#worryingly close to hoarding

[pionponpon]

I used to watch robin seplut videos up until one of the rescued fluffy cats had a terrible eye infection and died soon after (whether that was the cause, I'm not sure).

Has the apartment condition improved at all? It felt like I was watching something totally separate to other commenters, saying how cute the cats are with gunky eyes and ringworm.

I haven't really seen any mention of the indoor conditions of the rescued cats being "suboptimal", just being a saviour for the stray cats outside. I'd like to assume things are better now if there's no mention? Or I hope so at least.

#robon seplut #youtube #videos #cats #kitten rescue #worryingly close to hoarding

[pls-hold-me-im-justa-weeb]

Hey there! Your writing is so good, I read through the Train Me Zoro series on Ao3 and I'm just sobbing wailing scratching at the door asking for more of your content-

Anyway, I saw requests are open for the 333 follower event (Congrats!! 🎉) and the prompts are really nice so it was hard to choose but could I ask for the prompt "23. forced proximity" and "25. Confession during an argument" with Zoro and male reader? A bit humorous, Angst to fluff? And sfw or nsfw, whatever you feel like ♡ (if nsfw, afab masc reader if that's ok!) thank you so much!

Thank you!! I got super busy but I'm close to finishing that last chapter of Zoro. Train Me. series!

This is not my favorite piece I've written so I may come back and edit it eventually.

TW's: alcohol consumption (it's Zoro), small spaces, argument (angst to fluff), confession, heavy kissing

🍶WC: ~1.4k (1395 words)

333 Followers Event: Zoro x Masc!reader

Outrunning the hoard of Marines should’ve been a piece of cake. Easy. Simple. Duck into an alley and hide until they give up. But of course, you had been stuck with Zoro.

He just HAD to fight his way through the marines, sprint down a random alley, and into an abandoned house with a trap door to a tiny cellar. Marine boots thudded and stomped with fury, making dust cascade from the floorboards above your head. A particularly harsh screech of the wood made you flinch as the trap door tilted on the hinges. You counted yourself lucky you were with the swordsman so he could cut through the floor to get you out, because there was no way you’d be able to get the door open by yourself now that it was stuck like that. You shrank further back behind the wood barrels the swordsman had dragged you behind.

“Let’s go! This place is about to collapse and they’re not here” a nasally voice called out to the group, inciting a flurry of stomping boots that shook the wooden slats worryingly. You heard them fade away into the distance as you finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Without the imminent danger of being found by marines, you could finally take in your surroundings. Barrels of what were presumably alcohol lined the sides of the tiny room, and crumbling herbs hung from hooks drilled into the stone wall.

"Get off. You're heavy" Zoro's voice rumbled in your ear. You nearly jumped out of your skin as his lips grazed your neck from the proximity. You were sitting on his lap. Your body reacted quickly, jolting forward ungracefully as you crawled off him and stood quickly. He snorted at your clumsiness and stood easily before smacking his head on the wooden floor above your head with a loud thud. He groaned as he ducked and held his new wound.

"That's what you get for insulting me" you snickered.

"Shut up" he muttered.

You rolled your eyes, holding back a grin at the banter.

"C'mon. Let's get outta here" you ordered. His eyes found yours, and trailed briefly down your body to take in your confident stance.

"Nah. I don't think so."

You blinked at him, face blank with surprise. I must've misheard.

"Sorry I don't think I heard you right. What did you just say?"

He leaned over towards you, taking care to keep one hand on the ceiling so he wouldn't hit his head again. The pose only served to let his body seemingly tower over your slightly smaller frame. His face was only inches from yours, and mischief glinted in his usually stoic expression.

"Oh you heard me right. I. Said. No."

Your brows furrowed in shocked confusion rather than annoyance.

"What? Why?"

He leaned back slightly, eyeing the barrels of alcohol before seemingly deciding on one. He stepped towards the barrel and sat cross legged in front of it.

"Don't feel like it. All this alcohol shouldn't go to waste, right?"

You looked at him blankly before your annoyance bubbled over.

"Are you fucking with me? Zoro! I can't open the trap door by myself and if you're passed out from drinking, neither of us are getting out of here!"

He glanced over at you with a shrug before cracking open the barrel and drinking straight from the spigot.

"Seems like a you problem. I can get out anytime I wish. If you were stronger maybe you'd be able to get out."

You could feel the way he regretted his choice of words as soon as they left his mouth. He couldn't even blame it on the alcohol because you both knew he was nowhere near drunk.

Even though you knew he regretted it, you couldn't help your reaction.

"If I was stronger?" you echoed quietly. Zoro sighed and gulped some more alcohol. You lost it at his dismissive attitude. Your leg kicked out and your foot planted solidly on the side as you kicked it from his hands, spilling the alcohol on the flagstone floor.

"Oi! That was some good alcohol!" He looked at you angrily, but you didn't flinch at his intimidating aura, too pissed off at him. Your jaw clenched as you glared.

"You think I'm some weak fucking princess waiting for prince charming to save me? You know damn well that very few people are as strong as you. I'm on this crew for a reason and I have every right to be here even if I'm not as 'strong' as you, you alcoholic mosshead!"

His eyes narrowed as you spoke, standing and leaning over you with his hand on the ceiling again. You didn't flinch.

"I meant that you can always get physically stronger. You, Usopp, and Nami just aren't very physically strong. All three of you could stand to train a little more" he said evenly.

"You think I don't know that? That I'm not painfully aware of how 'weak' I am?! I watch you train all the time, wishing for once I could keep up with you! How could I interrupt you to ask for help training when you're so serious about being the strongest?!"

"Well if it were you interrupting me, I would be fucking happy, okay?!"

"Why?! Because I'm that fweak?!"

"Because I fucking love you!"

The words echoed off the stone walls, reverberating straight into your heart. Your anger dissipated like smoke at the confession. Zoro hissed out air between his teeth, clenching his jaw as he looked down and away from you. His body tensed as if preparing for a hit.

"...what?"

"You heard me" he said quietly. Your breath stuttered at his vulnerability, and your heart clenched at how he expected to be rejected. You reached forward, fingers finding his calloused ones. He flinched away at first, but you held firm.

"You love me?" you whispered. His gaze met yours briefly before it dropped to your lips. He swallowed hard before looking down again. He said nothing.

"Zoro. I love you too. Fuck I never thought you were interested in romance or anything so I never thought I had a chance. Even if you were, two men... it's not common."

He met your eyes as soon as he heard your answer from your lips. He looked shocked.

"You thought you never had a chance? You?"

You looked at him, a laugh escaping from your throat.

"Well, yeah! Obviously! I flirted with you and didn't get any positive reaction so I dropped it" you confessed. Zoro looked utterly confused.

"You flirted with me? I was flirting with you!"

It was your turn to be confused.

"You did? When?"

"I shared my alcohol with you!"

"That's common for crewmates! You let Nami drink your alcohol."

"I... worked out in front of you"

You couldn't help the snort that escaped.

"And as much as I enjoyed the view, there's only so much space on the ship. Face it. You aren't good at flirting."

His embarrassed groan faded into a chuckle.

"Well neither are you, apparently."

You scoffed.

"I'll have you know that I was at least better than you... idiot" your words trailed off to a caring whisper as his calloused hand curled around the back of your neck. His lips were right there. His breath fanned across your lips, sweet with the unknown alcohol he had drank before. A shudder went down your spine, and your lips parted automatically.

"Kiss me if you really mean you feel the same" he murmured. You closed the gap quickly, kissing him passionately. His lips molded to yours and his hand at the back of your neck pulled you impossibly closer as his other curled around your waist to grip at your ass. You moaned into his mouth, and he took the opening to run his tongue along yours. You sucked it into your mouth, caressing it with your own. He explored your mouth, and you let him. You nipped at his bottom lip before he separated completely, both breathing heavily.

"So. Wanna go back to the ship?" you asked breathlessly.

"Um. Yeah. Yeah we should" Zoro replied, stumbling over his words as you kissed his neck.

"Get us out of here then."

"Fine. But I'm bringing a barrel. That was some good booze."

You rolled your eyes, chuckling a little. He was still Zoro, after all.

#one piece x reader #one piece fanfiction #zoro x reader #zoro x y/n #zoro x you #one piece #roronoa zoro #one piece fluff #one piece smut #one piece x you #one piece x y/n #one piece x male reader

[theship-thewalrus]

Prompt Request: Boromir (LOTR) + ❛ what did i do to deserve you? ❜

Hi Groovy!! How ya been? I hope you like it and that this does your idea justice :) I also put your two requests together, I hope you don't mind!! Please feel free to send in another request <3

boromir x gondorian! wife! female! reader

pretty much the ask!! also, this is for the 100 follower event (not longer taking requests)

word count: 535 words reading time: about 3 minutes warnings: mentions of battle and blood prompt: ❛ what did i do to deserve you? ❜

If Boromir was asked what he valued most in this world, he would not hesitate to say your name. When questioned as to why he said your name, his answer was never the same. There was simply so much he loved about you that a single answer would not do you justice. He felt there were not enough words in any language to even begin to try to describe his love for you. How close he held you to his heart was known by everyone in the realm, as he looked to you as you held the moon and sun.

In turn, you looked at him in the same way, as this man held your entire being. There was not a day that goes by where you do not think of this man. He consumed your body and mind, for in your eyes he was perfect in every shape and form. In your eyes he hung the stars and the moon, the sun rose and set with him.

Thus, when it was decided he shall partake in a quest to save Middle Earth you accompanied him. Although he was originally against the idea, not wanting to put you in harm's way and being the reason his wife was injured. He inevitably folded allowing you to come with him, instead of staying at home in Gondor.

The beginning of the journey was easy enough, but it was not long until the small party you travelled with found battle. The lands were littered with creatures from Mordor, such things doing anything in their power to stop the quest you were on. Though you were a lady, you were trained in swordsmanship. A couple of times you had sparred with your husband but you were simply no match.

But it was nothing like in a real battle, how you sliced through your enemies the best you would. Dodging their stabbing spears and slices of the sword. The hoard that fell upon you was quickly thinning out, allowing everything to become much more manageable. But it did not stop the stray enemy from trying to land a cheap shot on your fellow adventures.

Boromir was consumed in the battle that he did not notice the half-injured enemy stagging towards him. Their sword was worryingly close to Boromir, ready to pierce his back and put an end to the man. Quickly you sprang into action, your sword driving into your enemy's back before it could do it to your lover.

Boromir was quick to turn around to ensure you were okay, the sight that greeted him had shocked him. He had never seen you in such a powerful state before how your chest heaved with your heavy breaths. The blood that caked your hair and faces only amplified your beauty. Despite the hundreds of thoughts littering his mind, he could only form a single sentence.

"What did I do to deserve you?" His voice was full of bliss and love as he spoke, eyes showing nothing but admiration for you. As the rest of the fellowship picked off the remaining enemies Boromir hand pulled you into a kiss. Pouring his love into it, as you were quick to return it. Even in the battle field your love conquered it all.

#boromir x reader #boromir imagines #lotr imagines #lotr x reader #lord of the rings imagines #lord of the rings x reader

[a-hell-of-a-lot-of-muses]

Today was the day. He was finally gonna do it. He was finally going to actually participate in one of these things instead of just watching with Elesa. He'd spent weeks teaching his little hoard of joltiks simple little dance routines. He could only hope that his godawful kazoo performance had prepared them for the professional music on the big stage.

He walked into the musical theatre. He looked around at all of the people who looked way more prepared than he was. He immediately began to backtrack. Emmet was confident in a lot of things, and although he desperately wanted a new exciting challenge, he couldn't help but feel incredibly overwhelmed. It was too much to do on his own the first time. He would come back another day with Ingo or Elesa when he felt more prepared.

Unfortunately in his hurry to leave the way he'd come, he collided face-first into another potential participant, and all of the little passengers he'd been holding in his arms scattered everywhere. Some of them fell to the floor and started scurrying back up his coat, one or two seemed content sitting themselves on the poor stranger's Pokemon to get their fill of static electricity, and one had fallen on the contestant themselves, crawling worryingly close to his face.

This was a train wreck.

"Sorrrrrry sorry sorry-" He insisted, waving his hands around a bit frantically before attempting to scoop the joltiks back up. There was an awkward pause as he tried to decide whether he should reach towards the last one or not. Despite his general lack of knowledge on societal norms, even Emmet knew that most people didn't like a random stranger reaching up and grabbing something off of them without direct permission. He blankly stared at the other before finally speaking again.

"...one of my passengers seems to have transferred lines. Would you like my help with deboarding him?"

( for reiji! woe, emmet be upon he. )

There were many times he considered retiring from his profession. Being an idol, and later a contest star that made excellent use of his talents had been fun. He had met many new people, and had even met his girlfriend, Jules through these events. Yet as fun as they were, Reiji found himself exhausted most days. He wondered if his age was finally catching up to him, though by the standards of most, he was still quite young. This had led him to ponder retirement until he was convinced to do one more show.

So here he was, standing to the side of the stage as Mara-chan, Whimsy, perched atop his head, and Bella stood by his side. They were one of many contestants, and while they had worked out the kinks in their routine, Reiji still had his doubts.

Fortunately he had little time to dwell on them, for he was soon greeted by a rather tall fellow walking straight into him, and a little Joltik jumping onto his shoulder. Reiji chuckled as the other man gathered up his companions, directing his gaze to the little one on his shoulder before looking back to the man who spoke.

"Certainly," he said, smiling warmly as the Joltik looked to the man expectantly.

#wrongtrain #Muse: Reiji Kotobuki #Verse: Pokemon #((It has begun.))

[california-112]

⭐️ for directors cut!

Ah, thank you!

It took me a while to work out which piece would be good for this, as I've never seen or done a director's cut before. However! Now presenting:

Gather [Calloween 2022]: The Director's Cut (original on AO3)

The crisis was over. The dust was settling. After seventy-two hours, four moves, and one minor battle, the people were returning to Atlantis.

[The inspiration for this piece, working on the 'gather' prompt', came from my return from a field exercise a few months earlier which had been fairly similar to this scenario (in an Earth way), so much of it is based on experience. I love to see people come together after a shared adversity/hardship, rather than isolating themselves to recover then going on as normal.]

The mass exodus had been the very last resort to their initial problem, and had caused a whole host of others. With reluctance, McKay had had to advise the entire expedition to gate to another planet whilst the city was fully rebooted, [turn it off and on again strikes back] a process which would involve a purge of the life support systems and loss of the stargate systems for at least twenty-four hours. When they planet they had found refuge on initially was suddenly subject to a Wraith culling, they had been forced to move again, then the next planet had proven unsuitable, then then next…all the while, Atlantis had been unreachable, the reboot taking longer than expected ["When has plan A ever worked?"]. Finally, they had found a relatively calm planet to wait out the final few hours on, the gate releasing them into a deeply submerged cave system, and they had only been worried by regular minor earthquakes, a trifle compared to their other attempted safe havens.

Now, with the Atlantis gate available again, they were at the end of their ordeal, and everyone was tired, and beaten down. Thankfully, nobody was particularly broken [It took me a good while to get the wording there right...a worryingly long time considering how simple it is...]. Everyone dispersed to their quarters in silence, relying on the city's systems to allow all the showers to run hot at the same time [and for a long time...!], and thinking longingly of clean clothes and warm blankets.

However, despite promises to sleep for improbable numbers of days once they returned [My own statement was at least two days, but I heard someone promise a week], about an hour after the weary hoards shuffled though the Stargate, everyone found themselves packed into the mess hall [It really does happen that way...you just find yourself there, drawn by something you cant explain. It's very comforting.]. Some sprawled on seats whilst others took the floor, speaking softly and of nothing consequential. Nobody was cooking, but food had appeared [I like to think that, as for me, it was a large amount of pizza and sides. How many frozen pizzas went to Atlantis, I wonder?]. The atmosphere was one of pure comfort.

Rodney was slumped in a corner between a wall and a large planter, slowly working his way through half of a large, over-enthusiastically stuffed sandwich, whilst John sat nearby, munching on the other half with his eyes closed [They share the sandwich! Cute <3]. The scientist was on the brink of an exhausted sleep, but still valiantly trying to stop his head from drooping onto Sheppard's shoulder. Ronon was propped on the other side, his hand mechanically delivering some small, dried berries to his mouth [I'm imagining space Goji berries], and Teyla was leaning against him, still just about awake enough to be sipping some strong Athosian tea. [This paragraph was written with a wish for it to serve as an art prompt to someone, but so far no bites. Maybe I'll commission it someday.]

Zelenka was visible in the near distance, sitting at a table in front of a cup of coffee, the steam from which was fogging up his glasses. He made no effort to clear it: he had fallen asleep leaning on his hand, not surprising after his indefatigable efforts during their exile [At least 50% of his 'efforts' were put into arguing with McKay.]. In the far corner, Lorne was sitting with a group of marines who were lying around lazily and playing cards [They are playing Cheat. Everyone is both too tired to cheat, and too tired to realise that nobody is cheating.]. Chuck had fallen asleep with his arms as a pillow, nestled in the midst of the table of fellow gate techs [In my mind, he's the ringleader of the little group of green-shirts, and they're like a little family/sibling cluster. Not a good explanation but you get my point]. Carson, having looked after all the minor injuries and mental health issues for the past three days, was now looking after himself, sitting with the largest bowl of instant porridge he could muster and plodding through it spoon by spoon [If you've had real porridge, you know that instant isn't half as good, but although Carson is usually a snob about this, at that moment it's good enough.]. Weir had finally been able to step back from command, knowing that her people were safe, and was lying on a sofa deeply asleep, her cup of Athosian tea forgotten at her side [Given to her by Teyla...they had a little forehead moment too.].

After a while of observing his friends [Yes, they're all his friends. I think he's more popular than we necessarily see on screen, a sort of friend to all.], thinking back over their ordeal of the past few days, John suddenly realised something, and spoke it laconically.

"Y'know what day it is today?"

"Hm?" Rodney replied, bringing his head up from a dangerously downward trajectory [One of my favourite phrasings in this piece.].

"October thirty-first." John sighed. "Hallowe'en."

"Oh." Rodney replied, a more articulate answer failing him.

There was a moment of silence before Ronon's voice rumbled [Delayed alliteration my beloved]. "What's Hallowe'en?"

"Oh, it's an Earth thing," John explained slowly, "kids dress up and go around asking people for candy."

"What is the point?" Teyla asked amiably.

"Fun holiday I guess." John replied, suddenly stifling a yawn. "Kinda celebrates monsters and stuff."

"Defeating them?" Ronon asked.

"…yeah." John replied, thinking that it could be seen as ridiculing monsters into things that weren't scary at all. "Yeah, sure."

"People tell scary stories." Rodney added, struggling to keep up with even the simple conversation. "About ghosts and clowns and stuff."

"Yeah, we do that too." John agreed, adding a mumbled "I hate clowns."

Teyla frowned. "Tales of things that have happened to you?" she asked, "Why would you want to relive such painful memories?" [This said, we don't talk enough about the Athosian children playing Wraith. We should probably talk about that.]

"They're not normally real, just made up. For effect."

"We did that," Ronon volunteered, "on Sateda. When we sat around to clean our weapons, we'd tell each other stories of ghosts and stuff."

"Care to share?" John asked.

There was a pause of surprise, with Ronon not used to being the centre of attention on such occasions [He deserved more moments like this!], but receiving an encouraging smile from Teyla, he began. As the tale began to take shape, a few of the people nearby also turned to listen, and there was soon quite an audience [This is where people find themselves making new friends by accidentally leaning on people, or shuffling into them, slotting themselves into small gaps and being aware of the feeling of friends surrounding them.]. Sheppard let his head lean on the wall behind him, watching with a softened gaze as the group was quickly surrounded by their colleagues, the whole mess hall who wasn't already asleep deciding to gather [Again, it's a group instinct. Even people who aren't that interested will come over. Some remain with their friends and fall asleep too, but it's a very soft moment.]. It wasn't long after everyone had fallen into a reverent silence that a weight settled on his shoulder, moving rhythmically in slumber [Having someone's head on your shoulder is one of the best feelings in this world, and you can't change my mind.]. As he felt his own eyes drooping, Ronon's voice becoming more and more distant, he hardly noticed as his own head slumped onto Rodney's, and they drifted together into a dreamless sleep. [Another scene to commission...]

Thanks for this ask! It's great to get the opportunity to re-explore this piece, and I hope you found it interesting!

#ask #stargate atlantis #my writing #this was actually so fun #very much still accepting stars #there are more pieces which would love this treatment... #frankly i thought this piece was criminally overlooked so if theres anything massively weird then let me know yall

[greymantledlady]

you are my sweetest downfall

Adam squeezes Michael’s hands again, reassuring. 'Remember – back down there – how we agreed to talk to each other if anything bothered us? This is like that, okay?’

Michael looks stricken. ‘Oh,’ he says in a small voice. ‘Oh. I didn’t – it really isn’t anything worth your time – ’

My second fic for @midamweek! People seemed to really enjoy Adam calling Michael 'sweetheart' in the previous fic in this verse, so I decided to expand on it. Michael is a dork, honestly.

Read on AO3 or below the cut:

Having an archangel as your boyfriend is really good, actually. Better than good.

Adam, in all his years of (largely) calm and resigned pining in the Cage, had never actually, truly believed he had a chance of anything like this with Michael, anything so soft and domestic and - well, astonishingly, normal, really. It still hits him sometimes, that warm rush of astounded happiness when Michael can't stop looking hopefully down at his lips until Adam simply has to press in close and kiss him, when Michael flushes at Adam making the mildest and most low-hanging of innuendos, when Michael asks him what would be the best gift to give Adam for St Valentine's Day. 

The last incident had occurred in July, because Michael had thought Adam would probably forget all about the conversation by the time February rolled around, and he had been so endearingly pleased with himself over this plan that Adam had started laughing and pulled him down onto the couch by the fire and kissed and sucked all the way down his neck until it bruised.

Given that Michael was at the time a metaphysical projection of grace shaped into a copy of Adam's own body and existing in a dimension faintly to the left of the mortal plane, it probably didn't actually need to have bruised, but Michael had warmed extremely quickly to the concept of hickeys, apparently. He likes them a lot, likes to keep them and nurse them and admire them in the mirror when he thinks Adam's not looking, and Adam thinks it's kind of the best thing ever.

Right now, though, Adam's a little worried.

Michael has been - off - for a little while now. Not worryingly so - nothing like the shaking bouts of grief that Adam had held him through when he'd first gotten back, when he'd been mourning the asshole father who'd never loved or deserved him. Nothing like that, it's just - a sort of odd wistfulness that seems to fall over him sometimes, at the strangest of moments, and Adam is determined to work out what’s causing it.

***

They're in bed, Adam happily boneless and tired out and curled around Michael, stroking his hair while Michael smooths his hand up and down Adam's back in the firm way that Adam likes, his grace-formed body firmly anchored to the physical world this time, as warm and solid as Adam's own. Adam nuzzles his cheek affectionately, smiling against his skin when Michael hums with contentment. 

'Hey,' he says quietly, squinting a little to focus on Michael's face.

'Adam,' Michael says, just as soft. He looks hopeful for a moment, as though he's waiting for something. Adam's not quite sure what it is. He traces his thumb gently over Michael's collarbone, waiting to see if he'll come out with it, but eventually Michael just sighs quietly and turns his face to press it into Adam's hair.

***

Adam, before he’d been killed and resurrected, had enjoyed baking.

Of course, that had been more than a thousand years ago, but – well, time was weird that way, when it came to being trapped in an archangel cage in Hell. It wasn't that he'd forgotten any of it, of course, and he valued those memories, the way Michael had softened, increment by increment, until somewhere along the line he'd become someone Adam couldn't live without.

It was just that, once they'd gotten out, the memories seemed condensed, so that you weren't sure at all if it had been ten years or a thousand. Adam wondered sometimes whether that was what Michael's billions of years of existence must feel like to him, too.

Anyway, he'd liked to bake. When he'd come back, after the first long pain-filled months of negotiating with the Winchesters to bring Michael back too, and after the first whirlwind of joy of finding out Michael wanted him the same way, he'd started again, searching up recipes online on his phone and writing them out in a notebook if they turned out successfully.

Today, he’s craving choc chip cookies, so he looks at the pantry and pulls out flour and sugar and chocolate chips, opening the packet immediately to sneak a few to nibble on as he starts to measure everything out. They need a medium-sized mixing bowl; he needs to put that on the list for the next time they go grocery shopping. The big one is fine for today, though.

‘What are you doing?’ Michael asks, coming up behind him. He touches Adam’s elbow with a soft hand as he passes, leaning on the counter to watch.

‘Baking!’ Adam says. He bumps his hip gently against Michael’s. ‘I’m making choc chip cookies.’

Michael shifts a little closer so they can stay connected, and leans over to inspect the ingredients, poking a finger into the well of flour Adam has measured out, leaving a little dent. He’s always been surprisingly tactile, liking to touch new things, test them on his fingers.

‘Don’t eat that,’ Adam warns. ‘It tastes awful raw. Choc chips are better, here.’ He picks out a single chip – no need to overwhelm Michael’s still-developing sense of taste – and says, with a grin, ‘Open your mouth.’

Michael raises an eyebrow, looking at him, soft-eyed and so in love that it makes Adam’s heart pulse with warmth. ‘Okay, kid,’ he says, and opens up.

Adam puts down his spoon, buzzing with affection, and presses closer, leaning up against Michael’s chest and delighting in the way Michael’s arms come up to circle his waist. ‘Hey,’ he murmurs, up close, and runs his thumb along Michael’s parted lips, just to tease him a little.

Michael sighs, soft, bending forward, only to be foiled by Adam’s hand. ‘Choc chip,’ Adam reminds him, and pops it in.

‘Mm,’ Michael says, nibbling. He looks so surprised at the small burst of sweetness that Adam grins again.

‘Good, yeah?’ he says. ‘Do you want another one?’

Michael licks his lips. ‘It was good,’ he says. ‘I don’t want another one, though.’ His eyes dip downwards, his hand stroking a hopeful little circle on Adam’s back.

‘I can’t imagine what you do want,’ Adam teases. He snuggles himself a little more firmly against Michael, runs his hands down his sides and around to fit into his back pockets, enjoying the way Michael shivers. ‘Oh, get over here.’

‘I am here,’ Michael says, but then Adam kisses him, slow and sweet, smiling against his lips before pulling back. ‘Oh,’ he says softly. ‘Adam.’

‘Michael,’ Adam says, just as softly, and leaves another tiny kiss at the corner of Michael’s mouth, the moment drawing out soft and gentle; the kind of moment that you could live in forever. Michael’s eyes are soft and hazy, leaning into him, and Adam reaches up to run his knuckles over his cheek.

Michael exhales, and strokes his hands gently across Adam’s back, watching him closely. He has that odd, hidden wistfulness in his face again, as though he’s waiting for something, and Adam wants to do something about it, wants Michael to tell him what it is so he can give it to him.

‘What is it?’ he says gently, and holds back the endearment that wants to spill out, absurdly tender. He’s pretty sure it will only make Michael more embarrassed.

Michael sighs again, very soft, and glances away. ‘No, it’s nothing,’ he says.

Adam’s pretty sure it’s not nothing, but he doesn’t press. They have all the time in the world, after all, and he has cookies to bake for them. Michael will come out with it eventually.

***

Except Michael doesn’t come out with it, and it keeps happening, and Adam is honestly starting to worry. They’ll be together, and happy, so happy – he knows Michael is happy, can feel it in the grace that’s constantly twined around his soul. They’ll be kissing, or snuggling, or making love, and it will be a perfect moment, the kind of moment that makes everything worth it, like a warm soft blanket to lose yourself in.

And then suddenly Michael will be looking all wistful, like a sad little puppy wanting a morsel, and disappointed, and Adam is beginning to really, really not like that at all.

He’s tried everything – more kisses, cuddling, even that one thing that Michael really likes during sex but gets incredibly flustered and blushy over, so Adam saves for special occasions. And Michael loves it all, he really does, Adam can feel it, but none of it manages to soothe that particular, wistful little ache in his grace.

When he was small, and he’d had a problem, or felt bad, or unhappy, or guilty, Mum had always managed to coax it out of him eventually. She would sit him on the couch and give him a glass of milk, and tell him that it was always better to talk things out, not hold them inside of you till they hurt. Bad feelings were like appendicitis, she’d say, they’d make you very sick if you left them inside.

Adam thinks Michael has the equivalent of emotional appendicitis at the moment, honestly, and he’s pretty sure he needs to do something to fix that.

***

When Adam comes to find him, Michael is sitting at their kitchen table, inspecting a small pile of rocks. Months ago, he’d read a magazine article about gemstone tumbling, and then read it again, and again, and again, until the pages were dog-eared and Adam couldn’t help but notice. So he’d gone online and bought him a little tumbling kit on Ebay, as a surprise, and Michael had been hugely and gratifyingly pleased about it. Now every time they go for a walk, he comes home with his pockets full of bits of quartz and such, and their house is filled with shiny little piles of gems, like some kind of dragon’s hoard.

(‘It reminds me of creating planets,’ he tells Adam once, softly. ‘I used to polish them until they were so beautiful and round.’)

Now, he looks up as Adam comes up behind him, leaning his head back against Adam’s stomach as Adam slides his arms over his shoulders. Adam kisses his ear. ‘Hey, you,’ he says. ‘You got a moment?’

‘Of course,’ Michael says immediately, at attention. ‘What do you need, Adam?’

‘Just you,’ Adam says, and gives his shoulders a little squeeze before pulling out the chair next to Michael’s and sitting down, swivelling towards him. Michael puts down the rock he’d been inspecting and turns to face him, the full force of his attention directed onto Adam’s face.

‘Okay,’ Adam says, and reaches out to take Michael’s hands in his own, squeezing. ‘I need to talk to you about something, Michael – oh, no, don’t look at me like that,’ he breaks off, running a comforting thumb over Michael’s knuckles. ‘It’s nothing bad.’

Michael nods, still looking rather worried.

Adam decides to get it over with. ‘Look, I’ve noticed that there’s something bothering you,’ he says gently. ‘Something that you want, that you’re not telling me. I can feel it in your grace – like last night, when we were falling asleep, and when I made cookies, and other times, too.’ He squeezes Michael’s hands again, reassuring. ‘Remember – back down there – how we agreed to talk to each other if anything bothered us? This is like that, okay?’

Michael looks stricken. ‘Oh,’ he says in a small voice. ‘Oh. I didn’t – it really isn’t anything worth your time – ’

‘Oh, sweetheart,’ Adam says softly, because he can’t help it, ‘of course it is, it always is – ’

And suddenly, bizarrely, Michael’s grace is going wild, elated, looping and twining, wrapping around his soul with little, soft, shuddering ripples of happiness. He looks as though he’s about one step from breaking down, swaying a little towards Adam with his eyes shiny and his lips a little unsteady.

Okay, what?

‘Okay, what?’ Adam says, and reaches out to touch his face. ‘Michael, what was that? What happened? That was it, wasn’t it?’

Michael swallows, his grace still buzzing with happiness, turning his face into Adam’s touch. ‘You said it again,’ he says, closing his eyes for a moment like he’s basking in Adam’s warmth.

‘Said what?’ Adam says – and, ‘wait, ‘sweetheart’?’ His heart feels like it’s melting. ‘That was all you wanted? For me to call you pet names?’

Michael is going pink now, avoiding his eyes. ‘You must think I’m foolish,’ he mumbles.

‘Of course I don’t,’ Adam says, overwhelmed with sheer fondness. ‘Well, maybe just a little bit, for not just telling me, honestly.’ He knuckles gently at the corner of Michael’s eye, and it actually comes away a little damp. ‘Oh, sweetheart,’ he says, knowing he sounds ridiculously tender, and that pulse of sheer bright happiness ripples through Michael again, through his grace.

‘It was the first thing you said,’ Michael says softly. ‘When you brought me back. My name, Michael, and – and you called me that. And I asked about it, and you kissed me and I was happy, but you never said it again. I,’ he swallows. ‘I don’t know why I. I wanted you to say it.’

‘Okay, you need to come here right now,’ Adam says, and climbs directly into his lap. He brings his hands up to hold Michael’s face, looking down at him. ‘Fuck, I love you,’ he says helplessly, and Michael’s whole face twitches, his hands coming up instinctively to fit at the small of Adam’s back.

‘I love you too,’ he says immediately, honestly. ‘Adam.’

‘Yeah?’

‘I – would like it if you said it again, please.’

‘Yeah, sweetheart, okay,’ Adam murmurs against his lips. ‘I’m never going to stop.’

#midam week #midam #michael/adam #michael spn #adam milligan #my fic #supernatural #my post

[whittakerjodie]

Hot and Cold (13th Doctor X Reader )

Request: hey, i’m sick rn and i would love something with reader and 13 cuddling and taking care of each other in the library or something. I really love your writing thank you x

Words: 1k 

Authors note: I hope you feel better, friend! I saw the word ‘sick’ and imagined a scenario in which 13 helps you through that. Not exactly cuddling, but there is certainly some soft embraces. Thank you for requesting!

Warnings: Mentions of medicine, being sick, SPOILERS FOR REVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS!

You’d felt the sickness creeping up on you for hours. However, running away from a massive hoard of cannibalistic 7 foot tall rabbits didn’t seem like the best time to bring it up. Luckily, your strength lasted you until the return to safety was completed. It was directly after the doors to the TARDIS shut, however, that you found it all coming crashing down on you. 

The weight seemed to settle directly on your head, like a pair of hands slowly squeezing. The pressure was joined by the scratch at the back of your throat, threatening to expose your weakness if you spoke. Clearly, you needed to get away from everyone so that they, too, didn’t have to experience what you were.

“Right then, I’m off to bed,” You whispered carefully. Yaz and the Doctor both frowned, but it was Yaz who spoke first.

“It’s only half past 6. Well, according to my watch anyway.”

“Sure you're not up for one more trip?” The Doctor asked hopefully. You felt bad denying her; after Graham and Ryan left she’d been a little bit more desperate to bring her remaining companions on wild adventures. Almost like she was scared that if you paused for one moment, you would leave too. How could you deny her? But, simultaneously, you couldn’t punish yourself by trying to get through another trip right away. The consequences of trying to save worlds whilst sick and low on energy would be disastrous.

“No, I’m good for now, Doctor, but you two can feel free to keep going if you’d like!” The attempt at false cheerfulness included a slight raise in your voice, which made your scratchy throat incredibly obvious. Now, the Doctor’s eyebrow raised from it’s lowered position.

“Are you alright?” Yaz asked. “You sound… off.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” You said with a chuckle. “Well, not feeling all that great but-”

“Okay, you’re definitely sick.” Yaz pointed out. The Doctor nodded in agreement.

“Alright, fine,” You admitted. “I am feeling a little under the weather. But I think a nap will help! I don’t want to keep either of you from your fun”

Yaz and the Doctor shared a look, and promptly worked together to drag you into the TARDIS corridors.

Only seconds later, (You suspected the TARDIS was assisting your friends) you found yourself all but thrown onto one of the library couches. It was much bigger and comfier than you remembered it being, but you weren’t going to question things. Yaz pulled about a dozen blankets from some unknown depths and threw them across your body. 

The Doctor took great care, then, in tucking them in around your form and layering them properly. The warmth from the blankets was not the only one present; your cheeks warmed considerably as the two- particularly the Doctor- took great care of ensuring your comfort.

Once you were fully unable to move due to the sheer weight of the blankets and careful tucking in, the Doctor smoothed your hair back. Yaz had grabbed a bowl full of cool water with a soft washcloth included. The Doctor dipped the washcloth into the water, rang it out, and carefully pressed it against your forehead. You sighed as the relief almost immediately hit you, blushing further as you opened your eyes and found the Doctor peering down at you intensely. It was then you realized that while one hand was applying the washcloth, the other was caressing your cheek to keep your face in place. Her thumb gently ran over your skin, like she was soothing another unseen injury.

“Right, bit fitting with your name but I think you’re much better at this than me, Doctor.” Yaz spoke up. You tensed slightly; you’d forgotten she was here, watching the Doctor embrace you so closely. Somewhat embarrassed of the display, you refused to seek out her gaze, which you could feel peering down at you knowingly. “I’ll just go make soup or something, leave you to it.”

Her voice trailed off, and you knew that she had left the library entirely. You were sure that, if the soup was absolutely necessary, the TARDIS could conjure it up for you. But you were somewhat grateful for Yaz’s exit, given that it allowed you and the Doctor to be close without embarrassment.

“Your face is still quite hot… is this helping at all?” The Doctor asked. Knowing that the heat was almost entirely from your intense attraction to the timelord made it much worse. She worryingly dipped the washcloth back into the water and another wave of cold washed over you.

“Yeah, it’s working wonders” You replied, voice breaking even more than before. She scrunched up her face in concern, taking her hand and the washcloth away. You almost whined at the loss of contact. “No, it still seems a little too hot. Don’t mind if I take your temperature, do you?”

You shook your head, figuring it was worth it to know just in case you did actually have a fever. She grabbed a thermometer out of thin air, and slowly guided your mouth open. She took your temperature and her eyes widened.

“Yup, that’s definitely a fever. Not to fear, though, you’ve got the best carer in the world right here.” She sat up to grab something else, then paused. “Well, maybe not the best- but I do my best at least”

You smiled and she returned to your side with some medicine, helping hold your head up against the confines of the blankets she’d placed. You took it and almost immediately felt drowsy. “It’s some powerful stuff, but worth it. You’ll be feeling much better quite soon I think.” You nodded against her hand, which was guiding your head back onto the couch to rest. Her hand remained on your head though, petting your hair as the world began to slip and melt around you. The warmth was completely enveloping you, aided by the Doctor’s welcomed touches.

It was hard to tell, given that you’d fallen asleep, but you didn’t imagine Yaz ever came back with the soup.

#the 13th doctor #13th doctor imagine #13th doctor x reader #13th Doctor #doctor who #doctor who imagine

[thathcwriter]

Heya! Idk if you’re doing requests atm but I was wondering if you’d be down to do a scoop troop whump thingy from stranger things? Thanks! :3

Of course! I love the Scoops Troop, and I hope this little bit of Steve-centric whump is what you’re looking for. 

There’s some background torture in this fic, but nothing even approaching graphic. Turned out cuter than intended but hey. 

“Hey, dingus! Up and at em. I can’t finish off this line alone,” Robin barked over her shoulder, barely even finding the time to speak between scooping bowl after bowl of ice cream for the small hoarde that had invaded Scoops Ahoy. The grand re opening was going well enough, they were making plenty of money and people seemed happy to be back at the mall without fear of something strange happening below them, but it was not exactly a one person job. 

And the customers’ tone was only getting less patient. 

“Dammit Steve, I need help out here.” Robin continued slinging ice cream as quickly as she could, slowly but surely being surrounded by the still growing crowd. 

“Give us a minute, Robin,” a voice that was definitely not Steve’s piped back nervously. Robin’s eyebrows shot up. 

“What in the….” She murmured, turning away from the customers, just for a moment. The crowds were still closing in, agitation beginning to run rampant in the people in front of the counter. Robin sighed, gripping the closed sign and turning it dramatically. “Ladies and gentlemen, Scoops Ahoy will be closing for a moment while I tend to an emergency in the back, thank you for your patience.” Robin ducked into the back door without acknowledging the customers. “God Steve, what the hell are you….” 

Robin froze when she saw the scene before her. 

Steve was standing over the table, his hands braced on either side and his head tucked into his chest. Dustin was standing next to him, his hands hovering over Steve’s back hesitantly and his face frozen in a worried scowl. A moment after Robin spoke, Steve’s face turned to her, a pained smile on his face. 

“Go serve, Robin ‘m fine,” Steve slurred, his eyes worryingly hazy. Robin immediately shot Steve a disappointed glare. Dustin shook his head at Robin, still obviously concerned. 

“Steve, no, you… Holy shit you look..” 

“I look what?” Steve’s voice was almost incomprehensible, slurring together as if he was drunk. Robin shook her head, gripping his forearm tightly. 

“Like you just got hit by a car. What happened?” Steve huffed deeply. 

“It’s m’side. Damn thing won’t heal.” Steve pulled his shirt up slightly, revealing a frankly terrifying wound. It was long and red and black, ugly and healing way too slowly. Robin raced to Steve’s side, her hand hovering over the would and her mind racing. 

“It looks infected,” she said softly, “How did this happen?” Steve swallowed hard, wincing as he began to speak. 

“When we were ‘n the bunker. You were still out, n he just…. He took one ‘na the blades to me. Screamed like a baby but you weren’t awake.” Robin felt her heart sink. 

“God Steve, why didn’t you…” 

“Cause it’s stupid, okay? I shouldn’t be falling apart over a cut, it was a while ago,” Steve said softly, his voice dark and nearly angry. It was clear to Robin, though, that the anger in his voice was not at her. 

“Steve, that's not just a cut. That’s gnarly, looks like it hurts.” Steve glared at her, nodding profusely. “Shit, dude, what do you need?” 

“Don’t know. Shit… It, ah.” Steve’s voice was cracking and pained, and Dustin winced hard. 

“Okay, okay, sit down, I’ll get the first aid kit.” 

“It’s gonna take forever, ‘m gonna go serve.” 

“No. No I got it,” Dustin said quickly, haphazardly throwing on a Scoops hat and grabbing a scoop from the counter. Before Robin could stop him, he was already out the door, trying to buy the older two time. Steve laughed painfully. 

“What did I do to deserve you guys,” he asked softly, letting Robin tend to his cut with his face contorted. 

“You didn’t need to do anything, Dingus, we’ve got you regardless.” Steve smiled, only wincing again when he heard the sound of glass breaking from the other side of the door. 

“Don’t worry about it!” Dustin screeched from the other side, inspiring a laugh from the pair. 

“Are you sure you don’t need me up there?” Steve asked softly. Robin smirked. 

“Rest, Steve. We’ll get you help in a minute. Stop pushing yourself so hard.” He leaned back on the table, nodding shortly. 

“Robin?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Thank you.” Robin smirked, saluting with her scoop.

“Don’t mention it Steve.” 

#steve harrington #robin buckley #stranger things #mild whump #scoops troop #answered #my writing

[solastia]

Tuqburni | 4

Pairing: Yoonmin x Reader

Word Count: 3,100

Notes: So, kind of a shortish chapter, but we’re getting there folks! Nearly to the end! Next chapter is all about learning to love yourself ;)

When you came knocking, Jin and Namjoon accepted you back into the house without question, though their eyes were full of pity. You knew you must look an absolute mess, with your puffy red eyes and your hair sticking out every way from you running your hands through it. It was just a good thing no one could see what a mess you were on the inside. 

You cuddled into the plush bedding of the now familiar bed in the Kim Household guest room, having found yourself banished here once more - though this time it seemed to be permanent. The absolute rage in Yoongi’s eyes was branded into your memory. The way he’d spit out his demand for you to leave...surely actually stabbing you with a knife would have hurt less. 

Still, a strange broken part of you was almost relieved. The steady and sure nature of your relationship with Yoongi previously had always confused you, had always felt too good to be true. But this - this was familiar. The feeling of being unwanted and alone was one you knew all too well. 

Namjoon and Jin were being wonderful, of course. They left you mostly to yourself but occasionally checked on you to see if you needed something to drink or eat. Namjoon offered to talk when you were ready. Jin offered the special tequila he bought during their last trip to Mexico that he’d been hoarding. You’d take him up on the offer if you weren’t so sure he’d smuggle Namjoon in with him to give you some well-meaning encouraging speech anyway. 

You weren’t sure how long you’d been here so far, but it was at least a couple of hours and was surely late in the evening, which is why it was odd you heard someone knocking on the front door. Jin hadn’t said anything about someone coming over or if he was ordering food. You hoped you weren’t messing up any plans they’d had by forcing them to host your sniveling ass. 

You strained to listen as Namjoons familiar heavy steps make their way to the front door and opened it. The silence was curious. Soon Jin’s steps followed the same path and his voice was almost too low to hear. 

“Park Jimin. You are not welcome here.” 

“I know it’s bad, hyung. I need to talk to her so things don't get worse. Please.” 

You sigh and listen to the continuing hushed argument as you force yourself out of bed, unable to resist Jimin’s pleading. If nothing else, you were curious why Jimin of all people would be the one to chase you here. 

You wipe your eyes and pad barefoot out of the bedroom and down the hall. Namjoon and Jin are both blocking the open doorway like guard dogs. You snort softly to yourself at the apt description. You clear your throat and they both swing their heads towards you with matching worried expressions. 

“It’s okay, guys. Let him in,” you tell them with a soft voice, harsh from weeping. 

They both sigh, and you can hear the judgment in it. Your eyes meet Jimin’s as he steps inside and closes the door behind him. He doesn’t look much better than you. His eyes are just as red and puffy as yours, his usually perfect hair a mess. He stood there pulling at his sleeves worryingly and chewing at his lips as he watched you with a timid gaze. 

You wave for him to follow you and turn to the guest room, listening to him silently scurrying after you. When you are both in the room, you peek your head out at Jin and pin him with a warning glance. He sighs and pulls his husband along with him as he locks himself in his own room, knowing that you wouldn’t let any eavesdropping fly today. 

You close your door silently and join Jimin at the end of your bed, staring down at your hands. You weren’t sure if he was waiting on you to say something, but he seemed to be trying to fight his own internal battle to speak as well. 

“I...wow this is hard. I had this whole speech planned in my head and now it’s all jumbled,” he says quietly. Finally, he sighs and turns to face you, grasping one of your hands lightly. 

“Firstly, I’m sorry for what you went through earlier. I don’t know if it’s any consolation, but Yoongi is a fucking mess right now and I know he feels horrible for what he did. He has that superpower where when he’s mad he can zero in on the insecurity that would make the most damage. He’s gotten me with it before and it’s not a good feeling. I know he didn’t mean it though, and I know he’s furious with himself right now. He wants you to come home, though I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. He was literally on the floor sobbing when I left.” 

That should make you feel better. Instead, it just made you worried because you remembered another time you’d found him in such a state. Jimin must have seen it on your face because he was quick to reassure you. 

“He’s not gonna do that. I’m going to be having a talk with him about that some more, but for right now I think it’s safe.” 

You nod and squeeze his hand. “Thank you.” 

“And - “ he pauses, inhaling deeply as if to brace himself. “I don’t know if this helps or makes things a bigger mess, but I wanted to take you out today because I was going to...confess,” he glances up at you shyly through his lashes, his cheeks flushing. 

“Confess,” you repeat dumbly, unsure if he meant what you thought he did. 

He nods. “Yeah. Um, because I fell in love with you. I understand if you don’t feel that way about me and I honestly didn’t expect you to. It’s just - you’re such an incredible person and meeting you made it possible for me to understand how Yoongi could love two people so thoroughly.” 

He lifts his head and smiles brightly, like your lack of slapping him had given him all the courage in the world. 

“I love how strong you are, and you’re so giving and selfless. You’re beautiful and talented. You treat Yoongi like a King. Hell, you even treat me well, and I’m the least deserving of them all after butting into your relationship the way I did. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that the sex is always amazing,” he smirks. 

You snort lowly and shake your head, your own cheeks taking on color of their own. He squeezes your hand gently as his smile softens. 

“I was going to take you out on a proper date before I confessed. Maybe go back to that little restaurant we went to last time. Maybe take you dancing. Rent a room so I can make love to you all night long, just the two of us.” 

He rubs the back of your hand with his thumb causing tingles that you can feel all throughout your body. It amazes you to find that you didn’t mind that idea. You didn’t think were you anywhere emotionally ready to consider something like returning Jimin’s affections, but to say that the idea was repugnant to you would be a lie. 

“But that will have to wait,” he sighs. “Instead, we need to focus on making things healthy before I can convince you to give me a chance.” 

“What do you mean?” you ask quietly. 

“I mean that Yoongi and I have been selfish as fuck and if we have any hope of healing what we have with you, we need to fix some things. Mainly ourselves. And make things fair. So, I want you to date and focus on yourself for a bit.” 

You scowl. “What? So your solution is for me to fuck around?” 

“NO! No. In fact, that thought of you sleeping with anyone but us kinda makes me want to punch something, but if that’s what you feel like you need to do then you should. I just mean, take some time. Ignore us except for when you’re at work, of course. Go on a vacation. Ask Jin hyung to set you up with whoever he’s been hinting at, because I know he has,” you both chuckle a little because he really has been. Even when you were just with Yoongi he still would bring up someone that you should be with, although it had been more of a joke before. 

“See if you think you’d be happier with someone else rather than put up with our bullshit. Yoongi and I will be waiting for you to decide what you want to do. We won’t be doing anything with each other either. I have to stay at the house with him because he can’t be trusted to be left alone right now, but otherwise, I won’t be touching him. When - if - you decide to come back to us, we’ll be starting over from scratch. All three of us completely equal. We’ll sit down and discuss things thoroughly - boundaries, future plans, therapy. Whatever you need. Especially therapy. I think we need that no matter what you decide. It’s been about us for too long and it’s past time it was about you. Only then do I think we have a chance at being an us. I’m not even sure that Yoongi and I could survive without you at this point.” 

You were beyond speechless. 

“Jimin, I didn’t know you were so smart.” 

He laughs uproariously, the sound charming enough to make you smile a little.

“Well, I’m no Namjoon hyung, but I have my moments, I think. Does that plan sound like it would work or am I just grasping at straws?” 

You sigh wearily. “I don’t know, Jimin. It sounds like it could, in theory. I’m just...so hurt. I already had so many issues and this whole situation was just like one big thing to bring them all back to life. I hate to sound like a sob story, but it is what it is. You know I grew up in foster care, right?” 

He shakes his head no, listening raptly with his eyes glued to your face. 

“Well, it wasn’t pleasant. My mom gave me up willingly when I was pretty young. The only memories I have of my dad are...not so nice. Then once I got into the system was when the fun really began. One horrible home after another. Most were in it just for the money, some were downright cruel. One of the foster homes the dad was a bit too handsy with the kids and they tried to put me in homes without men in them after that. But it was always the same. I was alone, abandoned, easily replaceable. I lost count of the number of homes I was in by the time I aged out.” 

You sigh and ruffle your hair. He squeezes the hand that is still engulfed in his. 

“I almost didn’t know what to do with myself when Yoongi started paying attention to me. I dated a bit before him, but it always ended with me being dumped fairly quickly as I usually seemed to attract guys as messed up as me. Then here he was, taking me on real dates that most guys before hadn’t really bothered with. Actually asking me about myself and seeming to care. I kept waiting for something to happen. For him to get sick of me or suddenly start beating me or something. Instead, he starts writing me songs, buying me a dog, moving in with me. Buying a house with me because my apartment is too small for all his studio equipment and three pianos. Why does the man need three keyboards?” 

Jimin giggles and bumps into your shoulder and you allow yourself a small smile. 

“I think my mistake was that I was starting to take it for granted that he was a sure thing. I got comfortable, started believing I had a home finally. Then you happened.” Jimin’s wounded inhale made you pause for a moment before you continued on. 

“There are a million different ways that we could have solved things. We could have all sat down and really talked. I could have issued an ultimatum. I could have put my foot down and shook some sense into him, told him you were his ex and to get over it already. Instead, I decided to bottle it all up inside and go back into the persona I’d perfected in foster care. The Y/N that’s quiet and takes whatever she’s given so that she doesn’t annoy anyone and get kicked out. That day, when Yoongi first told me about you, I felt everything just rush back. The pain, the loneliness, the fear that at any moment I was about to be abandoned yet again. So I decided to be stupid and selfish and not let go because he was the first good thing that’s ever happened to me.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Jimin’s voice sounded choked like he was holding back tears. You laid your head on his shoulder, silently acknowledging him. 

“My point is that I’m feeling a lot of things right now, some of them from our situation and some from my past. Right now, things don’t seem very bright. I want to say your idea will work. I want that with all my heart because I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving Yoongi. I don’t know how I feel about you yet, but I don’t hate you. I probably could even come to care about you if I can get past my resentment. I know that I’m attracted to you and you’ve shown yourself to be nothing but sweet and attentive towards me. If you think this will really work, I’ll try. I’ll take some time, maybe go on a date. I don’t know about that one. Dating sucks.” 

Jimin laughs. “Yeah, but I think you need to be reminded that you are amazing and people will line up to get a chance with you. You don’t have to, I just thought it might help. Just...if you do something with them, don’t tell us. I can’t promise that I wouldn’t punch them or that Yoongi wouldn’t go after someone with a chainsaw.” 

You grimace because you know Jimin is absolutely right. Not about the chainsaw, Yoongi isn’t that nuts. But he would walk up to someone with a little puffed out chest and give them his death stare. The stare was nearly as lethal as a chainsaw. 

“Who do you think Jin hyung will pick?” 

You hum and try to remember the name Jin has been lobbying around the most lately. 

“Probably Hoseok?” 

“Hobi hyung? Really?” Jimin squeaks. 

You turn and quirk an eyebrow. “Why? Is he no good?” 

“The opposite. I’d consider him a worthy rival. I’m doomed.” 

You giggle as he dramatically flops to the floor at your feet, peeking up at you through his lashes as he tries not to grin. 

“Well, I have seen the way he moves his hips...” 

He huffs indignantly. “I’m better,” he whines as he crawls up, placing his chin on top of your knees. “Noona, tell me I’m better.” 

“I don’t know. I might need a side by side comparison,” you smirk. 

He sighs and rubs his cheek against your thigh. “You can’t tease me when I’m trying to be all mature and work on our problems. Especially when I spent most of the day thinking about what I had planned for tonight.” 

You sober up immediately. “I am sorry about that, Jimin.” 

“It’s okay,” he blinks up at you, suddenly looking a little timid. 

“Can I at least tell you once?” 

You nod and swallow nervously as he meets your eyes dead-on, staring into them intensely. 

“I love you, Y/N.” 

You open your mouth, trying to think of something to say, but he shakes his head and stands up. Leaning over, he places a chaste kiss on your lips and brushes your cheek gently. 

“I’ll explain the whole plan to Yoongi and we won’t bother you. We’ll be waiting for you to come to us. We love you and we want the best for you, even if you decide it isn’t us.” 

Jimin moved to leave, then like he couldn’t help himself, he turned back and placed another small kiss on your lips before waving and leaving the room. He closed the door behind him and you heard Jin’s door open as they followed him out. You heard some rumbles but couldn’t make out what was being said. 

A few moments after the front door closed the bedroom door was once again opened as Jin peeked through. You smiled and waved him inside. 

“Are you alright?” 

“Yeah,” you sigh. “I’m alright. He told me he loved me and wants me to take some time to myself and decide if I want to go back to them. He says that he and Yoongi won’t be together in the meantime either because he wants us to start over, all three of us equally.” 

“Does he just think you’ll forgive everything that’s already happened? This isn’t a video game. He can’t just start a level over,” Jin scoffs. 

You shake your head. “No, he knows. I...explained about my past and I think he understood just how much they actually hurt me. And how much I hurt myself, to be honest. Not a single one of us has done the right thing so far.” 

“So what, you take a break and then what?” 

“I highly suspect he got this idea from eat, pray, love or something, by the way. But I guess I take some time away from them, only interacting when I have to at work. I try to “find myself” or something, date a little, decide whether I think they are worth another try. I was thinking I should try out therapy, maybe. I used to go when I was in foster care. Maybe it’s time to try again.” 

Jin looks surprised. “That’s...actually pretty good of Jimin, even if he got it from a movie. I don’t think you should be quick to forgive them, if you ever do. Make them suffer a bit. I’ll support whatever you decide to do.” 

You nod and smile gratefully. 

“So...about your friend Hoseok.”

#bts #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #yoongi #jimin #yoongi fanfic #jimin fanfic #yoongi x reader #jimin x reader #yoonmin x reader #tuqburnii #solastia

[oxsix]

To Being Better People

One-shot

Cathy ponders about past mistakes and redemption.

AO3 

Something's been up with Cathy lately. Catalina knows that. Cathy thinks she's being subtle, but the signs are tell-tale. Cathy might not be an open book, but her God-mother doesn't need her to be in order to understand. She knows how to pick up on the signals.

The thing about Cathy is that the signs are all different for her. While staying up into unholy hours of the morning, getting little sleep and being fairly unsociable would be worrying for most people, it's entirely normal for Cathy. The others know it's best to leave her to her own schedule, provided she isn't severely overworking herself. On these occasions, the other Queens know to intervene before the inevitable breakdown.

But when Cathy is getting full nights of sleep, waking up early, and getting little work done; that's when they know something is up.

It's normal for Cathy's mood to be a little sour when she's tired, but she tends more towards a quiet grumpiness than to actual outbursts. But over the past two days, she's already blown up at Anne, Kitty and Jane on separate occasions.

The issue with Anne had been understandable; while she's usually fairly sensitive towards the other women's boundaries, and which topics are off-limit, she can overstep the mark at times. And Cathy hadn't been in the mood when Anne had playfully prodded at her bookish tendencies. Needless to say, she had been somewhat take aback by Cathy's sudden explosion.

It had been even more surprising when she'd lost her temper with Kitty; Cathy is usually very aware of the younger woman's vulnerability, and always does her best to soften any issues she had with her. She treads carefully around the young queen. To blow up at her so suddenly, and without warning is certainly out of character.

And Jane had barely spoken three words to Parr before she'd come to the end of her tether. Something is definitely wrong, and Aragon will have to get to the bottom of it before it gets any worse.

Even more worryingly, Cathy hasn't been working on anything recently. For many, taking time away from work would be a good sign. But work is Cathy's way of escaping. When she's overwhelmed by life, memories, or emotions, she loses herself in her work. Not working means she must have lost her drive, which means something is definitely wrong.

But she can't think what. It's not to do with the date, she's checked. There are no unpleasant anniversaries coming up. And there haven't been any arguments lately. No conflicts among the queens. So she can't figure out what's gotten Cathy so out of order.

So here Catalina is, stood outside her God-daughter's room, with a coffee in one hand, and a pecan twist in the other (the kind from Tesco, which she knows are Cathy's favourite. She knocks, gently, and is surprised to get an immediate response.

"Yeah?" Cathy's voice is a little cracked, and she can't figure out if it's from crying or from a general lack of use, outside of her snapping at the other Queens.

"It's just me." Catalina responds, softly. "Could I come in?"

There's silence. For just a little too long. Cathy clearly doesn't want anyone to see her, but doesn't want to turn her away all the same.

"Yeah." It's barely audible. Catalina pushes the door open slowly.

Cathy is sat on her bed, leaning against the wall. She's staring off into space, but there's clear conflict in her expression.

Catalina's not sure what to say. She and Cathy have grown close, over the time they've spent living together, but now, standing in her doorway with the other woman looking utterly forlorn, she doesn't feel like she knows her at all. She cares for her, deeply, but she doesn't know how to make this better.

"Are you-" she stutters, then cuts herself off. "Here." She offers the cup in her hand, and the plastic bag containing the pastry to the other woman.

Cathy gets up, slowly, from her bed to accept the items, and mutters a quiet thanks, before sitting herself down again. She gives her God-mother a small smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

Catalina's resolve strengthens, and she settles gently onto the bed next to the other woman. Out of the little window in the opposite wall, she can see the rain pounding on the window. Typical October weather—she can't help but think about how much more pleasant the weather had been in Spain.

"Do you... want to talk?" She asks.

Her voice is a little shaky; she's nervous. She knows that she and Cathy are growing closer, but part of her feels like she's overstepping a boundary. Who is she to act like she knows her like this? She isn't her mother. They're only close now because circumstance and a shared husband has forced them together. It's a silver lining of the whole ordeal, as far as Catalina is concerned—but does Cathy feel the same way? Or would she rather keep her distance?

She's more than surprised when the younger woman lets out a heart-wrenching cry, and rests her head on her shoulder.

"Please." Cathy replies, her voice wavering. Catalina can feel her body shaking gently as she sobs.

Without thinking, she moves a hand to smooth gently through the other woman's hair.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," she soothes, shocked by the other woman's sudden vulnerability. Cathy isn't cold, but she does have a tendency to put up a front at times.

"No it isn't!" Cathy suddenly erupts. "It's not alright!"

Catalina is taken aback.

"Cathy," She looks at her God-daughter seriously, imploring her. "What's wrong?"

"I-" Cathy lets out a breath. She clearly has a lot to say, but doesn't know where to start. "I was reading, the other night. About- about all of us. And I just thought... there's so much that I did back then that was wrong." She hesitates, then continues.  

"Things we all did, back then. And, looking back I can't help but wonder if we deserve this. We weren't exactly perfect people, especially by today's standards. I don't feel like I deserve to be here."

She's talking fast; a stream of thought tumbling straight from her mouth before she can stop it. Her breathing is fast and panicky, like she can barely keep up with her own words.

"Come here." Catalina says, sympathy in her voice. Cathy obliges, more than happy to accept her God-mother's embrace. "It's okay, I understand."

"But, look, I know Anne and I have talked about this already, but- I keep thinking about Elizabeth. And, Thomas." Cathy's voice is bitter, at that. "I did everything wrong."

"I know, love." Catalina pulls her in a bit tighter. "But none of us were perfect, back then. None of us are blameless-maybe Kitty, or Anna." She corrects.

"So yeah. Maybe we weren't good people. But I see no reason we can be, now. I'm certainly not proud of everything I did, but- all those things that mattered back then—the politics, the religion, international conflict. It doesn't matter any more. I don't think it was what really mattered back then, either. All these things we fought over; that people died for. We can be more than that now. Things are different now, we know better."

Cathy lets out a soft sigh, and curls in closer.

"I think- so long as we use this time to be better than we were before, I don't see why we shouldn't be here. Think about, we all had so many reasons to hate each other in the beginning. But it's only been a matter of months now and look at us. The only thing Anne and I argue about any more is her leaving her dirty dishes in the sink." Cathy grins, in spite of herself. "That's what second chances are for, right?"

Cathy looks up at her, the tear tracks on her face starting to dry. She wipes at her eyes, and looks at her God-mother. She holds her little finger out to her God-mother, who links it with her own.

"To being better people?" she says, almost at a whisper.

Catalina lets out a chuckle. "To being better people."

Cathy relaxes, leaning back into her slightly.

"I feel a lot better." She says, voice still slightly thick from her previous tears. "Thanks, mum."

It's silly, really. Just one little word, but it brings Catalina's whole world crashing in on her. It's been so long since she's been called that, and a part of her has been desperate to hear it ever since she came back. It's bringing hoards of memories barrelling their way to the forefront of her mind—ones she's been blocking out for far too long. And they're painful, bittersweet. But Cathy being there, saying it too her for the first time; it's an overwhelming joy and a vulnerability Catalina hadn't been prepared for.

Catalina isn't usually one for vulnerability. She likes to keep her composure, keep her feelings to herself. She likes there to be a wall between her emotions and other people. She's learned to keep them at arms-length. Her past moments of vulnerability have usually led to her being ridiculed, mistreated or abandoned. She doesn't like people to see her when the walls come down.

But, nonetheless, now it's her turn to cry.

#six the musical fanfic #six fanfiction #six the musical #catherine of aragon #catherine parr #mother-daughter bonding

[eturni]

Day 30 - Resolution

I’m behind again because D&D took my whole life and I only got this half done by the time I absolutely Had to sleep. For @drawlight’s advent calender prompt list https://drawlight.tumblr.com/post/188869931294/aziraphale-crowley-for-half-an-hour-youve-been and today (yesterday) is/was resolution.

It was absolutely supposed to be increasingly drunk, silly resolutions in the style that a couple of my friends did one year and then it took a hard lean into angst and pining? Suppose that’s what happens when two immortal beings can’t resolve to reach for what they truly want. Enjoy!

It was the second year of the Julian Calendar, Caesar was dead, Rome had devolved into civil war, and an angel and a demon were holed up in a small home with mistletoe tucked into the bottom corner of the window.

For months it had become a safe, neutral, space for the both of them as they monitored the fallout from the assassination and the progression of both the civil wars and little Octavius’ rise. Not a continually shared space, naturally. Each of them had their own quarters in entirely different areas of the empire and each of them had wildly different assignments in the aftermath.

What they also had was a central location where they had met, respectably rarely, to bitch, gripe, moan, and (on one very memorable occasion for Crowley) have what was worryingly close to a full human panic attack.

Aziraphale had of course protested heavily at the initial suggestion and yet by the time Junius was ending Crowley often found the angel at the little house before he turned up; often with a decent wine already unstoppered. It took a little of the edge off of ridiculous orders that had no regard or understanding of how the humans actually operated. They wasted (never wasted, not truly) nights with incredulous stories of their bosses and hyperbole about the good or evil they had seen in those humans they came close to.

The truce had still been tentative, it always was between the both of them. Crowley’s natural urge was to push against boundaries; to wheedle and tempt, where Aziraphale’s fall back was to the comfort of the party line and words that someone else had given him. Crowley always felt it was a shame that Aziraphale hoarded libraries around him and collected all the world’s poetry into his heart and yet, when push came to shove, what came out was always the silted practised words that the archangels had handed down.

Saturnalia that year had helped to change that. The mistletoe in the window declared something that wasn’t quite yet their side but still somehow took a sense of friction away from the space that neither had been truly aware of until it was suddenly gone.

Continue reading on AO3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638803/chapters/52627138 or:

Crowley arranged to have more work to do nearer Rome specifically and spent increasing amounts of time there for more than just shop talk. Aziraphale even returned one day to find that the demon had made himself a bed and was sleeping soundly in a blocked off corner. He was adamant that the demon would never find out how long he had stood there transfixed by both the sight and the whirl of complex emotions it had stirred up like a dust cloud with a good cleaning.

The place became almost like a home with the amount that the two of them frequented it. Not that it could be such a thing when it was a shared space. It was merely a neutral ground and both of them regularly reminded themselves of the fact, just to be sure.

Saturnalia passed with a surprising amount of fanfare. Some of the fighting lulled around the time and tentative celebrations kicked up right across the empire. A certain angel and demon used the tradition of role reversal to pretend to be human for a couple of days.

They were heading for Januarius and Crowley checked almost daily that the sprig was still there and that the peace between them wasn’t ending. In Hell it was always Too Late. As a demon you got used to it, though a mortal soul never could, but this in between uncertainty was somehow worse than the perpetual looming sense of having already lost.

This was living on borrowed time.

It was waking up in that house and knowing that the angel was somewhere nearby and knowing that it couldn’t be that way for much longer. Knowing that he would likely get no say in when that ended, or how, because he could never dare bring it up himself in fear of hurrying that inevitable end to the strange peace they had found amidst the chaos.

There was even the chance that it would be broken by someone from either of their sides turning up in the city. Even with the relative ease between the two of them it was a risk that consistently played at the back of both of their minds.

By the time the sun set on the eve of the new year Crowley was in the very nice loose-but-lucid state of drunkenness that allowed him to think a little bit less about the contingencies he wound into his life and plans. Somewhere far off pockets of civil unrest were still burning hotly and formed bright spots of potential temptation on Crowley’s radar that he shrugged off in favour of the warmth of Aziraphale’s company.

“Y’know, if you think about it. If you considered everything you did, and everything I did, and all this mess… We’d have been just as well not bothering at all really. All the bad, or good, it really did in the end.” Crowley mused, well into the second of the amphorae and desperately close to the beginnings of an idea that he would later claim a spark of genius.

Aziraphale tutted and rolled his eyes at this. “The whole point is that I guide and thwart your wiles and the humans get to make their decisions. It’s all terribly important for the great plan.”

Granted the plan was a little fuzzy after the amount of drink he’d taken but Aziraphale wasn’t about to admit to that particular point.

“Yeah; and they’re trying to make choices for the whole year right now. Future they don’t know if they’ll live to see,” Crowley flopped down onto the bench around their table, perilously close to Aziraphale’s lap, and looked up to the other thoughtfully. “What would you resolve to do?”

What in Heaven’s name do you mean Crowley?” Aziraphale wiggled a little uncomfortably, tips of his ears warming at the too-familiar nearness of the demon.

“Well, this whole thing’s about Janus, right? You look back, you look forward, and you decide what you want to do. We should do it too. What do you want to change next year?” He presses, getting up for just long enough to top up both of their cups before going boneless again.

“Well there’s hardly a point to that. I’ll have my orders I imagine, as will you. What could I even want to change?”

“C’mon though angel, really think about it.”

“I hardly see the point. I follow Janus no more than I follow Saturn. There isn’t any point in this little game for me.”

“I mean I don’t either you daft sod. I know what’s actually there, you don’t just forget that,” he rolled his eyes expressively behind small dark glasses “but it’s a bit of fun isn’t it? Think about all the stuff that happened year before and then decide what you’re gonna do… different.”

“You mean what you’re going to do better?” Aziraphale arched a brow.

Crowley scowled and waved off the idea with one hand while pouring more from the amphora with the other. “S’all relative angel. What’s better for them’s sure to be looked down on by your lot.”

“Well, they’re still trying to improve and that’s admirable.” Aziraphale huffed through his nose.

Crowley only grinned. “Well if you like it so much why don’ you join in?” He needled, a smug little bob of his head punctuating the sip of wine he took.

Aziraphale looked down into his cup with a tight-lined mouth, studying it too closely. “There’s nothing I could want to change.” He said, with all the intensity that he usually did when he wanted to convince himself more than anything.

“Bullshit,” Crowley declared with a grin “I’ll start us off. I’m resolving to try more new stuff than just wine next year. There’s a lot more they can make alcoholic with the right push.”

There was another sigh and a tut but Aziraphale seemed to relax incrementally and Crowley took it as a win. “I think I shall resolve to put up with fewer of your shenanigans.”

“I think you should resolve to put up with less archangel bullshit.”

“Crowley!” Aziraphale made a good show of looking scandalised as he sipped his drink. “I think you should resolve to learn how legs work finally.”

Crowley looked at him, mouth falling just slightly open in a way that just shouldn’t be so alluring. The demon looked somewhere between shocked and appreciative. “I’ll get right on that angel; just as soon as you learn how to dress in the right century.”

“Well it’s certainly not something I feel the need to resolve to do.”

They both took another few decent drinks before Crowley piped up again sullenly. “I’d like to resolve to tempt someone who wasn’t going to do something more horrific than anything I suggested.”

Aziraphale hummed distractedly. Some humans did feel like uphill battles at times. “I think I’ll resolve to be a little more active in thwarting those wiles of yours. You do seem to find the ones that do serious harm and I often let you go centuries without dealing with you.”

Crowley very carefully stopped breathing for a few moments to process the words, wondering exactly how bad it was that the resolution sounded appealing to him more than anything else.

“If I’m going to have my own personal angel thwarting me I suppose I’ll have to try a little harder at the tempting. Wouldn’t want you t get bored, angel.”

“I’m sure I won’t with your mischief.” Aziraphale declared, again with more concentration than should be needed going into his disapproving look. “Anyway. It’s almost the new year and I am famished; what say we eat?” He suggested, more for something to do to deflect whatever was happening. A miracle provided them any food that they would need and Crowley, thankfully, backed off for the moment.

By the time they were done with the meal and through another couple of amphorae Aziraphale was feeling far too relaxed and Crowley had, at some point, ended up almost on his chest as they reclined on the bench. He was absently passing up the occasional grape to Aziraphale as they chatted about nothing that made any sense.

Aziraphale was expounding on how hippopotamuses leading chariots would be both terrifying and awe-inspiring when he realised that Crowley had gone quieter than usual. He looked down, half expecting the demon to be asleep but instead finding him staring into his own cup intently, lips moving but voice too quiet to be heard over Aziraphale’s own excited musings.

Now that things were quieter he could hear the faintest murmurs of some of it. “Could resolve to listen to you like this forever. C’n’a resi-seso-thing even be to wile where you are? Resolve to watch you smile more. Make you smile more. Blessed idiot.”

The angel picked up speaking again, trying to pretend he’d never stopped at all, and eventually suggested that Crowley actually go to sleep while he tidied the mess.

Aziraphale knew the exact brand of coward that he was but the moment Crowley was asleep he used the opportunity to slip out of the home and take the sprig of mistletoe with him. His heart thundered and stomach churned the entire time with the feeling that he was doing something wrong. Still, he knew the only truly wrong thing could be in going along with whatever it was that stirred in him whenever Crowley was near.

He resolved, if anything, to be stronger against this thing in his chest that he could not feel for a demon. He didn’t see Crowley again until he was helplessly watching a young man from Galilee be put to death for nothing more than human kindness and a demon provided the only compassion that Aziraphale saw. Every moment between them ground down against a resolution that Aziraphale was increasingly uncertain he ever wanted to make.

#31 days of ineffables #good omens #ineffable husbands #mini fic

[yoongiinspired]

Is it Always Like This? - Angst/Fluff

Admin- J-Hoe

Summary- You hate being in crowds but being with Jungkook means going through a lot of them. What will happen when after being together for a short time you start having a panic attack in the middle of a massive group of people?

You and Jungkook had been going out for just over a month now. It was all very new and you hadn't even kissed yet. You wanted to spend all the time with him but it was hard with his busy schedule so this lunch date was a rarity.

When you had finished you thought it was safe but the moment you stepped out of the building there was a swarm of fans and paparazzi. Both yours and Jungkook’s eyes widen in shock and you hear him curse under his breath.

“Alright c’mon, (y/n)” he whispers to you and he takes your hand to begin pulling you through the crowd. Girls screamed and clawed at both of you, camera flashes went making you see stars - the noise was overwhelming. You could feel your heart beating rapidly against your chest and every breath squeezed it tighter and tighter.

You shout to Jungkook over the screams, “Jungkook-ah! I can’t do this!”

You were hyperventilating at this point - unable to control your breath. Big crowds were always a problem for you and this was the worst situation possible.

“You can do this, (y/n). Follow me.” he turns back to you as you continue pushing through the crowd of people.

You shake your head and as you do you feel the dizziness getting worse. Your head pounds and your vision starts to go black.

“(Y/n)!” you hear Jungkook shout as your legs give way beneath you. But instead of the hard ground you were expecting, you fall into something soft and then feel yourself being picked up in Jungkook’s arms. You were powerless as he carried you, not knowing where. But you trusted him and there was no way you could find the strength to get up now.

You cling onto him, eyes squeezed shut, wanting to be away from all these people as quick as possible.

He hurries away from the commotion, the body guards trying to hold the hoard back as he runs towards a side street and through alleyways trying to lose them.

Finally, you reach an alleyway and with Jungkook’s back pressed against the wall, you in his arms, the screaming fans run past unsuspectingly. He puts you down on the floor and crouches to look you over.

“I’m so sorry. Are you ok?” he says as he holds your cheek and shifts his gaze between your eyes. Your breath was still rapid and you could feel the tears threatening to fall.

“Deep breaths. You’ll be ok.” he reassures you, rubbing small circles on the back of your hand as he holds it.

You look straight at him and say worryingly, “Is it always like this?”

He looks out of the alleyway and then back to you, concern etched onto his face, “No...It’s...It was my fault I should’ve…”

You sigh, feeling guilty and interrupt him, “No no, I’m so sorry Jungkook-ah, It’s me. I just hate big crowds so much and...and they just kept pushing me and pulling me and I...I…”

“Hey, hey!” he says as he looks you with soft eyes, “There’s no need to be sorry. It was my fault that I didn’t look after you properly.”

And with that he brings you into a hug. At his touch you start to calm down and steady your breathing - focusing on his comforting embrace. Eventually, you manage to settle your nerves and he pulls back.

Your breathing may have slowed down but your heartbeat was still racing as you sat here so close together. He was still breathing heavily and you notice his gaze lower to your lips. He swallows hard. Then…

He kisses you.

Your little panic attack completely leaves your mind and all you could focus on was the sensation of his lips against yours. You leaned in and his hands came to the back of your head to draw you even closer to him.

Maybe a dirty alleyway wasn’t the most conventional place to have your first kiss but Jungkook wasn’t conventional. That’s what you loved about him.

He pulls back and gives you a smirk.

“All good now?”

#bts #bts jungkook #jeongguk #jeon jungkook #jungkook #kookie #fluff #angst #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #kpop angst #kpop fanfiction #fanfiction #kpop fluff

[eyeloch]

Have a little more stuff to do with Hera adopting Ezra soon after his parents were taken.  I blame @meldy-arts and @libraryjedi :P

Since Hera finds Ezra rather soon after his parents were taken, he doesn’t have as many scars (both emotional and physical) as he did in canon.

He probably has way less of a need to hoard food, for example.

That said, I have no doubt he’ll often feel guilty when he’s very happy or when he thinks of Hera like a mother - especially when he’s too young to really wrap his mind around the complex emotions this sort of thing can involve....

Chopper teaches Ezra droidspeak, just like he once taught Hera.

Hera intervenes to teach Ezra droidspeak that doesn’t involve copious obscenities! 

Hera and Ezra will sometimes chat in droidspeak to each other - to help Ezra practice.

Hera encourages Ezra to read the information files about geography and such of the planets they head to.  She would encourage history research too, but that sort of thing needs to be carefully taught - Imperial History is mostly lies! ...as was Republic History, for that matter....

They do return to Lothal fairly often - there’s a lot of jobs there, and the planet is still his home in some ways.  The Ghost is as well, of course.

Ezra actually still ends up running into Moreena Krai on a fair few occasions.  While the friendship that develops wouldn’t be as strong as in (my headcanon of) the normal canon, I think they’d still enjoy each other’s company - and end up in a few messes together.

Ezra’s very physically affectionate.

Honestly, especially if this is before Kanan, Hera probably needed more hugs anyway!

I wonder how Ezra’s presence would interact with Zeb coming to be a part of the crew?  I doubt Hera or Kanan would bring Ezra to Lasan - it would nightmarish for anyone, let alone someone as empathetic as Ezra!

If Zeb blew up at the kid - likely more common as he got back into shape after surgery/rehab/dealing with a galaxy that seems to fear or mock him and those he failed - he’d feel rather guilty about it afterwards!

Ezra’s dozed off in the co-pilot’s chair a lot of times.

Ezra’s dozed off in the gunner’s chair a lot of times.

Ezra’s dozed off while close to Hera an uncountable number of times.

In just a couple of months aboard the Ghost, Ezra rapidly starts to pick up on an eclectic range of skills, as is almost worryingly good at many of them, for a seven year-old!

Cleaning, re-wiring, hacking, bargaining, hiding....

Hera starts to teach him the fundamentals of self-defense soon after he’s comfortable around her.

For her life (and now his) it’s something that everyone needs, unfortunately.

His reflexes are exceptional, when he’s focused.  It can be quite difficult to get him to focus at times, though!

There is a no pets rule on the Ghost.

Chopper would find ways to remove any offending animals, even if Hera could be talked around!

#star wars rebels #ezra bridger #hera syndulla #garazeb orrelios #c1-10p #chopper #eye headcanon #eye au

[wolfieonatypewriter]

Bayojeanne Week 4 - Death

Fandom: Bayonetta

Ship: Bayonetta/Jeanne

Summary: Things in her life are fleeting and Jeanne fears the day she will leave the eye of the hurricane once again.

A/N: I have Prompt 3 - Amnesia in the backburner but I will publish it eventually! pinky promise *sips late Starbucks*

“Just for reference, darling, I can hear you think from here.”

The low, sleepy mumble made Jeanne look to her right ( to where most of the covers usually resided) and she quirked her eyebrow at her lover. Cereza rubbed at her eyes and felt around the nightstand for her glasses, accidentally dropping them under the bed.

“Fuck on a stick.” She grumbled, digging herself out of her dragon hoard of quilts and leaning over her side of the bed.

Jeanne kept silent as Bayonetta, graceful as a drunk ostrich, tried to retrieve her precious glasses. It wasn't going too successfully, judging by the flailing and muted curses coming from her beloved partner.

With a triumphant grunt, she settled back on the bed and continued smoothly. “What has you up quite so late?”

Jeanne laid her arms behind her head and took a deep, steadying breath. “I’m sorry, I was not aware my absolute immobility and silence were quite so disturbing.”

Cereza snaked an arm around her naked midsection, which prompted an appreciative flexing of abs, and nuzzled against her clavicle. “But you see, it is because by this hour you're usually your pretzel ballerina sleeping self all over my side.”

“It's where the covers are, Cereza” She deadpanned, kissing her short hair to smooth over any ruffled feathers. She had learned to manage but, no matter the covers, they were definitely not on top of her ever.

“Regardless”, she waved airily and extended her arm to poke at her shoulder. “You sleep about as well as a cat on caffeine but this is odd even for you.”

Her tone turned soft and tender and she looked up at Jeanne's exhausted eyes with gentle worry.“Tell me what's wrong”

“I was just...thinking.” Bayonetta resisted the urge to sigh with worry but she only managed to divert it to a strong exhale through her nose. She knew as well as she knew herself that thinking with Jeanne always meant trouble, more so if it made her stare at the ceiling for hours on end on a school night.

“What were you spinning around obsessively on that smart head of yours?”

The silence stretched on for several seconds more and Bayonetta was about to lift herself up to look at Jeanne when a calloused hand threaded on her hair with the gentlest of touches, moving talented fingers to massage her scalp softly.

“About death and...about dying and how that throws our unbelievably lucky reunion to shit.”

In truth, it was something she always worried about, more or less every hour of every day with varying intensity. She hadn't been counting on making it this long, worse she hadn't been wired to make it so far.

She had been heir to the clan, was technically the Elder now, with no clan or court but one nonetheless. It was part of her core makeup to put the safety of others well before herself and it was the job of the Elder to make sure hers was the least important life.

The Clan, their culture, her sisters had to be protected at all costs and her life was a paltry sum compared to it.

Nothing had changed really, just the object of her priorities. Though, in all fairness she had always prioritised Cereza (perhaps more than she should) because nothing made her angrier than the Umbran injustice and cruelty towards someone who had not had any control of her circumstances.

“I’ve heard that does tend to happen” she replied in attempt to keep the mood as light as possible, nipping slightly at the hard muscle underneath her cheek which earned her another lingering kiss to her head.

“I was not supposed to be here.” Was the blunt follow-up, her tone worryingly truthful and absolutely terrified.

Cereza was at an impasse, caught in a situation so delicate approaching it badly would drive Jeanne further into whatever she was struggling with. Against all of her instincts of protectiveness that demanded she comfort her and stop her from feeling bad,  she remained quiet and waited for further explanation.

“I was sure the Clan Wars would be it for me but they weren't, I was sure the hunts would definitely be it for me and then…”

She ground her teeth together in helpless frustration.”They weren't! But everything was ruined and you were no longer around and I… I did what I could, which ended in a failure I was sure would kill me.”

Bayonetta held her close, Jeanne's heavy breathing rattling against her cheek.

“The world was at it's literal end, reality as we knew it was about to be destroyed and I gave my life as forfeit.” She finished, a note of bitterness colouring her voice and echoing into the darkness of the night.

The odds were ever stacked against and still, she had come out the other end alive time and time again. She wasn't counting on it, had no plan for freedom, for life, for joy?

Those had been foreign concepts for centuries and now, she was out in the big open pasture and she had no clue what to do.

Cereza listened and pondered on her words carefully. She wanted to intervene on that self destructive rant, wanted to hold her close and kiss her softly and tell her all was alright.

But was that really what she needed?

“What bothers you the most, then...is it that you think you're on borrowed time.” She started, taking a leap of faith so valiant her heart hammered on her throat. It felt like reasoning with a spooked fawn, any odd movement would send her bolting into the wilderness“ Or that you have no clue what to do with relative stability?”

The hand on her hair massaged her scalp with increasingly more absent-minded movements till it stilled to a slow scratch.

Another long sigh that displaced her head still laying on her chest. “I keep waiting for the hammer to fall for the last time. I feel I've ran out of luck and opportunities, that all my good fortune was spent up just coming back from all of that.”

And now that she had Cereza, a home, a life that was her own. How long till that was snatched away from her? “I love you, so much... being here, now is absolutely not what I was expecting would happen.”

Bayonetta got up from the soft perch on her chest, her heart clenching at those words. There was no mistaking the utter sincerity of them and it skyrocketed her worries right into the redline.

“But I’m here and darling, let me inform you, you’re definitely stuck with me now.” She countered, running the back of her hand on her jaw with utmost tenderness. “You haven’t used up all the good things in life to stay alive, if anything you have earned them in triplicate.”

Jeanne furrowed her brows at her words, the notion sitting with an uncomfortable drop on her chest.

”You’ve been through so much, sacrificed everything for all of us, for me in particular. You get to reap those rewards.” She leaned in for a soft kiss, parting slightly to look into the stormy grey eyes of her somewhat decidedly better half. “I love you too and I’ll be here to remind you you gave so much, now you get to receive.”

Her words were gentle and uplifting but she couldn’t help thinking that all of the good things in her life were inevitably snatched away. Her life had a long track record of doing that but underneath it all, that notion started feeling less uncomfortable.

Receiving for once seemed like a positive thing to look forward to.

“As for not knowing what to do with yourself without purpose, take it from someone who has spent two decades adrift at sea” She twirled her index in the air, an old sign of theirs for Jeanne to lay down on her stomach. “The world is your oyster and you get to choose how you want to go about it.”

Jeanne did as she asked with a modicum of hesitancy, probably thinking the more good things she had the closer she was to having it all stripped away again. She swiftly straddled her narrow hips and bent down to kiss her shoulders, not leaving any space for her to change her mind. “Do what you want to do and you’re always going to be doing there right thing, love.”

Could it really be that simple? Exhaustion was minutes away from steamrolling her into a puddle of mush and Cereza’s heavenly, unfairly talented hands were making quick work of the tension on her back.

She managed a somewhat whiny but half way coherent agreement and Bayonetta chuckled, leaning down fully over her strong back to whisper in her ear. “You’re the best thing in this Trinity of Realities, darling, and I want you by my side for the duration, ok?”

Jeanne finally relented and nodded, twisting around to yank her lover down for a long hard kiss. “Ok, I think I can try that.”

Life wasn’t perfect, far from it, nor was this issue so neatly resolved as it would on a feel-good sitcom.

But

It was a start.  

#Bayonetta #Bayojeanneweek #Bayojeanne Week #bayonetta/jeanne

[idoldanshi]

Idol Danshi 2nd Chapter: The School is the Worst place to find Potential idols, Maybe

He didn't even need Kou to point out Park Min-jun, he already stood out in the middle of the crowd of people that surrounded him. Well, standing out would be a wrong expression; hoards of squealing girls and hollering boys clapping his back practically swallowed him. Nonetheless, the looks that made him so popular shown vibrantly amongst the crowd. Luscious, wheat-coloured hair cascaded down his shoulders in a loose ponytail, his gym attire altered to look fashionable with a v-neck collar and short shorts. When he stretched, his clothes rode up to show off flawless skin.Hachi sighed in the back of his mind. So he was one of those types of people. Stunning, flawless looks and hung around many people, loved by all. Perfect. Sure, that was the ideal idol, but see, Hachi was not an ideal idol, nor would ever become one. Those types seemed like a faraway, foreign alien species to him that he never wanted contact with. Well, he'd give it to Kou for the effort. Still, his overall aura demanded that people around him be captivated by him, an infinite charm that Hachi resolved was worth getting into his group in that day.

"I have this period with 1-D, so I'll be going now." Kou waved farewell to him and ran off towards a boy with violet highlights in his hair. The gym teacher entered the hall accompanied by students pushing... Were those gymnastic mats?

"Mornin' class. Today we're continuing with last week's gymnastics class. So find your partners from last week and grab a mat." Everyone began shuffling around to their partners, chatting loudly, Before he knew it he was left standing alone.

Along with Park Min-jun, whose eyes were darting around frantically searching for a nonexistent partner and looking unnerved by the situation. It wasn't before long that the teacher realised that too."Min-jun, Hachi," she said, pointing to each of them. "Both of you weren't here last week, so pair up with each other." Min-jun swung towards where the teacher pointed at Hachi and stared at him. His mildly confused expression gave away that he had not been aware of the other's existence until then.

Hachi decided to take the initiative to walk over to him with a mat.

"I've never seen you before" Min-jun's eyes swept up and down his body and gave him one of those judging looks that Hachi thought only scrutinising aunts were capable of making. He shot him a pointed look.

"I haven't been to school in a while. I got retained a year." Hachi replied coolly, laying out the mat. He was way too used to this kind of questions by nosy relatives.

"So your brains are as scrambled as how you look," His eyebrows rose and his lips twisted into a condescending sneer.

"I know, and I don't care," Hachi said with a sigh. Min-jun still hadn't dropped that look that honestly ruined the otherwise attractiveness of his face.

"Well, I don't talk to slobbish people," Min-jun said, laying down on the mat. Hachi sighed internally. Why did someone who possessed so much potential have to be so troublesome?

"Aren't you already talking to me now? Besides, I don't care." Min-jun blanched at Hachi's retort and glared at him.

"Just to let you know, PE is my strong subject. Don't get in my way" Min-jun finally managed to sputter out after a few moments of Hachi smirking silently at him.

"We'll see."

Their conversation that only furthered Hachi's internal resolution that Min-jun was really a popular stuck-up queen was interrupted by the teacher yelling instructions about the class. Apparently, they had to hit a certain number of sit-ups as fast as they could, and the increasing range of numbers were ranked from the highest A to the lowest D.

Min-jun was already crawling onto the mat before the teacher finished the instructions. "Hurry up." He snapped at Hachi, laying down.

Hachi put his knees on his shoes and shortly after that, the teacher started the timer. Immediately there was an immense resistance against his knees as Min-jun powered through his sit-ups.

The mental counter in his head sped along until even though they were only one minute into the exercise he was almost done. Some of the negative energy in Hachi's mind faded. He had to give it to Min-jun, he was indeed very strong. He had never felt such intense strength and Min-jun's steely expression didn't seem to be fading. At least that's what he thought.

Was it just his imagination or was the pressure on his knees decreasing? Drips of sweat forming on the sides of Min-jun's face and his breathing became more laboured. His movements had become slower and his face had deepened into a red flush.

"Dude, are you okay?" Hachi questioned after Min-jun let out a worrisome cough.

"I'm fine!" He snapped back, clearly not fine as he could barely get up from the ground. "Only a few more to go," Hachi encouraged, and Min-jun tried to continue, but failed. He laid back and panted heavily, all energy seemingly spent.

Aha, so stamina was the all pristine ruler's weakness.

Around them, classmates were almost starting to finish up. Min-jun's eyes darted around worryingly and tried to pull himself up.

"You don't have to do so many you know," Hachi said as Min-jun tried once again in vain to get up. "Shut up. Someone like you won't understand." He said the last few words in between pants as he finally managed to pull himself to do one more. Wow, so turns out he wants to save his face. Still, it was obvious did not have any power left in him to get through the last few at this rate. His pupils were dilating, his eyes unconsciously closing. Hair once glossy stuck to his face and shoulders from sweat. His breath was falling short, and thinking quickly, Hachi made a decision.

"Teach! Min-jun is done! Grade A!"

Min-jun looked at him with his eyes wide in surprise, but the other students didn't notice anything off and instead oohed and aahed at his fast completion. Even the teacher didn't seem surprised and just nodded in comprehension.Coughing heavily, he hesitated at Hachi's outreached hand, but Hachi didn't wait for a response and pulled him up.

"What was that about?" Min-jun inquired. Min-jun stared him incredulously, mouth agape like a fish.

"Let's make a bet. If I beat you in these sit-ups, I win some of your time and you have to listen to me." Min-jun looked skeptical, but with a huff, he said, "Fine! You have a deal. As if you can."Hachi smirked the first time in a long while.

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

The results didn't even need to announced.

Hachi nearly burst out laughing at the sight of Min-jun's indignant face. Red had coated his cheeks and made them look puffed up, and he looked like he was about to explode any moment. Without saying a word, he grabbed Hachi's phone and took out his own, and when Hachi got it back, it had a new contact saved into it as well as a note.

Hachi blinked, surprised at what it read.

"Meet me at the Okatani at 3 pm this Saturday." Attached to the text was a link to the location of this place, yet Hachi had no idea where that was. The directory described the place to be a traditional tea house that also functioned as an inn.

"The Hill Valley?" Curiously, the name Okatani was formed by the Japanese kanji for those two characteristics, 岡谷. Why on earth such a contrasting name?

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

Hachi now knew exactly how the Okatani got its name now, unfortunately.

The Okatani was situated in a valley hollowed out from a singular hill. That meant no access from the ground, and overgrown grass covered the slopes that surrounded it. In the middle was a dusty street with small old shops, and at the corner was a little tea house with a large cloth banner in front with the characters "岡谷". Behind it stood the tallest building on the street which was the three-storey inn that the inn was attached to.

Annoyingly, it took him forever to climb the hill and by the time he made it to the little inn, it was already 3. Maybe later. He had been climbing so long, his mind had lost the concept of time. His legs ached, and so for what seemed the hundredth time since he started climbing, under his breath, he cursed Min-jun and his ridiculous taste in out of the way places.

Pushing past the cloth banner and the glass door behind it, he entered the quaint little structure, the fragrant aroma of tea wafting to his nose, and for a while, it calmed just a little bit of his spirit. Bamboo made up the interior walls and the warmness in contrast with the cold winter outside formed the cosiest atmosphere. Smoke from the contact of hot steam and cold air curled around. The smell of something delicious cooking instantly created a hunger that had not been present moments before.

"You're late," Min-jun rose from the waiting bench dressed up in a disgustingly pretentious heavy traditional light blue robe. He had the absolutely most infuriating smug smirk poorly hidden behind his raised sleeve, his voice laced with condescension. 
That prompted the start of Hachi's habit to be at least half an hour early to every appointment."Ah! Young master Park! I see your guest has arrived!" A cheery voice sounded from the kitchen, and a waiter in his mid-twenties popped up clutching a menu. Turning to Hachi, he continued, "My name is Chouna Sawahara, and I'm the son of the owner of this tea house and inn. Park here is a welcomed guest of this establishment, and this privilege extends to you too. This way, the two of you!" He guided the two of them towards the main room.

Groups of elderly and families packed the main room enjoying tea and a large variety of colourful tasty looking treats. Tatami mats covered the floor and the customers sat on cushions on the floor before low coffee tables. Along the way, they shouted orders at Chouna for orders of second helpings, third helpings, some even fourth, and Chouna replied them all. Hachi had to admire waiters and their extensive memory.

Chouna eventually led them into a private room right at the back that opened using a paper sliding door. The interior of this room, much unlike the humble appearance of the main hall, was decorated with artsy paintings, skilful sculptures, and banners of beautiful calligraphy. Luxurious velvet cushions were laid out on the floor before a large table meant to hold plentiful food. A fancy chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating the room below.

Min-jun, looking utterly unfazed by the spectacular display as if it were no more than a daily occurrence, took a seat in a pile of cushions on one end, the thick heavy layers of his sky blue robe fanning out beneath him like a flower. Hachi not as gracefully settled himself into the other pile.

"Well then, Chouna, I'll trust for you to bring me the usual"

"Right away sir," with that, Chouna disappeared into another door that seemingly led to the kitchen.

They sat in silence for a moment. Min-jun seemed pleased for the first time ever and did not look like he would appreciate being interrupted in the cozy atmosphere.

"So…about what we wanted to talk about…" Hachi broke the silence.

"Shh. It's going to start soon." Min-jun held out a hand to silence him. Hachi was about to retort what in the world he was talking about when it happened.

The sweetest melodious singing poured from the kitchen. Much like an enhanced version of the calming effect that the Okatani had, Hachi felt all the worries and tension he didn't even know he had leave his body. Hachi recognised the tune to be a traditional folk song, but the sound was so beautiful the scratchy voice of the original elderly male singer sounded worlds apart.

The two didn't even realise when the singing stopped and the door slid open, too immersed in the after-effects of the music. Out came a server carrying a platter of pots, cups and tea leaves, face covered by a veil.

Wordlessly, the platter was set before them on the table. The tea server gave them a hint of a warm smile under the veil and begun the tea ceremony.

Hachi wasn't very familiar with the upper-class posh tea ceremony, tea so far had been something gulped down after a tiring midnight practice session, but apparently, the crockery had to be arranged in a certain pretentious manner or the ceremony would be ruined. The tea server did what should have been a mediocre task with extreme importance, gingerly performing each task with utmost focus.

At last, when everything had been prepared, steaming cups of tea were placed before each of them and the tea server bowed out of the room.

Hachi took the cup with both hands and took a sip. Steam wafted into his face and it seemed like all was at peace. There was definitely something he was disregarding…

"Right, about what I wanted to tell you today…" Hachi looked up from his tea.

"Yeah?" Min-jun looked mildly annoyed now that the topic for discussion had been brought to the table.

Hachi explained his plans to him, and Min-jun's face cringed, his face twisting into rather interesting formations of expressions.

“Oh my... Sorry, but no way. I’m way too expensive to do something of that nature. You’ve got to try harder than that,” Min-jun popped a powdered mochi into his mouth. 

“But...” His looks were perfect. Where else was Hachi going to find someone like that? And his body was conditioned to do exercise pretty well.

"Let me make myself clear. I am not at all interested in what you are suggesting, I never will, and to think you even considered I would do so is a magnificent error of judgment on your part.  I will never associate with someone who gets involved in such immorality and self-centredness!"

There were sudden loud footsteps and Min-jun took a breather from his rant. "Ah, that must be the food," he said, sitting back on his fort of cushions. Right on cue, both doors burst open. Standing at the door to the kitchen was indeed the server with a platter of hot steaming food. However, at the other door was an uninvited guest, whom Hachi knew was not wanted precisely because he looked like the exact example of someone who lacked basic values and acted on his own selfish wants.

The male was a gross pig of a man all appearances considered. A lit cigar stuck out of the corner of the corner of his mouth, the smoke it emitted stinking its way to Hachi's nose. His face was red and sweating profusely, much like a melting tomato. His pudgy body was squashed into a suit obviously too small for him, squeezing his stomach like a cage with an expanding balloon inside it. With the cigar still inside his mouth, his face contorted with anger, he bellowed, 

"Park Min-jun! I've been looking for you!"

#idol danshi #idol #fandom

[davidegbert]

The 40 best iPhone and iPad games right now

Byline

Craig Grannell

The best iPhone and iPad games in the world right now

How we scoffed when people suggested the iPhone would one day be a leading games platform. Had they not seen how rubbish mobile phone games were? Had they not noticed the iPhone was bereft of a D-pad and buttons? The fools!

Only things didn’t turn out as expected. Enterprising developers flipped everything on its head — shortcomings regarding tactile controls became benefits in terms of using new touch and tilt capabilities. Games became increasingly immersive as you interacted directly with content, ushering in new experiences through no longer being able to rely on traditional controls. And then the iPad did it all again – only bigger!

Today’s market is mired somewhat in freemium grindy hell, but gems nonetheless abound. Our list includes the very best premium and free titles the iPhone and iPad have to offer, handily grouped into sections, starting with racers, ending with arcade games, and taking in everything else you can imagine on the way.

If you’re not using your iOS devices for playing games, you’re missing out on some of the best titles mobile has to offer

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Racing games • Sports games • Strategy games • Platform games • Adventure games • Puzzle games • Shooting games • Arcade games

Racing games

Best racing game for iPhone and iPad: Need For Speed Most Wanted

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Fortunately, Most Wanted’s gameplay isn’t nearly as grey as the tracks that you find yourself zooming along for street-racer glory. Fairhaven would be better named Greyandverydrabville, but the arcade racing you get up to is of the gloriously breezy kind found in the likes of Sega’s OutRun 2.

You find yourself hurling your car recklessly off of clifftops (having, naturally, crashed through an advertising hoarding first), drifting around bends, or smashing up the Fuzz, if they’re stupid enough to get in the way of your race-winning ambitions while partaking in high-octane thrills.

Download Need For Speed Most Wanted (£3.99)

AG Drive

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Beaming in from the future, AG Drive is more or less Wipeout for your iOS device. It looks superb, gleaming metal tracks flinging you about like the most furious of rollercoasters, while a gorgeous sunset or fierce electrical zap threatens to distract your attention for a fraction of a second too long.

The game totally nails the sense of speed that sets futuristic racers apart from those based around cars on tarmac, and the controls don’t let you down as you hover and speed your way to glory.

Download AG Drive (£2.99)

Riptide GP: Renegade

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In the world of Riptide GP: Renegade, it’s been raining quite a bit. Consequently, rather than cheeky scamps skidding about the place street-racer style, they scoot along on souped-up hydrojets, flinging their vehicles into the air whenever possible to perform show-off stunts, and trying hard not to drown when it all goes a bit wrong and they smack into a wall of water at stupid m.p.h.

This is a breezy old-school arcade racer, bouncing you about its undulating tracks and revelling in the ridiculous nature of it all. We could do without the naff storyline, and the visuals have dialled back the blazing blues of GP2 for grittier (i.e. drabber) fare. But if you fancy a quality adrenaline-fuelled and decidedly splashy racer, Renegade is hard to beat.

Download Riptide GP: Renegade (£2.29)

Reckless Racing 3

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The original Reckless Racing was an amusingly ramshackle affair, with rickety trucks and cars screeching around car parks and scrapyards. The sequel added depth but also too much polish, losing the series’ sense of character.

This third entry gets the balance right, enabling you to power-slide through a wide range of settings, including an airport, a charming European hilltop village and, worryingly, an abandoned and very clearly leaking nuclear plant.

The physics is a bit light, and the AI a touch aggressive, but this is as fun a top-down racer as you’ll find on mobile. It also clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously, adding a ‘gymkhana’ mode where you rack up points for ‘precision stunt driving’ in a beat-up old truck.

Download Reckless Racing 3 (£2.29)

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Asphalt 8

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There’s a point where arcade racers lose all connection with reality and they’re all the better for it. Asphalt isn’t bothered by trivial concerns such as an actual car’s inability to fly hundreds of metres through the air, or drift seemingly endlessly around gloriously sweeping bends; instead, it’s all about the need for speed, zooming around beautifully rendered and inventive courses, occasionally smashing your rivals into a wall, just because you can.

It’s a touch shoppy and grindy, but there’s hours of exhilarating racing here without spending a penny.

Download Asphalt 8: Airborne (£free)

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Racing games • Sports games • Strategy games • Platform games • Adventure games • Puzzle games • Shooting games • Arcade games

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Sports games

The best sports game for iPhone and iPad: Super Stickman Golf 3

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Super Stickman Golf 3’s ancestor is the same Apple II Artillery game Angry Birds has at its core, but Noodlecake’s title is a lot more fun than catapulting birds around.

It’s a larger-than-life side-on mini-golf extravaganza, with you thwacking balls about giant forests, space stations distinctly lacking in gravity, and strange fortresses with a suspiciously high deadly laser count.

The single-player game’s fun, but SSMG 3 comes into its own in multiplayer, whether you’re taking the more sedate turn-by-turn route or ball-smacking at speed in the frenetic race mode. Note that the free version has some restrictions (limited courses; fewer simultaneous turn-based games), but there’s still plenty of genuinely crazy golf here to take a swing at.

Download Super Stickman Golf 3 (£free)

Touchgrind Skate 2

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This one takes a rather literal stance regarding controlling a sports game with your fingers. The board appears on the screen and your fingers become tiny legs, enabling you to perform gnarly and rad tricks, man! Irksome lingo aside, this is a fantastic title that’s initially demanding but hugely rewarding once mastered.

You can also upload videos of your best moves and show off to your friends, and there’s fortunately no way you can skin your knees, unless you trip over while obsessively performing ollies, powerslides and heelflips while walking down the street.

Download Touchgrind Skate 2 (£3.99)

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Magnetic Billiards

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If you’re the kind of person who gets off on using cushions to pot the odd ball in pool, you’ll love Magnetic Billiards. A sort-of physics puzzler take on the popular pub game, it dispenses with pockets entirely — you instead clear the table by building clusters of connected balls that then vanish.

Emptying a table’s the easy part, though — the real skill is in figuring out insanely complex trick shots to get to that point, ‘buzzing’ balls of different colours, and creating a pleasing magnetic shape before it vanishes into the ether. For free, you get 20 tables; £1.49 nets you a ‘skeleton’ key that unlocks the rest of the game.

Download Magnetic Billiards (£free + IAP)

World Tour Golf

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With EA having deserted ‘proper’ golf games on mobile for the arcadey nonsense of King of the Course, WGT thwacks a ball and gets a realism hole-in-one. This really is a quite astonishing game, from the delicate controls through to the eye-popping photo-realistic courses you play on.

A word of warning: it also takes no prisoners. There’s no nonchalantly spinning a ball in mid-air when you fluff a shot. Here, you’ll end up in the bunker, then overshoot the green, before multiple putts leave you embarrassingly over par. But put in the practice and you’ll be a virtual golfing superstar before long.

Download WGT: World Golf Tour (£free)

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Racing games • Sports games • Strategy games • Platform games • Adventure games • Puzzle games • Shooting games • Arcade games

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Strategy and word games

The best strategy and word game for iPhone and iPad: Mini Metro

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For anyone immersed in the daily hell of a commute involving an underground, the notion of designing such a system – and for that to begin as a chill-out session – might seem unlikely. But Mini Metro is captivating from the first train you unleash.

It builds slowly. You connect a few stations by drawing a line, and passengers are ferried about, alighting at the first station that matches their shape. All along, your ears are serenaded by a tinkly generative soundtrack formed by the actions taking place on-screen.

The calm doesn’t last. As time passes, new passengers and stations appear, ramping up the tension and forcing you to juggle scant resources. Eventually, you’ll be overwhelmed and your subway will close. Still, a new one’s only a tap away. Just don’t lose yourself for too many hours in this minimal interactive underground.

Download Mini Metro (£3.99)

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Warbits

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There’s no shortage of turn-based strategy titles on iOS, but Warbits is a cut above. It brings Advance Wars-style skirmishes to your iPhone or iPad, two factions duking it out on grid-based maps, lobbing projectiles at each other until one side emerges victorious.

The game is infused with quirky humour, and it fizzes with an energy its more staid competition would do well to ape. Warbits also has plenty of longevity — work your way through the tough single-player campaign, and you’ll be hardened enough to venture online. There, you can take on other virtual warmongers across a range of arenas, or rope in the computer AI if you feel the need to (try and) give it another kicking.

Download Warbits (£2.99)

SpellTower

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At first, SpellTower seems very simple and innocuous. You get a tower of letters, and drag out words. Tiles disappear and gravity reminds any floating tiles they should perhaps consider obeying natural phenomenon. Rinse and repeat.

But then you unlock Puzzle Mode, where every word you clear adds another row of letters. Finally, Rush Mode showcases the title’s devious streak, a timer relentlessly ticking, rapidly adding new rows of tiles, many of which come badged with numbers denoting the minimum letters a word needs in order to remove them. It’s a far cry from SpellTower’s sedate beginnings, and a perfect mash-up of word games and well-based puzzlers.

Download SpellTower (£1.49)

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Clash Royale

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This mash-up of RTS and card collecting has you battle opponents online in single-screen arenas. Individual, varied units are plonked on the battlefield from your deck, each costing elixir that refills as you fight. Wins come by clocking an opponent’s strategy, and countering with cunning combos.

Clash Royale’s freemium, so obviously designed to mug your wallet, but canny players can progress for free; and it’s hugely compelling, so although your bank balance might be safe, your free time won’t be.

Download Clash Royale (£free + IAP)

Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic

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If you’re very old, chances are you grumble at mobile remakes, complaining they’re nowhere near as good as what you had in the old days on your PC. But with RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic, you can pretend your iPad is a 20-year-old computer, and play a mash-up of the first two games in the classic series.

Although compatible with iPhone, the game works best on the bigger screen, enabling you to design and manage a park, including constructing massive roller-coasters. Mercifully, it’s also largely free of the IAP that plagued modern versions – here, you pay only for expansion packs, not virtual currency. See? Old school is best. Now, how about someone sorting *Civ II *for mobile?

Download RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic (£4.49)

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Platform games

The best platform game for iPhone and iPad: Drop Wizard

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The jolly tunes, pixelated graphics and single-screen action here bring to mind 1980s platform games Bubble Bobble and Snow Bros. However, Drop Wizard is a thoroughly modern creation, perfectly suited to mobile. It boasts a bite-sized pick-up-and-play structure, short level sets ending with battles against ginormous bosses.

Most importantly, the controls are pitch-perfect. Instead of run/jump/fire, you can only auto-run left or right and fall down holes. On landing on a platform below, you emit a magic blast, used to stun roaming enemies. Boot them and they tumble about for a bit, potentially collecting fellow stunned foes, eventually turning into a tasty piece of collectable fruit.

This combination of controls and attack methods is a masterstroke, forcing you to strategise, and making the entire product feel chaotic, fresh and exciting.

Download Drop Wizard (£1.99)

Telepaint

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Described as ‘Portal meets Lemmings’, Telepaint finds you helping clockwork automaton paintpots reach their paintbrush pals.

Each single-screen test involves figuring out how to utilise teleporters to blast your pot in the right direction, simultaneously splattering the otherwise gloomy industrial surroundings with vibrant colour. Early levels are just simple enough for you to get cocky, whereupon Telepaint gleefully smacks your brains out with a Dulux catalogue wrapped around a brick.

On-screen VHS controls soften the blow a little, enabling you to pause the action, take a breath, and set up subsequent teleports. It’s a clever move, and one that stops you seeing red a little too often. Regardless, you’ll never quite look at a can of paint in the same way again after playing. 

Download Telepaint (£2.29)

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LIMBO

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We usually wear our suspicious look when faced with platform games on iOS, because most of them are terrible; even more so when they’ve been punted across from another platform.

Amazingly, LIMBO loses nothing in its translation from consoles. The spooky, grim, creepy experience, akin to Groundhog Day in hell, remains a nightmarish vision of genius on the touchscreen, whether your tiny adventurer is being impaled by a giant spider or inching his way past deadly blades.

Download LIMBO (£3.99)

Yuri

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With its silhouette-heavy imagery, Yuri might initially put you in mind of platform puzzler Limbo, but this is a very different beast. The titular hero awakes in a strange forest, and uses his bed as a kind of skateboard to dart about his fantastical surroundings.

The gameplay isn’t especially deep, and seasoned platform fans might blaze through it without thinking. But Yuri succeeds through its penchant for exploration and art. Every one of the ten levels looks gorgeous, and feels like a kind of living papercraft. And the changes of pace work well, from picking your way through slower sections to belting along like a maniac on your wheelie bed.

Download Yuri (£2.29)

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Adventure games and stories

The best adventure game for iPhone and iPad: Year Walk

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Rich in Swedish folklore, Year Walk has you venture into the cold, dark woods, where strange creatures lurk and terrible events blur reality and fiction, past and present.

With an interface that resembles a creepy, twisted picture book, you must discern clues, unravelling the dark secrets of the forest. Literal horror awaits, along with one of the finest conclusions of any modern adventure title. The journey there will keep you transfixed, not least during those moments it’s scaring the pants off of you.

Download Year Walk (£2.99)

Device 6

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You know you’re in for a treat as soon as Device 6 launches, unleashing a ballsy credits sequence any classic spy show would be proud to call its own. It then dumps you on a remote island with a name (Anna) and absolutely no idea of how you got there or what to do next.

You navigate the story — literally, since words form corridors you travel along — trying to make sense of what you see and hear, to complete cryptic puzzles and unravel the island’s secrets. To say more would spoil the surprises within, but suffice to say this is a modern gaming classic, and was one of 2013’s finest titles on any platform.

Download Device 6 (£2.99)

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Death Road to Canada

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This game is like if someone had made The Walking Dead on the SNES, fashioning a home conversion lacking in gore but laced with black humour.

The randomly generated road trip has you travel from Florida to the reported safety of Canada. One moment, you’ll be scavenging for supplies with your little crew, smacking zombies with brooms, and finding a surprising amount of petrol hidden in toilets. Elsewhere, your fortunes are driven by multiple-choice narratives, and intense ‘siege’ scenes where you’re dumped in a claustrophobic space and told to survive.

The randomness can irk when one of your team loses half your supplies through having a hole in their bag, but it’s hard to remain mad at a game that lets you recruit dogs – and those dogs then out of the blue suggest making Molotov cocktails from fuel at an abandoned petrol station.

Download Death Road to Canada (£7.99)

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Love you to bits

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Love You to Bits is an old-school point-and-click adventure reimagined for touchscreen. Rookie space explorer Kosmo searches planets for parts of his robot girlfriend (don’t think too hard about that), regularly finding himself immersed in challenges littered with pop-culture references.

The charm offensive never lets up, from a 2D Monument Valley to a certain famous space cantina. And although the puzzles are typically quite simple and sometimes require crazy leaps of logic, the game’s ceaselessly clever nature, warmth and smarts means you’re going to love it to bits in return.

Download Love You To Bits (£2.99)

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Her Story

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In Her Story, your device is temporarily transformed into an ancient desktop PC. As it whirrs and clanks into life, you see a window for the L.O.G.I.C. Database, ominously pre-populated with a search term: MURDER. Hit ‘Search’ and video fragments appear, all of a woman being interviewed by police.

If you’re a remotely inquisitive sort, that’ll be it for you. Hours will be spent eking out clues from everything the woman says, and trying to unravel mysteries within mysteries. The database itself intentionally hampers you, limiting access to five videos (although listing how many were actually found). The contrivance is obviously designed to force you to delve deeper, but anyone who lived through the 1990s PC era will probably grin, remembering when software really was that user-hostile.

Download Her Story (£3.99)

Milkmaid of the Milky Way

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It’s always the way: you’re minding your business, tending cows in a 1920s Norwegian fjord, when you end up wrapped up in an intergalactic feud involving a ferocious monarch with a powerful pointy stick, space cows, and an oracle that seemingly wants to be a water feature in a shopping centre.

And that’s just part of the oddball narrative at the heart of Milkmaid of the Milky Way (which also happens to be completely written in rhyme). Fans of old-school point-and-click adventures will be in their element – and so too will be anyone hankering for a few hours of charming interactions, smart puzzles and entertaining exploration.

Download Milkmaid of the Milky Way (£2.99)

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Puzzle and match games

The best puzzle and match game on iPhone and iPad: Euclidean Lands

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This stunning turn-based puzzler borrows from Monument Valley’s minimalist isometric views, Hitman GO’s turn-based puzzles, and the twisty-turny nature of a Rubik’s Cube. Your aim across 40 tiny geometric worlds hanging in space is to figure out how to reach and brutally stab enemies who can be lurking on any surface.

Early levels offer small cubes and static foes who guard only a single square. But Euclidean Lands quickly ramps up the challenge, with increasingly complex 3D architecture designed to trap and deceive, and enemies that move of their own accord and even take over moving the cubes. The game’s a tactile joy, marrying the very best of dazzling visuals and deviously designed brain-smashing puzzles.

Download Euclidean Lands (£3.99)

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Threes!

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Threes! is one of those rare things in puzzle games: a new idea. As you swipe, every tile on the four-by-four board moves, and pairs merge and level up. Matters are complicated by a new tile being added on the edge you swiped from during every move. The aim is therefore to keep going until you run out of space, planning ahead to create upgrade chains that put off the inevitable deadlock.

In a sense, Threes! is the iPhone’s Tetris — a simple, beautifully realised puzzler understood in moments but that takes months to master. But unlike those Russian blocks, Threes! is infused with personality, the little tiles burbling away and grinning like loons when they spot a partner in an adjacent slot.

Download Threes! (£1.49)

World of Goo HD

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2D Boy’s beautiful and surreal physics puzzler didn’t start out on iOS, but it really made sense once converted to it. The story centres on the World of Goo Corporation — seemingly a global leader in wrecking a planet — and the curious little Goo Balls that inhabit and power the world.

Puzzles mostly involve inventive ways of using Goo to build structures to a pipe that sucks the oblivious blobs to ‘Goo Heaven’ (i.e. a power plant). In being able to drag the Goo around with your finger, the game comes alive on the touchscreen in a way it just doesn’t when using a mouse or traditional controller. An evocative soundtrack and serious storytelling smarts further elevate World of Goo, frequently transforming a playable, engrossing puzzler into a disarmingly touching experience.

Download World of Goo HD (£3.99)

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Slayaway Camp

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From the mind behind Bejeweled and Peggle comes this sliding puzzler that manages to subvert one of the most placid puzzle games of all: Soko-Ban. As in that much-loved but decidedly sedate title, you slide about a single-screen maze of sorts, attempting to reach goals and avoid hazards.

But in an amusing twist, Slayaway Camp exists in a world of blocky 1980s cinema horror. Your little deranged serial killer therefore slides along until hitting something, aiming to hack hapless teenagers and cops to pieces, which you can enjoy by way of bloody pixelated cut scenes. It’s gloriously demented, with lashings of black humour – and the puzzles are really good, too.

Download Slayaway Camp (£2.99)

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Snakebird

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This puzzle game looks sweet and innocent with its grumpy cartoon birds and vibrant colours. The mechanics seem simple too: swipe to guide your snakebird to fruit, which when munched expands the crabby freak of nature; then make for the exit.

But Snakebird was designed by a sadist seemly determined to smash your brains out. Pretty soon you’re staring at the screen, having made judicious use of the generous unlimited undos, convinced a puzzle is impossible. Many minutes later, you crack it. You feel like a genius. And then you realise there are dozens more levels still to go.

Download Snakebird (free + £2.99 IAP)

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The Room Three

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The first two installments of The Room were among the best puzzlers we'd played in years, fully taking advantage of the possibilities of a mobile interface and delivering brain-melting conundrums wrapped up in a creepy, brilliantly realised story.  

The third edition is even better though: much bigger in both scale and ambition, it's not just one of the best puzzlers but simple one of the best games of the year.

At its heart, little has changed - you're faced with a box, but every time you find a lock or a switch, it’s just another layer that takes you deeper into a weird and mystifying enigma. But this time you can go further inside the boxes, there are more locations to explore and the puzzles themselves are much more varied. Four alternate endings also give it a longeivity somewhat lacking in the originals.

Best played in the dark, preferably with a storm brewing outside, The Room Three is an atmospheric treat; take it in greedily (although turn off the hints system for the full experience) and then if you haven't already played them, go back and devour the The Room and The Room Two.

Download The Room Three (£3.99)

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Shooting games

The best shooting game for iPhone and iPad: Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved

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This is the kind of blaster you want to shove in the face of anyone who whines that mobile can’t do proper console games. As with previous entries in the Geometry Wars series, Dimensions Evolved is a twin-stick shooter where you face legions of lurid beasties intent on your destruction. Only this time, everything’s in 3D.

Rather than doing battle within flat arenas, Dimensions Evolved finds you fighting giant bosses across the walls of a huge cube flipping about in the void, or desperately trying to stay alive among swarms of enemies multiplying across the surface of a giant, lurching space peanut. It looks gorgeous, controls perfectly, has tons of content, and should only be avoided if you’re so much of a pacifist you can’t stomach the idea of shooting small neon spaceships.

Download Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved (£7.99)

Darkside

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This twin-stick shooter updates Asteroids and wraps it around planetoids. The visuals are a treat, from the organic, spinning space rocks to the pyrotechnics on display as your powered-up ship seeks to obliterate everything around it.

The free version of the game gives you the arcade mode, but for £1.49/US$1.99 you unlock missions, survival mode and smart bombs.

Download Darkside (£free + IAP)

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The Bug Butcher

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Scientists have got a lot to answer for, what with their creating massive genetic monsters. In The Bug Butcher, most have apparently answered by being devoured by said horrors, which happen to have huge teeth; but one hapless survivor remains, which you must protect by shooting ALL THE THINGS. (Except for the scientist.)

You therefore scoot back and forth, blasting bouncing foes, which squelch and split, while keeping a beady eye on the ceiling for scientist-snaring spiders. It all comes across a bit like a mash-up of Pong and Space Invaders, but with scrolling, modern cartoon visuals, and snarky dialogue. And although the slightly banana-thumb controls betray its origins on a platform with ‘real controls’, this is still very much a satisfying iOS blaster.

Download The Bug Butcher (£2.99)

Tanks! - Seek & Destroy

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Formerly known as Panzerkampf 3, Tanks! - Seek & Destroy now has a far more sensible name to match its no-nonsense gameplay.

You’re essentially dumped in a sparse vector landscape, and charged with blowing away endless hordes of tanks. Visually, the game echoes arcade classic Battlezone, but the controls are reminiscent of a racer’s, and the frenetic, breakneck gameplay offers the relentless intensity of the most vicious modern shooters.

Multiple modes and power-ups add a little depth, but mostly this is about speeding about and blowing things up with your rage face on.

Download Tanks! - Seek & Destroy (£2.29)

EPOCH.2

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There are a bunch of first-person shooters for iOS, but they’re various levels of hideous, given that complex gamepad controls really aren’t suited to the touchscreen. EPOCH.2 cunningly deals with such limitations by way of a post-apocalyptic shoot-and-cover experience based around gestural input.

There’s a story underpinning everything, but mostly you’ll find yourself immersed in an explosive choreography, tapping and swiping to make your surprisingly nimble robot leap about, blasting its foes into so much scrap.

The whiff of IAP and a slightly iffy upgrade model don’t take the shine off your rustbucket’s antics, not least when you find yourself alternatively dodging and pummelling a giant boss in this bleak and desolate future.

Download EPOCH.2 (£0.79)

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Arcade games

The best arcade game for iPhone and iPad: Osmos

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Osmos is best described as an ambient arcade game. Although demanding quick thinking and fast reflexes, it also rewards planning and patience.

The aim is to grow your mote, which can absorb those smaller than itself and get about the place by ejecting matter. In moving and causing your mote to shrink, you discover an uneasy balancing act must be continually played out as you explore playgrounds that echo microscopic primordial soup through to solar systems with deadly sun-like ‘attractors’ and dozens of orbiting motes.

Download Osmos for iPhone (£2.29) 

Download Osmos for iPad (£3.99)

Forget-Me-Not

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Forget-Me-Not is a pick-and-mix of classic arcade gaming. You control a little square with eyes who spews lasers and munches flowers.

As he ambles about each randomly generated dungeon, other critters go about their business, which usually means furiously trying to kill anything nearby. Before long, open warfare breaks out and huge chunks of the maze are obliterated as you frantically seek out the key to the exit.

Equal parts Pac-Man, Rogue, Wizard of Wor and Gauntlet, and with dashes of other arcade titles, Forget-Me-Not is easily the equal of every one of its inspirations, and one of the finest arcade titles we’ve ever played.

Download Forget-Me-Not (£1.49)

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Eliss Infinity

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When Eliss arrived in 2009, it was a game that defined the iPhone, fully taking advantage of multitouch. You had to contain and manipulate planets, which could be torn apart or merged before being dragged to portals of appropriate size and colour. Letting planets of different colour collide would deplete limited energy reserves, and matters were further complicated by space storms and other hazards.

Years later, this semi-sequel still feels fresh, and in later levels success demands intricate yet speedy finger gymnastics. Beyond the original game, there’s also a truly crazed endless mode to master.

Download Eliss Infinity (£2.29)

Power Hover

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In a world devoid of humans, robots have seemingly taken up hoverboarding and kleptomania. A nefarious android has pilfered all the batteries that power your village, and so you hop on your board and scoot after him, scooping up any batteries dropped in his wake, across 30 diverse levels.

This could have all been painfully generic, but Power Hover pushes everything to the max. The simple controls — left or right, and that’s it — are twinned with floaty physics that lends the game a unique feel. The level design is superb, optimal pathways weaving through deserts infested with giant sand worms and spider-like drilling apparatus intent on stabbing an inconvenient hole in your droid. It all adds up to a challenge that’s familiar and yet has the capacity to surprise and delight.

Download Power Hover (£3.99)

Linia

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Fruit Ninja reimagined by a lover of precision geometry, Linia rewards gamers with the keen eye, lightning fast reactions, and dexterity of a snake snatching prey out of thin air. Each of the 80 or so scenes features shapes that bob, weave and meander. Your task is to swipe through them in such a way that your finger collides with shapes to match the colour order of a set of discs elsewhere on the screen.

Linia never urges you to hurry. You can watch the patterns and cycles until you clock when to strike. Then it’s all down to a pixel-perfect slice across the screen at precisely the right time, before, presumably, finally allowing yourself to blink, having been staring at the screen for a good couple of minutes waiting for your moment.

Download Linia (£1.49)

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iCheapskate: the 40 best free apps for iPhone and iPad

iCheapskate: 40 amazing free games for iPhone and iPad

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