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tarantulas4davey · 3 years

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Ufc Fighter Albert Dasilva Headcanons

hello, people who still follow me despite the fact i never post cause i’m a mess. how y’all doin? my favorite ufc fighter won the other day so now ✨this is what we’re doing✨. also i originally sent this thought to @we-are-inevitable ‘s ask box so find that post here (hi jac ilysm mwah mwah mwah)

i also wrote a part 2 so find that here !!

also,,,,, this is fairly obvious. but trigger warning for violence/physical fighting, and well as blood and injury. (it’s a rough gig y’all fjdhdb)

i sincerely apologize in advance for what a mess this post is gonna be i just had a monster and i’m hyped up on the win and this is a hyperfixation i don’t get to talk about very often so feel free to ask questions and HERE WE FUCKIN GO

OK SO

albert is just,,,,,, a violent sports guy. always has been, probably always will be.

most forms of recreational fighting, football, hockey, rugby, fuck even soccer if he gets too into it. he’s just a Built Person, and he wicked competitive, and that makes for violent displays of athleticism

I think he was probably a hockey or football guy in high school, but he was also on the wrestling team cause i said so

then after graduation he got really into kickboxing, just to have something to do cause he didn’t have school sports to play and train for all the time

and then one day his coach is like ‘hey. you’re like,,, stupid good at this. you should sign up for competitions, you might make some money.’

he does, in fact, ‘make some money’, cause in straight kickboxing? he’s pretty much unmatched on the regional scene, which is ridiculous cause he didn’t start training his stand up game til he was 18 or 19

then American Top Team (ATT, it’s a really big MMA training camp that had trained a boat load of the top talent in the UFC) approaches him like ‘y’know if you worked on your grappling you could be a really solid mma fighter’

which is HUGE, but obviously albert can’t pick up his entire life and move to florida to train with them, so him and race (this is me, of course race is with al. supportive boyfriend and number one fan alert <3) find gyms willing to work with him based in new york. then he starts signing up for shit.

he sticks with stand up fighting when he can, he likes it more and cause,,,,, well. it’s more entertaining. the higher your entertainment value, the more people watch your fights. the more people watch your fights, the more likely you are to get noticed by big promotions (like the ufc)

he uses his wrestling to keep grapplers on their feet (he’s got like a 90% takedown defense, what an icon) and he picks people apart.

he has a lot of technical skill, but he also is fiery and passionate and scrappy. he gets hit too much for his own good a lot of the time.

he’s super durable. this man can get hit clean over and over and stay on his feet, but that’s not gonna hold up forever. it takes a loss or two in a row to motivate him to change it

and oh boy does he change it

he spends a month in auckland, new zealand at city kickboxing (one of the best kickboxing gyms in the world, and they lean heavily on tactics rather than just charging forward blindly)

he’s straight up a different fighter after that. he’s quick, light on his feet, and avoids punches way easier while also setting up the angles for his own. he gets signed to the ufc 2 fights later.

his first fight is short notice. no training camp, he’s got 5 days to make weight, AND it’s against a top 10 ranked opponent. no big deal, right?

and albert, being albert, is super chill about it. sure, this is the opportunity of a lifetime, could decide his entire future as a fighter, and he’s barely got time to prepare.

but he’s in the gym every single day of the week, he doesn’t super cut on weight like most ex-wrestlers, and most importantly, it’s just fighting. all he has to do is get in the octagon and punch some dude in the face. he can do that all day.

race on the other hand,,,,,,,,

he believes in albert with his whole soul, he really does, but Fuck watching your boyfriend get hit in the head is no fucking fun. especially when you know that the guy throwing the punches has been training for months, and your guy hasn’t even had a week

so he brings jack for moral support. also cause jack is DEFINITELY a ufc fan and was the only one that would understand what was happening.

at some point in the first round albert gets caught clean, opening a cut on his cheek, which makes race Panic Even More

but he gets cleaned up between rounds, and it’s not swelling so he can still see, and it’s over by the middle of the second.

and albert wins, cause (this is fiction and i’m telling a story) of fucking course he does, and he probably wins with some stupid dramatic spinning back kick and gets clipped on twitter cause he’s just Like That

the part that makes me, as the ralbert shipper, super fucking happy is coming up but i need to add a lil real talk first

considering albert is like,,,, openly in a relationship with a man when he gets into the ufc,,,,, that makes him the first publicly gay ufc fighter. like,,,, ever.

this is realized after his hand gets raised after the ref calls the stoppage.

bruce buffer makes the official announcement, al gets his hand raised, he gets interviewed by joe rogan, and then his coaches, jack and race get to come into the cage

at first everyone things it’s a best friend or something, especially after the dap up bro hug things he gives his coaches and jack

but then albert sees race, and you can watch this boy’s face light up on the camera. then race throws his arms around albert’s neck and albert half lifts him off the ground in a hug around his waist and ok, sure, that’s not the most platonic thing you’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t prove anything

and then albert kisses race. like full, actual, on the mouth in front of all the cameras kiss. cause he doesn’t give a shit.

and nobody’s talking about his spinning back kick anymore, cause Holy Shit That Wasn’t Very Straight Of You Dasilva

but he doesn’t address it, cause every other fighter gets to kiss their wife or girlfriend or whatever in the cage after they win and nobody bats an eye, so why should it be any different for him and his boyfriend?

also, because it needs to be said, statistically there are ALREADY lgbtq+ male fighters in the ufc. like currently, in real life. they’re just not out publicly. the ufc has openly supported queer people’s rights in the past, and is partnered with 4 prominent HIV/AIDS awareness organizations. there is multiple openly queer women currently fighting in the ufc, including amanda nunes, who has been repeatedly called the greatest women’s fighter of all time. but as of right now, there is no openly mlm ufc fighters, so that would technically make albert the first. we love a trend setter. now back to what i’m supposed to be talking about djdhdbd

and eventually interviewers and fans on twitter realize that they’re only going to get one answer to vague questions about sexuality, which is “i’m dating a man and i fight people for a living. if that makes me a revolutionary, so be it bro.”

he includes race in a lot of his answers, especially in interviews where they ask more personal questions or grill him on his mental game, cause he loves race and thinks he deserves credit for everything he does to make al a better person and a better fighter

also, purely for my own entertainment, i think after he becomes champion (cause of course he does) he goes on the joe rogan podcast, and joe is pretty much the only one who gets albert to talk about any of it in a genuine way

he doesn’t get sarcasm or a blunt “can we talk about fighting, now?” like everyone else, he gets a real answer, cause that’s what albert came on to do anyway

he talks about getting together in highschool, and how it was race’s idea for him to start kickboxing in the first place, and what a fucking genius race is and how he’s getting his PhD right now, and how he didn’t want to talk about it cause he didn’t want to be the “gay fighter”, and how that’s a trivialization of his relationship with race and he refuses to let it be seen as anything but what it is, which is the best fucking thing that’s ever happened to him

just. Ugh. them <3

THIS POST IS SO LONG HOLY SHIT DHDHDHDH

anyway-

y e a h. albert dasilva would rock anyone’s shit. if i keep having thoughts about this i’ll make one about him becoming champion. thank you for your time ✨

also gonna tag @soaps-posts cause the brainrot is powerful so here you are my dear <3

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boop-le-snoot · 4 years

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PARTY FAVOURS | CHAPTER 2

Rating: Explicit. 18+

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it’s own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV.

Summary: You’re Peter’s classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don’t know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you’re lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: Bad girls are sad girls! Always wondered what goes through the mind of a spoiled, rich but intelligent and perceptive teenager? Have you found yourself craving that adrenaline rush, the danger of a forbidden fruit? Okay. That was cheesy as hell. Gross.

Let’s try again. Sarcasm? Check. Vine references? Hell yes! Crude humour? Check. Blunt honesty? Double check. We’re living in a Lana del Rey song, ladies.

The author doesn’t actually condone codependent relationships in real life. This is a filthy little fantasy. Enjoy, deviants.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @vozit @another-stark-sub @mostly-marvel-musings

Beta read by the lovely and patient @miscmarvelwritings ! She deserves all the love 💙

Peter woke me up at eight AM the next morning like the little shit that he was, demanding I make him pancakes. It wasn’t the first time I’ve had the joy to experience him in the morning and he knew exactly how to antagonise me enough to make him the special pancakes he liked so much. They had become kind of a ritual whenever he stayed over at my house, which was quite often - teachers liked me enough to pair me up with one of the most sensible kids for any projects that couldn’t be done alone by yours truly on her own.

I put on my yesterday’s dress, applied moisturizer and obediently trotted behind an excitedly mumbling Peter. The kitchen was large, beautiful and delightfully empty of any resident superheroes. I’ve indirectly crossed paths with all of the tower’s residents hanging around Tony, but I’ve yet had to speak more than polite niceties to any of them.

Spying a bowl of boiled eggs and some sort of weird salad alongside half burned toast on the counter, I suddenly understood why Peter demanded his pancakes. I strictly instructed the disaster child to stay away from my cooking process and set to work with one ear listening to his ramblings and a headphone in the other.

A set of thumping footsteps appeared behind me as I was pouring the batter for the first pancake. Their owner loudly sat down next to Peter, sighing, groaning, generally making “I’m not a morning person” sounds.

“Good morning, Mr. Barnes,” Peter’s tone was way, way too chipper.

“‘mrng,” The Sergeant grumbled. “Who’s this and why is she making pancakes?”

I turned around, spatula at the ready. “It’s me,” We’ve actually met before, but Barnes had left before I could even come over from my side of the work bench to say hello.

He nodded in acknowledgement after giving me a suspicious once-over. “One of Stark’s science children. I’m James but you can call me Bucky,” His voice sounded rough and gravely, and he clutched a coffee cup half the size of my head.

I snorted. “Science child, sure,” It wasn’t half-bad actually. I wisely choose to ignore the part of being Tony’s. No matter how hot the man was, I wasn’t anybody’s but my own, thank you very much. “Go get the bananas, Nutella and maple syrup, fellow science child.”

Peter scrambled to follow instructions as I plated the pancakes and cut the bananas into neat little rings to fill the sweet circles with. A tablespoon of Nutella, half a sliced banana, wrap, garnish with powdered sugar and pour maple syrup generously on top. I really didn’t see how this could be difficult but any and all attempts to teach Peter how to recreate my masterpiece always ended up in an absolute mess. I turned around to ask Bucky if he wanted any. The look of a man starved answered all my questions.

“You’re a goddess,” Peter moaned around his mouthful, nose smudged white with the powdered sugar.

“Gross, chew first then talk, you neanderthal,” I scoffed, prepping more batter for the second batch of pancakes. I wasn’t sure if everybody would show up but figured it would be rude to exclude them from the sheer magnificence that were my pancakes. I was just that good.

The music in my ear drowned most of Peter’s disgusting chewing noises, thankfully. My second batch vanished into thin air, inhaled by the two males like the garbage disposals that they were. Peter, in particular, ate an alarming quantity of food and I was surprised how he managed to stay so skinny. His daily eating schedule resembled the Hobbits.

More people appeared, this time acting less surprised regarding me standing at the stove. Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and her brother, all of them wandered in wearing sleep attire with various amusing prints. Thankfully, they mostly kept quiet or chatted with Peter - I would have definitely grumbled if someone tried to talk to me. As far as my body was concerned it was still the middle of the night.

“PANCAKES,” A booming voice announced and I shuddered at the sheer intensity and devotion contained in that one word. Thor.

“Please use your indoor voice,” I snapped reflectively. My brain caught up with what I just did so I hastily backtracked. “Sorry, I’m a bitch in the mornings.”

The blonde man chuckled, coming over to poke his nose into my flurry of pour-flip-fill sequence. Then, with all the grace and manners of a prince, he dipped one (1) large finger into the jar of Nutella and wandered off with it stuck in his mouth. With this turn of events the Nutella was bound to run out sooner than expected.

I turned around, annoyed confusion in plain sight. “The fuck?.. That’s gross, don’t do that,” Finding his brother (adopted!) sitting next to Thor, wearing a haughty smirk, finger still in his mouth. So Loki turned into his brother to steal Nutella from a jar. I sighed. Nobody even batted an eye. “Your alien germs are in there now, double ew.”

“Alien germs? Where?” Bruce entered the kitchen with a tablet under his arm, wearing Hulk themed pajamas, Captain America in tow. I was honestly on the verge of breaking down into hysterical laughter. Domestic Avengers wasn’t something I’d expected to see or experience, ever, much less be a part of. It took a moment for me to remind myself that they were people, too, and each of them was entitled to their own quirks.

“America, egg-splain,” Peter muttered under his breath, giggling. “Loki stuck his hand in the Nutella jar,” He pointed at said jar. “She got grumpy,” Peter pointed at me. “Don’t make her grumpy, please, I want more pancakes,” And turned his pleading puppy eyes in my direction again.

“This is indentured servitude,” I pointed my spatula at the little shit. “You just had, like, ten.” But I made more batter nonetheless. I must admit it was kind of cool, seeing the earth’s mightiest defenders so relaxed. And Pete being happy, that was just… The best. I don’t know how to explain it. His eternal cheerfulness was highly contagious.

Chuckles filled up the room, the adults chatting and bickering amongst themselves while they patiently waited for their own breakfast.

“Do you need some help?” Bruce approached me after stopping to fetch himself a cup of tea. It smelled strongly of tangy herbs and honey.

“I need more Nutella and bananas,” I admitted, surveying the sheer amount of people I had to feed. I didn’t doubt the Captain and two Asgardians had an appetite to match Peter’s which meant a literal extra set of condiments was required. Thankfully, Bruce fetched them for me, coming to a stop next to me. “Anything else?”

“You know, I tried making these with Peter and he just ended up with powdered sugar and chocolate all over himself,” I mused, noting the way Banner was carefully observing the assembly of a pancake. “You think Doctor seven-phds can manage to add a few toppings to a pancake without causing a disaster?“

Bruce rolled his eyes fondly, bumping me with his hip. "I’m no Clint Barton when it comes to cooking but at least I don’t burn my toast like Steve,” True to his word, his hands made swift motions of filling, wrapping and plating each individual pancake. They were almost as good as mine albeit more messy. I had lots of practice though. We finished off a batch in companionable silence, sounds of the team and my music playing in the background.

I didn’t notice when I started swaying to the rhythm, catching a confused look from Bruce. I brushed back my hair, revealing a wireless headphone in my ear and he chuckled in understanding. “What are you listening to?”

“Right now? Kings of Leon,” I said, leaning towards him so he could hear the chorus “Use Somebody” currently occupying my right ear.

“I like them, too,” He said, his cheek gently touching mine. His hands slowed on the pancake, a soft hum vaguely reminding me of the song’s melody emanating from his throat. “What else do you usually listen to?”

“Mostly heavier stuff, but I have a whole separate playlist dedicated to mid-2000s bops,” I answered. “I’ve heard I’m quite old school when it comes to music.”

“Well, I am an old man, so…” Bruce grinned mischievously. “But my guilty pleasure is Lady Gaga,” He admitted with a laugh.

I laughed, too. The image of his dancing in his lab to Born This Way was too much for my brain and I hung my head, fighting giggles. Bruce bumped me with his hip again, faking a pout. “Okay, okay, that was a fucking hilarious image, you go dude,” I finally powered through my struggle to contain laughter. “My own guilty pleasure would be… Umm… Lana Del Rey, I guess.”

Bruce made a vague noise of confusion. I took a brief break from mixing the batter to dig out my second headphone, presenting it to him and switching to a song. “This is what makes us girls”. Despite the fact I have never stolen a car or had a close female friend, the nostalgia was real. “Carmen” followed after the first song and I silently thanked whatever deity that “You can be the boss” was taken out of Spotify - I don’t think I was prepared to share that kind of information with a lab partner. An older, handsome lab partner. Wait… Where did that come from?

“I like it,” He said after the song ended and my more usual stuff began playing. “It suits you, I think.”

I groaned. “Really? I think it’s edgy,” Hiding away the embarrassment, I passed him a tray of freshly baked pancakes, occupying his immediate attention.

“You’re an old soul,” He gave me a lopsided smile. I saw a very faint blush tinting his cheeks, the kind of blush that had me wondering about the meaning behind his words.

I gave an attempt at a smile in response, the left corner of my mouth barely tilting up. We talked some more about the rock music we shared in our earphones. I had a lot of 80s hair metal and 90s grunge in my playlist. Bruce was not a Curt Cobain man but enjoyed the works of his legacy, Marcy Playground.

A tan hand wormed its way between me and Bruce, snatching a handful of banana slices and disappeared just as swiftly. “Tonyyy,” Bruce groaned, picking up another banana to replace the stolen pieces.

The spatula in my hand became a weapon as I blindly aimed at the target behind my back. A loud “ow” indicated I hit it. When I turned around, Tony was clutching the side of his face, a hurt look in his eyes and cheeks stuffed full of stolen goods. I stared him square in the face, absolutely refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was shirtless - the arc reactor glowed brightly in the middle of his toned chest. Fuck.

His chest was honestly what I was aiming for. I constantly kept forgetting how short he actually was. There was this one time when Tony had to put his arms around me to steady a piece of tech - he felt huge, hard and enormous around me.

“What’s that for, Princess?” He finally chewed through his food and found his voice.

“For being a Tony,” I retorted. “Stay away from my workspace and wait for your breakfast like everybody else.”

“Hey! This is my kitchen,” He whined immediately, like the adult man that he was. I nearly cried from how adorable his face became, eyebrows scrunched up. “I don’t want to wait! And why does he,” Tony’s finger accusingly pointed at Bruce, “Get the bananas?!”

“Because he’s Brucie-bear,” I stuck my nose up in the air when Bruce’s arm wrapped around my waist. “He’s my science father,” I stuck my tongue out at Tony, seeing Bruce’s triumphant smile. Banner used every opportunity to get back at Tony’s incessant sass.

The gleaming in Tony’s eyes should have alarmed me. “But he’s not your science daddy,” Tony’s flirting was accompanied by a salacious eyebrow wiggle and Peter’s screech of “OH MY GOD!"

It took me every ounce of willpower to not flush. It was one of those rare times that I was at a complete loss of words. Thinking on the spot, I gave a very meaningful look to Bruce - thankfully, he got the gist and returned an equally filthy smirk back. Tony gaped.

"Is this how they are in the lab?” The Captain’s quiet voice leaked horrified amusement.

“All.The.Time.” Peter’s resonating groan was followed by Romanoff’s laughter.

We went up to the lab after breakfast. Thankfully Tony stopped his dramatic bitching when I served him my pancakes, scarfing them down much like everybody else. So me and Pete were accompanied by one (1) happy engineer, all three of us tinkering away on a robot that we were supposed to present in our science class in a month. The focus that was required to solder was immense and our usual banter was missing, replaced by an occasional request for a specific tool or a water bottle.

It took a few hours to get the dirty job done even with Tony’s help (technically he wasn’t supposed to but neither me nor Pete had the heart to forbid him from it when the man looked so content and happy soldering away). By the time I uncurled from my spot on the bench, my back was in knots and my dress had oil stains and holes all over it. I immediately went to the nearest water bottle, finishing half of it in seconds, picking up my phone to see if I had any important messages from my mother.

None.

Just a message from Bruce.

I tapped on my phone, idly scrolling through the Instagram app, liking some pictures of people I barely knew and keeping up a general appearance of being very busy. When the ringtone started playing, it took me a whole five seconds to understand it was, in fact, coming from my phone - I certainly wouldn’t put something so… Outrageous as my main tone.

Banner had discovered the power of the internet. You Can Be The Boss played loudly, and it played from my phone and Bruce was calling me. I picked it up, turning around, fighting the incoming laughter. “Yes, Brucie?"

To say that Tony’s and Peter’s faces were scandalised was nothing. The boy’s face was such a deep shade of red, I started worrying about his blood pressure and Tony’s mouth hung open limply, like he was witnessing the second coming of Christ.

"Is Tony sufficiently traumatized?” Judging by the breathless tone of his voice, Banner was resisting a mighty laughing fit of his own.

“Oh, absolutely,” I happily chirped.

“Good, keep it up. Come to my lab before you leave,” Banner snorted and then, realising what he’d done, promptly hung up, the tell-tale beginning of a giggle fit abruptly interrupted by a dial tone.

I put the phone in my bag, gathering the rest of my things with a look somewhere between innocence and indifference. At least, I hoped it was - my mind kept jumping between the engineer’s ridiculously scandalised face and the way his mouth went slack, lips moist and soft and plush. That’s a very dangerous trail.

A very dangerous trail I couldn’t resist exploring in the solitude and privacy of my own bedroom, at home.

#bun writes #party favours #tony stark x reader #tony stark x y/n #bruce banner x reader #bruce banner x y/n #stephen strange x reader #Stephen Strange x y/n

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chappedandfadedvds · 4 years

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Nov 26th, Thursday 23:17

„I thought you’d be in bed already?“

Jens had just finished the dishes, ready to head to bed, after he spent hours trying to get all his notes for his french test ready next week. He wasn’t worried that he would fail. Perhaps a little worried.

His mother stood in the doorway to her room, when he reached the last step, causing him to watch her perplexed.

„Me too, but it looks like my side of the bed was taken before I had a chance.“

Curious Jens went up to her, sticking his head over her shoulder. Lotte was his mom’s bed, sleeping peacefuly despite the lamp on the night stand lighting the room.

They just stood there for a moment and watched the little girl. Til his mom took a step back, weak on her feet. He helped her get down and joined right after. Causing them both to sit side by side, propped up against the wall across the stairs. He had his legs pulled up, his arms hugging his knees as he stared straight ahead.

„Lucas is my boyfriend.“

It just bursted out of him, the first thing that had come to mind. He probably should have said it sooner. He didn’t even know why he hadn’t done that til now.

„No! Really?“ His mother exclaimed shoked in pretence, nudging him lightly as she chuckled.

„What reaction do you want? Strict parent, or not understanding mother, or perhaps I could tell you, I always knew you weren’t as hetero as you believed. Even though that would be a lie.“

Jens bit his lip to contain his amusement. Instead he tilted his head as if he needed to consider her words. Jens definitely knew who was responsible for his personality. Even though they only had gotten as close and on par with each other since the diagnoses. She wasn’t just a parent any longer to him. He wished they had been like that earlier. They had fought rather often. Certainly him having been to blame for most of it. Sneaking out to meet Britt and later Jana, or getting caught coming home high and drunk. Perhaps he had to change first to get to this point.

„How about your genuine feelings?“

He therefore asked, not much worried that she would dismiss his boyfriend. It took her a second to think about it before she spoke.

„Obviously I like him a lot, and I’m glad you have him, you always seem happier with Lucas around. He is very kind. And he can keep up with your assholery.“

„Assholery?“ He snorted.

„Yes, hush! You can really suck sometimes. And regarding him being a boy. I don’t care. I just want you to be loved, respected and supported. That’s all that is important to me.“

Lucas was that, wasn’t he?

„I just wanted to actually tell you this, you know, in person. Out loud.“

His mother nodded, grinning at him, as they both had turned their heads while talking. Though he brought his eyes back onto the banister of the stairs infront of him, pulling on the ends of his hoodie’s sleves.

„Don’t you think it’s unfair to him?“

„What is?“

„This. Like I know I’m his real first relationship. And I had Britt and Jana and, like, other girls before him. I feel like I’m keeping him from something. I don’t know what exactly. Dating around. Hooking up casually. Not remembering the girl you drunk kissed last night at a party.“

„Speaking from experience, I take it.“ His mother sounded gleeful as she said it. She wasn’t wrong. Not that he would actually tell her that. She knew anyway. So he went on.

„Just something that makes him regret it in the future, if he stays for all of this that is my fucking life.“

„You haven’t talked about this with him?“

Jens stayed silent. They both knew better than expecting him openly talking about his personal feelings. Late night talks with his mom though made it easier.

„I think Lucas is at an age to decide that for himself. In fact you are both graduating soon, just enjoy the time you two get to have. You are both teenagers. Nobody expects this to last forever. You are dating for what? A month? Don’t worry about what’s after, and talk to him, tell him what you think. Take it easy.“

She concluded, reaching over to place her hand on his knee. Her thumb brushing over it in light circles.

„I don’t know.“

„Then what do you actually know?“

Sometimes his mother murdered him in cold blood with her quips.

“Hey!” He exclaimed accusatory. She was his mother. She had to love him unconditional. Not be mean to him.

They both were nonetheless enjoying the quiet banter and even the silence that followed when the two of them were each sunken in their own heads.

„I’ve written your father.“ His mother suddenly said, making his head spun round. He hadn’t known they were in contact. The last two years went completely by without any message nor a mention of his dad.

„I don’t have his phone number, but his mail adress, and so I’ve told him today about everything that is happening right now. He is still the man I had planned to grow old with, the man I’d die next to. Even after all these years I can’t quite forget about him. He should know at least.“

She sounded saddened as she spoke, her voice low and resigned.

„I’m not gonna let him come back here and take Lotte.“

It was all Jens honestly cared for, even if it was cold to ignore his mothers remeining love for his father. He knew that his parents were officially still married. To his knowledge neither his father nor his mother ever hadn’t gotten into a serious relationship after they broke it off.

„Let me finish, okay?“ She interrupted his thoughts. „I also did it to send him a form Alex gave me for him to sign, and waive his position of choice as the legal guardian. I thought you may not want to talk to him yourself. It’s also one less thing for you to worry about it.“

„Thank you.“ He was greateful for that, honestly. He should have stopped at that, yet still found himself asking: „Why did you let him do this to you?“

„What?“ She looked at him puzzled, perhaps retracing her words to figure out what Jens was getting at.

„Let him leave you.“ He expanded on his question. Something he realised he had thought about since his father had left them six years ago. Jens probably should have asked this years ago in order to understand, because he never could figure it out. His father was just gone for months on end, and one day for good.

„It wasn’t something that came over night. We both knew since we began dating at university. He had always talked about his plans and ambitions. And I always reminded him that I wanted children more than anything else. So he gave me you three to love and I gave him his freedom.“

„Aren’t you regretting it?“

„Letting him go?“

Jens nodded. Yes exactly. Like how can you merry a person you know will leave you at some point. Maybe even a fixed point as his father began his expeditions and travels right after his phd.

„No. Well sometimes. When you three drove me crazy. Especially that one day you decided to give your baby sister the cream jar, for her to smear all over the living room, herself and you included. I had to bath you three for an hour to get everything washed out. Cried two more hours after. And the armchair, the poor armchair had to be thrown out.“

She laughed, as she indulged in her reminiscence. He couldn’t help but smile at her. They really had done some dumb stuff when they were younger. How his mother had managed to keep Lies and him in check while tending to Lotte was a mystery to Jens.

„But no I don’t regret ever having had all of you. Nor having let him follow his passion and do his work. I think he would have stayed had I asked him to. But he would have come to resent me for it one day. Sometimes you have to let people go because you love them.“

„Sounds stupid.“

His mother just giggled at his blunt response. She rose her hand ruffling his hair, ignoring his complaint as leaned away to escape her teasing.

„Maybe you are right.“ She admitted sheeply. „I am your mother, but I really don’t know shit.“ She grinned brightly at him as he watched her amused. „To let you in on the secret of adulthood. You just have to wing it most of the times and hope for the best.“

His groan could have probably woken his sister if she wouldn’t be such a deep sleeper.

„This sucks.“

„It does.“ She agreed without hesitation, trying to comfort him with a kiss to his forehead. It helped a little.

„So what are your plans?“

„For what?“

„I don’t know.“ She shrugged, leaving him none the wiser on if she was playing at something. Maybe Lucas had talked to her today?

„Senne invited us all for christmas to go to his grandparent’s cabin in switzerland.“

„Really?“ He hadn’t expected her to look so happy while surprised.

„Yes.“ The confirmation was just a little whisper. He was uncomfortable to talk about it. Jens knew she would want him to go. And he knew he couldn’t just leave her at home, and enjoy his holidays, knowing his mom’s declining health. What kind of son would he be?

„Wow now I’m very jealous.“

„I’m not going.“ He cut her off, before she could say anything else. Of course it was already to late, her cheery expression already faltering.

„Why? Come on, Jens, tell them that you will join their trip.“

„It would be our last christmas.“

He only had to send her one look, to make her understand and sigh.

„I know. But I’d rather have you spend some weeks away from all of this. Get your head free a little, get distracted. I had planned to go see my mom in Brussel anyway, if I can, before... You know. So you could drop off Lotte and me on the way and then see your friends. Sit in front of a fire with them. Kiss your boyfriend on a mountaintop. I don’t know. Just enjoy your time, before you’ll have your little sister tag along on any other vacation for the next couple of years.“

It sounded so easy when his mother said it. As if he could just turn his brain off for a moment and not think about her all the time when she wasn’t around. But he supposed she had a point. Especially at the end of her little monologue.

„Geez. You might be right.“

„I always am. So you are going?“

He kinda hated how bold she smiled, knowing she had made him consider it and probably accept Senne’s invitation. Damn her.

„I’ll sleep on it.“ He sighed once more, while he rolled his eyes especially hard.

„Good enough for me. We should probably head to bed as well. When will Lucas be here with his mom for breakfast again?“

Oh. That reminded Jens of what he actually had wanted to do after dinner, when he had stood in his room questioning why he had made the trip upstairs in the first place He definitely had taken his phone off the charger and down back to the kitchen, didn’t meant he had actually sent the text.

„Eh... Shit, should probably message him. I forgot. What was it? Nine thirty? Ten?“

Lucas had said something before he had left.

„I can’t believe I am leaving all of this and the responsibitliies to you.“

His mother cluck her tounge, as she shook her head. Her expression definitely amused.

„Funny. Come, I’ll help you up.“ He said getting to his feet first before he extended his hand for her to take. They both needed a moment to recover, stretching in place after having lingered in the same position for a while. And on the hard floor as well.

In turn it was her now reaching out for him, to nudge him towards her room. Both squeezing in on the free side of the bed. His mother only reaching over to turn off the light and call it a day.

__ __ __

tagged: @odi-et-amo85, @tayspots

#week 5 #wtfock #skam #vds #jens stoffels #lucas van der heijden #chapped and faded #mama stoffels #i'll miss writing these #one of the last easy talks between them

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somethings-and-a-few-others · 4 years

Text

Tick. Tick.

A Short Story

Why do people even buy books that big? Books like that can only be described one way. Academic. A collection of jargon and theories so dense they aren’t even sold in commercial book stores. Books with more pages than a dictionary lining his shelves and collecting dust. For what? To prove he’s read them? To tell people he can read them? To let people know that he owns books than are seen more as a sign of intelligence than reading material? He probably hasn’t even read them.

Normally, you can dissect a human's personality by looking at the spaces they spend most of their time in. My eyes bounced from shelf to shelf and I couldn’t find an ounce of him. No family photos, no fishing buddies and a big catch, no candid shot on a golf course – nothing. Just textbooks and degrees, and a massive clock mounted right behind his chair.

Tick. Tick.

“Are you going to answer my question, or are you planning to watch the clock for the rest of the hour?”

He sounded a little irritated, but if anyone should be pissed it’s me. Once a week I have to listen to this educated professional tell me what my problems are cause I got a little drunk and started yelling at a gas station attendant… for the third time. So what? I’m an adult who’s allowed to make adult decisions. Besides, there are people with bigger issues than mine out there. If this has to go on until he has a consolidated list of all my problems, I’m dying in this office. He doesn’t want to be here, I don’t want to be here, so let’s not and say we did.

He let go of a deep disappointed sigh and said, “One more time.” Another sigh as he said, “Name a time you remember feeling thoroughly disappointed.”

“That goddamn purple bike,” I said.

“Elaborate.” With that, there was a click of a pen and the sound of yet another page turning. This needed to be over soon.

“You’re the shrink, aren’t you? Dig deep into that statement. What can you find, doc? You think it’s cancer?”

“We go through this every week.” He arched a grey brow, “Your statements are vague declarations that have proven to be nothing more than suppositions, so there isn’t anything to dig into. I have a PhD, not an MD, and you were funny in the beginning but now the jokes are becoming quite unimaginative,” he said as he took a sip from his water glass.

Why do old men always make drinking anything such an auditory experience? His swallowing was louder than the car horns outside.

As he swallowed he said, “Don’t forget why you’re here Jeffrey.” With a satisfied exhale, “you family is worried about. You’ve been in and out of prison cells and rehabs, it’s only a matter of time before you end up in a morgue. Is that what you want, Jeffery? You would rather end up dead than talk to me? If you don’t cooperate, thing aren’t looking too good.”

I sunk into a lumpy couch I didn’t want to be in, and stared up at a ceiling I was tired of looking at. I started counting the cracks in the plaster. What kind of shrink doesn’t invest in a comfy sofa? Isn’t that counter intuitive?

“You know, I feel like I’m doing all the work for you. I’m the one that has to answer all the questions and then I have to tell you about how it screwed me up. Where’s my degree in psychology?”

“You probably soaked it in booze while you were out binge drinking – now what about the bike, Jeffery?”

He put the glass down, sat back in his chair, and crossed his legs. His black pants rode up enough for me to see his socks. He was wearing pinstriped socks. Who wore pinstriped socks? Then he just sat there… just staring at me. Those beady eyes peered at me over his reading glasses, those decrepit looking fingers tapping his pen against his notepad. I could hear the clock ticking. Tick. Tick. I wondered how long we could sit in silence before he said something again, maybe til the end of the session. Hopeful-

“You know Jeffery –”

Apparently not that long.

“You could simply talk. Who is it gonna hurt? Your ego? It’ll heal eventually.”

I hate that guy. I hate all the guys like him. Talking like living 100 years makes them experts on anything other than their own shitty lives. The life he’s lived isn’t the life I’m living.

Tick. Tick.

He sighed deeply again and dropped his notepad and pen on the table next to his water glass. He stroked his temples as he looked at his watch, relief washed over his face when he realized what time it was.

“That is our time for today. We will pick up where we left off next week.”

…

“I never thought the smell of cigarettes and road work could be so soothing. That office was stuffy.”

It was clean, I guess, but being in there made me feel like I was in a box – no, under a microscope. Everything felt sterile and I felt like something that had to be observed, not a person that was being talked to. The bookshelves towed higher than I could reach, that clock was loud, the way that guy swallowed made my skin itch. The idea of going back there next week made me want to jump off of a bridge.

“Well what about the bike?”

“What?”

“I don’t particularly care about your life mister, but I am sorta interested in that bike story,” she says as she hands a man in a trench coat a hotdog haphazardly wrapped in a napkin. “What was so depressing about that bike?” she says while she waves a pair of tongs dripping with hotdog water in my face.

“When I was eight years old, there was this purple mountain bike I begged for. We walked into this store – can’t remember which one so let’s just say it was a Walmart – and you know how they have those displays that go all the way up to the ceiling with bikes? They’re so high up and convoluted, you have to call a worker to get one. Then that worker has to get a stick that has a funny looking hook on the end and another worker with, like, keys or something. Anyways, I wanted this bike that was at the top of the display. I begged for that bike, I was ready to sell my soul for that shiny bitch. So I asked for it.”

“One sec,” she flips a few sausages on the grill and grabs a few more out of the cooler next to her feet. The smell of raw and cooked hotdogs fight and mingle with the smell of concrete and exhaust fumes. “’kay, what happened next?”

She hands me a soda I didn’t ask for from of the cooler and sits down on the empty crate next me.

“I was given a set of rules and conditions. All the usual ones: gotta clean my room, gotta get the grades, ‘don’t get into any shit – don’t let nobody be callin’ my house about you,’ is what my mom said. I was ready. I was the best I’d been since infancy.”

“Hey! Can I get some service here please,” some suit with a scowl says.

The lady hotdog vendor hops up, snatches a bun off one of the selves on her cart, and tucks a sausage into it. She hands it to the suit and the suit hands her some change.

“Continue,” she says. She plops back down onto the crate next to me.

“Shoulda known my poor ass family couldn’t afford to get me a new bike. You know, months went by? I remember biting my lip and fidgeting at night thinking about how cool I was gonna be riding that thing to school. I would stay up wondering when it would come. Then I turned ten and gave the fuck up. Never even bothered asking about it.”

“Hm,” She takes a sip. “So let me ask you this, you just told a stranger what your therapist has been trying to get you to say for weeks. Why are you willing to spill your guts on a sidewalk behind a hotdog cart but not on a couch in therapy? ”

“Cause I’ll never see you again after I pay you for this hotdog,” I say while sipping on the soda I’m assuming is free. “The more I tell him, the longer I have to sit on his couch.”

She furrows her brow as she stands up to hand the next customer their street meat.

She says, “Your family went out of their way to set all this up for you so you don’t end up dead in an ally somewhere, and you’re worried about impressions? You sound like an idiot.”

“Well they wouldn’t have needed to pay for therapy if they had bought me that bike now would they?”

“That’s foul?” she says.

“No what’s foul is making your kid promises you have no intention of keeping with no follow-up or apology for twenty years. But hey, that’s why I’m seeing a shrink,” I retort as a finish my hotdog.

They pick and choose when they want to care about me and it’s contradicting – some would argue the root of all my issues. But I’m the one that looks like the bad guy. I’m the one that looks like the ungrateful drunk with no feelings or sense of decency. Fuck that shrink and this lady too. I finish my free soda and stand up. I pay for my food and tip the hotdog lady for her time. If I was drunk I probably would have yelled at her for telling me to go talk to that bitch of a therapist.

I walk away and sigh. I need a drink a lot harder than a soda.

- r.s // “Tick. Tick.” // 2020

#short story #alcoholic #fiction #My writing #new story #spilled ink #depression #therapy

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romancingromanoff · 5 years

Text

I See The Stars (Carol Danvers x femme reader)

Fluffytown trip for when the reader feels insecure about dating Carol when they’re just a normal human.

Congratulations, on behalf of the Admissions Committe we would like to offer you a place-

“YES!” you try to muffle your scream but let yourself at least fist punch the air before standing up to look over your cubicle walls and make sure nobody heard you. Looking at the clock it read 4:37, so you only had a little over twenty minutes before you could get off work and celebrate. And you knew that the first person you were going to tell was your girlfriend.

You half skip-jogged your way out from the elevator and pushed your way past the crowds of New York commuters flooding into the streets at five. Rushing down the subway steps you almost dropped your card you were just shaking with so much excitement and energy. The ride uptown had no unexpected stops or breakdowns, thank God, and you soon made it to your stop at the Wakandan Consulate. Coming up from the ground, a gasp from a nearby crowd caught your attention and you looked up to see what they were watching with a fat grin on your face. Even after six months of dating, you still got butterflies in your stomach watching your girlfriend fly around like a real life fireball. You watched her land on the roof of the consulate where some other people were waiting for her before quickly trying to cross the street to run up there and greet her yourself.

“I like the feel of it,” Carol remarked lifting up her arms and admiring how lightweight yet sturdy the new vibranium made suit she was wearing held up.

“I am glad that you do,” T’Challa smiled obviously pleased with how impressed she was. “We can also customize the colors of course. My sister, Shuri, has already come up with a few different template ideas.”

“Great, I’d love to take a look at them,” she nodded when the sight of a familiar looking little person running towards her caught her eye. “Hey baby!” she exclaimed as you ran into her arms and she lifted you up and spun you around.

You have her a quick peck on the lips before she set you down. “I got in!” you squealed and she immediately spun you around some more making you laugh. “Oof, watch the dress though,” you didn’t want the neckline slipping down anymore than it already was. At least, just not in public.”

“Sorry, but I knew you would! They’d be stupid not to take you!”

“Well, having a girlfriend that’s actually seen a black hole helps out a lot too.” You were an aspiring astro-physicist and now a soon-to-be PhD student at MIT as of thirty minutes ago. Your work primarily centered around black hole research which is why you first bombarded Carol with a load of questions that first day Tony had introduced you two. You were usually super nervous around cute girls but the nerd in you just took over and began rambling once you found out who she was. Eventually, Carol actually got so aggravated by your nonstop talking that she had to shush your lips with her finger and said, “Can you just be quiet for a second so I can get your name and ask you out on a date?” You has been utterly mortified, shocked, and flattered at the same time.

“Can we go grab some milkshakes to celebrate?”

There was a small retro diner that you’d been wanting to go try with your girlfriend. It had everything from the jukebox to the workers in paper hats to the neon lights, and, most importantly it was said to make the biggest milkshakes ever.

“I’m so sorry babe,” Carol frowns sadly. “There’s an emergency on a dwarf planet a couple of light years away from here that I need to go take care of. I won’t be back till the day after tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Oh,” you were trying so hard to hide the disappointment in your voice. “I totally understand, go save the universe sweetie.”

“Cool. I’ll let you know if I spot any black holes along the way,” she offers and you just smile as best as you can. “Oh, and can you help pick out my new suit design for me? You’re the only one I trust, babe.”

And just like that, her entire body glowed gold and she shot up through the sky and beyond the planet’s atmosphere faster than the speed of light. As you continued to watch her till she was nothing but the size of a pushpin, your phone in your pocket vibrated and you pulled it out. Your phone case was one of those clear ones you had just picked up off of a street vendor in China town for about 3 bucks but it never failed to make you smile because behind it with some dried up flower petals from cherry blossom season was your favorite polaroid picture of you and your girlfriend. Looking at it you longed for those days when Carol didn’t have to keep checking the clock or her messages to check for some galaxy wide emergency.

Your best friend had texted you asking about your admissions decision. But aside from the one message, the rest of your evening was pretty uneventful which left you and your thoughts all alone for some serious over-thinking time. You decided to walk back home most of the way since you had nothing better to do and when you got to your apartment you mechanically heated up some leftovers, sat on your couch and browsed through shows on Netflix before finally settling on the one you just rewatch over and over, then eventually passed out some time in the early morning. So when you woke up the next day, not only were your eyes extremely groggy but you also smacked your tongue at that familiar taste of overnight breath. In the bathroom you accidentally dropped your toothbrush so you ran out to a drugstore on your block to buy a new one. You really only needed one, but if you bought four in a pack then it would save you money in the long-term and you just couldn’t decide between those two options.

“Hey! I don’t got all day, lady!” a grouchy old man barked at you to make a decision and stop blocking the aisle.

“Sorry,” you mumbled still half-awake just grabbing for the one toothbrush. As you paid for it and began to walk back to your apartment a really terrible thought dawned upon you. Was this your actual life? How was it that your girlfriend was out single-handedly saving different planets while the most impactful thing you had done today was piss off a cranky old dude? You just felt so useless compared to Carol; the idea of being so painfully normal made you question why she had even been interested in you in the first place.

“Shit,” you said opening your bag and realizing that you’d actually grabbed a children’s toothbrush. It was purple and had Skye on it from Paw Patrol but at this point you couldn’t care less. The stupid toothbrush had just helped you get through the greatest obstacle you’d had in the past two weeks. It was absolutely humiliating imagining how stupid and insignificant your problems were compared to your girlfriend’s. You just couldn’t see how she took you seriously with your lowly, mundane problems.

“Babe, you would not believe the size of the army I just fought. One blast and I vaporized an entire ship!” Carol said entering your shared apartment to find you with your arms crossed on the kitchen table. In front of you was a bunch of scrapbooks you had been staring at all night. But what she noticed was weird was that while you were looking at all of the cut out newspaper headlines and epic shots of her that had made the news there was only one picture of yourself up there. It was a polaroid that had been taken of you when you won $1000 from a scratch ticket. In the picture you were holding it up all excited and Carol personally loved how cute you looked in it.

“What’s wrong, babe?” she could tell something was up. Her girlfriend was just not in her usual chipper mood and she seemed awfully down wearing her grey sweatpants that matched the dark circles under her eyes.

Carol rests her hand on your shoulder but turn and walk away not brave enough to face her. “You do all of this amazing stuff everyday like it’s no big deal. You have powers and have been to places that I probably can’t even dream about they’re so complicated. I just don’t understand why you’d be interested in me - just a normal human. I mean, it’s not even like I have special powers like your other friends and could ever keep up with you.”

“Y/N, that’s not important to me.”

“No, Carol, you don’t understand. I can’t even let you pick me up and fly me around with you because I have freaking asthma. I just feel like you’re always grounded because of me and I just hold you down when you could be doing so much more with anyone else.”

“Listen to me,” the blonde kneeled down next to your seat and took your hands into hers with a fierceness and look of determination in her eyes. She wanted you to take her words very seriously. “I love you for you. There’s nothing that you have to prove to me because I already fell in love with the girl who’s extremely smart when, frankly, I rush into bad decisions; the girl who’s patient with me when I’m quick-tempered; the girl who’s selfless when I’m arrogant; and the girl who also loves me for more than just being able to shoot fire out of my fists. You hate thinking that you keep me grounded? Y/N, you’re the only one that keeps me sane most of the time! Before I met you I was so lost and had no idea where my place was in the universe, but you brought me back down to Earth and reminded of where I belong and who I am. Nobody else can do that.”

You sniffle because even though you’ve been telling yourself for the past few days that you’re not special at all, only Carol can make you feel this way. Only she can make you feel like you’re the only person in the universe that matters.

“I need you, you dork,” she snorts playfully pulling on your hands. “Without you I’m just Captain Marvel to everyone else and to myself. You helped bring back the girl that I’ve always been: Carol. She wouldn’t be here without you. I wouldn’t be here without you,” she gently cups your cheek in her hand and you notice its still a bit warm and cooling down, but that just shows you how intensely she’s feeling these feelings for you.

She moves her lips up to plant a small kiss on your forehead (which have always been a favorite of yours and hers) before moving down to take your lips into her own with a gentleness she rarely shows to other people. This softer side of her is just reserved for you; only you can tame her when her flame gets to be too wild and you cry into the kiss just thinking about what she’s trying to show you with her light, considerate touches. But she’s also more than welcome to deepen it when you start letting your own feelings of passion take over and you speed up the pace. There really is a beautiful balance between the two of you that you don’t plan on messing up ever.

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unproduciblesmackdown · 4 years

Note

i was gonna send an ask like "have you considered: 'anger is a type of geography' + 4x11" and then i checked and you actually had! but if you feel like considering it More then here's a free space

oh thanks for these Layers of Allyship re: humoring my repeated [anger geography sign tapping] and checking for things and then sending me asks about it all to invite yet more Consideration.........yeah i feel like i mentioned it at least once in tags or smthing lol??? but here comes yet more consideration / giving it an In The Text post if that doesn’t exist already yet either

the Anger Is A Type Of Geography Quote From Hanif Abdurraqib in question for everyone’s reference:

anger is a type of geography. the ways out of it expand the more you love a person. the more forgiveness you might be willing to afford each other opens up new and unexpected roads. and so, for some, staying angry at someone you love is a reasonable option. to stay angry at someone you know will forgive your anger is a type of love, or at least it is a type of familiarity that can feel like love.

like, yeah sure what with winston originally talking to lauren and mafee about this and taylor Happening to walk in on it, he probably wasn’t necessarily planning to go off on his Indignant Monologue to taylor right then and there, but the fact remains that he was willing to do so, and i definitely think that that wouldn’t be the case if he didn’t have this Respect for them and think that they have respect for him in turn, and if he didn’t also think that that mutual respect is holding hands with mutually valuing each other. like, he wouldn’t say it if he didn’t think taylor might actually listen / consider what he says, and he wouldn’t even Want to say it if he didn’t give a shit about them, because he’s not just complaining about “um i simply ask for more money,” it’s about the fact he Feels Disrespected by the implied deprioritization of tmc employees and that the way this (false lol) choice is presented to them being Unfair and disingenuous. like, you could (and im sure most viewers do) interpret the other stuff he says as just him backing up his “Pay Me” argument when all he really cares about is the Pay Me part, but a) that’s not how We roll and b) doesn’t make sense with winston being just as happy as anyone else in 4x12with taylor Apologizing re: many of these 4x11 points, despite them not saying they were gonna change the Bonus situation lol, and c) it Does make sense to think that the Mutual Respect between taylor and winston matters to him due to [see: the rest of this post]

well wait lol first of all yeah sure the money Must matter to him b/c nobody could possibly be in the world of High Finance as a passion project (except for taylor apparently lmao cuz i mean we know that the Real reason they are determined to stick with hedge fundery (and involved in the first place) is b/c they are the best part of the show and elevate all the other Lesser Elements of it as well) and also we can figure that this was probably winston’s first year working a Big Time Official Job and he doesn’t have the savings that other ppl might when they’ve been in the business multiple years, and this seems to be backed up by lauren referring to him as they guy who’d be the First One Smothered by either taking a bonus cut by 40% or not getting that bonus at all until a whole other year, which, like he seems to also imply, is also Unhelpful in that surely these investment finance people turn around and invest their own finances, and Bonus Now is better than Bonus Then b/c.....interest....Long Shares.......and also just like tfw you want your job to pay you.......but anyways Seriously [next paragraph]

cuz winston *must* be working at Taylor Mason Capital b/c he really values working with taylor more than, say, wanting a job that will make him the most money, or will necessarily look the best on a resumé if he’s just looking to up his stats, b/c yeah, this is sure an unlikely opportunity for him where this is what we’re assuming is his First Fancy Job and he’s getting to be the Top Quant right out of the gate, but he must also know that like, it’s still like “oh so you were head quant at a brand new fund :/” and also he must know that there’s a Risk with said fund and he might even end up having been head quant at a new fund that burned out really quick, super impressive........and, we Know that winston *knows* how good he is at what he does, even though he keeps getting dunked on for that like he’s sooo conceited lol like. he IS that good, sorry!!!! why should he downplay it, we don’t actually see him being one of these shitheads with a fragile ego trying to prove themselves Superior or whatever.....ANYWAYS yeah the point being that, winston claiming to have a lot of offers already in the interview might very well Not be any kind of bluff, and he’d surely know that he could rise through the Quant Ranks quickly enough at some other fund even if he started out as anything but Our Main Quant at those places.......and if Getting Tf Paid Top Dollar was really his primary concern, “go with the brand new hedge fund which doesn’t have Established History / Experience / Clout and has the one big investor but who knows what’ll come next and any business that Just opened is not your safest bet even if you trust in your own skill and in that of your ceo and you Know that even if you’re not immediately destroyed, funds will be tighter / of a Lesser Amount than at a bigger established fund”.........the now-dramatic-irony of him talking about how those Tech Firms Out West pay guarantees, not bonuses.........like, when he was trying to get onboard with axe cap, he was obvs interested in trying to leverage to get Paid more, which is like, not necessarily winston wanting to be a trillionaire but also just how stupidly everyone’s supposed to like Play The Game of negotiating / leveraging / calling your employer’s bluff to get a certain starting salary / get a raise or whatever, dumb as hell baked-in Requirement........discuss your wages with coworkers gang!!! anyways. and but Also winston makes it clear when interviewing for axe cap that Working With Taylor Mason has appeal, even if he’s flippant about it, cuz he’s flippant about all of it cuz that’s his shtick here.....

like, when it’s Taylor Alone who calls him back eventually, he’s fine with meeting up with Just Them, and later on meeting up with Just Them (and the other quants, rip) again, and agrees to work in this lil basement evidently Not on axe cap premises b/c he’d been at axe cap’s offices and this is Not That Place......and yeah him talking about taylor selling axe on using his algorithm in kompenso sure implies that winston has this whole time Assumed that all of this was still ultimately in the service of axe cap.......and he was apparently fine with reporting to Taylor Alone and not getting to rub elbows with any other higher-ups, and he’s obviously pleased well enough with a “good work :)” from taylor and isn’t like “hey be sure to tell axe & co i did this singlehandedly etc” or anything, and he’s not really complaining about the whole “work in this lil basement Not at axe cap hq with taylor mason dropping in at least once to check on you and that’s about it” situation, which obviously is hardly that “You’re A Valued Axe Cap Employee” treatment one might expect if they wanted that.....winston’s glad that taylor called him, he’s trying to appeal to them and what *they* want to see rather than how he tried to go for what he thinks [a place like axe cap] would wanna see like he did in the interview, he’s showing up at this weird basement rendezvous to be on a 3 person quant team of taylor’s, he’s fine to not only do this on his own but also accept those increased demands that make it a [fifty(? or 15, either way) phds would work on this]-Level task, and then he’s glad just to have taylor’s approval at the end of the day.......they Wouldn’t have been able to promise him any leverage of “please do your best work on this” with like, promotions / clout within axe cap or axe-cap-levels of Lots Of Payment b/c like, well taylor wouldn’t outright lie anyways but also Especially wouldn’t if they wanted to keep this quant around for tmc, so winston must never have been asking about that kind of thing

and then, bless your Missing Scene fic but there’s zero canon content re: “uh how/when did taylor break it to winston that this algorithm was for their own fund actually and btw do you want to work for that fund instead,” but presumably it went smoothly enough, he was already happy to Effectively work for them alone apparently even if he still thought that yeah, he was working for taylor who was working for axe........just Yeah altogether it’s evident that “Working With Taylor Mason” must matter more to him than “working with any Other big name financiers” or “getting paid as much as he can get” or “raking in that clout asap to leverage with Other jobs or just like, in general.”

and then of course you have the fact that taylor is Recognizing his ability by calling him back and offering him this job, going “despite your demeanor your skills are superior” and “those other two were sweet, but you’re more talented, i need you,” [praying hands emoji], and giving him this Second Chance and entrusting him with this Solo re: building this algorithm which, unbeknownst at the time to him, is really this linchpin of their hopes & dreams of launching their own secret fund here, and really they must’ve been planning from the start to keep him around if he succeeded b/c it’s not like the algorithm and their whole planned Quant Department wouldn’t continue to be integral to the fund’s success, it wouldn’t really be ideal to have this guy be the one to build an algorithm to reel in an investor who’s working in.....wait for it......billions of dollars here, and then be like, okay bye dude. they must Know how good he is same as winston knows how good he is, and him being Head Quant from the very start was surely never just about mase cap having precious few employees at the very start of things....they could’ve like given him that Lead Position temporarily or whatever, they’re ceo. but they really do value him as like, maybe he doesn’t have the ideal ~personality~ for what fucking ever, either for being Properly Assertive and Impressively Flashy like axe cap might want, or just easy to work with, which taylor would care more about than axe cap would lol, but yknow, they value his Abilities and surely they must also value his efforts re: I Promise To Try and re: his really singlehandedly making that brilliant amazing algorithm which evidently did the trick as they hoped it would

and then......dare i get to the Emotional part of things, the Interpersonal....the anger and the love...............

i mean already when winnie n tay are having their post-math-meetup meetup, aka the first time they’re meeting After their disastrous really-first meeting aka the Interview, you have winston taking a way more grounded approach to this “yeah i want to work for you please accept me” process which is obviously in response to what he thinks Taylor wants from him based on the mess of the interview, evident thanks to winston telling them that he’s been thinking about all of that.......and i mean, part of taylor’s whole thing is they have that grounded approach pretty much always lol, (or try to....Want to...), but they sure seem to Also be bringing this effort to Accommodate him based on the hot mess of the interview, wherein yeah they wouldn’t’ve expected to have to ever interact again with this person they were dunking into the trash (and of course from that Meta Perspective, the scene when originally written was meant to be winston’s only appearance ever), but they really seem to also be bringing a more dialed down approach, letting him talk first and going along with his “you ever done math meetup” intro until he’s the one who changes the subject, and i really see that Head Tilt as a sympathetic one lol, not necessarily like “awww :’0″ levels lmao but still like. they Know he’s likely to have some [emotional vulnerability] re: what last went down between them since they weren’t especially gentle with him then, and they like, demonstrably give a shit about that fact lol. they’re also not just wholly swinging in the other direction to make up for it or anything lol but they’re Also making it clear that, yknow, they’re willing to work with him For Real, not just in this “are you willing to work for me, y/n, okay great” way, but in this way of [winston making an effort to make things easier on taylor] and [taylor making an effort to make things easier on winston] which is already playing out here between them.

and the whole matter of winston’s seemingly genuine Dismay at messing up even part of this exchange, i.e. the “[wince-ston] damn it, sorry,” like, sure maybe he just really wants the job, but [see: everything above about how he Must primarily want to work with taylor re: wanting any of these jobs lol] and, after all, he “oh shit, sorry”s @ them when he’s well-established as their Head Quant in ep 4x08 and generally shows this directed-at-self displeasure at thinking he’s messed something up even without some clear “your (potential) job is on the line” element......he just Doesn’t Want To Disappoint Taylor Themself, doesn’t need some particular fear of further repercussion behind that.

and speaking of Lack Of Fear, you Know we love to point out how kompenso (and really winston’s :/ + “sure, why not :\”ness at the end of 3x09 lol) demonstrates that winston isn’t afraid of taylor either as an [intense and unusually-demeanor'd person who Does apparently strike people as Scary(tm) sometimes lol] or as this Esteemed Rising Star Axe Cap Higher-Up or simply as his de facto boss.........he’s not raring to tell them that the other quants bailed b/c of his own disapproval lol, but he’s honest as soon as they deduce as much, the tone of “fine, yes, big time” + his standing up to get even closer to them instead of just shaking in his desk chair like :c pls forgive me obviously does Not convey that he’s terrified of them, and then the rest of that interaction jsut being like, ugh god so fucking essential, they’re both able to stand face to face and be like I Am Looking Directly At It / I Do See It re: each other, both of them just continuing to be Honest and Direct with each other, God.....taylor might’ve swatted his metaphor away but he was not all that put out, and then they’re Using His Own Language by bringing it back three seconds later, like, yeah sure at this point they have a vested interest in this individual quant (the only one left lol) accepting this Demanding Task, but a) they’re not exactly playing it cool on that front, they Just said “i need You,” it’s unlikely that this is just some all manipulative tactic here by encouraging his metaphor after all lol and that’s hardly their style anyways even if they Can be strategic(tm) about things, and b) they’ve Just Previously adopted his own words lol with winston having said “as for not being a dick” and taylor saying “you backslid into being a dick” (combining His Phrasing with Theirs aka “if you promise not to backslide”....god!!!!!!)

and so then yeah to top it all off winston even ~pushes his luck~ lol by being a lil deliberately rude re: his ex-coworkers lmaoo, and you get taylor’s Reaction to being sort of tested here to be Closing Off Their Expression (speaking of....their tiny lil Eyebrow Twitch when winston infers that he’s making something to pitch to an investor.....god!!!!!! a) winnie n tay and b) emmy) and making it clear that their interest in him acting Easy To Work With was a practical matter......winston watching them go up the stairs, taylor looking back at him as they Ascend and he gets back to his desk.....jesus

the point being!!! they vibe with each other so well by Kompenso already and just *get* how the other operates and communicates and Neither Of Them are offput by the other, Neither Of Them are unwilling or uninterested in meeting each other where they’re at, and each exerting this effort to really work with each other........and how winston is Not intimidated by taylor as either someone who’s so ~weird~ and can be so Intense, or as someone who is his boss lol........which yknow we always also point out as Important re: tayston developing from this point, where taylor would be careful in how they approach winston about fwbship but would feel like it was even reasonable to consider it in the first place thanks to not having to feel like oh he definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable being honest if he wanted to say no / wasn’t sure

also Yeah It’s Billions but winston freely swearing with the F-word when they’re assessing the completed algorithm, which taylor has no reaction to lol.......the both of them being Hyped about this algorithm lol, like, Of Course they’d both be, but it’s fun :)

and then 4x03, with winston not acting terrified about there being potential Algorithm Problems, and taylor making sure to be like “don’t you dare blame latency” lol like which obv he May Have been planning to mention lol since he’s intending to give this technical answer rather than throwing out his Front Running / Interference Theory like mafee then does.....fun little moment too anyways.......taylor Allowing winston’s tangent about being cassandra and emails and “it’s pronounced owned,” like, they’re not raring to Interrupt / cut him off even if it’s Not obvious what he has to say is absolutely crucial and considered relevant by everyone else, and they’re not telling him he’s a stupid idiot and wasting their time or anything else before sending him away.......imagine. and just think about the beauty of winston very intently / earnestly saying his “i’m cassandra: Always Seeing The Future” right to taylor.

and in 4x08 they build on his metaphor Again after having just Validated him despite everyone else really wanting to do the opposite lol......i “lol” but would everyone else lay off a little Lol......his self-reproach upon Registering that disapproval / oh-no-i’ve-messed-upness again.......then despite winston Standing Right Beside and then Sitting Right Behind taylor they don’t really interact l o l .....we have taylor being all “why is He so happy” and silently observing his Solo “i won” moment, rip, but also congrats.....and then i suppose that covers the Prior To 4x11 stuff lol

just......even re: the relative little we’ve Seen between them up to that point, winston might not have intended to talk to taylor right then, and he might or might not have intended to eventually talk to them in front of anyone else, but You Know He Knows that taylor listens to him, and that he doesn’t have to like, say things in what other people think is The Right And Effective Way to talk (even by billions’s fucking off the shits standards on that front lol), because taylor Does care about what he actually means and what his actual intentions are, not just “oh that very direct/honest thing you said Seemed rude whether you intended it or not”.......the “sad” after his yngwie malmsteen metaphor was the only time they’ve critiqued something like that lol and they then used that metaphor, So, and they’ve copied him calling himself a dick lol, and they built on his Sword metaphor, and they’ve just always been interested in Understanding him and communicating effectively with him, not in trying to get him to communicate differently or just making sure he knows He Should Feel Bad about how he Does communicate, though god knows the latter is something that everyone else seems to be somewhat #about. god knows some axe capper would have that “are you finished?” simply be the Purely Rhetorical intro to their barrage of Dunking-Upon insults, although it sure seems possible that that could’ve been sort of gently dismissive enough anyways to Encourage winston to not be finished even if maybe he would’ve stopped there otherwise.....but everyone else follows taylor’s lead in Not Actually Interrupting Him at any point, despite all the 9_9 and >:| as it were, and like, even though taylor then lets this whole thing end just with mafee going tf off on winston and bullying him into deferring and would-be deference, b/c winston might have this amount of moxie and he might be honest and he might not be scared of taylor (or anyone else here really) but he’s obviously not that assertive and definitely not that aggressive, he’s self-loathing, he’s easily put out, and all of this just bolsters how much it means that he communicates so well with taylor, b/c they’re Not interested in anything that would be counterproductive to actual effective communication but which might be “productive” if they had a goal of wanting to twist his arm about anything or pressure him into acting a certain way or just fueling their own ego or sense of superiority, axe cap style. they Value all his actual input and they have this respect for him where they don’t Want to bully him even if it’s not that difficult, like, yeah mafee was being mean to him for sure and trying to insult him into simply shutting tf up rather than like, actually responding to any of his points or doing anything but reinforcing them, but also winston has been Put Out by milder [negative responses] too, it’s of course more than just “i respect you too much to like, yell at you and try to diminish you”

and Frankly Winston Was Right and he may have been Indignant and he may not have been ~polite~ about it (though like, relative to how he is generally this Direct And Honest, there’s also not all that much evidence he’s deliberately trying to add some extra servings of Rudeness or anything) but once again like with the “as for not being a dick, i can’t absolute guarantee it” moment and the “fine, yes, big time” moment, and the “im sure it’ll go faster without the dead weight; Whoops ;)” moment, and the [talking about the algorithm problems] moment, and him freely jumping in with the “this plan might get us killed (not literally)” and “it’s b/c it sucks that they had to decapitate their dad, also not literally lol....although...” remarks, he’s just like, never afraid to tell taylor something that sure might not be the most pleasant for them to hear, and sure might not be something they Want to hear. and what’s Honest is that he’s Angry about this, and they won’t want to hear that and that they will even less want to hear his Honest Thoughts about why this is unfair, but he’s willing to say that to them, and even though we were like “haha boy winston if this isn’t fixed big time you might wanna quit :/” it’s also like, he must’ve trusted them to not wanna just fire him for lack of reverence to his ceo, and we can Juxtapose this with a) the scene that we’re set up to juxtapose it with, wherein a group of axe cappers carefully tell axe he’s being dumb as hell and might fuck all of them over, and axe tells them all to shut the fuck up b/c He Is Their Sun and he can do what he wants and get the fuck out of here, and we can also juxtapose it with b) winston being jumped on immediately in The Interview for ~lack of reverence~ to the potential employer, putting on this cocksure hotshot act (trying to..) and daring to express confidence in himself and be like “i should be interviewing you” / you should be selling to Me lol......jump to 4x11 and winston is caught off guard, he’s not putting on any kind of act, he’s not trying to appeal to anyone, sure mafee might turn it around on his [last we checked, the quant hates himself]ness, but this wasn’t about Winston Lashing Out b/c he’s angry at himself, he’s angry at Them for not valuing him, for what he perceives as them not even *really* giving them the option of the 60% Now approach, which sure seems to be justified seeing as apparently nobody but lauren goes for it and after winston invokes the Peer Pressure / pressure to seem Loyal / Committed by deferring, mafee immediately uses that [social pressure] to crush his dissent........where was i. right like. winston’s truly just Mad At Someone Else this time, he wouldn’t be here if his self-esteem was so low that he was immediately ready to just accept and absorb this treatment, and he Knows that taylor will actually listen to him which is their fuckin Mutual Respect thing and who tf else does that for him all the time, and he knows that taylor doesn’t value their own ego above everything else Unlike Some People, and he knows that he can be honest and get an honest reaction and that their honest reaction to his honesty is not “ugh you’re stupid / annoying / rude / etc,” b/c he’s Not, and that might be everyone else’s idea of him to some degree, but taylor Gets him better than that

and then you don’t quite have taylor being obviously Angry back, but they’re not exactly thrilled, and letting mafee go off on winston / effectively telling him they expect him to consider That the response and in turn respond back to that, can sure be interpreted as an expression of something a little short of pure goodwill and best intentions towards him here lol......again, i lol through the pain.......winston only has further reason to be angry, his Complaints weren’t resolved in the least and he came in all “i feel disrespected” and surely that’s only been doubled down on, b/c this isn’t Just “pay me goddamnit,” it’s really also just about the fundamental respect itself, which he figured that taylor cares about too, and so this would be something he could appeal to / expect them to earnestly.....he feels like none of them are being valued more than this feud with axe cap, he (maybe) feels like said feud is causing the quants’ work to be deprioritized in favor of more elaborate schemes based on “what will screw axe over specifically,” he feels like he’s not being valued as a Very Important Employee, he feels like this False Choice thanks to Social Pressure is insult to injury, like they’re not supposed to get a real chance to question this. boy i’m really just going off talking about any and all aspects of this huh, where’s the Anger Geography core here

well here it is: winston doesn’t ever talk to taylor in any more Filtered way due to them being his boss / him feeling a need to be more careful around them, if anything, they’re the one person he can be Least filtered around, b/c they care about What He Actually Means and aren’t all hung up on whether his communication style seems gratingly weird / wrong / offputting. winston isn’t bringing any particular leverage to this situation, yeah sure he pointed out He’s Valuable but he also did that in the interview with even less leverage and in the basement when he thought he was just working on some weird side project for axe cap in this remote quant dungeon - he’s counting on them to just Listen To Him and care about what he means, same as he always does and like they’ve done thus far. and he’s Temporarily Burned by this, which is tragic, but then 4x12 happens, and who knows if taylor and winston talked between these scenes at all cuz billions sure won’t say at all, but either way winston sure seems to pick up on the fact that taylor is responding to his Complaints here, the implication they were taking a too-axe-esque approach to them now answered by taylor deliberately differentiating themself from axe, and asserting that they Do value their employees and their contributions, and that taylor has this responsibility to them, and maybe Had gone astray there with the revenge jag but aren’t actually interested in that being the core of everything.........winston is Validated and we realize it and he seems to realize it lol, he definitely Was listened to, and he sure wasn’t like fired or anything, he Could Be Angry with them and that wasn’t going to lead to taylor wanting to sever even the Professional relationship or anything like that. sure seems to be no grudge held between them during the “q is for quantitative, babey” scene there lol and yeah it’s billions and shit moves fast / people will roll with A Lot of mistreatment apparently (see: winston also does not seem to harbor any grudge against mafee here lol but who knows) but the Fact Is, here they are, having found A Way Out Of [Anger], after having had this altercation which wouldn’t even have been possible if Winston hadn’t felt it was possible for them to interact like this, for him to be mad and be honest about that anger and the hows and whys of it and for that Not to be a dead end between them or something that could shatter the relationship entirely. and he was Validated!!!!

and guess who i also love to quote and paraphrase lol i also think of mariame kaba talking about interpersonal Conflict being possible Opportunities in a relationship, because working through said conflict can allow the relationship to grow / deepen / strengthen. which sure seems to Hold Hands with this idea: that you can Be Angry with someone because you already know that won’t break the relationship, and that even if you don’t already know that, going through that experience / process of Being Angry with someone and coming out the other side together will show that the relationship can handle that / will have involved gaining tools to be able to handle that going forward. and really like, we’ve seen winston Forgive taylor’s anger at him right off, and that may not be the sweeping heights of love but it came from Understanding (and....low self-es steam probably lol) but no really, he Shows that he understands why they reacted like that by behaving in this way that he figures is more in line with what they actually want, just talking and being direct with no boxes or [wags] or standard boring interview questions or posturing, showing he’s willing to work with them in the “please hire me” and “i’ll try to Behave” ways lol........and taylor is offering their own patience and sympathy and restraint and Understanding and willingness to bend.......things are happening on an emotional plane between them here.

and then after winston chooses to be on board with mase cap, and after he’s worked for them so long that it’s comp time baby, and after these few Sample Interactions we’ve seen in which taylor doesn’t cut winston down or show contempt for him and they continue to directly or indirectly validate him, winston can be Angry with them and taylor can (definitely Sorta) be Angry back, and winston surely even Stayed Angry after that scene in 4x11, and he didn’t quit, and was that [terrible self-esteem actually lol] or was it him believing that there could be a way out of this state of anger between him and taylor? both?? we get to decide!! b/c he’s sure not Validated and Vindicated until later lol.....what does he sit there on that couch alone in that room and Think in those moments...........and then once things Are better resolved, they have this whole [episode of conflict] in their history, and like is the whole Point of all of this, that’s hardly necessarily just some awful and unfortunate thing.......their relationship can survive something like that, and the conflict sure sparked this kind of Genuine Interaction between them which couldn’t have happened if winston just shied away from all this / kept it to himself because he didn’t think taylor would Listen or Care or Understand.

and it’s Not Just About The Money, and even when he expresses that he’s upset about this perceived disrespect / not being valued as an employee, we Know that he’s not someone who’s got this need to feel superior to everybody else / like he’s always Winning, and we know he’s not after Maximum Clout, but he does want to Work With taylor and he evidently wants to feel valued By Them, who does happen to be his boss and does have this avenue to potentially treat any employees unfairly. and we know that winston *knows* in this objective way how good his work is, and both winston and taylor have acknowledged that yeah, His Work / professional quantly ablities have value, so winston Knows he should expect for that to be valued in the form of “your quantributions are important and you’re getting paid to reflect that”........and that he feels like he’s for once not being Allowed Honesty re: everyone supposedly being pressured into deferring is like..........what do he and taylor have if not earnest, open communication b/c they both value and respect what the other Really Has To Say!!!!!! that’s winnie n tay and it’s also tayston.

which, speaking of which, Sidenote: when it comes to tayston hcs we generally have this as a “they’re not currently doing Their Thing at this point anyways, and maybe the fact that that’s been ended (and they Haven’t been talking through this particular conflict yet) is adding to the tension / anger / feeling of not being valued hahaha rip” deal lol, but also if they Were still currently in their fwb/[???]ship like obviously this would spill over and probably require an at-least-temporary halt to give everyone some space seeing as it’d be a little impossible to truly completely Set That Aside in the recent aftermath l o l ......but despite the lingering tension / awkwardness that would be present whenever they Do next meetup [imagine: an I Was On The Phone With You, Sweetheart phonecall prior to 4x12′s scene?? wrow] the layers to that ensuing sex lol......reunion sex? makeup sex? not-hate-sex-but-maybe-still-needing-to-vent-a-lil-Emotional-frustration-maybe sex? maybe all of the above and more

ANYWAYS even i don’t know why this is so long, and also it’s 7am. i definitely think that winston trusted taylor and the Relationship between them to be able to handle Anger (his, for once, lol) and for that Anger to even potentially be something Constructive. and he was right. and in 4x12 he’s there with them at the very end, wearing the tmc logo, standing behind them in the hellhole which is axe cap hq, knowing that taylor is the one person (here, certainly) who definitely Gets and who’s Got him, who’s asserted this loyalty and commitment to him after he’s certainly done that re: them, and once again winston definitely has this Choice to be here with them just like he must’ve had that choice to join up with their fund in the first place, he’s never been trapped with them or forced into alliance with them, and we just Know that he’s not choosing to be here just for Linkedin reasons / what’s best for career advancement and/or for raking it in as best as he can manage and/or for gaining clout and status or whatever, and we sure never see him reaping some kind of deluxe treatment/benefits just for being closely associated with taylor / having their approval. everything we see points to winston caring most about what happens between him and taylor and that he gets to work with them and that he’s here because of that mutual respect and value for each other.

and really, the show also repeatedly tells us that winston Does basically have these world-class abilities and *is* that valuable, and we know that winston Knows how good he is, and he must’ve legitimately had all those offers and known that he’s really good enough that these places Should compete for him. he must’ve known that he has this Potential here and all of these options laid out in front of him, and he takes taylor’s call and shows up in a basement for them and singlehandedly writes an algorithm good enough to found their fund upon and he follows them there when now he’s got this Proof of just how incredible his work is and could’ve leveraged that anywhere else. but his relationship with taylor has always had this personal aspect to it and the fact is that, even with his choice of Paths laid out in front of him, he chose and keeps choosing the geography of winnie n tay. Love. thank you and goodnight

#time to attempt a nap!!!! Them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#winston billions #tayston #nothingunrealistic1

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youngerdaniel · 4 years

Text

MAKE SPACE GREAT AGAIN

They were out in the middle of nowhere’s nowhere, studying a black hole named Jeff who only spoke in the screaming pain of matter being crushed into oblivion.

The only known image of Jeff the Black Hole.

It was a complicated relationship, but that wasn’t the point. The point was, the lozenge shaped ship named the U.S.S. TRASH-FIRE was going down. What’s down in space, you may ask? Well, it’s probably in the direction of the cosmic sink drain named Fred. I could tell you to ask the scientists, but we already know what you’ll do. The problem was pretty simple in its construction: They were coming far too very close to the black hole. Fred invited them in the same way it did with all matter -- “C’mon in, I’ll turn you to spaghetti and crush you like a tomato when we’re through.” “Stage ship left by eight and a half bearings,” said the captain. He was ugly, and looked a bit like in an Oompa Loompa had bred with a pilling scarecrow. Most of the crew found covering their eyes the best way to deal with him. “Sir, that would put us directly on the event horizon.” “I disagree. In fact, I’m not even convinced this event horizon thing even exists. Who found it? Who’s actually seen it?” “No one, sir. That’s literally why we’re out here. To see it for the first time.” “Right. So how are we supposed to prove it’s out there if we don’t cross it?”

“We could throw something in it?”

“If we fly in, that’s what we’d be doing.” “Sir, the consequences could be catastrophic... And I mean turned into a string of matter and stretched out for eternity like a really chatty noodle, bad.” “Again, I haven’t seen proof. I say we go in.” “Hang on,” said the first mate. He used to be handsome, but in his years dealing with the captain’s style of management (the lack-thereof style), he’d gone mostly gray. His voice, once a reedy but robust Brooklyn baritone, now sounded a bit like if someone turned the L-train into a kazoo. “We have plenty of theoretical proof, and we’re already way too close. Let’s be careful.” “I eat careful for breakfast!” said the Captain. It was true, too. He’d put a piece of space tape over all of his food stores and written the word “CAREFUL” on it. Because his colleagues weren’t idiots, they always assumed it was a warning not to eat the food and just didn’t ask questions. But not asking questions, it turned out, was the most dangerous thing you could do with an ignoramus flying a spaceship “Cap, didn’t you read the report? This could be pretty serious. Another four degrees without reverse-thrusters and we’ll cross over.” “Read? Who reads anymore? It’s the 23rd Century.”

The first mate hung his head. This was an hourly ritual, but because even his own life was on the line now, it was growing in intensity. Soon, he thought, I’m going to look exactly like one of those bobble heads on car dashboards.

The thought of mutiny crossed his mind. After all, they were on the ragged edge. The ship was crashing, and nobody would be angry if it saved their lives... right? But he believed, wholeheartedly, in the construct of order -- and believed, though there is in fact no evidence for this in all of human existence, that somehow, protocol would weed out the bad eggs. The Captain was a bad egg, and if you were brave enough to crawl into the worming barrel of cats that was his brain, you’d learn that he actually believed this was a good thing. He wanted to see what would happen, and there was nothing -- no sense, reason, protocol, or anything else that would get in the way of his curiosity. After all, wasn’t that what science was? Brave leaps by brave men into the unknown. If they died, they’d be heroes, and there’s no better way to die than as a hero. There was even an inkling of hope that things would go differently -- because it was him out here. The folly of the narcissist: Thinking just showing up will make things work out. The problem was this: Gravity did not care about this. It didn’t care what the Captain’s ratings were, didn’t care how many lightyears he’d flown, didn’t give a dark-matter shit who he thought he was... Human constructs don’t matter to supermassive black holes, mostly because they’re not stupid enough to think they’re true. “Captain, please.” the first mate’s voice began to tremble. “I can get us out of here, but we have to act now. We have to clock the reverse thrusters at exactly 42 parsecs. If you could just”

“Wait, wait, wait. A few moments ago you said it was just dangerous. Now you’re telling me this is life and death?” “It’s called development, Captain. You should try it sometime.” “Oh, right. Of course! Now the little kazoo voice guy’s going to try and question my cognitive abilities. I’m cognitively there, you know.” “Cognitively where? You can’t even speak English.” “It’s going out of style.” “You’re an idiot!” “I’m in control. I am in complete, total, air-lock level control.” “That’s kind of the problem,” said the first mate. He didn’t realize yet that calling the captain names had no point. This is in fact a strange truth of all matters in the universe. It turns out, when you call an egoist names and belittle them, you’re actually playing on their level -- and you’re giving them the home field advantage.

It’s a bit like pointing out there’s a problem and thinking this is the same thing as providing a solution. “You know what, first mate? I never liked you. I never respected anything you’ve ever said in your life, and I’d like to see what makes your PhD in astrophysics so much more of a credential than my frequent flyer card? I get receipts!” “Institutions, academia...” “Blah, blah, blah. You never get to be the captain because you’re too afraid to take the joystick.” “It’s called a yoke.” “It looks like a joystick to me. Have you ever played Halo? I love it.”

This guy would love to take the controls... but he’s waiting for someone to let him. At this moment, all the light in the craft went red. A voice blared over the loudspeakers: “ALERT. ALERT. EVENT HORIZON PROXIMITY CRITICAL.” The captain hit mute. Rather than finally take the controls here, the first mate just stared out the window. He believed until the last minute -- which incidentally lasted for eternity -- that somehow, the rigors of the rules he believed in would leap out from beyond the console and brain the idiot captain into a blueberry smoothie... But that’s the problem with rules. They’re given to you by people who break them, to keep you from figuring out that you’ve been duped. The ship and everyone in it crossed the threshold. It wasn’t weird, it wasn’t fantastic. It was a few moments of absolute agony for the rest of perceivable time... But at least they spotted the problem. Although it defies all manner of explanation, a scrap of the last few minutes of the craft were transmitted back to NASA:

For matters of national security, the exact quotes must be withheld, but it’s been said on good authority that the captain can be heard reciting the titles of popular television programs, perhaps as orders, or perhaps to make himself feel like he invented them. Small people cause huge problems.

#prose #space #short story #satire

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agentwallflower · 4 years

Text

Supernova: Chapter 9

Well, I’m here.

I’m tired, depressed, but I made it.

Next chapter is going up on August 22nd. I’ll see you all then. Enjoy the read.

You know how Andy had been complaining about being in the lab? She took it all back, this was worse.

The alien sighed as she laid on the floor of her bedroom, staring up at the ceiling. At the moment, her necklace was hanging from the arm of her stuffed bear knight. When she was alone, with the shade pulled over the small window, she didn't need it. Going downstairs was a definite, but it wasn't like she was going to be doing that anytime soon.

Grounded was grounded, after all. Though, was it really being grounded if she was stuck on the top floor?

“Why is the silent treatment even worse than getting yelled at?” Andy sighed as she rolled over to her front. It didn't feel as weird – on her back, it felt like her spine was getting in the way. “Pretty bad if I want to get yelled at, huh?”

Nobody answered her. After all, her older sister was off studying, and their youngest sibling was probably sleeping off practice. She couldn't risk going downstairs, however – her mother was home for once.

“Bored...”

She would have laid there, staring at the floor, but then it vibrated. Well, most people would have called it a pounding. That would be Amanda's fist, sounding as though it was trying to go through the ceiling. The silent treatment was now over.

“Andromeda Nobel, you get down to the kitchen now.”

There was steel in her voice that would have made Andy wince if she was capable of the action. Instead, she reached for her necklace and threw it on over her head. Human disguise in place, she flipped open the trap door to climb down the ladder. Amanda was already down the stairs and out of view. Good.

“Andy?”

A soft, quiet voice drew her attention. One of the bedroom doors was open, and a pair of wide eyes was staring at her. Jen, her youngest sister, was only 13. She came up barely halfway on her alien sibling, but she was a strong one. She had to be, being such a good dancer. Julliard was going to love her one day.

Andy felt her core bubble as she stopped. “Hey, Jen. You better head back inside, don't want mom laying into you.”

“But you just got back from the hospital, why would she be mad now?” The girl yawned and rubbed her eyes. “You were sick.”

Sick; that was their cover story. As far as her favorite little ballerina knew, Andy was a sickly young woman who required frequent overnight trips to the hospital. They explained her rooming with a weak immune system that couldn't be around people. That got her out of performances, though she would have loved those. A phone just wasn't the same.

Andy reached out to ruffle her mussed hair. “I overdid it this time and she had to pick me up from work.”

“Oh. No wonder she's - “

A voice called up from the kitchen. “Andromeda, NOW.”

Jen winced as Andy felt her core dim. “Sorry... she's going to yell even more now.”

The alien wished she could have smiled as she patted her youngest sibling on the head. “Don't worry about it. You know she loves to yell at me. Get some rest, you've got a big solo coming up.”

She nudged her sister back into her room and closed the door behind her. Alone, Andy was left to travel down the stairs to her doom. Along the way, she passed the pictures of her sisters as they aged – school entry, graduation, big events. There were none of her there, as there weren't supposed to be. That would have broken at least 20 rules.

Besides, even if she had she doubted they'd be up there. The spot where her father used to be was still gathering dust after all.

The kitchen felt icy even in the middle of summer. Amanda was sitting at the table, drinking coffee. It was probably her third cup of the morning. There was a crystal waiting for Andy on the table, but it was a yellow one.

She hated the yellow ones.

“Eat your breakfast so we can talk.”

Andy didn't sit at the table; she took her crystal and moved over to the trash can instead as her sharp teeth did the work. Her mother would complain if she got shards all over the place, even if she cleaned it up afterwards. Still, she was a little slower than usual. Something about yellow crystals just didn't taste right to her. Whatever it was, it was going into her core where it belonged as she sat down across from her mother.

Amanda had documents spread out. One was obviously the custody agreement between herself and the US government spelling out the agreement they had been running with for the last 15 years. Andy knew the terms by heart – she had read it enough times. It was the original too, based on the fact it mentioned her father. He had been written out of the arrangement after the divorce 10 years ago when she had last seen him. Now he was somewhere in NY, and her sister visited him every other summer.

She didn't get that choice.

“I don't think I can over stress how badly you messed up.” Amanda took another sip of coffee. “Not only did you ignore a command from your temporary guardian, you killed at least one person. You're lucky you're not human, or I'd be handing you over to the police for murder charges.”

Normally, Andy could bite her tongue. It was the smart thing to do when it came to her mother. Fighting back only caused a bigger headache. This time was different, though. Maybe it was the awareness of just what bubbled under her rocky skin, or the sight of her aunt there. But she shook her head.

“I did it to save Aunt Miri, I'm not sorry.”

It took a lot to make her mother go quiet. As a defense lawyer for unpopular clients, she had to fight for their rights to a fair trial and a jury of their peers. Arguing was something she was good at. This, however? She put her mug down and just stared.

“Excuse me?”

Andy felt her voice raise in tone, though not by inflection. “If I hadn't stepped in, Aunt Miri would've died. A lot of people could've died if that... whatever it was got out. I did what I had to do to keep us safe.”

Her response earned her a laugh from Amanda. “To keep you safe? Andromeda, you don't even know how to use your powers. You could've blown the whole ci-”

Andy rose to her full height. “And that's why I need somebody to train me!”

She hadn't meant to shout. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she actually had – maybe it had just sounded that way with how quiet the kitchen was. The fact the kitchen table was still standing as she pressed down on it was a miracle in itself.

Amanda took a long time to answer. “Train you?”

That was a leading question, but Andy took it anyway. “Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore. I need someone to show me how to use my powers safely. Even if I don't...”

She paused, collecting her thoughts. “I need to learn how to exist without hurting somebody. It's not safe to just lock me away like this.”

After all, that's what their argument was probably leading to; it didn't take a genius to figure it out. The only reason her mother would have those kinds of papers out was to have them ready for a final hand off. A good lawyer always had those sorts of things ready. They didn't even look dusty.

How many times had she pulled them out over the years?

Andy fell quiet after that, sinking back down to the table. The clock above them both ticked on, reminding her that time was indeed passing. She couldn't look at her mother then; she didn't want to see what lay in her eyes.

“So... I'm guessing I came in at the perfect time.”

An accented voice drew their attention. With the argument, neither had heard the knock or subsequent opening of the door. Miri had a key after all – had been given one when Jen was 6. It was hanging from her hand on a gaudy key chain one of the girls had made her in school.

Without another word, she entered and sat next to Andy. “About that training thing... we got somebody in house to help her.”

She turned to her niece. “How would you feel about working with Sky Rider?”

---

“Where the hell have you been, Angel?”

The answer was in the question.

Angel's entire body ached as he stepped into the living room. Three days of interrogation could really take it out of a guy, even if he wasn't compressing his ribs. The fact he was made things hurt even more as he tried to keep upright. Every nerve was saying sleep, but... had to deal with the roommates first.

Lucky him; he got the double barrel.

His first roommate, a guy named Mike who majored in chemistry, was on the couch. Their other, a politics major who went by Kai, poked their head out of the fridge. Both of them looked as though they had seen a ghost. He couldn't really blame them for that, but... damn.

“Hey, guys.” His voice fluctuated and cracked from the exhaustion. “Sorry, some shit came up and I had to stay late again.”

Mike winced at the sight of him and shook his head. “They don't work us nearly as hard in the chem department. Here I thought psychology was a soft science.”

“It's only hard when you're trying to graduate early like Angel.” Kai shut the fridge door. They had a large glass of what Angel suspected to be cold brew; must have a paper to write. “But three days? Are you trying to cram a PhD in there?”

Well, that was on the table...

Angel allowed himself to chuckle weakly as he held up his hand in the universal symbol of 'my bad' that he had perfected over the years. “Lost track of time while I was working. Didn't notice my phone died either. I'll make sure to charge it again before I turn into a gremlin.”

“You better, we almost called the cops on you.”

They would've had to fight the FBI for him; honestly, he would've enjoyed watching that if not for the persistent dull ache all over his body that came from sleep deprivation. His battered brain was calling for bed, and he was more than willing to answer.

“Seeing them go down with campus security would almost be worth the headache.” He yawned, feeling his brain go fuzzy. Any longer, and shit would start floating. I'm going to crash, wake me up if downtown blows up or something.”

Both of his roommates echoed their responses as he dragged his aching feet to his bedroom and closed the door behind him. Soon, most of his clothes were on the floor. In just his binder and boxers, he set to removing the former.

The next thing Angel knew, he was staring out the arm hole of his binder with a blank expression. Time must have passed since he had zoned out, because his phone was ringing. Reaching for it was going to be kind of hard, given both his arms were occupied.

Oh yeah... he was psychic.

It wasn't the smartest choice to float his cellphone over, but Scanner had it backed up just in case. Getting it to click on took effort, but soon he heard the familiar crackle of static that made his heart sink.

“Scanner, you have got to be f-”

“Good to hear from you too, Angel.” Paladin's voice on the other end of the line killed the expletive. “Did we catch you at a bad moment?”

Nah, he only had his binder stuck over his head. No big deal.

Angel needed his arms. It went back on with some difficulty as he held the phone to his ear. “No, what's up? Normally you don't use the work number.”

“It's work related.”

Damn it, he was using his voice of authority. Paladin might have retired, but he could still throw his mental weight around when he wanted to do it. Cancer hadn't taken that away from him just yet – probably a good sign. For such a sick old man, he could really work it. That made Angel glad, but at the same time he really wanted some damn sleep.

The psychic sighed and brushed some loose hair behind his ear as he sat down on the bed. “Arrest related or PT's niece?”

“The latter.” Ouch. Angel did not want to think about that blue nightmare right then – he was going to be seeing her in his dreams soon enough. “Andy is a lovely young lady, but her powers are raw. As you saw, she could hurt someone if she doesn't learn control.”

Yeah... that was a fair assessment. Honestly, he would've considered her powers terrifying at the very least. Nobody was asking him about space aliens and their levels, though. Why this involved him, he had no clue.

“Right, so... why call me?”

He could practically imagine the old man smiling in the way he had before he'd needed to do something unpleasant. “Well... I'm getting up there in years. With how often I'm in the hospital, I can't help her.”

Realization dawned slowly on the psychic. “Wait... you can't be...”

Panic flashed through Angel's brain as he jolted up. “No way I can do it, I'm barely a full member myself!”

He had only been an official member of the union for a little over a year, with three years of formal training and two of informal before that. As much as he liked Bear Paw, he wasn't planning to stay there much longer than graduate school.

Besides... she was a goddamn alien!

“I know... normally we would ask a more senior member.” Paladin's voice dropped. “But I think we both know why that wouldn't work.”

Angel's stomach was only staying inside him because his binder was so damn tight. He sat back down on the bed, numb. Somewhere, there was an ice cream truck hawking products to kids. The jingle was the same one from Cryojolt's truck... somehow they were still in business. Go figure.

Shit...

“I had some success working with Nova when they were around. It's likely that Andy shares the same skill set.”

Nova... the name rang dully in Angel's brain. He could remember older films, seeing them with PT. Their picture hung in the entrance way with all the other heroes who had been injured or killed in the line of fire.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “Nova-”

“Yes, they were.” Paladin was surprisingly calm. “I wouldn't ask unless I was sure you could handle it, Angel.”

There was confidence in his voice; the cancer hadn't killed that yet either. Before, that would've given Angel the strength to face anything. Now... well, he wasn't sure. There were just so many variables that his head was spinning.

But what choice did he had? If nobody else could train her, what else could they do?

So he sighed, shoulders sagging. “If I'm bad -”

“You won't be.”

Thank you, vote of confidence. “How often and where?”

There went working on some of his smaller projects. Angel was already rearranging his work schedule as he sat there. It was one of the high points of having a brain that worked a little weirder than anyone else, he supposed. Right then it was the only upside as he saw missing hours of sleep and a lot more caffeine in his future.

They better be paying him for this...

“Ember will call you to discuss the schedule shift, but probably not more than once a week to start. Andy isn't used to interacting with new people, so she needs to go slowly.” Paladin sounded happy, but tired. “You're a good man, Angel. This is going to do her a world of good.”

Yeah, that's what they told him. Right then he was just a tired one.

“Ok, cool... just ask her to call tomorrow. I need to sleep, and it sounds like you do too.”

His mentor chuckled on the other end of the line. “Don't tell me what to do, young man. I can still float you across a room.”

“Yeah, try doing it from halfway across the city.” Angel found himself chuckling despite himself. “Get some rest. I'll come by to visit later if I wake up before the weekend.”

The line went dead not long after. That left the psychic once again with the challenge of getting off his binder and getting to bed. At least that was something he could deal with as he started to tug the garment down towards his hips instead of over his head. Maybe one day it would work...

But that was for another day. He needed sleep if he was going to train an alien.

---

Like the chapter? I have a Ko-fi!

#Supernova Collision Trilogy #writing #novel

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pigstepmp3-moved · 5 years

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Sooooo consider: college AU. Eddie locked himself in a study room in the library because he has a huge final the next day and he swears to god he’s gonna fail. Buck comes by and brings him food and coffee and forced him to take a break for 30 minutes because “Eddie you’re clearly not thinking clearly if you just said you’re an idiot. I’m the idiot in this relationship” and then quizzing him over stuff and kissing Eddie when he gets the answers right ahajsjskskskd

listen. i know u didnt ask for a ficlet, but this Inspired me, so i had to run with the idea ok

After not hearing from Eddie at all in the last two days, Buck knows there’s only one possible place he could be: the library. He knows Eddie has some big final coming up for one of his fancy schmancy psychology classes, and he also knows that Eddie takes his education very, very seriously. Way too seriously, if you ask Buck, but nobody ever does.

Anyways. Buck’s sure that Eddie’s holed up in one of those study rooms in the library on campus that he’s always raving about, and his phone has to be dead because every call Buck sends his way goes to voicemail immediately. He’s also sure that Eddie probably hasn’t slept or eaten since the last time Buck saw him because he’s bound to be so focused on studying, which will not do at all. Thankfully, he knows that they allow food and closed drinks in the library, so with a sandwich and cold water bottle for both of them in his backpack, Buck makes the trip out to the library.

When Buck makes it to the library, he’s not surprised to see Eddie through the window on the door of one of the study rooms looking like he’s about to conk out. Buck can see the dark circles under his eyes from here, and Eddie looks like he’s about to cry because he’s so stressed. He doesn’t like that at all. He frowns concernedly, quietly opening the door and shutting it behind him. He makes his way over to Eddie’s side, gently places his hand on his shoulder, and he’s about to say something before Eddie interrupts with a gasp as he leaps out of his chair in surprise.

“Oh my God, you scared me!” Eddie exclaims once he manages to catch his breath, holding a hand to his chest as he sits back down in his chair. “What are you doing here?”

“I was worried about you, papi. Haven’t heard from you in a couple days,” Buck says, shrugging off his bag and setting it on the table before pulling a chair over to Eddie’s side, plopping down in it.

“Sorry,” Eddie replies guiltily, ducking his head a little. “I just have a final tomorrow, and...” he mumbles something that’s a little too quiet for Buck to fully make out.

“What was that? Speak up, babe.”

“I’ just think that I’m gonna fail,” Eddie says after a moment, slowly looking back up at Buck. It breaks Buck’s heart when he sees that Eddie’s eyes are wet with unshed tears.

“Now, why would you think that?” Buck asks quietly, gently cupping Eddie’s cheek, carefully thumbing just below his eye.

“‘Cause I’m an idiot who doesn’t know anything about anything,” Eddie replies, hands fidgeting anxiously in his lap as he rapidly blinks back tears. The blinking proves useless, though, because before either of them know it, tears are pouring down his face. “I mean, how could I possibly think that I could actually get a freaking psychology degree? I don’t know any of this shit, and I’m gonna fail so bad that I’m never gonna get my bachelor’s, and if I can’t get that, then I can’t get my master’s, and if I can’t get that, I’m not gonna get a PhD, and—!”

“Hey, hey, none of that,” Buck interrupts Eddie before he can get too worked up, gently wiping away all of the tears that are streaming down his face. “You need to take a break, babe.”

“No, I can’t take a break, I don’t know any of this, and my test is tomorrow, and I’m gonna fail—”

“Well, you’re obviously not thinking clearly if you seriously think that you’re the idiot here. Please. Have you even met me?” Buck tries to chuckle a little, but it comes out a little forced. He’s so worried about the kind of state of mind Eddie’s in right now that it’s hard to stay positive, but he has to for no other reason than to show Eddie that everything’s okay. He twists his body to reach his bag, keeping his hand on Eddie’s face, rummaging around for one of the sandwiches he brought. He smiles in triumph when he finds one, trying to rescue it from the plastic it’s currently wrapped in as quickly as he can, but it’s a little tough to do so when he’s one-handed. As soon as it’s free, he sets it in Eddie’s lap. “Here. Eat this. We’re gonna take a little break so you can breathe for a moment. You’re gonna eat...” he pauses to dig a bottle out of his bag, shoving it towards Eddie, “you’re gonna drink some water, and you’re just gonna relax for a minute. And when you’re all done, I’m gonna help you study, okay? I’ll quiz you. Show you that you do know this stuff, you’re just overwhelming yourself right now.” Eddie frowns as he stares down at the sandwich. Buck sets the bottle down on the table next to them and picks the sandwich up, grins as he wiggles it under Eddie’s nose. “Come on. I know you want it.” Eddie laughs at that, and Buck can’t help but feel a little triumphant.

“Yeah, okay,” Eddie says, sniffling as he takes the sandwich from his lap, taking a tentative bite out of it. “‘S good. Thank you.”

“Anything for you, boo,” Buck says, grinning at the breathless chuckle it pulls out of Eddie. He watches Eddie eat for a moment before pulling out his own sandwich and tearing at the plastic containing it.

They eat in silence for a while, knees pleasantly bumping against each other, and soon enough, they’ve both finished their sandwiches. Buck’s honestly a little surprised Eddie managed to finished—he figured Eddie would be so eager to get back into studying that he’d hardly be able to eat. Buck quietly catches him up on what he’s been missing during his two-day-long study session.

As much as Buck wants to drag Eddie back to his dorm and force him to lay down and get some sleep with him, he knows Eddie will refuse with some excuse about how he doesn’t want to sleep through his final. So, with a slightly worried look on his face, he says, “You got any flashcards?”

“Um, yeah,” Eddie replies, reaching for all the index cards that are spread haphazardly across the table. He puts them all into a neat little pile before handing them off to Buck. “You were serious about quizzing me?”

“‘Course.” Buck gawks a little at the neat handwriting on the cards. Much nicer looking than the flashcards he’s tried to make for himself. “Damn, these are sexy. I should get you to make my flashcards for me.”

“Yeah, you gonna pay me?”

“I’ll pay you in blowjobs,” Buck says with a shrug.

Eddie rolls his eyes. “Come on, quiz me already.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got you.”

Buck goes through each of Eddie’s cards, grimacing a little and saying “not quite” when Eddie gets the questions wrong and leaning forward to press a happy little kiss to his lips when he gets the questions right. They go through the cards together a few times, and when they manage to get through without a single wrong answer, Buck notices that Eddie’s starting to droop in his seat a little. About halfway through their next run through, Eddie interrupts Buck in the middle of asking a question with a snore. Buck looks up, pleasantly surprised to see that Eddie’s conked out with his head leaned back on the chair. With a grin, Buck stands and starts tidying up all their things, doing it as quietly as possible to let Eddie get some rest. He shoves the rumpled plastic wrap bits and half drunken water bottles into his own bag. He finds a rubber band discarded on the table, grabbing it and tying it around the cards, carefully shuts all the textbooks strewn across the table, carefully puts all the items into the bag left by Eddie’s feet. Once everything’s cleaned and packed away, he gently nudges Eddie awake. “Hey, baby, c’mon, wake up.”

Eddie slowly blinks his eyes open and yawns adorably. “Hm? Wha’s going on?”

“I’m takin’ you back to your dorm so you can get some sleep,” Buck says, holding a hand out to pull Eddie up. Eddie gives him a skeptical look. “Come on. You did great today. Kicked those flashcards’ ass. And you’re gonna kick that test’s ass, too. You’ve more than earned some sleep in a proper bed. And I’ll spend the night and everything so you don’t have to worry about sleeping too late. I’ll wake you up if you don’t get up on your own to get ready.” Eddie frowns at him for another moment before taking his hand and letting Buck pull him up.

“Promise you’ll wake me up?”

“Promise. I’ll set, like, a thousand alarms so I don’t forget,” Buck replies as he lets go of Eddie’s hand, grinning in delight with the chuckle it pulls out of Eddie. He lifts both of their bags, throwing one around of his shoulders and the other around the other. “You ready to head home?”

“Mm. Home. Sounds nice,” Eddie says, reaching for Buck’s hand again and interlocking their fingers.

“Yeah?” Buck asks as he starts leading Eddie out of the library.

“Yeah. We should move in together.”

Buck blushes a little as he thinks about that idea. Getting to wake up next to that gorgeous face every morning sounds pretty swell, and he finds himself really loving the idea of them finding a little apartment off campus together. “That sounds nice. But we can talk about more when you’ve gotten some sleep and are less stressed out, ‘kay?”

“Mm, ‘kay,” Eddie says, leaning into Buck’s side as they meander down the sidewalk toward his dorm in the slowly darkening evening. Buck knows it’s a serious conversation for some other time, but he already knows the answer he’ll give Eddie if he asks again—yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Well, maybe a little less enthusiastic than that so he doesn’t completely embarrass himself, but he really does genuinely love the idea. For now, though, all that matters is getting Eddie home and in bed to get some much needed rest.

#evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddie #911 fox #911 on fox #otp: you could have my back any day #college au #kendall writes #marauder-girl #ALMOST 2K WORDS. LOOK AT ME GO

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dellgirl · 5 years

Text

Strong, Independent Female characters which I admire

Today I was asked to choose fictional people in pop culture I admire, why I admire them and how they would represent society (not verbatim) I gave about 6 females which I admire. I was then asked to narrow it down to just three. My list, which comprised of:

Wonder Woman

Captain Marvel

Lara Croft

Black Widow

Holtzmann

Hermione Granger

Luna Lovegood

I chose these because I like smart, independent types. The ones that are intelligent, independent, might be strong, not just mentally, but physically as well, who is seen as equal, sometimes better (like Lara Croft) than their male counterparts, who don't take any shit, who fight for what they believe in, (like Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Black Widow) who don't back down, who are loyal, trustworthy, reliable, friendly, professional (like Morgan and Aubrey; The Spy Who Dumped Me) and don't have to have a relationship to be successful... Who are successful on their own merits - their own achievements, their own standings, who fight hard and prove people wrong (like The Ghostbusters) time and time again.

Those superheroes (with superpowers or not) are what appeals to me; not just their looks (bonus) but their intelligence and their outstanding behaviour and the way they throw stereotypes to the ground and fight for rights and adversity.

So I narrowed it down and was presented with 4 questions, which I've tried my best to answer. It has been a while since I saw the films the first two are from, so this is from memory... Also, these opinions are my own and may or may not include canons; if they don't, please don't come at me because "you're wrong, that's not true" this is my interpretation of the characters.

The questions, as previously mentioned, which I needed to answer:

1. Define who they are. What makes them the person they are? What are their motivations?

2. If they were real, what need would they fulfill in society? How would they really benefit mankind?

3. What groups do they represent in real society (autism, LGBT, women...etc)?

4. What real life lessons can people learn from them? How can real people emulate those fictional characters to benefit society?

I have chosen three women to focus on for being strong role models and I am drawn to these three women.

Wonder Woman, also known as Dianna, is a lovely goddess from the planet Themyscira. There are no men on the planet, which means that they have to learn to be strong because women need to be strong.

WW is determined to be a good example by helping others who need it the most. She is determined to save people and do it without the help of anyone - including men (Steve Trevor in particular)

She is motivated because she is a princess and wants to prove she is fit for the role, and not just by birth default. I would say that WW is bisexual, as she lives on a planet with only women, but when she meets Steve, she experiences that side of herself. She is also a Hufflepuff, because she is caring to all and wants the best for everyone.

In real life, she would fulfil the role of peacekeeper and provide others with the ability to fight against wars and inequality and bad behaviour. She'd stop the war and get Trump out of office, and fix Brexit.

WW can teach people the need to stand up for themselves - women need to trust in their own abilities and fight for equal right, equal pay and everyone should fight for peace.

Hermione Granger is a Muggle-born witch who attends Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry. She is a Gryffindor because she is loyal and courageous. She is loyal to her best friends Harry and Ron, but she is courageous because she helps them in their adventures, but she remains headstrong. Hermione is also bookish and wonderfully smart.

I would say that Hermione is asexual - she did kiss Harry, but it was a good luck thing, and although she danced with Viktor Krum, she has always been more interested in books than men; she does kiss Ron, but they've known each other for so long, they're more like siblings, so that kissed was forced and only given as a celebration of life over death.

Hermione, is very much High Functioning Autistic; she doesn't have sensory difficulties, as far as I can tell, but she does have other traits, such as the need to be right and social difficulties, she seems not to fit in with others, except for Harry and Ron; even being called a 'Mudblood' for being a Muggle-born and I think she has been called annoying in the books, just cos she's different. She is buried in her books and can rattle off information like nobody's business. The fact that she considers expulsion worse than death, means that she is obsessed with trying to do right and has to know everything - she has a Time Turner to attend multiple classes, meaning that she is a polymath. She struggles in social situations (but always tries) She only breaks the rules in her 5th year and explains that it feels good... Same as punching Draco because she had had enough of his belittlment, but she doesn't like hurting others.

In real life, Hermione would be a Humanitarian and she would learn everything there is to know about it to ensure that she does the best she can to help others understand what a Humanitarian is and how she can help others with things like equality and human rights.

People can use their knowledge for good and Hermione shows that being intelligent pays off, but there must be some give and take because otherwise you might become so wrapped up in your own head, that you don't have time for others. Loyalty is a huge factor in life and it pays to be trustworthy too.

And finally, I come to a character which I relate the most with - but that's not the only reason I chose her. I chose Jillian Holtzmann for a number of reasons.

I chose Holtzmann because she is intelligent and is fascinated in science things. She doesn't care that she's the odd one out, she revels in the fact. She only has three close friends, but better to have 3 close friends than 33 acquaintances. She doesn't get all social situations, but she tries to be in the conversation... Accidentally, she is sometimes the centre of attention, and yet, despite this, she knows when she needs to be quiet. She praised the girls when trapping the ghost, insofar as to tell Patty she needs to try harder, but she wants them all to do well, and she is so happy with the fact that they caught their first ghost, that she loudly announced "We put a ghost in a boooooox!" which indicates that she is entertained by the smallest of things.

Patty saved her life 3 times and she was grateful, but I know, if Erin was in the portal, she'd be in their saving her, a heartbeat; after all, that's her crush.

She's the mad scientist type - eccentric, wild, uncontrollable like a wildfire, but once she's found something of interest she hyperfocuses and gets the job done. She needs her friends for support but she doesn't need a relationship and almost mocks Erin for flirting with Kevin, comparing him to "a big ol' robot"

We know a lot more about Holtzy's sexuality and ability - she is a lesbian High Functioning Autistic with ADHD; those traits tend to go hand-in-hand. However, it appears that, despite Holtzy's high level of independence, and functioning in the real world, with little to no help, there are some sensory issues which she faces, which could adversely affect her abilities and processing skills.

We'll start with the most obvious one: the glasses. She has 4 pairs of yellow-coloured eye wear. She has her bottle-cap glasses, which are 1920s welding goggles, then she has more protective rounded welding goggles, circa 80s, and she has the big, almost pilot, almost Steampunk goggles, with loupes (double magnifying glasses) and these are the most practical of the lot. And finally, she has a pair, which are almost sunglasses, which she legit only wears for the Battle of Times Square. She needs them, especially her bottle-caps, for every day wear, due to her light sensitivity. (There is a highly interesting article, here, which explains the Autistic-ness of Holtzmann)

Whenever Patty yells, or Kevin hits the gong, she winds her neck in and pulls a face; she doesn't cover her ears like a neurotypical would, but it is evident that it is too loud. And in the Aldridge Manor, you can see the pain on her face from the APx-H shift.

Her impassioned speech, whilst heartfelt, contained physics metaphors - something which makes more sense to her, and it was very much without eye contact; something which can be uncomfortable for us Autistics, it doesn't mean we're not listening! She also seems to wear only comfy, almost loose-fitting clothing to allow for movement and comfort, with no scratchy labels. She chews her straw, sits with her feet up, or on the edge of her seat, spins on her stool and licks her guns; self-stimulatory behaviour.

Holtzmann, in real life, would obviously be a Nuclear Engineer, but we'd have to keep an eye on her so that she doesn't do any dodgy dealings and inadvertently get lead astray and into making weapons for the wrong side... Either that, or she'd go back to teaching Physics at a University.

Holtzmann is a mix of all 4 Hogwarts Houses, but the main 2 traits she has stem from Hufflepuff (her creativity and hyperfocus) and Ravenclaw (her intelligence - IQ of 163 - her multiple degrees and PhD and the fact that she is also a polymath, like Hermione - I think they'd be very good friends!)

Holtzmann would teach us about humility, courage, perseverance and finding the best of a situation and of course, the joy in the little things.

All 3 of these share similar thoughts and attributes - they're all loyal, friendly and work hard to achieve what they want. They don't need romantic relationships to survive and in fact, due to their independent nature, they would probably do better without them. They would teach others to be independent and to follow their heart, not comprising their own sense of justice or understanding of the world to conform to others. They would teach about human rights, actively focusing on diversity and equality; making sure that, as women, we don't strive for second best and that we work towards a better future, by providing opportunities and tools for the younger generation; in particular, females. All three, therefore, are excellent role models and are all unique, but also highly similar in the way they think and present themselves.

I hope this makes sense, answers the questions enough (I know they won't be answered fully as my brain capacity is limited today; infoxication and all that - and yes 'infoxication' is a real word... Click it to discover what it means!)

And I hope there are others, who may have similar thoughts to myself; I know I can't please everyone, but even if you disagree, I hope you like my writing style... Apparently, it's rather eloquent!

Also, I am sorry for the length of this post, and that, in actual fact, it is my only text post, which isn't just and agreement on someone else's post which I have reblogged.

I suppose tags would be helpful too.

#wonderwoman #strongwomen #independentwomen #fiction #jillianholtzmann #hermionegranger #charactersiadmire #marvel #dc #harrypotter #ghostbusters #thespywhodumpedme #laracroft

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7wanderingpaws · 6 years

Text

1. Whales.

Genre: marine biologist AU

Pairing: Bambam x reader

Word count: 3.5K

0. Synopsis // 1. Whales. // 2. Dolphins.

(( Please do let me know what you think! It would mean a lot! <3 Also, the names of the chapters have nothing to do with the actual content of the chapter hihi. ))

- - - WHALES - - -

Busan, 2018

What were the odds. . .

You thought you wouldn’t pass this exam. It was quite hard and you hated oral examinations at its best. You loved to hate them, to think about how much you hate them. Talking in front of a professor who was working hard to not make you pass was certainly you utmost hateful experience and you loathed every minute of it.

As soon as the words slipped out of the teacher’s mouth, you thought you are just dreaming.

“You passed.”

Because, truth to be told, you hated chemistry. Ugh. What a pain in the butt. Biochemistry? Okay, doable, but still a big amount of students hated this subject (plus the professor? Oh my god. Horror.) Oceanology was something that you absolutely adored and decided to once do a PhD in this area. Zoology was certainly nice. And then... Fisheries. What a course. Well, what could you say. Without fish there are no oceans. Without oceans, there is no marine biology or oceanology or oceanography or humanity itself. No big deal.

Overall, you loved your degree. And now... you achieved something in it.

Did you really pass?

Oh my.

Did you officially become a marine biologist?

Could you finally do what you always dreamed of doing? Did you dream came true? Somebody should slap you.

“Mum,” you breathed, adjusting the big glasses on your uneven nose. “I did it. I’m a marine biologist.”

Your mum gave out a sigh of relief as she was happily jumping on her short legs. “I’m so proud of you.”

You nodded, unable to process everything. “Yes. I’m proud of myself, too.”

“So what is the next step? You will stay in Busan, right? The researching possibilities are much bigger over there-“

“No, mum,” you interrupted her, before she could say more reasons why you should stay in your university town. “I’m coming home. I’m going back to Mokpo.”

“Oh, are you sure about that? I mean this is a very little town, only good for fishing.”

“No,” you repeated, this time much more confident. “I grew up in Mokpo so I will make Mokpo famous. I will prove that this part of Korea is also as important as any other seaside in this country. But mostly, I will break all the stereotypes about us that ever existed.”

It was your time to shine.

“So I’ve heard the news,” said Jinyoung as he sat down opposite you in the university cafe, a tea cup in his hand. “Congratulations.”

You smiled, stretching your tired arms above your head. “Thanks!”

“So we’ve made it,” he stated again, this time a big smile spreading across his gentle face. Jinyoung was proud of you. After all, he knew you very well.

You were one of the shiest people he got to know throughout his young life. You were awkward, stuttering, and extremely introverted and yet, he thought you were one of the most beautiful girls he ever laid eyes on.

The gentle freckles on your nose, the warm big eyes, the ever-messy dark hair, the glasses that magnified your eyes and you kind of looked like a squirrel but not entirely. The knitted sweaters you insisted on wearing even when it was warm outside... You’d always say: “So what if it’s hot? That’s why there are ACs. To make the room cold. So I can wear sweaters.”

“Ah, donneven,” you mumbled, supporting your elbows on the table and placing your chin into your hands. “From tomorrow on, I’m going to apply for the researching institute and I will prove how important our seas are!” you exclaimed proudly.

Jinyoung chuckled and took a sip from his tea. “Look at you, all bright and self-confident. I really hope it will stay this way, Y/N.”

“I hope so too,” you replied. “And what about you? How is your job going?”

“Oh well, kids are messy but I still love them,” he answered kindly. “There is maybe one or two students who are interested in my subject.”

“C'mon, Jinyoung, they are ten year olds. Nobody cares about literature at that age.”

“I know, I know, that’s why I can’t wait to get out of this grade and start teaching older ones.”

“I still think you should have become a psychologist. You are mine and you are doing hell of a great job,” you laughed, winking at him through your smudgy glasses. You took them off and cleaned them with your light pinkish t-shirt you were wearing.

Jinyoung thought about your words for a moment. “Maybe if the kids will kick me out of the class, I will re-consider my career options.”

“If that happens,” you said as you put your glasses back on, “I will be there to support you.”

5 years later, Mokpo, 2023

“Jaebeom, could you please come over? I think I found an interesting lab result,” shouted Jackson from the other room. He was sitting behind a big microscope, many papers and books scattered around, unfinished coffee and lots and lots of to-do lists.

Jaebeom was just on the phone with a representative of the Thai marine researching team. He was walking over to Jackson while smiling politely althought the representative couldn’t see him. “So when do you reckon you will arrive? We will need to arrange everything around your arrival as well as book the boats and yachts for the trips.”

He walked to Jackson who was showing him results on the computer screen. “Well, erm, Ms Y/L/N is not here at the moment, she is out on a little trip just out of Mokpo. I can tell her whatever you need me to tell her,” answered Jaebeom and squinted his eyes on the computer screen. He was listening intently to the strong Thai accent this person had. “I see. Alright, I’ll definitely let her know. One more question - is Mr Bambam also coming?”

Jackson was dying for Jaebeom’s attention but he had to stay patient for now. He was turning on his chair, zooming in on his friend then zooming out. Jackson was also bearing big glasses that would magnify his already big eyes. Some said he was cute, others he was crazy.

“That’s great news! We are looking forward to meeting you soon. All the best! Bye bye!” Jaebeom let out a tired sigh as he finished the call and tossed the Samsung smart phone on a pile of books. “God, this is gonna be horrible,” he muttered as he leaned in to see the screen.

“You said the exact opposite to them, though,” commented Jacskon. “But yeah, if that mean ass is coming as well, it’s gonna be hell of a nightmare.”

“I can’t say the truth to our business partner, Jackson,” explained Jaebeom, running his eyes through the information. “Anyway, let’s just let Y/N deal with all of it. Oh god, am I seeing positive results for everything?”

“Yup!” squealed Jackson and jumped once in his chair. “I think we are on a very good way to our goal!”

“Then we better tell it to Y/N before she will go craz-“

“What’s happening?”

Both boys turned around to you walking in with your scuba dive suit in your arms.

“We received the call from the Thais,” informed Jaebeom, “they are arriving tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oh, that’s good then, isn’t it?” you smiled, going to the little bathroom you had in your tiny headquarters. “It shall be an interesting expedition, don’t you agree?”

“Sure,” muttered Jackson, tunirng on his chair to focus his gaze on the computer again. “We have better news though. All the results from the samples you brought in are positive.”

You dropped your suit in the shower as you turned to run into the lab. “What? Are you being serious now?” You pushed Jackson aside who shot you a glare, to have a look for yourself. “If this is really true, that means-“

“Yes,” nodded Jaebeom, bright smile on his lips, an unfamiliar sight for you. “The expedition will be successful, I’m sure.”

“I think we should re-run the tests,” you said, as you looked at your colleagues. “This way we can be 100% sure.”

“But the results are right here,” replied Jackson, pointing at the computer screen. “We would just waste time with getting the samples and running the tests again.”

“Plus, tomorrow the Thai crew arrives. We need to show them some proper results that are not doubted,” added Jaebeom as he leaned against the table, his arms folded on his chest. “I don’t think we need to re-run the tests, Y/N.”

You didn’t like their arguments. You could see where they were coming from, but this was your lab, your tiny research institute that you worked hard on for 5 years. If you wanted to re-run the tests, you certainly would do that. “I will take care of it. After all, I’m the director here.”

“And we are your senior scientists,” muttered Jackson in monotone voice, still not looking at you. “You should listen to those with more experience since you are still just a laboratory scientist.”

“Arhh, Jackson!” you shouted, making him finally turn around to look at you. “I’m trying really hard! But I’m just this way – I need to be sure in things.”

“Well, next time just hire a team that gives you a reason to doubt all the results!”

“But I’m not doubting your work-“

“Then what are you exactly doing at this very moment?” shouted Jacskon as well.

“I’m trying to do my work well!”

“That’s enough, guys,” interfered Jaebeom. Neither of you listened to him though.

“This is my project!” you exclaimed, throwing your arms in the air. “I’m the one who decides about things!”

Wow. You and Jackson never really got along well. He was the exact opposite of your personality. Talkative, cheerful, loud, sociable. He would always argue. For anything.

You? You were quiet, neutral and freaking anti-social. What were friends anyway...

“You are right,” nodded Jackson, his eyes blazing. “You are absolutely right. Who am I to tell you shit?” He looked angrily at you a little bit longer and before you could react, he was taking off his white lab coat and throwing it on the chair, leaving you and Jaebeom in a very unpleasant silence.

You sighed.

“Well, that went well,” concluded your colleague before he sat down in front of the computer to continue his work. “He meant only well, you know? Jacks wouldn’t advise you things he wouldn’t consider correct himself.”

Tears were prickling behind your eyes as you were standing still. For some strange reason, you felt horrible for fighting with Jackson like this. There was no doubt you both accepted each other but any type of fight with him drained you on many levels. Probably, it was because he was always the funny, easy-going guy, whilst with you he was on edge.

“I know,” you stammered, taking off your glasses to massage your tired eyes. “I know.” You shuffled around, trying to collect your thoughts. “Did Youngjae come? He promised he is going to stop by with Yugyeom because of the boats.”

Youngjae was your childhood friend. You were going to the same kindergarten together (the kindergarten his mother owned).

“Nope, didn’t see him today,” answered Jae in a sing-song voice as he moved to the microscope. “He shall be here soon. It’s almost evening anyway.”

And so by the time Youngjae and Yugyeom appeared, you and Jaebeom worked in peaceful silence, none of you paying attention to each other, only acknowledging one another's presence. Jaebeom finished his studies three years before you along with Jackson, so they definitely had more experience in the field. Jackson visited many researching institutes in Australia so to be entirely honest with yourself, without him, you couldn’t move an inch. He had all the necessary information you could use for your own advantage.

“I need him on board,” you said out loud without realising.

Jaebeom snickered, focusing on the samples from the sea you brought in earlier. “Then go talk to him.”

“He totally hates me, how could I.”

“He doesn’t hate you. He is Jackson after all.”

“I totally agree,” exclaimed another voice that was entering the labs.

“Youngjae!” you smiled happily, standing up to hug your best friend. “Where have you guys been for so long, it's already past 8pm!”

“Sorry,” rasped Yugyeom. “We had to finish everything on the construction site.”

“I just needed to know if the boats I reserved are still in the game,” you rambled quickly, eager to have it all confirmed.

Youngjae nodded, plopping down on your chair. “Yup, all good. Get your asses to the docks at 7am.”

“7am?!” squealed Jaebeom, horrified.

“We can go earlier if you want,” said Yugyeom in a fake-monotone voice.

You glared at Jaebeom. “No, he is fine with coming at 7. He will have to go to bed early tonight.”

Jaebeom gladly glared back at you, before Yugyeom asked: “Where is Jackson?”

“He...” you trailed off, guilty.

“God, did you fight again?” rolled his eyes Yugyeom.

You lowered your head, ashamed. “I’ll go and make up with him. We need him tomorrow.”

“Oh right, the Thais are coming,” laughed Youngjae. “Definitely bring him. He will be the only peacemaker before we will kill each other on board.”

“Apparently that Bambam guy is coming. He is the leader of the expedition,” informed Jaebeom.

“Oh my god. That shall be a ride!” laughed Youngjae loudly before he almost fell off the chair.

-.-.-.-

Knocking harshly on the door, you refused to give up. “You are a stubborn child for not opening the goddamn door, Wang!” you shouted but eventually sighed. It was a bit late and you didn't want to wake the neighbours. For sure Jackson would not like that either.

Knock. Knock.

“Jackson,” you murmured, “please, open. I know you are there.”

Exactly 1 minute later and one glass of patience filled up to its limit, the doors swung open and a sleepy looking Jackson appeared.

“What is it, Y/N, it's late!” he hissed, looking around to make sure nobody was lurking around.

“I came to apologise,” you started before he could pull out any more of his arguments.

“Fine, it's good, now go,” he said, dismissing you with a wave of his hand, turning to close the door.

“Jackson,” you pleaded, reaching out your hand to stop him.

“Listen, Y/N,” he grumbled, his angry face scaring you a bit, “I know exactly what you came for. Yes, I will be present tomorrow at the meeting. Yes, I will share my knowledge with your research.”

His words...hurt. “What have I done to you? Just because I told you I want to re-run some tests-“

“Oh, right, that one. I already forgot about that,” he fake laughed. “That is not the thing that pisses me off.”

“Then what is it?” you asked in a pleading tone. “I didn’t mean to do harm to you!”

He fell silent, poking his tongue in the inside of his cheek. “Just go, Y/N. It's late, you shouldn’t wander around by yourself.”

“I care about you Jackson.”

He bit back a sarcastic scoff. “Right. Go. See you tomorrow.” And with that he closed the door, its shutting echoing in the empty corridors.

Clenching your jaw, you made your way out of his apartment building before you could cry. There was no reason for him to be this way. What was his issue?

The next day, the sun was shining strong, skies were clear and blue, barely any wind. You met with the boys at 7am just as planned to run your last errands. You collected the needed samples while Youngjae and Yugyeom were navigating the boat in the quiet waters near Mokpo. They were skilled sailors and understood well boats and yachts as they mostly worked on boat constructions. The duo had great dynamics and both of them were your good friends, what else did you possibly needed?

After you returned from the water back on the board, you looked at Jaebeom and Jackson to make sure they didn’t see anything unusual on the monitors as they were scribbling down notes of the underwater world from the machines.

“I got some good samples I can show to Mr Bambam,” you exclaimed excitedly, showing them the sea flora to prove your point.

Jaebeom smiled at you kindly, taking it from you to put them in the bags while Jackson barely paid any attention to you.

“You will do well, Y/N, I’m sure of it,” said Yugyeom as he came to you to squeeze your shoulder. “You have few hours left till the meeting, you should make sure everything is alright.”

“She already did that like 300 times,” muttered Jackson, not bothering to look up from his notebook.

Yugyeom shot him a disapproving look but you just decided to let it go.

It hurt. It hurt a lot that he was being this way but at the moment you needed him to focus on his work.

By 7pm, all the five of you were neatly dressed and waiting for the Thai crew to arrive at your labs. You didn’t realize you were holding your breath until Jaebeom motioned for you to keep breathing.

“Okay, should we run over everything again?” you asked, as you were massaging your hands anxiously. “I mean, I’m sure all of you know but...”

Youngjae smiled reassuringly. “Of course we can go through it if it will give you a peace of mind.”

But before you could actually go over it, the doorbell rang loudly. Oh god, they were here!

Your time to shine.

You quickly opened the door to find the famous Thai biologist standing there tall and... well, proud. He gave you a look and entered, ignoring your greetings.

“Hello, welcome,” you said to his 4 teammates as they were entering. Unlike their leader, they had manners.

“Is this the team?” asked Bambam as he was looking around with a confused face, once again ignoring the greetings from the boys.

“Yes,” you answered, trying to be positive. “We already stumbled upon a great discovery, Mr Bambam-“

“Please,” he interrupted you, finally giving you a generous smile, “just Bambam.”

You gulped, nodding energetically. “Yes, Mr Bam- I mean, Bambam.” You could literally feel Jackson and Jaebeom rolling their eyes at your horrible stuttering.

“I was expecting a better, perhaps more advanced laboratory than this. This is a laboratory right?” he raised his left eyebrow as he looked at you, not that interested.

His words threw you off guard. “Well, yes, this is the lab we work in. I can assure you we have all the necessary equipment for this expedition.”

“Don’t worry, I brought machines, too. I am more accustomed to them anyway.”

You nodded once again, not sure what to say anymore. He seemed to have the right answer for himself either way, so you looked to the ground when you heard a voice speak up, startling you.

“So how was your way here? Also I absolutely adore your watch, Bambam.” Jackson. He was walking towards the man with a bright smile, grabbing his hand without his permission and looking at the expensive Swiss watch. No more grumpiness or disgust.

Bambam's eyes lit up right away. “Oh, maaan, I bought them last week!”

And that’s how it started. The long evening full of fake kind conversations.

As you were standing aside, watching others interact, Youngjae came to you, nudging you with his elbow. “Hey, everything is going alright, don’t be so stressed.”

“I’m not stressed.”

“Yes, you are. Just a look and all of us can see it.”

You sighed and pursed your lips. “I just care about this project a lot, that’s all.”

“And you will do just fine. After all, he is one of the best marine biologists out there,” said Youngjae, nodding his head towards the laughing Bambam. He did get on well with Jackson.

“I wish,” you scoffed, “but I will work hard, that’s for sure.”

By the end of the meeting, you all warmed up to each other in a certain way. You managed to laugh with the Thai colleagues, but their leader, that Bambam dude, was a tough one. He was so full of himself, ew. You didn’t know he was such a bastard. There wasn’t a single time he wouldn’t talk only about himself and his research programme he was leading in Thailand. Not even once did he bother to ask more about your research and your colleagues which started to piss you off pretty badly.

Jaebeom was trying to talk about findings that your team made in the surrounding sea but Bambam ignored him smoothly, and changed the subject on the differences in the water temperature in the seas around Phuket.

God. This guy.

It didn’t matter to you that much. You had his famous name, his knowledge and that’s all that mattered to you.

When all of you stood up to part ways and get some rest before the hard work tomorrow, Bambam once again startled you in an unpleasant way. “I would like you, Y/N, to show me around tomorrow afternoon. I prefer to sleep in in the mornings if you don’t mind. Others don’t have to come, you have free day tomorrow.”

Your mouth fell open while your friends gave you a shocked look. “Well, I’m afraid the work in this lab never stops.”

“It will tomorrow,” answered Bambam as if nothing happened. “I would like to get to know you better, Y/N so I know who I have the privilege to work with.”

You gulped, feeling his gaze on you. Jaebeom was about to interfere when you said: “Alright. Jaebeom and Jackson, it’s a free day tomorrow for you. I’ll gladly show you around, Bambam.”

Challenge accepted.

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maealbert · 6 years

Text

Broken // Emily Prentiss

AU Characters: Emily Prentiss x Reader A/N: Excited to be apart of @literallyprentissstwin‘s writing challenge!

I got Emily Prentiss for the prompt: “You just broke the last bit of trust I had in you.”

“Do you trust me?” You say reaching your hand out to Emily.

“I-I..I don’t think this is legal.” Emily stammers as she looks up at the building around her.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” You say as you give her a reassuring smile. “I know who owns this building. He won’t be mad.” You break the lock on the back entrance and pull the door open.

For months Emily has been secretly seeing you. The two of you first met back when she was in Interpol. Little did she know who you really were. Sneaking down the hallway, you begin to hear voices coming down the adjacent hallway. Quickly you shove Emily into the nearest room and shutting the door. Pressing your ear to the door, you listen carefully as the voices drew closer to the your location.

“She’s supposed to be here by now,” spoke a woman’s voice.

“He isn’t going to happy if she doesn’t deliver to him Reynolds,” came the other voice that belonged to a man.

“You know her plan, Schmitty.” The woman replied. You listened as the voices came and went past the door. Once you believed that they were gone, you peeked your head slowly into the hall to see them just turning the corner.

“Let’s go.” You say grabbing Emily’s hand and pulling her down the hallway.

“Who were they?” Emily questions as she glances over her shoulder in the direction the two people had gone in.

“Nobody important.” You reply as you pull her up a flight of stairs.

The photo of a brunette came up on your phone with a link to her file underneath. Another message popped up underneath the link. ‘I want her brought here alive.’

Clicking on the link, a separate tab popped up and you scrolled through her file.

Emily Prentiss, 48. Washington, DC...

There she sat across the bar with a few of her friends. Of course you knew who they were. Jennifer Jareau, the Behavioral Analysis Unit’s Communication’s Liaison; Spencer Reid, the genius with three PHDs with the title of Doctor; David Rossi, the OG of the BAU, formerly retired and recently rejoined the the BAU a few years ago under the reign of the current Unit Chief, Aaron Hotchner. Speaking of Aaron Hotchner, there he was just now arriving to the join the others at their table. Drinking the rest of the your drink you call over the bartender.

“What can I get for you, miss?”

“That lady over there.” You say nodding your head in the direction of Emily.

“Ahh... Ms. Prentiss. She’s a regular as are the others that are with her. They always come in after work.”

“Well do me a favor, will ya?” You say laying down a card with your phone number on it. “Send her another round, on me.” You lay down your payment in cash. “Keep the change.” You say hopping off of your bar stool. Slipping on your jacket you head to the door when you catch Emily’s gaze. Shooting her a wink you push open the door and step out in the chilly November air. Reaching into your pocket for your car keys you climb inside your car and start the engine. Your phone buzzed in your pocket and you reach for it to find an unknown number calling you.

“You know it’s not very sexy to star sixty-nine someone.” You smirk knowing exactly who was calling.

“I wanted to thank you for the drink.” Her voice spoke. You could hear the loud voices in the background indicating she was still inside the bar.

“You looked like you needed it.”

“Was it that obvious?”

You laugh. “Hey, I work a lot too, I get it.”

“Who are you?”

“I guess I forgot to write my name on the card.” You laugh. “I’m (Y/N).”

“(Y/N)..” Emily whispered from behind you.

“Shh..”

“But (Y/N)..”

“Emily, be quiet.”

“(Y/N), you’re standing on my foot...”

“Oh geez, sorry.” You say moving your foot. “Come let’s go.” You say grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her out of the closet. You open the double doors and step into the back of the building.

“This isn’t very romantic.” Emily says behind you.

You turn around to face her. “Come on, have a sense of adventure. This place is so old, let’s explore it.”

“Well good, you’re just on time.” An Irish voice spoke from the doorway. Emily froze and pulled her hands away from you.

“You lied to me.” Emily says.

“Emily--”

“No..” She says pushing you away. “All this time we’ve been together was just a lie!”

“Emily, please let me explain.”

“You can explain later.” The man says stepping up behind Emily.

“You just broke the last bit of trust I had in you.” Emily says, her voice stabbing you in the chest like a million tiny knives.

“Ian, we made a deal.”

“Yes we did. You’d bring her to me and I’d let you live.”

“Ian..” You say folding your arms over your chest.

“The money will be in your account by dawn.”

“Ian!” You shout knowing he was just beating around the bush. “You lay one hand on her and the deal’s off.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?”

“You promised.” You say glaring at him.

“Fair enough.” He says taking Emily by the hands. “I’ll have my men escort you out.” He says snapping his fingers.

“I know the way.” You say walking by the two muscular men.

Sitting in your car you looked back at the building. You pulled open the glove box and grabbed your gun. You snuck back to the back entrance. Luckily you were able to make it back to the room with no problems. Hearing wincing coming from the room, you peer inside to see Ian letting go of Emily and dropping a branding iron. “You just don’t listen, do you?” You say stepping into the room.

“You’re not apart of this anymore.” Ian says stepping aside.

“The deal’s off, Ian.” You say pointing the gun at him.

“Woah, woah. Now just put that thing down and we can talk.”

“You think that being with Emily for these past few months would make it easy for me to just hand her over to you?” You say keeping the gun pointed at him. You walk around the branding machine. “Oh no, Ian. You thought wrong.”

“So why bring her here if wasn’t going so easy to just hand her over? Why not sneak her out of the country?”

You laugh shaking your head. “Oh Ian, if knew that I’d fall head over heels with Emily than I would never have handed her over to you to easily.” You say pulling back the safety on the gun. “After all the shit you put me through?” You scoffs rolling your eyes. “You must have gotten me confused with Declan’s mother. I ain’t no push over.”

“Fine, you can have her.” Ian says as he inches his way closer to the door.

“You can’t get away that easily.” You say pulling the trigger. Putting your gun in the back pocket of your jeans, you rush over to Emily and untie the ropes around her hands. “I’m so sorry.” You say pulling her up from the chair. “I know what I did broke every inch of trust of you had in me and I am so sorry, but I sat out in the car thinking about what I did and I couldn’t handle it anymore so I came back.”

“But you sold me out to the man who wanted me dead..” Emily says as she rubs the spot where Doyle had branded her.

“I know.. But when someone threatens your family, you have no choice.” You say grabbing hold of her hands. “But all of that can be discussed once we get you the hell out of here.”

If you liked this than please be sure to leave some love and feedback!

Thank you! :)

#criminal minds #criminal minds au #emily prentiss x reader #emily prentiss #reader insert #literallyprentissstwinsangstychallenge

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