#clearly the better team on the pitch that half in my opinion

[treacherouswar]

Ok to be completely honest England was wonderful that first half, but after that… downhill

#second half was easilyyy Scotland’s #clearly the better team on the pitch that half in my opinion #but we held on and won so that’s good #kinda wish sarina would’ve done some more subbing #maybe given jordan a bit of a go #but oh well #we won anyways so #that’s my thoughts #now I’m going to bed #because I have been awake all night #and it’s almost 7am #and I’d like some rest #england vs scotland

[stormoflina]

Thoughts about LIV-NEW (haven't done this in a while😝):

- Up until the missed pen we were electric, one of the best starts in recent games.

- The missed pen clearly killed not just Salah's, confidence, but the team's spirit as well. Horrible miss from Darwin and horrible passes from Mo after that.

- Lucho was very great today. So sad that he just couldn't have his goal.. If only the first one wasn't a pen and he could have scored that! I was a bit confused with his sub, but clearly Klopp knows better becauseeee

- CODY!!! MY SWEET CODY, YOU DESERVED THIS💞💞

- And no, I will not be harsh on Dominik😝 I still stand by my opinion that those few sloppy/bad games he had completely killed his image and now unless he has a motm performance with at least a goal and an assist people will be on his ass and scapegoat him. Yeah, he had bad moments, like giving away the ball twice under two minutes in the first half, I think he did ruin one attack and was just overall sloppy with his passes. Which is by the way, still not too sloppy, he had 87% accuracy, but you know, agenda. If you can't see why he keeps starting and playing idk what to tell you. His ball passing is not good at the moment, been bad for a few games now, but he is one of the best players off the ball. He does so much invisible work, that I don't think could be done by other midfielders. Certainly not by Grav, CuJo is just too good on the left, maybe Harvey, but Klopp just won't start him, and when he does it's never with Trent and Mo on the right.

- I think Domi should be rotated with Harvey. Harvey should be playing, period. That Gravenberch cameo today was not good. I just don't think he's there yet and he shouldn't be starting/playing over either Curtis or Harvey.

- CuJo!!! Everybody take a bow to this man, because yes, Endo deserves so much credit for bringing stability to our midfield, but so does Curtis! His work rate is so insane, he's so humble and hard-working on the pitch, it's crazy. Yeah, he lost the ball sometimes, but who doesn't, people just have an agenda towards him and they will watch for his every mistake while comfortably pretending to be blind to others. Love this Jota-CuJo duo so much, a very deserved goal for him as well. He NEEDS to start, the balance he brings to either Domi, Harvey or Grav is crucial.

- Trent is proving week to week that he is HIM. And that he should be moved to midfield and that the club should buy a very traditional and conservative RB this January. 😅

- And despite his misses, I don't think Darwin was that horrible, and not because of the assist tax either. He creates so many unpredictable things, and games like this especially need him. Yes, he needs to get more clinical, he is so frustrating to watch sometimes. Still, the agenda is not working in his favour, and he is going to get ripped to pieces for every impossible pass he misses.

And uhm, by the way, WE ARE AT THE TOP OF THE LEAGUE.

There is so much more still in this team, we all know and see that, and yet we are at the top. Six months after the whole midfield got changed basically. That is crazy!

#livnew #lfc

[jrpneblog]

Stalemate in crunch Deepdale encounter

North End and Hull City shared the spoils in a crunch game at Deepdale drawing 0-0 in a game contrasting two different styles of play. Hull wanted to play out, literally, from their own six yard box while North End were a little more direct without being completely route one. The outcome was a goalless draw which on the face of it is probably a better point for the Tigers than it is for North End but there was not too much damage done on an afternoon of some surprise results in the Championship. The biggest talking point of the game was North End being denied an absolutely stonewall penalty in the second half when Keane had his shirt pulled which was witnessed by everybody in the ground except the referee and his assistant.

Ryan Lowe stayed with the same team that was on duty at Coventry last Friday evening with Brady and Holmes added to the subs bench. North End were first out of the blocks with a tame Whiteman effort easily saved by the Hull keeper. The game was of decent quality and Hull had a chance after twenty minutes which was well saved by Woodman. In fact defences were on top right throughout the game as both sides struggled to break the opposition down. Plenty of midfield play and defensive quality on show on a very bobbly pitch which wasn`t really conducive to quality football. North End probably had the last chance of the first half when a Storey header when wide of the post and the sides went in level at the break after after a good half given the circumstances.

No changes for North End at half time but both sides came out with purpose to carry on probing and pushing as they had done in the first half. With six minutes of the second half played North End had an absolutely huge penalty shout turned down as Will Keane was pulled back by a Hull defender as he looked like he was going to tap in a rebound from an Emil Riis shot. The crowd were incensed and I must say from where I was sat it looked one of the clearest penalties you will ever see. Hull came back into it and Woodman once again saved well diving to his left. Half chances came and went for Riis and McCann but with ten minutes to go North End`s best chance saw a curling Millar shot from the left fly inches past the far post and essentially that was that and the points were shared between these two evenly matched clubs.

Disappointment I suppose for the Deepdale faithful who are now starting to believe that North End should win every game and that is a healthy place to be in my opinion. Clearly we are a top ten Championship side the way we are playing and you have to say this is a long way from where we were at the start of the year. As for Saturday I thought Ali McCann was outstanding in the centre of the park for North End with Liam Lindsay doing a superb job, also, in the centre of the defence. As we move to Southampton on Wednesday evening, on paper, it is just about as tough as they come. However this game should hold no fears for North End and we should not be frightened of anyone in this division the way we have evolved over the last two months. Saturday was just a slight setback back and with eleven games left there is everything still to play for in this play off race.

.

PRESTON 0-0 HULL CITY

.

WOODMAN 7

STOREY7 LINDSAY 8 HUGHES 7

BROWNE 7 McCANN 8 WHITEMAN 6 MILLAR 7

FROKJAER 6

RIIS 7 KEANE 7

.

SUBS

OSMAJIC 6

HOLMES 7

.

MOTM: Ali McCann

Attendance 16,997

Preston Fans 14,581 (85.79%).

[jfbuckley]

One of those fairly rare beasts - a United match that isn’t on TV!! Fear not, my football correspondent was at the match, and he provides his usual high standard match report below.

I would just offer the opinion that the season seems to be getting too long for United. I read that they have played more games this season than any team in Europe. This may not be a problem if you have a huge squad, with world class players ready to step into the breach in case of injuries and suspensions: but although United do have a big squad, it isn’t exactly choc full of world class replacements in times of need, and besides which, ETH is clearly not a huge fan of squad rotation anyway. Therefore we now seem to be limping towards the end of the season. Hopefully progress will be made in strengthening the squad during the summer.

———————-

hi - united call old trafford the 'theatre of dreams' - on that theme i can say i was on the back row of the gallery/scoreboard end/east stand - i could see all the pitch with my glasses though what happened to the ball as it cleared the stretford end goal i couldn't tell you

united's last win in the league was on february 18 - since then they've played 3 games and failed to score in any gleaning just 1 point - so their once safe position in the top four has been transformed into their pre match position of 5th

united started the better of the sides and forced a number of corners - from one of them in the 27th minute brentford headed clear to antony lurking about 25 yards out - rather than try his luck at curling the ball to the top corner he floated the ball towards the penalty spot - as this was happening rashford was ambling back from the goalmouth and miles offside - however all the players who'd dashed out of the area were now dashing back to challenge for antony's forward ball - sabitzer (who had been playing up front in the weghorst role) met the ball and cushioned a header to rashford (by now onside) who sidefooted high into the net - i did muse that this was professional cheating/clever play/luck by rashford but it was a fair goal and united were ahead

brentford were a bit better in the 2nd half - toney charged down a de gea clearance - cue an expletive from your correspondent - then toney and schade combined and schade was through on goal - however de gea came out and blocked schade's shot - that was the extent of brentford's efforts - united didn't do much either but in the end they comfortably saw out the game for a valuable 3 points which took them back up to 4th behind the rampant newcastle

next up is relegation haunted everton - another 3 points and united's top 4 hopes will be all the brighter

bye

[magdasabs]

I’m an Arsenal fan and I’m curious: Do you think you would have won yesterday if you had Kirby and Harder back? I’ll give my opinion because I want to lol. This will be long, sorry in advance

I watch Chelsea’s matches because your guys’ playing style is…. very very odd, but it works so clearly you’re doing something right. I’ve seen you both with Kirby & Harder and without, so I know how important they, specifically Kirby, are to the workings of your team. Let’s see if I get this right: You don’t have a proper 10 without Kirby. You have Kerr as the only forward without Harder. Your midfield is weak offensively without that 10, which was one of your main problems yesterday. There’s no driving force that pushes the ball forward well so you’re left kinda passing it back and forth until someone decides to make a move. Cuthbert is very good and does make progressive passes but she can’t do all the heavy lifting. Kerr’s playing style is staying pushed up a lot so she doesn’t always track back to receive the ball from midfield— which is where a 10 is needed to bridge that gap between the top half of the pitch and the middle.

So because of all of this, you rely a lot on working along the sides, hence why Guro has 9 assists and why you’re seeing James a lot more this season. Although personally I would move James to midfield, she lacks key winger qualities. Because you rely so heavily on the sides, if that gets disrupted you’re screwed. A great example of this is when we played you in January. Wienroither pocketed Guro and shut down that side for the entire game. Like I said James is not a winger, or at least not the type you need all the time, and your midfield wasn’t strong. So you couldn’t score. When we played you last week and you won, Guro managed Wienroither better and became dangerous along the side.

Anyway my opinion is that, if we played the same as we played yesterday, and you had Kirby and Harder, I think you could have won. Your presses with Kirby would have overwhelmed our back line, who already are not very good at dealing with your fast-pace passing routines (when you actually do them right, that is <3). Our player marking is, well, shit, quite frankly, which is the reason why Kerr scored so early on. We were standing around confused on where Chelsea players were and wtf was going on. It was weird. So yeah what do you think? Am I right?

I'm only responding because you put a lot of effort into this, otherwise I'd like to move on from all talk about the play yesterday cause I'm just not interested and everything is exhausted already.

I think as much as people like to believe otherwise, football doesn't have straight-forward answers like that. One week ago we beat you with the very same team, again without Fran or Pernille. So obviously we are capable of it but there is no way of saying anything for sure, every game is so different. Just like how in the 21/22 FA cup final Arsenal put out a team that was very strong on paper yet they didn't manage a single shot on target. So for me it is absolutely pointless to go into what ifs like this because when we talk about teams that are so equal in quality if the same exact game with the same players and tactics gets played more than once, chances are the outcome will be different every time.

Your assessment is mostly correct, the major thing that stands out is that Fran is not our only 10 - we actually have a whole plethora of 10s including Jelena and Jessie who are available now. And as of this season, we play with Pernille in midfield too and not as a forward

[phoenixyfriend]

OKAY so on the topic of Star Wars takes wrt “character ends up in an A/B/O universe where they’re an omega, but they were previously a cis male in their canon”

@atagotiak and I had some Thoughts on discord

So, obviously, Anakin would make a good omega and he’s also incredibly murdery. Foregone conclusion that we're using him for this.

There is no preexisting Anakin in the Omegaverse. He shows up JUST as the war is starting. Canon timeline is in the third year of the war (he’s 22), but whatever dumped him into omegaverse also tossed him back a few years. No de-aging, just a bit of mismatched timeline stuff.

He's... really good at war, and clearly a Jedi, so the Temple just kind of goes "WELL OKAY THEN, SURE, YOU'RE IN, EVERYONE PRETEND HE'S BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME." The Jedi, by and large, don't care about omegaverse dynamics beyond 'what do you need, medically, to be happy and healthy' and 'what do you need to be aware of so you can be prepared for biases you encounter in the field?’

None of the civilian natborns (mainly politicians) want to put him on the field because of those biases. Anakin, being Anakin, is VERY blatantly an omega in scent, has never been on suppressants (because it wasn't a thing he fucking NEEDED), is incredibly emotional as a person, loves kids, etc.

Like, nobody wants an omega fighting a war anyway, but THIS one is like PINNACLE omega, and those awful Jedi are making him FIGHT just because he's good at stab!

The Jedi: Actually, it's because he's got several years of war experience that we don't, and he's a good tactician that works well with the clones-- Coruscant: You MONSTERS The Jedi: Look, we gave him the option to not stab and he looked absolutely devastated. Anakin, several days earlier: You don’t want me? I’m not good enough??? Jedi: Also he can beat up at least half the temple.

He doesn't know a damn thing about dynamics, but he DOES know that sometimes he's so horny he wants to stab HARDER. The clones are largely disinterested in their generals' dynamics because between mostly-Mando* trainers and no-dynamic Kaminoans, they only really care if a person can shoot.

* Mandalore approves of Fighty Omegas. As far as (traditional) Mandalore is concerned, you want an omega that will kill the threats to your children as well as you do.

Anakin: You know more about being an omega than I do. Rex: ...I'm an alpha. Anakin: Yeah. Let that one sink in a bit.

We have two options for Obi-Wan!

Omegaverse local Obi-Wan (beta) has never met this man before, and is very unnerved that the immediate default reaction Anakin has to his presence is releasing Family pheromones as if Obi-Wan is his DAD and like. This strange, too-tall man from another dimension has got absolutely NO control over what he projects in the Force OR in his dynamic.

Obi-Wan was ALSO transplanted from canon to omegaverse, and is also an omega, for contrast reasons. He is nice and friendly and and likes poetry and that sort of thing... but also he has the highest dismemberment count in the movies. Also he doesn’t prioritize romance.

We went with the second one because it's hilarious.

Someone watching them spar: Wow, omegas from that universe are terrifying.

As previously mentioned, now with some tweaking to account for both: Obi-Wan and Anakin just straight up don't exist until they drop headfirst into the council room, already covered in blood. (It's mostly not theirs.)

Nobody realizes either one is an omega until they "naturalize" to this dimension and Anakin goes into heat... and doesn't realize it, actually, because his primary symptom is heightened protectiveness and aggression. Everyone else with the right nose realizes, because the man has no control over his pheromone production, but Anakin? No. He just stabs. He’s angry and horny and he will cut someone.

Ahsoka has no reaction to human pheromones but basically everyone smells Anakin's "my child!" reaction to her, so... Cool. Have a padawan, we guess.

Anakin ends up sparring a lot with Aayla and Ahsoka, because only humans and near humans have dynamics, so these two don't REACT to the pheromones situation.

(Palpatine is a Kindly Old Beta who tries to treat Anakin the way he EXPECTS Anakin wants to be treated, which is. Not. Accurate.)

(Anakin hates it.)

I'm just so in love with "An omega can't fight." "You wanna fuckin' bet?"

There are plenty of omega Jedi, by the way, it's just... most of them can keep it relatively low-key instead of Anakin's jet-engine broadcast. Some, if they're known to be omega, probably take advantage of being underestimated, like Obi-Wan probably (and especially a version of Obi-Wan that was always an omega, unlike this version). They have a very different way of presenting themselves than Anakin, who's not subtle about being an omega and also not subtle about being all aggressive and stabby.

At one point, Anakin has to protect some Very Traditional Individuals who get all "Stay back, Omega, it's not safe!" and he's just... so tired of this shit. “You are squishy civilians and I'm a trained Jedi Knight and accomplished GAR General who's killed more people in one sitting than there are in this entire palace. Sit the fuck down and let me do my job.”

It starts making the rounds that Anakin insisted on fighting in person, and the rumors shift from "how dare the Jedi force an omega to fight" and over into things that are deeply hurtful in-universe in the vein of "broken omega" and some people try to say it to his face but like...

He didn't grow up here.

He doesn't care.

Say that to one of his friends and he's going to rip out your spleen, probably, but say it to him and he's just staring at you flatly and asking if that's a negative on getting away from the encroaching battle droids, sir?

"You're rather unpleasant for an omega, aren't you?" [deeply offensive] "I literally could not give less of a fuck about your opinion. Move."

It's not that there aren't omegas that act like Anakin, either, it's just that most of them aren't, you know, Jedi who regularly interact with the upper crust, or capable of his level of destruction. Unbeknownst to Anakin, everyone clocks him as Outer Rim based on his behavior, well before his accent gives him away, and certainly before he mentions he's from Tatooine, because Core Omegas Don't Act Like That.

Someone they meet in a more diplomatic setting says something decently passive-aggressive about how at least Obi-Wan acts more like how an Omega should. Then a battle breaks out for some reason, and... well. Anakin and Obi-Wan cause such a scandal by keeping score of kills in a battle, don’t you know?

Turns out sending Anakin to fight Ventress is great because she keeps expecting him to react a certain way but NO he's here to STAB.

I like the idea that Obi-Wan's favorite opponent these days is Grievous because the cyborg doesn't have a nose, and thus gives zero fucks about dynamics or heats. Dooku is a rich old man who has opinions heavily influenced by Sith Juice Making Him More of a Dick, and the Dathomiri can smell dynamics even if they don't have them, and so they have biases about those things. Meanwhile, Grievous is just there to Kill, and Obi-Wan genuinely appreciates the lack of commentary on his dynamic.

Dooku’s probably an alpha, or a beta who's used the whole "we are more level-headed" thing as one of several angles to keep himself the public face and supreme commander of the CIS.

On to more fluffy things that have less to do with political biases.

There's a lot of "I'm upset that my loved ones don't know me," but also please understand the appeal of Obi-Wan marching up to Quinlan like "Yes, hello, I understand you've been read in on the full situation behind myself and my former padawan. I was close friends with your alternate universe self, which I feel is necessary disclosure before I propose the following: Would you like to join me for my upcoming heat, as I have minimal experience with the dynamics situation and even fewer people I actually trust, and I believe I can put my faith in you to treat it as casually as necessary while still having control and respect for my person."

(The Team is in a fairly safe place to process stuff, but having sudden unexpected changes to your biology has gotta be a little traumatizing, on top of ending up in a universe where none of your friends know you and people have a whole host of unfamiliar forms of sexism to point at you.)

Obi-Wan, who wasn't quite touch-averse but was much more easily overwhelmed by physical contact than Anakin (who craved it), suddenly finds his body switching gears and insisting on cuddles with Trusted Loved Ones, which is.... mostly Anakin, on account of nobody else really knowing him yet. Also Ahsoka, who is aware that she's something of a replacement for her alt-universe self, but Anakin explained it as "I love you so much no matter which dimension I'm in or what you're like, and I'd like to get to know you the way I got know her."

(It's rather eloquent for Anakin. He got Obi-Wan to help him draft up the script for when he pitched taking on omegaverse Ahsoka as a padawan.)

Anakin gets a more intensely sexual heat than 'usual' at one point for Reasons (IDK it could be as innocuous as 'we got better food than the usual rations and my body is reacting to the higher fat content with the belief that it's safer to have a baby now'), which nobody takes a whole lot of notice of because they're in a WAR, and also this is only his fourth one so it's not like he's got a lot to compare it to... except then the predominantly alpha clones can't stop themselves from reacting to the pheromones, mostly by wandering past his door and asking if he needs anything, offering up alpha-scented blankets and stuff for the nest to soothe the hormones, bringing snacks and electrolyte drinks, and like, Anakin is flattered, really, but fuck off please.

(He got a warning from medical a few hours before it hit that it would be different, so he actually does have alpha-scented fabrics to help him out. Apparently that's a thing you can just ask friends for, so he asked Rex if he had anything on hand that he could spare. He now has one of Rex’s recently-used sheets and a bodyglove in the nest.)

(Anakin has no idea how to feel about the nesting instinct, but at least it’s warm.)

Tia asked "Oh hey, who has the scared and horny reaction to his carnage?" and like.

Listen. I'm not saying I've been low-key imagining this as Rex being a very subby alpha who's really into Anakin's whole Thing but...

At one point Anakin gets injured in a way that requires painkillers and he ends up whining to the point of almost crying about the fact that nobody is cuddling him right now in medbay and Kix just gives up and comms Ahsoka to come hug her weird older brother.

And Then There Is Purring.

That’s a Thing Now.

Rex ends up in the pile somehow. He came over to check on Things and ended up yanked in by half-asleep, half-high Anakin, who has a grip like an octopus and no impulse control and is purring like a pod motor while NUZZLING HIM.

There’s a lot of blackmail photos featuring Rex’s very intense blush as he’s cuddled by his commander (giggling at him) and general (clinging like a tooka and rubbing himself all over).

Anakin is deeply offended that ANYONE thinks he'd want to get pregnant by just any old person, NO he needs to fall in LOVE there needs to be EMOTIONAL DRAMA and if Padme won't have him (apparently she's in a relationship and no he's not BITTER) then he'll find someone else to have a whirlwind romance with!

People think Anakin's a slut because he can't control his pheromone production (he has NO practice and for health reasons he can't go on suppressants) so he always smells open and ready for flirtations, which Obi-Wan also has to a somewhat lesser degree (he's older so his body just naturally produces less), and then someone tries to cross a boundary and grabs his ass and ANYWAY Anakin has to now fill out an incident report for breaking a civilian's arm.

Again.

#Anakin Skywalker #Obi Wan Kenobi #Ahsoka Tano #Captain Rex #Rexwalker #Quinlan Vos #star wars #the clone wars #time travel #omegaverse #alpha beta omega #phoenix posts

[fangirlovestuff]

All’s Well that Ends Well - Wanda Maximoff x female!reader

a/n - hello lovely people!! i wasn’t gonna write another part for this because i didn’t really want to venture into the future with this series since i like the ending i have in water under the bridge, BUT i got this lovely ask and it was an amazing idea and i’m so happy / shocked that people still remember this so here’s another part! i hope you enjoy<3

Summary: a collection of moments in your journey, from Wanda’s eyes. (not moments that appeared in the previous parts!)

Word Count: 2.9k

Warnings: i’m pretty sure none. maybe the faintest alluding to smut you have ever seen but i don’t even know if that counts. also a smidge of angst but not really

read the previous parts: Silver Lining || Water Under The Bridge

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

Wanda was walking through the long corridors of the compound, a frown on her face, a product of the mission she just came back from. They made it work, but things definitely weren't ideal for a while there. She expected Cap would go over that in the debriefing, the one she was currently making her way to.

Ugh. She liked Steve, appreciated his professional opinion, considered him a friend, most times. But damn it, can't the debriefing wait until she had something to eat, had a shower, slept?

Apparently not, she scowled as she quickened her steps. The last thing she wanted was to be late for this and get lectured by Steve. More than she's already going to be considering how the mission went.

She felt like banging her head against a wall.

Suddenly, she heard a sweet laugh. "No! The Black Widow herself is addicted to Pop Tarts? Well, that certainly makes me feel better about myself," the voice giggled.

Curious, since she didn't recognize who it was, she couldn't resist sticking her head into the room from which she heard the sounds.

"I'm glad, but it's a secret, so shhhh," Natasha smiled that half-smile half-smirk of hers, the fondness evident in her voice as she put her finger to her plush lips to imply silence. Next to her stood the most beautiful woman Wanda has ever laid eyes on. You were standing next to the black widow, who was considered a symbol for beauty and grace, yet Wanda found herself unable to take her eyes of off you.

"Oh, hi!" you smiled once you saw someone had entered the room.

"Hey," Wanda smiled timidly as she opened the door a bit wider.

"Wanda," Natasha smiled at her. To the untrained eye, she seemed completely normal, just as she did a moment ago, but Wanda thought she could see the faintest hint of surprised irritation in her eyes. Natasha introduced the two of you, and Wanda's grin went involuntarily wider when you shook her hand warmly.

"Lovely to meet you," you grinned.

"Likewise. Natasha, I thought you'd like to know we all came back from the mission, Carol included," she raised her eyebrow slightly.

"Carol?" you asked. "Oh! Captain Marvel? Oh my god, Captain Marvel's here?" your eyes went almost comically wide as you connected the dots.

"Yeah," Wanda chuckled. "She is. But she's gonna be a bit occupied for the next hour or so, since Steve insisted we do a debriefing now, which is just where I should be going if I don't wanna be late. I'll see you around," she said in what she hoped was a friendly tone and not too high pitched.

As she walked to the meeting room, even faster than she was walking before, her mind wandered to you. You looked so… energized. God, she wished that was her. She sighed and accepted her fate, entering the room.  

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

"Hey, Wanda!" Wanda heard you calling after her a few days after you got to the compound. She was just on her way to the training room, but he figured talking to you for a few minutes wouldn't hurt. If she could keep her mouth shut about her little crush, that is.

"What's up?" she turned around, waiting for you to catch up to her.

"Well, I just saw you and I figured I'd say hi," you smiled, "trying to get to know everyone and such. How are you?"

"I'm great! How are you? I mean, how's settling in and all? I know from experience that can be a little daunting," Wanda smiled sympathetically.

"I guess," you giggled, and Wanda really hoped she was only giving you internal heart eyes and not external ones. "but so far so good. I mean, everyone's just so nice. Just the other day Carol offered to help me train. Oh my god, I still can't believe I'm on first name basis with Captain Marvel!" you laughed.

Wanda hoped her disappointment didn't show on her face. "That's great!"

"Yeah, it's really awesome. Anyways, I'm sure you have better things to do, so um, I'll leave you to it," you said, that gorgeous smile never leaving your face.

Which was unfair really, since it definitely made Wanda's brain cells leave her head. Maybe that's why the next thing she said was, "Oh well, not really, I was going to go train for a while, but if you want maybe you could come with me. I'm no Carol but I'm not that bad either," she chuckled.

"Really?" your eyes lit up.

Needless to say, Wanda didn't get a lot of training time done that day. She spent most of it staring at you, so she could "um… correct your, uh, technique," as she so elegantly put it when you asked her if she didn't want to train as well.

It wasn't her fault you looked so pretty.

Per your request, she did show you a couple of things using her powers when you were finished. Your squeal of delight when she lifted up a super heavy weight bench made her cheeks blush slightly.

"That's so cool! So, can you like, read my thoughts or something?" you asked.

"I can," she smirked when you gaped at her. "but don't worry, I don't. I made a habit not to look into other people's minds when I don't absolutely have to."

"That's good to know," you grinned at her, your eyes shining with mirth.

She tried to remind herself she didn't stand a chance, she didn't even know if you liked girls, and even if you did she was no Carol or Natasha, but to no avail. No matter how much she repeated it, even after the three of you got together, she couldn't stop herself from falling a little more in love every time she saw you.

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

Bucky and Wanda were an unlikely duo. Pretty much everyone agreed on that. Except for Steve.

"I think you two have more in common than you'd like to admit," he had smiled. When they asked him what he meant, he simply mimed locking his mouth up and throwing the key. "If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you."

They both knew what he meant, of course. The abnormal strength, fighting for the wrong side. They both made their mistakes, grew to be better. They never talked about it, not really. But when a sound made Bucky's jaw clench a certain way, or a mission was especially draining, or Wanda saw something that brought more memories of home than she'd like, they were there for each other. Actions, not words, but they understood.

Right now, Bucky greeted Wanda as she entered the kitchen on a chilly morning.

"So, you hear about the new trouple?" Bucky asked her, handing her a mug of tea he made because he knew she needed it in the mornings.

"Trouple?" Wanda frowned, before sipping her tea and humming gratefully at him.

"Well, like a couple but… three," Bucky chuckled awkwardly. "Tony said that."

"Oh, um… no, I guess I didn't," she shrugged.

He explained that you were dating Nat and Carol. "It took me a minute to register it too, so I get it," he smiled at her expression.

"No, I mean, I totally get it. That was fast," she raised her eyebrows. When he didn't reply, she continued, "I hope they'll end up well. For the team, you know," she shrugged, gulping before taking another sip of her tea.

"Hey," Bucky laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know you liked her."

"Which her?" she quipped back. He just gave her a look and she sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Yeah. But I mean, she's with two of the most powerful women in the world. The universe, probably. I can't exactly compete with that," she shrugged helplessly.

"Wanda, you're amazing. I hope you know that," Bucky said, his eyes sincere.

"I guess," she smiled at him.

"Wanna go eat ice cream and watch a sappy movie?"

"You know me so well," she giggled and magicked the fridge open, sending two tubs flying into her hands, as well as two spoons from the drawer.

"Showoff," he scoffed, taking one from her outreached hand.

"You love it," she winked, drawing a chuckle from him.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go watch that movie of yours, young lady."

She laughed and followed him out of the kitchen.

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

After the breakup, Wanda was getting closer and closer to you. She didn't want to be a rebound, but also… she just couldn't resist. But, her intentions were purely platonic. For now, at least.

At first, you didn't want to talk to her about it. She understood, didn't push. She knew you needed time.

And indeed, after a couple of days, she heard a knock on her door. She used her magic to open it since she was on her bed, going over some files, which she immediately discarded once she saw you, the state you were in. You have clearly been crying, the tear tracks evident on your face, your quiet sniffle reaching her ears.

"What's wrong?" she asked, gesturing for you to come sit down with her.

You sat down and took a deep breath. She wrapped her arms around you, pulling your head to rest on her shoulder. That's what made you break down again. In the comfort of her arms, you felt safe enough to cry, to fall apart.

She started to pull away when she felt your shivers, but stopped when you clung to her tighter, letting your tears flow freely. She just stroked your hair gently, letting you cry as much as you needed, mumbling reassurances.

When you calmed down enough, you raised your head. "I'm sorry," you mumbled, averting your bloodshot eyes from hers.

"No, don't apologize. I'm here," she nudged your shoulder, prompting you to meet her gaze. "What's wrong?"

"I just… I guess it took a couple of days until it felt real. Until I realized…" you cleared your throat. "I- Wanda, I've been dating them for the absolute most of the time I've been an Avenger. What if… what if I don't have a place in the team without them? What if I'm not strong enough without them?"

"Don't think that, not even for a second," she squeezed your shoulder. "You are one of the most powerful people I know. You belong here, in this team. I've seen you fight, and you're incredible. You're strong, you're smart. All of that has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with them. I know losing them may hurt, but that hurt doesn't change who you are."

"Thank you," you said. It wasn't enough, so you wrapped your arms around her, squeezing her tight, hoping she'd understand.

"It's the truth," she said, stern but not harsh.

That night, after you left, with plans to hang out tomorrow, she took a couple of deep breaths, calmed herself down. If she didn't, she was sure she'd go out there and kick the asses of two of her extremely stupid teammates.

Okay, they weren't actually stupid. But at that moment, Wanda was ready to hurt them, only for making you feel like this. Like you needed them. Seeing you like this made her want to blast them both into oblivion.

But you'd be fine, and you certainly didn't need her to interfere in your business. Besides, she got caught up thinking about the smile you gave her before you left.

She'd move planets to see that smile as often as possible.

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

Wanda smiled when she saw you approaching, your swimsuit wet since you had already jumped in the water. Because of course, Tony had a pool in the compound, and of course, he insisted everyone would come together at least one day a year and "bond". Honestly, the man was a bit of a sap. Not that Wanda minded, if it gave her opportunities for sights like these, she mused as she looked at you above her sunglasses.

"Having fun?" she asked once you were close enough to hear her.

You smiled. "Yeah. But you know what would be even more fun? If my lovely girlfriend will join me in a game of chicken against two annoying super soldiers? Maybe, you know, work your magic?" you batted your eyelashes at her innocently.

"Are you asking me to help you cheat so you can make Steve drop Bucky from his shoulders and you would win?" she chuckled.

"No! I mean, maybe. Ugh, his shoulders are so big Wanda, it's unfair! Bucky has so much more space than I do! Clint can't hold me properly," you grumbled half heartedly at your teammate. "But if I hold you up on my shoulders, and you'd, you know," you gestured in a way that was supposed to be similar to how she uses her magic, but only made her giggle at your antics, "I really think we can win."

"Alright, I'm convinced," Wanda announced, pulling off her sundress and revealing her swimsuit so she can get in the pool. "But only because I'd love to see Bucky's face when he falls into the pool and ruins his hair. Steve wouldn't hear the end of it either," she giggled. "Come on, let's go," she said as she started walking towards the pool.

"Babe?" she turned back to find you staring at her.

"Yeah?" you said, shaking your head a little.

"Are you coming?" she smirked.

"Oh, I dunno, I think I was in the sun for a long time, it's getting kinda hot. Maybe we should go inside, cool down a little, and I could kiss you, and-"

You got cut off by Wanda pressing her lips to yours gently. "Now come on," she smirked when you parted, "we have a pair of super soldier asses to kick."

And you did indeed kick their asses. Even without using her magic, Wanda managed to knock Bucky off with you balancing on one leg and using the other one to kick Steve under the water, making him lose enough of his balance.

You both laughed when Bucky and Steve went out of the water, Bucky complaining about his ruined hair and, "God Steve, I pulled you out of the river and you drop me in the pool?"

"I'm pretty sure you were the reason I ended up in that river in the first place," Steve snarked back. When Bucky opened his mouth to protest, Steve continued, "And I’d fall into that river for you again if I had to. Besides, your hair looks just fine," he smiled sweetly at Bucky, who stopped glaring daggers at him and was instead giving him the usual heart eyes.

"Punk," Bucky muttered as Steve went out of the pool. He extended his hand to help Bucky out, who instead pulled on his arm and made him fall into the water at him.

"Jerk," Steve shook the water from his hair before picking Bucky up and getting them both out of the pool as Bucky laughed.

You and Wanda looked at them with a smile.

"I'm glad they're happy," she said, moving her hands in the water in slow motions.

"They deserve it. You do too," you told her sincerely.

"I am happy," she smiled. "You make me happy," she cupped your cheek in her hand, and you kissed her sweetly.

"You make me happy too," you said, "the happiest."

Later, when you were all gathered around an outdoor table, it somehow ended up with you and Wanda sitting across from Natasha and Carol. Now at first, Wanda half considered being rude and asking to switch with someone.

But then she realized, maybe this isn't so bad.

"Hey baby, can you pass me that salad?" she asked you, sneaking a side look at Nat and Carol. They were talking between them, but the way they tensed up let her know they were paying attention. Good.

"Sure thing," you reached or the salad she gestured at, passing it.

"Thank you," she grinned, planting a firm but sweet kiss on your lips.

You hummed in delight. "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?"

"For passing me the salad," she shrugged with a smile.

You let it go, not thinking anything of it, but Wanda snuck another look across the table, and sure enough, Carol's jaw was tightly clenched, while Natasha was looking down at her plate, moving her food around as if she lost her appetite.

It wasn't as good as kicking their asses, but it would do. She barely managed to contain the smug grin that threatened to spread across her face. Having you to herself was more than enough, it was everything she could've ever wanted.

But, having your ex-girlfriends realize what they lost? Well, it certainly didn't hurt.

She didn't do it a lot, didn’t brag or show you off around them most times. But every now and then, she couldn't help herself, because you deserved it. She knew you'd probably never really confront them about how they made you feel, so when she could, she subtly did it for you.

You didn’t deserve what they put you through. No, you deserved the world, you deserved to smile and laugh and be happy and loved. Wanda hoped she could be that, give you that, for the rest of your lives.

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

tell me your thoughts!! i couldn’t help but make stevebucky date because i love them hehe. the little look into Wanda’s friendship with Bucky was really fun too, i felt like i sorta alluded to it in the previous ones but yeah, anyways i love them and i hope you liked it<3

Taglist:  @horny-nd-bored​ @shannon124 @perfectlyharolds​ @wintersoldierslut​ @iceebabies​  @sleepingpapermouse @steverogerswasalwaysworthy @holtzkinnon @angelicl-y @stydia-4-ever @thatoneperson5000 @fangirlfree​ @kaitcordx25 @bequeening​ @steve-barry-damon-logan​ @itscrazycherryblossomcollection​ @hollandxmarvel​ @stargazingfangirl18 @readsreblogsfics @onetwo3000 @beritmetal @harrystylesholland @jazbot2000 @anobscurename @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @peggycarter-steverogers @evansphnx12 @starlightcrystalline @procrastinatingsapphictrash

if you wanna join / be removed from a taglist, comment/message me! much love <3

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x female reader #wanda x you #wanda maximoff x you #wanda x y/n #wanda maximoff fluff #carolnat x reader #steve rogers x bucky barnes

[footballandgirls2]

Some thoughts about each player’s performance which no one asked for but you’re getting anyway because I have Opinions That I Need To Share.

Jane Campbell

With the US back line being so solid means that their keepers are rarely challenged. It boils down to concentration for if/when the back line slips up, which is rarely more than once or twice a match. Jane kept her concentration and came off her line quickly when needed (like, twice) so in that aspect, which is pretty much the only aspect we can analyse against lesser teams, she delivered.

Becky Sauerbrunn

The back line is so good because Becky is SO good. I can only remember one pass that wasn’t executed perfectly. Diagonal balls fantastic, as usual. Wouldn’t expect anything less. Clearly doing a great job as (official) captain.

Tierna Davidson

Baby T looked so at home out there that it’s easy to forget she’s just 22. So mature, so calm. Good positional awareness and fantastic forward passes. Would love to see her tested against bigger teams because she’s held her own so far. Would be difficult to leave out Becky or Abby but if either can’t play for whatever reason, Tierna deserves to be straight in there.

Kelley O’Hara

Funny to see a pre-planned sub at 30 minutes rather than 60 minutes?! Either way, in those 30 minutes she was classic Kelley, getting high up the field and overlapping with the midfield seamlessly. If that knock is still bothering her, you couldn’t tell. Still the number one RB choice.

Emily Sonnett

What a difference a game makes. Massively struggled against Brazil which is to be expected against the likes of Marta but her decision making in that match was questionable. Much better in this game and managed to play her way out of trouble really well a few times. Got higher up the pitch which led to some decent crosses in the box. Also, SO versatile - 3 positions in one match requires quick adaptation which Vlatko no doubt appreciated.

Casey Krueger

Didn’t come up short (👀 - sorry!). Would never have guessed she wasn’t a starter because she absolutely smashed that LB position. Link up play with Kristie down the left side was spot on and her diagonal balls to switch the play were amazing too. May be too late for the Olympics 18 but showed she has a few years left on the national team.

Midge Purce

Is a great defender considering she’s not a defender. Decent passes into the box and tracked back quickly when necessary. Would love to see her get more solid minutes.

Julie Ertz

Played so deep she was literally on the back line half the time? Weird considering Argentina weren’t a huge attacking threat. Wasn’t as instrumental as she normally is. Sure she’ll be back though - it would take a miracle for her to not make the Olympic roster.

Rose Lavelle

A fairly quiet game by Rose’s standards but that’s a testament to how incredible she usually is. Probably tired from carrying the midfield in the last two matches! She’s literally everywhere and overlaps beautifully with everyone. Her creativity was missed when she wasn’t on the pitch. How someone is so fluid on the pitch but so awkward off it is baffling. Love it.

Lindsey Horan

As above in terms of being relatively quiet. Seemed to tone down the physicality, for better or worse. Don’t think she’s an inherently aggressive player but is just so god damn strong that she wins nearly every one-on-one without even tackling. Impressive, really. Managed to get loose in the box on set pieces and unfortunate not to connect for a classic Horan header.

Kristie Mewis

W. O. W. Deserved the start and proved it throughout the 90 minutes. Fantastic movement and turn for her goal. Maybe doesn’t press as hard as other midfielders but her positioning is amazing. Making a BIG case for taking her to Tokyo.

Jaelin Howell

Fit in easily in midfield which is hugely promising in such a talented team. Would like to see her get more minutes. Can’t see her making the Olympic roster just yet but definitely a bright future.

Sophia Smith

Got in some good positions in the box and was stopped only by an Argentina who marked so closely in the second half. Also needs more minutes because there’s no way she’s replacing Tobin as the right forward. Yet.

Christen Press

Every minute she plays, she gets closer to being back to her best. Still think she’s got a way to go because when she’s on fire ain’t nobody stopping her. Would like to see her take on more players 1v1 because as showed against Brazil she’s more than capable. Good positioning in the box waiting to poach for her goal.

Megan Rapinoe

If you think she’s too old, she’s not. She’s slightly slowing down physically for sure but not mentally. She’s on this team to get goals and she delivered by having the awareness to get into good positions and the confidence to take on the shot. Nowhere near a write off.

Carli Lloyd

She IS too old but she’s still not slowed to a point where you can easily drop her. Having said that, she should be more clinical because she could have had two or three. Still kinda hoping she reaches 300 caps she’ll retire from the national team and give way to others. But it’s Carli, so, who knows. She’d be playing with Charlie, Roux and Sloane if she had her way.

Alex Morgan

Fantastic positioning but the execution still isn’t fully there, but my god it is so close. Sucks that she’ll be judged on the opportunities she missed but that’s the life of a number 9. No doubt she’ll be back to form soon though, and it’ll pay Vlatko to be patient. Don’t think the rotation of the squad is doing her any favours and it’d probably help her to have consistent players either side of her, which may come at the Olympics.

What do you think? Agree or disagree?

#interested to see if other people agree or disagree with my assessments #uswnt #usaarg #Alex Morgan #christen press #Carli Lloyd #Megan rapinoe #Sophia Smith #Kristie mewis #jaelin howell #Lindsey horan #Rose Lavelle #midge purce #emily sonnett #Casey krueger #Casey short #Kelley o’hara #tierna Davidson #Becky sauerbrunn #Jane Campbell

[13uswntimagines]

I Was Never Just a Rebound

Request: Lindsey helps reader get over her breakup with Christen pt.2- Sequal to I don’t want you to be a Rebound

Hey dudes, i hope you enjoy this! I know it’s kinda long, but I though a lot of the fallout stuff was necessary! To the people effected by college and the hurricane, i hope you’re doing well and that this can bring you a little bit of joy in some uncertain times. Hit me up with requests, questions or if you just wanna say Hi! I’m always open to chat. 

You knew that national team camp was going to be a challenge after the breakup, but you hadn’t anticipated the shit show that had awaited you. Vlatko had defended his choice of sticking you in the same room as Tobin as “maintaining team unity” and “fixing team cohesion”, but you were convinced that he just had a sick sense of humor. At least you had Lindsey (and her Roommate Emily by default) to back you up. 

The kiss hadn’t changed the dynamic between you and Lindsey all that much, to be honest. If anything, it made you closer. In the three months after the kiss you had still texted and FaceTimed several times a day, but now there was a different air of ease that surrounded each interaction. As though you were both more comfortable with where you stood with each other. You knew about her feelings for you, and she knew that you were still very not ready for a serious relationship. (Though you did find it slightly odd that all of your Tinder hookups had blond hair instead of brown.) 

 You stood in front of the mirror, placing the finishing touches on your outfit for tonight. Just because it was technically a Tinder one-night stand didn’t mean that the girl didn’t deserve to be wooed. You had been at camp for a total of 4 hours and you already couldn’t stand to be around them. The “happy couple” as they were called had a propensity for making out everywhere, no matter who was present. 

Each touch felt like a knife in your already torn up heart, so you had resorted to the only therapist approved coping mechanisms that you could right now, rebound sex. 

“Where are you getting all dressed up to go?” Tobin's voice broke you out of your thoughts as she wandered into the room that the two of you were supposed to be sharing, her eyebrows furrowing as she took in your button-down shirt, vest and slacks. 

“Out.” You responded shortly, not even sparing her a glance. 

“But we have practice tomorrow,” She continued. You could hear your exasperation. You had never been a goodie two shoes, but you had also never been one to blatantly break rules while at camp. You didn’t take many things seriously, but soccer was one of them. 

“Your point,” You spat. She had lost the right to have an opinion on your behavior the moment she had even entertained the idea of sleeping with Christen. 

“You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to,” She mumbled. 

“I want to” You rolled your eyes, rolling up the sleeves of your shirt. 

“I’m going to stay with Chris to make things less awkward” Tobin murmured, shifting foot to foot. 

“Do whatever you want Tobin,” You said, your voice completely void of emotion, finally turning to face her. 

“Just know that I didn’t ask Vlatko to put us together torture you alright,” She insisted tilting her head to the side and biting her lip. She hated how fucking awkward things had become between the two of you.

“No, you do that just fine all on your own,” You laughed humorlessly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her eyes snapped up to meet your own, shock evident in her features. Sure she had messed up, but she would never intentionally hurt you. 

“It means that I get it. It means that I should have known that the entire team would be behind you on this one because I’m just the fuck up who was never good enough for her. Trust me, do I get it, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t shove it in my face every three seconds,” You rushed out, the voices of your teammates congratulating the happy couple like freshly squeezed lemon juice to you half-healed heart. It had burned and ached and brought back every insecurity that you had worked your whole career to get over. 

“We weren’t, we were just…” She stumbled over her words and you rolled your eyes. 

“Doing all of the things you couldn’t do for the months you were seeing each other behind my back,” You finished for her, sending her a smile that was too mocking to be friendly. 

“It wasn’t months,” She huffed, settling into the edge of the bed that was meant to be hers. 

“Then how long was it Tobin?” Venom leaked into your question. A dangerous calm taking over your features. You didn’t know the whole story, but you knew enough to know that it hadn’t been the first time. 

“Since the night we won the World Cup,” 

You recoiled from the admission as though you had been slapped. 

“I’m so fucking stupid,” You laughed mirthlessly, closing your eyes in an attempt to control your emotions. 

“You’re not and I’m sorry that…” She started, attempting to fix the obvious pain that she had just inflicted. 

“Don’t. Don’t fucking apologize to me when I know that you’re not sorry. Just.” Your voice was cold, colder than she had ever heard it. “Just-. Just forget it alright.” You finished, shaking your head and returning your attention to finding your shoes so you could get the fuck out of this room. 

“We can’t just pretend like it never happened” she sniffled wetly. 

“We’re not pretending anything. Well, that’s a lie. We” you gestured between the two of you “are going to pretend that we were never friends and you were going to leave me the fuck alone”

“You can’t just erase history Y/n. I know you know that better than anyone” She pleaded. She had been your best friend since you were in diapers. You had been through it all together, things like that couldn’t just disappear, could they?

“Don’t fucking talk to me about my past Tobin” You growled, advancing on the woman.  

“I’m so…” She started, holding her hands up as if to pacify you. 

“I told you to stop apologizing,” You snapped. You knew the apology was out of pity and not because they felt bad about what had happened. they just felt bad that they had been caught. You often wondered how long they would have let you believe that she was still in love with you. How would they have broken the news? 

“I don’t know what you want me to say to you. I’m not going to say I regret it because that would mean that I regret finally getting the love of my life. I know that what we did was wrong but,” she started, frustration leaking into her tone. She didn’t want to hurt you, but she would never say that wished she didn’t have Christen. 

“But what Tobin? You never meant to hurt me? How many times did you watch me kiss her knowing that you were the one that she wanted? How many times did you reassure me that she loved me while you knew that it was you who she was dreaming of? How many times did you look at that ring on her finger and laugh because you knew she was never even entertaining the idea of walking down that aisle to meet me.” your chest was heaving by the end of your rant, your cheeks red with exertion. Tobin’s mouth remained shut, and her eyes stayed trained on the floor. “That’s what I thought. You know my past and you knew exactly what you were going to do to me each time you hooked up with each other. So let’s just drop the fucking pretense that you actually give a fuck about anyone but yourselves.” You said lowly.

“I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say. I don’t know how to fix it,” She exploded, her voice thick with emotion, running her hands ran through her hair, her typically chill demeanor nowhere to be found. You felt guilty at the small shiver of satisfaction that rolled through you, as she experienced a small percentage of the pain you were feeling. But this was her bed to lie in and not yours. At least she would have Christen to keep her warm. 

“That’s the thing. You don’t say anything and you stop trying to fix it. You sack up and accept the guilt and leave me the fuck alone,” Your voice was soft but dangerous. Like the edge of a razor running on skin. Your tone nothing your best friend had ever heard before. 

“You’re my best friend,” She pleaded, the tears rolling down her cheeks, and you resisted the urge to comfort her. 

“No. I’m a fellow forward on the same team as you. That’s it. I’m your colleague who you only talk to on the pitch,” you said, your voice wavering. It was bad enough that you had lost Christen but nearly unbearable that she was the one you had lost her to. 

“Y/n…” She started, only to be cut off by a soft knock at the door, and you thanked your lucky stars. You weren’t sure if you could remain strong through the rest of that. You stumbled over to the door, and flung it open, releasing a breath you didn’t know you were holding when you saw the woman on the other side. 

 “Am I interrupting something?” Lindsey asked, taking in Tobin’s red-rimmed eyes and your agitated expression. She kept her face neutral at your outfit, even though you did look incredibly stunning all dressed up, she still preferred you in your old sweats cuddled up ready to watch a movie. 

“No, I was just leaving,” You hummed, your features instantly brightening at her appearance.“I’ll text you later?. I heard Emily say something about a movie night?”You smile, waiting for her to nod before kissing her forehead and heading towards the door.

“For sure babe,” she smiled back, kissing your cheek in return. You send her a wink before exiting the room, completely missing Tobin’s eyebrows shooting up into her hairline. 

 “She hates me,” Tobin sniffed as she watched you go, and Lindsey frowned. More so at the fact that you were clearly going for a tinder hookup instead of hanging out with her than anything else. She got that you were hurt, but watching you rebuild the wall around your heart was scary. 

While the two of you were emotionally more connected than ever before, the likelihood of you stepping into a serious relationship seemed to be oceans away.

“Well, she has a pretty good reason to,” Lindsey rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed next to Tobin’s distraught form, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulder. 

“We didn’t mean to hurt her,” Tobin whined. Why wouldn’t anyone listen to them when they said it. They loved you and hurting you was the last thing in their mind. They just didn’t know how to be honest with you about the situation. At least you didn’t run away to the UK this time. 

“Yeah, I would start by never ever saying that again,” Lindsey said lowly. She knew how much you hated when they said that. It always felt like they were diminishing the amount of devastation you felt at their betrayal. As though there was no way to avoid their happiness coming at the cost of your own. 

“What else are we supposed to say? We love each other and don’t regret that we finally got together,” Tobin grumbled exasperatedly. She didn’t know how to fix this, and you weren’t giving her any clues. 

“You just regret that you lied and destroyed your best friend in the process?” Lindsey shrugged sarcastically.  

“Exactly! Wait, That came out wrong,”  Tobin blushed at the admission and Lindsey’s raised eyebrows. 

“Just give her some time, and maybe start by keeping the PDA to yourself,” Lindsey said calmly, patting Tobin’s knee. To be honest, the preath kissing was even beginning to wear on her, so she could only imagine how you felt about it. She had asked, but you always clammed up.

“We’re not going to stop being a couple to cushion her feelings,” Tobin huffed crossings her arms like a petulant child. That wasn’t fair to them either. 

“I’m not asking you to, but it might be more courteous for the two of you not have a fucking make out session while she’s sitting at the same table,” Lindsey mumbled gently. She hated how quiet you got, how much you retreated into yourself when the two women were around. She just wished that she could relieve your pain (what she didn’t know was that she already did). 

“I’m going to go talk to Chris, just… let me know that she made it to movie night in one piece alright?” Tobin asked hesitantly, and Lindsey gave her a tiny nod. Protective instincts were hard to break, and Tobin had been your protector for a long time. Hell, you had moved in with her after your parents kicked you out when they caught you making out with your first girlfriend in 9th grade. Her mom was more nurturing to you than your own had ever been, and she was the older sibling that you never had.

Tobin made her way to the door, pausing as she opened it. “Hey Linds, take care of her, ok?” She asked softly, staring at the floor. You were guarded and hard to handle, but maybe Lindsey would be able to break through those walls. 

“I will,” Lindsey nodded solemnly, and she would. 

*****

You’d say that camp was going swimmingly. Vlatko had let you start in the friendly against England, and you scored 3 goals so you were super pumped. It also helped that the English national team was always down for some flirting. So here you were, flirting with Leah Williamson. 

Emily watched you win disdain from the bench, while Lindsey simply wore an amused expression. Leah and Jordan were in a committed relationship, and it was fun to watch you lay on the moves. 

“Are you seriously going to sit here and watch her hit on anything with legs?” Emily asked scrunching up her nose, as you swapped jerseys with Leah. 

“We’re not dating, and it’s her apparently ‘therapist approved coping mechanism’ or whatever,” Lindsey shrugged, a bemused smile on her lips, as Leah and Jordan kissed your cheeks. You had had many conversations with the woman about your ‘coping’, and it seemed that while you didn’t want Lindsey to be your rebound, you had no problems having others fill that role. Somehow you always ended up back in her bed ready to cuddle. 

“Please, you guys have basically been in a relationship since her breakup with Chris, the only difference is that she hooks up with Tinder dates instead of hooking up with you” Emily snorted, remembering the many times she had watched you leave with a tinder date you never returned with. All of the women had a very interesting resemblance to a certain midfielder you both knew rather than a green-eyed forward. 

“We’re not dating,” Lindsey rolled her eyes for the millionth time. Did she like your coping mechanism? No. But she preferred it over the self-deprecating tendencies that have plagued you the first few months after the split. You were a shell of yourself, determined to wear your mental anguish as physical marks on your skin. It had torn her apart to see you like that, and she was proud that you had picked yourself up the way you did. That you allowed her to help you help yourself. 

“No, you guys just call each other nonstop, go on adorable dates and sleep all cuddled up in the same bed,” Emily smirked at the woman. How could two people be so deep in denial? You of your feelings and Lindsey of the status of your relationship. You loved her, anyone with eyes could see that, and Emily often wondered if you were just flaunting your hookup as a bratty way to try and get Lindsey to finally make a claim. 

“She’s not ready for a relationship, and we’re not that close,” Lindsey snapped, tired of this conversation. You weren’t ready to make that commitment and she wasn’t going to force you. You were best friends, and best friends did things like cuddle and call each other and watch movies. 

“You guys have always been emotionally close,” Christen said, staring at the way you were holding Leah’s hand to your chest, smiling what her and Tobin had dubbed the fan smile because it always got people to flock towards you. Her breathing caught when you looked Lindsey’s way, waving at the woman and sending her your real smile. The smile you always saved for Christen. She sat on the bench next to the two women, finally tearing her eyes away from you.“I was always jealous of the way you two clicked from the moment you met,” She murmured, and Lindsey tensed at her presence. 

“Like you clicked with Tobin? Oh, yeah that’s right, we’re not fucking behind everyone’s back,” The blond midfielder scoffed. She had seen the destruction that Christen had left behind. Had seen how much it killed you when the team accepted Preath with open arms. Someone here had to be on your side, and she would back you up all the way. 

“Be nice Linds,” Tobin scolded as she sat on Christen’s other side, sending Lindsey a frown. She didn’t like the rift that had formed between all of you. 

“It’s alright,” Christen murmured, placing a hand on Tobin’s knee. “I know that you’ll never believe me but my greatest regret about this whole thing is that she got hurt in the process,” She finished softly, shaking her head.  She knew that you wouldn’t believe her now, but maybe she could get through to the new women who had stolen your heart. Perhaps one day you would listen to her and give her the forgiveness she was after. 

“She’s right kid. Chris and her were growing apart, and she was growing closer to you,” Tobin added carefully, remembering all of the calls where Christen had called about your distraction. About how you were always talking about team blond. She knew you loved Chris, but there was always some undeniable chemistry between you and Lindsey. 

“I just-, we made a mistake, but I’m glad that she’s got you to help her,” Christen finished softly, a shy smile making its way across her face when you again glanced towards the bench to see if Lindsey was watching you (and when you frowned when she wasn’t). She would always miss how much you craved the attention of the people you loved, almost like a puppy would. 

“We’re not in a relationship because she doesn’t want me to be her rebound from you. I’m like 90% sure she’s not over you.” Lindsey spat. 

“That’s why all her tinder hookups are all blonds and not brunettes right?” Emily smirked. It was a checkmate. The ace in the hole if you will. Lindsey could deny her feelings for you all she wanted and explain away all of the evidence, but she couldn’t explain that. She couldn’t deny that you were attracted to her when all of the girls you picked up looked like her. 

“Shut up guys,” Lindsey grumbled, refusing to concede defeat. Refusing to admit the truth. Christen watched her for a moment, running a hand through her hair. You were running, too afraid to be hurt. She knew that. It’s what you did best. 

“Just don’t let her push you away.” She whispered. It was the only piece of advice she could offer. She wanted you to find your happiness again, and fuckgirl Y/n wasn’t it. 

“I won’t.” Lindsey nodded, grabbing Christen’s hand and squeezing it. She wouldn’t let you run forever. 

*****

Little did she know just how stubborn you could be. It had been a year of almost dating. A year of dancing around the subject, only for you to run away again. Your behavior had become less erratic. You transferred from Utah to Portland, deciding that having Sonnett and Lindsey were a fair trade for having to deal with Tobin’s puppy eyes. 

You hadn’t forgiven her, not yet, but you were making your way there. At least you weren’t blatantly ignoring her anymore. 

In Lindsey’s mind, the greatest victory was that you spent less time getting into other people’s pants and more time hanging out with her. When you transferred to Portland, Lindsey had welcomed you with open arms, even allowing you to share an apartment with her (with the excuse of Mark being unable to find you one of your own). So here you were, in a club celebrating another NWSL championship. 

“You do realize that you’re going to have to be the one to make the first move right?” Emily nudged Lindsey’s shoulder as they watched you dance with a group of girls from the bar. They giggled as you casually grabbed a hand that had tried to work its way up your shirt, placed a kiss on the knuckle, and continued dancing with the girl. They couldn’t deny that you were a smooth operator. 

“What if she’s not ready?” Lindsey asked biting her lip, sighing as you grabbed another hand that was trying to get under your shirt. 

“It’s been a year,” Emily rolled her eyes. God, she had never met two more oblivious people in her entire life.

 “Yeah and she hasn’t hooked up with anyone for like 6 months,” Tobin added, taking a sip of her beer. 

“Plus the two of you have practically been living together,” Emily finished, high fiving Tobin. What it would take to get the two of you together, she didn’t know. But pointing out the obvious couldn’t hurt. 

“It’s just cause she got traded to Portland,” Lindsey shrugged off the implication. 

“She turned down Marks offer to set her up in a loft,” Tobin reminded her, distinctly remembering Marks’ complaints that you had refused his offer to get you a loft in the building she was living in. Your eyes met Lindsey’s from across the room, and you sent her a blinding smile that was reserved only for her and a wink. 

“I think it’s safe to say that she’s waiting for you to make the first move,” Emily laughed, patting Lindsey on the back in encouragement. The only thing missing from your relationship with her was the label. And from the way you shied away from labels, it was safe to say that you weren’t going to be the one asking Lindsey out. 

Lindsey let out a growl when the girl that you were dancing with yet again tried to feel your abs. You frowned at the insistent hand. How could the girl not get the hint? She marched in your direction, tapping the girl on the shoulder. 

“Mind if I cut in,” she spat, the girl taking a step back in shock. Lindsey took the opportunity to slip in front of you, pulling your hands to her waist. 

“Linds?” You asked, your eyebrows furrowing, pulling her close to you so you could talk to her over the loud music of the clip. 

“I’m in love with you, but I think you know that, and I think that you’re in love with me too,” She said firmly, her blue eyes staring into your own as she connected your foreheads. 

“I don’t want you to be a rebound,” you whispered, your breath fanning across her lips. Your cheeks flushed at the intimacy of the situation. You loved Lindsey, but another relationship scared you.

“You don’t spend hours on the phone with your rebound. You don’t move to a different city to be closer to them. You don’t share the connection That we do. I’m so much more than a rebound and you know it. You just have to take that leap,”

She finished breathlessly, and just like the night of your breakup you leaned up and placed a gentle kiss in her lips. And just like the first time, your lips fit together like they were made for each other, moving in harmony together. 

Her tongue probed your bottom lip and allowed her to deepen the kiss. Her fingers tangled in the baby hairs at the lack of your neck, and your hands wrapped around her Lower back to pull her closer to you. You reluctantly pulled away when air became an issue, keeping your eyes closed as your rested your foreheads together, bumping her nose with your own. 

“Go on a date with me?” She asked, and your eyes snapped open to meet hers. 

“Mmm, I wouldn’t like anything more,” You smiled, pecking her lips again. You knew Lindsey would be so much more than a rebound. She would be the love of your life.

#uswnt x reader #uswnt imagine #uswnt imagines #lindsey horan imagine #lindsey horan x reader

[clumsyclifford]

For the 100 ways to say I love you could you do #1 for muke???

yes!!! omg the same prompt for different pairings, a writing challengé.......i hope this is satisfactory <3 some ambiguous road trip boys

read on ao3

-

Michael wakes up in the passenger seat. The sky is barely beginning to get light through the window; he must have been asleep a couple hours, because it’d been pitch-black before he’d dozed off.

Also, Ashton had been driving. Now Michael can see Luke in his periphery as he attempts to blink himself awake.

“Fuck, sorry,” he mumbles, sleep weighing down his voice. Not to mention his body. All his limbs feel heavy and tired. The nap had been good, though. Once he shakes off the sleep he’ll be nice and refreshed. 

Unlike Luke, who, at a glance, is practically sagging over the steering wheel. It’s a miracle they haven’t been run off the road.

“No problem,” Luke says, which is clearly a lie.

“Jesus, when’s the last time you slept?” Michael’s eyes widen in alarm. “How long was I out?”

Luke shushes him, nodding his head towards the backseat, where Calum and Ashton are also fast asleep, curled up together. Adorably, although Michael will die before he admits that.

“I don’t know, four hours? Five?” Luke shrugs one shoulder. “You didn’t wake up when we stopped to switch drivers.”

“But you didn’t fucking sleep, Luke,” Michael says. “Have you slept in the last twenty-four hours?”

Luke presses his lips together. “I’m fine.”

“Oh my God, pull over,” Michael says. “Let me drive a while, I’m nice and awake, please. I’m begging you.”

“Okay, yes, fine! I never said you couldn’t.”

“You should have woken me,” Michael grumbles. “What is wrong with you? Do you want us to die?”

“Hey,” Luke says, hurt. “I was being a nice boyfriend. You were clearly tired.”

“You are clearly tired now,” Michael says, rolling his eyes. “And studies show I am much better behind the wheel when I’m tired than you are.”

“That’s not studies, that’s your personal opinion.”

“It’s not opinion, it’s a fact based on empirical evidence.”

“You know, Calum’s been asleep a while,” Luke says reasonably. “We could wake him. He hasn’t driven in a while.”

“No. I’m driving.”

“Because you don’t want to wake him, right?” Luke doesn’t look at Michael, but a small half-smirk pulls at his lips. “Because you care about him and want him to be well-rested?”

Michael hates him. Honestly.

“Fuck you,” he says. “That’s different.”

“It’s exactly the same.”

“It’s my turn to drive. Calum drove before Ashton.”

“I’m just saying—” 

“Pull over, I swear to God.”

“I’m waiting for a rest stop! Would you relax?”

Michael huffs, rubbing at his eyes. They’re on the verge of a sunrise, and while Michael isn’t looking forward to driving straight into the sun, he has to admit he’s excited to see it. He’d slept through the last sunrise. The people in this car seem to be inordinately averse to waking Michael up for any reason. He can’t imagine why.

(Okay, he knows why. Michael will confess he’s not always in the nicest mood when he’s been abruptly jolted awake. Luke exclusively calls him “Grumps” in the morning. It’s a bit of a thing. But still. If it’s between being woken up and dying in a crash because Luke had been too tired to see the truck or whatever, Michael will go with the former.)

It’s another fifteen minutes before they see a rest stop. Michael keeps up a low stream of chatter the whole way. Luke has a look on his face like he knows what Michael is doing, but he indulges Michael’s attempts at conversation anyway. 

This is how Michael knows Luke loves him. Michael’s being annoying, and Luke is smiling. Smiling. Even Calum reaches a limit at a certain point, but Luke keeps smiling until he steers them to the rest stop and pulls into a parking space.

They meet in front of the car, and before Luke can step past him Michael grabs his hand and pulls him close, pressing a kiss to his lips. It’s been too many hours since he’s kissed Luke, so he thinks they’re due.

Also he just likes kissing Luke. Which he’s pretty sure is a good enough reason. Boyfriend privilege and all that.

Luke is smiling into the kiss, and when he pulls away it only grows. “God, why are you so happy?” Michael pokes his cheek. “You must be exhausted.”

“I’ve been sitting in silence for four hours,” Luke says. “I missed talking to you.”

“I was next to you. You could have woken me up.”

“I knew you’d bully me into letting you drive. Figured I would let you get as much rest as possible before that happened.”

Michael cracks a smile. “You’re stupid.”

“You’re cute,” Luke returns, kissing him again.

“Hey, why’d we stop?” 

Michael and Luke break apart and turn simultaneously to see Ashton stepping out of the car and gently shutting the door behind him. “If you tell me we stopped just so you two could make out a bit, I will—” 

“We’re switching drivers,” Michael says. “Seriously? You think we’d stop just to make out?”

“Well, to be fair,” Luke says.

Michael rolls his eyes, even though they totally would. “Luke is going to sleep.”

“Oh, but if you’re awake then you can trade me,” Luke says to Ashton. “I don’t want to sit in the passenger seat just to fall asleep. You can entertain Mike.”

“I’m not a four-year-old,” Michael grumbles.

“Aren’t you?” Ashton says, smirking. Michael flips him off. “Sure, I’ll swap you.”

“Is Calum still asleep?”

Ashton nods, casting a look inside the car, an expression of immeasurable fondness on his face. Honestly, the two of them are ridiculous. “Don’t ask me how. I’ve never seen anyone sleep this long in a car. Through two stops.”

“He drove for a long time,” Luke says.

Ashton draws his brows together. “I hope he’s feeling okay,” he mutters. “I wonder if something’s wrong.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Michael says. “Calum’s got the weirdest sleep habits of anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Not weirder than yours,” Luke says, squeezing Michael’s waist. “Mr. Nocturnal.”

“At least I’m consistently nocturnal,” Michael retorts. “Can we go?”

Luke kisses Michael’s temple. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Tradesies,” Ashton sings, traipsing over to Michael and throwing his arm around Michael’s shoulder. “Hell yeah, Mike and Ash in the front seat once again. Unstoppable team.”

“If you’re going to be like this, I will wake Calum up.”

“We’re gonna have so much fun,” Ashton says, grinning exaggeratedly. “Me and you, Mikey-poo! Front seat boys!”

“Oh my God,” Michael groans, trying not to smile. “How you can be this cheerful after waking up is a mystery I will never solve.”

“The world is a magical and mysterious place and I am but one of the many enigmas that lives within it,” Ashton says solemnly. Then he giggles, like even he can’t take himself seriously. “Get in the car, come on. Lotta ground to cover.”

That’s true. Even with how far they’ve gone, they still have a long way to go. Michael takes his place in the driver’s seat and waits for Ashton to buckle his seatbelt.

The ignition is still on, but before Michael drives out he glances into the rearview mirror, reaching up to adjust it (because much as Michael hates to admit it, Luke is in fact taller than him). When he leans forward, he can see Calum in the reflection, still soundly asleep; Luke shifts until Calum’s head is on his shoulder and then leans his own head onto Calum’s mess of curls.

“Mike?” Ashton says. “We going?”

In the rearview mirror, Luke smiles at him, and this time Michael smiles back.

“Yeah,” he says, and shifts into first. “We’re going.”

#michael clifford #luke hemmings #muke #muke fic #5sos #5sos fic #fic #my fic #as i was editing this to post it i got FOUR new asks. i am Nervous and Stressed omg #i have literally written four fics in the past. like. how many hours has it been? four? five? #SIX? i don't know but point being Stress ! #enjoy this friend i liked writing cute muke #im not sure ive necessarily ever written a cute muke like this #i like them #oh my fuckign god i have YET ANOTHER ask in the time it took me to draft this to ao3 #STRESS EMOJI !!!!! :STRESS: #everything is fine nobody panic #ptv-etc #ask #answered

[sokkathebluewolf]

I am chickened out from gladiator because it is this long and it keeps getting longer is it worth my time to read it ??

... Uh, well. I can’t help but wonder if you’re aware this blog is run by the actual author of the story in question? I don’t know if you expect me to give you a non-biased answer when I’ve considered the story was worth 8 years of my life xD as far as I’m concerned, it absolutely has been worth it, but I can’t speak for the whole wide world when it comes to that. If you want the opinions of readers, there’s probably other blogs run by people who have read the story and who might have critical opinions about it... that may be what you were looking for. If, however, you were deliberately hoping to get my opinion on my own story... well, yes, for me it’s clearly worth it xD Otherwise, I would’ve quit ages ago.

The story is indeed very long and it keeps getting longer, and it will keep getting longer because we’re not done yet and won’t be for a while :’D if you’re the type of reader who can’t stand it when they catch up to stories and have to wait for updates, well, feel free to give it a shot when I’m done writing it, I guess? It’ll be a while until then, but it’s up to you. If you don’t like reading really long stories, then it’s probably better for you if you don’t force yourself to read this one, I know not everyone is ready to dedicate that much time to reading something, especially if they have lots of things to do. Hence, if the length daunts you, that’s alright, it daunts me too and I’m responsible for it xD it’s fine if that deters you from reading it.

But as the way you phrased your question almost sounded like you’re challenging me to give you some sort of sales pitch to catch your attention, let’s see if I can pull it off:

Gladiator is a massive ATLA AU, not only in terms of story length but also scope: it’s a complete rewrite of the entirety of ATLA in a more mature setting, starting chapter 1 with the characters 5 years older than they were in canon. Aang’s adventures in saving the world did not take place here because of a simple enough reason: Katara didn’t accompany Sokka on his boat on the fateful day when they were meant to find Aang, which means the story as we’ve known it simply doesn’t take place. I’ve taken liberties here and there, added some changes from canon when I needed to do so, in order to ensure the story works, but the gist of the story is to set a stage where the Fire Nation marched onwards, practically unopposed, and conquered the Earth Kingdom with the power of Sozin’s Comet (just in case it needs to be clarified, without certain technological developments, Ozai’s wild plan to incinerate the whole world wouldn’t happen, and if Team Avatar isn’t assembled before the Comet shows up, said technological developments simply wouldn’t exist... :’D). I’ve had to figure out how many details would change, how much of the original story would or wouldn’t happen without Team Avatar’s involvement, I think most my choices have been solid, but it’ll be up to you to decide if you think they are or not if you read the story.

The worldbuilding of Gladiator, then, is preeeetty huge and complicated because of that starting point. There’s a lot of elements that are completely new (such as the Gladiator League and all its derivates), some OCs, some lore expansion, so you can definitely say it’s an ambitious project. In a sense, I’ve reset canon to zero, and at the same time I haven’t, which makes things complicated but, for me, really fun to develop. If you’re interested in seeing more of the Avatarverse explored, characters repurposed, with new dynamics and relationships, Gladiator may just be what you’ve been looking for :D

In my experience, the main reason why most people stumble into this fic (other than by sorting FF.net’s ATLA stories by review count and drawing blanks upon glimpsing a Sokkla story on the first page xD) is because they’ve been drawn into Sokkla, or they’re looking for stories centered around Azula or Sokka. Gladiator, evidently, features all three such elements because, obviously, those two are the protagonists and their relationship is the beating heart of the whole tale. I’ve been asked in the past who’s the real protagonist and I honestly still have no idea xD but anyways, if you’re interested in reading a story with a toooooon of Azula character development, even if it takes place across a long, long time, this story may just do the trick. I’ve done the best I could to keep her character as true to what I believed a young adult Azula might become, within the circumstances of this story. She has grown a LOT in 200 chapters, goes without saying (if she hadn’t, I’d be one heck of a failure of an author x’D), so if you’re interested in seeing a slow but effective growth arc for Azula, you’ll certainly find that in Gladiator. Same is true for Sokka, but I think most people who come to this fic for Sokka are interested in seeing him being a badass, which we have plenty of as well xD still, it’s also a long and slow process for Sokka to grow into a powerful warrior, neither him nor Azula start out in the story with all the answers, and they both bump into many hurdles as they navigate their complicated lives.

There’s a lot of humor in Gladiator, perhaps more than expected with a story that has that sort of dark premise, but it’s, on great measure, because Sokka and Azula are inevitably given to banter xD if you want to read a lot of banter between those two, well, you may not be bored in 200 chapters because, while the nature of their exchanges does vary as they both develop, their conversations are usually pretty spirited and they love trying to outsmart each other all the time.

If you are already a Sokkla shipper and the main reason you’re here is because you want more Sokkla goodness in your life... I’ll just say Gladiator has become a bit of a dream come true for me as a Sokkla shipper as well, because it’s the perfect space for me to work with virtually every idea I’ve ever had for these two. Yes, there’s drama and conflict here and there, if you’re not too given to angst there’s a few parts of the story that won’t sit so well with you, though if you love angst you’ll probably enjoy them plenty... yet what I’m most proud of, with this story, is having developed their relationship not only as best I could, but I’ve also attempted to defy typical storytelling structures for romance stories, where the lead couple can’t seem to have a stable relationship because “that would be boring”. Screw that, man: these two have been in a serious relationship together in-story by now for well over half the published chapters, and I’ve had the time of my life writing their dynamics as a couple while the plot continues to develop around them. This, however, is not everyone’s cup of tea, so if you aren’t all that given to seeing such traditional romance storytelling structures dismissed because I wanted to write my favorite ship dealing with all their external struggles while finding strength in the bond they share, Gladiator may not hold your attention long enough for you to devote yourself to reading it beyond chapter 100-ish. On the other hand, if this subversion of romance structure is what you’ve been looking for all your life, or if it’s what you always wanted and never knew you wanted it, or if you’re simply curious as to whether it works or not, Gladiator may suit your interests fairly well. Again, Sokkla is the absolute center of this story, both together and independently, so if you want to see a rewrite of ATLA with them at the core of just... everything? xD that’s absolutely what you’ll find here.

That being said, there’s things I guess you should mind about Gladiator: I have some relatively controversial takes about certain things, including interpretations of fan-favorite characters that some people have been known to take offense over. I, personally, believe my interpretations of those characters don’t deviate that much from canon or that, when they do, the setting itself explains why the deviation works as it does, but due to the fact that I work with a protagonist who was in a villainous role back in ATLA, her relationships with some characters can be more complicated than a lot of people seem to believe they should be. Hence, if you’re not particularly adverse to reading content that brings up big questions about the motivations of certain characters, or how they’d react if the story from ATLA hadn’t happened exactly as it did, you’ll have enough fun in Gladiator. If, however, you don’t particularly care to see anything that shows beloved characters in a not-so-flattering light, this story may not be for you (though, if you’re willing to humor me and allow my story to question your perception of those characters, feel free to try the story as well). 

There’s also a variety of dark themes and situations in Gladiator, something that any reader should be warned about in this day and age: I am 100% against violence for the sake of violence, to name one such subject, and I generally try to portray it with as much nuance as possible, but even if I feature my own characters criticizing their violent world and wanting to put an end to the strife caused by the Fire Nation, some of the violence in Gladiator may be a little too much for the readers who prefer the tone of the original ATLA. Hence, if that’s how it is for you, it’s another reason to approach the story with caution. I won’t pretend I’ve handled every theme and subject perfectly, but I’ve never wanted the darker moments to feel gratuitous in any way, so if you’re open to reading a darker take on the Avatarverse, this may work for you after all.

Alas! If you want to see Azula growing out of the toxic Fire Nation indoctrination, if you want to see Sokka gaining confidence and strength as a man and warrior, if you want to see a fleshed-out but still very much villainous Ozai, if you want to see Toph fulfilling her dreams of joining an all-out fighting league where she can beat people up for a living, if you want to see a myriad of secondary ATLA characters (like Song, or Shoji!) given new lives and even genuine protagonism, if you want to see Zuko discovering he’s allowed to just... be happy? xD Gladiator may prove interesting enough for you.

Furthermore, if you want to see Azula being true friends with Mai and Ty Lee, discovering a dragon, developing new firebending styles, confronting her misplaced beliefs about herself, rebelling subtly (and lately, not so subtly) against her father, growing into a great leader who could change the Fire Nation’s nefarious direction...  aaand if you want to see Sokka fighting creatively (sometimes with TWO swords!), navigating the dangerous waters of interacting with Fire Lord Ozai, staying true to his beliefs while also learning that the world is not as black-and-white as he was raised to think it was, understanding himself better and making the most of his potential as a quick learner, writing embarrassing haiku and being an unapologetic rebel who goes toe-to-toe with Heads of State just because he can... yep. Probably read it? xD

Lastly... if you want to see Sokka and Azula grow through their mistakes, learning to understand each other, fighting side by side, training together, dancing to no music, learning the underrated pleasure of proper communication in a relationship, sassing each other left and right, flirting in ridiculous ways, taunting each other in many regards, laughing at each other’s terrible jokes, protecting each other fiercely, challenging each other to a spicy ramen eating contest, discovering indirect bending, being highly inappropriate at times and places where they shouldn’t be, making long, dangerous yet fun journeys together, sneaking around to meet up when they’re not supposed to, standing by each other in their darkest moments, watching over the other when they’re sick/injured, being ready to sacrifice virtually anything for each other, and even defying and defeating even death to save each other...? Well, I don’t know if there’s any other stories where you might find all of this, but I can guarantee you’ll find it in Gladiator :)

If none of this is convincing enough... that’s a shame, but I understand. If it convinced you to give it a shot, however... I guess I’ll just hope you enjoy it enough to stick around! :) thanks for taking my story into consideration regardless of whatever you decide. Have a nice day!

#anon #ask #gladiator #self-promotion I guess?

[benedictscanvas]

all the wrong places [3/7] - spencer reid x reader

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: 2.8k

Summary: It only takes a moment for Spencer to realise that he doesn’t just want to marry you someday, he wants to marry you as soon as he possibly can. But since he can’t come up with a solid plan, he turns to his BAU family for help in planning the most important day of his life so far. Is that a mistake? Most definitely.

Warnings: Series probably aren’t meant to be exclusively fluffy, but this one practically is! I need some fluff in my life, damn it! There may be some mention of regular Criminal Minds things, some language but mostly just good ol’ Spence lovin’

a chapter every day for seven days! (20-26th July 2020) so please drop an ask if you’d like to be tagged <3

---

Chapter Three - Flash Failure

Third time’s a charm?

No, turns out third time’s a fucking nightmare.

Penelope? A complete liability. Whilst Spencer knew she was an amazing friend and he couldn’t imagine any of the team’s lives without her, he also now knew that allowing her to help him with the proposal plans was not his finest moment. Allowing her was too strong a word: he had simply not stopped her.

“You booked what?”

“A flash mob! And they’re coming over to the downstairs gym later today to practice with you, make sure you know your section of the dance.”

His section? Of the dance?

“I’m not sure about this, babygirl,” Derek’s voice was wary, and if Derek was worried about it, then it must really have been one of Penelope’s outlandish ideas. But she had been so excited about Spencer proposing ever since she’d found out against his will, and when she begged to at least help with the proposal somehow, it wasn’t as if Spencer had the heart to say no.

“And why would that be, my most delicious chocolate thunder? You don’t trust me now, huh?”

“You know I trust you in every way imaginable,” he said with a wink, because they could flirt even when Spencer was clearly breaking down in the corner of the batcave, “But Spencer has messed up two perfectly easy proposals now. You think he’ll nail this one?”

“I haven’t messed them up!” Spencer said defensively, his voice just a little too high pitched, “Okay, I messed one of them up, but the other one was a terrible idea provided by JJ.”

He half expected JJ to turn the corner right at that moment to scold him, but instead there was a very familiar knocking pattern at the door that caused Spencer’s heart to drop. He pushed Garcia’s shoulder until she closed all the proposal (and wedding) tabs on the computer. On all the computers.

“Can I join the top secret batcave meeting?” your voice rang out as just your head poked round the side of the door, and Spencer’s heart melted at the fact that you really weren’t going to come in unless you were told you could.

“Hi sweetheart,” he said encouragingly, as Derek and Penelope both flashed you a signature very-not-guilty, nothing-at-all-is-going-on-here, smiles. You didn’t seem to pay them any attention, smiling widely at Spencer with abandon as you entered the room.

“Hi,” you said brightly, and Derek and Penelope would be annoyed that you’d practically ignored their presence if they weren’t kind of used to it. When you and Spencer were in a room together, 90% of the time there was no one that could tear you away from each other. The other 10% was all on cases, where your attention was elsewhere, but there would still be times that the two of you bouncing theories around would completely miss something else that had been said.

“What brings you to my lair, my dear?” Penelope asked you from her chair, which she was lightly spinning around in. You managed to turn your attention to her, and bit your lip sheepishly.

“Actually, I’ve been looking for Spence here. Wondered if he might like to join me for a very romantic lunch?”

“You’ve got a consult you want my opinion on?” he asked instantly and you groaned, pouting.

“Why couldn’t I just want to spend lunchtime with my very special boyfriend?” you say wistfully, but when he gave you that look, you huffed and relented, “Fine, I’ve got a consult I could use your expert advice on. But, I did buy you takeout to sweeten the deal?”

He shook his head, his previous proposal anxieties almost forgotten as he walked up to you, throwing an arm around your shoulder.

“You’re enough to sweeten any deal, sugar,” he said in his best Derek voice, the man himself scoffing behind him as Penelope laughed hysterically. You were giggling too under his arm, bringing a hand up to cover your mouth as Spencer led you out of the room, “Let’s go. See you later, guys.”

“Yes. 4pm in the gym for our session remember, Reid?”

“I’m not coming!” he shouted back at the two of them, already having left.

Penelope looked up at Derek as he sat on the desk above her.

“He’s definitely coming.”

“Oh yeah. He wouldn’t risk making you angry, babygirl.”

---

Actually, Spencer absolutely would risk making Garcia angry, if the other option was participating in a flash mob style dance to ‘Marry You’ by Bruno Mars before getting down on one knee in front of your chair and proposing as if what he’d just done wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

He returned to the batcave after assisting you on your consult, providing important information about a few chemical concoctions that had come into play on the case, and told Garcia on no uncertain terms that she was to cancel whatever she had planned and that he’d be doing this on his own. She reacted relatively well, even if she was a little bummed. When he promised to tell her whatever he decided to do ahead of time, she perked up a little.

So when she scurried up to his desk at the end of the day, heels clacking loudly on the floor, he never expected there to be a problem.

“We have a problem,” she said under her breath, glancing over at Hotch’s office in which you were currently sat, going over your recent performance in a routine appraisal. You’d be out in five minutes, at most. The glance she spared towards you worried Spencer more than anything.

“What kind of problem?”

“A huge one. One that I cannot explain, nor can I fix unless you and your genius brain can come up with something incredible because as it is, I’m freaking out right now.”

“Okay, Garcia, you’re going to have to try to explain it.”

“Well, maybe I can explain it,” she admitted, bobbing quietly in her place beside his desk, “But I’m not sure I want to.”

Her voice was small. Timid. She was never like this. Derek clearly noticed it too, as did Emily, since both of them came over quickly.

“Everything alright, babygirl?” Derek asked, a comforting hand on her shoulder and she reached up to put her hand over his, nuzzling into it a little. Spencer was getting more agitated by the second.

“No,” she said warily, then suddenly she ripped Derek’s hand away from her, “And I don’t deserve your comfort!”

Emily and Derek both looked dumbfounded, but Spencer stood up and took her by the elbows.

“Tell me what it is,” he said softly, but with a firm tone that she couldn’t argue against, “Whatever it is, we’ll fix it.”

She took a deep breath.

“Iforgottocanceltheflashmobandthey’reoutsiderightnow.”

“What?” it was all three of the others who said it. She sighed.

“I forgot to cancel the flash mob-” she said slowly, “-because Derek sent me a text right after you left my cave earlier. So they’re outside right now, with a huge picture of Y/N, waiting for her to exit the building which will trigger the...dancing.”

A pause.

“This better be a joke.”

“Oh god, just look out the window,” Garcia said sadly, resigned to her fate of the resident genius being immeasurably annoyed with her for the foreseeable future.

All four of them rushed over to the windows, even though Emily was only just starting to get an idea of what was happening. Sure enough, there was the mob. It truly was a mob too, at least fifty of them, with a huge picture of you on posterboard in the middle, all in colourful clothing. And there was a speaker. A large speaker.

“Fuck,” Spencer said, all matter of fact, no attempt to hide his language or keep it down.

“Yeah,” Derek breathed, eyes still on the ground, “How did you forget to cancel, Penelope?”

She whined, probably at him using her first name.

“You’re the one who sent me that particularly sexy text! What was I supposed to do? Not reply straight away?”

“Yes, Garcia,” Spencer said, sitting back down at his desk and putting his head in his hands, “That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. You were supposed to cancel that group of dancing idiots so I wouldn’t make a complete fool of myself in front of the woman I want to marry and then - then you could reply to Derek’s text.”

His voice was defeated. He couldn’t believe it. How the hell was he supposed to get out of this? There were other exits out of the building, most of them emergency exits, but they were still in the way of the car park. There was no way of getting out of this building without you seeing the mob outside, without seeing the gigantic picture of you on the sidewalk.

“This will not be the most helpful comment,” Emily piped up suddenly, coming over and crouching in front of Spencer’s hunched over frame, “But I have to say - I’m so happy for you and Y/N, Reid. You should have told me you were going to propose!”

“Oh yes, so you could offer the same kind of stellar advice I’ve received so far.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have suggested a mob,” she mumbled, earning her a sharp glance from Derek. Penelope was already feeling bad enough.

“Right, come on,” Derek said, more enthusiastically, “We have to make a plan. Y/L/N will be out of her meeting in no time, and asking you if you want to head home. What are you going to do?”

“Me?”

“Okay, okay - what are we going to do?”

“Yeah, we can help,” Emily said encouragingly, “We’re all in this together Reid. Maybe you should just take the opportunity and propose?”

“I am not proposing to Y/N in a flash mob!” he said, suddenly animated as he looked up, “You know how much she hates too much fuss. She’d hate it, and then, as a byproduct of that, she would hate me too and-”

“Y/N could never hate you, Spencer,” Emily said kindly, interrupting his worried rambles, “But if this isn’t the way you pictured it, that’s fine. We just have to get Y/N to your car, that’s it. So how can we do it?”

“Couldn’t Penelope just go downstairs and tell them to go away first?” Derek asked and Garcia shook her head, woefully.

“They don’t let people put them off once they’re ‘on location’,” she said, “Otherwise people against the engagement can call it off.”

“Oh, well that’s a sensible policy!” Spencer announced sarcastically, throwing his hands in the air.

“Woah there, Spence, everything alright over here?”

The one time that your voice wasn’t able to calm him down. Instead, all four of them turned to face you with thinly veiled panic, until Emily was able to speak up with an explanation.

“I went to a deli for lunch, dropped my sandwich,” she said quickly, shaking her head at her own supposed clumsiness, “But apparently they have a policy of no replacements.”

She looked to Spencer, urging him to back her up.

“Yeah, what kind of policy is that? Just makes me so mad-” he was laying it on way too thick, because you were starting to look concerned, “-because you should have got another sandwich, Emily! Ridiculous.”

He threw his arms up in the air again to drive the point home. Derek was physically wincing. This was the worst. The absolute worst.

“I think maybe someone needs some sleep,” you chuckled, reaching for Spencer’s hand and taking it in your own, rubbing your thumb against the back of his hand until you felt some of the tension leave his muscles, “You ready to go?”

He hesitated, just staring at you with wide eyes.

“That tired, huh? No more sad stories about sandwiches, Em, if this is what it does to him,” you laughed, but you were stepping up your soothing gestures by the second, comfort radiating from you as you let Spencer lean into you and rested a hand on his back, rubbing gentle circles. He could see the worry you held for him in your eyes, “We’ll see you guys tomorrow. Come on, you.”

You tugged him along beside you as you began to walk towards the door, picking up his satchel on your way and delicately looping it over his head until it was in his rightful place. Spencer was following, but he turned his head back to the others, flashing them a help me look that was as terrified as it was desperate.

“Wait for us!” Penelope called out, tottering after the two of you in her heels, grabbing Derek and Emily by the wrists to take them with her, “We’ll all walk out together, like a family.”

“Okay,” you chuckled, shaking your head fondly, “But be quick! I think this one’s falling asleep on me.”

Penelope nodded and hurriedly shooed the others to go get their stuff, or at least whatever they could grab quickly.

“I’ll just grab some of my stuff too then, Spence,” you said gently, taking your arm from his back as if you were worried he might fall over without the support, “You okay?”

“Tired,” he said bluntly, because now he had no idea what was going on and he couldn’t keep up. His brain was firing in every direction.

“I know, baby,” you pouted, kissing him on the cheek before you sauntered off, turning as you walked, “I’ll be two seconds.”

He counted. One, two. You were a good few seconds longer, but you really did try to be quick for him. Penelope was back at his side first, even though she’d had to run to her lair to get her stuff first. “I’ve got a plan,” she said confidently, with a nod, “I got you into this mess and I’m going to get you out, Reid, I promise.”

He smiled weakly. He felt as if he had resigned himself to whatever might happen now. It was as if he’d lost his agency, like his life was continuing around him but he’d lost all say in the narrative. Penelope placed a hand on his arm, a gesture, before you, Derek and Emily emerged from the office and the five of you stepped into the elevator.

There was little small talk on the ride down. Everyone was exhausted, after all. A couple of cases in a row would do that to you, especially when you finally had a day where the adrenaline had left you and you were left to catch up on all the sleep you had missed to replenish the energy lost. Penelope was buzzing beside you though, bobbing up and down on her heels in anticipation of something, and you wondered whether she had a date or something.

Spencer rested his head against the wall. You squeezed his hand again. He could tell you were beginning to worry there was actually something wrong, that he wasn’t just tired, so he squeezed in return. That seemed to do the trick.

You were just walking out of the building waving your ‘goodbye!’s and ‘see you tomorrow!’s when Garcia squealed. Actually squealed, loudly, right in your ear before screaming as she pointed into the distance.

“Bruno Mars!”

And then she was suddenly off, sprinting into a crowd of people that all had their backs turned, looking in the direction of Penelope’s pointing. You squinted. Where? Derek and Emily shared a look behind you and ran after Penelope, pushing through the crowd and shouting themselves. Suddenly, Spencer didn’t feel so tired as he full on grinned after his friends, particularly Penelope, who had definitely more than made up for her earlier slip. He’d make sure to text her later.

“Surely she can’t have seen Bruno Mars,” you mused aloud, still stuck in place from the shock of the squeal, “Although there is a crowd, I guess.”

You shrugged, still looking carefully. Suddenly, he was worried you were going to pull him into the crowd and everything would go wrong. But you looked at him to your side, his hand still in yours and reached up with your opposite hand to push some hair behind his ear.

“Let’s get you home, mister.”

He couldn’t stop himself, even if it ruined the whole plan.

“You don’t want to see Bruno Mars?”

“No,” you laughed simply, “Not when it’s probably fake and my favourite genius looks like he’s about to fall asleep on the sidewalk.”

You tugged him with you towards the car. He followed behind you with a spring in his step he tried to disguise, glancing back at the crowd to find Penelope grinning at him, two thumbs up in air. He nodded at her. She knew she was entirely forgiven. Not that she wouldn’t have been anyway.

It only really hit him later that night, with your head resting on his chest and your hands entwined on his stomach that you loved him enough to skip out on seeing Bruno Mars, just to take care of him.

As he looked down at your sleeping face, his dopey proposal eyes were back again. There was no getting rid of them now.

---

taglist (ily all <3)

@mrs-dr-reid @soda610 @alexxcorona113 @thupidalethea @may-beforejune-afterapril @ilovesupersoldiers @hurricanejjareau @stardream14 @mortallythoughtfulgurl @aperrywilliams @saranyx @anotherspencerreidblog @thegayestdestielshipper @burkgolden @reidsmyhusband-emilysmymistress @zozoleesi @baumindss

#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer x reader #criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fluff

[grigori77]

2020 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 2)

20.  ONWARD – Disney and Pixar’s best digitally animated family feature of 2020 (beating the admittedly impressive Soul to the punch) clearly has a love of fantasy roleplay games like Dungeons & Dragons, its quirky modern-day AU take populated by fantastical races and creatures seemingly tailor-made for the geek crowd … needless to say, me and many of my friends absolutely loved it.  That doesn’t mean that the classic Disney ideals of love, family and believing in yourself have been side-lined in favour of fan-service – this is as heartfelt, affecting and tearful as their previous standouts, albeit with plenty of literal magic added to the metaphorical kind.  The central premise is a clever one – once upon a time, magic was commonplace, but over the years technology came along to make life easier, so that in the present day the various races (elves, centaurs, fauns, pixies, goblins and trolls among others) get along fine without it. Then timid elf Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland) receives a wizard’s staff for his sixteenth birthday, a bequeathed gift from his father, who died before he was born, with instructions for a spell that could bring him back to life for one whole day.  Encouraged by his brash, over-confident wannabe adventurer elder brother Barley (Chris Pratt), Ian tries it out, only for the spell to backfire, leaving them with the animated bottom half of their father and just 24 hours to find a means to restore the rest of him before time runs out.  Cue an “epic quest” … needless to say, this is another top-notch offering from the original masters of the craft, a fun, affecting and thoroughly infectious family-friendly romp with a winning sense of humour and inspired, flawless world-building.  Holland and Pratt are both fantastic, their instantly believable, ill-at-ease little/big brother chemistry effortlessly driving the story through its ingenious paces, and the ensuing emotional fireworks are hilarious and heart-breaking in equal measure, while there’s typically excellent support from Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine from Seinfeld) as Ian and Barley’s put-upon but supportive mum, Laurel, Octavia Spencer as once-mighty adventurer-turned-restaurateur “Corey” the Manticore and Mel Rodriguez (Getting On, The Last Man On Earth) as overbearing centaur cop (and Laurel’s new boyfriend) Colt Bronco.  The film marks the sophomore feature gig for Dan Scanlon, who debuted with 2013’s sequel Monsters University, and while that was enjoyable enough I ultimately found it non-essential – no such verdict can be levelled against THIS film, the writer-director delivering magnificently in all categories, while the animation team have outdone themselves in every scene, from the exquisite environments and character/creature designs to some fantastic (and frequently delightfully bonkers) set-pieces, while there’s a veritable riot of brilliant RPG in-jokes to delight geekier viewers (gelatinous cube! XD).  Massive, unadulterated fun, frequently hilarious and absolutely BURSTING with Disney’s trademark heart, this was ALMOST my animated feature of the year.  More on that later …

19.  THE GENTLEMEN – Guy Ritchie’s been having a rough time with his last few movies (The Man From UNCLE didn’t do too bad but it wasn’t exactly a hit and was largely overlooked or simply ignored, while intended franchise-starter King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was largely derided and suffered badly on release, dying a quick death financially – it’s a shame on both counts, because I really liked them), so it’s nice to see him having some proper success with his latest, even if he has basically reverted to type to do it.  Still, when his newest London gangster flick is THIS GOOD it seems churlish to quibble – this really is what he does best, bringing together a collection of colourful geezers and shaking up their status quo, then standing back and letting us enjoy the bloody, expletive-riddled results. This particularly motley crew is another winning selection, led by Matthew McConaughey as ruthlessly successful cannabis baron Mickey Pearson, who’s looking to retire from the game by selling off his massive and highly lucrative enterprise for a most tidy sum (some $400,000,000 to be precise) to up-and-coming fellow American ex-pat Matthew Berger (Succession’s Jeremy Strong, oozing sleazy charm), only for local Chinese triad Dry Eye (Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding, chewing the scenery with enthusiasm) to start throwing spanners into the works with the intention of nabbing the deal for himself for a significant discount.  Needless to say Mickey’s not about to let that happen … McConaughey is ON FIRE here, the best he’s been since Dallas Buyers Club in my opinion, clearly having great fun sinking his teeth into this rich character and Ritchie’s typically sparkling, razor-witted dialogue, and he’s ably supported by a quality ensemble cast, particularly co-star Charlie Hunnam as Mickey’s ice-cold, steel-nerved right-hand-man Raymond Smith, Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery as his classy, strong-willed wife Rosalind, Colin Farrell as a wise-cracking, quietly exasperated MMA trainer and small-time hood simply known as the Coach (who gets many of the film’s best lines), and, most notably, Hugh Grant as the film’s nominal narrator, thoroughly morally bankrupt private investigator Fletcher, who consistently steals the film.  This is Guy Ritchie at his very best – a twisty rug-puller of a plot that constantly leaves you guessing, brilliantly observed and richly drawn characters you can’t help loving in spite of the fact there’s not a single hero among them, a deliciously unapologetic, politically incorrect sense of humour and a killer soundtrack.  Getting the cinematic year off to a phenomenal start, it’s EASILY Ritchie’s best film since Sherlock Holmes, and a strong call-back to the heady days of Snatch (STILL my favourite) and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.  Here’s hoping he’s on a roll again, eh?

18.  SPONTANEOUS – one of the year’s biggest under-the-radar surprise hits for me was one which I actually might not have caught if things had been a little more normal and ordered.  Thankfully with all the lockdown and cinematic shutdown bollocks going on, this fantastically subversive and deeply satirical indie teen comedy horror came along at the perfect time, and I completely flipped out over it.  Now those who know me know I don’t tend to gravitate towards teen cinema, but like all those other exceptions I’ve loved over the years, this one had a brilliantly compulsive hook I just couldn’t turn down – small-town high-schooler Mara (Knives Out and Netflix’ Cursed’s Katherine Langford) is your typical cool outsider kid, smart, snarky and just putting up with the scene until she can graduate and get as far away as possible … until one day in her senior year one of her classmates just inexplicably explodes. Like her peers, she’s shocked and she mourns, then starts to move on … until it happens again.  As the death toll among the senior class begins to mount, it becomes clear something weird is going on, but Mara has other things on her mind because the crisis has, for her, had an unexpected benefit – without it she wouldn’t have fallen in love with like-minded oddball new kid Dylan (Lean On Pete and Words On Bathroom Walls’ Charlie Plummer). The future’s looking bright, but only if they can both live to see it … this is a wickedly intelligent film, powered by a skilfully executed script and a wonderfully likeable young cast who consistently steer their characters around the potential cliched pitfalls of this kind of cinema, while debuting writer-director Brian Duffield (already a rising star thanks to scripts for Underwater, The Babysitter and blacklist darling Jane Got a Gun among others) show he’s got as much talent and flair for crafting truly inspired cinema as he has for thinking it up in the first place, delivering some impressively offbeat set-pieces and several neat twists you frequently don’t see coming ahead of time.  Langford and Plummer as a sassy, spicy pair who are easy to root for without ever getting cloying or sweet, while there’s glowing support from the likes of Hayley Law (Rioverdale, Altered Carbon, The New Romantic) as Mara’s best friend Tess, Piper Perabo and Transparent’s Rob Huebel as her increasingly concerned parents, and Insecure’s Yvonne Orji as Agent Rosetti, the beleaguered government employee sent to spearhead the investigation into exactly what’s happening to these kids.  Quirky, offbeat and endlessly inventive, this is one of those interesting instances where I’m glad they pushed the horror elements into the background so we could concentrate on the comedy, but more importantly these wonderfully well-realised and vital characters – there are some skilfully executed shocks, but far more deep belly laughs, and there’s bucketloads of heart to eclipse the gore.  Another winning debut from a talent I intend to watch with great interest in the future.

17.  HAMILTON – arriving just as Black Lives Matter reached fever-pitch levels, this feature presentation of the runaway Broadway musical smash-hit could not have been better timed. Shot over three nights during the show’s 2016 run with the original cast and cut together with specially created “setup shots”, it’s an immersive experience that at once puts you right in amongst the audience (at times almost a character themselves, never seen but DEFINITELY heard) but also lets you experience the action up close.  And what action – it’s an incredible show, a thoroughly fascinating piece of work that reads like something very staid and proper on paper (an all-encompassing biographical account of the life and times of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton) but, in execution, becomes something very different and EXTREMELY vital.  The execution certainly couldn’t be further from the usual period biopic fare this kind of historical subject matter usually gets (although in the face of recent high quality revisionist takes like Marie Antoinette, The Great and Tesla it’s not SO surprising), while the cast is not at all what you’d expect – with very few notable exceptions the cast is almost entirely people of colour, despite the fact that the real life individuals they’re playing were all very white indeed.  Every single one of them is also an absolute revelation – the show’s writer-composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (already riding high on the success of In the Heights) carries the central role of Hamilton with effortless charm and raw star power, Leslie Odom Jr. (Smash, Murder On the Orient Express) is duplicitously complex as his constant nemesis Aaron Burr, Christopher Jackson (In the Heights, Moana, Bull) oozes integrity and nobility as his mentor and friend George Washington, Phillipa Soo is sweet and classy as his wife Eliza while Renée Elise Goldsberry (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Jacks, Altered Carbon) is fiery and statuesque as her sister Angelica Schuyler (the one who got away), and Jonathan Groff (Mindhunter) consistently steals every scene he’s in as fiendish yet childish fan favourite King George III, but the show (and the film) ultimately belongs to veritable powerhouse Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, The Good Lord Bird) in a spectacular duel role, starting subtly but gaining scene-stealing momentum as French Revolutionary Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, before EXPLODING onto the stage in the second half as indomitable third American President Thomas Jefferson.  Not having seen the stage show, I was taken completely by surprise by this, revelling in its revisionist genius and offbeat, quirky hip-hop charm, spellbound by the skilful ease with which is takes the sometimes quite dull historical fact and skews it into something consistently entertaining and absorbing, transported by the catchy earworm musical numbers and thoroughly tickled by the delightfully cheeky sense of humour strung throughout (at least when I wasn’t having my heart broken by moments of raw dramatic power). Altogether it’s a pretty unique cinematic experience I wish I could have actually gotten to see on the big screen, and one I’ve consistently recommended to all my friends, even the ones who don’t usually like musicals.  As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t need a proper Les Misérables style screen adaptation – this is about as perfect a presentation as the show could possibly hope for.

16.  SPUTNIK – summer’s horror highlight (despite SERIOUSLY tough competition) was a guaranteed sleeper hit that I almost missed entirely, stumbling across the trailer one day on YouTube and getting bowled over by its potential, prompting me to hunt it down by any means necessary.  The feature debut of Russian director Egor Abramenko, this first contact sci-fi chiller is about as far from E.T. as it’s possible to get, sharing some of the same DNA as Carpenter’s The Thing but proudly carving its own path with consummate skill and definitely signalling great things to come from its brand new helmer and relative unknown screenwriters Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev.  Oksana Akinshina (probably best known in the West for her powerful climactic cameo in The Bourne Supremacy) is the beating heart of the film as neurophysiologist Tatyana Yuryevna Klimova, brought in to aid in the investigation in the Russian wilderness circa 1983 after an orbital research mission goes horribly wrong.  One of the cosmonauts dies horribly, while the other, Konstantin (The Duelist’s Pyotr Fyodorov) seems unharmed, but it quickly becomes clear that he’s now the host for something decidedly extraterrestrial and potentially terrifying, and as Tatyana becomes more deeply embroiled in her assignment she comes to realise that her superiors, particularly mysterious Red Army project leader Colonel Semiradov (The PyraMMMid’s Fyodor Bondarchuk), have far more insidious plans for Konstantin and his new “friend” than she could ever imagine. This is about as dark, intense and nightmarish as this particular sub-genre gets, a magnificently icky body horror that slowly builds its tension as we’re gradually exposed to the various truths and the awful gravity of the situation slowly reveals itself, punctuated by skilfully executed shocks and some particularly horrifying moments when the evils inflicted by the humans in charge prove far worse than anything the alien can do, while the ridiculously talented writers have a field day pulling the rug out from under us again and again, never going for the obvious twist and keeping us guessing right to the devastating ending, while the beautifully crafted digital creature effects are nothing short of astonishing and thoroughly creepy.  Akinshina dominates the film with her unbridled grace, vulnerability and integrity, the relationship that develops between Tatyana and Konstantin (Fyodorov delivering a beautifully understated turn belying deep inner turmoil) feeling realistically earned as it goes from tentatively wary to tragically bittersweet, while Bondarchuk invests the Colonel with a nuanced air of tarnished authority and restrained brutality that made him one of my top screen villains for the year.  One of 2020’s great sleeper hits, I can’t speak of this film highly enough – it’s a genuine revelation, an instant classic for whom I’ll sing its praises for years to come, and I wish enormous future success to all the creative talents involved.

15.  THE INVISIBLE MAN – looks like third time’s a charm for Leigh Whannell, writer-director of my ALMOST horror movie of the year (more on that later) – while he’s had immense success as a horror writer over the years (co-creator of both the Saw and Insidious franchises), as a director his first two features haven’t exactly set the world alight, with debut Insidious: Chapter III garnering similar takes to the rest of the series but ultimately turning out to be a bit of a damp squib quality-wise, while his second feature Upgrade was a stone-cold masterpiece that was (rightly) EXTREMELY well received critically, but ultimately snuck in under the radar and has remained a stubbornly hidden gem since. No such problems with his third feature, though – his latest collaboration with producer Jason Blum and the insanely lucrative Blumhouse Pictures has proven a massive hit both financially AND with reviewers, and deservedly so.  Having given up on trying to create a shared cinematic universe inhabited by their classic monsters, Universal resolved to concentrate on standalones to showcase their elite properties, and their first try is a rousing success, Whannell bringing HG Wells’ dark and devious human monster smack into the 21st Century as only he can.  The result is a surprisingly subtle piece of work, much more a lethally precise exercise in cinematic sleight of hand and extraordinary acting than flashy visual effects, strictly adhering to the Blumhouse credo of maximum returns for minimum bucks as the story is stripped down to its bare essentials and allowed to play out without any unnecessary weight.  The Handmaid’s Tale’s Elizabeth Moss once again confirms what a masterful actress she is as she brings all her performing weapons to bear in the role of Cecelia “Cee” Kass, the cloistered wife of affluent but monstrously abusive optics pioneer Aidan Griffin (Netflix’ The Haunting of Hill House’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who escapes his clutches in the furiously tense opening sequence and goes to ground with the help of her closest childhood friend, San Francisco cop James Lanier (Leverage’s Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter Sydney (A Wrinkle in Time’s Storm Reid).  Two weeks later, Aidan commits suicide, leaving Cee with a fortune to start her life over (with the proviso that she’s never ruled mentally incompetent), but as she tries to find her way in the world again little things start going wrong for her, and she begins to question if there might be something insidious going on.  As her nerves start to unravel, she begins to suspect that Aidan is still alive, still very much in her life, fiendishly toying with her and her friends, but no-one can see him.  Whannell plays her paranoia up for all it’s worth, skilfully teasing out the scares so that, just like her friends, we begin to wonder if it might all be in her head after all, before a spectacular mid-movie reveal throws the switch into high gear and the true threat becomes clear.  The lion’s share of the film’s immense success must of course go to Moss – her performance is BEYOND a revelation, a blistering career best that totally powers the whole enterprise, and it goes without saying that she’s the best thing in this.  Even so, she has sterling support from Hodge and Reid, as well as Love Child’s Harriet Dyer as Cee’s estranged big sister Emily and Wonderland’s Michael Dorman as Adrian’s slimy, spineless lawyer brother Tom, and, while he doesn’t have much actual (ahem) “screen time”, Jackson-Cohen delivers a fantastically icy, subtly malevolent turn which casts a large “shadow” over the film.  This is one of my very favourite Blumhouse films, a pitch-perfect psychological chiller that keeps the tension cranked up unbearably tight and never lets go, Whannell once again displaying uncanny skill with expert jump-scares, knuckle-whitening chills and a truly astounding standout set-piece that easily goes down as one of the top action sequences of 2020. Undoubtedly the best version of Wells’ story to date, this goes a long way in repairing the damage of Universal’s abortive “Dark Universe” efforts, as well as showcasing a filmmaking master at the very height of his talents.

14.  EXTRACTION – the Coronavirus certainly has threw a massive spanner in the works of the year’s cinematic calendar – among many other casualties to the blockbuster shunt, the latest (and most long-awaited) MCU movie, Black Widow, should have opened to further record-breaking box office success at the end of spring, but instead the theatres were all closed and virtually all the heavyweights were pushed back or shelved indefinitely.  Thank God, then, for the streaming services, particularly Hulu, Amazon and Netflix, the latter of which provided a perfect movie for us to see through the key transition into the summer blockbuster season, an explosively flashy big budget action thriller ushered in by MCU alumni the Russo Brothers (who produced and co-wrote this adaptation of Ciudad, a graphic novel that Joe Russo co-created with Ande Parks and Fernando Leon Gonzalez) and barely able to contain the sheer star-power wattage of its lead, Thor himself.  Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake, a former Australian SAS operative who hires out his services to an extraction operation under the command of mercenary Nik Khan (The Patience Stone’s Golshifteh Farahani), brought in to liberate Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal in his first major role), the pre-teen son of incarcerated Indian crime lord Ovi Sr. (Pankaj Tripathi), who has been abducted by Bangladeshi rival Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli).  The rescue itself goes perfectly, but when the time comes for the hand-off the team is double-crossed and Tyler is left stranded in the middle of Dhaka with no choice but to keep Ovi alive as every corrupt cop and street gang in the city closes in around them.  This is the feature debut of Sam Hargrave, the latest stuntman to try his hand at directing, so he certainly knows his way around an action set-piece, and the result is a thoroughly breathless adrenaline rush of a film, bursting at the seams with spectacular fights, gun battles and car chases, dominated by a stunning sustained sequence that plays out in one long shot, guaranteed to leave jaws lying on the floor.  Not that there should be any surprise – Hargrave cut his teeth as a stunt coordinator for the Russos on Captain America: Civil War and their Avengers films.  That said, he displays strong talent for the quieter disciplines of filmmaking too, delivering quality character development and drawing out consistently noteworthy performances from his cast.  Of course, Hemsworth can do the action stuff in his sleep, but there’s a lot more to Tyler than just his muscle, the MCU veteran investing him with real wounded vulnerability and a tragic fatalism which colours every scene, while Jaiswal is exceptional throughout, showing plenty of promise for the future, and there’s strong support from Farahani and Painyuli, as well as Stranger Things’ David Harbour as world-weary retired merc Gaspard, and a particularly impressive, muscular turn from Randeep Hooda (Once Upon a Time in Mumbai) as Saju, a former Para and Ovi’s bodyguard, who’s determined to take possession of the boy himself, even if he has to go through Tyler to get him.  This is action cinema that really deserves to be seen on the big screen – I watched it twice in a week and would happily have paid for two trips to the cinema for it if I could have.  As we looked down the barrel of a summer season largely devoid of blockbuster fare, I couldn’t recommend this enough.  Thank the gods for Netflix …

13.  THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – although it’s definitely a film that really benefitted enormously from releasing on Netflix during the various lockdowns, this was one of the blessed few I actually got to see during one of the UK’s frustratingly rare lulls when cinemas were actually OPEN.  Rather perversely it therefore became one of my favourite cinematic experiences of 2020, but then I’m just as much a fan of well-made cerebral films as I am of the big, immersive blockbuster EXPERIENCES, so this probably still would have been a standout in a normal year. Certainly if this was a purely CRITICAL list for the year this probably would have placed high in the Top Ten … Aaron Sorkin is a writer whose work I have ardently admired ever since he went from esteemed playwright to in-demand talent for both the big screen AND the small with A Few Good Men, and TTOTC7 is just another in a long line of consistently impressive, flawlessly written works rife with addictive quickfire dialogue, beautifully observed characters and rewardingly propulsive narrative storytelling (therefore resting comfortably amongst the well-respected likes of The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War, Moneyball and The Social Network).  It also marks his second feature as a director (after fascinating and incendiary debut Molly’s Game), and once again he’s gone for true story over fiction, tackling the still controversial subject of the infamous 1968 trial of the “ringleaders” of the infamous riots which marred Chicago’s Diplomatic National Convention five months earlier, in which thousands of hippies and college students protesting the Vietnam War clashed with police.  Spurred on by the newly-instated Presidential Administration of Richard Nixon to make some examples, hungry up-and-coming prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is confident in his case, while the Seven – who include respected and astute student activist Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and confrontational counterculture firebrands Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Succession’s Jeremy Strong) – are the clear underdogs.  They’re a divided bunch (particularly Hayden and Hoffman, who never mince their words about what little regard they hold for each other), and they’re up against the combined might of the U.S. Government, while all they have on their side is pro-bono lawyer and civil rights activist William Kunstler (Mark Rylance), who’s sharp, driven and thoroughly committed to the cause but clearly massively outmatched … not to mention the fact that the judge presiding over the case is Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), a fierce and uncompromising conservative who’s clearly 100% on the Administration’s side, and who might in fact be stark raving mad (he also frequently goes to great lengths to make it clear to all concerned that he is NOT related to Abbie).  Much as we’ve come to expect from Sorkin, this is cinema of grand ideals and strong characters, not big spectacle and hard action, and all the better for it – he’s proved time and again that he’s one of the very best creative minds in Hollywood when it comes to intelligent, thought-provoking and engrossing thinking-man’s entertainment, and this is pure par for the course, keeping us glued to the screen from the skilfully-executed whirlwind introductory montage to the powerfully cathartic climax, and every varied and brilliant scene in-between.  This is heady stuff, focusing on what’s still an extremely thorny issue made all the more urgently relevant and timely given what was (and still is) going on in American politics at the time, and everyone involved here was clearly fully committed to making the film as palpable, powerful and resonant as possible for the viewer, no matter their nationality or political inclination.  Also typical for a Sorkin film, the cast are exceptional, everyone clearly having the wildest time getting their teeth into their finely-drawn characters and that magnificent dialogue – Redmayne and Baron Cohen are compellingly complimentary intellectual antagonists given their radically different approaches and their roles’ polar opposite energies, while Rylance delivers another pitch-perfect, simply ASTOUNDING performance that once again marks him as one of the very best actors of his generation, and there are particularly meaty turns from Strong, Langella, Aquaman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (as besieged Black Panther Bobby Seale) and a potent late appearance from Michael Keaton that sear themselves into the memory long after viewing. Altogether then, this is a phenomenal film which deserves to be seen no matter the format, a thought-provoking and undeniably IMPORTANT masterwork from a master cinematic storyteller that says as much about the world we live in now as the decidedly turbulent times it portrays …

12.  GREYHOUND – when the cinemas closed back in March, the fate of many of the major summer blockbusters we’d been looking forward to was thrown into terrible doubt. Some were pushed back to more amenable dates in the autumn or winter (which even then ultimately proved frustratingly ambitious), others knocked back a whole year to fill summer slots for 2021, but more than a few simply dropped off the radar entirely with the terrible words “postponed until further notice” stamped on them, and I lamented them all, this one in particular.  It hung in there longer than some, stubbornly holding onto its June release slot for as long as possible, but eventually it gave up the ghost too … but thanks to Apple TV+, not for long, ultimately releasing less than a month later than intended.  Thankfully the film itself was worth the fuss, a taut World War II suspense thriller that’s all killer, no filler – set during the infamous Battle of the Atlantic, it portrays the constant life-or-death struggle faced by the Allied warships assigned to escort the transport convoys as they crossed the ocean, defending their charges from German U-boats.  Adapted from C.S. Forester’s famous 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by Tom Hanks and directed by Aaron Schneider (Get Low), the narrative focuses on the crew of the escort leader, American destroyer USS Fletcher, codenamed “Greyhound”, and in particular its captain, Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks), a career sailor serving his first command.  As they cross “the Pit”, the most dangerous middle stretch of the journey where they spend days without air-cover, they find themselves shadowed by “the Wolf Pack”, a particularly cunning group of German submarines that begin to pick away at the convoy’s stragglers.  Faced with daunting odds, a dwindling supply of vital depth-charges and a ruthless, persistent enemy, Krause must make hard choices to bring his ships home safe … jumping into the thick of the action within the first ten minutes and maintaining its tension for the remainder of the trim 90-minute run, this is screen suspense par excellence, a sleek textbook example of how to craft a compelling big screen knuckle-whitener with zero fat and maximum reward, delivering a series of desperate naval scraps packed with hide-and-seek intensity, heart-in-mouth near-misses and fist-in-air cathartic payoffs by the bucket-load.  Hanks is subtly magnificent, the calm centre of the narrative storm as a supposed newcomer to this battle arena who could have been BORN for it, bringing to mind his similarly unflappable in Captain Phillips and certainly not suffering by comparison; by and large he’s the focus point, but other crew members make strong (if sometimes quite brief) impressions, particularly Stephen Graham as Krause’s reliably seasoned XO, Lt. Commander Charlie Cole, The Magnificent Seven’s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Just Mercy’s Rob Morgan, while Elisabeth Shue does a lot with a very small part in brief flashbacks as Krause’s fiancée Evelyn. Relentless, exhilarating and thoroughly unforgettable, this was one of the true action highlights of the summer, and one hell of a war flick.  I’m so glad it made the cut for the summer …

11.  PROJECT POWER – with Marvel and DC pushing their tent-pole titles back in the face of COVID, the usual superhero antics we’ve come to expect for the summer were pretty thin on the ground in 2020, leading us to find our geeky fan thrills elsewhere. Unfortunately, pickings were frustratingly slim – Korean comic book actioner Gundala was entertaining but workmanlike, while Thor AU Mortal was underwhelming despite strong direction from Troll Hunter’s André Øvredal, and The New Mutants just got shat on by the studio and its distributors and no mistake – thank the Gods, then, for Netflix, once again riding to the rescue with this enjoyably offbeat super-thriller, which takes an intriguing central premise and really runs with it.  New designer drug Power has hit the streets of New Orleans, able to give anyone who takes it a superpower for five minutes … the only problem is, until you try it, you don’t know what your own unique talent is – for some, it could mean five minutes of invisibility, or insane levels of super-strength, but other powers can be potentially lethal, the really unlucky buggers just blowing up on the spot.  Robin (The Hate U Give’s Dominique Fishback) is a teenage Power-pusher with dreams of becoming a rap star, dealing the pills so she can help her diabetic mum; Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of her customers, a police detective who uses his power of near invulnerability to even the playing field when supercharged crims cause a disturbance.  Their lives are turned upside down when Art (Jamie Foxx) arrives in town – he’s a seriously badass ex-soldier determined to hunt down the source of Power by any means necessary, and he’s not above tearing the Big Easy apart to do it. This is a fun, gleefully infectious rollercoaster that doesn’t take itself too seriously, revelling in the anarchic potential of its premise and crafting some suitably OTT effects-driven chaos brought to pleasingly visceral fruition by its skilfully inventive director, Ariel Schulman (Catfish, Nerve, Viral), while Mattson Tomlin (the screenwriter of the DCEU’s oft-delayed, incendiary headline act The Batman) takes the story in some very interesting directions and poses fascinating questions about what Power’s TRULY capable of.  Gordon-Levitt and Fishback are both brilliant, the latter particularly impressing in what’s sure to be a major breakthrough role for her, and the friendship their characters share is pretty adorable, while Foxx really is a force to be reckoned with, pretty chill even when he’s in deep shit but fully capable of turning into a bona fide killing machine at the flip of a switch, and there’s strong support from Westworld’s Rodrigo Santoro as Biggie, Power’s delightfully oily kingpin, Courtney B. Vance as Frank’s by-the-book superior, Captain Crane, Amy Landecker as Gardner, the morally bankrupt CIA spook responsible for the drug’s production, and Machine Gun Kelly as Newt, a Power dealer whose pyrotechnic “gift” really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Exciting, inventive, frequently amusing and infectiously likeable, this was some of the most uncomplicated cinematic fun I had all summer.  Not bad for something which I’m sure was originally destined to become one of the season’s B-list features …

#onward #onward movie #The Gentlemen #spontaneous #spontaneous movie #hamilton #hamilton movie #sputnik #sputnik movie #The Invisible Man #Extraction #extraction movie #the trial of the chicago 7 #greyhound #greyhound movie #project power #2020 in movies

[softlass27]

❛❛ C’mere. Lean on me. ❜❜ (robron AU, one of them gets hurt)

Hope you like it, Amy!

ao3 link here

Sometimes Robert forgets that he is married to a very stubborn man.

It’s easy to forget because Aaron’s a lot more open and easygoing these days, compared to how he was in the early days of their relationship. More willing to show vulnerability than he used to be.

He still has his moments, though.

Like on the football pitch.

The Woolpack football team reformed about six months ago, and actually – shockingly – they’re pretty good this time around. Now that they’ve got rid of some dead weight (Paddy, the team is too polite to say, even if Robert isn’t), recruited a couple of new players and actually had time to practice together, they’re less like a group of clumsy kids having a kickabout and more like an actual team. They’ve even started winning matches.

Matty is now a force to be reckoned with, his nimble feet making him perfect for stealing the ball from opposing players; Ellis and Billy are so in sync they practically move together as one unstoppable force; David is surprisingly good at tackles, even if he does whine like a baby every time he falls over; and Vinny is… well he’s not the best goalkeeper in the world (or even the Dales), but what he lacks in natural talent he makes up for in enthusiasm.

The star player – in Robert’s entirely unbiased opinion – is Aaron. Look, Robert’s not exactly an expert in football, but from where he’s standing (on the side of a cold, muddy field until he can’t feel his toes), Aaron scores the most goals, executes the most successful tackles, has the most energy… Robert’s earned bragging rights, okay?

So there he’s stood one chilly Saturday morning in March, like the supportive husband he is, watching Aaron and his team. Well, he’s half watching, half chatting shit with Dawn while keeping an eye on Seb and Lucas playing together.

Seb is easily Aaron’s biggest cheerleader, in awe of his dad every time he sees him play. Last month, Robert couldn’t resist surprising Seb with a tiny version of the team’s strip for him to wear to every match, and he doesn’t know who was more delighted by it, his husband or his son.

But it’s just past the 70th minute now, there’s only so long a four year-old’s attention span can last. Robert can’t say he blames him; to be honest, he’s counting down the minutes until the final whistle blows and they can all head to the warm pub for a full English.

If he had been paying more attention, perhaps he wouldn’t have missed the brutal tackle that sends Aaron flying. One second Robert’s absently checking his phone, the next he hears the unmistakable sound of his husband’s loud yell, and he whips his head up to see Aaron sprawled on the grass, his face scrunched up in agony as he grips his left ankle.

Billy and Ellis are already shouting to the ref and charging towards a player on the opposing team, who holds his hands up and loudly protests his innocence. The team checks Aaron over; Robert can hear them telling Aaron to sit out the rest of the match but he’s shaking his head and insisting that he’s good to keep going.

Robert feels a tug on his on jeans and looks down to see Seb clutching his leg worriedly. “Is Daddy okay?” His bottom lip’s already wobbling, so Robert quickly lifts him up and gives him a squeeze.

“Daddy’s fine, he just took a bit of a tumble,” he says in his best reassuring voice, despite the fact that he’s more than a little worried himself. “He’s already getting back up, see?”

Matty’s helping Aaron to his feet and he manages to stay standing, though Robert can see him wince and wobble as soon as he puts weight on his injured leg. He spots Robert and Seb staring at him and gives them both a smile and a thumbs up, before waving off his teammates’ concerns and lining up to take a free kick.

This is enough to calm Seb, who wriggles impatiently in Robert’s arms until he lets him back down and goes back to playing with Lucas. Robert, on the other hand, isn’t quite so convinced by Aaron’s supposed recovery.

He watches as Aaron continues to play for the remainder of the match, his face twisting as he tries to run without putting too much strain on his left leg. It’s only a few more minutes, but time seems to stretch out as Aaron becomes slower and slower, the clearly-increasing pain becoming more evident in his movements.

“Just stop, you idiot,” Robert mutters under his breath. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t make a difference.

To say Robert’s relieved when the ref finally blows the whistle is an understatement. If the match had gone on much longer, he would have barrelled onto the pitch and dragged Aaron off himself.

The Woolpack’s team have won 2-1, so they’re in a jubilant mood, arms thrown over each other’s shoulders and slapping each other’s backs as they come off the pitch.

“Back to the Woolpack then, lads?” Vinny cries, to which they all cheer in agreement like it’s the best idea they’ve ever heard. Robert doesn’t know why they’re so excited; they always go to the Woolpack after a match, whether they win or lose.

Aaron walks – well, hobbles – over to Seb and swings him up into the air.

“You won again!” Seb crows happily.

“Course we did, we’re the best aren’t we?” Aaron grins and tips Seb back in his arms until he’s nearly upside down – a move that never fails to make him screech with delight.

Robert runs a hand through Aaron’s sweaty hair. “You’re not going to the pub, are you?”

Aaron puts Seb down and grabs Robert’s arm as he straightens up. Robert doesn’t miss the grimace on his face, the way his weight shifts to the side of his uninjured leg.

“Yeah, course I am. Team tradition, innit?”

“But your leg, you need to rest it.”

“Don’t fuss, my leg’s fine.”

“It is not fine.”

“It’s just a twinge, I can barely feel it,” Aaron replies with all the gusto of an idiotic footballer who’s just had a big win and wants to get hammered with his mates.

“You’re practically using me as a crutch right now,” Robert points out.

“No, I’m just… touching you. Normally.”

Robert blinks and tries very hard not to scream in frustration. He is literally the only thing holding Aaron up right now.

“Right, so you won’t mind if I just – ” He quickly steps away so Aaron loses his grip and tilts sideways, gritting his teeth when his weight lands on his injured foot. He reaches out for Robert quickly.

“Okay okay, fine, you've made your point, get back here.”

Robert rolls his eyes and returns to Aaron’s side, lets him lean against his chest and rest his head on his shoulder. He can feel Aaron letting out harsh, controlled breaths against his neck.

“On a scale of one to ten, how sore are you right now?”

“Like… four?”

“So that’s a seven, then.” All that gets him is an annoyed grunt and a soft headbutt in return.

“Sorry lads,” Robert calls out to the group. “I’m taking this one home, get some ice on his dodgy leg. You’ll have to have your piss-up without him this time.”

They whine and groan like they’re all half their ages, but agree readily enough, Matty coming over to pat Aaron on the back and tell he he hopes he feels better soon.

As the rest of the team troops off towards their respective cars, Robert pulls Aaron’s left arm around his shoulder. “C’mere. Lean on me.”

They set off at a slow pace, ambling towards the car while Seb zigzags about in front of them, kicking his miniature football that he brings to every match.

“You should’ve just stopped when the prick tackled you. You’ve probably made your leg worse now, you idiot.”

“Oi, I’m injured here, you wanna try being a little nicer to me?”

“Oh, now he admits it,” Robert grumbles and grips Aaron’s wrist a little tighter. “I’m just saying, you’re not exactly 21 anymore.”

“Rich coming from you, old man.” Aaron snorts.

They continue in silence until they reach the car, twin expressions of irritation on their faces.

Robert helps Aaron into the passenger’s seat, then goes to buckle Seb into his booster seat in the back. He spots one of Seb’s pillows (they keep it in there for when he needs to nap during long car journeys) and brings it to the front, tucking it under Aaron’s foot.

“Here, that might help until we get home,” he mutters, slamming Aaron’s door and heading for the driver’s seat before he can reply.

They pull out onto the main road and set off in the direction of Emmerdale, Robert driving as carefully as he can in an attempt to avoid jostling Aaron’s leg. It doesn’t take Aaron long to notice what he’s doing, and he reaches over to run his thumb over Robert’s wrist. A silent apology for snapping.

“Sorry you couldn’t go to the pub with the others,” Robert offers, only feeling a little bit bad.

“S’okay, think I’d rather hang out with you two anyway.”

Robert doesn’t know if he entirely believes that, knows how much Aaron loves hanging out with his teammates – especially on the high of winning a match – but he appreciates the gesture.

Aaron glances back to Seb, who’s happily tearing the little collection of daisies that he’d picked into shreds (Gonna have to give the backseat another hoover tomorrow, Robert thinks with a wince).

“What d’you say, mate – us three putting our feet up, big bowl of popcorn and a How to Train Your Dragon marathon?”

“Dragons!” Seb yells, throwing the remnants of his daisy petals in the air.

Dragons are Seb’s newest favourite thing, quickly overtaking dinosaurs in his estimations (“Because dragons are like dinosaurs ‘cept they can breathe fire, Daddy,” he’d explained matter-of-factly. Robert couldn’t really fault his logic).

Aaron laughs and turns to Robert.

“So?”

Robert grins without taking his eyes from the road.

“Dragons it is.”

#my writing #robron

[maluminspace]

Genre: Fluff

Pairings: Michael Clifford/Reader

Word Count: 2.2

Requested: by @ghost0fy0u​

Okay, Hogwarts!sos is the best idea ever!!! Can I request some fluff with Slytherin Michael, Ravenclaw Reader, Nerd tutoring Jock on Potions class or Jock training nerd for a sporting event.

Trigger Warnings: Mild bullying, mild injury

A/N: Anna, I love this idea! I’m a sucker for soft Michael. I hope you like this.

***

The beads of sweat on Michael’s pale forehead start to run along the frown creases over his golden eyebrows. You’ve never seen such intense concentration his pretty green eyes as he scans the quidditch pitch for the tiny golden snitch you’d let loose about thirty minutes ago. 

It’s probably wrong for you to have such a strong crush on someone you’re meant to be training. You can’t help it, though. Michael Clifford has always seemed to catch your attention. He’s incredibly kind and sweet natured, not to mention beautiful. Unfortunately, during your six years at Hogwarts, you haven’t had much interaction with him. You’ve been incredibly focussed on your quidditch and staple classes such as Charms and Potions, whereas Michael has always seemed to favour Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. 

Maybe it was partly the way that Clifford stood out amongst his fellow Slytherins that had drawn you to him in the first place. The other key thing that’s always made him particularly attractive to you, is just how much he cares for those around him. You’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve seen him warn off bullies targeting the younger students, for example. Understandably, it’s his three friends Calum Hood, Luke Hemmings and Ashton Irwin that have always earned his fiercest loyalty. It’s that uncensored love that had caused the sweet sixth year to step up and offer to take Calum’s place as seeker on the Slytherin quidditch team, when his best friend came down with a sudden case of Spattergroit. In your opinion, it takes balls to do something like that, especially when he has no experience of playing quidditch at all. This alone showed you just how selfless Michael was and you’d been the first to offer your assistance. Having been Ravenclaw’s seeker for four years, your experience was undeniable and Michael had quickly accepted your offer.

A high-pitched giggle from somewhere behind you breaks through the fog clouding your mind. Finally pulling your attention away from the substitute Slytherin seeker. You glance over your shoulder to see two of your teammates lingering near the stands. It’s clear by their smug smirks that they’re discussing Michael and makes you incredibly angry. “Our practice ended a half hour ago, why are you still here?” You ask the two girls, allowing the irritation running through you to clearly show in your voice.

One of the girls, Pattie Grangson, your fifth year keeper, shrugs her shoulders lazily. “We were just curious as to why you’re helping to train Slytherin’s new seeker, you’re a Ravenclaw, it’d be better for us if they didn’t have a seeker.”

You roll your eyes, tired of this conversation already. “That’s how you want to win the cup, is it? Because Slytherin had to miss a game or two? That’s pathetic, Pattie!” You huff. “Michael is just trying to help out his team because his best friend got sick. I think it’s an incredibly brave and sweet thing to do, actually.”

Pattie and her friend, Halda Riveradore, exchange another snigger. “So that’s why you’re helping him…” Pattie sneers, “You fancy him!”

It’s impossible to stop the blush that colours your cheeks. You’ve managed to hide your crush on Michael pretty well up ‘til now and you’re not particularly pleased to have been called out on it. “I’m just being a good person, which is more than I can say for you! Now get out of here, you need to rest up, we have a game on Saturday!”

The two girls seem conflicted. They’re obviously inclined to tease you a little more but they also want to keep their place on your quidditch team.

“Fine…” Halda shrugs after a long moment of silence. “We’ll leave you with your boyfriend.”

Before you can even think of a snappy retort, a squeal from behind you, followed immediately by a loud thud pulls your attention back to the quidditch pitch. Your heart sinks as you find Michael laying in a tangled heap near the base of the nearest goalpost.

“Yeah, looks like he needs all the help he can get.” Pattie sneers before she and Halda head off towards the castle.

You don’t even pay them a second glance as you run over to the Slytherin boy you’re meant to be training. “Mikey!” You yell, skidding to a halt beside him. “What happened?”

Michael groans, propping himself up on one elbow and holding his forehead with his other hand. “I saw the snitch.” He replies groggily, “and I didn’t want it to get away so I flew at it and umm…” His cheeks colour up in an embarrassed blush. “I didn’t see the post, I…”

If the blonde boy didn’t look so adorable with his rosy cheeks and watery green eyes, you might have laughed at his story. You can just imagine that determined look on his face as he aimed his broom at the sneaky little snitch. It would have been adorable and you’re sort of mad you missed it, but right now he needs to be taken care of and you’re more than happy to do just that. “Oh no, did you crash into it?” You ask softly, kneeling down beside him.

The Slytherin nods bashfully, looking thoroughly mortified as though you might think he’s terribly stupid. 

 “Let me take a look at your head.” You insist, gently taking hold of his wrist and moving his hand away so that you can take a look at his injury. You sigh with relief when you see that it’s nothing more than a minor bump, albeit a rapidly bruising one. “It doesn’t look like you’ve done any serious damage but I want you to go and get checked out at the hospital wing.” You explain, running your fingertips gently over the darkening red patch on his forehead that is fast becoming anasty bruise. “Just to rule out a concussion, okay?”

Michael’s eyes sparkle with tears in the second or so before he closes them, obviously trying hard not to let them fall. “I’m sorry.” He sniffles, “I’m so stupid… I should have known I’d never be able to do this!”

“Hey…” You murmur softly, helping Michael up into a sitting position. “You’re not stupid at all. Seeker is one of the most difficult positions in a quidditch team. People usually spend years upon years trying to master it and you’ve only been training for a week! You’re doing so well.” 

The blonde stares back at you hopefully, the flush in his cheeks still burning brightly. “I feel like a failure.” He admits, his shoulders sagging in a defeated gesture. 

Without allowing your brain to process what you’re doing, you cup his face in one hand, stroking the pad of your thumb along his cheek bone. “You’re definitely not.” You reassure him. “You’re so brave and sweet for doing this. I’ve never been prouder of anyone else in my whole life.”

Michael instinctively leans into your touch, keeping his gaze on you as he tries to fight back more tears. “I promised Calum I’d try to help Slytherin win their game against Hufflepuff in a couple of weeks but I’m going to let him down, I just know it. I’m too embarrassed to even practice with the Slytherin team yet.”

You sigh, still holding his face as you harden your expression a bit. “If Calum isn’t the proudest best friend in the world right now, I’ll hex him into oblivion as soon as he’s back at school! I’ll make his Spattergroit feel like a spa treatment if he so much as jokes about you letting him down.”

The blonde lets out a watery laugh, his features relaxing slightly. “He’d never joke about anything quidditch related, he takes it as seriously as you do.”

There’s no disputing that. You’ve played against Calum plenty of times and you’ve never had a doubt about how seriously he takes his position on the team and the sport in general. It only occurs to you a moment later that Michael’s still gazing at you with a certain fondness. “Well, quidditch is serious business for people like us, Clifford.” You giggle, trying not to melt as Michael places his hand over yours, pressing your palm flat to his face. “I guess it must get boring for people who don’t care about it much, though.”

Michael shrugs, finally dropping his gaze. “I don’t think you could ever bore me.” His voice is quiet, mumbling the words as though he’s slightly scared of saying them. 

You gently remove your hand from his face, scared that you’ll do something utterly crazy like kiss him, if you don’t create a bit of physical space between the two of you. Sitting back on your heels, you try to tell yourself that the expression on Michael’s face is some lingering upset over his little mishap. That’s a much more plausible explanation than it being a display of disappointment that you backed away. “I think you’re the first person to ever say that.”

Shaking his head, Michael cautiously gets to his feet, offering you his hand to help you up. “I doubt that, a lot. You seem super smart and you’re probably the best seeker in the school…” His eyes are brimming with some emotion that you can’t quite place but it makes your heart swell nonetheless as he pulls you to your feet. “Don’t tell Calum I said that, though…” He adds hastily, tacking an adorable chuckle onto the end of his last word.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” You reply, unable to stop the fondness you have for Michael from creeping into your voice and expression. “We wouldn’t want him thinking that you preferred Ravenclaw’s team, would we?”

Michael’s cheeks turn pink again as he deliberately avoids eye contact with you. “I don’t.” He confirms, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “I just kind of a soft spot for their seeker, I guess.”

“You definitely must have a concussion.” You try to joke, attempting to ignore the way your insides seem to wriggle at the implication that Michael might feel the same about you as you do about him. “Better go and get that checked out.” Humour is always your go-to when you’re feeling awkward or usure but you hate the way that Michael curls in on himself a bit, apparently feeling a little wounded.

Perhaps you should try to backtrack and attempt to put him at ease again. You’re completely at a loss on how to do that, though. Instead, you walk over to where you’ve left your broomstick instead.

“I don’t think I need to get checked out for concussion.” Michael mumbles, following you across the grass to the base of the stand. “It’s only a tiny bump. I think it’s only my ego that got bruised.” There's an undeniable note of sadness in his voice and you just can’t shake the feeling that you're the cause of it.

“That’s definitely not true.” You reply, picking up your Firebolt and mounting it. “You’ve got quite the battlescar on your forehead, Clifford.” You finally look back at him over your shoulder and your heart sinks as you watch him touch his bruised forehead tentatively with his fingertips. 

The Slytherin chuckles softly. “I kind of hope it does scar, I might get famous…” His face brightens ever-so-slightly as you crouch down, ready to take off. “It worked for Harry Potter didn’t it?”

You laugh, hating yourself for finding his lame joke funny. “I don’t think it was his scar that made him famous really. Unless you’re going to tell people that you got that bruise from surviving the Avada Kedavra spell, I think you’ll just have to settle for being my favourite Slytherin, instead.”

Michael’s face breaks into a disbelieving smile as he reaches out to hold the handle of your broom. “Really? I always thought Calum was your favourite Slytherin.”

You shake your head, smirking slightly. “Nah, he’s just my biggest competition in quidditch, but you’re the sweetest person I ever met.”

Michael beams, his eyes glistening with a hint of hope, now. “You really think that?” He asks, his fingertips grazing the side of your hand around the handle of your broom.

“Yeah.” You smile honestly. “I hope we can hang out together a lot more besides these practices, if you’re up for it.” 

You’re not sure where your sudden confidence has come from but you’re glad of it when Michael responds with an enthusiastic nod. “I’d love that.” He grins. “I’ve always wanted to get to know you better.”

It’s completely impossible to resist Michael’s beautiful smile and you take advantage of your new-found bravery to peck a kiss to his cheek. “I have Potions last tomorrow, wanna meet me outside the dungeons for an afternoon snack before I continue teaching you how to be an amazing seeker?” You ask, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I’d love that.” The Slytherin replies, his cheeks still glowing adorably. 

You return his gesture, resisting the urge to kiss him on the lips this time. “Then it’s a date.”

Tag list: @clffrd @byxthexway @afuckingunicornn @painkillerash @moonchildsblack @calumbbyyy @h0tsos @loveroflrh @sexgodashton @megz1985 @myfalsedevotion @aulxna @honeyedlashton @tea4sykes @ghostofmashton @fairyintheglass @cashworthy @cashtonasfuck @opheliaaurora23 @5sosnsfw @wildmichaelflower @myloverboyash @easiercake​ @irwinkitten​ @cxddlyash​ @malumamongmen @cashtonasff5sos​ @iovehemmings​ @kindawannacryx​ @pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles​

#michael clifford #5sos #hogwarts!sos #michael clifford imagine #michael clifford blurb #michael clifford fic #michael clifford fluff #slytherin!michael #ravenclaw!reader #5sos imagine #5sos blurb #5sos fic #5sos fluff #michael #michael imagine #michael blurb #michael fic #my writing #ghost0fy0u #michael fluff

[phoenixyfriend]

Sasuke/Karin, 48+100

Fanfiction Trope MASH-UP Rules: Send me two (2) tropes from this list + a ship and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story.

48. Fake Dating 100. Accidentally Saving the Day

Okay so I have been struggling with this one because it just feels really mean to Karin but I finally have an idea.

Takes place after Sasuke kills Itachi, but before he goes after Killer Bee.

Also available on AO3

————

“I’ll stay with Sasuke-kun!”

Karin latches on to Sasuke’s arm and presses her cheek to his shoulder. Sasuke doesn’t want anything as little as he wants human contact right now, but there’s a pitch in Karin’s voice that isn’t usually there, and her nails are digging in to Sasuke’s arm. It’s enough that he doesn’t immediately shake her off, trying to figure out what she’s getting at.

“Oh,” the man who claims to be Madara says, voice low and rough. “I wasn’t aware you two were so… close.”

Sasuke isn’t close with anyone. Not Taka, not Naruto, not Sakura, not Ita–

“Hn,” Sasuke says, looking away. Karin giggles in a way that sounds like someone else, someone that doesn’t have scalpels in her soul, and rubs her cheek against his arm. She nuzzles, like a cat.

“Aren’t you a little young to be sharing a bed?” Madara asks, tilting his head.

“Aren’t we a little young to be international criminals?” Karin challenges back.

Madara scoffs. “Teenagers.”

He disappears in a whirl, right into his eye, and Sasuke moves away from–

Her lips press to his ear, and she whispers, “he’s still watching us.”

She pulls back, and when he meets her eyes, there squeezed half-shut, looking at him over her glasses. There’s a blush in her cheeks, an embarrassed smile on her face, and she tucks her hair behind her ear nervously. “I mean, um, if you want to, Sasuke-kun.”

Sasuke doesn’t remember how to smile. He doesn’t remember what it is to act like he enjoys somebody’s presence. His soul feels like it’s scrubbed raw, clawed open, scooped out and filled back in with pitch and tar.

He inclines his head, and says, “I’m… not in the mood.”

He just killed his brother, and Karin is implying that she suggested something like out of those dirty magazines Naruto used to look at for ideas on that stupid pervy jutsu of his.

“Of course,” Karin says, with a soft smile that does not belong on her face. She’s acting like–like Sakura. Sasuke doesn’t want soft and sweet around him. Soft and sweet get ripped up and spit out by the world. He picked Taka for a lot of reasons, but they’re all Oto brats. They’re all assholes, even Juugo sometimes. “I’ll stick to my side tonight, okay?”

There is no ‘her side.’ They’ve never shared a bed before, except that one time all four of them had been on a single mattress, and that was only because the bed had been big enough for six. For some reason. It was cheap, he hadn’t questioned it.

“Thank you,” Sasuke says instead. He meets Suigetsu’s eyes and narrows his eyes just a tad. He almost casts a genjutsu to share information, except if Madara is still watching them somehow–and Sasuke trusts Karin, if she says he is–then there’s no way to do it either handsigns or Sharingan, both of which Madara would notice. Sasuke isn’t that good yet. Very few people are.

“Let’s lie down,” Karin suggests, a hand on his upper back propelling him towards the bed in this room. Sasuke doesn’t want to leave Juugo with just Suigetsu, but whatever’s going on must be important. It has to be.

Karin wouldn’t be pulling this shit if it wasn’t.

She changes a few feet away from him, as if it’s normal for him to see her half-naked, which it isn’t, even if she’s seen him nearly naked for battle reasons, medical reasons, onsen reasons and…

Well, Karin doesn’t strip as often as Sasuke does. Most people don’t, but Karin is even more concerned about keeping her body covered than, like, that one Hyuuga in his Academy class. Karin’s got her scars, and that’s more than reason enough.

Sasuke wonders if Itachi had scars. If he’d--

“Hey.”

A hand lands on his shoulder and squeezes. He doesn’t shake it off, much as he wants to. “What.”

“You’re spiraling,” she says, like they’re actually together, and not just... whatever this is. “Come back to me.”

Is this what couples are like? He’s not sure he likes it. Sasuke’s not sure he likes anything right now.

“Come to bed,” she coaxes, like they’ve done this a million times. “You’ll feel better with some sleep.”

“I’ve been asleep for days.”

“No, you’ve been unconscious for days, it’s different,” she insists. “Listen to the medic.”

Karin isn’t, technically speaking, a medic. She’s a biological researching with a working understanding of the human body. She’s the closest he has, though. She’s probably right about this.

“Hn,” he says, but slips into bed anyway. She follows, and pulls at him when he tries to curl with his back to her.

“Sasuke,” she says, a request and a reprimand all in one. “Let me see your eyes.”

He stiffens, and her hand presses lightly to his shoulder.

“Please?” she asks, and the faintest pulse of chakra on his lightning-charred pathways taps out ge-n-ju-tsu. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

He rolls over and lets his eyes come to life, meeting hers and trapping them both in... it’s not Mangekyo, not yet, he doesn’t want to bleed for this, to bleed away Itachi’s gift on a farce of subterfuge, but there’s a bit of time-compression anyway. He knows how to do that much.

“Oh thank fuck,” Karin swears. “Thank you for playing along, Sasuke, you have no idea wh--”

“Talk,” Sasuke says.

She blinks, and pouts, and huffs, and adjusts her glasses. “That man is mad as a hatter and I don’t know exactly what his intentions are, but they’re not anything good.”

Sasuke crosses his arms and waits.

“He’s lying about being Madara, obviously,” Karin says. “And he’s... I don’t know, he’s got some technique that lets him be here-but-not, probably a variation on that teleport he showed off. I think he’s spying on us after he leaves, so I needed an excuse to just... yeah.”

“Okay,” Sasuke says. “What else?”

“Whatever he said about Itachi and the village... he’s holding back the whole truth,” Karin says. “He told some of the truth, and obviously I can’t tell exactly what he’s hiding, but there was... I dunno, satisfaction? Vindictiveness? He was, like, proud. Of Itachi getting pushed into killing the clan. I don’t know if he was involved in it or not, but my money’s on this fake Madara manipulating the clan, Itachi, the Hokage, or... I don’t know. All three? Anyone else that was involved? I don’t have enough background information to know for sure.”

Sasuke’s mental representation of himself squeezes his fingers into his biceps. He can’t keep this genjutsu up much longer without it getting suspicious. “Is he still watching us?”

“Yes.”

Fuck. “I still need to kill--”

“Sasuke, no,” she says, coming closer. “Please, just... just hold off on the revenge until we know more about what’s going on.”

“But Itachi--”

“Sasuke, please,” Karin says. “You killed Itachi. You did that, because you didn’t have all the information, and you were being manipulated and lied to by people older than you. What did I just say was happening?”

“You said he told the truth,” Sasuke says. “That Konoha--”

“FUCK Konoha,” Karin says. “Who do you trust more, me or the guy that wears a full face mask and lies about being a hundred-year-old relative?”

“But--”

“Who do you trust?” Karin demands. “Me or him?”

Sasuke doesn’t trust anyone.

“He is telling you what you want to hear,” Karin says, teeth grit. “But you met him a few hours ago, and he’s clearly incredibly suspicious. Please listen to me when I tell you that it makes more sense to collect information first. Hell, we can break into Konoha’s archives if you want. We can, I dunno, find your old team captain and tell him what fake Madara told us, and get him to break into archives for us. But, Sasuke, please remember that you picked us. You picked this team, and part of the reason you picked me is because I am the best goddamn sensor on the continent, and I know when people lie.”

She’s not wrong.

But... Itachi.

“We’ll talk again in the morning,” Sasuke decides, and breaks the genjutsu.

Karin pouts at him for a moment, and then wipes the look away and smiles at him, kind and pitying. “It gets better,” she says. “Eventually. Usually. Um, I mean, we’ve all lost a lot, but Juugo killed his parents by accident when he was four, ya know? He probably has all that ‘similar life experience’ stuff going on.”

“Can we not talk about this?” Sasuke asks, trying to talk like a... he doesn’t know. Like an upset boyfriend, maybe. “Just... I need to sleep.”

“Okay,” Karin says, and tries to take one of his hands. He pulls it away before she can touch it, and she freezes, then pulls her hand back to her own chest. “Good night, Sasuke.”

“Good night.” He sounds stilted even to his own ears. Hopefully, fake-Madara will attribute that to the trauma and grief instead of the awkwardness of not actually being in a relationship with Karin.

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

From there on, things drift sideways into Sasuke making slightly better decision on account of not trusting Obito as much, and trusting Karin to tell him when something’s a bad idea. He still makes bad decisions, because that’s just who Sasuke is as a person, but those decisions tend to skip over things like “attempts to kidnap Killer Bee” and just goes straight for Danzo. Obito is tired of his shit, but so is Kakashi, so Obito lets it slide. Sure, he’d rather have the Hachibi in the statue, but Sasuke’s causing grey hairs in a man that Obito half-hates and half-is-in-love-with, so it’s not all bad.

Zetsu does not agree, but Zetsu’s opinion is trash so we don’t care.

Technically Karin’s choice to fake date Sasuke in order to get him information does save the day, if only in the sense that the world is slightly less-fucked-over by the end of the fourth war, because Sasuke was faster about getting his head out of his ass.

#SasuKarin #Uchiha Sasuke #Uzumaki Karin #Uchiha Obito #Team Taka #Anonymous #Fake Dating #ninjas #Phoenix Answers Memes