#I love the farmhouse arc a lot actually

[seagull-scribbles]

Happy valentines! what says ‘love’ like two smelly, unwashed teen boys?

Drew this after a lovely convo with @less-depresso-more-espresso, who also gave me this song to listen to 💕 so this one’s for you bestie aha

#tmnt 2012 #rasey #casey jones #raphael hamato #less-depresso-more-espresso #I love the farmhouse arc a lot actually #I think Casey went and got a few jobs on ‘local’ farms to help pay for food and bills #and April got a job helping in a shop or something she’s not very outdoorsy #and after Leo wakes up raph would start going outside #mikey looks after the animals and the farm there but we know ralh likes animals and flowers so I think he’d keep pretending to be too macho #his main jobs looking after Leo #but Casey could get him to goof off and sit in the sun and stuff #maybe raph would help chop wood or just sit near by drawing or trying to make daisy chains for mikey #something silly #anyway #I don’t do romance but I like using today as a chance to tell my friends I love them and to spend quality time snuggling my dog so #I hope everyone has a good day xxx #thank you again depresso xxx #Spotify #I tried to make this so it couldn’t be platonic but who am I kidding I sit on my friends like this all the time lmao #oh I drew this in my usual grunge way I do for 2012 and then tried to make it look softer with the same brushes so lmk if it worked

[fabuloustrash05]

2012 Caseynardo’s Love Story Headcanon

How the Leo x Casey ship would come to be if I wrote TMNT 2012

Their love story starts during the farmhouse arc in season 3 when Casey notices Raph is under a lot of stress and pressure from being the temporary leader of the group while Leo is injured and recovering. He’s got a lot on his plate: taking care of Leo because of his injury, looking after Mikey and Donnie, and even being the one who is making sure Mikey, Donnie and April are all keeping up with their ninja training. Because of this Casey offers to look after and take care of Leo so Raph can focus more on training everybody, and Raph accepts.

This decision results in Leo and Casey spending a lot more time together while living on the farmhouse. Casey would keep Leo company at the house while the others were off training, and together they would hang out, play video games, joke together, watch movies (sometimes Spaceheroes), and also chat and get to know each other more. Overtime the two actually became really close, and they realize they had a lot more common than they originally believed. They are both the oldest siblings of their families and they are willing to do everything in their power to protect them and keep their younger sibling(s) safe and happy (Reminder: Casey canonly has a little sister). They both relate to the feeling that they feel more like a parent to their siblings then an actual sibling because their fathers are never around to take care of them because they are always busy so they unwillingly take on the responsibility.

After this moment of realization and bonding, Leo began to develop feelings for Casey first. Spending so much time together Leo began seeing another side of Casey realizing there’s more to him than just being the reckless troublemaker that his brother hangs out with all the time. Leo admires that no matter the difficult and hard situation Casey is in, he always looks at the positive side of it all. Casey comes from a broken family and lives a difficult life (Note: I believe the writers have confirmed that Casey’s parents are divorced, that’s why I say “broken family”) but yet he still holds his head up high and keeps going. He’s actually more mature than Leo thought.

Casey also began to develop feelings for Leo around this time because Leo was the only person who genuinely listened to him and understood his struggles. April never truly did that. She listened, but didn’t understand, and for Raph he understood but hardly listened because he (like many others) don’t take Casey seriously. Also around this time Casey feelings for April began to fade. He still cares about her, and loves her as a friend, but not in a romantic light. He also grew tired of the love triangle, because he knew that April was growing feelings for Donnie at this point, so he found it pointless being in a competition where he already knows what the results will be, but that doesn’t stop him from still messing with Donnie when it comes to April related stuff.

So Leo (being the closest bisexual I HC him to be) becomes very overwhelmed with his new feelings for Casey, while Casey (who I also HC as bi) is chill with it and doesn’t overthink his feelings but thinks Leo doesn’t feel the same for him, when in truth he does like him too, Casey’s just very oblivious. Whenever he would get close to Leo (hugging him, touching his shoulder, etc) Leo gets really flustered and blush and then panic like an idiot, Casey just thinks that he’s making Leo uncomfortable. Leo also doesn’t realize that Casey likes him to because he thinks Casey still likes April because he still sees him rivaling with Donnie for April, which reminder Casey’s only doing this now to mess with Donnie not because he likes a April anymore.

During and after they leave the farmhouse, there’s pining feelings between them, sometimes even friendly flirty. Later on the Kraang are defeated, New York was saved by the Turtles and Mutanimals, and the city is trying to go back to normal. One night while on patrol, Casey ask Raph if Leo ever talks about him when he’s not around. Raph immediately picks up what’s going on (their little moments of flirting we’re obvious to him, but everyone else was blind) and quickly tells Casey to just go for it and ask out his brother, because out of everybody Raph knows Leo had a terrible first experience with romance (Note: Leo’s romantic feelings for Karai disappeared the second he found out she was his sister, something the writers should’ve done, and because of this Leo had a hard time excepting romance again. *Cue “I Think I’m In Love Again” by Kat Dahlia*)

A little nervous, Casey takes Raph’s advice and asked Leo if he wants to go on a date with him. Leo is shocked by this and believe Casey just means to hang out as friends, but Casey tell him that he’s liked him for a while and wants to go on an actual date with him and Leo happily accepts.

Keeping their newfound relationship a secret from everybody else, except for Raph because he obviously now knows, the two have their first day at the hockey rink. The two have a really fun time and by the end of the date they come close to sharing their first kiss, but Leo stops himself. Leo tells Casey that he really does like him and wants to be in a relationship with him but Leo knows he can’t right now. At the moment he has too much stress and pressure of being leader, Karai is still out there lost in her mutant snake form (though Leo is not interested in Karai romantically anymore he still cares about her because she is his family and he wants to bring her home), Shredder is still out there, and who knows what others threats will soon come their way. Casey is sad but completely understands, telling Leo that he will wait for him. The two agree to be friends after that date and the story continues on as per usual with the occasional flirty banter between them both. By season 4 everyone picks up what is going on between them, and some wonder when are they finally going to get together. It’s a “right person wrong time” situation.

By the end, they would officially get together and their relationship would be confirmed during the season 5 episode, When Worlds Collide. Remember that scene of Leo in the dojo training with Karai? Have that scene play out and just replace Karai with Casey ;)

#tmnt 2012 rewrite #rewriting tmnt 2012 #tmnt headcanons #fabtrash headcanons #rewrite #tmnt 2012 #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt leonardo #tmnt leo #leonardo hamato #casey jones #tmnt casey #caseynardo #leocasey #leo x casey #tmnt raphael #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #Karai #april o'neil #long post

[blitzxiiru]

I fricken love u scars for the boys. I think my favorites (like, how they look and stuff and etc.) are Leo & Donnie's, but they all look great (tho, the reason they have them is sad, which is less great). Tho I was just thinking and after seeing some posts and stuff to remind me about it, 2012 Leo had to get his heart jumpstarted after it stopped and he has been electrocuted a lot apparently makes think that some electricity and/or burn scars would be cool too. Good luck on those finals too!

thank you so much!!! <33 i’m done with finals and im able to get back to you on this lol

yeah, electricity scars are a really good take! i’ll add them into leo’s scar hcs because he actually has been electrocuted a lot — actually all of them — so i might sneak in some new electricity scars for everyone else too. speaking of which, raph would also have some burn scars cus of the farmhouse arc where he got himself some actual fucking flamethrowers??? and donnie got electrocuted with that one episode where he got strapped to a chair and got zapped every time he died in tetris. mikey too, ive seen him get electrocuted somewhere, but i cant pinpoint exactly when.

but meanwhile, here’s the newest addition to leo’s growing family of scars !!

CW: BLOOD

i SWEAR i didn’t mean to draw him like this. it was supposed to be something simple that showed his elec scars,, but i got possessed by the devil or smth because I GENUINELY DIDNT MEAN TO MAKE HIM UNHINGED??? ok but slay tho i love unhinged leo he deserves to let loose

((anyway his scar doesn’t actually glow like that it looks like how a normal electricity scar would but i just wanted to highlight it to make it clear also bc it looks cool okay just let me indulge))

#I GAVE INTO MY UNHINGED LEO URGES IM SORRY #i just. wanted an excuse to draw him battle weary #cw: blood #tmnt 2012 #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #2012 leo #leonardo tmnt #leonardo hamato #blitzxiiru shitposts <3 #asks

[horsetailcurlers2]

do you have any outlaw queen headcanons? (robin lives au)

yes for sure! i’ve admittedly been on my swan queen vibe for a while (so i might be a little rusty at this lol) but i am nothing if not a multi shipper and this is perfect timing bc i have been thinking about OQ lately.

-in my perfect “robin lives” AU, the zelena-is-marian arc never happened lol but for narrative purposes let’s say zelena just had a redemption arc, robin was not killed, and everyone is safe and happy and storybrooke is settled and peaceful with no magical antagonists.

-robin and roland move into regina’s house eventually and it is…. quite the adjustment. he has spent at least a decade living in the woods and sleeping on the ground for one thing. and unlike everyone that came over during the first curse, he very much does not have 30 years of built in knowledge about modern technology. he is absolutely hopeless with it all. it took regina two months to teach him how to use the coffee maker. he only knows how to put on his two favorite channels in the tv (do NOT ask him to put on netflix or even put in a dvd). and he flat out REFUSES to use the microwave. regina finds this all to be some combination of exasperating and adorable. henry just finds it absolutely hilarious.

-as robin settles in and gets more comfortable in storybrooke, he discovers the things he likes about our realm. he loves the music. naturally, robin really likes classic dad bands. like the avett brothers and stuff. he’s always asking regina to help him play their music on his “magic song thingy” (an mp3 player). he also loves the nature channel (sorry if that’s a little on the nose haha). i also think he’d have a fascination with reruns of old family sitcoms.

-he makes her more social. not in a forced way, i just mean that he makes her feel a lot more comfortable going to public social gatherings. it’s a lot easier for her to be around all her former subjects when robin is there with her. and he’s kind of a social butterfly so she lowkey loves seeing him in his element. a lot of her discomfort also comes from thinking that nobody actually wants her there or that they all still hate her so he definitely helps assure her that she is wanted and he encourages her to spend more time around people so she can see for herself.

-sharing her space is very difficult for regina at first. she’s always been a very solitary person (aside from her relationship with henry which is a completely different thing) and every time she’s had to share space so intimately, it’s usually been because it was forced upon her. so she is very grumpy and irritated when he first moves in because he keeps leaving things out of place or because he snores in his sleep or “breathes too loud”. eventually they work it out and she learns how to live alongside another person and she learns to make space for robin while still keeping some for herself.

-he LOVES post it notes. he thinks they are the handiest modern convenience after indoor plumbing and electricity. he leaves an excessive amount of notes for her all around the house- on her vanity mirror, on the refrigerator, on the dashboard of her car. sometimes it’s practical reminders (they’re out of bread, he will be working late, he’s handling dinner that night) but usually it’s just something very sappy about how beautiful she is or what a good day he wants her to have. it’s ridiculous and cheesy and cliche but she can’t help smiling every time.

-the charmings host a lot of the big family gatherings at their farmhouse, but regina’s house is also a hot spot for family dinners (see my regina headcanons about how she secretly loves hosting). they have monthly family game nights at mifflin street but regina has actually been banned from playing. she is confined to being the score keeper or the game master because she gets WAY too intense and it kind of ruins it for everybody else.

-somebody with as much trauma as regina is bound to have some nightmares. the first time they share a bed for not so scandalous reasons, he is so startled and freaked out by her nightmares that he falls off the bed and onto the floor. they aren’t bad all of the time, and a lot of nights she doesn’t even have them. but when they’re bad, they’re pretty bad. once he catches on to what’s going on, he’s exceptionally good at helping sooth them.

-roland LOVES living with regina and henry. he thinks having a big brother is so cool and he is obsessed with “helping” regina in the kitchen. he also really loves the “magic moving pictures” on the tv. at first, it’s an adjustment for him because he misses sleeping in a tent with his papa’s merry men, but he still visits camp very often. regina also puts some of those glow in the dark plastic stars on his ceiling and he LOVES them bc it feels like he’s still sleeping under the “outside ceiling” as he calls it.

-robin’s main love language is gift giving. it seems a little contradictory with the whole “robin hood” thing but it is not materialistic at all. it’s just in the sense that he is thoughtful and perceptive and he likes giving things to the people he loves that show how deeply he knows them. it’s very novel to regina, who has never really received a gift from anybody except for daniel (and henry of course). she mentioned her favorite novel once offhand, and he bought her a beautiful first edition for christmas months later. it’s also the little things: her favorite flowers when he comes home one weekday evening, her favorite candy when he swings by the grocery store, stopping into her office to surprise her with a coffee the exact way she orders it. she’s never had somebody who is just so clearly always thinking about her and prioritizing her in such a way.

-i go back and forth on whether or not they would ever get married (mostly because regina has so much trauma around marriage and they are already in love and living as a family anyway). ultimately though, i think that they would. the idea isn’t so scary to her when it comes to robin (plus at this point she’s had quite a bit of therapy) and it’s what she’s always wanted- to be married to the person she really loves and to have a peaceful simple life surrounded by people who love her.

#this is a little all over the place so lmk if you want something more specific #regina’s love languages are much more complex and i could go on and on about them for hours #lmk if you want headcanons for any other regina ship #regina mills #ouat #once upon a time #outlaw queen #robin hood #regina mills headcanons #outlaw queen headcanons

[tending-the-hearth]

Why Ralphael from TMNT (2012) gets so much hate?

people assume he's this horrible abusive brother because he teases poor baby brother mikey who can't handle himself :((((((

but i'm going to get a little personal, because i feel like it's important to say:

i grew up with an abusive older sibling. both emotionally and physically. i know what it's like to have an abusive sibling. both my older brother and i were hurt by our oldest sibling, and i'm honestly just now starting to get around to coping with that.

so seeing people say that one of MY comfort characters is abusive is extremely upsetting, because Raph is the furthest thing from it.

and i notice it a lot within the Rise of the TMNT fandom, because they've got the big teddy bear version of Raph, and 2012 Raph is a little more rough around the edges, a little more closed off, he acts like an actual older brother.

literally look into the comments of any of the posts i've made about this, and you'll see that everyone who has siblings is basically commenting something along the lines of "this is literally how my siblings and i act"

Raph is arguably the MOST protective of the four turtles. He's the only one to call Splinter "Dad" when they reunite with him after returning to Earth, he's the one who sits at Leo's side during the farmhouse arc, he's the one who gives Donnie advice about April, and he's so ridiculously protective over Mikey???? He gives him the pep talk after everything with Bradford, he freaks out any time one of their enemies even tries to go after Mikey, he has a panic attack when Mikey gets hurt while he's the leader.

anyone who tells me that 2012 Raph is abusive, or that he's a terrible brother, or that he's the worst character has quite obviously not watched the show, because Raph is one of the most caring characters in the show. Just because he doesn't outright say how much he loves his brothers, or because he isn't as affectionate with them does not mean he doesn't care about them.

(also there's the whole thing about "poor baby mikey is so helpless and needs to be rescued from his terrible brothers" that just... feels so condescending because Mikey can easily handle threats himself)

#anon i could write a full essay about 2012 raph and how he's one of the best characters #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2012 #raphael

[battiegutz]

I talk on here a lot hopefully I’m not weirding you out.

I’ve also rewrote parts of 2012 Tmnt. And I have questions!

So hold up lemme get my list.

First of!

Leo? Trans fem? If so, during what arc would she come out? I have my own ideas but I wanna know yours!

Ships?? (Bats eye lashes)

Ok ok next

Any new designs? Cause I have some for the krang and the big krang robot

Mmm what else… OOo!

Redesigns?

Any other plot points and stuff your adding on too?

I really really like hearing ideas about rewriting parts of 2012 .

Anyway hopefully I’m not weird or annoying! Please tell me if I should calm down on the asking (trust me I would not be offended)

-🪲

FUCK !! YESSSS I LOVE BEIN ASKED QUESTIONS DW IT HELPS ME ACTUALLY BRAINSTORM<3<3

yesss transfem leo :3 idk when she comes out but she doesnt rlly get time to think abt her gender until th farmhouse arc but that gets interrupted when they go back to reverse th invasion (i most recently watched th ep where bebop nd rocksteady got mutated so i only have like. a vague idea of what happens next lol) but i think maybe? it would be before the space arc?? god i need 2 keep watchin💀 YES. SHIPS. GOD OK SO. im a multishipper if its not obvious but fr this particular au/rewrite, im eventually gonna have lesbian aprilnardo bc idk they have a rlly good dynamic i think. side not raph nd april are absolutely besties they love talkin shit. there will also be timatello bc im giving tim an actual arc whattttt🤯🤯🤯🤯 anyway yea LOL timatello<3 altho itll just be pining nd they never get 2gether sadly :( srry th angst won nd someone maybe got a little bit shot😔 ill try to throw some jonatello crumbs in aswell maybe, idk torn between them nd rasey fr why does casey have so much game🤨 oh my god yes i want to ideally redesign all the characters tho idk if ill get around 2 EVERYONE but man im a fruit ofc im changin up these designs. i gave april braces nd freckles bc i think it suits her :3 i also wanna make th kraang in general more like. horrifying? probably not the early series kraang, but w aprils kraang dna in particulat i wanna delve deeper into horror teehee. also wanna make karai more well. shes a teenager bruh i think she shuld be allowed to have her emo era lol. im tryna wait until i get thru like majority of th show to mess w th plot points but some ideas i have involve showing more of the farmhouse arc, and considering a certain. lost limb😶(srry leo lol) itll take a bit longer fr them to get back 2 nyc. also jus gonna try nd fix th weird way 2012 did romance subplots?? why does leo hav a crush on her sister🤢 yea no instead she meets karai in civilian clothes nd they bond nd karai becomes like an older sister to her but then she has to betray leo fr shredder :( not super developed obvs but i think i jus wanted karai to wear trap pants and smoke weed lol. april also shuts down donnie rlly early bc shes a lesbian so shes like. bruh. also my recent art post idk what actually happens in mutant apocalypse but i was thinkin abt how interestin it wuld be if leo was captured by the kraang and used as an experiment bc of her unique mutations :3

#silver spills #asks #tmnt 2012 rewrite #i need 2 name it so i can keep better track grahhh #dw i love th excuse 2 infodump teehee

[viviisweird]

TMNT 2012 MIKEY FANFIC RECOMMENDATIONS!!!! <333

First, I wanna say tysm for the likes on the last list, I really, really appreciate it <333

Now, onto the fanfics!!!!!

Self-Harm by KKscendants

I cannot explain how much I love this fanfic

I love the concept, I love how it's not like, straight forward and actually needs emotional thinking and stuff

(I literally cannot explain-)

I don't wanna give out any spoilers, but plz go read it, it's amazing!!!

The observation

by crawlingupawall

I ADORE FARMHOUSE ARC SM!!!!!!

IT IS JUST SO GOOD LIKE-

Yea anyway, it's mostly view in Donnie's pov but it is extremely Mikey centric

Drop by Drop is The Water Pot Filled

by ViviTheGhosty

OMG, I CANNOT express how I love this

And ik I say that ab every fanfic I recommend, but I really think that all of them are really, really really good! And awesome! That's why I'm recommending them anyway

I don't like giving out spoilers so that's why I don't really describe any fanfics I talk about so yea-

swallow down (all your regrets)

by Keeryd

This one was just hella relatable if you ask me-

It is kinda short but I love it

(Idk what else to say lmao)

But anyway, I highly recommend checking Keeryd's account, I love everything they write <333

Mikey's Super Thinker Book!!! DO NOT READ!!! D:<

by YouDontKnowMe (Annonimous1000)

I'm honestly re-reading this one

I don't remove much of it, I just remember loving it (help-?)

Mikey's Cookbook

by Fighting Gold ButCoda

I think after reading the ones I already recommended, you will release that I deeply love mikey ED fanfics (totally not self-reflecting or whatever 🤭)

Anyway-

Entailment, maybe

by GOk1ttyg0

Ermm, yea-

(Idk what to type anymore, srry (ヽ´ω`) )

Mirum Videre

by short_bc_of_coffee

YES, OM YES

ONE OF MY FAV FANFICS EVER

I think that ppl dont talk ab psychosis that much, or at least not the correct way-

I adore this fanfic

I also love the b-team ^^

So this was very fun for me

And ofc, always read tags in any fanfic you're about to read; for tw and cw

Mikey's one shots

by SaheyMeine

I love the fanfic, but I adore the first chapter (character analysis)

i can make you happy, too!

by paindump

<3333

(I'm losing my mind)

Answers I Didn't Know I Needed

by PixiePerson19

(Oh, this is rottmnt mikey btw, I just want to put it in here)

I haven't read this one so I'm kinda nervous to put it in this list-

This is the first story I'm putting on the list without actually reading it

It's been in my 'to read' for a while so I'm just gonna trust my instincts and say that is pretty a lovely story <3

(Also, let it be known that the author (PixiePerson19) is literally hunting me,

I've seen them comment on almost every fanfic I've ever read, so now every time I open comments I bet that I will se them)

(Like, sir, what did I do to you ( ; ﾟДﾟ) )

Anyway, got distracted again-

Umm-

Idk-

That's enough for today :D

My goal was like 20 fanfics but I ended up with 11-12 of them, srry ( ﾟεﾟ；)

Plz tell me if you see any mistakes (like grammar mistakes, or maybe I imported the wrong link or sm-)

And, I'm so, so, so, sorry for basically lying about how fast will this list come out

I really thought I could do it fast but then a lot of things happened, and

yaddi, yaddi, yadda

So yea, haha-

I hope you love these fanfic as much as me <3

Have fun reading!!!

#tmnt #tmnt mikey #mikey tmnt 2012 #2012 mikey #michaelangelo #mikey #fanfics recommendations #this took me too long #i hate school #im gonna kms #im gonna cry #oh well- #I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING TIME READING THESE!!!! #ao3 writes are so underrated #so yea #ok byeee #<3

[abyssallector]

just reading your ask about farmhouse arc raph and omg i 1000% agree, the farmhouse arc is one of my favourites of the entire series and raph really shines throughout those episodes. i just did a rewatch of the entire series but that season might be the one i go back and watch a few times over just because i love it so much.

but i was also wondering if could you give your opinion on the croaking episode 👀 like you said in your ask, there’s a lot of varying fandom views surrounding it, so i’d be curious to hear your two cent on it!

thanks ❤️

The Croaking is my least favorite episode out of the entire set of farmhouse episodes, and possibly my least favorite out of the entire season . This is because this episode showcases one of the things i dislike about this show the most- how they approach writing Mikey as a character. Mikey is one of my favorite little guys ever, but even though he is one of the main four protagonists of this show, he's never actually treated like one. He doesn't have any serious long form arcs or moments of introspection (outside of group development), and what sucks is that this episode would have been the Perfect time to do that for him. The writers themselves can't seem to treat him seriously as a character, and the weakness in this part of his writing is why this episode is perceived the way it is.

One piece of the beginning of the episode gets shared around without context- a scene where his brothers berate Mikey for making a mess of the farmhouse and force him to clean up. Raph in particular is harsh to him and he says the infaamous words, "Some ninja! he's just a big screwup." And by no means was Raph right in saying that, but there's a lot of context often left out in the discussions of this episode. One thing, for instance, is Leo's comment about it actually being the *third* time in that week that Mikey trashed the house. Their frustration didn't come out of nowhere, and that's important information to know. Mikey didn't deserve to be called a screw-up, and he's totally justified in feeling hurt by those words, but he was not fully innocent in this situation either. However, this is never *meaningfully* acknowledged by the episode. And despite Leo and Donnie not disputing Raph's harsh comments and also yelling at Mikey in this scene, Raph is the only one treated as someone who's actually done something wrong. Both by the show, and by the fandom. It's incredibly shallow.

I think Mikey running away could be an interesting story, especially with the lead-up from the episode previous, where Mikey's suspicions about April's mom are dismissed by everyone for no reason other than that the suspicion is coming from HIM. But after the scene where he actually does leave, his feelings are just kinda... never brought up again. As if he forgot the reason why he ran away? As if running away isn't an EXTREME kind of action for anyone to take??? There is actually a brief moment when he talks about his brothers to Napoleon Bonafrog, and Napoleon says something like, "whoa, your brothers sound awesome." To which Mikey responds, a little sadly, "Yeah, they are awesome... even after I trashed the house." This isn't out of character for him to say or anything, but I have a few issues with this statement with the greater context of the entire episode in mind. One, this is factually not true- because if it was, he wouldn't have run away in the first place. (not saying that Mikey should be pissed at them, or hate them, because the reason why he left was out of sadness that they don't respect him. I just mean that what they said to him sort of wasn't awesome at all, and nothing in the episode directly affirms this). And two, this, and like one other small off-hand comment, is all we get of Mikey's thoughts regarding the event that led him to run away. I really feel like they could have done more, but they spent most of their time with the stupid frog plot instead of using the setup as an opportunity to advance Mikey as a character.

I also don't want to like, nitpick, but there's also a lot of weird plot inconsistencies in the episode itself? I don't want to get into them all, but the Article that Donnie brings up where they're trying to find Mikey is. strange... It reports on the local campsites being destroyed by the punk frogs, and there's a depiction of Mikey's face in the sketches shown of the perpetrators. But at that point in the episode, Mikey had JUST met Napoleon in the middle of the woods? It's never shown or implied that Mikey was even a part of those camp raids at all, outside of this. It seems so out of character for him to even willingly participate in something like that. If anything, he'd try to get them to stop, lmao. There's a few little moments like that here and there.

I do really like Mikey and Napoleon Bonafrog's friendship though. It's always fun to see Mikey deal with characters who can be more.. immature (?) than he is, and it was cute watching him try to teach Napoleon some of his skills. And even though im overall very dissatisfied with the emotional resolution of this episode, i really like how excited Raph was to see Mikey again, even hugging him mid-battle. (I was a little thrown off by how they both acted like they had never hugged before though????) . This scene is also what people tend to leave out when talking about this episode, unfortunately. So, when that clip of the beginning makes its rounds, it makes Raph look really really really really REALLY bad. It's often used as evidence of Raph being abusive and hating Mikey, but if this episode does literally nothing else, it does have moments showing this to be the contrary. People either forget or overlook it entirely.

But that's just kind of the problem here. The resolution they have is just not strong enough to leave any sort of impression on the audience because there barely is one present here. Both sides of the conflict with Mikey and his Brothers were poorly presented without really taking the time to actually think about the deeper meaning or implications this kind of story would have on these characters. Whatever message or theme this episode has gets pushed to the side and muddled because of the prioritization of the action-oriented plotline. This happens with pretty much every Mikey-centric episode, except for like, two. MAYBE 3.. It pisses me off to no end because this character has so much potential but because Mikey is the silly goofy comic relief, the "youngest" of the family, he's just stuck playing that role. Or maybe the 2012 writers just kinda suck at writing complicated characters, who knows. So yeah i don't like this episode HAHA

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt mikey #tmnt mikey 2012 #tmnt raph #tmnt leo #tmnt donnie #i didnt mention her but april was the only one i didnt have a problem with #good for her ig LMAO #i said a lot of words here and i hope they make sense

[enthblaze]

SAY LESS I'M HERE

Okay, so I call it the Universal Misplacement AU (or UMAU for short lol) and it's called that because Casey's "twin", Rose, is originally my Rise of the TMNT OC (Rise is the version that got me into TMNT) and when I started branching into other versions, I originally started with Rose dimension hopping and in the 2012 crossover, she and Casey became accidental twins because they look a lot alike and are Batshit Insane. And eventually this turned into a whole separate idea where Rose got teleported to the 2012 verse when she was pretty young and got adopted into the Jones family and was raised as Casey's twin. She's Fae, which means that a single multiverse can't have more than one of her, and her prematurely discovering her Fae magic (not that she was old enough to know what the fuck it was) is what got her to the 2012 verse.

But onto the actual AU! Rose was raised as Casey's twin sister. Those two are as thick as fucking thieves but anyone who doesn't know them might think they hate each other because bodily threats is their main love language. Their dad has made the joke about the Cain Instinct being the only instinct those two know on more than one occasion. Rose is on the boxing team in addition to Casey being on the hockey team, so the twins are athletic, reckless as hell, and bisexual (Rose is canonical, Casey is headcanon).

When Casey first starts out on being a vigilante, it does not take long for Rose to find out and she demands that she join him. So now they're badass vigilantes, Casey even snuck her a goalie mask she promptly painted pink and black to match. They have a list of plans they've labeled via the alphabet, wherein one plan aliterates with a letter of the alphabet; i.e Plan F is Fuck It, We Ball, Plan K is Keep Away, and my personal favorite, Plan M is Molotov Cocktail.

Rose's main weapon are the brass knuckles she totally didn't smuggle into her room (/sar) but has borrowed her brother's baseball bat lol.

I can't stress this enough, because i'm Emo about it; just because they threaten bodily harm and insult each other on a daily basis does not mean they don't care about and love each other to their very souls. Yk how Rose is Fae? During season 2, the closer they get the Kraang invasion, the more Rose's powers start to act up, because they're responding to her big emotions and the stress that follows. So, during the farmhouse arc, she and Casey put in a bit more effort in trying to understand her magic. And in doing so, a few days before Leo wakes up from his coma (which, idk if you've talked about Van during Leo's coma, but I would love to hear about the angst that comes with it), Rose and Casey have a very emotionally vulnerable and intimate moment in that they well and truly spill their hearts out.

Casey, to me, is a reflection of Raph in that he's a protector. This boy loves his family to point where he's willing to do Violence to keep them safe. And that includes his twin, very much so. When she gets overstimulated to the point of a meltdown, or is understimulated to the point of floating away in the clouds, he is the rock that keeps her tethered and he likes it. Because it means he can make sure she's okay that much easier.

And Rose has always been a lover. She can be as sarcastic and playfully mean and petty as she wants, she loves with everything she's got. So naturally, she reflects Casey's love for her back to him. Just like how he's always in her corner when she needs it, albeit with a remark and a smug grin she immediately wants to smack off, she will always do the same for him. She wasn't born a Jones. She chose to be a Jones. And she makes that choice every single day. Casey will always be her brother, and will always be her twin. She can't think of a thing in the world that would break that.

And. During this moment. When they are baring their souls to each other after three months of worrying about their dad and little sister, being powerless to protect their city the way they wanted and unable to help one of their friends. Rose's magic reaches toward Casey's soul, the very thing that makes him who he is. And tethers it to hers. Bonding their souls for however long they are siblings. And as a physical marker of this, cause this is a Big Fucking Deal, they are given each other's eye color on their off-side. Rose's left eye turns brown, and Casey's right eye turns blue. And now that their souls are bonded, they not only have a better connection emotionally, but magically too. Because Rose inadvertently transferred some of her Fae magic to Casey.

Which of course is used for IMMENSE chaos. Poor Leo is so tired of their shit LMAO

(Also, I have to apologize for how long this ask is LMAO I have so many thoughts and concepts but these are the big ones so far (I've got a couple of concepts in the works 👀) and i love this au sm)

"She wasn't born a Jones. She chose to be a Jones. And she makes that choice every single day."

STOP RN- THIS MADE MY HEART CLENCH /POS

I LOVE THIS AU SM ALREADY !!!

I barely know Rose and yet she's won me over. I need more Rose & Casey content. AND- I wasn't expecting magic or the Fae being brought into a 2012 au but I AM SURE HERE FOR IT- THIS IS AWESOME!!!

Oh, and never apologise btw for long asks, theyre my favourite. i loved all of this sm, and i deffo wanna see what else u got in store :]]

(and yes, ive made a few posts regarding Van during Leo's coma ahah)

Poor Leo waking up, only to be met with these two whirlwinds of chaos lmaooo XD

#ryo asks #universal misplacement au #UMAU #tmnt 2012

[missmonsters2]

Between the Lines || X

PAIRING: Steve Rogers & Fem!Reader (Platonic) / Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader / Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader / Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader x Wanda Maximoff

Summary: Vampire AU. Life has changed drastically since the 1600s. Things are always on the move, and you’ve been very careful to not get on SHIELDs radar. Living on the down-low owning a café, you’re content to live out a quiet existence. That is until the Avengers enter your life.

[Set after the New York Invasion, in CAWS, and goes up to AoU. Canon divergent after.]

Warnings: This series will contain smut(**), poly-relationship, and dark themes.

Note: Oof I came back and DELIVERED 👏👏 it’s really long I’m sorry. I legit said we’re ending this arc today LOL

PART I || PART II || PART III || PART IV || PART V || PART VI || PART VII || PART VIII || PART IX

PART X of XX

Count: 11,007

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There's something about the way the golden sky hits the horizon of this quiet countryside field.

It's quiet.

At least in comparison to the city.

You like the tall grass that surrounds the stand-alone home. The air is cleaner, crisper. There's a serene peace that settles in the area, and it makes you nostalgic for things you haven't had.

You can hear children running around inside, and the sink running in the kitchen along with food sizzling. Looking over at Natasha, there's a softness that has fallen over her face, a look you're somewhat familiar with, but in a different context.

This might be home for her, too, you realize.

"A safe house?" Tony tilts his head as everyone stares at the farmhouse.

"Let's hope," Clint mutters as everyone enters into the house. "Honey, I'm home!"

You tilt your head, curious when the woman you assume to be Clint's wife walks into the kitchen. You knew she was carrying based on the conversation you overhead, but you were still surprised to find her heavily pregnant.

She was due soon.

"Hi, company," Clint says in a rush as he gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry, I didn't call ahead."

"Hey," the woman replies as she kisses Clint. You hear Tony make a comment to Thor about the strangeness of this, but you were focused on her stomach.

You tilted your head as you could hear its heartbeat.

"Gentlemen and gentle...women," Clint stares at you and Natasha. "This is Laura. My wife."

"I know all your names," Laura smiles while everyone looks at her rather awkwardly because no one but Natasha, you and, David knew about her.

David seemed the most curious, but he has always loved kids and got along with them easily.

"You're due soon," he tells Laura with a smile as he sneaks around you to stand closer to inspect Laura respectfully.

"You can tell?" Laura looks down at her stomach as David nods.

"Yes," he says. "A couple months at the most."

"How can you tell?" Laura asks as you hear tiny rumbling footsteps running towards this room.

"We can smell it," David informs her.

"Incoming," Clint says, kneeling down as his son and daughter excitedly burst into the room.

"Dad!" His daughter jumps in Clint's arm. Clint picks her up as he stands and kisses his son's head.

"Tinier agents," Tony blinks at the scene while Steve looks completely flabbergasted.

"This is Lila and Cooper," Clint smiles softly.

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" The little girl says, and Natasha turns as she smiles.

"Why don't you hug her and find out?" Natasha starts to walk while Lila runs into her arms.

Natasha picks her up with ease, holding her close as she kisses Lila on the cheek. She comes back to you and tense ever so slightly before you relax.

Of course, you spent a lot of time with Allison as you took care of her, but sometimes, being around young kids would cause just a quick flashback of the ones you couldn't save.

Natasha smiles at you, and you return it lightly.

"This is Lila," Natasha introduces you to her and then telling Lila your name.

"Is she your friend?" Lila asks as she stares at you, and Natasha laughs.

"Yes, she's...my special friend," Natasha looks at you with a smirk to which you roll your eyes gently in response.

"I like your braids," you tell Lila softly, who smiles shyly at you in thanks.

"Sorry to drop by in like this," Steve says to Laura.

"Yeah, we would've, but we were too busy not knowing you existed," Tony chirped in.

Clint smiles as he stands next to his wife and has his hand on Cooper's shoulder.

"Yeah, Fury helped me set this up and kept it off SHIELD's files. I'd like to keep it that way, I figured this is a good place to lay low."

Laura laughed suddenly, and everyone turned to see David giving family photos to her.

"Okay, as low as we can," Clint corrects.

Natasha sets down Lila as she drags you closer to Laura.

"Ah, honey, I missed you," Laura pulls Natasha into a hug before giving you a kind smile.

Your nose twitches as you get closer, and you can smell Laura's pregnancy in more detail.

"And how's little Natasha?" Natasha coos as she bends down to touch Laura's stomach gently.

"You mean Nathaniel?" David snickers and you elbow him in the rib.

"What?" Natasha says as she stands up, looking at David before she turns back to Laura.

"Sorry," Laura gives her an apologetic look that confirms what David said.

Natasha leans back down to Laura's stomach, "Traitor."

"Thor," Steve calls out.

You turn your attention as Thor leaves the house with Steve following him.

You hear Thor say how he saw something in his dream and how he won't find his answers here before flying off.

Everyone seems to have reached their limit and wants to get some rest. You, Natasha, and David decided to stay in one room since the two of you don't sleep. David said he'd be out working on a lot of other things anyways.

"Mind if I shower first?" He asks you and Natasha.

"Go for it," Natasha nods.

"If you use all the hot water, I'll kill you," you tell him, and David just pretends to look offended that you would even insinuate he would before walking off.

You could hear Clint and Laura talking in the next room where he's updating her on the mission and what he'll do once this mission is done. You try to drown it out as you turn and focus on Natasha before you.

"How are you feeling?" You ask softly as you lift your hand to her face.

Natasha presses more firmly into your hold. A part of her wishes she could feel the warmth of your actual hand, but she doesn't want to push you, and you were clearly nowhere ready to touch her with your bare hands.

It didn't stop her from fantasizing about it, though.

"Better," Natasha rasps, "I've stopped hearing the lingering voices."

You nodded, using your thumb to stroke her cheek.

"How was it?" Natasha asks, breaking the silence, and you know what she's referring to.

Slowing dropping your hand, you went to sit at the seat beside the window.

"It was..." you sighed, "I don't know. Hard."

Natasha takes a seat next to you, combing her fingers through your hair, and your eyes fluttered at the serene feeling.

"Talk to me," Natasha softly says. She knows you've probably been refraining from trying to talk about it with her after that night. You must think she may not like it.

But Natasha doesn't care about such things like that. Tatyana was a big part of your life, and even though you haven't said anything about it yet, Natasha knows Wanda will be too.

In what capacity will depend on what you'll allow, what you think Natasha will allow.

"I suppose...I didn't expect her to look so much like Tatyana," you smile weakly. "Looking at her is like nearly looking at a spitting image. Pietro has similar features, being twins, but it's easier to ignore that he's a descendant."

Natasha nods, understanding as she continues to comb through your hair.

"I'm still working on confirming something," you tell her honestly.

"And if what you suspect is true?" Natasha asks.

You purse your lips.

"Then, we have a new set of problems."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The day continues on, and everyone, for the most part, has freshened up. You leave Natasha to her own devices with showering even though earlier she had given you a look that suggested that they could save water if they showered together.

You had felt a hot liquid pool form in your lower stomach as you licked your lips.

But now was neither nor the time to engage in such activities, though you did give her a languid kiss before excusing yourself.

You could hear Tony and Steve talking--passive-aggressively arguing outside. You were about to go out to break it up when your eyes honed in on something.

"Just great," you huffed under your breath as you headed out to the field where there was a tractor.

"Thank you, Laura," a deep voice spoke as he caught your eye as you came up to them.

Laura greeted you, and you nodded in response as she slipped out to do her task.

"Maria tell you to come out here?" You asked, looking at Nick Fury.

"She thought it would be best for me to assess the situation," he shrugs. "I wanted a little word with Stark, anyways."

You shake your head. "Your words will mean nothing to him, you know."

"Then perhaps I should talk with you," Fury redirects. "I hear you're quite involved with this case."

You remain silent, not taking his bait.

"What do you suggest I do?" Fury says, curious about what you'll say.

Before you could answer, you hear Tony approaching, catching the two of you after looking at the tractor.

"Ah, Mrs. Barton, that little minx. What are the two of you doing here? Did Maria call you?" Tony asks as he turns to look at Fury.

"Artificial intelligence, you didn't even hesitate," Fury cocked his brow at Tony.

You tune out the two of them talking as you focus your attention elsewhere. You could hear Steve a little ways away, still ripping woods apart with his bare hands. Inside the house, you could hear the water being turned off, indicating that Natasha was done with her shower, and you decided you would go in soon to shower yourself before helping where you could.

"--you didn't," you catch the end of what Fury said before the man walked off, leaving you alone with the genius billionaire.

He was frustrated--annoyed, you could tell by just looking at his face. The light grimace and pinch between his eyebrow were a clear indication.

Tony catches you staring at him, looking miffed as he peers at you.

"Well, I suppose you have something to say, too, huh?" Tony mutters.

You take a long minute to stare at him, his conversation with Fury not lost on you.

"Not really," you say in the end. "Nothing I haven't already told you, anyways."

"Right, like my ego being too big, and I'm not the be-all, end-all."

You shrug. "No one is the be-all, end-all. If the world had to only rely on one man, we would've gone extinct before cavemen even had the chance to evolve."

"And I'm the man that's going to cause that," Tony persisted.

"No," you shook your head. "You know as well as I do that it was only your fear being shown to you."

"Do I?" Tony scoffed. "All I know is that I saw all my friends dead, and I caused it because I couldn't save them. Who are you to say it's not the future I saw?"

"Because she can't show you the future!" You burst at him, grimacing at your own outburst. You sigh, closing your eyes and pinching the bridge of your nose. "That's not what her power is. In the best-case scenario, she can use telepathy to read your mind to experience your memories and thoughts, and then using that to project hallucinations onto you. In the worst-case scenario, she can use her powers to alter reality to make what she wants to come true. I don't think she's there yet."

"And how do you know all that?" Tony asks, narrowing his eyes at you.

"You know that I came on this mission for my own personal reasons."

"And what? That Maximoff girl is your personal reason?"

"They both are," you tell him. "Her powers aren't entirely unfamiliar to me. Different, yes, I imagine from the scepter, but not unfamiliar."

"I don't see the difference between her powers and my future." Tony blinks at you.

You grumbled, sighing as you try to explain. "It means, dumbass, that Wanda either doesn't realize that she can alter reality or that she doesn't have enough control of her powers to do so yet. I'm betting it's a mix of the two. I felt it when I fought with her. She's chaotic, and her powers are unrefined. Because of that, she can only snoop into your mind and then send you your worst fear in the form of a hallucination. You weren't shown the future, Tony, you were emotionally exploited."

You wanted Tony to understand, not so sure why you were so concerned with it. Tony, like everyone else, was a complex person with a multitude of different faces and layers. On the surface, he was a nonchalant, cocky dickhead (though, you were also sure some of that was truly him on the inside too), but he was also someone who cared.

A lot.

And people who tend to care a lot always overdid everything to protect everything and everyone they care about.

Tony was already hurting.

And Wanda was making it worse.

It was a painful reminder that Tatyana had hurt people too, and you couldn't stop her.

"How do you know that isn't the future for sure? How can you confirm that's not my legacy?" Tony murmurs quietly, looking at the sky as if the low volume would allow him to admit his fear without you hearing.

You stare at him for a long minute, biting your tongue before you draw a long sigh that gets Tony's attention.

Tony watches you, taking off one glove, pressing your lips together as you do so.

You hold out your hand to him.

"If you tell Natasha I touched you before her, I'll break your dick."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Dinner is a pleasant affair. You had gone back into the kitchen swiftly after finishing your talk with Tony. Laura was starting to make dinner, and you let her know not to worry about you and David as the two of you don't eat.

You had taken a step out with David while everyone was bustling around before dinner. It had been a while since you last fed, and you had a feeling things were going to start happening back to back, and you needed to be prepared for it.

The two of you headed into town to the nearest hospital, compelling a nurse to bring you both a blood bag to feed on and forget.

It wasn't a lot, but it would be enough to get through the mission without damage, hopefully. You didn't want to end up taking too much from the hospital and causing a problem, even though the two of you were too far from your own stash.

It would've been better to go to a blood bank, but this town was so small they didn't have one.

You were sitting closely next to Natasha as she ate her dinner, your arm around her, and you fought the urge to hide your face into her neck.

"You should head to NEXUS in Oslo to pick up JARVIS," David tells Tony.

"Is that where he is?" Tony hums. "Smart guy to head to the fastest internet hub on the earth. I'm such a proud dad," Tony pretends to tear up.

"Great, you got one good kid and one fuck up, classic!" You say over Natasha's head while Tony scrunches his nose at you.

"Why did I come?" Fury muttered rather loudly. Seems like all the information he was bringing was already brought up by David.

"For a good time, boss. But you wouldn't happen to have anything else, would you?" Natasha pulled a piece of her bread apart.

"I have you," Fury shrugged. "We ain't got nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. So stand up and take out that platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha teases.

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve jokingly threatens while she smiles mischievously at him.

You had been only half-focusing on the conversation at hand, jumping in here and there to throw in remarks. You were thrumming your fingers at your side quietly.

There was something about that first night you had all encountered Ultron.

"So, what does he want?" Fury asked.

"To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies," Steve licked his bottom lip.

"Person bodies. We're outmoded, biologically speaking, but he keeps coming back to it," Tony leaned back in his chair.

"He wants the human race to evolve; therefore, he needs to evolve himself," Banner mused.

"I don't think evolving the human race is his goal," David muttered.

"How's he going to do that?" Fury asked.

And then it occurred to you.

"Has anyone talked to Dr. Cho?" You pursed your lips.

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There was a lot of noise as everyone was getting ready to leave the Barton household.

Thor was still out on his own, so no one held high hopes he would be coming back for this one.

"Alright, I'll head to you guys as soon as I collect JARVIS from NEXUS," Tony, lets everyone know.

"I'll take David and Banner to the Stark Tower," Fury said. " "Mind if I borrow Miss Hill?"

"All yours," Tony nodded. "What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know, something dramatic, I hope," Fury shrugs.

"Alright, everyone else goes with me," Steve attached his shield onto his back.

You nod as you stood next to Natasha.

"You know, I miss the days when I was the weirdest thing science created," Steve mused.

"What do you mean?" You looked at him with a smirk. "You still are."

"I swear to God--"

"Swearing is not good, Steve," Natasha joined in on the teasing.

"I hate you both," Steve shook his head with a good spirit.

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There was something that rubbed you the wrong way when you entered the laboratory.

Sparks from exposed wires filled the air, and you could smell blood and hear the shallow breathing of a woman.

You recognized the scent.

"Dr. Cho is in there," you say quietly for Steve to hear, and the two of you race in to see that she was sitting on the floor, resting against a cabinet as she was clutching her stomach tightly. She had blood dripping from her head and lips, but she was still alive.

"Dr. Cho!" Steve called out as he race to her, bending down to see if she was okay.

"He's uploading himself into the body," Dr. Cho heavily breathes. "You can't just destroy the cradle. You need to get it to Stark."

"I got to find it first," Steve tells her.

"Go," she nods in the direction of outside. He purses her lip at her, but she nods to let Steve know she'll be okay.

He starts to head out but then looks at you.

"I'll catch up," you say offhandedly as you bend down to assess the doctor.

She was bleeding profusely through her stomach, where Ultron shot her. Dr. Cho had done her best to stop the bleeding, but it started to soak through the cloth. You looked around to find her technicians dead, and you frowned.

"Maybe I will get your venom after all," Dr. Cho says with a smirk, bringing your attention back to her.

You cocked your brow at her with a smile. "It's quite the risqué position. I don't know if my girlfriend would like that."

"I'm sure she won't mind you helping a frail, dying girl," Dr. Cho jokes but winces in pain shortly after.

You snort at the word frail but lick your lips nonetheless. "Listen, Doc, I don't wanna catch you doing experiments on yourself after getting my venom, alright?"

She nods, and you lift her hand away along with the cloth. You lower herself down her body, feeling the venom pool in your mouth.

You hear her breath hitch, and you're not sure if it's because she's in pain. You remind yourself you need to be careful. While you could drink the blood that was pouring out from Dr. Cho, you opted not to.

Dr. Cho realized this as you were carefully licking her wound, feeling something amazing happening on her skin under your mouth as she was being healed.

"What a loyal girlfriend you are," Dr. Cho mutters.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"I'm always picking up after you boys," Natasha grunts as she Steve's shield and gives it to you to hold.

You were on your way to Steve when Natasha dropped from the sky on a motorbike, and you found yourself hopping on the back of it as she passed you.

"Seriously, Steve, I've seen people treat their trash better than how often you drop this thing," you joke.

"Little busy, guys," Steve grunts back, "wouldn't say no to some help."

As you get closer to the truck where Ultron and Steve are, you whip his shield to him, and Steve uses it to knock Ultron's arm off of him. Ultron falls, catching sight of you two and uses his power to lift a piece of the ground up to stop Natasha in her tracks.

"Go!" Natasha tells you, and you get up on the motorbike before using your strength to propel yourself onto the truck as you leap.

Ultron sees you and immediately uses his ability to manipulate gravity to launch himself towards you.

But if Pietro was too quick for him, you were just a step behind. You blur to the side, back kicking him with a brute amount of force as Ultron passed you.

The strength of the kick alone had done a lot of damage. Your foot had impaled him halfway as he passed, bolts, and gears falling out of the hole you created.

"Look at us," you look at Steve, "we're a dream team."

"I always wanted to tag team with you," Steve smiles.

"Of course you do," you say as if it was obvious, "I'm your favorite."

"Ugh!" Ultron screams as he flies into Steve's direction this time, but Steve uses the momentum to take them both into the train that was moving next to them.

You followed as you spoke into the intercom, "We're taking the party elsewhere. The truck's all yours with the surprise inside, baby."

"I love when you leave gifts for me, so romantic," Natasha cooed.

"Please stop, or I will vomit," Clint says.

You snort as you follow through the hole Ultron and Steve created when they crashed into the train. You land with grace, noticing there are passengers on the cart.

Steve hits Ultron with enough force to send him flying, and you move as fast as you can over to a young teen to force her lower onto the ground from her seat to avoid being crushed.

"I guess I've got civilian-watching duty," you say almost glumly.

"I'd be happy to trade," Steve huffs as he stands up straight.

You could hear Natasha and Clint talking through your earpiece, and for a second, you wished you had stayed with your girlfriend when you hear that the truck is airborne, but you knew she could handle it.

"No, you seem like you got it," you shake your head with a smile. Luckily with a psychotic robot and turbulence on the train, it was too hard for anyone to grab their phone and record.

Ultron barrels into Steve, knocking him into the corner before Steve uses his foot to kick back.

"Of course," Steve puffs.

Even though you had said that you still helped out when you could, with the narrow pathway the train provided, the two of you had to be careful of making sure civilians didn't get hurt.

Ultron was extremely diligent in keeping you at a distance from him, realizing you were nearly as fast as Pietro and much, much stronger.

But then you heard it.

The light footsteps atop the train at first, then then your eyes easily adjusted to a blur that went past you, knocking into Ultron.

It was Pietro.

Your eyes easily found their way to Wanda as you turned around. She was looking at you, unsure what to think when your eyes met.

Ultron turned back to start towards Pietro, but two metal railings were bent to prevent him from doing so. Ultron turned back to see Wanda, and it was clear on his robotic face that he was hurt, but he also knew he couldn't best Wanda.

"Please, don't do this," Ultron's tone soft and pleading.

"What choice do we have?" Wanda's thick accent hung in the air, and you bit your tongue.

Ultron stilled for a millisecond before he turned around, shooting a blast out from his hand. Everyone dodged, and the explosion shot straight through to the train's front where the conductor was. Taking the momentary distraction, Ultron bolted out of the train and flew away.

With the conductor out, the train started to sway unsteadily, everyone losing their footing, and no one could go after Ultron.

Steve hopped up, heading to the front to check if the conductor was okay, but she was out cold. "We've lost him! He's headed your way."

The train flew off its railing, and everyone hung on the best they could as it kept going even on concrete and dirt.

"Nat!" Clint shouted through the intercom. "Cap, do you see Nat?" His voice was panicked and strained.

You looked out the window of the train in the sky. You could see Quinjet, but Natasha was nowhere in sight.

"What the hell do you mean, Clint?!" You shouted.

"I got the cradle, but Ultron grabbed her the last second we got it. Do you have eyes on her?!" Clint asked, his head moving jerkily as he looked around out the windows.

"If you have the package, get it to Stark!" Steve instructed. "Go!"

You heard Clint frustratedly curse an expletive before he flew the Quinjet away in the other direction.

Warning bells were already going off in your head as you were about to take off the train and see if you could locate Natasha, but Steve's voice stopped you.

"I need you to help stop the train, or these people might die," Steve's jaw was tight, and you knew that he didn't want this either. If he could stop the train on his own or trusted the two twins enough, he would want you out there looking for Natasha too.

You looked around, seeing the humans' petrified faces, all sorts of people on this train, no doubt children too.

You clenched your jaw, swallowing painfully, but you resolved to trust that Natasha was okay and could take care of herself. She had been long before you, you reminded yourself.

"Alright," you breathe out in a huff.

"Civilians are in the path," Steve told Pietro, who rushed off.

"I need you to help me stop this train," you turn to Wanda.

She stares at you but nods once firmly.

You make your way to the front of the train, hopping over the conductor and a few feet away from the train, turning as it approaches you.

Steeling yourself by digging your feet into the ground as you get into a stance with your hands out, the train collides into you. Instead of crushing you like it would an average human, your body hardens to take the shock, and the train pushes you back, gravel and dirt flying everywhere.

It slows down slightly, but it won't come to a complete stop before the train would barrel right into a building. You can see Pietro working around you, and Wanda uses her power to stop the wheels from turning.

The train comes to a full stop smoothly with all three of you, and no one was harmed.  People began to exit the train, and Steve came out to check on you while Wanda checked on Pietro.

"I'm fine, just need a second," you breathe, hearing Pietro say something similar to Wanda.

"Did you get the cradle?" Wanda asks, her eyes floating to you. Your eyes caught hers for a moment, but you turned quickly to your intercoms.

You had tried to contact Natasha, but it was obviously a bust as she didn't answer back. Your next contact was with David to tell him to start searching.

"Stark will handle it," Steve tells Wanda.

"No, he won't," Wanda looked distraught.

"You don't know what you're talking about, you don't know him," Steve defended Tony while Wanda looked more upset as the seconds passed.

"He will do anything to make it right," Wanda says, knowing what she saw in his head. "Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and killing it...where do you think he gets that from?"

Steve pursed his lips because as much as he didn't want to admit it, the girl had a point, and Steve was still miffed about how Tony had kept all this artificial intelligence stuff a secret.

"Stark, anyone, come in?" Steve said into his comms, but it was silent.

You turn around, jaw clenched as you were upset about Natasha taken.

"It'll be fine," you tell the three of them, the confidence in your voice that made everyone quiet. "We need to head back."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You were pissed.

And everyone could tell.

Natasha was taken, and no one knew where Ultron may have taken her. You understood at the time that Steve needed you there to help him, but it didn't help that Natasha was gone.

You were mostly pissed at yourself.

"Well, she's not dead," Tony says as if in an attempt to make you feel better. "If she were, Ultron would be rubbing it in our faces."

You didn't say anything in response, jaw still clenched tightly.

Wanda watched from the other side of the room, looking at you peculiarly with her head slightly tilted and arms crossed together just under her chest. She had gathered that you and Natasha were together, and from the information she got from reading other people's minds, it seemed that it was still relatively a new development.

There was something in Wanda's chest that flared annoyingly at the sight of you so...so worried over the redhead. She didn't quite understand it herself or what was the underlying cause of it. But you looked different with that expression on your face.

"You think Natasha might've left something for you outside the internet? Any old-school spy stuff?" Tony asked as he turned to Clint.

"I can cast some nets to see if I catch anything," Clint pressed his lips together, also eager to find his friend.

Your eyes were glowing red angrily as you tried to control your emotions. David came up to you, putting his hand on your shoulder to try to ground you.

"I'll find her," David promises you.

You were gripping a countertop as you were slightly hunched over it.

You needed air.

Suddenly, the edge of the countertop snapped under your grip, crumbling into smaller pieces, and you let it go as you stood straight.

"Find her within the hour," you tell David, walking briskly out of the room.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

When you came back, everything was in chaos.

Everyone was arguing about the body in the cradle and what to do with it. You could see from the corner of your eye that Bruce was angry with Wanda and picking a fight with her.

It was escalating so fast. All of a sudden, Pietro took off as he started destroying lab equipment.

"No, go on," Pietro stood next to Bruce, but the next second afterward, the glass floor shattered underneath him, and he fell through where Clint was.

"Pietro!" Wanda went to help her brother, but then Bruce grabbed her from behind.

Tony and Steve were fighting each other, and you blinked before clenching your jaw.

You blurred over, and just before Steve and Tony were about to collide again, you intercepted, grabbing both their wrists and twisting.

"Ah!" They both yelled as they staggered, almost kneeling on the ground.

The room stilled as everyone look at you.

"We do not fight each other," you snarled at them, looking at Steve and Tony pointedly. "Keep this up, and I'll snap both your wrists."

You grip just slightly tighter in warning before letting them both go, and they stumble a little as they stand up straighter.

"Jesus Christ, I could feel the armor just about to give," Tony says, holding his hand up to inspect his suit while Steve rubs his wrist gingerly.

You then blur over to where Bruce and Wanda to separate them, shoving Bruce a little harder when he refused to let go of Wanda.

Wanda stumbles into your arms when Bruce is forced to let her go. You steady her with your hand on her back. Your scent fills Wanda's nose, and she's almost reeling at how it invades her.

"I get that you're beyond pissed, and what she did was not okay," you tell Bruce, eyes flickering to meet Wanda's for a second before looking back at him. "But clearly the situation has changed, and for now, she's with us. Steve brought them here. This isn't the time. Focus on the mission at hand, figure it out with her after."

"You want me to forgive what she did?" Bruce said incredulously.

"No," you shake your head, "I want you to be an Avenger and put it aside for now because your teammate has been captured, and there's still a maniac robot out there hellbent on making humans extinct."

Your words hit Bruce and seem to sober him from his anger, and he relaxes his clenched jaw as he sighs and nods. You pat him on the shoulder twice before you walk away, leading Wanda with you.

Best to not tempt it again if they're too close together.

Wanda looks at you as you walk with her. The words, 'are you upset with me?' want to leave her mouth, but she forces them in. Of course, you'd be upset with her. She had done so many things to the Avengers, including harming your girlfriend with hallucinations.

Wanda looks away and grits her teeth because she shouldn't care if you're upset with her or not.

But then she feels a light pat on her back.

Wanda looks at you. You aren't looking back at her, there's no indication that you had done that as you keep your head straight ahead.

Still.

Wanda had understood the gesture regardless, hearing your voice in her head.

'It's not okay, but I understand. You will get a chance to make it up to Bruce, and he will forgive you. Give it time.'

Before Wanda could say anything, Tony and Steve were at it again, but this time using their words.

"Tony," Steve's face daunt and tight in disapproval, "shut it down!" Steve demanded.

"And I'm telling you, this is will work!" Tony shot back as he caught you coming up to them.

"Tell them!" Tony looks at you, drawing Steve's attention to you as well. "Tell them what you--"

You shoot Tony a warning look, getting him to shut up.

Sighing, you looked at Steve. "Trust me when I say that it will be okay."

"You want him to bring another android to life?" Steve said in disbelief. "We haven't even defeated the first one yet!"

Before you could argue some more, Thor flew in, bringing his lightning hammer on the cradle, bringing the body to life.

"Wait!" Bruce yelled, but it was too late.

For a moment, it was silent, but suddenly, the body smashed out of its cradle.

Glass flew everywhere in its surrounding area. You immediately grabbed Wanda, pulling her to shield her from the flying glass as you used your hand to protect her head.

You felt a piece of glass slice through your cheek on the surface, momentarily stinging before it mended itself.

When everyone stood straighter as the glass settled, there was a giant red android standing in his naked glory, and a giant yellow stone plastered into his forehead.

You had known this was coming when you touched Tony's hand. You had seen quite far ahead;  everything from this, to the fight with Ultron in Tony's perspective, and even a little after that.

When the government and the United Nations wanted to be involved in the Avengers' affairs.

That would be a tricky one to navigate, and you wanted more time to think about it.

When you had relayed what you had seen back to him on the farm, you reassured him that he doesn't kill anyone in the next while, but you didn't exactly tell him what he will do in the future in detail as it could cause counterproductive results and change the future again.

All you could tell Tony was that he was on the right path, he was going to create something to help win the battle, and a heat seal would come in handy.

But back to the matter at hand, you knew this was coming, and yet, actually seeing the giant red walking toaster rubbed you the wrong way, and you weren't quite sure why.

He was floating and quickly flew towards Thor, who easily deterred the android away.

Thor raised his hands as Steve and Clint were ready to fight. Pietro came back, looking at you with a quirk of his brow when he saw you still holding Wanda.

You let go awkwardly because you were distracted, forgetting that you were still protecting her.

Why Pietro was staring at you like that, you didn't know. It's not like Wanda stepped out of your arms, either.

"I'm sorry," the android came back, sounding very similar to JARVIS. "That was odd...thank you," he looked at Thor.

"Thor, you helped create this?" Steve said as he eyed the being before him.

"I had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that," Thor says, pointing to the stone in the android's head.

"What? The gem?" Bruce clarified.

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities," Thor explained.

"Then why would you bring it to life..." Steve pursed his lips, even more suspicious of the new being.

"Because Stark is right," Thor says, almost looking pained to admit.

"That's just gonna unnecessarily inflate his ego," you mutter while Tony was accessing what he helped bring to life.

"We can't defeat Ultron," Thor says, but then catches David entering the room. "Okay, well, maybe he can, but he seems like he has a lot to do."

"Help is good," the android tilted his head.

"Why does your 'vision' sound a lot like JARVIS," Steve's brows furrowed.

"We...configured JARVIS' matrix to create something new," Tony explained.

"I think I've had enough of the new," Steve pursed his lips, never taking his eyes off the android.

The android looked over to Steve. "You think I'm a child of Ultron?"

"You're not?" Steve countered back.

The android shook his head. "I'm not Ultron. I'm not Jarvis...I am...I am." Since he had yet to name himself, and due to Thor's vision, everyone decided that's what his name would be.

Wanda looked at Vision suspiciously. Her eyes narrowing at him. "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."

"Look again," he prompted her, staring at her intensely, and you resisted the urge to curl your lip back.

Wanda does what he says, a curious look on her face.

"Yeah, her seal of approval means jack-shit to me," Clint says.

You watched as everyone goes back and forth, with Vision ending with a long, windy, talk about himself and that they need to go. You resist the urge to roll your eyes.

"Sokovia. Natasha's there too," David answered, giving you a look when everyone questions where they were going.

"Then let's go," you lick your lips.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The ride back to Sokovia feels long, even with Tony flying the Quinjet as fast as possible.

You stand in the back, looking out the window as the clouds pass by. You hear someone come up to you, but you don't move.

The smell of cinnamon and orange blossom floats you're way, so you don't have to know who it was.

The two of you stand in silence, appreciating the view outside.

"Sometimes...sometimes I can see a glimpse into your head," Wanda says quietly, so the others don't hear.

Your eyes peer over to her before slowly looking back out.

"It's not polite to snoop," you say equally as quiet.

"I can't exactly control it..." Wanda mumbles.

"Even so, you should at least pretend you don't know," you moisten your lips.

It's quiet for a moment before Wanda speaks up again.

"I...saw someone. Things I can't explain," Wanda says unsurely, and you know what she's talking about.

Even though you know she can't help it, you can't help but also feel a little miffed.

You knew that Wanda had a right to know, and yet, you didn't say anything.

"You were looking for me..." Wanda realizes.

"And Pietro," you add, giving her a look, almost laughing when she scrunches her nose.

"We're...connected," Wanda slowly says, turning to face you more.

You swallow as you turn to face her as well.

Wanda's staring at you intensely as if drawing in every little detail about your face and committing it to memory. There's a tight feeling in both her stomach and chest, and she doesn't understand.

She doesn't understand you.

You nod softly.

"Will you tell me about it?" Wanda asks.

"After everything has settled," you tell her.

Wanda swallows.

"You want me to stay?"

She says it so softly, you're surprised such a tone can come out of her when lately she's been an angry bull.

With the time you have, you take in her features. Her long dark hair behind her ears, round face, with define cheeks and jawline was familiar. Her long lashes framed her eyes, and her dark eyeliner and the lighting inside the craft dimmed the color of her eyes.

Still.

She looked at you with an intensity that made you dizzy.

"Yeah," you rasp. "How else will you make it up to Banner?"

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Natasha hears you calling her name as you run-up to her cell. She stands up, meeting you on the other side, her hand touches yours.

"You okay?" You ask her, accessing her thoroughly for any kind of injuries.

"Yeah," she tells you, smiling a little at your protective behavior, and once you're satisfied that she's relatively unharmed, you look back to her face.

"We gotta get going, team's already out there, and we're missing all the action," you say, liking the way Natasha smirks.

"Don't suppose you found a key just lying around on your way in, did you?"

You tilt your head, looking at the built-in lock on the cell door. Placing your hand over it, you yanked with a substantial amount of strength, forcing the metal underneath to give way.

You threw the hunk of metal behind your back and looked at your girlfriend. She smiled at you as she slides the door open, jumping into you to hug you briefly.

"Let's go," she says as she pulls back.

The two of you navigate your way through, but the ground begins to shake as you're almost out of there. The two of you stumble slightly before steadying yourselves.

"What's the situation?" You ask into the comms.

"Ultron's got Vibranium under the city. We're up in the air," Tony advises.

"Shit, we need to get out here," you say, turning to Natasha. "We're not going to make it on foot, so I'm going to carry you on my back."

Natasha nods, and you turn around, lower yourself so she can get on. Once she's secured on with her legs wrapped tightly around your waist, you adjust here once more before you're satisfied.

"Keep your head down and close to me," you tell her, feeling her following your instructions. The speed you'd be going at could accidentally break her neck if you weren't careful.

With that, you race out, quickly reaching the outside. Everything seems to be crumbling at you begin to maneuver onto the rocks, leaping onto another one as they fall. Eventually, you reach the cliffside wall, using your hands along with your feet to climb up.

When you reach safe ground, Natasha gets off.

"Didn't even break a sweat, huh?" She says to you.

"I have great stamina," you joke, but Natasha raises her brow at her, quirking her lip on one side into a seductive smirk.

"I'll be sure to test that out one day."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

You feel awful.

Sokovia is falling apart, people are screaming and crying, and it's a war zone out here.

You separated from Natasha, warning her to not get kidnapped again because you don't think you could live with that kind of worry. She merely kisses your cheek before she races off to go help Steve and Thor.

You met up with David, who was huddled up with one of Ultron's robots, and a laptop next to him. The robot was powered down by David, who had his hands on its chest intensely.

"What are you doing?" You ask, looking at his laptop screen to see he was uploading something.

David didn't break his concentration or even open his eyes, but he answered you. "I'm trying to reprogram this bot's mainframe. The Vision is deleting Ultron off the net, so if I can do this, then I can turn this bot over to help us, and then spread it over to all Ultron's other bots."

"That would definitely turn the tide on this," you say, crushing a flying robot towards David.

"I...I got it!" David exclaimed, powering up the robot in hand. It stood up, accessing you, and you stood on guard, but it started to attack its own kind as a threat in the next moment.

"I just need to finish uploading the software to be spread," David picked up his laptop. "I'm going to take cover to finish this, and then find The Vision. I'm good here, you should go."

You nod at him before you take off at high speed. On your way, you bumped into Clint and Wanda. They were being overpowered as they tried to help civilians out of the area.

A group of bots begin to close in. It seems David is still in the process of uploading the software, so the attacks haven't ceased. You notice a bot hellbent on self-destruction as it plummets towards the ground.

Clint is already moving towards Wanda, shouting at her to move. You rush towards the two of them, jumping and pushing them through a building window just as an explosion hits. There are shots still being fired even as the three of you take cover.

Clint's already sitting up, alert as he tries to look at the situation outside without getting shot. Wanda crawls towards the wall, gasping and whimpering.

"How could I let this happen?" She's so distraught.

"Hey, hey, are you alright?" Clint asks, but you put your hand on his shoulder.

Clint looks at you. The situation outside still needs to be handled, and he seems like he doesn't have the time to try to give her a pep talk. You nod at him, and he nods back. Getting up, Clint readies his arrows before he kicks open the door.

"This is all our fault," Wanda cries quietly.

You grab her face, getting her to look up at you. "Look at me," you tell her. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is. It's your fault, my fault, it's everyone's fault. Regardless, this is happening."

She looks at you, breathing harshly as she blinks rapidly.

"I know you're hurting, but this is your homeland, and it's up in the air. Literally. Hopefully, if David manages, we won't be fighting an entire army of robots, but we still got one bad guy to fight," you swallow before hearing something approach as you push and move Wanda out of the way just as a shot fires through the wall.

Wanda looks even more frightened, and she's hanging on the front of your jacket as you readjust to move away from the wall.

"We can't change what we've done, we can only try to fix it going forward. I don't care about anything you did or who you were before this."

"I can't fix this," she bellows to you.

"Yes, you can," you backfire immediately at her. "If you scared and want to let everyone else clean up your mess, I'm fine with letting you do that. You'll be safe here, and Pietro can come to get you. But you can't sit here and tell me that you're okay with letting your fear control you. You can do this, I know you can."

Wanda stares at you, eyes shaking as bites her tongue, letting the silence fall.

"Why do you believe in me so much? Care about me so much?" Wanda asks quietly, feeling something stir in her stomach.

You look back at her, noticing that Wanda seems calmer. Maybe because you feel like you're looking at someone so similar to Tatyana in many ways. That Wanda feels like she's the villain who had caused this.

Perhaps thought she had wanted to be a villain at the start.

But it wretches your gut painfully.

"If anyone could become a hero, it'd be you."

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"David, please tell me you're almost finished," you say into the comms as you, Wanda, and Clint fight the rest of the robots in your area.

The three of you need to work your way to Steve and the rest of the gang when Pietro flew in to take Wanda.

"Keep up, old man!" He teasingly says as he darts off.

"I hate him so much," Clint breathes deeply.

"If you want, I can carry you," you shrug.

"I both want to and hate the idea," Clint scrunches his nose but allows you to carry him.

"I'm really close guys, just hang tight!" David tells everyone.

"The next wave is going to hit any minute," Steve says. "What do you have, Stark?"

"Working on a heat seal," he tells everyone.

"We don't have the time," Thor says, "Ultron is trying to get to the core. We need to make a choice."

"That's not a solution," Steve firmly says.

"There's no math here, Steve. Everyone up here versus everyone down there?"

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve doesn't budge.

"I'm not saying we should go," Natasha counters back, nodding her head back and forth as she considers something. "There are worse ways to go. Besides, where else am I going to get a view like this?"

"I have at least fifteen other places that have better views than this."

Natasha looks over to see you had shown up with a disapproving look on your face.

"I think we might have to settle," Natasha gives you a self-deprecating smile that shows all too much that this is the only way.

"I don't settle."

With that, another voice comes on the radio.

"Glad you think the view is nice, hopefully, you think this is much better," Fury comes in with a Helicarrier in view. "Nice, right? I pulled her out of the mothballs with a couple old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

"Fury, you son of a bitch!" Steve says with a smile.

"Ooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Fury replies in teasing.

Natasha looks over to you, smiling as you come up to her.

"Did you know?" She asks, and you shrug, not wanting to tell her that you touched Tony.

"If Fury decided to show up at the farm with actually nothing else planned, I think we would have to vote him off the island," you offer instead.

"That's comforting," Fury sarcastically said.

"Anytime," you reply.

Within seconds, lifeboats are deployed, and everyone is helping with the evacuation.

"The odds aren't looking too great here," Thor interrupts. "The core is getting bombarded."

"Rhodey, get everyone on the Helicarrier!" Tony says as he flies towards Thor to help.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

"This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Like the old man said," Tony looks at Steve. "Together."

The bots begin to rush towards everyone, and you swallow.

"Wait, guys!" You hear David through the comms. "I...got it!"

Just like that, the bots stop dead in their tracks and power down before powering back up again.

This time, they turn their attention towards Ultron.

"Are you kidding me?" Ultron grumbles as the bots rush towards him, firing shots away that Ultron easily deflects.

Because The Vision burned him off the net, Ultron has no way of accessing the software David created to try to change the bots back to his side.

The Hulk rushes towards Ultron, punching him square in the chest and sending him flying miles away.

Everyone turns to look at each other as David blurs into the area with his laptop.

"I feel like we missed a very epic battle scene," Tony says, "like a defining moment in a movie."

"Oh, I'm sorry," David says sarcastically, "if you want, I can totally fix that for you."

"Nope, we're good," Steve says quickly. "We still need to get the stragglers, but if Ultron comes back to the core, we're doomed."

"I'll protect it," Wanda interjects, looking at you as she does. "There's no one better than me."

You nod as Clint looks at Nat.

"Nat, let's go," he nods outside. She looks at you, and you nod at her as it would be faster for you to find civilians on your own.

You look at David. "Alright, nerd, you're going with me. I think you had enough alone time for today."

"You are so ungrateful, oh my god."

"I love you," you smile.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

Tony is using the extra bots to help push the rock further into the sky. If they can get it into space, using the heat seal would cause the least amount of damage to Sokovia.

"I can't believe I'm going into space again," Tony mumbled, glad he had made the adjustments to his suit so it would be suitable to go into space better this time.

He had been prepared since the alien invasion.

"Maybe you chose the wrong career path and should've become an astronaut instead," you joke, getting a low chuckle in return.

You had run the perimeter with David, seeing that there were no civilians left.

Natasha volunteered to try to convince The Hulk to either change back or get his ass on the Helicarrier. You would've volunteered, but you don't think The Hulk would be happy to see you, and you can't keep biting the man to force him to change back either.

"I think I can hear a woman screaming," David mumbled. "I'll go check."

He takes off, and you are about to head back when you hear shots fired in the distance. You turn and speed over.

You felt your stomach dropping when you approach the scene. Everything seems to happen in slow motion.

Ultron in his jet, shooting down at Clint, who has a little boy in his arms. You turn your head to see Pietro.

He looks at you, giving you a smirk that feels all too familiar like it's his last one.

Pietro is a step faster than you, he probably always will be. But that doesn't stop you. You force yourself to run. Run faster. Run harder. The sheer amount of force causes a sickening crack in your legs, but you make it just in time.

Pietro only gets shot once through his stomach before you push him out of the way and cover Clint and the child.

The shooting stops as Ultron flies away.

The silence settles, and Clint looks up to see you standing straight before him. You've been shot all over, multiple times in multiple areas.

You suddenly puke up blood as you fall to your knees.

Pietro immediately gets up from the ground rushing over to you, catching you in his arms.

"Why did you do that?!" He yells at you, hands over your body, but he doesn't know which areas to stop the bleeding.

"You idiot," you tell him. "Can you heal from being shot? I don't think so."

Though you say that, the only thing that healed, even though rather slowly, was the crack in your leg.

"You're not healing," Clint says, his tone urgent. He looks at you as blood pours out. "Why aren't you healing?"

"She doesn't have enough blood in her system."

Clint turns over to see David, looking horrified. He kneels down, taking you from Pietro's arms.

"I told you, you fucking idiot, that we should've just taken more blood bags from the hospital," David scolds you.

"This is hardly the time for, 'I told you so,'" You reply weakly.

"Get the kid onto the boat," David looks at Clint and then looks at Pietro. "You need to go collect your sister. There are no more civilians, and we're reaching the stratosphere soon."

"What about--"

"I got this," David says as he bites into your neck. You hiss at the sudden pain. Clint and Pietro have more questions, but they do as David says and take off.

"You better pray to God that we make it back in time," David purses his lips as he pushes your sleeve up to bite in various places.

⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷

The damage to Sokovia is still devastating. It's not entirely obliterated, and people will be able to rebuild their country.

The Hulk, unfortunately, had taken off on his own in stealth mode. He didn't want to be found.

It seems The Vision has taken care of completely destroying Ultron, taking this chapter to an end.

It's not the perfect ending, but it could be a lot worse.

There was only one problem left.

You were dying.

Or at least, on your way to either going completely feral for blood to help you heal or going to a deep slumber until you were fed.

Either one was on the table at this point.

"What do we do?" Natasha asks David sharply as they're still in the air being transported back.

They were on the Helicarrier in their own private section away from the people as they didn't know what you were going to do.

"I only temporarily closed her wounds to stop the bleeding," David tells everyone, explaining why he bit you earlier. He was injecting his healing venom. "Venom doesn't quite work the same way on vampires as it does on humans. She still has a lot of internal bleeding that won't stop, and the only thing that can stop it is if she drinks blood."

"We don't have any blood bags on here!" Steve says as he looks at you, full of worry.

"We could...we could cut and drain our own blood," Natasha looks at you before looking back at David. "She can drink the blood as long as she's not biting us, right?"

David purses his lips as if to consider it but then shakes his head. "She's too badly wounded, it won't be enough. Plus, none of you are in the state to lose any more blood, even if you guys all donate. I can heal your wounds, but I can't make your body produce more blood."

"Then what do we do?" Natasha wants to scream. She can't lose you. She just can't.

At that moment, Pietro and Wanda come in. Pietro can hardly stand up himself, so Wanda is supporting him. They had heard part of the conversation as they came in.

Pietro looks at you, face full of anguish because you're only like this because you saved him.

You're tense on the table, occasionally arching your back up in pain and need. David is holding you down by your arm in case you suddenly get a burst of energy and massacre everyone in this room for blood.

Wanda looks at you, jaw clenched.

The feeling of loss is threatening her on her doorstep. You had saved Pietro, God knows if she could survive to lose her only family.

But Wanda was not ready to let you go either.  

It has occurred to Wanda that outside of Pietro, the only person in this world that may understand her, believe in her, protect her, care for her...would be you.

There was something there, something undefined and frightening. Wanda was sure you felt it too with her, though ignoring it for Natasha.

David looked at Wanda. He knew that he shouldn't.

Yet before he could even stop himself, Wanda looks sharply over at him, catching his thoughts.

You would be entirely beyond pissed at him.

It would cause a whole new set of problems for everyone.

He was sure you would rather die.

But David wasn't willing to risk the chance of you going feral, which was almost guaranteed at this point, or your death.

He just wasn't.

"She can drink my blood," Wanda says, drawing everyone's attention. Wanda was the only person who hadn't sustained any significant damage or got shot. She could afford to lose blood.

"What?" Steve looks at David, who has his lips pursed.

"It would work, wouldn't it?" Wanda also looks at you, your eyes glowing a red she's all too familiar in seeing in herself. "It would be even better than drinking from a blood bag to feed directly from me."

Wanda doesn't fully understand what you are, or the concept of vampires, but she catches pieces here and there from everyone around the room.

And there's a feeling of intrigue and possession that flutters knowing that she was the only one you could drink blood from, aside from her brother.

Pietro grips his sister's arms tighter, torn because if you could drink her blood, you could drink his, but he was also in no shape to lose any more blood.

Wanda pats his arms to assure him she'll be fine. Pietro leans against the wall as Wanda comes closer to you.

"It...would, but..." David's eyes shift over to Natasha.

Natasha clenches her jaw.

The words about how feeding can be an incredibly intimate and private act come back to her.

It's not that Natasha is particularly jealous of Wanda in that way. She's more jealous that she can't do anything to help you herself.

Natasha can't muster the words out of her mouth, so she tersely nods.

With that, Wanda stands right next to your lying body on the bed.

"Everyone, stand back," David says, trying to keep you still, but it's like you can smell how close to feeding you are.

The burst of energy does come, but you use to break out of David's grip as you fling him across the room.

"Shit!" David yells, convinced that you're going to kill Wanda to drain her blood. He stands up, reading to try to fight you even though it would be a losing battle.

But he stops.

You merely stand before Wanda, her face in your hands as you tilt her head up to expose her neck.

You press your nose against her neck, taking a long inhale as you purr at the scent.

Wanda can hear alarm bells in her head that tell her you're a predator, and she's your prey, but she doesn't tremble. Instead, she brings her hands up to hold your wrists as if to keep them in place.

You chuckle throatily, attitude nothing like your usual self, "How brave."

Wanda swallows slowly, the action very visible as the muscles in her neck move.

"It was you who taught me that I could be a hero," she says quietly as if it's only for your ears.

The words seem to trigger something in you as you sink your teeth into her neck, a mouthful of blood rushing into you.

It's been too long, you almost forgot what it was like.

It was hot in your mouth, as fresh as it was.

You could feel a warm body being pressed you, hear a heart beating, and smell the arousal.

A deep moan left Wanda's mouth, unable to control it. A hot, liquid fire shot down to her lower stomach, pooling in her gut.

Wanda couldn't describe how it felt, what she was experiencing, but you were doing something to her as you drank from her, holding her close to you.

You suddenly lift her into the air, wrapping her legs around your waist as you blurred over to the drawer cabinet against the wall, pushing Wanda up on it roughly. Your hands held her possessively.

Wanda was pressed to the wall as she sat on the cabinet, her legs still wrapped against you tightly as she fisted her hand into the back of your hair.

Everyone watched in astonishment of the act, David biting on his tongue as he looked at Natasha, who had no expression on her face to indicate what she was feeling.

Blood was rushing into your mouth, and it was delicious, making you delirious, but that didn't stop you from realizing there was a crowd in the room watching you feed, watching Wanda unravel.

You released your mouth from her neck.

"Leave," you demanded lowly and roughly, hardly coherent before you resume sinking your teeth back into Wanda.

Natasha stared at you, you seemed lost in your own world as you fed, and Natasha knows that you are only like this due to how injured you are.

Still.

As everyone leaves the room, Natasha looks at the two of you once more. Wanda's hand is buried in your hair while she's arching into you.

As she exits the room, Natasha catches Wanda's eyes, staring at her intensely with an unknown meaning in them before her eyes flutter close just as the door shuts.

PART XI

#mm: my fics #natasha romanoff x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #wandanat x reader #natasha romanoff imagine #wanda maximoff imagine #black widow x reader #scarlet witch x reader #Natasha romanoff x you #wanda maxmimoff x you #avengers reader insert #marvel reader insert #avengers imagine #avengers x reader #series: Between the Lines

[bookloveravenue]

Vino & Veritas (book 12): Daybreak by Kate Hawthorne

When a sunny young musician gets stranded with a grumpy mechanic during a snowstorm, a lack of heat is the least of their problems…

Liam Luckett is on an adventure. He's dropped out of his Master's program without telling his overbearing parents and set off on a road trip across the country. Armed with little more than his guitar, he’s looking for his best life. He never expected his car to break down in the middle of nowhere Vermont with a huge storm pending, leaving him stranded and at the mercy of a hunky local mechanic.

Jasper Cunningham is in a holding pattern. Three years after the death of his husband, he still hasn’t moved on. A hot, younger stranded tourist is exactly the sort of complication this mechanic has been avoiding. But he also can’t leave him in the snow. He brings Liam home and lets him sleep on the couch. The air is heavy with more than snow, and when the power goes out, the two men become closer than either of them expects.

Every silken note Liam sings on that guitar thaws Jasper’s heart a little. Suddenly, Liam’s itchy feet aren’t so eager to move on. When their feelings get too big to ignore, the bond they’ve formed is tested. Will daybreak leave them going their separate ways?

This opposites attract, hurt/comfort romance features a grumpy widower who is only soft for one specific blue-eyed musician, a remote farmhouse, a friendly dog, and enough snow to knock the power out until love catches fire.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56278586-daybreak

********

April 15, 2021

My Review: 5/5 Stars

I was so glad to see that Jasper was one of our main characters for this book. We met Jasper in Unguarded. He was a friend of Emmett's who we learned had lost his husband three years earlier and was still grieving for that loss. Jasper is still in many ways grieving but when he meets Liam, he finds himself drawn to someone for the first time in a long time. Liam left California without a word to his parents and just drove. He can't find a way to tell them that not only is he gay, but he doesn't want to take the path his father pushed him on. He's been happy to find himself on the road, playing the guitar and singing in bars. And when he arrived in Vermont, he finds he has no choice but to stay when his car breaks down. But despite the unlucky break, it is actually more than he could have hoped for. He didn't think it would be possible to fall for Jasper, who is a bit of a grump and a man of few words. But little by little he sees past the armor Jasper has on and finds himself falling hard. And it doesn't hurt that the two of them are stuck together in Jasper's house with a snow storm. I really enjoyed their story. This one brought back a lot of characters we met in previous books and I definitely wanted to see Jasper get a happy ending after learning about him in Unguarded. And Liam was also another great character, who was this ray of California sunshine but had his own problems of trying to figure out what he wants in his life. Another great addition to the Vino & Veritas series.  

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#book #books #i love books #my review #book review #vino and veritas #daybreak #kate hawthorne

[secondhand-trash]

Harvest Moon: Plus Ultra!- A New Beginning

A/N: finally starting this series for real and I’m so pumped!!

Description: When you found yourself barely able to breathe amidst the mundane routine that you were stuck in, a letter from your grandparent’s semed to be the answer to your call for change. As you left everything you knew behind, it was time for a new beginning in a faraway town.

Word count: 2169

Tag list (dm to be added to the general tag list or to be tagged in a certain character’s arc):

@redbeanteax��� @mrsreina​ @blu-that-one-nerd​ @lady-bakuhoe​ @sparkncharge​ @todobunhon​

(back to the home screen of Harvest Moon: Plus Ultra!)

Dear (y/n):

Hello, we hope that you are doing well! 

It has been a while since you last visited the ranch and many things had happened. Don’t worry, the large fields at the front of the house that you used to love running through is still here and Henry the chicken is still well and alive. All the animals are doing great in face and the crops are growing as nicely as ever.

Everything is going fine but we are growing old and we feel like it is harder and harder for us to carry on with the chores of running the farm as each day goes by. A month after we write this letter to you, we would be retired from all the work and set off on a trip across the world to all the places we have wanted to visit but never had the time to.

It was a tough decision but after thinking of the many possibilities together, we decided that this is for the best. The only thing left for us to handle is the future of the ranch. We thought about selling it but after spending so much effort and such a long time on these grounds, it pains us to think that this place that is so tied in to many of our wonderful memories would be gone. 

While being on the phone with your mom, she told us that you were starting to feel tried of your life in the city and the stress is starting to weight on you. Although we get that this is a huge decision, but how would you feel about taking over the ranch after we retire? You used to like being around the farm so much and even though running it on your own might be tough work, we feel like the farm would be safe in your hands. We know that this is a lot to ask of you, but we support whatever decision you make and we hope to hear from you soon.

Take care of yourself, a healthy body is the greatest asset you will ever have. Don’t forget to go to bed early and drink enough water!

Love,

Grandma and grandpa

Folding the letter in half along the neat edges that you had opened and folded back together for countless times, you put it back into your bag and sighed. You had been on the bus for what felt like an entire lifetime but you were still nowhere near your destination. There was nothing to see when you looked out of the window, just endless trees and greenery that didn’t seem to have a stop to it. The car went smoothly ahead on the road, with occasional bumps and turns as you got further and further away from the city. 

The city. It had yet to settle in your mind completely that you were actually leaving that place. Not a vacation, not a trip that you had to go back from. You were leaving, and there was no turning back. You could still see the concrete walls and the busy streets at the start of the ride, but the plain view of nothing but green from where you were now was a huge contrast for what you were still living amongst merely hours ago. 

The city was bustling and filled with adventures around every corner but in all honesty, you were tired of it. Your apartment was a box and the cubicle you spent most of your time in was no better. Always going from one place to another, with no purpose but to make ends meet. You wouldn’t not die without your job but you did not want it either. You were not alive but you simply weren’t dead either. It was boring, and the last bit of passion inside of you kept screaming at you to break out of the cycle that you were trapped in but you simply did not know how.

That was when the letter came and it was like seeing a ray of light shining through the windows of your 80 sqm apartment. Your initial reaction when you held the envelope in your hand was to just stand there in shock. You could not believe that your grandparents were finally retiring. From what you remembered, it was like they had more energy and liveliness than everyone of your family who were way younger than them. It was a true call from reality to think that they were getting old too. You also thought of the ranch that they pour their heart and soul into managing. You remembered how you used to beg them to let you help with the work around the farm whenever you visited them as a child.

It had been way too long since you had been around the fields. You still remembered the feeling of being covered in sweat and dirt but still got back to the house with nothing but satisfaction in your chest. The smell of grass in the morning as you rode on the back of a horse and the things you had learnt through taking care of all the animals still fresh in your head. 

That was how you took probably the biggest risk in your life and say yes to their offer. Now you were on the bus to Yuuei Town, days after you quitted your job and headed for a new start in somewhere you had never been to since you were still in middle school.

It was horrifying to think of to say the least. But you had made your decision and there was no turning back. This was your one chance of getting a whole new life and you would be damned if you didn’t take it. Many things could happen, and a lot of them were far from being good, but you were excited for your new beginning.

The sudden break of the car let out a sharp squeak from the tires and your body fell forward as it hit a stop. You looked out to see that you were no longer surrounded by trees but under the open sky, the tiny sign of the bus stop being the only thing man-made you had seen in a while.

“Yuuei Town”

Quickly getting your many luggage and your bags, you got off the bus and took a deep breath. Cold air filled your lungs and you felt alive once again. It had been too long since you had last gone anywhere remotely rural, even the air felt different. You did not quite remember which way was the correct one to your grandparent’s- well, perhaps you should call it your ranch from now on but you still tried your best to go on the right road with the little instruction that you were given.

You weren’t sure if they had renovated the roads or your childhood memories had betrayed you, but it took way longer than what you expected and a lot of going back after realising that you made the wrong turn for you to finally get to where you were supposed to be.

It brought you a sense of comfort to see that the ranch was still the same as what you remembered it as. The farmhouse was in a distance with the fields being in front and the barns for the animals were at the back. It had been a while to say the least, but as you walked past the wooden fences it was like going home after a long journey away.

The door to the farmhouse was unlocked and with a light push, you poked your head inside. Your grandparents had already left for their first destination by the time you arrived, as seen by how all the furniture were covered by a white plastic cover. Sliding a finger along the window frame, you scrunched your face together when you saw just how much dust was covering everything. It would take a long while for you to clean everything up, you sighed as you put your luggage down onto the floor. 

You didn’t even know where to start with all that. Feeling absolutely clueless as you faced the lifeless house, the anxiety you had regarding this decision was starting to appear once more. You were on your own now, with no one to help you and no one to go to if you come across any trouble. It would take you days just to get everything settled down and not to mention getting the hang on how to actually get everything running...

You were scared, and you wondered if you really made the right decision.

It was as if the universe wanted to tell you to stop worrying when you heard a knock at the door. Opening the door, you were face-to-face, actually no he was nowhere near being your eye level, with a white mouse in full business attire. He(?) had a soft smile on his face and behind him was a man with stacks of files on his hands and a pair of rectangular glasses sat neatly on the bridge of his nose alongside with a girl who was very, very pink from head to bottom.

“Hello! You must be the new owner of the ranch, your grandparents told me about you before they left and I decided to come welcome you.” The mouse reached his hand out, “I’m Nezu, the mayor of this town. I will be in the Town’s office if you need anything.”

Shaking Mayor Nezu’s extended hand, you did not have much time to process the fact that the town’s mayor was a mouse before he continued. “This is Iida kun who is the secretary of the office,” the man behind him bowed and you did the same in response in absolutely panick at how formal he was, “and this is Ahisdo san who runs the stable in town.”

The girl grabbed your hand and beamed, “Nice to meet you but Ashido is too formal, you can call me Mina!”

“Ashido san! You are going to intimate them!”

You managed a chuckle at the exchange between the two people. Mayor Nezu cleared his throat to stop them from rambling and he continued. “I’m sure that there’s a lot you have to do to settle down. Yuuei Town is not very big but you can get everything you need in the town square. Please do get to know everyone around when you have time, everyone is very friendly and I’m sure they look forward to meeting you! I brought Iida kun and Ashido san here with me today so they can help you with some basics on how to get around the farm and other things you should know...”

They taught gave you all the information you needed about the town and tips on how to run the farm. It was a lot to take it and your mind was so close to wandering away only to be pulled back at the last second on several occasions. After what seemed like hours of talk with phrases that you had barely heard of before, countless bickering between Iida and Mina, and several moments where you wonder if mice can kill when you sensed the rising danger in Nezu’s tiny eyes as the two argued, they finally left but not without telling you that you were always welcomed to go to them for help if you need anything. Mina also very eagerly offered to take you to the best (and only) restaurant for lunch next week as Iida yelled at her to keep up.

Like that, they were gone and you were alone once more. It was weird to hear just how silent the house was when seconds ago it was filled with people talking. You definitely felt better when they were around but now that it was just you, you were starting to feel lost once again.

This would not do, you had to start somewhere. Your searching eyes landed on the same window frame you touched when you first entered the room. This place could use some ventilation. Taking a deep breath as if you had decided something, you pushed the windows open.

The evening breeze hit your face and you looked out to see that the sun was setting. Everything you saw was under the lovely golden hue of the descending sun. Leaning onto the wooden frame, the last bit of warmth landed on your face, creating a perfect balance with the soft wind. The grass moved along with the movement of the wind and its ruzzling passed into your ear.

From some reason, for no good reason at all, the sight in front of you gave you the sudden relieve that everything would be okay.

Everything would turn out to be okay.

Leaning back, you turned around to look at the mess that was your new home and rolled your sleeves up for first of the many days of hard work ahead.

#bnha imagines #bnha imagine #bnha x reader #mha imagines #mha imagine #mha x reader #harvest moon au

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #467

Top Ten Romantic Couples in Superhero Movies (& TV)

It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend. Woo, I guess? I dunno. I’m not generally cynical about holidays but Valentine’s Day does seem to be entirely focused on selling cards without any of the associated pleasantries of, say, Christmas or Halloween. I’d rather just try to be nice to my wife all year round. At least because of the apocalypse all the restaurants are closed so we can’t be tempted to pay through the nose for a set menu. Anyway, it gives me a strained excuse to tie this week’s Top Ten to something vaguely romantic.

Superheroes are often horny. This seems to be a defining characteristic of the artform. Whether it’s their descent from ancient myths, or their creators’ origins in writing romance books, or just a function of genre storytelling in the mid-twentieth century, there’s quite a lot of romantic angst in superhero stories. Pretty much every superhero has a significant other; Lois Lane even got her own comic that was actually called Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. It’s hard to conceive of many heroes without their primary squeeze, and often – as we get multiple media adaptations of characters – we can add diversity or a twist to the proceedings by picking a lesser-known love interest, or one from earlier in the character’s fictional history; for instance, Smallville beginning with Cark Kent’s teenage crush Lana Lang, or The Amazing Spider-Man swapping out Mary Jane Watson for Gwen Stacey.

Anyway, I’m talking this week about my favourite superhero couples. I’ve decided to focus on superhero adaptations – that is, the characters from movies and films based on superhero comics or characters. I find this a little bit easier as I don’t have a phenomenal knowledge of sixty years of Avengers comics, but I have seen all the movies a bunch. As many comics as I’ve read, and as much as I love various ink-and-paper pairings, I can arguably talk more authoritatively about the fillums than the funny books. And let’s be real here, kids: my favourite comic book romantic couple is Chromedome and Rewind in Transformers. Also if I split them in two I can talk about comic couples next year. Woohoo!

It really is hard thinking of these things nearly nine years in, folks.

So! Here, then, are my favourite movie-TV Couples in Capes. Obviously there’s a fair bit of MCU in here. And I’ve been pretty specific about “superhero” romances: so no Hellboy and Liz Sherman, sadly (and I do really like them in the movies, of which they really need to make a third). Some are civvies-and-supes; some are capes-and-capes. You’ll work it out.

Superman & Lois Lane (Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder, Superman, 1978): who else? The most famous romance in all of comics, a combo so strong it remains the focus of pretty much every interpretation of the character, but arguably never better than here; so good are Reeve and Kidder that their fast-talking banter and inherent goodness set the template for a huge swathe of other comic adaptations to follow. She’s sarky and streetwise; he’s gormless and good-hearted. She leaps in where angels fear to tread, he’s an invulnerable alien in disguise. They have buckets of chemistry and an utterly believable (tentative) romance. They’re perfect performances and the scenes of Clark in Metropolis for the first time (including Superman’s balcony interview with Lois) are the best bits of an already excellent film.

Raven & Beast Boy (Tara Strong & Greg Cipes, Teen Titans Go!, 2014): on a totally different register, we have the comedy stylings of the Teen Titans. Raven and Beast Boy had a flirtatious relationship on the original Titans series, but on this longer-running and much more demented comedy follow-up, they were allowed to make the romance more official (I nearly said “explicit” but, y’know… it’s not that). The jokes and banter – BB the love-struck, jealous suitor, Raven the too-cool partner who feigns nonchalance – build and build, but every now and again they’re allowed a moment of genuine heartfelt romance, and it hits all the more strongly amidst the ultra-violence and outrageous comedy.

Captain America & Agent Carter (Chris Evans & Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011): the premier couple of the MCU, Steve and Peggy spend a whole movie flirting (she sees the goodness of him even before he gets all hench) before finally arranging a date that, we all know, is very much postponed. Peggy casts a shadow over the rejuvenated Cap and the MCU as a whole, founding SHIELD, inspiring dozens of heroes, and counselling Steve to her dying days. She remains Steven’s true north (like Supes with Lois, Peggy’s an ordinary human who is the actual hero of an actual super-powered hero), guiding him through the chaos and tragedy of Endgame, until they both get to live happily ever after. Even though he snogged her niece.

Batman & Catwoman (Michael Keaton & Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns, 1992): Pfeiffer delivers a barnstorming performance as Selina Kyle, all barely-supressed mania and seductive feline charm. The chemistry between her and Keaton is electric, and propels the film forward even when the Penguin-runs-for-mayor stuff gets a bit daft and icky. There are beautiful moments of romantic comedy when they’re both trying to cover up injuries they gave each other, and of course there’s “mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it” – a line that runs a close second to “dance with the devil” when it comes to Burton-Batman quotations (just ahead of “never rub another man’s rhubarb”). Burton, generally favouring the macabre villains over the straighter edges of the heroic Batman, nevertheless makes great play of the duality of the character, and how this is something he and Catwoman can share – both “split right down the centre” – but also how this means a happy ending for either of them is impossible.

Spider-Man & Mary Jane (Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2002): whilst a lot of this is really down to the sexiness of them kissing upside-down in the rain, there’s a nice duality to Peter and MJ seeing through each other too: he sees the wounded humane soul beneath her it-girl persona; she sees the kind, caring man underneath his geek baggage. This arc plays out beautifully across the first two films (ending in that wonderfully accepting “Go get ‘em, tiger”) before sadly getting all murky and unsatisfying in the murky and unsatisfying third film. Still: that kiss.

Wonder Woman & Steve Trevor (Gal Gadot & Chris Pine, Wonder Woman, 2017): probably the film that hews closest to the Clark-Lois dynamic of the original Superman, to the point where it includes an homage to the alleyway-mugging scene as Diana deflects a bullet. Steve is Diana’s window into man’s world, showing her the horror of the First World War but managing to also be a sympathetic ally and never talking down or mansplaining anything. He’s a hero in his own right – very similar to another wartime Steve on this list – and very much an ideal match to the demigod he’s showing round Europe. And, of course, Gadot’s Diana is incredible, both niaive and vulnerable whilst also an absolute badass. There is an enduring warm chemistry to the pair, with a relationship which we actually see consummated – relatively rare for superheroes! The inevitability of his heroic sacrifice does nothing to lessen the tragedy, and no I’ve not seen Wonder Woman 1984 yet.

Hawkeye & Laura Barton (Jeremy Renner & Linda Cardellini, Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015): I love these guys! I love that Hawkeye has a relatively normal, stable family life. He has a big old farmhouse that he wants to remodel, he’s got two kids and a third on the way… he’s got something to live for, something to lose. It humanises him amidst the literal and figurative gods of the Avengers. And they’re cute together, bickering and bantering, and of course she is supportive of his Avenging. I hope we get to see more of Laura and the kids in the Hawkeye series, and I hope nothing bad happens to them now they’ve all been brought back to life.

Wanda Maximoff & Vision (Elizabeth Olsen & Paul Bettany, Avengers: Infinity War, 2018): theirs is a difficult relationship to parse, because they’re together so briefly. They cook paprikash together in Civil War before having a bit of a bust-up, and by Infinity War they’re an official couple, albeit on the run (and on different sides). That movie does a great job in establishing their feelings for each other in very little screentime, with their heroic characteristics on full display, before the shockingly awful tragedy of Wanda killing Vision to save the galaxy, before Thanos rewinds time, brings him back to life, and kills him again, and then wins. Their relationship going forward, in WandaVision, is even trickier, because we don’t know what’s up yet, and at times they’re clearly not acting as “themselves”, defaulting to sitcom tropes and one-liners. Will Vision survive, and if he does, will their relationship? Who can say, but at least they’ll always have Edinburgh, deep-fried kebabs and all.

Batman & Andrea Beaumont (Kevin Conroy & Dana Delany, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, 1993): woah, Batman’s back but it’s a different Batman, say whaaaat. Animated Batman has had a few romances, from the great (Talia al-Ghul) to the disturbingly icky (Batgirl, ewwww), but his relationship with Andrea Beaumont is the best. Tweaking the Year One formula to give young Bruce a love interest that complicates his quest is a golden idea, and making her a part of the criminality and corruptiuon that he’s fighting is a suitably tragic part of the Batman origin story. Conroy and Delany give great performances, him wringing pathos out of Bruce, torn between heart and duty (“It just doesn’t hurt so bad anymore,” he wails to his parents’ grave, “I didn’t count on being happy”), her channelling golden age Hollywood glamour. The tragedy of them rekindling their relationship years later, only to wind up on different sides again, is – again – so very Batman. It’s a beautiful, earnest, very Batman relationship, a great titanic tragedy of human emotions and larger-than-life ideals. And they both look good in black.

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy (Kaley Cuoco & Lake Bell, Harley Quinn, 2020): this one’s a little bit of a cheat, as I’ve only seen the first season of the show, where Harley and Ivy don’t even get together. But in the wider, non-canonical sense of these being characters who are part of the pop-cultural ether, Harley and Ivy will always be a couple, I feel; and there’s definitely enough in there already to see the affection between them, not yet consummated. They adore each other, are always there for each other, and as the season follows Harley getting out of her own way and acknowledging the abuse of her relationship with Joker – and finally getting over it in the healthiest way possible for a bleached-white manic pixie in roller derby gear. And all through this, holding her hand, is Ivy. They’re utterly made for each other, and I’m glad that they do get together in season two. I hope that Margot Robbie’s rendition of the character can likewise find happiness with a flesh-and-blood Ivy. Hell, just cast Lake Bell again. She’s great.

Just bubbling under – and I’m really gutted I couldn’t fit them in – was Spider-Man & M.J. from Spider-Man: Far From Home. Like Batman, I’m comfortable including multiple continuities here, and those cuties offer a different spin on a classic relationship.

#valentine's day #romance #top ten #love #superheroes #comic book #movie #films #dce #mcu #marvel

[espercr---archived]

✶ - 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆'𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 

     gentle disclaimer that i’m going off of her age as opposed to actual years . this is to keep the focus on her & plot points in her life , rather than events in the universe(s) she inhabits - although i do have ideas about when these events occur adjacent to the mcu , so i will add in little notes about that as i go . also this is going to be incredibly long - so it’s going under a read more . things may also change with plotting / the addition of mains - so this will be a living document , & i will add things accordingly . 

𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 - hope is born in london , england to newlyweds ardella & damien baxter , a biochemist & engineer respectively . she spends her first 2 years growing up in the city , but with little faith on the way her parents decide to take advantage of the farmhouse ardella recently inherited in the states . 

when hope is the age of 3 , faith is born , & her family is living happily on the outskirts of a little farming town - brightside , tennessee . growing up in the country is paradise - she spends her time exploring the woods , caring for animals , & helping her mama in the kitchen . it’s not until later that she realizes she’s just a bit lonely - especially once faith starts to pull away from her .

at the age of 11 she meets winfield , the boy who will be her best friend for life . he is a bully , initially - but with some convincing ( & her mama’s famous triple chocolate muffins . ) he gives her a chance . . . & from then on they’re thick as thieves . before their friendship , hope was rather shy & reserved - but with his encouragement she quickly blossoms into much more of a socialite .

her life is looking up until the age of 14 . she discovers her parents have been killed in a lab ‘accident’ at their place of work , a company she knows next to nothing about . it only occurs to her later that maybe there was a reason for her parent’s secrecy . not knowing better , the sisters wrongly assume that the ‘social worker’ that comes to collect them means well - really , she is connected to the deaths of their parents , & they are taken to an illegal testing facility to be experimented upon . once it’s clear that these people mean them harm , hope does her best to fight back & protect her sister - but . . . really , at this point she doesn’t stand a chance . 

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 - she learns that the woman who kidnapped them is dr . bianca white . she doesn’t know it at the time , but this woman used to work with her parents . what she does know pretty immediately , is that she is bad news . hope is convinced to make a deal with her : allow herself to become their willing little lab rat , or allow her sister to receive the same treatment . it’s a no brainer , hope chooses to comply . 

by the age of 15 there’s been little to no progress & her captors are becoming impatient . their experiments become more & more ruthless . faith has started to detach herself from both hope & the world in general . she’s angry with her sister , for making no attempt to escape or fight back at all - unaware of the deal she has made . it’s at this point they are seperated entirely - & experimentation on faith begins , however hope is oblivious to this . she needs to believe these people are keeping their promise . faith becomes even more resentful of hope every day .

just after her 16th birthday she’s told faith has died . the scientists have a hunch - their energy readings show a correlation with hope’s emotions , negative ones in particular . so they provide the most negative stimulus they can think up , even if it is a total lie . faith is alive & well , however she’s been manipulated into aligning herself with her captors . what her torturers hadn’t planned on , is just how volatile hope’s reaction would be . the energy behaves like a sizable bomb - freeing hope & injuring everyone within the blast radius . finally , she is able to fully access the abilities she’s been developing for the past two years . she’s on a warpath to escape the facility & free the other victims , putting an end to the experimentation for good . in the meantime , dr . white escapes with faith - cutting her losses . 

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇 - wealthy journalist , kit armington , is tasked with reporting on the facility’s illicit activity & takes pity on hope - taking her in as a foster child . during this time hope endures questioning by the police , the press , & eventually several hearings as a witness . dr . white is presumed dead - hope believes she murdered her , & despite how much hatred she holds in her heart for that woman . . . this really tanks her mental health & self image . she feels like a disappointment to everything her mother stood for , & vows to never use her abilities again . . . she doesn’t even try , for fear of hurting anyone . 

at 18 hope has completed her education through home schooling  , testing out of high school & with kit’s financial aid - she enrolls in college . it’s there she meets christina , & . . . these two have a rocky start . as roommates they clash - christina is a bit of a shut in & a neat freak . . . hope is disorganized & has fallen in with the partying crowd - which is atypical for her , but trying to drink away the pain seems a lot better than having to feel it all the time . it’s not until a late night heart to heart that they finally see eye to eye . hope convinces christina to come out with her & live a little - christina keeps hope from overdoing it . they balance each other perfectly , & make a great team - this never changes . it’s at this point christina begins to develop an unrequited crush on her best friend .

𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐘 ( domestic abuse tw ) - the pair graduate at the age of 22 & begin their journey of opening a bakery together . they receive the condition that if they can raise half of the funds necessary , kit & christina’s family will match the sum in equal parts . the pair head to new york , christina working as an accountant & hope working two waitressing gigs . it’s at this point she starts dating a guy that’s no good for her - as christina would remind her frequently . she’s not proud of her time spent with him , but she’s also infatuated with the illusion of love - especially considering all she’s been through . it’s at this point she’s reunited with winfield , who is down on his luck trying to make it as an actor in the big city . she takes him in , after some convincing - but is understandably vague about the circumstances of her disappearance . one day she returns to the apartment with a blackened eye - & though she tells him not to , he goes after her abusive boyfriend . hope follows , walking in on the violent confrontation . seeing her best friend being beaten to a pulp triggers her powers for the first time since her escape from the facility - effectively putting a stop to the brawl , & exposing her powers to winfield . he convinces her to use them for good - & once again becomes her trusted confidant . at this point she can barely lift a feather without her emotions being supercharged - but this changes with time & practice . 

𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 - at the age of 25 Hope’s Bakery is open for business . winfield has his own place , just across the street & she is practicing vigilante justice when the sun goes down . it’s this chunk of time i use as a default for most of her interactions . ( in comparison to the mcu , i place this before the winter soldier . ) this is her situation until the beginning of her first arc - effectively , her status quo . virtually untrained , all alone - but determined to do some good . 

𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝟣 . 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 - mercenaries start turning up to kill hope . not her vigilate alter ego , stellar jay , hope b . baxter . at first she thinks her identity has been compromised , but that’s not it . following the clues , she learns it’s dr . white - back from the dead . she’s become aware of her vigilante routine , & wants to cash in on her lab project . the mercenaries were a test , to see what she could do - & gauge whether it’s worth trying to recruit her . hope , of course , isn’t happy about this . especially when dr . white decides to use christina as leverage . this would be a great time for any close friends / potential romantic partners to discover her secret - since this is where she’s at her sloppiest . there’s a lot of stuff left loose here for mains / additions to canon - but eventually , hope has a final showdown with bianca white & discovers that her sister is alive & well & pretty evil . she’s asked to choose her own freedom for chris’s life , however with winfield’s help she is already safe . dr . white shifts bargaining chips - threatening faith’s life , who is now thoroughly betrayed . the sisters do the impossible , working together to take down bianca - who is remorselessly dispatched by faith . . . who disappears as quickly as she reappeared in hope’s life . 

needless to say chris , hope , & win all go to therapy after all of this . 

𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝟤 . 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐖𝐄'𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 ? - now 26 , hope spends this arc trying to find faith & convince her to come with her  & stop killing people ,  please . her sister has taken to freelance mercenary work - so hope isn’t too pleased . it becomes very clear that faith always felt outcasted & unwanted in their family , especially from ardella - who only seemed to praise hope . this resentment isn’t easily cracked , but hope does her best . it doesn’t quite work , but seeds are inevitably planted in faith’s mind - maybe her sister isn’t the pretentious perfect princess she built up in her mind . hope is a guilty hero after all , constantly in battle with her desire to do good & reluctance to use the full extent of her powers . she’s convinced her mother would be disappointed by her violent approach . so faith enlightens hope . . . their mother wasn’t who they thought she was . 

she caused the explosion that killed her , their father , & a whole department of scientists . she sacrificed herself & others to prevent a dangerous substance from being utilized by the wrong group of people . their parents worked for the same facility that kidnapped their children - dr . bianca white was their boss , & had been blackmailing them for years . ardella finally had enough , & decided to end it . 

hope had always held her mother up on a pedestal , idealizing her , & holding herself to impossible standards . . . now she’s the bigger person , with no body count & the knowledge that her pacifist mother was capable of so much destruction . 

𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄 - adding this little bit in here , because the only thing that could make hope’s mental health tank even further at this point is christina & her cat pumpkin turning to ash at her feet . she does all she can to cope , helping her community , reuniting what’s left of families , & providing food through the bakery for people in need . but when things quiet down ? she flees the city to spend some alone time in her hometown . this would be a great time for any potential friends / romantic partners to check up on her . . . or even stay for good . not much to do for 5 years , after all . she gardens , picks up a stray dog & names her honey , bakes a lot , just sort of . . . lets the scars heal over . by the end hope is 31 .

𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝟥 . 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 - now that the world’s back on track . . . hope quickly learns that faith is back in action , now a fully formed villain . hope is taking it upon herself to take her down , but it’s not going to be easy . this arc is a bit of a question mark , but it will inevitably end with faith finally admitting that she wants her sister back after all these years . 

& that’s the full timeline for now . that’s what hope is dealing with while she’s chatting with your muses . . . so be kind to her , she’s going through a lot . help her out , teach her how to fight - hold her when she cries ! & most importantly - come plot with me so your muse can be factored into these arcs ! 

#✶ I’M QUITE SMALL AND I NEVER HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER ✶ ( headcanon ) #✶ MAKE MY MESSES MATTER MAKE THIS CHAOS COUNT✶ ( marvel ) #✶ ( it broke my brain - but here you go ) ✶

[its-flicked-switch]

The One They Deserved

3.5K | William Arc | The Story We Deserved | Post-MS4

William emerges from the harbor.

I know I can't be the only fan out there who was deeply disappointed by how William's character arc was handled in S11! So, for those of you on team #notmyWilliam, stick with me — I got you. 

—

"And maybe what growing up really means is knowing that you don't have to be just a character, going whichever way the story says. It's knowing you could be the author instead."

― Ava Dellaira, Love Letters to the Dead

—

JACKSON

Returning to Wyoming was a decision made on a whim — an instinctual impulse. Because when battered and broken, animal instinct predominates, driving the incessant urge to return to a place of comfort and security.

When Jackson emerged from the harbor, he knew he needed to seek refuge somewhere far removed from Virginia. Returning to the place where it all began just seemed fitting somehow. Poetic almost. For the beginning was also the end.

Of all the places he has lived over the course of the last seventeen years, this is the only place Jackson has ever considered to be home. As he crouches down in the tall grass behind his former home, he becomes enthralled with how quickly and slowly time can pass in the same instance. Saying goodbye to his childhood home seems like something that happened a lifetime ago to someone else, yet it happened only yesterday, and it's strikingly familiar.

Having risen from the dead once before, he knows that not finding his body in the harbor will put his pursuers on edge. Only a fool would accept his death as fact without a body at this point, and those who pursue him are not fools. With that being said, coming here was a risk, but his lack of confidence in his ability to manipulate video feed and hide his identity in larger crowds kept him from attending his parents' funeral.

As a child, he always dreaded attending funerals, oftentimes begging to stay home or to sit outside because he found them to be too unbearably sad and uncomfortable. But now, having been kept from attending the funerals of those closest to him, he has a greater appreciation for their purpose. Funerals aren't for the dead. They are for the living. He understands that now.

The circumstances surrounding their deaths prevented him from seeing their bodies. He wasn't there to watch their caskets being lowered into the ground, nor was he ever able to return to their home in Virginia, where he would have certainly been faced with blood-spattered walls and silence. Any or all of those things would have helped to ground him into the reality that they were really gone, and that he would never see them again. Ultimately, that is what he hoped to gain by coming here — closure. But as he settles in the tall grass behind his childhood home, all he feels is sorrow.

The Van De Kamps' former home hasn't changed all that much in their absence. The new owners have painted, changed up the landscaping, and added on a garage, but overall, the rustic farmhouse where he spent the first twelve years of his life has remained relatively untouched by the passage of time.

Jackson wishes he could say the same.

His early childhood was happy, carefree, and uncomplicated. Although they didn't live in a standard neighborhood, other families lived within a reasonable walking distance. The Brooks family, who owned the land adjacent to theirs, had two boys around his age — Ben and Zak. The three of them spent nearly every waking hour together in the summers. Collectively, their families owned a little over 6,000 acres of land, which, in turn, gave them quite a bit of terrain to roam and raise the kind of hell that only little boys are capable of concocting. Their more notable transgressions included but were not limited to: hitting a baseball into a busy highway where it shattered the back window of a brand new four-door Chevy pickup, a magnifying glass mishap that escalated into the incidental burning of an entire wheat field, and poking a hibernating bear. Yes. You heard right. Poking an actual bear. Suffice it to say, the old saying 'don't poke the bear' holds an entirely different meaning to him now than it did before.

Poking of bears aside, the majority of his childhood, although interesting at times, was fairly unremarkable — until the day that it wasn't.

He was nine when it started.

Phase one came in the form of nightmares. Intense night terrors that propelled him out of his bed and sent him screaming into the night. Twice his parents found him in fields behind their home staring up into the sky with his heart racing, clothes soaked with sweat, and tears streaming down his face. When it occurred a second time, they installed latches at the top of all of the exterior doors, in fear that he would end up in the middle of the highway or in one of their irrigation wells before they could wake and calm him.

The doctors had assured his parents that it was only a phase, but when weeks turned into months and months turned into a year, it became apparent that what he was experiencing was more than just a phase. The drugs the doctors prescribed were successful in sedating him, but they did not curve the frequency, intensity, duration, or nature of his dreams.

Phase two began shortly after his tenth birthday. His hair and eyes had always been fair, but in January of 2011, he woke up to the reflection of a boy he didn't recognize. His blue eyes and sandy brown hair had disappeared overnight, transitioning into a deep charcoal brown. Nobody in the medical community had ever seen anything like it, nor could they explain how or why it had occurred. Test after test confirmed that he was healthy and otherwise unaffected, but a sense of unease filled their home nonetheless.

The night terrors and physical transformation each snapped something within him, unraveling him into a child no one recognized. Within a year, he transitioned from being the light-hearted, jokester with lots of friends into a fearful, shy, and awkward isolationist. It was as if he was a completely different person altogether — mentally and physically. The friendships he had developed within the first ten years of his life slowly dissolved. One by one, they all eased away until there was no one left. Then the bullying began.

First came the inquisitive stares and whispers, which were quickly followed by finely pointed questions that only rude children ask.

"What are you? Some kind of alien?"

It was fairly common knowledge that he was adopted, which only served to make matters worse.

"Jack wasn't born, he was hatched. That's why he can change his coloring like an iguana. What color will you make your hair and eyes tomorrow — Jack?"

"I hear that he hangs out in the fields a lot. He's probably waiting for the mothership."

The digs were endless, and he didn't cope with any of it well. At first, he cried a lot, but he learned very quickly that ten-year-old boys can't cry on playgrounds. Witnessed tears added a whole new layer to his misery. It was if he had opened Pandora's Box to hell.

Jerry Marriott was the worst of the bunch. He coined the name Alien Jack — AJ for short, and it stuck. Soon, nobody other than the teachers called him by his given name.

Thankfully, summer arrived, providing him with a much-needed reprieve from hell.

His parents had hoped that the summer would bring Ben and Zak back, but it didn't. When he wasn't helping his father on the farm, he would walk through the fields alone, which troubled his parents far more than it ever bothered him. The silence was far more favorable than the alternative. School had taught him that much.

Midsummer, his father returned home from an errand with a large box. Since it was the first time he had seen either of his parents genuinely smile in weeks, he knew immediately that whatever was in the mystery box was a much bigger deal than the new dirt bike they had given him for his birthday. They had been placating him for weeks. Making special meals, renting extra movies and video games …any and everything they could think of to try to lift the depressive fog that hung over him. But that day had been different, their smiles were confident and infectious, and when he opened the box, he understood why.

Inside the box was a small wiggling ball of energy. A chocolate lab puppy with large animated brown eyes and tan tipped paws. To this day, Jackson still refers to that moment as being the happiest moment of his life.

He named him Abe, after Abraham Lincoln, because he ended the period of misery and loneliness that had enslaved him by offering him true and unbridled friendship. For the first time in over a year, Jackson looked forward to getting up in the morning. His mood and overall outlook brightened considerably.

His mother's allergies had always prevented them from having pets, which was why Abe's sudden appearance had come as such a surprise. After his arrival, new kleenex boxes appeared in nearly every room. Her congestion and sneezing fits worsened as Abe aged, but she never once complained. Jackson never really thanked her enough for that. Kids are kind of assholes in that respect. They don't truly grasp the meaning of sacrifice.

Unfortunately, for his family, itchy, watery eyes, and nasal congestion would be on the low end of the totem pole in comparison to the sacrifices that would lie ahead.

Phase three was the most troubling for everyone except him. For him, phase three was the glorious redemption that typically only exists in a bullied preteen's dreams. It began with an excruciating headache and a low-grade fever that kept him in bed for nearly three days. When it waned, the world was different. He's since been asked by numerous medical and mental health professionals to describe it, and the best analogy he has been able to come up with is hibernation. When he woke up on that third day, he felt as if he had woken up for the very first time.

Initially, the difference was subtle — something he could sense but not entirely identify. As the days passed, however, the subtlety faded, and the awareness that he possessed unnatural abilities became more and more apparent. For example, he could gain access to people's innermost thoughts, secrets, and fears by merely making eye contact with them or by being in close proximity to them. He wouldn't call it mind-reading per se, because the information was far too pointed to be ramblings of the mind. No whispers, no visions… just infinite knowledge that would appear in his mind as if it had always been there. He would just know.

Ten-year-old boys aren't the coyest creatures on the planet, and Jackson had been no exception.

Returning to school following his summer reprieve had been difficult. The only thing that got him through each day was the knowledge that Abe would be sitting at the bus stop waiting for him, so the timing of his mysterious illness couldn't have been better… or worse, depending upon your perspective.

His ability to obtain sensitive information was a game-changer. As it turned out, Jerry Marriott had an irrational fear of clowns, slept with a night light and stuffed elephant named 'Snuffy,' and hated the father who abandoned him and his mother to go live with his boyfriend in Nevada.

It was at this juncture that Jackson's name transitioned from being Alien Jack to Alien Jackass.

While his tactics didn't win him any humanitarian of the year awards, it leveled the playing field and facilitated camaraderie. Jackson wasn't Jerry's only target. Lewis Weedin and Jessy Scott were also victims of Jerry's unrelenting treachery. Lewis ate every booger he could find, and Jessy rarely bathed properly, but they were both kind, troubled souls whose home lives were miserable. They made an awkward trio and didn't have a tremendous amount in common aside from their mutual hatred for Jerry. But the knowledge that Jessy's stepfather molested him and that Lewis's mother was a worthless drunk made Jackson all that much more determined to make their time at school more tolerable — and he did.

Exploitation worked for awhile. Instead of calling him names, tripping him in the halls, and smashing his lunch, his peers gave him a wide berth.

What Jackson hadn't anticipated was Jerry's resolve. Revealing Jerry's deepest secrets had taken the terror level down a few notches and given Jackson some breathing room, but beneath Jerry's seemingly calm and avoidant exterior, he was seething and biding his time. Alien Jack was child's play. Teasing him about being an alien, from Jerry's perspective, had always been just that — teasing. All in good fun.

Jerry kept his distance for months, leading Jackson to believe that it was over. It wasn't until Jerry ended up on his bus buddied up with Ben and Zak that he knew something was amiss, and he wasn't wrong.

It started as soon as the bus pulled away.

Abe had been waiting for him in his usual place with his body wiggling from head to toe in anticipation as the bus stopped.

"Nice dog, jackass."

Having already weaponized all the intel he had gathered from Jerry's psyche, there was little left for him to say that hadn't already been broadcasted. Ben and Zak remained silent at Jerry's side but looked rather pleased with themselves for acquiring a new and powerful friend. Abe, oblivious to their tone and intentions, had approached him with his typical after school enthusiasm — wiggling, jumping, and nudging along his side to be petted.

Jackson considered telling Jerry to bug off but thought better of it since he was still a good ten minutes away from home and outnumbered three to one. So instead of commenting, he regarded the three of them as if they were cockroaches and turned to walk away.

Neither he nor Abe saw the rock coming.

The jagged, medium-sized rock struck Abe in his hindquarters, causing him to stumble and yelp. The hurt, confused, and terrified look in Abe's sweet, gentle eyes filled Jackson with a sense of rage that he had never experienced before. And turning to find their snide, taunting smiles and hands filled with rocks only served to intensify that rage.

As he watched them chuckle and tauntingly toss the rocks up into the air, an eerie calm settled over him. In that moment, Jackson felt a lot of things but fear was not one of them.

"Time to see how fast you and your friend can run, jackass," Jerry said, giving Ben and Zak a slight nod before arching to hurl the second rock.

Abe, at this point, was no longer oblivious to their intentions and had begun to growl, but it didn't matter. Before the rock could leave Jerry's hand, he hit the ground — hard.

Ben and Zak immediately dropped their rocks and ran away in terror, leaving Jerry to gasp, sputter, and writhe around in the gravel along the side of the road alone.

Without batting an eye or taking a step in his direction, Jackson had sent Jerry hurling backward with such force that it knocked the wind out of him and broke three of his ribs.

"No," Jackson told him as he moved to stand over him, "you are the one who is going to run."

And Jerry did.

The jagged rock left a gash on Abe's hindquarters right along his hip that required several stitches. But true to his nature, Abe remained standing, wagging his tail and licking Jackson in the face as he knelt down, removed a layer of clothing, and cleaned up the wound as best he could before walking them both home.

The events that followed the bus stop brawl changed all of their lives forever. Within a year, Abe was gone, and his parents were forced to sell their farm, farmhouse, and a good portion of their possessions to avoid bankruptcy.

As he watches the sunset over the top of the trees, Jackson knows he has to get moving. He's already stayed longer than he intended, but it's taken more time than he anticipated to gather the courage to visit the very spot he traveled all this way to see. Rising from his obscured position in the tall grass along the tree line, he makes his way deeper into the woods that line the south side of the property.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he approaches the clearing where he and his father had laid his one and only true friend to rest. Getting down on his hands and knees, Jackson brushes aside layers of leaves until he finds the flat stone that marks Abe's resting place.

Abe was a true light. The year he spent with Abe was the happiest time of his life. Abe's eyes had always been gentle, loving, and hungry for adventure. Even after all of this time, Jackson can still feel the coldness of his nose, the sloppiness of his kisses, and the sharpness of his toenails. It's been nearly six years, but the emptiness, sorrow, and furry that filled him following Abe's death has never truly waned.

He doesn't stop the tears that stream down his face as he traces the outline of Abe's name chiseled into the stone. His tears aren't for just Abe. He can feel his parents here too. Abe's death took something out of all of them. It was like being struck by lightning: nothing was the same afterward.

In the years that followed their move, he allowed vengeance to drive and shape him, destroying everyone and everything around him. Being powerful is cool, until the day that it isn't. Now, as he kneels in half-frozen leaves overlooking a grave, he realizes that the one ability he longs for the most is one that he doesn't possess. He can't turn back time. If he could, he would rewind to the day he lost Abe with the knowledge that he has today. If he could do that, he wouldn't be kneeling over Abe's grave in the forest. He would be sitting at the kitchen table inside their farmhouse ordering graduation invitations with Abe snoring at his feet.

At the times of their deaths, he wasn't who they deserved.

Now, all that is left of them in this world are their graves and the imprints they've left on him.

His parents had been sweet, gentle, and loving people, who despite everything, never once resented him. They gave him everything they had, and in return, all he had given them was trouble and heartache. And Abe… Abe was just Abe. Always loving. Always happy. Always looking to him to lead, because where Jackson was — was exactly where Abe wanted to be.

Wiping at his tears, he makes a promise to each of them, one he should have made years ago. From this day forward, he's going to be the one they deserved. They may be gone, but they will not be lost for their imprints will now fall on him.

Moving the leaves back to cover Abe's resting place, Jackson blankets his one and only true friend with as much warmth as the environment will allow, comforted by the fact that he will no longer be buried there alone.

:

Moonlight guides him alongside the highway. The night is silent except for the distinct jingle of tags and clicking of nails against the asphalt. Should somebody happen upon him tonight, they will find a quick friend in a lively chocolate lab with tan tipped paws, a green collar, soulful eyes, and a smile that begs for adventure. What they won't see is a troubled teenage boy or a monster.

Cloaked in a true spirit of light, William heads due south in search of the man who is referred to in his visions only as Praise.

:

AN: This is a chapter from a larger work you find here. 

I'm not going to lie, this was an emotional chapter for me to write. In S11, we were introduced to a young man who was insanely powerful and a bit of an asshole. After 18 years of buildup, I expected more and was devastated that we didn't get it, which is why I made the decision to write a more William-centered story. His arc was important to me. There was a story there that wasn't told, and I'm determined to tell it. For those of you here strictly for the MSR, don't fret... without Mulder and Scully there are no X Files ;)

And, as always, a HUGE thank you to my betas @kikocrystalball​, @admiralty-xfd​, and @suilven19​ for their edits and encouragement… because nobody gets there alone ;)

#the x files #william arc #x files season 12 #x files fanfic

[sometimesrosy]

there are 16 episodes left and one of them will be about spin off, how are 15 episodes enough for bellarke story to be resolved? b/cho is still on and i'm afraid an off screen break up is off the table too. i do believe bellarke is in love but i don't see how the most important dynamic and will they won't they ship can get a satisfying resolution in 15 episodes :/

You think they can’t tell a story in a whole season.

Because they haven’t been able to tell stories in any of the other seasons?

You think you know how they will and/or can’t do it.

Because...you... are following the story we’ve been getting and how far along it is and how they’ve developed various storylines to head into multiple closures as they have given closure to past storylines?

I don’t think you are following the stories or you’d see that they’re already developing the b/e break up and have been for two seasons, or basically since they introduced them.

I don’t think you understand me when I talk about storylines or arcs or narrative development or story structure. Are these terms you don’t understand? Do you think I’m making them up because I’m delusional or kissing JR’s ass or something, both things I have been accused of, a lot, and which make no sense, because basic literary interpretation is not a delusion, it’s a discipline of understanding stories. And it’s, like, way old. And you study it in school. EVERYONE studies it in school. And I’m not kissing JR’s ass. I don’t know him. I have no contact with him. I don’t tweet him. He doesn’t know me. I just happen to like the show because the story makes sense to me and it hits my buttons and I think he tells it well. And I try to explain what I see that he’s doing instead of saying he’s out to get me and doesn’t know how to write. I don’t think he’s out to get bellarke fans (I actually think he’s a bellarke fan) and I think he DOES know how to write a good tv show.

But if you can’t follow that the narrative is telling this story, actively, in the process of it, and it is doing it ON PURPOSE, and all these parallels and call backs are a sign that they are telling an INTEGRATED story that goes all the way back to the beginning and will wrap up with the series finale, then I don’t know what to tell you.

Because it is all currently happening in the story that we already have. This isn’t something that’s going to start in 7.01 and finish in 7.16. 

This is something that has ALREADY STARTED and depending upon the storyline you’re talking about, it’s been working for anywhere from 6 seasons to 1 season already.

I really don’t care about your (or fandom in general’s) fears anymore. Because as far as I can tell, your fears are existing only in your head and in the fandom hot takes and are not seen in the canon. The canon is telling the story. It’s RIGHT there. Already. I don’t know why you don’t see it. It glaringly obvious.

How do YOU know the backdoor pilot is not going to move the bellarke story forward? Who told you that? Do you think they can’t tell backstory or a new story without telling OUR story? They did in Thirteen when we learned about Becca and the end of the world. In fact, it neatly wrapped up a lot of confusion and moved us forward into the next 4 seasons. Y’all have decided bellarke won’t be in that episode because of the spinoff, and to me, I interpreted it as HOT DAMN THEY’RE GONNA TIME TRAVEL. SO I’m not sure they won’t be there. We’ve got them filming at a yellow farmhouse, nonster. For more than one episode. If I were to guess, I’d say it’s Diyoza’s father’s house. Where she went to hide and got caught. 

Why do you guys focus so much on doom and gloom and how you’re afraid you won’t get what you want?  

Why don’t you ever pay attention to the possibilities that you might enjoy the show??? That this Bellarke story might be wrapped up in an epic, romantic, beautiful way that will kill us all dead because it’s so great?

Why do you have to be such a downer?

And why do you have to send your negativity to me, when I LIKE the show. I LIKE the way it’s going. I think JR is a GOOD writer. I am pretty pumped about the direction of Bellarke. And I have no desire to be “arrogant” or “condescending” because I think my interpretation is right and yours is wrong. I really dont’ care about your interpretation, tbh. That’s why I don’t have conversatiosn wth people on their blogs about them. I also don’t want to take on your anxieties. I don’t agree with you and I’m not entertaining theories that I see no base for. 

Come on now. 

If you like the show, let yourself enjoy it. If you don’t like the show, ditch it. If you’re afraid you won’t get what you want, then grow up, because you’re not a toddler and the world isn’t designed to please you. It’s a tv show, not your life. And I’m not your mom who’s gonna make it okay and give you a gold star.