Black Sky or not, doesn’t matter right now. You need to decide why you draw your sword. Why do you put on that mask? Is it for you or for them?” You gestured to the city.

“You still love him?”

“That’s not what this is about.”

“But you do?”

“I could say the same thing about you.”

“Everything you’ve done has been for him.” She chuckled slightly, almost like she was in awe of you. “Coming back here. This vigilante persona. All of it was to be close to him.”

“None of that matters now, because it’s not up to us who he chooses to be with. As much as I’d rather it be me than you, I can’t make that choice for him.”

“You could.”

“Let me rephrase. I won’t.” You answered firmly. “El, I don’t want to make this about my feelings for Matt.”

“He’d be better with you than me.. I think he likes you better.”

“Elektra.”

“You know it’s true..”

“It’s not my decision.”

“When this is over, I won’t come back.”

“You can leave him like that?”

“I’d want him to come with me. Would you.. Would you be able to let him go?”

You were quiet as the thought of Matt leaving you settled deep in your stomach. All you could do was nod.

“You won’t even fight me on that?” She exclaimed in disbelief.

“It’s up to him. It’s his future..” You shrugged, though the thought dug daggers into your heart. “Just like your future is up to you.”

“Leave us alone, Matthew.” She grumbled, not moving from the ledge.

“Am I interrupting?” He asked, trying to make light.

“A bit but it’s fine..” You nodded with a small smile. “I think we were coming up on a circular argument anyway.”

Elektra scoffed lightly in clear annoyance.

“Whatever you’re feeling, it’ll pass.” Matt tried.

“What do you know about what I’m feeling?” She challenged.

“Just consider the possibility that there’s no such thing as a Black Sky… That it’s all mysticism, yknow? It’s nonsense.”

“I’ve been trained to kill it since I was a kid.”

“Maybe everything they taught you was a lie.”

“It’s not that easy.” You admitted. “I’ve been away from the Red Room for a long time and it’s still carved into my brain like a prophecy… It still makes me question who I am. You watch me struggle with it every night so you know that.”

“He told me I had a gift… The special kind, the kind very few people have.” She insisted.

“Dreykov told me basically the same thing… That I was different, that if I could harness my gift I’d be a revolutionary. He told me the world didn’t deserve me, but he would teach me to be worthy of that gift… But at the end of the day, that man was abusing helpless little girls and using them to fight his war.”

“Training children to fight a war is easy when you’re using cookie cutter wisdom that sounds good to them.” Matt added, standing on Elektra’s other side.

“Some of what the Hand does defies explanation.” Elektra urged and you had to give it to her on that one.

“Just because I don’t understand something doesn’t mean I’m ready to chalk it up as some fairy tale.” He reasoned.

“I’m sorry, is this coming from the Catholic altar boy?” You teased and he rolled his eyes at you.

“True or not, legend says once they have the Black Sky, they’ll be capable of anything.” Elektra explained. “It’s not about what I’m willing to do. Even in a cage, I’ll be their false idol. They’ll do terrible things in my name because they think the Black Sky makes them invincible.”

“They can’t have you. You don’t belong to anyone.” He shook his head.

“You’re incredibly smart, strong, and powerful.” You said honestly. “You are Elektra Natchios. No one can tell you what to do, who to be, or what to be. It’s all up to you… Always has been.”

“We can take them down. Not Stick’s way. We can do it our way… The three of us.”

“You would trust me after all I’ve put you through?” She asked in disbelief, but deep in her chest, you felt those sparks. Matt was bringing back something Elektra thought was long forgotten and you couldn’t help but feel that if she asked him to leave with her, he would.

“The Hand can mask their heartbeats… But yours has always been loud and clear.” He leaned around Elektra. “Yours too.”

“Oh, bullshit.” You shook your head. “You can’t read me.”

“Not completely… But I’m starting to figure you out when you let me.”

You scoffed lightly with a small smile as you turned back to Elektra. “You could’ve killed me earlier and I would’ve let you… Mieux vaut mourir à la lame d'un ami que à la lame d'un ennemi… But you didn’t. Personally, I think there’s some merit in that.” (Better to die at the blade of a friend than the blade of an enemy.)

“Some stories say Nobu has lived three lifetimes, a criminal record that goes back decades. True or not, he’s the head of the snake.” Elektra explained. “He’s our best chance at taking down the Hand.”

“It’s a simple job then.. Find Nobu. And finish him.” You shrugged.

“No. We get him away from the Hand without alerting his troops.” Matt countered.

You groaned quietly and rolled your eyes.

“Killing him only makes him a martyr.” He reasoned. “I wanna dethrone him. Show his cult that their holy man is nothing but a guy.”

“An empty throne is an invitation for someone else.” You warned. “But if you’re sure…”

“We’ll have to find him first.” Elektra sighed.

“I say we head straight into the lion’s den. The last thing they’re expecting is us to hit back at them right now.”

“You’d risk everything for me?”

He simply smiled back at her.

“So how do we do it then?”

You sighed to yourself and stepped back off the ledge. You had wondered, when Elektra came back into town, just got much of Matt still belonged to her. In times of crisis, he only belonged to her. But if you could really defeat the Hand, would he still put her first? Could he really be okay with the ease she killed with?

And even though Matt said he wanted balance and so nearly confessed he wanted you, maybe there would always be an exception for Elektra, a hope that somewhere deep down they really can make it work.

You also wondered - if only for a moment - if he only accepted Exodus as a friend and ally because you reminded him of Elektra.

“Not alone… We do it together.” He explained before turning towards you. “That means you too, Ex.”

“Huh? Yeah.. Yeah, I’m in.” You nodded.

“You don’t sound sure.” His head tilted.

“It’s nothing, we’re good.”

He took a step to turn his body fully towards you. Elektra turned too, offering a slightly concerned expression. You looked between the two and ran through a thousand scenarios, of who Matt would pick. Where he and Elektra could go. What a life together could look like.

“Ex?” He tried and your attention focused back on him. “I need you with me.”

“I know.. I’ll be there.”

He flashed you a thankful smile and you relaxed a bit. You knew that he was still unsure what distracted you and it worried him, he knew better than to press for a confession.

“C’mon.” He took Elektra’s hand, though dropping the topic was by no means an acceptance of what you said. “We gotta go see Melvin.”

“Who’s Melvin?” Your brows furrowed since as far as you knew, Matt didn’t know a Melvin.

“Guy who made my suit and made that.” He gestured to you.

“Oh.. Make sure you tell him thanks then.” You nodded and headed back to the door to Matt’s apartment.

“You’re not coming?” Elektra asked.

“Don’t need to.” You shrugged. “I got this.” You tapped one of the plates of your top. “I got these.” You shook your staffs. “I don't need anything else… I’ll just go home and reload.”

“Exodus.” Elektra tried and you couldn’t tell why.

“It’s getting a little too… romancy.” You gave her a pointed look. “Just call when you’re ready, Red.”

You went home and tossed your mask on your table on your way into the kitchen. You washed your hands in the sink, ringing out your gloves and watching the sink be stained red before you threw some leftover pizza in the microwave. As the food warmed, you headed to your bedroom and pulled your case out. You put a couple more shock discs in your belt and checked the charge on your Bites. You switched your bloody knives for new ones and packed another wire cartridge. You stopped in the bathroom to wash the blood off your face before heading back for your food.

You sat at your table, taking a deep breath and blowing the steam off your pizza.

Jumping right back into a fight with the Hand wasn’t how you want to spend your night. You wanted calm, peace to process and begin accepting some of your grief. But it felt like you were running from it, same way you ran from everything else in your past.

It’s what you do best, right?

Maybe running from it made it less real. If you could get away from those feelings, even just momentarily, you could pretend it didn’t happen. You could pretend that you could pick up your phone and call Frank, see if he was able to get a drink. You could just exist without looking over your shoulder and throwing a punch.

But you chose that life, the vigilante life. Things wouldn’t be simple so long as Exodus existed.

The sound of your phone going off made you jump slightly.

“Ready?” You said, a mouthful of pizza.

“Are you eating?” He laughed slightly.

“Yeah, leftover pizza. You want some?” You said sarcastically. “Where are we meeting?”

“I need you to meet me at the 15th precinct first.”

“For?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Be there in five.” You threw on your mask and damp gloves before hurrying out your fire escape and into the city.

As you got to the precinct, you found Matt and Brett outside on the fire escape.

“The masked vigilante is the only one I can trust.” He said sarcastically. “And his little friend.”

“Я заслуживаю большего признания, чем это.” You rolled your eyes as you stood beside Matt. “Why am I here?” (I deserve more credit than that.)

“What happened?” Matt asked Brett.

“Knew it was just a matter of time till you two showed up… Again.”

“Speaking of time, you’re wasting ours.. Can you get to the point?” You sighed.

“This ain’t the first time some asshole roughed me up. This job, it ain’t easy. But then he said they got eyes on my mom. Said they were gonna kill her, even put her on the phone.”

“Who?”

“No idea… Worked for someone big though. They wanted everything we had on you two.”

“Couldn’t be that much.”

“You’d be surprised to know that we do keep track of two things really well. Incident reports-“ He glared at you. “-and records of people you put away.” He focused on Matt. “They wanted to know everyone you saved.”

“They’re making it personal now.” You realized quietly as Matt seemed to realize the same thing.

He grabbed your hand and took off, dragging you behind him and leaving Brett on the fire escape. As you two were running, you were quickly trying to remember any names that stuck out. Anyone that you could track or could try to get to first. But the faces, the names, everyone blurred together.

Until one face stuck out. One familiar face.

Karen.

Matt seemed to have the same thought because you two were easily moving in the same direction. He broke down the plywood that had been put up over her busted windows and found the place empty, and her phone on the floor.

You couldn’t track her without it.

You let out a short string of curses as something caught Matt’s attention on the wall. Turning, you saw the long strokes of a sword. You were quick to check the floors and other walls for any blood splatters, bloody prints, or rogue drops but you saw nothing. You put a gentle hand on Matt’s shoulder.

“Let’s get to the roof.” You said gently. “I have a terrible idea.”

“Yeah?” He said tightly but followed you nonetheless. “What’s that?”

“Y’know how I can read people’s emotions? Usually I block it out so it doesn’t overwhelm me but I’m gonna open up to everyone until I find her.”

“Are you sure that’s smart?” He tried, genuine concern lacing his words.

“Should be fine.”

“Ex.”

“Matt.”

“That’s not fair.” He gave a lazy smile. “I don’t know your name.”

“You will soon.” You nodded, speaking before your mind really processed what you were saying. “When this is all over.”

You knelt on one ledge while Matt on the other one. You took a deep breath and opened yourself to everyone. You were hit with a wave of… well, everything. Opening yourself to that many emotions at once meant you would absorb everything without a filter, but it also meant there was more for you to tap into later.

Anger. Fear. Regret. Happiness. Loss. Lust. Pride. Envy.

You clenched your jaw and tried to focus. You thought of your memories with Karen. You remembered her reaction when you first told her the truth, how she worried about you both before and after she found out, the way the walls she tried to put between you two crumbled. The comfort you felt when she finally accepted things the way they were. You focused on your friendship.

Vaguely, you heard Elektra talking to Matt in the background but you were too close to tune in. You had found a small cluster of fear and panic, interlaced with calm arrogance. You willed your powers to work harder, to find Karen specifically because if she wasn’t there then you weren’t going.

Your eyes snapped open and you saw the faintest glowing ball in front of you. It called to you, asking you to follow it. It was a strange manifestation, but you had seen stranger from your abilities. You cocked your head in silent question and you could almost hear Karen’s voice in your head.

Please. Please get here in time. I don’t wanna die.

You glanced behind you and found your friends huddled together. Matt was listening for something, and given his struggle less than a minute ago, you didn’t want to interrupt. Instead, you discreetly hopped off the ledge and climbed down the building on your own.

You weren’t surprised when the ball of light led you to an area of town not that different from where you had killed Nobu. Or, where you thought you did, rather. You wouldn’t make that mistake again, you decided. He wouldn’t get back up if you got the chance.

Your new problem became the archers on the roof. You knelt at the ledge and tapped your mask to figure out what you were walking into.

“Nice of you to join me.” You commented as you scanned the building and you heard the familiar sets of footsteps join you on the roof.

“If you had told me you had something, we would’ve gotten here together.” Matt scolded.

“You two were sharing such a tender moment, I didn’t want to interrupt…”

“Are you.. jealous?” He chuckled .

“Anyways.” You stood and he nudged you playfully with his shoulder. “About twenty hostages. Two cops dead already and archers on the roof.”

“Nobu’s men?” Elektra asked.

“Crawling the building like cockroaches.”

“How many?”

“Probably an army.”

“Can you isolate Nobu?” She asked Matt.

“No.” He answered simply.

“We can’t move until we know he’s here.”

“Then you can stay here and play guard dog.” You sighed and stood. “I’m going in there because my friend is in there.”

“I didn’t come here for them. I came to take down Nobu and you said you’d help.”

“We will, Elektra, but right now, the people in that building-“ Matt tried.

“Were used to draw us out.” She cut in. “Saving them won’t help us.”

“I can handle it on my own.” You said easily, attaching your wire to your belt.

“Ex.” Matt warned.

“I have the most experience getting in and out of places I’m not supposed to be. You two worry about finding Nobu.”

“You go in alone, you’re as good as dead.” Elektra warned.

“По крайней мере, я могу умереть, зная, что сделал что-то хорошее.” You smiled sadly and turned to Matt. “Isn’t that what you wanted?” (At least I can die knowing I did something good.)

You fell backwards and slid down the side of the building. You landed lightly on your feet and were quick to disconnect from your wire. You flicked it hard so it would unwrap and retract. You let the little glow guide you to the right floor so you climbed the fire escape on the neighboring building. You shot your wire at the window frames and pulled your gun in one hand before swinging feet first through the windows.

You would’ve liked to have done it Matt’s way, but there were too many people at risk. You had to be quick and efficient. Meaning one shot, one kill.

You rolled through your landing and were met with an outcry of screams, though it was clear they weren’t all meant for you. You finished in a kneel and were quick to fire headshots, clearing four Hand ninjas easily and quietly. Soon after, Matt crashed through the other windows and took out the remaining two. You used the time to disconnect your wire and holster your gun.

“Are you okay?” You hurried to kneel in front of Karen while Matt directed everyone else out.

“How did you find us?” She asked quickly, her fear and panic still skyrocketing.

“Cause you were terrified.” You admitted. “I told you I’d look out for you, didn’t I?”

You reached for a discarded knife and cut through the zip ties around her hand as Matt came to her side. You moved and helped the man beside her get to his feet, but he limped heavily so you had to help him to the hall where another member of the group took over.

“When you get out, keep your heads down, okay?” You warned. “There’s men on the roof and I don’t know if I can get their attention first.”

There was a chorus of thanks and praise before the group hurried away. Karen was last to leave, stopping to tell you about the gunshot wound on Matt’s chest. Before you could get to him and check, you saw he was preoccupied fighting four ninjas. You picked up one of the discarded blades and hurried to his side.

You swiped the blade across the backs of two of the Hand that were fighting Matt. They turned on you quickly and you taunted the closer. One of them swiped their blade at you from the side but you avoided it with a fancy aerial move. As you landed, you had to throw the blade up quickly to block another attack.

You kicked one of them away and fired a quick red shot from your Bite. You gripped the blade tightly and threw the other Hand into a spin. You used the gap to pick up your own momentum and pierce his spine with the blade. You pushed his body over and hurried to Matt’s side. There was one more ninja that Matt wasn’t focused on so you moved in.

You ran at him and did a quick aerial to get your ankles around his neck. You continued your momentum to throw him to the side and out the window. When you unlocked your ankles, you reached for the remaining window frame and ended up with a piece of glass slicing through your hand. You cried out loudly as you tried to climb back up but Matt ended up grabbing your forearms and pulling you up.

His fingers traced the gash on either side of your hand and frowned. He pulled your glove with one hand and reached for the side pouch of your belt with the other. When his fingers slipped into the pocket, he gave a slight tug to pull you against him and you couldn’t stop the gasp as your bodies hit and he grinned. You furrowed your brows but didn’t stop him as he pulled a couple gauze pads and the tape. You smiled slightly to see he remembered as he brought your other hand up to hold the gauze in place as he taped it down. He handed you back the tape and glove with a slight smirk.

“Better than a bullet hole.” You joked as you put the tape away and your glove on.

“Barely a hole, okay?” He countered with a small chuckle.

“I thought you were bulletproof.” You teased.

“First time for everything I guess.”

You saw two more Hand members coming in from over Matt’s shoulder but before you could react, you saw the tip of Elektra’s weapons piercing through their bodies.

“Glad you joined us.” You smiled.

“I got bored.” She shrugged.

You chuckled slightly and pulled your staffs, interlocking them together as four more Hand members burst in. You flicked the dial for the long blade and moved in. You attacked with the single staff hard from the right side, slicing a deep gash across one of their stomachs. You turned and used the blunt end to sweep the legs before spinning the weapon over your hand and driving the blade down into their chest.

While Matt jammed the butt end of his club into one of their noses, two hands shot through the wall to grab Elektra. You quickly followed after her and slid on your knees, spinning yourself and disconnecting your weapon. You put the blade away and swung your staffs at his head after Matt kicked him towards you. Elektra finished the other and then the room was empty save for you three. Elektra winced and peaked at the back of her arm, your attention moving to it as well.

You summoned the heat of anger to your fingers and offered them to Elektra. She nodded quickly and you pressed the fingers along the length of her cut and she hissed as you burned the wound shut. Matt pulled you two up the stairs as you finished and you wiped the blood on your pants.

Matt barricaded the door after you all went in. You pulled him back and called on that anger again. Only instead of directing it to your fingers, you pictured it as pure heat. You held your hands to the slot where the bar fit and pushed the heat outward, watching the metals meld together.

“I’m not gonna lie to you… There’s a lot more coming.” Matt said simply.

“One thing’s for sure… We’re gonna die.” Elektra answered.

“I say we take a few more of them out with us then.” You shrugged.

“You wanna end it here or on the roof?” Matt asked.

“I’ve always liked the fresh air.” Elektra replied, earning a small chuckle from Matt.

You three climbed the rest of the stairs and you tapped your mask, seeing through the walls to the heat signatures outside.

“What’s out there?” She asked.

“Oh, Jesus.” Matt sighed.

“Remember that army I mentioned?” You answered.

“Packed with katanas and longbows… More from below with the same weapons.” Matt explained and you let out a long sigh.

Elektra dropped to the floor by the door so you knelt beside her. You offered a comforting hand on her arm and she covered it with her own.

“Even if we survive, the three of us may not see each other again.” She said quietly.

“What if… What if, from now on, if we make it…” Matt tried, kneeling in front of Elektra and removing his helmet. “Wherever you run, I run with you.”

“You’d leave?” You asked softly. Though you had done the same to him so long ago, you hated the idea of being in New York without him.

“This… This Is a part of me that I need.” He continued when Elektra didn’t say anything. “And you’re the only one who gets it.”

“The only one…” You repeated quietly.

The pain in your chest was hot, begging for acknowledgement but it was your own doing. By not telling Matt sooner, he didn’t know that you were the one by his side. You were the one who had saved his life, risked your own for him so many times. He didn’t know you were the one who fought beside him.

He didn’t know that you got it, too.

“I’m free with you, like with no one else.” He said firmly.

“You hide from yourself…” She said gently. “You don’t let anyone in.”

“I let you in.”

“And what about Y/N?” She spoke softly, giving your hand a small squeeze. “You let her in, too. Matthew, you love her. And you’d leave her?”

“She left once because she was running from her past.. I think she’d understand.” He reasoned, but he couldn’t hide the pain when he thought of leaving you. “Maybe not at first, but she would.”

“But you love New York..”

“Yeah.. I’d give my life for it but there’s one thing that makes me feel more alive… What do you say?”

You began wondering how long you could stay in New York if Matt left with Elektra. You’d have Foggy and Karen, but would that be enough? Matt, realistically, was the one thing that kept you from going back to London after your Bar exam. With the firm gone and the relationship you stayed for now fallen apart, what was left for you?

You decided then that if Matt left, so would you. You’d tell Foggy and Matt the truth, apologize for hurting them in any way, and be out of their lives.

At least you wouldn’t be able to hurt them anymore.

Elektra pulled you up with her, in turn pulling you from your spiral of thoughts. You three went out onto the roof and found the Hand’s army standing calmly across from you. You could vaguely feel a familiar presence not too far away, one that was calm and charming but also angry. You glanced around as you tried to pinpoint it but saw nothing in the darkness.

Rather, you saw Nobu. He made some short speech about destiny before attacking your trio. He threw his weapon at you first and it sliced across your arm. You cried out but wrapped the chain around your hand, gripping it tightly and pulling him closer.

Once he was close enough, you twisted your arm around his neck and stepped behind him. Your knee was jammed against his back as you steered into hit after hit from Matt and Elektra. Once the rest of the army realized Nobu was losing, they jumped in.

Nobu reached behind him and caught you by your shirt, dropping his shoulder to flip you over. He pinned the hand you wrapped with the chain under his foot and yanked the chain across your throat. You coughed as you felt the metal pressing on your windpipe. You used your free hand to slip under your back and reach for one of your knives.

Reaching up, you sliced through his calf. You planted one foot firmly against the floor and used the other to kick up at his head. When he fell off of you, you were quick to roll to your stomach. Matt came in quick from the side and slammed his knee into Nobu’s head. You were quick to unwrap your hand and grip your knife firmly, launching it into Nobu’s back and giving yourself room to get to Elektra.

You hurried to your friend and pulled another blade, reaching over a Hand member’s shoulder to slit his throat. You and Elektra kept your backs to one another, fighting and protecting each other. Squelching sounds of punctures and the sound of metal hitting metal echoed across the slowly emptying rooftop as the bodies began to pile up around you and Elektra.

Soon, it felt like it was just you three and Nobu.

The three of you alternated your attacks, one stepping in when another was knocked down. But none of you stayed down for long. The variations in your fighting styles kept Nobu on a constant defense, only getting temporary upper hands on any of you. Until…

He dislocated Elektra’s arm and she hadn’t gotten up yet. He kicked Matt so hard his helmet flew off. That only left you.

“There’s still room for you here, Exodus. Maybe we are your destiny, as well.” Nobu offered through heavy, tired breaths.

“I choose my own destiny.” You growled and charged back into the fight.

You flicked your knife towards his chest but he avoided it easily, just as you hoped he would. You ran towards him and hooked your foot behind his knee, reaching across his chest to grab his shirtfront. You dropped and pushed yourself backwards to flip you both and put Nobu on his face. You spun to kneel on his back and lifted your arm to wake your Bite. As the device glowed red, an arrow came and sliced your forearm.

You cried out and fell to the side, giving Nobu a chance to climb on top of you. He hoisted you up by your shirt and landed sharp jabs against your face, causing your head to bounce off the concrete beneath you. You grabbed the wrist holding you up with one hand and slammed your opposing arm against his, crying at the pain but hearing the deep snap of his bone. You curled your legs up and kicked out at his chest, sending him flying away and giving you a chance to get up.

You moved to Elektra’s side since she was closer and helped her up. You pulled her to her feet and turned to see Nobu grabbing Matt. Panic froze you momentarily before you felt Elektra grab you. Together, you ran to Matt.

You drew your staff and stuck it out in front of Matt, causing Nobu’s weapon to clatter against it. He switched grips and slammed his elbow into your nose which made you stagger back. When he turned to slam the weapon into your stomach, Elektra stepped in front and took the hit. Your mouth fell open but no sound came out as you felt everything drain from your body. The tears welled up quickly so you yanked your mask down.

She kicked Nobu away before falling to her knees. You hurried to catch her when she dropped backwards and Matt was at her other side and his panic rivaled your own.

“No. No, no!” You cried and shook your head violently. Matt pressed his hands over her stomach in an effort to stop the bleeding. “Don’t do this, El. Don’t die on me!”

“They have nothing now.” She said weakly. “I took it all away.”

Blue and red clouded your vision, mixing swirls of bright colors that remained their own. Your fingers burned but the rest of your body felt ice cold.

“I know now… what it feels… to be good.” She managed through broken gasps and tears.

“Please.” You whispered. “El, please!”

“Look after him…. He.. He needs… you.”

You shook your head again, as if you could deny the situation and it would change. Your shoulders shook with your quiet sobs as your eyes closed, holding your friend close for as long as you could.

“Does it always hurt this much?” She asked Matt and your heart broke even further.

“Yeah.” He sniffled. “It always hurts this much.”

And then she was gone. You felt her go limp in your lap and you gently crawled out, leaving her in Matt’s embrace. You collapsed over your knees, one hand clutching your stomach and the other was a tight fist against the ground. You took in a shaky breath and screamed, letting out a broken sound of pain as you slammed your fist to the floor.

You felt two hands on your side that were pulling you up. You let them, looking up to see Matt hauling you to your feet. You ran your sleeve across your eyes, smearing the tears across your blood splattered face. You ground your teeth and took one last glance over your shoulder at Elektra.

She seemed at peace, finally.

Looking back at the few Hand soldiers that were left, your vision had grown bright red. There were blue swirls at the edges but the focus was the manic haze, the sadistic bloodlust. You pulled your gun and sniffled, weighing the bullets you had left.

Eleven rounds. Four Hand members.

You looked over at Matt, feeling his anger at the same level as yours. But you felt something else too, something from behind you. Someone familiar, but you didn’t care to figure it out.

Matt moved in first, beating the two Hand soldiers that came in first. Once he pushed them aside, you stepped in and put a bullet in their skull. You raised your gun to fire on a third one but another bullet beat you to it. You quickly spun on your heel with your gun ready and saw Frank on the rooftop behind you.

You felt the slightest wave of relief, dulling the red of your vision as your arms dropped. Your hand covered your mouth as you smiled slightly, a fresh wave of tears coming. You saw him offer you a quick salute before firing on the Hand behind you. You returned the gesture before hurrying across the rooftop to Matt’s side, though he was already engaged with Nobu. Matt’s anger easily fueled him into getting the upper hand, but you were determined to have the final shot. As Matt threw Nobu off the roof, you followed.

You stepped over the ledge and flicked your wire at the railing. As you slid down the building, you drug your heels against the side to slow your descent. You aimed your gun and once he hit the ground, you pulled the trigger, watching the bullet pierce through his skull and bounce his head off the concrete. You hung there for a second, waiting to ensure he wouldn’t get up, but the growing puddle of blood that he laid in was enough of an answer for you.

You were climbing back up to the roof when part of Matt’s new club came towards you. You took a hold of it and he helped pull you up. He tapped your arm and pointed to the roof behind you where Frank was and he gave you the slightest smile, as if he knew you’d be happy to see Frank.

You pointed to yourself before your fingers made the shape of a phone and then you pointed to Frank, hoping he’d get the message that you would call him later. He nodded before disappearing.

You blew out a sigh to calm yourself and settle your deep anger. There was satisfaction in knowing Nobu was dead and that you had pulled the trigger. Not even for yourself, but for Elektra.

For your friend who gave her life for yours. For your friend who annoyed the hell out of you and pushed every button she could, who was arrogant beyond belief and stole the man you loved right out from under you. Your friend who was a liar, but also smart. Powerful. Beautiful. Vengeful and angry, but also just wanting to be loved for who she truly was.

You wished you could tell her that she was. That despite it all, you did love her.

Matt took your hand and walked with you back to Elektra, both of you falling to your knees beside her.

“I’m sorry…” You said quietly, more to Elektra than Matt. “I’m so sorry.”

Matt put a hand on your shoulder and you turned instantly, falling against his chest. His arms came around you quickly and held you tightly. You kept muttering the apology as a new wave of sobs ran through you and he hushed you gently, saying it was okay. You held him with all the strength you had left, terrified that he would slip through your fingers too.

He leaned his chin on the top of your head, seemingly trying to contain his own grief. You took a deep breath and pulled away, putting your hands on either side of his face. He tried to give you a smile but it broke instantly.

This time, he fell into you. He buried his face in the crook of your neck and you put one hand behind his neck and the other over his shoulders. You said nothing, other than a gentle reassurance that you were there.

You two stayed that way for a while, consoling each other despite your own grief. You only moved when Matt heard the cops getting close. Hesitantly, you followed him off the roof.

Sleep didn’t find you that night. You sat on the floor of your shower, letting the stream wash away the blood, sweat, and tears of that night. But nothing could help your pain. You didn’t even care to try and heal yourself, other than your hand.

At least you didn’t have to grieve for Frank anymore… Just Elektra.

A few days later, you still hadn’t slept much but you were beside Matt and Stick at Elektra’s grave. You had your arm linked with his and you leaned into him slightly, almost using him to keep you standing.

“I wanted to say a few words but… I don’t have any.” Matt said after a while of standing quietly.

“Can I?” You spoke up, though your voice sounded hoarse. You had sounded that way since that night, having cried so much and screamed so loud your throat was rubbed raw.

“Yeah..”

“Elektra was a lot of things, some good and some bad… But ultimately, she was my friend. She saw and did things that no one should have had to as young as she was, but maybe it’s because of that that we were the friends we were… She was complicated but loyal, willing to give her life for-“ You sniffled and took a deep breath. Matt turned to you and placed a small kiss to the top of your head, an old but not unusual gesture between you two. “Elektra was so loved… I loved her, and I’ll miss her.”

“God rest her soul.” Stick added solemnly. Despite their last spat, he still loved her as his own. “Was it worth it?”

“What?” Matt asked.

“Loving her.”

He took a deep breath as he thought, but decided not to answer. But standing beside him, you knew. It was worth it to him.

“One time in college, I brought her roses.” He said instead and you gave a small smile.

“She hated roses.” You chuckled weakly. “It was orchids, right?”

“Yeah.. She likes orchids… And yeah, it was worth it.”

“Matt, you are the toughest son of a bitch I’ve ever met.” Stick praised before leaning around to you. “And little lady, you are a close second.”

“I don’t feel very tough.” You admitted.

“What you see in yourself and what you are don’t always overlap.” He nodded. “Let’s go home.”

The car dropped you off at your apartment first. Matt offered to stay with you but you told him you’d rather be alone. Hesitantly, he let you.

When you got to your apartment, you headed for your bedroom and found your suit peaking out of the closet. The memory of that night flashed in your mind when you caught a glimpse of the blood stained on the front. It could’ve been the Hand or it could’ve been Elektra’s. You hurried over and slammed the case shut.

You had no plans of returning to that life anytime soon. You doubted Matt did either. And if you were going to take up Dex on the FBI offer, you couldn’t be a vigilante and a federal agent. It was too risky. You had to choose. Y/N or Exodus.

The choice was easy.

You shut the closet and pulled your phone, sitting on the floor and leaning against your bed. You weren’t sure if he had changed numbers but you had to try. You had to find out why.

“Hey.. I’m sorry about your friend.” He said gently, honestly.

“Thanks… How are you?” You answered, not sure how to bring up the main reason you called.

“Same shit, different day. Gotta finish what I started and see this through… For my family..”

“What’s the plan?”

“Nah, not this time, Princess.”

“You don’t need to coddle me, Frank.” You tried.

“I’m not.”

“Then why won’t you tell me? I thought you trusted me more than that.”

“Y/N..” He sighed. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, alright? It’s not. It’s that I know you’re only using this as an excuse so you don’t have to deal with your pain. You wanna use any sort of fight you can to ignore what’s really going on. You’re so used to fightin’ that you can’t deal with peace.”

“Yeah, you’re one to talk.”

You wondered if Frank had always been able to read people so easily, or if you were just especially transparent. But what you really noticed, was that he wasn’t condescending about it. He never made you feel bad or inferior because of your struggles or your shortcomings. Frank was a real friend, even if your friendship was still new.

“… Why did you do it? Fake your death for a while with the boat explosion.” You asked instead.

“Cause Frank Castle is dead.” He insisted.

“So you’re nothing but the Punisher now?”

“You ever really think I was anything more?”

“I did… I really did… The Punisher isn’t the one who convinced me that it was my choice who I was. The Punisher isn’t the one who made sure Karen was safe. The Punisher isn’t the one who wanted to save me first on that boat. The Punisher isn’t all you are.”

He chuckled slightly.

“Gotta admit, Imma miss that, Princess. Your little optimism.” He said and you could hear the small smile on his voice. “Red really got to you, didn’t he?”

“I’m serious, Frank.”

“I know… But I can’t keep dragging you into this, alright? I just.. I’m sorry but I can’t. Not this time.”

“You don’t plan on dying for real this time. Do you?”

“Guess we’ll find out.”

You sighed loudly.

“I can’t convince you to let me tag along, can I?” You tried.

He chuckled slightly.

“Not this time.”

“Alright… Just try not to then.” You said reluctantly. “I can’t lose another friend right now, okay? I can’t… Call me if you need anything.”

“Alright.. See you ‘round, Y/N.”

“Bye, Frank.”

You had gotten more sleep that night than nights before, and maybe that was due to the closure from Frank. You didn’t necessarily like that he was running off to a seemingly never ending battle by himself, but if anyone could handle it, it was him. Maybe it was also due to the fact that Elektra was put to rest. You said what had been bouncing in your head and felt a sense of closure in that regard, too.

The only thing left was telling Matt and Foggy.

Matt called you the next day and asked if you could meet him at the office, just for a minute he insisted. You reached into your closet and pulled the Red Room emblem out of the corner you had shoved it into. It took one of your knives and a lot of pulling during your most recent redesigning, but you finally got the enamel logo off. Part of you questioned if he would recognize it, given that the red was the point but it was better than throwing your mask at him. But just to be sure, you shoved one of your Bites into your bag

You got ready quickly, considering the cold weather, and hustled down to the office. You were shaking the loose snowflakes from your hair as you walked in, finding Karen already waiting. The room was stale and cold, dimly lit by a couple lamps. Any life from Nelson and Murdock had faded away just as the warmer temperatures had. The situation suddenly became very real as your once warm and welcoming office now felt like another world.

“Hey.” She breathed.

“Hey.” You smiled. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. You?”

“Not really but…” You shrugged. “Matt called you?”

“Yeah, said he wanted to talk about something.”

“I’m a little surprised you came, given everything with him last time I saw you guys talk.”

“Same could be said for you.” She gave you a small smile.

“You don’t know what I know.” You returned the small smile. “But that’s probably what this is for.”

“Should I be worried?”

“If how you reacted before is an indication, you’ll probably be pissed.” You nodded and sat on the edge of the desk as Matt walked in.

“Thanks for coming.” He said, pulling a brown bag from under his arm.

“What are we doing here, Matt?” She asked.

Your hand slid into your pocket and pulled out the small enamel design, twirling it between your fingers. You noticed Matt’s head tilt just slightly, likely the sound of the emblem against your pants as you pulled it out drawing his attention but he tried not to show it. He snapped back and focused on answering Karen.

“I, uh. I have something.” He explained as he stepped closer, reaching into the bag.

“No, I don’t want it.” She shook her head and moved to leave.

“Hang on.” You said gently, reaching to pull her back. “Just give him a chance.”

“It’s something I need you two to see.” He continued and you let out a deep breath.

Karen glanced over at you and you nodded. Her brows furrowed but she relaxed and turned to Matt again. You kept your eyes down as you heard him pulling whatever it was out of the bag.

The tension rose drastically and you knew it was what you thought it would be. Karen looked at you again in shock but when you lifted your eyes to meet hers, all you could offer was a silent nod of confirmation. You turned to the window then, rather than face Matt.

You knew it was Matt, had known for a little while. You had been practically taunting him and begging him to call you out for being Exodus ever since, but the idea of confessions made your heart squeeze. The emblem in your hand felt sharp now, like holding onto it - along with your secret - was going to physically pain you until you let go. Until you told the people who deserved to know.

“I’m Daredevil.” Matt admitted.

Silence passed over the group again so you decided to move. You stood, leaving the logo on the desk, and moved to stand in front of Matt. Gently, you took the helmet from his hands and you saw him swallow hard when your fingers brushed his. In any other circumstance, it would’ve made you smile.

You ran your fingers over the hard material, tracing the ghost of a line you remembered seeing after Frank shot him. You looked back up to him and found how terrified he was. He was surrounded by a yellow haze, but there was also pink mixed in. He was scared because of how he cared for you two.

You took a step back to stand beside Karen. She put a hand on your arm in comfort and when you looked to her, she offered a small smile. You could tell she wanted to look down, to acknowledge the helmet in your hands but she refused. Instead, you reached over and put it in hers.

She took it, only for a second, before shoving it back into your hands and practically running out the door. You watched her go as the door slammed behind her, making a face of surprise to yourself. Given how she chewed your head off after you told her, it went far better than you expected.

You took a step forward again to put your hand on his cheek and found he leaned into your touch.

“Say something… Please.” He mumbled.

“Matt…” You said finally and you saw some of the tension leave his face as you said his name. “There’s… There’s something you should know, too.”

His brows furrowed as you pulled your hand away and stepped over to the desk and reached for the small piece of enamel, placing the helmet on the desk in its place. You took one more deep breath and went back to Matt, taking one of his hands and pressing the logo against it.

His brows furrowed while holding the emblem in one hand, his fingers tracing it over and over. Every time his digits followed the shape, you felt the anxious knot in your stomach tighten.

Everything you had been avoiding since you got back to Hell’s Kitchen, revealing yourself to Matt and showing the blood on your hands, it was all happening right before your eyes. The uncertainty made you feel like you were standing at the edge of a cliff, teetering backwards and reaching for safety. Matt was the only one who could pull you back, but the question of if he would was yet to be answered.

“This is…” He trailed off, drawing your focus back to him. “Where did you get this?”

“It’s the trademark for the Red Room… It was part of every Black Widow uniform…” You explained carefully. “It was at the collar of my suit for a while until I changed the top… Then it was hidden and now it’s off.”

“The Red Room… Y/N, what..?”

Did he really not know?

“I… I’m Exodus, and I’m sorry. For everything. For- For the times I’ve hurt you. The times I tried to kill you… Matt, I swear, if I knew sooner that it was you...”

“Oh my god..” He said quietly, nearly a whisper. “No, there’s… Really?”

“I know it’s a lot to take in.” You shrugged, trying to fake calm though your heart was racing. You figured Matt could hear it, one of the few times you let your body give away your thoughts. You turned and moved to your bag, pulling your Bite before coming back. “And if you want to go our separate ways, I understand.”

“No, Y/N.” He stepped closer and reached for your hand. Though instead of letting him take it, you put your weapon in his hand which made him pause, only for a second. “I don’t want you to go anywhere.”

“What about what I’ve done? Matt, your whole stance as Daredevil is to not kill people and I’ve killed too many to count.”

“I don’t care.” He shook his head and stepped to put the emblem and the weapon on the desk. He came back to stand in front of you, hands finding your face. “I don’t. Because it’s you, Y/N… It's you.”

“I told you that I couldn’t be the one to corrupt you.” You said softly, feeling him trace the outline of certain scars as if to convince himself it was true. “I told you that I shouldn’t be the one that you make an exception for.”

“It’s not an exception… I know what you’ve done, sweetheart. But I also know why… And I know you.”

“Matt..”

“I love you, Y/N.” He admitted suddenly, making you take a step back and the back of your legs hit the lip of the desk. “I know who you are and I know what you’ve done but you are still you. You still feel the same, Y/N. You’re the same girl I met in college and the same girl that I.. that I love.”

“You don’t mean that.” You tried, though every ounce of your body was screaming for his God to let it be true. “You don’t.. You can’t. I- I- I’ve lied to you and I’ve screamed at you and I’ve hurt you! I stabbed you, right here-“ You took a step forward and placed your hand on his side where you remember throwing your knife. “-maybe a week ago!”

“I know.” He nodded with a small smile that only added to your bewilderment. “You’ve also saved my life and cleaned me up and been by my side.”

“This is insane..” You mumbled, more to yourself than Matt. “This is- This is crazy! You can’t love me! As much as I want you to, you can’t!“

“You want me to?” He repeated smugly. “Still? Even though I put on that suit and that mask, go out into that city every night, and throw punches in an alley?”

“Yes, because you’re the good guy!” You shouted and began pacing the room, hands pushed into your hair. “You’ve always been the good guy and I’ve been the bad guy. You can’t love the bad guy! I don’t- It doesn’t make sense! Daredevil hated Exodus.”

He reached out for your hand and pulled you to stop. You landed flat against his chest and you let out a small groan due to your still tender ribcage.

He snorted a small laugh. “Sorry.”

“I’ve had worse.” You shrugged and he broke into a grin, earning one from you now that your mind was snapped from its spiral. “Matt, you hated her.”

“I never hated her.” He shook his head, speaking softly as he dropped his forehead against yours. “I didn’t always agree with her but I would pick her by my side over anyone.”

“You already knew, didn’t you?“ Your eyes closed and you sighed to yourself.

“I had a feeling…”

“How long?”

“Since you yelled at me in Russian in the courthouse bathroom, for sure.”

“To be fair, you slammed the door in my face.” You reasoned, leaning back slightly to see him as he grinned again.

“What did you even say?”

“That I’d break both your arms.”

“Ouch.” He frowned.

“Don’t slam doors on people then.” You shrugged, holding your composure for a second before laughing. “I’m serious, Matt. How long?”

“I had a thought since we went to that art gallery and met Vanessa for the first time. I knew there was something bigger but I didn’t think it was this. This became a thought a little before we met Grotto.”

“I always knew you were doing something you weren’t supposed to.” You replied. “But I didn’t think this - or maybe I just didn’t wanna believe it - until that gala… You moved so much like him, I couldn’t ignore it. And..”

“And?” His brows furrowed. “C’mon, Y/N/N. Say it. It’s just you and me…”

“When you kissed me. It was the same. Same feeling, same movements, same taste.”

He opened his mouth to say something before closing it again and pursing his lips slightly.

“I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” You tried calmly as you moved and sat on the desk. “How do we both have these alter egos that worked together but couldn’t stand each other? And then we turn around and work together but also can’t stand each other?”

You picked his helmet up and turned it in your hands as he came and stood in front of you. You leaned your head back to look at him while he shrugged off his jacket and tossed it over the desk beside you.

“What do you wanna do from here, Y/N/N?” He asked, gently taking the helmet from your hands and putting it on top of his jacket. He flattened his palms on either side of your legs and leaned down slightly, taking a step back so he was more level with you. “Tell me to go and I will.”

“And if I want you to stay?”

His mouth lifted into a small smile. “Tell me and I will.”

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Yeah.”

“It kinda looks like you wanna be with me right now because I’m Exodus.” You chuckled slightly, trying to joke and break the tension in the air.

There was a heavy lull as his brain mulled over your words before he spoke carefully.

“I started caring about her after Nobu.. That first night she - you - saw me, you were so relieved… You hugged me so tight.”

“I thought you were dead.” You admitted. “I thought… I thought I was too late and I couldn’t save you, that I made that deal for nothing.”

“That was when I realized that you really did care…”

“That was around the time you told me that I had my own light.. Do you still believe that?”

“Y/N, I’ve always believed that, whether you were in that suit or not. You’ve got one of the brightest lights I know.”

“Y’know, early on, I had these really confusing feelings for Daredevil. It felt like he saw me, with the blood on my hands and knees and all. He still wanted me around and I liked that. I felt safe with him. But he kept wanting to change me. It was like he just couldn’t accept who I was. I felt like I wasn’t good enough for him.”

“Y/N, I never-“

“Hang on.. Just, let me finish, okay? I need…” You paused to take a deep, steadying breath and put a hand on his arm. “I need to finally say this.”

He nodded.

“And then Fisk happened and he got in my way. I remember thinking ‘This is it. I’m done with him. I see him again, he’s dead’. Now, maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t kill Fisk when I had the chance. I don’t know. But I do know that I just couldn’t bring myself to try and kill him. I still wanted him around but I couldn’t let myself want him…”

You turned and picked up your gauntlet.

“And then Frank came along and made things more complicated. Frank didn’t need me to change to be by his side. He didn’t challenge my morality, he just… Handed me a gun and considered me a friend.”

“Yeah, maybe… Maybe Frank wasn’t all that bad.” He offered and you smiled.

“He’s really not. Frank actually helped me find balance… He told me that I can’t let everyone else tell me who to be. But Daredevil isn’t bad either if you get to know him.” You teased and he grinned. “Matty, I love you too. But if this is something we want to try, I need to ask you a couple things.”

“I’m all yours.” He said softly, dropping to his knees and folding his arms over your lap to rest his chin on.

“Really?” Your brows raised playfully.

“Ears.” He corrected with a nervous smile. “I’m all ears.”

“If we keep doing the Daredevil/Exodus thing, do I have to play by your rules? No killing?”

“I would prefer.” He said carefully. “But I won’t fault you for it. Not anymore.”

“Why?”

“You know when to stop.” He answered simply, as if it should’ve been obvious. “You know when to pull your punches and when not to. I shouldn’t have been trying to change you this whole time. I should’ve been trying to just work with you, help you find some sort of… balance.”

“Do you really want to do this? Because I know you were in a whole ‘no friends means no distractions means I can focus’ phase.”

“No, I don’t wanna do anything without you by my side.”

“Last one… And it’s a hard one. Would you still be here, on your knees in front of me and telling me you love me, if Elektra was alive?”

He was quiet for a minute as he thought. You were both glad that he didn’t answer immediately and a bit hurt.

“I don’t know. I told you it was complicated with her..”

“Matt, I’ve been second to Elektra for you the entire time she’s been involved. I won't be the one you settle for because you lost her.”

“This isn’t about Elektra.” He shook his head gently. “You and I.. It always ends up being you and I, doesn’t it?”

You wanted to argue that but you realized he was right. Despite your leaving, you made your way back to Hell’s Kitchen, where you stayed for him. You fell in love with Marc and Steven, but you still loved him. Your first love, who showed you kindness and generosity when you were strangers. Who showed you that friendships were more than sparring matches and killing together.

You unfolded his arms gently and slid off the desk to sit beside him on the floor. He said nothing as you moved down and lifted his hand. You looked at the angry red blotches across his knuckles, thinking of your own broken skin and wrapped hands.

Neither of those hands were truly innocent in the eyes of the law. The vigilantes of the Kitchen operated on a spectrum, you decided. Elektra was one farthest end, shoot first and ask questions later. Frank - and you would soon realize yourself - was closer to the middle but not quite neutral, get your answers but still shoot. Matt was supposed to be the other end, never pull the trigger but get answers anyway.

Pairing you and Matt was like mixing chocolate and vanilla ice cream. It would work, but the appearance would always lean towards the chocolate. The vigilante that believed in redemption was the vanilla and the vigilante that believed in consequences was the chocolate. At the end of the day, you both bloodied yourselves for the Kitchen but who was right depended on who you asked.

Corruption was easier than redemption and that scared you.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Matt asked after the silence began to loom over you two like a shadow. “About everything…”

“Would you have forgiven me?” You asked softly, not bothering to keep the sadness away. “Everything that I’ve done, pretty much since I got out of there, was me trying to undo what I had to do there. I was a kid going through it, being weaponized and lied to and manipulated. But I wasn’t clueless. I knew what he was doing to me, to all of us actually. He said he loved us like his own daughters… That we were a family…That he was the only one that would ever love us…”

“It was never your fault, Y/N. Someone who loves you… They wouldn’t do that to you.” Matt offered and you sniffled.

Speaking so openly about your past was enough to make you cry. Being raised without any tenderness, any real compassion or sympathy save for that brief time in Ohio with your ‘Aunt Melina’, you didn’t expect any from Matt. How could you?

But you still wanted it. You wanted so desperately to be loved, for the truth. For everything you were, both good and bad. You needed it so honestly that your hands shook and your heart felt like a stone in your chest, weighing you down and growing heavier every time it tried to pump blood through your veins.

As Exodus, you could speak of the cruelties you faced with venom in your voice. You didn’t have to feel anything towards Dreykov other than pure spite, pure rage. It was easy to hate him and be angry at the universe and blame some higher power for what happened to you. But as Y/N, as just a girl trying to build some sort of normal life for yourself, you couldn’t speak of it without feeling broken. Feeling used.

But you knew Matt wouldn’t see you that way. He never did, not even when Ex spoke about it.

“I tried to erase my past.” You continued, trying to keep her voice level but the slightest of a waver snuck through. “But now I don’t think I would want to change it… Exodus and I, we share the same body and the same face. But we’re not the same… Whatever you felt about Ex, you can’t just translate that to me.”

“I loved you long before Exodus existed.” He insisted but you scoffed lightly in response. “I’ve loved you since we met in college, I swear.”

“You have to understand why I can’t believe that..”

Your head dropped to stare at your lap and you found you were still holding on to his hand, and he hadn’t pulled away either.

“If that’s true, then why did you start dating Karen? Why did you tell Elektra you’d leave with her?”

“Because I didn’t know if you felt the same way…”

“Why didn’t you say anything to find out?”

“Why didn’t you stop me?”

“When have I ever tried to get in the way of your happiness?”

Matt paused and you wondered what he would say. You knew the accusations were a bit unfair. You had never tried to get in the way of Matt’s happiness when you weren’t a factor. And even when he was pushing you away, you hoped he would find happiness. But you’d be lying if you said you didn’t selfishly want him to not be happier with someone else.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” He finally answered and the sincerity made you lift your eyes. “I know nothing I can say can change anything that’s happened so far. I don’t expect you to forgive any of how I’ve treated you lately or that I’ve kept this hidden from you for so long… Just know that I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned.. But it’s not like you were the only one with a secret.” You offered honestly. “Can I… Can I see the rest of it? The suit..”

“Yeah.” He breathed, something like relief filling his chest.

He pulled you with him as he stood before you both gathered your belongings. You put away your Bite and emblem and he tucked the mask back into the paper bag before reaching for your arm.

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buggxd · 2 years

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RORY KEANER X GN! READER

The reader in the story is gender neutral soo yeah this is rly bad I wrote this when I was half asleep soo yeah :0 ALSO this was longer than expected ☠️☠️

I’m making this at 5 am and it’s ass I’m bored and can’t find anymore Rory fics on here or Wattpad or even ao3 soo yeah. Also kinda off topic but his hair is so cute in the movie🫶

Summary Ig: Rory has a crush you and gains enough courage to tell you how he feels with a letter.(THERE IS A TIME SKIP WITH HIS AGE BUT THIS IS A FLUFF!!)

Rory and you had been friends since grade school you’re both now in your sophomore year and he’s slowly been growing a crush on you for about a year or two now quite a while he honestly thought it would go away like every other crush he’s had but it hasn’t he really feels like he’s grown a connection with you.The two of you are really close you always hang out and cheer him up when Benny and Ethan don’t wanna hang with him or when he’s feeling down and he does the same with you, Your both always there for each other. He’s been feeling more attracted to you lately the way your hair bounces when you walk or your hand when it brushing against his fingers as you both walk to each of your classes or the way your leg touches his when you sit with him at lunch or the way you meet him every morning and smile or hug him tightly before taking the bus home or the way you call him late at night just to talk about the most random things he can go on forever thinking of all the things he absolutely loves about you and the things you do, He honestly feels as if he needs to tell you his feelings towards you. It was Sunday around 3:23pm and Rory was thinking of how he was gonna confess to you he thought of a couple different ways like texting you,telling you on the phone, telling you in person and meeting up before or after school or even on the weekend but he finally thought of something that would help him fully express himself using his words, he was gonna give you a note! He was gonna write how he felt about you and then get an envelope and draw hearts and stuff on it and then he could just get to school early and leave it in your locker. He got his school binder a blue pen and crayola markers he started to write down all the things he likes about you, or well most of the things and then he started to draw little random things on the bottom half where there was already 5 lines left he drew cats Hearts stars smiley faces and a ton of random things and then drew you and him as little stick figures holding hands once he finished he folded the paper and got a baby pink envelope and put the note inside and wrote “to:y/n from: Rory AKA R-dog!:)” He glued a paper heart the was a pretty red color to seal the envelope and neatly in one of his backpack pockets being careful not to crumble it at all after he zipped up his backpack and started to play some random video game to pass time until he eventually fell asleep. The next day he woke up extra early and made his way to school there were maybe four to 6 people roaming the halls he made his way to your locker which was conveniently next to yours he took the envelope and tried to slip it into your locker through the hole/slit (idk wut their called?? If they have a name) he looked around the halls making sure no one was in there and tried to get it in again he finally got it after struggling for quite a bit after he was done he went to go find Benny and Ethan to tell them his plan but waited a bit since he got to school a little too early After finding the two brunette boys and telling them his idea Benny and Ethan stayed quiet for a second and then they started to laugh Rory went from a smile to a slightly annoyed face “what?! Why are you guys laughing?!?” He asked half annoyed half embarrassed “she DEFINITELY doesn’t like you back man” Benny said “yeah her with you?! She probably like you like a brother type friend y’know?” Ethan said slightly out of breath “C’mon guys she DEFINITELY is into ME!!” Rory said sounding for embarrassed and sad this time “yeah sure ‘r-dog’” Benny said laughing a little and emphasizing on Rory’s nickname “forget it!” Rory said annoyed and walked to his locker and saw you already had opened the letter and we’re smiling ear to ear with the darkest shade of pink on your face while reading it he walked away slightly nervous to approach you he ended up walking into the bathroom. Soon the bell rang and you made your way to your 1st period class along with other students you walked in and saw Rory sitting in the spot next to your usual seat.

You smiled at him and sat down class was going by painfully slow your 1st period was math and you had a sub and the class working on a stupidly easy math packet for extra credit it had about 4pages and you finished mid way/almost the end of class you had seen Rory was struggling so you gave him you packet and he gladly copied once he was done you asked him to turn in both of the packets he did as you asked while he was turning them in you pulled out your notebook and a pink ballpoint pen and started to doodle random things onto the paper and when he came back at peeked over and complimented you’re mini doodles “hey y/n/n can I borrow a pen?” Rory asked you nodded with a slight smile as you reached into your bag and pulled out a blue,green and red ball point pen and placed them down on the desk you both drew on the paper and you had an idea you tore a little piece of a different paper and wrote ‘I like u 2 :)’ with your pink pen and drew you and Rory as stick figures holding hands and drew hearts around them you had leaned your head over the desk so your hair and shadow was blocking the pierce of paper once you finished you folded it and waited til the bell rang to hand it to him once you did he read it immediately and his face felt so warm and he felt all nice and fuzzy inside.

TIME SKIP TO LUNCH!!

Rory got his lunch and sat with you the two of you talked and ate your food and all of a sudden Rory said in a soft happy voice”sooo.. you like me?” You looked at him “yeah” there was some silence before the blond boy spoke again “wannagooutwithme” he said all in one breath “of course!!” You said a little too loud out of excitement he schooled closer and the two of you held hand and talked til lunch was over, Throughout the rest of the day the two of you were super close holding hands giggling and blushing and overall being one of those cheesy couples but neither of you cared.

I HATE THIS SM BUT IM RLY BORED AND THIS TOOK SUPER LONG AND IDEK HOW TO END A ONESHOT TBH OR FF OR ANYTHING☠️ ANYWAYS YEAH UM THIS PROBS SUCKS LIKE RLY BAD BIT WHATEVER IG ANYWAYS UM BYE IG ?!?!XP

#rory keaner #mbav #my babysitters a vampire x reader #rory keaner x reader #fluff

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cookieek · 5 months

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So, like many others I sat down to watch the recent hbomberguy video, and watching it has made me think back to about how I’ve handled my folklore inspiration for wayward.

Notably that I ended up taking heavily inspiration from the illustrations by Katarina Strömgård in Per Gustavssons (2006) ”Sägenresan” when it came to the designs for the skogsrå, Snurra, and the sjörå. (Pictured bellow, Strömgårds illustrations to the left, my sketches to the right)

I did not do this with the intent of plagiarism, I know that I mentioned getting inspired by illustrations from a folk lore book in one of my authors notes for Wayward and that I did share Strömgårds illustrations of the troll drawing that inspired snurra and the sjörå on the red shoes discord and mentioning that I used them as inspiration (I could only find me mentioning the illustration for the skogsrå on the discord server when I went looking, I had to find the actual picture from the dms with another person in the server). However I do feel that I might not have been clear enough about this inspiration, and that looking back I, possibly out of some form of laziness, did at the very least not do enough with the characters in my sketches to visually distinguish them from the designs pictured in Strömgårds work, especially when it comes to the Skogsrå.

I doubt that Strömgård will ever see this, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad about it, and I’m planning to edit the posts that features the characters to link to this post in order to give proper credits to the artist who was at the heart of those designs. Sägenresan and it’s illustrations has been with me since I was a child, it’s hard not to feel disappointed in myself, and I am sorry.

If you’re curious about Strömgårds work, then I recommend looking at her website (where she’s got coloured versions of some of the books illustrations for a recent web project under the same name as the book by Gustavsson!):

She also has an instagram under the handle strmgrd!

I should at this point also note that unless I was taking inspiration from stories told by my mom or just general ideas of folklore that I’ve heard while growing up, a big source for the folklore bits in wayward which I talk about in the authors notes for the chapters is Per Gustavssons (2006) “Sägenresan”, though I did not always reread the stories from it in question. And though I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that the herbal magic in wayward was inspired by stories from a childrens flora book, I figure I should be more clear and reference to it as Bissa Falk och Lena Kallenbergs ”Barnens flora” and ”Barnens flora 2” (both of my copies of these books are missing their copyright page so I can’t say their specific release date for sure, but I do know the original editions seemed to have been published 1982 and 1983 as those are the dates given to the first editions of the work on Libris, Alex.se and worldcat (though worldcat only seemed to have the first book of the two and the edition which collects the books into one)). When I get the time I’ll try to go through the authors notes for Wayward to make sure these are given their proper credit, and I’m sorry for not doing that before. Also, when I’m already on the topic, please don’t take Edda using real life herbs in for the healing magic as health advice, and if you decide to get into herbal medicine then I beg you to be safe about it, understand it’s limits and just go to the doctor of you’re dealing with something serious. There are many quacks out there, many dangerous ideas and ‘cure-alls’ that at best doesn’t work and at worst are actively harmful. Saint john’s wort will not cure your cancer.

Finally, when I’m already here I should also mention that an notable inspiration for even considering the regency au that eventually became “A Lord and Lace” was sboochi’s Bridgerton inspired Regency au drawings. I realised I was never really open about that and that made me feel a bit scummy, I’m sorry.

I’m sorry that this isn’t the fun superhero au synopsis, but when this landed in my mind I really felt like I had to say something about it. I’ll try to get the synopsis out soon, I am still sick, but it seems to be on it’s way out, I hope, either way I hopefully will have that post out sometime next week. And again, I’m sorry for my sloppy work.

I hope everyone nonetheless have a good day.

#red shoes and the 7 dwarfs #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #my post #wayward

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acourtofthought · 1 year

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Message sent from @sanfangirl

“So I was thinking on Lucien’s buildup and how it will eventually relate to Elucien, when I noticed something. Now I borrowed the books from a friend and wasn’t able to reread or quote much, but I remember noticing how Feyre is constantly hinting as Lucien’s inferiority. Like, not in a bad way, but when she talks about Lucien winnowing in ACOMAF she says “Lucien couldn’t winnow as far as Tamlin or Rhys, but he was fast” or something along those lines. But she’s saying he’s not as powerful as these other High Lords. And later on in ACOWAR she was totally planning to leave Lucien behind despite knowing he was desperate to meet his mate and she should have been able to sympathize, since she was missing her own mate quite strongly. My slight issue with Feyre and Lucien’s friendship aside, Feyre doesn’t see Lucien as very powerful until he’s able to break free of his chains, and even that is kind of dismissed as a freak accident. But to me this draws a parallel of how she also sees Elain. Elain was always portrayed as weaker compared to Feyre and Nesta. And then she’s Made by the Cauldron and comes out a powerful Seer. Interestingly enough, her mate, her soul bonded equal, discovers or is unknowingly able to tap into a wealth of spell breaking powers that break through Hybern’s chains and it turns out his daddy is actually very powerful, knowledgeable, charismatic Helion and he’s a High Lord’s heir. Now again sadly I don’t have the books at hand right now but hadn’t Lucien compared his power to his brothers (or at least Eris) before? And been found lacking? Do I need to point out that with most of his potential somehow locked away his power was still plentiful enough it was clear he was a powerful High Lord’s son (just, you know, not that one). And we have already seen hints of Elain being stronger and more powerful than people give her credit, I mean, stabbing the King of Hybern, talking back to Nesta, being willing to scry for the Dead Trove, need I go on? I hope in Elucien’s book we’ll be able to see their true potential bloom, and the IC’s reactions to the polite pair’s scary powers will be fun 😂”

My response to the above (for some reason it didn’t give me the option of “Answering” this, only “editing”. I didn’t change anything from your original submission though, I’m just adding here at the bottom.

For only having read through the series on borrowed books, I’m really impressed! I don’t think I picked up on anything my first or second reads, I was just sitting there thinking that SJM told me all I needed to know not realizing she was putting clues throughout.

I know Lucien mentioned that he wasn’t particularly wanted or needed in Autumn and no one paid much attention to him which gave him the opportunity to train as long as he liked. But that even with that, no one worried he’d bother killing his way up the long list of heirs. And I know he previously acknowledged that Tamlin’s powers were much greater than anything he could do (since he’s still in the dark as to being Helion’s heir and doesn’t seem to realize it would be possible for him to display the markers of being a High Lord).

But yeah, there are many examples of Feyre and the others thinking Lucien could never measure up to the IC. That he may have trained but the IC would wipe Lucien off the face of the earth in a single blow. She seems surprised that he doesn’t back down from Rhys or the Illyrians staring him down. Questions whether he’d sell them out. Az thinking he’s not good enough. Nesta having problems with him for awhile.

And the exact same thing can be said of Elain’s character. Anytime she does anything, people are shocked. She helped save Briar, helped save Az, saved Nesta and Cassian by stabbing the King yet they still think she needs protected and handled with kid gloves.

I think it’s pretty purposeful on SJMs part though. That the entire narrative surrounding Lucien and Elain is the people around them doubt them as capable, that they’ll always be secondary to the “real” warriors. I think that makes them perfectly suited as Mates because it’s a struggle they can both understand. And just because they aren’t as outspoken or fighters in the traditional sense doesn’t mean they can’t play a role that’s just as important to anything the IC has done and doesn’t mean they aren’t just as powerful.

#elucien #elain archeron #lucien vanserra

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widowsistersandfriends · 2 years

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could u do a fic maybe where peter and reader keep briefly ticking people in the compound, just like squeezing their side or poking them and eventually they get steve who gets revenge ? thanks!

Hello anon! Thank you for this request! I'm sorry it took so long to get to, but I hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 1346

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“Let’s get Natasha first,” Peter whispered to you, as the two of you were hiding behind the couch, waiting for the perfect time to attack.

“No way. She’ll catch us so quickly and turn the tables in a flash,” you whisper-yelled back, as your eyes fixated on a different target.

You and Peter looked at each other and nodded in unison, as you both sprung out from behind the couch and ran towards Yelena and Kate at full speed. The blonde and brunette were currently arguing over whether hot sauce belonged on mac and cheese.

“Hot sauce is the main condiment used on all foods,” Yelena insisted, while the brunette wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“No one puts hot sauce on mac and cheese. If they do, they have just as bad of taste as you,” Kate shot back, putting her hands on her hips defiantly.

“Hmm, I guess I do have bad taste then, since I’m wasting time talking to you,” Yelena snarked back.

Just as Kate was getting ready to slap Yelena again, she let out a yelp and jerked her arm down, as Peter squeezed her side and ran off. Meanwhile, you had just poked Yelena in the ribs, causing the blonde to shriek and jump away.

You and Peter ran off while giggling in glee with your success. Kate and Yelena turned to glare at the two of you, but you guys were already sprinting down the long hallway, getting away quickly before they could try to impose any sort of revenge.

“You should’ve seen the looks on their faces,” you said, while giggling breathlessly in an attempt to catch your breath.

“Did you hear their reactions?” Peter replied, while face-palm laughing.

The two of you laughed for a little more, before discussing who your next target would be.

“I saw Clint and Wanda talking earlier together, so we may be able to go after them,” you suggested.

Peter peeked out the door of the room you two were hiding in.

“They’re still talking together, so maybe we can get them!” Peter said excitedly.

“I’ll get Wanda and you get Clint,” you told Peter, as he nodded in agreement.

The two of you snuck out once again, tiptoeing through the compound.

“Where did Y/N and Peter go?” Wanda asked Clint.

“Beats me. Most likely they’re up to no good again,” Clint replied with a chuckle.

Before Wanda could respond, she felt five fingers wiggling lightly on the back of her neck, causing her to squeal and squirm away.

“Aaahh, Y/N whahahat ahahahre yohohou dohohoing,” the witch giggled out, as she shrugged her shoulders upwards to protect herself.

“Just letting you know that I’m right here,” you replied cheekily, running off before she could do anything.

Meanwhile, Peter had just tickled Clint in his armpit, causing him to spill the drink in his cup. Luckily it was just water, so it was easy to clean up.

You two, once again, ran off, shouting with laughter like little kids, while Clint and Wanda both sighed with fond eye rolls.

The two of you now sat on the stairs, whispering on how to get your last two targets, Natasha and Steve, who were currently playing a game of uno.

“DRAW FOUR!” Steve yelled out excitedly, as Natasha drew four cards, clearly annoyed because she was about to win.

“Just you wait, Rogers. I wouldn’t get all excited just yet,” Natasha replied with a wicked grin, as she then played a draw four card of her own, which she had just drawn from the pile.

Steve groaned, adding to the pile of cards in his hand. Currently, Steve was facing you guys and could see your faces, while Natasha had her back to you two on the couch. Steve knew what you guys were planning, so he pointed discreetly at Natasha and gave a nod. Little did he know that you two were planning on going after both of them.

Steve drew out his turn, pretending that he wasn’t sure of what card to play, as Natasha grew impatient.

“C’mon Steve, just play whatever you have. We both know you’re gonna lose,” the redhead stated, as a smirk played on her lips.

With that distraction, you pounced on Natasha and dug your fingers into her sides quickly, before attempting to escape. Meanwhile, Peter had just attacked Steve as well.

Their laughter mixed together, as you and Peter attempted to escape. Unfortunately, Natasha was quicker and snatched you before you could escape. Steve had already gotten to work, pinning Peter to the other side of the couch and tickling him to pieces.

“STAHAHAHAP PLEHEHEHEASE IHIHIM SOHOHOHRRY,” Peter cried out, as Steve tickled his stomach and sides.

“Apologizing already? Sounds like you’re just trying to get out of this,” Steve said, a silly grin playing on his lips, as he reached back to squeeze his knees.

Peter kicked out with a squeal, twisting and squirming to get away. Meanwhile, Natasha had you in a tight grip, not letting you escape at all.

Steve now attacked Peter’s armpits, causing the poor boy to scream with laughter.

“NOHOHOHO NOHOHOHOT THEHEHEHERE PLEHEHEHEASE IHIHIHIT WAHAHAHS Y/N’S IDEAHAHAHA!” Peter cried out, desperate to escape.

Your eyes widened at the sudden betrayal, as you turned around to see the smirk on Natasha’s face.

“Well then it seems like I should punish you too, right?” Natasha asked, pulling you tighter into her lap and using her right hand to dig into your ribs.

You jerked immediately, trying your best to curl up and protect yourself, but not without falling into helpless giggles and laughter.

“NATAHAHAHSHA YOHOHOU JEHEHEHERK LEHEHEHT MEHEHEHE GOHOHO,” you shouted, as her hand then traveled down to your hips, squeezing the soft part right above it.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA STAHAHAHAHAP IHIHIHIT TIHIHIHICKLES,” you squealed out.

Steve had now let Peter go, leaving him to catch his breath, as he moved over to where you and Natasha were.

“Getting a head start are we?” Steve asked with a grin. With that, Steve and Natasha didn’t even need words to properly communicate, as Steve stretched you out on the couch, and Natasha held your hands above your head.

“NO! I’ve had enough! I learned my lesson! Please don’t do this,” you whined, not wanting to be tickled to pieces like Peter did.

“Then you should’ve thought about the consequences before you did this,” Steve said, sitting on your legs and turning to tickle your bare feet.

“OHOHO GOHOHOHOD NOHOHOT THEHEHEHERE,” you screamed out, curling your toes up as Steve got near your toes.

“Looks like these little piggies need to be tickled,” Steve commented, as he lightly scratched underneath your toes.

You squealed with laughter, shutting your eyes, but still knowing that Natasha was looking at you with that frustrating smirk of hers.

Steve then turned around and began to tickle both of your armpits, as you were unable to pull them down, thanks to Natasha’s strong grip on your arms.

“STAHAHAHAP IHIHIH’LL DOHOHOHO ANYTHIHIHING,” you begged desperately.

“Hold on Y/N, just one more thing,” Natasha said with an evil grin. With that, she let your arms go, as she dug into your ribs, while Steve used one hand to tickle your stomach, and the other to squeeze at the sensitive part on your inner thigh.

Your laughter fell silent, as you were unable to laugh loudly anymore, waiting for their tickles to be over.

When they felt you had enough, they let you go, both grinning at your flushed cheeks and messy hair.

“Oh Y/N, when will you ever learn your lesson,” Natasha said, patting your back gently.

“Never, obviously,” you said with an eye roll, earning you a poke to the side.

“I hope you kids learned your lesson. You know the consequences if you try this again,” Steve said, giving you two a playful warning look.

You and Peter locked eyes, both knowing that the next event of mischief was bound to happen very soon, but only after you two had recovered from the wrecking you had both received.

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eetarot · 24 days

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The first official post.

I posted some preliminary work over on @qwertyfingers a few days ago, but I've decided to be organised for once and stick everything on it's own blog, so here's an intro post for organisational clarity. I'll be posting any and all updates about the project here, and that's all it'll be used for, to keep the streams from crossing.

What is this project?

I’m aiming to produce a full major arcana for a tarot, using themes, imagery, characters and places pulled from Everything Everything lyrics and odds and ends like interviews, song Q&As and so on.

Some major arcana cards have immediately evident analogues in EEs body of work. For example, The Empress is a ‘great mother’/'mother nature’ figure, protective and wrathful in turn, obvious parallels to Tin (The Manhole).

They will embrace me tonight as a A father and a son And I will carry homo sapiens through the night

Our Empress can be represented by the Fox, and potentially bring in some evolution imagery from Choice Mountain, Leave the Engine Room.

Judgement meanwhile is a representation of a rapture-like apocalyptic event that rewrites everything we know - which is heavily telegraphed in much Mountainhead but especially Wild Guess and The Witness.

Do you know what I saw? Nothing but endless fields of bodies swimming in the pit There was blinding light There were many eyes How could I know that? How could I know that? If I wasn’t there?

The role of Judgement in this deck will be played by this great accident in the pit. The exact visual it will take on is less apparent, but we have our basic inspiration already.

Other cards are more difficult. The Devil is hard precisely because there are almost too many options to draw from, but few prominent or recurrent enough to be the obvious choice. There are multiple places to draw lyrical inspiration for The Hermit from, but none of them provide any visual information. But this whole thing is a process and I’ll get there eventually.

Why are you doing this?

I had the initial idea for this project in 2021. I became really intrigued by tarots status as a sort of agreed-upon set of glyphs and stories shared across time and spent a lot of time researcing the different designs and meanings of cards throughout time. I don’t “believe” in the power of tarot any more than astrology (i.e. not at all), but I’m fascinated by the function of the imagery and art of the cards themselves.

During my reading I got to thinking about what I feel strongly enough about to consider creating a deck and I struck upon this. The first card I ever had a plan for was The High Priestess. Described as a sort of spiritual or social leader-by-example, a representative of the best of humanity and our collective knowledge. In a tounge-in-cheek way, that’s exactly what Come Alive Diana is about.

Her phantom head is thinking for all mankind I saw her portrait in the Mail Her phantom head was directing the holiest of hunts

I was immediately struck by the image of a spectral Diana cradling her own severed head in a pretty gruesome pastiche of the traditional depiction of the card, and haven’t been able to get the thought of it out of my mind since. It’s spiralled out of control since then.

So yeah. Mostly I’m doing this because it interests me on a purely artistic level, and because it’s a fun challenge to approach something really creative in a strangely scientific way. Like I’m dissecting and analysing a bunch of art I really enjoy and creating horrifying chimeras with the remains. I love it.

How will it all get done?

I’m a relatively experienced watercolour and gouache painter and illustrator, though I’ve never tackled a project this big before. The thing that scares me most is having to learn architectural drawings for at least two of the cards I have planned so far. But I look forward to it.

Right now I’m working on typing up all of the notes I have scattered between sketchbooks and notepads about my ideas for different things and making sure I know which areas need my attention most right now. Otherwise, I’m just vibing.

I welcome any questions or suggestions you might have in my ask box or messages! In an ideal world I’d like to complete all of the card artwork myself, but I have no pre-existing skill in graphic or product design and have no idea how to go about choosing a font or designing a card beyond the illustration and so if that’s something you do know about and would like to get involved please do.

Currently I have no plans of printing these up or making any overtures towards this being more than a casual passion project. My only experience with the professional art world is very informal local gallery shows and I don’t feel ready to change that!

#everything everything #e_e_#ee fanart #mainline posts

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