#save me I just wanna be like a cool kid with a HOT Oc but all my ladies are heathens heLP

[djcarnationsblog]

Metal Family: Dee Headcanons

HC 1: Okay, I have to say this but, Dee’s got squishy cheeks. THE squishiest, and he hates it cause Glam likes to squish his cheeks when he’s being too edgy and it totally ruins the vibe and shit, so he’ll just get all huffy and walk away, cheeks puffed and everything and Glam finds that fucking hilarious.

HC 2: Yeah sure, it’s canonical that this boy sucks at everything love related, but then I’m like “He’s probably weak as fuck when someone kisses him.” and now we have this. He WILL buffer if his love interest gives him even the smallest kiss on like, his brow or something. He’ll just sit there, and process it for a whole minute cause what the fuck was that??? And then he’ll blush immensely and then completely leave the room. Mans just can’t take a tiny kiss to save his life-

HC 3: He craves touch. That’s it, that’s hc-nah just kidding XD. He does crave touch, but it’s not like he’s touch-starved or anything. It’s more like, he simply enjoys the feeling of someone giving him friendly touch, like a pat on the back, or a fist bump, any kind of physical contact he secretly enjoys, cause it just feels really nice to him.

HC 4: I wanna say when he’s in his last year of highschool, he’ll get a tattoo. Not anything too big and it’s pretty easy to hide, but it’s a nice hibiscus flower, pretty colors and all. I say it’s probably on his hip, since it’s not often he wears anything too revealing.

HC 5: This leads into my next hc, Dee likes flower language. He finds it clever and enjoyable that one can use such pretty flowers to create a nice message, dark message, a threat, or anything really. Flowers just mask the darker things, in his opinion. And he loves being able to tell a person a subtle ‘fuck you’ in flower, so he studied that shit quite a lot-

HC 6: Okay, hear me out here but...Dee’s flexible. VERY. Flexible. He just looks like that kinda guy who could drop into a split without absolutely torturing himself and all the boys are terrified of him for that. He can split, backbend, fold in on himself, and pretty much a whole variety of other things.

HC 7: Because of his flexibility, he actually finds a lot of weird positions comfortable. Breakin’ his body in half so his upper body is on the bed and lower body on the wall? Peak comfortability. Twisting himself really awkwardly and just sitting there? Fuckin’ nice-

HC 8: Okay, okay, one more, but bare with me here because I’m treading on canon territory as well as some fuckin’ bulls I made a while ago-

Dee, in the og au, I want to say is just a mess of bisexual. He’s all cool and collected on the outside, but Lord knows what goes on in his head when he sees a pretty girl or a handsome boy, all the red alerts go off in his head. He may not have a good grasp of love, but he’s had many, MANY internal bi panics thank you very much uwu (We see you and Lif, ya little son of a bitch-)

Okay, so, kinda nervous bout this one cause it involves an au where I made ocs for it, so if ya don’t wanna read this part, just keep scrollin’ cause this is the last of it XD.

Dee, in the au I created, is Bisexual and Polyamorous. He’s with two peeps, Lif and a foreign oc I made, his name’s Eden UnU. Literally, he’s with a hot girl and hot boy, he has even admitted to Heavy that he could never answer the question of ‘which one is hotter’ if someone were to ask him. A one time thing. Heavy never let him live it down-

(I also wanted to mention Eden cause my mind’s been screaming at me to ramble about him, but I wanna know if y’all would wanna see that too XD

is it alright with y’all for me to info dump bout my boy and his relationship with Lif and Dee??)

#Metal Family #Dee headcanons #metal family dee #DJC Rambles #oc mentions #minor lif x dee

[strawberry-muffin-crisis]

Coming in hot from the kotlc fandom, asking if you would be willing to rant about Sophie (In general or as the main character, you choose) because I saw your other rant and you raised some very good points. Especially the self insert oc. I'm still raging from the fact that she rejected Dex and /then/ kissed him to say "Hey, this is ultra mega delux proof that I don't like you"

Boy howdy you better believe I'm willing!!

Also thank you for the ask, this is the first one I've gotten like this and I'm so excited :D

So first of all, if anyone needs a recap of what I've already said concerning Sophie and her undeserved position of the main character, find it here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/smoltolmuffin/685796011734712320?source=share

Sophie kissing Dex to prove she didn't actually like him:

Makes me think of that GIF. You know the one.

Yeah, that one.

First of all: WHO DOES THAT? Who even has the courage as a-- *googles this* 13(?)/14(?) year old to kiss somebody you might have a crush on?? Maybe elves are just Built Different™, but based on what we've seen of their emotions/encounters so far, they seem to function similarly to humans, so idk.

But seriously. Which preteen(???) girl actually goes "omg okay close your eyes i wanna try something" and then actually does it? And then actually stays in the same room as the dude she just kissed??? And then is casually like "huh. no that doesn't vibe at all, maybe we shouldn't see each other for a while"?

Idk but if it was me (which it wouldn't be, I'm not that brave), I wouldn't do it in the first place, and if I did for some reason, I'd immediately get the heck outta Dodge, if you catch my drift.

And it really wasn't fair to Dex either! (I could go on an entirely separate rant about how Dex is one of the most underrated, overlooked, underappreciated characters in KOTLC, but I'll spare Ye Olde Mutuals for now.) That poor boy really did have a puppy crush on Sophie. Imagine if your crush was like hmmm im gonna kiss you (experimental). You'd be stoked! And then your crush kisses you(experimental)!! You'd want to explode with happiness!!! And then your crush says "nah fam lol", and where does that leave you?

Sitting in the Friendzone with the rest of the fallen.

Not cool. I'll probably always hate Sophie for that.

Sophie in general as "the Gifted Kid"

The kid needs a break. In my opinion, her role as The Chosen One Who Is Not Like The Other Girls has gone to her head. Sure she's tired of the war, and sure she's sick of being so depended-on, but does that stop her from effectively flipping the middle finger at any (and all) authority and running headlong into more danger without telling people the plan? Heck, does she even HAVE a plan?? Because if she did then either I'm stupid (which is an entirely valid and possible option) or there isn't any plan, other than the extremely vague "defeat the Neverseen", WHICH, in my eyes, has dragged on FAR too long.

Give us the defeat of the Neverseen back in Everblaze. Give us a new threat--something else going on in the world besides "oh no. they're still here. oh no. time to not actually be able to end their terrorism, despite the fact that I am in fact Sophie Foster, the OP Fortnite Kid of literally every YA author's dreams. Or nightmares. Who knows."

Give us some other problem in the world! Give us something that doesn't require one (1) tween girl (how old is she at this point? i lost track??) and the boyband ft. some girls to go save the world yet again because of a COMPLETELY ORIGINAL TROPE, namely "all adults are stupid. ALL of them".

Some people could argue here (you know who you are and I love you :D) that Sophie has adequate reason not to trust the adults in the series, especially the Council, especially the Black Swan, especially-- oh wait. We're not trusting anyone. That's right, my bad. After giving Sophie a break, we're gonna give these tropes a break. Kay? Good. It's about darn time.

If we have to have a global war(?) going on, give me someone with experience (not Sophie!!) and a good place of mental stability (again, not Sophie!!!!) to be in charge of fixing the world's problems. Let an adult do it. Why aren't the adults doing it? SHANNON??? Each time I try to come up with an explanation for why the adults in this series are so incompetent, I get worked into a corner because? what are they doing? We haven't seen enough behind the scenes with the Council to make any speculations on "are they actually the bad guys or is Sophie just going through a particularly strong rebellious phase".

We could talk about Sophie being the leader of Team Valiant. And then right after that, we're gonna talk about how hard we cringed at that awful team name (YOU KNOW YOU DID. WE ALL DID.) I gotta agree with Keefe on this one-- Team Fancypants would've been better. Anything but Team Valiant, oh my GOSH.

It's really not fair that the OP kid gets to be the coolest. Fight me if you wish, but isn't it about time that some of our beloved side characters got some more attention? I'm mainly thinking of Dex here. Why can't Sophie take a backseat for once?

~~~

so i've tired myself out...

if this made enough sense and you'd like me to rant more please leave a comment saying so or drop another ask 💀, if you want me to lock myself in a closet and never do this again...

understandable, have a nice day

#kotlc #kotlc rant #rant #kotlc fandom #kotlc sophie #sophie foster #kotlc keefe #kotlc fitz

[tired-needs-sleep]

what's your favorite thing abt one (or some) of your oc's personalities? do they have any certain behaviour patterns/mannerisms that you love? choose whoever u wanna talk abt, I'd love to hear :]

drops everything runs over to you. some? how about all the main gals.

oh. ih god oh my sweet trauamtized ocs.

i talk so much here. like a lot more than normal. sillies,,

for rhea i think one of my favorite things is actually how i imagine a novelization of their save file. since i think it would be so cool if taka dies, (but technically speaking either taka route can work for them. the choices are both in character for her so it's basically a 50/50 chance she'll lean one way or the other) i want to show just how absolutely fed up and tired of team meteor rhea is, so instead of the usual tone of narrative showing the reader how rhea feels on the inside at the moment, rhea stands up while holding taka's scarf, and the tone changes. from something like, say:

rhea blinked at cain through the window they made in the blanket cocoon they were in. of course he was right. there were more important things than feeling sad over something in the past. that could wait until later.

it would become this if it took place after taka dies:

they blinked at him. “right. there's more urgent things than this. what's the plan?”

i think i can explain a lot better with demonstration than describing it but i'm completely obsessed with this style choice. basically it shuts out about 90% of their inner monologue that is usually in what i write. most feelings and thoughts would be shown through actions and words, but i have not had too much luck with writing that style quickly since i'm so used to adding a “they sighed, irritation ..yadayadayada” to some part of an interaction. i still love it, just takes longer since i would need to go back and filter things out. also i get rid of things like the 'felt' in “she felt the wind on her face” to become “wind blew on her face.” makes it seem less casual and more tense. past me may be a little silly but that was one of the better ideas for them.

also after taka dies they go apeshit because they grew as close friends whole they got lost traveled through the desert. like team meteor killed kiki, someone i imagined rhea would be close to, kidnapped the kids, tried to kill them multiple times, and probably more i can't think off off the top of my head, but then taka? a good friend? nah i think i would be done too lol

that's just the narrative as well. rhea as a character i adore so much. like how they blush at the smallest complement or gravitates towards citrus fruit. or how koa (espeon) evolves to save them again, since they did that on the train too, so rhea returns the favor and ends up with a cool lightning scar as a result. and how they just squeeze their heirloom as a stress response. sometimes she bleeds. sometimes she does not notice. thank you twitter mutual that was an amazing idea

ALSO ALSO ALSO their relationship with amaria. i have a whole draft talking about this. what really sold me on the don't fight taka route was amaria attempting to drown the player. i don't know how the scene goes exactly but i was not about to let that opportunity go. rhea finds themselves looking up to amy and is like "wow. strong trainer. i wanna be like that sometime maybe." and i imagine they got along too. which makes it hurt more when they're both underwater and rhea can't get air. (i like to hc that the dive tm just enhances the trainer's ability to hold their breath underwater depending on how strong the pokemon using it is and at that point it's been a hot minute since resurfacing) so rhea, afterwards, goes from enjoying being underwater and surfing to being anxious when there's other people around. they're okay when alone but is usually on high alert anyway.

nia?!?! nia. so rotten over her. i love how she's just playing pretend basically. she's very hurt on the inside even before nancy dies but she just acts very extroverted and hyper to distract herself. she is still generally a friendly and generous person but it's like, she's pretending it isn't affecting her, when it is. little things like how she flinches when people begin to argue around her or how she has less faith and trust in authority figures, even being a little less obligated to do what they say. (see the time where i think it was crescent told her and ren not to go after melia and nia straight up told them, "nah we just didn't care what you said to us") i haven't thought of too many more but they will be there!!

the biggest thing i've been obsessed over with her is how she deals with the "death" of herself. at first her favorite color is red, since pink is a shade of red and nia and nancy were super close. but that shifts from red to orange and yellow after she comes back. ironically the same color as lava. hm. but it's not just the colors!! she likes wind. and rain to an extent, but not too much rain. her hair type and rain is not a good combination when she just got her hair done. but mostly wind. she can feel the wind. it reminds her she's still there. and that breaks me because she's learning to notice smaller things she didn't before. go girl go enjoy life as much as you can within the circumstance. the relationships with other characters too. it really made rejuvenation for me. playing fetch with aelita. i was dying of fun. nia smiled for the first time after mom died there. playing with her bestie and a cute doggo. goodest boy ever. hanging out with melia. nia found hapi and her meeting very sweet.

also erin saying that nia fidgets a lot in her sleep. makes sense, since nia has bad nightmares. twisted endings to things scare her to the point she dreads going to bed. i like to think melia catches her awake and they talk a little before nia thanks her for what she told tesla at terajuma.

nia may not have an "oh my god. i'm not straight" moment but she will have multiple instances of "wow. i am really gay. shameless even" just like me. should've seen my reaction to medalis' art smh

oh boy. emo girl. kisaragi. she's not nearly as developed as nia and rhea but i still adore her and her seriousness and parental issues

do you know how excited i was when valkyrie gave me the go ahead to make them. went feral. absol aura wielder beloved. i never figured out their hair color since red eyes go well with both white and black hair. they developed some trust issues a lot earlier than the other two ocs because they already experienced fake friends so many times. i was like, it would be cool if sara was from aevium, where most of that au is, and went on the desolation boat with the help of their friends because they were so done with their parents.

so sara tends to come off as sort of mean at first, because she defaults to “this person might just want something from me and leave afterwards, so why get attached in the first place anyway” so it takes a while for them to fully trust anyone, really. they're super soft on the inside though. mega soft. see when they interact with their absol, hasumi. i'm such a heckin sucker for mean/rough exterior but soft characters. they are so shaped. hug shaped. i like how they'd just melt if you say something like how you think they're so cool. they have some self worth issues thanks to their parents comparing them to their siblings often and disregarding what they might want to study at school for whatever they think is better. which is never better for sara.

i also really like what i have for their current dark type behavior (since soul bonded with absol, they can display characteristics similar to the type):

gets a headache that can turn to a migraine with too much exposure to artificial lights.

low sugar tolerance

feels connected to night/darkness as a whole, but in sara's case specifically the moon or a dark forest

can see better in the dark

unusual stealthiness. literally walks silently most of the time

hates bugs, would never admit to being scared of certain ones

practically nocturnal, does better at night but can handle the day fine.

i still don't know how the fighting type weakness can manifest? there's also the general effects an aura wielder has. like being resistant to illness, which i find funny because i hardly ever get sick. i woke up sick one day and was better in 2 hours. why is my immune system made of steel? i've been joked about because of it kashahhasja

also she likes ghosts since like absol, they think they're generally misunderstood. sort of like them. maybe people think they're stuck up or rude or something when that's not who they really are, like how people can think all ghost types are malicious when most aren't. also finds them fascinating how there's no scientific explanation for some of the cool things they can do!! and that's even cooler. how do you phase through the wall haunter do it again. again. again!

tldr i'm soo normal about them all.

#sleepy shut up you talk about them so much /j #sleepy rambles #oc: rhea🪐 #oc: nia <3 #oc: kisaragi🌙 #this ask made my day thank you gon #i was gonna ask you something but the words didn't wanna articulate AAAGHHH #i love my ocs a healthy amount #this is one of the longer rambles #i just adore them all and think they deserve happiness... #..... #*hurts them again* #new desolation episode tomorrow so very excited to play with sara again #also i got this ask about 2 hours ago and i'm just now finishing it #very fun one though #when the ask makes me think and talk a lot>>>

[art-i-know-yes]

Ok. I have to.

It's almost midnight and I've been putting it off. Episode 60 of DnDaddies. I'm extremely nervous SO I'm doing a reactions through the episode again because it makes me feel better.

LOTS OF SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 60

I'msoscaredI'msoscaredI'msoscared

PROJECT RUNWAY

"We're trying to support Glenn right now"

THE PODCAST IS NO LONGER GONNA BE FUNNY :´[

"I love crying" vibes

Oh GOD "Pretend to be Willy"

"Got'em"

"Comma baby"

Darryl with the will and testament

NOBODY WANTS TO GO TO HIM

I cAn't with TJ and Ron I'm so close to absolutely sobbing

"Oh-ou you're so mean to yourself"

"First of all, kill him"

"I've been you're rock and you've...been around"

Uuggdfhktxkgur "You can take a discount"

"17+14" EXCUSE ME FREDDIE

"Everything is going to be O-A-K" no it won't

Grant. Graaaaaant. Poor baby.

Blushes in frog

I swear to god if Ron's anchor is ACTUALLY an anchor

"Under GOoOOOoOD"

Nick Jr. IS a commander

"THIS GUY"

Why is no-one in the cabin? Willy is so watching them

"That's healthy,ok"

The 2 most emotionally stable

Wow ad change

I'm actually listening to the ad break because I. am. scared.

"Seems safe"

Natural 20 and a 3 "Things are looking good for me"

PW;ILU wtf a code?

"I love you" So most definitely not anything to do with Ron

IDIOT WHY WHY DARRYL

"Ron's inside" why in the f c k. I'm crying. I'm scared.

Why is he so kdrudfkitxzdhskd caaallmmm?

The literal beginning of the episode was like Willy's not going to be chill, so why is he chill

Oh closing portal thing, that's why he's chill

"I'm proud of you" "You are?" "No, it's saying. Calm down, jeez" difzfjxifihtdsgf

So mean to Rooooon

Glenn's pun nearly BROKE ME

De-birds to high five

Anthony why are you asking for his health

"I'm dying happy baby! I'll see my son in hell btch!" I cAn't in every way

POWER WORD: KILL NOOOOOO 100 HP OR LESS

Of cOurse stealing a piece of his fish STOPS HIM

"You gonna finish that" t-the panic in Ron's voice I can't form words. I'm BABBLING like a CHILD

excuse me the BONES

Ron really did that to save Glenn

I love that taking his fish is AGGRESSIVE

"Ok ok cool thanks" everything is not ok cool thanks it is the exAct opposite of that

Smort smaarrttt Henry

Brave brave Henry

"I can see why Barry tolerates you" woooooooooooowwww

We love ruining Willy's lead-ups!

"God, spoilers!"

This. This is why Darryl can't have things.

"Are you ready to see what's in the box?" No. Of course not. But I bet it's empty because of the connection is just hrmph because like what would resemble that

There's about a trillion other questions I would've asked. We'll see what's in the box eventually

I have paused the podcast and made an oc

"You hate that he is hot" "RIP to you but I'm different"

Ya know what I just noticed Willy is actually spelled with an 'ie' Willie. Gonna be honest makes him less threatening

Someone's STAALLLIIIINNNNGGGGG

I .F U K I N. KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE EMPTY

I've officially stopped breathing.

Love that Ron is standing up to Willie

If he was a mistake WHY'D YA KEEP HIM

That was pure emotion in his voice. Why is Beth so good because I'm gonna cry

"Aww kiddo" get away from me your existence disgusts me

Why is it his mind. Ok so we didn't have to face Willy

Wait in the episode where they figure out it was their dads it's spelled 'Willy' the description of this episode it's spelled 'Willie'

"Ronald, Ronald, Ronald" disgusting

UGLY STEPCHILD TF

Btch gets his daddy magic from Ron's despair

Of course fcker isn't actually there

Love Darryl and Henry just ranting at Willy

"Terry loves you" I started laughing

"Ron, he's the fcking dirt that you grew out of!" *snap snap snap*

"I'm a god"

Them talking over Willy is getting me through this also love how it turned into love Ron hours

But the btch did almost powerword kill Glenn if it wasn't for a fuuuuuuking fish

"We were talking Willy" I love that

"Can't even think of something mean to say" Daaaaarryyyyl

DID HE FCKING SAY SEACREST OUUUUT I CAAAAAANT

I'm glad they didn't actually have to fight Willy. Doesn't make me any less stressed about this.

"Noooww you're makin sense Ron" goddamit Glenn

"Wanna burn this cabin down" "I'm gonna go burn some stuff" he's not doing well

"Have him punch a rock and maybe that'll remind him of me" jehesuz chRRIISSTT

"I don't know how healthy that is" it isn't.

"A really sad magic school bus episode that's a metaphor for abuse" jesus chRist

:´( he couldn't even get it ouuuut

"Oh god Vince we gotta put a bell on you or something"

"404 dimensions" "I don't even know how to respond to that"

Oh so it IS gonna be a magical school bus episode

I wonder if Ron will be able to talk to them in his brain. Also I really don't think ANY of the kids should go into Ron's brain

God I love Erin

Life lesson: get good and all your problems are solved

Gamer joke? "um sorry I'm a woman" love Beth

I have mixed feelings on going into Ron's brain

And I still can't believe Willy nearly broke Ron's wrist over a FISH.

Sorry it's really long again and I'm relieved and uhhhh the rest of the emotions I can't decipher. Still wish to bop Willy like a bop-it and FCK I'm still scared and it's now 2 am.

#you could and should absolutely ignore this #random rambling #dndads spoilers #dndads #dungeons and daddies

[maddiwrites]

Secrets of the Shore (Chapter 4)

Pairing: Pogues x OC, Eventually JJ x OC

Summary: This is just my rewrite of the show Outer Banks with my own twist by adding another main character which also happens to be John B’s twin sister.

Note: Changed my update schedule to two times a week (probably Sunday and Wednesdays) because three days was kind of overwhelming hahah. Again, thank you for all the wonderful reviews and feedback!! I appreciate every single one!!!

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: Being shot at?

Chapter 1  Chapter 2  Chapter 3

The Pogues come over later to hang out like usual. No one mentions last night's party. I don't know whether its because they don't want to talk about it or we're pretending like it never happened. I'm fine with either.

I sit next to Kie who taps her fingers on a bongo and bobs her head to her own beat. Pope's shuffling a deck of cards to my right and JJ sips on another beer across from me. It's hard to concentrate on what they're talking about. I'm too busy locked in my own head, thinking about what Peterkin said - foster care - what life would be like if we were taken away. Would I ever see my friends again? Would John B and I be in the same foster home? The thought of being separated makes me sick.

"Look, I'm calling it off. All right?" John B pulls me out of my thoughts. JJ rolls his eyes at my brother and glances at me. "Peterkin said if we stay out of the marsh, she'll help us with DCS."

"And you believed her?" JJ asks. "An actual cop, John B. You believed a cop."

John B sighs. "All I gotta do is stay out of the marsh for a couple days, and she'll help me out. It doesn't help that your ass was the one shooting a gun."

Here we go.

"You know what I should have done? Just let Topper drown your ass."

"Topper was gonna drown me?"

"Sure looked like it."

"Funny," John B deadpans.

"Have you looked in a mirror?"

"Tell me some more. Come on." I can tell by the look on John B's face that he's getting annoyed. It's pinched and he keeps rolling his eyes.

JJ steps closer to him. "They always win, don't they, man? Kooks versus Pogues. They always, always win!" He turns around and punches one of the small volleyballs we have tied in a string like a decoration.

"Look, it's okay!" Kie tries to calm him down.

"No, it's not okay! It's not! They don't want us to go down into the marsh." JJ comes back. "That means there's something valuable down there, and you know it." He turns to me and points. "I know you do." Then he looks at Pope. "I know you do. And I understand why you don't wanna go. You're the golden boy. You got way too much to risk. And you -" He turns to Kie. "I mean, you're already rich as fuck anyway. Why would you bother? But you and me, and Marleigh, man, we got nothing to lose! We really don't all right?"

"JJ -" I sigh.

"And I know it didn't use to be that way for you -"

John B shakes his head. "I don't want to talk about this. I don't want to talk about it!"

"So that's it?"

John B shoves past JJ. "Just get out of my way, bro."

"John B, listen to me. I have a plan." Well thats never good. "You got the key to Cameron's big boat right?"

"No," John B says, already knowing where JJ's head is at.

"There's scuba gear. We borrow that, and then we go down to the wreck this afternoon, and that is what's gonna save you, man. You don't see rich kids going into foster care, do you?"

Here's the thing about JJ. He can be really convincing, which is usually the reason he and I get into the most trouble. Because I always fall for what he's saying. He gives me hope when I don't think there is any. He can be surprisingly optimistic sometimes. And when he is, I fall for his charm and agree with everything he says. If he told me to jump off a bridge, I probably would.

When he looks at me, my lips tug upwards into a smile. This creates a domino effect, and soon the other Pogues get excited. John B looks at me, trying to look disapproving but I shrug in response. I mean, JJ's right. What do we have to lose?

                                                       ~ ~ ~

I light a match and ignite my gas stove to make myself lunch. A can of chicken noodle soup that's been in my food closet for who knows how long. John B left to grab the tanks from the Cameron's boat, so the rest of us are waiting here until he comes to pick us up.

"You're eating soup? Its like a hundred degrees outside." JJ walks into the kitchen and lifts himself up on the counter next to the stove.

I stir the liquid around with a wooden spoon and smirk. "Do you see any other edible food around here?" JJ chuckles at that. He knows better than anyone how horrible John B and I are at food shopping. "I meant to go to the store today but..." I sigh. "I've been busy."

JJ pauses, causing me to look up at him. He's usually so quick with his wit and humor. Something I admire and love about him. How he always manages to put a smile on my face with some dumb remark or a sarcastic reply. Only now he's staring at me with curiosity. "Are you okay?"

"You mean other than the impending doom that is foster care that's going to hit me and John B in the near future?" I say sarcastically. I turn the stove off and grab two bowls out of the cabinet behind JJ's head. He ducks for me and my waist presses against his thigh. I pour half the soup in each bowl and hand him one with a spoon.

"Yeah, I mean other than that," JJ says. I blow on the liquid on my spoon to cool it down. The steam that comes up from my bowl already makes me feel hot.

"I'm fine," I tell him.

He gives me a look that says he's doesn't believe me, but I ignore it and he doesn't press me on it. Truth is, I am fine. I just have a lot of my mind but I'm going to do my best not to let it ruin my summer. JJ got me excited again. He's promising an adventure and possibly a fortune. He's right. John B and I have nothing to lose. If we don't go on the marsh today, DCS will find another reason to snatch us. So why hold ourselves back?

"Mar, JJ, he's back!" Kie calls out to us from my yard.

JJ sips the last of his broth out of the bowl and I shovel in the last couple of scoops into my mouth. We throw the bowls in the sink and run to the dock where John B and the others are waiting for us.

Pope directs John B to the part of the marsh where we found the wreck. I sit next to Kie in the front of the boat. She's looking at the two tanks that John B was able to snag off the Cameron's boat. Her brows are furrowed in confusion as she studies the gear.

"This is empty," Kie says, looking up at my brother who stops the boat when we find the sunken Grady-White. "You took empty tanks?"

"I..." John B says slowly. He definitely didn't look at it before he took it.

"Okay, this one's a quarter full," Kie says, pulling the tank to her left closer to her. "Its enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together," I say sarcastically and pass a look to JJ who rolls his eyes.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asks.

I purse my lips and look around at my friends and brother. None of them speak up.

"Uh..."

"Anybody?" Kie asks.

"It's kind of a Kook sport," I say.

Pope raises his hand. "I...read about it."

"Great, Pope read about it so someone's gonna die," Kie says.

JJ walks towards us and picks up the mouth piece and shrugs his shoulders. "Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?"

Pope answers, "If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends."

JJ glances between Pope and the rest of us. "Bends like..." JJ bends forward, purposely sticking his butt out, "bend over and..."

Pope cuts him off. "The bends kill you."

JJ snaps straight up. "Right."

I roll my eyes and stand up. "I'll do it."

"Uh, I don't think..." JJ starts to say but my brother cuts him off.

"No. I'll do it."

"What, why?" I turn to my brother and send him a glare.

"Because Pope just said it can kill you and you don't listen to instructions very well." My brother glares back at me. I roll my eyes. He does have a point and evidence to prove it. I usually follow my own gut and ignore others' directions. And because I don't want him to bring up past events, I decide not to fight him on it.

"He has a point," JJ says, earning a punch in the bicep from me. He looks at my brother. "You can dive. I'm cool with that."

"Since when can you dive?" Kie says not liking the idea any more than me.

He shrugs. "I'll do it. It's fine."

"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope says as John B starts putting on the scuba gear.

"You serious?" JJ asks.

"That boat's about thirty feet down. Okay? So it'll take twenty five minutes at that depth. Twenty five. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about...ten feet."

Contrary to popular belief, I do the actual listening to instructions, I just don't always follow through. But I process everything Pope just said and think of a way to make this easier for John B.

I shimmy out of my jean shorts and pull my top over my head, leaving me in a purple and white striped bikini. Without saying anything, I jump into the water with my shirt.

"Uh..." Pope says, looking into the water where I just disappeared. "What was that about?"

"I don't know. But I liked it. A lot," JJ says, staring at the same spot. John B slaps the back JJ's head and glares daggers in his direction. JJ pretends to clear his throat and turns away from John B.  "Uh, so..."

Pope pretends to focus on his calculations again, not wanting to get caught by John B for staring at his sister too. "Yeah. Uh, when you uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"

I guesstimate how deep ten feet is and tie my shirt around the chain attached to our anchor. I look one last time at the blurry image of the sunken boat and pull myself back up.

"Hey," I say to grab their attention. They all look at me. "I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."

John B nods. "Cool."

I stay in the water, loving how the water feels around me like a protective blanket. I listen to Pope explain the important parts of diving. There's some kind of meter he has to pay attention to to keep track of time.

"Okay, how much do I need?" John B asks.

"Unclear," Pope answers. "Breathe as little as possible."

JJ slaps John B on the shoulder. "Zen. Think zen, you know?"

John B turns to the water, preparing to jump in next to me.  "Yeah. Got it."

"Hey," Pope says, stopping him. "If we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so better get a move on."

"No pressure or anything," I add.

"Copy that," John B says.

Kie approaches my brother and stands in front of him. She's really close to him, almost inches away from his face. Then she leans in and kisses his cheek slowly. Way more intimate than usual. My eyes widen in surprise and I look at Pope and JJ to see their reaction. They mirror mine.

"Diver down?" Kie says softly.

"Diver down." John B says just as softly.

"See ya, dude," JJ says.

John B jumps in the water and sinks down below me. I lay on my back in the water and bathe in the warmth of the sun above me. I even close my eyes, letting relaxation overcome me. I could probably sleep here if I wanted too.

"Shit, JJ," Pope curses, catching my attention.

"Guys, that's the police," Kie says.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," JJ says, glancing at me.

My eyes go wide with anxiety. I swim closer to the boat and look up at JJ. "JJ, they can't know I'm here. If they find me-"

"Hey, hey, hey. It's gonna be okay. They're not going to, just stay there."

I nod and press myself tighter against the boat.

"Just act freaking normal," Kie says through clenched teeth.

I can hear the sirens coming closer until I feel their boat bump against ours. I flinch against it and kick my feet faster to stay afloat. I look down at the water, but I can't see John B. My heart races at the thought of him running out of air.

"Evening," I hear one of the cops greet my friends.

"JJ, tie it off," Pope says.

"How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?" The officer asks them.

"No."

"No. Wow."

My friends play dumb. I look up, finding comfort in seeing JJ's long hair. I can tell he's trying hard not to look down at me.

"Why - why is it closed?" Pope asks.

"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down." The officer explains.

"Oh."

"See anything?"

"No." JJ purses his lips and shrugs.  

"No boats," Kie says. "No."

There's a pause and for a split second I think he's gonna call their bluff. But he doesn't. "Where are the other two kids you always hang with? The twins? They here?"

I bite my bottom lip hard in anticipation for what's to come. He knows we're here. He has to. I can tell by how suspicious he sounds. I look back down in the water, John B still invisible to me. I don't know how much time he has left, but he's definitely running out of it.

"They both had to work," I hear Kie answer.

"Hm," The officer hums. "I'm gonna check your little boat out."

Shit, shit, shit, shit. I look around for a place to hide, but the only thing surrounding me is water. I'm going to have to go under.

"Yeah." JJ coughs, risking one last look at me before pretending to help the officer into the boat. "Yeah, hop aboard."

I push myself under the water and swim directly underneath the boat. I open my eyes, ignoring the sting of the salt water. I can see John B's silhouette by my T-shirt and the blurry light of his timer.

Thirty more seconds pass. I swing my arms upwards, pushing myself deeper into the water. The shadow of the cops' boat is still next to ours. My lungs are screaming at me for for air like they're tearing into my chest. Just like John B, I don't know how long I'm going to be able to last down here.

My body reactively gulps for air, forcing myself to swallow the salt water. It feels like a stab in my chest, my throat on fire. I've got to pop back up to the surface or I'm going to drown.

Just as I'm about to reveal myself, the shadow of the boat drives off. I push myself up, coughing up the water I swallowed and gasping for air. Less than a second later, John B pops up next to me.

"Oh, god! Jesus Christ," Kie says with her eyes closed and her head looking up.

"Don't scare us like that!" Pope says.

JJ watches me instead of John B, concern laced into his features. As I feel my heart go back to its normal pace, I smile at him and laugh the anxiety off. "You good?" He asks me. I nod and let him help me back up to the boat. "How'd it go down there?" He asks my brother. "Did you find anything?"

"Did I find anything?" John B scoffs and holds up a dark velvet bag.

"Yeah, there we go!" JJ claps his shoulders. "That's my boy!"

"Jeez, dude," Pope sighs.

"You okay?" Kie asks John B.

John B pants as he swims closer to the boat. "Yeah, I ran out of air."

"You and me both," I tell him.

John B pulls himself up. When he stands, he's met face to face with Kie who shoves him back playfully. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh...we took care of 'em." Pope says, trying to act like he wasn't going to piss his pants the entire time he was talking to them.

"My bad," John B laughs.

"You're all good."

"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother," JJ says.

I move to the back of the boat to ring my wet hair out when something catches me eye. Its another boat, but it doesn't look like the one the cops were just using.

"Hey, guys? Guys!" I call louder to grab their attention. "Bogey, two o'clock."

"What?" JJ comes up next to me and eyes the boat that's making its way closer to us.

"Do you recognize the boat?" Pope asks.

"I've never seen it," I answer.

A bad feeling settles in the pit of my stomach. I can make out two people, I think men, standing in the front. They keep their eyes straight on us. No laughing or talking like a couple of buds would on a boat day in the marsh.

"What are they doing here? The marsh is closed," Kie says.

"Let's not stick around and find out." JJ places his hands on my bare waist and pulls me to the side so he can pull up the anchor.

"JJ get the bowline," John B says, not realizing that JJ was already on it.

"Yeah."

"Should we wait on 'em?" Pope asks.

"No. No. We should leave now. Right now," Kie says, looking directly at John B.

"Go get the stern," John B tells me. "Go!"

I kneel next to JJ and help him. Similar to how I felt in the water, my heart beats violently against my chest and my breathing becomes static. I try not to think of the fear that creeps through my veins as I help release the boat from it's hold in the marsh.

"Guys, don't wait for us! Go!" JJ yells.

"Go!" Kie says.

"Pull out the stern!" Pope yells at us.

I yank the chain hard, revealing the slimy anchor covered in seaweed and moss.

"I don't like this," I mutter to JJ between clenched teeth.

John B pulls away from the wreck. JJ looks between me and the boat that still driving in our direction. "Are they coming for us?"

"Maybe they're fishing," Pope says.

"Go, go, go, go!"

"Go into the marsh," I tell my brother, constantly glancing between him and the other boat.

"Let's go," Kie says. I can hear fear creep into her voice and her hands shake around the drivers seat she's holding with a death grip.

"I'm going. Act natural!" John B hisses and revs the engine of the boat.

He takes a left turn into the marsh. I watch anxiously for the people in the other boat to make its move.

They turn left.

"Guys, they're following us!" Kie says.

"This can't be good," Pope says.

"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ says.

"I'm going!" John B yells back.

"Gun it!"

I look behind the boat. They're getting closer. Too close. Can't say I'm surprised. The HMS Pogue is no match for their boat that looks more expensive than my house. However, something catches my eye. Something long the guy in the passenger seat is holding and pointing right at us.

"Is that..." I mutter before I'm cut off by exactly what I was going to say.

The gun shot rings through my ears as if the person who shot it was standing next to me. Before I can react, JJ pulls me down to the floor of our boat by my waist and covers me with his own body. I gotta say, this isn't how I pictured him being on top of me. His left arm outlines my head, keeping me face down while other bullets pass our boat. The cries of my friends are dull through the blood pounding in my ears and my heart inching its way up my throat.

"Holy shit!" Kie shouts.

"John B, get down!" JJ yells.

I try looking up at my brother but JJ's hold is strong. John B's still behind the wheel, trying his best to duck from bullets without crashing the boat.

"We're gonna die!" Pope yells.

I try looking around the boat for anything we can use against these guys. Of course JJ decides to leave the gun he stole at my house for the day, leaving us practically useless against these two strangers.

My eyes find a net pooling in front of Kie's face as she keeps her head down. I try crawling out of JJ's embrace which only makes him tighten his arms around me.

"Kie!" I shout. She looks up at me with wide eyes. "The net!"

Immediately she understands what I'm trying to tell her. She pulls herself away from Pope and army crawls to the wide net. This only makes my friends yell at her, telling her to get down, but she doesn't listen.

"Get down, Kie!" John B shouts.

Another gun shot echoes through the air, making me flinch closer into JJ.

Kie throws the net overboard towards their boat and drops back down to her knees. The sound of the other boat's engine clanging against the net gets my head to perk up and I watch Kie's reaction. She's surprisingly smiling. When she looks at me, she lets out a breathy laugh and shakes her head in disbelief because that just worked. Their boats gets stuck.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go," Pope says.

One last gun shot rings through my ears before we make our getaway.  I pull myself off the floor and look back at the boat one last time. We severely underestimated how important finding that boat was. Whatever John B found was worth killing us for.

A couple minutes later, John B pulls the boat up to the Chateau and docks it by the wooden slacks that I used as a bed last night. My friends cheer and actually smile after what just happened.

"That was insane!" Kie says.

"Whoo!"

I look at my brother with adrenaline rushing straight to me head. I feel giddy about finding out what JB found - what must be so important. "What do you think it is?"

"Gotta be money, right?" He asks, looking at me.

"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low-to-mid-mills," JJ says, leisurely danglingly his arm around my shoulders.

"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope says loudly, forcing everyone's attention at him who now looks at us sheepishly.

"Wow, Pope," John B laughs. "That's a rare outburst of emotion."

"Okay, you guys are literally killing me with anticipation," He says. "Open the bag!"

"Jeez." JJ whistles.

"We almost died over this," Pope says like its an explanation. But he's right. We did almost die for this, which is why I need to know what's in it now.

John B opens the velvet bag. Something heavier than money falls out of it with a thunk. Its round and metal. Dirty and dented. Physically ugly and maybe priceless, but it looks familiar. I narrow my eyes at it, trying to study it and rack my brain through where I've seen it before.

"Oh, wow. Yup. That's about right," Pope sighs at the sight of our treasure. "Good job, everybody. We found a compass."

The word compass hits me like a train and my body goes slack like my limbs just turned into jell-o. John B is already looking at me, shocked at the real meaning of what we just found. I push myself in front of JJ and look down at the object he's holding. Priceless maybe true to the others but not to me. Not to John B. This means everything.

JJ looks between John B and I and laughs nervously at our reactions. "Dude, what? It's not worth anything."

My brows furrow together in confusion as I try to wrap my head around how we just found our dad's possession on another man's boat. A dead man's boat. But I feel blank. Like someone just wiped all my thoughts and memories.

"This was our father's compass," I say emotionless, keeping my eyes on JB who looks equally as terrified.

Tag List: @notyourcupofteax @acvross-the-universe @jjmaybankzz  @jeeperky​ @realistic-breadstick  @moniamaybank  @urbinoutfiters​ @brebear121​  @x-lulu​

#jj maybank #jj mayback x reader #jj fic #jj x reader #jj maybank fic #jj maybank one shot #jj maybank imagines #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank imagine #outer banks imagine #outer banks fic #outer banks #john b routledge #outer banks rewrite #jj maybank x oc #pope heyward #kiara carrera #obx fic #obx

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 1. Back Into The Field

Intro: Picking up a few months on from the events of Stark Spangled Man, Katie finds herself on desk bound duty following a disciplinary for ignoring Fury’s orders. But when she’s finally released, and disaster strikes on the first mission she’s run in months, she kinda wishes she’d stayed there.

Warnings: Bad language, mentions of blood, injury, angst and a minor character death.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Katie Stark

A/N: So here we go. A relaunch of SSB thanks to my other blog being flagged. For those of you who are new, welcome! I hope you enjoy. And to all you current Stark Spangled Readers, welcome back, You might spot a few subtle differences as we go through, as things I’m not happy with have been rewritten but don’t worry, nothing will impact the mine lines in the hot mess that is Stark and Rogers.

As always, please leave your comments or send me messages, asks, anything. I love you all!

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

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

March 2013.

Any doctor would cry if they visited SHIELD; the caffeine and alcohol intake of pretty much every worker there would way exceed a dose construed to be healthy. Mind you, if you asked any agent whether they’d give up coffee or alcohol, they’d say alcohol in a heartbeat.

Well, most of them.

Katie couldn’t imagine surviving without an ice cold beer on a hot summer’s day, but she also didn’t function until she had her morning cup of Joe. It was a tough choice to make.

Not today though, she needed coffee. And lots of it. After ‘going rogue’ to chase the Mandarin with her brother, month’s later Fury was still pissed and as such was basically giving her the most boring thing he could think of- working through piles of mission reports to analyse and cross reference with others to pick up on common threads .To be honest, she didn’t mind it too much. After the excitement of the festive period she had welcomed a relatively quiet return to work, and didn’t particularly give a shit what Fury thought about her either.

She circling a part of the hard copy of the report she was working on with highlighter pen, before glancing back at her computer screen to cut and paste it into the Scrapbook App she used to trace trends with, letting out a groan. Who was she kidding? Desk duty sucked ass.

*****

Steve’s morning wasn’t going much better.

Whilst he wasn’t desk bound, after a particularly gruelling Ops Training session during which one of the newest kids suffered a broken nose after colliding painfully with a stray shock baton, he was almost wishing he was. Following a quick debrief, he checked his schedule on his phone and found he was free now for the rest of the day so he showered and headed up to find Katie. He found her in her office, paper in her hand as she stared at her computer screen, eyes narrowed. Steve watched her for a moment, taking in the way her nose crinkled as she read something, her bottom lip being dragged under her top teeth as she continued her work, completely unaware he was there. With a groan she dropped the notes she’d been holding to the desk and ran her hand through her dark hair.

Steve felt he was interrupting something, even though he knew he wasn’t, but he also didn’t want to appear like he’d been watching her either, which he totally had. So he gave a little cough and, as she turned round, her pretty face cracking into a smile which he returned. 

“Hey! How was training?”

“Don’t ask.” He let out a snort.

“That bad huh?”

“In a fashion.” He nodded, leaning on the door frame. “You had lunch?”

“Nope.”

“Wanna come get some?”

She nodded instantly “God yes. Can we get FroYo after?”

“Yeah but don’t let me pile it with all that crap this time!” he shot her his best playfully disapproving look as he remembered his first trip the Frozen Yoghurt stall. He had loaded his with all sorts of different things and the result had been beyond foul.

Katie gave a laugh and picked up her jacket, shrugging it on. Standing up straight, he moved to allow her to step through the door and followed her to the elevator.

“Stick to chocolate chip, mint and cookie dough.” She said, stepping into it. “Trust me.”

They strode across the foyer and into the early spring sun. Katie pulled her jacket tighter around herself as they crossed the street, shivering a little in the cool breeze.

“How are you just wearing a shirt?” she looked at Steve as he fell into step besides her, making sure he was on the side nearest the road. He noticed that she’d long since given up chiding him on this old fashioned habit after he had revealed it was something he used to do for his mom too, and Bucky’s younger sister. In fact, today, he swore he saw something that looked like a soft smile flicker on her lips when he positioned himself on her left, but as quick as he noticed it, it was gone.

“It’s not too bad.” He grinned. “I’ve been through worse.” He opened the door to the Deli for her and followed her in as they took their place in the queue. After a moment or two he became aware that she was looking at him.

“What?” he asked, turning to her exasperatedly. Katie couldn’t help but grin, she enjoyed winding the usually mild mannered man up

“I’m trying to imagine how you would look with a beard. And with shorter hair.” she mused, causing the Captain to roll his eyes.

“Not gonna happen.”

“What the hair cut or the beard?”

“Neither.”

“Spoil sport.”

“Captain America doesn’t have a beard.” he shook his head.

“No but, Steve Rogers could…”

She was impossible, but Steve couldn’t help but want to laugh. This playfulness was the thing that he enjoyed the most, how she could just treat him like any other punk she knew.

“Did anyone ever tell you you’re exhausting?” he rolled his eyes, a smirk playing on his face as she stepped forward in the queue.

“Yeah, you.” she spun round to face him, grinning “Several times. But you still come back for more.”

“Well I have the distinct impression if I didn’t you’d hunt me down anyway”

They ordered and ate their lunch, Steve filling her in on the ops drill and after Fro-Yo they made arrangements to slob out that evening at his with a film. They walked back to the Triskellion where Katie headed back to her office to continue sifting through the Mount Everest of reports she had to do. As with anything, once she got the bit between her teeth, she completely zoned out. It was only when she heard a gabble of voices all bidding each other goodbye that she looked up from her work. It was dark outside, and past six.

“Shit.” she groaned as the realisation washed over her. She was supposed to be at Steve’s for half past. She clicked to save her work whilst calling him at the same time, phone sandwiched between her cheek and shoulder.

“So…I’m running late.” She apologised the instant he answered. He chuckled.

“I thought that you said the one good thing about being confined to desk duties was that you set the hours.”

“Yeah, well I got caught up in something, but I’m leaving now. Do you want me to grab pizza on the way?”

“Sounds good, not Chicago Style though. I’m hankering for a proper piece of pie.”

“God you’re such a New Yorker.” She rolled her eyes.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” His voice took on a mock hurt tone and she could imagine him pouting on the other end of the phone.

“Hmmm, I’m undecided. Right, I’m leaving now. See you soon.”

“Drive safe.”

“What are you my dad?” she snorted at his stern instruction.

“Old enough to be.” he shot back.

“Touche.” she sniggered, cutting the call

*******

“Boring New York style for Mr S Rogers…” she spoke into the intercom at the main door to Steve’s apartment complex and he buzzed her in. By the time she’d climbed the stairs to his floor he was waiting, leaning on the door frame.

“Bout time.” He muttered, taking the boxes off her “Was about to send a search party.”

“Mario’s was packed.” Katie said, kicking off her sneakers and heading straight through to his kitchen to grab a beer out of his fridge without waiting for him to offer, knowing he wouldn’t. He didn’t need to. 

Steve headed into the living room, depositing the thee boxes on the coffee table before he sank onto the couch and reached straight in for one of the pepperoni slices. A few moments later Katie flopped down next to him, handing him a beer.

“What we ticking off the list tonight?” she asked.

“A Few Good Men.” he said, nodding at the TV where he had queued the movie up ready.

“Wait, did you manage to navigate that Android box all by yourself?” She looked at him and he sighed. 

“I’m not completely useless ya know.”

“Jury’s out.” she teased, curling her legs up onto the sofa next to her.

They watched the movie. Steve got most of the references within it. He chuckled in the right places, and laughed out loud when Katie was unable to stop herself uttering the immortal line You can’t handle the truth. When the credits began to roll,  Katie unfolded herself from where she had been sat and they launched into Steve’s favourite part of Movie Nights- the post film analysis.

“Who was the guy who played the colonel, Jessup?” he looked at her.

“Jack Nicholson. Amazing actor. He’s in a few on your list.”

“He was good. And I know he was supposed to be the good guy so to speak but Kaffee annoyed me a little. He was so arrogant.”

“He reminds me of Tony” Katie sniggered.

“Well, I didn’t want to say anything” Steve gave a little smirk and Katie shrugged.

“I get what you mean though. He is an ass, and it pisses me off a little the romance angle they take with him and Galloway. I mean, she’s portrayed as this strong woman, in the male dominated military woman and they still have to go there.”

“It does seem to be a tried and tested format.” Steve nodded, leaning back against the cushions on his couch “Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy wins girl over…even the movies I saw back in before I took a sub-zero nap were the same.”

“I suppose it appeals to the hopeless romantic in all of us.” Katie shrugged.

They continued to chat for a bit longer until Katie glanced at her watch, and seeing the time, decided to call it a night. Steve walked her down to her car, he always did without fail, another thing she had given up chiding him for and when he came back upstairs and got in the shower, he found himself straying back to the first time he had seen her, the minute she had stepped into the light in the boxing gym and he’d found himself looking into the greenest eyes he had ever seen in his life.

The more he stood there in the stream of hot water, thinking about her, the more he started to feel something…well…different. And he couldn’t put his finger on it. Was it that he found her attractive? Well of course he did. To be honest, he reckoned you’d have to be blind not to. And if he was totally honest, since he’d seen her the first time in that little boxing gym in New York he had noticed how pretty she was. She had the figure of the stars of his time. Hour glass waist, brunette hair, shapely ass and legs and quite large breasts considering she was so slim. But what did it for him were her eyes. Deep, sparkling emeralds that he could lose himself in quite happily. And that smile, that fucking smile that could make him stop in his tracks when she flashed it.

But it was more than just that, she was…well…just Katie.

It was strange, really, she reminded him so much of Peggy in some ways, but in others she was so different. Both were vivacious, smart, strong willed and beautiful. But where Peggy had been harsh, after a military upbringing, Katie had a softer edge to her. She was still ferocious at times, but she was a people person, and somehow knew exactly how to explain and understand what he was trying to say even when he struggled to himself. She made him feel at ease. With that in mind it wasn’t surprising they had grown so close. He could trust her and knew that she would do anything for him because she was a good person. And she made it so easy to be around, he didn’t feel a shred of awkwardness around her. 

He hadn’t thought he’d ever find himself a friend he could be as honest and open with again, one he would happily lay his life on the line for, not just out of a sense of duty but out of a sense of love and friendship.

Who you trying to kid, Rogers? 

He knew his feelings went deeper than that. All those times he’d felt irritation at other men looking at her or touching her, all those times he’d looked at her and just wanted to smile because she was just her… the fear he had felt when he had known she was off chasing the Mandarin and he wasn’t able to help…none of that was anything to do with mere friendship. 

He leaned his forehead against the tiles of the shower cubicle and groaned. He was crushing on his best friend.

He was so fucked. *******

Katie’s desk arrest didn’t last much longer. Two weeks later she was catapulted back into the field, on what was supposed to be a simple op, simple by SHIELD standards, anyway. They had a request from the Cuban government – all very hush, hush, of course –to take down a drug lord who ran a cartel SHIELD had tangled with last year.

Katie, in her role as Mission Analyst, read the files and all the intel, pulled together a briefing and delivered it, answering questions that came her way from the team and then handed over to Steve when it was his turn to take the floor. He started issuing out his orders, and informed everyone that the three newest recruits would be joining them as it would be a fairly straight forward op to ease them into.

And it had been, for the most part, until one of those new recruits, Jack Adams, had frozen mid fire fight and as a consequence he’d taken three bullets to the chest. Which shouldn’t have been an issue given the armour they all wore. But when the man failed to get up, Katie knew there was something very, very wrong.

“Adams is down!” she loudly spoke into her radio as she took aim at the hostile responsible. As soon as she was sure the round she had let off had hit her target, she broke cover to get to Adams, as she was closest to him. She skidded to the floor, pressing her hand to his chest and her other reached to his face, turning it to look at her.

“I got you, Adams, look at me.” she urged gently, her hand warm, wet and slick with the young man’s blood. Steve dropped besides her and she turned to face him.

“Armour piercing rounds.” She shook her head. “Steve, I can’t stop the bleeding.” Her tone left the Captain in no doubt as to how worried she was and he looked around frantically for help.

“Medic, NOW! We need emergency evac…”

“Stay with us, Jack.” Katie reached into her belt and retrieved a tab of morphine as he young man’s hand gripped her other whilst she administered the pain relief.

“Son, you’re gonna be fine.” Steve spoke and Adams’ horrified eyes turned to Steve. The soldier swallowed, fighting to keep his face calm. He’d seen that expression so many times on the battle field, the one that told him the man who lay injured knew he was injured beyond repair, that there was nothing to be done for him. But this was now seventy years into the future, medical science had worked so many wonders since then, they had to be able to do something, right?

“RUMLOW WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT MEDIC?” Katie screamed, her tone frantic.

“Still got hostiles on us!” Rumlow replied over the coms. “Evans has taken four down but they’re approaching from the right! We need to cover the medics in and now you’re down there…”

Steve instantly looked round before he looked back at Katie “We’ll have to take him ourselves”

She bit her lip, looking at the young man, then up to Steve again. Everything in their training told them not to move casualties, but Steve knew if they stayed here he was going to bleed out. Katie seemed to come to the same conclusion and she nodded.

“Alright. Brock, we’re coming to you. Have the medics prep the bay on the jet.. Evans, we need top cover.”

“Roger, Cap…”

“Jack, we’re gonna move you now.” Katie looked at him, her voice calm and level as besides her, Steve moved to take the injured man into a lift over his shoulder. Once he had him positioned, he gave a small jerk of his head and Katie picked up his shield in one hand, and her pistol in the other as they broke cover, sprinting across the front of the industrial yard towards the jet. In the corner of his eye, Steve spotted two hostiles moving but before he could shout a warning, Katie had fired off two shots, the thumps and lack of returning fire meaning each bullet had hit its target. Soon they were joined by Rumlow and Rollins who flanked them up the ramp where Katie dropped Steve’s shield to the floor with a clang and offered her hand back to Adams as Steve placed him gently on the stretcher.

“It’s gonna be ok.” Katie soothed him as the medics bustled around, her eyes glancing up every so often to watch what they were doing.

“Can you tell my mom I love her and, and my dad.” Adams was mumbling now and Katie shook her head.

“You can tell them yourself.” She told him fiercely. “You’ll be fine, I promise.”

“We’re locked down outside, local authorities are handling it now.” Rumlow informed Steve who had stepped back from where Katie was knelt by the injured man. “How is he?”

Steve turned to Rumlow, shaking his head sadly. “Not good. He lost a lot of blood.”

At that point Katie suddenly drew back slightly, looking at the hand held in hers, before she glanced at the medic who was sadly shaking his head. Katie’s shoulders slumped as her eyes closed, face screwing up into a pained expression and Steve pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and middle finger as he realised that the young man had lost his final fight.

“Shit.” Rumlow muttered.

“Radio base” Steve turned to Rumlow his voice soft “Let’s get him home.”

*******

Writing mission reports wasn’t Katie’s favourite thing to do, but this one was awful. So she’d treated it like ripping off a band aid, and after a horrific night’s sleep, she’d been at the Triskelion early to get it done. As a result it was little after ten am, she was done for the day and was about to head home until she heard a familiar voice.

“Eat me…eat me…” The voice was accompanied by a bag from her favourite bakery, which was hovering in the space between the door to the office and the frame, before Clint Barton’s head poked round the side, a grin plastered on his face.

“Hey!” She beamed at her friend as he dropped a cup holder containing two coffees and the bag onto her desk before taking a seat, scooting the wheeled chair over the floor towards her.

“Heard you had a rough time of it yesterday so I brought donuts and almond croissants. And coffee.”

“Hawkeye, you are a godsend.” Katie smiled, taking a large drink and leaning back, closing her eyes.

“That the first time you’ve lost a man on a mission?” Clint asked.

“Other than Coulson.” she shrugged. “Shit, Adams was twenty-three Clint. He had his whole life ahead of him.”

Clint watched as she rubbed at her temple before reaching into the bag and pulling out an almond croissant. She couldn’t remember when she had last eaten, it must have at least been before the mission.

“How’s Cap taken it?”

“On the outside he seems okay, but I know he blames himself. Keeps saying he shouldn’t have taken him.” Katie shrugged “He’s gone with Fury to see Adams’ parents. Rather him than me.”

“This job is hard.” Clint said after a moment or two pause. “We fight to keep everyone safe, but y’know, sometimes not everyone makes it. Thing is, if we can’t find a way to deal with that, then maybe next time no one gets saved at all.”

“You mean like Collateral damage?” she snorted, shaking her head.

“No, I mean that everyone one of us that are out in the field know the risks Nova, hell last year 7 of us took on a horde of Aliens in New York. For hours we fought them, and did any of us give a second thought to our own safety? No, because that’s what we do.”

His words made sense. She knew they did, but that didn’t stop the feeling in her stomach that if she had done her research more, maybe she could have spotted something that would have told them about the armour piercing rounds.

*******

Adams’ parents already knew he was dead. Fury had the local authorities call ahead, common practice now, but still, Steve found himself sat on their couch, talking, informing them all about their son’s last moments. They hadn’t shouted, hadn’t screamed or blamed him. Instead, they’d thanked him for what he had done and for bringing him back so they could hold a proper burial.

By the time he got back to base, he was exhausted.

“Here.” Fury handed him a glass of scotch from the bottle he had pulled out of his desk. Steve took it, dropping onto one of the sofas at the side of the large office, Fury settling into the other. Steve knew the drink couldn’t get him drunk, but he liked the momentary buzz he got that lasted all of sixty seconds post sip, and the comforting burn it gave when he swallowed.

The pair of them sat in silence for a few moments before Fury sat forward, his eye fixed on Steve.

“Ever done that before, a death message?” he asked.

“Can’t say I have. Wasn’t really my job back in the day.” Steve shrugged, undoing his tie and popping the top button of his dress shirt.

“Worst part of the job. Doesn’t matter how many times you do it, never gets any easier.” Fury ran his hand over his face, and it struck Steve how tired his boss actually looked.

“Yeah, it isn’t exactly up there with my favourite thing to do.” Steve rolled his tie up and shoved it into the pocket of his old Army uniform pants.

“How’s Nova?” Fury asked.

“She’s upset.” Steve sighed “But she’s strong, she’ll be okay. I’m gonna head over and see how she is later.”

“You two spend a lot of time together outside of work.” Fury commented, innocently enough but there was something in his tone, something that was almost good natured accusation.

“Not a problem is it, Sir?” Steve asked, keeping his face straight.

“No, not at all.” Fury said “Why do you think I partnered you up in the first place? She’s a people person…”

“She’s a good friend.” Steve nodded “We get on.”

“Glad to hear it.” Fury nodded. There was another moment’s pause before he spoke again. “There’s going to be a debrief with the Secretary of Defense tomorrow.”

Steve sighed “If they’re looking to blame someone, the buck stops with me. I should never have taken the kid.”

“Bullshit.” Fury said simply “I’ve read the reports. From what they say, he just froze.”

“He wasn’t experienced enough.”

“Taking risks is part of this job. It’s a dangerous gig.” Fury held his gaze. “It was a straight forward in and out job Captain. What happened was an accident. A tragic one, but an accident none the less. From the reports, neither you nor Stark could have done any more to save his life.”

Steve shrugged, the words were kind but didn’t help him feel any better.

Three glasses of scotch later, Steve shook the director’s hand and left the office, pulling out his phone. He didn’t want to appear like he was checking up on Katie, so he pinged her a text, dressing it up like it was him who needed to see her, which wasn’t a complete lie. He did. He was craving the normality she gave him.

Can I come over? I could do with seeing a friendly face

He read it a few times, before deciding it was casual enough before he sent it. The reply was almost instantaneous.

My door is always open for you. And I made Mac and Cheese. Plenty left.

He couldn’t help but smile. One of the best things about this new life was the food, and her Mac and Cheese was frankly his favourite thing to eat on the planet.

He changed into a pair of sweats and a hoody, hastily making his way to Katie’s penthouse and the smile she gave him when he walked into her place instantly made him feel at ease.

“Hey.” she crossed the space towards him and gave him a hug which he happily melted into, a hug they both needed.

“How did it go?” she asked, pulling away.

“As well as can be expected.” He sighed as he followed her into the kitchen, dropping into the stool on the other side of the breakfast bar. “His mom broke down but they didn’t shout or yell.”

Katie flipped the lid off a beer and handed it to him. He took it, with a nod of thanks and pulled a large swig before he rest his hands on the counter, staring at the bottle.

He was brooding and blaming himself, Katie could tell, so she gently lay her hand on his, reaching over the counter.

“It wasn’t your fault Steve.” she spoke softly and he looked at her.

God, she did that all the time, knew what he was thinking. It gave him the unnerving impression that sometimes she could read his mind.

“I should have spotted that shooter.” he shook his head.

“I’m the fucking mission analyst.” she sighed. “I knew from last time those guys were packing, if I’d done more research, maybe I would have found out about the armour piercing rounds.”

“You can’t seriously blame yourself?” Steve’s frowned.

“Why not?” she shrugged sadly. She’d been over it a million times in her head that day and had come to the same conclusion every time. She should have spotted something, dug further. “I didn’t do my job.”

“Yes, you did.” he implored, his eyes locking onto hers “Your report clearly set out the layout, the learning from previous missions…Adams was just too inexperienced, I should never have taken him.”

There was a pause as the microwave pinged and Katie turned to look at it.

“You know, Clint made a good point before.” she reached in for the plate and the smell of the food made his stomach grumble again as she continued “This job, it’s hard. We fight to keep people safe but not everyone makes it back all the time…and if we can’t learn to live with that then maybe next time no one gets saved.”

“It feels like trading lives.” He took a deep breath as she placed the plate down in front of him “It’s just wrong.”

“I know.” She said, handing him some cutlery and sat down next to him.

“You eaten?” he asked, looking at her, suddenly aware she didn’t have a plate. She nodded.

“Couldn’t have waited until now, I’d have starved to death.” she said, shrugging.

“Hardly.” he replied, mouth full, instantly realising he had said the wrong thing as she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Is that a fat joke?” she asked, making him roll his eyes as he swallowed. That hadn’t been it at all, he was referring to the fact that she never actually stopped eating, despite her tiny frame she gave him a run for his money.

“No, that’s not what I meant. You’re tiny.” he said, almost choking on his food through his protests.

“So now you’re making short jokes?” She shot back. Steve looked at her, dismayed she thought he was being mean to her but then he spotted the look in her eyes and rolled his own.

“Punk.”

“Jerk” she shot back. 

It was the perfect way to escape the trauma and stress of the last few days. Once they had finished eating the two of them flopped down on her large L shape sofa, Steve’s legs extended along one side of the L shape, her legs tucked underneath her as she leaned against his shoulder. He couldn’t help but notice the smell of her shampoo…apple, he thought, along with her perfume. Her proximity was making his head buzz but he wasn’t about to move her, the contact was comforting. And it clearly was for her too as about an hour or so into the film- the first in the Lord of The Rings trilogy- he felt her head growing heavy. He glanced down and saw that her eyes were closed and, as he watched, her head slipped slightly. He shifted so that he could catch her gently, and grabbed a cushion from behind him, placing it against his leg. He manoeuvred her head so that she was lay down, gently brushing her hair off her face. She stirred slightly, snuggling down further into the cushion as he absentmindedly rubbed between her shoulder blades as her breathing grew gentle and even.

Steve stayed like that, engrossed in the film right to the end, surprisingly. He had enjoyed it. Katie hadn’t woken up, and he looked down debating whether or not to wake her or simply carry her through to her bedroom. In the end he decided to do neither, instead he reached for the remote as he sifted through to find something else to watch. He didn’t want to leave just yet, he was too comfy and too at ease. Picking one of his favourites, Casablanca, he settled down, getting himself comfy as he immersed himself in the familiar world of Rick’s Café Americain. At one point he felt his eyes growing heavy and he lay his head back, deciding to rest them for just a little while…

**** Katie was jolted awake, quite violently, and as she jerked into an upright position she saw exactly why. Steve was thrashing in his sleep, his face contorted in horror, small murmurs and whimpers slipping from his plump lips. She placed both her hands on his shoulder and shook him. Softly at first, then a bit stronger, trying to rouse him.

“Steve…” she gave him a harsher shake and his eyes flew open, wide in panic and she reached up to cup his face in her hands. “Hey, it’s okay. It was just a dream.”

Her soft voice filled Steve’s senses and, as he realised where he was and whose eyes were looking at him, he took a shaky breath and lay his head back.

Damned it, he’d fallen asleep and had a nightmare. On her sofa.

“Sorry,” he said, his voice croaky, “I err…”

“Don’t apologise, it’s fine.” Katie shook her head gently “I’ll get you a glass of water.”

Whilst she was gone he leaned forward, swinging his legs off the couch so his feet touched the floor, wiping his clammy head with his hands, the memory still flashing through his dream.

Cold air was blasting his hair back…there was a hole in the side of the train…then a flash of light and Bucky flew straight through the hole. “BUCKY…” he yelled, grabbing onto the side of the train, the bar in one hand as he stretched to reach his friend with the other.

“Steve…” The voice was louder, but not loud enough. No, he had to get to Bucky…

But he was gone, Steve was grasping at nothing but air.

Just a dream, Katie had said. It was anything but…

She appeared back in the room with a glass of water and he thanked her as she passed it to him. He took a large gulp, swallowing and was relieved when his breathing began returning to normal.

“You ok?” she asked, kindly as her hand gently knotted into his, her concern evident.

“Yeah, just a nightmare.” he nodded softly “I’ve not had one for a while.”

“Understandable with what’s happened. Wanna tell me what it was about?”

“It was Bucky.” he swallowed thickly “I was replaying the moment he fell. The moment he plummeted to his death from that Hydra train and I didn’t save him.”

Katie stayed silent for a moment before her hand curled round Steve’s shoulder and she pulled him to her, causing him to lay his head on her shoulder. “You know it wasn’t your fault.”

“I should have done more” The guilt ate Steve up every day, that he had survived. Why had he deserved that any more than Bucky?

“How?” she said again. “How could you have done anymore?”

"I should have gone after him.” he said quietly.

“What would’ve changed if you had?” Katie asked. “There’s no way he could have survived that fall.”

“He wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me.“ He replied, "I should have gone after him, brought him home, done something.”

Katie remained quiet, her hand gently running through his hair which was nice, far too nice. He took a deep breath and sat up moving away from her touch.

"What time is it?”

“Nearly six in the morning” Katie glanced at her watch.

“You’re kidding?” Steve snorted.

“Nope. You want some coffee?” she stood up, stretching her arms above her head.

“Yeah if that’s ok.” he replied, following her to the kitchen. From her body language he could tell she was rolling her eyes, even if she wasn’t facing him.

“I don’t know if your Ma ever told you, but it’s rude to run out on a girl after you spend the night with her.”

“And as you know, I’m useless with women.” he sat down at the barstool on the breakfast bar. He watched her, but he didn’t say anything as she bustled about, throwing some bread in the toaster and then went to the fridge for the butter, marmalade and jam, sliding them onto the island. At that point Steve held his hands up.

“You don’t have to-” he started to say, but she silenced him with a glare, similar to the ones Peggy used to give him, the look that could stop him in his tracks it was that stern.

“Shut up.” she poured them both a cup of the coffee before adding milk and a spoon of sugar to each, passing one to him. The bread popped up from the toaster, and she put it on a plate before sliding it over to him and adding more bread to the machine.

His stomach rumbled and he gave in, smearing butter over his toast. He eyed the jam curiously. He’d had marmalade before but…

He looked at Katie and she nodded. “It’s good.”

So he added some, and after a bite he concluded she was right, and nodded in agreement. Once the next round of toast was done she sat next to him.

“So, when did I fall asleep.” she asked, swallowing her food.

“About an hour into the film.”

She shook her head “What an ass…”

“It wasn’t a problem.” He replied honestly as he took a bite of his breakfast. “To be honest I enjoyed it.”

“What, me drooling on your leg?”

He swallowed, his eyes wide “I meant the film.”

“I know.” she smirked.

***** Chapter 2

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #relaunch #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #katie stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character

[swimyghost]

Camellias and Carrots

Hey y’all. I’m finally writing something for my OCs. I just wanna say that @wickedhellagoodtime‘s OC is briefly mentioned but otherwise I hope you enjoy!

--------

"Uh, Hanamori-san, she's back again."

Tsubaki let out a groan. She set the bag of soil she was carrying on the wooden counter next to the cash register. Tsubaki could hear the front door shake as someone continuously banged on it.

"Just let her in, Ichiro," she sighed, wiping her hands on her apron. "She'll bust down the door if we don't hurry."

The young black-haired man gulped and nodded. He passed the rows of flowers on shelves stood guard with their backs turned away from the walls. Side-stepping the island table containing the array of multi-color bouquets, Ichiro nervously adjusted his glasses then opened the door. The door wasn't even fully opened when the figure shoved themselves into the store. Tsubaki crossed her arms. She eyed the rude intruder up and down.

"You know, you're making yourself rather suspicious in that outfit, bunny."

The person growled and ripped off her broad-rimmed hat. Instantly two fluffy white rabbit ears perked up once their cover was gone. The person, a woman wearing a rather large white coat with a fluffy white collar and cuffs, pointed an accusatory finger at the Tsubaki. "I've told you repeatedly to not call me bunny, Dropout!"

Tsubaki rolled her eyes. "Fine. Just lose the coat. You look like you just murdered a bunch of polar bears for it."

The woman growled and her ears swiveled towards Ichiro. He was trying to inch his way towards the backroom when the woman grapped his shirt collar. Ichiro let out a yelp as the woman whipped him around to face her.

"Listen, kid, take my coat and hat and put them somewhere in the back then stay there. Your boss and I need to chat."

"Yes, Usagiyama-san!" Ichiro replied, immediately taking the clothing items and rushing to the back.

Now that Tsubaki could fully see the person, the identity of the individual was confirmed. The Pro-Hero Rumi Usagiyama, Hero Name Miruko, returned to her flower shop to bother her once more.

Miruko stretched her arms over her head, grunting at the action. Tsubaki, against better judgment, gave her another once over. Miruko's skin was smooth and marked with dozens of tiny and large scars alike. Her body was definitely built for her Quirk, with her muscular thighs and her lean calves certainly reminded Tsubaki of the rabbits she saw at the park. But that didn't mean her upper body was neglected. Tsubaki observed her rock-solid core as the Hero shifted to stretching her triceps. Speaking of triceps, both them and her biceps were bludging with the clear power that was under her deep brown skin. Tsubaki then moved to her chest which had a crescent moon symbol plastered right on it.

The store owner turned her head in shame. This woman harasses me constantly and yet I have the gull to objectify her. I'm disgusting!

"Hey, who's that kid?"

Tsubaki returned to the present and noticed that Miruko was staring at the entrance to the backroom. Tsubaki sighed. "I tell you his name every time you come here, it's Ichiro Niwakojo."

"Riiiiight, and, uh, what's his Quirk?"

Tsubaki didn't reply right away. She decided that if Miruko wasn't going to leave any time soon, she was going to continue working. She was grateful that her toolbox was still on the floor near the half-circle counter that was still holding the bag of soil from earlier. Making a mental note to take care of that later, Tsubaki made her way to the front of the store, knowing some petunias needed to be pruned for a client. Miruko stayed where she was but both her eyes and ears were still pointed at the pink petal-haired storeowner.

"It's called Plant Growth. Basically, he can grow plants slightly faster if he knows the biological makeup of said plant." Tsubaki cut back some dead leaves off one of the petunias. She took great care in not damaging the stem or the healthy leaves.

"A lot different than your Quirk. A lot weaker." Miruko sneered.

Tsubaki knew what the Pro-Hero was playing at. She didn't take the bait, instead choosing to move to a different flower. "Yes, but he's great with all the flowers and his bouquet-craft almost rivals my own. I know he wants to be a horticulturist but if he ever changed career paths I wouldn't be upset."

Miruko's ear twitched but she didn't say anything. Tsubaki finished her pruning and set her tools back into her box. She was lucky to have some fresh soil and transport bags underneath her counter and began to dig up the flowers. Miruko watched with intensity as Tsubaki poured fresh soil into a cloth bag with the flowers gently placed inside. As the florist began to finish up her task, the Pro-Hero spoke up once more.

"You're hardworking."

Tsubaki raised an eyebrow. "Thank you?"

Miruko frowned. "Why do you say it like that?"

"Because this is the first time you've complimented me," Tsubaki explained.

"No, it hasn't." Miruko denied, her ears folding back against her head.

"Yes, it has."

"Whatever!" Miruko's hand flew up in annoyance before slamming down onto the counter. Tsubaki heard a crack. "You're paying for that," She murmured.

"You're clearly know how to work with all this plant stuff, you're hardworking and never stop working even when I show up-"

"Because I have a business to run."

"-you show great talent with your Quirk."

"Now I know you're pulling at straws! I haven't used my Quirk a single time you've been here."

"Really?" Miruko smirked and pointed at the bag still tightly grasped in Tsubaki's hand. "Last time I was here those flowers were nothing but seeds."

Tsubaki looked away. "So?"

"I was here only two days ago."

Tsubaki growled and tossed the bag onto the counter. "So what, I use my Quirk to help my business? What else am I to do with my Quirk?"

"Become a Hero! Stop playing with your little flowers and actually do something!" Miruko leaned over the counter. Tsubaki could feel her hot breath on her face. "You could be saving lives but instead you choose to hide away because you got scared."

Tsubaki bared her teeth. "How dare you! I lost everything in that battle and, instead of wallowing in despair, I made a name for myself. I built myself a life where I can find peace within myself and I don't have to wake up every day worried if those I love are dead or not."

"You wake up every day for what? Something that someone else will buy and probably not take care of? Something that will end up dying in less than a few weeks? Maybe a few months at the most?"

"At least I enjoy what I do and don't have to parade around pretending my life is so cool and that there are no downsides to it."

"Oh please, you're a fool to think I don't know I could die." Miruko grinned. "That's just apart of the thrill."

"Apart of the- Oh Lord, you've lost your mind." Tsubaki leaned against the hall. She buried her head in her hands. The conversation always went like this when she was faced with Miruko.

"Besides," Miruko continued. "I can just have days off when I feel like it."

"So can I. You're not special." Tsubaki countered.

"I thought you had to work every day just to keep yourself afloat," Miruko said.

"That is a fantasy you crafted yourself. I'm financially stable. But I do close the shop if I'm feeling sick or if I have to go out shopping. Sometimes I close early when it's a holiday." Tsubaki explained.

Miruko scoffed. "You need to go shopping? Why can't you just grow it, Dropout?"

"You can't grow meat on trees, bunny." Tsubaki snapped.

That shout Miruko up because her ears shoot up at the statement. Tsubaki thought the Hero was going to say something snarky but the opposite happened. Miruko's face contorted into confusion and bewilderment. Her body sort of fell forward against the counter as if she couldn't properly stand. Tsubaki wondered if the rabbit Quirked hero was having a heart attack or something. Instead, the store owner was stunned by Miruko's next sentence.

"You eat meat?"

It was Tsubaki's turn to be confused. She stumbled with her words before she finally shot out, "Yes? Why wouldn't I?"

Miruko blushed and awkwardly looked at the floor. "Well, it's just... You know!" She gestured up and down at Tsubaki.

Tsubaki blinked a few times before it hit her. "Are you... Stereotyping me?"

"No! I just... Are you like a venus flytrap?"

"No, I'm not like a venus flytrap!" Tsubaki shouted, gripping the siding of her head as if a headache was beginning to form. "I'm a human being!"

"But wouldn't you be a vegetarian because you're, like, a plant?" Miruko asked, her voice rising several octaves higher.

"If I were a plant, why would I eat my own kind?" Tsubaki replied with irritation seeping into her tone.

"I don't know, I just thought-"

"If you're a rabbit, why don't you eat carrots all the time and say 'what's up, doc?'". Tsubaki interrupted, putting on a bad impression while she was at it.

Miruko's blush deepened as she shoved a finger in the plant Quirk user's face. "I'm not Bugs fucking Bunny, first of all! And second of all, I do enjoy carro-"

A low yet loud growled rumbled through the store. Tsubaki instantly whipped her head around, trying to locate the source of the noise. She learned from both living in the big city and Hero Training that villains could be around every corner. She did a once-over of the shelves, making sure no one had snuck in while the two were arguing. When no one could be seen she yelled for Ichiro. She asked if he had heard anything, still making sure the front of the store was safe.

"No, ma'am. Is something wrong?" Ichiro replied, still hiding in the backroom afraid to face Miruko if she saw him disobeying his orders.

"Miruko did you-"

The Pro-Hero was clutching her waist and visibly shaking. Her ears were lying lifeless against her head. Tsubaki ducked slightly and noticed her eyes were watering. It took her a few moments, her Tsubaki's own eyes widened with surprise.

"Are you... Hungry?"

"Shut up!"

Tsubaki winced as Miruko slammed her forehead into her's. The rabbit woman's red eyes were like two fiery suns as she spoke.

"I wasn't able to eat breakfast today before some villains decided to stir up some trouble. They were super close so I couldn't just do nothing! Then I had to on a search and rescue mission after a bunch of hikers got in a landslide and then-"

"Alright, I get it," Tsubaki pushed the hero off her and rubbed her aching forehead with the back of her hand. "But... It's nearly two-thirty, why didn't you just stop and get lunch?"

Miruko growled but turned her gaze away from Tsubaki. "I had to see you first, of course."

Tsubaki dramatically placed two hands on her chest and cooed. "Oh, darling~, you shouldn't have!"

Miruko's temper flared up. "I'll make you eat those words, Dropo-!"

The small silver and green-screen communicator on the Pro's wrist lit up and began to beat. Miruko snarled and ripped it off her wrist before holding it up to her ear.

"What?!" She barked.

Tsubaki couldn't hear the conversation, but she could tell Miruko was getting more and more annoyed by her slouched body posture. Her right foot was tapping away like crazy as the conversation continued.

"What do you mean I-!" Miruko shouted after Tsubaki was sure her foot broke through the floor. "I already said no! ...What do you mean I have to!? Do they know who I fucking am!? No, don't 'Usagiyama-san' me, I- Don't hang up you cock-sucking-!"

Miruko whipped around with both shock and fury plastered all over her face. "They hung up on me!"

"Who is they?" Tsubaki asked.

"The Hero Public Safety Commission," Miruko explained, solving her communicator back into its silver band-like holster. "They believe it'd be better for me to be seen with a sidekick so the public doesn't worry about me dying or whatever. Says it's to 'calm their nerves'".

Tsubaki couldn't help but snort at Miruko's mocking tone. She watched as the Hero make her way to the front door before cursing.

"Shit, my disguise! Whatever, I'll have to pick it up later. The Commission will have my head if I don't show up soon."

"I thought you said you were free to do Hero Work whenever you felt like it. That you could choose your free days." Tsubaki smirked.

"Shut up, Dropout!" Miruko yelled back.

Tsubaki chuckled. She was about to turn to go back to her work when she realized something.

"You said you liked carrots, right?"

Miruko didn't even look at her, just swirled her ears towards her to let Tsubaki know she was listening. "Yeah? What about it?"

"Just curious." Tsubaki waved it off.

Miruko just grunted and exited the store, giving the building some time to breathe.

---

Rumi hated taking the back ways when going places but she didn't want that dropout's store flooded with paparazzi when she just wanted to receive her clothes. The last wave was already hard to shake off, if they saw her going into some random flower shop owned by one of UA's biggest scandals, both her and Tsubaki would be swarmed by the press for weeks to come.

Crouching next to a dumpster, Rumi shivered as she was forced to place her feet in some nasty brownish puddle. Rumi grided her teeth together then faced the way leading onto the street.

I swear, if someone with a camera comes up to me I'll break it over their heads!

She did a mental countdown in her head before using all her speed to dash out of the alley and onto the sidewalk. She had to use all her leg muscles to skid to a stop or else be run over by a car then raced down the street. To everyone else, she was just a white blur. Someone would probably call the cops or try to get some Heroes involved if she continued to run past civilians.

Let 'em! She thought to herself, grinning one of her famous smiles I'll be out faster then before those stupid police can even think of coming over here!

Luckily, Tsubaki’s store was at the end of the line of buildings so Rumi just ran inside and slammed the door behind her. It was a miracle the glass door didn't shatter as the entire building shook due to the force.

"Dropout! Guess what! I got a sidekick and he might actually be kickass! His name is Oniyama, like my name, he wears a rabbit- Hey! Where are you?"

Ichiro, standing behind the cash register, waved at the Pro. "Hello, Usagiyama-san!" Although he sounded friendly, he was slowly inching away from Rumi so he wouldn't be in her line of fury.

Rumi placed her hands on her hips. "Hey, kid, where's Dropout?"

Ichiro fidgeted with a nearby rag. "Hanamori-san? She went out to make a delivery ten minutes ago. She won't be here for another hour."

Miruko frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but Ichiro beat her to it. "Oh, I already have your coat and hat here, ma'am. But Hanamori-san told me to tell you that she has something for you upstairs." He pointed to the wooden stairs behind the counter.

"You mean... She left something for me in her apartment?" Rumi scoffed. "Yeah, right, I'm not stupid. That has trap written all over it."

Ichiro tried to speak, but it was Rumi's turn to cut him off. "But I'll see what that Dropout has in store for me."

She walked past the rows of flowers and went behind to counter to the stares. Ichiro's gaze followed her until she turned to look at him. Her mouth grew into a wide smile.

"Move even a hair and I'll break your legs and send you to the police myself."

Ichiro whimpered but nodded profusely. Rumi felt a little bad for scaring the young man but still made her way up the creaky staircase. The dark oak door was heavily stylized with detailed depictions of flowers and vines, something Rumo would've been more interested in had she not been in a hurry. She opened the door and was surprised to see how... Cozy Tsubaki's apartment was.

A coat rack stood tall in front of her with several different coats of different materials and lengths. Her walls were a honey brown color with pictures lining the walls. Rumi could see that many of them were Tsubaki with what she assumed was her family. Like the downstairs, plants were either hanging from the ceiling, in pots of various sizes, or wrapped around objects like vases and table lamps. To her left, was the kitchen with cabinets and a circular white table with chairs placed on the center edge.

Rumi walked in and saw that there were two doors next to the kitchen which she assumed she wasn't allowed in. She passed the corner of the apartment there held the couch and the flatscreen TV raised above the fireplace as she used her ears to listen for any noises. She went completely sit to make sure she could properly hear everything. Rumi could hear the panicked breathing and thudding heartbeat of Ichiro downstairs but otherwise nothing. The apartment was completely empty.

"If no one is here, why-"

That's when she noticed it. Carefully wrapped in saran wrap and on a white plate laid a small cake. It had a layer of white frosting spread across the top with little frosting carrots accompanying it. On top of a metal fork and knife, which had another plate under it, laid a folded piece of paper. Rumi lifted it up, unfolded it, then read it.

Knowing you, you probably didn't go and get something to eat after your meeting with the Commission, so I made you a little something. Hope you like it :) -Hanamori

Rumi tossed the note aside and ripped open the saran wrap. She plunged the knife into the cake and cut herself a slice. She plopped it onto the second plate and took a bite. She froze after her second chew.

It was a fucking carrot cake. A good one at that. Rumi almost melted at how moist it was. It had the perfect layering of frosting and cake with pecans baked into the middle. Rumi could also taste the mouth-watering pinch of vanilla extract added to the cake.

The carrot cake was gone and only a minute. Rumi wiped away the bits of crumbs and frosting with the back of her arm. Once again, she looked at the note. Tsubaki's added smile made her chest bubble with rage. She crumpled the note in her hand and raised her head towards the heavens.

"FUCK YOU, HANAMORI!"

#oc x canon #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #rumi usagiyama #rumi usagiyama x oc #tsubaki hanamori #mha oc #bnha oc #ficlet #fanfic #fanfiction

[juhihuji]

my big cringy text post full of useless info about Juhi Zo (oc)

Uhhh this is in response to the anon from curious cat who asked ‘bout my oc...it was too much text.......

Hey. HEY? r u tryna make me cry cuz that's how you do it I'm so happy ppl like her when I was so ashamed and embarrassed to show her lmao Ah...there's so so so much about her and I've tried typing it out over n over but it's hard to tell her story without going off on long tangents trying to explain other details. Like, it wouldn't make sense without them...and I didn't wanna make this post super long and I'm still embarrassed about talking about it ...I hope u r cool with just hearing random facts and snippets of story about her ah I'm sorry ;_;

I created her with the intention of using her for self inserting/shipping lmao but that's probably obvious...and idk if she breaks any rules of the universe and I feel weird talkin' about her cuz I'm only in the middle of Shippuden so I don't know what the whole world is like lol but uuh

She's left handed

One of her hobbies is jewelry making. She mainly uses wire and ceramic beads and gives them as gifts to her friends. They might wear it to be polite but nobody really likes it lmao

Her team consists of herself, her lil brother Zitien, her big sister Agneya, and is lead by her mom or dad. They switch out cuz they care about spending time with their kids lol

Some of my art depicts her skin tone as richly saturated for aesthetic reasons, but she's meant to be quite grey because of a mineral in her body! It's part of her kekkei genkai™

She has a seal on her back and it's got two parts! One seals her entire weight, the other seals her entire temperature???? Kinda like how Tsunade's holdin' in her old, like suckin' in a gut. It's like that with Juhi's body temperature and weight and she can partially open each seal individually. Full grown at 5'4", she weighs 3.4 tonnes unsealed and her body is a hot hot 2100°C when unsealed. She's just super dense and hot and heavy! Like she's made of metal or something. When fully unsealed the weight and heat can warp her body structure as if she's melting, and when she seals that shit back up and her body cools back down she could remain permanently deformed! There are doctors on her home island who specialize in fixing some of that through corrective surgery, like parts of her skeleton fusing into one big mass, but not everything can be fixed! So she's gotta watch it!

 She has nightmares about her face melting and people being scared of her or not being able to recognize her cuz you can't bring the face back to normal after it melts. Everyday she wakes up and checks her face obsessively to make sure all her features are the same distance apart and the same shape and whatnot

Even when fully sealed, full grown she weighs 300 pounds with an internal body temp of 40°C and for that reason she sinks like a rock and is terrified of large bodies of water! Learning to walk on water was the first thing ppl of her clan with the same kekkei genkai learn.

When her temperature is higher, she can (for the most part, aside from the melting at the highest temps) withstand and survive temperatures the same as hers or slightly higher, but for example at an internal temp of 400°C she will burn at 450°C

 I love drawin' sweat and I even draw Juhi with sweat on her body cuz I can't help it but she doesn't sweat! She's always dehydrated and most of her body's moisture evaporates through exhalation as a complication caused by her kekkei genkai.

People from her island are trained to use a different type of chakra and her kekkei genkai also makes her body extremely efficient in using that chakra, so a little goes a long way. One of the things that comes from that is she doesn't typically get uncomfortably hot or cold. She can sense changes in temperatures, but her body is really efficient at maintaining homeostasis and she just don't get too bothered by it! To a point, anyway.

wow i talked lots about her KG but just the boring useless facts about it and not what it actually is but i did say random hahee :•)

For her Naruto AU she exists on a branching timeline, one branch where she falls in love with Shino and one where she falls in love with Kankuro! ew!

In the Shino timeline she takes on a more taijutsu focused fighting style thus we have taiJuhi! 

Because of her weight/density she moves pretty slow for a ninja, but her mental reaction speed is typical of any decent shinobi. So don't let her catch you cuz her punches swing like a cannon and she will grapple her opponents and cook them alive. Her weight also makes it hard to knock her off balance.

Not great at long distance fighting. Sometimes uses a metal two-handed weapon.

Bein' a ninja's really tough for her since she's slow, but she wants it badly and works hard to keep up

Later in life she moves to and works in Konoha at a nuclear power plant owned and run by her clan wtf

Shino has been to Juhi's home island a couple times and he has to wear a lead suit to survive the harsh and nearly uninhabitable environment. The people from the island evolved to withstand it.

The first time he went, they took a ship to the island then went by train for a few hundred miles into the centre where the village is. The first time was for a mission, another Aburame came too. Some time during their friendship, Juhi gifted Shino beetles from her island that can survive the environment. Shino selectively bred them to be usable as an extra layer of protection beneath his and his clansman's skin to protect their internal organs while on the mission! How goofy

In the Kankuro timeline she takes on a more ninjutsu focused fighting style thus we have ninJuhi! 

Later in life she works a job 6 months out of the year on her home island as a sentinel for the family who governs the island?? 

In this timeline she dies some time during the events in Boruto ig (still haven't gotten to Boruto yet tho). Her seal malfunctions and everything she touches burns or melts and everywhere she stands she sinks into the ground. She's far from home and all she can think to do to save everyone from herself is to run into the ocean. Her footfalls sound like thunder and the ground shakes deeply as she pounds the ground running towards the shore. The sand turns into a hard crust beneath every foot step that hits the beach. Suddenly, her sprinting figure turns into noise and white haze as she reaches the tides and nobody can see her anymore. It's the water, hissing deafeningly loud as it evaporates into thick clouds instantly upon contact with her body. Her body's efficient energy usage takes her far into the ocean before she begins to run out of chakra. Her body starts to cool down from the ocean water and she's getting too tired to hold up the weight of her 3.4 tonne body. Eventually she crumples on the ocean floor and dies, melting and embedding into the earth's crust.

She loves spicy food

uhhh that was a lot of boring information sorry about that! wanted this post to be short but got carried away :•( her life's supposed to be kind of a crooked painful mess but she's pretty cheery cuz to her it's all normal and she's got the love and support of her friends and family baby! ain't that how it always goes in Naruto also sorry for sloppy writing im dum

#text post #Juhi #Juhi Zo #naruto oc

[shikai-the-storyteller]

CYBERVERSE WATCH: S3 Episode 17, 18, 19, 20

Episode 17

Oh nooo Windblade u good??? LASERBEAK AND WINDBLADE OMG!!!

Beaky please don’t peck my girl (that is kinda cute though)

Windblade she isn’t a pest!!!

Laserbeak watches her fly off like “I get no respect and no thanks???”

HECK YEAH GET THEM FLIERS!!! Jetfire please be careful bud, Starscream has some old beef with you

OH NO ALL THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE SOUNDWAVES

The only downside to knowing all these characters and getting excited about cameos is it’s that many times more likely that a character I like will die 8(

YEAHH WAY TO GO LASERBEAK you’re the real MVP

JEEZ HE GOT OPTIMUS RIGHT IN THE CHEST

HEY CAN SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE OPTIMUS

OH SHOOT WHO IS THAT

OH FRICK OH FRICK ITS MEGATRON!!! HELL YEAH

Megatron, a million universes away: My “Optimus is in trouble” and “Starscream is being a menace” senses are tingling, gotta go back to Cybertron

FRICK that was a cool entrance

Oh man what happened to his eye--HOLY FRICK HE LOOKS HOT

AYYYYYY ITS THE OG BLACK HELMET MEGATRON LOOK AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

MAN I FRICKIN LOVE MEGATRON

KUP NOW ISN”T THE TIME FOR YOUR COMMENTARY (that was cute though)

Oh my gosh when Starscream started to say “You’re too late to save your--” for one very frightful minute I thought he was going to say something about Optimus like “partner” or something and I felt every muscle in my body tense up lmao, I should’ve known better but RATS

WHAT

WHAT THE FRICK THAT WAS SO FRICKIN COOL

IS THERE ANYTHING HOTTER THAN WAKING UP TO SEE YOUR OLD FLAME STANDING OVER YOU GLOWING LIKE A VENGEFUL ANGEL ABOUT TO KICK STARSCREAM’S BUTT

POWERS OF CYBERTRON UNITE??!?!?!?!?

EVEN OPTIMUS GOT SOME

BOYFRIENDS PUNCHING STARSCREAM’S ARMY OF QUINTESSONS TOGETHER!!!! SHADOWSTRIKER!!! BEE AND SOUNDWAVE!!!! GOSH THIS IS SO GOOD

WRECK THEIR SHOP SOUNDWAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Starscream you’ve sentenced them like five thousand times what’s new about this OH RIGHT I FORGOT ABOUT THAT GLOB STUFF

ASTROTRAIN!?!?!?!?

Starscream: NO ONE CAN STOP ME *CUTS TO WINDBLADE* wanna bet nerd

I LOVE my beautiful girl

Oh that is some nasty looking Quintesson tech

Uh oh u good Windblade???

Croaton can you please slap Starscream out of the sky before you leave it’d save us a lot of time

Aw man I wonder what Megatron saw that made him sorta regret the stuff with Starsc

WH

HE”S BARING HIS SPARK!?!?!? WAIT IS THAT ANOTHER MATRIX

ARE THEY GONNA FUSE????

MEGATRON PRIME

GOSH I REALLY THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO FRICKIN SPARK FUSE THERE FOR A SECOND

*CUE “THE POWER OF LOVE” AT FULL VOLUME*

Ok but what the heck did Astrotrain do???

If you get along with someone you don’t like the universe probably won’t end pfft, thanks Kup

CREEPY BUGS???

Megatron please take his hand :(((

IM LOSING IT MEGATRON REALLY IS A HUGE KID *takes out a piece of chalk and draws a line between them* this is MY side of Cybertron, this is yours

guess galavanting through space didn’t change him TOO much

Guhhh these opposing sides shots always break my heart I WISH THEY COULD OVERCOME THEIR DIFFERENCES AND BE FRIENDS AGAIN SOMEHOW....

Dang Astrotrain is HUGE compared to the rest of the bots, I wonder what he looks like in bot mode

SO MUCH HAPPENED IN THAT EPISODE (and I had to take a break in the middle of it) I FORGOT I STILL HAD THREE LEFT thank the stars

I genuinely can't believe Megatron essentially drew a line between him and Optimus and went "This side of Cybertron is MINE, the other side is yours" 

*cue shenanigans of Autobot and Decepticon buddies trying to secretly cross the line to visit their friends in the other faction* 

gosh fanfic always depicts Megatron and Optimus sneaking around meeting each other for smoochies I'd LOVE to see their subordinates being the ones doing the sneaking around while Megatron and Optimus are just like "GUYS....". Fingers crossed for the next episode!

Episode 18

CYBERTRON LOOKS SO PRETTY....

oh my gosh they actually built a wall

WAIT DID CLOBBER SERIOUSLY SWITCH SIDES OMG SHES AN AUTOBOT NOW

WHAT BEE CAN FLY!?!?!? WHAT!!!

LMAO LOCKDOWN NICE BOARDER PATROLLING

Well it took all of 30 seconds to confirm my theory lmao man I frickin love this show

Man I can’t believe how quickly they beat the Quintessons, I REALLY THOUGHT THE AUTOBOTS AND DECEPTICONS UNITING AGAINST THEM WOULD BE THE BIG SEASON FINALE I’m thrown for a loop now lol

ew those colors remind me of Sentinel Prime I hope that’s not him

OH WAIT IS THAT IACONUS MY BAD

PRIMA???? OH?????

Grand Imperium?????

Omg did Rack’nRuin switch sides too? I thought they were Decepticons

JETFIRE COME ON BUD OPTIMUS IS TRYING TO HAVE HIS MOMENT

Croaton city!!!

LMAO SKYBITE’S SHARING HIS POETRY....CUTE...

But where is Soundwave!!!!!

I’m with you Bee, those insects are creepy

WOW ASTROTRAIN IS HUGE

“And WHO rescued you from that tyrant” OH??? ANOTHER UNIVERSE’S MEGATRON MAYHAPS???

“I must know if the barrier holds!” OH!!!! Oh no is the final battle gonna be against all the other universe’s people who Megatron burned as he gallivanted through the multiverse??? I SURE HOPE SO

Gosh not to be predictable but that new armor looks so frickin good on Megatron

OPTIMUS IS SO STRONG

POOR OPTIMUS....

“During wartime, decision-making came so easily” MAN....THAT HURTS.....

oh he’s looking for Windblade!!!

AW SHADOW STRIKER C’MON, I THOUGHT YOU GUYS WERE BUDS NOW

“I know better than ANYONE what it’s like to be left broken on the battlefield. I did what I could” MY HEART JUST SWELLED THREE SIZES FOR SHADOW STRIKER....I LOVE HER....(ALSO THAT HURT)

Bee it REALLY seems like you should’ve had a plan / backup team for this!!!

BEE YOU’RE GONNA RESTART THE WAR!!

RODIMUS!!! YOU’RE BACK TO YOUR RED FLAME SELF!!!

WHIRL!!! OMG MY BABY

Wow that wall does a crummy job of keeping out fliers

SOMEONE PLEASE CATCH WINDBLADE

Thank you Whirl

OH JEEZ HERE COMES MEGATRON

SKYWARP!!! (I say while being super scared for my faves)

Whoa Megatron actually backed down

Nice

CHROMIA!!!! SAVE HER PLEASE

Episode 19

Ohhh are we gonna get to see Caminus??????

BEAST MACHINES?????

omg they’re gonna have to collect Windblade’s mind like they collected Bee’s memories

Chromia that doesn’t sound too convincing (you’re super cute though so I forgive you)

MORE BIRDIES!!!

A CYBER HORSE????

IT”S A  JET!?!??!

OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH IT”S CRYSTAL CITY!!!!!!

AGAIN, I WANNA SHAKE HANDS WITH EVERY BACKGROUND DESIGNER WHO WORKED ON THIS SHOW

OHHH mirror selves!!! Scary but pretty!!

OH MY GOSH!!! IS THAT RAVAGE!?!?!?!?

PLEASE LET ME SEE MY LITTLE BOY!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE BE RAVAGE

HOLY FRICK THAT LOOKED AWESOME??? KNIGHT??? A REALLY COOL KNIGHT???? WHO ARE YOU

Thunderhow??

My first thought was “Someone got their Warriors Cat oc into Transformers” and that cracked me up

KNIGHT OF THE PRIMES???

THIS STAINED-GLASS STYLE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS

I like this dude but something tells me they’re gonna have to fight / kill him later

Bee’s smile is so cute!!

lmao nice lore-speak Chromia

They should just blast through the walls of the maze

“That sounds like a nightmare” “Scrap that!” THEYRE SO CUTE omg way to break the rules you two

CRYSTAL WINDBLADE!!!!

oh shoot many crystal windblades

I love the little “tink tink tink” sounds her feet make

Just her arm???? Jeez louise are the rest of the episodes gonna be about collecting Windblade?

Oh it’s Thunderhound

Optimus is just like “PLEASE leave me alone”

Petition for Optimus Prime to just get a frickin vacation

Episode 20

Man I’m so sad this series is almost over

Everyone in Mac’s bar without Mac..... :( Cute to see Percy as the bartender though

IS...IS THAT WHEELJACK?

OMG WAIT THAT”S THE COSMIC RUST WHEELJACK BACK FROM LIKE EP 2 or 3 IN SEASON 1????

“The Past” I FRICKIN KNEW WE’D SEE YOU AGAIN!!! IT WAS TOO WEIRD HAVING HIM WANDER AROUND IN AN EPISODE WITH NO EXPLANATION LIKE THAT

COWBOY WHEELJACK IS SO GOOD

Man Cyberverse is so frickin weird, I love this cartoon

Oh there’s my boy Soundwave

JEEZ THIS DUDE’S GOT NO FEAR

Megatron looks so cute...

“This is Autobot territory! You can’t--oh guess you can” pfft

I can’t believe Transformers is a western now

Optimus is the sheriff around these parts lol

Aw man Optimus JUST put that thing in there

OPTIMUS IS SO STRONG....I LOVE MY BUFF BOY

WILDWHEEL? Oh my bad, guess that’s not Wheeljack

“No one ever tried to find me” :(((( I wonder how many other bots felt that way

“I was one of the good guys! But you left me on that planet!” OW....

Pretty terrible shot Wild Wheel

OH NO....Innocent civilian got hurt, now Optimus is serious

Wild Wheel Optimus has been through a WAR your cowboy training aint gonna cut it

WELL THAT WAS A. WEIRD EPISODE. ALRIGHTY THEN I can’t wait to see how Wild Wheel is going to pop up in future episodes

Me: haha evil cowboy robot Wild Wheel: I felt abandoned because no one searched for me and I was forced to do horrible things in order to find my way home Me, tears streaming down my face: Haha....cowboy robot

#i talk #Cyberverse spoiler / #I'm watching Cyberverse #primordial robot hell

[comic-nerd-dc]

Dick Grayson x oc

Mentions of rape and abuse of these are triggering please do not read!!!

We live in a world where when you turn 21 you can see what your soulmate writes on your their body, it appears on yours as well and that’s how they communicate we can communicate so at 21 I did what I normally did during math and drew a cute bumblebee on my arm and didn’t think of it until that night when I saw

“ a bee seriously” and I responded with

“Bees are cute what do you bring to the table” I smile when he instantly wrote back

“Hey I’m pretty cool myself, where are you?” He asks

“San fan” I respond and he says

“What’s your name” and I laugh a little

“Sandy and you,” I ask

“Dick” he responds

“That’s quite a name isn’t it” and I drew a laughing face after and smiled until he said

“Meet me?” And I smile even wider

“When and where” we planned to meet at the park not far from my shared apartment with my ex because both of us were to broke to live alone. I got to the park at the set time and waited until I realized

“I don’t know what you look like,” I wrote and he responded with

“Don’t worry I got that handled” and I was confused until this beautiful man approached me

“Sandy?” He asks and I smiled at him

“Dick, wow your attractive,” I said and then realized what I said and turned red looking down

“Hey now, don’t look down, I think you're Incredibly beautiful as well, hey let’s walk back to my place, I want you to meet my family,” he says and I smile

“A little fast aren’t we?” I ask and he smiled

“We are meant to be, why wouldn’t I want you to my self as fast as possible” and I smile until his door had eye recognition

“Where exactly do you live” I question and he looks at me

“Trust me,” he asks and I nod as we go Into the elevator

“So where do you live,” he asks

“ a little east of the park, I live with my ex actually I couldn't afford my own place when we broke up so I ignore him” I smile and he doesn't look pleased I go to ask what’s wrong when the elevator door opens revealing the nicest place I’ve ever seen

“Oh my god you live here,” I say and he smiles nodding

“Yo, Rachel, Gar, Dawn, Hank, Rose, Korie, Donna, Jason” he screams and outcome all different types of people, a young girl with purple hair and a jewel in her forehead, and another young girl with an eyepatch, a young guy with green hair, and a woman my age with white hair, another with brown, and a really really tall man and a young guy maybe 18 with dark hair

“Everyone meets Sandy my soulmate” he smiles and I look at everyone

“Dawn and Hank are soulmates as well,” Dick says pointing to the tall man and white-haired woman

“Hi it’s really nice to meet you, I didn’t realize there would be this much age gap tho for you and Dick,” Dawn says and I look at him

“I’m 28” and I smile

“The way she said it I thought you where 40 or something I was gonna says you look good for your age” I joke and he smiles putting an arm around my waist so I step a little closer

“I’m Rachel nice to meet you, it’ll be nice having another girl around the tower” she smiles and I smile back

“Damn Grayson didn’t think you could get one this hot” the dark-headed boy says and I look at him

“Excuse Jason he’s a jerk most of the time but he’s family,” Dick says and I smile

“Dick, who are all these people? what is this place,?” I ask

“Oh right uh, we are the titans this is titan tower,” he says and I look

“Oh my god Hawk on Dove, are Hank and Dawn,” I say and he nod confirming, so I keep going

“So that would make you Donna, Wonder Girl, and Rachel, Raven right?” And he nods again

“And Gar is the tiger and Jason’s Robins and Rose is Ravager” and he nods again

“So that would make you Nightwing,” he says and I look at him and he blushes

“Oh my god my soulmate is Nightwing,” I say and he smiles

“We will leave you two alone!” Dawn smiles rushing everyone back to their room

“ Dick that’s hot, I’ve had a crush on Nightwing since he saved me a three years ago, and that was you” I smile

“When did I save you,” he asks and I smile

“of course you don’t remember it’s fine, I was 18, and one of Dr. Lights henchmen took me captive and was trying to-” I cut myself off and continue

“and you swooped in and kicked ass and ended up saving my ass, except my clothes were ripped from what happened you gave me, your cape and I think that may have been the only time you wore a cape,” I said and he looked at me

“Oh I remember that you were there” I nod and he pulls me closer to him into a hug and I hug back

“No one will ever touch you again,” he says and I smile at him

“Put your number in my phone,” I say as we pull apart and he does we spend the rest of the day getting to know each other and messing around and then it got late

“I would probably head home,” I say and he pouts

“Move-in,” he says and my eyes go wide

“What?” I choke out

“Move in with me here” he says and I smile kissing his cheek

“Maybe but now I need to go home” I smile and he walks me home

“Thanks for being you,” I say and he smiles grabbing my Chin with his thumb and pointer finger lifting my head and kissing me on my porch

“Thanks for letting Me,” he says and I put my key in to go in

“God damnit it’s about time you got home, whos this asshole” my ex Luke shows at the door

“Not now asshat go inside” I push him in and say a quick goodnight to Dick, truth be told Luke is abusive, and I’m about done

“With another guy whore,” he says and I go to my room and pack my stuff

“Where are you going”. He says and I say

“To live with my soulmate” I snap and he looks at me

“No you aren’t leaving me, you won’t leave,” he says and punches the shit out of me I know I’ll have bruises tomorrow but I’ve taken 4 years of all martial arts and got really good really fast so I take him down he’s passed out and I pack the rest of my shit, bruises on my face, arms and ribs as he didn’t go down without a fight and I call Dick on my way back over

“Hey, it’s almost 2 in the morning what’s up,” he asks and I swallow hard getting to his door

“I’m coming over and I’ll move in with you right now please just let me in,” I say and the doors open I rush in and to the elevator and finally get upstairs with all my stuff, I see Dick and rush to him, while I won the fight it’s been so long I’ve lived like that I’m FINALLY free and I’m crying, I hold onto him and he wraps his arms around me to right

“Ouch looser,” I say and he asks why so I look at him

“Oh my god, he did this, what the hell I’m going to” but I cut him off

“I already did,” I say and dick looks surprised

“You did” he questions

“After when you saved me I decided I didn't wanna be vulnerable or weak, I got a private teacher and took intense mixes of martial arts for the past four years and I’m a natural” I smile at him

“Yeah ok I should have seen that coming” he smiles and we move my stuff into his room and eventually fall asleep. Waking up the next morning I walk to the kitchen and see Dawn, Donna, and Jason already up as well

“Oh she stayed the night” Jason snarks and then actually turns to face me

“Holy shit what happened to you?” he asks leading to Donna and Dawn turning around and their eyes widening

“Sandy, what happened?” Donna asked

“Long story short, I lived with an abusive ex because I couldn’t afford anywhere else, and we got into a fight last night and I won but I also moved in at 2 am” I smile and Jason looks at me then starts walking straight at me and I’m nervous for a second until he hugs me and I wrap my arms back around him, after a moment or two he lets go

“I’ll be back” and then he walked to the elevator and out of the tower

“What happened?” I ask both Donna and Dawn as Rachel, Gar and Hank walk-in

“ Did Jason just hug you?” Dawn asks and I nod my head smiling as Dick And Rose walk-in

“What’s everyone so quiet about,” Rose asks and I look at them all

“Is it that strange for that boy to hug me?” I ask and Donna breaks from her silence

“Jason showed affection, he’s human and not an asshole, Hank he’s a mini you!!! He hugged her” she practically screams and Dick looks at me weird

“Jason asked what happened I gave him summarily and then he hugged me and left” I explain and everyone nods and goes on with their life after the initial surprise. I make an actual breakfast for the group and we eat together and about an hour later Jason comes back and has blood on his hand

“Oh my god Jason are you okay” I rush over to him and grab his hand

“Yeah I’m fine, your ex won’t bother anyone again by the way,” he says and I look at him surprised, not scared but surprised

“He’s not dead if that’s what your thinking, he’s just beaten bad and in jail now,” he says and I nod

“Let me help you clean up this hand okay?” I say more as a statement than a question leading him to a bathroom ignoring the weird looks

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I ask him as I’m cleaning off his knuckles from where they are bleeding

“Not entirely sure I just have a weird feeling like I need to protect you, like not in a weird way, it’s just like I haven’t known you long right but it feels like your my sister and I need to make sure no one hurts you” he explains and I nod

“ maybe if you were nice to the rest of the titans like this they wouldn’t call you an asshole?” I joke and he laughs lightly

“What’s going on in here” I see Dick in the door frame

“Just some bonding time Dick, Jay here is going to be nicer to you all from now on” I smile and dick forces a smile and it seems like jealousy flashes across his eyes

“Good, about time,” he says and I look back at Jason

“ your hands good I wouldn’t go punching anyone any time soon tho, any worse and you need stitches” I smile and walk to Dick

“Hey love what’s the problem,” I ask once we get back to our shared room

“ Does he like you? Do you like him? I’ve never seen him that at ease with anyone and I dont want to lose you to my kid brother” Dick says and I grab his face and kiss him

“We do not have romantic feelings for each other he was saying I was like a sister to him in some way and I feel the same, Dicky I am your soulmate ok. Dont panic” I say and he smiles resting his head against mine

“ bumblebees are cute what do you bring to the table,” he says and I laugh

“Hey I’m pretty cool thank you,” I say as he kisses me again

[moonvalecrossing]

Now here's something I haven't asked you in a long time: a "Fav and Least Fav" ask related to Pokémon. Favorite and least favorite Gym Leaders of each type they specialize in? Kahunas and Trial Captains will count, but if one ends up as your fav/least fav, I'd suggest separating them and the actual Gym Leader that's your fav/least fav of their type. Also, Bede and Marnie's statuses as Gym Leaders will count too, mostly just so Piers can have some competition with his sis. :P

Alrighty. Time to sit down and tackle this!

Normal Type- Least Favorite: Whitney. WHITNEY. That damn Milktank. I’m sure she’s killed many a Nuzlocke team. And yet still has the gall to cry like a baby when she loses. She also comes across as one of those vapid dumb and pretty trend girls. “Everyone was into pokemon so I got into it too!” I really think skill is the only thing they care about when they hand out the title of Gym Leader sometime because this chick really doesn’t seem to be the type who’d normally get this type of authority.

Normal Type- Most Favorite: Cheren. He is adorable baby husband. Though mostly it’s really cool to see another rival become a gym leader like Green did. I just wish they’d kept his glasses instead of for some reason swapping them to Bianca for some reason.

Fighting Type- Least Favorite: Korrina. Her character art bugs me. Is she seriously supposed to be wearing skates and also doing fighting moves? I can’t even stand on four wheel skates without nearly breaking every bone below my waist. And you’re telling me this girl runs around doing axe kicks on roller blades??? No thank you. Also she hoists a Lucario onto you. I like raising my pokemon from their earliest point and you go and make me have to take one because I’d feel bad if I didn’t since it wants to come with me now.

Fighting Type- Most Favorite: Brawly. Mostly because he’s hot. Slightly because his gym is actually a gym with workout equipment in the remake and I find that amazing and hilarious.

Flying Type- Least Favorite: Skyla. Partially because of her anime counterpart. Mostly because I hate her design. Why are her wrists so thick on those gloves? Why is she wearing boots, a cropped jacket, those weird gloves, and what look closer to boxer style panties than shorts underneath a bunch of bondage-y belts? She looks like a generic anime waifu more than a pokemon character. Like a Mega Man OC. Of one of those weird dating games where the women are just objects in female coded human form Skyla’s a humanized seatbelt.

Flying Type- Most Favorite: Falkner. Because Kahili isn’t a gym leader. Congrats, Falkner. You cute little bugger. Also he’s the only notable male flying type trainer.

Poison Type- Least Favorite: Prepare the flame shields. I don’t like Roxie. Small children as Gym Leaders bug the hell out of me. I see Gym Leaders as characters with high authority in the pokemon world. I hate the idea of kids who look like they’re only a few years out from learning the alphabet and basic mathematics having any kind of power in a region. The only exception I have is Galar because the gym leaders feel less important since they’re merely sports celebrities. ...Also I hate Roxie’s Pebbles Flintstone hair. It makes her look even more like a baby to me.

Poison Type- Most Favorite: Koga. Despite the fact I still think that he and Sabrina had their gyms switched, he’s still my favorite. He even became a member of the Elite 4 and left the gym to his daughter. I find that sweet.

Ground Type- Least Favorite: (Actually Hapu, because of reasons stated above for Roxie, except even more because this kid is a freaking KAHUNA. Why is this little mud farm girl chosen to be the KAHUNA of a whole dang island and one of the most important people in Alola? Surely the Tapus could find someone better, but then again the gods must be crazy.) Clay. Because he looks like a Texan Business Tycoon. And I’m a left-leaning American. That should probably explain things well enough. Because boy howdy do I not wanna open that can of worms. Maybe if I ever get to the point of fighting him in Black Version my opinion will change. But like I said. My real answer is Hapu. Clay just has the misfortune of being next at the bottom of the line.

Ground Type- Most Favorite: Giovanni. Because he is my mafia husbando and I am a garbage human. Have you seen a picture of the man in the “How I became a Pokemon Card” manga? Hot damn. And his newer pokemon cards? HOT DAMN.

Rock Type- Least Favorite: Gordie. This Ronaldo Fryman looking fucknugget with accessory tips from Bling Bling Boy on Johnny Test. He looks like one of those smug basement dweller types who’d call me a FEEEEEMALE if I turned him down for a date. Also his official art does the same thing I hate about Diantha’s. His knee faces more inner-forward but his foot’s pointing outward. Unless that picture’s drawn with him in mid dance spin, dude’s ankle is broken. At least he looks kind of cute when he doesn’t have his hair styled back in that douchey style. I feel like he’d yell about feemales again if I told him I thought his mom was hot. Also he’s not wearing socks with dress shoes and that should be a criminal offense.

Rock Type- Most Favorite: Roxanne is super cute. Even if she’s skirting the line of young people in positions of power she actually looks like a mature person who was ahead of her age level in school. However I will object to the idea of her being a teacher in any shape or form like in the anime. This person hasn’t even struggled through the mental ravages of puberty aint no way she should be allowed to be a teacher.

Bug Type- Least Favorite: Burgh, if only because people use him as a stereotype a lot and I hate that. Toxic masculinity is bs. MEN CAN BE FABULOUS WITHOUT BEING GAY. That said, his pants and shoes are a color crime.

Bug Type- Most Favorite: Guzma is the equivalent of a Bug Type trial captain and you will never convince me otherwise. I- what- you’re really gonna fight me on this? Fine. Bugsy. Bugsy is my precious bug-catching child. Precious baby.

Ghost Type- Least Favorite: Acerola. I’ve already stated why I hate kids in power like this. Plus I just. do not like. characters with the bubbly personality and the cat mouth. I instantly know I’m going to dislike a character the moment I see that damn catmouth. I’m not coming up with a non-trial alternative for this one. I am either neutral to or love the other ghost trainers.

Ghost Type- Most Favorite: Morty. Because 1. He’s hot. 2. He’s got a sweet scarf. 3. Agatha’s not a gym leader. :P Morty has a very nice design. After the remakes came out anyways.

Steel Type- Least Favorite: There’s only like two of these. I don’t hate Jasmine at all but she’s the only other actual gym leader of the Steel Type. So we’re gonna use Molayne anyways. Mostly because his stick-ass gangly legs give me the creeps.

Steel Type- Most Favorite: I’ve never met him but Byron looks like a miner hobo and I dig that. Plus he made Roark and Roark’s hot. (Then why isn’t Roark my favorite rock gym leader? Because not all my favorites can be because of my asexual thirst.)

Fire Type- Least Favorite: Blaine always makes me think of my grandfather and I am not that fond of my grandfather. Even though Blaine seems much much nicer and friendlier a grandpa than my actual grandfather.

Fire Type- Most Favorite: Flannery’s design is adorable and I love it. Doesn’t hurt that it’s also the kind of outfit my more pro-fire trainer would wear.

Water Type- Least Favorite: Marlon. Don’t get me wrong. Marlon’s hot. But he gets to be least favorite for lying about being a tan boy. Seriously look at that tan line around his swim suit that pastey white skin does not do his design favors.

Water Type- Most Favorite: Wallace. This one is pure thirst. Pure. Thirst. Wallace is a babe. I love everything about this fabulous bastard. Especially his hat and scarf in the remake. Especially the remake. Babe.

Grass Type- Least Favorite: Milo. I’m starting to feel like the people who design and did the art for some of these newer characters don’t know how bulkier people’s legs work. Because Milo and Gordie’s legs just look really, really wrong. These characters do not have ankles their calves just end at flat feet. Also milo’s leg is doin that broken ankle thing too. Other images don’t make them look as bad, though. Other than that I hate characters who have no whites to their eyes. It’s freaking creepy and Milo’s baby face doesn’t help. And I can not figure out the design of this guy’s eyebrows either. I know he has them but they don’t look like the anything but exist to blend with his bangs.

Grass Type- Most Favorite: Erika. I like her design a lot. I guess some of the weeb in me still exists deep in there.

Electric Type- Least Favorite: Sophocles. I just don’t like his design. At all. Only other arguments I could give are the kid with with Clemont again. That and his jumpsuit.

Electric Type- Most Favorite: Lt. Surge, Volkner, and Elesa are are great. But Elesa wins because Lt. Surge is a paranoid soldier who makes getting to him a chore and Volkner looks like he takes the same brooding pills they fed to Cloud after Final Fantasy Advent Children turned into into the broodlord. Also ‘urgh need actually challenging opponents’ characters bug me, regardless of how attractive they are.

Psychic Type- Least Favorite: Tate and Liza. But this time the main reason ISN’T because they’re babies. No, no. That’s a big reason, but even being psychics can’t save them. They have a BIG problem. The main reason for these two is that their gym team is garbage. Emerald and Black2/White2 not counting in this because of the remake being their current gym team in my eyes its just a damn solrock and lunatone! I love me Lunatone, don’t get me wrong. But damn, kids. How are you actually gym leaders with a team of pokemon that is barely suitable for the gym trainer in the first gym of the region? The only starter that can’t hit you with a super effective move is the fire starter. Being a double battle only means that I can get rid of your pokemon faster because I get to use TWO pokemon moves on my turn.

Psychic Type- Most Favorite: Olympia. Her design is absolutely beautiful. I want her dress. I want her cape. She is the black and silver space queen and she WILL BE RESPECTED IN THIS HOUSE. Even if whoever did her art doesn’t seem to realize dresses don’t slip into the navel or hug into the crotch hole. Surprised whoever drew it didn’t also add the camel-toe since they think fabric works that way. If I were her I’d strangle someone with one of those magical floaty ring bracelets. Space mom aint having non of your objectification shit.

Ice Type- Least Favorite: Candice. You live in a winter town. Your gym is an ice slide hell. Put on some goddamn pants and a coat. I’m not gonna give you any sympathy when you end up with the worst cold ever.

Ice Type- Most Favorite: Melony. She is adorable and has actual weight to her. And she loves her kids. And holy shit look at her she’s actually dressed for cold weather and ice unlike nearly every other goddamn Ice Gym Leader besides Pryce.

Dragon Type- Least Favorite: Claire is an arrogant b-witch who cant accept defeat and is worst that whitney because at least Whitney gave you your earned badge when she stopped crying like a baby. Claire refused until you did some ‘trial’ and still didn’t think she’d have to give you the badge until granddad dragon master told her to stop being a child. Also she gets more least favorite points because she’s what has prevented me from talking about how much I hate Iris here. That’s right, Claire. I dislike you so much you get MORE hate points because you prevent me from hating another character more than you.

Dragon Type- Most Favorite: Raihan is a babe and the most challenging Gym Leader I’ve ever faced. Bonus points because technically I wouldn’t call him a type-based gym leader but a strategy based leader because he focuses on weather more than dragons. Plus his “Leader Challenges You!” post makes him look a little wild.

Dark Type- Least Favorite: Marnie. Because I wanted to see her brother again so I invited him to the Championship thing and Marnie freaking cockblocked me by beating her brother in the first round. LET ME SEE YOUR BROTHER, MARNIE.

Dark Type- Most Favorite: Piers is my husband and Marnie’s just gonna have to deal with it. :P He’s super cute and his worrying over Marnie in the post game was the cutest damn thing. Plus young Piers in his rare league card is so precious and gives me life. It’s gonna take a lot of work for any other dark type trainer to top Piers.

Fairy Type- Least Favorite: Mina. I hate Mina. Lazy/Unfocused/High artist characters piss me off. Alo Mina should have been a normal type trial captain because of smeargle and the fact that Ilima has pink hair and the same huge buggy-like water eyes Valerie has. Mina even dips her damn hair in paint like Smeargle does with its tail. Mina couldn’t be assed to have an actual trial the first time around. Second time around she just made you go collect something from people you already beat.

Fairy Type- Most Favorite: Bede. If you can’t look this beautiful sparkly eye angel of a child in the eyes and find him amazing once he becomes Opal’s apprentice, you have no soul and should probably get that looked at.

[nightmare-grass]

So I’m officially Spidersona trash

Here I have compiled the main characters, their abilities and personalities, and their relationships within the story I am currently working on and have been working on ever since the Spidersona movement of 2018.

1. My personal OC

- Name: Nora Weaver

- Age: 19

- Alias: Jumper

- Based on the Bold Jumping Spider

- Quirky, inventive, sneaky, caring, impatient, smart, and kinda egotistical

- Saw the Prowler fighting Prism on tv one time and thought, ‘hey, those rocket-boot things are pretty cool’

- Later on she made her own rocket boots for a college science fair (it’s a high school science fair, tbh, but colleges scout for talented students to give scholarships to), she promotes them as footwear for rescue efforts and stuff like that

- At this science fair another kid was doing experiments on spiders and one escaped and bit Nora, giving her spider powers

- Since Nora’s thing is mechanics, she got her more chemistry-inclined older sister to help make her web fluid

- Sister’s name is Amelia

- She eventually designed her own suit and was from then on known as Jumper

- Only her sister knows her true identity

- She has arachnophobia (coincidentally)

- She’s adopted and it turns out her biological father is Dr. Octopus

- Her birth mother is a woman named Mary Alice Anders (Otto and Mary split up in Otto’s tragic villain backstory)

- She gets scrap and parts from an auto body shop and the son of the guy who owns the shop is really cute and Nora has a crush on him. His name is Dominic Mazzetti.

- One humid summer day Nora drops down in an alley in her spider suit and peels the spandex off to sit at her waist, having been wearing a tank top underneath, in order to cool off. She realizes too late that she’s right next to the auto body shop when Dominic comes around the corner, looking to take a shortcut, and sees her. She webs him up, jumps onto the rooftop with him, and starts freaking out, but she makes him promise not to tell anyone her secret. From then on they work together more closely.

- Gwen Stacy is kind of the designated bully, seeing her as a rival for good grades, so she mockingly call her “Snora” since Nora falls asleep in class quite a bit due to her hero work

- Eventually Gwen and Nora become friends

- Nemesis: Doctor Octopus

- Recurring Villain: Screwball

“Alright, lets start at the beginning one last time. My name is Nora Weaver. I built some rocket boots, was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for the last year and a half I’ve been one of a few spider-themed heroes in my city. I call myself Jumper. I’m pretty sure you can figure out the rest. I saved some people, joined a spider hero team, graduated, started college, nearly dropped out, and now I’m in the process of saving the city again. By the way, I was in the middle of that. Catch ya later!”

2. Peter Parker Gender-bend

- Name: Penelope Parker

- Age: 18

- Alias: Ladybird

- Based on the Ladybug Mimic Spider

- She was the one with the spider science project

- when one of her spiders bit her, it momentarily distracted her and she let two more escape, one biting Nora, another biting Skylar

- Wears glasses

- When they get to community college Penelope meets Harry Osborn and after a while of being friends they start dating. This will not end well.

- Nemesis: Green Goblin

- Recurring Villain: Black Cat

“Alrighty then! I guess we can start at the beginning one more time. My name is Penelope Parker, and for the past year and a half I’ve been the hero known as Ladybird. I was experimenting with some spiders and radioactive elements when three of them got out and bit me and two of my now best friends, and so we decided to form a superhero team. I figure you know the rest; we saved the city, started college, I got an internship that ended up being a trap, my aunt May died, and now we’re trying to save the city again. Yeah, it hasn’t been great.”

“AGH, Harry is such a dreamboat!” Penelope twirled around gaily and flopped onto her bed with a sigh. “I don’t deserve him,” she murmured with a smile.

Nora rolled her eyes. “Of course you deserve him, Pen! In my eyes, you deserve the world,” Nora said matter-of-factly.

3. OC

- Name: Skylar Tran

- Age: 19

- Alias: Spider-Shine

- Based on the Mirror Spider

- Non-binary, they/them pronouns

- Black hair dyed blue

- Filipino

- Reflective/shiny skin (yes, like the Twilight vamps, get over it)

- Cocky, flamboyant, funny, millennial humor, depressed but doesn’t wanna show it, being a superhero gives them something to live for

- Has scars from depression on their arms

- Very much an anime fan

- Starts out as a “Hero for Hire” where they got paid for rescuing people but quit that as soon as they found out about Tombstone and how he scares the people of NYC into paying him so he doesn’t let worse things happen to them

- Nemesis: Tombstone

- Recurring Villain: The Tinkerer

4. Symbiotesona

- Name: Amber Herald

- Age: 31

- Alias: Prism

- Symbiote

- Bonded with Prism when she was 23 and working for the Life Foundation

- They’re lesbians, Harold.

- Prism’s thing is light refraction, so she can turn invisible

- She’s an established hero when the three newbies get bit

- Their origin story is kinda like the Venom movie except they don’t take down a big bad corporation or stop an alien invasion

- Prism is a forced spawn of Venom

- Life Foundation captured Venom to make more Symbiotes but Prism was one of the few Symbiotes that escaped with a host

- Dreamcasting Idina Menzel as Amber

- Nemesis: Any evil Symbiotes that happen to pop up.

- Recurring Villains: Prowler and Kraven the Hunter

Side Characters

1. Harry Osborn

- Son of Norman Osborn

- Has a degenerative disease that Norman tries to fix with experimental science

- Goes mad, becomes Green Goblin

- Before he’s the Goblin, he and Penelope start dating

2. Gwen Stacy

- daughter of Police Captain, George Stacy

- Gifted in biochemistry

- Wants to become a forensic scientist for the NYPD, following in the footsteps of her father but in her own way

- On weekends she is the drummer for MJ’s band

- Sees Nora and Penelope as her academic rivals and sometimes bullies them

- Loves music

- Is a lesbian and has a crush on MJ but she’s still in the closet

- If I ever want to make her into Spider-Gwen, I could kill off Amber and have Prism bond with Gwen

3. Mary Jane “MJ” Watson

- Intern/reporter for the Daily Bugle

- Sometimes self-absorbed, mostly self-assured and witty

- Has a band called The Mary Janes where she’s the lead singer and lead guitarist

- Keyboard player is Glory Grant

- Drummer is Gwen Stacy

- She’s bisexual and she has a crush on Gwen

- With her hot temper and Gwen’s bull headed stubbornness, they have quite a few disagreements

4. Felicia Hardy

- becomes Black Cat, an antihero

- Her dad used to develop tech for Oscorp when he was found “stealing” some of the tech he worked on and was laid off

- Her dad used the tech he’d developed to aid him in cat burglary because he couldn’t find a job and had to support he and his daughter but he was caught stealing from one of Kingpin’s businesses

- Felicia used her dad’s tech to steal enough money to pay for his bail but kept stealing afterward

- Takes up a Robin Hood-like role where she steals from rich assholes like Kingpin and Norman Osborn and gives back to the homeless of NYC

- She’s really quiet as a civilian, almost unnerving, but that’s because she spends all day coming up with cat-related quips and catchphrases to use when she goes out as Black Cat

5. Screwball

- I want to add more to her character, really dig deep and find the person behind the vlogger/criminal nut job

- Her crimes are just stunts and dangerous pranks on important figures

- She live-streams every crime

- Started off with a prank channel on YouTube but when she started drawing the attention of Jumper and the bunch for her dangerous stunts, her videos started to get more views, so she just scaled up her pranks to draw the attention of the heroes even more

- Expert Gymnast and Media Influencer

- Some of her fans are so rabid for her that they’ll commit murder at her slightest suggestion

#spidersona #spiderman #spiderverse #marvel #oc #wip #i need to stop #i made a playlist of songs that i want to animate scenes to #its becoming a musical #just like my warriors ocs #long post #harry osborn #green goblin #gwen stacy #spider-gwen #mary jane watson #mj watson #glory grant #felicia hardy #black cat #screwball

[ckret2]

Tedium

Fandom: Borderlands, pre-canon Characters: Zer0, an OC invented to play off Zer0, and a smidge of Mordecai at the end. Words: 5600 Summary: Blue Collar said he called him "Seventeen" because of his little speech quirk, expressing himself in exactly seventeen syllables at a time. But the other reason was that Blue Collar had the deeply uncomfortable sense that the spindly amateur killer in front of him was just some kid, around seventeen years old, in deep over his head without even understanding how fast he was sinking. "Don't know about other planets, but that's how hitmen work around here: we don't interfere with each other, we don't hunt each other, but we don't help each other, either. It's a lonely profession. I don't want it to be lonely for you." Notes: Zer0's called "he" when the narration is from the perspective of someone who would make that assumption and hasn't been told otherwise, and "they" when the narration is from their own perspective. Warnings: Canon-typical violence & character death.

###

"Don't listen to anyone who tries to hype up Dahl. They're amateurs who like to think carrying a gun with camo on it makes them a soldier instead of a thug. A real professional hitman uses Tediore." Waving his hot sauce-coated chopsticks at Seventeen as he spoke, Blue Collar leaned across the sticky fast food restaurant table, warming up to the topic. "Quietest guns on the market. Easy to make impossible to trace. Break the gun's digistruct chip and toss your pistol in a trash can and boom, the murder weapon no longer exists. There's a hundred places on the ECHOnet that'll teach you how to corrupt a Tediore gun's serial number so it isn't printed on the bullets, in case you're worried the cops'll use it to track down the gun's registered owner—which probably won't be you anyway, since they're a dime a dozen to get second-hand. If you really wanna go incognito, get a five-dollar digistruct chip from the nearest corner store and pirate a Tediore gun. You can even download some with Maliwan barrels if you wanna shock a shield off someone."

Seventeen shifted on the cheap vinyl seat, as if to speak, and Blue Collar lifted a hand placatingly. "I know, you're not a fan of Maliwan, I'm just saying. Now, the only exception to Tediore is rifles. That's when you wanna go Dahl."

Seventeen snorted derisively. "For sniper rifles? That's a waste of good ammo. One bullet, one death."

Sarcastically, Blue Collar asked, "Oh, and I suppose you get a lot of jobs that pay so bad you can't afford to buy four bullets?"

"Yeah."

Blue Collar had no idea if that was supposed to be a joke, but he went for it like it was serious. "Then you're taking the wrong jobs. No wonder you're so scrawny." He jabbed a meaty finger in the direction of Seventeen's chest. Seventeen swirled a straw in a cup of bubble tea in feigned indifference.

"What you call a 'waste of ammo,' a smart killer calls 'double tapping to be sure.' There's a reason a snake has two fangs. You know how many stories there are about freak cases of people surviving a bullet through the heart? There's a lot less about people surviving two bullets." Blue Collar sat back, scooped up some fried rice, and talked through the mouthful. "Your pride at taking some sap out with one bullet isn't half as important as the assurance that he's dead. That's what being a professional is about. You double tap; you hit 'em while they're unaware; and you don't waste a second between kills. Dahl for rifles, and Tediore for everything else."

"But I like Jakobs," Seventeen protested. "I like the way firing feels—"

"That's called 'recoil' and it's a con, not a pro."

Seventeen flicked a balled-up straw wrapper at Blue Collar. "—and I like headshots." Hands pressed to masked head, then expanding outward, pantomiming a brain exploding from a smashed skull: "Pshoooo."

Blue Collar shook his head, equal parts exasperated and charmed. "Yeah, yeah. I know you do. Damn."

They were an odd pair, sitting together with a couple plates of fried rice and egg rolls between them. Blue Collar was a grizzled, heavyset man, dressed like he could be anything from a factory worker to a mechanic to a janitor, depending on what tool belt he slapped on; hence his professional name. He dressed to blend in with a crowd, hid his gun in a tool bag slung over a shoulder or in a pocket if the pistol was small enough, and was never noticed.

Seventeen didn't blend in. Gangly, spindly; perpetually dressed in all black; combat boots and gloves; ski mask and goggles with reflective red lenses. If Blue Collar had said it once, he'd said it a hundred times: stealth wasn't about dressing like some kinda wannabe urban ninja. It was about dressing like the most uninteresting person on the street. His advice went in one ear and out the other—assuming Seventeen had ears.

What Seventeen didn't have was an identity. Never offered a name, not even a professional name—never so much as offered a gender, although Seventeen used a voice modulator set to such a hilariously low pitch that Blue Collar couldn't help but read it as cartoonishly masculine. Calling Seventeen a "he" was only an educated guess, although a guess that Seventeen himself didn't dispute; just like he didn't dispute when Blue Collar started calling him "Seventeen," just to have something to call him.

Blue Collar told Seventeen that it was because of his little speech quirk, expressing himself in exactly seventeen syllables at a time. That was part of the reason, sure.

The rest of it was that Blue Collar had the deeply uncomfortable sense that the spindly amateur killer in front of him—sticking the straw of his bubble tea under a bandana around his face and noisily slurping up the boba left at the bottom—was just some kid, around seventeen years old, in deep over his head without even understanding how fast he was sinking.

He rarely had more than thirty bucks at any given time—and Blue Collar knew he wasn't squirreling away savings anywhere. He slept on couches, benches, and homeless shelters, where anyone trying to track him down after a job would easily be able to identify the tall scrawny kid covered head to toe in black and kill him in his sleep. He didn't know how to market himself, how to make his name known—didn't have a name to make known—didn't know how to make one successful job lead to another, better one. He wasn't building a career, just doing one lousy bloody job after another. Sometimes, Blue Collar saw him wobbling on his feet, like a skyscraper swaying in an earthquake, unsteady with hunger.

And still—still—he talked about challenging, interesting, fun kills; about how burst fire made things "too easy"; about how he thought, if he was missing half of his shots at 200 meters, then he should be trying to shoot from 200 meters more often, not moving to 100 meters where he knew he could hit the target. He was still a cocky kid who didn't get it. Wetwork wasn't about being cool, about making the most impressive trick shots: it was about paying the bills and buying the groceries.

Blue Collar really got the feeling that Seventeen thought, if he got deep enough into the bloody underworld of assassins, normal people problems like taxes and hunger would just disappear.

"What?" Seventeen said, defensively.

Blue Collar looked down at his food, and scooped up a final decent mouthful of fried rice. He'd been staring at the kid, worriedly, a moment too long—trying to figure out if he'd put on any weight at all under that baggy windbreaker in the few months since Blue Collar had taken him under his wing. "Nothing. Just marveling at how you get that straw under your baby bib."

Seventeen huffed and tugged at his bandana self-consciously.

"Jakobs is fine," Blue Collar said, grudgingly. "And it's important that whatever guns you use feel natural to you. But they're a lot harder to work with. High recoil, low firing speed, incredibly noisy..."

"Kills in one shot."

"When you're lucky. And when you aren't, it's that much harder to get the second shot off." Seventeen moved as if to retort, and Blue Collar waved him off. "But if you're committed, you're committed. I get it—some guns feel right. Just know that it's gonna make some jobs harder than they have to be—and be ready to compensate for that."

"I like a challenge." Seventeen picked up an egg roll in one hand and used it to point. "You know I do, Blue Collar. I'm gonna be fine." He held the tip of his bandana out of the way with his free hand, and took a bite.

Blue Collar shook his head. "Edgy little shit," he said affectionately. Seventeen flipped him off.

Blue Collar reached into one of his many pockets, tossed a few bucks on the table, and pulled out a pen. "Listen, I know you don't have your own ECHO unit." He smoothed out his discarded chopsticks wrapper and scribbled a frequency along the length of it. "But if anything happens to you, you find one, and you call me, all right?" He pushes the wrapper over. "This isn't normal in our line, I want you to know. Don't know about other planets, but that's how hitmen work around here: we don't interfere with each other, we don't hunt each other, but we don't help each other, either. It's a lonely profession."

Seventeen picked up the wrapper and looked at it.

"I don't want it to be lonely for you."

Seventeen looked up at him.

"Listen." Blue Collar leaned forward, voice hushed, looking Seventeen in the goggles. "You're new at this. And I like you. I kinda see you like a..." He wrestled with whether "little brother" was fitting, decided "little sister" was straight out, and settled on "... a younger sibling, to me. I wanna help you out when I can." He smiled tiredly. "I'm not gonna be in this business much longer—might be nice to pass on what I know before I quit."

Seventeen looked down at the wrapper again. And then said, so quietly and low that his voice modulator almost distorted the words out of recognition, "Thank you."

###

It was about one in the morning when Blue Collar was stirred by his ECHO unit's buzzing. He groaned, slapped at his bedside table until he picked it up, and stared at it.

Unknown number, no name, just a one word text message:

«Run.»

He stared at it, tried and failed to recognize the number, then let his head drop back on his pillow.

Then bolted out of bed. You work in a dangerous business, somebody you don't know tells you to run, you do it. He had on his coveralls, a work boot, and a random tool belt before he even thought to wonder who'd messaged him.

It was probably Seventeen. Not many other people had his private frequency, and all of them he knew the numbers of. (Didn't have them saved in his ECHO unit—didn't want somebody to get a hold of it and start hunting down the few people he liked—but he'd recognize the numbers by sight.) Seventeen was the only one who might call him from an unknown frequency.

Even though Blue Collar had given him the number in case of emergency, all these weeks he'd expected that if he got a call, it'd be because Seventeen was the one in trouble. Not that he minded the head's up. He was gonna have to thank the kid, once he shook whatever was coming for him.

With a small Tediore pistol in one of his larger pockets and a Pangolin shield weighing heavily on his back, he climbed out the window onto the fire escape with a grunt of exertion and started climbing down.

It was raining heavily. Some high-end Pangolins could keep the rain out along with the bullets. Blue Collar could afford one, but hadn't wanted to make himself so conspicuous, with each raindrop bouncing off and illuminating the invisible shield in electric blue snowflake patterns, so he used a cheaper model. He was glad he had, now, with who-knew-who—police? a corporate assassin?—hunting him in the dark; but he was already soaked and cold by the time he reached the ground. One way, towards a main street, he could see huge sprays of water being kicked up in the lamplight by nighttime truckers. He went the other way, deeper into the darkness.

He felt like he was being followed. Was he, or was that just paranoia? How close was whatever he was supposed to be running from? He checked his ECHO unit, but there was no new info. Just Seventeen's warning. Damn, where was Seventeen? Was he okay?

He'd prepared his escape routes years ago, as soon as he'd moved into this apartment. It's harder to kill in a crowd; harder to find your target, harder to separate and eliminate them. A couple blocks away was a dance club, near it was a bus stop; if he could get into the club, he could stay there until it closed, then slip onto the three a.m. bus with the other tired clubbers going home. The bus would take him to a hub where he could grab a train heading out of town in a random direction.

The ATM near the club only let him take out $1500. That and the hundred bucks in his pocket would have to hold him; he didn't know how sophisticated the people after him were, whether they could track his spending or withdrawals. He'd be working in cash for a while.

There was a short line to get into the club, huddled up against the front wall for the meager shelter of the roof's slight overhang. Cargo trucks came down this street less often than the street in front of Blue Collar's apartment, but every time they did, a pair of kids in a miniskirt and skintight pleather jeans squealed as they were sprayed with water. Blue Collar just shuddered with cold. He kept his back to the club's front wall, squinting, looking for any odd shapes moving in the night shadows.

A thick door opened for the pair in front, and Blue Collar caught a few seconds of throbbing dubstep before it swung shut. Sounded like a remix of a lawnmower. He stepped up to the bouncer.

The bouncer was a massive muscled man dressed in the same mix of matte black and slick neon as the clubbers coming in, but his hair was thinning and he looked closer to Blue Collar's age than to the pleather-clad kids who went in before him. He looked Blue Collar's soggy work clothes up and down, clasped his hands together in front of his belt, and said, "I'm not sure this place is your scene, man."

"I just need a roof over my head for a few minutes," he said, smiling a well-practiced smile, like a mild-mannered salt-of-the-earth construction-and/or-factory worker. "It's pouring out here."

"There's a cover."

"I know, that's fine," Blue Collar said; and then, when the bouncer still looked skeptical, he lowered his voice. "Listen. I'm being followed. I just need to get out of the open."

The bouncer tipped his head up slightly in understanding; then unfolded one of his hands, palm up. Blue Collar shoved fifty dollars in. "I'll give you another if I get out of here alive." Just to head off anyone else trying to bribe the bouncer.

"No worries. It's my job to stop fights." He stuffed the money in one pocket and pushed open the door. "Come on in." His words were almost lost under the thudding bass.

Blue Collar paid his cover and wandered into the darkness and flashing colored lights. A few strobe lights pointed straight in his face, and he blinked hard, trying to clear the spots from his eyes so he could see in the club.

His dark brown coveralls and salt-and-pepper hair didn't exactly fit in with the crowd; but they didn't stand out across the room, either. The crowd was made up of rainbow neon hair—every hue from pitch black to lightning white. Dark clothes with colorful strips designed to reflect the lights and dazzle the eye. Flashing LED-like pictures blinked on and off in front of the faces and over the heads of the dancers, :) and <3 and ☆ and 愛, in green and red and blue, courtesy of prosthetic optical implants or temporary body mods stickers that could be slapped on your forehead. Anyone who wasn't making an effort to stand out would blend into the shadows. Blue Collar waded onto the dance floor, found a narrow gap between a few clustered circles of dancers where he wouldn't get in their way but wouldn't visibly stand out as on his own, and grit his teeth against the garbage disposal roar of music as he tried to figure out what to do next.

It would help if he had the slightest idea what was after him. If it was somebody pissed over a kill, someone's grieving family, he might need to move a town over—or maybe only get a hotel out of town for a few days until the funeral was over. If somebody was getting paid to find him, though, they'd keep coming; he might need to get off planet. If only Seventeen had sent him more info...

One song ended, and the next began: something with a light drum machine and synthesized instruments and an artificially high-pitched singer, repetitive but much easier to think through. Dammit, Seventeen—that was a factor Blue Collar hadn't even considered. He was probably tangled up in this somehow—how had he found out there was something Blue Collar needed to run from? What if they'd taken him hostage? Or were trying to get info out of him? He couldn't leave town without making sure Seventeen was okay. How was he going to check Seventeen's usual haunts while avoiding being seen by anyone expecting him to do just that?

Blue Collar didn't consciously notice that the music sounded like it was building toward something, the singing halting and the drums speeding up, until suddenly it paused and the whole club seemed to hang in anticipation; and then the bass slammed down like a bomb dropping. Something whizzed through the air beside Blue Collar's temple. In front of him, he saw the back of a dancer's head explode, and the body pitched forward.

He'd automatically crouched down before he figured out what he'd seen. Shit! They were audacious, whoever they were. He turned, peering between backs and upper arms in search of anyone who stood out, looking up at the crowds at the bar and tables that circled the room a few steps higher than the dance floor. The bouncer wouldn't have let someone in who looked suspicious, right? Or maybe they'd offered the bouncer more than fifty bucks. Or maybe the bouncer was dead. The first screams started up behind Blue Collar, where the dancer had been shot. He zigzagged through the crowd, heading toward the front, unwilling to exit through a back door and risk getting trapped in a dead end, hoping he could escape ahead of the crowd and the hitman.

He wasn't the first out the door, but he was close. He glanced back as people trickled and then poured screaming out of the club, looking for anyone who stood out—fingering the pistol in his pocket as he did. Nothing but kids in black clothes and flashes of color. He backed away from the door, watching as he went, heading toward the safe shadows of another alleyway.

Blue Collar had scanned over the same figure in the crowd three times, before recognition hit him: he knew those reflective red goggles, and the ski mask around them, and the black windbreaker beneath. His heart leaped into his throat and his stomach dropped. Oh, please no. Not Seventeen.

He was looking at Blue Collar. He flipped up his windbreaker's hood against the rain, and stalked through the panicked crowd, unnoticed, toward Blue Collar.

Blue Collar turned and ran.

Hitmen don't hunt hitmen. Not on this planet, anyway—not unless they're in a corporation's pocket. Had Seventeen gotten a job with a big biz? Even now, running panting through the pouring rain, Blue Collar hoped for Seventeen that he had—corporate assassination was steady work, the kind that came with benefits and could carry you through to retirement if you weren't executed during a merger—but why would they send him after Blue Collar? He made a point to only take personal jobs, rarely political ones; he never messed with business. Why—?

A midnight trucker with a malfunctioning muffler roared past, thunderously loud; a bullet slammed into the back of his head, pounding on his shield. The shield spread the shock of the impact across his entire upper back, but it was enough to bring him to his knees, one hand landing just past the curb in wrist-deep water. He couldn't get up before a heavy combat boot kicked his back, knocking him to the ground as it ripped his shield off. The Pangolin clattered into the road.

"Disappointing."

Blue Collar rolled onto his back, huffing, and looked up at Seventeen. "What the hell are you doing?"

"My job." He pulled out a Jakobs revolver, a cheap thing with the faux wood paneling on the barrel already rubbing off the corners.

"Who?" Blue Collar demanded. "Who hired you, kid? How much?"

He jerked one shoulder in a shrug. "Somebody's cousin. Job you did a month ago. Couple hundred bucks?"

That was all Blue Collar's life was worth to Seventeen? He laughed wheezily. "Damn, kid, you're never gonna make it big taking high-risk low-pay jobs like that. Lord..." He reached slowly into a pocket; Seventeen's aim jerked to follow his hand, but Blue Collar waved him off, grumbling, "You know that's my wallet pocket." Seventeen lowered the Jakobs, but only slightly. Blue Collar pulled out his wallet, pushed himself up with one hand, and held the wallet up to Seventeen. "Here. Damn. I've got fifteen hundred on me."

Seventeen made a disgusted noise. He'd set his dumb voice modulator so low it sounded like a dog growling. "I don't want money."

"No, I know you don't, but you need it." Seventeen didn't move. Blue Collar shook the wallet. "Take it even if you're gonna shoot me. What am I gonna do with it?"

Seventeen hesitated. Then crouched down, snatched the wallet angrily from Blue Collar, and stuffed it in his back pocket. "Moron."

Blue Collar sank back to the wet concrete, holding himself up with both elbows, fingers of one hand dragging in the water below the curb. "You don't wanna do this."

"I do," Seventeen said, sullenly.

"You don't. I know you don't. You wouldn't have sent me that text if you really wanted to finish the job," Blue Collar said. "You couldn't bring yourself to turn down the job but you couldn't bring yourself to do it clean and quick like you should." He smiled shakily. "Don't do something you're gonna regret. You want me to escape."

"I want a challenge." He snarled it so emphatically that he lurched forward with the word. "I wanted to make this hard! I wanted a hunt!"

Blue Collar's stomach dropped again, the way it had when he'd first seen Seventeen in the crowd. Suddenly, sinkingly, he felt like he'd deeply misunderstood his gaunt young protégé. "Wha—Why? Why?"

"Because you're a pro, you're supposed to be badass. You should be a threat!" Anguished, desperate, water flying off the barrel of his revolver as he waved it, vocal modulator fritzing with static, Seventeen cried, "I'm bored, Blue Collar! Every job's so damn easy! I need a challenge!"

Blue Collar had misjudged him. Seventeen wasn't out there making tricky one shot kills out of pride, taking high-risk jobs out of arrogance; he was a junkie. He had the skinniness of a guy who gave up on food in search of a fix; he was trembling, right now, in front of Blue Collar, like he was going into withdrawal without enough stimulation to get his adrenaline pumping.

No wonder all Blue Collar's talk of Tediore, talk of safe and stable and secure, had flown right over him. He didn't want any of that. He didn't want the money. He didn't want to make a living. He wanted all the jobs he could get.

Blue Collar could hear a truck approaching from behind him. Seventeen glanced at it, then held up the Jakobs again, pointed it at Blue Collar's head. Seventeen had taken his advice, about how damn loud those Jakobs guns were; he was using the noise around him to cover up his shots.

"I'm really sorry." Seventeen's eyes weren't on Blue Collar as he prepared to kill him. Blue Collar saw the reflection of the truck's headlights in his goggles. "This was supposed to be hard. You should've fought back."

A moment before the truck passed, Blue Collar swept his hand through the water beside the curb, sending a spray into Seventeen's face. Seventeen reeled back, sputtering and rubbing his goggles on one sleeve; Blue Collar kicked one of Seventeen's feet out from under him, knocking him sprawling headfirst in the street. Blue Collar rolled over, stood, and ran as the truck honked and swerved. He didn't stop to see whether it hit Seventeen.

He crossed the street, waved at another cargo truck coming his way, standing directly in its path; it slammed the breaks, but kept skidding in the rain, and Blue Collar had to dive to the sidewalk to avoid being hit. The driver banged the cab door open and circled around the truck. "The hell do you think you're doing?!" she bellowed. She was waving a knife, a four-inch glowing blue digistructed blade extending from a solid handle, that sizzled where the rain hit it.  "Middle of the night, pouring rain, I coulda—" Blue Collar pointed his Tediore at her before he'd even gotten to his feet. She stopped in the middle of the street. "Whoa—okay, buddy, look—I didn't mean to almost hit you, let's be..."

"Back in the truck," he said hoarsely. With some difficulty, he got to his feet. "I need a ride."

He didn't say another word except "Knife, down," until the truck was moving again, heading down the street and picking up speed. "I'm sorry about this, ma'am," he said tersely. "There's a guy back there trying to kill me. Didn't have time to call a cab."

Her gaze flicked to a side mirror, then back to Blue Collar's gun, then forward again. "Would this have to do with the truck that was stopped in the middle of the road back there?"

Blue Collar nodded grimly. "With any luck, he's under its tires." It stung his heart to say that.

She nodded. "Okay. I get it. I'm sympathetic to that." She glanced at Blue Collar. "Now that we're all on the same side—do you mind pointing that somewhere else?"

He hesitated. "You're not going to go for that knife?" Its handle was in a cup holder in the center console between their seats.

"I'm not stupid."

He lowered the gun to point at his footwell. "Yeah. All right." He flopped his head back against his seat, and sighed.

Something crashed into the truck from the driver's side. The trucker swore and swerved.

Blue Collar fell sideways over the cup holder. "What the hell—" 

A second impact. Blue Collar braced one arm against the driver's seat, the other hand fumbled on the center console for something to grab onto, and he looked out her window. "Oh, my god." Slowly pulling level with them was another truck—with Seventeen crouched on the hood, one hand on the roof of the cab and the other pointing his revolver through the window. 

Blue Collar didn't have time to warn the trucker, didn't have time to do anything but gasp. The first bullet hit his shoulder, and the arm supporting him collapsed; two more shots, a pained scream; the truck veered off the road. When it crashed, Blue Collar's back slammed into the windshield, shattering it, and he tumbled down the hood to land on the ground. The rain poured on his face. He heard the other truck skid and crash a moment later.

He could hear Seventeen laugh—harsh, breathless, exhilarated.

Seventeen took his time coming to Blue Collar's side. When he was in view, Blue Collar could see why; he was limping, one arm wrapped tight around his chest, moving gingerly with pain. "Five shots on one job." He checked the ammo in his cylinder, then clicked it back in place. "Only one left for your head." He dropped uncoordinatedly to his knees and held the revolver to Blue Collar's forehead, apparently too unsteady to feel confident of making the shot from a distance. "Can one-fanged snakes kill?"

With a roar, Blue Collar lunged up, activated the trucker's digistruct knife, and slammed the blade through Seventeen's left goggle lens.

He didn't scream when he fell back. He just sucked in a breath, like he was shocked—maybe scared. Blue Collar hated the sound of it. Damn stupid, ungrateful, self-destructive kid. If Blue Collar had realized sooner what it was he was looking for, what desperation was gripping him—maybe he could've helped him out better, maybe they could have found a way to get him whatever it was he needed.

Voice tight with pain, Seventeen croaked, "Well-fought, badass." He raised his revolver one last time.

The Jakobs was the loudest thing Blue Collar had ever heard.

###

"God, no, I don't actually enjoy Maliwan snipers." Mordecai waved off the suggestion with one arm, briefly startling Talon off his perch on his shoulder. "Sorry." He waved at Talon, calling him back down, then settled back slouching in his rickety folding chair overlooking the rolling Highlands below. "I just like 'em for the utility. There's nothing more satisfying than a headshot with a Jakobs—"

"Yes," Zer0 said emphatically, their back ramrod straight where they sat on the ground beside Mordecai. "Exactly."

"See, you get it!" Mordecai laughed. "But when you're working fast—and me, Lil, and Brick, sometimes we've gotta work fast—most efficient thing to do is have a guy out of the line of fire to slag targets as fast as possible so the guys on the ground can pick them off. And the only guy in our group with that skill..." He pointed a thumb at himself. "Seen you hauling around some Maliwan rifles, too. Same reason?"

Zer0 sighed in frustratin, nodding. "Our skills are wasted," they said. "Anyone can slag and spray. One shot kills are art."

"Yeah?" Mordecai grinned crookedly. "You think so? Me, an artist, huh."

"Mm." Zer0 nodded, inordinately pleased to have gotten that smile out of the more experienced sniper.

They'd been told, years and years ago, that assassination was a lonely profession. Blue Collar had been right. Small interludes like this, when Zer0 could get out of their own head—break the monotonous cycle of long waits and unsatisfying jobs between the rare real thrill kills—were a blessing and a relief. Almost enough to keep them sane.

"Hey, we should hang more," Mordecai said, clapping a hand on Zer0's shoulder. Zer0 stiffened, but found they minded the uninvited contact much less than they expected to. "Don't get a lot of other good snipers around here—or even folks that appreciate me as a sniper instead of just 'the support guy with the slag.' What do you think? I know some good spires in the Dust that let you see for miles around. We can pick off spiderants—I wanna see how far you can really shoot."

An LED red smiley flashed out of their prosthetic left eye. "Sounds fun."

Mordecai got to his feet, considered the folding chair, then decided either nobody would steal it or it wasn't worth preserving. "I'm heading back to Sanctuary. You coming?"

"Later," Zer0 said. "Gotta drive around."

###

Once every few days, when they didn't have enough to shoot and found themself walking along the roofs of Sanctuary on windy days just for the meager thrill of trying not to fall, Zer0 took their technical on a long circuit through Pandora, checking out every single bounty board they could find. They bounced over hard tundra roads and unevenly packed sandy highways so fast it physically hurt, using the speed to distract them from the itch for something to do.

They were bored, god they were bored. It was the kind of boredom that crushed you, suffocated you, like a heavy weight pinning down your chest while you writhed and clawed at the dirt trying to get out from under it. They could feel the boredom sucking on the inside of their chest, threatening to form a black hole in the pit of their abdomen. Their hands shook and their feet bounced, trying to shake off the boredom. It didn't abate. In their heart, Zer0 knew that this boredom was going to kill them someday.

They circled from one bounty board to the next, like a junkie looking for a dealer, looking for a fix to stave off the boredom. Anything, anything—exterminate a skag den, deliver a package, go to a birthday party—anything. 

Finally, at the Happy Pig bounty board, Zer0 found an illuminated yellow sign. They pushed down the gas, although they were already going as fast as they could, and leaped out of the technical before it stopped rolling. It crashed into the motel room with the weird altar for human sacrifices. The cultists would have to set up a new firepit.

They flipped through the offered jobs—package delivery, package pickup, take down a local bandit—and then stopped. And they stared.

They felt cold.

«Reward for anybody who brings down the cheating S.O.B. known as Mordecai. Originally from Artemis, last seen with a pack of vault-hunting bandits on Pandora...»

They couldn't move. They re-read the bounty, hoping that the name would change.

It didn't.

They thought of shooting contests in the desert, of long debates about rifle features and sniping techniques, of how the hours melted by comfortably and steadily in friendly company. They thought of Mordecai's breathtakingly infallible aim. They thought of their modest home in Sanctuary—and of Sanctuary's defenses. They thought of the people they considered mutual friends—the powerful people, so very powerful, who would come to Mordecai's defense. They thought of what it would be like to lose those friends—they thought of what it would be like to gain them as opponents.

They thought about the boredom sucking them inside out.

They stared hard at the bounty, until the letters swam together and the reward was a string of digits.

Then they turned to look at Sanctuary.

###

Comments/reblogs are welcome! If you want to leave a tip or like the fic on AO3, the links are in my description!

#zer0 #borderlands #fanfic #my writing

[ravenhilarious]

Harry Potter character personal headcanons - Golden & Silver Trio

Harry

Race: White mother, Asian father (common headcanon is that he’s Indian, and really, I like that headcanon) Sexuality: Bi bi bi bi bi (and that’s pretty much canon, given his reaction to meeting Bill and Charlie, as well as the amount of detail he keeps describing Sirius’ hair and Cedric’s face, and of course we know how much he fancied Cho and Ginny) Ship(s): There’s Ginny, of course. They’re pretty much soulmates.  I also like him with Luna, since they understand each other in a way many people don’t.  I also like the idea of them in a poly relationship, where they all love each other equally. In an AU where Ginny and Luna are married and not into polyamory, I’d probably ship him with Neville, but I don’t think Neville is into guys, so... Nope ship(s): Draco, Snape, Voldemort... you name it. I’ve also seen fanart for Harry and Hagrid... and McGonagall... and even Buckbeak. Yeah, ma boi deserves way better than that... Platonic ship(s): Ron and Hermione. He’s like a brother to both of them, but they’re definitely not siblings to each other...  And Ginny, Luna and Neville will all be his platonic soulmates if they aren’t dating. Oh, and I love the relationship he has with Fred and George. He’s basically their adopted lil bro, and that’s really cute. Disability/ies: It’s basically canon that he has depression and PTSD in the fifth book, and I don’t think any of that completely disappears like, ever. In order to reach the “all was well” ending, he must have gone to some kind of therapy, and I hope he did so after the war. I don’t know whether his “saving people thing” is an actual mental illness, but I’ve read on tumblr that it often appears in abuse/neglect victims.

Ron

Race: White as a toilet paper roll Sexuality: Straight, but bi-curious. He had a huge obsession with Viktor Krum, and he did wonder for awhile whether that was “a gay crush”. Eventually, he figured out that it was “just” an idolization. Big ally tho. Ship(s): Hermione! They were like made for each other, and I have a really hard time imagining them with anyone else, and I can’t see any of them being into polyamory either. That being said, I could definitely see him with Luna, if I have to pick someone else. They both saw potential in each other that no one else really saw, and I think they’d definitely entertain each other. But I think he needs someone mature and serious, like Hermione; they balance each other out more. Nope ship(s): Like with Harry, anyone who was mean to him. Draco, Voldemort... and any of the Weasleys! I’ve also seen him paired up with McGonagall and Dumbledore, and that was... strange, to put it mildly. Platonic ship(s): Harry. Definitely Harry. And Luna (if he doesn’t date her). Neville, too (I wish we had seen more of their friendship in canon, especially in the movies, where Ron was often a bit condescending to Neville, which he really wasn’t in the books... oh well, I’m going off topic) Disability/ies: Canonically arachnophobia. I also think he has some kind of anxiety or depression, a bit milder that Harry’s obvious trauma, but he is SO insecure during the series that he can’t be classified as neurotypical.

Hermione

Race: Black father, white mother (that white mother is Jewish, btw. You can’t have a Nazi-coded villain without making at least some Jewish characters, especially if said characters are part of in-universely oppressed groups) Sexuality: Token Straight Girl™. I like to picture her as demisexual/demiromantic, but judging by the instant crush she had on Lockhart, that seems pretty unlikely. Definitely an ally, tho. Ship(s): Ron, Ron, Ron Weasley. Like I mentioned above, I just can’t picture them with other people. But if I have to, I could see her with Neville. They were very close friends, and if she never befriended Ron, I could definitely see them growing to love each other. However, in canon, they seem more like brother/sister-ish. Nope Ship(s): So, so many. Like Harry; Snape, Voldy and Draco are no-go. But Bellatrix, Pansy Parkinson and (for some very weird reason) Greyback (yes, I’ve seen it...) are all wrong in their own ways. Platonic ship(s): Harry and Neville. Sort of McGonagall too, in a way. Disability/ies: Ocd, social anxiety of some kind. Could be on the autism spectrum as well. Screw that, I’m autistic and I like her, so therefore, she is autistic too.

Neville

Race: I think he’s white. Pretty sure he’s described as pink-faced and blue-eyed at some point (but if people wanna headcanon him as poc, then let them) Sexuality: Asexual. As I mentioned above, I don’t think he’s into guys, so a heteroromantic ace? Also, I don’t think he is comepletely cis, either. But whether he’s a binary trans dude, intersex, non-binary... I could see it all. Ship(s): While we never really saw their romance in the book, I think he and Hannah Abbot would be really cute together. There’d be lots of fluff. Probably gonna write some fanfic of their relationship someday. In an AU where Hermione didn’t date Ron, I could see Neville/Hermione, for aforementioned reasons. Nope ship(s): Fortunately, I have yet to see ma smol bean Nevy in problematic ships (a bit weird, considering he’s played by Mathew Lewis, whom lots of straight girls find hot – I’m surprised I haven’t seen fanart of him with Draco, Bellatrix etc.) I hope I’ll never do! But yeah, Draco and Bellatrix are definitely nopes. Platonic ship(s): All of the Core Six™ characters. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Luna... he has a great relationship with all of them in canon. Disability/ies: Probably some kind of anxiety. 

Ginny

Race: Just like Ron, super duper white. Sexuality: She gives me a queer vibe. It’s common to headcanon her as bi, and well, so do I. Ship(s): Harry, of course.  And Luna. Luna as the soft flower gal, Ginny as the smol energy bomb, both wanting to protecc each other... I love it! Like I mentioned above, I mostly ship them in a polyamorous relationship. If we say that Harry and Luna were together and not into polyamory, I would ship her with an oc; a butch lesbian quidditch player she met while playing professional Quidditch. (I do think she dated that “oc” for awhile before marrying Harry, but idk) Nope ship(s): First of all, Voldemort. That ship is creepy af, okay?  And any of her siblings is no-no, too.  Platonic ship(s): If she didn’t date Harry or Luna, then they’d both be platonic soulmates for her. I like her protectiveness of Neville, too. And I love her friendship with Tonks! I know we didn’t really see them interact in canon, but I’d love to see her befriend Colin Creevey.  Disability/ies: None that I can think of... she could have some mild ADHD, but I don’t know enough details about ADHD to argue for my case.

Luna

Race: Pretty sure she’s white. However, I’ve seen some gorgeous fanart of a Latina!Luna. Sexuality: Pan pan pan. Falls in love very easily, but respects it when people don’t like her back. I once read a post about her being a trans girl, and honestly? I could see it. I especially like the idea of a very tall and lean Luna Lovegood, but extremely soft and girly fairy princess on the inside. Ship(s): She did marry some dude called Rolf in canon and had kids with him. However, I don’t know enough about him to ship them, tho he’s probably pretty cool. But I do think they broke up at some point, but remained friends. I also ship her with Harry and Ginny, like I mentioned above. And Ron, if he didn’t date Hermione, also like mentioned above. Nope ship(s): Any ships where she has to be some Manic Pixie Dream Girl to some evil guy, especially if he’s much older than her. She deserves so much better than that! Platonic ship(s): Harry and Ginny, if she doesn’t date any of them. Ron and Neville. In an AU, I like the idea of her befriending Snape, as long as he isn’t mean to her or anything (and she has to call him out for the way he treats Neville, too, bc I don’t think she’d be okay with that) but if they start dating, then I quit Disability/ies: Autistic af. I’m Autistic, I identify with Luna, therefore, Luna is Autistic. No, but seriously; the way she speaks directly about her thoughts and feelings, doesn’t mind being alone (even enjoys it sometimes) and seems very passionate whenever she does something are very clear signs.

#Harry Potter #Ron Weasley #Hermione Granger #Ginny Weasley #Luna Lovegood #Neville Longbottom