#I'm not even at a big enough follower rate!!! I just talk a lot and make shitposts

[intrepidacious]

almost believing

summary: You and Bucky aren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment. That doesn't mean you're getting out of having to pretend to be married for a mission.

pairing: bucky barnes x f!reader

word count: 5.4k

warnings: miscommunication dialled up to eleven bc it's me; friends to lovers with lots of seething in between; set around christmas, but not a christmas fic; slight spoiler warning for wakanda forever just to be safe

please note that my blog is rated 18+. minors dni. ageless/empty blogs will be blocked without warning.

prompt: fake dating, baby 😌 title and initial inspiration for this fic were taken from "so close" from enchanted. yes. that scene.

a/n: this was written for my wonderful tiff's sweet as sugar writing challenge!! @traitorjoelite i'm so proud of you and i hope you enjoy this fic. i really thought this one would be short i swear. big shoutout and thank you to @sweetascanbee for listening to me rant about this for weeks, i appreciate you so much!!

masterlist | read on ao3

Here’s the thing: It’s supposed to be a simple mission. Just gathering intel at the hotel for one single night, the two of you pretending that everything is fine for a couple of hours more.

After all, it’s Bucky’s last mission with you before his reassignment goes through.

Well, it’s not like it’s going to make a difference to how much you’re seeing him, to be honest.

You’re not sure when he started making himself rare or why, but once you noticed it, it was impossible not to.

"Sorry, I’m heading out," when you ask him to grab lunch together seems inconspicuous enough, as does, "Ah, I’m already supposed to meet Sam," when you try asking him about that trip to IKEA you’d been talking about for ages.

But it doesn’t stop there. One excuse follows the next, and suddenly there’s always something more important than the two of you hanging out.

Of course, you try to rationalize it at first. Swallow down your hurt feelings, because Bucky is your friend, and sometimes people just need space. You’re fine. The two of you are fine.

Once he starts scheduling dates for Friday night, though—which has always been movie night, always, every week since you met him—you know that something’s wrong.

"Is he angry with me?" you keep asking Steve, who looks very uncomfortable and definitely knows what's going on.

"Just give him a little space," he suggests timidly. So you do. You let the whole thing go.

For like a week.

"I just don’t know what I did," you tell Sam over drinks, your head held in your hands.

"Nope," he answers, downing his dregs. "I’m not doing this. Nuh-uh."

"You know, too?" you cry, accusingly pointing at him.

"I don’t know anything," Sam deadpans. And then he puts his scarf on and leaves.

"Maybe try talking to Bucky about it?" Natasha suggests, either incapable of hiding her amused smile or unwilling to try.

"I would if I ever saw him for longer than a 'hi, how are you' at the gym," you mumble. Fact is, you’re getting pissed about him giving you the silent treatment without even knowing what you did wrong.

Because before this, whatever this is, things were fine. Great, even. Free afternoons were spent on each other’s couches, introducing him to your favorite tv shows and letting him teach you that stupid card game he loves so damn much. You’d even been starting to imagine that there might be something …

Clearly, you were wrong.

Now, you can’t even look at him without your throat closing up. It’s like you woke up a few weeks ago and he’s become an entirely different person around you, much more like he was at the beginning of your friendship, distant and cold.

He didn’t even tell you that he’d signed up for a transfer.

The mission call feels like your last chance.

A whole evening of teamwork and espionage, of him basically having no other choice than talking to you and finally telling you why the fuck he would get himself reassigned without even telling you beforehand. You could’ve hugged Fury for the opportunity.

That is, until you’re handed the file containing your fake identities for the op a few hours before you’re supposed to leave.

"You’re joking," you say as soon as you open the door.

"Great, you’re here as well," Steve says dryly. "Again, a) you both gotta learn how to knock, b) the whole thing wasn’t my idea or my decision, but I also think it’s the best directive for what you’re trying to do, and c) no, there’s no one else available for the mission. Anything I missed?"

Bucky deliberately doesn’t meet your eye, his arms still crossed as he stares Steve down with a look you can’t decipher. He doesn’t even acknowledge you standing in the door, but his foot is doing the tapping thing again.

You purse your lips and join the staring.

Steve sighs, rubbing his temples with the palms of his hands. "Listen, you two work well together and I know these past few weeks have been … strained"—you almost laugh at that—"but it’s just one night."

"We need to pretend we’re married," you say. "How’re we going to pull that off if he can’t stand being in the same room as me?"

"I trust that there won’t be any issues." Steve raises an eyebrow at Bucky as he says that, but of course he doesn’t get a reply. That would necessitate talking in your presence.

"One night," Bucky repeats through gritted teeth.

Not for the first time, there seems to be some sort of silent conversation between the two of them that you’re not privy to. You roll your eyes.

"I’ll see you later."

You leave with your back straight and without a glance over your shoulder, the door slamming shut behind you.

For a moment, you’re tempted to barge into Natasha’s office next, but you have a feeling like she’d just give you another one of her looks again, which really won’t better your mood. So instead, you slam another door and flop onto your bed, blankly staring at the ceiling for a while.

Surely, there’s some twisted sort of irony in this whole situation, but you’re not laughing.

Usually, before a mission, you’d get bagels together from the bakery around the corner. You haven’t done that in a while, but you’re still quietly begging your phone to show a new unread message when you look at the time however long later.

Instead, there’s just your lockscreen picture of Bucky’s grinning face that you can’t bear to get rid off, no matter how many times it stings you. It’s almost a year old, now, back when you’d taken him to go do your holiday shopping with you, insisting that "no one’s gonna recognize you, look at that great cap you’re wearing".

It’d started snowing halfway through the afternoon, and he’d kept reaching for your hand in order not to lose you in the crowd. You both gave up halfway through your list and just went to get coffee instead, strolling through Central Park and talking about nothing and everything.

That’s when you’d realized you'd been falling in love with him, laughing and fingers freezing around your paper cup, a strange new warmth spreading throughout your body.

You need to change your lockscreen.

***

Half an hour before pick-up, you leave your room with a duffle bag slung over your shoulder and almost run into Bucky. He’s leaning against the opposite wall like he’s been waiting for you, and it stings because that’s what he always used to do, back when you were still talking. When you could still pretend that maybe, just maybe, your feelings weren’t quite so hopeless.

Now, though, his easy smile is missing. Instead, an ever-present frown is furrowing his brows again, his mouth opened just a little, but nothing comes out.

"Look, I don’t want to do this any more than you do," you sigh. "But it’s a two-person job."

He nods, his tongue poking his cheek. "I know."

"Do you think you’re gonna be alright with us pretending we’re madly in love for a whole evening?"

Bucky’s jaw tightens. "I’ll be fine."

Of course he’s going to be fine.

You grab the strap of your bag more tightly. "I wish you would just tell me what I did."

"You didn’t do anything." If he’s telling the truth, though, why does he look so numb?

For a moment, you want to shout at him, cry, beg, make him tell you when and how this went wrong, but you don’t. You just stare at him in silence, hoping he’ll get it anyway, and he refuses to notice it.

"So," Bucky finally says. "You ready to get hitched?"

There’s the ghost of a grin in his eyes, and even though it’s not enough to mask the uncomfortable tilt of his shoulders, you sigh. At least he’s trying, you suppose.

"Let’s just get fake-married so we can fake-divorce and go our separate ways," you say, walking past him.

"I’ve got something for you."

You turn around again, raising your eyebrows as he holds up a ring between the fingers of his left hand. There’s a giant stone set in its center, striking and sparkling and not subtle in the slightest. Tony really went all out for appearance’s sake. Your fingers involuntarily tighten around the strap of your bag.

Bucky drops the ring in the palm of your hand.

"Quite the present," you chuckle nervously. You don’t even want to know how much this thing costs, and you feel like they're going to chop off your head if something happens to it.

"Try it on, then."

It’s a bit too large on your finger, and it feels foreign. It’s not you at all. Then again, it’s not supposed to be you.

Before you can say anything, though, Bucky shakes his head. "What?" you say with a roll of your eyes.

"That couldn’t look more fake if you tried. Wait a sec."

He turns his back towards you and rummages through his bag for a while, his jaw still set as he holds out his hand once more. With a sigh, you pull the ring off again and return it, but before you can pull your hand back, he catches it in his own.

This one slides onto your finger perfectly, and your eyes widen at the sight of it. It’s a lot subtler, with only a small emerald for decoration, but it’s so delicate and beautiful it takes your breath away.

Bucky’s mouth opens and closes, but he swallows whatever came to his mind. "That’s better," he says instead, and his voice sounds oddly rough.

"They gave you a backup?" you say, angling your hand this way and that to see how the gem catches the light.

"Mhm."

Something is off about this whole situation, but then you feel like you don’t really know Bucky anymore. Not like you used to, anyway. It used to be so easy to get a read on him.

You stand there in silence for a moment, and it’s only then that both of you realize he’s still holding your hand. He drops it immediately, and you pretend it doesn’t sting.

"How come you don’t get a ring?" you ask.

"Says who?" Bucky says, clearing his throat and activating the camouflage sleeve Tony had installed for his arm. Sure enough, there’s a ring on his hand as well.

You grab his hand curiously. When you touch it, there’s no difference between his fingers and the pseudo-platinum band, all of it just cool vibranium in disguise.

"It’s fake," you say. "It’s not the same."

"No," he agrees and pulls his hand away. "Looks real enough, though."

You notice the red splotches on his neck and wonder what it is that you’ve said this time, but it’s pointless anyway. He’s not going to tell you even if you asked.

Maybe you should be used to him icing you out by now, but it still hurts.

***

"Yes, Steve, I know," you sigh. "We’re just gathering intel, nothing else."

"I just wanted to have you say it again so we’re all clear. You both love taking risks when it’s not necessary."

"Alright, punk, we got it," Bucky says, tugging at his tie again.

You can’t even blame him for the nervous habit; you’ve been twisting your fake wedding ring around your finger for the entire drive.

This isn’t the first time the two of you had to go undercover as a couple; hell, it’s not even the first time you’ve pretended to be married. Usually, though, you could have a laugh about the whole thing together.

Now you barely know how to act around Bucky as yourself, let alone as some made up woman.

"I think we’re going to attract a lot of attention if we don’t get out soon," you say, readjusting the collar of your blouse underneath your coat.

You notice Steve staring at your hand for a moment, a frown between his brows, but his lips curve upwards a split second later. "Ready to do this?" he asks and you smile a little in confirmation.

Bucky takes another breath and then he nods curtly. "Let’s go."

The change that goes through him as soon as the two of you climb out of the car is so stark you almost turn on your heels again and beg Steve to let you off the hook, after all. His hand sneaks around your waist and pulls you closely into his side as you walk towards the hotel, all soft smiles and charm.

"Sorry for the holdup," he tells the bellman waiting next to your bags with a wink. "The missus and I just needed another minute."

You lightly slap Bucky’s chest in fake indignation. It’s quick thinking on his part, really.

When you’re checking in under your assumed names for the evening, he keeps his arm around you, and the content look stays in his eyes. A subtle glance at your surroundings tells you some of your persons of interest have already arrived early for the event tonight, looking around the sparkling lobby with the same feigned boredom.

Bucky nudges your cheek with his nose and then smiles again when you look at him. It makes your brain shut off for a moment.

When he looks at you like this, it’s so easy to forget the past couple of months and just pretend for a moment. What if there was no mission at all, and it could simply be the two of you?

But of course, that’s not possible. All of it is fake, including the way he looks at you. You know that.

So how come it doesn’t feel fake to you at all?

***

You hate this dress, you hate these people, you hate this dinner, and most of all, you hate how much you enjoy spending this much time so physically close to Bucky.

It feels so natural when he links your hand with yours, so fucking meant to be, even though he’s just putting on a show for the band of creeps you’re tasked to keep an eye on.

But damn if he’s not good at it.

It’s amazing, really, how his eyes immediately soften when you turn your head towards him, like you’re the only person in the whole room. He looks at you during this charade like you wish he’d look at you daily, even far from prying eyes around you; especially then. It makes your breath shorten, your heart pounding erratically because it thinks it’s getting everything it’s ever hoped for.

Hearts are often stupid like that.

A full night of glances and touches and the pretence of secret whispers will do all kinds of twisted things to your feelings.

There’s a lull in the conversation, and when Bucky squeezes your hand you realize he’s no longer the only one who’s looking at you.

You chuckle nervously. "I’m sorry, I got … distracted for a moment. What were you saying?"

"Ah, newlyweds," one of the investor goons laughs. He’s a particularly vile looking man whose suit is way too big on his spindly limbs.

Bucky, academy award winning actor in another lifetime, chuckles politely while the fondness in his eyes seems to increase tenfold. "We’ve been married three years, actually," he says, sticking to your official cover story.

It’d been Tony’s idea to keep your fake timeline as close to the truth as possible to avoid any slip-ups. It’s a great move on paper, really, but in reality it just adds another nail to the coffin.

Three years ago, you were on a mission in Brussels, only the second one ever where it was just the two of you. It was mostly surveillance, so one of you usually had downtime while the other kept lookout. It became customary that you’d entertain each other during those long hours, getting to know each other intimately for the first time, taking the first tentative steps towards the friendship you now share.

That mission was the groundwork of your falling in love with him in the first place.

"You seem to be doing something right if you’re both still so enamoured with each other," Spindly Arms says.

"I’m the luckiest guy in the world," Bucky responds, still looking into your eyes. "It’s hard not to do the right thing, then."

He presses a kiss to your cheek and you smile timidly. His lips linger for just a moment, and then he moves to whisper into your ear, something you’re sure looks like sweet nothings to everybody else but is actually a, "Don’t fall asleep on me."

You tilt your head, shove him teasingly as if he’d said something inappropriate, and because he’s always been quick to catch on he winks, obvious enough so that the other people that are part of this conversation can clearly see it.

It’s not long after this that you excuse yourselves, walking around the room with apparent aimlessness. Everything is sparkling with pure gold decorations and countless little twinkling lights that have been scattered around the room like millions of fireflies. You spot an actual orchestra right underneath the massive Christmas tree.

"Kind of tacky, don’t you think?" Bucky murmurs with a sideway glance at you.

"Maybe a little," you say.

The truth is, though, the room looks oversaturated and expensive and magnificent. Something straight out of a Hallmark movie, more like a movie set than a real place.

It’s the one thing that keeps this whole thing from being completely unbearable.

He must have seen the truth in your eyes, because he ducks his head and says quietly, "I’m gonna go check out the terrace."

You just nod and smile as he kisses your cheek again and then vanishes through the crowd with a few long strides. Sighing, you take another drink from the tray a waiter offers you, absent-mindedly rubbing your cheek.

"What a lovely surprise," a voice says next to you and you freeze for a moment before forcing yourself to calmly take a sip. "Miss … Winter, was it?"

"Mrs," you say with a pleasant smile. "Good evening, Director."

"Right, of course." Director de Fontaine eyes her martini warily. "I don’t suppose these olives are fresh, do you?"

Your mind is racing. If she’s here on official business, then your entire operation might be compromised.

"So," she continues, looking rather bored. "Met any interesting people yet, Mrs Winter?"

"Oh, yes," you say lightly, clinging to your role of unassuming young wife. "It’s all rather exciting."

"I’m sure. These kinds of events are all very … shiny." She looks into your eyes and there’s an almost explicit warning written in hers. "It’s surprisingly easy to get blinded."

You swallow heavily even as she smiles. "If you’ll excuse me, I think I see someone …"

You quickly walk over to the buffet table where some of the wives have formed a semi circle of gossip, trying your best to hide your sigh of relief when the director doesn’t follow you.

For a few minutes, you lose yourself in pointless gossip, until one of the women takes hold of your forearm.

"You must tell us, what’s your secret?"

"Excuse me?" you chuckle nervously.

"Your husband!" she exclaims, earning a few nods from some of the others. "He clearly adores you," she goes on. "I don’t think he’s looked away from you once since you joined us."

You steal a look around your shoulder. She’s right. Bucky’s gaze immediately locks with yours, an almost bashful grin on his lips. You caught me, his eyes seem to say, and you feel a rush of heat go through you.

He should be nominated for an Oscar with this performance.

Quickly, you turn around again to meet several expectant pairs of eyes.

"I don’t know what to tell you," you say. "He’s just … always been like this. I mean, he’s my best friend. I really don’t know what I would do without him."

There’s not a word of a lie in what you’re saying, and it elicits a round of coos and murmurs even as your heart gives a sharp pang.

"Dance with me?"

You flinch, turning to look at Bucky’s outstretched hand, at the sad, hopeful look in his eyes, and the line between reality and fiction blurs a bit more.

You take his hand, and he pulls you onto the dance floor, some cheery Christmas song ramping up to its big finale. Then, the band switches to a slower song. To you, it sounds mournful.

"That was nice," Bucky mutters into your ear. "What you said."

"I meant it, you know," you whisper, but he turns, and you don’t think he’s heard you.

Bucky places his hand on your hip and you hide a shudder. His gloved fingers wrap around yours, and then you start moving again.

You barely know the steps, but he’s a great leader, and he doesn’t say anything when you step on his toes. In fact, his gaze softens even more when he looks at you after the third time, the hand around your waist pulling you a little closer.

"How are you doing this?" you say without stopping to smile.

"Easy," Bucky says, and the way he says it almost makes you believe it’s true.

You bite your lip, trying to stop yourself from breathing him in. "I didn’t mean the dancing."

With the last note of the song, you stumble over his foot again and he snorts. "Me neither."

The melody changes and neither of you lets go. His steps are getting slower, smaller, like he’s just trying to keep both of you in motion. Your head is spinning. The twinkling lights are starting to blur into a great mass of stars in the background, like you’re at the center of a music box and everything else is just background noise.

You wrap both hands around his neck as you’re swaying, then, your foreheads only inches apart. You could stay in this moment forever, you think, as it stretches into blissful infinity. Somewhere, a clock strikes ten.

Bucky leans in a little closer and your breath hitches again.

"It’s time," he whispers, and your eyes fly open.

You’d almost forgotten about the mission.

"Val is here," you say quietly.

His expression hardens for just a second. "What?"

"She came to talk to me earlier. She knows we’re here."

"Why didn’t you say something?"

"I … There wasn’t time."

"We’re just gonna have to be quick and discrete."

You open your mouth, but then you see the distance close in again between you two, and so you just nod.

The plan is almost laughably simple, but it’s probably going to work out just as you’ve laid out beforehand. Everyone in the room has watched the two of you staring at each other for the past couple of hours, so no one bats an eye when Bucky nudges you gently and you make your way up the stairs to the fancy elevator that’s going to take you up to a bedroom.

Or, more specifically, to a bedroom that’s being used to store all kinds of evidence, but no one else needs to know that little detail.

You notice the director talking to Spindly Arms and a couple of other people, but you force your gaze not to linger on her. Instead, you grab Bucky’s hand more tightly.

He lets go of you as soon as the elevator doors close behind the two of you, dragging a hand through his hair and messing it up. There aren’t any cameras in the elevator, but you’re both pretty sure there will be on the floor you’re going. "CIA exposure, that’s exactly what we needed."

"There was nothing I could’ve done," you say, tugging your sleeves down your shoulders.

"I’m not blaming you, sweetheart," Bucky says distractedly, loosening his tie. Your heart makes a very heavy thud. "But if Walker shows up tonight as well, I’m gonna shoot first and ask questions later."

"No, you won’t," you say with a grin, mostly because you know he didn’t bring his gun because the male attendees were all frisked at the entrance.

"Maybe I’ll throw a knife. I could say it was an accident."

The conversation lasts barely a moment, but it reminds you so much of what the two of you used to be, it hurts.

You follow him stumbling out of the elevator onto the right floor with a breathless laugh. There’s no one in sight as you subtly check the room numbers before making him follow you with a coquettish smile for the security camera.

You find the right door without much trubble, pulling the keycard out of your inconvenient little handbag. "Come on now," you murmur as the lock rejects it at the first try.

Suddenly, Bucky’s hand is on your waist again, and you gasp as he spins around. The keycard drops to the floor.

He presses you against the wall, effectively trapping you in his embrace. Your hands are laid flat against his chest, his heart thundering madly underneath your fingertips. Bucky’s eyes flit around madly, like he’s trying to come up with something on the spot and, for the first time since you’ve known him, is left without ideas.

You gasp as his nose brushes against yours.

"Sorry," he whispers hoarsely. And then he kisses you.

Your body responds immediately, lighting a fire in your core as his lips press against yours, hungry, gentle, almost apologetic. You can taste the champagne on his tongue.

You arch your back against him on instinct as his hands travel down your arms, brushing your hips, your tighs, slowly parting your dress at the slit. Your eyes fly open the moment you realize what he’s doing, even though he swallows your gasp.

In one smooth motion, he pulls the I.C.E.R. out of the garter on your thigh and fires a single, silenced shot. The guy with the earpiece barely has the time to grunt before he sacks against the opposite wall, unconscious, his hand still in the pocket of his jacket.

"Fuck," you hiss, pushing Bucky away from you. He stumbles slightly, the gun loose in his fingers. His eyes are almost black as he blinks at you. "You could have told me we’re being shadowed."

Bucky’s mouth is stained from your lipstick, and the sight of that alone makes your head swim. You can still feel the ghost of his hand on your leg.

"It’d have blown our cover," he replies, infuriatingly calm. "Hate me later, our window has just narrowed by a bit."

You swallow, blinking to try and gain control over your breath again, grabbing your gun back with a short nod. "Let’s finish this, then."

***

Back at the Compound, you both give an exhausted report about the events of the night, leaving out nothing but your improvised kiss on floor fifteen.

Your lips are still tingling with it.

Finally, you and Bucky are left alone in the briefing room, and for the first time in weeks, he doesn’t just get up and leave as soon as the silence takes hold. Instead, you both sit next to each other, staring straight ahead.

"I guess we should talk," he says slowly, reluctantly, and you can’t help it.

Your defenses shoot up again.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," you say, squinting.

"Yes, you do." He’s lost the tie hours ago, but he keeps tugging at the fabric in his hands as if it could give him the words he’s looking for. "I shouldn’t have kissed you, not with … Not like that."

"Like you said, the guy would’ve blown our cover," you say, crossing your arms.

"Doesn’t make it right."

"What do you want me to say, Buck?" you say sharply. "That you should’ve talked to me before? Well, I’m kind of used to you not doing that anymore, so just forget it."

"Y/N—"

"No, really, it’s fine. Like I said, you’re leaving, anyway, so what does it matter. Didn’t tell me you were planning to do that, either. You just did it."

"You know why I’m leaving."

"No, I fucking don’t!" There are tears in your eyes now. "I have been trying really hard, Bucky, but you’ve just shut me out. I thought you needed space, which is fine, by the way, but you just—one day you decided you were done with me and that was it."

He stares at you incredulously. "You seriously don’t remember."

"Don’t remember what?!"

"That you were talking about me. To Natasha."

The memory rushes through you so violently it’s almost ridiculous you hadn’t thought about it in months.

You’d just come back from another undercover op, and you’d called her right as the door to your room had closed behind you because not for the first time, your feelings had threatened to spill over again.

"You should talk to him. Be honest."

"No, Nat, come on, I can’t—I can’t do that to him. I can’t risk … you know, he’s my best friend. And that’s all it can ever be. I don’t want to ruin what we have. I just wish he’d make it easier."

"You’re making excuses, you know. Both of you deserve a bit of happiness, don’t you think?"

"I tried," Bucky says now, barely looking at you. "I tried making it easier. But you’re so …"

"So what?" you ask hollowly, ignoring the fact that you can feel the tears starting to trickle down your cheeks now. "So pathetic? That’s what this is about, isn’t it? That’s why you asked for the transfer, so you can be rid of me."

"Rid of you?" Bucky starts, but you ignore him.

"You know what, Bucky, fuck you if you think my feelings for you are so much of an inconvenience that you need to leave the state. Silly me for thinking we could be adults about this."

"You’re the one who wouldn’t just tell me."

"Well, now you know anyway and I’m sure once you’re off to Cairo or wherever the fuck they’re going to send you, you can have a big old laugh about the stupid girl who fell in love with you despite the fact that—"

"Love?"

"I mean, obviously?!"

"You … you’re in love … with me?" There’s something very soft and vulnerable in Bucky’s eyes.

"Are we talking about two different phone calls?"

"I thought you hated me."

You huff incredulously. "Why would I hate you?"

"That’s why I gave you space, I thought … but then …" He grabs your hands. "Sweetheart, I’ve been in love with you for years."

It punches the air out of your lungs. "What?"

Bucky’s eyes are devastating as he looks at you, then. "I’m so sorry, I—I got it all wrong, I was just—I thought you know and you didn’t see me like that and that’s why I …"

"You …?" you say, still not quite comprehending what’s going on.

His thumb caresses your knuckles, halting when it makes contact with the ring you’re still wearing. "I'm in love with you," he says quietly.

"I don’t understand," you whisper.

"Please tell me I didn’t fuck this up completely."

This time, you’re the one to lean in.

Where your first kiss in the hallway had been feverish, this one is soft, almost unbelievably sweet, both of you still breathless with the fact that you’re allowed to do this. Finally, it feels like all the pieces are falling into place and you’re home again.

You press closer into him and Bucky smiles against your lips, pulling you in with his hands on your hips just like he did when you were dancing earlier.

The loudspeakers overhead crackle. "Alright, kids, we’re gonna break this up until you’re back in your own quarters, I don’t want to expose FRIDAY to the creation of your sex tape."

You break up with a snort.

"Fuck you, Tony," Bucky shouts, but he’s still smiling as wide as you’ve ever seen him do.

You giggle as you nudge your nose against his, curling your fingers into his hair. "That reminds me, you know."

"Of what?"

"Quick and discrete," you mumble, repeating his words from the hotel. "Title of your sex tape."

Bucky groans and shuts you up again.

(A few years later, you get the ring back.)

happy holidays, y'all 💛 thank you for reading!! if you want to see more of my writing, check out my masterlist or follow @intrepidacious-fics for update notifications!!

#sweet as sugar challenge #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes x you #bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes oneshot #marvel fanfic #mcu fanfic #almost believing

[copingwithobsessions]

Billy is autistic ♾

Just me rambling about an headcanon I take wayyyy too seriously :)

Hyperfixation : horror movies (obviously)

He just keeps talking about it. All the time.

Like

Also him using his hands while talking in this scene

(There's also something to be said about him mentioning the queer actors and not the 'straight' characters but that will be for another post-)

Also in the phone call where we're sure it's him :

(If he was the one calling Casey then there's even more-)

Also him just constantly talking with movie-related things : "It was edited for TV- all the good stuff was cut out", "nice solid R rating, on our way to a NC-17", "lately we're just sort of edited for television", "Maybe your movie-freaked mind lost it's reality button","It's all a movie, it's all...one great big movie.Only you can't pick your genre","I think she wants a motive","I don't really believe in motive, Sid.", "See it's a lot scarier when there's no motive Sid", "Is that motive enough for you ?", "How's that for a motive ?", "Just pretend it's all a scary movie Sid...How do you think it's gonna end ?", "Perfect ending.", "Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative !" and basing his killing spree on horror movie tropes : phone calls, masked killer, virgins being the final girls (literally having sex with Sidney to fulfill the trope), 'no motive' etc...

2. Abnormal posture

3. Staring (last 2 photos, both scenes in Sidney's room, police station scene...basically when there's Sid) or excessive blinking (doorway scene, kitchen scene...(basically when there's Stu)

4. Plans and changements

Billy (and Stu) planned their entire killing spree (from the dates it would be on : surrounding the one year anniversary of Maureen's death, to the person they would frame and his supposed motive as well as Casey and Steve's murders with the phone call, the attack at Sidney's house, Billy's incarceration, Stu's phone call following it, Billy's fake death, kidnapping Neil before his flight and using his phone, hiding his car, using a voice changer, stabbing each other to seem like victims, the party etc...)

When Billy's (and Stu's) plans get changed (Dewey, Gale and Kenny being present, Sid escaping the kitchen with her dad and Stu losing too much blood), Billy panics and goes into what could be defined as a meldown : throwing out insults, walking in circles, never going to check on the first floor, destroying Stu's living room and just panicking all around-

(When he fails getting Sidney to trust him and makes her escape to the toilets, he punches himself in frustation)

5. Insociability

Basically doesn't talk in the fountain scene

Awkward and Unsettling while talking, even to his friends

Doesn't pay attention to girls being interested in him

Doesn't seem at ease with the number of people leaving the party

(Even fidgeting though that may be just be him checking that the people are leaving for real)

6. Overdramatic

7. Favorite person/people

Okay this one's not that common in autistics but for Billy, he definitely has a special person, two in fact :

He literally started killing because his mom "moved out and abandoned" him.

For Stu, I will be vague cause I'll talk about it in detail in the other post 👀but basically he's not really himself unless Stu's there and planned a killing spree where only they would survive (+ trusted him to stab him).

Bonus : If Billy is the one who called Casey

"I only eat popcorn at the movies" Well I'm getting ready to watch a video "Really what ?" Oh, just some scary movie "You like scary movies ?" Huhuh "What's your favorite scary movie ?" Hum- I don't know... "You have to have a favorite, what comes to mind ?" Hum...Halloween ! You know the one with the guy in the white mask who walks around and stalks babysitters. "Yeah." What's yours ? "Guess." Hum- Nightmare on Elm Street ! "Isn't that the one where the guy had knives for fingers ?" Yeah, Freddy Krueger. "Freddy, that's right. I liked that movie.It was scary." Well the first one was but the rest sucked."

"It's an easy category : movie trivia"

"Come on, it's your favorite scary movie, remember ? He had a white mask, he stalked the babysitters"

"Then you should know Jason's mother, Mrs Vorhees, was the original killer ! Jason didn't show up until the sequel."

And that's it ! A complete analysis of what could be considered autistic traits from Billy that got way too long-

#scream #scream franchise #scream 1996 #billy loomis #stu macher #sidney prescott #stuilly #autistic headcanon

[imagine-shenanigans]

hey guys i haven't even had a chance to see atsv yet i just know spoilers and i want this man biblically, i'm talking carnally, i want him in a way that hurts feminism, i want to bring the whole damn movement down so i can be his stupid little housewife and raise his damn kids so i can watch him be happy and then also get railed into losing every brain cell i have

anyway here's some abo headcanons, they include spoilers for the movie/his backstory probably because idk what is and isnt a spoiler because i havent seen it yet.

also this one works a bit differently than my normal layout, it goes SFW and then dips NSFW and ends with more SFW but they're all clearly labeled!

Reader is written gender neutral with they/them and the nsfw section has afab and amab sections, but since I'm Nonbinary and AFAB that's probably how it's gonna come off for most of the reading, just to warn you!

Miguel O'Hara x Reader N/SFW ABO Headcanons

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 5k words

Content Warnings (tell me if I miss any): Dubcon, ABO, Obsessive Behavior, Toxic behavior, Omega reader, Alpha Miguel

For these headcanons we're gonna exist in a weird liminal space where Gabi is like, five to six or so and he brought her home with him or some shit idk man I just think he's a hot single father anwyay, also this is assuming omega reader because i think it's hot

if anyone wants a version where Miguel follows more canon and he still lost his kid and came back you're free to request that too i love that shit, just for this specific one i wanna raise his damn kids so-

SFW

Alpha, big alpha energies.

Miguel is the type of guy who's pretty obsessive with what he claims as his, I would honestly say borderline yandere vibes without fully delving into it - his mental state in this au/situation is also a lot better since he still has his daughter, so he's genuinely a lot less "feral" than he tends to get without her, even though in this we'll say he did almost lose her.

So when he claims someone, he's going to be damn sure he means it.

This ones a bit of a general headcanon but he doesn't really have a type when it comes to the people he likes, other than he needs someone who's interesting to him. Whether it's because you're hotheaded, or even keeled, whether you're snarky or sweet, he just needs something for his brain to latch onto.

Not a love at first sight guy but he is an "obsession I can't place" kind of guy.

Miguel has really enhanced senses when it comes to scenting, so it takes some damn strong suppressants and scent blockers to completely block him out... which if we're pretending reader here is falling with the abo trope of "hiding being an omega" (which we are because I love tropes) is just what gets him obsessed. Clothing and perfume that masks your scent, suppressants and scent blockers, and a confident attitude are all enough to throw most people off the (forgive my pun) scent.

But not Miguel.

His spider DNA has the animalistic side to it that fucks with his hormones regardless, makes it easier for him to pick up on the pheromones that even most attentive alphas can't, he's damn near a personal lie detector with how smart he is and how attuned he is to what his nose and instincts tell him, even when he's using serums to keep the more feral urges at bay.

He can only get a whiff of you, fainter than most betas, and it drives him fucking insane knowing he can smell something but he can't figure it out. He can't place it, and it nags at his brain. He can smell a whiff of flowers, or sugar, or something undeniably citrus (depending on what you headcanon your own smell to be) but he can't place it and he hates that shit.

Ends up pulling some traditional alpha shit and he can't even help it, starts trying to crowd you until you kick him in the shin or Peter B or Jess shoos him away. He has to figure out what it is, he has to know.

It only gets worse when he brings Gabi in (a babysitter fell through) and you end up butting your way in to play with Gabi and Mayday, delighting in watching them for the day instead of whatever you were supposed to be doing. They're both so cute and sweet.

Gabi smells primarily like cinnamon and a bit like dewey grass - she's not old enough to have presented yet, but her basic scent, unaffected by the secondary gender hormones, is simple and sweet, reminds you of a summer morning.

She takes after her father in that regard - Miguel smells *warm* and a bit musky, like trees and cinnamon and, a bit like a camp fire. A small tinge of oil, when you pick it apart, and you can't tell if its from the lingering scent on his skin after fixing a broken machine nobody else could, or if that's part of his natural scent.

(Mayday smells like marshmallows, and carmel, funnily enough)

When you take care of Gabi and Mayday, your scent lingers on their skin, mixes and twists in a way that Peter B can't notice but Miguel can. It's all he can do not to be a damn freak and pick his baby girl up and sniff her hair to try and figure out why she smells like that (not in a creepy way, to clarify because there are some freaks on here, but in the same way a dog gets baffled by smelling you use a new perfume, or in the way of when you pick your kid up and go "WHY DO I SMELL CANDLES ON YOU WHAT WERE YOU DOING")

He almost can't stand how his head swims when he watches you pick Gabi up and gently throw her up in the air a bit, watching you let her climb onto you while you're distracted just like Mayday does. Soothe her tears when she accidentally breaks a toy because she's still learning to control her super strength.

He doesn't know that he wants you either, not until long after he's already manifested feelings. Doesn't realize how protective he is, doesn't realize how differently he treats you. He doesn't realize he's lingering in your area just long enough to make sure he can fill his nose with the faint scent you give off.

He assumes you're a beta - not that it mattered to him, really. Miguel would just as soon marry another alpha as he would a beta or an omega, as long as it's you.

He doesn't realize what he's doing until he's got a piece of your clothing in his hands, holding it in the dead of night up to his nose. A scarf or a glove or a jacket you'd leant to Gabi during the day and she'd spilled her juice on it and he'd taken it home to wash it.

He can smell his daughter's scent, louder than life, so familiar he could have a handful of pepper thrown at him and he'd still be able to wrap his arms around her and move her out of harm's way in the direst of straits.

And then there's yours, linger, mingling with his daughter's scent, and it's the parent of his child.

It's not, it's not the woman who birthed Gabi, it's not the woman who contributed to making her. It's you, the only other person he ever wants near his child in that capacity. And it's intoxicating. It's infuriating. It's overwhelming because the full breadth of his own emotions is so strong as he realizes what he's been doing. And he can't even tell you because he holds himself to a specific standard, a specific code of ethics, and even though he wants to risk it all just so his hindbrain (both alpha and spider and his own human instincts all mingling in one) can have his little loves all wrapped up in his arms, safe where he can protect them.

He only just has the strength to wash the piece of cloth and return it. It takes everything he has not to cling to it, to make a pretty little nest to protect his family in, webs and pillows and fabric, a basis of protection so you can properly make it your own and -

He controls himself, and returns the scarf the next day, leaving it on your desk because he can't bear to look you in the eyes.

The days struggle by, a stark contrast to his normal snark, to lingering in your space and snorting and rolling his eyes. To being by your side more than he normally is. It's disheartening, it makes you feel rejected, and he knows it.

But he doesn't stop, this tension that can cut through the air lingering. Even Gabi and May notice it, the older girl frowning and the younger fussing when the two of you are in the room together.

And then your heat happens.

(brief bullet point break because there's a limit to how much you can have in one bulleted section on tumblr and I don't remember what it is but I'd rather just break here)

You've been on suppressants and scent blockers for years now. Being in your line of work (whether you headcanon this as a spiderperson version of you, or a different kind of superhero, or a civillian all working in the society) it's necessary. Omegas aren't rare but they're not the majority of the population like betas are. In Nueva York, it's a coin toss if you'll be fought over in the streets like some prize to be won, or if you'll be coddled like a child who can't figure out what's best for them.

It's half safety half preference at this point, from your original universe's standard (before it had burnt to cinders before you), and this one's. Your suit, your meds, and your behavior, they're all meant to mask and confuse.

But you can only make it so long on the prescription you've got, the long-lasting shots that were more reliable than a pill. The scent blockers go first - not by design, but by chance. You'd been giving yourself lower doses since you'd wound up in Nueva York, supplementing it with deodorants and lotions swiped from stores and hospitals that could afford to spare the supplies when you can't buy it covertly. But you'd still been low in comparison to your suppressants.

You shower more frequently, lather yourself with soaps and deodorants and lotions of different scents and ones that have blocking effects, and for the most part it works. You can't quite fool Gabi - too smart, too tuned in to your emotions like her father could be. She's got a sharp nose, and she wrinkles it when she can smell how confusing your scent is. She asks questions, and you can't lie your way out of it, but you are able to bribe her so she's distracted long enough that she forgets the question. Miguel notices, when he picks up Gabi, but he can't quite figure out exactly what's wrong, and you leave so fast (he assumes with the tension that lingers between the two of you) that he can't figure it out.

You're so certain you're in the clear.

But then your shots run out, and even you can't get more without a prescription. And while your health information would never go through Miguel, you know that the medispiders have to go through him or Lyla for any heavy duty things like suppressants, because they have to be resourced more carefully.

And your last doctor, although wildly shady, and incompetent, and operating out of an apartment, was right about one thing - suppressants will rot you from the inside out if you're not careful. If you don't let a natural heat occur, it will only be worse in the long run. (Although you suppose he probably had a greasier, grosser reason for telling you that.)

And rot you from the inside they have - all your natural reactions to a heat, all your normal bodily functions don't work properly, when confronted with something they haven't seen in years. You know within seconds of your suppressants flushing out of your system what's going on. You're still in the pre-heat phase of things, and you feel like you're dying. You aren't, and you know you aren't, but you feel nauseous and feverish and incoherent within an hour tops. Only long enough to let you panic and send a text to Miguel that you can't watch Gabi like you'd planned. That you're going out ad you won't be back awhile. You leave your phone in your room, when you pack your bag and head for the nearest somewhat reputable hotel that you can afford. You brace the door with the dresser, explicit instructions left for the front desk to, under no circumstances, contact you for the next week.

You get an order of pre-made meals to slap into the fridge, water and juice and all sorts of drinks and things shoved haphazardly inside once the bot brings it in through the window. You're barely coherent enough to retain control to crush the landline, rendering it inoperable, before you barricade the rest of the room.

You're definitely not in control when you nest, blankets and pillows and clothing all thrown haphazardly around as you go fully out of your gourd.

You're damn well out of your mind by the time you would have normally realized the card you were using was in Miguel's name.

(another very brief line break in this portion for drama but also so I don't hit any limits)

Miguel is pissed when you leave so suddenly.

Sure, he's been avoiding you, and sure, you aren't actually together, but you're his damn it. You don't know it, and sure, he's not going to acknowledge it out loud until something happens, but you can't just leave him and your child and his child who loves you high and dry like that!

It's laughably easy to find you, to find the hotel you've checked into. He doesn't even wait to figure out the reason you left, he's so quick on his honestly kinda toxic bs.

Gabi is left with Peter B and Jess for a bit, and Miguel is honestly so smug that he finds you so fast. You were so sloppy about it. So quick to leave that even though you left your phone behind, in a moment of clarity, you barely bothered to take back streets. You used his own damn card he'd given you to pay for the hotel for two weeks, and to order food.

If he weren't half out of his mind with concern and anger about how quickly you left, he'd be angry you used the card without asking like you normally did.

(His hind brain purrs with it though, knowing he's provided for you)

He doesn't know what did it. Miguel genuinely doesn't know what he did to earn your ire in such a way, but he can guess. He doesn't think it's how cold he was, in the beginning, but he isn't sure that it's not how he'd warmed up to you. How, when he'd let his guard down without realizing it, that he'd flirted with you. Had that made you uncomfortable? Had every 'innocent' brush against you turned you against him? Certainly, it could be his absence, his sudden coolness and stonewalling. It could be how he refused to look at you, when you were in the room. Tried to hold his breath after he'd realized what he was doing.

He doesn't really listen to Lyla when she tries telling him things. He heard where you where, found out the room, and swiped a key before Lyla could finish talking about vital signs and behaviors. She knows to set his alerts to emergency only for the foreseeable future, because she's figured it out much quicker than he has, and she figures she'll at least spare herself the trouble. Gets Gabi set up with Jess for the night, and is on her way so she doesn't have to deal with what's about to go down.

He's surprised by the dresser in front of the door, when he tries to get in the first time. It's easy for him to move - he just lowers his center of gravity and pushes his way into the room, slamming the door shut before he can inhale.

The hotel room is nice, with a kitchenette and a small entry area with a couch and a television. The bedroom is just tucked out of sight. Exactly what he expected when he'd heard the hotel's name - he'd never been, but he recognized it.

And it's when he inhales, that he realizes why.

Your scent hits him hard and fast, chokingly sweet in the back of his throat in a way that makes his hindbrain roar. His pupils blow wide, and if he didn't have such a strong self control, he'd have torn the damn door off its hinges looking for you.

He remembers, in that moment, why he recognized the hotel. It was one that was best known for its handling of customers in heat and rut.

NSFW INTERLUDE

(We're gonna start with general headcanons and go back into the specifics of the scenario in a sec but it's all relevant fjasdkl;)

Miguel is a Dom-leaning switch, he prefers to be in control as often as possible, regardless of whether he's topping or bottoming. Nine times out of ten, he wants to fuck his partner until they're an incoherent, babbling mess, because he enjoys the power and control it gives him, enjoys the dynamic of it.

As he gets more comfortable with a partner, he's more willing to accept the idea of subbing, enjoying it more when he has someone he trusts behind the wheel, so to speak.

(Because yes, Alphas can be subs too - that's a whole thing I could get into and might if someone asks)

And Miguel, even normally, is already a possessive guy. He's needy, and stakes his claim, and when we're talking about abo Miguel?

Sheeeeeesh

The moment he scents you in the air, the moment it clicks in his brain that you're going through a rut or a heat, it goes straight to his dick.

He damn near loses it, fighting not to tear the door off its hinges as he stalks to your room. Your scent is so strong in the air that even though he knows he should turn around, he still at the very least wants to make sure you're okay. So the sight of you, face down, ass up, fingers pressing into yourself, he almost loses his damn mind.

His pretty little wife/husband/spouse coworker, his crush, is an omega. It's almost too good to be true, and he can feel his fucking fangs extend, his mouth watering as he stares at you. You're too blissed out to even realize he's there, slick dripping down your thighs like a fucking faucet... and his name is on your lips.

He could cum untouched, could die a happy, happy man after seeing this.

He has dignity, and self control though, even as the force of your hit heats him. He's genuinely concerned, a moment later, his instinct to breed to claim tampered down by his need to care.

You cling to him, hazy, feverish, and incoherent. You beg him to claim you, to mark you, to fuck you. Miguel wants to, he does... but he instead kicks his shoes off but otherwise stays fully clothed, his cock so hard it hurts as he grabs the closest bottle of water, and an ice pack, and climbs into your haphazard nest with you. He probably should have left by now, but instead he seats you against him, your back pressed to his chest, and he presses the ice pack to your forehead, ordering you to keep it there as he makes you drink water, sip by sip.

You whine, and beg, and squirm, but you obey.

He fucks you on his fingers, once he's gotten some water into you. Hard and fast, leaving you breathless, tense, until you cum all over his fingers, oversensitive as he fingerfucks you into another one, and another, arms like steel wrapped around your waist as one hand pounds into you, the other wrapped around your dick or circling hard on your clit. It's not enough to genuinely sate your heat, but it's enough to help. And he doesn't trust himself to put his own mouth to use - barely trusts himself to speak, even though most of what he growls into your ear is, strictly speaking, complete and utter nonsense as he's caught in the moment. Every time you cum, he praises you, telling you how good you are for it. How sweet you look, with tears streaming down your face, cumming so well for him.

When there's enough coherency for you to have a conversation (but not coherent enough to be mortified), Miguel is able to get the rough gist of the situation. He really can only piece together that the heat is going to be a strong one, that it came fast, and that you had panicked. There's a confession, to be had there. He agrees to help you through your heat, but only under the condition that you're his.

It's toxic, and of dubious consent at best, but he'll pull as many orgasms out of you as needed to keep you coherent enough to talk to him. He's helped an omega through a heat or two, and he knows what he's doing. He's not exactly clearheaded himself, in making the decision - but he does make sure that this is truly what you want before he proceeds.

When he's sure that it's not just the heat speaking, that you truly do care for him, that you want him to stay even after your heat has subsided, he allows himself to indulge.

Sympathy ruts are common, and it builds slowly inside of him as he indulges in his instincts. Holding you, kissing you, pressing his fingers inside of you over and over and over again until you pass out. He keeps you wrapped up in the nest, adding his shirt to the mix while you sleep, but not trusting himself to completely strip quite yet.

Miguel is an attentive alpha.

(While you sleep, he excuses himself from the nest to call his daughter, to assure her everything will be okay, and he just explains simply that you'd gotten sick, that you needed him for a bit, and that he'd be back once you were feeling better. He promises to call every night, and he works out a schedule with Peter B and Jess in the meantime.)

(When you overhear him, voice so soft, so protective, so gentle, it half makes you want to swoon, and half want to climb on his lap and fuck yourself stupid on his cock until he fills you up so you can give his daughter a sibling.)

This man is going to spend a good majority of his time pre-sympathy rut fucking you open on his fingers and his mouth. He wants to make sure you're ready, wants to make sure he can enjoy this for as long as possible.

By the end of it, he makes sure to fuck you, nice and steady, a hand on your throat and his lips on yours. He makes sure you're nice and coherent for it. He wants to make sure you remember it, when he claims you. When his (fucking horse cock, the dude's packing like ten to twelve inches which is great for my chubby bitches like me) dick fills you up so full that you're almost certain you'll break, hiccupping and sobbing as you keen and wail, the nest below you soaked as he fills you up. His fangs sink into your neck and you cum, right then, his hands grabbing your thighs so hard he's sure it will bruise. He fucks you through your orgasm, knot catching until it slips inside. He rubs your clit/tugs on your dick as he finally knots you, making sure you cum just one more time for me, cariño.

normal Miguel definitely has a claiming and breeding kink, so it's fucking intensified by ten when he's omegaverse Miguel... let alone when the man's subject to his rut. You'll be covered in scratches and bites and hickies by the time you're both coherent enough to function properly again.

Which... for Miguel, is a solid few hours of coherency at a time.

For you? You're only ever coherent in short bursts, and it's like the peak of your heat constantly for almost the full week.

This next bit just mostly borders on nsfw/has some nsfw parts so i'll put it at the end here before going back to sfw

Like I mentioned before, Miguel is a very attentive alpha.

He's going to fuck you seven different ways in an hour with his superhuman stamina, but he's also going to make sure to actually take care of you.

He makes sure you drink electrolytes and water in equal measure, makes sure you eat, and sleep, and he bathes you himself, carrying you into the shower and keeping you pressed against him as he massages your muscles and washes your hair and body with a soft cloth, using completely unscented soaps and shampoos so it doesn't overwhelm you. Presses bandages to your scrapes and bites so you'll heal faster. Cool cloths and ice packs and fever reducing medicine.

He finds he has to bribe you, during this time, even for the most basic tasks like eating and drinking, and he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy having to plug you up with his cock just to get you to eat wasn't hot as hell. The fact that you need him so badly you'd rather forgo basic necessities... it's addicting. Granted, he doesn't actually let you - he's got enough control that he can make sure you're taken care of in all regards.

Back to SFW time!

After your heat itself passes, you're subject to the suppressant sickness that comes with it. Your fever has broken, but you're still nauseous and dizzy and fatigued as your body flushes everything out of your system.

Miguel is beyond pissed when he finds out why you're still sick.

It's reckless to not even have a natural heat once every six months, let alone taking your suppressants so solidly that you hadn't had one in years. If he'd known, he'd have said consequences be damned and would have bitten you the moment he walked through the door, and taken you to the hospital.

He doesn't care how embarrassed you are, when he packs all of your things back up into the sealable bags, and dresses you in his own clothing. He's almost out of his mind when he takes both of you back to HQ - only just remembering to take back corridors to the medic so they can check you over properly.

You've then got two spider people who are pissed, as the medic rants about how dangerous that was, how stupid it was that you did that, instead of just swallowing your pride and letting them help you control things. They order you on house arrest for a full month, to make sure your body can recover properly. No suppressants, no scent blockers (at least the medical kind) for a couple years, and only medicine that's medically necessary, and even then it has to be monitored more carefully.

Miguel lets the Medispider tear you a new one for a moment while he steps into the hallway, giving you privacy and space to figure things out with the doctor while he catches up with Gabi.

When you're done with the Medispider, it's not a question on if you're staying with Miguel or not - you really don't have a choice in the matter, he tells you. When you're recovered, you can decide if you want to move in or not, but until then he was going to personally keep an eye on you.

Gabi, who lacks the complete understanding of the why and the how behind it all, is just glad that the person they've been trying to scheme their father into confessing to is actually going to live with them. (Even if only for about a month.) She grins smugly when she realizes you smell like her dad.

Miguel lets you have pick of the house, when he carries you back to his beautiful, cozy suburban home. He leaves the proper tour up to Gabi, as he carries you both, letting Gabi tell you about everything excitedly. You stay in his bed (you two had claimed each other, and although Miguel does give you the option of your own room... you'd rather die than lose the comfort that comes with being around your mate.)

Miguel cooks properly for you while you stay with him and Gabi.

No more prepackaged meals, he sneers, instead making you chicken noodle soup from scratch, with bone broth and lots of vegetables. Breakfast every morning before he takes Gabi to school, tucks you in to sleep while he pops into the HQ to check on things. He's out of commission from missions while he cares for you, but he still makes sure things go smoothly. He's home by lunch, sometimes bringing you fast food instead of cooking so you can have your fill of a greasy burger or fries or something to sate the part of you that needs something unhealthy and indulgent. Holds you in his lap while you both eat, watching TV on the couch.

He finishes his work and goes on emergency-only mode when it's time to pick up Gabi from school. He tucks you into the passenger seat if you feel up to it, buckling you up himself and pressing a kiss to your lips, even though he doesn't need to. He knows you can buckle yourself up, and lets you do so when you insist, but it makes him happy to know he's taking measures to keep you safe.

He does force you to take a blanket with you, just in case though.

When all three of you get home, he makes dinner, sometimes with Gabi helping him, sometimes you, sometimes just himself. He has a pretty wide range of foods he ends up making, but it's primarily because they're foods he likes, or Gabi likes, and he learned to make them. He's a good cook, overall.

It's the best work-life balance he's had in a long time.

When you're better, he all but begs you to stay.

And god, how could you say no to him?

(Also for those who it matters for, if you do end up pregnant from the Heat Adventures he obviously loves kids and would love one with you, but if you don't feel ready/don't want to have kids other than Gabi, he absolutely respects it, and will talk about options with you. Granted, he'll be disappointed, but at the end of the day it's not something he CAN'T move past. Discusses birth control options with you almost immediately when the two of you get intimate again.)

#miguel x reader #miguel o'hara spiderverse #spiderverse #strawberry writing #strawberry headcanons #also on god if i find any minors in my notes or in my inbox i'll maim you #i might turn this into a proper fic at some point #but you get the really long headcanon/rambly version that's all just ideas for now #because i like to feed my followers and the tag #gotta contribute b/c theres some damn good fics ive read so far #smut #i gotta update my tags smh #great news everyone i got wildly into this one #so it gets posted early

[oddinary4bts]

Request!! Could you do 98 on the smut list with namjoon and reader? Maybe he wants to try getting fingered and is a little embarrassed because he’s normally in charge or something? Wherever your inspiration takes you!❤️❤️❤️

Oof this was so hard to write for some reason but I'm very happy I managed to finish it haha my bad if it took a moment before it was ready!

Can I Ask you a Question | knj

☆pairing: Kim Namjoon x female reader

☆rating: 18+ (this is smut, minors DNI)

☆genre: unedited smut lmao like literally just smut with barely no plot

☆warnings: unedited, alcohol, a game of Never Have I Ever (mentioned more than anything else), cursing, explicit content: ass fingering, oral sex (male receiving), balls fondling/sucking, jerking off, mentions of oral sex (female receiving), big dick!Namjoon, a little bite lmao, let me know if I'm forgetting something!

☆word count: 2.5k

☆prompt 98: "I never thought I'd hear you say that, fuck, that's hot"

☆The smut prompt is from this list!

☆☆☆☆☆

You’ve been drinking with your boyfriend, Kim Namjoon, and some friends for a moment already. You started during happy hour, at a bar near your boyfriend’s job, but you have decided to keep it going into the night, inviting the group over to your shared apartment.

It’s no wonder someone suggested Never Have I Ever. No wonder it got you all a little too tipsy to even think about what you’re asking. So you’re not surprised when a very clearly drunk Jimin asks, “Never Have I Ever been fingered in the ass”, before bursting out laughing because he has in fact done it.

He drinks, quickly followed by most of the females in the room, including you, and to your surprise Yoongi and Jungkook also drink, though you’re not sure if Jungkook is even listening.

He’s been staring at a blank spot on the ceiling for a while, not even blinking, which tells you that he’s probably in his own little world thinking about gaming or working out.

The game keeps going after that, but you notice that Namjoon seems lost in thought. He doesn’t really drink anymore, which for some reason makes you cut your drinking too, and soon enough your friends notice the switch in the atmosphere and decide to head home, as it’s already getting late anyway.

Namjoon doesn’t move from the couch, only surveys you while you let your friends out, and when you move back to him, he looks up at you with questions in his eyes. You cock an eyebrow, sitting next to him as he sighs, running a hand through his hair.

“Is something wrong?” you ask. “You’ve been silent.”

He chuckles, and there’s a flash of a dimple before it’s gone. He shrugs, saying, “I’ve got a lot on my mind, I guess”.

You purse your lips, tilting your head to the side as you try to catch his gaze. He’s lowered his head though, and your attempt is unsuccessful. “What’s up? You know you can talk to me.”

He smiles half-heartedly. “I know.”

There’s a silence, and you gently grab his hand, putting it in your lap as you cuddle up to his side. He rests his head on top of yours, and there’s a moment of just you and him breathing in sync, until he finally speaks again.

“Can I…” he trails off, and chuckles awkwardly. “Can I ask you something?”

You don’t move, only humming to indicate that, yes, he can.

“Jimin mentioned something earlier,” he starts before pausing for so long you look up at him. Your eyes meet, and you notice the light flush on his cheeks right away. “When we were playing ‘Never Have I Ever’.”

You nod to tell him to keep going. You’re starting to understand where this is going, but you don’t want to push, especially not when Namjoon clearly looks uncomfortable.

“It’s just got me thinking that we haven’t…” He chuckles, looks away as the blush deepens. “We haven’t experienced all that much.”

Now when he falls silent you know he expects an answer, so you say, “Is there something you want to try?”

He runs a hand on his features, before sitting back in the couch. “Feel comfortable to say no. Like it totally is okay if you don’t want to.”

“Joon,” you tell him, interjecting before he can start rambling.

A dimple appears, and you think even his ears are red by now. Whatever it is that he wants to try is clearly making him feel embarrassed. It’s weird – you’ve never seen Namjoon embarrassed in your presence before, except maybe when he accidentally broke a cup at a café on your first date.

“Sorry,” he apologizes. “I was thinking… and have been thinking for a while, actually?”

He once again falls silent, so you say, “Yeah?”

“You know when you go down on me?”

You nod.

“Do you think you could finger me at the same time?”

Your gaze widens right as his drops to the floor, and you think you can almost hear his heart beating out of his chest. But you knew from the moment this conversation started that he was going to ask that, so you’re not entirely surprised. On the contrary, there’s just something in the way Namjoon - big, dominant Namjoon - is willing to let you touch him in such an intimate way that makes your blood boil in your veins.

“You’d like that?” you ask, teasingly.

Clearly, he wasn’t expecting it because his eyes shoot back to you, and he hesitates before nodding once.

“You want to know what it feels like when I choke on your dick while my fingers are up your ass?”

His gaze widens even more, and his mouth falls open. He gulps once, then says, “I never thought I’d hear you say that, fuck, that’s hot”.

You smirk before leaning closer to him, until your mouth is so close to him he can feel it when you speak. “I just want to make you feel good.”

Whatever restraint he had on himself goes down the drain in that exact instant, and he grabs your face to pull you into a heated kiss. His lips move against yours hungrily, languidly, and his tongue soon darts to lick at your bottom lip. You let him in, let the taste of him fill your mouth before he sucks on your tongue, and a breathy moan escapes you.

“Fuck,” he breathes against you as he presses wet kisses on your jaw.

You run a hand through his jet-black hair, pulling on it just a little so you can guide his mouth back to yours. You haven’t had enough of him yet, and if he wants you to treat him right, then he’s going to have to treat you right first.

You suck on his bottom lip, teeth teasing it gently, before pulling away. His lips are swollen by your ministrations, glassy by the mix of your saliva and yours. They look delicious, but you move to his neck instead, right as you straddle his lap.

You’re not surprised when you already feel the start of an erection pressing against your clit. You grind on it, capturing his mouth in another kiss that leaves no room for air. His large hands find the meat of your ass, squeezing hard as he makes you grind on him again.

“Joon,” you murmur against his lips as one of his hands reach up to tangle in your hair.

He forces you to turn your head to the side so he can kiss you again, deeper, tongue twirling with yours. Namjoon has always been a great kisser, but the way he kisses you tonight is on a whole different level, as if he was holding back before.

And now that you know he wants you to finger him, you think that maybe he was.

You pull away from the kiss, only because you want to see the effect that you have on him. His lips are even more swollen, parted, and his chest is moving up and down in a quick rhythm as he tries to regain his composure. You smirk, tilting your head to the side.

“You look good like this,” you compliment him, and he bites at his bottom lip.

“Fuck, baby.”

“Now, should we get you out of your pants?”

He smirks, dimples flashing as he nods his head. “Want to feel your pretty lips around my cock.”

You lean closer, not kissing him even though he chases your mouth. He seems taken aback, until you say, “And you want to feel my fingers as they fuck you”.

Now he moans softly, breathily, eyes shutting as he rests his head against the couch. You take that as a cue to go down, kneeling between his legs. You run your hands on his thick thighs, mouth watering at the thought of having him wrapped around your finger like this.

Literally.

He helps you undo his belt, and soon enough you’re pulling his pants and underwear down. His big dick springs free, and it’s like you always forget just how big he is. You know your jaw will hurt, but you’re too far gone to care.

You watch where his cock rests on his stomach, and a drop of precum wets the fabric of his shirt. He clearly doesn’t care, and you grab the base of his dick to hold it up.

“So big,” you purr and he cocks his head to the side awaiting your next move.

You decide to start by sucking him off before you dive into fingering his ass too, so you move closer, blowing on the sensitive tip. His dick jerks in your hand, but you hold it in place as you replace the air with a swipe of your tongue, along a thick vein that runs from bottom to top. He groans, and one of his large hands grab your head to keep you close when you try to sit back on your heels.

“A little excited, are you?” you tease him.

His dark gaze finds yours, and you gulp at the lust that shine behind his pupils. “Just suck me off, baby. No teasing.”

“You don’t like when I’m in control, do you?” You’re being a little shit, because you know it’s usually the other way around. It’s usually Namjoon manhandling you, and you like it. You really do.

There’s just something about thinking of him, all helpless under your ministrations, that's making the devilish part of you win.

He remains silent, clenching his jaw, though it immediately loosens as you wrap your lips around the head of his dick, sucking once. Your tongue twirls around him, and you taste his salty precum. You never once look away from his eyes, not even when you start going down, taking as much of him as you can.

Which is not a lot, and you’re reduced to stroking the part that doesn’t fit in your mouth with your hand. Namjoon still moans appreciatively, especially as you pull away to spit in your hand so you can lubricate his dick from bottom to top. As you do so, you suck on one of his balls, teasing the sensitive organ with your teeth. Lightly, not hard enough to hurt at all, but just enough for Namjoon to throw you a warning glance before you pull away, smirking.

“You’re so fucking hot,” he says, and he puts your hair in a makeshift ponytail so he can watch you as you finally start sucking on his dick, properly this time.

You wait until he is a sensitive mess for your free hand to move between his legs. You fondle with his balls for a time, until he pulls you away from his dick, breathing raggedly.

“Fucking do what you’re supposed to do, pretty. I don’t want to have to wait all night.”

You turn your head to kiss his thigh, before biting into it, hard. “You have to learn how to be patient, baby. I just want to make you feel good.”

He wets his lips, dragon eyes boring into yours, before nodding once. “Then do it. Fuck.”

The power trip that this is giving you is enough for you to be soaking through your panties, and at this point you’re pretty sure you’re soaking through your pants too.

You make a good show of spitting on your fingers, watching as it rolls along the digits. Namjoon watches too, even though you’re still stroking his dick slowly.

“You think you’re ready?”

He goes completely silent as your hand goes back between his legs, this time heading lower than his balls. He instinctively spreads his legs wider. You rub circles on his perineum for a few seconds, lips wrapping around his cock again, and he moans when you take him all the way in, choking around his fat tip.

“Baby,” he grunts.

You watch him with his head thrown back, sharp jaw on display, and that’s when you finally reach lower to find the tight circle of muscles around his asshole. He groans, and it makes you moan around his dick. You pull away enough to breathe, and then you suck on his tip, tongue playing with his slit as you finally push a finger in his ass.

It’s foreign. You’ve never done that before in your entire life, but when Namjoon moans again, a higher-pitched sound than usual, you figure this will work. You push all the way in before pulling all the way out. You play with the muscle ring again, bobbing your head up and down before you finally push in again, arching your finger to rub what you hope is his prostate.

Namjoon’s dick goes infinitely hard in your mouth, and he starts cursing as you time your head and your finger. You take that as a cue that he likes it. Wickedly, you push another finger in, and Namjoon moans your name, before adding so many curses you think he might actually not be doing okay.

You make to pull out, and that’s when he starts begging, “Baby, please don’t stop. I’m gonna –“ a moan interrupts – “I’m gonna come. So fucking hard. Please.”

So you keep going, sucking on his dick harder, fucking your fingers into him relentlessly until his hips snap up, right as his dick twitches in your mouth as he releases his load. He grunts and curses, holding your head into place.

You’re surprised he came so fast. He rarely comes when you suck his dick – not because you aren’t good, but because he’s so big it’s hard to please him with your mouth. You still swallow everything, ever so the good girl when it comes to him, and you milk his orgasm out of him, making sure to carry him throughout his entire high.

You only stop when his dick starts going soft in your mouth, sitting back on your heels as you still finger him lazily. You shortly stop that too, watching him breathe in and out as he tries to calm down, but you’re not sure it’s working.

Especially not when he says, “Holy shit, what the fuck was that?”

You chuckle, licking your lips clean. “That felt good.”

He nods, and he finally looks down at you, flashing a dimpled smile at you. “Baby, that was so fucking good. We’re going to have to do it again.”

You bite your lip, holding in a smile as you tilt your head to the side.

“Tonight?”

He smirks, but shakes his head no. “Nah, for now I just want to treat my girl good.”

Needless to say, you don’t hesitate before lying down on the couch so he can eat you out.

#btswritersclub #btsafterdarknet #1k followers celebration #follower milestone celebration #namjoon #namjoon smut #namjoon fanfiction #namjoon fanfic #namjoon fic #namjoon x reader #namjoon x you #knj #knj smut #knj fanfiction #knj fanfic #knj fic #knj x reader #knj x you #kim namjoon #kim namjoon smut #kim namjoon x reader #kim namjoon x you #kim namjoon fanfiction #kim namjoon fanfic #kim namjoon fic

[hugmekenobi]

The Bad Batch (3)

Chapter Three: Replacements

GIF by @kamino-coruscant

Hunter x femaleJedi!reader

Series Summary: You joined the Batch 8 months ago and everything was going well. But then, Order 66 happened and the galaxy around you changed. Now, not only do you need to be careful given your new 'social status', but you also need to navigate your feelings towards a certain Sergeant.

Chapter Summary: You and Hunter finally talk things over but amidst all that, the ship crashes and you need to find your way off a desolate moon.

<Previous Chapter

Genre: Friends (idiots) to Lovers

Chapter Warnings: Use of (Y/N) (but I've limited it as much as I could), swearing, the Force works how I say it does, mild innuendo, brief injury mention, light angst, Hunter defence (a theme that will run throughout now).

Word Count (Ch 3): 7.6K

Rating: 18+

Author's notes: Okay so things are finally being talked out lol but despite the honesty mention, both of them continue to lie about their feelings but I allow that because they're both doing it and they're dumb haha. Also I'm sorry for not including Crosshair's section of the episode. It was a tough decision not to but I think with what my focus for this chapter was, it had to be done. Also a big thank you for the support this story as received to far! It means a lot!

You sat down on the bunk you had once shared with Hunter; you weren’t really sure if that would still stand anymore, you didn’t really expect it to and finished tying off the bandage around your arm. You also quickly applied a light touch of bacta on your cheek and your eyes followed Hunter as he walked over to where Omega was sitting restlessly on the floor, examining a datapad as she leaned against Gonky who was also on his side.

Hunter walked up to Omega with the ration box. “Well, that doesn’t look comfortable, for either of you.”

“We’re fine.” Omega said lightly.

“Here. Chow time.” Hunter said, handing Omega a ration bar as she stood up.

“Ah! Finally!”

Hunter looked up to see Wrecker jumping down the stairs that led to the gun turret. He handed his eager brother a bar only to see him consume it at record pace.

“Hit me again.” Wrecker demanded keenly.

“Well, that’s all for now.” Hunter said, closing the box. “Rations are low.”

Wrecker groaned.

Omega looked down at her portion then back to Wrecker. “You can have mine.” She offered.

Before he reached out to grab it, Hunter pushed Wrecker back a few steps. “Hey, Omega doesn’t even have a place to sleep. You wanna take her food too?”

Wrecker glanced past Hunter. Now he felt bad. “Oh. Uh… no, no thanks. You keep it.”

“Okay.” Omega said casually before sitting back down against the droid.

Wrecker let out another groan. “I guess I’m not used to having a kid around here.”

“Well, none of us are, but she’s not complaining.” Hunter pointed out.

--

You let out a soft sigh as you witnessed the scene just past you before turning away to start packing up the medical kit. You made sure to put everything back where it was, or you knew you’d never hear the end of it from Tech. You’d made the mistake once of just chucking things in in any old order which had not gone down well with the clone, and you’d spent the next 20 minutes getting lectured on the importance of the organisation of the medical supplies.

“The bandages go in the top right compartment.”

You looked up quickly to see Hunter standing opposite you. “Oh, um thanks.” You replied, knowing you were not successful in hiding your surprised tone.

“You didn’t get your portion.” Hunter said, holding the box out to you.

“Thank you.” You replied, taking the ration bar out and nibbling the top of it before putting your attention back on the med kit. You figured that’s all he’d come up to you for and you didn’t want to make him stay any longer than he wanted to.

He knew you well enough to tell that your demeanour right now was for his own benefit and was based off his own action towards you. Come on Hunter, time to settle this, he thought to himself. “That, uh, happen leaving the lot?” Hunter asked, hoping he didn’t sound as awkward as he felt.

You looked back at him. “Yeah, but it barely touched me, and I heal fairly quickly. You know, Jedi and all that.” You cursed yourself internally for bringing up the one topic that held a high degree of sensitivity right now.

“Hmm that’s pretty handy.” Hunter said, giving you a small smile.

You let out a quiet laugh. “Yeah, it is.” After a few moments of silence, you spoke again. “Well, I uh, better put this back in its proper place or who knows what Tech’ll do to me.” You kidded half-heartedly before you sealed the med kit box and stood up, putting your top layer back on as you did so.

“Hey.” Hunter said softly, grabbing your free hand as you moved to pass him.

You glanced down at his hand then looked back at him. “Everything okay?”

“Can we talk?”

You wanted cry out with relief as he said those words but restrained yourself to a simple nod of your head.

Hunter led you towards the cockpit. “Tech, can you give us the space?”

“I’m working on this scanner.” Tech protested.

“You can work on it back there.” Echo said, standing up and dragging Tech out of his seat, giving you a small smile as he did so.

“Hey, Tech, put this back for me, would you please?” You asked, holding the med kit out to him.

Tech nodded and reached out to grab it. “Is everything-”

“Yes, everything is back in place.” You said, exasperated, but shooting him a smile, nonetheless.

“Okay, I only say that because last time-”

“Out!” Echo said, directing Tech away from you and back down the body of the ship.

--

Hunter let go of your hand- he hadn’t even realised he’d kept a hold of it- and went to sit in the pilot’s chair.

You squeezed your hand into a tight fist before relaxing it again as you did your best to ignore the usual feeling of emptiness that filled your hand whenever he let it go. You sat down in the co-pilot’s seat, turning it to face him. “This isn’t about Tech getting the ship impounded right cause-”

“No, it’s not.”

“Okay, good.” That was not the issue you were too worried about fixing. You waited patiently for him to talk first.

“I just… I need you to explain again. I shouldn’t have acted the way I did but-”

“No, you were perfectly entitled to do that. I know I messed up.” You said quietly.

Hunter took a breath before speaking again. “So, why did you hide this?”

You heaved a sigh and ran a hand through your hair. “In the beginning, I was being nothing but selfish. I wish I had a real reason, but I don’t. I’d spent years supressing that part of myself after I left. I didn’t get involved with anything that might threaten that until you all showed up. I lost myself for a while and forgot what I’d been taught. I don’t know what was different about you guys, but something told me I had to help you. I thought it would be a one-time thing but then you offered me a place here and I found myself saying yes and it’s like I said, as time went on, I grew to care for yo- all of you, you know you guys were the closest thing to friends I’d had for a while.” You caught yourself quickly.

Hunter pushed away the upset he felt as he heard that word.

“And I thought by telling you what I really was, things would change, or you’d send me back but, as with any secret, the longer it went the more uncomfortable I felt and the harder it got to keep, and I knew it wasn’t fair to keep lying. Especially to you.” You added quietly, looking down at your hands in your lap. “If you can, and I understand if you can’t, believe it when I say that I really did plan to tell you after Kaller but with Order 66 and Crosshair and Tarkin, I couldn’t. I don’t want to ask this of you but please trust me on this. All the odd behaviour, the deflections and the whole not telling you was purely because I wanted to protect you but I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have lied at all. I’m just- I’m just really sorry.” You finished and looked back at him.

“It just felt like you didn’t trust me or the rest of us. We don’t hide things from each other, not when they’re that important.”

“I know.” You said sorrowfully. “I regret it and I’ll keep regretting it for the rest of my life.”

“Do you regret it because you got caught out?”

“No!” You replied, horrified that that was something he was thinking but then again you could see how it may look that way. “I regret it because I hurt you and the others. I hurt my team and I hurt my friends. Hell, I hurt my family. I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

Hunter sighed. He knew you felt awful about this and that you wouldn’t do something like this again. He didn’t like this anymore than you did and if the others could forgive you, then he could too. “You’ve not lied about anything else?”

You shook your head. “No. If you have any other questions, I’d be happy to answer them too. I’m done hiding from my past.”

“Then we’re good.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Hunter replied.

You couldn’t stop yourself; you lunged forward and hugged him. “Thank you.” You whispered.

Hunter was glad your head was over his shoulder because that meant you wouldn’t be able to see the combination of happiness and shock on his face at your actions. He returned your embrace, breaking it very reluctantly after a few moments. “I do have some questions though.”

You removed yourself from him, you couldn’t believe you’d just done that, and went back to your seat. “Go ahead.”

“Is it because you were a Jedi that you’ve always refused to use a blaster?” He wanted to give you a more light-hearted question since the one he really wanted to ask might be a bit much to launch into straight away.

You snorted. “Yeah. They’re just not very elegant. I did try them out for a while but at the end of the day, I prefer the feeling of a sword in my hand. Anything else?”

Alright, moment of truth. “Yeah, but this one you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

“No, I meant what I said. I’ll answer whatever you want to ask.”

“Okay.” Hunter waited a moment before speaking again, he knew this would be a hard question for you to answer. “Why did you leave?”

You huffed out a sigh. Oh boy. “That’s a longer story.”

--

Meanwhile, further down the ship, Echo, Wrecker and Omega watched the interaction with relief.

“Do we think that’s them told each other now?” Wrecker asked.

“No, we’re not that lucky.” Echo replied. “I reckon they’ve just fixed the whole Jedi issue.”

“Told each other what?” Omega asked, looking away from the two of you to focus on Echo.

“They share a mutual attraction that neither party want to acknowledge or divulge to the other.” Tech answered, his attention never leaving his scanner.

“Huh?” Omega asked.

“Basically, they both have feelings of the romantic type for one another and despite our best efforts, they still deny it to us, and they won’t tell each other.” Echo explained.

“No matter how hard we try to get them to admit it.” Wrecker grumbled.

“Oohh.” Omega replied, turning back to look at you both. “We should do something.”

“Believe me kid, we’ve thought of everything. It’s gotta come from them at this point.” Echo said with a sigh. He just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

--

“So yeah, that’s why I left. I couldn’t forget the way they’d treated her which led to a crisis of faith, so I left my lightsaber in my room and left the temple in the dead of night. I had thought about seeking her out, but she had her new path to follow and now I had mine, so I took the first shuttle off world. That began my life of planet hopping. I didn’t really fit in there to begin with to be honest. Too emotional with a tendency to talk back and sway from standard rules if you can believe it.” You said, shooting him a playful smile.

“Oh, I can.” Hunter agreed with a quiet chuckle. “That also explains why you disliked Tarkin so much.”

“Yeah.” You agreed with a laugh of your own. “I was really surprised that he didn’t recognise me.” You looked out into the blue hyperspace swirls.

“Well, I’m very grateful he didn’t.” Hunter said quietly.

You turned to face Hunter with a smile. “Me too.”

Hunter cleared his throat. “So… uh on Kaller. There was something else I wanted to mention. You and the padawan looked like-”

“We were having a conversation?” You completed for him.

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s cause I kinda was.”

“But I didn’t hear anything?”

“It’s hard to explain but I basically reached into his Force Signature which allowed me to communicate with him without talking out loud and he was able to do the same to me. With Jedi, it’s pretty simple since everyone’s signature is pretty strong but emotional connection can make it even easier. It can be done with normal civilians too, like with Gerrera, though obviously it’s one-sided and it’s harder, emotional connection really helps out there.”

Hunter paused before he spoke again. “So, you and Saw Gerrera… emotionally connected at some point in your past?” He asked, hoping you couldn’t pick up on the hint of jealously he was feeling at that prospect.

“What? Gosh no!” You replied quickly, you would not let yourself analyse the slight change in his tone and what that could possibly mean. You wouldn’t ruin this rather important conversation with all that nonsense. “That was basically just luck. I wasn’t even sure it would work, let alone work that quickly. I helped him out when I was still with the Order, but no emotional connecting was done. Under normal circumstances, it would’ve taken me a lot longer to do that.” You hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “Can I show you how emotional connection actually helps?” You asked, moving to sit on your knees in front of him.

“What do you mean?” Hunter asked, refusing to let his mind wander to what else your current position meant to him.

You took his hands in yours. “Just quiet your mind as much as you can for me, please?” You also made sure to take that advice for yourself, the suggestions of your present position were not lost on you but thinking about that would be very counter-productive right now.

After a brief moment to steady your thoughts, you closed your eyes and reached out.

What met you didn’t really surprise you. Hunter’s Force Signature was a lot like him, a little rough along the edges but warm at the same time.

When you sensed that you had achieved a successful connection, you opened your eyes and looked at him as you spoke to him without uttering a single word. Hi there, Sergeant. You giggled as his eyes widened. I know, it’s a bit weird, especially since you can’t do the same thing back so this’ll be the only time, I’ll do it but yeah, apart from Gererra being the exception, if I wanted to do this with anyone else, it would take a long time.

“What about the others?” Hunter asked, his gaze focused intensely on you.

I could probably do it, but I know it’s a faster process with you.

“How?”

You did not want to properly get into that, you still didn’t think your feelings were reciprocated so you did the next best thing. You instead played back the first conversation you had with him back on Devaron. You’re the one I connected to first, it’s just natural it would be this way. You provided as an explanation rather than admit anything else.

Hunter couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by it all, it wasn’t a bad feeling necessarily, but it only served to strengthen the feelings he had for you. All this proved was that you really were incredible, and he couldn’t imagine a time when you weren’t a part of his life but then he remembered what you said. You were his friend, nothing more, no matter how much he wished for that.

You felt his distress and assumed his enhanced senses weren’t too fond of what you were doing so you withdrew. “Sorry. I should’ve thought about your particular gift before doing that.” You said aloud.

“No, it’s not that.” Hunter said. “You can do that whenever; it doesn’t bother me.”

“What is it then?” You said softly, looking at him.

“It’s just… nothing, forget about it.” Hunter said, looking away from you. He couldn’t do this now, not like this.

“Hunter.” You murmured, placing a hand on his cheek so he had to face you. You lightly traced the outline of his tattoo with your fingertips.

Hunter closed his eyes and his breath shuddered slightly at the feeling of your hand on his face. To anyone else, this action would register as nothing more than a feather-light touch but to him it felt like so much more. He opened his eyes again to look at you. “You’re just pretty amazing.” Hunter breathed out, finding himself leaning down towards you.

You met his gaze, and you felt yourself moving up to meet him halfway.

Just as your lips were about to meet, the lights flickered and cut out, providing the most annoying but probably necessary interruption the two of you needed. You coughed and shuffled back on your knees awkwardly. You put that particular moment down to the whole speaking into his head thing. Anyone wouldn’t really think straight after that.

Hunter stifled his frustrated sigh and stood up out of the pilot’s seat, noticing the way everyone in the back of the ship had quickly turned their heads away and were now staring at random parts of the ship. Well, I should’ve known that would be the case, he thought to himself before addressing Echo. “Echo, the lights cut out again. I thought you fixed it.” He offered his hand to you to get you up and was pleased to see that despite what just happened you still took it.

“Yeah, add it to the list.” Echo replied grumpily, moving back to the cockpit with Tech, munching on his ration bar.

You and Hunter both moved out the way of Echo and Tech so they could sit back down.

“The ship got hit hard when we fled Saleucami. Several systems have been glitching ever since.” Echo explained. “Repairs would go faster if I had some help.” He said pointedly, shooting Tech a look.

“As soon as I finish building this scanner.” Tech said, soldering some parts of the device. “Testing the functionality of out inhibitor chips takes precedence.”

“But I thought you said they were defective?” You asked.

“A theory this test will be able to prove.” Tech said confidently.

“Huh, okay.” You said simply with a shrug of your shoulders, and you turned around to follow Hunter back down the ship.

“Besides, the ship-wide diagnostic report indicated no critical systems were compromised.” Tech informed.

Just as he said that the ship jolted violently and came crashing out of hyperspace.

The alarm started ringing and the red lights began to flash.

You lost your balance, and you suddenly felt the tight press of a body against yours.

In the slight commotion, it would seem that you had fallen into the wall, your back pressed against it while Hunter had ended up with his body pushed up against yours, his hands on either side of your head, his eyes looking directly into yours.

You blinked a few times to fully process what just happened and bring yourself back to the present moment of the ship hurtling towards a moon.

Hunter rather awkwardly pushed himself off the wall and away from you, trying and failing to forget the feeling of your body against his in that manner. He’d only ever felt it like that when the two of you had been asleep together but in the more recent times, those occasions had grown rarer, and they seemed a lot more innocent than whatever just happened there, even if it was purely accidental.

He quickly walked into the cockpit, and he heard you close behind him. “Getting thrown out of hyperspace. I’d say that’s pretty critical, Tech.”

“It’s not affecting life support.” Tech replied calmly, fiddling with some controls. “We’re fine.”

“Are you kidding me?” Hunter replied, exasperated.

“I don’t think life support will matter too much if we crash and burn.” You added, adjusting your footing slightly as another rumble ran through the ship.

“The power capacitor’s blown. We need to land immediately.” Echo said.

Omega was still back in the main body of the ship with Wrecker, trying to maintain her balance.

“Get ready for your first crash landing.” Wrecker said, lifting one of the over-the-shoulder restraints.

“Crash?” Omega said anxiously.

“Omega, strap in.” Hunter said, darting back down towards the young girl. “You too.” He directed, looking back towards you.

“Are you?” You asked, crossing your arms, and looking at him questioningly.

“No but that’s not the point. You-”

“No, I’m fine thanks. I’ll sit right here.” You sat in one the normal passenger seats, bracing your back against it to keep steady.

Hunter sighed and sat in the chair across from yours.

Omega quickly sat in on of the seats with the over- the- shoulder restraints and Wrecker lowered one down for her before going into one himself although the restraint proved to be a bit small for his larger frame.

“I can’t see anything.” Echo groaned, straining his eyes to try and see through the fog that filled the moon’s atmosphere.

“Hold on!” Hunter called back towards Omega and Wrecker.

Omega grunted with the impact on her shoulders as the ship continued to be unsteady. She lifted her feet when Gonky slid down the hallway.

Wrecker wasn’t having the best time of it either. A particularly strong heave of the ship had the side of his head being smacked off the one of the metal hand bars of the restraints.

The alarm blaring grew louder and more insistent, but you saw the fog had cleared which allowed Tech to level out the ship as best he could before it crashed to the ground. You held on to the sides of your seat to stop yourself from falling out of it as your body lurched with the impact.

Once the ship had come to a complete stop, you stood up and helped the Gonk droid to his feet. You looked over at Hunter when he stood up. “You good?”

Hunter nodded before addressing the back of the ship. “Everybody alright?”

You glanced down to where Omega and Wrecker were. She seemed a little bit dazed but otherwise okay. Wrecker was the one who looked the most affected out of all of you. He was taking breaths in short, sharp pants. You only hoped you had the parts needed to fix the ship and get off this place.

--

“The storm’s getting worse. It’s knocking out our comms.” You said irritably as you stared at the controls.

“I suspect one of our capacitors sustained damage during our firefight with the regs. We won’t be able to take off without replacing it. Inventory analysis indicates we have one spare onboard.” Tech explained to the group, looking up from his datapad.

“Is it in here?” Omega asked, grunting as she dragged a box out and placed it on the ground.

A hush descended in the ship as you turned your seat to see what Omega was talking about and why everyone had gone so quiet. Oh, that was why, you thought gloomily.

“What?” Omega asked, wondering why everyone was suddenly staring at her.

“That’s Crosshair’s weapon kit.” Hunter said, the guilt and painful reminder of all that went down on Kamino coming back to haunt him.

Wrecker groaned. “Fine. I’ll say it. I kinda miss him.”

“He shot you, remember?” Echo reminded him.

“Ha! I sure do. That hurt!” Wrecker said with a laugh.

“It’s worth noting that the possibility that Crosshair’s actions were influenced by the inhibitor chip.” Tech said to Hunter.

“It can do that?” You asked, getting out of your seat, directing your question towards Omega.

“That’s what it was designed to do.” Omega confirmed.

“So, it wasn’t Crosshair’s fault?” Wrecker asked.

“Well-” Tech began.

“Look, debating this won’t fix the ship.” Hunter interrupted. He almost didn’t want to know the answer. The slightest chance that Crosshair had done what he did willingly was the only thing keeping his inner turmoil at bay and now there was a chance he wasn’t in complete control of himself? And they’d left him behind? That was something he wouldn’t be able to get past easily. “Right now, we need to find that capacitor and get off this rock.” He said before walking away.

You followed him to the cockpit. “It’s not your fault you know.”

“I’d love to hear how it isn’t.” He replied dejectedly, hanging his head as he held on to the back of the pilot’s chair.

You sighed deeply. “You made a judgement call. Even if he wasn’t of sound mind, we were still under fire.”

“Exactly, there’s now a chance he didn’t really know what he was doing, and I left him behind. I can’t-”

“Even if he wasn’t himself, we were taking fire, Hunter. And it wasn’t just from Crosshair. We would’ve died if we didn’t get out when we did. If Crosshair isn’t in control of his own mind, then we’ll get him back. I know you; when the moment is right, you won’t leave him behind.” You said, laying a hand on his shoulder, turning him to face you but he still refused to look at you. “Hey, look at me.” You put your hand on his cheek, angling his face towards you. “You’re a good sergeant. Those guys back there would follow you through anything, as would I.”

Hunter gave a half-hearted smile. He only hoped your image was him proved to be accurate because despite your words, that element of doubt still resided within him. “Thanks. Go help Echo and Tech with the repairs, would you?”

“Yeah, no problem.” You complied. You caressed your thumb across his cheekbone. “I mean it you, know. Until you want rid of me, I’m not going anywhere.” You said, removing your hand and you walked away from him, grabbing an oxygen mask as you went to join Tech and Echo outside.

May that day never come. Hunter thought as he watched you go, the feeling of your hand remaining on his cheek.

--

Tech lifted the panel and took out the damaged capacitor.

“Careful. Those capacitors hold a massive charge.” Echo warned as he stood on Tech’s right, holding his flashlight up to help Tech see what he was doing.

You joined on Tech’s left-hand side, shining your light too.

“I am well aware.” Tech responded, placing the new one in. “I just need to secure it.”

You turned your head slightly as you heard the sound of faint snarling and you felt goosebumps on your skin. “What was that?”

“I’m a little busy as the moment.” Tech replied.

You walked a few paces away from the others, shining your light ahead of you.

“Get back here.” Echo called after you.

You waved your hand behind you. “Shush. Keep your light with Tech.” You hissed back.

As you walked, you shone your torch to your left as you heard some rustling, but you couldn’t see anything. You kept walking forward, taking slow, quiet steps, fanning your flashlight right and left but you were coming up empty.

Pausing, you closed your eyes and reach out into the Force, trying to feel for any unusual or threatening signatures but you couldn’t sense anything. You let out a frustrated sigh and turned your light towards the ship and then something caught your eye. “Echo, Tech, look at this.” You called back to them.

Tech just finished securing the capacitor and he joined Echo to make their way towards you.

You shone your light back on the fresh, long, and jagged claw marks that now decorated the ship.

“Ah. Well, those weren’t there when we landed.” Tech observed.

No wonder you hadn’t sensed anything strongly. You’d never quite managed the whole force connecting to animals thing, it had been one of the things you’d still been practicing before you’d left but after you had gone, you’d ceased all training of that manner. You berated yourself for that now. You were so preoccupied with your own thoughts; you hadn’t noticed that Tech and Echo had made their way back to the ship entrance.

“You coming back in?” Echo asked, looking back at you.

“Give me a minute.”

Echo looked at Tech, who simply shrugged, and they both made their way back onto the ship.

You took a deep breath. “Come on, you can do this.” You whispered you yourself as you closed your eyes, and reached out again, really focusing in on the nature around you.

--

“The capacitor’s in place, but other systems are now failing.” Tech said, taking off his mask as he walked towards Hunter.

Echo removed his own mask before speaking to Hunter. “Something’s causing damage to the exterior hull.”

“You wanna narrow that down?” Hunter asked. “And where’s (Y/N)?”

“The capacitor is gone!” You shouted, quickly removing your own mask as you ran on board. You hadn’t seen it happen, but you had gotten a read on a signature that had gone very close to the panel where the capacitor was.

“I just placed it myself. It can’t be-” Tech stopped as the entire ship just powered down.

Each of your heads followed the faint sound of banging that moved across the top of the ship. “I told you.” You whispered. “Something’s taken it.”

Omega looked out the ship window to suddenly see an animal with luminous green charges flowing through its body, dart across it. “Look!”

“What is it?” You asked as you all ran towards the cockpit.

“Some kind of creature, about this big.” Omega said quickly, holding her arms wide apart. “With a long tail. It ran off with the part.”

Echo stepped forward and reactivated the control to get a view of the ship. “They’re right. The capacitor’s gone. And that was our last one.”

“Did you see this creature take it?” Wrecker asked, turning to look at you.

“No but I had a feeling.” You replied.

“A feeling?” Wrecker repeated, staring at you.

“A Jedi feeling, Wrecker. I didn’t know what though. I didn’t get very far with connecting to animals and it really doesn’t help when I have no idea what I should be connecting to.”

“The creature is most likely an Ordo Moon Dragon.” Tech informed. “A species that feeds off raw energy. It was probably drawn to the capacitor’s electric charge.”

“Well, that would’ve been good to know beforehand, Tech.” You said with a sigh before you noticed that Wrecker had walked away from you all, groaning slightly as he held the side of his head. You guessed it was an injury from the rather rough landing.

“You two get those other systems online.” Hunter ordered Tech and Echo. “Wrecker, stay here. We will go after the dragon and get our part back.” Hunter said nodding to you.

“I’m fine. I-” Wrecker protested before breaking off with a moan.

“You’re staying.” Hunter reiterated.

“I’ll go with you both.” Omega said eagerly, jumping off her seat.

“No, that thing could be dangerous.” Hunter said, double checking his vibroblade before putting it back in its cover.

“I’m a part of this squad now too, right?” Omega asked.

Hunter glanced up at you.

You finished putting your weapons on and nodded at him. We can watch her. It’ll be fine. Plus, she’s right and she’ll need to learn how to handle herself at some point. I know I’d rather it be at a time where we can comfortably watch her.

Hunter turned back to face the young girl. “Alright, kid. Just stay close.”

Omega put her oxygen mask on and dashed for the door.

You hummed out a laugh as you watched her enthusiastically run to the door then you saw how the others were looking at each other- their faces filled with a combination of scepticism and bewilderment. You smirked at Hunter and nudged his shoulder. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Of all the missions we’ve had, this one is one of the easier ones.” You both put on your masks and followed her out.

--

The three of you moved speedily along the moon’s rocky terrain. The wind howled softly, and you felt the breeze through your hair. You were taking up the rear, with Omega in the middle and Hunter in front.

Hunter paused and knelt down to the ground.

You and Omega came on either side of him and watched as he ran his fingers through some of the dirt and studied it as it trickled through his fingers.

“What are you doing?” Omega asked in a hushed tone.

“Tracking.” Hunter replied, standing upright.

“Can’t you track the creature? You know, with your Jedi powers?” Omega asked, angling her head past Hunter’s legs to look at you.

“I could if I knew how to properly. Fact is, I don’t and even if I did, it would probably take a lot longer than this. A strong bond is required to connect with an animal, and I have no ground to even begin to establish one with this thing.” You answered, standing up and brushing some of the dust off your trouser legs.

You left out the fact that you quite enjoyed watching Hunter track, it sent a warm tingle down your spine every time, the only exception to that had been Kaller due to the rather serious extenuating circumstances.

“Let’s keep going.” Hunter said.

The three of you moved on, your movements more cautious now as you reached a section with more rocks, providing more cover for anything that might want to jump out at you.

“Could I learn to track like you?” Omega whispered.

“Well, it’s an enhanced skill.” Hunter replied. “Wrecker and Tech, we each have one.”

“And Crosshair.” Omega added.

You looked over her head to gauge Hunter’s reaction but the most he gave was a quick glance back at the young girl. You couldn’t get a read, the only way you could would be to dip into his signature but this task was more important right now.

“You shouldn’t be angry at him. He can’t help it.” Omega continued.

Hunter stopped and sighed. “I’m angry at myself. We don’t leave our own behind.”

Your heart went out to him. You knew that no matter how this situation turned out, that regret would always stick with him.

“Then we’ll find a way to get him back…somehow.” Omega said, coming up on Hunter’s right.

“That’s what I said.” You stated, coming to squeeze his left hand reassuringly. “See, it’s not just me that knows it.”

Hunter nodded at you before moving ahead once more.

You lightly nudged Omega in front of you again and fell in line behind her.

--

The three of you slowly began an uphill climb and crouched behind a rock. A few metres in front of you with its lights blinking, lay the power capacitor.

“See it?” Hunter asked, shining his torch light on it.

“Yeah.” You replied quietly.

“Wait here.” Hunter ordered, sensing that Omega had stood up. “Both of you.”

“You gotta be kidding me.” You objected.

Hunter just tilted his head towards Omega. He needed you to stay for her.

You got the message and let out a frustrated sigh. “Just be careful.”

Hunter gave you a nod and moved out from behind the rock to head towards the capacitor.

You moved closer to Omega and you both watched him closely as he went. You closed your eyes and reached out into the Force around you, looking to see if that familiar signature you’d felt by the panel on the ship was anywhere near you both or Hunter.

Then you felt it, it was right by the rock that was behind the capacitor. You snapped your eyes open and went to warn Hunter, but you were a second too late. The creature had jumped out and attacked him.

You and Omega dashed out and ran towards it, but it had grabbed the part and ran off.

“It’s getting away!” Omega shouted.

That wasn’t your concern right now. You turned away from the direction the creature had headed off in to see Hunter gasping, clutching at his throat.

Panic swept through you. “Hunter, your mask!” You grabbed him as he collapsed to the ground.

You scanned the area around you quickly to find his mask. You spotted it and called on the Force to send it to you. As soon as it landed in your hand, you reattached it. “Hunter, wake up! Wake up!” You said desperately but to no avail.

You checked for a pulse and hung your head in relief when you found one, but he would be out for a while and medical help would not go amiss plus you still needed to get the capacitor back. You spoke into your comm. “Echo, Wrecker, Tech, come in! We need help!” You got no response back.

You heard a snarl and looked up to see the dragon disappear with the capacitor down into a tunnel. You were torn, you couldn’t leave Hunter and Omega couldn’t be left on her own, but you needed that back.

“I’ll go.” Omega said bravely.

“No, Omega. Not by yourself. You could get hurt.” You said, taking your eyes off Hunter to look at her.

“We can’t leave Hunter alone here either. You can stay with him. I’ll be careful. If I’m going to be on this squad, I need to learn how to handle myself.” Omega replied.

You went to disagree with her but hesitated. You couldn’t bring yourself to leave him and if Omega felt like she could, then maybe it could work. “You sure about this?”

Omega nodded firmly.

You sighed. “Okay, take his blaster, torch, and his comm. If at any point, you’re unsure of what to do or there’s a sign of trouble, you tell me. Understand?” You said seriously.

“I understand.” Omega answered, picking up Hunter’s flashlight, blaster, and comm. “Okay, Omega. You can do this.” She said to herself, taking a calming breath.

“Be careful and any trouble, you use that comm and don’t use that blaster unless you absolutely have to.” You told her. She was young, she didn’t need her first instinct to be to kill. “You better go.”

Omega nodded and set off towards the tunnel.

You watched her enter it and then readjusted yourself, so you were supporting Hunter’s body, his head positioned in your lap. Come on Hunter, wake up, you thought nervously.

--

You gently straightened your back, keeping Hunter’s head cradled in your hands as you did so. Right after you did this, you saw his eyes flicker open. “Hunter?”

Hunter groaned and then his eyes focused on you, your head positioned just above his. His appeared to be in your lap. He sat up and held his head then let out a few panicked breaths as he remembered what happened. He tapped his mask, just to confirm that it was really there.

You moved around and kneeled in front of his. “Easy. It’s okay. I reattached it after it fell. You’ve been unconscious though.” You explained. “You scared the shit out of me. Next time you tell me to wait, I’m just going to ignore you because clearly that doesn’t work out well for you.” You said, adding a touch of humour to your tone.

“I’m okay.” Hunter reassured you, laying a hand on your shoulder.

“Just… don’t do scare me like that again. I don’t know what I’d do if-” You stopped yourself from continuing.

Before Hunter could ask about what you were going to say, he suddenly remembered about Omega, she wasn’t here. “Where’s Omega?” He asked urgently.

“Umm… she’s gone after the part.” You replied awkwardly.

“What?” Hunter said, standing up abruptly and which led him to notice his blaster, comm and torch were all now missing. “You let her go on her own?”

“Not enthusiastically but it was either I leave you unconscious and her with you, not knowing if there was anything else out here that could hurt you guys, or I stay with you and let her go after it. It wasn’t like I was left with the best choices. I told her to contact me if she was in trouble.” You explained, standing up too.

“Did you even try to contact the others for help?”

You glared at him. “Yes Hunter, believe it or not I’m not a complete idiot, my first thought was not to send her after an Ordo Moon Dragon by herself. The others didn’t reply.” You replied coolly.

Hunter sighed. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair. It’s just…she’s a kid. She could get herself hurt.”

“She’s not helpless, Hunter and she volunteered. She’s not much younger than what I was when I was being sent on missions. Plus, you and your brothers were put in training when you were young.” You said defensively.

“But she’s not exactly trained either or blessed with your particular skill set.”

You opened your mouth to protest but stopped when you realised that you’d lost sight of that. You may have understood the emotional assignment of taking in a child better than the others, but you’d let your own experience cloud your judgement here. You’d looked at Omega and seen a determined young girl, wanting to do all she could to help which is what you’d been like at her age and that was all you saw. You forgot that she’d been on Kamino her whole life and hadn’t been trained in any way. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let her go. I just didn’t want to leave you and I forgot her experience has been completely different from mine and yours.”

“It’s okay. We can go find her now.” Hunter said.

“She’s in there.” You pointed up to the tunnel she’d gone into.

“Lead the way.” Hunter directed and followed you as you both ran up to the tunnel entrance.

--

“Omega!” You both yelled down the tunnel.

“I’m coming!” Omega called back.

You exhaled deeply in relief as you saw her crawl her way to the top.

Hunter picked her up out of the tunnel and set her gently down on her feet. “Are you okay?” He asked, scanning her body for injuries.

“Omega, I’m sorry, I never should’ve let you go on your own.” You said, bending down in front of her to give her a quick hug.

“It’s alright. I’m fine. I completed the mission.” Omega said to you over your shoulder. She pulled away and handed Hunter back his blaster at Hunter. “Don’t worry, didn’t have to use it.” She added, looking back at you.

You nodded back at her before you got to your feet to stand next to Hunter.

“I got the part.” Omega said, holding the capacitor up to Hunter.  

Hunter took it from her.

“Good work Omega.” You said. “Now we can finally get off this rock.”

--

Hunter walked into the cockpit. “Tech, get us outta here.”

“Gladly.” Tech replied, powering up the engines. “Systems are up and running.” He said as the ship left the moon’s atmosphere.

“Yeah, took you long enough.” Wrecker grumbled, coming into the cockpit.

“And where have you been?” Echo asked, turning in his seat.

Wrecker ignored him and kneeled in front of the passenger seat where Omega was sitting. “Hey, kid. Come with me.” He said, holding his hand out to her. “Cover your eyes.” He instructed with a light chuckle.

Omega did as he said and took his hand despite it being about twice the size of hers.

“I’m not missing this.” You said happily, following Wrecker out of the cockpit and back to the gun tower. You were very curious as to what Wrecker had planned.

Hunter also left the cockpit to see what Wrecker had been doing.

“Okay. Open ‘em.” Wrecker said, stepping away from Omega. “Check it out!” He said with a chuckle, showing Omega the now new and improved gun turret.

Omega walked up the ladder, pulled back the curtain and smiled at what greeted her. Wrecker had transformed the space with new, warm glowing lights and had padded it out for extra comfort. He’d also included his Lula. She couldn’t believe it.

“It’s your own room.” Wrecker explained. “Well, what do you think? I thought this place could feel more like a home.”

“It’s perfect!” Omega said joyfully. “Thank you, Wrecker!”

You chuckled as Wrecker took the praise rather bashfully.

“Oh, uh, it was nothing.” Wrecker replied.

“I never had my own room before.” Omega said, sitting down and holding Lula to her chest.

“Well, you’re a part of this squad now too.” Hunter said, stepping past you.

You noticed that Tech and Echo had now come to see what was going on too.

Omega looked at him then back around her room. She was really starting to feel that now.

The rest of you left her to it and walked back to the cockpit. “That was really sweet of you, Wrecker. And she’s right. That’s a pretty perfect set up.” You said smiling at him. “Hey, how come I never got anything like that?” You asked, nudging Hunter playfully.

“Are you unhappy with your current arrangement?” Hunter lightly teased back whilst also hoping the answer would be no.

You pretended to ponder before answering. “Hmm I guess I can manage.” You replied light-heartedly, giving him a warm smile.

Wrecker, Tech, and Echo just looked at one other, the look saying the same thing- when will they just wake up and admit what they feel for one another? If it’s so clear to us, why is it not to them?

Next Chapter>

#the bad batch #hunter x reader #hunter x fem!reader #hunter x female!reader #sergeant hunter x reader #sergeant hunter #hunter tbb #hunter the bad batch #the bad batch hunter x you #hunter x you #hunter x y/n #tbb hunter x reader #the bad batch fanfiction #fluff #angst #star wars #friends to lovers

[beetleviolet]

ROTTMNT NEWSIES AU - Characters and plot

Characters:

Leo - Jack Kelly

Raph - Crutchie

Casey - Davey

Mikey - Les (kind of?)

Donnie - Spot Collins

April - Katherine Pullizer

Big Mama - Snyder (the spider)

Ms. Medda - Senor Hueso

Krang Prime - Joe Pullizer

Warning: the following explanations are wildly out of order with large variations of detail

Leo is the obvious choice for Jack Kelly, both being angsty tenor protagonists and all, but I also think about it in the way they both so clearly want something. For Jack its Sante Fe, a place he's romanticized into this perfect world away from all of his hardships. Leo in the ROTTMNT movie is desperately hanging onto the past. Before he became leader, before the Shredder, maybe even before they became heros. He wants everything to go back to the way it was, where they could just go in, smash, get out and then grab pizza on the way home. But as things got more serious, this became unrealistic.

Raph serves as the role for Crutchie, more specifically he is taken to the refuge after they try and stop the wagons. This scene is what inspired everything. Maybe someone fucks up his eye with a police baton or something. This is what leads Leo to sing Sante Fe and then give up in the second act.

As for the earlier characters, Casey Junior is Davie. He just moved to NYC from another town where the job he had (tbd) had a union (cough rebellion cough) so he knows a lot about how to rally a group, just lacks the confidence. Originally I was going to have Donnie play this role... but I wanted to include CJJ somehow and I thought Don would be a perfect Spot Collins lmao, he definitely can be scary enough. Also I feel like Casey and Leo's talk in the collapsed subway station can parallel Jack and Davie in Medda's theater in the second act.

April O'Neil is a no brainer for Katherine, except I'm dropping the romance sub plot because I don't really like writing romance and even beyond the turtle human situation I just don't think that April and Leo would like eachother like that, you know? Also I feel like Katherine and April have some of the same spunk. They are also both witty so writing an April and Leo argument in this context would be so fun.

April is following the story and grows fond of the newsies and the Hamatos. Her pen name is April O'Neil, and I'm debating whether or not I keep Pullizer as her dad because Pullizer is Krang Prime and that makes absolutely no sense.

Mikey is still brothers with Leo and Raph, but he serves as Les for the cute little brother laughs and he convinces them to help out Casey, saying he won't help sell papers unless Leo takes Casey under his wing.

The newsies work for the Krang's newspaper business, but uhhh i have no ideas for clever names similar to The New York World but alien style. The New York Dimension???

Big Mama is Snyder because, you know, Snyder the spider. Her "refuge" hosts an underground child fighting ring. It sucks. Leo has escaped there in the past when he outsmarted her, and she hates him for it and is constantly after him. Leo takes refuge (hehe) in Señor Hueso's resturaunt, which he makes up for by waiting tables. April is there rating food and service, and Hueso warns Leo not to give her a bad impression. This is when they first meet. Hueso's is also where the Newsies gather in I'm The King of New York and other scenes. The glasses of water scene would be hilarious.

So uhhh yeah. In conclusion hyperfixation + other hyperfixation = WOAHHH THATS SO FIRE.

#rottmnt #tmnt newsies au #rottmnt newsies au #tmnt #save rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt leonardo #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt donnie #newsies #newsies the musical #au #teenage mutant newsie turtles

[goodwriterwithbadhabits]

Seventeen As Hotel Jobs

Hello, I'm back after a ridiculously long time.

The following are jobs I think Seventeen would have if they worked at a hotel. Keep in mind that I literally work in a hotel, so I promise I know what I'm talking about. Additionally, there are no specific brands in mind, but I do use a few terms associated with Marriotts. (Cause that's who I work for.)

Anyway, enjoy! (Oh, here's the Master List)

~~

Back Office/ Breakfast

Seungcheol: GM/ Owner

Comes from a very well off family, but had always been encouraged to work. 

Found this hotel that was run down and in desperate need of repairs and bought it as a project

Now he’s got a Masters in Business Administration, and in Hospitality. 

The hotel is his baby, and he’s poured thousands of his own dollars into turning it into a place people want to stay. 

As GM, he spends a lot of time in his office working on the administration side of things,

Like payroll, budgets, and renovation projects

He’s constantly thinking of ways to improve the hotel so they’re are always contractors in and out of the building

He always makes a point to come help the front desk if a guest is being testy. 

Most people don’t even realize he’s the owner until they threaten to call the owner on him

He likes watching their faces fall when he hands them a business card. 

He takes any slight against the hotel or staff as a slight against himself

He also doesn’t accept any guest that insults or is rude to his staff, and isn’t afraid to kick rude people out. 

He understands that people have bad days, and that sometimes things break, but he won’t just stand there and let his staff be punching bags. 

~~

Jeonghan: AGM

Most of the staff have no idea how Jeonghan got the position. 

He doesn’t seem like he’s ever worked in Housekeeping, or the Front Desk

There were rumors that he’d just slept his way to the top

Truth is, Jeonghan has always worked there. 

It was his first job back in highschool, as a parttime housekeeper on the weekends. 

When everything was going to shit, he refused to leave

Instead just stepped in where needed. 

Hes worked front desk, sales, housekeeping, even engineering

He knows the hotel inside and out and can do just about everything.

It was actually his dedication to the hotel that made Seungcheol want to buy it

He’s currently on his last year of a Masters in Hospitality

Mind you, he loves the fact that he doesn’t have to do much manual labor

As AGM he mostly does the supply ordering, hiring, scheduling, and assisting with guests when Seungcheol is busy. 

He also tends to be the one to run meetings, as Cheol is surprisingly awful at actually bossing people around. 

Despite his teasing nature, he adores his staff, and hand picked them himself

Will verbally destroy anyone who so much as looks at his staff wrong

~~

Mingyu: Director of Sales

Mingyu hadn’t really anticipated getting into sales, let alone hotel sales. 

But here he is. 

Coming from money means that his parents expected him to study business

He picked Sales and Marketing cause he thought it would be an easy A

Then he fell in love with it, and was crazy good. 

He loves making people happy, and selling them part of their vacation is awesome to him

He loves seeing clients with looks of wonder in their eyes or big smiles as they leave. 

Every time someone posts a good review or emails him to thank him, he prints it out and puts it on his office wall. 

He came to Scoups hotel after getting sick of sports teams at his old hotel. 

They were super mean, and he wasn’t getting paid enough to sell a sub par hotel to a bunch of dickweeds. 

Now he gets to chat with super chill people, and he loves the hotel. 

The hotel really sells itself, but he’s in charge of daily rates, groups, anyone renting the meeting rooms, or people just looking to do a walk through.

He could probably sell a fox its own fur, but trips over his own shoes

The rest of the staff tease him relentlessly, but also loves that he’ll cook for any staff meeting or party. 

~~

Chan: Breakfast Attendant

Honestly, Chan needed a job, and he was going to off himself if he had to stay at the restaurant he was at. 

He’d bumped into Cheol, Jeonghan, and Mingyu while the three were out to lunch and discussing their recently departed breakfast attendant. 

He’d given them great service, despite the manager that was constantly belittling him

And let slip that he was interested in leaving his current server job. 

So Jeonghan had left him a business card, along with a hefty tip.

Chan’s taken it upon himself to upgrade the hell out of the breakfast menu

He’s the reason they offer Kosher, and Vegan options.

He’s currently researching other religious diets, so he can make sure everyone can eat. 

Usually he only works 5a to about 10 or 11a, depending on the day

But once a week, the day they get their truck, he stays later and deep cleans the kitchen

Don’t even think about going in there without his permission

He’s known for delivering scathing threats with a sweetest of smiles

Speaking of sweet smiles

He’s great with guests, often letting the desk know if a certain guest had a problem with their stay

He’s even managed to get Jeonghan and Cheol to do table touch service on busier mornings so they can interact with guests more. 

On slow mornings, he’ll dance along with the music playing on the speakers, mostly to entertain small children

He always has a smile on his face and a few moments to chat with guests, even on busy mornings

The hotels reviews went up significantly when he was brought on board. 

Desk Staff: 

Seokmin: 1st shift, Market Champion

The Hotel’s happy virus. 

Which is important to have at 7 in the morning

Seokmin makes it his mission to get every guest to smile before they leave

He’s always liked customer service jobs but usually people are mean and managers just expect him to take the abuse with a smile

But he’s taken to the hotel like a fish to water. 

His work computer always has tabs open with the weather, local events, traffic conditions, and an extra for whatever someone might ask him for

He doesn’t drink coffee at work, but almost always remains super upbeat and energetic

Some of the other staff members think he does drugs

But he’s just a morning person (freak)

Always, and I mean always, has a smile on his face

Even if guests are being literal demons.

Keeps a treasure box of small toys for little kids at the desk

Always singing along to the lobby music when he’s not helping a guest. 

As Market champion he’s in charge of making sure the Market is stocked and orderly. 

Does all the Market ordering, and has a really good rapport with the delivery drivers and sales people

Love the moments when the lobby is quiet and he can just focus on stocking the market and organizing the storage room

Everyone else loves those moments cause he’s singing along to the lobby music

~~

Joshua: Second Shift, Desk Supervisor

Josh prefers working in the afternoon

You couldn’t pay him to wake up before 10a most days

He’s been in hotels since he graduated highschool

He’d even worked at the hotel briefly back when it was awful

Jeonghan had recommended bringing him back when Cheol was replacing the staff

Shua initially just wanted to check and see how everything was going

Was super impressed with Cheol’s work and decided to stay

He’s been at the hotel the longest besides Cheol and Jeonghan

As supervisor, he trains all the new desk staff, and covers for them if they call in 

His temper is pretty short, so he won’t let guests just yell at him for no reason

He’s also a stickler for the rules so expect him to be kicking people out of the pool at exactly 10pm

He does really enjoy his job

He gets to meet new people every day and hear their cool travel stories. 

And the staff are all friendly, especially to one another

Plus he’s getting paid really well with some really good perks. 

~~

Jun: Night Audit

In all honesty, he got the job cause he was desperate and wanted something with minimal responsibilities. 

He’s basically getting paid to watch dramas and occasionally help fold some towels

Yeah, he also had to check in late night guests and handle any complaints that arise

It’s also his responsibility to make sure no one who isn’t supposed to be on the property is there. 

But for the most part, its quiet

So he spends all night catching up on Dramas, reading, or playing games

He’s got a total of about 30 minutes worth of actual work to do, since the Audit process is mostly automated

He does live on coffee and energy drinks

Solely because he’s determined to stay awake all night

No one knows anything about him cause he’s rarely ever seen during the day

Most people just assume he’s a vampire or something

He does snag breakfast every morning before he leaves though

Engineering Team:

Jihoon: Chief Engineer

Despite his stature and his age, Jihoon is a veritable genius in terms of Hotel Engineering

He can fix just about everything in the building, from PTACs to door locks, toilets to tiles

His dad was the engineer at another hotel so he got dragged around them alot

Mostly just bounced between local hotels after highschool

Jeonghan hired him after schmoozing with a few other GMs he had worked for and found out how good he was

Now Seungcheol is helping pay for him to get a degree in electrical engineering

Incredibly kind and helpful to any guest he may run into

But prefers to leave the guest interaction to the rest of staff 

He just doesn’t have the personality not the patience for stupidity

He isn’t afraid to climb up the 20 foot ladder to fix lights on the lobby ceiling

He is however, terrified of walking into a guest room and finding a guest. 

Will check 20 times with the desk to make sure the room is empty

He’s walked into too many rooms with naked people

If you can’t find him, check the roof

He has an ongoing feud with the solar panels 

~~

Wonwoo: Information Technologies

Computer whiz Wonu has arrived

If its on a computer, he can fix it

Most of the staff are convinced Jeonghan recruited him out of federal prison

He doesn’t care enough to correct them

Also its kind of embarrassing to admit that he had no friends and taught himself everything there is to know about computers because he had too much time to do so

He was just a child prodigy and graduated college super young

Jeonghan literally got him off of Indeed

Is never seen without a coffee or energy drink

He used to drink so many that Cheol and Woozi had to limit him to two drinks, and a max of 8 shots of espresso a day.

Tends not to interact with guests

Partly because he always looks ready to kill a man and Cheol doesn’t want to hear people complain about that

Partly because he’s super shy 

He’s another person the rest of the staff know nothing about cause they never see him outside of work

Seungkwan swears he saw him at an internet cafe once

But Wonu refuses to acknowledge that

~~

Vernon: Second Shift Engineer

As a college student, Nonnie can’t work a regular 9 to 5. 

So he works 9p to 5a instead

Jeonghan hired him at Cheol’s request

He wanted someone on property during the late nights, when problems tend to arise. 

Usually all he has to do is fix PTACs, the occasional door lock, and help people get connected to the internet. 

Mostly just hangs out with Jun or in the Engineering office watching sitcoms

Cheol hates it, but Vernon’s unofficial uniform involves a tie dye hoodie and a pair of headphones

He also usually has a coffee, but that's more because he’s an eternally tired college student

His degree is actually in Mechanical Engineering,

Which tends to shock everyone when they remember

Cause he’s a bit of a space case. 

Housekeeping: 

Soonyoung: Housekeeping Manager

If we are being honest, He’s only the manager cause he’s been here the longest

He mostly just handles the housekeepers boards, inventory control and day end inspections

He’s also incredible at removing stains from carpets and couches

He’s worked as a housekeeper for about a year straight out of highschool, but let for greener pastures

He’s been in housekeeping for years, and even worked as an Ops manager at one point

Jeonghan tracked him down at the hotel he was at and convinced him to join the crew as manager. 

When he gets serious, he’s a force to be reckoned with

But usually he’s a full on goofball

Cheol keeps having to shoot down his idea of tiger themed rooms.

He’s another person who always has a big smile

Probably because he just tunes out the people yelling at him 

~~

Minghao: Housekeeping Supervisor

The man who really runs the housekeeping department

He keeps everyone in line, maintains the storage closets, lets Jeonghan know what they need to order, and trains new housekeepers

He was working at a totally different hotel when he met Jeonghan

Jeonghan was supposed to be on vacation, and staying at Minghao’s hotel. 

The two happened to meet in the hall after Jeonghan overheard Minghao’s supervisor yelling at him for no reason

He offered Minghao a position then and there, which Minghao accepted. 

Hao literally packed up everything and moved to their town. 

Lived in the hotel for a while and everything

He didn’t want to be manager, specifically because he doesn’t want to have to attend the management meetings every week. 

He can clean a room spotless in 30 minutes, and is very proud of this fact. 

Don’t call his Housekeepers “maids” or “Cleaners”

He will not hesitate to correct at a guest about it

The amount of times Hoshi has had to physically restrain him in the laundry room so that he didn’t attack a guest is innumerable. 

~~

Seungkwan: Second Shift Housekeeper

Seungkwan only works this shift because he’s still in school, and because Cheol thought it made sense to have someone on property around check in time. 

He’d gone to the colleges job board and found Jeonghan’s flier

He figured they wouldn’t be able to work around his class schedule

Jeonghan, however, thought he was adorable and decided he needed him on the staff

Cheol agreed that a second shift of housekeeping made sense, 

Partly because Jeonghan wasn’t really giving him a choice

Thus, Seungkwan was hired 4pm to midnight 

He only sometimes has to clean rooms, 

Mostly he just runs people things like towels or fresh sheets

And keeps the common areas clean. 

If you can’t see him, you can almost always hear him,

His voice is always ringing through the halls to the point where Mingyu has debated advertising it. 

On the chance that Housekeeping does have to stay later, he basically spends the whole time taking shit with Minghao until he leaves for the day.

He always brings extra food for Vernon and Jun, cause he knows they don’t feed themselves properly. 

Were it not for him, those two would live on granola bars and take out. 

Thoughts? Let me know in the comments. If you're interested in requesting something, whether for this universe or another, feel free to send me an ask. My inbox is always open.

#goodwriterwithbadhabits #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagine #seventeen imagines #seventeen headcanons #svt imagines #svt imagine #svt headcanons #svt scenarios

[the-fiction-witch]

The Babysitter

The Media Nanny Mcphee

Character Simon Brown (Age up)

Couple Simon X Reader

Rating SMUT AF AF

Warning: Semi non-consent / aged up smut /

I rolled my eyes and sighed, as I stood at the top of the stairs my father was going out with Evangeline for the evening meaning we needed a babysitter. I utterly protested the idea but he was insistent, After all this time he still doesn't trust me! Then again I suppose my childhood of chasing away nannies this is my pay for it, nineteen and still having a bloody babysitter. Then again there are a lot of kids in this house and I'll just wanna stay in the bedroom so... maybe it's not all that bad an Idea, even if I'm not happy about it. 

My father and Evangeline came out from wishing everyone goodbye in the playroom and were faced with me, 

"Simon stop pouting," he said, 

"I'm not pouting."

The door knocked and he rolled his eyes, "Be nice." He said going to answer it, 

I stuck my tongue out but I admit... I was taken aback by what stepped through the door. Most of our babysitters had been older women from town but...

She was young with a bun of sweet hair and a long blue dress she... she's beautiful. But I stiffened myself.

They gave her some basic info and they headed off shutting the door leaving her and I alone. 

"Good Afternoon Master Brown." She cooed, 

"Uhhh After- Afternoon." I nodded, "And you are?"

"Y/n. The Babysitter."

"Ahh." I glared, 

"I hope you don't mind you seem a little old for a babysitter?" She giggled, 

"Yeah, I'm nineteen."

"Aww a year younger then me," she giggled, "seems a little odd."

"I have uhhh I have a lot of siblings,"

"Ohh I see, I take it you're the big eldest boy."

"I am the oldest. yeah." I snapped not exactly thrilled she was talking to me like I was a child. 

"Very well I'll stay out of your way then Master Brown" she curtsied before heading into the house, 

I rolled my eyes and followed her at a distance making sure to keep an eye on her as she looked after my siblings even if I admit looking at her in that cute little blue dress was making me a little crazy, especially if she bent over revealing her black boots and stockings below, she was now in the kitchen preparing dinner I did feel kinda selfish not helping her but still I couldn't help but watch.

I noticed my little half-sister, one of Evangeline's daughters scamper in, little Lisa came in and looked at the dinner being prepared before grabbing the skirt of 

"aww hello there, how can I help you? yes it's a lovely dress isn't it, you're welcome to feel if you'd like,"

And of course, Lisa was happy to do so playing with Y/n's dress excitedly and giggling away, Y/n didn't bother to pay her that much attention and it was... such a strangely arousing thing to watch as Lisa in her innocence was fluttering and flapping y/n's dress trying to flip it and getting frustrated that she couldn't make it do the things she wanted it to do, it was completely innocent just a young girl playing with a woman's skirt nothing sexual of course given Lisa is four and has no idea what she's doing and y/n doens't know I can... uhhh see... what's happening and the mere flashes of her stockings was enough to send me up the wall. But the play had become tugging and pulling and flicking and flapping, trying to see what was under the skirt in her sweet innocent curiosity oblivious to her antics and the effect they had on me, I watched for a creepy amount of time as one flick made the fabric flick up and for a moment reveal the top of her stockings around her thighs and a flash however brief of white cotton panties... 

I gulped as I tried to savour such a view for a mere second before the dress fluttered back down. 

"Go on go get your brothers and sisters," Y/n told Lisa as she finished making dinner, Lisa nodded and scampered away happily to tell everyone and it was then I was caught looking. "Can I help you master brown?" 

I jumped at the thought she may have known I was there but given her glance, she only just saw me, I sighed in relief to think she didn't know I saw everything, "I was just... I was just, err, checking to see that you were alright - you're a pretty woman you must get all the attention, I hope my siblings aren't annoying you?"

"of course not there all lovely" she Smiled "Dinner, is ready if you'd like to join us? if you're not too big and grumpy up in the bedroom?"  

"No I uhh I'm happy to," I nodded, even if I was a little annoyed at her once again talking to me like I was a child,

I took my seat as everyone headed in and began to eat, the food was nice and she did keep everyone settled fairly well and once again after dinner, everyone scurried off outside to play. 

"I guess you're pretty good at this babysitting thing, I thought you'd have given up by now."

"why your all such Angels" she Smiled picking up Lisa and helping her down from her chair to run off too, 

As she bends over to set Lisa on the floor I can't help but look and think of what I saw, I wanted so so badly to see them again. 

"yes?" She asked "Something the matter Simon? You're as red as a strawberry?"

"No, no, no nothing really I was just... I... I'm okay. Just... I-I was just watching you... you're a great babysitter is all, and you're so patient."

"Well thank you very much," she cooed, before she headed out to the garden to keep an eye on them, I followed her of course and stood with her a moment, "aren't you going to play Simon?" She asked and for a moment I glared as, "Sorry," she giggled, 

"no, I'd rather watch you. You're such a good babysitter you know, it's fascinating."

"Thank you," She smiled "But you're never too big to play you know" She smiled, "It's fine your just coming to the end of your I need to be cool phase?"

"I guess..."

"I went through a too-cool phase too"

"It's a weird time, especially with so many kids around I wanna be an adult but... also feel like, I'm not too cool, you know, I'm still young - I'm still a kid. It's just, we have our own thing going on back there and I... I was fine just watching you."

"Alright," she smiled,

For a moment there was this... quiet between us a gentle acceptance I suppose, but she soon broke it.

 "I know you were looking"

I blushed like crazy, embarrassed, humiliated but I had to speak, "Oh-oh, uhm, yeah... I-I couldn't help it. You're an attractive woman and I couldn't help but notice. Sorry."

"you're not in trouble." she giggled, "It's fine Simon, Perfectly natural for boys your age Girls are a big thing for you,"

"I guess... kinda hard to meet any given I'm struck here all the time with them," I said I had to admit it, it was true I rarely see girls my own age or anywhere near it, I rarely see anyone but my great aunt and my siblings, and she is so beautiful, so cute and sweet, 

“you share a room I notice with your siblings?"

I nod my head, still feeling overwhelmed and blush a little bit but I don't want to make it awkward, so I just keep my head lowered. "Y-Yeah, we all sleep in the same room."

"awww poor thing" she cooed "Why not ask your father for your own space? he surely can't expect you to be happy bunking in the same room as your baby sister at your age"

"Yeah, yeah I'd like my own space,"

"I'm sure of it, and I have to admit that attic with that nice round window does look nice and spacious, it might be a little dusty and need some TLC but a good space for the eldest brother to make his own" she smiled "plenty of space and privacy too... Grow up"

"It would be like my own private sanctuary, you know, my own corner of the world. I think I'd love it." I smiled, "I've always been really mature for my age. but I would give anything for my own space to... grow up." 

"Simon?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me, no matter the... Raging hormones and rebellious madness, don't forget to still be a kid, you might be mature for your age I was too but trust me one day soon... you'll suddenly realise all you ever really wanted want to be a kid." she explained and even if she had only lived one more year then me I felt the weight in her words more so then any other person, I felt like I truly believed her for once, "but you can always have fun as an adult it's not the be all and end all, you can be childish any age and mature any age, what matters is experiences and having fun"

"Thank you, I will" I nodded, unable to stop looking at her,

"I take it girls are a big focus for you right now or am I just lucky?"

"um... yes... I mean, yeah, girls have been catching my attention lately. and uhhh you are also lucky I uhh don't get to see many girls- Women sorry."

"It's alright, I went boy crazy when I was a little younger than you," 

Just the thought of her being boy-crazy gives me butterflies in my stomach, "Yeah I guess getting to the end of the cool phase far more into the girl crazy, I guess maybe I'll level out when I'm a bit older."

"Perhaps you can peak up ladies' skirts" she laughed "when you're older"

"Ughhhhhh...."

"something wrong?"

"Um, no, nothing's wrong. I'm just... thinking, that's all."

"I'm just thinking about... uh..."

"your thinking about my skirt aren't you?"

"Okay, yes I am. Do you... do you mind?"

"not at all."

I froze up at the idea she didn't mind me thinking of her skirt! Ohh god I wanna do so so much more then think about her skirt 

"Simon?"

"I uhhhhh i ughhh I umnmmmmm yes y/n?"

"It's fine, you can look we're both adults here."She giggled and plaid with her own dress skirt a little

I'm not sure why the way she's playing with her is so distracting and hot... but it is. I can't seem to look away from the way the skirt is rising. The more she plays with it, the more I can't see myself looking away. her hips and legs are too distracting. I blushed so intensely because despite telling myself to look away, I just can't. I should look away, but I'm enjoying the view way too much. The more I stare, the hotter and more intense it is for me. her legs are so incredible, she is simply out of this world. I can't believe she's letting me keep peeking! she knows I'm standing here, she knows I'm looking! but... it almost feels like she wants me to look... 

Maybe I should play with her skirt. I can't possibly miss this chance, it might not ever come by again. I guess it wouldn't hurt to just.. play with her skirt. It would be fun and a little cheeky right...? Without really thinking too much, I slowly moved my hand onto her dress's skirt and moved myself to stand behind her she had yet to protest or even turn to look at me so I quickly slipped my hand up underneath her skirt. I can't even think straight right now but I'm enjoying this way too much. the soft skin of her thighs, her sweet stockings, her slinky dress, her warm skin, her lavender perfume, I can tell that this is wrong and I probably shouldn't be doing this... But I can't think too much when I'm so hot and distracted by her body. Playing with her skirt is so naughty, and I love being naughty... I'm gonna play with it.

I slide my hand up a little bit further, not all the way up but far enough that my hand is just below the top of her thigh feeling the soft warm skin. I'm really getting close now, a little bit closer and my hand could accidentally slide higher with a few more inches. I wonder how far I can really take this before she tells me to stop... I'm at the point where if I move my hand a tad higher, then my fingers will be resting on the hem of her panties. This is probably a little too naughty, maybe I should stop. But I'm enjoying this a little too much. she seem to be letting me do this as well, so I guess I can't get in trouble for it... can I?

The thought of moving my fingers a little bit higher has me tempted. It would be extremely naughty, and I'll definitely be taking a huge risk... But the thought of doing it is so alluring and tempting at the same time. I need to make a quick decision, because if I hesitate too long, then my hand will move on its own... And I don't want that to happen. I should just do it

I slipped my hand up to meet the soft white cotton of her cute little panties they were so smooth and soft I fondled her ass through them with my hand for a few seconds already feeling like I'm drooling all over her shoulder just at getting to touch her! I don't know how much more she'll let me do but I am not stopping! I don't think magic or madness could stop me now!

I kept fondling and groping her ass for a good while but I knew what I wanted I decided to move my hand to a naughty spot. I moved my hand down between her legs and stroked her sweet pussy through her panties I found her clit and began to stroke it softly The way I'm moving it is not so much a playful touch anymore, but a very naughty touch. It's making my heart beat so fast, but it's such a thrill to do it. I can't believe I'm doing this to her, but I'm getting such a rush from this.

The moment my fingers grazed her, "uhh! Simon!" She squealed slightly but not enough to alert anyone,

Hearing her squeal slightly takes me by surprise, but the sound of her moaning and squealing in enjoyment is so hot. I'm already blushing so intensely, and with that sound, in my ears, the rush is getting even stronger now. She has no idea the things I want to do with her right now but these things flooded my mind, of ripping her panties and fingering her like a creature possessed, of bending her over and having my way with her, of throwing her over my shoulder taking her up to my bed in the bedroom and... ohh god the things I'd do to her, but I didn't want to waste a moment of this, I don't want to stop and I want to keep going, especially after that little squeal she made. I don't know what's getting into me, but touching her like this is making me feel really hot my erection had fully jumped to attention in my pants and was throbbing at the sound of her gasps, 

"uhh Simon..." She moaned "this isn't an appropriate way to touch your babysitter -"

"Ummmm I know, I know, I know," I told her kissing her cheek, "Tell me to stop. Please... Please... Tell me to stop before I do something bad..."

"Are you going to if I don't tell you to stop?"

"I think so... make me stop, beg me to stop, tell me to stop, I... I want to do this.... so so fucking bad." 

she only moaned again her moan is absolutely enchanting, so much so that I start to feel incredibly hot and passionate. I can't believe she's letting me continue doing this, but I'm enjoying it so much. I really am. The thrill and rush is making me feel so naughty and excited. The more her moan keeps filling my ears, the more I enjoy playing with her.

I think I'm going to continue this, and maybe even go further.

My fingers keep touching her very sensitive spot her sweet little clit. I'm blushing and giggling softly as she continues moaning. The rush of this is incredible, I've never felt this good before. And the sounds of her getting more and more aroused and excited is like music to my ears, it makes all my senses more vibrant.

My fingers caress her clit gently, making it more and more enjoyable. I'm playing with her and teasing her like this. I'm enjoying it so much. I'm enjoying it a little too much, actually. My own heart is pounding so fast and my cock throbbing in my pants, I can hardly focus. The way her body moves and reacts to my touch is just too hot. It's impossible to stop at this point, I just can't resist anymore...

"uhhhh! Simon, I'll-"

her moaning fills my ears and makes me so excited. I feel so tempted to touch her more, the feel of your body and how it moves and reacts to my touch is just too much. The sounds of her moaning my name only make me more curious to touch her  like this, she isn't stopping me so I'm gonna keep going, 

At this point, my fingers began rubbing on her clit hard and mercilessly through her cotton panties, The touch against her body is making her moan even more now, and the way her body reacts to me playing with her in such a naughty way is just too much. she seems to be enjoying this a little too much, which only makes this even more appealing. I'm going to keep playing unless she really stops me, and even then I'm not sure I'd be able too 

"Simon- Simon- ughh!"

The sound of her getting closer and making these noises is driving me crazy. I'm blushing so hard, my fingers are rubbing and caressing her so much they were tried but I didn't bear to stop. It's making my blood boil all over my body and all I see now is her in front of me, I'm enjoying this so much. her body looks so beautiful and I can't really think about anything else right now. she is making me so hot and I can't make myself stop this.

She suddenly clamped a hand on her skirt and on his hand holding my hand tightly the other on her mouth as she concealed her squeal, immediately her body tensed up and the wetness that had been gathering in her panties as I touched her began running like a river down her legs 

"Simon!" She protested

My heart stopped when she grabbed my hand. her tight grasp on my hand and watching it all running down her legs made my mind shut down completely. I could barely think straight anymore and I was completely at a loss for words. I thought I was gonna faint! Or cum! Or both i don't even know what I was gonna do! 

I just had to get a grip on myself!

Or don't get a grip on myself if I don't wanna make a mess all over her dress... but ... also... i kinda wanna... 

The feeling of the wetness running down her legs was unexpected but something about it also aroused me immensely. It was hot, really hot. The grip she had on my hand was so tight but it's like I didn't want to move my hand either. I know what she did... what I... made her do, but I just want to have a bit more time playing with her. She make me feel so seductive, so intoxicated.

 she's like a forbidden fruit, and I just want to have a lil' more taste.

the way her body reacted to me touching her makes me acknowledge that I definitely am not the only one enjoying this... The wettness running down your legs is making me feel hot and giddy at the thought I had her do such a thing. I wanna do more than just touch, I wanna explore... I wanna slide my hand down there and explore her entire body.

My hand is still firmly clamped down by her, and I have to figure out my next move. I don't think I can go any further than this. Unless she'll let me. I feel like she may be open to playing a little more. she seemed so spirited earlier, and her body is still trembling showing she enjoyed my touch and I bet she wants more...

I bet she's clamping my hand to her pretty pussy to make sure not to let me move my hand. 

Maybe this is her way of stopping me moving away? Or maybe you just want more time to let the adrenaline settle? 

she still trembling from her orgasm and I'm still trembling from the rush, and I still feel like playing a little bit more. It's such a hot moment, one that I don't want to take for granted. I must not let this moment pass and I need to keep exploring her body...

after a minute or two She let go of my hand moving her own back from her mouth gasping hard,

Immediately My fingers go back to caressing that sensitive little clit again,

She gasped was loud, and I hope nobody can hear this. My cheeks are still blazing red, and I'm breathing pretty heavily myself. her body feels so hot and shs shaking so much, but I must not stop playing with her just yet...

"no! No! No! Simon!" She gasped almost squealing,

her voice and the way she breathed that last one sounded a lot like a moan, and the more this moment persists the hotter it keeps getting. 

she says no but you're not stopping me that easily babydoll? Do you really mean no or are you teasing me now..? 

My fingers are still caressing her lit, I'm enjoying this too much to stop...

her breath gets faster and I can hear her getting more and more aroused. her body keeps trembling and I can hear her making little noises to keep it all inside. I'm enjoying this way too much, I really am... Even if we're going to get caught, it would be completely worth it. I'm going to keep caressing that body of hers, I could keep playing with her like this all day if she really let me...

"Simon stop!" She begged,

"Mmm... Why? You're not stopping me now are you?" Your voice is barely a whisper now and she's begging. "Ummm! I told you to stop me before I did something naughty babydoll" I growled in her ear, "You should have stopped me when you had the chance.."

Your words sound so hot, so provocative. And the more you beg the hotter and more passionate this whole moment makes me feel. I'm not gonna stop, not yet at least. Not unless I'm forced too...

"ohh... ughhhh! Simon... you... You have no clue what you've done do you?" She gasped,

"Humm babydoll? What have I done?" I growled, "We both know what I made you do babydoll... and I'm gonna keep playing with my little doll until I'm finished with her," 

"Simon please your father could-"

"He could come home your right, he could see us." I smirked, "Or any of them, humm what would my father say his trusted babysitter was found with my hand up her skirt, dripping her squirt down her legs having just orgasmed while she was meant to be taking care of the children?" 

"Simon stop please- I" she begged, 

 her words are so hot and so arousing, it's hard to think straight.

How can I think about anything else when it feels like her body is burning hot with arousal? I can't believe the way this has escalated, but oh god I don't regret a minute of it. her body is still trembling and her voice keeps getting more and more flustered. I can't stop, I refuse to stop playing with her.

"no! Simon, you have to stop please!" She begged

"Mmmm... Don't worry, I will stop. when I'm done." I growled, "Ummm just let me touch you babydoll,"

"Suimon please..." she begged,

her begging just makes it more tempting, and honestly, I don't really care that we're on the verge of being caught.... It kinda makes it even hotter that way.

I'll keep playing with her as long as I could, until she can't take it anymore. I'm in complete control of her body and she is in complete control of me. The thrill is amazing. all I want is her, all she needs is me, I want to throw her on the grass and fucking take her! I grab her panties and push them aside slipping my fingers inside her as I rubbed her overstimulated clit, 

"no! No more!" She whines

"Just for a little bit? I promise you'll love it, it'll be good for both of us..."

"No please" she whined,

"come on babydoll, come on, little more for me," I groaned fingering her so hard her wetness was flooding down my hand her whole body shaking and squealing as quietly as she could her only suppose to even stand is me and I'm the one torturing her giving her no escape from this feeling inside her, and she hit her second orgasm screaming below her hand as she clamped it back over her mouth her body almost falling against me as wetness flooded out of her and her whole body tensed and suddenly related, "Ummmm you feel so good when you do that," I muttered slowly down to let her ride it out and as soon as she could breathe again I smirked and began to finger her again moving them as hard as what got her to her orgasm but she forced my hand away and turned to me holding her hand between her thighs as she struggled to even stand,

"no!" She demanded, "No more."

"Just one more for me babydoll."

"I said no." She snapped grabbing my hand and tugging me inside with her, 

The moment they where in the kitchen she whispered but with her face red and her hands clamped between her legs "oh my god - oh my god- oh my god- Simon!"

"ummmm I know, it was so so good-"

"It was not!"

"wasn't it? we both can see what you did y/n."

she's completely red in the face and she still has her hands clamped between her legs. she's 

Ummm just watching her like this in the aftermath of two orgasms it's so hot and arousing, she's almost moaning as she tries to speak 

her body is moving and trembling so much and it's making it so much more difficult to keep my head straight I just wanna get my hands back up that dresses skirt,  she still biting back her moans which just makes it so much more arousing. My entire body is shaking as well now, the heat from this little moment is getting my body hotter and hotter.

"Simon we- We-"

"I know what we did babydoll... now... uummmm let me back at you-" I groaned trying to grab her but she pushed me back, 

she kept saying she wanted me to stop playing but her body looked so desperate, so needy like she needs me so badly to keep going. all her begs are doing is making me want to play more and more with her I try again to get at her but 

"Simon I said stop!" She demanded forcing his hands away

My mind is almost shutting down from this but I don't want to let go just yet.

my body is craving for more play, even if you want me to stop. I'm not going to let anyone or anything get in my way of playing with you babydoll

"Don't stop... I said do NOT stop!" I demanded, "Please just let me play more. Your body wants it too right? You know it does... Your body is dying for it. It makes it so much easier if you don't keep fighting me..." I growled kissing all over her face trying to tug her dress up as I pinned her waist to the table, 

My hands run up to the hem of her dress and I can't help myself, I lift it up completely exposing her thigh her stockings and her little soaked white panties still put to the side to make room for my fingers, she turns bright red humiliated and embarrassed at having herself exposed like this, I don't even hesitate I grabbed her waist with one hand and set my other to thrust two fingers inside her and rub her clit as hard as I can, The sensation of my hand coming into contact with her skin is intoxicating. 

"Simon! No!" She ordered, "Simon!" She screamed, "stop it! Now! Immediately you stop this right now! Or I'll tell your father!" She begged, "ahhhhh! Simon!"

"One more of your orders and you think I'll stop?"

I'm in total control of this moment right now and I will play with her as long as I can. I can barely breathe right now and I feel like I'm going to pass out from such excitement, her orders don't stop me one little bit, I'm not going to stop until I feel like stopping. Even if that means me keeping my hands on her skirt, I'll find a way to play with her. 

I know You can't resist me, and you can't stop me either babydoll, 

"If you wanted me to stop you should have stopped me when you had the chance. Now my little doll let me play with you until I'm tried of you." I demanded, 

"uhh Simon" she muttered

her response only drives me even wilder, at the moan of her giving in, her submitting, I admit.... The thrill and excitement of what I'm doing gets me so agitated that I want more and more. The idea I've already made my babysitter cum twice and I'm gonna force another out of her was more then anything I could imagine, 

"uhhh Simon!" She moans

her moans It makes it so much more intoxicating for me. "Ughhhhh fuck! Babydoll.." I muttered kissing her neck, "Uhhh your moans are gonna make me cum my little doll," I smirked rubbing on her thigh the sight was enough to thrill me but I need a little friction to get myself there even if I'm pretty sure I don't need much, 

"uhh Simon please -"

We both seem totally lost in our own little world as our exploration brings us a lot of pleasure. I feel my mind start to drift off as everything seems so euphoric, I know I'm close too and god damn do I just wanna take my pants off and fucking ruin her! 

She begins to shake her hands gripping the table her head thrown back which only made my hips go faster and faster, 

The sight of her now is driving me insane, her body is shaking and she's obviously letting go of everything but the pleasure my hand can give her, The sound of her heavy breathing in my ear makes it feel like my senses are shutting down, all I can feel and hear is her. It was like the whole world was coming together to give her as much pleasure as possible.

 I'm only now admitting just how much power I have over both of our bodies...

"Simon Simon please im-"

Hearing your voice calling my name makes my body suddenly seize a little. "Ummmm I know babydoll, I know, I am too. just... just let me keep going, just let me feel you-"

"ohh Simon! Your gonna make me- ughhh! Simon, please don't stop don't stop please"

When I hear her voice beg me not to stop it sends a sudden shiver throughout my body. 

"I won't stop, I'm never gonna stop my beautiful little doll!"

"Simon... Simon... I-" her voice breaks

 I can tell that she's losing any control she had on her body, it's shaking hard and her voice is breaking. 

"If I continue further then it's possible you might lose yourself completely to me babydoll"

"uhh! Uuuhh!" She froze up her body completely shut down and gave herself to my pleasure completely her arms wrapped around my neck her head thrown back as her squirt ran down her legs and that sight was enough to tip me over sending me to an utter plane of ecstasy and euphoria unlike anything I had ever given myself in the rare moments alone in the bath or if my family had gone out, this was another level and my eyes rolled back as I pushed my body hard against her 

"Ughhhhh! Ughghhhh Y/n!" I moaned as I tried to hold both of us up as we gasped and relaxed from that high, "I uhhh I uhh I'm sorry I uhh I think I went mad there."

"Yeah, you kinda did. it's fine Simon" she smiled giving my lips a little kiss, I happily kissed her back cradling her in my arms and fixing her dress for her, 

"Thank you.. so so much!"

"You're welcome, thank you very much," she giggled,

"You are... without a doubt the best babysitter I have ever had." 

"Aww thank you, Do you think you could recommend me? get me some more work?"

"No way."

"No?"

"No, you're all mine babydoll," I cooeed kissing her sweet soft lips when we pulled back I noticed the uhh state of my pants and her dress, "Ohh uhh we should uhhh"

"Yes, look after them I'll go wash this" she nodded scampering away, 

I happily did so still feeling on a little cloud when she came back I went and changed my underwear and my pants, hiding any evidence of our snuggles and we may have... made out in secret a little after she put everyone else to bed I wanted so much more! I wanted to take her up to the attic, lay her on the floor and... make her mine. 

But soon enough my dad and Evangeline came home so I hid upstairs as she let them know it all went well and she took her pay before she left heading home, I smiled so happily.

"Ohh you're still up Simon?" My dad asks as he comes to the kitchen and sees me,

"Yeah," I shrug this was fairly normal for me still being up so late, and I admit I couldn't help striking as he leant on the table that... y/n and I had... plaid against. 

"so? How was it?"

"Fine, she kept stuff handled." I shrugged,

"So? you think maybe she's okay?" he asked, "no issues with her like your other babysitters?"

"she is... acceptable," I said, trying not to smirk or blush too much,

"So if we wanted to go out again, you're fine with her?"

"I am happy for her to be the babysitter, whenever you guys need to go out." I told him,

"Good, I'm glad we found someone you kids all like." he chuckled,

"yeah, ohh by the way...."

"yes?"

"The attic? Can I have it as my own room?"

"... well... your a big boy now I guess that's alright, we'll get it sorted tomorrow." he said heading off out the kitchen and I couldn't help but smile 

Yes! 

#thomasbrodiesangster #tbs smut #tbs imagines #thomas sangster imagine #tbs imagine #thomas brodie sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster #tbs #thomas sangster #thomas brodie sangster smut #simonbrown #simon

[xxsycamore]

𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐳𝐲, 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝

↬ 🤍 Keith Howell offers a very special gift to the prince and princess of Rhodolite, who share a birthday - himself.

Keith Howell x Original Female Character x Luke Randolph; Luke x OC; Keith x OC; Luke Randolph x Keith Howell • rating: E (MDNI) • tags: Threesome - F/M/M; Birthday Sex; Kink Negotiation; Biting; Marking; Blow Jobs; Resolved Sexual Tension; Doggy Style; Spitroasting; Vaginal Fingering; Vaginal Sex; Dirty Talk; Cunnilingus; Riding; Lap Sex; Creampie; Kissing; Come Eating; Size Difference; Size Kink • wordcount: 2,305 • masterlist

a/n: HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO MY DARLING @queengiuliettafirstlady AND TO HER BOY LUKE! 🎉🎉🎉 My dying laptop got in the way of me posting this one time and I'm sorry about that. Here too, I want to say that I love you so much Julie, keep being the awesome and lovely you ❤

"My prince… where are you taking me? Wouldn't your brothers be upset if we leave the banquet so early in the evening?"

"Don't think about them, Julie…this is our day. Follow me, you'll see soon."

Luke's big hand gently squeezes hers, and in a flash the conflict written across Julie's face morphs into joy that reaches to her sparkling eyes. He's right; today is their shared birthday - even if celebrations are held for them, they've already stayed at the salon plenty: it surely would be enough! The food was great, especially the cake which looked to be more suited at a royal wedding, with its multiple tiers… truly, a day to remember. Though, the day is far from over, and Julie can barely hide her excitement as she runs together with Luke, gathering her formal dress in her glove-clad hands in order not to trip on it.

"We told the servants to leave the presents in our room… I was just informed about the delivery of a big one."

A big one? What could it be? Curiosity peaking in the moment Luke pushes the bedchambers' doors open, Julie's eyes dart through the slit as it widens.

And she gasps.

In her and Luke's shared king-sized bed, there is a… big present.

"H-Happy birthday, Prince Luke, happy birthday, Princess Julie."

Luke finds Julie's free hand, the other busy covering a wide-open mouth as his lover stares at the naked Prince Keith Howell in their bed.

Well, he's not naked, he's practically fully dressed in red ribbon, from neck to toe, wrapped like the present he is.

The gentle caress returns Julie to Earth, and she notices both men looking at her - once Luke successfully steals her attention, he beings explaining.

"We talked about this with Keith, remember? He wrote me a letter where he said he's ready and willing to…join us… It couldn't be a birthday surprise for both of us, but we tried to at least save it for you. Julie, if you don't want to right now…"

"I want it!"

Both the rhodolitian and the jadean princes widen their eyes in surprise at Julie's enthusiasm, but judging by the way she remains with her eyes tightly shut, she might as well be surprised by her own reaction, as well.

Luke's lazy laughter is like a gentle breeze on a scorching hot summer night, and Keith's nervous chuckle feels like rolling on the cool sheets on the other side of the bed. She must be thinking these things because her dress starts to feel a little too much in contrast to Keith's stark nakedness as he nervously slides a knee on the silky bedcovers.

***

"Prince Luke… don't forget that- ah- this is s-supposed to be a birthday gift for both of you…"

"Mmm…" Luke tilts his head a little, adjusting his angle as he looks for another enticing spot on Keith's neck. He settles on the conjunction of his nape and shoulder, and traces the outline of his lips with his wet tongue before kissing the chosen spot. Of course, it's not any innocent kiss; it's an open mouthed one that quickly reshapes into suckling teeth-first into the flesh.

Luke has caught himself spacing off a lot in those tea parties with Keith; not because of what he conversates about being uninteresting, but rather because the stag-crested prince has one too many pretty attributes in his person. One such attribute is his beautiful skin; specked with miniature freckles there and there - much alike Luke's own sweetheart, Princess Julie - and also there's that patch of blankness of one side of the neck, as if to entice hunger. Or at least, that's what Luke has been thinking, on those tea parties, snapping out of it only when the prince bashfully rubs that same spot on his neck, asking if he's boring him. Luke has been shrugging it off with the conclusion he must be craving honey - the hunger is the same, no? Admiring an attractive person is a given sometimes, and he knows for a fact he only ever has eyes for Julie. It's only when she shared out of the blue one day how pretty Prince Keith is, that Luke realized their observations match.

Prince Keith was a good friend of theirs, holding nothing but utter respect and warm feelings since the beginning. With the exchange of compliments prompted by the Randolphs, Keith has been quick to blush but also quick to offer a compliment in return. With neither of the three being the type to say things as they are - where is Prince Jin in such moments? - it took a bit to get to the point, but Keith's expression has been priceless once they got there. It wasn't a negative reaction either, quite the opposite.

Now, Luke might not be realizing how the ends of his sunset-colored locks are tickling Keith's skin. He's so concentrated on savoring him, like a bear that finally got its paws on the honeycomb. He's latched onto his beautiful neck, giving Keith hickey after hickey. He expected to be refused to mark him, for understandable reasons, but Keith simply said he was very into high-collared outfits lately.

Now, that's not the only reason for the wanton moans to fall from his mouth, else he'd find himself in a very embarrassing spot indeed. Having his member embraced by the hot cavern of the princess' mouth as she hollows out her cheeks is a delight few can live to talk about, Keith imagines. The rhodolitian prince is one of these few; the tent in his white trousers is perhaps born by the reminder of it. Gentleman to gentleman, Keith reaches a hand to help him out, seeing that he neglects his pleasure. The curiosity to see what the auburn-haired giant sports is half at fault, though, and he gets that curiosity sated quicker than he'd rush to undo his own confines. They were kind enough to unwrap him and cast the ribbon aside, so who can blame him if his hands get into a bit of mischief?

The size pleases him greatly, to his own surprise - it's not because his own domineers, he's pretty sure it doesn't, in fact - he's not quite sure why. It's a tool of pleasure, that's what his lust-hazed brain tells him, as embarrassing as that would be to admit.

"It's supposed to be a birthday gift for both of you." He repeats his lastly-spoken words, hands gripping and releasing the bedsheets, lamenting at the loss of movement coming from the princess' wicked tongue as she halts to listen. He picks up his speech again.

"I want to bring both of you pleasure… but first, I want to see how you, Prince Luke, bring pleasure to Princess Julie. I want to see how she wants to be loved. And I want to see how you take that pleasure from her. I want to learn how to please both of you."

It was a lot to confess on a single breath, and luckily he gets away with being breathless. Julie keeps her firm grip on his cock, looking at Luke as if to communicate the situation wordlessly with him, all while tapping Keith's tip on her bottom lip, smearing his precome on it.

Luke makes a small noise of approval, the corners of his mouth outstretched in a smile. The way he's lazily pumping his own cock, it's an offer he can't refuse, and in just another second Keith gets to see exactly what kind of offer it is.

"Julie loves being taken from behind, like this…"

Straight to the point, Luke pushes himself off the mattress, arriving behind his lover in a second. Keith can't follow his hand where it disappears behind the curve of her rear, but he guesses by the noises alone how willing the lady is for this, and for all that follows. Once he positions his long limbs in preparation, those forest green eyes bore into his - it's a seemingly bored gaze, half-lidded; a lot like his usual look, but also, unmistakably heavy with lust. He explains something borderline vulgar about teasing his beloved's entrance before piercing it, but the way he holds Keith's gaze as if actually teaching him and making sure he pays attention, it's pure erotism. And Keith never thought himself the voyeur type, especially not in the situation where his two friends welcomed him in their bedroom to have their eyes glued to his every movement as he makes love with them.

It sounds like that felt nice, Keith thinks, hearing the moan that announces the beginning of Julie's trip to pound town.

"Oh, this is hard to do at the same time…!" The attempts to revive her ministrations on Keith's cock are initially unsuccessful, but by the time Keith considers sparing her the hardship, she gets the hang of it, taking him inside her mouth further with every thrust of Luke.

Keith would gladly erase any of those widely talked about spectacular jadean landscapes from his memory reel in exchange for this sight burned into his pupils.

Luke's trusts are nice and long, presumably hitting the depths of his lover, and she makes delightful sounds in return. Like a good student, Keith takes mental notes, hoping to do good when it gets his turn - if he doesn't completely surrender to Julie's mouth by then. It would be a sweet surrender, for one. She seems to be enjoying herself a lot bobbing her head on his cock, he's grateful for the little pauses she makes or else the pair would remember him by an embarrassing lack of self-control.

"I love being the filling to your sandwich..."

Luke sucks on a breath with this hearty confession coming from Julie, pleasantly surprised by her naughtiness. Looking at it now, her state is exactly as she said, bent over the jadean prince's long legs, pleasured from behind and pleasuring at her front.

"Hmm… would you also love it if we're the cream to your pie?" Breaking his steady pace to completely cover her with his body and lean in near, Luke puts a strand of hair behind her ear, craving a glimpse of her expression.

"I-I thought you preferred honey pies, my darling…"

The low grunt resonating deep within Luke's throat serves as a warning to his ignited appetite, and he playfully bites her ear.

"I do, Julieee… you know it already. But I want to eat you right now."

Pulling out from her wet tightness, Luke sinks to his knees and spreads Julie's cheeks apart with his large hands, diving in for a long lick across her freshly-fucked slit. Juices gush from her hole, and Luke catches them with his tongue unashamed of the noises that fill the room.

"I can't- Take it anymore…-"

Snapping out from the cycle of pleasure the moment she hears Keith's warning, Julie lets his cock fall from her lips, a thin line of drool connecting them still. She nods at Keith, and reaches a hand behind her to lightly tap Luke's shoulder. He ends up needing more than a gentle tap to stop, the glutton that he is, but he finally complies.

Despite the teachings, Julie hops right into Keith's lap, where he wouldn't be able to show all of what he learned. The mountain of pillows behind him is comfortable, but the comfort that truly renders him immobile comes with the plush hotness that wraps tightly around his aching cock. The princess doesn't stop descending until she has him fully hilted inside, and Keith can only exclaim something to the heavens above, overly polite, true to his style, but dirty in the context of what is happening. He lets Julie bounce on his cock and take what she wants from him, finding it hard to recognize himself as someone so glad to serve as a naughty birthday present to be enjoyed. Though, he has to check if it's not actually his birthday today, for a chance.

"Princess Julie, I'm afraid if you don't slow down-"

"Do it, Keith. We have the whole night ahead of us."

Carding his fingers through his ashy hair, Keith exhales vocally, muscles tensing. It's a little funny to have reservations about wrapping his arms around the princess' waist when he's already buried all the way inside her, but he still feels like asking for permission.

Once they start dancing that dangerous dance, there is no turning back, and Keith's composure crumbles. He moves the princess up and down his length, searching for his peak in her depths - and in a flash, finding it with a wave of liquid pleasure. He rocks the lady on his cock and lets her milk him of all he has, experiencing one of his best orgasms so far. The pleasant sensations continue to linger even after she rises up, letting the sticky aftermath of their coupling to drip down between their bodies.

"You're not making me wait for my snack any longer, Julie."

The girly shriek that pierces the air is lidden with fun, as Julie giggles at being manhandled to laying on her back, legs held high in the air in Luke's strong grip.

"I like this kind of pie too…" Is all Luke says before resuming his earlier activity of snacking on her, running his tongue on her folds for his own enjoyment in that lazy and charming way of his, and even the small shocks of overstimulation are worth it.

Keith feels himself growing hard watching them.

He jumps from his defeated, thoroughly-ridden position with new strength, hastily leaning down to smash his lips against Julie's. There are more kisses he's willing to gift tonight, but not everyone got their lips unoccupied at the current moment.

There is no rush. We have the whole night ahead of us, Julie said.

Taglist: @arsnovacadenza @ale-teodora @kimi00twin @otomelady @privilegedpancake @g-kleran    @pumpumnnnp @thesirenwashere @ravenarld @kimmy-banana @devonares @animeworldsposts @randomanimatedhusbandoseeker @galaxyprison @sadshaxk @starshards26 @pro-cat-stination @acethephoenix256 @ikevamp-shrine-2 @nad-zeta @crystal13unny @keen19thcenturygoatsstudent @lordsister @ikemen-banshou   @themysticalbeing @canaria-blackwell @otome-scribbles @rhodolitesrose @coornn @kpop-and-otome @queen-dahlia @kisara-16 @chaosangel767 @ikemenlibrary @aurora-morning @aquagirl1978 ​ @ikemenlover24 @violettduchess @mcofthemansion @joy-the-reader @katriniac @ikemen-writer @tele86 @aceuuuuu Let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged!

#ikemen prince #ikepri #ikemen prince luke #luke randolph #ikepri luke #ikemen prince keith #keith howell #ikepri keith #ikemen prince keith howell #ikemen keith #ikemen prince luke randolph #ikemen luke #ikemen series #ikeseries #ikemen fanfic #ikepri fanfic #cybird #ikemen #otome

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Chapter 21 of Chained: To Wield The Blade We Have Forged

A/N: This chapter is stephcass focused enough that I think people might enjoy this as a standalone thing, so I'll be posting the chapter both on AO3 as usual, and right here in this post! This also connects to the reblog I wrote up the other night gushing about Batgirl (2000) #19 and the potential in a Cass vs Jason confrontation!

For this chapter only, NOT the whole fic: Rated T for Teen Ships are Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain and vaguely hinted at Jason Todd/Tim Drake There's gonna be a LOT of plot points that don't seem to go anywhere, cause they're parts of much bigger arcs, but there's some really sweet talk about deep stuff towards the end and the start is Steph handling a deescalation scenario Hope you enjoy ^w^ !

Dear War Diary,

You know, some days I don't even think Ivy should be in Arkham. Logging, pollution, hair spray tearing a hole in the ozone layer, pesticides - if I could feel plants' pain as they were broken apart, I'd want to feed people to ambulatory venus fly traps too. Heck, back in high school I was sure tempted to let her have at some of my more obnoxious classmates.

Unfortunately, today was not one of those days.

We knew something was weird this time around when the docs at Arkham called warning us that she woke up screaming and her powers went out of control. Usually when this sort of thing happens she goes towards a clear goal. Like, there'll be a construction site or a factory or something damaging the land and drawing her out.

Thing is though, the more we chased her, the clearer it became that she wasn't running towards anything.

She was fleeing, and seemingly had no clear place to bolt to. First she fled to the meat packing district. Then she ran down to the water, and like, we expected her to follow the coast? But she just swam right in! Left huge algal blooms in her wake too; like the lacy train of a queen's dress. She even left Gotham altogether for a hot minute only to turn back again for no reason. She was very obviously out of her mind frightened of something, but we had no idea what it was, and frankly, we still don't.

Tonight had real big 'predator running from the wildfire' energy, is what I'm saying.

It took several days, but eventually she gave up on running and bunkered down in one of the parks. The concrete storage shed she picked as her new home was so overgrown by the time we got to it that it was impossible to see a single square inch of the structure. The hardwood and thorn vines covering it had to have been at least a meter thick.

And that little backstory finally brings us to tonight's patrol.

I tapped my earpiece, "We getting anything on the seismic, O?"

"Nope. If she's digging she's doing it slow enough we're not gonna get any warning. Good news though, I finally got an answer back from Waller. Harley Quinn can be on the line within ten minutes notice."

"Awesome. Speedy, you good to cover me?"

"Yup! Got a whole quiver full of tranquilizers and frog crotch arrows ready for her."

I snort-laughed, "God, what a name!"

"I know right?! But yeah, you're good to go. I'll be aiming from the East, so gimmie a sign if you think you'll need me at a different angle."

"Got it. Alright O, give that ten minute notice and I'll start the approach."

Step one: Get the cops to back up the perimeter by at least ten feet all around. Frankly they were gonna be useless in a fight if it came to that, and the whole goal here was to get this done without bloodshed.

This part was pretty damn easy. I knew one of the cops there by name and she was more than happy to back her fellow officers out of the negotiation zone.

Step two: Establish a desire for peaceful communication.

I spoke through a megaphone into the general direction of the tree-bunker, "Doctor Isley? Would you be willing to come out and talk?"

The woods creaked and groaned, shifting minutely. My heart pounded in my chest, waiting, watching, every leaf bud an acid spitting behemoth in the making.

Nothing came out.

I called out to her again, "Okay. Doctor Isley, you seem really upset, and we don't understand why, but you haven't hurt anyone yet so we're not going to hurt you."

I glanced around surreptitiously at the cops. Lucky for me they all seem to be on their best behavior tonight. No one was grumbling about wanting to hurt her loud enough for me to hear, and I just had to trust that meant the grass couldn't hear them either.

"If you don't want to talk to me, that's okay. We want to get you some help, so we're going to try and get Harley on the phone so you can talk to her."

Against my ear, the phone crackled to life.

Time for step three: Get negotiation partner on board.

"Which bat-brat do I have the displeasure of speakin to today!?"

"It's Batgirl; we need your help getting through to Ivy."

"HAH! Well fat fuckin chance, asshole! I ain't talkin her inta anythin she don't wanna do!"

"And we're not asking you to! She hasn't even hurt anybody, and she's not making any threats, but she is clearly terrified. We think there's something or someone after her, and it's not us."

I gave her a moment to think it over. She's got to know we wouldn't let Ivy die, but there's always the chance we're just lying.

"Fine. Alright, what's the plan here?"

"Thank you! I'm gonna hold the speaker up to the megaphone, and you let her know you want to talk, then I'll slowly approach and once in speaking range I'll take the megaphone off of the phone to give the two of you some privacy."

"An you'll still be listinen the whole damn time of course."

"Yeah, sorry about that, but at least the cops won't be."

Harley sighs, "Turn the lights down in the house and start the music then. Lets get this show rollin an' over with."

Step four: Negotiate and deescalate.

Through the phone megaphone combo she said, "Hey Sweetpea, mind lettin me hear yer pretty voice again?"

The protective wall started growing again, getting thicker. I chance a few slow steps forwards anyway, since nothing offensive starts growing either. Or at least I hoped there wasn't something offensive in there.

"I've missed ya. Not the same kickin ass with these bozos in here, ya'know?"

As I got closer, the smell of ozone got stronger, breathing started to feel weird, and every drop of sweat evaporated off of me, leaving me parched. Her hypergrowth vegetation was stripping the carbon dioxide and water out of the air so fast that the atmosphere around it was going haywire.

Just as I thought she was waiting for me to get close enough for her tree's roots to just use me as a nutrient bag, an opening formed over the doorway to the storage unit, and she shakily poked her head out, calling for Harleen.

She was messed up. She clearly hadn't been able to take care of herself and

I'm not writing the next part down verbatim. Just seems too... invasive. They said a lot of sweet an

I don't feel great about this, but just in case I need it, I am going to record what I remember of how Harley talked her down.

Harley said, "Pumpkin, I'm so sorr

Okay. Third time's the charm?

This was not a criminal wrecking havok for profit. This was not a terrorist making demands. This was someone having a breakdown due to forces outside her control and her girlfriend comforting her as best she could. I shouldn't even have been hearing it, really, so yeah I think I'd feel too skeezy to keep dinner down if I wrote it all out 'just in case'.

Informationally speaking, hopefully the only part of their conversation I'll ever need to know again is that Ivy said "The green is dying" and "She's made the world barren; the flowers will never bloom again" and basically made it really clear that the damage was already done and no one was after her.

If you're reading this Future Me and you desperately need to know exactly what happened, sorry not sorry, get a time machine or something.

Anyways, after it became clear that there was nothing we could do for her other than get her back to mental help, I gave Speedy the signal to take the shot. The tranqs hit her before she realized anything was up, and there were only a few seconds of scuffle, then she was down for the count.

I picked up the phone again to cut the line and Harley said, "So that's it, huh? I talk her into openin' the treeline, you drug her up, and that's curtains?"

"There clearly wasn't anything else we could do for-"

"Fuck off you insufferable, controlling, shitty, furry knock off cops! I shoulda told her ta mulch ya!"

There were the muffled sounds of the phone being taken out of her hand, and then a voice I didn't recognize, "Well, I hope that clown to plant heart to heart was worth the favor."

"Zero injuries, zero deaths, zero horrifying poison scares: I'd say it was."

She, whoever she was (I assume it was Waller) chuckled, "Well you aren't the one picking up the tab. Tell Oracle it was a pleasure doing business again."

The line went dead.

"You get that O?"

"Loud and clear. And hey, don't let what Quinn said get to you. You did great."

"Thanks," I kinda didn't feel it, but the sentiment was nice.

The rest of patrol was a long and boring ride on the top of a police van, making sure that no one ambushed her on her way back to Arkham, and then a short conversation about what they're going to do to keep her there this time.

They've had a couple different ways to cut her off from whatever The Green is for a while now. Every method has nasty side effects, and half her breakout attempts were in direct opposition to using them. At this point their policy is to just help her manage being connected. Considering what I saw that connection putting her through tonight? The docs rubber stamped cutting her off from The Green again, at least temporarily, and I'm pretty okay that.

So yeah. We won. Yippee. And all it took was arm twisting a woman held prisoner by a shadowy government agency in order to trick the love of her life into making herself vulnerable to us...

God this job sucks sometimes.

And the suck was not over yet, not by a long shot! And the suck was not only reserved for me either. Uh, okay obviously since Harley and Ivy, but also!

Oracle called to tell me this: "I need to give you a heads up before you return to base, and Speedy needs some time to handle a private phone call so I'm telling you this now. Black Bat got into a fight that upset her pretty bad. She's been on the training sims and dummies for over three hours, and I'm kinda worried she's not gonna sleep unless someone helps her untangle her head."

"I thought everything went smooth on her end, what the heck happened?"

"Easier if I just show you," Oracle said and fed a video taken by one of the Bat-House's internal cameras into my HUD.

It showed Ca (gah trying not to write anyone's names is a mess) Black Bat in civilian clothes, standing in a doorway. She's staring at the Red Hood from across the room with an expression of frustrated determination.

He ignores her for a while, continuing to read, curled up on the couch in a posture so terrible I have to wonder if he's trying to give himself back problems.

She just... kept staring. And staring.

Finally he asked, sounding very snarky and annoyed, "Can I help you?"

"Why did you pull the trigger again? You were better. You did better for so long. Why?"

"I don't owe you that shit," He narrowed his eyes at her, "And you don't get to decide I was better just cause you liked it more when I was docile."

She marches over to him, "I know how it hurts. I see it hurt you! I want to help. I want to know why."

"No," He said, standing up to loom over her, as though she couldn't kick his ass five ways from Sunday with a hand tied behind her back, "You want me to get on my knees and sob and beg for forgiveness. As though any of you shitheads ever even deserved my forgiveness!"

"No! I want to see you get better! I wanted another little brother!"

"Well congratu-fucking-lations, you got one! Don't worry, Dickie hates it just as much. I'm sure he can give you some pointers on how to go fuck yourself about it."

My jaw started hurting from how tight I had my teeth clenched as I watched her face twist in open rage-hurt-sorrow, "Why won't you stop burning our house down!? You're in it!"

"I. Don't. Owe. You. That."

She glared up at him defiantly, "You owe someone."

"No. I don't."

"Sheezus!" Black Canary said as she entered the room, "I leave you alone for five minutes and you're already picking a fight with her? Seriously?"

Black Bat's anger simmered below the boiling point again, "Not a fight."

"That sure looked like-"

"Not a fight." She declared bitterly, storming out of the room.

BC raised an eyebrow at Hood.

He smiled all teeth and irritation, "Not a fight!"

She rolled her eyes and took her post back up as the video ended.

I sighed, "Well. That'd do it. Thanks for the warning, I'll see if I can talk to her, take her mind off it."

"Appreciated. I tried but... I dunno. You'll probably have more luck."

"We'll see I guess! So, am I good to check in with Speedy, or is she still on her phone call?"

"You're good."

When I grappled up to the roof she was on, Speedy looked pretty damn unhappy. So, like, clearly tonight was sucking complete ass for everyone. Mercury in retrograde or some shit, idk.

"You got news I take it?" I asked.

"Mhm, great news! By which I mean totally shit news. Apparently the lab I get my bloodwork done at broke, as in everything is giving false negatives. So yeah, all my bloodwork for the past who knows how long might have been wrong!"

"Oh shit. You want us to test you in the Batcave? Guarantee the lab down there could handle whatever you need!"

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll need to fast for twelve hours beforehand no matter what, so it wouldn't really be any quicker. Also my civilian GP would be pretty leery of a Bat-Diagnostic, especially since they already got me an appointment with the closest available people."

O cut in over comms, "That is suspiciously fast..."

Speedy shrugged, "I've got a feeling Green Arrow might have pushed me up the list somehow. He might not be (secret identity stuff I can't write down here :P ) anymore, but he's still got some pull."

"Hmm, well, both of you get back to base and we can figure out the logistics once you're here."

"Roger."

"Aye Aye Captain."

Once she cut off I offered, "Grapple line tag on the way there to take your mind off it?"

"You know what? I could use something to stretch my legs out after all that sniper crouching. Fuck it, let's do this."

Swingy swingy swingy over the buildings, across the bridge, to grandmother's imposing, minefield-surrounded cave we went!

We got into the cave, changed out of our gear, and sure enough, Black Bat was still in the training section, running herself ragged. Speedy went up to get some sleep since she couldn't eat dinner now anyways (do NOT envy that). So I went straight into an attempt to pry Black Bat off the training mats.

"Heads up!" I called out and tossed a bottle of water at her head.

She caught it without even looking, swapping to kicks and using her other hand to demolish her sandbag opponents, "Been drinking enough just fine."

"Sure. What'll it take to convince you to take a break and drink it with me anyways?"

She paused, leg still raised to kick, perfectly poised like gravity wasn't even a factor. It always makes my legs hurt looking her like that. Makes the rest of me swoon too.

"Would um..." She frowned, like she expected me to think less of her for making the request, "You bring dinner down here? For us both?"

I gave her a smile, "Yeah, of course. Mind saying how come?"

"Because Hood's up there and I want to fight him more. If I fight him, have to look at him. Have to watch him feeling and thinking and..." She finally put her leg down, and fidgeted with the cap of her water, "And I just don't want to."

"Didn't realize you hated him that bad."

"Not sure I do? Messy."

"Yeah, messy for me too."

Translation: I still don't know how to feel about him taking grisly revenge against Black Mask 'in my honor'. Still also super don't know how to feel about his welcome home gifts of a gun and an offer to come murder criminals with him.

Then I add, "But I'll have you know I'm a first class mess messer with-er! So if you want to talk about it, I'd be happy to."

She very briefly smiled, then her face feel again and somber moment passed before she said quietly, "Yeah, okay. Bring food down and... we can talk."

"On it."

"Um, wait!"

"Huh?"

She caught my arm and reeled me in for a kiss on the cheek, "There."

I laughed and gave her a proper kiss, "There! Love you."

Diary, have I ever told you about how she looks when she blushes? Because I seriously think I'll need to pull out the old poetry textbooks in order to do it justice.

Upstairs took me passed the dining room, where Red Hood and Red Robin were talking.

"The fuck is that?" Hood asked, leaning over his shoulder.

"Blueprints. I'm having a section of my house renovated while I'm stuck here."

"Wwwwhy?"

"I am swiftly being driven mad by boredom and saw a really neat indoor garden set-up on pinterest."

"An indoor garden? In Gotham? Do you fuckin want to get strangled to death in your sleep by vines?"

RR does the little 'tch' thing he picked up from Robin, "Whatever, it'll be fine, these are tiny little arboreals and I'll have reinforced airlocks leading in and out."

"That does fucking nothing for attacks in your sleep."

"Which is why I'll have the whole lockdown system automated. I was already going to do automation for the plant care stuff anyways, cause lets be honest here, there was no way I was ever going to keep them alive on my own."

"...The speed and ease with which you oscillate between self depreciating paranoia and megalomaniacal hubris is fascinating."

And even as pissed off as I am with both of them, that still almost made me friggin lose it laughing, RR seemed so offended too, it was great!

And speaking of pissed off? Yeah, seeing RR acting so chummy with Hood was kinda making my blood boil! Like, maybe he didn't even know they fought. But he's supposed to be her friend too, and it's still sticking in my craw, and I'm busy with the whole damn city needing patroled, and so bottom line: I didn't talk to him tonight, and I'm probably not gonna talk to him tomorrow night either!!

Agent A had several plates set to the side already when I got into the kitchen. I think he assumed at least a few of us were gonna go off in our separate corners after the argument. Made it nice and easy to snag two and bring it down.

She had clearly been pacing, waiting for me, back down in the cave.

We sat together and she held my hand while we ate - pretty awkward, but super worth it. We stayed quiet, me cause I wanted to give her the space to start talking, and her probably because she wasn't sure where to start.

Once all the peas and mash were gone and she was pushing her drumstick around the plate she asked, "Ready?"

"Go for it. All ears."

"It's a guilt thing I think? Least a little?"

"Kinda always figured you were uh, how to put it, I guess invested in him, cause of that sort of parallel between you two?"

She nodded, "Not all of it's that, though. Different guilt," She gives me a rueful smile, "I'm layered in it, huh?"

"Like a lasagna of angst," I told her solemnly.

She huffed a quiet laugh, fidgeting with my hand, "Am I um. A tasty lasagna?"

"Oh yeah, you're delicious," I said with a cheesy wink.

"Terrible," She laughed a bit more, running her thumb over the back of my hand, and the nervous sad crept right back in, "You know about um... One day, I rescued a man? Murderer. From the gas chamber?"

"Yeah. Not well, you've never said much, but I've read a bit about it. Was kind of a big news thing."

"On the way out I met the mother of his victim. She demanded justice. She demanded his death. I didn't know how to- to reconcile her grief. Still don't. But back then... I put him back in the gas chamber. I look at Hood. Wonder if he's the murderer or the mother or the executioner. Wonder what the mother was. Wonder what I was. Wonder if the distinction matters at all."

"Hood's trying to cut all the bad people out, trying to bleed the world better. You're trying to keep it all alive, trying to keep everyone growing. Maybe the other distinctions don't matter, but I think this one has to."

She squeezed my hand tight and kissed every one of my knuckles delicately, "I hope so. Trying to believe so."

"I kinda think you already do. You may be an angst lasagna, but you don't do what you do just out of guilt, yeah?"

"Guess so... I wanted so bad to find out that they'd been replaced by aliens or something. Find out that wasn't him. Not now and um. Not on TV all those months ago. At the very least I was hoping to find regret."

"I really wish I had something better to say than, you know, his determination to be an asshole isn't something we can fix. Just gotta keep growing our garden and hope he decides to join us for real sometime."

"Yeah..." Another round of knuckle kisses, "Yeah, you're right," She wrinkles her nose, "Sucks you're right."

"Yup."

She pressed her forehead against our intertwined hands for a while.

Then she asked, "Tell me about one of your shows?"

"Sure."

So I chattered about some light stuff she nodded along to until we were both ready for bed. It was honestly really nice, and I think I needed it too, a lot more than I realized.

So yeah, here's hoping tomorrow is less of a complete shit show from start to finish.

- Batgirl IV

#jaytim #stephcass #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #damian's tomfoolery #chained fanfic #chained: to wield the blade we have forged #jason todd #tim drake

[peridotglimmer]

For the there was only one bed prompts: 13 for False and Cleo?

schaumi you have blessed me with this prompt, i love it so much. this uh turned out a lot longer than expected. count on me to suddenly write 1K of fluff. have some fluff featuring a pining idiot cleo. content warning for alcohol consumption. rated t due to cleo's vocabulary.

"I can take the floor?" "No it's alright, besides it's big enough for the both of us."

Suite Night

"Ugh." Cleo sighed, following False into the hotel suite. "I love X, but next time he and Keralis fall ill he can get someone else to fill in for him." She dropped her suitcase near the door. There was probably a stand somewhere, the hotel had four stars after all, but she couldn't be bothered. False chuckled.

"It's not that bad. The representatives weren't too bad this year!" She stretched, and her powder blue dress shirt came free from the waistband of her skirt, exposing the slightest strip of her bare abdomen. Cleo raised an eyebrow.

"We're we talking to the same idiots?" They walked up to False and pressed the back of their hand to the other woman's forehead. "You haven't got a fever, so you're not delirious. I counted three separate comments on your breasts, one on my arse, four zombie racists, and I stopped tallying the amount of times I got misgendered after seven." False's shoulders and face dropped, and Cleo immediately felt like biting her own tongue off.

"I really am sorry about that, Cleo. The sponsors, they're old money. Stuck in their ways."

"Even super glue has a solvent," Cleo muttered. They sighed. "Thank you for correcting them when I got tired of it, I do appreciate it." Smiling, False replied: "You're welcome."

"Well then." Cleo awkwardly cleared her throat. "I'm about ready to tear this penguin suit off and sleep for twelve glorious, uninterrupted hours before this circus starts all over again."

"Hm, I could go for a shower before bed." False was already digging through her duffel bag and retrieving various items.

"You do that; I'll order us something to drink and to snack on and pick a bed." Cleo grinned, already on their way to the phone.

"I'll take an ice cold white wine," False decided. "I won't be long." Cleo nodded, and False disappeared into the bathroom. It was a decently large suite, with a seating area with a tv and a dining table with room for two. The entire hotel was booked, with all servers looking to find sponsors for the new season. Xisuma had gotten lucky when he booked that there was a suite available at all.

The receptionist had a pleasant voice and took Cleo's order of a chilled bottle of white and a variety of charcuterie, put it on Mr Void's invoice. If Cleo was stuck here playing lust object for old white men, she was at least getting some decadent snacks out of it. The kitchen informed her they would bring it up to them within fifteen minutes, which would be just long enough for Cleo to choose the bed they wanted. Grabbing their suitcase, they walked over to the ensuite.

"Oh crap."

There was only one, king-sized bed.

Fuck! Xisuma had booked the room for himself and Keralis, of course they wouldn't want separate beds! No-one had thought of that when she and False had rushed to the event in their place this morning. Now what?

Cleo wasn't sure how long she had been standing in the doorway, but suddenly she heard False's voice behind her: "Claimed the nicest bed for yourself yet?"

"Uh. About that." Cleo stepped aside, trying not to stare at False as she entered the room clad only in an oversized tee.

"Oh." False bit her lip. "Guess this was booked for our lovebirds, huh?" She walked up to the bed and picked a rose petal off of the sheets.

"Yeah, but it's fine. I can sleep on the floor!" Cleo blurted out. They ran a hand through their hair. "I'm sure I can ask for a cot or an extra mattress or something. It's fine!" Her voice had gone up an entire octave as she spoke.

"Don't be ridiculous, Cleo." False turned to face her. "It's more than big enough for the both of us. I don't mind sharing." Suddenly, her voice got quieter. "... unless you do? Mind?"

"No, not at all!" Cleo really needed to get their volume and pitch under control. "We can-- yeah, we can share!" False yawned.

"Great. Then I vote for wine in bed, because I'm going to have to wear heels for at least five hours tomorrow as well as dance in them, and I want to get my feet up for as long as I possibly can in advance." A knock sounded at the door. Room service! "I'll go get the door so you can change. Just yell when you're ready, yeah?" Cleo nodded wordlessly.

As Cleo opened their suitcase, they cursed quietly. Out of all things she could have grabbed to wear to bed, why did it have to be an old tee and baggy shorts? She had blindly taken some things from her wardrobe this morning, and this is what she had ended up with. At least there weren't any holes in them, they supposed. Cleo quickly took off her suit and changed into her nightclothes. She replaced the bandage on her bite with a fresh clean one, and pulled her hair into a ponytail.

"Ready!" they yelled into the general direction of False when they had shoved their suitcase under the bed and had gathered the rose petals into a small pile on one of the nightstands. The blonde quickly reappeared in the bedroom, carefully carrying a tray with Cleo's order on it.

"Great choices," False commented as she placed the tray on the foot of the bed. "This looks amazing. Got a preference for a side?" She motioned at the bed.

"I prefer to be furthest from the windows," Cleo admitted. "Sunlight's not deadly, but it's not comfortable either."

"You got it!" False elegantly climbed into the far side of the bed, taking care not to kick their wine or snacks. Once Cleo had gotten in on the other side, False admitted: "I do feel bad for Xisuma and Keralis. This was supposed to be their date night, I guess."

"We'll have to make sure we enjoy it on their behalf then," Cleo replied without thinking. When they realised what they had just said, they stammered: "I mean, uh..." False smiled and handed her a glass of wine.

"I think I get what you mean. Cheers." As their glasses touched, False pressed a kiss to Cleo's cheek. "Out of all the Hermits I could be sharing a bed with right now, I'm happy it's you."

"Yeah..." Cleo fell quiet and quickly took a sip of their wine. False grabbed the remote control from her nightstand.

"Wanna watch some bad late-night TV?" Cleo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sounds good to me." False smiled, and Cleo had to remind herself to breathe. As the noise of some random talkshow filled the room, False shifted closer to her so she could grab a piece of cheese. Their thighs touched, sending electricity down Cleo's spine. They tried to stay calm as False nestled herself against their side, her head resting against their chest. If she noticed how fast Cleo's heart was beating, she didn't say a thing.

"Glad it's you," False repeated, already beginning to sound sleepy.

"Me too," Cleo replied this time. "Me too."

#belle answers questions #belle writes #hermitcraft fanfiction #hermitshipping #falsesymmetry #zombiecleo #false/cleo #abschaumno1

[redbuddi]

How will you handle the characterization of characters like Sam and Tucker? Danni?

What are some of the biggest changes to the overall story you are looking forward to exploring?

*cracks knuckles* alright here we go!

Sam and Tucker are extremely important to the series, more important than I think people tend to give them credit for, and that importance would be retained in Redux.

Tucker would be more or less the same as the OG Tuck, he's still a big tech geek, still loves meat, is still simultaneously the comic relief and the voice of reason depending on the situation, etc. I mostly plan on just making a few subtle tweaks to his character to flesh him out a bit more than the show was willing to.

Now is the time to mention that Redux will take place the same year the OG show came out, 2004. So the tech that Tucker salivates over will be tech that's dated by our standards, he still uses a PDA like a cell-phone, and carries around a lot of big chunky gadgets like portable CD players and such. While he is mostly a programming guy, he will build and invent things, and will help Danny do the same. He invented Danny's goggles and co-invented the Thermos with Danny.

Tucker is the most emotionally available of the trio, he doesn't always have solutions but he's willing to hear people out, and with his weak constitution he is the least fond of fighting, tho not purely pacifistic. He is the most outgoing of the group as well, but doesn't desire popularity, he's pretty satisfied with his lot in life. He's just a pretty amicable guy and likes to talk a lot. Like in the show, he's been friends with Danny for the longest, and knows him the best.

"Time to hack the mainframe..."

*swats away computer*

"Hello! This is the front desk, right? Sorry, I'm new and no one's told me the company password yet..."

I'd also take out his more wannabe-casanova traits, cause it's just kind of uncomfortable. I see him as more of a jughead-type, commenting on the drama and romance from the sidelines while never himself being too interested in it. He'll still joke about ladies loving him, but it'd be more tongue-in-cheek and self-aware.

Overall he tends to try to outsmart or talk his way out of situations, which can be a huge help, but also sometimes makes things worse. His smooth-talking has a 50/50 success rate.

He has a pretty good relationship with his parents, but can be kind of distant with his Dad, who is pretty overbearing and really wants Tucker to follow in his footsteps as the Mayor. It would be a running joke that Tucker is so disinterested in being the Mayor that he often times doesn't even justify his dad with a response. He will literally just leave if he can tell that that's where a conversation is going.

Sam is probably the character that would be overhauled the most. The OG Sam isn't terrible, but is very obviously an attempt at a counter-cultural character by people who know nothing about counter-culture.

The biggest change I'd make is that she no longer comes from old money. I get what the OG show was trying to do, but even as a little kid I couldn't really buy it or her whole rebellious thing. Not when she still greatly benefited from her family's money.

Instead, she comes from a well-off upper middle-class house, and she hates her parents. Not just because they don't understand her, but because her parents are actually horrible. Her Dad is a lawyer who is always looking for loopholes to get the rich out of trouble, and her Mom runs an MLM selling cheap clothes to desperate housewives (Think LuLaRoe). Her parents don't not love her, but they are deeply terrible people who, at the end of the day, only really care about themselves. Sam has sworn to do everything in her power to not be like them. The only reason she hasn't run away is because they're not home often enough for her to have to deal with them too much.

Danny: "Ow! Watch where you're poking!"

She tries to do as much on her own as she can, up to and including making basically everything she wears out of discount clothes and thrift shop purchases. While she does get an allowance, she doesn't spend any of it, she's saving her money so that she can leave home the moment she turns 18 and never look back. She is more interested in fashion than she often lets on, and dreams of running an eco-friendly fair trade boutique. After destroying capitalism, of course. She designed and made the alterations to Danny's jumpsuit, with the help of spectral thread that Danny had invented for her birthday.

In this series, Sam isn't just a holier-than-thou goth girl, she's a full-on anarchist punk-rock bitch, and she's proud of it. She will always speak her mind when she feels an injustice is taking place, and unlike in the OG series, Danny and Tucker will usually be there to back her up. That said, there's plenty that she gets up to on her own, she has had her brushes with the law, she's gotten into fights, she does not protest peacefully, and she usually doesn't involve Danny or Tucker because she doesn't want them to feel obligated to help her and then get hurt because of it.

She is strongly antisocial, and generally pretty closed off. She is the type of person who will listen to everyone's problems but won't speak about her own unless pushed. She is deeply loyal to and protective of her friends, sometimes to the point of being a little overbearing.

As for Danni, I certainly have thoughts, but I haven't settled completely on how she would fit in to the overall story. I do want her to be in the series, I just need to figure out what her deal would be.

EDIT! Completely forgot to answer the second part of the question!

The biggest change I'm looking forward to is giving Valerie more screen time, haha.

#danny phantom #phantom redux #ask #asks #my art

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

SHREK 2, approaching its 20th anniversary, took in around $1.3 million this past weekend... In its first theatrical run since its original release.

I have a movie theater job, and I worked this past Friday. Spring break for many schools was this past week, and this week too. Those screenings on Friday at my cinema were often packed, and a lot of them were packed with kids. As in, kids who were born well after this movie originally hit theaters. And *after* SHREK FOREVER AFTER was released, at that.

Yeah, there's some multi-generational appeal there with SHREK and SHREK 2.

Some animation fans jeered at the SHREK movies back in the day, feeling that their early 2000s attitude and pop culture references-aplenty scripts would date them, ditto their art direction and design... But no, nostalgia is very strong, especially when it's passed down. These movies appeal to little kids today. The second PUSS IN BOOTS movie being more recent also helps.

It goes to show that at the end of the day, the characters and what the movie does with them can make something a long-lasting flavor.

And I'm saying this, as someone who is not the biggest fan of those movies myself. As a kid, I did *love* SHREK and SHREK 2. I was the perfect age for them, you could argue - I was 8 1/2 when SHREK came out, 11 1/2 when SHREK 2 hit. I could probably quote whole sections of them verbatim. I know it's sacrilege to say these things, but to me, the SHREK movies are basically the animated equivalent of late '90s/early '00s live-action comedies that were usually made for adults, but in PG-rated form. Set in a fractured fairy tale world with ogres and talking donkeys and dragons and such. If not for those fantastical elements, these movies could've been some '00s live-action comedies with hot stars. They just have that vibe to them, right down to their contemporary soundtracks.

I don't see the first two SHREK movies as the high-water marks of the animation medium that they were sometimes made out to be by critics who didn't see animation as anything other than babysitter fluff. In addition to feeling that MONSTERS, INC. deserved the inaugural Best Animated Feature Oscar over this film, I also never bought that the first two SHREKs were these "revolutionary" "adult" alternatives to whatever Disney had out at the time. There's a roughly 2-second scene in Ralph Bakshi's X-rated FRITZ THE CAT - from 1972 - that's a way better satire of Disney than this movie is said to be, haha. I know at least one person who doesn't really like animation, but they will admit that they liked SHREK. That tells me a lot... SHREK was an animated movie that managed to appeal to just about everybody, including folks who would otherwise not bother with cartoons. It just has that zazz to it... Their core appeal, well specifically, SHREK 1 & 2, is undeniable. How many other relatively chill, less formal comedies like this did you see in mainstream feature animation at the time? It's not zany like, say, Disney's similarly irreverent buddy comedy THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE from five months earlier, nor is it like Pixar's clever, tightly-plotted movies.

The first SHREK movie hit a sweet spot with a lot of American audiences at the right time. Adult audiences who were burnt out on Disney's Renaissance formula being repeated for each movie after THE LION KING, and especially all the movies made at other studios following their lead. Like ANASTASIA and QUEST FOR CAMELOT. Even DreamWorks' own THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, for that matter. These big, grandiose musical pictures... Certain young film fans nowadays will say "those movies went SO HARD", but back in the late '90s/early '00s, the attitude towards them was "Okay, enough of that already." They were often called things like "politically correct", that era's version of "woke". Audiences wanted an animated film that they could just laugh and have a fun time with, without the moral messaged in a specific way.

Adults had also avoided the slew of edgy action-adventure animated movies aimed at a demographic that would never be there, films like DreamWorks' THE ROAD TO EL DORADO, along with Disney's ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE and Fox's TITAN A.E.

So you have this particular landscape of animated features, circa early 2001... Big grandiose family-friendly musicals that have become rather traditional, and these action-adventures for preteen boys that few were interested in seeing in theaters. Few exceptions are in-between, like THE IRON GIANT, but those were ignored because of other circumstances. IRON GIANT by all means should've been a small respectable success back in 1999 at the very least, if not a sleeper hit/blockbuster, but distributor Warner Bros. didn't believe in it. That's the animated movie landscape of early 2001... and then this chill comedy with dick jokes and a gross-out factor to it comes along... Right place, right time, planets aligned... One person put it this way: SHREK was an animated movie that "you could have a beer with."

And to think that SHREK was at one point shaping up to be a cursed, troubled production. Something that animators were punished with. An impending bomberoo, a film that was stopped and restarted, that lurched through a tumultuous 5-year journey...

Then the sequel went on to break records in the spring/summer of 2004, a high that the later films in the franchise couldn't rekindle.

SHREK THE THIRD certainly made a lot of money back in 2007, it was the highest-grossing animated movie of that calendar year, beating out the likes of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE and RATATOUILLE... but I don't remember it landing the way SHREK 2 did. I remember seeing it opening weekend with my dad, my good friend, and his family... and... largely forgetting about it afterwards! I was in high school at the time, and had mentioned one day that a fourth one was coming. This was around late 2007, by the time SHREK 3 was out of theaters and close to DVD release. (And HD-DVD as well, remember that?) One of my classmates responded, "Ugh, they're making another one?" A new SHREK movie wasn't as novel and fresh by then, and when SHREK FOREVER AFTER came out in the spring of 2010, I remember everyone being hyped about TOY STORY 3 - opening less than a month later... Not a word on the fourth green ogre movie. SHREK 4 still made plenty of dough though, it was bigger worldwide than here. Then DreamWorks pumped the breaks on the green ogre, as FOREVER AFTER was billed as "The Final Chapter".

It's interesting to note that DreamWorks' original plan was to make five SHREK movies, and PUSS IN BOOTS would be a direct-to-video movie with the subtitle THE STORY OF AN OGRE KILLER. The fifth SHREK movie would've been a prequel, interestingly enough. But over time, as PUSS IN BOOTS graduated to theatrical feature film and was given to SHREK 3 director Chris Miller, the plans slightly changed...

PUSS IN BOOTS had a rather blah opening in fall 2011, no doubt fueled by franchise fatigue and arriving just a little over a year after SHREK 4... but the cat legged it up something fierce. Because it was pretty good, and for some, a return to form after two lackluster SHREK sequels. It was right for the time, too. An old-school swashbuckling adventure for the family, featuring a fan favorite character from the SHREK sequels. I'm not sure a Donkey or Gingy spin-off would've landed the same way, lol. I remember the early 2010s being a time of more sincere animated movies, a country mile from the ironic early 2000s attitude of the first SHREK movie and all of its imitators. PUSS IN BOOTS Uno was more in line with those kinds of movies, and some of the classic-style adventure movies that DreamWorks had out at the time, like HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and the first two KUNG FU PANDA films. Their then-recent comedies, like MONSTERS VS. ALIENS and THE CROODS, leaned in a more cartoony and wacky direction. The early 2010s, to reiterate, were way different from the early 2000s in terms of animated movie output. What goes on in the world moves the needle as much as the pop culture does, indeed.

So then, some 11 years and at least one period in limbo later, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH comes out. An exciting reinvention of the whole franchise, and arriving after a decade-long void where SHREK became something of a meme. Add in nostalgia, word-of-mouth, THE LAST WISH was a gradual trip back into the world of SHREK for many audiences. A big hit in the end, and a beloved movie. It's certainly my favorite movie in this series, for sure. I still find it neat how they didn't just do the safe thing and simply make a SHREK 5 after Comcast acquired them, no. They stuck to that long-gestating PUSS IN BOOTS sequel and saw it through first, as a sort-of lead in to new SHREK movies... And still did something amazing with it, when it could've just been another typical-style SHREK universe movie. It could've also been the movie that it was initially planned to be.

I have no doubt that SHREK PLEADS THE FIFTH, when it hits in a few years, probably makes a good run at highest-grossing animated movie of all-time. SHREK 2 was just that for six years. $919m back in 2004 - without 3D, IMAX, and other such premium formats - was **massive**. TOY STORY 3 took the crown thereafter, and held onto that for three years. SHREK 5's target to beat is the 2019 CG remake of THE LION KING, $1.6 billion. If you don't count that, FROZEN II with $1.4 billion.

I wonder if this re-release of SHREK 2 sparks Universal and DreamWorks to re-release other older films of theirs. Maybe even one that didn't do so hot back in the day? This year also happens to be SHARK TALE's 20th, and MONSTERS VS. ALIENS' 15th. 2014 saw the release of three movies: MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2, and PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR. 2019 saw the arrival of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD and ABOMINABLE.

Who knows...

I think they should re-release animated movies more often, no matter the studio. The SHREK 2 re-release opened wider than the three recent Pixar first-time ever theatrical runs of movies that went straight to Disney+, and people turned out for it. It also helps that the movie is that old, whereas those three Pixars aren't that old. SOUL, the oldest of that trio, came out Christmas 2020. Not even four years ago.

Now, if Disney re-released a Pixar film wide like - say - THE INCREDIBLES this year, I'd imagine it'd get *some* traction like this SHREK 2 re-release did. Or if Disney did the same to an animated feature like LILO & STITCH. Remember those 3D re-releases of various Disney Animation and Pixar films? THE LION KING did quite well in 2011, while everything else barely made half of that... But still quite a bit nonetheless. $40m+ for, say, FINDING NEMO in 2012 is something a new animated feature would fight for today.

Every year, my cinema does the Studio Ghibli fest. Most of the beloved movies... Ya know, little tiny unheard-of movies like SPIRITED AWAY and PRINCESS MONONOKE? Always sold out to the front row.

The original KUNG FU PANDA ran for a few weeks earlier this year in the lead-up to KUNG FU PANDA 4, and a few people showed up for those screenings.

Yeah... More re-release of animated movies, please. Plus, they're great to experience on the big screen again.

[lorifragolina]

Here's to you, Mr. Harrington

For: @rindecisions, Rindecision

Well, I'm sorry to wait so much to publish this fic for you but I wanted doing it in my birthday! I hope you enjoy it, it's a silly thing but I like to imagine even a sequel for it! Happy Holidays!

Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson; Eddie Munson/Billy Hagrove; Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson/Billy Hargrove (last two both implied)

Rating: Explicit

Wordcount: 5953

Warnings: Archive Warnings and Potential triggers

Tags: Movie references, Sex in a Church, Break up, Engagement, Secret relationship

Summary:  “Eddie…” whispered Steve, getting nearer to him. “I’m sorry,” Eddie kept saying, tears running between his fingers. Steve took his hands and moved them from his face. Eddie was beautiful. He was his man, his feelings for him weren’t changed, but he knew he wouldn’t change either. “I don’t want to lose you,” whispered Eddie, trying to calm down, moved for the closeness.  “It’s… too late,” whispered Steve in return, most to himself, really. His heart was beating like a drum. “No…” Steve sighed, closing his eyes to run off the mesmerizing sparkles of Eddie’s glance. “You know that things just can’t work. You… you don’t want to stop for me and I need something more”.

Steve Harrington is about to marry. But the love of his life isn't happy with it.

They broke up, but they are bonded to each other despite of it all.

Could they fix things, or it's over forever?

This fic is a part of the @steddieholidayexchange

Read it on Ao3

A little tease under the cut!

When Steve Harrington parked the car in the driveway of the house in Loch Nora, his mother, father and even the maid and the gardener were lined up at the entrance. 

Stella Harrington was wearing a summer large dress in white linen, the blonde hair lazily braided in a cozy hairdo that, anyway, smelled rich.

Steve opened the passenger door and a blonde, tall creature got out of the car; the rope sandals, the off-white dress and even the hairdo matched Steve’ mother.

The girl floated elegantly in the driveway at Steve’s side and graciously greeted his mother, extending her hands to Stella. Steve’s mother pursed his lips, looking furtively at his son's face, but then greeted the girl in return. Steve waited for his family and his fiancee entering the house, then sighed heavily and followed them.

After the big meeting with his family, it was the moment to drop the news with his found family. And while his mother, despite a certain surprise, could accept the girl and the situation, his friends wouldn't be so easy to convince.

All Robin could see when Steve opened the door for the girl in the mall parking lot, was a pale, ethereal East coast beauty, thin arms and thin waist, a bread not too full, just enough, classical features with blonde hair, perfectly messy as the casual wearing required, green eyes and a few freckles on the nose, not too much, not too few. She matched Steve’s Ralph Laurent pale blue polo, and when she leaned his hand on Steve’s, the diamond at her finger ring sparkled unequivocally.

Robin blinked a few times, just trying to focus and understand why the entire scene, apparently perfect, seemed so wrong to her.

“Robin, please meet Helen Miller,” he said. And the perfect name, thought Robin, stretching her hand a little baffled.

“Nice to meet you,” said Helen with a perfect, gracious voice. “Steve talks a lot about you”.

“But he didn’t mention you a single time” answered Robin in a low voice. Helen didn’t notice it, but Steve did and pushed a little Robin, with displeasure.

He introduced her again to Dustin, Max and Lucas; the three were as confused as Robin, but they didn’t say anything, and they all sat at the cafe and waited silently. Steve phoned them with the news, but no one believed it and were waiting for Steve to confirm or retract.

“So, Helen, what do you think of Hawkins?”

Helen lowered graciously his eyelashes, with an accent of a smile.

“We just pass on the interstate. But I see the church on the road… we will go tomorrow to talk with the pastor, right, darling?” She sweetly landed a hand on Steve’s hand.

Steve smiled nervously and nodded. He was distracted staring at the other side of the road , and a guy with a dirty rug in hands was standing in front of the garage, staring at Steve in return.

“We will talk to the pastor and celebrate the wedding on Sunday”.

Just in five days, thought Robin. Steve’s mother managed all the organization, and the girl ordered things from the East Coast and they were waiting for the delivery during those days. The wedding machine was already moving. Robin raised her eyes to the guy in front of the garage too, and sighed. She wasn't sure about all that rush, and that girl was not, even remotely, Steve’s type.

“Steve, darling, be an angel and refuel my car” said sweetly Mrs Harrington when they met at the mall, after greeting the guys, to buy some last things. “Helen and I have to do some errands, right, sweetheart?'' She put a hand on Helen's arm.

“Oh… well, ok,” Steve sighed. He would avoid the gas station but he couldn't explain why to his mother and his fiancee.

“So it’s true, you came back,” said Eddie Munson, the garage employee, while he was refueling the car and had nowhere to run. Steve kept his eyes low and bit his lips.

“And I heard another thing,” Eddie smiled, but his eyes weren’t as cool as his words. Steve kept silent. “So it’s true too? You’ll tie the knot with that elfic girl?”

Steve had to hide a little, silly smile. He put the pump on its side and finally faced Eddie.

“Yes, on Sunday”.

Eddie got nearer, far inside Steve’s personal space. Steve tried to stand still, although nervous.

“So I’m supposed to greet the happy couple,” said Eddie slyly, straightening Steve’s polo collar. Steve pursed his lips, raising his eyes and trying to look Eddie in the eyes, but despite all his efforts, his glance stopped on his lips. “Or should I greet the groom?” whispered Eddie, tucking a hand on Steve’s waist and pulling him dangerously close.

Steve just leaned against him and touched Eddie’s lips; he felt Eddie smiling on his lips, and tore away suddenly.

“No,” he said, pushing Eddie away. “No, I have to go. I have to go!” Steve went back in the car and went away with perhaps a little too much gas.

#stranger things #steve harrington #writing #steddie fic #steddie #steddie holiday exchange #billy hargrove #steve is about to marry #Eddie in love #christmas #its my birthday

[steady-star]

argopro has my FUCKING number i'll tell you what. i was nervous about them getting new outfits but i am always a fool for not trusting them to do epsi right and more. this is my insanity post so i don't get rate limited on twitter

starting with this bastard. i cannot BELIEVE they went this route. the more i look at it the more there is. he's only got one leg out which is a shame, but i think the covered leg is a nice compromise to convey his slightly matured vibe without taking away the original appeal of shu's character design (leg).

the cropped tank top is insane to me, like i don't think it was ever confirmed that shu's og black shirt was a tank top (ppl started drawing it that way because yuki's live outfit was a tank top, though that's a fairly practical choice considering how sweaty the performers get) but now they've just gone all in and shrank the hell out of it and made sure we know from the get-go that he's got little slivers of shoulder there and a big enough opening in the jacket to expose them entirely if it were to be pulled aside. god bless. and the midriff?????? i just checked and i'm fairly certain the ONLY navel we have ever seen before this was futa's dbes initial 4 star where his shirt is just barely floating up enough to see it. and now it's a permanent fixture in this creature's outfit. insane. insane. i'm not even going to talk about the fucking harness and its positioning

the jacket is immensely perfect; it keeps the key appeal of his old jacket (big chunky sleeves) while trimming up all the unnecessary parts and adding a lot of stylish flair. the holo parts being slightly transparent is super cool!!! and, i'm sure, serves to highlight shu's figure even more 😭 it's crazy how he went from such a loose, bulky, covered top half design to this insane array of bare skin and contours. he's gained confidence!!! and it's hard to tell but i wonder if this jacket still has a hood on it... and my favorite aspect of his old jacket was the "CHECK" text on the sleeves, since i liked to change the word for narrative art purposes, so i wonder if this new jacket's sleeves will still have any words or if it's just the epsi logo that you can see part of on his left sleeve.

his top half is really so perfectly tailored to the way i've liked to exploit/alter shu's original outfit in my art that it's almost suspicious lol. argopro staff secretly follows me!?!? i'm glad they have the same taste at any rate

misc items:

i'm a big fan of the new choker; the dangling epsi logo charm is super cute and cool, i hope they make official merch out of it

i also LOVE those gloves. don't know how to explain how it fits the energy of the new epsi and shu specifically so perfectly

i'll miss his old boots but i won't miss how hard they were to draw LOL, these new shoes look fun!!

thank you for keeping the garters. it's part of his dna. the "reverse" white garter on his right thigh is extremely funny

all the details around and on his shorts are needlessly complex. see the pink lines on his shorts that lead up to the white belt and wrap around it? it becomes black on one side. for whatever reason. just the number of things overlapping the white belt infuriates me lol. the striped belt has the only yellow in his outfit on its inner side and i wish he had more elsewhere. the holo belt... structure(?) with the epsi logo plastered all over is going to be hell and a half to draw. i am probably going to simplify this whole area when i draw it myself lol

the way his shorts are blue-black while the rest are neutral-black kinda bothers me 😭 maybe if they were more of a dark blue (a lighter shade than his other blacks) it might be better.... they're really going for the jrpg chara style of blacks-on-blacks and a million belts huh

THAT WAS A LOT OF COMPLAINTS BUT it all balances out

overall: very cute, very cool, surprisingly handsome, kind of slutty. i support him

skipping to reiji because i have priorities and he is the second member of epsi to ME. and to the dbes file data.

i was initially very surprised with this long coat thing with the segmented coattails(? if they should be called that), as i'm too used to seeing him in his trimmed and slender suit or school uniform... but he does wear long coats/other draping things in his dbes oufits (in the rain and yume no ato come to mind), so it's not out of character! the bright yellow on the inside and the squared sections seemed really familiar to me, and when i asked my brother he was like "isn't it like zhongli?" AND HE'S RIGHT... and it just so happens that zhongli is my favorite genshin character design, largely because of his cool coat, so argopro really did reach into my brain and made something nice for me. it also makes me think of penguins somehow.

most insane piece of this design is easily the chest harness made to look like a tie. whose fucking idea was that. it's so clever and ridiculous at the same time. most importantly it's still just as if not more yankable than his original tie, so shu will have an easier time than ever pulling reiji down to his eye level 🥰 i also like to pretend reiji has nice tits and this harness will help accentuate that if i shorten it up a little.

love the whore gloves. i used to hate these when they started showing up in a million character designs in other franchises but i understand their appeal now and i wholly approve of inflicting them upon reiji. black gloves in general really suit him, they're very cool and have an air of danger. i've also just read a tweet wondering if reiji's got black nail polish under his gloves like tadaomi and i'm super fine & normal with that thought. notably, shu and reiji are the only ones with gloves in this new set!

this is the most insane thing to be insane about but we have once again been denied the skin of reiji's left elbow. listen. we've never seen it. his sakura 3 star trained has his right elbow out. "the 3d outfit," you say. THE SLEEVES GOT ROLLED DOWN IN THE 3D OUTFIT! one time in puchi he rolled up his sleeve past the elbow.... only on the right arm. there's been a number of reiji chibi merch with tshirts but that elbow is always angled away. again and again his left elbow has never been seen in its full extent and this new outfit is the most hilarious iteration of hiding it because his right sleeve has the semi-translucent holo material, giving us screened access to his right elbow, BUT NOT HIS LEFT! regular dark opaque imprisoning fabric there. when i first noticed this phenomenon i joked he might have a scar or something that he prefers not to expose and the evidence only grows that he's hiding something there. just know that if we ever see that stupid elbow in full (and it's surely just a normal elbow) i'm going to get a little crazy on twitter for a bit

misc items:

his eyebrows have a steeper slant than they used to, especially for a fairly neutral expression! it makes him look a bit more like his support drummer, kitamura-san.

i like the coat lapels to preserve some of his suit aesthetic, and the white borders call to mind his handsome uniform blazer. so glad they're standard lapels and not notched or something, i'm not a huge fan of those

he's still got his stupid white dress shirt. good for him. it's going to get ruined but good for him

i am perplexed and very interested by the torn knee. this might be the first time we've even seen reiji's knee (do you like how i keep track of which swaths of reiji's skin we have been privy to) but i'm mostly surprised he'd wear something like that, considering he usually keeps such a refined image. guess he's loosening up a bit and embracing his cooler/rougher side!? thanks to shu i assume... :)

i'll miss his formal shoes but i think the style of these boots are a fairly good compromise in preserving his vibe while also fitting the new epsi aesthetic. they feel fantasy-like somehow. i am in fact dabbling with a medieval fantasy au so i'm glad some of the work's been done for me LOL

the holo-material bracelet on his raised hand is floating of its own accord. it must be minecraft enchanted.... the color even matches

one again reiji's terrible color palette bites him again because he looks incredibly clunky next to his more cohesively colored bandmates. it's the fact that he's got his very dark hair (compared to the rest of epsi) in a unique hue, then his cherry red eyes, then the purpleish holo material and epsi-pink accents, THEN the brightass yellow of his coattails. it's a lot of colors in one design relative to his bandmates. still questioning why he has the worst image color in argopro

there's a lot of miscellaneous detailing on his outfit that i don't really care for and were probably added just to make sure his design had the same density as the others, which is a shame since the others' designs more effortlessly include detail as part of the structure of their outfits (e.g. shu's shirt, harness, and jacket layering together) whereas reiji just has a bunch of accessories tacked on. i wonder if i can fix him

only shu and reiji have matching purplish holo material. what's up with that huh!!!!

overall: good enough! his harness, gloves, and coattails are the highlights for me. the potential of those alone make the drawbacks more negligible

ok back to band order

jacket is Cool As Fuck. great collar and overall silhouette, especially with his pose. i could do without the holo sleeve though, i wish it at least had a wide cuff. would be a nice callback to his og jacket

i want to know everything about his black top. there are clearly cuts at the shoulders but he still has sleeves. are they shoulder cutouts. are the sleeves arm warmers. are they attached to the inside of the jacket. all i can conclude is that the cuts combined with the high fitted collar and his visible collarbones is incredibly sexy. bonus points for that X-shaped thing and the belt, just to accentuate that area even more

he accessorizes yellow much better than the previous two, and the white gradients are a curious touch. gives the yellow less of the "⚠ caution" feeling of his old outfit and leans more towards it just being an eye-catching secondary color

his bottom half feels like a different design LOL. the shoes are kind of an eyesore with how much patterning and detail they have

his guitar is still so hideous and its proportions look even worse somehow. AND IT DOESN'T EVEN MATCH HIS OUTFIT

overall: ok! i think i am looking almost exclusively at his collar area down to his pick hand

CUTE. CUTE CUTE CUTE. this might be the strongest design of the bunch. everything actually matches.

bigass collar: GOOD. his jacket's sleeve situation is a mirror image of haruka's: GOOD. the green perfectly matches his bass's pickguard: GOOD. very successful jacket. again don't like the holo sleeve but i think with both him and haruka i'd like it more if they were a) the same purple holo as shu and reiji or b) just rendered differently. maybe i'll like it better in card art or something

love the wide-necked shirt, that was always his thing. i think the stripes on the lower half are odd somehow, i feel like they should be diagonal instead of horizontal... maybe it's because of it being right next to his spotted bass

his pants are an absolute success in matching his outfit and calling back to his original design

very good yellow accessorizing and i think he pulls it off best because of his pants + his green matching it very well

unfortunate shoe situation again but it's slightly less bad here. also both haruka and kanata have their instrument role + their names printed on the shoes which is funny

overall: chef's kiss. an excellent composition of his old aesthetic with new epsi

somehow manages to fit within the aesthetic perfectly fine while also looking out of place. as expected of tadaomi

all around very solid jacket! i like the holo sleeve windows; you can see where his shirt's sleeves end on his biceps. kinda cute + hot. curiously he's got more sleeve on his left arm so there's another haruka situation here

HIS PAINTED NAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! his og design's rings and this design's nails do a good show of highlighting his pianist hands, especially in the absence of his instrument in the visual

the holo strip thing coming off his collar is kinda like a tie lol? so he gets that little splash of formality, or perhaps something vaguely reminiscent of his "prince" image....

i'm curious about those white belts forming a V.... where do they go.... they look nice tho

i wish his shirt was slim fitting like haruka and shu 😔😔😔

his pants and shoes are very pleasing in their detail distribution. nijos take notes

i really like the diagonal striped pattern on the cuffs of his boots; this pattern also appears on other epsi members and brings back that sort of "⚠ caution" feeling i mentioned earlier, since it's like yellow warning tape/signs/etc

it's a shame the beautiful french grey of his hair sticks out so much with epsi's unnatural color palette

very notably, tadaomi doesn't have an ounce of yellow in his outfit. which should mean something or other. probably

i'm really trying to find something to elaborate on and i think that in itself makes a point about how oddly inconspicuous his outfit is

overall: enigmatic but attractive. exactly as he should be

so that's everything for now!! i didn't say everything i could have said but i have said Enough. in the end i'm pretty pleased with these designs even though the original ones will always hold an immutable place in my heart. i hope we get to see more angles of them for drawing reference soon

#from argonavis #kimisute #ujigawa shu #karasuma reiji #nijo haruka #nijo kanata #kurama tadaomi #ss text

[variousqueerthings]

You are the stupidest idiot ever! But I'm not going to let you die // In amongst seven billion, there's someone like you. That's why I put up with the rest of them.

OKAY! Pyramid at the end of the World +Lie Of The Land!

these are the last two that I didn't write notes for and it's been a hot second so probably have forgotten Some Stuff. that being said, they're... interesting. at some point there needs to be an analysis done of bill's season and why it does and doesn't work (mainly that I wish it had come sooner and/or been longer). BUT ANYWAY!

I put these episodes together, although the tonal shift is quite big in between, but it is one story that follows on from extremis. it's kinda Bill's "wandering the earth for a year six months" so obvs I'm going to compare it to Martha a little. they even used a bit of s3 music in there!

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 5/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 7/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 70/100 (if I can count….)

I gave this one a solid 70 out of 100. I think that's fair enough -- they're not necessarily my favourite stories (in fact I do kvetch about them a fair bit I think), but I do think they manage something M*ffat often struggles with, which is building a Big story that is also comprehensive and involves the companion in material ways

OBJECTIFICATION: listen, I do not remember. I think these episodes are free from this though.

PLOT-POINT: Bill technically does get to have feelings about things and these feelings do partially drive the plot -- she gets the Doctor's sight back, her feelings about her mother save the day, and she's very driven to save the world throughout (and her lovely self is what drives the Doctor to say today's second quote in the title, a sentiment that says a lot about who the Doctor is in this incarnation and the relationship between the two of them)

it doooes highlight how some of these things still suffer from M*ffat's penchant of just. throwing things at the wall in lieu of building a cohesive, deep thematic arc. the strongest part in my opinion is Bill getting the Doctor's sight back/saving the Doctor's life. I get why she feels this close to the Doctor at this point, what sort of a person she is that would take on this sacrifice, and how it drives the story

(I have mixed feelings about the Doctor being blind in the first place, it was never given any space in the story beyond being a narrative hindrance, and at the end of this it's simply fixed and never spoken about again. what was the point of having the Doctor be blind for about three episodes? but the bit where Bill finds out and saves him is good for me)

Bill's mother... doesn't have a name. it's the oddest oversight and leads to the incredibly silly line "Bill's mum... you've just gone viral." she's meant to be one of the core drivers of Bill's background, but it falls to pieces without a name, she's just a fridged mother without any personality --- also see me nitpicking, but this is the second companion in a row with a dead mother that should be at the center of who they are, but is sort of conveniently just there when needed. it was worse with Clara, because her mother was fully dropped from the storyline after s7, but it's... noticeable. at least Amy's parents came back from the dead (although were then never mentioned again). you can feel M*ffat tryyying to figure out those family relationship plots and being a different kind of bad at it with every companion

I still think Bill's is the best of these, simply because there are some bits and pieces of continuously acknowledging her mother's emotional presence in her life, but oof. it's tough being a no name dead mother character

also one thing I want to bring up that knocked this a full point was the Doctor and Nardole manipulating Bill into thinking the Doctor was on the side of the invading aliens to the point that she was going to shoot him dead (in her own head, she doesn't know about regeneration), and then completely brush it off afterwards. I think it's one of the crueller bits of writing from M*ffat and hearkens back to especially how he would write Sherlock. it very much undermines the development of Twelve as well, who's ostensibly learning to become kinder throughout his arc, and the Main thing is... if I'm going to compare this to Martha in s3 somewhat...

a. Bill is totally alone in remembering the events of the last six months, apart from the Doctor and pooossibly the handful of soldiers who were deprogrammed, from what I understand. this is not at all explored

b. Bill spends these six months trying to stay sane, and okay, so the Doctor is? isn't? held prisoner by the monks on this big ship, Nardole says he needed x amount of time to find him, but reaaally none of that makes a whole lotta sense the more one tries to break it down, and the bottom line is... there is no real point to Bill being there, other than the Doctor wanting her there. yes, the remembering her mother does become important later on, but that's not initially the plan, the plan is to just ask the Master what to do from the sounds of it, and I'm mainly just very very confused about the whole opening section of this plot. it's not well-written in that classic M*ffat way that makes it seem polished on the surface, but is full of holes that get waved away... and it's all, from what I can tell, in service of this big reveal that the Doctor was actually never on the side of the monks, because that whole section is cool

it's not really about Bill at all, as is obvious when we move past it immediately into "and then the Doctor continues to be cool"

(the stuff with the Master then gives us more pathos, but the opening is... bad)

... I could write a whole lot more about it tbh, but I'm not going to, it was stupid on several levels, took away

COMPLEXITY: a lot of this is over-the-top M*ffat nonsense, especially in pyramids of mars, where we mostly eschew your everyday perspective in order to focus on generals and world leaders or whatever. we do though have a (in my opinion) fun little tense counterpoint with two scientists who due to a series of little errors almost destroy the world. I actually do have questions about that though, in terms of what the heck was extremis for as a plot, if the invasion plan was to create a series of coincidences (I guess they have some reality controlling powers considering as well how they shift historical perceptions, but it's not explored all that much -- I'd say they fit well in the rtd2 upcoming era about gods and myths, but I don't have that much interest in seeing them again tbh) and then emotionally manipulate someone into handing over the world (my point isn't that this plan doesn't make sense in a Doctor Who way, my point is that extremis makes no sense)

questions questions. also oooh there were ways of recentering this on Bill, because apparently if Bill dies then the monks might be defeated. so why in the world do they just let her run around like she does? I mean, there's some real fucked up fun potential in all of this, surely Bill should be waaay more at the core of this plot than she is, she's key to their survival on this planet, and having just reread the transcipt, the Master has a throwaway line that says if they're booted off the planet due to the link (Bill) dying, they just chalk it up to experience... but there could have been more than that. more than just "eh, they're not that bothered one way or another"

bored aliens with (comparatively) godlike powers toying with earth is a good story, but it's not, in my opinion, this story. in this story it makes them seem less consequential, their motives even more opaque than they already were, and Bill's journey through the story meaningless -- again, to compare to the Jones Family Experience, the fact that they're the only ones to remember the events of the year of hell is one huge part of the trauma. they're glad the earth was healed, but they will always have the memories. Bill, by contrast, isn't given the space to rage against everything happening here, she just sadly accepts it, and maybe that's who she is. maybe that's the six months spent in it all. but I don't think it's well enough explored from her perspective in the text to really say

I think I'm rambling a bit, but it's something about Bill as sacrificial lamb, and it's going to come up again, I know, I know the ending of this season, I just don't remember how it's written. we shall see! but from a character pov I want more -- well, I want less of the Big Important Quick Moving Plots That Leave You Spinning And Going "hold on did that make sense?" and more character-centric narrative in this, but ah well

it's not the worst of these, I'm just kind of digging into what's missing. Bill is still fantastic to me, even if her mum isn't allowed to have a name, and generally she does have more grounding and things to do than either Amy or Clara, but there's a niggling feeling the whole way through -- this is the last season, so Bill is defining that ending, she's got to carry a whole lot after 5 previous seasons of very messy storytelling, she's a very different character to pretty much every M*ffat female character, so it's like there's a hit or miss with the story that I really wish there wasn't, because it's the last flipping season and you would have thought some of these basic narrative things were things a showrunner for one of the most high profile tv shows in the world knew how to do, but it seems like he's only just learning the ropes now

and he still overly relies on montages

actually the real issue with this three-parter was the pacing. the pacing was atrocious

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: we get a whole bunch of the Master in this one, which I think is great of course

it does contrast how I don't think Bill has changed all that much from extremis to now, because the Master is in... two scenes? and comes so far. although, to be fair, the Master technically has been in scenes since 1970 so there's a whole lotta foundations there

but yeah, the Master stuff to me is always satisfying

and of course Bill has now met the Master, which is exciting!

COMPANIONS MATTER: I do think Bill matters in this. she makes decisions absent of the Doctor that massively drive the plot, the main three of which are "gets the Doctor his sight back, thereby saving his life," "keeps her sanity/memories of reality completely on her own," (seriously that seems to be nigh-impossible and she never stumbles) and "puts herself in the brain-mincing machine and wins"

one in several billion indeed

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: mmmmm not so much in the first one, and technically Bill saves the day in both of them. he's a bit of a dick though, is my main thing about the Doctor in all of this. I actually just think he's oddly underwritten/out of focus? which is rare in M*ffat, usually the companion suffers this

he comes most into focus again during the Master scenes and during the end-sequence, but yeah. it made me realise that the Doctor really should have been properly helpless and Bill should have saved him from the monks/driven the plot even more, because it felt like the Doctor was smushed in there a bit to be a bit Doctor-y but then was kind of pointless

now makes me think of this alt plot: Bill remembers the vault from when she came across it in the first episode, and sneaks in periodically to try and get into it/speak with whatever creature is clearly on the other side. make this less than six months, because that was nuts. she gets in, meets the Master and it's really a Bill and the Master episode, akin to s9ep2 with Clara, except this time the Master is claiming to have become good, honest (Bill makes some deductions about why the Doctor might be keeping her in there, idk, but also can't get her out anyway) and you're left to wonder whether the Master would sacrifice Bill to save the day/the Doctor... again, like Clara

and so she helps Bill save the Doctor and get to the lair, and Bill already knows about the dying, which of course, the Master trying to kill Clara was a massive point of division between the Master/the Doctor, and this feels like that .2 except the Master swears this was all to save the world, etcetc...

and Nardole dies early on or smthin

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: I cannot remember, but I think not really anything + the callback to s3 makes you go "ah yeah, but s3 had a thematic throughline that led to Martha wandering the earth for a year and then leaving the Tardis, because it was all a fucking mess, while these episodes don't really take Bill in a new direction, from what I can tell + are just sort of plonked in the middle of the season"

“SEXINESS”: listen, considering the Master is in this and I'd even allow some silly lines from the Master (and we do get "that's Spanish for hot!" although that's technically related to them playing the game "hot or cold") we're remarkably free from all this nonsense

INTERNAL WORLD: I think the first episode is more of a mess than the second. the second is meant to be incompatible with reality upon close inspection, it's a flawed reality-bending tool using the brain of one woman, but the first one with the pyramid and president of earth making a reappearance, that was more suspect to me

POLITICS: I liked the casting of the main scientist in the first episode, she was cool and fun to watch -- I kind of wish she'd been in the second one too, to give it more throughline. after all she was also at the eye of the storm, I was sort of missing her. but yeah, I enjoyed some diverse casting practice in the first place

the whole "we've got prison camps now" bit was a bit surface-level nothing. I don't think it was even meant to be anything other than "see the monks are baaad" dystopian type stuff 1-0-1 but I think one can do more with that than this episode did

generally, again, I dislike whenever Doctor Who makes things too disconnected from ordinary people and gives the focus to "the important people" (and it's not just M*ffat who does this, but he did introduce the president of the world stupidity). it's not a show I watch for idk presidents and generals and armies (unless it's a story about that in some deliberate way -- not as set dressing!) and it takes away any thematic weight -- in the end the monks are gone again and... nobody was harmed? weren't people potentially killed? didn't they literally build camps and have people in them? what happened to that scientist who almost destroyed the world?

ungrounded, on the whole, but not offensive, except for the fuckn "let's manipulate Bill" part of it

FULL RATING: 70/100 (if I can count….)

I don't know if I'm nitpicking with these two, mostly because they just didn't speak to me much on an emotional level. they're perfectly serviceable on the whole, avoiding some of the more egregious mistakes of M*ffat-era, but they're a bit hollow to me

I very much enjoyed the Master parts (shocker), and Bill's competency, but it does on the whole feel like a lot of set dressing that was missing a bit of spark

#the measurement #im watching capaldi who #episode the pyramid at the end of the world #episode the lie of the land #the rambles were more rambly this time around