#because when i was young i paused this exact scene to find out how many eggs did taichi use

[earlgreymon]

digimon adventure (1999) ep 21

#digimon #by me #digigraphic #digiedit #gif #taichi yagami #i will always have a soft spot for food #particularly this scene #because when i was young i paused this exact scene to find out how many eggs did taichi use #AND THEN I FRICKIN' GRABBED 8 EGGS FROM THE FRIDGE JUST FOR 1 OMELET #and my mother was livid lol #anime #foodporn #japanese food #omurice #anime food #aesthetic #anime cooking

[seita]

— live now: redlove | eijirou kirishima (m.)

pairing: eijirou kirishima/reader ft. katsuki bakugou.

genre: fluff, smut, pwp

wordcount: 𝟷𝟼𝟹𝟽

cw: cam couple!au, prohero!bakugou, established relationship

tags: voyeurism (bakugou’s pov), dirty talk, masturbation, humilation/degredation, begging, light praise, rough sex, doggy style, choking, hair pulling, light spanking, baku has a crush

note: i have no excuses for this lmao. i was originally gonna make this into a fic where bakugou joins u nd kiri but,,,i kind of want to make this like a series or something????

—  bakugou enjoys porn. especially live cam porn. he discovers the cam couple redlove and is immediately smitten.

blog navigation.

 next. the lottery: redlove ⇨

© all content belongs to seita 2020. do not modify or repost.    

Bakugou watched porn. Just like every other guy on the planet. He enjoyed it, especially since as a pro-hero, he didn’t have the opportunity to get into sustainable relationships. He was the #2 hero so finding himself someone who wanted him because he was Katsuki Bakugou and not Ground Zero was near impossible. 

So, he turned to porn. Sounds sad now that he thought about it but truthfully, he never thought twice about it. It was just the way things were. 

More specifically, he had an interest in cam porn. The live stream kind. He couldn’t quite pinpoint why that was ― there was just something alluring about watching porn live. 

Usually, he stuck to solo girl content, every once in a while he’d venture to the male side. It was only recently, however, that he discovered the booming community of couples cams. 

Watching couples have sex live was even more enticing than watching men and woman masturbate or watching amateur porn. It seemed so intimate, watching these couples together. Almost forbidden. 

And he was sure that was exactly what made him cum so hard every single time. He liked watching these couples have sex, feeling like he was seeing something he wasn’t supposed to.

Many times, he’d stroke his cock to the idea of being humiliated by a couple as he watched them together. Filthy thoughts and words filtered into his mind, his eyes closed as he panted to the idea. They’d call him disgusting, a pig for getting hard watching ―  how only a slut would act as lewd as he did. Maybe they’d shame him; #2 pro hero Ground Zero a pathetic whore. 

It wasn’t until one night, he laid in bed browsing the couple’s livestreams on his favorite website, he discovered one couple that immediately caught his eye. The thumbnail showed a redheaded guy with spiky hair sitting on the edge of the bed with a pretty girl with marvelously smooth skin sat behind him with her arms wrapped around his shoulders. The young man’s hair color must have been the inspiration behind their channel name: redlove. He could only assume they had just started the stream and were looking at comments when the picture set. 

The stream was titled “We had a long day”. Bakugou couldn’t help but scoff at such a title, it was hardly enticing. Most streams had things like ‘watch me squirt until i cry!!!’ or “he makes my pussy hurt so good” or some other cringy shit. He would have been tempted to scroll past but he couldn’t deny just how attractive the couple was. Not to say there weren’t attractive people doing cam porn, no he’d seen his fair share of beautiful women and handsome men. 

But redlove were stunning together. They looked like a perfect match, he could tell just by how you were holding him that just oozed affection for the redhead. 

Another thing that caught the blonde’s eye was the view count: most cammers had in the double digits ― 20 or 30 viewers. Every once in a while he’d catch a particularly popular cammer and see a few hundred but it had never exceeded 200. So the live view count, the number of people watching them at that exact moment, was currently displayed on redlove’s stream link had him baffled.

Edging on 800 viewers. Sitting at 782.

It was clear the two of you were immensely popular. There had to be a good reason. 

Curious and thoroughly intrigued, he tapped the screen of his phone to get into their stream. 

It took a moment to buffer, all the activity with the chat making it lag a bit. When it finally finished loading, Bakugou felt like the air had been punched out of his lungs. His cock was immediately hard, straining against his boxers.

It was clear the two of you had been streaming for a while, judging by the fucked out blissful look on your face. Sweat glistened on your skin in the illuminating light of your bedroom.

You were on your hands and knees, your redheaded boyfriend on his knees behind you on a messed up bed, a pillow nearby that Bakugou assumed had been used to prop your hips up at one point. Your hair was wrapped tightly in his fist, using it for leverage as he hammered his cock into what Bakugou could only imagine was an absolutely dripping wet cunt. 

The sounds you made were downright sinful, your lips swollen from no doubt kissing and biting. The redhead grunted suddenly, jerking you up onto your knees so your back was pressed against his chest. Bakugou couldn’t resist reaching down to palm his aching cock, throbbing and painful from neglect. 

Your boyfriend groaned, glancing at the camera, “Everyone’s got a good view of your little cunt now, huh?” he growled moving his grip from your hair to your throat, “You like that, I can feel you squeezing me at the thought of all these people watching your pussy stretch on my cock. You’re stuffed so fuckin’ full you can barely stand it, isn’t that right?”

Bakugou couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene. The4 dominance the redhead exuded rivaled his own and the way you so easily fell submissively to him was beautiful. There was so much trust in you ― knowing your boyfriend would take good care of you. Bakugou’s heart ached ever so slightly at the idea ― it was clear your relationship was a good one. It was something the pro hero would never hope to have himself.

You didn’t respond, your eyes rolling back in your head before closing. Your mouth was open, no sounds escaping due to the tight grip the redhead had on your throat. Your head rolled back to rest on his shoulder, legs spread to let him fuck your hole with everything he had. Your weight was braced completely on him, your partner dutifully supporting your body as you let him have his way.

With his free hand, he palmed your breast, pinching your nipple harshly to make you keen. Bakugou felt his cock throb at the sound. It was so whiny, pathetic. You were so completely submissive and at the mercy of your boyfriend. And you were loving every second of it. 

Bakugou couldn’t deny he enjoyed witnessing it himself.

Your cunt was stretched wide, the HD camera giving spectacular quality to the way your juices dripped down the length plunging into your body. It dripped off of his balls and down your thighs. So fucking messy. 

The redhead’s cock was big, something Bakugou himself could even feel envious of despite his own well-endowed size. Your cunt was tight, no doubt requiring a good amount of preparation to take him. He wondered if you enjoyed the stinging burn of pain when you took the cock. The blonde made a mental note to check out your part streams later.

“Gonna...gonna cum,” you gasped, warning your boyfriend. 

He scoffed, sounding annoyed, “Do it then. I don’t give a shit.”

“Please, can’t!” you sobbed, finally opening your eyes to look up at him. He wore a cocky grin, knowing your pleasure laid in his hands. 

“Why?” he teased, abandoning his hold on your breast to travel down the soft skin of your stomach, pausing right above where you needed him, “You need me to touch your little clit, hm? Is that what it is?” 

You nodded desperately, grinding your hips down every time he sunk his cock into you, hoping to get more than you were being given, “Please!”

“Alright,” he sighed, pressing a kiss against your temple. The gesture was oddly soft and intimate in comparison to the harsh, punishing pace of his cock, “You had a long day. I’ll be nice. You better thank me for making this greedy little cunt cum.”

Finally, his fingers reached your swollen clit. A couple practiced circles over the bud had you tumbling over the edge. Bakugou gripped his cock through the material of his boxers as he watched you tremble and moan as the redhead fucked you through the high. 

Letting out a sob at the overstimulation when your boyfriend still didn’t stop when you came down, you choked out, “Th-Thank you!”

“Good girl,” your boyfriend grinned, letting you fall back into your original position with your face buried in the blankets. The redhead tossed his head back, gripping your hips as he fucked into you, chasing his own orgasm. He laid a few harsh slaps against your ass, making you whimper, flinching at the impact but not running from it. Bakugou could hear the sharp sound of his hand making contact with your skin. Now that you had cum, the redhead let himself go. 

And he did. Your boyfriend let out a groan of pleasure, announcing his release. He didn’t pull out, pouring his hot cum into your overstimulated cunt.

Bakugou’s cock throbbed once, twice before he was spilling a load of hot cum into his boxers. The white cum oozed through the fibers as his thighs trembled.

When he came back to himself, he looked at the screen to find you had curled up on your side with a dreamy smile aimed at your boyfriend, Bakugou couldn’t help but smile at the screen at how cute you looked. He moved towards the camera with a grin, having already pulled out.

“Thanks for watchin’!” that was all he said before the screen went dark and bold white letters flashed over the screen that said ‘this stream has ended.’

Bakugou’s attention moved to the chat, checking to see what was being talked about. 

The comment that caught his eye was, “Eijirou and ______ are literally the power couple of porn.”

Bakugou sighed. Eijirou and ______. 

The names of his new favorite cam couple. 

#bnha x reader #kirishima x reader #bakugou x reader #kirishima smut #bakugou smut #bnha smut #mha x reader #mha smut #katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #eijirou kirishima x reader #kirishima eijirou x reader #afton.writes

[inkandpen22]

Permanent Chaos (3/?)

Pairing: MGK x Female!Reader

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: mild swearing, mentions of smut, mentions of underage drinking 

Part Summary: Sam and Y/N are on The Late Late Show to promote The Seasons of Life. 

Masterlist

Before the interview, Nicole practices questions with me so I don’t get blindsided. Meanwhile, Sam and his manager, Steven, practice talking about our upcoming photo shoot for Vanity Fair. Steven is much more laid back than Nicole. Sam is free to do whatever he pleases. The country sees him as an average twenty-something. If he ever messed up he would be forgiven. Nicole emphasizes to me whenever she can that I have no room for error. I must be a saint as “America’s Sweetheart.”

There’s a knock at the door to our dressing room and Steven opens it. A man with a check board and a headset instructs, “Ms. Voss, Mr. Merka you’ll be on in five. If you could follow me.”

“We’ll be right off camera if you need us!” Nicole informs me and Steven agrees with a hum.

“Have fun guys!” he adds.

Sam holds the door for me and the two of us follow the man down the hall into backstage. Sam takes my hand as a precaution, just in case the chaos might separate us. Through double doors, we enter backstage and we’re stopped behind where we’re meant to enter. Loud music begins to echo from the stage and I recognize the song as one of Machine Gun Kelly’s. He’s all the rage now, one of those rockstars that girls fifteen and up obsess over. I don’t have much space left in my mind to obsess with everything going on. As we wait, I bop and sway my head back and forth to the beat absentmindedly.

The man says over his shoulder, “he’s great huh!”

I frowned confused, “wait, is he performing live?”

The man raises an eyebrow as if the answer is obvious. “Yeah, his interview was a few minutes ago. I’m surprised you didn’t cross paths when you got here.” He’s then pulled away by a lady dressed in all black. “I’ll right back! Stay right here!”

I scoff under my breath, the dude treated me like a dingus.

“Well, he was friendly” Sam mutters sarcastically under his breath.

“Right! Geez, he’s what? Only around four years older than you? At least he looked it. My bad for not knowing I’m apparently in the same building as a god!”

Sam snickers but covers his mouth since we’re not allowed to be loud. The song ends and the crowd goes wild on the other side.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Machine Gun Kelly!” The applause goes on and on with James attempting to speak over it into the camera. “After the break, we’ll have the breakout stars from the hottest show of the decade The Seasons of Life, Y/N Voss, and Sam Merka! So don’t go anywhere!”

The audience gets loud at the sound of our names and a shot of adrenaline rushes through me. People rush around backstage to get the music equipment off the set. Sam and I move up against the wall so people can get through. The crew is yelling to make the switch quick. Propping myself up against the wall, I watch the chaos happening. Sam leans against the wall and faces me. I don’t mind the tight quarters though. He acts like a wall, blocking me from the craziness.

“It never gets like this on set,” Sam says, scanning the stage.

“That’s because we don’t film live,” I remind him with a chuckle.

My arms cross over my chest and Sam props his elbow on my shoulder. If this was a photoshoot, this would be a great shot of us. We’re being ourselves, depending on each other as per usual. We’re comfortable with one another. To kill time, I glance around as people move about backstage. My eyes meet a lengthy, bleach blonde, tattoo-covered musician walking off stage. He instantly goes for the guitar case against the far wall in the corner. As if he could feel me looking, his attention snaps away from his guitar and toward me. His focused features gently fall as he stares at me from across the busyness of the show. A chill shoots up my spine and spreads across my face. Instantly, I'm drawn in and can't find the means to look away.

Sam steals my attention when he straightens up in my side view. “We’re on,” he informs me.

I immediately bring to focus and adjust my floral pencil skirt to appear put together.

The man from before leads us up to where he left us last. “Okay, here’s the deal. James will announce your names. There will be cheers, you will walk out together and sit on the couch. The order in which you sit doesn’t matter.” He pauses to press on his headset, “sure, alright, one minute.”

I shift my head to the side and yet again I see them, the same pair of eyes that made me freeze. I quickly snap my attention forward as though I’ve been caught red-handed. He’s not what I had expected. I’ve heard of Machine Gun Kelly, who hasn’t? I’ve seen pictures here and there. I’ve heard a song or two. Never in a million did I ever imagine we would meet eyes and he would make me stop breathing for a second. It was nothing short of groundbreaking. It’s dangerous and immaculate at the same time.

Soon, the noise of the audience dies down to signal the end of the commercial break. Sam and I are told to walk out so we cross through the corridor. Sam leads and reaches his hand back for me to take. I do so mindlessly since it’s what we always do. We wave to the audience and James stands up to greet us. He hugs Sam and they exchange a few words. I keep on waving to the audience and point towards a girl who has a shirt with the show’s title on it. Sam moves over so James and I can say hello.

“Hi, James! How are you?” I greet as we embrace.

“Excellent, how are you, Sweetheart?” He charms.

“Great! Excited to be here!” I gush as I shuffle to the side to settle on the couch beside Sam.

“Thirty seconds!” A man, whom I assume is the producer, announced loudly.

I sit down next to Sam on the light blue velvet couch. He sits back and crosses his arm over the back of the couch behind me then slides it down to rest over my shoulders. I lean into his side, crossing my legs toward him. 

“Five seconds!” James sits down in his black desk chair next to Sam and looks into the camera. He’s given the signal and he lights up. “I’m joined here by the two biggest young stars of the decade, Y/N Voss and Sam Merka!” The audience applauds loudly and I wave to all of them. James turns to us with a bright grin. “First off, how are you two?”

“We’re great, couldn’t be better!” Sam answers with a charming smile. He takes my hand and I rest them on my lap instinctively.

At the start of the series, our management and the show’s team encouraged us to be mildly affectionate in public situations to promote interest in our tv counterparts. Since then, it’s come so naturally to us because as friends we genuinely feel better when we have physical contact when on display. We’re security blankets for one another.

James continues, “you two play the power couple, Hollyn and Elliot, on the hit show The Seasons of Life, better known simply as Seasons. It’s all anyone is talking about lately! Has all the publicity changed your lives at all?”

Nervously, I tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear before I speak. “I can’t speak for Sam, but at least for me, I answer with a confident “yes!” The Seasons of Life has changed every aspect of my life. When we first started filming the first season, I was still living in South Carolina. I went to a normal high school and had to travel back and forth between here and there. Back then, no one really knew of me. I was your average teenage girl trying to have the best of both worlds.”

James nods, seemingly fascinated by my response.

Sam smiles in agreement, switching his sight between James and myself. “My story is basically the same except I was in college studying law.”

“That’s right!” James perks up, “There’s a decent age gap between the two of you!”

We glance at each other and nod, both of us grinning.

“Does that make the more romantic scenes between Hollyn and Elliot harder?” James inquires.

“No, not at all” I answer, squeezing Sam’s hand.

“Y/N has always acted with such maturity and grace that she makes it unbelievable easy onset. The eight years feel nearly nonexistent.”

“We haven’t had too many extremely romantic scenes,” I add jokingly, looking fondly at Sam.

He meets my gaze and hums in agreement. “Have to build up that suspense!”

James laughs at Sam’s remark and goes on with his questions. “Last year, during the season finale, Twitter blew up because your characters finally got together! And had that bow-chicka-wow-wow scene,” James wiggles his eyebrows. The audience cheers in excitement. Everyone was over the moon about the scene. “Y/N, what was going through your mind during that scene?”

“Sam, Jonathan, and the rest of the Seasons family never fail to make me feel so secure onset. For that scene, in particular, Jonathan made sure it was just the three of us on set so that space felt relaxed. It was my first time ever filming a sex scene of that magnitude and I was so lucky to have this fella right here to help me,” I gush as I place my hand on Sam’s knee with a pat.

“That’s lovely,” James feeds into the sappiness that the audience eats up. “Was there ever talk of getting a double for you?”

“I told our director, the producers, everyone that only I can do the scene. It didn’t feel right to me to have someone else play Hollyn. Especially for a scene that would have such an impact on the characters involved. The fans had been begging for Elliot and Hollyn to finally get together and I couldn’t pass up being a part of the moment when they finally did. It wouldn’t have been fair to the fans if it wasn’t me playing the role.”

The audience approves of my response with their loud reaction which eases my nerves immensely.

“Absolutely incredible,” James compliments. “I can’t imagine the scene being done without you two. I mean, you two have such chemistry! What were your reactions to watching the infamous final scene? Did you watch it together?!”

Sam and I side-eye one another then burst out laughing because I can recall my exact words. I’m sure he can too.

“This is a question for Y/N,” he points out between laughter.

I hit the back of my hand on his stomach, “why me?!”

“You said!” He chuckles, so he does remember my words.

I get the giggles as James pushes me to answer. I settle down and catch my breath. “Well, I had a watch party at my house with the cast, and right after the scene happened and the show cuts to the dramatic final credits, I yelled “yay! Hollyn finally got laid!”

James hides his face with his cards as he laughs. Laughs of all kinds spread throughout the audience and I can feel my face getting warm. James’s laugh is contagious and I can’t stop.

“You all know how uptight Hollyn could be! Maybe she’ll be a little more laid back!” I add with a shrug and James bursts out laughing.

“You two are absolutely hilarious,” he wipes his watery eyes. “And adorable! Please tell me you’re dating in real life!”

Sam hiss between his teeth and glances at me. “I’m sorry, we’re not…” he answers hesitantly.

“What!” James’s jaw drops, “but you two are so cute together! I mean, you’ve been holding hands the entire time!”

We shake our heads and Sam explains for us both. “Y/N and I are super close. We can see how people would assume we’re dating but in all honesty, we’re just really good friends. Considering, for example, to have done the final scene from last season we kinda have to be. We met when she was just a teenager and I was in graduate school. We’ve seen each other grow. We’ve been around the world together and since our characters are paired together, so are we. Meaning, we’re constantly together and I’m thankful we are because I’m so lucky to have such an amazing partner in all of this.”

“Aw, isn’t he the sweetest!” I pout playfully and rest my head on his shoulder.

“Ugh, can we change the whole “only friends” thing?” James begs. “I ship it!”

The audience agrees and then he moves on to talk about the next season. We say all that can be shared at the time being and we share some pictures from filming yesterday as a teaser for the season.

“Y/N, is that you crying here?” James questions.

The photo on the scene behind us shows the part where I cry because Elliot just told Hollyn she’ll only ever be a rich girl from Los Angeles.

“Yeah, the first episode is filled with drama! Elliot and Hollyn already have a rocky time.”

“No! You’re joking!” He whines, disappointed.

We flip through more photos and answer a few more questions. James says into the camera that when we get back we’ll be playing a game. The game is Who is Most Likely To? Between me and Sam who is more likely to…

After the commercial break, James looks toward the camera with the utmost enthusiasm. “And we are back with Y/N and Sam! I have given each of them a paddle! One side says Y/N and the other reads Sam! Now, the game is Who is Most Likely To? So, between the two of you, who is more likely to “fill in the blank?” We all set?”

“We’re good!” Sam and I say at the same time as if we practiced.

“Alrighty, question number one...” James reads his cards. “Who is most likely to sleep until noon?”

I instantly flip my paddle to myself without a second thought. Sam is such an early bird. The type to get a five-mile jog in by ten. I lean forward and Sam said me as well.

“I’m not gonna deny it. If I could I would stay in bed all day,” I giggle without shame.

“You have stayed in bed all day,” Sam teases and I playfully nudge him in the arm. The whole set finds it humorous.

“Who is most likely to get a tattoo?” James reads with a raised brow.

The audience “ooh’s” in anticipation. I flip my paddle to Sam’s side, never in a million years would I get a tattoo.

“Y/N, you flipped your paddle super fast. Why is that?” James inquires.

“Mhm, nope! There will be no ink on this skin!” I wave my head frantically. “Sam can do whatever he wants with his body but it’s a no for me.”

“We’ve actually talked about tattoos before and I plan on getting one here soon,” Sam describes.

James asks him about what he plans on getting and that conversation goes on a minute or two. Sam explains where he plans on placing the tattoo and when he’ll get it done.

James reads over the card and smirks, “who is most likely to date another celebrity?”

Sam, no doubt. I feel no urge to date, thank you very much.

“Oh! Looks like we got ourselves a mix-up! Sam said Y/N and Y/N said, Sam!” James laughs toward the audience.

“Me?!” I gasp, earning amusement from the audience.

Sam turns his body to face me, “why not?”

“You know, if you two dated this could work itself out,” James points out to get a reaction from the crowd.

“I’m not really looking to date at the moment,” I explain, and James is surprised. I explain further, “the show is important to me and this summer I just want to fun. Plus, my schedule is quite hectic and I would feel bad for dragging someone else into it all.”

He completely understands and asks the final question. “Who is most likely to get married first?”

I flip my board to Sam again. James starts to laugh and I comprehend that it’s the same case as last time. I check Sam’s and I’m right, he said to me.

“Why do you keep putting me?” I fuss playfully.

“Because it’s true! You’re such a little liar to say me!” Sam teases.

“You’re older!” I reason.

“Oh please,” Sam rolls his eyes and leans back into the couch.

“I’ll have to agree with Sam on this one,” James adds and I look to him betrayed.

“Y/N, you’re America’s Sweetheart! Every young guy’s dream girl!”

I hide my face in my hands and shake my head with a giggle.

“Doesn’t mean I’ll be the first to get married! I have no interest in anyone right now!” James and Sam beam as I finish.

“Ah, ah see! You said “right now,” James points at me.

These two are teaming up on me now.

“Thank you so much you two for coming in! It’s been a lot of fun!” James thanks.

“Of course, it was a blast!” I charm.

He stands and so do we. He hugs Sam then me, “you two make me laugh like no others.”

James looks into the camera and wraps up the end of the show. “Thank you, Julia Roberts, Adam Levine, Sam Merka, Y/N Voss, and Machine Gun Kelly for joining me today! Have an excellent night everyone! Until next time!”

The band starts their music. Sam and I dance to the beat and James join in. The produces yells that the show has cut to a commercial.

To hear my name and Machine Gun Kelly’s name mere seconds apart is something I never thought I’d hear.

“Thanks again for coming!” James repeats once the show is over.

“We had fun! Thanks for having us!” Sam compliments.

The duo shares a brief “bro hug” and James embraces me one last time.

Then, Sam and I head backstage to our dressing room. Nicole and Steven should already be back there since I didn’t see them on the set.

“That went well!” Sam mentions while we walk down the hall.

I hum, “totally not getting married first though.”

“Whatever, you’re lying to yourself,” he laughs as he opens the door to the dressing for me.

Nicole and Steven are waiting for us and instantly begin talking about the Vanity Fair shoot tomorrow. It’s never-ending.

____________________________________________________

Masterlist

Tags:  @canyoubuymetoast  @bri-3530 @asil1652 @andstilltryingtofindmyself @nadia2021 @olafsidehoe @mgkobsessed @fairywriting101 @ferrell-cat @naylanae-0308 @tonystarkswife10 @alexsa56 @brocksbabyyy @stormrider505 @magnificenthumancopangel @sarcasticfangirlus @lilramencup95beech @missyviolet123 @skeleton-gxrl @glitterybearllamaflap @margaritaville20 @amoresixx

#machine gun kelly #mgk fanfic #mgk smut #mgk aesthetic #mgk imagine #mgk

[secondhand-trash]

“I love you.” “It’ll pass.”

Season 2 ep 6, Fleabag

(more lines I like from things I like as prompts for people I like)

A/N: I reserved this one for Dabi when I was making the list but fuck Dabi It’s Getou time😌✨this scene impacted me so hard when I was watching the show and I knew right then that I had to write something off of it one day

Pairing: Getou Suguru x reader

Description: He left without saying goodbye.

Warning: major manga spoilers (set after the hs flashback arc and connecting to the prequel)

Word count: 3007

Playlist:

Cigarette Daydreams//Cage The Elephant

You Say I’m in Love//Banes World

The Killing Moon//Echo & the Bunnymen

-

It wasn’t until the report came out that you realised Getou was never coming back.

All 112 villagers of the prev. ** village deceased.

The letters printed on the white paper was staring right at your face, but somehow it still felt like it was miles away, like everything you read fell through your ears as an echo.

Residues at the scene could determine that it was Getou Suguru’s curse manipulation.

No one said anything when they saw you staring blankly at the still screen of your phone. The last few messages were still there, sitting there and waiting to be read.

You weren’t sure if you were hoping or detesting a response. He probably never would, like he probably wasn’t your boyfriend anymore.

“Do you know when you are getting back?”

Getou Suguru escaped.

“This is taking longer than your usual missions, is everything alright?”

According to item 9 of the Jujutsu Regulations, he is to be classified as a curse user-

“Suguru?”

-and is to be executed.

The other two saw him again after that, which they had the mercy of not telling you explicitly, but anyone could tell from the heaviness lingering in the air. 

Shoko smoked more than usual.

Gojo got quiet, and sometimes you would catch him fidgeting with the candy paper in his hand underneath his table.

Getou’s table was still there, an empty space starkly standing in the middle of the already sparsely occupied room. You had assumed that they would remove all traces of him immediately, but you could understand why they didn’t when you realised that your gaze still paused at where he once sat whenever it wandered.

The same way crimes scenes were always kept as it was, only the supposed corpse was still out there somewhere.

It was a silence bonding, the unbreakable chain of experiencing the same loss at the same time, but somehow your remaining friends were already there when you pushed open the door to the rooftop where no one usually went to.

That was the first day when he was gone. You had felt an impulse to go somewhere where you were not trapped inside, where you could feel the air entering your lungs as you inhale and it seemed like you were not the only one with that thought.

Gojo was already there, with his back bent forward as he leaned on the rail. He had one foot on the iron bar of the railing, casting a glance to your side when you silently joined him in looking down.

There was no one visible in your sight, but still you looked, and looked. The quiet footsteps getting closer let you know that the third (and last) classmate was here, a soft sigh ringing before there was a click and the smell of smoke made you furrow your eyebrows together.

You remembered that he used to smoke rather often, but somehow always put the cigarette off when you neared. He stopped smoking around you entirely after you got together, because you would push him away if you smelt the tell-tale scent of tobacco on him. But if you caught him at the corner with one between his fingers, he would always pull you close with his eyes curling into two thin strands, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as his other hand fumbled for the mints he kept in his jacket pocket.

You wanted to be mad at him, but the chill tickling your tongue when his breath fanned against your lips always had you weak.

“If he had come back for you,” Gojo’s voice was void of emotions, without the usual certainty or cockiness that always dripped from his words, “would you have followed?”

You shrugged.

“I don’t know,” you shook your head slightly, your eyes not once shifting away from the empty courts below.

The reality was that it still took you some time to process that fact that he killed a whole village of people, even longer when you eventually remembered that he did the same to his own parents. It didn’t feel real, like a bad dream that you could wake up from if you beat the thought into your head enough, like you could just close your eyes and see him walking up to you with his usual smile, asking you if you really fell for it.

But the feeling of being left behind, of conflict at the sentiments in your heart that you couldn’t brush away, of doubting if everything you once had was ever truly yours, of anger at how you were supposed to be the closest to him but knew nothing, of not being told anything, of not receiving a proper goodbye, of him running away without even telling you straight up that he was leaving you behind, were all very, very real.

There was a dull ache budding at the back of your throat over the fact that your last image of him was still the way he looked at you with so much tenderness made you sick to the stomach, and twisted even more at the knowing that to you, that was his one biggest crime. 

Perhaps that was what love was. You could look past the fucked up morals or even the murder, but there was no ignoring that you were left behind, and that meant that there was where it all ended.

You chuckled at the conclusion you had drawn, earning you a questioning stare from the boy who raised the question.

Hell, then he might just be the love of your life.

“I don’t know,” you repeated, bitterness lingering on your tongue when you smiled.

Sick, just sick.

They were both looking at you, but you didn’t turn to see what expression they were wearing as you dropped your head. The metal pressing against your forehead growing warm under the heat of your skin as you muttered, this time to yourself and no one else.

“I really don’t.”

-

Time sped up from there. 

Life went on. Eat, sleep, going out on missions before collapsing on your bed when you came back alone and tired, repeat. Gojo and Shoko stayed after graduation season hit, you didn’t. You spent so many years there already, you clicked your tongue as you said, it is time to move on.

You were not really talking about High school, both of them knew it but neither said a thing. The empty table remained as it was until a new batch of students poured into the classroom that was once yours, before they left and another group filled in. 

Occasionally you met young sorcerers on the field who wore the same button that once adorned your collar, and wondered if it was them who sat at that table now.

You did not think about Getou Suguru for years.

Yet, you were not surprised to find the exact same man that once plagued your thoughts late at night standing in the middle of your living room uninvited, without a single hint just as when he left.

“It has been long.”

You had a gut feeling that he got taller since you last saw him, even though you were probably standing too far away from him to truly measure. The edges and corners of his face were more prominant, his hair running down his back in a way that used to happen only when he was at his most relaxed. 

“You should try to let it grow,” you mumbled as you ran your hand through one lock of his hair, letting the black silk fell from your hand onto his chest, “it would look good on you.”

He chuckled, and the vibration seeped into your skin from the way he laid on your lap. The weight lifted from your legs when he sat up, his face right in front of yours as he grinned.

“When my hair reaches my waist, will you marry me?”

You laughed, and the smile on him only grew.

“Where did you get that from?” you hid your smile behind the back of your hand.

“It’s from a poem,” he replied with a tilt of his head, “Never heard of it?”

“No,” you still sounded breathy from the laughter, “but did people teach you not to make promises so easily?”

The one long piece of his bangs had fallen onto his face, covering his eyes just slightly. He huffed as he pushed it away from his view, placing his head on your shoulder.

“Who told you it was easy?”

Ah, your jaw clenched at the waterfall of black that stopped just above his waist, so he did grow it out in the end.

You did not move from your position at the door, standing with your back straight and your keys still gripping tightly in your hand. “What are you doing here?” 

You were just about to head back from a mission when you got the call. “He showed up at Kousen just then,” Gojo did not bother with formalities, or give you any context as to who “he” was but still you froze, knowing exactly what he was talking about right away, “he might go see you.”

(You were sure that he wouldn’t, but it seemed like you truly didn’t know him well at all.)

He chuckled, a soft sound that made your nails dig into the middle of your palm, “Am I not allowed to check up on you because I want to?”

He sounded familiar, exactly the way you remembered him to sound like. The corners of his lips were lifted up in a calculated angle, smiling at ease but not from heart. You suppressed the heat that was near pouring out your throat, swallowing the discomfort back into the pit of your core.

Was it true that this wasn’t how he smiled, or did you only notice the way his eyes were lifeless now?

You replied with a smile of your own, not willing to lose your footing, “Oh please.”

You never bothered to check on me before.

He was not bothered by the dryness in your voice, and if he was then he did a great job at not appearing so.

“When I left,” he asked, “were you mad at me?”

“No,” But I spent nights crying over you. “is that supposed to come out as a mock?”

“No.”

You searched for a hint of wavering in his eyes, any sign that he was experiencing even a bit of the turmoil that was boiling and burning in your chest as you tried to keep your voice still.

You wondered what you had hoped to find.

“What do you want?” you said, and forced yourself to look right into his eyes. You imagined that you could see your own reflection staring back at you if you were any closer to him and the hint of soreness shooting right up to your nasal until it the sting that left almost resembled longing.

If you were to fight, you probably couldn’t win him no matter how hard you try.

“If I say I miss you, would you believe me?” 

 There was a ring in your ear as you shut your eyes tight, forcing the corner of your lips to hold back from twitching.

God damn it.

“Does it matter?” I wish I don’t.

“Perhaps.” 

He was looking at you, and you could taste the blood at the tip of your tongue. You wished there wasn’t some part of you that was near breaking down inside of you, or that you didn’t feel such an urge to let the tears run free.

But you wouldn’t, your pride wouldn’t allow it.

His arms crossed loosely in front of his chest, the fabric of his cassock bunching up around his elbows. You had pondered why the cloak seemed so out of place, and then you remembered that he wasn’t even religious in the slightest.

It was all for show.

“Leave.” 

There was a hint of relief when you heard your own voice landing back on your ear and there wasn’t the shakiness you had so dreaded to hear. You knew you had lost the moment you even cared, but still, on the front you refused to show there sometimes, during the many years after he left, you would still see his face when you couldn’t sleep and all you could do was stare at the ceiling. You hoped the iciness in your expression was enough to cover up the fact that you had no erased all traces of what you once had with him completely, and there was still a photograph or two that you hid away so that no one would know you still hadn’t let go of him, a traitor.

He glanced down at your command, before nodding slightly to himself. Getou Suguru turned around until he was facing your window and his shadow slanted on the opposing wall from the cold hue of the moon.

The pale light blurred his figure, like smoke, like the mint tingling your senses.

“You ruined my life.” 

I love you.

He paused briefly, before turning to look at you once again. You were taken back when you see the look in his eyes, and the downward tug at his mouth.

With the moon and the cassock and the unexplainable depth in his eyes, he did look the part of feeling sorrow for the world and pity for the masses.

Oh, how ironic.

Getou parted his lips slightly, and you could see the shudder but heard no sound, until they pursed, before he finally spoke again.

I love you too.

“It’ll pass.”

You did not realise that you were staring out the window, not moving a step until you saw the dots of snow slowly landing on the glass. Your steps stumbled as you walked towards where he jumped out, your hand touching the chilled glass while the world outside was a scene of white.

He probably came and left on the back of some curse he had, not leaving even a trace.

You stared and stared, and wondered what it would feel like to be buried under the snow that was starting to pile up.

-

Gojo asked you if you want to see him for one last time.

You refused.

Your bones were cracking with each twist of your joints as you finally got back to your own space after the whole fiasco that went down had you drained. 

Of all the days he had to plan an uprising, it had to be Christmas Eve. A heavy sigh slipped from your lips when the door locked behind you, the lights flicking on to show the red number on the calendar hanging on the wall.

It was quiet, the handle of the clock ticking was all you could hear. It matched the pounding in your ear, drumming and drumming as you stared upwards at the ceiling, sucking in a deep breath as the cold air filled your lungs.

So he really was gone now.

“He said he couldn’t manage to laugh happily from the bottom of his heart in this world,” Gojo called you again a moment later after the initial one, and you had to swallow the want to tell him that there was no need to tell you what he said when the other end fell into silence when you didn’t response.

Only there was. You knew there was.

At the back of your head, you had a faint memory of where you had put the old things that you couldn’t find somewhere to store when you moved out of your dorm room. It was hidden under the piles and piles of clothes and blankets that you never used, much like how you had not touched that box since you first put it there. 

You sucked in a deep breath when your fingertip touched the rough corner of the cardboard, reaching in deeper to pull it out. It was covered in dust and slightly crooked from all the things you had stacked on it, but still exactly the same as how it looked when you sealed everything inside with the cover and shoved it in your closet.

There was still an innocent sense of glee when you opened it and saw all the things that reminded you of your youth. 

The student handbook, and your student card that was stuck in there like a bookmark. The gold button in which some of the gold pain had already come off from years of wear and tear. Your graduation picture, which showed the three of you sitting side by side properly in all its rarity.

The familiar ache in your throat returned when you got to the bottom, where you found the sole reason why you dug this out. You smiled, your hand gingerly picking the thin film laying flatly there without a single crease on it.

He was looking at you, who had your face on his shoulder with an arm thrown around your frame. Your hand was on his neck, pulling him down towards you as you laughed and he laughed back at you. You did not remember who took it, or when it happened, but the rush of warmth in your chest as you held the picture in your hand must be the proof that you were happy. 

You should have thrown this away the moment you knew he was not coming back, but you didn’t have the heart to.

How could you when he looked so happy too?

Your thumb traced over the smooth surface of the film, over where his lips were nearly touching your hair, over his eyes that were fixed on you.

Couldn’t manage to laugh happily from the bottom of his heart... huh?

You laughed, at him, at yourself, before the droplet of tear finally fell.

Like there was smoke in your eyes.

Like the chill on your arm was not from the snow outside but from the taste of peppermint on your tongue.

#jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen imagine #jujutsu kaisen x reader #getou x reader #getou imagine #getou imagines

[marjansmarwani]

sleep is never coming

2.8k || ao3

Owen has been having the same dream for months now. Every few nights he falls asleep and is returned to one of the worst moments of his life in vivid technicolor. After one of these nights, he finds himself in the kitchen: seeking some tea in pursuit of sleep when he is suddenly not alone. But maybe the young officer who just stumbled into his kitchen from his son's bedroom is the best person he could talk to about this. Maybe it takes someone who loves his son as much as he does to truly understand the fear that is keeping him up at night. ----- Angst Week Day 1: "How do we fix this?" + Anon request: "It's just a nightmare."

--------------

The bang is sudden, unexpected, and earth-shattering. Owen whips around, searching for the source of the sound but stops mid-turn, frozen in horror at the sight before him. His son slumping over; clutching his collarbone, gasping in pain, and slowly falling to the ground. He tries to move towards him but he feels as if he is trying to move through molasses, too slow to reach him in time. Too slow to help him; just like he was too slow to prevent it. 

It’s the same, every time. He can trace the movements, he knows the script by heart. First, TK falls; then comes the blood. Far, far too much of it oozing from the entry wound, spreading across the ground beneath him and sliding down the wall behind them. There’s more blood too, in a place it should never be: coming out of TK’s mouth as he struggles to breathe, as his wide and terrified eyes seek Owen’s. 

He wants to reassure him, he wants to tell him it’ll be okay, but he doesn’t want to lie. He made a promise many years ago to never lie to his child, no matter what. And as much as he wants it to be a truth, it may not be. He doesn’t know that everything will be okay and that terrifies him. 

There is movement and commotion and voices shouting instructions and updates but all Owen knows for sure is the sensation of watching TK’s eyes close, or seeing the moment he stops breathing. He knows for certain the exact moment he watches his son die because it is the moment his heart shatters. 

There is deadly silence then, for a beat. And in the breath after, he wakes up. 

He shots upright in bed, sucking in a harsh breath before running a weary and shaking hand across his face. “It’s just a nightmare,” he reminded himself, “it’s not real.” He knew this: he’d been having that dream for months now. 

While true, the reminder did nothing to quell the racing of his heart. He sighed and threw the blankets back, climbing out of bed and heading towards the bedroom door. There was no use trying to go back to sleep; past experience had shown him that much. His only hope was to head to the kitchen, make some tea, and hope for the best. Just like he had every few nights in the month since the accident. 

He suppressed a yawn as he walked into the kitchen before checking that the kettle still had water in it and turning on the burner. He leaned against the counter as it heated, rubbing at his tired eyes. He couldn’t keep going on like this. He needed to sleep through the night, he needed to make sure he was on the top of his game. He owed it to his team. 

But every time he tried, he got a front-row seat to one of the worst moments of his life. Nothing — no fire, no accident, not even 9/11 — would compare to the fear he had felt watching his son collapse after being shot. He knew worrying about him was normal, he knew dwelling on it was to be expected. He just hadn’t banked on reliving it every other night. 

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t notice the sound of footsteps coming down the hall until a sound of surprise had him looking up to see a tousled, shirtless, and embarrassed Officer Reyes standing at the threshold of his kitchen. 

“I’m sorry Sir, I didn’t know…” 

Owen waved off his stammered apology, “You didn’t do anything wrong, Carlos. And please, it’s 3 am and you’re in my kitchen—I think you can call me Owen.” 

Carlos gave a nervous laugh but walked further into the kitchen. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Owen, “It is 3 am so if you don’t mind me asking Sir...Owen, what are you doing?” 

Owen gestured at the kettle that was just starting to steam, “Couldn’t sleep, so I decided to see if some tea would help. Would you like some? I could use the company.” 

“Oh,” Carlos looked taken aback, “um, sure. Thank you.” 

Owen turned to the cupboard to pull out two mugs and the box of chamomile tea. He held it up to Carlos, who nodded. “So,” he began, setting everything down on the counter next to the stove, “any particular reason you are in my kitchen at 3 am?” 

Carlos chuckled and stepped closer, settling onto one of the stools on the other side of the counter, “I just woke up and wanted a glass of water. I figured you wouldn’t mind and I had no idea I’d run into anyone.” 

“Normally you’d be right, but I’ve been having some trouble sleeping lately.” 

Carlos was quiet then and Owen could see the dilemma playing out in his head through his expression. It was in Carlos Reyes’s nature to fix things, and he was trying to decide whether or not prying into his boyfriend’s father’s insomnia over 3 am tea was crossing a line. Owen decided to make the decision for him. 

“I’ve been having some dreams that are keeping me up. Well, a dream I guess. The same one, every time.”

Carlos studied him as Owen paused to pull the whistling kettle off the burner, “Do you want to talk about it?” 

Owen shook his head, “Thanks, but one of us losing sleep over it is enough. No reason to keep you up too.” 

“I’m already up and after the shock of finding you in the kitchen I am wide awake,” Carlos pointed out dryly. “We’re both here so you may as well talk about it, if you want to.” 

Owen considered as he poured the water over the teabags in the mugs. Did he want to? Keeping it to himself clearly wasn’t working. He didn’t want to burden anyone else with this; a part of him wondered how anyone else could possibly understand. The fear and pain of watching your child almost die was unlike anything else. Still, he conceded, in this particular situation, who was better suited to understand this fear than Carlos? He knew how hard the accident had been hard on him too, despite trying as hard as he had to keep up a brave front. If anyone could understand where he was coming from, it would be the young man sitting at the counter with him. 

“I keep reliving that night.” 

He stole a glance at Carlos to see if he needed to be more specific but the newly clenched jaw told Owen that he knew exactly what night he was talking about. He slid the other mug across the counter before wrapping his hands around his own, “sometimes it feels like it’s every time I try to sleep. I close my eyes and I’m just there again.” 

Carlos let out a shuddering breath and tightened his grip on his mug, “I know what you mean. I...had a similar problem, right after it happened. I don’t think I got much sleep at all while he was in the hospital. I would wake up afraid, not remembering that he was okay, that it had all turned out fine. I just had this fear that I couldn’t shake. Sometimes I don’t think I ever will, not completely. The only thing that helped with the dreams, at least, was the fact that TK was lying next to me, alive and okay, eventually.” 

“Well I’m sure neither of you would appreciate me coming to check on him every time I have that dream, would make for some awkward encounters,” Owen retorted, trying for a joke that fell flat, judging by Carlos’s forced smile. He sighed and ran a weary hand over his face, “How do we fix this?” 

“Time, I guess,” Carlos responded with a shrug. “I wish I had a better answer, but I think that’s the only one there is.” 

Owen took a sip of his tea, rolling the idea around in his mind before he shook his head, “I don’t know if time is going to be enough. I don’t think time will ever completely erase the guilt.” 

“The guilt?” There was genuine surprise in the young officer’s voice and Owen snorted. 

“I’m not only his father, but his captain. I told him to breach the door. I gave the order, and I was standing right there. I had all the information but I didn’t put it together fast enough to stop it, to save him. There is not a single way of looking at this that doesn’t make me responsible.” 

Owen isn’t sure what reaction he expected out of his son’s boyfriend, but it certainly wasn’t what he got. He didn’t expect him to scoff and counter his claim with one of his own: “How do you think I feel? I’m a cop and I was on the scene. We knew there was a gun and yet it slipped through the cracks. It’s more my fault than anyone’s if anything.” 

Owen blinked for a second, processing everything that Carlos had just said. “That’s insane,” he retorted incredulously, “you had two civilians in your care and the logical assumption to make was that once the grandfather collapsed the gun was no longer an issue. “Besides,” he added wryly, “whoever heard of anyone shooting at the fire dept? Everyone loves us.” 

Carlos snorted at that before his expression turned serious again, “The same goes for you: how did you have any way of knowing that things were any different than any other time? You followed protocol, you did everything you should have. TK did everything he should have; he did the job he was trained to do. Chances are, nothing could have prevented what happened.” 

Owen considered his words as he swished the tea in his cup, watching as the leaves that had settled at the bottom rose upwards into the warm liquid again. “You might be right,” he allowed, “but I don’t like it.” 

“No one likes feeling helpless, Owen,” Carlos pointed out wryly. “But sometimes that’s all we can be.”

Owen looked up from his tea to study the younger man, who met his gaze and held it. “You’re pretty wise for someone so young, you know that?” he said after a few moments. 

“That’s just your sleep-deprived brain talking.” 

Owen chuckled at that and Carlos grinned in response. “What do you think TK would say if he knew we were both up at an ungodly hour worrying about him?”

“He would be very against it,” Owen said with certainty, and Carlos hummed in agreement. 

“Unfortunately for him, I don’t think either of us is going to stop anytime soon.” 

“No,” Owen agreed, “but that’s what happens when you love someone.” 

Carlos froze, choking on his tea mid-sip before setting the cup down as he coughed and stared at Owen, who chuckled. 

“It’s okay Carlos, I don’t know if you’ve said it yet, but it doesn’t matter. I know you love him and if I know my son, he feels the same way. I’m just happy you two found each other. It makes me feel a lot better knowing that he has someone else who cares about him as much as I do looking out for him.”

“But not enough to help you sleep at night, huh?” 

“Apparently not,” Owen agreed wearily. 

Carlos gave him a smile, “What about the fact that he has both of us looking after him now? Does that make you feel any better?” Carlos paused a moment and met Owen’s eyes before continuing, “Because you’re not alone in this Owen, and neither is he. You have a family here in Austin. I may have only been around for a few months but it doesn’t take long to see. You, TK, the rest of the crew: you all look out for each other. Does that help at all?” 

Owen looked down at the counter, overwhelmed by the truth of the statement. It wasn’t that he didn’t know that, it was more that sometimes it was hard to remember. It didn’t seem like so long ago that he had arrived in Austin, that they had all met. Yet he knew what Carlos said was true. He did have a family here in Austin now, and it was growing to include a certain officer more and more each day. 

“As long as we’re clear that you’re included in that too, Carlos,” he said, after a beat. 

The younger man opened his mouth but Owen held up a hand, “Nope, no arguments. You’re just as much a part of this as anyone else. It was already true, but this whole tea thing has really sealed the deal, no backing out now.” 

There was another beat of silence, and then Carlos smiled. “Thank you, Owen,” he said softly. 

They trailed off into comfortable silence after that, each lost in their own thoughts and sipping their tea. It was some time before Owen happened to catch a glimpse of the clock over the stove. He swore, breaking the reverie they had been in and causing Carlos to startle ever so slightly. 

“Sorry,” he apologized, “I just hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. Or early, maybe?” He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair before turning and looking at Carlos whose eyebrows rose when he saw the time. 

“Do we even bother trying to go back to bed at this point?” he asked, and Owen chuckled. 

“How do you feel about breakfast?” he asked instead. 

“I think that sounds like an excellent plan,” Carlos agreed, pulling himself off of his stool and crossing into the kitchen, “anything particular you had in mind?” 

It was shortly after that that a groggy TK stumbled into the kitchen, taking in the scene before him between blinks as he fought to clear the last remnants of sleep from his eyes. “What are you two doing?” he asked, voice still slightly raspy with sleep but filled with confusion. “Am I dreaming?” 

Carlos grinned and stepped around the counter, pressing a light kiss on TK’s cheek as Owen spoke, “Can’t say that you are, no. I can say though that I am surprised to see you up — it’s pretty early.” 

“Which is why I was confused when I woke up to an empty bed,” he retorted pointedly, glancing at Carlos. “So I figured I should see where you’d gotten to.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you,” Carlos told him sincerely, “I just woke up and came out for a drink and ran into your dad in the kitchen. We got to talking and realized neither of us could go back to sleep, so we made breakfast.” 

He turned as he spoke, gesturing to the counter which held a platter of eggs and pancakes. “I was just going to come and wake you up in a bit, to see if you wanted any.” 

TK glanced from the counter to Owen and back to Carlos, eyebrows raised, “Are you sure I’m not dreaming?” he asked eventually. 

“Pretty sure,” Owen said with a shrug, and TK nodded. 

“That makes sense,” he agreed, “I don’t think I could even dream up something this strange.” 

“I don’t know son,” Owen said lightly as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the freshly brewed pot, “the mind can be a pretty interesting place. But the food is getting cold, come on.” 

TK glanced at Carlos again who smiled at him and pulled him forward to one of the stools. He slid onto it and accepted the plate passed to him by his father with his baffled expression still in place, though it seemed to be morphing to something closer to fondness with each passing second. 

“So,” he said softly, leaning closer to Carlos as Owen busied himself at the stove, flipping the last batch of pancakes, “you and my dad get along now, do you?” 

“We do,” Carlos confirmed confidently, shooting Owen a grin. 

TK looked between them, “I don’t know if I should be happy or worried about this.” 

“Probably a bit of both,” Owen told him lightly as he slid the last pancakes onto the tray and set it down before them.” 

“That sounds right,” TK agreed. “What did you guys talk about?” 

There was quiet for a second as Carlos and Owen glanced at each other. “Just stuff,” Owen said lightly, “general things, everyday stuff; you know.” 

TK didn’t look convinced but he didn’t press, reaching instead for the plate of pancakes and serving them onto the plates before them. “That’s fine,” he said lightly, “keep your secrets. Since you’re friends now, I guess.” 

Carlo shook his head fondly as he accepted the pancakes placed on his plate and Owen smiled. Maybe it was just morning optimism, but things looked better in the dim dawn light leaking through the kitchen windows. Maybe this talk, this reminder that his family was so much more than just him and TK now, would be the thing that would help him to put this behind him. 

Maybe tonight he would have a dreamless sleep — maybe this had been just what he needed.

#911 lone star #911 lone star fic #911lsangstweek #my writing #userkimmy #userjilly #userac #usermaximus #userbones #tuserpaige #tuserjamie #immortalstrand #maizsnex #hierophvnts #buckybarnesalways

[jokertrap-ran]

(未定事件簿) 夏彦 SR [忆中人] [Tears of Themis] Xia Yan SR [Reminiscent Person] Card Story Translations (Part 3)

*Tears of Themis Masterlist  / Mobile Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Xia Yan’s personal tag will be #Tears of a PI. Personal master-list under construction! *Only the messages left before I start Mo Yi’s new Fairytale SR...  (*´艸｀*)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / SMS

Location: Staff Lounge

The lights came back on again, and I found myself standing in the Staff Lounge.

The Gamemaster that had disappeared earlier was facing me, all smiles.

Gamemaster: Hello young miss, it's been quite a while. I waited a really long time for you two to split up.

MC: So that was you. You really scared the living daylights out of me just now.

Gamemaster: I didn't have much of a choice; I had to take the chance to steal you away.

MC: So, what exactly is being tested in this segment?

He gave me an inscrutable smile.

Gamemaster: Didn’t you guys already find the slip of paper? What did it say?

MC: Find me, take me… You mean, he’s supposed to find me?

Gamemaster: That’s right. We'll dress you up to look like the Staff to see if that boyfriend of yours can recognize and single you out from the rest.

Gamemaster: Okay, we're running short of time, so hurry and get changed in the changing room.

Waiting inside the changing room was a veil along with a matching dress with a couple of skull-like ornaments hanging from it…

It looked like something right out of the "Corpse Bride"; a movie that was more popular during this period. The only difference from the movie was that this veil was very heavy.

After putting it on, the black veil that hung in front of my eyes made it hard to make out what was in front of me.

MC: This… is really opaque...

MC: I think I'll be better off holding it first...

After changing into the "costume" with ease, I walked out of the changing room, only to see five other girls of similar build to me, all warning the same outfit.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: In the Secret Room

The Staff Member opened another one of the Lounge's doors. It was clearly obvious that it led to another, completely new room.

MC: Why does this place have that many rooms...

Gamemaster: It's something that I painstakingly designed myself to utilize every single bit of space available here.

Gamemaster: Plus, this house didn't exactly come cheap either.

Putting the veil on, I lined up with the rest of the girls, mimicking their posture with my back to the door.

Gamemaster: Now young miss, you cannot move or make any sound from now on.

Gamemaster: You have to listen closely to me from now on.

MC: Okay. Rest assured; you have my full cooperation.

After thoroughly warning me a couple more times, the Staff Member opened a door that led to a corridor.

Xia Yan's rapid footsteps sounded closer and closer to the room.

Xia Yan: (Y/n)? Is that you? Are you here?

His tone was filled with worry, but I could not reply.

Gamemaster: Congratulations, Mister. You and your bride have already reached the last stage of the Cursed Castle.

Gamemaster: Please choose a bride to take with you. The curse will only be unraveled if you pick the right bride.

Xia Yan released the deep breath that he had been holding, his entire body seemingly relaxing from its former tenseness, only his voice held the slightest bit of shakiness.

Xia Yan: That's great. I was really worried about you just now even though I know that this must also be part of the game line-up.

I could only judge his current position from where his voice came from since I had my back facing him.

But I had an odd feeling that Xia Yan was currently looking straight in my direction.

MC: (I think I'm overthinking things. There's no way he'd be able to tell who's who from this far away, right…?)

MC: (Not to mention how we're all wearing such a long veil…)

Gamemaster: Sir, you can stand 5 meters away from these few brides to observe them closely…

Gamemaster: You can order them to do something, but it cannot be to turn around or to remove their veil.

Xia Yan: No need. I don't require them to do anything.

Xia Yan: Can I go over now?

Gamemaster: Have you already decided? You only have but one chance.

Xia Yan: Of course. I'm very certain of my choice.

My heart started beating more and more fiercer the closer Xia Yan stepped towards me.

My hand was grabbed tightly by his, and I could feel the heat coming from the palm of his hand.

Gamemaster: Since you've already come to a decision, then how about you ask the bride to turn around?

He exerted a little force on his arm, forcefully turning me the other way around. But the veil covering my eyes was lifted before I was able to make a full turn.

I was caught off guard as everything before my eyes suddenly came into clear focus again.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

I was caught off guard as everything before my eyes suddenly came into clear focus again.

Reflexively, I looked back at the person behind me under the dim light.

A pair of eyes sparkling with absolute mirth entered my field of vision.

He leaned down, inching closer to the cover of the veil, his warm breath fanning out on my face.

MC: Xia… Xia Yan…

The heavy veil obscured the figure of another, who was standing beside him. He was the one and only person in my world at this moment in time.

Xia Yan: Found you; my bride.

MC: ……

I was acutely aware of the fact that this whole “bride” business was only a part of the game’s story, but yet, I couldn’t help the blush that adorned my face as it heated up.

Those two words were just like little fawns, messing up my already restless heart even more.

Xia Yan: I told you that I'd definitely find you.

This moment saw his eyes filled with absolute seriousness and resolution.

He resembled a knight from the fairy tales I'd read back when I was a kid, solemnly vowing to the princess.

MC: How… How did you recognize me?

I stumbled over my words before eventually finding my voice.

He paused for a moment, as if he didn't expect me to throw such a question at him.

Xia Yan: Why wouldn't I?

MC: I had my back to you and the veil is so long...

He grinned at that.

Xia Yan: Because you're you!

Xia Yan: Your face, your voice, your silhouette; I’ve already committed them to memory.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

"Because you're you!" “Your face, your voice, your silhouette; I’ve already committed them to memory.” 

Those two lines continued repeating themselves in my mind all the way till we walked out of the room.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Rest Area

Xia Yan: What's on your mind, (Y/n)?

MC: Oh, nothing! I was just lost in my thoughts.

Xia Yan: Come on, hurry up! The Store Owner’s calling us over!

The Staff Member dressed in the black swallowtail coat from earlier was beckoning us from afar.

Xia Yan dragged me along while I was still caught up in a daze.

Xia Yan: Mr. Gamemaster! I never thought that you’d be the owner of this establishment.

Owner: What, can’t the owner take customer feedback?

Xia Yan: Of course not; it was just a little surprising.

Owner: Haha, the both of you cleared it way too quickly that you’ve even broken the highest record to be recorded in establishment.

Owner: Our Store will customize a special gift as a prize for you guys.

MC: A customized gift? What kind?

Owner: Let's keep this a secret first. You'll know once you come fetch it.

Owner: Come, come. The two of you should take a picture together in commemoration.

We both stood before the camera at the owner’s warm insistence.

Owner: What are the two of you being all shy for? Get closer! How about you hold your boyfriend’s hand, young lady?

MC: Oh, er…okay, sure…

I held onto Xia Yan’s hand a little awkwardly. Well, we did sign up for this challenge as a couple after all.

Owner: Do something, strike a pose, anything. It’s not like you’re taking a wedding photo or anything, so why are you standing so straight like that?

Xia Yan: *Coughs* W-Wedding...photo…?

Xia Yan started coughing, a blush on his face, almost as if he had been choked by his own saliva.

I reached a hand out towards him, attempting to help him catch his breath.

Snap!

And that was how this somewhat comical moment got recorded on camera.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

A week later.

Location: Coffee Shop

The day where we’d arranged to meet with the Experience Hall’s Owner arrived, and Xia Yan and I decided to go receive our prize together.

Coincidentally, Li Xu, Xia Yan’s Client, wanted to thank Xia Yan for his work, so we decided to meet him in a nearby coffee shop.

Li Xu: Hello, Xia Yan, Miss (Y/n). 

Li Xu was sitting alone in a corner of the Coffee Shop. Upon seeing us enter, he nodded and gestured towards us.

Xia Yan: How was it?

Li Xu: Thanks to the information you’ve given me, I prepared for an entire week ever since I got my hands on the questions and memorized every segment a good many times over.

Li Xu: I even went and watched lots of videos on “guess the drawing” and “Charades”, but it was still pretty tough, in the end.

Li Xu: Thankfully, I managed to hold out till the time limit was over and passed it.

MC: (Why does he sound like he’s describing his finals instead…?)

Xia Yan: It’s great that everything went well. Now, I can report back the good results.

MC: Report?

Xia Yan: Yup. Didn’t I tell you before that he is… a relative of an acquaintance of mine?

Li Xu: Thank you for helping me, Detective Xia. I’d never have made it past that challenge alone...

None of us were aware of the person who had been seated at the table behind him, nor for how long said person had been present. And it was this exact same moment that the girl seated behind him suddenly stood up, coming up straight before him.

???: You liar! So, you hired a Detective!? Our Tacit Understanding between each other was all just a lie!? That detective was helping you behind the scenes!?

Li Xu: J-Jia Jia? What are you doing here?

???: Never thought that I’d turn up here now, did you? And here I was wondering why you’d come to a place like this that’s so far away from your home... 

???: You liar! I’ll never believe you again!

Seeing his girlfriend about to leave, Li Xu hurriedly stood up and grabbed onto her hand.

Li Xu: No, listen to me...

The way that Li Xu stuttered simply went to show that he was very guilty about it, thus confirming the suspicions that the girl before him harbored in her heart.

She flung his arm away, picking up the bag that she had left atop her chair and made to leave.

Seeing how she was determined to leave, Xia Yan and I both shot out of our seats.

MC: Miss, you’re really misunderstanding Mr. Li.

MC: He did hire the Detective, but the Tacit Understanding between the two of you isn’t fake.

???: Who are you and on what basis am I to believe what you’re saying?

Xia Yan: Hello, miss. My name’s Xia Yan, I’m the Detective who’s in charge of this investigation.

Xia Yan: And this is my assistant, (Y/n).

???: I’m Deng Jia, his girlfriend.

Deng Jia glared at Li Xu as she spoke. And Xia Yan hurriedly attempted to help Li Xu explain himself. 

Xia Yan: Li Xu only wanted me to investigate and see what the game itself entails. All I did was to tell him the possible questions that might be asked.

Xia Yan: He derived all the answers to those questions on his own.

Deng Jia looked at Li Xu a little suspiciously.

Deng Jia: You didn’t ask this detective to find out what my habits and my likes and dislikes are?

Li Xu: Of course not, why would I!?

Li Xu’s eyes widened in shock at the accusation.

Deng Jia: So you spent the money to hire this detective, all just to find out the contents of the game? Who in their right mind would do such a lose-lose transaction?

Li Xu: No… My cousin’s a friend of Detective Xia’s...

Xia Yan: I didn’t take any money from him; I only helped a friend, who came to me with a request, out.

Listening to Li Xu going round in circles about the matter, Xia Yan couldn’t do anything but to cut in and interrupt him.

The girl’s fury simmered down quite a bit after hearing the explanation, but she still harbored a few suspicions.

Deng Jia: Even if that’s the case… What you did was still a hasty effort made at the last minute.

Xia Yan appeared somewhat clueless as to how to carry on with the conversation, shooting me pleading look for help.

I sighed, turning to explain it all to Deng Jia patiently.

MC: Miss, calm down and think about it. He could have asked you about your likes and dislikes beforehand...

MC: But things like habits are very trivial and small, so not even a Detective can find out about all your little quirks in the mere span of a few days.

MC: Besides, the memories you two share are complex, so how would he remember all of it, if he didn’t make the extra effort to notice everything that went on?

MC: And, even if he did prepare all of those in-time, then what about the last segment where he had to choose a bride? How, then, would he be able to cheat?

Deng Jia seemed to have remembered something, her expression slightly faltering. Li Xu stood dumbly by the side, rooted to his spot, rubbing a hand over his arm that hung by his side.

MC: So, how about you here what Mr. Li has to say, Miss?

Deng Jia pursed her lips, silently looking at Li Xu. Li Xu breathed a deep sigh before finally raising his head and fixing her with a serious look.

Li Xu: I didn’t cheat; I remember all your habits and your likes and dislikes very clearly.

Li Xu: I also remember that it’s been 3 years since the first time we met. The first time you ever talked to me was to ask if you could borrow a pen of mine, and that we went for barbeque the first time we ever went out for a meal together...

Li Xu: The first time we ever went out together alone was to the Library, and the place where you agreed to be my girlfriend was the second tree to the left downstairs of your house...

Deng Jia: Okay… Okay, enough! I get it.

Listening to his chain of silly, yet absolutely direct confessions, Deng Jia’s cheeks reddened.

Even the anger that she had harbored in her voice steadily disappeared.

Deng Jia: If you’re not afraid of being tested, then why look to a Detective for help?

Li Xu: Only because I wasn’t sure if you’d be unhappy or dissatisfied with me after playing this game…

Li Xu: I don’t want you to be mad, but I was afraid that you’d ignore me after, just like the other couples who’ve gone through this; so I did my homework in advance.

Li Xu: I know that I can’t speak very well since I’m a bookworm, so all I can do to make you happy is to study things up in advance.

Li Xu said everything in all but a single breath, looking as if he had used up all his confidence to convey that. He lowered his head but couldn’t withstand the urge to secretly peak up at his girlfriend.

And it was at this moment, that all of Deng Jia’s anger vanished into thin air.

Deng Jia: I… I…

Her face was red and she looked a little shy about it.

Deng Jia: It wasn’t in my intention to put you to the test. It hasn’t been long since we got together, so it’s normal if you don’t understand me all that well.

Deng Jia: You’re always very quiet, so I thought that maybe we could learn more about each other through this game.

Deng Jia: I never thought… That you’d actually still remember things from that long ago.

Her face gradually reddened as she stepped forwards and grabbed onto Li Xu’s sleeve.

Seeing that, Xia Yan and I quietly took our leave from the coffee shop.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Downtown

We both heaved a huge sigh of relief upon stepping out of the coffee shop.

MC: I thought that they were really going to fight and break up right then and there, but it was thankfully only a false alarm.

Xia Yan: Yeah, if his girlfriend was truly mad, then I’d only have brought him more trouble than help.

MC: Thankfully, Deng Jia doesn’t seem like an unreasonable person either.

MC: But I feel like Li Xu’s stepping on eggshells way too much around her; it’s almost as if he’s afraid of saying the wrong thing...

Xia Yan: Actually, Li Xu told me that he had been harboring a crush on her for nearly 3 years now and finally confessed after no longer being able to keep it a secret any longer back when he first came to me with this job.

Xia Yan: He honestly never thought that his revered goddess would agree to dating him, so he always feels as if he’s unworthy of having such a girlfriend.

MC: So that’s why he’s being so careful around her? Fearing that he might say something wrong, or do something wrong?

Xia Yan: That’s how it is...

Xia Yan spread his hands and shrugged at that, sighing helplessly.

Xia Yan: And that’s precisely why I didn’t want to take any money from him for this. Anything and everything he wanted me to look into was clearly only to allow himself to have some assurance and an easier peace of mind.

Xia Yan: Although, I can understand where he’s coming from.

Xia Yan: Who wouldn’t hesitate and waver before their most favorite person in the world?

Xia Yan: It’s only because he’s way too concerned about how they’d think that he turned to self-doubting.

Xia Yan’s voice sounded a little off, but he didn’t show any hints of there being something wrong when I turned to look at him.

It was as though he had just been thinking about the matter with utter seriousness.

MC: But he’ll only be missing out on more of the beautiful things if he’s walking on eggshells that much.

MC: They’d be unable to pass the stage either, if Deng Jia didn’t understand him well enough.

Xia Yan: It’s unfortunate, but apparently, Li Xu didn’t seem to notice that fact.

MC: Li Xu was all caught up about whether or not he was worthy of his girlfriend that he neglected what his girlfriend really wanted; a companion to accompany her.

Xia Yan: Yeah, he ended up ignoring the most important thing… Which was what his partner truly wanted.

Xia Yan halted in his footsteps, quietly looking at me, eyes full of smiles.

MC: What? Why are you suddenly staring at me?

Xia Yan: Nothing! Let’s hurry and get our prize!

I don’t know if it was just my imagination, but Xia Yan’s tone sounded much lighter, and much more carefree than how it was just now.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Experience Hall Front Desk

Owner: You’re here now, are you? Your prize is already finished.

Upon entering the store, the Owner walked towards us with a smile, a small box in his hands.

MC: Is this our prize?

Owner: Yup, hurry, open it up and have a look at it.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Xia Yan took the paper box from the Owner and slowly opened it.

Sitting quietly within the box was a pair of exquisite dolls. They were about palm-sized and were made in Chibi style.

MC: Oh… Are these… Dolls of us?

There were two dolls, a girl and a boy, both with happy smiles on their faces. And the color of their clothes was exactly the same as the outfits that Xia Yan and I had previously worn here.

Owner: That’s right, this was made according to both of your appearances.

Xia Yan: No wonder you insisted that we take a photo together. So, it was for the sake of making these dolls.

Owner: How are they? Do you like them?

MC: Yes, I do! I honestly never thought that these would be what we’re getting; thank you Owner!

Xia Yan: I really like them too. Sorry for troubling you with making these.

After chatting with the Owner for a bit, Xia Yan and I left the Experience Hall.

Before we left, the Owner beamed at us and told us that he hoped we’d come by again once they had another theme rotation.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Downtown

The sun was already sinking westward when we walked out of the mall, the light of the setting sun filling the streets.

MC: The sunset’s really beautiful today.

Xia Yan and I both unconsciously stopped to quietly admire the beauty of this short-lived scene.

Xia Yan: Right, you should take the pair of dolls home.

Xia Yan: You’ll be able to see me every day upon returning home if you place them against the headboard of your bed.

His smile appeared much warmer under the light of the setting sun. His smile was contagious, for I found myself smiling along with him in no time at all. 

MC: No can’t do! I can’t take them with me if that’s how it’s going to be.

Xia Yan paused, doubt flickering across his features.

Xia Yan: Why…? Do you not like them?

MC: Of course, I do.

MC: But I can only take one of them home. I’ll entrust my doll to you!

MC: You can put it on your nightstand; that way, I’ll also be accompanying you!

Xia Yan: M’kay.

The fiery red sun was slowly entering the cluster or clouds up in the sky, and before we knew it, there were a couple more people around us stopping to admire the scene.

Xia Yan: I've actually also had my own share of worries, just like Li Xu, about whether we'll be able to successfully re-connect with each other.

Xia Yan: Is 8 years apart really… Have I missed too much of your life in my absence?

Thinking back to all the questions I had gotten wrong back in the Maze, I let out a helpless sigh.

MC: We've really grown and changed in those 8 years.

MC: But thankfully, we're still the same as how we left off, despite having changed so much.

Xia Yan: Thankfully, we're still the only ones who know each other the best.

MC: Hey, Xia Yan? You should really tell me more about your life during these 8 years whenever you have the time.

Xia Yan: Sure. I want to hear what you've gone through too.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Xia Yan's House

Xia Yan had only just gotten home when his phone rang.

Taking out his phone, a familiar number entered his sight.

Xia Yan: Hello? What’s up, Brother Yang?

Yang Xiao: Nothing; Li Xu asked me to convey his thanks to you.

Xia Yan: Don’t make me take up jobs like this ever again… This time’s the only exception so don’t make an example out of it!

Yang Xiao: I don’t want to bother you either, but I really didn’t have any options this time!

Yang Xiao: I can’t not help my distant cousin if he needs help; I even held him in my arms and played with him when he was little!

Yang Xiao: Come find me if you encounter any trouble. Looking at how caught up you always get, I owe you one, and we're also pretty similar to boot.

Xia Yan gave a wry laugh at Yang Xiao’s merciless teasing.

Xia Yan: Stop making fun of me, Brother Yang.

Yang Xiao: Anyway, thank you for this time; seriously.

Xia Yan: No need to be so humble. Honestly speaking, I should be the one thanking you instead.

Hanging up the phone, he picked up the gift from the Experience Hall.

The exquisite doll laid quietly in his hands, the brilliant smile on its face was exactly the same as hers.

Xia Yan looked at the masterpiece in his hands tenderly, a smile playing on his lips.

Xia Yan: Let us slowly make up for the 8 years that we've missed.

——𝔉𝔦𝔫.——

#Tears of Themis #Xia Yan #Translations #Otome #Mihoyo #未定事件簿 #夏彦 #忆中人 #Reminiscent Person #午夜华章 #Symphony of the Night #Tears of a PI #Okamoto Nobuhiko

[shhh-no-ones-home]

noir 1/2 bucky barnes x vampire!reader

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part 1 part 2

i had thought about making a part three with smut in it so if thats something you would like to see please let me know and ill finish it lol

Song: my name is human by highly suspect

tag list: @cynic-spirit

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I sat at the table across from James and watched as he looked around nervously. We had already ordered drinks but not much conversation had gone on yet.

"This isn't really your scene is it?"

I asked and he finally looked at me, brows raised like I'd caught him off guard.

"Uh, my uh, last date didn't go so well."

He said and I nodded.

"I'll drink to that."

I raised my glass to him before taking a drink. He let out a short laugh before looking away again.

"So, James, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself."

I said and he cleared his throat.

"Well for starters uh you can call me bucky, that's what my friends call me."

I nodded slowly, he seemed like he was reminiscing for a moment.

"Um I'm a hundred and six."

He said lightly and I laughed. He looked nervous again.

"If you're a hundred and six then so am I."

I quipped back and he seemed shocked.

"Right."

A nervous laugh. Cute. I took another drink.

"No seriously."

I said and he nodded.

"I'm not really one for mockery."

He said stoically and I shook my head.

"No, no, don't take it that way! I'm not either. I'm sorry it came off that way."

I said quickly and I could see him shift to rub his gloved hands together under the table.

"In all actuality 1917 was a pretty interesting year, if I'm doing my math correct."

He drew his brows.

"It was?"

He asked and I nodded.

"Well it's not every day America joins a world war, late to the party as usual but still. Don't get me wrong there was a lot that happened that year but that was probably the most memorable. My husband at the time was drafted that September."

He looked even more confused than he did earlier, his brows almost touching at this point if it weren't for the frown line between them.

"I know it's impolite to ask a woman her age but exactly how old are you?"

He asked quizzically and I looked up to think for a moment.

"Uh, this year on my actual birthday I will be two... Hundred and... Eight? I think?"

He laughed before taking a drink, finally smiling.

"Great."

He said before leaning over and pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.

"This was fun."

He said, slapping a twenty on the table and moving to stand.

"Bucky wait!"

He paused and looked back at me.

"Can we talk... Somewhere a little more private?"

I asked and he sighed, looking to the ground.

"Fine."

I stood quickly to match him, grabbing my bag off the back of the chair and following him outside. When we made it out the door I saw him tense a little bit, glancing to me a few times as we lazed down the sidewalk.

"Are you cold?"

He asked, reaching for his jacket zipper and I stopped him.

"No, no, I'm perfect, thank you though. You probably need it more than me."

There was the confused look again.

"You're probably trying to figure me out aren't you?"

He sighed, half shaking his head as he looked to the ground ahead of us.

"I guess I'm just trying to figure out why you would lie to me? Forgive me for being blunt but that's at least how it seems, even after I told you I didn't like being mocked."

I laughed a little.

"Bucky I didn't lie to you. My situation is - complicated."

He looked over me again.

"I am two hundred and eight, that wasn't a lie. Or, at least I don't think it was, it's hard to remember after all these years the exact number. But I was born in 1815 in new York after my mother immigrated to the states. It was a rough childhood and an even rougher lifestyle growing into my teens."

We kept walking. He was listening intently but seemed like he still wasn't so sure about me.

"I was engaged to be married by my seventeenth birthday but the night before my wedding I was kidnapped."

He looked to me in surprise.

"I was placed as an indentured servant in a trading charter, seen by many of the soldiers stationed on the coast of the capitol. That went on for a while and when I had reached my twenty fifth birthday I had earned my freedom."

He motioned to a small cafe on the strip and I nodded, him holding the door as we stepped in, the warmth engulfing both of us.

"Do you want a drink?"

He asked and I nodded.

"How about I get this one."

I offered, ordering before him and paying after him. When we had gotten our drinks we took to a booth in the very back of the cafe.

"So, you were free..."

He started and I let out a short laugh.

"Nice to know you're listening."

I said and he raised his cup to me. I cleared my throat.

"I was free, finally. It felt like forever to get there. But by then I was seen as too old; too old to Mary, to have kids, to live a life on my own. Many assumed I was a widow at this point, even moving back to new York with as progressive as it was still didn't feel right. It didn't feel like home anymore. Until I met him."

He raised a brow and I smiled to myself.

"My first real love, the one who made me."

"No pressure."

He said and I laughed, taking his one hand in mine. His body tensed.

"Don't worry, he's been dead a while."

I said, letting him go and he nodded once.

"Right."

I side nodded.

"Well to make that long story short, he proposed to me after two weeks of courting, we got married the following spring, and on our honeymoon he revealed to me what he really was."

"A crime boss?"

Bucky said and I laughed, him finally loosening up a bit as he took another drink.

"I think that would've been easier to live with but no. And I ask that you please don't laugh at this next part but rather, hear me out."

He rested both his hands on either side of his cup and gave me his full attention.

"Cross my heart."

He said and I sighed.

"He revealed to me that he was undead, that he was a vampire of sorts."

When I looked to him he looked like he was going to crack.

"I'm serious."

I said light hearted, hitting his shoulder as he started laughing.

"He turned me before our trip back to the city."

He nodded, rubbing his eye as he settled down, the smile still prevalent on his features.

"Sure."

I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Now who's mocking who?"

I asked and he shook his head.

"It's just a little hard to believe is all. You seem like such a normal young woman. Maybe a history buff who digs this old man but still."

I snorted at his words, taking a drink.

"You are young in my eyes bucky, believe me."

He shook his head.

"Okay, this is what, 1840?"

"Forty two i think, but yeah."

He sent me a look.

"Let me just get back to the story okay?"

He held his hands up in defense.

"Please, by all means."

I playfully rolled my eyes.

"Thank you. Now we were home, I was a newby and was so hungry all the time. He was terrible at taming a new vampire and I did eat a few of our neighbors but we lived in a bad part of town so people didn't really question it much when residents went missing. But what I didn't realize is that we were being watched and one day when I came home from work I found my husband decapitated on our living room floor."

His eyes went wide.

"I cried like a maniac but when I had heard someone still in the apartment I attacked them. They told me they were assigned to kill me because I was too dangerous. I ended him and I've been on the run ever since. After that I was desperate to find new love again. I've had courtships over the years but the early 1900's were pretty rough. Every husband I ever had was drafted into a war that shouldn't have happened. And I don't fear for my life as much anymore since I've lived in almost every state in this stupid country,"

We both laughed a little at that.

"But I do think of it often. The later years, the eighties and nineties were much easier as far as life and lovers went but even then I couldn't stay with them long."

He seemed empathetic.

"Why not?"

"Well, many people don't employ the idea that you'll live longer than them, it's a losing game. And even those I was open with, they begged me to turn them but I always refused. It didn't seem worth it to put the hurt I felt onto anyone else. And I don't say this to scare you off bucky but I've lived, and I mean really lived. I had one husband murdered, three drafted and lost to war, and three divorces; two of which ended with my exs dying of natural causes shortly after getting into new relationships. One had a heart attack and the other passed during a surgery."

I paused, looking to the table as his eyes tried to study me.

"Ive heard about you, I've been to the Smithsonian exhibit and honestly it all seemed like a myth. But then your friend saw me and pushed you to ask me out I actually saw hope for the first time in a long time. It's not often I can find someone with as much... Uh, life experience."

He cleared his throat, looking away when I looked back up to him.

"I'm not perfect."

He said and I could feel my features soften.

"It's seems I've lived just as much but I don't know if I'd exactly call it living. I was an experiment, an assassin, and a broken man. I've got a troubled past and I'm trying to work through that. Hell I wasn't even sure I'd get through this date given how my last one went."

I half smiled at him, reaching for his hand again. He wasn't as hesitant as last time but was still tense as I took it away from his cup. I looked over his face before pulling the glove off, holding the cool metal against my palm and tracing the fingers of my other hand over it.

"I wasn't blipped, I saw the news, and I saw what was lost. And I think part of you got lost with it but at the end of the day you are trying to get better. You are a hero bucky, even if it doesn't feel like it."

I watched as his jaw clenched and tightened. Then he turned his hand over and held mine. It wasn't hard or uncomfortable but it was firm, like he meant it.

"I haven't had the luxury of opening up to many people in recent times but you feel different. And don't take this the wrong way but you do feel like home."

He said softly and I couldn't help the smile making its way to my lips.

"You wanna get out of here? Maybe go back to my place? The coffee is much better."

I joked and he smiled, intertwining our fingers.

"Yeah, I think id like that."

#wattpad #x reader #vampire!reader #bucky barnes #the falcon and the winter soldier #the winter soldier #white wolf #imagines #one shots #marvel #326

[hueningshaped]

★ touch | k.sy

▰ genre: humor-ish + 5% angst + fluff + spice

▰ word count: 2810

▰ synopsis: for a boy with chubby cheeks and a tendency to communicate through cute noises and yelling, you had yet to witness the dark side of his onstage presence, not to mention most perverted or suggestive innuendos of any kind + protective!soonyoung + "you're my baby" + innocent! reader + gender neutral! reader + idol!verse

▰ warnings :: sexual innuendos(?), talks about sex (formal and informal talk)

It seemed like a joke how just the other day you had been sharing cotton candy and taking photos with plushies with Kwon Soonyoung literally just yesterday, and today, here you were crimson as ever, watching that same ball of energy perform in harnesses, leather, and simply radiating an aura you had never even ventured thus far to come across.

The boys relished your pure and wholesome wit, since their dark humor and rare suggestive jokes never failed to go over your head. These guys were your basically your brothers, in the most colloquial and intimate way, excluding the flaming anomaly that Soonyoung was.

As a close friend of everyone's, it had never once been your intention to be something more than friends with the boys, especially since you made way too many jokes about Chan being your baby (which goaded Jeonghan way too much).

But Soonyoung's natural charisma and energetic charm had inevitably tangled itself in your heart strings. The stars his eyes held suddenly became the only constellation you knew and could recognize. His scent, his thunderous laughter, his contagious humor, his voice, his sincerity, his love - you soon fell for everything about him. (All in the span of a year, to be exact.)

"Are you sure you want to keep watching...our performances, Y/N?" Wonwoo muttered from above you as he hovered over your cross legged form on the sofa in the mini dorm they shared. Mingyu neared you both, amused at your attacked expression as Soonyoung continued voguing and rolling his hips.

You swallowed hard, shakily pausing to meet the eyes of your best friends.

"Of course, I have to support my boys!" You laughed nervously, visibly sweating from the pressure.

"God, how many times has he practiced this? H-he's just so precise with his movements..." you were murmuring at this point.

"You're such a little kid!" Wonwoo laughed, ruffling your hair and obviously using his phone at the moment to message someone about it, especially with Mingyu's guffaws of "Yeah, they're turning red!"

Soonyoung wasn't one to forget things yet you had found yourself hoping he would have forgotten about your scheduled date for tomorrow. You needed time to recover.

'Cause you can touch me, touch me...

His ginger voice goaded you on in your head repeatedly. He was haunting you.

"Hey, don't you want to wait for Soonyoungie to return and then, he can walk you to the bus?" Seungcheol and Chan had stopped you on your way out. You had to have still been painted in shock as the youngest giggled under his breath.

"Y/N, I promise we're not having sex with anyone when we dance." He assured you, waving his hand dismissively until Cheol clapped him on the head.

"I should just whack you for speaking so crassly, you punk. Leave them alone!" He met your eyes and you realized he was wearing harnesses for an upcoming stage.

"Yeah, I gotta go. Bye!" You had practically ran out of there.

It wasn't that you were a baby. Your innocence still held authority over your way of life, mainly regarding all things sexual and the lack of vulgar that tainted one's vocabulary, though, in the back of your mind, you found curse words somewhat endearing.

There have been multiple times where the boys teased you about it and where they were a little too wild for your own good, like that one time you had nearly walked in on Mingyu naked, simply walking around the dorm. Seungkwan had shoved him over the couch, flipping him and his bareness. Your eyes had fallen only on his bare backside.

"There," he had said with a small, tense smile. "The evil is gone."

He was a bit of an exhibitionist, they had told you that day. You were escorted to the dance studio so you could complain to Soonyoung as he had been creating a choreography to a Portuguese song.

You weren't even safe from films as one particular movie was brimming with sex jokes and puns, even showing some random exaggerated sex scene. The film hadn't even finished and the boys were all laughing at the top of their lungs at your stiff, heated up face.

"I don't get what's so funny about the number 69! I'm telling you!" Your cheeks were red as ever.

You were too embarrassed to even ask your parents about the birds and the bees at this point so you were left to discover for yourself.

"What do you mean you're going to teach me about sex?" You asked aloud, the next day, while Jeonghan failed to cover your mouth on time to avoid the attention of the other 12 boys in the dorm but it was too late.

"Sex? Jeonghan, that is off limits!" Joshua scolded from the kitchen. Chan eavesdropped with way too much fervor and excitement until he had been yet again whacked by Seungcheol.

"I'm not going to have sex with them! I'm just...telling them about the birds and the bees," he confessed to a stern looking Seungcheol and blushing Joshua.

"Guys, this...isn't it." He muttered too quietly.

"They watched porn accidentally." Hannie admitted with a way too amused grin on his face. You sat beside him with your face pressed into your hands in pure humiliation.

"Oh, my God!" Wonwoo replied in exclamation from across the room. "No, the poor baby..."

After a while of coaxing to tell of your sights and thoughts, you sweatily sat in the middle of the room, shakily explaining what it was like.

"...and I saw...the guy...just moving...his hips all up on the lady...l-like—Christ—like the way you guys do on stage sometimes. Except they were naked. They were huge and oily..." Cheol rubbed your shoulder to comfort you as he stifled his laughter as best he could, knowing this gesture was something that made you feel safe.

"Hey, Y/N, don't worry about us. It's them who copy our moves," Soonyoung spoke from beside you on the opposite side, pushing your hair behind your ear. His smile was too greasy and big. "How dedicated must they be. I find it sweet. It is a form of flattery. They must be cara — "

Jihoon clucked his tongue in finality with crimson ears.

"Don't you dare even finish that sentence, you moron," Jihoon gaped at his younger counterpart before the latter succumbed to his lack of formalities. "I mean, Soonyoung hyung. If Jun hyung even heard you — "

Yet the screeching in the room upstairs told you all that he had.

"You're so red," Jeonghan noted from across you, snickering. "Haven't your parents talked about the birds and the bees?"

You snorted in response.

"You should be able to tell that they never did. It's so embarrassing," your face stung, especially from Soonyoung's hand on your ear. "A few guys have made fun of me. I mean, everyone does once they find out."

"And just how do they find out? I'm sure you don't go around screaming about it from the rooftops." Wonwoo chuckled, but the laughter of the room dimmed once your hand began shaking.

"Guys, it... Well, once, I was asked on a date and they tried having their way with me despite my..."

The atmosphere changed at your words. You were like their little sibling, with the exclusion of Soonyoung as he had asked you out multiple times and never failed to talk to you as if you were his significant other.

"What...did...they...do?" Soonyoung asked in a toneless voice. His hands had dropped from your face and they now remained at his sides in fists.

"Soon, don't," Wonwoo warned. "It's not a bad thing to be as innocent as you are, Y/N, but being naive can be dangerous."

"They’re not a child!" Soonyoung burst suddenly, rising.

The silence fell too hard. Seungcheol held your hand to steady your shaky self.

It took days before you could talk to Soonyoung again, especially back in his normal manner. He never wanted to tease you about it as much but instead grew a bit more protective, but he wasn't your boyfriend yet. Technically.

So, of course, naturally, the day of your planned date had you anxious beyond belief. What would happen after tonight?

"Hey guys, is Soonyoung ready?" You asked, walking into the dorms with a bit of a fancier outfit than usual and even going as far as to style your hair and features with extra jewelry.

The boys were all in their pjs or sweats but nonetheless, at the sight of you, they all started gassing you up with wow's and aww's.

"Hyung is still looking for something to wear." Minghao commented, a little loudly, just to burn his elder's ire, after taking a seat on the couch.

"I'm guessing you're going somewhere fancy?" Seungkwan asked, taking your handbag into his hands so that you could stretch (nervously, as you did).

"Some restaurant, he said, ooh! and then he said we're going to a fancy dog park so we can pretend we have dogs but actually just pet everyone else's pets." The boys followed your fluid excitement, throwing in some comments like "Just drop off Soonyoung for us. He needs a new owner" or "I'll pull up with the car. You take all the dogs and then we run".

Everyone was in such high spirits that Soonyoung's iconic, energetic roar actually managed to startle those in the room.

There he stood, posing as a super hero, of course he would, clad in some white button up blouse (folded down to his elbows because he hated you and wanted to see you blush the entire night it seemed), tucked messily into black slacks with his own fancy pair of shoes.

"Is that my pretty Y/N?" Soonyoung erupted, pretending you were someone he couldn't recognize. "My pretty young thing? My PYT?!" Chan whistled in the background of his yelling.

He reached outward, connecting your hands, before pulling you to his chest so he could give you that fluffy smile of his.

"You're so pretty. Have I told you how cute and sweet and fragrant you are? You're like a flower." You were blushing rose, too, at this point.

"S-Soonyoung," You looked away from his constellation-like eyes. For some reason, instead of the innocent sparkle, you saw the dull reflection from his leather outfit and harnesses against the darkness as he rolled his hips.

"Won't we be late for our reservation?" You asked, watching as his feet repetitively rocked back and forth.

"Right, sweetheart," he squeezed your cheeks lovingly before turning to everyone else to say goodbye's for the night. "You guys better not wait on me."

Everyone scoffed jokingly, in return. Soonyoung slipped his phone into his pocket, listening to their banter.

"Absolutely no one is going to wait for you to come back." Jihoon replied bluntly.

"Whatever, buddy," your date called out with that goofy grin of his, meeting your gaze. "Time to go!"

His hand never left yours, interlocking your fingers, throughout the drive and the walk. He even jokingly sucked on a digit of yours while entering the restaurant. Everything seemed to be perfect, compared to the past few weeks.

Yet you still couldn't get this image of him smirking and rolling his hips upon the ground while dancing out of your mind. It made a lump grow in your throat.

You were fine, pivoting the daydream of Soonyoung's fluid hip movements on stage until the waiter hit on you, claiming that you and him had history though you had never seen the man before.

"I said, two waters, waiter." Soonyoung growled, surely wishing that you hadn't had to be sat with a table stuck between you two. This was nearing the last straw since he wouldn't back down.

The man only rolled his eyes, hopping back and forcing his artificial smile at him before peering back at you.

"I'll get it right now then." He vanished, leaving you still frozen in complete shock.

"Hey, S-Soonie, you know what you want to eat?" Your hands were shaking as your hands flailed around the menus.

He simply continued appareling that stoically pissed look that appeared every two thousand years. You could tell that he was attempting to stifle it in his eyes because he went over to you hesitantly to hold your face. Soonyoung crouched beside you, rubbing your cheeks.

"Do you still want to eat here?" He moved his thumb past your temple to tuck some hair behind your ear sweetly. "We can leave. I can get him fired. Tell me what's behind those pretty twinkling eyes?"

You wished you could stop time to capture how beautiful the look in his own eyes was, how loving and cute his pout was, and just about everything about him.

"I don't know if I still want to eat here, but you already made a reserv — "

"Say no more, Y/N. I'd rather go somewhere else, too. Too crowded here anyways." With that, he rose to reach out a hand to you for you to take as you left. You bit back a laugh since there was barely anyone in the building.

As you left, Soonyoung stopped another employee to whisper something in their ear, a horrified scowl burning across the older man's face. Later, you realized it was the manager. He really did get him fired.

Your escort led you into a sweeter night with yours and his favorite food at the park for an evening picnic. The dog park was closed, so you decided to play on the playground like two idiots until a night guard chased you both out. You had ran just a little quicker than he had but it still took you a while for the two of you to reach the same proximity.

Soonyoung's arm brushed up against yours and before you knew it, his fingers latched onto yours one by one. Clearly, you had been unfocused for much of the night, not even sparing the few deep glances he'd do at you.

"Where have you been, Y/N?" He murmured, leaning down to place his forehead against your temple.

"Oh?" Soonyoung took you by surprise, earning a widening of your eyes.

The night greeted with a cool breeze that left even more goosebumps in the wake of its blaze; there were already some due to the thoughts that had your mind on fire.

Each of you came to a halt and he faced you, drawing some hair behind your ears just to cup your face. His eyes reflected the night with his nebulous gaze.

"What's been on your mind, my baby?" He cooed, which on another occasion would have caused you to gag, but you just blinked at him. Your skin felt feverish: everything molten underneath the surface.

"I don't know how to tell you two things at once and I don't what to say first, but — "

Before you could even blink, he had his lips on yours and the taste of him slowly made his way into your mouth. A minor gasp broke through your mess of kisses and he seemed to exhale harshly at that against you. His teeth jutted out to nibble at your bottom lip.

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't wait anymore. Was that okay?" He asked everso gently, his hands holding your face near his. You nodded like an idiot and unable to smile or do much as your lips were nearly swollen.

“You’re my baby,” he murmured before going in once more to kiss you, leaving you breathless even more.

"With that said, Y/N, would you like to officially go out with me?" He stroked your cheek with his thumb and finally, a small grin bloomed upon your features.

"I'd love that," you breathed out, murmuring against his mouth as you leaned forward.

"So eager!" He commented and if it were possible, you burned up even more.

"Actually," you gripped his shirt with a determined expression toughening your eyebrows. "This is your fault. I haven't been the same since I saw your Touch stage. I'm all hot and bothered..."

He snickered into the side of your face before pecking your temple to meet your eyes once more.

"If you're ever comfortable or ready, you can always experiment on me." His voice sank into your chest and you smiled at that.

"Thank you,” you leaned up to give him a quick kiss on his cheek. “I have some ideas already.”

Soonyoung wrapped an arm around you, holding you tighter and with even more affection as you were now officially dating.

“Great,” he squeezed you before lowering to whisper into your ear. “I’m always ready for you to touch me.”

And for that night, the touch was a slap on the head.

#soonyoung x reader #hoshi x reader #kwon soonyoung #hoshi #seventeen x reader #seventeen imagines #soonyoung imagines #hoshi imagines #seventeen scenarios #soonyoung fluff #hoshi fluff

[introvertguide]

Saving Private Ryan (1998); AFI #71

The next film on the list is one of the best films of any genre, Saving Private Ryan (1998). This is what I consider the best war film of all time despite how overwhelming it is to watch. Maybe it is because it is so difficult to watch, since the movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and received five trophies. Because of the ensemble cast and almost complete lack of women, the film was never going to garner much in the way of acting awards. Like the soldiers who they hoped to portray, these actors shouldn’t have expected much individual recognition. This movie affected me greatly, and I would like to delve into that after going through the story line.

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!!! BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THE FILM, EVERYTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY BE REVEALED AS FAR AS PLOT IS GIVEN AWAY BELOW!!! 

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In the present day, an elderly man visits the Normandy Cemetery with his family. At a tombstone, he falls to his knees in anguish. The establishing shots showing the mass of grave stones is overwhelming from the get-go. The movie transitions from the graveyard to a landing boat at the battle of Normandy. Be prepared because it is about to get rough.

On the morning of June 6, 1944, American soldiers land at Omaha Beach as part of the Normandy invasion. Everything goes bad immediately as machine guns and mortars literally tear the landing soldiers to shreds. Soldiers are screaming for their mothers as they die on the beach. There is no going back into the ocean so the soldiers have run into the machine gun fire. Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) of the 2nd Ranger Battalion leads a breakout from the beach that makes it through to the German encampment. It is about 15 minutes of carnage and nobody will blame you if you want to forward through this until the action cools down. Elsewhere on the beach, a dead soldier lies face-down in the bloody surf; his pack is stenciled Ryan, S. It is at this point I would recommend taking a breather if you need one.

Continuing on, we are shifted to Washington, D.C., at the War Department (keep an eye out for Bryan Cranston with one arm), where General George C. Marshall learns that three of the four sons of the Ryan family were killed in action within a short time of one another. Daniel Ryan in New Guinea shortly before D-Day, Sean Ryan at Omaha Beach, and Peter Ryan at Utah Beach: all dead with letters arriving the same day for their mother. The fourth son, James Francis Ryan, is with the 101st Airborne Division somewhere in Normandy. After reading Abraham Lincoln's Bixby letter, which is meant to comfort grieving parents, aloud, Marshall orders Ryan found and brought home.

Three days after D-Day, Miller receives orders to find Ryan and bring him back. He chooses seven men from his company for the job—T/Sgt. Mike Horvath (Tom Sizemore), Privates First Class Richard Reiben (Edward Burns) and Adrian Caparzo (Vin Diesel), Privates Stanley Mellish (Adam Goldberg) and Daniel Jackson (Barry Pepper), T/4 medic Irwin Wade (Giovanni Ribisi) and T/5 Timothy Upham (Jeremy Davies), an interpreter from the 29th Infantry Division. The group moves out to Neuville where they meet a squad of the 101st engaged against the enemy and both Ted Danson and Paul Giamatti show up. THe group searching for Ryan bump into a stranded French family who try to give over their children but a German sniper breaks up the party. Caparzo is killed by a German sniper, who is then killed by Jackson (who makes the most amazing shot that legends are made of). They locate a Private James Ryan (Nathan Fillion), only to learn that he is James Frederick Ryan. On the point of giving up, the Captain starts asking random passing soldiers and learns that Ryan is defending an important bridge in Ramelle.

Near Ramelle, Miller decides to neutralize a German machine gun position at a derelict radar station, despite his men's misgivings. It does not go well and the medic, Wade, is killed in the process. They take a German soldier that they name Steamboat Willie (Joerg Stadler) who gives up willingly and pleads for his life. The men are angry and want to kill the soldier since they can’t take any extras, so, at Upham's urging, Miller frees the surviving German soldier. Losing confidence in Miller's leadership, Reiben declares his intention to desert, prompting a confrontation with Horvath, who threatens to shoot him. Miller defuses the standoff by disclosing his civilian career as a high school English teacher in a small Pennsylvania town.

At Ramelle, they find Ryan (Matt Damon) among a small group of paratroopers preparing to defend the key bridge against an imminent German attack. Miller tells Ryan that his brothers are dead, and that he was ordered to bring him home. Ryan is distressed about his brothers, but is unwilling to leave his post. Miller combines his unit with the paratroopers in defense of the bridge. He devises a plan to ambush the enemy with two .30-caliber machine guns, Molotov cocktails, anti-tank mines, and improvised satchel charges made from socks. It is basically suicide so the bridge is wired to explode in case it can’t be held. 

Now is a time to take a breather if you need one because it is about to get bad again. Elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division arrive with two Tiger tanks and two Marder tank destroyers, all protected by infantry. The small American group holds off the force the best they can, Although they inflict heavy damage on the Germans, nearly all of the paratroopers, along with Jackson, Mellish and Horvath, are killed. It turns out that Steamboat Willie joined the group and he personally kills Mellish with a Nazi youth knife (it is horrible) and shoots Miller Captain Miller as he attempts to blow up the bridge. Miller crawls to retrieve the bridge detonator, and fires ineffectually but defiantly with his pistol at an oncoming tank. As the tank reaches the bridge, an American P-51 Mustang flies overhead and destroys the tank, after which American armored units arrive to rout the remaining Germans. With the Germans in full retreat, Upham emerges from hiding and shoots Steamboat Willie dead, having witnessed him shooting Miller, but allows his fellow soldiers to flee.

Miller tells Ryan to “earn this” before dying from his injuries. As the scene transitions to the present, Ryan is revealed to be the veteran from the beginning of the film, and is standing in front of Miller's grave expressing his gratitude for the sacrifices Miller and his unit made in the past. Ryan asks his wife if he was worthy of such sacrifice, to which she replies that he is. The final scene shows Ryan saluting Miller's grave and fades to the American flag gently waving in the breeze.

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I really have a hard time getting through this film without pausing and taking a breather. I saw the film in the theater when I was 18, so my friends and I were all around the age that these soldiers would have been that rushed that beach and retook France. It was truly terrifying. Now I am old and have back issues, so I wouldn’t be put on a front line, but the kids that I work with and care for would be the exact age to be caught in a draft and that scares me even more. The creative ways in which man finds to kill one another is the greatest threat to humanity. 

The first two times I saw the film, I did not realize that it was the same German soldier that the group had captured who eventually killed many of the group we were following. It really changes the message in the end. I had thought that Captain Miller had showed his humanity showing mercy, but it turns out that this mercy is misplaced. Now it seems like Spielberg is saying that neither humanity, nor religion, nor innocence, nor skill, nor even intelligence can save a man in the heat of battle. The only way to live is to watch the back of your group and protect each other like family.

There was a little bit of a travesty that occurred at the Academy in early 1999, because this film lost out in the Best Picture category to Shakespeare in Love. This is the same year that also saw Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show, Life is Beautiful, Elizabeth, and The Thin Red Line. There had to be something behind that because I wouldn’t consider the winner even in the top 5. Shakespeare in Love is considered one of the worst Best Picture winners along with Crash and The Artist. Oscars are not everything and this movie is one of the best examples of this.

When I say that some of the scenes from this movie are difficult, I really do mean it. There was a hotline set up for people who have PTSD that was triggered by the film. One of the actual members of the 101st Airborne, Major Richard Winters, was consulted about the occurrences surrounding the attack. He said that it brought up many memories that he had worked hard to suppress because he had been taught that war veterans couldn’t express the psychological pain of battle. He also said that it was an important film that revealed what war was really like.

On Veteran’s Day in 2001 and 2004, ABC aired the film uncut with limited commercial interruptions. Living in California, I was able to watch the film on both of those occasions and remember getting my girlfriend at the time to watch in 2004. The film has become like a memorial to Americans lost in the European Campaign during WW2, so I treat viewing as a badge of honor and understanding, no matter how difficult it is to watch.

This film is a pretty easy answer when it comes to the standard questions for the most part. Does this film belong on the AFI top 100? Of course. It is the new benchmark for which all American war films will be judged. It is historically accurate, it is beautifully shot and directed, and it leaves a lasting impression far longer than just about any movie I have seen. Would I recommend it? This one has an age warning. It is not appropriate for young children because the first and last battle scenes are nightmare fuel. Even worse, they are apparently very realistic. It is hard to recommend something that is so scarring, but it will keep people for glorifying battle. It is horrific and should be avoided as much as possible. And that is a lesson that I believe this movie teaches better than any other. So please give this movie a watch and feel free to take a break if you need it.

#tom hanks #saving private ryan #d-day #veterans #best director #1998 #war films #steven spielberg #normandy #introvert #introverts #matt damon #vin diesel #bryan cranston

[wickedgamesoyaoya]

⇺ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ⇻

↣ Masterpost 

↣ inspired by @haik-choo​’s post 

↣ wc: 2.4k

↣ warnings: emotional pain, swearing, mentions of sex (not outright anything).

↣ format: mixed

↣  song recommendation:  5 Seconds of Summer - Lover Of Mine &  5 Seconds Of Summer - Ghost Of You

↣  preamble: atsumu miya never understands what he has until its too late. from a young age, he only focused on his own satisfaction and accordingly, his own pleasure. the only reason your relationship was able to stand the test of time was solely because of your accommodating nature. but sometimes, it still hurts… the lack of appreciation. would he truly care if you stopped leaving him little love notes in your shared apartment? would he notice if you stopped keeping pace with him during your morning walks? did he even care that you only woke up at the ungodly hour to spend more time with him? with those questions unanswered, some days you wonder if love should hurt this much.  

After winning five consecutive matches, a formal banquet was arranged to celebrate MSBY’s notable achievement. The guest-list was littered with numerous B list celebrities, with the occasional A lister promising to attend. What was originally planned to be a small gathering morphed into an evening gala that attracted media coverage, and a significant crowd. Some were desperate to secure an invite solely to catch a glimpse of one of the star players; while others were significantly more interested in the foreign chief that would be designing the menu for the function. Whatever the motivation, each attendee expelled an aura of excitement, one that was highly contagious. Accompanying the delectable atmosphere was a sugary scent wafting throughout the establishment. It was what Atsumu Miya deemed heaven on earth.

The blonde setter had the stem of a wineglass tucked between two fingers nonchalantly, occasionally swaying the maroon liquid as he surveyed those around him. He adored these gatherings for numerous reasons, one being the unnaturally attractive crowd it allured. Not that he planned on approaching any of them with nefarious intentions – he had a date after-all. The same one for the last four years. You. However, he refused to believe there was any harm in simply admiring from afar what he could have but chose not to. It provided him a rush of exhilaration, knowing that if he chose, he could secure the interest of any woman within the vicinity. Oh yes, if only they were so lucky. But alas, they were not. Simply having their attention and compliments was enough, he was disinterested in the satisfaction of sleeping with them. The truth was, while they were surely attractive, none of them would provide him the consistency that came neatly packaged with you. To be blunt, you were easy. Low maintenance, as he explained two nights ago to his brother. Even now, rather than remain glued to his side, you were somewhere in the crowd, mingling with someone unknown. He preferred it this way, and you knew it.

Half an hour before dinner was to be served, Atsumu was invited to take a shot with the MSBY Ace. Bokuto’s best friend refused to drink, vowing to return home early to complete a manuscript, and so he sought a new drinking buddy. But when he approached the setter, his thoughts of drinking were replaced with a newfound concern. Atsumu notified his team-mate that his hair required a quick touch up. His usual spikes were beginning to droop, resembling a withering flower.  

“Akaashi! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Tsum, do you have any gel?” A pout registered upon his lips as he attempted to sharpen the ends of his hair using his index finger and thumb. What if someone caught a photo of him appearing less than satisfactory? The Ace, ordinary or not, should appear extraordinary on a night dedicated to celebrating him (and his team-mates).

“I don’t think it looks that bad, Bokuto-san.” The black-haired writer shook his head, prior to bringing the rim of his coffee cup to his lips. Okay, maybe he could have something earlier. But to his defence, he had only noticed the imperfection now. With a wave of exhaustion weighing over his eyelids, he was less perceptive than usual.

“You know lying to him ain’t gonna fix the problem, right?” Atsumu shifted his narrowed gaze at Akaashi questioningly, something the other male did not appreciate. “And do you really have to ask? Of course, I do. Come on.” The blonde tapped against his lower jacket pocket, where a thin container of hair-serum was kept.

“I’m going to my seat. I’ll meet you there when you’re done.” The comment was directed solely at Bokuto, in a tone that indicated the writer would rather not spend any ‘quality’ time with the setter unless forced to. The brunette was not his biggest fan to say the least.

“I’ll be back soon.” He was well aware that his best friend and team-mate were not particularly fond of one another, placing distance was perhaps the best available option. Once the writer was no longer present, the pair began walking towards the bathroom. “Say… Tsum, where’s y/n?” Instinctively, the Ace’s golden irises searched the space around them for your familiar face.

“I dunno. Somewhere. I’m sure I’ll see her at the dinner table, since we’re sitting together.” The disinterest laced in his tone startled the other male, who failed to mask his bewilderment. Atsumu ignored the puzzlement that shined in his team-mate’s eyes, dismissing the action with a limp shrug before entering the bathroom first.

Bokuto trailed in a second later, pausing at the mirror with a hand extended forward. “You guys are really weird.”

Retrieving the container from his pouch, the blonde handed his team-mate the gel then began adjusting his own appearance, beginning by ushering aside some fallen strands. The observation that was offered only brought a little laugh to exit his mouth. “Yeah? Why do you say that?”

“You don’t act like a real couple.” Bokuto did not intend to respond immediately, particularly because he desired to avoid the stare he was now receiving through the mirror. The lack of hesitation was not well received by the MSBY setter.

“We don’t need to abide by norms to be a couple, Bokkun.” Despite the sour taste curling around his tongue, Atsumu managed to maintain a smile on his lips, finding humour in his own explanation.

“Alright, so is that why you haven’t proposed yet?” The white-haired Ace mentally scolded himself for his lack of restraint. He should have bit his tongue. Oh, if only he bit his tongue –

However, this was not the first time the question was posed to him. In fact, two days ago, it was exact topic that resulted in a very heated argument with his twin-brother. He truly did not understand why proposing was necessary. You both already lived together – was that not enough?

“It’s not that serious.” Tugging at his sleeves, the setter then adjusted his cufflinks. “I love her, but I’m not sure she’s the one. I don’t know if I can really give everything up forever, for her. For the time-being, I don’t mind. But I’m not giving everything up just yet.” The final sentence uttered by the blonde was more of an affirmation to himself, one that did not register well with his team-mate. It seemed that everyone but Atsumu could see how much you did for him. His unappreciated nature was rather toxic.

“That doesn’t sound like love, dude.”

No. It certainly did not.

They say that the truth will always be revealed sooner or later. Perhaps Atsumu Miya’s true feelings would have been revealed later, if he chose to lower his voice and restrict his sincerity. Had he known that you were outside, he certainly would have taken some precautions. But how could he have known that you were searching for him, when you ran into Akaashi? Who unfortunately knew exactly where he was?

How many warnings were issued by your friends over the years? Dozens? Hundreds? What would they say now? How many red flags did you ignore? 

How curious how easily you confused ache for butterflies.

The strain circling inside of your temples morphed into a throb as the liquid distorting your vision began spilling down your cheeks, dragging your mascara along with it. Behind you someone whispered your name, fear gripping their throat and muffling the sound. But you were unable to recognize who the voice belonged to, as you no longer held the luxury of having a stable state of mind.

Lifting your trembling fingers to the area below your eyelids, you stumbled attempting to discard the substance hanging on your lashes. “I need to go. I… Oh, I’m stupid. I just… I need to leave. Please.” Sluggishly, you shifted your body to face the person who addressed you earlier, seeking any aid that was offered. You couldn’t face him. Not now. Maybe not ever.

“I know. Come on.”

Sakusa Kiyoomi accidentally stumbled onto the scene just as Atsumu began responding to the inquiry. He was not staggered to hear the cruel statements fall casually from his team-mate’s lips. Similar statements were uttered in the locker-room on numerous occasions. It was your reaction that tugged at his heart. No one deserved to hear the one they loved speak with such venom, and certainly not you. “Let’s go before they come out, shall we?”

The thrill of partying as a newly single bachelor provided Atsumu Miya temporary satisfaction. Each night a stranger’s mouth was attached to his, as he clung to them, desperate to combat the vanilla scent that circulated in the apartment, even weeks after your departure. How many girls had now laid in the exact spot you once occupied on the bed? Dozens? And yet, every morning when he awoke, he continuously thought it was you in his arms, and not someone whose name he did not bother remembering. His endeavours to erase you were fruitless. Not due to a lack of effort, but because the truth was… He didn’t want to forget you.

It took a month for the realization to settle in. No longer interested in the meaningless sex that was offered by mistresses of the night, he found himself unable to leave the apartment unless there was a match scheduled. It was the only location where he could feel some connection to you. Particularly when intoxicated, he swore he could hear you whisper soothing sentiments into his ears, dispelling his fears that you no longer loved him.

But each morning, reality would register once more, providing him a metaphorical jab to his chest.

Today was no different.

It had been forty days since the gala. Forty days to mull over how just how much you did for him, and just how little he did for you. It wasn’t always like this. Over the years, he became too accustomed to your giving nature. Soon, he developed a toxic mentality that he was entitled to everything you provided. But it wasn’t always like that. It wasn’t. At least that was what he repeated to himself, hoping it was the truth.

After downing a liter of water, the throbbing in his head had dimmed to a tolerable level. And once the lights no longer strained his eyes, he reached for his phone, determination igniting in his heart. 

“Hi.” The greeting was exhaled softly into the phone, as anxiety prompted your heart to beat irregularly. The uncertainty of what would be said by your former lover had your thoughts tangled into an incoherent mess.

“Hey. Thanks for talking with me.” Atsumu pressed a fist against his mouth, muffling the small whimper that threatened to sound. Oh fuck. You actually picked up. A single word overwhelmed him with the storm of emotions he usually suppressed with alcohol.

A little hum was given to acknowledge his gratitude, it was honestly the best you could offer. But it was unlike you to be so quiet. The thought that he impacted you this much only expanded the guilt he was suffocating in.

“Was I always this bad?” The setter’s eyes stung with fresh tears forming along his lids. Did he even deserve to speak with you now?

Inhaling a lengthy breath of air, silence greeted him for a minute as you mustered the courage to respond. You knew you should hate him. and yet, hearing the tremor in his voice broke your heart. Was it really your fault that you still loved him?

“You weren’t.” You prayed the words were audible, since you were unsure whether you would be able to repeat yourself.

The blonde found the slightest bit of relief in your response, although it only eased a tenth of the tension he was battling to contain. Swallowing once, he strived to stabilize his breathing.

“Will you give me another chance?”

You caught onto the small crack in his voice, symbolizing his distress and sincerity simultaneously. But you wished you hadn’t.

“Atsumu. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t see a future with me.” Even now, stating a reminder of what you heard activated the emotional wound you spent the last month attempting to heal. Could you truly ever get passed this?

“I can’t see a future without you in it.” He interjected, not missing a beat. He refused to deny it any longer. He was an idiot, but he loved you. It was more than the fact you were low maintenance. He knew that now.

“I feel like I wasted four years, do you understand that?” His confession promoted a swarm of butterflies to parade inside of your stomach, but the mental reminder of your friends scoldings kept you grounded. Pretty words would not heal the damage. Not this time. “I’m sorry. I can’t waste any more…”

“You won’t have to, y/n. I promise. Let me take care of you this time. It will be different.” At this point he was essentially begging you to place trust in his promises, even if he had no credibility.

Maybe it was unhealthy how much you wished his promise to be true. How desperate you were to lower your armor and envelope him into your embrace instead. You knew your friends would never approve of him, but his pleads were weaved together with a vulnerability you had never heard before. Before you could stop yourself, the one word the setter was waiting for left your mouth. 

“Okay.” Dropping your face into your palm, you sunk your teeth into your bottom lip. 

The second you agreed, the blonde was already on his feet, fetching his keys before rushing to the front door. It had been so long since the setter was flooded with joy, he could barely contain himself. “Where are you? I’m coming to you now.” Clicking the lock to a close, he nestled his phone against his shoulder.

Upon hearing the shuffling in his background followed by his question, you instantly shot up to your feet, feeling a surge of hope enter your system. “Don’t you have practice soon?” You certainly did not expect this. Not at all.

Pausing in the middle of the hallway, he blew out a scoff. “I don’t fucking care. I need you in my arms now. Text me the address and I’ll be there. I fucking love you, y/n I love you so much. I’ll never let you go again. I promise.”

It should be noted that he wholeheartedly intended to keep that promise, and thankfully… he did.

Taglist: @idiot-juice-enthusiast​ @shakiraisawesome​

#atsumu x reader #atsumu x y/n #atsumu x you #atsumu miya #atsumu imagines #atsumu haikyuu #atsumu scenarios #atsumu angst #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu imagines

[fandomscombine]

TUA Series Part 3: Luther

The Hargreeves Kerfuffle Part 3: Luther 

The Hargreeves siblings x Hargreeves!Reader (Familial Relationship) 

BG: The Reader is Number Eight. It follows how you fit into the structure of Season 1 and the family dynamic of the siblings.  

This part follows and plays around with the scene when Five had just reappeared and all the sibling are in the kitchen in S1.

I have mashed up the information and some events from both the comics and the tv series. 

The series will consist of 10 parts. Where the reader would have a focused interaction with each sibling. (Eg. After this part, it would be Luther x Reader, then Diego x Reader and so on! –Yes Ben is included) 

WC: 1028

Contains: The Hargreeves being a mess. Luther being a piece of shit.

DISCLAIMER: I DON’T OWN THE TUA SERIES. THIS IS JUST BY A FAN WOULD REALLY ENJOYED THE SERIES AND WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE.

*ALSO NOT PROOFREAD

>>GENERAL MASTERLIST<<

>>THE HARGREEVES KERFUFFLE SERIES MASTERLIST<<

READ: [PART 1]   [PART 2] [PART 4]

>>JOIN MY WRITING CHALLENGE!<<

Five isn’t willing to answer any of your and siblings’ questions until he had something to eat. Which lead to the 7 of you following him into the kitchen.  You were all huddled around the end of the table watching silently as Five gathers for food, blipping in and out of the room.

No one dared to break the moment, still shocked and processing that Five, looking a tad older than you last saw him at 10 years old, but a young looking Five nonetheless, is here right now. Still not exactly believing.

‘What’s the date? The exact date.’ Five asks.

‘The 24th’ says Allison behind you.

‘Of what?’

Allison’s brows scrunches together but replies regardless. ‘March.’

‘Good.’ Five nods and continues adding marshmallow to his peanut butter sandwich, as if his question was totally normal.

‘So…’ Luther clears his throat, voicing out the question brewing in everyone’s mind. ‘Are we gonna talk about what just happened? It’s been 17 years.’

Five huffs, ‘It’s been a lot longer than that.’ Bliping out again, this time in the pantry, no doubt looking for coffee.

Causing Luther to almost jump out of his chair ‘I haven’t missed that.’

‘Where’d you go?’ Diego asks, moving the conversation back on track.

‘The future.’ Five mentions matter of factly.  ‘It’s shit, by the way.’

‘Called it!’ Klaus whispered. You pushed Klaus’ head away, eager to not miss out on anything.

‘I should’ve listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice.’ Five mutters, though more to himself.  The tension in the room is so tense, that even if a needle were to drop, you would still hear it.

Unfortunately for you, you did.

‘get out of the way y/n! i don’t want to see your face anymore.’

Five’s final words came rushing back and so did the pain. It’s been years since the incident, and you’ve convinced yourself that you had made peace with it. But seeing Five back here, in the present, stuck in his teenage self.

Shaking your head, you tried to clear your mind. NO Y/N NO! He hurt you when he left. You shouldn’t fell guilty for him disappearing, it was his choice, his action to do what he did. Taking a couple of deep breaths, you attempted to discreetly brush away the water from your eyes. Which of course, the ever protective, Mr. Hero Complex noticed.

‘heyyy it’s okay.’ Diego whispers, wrapping you into a warm side hug.

‘Thank you Diegs.’  Leaning your head into his shoulder.

‘Wait, how did you get back?’ utters Vanya.

‘In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time.’

‘That makes no sense’ said Diego.

Five couldn’t help but roll his eyes. ‘Well, it would if you were smarter.’

Diego abruptly stands, ready to fight Five- Luther holds him back. ‘How long were you there?’

’45 years.’ That finally made Diego to stop resisting Luther’s grip.  Five smiles into his coffee, noticing everyone’s startled face, he shrugs ‘ Give or take.’

Luther tilts his head, perplexed ‘So what are you saying? You’re 58?’

‘No, my consciousness is 58.’ Five points to his brain, then stands. ‘Apparently, my body is now 13 again.’ To drive the pint home, he flings his arms.  The oversized suit jacket falling to his elbows.

Vanya looks to the rest of you, hoping to see to anyone else understands. ‘Wait, how does that even work?’

‘Delores kept saying the equations were off. Eh. Bet shes laughing now’ Five murmurs, for a second lost in thought. ‘So, heart failure huh.’

‘Yeah. That’s what the doctor-’ Responded Diego.

‘No.’ said Luther firmly.

‘Yes, Luther. Dad died of heart failure whether you believe it or not.’ You interjected. ‘How many times do I have to tell you this, there is no foul play.’

‘Oh yea? Then why is dad’s monocle missing? When we all know that he keeps it with him at all times?? Huh?’ By Luther is rising off his seat.

‘Luther calm down.’ Warned Allison but he brushes her off.

‘Humor me this y/n. Why were you here the day dad died?’ He was now jabbing a finger at you ‘More specifically, HOURS BEFORE HE DIED. CONVENIENTLY PRESENT IN THE SCENE OF THE CRIME.’

Before you could reply, Vanya beat you to it. ‘Are you daft Luther? Did you forget that y/n can SEE INTO THE FUTURE?’

‘I didn’t. But as I recall, you vowed t never step foot into this house ever again and cut all ties! YOU ALL LEFT! YOU LEFT ME BEHIND!’

At this statement, Diego let out laugh. ‘Left you behind? LEFT YOU BEHIND? We were all gonna leave this depressing piece of crap for a healthier life, you were part of it, Luther.’ Staring straight into his eyes. ‘BUT YOU ARE THE ONE THAT RATTED US OUT AND CHOSE TO STAY! SO, DON’T YOU DARE TURN THIS ON US.’

‘Heck yes you all vowed to not come back, but you did- because Dad had died. But don’t you think it’s suspicious that she would come here on her own accord early? Who knows what they could have talked about in his final hours?? She was even the one to inform us! Not mom, not pogo. Her.’ Not daring to break the stare down, Luther called out ‘There is only one way to know the truth…. Allision.’

‘NO, Luther! I am not doing that to my own sister, not after Claire.’

‘FINE, GUESS I HAD TO FIND PROOF THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY.’ With that, Luther turns his back on his siblings.

He pauses next to you and threatens. ‘I swear y/n, I will find out what you did and I would get Allision to Rumour the truth out of you, soon or later.’ On his way out, he had ripped the door out of its hinges.

‘Hmm” Five clicks tongue ‘Nice to see nothing’s changed.’

‘Uh that’s it?’ Allision crosses her arms. ‘That’s all you have to say?’

‘What else is there to say? The circle of Life.’

END OF PART 3

READ: [PART 1]   [PART 2] [PART 4]

Taglist [All]: @gruffle1

Taglist [TUA]:@herecomesthesun1969 @alabaster1223 @ultraviolet-m @winterierwriter @lordofthunderthr @grapesauze @xbarrjallenx @white-wolf-buckaroo @yoheyyosup @infinitystones2018 @94seun @buckynatlarry @thegirlwholikestomanythings @just-some-stars @97yrm @2cuteforyourlies @e-bendy @criminallyhamilton @aqarath @change-the-world-someday @sambucky8 @spankin-soda @big-galaxy-chaos @neenieweenie 

@okimreadynow​ @weird-pale-blonde-person​ @thebloodrobin​ @vicassa​

Feel free to tell me to you want to be tagged for the series or for all/any other of my fics.

Would love to hear your opinion on the series so far too!

#the umbrella academy #tua #the umbrella academy imagine #luther hargreeves x reader #diego hargreeves x reader #allison hargreeves x reader #klaus hargreeves x reader #five hargeeeves x reader #ben hargreeves x reader #vanya hargreeves x reader #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #Allison Hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #the umbrella academy imagines #the umbrella academy x reader #fandomscombine writes

[cornell-mercer]

The Bond

Chapter 1 - The Girl

Explicit - 18+

Mandalorian smut - Mandalorian / original female character

Takes place between season 1 & 2

Chapter 1- The Girl

The Razor Crest glided into Bay 4-6 on the desert planet of Tatooine. With the child in tow, the Mandalorian needed to restock on food and medical supplies, and get some general repairs completed on the Crest. This was a routine layover for the clan of two.

“Well, here we are kid. Let’s get you something to eat”, said Mando looking back from his seat in the cockpit at his little green ward that he considered more like family, as opposed to a job that needed to be done. Although, he would never admit that to anyone; especially himself.

After giving the head ship mechanic detailed instructions on the necessary repairs needed on the Crest, and the supplies to be delivered to the ship, the unlikely pair ventured through the town. Mos Eisley was a dirty, depraved hole of a town that would eat you alive if you didn’t watch your back. Mando opted to carry his charge in a cross body brown sac to keep him mostly hidden from prying eyes. Although, not even the toughest of villains and scum of Mos Eisley would dare mess with a Mandalorian; in full beskar armour no less.

He noticed a small cantina off the main drag and ducked inside the sand coloured structure. Upon entering the cantina, everything went quiet and all species with different sets of eyes fell on Mando; mostly surmising how rich they would be if they were somehow able to part the Mandalorian with his beskar. After a few tense moments of Mando sizing up the patrons and various exit points, he hovered his right-hand over his blaster, sending a clear signal that he wouldn’t hesitate to take out anyone that was stupid enough to mess with him. The hustle and bustle of the cantina then returned as quickly as it had left, and everyone cast their eyes away from him. Mando walked forward and found a small round table in a corner and asked for a large bowl of soup to be brought for his little green companion.

Mando stayed vigilant in scanning the place, as boisterous laughter spread throughout the space from a table across the room. Four large brownish, pinky coloured creatures, that looked to be part Devaronian were making a ruckus about something when he heard a young girl scream, and her tray of drinks flew across the floor. Mando’s eyes behind his visor narrowed, as he saw the largest of the Devaronians pull the small, pretty, dark-haired girl onto his lap by her hair. She clawed at his arm that held her in place, uselessly. Mando stood up, picked up his pulse rifle and was about to take a step forward to intervene, when he saw her.

“Hey shithead! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” yelled a woman in a menacing tone. She had just exited the kitchen area and was presumably also a waitress at the cantina. The woman had a strong, commanding voice, short blond hair and a slim, yet solid build. She was no shrinking violet, like the poor girl trapped on the lap of the lecherous creature. She was dressed in what would be considered typical Tatooine fashion; brown pants, tucked into black knee-high boots, and a tan coloured tunic. Her arms were exposed, and her skin was covered in a thin layer of dust, as is with anyone who has spent more than a day or two on this godforsaken planet. She also wore a utility belt, which housed several useful looking weapons and what may have been tools.

She grabbed what looked like an axe from her belt and stood in a fighting position. “Let her go, nerfherder!”

The Devaronian creature that held the girl on his lap, pushed the small figure to the floor and stood up, towering over the blond woman that had challenged him in front of his three companions. They all laughed nervously and drank their ale, not taking their eyes off the scene.

“You think you can fight me, girl? Do you even know who I am?” his voice boomed through the bar.

“I don’t really care who you are. I just can’t stand a guy who mistreats a girl”, she countered. “Now get out of here,” she gestured towards the door with her head, as she backed away from him slightly.

He roared in laughter and his goons followed suit, along with the rest of the patrons in the bar, too nervous to keep a straight face.

“I am Rab Toll. My father is a close personal friend of Bib Fortuna. My father runs this town.” Rab now taking long strides towards her, loomed over her in an intimidating stance.

“I don’t care who your father is. Maybe he should’ve taught you better manners.” She said boldly as she stared directly into his eyes, trying to hide her trepidation over what she had just gotten herself into.

The Mandalorian could sense this was going to get ugly fast and kept his hand on his blaster from across the room. The child slurped up the last of his soup, as Mando remained lazer-focused on the scene unfolding in front of all the bar patrons turned spectators.

Rab Toll then took a clumsy swing at her head. His reflexes slower than what would’ve been expected, but he had been drinking ale, so that may have been in her favour. She ducked easily out of the way and moved quickly to face him once again. He roared in anger and pulled out his blaster, taking aim at her head. Rab Toll was genuinely shocked when she expertly landed a jump scissor kick, knocking the blaster out of his hand.

Across the room, Mando froze in place and smirked to himself that this girl was no beginner fighter and clearly knew how to take care of herself.

Rab then dove across the floor scrambling towards his blaster, when the girl, with her free hand, grabbed his arm that was reaching towards the blaster and twisted it behind him. Rab roared in pain and reared his head when an unmistakable crunch could be heard. She put the blade of her axe to his neck and lowered herself close to his ear.

“Next time, use your manners.”

She then stood up, tossed Rab’s broken arm to the floor and walked off into the kitchens, as she re-holstered her axe.

Mando sat down and watched as the Devaronian crew helped their leader up and they stumbled out of the bar yelling profanities and something about coming back later.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Mando said in an intrigued tone, looking down at the green child beside him.

Mando settled up the tab and gathered the child into his sac. He knew it wouldn’t be long before the kid was fast asleep, as it usually went when he had a full belly. He began the walk through the town square back to the Razor Crest, when he saw something glint and catch his attention in the sunlight at one of the nearby vendor’s tables. He approached the vendor and was puzzled to find the object that had caught his attention was an exact match to one other he had seen many times before. He shook his head dismissively and carried on through the town. The quicker he and the kid could leave this wretched hive, the better.

When he was nearly back at the Crest, he heard squeals of delight and happiness from what sounded like children coming from a nearby alleyway. As he walked past, Mando looked down the alleyway and saw the blond girl with the short cropped hair. She was sitting crossed legged on the ground, surrounded by children. She had brought food for them, presumably leftovers from the cantina.

“All right, all right, there’s enough for everyone. Just relax.” She said as the children all tried to hug her at once. She looked uncomfortable from all the attention and praise, but he caught a glimpse of an angelic smile beginning to spread across her face.

Mando couldn’t look away and found himself taking several hesitant steps towards her. Who was she? He approached slowly, with his gloved palms up by his sides to show he was not a threat. The girl scrambled to a standing position, putting herself between Mando and the children, with her hand hovering over her axe.

“What do you want Mandalorian?” she said much more aggressively than was needed and levelled her eyes at his visor.

The children grabbed the food and ran hastily towards the small opening at the back of the alley, leaving her alone with the Mandalorian.

“I saw you back at the cantina. Just wanted to ask if you were okay.” He said gently.

“Well, I got fired…” she said raising her arms and dropping them to her sides, in a defeated gesture.

“Yeah. I guess that was probably coming.” Responded Mando in his deadpan gravelly voice.

“Now I’m never going to get off this godforsaken planet.” She said sadly.

After a long and uncomfortable pause, “Why not hire a ride on a cargo vessel?” asked Mando.

“I’m not leaving my ship.” She said, hoping that was enough of an explanation for him to leave her alone. When he tilted his helmet just so, she recognized it as a question.

“Ugh. If you really want to know, I got stuck here when my ship needed repairs and I didn’t have the credits to pay. The parts aren’t readily available because my ship is so old. I was just trying to earn the credits for the repairs, so I can leave. My aunt lives on this planet and is pretty good with fixing up old ships, so she’s holding her for me until I can afford the parts.”

She looked down, tracing a circle in the dust with her boot; unsure about how to fill the awkward silence. “Name is Jaggalor York.”

“Your name is Jaggalor York?” he asked dryly.

She scoffed out a single loud laugh. “No, my ship is named the Jaggalor York. I call her the Yorker for short, but she’s becoming a bit of a burden on me.”

“It would appear so.” Mando said. He was a man who did not see the point in unnecessary conversation.

For the first time, she looked at the Mandalorian’s impressive armour and her eyes settled on the brown sac as his side. “What’s in there?” she asked, gesturing with her chin.

“Nothing” he replied flatly, hoping she wouldn’t push the issue further.

As he spoke, the little green bundle rose his head and with big black eyes, stared directly at the girl. “Well hello there, sweet little man.” Her voice changing to a child-friendly tone, squatting down to ensure she was at eye level with him. “Aren’t you just the cutest.” She said as he cooed and giggled at her, grasping her finger in his tiny hand.

Mando had never seen the kid react this way with anyone before, and for the second time in one day, he smiled under his helmet. Mando could not recall the last time he had smiled; let alone twice in one day. There was something about this girl…

Just then, he had a thought and before he could reason himself out of it, he made a bold statement. “Listen, if you’re looking for work, I might be able to help you.”

The girl was still squatting beside the kid in the sac, and she looked up at him. “Really? What kind of work?” as she narrowed her eyes at him.

He looked down at her, his expression under his helmet unreadable “I need someone to help me look after the kid, to go on jobs. I need someone who can take care of themselves. Someone I won’t have to worry about.” He said in a monotone, gravelly manner. “Plus, it may be in your best interest to leave this planet.” He gestured towards the main road, where more Devaronian crew members were starting to gather and appeared to be heading in the direction of the cantina.

She breathed out a heavy long sigh. “Okay. But you need to agree to drop me off at the nearest planet if things don’t work out.”

“I can agree to that.”

“Okay. Let’s talk credits,” she said impassively.

The trio then walked briskly to the Crest, where they boarded the ramp quickly. Once onboard, she looked around, taking note of the very small space that would be her home for the foreseeable future and wondered if she had made a huge mistake. The Mandalorian then unpacked his charge, placing the sleepy creature in his hammock.

“Come on up. We’ll be taking off shortly” he said climbing the ladder to what she presumed was the cockpit.

“Nice ship. What’s her name?” she asked, as she climbed up behind him.

“Razor Crest.” He responded.

She nodded, buckling herself into the worn leather passenger seat behind the pilot’s chair. Mando expertly worked the controls and lifted off with ease.

“I’m Sloan by the way. Sloan Bira”.

Not saying anything, the Mandalorian turned his head to the side and gave a nod.

“Nice to meet you too, Mando.” She said; her voice dripping with sarcasm, as she gave an eye roll.

Under his helmet, Mando smiled for the third time that day.

Read more here —> https://archiveofourown.org/works/27826516/chapters/68124502#main

#the mandalorian #mando #din djarin #pedro pascal #mandalorian smut #star wars #star wars smut

[elatedmarvel]

All Tied Up

Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Steve Rogers comes to your rescue.

Work Count: 2k

A/N: Hello! Long time no chat! This was written for @wkemeup​‘s 4k follower celebration! Thank you for hosting this Kas! It was so much fun to write! If you have yet to check her out, go do it! Her stories are always soooooooooo emotional and good. Literally one of the best writers ever! My prompt was “ “Can you stop fidgeting? I’m trying to untie you.”. Hope you enjoy!

Warnings: hints of sex, talks of having children (in the future)

“Agent, what’s your status?” Steve whispers into his comm, somehow, it still sounds loud and echoes down the hallway.  

He stands in the shadows, trying to hide his giant frame, his eyes flicker to a new location every few seconds. He can’t risk getting caught, especially since he lost communication with you. 

You had told him you were going to acquire the target, and slinked off into the shadows before he could tell you it was a bad idea. Now, here he stands, worried they had captured you. 

Not that you couldn’t handle yourself. It had been a beautiful sight the day you brought Bucky Barnes to his knees when sparring. He swears he saw a few tears in Bucky’s eyes, which of course he vehemently denied. 

Hell, you’ve even taken him down. But usually, you would just bat your eyelashes at him and kiss him till he saw stars before claiming your victory. He doesn’t mind though, getting to kiss you was his consolation prize. 

The comm floods with static noise when he checks it again, never a good sign. Sighing in frustration, he checks his watch. It reads 2:30 PM, 10 minutes past when you said you would check in. 

His gut tells him something is wrong, and it is rarely wrong. Except maybe the one time he had convinced you to eat 4 day old pizza that had been sitting on the island in the common kitchen. He’ll never forget the hours you spent throwing up, crying in a ball, and cursing his name. You still cringe a bit whenever the team orders pizza. 

Sighing and resigned to his fate, he moves as quietly as possible down the hall. He can hear the targets chattering in the next room, noisy for people that were supposed to be discreet, but he hardly blames them, they were able to secure an Avenger. Slowly, he peaks around the corner, trying to hold his breath.

All four hostiles were in the room, too occupied by their tablets to notice him. 2 of them sat with their backs to the open door, the other 2 were huddled in the corner laughing about something or other. Scanning the room, he feels hope blooming in his chest when he doesn’t find you among them.

The common space is the only other place you could be. Tiptoeing across the open doorway, he pauses on the opposite side of the door. The noise is the same, no indication that they heard or saw him pass by. Hoping his luck holds out, he maneuvers almost silently down the rest of the corridor.   

Stepping into the room, he finds you exactly how he thought he would. Hands tied behind your back, legs and torso tied to the chair. Duct tape covers your mouth, and your eyes glower in a deadly manner. It would be almost cute if you weren’t in the middle of a mission. 

“Mmmmm, hmmmm” you hum as you see Steve in the doorway. Your body starts to wriggle about, and Steve is pretty sure you’re gonna knock yourself over if you continue moving with as much vigor as you do.

“Shh, be quiet, you’re gonna give us away with all that noise.” he scolds as he walks closer. He won’t admit it, but he takes great pleasure seeing you struggle against the restraints. And not just because he tries to get you to go to escape training seminars. He bet’s you’ll go with him now. It’s actually an impressive set up, better than he would have expected from the enemy. 

“I’m gonna take off the duct tape, but you have to promise me not to yell.” The cold look you give him makes him chuckle under his breath. You were always so fiesty, one of his favorite pastimes was riling you up. 

The chair starts to scrape against the floor with your thrashing. Finally, he takes pity on you and gently peels the duct tape from your mouth.

“Motherfucker! That hurt!” you whisper yell. He rolls his eyes at that, he knows for a fact that the duct tape was mostly coming off anyways. You had a slobbered all over it, he’s pretty sure, in an attempt to break yourself free. You could never wait for someone else to rescue you, it takes a few seconds to remember the last time you needed help on a mission was. 

“You’ve been shot before.” he reminds you as he kneels down in front of you, quickly he releases your right foot. It almost kicks him in the face before he jerks out of the way in the last second. 

“Finally!” you shout, and wiggle the foot around. “My feet have been asleep for 10 mins now.” You stomp the foot on the ground now, trying to release the static feeling. 

“Maybe if you listened to me, you wouldn’t be in this position.” Steve says, smirking up at you as he unties your left foot. This time, your foot hits him square in the chest. 

“Shut up Rogers, you know you loved me tied up.” you wink. His cheeks feel warm and he thinks about things other than you naked and tied to the headboard of your shared bed. The thought of Bucky and Sam’s last attempt in the kitchen takes care of his problem. 

Clearing his throat, he slides on his knees behind the chair. Both your hands were tied together and your torso was tied to the chair. Knowing you would jump free the moment your torso was free, he grabs your hands to work on the knot first. It would be a disaster if you went running around with your hands tied together, trying to take down the hostiles. 

The chair keeps moving with your excessive wiggling, making his hands slip from the surprisingly sturdy knot. If this wasn’t time sensitive, he would have let you struggle a while longer, just to see how long it would take you to get yourself out of the mess. 

“Can you stop fidgeting? I’m trying to untie you.” Steve reprimands and gives a slight tug on your restraints. 

You stick your tongue out, but realize he can’t see it from behind you. Instead, a middle finger on both hands proudly stands out from behind your back. A smirk finds its way onto his face as he sees them and swats the fingers away. 

“Be nice.” he breathes close to your ear, tugging one last time to get your hands free. The shiver that ran down your spine as you remember when those exact words were last said. With him on top of you as he kisses every part of your body. Sweaty body on sweaty body, moving together towards the grand release. You reprimand yourself in your head, you promised yourself you wouldn't turn into someone that daydreamed about her boyfriend over everything else. Mission now, sex later.  

“I’m always nice.” you reply, struggling out of the torso restraints harder now that Steve has untied your hands. The sound of disbelief escapes him before he can trap it, many examples come to mind, almost making him laugh if he wasn’t trying to be discreet and quiet.

Your breath gets knocked out of you for a second as you accidentally choke yourself trying to get free. With a small “hum”, you finally fall complacent and let Steve work on the final knot in peace. 

A minute, maybe two passes by before you feel the ropes slack. The moment you do, you jump up, giving a victorious cry and shove the chair back with your knees. Steve gets up in the exact moment, and misses catching the chair by a millisecond. 

Blue eyes meet your wild, shocked ones as the sound echoes throughout the hallways. He can hear the moment the rascals register what the sound was, as they frantically run out of the room. 

With nowhere left to run, Steve shifts slightly in front of you, preparing himself for the battle he knows is to come. 

“No!” they scream as they stampede into the common room. 

“We tied you up so good!” Morgan Stark yells, running at full speed straight into Steve’s arms. 

“We even used the heavy duty rope we found in Uncle Tony’s lab.” Lila Barton states as she jumps and climbs up Steve’s legs. With both girls in Steve’s arms, they start talking a minute a mile about how they need to change the tactic next time. 

Nathaniel rubs his eyes sleepily as he walks into the room, almost an exact replica of Clint after a long mission, and holds out his arms, silently begging to be picked up. You take pity on the young boy and swipe him into your arms, holding him almost like you would a newborn baby. 

You both giggle a moment, before you right him in your arms and he nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck. You’ll ignore the drool on your shirt for now.

Only Cooper Barton seems to care about the scene of the crime, and gathers up the rope that limply lays on the ground. 

He takes a handful of rope in both hands and tugs for a moment. Steve swears he murmurs something about using vibranium handcuffs next time. He’ll make an excellent agent one day. 

“So, what do we get for winning? Ice cream?” Morgan asks with a sly smile on her face, gaining Steve’s and your attention. The exact look was copied straight from one Tony Stark, and it shocks Steve just how much she looks like the billionaire. 

Lila nods furiously next to her, and both the boys hum in agreement. 

“Technically, I freed myself. So you didn’t win.” you counter. Steve snorts at your comment, and you stick you tongue out at him. 

“Right, the knots magically slipped away. Not like I had anything to do with it” he counters. The girls giggle, and you shoot them your best mean face. 

“You’re on my team, and my boyfriend so that’s allowed.” you explain, slightly swaying side to side with a sleepy Nathaniel. You hope if you sway enough, he’ll fall asleep and that’ll be one less kid hyped up on sugar running around. 

“I think we earned the ice cream by simply being able to capture you and tie you up.” Cooper bargains, a huge grin on his face. The girls nod furiously at the statement, and even Nathaniel gives a weak noise of approval.

You lock eyes with Steve once more, you were both pretty sure this was how it was going to end anyways, but you always wanted to be on the same page as him. He nods slightly, and his lips curl up so minutely, you wouldn’t have caught it if you hadn't spent hours staring at his beautiful face.   

“Fine, but only one scoop.” you finally give in. 

The resounding scream of happiness they give out nearly deafens you. The girls scramble down from Steve’s arms, desperate to get to the kitchen. Even Nathaniel perks up from your arms, and wiggles his way down. Taking his brother’s hand, they follow the girls to reap their prize. 

“I can’t believe they actually managed to tie you down, we were supposed to be babysitting them.” Steve chuckles as he swings an arm around your shoulder and leads you to the kitchen.

“In my defense, you can’t kick and punch wards in your charge, so I let them.” you say and give his butt a pinch. 

He jolts away from you momentarily before laughing and spinning you in front of him. Lips drawn to yours, he kisses you slow and happy before moving away and pecking other parts of your face. 

“Stop,” you laugh, “you’re getting your spit on me.”

“You’ve never complained before.” he smirks at you, and laughs when your cheeks grow warmer. Giving you one last kiss, he takes your hand and drags you to the kitchen. 

It’s hard for his mind not to wonder what it would be like if this wasn’t babysitting. If this was really his everyday life, kids and a wonderful kick ass wife to share his days with. 

Would the kid have his eyes and your face? Maybe the serum would counteract the sickly boy he once was. He knows for certain that if he had one kid, he would want another. Being an only child, Bucky was his only savior for boredom and love after his mom passed away. 

As if you could read his mind, you rub your thumb across the back of his hand, catching his attention. 

“I’m glad Clint and Tony asked us to babysit, good practice for when we have some.” you smile at him. His heart races when he sees the excitement in his eyes. That’s just how you were, you complimented him perfectly. 

“Yeah?” he asks, elation growing in his body the more he thinks about his future with you.

“Yeah” you nod. Smile growing as wide as your face.

Steve leans in slowly, eyes still alight with joy and takes your face in his massive hands. The breath in your body leaves you for a moment, seeing the happiness in Steve Rogers is all you ever wanted. Having a front row seat was sometimes too much. 

Before your lips can touch, a shatter rings from the kitchen, shortly followed by a scream. A laugh leaves his mouth as he pulls you in for a hug and a kiss on the forehead. 

“I didn’t do it!” little voices yell, and it makes the both of you chuckle even more. 

You bury your head into his chest as he yells out that you are both coming and to stay where they are.

“We probably need more practice though before we have our own.” you say as you look up at him. 

“Ours will be more well behaved than that right?” he asks back, unfolding you from his arms and walking towards the kitchen.

“Sure, keep telling yourself that.” you laugh.

The second crash and screams makes you both lightly job towards the commotion. 

As he watches you calm down a crying Nathaniel and Lila while mopping up the spilled ice cream, his heart feels so full it could burst.

He can’t wait to share in the chaos of life with you.

~~~~

Thank you so much for reading! Always open to comments and feedback!

#kas4kwc #Steve rogers x reader #steve x reader #steve rogers fanfiction #steve fan fiction #steve fan fic #steve rogers fan fic #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers fic

[fablesrose]

Because I Am

Description: Worth and the heart are very fragile things. Sometimes it’s good to know when to walk away.

Pairing: Dr. Stephen Strange x reader

Word count: 2,136 

Warnings: break-ups, implied cheating

A/n: This was written for @angelinathebook‘s 300 follower writing challenge, congrats on 1,000 followers babe! The prompt I chose was “You’re not worth it,” it will be in bold. Enjoy!

Masterlist

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

Late, again.

I checked my watch, seeing the minute hand tick past the hour mark. I sat in the cafe only a couple streets away from my flat with my favorite drink and scone. It had been nice to take the morning off, but I was hoping my boyfriend would join me like I asked him to.

This marks the third date that he’s either been late, or not shown at all. It was starting to look like it was going to be the latter. I started to wonder if he was losing interest again. The last time that happened the only reason we got back together was because of the time apart, we thought we were different people so we gave it another go.

But never had he forgotten my birthday. That made me wonder if he got caught up with his duties in the sanctum. He always was a workaholic. And because of that he’s on his third chance.

Chances. Everybody knows I give a lot to many. Maybe too many to too many people. Every chance given is a piece of my heart that’s cracked. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it doesn’t pay off. Sometimes even then, after more were given than was deserved, they have the audacity to ask for one more.

I sighed and shook myself out of my thoughts, coming to the conclusion that Stephen wasn’t coming. It’s alright, I’ll just pop by the New York sanctum to say hello. I grabbed my drink and headed towards the London sanctum, the one I study in. Not very often do I enter the sanctums in my casual clothes, but everyone knew I wasn’t due back to work until later this afternoon.

I said hello to those I passed in the hallways and eventually I reached the doors to the other sanctums. Still sipping on my drink I walked through and wandered the hallways trying to find my over worked boyfriend. I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t find him. He’s always moving and I wasn’t as familiar with this one as the one in London. So instead I went to the library where I knew I’d find Wong.

“Welcome Y/n.” Wong didn’t look up from his book as I approached.

“Hey, Wong,” I perched myself on the corner of the desk and craned my neck to see what he was reading, “Spiritus pax, et imperium… That’s a good one I’ve heard. Haven’t gotten around to it.”

Wong nodded to show he heard me, but didn’t make much of an effort for small talk.

“Wong, have you seen Stephen today?”

He looked up at me, “No, he texted and said he was spending the morning with you.”

That doesn’t seem right, “That’s odd since he didn’t show for breakfast two hours ago...”

We both shrugged at each other.

“Oh well, I guess I’ll wait for him to get in, I took the whole morning off.”

Wong turned back to his book, “You are welcome to stay as long as you would like.”

“Thanks.”

I stayed perched on the desk and pulled out my phone. I started to scroll through Instagram to pass the time. Eventually I scrolled through all of the new posts and decided to hop over to Stephen’s profile.

It took a long time to convince him to get one and he hardly ever used it, as shown by the next to no pictures posted. He had more pictures in the tagged section, most of them tagged by me. I flipped over there and scrolled to the bottom to start at the beginning.

I enjoyed scrolling through pictures of us that I had taken. Some of them were silly, far and spread between cute moments on adventures. I particularly liked the one where we sat together on the Ferris Wheel. Stephen had taken my phone when I pulled it out to take a picture of the view. He quickly used his long arms to snap a picture of him kissing my cheek. He caught me laughing with my eyes closed, and managed to angle so the colors of the sunset were in the background. It was my favorite picture.

I finally reached the top with the most recent pictures when I noticed one that I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t uncommon, Stephen had other friends that tagged him in things, so it wasn’t the first I didn’t know.

The picture was part of a brunette’s face, her hair clearly messy from just waking up. The picture had the purpose of catching the background, and clearly visible was Stephen looking over his shoulder at her. He had a half smile and was wearing the shirt I got him only a couple of weeks ago. That’s how I knew it was recent, despite it being posted just this morning. I noticed he was wearing the shorts he usually wore to bed which made my heart start to sink.

The caption read: Look at how cute my boo is! He’s so sweet to make me breakfast, Love you!

I could tell my the picture that it wasn’t Stephen’s apartment, and all of it together caused my stomach to twist.

I didn’t look up from the picture, “Wong?”

“Hm?”

“Were those his exact words? That he was hanging out with me?”

He looked up from his book again, looking a bit puzzled, “No… He said he was spending the morning with his girlfriend. Why?”

I tapped the side of my phone for a moment before deciding to show him the picture.

“Wong, what does that seem like to you?” I held my breath, waiting for him to call me crazy.

He took a deep breath, “It looks like he’s cheating on you.”

I sighed heavily, “That’s what I thought...” I boosted myself off of the table, “Well! I guess my morning off is being cut short. If you need me I’ll be next door.”

Wong nodded at me with a concerned look on his face, but didn’t move to stop me.

I quickly went to the London sanctum and changed into my instructor robes. I didn’t have a set class, instead I went where I was needed, giving a helping hand with the children.

I taught the classes with a heavy heart, but I surprised myself with dry eyes. It’s impossible to stay in too bad of a mood when you are in the midst of little ones, though. They giggled when they were supposed to be concentrating, and made funny faces when they concentrated too hard.

Before I knew it, the end of the day came. All the classes scheduled were completed, and I wasn’t booked on the night shift at the sanctum, so I was able to go home.

I was packing up my things after the final class of the day when a little girl tugged on my sleeve. She pulled a beautiful flower from behind her back and stretched her arm out towards me. She whispered timidly, “Happy birthday, Miss.”

I was shocked. In the midst of everything going on I had forgotten it was my own birthday, and hardly anyone knows when it is. I squatted down to her level and looked up towards the exit to see some of the older students who I have taught for ages looking at the scene expectantly. I smiled and waved softly at them before turning my attention back to the young girl handing me a flower. It had magical golden sparkles dripping around and on the petals, mesmerizing me.

I gently took the stem from her hand and held her cheek in one hand. I kissed her hairline quickly but softly, “Thank you, little one. I love it.”

She beamed up at me and bolted to her fellow students.

I didn’t want to crush the flower in my bag, and I knew I couldn’t walk home with the flower out in the open, but I also wanted to enjoy the slight sprinkle that had started on the glass windows, so I quickly used my sling ring to open a portal just big enough to place the flower in the glass of water I remembered I left on the counter this morning.

I walked home slowly, hearing the soft pat pat pat of the rain against the pavement next to me was soothing. By the time I reached my flat my hair was just wet enough to stick to my face. I left the lights dim and started to make myself dinner. I wasn’t sure how everything was going to go from here, I didn’t know what moves I would have to make, or what he would do in turn. So, instead of worrying or even reacting to it, I was going to think, I was going to continue as I have, and I wasn’t going to let it rule over me.

At least, that was my plan until Stephen himself walked through my flat door, using the spare key he keeps. He was still in his sanctum wear and his hair was dripping, slightly tinged white from the gel that no longer kept his hair in it’s place. I couldn’t help but smile at the look.

“Hey, are you doing okay?” His features formed into something that was almost concern, but not quite, and all of the sudden the quiet little moment of him looking silly and not a care in the world was broken.

My smile faltered slightly, “Yeah, why do you ask?” I subconsciously picked up his ring of keys that he dropped on the counter. I did it often, so he didn’t notice when I subtly removed my flat key as I was fiddling with it.

“Wong said you were upset.”

“Ah...” I turned back towards the stove to give my meal a stir, “You- You didn’t come to breakfast this morning.” I guess I was doing this, I just hope I could do it slowly.

“Oh, was that today? I got a call from someone who needed some of my guidance in the Hong Kong sanctum.”

So now he was blatantly lying to me. Fantastic.

“I saw you wore that shirt I got you today, I’m glad you like it.” I kept my voice calm, even, and terribly bland. I was afraid if I showed anything, I would show everything.

There was a pause where I’m sure Stephen was puzzling over what that meant. I heard the click of his phone unlocking and then the sharp intake of breath.

“Did you...” He trailed off nervously.

I turned just enough to see that he had Instagram pulled up on his phone. I hummed softly, “So...” I turned to lean against the counter and face him, “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

He was caught off guard and started to sputter silently. Maybe I was secretly hoping for a good explanation, that was his sister or a cousin who’s place he crashed at for whatever reason, his neighbor was feeling sick, and they have that kind of relationship, anything, really. I kinda think I would have bought it too.

But no, instead, after he stopped sputtering, he fell silent completely. He offered no explanation, not even a lame excuse. I nodded to myself and pushed myself to stand. I walked to the door and opened it, standing to the side to let my now ex-boyfriend pass.

“You could have just said you were losing interest Stephen.”

He had just stepped across the threshold when he turned around, “Y/n, one more chance. Please.”

Even him asking was breaking my heart again. Just like all the other times someone asked for just one more chance. I decided I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t lose anymore of myself to giving one more chance to those who didn’t earn it.

“No.”

I started to close the door before he asked, no, he pleaded, “Why?”

I paused and held his gaze firmly, “You’re not worth it.”

I closed the door the rest of the way and when he made a move to keep it open I used the sling ring I slipped onto my finger to make his hand fall through, keeping him from stopping me. I locked the door and slid to the floor.

It was done.

I finished my dinner slowly. Everything seemed so bland, but I didn’t regret it. I was just so tired. Maybe I should have seen the signs. All I knew was that I lived a nice life full of wonder and magic. And that was enough for me.

Later that evening I gently touched the sparkling flower I was given. I played the conversation in my head over and over. I gazed into my own eyes in the mirror as I approached the last lines.

“Why?”

“You’re not worth it.”

Because I am.

Tag list: Send me an ask or a message if you want to be added or removed!

@kitkatd7 @snarky--starky @confetti-its-an-imagine-blog @kaogasm

#stephen strange #dr strange #dr strange x reader #stephen strange x reader #lenas300challenge #marvel #mcu #mcu fic #one-shot #one shot #Because I Am #because i am

[shinneth]

Spill the tea on Stevinel (just because I saw one for conniverse) And yes, I'm not on Anonymous. Because I'm a proud stevinel shipper and no one's going to stop me from loving it, also your blog is cool

And you know what? That’s the right attitude to have! People should be free to express what they ship without shielding themselves with anonymity. I don’t blame the people that do these days - antis are fucking dangerous people - but goddamn, people. It’s fiction. 

So I commend you for shipping Stevinel openly and proudly! Hard to believe it’s actually considered a bold and brave move just to be open and honest about harmless preferences these days. 

That said, I’m sorry it took so long to get to this. I felt you deserved an epic, given how unexpectedly successful my tirade on why Connverse is a shit ship with an undeserved golden reputation was...

But the truth is, even though I’m very much a Stevinel shipper, it’s definitely not my OTP.

And it’s very tricky for me to figure out how to spill the tea on Stevinel in a way that’s distinct from me doing the same with Stevidot.

Because, well, let’s face it: these two ships, beyond being very similar in nature, have also endured identical hardships from the fandom.

All the death threats Stevinel fans get from the raging antis for daring to ship something so “problematic/immoral/wrong/not Connverse”? 

Stevidot fans have been treated that exact same way for years. And still are. For the exact same reasons.

Both Stevinel and Stevidot shippers are valid, but the fandom constantly turns a blind eye to Rebecca Sugar’s husband who also worked on the show outright saying gem x human ships are FAIR GAME.

And also turn a blind eye to the recent interview where Sugar herself stated that the gems are more like AI - a conclusion I and many others deduced ages ago just by how gems are portrayed in the show. 

But by god, they’ll hang on Matt Burnett’s word that “grown gems” are a thing even though canon itself explicitly states that GEMS DON’T GROW.

Just like how despite Maya Petersen outright admitting that Aroace!Peridot is just her headcanon, people treat it like the fucking gospel now.

(no offense to anyone who’s committed to that particular headcanon - I just don’t really see it with Peridot in particular and it’s really fucking stupid to claim it’s 100% canon when the source herself explicitly said it wasn’t)

Well, it’s canon that Spinel kissed Steven and he didn’t turn into dust. And Steven was already well on his way down the path of self-destruction at this point in time; he would’ve gone monster whether this happened or not. 

Also, how often does a character get the “heart eyes” expression for just a platonic love?

If there was ever a scene where Connie or Steven had heart eyes, no doubt most of the pricks would scream “YES!!!! UNDENIABLE PROOF THAT THEY’RE IN LOVE!!!”

But when it’s Spinel, suddenly it doesn’t count? Really?

How convenient.

There’s also the stupid idiots who saw the conceptual development of Spinel in that movie artbook and saw some vague color keys during a conceptual stage and claimed that Spinel was “family” to Steven - which of course must mean “related” and therefore must make Stevinel an incestuous relationship! 

Which is bull. Also shit. It’s already common knowledge that gems don’t work that way. She was the designated playmate for Steven’s mother. Nothing more.

Of course, most gems who come in Steven’s orbit end up being sort of a family to him. 

But everyone seems to have this impression that a gem being part of Steven’s family means they become additional surrogate mom figures.

And yeah no, that’s dumb and wrong. Garnet and Pearl are really the only ones I’d consider actual “mom figures”. Amethyst’s more of a big sister. Everyone else can vary depending on perspective, but I’ve never seen any of the other gems as anything close to a motherly figure for Steven. Any time I see shit about Lapis or Peridot being regarded as “gem moms” to Steven, I laugh my ass off. They are so not moms or any kind of authoritative figure for Steven. Bismuth at best is more of the fun-loving aunt.

There are more roles in a family than just a paternal/maternal substitute. In fact, I believe Steven has considered Connie to be part of his family well before they hooked up in canon.

(as a side-note, I love how people who are allegedly SO squicked out by age gap ships totally pardon Connverse - you guys realize Connie was 14 in Future, right? Possibly 15 depending on the time scale? There’s gonna be a point in the relative near future where Steven is 18 and Connie isn’t - why don’t I hear you assholes angst about that “atrocity”, huh?)

I honestly do consider the CG B-Team as part of Steven’s family, but more in a loose sense. But by that same token, I consider Connie as part of the family in a similar manner. 

Especially since Spinel was shoved off to live with the Diamonds after the movie - and the Diamonds themselves have a very fucked-up relationship among themselves to the point where I honestly hesitate to put a familial label on it at all - it’s extra stupid to try and paint Stevinel as something with incestuous overtones when it clearly doesn’t. 

Spinel does happen to be a perfect representative of how full of shit antis are about age gaps, though. 

While Peridot’s age has always been left vague, we know she can’t be 5K or older due to being an Era 2 gem. Due to her utter lack of knowledge of Era 1 events (or being completely sold on the Diamonds’ propaganda) and her general inexperience with her own equipment - as well as her ability to quickly adapt to Earth - I always headcanoned Peridot as being especially young. Like, younger-than-Steven young. 

Mostly because Peri’s attitude reeks of Gen Z - also because it’d be nice for a change to have a gem who isn’t thousands of years old like literally every other noteworthy gem in the show. We need a representative of gemkind who hasn’t been around for ages. 

Of course, Spinel’s backstory proves that even if they went the boring route and made Peridot thousands of years old just like everybody else, it wouldn’t really mean much of anything. She’d be no less of a valid romantic option for Steven regardless of age.

Spinel is several thousands of years old, and the movie explicitly shows us what exactly that amounts to for a gem.

As I mentioned earlier, Sugar sees the gems more like AI. Spinel remaining in one spot for several millennnia, not moving an inch, not speaking to anyone, not seeing anything other than a gradually-deteriorating garden... yeah, and somehow, despite all that, Spinel’s still very childlike per her design. She had literally no room to mature or accrue life experience: Pink Diamond basically hit the pause button on her entire life.

Even though she’s several thousands of years old, through no fault of her own, Spinel’s mindset remained unchanged. It wasn’t until Steven inadvertently came into her life that she became twisted - understandably so after finally realizing she’d been abandoned by Pink. 

But she still didn’t completely lose her true self. Spinel realized on her own that Steven didn’t deserve to suffer just because his mom was a negligent asshole. She also came to understand on her own that unlike Pink, Steven truly cared for her no matter what shit she threw his way. 

Steven could give Spinel the care and attention she always deserved; something Pink totally denied her while deceiving her into wasting away with her abandoned playground. He could be the one to give Spinel the love she always deserved but was either denied or manipulated into believing she got. 

Honestly, this is more than enough to warrant building something more between these two. 

The age gap is irrelevant. The two have chemistry. They aren’t related.

(and honestly, this is fiction - these details are largely irrelevant in fiction anyway. I’m only bringing it up because it doesn’t take much research to find that every label the antis put on Stevinel is complete inaccurate Diamond propaganda bullshit)

Stevinel is FINE. Let people ship it if they want to!

Um... is that good enough?

Honestly, I’m not gonna lie: Stevinel’s pretty goddamned popular; so much that I’m a bit jealous of it. I enjoy the ship a lot, but I’ve been keeping it at arms-length all this time. I’m looking forward to when I can write my own brand of Stevinel interaction when I get to introduce her in my series, but that’s still a while to go. 

Also, there’s almost zero Peridot/Spinel material, let alone my Peridot/Steven/Spinel OT3. And Stevidot material is still hard to come by; I’m noticing Stevinel’s still quite a bit easier to find by comparison. 

So in a way, I feel many other unpopular ships deserve some tea-spilling sooner than Stevinel because Stevinel at least still has a sizable fanbase. Same can’t really be said for a lot of similar ships here...

A lot of this can apply to other Steven x gem ships, honestly. 

But I guess I haven’t been showing Stevinel much proper love due to my devotion to my superior SU-AU. I can only hope I can soon reach a point where I can have GA Spinel react to Steven, since their dynamic will be significantly different.

(and then one day I’ll finally make the Peridot/Steven/Spinel OT3 fic!!)

Until then, I can only hope I did Stevinel some justice here!

#answered asks #ryan-spinel #stevinel #stevidot #steven universe #spinel #su spinel #shipping #spill the tea #peridot #su peridot