#He's heard weirder from the two of them at this point

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 10

PREVIOUS

He calls his grandma to thank her for everything. She promises him that if anything keeps him from her on Christmas she’ll just make her way over to South Carolina to see him. “Maybe I can give that boy who is bullying you a piece of my mind!” She says and he loves her for it even if the thought of Andrew vs. his 70 year old grandma gives him heart palpitations that have nothing to do with the five hour energy he just slammed when no one was looking.

(He had eaten turkey because Abby had asked if he didn’t like it when he had forgone the white meat being passed around. She looked SAD so he just piled the dark meat onto his plate (at least it has less tryptophan) trip and now he needs to counteract the turkey. He could not afford to be sleepy on the impending car ride.)

He lets her know that everyone likes her pie and Abby had been overjoyed when he informed her that his gran always attaches a recipe card to the bottom for any pie in transit / for public consumption. (This is a woman who has been asked enough that she has the confidence to assume).

He gets off the line and feels the 5 hour energy kick in when Captain Neil appears out of nowhere next to him and he thinks he strains something when he resists the flinch his rapidly beating heart almost forces him into. “What language was that?” He asks.

“Polish.”

“You really do know a lot of languages. Just like your friend said.”

DANGER. DANGER. DANGER.

“Not that many.” DEFLECT DEFLECT DEFLECT “When are we heading out to Columbia?” DAMMIT

Captain Neil blinks but smiles, “We’ll be heading out in a little bit. Abby’s packing us leftovers. Too bad there’s no pie left. Do you think we could make it at the house? Andrew really liked it.” Neil says.

Pie is a safe topic. Pie will not betray him. Also if Andrew wants pie then he can’t kill FF until FF makes it and, perhaps, the pie will buy him a few extra days of mercy from his executioner.

“We can try. The secret ingredient is a grandma’s love though.” He says because it’s on the recipe card. It’s the most important ingredient in the whole pie. It’s what can keep a pie warm across a country. “Gran always says whipped cream can be used as a substitute though.” he says.

Captain Neil blushes.

DAMMIT WHY? WHY BRING UP THE WHIPPED CREAM?

“Well, we’ll have to pick some up from the store.” Captain Neil manages.

FF blanks his face as best he can and nods but gets up his heart beating too fast to remain seated. “I’ll be outside.” He says because he needs to walk around in some circles while he can. The car ride to Columbia is going to be a nightmare in general but especially since he slammed the five hour energy.

Kevin is the reason for the hold-up and the reason that FF gets 80 more laps around the house. He’s reminding them that they can’t stop exercising just because it’s a break gesturing to himself and the 20 minutes of squats that he just did to burn off the pie and then to FF who passes a window for the 10th time since this conversation started “See FF is keeping up with his fitness. Be more like him.”

Wymack eventually drags Kevin out of the house and into his car since they’re spending the break together. He flashes FF a thumbs up as FF passes and FF (unaware as always but great at mimicking social cues) gives him a thumbs up back.

It’s then that they get into the car. FF (as is the way of the world) is sitting bitch with Aaron and Nicky on either side of him.

Captain Neil is up front and starts to play some music. Both Nicky and Aaron are conked out before they even reach the entrance to the interstate. They have also slumped onto FF with Aaron asleep on his shoulder and Nicky drooling into his hair.

“You can just shove them off.” Andrew says.

“It’s fine.” FF says reminiscing about the last time he’d had something like this.

20 minutes later it’s not fine because the five hour energy is definitely kicking in but it would be so rude to move and wake Nicky and Aaron up. Nicky is probably tired because he came to check on FF five different times the night before and kept dragging him away from whatever Saw movie he was taking notes on and Aaron ate a LOT of white meat so he’s filled to the brim with tryptophan.

But he thinks he’s about to vibrate out of his skin.

He closes his eyes to try and breathe through this when.

“Smith said that we can try and recreate his grandma’s pie. We’ll just have to do a grocery run tomorrow.” Captain Neil says in Russian.

“It was good pie.” Andrew returns in the same language.

“He said that the secret ingredient is grandmotherly love.”

“It was on the recipe card. It said for best results be sure to add throughout the baking process.”

“His grandma said whipped cream was a good replacement. That it goes great with the pie.”

Uh-oh

FF knows that tone.

FF has fled across campus, the bus, the dorm room, and (one one notable occasion) the locker room when he has heard that tone coming from Captain Neil.

“Pie isn’t the only thing it will enhance the flavor of.” Andrew says back and FF feels as the car speeds up.

FF wishes that Andrew would just hurry up and crazy murder him already. He’d take the reverse bear trap over this psychological torture. He wants to pull up his phone and read if the Geneva Conventions list this as a war crime.

NEXT

Per your requests:

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#Fluent Freshman AU #Even I couldn't bring myself to write the next hour of Andrew and Neil getting one another excited #Just imagine Fluent Freshman in this car #Body full of five hour energy #Trapped between two sleeping cousins #He can't sleep and he can't move #But he knows EXACTLY what Captain Neil and Andrew are planning to do with some poor unknowing can of whipped cream #Does the fact that he knows Andrew will be preoccupied give him any mental relief? #No it does not #because what if they do sexy stuff to get hyped up for murdering him as a couple activity #He's heard weirder from the two of them at this point #AFTG #AFTG OC #AFTG AU #Andreil #FF - Pt. 10

[rambles-about-minecraft-ocs]

theres something so funny to me when hermits are talking about redstone and theyre like "and then theres an etho hopper clock here-"

like. of course they use etho hopper clocks, itd be weirder if they actively avoided using it, considering its like. a redstone thingy that is very useful and still works even after all this time, and from what i understand it was like. a pretty big deal in terms of useful things you could do with redstone back when he first made it because it opened up ways to do even more things with redstone

and like for the most part theyve probably been referring to that particular thing as an etho hopper clock for longer than theyve even known etho personally, considering the etho hopper clock predates his joining hermitcraft by at least 1-2 years, and several of the other hermits joining hermitcraft by even more. so of course they still call it that

on a related note, most of them likely had at least heard of etho before meeting him, even if they didnt personally watch him (tho i know some did) since he was an old school minecraft youtuber. like his original season 1 of "lets play minecraft" started when minecraft was so new it hadnt been officially released yet. literally back in minecraft alpha. he was a minecraft youtuber OG

so with those two points taken into consideration it completely makes sense that "etho hopper clock" is something ingrained into the terminology of anyone that does stuff with redstone somewhat regularly. theres no reason it wouldnt be

but when you put it into contrast with like. their actual interactions with etho. it kind of cracks me up???

its like. in my head the vibes are this: imagine building something and being like "okay guys, for this machine we need to use an archimedes screw, which is named of course after its inventor archimedes, a man so genius that to this day he is regarded as one of the most brilliant inventors and mathematicians to ever walk this earth" and then like thirty minutes later you go to a restaurant and you see archimedes, of classic antiquity fame, trying to eat a sandwich but the ingredients keep falling out in increasingly comedic manners. so you of course call him pathetic to his face, and then ask if he wants to try out your new totally-not-a-scam product that you carry on you at all times for opportunities like these. and for some reason he doesnt just say yes, but buys two

#ethoslab #ethos lab #hermitcraft #hermitcraft etho #this is almost directly copy-pasted from my DMs to my partner and they found it funny so im sharing it with y'all

[7ndipity]

Every Little Thing

Yoongi x Reader

Summary: When you overhear Yoongi talking about how clingy you’ve been lately, you decide to take a step back from your friendship to give him space. But your sudden absence goes far from unnoticed by him.

Word Count: 2k(wtf?!)

Warnings: angst, swearing, only partially proofread

A/N: Thanks so much to the lovely anon who requested this! This story, I... I don’t know what happened, I went from struggling to get it to work at all to getting waayy too carried away. I kinda had to stop myself at the end before it shifted into something else, but maybe if y’all want a part two, we can pick up from there?

Masterlist

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

As you got off the elevator, you couldn’t help the faint bounce in your step as you made your way to Yoongi’s studio, your bag slung over one shoulder, a grocery bag of snacks and drinks for the two of you to share.

Ever since you and Yoongi(and in turn, the rest of the members) had become friends, The Genius Lab had become a hideaway of sorts for you. Whenever you were feeling stressed or overwhelmed, you knew you could call Yoongi, and he would tell you to come over, letting you camp out on his couch while he worked, occasionally asking for your thoughts or opinions on a specific song or line.

As you neared his studio door, you noticed it was slightly ajar, allowing the voices from inside to slip out into the hall, quickly recognizing them as Yoongi’s and Namjoon’s.

“You wanna come to lunch with me and Hoseok?” Namjoon asked.

“Agh, I can’t, I told Y/n’s we could hang out today.” You heard Yoongi’s chair creak as he stretched, letting out a groan.

“Again? That’s like the third time this week, people are gonna start thinking you’re a couple or something at this rate.” Joon joked, making your cheeks flush lightly.

“Nah, it’s nothing like that,” Yoongi replied, sounding tired. “They’re just being clingier than usual, you know what they’re like.”

You frowned at his words. What did he mean by that?

“I know it’s just cause they’ve been stressed lately,” Yoongi continued. “But honestly, it’s gotten to the point where it’s weirder for them to not be here.”

Joon chuckled. “I’m surprised you don’t find that annoying.”

“I didn’t say that I don’t,” Yoongi said. “But it’s Y/n, so I let it slide. Anyway, on that track you showed me-”

You stepped back from the door, the sudden tightness in your chest making it slightly difficult to breathe as you quietly made your back down the hall to the elevators. As the metal doors closed, you replayed what you had overheard in your head.

Yoongi had always told you that he didn’t mind you hanging around, but maybe you had started to abuse that privilege, grown too dependent on him. Was that how he really felt about you? Had you become a nuisance? And if so, why hadn’t he said anything?

Pulling your phone out of your pocket, you quickly found his number and hit the call icon, trying to swallow down the lump in your throat before he picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, are you almost here?” He answered, sounding much brighter than a few minutes ago.

“Uh, actually, I don’t think I can make it today.” You said, trying to keep your voice steady.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, concerned.

No, one of my best friends hates me. “Yeah, everything’s fine, something just came up, sorry.” You bit your lip, managing to slip out of the building without running into any of the other members and making your way down the street to the bus stop.

“Okay.” He sounded unconvinced. “Is it anything I can help with, or-?”

“No, no it’s-, it’s a work thing.” You said, the words falling flat on your own ears. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Alright.” He said reluctantly. “Bye.”

“Bye.” You hung up, letting out a deep breath.

You could tell he hadn’t believed you, but you didn’t really care at the moment. If he wasn’t going to be honest with you, why should you be any different?

Suddenly presented with the afternoon to yourself, you decided to head to the park, wandering along the river as you thought over everything.

You and Yoongi had come here together not long after you had moved to the city, the last few blooms of the cherry blossom season clinging on stubbornly to their branches. He’d promised to bring you back the next year, so you could see them in their full glory at peak bloom.

Of course, life and work had gotten in the way, as they often did, and before either of you had realized, the season had nearly passed again before he could keep his word. You’d told him at the time that it didn’t matter, you’d just been happy to spend time with him, a recurring theme for you apparently…

Had you been a bother to him back then as well? You didn’t believe so, but the earlier sting of his words had left you questioning everything, even if you knew it might be an over-reaction.

It was dark by the time you made it home, flopping down on the sofa with a tired sigh as you contemplated your options.

So you’d been bugging him lately, that was an easily fixable problem, right? Just leave him alone for a bit, it was as simple as that, wasn’t it?

You weren’t so sure as your phone suddenly buzzed on the cushion next to you, drawing your attention to Yoongi’s name illuminated on the screen. You’d forgotten you said you’d call him.

‘Hadn’t heard from you, just wanted to make sure you’re okay?’ The text read.

Now who’s the clingy one? Was your immediate first thought.

‘I’m fine, just tired. Talk to you tomorrow.’ You typed shortly before turning off your phone and going to bed, with no intention of texting him the next day unless he did so first.

For the next week, you tried to keep up with your new normal; you didn’t go by the studio, you avoided texting him unless he did first, and generally avoided his invites to hangout with vague excuses.

One place you couldn’t avoid him though was dinner with the other members. It was a monthly tradition that you usually looked forward to, but as you stepped through the door of the restaurant, you only felt a wave of nervousness, for what though exactly you didn’t know.

“Y/n!” Tae quickly hopped to his feet to give you a hug, the others all greeting you enthusiastically. You noticed Yoongi didn’t speak, only nodding to you politely, but his eyes never left you for a second, seeming to study your every move.

“Y/n, do you want my seat? I know you usually prefer to sit by Yoongi-hyung.” Jungkook asked, starting to get to his feet, but you quickly waved him to sit.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to move for me, I’m fine over here.” You said, settling in the free seat next to Jimin, which happened to be directly across the table from Yoongi.

Everyone quickly settled into their usual routines and conversations, the mix of voices blurring into an almost comforting buzz, allowing you to zone out for a moment and relax, but a single low voice managed to snap you back to attention.

“I haven’t seen you all week.” Yoongi said quietly, a noticeable heaviness in his voice.

“Yeah, things have just been kinda busy.” You tried to say convincingly, but it was hard to pull off under his gaze. Luckily, Jin asked you about something from the show you’d been watching and gave you an easy out of the conversation.

You managed to get through the evening well enough, talking with the others, even making plans with Jimin for him to help you pick out some new furniture for your apartment. You’d felt Yoongi’s eyes on you all evening, but hadn’t said anything.

It was later that night when you were pulled from sleep by the sound of someone knocking persistently on your front door.

Cautiously, you climbed out of bed and padded to the door.

Who’s there?” You called anxiously, trying to remember where you’d put your old baseball bat, in case you needed to defend yourself.

“It’s Yoongi.”

You froze, staring at the door in surprise for a second before going over and peering out the peephole.

Sure enough, he was standing on your doorstep, causing a brief sense of relief that was quickly replaced with confusion and the same nervousness from earlier.

Not quite knowing what else to do, you cracked the door open slowly, taking in his slightly disheveled state; hair mussed and faint bags under his eyes. He looked the same way as when he would pull all-nighters at the studio.

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

“Why’ve you been avoiding me?” He responded with his own question, staring you down.

“I-, I haven’t-”

“Don’t lie.” He stopped you.

Glancing around quickly, you pulled him inside, not wanting to have this discussion in the hall.

“You’ve been dodging my texts and calls, you wouldn’t sit with me at dinner, you asked Jimin for help with furniture shopping, which you know he’s terrible at.” He continued as you closed the door. “So, tell me please, what has happened to make you start ditching me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that I was annoying you?” You snapped.

He stopped, staring at you in confusion. “What?”

“I heard you and Joon talking last week,” You said, his face falling as the memory came flooding back. “About how clingy I’ve been, and how I’ve been annoying you by hanging around so much.”

“You haven’t been-”

“Don’t.” It was your turn to cut him off. “Don’t try to tell me that it’s not true or you didn’t mean it. What I want to know is why you weren’t just honest with me?” You hated the way your voice started to shake as you spoke. “Why didn’t you just tell me to fuck off or something? Why do you put up with me if I'm such an annoyance?!”

“Because I fucking love you!” He blurted out.

You froze, staring at him in shock. “What?!”

“I-, I love you.” He said quietly.

“You love me?” You repeated, hurt and frustration still churning in your stomach, not letting you take his words to heart. “You love me, but you think I’m annoying?”

“I think everyone’s annoying!” He tossed his hands up in frustration. “The difference is that I like your annoyance!

“I like that you’re loud and weird and make terrible jokes, I like that you nag me to take better care of myself.” He said. “I like that you’re happy holed up in my studio with me. I like that you sing along to every song that you recognize, even without realizing that you’re doing it.”

He took a cautious step closer, pleading with his eyes as he spoke.

“I like every little annoying thing that you do, because they’re what make you you. I’m so sorry that I made you think anything otherwise.”

You hadn’t moved as he spoke, fighting the tremble in your lip as your eyes had misted over with tears.

“Y/n?” He asked anxiously.

You didn’t speak, choosing instead to lunge forward, wrapping your arms tightly around him in a bruising hug. He staggering back slightly at the force of the collision, arms immediately coming up to hold you in an equally tight embrace.

“I missed you.” You sniffled, burying your face in his chest.

“I missed you too.” He replied, holding you tighter, pressing a soft kiss to your head. “I’m also sorry for telling you I loved you in a shitty way.”

“Eh, it’s kinda on brand for us, honestly.” You teased, making him let out a huff of laughter.

“I guess you’re right, fuck.” He shook his head.

“You wanna try again?” You offered.

He pulled back to look at you. “Really?”

You nodded. “If you want to.”

He nodded, pulling away enough to take your hand, running his thumb over your knuckles as he pressed his lips together nervously, eyes shaking slightly as he met your gaze.

“I love you, Y/n.”

He’d barely gotten the last word out before your lips were on his, effectively shutting you both up for the next several minutes.

When you finally pulled back, his eyes were blown wide, lips swollen and red from your assault, his breaths coming out in shaky puffs.

“I love you too, by the way.” You said, grinning at his slightly dazed expression.

“Cool, c’mere.” He said, pulling you back in, making you giggle as he eagerly reconnected your mouths.

Taglist: @sopebubbles-replies @btsw1fe @this-must-be-my-tardis @whitefoxgirl @bethanysnow @coffeedepressionsoup @main-bangtansmauyeondan @captainorangegoose @k4ngelz

#yoongi drabble #yoongi fluff #yoongi angst #yoongi x y/n #yoongi x reader #yoongi scenarios #yoongi oneshot #bts x y/n #bts x reader #bts requests #bts angst #bts fluff #bts drabble #bts one shot #7ndipity

[sigmalaussene]

Top ten weird ways Oswald Cobbepot gets called in Gotham

As I was rewatching Gotham, I decided to write down every name that people in the show canonically call Oswald Cobblepot aka the Penguin. It was a wild ride. Please enjoy

10. "Funny looking fellow"

(season one)

We start with a simple one. This isn't even an insult, it's just a fact. He is, indeed, a funny looking fellow. I'm pretty sure they say it more than once too.

9. "The Dapper Gangland Kingpin"

(season two)

This one it's just silly, especially since it was written on a newspaper. Just... that's weird ? Idk it's silly it makes me chuckle

8. "Yellow rat snitch"

(season one)

We start getting a little weirder. Why a rat? And, more importantly, why yellow???

7. "Stupid lame birdbrain"

(season four)

Just so mean. Especially since this scene it's his dumb husband making a room full of people chant it

6. "Golden goose"

(season one)

Right back to season one and it's incredible dialogue. This one is particularly amazing thanks to Oswald's reply to it, which was, of course: "Honk honk". I can't even start to describe that scene. It's a classic.

5. "Beaky nosed freak"

(season five)

Definitely the best nickname the last season had to offer. Like, you know that moment when a guy kills your bestfriend/girlfriend and you call him the silliest name you can think of? This is one of those times.

4. "Scaley faced bitch"

(season one)

This is the first one in the show, directly from the first episode. I am a firm supporter of calling men bitches when they deserve it, and he did, so I wholeheartedly approve this message. Adding the scaley face part just makes it more poetic.

3. "Sad little breadhead"

(season two)

This one from never fails. Imagine it delivered with the most condicending tone in the world. Just amazing. Makes me laugh every time.

2. "Fruitcake leprechaun"

(season two)

This. This is the one that started it all. It was thinking about this one that I decided that this rewatch I was gonna write down all the nicknames. I dont know if it has something to do with english not being my first language, so I don't have the background of the word "fruitcake" used as an homophobic remark, but this name is one of the funniest things I have ever heard in my life.

1. "Limping little chickenbutt second banana"

(season one)

This couldn't not be on the first place. I am obsessed with the writers of this show, i want to get inside their brains. Because like what does it mean? How did they come up with this? I need to know every thought that crossed their mind for them to write this. This is art. This is poetry. Incredible. Amazing. Absolutely insane. Kudos to the actor who played Maroni because if they gave me that line I wouldn't be able to say it with a straight face.

Bonus:

(For the fans, he is also called "the only thing Nygma cares about". Just... you know, in case you forgot)

Some recurrent nicknames are: "Pengy", "Ozzie", "freak", "cockroach", "punk", bird related names (bird/birdman, feathered friend, chicken, turkey...) and "little"/"tiny" followed by almost anything (man, friend, dirtbag, bastard, creep, twerp, freak, weasel...)

Edit: i realize i didn't mention "Major Crumblepot" and that's on me sorry guys

His haircut is described as "disco vampire hair" at one point (another classic)

He is also called "specimen", which is really funny, and "dewdropper"?? for some reason I don't remember but it was in my notes and I couldn't ignore it lmao

#ofc “penguin” is implied #i finished my latest rewatch!!! ajsnakak i love this little silly guy so much AND i made my brother love him too YAY #gotham oswald #oswald copplepot #ed nygma #nygmobblepot #gotham #riddlebird #gotham fox #show #tv show #top ten #top ten weird ways oswald cobblepot gets called #gotham fandom #scaley faced bitch <3 #fandom meme #gotham meme

[probably-writing-x]

Armour - Chapter Two

Rafe!AU x Reader

Summary: Having your heart broken was one thing. But Rafe watching somebody break your heart? That was something nobody could prepare for.

Warnings: Cursing, mentions/hints of a toxic relationship

Word Count: 3K

Author’s Note: I LOVE writing this series and this whole concept, I feel like I could carry it on forever - once again, this chapter was inspired by this gif so I feel like this might be an ongoing theme for this series <3 Thank you for the love y’all.

After that night, you hadn’t thought of James. You and Rafe had returned home and, when Sarah asked how your night was, you’d told her you’d slept better than you had done in days. She’d probably tell you that you were crazy for going round to the house, and tell Rafe he was stupid for getting himself involved. She’d tell him this was too much like the old Rafe, the one that craved the power and the fights, and that he wasn’t like that anymore. But you knew that little spark in Rafe would always stay - for the few people that he cared enough about to make sure that nothing bad happened to them. And you’d seen that last night, the way he’d spoken about you; someone fighting your corner.

“Good morning,” Rafe groans as he walks through to the kitchen, dragging a hand over his face.

He’s wearing a pair of joggers that hang low on his hips, accentuating the V-lines around the bottom of his abs, his torso visible for the few seconds as he struggles to pull a hoodie over his head.

“Is it even still morning?” Sarah laughs, pouring out another cup of coffee and handing it over to him.

“I had a busy day yesterday,” He rolls his eyes, “You know, travelling and all that.”

He sits down at the kitchen island beside you and offers you a small smile just before his lips touch the coffee mug, his eyes warm in the steam coming from the cup.

“Did you get up in the night, Rafe?” Sarah asks, settling a hand over her growing bump and leaning back against the kitchen counter.

He frowns over his coffee and shakes his head, “Nope, slept like a baby.”

“That’s weird,” Sarah frowns too, “I could’ve sworn I heard the door open.”

“Probably just baby brain,” He clears his throat, “I’m going to hop in the shower.”

Sarah watches with a suspicious squint in her eyes as he disappears, “I swear he gets weirder every time I see him.”

You laugh and look down as you feel a smile spread onto your face, you’d have to thank him later for last night.

Sarah comes over and takes the seat that Rafe had been sat in, shifting herself so that she’s facing you, “So, I need you to be honest with me, how are you feeling?”

You turn so that you’re facing her too and Sarah stretches out her hands for you to take, both of you squeezing into the contact, “I’m okay, so much better than I was. It’s just weird, you know? For nine years he was the person I told everything to. Even when we weren’t living together or anything, I’d wake up and send him a text or call him before I went to sleep. I keep getting this weird instinct to just reach for my phone because I feel like I haven’t heard from him and then I realise that… I don’t know, I won’t.”

She nods reassuringly but doesn’t say anything else, letting you continue.

“I just want to know why,” You laugh a little, “Not in a weird ‘what’s wrong with me’ kind of way. But just… it was nine years of my life, you know?”

“Okay, I maybe shouldn’t be suggesting this because I think, as the best friend, I’m meant to tell you to stay far away from him, but maybe it would do you some good to meet up with James and talk it all through. Do you think?”

After last night? You weren’t sure he’d ever want to see you again, especially if he thought Rafe would be with you again.

“Yeah, maybe, we’ll have to talk about everything at some point, I guess I-“

You’re cut off as your phone pings on the counter and a message notification comes up from James again.

I think we need to talk after yesterday. I’ll pick you up and we can go for coffee if you’re free?

Sarah eyes the message too, “After yesterday?”

“Right, yeah, with the box and stuff, I thought that was his final straw or something,” You look down so that she can’t realise that you’re lying, “Um, I better go and get ready, tell him that I’ll be free.”

You squeeze Sarah’s hand as you leave, hurrying up the stairs as if running from the conversation. She probably wouldn’t be too mad if you told her about last night, but she’d almost definitely tell you that it was a bad idea, that Rafe is a bad influence even all these years later. It was the same way you didn’t tell her about the night at the beach with Rafe, or the countless other nights like that - she’d tell you Rafe was her brother but it wasn’t a good idea. And you weren’t exactly ready to hear that.

You go into the bedroom that had become your own and close the door behind you, just as there is the sound of the ensuite door opening. Rafe steps out, a towel wrapped around his waist, beads of water dripping around his shoulders, dipping down from his soaked hair.

“Oh shit sorry I-“ Rafe comes to a halt, glancing up from his phone in his hand, “The shower in the other bathroom is terrible so I just… I thought you were downstairs so I-“

“Rafe, it’s fine,” You laugh, “Not anything I haven’t seen before.”

He fakes a gasp, “You’ll embarrass me, (Y/L/N).”

You roll your eyes, “I don’t think anything embarrasses you, Cameron.”

He chuckles and drags a hand through his wet hair, “So, I was thinking we should get out of the house today. I miss the beach when I’m in New York, one of the few things to miss about this place.”

“I actually,” You clear your throat, “I have something to do today.”

Rafe frowns for a second, “Ooh, mysterious,” He stretches out a hand and pokes at your side, “What are you doing?”

“I just,” You shake your head, “I have a meeting, you know, to sort out the house and stuff.”

“Oh, okay, cool,” He nods, “Well, be back by sunset and we can go for a swim. Sound good?”

“Sounds good,” You return, “Now please go and get some clothes on.”

“Keep it in your pants, (Y/N), you know you love me,” He wiggles his brows, exaggeratively swaying his hips as he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Your eyes settle over the room, landing on the box still sat beside your bed. The rest of it was closed away now, but the shot glass and now your toy giraffe, sat on your nightstand. You smile a little at the sight, thinking only to yourself. It felt like a couple of brightened moments in a week you were sure wasn’t going to get any sense of light. Today would likely be another darkness, but you’d be coming home to another bright place.

~~~

Within the hour, you’re showered, changed and ready to leave, sat on the edge of your bed waiting for James to text. Twelve minutes after he’d said he’d be there, he texts to say he’s outside. You grab your jacket and hurry down the stairs, glancing back to see Rafe and John B stood outside in the garden. John B is pointing something out and he’s holding a plank of wood in one hand as if he’s preparing to build something. Rafe nods along and seemingly agrees, laughing at something John B says that seems to brighten up his eyes. Your heart sinks a little at the guilt that comes with the view, knowing he would hate to think of where you were going right now. But you open the front door and close it quickly behind you, hurrying down to the car waiting with the engine still running.

You open the door and climb in quietly, feeling oddly far when you don’t have to lean over to kiss him in greeting.

“Hey,” You breathe out when he doesn’t make any move to say it first.

“Hi,” James glances at you, “Where do you want to go?”

“Are there really many options?” You frown, settling your hands into your lap and picking at the skin beside your thumb to give you something to focus on.

James chuckles a little and moves to reverse out of the driveway, “Fair point, let’s go.”

He drives you the short distance across the island to the one coffee shop that anyone actually used here. It’s near enough empty as you step through, thanking James for holding the door open for you. You order your regular and he orders his, sitting at a table in the far corner as if sheltering yourself from the world.

“So, I would ask how you’ve been but that feels weird when I saw you yesterday,” James comments, dragging his finger around the rim of the coffee cup on the table, “But how have you been?”

You swallow down a sip of your drink, too hot so it scratches your throat as it goes, “I’m okay, and I’m sorry about last night.”

He shakes his head, “Look, it’s your house too (Y/N), at least until we sort everything out. I just don’t know why you didn’t text me. And why you thought you should just show up in the middle of the night with Rafe?”

You nod as if you’re being told off, “No, I know. It was stupid. It was late and we were just planning on getting in and leaving, I didn’t plan on you seeing him, and I especially didn’t want the two of you to argue, you know that.”

He’s silent in his agreement, pausing for enough time for it to settle before he says, “So why is he here?”

“He’s back from New York for a few days, just coming to see Sarah,” You explain, taking another sip of your drink and wincing as it burns at your tongue.

“Perfect timing,” James raises his brows momentarily as if being sarcastic, “I’m sure he was happy to see you.”

“Wha-“ You pause, reconsidering the idea of starting up an argument that he’s already ignited, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, (Y/N),” James rolls his eyes, “I know the way he used to be with you.”

“We’re friends, we’ve always been friends.”

Perhaps that wasn’t so true, just maybe. Before you and James got together, you’d been so sure that you and Rafe would be inevitable. There was the night you kissed at the party, there was the night on the beach with far too much alcohol, there were countless days and countless nights. Just as you were losing hope of him ever reciprocating your feelings, you’d seen him kiss a girl at another party, and you’d used that as confirmation enough. Two weeks later, you’d gone on your first date with James. Nine years later, you’d still never told Rafe how you’d felt before that - especially since the two of you had started living such different lives.

“I knew how he felt about you, it was obvious. God, the first time I met those guys he acted like I was the worst person he’d ever met,” James scoffs, “I thought he was going to rip my head off when I said we’d be moving away for college. He could’ve done the same last night, too.”

“You know, you don’t get to talk like that anymore. You split up with me. So it shouldn’t matter to you how anyone feels about me, whether or not that’s true,” You defend, tucking your arms around yourself as if closing yourself away from him.

“I don’t think I noticed it when we were in college, it was just me and you in our own little world and for a long time I thought that’s what would make us last. But we moved back here and it’s like everywhere you turn there’s another memory of you two - another piece of him that you’re holding onto even years later.”

“We’re friends. He means a lot to me. That’s what friends are.”

You let the silence fall.

He’s silent too and it surprises you. Normally, he would find any way to keep an argument going if he’d started it, he’d argue back and forth constantly until you agreed - he didn’t just let arguments end.

“I didn’t come here to argue with you,” He takes a deep breath, “I’m sorry for the way I ended things. I know I probably didn’t go about things in the right way, but I think if I’d have tried to do anything else I… well, I don’t think I’d have been able to do it.”

You feel the lump grow in your throat, the way it seems to constrict your words just a little too much as you say, “Then why did you?”

He breaks eye contact then and looks down at his cup, his finger still swirling around the edge in continuous circles, “Do you remember the first time we went out?”

“Our first date?”

“I picked you up from your house and I had to wait down the road because your parents might see me. And we went out, and I knew then that this was it for me, like within one date I’d just already decided,” He doesn’t meet your eyes, “And then I walked you home and I stopped around the corner again so that your parents wouldn’t see me. And you walked up to your house and Rafe was sat on the steps up to your porch, just waiting for you to get home.”

Your heart sinks at his words, like a weird feeling of not knowing the inevitable.

“And I guess for the past nine years that’s how it’s always felt; like Rafe was just waiting for you to go back home to him.”

“You’re blaming this on Rafe?” You raise your brows, your words feeling coarse and dry as you speak, “We were together for nine years. I chose you for nine years, every fucking day I chose you, and you want to tell me that you blame this on Rafe? That Rafe’s the reason you broke my heart?”

“Broke your heart,” James repeats, nodding slowly, “Your heart didn’t seem too broken last night.”

You let out a scoff and bite down just a little on the tip of your tongue as if trying to calm the anger bubbling out of you, “Right, yeah. I had one night where I felt a little bit fucking human again, after not sleeping, not eating, crying until I thought I’d be sick. After asking myself over and over and over again - what did I do? what should I have done? what’s wrong with me? And this whole thing you’re just going to blame on Rafe?”

“Where is he right now (Y/N)?”

You stop in your tracks, your hand clenching around the heat of your coffee mug, your words seeming to sink in the air between you.

James takes a long pause, his eyes scanning your face as if waiting for you to find the answer, “Waiting for you to come home.”

~~~

It’s an uncomfortable drive back. Neither of you speak a word. So much so that the tyres suddenly seem to make too much noise on the road, and you feel like you can hear the sound of the wheel turning under his grip. There’s a welcome relief when you watch the car turn into the driveway towards Sarah’s house, and an overwhelming dread when you catch the sight you know that James has seen too.

Rafe is sat on the steps in front of their house, the copy of To Kill A Mockingbird in his hands, a third of the way through the pages. He glances up at the sound of the car, a slight drop in his features as he recognises the face behind the wheel. He sets the book down on the side of the steps and stands up, his jaw clenching as you watch him.

James doesn’t say a word, but there’s the slightest tiniest hint of a smirk on his lips as if he’s been proven right about everything.

You wait until he cuts the engine and pull your seatbelt off, pausing before you push open the door, “I didn’t know that he’d be-“

James opens his own door and pushes himself out before you have a chance to say anything else. You follow suit quickly, scrambling out like the car’s on fire.

“Couldn’t wait to jump on her could you, buddy?” James bellows, storming over to Rafe.

“Excuse me?” Rafe looks taken aback, glancing at you as your eyes catch, “This is the house meeting you were talking about?”

“House meeting?” James looks at you, “So you couldn’t even tell him you were seeing me?”

“I just- I didn’t-“

“So what is it? You’re trying to come crawling back to her?” Rafe interjects and you flick your eyes to him as if a warning, though now he is only focused on James.

“You want to talk about crawling back? It seems pretty fucking convenient that you show your face around here the minute (Y/N)’s not got a boyfriend anymore.”

“Right, yeah, that’s why I’m here. Maybe it’s a good thing I came home, to pick up the pieces of the shit you left her in.”

In a conversation about yourself, you’ve never felt smaller. It’s like you’re shrinking into the space around them, disappearing when all of their anger is fuelled by you and focused on themselves. You’re sure you could disappear and they’d remain - hot headed in their hatred.

“Pick up the pieces? That’s what you think you’re doing?” James laughs, both of them practically steaming in their anger, “You’re not doing fuck all to help when you’re trying to get into her pants two seconds after she’s singl-“

“Enough!” You yell, sounding like the word has come from someone other than yourself as you feel your hands start to tremble.

Both of the boys silence, finally looking away from each other to focus on you, their anger sinking into the same pool as your disapproval. Rafe’s eyes seem to settle back into himself, like a realisation of how he’d been acting - he’d been doing the exact thing that he hated seeing in James, the way he ignored you in favor of his own focus. He looks like his younger self when you watch him. That anger, that hatred, the kind that he’d had before he moved away. That kind that gave him a million more problems. He’s that boy again.

“Just stop doing this, okay?” You drag a hand through your hair, “Neither of you get to talk on my behalf. Neither of you get to choose what’s best for me, or force this narrative of what you think is going on in my life. I’m sick of it. Have this masculinity battle some other time but god do it when I’m not here.”

With that, you disappear around the side of the house, shortcutting through the garden gate and finally letting yourself breathe, the tension in your chest seeming to return.

Rafe looks at James as if he could go again but in that moment all he can think of is you. The disappointment in your face as you’d walked away, the way you looked at him like you didn’t really know him. He drags a hand through his hair and all he can think of is how you tell him you’re sure he could suit any hairstyle. He stops himself from smiling, the urge fading when he looks at James again.

“So, what? Maybe a week or so and you’ll ask her on a date?” James folds his arms over his chest, “Or is a week just too long to wait? Hell, maybe you’ll be engaged within the month.”

“You know what, James,” Rafe clenches and unclenches his jaw, “Just go,” He waves his hand in the boys direction, his body turning away from him as if it’s gravitating back to you.

And with only the thought of you, he backs away from the fight.

~~~

You’re sat on the half-made dock at the end of Sarah and John B’s lawn, your feet pushing through the surface of the water aimlessly, eyes focused on the way the water curves around your ankles. Your chest has seemingly settled now but if you let yourself think of everything for too long it seems to flurry in anxiety again.

“Can I sit? Or should I put myself in time out?” The words come with the sound of footsteps creaking along the wooden planks, pausing as if they’re sure they are a safe distance from you.

You don’t turn around, “Sit, as long as you promise to be quiet.”

Rafe mumbles a ‘yes ma’am’ and takes his spot on the edge of the dock beside you. You feel him looking at you, his eyes burning into you as they scan your face. You weren’t crying and it seems to relieve the tiniest bit of worry within him. But you looked drained. Not tired in the way you were when he first saw you - but drained in the way that life seems to have been just slightly pulled away from you.

He opens his mouth to speak but stops as you lean back, fingers linking between your hands over your stomach as you lay against the dock. The sun hangs bright above you and you close your eyes, a deep breath forcing a rise and fall in your chest. Rafe watches you, the innocence in your features. He’d relied on those exact features for a lot of moments in his life. Your smile when he needed reminding of a good memory, the way your jaw clenches when you’re angry when he needed reminding of when he was in the wrong. Your eyes when he needed to come back home.

After a moment, he leans himself back too, his shirt wrinkling against the wood as he lays down, one arm tucking underneath his head. He turns his face towards you, observing.

You poke one eye open and squint in his direction, “Stop staring, weirdo.”

Rafe smiles, “So you’re not completely ignoring me,” He nods his head a little against his arm, “Does that mean I’m at like a six on the scale?”

“The scale?”

“The scale. How mad you are at something, you don’t remember?”

Of course you remember. When the two of you had been at school, he’d used that ‘scale’ as a way of you telling him how bad your day was - on the days when you had exams, and your friends were being shitty, and your parents were having problems at home, you’d say you were closer to a 10. It applied to everything - when he annoyed you, when you and Sarah had argued over something silly, everything.

“I’m a seven.”

He laughs a little and it seems to sit welcomingly in the space between you, easing the clench in your chest just enough.

The two of you stay in silence for a while after that, watching the sun disappear momentarily behind a cloud, casting a welcome shade over the water. You focus on the rise and fall of your chest, breathing in and out deeply to avoid the discomfort coming from laying on the dock. Rafe stays still beside you for a while, before his leg slightly shifts to the side so that his knee knocks against yours. You fight back a smile and turn around to look at him;

“Yes?” You raise your brows.

He pushes himself up so he’s leaning over you on his elbows, his head blocking the sun out so you can look at him without completely squinting against the light.

“I’m sorry,” He nods, “I really did have no idea you were with him, I was just waiting until you got back. And I don’t know, as soon as he said that I just felt like I lost it. It was weird, I don’t think I’ve felt angry like that in years.”

You nod in response, watching the guilt cast a darkness over his features.

“How did it go with you two today?”

You push yourself to lean up on your elbows too, matching his stance as he settles back to his side of the dock.

“Well, he’s not your biggest fan,” You laugh a little, staring out on the stillness of the water, “I don’t know, it just seems like he wants to think our relationship was doomed from the start, like we were just putting off the inevitable.”

“Well, did you ever feel like that?”

You take a deep breath, “I don’t think so. I don’t know, I just thought we’d stay together. God, I think after our third anniversary I was pretty certain that this would be it. But after what he said today it just feels like the two of us had been in two different relationships for all this time. And now I’m thinking, why didn’t he ever propose? Why did he want to move back here when I had my whole life at college? I mean, shit, Sarah’s having a kid and I was still just a girlfriend after nine years.”

Rafe nods, “Yeah I know what you mean. He was crazy for not wanting to marry you after all that time.”

You turn your head to look at him but he stays looking out over the water dismissively.

“God, who wouldn’t want to marry you?”

You feel your heart swell for just a second and turn your head away from him to look back over the water, both of you letting the silence fill in the empty gaps of the conversation you hadn’t yet had, that you didn’t need to have just yet.

“So, the sun is about an hour from setting,” Rafe points out, “How about that swim?”

~~~

You make your way back downstairs with your swimsuit on, a towel held under one arm, your flip-flops slapping against the wooden steps.

“Hey! I feel like I haven’t seen you today, how did it go with James?” Sarah stands up from the couch as you come downstairs, “Are you going out?”

You glance out at the garden, Rafe not visible along the stretch of the lawn, “Yeah, I’m just going for a swim. And it went well with James, a little bit of closure at least. Still feels weird.”

“It’s bound to,” Sarah nods, reaching out a hand to squeeze your arm, “Did you tell Rafe that you saw him?”

“Um, yeah, yeah, he knows,” You scratch at the back of your neck.

“God, I’m surprised he didn’t flip. I don’t think there’s anyone he hates as much as he hates James,” Sarah shakes her head.

You’re about to speak again but are cut off by the sound of the garden door sliding open. Rafe appears on the other side, poking his head through the created gap between the door and the wall.

“You ready to go (Y/L/N)?” He looks at you, a soft smile on his lips, a sort of calm resting in his features.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” You return softly and he nods, disappearing again.

“He’s so different when he sees you,” Sarah shakes her head, glancing over at the spot where her brother had just been.

“Different how?” You frown, letting your eyes trail back to her.

She shrugs her shoulders and rests a hand over her bump, running her fingers over the skin, “Just like he’s grounded, like he’s home.”

You feel the lump form in your throat, the way it once again makes it feel impossible to think of anything to say.

“Go on, he might be grounded but he’s still impatient,” Sarah jokes, gesturing her head in the direction of the door.

You laugh and follow her instruction, closing the glass door behind you as you walk down to the dock. Rafe is sat on the edge, his legs dangling over into the water. In only his swim-shorts, you can see the contortions of his muscles across his shoulders, the way they dip in his skin and seem to make him look bigger than he ever seemed normally. His skin isn’t as tanned as you remember him being but you suppose he doesn’t get as much sun when he’s in New York - not the kind he got here, anyway. And part of you seems to remember just how distant he was nowadays, his return feeling all the more temporary.

You hang your towel over the edge of the dock next to his and pull off your flip flops, leaving them at the edge too before breaking into a sprint straight past him. Your arms outstretch in front of you and break the surface of the water first, submerging your underneath until your toes feel the cold of the still water too.

Your head breaks the surface and you drag your hands up to draw your hair way from your face, now slick against your scalp.

“Very graceful,” Rafe smirks, “How on earth do I follow that?”

You watch him stand from the dock, stretching upwards before taking a few steps back. Within a split second, he catapults himself into the air, drawing his knees upwards so that he lands in a cannonball into the water, spray dispersing into the air and all over you.

“Well, I wouldn’t call that graceful,” You laugh, blinking away the water from your eyes.

From where Sarah and John B’s house was, you could see the sunset through a clearing in the trees if you swam around to the right angle. And you and Rafe knew the islands well enough to know exactly where to go.

By the time you swim around, the sky is painted with a yellow hue, sun lowering down seemingly a few feet from the horizon.

“I’m sorry about today,” Rafe breaks the silence, turning himself in the water to face you.

You kick forward so that your body tilts back, head hanging into the surface water, “You already said that.”

“I know, I just hate when I feel like I’ve disappointed you,” He comments, watching the way your body floats in the water.

You smile a little to the sky, “You didn’t disappoint me.”

He pauses for a moment, “So, I didn’t ask you earlier but, did he tell you the reason why he ended things?”

Your body tilts to turn you upright once again in the water, hands pushing through either side of you to maintain your position, eyes locking onto him. His hair is slick against his head and there are small beads of water trailing down either side of his cheeks, looping around under his jawline. He’s home. For the first time in years, he’s back here and it feels like it’s actually him - not some replaced or changed version. You’re both back to being sixteen again, sneaking liquor out of your houses, staying up until the sun called you home, misfit ways of surviving life in this isolated haven. And you realise it then, for a fleeting moment where you let yourself accept it - it’s Rafe that makes this place home.

“He…” Your voice trails off then, considering every possible outcome that would come in return for telling Rafe exactly what had been said earlier, exactly what you’d come to learn.

But the moment is fleeting. And you’re back in seconds to a reality. To a broken heart and a broken home, to New York, to your future, to James, to Sarah just a matter of metres away, to everything and everyone that you didn’t want to lose. To Rafe.

“He couldn’t give me a reason,” You swallow the lump in your throat, your eyes not breaking away from Rafe.

“The guy’s an idiot,” Rafe shakes his head, turning away from you and towards the sun.

You watch as he does, watching the glow that radiates from his skin, the way it seems to warm the air around him.

James might be an idiot, but maybe he was right.

———

Taglist: @viianey

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[takenbypeter]

Are you jealous?

Eddie Brock x reader

Words: 1140

Author’s note: this takes place after no way home

FLUFF BINGO

Peter.

Eddie couldn’t point out why that one name sounded so off putting to him. All he knew was that there was this new kid at your work and you’ve been talking about him for the past two minutes.

You were currently going on about how bright the kid was. How he was a hard worker which you were glad about considering your last couple coworkers have been slack offs. But that name just kept pricking the back of his brain. Well that and Venom’s voice that never shut up.

Unsure when you were planning to give him the chance to talk he interrupted you, “sorry, what did you say his name was again?”

“Oh, his name is Peter, um…Peter Parker I think it was.”

‘Peter Parker! Eddie, we know Peter Parker!’

You continue on, your voice becoming background noise while Eddie seems to be putting pieces together.

This happened for a while, his facial expression growing weirder by the second.

“Yeah he just started this week but he’s already gotten down so much…” you tilted your head sentence being interrupted by the fact that Eddie hadn’t met your eye for a minute now.

“Hey,” that seemed to get his attention, “have you been listening to me?”

“Hm? Yes of course I’m listening to you,” he said motioning for you to continue and after giving him a side glance you did.

‘Tell what we know.’

Eddie’s face scrunched up and you tilted your head pausing and wondering if he had something to say but when he didn’t, you continued.

‘Eddie we promised no more secrets.’

‘Eddie. Say it.’

Eddie brought a hand up covering his mouth, while he mumbled a shut up which Venom obviously ignored.

‘Say it. If you won’t I will.’

“Eddie? Eddie are you okay?” You asked concern clear on your face. He hasn’t said much the past few minutes and his expressions kept shifting in odd ways.

‘Don’t be a loser Eddie. Say it.’

That was the last straw for Eddie. “Can everyone just be quiet for one…second!”

That got the both of you quiet. Shifting in your seat you push yourself away from the counter table, “seems like Venom has much more interesting things to say than me, so I’ll just leave you and Venom to it then.”

They watched as you made your way to the couch only a few feet from them. You couldn’t blame Eddie for his outburst, you knew Venom was always in his ear. There was nothing he could do about that.

“Look what you did, Eddie.”

“What!? I did?!” He whisper-yelled, “no buddy, this is all you.”

“If you just said what I told you to say then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“No if you never got in my head we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

You heard some more back and forth, trying to block it out to give them privacy. Sure you were slightly concerned but ultimately those two usually worked things out on their own.

You heard, “okay I’m going,” followed by some footsteps and then Eddie plopped himself on the other end of the couch.

He didn’t make any movements he just sat there.

“I’m not going to bite, you can come closer,” you said, refusing to look his way yet.

“Right.” He scooched over a tiny bit.

You two sat there for a moment, heads turned to the screen and you were beginning to wonder if he’d actually say something anytime soon. But you didn’t get to wonder too long.

“I’m sorry,” he started, already positioning his body towards you. “That outburst was in no way directed towards you.”

“I know that Eddie, it’s okay.”

You sit there again before you finally ask curious what all the fuss was about anyway, “so what was that all about?” You question, pointing towards the counter where you all were seated just a moment ago.

Eddie pushes his lips into a line and brings his eyebrows together causing a wrinkle to crease in the center of his forehead.

“What were you jealous or something?“ you tease causing him to give a little laugh. “No. I’m not jealous.”

‘We are a little.’

“No. No.”

He pauses again and your curiosity builds up, “so…what is it then?”

Letting out a breath he decides it’s better to tell you now than have you sit here mad at him for not telling you. “Okay, so remember when I told you that I was like sucked into a portal into another universe and you made that face, the one that makes me feel like I’m crazy.”

He paused and pointed at your face, “that’s it, you’re doing it right now.”

You shook your head quickly, shaking off your expression, “no I’m not. Go on.”

“Well when I was sucked into that…other place, there was a guy. His face was everywhere, on tv all over the news, he was sorta a good guy—a hero. He had superpowers and everything. Well that guy—that kid was named Peter Parker.”

Although you tried your best to conceal your expressions you couldn’t help but have your eyes widen at the revelation.

He nodded before continuing, “but it seemed like the whole world turned on him for killing one guy is what I understood.”

Eddie takes a moment to think and when you’re about to ask him something he starts abruptly, “—and if he’s the good guy and he’s a kid and people are turning on him for killing one guy, a bad guy I would assume, what does that make me?”

You angle your body laying a comforting hand on his leg while he goes on. “Venom eats people—granted it’s bad people, but it’s still people,” he faces you expression torn, “am—am I the bad guy?”

You barely wait a beat before protesting his worries, “hey don’t start with that. Look at me,” to make your point you gently reach out and press your hands against his scruff that covered cheeks his skin feeling warm against yours.

“You are not the bad guy here,” his eyes are all big and wide while he looks up at you from his brown hues. “What Venom does is…unorthodox yes but you are not bad. Eddie you have your own problems—just as any one—but one word I would never ever use to describe you is bad. You do your best with what you have.”

Eddie’s looking at you one moment and then the next his forehead is pushed against your shoulder.

“Better?” You ask as he responds with a nod against you.

After a moment of just resting like that he mumbles out, “thank you, I needed to hear that…and I’m sorry for yelling earlier.”

“Yeah that was uncalled for,” you joke and he smiles against your body, thankful for being so fortunate to have you by his side.

#eddie brock fanfiction #eddie brock fanfic #eddie brock imagine #eddie brock x reader #venom fanfiction #venom fanfic #venom imagine #venom x reader #marvel fanfiction #marvel fanfic #marvel imagine #marvel x reader #mcu fanfiction #mcu fanfic #mcu imagine #mcu x reader #fluff bingo

[bimoonphases]

@wolfstarmicrofic March 14 – prompt 14: Polyjuice Potion – word count 700

Polyjuice Potion - Temporarily transforms the drinker into another person

Remus looked up from his book as Sirius and James stumbled in from the portrait hole. It wasn’t unusual for those two to disappear somewhere together, but the fact that Sirius’s shirt and trousers were baggier than what he usually wore and, conversely, James’s were very tight was.

“Did you two finally shag and put each other’s clothes back on by mistake?” Lily piped up from the carpet where Peter was absolutely destroying her at chess.

“You wish, Evans,” Sirius said.

“Admit it, you can’t take your eyes off me like this,” James added, pirouetting to show the way his trousers were clinging to his skin.

Remus frowned. Something wasn’t right.

“There’s something weird about you two,” Mary voiced his thoughts from the armchair where she was braiding Marlene’s hair. “I mean, weirder than usual.”

James winked while Sirius passed a hand through his hair and suddenly it clicked.

“No!” Peter exclaimed, apparently having come to Remus’s same conclusion.

He got up and walked over to their friends, looking at them closely.

“You didn’t!” he stepped back, eyes wide.

“Did what, exactly?” Marlene asked.

“These two went and drank Polyjuice Potion!” Peter said. “How did you do it?”

“Slughorn’s personal stash,” James and Sirius chorused.

“Wait, so you,” Mary pointed at James, “are really Sirius?”

“Correct,” ‘James’ bowed.

“And you are actually James?” Lily pointed at Sirius.

“You know it, Evans,” ‘Sirius’ smiled.

Remus got up from the couch, eyes fixed on his friends. And then it clicked again.

“For how long will it last?” he asked.

“No clue,” ‘James’ smirked.

“We might be back to ourselves by tomorrow, or we might not,” ‘Sirius’ shrugged.

“But why did-“ Remus started before pinching the bridge of his nose. “No, you know what? Don’t tell me. I’m going to bed. Pete, you coming?”

It didn’t take long for the other two to follow them into the dorm, but it was enough. Peter closed his curtains with a yawn and Remus settled in bed as he peeked at ‘Sirius’ flop down on James’s bed while ‘James’ climbed into Sirius’s before turning the lights out with a flick of his wand. Remus waited a couple of minutes then he got up and tiptoed to Sirius’s bed, silently parting the curtains.

“Pads?” he called softly.

“Moony?” James’s voice hesitated.

“Why?”

Remus settled on the mattress, searching for Sirius’s hand and ending up taking one of James’s calloused hands in his.

“It was fun?”

“If you say so. But it’s weird for me, talking to you and hearing James’s voice instead…” Remus reached up and let his fingers wander on the other’s mouth, ignoring the strangled sound which came from it. He got closer. “Or feeling James’s lips…”

The kiss lasted a couple of seconds before three things happened all at once. ‘James’ jolted back from Remus with so much force he fell of the bed.

“PRONGS, DON’T YOU DARE KISS MY BOYFRIEND!” came from James’s bed.

“LUMOS MAXIMA!” Peter shouted from his.

Remus blinked against the light, taking in James sprawled on the floor, Sirius wide-eyed by James’s bed and Peter, wand in hand, smirking from his.

“You really thought you could play us?” Peter said. “Make your two best friends believe you had swapped bodies?”

“It was worth a try,” James grumbled.

“Not so sure,” Sirius said, eyes fixed on Remus.

“Boyfriend, eh?” Remus smiled.

“I mean…” Sirius blushed. “If you’d like?”

Remus shook his head, laughing.

“I’d love to, you idiot.”

Sirius crossed the room and jumped on the bed, kissing Remus fiercely.

“Fucking finally,” Remus heard Peter say.

“You knew?!” James exclaimed.

“Of course I knew, Prongs, I’ve got eyes.”

Remus laughed again in Sirius’s kiss and they let go of each other, both smiling.

“Well, I learned two new things today, then,” James said, getting up from the floor.

“One is Pads and Moony because you’re oblivious, but what’s the other one?” Peter asked.

James looked at Remus and immediately looked away, blushing.

“Apparently, I’m not straight,” he said.

“Prongs, what the hell?” Sirius groaned as Remus and Peter burst out laughing.

“And that’s what you get for playing your friends for fools,” Remus smirked, pecking his boyfriend on the cheek.

#sometimes James and Sirius are idiots #and sometimes Remus is a little shit #also Remus being James's queer awakening #wolfstar #wolfstar microfic #remus lupin #sirius black #remus x sirius #sirius x remus #marauders #marauders era #james potter #peter pettigrew #the marauders #the marauders era #lily evans #mary macdonald #marlene mckinnon #just writing (like i'm supposed to live)

[viewlumia]

Nothing will be more weirder than the Ninjago fandom acting like Cole was in love with Nya throughout Rebooted.

Through the entire Love Triangle ordeal, he never actually acts for Nya, instead only reacting to Jay. Observe:

Blackout

In the previous episode, The Art of the Silent Fist, there was a scene between Cole and Nya. Throughout that episode, Nya was struggling with her newfound feelings towards Cole (given to her by a machine I might add but that's a conversation for another day). Nya talks to Cole in that scene and it ends with them holding hands and Cole jokingly saying "Don't tell Jay."

Why am I bringing this up? Because I honestly have trouble looking at that through a romantic lense. I often see people use this as evidence even though it doesn't match up with how the show would later indicate romance (they looked at each other so they're in love now! Chemistry, what's that!) More importantly, Nya never actually articulates her feelings for Cole in this scene. This is crucial when getting to Blackout. In Blackout, after Pixal blurts out that Cole is a perfect match for Nya, not Jay, who entered the room at the time, his first instinct is to attack Cole as soon as he saw him! From the POV of Cole, this looks like his friend calling him names and a whole lot of other things seemingly out of nowhere, he never actually heard about the "Perfect Match" results and that combined with the previously mentioned scene leaves us with a Cole who isn't in love with Nya and is only focused on Jay.

The Curse of The Golden Master

In this clip, after the ninja head into the sewer like a certain other group of color coded ninja, Jay gets into another spat with Cole after Cole dared to *checks note* look out for Nya's safety. This causes the two to get into an argument and ignore Nya falling from the broken ladder.

Now this scene on it's own doesn't mean much, but when paired with the other episodes mentioned, it starts to paint a bigger picture. This scene is a tipping point for Cole, going from someone clueless about his situation and fighting with Jay to letting this petty, near one-sided rivalry get in the way of the task at hand.

This scene is honestly the perfect representation of the Love Triangle in Rebooted: it was never really about Nya, she was just a stepping stone to get to Jay yelling at Cole over a situation he has no idea he's even in. Cole isn't out of the woodwork either as he begins to ignore Nya solely so he can insult Jay, but hey, it can't get any worse right?

Codename: Arcturus

It got worse.

In Codename: Arcturus, we see Jay, Cole, and Nya at the movie theater to "prove who Nya should go out with." Now, you may ask "doesn't that sequence end with both Jay and Cole asking who Nya will date and her kidnapping a cleaning robot?" yes, it does! But the important thing here is that it wasn't even Nya's idea in the first place ("Hey, it wasn't my idea to go on a double date to decide between you two.") Interesting thing of note, this is the only episode in the entire season where it's actually shown Cole fighting for Nya's affection, but even then it's not really about her, it's about getting back at Jay more than anything.

I know someone will come in wondering about "authorial intent," the intent in question being that Cole could be a potential love interest for Nya moving forward, but while I can see the intent, I can also acknowledge that what actually landed on the page and later the screen does not match the intent at all. Instead of Cole falling in love with Nya and getting into a spat with Jay that way, we got Cole treating Nya like a stepping stone to get back at Jay, disregarding her feelings in the process.

TL;DR: Kai should've knocked Jay and Cole upside the head for being weird about his sister

#I did not intend for this to become an analysis but here we are #I would love to hear your thoughts and rebuttals on this anaylsis #please i need human interaction #honestly i formatted this really bad so hopefully this makes sense #ninjago #ninjago analysis #cole brookstone #jay walker #nya smith #nya jiang #jay ninjago #nya ninjago #cole ninjago #ninjago cole #ninjago nya #ninjago jay

[luvyurself]

from a cat into a dog

IM SORRY IF THE ENDING SUCKS AUGHHHH

part two of my last story here

c/w: she/her pronouns, implied child experimenting/employee experimenting ig, bigger bodies initiative snatches five kids and two adults (not clickbait), rushed ending

I tired my best to included the kids before they got turned into the smiling critters but AUGHHH

________

everyday was the same routine: wake up at six in the morning, freshen up, put on her work uniform, stick a breakfast sandwich in her mouth, kiss her mom goodbye, make her way to work, and get into the parking lot of playtime co. at around 6:45.

she wishes the playcare was more easily accessible, going from the toy train to the cart-ride while listening to the same automated introduction to playcare was starting to become irritating.

she basically had that whole thing memorized by now.

she sits in the trolly seat, looking out the tinted windows to the vast emptiness of the underground around them. why would they built this whole thing underground anyway? she even heard one employee share the same thought as her, she wonders if these kids even know of the outside world anyways.

these past few weeks have been the same, except a lot more children seemed to get adopted more. which is weird because she and the other employees around her never gotten informed when each kid would be picked up.

what’s even more weirder was that the kids never talked about getting adopted either. and these kids could not keep anything a secret.

even when she had to keep up with the rules of not interacting with the children, they just seemed to tell her and the other caretakers nearly everything that happened in their secluded lifestyle.

timothy was one of them. a hyper kid, always seemed to be getting some bumps or bruises (she started keeping a package of bandages after the third time he scrapped his knee), and never knew how to keep a secret.

he would run to of her, stop suddenly and give his one missing tooth smile, and point to some random kid saying, “they have a crush on that kid!” and run off with some other kids chasing after him, yelling incoherent nonsense about how he’s a ‘tattletale’ or something like that.

it was funny to watch, she would give a small smile as she watched the boys play fight, the girls act out some fairytale adventure, or some of the more reclusive kids either draw or play with toys to themselves.

timothy played with this girl, layla, who was just as hyperactive as he was. she was one of the rougher girls, but she loved secretly playing dress up with a few of her dolls she had in her shared room.

she remembered the little freckled girl pointing at her when she told her that ‘tippity top secret’, her cheeks puffed out and saying she better not tell anyone about her ‘soft side’.

kids were funny in many ways.

she remembered timothy sulking a bit when layla was adopted, pouting and sitting on the fake grass.

they hung out almost everyday, it was pretty sad to see him so bummed out over losing his best friend. she managed to sneakily talk to him about it, giving him words of comfort on how he’ll probably see her real soon.

that slightly made him perk up, especially when she slipped a small candy to him and put a finger to her mouth in a shushing motion. he giggled and gave his little grin, “maybe when I get adopted, me and layla can play all day long again!”

she hoped that was the case, as three days later, timothy was gone from the playcare.

she can’t help but feel a jab in her heart when the kids she talks to leave to get adopted. they were all so sweet and fun to watch and talk too.

especially two little girls who took decided they wanted to sit where she was watching the kids play.

delilah was this shy girl who spent most of her time drawing with markers, glitter, crayons and colored pencils. she would sit in the same spot theo sat before he left, silently drawing or politely asking for more colors.

the next girl was sophie, and that kid was a hugger. she would come to her everyday, her braids having different colorful clips then before, and give her leg a big hug.

she would babble on and on about how her school day was, seemingly never ending as the kid always had something to talk about. she would pick at the jewelry on the caretakers hands, asking where she had got it from and if she could get her one like that.

sophie would also talk to delilah too, and would join her on drawing whatever their little hearts desired.

the day delilah ran to her with pure excitement, was the same day she was destined to leave the playcare.

she was the only one that told the playcare employee that she was getting adopted. she excitedly talked the whole time she was there, explaining on how lovely the couple sounded when she heard of them. that was probably the most she ever heard her talk.

after delilah left, sophie hung around her a lot more, becoming more clingy when she had to leave.

she had to always reassure her that she was going to come back the next day. even when the kid latched onto her leg like a koala, she couldn’t fight back the smile on her lips.

sophie would always make her pinky swear she was going to come back. children and their ways of reassurance was always so cute.

she would lock pinkies with her, shaking them and giving the same repeated promise. sophie would look at her for a second, before smiling and hugging her tightly, saying how she can’t wait to see her the next day.

was this becoming a pattern?

each kid she interacted with was gone in the same couple of weeks. she was teased a bit by her other employees that she was cursed, but she jabbed back with how they were all in better homes anyway.

she remembers the last one, she never interacted with her as much as the other kids, but the girl was always holding some type of snack in her hands.

little percilla was always eating something, an apple, pb & j, she would always have some type of food on her face.

each of those kids had their own distinct personalities, and each made her heart ache even more when she never sees them in the playcare.

she gives a small sigh, the underground outside the windows no longer fascinating as it was the first three times.

the five minute way there felt like forever, the carts top speed seemed like five miles, so she decided to check her little phone for any new messages.

a few texts from her friends, her mom asking what should they eat for dinner, and exactly none from jean since two weeks ago.

she didn’t know why it hurt when jean stopped messaging her. maybe that new promotion took up all of his time? she didn’t see much of sean either, so she guessed that could be the case.

she didn’t want to bombard him with messages either, so she hadn’t text back since the last text he sent her.

she closed the phone and puts it in her pocket once he heard the end of the automatic announcement that played in the cart, the ride coming to a full stop.

she gets up and stretched her body, stepping out into the playcare as she makes her way to the consolers office to check in. the playcare was empty, except for a few employees here and there. the kids must be asleep still.

she pushes a strand of hair back, fixing any wrinkles in her clothes and pushes forth, hopefully to get some work done before she has to be out to watch the-

“Hello there!” that scream definitely didn’t come from her, that was definitely someone else.

she spun around to see who decided on scaring the ever living life out of her, but she was met with twelve feet of-what is that?

she stumbled back, nearly losing her footing and quickly regaining it, hands gripping her chest to calm herself as she looked up at the face.

the orange dog bent down slightly, a friendly smile on his face, “woah there, friend, I didn’t mean to knock you off your feet,” he spoke, the young women pushing her hair out of her face and sputtering out, “dog…..dogday?” she whispered, blinking in confusion.

she could see out of the corner of her eye his tail wagging, “yeah! that’s me! it’s nice to meet you….?” he drags out the sentence, waiting for her to finish with her name.

she stays silent with a confused look on her face before stuttering out her name.

he repeats it with joy, grabbing her hand and shaking it with excitement, “oh it’s so nice to meet you! I’ve just about said hi to every employee here and I’ve gotta say, you look amazing on this fine day-“ she let the dog ramble on while continuing to shake her hand, still staring at him in amazement.

the main question ringing in her mind: ‘how?’

and the other one: ‘why?’

she wasn’t unaware of elliot ludwigs determined goal to make the best toys, but even then….this seemed out of the realm of possibility for anyone to achieve.

the giant hand that shook hers felt soft, plush, and almost humanly warm. he even spoke so much like a person, making her think this was some guy in a suit.

but why was he so tall? he stands taller then everyone in this place! and the tail wagging behind him just made it so….realistic.

after about a full two minutes of handshaking and rambling, dogday finally let’s go of her hand (which her whole arm is now numb at that point) and waved a hand in front of her face.

“hello? you still in there, friend?” he asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

she blinked once, before clearing her throat, “uh…..barely.” she spoke, rubbing her arm as she backs away, “I…..gotta clock in.”

the hound tilts his head, before walking with her, “I’ll tag along, I’m not technically supposed to be out here anyway,” he waved his hand around nonchalantly, “but I wanted to say hi to everyone before the kids wake up.” he gave his cartoony smile.

she shook her head, giving him an awkward grin, “oh no, it’s fine, you can do-“

a large, purple tail wrapped around her legs, going softly around before she was face to legs with another 12 foot animal.

catnap, she remembered the name, looked down at her with a silent stare, tilting his head to look at her.

he pressed his face near hers, giving it a sniff before pulling away, and turning towards the orange dog.

“catnap! I’ve seen you met my new friend!” he exclaimed, tail seemingly wagging faster. the purple cat stayed silent for a moment, before nudging his head in a different direction.

a playful groan came from dogday, “come on, I was just trying to walk my friend to the office to get checked in!” he pressed his big hand to his chest, playfully puffing or out, “as the leader, it’s my duty to greet and help anyone I come across.”

catnap just tilts his head, still not saying anything as his tail moves to press him towards the direction he came from.

she watched as he had a one way conversation with the cat, giving them an awkward laugh as she waved her hand, “it’s fine, really, you guys should go, don’t…..want to get in trouble do you?”

they both turned towards her, both in silence before dogday nods, “only if you say so, friend” he smiles and waved at her, “I’ll see you in a bit, then!” he turned to walk away, his tail still wagging happily behind him.

catnap lingered on for a moment, staring at her silently.

she smiled and waved at him, “I’ll see you in a bit too, catnap.”

she turned to walk towards the counselors office, glancing at the time and noticing the kids will be awake in ten minutes. well, the paper work was going to have to wait then.

watching as she walked into the office, catnap stared at the spot she was at for a moment longer.

he then stretched his back, and turned around were his orange friend walked to wait for the kids to wake up.

#dogday poppy playtime #poppy playtime #catnap poppy playtime #dogday #catnap #poppy playtime chapter 3 #x reader #x female reader #ppt x reader

[raainy-daze]

Halloween Festivity

halloween special !

rottmnt donnie x gn!reader

summary: as the air grows cooler, you decide it’d be fun to go to a halloween festival with your boyfriend.

word count: 1315

a/n: update on halloween plans! after this, i just have mikey to post for my rise halloween oneshots. i had a few people ask for a second part to the leo oneshot, so if i have time for it, i’ll probably make that. i haven’t decided yet if i’ll do that after the mikey one, or after the 2012 oneshots. i’ve basically given up on getting anything xmen related out for halloween though, so oh well. i will be getting back to requests in november!

disclaimer i have not actually been to a halloween festival, so i just made a bunch of stuff up! happy halloween, people!

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

Ah, October, the month of spooks and scares. There’s a chill in the air, and celebrations have begun.

One form of celebration, of course, are festivals. That’s where you were at right now. The sun hadn’t set yet, but you couldn’t imagine it’d be much longer until then. You were dragging one of those kiddie wagons behind you, with no purpose other than carrying two carved pumpkins.

“Careful, careful! There’s a rock there, they’ll fall out!”

“Donnie, both of these pumpkins are roughly 15 pounds. I don’t think running over a pebble is going to damage them.”

Out of everything for Donatello to be paranoid about today, you probably should’ve expected it to be the pumpkins. Well, his pumpkin, at least. He was proud of that thing, and you knew it. You couldn’t blame him, really - his perfectionism really did pay off this time. Only Mikey could rival Donnie’s prized pumpkin, you suspected, but Mikey wasn’t entering into a pumpkin carving competition.

“If we don’t get to the booth in the next five minutes, I’m making you drag it the rest of the way.”

“That won’t be necessary, it should be somewhere around here.” Donnie looked up from his phone, where he had a map pulled up. You could see his eyes dart from one side of the path to another, before adding, “I think.”

You began examining your surroundings in search of the booth yourself, as Donnie mumbled to himself about the map. The sun was at that point where it wasn’t setting yet, but it was just low enough to get in your eyes, enough so that you had to shield them. “Is that it?” You pointed towards the end of the strip, at a booth where several pumpkins similar to your own sat.

“Uhh-“ Donnie once more looked up from his map, squinting against the sun. “Yeah, that would be it.”

“Awesome.” You were happier you could finally drop this wagon than anything else, really. You led the way to the booth, and instantly let go of the wagon’s handle as soon as you were in its vicinity.

“Hello. Would you like a form, or have you registered online?” The lady that greeted you seemed very jaded already. You could certainly imagine why, you could only imagine the kinds of people she’d already had to deal with today.

“Yes, we registered online! (Y/N) (L/N) and Hamato Donatello. His is the one on the left, mine’s on the right. Your right,” you specified.

She ticked off something on her notepad. “Alright, thank you, judging ought to be done in around an hour.” You could’ve sworn she mumbled something under her breath about latecomers, but then you noticed her peering at Donnie. “Is your skin…”

“Green, yes, ha ha! It just looks that way, skin condition, you wouldn’t have heard of it, goodbye!” Donnie grabbed your hand and dragged you away. You called out a thank you as Donnie adjusted his scarf in an attempt of a disguise.

“You do realize that just makes you look ten times more suspicious, right?”

“Psh, she’ll forget in like, an hour.” He waved his hand dismissively. “This is New York City, people have seen weirder things. Especially around Halloween.”

You shrugged. “Fair enough.” You pulled him closer beside you and squeezed his hand.

Now that you’d dropped off the pumpkins, you took your time to actually look around at your surroundings. Of course, there was no shortage of children running around in costumes in search of candy. There was no shortage of candy, either, snickers strewn across the ground, fallen out of kids’ candy bags.

“So, where to now, Donnie?”

“Well, uh, I saw apple bobbing on the way. We could check that out.”

“You actually want to go apple bobbing?”

Donnie laughed. “Oh, absolutely not! I want to watch the suffering of those who make fools out of themselves while apple bobbing.”

Yeah, that sounded about right. “There’s a haunted house around here, right? How does that sound?”

He shrugged. “Well, I have no objections.”

“Haunted house it is then!” Now knowing you destination, you picked up the pace (and may or may not have accidentally dragged Donnie behind you a bit).

The line, luckily, wasn’t very long. For the couple minutes you were waiting, you made bets on how scary it would actually be (and how scared the other would get).

“You’re gonna scream no more than five minutes into this, I’m calling it now.”

“Scoff, as if.”

“I’ll betcha ten bucks.”

“Ten bucks that you’re going to be giving to me.”

“Yeah, sure, hun,” you said as you crossed the entrance into the attraction. You were immediately met with darkness - well, not total darkness, but very dim light.

As you made your way through the haunted house, actors would jump out at you, and you’d be surprised by some gruesome decoration or another. You stuck close to Donnie’s side the whole time, and couldn’t help noticing how stiff he got at every jumpscare. Of course, you did too, but whether you were scared or not wasn’t riding on ten bucks.

A couple rooms in, you were absolutely delighted to hear some form of a yell escape Donnie as he walked into a fake spider web. “Well, well, well, hope you’ve got some cash on you.” Even as you helped him out of the awfully realistic spider web, you teased him.

“This was a mistake!”

“Aw, I thought you liked being around me.” You gave him a mock pout, only to be met with the side eye.

By the time you were back outside, the air was rapidly growing cooler as the sun lowered in the sky. You were beginning to regret not bringing a scarf, but oh well. Too late to change the past.

“Pay up.”

“Right now?” Donnie raised an eyebrow at you.

“We had a deal.”

“Is food a worthy compromise?”

“Food will suffice.”

Even though his scarf was wrapped closely around him as an attempt at a disguise, the smile that graced his face didn’t escape you. Even if he didn’t show emotion that often, you knew he was enjoying himself. You sincerely hoped that was thanks to you more so than whatever junk food you were about to share.

•°. *࿐

As it turned out, that junk food in question was a bag of cotton candy and some popcorn, of which your portion did equal about ten dollars.

You were back at the pumpkin booth, judging having been complete. Donnie, the overachiever that he is, earned a blue ribbon, to absolutely no one’s surprise. You hadn’t done too badly yourself, but you just knew he wouldn’t shut up until sometime around Christmas.

“So, Mister Hamato, how are we feeling?”

“Like the greatest person in this room, that’s how!”

“There is no room. We’re outside,” you pointed out.

“That is besides the point.” As he celebrated his victory, you reached over for another handful of popcorn.

“Also, that lady is definitely still weirded out by your ‘skin condition’.” You nodded your head towards the woman from earlier, who was not-so-inconspicuously squinting at the pair of you.

“We’ll never see her again anyways.” Donnie shrugged. “Oh, Mikey’s gonna be jealous!”

You looked up at the sky, which was steadily getting darker. “We should probably get going soon.”

“Ah, yes, I suppose so. The day may end, but my victory shall be remembered forever. The ribbon’s pretty permanent too.”

“So the pumpkin’s your day's highlight? Really?”

“My dear (y/n), you’ve met me, haven’t you? Of course it is.” He paused. “But, of course, spending time with my significant other wasn’t all that bad either.” You giggled as he pressed a kiss to your cheek.

“Come on, let’s go. It’s getting cold.”

“Bring a scarf next time.”

“Sometimes, I really can’t tell if you're being genuine or making fun of me.”

“I know.”

#tmnt x reader #rottmnt x reader #reader insert #gender neutral reader #gn!reader #donnie x reader #tmnt donnie x reader #rottmnt donnie x reader

[blues824]

The Remarried Empress where male Aizawa!Reader becomes Navier's spy since he's a master at working in the shadows. Need info? He's on it. Need something discreetly done? He's got it. Need someone to disappear? It's already happened.

He's interested in the Empress's state of wellbeing, making sure she's healthy and without stress (which sadly can't be avoided due to the dumbass Emperor and his hoe mistress). He's wary of Heinrey but relents when asked to.

He may be scruffy and unassuming but that's what makes him such a good man for his job; you'd never think he works for the Empress.

Only involves Sovieshu, Rashta, and Navier.

Sovieshu

This man definitely does not like you, and you didn’t like him. But, neither of you really talked about the obvious tension in the air. To be fair, neither of you really talked to each other at all. But anyone could tell that you two hated each other.

It could come from a place of intimidation on his part. He may be in a higher position than you, but you had a quirk that no one else could beat. Your quirk not only allowed you to stop the powers in your own world, but also allowed you to stop mages from this world from using their magic. Of course, the same rules still applied. Your eyes were still dry as hell and you had to constantly be staring at the person.

He hated the fact that you were gradually getting closer and closer to his wife, and it was to the point where she saw you more than him… and he was her husband. What was weirder was that you were a few years both their senior. However, you expressed no romantic interest in the Empress multiple times. He just doesn’t like to listen.

You acted more like a father figure to Navier, a person that she can confide in and that you can guide, kind of like your students back home. You still did undercover missions, but this time as a spy rather than a hero. The Emperor himself had no knowledge of this, but what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him… directly.

Rashta

She found you a bit unsettling because of your rugged appearance, and thus you didn’t have to go through the effort of avoiding her because she avoided you instead. But there was an obvious distaste on your behalf, and every single time you both were confronted with each other you let out a sigh before leaving.

The young mistress could tell that the Emperor was intimidated by you, but she couldn’t understand why. She did not hang around you enough to know that your quirk allowed you to stop someone’s magic as long as you are looking at them and don’t blink.

However, she could definitely see that you were getting closer to the Empress, and that scared her to no end. If Sovieshu was scared of you, and she was scared of the power that Her Imperial Majesty held, then you both surely would be unstoppable. However, she didn’t know what to do about it.

And no, she did not know that you were hired as a spy by Navier and assigned the task of listening in on conversations between her and Sovieshu and her and Ergi. That meant you were able to hear the predicament of blackmail that Rashta found herself in, and you reported it back to your employer accordingly.

Navier

She did not find you intimidating. In fact, you both grew very close very quickly. And no, not in that way. You acted as a sort of father figure, as stated before, and she often seeked out your guidance in making crucial decisions for the Empire. You were a tough love, no coddling kind of parental figure, and that’s what she needed.

When you told her that you were suspicious of the new mistress, she was also very suspicious of her. So, she asked you if you would mind doing some espionage. You left with a bow, and you were now a man on a mission. And we all know that when Shota Aizawa is on a mission, he’s gonna fucking complete it.

You would spy on the conversations that Rashta has, and you’ve even caught one of her arguments with Viscount Lotteshu. You heard that she was being blackmailed, and she had to pay money and jewels to the Viscount so he wouldn’t tell anyone that she used to be a slave.

Then there were the conversations between Rashta and Duke Ergi that you listened to. Turns out that the mistress wants to be able to navigate her way through both poor folk and nobility. Everything you heard was reported back to the Empress, and she made her plans accordingly with Heinrey.

#remarried empress #the remarried empress x reader #the remarried empress #remarried empress x reader #sovieshu vict x reader #sovieshu vict #emperor sovieshu #sovieshu x reader #sovieshu #rashta x reader #rashta #navier trovi x reader #empress navier #navier trovi #navier x reader #navier

[kisskiss-slashslash]

Hello! I saw that requests are open, so by any chance, Could I request Headcanons for Bubba and Brahms (or just either of them if you only want to do one! 🖤) with a S/O who is like really protective of them? Like they know they can take care of themselves, but they can't help but being protective 😭🖤 thank you sm sm, your writing is lovely, and I hope your day will be amazing!🖤

Aww that's a fun one!

Being really protective of your slasher s/o

Bubba Sawyer

Your biggest concern in that regard are Drayton and his very, very short fuse. The first time you saw him attack Bubba with the broom, you immediately interfered, while Bubba tried to hold you back. He tries to tell you over and over again that he is used to getting yelled at and beaten, but that only makes you even angrier because damn, he shouldn't be, nobody should have to put up with this kind of treatment to the point of being "used to it".

You tell him: "I know that you can take it. But you shouldn't have to." You lean your forehead against his. "We're a team, so of course I want to protect you just as much as you want to protect me."

Hell, he loves how protective you are of him, but that doesn't stop him from worrying.

Brahms Heelshire

There atually isn't much that you feel you need to protect Brahms from, considering how isolated the two of you live, so you may not actually notice how protective you are of him until one day, the new grocery delivery man comments on the Heelshire family and how everyone talks about what a "weirdo" their son was. You feel yourself get hot with anger.

"A 'weirdo', huh? Weirder than a grown ass man talking shit about a dead child?"

You can hear a muffled "Hah!" from the walls, and the man is visibly taken aback. "I mean... I heard stuff..."

"Maybe you should spend more time working and less time regurgitating whatever brainless gossip you pick up from sleazy drunks at the bar. Now get the hell out, and if I hear any more of this, I'll pick a different delivery service."

You slam the door behind him once he is out of the house, and you're about to stomp off to take a shower, but you instead walk right into a backbreaking hug. Brahms buries his face in your hair and mutters a soft "Thank you."

#slasher x reader #Bubba Sawyer x reader #brahms heelsire x reader

[nalpurex]

i got souyo brainworms again and i gotta share some thoughts i have

this ones a long one so ill put a 'keep reading' thing here just in case yall dont wanna scroll past a wall of text

basically some headcanons about a healthy mix of chad narukami and normal yu, injecting loads of gap moe into this guy

(and it eventually devolves into some weird semi-story because my brains really spiralling here)

okok so, hear me out, chad narukami isnt that bad as an idea...? maybe as a more calm iteration, just another layer to yu

in the p4 manga, we get to see some of yu's backstory. (its been a while since ive read it so i might get some details wrong but) his parents are very busy people, always working and moving around, so yu's always moving around with them

because of this, hes a very independent but also lonely kid. poor guy doesnt talk much with his own mom and dad, and he never really have a good enough chance to form lasting friendships

so when he moves to inaba and starts making friends there, hes like 'oh i really want to keep these guys around...' so he starts putting up a bit of a persona (hah), some cool, unfazed guy that everyone can rely on thinking thats what people might like more. to his credit, it works pretty well, but its a bit stifling for yu himself. hes never had this many friends though, so he'll keep it up

we all know yosuke admires him quite a fair bit as is, just as a dependable friend and a strong leader. he looks up to yu in these aspects, thinking hes basically the perfect guy. (and lets never unpack that thought.) talented, charming, 'gets all the ladies', that kind of stuff

at some point its just the two of them, maybe walking home from school or something, yu gets pretty comfortable and his facade slips a little. maybe he says something completely silly, or heavens forbid theres a stray cat along the road! ("awww look at the little guy, cmeree, pspsps- oh- ahem- uh, its pretty cute...") it surprises yosuke quite a bit. he's thinking about it a lot as they part ways, it was... definitely a new side to his partner, but its also not a bad thing...

after that, yosuke starts noticing more small things about yu. whenever he invites anyone to share his lunch, its always something they like. whenever the IT are talking, he makes sure no one feels left out. he likes cats, a lot more than hes willing to show, and he loves nanako a whole lot too. his partner's... a bit of a softie under that calm and collected vibe, isnt he?

(alternatively, it'd be really funny if the entire IT knew? like "yeah, hes got a straight face all the time and sparkles fly around him whenever he strikes a pose, but hes got a dedicated schedule for hanging out with us and hes always asking when we're free. hes a big puppy, really.")

anyways, yosuke tries to encourage him to show more of this other side of him. stuff like "c'mon, we'll think you're cool either way!" and yu at first is a little hesitant, so yosuke suggests he just try it out with him

he feels some pride about it, because hes the first to learn about this side of yu! his partner trusts him the most, hes the most comfortable around him! (whats this strange other feeling? hm. dont like that.)

yu takes a little more time with the others, but theyre very welcoming about it nonetheless. specifically, they find it very charming! (making cute shapes in your bento? sewing cute stuffed toys with kanji? playing with literally every single stray cat you lay your eyes on? hell yeag.)

of course the facade doesnt completely shatter, because some parts of it are still true to yu. its just that he'll now crack the dumbest joke youve heard in your life with the same old straight face

(aaand now to derail for the sappy stuff huhuhu)

because yosuke's usually the first to be exposed to whatever new shenanigans yu's up to, eventually he starts getting some... weirder things. he brings some of it up to the other IT members and he looks insane, like:

"what? he hasnt been giving you guys origami?"

"why would he? i mean itd be cool, but thats just his part-time job isnt it? hes probably sick of paper cranes!"

"cranes... haha, yeah..." (as he thinks about the row of stupid paper animals sitting on his windowsill)

yu over time starts getting real sweet with yosuke, and he kind of gets the feeling he should just... keep this to himself...? especially when he doesnt see him acting this way with anyone else, and a small part of him wants to keep it to himself. all of this, just for him.

but that would be kind of gay, wouldnt it? hes not gay, is he...? he gets pretty happy whenever yu smiles at him, whenever he does something for him, but its just because he appreciates him as his partner... right?

eventually it all comes to a head when yu invites him to that... that spot high up in inaba. (ykno the one, its got the railing and shit.)

yosuke's climbing the hill, wondering whats yu gonna tell him, and at the top he sees him already waiting there as the sun's about to set on a nice breezy day

he kinda jokes a bit about it, like "damn did you ask me to come here now for the atmosphere?" but yu's strangely quiet

so they kinda just stand in a bit of an awkward silence before yu clears his throat... and confesses to yosuke.

...

they just. stare at each other for a bit. yosuke's at a loss, heat slowly rising in his cheeks, because what the hell?

and then yu explodes into a flustered mess, bumbling about "hey yeah man you dont have to accept if you dont wanna, i was just saying things yknow? you dont really have to-"

yosuke cuts him off, sighing a little. he tells him its okay, hes kinda had a feeling he felt the same way but he wasnt ready yet... and now his partner's confessing to his face, he cant really put it off anymore, can he?

("by the way, did you plan this? like, the timing and everything?"

"i... had a hard enough time saying 'i like you' with a straight face as it was, i kind of had to..."

"... ah.")

#ive never done this kind of headcanon dumping before so it feels kind of embarrassing??? #like my attitude going into this was “hell yeah! im gonna expand on yu so much because he has a lot of potential and i adore him!” #and i came out of it thinking like how i always do #sappy fluff and making dolls kiss 🙄 #i cant even guarantee ill remember my own damn headcanons bc ive always been one to prefer lighthearted silly stuff #hence me avoiding writing dialogue when i can... especially that confession bit #eugh... #anyways i just hope yall enjoy my thoughts haha #persona 4 #souyo #yu narukami #yosuke hanamura #farts and sharts

[jamiesfootball]

Curious what you’d do with ”Did it ever occur to you that maybe we don’t want to see you get hurt?”

”Did it ever occur to you that maybe we don’t want to see you get hurt?”

If it's not the first thing he hears coming off anesthesia, it's the first thing that cuts through the fog, though Roy has a sneaking suspicion his sister's been at it for a while.

Roy wakes to lingering nausea, clammy shivers that prick against his skin, and his sister glaring at him from the foot of his bed.

It's weird, seeing Sarah out of scrubs; it's even weirder seeing her with a child held up against her hip. He's still not used to it.

From her perch, his niece watches him intently. Only age two and she's fucking huge, all her soft baby features spilling out into a toddler mould. The bigger she gets, the easier it gets to be to tell what she's thinking. Right now, she may as well be hiding her distress behind a pane of glass.

She waves at him. He waves back. Her arms tighten around her mum as she buries her face in her neck.

Roy's heart thump thump thumps on the monitor.

His hand falls back to the bed. Squinting against the light, he fights against the hot dampness building behind his eyes.

His throat croaks, "Is it bad?"

Sarah sighs. "As bad as the last one? No. But you can't keep tearing your knee up, or pretty soon you won't have a knee!"

She punctuates her statement with a thunderous frown; her eyebrows, similar to his own but just a tad neater, cut across her forehead like bushy lightning bolts.

Still under some sort of drugs, he shrugs off her concern and says, "Eh. I'll buy a new one."

Sarah's eyes narrow dangerously, but Phoebe giggles into her hiding spot. It's almost cheating, that - Phoebe's at the age where she thinks everything Roy says deserves a hearty round of laughter. Already she's wriggling and giggling, simply delighted that Roy's there to string together words, even if they aren't for her.

Can't understand him; thinks he hung the moon.

It tugs at his chest, threatening to unstuck the zipper and unravel him at the seams.

He stretches his arms out. "Can I hold her?"

Sarah thaws. In record time, and in spite of his callousness, he's being gifted a bundle of Phoebe. Curling up against his side, she flings her chubby little arm across his chest and digs her baby fingers into his shirt with an impressively strong grip. She's so big. She weighs nothing. She's so little. She fills up his entire world. Just having her near soothes the thing that lives agitated inside his chest.

She is no danger of accidently knocking his leg about, tiny as she is. As far as he's concerned, she can stay where she is for as long as she likes.

Sarah slides a chair closer to his bed. Sitting down on Phoebe's other side, she strokes her daughter's hair back. Roy gets the impression that she's doing it for herself too. Showing affection doesn't come naturally to either of them. Best to start as small as they come.

They're not that close, him and Sarah, but sometimes it feels like they might be one day.

After a while, Sarah breaks the silence.

"You can't scare her like that," Sarah says, in a tone more serious than he's ever heard from his baby sister -- she doesn't even need to curse to get her point across. Oh, she can swear like the worst of them, but she's better than that. She better than the brother who only knows football and fame and broken teeth. Better than someone who only knows the best ways to break themselves down and still be useful.

She's better than Roy and she's right.

The problem is Roy.

"I'll try," he says, as close to a promise as he can make. His card's already punched; all that's left is to stave off the inevitable for as long as he can until his debt finally gets called up. Until then-

"I'll try."

#roy kent #roy kent's sister #phoebe kent #writing sprints #writing prompt #thank you for this! #it did help with the being writing stuck #hope you enjoy

[pagesfromthevoid]

Covered in You | b.b.

Bucky Barnes x fem!superpowered!reader

“My house of stone, your ivy grows. And now I'm covered in you."

Word Count: 3.0k

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: Listen. Idk.

Read on AO3 | Talk to Me! | Masterlist

“Bucky!”

He froze in the produce section of the grocery store, frowning when he heard his name. It was a normal reaction for him; paranoid to be addressed or attacked in public. But he was relieved, though did not relax at all, when she started running through the aisle to reach him. 

“Bucky! It’s me!” She exclaimed as she got closer, throwing her arms around him. 

He didn’t return the gesture, put off by the sudden physical contact. Bucky pushed himself away, giving an uncomfortable smile as he did. It was better this way; not giving anyone any reason to get attached. Though she didn’t seem thrown off by his rejection of her hug. 

“How have you been? Are you okay?” She asked, looking him over. 

The last time they’d seen each other was when Steve…well, when he left. Though Bucky wasn’t sure why she cared that much. The two weren’t friends; she was closer with Wanda and Steve than she was with him. The only interactions they had were in Germany, and very briefly in Wakanda. Though based on how she smiled at him, she didn’t care about that. 

“I’m fine,” he replied, tone short and to the point. “You?”

He hated small talk. 

“Oh I’m good. I got my job back at the library. Kinda weird being a superhero and needing a day job but it’s okay. I’m okay.” Bucky noted she certainly didn’t sound okay, but that wasn’t really his problem. “Have you heard from Wanda? I can’t get a hold of her, and I’ve been trying to. I’m just worried and I was just thinking about you the other day too so it’s funny —“

“I can’t really talk right now.”

“Oh.” She stared at him for a moment, looking around them as she realized he was uncomfortable. Then she turned red in the face, nodding some. “I’m sorry, Bucky. I didn’t mean to bombard you. Maybe we can meet for drinks some time.”

“No, thank you,” he responded politely, looking down then back up —anywhere but her. “I appreciate the offer, but I think it’s best if I stick to myself.”

He moved to step around her, gripping the hand of his basket tighter. While he did appreciate the offer —it was hard not to when she was so excited to see him —Bucky had little desire to be social or make friends. It just wasn’t something that seemed to be in the cards for him. Besides, he had a laundry list of things to make up for, and that left little time for friends. 

“Sam says you don’t return his calls.” 

Bucky stopped mid step, frowning deeply as he glanced over his shoulder at her. She was holding her basket in front of her, brow furrowed. “I never called, I figured you didn’t really know me so that’d be weird.”

“Weirder than yelling at me from across a grocery store?” He cracked a small grin, unable to help himself. Though it disappeared as she kept speaking.

“Listen, I know you think you should be alone because of the whole Winter Soldier thing —but you don’t have to be. Just…I don’t know, answer Sam’s calls. Or be ready for me to call you every day.”

She gave him a promising smile —a guarantee that she was going to call him regardless —and turned on her heel to leave. Bucky stared at her as she walked away, brow furrowed as he processed what had just happened. In the short time he had known her —probably a total of four months if you put it all together —he never really spoke to her. When he did, it was short and to the point, usually serious or “it’s the end of the world” conversations. 

This was probably the most normal conversation he’d ever had with her. Which was a bit depressing to think about, but refreshing to know that she was normal before all of this —that she could go back to whatever she was before everything. 

Bucky couldn’t remember the last time he felt normal. 

                                                *****

As promised, she called the next day. 

And the day after that. 

And the next day too. 

She called everyday, as promised, for about a week. And every day, Bucky sent her straight to voicemail. He had to give her credit —she was a woman of her word. She called every day, at different times. As if he would answer if she called at 1:45 instead of 12:30. And her voicemails never sounded like she was annoyed when he didn’t pick up, even after the seventh message left. 

“Hey, Bucky! I know I’ve invited you out every day this week, and I know you don’t want to but that’s okay!” Her voice was cheery; excited for whatever she was about to propose. “Tomorrow is the opening of the community garden at the library. This is less going out and socializing and more supporting the neighborhood so maybe that would be better for you. If you want to lurk in the background of photos, you have to call me back for the time!”

He was almost offended by the lurking comment, however she was technically right. Even if he did go, that’s all he would do: lurk. Avoid attention. But she hit him with a significantly more annoying dilemma: he kind of wanted to go to the library to see the garden. He walked by it every so often, and he liked seeing how much progress was being made to set it up. Bucky just hadn’t realized she was the one doing it. Though, he supposed it made sense given her powers. 

Huffing in frustration, Bucky ran a gloved hand over his face. Then he hit the call button; it rang once. 

“I knew the garden would be the better choice!” 

“I can just look up the time online,” he reminded her, rolling his eyes. 

“I didn’t know you could use a computer,” she teased, and Bucky could picture the grin on her face. “It starts at noon, but I’ll be there all morning if you want to come by before everyone else is there. You know, avoid the absolutely massive crowd that will come to a public library garden.”

He couldn’t help himself as he chuckled, scratching at his chin lightly. “Is this an actual event or is this just something you’re doing on your own?”

“We’re a bit short staffed so there wasn’t a lot of time to advertise,” she explained, and for the first time that week, she sounded a bit defeated. “So the only people who will probably be there are the gardeners, me, and you.”

He didn’t like how dejected she sounded, honestly. “You’re making me feel like I have to come now.”

“I mean you don’t have to —but I’d really like it if you did.”

Bucky hesitated before sighing. “Okay, yeah. I’ll be there for a little while.”

She let out an excited sound, and Bucky could hear her clapping her hands together through the phone. “Yes! Awesome! You won’t regret it, Bucky, I promise. You’re going to have so much fun, it’ll be so nice. I can order lunch to be delivered —“

“Let’s just…let’s just play it by ear, okay?”

“Oh, right. Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow, Bucky!”

He stared at his phone, taking a breath. Maybe this was a bad idea. 

                                          *****

The last time he had come to the library, it had been in 1941. Steve had signed them up for an art class, and convinced Bucky it would be a good place to meet people. Steve had been right; Bucky left with a list of dates set up. 

But this was different.

Obviously it was different. It wasn’t the forties, it wasn’t the middle of a world war. He wasn’t just some guy, flirting with pretty people. He was a former assassin, with a metal arm and more trauma than any one person should carry. But then, he was going to a community event hosted by someone who’s fought alongside him before. Whose life is just as strange as his —maybe a little less, but still weird. 

It was a little after eleven when Bucky stopped at the steps of the library. A sign on the door —written in a very pretty cursive and covered in flowers and vines —said to walk through to the back doors and “watch for resident bees.” There was a little bee and hive drawn beside it. Something told Bucky she was the one who drew it.

Following instructions, he slipped into the library quietly. There weren’t many people there for a Saturday; a few kids with their parents. Some older people —younger than him, technically —and a handful of people using the computers. An older gentleman glanced up from the shelf he was at, standing up a bit straighter when he saw Bucky. He nodded once as the man saluted —and that’s when Bucky noticed the man was in the World War II section. 

He quickly beelined for the back door without a word. No one should be saluting him. 

As he pushed the door open and slid outside, he heard people chatting idly. He waited to the side, peering into the garden from the walkway outside the library. Sitting in the dirt was her, with her hair thrown up out of her face and dirt covering her shorts and hands. A bright smile was on her face though as she spoke to two older women, who had gardening tools and far less dirt on them. 

“It’s amazing, you know,” one lady commented, voice soft. “When you said you were going to start a community garden —well, I thought you meant you were going to grow it all yourself.”

“I considered it,” she admitted, running her hands over her thighs. “But what’s a community garden if the community isn’t involved? I just…kept it alive.”

“And we appreciate that so much,” the other woman assured, setting her tools down. “It reminds me of the garden we set up when I was a little girl, during the war.”

Bucky swallowed hard, frowning deeply as she stood up. His hands gripped of the railing of the sidewalk, trying to calm his nerves. He wondered if she would mention him coming to see the garden; he hoped she wouldn’t. 

“Well, the good thing about this garden is that it’s not necessary to survive. It’s just nice to have.”

He let out a sigh of relief, though his grip on the rail did not loosen. Without realizing it, unfortunately, it crunched between his fingers with an awful sound. All three women looked up at the sound, with the older two looking horrified and her smiling brightly at him. 

“Bucky, you actually came!” She exclaimed, dusting the dirt off her hands one more time before running up the stairs to greet him. She paused, looking at the railing with a reassuring smile. “We needed to replace that anyway. Thanks for making it a little cheaper to do.”

He opened his mouth to apologize but snapped it shut, giving her a small smile and a nod. “Uh, yeah, of course.”

Glancing down, Bucky felt the back of his neck heat up from embarrassment. What happened to the overly confident, charming guy he used to be? Why couldn’t he play it cool suddenly? 

“Are you barefoot?” He asked suddenly, changing the subject. 

She looked at her feet, wiggling her toes some. “Oh, yeah. I always garden barefoot. The more in touch with the earth I am, the better I work. Wanna see?”

She held her hand out to him, bright smile never fading even as he hesitated. When he didn’t take it, she reached for his wrist and pulled him along anyway. Bucky didn’t resist her as she pulled him into the garden. 

“Ladies, this is Sergeant James Barnes,” she introduced, dropping his wrist. Though she kept close, as if shielding him from their stares. 

Both ladies quietly introduced themselves, though they didn’t seem surprised by him anymore. Actually, they seemed impressed as they looked between the two with little grins. 

“Just Bucky,” he quickly corrected. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“Oh the pleasure is all ours, sweetheart,” Delilah, the one with the ration garden, commented. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Not from me,” she quickly assured him, looking up at him. “I mean a little bit from me, but they’re the ones who have told me about you and the Howling Commandos and —“

“Hey, it’s okay,” he interrupted, smiling tensely down at her. 

“Yeah, it’s okay,” Clara, the other woman, teased. “He knows he’s famous.”

Bucky shifted uncomfortably, looking around the garden for a moment. Famous was a strange way to describe him. Maybe infamous —he did more harm than good as far as he was concerned. But neither Delilah nor Clara seemed to care about what he did after the war. 

“Clara, I just remembered —we need to go trim the leaves on the tomatoes.” Delilah elbowed her friend, grinning over at her.

“Oh, right. We do! We’ll see you in a little while, kids.”

Both ladies waved and hurried off to a corner of the garden that was a bit more obscured. Bucky watched them for a moment before turning back to her as she let out a sheepish laugh. He raised a brow as she ran a hand over her hair. 

“Those two are so gossipy,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Sorry about that. Delilah is basically my grandma. She, like, unofficially adopted me when I first started working here.”

“That’s nice,” and he meant that. It was nice. Though he didn’t know what else to say. “You were going to show me something?”

“Oh! Right!” 

She turned around a few times, looking around for an empty space. Then she motioned for him to follow her to an empty plot, where she dropped to her knees in the dirt. Bucky stood above her, hands moving to settle in his jacket pockets as she scooped up a handful of soil. 

“Tony used to call me an earth bender —like from the tv show, but I don’t think that’s super accurate because earth benders just control materials from the earth, not make them grow,” she explained, pushing the dirt back into the ground. “Dr. Banner calls it arborkinesis. Which sounds cool, I guess but a little too supervillain-esque for me. I just tell people I have a green thumb…Come closer, will you?”

Bucky hesitated; he hadn’t seen her abilities up close before. He’d seen it in action —in Germany, in Wakanda, and at the compound against Thanos. But never nearby. It was always just something he witnessed in passing; too busy to properly stand and watch her work. But she was genuinely happy to show him, and he’d left his comfort zone already today so he kneeled beside her. 

His attention was focused on her hands as she reached for his. Bucky almost pulled away, but stopped and allowed her to bring his hands together in front of her. Then, she scooped the soil back up and put it in his hands. Brow furrowing, he watched in confusion as she covered his hands with her own. And he almost pulled back again as he felt the dirt moving and something pushing between his fingers –but she held him in place with a reassuring smile. 

As she pulled away, ivy began sprouting up from the dirt and slowly creeped its way up his arm like a snake. Bucky watched it grow, covering his sleeve with vines and emerald green leaves. The vine wrapped around his arm and stopped just below his shoulder before flowers popped open in bright pink hues. He couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face as he looked over his arm, admiring the flowers that contrasted with the dark colors of his jacket. 

She pushed up off the ground, extending her hand to him with that same bright smile that hadn’t faded. With the hand that wasn’t covered in vines, he took hers and stood, allowing her to guide him to a trellis that leaned against the fence. She took his ivy covered hand and lifted it, resting it against the stand there. Her free hand lifted, and the vines that wrapped around his arm uncurled and moved to a better home on the trellis. When all the ivy found its new home, Bucky dropped his hand and admired her handiwork, smiling even more now.

“When people think of superpowers, a lot of them think of superheroes, the Avengers. But…I don’t know, I was never much of a superhero. But I’ve always been a gardener,” she explained, looking over the flowers now. She touched the petals carefully. 

“You helped save the universe,” he reminded her, glancing down at her from the corner of his eye. “Maybe give yourself a little credit.”

“I will when you do,” she countered, meeting his eyes with a sly grin.

Bucky’s mouth snapped shut, and he narrowed his eyes at her. He walked right into that, didn’t he? They stood there for a moment, their attention supposedly on the flowers but really, it was on each other. He wanted to thank her –for inviting him, for pestering him until he finally accepted. But as he turned to do so, her name was called from across the garden and she turned, lighting up as a handful of people gathered outside the gate. 

“Oh, I guess I should get ready to officially open the garden!” 

Bucky nodded, smiling down at her as he stepped out of the garden bed with her. She looked up at him with another smile, resting her hand on his arm gently. “Thank you for coming by today, Bucky. It means a lot to me; I hope you liked it.”

“I did. Really.”

He decided he’d thank her later –over a drink and some food. It was the least he could do.

———

Part Two

#bucky barnes x y/n #Bucky barnes x reader #Bucky barnes imagine #Bucky barnes #bucky barnes one shot

[jungle-angel]

It Ain’t My Fault (Rhett Abbott x Reader)

Summary: You and Rhett are long past the point of questioning what your feral boys do all day when they go out and play

Notes: Inspired by that pic of a confused Lewis in “A Steady Rain”. Maybe I’ll replace the gif with that pic since it’s fucking hysterical (lol). 

The kitchen was quiet....too quiet

And then the door to the basement burst open. 

Rhett jumped when he heard Tatum and Tanner, your twin boys, barreling up the stairs from the finished basement, yelling like a pair of banshees as they ran around the kitchen. 

“Oh shit!” Rhett muttered when he realized what was on their heads.

The boys threw open the kitchen door and barreled out onto the deck, their father hot at their heels as he cleared the deck steps to the grass below. “YOU TWO LITTLE SHITHEADS GET BACK HERE AND GET YOUR MOTHER’S UNDERWEAR OFF YOUR HEADS!!!!!!!” 

But the boys just kept running.

4 hours later

You walked in the door, hanging your keys on the key hook and setting your bag down under the hallway table. You were absolutely exhausted from the day, jumping from your main lesson with your students to one thing after the other and being out on the trail for most of the day. You were glad to be home and soon enough, Amy and Hannah would be home in time for dinner. 

“Rhett?” you called. 

You didn’t hear him answer, but instead caught a glimpse of him just sitting there at the kitchen table with a mug full of coffee and look on his face that meant only one thing.....the boys had been up to no good. 

“Rhett?” you asked, seating yourself across from him. 

“Hmm?” 

“Let me guess,” you said. “The boys?” 

Rhett nodded.

“What happened?” you asked him.

“I honestly have no idea (y/n) Rhett said, giving you a confused look as he started talking with his hands. “One minute I was making lunch and the next thing I knew, they were running around, trying to jump the fence with your underwear over their heads.” 

“Wait,” you said, your lips pressing together in shock. “My underwear....?” 

“Yep.” 

“The silky red lace ones that you got me for Valentine’s Day a few years ago?” 

Rhett bit his lower lip. 

“Jeebus fuck,” you groaned as a laugh escaped your throat. 

“Darlin, I tried!” Rhett insisted. “Those two little crotch goblins got away before I could catch’em and pull your underwear off their heads.” 

You couldn’t even get the words out, you were laughing so hard. Rhett went completely red with embarrassment, even as Cecelia came through the kitchen door. “The hell did I miss?” she asked. 

“Your grand-ghouls,” Rhett answered, taking another sip of coffee. 

“Sweet Jeebus, Mary and Joseph,” Cecelia groaned. “What’d they do now?” 

Rhett didn’t even get an answer out of her before the two boys came running back through the door, darting through the living room and up the stairs, disappearing into their room. Rhett kept his tongue in his cheek, freezing at the sight of the annoyed look on his mother’s face. “What?” he asked. 

“Ya’ll wanna tell me why my grandbabies are runnin around with a pair of red lace skivies on their heads?” Cecelia enquired. 

“I have absolutely no idea Ma!” Rhett exclaimed, that expression returning. 

Royal was the last to come in through the door with a giggling Amy and Hannah behind him. “Hey, ya’ll see them two little underwear demons run in here?” he asked. 

“Upstairs dad.” 

Royal traipsed up the stairs after his grandsons, a big grin on his face as he shook his head. 

Rhett groaned as you kept laughing. “Could this day get any weirder?” he asked aloud. 

“Well....don’t hate me for this but.....” you told him. 

You reached into your bag and pulled out the ziploc baggie containing a pregnancy test. When Rhett took it out and saw that it was positive, he buried his face in his hands and laughed. 

“Ya’ll need to keep that snake properly caged,” Cecelia told him. “Just sayin.” 

Rhett pulled you close and kissed the side of your head. “Darlin I love you,” he said. “But promise me one thing?” 

“Hmmm?” you hummed. 

“Promise me this one will be a girl?” 

You laughed and kissed his cheek. “We’ll find out in a few weeks,” you told him. 

#rhett abbott #rhett abbott x reader #amy abbott #cecelia abbott #royal abbott #outer range