#now I have something to bother the shit out of the little active following I have lmao/J

[sluttywonwoo]

instead of you [part thirty-three] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, angst, discussions of plane disasters, mentions of sex (mdni ; 18+)

word count: 3k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

additional a/n: disclaimer that this chapter and the following chapters take place on oahu and kauai, hawai'i. i wrote this a year ago (originally posted on sept. 22, 2022) and included mentions of the negative impact and sentiment tourism in hawai'i procures, but it was before the fires in maui. i included hawai'i in their vacation in the first place because i'm part hawaiian and wanted to bring attention to our people's attitude toward tourists while also writing about the parts of the islands that i grew up loving. and i thought i should clarify that before posting, as i feel the context is important to precede what would be an otherwise distasteful choice if i had written this now. please keep hawai'i in your thoughts, mahalo plenty <3

series masterlist | early access to the next chapter on ko-fi

Predictably, you cried yourself to sleep. You debated over whether or not to tell Minho. He’d probably find out when he woke up in the morning but would he be mad if he didn’t hear it from you? If Jisung was right, he didn’t care about you at all, so why would you grant him the courtesy of a head’s up? You didn’t want to believe Jisung, rather, you wanted to believe that he had only said those things in the heat of the moment but at the end of the day, he knew Minho far better than you did. Whether or not he was telling the truth to try and save you or lying to hurt you was up to you to decipher.

You wound up texting Minho, ‘Jisung knows,’ without any other context and calling it a night. 

The next morning, you woke up to a message from Jisung telling you not to bother getting ready for the day and that he’d be going on without you. It was mostly a relief not to have to put on an act after everything that happened the night before but it also stung.

You weren’t very optimistic about repairing your relationship with Jisung, but any lingering hope vanished when he wouldn’t even look at you in passing in the hallway. 

You spent the entire day in bed, trying to distract yourself with anything you could think of to pass the time. You scrolled through social media until your timelines stopped refreshing with new content. There wasn’t anything interesting enough on TV to pull you out of spiraling so you didn’t even bother trying to find something to hold your attention. 

At one point you remembered the book you were reading but as soon as you opened it you were greeted by all of Jisung’s little annotations he had left for you. He still had your book and you wondered if he would ever finish it now that you’d ruined everything. 

You thought about texting him, just to check in or try and talk about things but you didn’t want to bother him. A couple of times, you almost texted him just out of instinct. You would go to send him a tweet that you thought he’d find funny and then remember.

Minho came by your room that night after dinner when everyone was back from the day’s activities. He knocked twice, letting himself in before you’d even finished telling him he could enter. 

“Care to explain what happened?” he asked, hands on his hips.

You shrugged noncommittally. “Jisung found out.”

“How? Did you tell him?”

“And ruin my own relationship with my best friend? Yeah, definitely.”

Minho rolled his eyes. “I didn’t come here to argue. I just want to know what happened.”

“Then don’t accuse me of shit.”

“I didn’t mean- I’m sorry. That’s not what I was trying to do.”

You sighed and signaled for him to sit down if he wanted to. He did, perching himself on the edge of the bed cautiously. 

“He knows because he noticed me sneaking out and finally decided to follow me.”

The color drained from Minho’s face. “So he heard-”

You nodded. “I don’t know how much, but enough.”

“Fuck.”

“Fuck is right.”

“He wouldn’t say a word to me today,” Minho said. 

“He wouldn’t even look at me.”

“I guess we knew this would happen eventually.”

“Yeah.”

“We fucked up.”

“Yeah.”

“You were right.”

“What do you mean?” you asked, furrowing your eyebrows.

“We really do deserve each other.”

Oh. What Jisung had said earlier rang through your ears again. 

“I guess I was.”

Just then, the door to the bedroom opened and Jisung walked in, scoffing as he passed his brother. 

“I should have known,” he muttered to himself. 

“Ji, look-” Minho tried, only to be immediately cut off by his younger brother. 

“Don’t. Please just fucking don’t.”

“But-”

“God, you never listen to a word I say, do you? Either of you?”

You wanted to protest that you did listen to him but you thought better of it. It wouldn’t help your case at all. Instead, you sat there silently like a child being scolded. 

“I don’t want to hear you explain yourself,” Jisung continued. “I don’t care why you fucked my best friend. I think the act in itself doesn’t need an explanation.” Minho opened his mouth to respond but Jisung cut him off again. “I don’t want to hear an apology either. I already know you don’t mean it. In fact, I think we��re done here so if you wouldn’t mind getting the fuck out of my room...”

Minho looked like he wanted to argue but likely knew it wouldn’t do any good so he simply hung his head and let himself out, bidding you a quiet goodnight as he left. You didn’t respond. You didn’t even acknowledge him. How could you?

“Don’t forget to pack your things for the flight tomorrow. It’s a long one.”

You sat there, stunned. You hadn’t expected Jisung to speak to you at all, let alone say something amicable. 

“O-ok thanks,” you responded shakily.

“I’m sleeping in here tonight,” he added. 

“Oh-” you scrambled up, preparing to leave but Jisung stopped you. 

“No, I meant with you. It’d look weird if I slept on the couch again.”

Of course. Keeping up appearances.

“Is it even worth it to do this anymore?” you asked. “I mean, it’s falling apart at the seams.”

“It’ll be fine,” Jisung argued. “It’s just a few more weeks.”

“Do you really want to keep pretending to be in love with someone you hate?”

He froze, still bent over his suitcase. Then he straightened up and turned to face you. 

“I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t?”

“No, I don’t think I could ever hate you. I’ve been trying, trust me.”

You weren’t sure how to take that. You weren’t sure how you were supposed to take it. You tried not to let his words stoke the embers of hope you were still clinging on to but it was already proving difficult. 

“Maybe with time,” you suggested. 

He shrugged. “Ready for bed?”

-

You managed to get some sleep, despite everything. It took a while for your heart to calm down as you lay there beside your (ex?) best friend who was already snoring softly. He had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. You weren’t sure how he was able to drift off so easily in spite of your whole friendship falling apart but perhaps the stress was only one-sided. 

You were the one being eaten alive by anxiety and guilt. All he had to do was mourn the loss of everything you destroyed. 

The hours of sleep you did get passed quickly without dreams which was unusual for you. Before you knew it, Jisung’s alarm was going off and both of you were groaning as you dragged yourself out of bed. 

You finished packing the rest of your things in relative silence. Neither of you had much to say aside from when you passed each other’s things back and forth from your suitcases. 

The sun had yet to come up when the rest of the Hans gathered in the kitchen with their luggage. Since the flight was over twelve hours long Jisung’s parents had booked the earliest possible departure which just so happened to be before the sunrise. 

The boys slept during the ride to the airport but you weren’t able to. You were squished between Jisung and Minho in the very back of the van, feeling like a pin in a grenade. They ignored each other, of course, both seemingly dead to the world. 

Minho woke up before Jisung. He glanced over at you and offered an expression of sympathy. You just shrugged in response. 

Sitting in the car like that caused your knees to brush up against each other every so often, each time you rounded a corner or went over a speed bump. Every time it happened you fought the urge to meet his eyes. The touch, be it fleeting, made your chest tighten over and over again until you were half-convinced you were going into cardiac arrest. Eventually, Minho gave up trying to give you space and just let his knee rest against yours. Funnily enough, it helped you relax.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“It’s fine.”

He was so hard to read these days. Not that he was ever easy to read. You couldn’t tell whether or not he liked having his knee there. You weren’t sure why you were getting so caught up on it in the first place.

You longed to hold his hand. You longed to hold Jisung’s hand. But all you could do was sit there in between the two and wait until you finally arrived at the airport. 

Thankfully, Minho was sat with his parents for the flight, which meant you were squeezed in between Jisung and Felix. You gave Jisung the window seat, knowing you wouldn’t get any sleep yourself. He looked like he wanted to argue when you offered it to him but ultimately surrendered when he saw the look in your eyes. You compromised for switching halfway through since the flight was so long but even that seemed to be pushing it for him. 

It was funny how Jisung was still looking out for you after everything you had done. It was as if it was instinctual to him, to put you before himself. The realization almost made you tear up. Had you cared that much for him too? Or was it all one-sided? Either way, you were positive you didn’t deserve him.

-

Dom had chosen Hawai’i as his destination. A controversial choice, given the state of tourism at the moment, but it wasn’t like you had much say in the matter. Jisung had confided in you earlier in the trip that he had tried to talk his father out of it but that he couldn’t be swayed. 

“We might as well try to make the most of it,” you argued. “It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, right?”

He shrugged. “I guess.”

The flight from Bali to Hawai’i was over twelve hours long which meant that you had roughly six hours to figure out how to entertain yourself before it was time to trade places. You could try to sleep but that meant leaning on Jisung and you were almost positive the last thing he wanted was for you to touch him right now. 

You didn’t feel like paying for the in-flight wi-fi so you had to get creative with how to keep yourself busy. You scrolled through your camera roll for a while but it just made you sad. The pictures from the trip were one thing, but then there were all of the ones of you and Jisung back at school. The further back you went, the happier you seemed. There was no way that was actually true, it was just putting more distance between what had happened in the present from the way things were in the past. That, and you had a tendency to romanticize the past. 

“Did you know flight attendants are trained to take oxygen masks from passengers?”

Felix’s voice from beside you pulled you from your spiral of self-pity almost immediately. You turned to look at him and cocked your head in confusion. 

“What?”

“Like, you know that whole spiel they give you about safety before the plane takes off? And they’re like ‘during the flight, oxygen masks might drop from overhead’?”

“No, I know all of that. Why would they take the masks from passengers? Do they not have their own?”

“They do, but they might need to move around the cabin when that happens in case of an emergency or something, and if that were to be the case, they’re trained to take masks from passengers to oxygenate themselves. They’ll give it back, but in order to do their jobs they might have to borrow one without asking.”

“What if the passenger passes out?”

“Then they’ll be able to help them! Because they’re fully oxygenated.”

You made a face. “I’m glad you’ve got the aisle seat, then.”

Felix shrugged, grinning. “It sounds fucked up, but it’s just logistical. Wanna know something actually fucked up? These seat belts are practically useless.”

“What?” you weren’t sure if you really wanted to know where he was going with this but your morbid curiosity got the better of you once again. “What do you mean?”

“Well, they help with turbulence and stuff but in the event of a crash, these aren’t going to do shit for us. They’re just here to keep us strapped to the seat so they can identify the corpses by looking at the flight log.”

You sat there in stunned silence as the information Felix had just told you sunk in. 

“That is... so dark,” you said finally. 

“Yeah, but isn’t it interesting?”

“I guess, but why did you have to tell me all of this while we’re in the air?”

“Because it’s relevant!”

You sighed and glanced back at Jisung who was asleep and slumped against the window. “Ready to switch?”

It was just a joke but Felix scoffed nonetheless. 

“I’m offended,” he whispered. 

“And I’m traumatized.”

“My bad.”

Somehow, Felix kept you occupied until it was time to switch with Jisung. You lost track of time talking to him about everything and nothing. Out of all of the Han brothers, Felix was the one you knew the least. 

You learned a lot about him in the six and a half hours you sat next to each other. You learned that he, like Jisung, had a passion for photography. He liked anime but manga adaptations always disappointed. He wanted to be a dancer when he was little, just like his big brother. 

When it was Felix’s turn to inquire about you, you were sort of at a loss for words. You had to tread carefully around how much to actually reveal about yourself. When to lie, when to stretch the truth. You were exhausted. It was exhausting. But Jisung had made it clear that this was still important to him despite you not seeing the point anymore. So you played along for his sake. It was the least you could do since you ruined everything else. 

You talked mostly about school, what you were studying, what you wanted to do with your degree... all the small talk that usually took place when you first met a person, not after you’d been traveling with them for over a month. But Felix didn’t know a lot about you interests wise so he listened intently and asked a lot of questions. 

When it was finally time to actually switch, you were half-relieved, half-bummed. Talking with Felix was fun but you hated lying to him. 

Jisung lifted up the armrest between you and him to let you slide over while he stood awkwardly in the aisle. 

“Do you want to use my hoodie as a blanket, baby?” he asked.

“Sure, thanks.”

He laid it over your shoulders after you got settled against the window, kissing you on the head and telling you goodnight. 

You shut your eyes and tried to relax but sleep wouldn’t come. You knew it wouldn’t. You took deep breaths in an attempt to slow your heart rate, lowkey considering holding your breath until you passed out. 

Next to you, Jisung was flipping through the in-flight movies. You could hear him tapping on the touchscreen, huffing in frustration when he couldn’t find anything he wanted to watch. 

“You okay, bro?” Felix asked his twin. 

You felt Jisung sort of shift, likely checking to see if you were asleep. He sighed. 

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Relationship troubles?” Felix guessed.

“Why do you ask?”

“You’ve been pissy for like, the past two days. I assumed it had something to do with your girlfriend.”

“She hasn’t been sleeping well,” he explained simply, lying through his teeth. Well, it wasn’t technically a lie because you weren’t sleeping well, but that had nothing to do with why Jisung was upset. “The exhaustion has been leading to a lot of fights.”

“Sorry, man.”

 “It’s okay. It happens. Not that you would know.”

Felix scoffed. “Ouch, I try to have a heart-to-heart with you and you go there?”

“This is a heart-to-heart to you?”

“You know what I mean. A real conversation.”

“Okay, but I’m right. You wouldn’t know.”

“Not all of us can have healthy relationships like you, Jisung,” he sighed.

“I know. I think I’m mom and dad’s only chance at grandchildren at this point.”

“Not if our brother has anything to say about it,” Felix said lowly. 

“What do you mean?” Jisung asked.

He sounded genuinely confused but you knew that internally he was panicking because you were too. You were still pretending to be asleep but you had stopped breathing, waiting to hear what he would say next. How much did Felix know? You and Minho weren’t great at sneaking around but you had at least tried to be a little careful. 

“You mean you haven’t noticed the way Minho looks at her?”

“Not really? But you spend more time with him. You know him better than I do.”

“Well, you should pay more attention. He makes it kind of obvious,” Minho muttered.

“Makes what kind of obvious, though?”

“That he wants her.”

“What?” 

“I can’t believe you haven’t caught on to him flirting with her.” 

“Well obviously he’s doing it behind my back so-”

“Sorry you had to find out this way,” Felix said, likely grimacing, “but at least she isn’t reciprocating, from what I’ve seen.”

“Yeah, at least there’s that,” Jisung murmured. 

You were able to exhale in relief, but only slightly. Felix didn’t know everything but he could tell Minho was interested which wasn’t a good sign. How long had he been picking up on that? 

Your best friend sighed angrily. “The one thing I thought Minho couldn’t take from me-” 

You bit the inside of your cheek, guilt consuming you all over again. 

“Don’t you think that’s a little dramatic?” Felix asked. “He hasn’t even made a move or anything, mate. I just think he thinks she’s cute.”

“With Minho, that’s enough.”

i'm sick so no tags :(( but i've got nothing else to do so here ya go, lmk what you think I always appreciate feedback!!

add yourself to the taglist here!

#instead of you stray kids #instead of you skz #iou stray kids #iou skz #stray kids x reader #skz x reader #lee know x reader #lee know x female reader #lee know x bi!reader #lee know series #stray kids series #stray kids fanfic #lee know fanfic #lee minho x reader #minho x reader

[genericpuff]

oh boy rachel's telling on herself a little-

so we noticed that her Twitter name recently changed again, now featuring her bluesky social in her username to obviously advertise to people that she has a Blue Sky.

She's had BlueSky for a while, but it obviously doesn't have as massive of a following because 1.) Blue Sky is still a much smaller platform than Twitter (undoubtedly because it still requires invite codes to join), and 2.) it's really, REALLY hard to move the entirety of your fanbase from one platform to another as many followers are bound to be "dead" (i.e. not active on the platform anymore) and others will naturally fall off because they may have followed ages ago but never bothered to keep up or unfollow from a page that was just on their backburner.

But interestingly enough, this change is very recent and when you check her BlueSky, which she would only post to every once in a while, it's now seeming to be a lot more active with multiple posts over the past couple days. So I think it's very clear at this point that she's trying to actively commit to the migration from Twitter to BlueSky.

BUT HOOO BOY. SOME OF HER POSTS Y'ALL. SHE'S PRACTICALLY DOUBLING DOWN LMAO

You've all seen me dissect the SHIT out of Rachel's art process and y'all can verify it yourself through those posts that never once has she shown herself drawing this way. Never in the process reels, or the time lapse videos, or the single sketch posts she's made. So her claiming that she "likes doing this as well" is just flatout false because she doesn't do this. So I literally don't know who she's trying to fool with this (aside from her own fanbase) but she ain't fooling me LMAO

But that's not even the best thing she's shared, oh no. Because this isn't even the full kit of clown makeup.

Nope, that goes to this repost-

No hate to the person who posted this, I'm sure they're chill and cool, I just think the fact that Rachel of all people reposted this to her BlueSky which she's trying to replace her Twitter with is very telling. We all know this isn't just Rachel sharing something funny for the gag, we know exactly what Rachel likes and portrays in her work that she could see herself in through this post.

And what's even more telling (and hilarious) is that this may as well have been her running away to BlueSky after the "Never apologize for being Sicilian" tweet became the top result when you search "Lore Olympus" on Twitter LMAOOO

I'm not saying that's exactly what's going on here, but the thought of Rachel deciding to fully commit to moving to BlueSky out of sheer embarrassment over this one out-of-context panel from years ago that went viral overnight - and staying at the top of the search result feed because no one's engaging with good faith LO posts anymore - is hilarious, and if it takes this dumbass panel of Hades telling Persephone she should never apologize for being Sicilian to get people talking about how stupid and hilarious LO is, then I say it's about damn time.

#is this rachel's 'committing to the bit' era #is she finally giving up and just fully embracing the things we've been criticizing about her for years #her embracing it doesn't make it better #but if it makes it more clear to the fans that this is the kind of person she is then so be it LMAO #lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical #Instagram

[restinslices]

If requests are open how abt teens lin kuei brothers x brat male reader? (Also teen)

I tried my best but I’m actually so bad at writing dom characters, it’s insane. After Bi-Han, my brain shut off. If this was a paid service, you’d need a refund gang. You said teens but I kept them as adults cause although ik minors engage in those activities aswell, I’m an adult soooooo😃

Bi-Han

Some people are probably expecting me to say some wild shit like he's the worst, he doesn't respect boundaries, he's always angry at you, doesn't listen to the safe word, ect ect. 

I don't think that's true 

Am I saying he's all soft and squishy? No. But Bi-Han is not a terrible dom. 

Bi-Han is a perfectionist so any precautions beforehand are definitely gonna be dealt with. What he wants outta this, what you want, limits, ect. 

Onto dealing with a brat though, we already know Bi-Han has a short temper so any bratty behavior would noticeably annoy him 

Smth that would guarantee a punishment would be acting out in front of other Lin Kuei or just in public. It'd be discreet enough that no one would really notice what's going on, but obvious enough that he'd know you're being a brat on purpose 

Questioning certain orders, doing things extremely slow, talking over him, the list could go on. Being bratty around people especially when he's supposed to be “professional” is the quickest way to get a punishment 

I kinda see it as a storm. You know it's coming, you see the signs, but when it happens you still go “dammit. I can't believe it's raining like this”

Does he warn you? Yes. But he only does it once. If you keep going, he mentally writes it all down 

Now Bi-Han doesn't strike me as someone who particularly likes physical touch all the time but punishments don't have to be the typical spanking or harsh fucking. He can be more creative 

I feel like he enjoys punishments that have to do with humiliation. There's so much control in telling you to do something and you just follow it. 

Very much a “ride my boot” type of guy 

The type to make you orgasm over and over again and you don't stop until he's satisfied (obviously keeping your safety and what you can take in mind though)

Takes bratty behavior seriously. He's not making funny little jokes or nothing of the sort. He's putting you in your place 

His punishments would linger. For example he'd tell you to tell him whenever you got horny and why for like, a solid week. This seems small but if you get hormonal easily, you're going up to him a lot and he's shaming you everytime. 

His arms? You're that easy? How could you even survive without him?

The best part of this is you don't have to tell him any of this. Realistically you could ignore this or not tell him every time you're hormonal, and he makes sure to taunt you and remind you of this. 

Humiliation punishments are his go to

Rewards would probably be allowing you a bit of control, like picking any toys you'll use or letting you pick the scene 

A brat would probably fit him well cause he gets to constantly put you in your place, which can be a good way to relax for him 

Kuai Liang

Is also very organized. So organized I think he'd have a secret way to tell you he's actually not in the mood or too busy for you. 

“Go take a walk” means “not right now” 

Bratty behaviors that would bother him the most I think would be doing dumb shit. Like, below average IQ type of things. 

It bothers him because you're not stupid so stop acting stupid. If he says do A, don't do B

But it's fine. You wanna play stupid? He can do that. 

I know I said Bi-Han’s punishments sometimes linger but it really ain't got shit on Kuai Liang’s

If you wanna act like you don't understand basic orders because you wanna act out, then he's gonna act like he doesn't understand anything you want. 

You say “I need you” but he goes to do something else. What's the problem? Clearly you were saying you needed him to do laundry that day. 

You say “touch me” but he touches you everywhere except where you really need him 

You could say something as clear as “please make me cum” and he'd bring you close, but would stop. Why are you upset? You didn't say what day to make you cum. You'll do it later. 

Every single request you have for him turns into something you didn't want and he watches with satisfaction as it slowly drives you insane. 

And doing other bratty behaviors to try and get a response outta him doesn't work because the more bratty you act, the longer he's gonna keep this up. He has the patience to do this too. 

This won't stop until you're on your knees begging like a madman for him to do anything to make you feel good and promising you'll behave from now on. 

And even then he's not satisfied. You have to actually show you're gonna start behaving. He won't actually give you what you want until you behave for at least a week or two straight. No problems. No complaining. No issues. 

You both know you'll act out again but for a good chunk of time, he's enjoying his peace 

Tomas Vrbada

I honestly cannot imagine this man as a dom but for you, I will try 

Tomas is a nice guy and this nice guy shit is how the problem would start 

Taunts would be the way to get to him. So when you say “can't you do better or are you too soft?” it gets to him 

Tomas’ version of punishment would be doing nothing at all. 

He's too soft? Ok. That means he's too soft to touch you, to whisper any dirty things, to tease you, ect. 

Kuai Liang is interacting with you but is doing the exact opposite, Tomas is straight up refusing to do anything. 

You can try to seduce him all you want, you're getting a smart ass “we can't do that. I'm too soft for all of that”

Legit becomes the biggest prude when it comes to doing anything with you. Has no problem touching himself and telling you you can't touch cause he “couldn't handle it”

He takes taunts literal. “I could fuck myself better”, ok then he won't touch you at all for awhile. You got it. “You could do better”, you are completely right. As a matter fact, how about he practice on himself or using a toy and making you watch. Ya know, just to have a third party to inform him if he's doing well. 

Just a real petty bitch in a cute package. 

Probably needs the most breaks when it comes to a brat though cause sometimes he's fr not tryna hear that shit and just needs someone to be there. Which is fine. 

I also imagine he’s possibly new to being a dom so this whole thing is trying shit out. He’s willing to experiment with different kind of punishments, rewards, schedules, all that shit.

When dealing with a brat Bi-Han is strict, Kuai Liang is patience and pettiness wrapped in one and Tomas is just petty 

Looking back there’s no mention of male anatomy and it’s so short. Idk why dom characters make my brain short circuit. We will attempt dom characters at a later date but for now, this is all I got.

#bi han x y/n #bi han x reader #bi han sub zero #bi han mk1 #bi han headcanons #bi han smut #kuai liang x y/n #kuai liang x reader #kuai liang scorpion #kuai liang mk1 #kuai liang smut #kuai liang headcanons #tomas vrbada x reader #tomas vrbada x y/n #tomas vrbada mk1 #tomas vrbada headcanons #tomas vrbada smoke #Tomas vrbada smoke #mk1 x reader #legit short circuit #mk1 #mk1 2023

[renecdote]

18. walking home and/or "holding their hands in general" from the prompts if they inspire something!

this got soo sappy and I am not sorry about it lmao

[Read on AO3]

Buck doesn’t think he’ll ever get tired of kissing Eddie. He’s only been doing it for three weeks, but it’s already his new favourite activity, and every time he starts, he never wants to stop.

“We should stop,” Eddie tries, but it’s not very convincing when he sucks on Buck’s bottom lip less than a second later, his hand rucking up Buck’s shirt to find a home against his skin.

It’s been a while since Buck made out with anyone in a car in a darkened parking garage. At least four years. Maybe more. How long ago did Ali break up with him anyway? It all feels so blurry now. He thinks that has less to do with the passage of time, though, and more to do with the way that a lot of things feel blurry when Eddie is kissing him like this. Like Buck isn’t the only one who never wants to stop.

He thinks he makes a sound of agreement—they really should stop, if only because the front of the car is the least ideal part of a car to make out with someone in. It’s not like either of them meant for one goodnight kiss to turn into too many to count. Buck’s body is probably going to hate him in the morning for the way he’s twisted in his seat, but that is tomorrow Buck’s problem. Tonight Buck doesn’t care about anything except now, Eddie, the slide of their lips together, the heat coiling in his stomach.

The sudden honk of the truck’s horn makes him jump, startling so badly he bangs his head on the roof.

“Fuck,” Eddie gasps beside him. “Shit, sorry, my elbow—”

They stare at each other for a beat, two beats, and then they’re both laughing.

“Okay,” Buck says, trying futilely to straighten the mess that Eddie has made of his clothes. “Okay, I think that’s the universe telling us we’re not teenagers anymore.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, but it’s a distinctly amused kind of eye rolling. “Still with the universe and it’s signs, huh?”

“It’s the universe, Eds, it’s not like it’s goes anywhere.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Eddie says, but he says it like he really means I love you. It makes an altogether different kind of heat coil in Buck’s stomach, an almost-butterflies feeling that seems ridiculous considering they’re already dating. And maybe they haven’t said those three little words yet, but. It’s not like he doesn’t know. Not like he hasn’t known for a while, even if it all still feels too fragile to say aloud.

Eddie tips his chin up and leans over, more carefully this time, to give him one last quick kiss.

“Thank you,” he says, smiling the same soft smile he’s been gazing at Buck with all night. “Tonight was fun.”

Dinner, he probably means.  The rest of it too.

“You’re not gonna walk me to my door?” Buck asks, and it’s meant to be a joke, it really is, but there’s a little part of him that thinks please. Please love me the way I’ve always wanted to be loved.

“I’m not coming in,” Eddie warns him, tone almost stern. He said the same thing last time, and the time before that, and still ended up on the other side of Buck’s apartment door. “I mean it, Buck, I told Pepa she’d only have to look after Chris until ten.”

“I know,” Buck assures him. “I was kidding, Eds.”

“I know.”

But he’s opening his door and getting out, slamming it shut behind him. Buck grins and hurries to follow.

When the elevator doors slide closed on them, Eddie reaches out and tangles their fingers together, squeezing gently for no apparent reason other than that he can. It makes Buck’s heart stutter, warmth wriggling in his chest, giddy in a way he hasn’t been since Abby. Maybe even with Abby. She was so rarely the first one to reach out, unless she was reaching for his belt. It didn’t bother him at the time; he figured she just wasn’t a physically affectionate person. Then he saw her with her fiancé and realised she just didn’t want to be affection with him.

Eddie wants to be affectionate with him. Is affectionate with him. He plays with Buck’s hair while they watch TV, and comes up behind him in the kitchen to wrap sleepy arms around him in the morning, and holds his hand just because. Kisses him just because. It’s only been three weeks, but Buck already finds himself turning his head at the door and trusting that Eddie’s lips are there to say goodbye, or hello, or I missed you.

The elevator dings, spitting them out onto the fourth floor, but Eddie doesn’t let go of his hand. It makes Buck wish that the walk to his apartment was longer. A thousand feet instead of the two dozen it is down the hallway and around the corner. He finds himself taking slower steps, but can’t be sure whether he’s setting the pace or just following Eddie’s lead.

The hallway around them is empty. Will probably stay empty at this hour. If Buck was a stronger man, he might be able to resist a temptation like that, but Eddie Diaz has always been his greatest weakness. They reach his door, but he doesn’t open it. Doesn’t even take out his keys. He just tugs Eddie closer and kisses him, unhurried. Eddie makes a sound in the back of his throat, not quite a protest, and his hands slide over Buck’s hips, his ass, holding them together even as he’s mumbling, “I really should—I can’t stay—,” between kisses. Buck hums, not quite agreement, and nips at his jaw. Eddie groans, a broken kind of sound, and finally breaks away long enough to say, “Pack a bag.”

Buck leans back, confused. “What?”

“A bag,” Eddie repeats, and he’s pulling Buck’s keys out of his pocket to reach around and unlock the door himself. “Pyjamas, toothbrush—what else do you need? You’ve still got clothes at my place.”

The door swings open behind him and Buck stumbles backwards, unbalanced, caught only by the arm his partner still has around his waist.

“Are you kidnapping me?” he asks, mostly on autopilot. Moving on autopilot too—stairs, closet, bathroom, where the fuck did he leave his work bag?—since the larger part of his brain is still caught up in Eddie’s lips, Eddie’s hands, the delicious burn of Eddie’s stubble against his skin.

“Yes,” Eddie answers, no hesitation. “Don’t forget to grab your iPad for therapy in the morning.”

The iPad goes into the bag.

“Maddie won’t pay the random,” Buck tells him, picking through the basket of clean laundry on the table for an LAFD shirt to toss in as well.

Eddie shrugs. “Bobby might.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“Well,” slinging the bag over his shoulder with one hand, reaching out with the other for Buck’s hand, “I guess I’ll just have to keep you.”

Buck can feel his cheeks flushing pink, a smile making them ache. It’s a joke, he knows it’s a joke, but.

“You’re gonna keep me, huh?”

Eddie uses their joined hands to tug him close enough to kiss, short and sweet but somehow more dizzying than anything else tonight.

“I’m gonna do a lot of things with you,” he promises, and it’s so soft that Buck’s mind skips right over the dozen innuendos he could find in that sentence and goes straight to forever. Marriage, kids, a house with a nice yard and a dog, waking up every morning with his best friend in his arms.

“Yeah?” he somehow says, only a little breathless, forever still unfolding behind his eyes.

“Yeah,” Eddie echoes, smiling that same soft smile he’s been wearing all night. The kind of smile Buck always thought he would see looking across the altar at his wedding. “I think I’ll start by taking you home.”

Buck’s heart stumbles a little, losing its rhythm and jumping ahead to get it back. His mouth feels crowded with all the things it feels too early to say. They’ve only been together for three weeks, he has to keep reminding himself, even if it does already feel like a lifetime.

“Well then,” he finally manages, “what are you waiting for?”

Eddie grins, and holds them there a moment longer for another bone-melting kiss, Buck’s fingers curling in his jacket, touching at every point they can. And then he leads Buck out of the apartment, back down to the truck waiting in the parking garage, and, hand in hand the whole drive, takes him home.

#Evan Buckley #Eddie Diaz #911 Fox #fic

[torukmaktoskxawng]

tsamsiyu ta’em - a new leaf part two

Masterlist - part five

Summary: Desertion must run in the family.

Pairing: Ronal/Tonowari/Original Female Character

Tag: #tsamsiyu ta'em fic

posted on ao3

Word Count: 9k+

Taglist (bold indicates “could not tag”): @mooniequeen @shit-i-say-shit-i-think @heart-an0n @amiets2 @slutforsmut4ever @yeosxxx​ @im-in-a-pansexual-panik

Warnings: canon-compliant, canon-typical violence, mature language, adult content, slow burn, polyamory, found family, cool aunt agenda, alien/human (technically avatar), jake sully sister agenda, time skips, I'm trying to hurry up and get to the good parts so bear with me, fluff, angst, adopted spider, tags to be added

A/N: Thank you so much for 300 followers! 🎉

Right from the start of the day, Jake knew something or someone was bothering his sister. She was quiet, she kept to herself, and she went stiff when anyone came near her. It was as though they were right back at the start when he first brought Kayla to High Camp. What was worse is that the kids had noticed and asked their father what was wrong with Auntie, and Jake couldn't afford to tell them that he didn't have all the answers and he had been wondering the same thing. A small part of him was scared that something had happened to her back at Bridgehead or maybe she was changing her mind about staying. Whatever was wrong, Toruk Makto needed to fix it, one way or another.

She had been particularly moody to him all day, but unfortunately, she had to be in close proximity to her brother when they were both given the task of tending to the ikran and their harnesses.  She decided to be silent, cold, and distant as they worked. Jake decided not to push his luck and worked in silence alongside her, just trying to be a comforting presence despite not knowing what was wrong. He did, however, notice other presences around them, and they were paying particularly close attention to his sister.

It was a small group of young Na'vi warriors, likely around Kayla's age if not a little younger. They stood off to the side, openly staring at Kayla and whispering to each other. Jake couldn't tell if they were curious or making fools of themselves by mocking her, but Kayla didn't appear to even notice them at first. Then, some avatar scientists joined the group, also publicly gawking at Kayla when their fellow Na'vi friends whispered to them, too. They laughed quietly among themselves and one unfortunate bastard was cursed with a snorty laugh that drew Kayla's attention to the group, sharp eyes locking onto them before she could even blink. The whole group quickly turned away, all either embarrassed or ashamed.

Jake took this opportunity to laugh and lighten the mood, "You've got a growing group of admirers, it would seem."

Kayla paused, still watching the group of men and women now clearly avoiding her gaze before actively ignoring them, bringing her eyes back down to her hands as she worked on weaving together a spare banshee harness. Jake huffed with amusement, "What? Not your type?"

"Not my priority," she muttered, "Besides, I'm pretty sure they're not staring at me because they wanna get some."

"Does that mean you have someone?"

Her eyes shoot up to him like a bullet, narrowed and glaring into his soul as she spits out, "Would I have come to Pandora alone if I did? I'm not the one who abandons people when they need me."

The silence is thick and palpable, able to cut through with a knife. Both Sullys stare at one another, unblinking. One stared in shock while the other glared in rage, but it's not hard to tell which is which.

Jake swallowed back the emotions when his throat suddenly dried, ears lowering in shame, "I'm sorry."

"After all, 'Sullys stick together', right?" She mocked, and one look at her and Jake could tell why she was suddenly pissed off at him. The shame quickly eats him up and threatens to spit him out as her voice wavered, "Usually, I'd find it sweet that you taught your kids some of our family's old traditions... but when that tradition ended up becoming a lie--"

"I was going through it," he tried making up excuses as a desperate attempt of calming her, "I wasn't thinking."

"You were going through it?" She huffs out a laugh of disbelief, the smile that briefly graced her lips was vile and hysterical, "I get that you were twins, Jake. But Tom was my brother, too."

Jake lowered his eyes, unable to look at her any longer. It seems as though Kayla can't just settle on one emotion, all her thoughts that have been stewing for some time beginning to boil over like a volcano. Her voice shook, either in rage or distress, Jake didn't want to look up and find out. "And for a while there, I thought I lost both of you."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you are. Doesn't excuse the fact that you left me all alone, found yourself a wife, and had a few kids all the while letting your sister believe you were dead!" She snapped, growing angrier by the minute when tears started to brew in her eyes. She didn't want to cry. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to punch him and scream but she was frustrated because she had clearly missed that opportunity when they first reunited, "I missed out on so much of your life, Jake. I missed out on their lives, and you didn't care."

"I did care. I still care--"

"You didn't. If I recall, the last thing you ever said to me was 'have a good life, kid' in that passive-aggressive tone of yours."

His eyes flick up to hers, "And your last words to me were even less than friendly."

"Sue me." Kayla snarled back, quick as lightning, "My brother abandoned me on a dying planet, all alone, and didn't bother to make sure I was taken care of."

The wording felt like heavy lead beginning to build in Jake's gut, tilting his head curiously at her, "What do you mean? What happened?"

"Nothing happened. I just did exactly what you told me to do. I grew up." His ears pin to his skull as his mind prompted him to a distant memory of the last time he ever spoke to Kayla. The shame and humiliation were evident in his eyes when she glared back, "To make ends meet I became a marine. You didn't give me much of a choice."

His hand reaches out before his brain could order it to do so, "Kayla--"

She hissed ferociously for her first attempt, the sound coming low from her chest and throat, baring her sharps fangs at her brother, "Don't fucking touch me."

Jake pulls his arms back, afraid she'd bite, and raised them in surrender so she had a clear view of both of them. Defeated, Jake keeps himself back and willingly exposes himself to her verbal lashings, "Alright, let's hear it. I wasn't sure how long it would take us to talk about it. But there's no easy way around it. So come on. Let's talk."

Her eyes were still pooling, threatening to spill, as she shook her head when words failed, "Maybe we shouldn't."

"No, we should. I knew this was coming. Go ahead."

She took a moment to try and find the right words, but there weren't any that she hadn't already said. Instead, Kayla confessed what she had been feeling all this time after having bottled it up for so long, "Initially I was glad that you're still alive. Now that the initial shock and relief have worn off-- fuck you, Jake."

She picked up her work and turned a full one-eighty, walking away and keeping her head low so no one would think she was making a scene. She wasn't able to get far before Jake comes after her, being sure not to touch her, and instead making her stop in her tracks when he rushed around to cut off her escape, "Look, Kayla, wait-- hate me all you want. I know I deserve it. But don't take it out on anyone else but me."

The words were enough to confuse Kayla as her rushing thoughts pause, peering up at Jake in puzzlement, "What makes you think I would do that?"

"I can't afford not to," his whole posture displayed the stern form of an olo'eyktan, shoulders stiff with the weight of hundreds of lives relying on him, "Kayla, you and I, right now, are on opposite sides of a war. Alright?"

The firm reminder breaks the spell and Kayla quickly looks away, deciding to focus on a Na'vi child in the distance, running away from their mother as they laughed instead. Jake sidesteps until he's in her field of view again and she is forced to make eye contact. His expression stays serious, like a father talking down to their child, "Whatever punishment you think I deserve for what I did, I'll take it gladly. But don't do anything to punish anyone else, like telling Ardmore where we are. Don't feed my family to the wolves for my mistakes."

It hurt to think that after everything Kayla has seen in these last few months, Jake would believe she could possibly do something so monstrous. Her eyes widen at him, shattered as she voiced this in such a soft tone, "Do you honestly think I could do something like that?"

He doesn't relent even though he wants to. He wants to believe his sister loved his kids and would never throw them under the bus for crimes he committed, but he's seen too much. He knows what people like Ardmore are capable of, and has seen firsthand what they can do to get what they want. "It's like you said. Twenty years is a long time but it's enough for someone to change. And the side that you're fighting for, the Sky People... They have done nothing but hurt the Na'vi. They've killed animals, entire ecosystems, and even the People themselves. I watched them destroy Neytiri's home and there were many casualties. Men, women, and children. All for what? For the ore that lay underneath. I thought we had driven them away but now they're back, and they're more ruthless than before. That field outside Bridgehead. The Kill Zone? That used to be a forest. A beautiful, powerful, living forest. And now it's gone. Burnt down to the dry desert it now is."

Kayla's eyes dart away, her expression crumbling into a whole range of emotions that she tried to contain, conflict and sadness being only a couple of them. Jake doesn't relent, "Come on, Kayla, you know I'm right. You know what the Sky People are doing is wrong."

It was a weak attempt at defending herself and her species, but Kayla's sisterly instinct to argue with her brother was a lot stronger than common sense, "... They're my people. They're your people."

"No." He shut her down firmly, harshly, "I chose my people. I chose people who love life. 'People who love the ground they walk on and respect the animals they hunt. They believe that everything must return to the dirt so life can start all over again. When have you ever seen a human give back?" When he's met with silence, he takes a different approach, "You're a soldier, Kayla. Soldiers don't have the freedom to make their own choices. They're not allowed to feel or have their own opinions. I would know because I was a soldier, too. I was just like you. But now I'm a warrior."

She frowns, staring up through her eyebrows with doubt evident through her yellow orbs, "There's a difference?"

"Yes. Warriors are loyal and brave. They have honor. They're not mindless animals who only do what they're told regardless of whether or not what they're doing is wrong. Only a soldier does that. I refuse to be a soldier ever again."

The arguing side of her finally gives in, exhausted from spewing all her emotions out all at once in the heat of the moment. She just wants to sleep now, and at this point, she'll do whatever it takes to get back to her nivi, "What do you want from me?"

The opportunity presents itself and Jake finally admits the motivation behind bringing her here in the first place, "I'm asking you to stop being a soldier and start being a warrior. Join us. Join us and learn to love life again as you did before. Stay here. Be a part of our family. Fight for the survival of our family." Kayla looked as though she had expected him to say this, but still appeared unsure, scared of the danger of staying. Jake took a brave step forward and gently placed his hands on either of her shoulders, "My kids love you and they need you. Do you love them?"

She thought of Neteyam, so kind and brave and nurturing. Kiri, so full of hope and life and is just trying to know herself. Lo'ak, desperate for approval and to make himself seen, yet so reckless and funny. Sweet Little Tuk, so full of love for everyone around her and all-inclusive when showing her creativity and happiness. Kayla even thought about Spider, who smiles and laughs with her and tries to make her feel welcome, despite being an odd teenager who has yet to figure out how adult life works. Going beyond the kids, Kayla thought about Neytiri and Norm, people who have included her in everything and accepted her despite their differences, and who have grown to be her friends and family. Kayla's eyes briefly flick back to Jake and nodded, "Yes."

He smiled, "And the forest? The colors? The people?"

"Yes."

"All of that will go away if the Sky People continue to stay here. They'll dig up and burn every tree all the way down to the roots. They'll be an infestation to this world that you've grown to love. Please, Kayla. Stay here."

Determination and desperation intertwine on his face, and Kayla hated how she had to be the one to break such confidence in him. She partially wondered when did their roles reverse, where she had given up but he had hope. Maybe it had been when he first came to Pandora and saw his life through other people's eyes did he decide to change, and even though Kayla was proud of her brother for becoming a better man, she still felt the hurt of abandonment. Despite wishing she could hurt him as he hurt her, she didn't want it to be like this, "I can't, Jake."

His face had started to fall before she could quickly add, "Not when my real consciousness is in Bridgehead. As long as my body's there, I'll always have to go back."

He breathed a small sigh of relief through his nose, calm now that he knew she wanted to stay but just couldn't find the courage to do so, "Then wake up and run away."

"... How?"

"I have a plan."

~~~~~~~~~

The nights were a little cold high up in the cave systems of the floating mountains, but Kayla was ignoring the cold in exchange for looking into a cracked mirror hung up off to the side of the Longhouse, meant to be used for when the avatars needed to do their nightly routines. Kayla purposely waited until she was the last one to use the mirror for the night, the other avatars already lying in their hammocks, waiting for lights out to be called.

Her reflection was something she had only just begun to get used to. Big, yellow eyes, and cerulean skin with natural, flowing blue stripes perfectly shaping the angles of her face. Kayla pressed a finger to one of the many star-glittered freckles on her cheek that she had recently learned the Na'vi call tanhì. She followed the design for a while, losing count after twenty and then meeting her cat-like eyes in her reflection.

It was a face she was going to have to get used to if she was really going to go through with this. She once saw the avatar as a separate person entirely, but now she understood that they are one in the same both mind and soul. No matter what form she took, either blue or peach, she was still Kayla, and she had to remind herself of that every day in the mirror, no matter what reflection was looking at her. Although she was beginning to wonder just how much time she’ll be spending in her human body after tonight.

A plan had been set and now all she had to do was go to sleep and wake up in Bridgehead. Easier said than done, her nerves acting as a stimulant to keep her awake. Already, she was hearing snores coming from the biolab trailer. She heard quiet chatter in the distance, but other than that, the whole camp was asleep, marking just how late her rushing thoughts kept her up. Taking one last look at her avatar, she finally pulls away from the mirror and gets comfortable in her hammock, internally asking Eywa to wish her luck before closing her eyes.

She's awoken by the same blinding white lights and lab coats, asking a hundred questions a minute while routinely going through the motions of giving her nutrition and simultaneously taking blood samples through various needles and tubes in the crooks of her arms. Kayla blankly stared at her pale arms, a little thinner than normal. She hadn't had time to take care of her body in between links and decided that this should be one of the many reasons she needs to leave. Her stomach growled at the idea of freshly cooked teylu waiting for her back at High Camp and was extremely disappointed when a scientist handed her a granola bar instead. Finally, after they had bandaged her fresh wounds and were satisfied with her answers, Kayla stood from the ledge of the link bay and steadied herself,

"I need to talk to General Ardmore."

The general was summoned and brought to the biolab by the time Kayla was offered water and a full meal. The corporal even had time to pull her hair up into a more respectable bun before she would stand in attention for the general. Frances Ardmore walked in and Kayla salutes stiffly, keeping her eyes lowered until she had been given permission to speak.

"Report."

Kayla looked up with a stern look in her eye and a monotone voice, lying through her teeth gracefully, "There's a crash site near the location of what used to be the Na'vi's Hometree. A gunship with some bodies inside. It's not my brother, I know, but with your permission, General, I'd like to go out there and extract them."

"With your avatar?"

"Just myself, ma'am. I had to leave my avatar behind at the crash site." The general's eyes narrow and so Kayla quickly adds before she could be interrupted, "She's safely hidden, I assure you, but I left a tracker on her so I can find my way back. With your permission, I'd like to take a gunship out there and I'll retrieve the remains myself and bring them back so they can be properly identified and sent home to their families. There won't be any need for extra manpower or wasted supplies."

Ardmore didn't speak for a while, and Kayla had to use every muscle in her face to keep herself from smiling at the idea of Ardmore trying to remind herself that she needs to act sympathetic to the families of possibly deceased soldiers. Kayla was sure that Ardmore could care less about some bodies that were over a decade old, but courtesy forces her to be civil as she curtly nods to Kayla, "Permission granted. You get there, you extract the remains and come right back. That's it."

"Yes, ma'am."

The next morning, with a large satchel of "rations" at her hip, a mask over her face, and an AR rifle strapped to her back, Kayla is led to a gunship and then left alone. Remembering her previous training, Kayla strapped herself in and begin the process of starting up the engines while waiting for Control to clear her for take-off. Finally, she gets her orders and she barely contains her eagerness when responding cordially and taking off, floating up into the air before flying away. Silently repeating the rendevous coordinates Jake had provided her the day before, Kayla beelined in the direction of what used to be the Omatikaya's home.

In Sector Twelve, about ninety-three kilometers from the abandoned Hell's Gate facility, now sat a slowly healing memorial site of Hometree. Kayla had heard stories about this place, mostly from Mo'at, Neytiri, and even Neteyam, despite the fact the young Na'vi boy had never seen its former beauty before the RDA had decimated it. Despite never seeing it stand tall and mighty, Neteyam told stories that he had heard from the Na'vi around him who had seen it. He even proudly stated how his own bow, much like his mother's and maternal grandfather's, was made from the wood of Hometree. It is from Neteyam's stories that now let Kayla's imagination run wild as her gunship slowly circles around the site of the former home of the Omatikaya.

Most of it was still barren, Eywa's hold not yet fully restored over this land. Plants and signs of life were visibly, but not yet solidified. The great corpse of such a large, magnificent tree was still visibly, lying across the landscape like a fallen giant. Vegetation was growing all around its trunk, uproots, and branches, cementing it to the forest floor where it will one day fully return to the dirt to give back what it had taken from the Great Mother. Neytiri once told Kayla that the tree will likely not fully decay under her children's grandchildren are born, but by then, she hopes that more songs will be sung for them to remember it by.

Reaching her destination, Kayla slowly lowers her gunship to the forest floor but wisely chooses to stay inside the vessel, knowing that the world's immune system will not take her presence lightly-- not in this mundane form. She anxiously waits, breath somewhat shaking when she exhales, and purposely cuts the engine. She won't be needing to bring this gunship home, after all.

She's thankful that she doesn't have to wait for very long, hearing the familiar, echoing call of an ikran approaching. Sighting familiar blue and purple wings, Kayla grabs her things and climbs out of the gunship, double-checking that her mask was tightly secured before stepping out into Pandoran air. Tightly holding the strap of her bag, she makes the trek over to the ikran and its rider, who has landed a bit of distance away from the gunship out of paranoia.

Jake sucked in a sharp breath of air, his expression solemn and grave as he took in the human form of his sister, in the flesh, for the first time in over two decades. She was shorter than he remembered, with her dirty-colored hair cut to her shoulders and those familiar, Sully blue eyes staring back up at him through her mask. It was like staring at a ghost, haunted by several memories and none of which Jake was entirely proud of, given the latest argument with his sister. Kayla stared back at him with an all-knowing gaze, equally somber and grim as she stood off to the side of his ikran, patiently waiting. Bob had bristled underneath his rider, clearly uneasy about the human beside him, but through the bond, the banshee kept mostly to himself, aware that he was not allowed to eat this human. Jake broke off tsaheylu and dismounted, trudging over to Kayla and motioning her to lift her arms.

"You're a lot smaller than I remember." He stated slyly while inspecting her person for any trackers or listening devices, gently taking the bag from her shoulder and flipping it open.

"Last I checked, I was taller than you in your wheelchair, so watch yourself."

He glanced up from the bag and hissed playfully at her, causing a small smirk to form behind the glass of her mask. Jake hands her back her belongings and then rejoined his ikran, taking a few sticks of dynamite and a detonator out from the pockets of his saddle.

Kayla frowned at the sight of the explosives, glancing between them and the gunship, "Are you sure you don't want another gunship on your side? Two is better than one."

The Na'vi shook his head, "We can't risk it. For all we know, the RDA is tracking all their gear now."

Sighing in defeat, Kayla nods and stands off to the side while Jake rigs the gunship with explosives and calibrates the blasting cap with a timer. He walks back to his ikran, forming tsaheylu before hopping on and reaching down to Kayla with an offered hand. She takes it willingly and allows him to lift her up on the banshee while Bob grunts disapprovingly at the added weight. Jake places Kayla in front of him on the saddle and they take to the sky, high enough to be out of range when Jake finally hits the button setting off the detonator.

The gunship explodes in a blooming flower of fire and debris, the smoke rising into the air in the form of a small mushroom cloud. The loud noise disturbs the wildlife momentarily, with small forest ikran and stingbats taking to the sky. Jake doesn't give the explosion much thought as he grabs a tighter hold on Eywa te' Bob tan'sey mak'ta with one hand, but squeezes Kayla's shoulder with the other, "Now with any luck, they'll label you killed in action."

"Or missing." She muttered.

"Ardmore isn't gonna want that kind of paperwork. She would much rather label you as a traitor than start a manhunt looking for you lost in the woods. You said it yourself, she doesn't like wasting resources on just one individual."

"... So that's it? Just like that, we disappear?"

"Not what you were hoping for?" He peered down at her briefly before looking ahead, continuing to fly.

Kayla hesitates, glaring ahead at the skies while internally fighting with herself before finally confessing her inner thoughts, "A part of me thought it would've been easier for the both of us if I never found out you were still alive. We could've just-- lived out the rest of our lives living in our respective worlds."

Jake allows the wind to fill in the silence, noting how defeated she sounded even with her back to him and the air whipping past them, obscuring her voice. He shakes his head despite the fact she couldn't see him, "The 'what if' scenarios aren't a thing around here. We don't believe in that kind of thing. Everything happens for a reason, and everything happens because it is the will of Eywa. I hope, in time, you'll learn to call this world your own as I did, kiddo."

She drops the debate, for the moment, and scoffs distastefully, "Okay, new rule. No more 'kiddo' talk. I'm not a child."

He smirks, "No? Then why are you small like one?"

He earns himself a sharp, small elbow in his ribcage when she reached back at him and a threatening promise, "Just wait, Sully. Soon I'll have your kids pinned against ya with all the stories I have of you up my sleeve. You'll regret the day you decided to pull me into this world."

~~~~~~~~~

Her nerves returned when they flew back to High Camp and a horn was blown to announce their arrival. Bob lands and Jake helps Kayla down before letting the ikran fly away. Na'vi were beginning to gather, and Kayla, yet again, felt more exposed than usual, even more so now as she was given some obvious glares regarding her obvious sky demon body and military clothes. Jake places a hand on the back of her neck, yet again, and led her away, immediately finding his family huddled together in the back of the crowd, waiting for him. He and Kayla part through the Omatikaya that have gathered and now stood in front of the Sullys.

Kayla wasn't surprised to see them all slightly hesitant by her human presence, and even though she couldn't blame them, it still made her stomach clench uncomfortably. She couldn't meet any of their eyes due to the height difference, and to her horror, even Tuk was taller than her in this form. When Kayla's eyes met the youngest Sully child's, Tuk shied away behind her mother's leg, clearly curious but unsure of getting closer. Off to the side, Kayla noticed that Norm, Max, and Spider were also there to greet her, and, much to her disappointment, even they stood taller than her as her fellow humans. The traitors. Kayla has never felt so small in her whole life.

Jake pats Kayla's back in sympathy while addressing the family, "Alright, Sullys. Your Aunt Kayla is going to be a more permanent presence in our lives now, and she's going to need help to feel welcomed as both a human and a Na'vi. I'm counting on you to have her back, okay?"

And of course, Neteyam is dutifully the first to step up, offering his hand out to Kayla with a gentle smile, "It's wonderful to meet you, Auntie-- again."

She sees a small hint of humor behind his eyes and relaxes, taking his hand in both of hers and smiling up at her oldest nephew, "You, too, 'Teyam."

He steps aside when he felt the shadow of his little brother behind him. The ice is broken and Lo'ak is milking the height difference with good-natured laughs and Spider was egging him on, glad that he was no longer the shortest out of the group. Kayla felt a grin twitch on her lips without her consent and pinches Lo'ak's side to make up for it, laughing when he yelped in surprise. Kiri had walked up, holding Tuk's hand so she didn't feel alone and the sight of the girls reminds Kayla that she had come bearing gifts to try to ease the kids back into accepting her.

"Kiri--" she calls out while frantically fishing around in the bag she kept strapped at her hip. Pushing aside a few necessities she had taken with her, she pulled out a book and sighed in relief, smiling up at the girl while holding the gift out to her, "As promised."

Kiri's eyes widen and reached out, gingerly taking the gift as if it was something precious. She read the title and then the author's name before glancing back down to Kayla, eyes and smile warm, "Thank you, Auntie."

Finally, Tuk's shell cracks and she begins by poking and prodding at the human woman that now stood shorter than her, lifting Kayla's arms and inspecting her form in awe before her fingers find her aunt's hair and instantly start playing with it. The girl giggles while stating, "It's so soft! We gotta braid all this, Kiri."

"Tomorrow, sweetheart, okay?" Kayla shines a smile at her youngest niece, who nods eagerly and puts her whole weight into hugging her aunt, who is barely able to catch her before they could fall.

Jake smiles while watching the heartwarming interactions before tapping Human Norm on the shoulder, "You got a space for her, right?"

"Absolutely. The second half of the old shack is still functional and is currently being used as storage. She can have my old bunk if she wants."

Jake's nose scrunched up, a little put off by the suggestion, "I doubt she'd want it if I told her all the things you and Trudy got up to in that bunk. She can have Grace's old space."

Norm snorts while shamefully scratching the back of his head, "Sure thing. Probably a better idea." He breaks away to greet Kayla himself, putting on the widest grin as he stands next to her, comparing their height difference with his hand much like before, "It's nice to see that this transfers, no matter what form you take."

Kayla rolls her eyes and shoves him in the chest, causing Norm to bark out a surprised laugh. Through reacquaintance with her family and friends, Kayla had noticed Neytiri standing off to the side in her peripheral. The human woman took a moment to pointedly stare at the Na'vi woman, their eyes meeting and forming a standstill. Neytiri was stiff, both in posture and expression, a statue that didn't waver against Kayla's gaze. It unsettled the Sully woman but she tried not to show that in her eyes, instead she brought her fingers to her forehead, and lowered them in Neytiri's direction. The Na'vi woman blinked, and with the gesture, her posture began to relax. Neytiri smiled. It wasn't big or emotional, but it was small and sincere. She nodded back in response.

After dinner, Norm brought Human Kayla to her new room she would be sleeping in when out of her avatar body. It was a separate trailer from the biolab, standing on its own and older than some of the buildings the humans have taken from Hell's Gate. Norm explains that the trailer was a part of Site 26, a small mobile link meant for avatar scientists who went off-grid for research in the mountains. He tells the story of how he was part of a small science group who retreated there to work so people like Parker Selfridge and Colonel Miles Quaritch wouldn't be breathing down their necks back in the day. After he and Kayla go through the airlock pressure doors and step inside, Kayla takes off her mask and looks around, immediately noticing a few familiar sights.

The first was a wheelchair, abandoned, covered in dust, tossed off to the side. Clearly, the place needed some cleaning, but Kayla wasn't worried about the dust at the moment. She beelined for the wheelchair, bending down and helping it stand back up on its wheels. Norm stands in the doorway and watches the scene in front of him with a solemn reaction, explaining as she continued to look around, "This is it. This is where Jake and I made our last stand as avatars before the fight. The other half of this shack is where the link bays were, but the trailer was completely demolished back in the war and so we left it abandoned out in the woods."

She moved over to the desk and lifted a picture from its home there, blowing away the layer of dust and revealing the contents of the picture. It was clearly Jake at the front of the group photo, human, sitting in that very same wheelchair, smiling at the camera lens. Kayla's finger briefly traces her brother's old face, willing her mind to remember it after staring at his avatar form for so long. Standing on either side of him was Norm and a woman Kayla didn't recognize. Clearly of a military background, the woman -at least younger back then compared to Kayla now- grinned behind her sunglasses, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and spilling over one side of her shoulders. Behind Jake, with both hands firmly placed on his shoulders, stood an older woman with short, curly red hair and sparkling eyes as she smiled, proudly, at the camera.

Kayla hears Norm shuffling around behind her and gently places the picture down, turning back to him as the male scientist was moving around some old equipment and patting the mattress of a bottom bunk off to the side of the trailer, "This was Grace's bunk. It's yours now."

That night, as she sat alone in her new living quarters, Kayla got to work on making this place feel more like home. The first order of business was to clean away all the old pictures and put up the new ones-- well, not really new compared to the photo of Jake, Norm, and the two women. Kayla retrieved her envelope of pictures and placed one photo on the mini-fridge, inspecting it for a moment before she had to move on.

The picture was definitely older than the ones of Jake and the scientists. It was a picture that was taken roughly a month before Tommy was killed. The twins were sitting on the couch so Jake could feel a bit of normalcy, requesting that his wheelchair be kept out of the frame of the photo. The twins smiled at the camera, and Kayla stood behind the back of the couch, leaning over her brothers with a wide grin on her face. Present Kayla smiles to herself before moving on to the next big step of her life.

~~~~~~~~~

As promised, Kayla spends the next morning and afternoon with her nieces, in human form, so that she can watch and learn how to properly braid Na'vi hair. She learns this by letting the girls use her unconscious avatar as a demonstration. Kayla's avatar hovered in her sleeping hammock, unconscious to the world, while both Kiri and Tuk weave every little bit of her locks into various small, intricate braids, pulling them tight along her scalp and purposely braiding the hair behind her large ears so the locks were out of her face. Kayla watched from off to the side, trying to pay attention even as the braiding took hours to complete. Tuk eventually got bored and left her sister to finish the look before excitedly asking her aunt if she could braid her human hair instead, to which Kayla agreed but only if the braids were larger and didn't take as long.

As the girls worked on both human and Na'vi hair, they decided to share their parents' love story, much to Kayla's awe, amusement, and horror all in one. Of course, she was curious about how her brother and Neytiri met and why Jake decided to turn against his own kind for her, but Kayla wasn't hoping for any specific details. Unfortunately, the Na'vi do not shy away from such topics and even openly talk about it to their young, as Tuk liked to prove to her auntie as she refused to spare her any... scrutinous details.

"-- And then they mated before Eywa!"

Kiri's body and tail go rigid even as she frantically scrambles over hammocks to cover Kayla's ears while berating her loudmouth sister, "Tuk!"

Despite the uncomfortable conversation, Kayla found herself laughing to the point she was crying, holding her ribs as they ached and wheezing until she couldn't breathe. She didn't find the initial storytime hysterical, but Kiri's haste to spare Kayla's dignity, Tuk's innocent gaze, and Kiri's hands practically folded on either side of the human woman's face definitely acted as the cherry on top.

Days went by and Kayla was much more comfortable jumping in and out of her avatar form, even more so now that she wasn't waking up and being constantly poked and prodded. On one of her first days as a human in High Camp, Kayla wore a tank top and was bombarded with concerned questions when Max noticed all the needle scars on her arms. Although she tried not to think about how she was practically a guinea pig for the RDA, her family wasn't letting her forget it. Max must have told Jake because the olo'eyktan regarded his duties for the day to instead take some time to spend with his little sister. He grabbed a child's bow and brought her down to the forest floor to do some fishing, even keeping a spare mask strapped to his hip for her if she needed it. He never asked about the scars, but Kayla could feel his eyes on her arm when she pulled the string of her bow back and tightened her form per his instructions.

After firing and missing a few arrows, clearly distracted by his stares, she sighed heavily before turning to look up at him, "It'll never happen again, thanks to you."

~~~~~~~~~

In between lessons, Kayla was finally getting to know other humans who honorably live among the Omatikaya. One individual, Jocelyn, was one of Kayla's personal favorites, aside from Norm and Max. Jocelyn was a biolab tech and didn't own an avatar, so she goes about her day normally, as a human, with a breather mask always secured on her face. Her knowledge stemmed from fixing vital technology -to help the humans survive- all the way to medical training -to keep the avatars kicking-. Not only did she live among the Na'vi, she talks to them fluently, and they don't appear bothered by her tiny presence. Kayla often sees Jocelyn, short as she is, trailing after a couple of young Na'vi hunters. Two young men, to be precise, who always love showing their little sky demon friend things they've brought back from their travels outside High Camp. They always let Jocelyn take samples and further inspect whatever they bring home. Not only was she a technician and a healer, she was also a scientist and she was always hungry for more knowledge of the world she lived in.

But even though she's full of wonder and excitement, she is also pretty strict. The kids in particular exasperate Jocelyn and Kayla always gets a kick out of watching her trying to wrangle the Sully kids whenever Spider sneaks them around the biolab. Kayla has interacted with Jocelyn loads of times at this point and always found her intriguing, but this took the cake, especially when she noticed how Spider practically had the female biotech wrapped around his finger. To be fair, Spider has most of the human scientists and avatars wrapped around his finger. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and the humans left behind on Pandora were no exception when it came to raising Spider.

However, despite this, Kayla couldn't help but wonder why Spider doesn't hang out with anyone else outside of the humans and the Sullys. He's an overall good kid and he's passionate about the Na'vi culture. If it weren't for the physical looks, Kayla would've definitely thought he was one of the Omatikaya when they first met.

She decides to ask him about this one day when Spider decided to sit down and teach her more of the language. Kayla was in her avatar form that day, now sporting tightly braided hair with beads that clicked when she walked. Kayla had to admit that she liked her new look even more knowing that her nieces had woven her a new identity. Spider appeared relaxed while teaching her certain words that are generally used in combat while her mind was still buzzing with her own questions.

"So do you just hang out with Kiri and Lo'ak or do you have other friends?"

Spider shrugged, "Some of the other scientists had kids while being stuck here, but I was older than all of them so I didn't play with them much."

Kayla nods, indicating she was listening. She had been told of Ardmore's initial threats to the humans who harbored Jake Sully and the Omatikaya when the Sky People first returned to Pandora. Some humans, especially the ones with families, stood down and surrendered in exchange for full pardons and safety for their children. That included Spider's foster family, the McCoskers. From what Kayla has heard, Spider's foster family was not the greatest of guardians, especially the foster father. He had betrayed Jake and the Na'vi to Ardmore, being responsible for the deaths of fellow humans who sympathized with the Omatikaya. Jake didn't go into depth with what happened to the McCoskers and the other humans who surrendered, but she assumed that for Spider's own sake, no one wanted to mention them now that they're gone.

Spider didn't appear to notice Kayla's inner turmoil as he continued, "Tuk is kinda in the same boat. I hung out with Neteyam for a while there. We're the closest in age... but he hasn't really been wanting to hang out anymore."

"Why not?"

The boy stares off in the distance, unable to keep his eyes on Kayla for long before he has to look away again as he muttered, "Probably because he's training to be the next olo'eykan. Which is fine. Good for him."

It sounded only partially genuine, and Kayla doesn't back down, "But Kiri can still hang out with you even as... uh... what's the word for tsahik in training?"

"Tsakarem."

"Right." Silence lingers until Kayla braves awkward silence, "It... it doesn't have to do with whatever Neytiri has against you, does it?"

A scowl immediately forms behind the breathing mask, "She hates me. Hates the fact her kids love me even more."

"From my experience, it doesn't take much to be on her bad side," she tried lightening up the mood, "I wouldn't sweat it too much, kid."

"You don't get it."

"Don't I? I know she's not overly fond of humans."

"It's more than that with me. To her... I remind her of the man who nearly took everything from her family. My father was Quaritch."

The name sounds bitter on Spider's tongue, clearly a bad taste for him. Kayla's comically big and yellow eyes widen even further, "You mean the colonel who ran security at the mine before the humans were sent back to Earth?"

He only nods and she hisses in sympathy, "Shit. Okay, I can see why you'd have a hard time getting on Neytiri's good side."

"Yeah. No kidding."

~~~~~~~~~

Unlike Spider, it didn't take Kayla a whole lot to get on Neytiri's good side, but it's not as though she had to try. Neytiri was already warming up to Kayla, both in and out of her avatar form. The Na'vi woman sometimes enjoyed Kayla's presence in her human body, despite not wanting to be around the other Sky People that live amongst her clan. In many ways, Neytiri felt as though she was with Grace or Sylwanin again. They would've loved Makayla Sully. She was more level-headed than Jake -or at least compared to when he was younger- and she was observant, someone who calculates before doing anything. She thought ahead and she always had something Neytiri remembered Grace calling 'common sense'.

Neytiri grew to appreciate Kayla and would fondly watch her interact with Jake. Neytiri was aware that her mate had at least one sibling in the past, but up until now, she could only imagine what kind of a brother he was. With Kayla around, Neytiri got to see a side of her husband he hadn't let anyone see before. With Kayla around, a bit of mischief returns to his eyes, always ready to tease his sister without a second thought, regardless of who was watching. Mo'at wanted to berate the olo'eyktan for such childish behavior, but Neytiri was quick to silence her mother, "They need time to be reacquainted as siblings."

And siblings they were. Neytiri often smiled when around the adult Sully siblings. Watching Jake and Kayla interact often reminded her of other sibling duos, such as Neteyam and Kiri, or even herself and Sylwanin. But it's not to say Jake and Kayla were the most perfect siblings. Kayla still had trouble forgiving Jake for past mistakes and would often remind him of said mistakes just to add dirt to the fresh, reopened wound. Neytiri understands why Kayla must hurt Jake the way she had been hurt, but Jake was still Neytiri's husband and she was protective -if not a little possessive- of him. So, to try and find peace between the brother and sister, Neytiri decides to take Kayla hunting without Jake present.

Kayla didn't refuse, slipping into her avatar form and excitedly following Neytiri to her ikran. The pair fly down to the forest floor and immediately pick up a trail that had to be yerik. While tracking the animal down, Neytiri found it the best time to breach the topic, "Jake tries his best to help you feel at home here. You try your best to push him away."

Blunt as ever, she takes Kayla off guard, the female avatar turning back to face her with wide eyes. They stood in silence, the hunt momentarily forgotten until Kayla's mind catches up to her and she shakes off the initial shock. She turns back to the task at hand, following the tracks Neytiri had instructed her to follow with a scowl on her face, "Jake was the one who told me that relying on others won't help when you're trying to survive. I'm just living up to his advice."

"He's not like that. Not Ma Jake."

"Then congratulations, Neytiri," she exclaimed sarcastically, "You got to experience the best side of him. I didn't. I lost a brother before him. I can do it again."

"Can you?"

She is met with silence again, staring at the back of Kayla's head. Neytiri took the moment to admire the braids her daughters have woven into their aunt's hair before bringing herself back to the present and gently adding, "I understand."

"Do you?"

"I lost my sister," Neytiri forced out, her tongue tasting bitter from the words. She never said such things out loud, and the shock that sinks into Kayla's face was one of the reasons why. Neytiri despised any pity people send her way after everything she's lost. She didn't want the pity, especially now when she has more family than she ever thought she'd have. "The Sky People murdered her right in front of me. I was only a little older than Neteyam when it happened."

Kayla's mouth opened and closed as she tried to come up with something comforting to say but the only words that come out are her initial thoughts, "Oh, my God. I'm sorry."

Neytiri tightens her lips together and briefly smiles before letting it fall, having heard all those words before. She took point in the hunt, walking ahead while following the tracks so she wouldn't have to look at her sister-in-law, "Can I ask? What happened to Tomsully?"

"He was killed," Kayla explained automatedly, "Some... murderer with a gun shot him down in the streets and left him to die alone. It was cold and raining that day. They said he didn't suffer, but..." Kayla shook her head to refrain from thinking about it, "I wasn't there. Neither was Jake. I was job searching and Jake was out drinking his life away. He never mentioned?"

"He grieves as I do. I don't talk of my sister. My children don't know enough about her. Ma Jake says little about his old life."

Kayla swallowed thickly, eyes hard as she stared at the back of Neytiri's head, "Let me guess. He never mentioned me."

The Na'vi woman paused in her steps, hesitating before finally turning back to meet Kayla's eyes, "I did not know he had a sister until you came here."

That stung. It stung knowing that neither women were ever aware of each other until now but Kayla couldn't wrap her head around another mystery, "So-- how are you so calm about all of this? Why are you so accepting of me? I'm part of the same species that's responsible for your sister's death."

"So is Ma Jake."

"But you're not hostile toward me like you had been when you first met Jake, or so I'm told. Why?"

Neytiri smiles, opening her mouth and taking a breath before whispering, "... You are my husband's sister. He shares your blood... as do my children."

She steps closer to Kayla, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, much to Kayla's surprise as Neytiri proclaims, "You are Makayla te Suli tsmuke te Toruk Makto. You are my family now. Ma tsmuke."

Kayla's ears and tail twitch in attention to the sound of her name, using her newly gained knowledge of the language to finally understand what her sister-in-law said. Slowly, a smile formed on her lips, warm and quivering ever so slightly, nodding to Neytiri when she didn't have any other words to say.

She had always wanted a sister.

~~~~~~~~~

By the time the kids had gotten used to Kayla's human form, they were dying to show her their world through her eyes and not her avatars'. Without her night vision, everything glowed so beautifully at night and Spider suggested taking her to some fields to watch the fan lizards fly. Lo'ak was immediately all for the idea, dragging the rest of his siblings into it so they could all go. His parents were hesitant at first, but then Kayla reassured them that she'll keep a close eye on the children and so Jake and Neytiri relaxed before seeing them all off, wishing them to have fun.

The children didn't waste time once they were deep in the forest, hunting for kenten as eclipse rolled around. Before she could blink, Kayla was completely surrounded by floating lizards, glowing in many shapes and colors, flying above her head with helicopter-like wings. All the kids laughed at her reaction, the human gobsmacked by such wonder. Tuk tugged her along and the kids all began running around in the fields, disrupting more fan lizards and laughing as the animals took to the sky, igniting the world around them with their soft lights.

Kayla stood off to the side, watching the children and laughing with them. After a time, Spider had taken a break from the fun and collapsed on the ground at Kayla's feet, laughing in between catching his breath. Looking up, he noticed the adult's eyes on his and his smile immediately fell, quickly turning his eyes away to watch his friends play in the fields while trying his best to ignore Kayla's stares and shrink in on himself.

Kayla didn't take it to heart, only bluntly stating what she thought, "You prefer me in my avatar form, don't you?"

Spider's shoulders rise and fall but he still couldn't look at her, "... Sorry."

"No sweat. Can I ask why?"

He shrugged, "I don't know."

"I think I do. Can I guess?" Spider shrugs again and Kayla plops down in the spot beside him, resting her arms over her knees when she brought her legs up close to her chest, "Originally I only wanted to hang out with you and the other humans in my own skin so you didn't feel intimidated, but I think you're actually more intimidated by humans compared to Na'vi. You prefer my avatar because it's all you've ever known living here."

They sit in silence apart from the Sully kids laughing when one of the kenten decided to land on Lo'ak's face to rest. Spider huffed a small laugh at the scene but otherwise didn't say anything. Kayla grabs his attention again by elbowing him, "It's not a bad thing."

"It's not?"

"Why would it?"

He spares a glance at her, the reflection from both of their masks making it difficult to find her eyes right away, "You don't think it's bad that I prefer hanging out with a species other than my own?"

She flashed an amused, exasperated expression, "Kid, my brother permanently transferred his soul from one body to another of a completely different species. Do you think I'm one to judge you when you're the one teaching me the Na'vi ways and hanging out with my brother's kids?"

She laughed and Spider's ears heat up in shame, a little embarrassed for assuming the worst out of her. He looked away and mumbled under his breath, "My foster family didn't want me to forget where I came from."

"That's not bad either unless they forced you..." Initially, Kayla brushed off the silence until it began to linger too long, then she spared a glance back at Spider. He was stiff, unable to stare back while stubbornly keeping his eyes on the Sully kids. Kayla's eyebrows furrow, "Did they force you?"

"... What is Earth like?"

"Sure. You strike me as the kind of guy who would like music concerts. I'll start there."

Beating around the topic and finding a new one. Classic. It almost would have been easier if Spider had just said 'yes', but Kayla doesn't scold him. Instead, she hums, staring up at the stars as she thought back to her homeworld, "Nothing you would miss, kiddo."

"Can you tell me things I might've missed?"

A/N: Jocelyn is technically one of the many unnamed scientists we see in the Way of Water. She's the one who Tuk annoys with her toy in her first scene and further gets after the teens when they cut through the Avatar Longhouse. She technically doesn't have a name but I used her actress' real name to fill in the blanks.

Sorry if this felt a little rushed, but the next chapter is gonna be the start of the events that transpire during the Way of Water! Buckle up! We're getting close and I'm so excited to share with ya'll! Thank you so much for the support!

#tsamsiyu ta'em fic #tonowari x ronal #ronal x tonowari x oc #ronal x oc x tonowari #ronal x oc #tonowari x ronal x oc #tonowari x oc #tonowari x oc x ronal #ronal x tonowari x reader #ronal x reader x tonowari #ronal x reader #tonowari x ronal x reader #ronal x tonowari #tonowari imagine #ronal imagine #tonowari x reader #tonowari #ronal #tonowari x reader x ronal #tonowari fanfic #avatar 2 #avatar the way of water #avatar 2009 #avatar imagine #atwow #atwow fic #atwow fanfiction #atwow imagine #atwow imagines #james cameron avatar

[sourwolf-sterek32]

Broken Without You

Summary: After witnessing the death of your best friend Henry and his little brother, you're close to giving up and ending it all. Until Joel asks you to join him and Ellie on their journey across the country and gives you a reason to keep fighting.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: language, blood, suicidal thoughts

Previous Chapter

Chapter 4-

"His brother might be in Wyoming, that's why we're going there." Ellie randomly said, breaking the silence.

The three of you followed the old freeway north of Kansas City, putting as much distance between you and the horde of infected that were no doubt taking over what used to be the QZ.

"Ellie." Joel hissed, shooting her a warning look.

"What? It's not a secret."

Joel looked like he wanted to argue that statement, but kept his mouth shut. You looked between the two of them, but Ellie simply rolled her eyes at the man before you focused back on the scenery around you.

The just-risen sun shone softly on the green pastures either side of the road, bringing with it the melody of birds chirping. It was a beautiful morning, and you hated it. It shouldn't be beautiful, not after what happened in KC. In the movies it was always dark and miserable outside when people were grieving, but in real life? Mother Nature didn't give a shit about your feelings.

The bright shining sun felt like a punch to the face, so you looked away, staring at your feet as you walked.

"We don't know where exactly in Wyoming he is. Last Joel heard, Tommy was somewhere in that state, but then he lost radio contact." Ellie continued to ramble.

"Wyoming is a big place." You pointed out, glancing over at the girl. "Have you tried to contact him on the radio recently?"

Ellie looked over at Joel for an answer, but he seemed to be actively ignoring your conversation while he walked a few paces ahead.

"Joel?" Ellie called out, awaiting an answer. "Don't act like you're not listening to everything we've said."

Joel sighed, "I don't have a radio to try contact him on."

He didn't bother turning to look at you as he spoke, instead he kept his head straight while he walked, and Ellie opened her mouth to probably say something sarcastic before you spoke up.

"What if I took you to a radio tower?"

Joel stopped dead in his tracks. You and Ellie nearly walked straight into him, not expecting him to come to a sudden halt. He turned to face you properly, his brown eyes locking with yours.

"You can get me to a radio tower?" He asked in shock, and you nodded. "How?"

"FEDRA have a radio tower between KC and Omaha. Last I heard, it was still up and running."

Joel frowned, "how do you know FEDRA have a radio tower there?"

"It was common knowledge back in KC." You easily lied.

Joel eyed you cautiously, almost as if he could somehow sense you weren't telling the truth. He kept his expression blank and for a few seconds you feared he had figured it out, but then he was simply nodding before he continued walking.

The last thing you wanted was for Joel to find out who you really were. If he did, he would take Ellie and leave. He wouldn't let you stay with them, and to your own surprise, you found yourself wanting to stay with them.

Earlier, you were happy for them to leave you behind, but you're glad that Ellie came back for you because if she didn't, there was no doubt that you would be dead by now. Whether it be by your own hand or not was still up for debate.

The single bullet in your jeans pocket felt warm as you thought about it. Joels words from earlier this morning ringing through your ears.

'…if you plan on using that thing, I ain’t gonna stop ya. I get it… but just think about that kid over there. She’s already lost enough.'

You weren't sure how you felt about his words. But every time you thought about Henry and Sam, the more you wished you could be with them again. Just one shot and all your pain and suffering would be gone.

It was tempting, but you'd never do that in front of Ellie or Joel.

You'd never put them in that position, especially after Henry did it to you.

-

By late afternoon the following day, you were walking through the main street of town towards the radio tower looming high in the sky on the far side of the suburbs.

The weather had done a full 360, almost as if Mother Nature had heard your thoughts from earlier. The sun had been hidden behind the stormy clouds since you woke up and it had been raining steadily for the last three hours.

Your hair was drenched, and clothes soaked through completely. Ellie had her hoodie up, but it didn't do much to stop the rain and Joel wasn't faring any better, although the leather of his jacket was probably doing a decent job at keeping the water out compared to your flannel shirt.

"What is this?" Ellie suddenly questioned, pointing at a vehicle to your left.

You looked to where she was pointing to find a very old and faded ice cream truck parked beside the curb. Wait, had Ellie never seen an ice cream truck before?

"That is an ice cream truck." You answered watching her brows furrow in confusion.

"An ice cream truck?"

"Yeah. I don't remember a lot from before the outbreak, I was just a kid, but this..." You said, stopping beside the truck. "Oh, I remember this. They'd sell ice cream out of these bad boys."

"What? No way." She said, shaking her head in disbelief before glancing over at Joel for backup. "Joel?"

"It's true." He admitted, sparing a quick glance at you before focusing on the truck and if you weren't mistaken, there was a slight twitch to his lips as if he was fighting back a smile. "This thing used to drive around and play real loud creepy music and kids would come running out to buy ice cream."

Well, when he worded it like that it sounded super weird, but it was true.

"You're totally fucking with me."

"Um-mm serious."

"Man, you lived in a strange time." Ellie said, staring at the truck like it was a spaceship.

You smiled softly watching her before a thought hit you hard.

If Ellie didn't know what an ice cream truck was, that meant Sam never knew what one was either. There was so much about the old and the new world Sam never knew after a lifetime inside the KC QZ. Walking around in some random small town and seeing things like ice cream trucks and never-ending green pastures would be like Disney Land for him. But he wasn't here to see it.

"Let's keep moving. This rain isn't going to stop anytime soon." You instructed, looking away from the truck abruptly before you turned and marched on towards the tower.

If Joel or Ellie noticed your sudden change in demeanour, they didn't comment on it and instead silently followed as you led them in the direction of the tower.

It wasn't long before you were opening the door to the small shed next to the radio tower. There was a spare key hidden under a brick around the back, but like hell you were going to use that. Joel was a lot of things, but he wasn't stupid. He'd put two and two together. So, you used a crowbar that you grabbed earlier while you walked past the hundreds of abandoned cars in the neighbourhood knowing you'd need it for this moment.

You stepped inside first, the crowbar clutched in your hands tightly as you scanned the small room for any infected, but other than a few spiderwebs there wasn't anything in there. It had been a long time since you were last here. So, you hoped that the radio was still in working condition.

Joel and Ellie followed you inside and looked around while you went straight to the front desk and flicked on the switch for the radio, hoping, praying that the little green light would turn on.

A few seconds ticked by, but the light wouldn't turn on. The old radio had finally died.

"Shit." You cursed softly under your breath, flicking the switch a few times just to be sure, but it wouldn't work.

Joel appeared beside you, his eyes scanning the radio before he leant forward and began fiddling with the wires at the back of it. You stood back, giving him room to work before you glanced over at Ellie who was standing by the window and looking up at the tall radio tower beside the shed.

"Imagine the view from up there." She whispered, her eyes wide and full of curiosity.

"Got it." Joel suddenly said, bringing your attention back to him to find the little green light by the power switch was now shining brightly.

"Thank God."

You stepped forward and began scanning the frequency channels searching for any radio chatter out of habit more than anything. Back when the KC FEDRA was still up and running, the channels were full of people talking and relaying information. It was kind of eerie hearing the radio so silent.

"What channel did you used to talk to your brother on?" You asked, glancing over at Joel.

He opened his mouth to answer but didn't get a chance before Ellie suddenly cut him off.

"Uh, guys? There's a group of people with guns heading this way."

You had never moved so fast in your entire life. You ripped open the top draw of the desk and grabbed the pair of binoculars that you knew were inside, hoping Joel was too distracted to wonder how you knew it was there.

Raising the binoculars to your eyes, you looked out the window Ellie was standing by, and your stomach dropped in realisation.

They were survivors from Kathleen's resistance group.

You couldn't recognise most of them, but the woman leading the way was one of Kathleen's best friends. Shit. They must be here for the radio tower as well. How the hell did they even survive that horde of infected back in KC?

"We need to leave." You quickly ordered.

"Who are they?" Joel questioned sternly, catching onto the fact that you had recognised them.

"No one good. C'mon, there's a back door."

Joel and Ellie followed you without hesitation, the three of you rushing out the back door and running down the street in the opposite direction. Rain continued to pour down from the sky above you, but you didn't even notice.

"They're getting away!" A voice yelled in the distance before gunshots suddenly erupted from behind you.

"This way!" You shouted above the gunfire, ducking down between two houses and out the line of fire.

The three of you ran along the outside wall of the house before popping out onto a different street. You scanned left and right trying to get your bearings before you took off running across the street towards a small alleyway.

"Do you know where you're goin'?" Joel questioned, breathing heavily as you crouched down behind a large dumpster in the alleyway and he did the same, pulling Ellie down beside him.

"We can't go south, that’s where they are. So, that’s out the question, but all other roads out of town lead to the same place, the bridge."

"The bridge? Like a freeway bridge?" Ellie asked in confusion.

You shook your head, "no. A bridge over a river. If we can cross the bridge then we can disappear into the woods on the other side. They'll never be able to find us in there after dark."

You glanced up at the sky as you spoke, taking in the dark clouds. The sun was nowhere to be seen, but you knew it had to be close to setting which meant it would be getting dark soon and the woods would provide the perfect cover.

"If all other roads out of town lead to this bridge, wouldn't they know that's where we're heading?" Joel questioned, and, shit. He was right.

Kathleen's resistance group was smart. They had to be smart if they somehow escaped that horde of infected. Joel was right. They'd know exactly where you were heading. What were you meant to do?

"We should double back. C'mon." Joel muttered, grabbing Ellie's hand and leading her back out the alley before you could stop him.

Damnit.

You had no choice but to follow, however just as Joel stepped out onto the street, a car suddenly sped around the corner, and he was hurriedly backtracking and ducking behind the dumpster once again.

The car came speeding down the street, and you quickly knelt down beside Joel, peeking out from behind the dumpster just as the car pulled over and four men with guns jumped out.

"I saw them. They're around here somewhere. Search the buildings!"

The three of you remained hidden as the men all dispersed and began sweeping the streets and buildings trying to locate you.

"Anyone else got any other bad ideas?" Ellie questioned, a hint of amusement in her tone causing Joel to glare at her.

"Just one." You muttered, taking a deep breath before you took off sprinting.

The only way Joel and Ellie were getting to the bridge was if the resistance were distracted. If they were distracted, they wouldn't go to the bridge and then Ellie and Joel would have a clear shot out.

Joel shouted your name, but you ignored him as you ran straight to the car and jumped into the driver's seat, relieved that the keys were still in the ignition. Rookie mistake.

You turned the key, bringing the car to life with a roar before you revved the engine trying to draw the resistance attention towards you. Joel and Ellie were still hidden behind the dumpster, but you could see them watching you before bullets suddenly sprayed into the side of the car.

"Time to go." You said to yourself, pushing the gear stick into drive before you put your foot down on the gas and sped off.

You could see the men running after you through the revision mirror as you drove in the opposite direction of the bridge. Gunfire rained down on the car, smashing the back window behind you.

You managed to get a few streets away before the tyres got shot out and the next thing you knew, the hood of the car was slamming into the light post on the side of the road.

The airbags went off instantly, hitting your face harder than you thought they would. Pain blossomed across your nose, and you could feel something wet trickling down your chin. You didn't need to lick your lips to know that your nose was bleeding.

"Son of a bitch." You winced, pushing the already deflating airbag down.

The hood of the car was bent up so high from the impact that you could no longer see through the front windshield, but it didn't matter because the car was dead now anyway.

Suddenly, your car door swung open, and you were met by the barrel of a gun.

Your fingers twitched, itching to reach for the rifle that was looped over your shoulder with the gun strap, but you knew that would be pointless. So, you simply closed your eyes and leant your head back against the head rest and waited for the person to pull the trigger.

Joel and Ellie were probably at the bridge by now, they would be safe, and now you got to be with Henry and Sam again. It would all be okay.

"Hold your fire!"

You opened your eyes in confusion just as the man standing in front of you stepped to the side and Kathleen’s best friend appeared behind him.

Of course, it was her. Kathleen was dead, almost all the resistance was dead, but of course this woman survived and of course she found you. Fucking typical.

She didn't say anything, instead she leant down and grabbed your arm, hauling you out of the car with more strength than you thought she had. She shoved you down onto the road and your knees hit the bitumen, hard.

The gun strap was yanked off your shoulder, your rifle falling to the ground a few metres away before Kathleen’s best friend stepped in front of you. You couldn't even remember this woman’s name, but it didn't matter, not anymore.

You glanced around, noting three men standing off to the side with handguns strapped to their thighs.

"I am so glad we both survived that horde, so I can do this." She said, drawing her pistol from her holster.

"Just kill me and get it over with." You sighed, tilting your head up towards her.

She eyed you for a second before shaking her head and holstering her pistol.

"Don't worry, I will kill you. Just not yet. I want to capture your friends first."

Your heart stopped at her words.

No. Joel and Ellie were meant to be safe. That was the whole point of you distracting the resistance so that they would be safe.

"They're not part of this. They're just random innocent people-"

"No one who's friends with a FEDRA soldier are innocent." She snapped, nostrils flaring as she glared down at you. "My men are already hunting them down as we speak."

Shit.

-

Next Chapter 

-

MASTERLIST pinned to profile 

Commissions open! Link in bio & DM for enquiries 

A/N- This chapter and the next are inspired by a certain 'bridge' scene in the video game, but the rest of this story will be more based on the show (yes, I know the show is based on the game, but I'm basing this fic more from the show)

Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying this story! I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments ❤️

#joel miller #joel miller series #joel miller x reader #joel miller fanfiction #joel the last of us #tlou #the last of us #the last of us fanfiction #Pedro Pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction

[hacked-by-jake]

Shit rambling because I need it okay? Personal shit and kinda moonvale rambling. You don't have to read it. And warning, my words are probably a mess and this post is weird so.. I'm sorry xD

I don’t want to lie, I have zero capacity for the Moonvale posts right now. There's so much shit going on and the posts don’t really hype me up. I mean, I so glad they are active currently but otherwise.. Wah, I don’t know. I need the date. Like really. Not jokingly or anything, I need it to feel some kind of excitement again. And I don't know, I don’t even feel like posting the updates here, my head can't manage to do that. I'm glad other people do it. And I also don't manage to bring out some kind of duskwood shit post or anything. I know no one is forcing me to posts here but I feel like I have to anyway. This blog has many followers, I guess it's not a secret, so I kinda feel like I have to keep it going. And the thing is, I want to keep it going, but as I said, my capacity is like zero.

And the biggest shit. I have to finally submit to the psychiatry. And beside all other struggles that keep me away from finally sending it, Moonvale is in its way as well. I feel like I can't submit there when I don't know when moonvale will be released. Sounds weird, I know, but it's a real thing, trust me. So, Everbyte, please, tell us something. xD

Also, I get sick when I think about I might not be able to play episodes because I'm sitting in a psych ward and have other things to do. So I pray I will be lucky enough and the episodes will come out before and after my little vacation there. But as you see, I didn't even submit there but I'm still trying to plan Moonvale around it.

When I'm not just lying around in my bed I'm positing on Tumblr so it's kinda the only "obligation" I have. Don't take the word too seriously. As I said, I now I'm not obligated to post here. But for myself, and in my own head, I feel this way. I spent so much time here and I was allowed to build up this blog about a game I like and I want to keep it up. And want to stay here and to post and to be the blogger and the blog I used to be. For many a source to talk about the game/s and to ramble and send theories etc. And I want it to stay this way. For myself and for you all. Besides the love you all send me so often is a huge part of positivity in my life. Almost the only source of positivity I have. And I won't lie, missing this would also be a huge loss for me. I don't want it to sound like you have to send me love or anything. Please don't keep it this way. And I also don't want it to sound like I want this love. I post here to get my thoughts about duskwood out of my head. But I can't deny that it's a nice side effect. And I mean, wonderful. It makes me feel happy and loved and I fear to miss it at some point.

But really, if you read this here, don't feel like you have to tell me things like "we will always love you here" etc. It's very kind and lovely. But I think all those things are a problem in my head so, I don’t know.

Gosh, this post is weird, I know. But these thoughts are bothering me a lot and I was holding all of this back since a few weeks already so I'm going to just ramble the shit out now. Nobody has to read it or react. But this is a reminder to myself, it's my blog and I can post what I want. You can do it, girl. 💪

And I think getting this out into the void might calm my mind a bit.

I probably have more to ramble about but I think right now I forgot it. Anyway. If you read it, thank you. And I hope you will have a fantastic day/evening/night. And especially a amazing new week. You're doing wonderful and you deserve love. 💚

Thank you all for everything, seriously. 💚

OK bye 🫣

#hbj talks #rambles #like really rambling xD #not dw #might delete later #sorry for the weirdness xD #This is probably written during a small dissociation not gonna lie XD #but I'm kinda sick of not daring to talk freely about such things

[gay-dorito-dust]

Hello <3 I’m requesting 2 things back to back so I hope that’s okay !! I’m just literally in love with your writing :D This is a George Karim x reader or lockwood & co x reader request where reader is an amateur ghost hunter who hasn’t actually done any professional training but they’re pretty talented. They heard about some haunted house and went to check it out, unknowingly showing up shortly before lockwood & co. They run into each other & get off on the wrong foot but have to work together anyway because of the ghosts becoming very active. Reader shows the group that they’re actually pretty capable despite being a little shit & they become something akin to friends. Thank you !! 👾

‘Aren’t you meant to be accompanied by a supervisor?’

‘That’s only applicable if I were under training, which I am not.’

‘What about the rest of your team? I seriously doubt your agency would send out a singular agent. It sounds negligent and careless.’

‘Rest assured mrs Rhodes, my team is on their way, they…just remember that they didn’t bring enough iron, they tend to be forgettable like that even on their best of days.’

“If you say so dear then I believe you.” Mrs Rhodes said, finally admitting to defeat before pulling the keys to the house from her pocket and putting them in your hand before making herself scarce. Which was when you let the facade drop, “Jesus Christ and here I’d thought the interrogation would never end.” You grunted as you unlocked the door to allow yourself swift entry before slipping the duffel bag from your shoulder and dropping it unceremoniously on the floor with a loud thud.

It was hard finding work when you were an freelancing paranormal investigator with zero professional training. Your parents were adamant in not letting you within that field of work despite your above average capabilities of sight and sound along with a god given talent for the Rapier; They were amongst the populace that were born without the ability to see, hear or touch the supernatural. So eventually you grew tired of their attempts of ‘protecting you’ and fled home one night and never looked back since. Every now and then you’d still catch the occasional missing persons flier that held your likeness but due to how faded it was at the corners, you assumed they stopped trying.

Long story short; you were an legality waiting to happen should you ever decide to quit freelancing and join an agency, known or unknown due to your lack of credentials that allowed you to continue being an paranormal investigator legally. Which was why whenever you were on a case and the cliental starts prodding the bear concerning your teammates; you had to be quick with your lie in order to spare no room for further questions. It sucked but it was better then nothing unfortunately.

You didn’t bother much with a perimeter check of the ground floor of the house, considering that the case file states that the ongoings had occurred upstairs where it was speculated that during the night, Mr Rhodes was dragged from his bed and down towards the landing, where he was then subsequently thrown and crash landed into a glass table that was sat beside the staircase. He was home alone when these string of events occurred. You could immediately see his death glow from how brightly it shines that indicates how recent the tragedy took place. You even heard -when concentrating hard enough- the sounds of what went down;

A body being dragged.

Mr Rhodes frightened screams to be let go and for help.

The sensation of air hitting your face as the body was flung over the railing followed shortly by the sound of glass breaking and a body colliding hardly to the floor.

The screaming had long since stopped.

“Unlucky sod.” You muttered under your breath as you picked up your duffel bag and began making your way towards the staircase when you heard muffled voices from beyond the door.

“Where’s Mrs Rhodes?”

“Probably running a little late.”

“But we need the key to get into the house, otherwise we can’t do the case.”

You knew those voices anywhere and all they did were give you nothing but headache. So to spare yourself of hearing their squabbling, you moved towards the door and opened it to see Lucy, George and Lockwood stood there staring back at you with differing looks of surprise. “Make yourselves at home.” You told them, leaving the threshold to return to the staircase you were investigating. “What’re you doing here?” Lucy asked incredulously as she, George and Lockwood entered the house, shutting the door behind them.

“A case duh.” You replied, having already had enough of the juvenile questions for one night. “Also I got here first sooo, finders keepers losers weepers.” You added to get that additional dig at them, which worked in your favour as they looked at you unanimously unimpressed. “Y/n, you lack the credentials to even be on a case of this calibre,” Lockwood said, “why don’t you let us take this off of your hands and go home.” You scoffed at his suggestion and his insinuation that you couldn’t get the job done. You’ve completed cases similar to this one plenty of times in the past on your own and you weren’t about to let the unwarranted advice of a snobby prick and his merry band of reck looses alter your perception of yourself.

“Thanks for the concern Locky but I can handle myself just fine, with or without the necessary credentials.” You told him as you readjusted your duffle bag on your shoulder before advancing up the stairs towards the landing, the air became more and more frigid the higher you went until it became like you were standing in a deep freezer. “I can’t hear anything.” Lucy said from behind you, making you jump slightly from the fact that you didn’t see her, Lockwood nor George come up the stairs after you.

“What about you y/n? Can you hear anything?” George asked from your right hand side. “Don’t you think I would’ve said something about now?” You asked, a tad irritated, heaving a deep sigh before continuing, “Other then what I’ve heard downstairs at the scene of the crime. No. Haven’t heard a peep since.” You then turned you head towards George and seeing him press a hand to the wall, focusing on feeling out dark energy. “What about you? Felt anything yet?” The boy only sighed out a ‘no.’

“Then let’s split up and search every room for the source and contain it before it becomes a problem.” Lockwood told you, immediately assuming the leader role, as you all set out individually to find the source whilst also remaining close enough to call upon the others for help when needed. You chose to search the bedroom where it all happened, Lockwood chose the study, Lucy chose the bathroom and George chose to explore a little higher into the attic, whilst making sure to keep the ladder descended so that you and the others could gain easy access incase he found something.

Not long into your investigation you heard the opening towards the attic slam shut and the sound of George’s muffled exclamations did you fear that he found something to your vicinity to elicit such a reaction. “George!” You heard Lucy say as she, Lockwood and yourself rushed from your respective rooms to see that the attic had indeed been slammed shut, trapping George inside. “Lucy?” You faintly heard him reply, “the source is here but the only problem is that I didn’t have enough time to grab the seal to contain it before getting trapped up here.”

As George explained what he had found to Lucy and Lockwood, you spotted something from the corner of your eye and turned to face it just as the visage of a large, balding man came into view wearing joiners attire. “Guys, I think I found our mystery visitor.” You told Lucy and Lockwood calmly as they too began to look in the same direction as you. “What’s the plan.” Lucy asked, looking towards Lockwood but before he could spout out a half arsed plan, you took charge. “You, Lucy, are going to get the seal and help George contain the source whilst myself and Lockwood hold off our little friend here. That sound like a good enough plan to you?”

“Don’t do anything stupid.” She warned Lockwood but from how her eyes shifted from him to you, she was applying it to you also. You scoffed, “don’t worry about me Lucy, it’s Lockwood you’ve got to worry about.” You told her just as you unsheathed your Rapier, “now go, we’ve got this.” Lucy looked at you both one final time before bolting off to where you kept the duffle bags as you brought your attention back to the male, who had already gotten a lot closer then last time. “Don’t you think that was a little uncalled for?” Lockwood asked, joining your side, Rapier in hand. “What? Calling you stupid? I don’t think so considering your track record. If anything I think it fits you quite nicely.” You replied with a smirk which made him scoff lightheartedly.

“You ready to clear ourselves of a ghost?” He asked you as you both stood poised to attack as the male visible got agitated at your lighthearted banter. “Ready when you are.” You replied but before either of you could make the first move, the man in the joiners attire began making a beeline towards Lockwood; arms out stretched but thankfully you were quick to intercept the attack by standing protectively in front of Lockwood before carving patterns in the air with your Rapier. Which caused the male to back off for the time being but as his back was turned, readying himself for an quick escape, you threw a salt bomb right between his shoulder blades and watched as his spectral form fizzled out from view.

“He’ll be back.” Lockwood informed you as you both seethed your Rapier’s. “Not necessarily,” George’s voice came from behind you as he descended from the attic with Lucy in tow, “we secured the source thanks to you two.” He told the both of you but his eyes lingered on ours as a small smile graced his lips. “And here I though you weren’t a team player?” You laughed harshly, “I’m not Georgie boy,” you told him as you went to pick up your duffle bag from Lucy, shuffling it onto your shoulder, “this was merely an one off alliance.”

“Yeah right, you’re just avoiding the fact that you’ve actually come to enjoy our company.” He teased, bumping his shoulder into yours as you all made your way down the staircase. “Oh come off it will you?” You chastised him playfully but you had to admit that deep down, he was right. You flowed so effortlessly with them that it almost felt natural which was something you hadn’t felt in a long while.

“Alright, love birds, wrap it up so we can all head back for a cuppa and some biscuits.” Lucy said before turning to you. “You are coming coming with, right?” She asked, stopping short in her foot falls along with George and Lockwood who were looking at you almost expectedly. You sighed but couldn’t fight back the smile from creeping on your face. “Yeah sure, a cuppa sounds real nice about now.”

#lockwood and co imagine #lockwood and co x you #lockwood and co x reader #lockwood and co imagines #lockwood imagines #lockwood imagine #lockwood x reader #lockwood x you #george karim x reader #george karim imagines #george karim imagine #george karim x you #lucy carlyle x reader #Lucy carlyle x you #Lucy carlyle imagines #Lucy carlyle imagine #anthony lockwood imagines #anthony lockwood imagine #anthony lockwood x you #anthony lockwood x reader

[novankenn]

Freakshow (6)

/==- Chapters -==/

Junior walked around the corpse, and past Cinder, without another word. Cinder grit her teeth at the blatant show of disrespect, but she held her tongue. She needed information about IT, and she would get it before she made any move. Turning on her heels, she moved to follow. Junior said not a single word as he moved through the back halls of the club before reaching his private office. Stepping inside, he held the door open for Cinder. It was closed and lock as soon as she passed by him.

Junior: Have a seat.

Cinder stayed quite as she moved to the far side of the office and settled herself down onto the plush leather sofa. She made a show of crossing her legs as she leaned back and draped her arms across the back of the sofa. Junior ignored her posturing, walked over to his bar and poured himself a shot. He took a sip before turning to face cinder. He gently swirled the ice in his glass, crating a soft tinkling sound.

Junior: First off, no.

Cinder: No?

Junior: You can keep your hands off Jaune and Joan, they’re damaged enough. I won’t be letting you add to that.

Cinder: Why, I would…

Junior: Cut the bullshit. You might call the shots when it comes to me lending you my boys for your little dust shop games… but that’s where it ends. I have more than enough to make your life very difficult if you try and push.

Cinder: I see. Then why even bother discussing them with me? If they are so… untouchable.

Junior: To cut off any of your little schemes, and to give you fair warning not to mess with either of them. I’ll be honest, you scared the shit out of me… but now… you don’t even rate on the scary to me scale.

Cinder: Roman said something similar… so neither of you feel I am… dangerous?

Junior: No, you are dangerous, you’re just not scary.

Cinder: What’s the difference?

Junior: You’ve got a plan, and you’re willing to do whatever you need to for it’s benefit. That makes you dangerous.

Cinder: And Jaune and Joan… was it?

Junior: It is.

Junior takes a sip of his drink.

Junior: They don't have a plan. They’re not trying to accomplish something… they just exist.

Cinder: That doesn’t seem very scary… it seems more boring.

Junior: Boring is nice, and it means things are good when it concerns them… but they’re scary because they’re dangerous and don’t have a goal. You got a taste of that danger in the warehouse… you remember what happened?

Cinder: I wanted answers and I decided to get them…

Junior: And you ended up with your ass handed to you.

Cinder: I did not…

Junior: Don’t lie. We can watch the video feed if you want to jog your memory, but that is a prime example of why they are scary. Are you understanding where I’m coming from, or should I give you another example?

Cinder: Another example?

Junior: One of the twins insulted Jaune and Joan. What would you have done if it had been you that was insulted?

Cinder: I don’t…

Junior: Humor me.

Cinder: I would have impressed on them the need to not repeat such behavior, for their own safety.

Junior: And that is what most people would do, at least people like us. Jaune and Joan… they don’t do things like intimidation…

Cinder: They tried to kill her, did they?

Junior: They didn’t try anything. They nearly did kill her. First Jaune, and after getting an apology and a promise for a favor, Joan took her turn. The doc is still checking her out, as we speak.

Cinder: So they are unpredictable. 

Junior: No, they are borderline feral. They act like a normal human, but behind those eyes… for whatever reason when that semblance activated… their humanity broke.

Cinder: You seem to have more than passing control, of them.

Junior: That’s only because I hold all the keys to what they desire right now. 

Cinder: And what would that be?

Junior: Privacy, a quiet place to live and food; plus whatever little odds and ends that catch their attention. They have simple wants and needs, pretty bare-bones actually… though they are extremely protective over each other.

Cinder: So what happened, to create this… situation.

Junior: Jaune is a drop-out from Beacon, and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He ended up caught in the crossfire when my boys went in heavy on a group making plays in our territory,

Cinder: I take it, his semblance activated.

Junior: It did, and Jaune became Joan for the first time… one of the crew we were taking out, grabbed her to use as a shield… and she killed him.

Junior snapped his fingers.

Junior: Just like that.

Cinder: I see.

Junior: Our target lost three guys to Joan, before in a panic she became Jaune.

Cinder: How many did he cost you?

Junior: Our target two more, and me four. We had to knock him out to get things under control. Like I said before, when that semblance activated, it broke something inside them. As you saw when you walked in…

Cinder: Joan seemed to be just a little sadistic.

Junior: She is, and that was just a small taste… she’ll play with someone for hours if we let her. I actually think she might get off on the smell of blood and piss.

Cinder: And Jaune, he’s not that same?

Junior: Jaune has no issue causing pain, and for Joan he’ll make someone suffer, but Jaune is more brutal… Joan may play with you, draw things out… but Jaune will just crush you.

Cinder: From what I saw, and heard, I assume their semblance manipulates Aura? Do you know how?

#Freakshow #rwby #jaune arc #female!jaune #split-personality? #ANOTHER Female!Jaune story? This author has issues... #cinder fall #roman torchwick

[willsimpforanyone]

Request: could you do a Leo Valdez x any gender reader, where after a while into their relationship Leo seems to not be as enthusiastic and active in the relationship while reader is trying to mend their relationship again, but in the end chooses to break up with Leo (TL;DR is that Leo is no longer trying in the relationship and reader let's go)

(Only if this is okay, you can take your time with making these, just make sure to take care of yourself)

very sweet of you to worry about me <3

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

I knocked on the Hephaestus cabin door, rocking back and forth on my heels. The door opened, and a girl of about 14 stood in front of me. I didn't know her name- or maybe I did, I just couldn't remember it right now.

She looked at me, eyebrow raised.

"Um, hi." I tried for a smile. "Do you know if Leo's here?"

She shook her head. "Nope, he's not here, he's probably in the bunker or something."

I thanked her, walking away from the cabin and into the forest to find the bunker. The flowers in my hand were getting a little crumpled, but I held them straight as much as I could. By some miracle, I didn't twist my ankle in my heels.

The entrance to the bunker was ajar, sounds of machinery whirring coming from inside. I stepped inside, brushing off my cleanest pair of jeans- it's hard to wear formal wear in the camp but I did the best I could.

"Leo? You in here?" My shoes clicked on the floor and I gazed around, trying not to cringe at the strong smell of engine oil.

There was a bang, muffled swearing and Leo crawled out from under... some kind of machine. His curls were damp with sweat and grease was smeared all over his hands and forearms.

I tried very hard not to notice that as I perked up on seeing him, he seemed to deflate. Leo wiped his hands on a rag from his pocket. "Uh, hey, babe, what brings you here?"

Did he forget? I blink, holding out the flowers. "I-it's our date night, remember?" The blank look on his face is less than encouraging. "You promised we'd do something special."

Leo reached out slowly, only just close enough to take the flowers. He sighed, placing them on a workbench off to the side. "I'm sorry, chica, I'm just really busy right now." He turned away, grabbing a hammer from a table. "I'll catch up with you later, yeah?"

Catch up later? What?

I crossed my arms, fingers digging into my shirtsleeves. "No, no, wait, come back." I frowned as Leo's shoulders slumped and he turned back around. "What do you mean 'catch up later'? This isn't- we weren't just gonna hang out, we were gonna do something fun, go to the beach or something because we couldn't the last few weeks." I carefully refrained from saying it was because he said he was too busy.

Leo sighed, leaning back against his machine and scrutinising me like a maths problem he had yet to solve. "I don't know what you want from me, hun, I have work to do."

"Work you can't take even an hour away from?" I asked, a tight, knotted feeling twisting in my stomach. "Not even for your partner?"

The pause that followed sounded a little too much like 'I could, but I don't want to'.

"I just- I don't see why you're so bothered about missing a couple dates, it's not that big a deal." Leo shrugged, apathy staining his face like oil.

I took a deep breath, reminding myself that screaming your frustrations was only helpful when it was into a pillow or when venting to a friend. This was neither of those times, and surely Leo could be persuaded to see my point. That I deserved nice dates and that I was worthy of his time and appreciation.

Well, shit.

"Okay, let me explain it to you this way," I began. Leo nodded. "You flaking on four dates in a row makes me feel undervalued and underappreciated as a partner, especially since there has been no effort to make up that time that we set aside."

It was the best I could do without breaking into tears or slamming head into a wall.

Leo nodded again, slowly, and for a moment I was convinced he was truly considering what I said. Then he opened his mouth.

"But I don't see those dates as important. I'm busy a lot, people rely on me and that takes priority over..."

I held up my hands, stopping him in his tracks. The lump in my throat was nearly choking me but I swallowed anyway.

"That-that's the issue, Leo, they're very important to me so they should at least be a consideration to you." I stuffed my hands in my pockets to stop them shaking. "But I-I guess you don't care, right?"

He scuffed his shoe against the floor like a kid. "I care, babe, I do."

Everything he did, everything he said, was so apathetic. I was stood before him in the best outfit I could wear, I bought him flowers and he didn't even say 'thank you', didn't say that I looked nice. He used to practically drool over me in heels, arms around my waist and whispering how gorgeous I looked in my ear.

He shouldn't need persuading that I deserved his time. I shouldn't have to convince him to go on dates, to pay me a little attention.

We stared at each other in silence for a moment.

I took a step back. "No, you don't." Turning on my heel, I stalked back over to the entrance. "You don't care." I stripped off my heels and walked barefoot back out into the forest.

With each step, I longed for him to call for me, to make me stop, to come after me and apologise, say he was so sorry for not treating me right, that he would make it all up to me.

But silence followed my departure, broken only by the hiccuping breaths I took trying not to burst into tears.

Head held as high as I could, I marched back into camp and into my cabin. It wasn't empty, and a few of my older siblings looked up at my arrival.

It took them less than a second to know what happened.

The door was shut behind me, the heels taken from my hands and I was sat on a bed, staring straight ahead of me.

"Well." My voice was wobbly, hands clenched in fists. "I don't think there's going to be another date."

The creaking dam holding my emotions back split up the middle. My ribs heaved, lungs gasping for air between sobs. Mascara stained my cheeks and I clung onto whoever was hugging me. It felt like I was screaming, voice hoarse and shaky, exhausted after keeping composure all the way back.

No one said anything, they just held me until I was quieter, no longer loud, bone-wracking sobs but small hiccups, the sound of someone who's been trapped for so long and finally had an outlet.

My older sister pressed kisses to my head, murmuring about how he didn't deserve me, how much better I was than him. My older brother guided the two of us onto another bed, getting the youngest of us ready to sleep. Each of them gave me a kiss on the cheek before bed, worried looks marring their little faces.

When everyone else was asleep, the three of us crowded onto the sofa. No more words were said, that was for tomorrow. For now, I just needed to know someone cared about me.

Someone cared.

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

i really hope you liked it, thank you for requesting!

#leo valdez #leo valdez angst #leo x reader #leo imagine #leo valdez x reader #leo valdez imagine

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I absolutely love your analysis of the gerudo and Ganondorf because they put into words what bothers me about how TOTK portrays Ganondorf. That being they remove his agency as a character in favor of having some great evil against the good guys.

[Major story spoilers ahead for the end of the game]

At the end of the game, when you’ve defeated Ganondorf, he swallows the secret stone and becomes a dragon, like Zelda, fully knowing the consequences of what happens when that happens. And it’s just kinda left me with a bitter taste in my mouth? In the context of the story it makes sense, he’s portrayed as a egomaniac who just wants to destroy Hyrule. But compared to other versions of him, this one just feels more openly biased against him and the gerudo, with no reason or justification other than “he’s evil, hate him.” As far as I can tell… They never really show us that he’s done anything horrible or deserving of being feared before the show of fealty cutscene, other than not submit to Hyrule, attack them once, and generally have bad vibes. It feels forced how much they want us to hate him and the people who follow him. I’m not saying character in video games always have to be nuanced or complex but comparing like, Wind Waker Ganondorf next to TOTK Ganondorf…. 🙃 Waste of an excellent design imo.

Heyyy sorry for being a billion years late with this ask!! I was busy finishing the game!!! among other things!!! Thank you so much for your kind words, I'm super happy it resonated with you in that way!

I mean, the whole draconification plot beat doesn't really work for me. Like yeah, sure it's sad that Zelda is now a giant dragon and it's cool to have her soaring above your head while you have no idea where she actually is (a situation that isn't nearly tapped into enough in the narrative imo, like it gets obvious way too fast if you happen upon the wrong memory, etc), and I actually think the whole sequence of you removing the Master Sword from her head was the best scene in the entire game in terms of mood and emotions --even THOUGH it would have been so much better with a stronger story and stronger stakes-- BUT. How does that build up thematically?

I think what doesn't work for the Zelda side of this plot point (I'll get to Ganon next) is that... she doesn't make that choice. It's not like she's being tempted by an easy way out and decides to sacrifice herself for the sake of Hyrule or Link or whoever: she has no choice in the matter. Her powers activate (?? somehow? once and never again also, talk about dropped plot threads), she finds herself in the past, is the passive witness to a bunch of shit that only tangientially relates to her --it's like she's visiting estranged family in a foreign country and watch their drama awkwardly before being dragged into it against her will even though she was just trying to renew her passport and get back home (if there had been any callback to her relationship with her father it would have landed better, but it's just completely ignored so vOv). Then her relatives all die or corrupt or something, and she still can't get back home. What is she meant to do besides draconify? Grow old and die in the past? What would that accomplish?? Her adventures in the past are just basically about solving a shrine puzzle with a particularly weird solution --but the game treats it like a huge sacrifice when it's basically her only way out, and she lost absolutely nothing making that sacrifice (and then she... cries about the weird family drama? sure. Honestly I think it would have worked better if the tears were Rauru's, it's his bullshit everyone is dealing with right? He's the one who feels broken and aggrieved by the whole thing.)

So, if we ignore the draconification precedent builds up to zero thing thematically beyond cheap drama that reveals nothing about neither the characters nor the world, I think Ganondorf's case is a little more compelling because he does make a choice here: dying as he tries to achieve his weird lofty goals (and fail), or postpone his victory eternally by sacrificing his objectives but reject death and defeat --while also barring himself from victory. In a better crafted story, this could be utterly excellent and it feels very Ganondorf to me. BUT, my beef with that plot beat isn't that he chooses the second option, making him kinda active for the first time in the entire game (and makes an appropriate hideous smile: *loved* this second one, the first one didn't land for me but this one really captures the ecstatic insanity and transcendance and desperate madness of the act --I have nothing against Ganondorf offputting smiles and cackles when they feel earned, and the Sonia one just... doesn't to me, it just feels like weird rigging and mesh deformation choices getting out of control).

My problem is that his existence as a dragon contradicts everything we knew about dragons before --both for him and for Zelda. I thought the big issue with draconification was that you'd lose yourself to the act entirely, and would become this sort of organic landmark of infinite power and eternal life but without will to act on your precedent goals and understanding of yourself. But the second the big man becomes an evil dragon, suddenly Zelda zips in to the rescue (apparently remembering who you are? understanding she's meant to fight Ganondorf? I mean, this kind of works emotionally as a climactic ending and the power of love or whatever, again it would have worked better in a better story), and Ganondorf is still very much into destroying the world as well as you and Zelda.

Also, he's very definitively mortal (and he has the stone on his head again? And so if you destroy it you destroy his immortality? why???)

So... What I dislike here is the suggestion that he was somehow so evil and rotten and bad that all of these rare moments of interesting worldbuilding and ambivalence gets completely swallowed in the bossfight logic, making his choice (and Zelda's) completely meaningless in retrospect.

also: let Zelda remain a dragon you cowards, that way Hyrule gets any sort of chance to escape and reimagine its horrying eternal monarchy instead of re-establishing it even harder than before!!!

#totk #totk spoilers #totk critical #asks #tloz #zelda #ganondorf #any change to the statut quo emotionally is so unbearable to this game's writing it's so weird #the dragon thing is a cool idea but I'm not sure it should have involved zelda tbh #if it had been rauru's thing while mineru held ganondorf in place it would have worked better in my opinion #I feel like this leads to much better character arcs and make mineru more of a character #and someone we could connect to much more than rauru #something

[supermarvel-fics]

Tickletober Day 23: Spidering

fandom: marvel

word count: 830

pairing: loki x reader (platonic)

summary: loki will find anything to annoy you

Loki loved pestering you. It was honestly his favorite activity next to reading in the solitude of his own room.

Luckily for him, it was incredibly easy to get on your nerves. You had a short temper and everyone living in the tower knew it, so they knew exactly when to back off and let you have your space. Loki seemed to do the exact opposite.

He wasn’t dumb enough to bother you after you had gotten back from a grueling mission or when you were genuinely upset, but any other time, Loki was plotting different ways to annoy you.

The things he did were never malicious and later on, you could genuinely find a good laugh out of his little pranks, but in the moment you were always irritated.

For the past week or so, Loki had been hiding your everyday things around your floor of the tower; your shoes, your hairbrush, your laptop. Anything that was of use to you, Loki took hostage.

“Doesn’t it ever get old, Loki?” You side-eyed him as you snatched your headphones from his hand. “I mean, you’ve been pulling the same shit for over a week. I would have thought as the God of Mischief that you’d come up with something a little more interesting.”

You pivoted on your heels to leave the room and sighed in annoyance as you heard Loki’s footsteps following after you.

“Is that a challenge, Agent?” Loki questioned you with an impish lilt, as if he were being given permission to get on your last nerve.

“Absolutely not. Do it again and I will make your life a living hell.”

“Ooh, you have a bit of bite to you today,” Loki growled and playfully spidered his fingers up your back. He was shocked to hear you yelp and arch away from his touch. You turned back around, fury in your eyes.

“I would advise you not to do that ever again,” You stated firmly. Loki smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“Or what?”

Sending Loki a glare, you found that you had nothing to rebuttal him with, so you scoffed and continued on your path back to your room.

And true to Loki’s nature, even after your empty threat, he definitely did it again. That same night, he found you at the dinner table with Wanda while going over the details of an upcoming mission. He snuck up behind you and skittered his fingers up your back in the same way he had earlier, pleased to hear you giggle this time.

“AHA! LOKI!” You chastised him, turning to see his self-satisfied grin.

“Your ticklishness is quite adorable for someone so… stoic,” Loki chuckled, poking your side once more for good measure. You slapped his hand away hard and threw him the middle finger. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Go away.”

Loki did as he was told, silently laughing to himself at your angry demeanor. After that, he made it a game. Anytime your back was to him, his fingers were spidering up your back, causing a screech or even a laugh to shoot from your throat.

But once a few days had passed, Loki decided that that wasn’t enough. He wanted to hear you truly laugh.

So, he found you reading in the common room late on a Thursday evening, alone thankfully, when he began executing his plan. He cast an illusion of himself to walk into the room nonchalantly so that he could sneak up behind you.

“What do you want now?” You interrogated the fake Loki, only glancing up at him for a moment before going back to your book. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Yes, but annoying you when you’re not doing anything isn’t nearly as fun,” He declared. You rolled your eyes at him.

“You know, one day I’m going to-AHHH!” You screamed in shock as you felt fingers spider up your back, twisting around to see the real Loki. “Oh, you son of a BIHIHITCH! LOKI, NOHOHO!”

He reached down, pinching at your sides with vigor, relishing in the sound of your bright laughter—a sound he’d never heard before.

“I don’t normally give out compliments, but your laugh is a wonderful sound, Agent,” Loki snickered as your laughter pitched up an octave once his fingers dig into your belly. “You should do it more often.”

“SCREHEW YOHOHOU! STOHOP!”

“I was being nice,” Loki gritted his teeth, giving you one final squeeze before stopping. You fell back against the chair as you caught your breath.

“You are the worst,” You groaned. “Go pick on someone else for a change!”

“Oh, that wouldn’t be nearly as fun. No one is as short-tempered and as ticklish as you,” Loki replied with a fluttering of fingers at your neck to prove his point. You giggled and shrugged your shoulder up to block his access, again flipping him off because you had nothing else to say.

Truthfully, you were happy with the relationship you had with Loki.

#marvel #marvel tickle #mcu #tickle prompts #tickle fic #lee!reader #ticklish!reader #ler!loki #loki tickle #loki laufeyson #loki x reader #sfw tickle fic #augtickletober2022 #tickletober prompts #tickletober2022

[wazzupmrstark]

instead of you [part fifty-three]

pairing: [best friend’s brother] tom holland x college!reader

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either.

warnings: swearing, mentions of sex, angst, morbid plane/flying facts

word count: 2.2k

series masterlist + read the next chapter early on ko-fi!!

Predictably, you cried yourself to sleep. You debated over whether or not to tell Tom. He’d probably find out when he woke up in the morning but would he be mad if he didn’t hear it from you? If Sam was right, he didn’t care about you at all, so why would you grant him the courtesy of a head’s up? You didn’t want to believe Sam, rather, you wanted to believe that he had only said those things in the heat of the moment but at the end of the day, he knew Tom far better than you did. Whether or not he was telling the truth to try and save you or lying to hurt you was up to you to decipher.

You wound up texting Tom ‘Sam knows’ without any other context and calling it a night. 

The next morning, you woke up to a message from Sam telling you not to bother getting ready for the day and that he’d be going on without you. It was mostly a relief not to have to put on an act after everything that happened the night before but it also stung.

You weren’t very optimistic about repairing your relationship with Sam but any lingering hope vanished when he wouldn’t even look at you in passing in the hallway. 

You spent the entire day in bed, trying to distract yourself with anything you could think of to pass the time. You scrolled through social media until your timelines stopped refreshing with new content. There wasn’t anything interesting enough on TV to pull you out of spiraling so you didn’t even bother trying to find something to hold your attention. 

At one point you remembered the book you were reading but as soon as you opened it you were greeted by all of Sam’s little annotations he had left for you. He still had your book and you wondered if he would ever finish it now that you’d ruined everything. 

You thought about texting him, just to check in or try and talk about things but you didn’t want to bother him. A couple of times, you almost texted him just out of instinct. You would go to send him a tweet that you thought he’d find funny and then remember.

Tom came by your room that night after dinner, when everyone was back from the day’s activities. He knocked twice, letting himself in before you’d even finished telling him he could enter. 

“Care to explain what happened?” he asked, hands on his hips.

You shrugged noncommittally. “Sam found out.”

“How? Did you tell him?”

“And ruin my own relationship with my best friend? Yeah, definitely.”

Tom rolled his eyes. “I didn’t come here to argue. I just want to know what happened.”

“Then don’t accuse me of shit.”

“I didn’t mean- I’m sorry. That’s not what I was trying to do.”

You sighed and signaled for him to sit down if he wanted to. He did, perching himself on the edge of the bed cautiously. 

“He knows because he noticed me sneaking out and finally decided to follow me.”

The color drained from Tom’s face. “So he heard-”

You nodded. “I don’t know how much, but enough.”

“Fuck.”

“Fuck is right.”

“He wouldn’t say a word to me today,” Tom said. 

“He wouldn’t even look at me.”

“I guess we knew this would happen eventually.”

“Yeah.”

“We fucked up.”

“Yeah.”

“You were right.”

“What do you mean?” you asked, furrowing your eyebrows.

“We really do deserve each other.”

Oh. What Sam had said earlier rang through your ears again. 

“I guess I was.”

Just then, the door to the bedroom opened and Sam walked in, scoffing as he passed his brother. 

“I should have known,” he muttered to himself. 

“Sam look-” Tom tried, only to be immediately cut off by his younger brother. 

“Don’t. Please just fucking don’t.”

“But-”

“God, you never listen to a word I say, do you? Either of you?”

You wanted to protest that you did listen to him but you thought better of it. It wouldn’t help your case at all. Instead, you sat there silently like a child being scolded. 

“I don’t want to hear you explain yourself,” Sam continued. “I don’t care why you fucked my best friend. I think the act in itself doesn’t need an explanation.” Tom opened his mouth to respond but Sam cut him off again. “I don’t want to hear an apology either. I already know you don’t mean it. In fact, I think we’re done here so if you wouldn’t mind getting the fuck out of my room...”

Tom looked like he wanted to argue but likely knew it wouldn’t do any good so he simply hung his head and let himself out, bidding you a quiet goodnight as he left. You didn’t respond. You didn’t even acknowledge him. How could you?

“Don’t forget to pack your things for the flight tomorrow. It’s a long one.”

You sat there, stunned. You hadn’t expected Sam to speak to you at all, let alone say something amicable. 

“O-ok thanks,” you responded shakily.

“I’m sleeping in here tonight,” he added. 

“Oh-” you scrambled up, preparing to leave but Sam stopped you. 

“No, I meant with you. It’d look weird if I slept on the couch again.”

Of course. Keeping up appearances.

“Is it even worth it to do this anymore?” you asked. “I mean, it’s falling apart at the seams.”

“It’ll be fine,” Sam argued. “It’s just a few more weeks.”

“Do you really want to keep pretending to be in love with someone you hate?”

He froze, still bent over his suitcase. Then he straightened up and turned to face you. 

“I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t?”

“No, I don’t think I could ever hate you. I’ve been trying, trust me.”

You weren’t sure how to take that. You weren’t sure how you were supposed to take it. You tried not to let his words stoke the embers of hope you were still clinging on to but it was already proving difficult. 

“Maybe with time,” you suggested. 

He shrugged. “Ready for bed?”

-

You managed to get some sleep, despite everything. It took a while for your heart to calm down as you lay there beside your (ex?) best friend who was already snoring softly. He had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. You weren’t sure how he was able to drift off so easily in spite of your whole friendship falling apart but perhaps the stress was only one-sided. 

You were the one being eaten alive by anxiety and guilt. All he had to do was mourn the loss of everything you destroyed. 

The hours of sleep you did get passed quickly without dreams which was unusual for you. Before you knew it, Sam’s alarm was going off and both of you were groaning as you dragged yourself out of bed. 

You finished packing the rest of your things in relative silence. Neither of you had much to say aside from when you passed each other’s things back and forth from your suitcases. 

The sun had yet to come up when the rest of the Hollands gathered in the kitchen with their luggage. Since the flight was over twelve hours long Sam’s parents had booked the earliest possible departure which just so happened to be before the sunrise. 

The boys slept during the ride to the airport but you weren’t able to. You were squished between Sam in Tom in the very back of the van, feeling like a pin in a grenade. They ignored each other, of course, both seemingly dead to the world. 

Tom woke up before Sam. He glanced over at you and offered an expression of sympathy. You just shrugged in response. 

Sitting in the car like that caused your knees to brush up against each other every so often, each time you rounded a corner or went over a speed bump. Every time it happened you fought the urge to meet his eyes. The touch, be it fleeting, made your chest tighten over and over again until you were half-convinced you were going into cardiac arrest. Eventually, Tom gave up trying to give you space and just let his knee rest against yours. Funnily enough, it helped you relax.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“It’s fine.”

He was so hard to read these days. Not that he was ever easy to read. You couldn’t tell whether or not he liked having his knee there. You weren’t sure why you were getting so caught up on it in the first place.

You longed to hold his hand. You longed to hold Sam’s hand. But all you could do was sit there in between the two and wait until you finally arrived at the airport. 

Thankfully, Tom was sat with his parents for the flight, which meant you were squeezed in between Sam and Harry. You gave Sam the window seat, knowing you wouldn’t get any sleep yourself. He looked like he wanted to argue when you offered it to him, but ultimately surrendered when he saw the look in your eyes. You compromised for switching halfway through since the flight was so long but even that seemed to be pushing it for him. 

It was funny how Sam was still looking out for you after everything you had done. It was as if it was instinctual to him, to put you before himself. The realization almost made you tear up. Had you cared that much for him too? Or was it all one sided? Either way, you were positive you didn’t deserve him.

-

Dom had chosen Hawai’i as his destination. A controversial choice, given the state of tourism at the moment, but it wasn’t like you had much say in the matter. Sam had confided in you earlier in the trip that he had tried to talk his father out of it but that he couldn’t be swayed. 

“We might as well try to make the most of it,” you argued. “It’s like a once and a lifetime opportunity, right?”

He shrugged. “I guess.”

The flight from Bali to Hawai’i was over twelve hours long which meant that you had roughly six hours to figure out how to entertain yourself before it was time to trade places. You could try to sleep but that meant leaning on Sam and you were almost positive the last thing he wanted was for you to touch him right now. 

You didn’t feel like paying for the in-flight wi-fi so you had to get creative with how to keep yourself busy. You scrolled through your camera roll for a while but it just made you sad. The pictures from the trip were one thing, but then there were all of the ones of you and Sam back at school. The further back you went, the happier you seemed. There was no way that was actually true, it was just putting more distance in between what had happened in the present from the way things were in the past. That, and you had a tendency for romanticizing the past. 

“Did you know flight attendants are trained to take oxygen masks from passengers?”

Harry’s voice from beside you pulled you from your spiral of self-pity almost immediately. You turned to look at him and cocked your head in confusion. 

“What?”

“Like, you know that whole spiel they give you about safety before the plane takes off? And they’re like ‘during the flight, oxygen masks might drop from overhead’?”

“No, I know all of that. Why would they take the masks from passengers? Do they not have their own?”

“They do, but they might need to move around the cabin when that happens in case of an emergency or something, and if that were to be the case, they’re trained to take masks from passengers to oxygenate themselves. They’ll give it back, but in order to do their jobs they might have to borrow one without asking.”

“What if the passenger passes out?”

“Then they’ll be able to help them! Because they’re fully oxygenated.”

You made a face. “I’m glad you’ve got the aisle seat, then.”

Harry shrugged, grinning. “It sounds fucked up, but it’s just logistical. Wanna know something actually fucked up? These seatbelts are practically useless.”

“What?” You weren’t sure if you really wanted to know where he was going with this but your morbid curiosity got the better of you once again. “What do you mean?”

“Well, they help with turbulence and stuff but in the event of a crash, these aren’t going to do shit for us. They’re just here to keep us strapped to the seat so they can identify the corpses by looking at the flight log.”

You sat there in stunned silence as the information Harry had just told you sunk in. 

“That is... so dark,” you said finally. 

“Yeah, but isn’t it interesting?”

“I guess, but why did you have to tell me all of this while we’re in the air?”

“Because it’s relevant!”

You sighed and glanced back at Sam who was asleep and slumped against the window. “Ready to switch?”

It was just a joke but Harry scoffed nonetheless. 

“I’m offended,” he whispered. 

“And I’m traumatized.”

He grinned sheepishly. “My bad.”

lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!

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#instead of you #iou #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #tom holland self insert #tom holland x female reader #tom holland x bi!reader #tom holland series #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fic

[bomberqueen17]

ok if you start typing a post title and then backspace you lose the entire field to have a post title and there's no way to get it back, so here we are, untitled.

So I spent two weeks at the farm, and was trialing Adderall, and it was sort of impossible to make any judgements about the medication because when I'm at the farm there's such a routine and task lists and stuff it's easy to just follow along, which is part of the reason I go there. But now I'm home and after a three-minute video consulation that cost $210 after insurance I am just doing two more weeks of the same thing. So I'm going to try to conscientiously log symptoms and side effects and things, so that at my next $200+ consultation I can get like some actual advice maybe.

(Whatever. I have the money in my HSA I might as well.)

So I'll go on about that after the cut probably but first: Eclipse!

My niece and mom are coming to hang for the eclipse, and my mother-not-law will join us. We may end up hanging out at her house or at mine, I'm meant to be scouting locations-- there are many many events going on locally, some free and some not, but there is also an estimated tourist load of about three million excess people expected in the region, and I just feel like traffic is going to be so terrible. I don't want to go anywhere I have to drive to! And I don't want to be stuck sitting in a venue somewhere.

So I'm gonna come up with snacks and a couple of activities (probably involving cameras!) at my house or at M-N-L's if her view is better (she has a paved patio that faces south so I suspect it will be; my best vantage point is my unshaded concrete stoop, as my sunporch has a western view and is not totally unimpeded).

Ideas for snacks and activities welcome, my starter list below the cut.

Activities:

Beforehand, I will get either white or black t-shirts, and we can decorate them with dye or bleach, and make ourselves commemmorative shirts. I have everything I need for this but the shirts.

Set up a camera on a tripod to record the eclipse? Set up another one pointed at a white sheet to record shadows.

Have several objects prepared to cast shadows with. I probably can't get a leafy branch this time of year, but a couple of colanders, a grid or something, a stretch of lace, that kind of thing, mounted in embroidery hoops or whatever, to look at the cool shadow shapes.

Of course I have eclipse glasses.

Snacks: oh i can't put this one in bullet points thanks tumblr, no i don't want this to be a gigantic asterisk never mind

frosted cookies cheese plate we can pretend are in festive shapes, my ass is not going to bother with that vegetables lol

Anyway I'm still sorta brainstorming that. My niece is ten, so it's not like i need little-kid stuff, I just want things that will actually be cool to observe. I haven't researched this yet I just remember watching leaf shadows at the 2017 eclipse.

So that's that. Currently I'm tidying the house kinda lowkey, because it's in better shape than usual and also it's just BIL and niece stopping overnight, but it's a good trial run of the guest bedroom. I'm mostly there and am on a 15-min break just now. Still have to set up the guest bed which means moving shit out of the way in that room.

Now: Symptom log.

Adderall makes me very dehydrated. I drink and drink and drink until I can't stand water anymore, and I'm still sorta thirsty and I pee like. Twice a day at most. Kinda weird.

During the two weeks at the farm I had one incidence of a terrible 20-hour headache, and another incidence of vertigo, and I think both were just plain dehydration, because I was drinking water like a normal slightly thirsty person. No, I need to have a huge mug next to me at all times and just drink out of it every couple of minutes. it's intense.

I also sweat really easily. it doesn't seem to be affecting my actual stamina; I get overheated and kind of huff and puff with light activity, but once I'm moving I'm fine and can do a normal day's amount of work without undue fatigue. I'm not sweating enough to explain the dehydration, but I am sweating a whole lot more than normal for this time of year. I may have problems with this in the heat and am already preparing to give that some thought.

Insomnia: not really anything outside my normal. I've had problems for a few years where I'll not be able to sleep, or will wake ultra-early and have trouble returning to sleep, and I've continued with this but no more often than normal and have in fact had several *very* good nights of sleep. I also, the first or second day I took this stuff, had an *incredible* nap around 2pm when I think the dose wore off, and then slept fine that same night. So. I feel kind of lucky with that and will not complain.

But: what is the medication actually doing?? Is my concentration better?

Short answer: not that I've noticed. Hard to observe, at the farm; there's an external schedule there, and I've never had much trouble just getting on that. It's something I've done for years; I love hitching a ride on a household's schedule and then I don't miss meals or lose hours to accidental procrastination. "What's got to get done today? Here's the list, pick what you want and when to do it" has always been my ideal situation. I was able to accomplish more than the list most days, and my motivation was good, and as usual my limitation was not drive but physical pain. (Yes, the PT has helped my bad hip so much, but my "good" hip was a bastard the entire time, with the awful radiating nerve pain from my knee through my lower back. Don't like that, PT isn't fixing that nearly so well.)

So, now that I'm at home, I've had two days totally on my own schedule, and the results are uh. not good. I still don't know how to make my own to-do lists very well, still don't have any clear notion of what I can expect to achieve in a day, still don't really know how to break down tasks well, and super don't know how to initiate them. I fell back on my old junebugging ways, where you just say "ok go!" and do whatever pops into your mind in the order it occurs to you, and hope some of the things on your list get done, and that's got me through a fair bit of housecleaning and putting my stuff away and such.

But I've been having, the same as or more than usual, problems where I pause and then get stuck. I go to pee and wind up on my phone on the toilet scrolling some app or other until my leg falls asleep. I go in the kitchen intending to make lunch and wind up staring out the window a while. I set out to do the dishes and wind up cleaning every window I can reach.

So it's frustrating, I can't tell if this is better or worse than before, and I also think the medication wears off in the early afternoon so my effective window of testing is really short and not really getting me anywhere. But we'll see, I still have a week and a half so I will try some more non-medical frameworks to see if I can't prop the meds up into giving me some more function. And yes, I'm sorta recovering from the relocation, that's always an issue, so maybe the last two days being not ideal are inevitable and I just have to settle more into routine. But that's frustrating.

Anyway. OK. Off my ass and back to work.

#about the author #solar eclipse #adhd #idk

[shadowsndaisies]

robin catching feelings

so someone sent me an ask but tumblr glitched and I can't find it but here's a little headcannon/my thought process on it:

ok so when does our birdboy realize??

already set that birdy had a small crush in ep 1 so what if robin did too? 

but what if he’s not fully aware until later, developing his feelings throughout all the things that are happening

but like more to come on the kernel of his crush from when they first met...

HERE'S WHY

chapter 6 (infiltrated)

Robin had some interesting feelings about wally and birdy’s kiss

Maybe he's not exactly sure why— just that it bothered him, and he kind of leaves the emoting alone for a bit. bc he does like her but mb he doesnt realize how much he likes her…. yet.

wally on the other hand notices the slightest hints of jealousy and will be supporting the information away for later

chapters 9 (bereft) and 11 (terrors)

so, in episode 9, they had the brain blast amnesia, and Kaldur got super sick. 

Robin was all jealous. Which is something he had to come to terms with it, especially because ain't no way Wally would let him go. 

So maybe wally presses on it a little bit and Robin gets defensive, so he decides to let it go… for now…

But after 11, when Robin and Birdy had their little moment on the sofa, he brings it up again because now he knows some things. 

That was when birdy did her reveal to him, so maybe he's like maybe… I…. am… into…. her...

also he called her beautiful… sooooo

so at this point homeboy knows he has a crush, but he's not exactly down bad

chapters 14 (revelations) & 15 (humanity)

so based off what was said just before, this is why 14 and 15 have such a big role. 14 gives us birdy’s big chance with Dr. fate. 

I mean the boys almost lost her, and that drives home for him because holy shit I could've lost her. 

so now he’s thinking about it…

he does not like the feeling he gets because he's lost plenty of people in his life already. 

And then in 15, right? Enter Z? It's common knowledge that zatanna’s pretty and she seems to have a little minor crush on him too 

because she's flirting with him, but maybe this is the distraction he needs because he doesn't want to fall for birdy. i mean look at B right? he doesn't have attachments bc they only end up in pain, and with all rob’s already lost he's not trying to make new ones.

which is why he's so dumb and flirts w zatanna— to keep his mind of birdy

which puts us at chapter 16 (failsafe) - when birdy reveals how she feels, outright and clearly

and his distraction tactic goes out the window bc fuck birdy is pretty and smart and tough and oh fuck. oh shit. this is more than just a crush

chapter 17 (disordered) 

his admission of being into her following therapy w dinah and his realization of not wanting to be batman. 

of wanting to be in her life, wanting to be a part of her life, actively.

of being there for her, there to catch her, whatever she needs

not wanting to be bruce- especially the isolation of it all

aka when we see birdboy is, in fact, down bad

from that point on we see his feelings grow

18 (secrets)

homeboy's got heart eyes watching ng stand up to the bat

19 (misplaced)

HUGE for their development bc birdy meets dick grayson for the first time

and he's out here showing the most secretive part of himself to her

21 (agendas)

our love birds go on a date (kinda) and they get to be yn and dick, and see how they do with each other over ng and robin, and it just reaffirms the feelings for both of them

everything tags: 

@butterfly-skinnylegend​​ 

dc taglist: 

@grey-water-colors​ @batarella​ @loninctzencarat​ ​​@escapenightmare

cnng taglist: 

@babymango-writes​​​​​​ @smile-more19​​​​​​ @bruiscdlikeviolets​​​​​ @truly-dionysus​​​​​​ @farfromjustordinary​​​​​ @sometimeseverythingsucks​​​​​ @dweeb-central​​​ @lucy-roo​​​​​ @casedoina​​​​​ @cipheress-to-k-pop​​​​​ @anonomano​​​​​ @seninjakitey​​​​​ @explodingwaffle789​​​​​ @whelmedparker @bigtimesexhaving​​​​​ @officiallydarkgeek​​​​​ @midnxghtblue​​​​​ @unini​​​​ ​ @blackwhiteandshadesofgradient​​​​​ @dontmesswithbeebo​​​​​ @raggedyoldwitch​​​​​ ​​​​​ @amans-te-amo @tinybeantm​​​​​​​​​​ @unicorn-mya​​​​​ @bouqet-of-gay​​​​​ @duckmylife18 @kendallambrosio​​​​​ @hanbetired​​​​ @torchbearerkyle​ @cynthiarose07​​ @lolsnacks​​​​ ​ @mono--moonchild @emo-space-tea​ @notsostraightweeb​ @cryingnotcrying​  @sassyspanishartist​ @ahyeonah​ @acceber1313​ @abuliawrites @onepieceformeplease @whatislifeandhowdoidoit @luvelyxp​ @lovelyartemisa @evermoore580 @mischiefmanaged71

#ask and answered #cnng #dick grayson #codename: nightingale #cnng asks #anon #our songbirds #cnng hcs #cnng hc #cnng blurb

[noonbeam17]

INTRO POST NUMBER TWO !!!!!!

well now that weve hit 100 followers [thank you very much viral post that was just me vagueposting about my oc story] i should actually bother to remake this post, something that ive been putting off for a while now </3

HIIIII im noonbeam/noon but you can call me ev ^_^ i am just a weird little vocathing who goes by every pronoun under the sun i literally do not care :3 you probably know me from the soil composition diagram of flesh machine and divinity

hmm lets start this off with: MY HYPERFIXATIONS in order from most to least crazy insane about them levels

MY OCS [a whole section about them later], NUCLEAR BUBBLE WRAP [also ties in with ocs], VOCALOID, EVERHOOD, hatchetfield/starkid, wandersong

tag guide :3

#noonbeam rambles - just me talking

#noonbeam thinks theyre funny - just me talking but in a shitposty way

#noonbeam draws shit - my funny little arts

#noonbeam answers - asks :3

#noonbeam banging out the tunes - i make music too !! this will go under that tag.

check out me unvale and me artfight !!! :3

i also have a toyhouse but im basically like never active on it so </3

ALRIGHT COOL THATS OUT OF THE WAY. letters of recommendation from friends + oc ramblings under the cut

THE DRAWING BOARD JUMPSCARE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is my main ocverse :3 theres these four guys in a band. they have been chosen by the goddess oda to save the universe. they travel across the universe to defeat the cacophonous six [the supposed bad guys] and have many, many, MANY missteps along the way. like oh my lord their journey goes wrong in so so many ways. anyway you should totes ask me about tdb im so normal about tdb

NUBARA, TENNESSEE !?!?!?!? WAOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this may seem longer than the other one but half of it is just me being silly. this ocverse is very new. as in like. 4 days old as of writing this. nubara is a fictional city in tennessee where everyone and everything in it is based off at least one song by nuclear bubble wrap :3 i dont really have an overarching story or that many characters rn i just have some bits and bobs. "noonbeam," you may say, "a city named after the first syllables of each word in an artist/band on needlejuice records, with the people living in it based off of at least one song by said artist/band, and most of the people's names being wordplay on the main song they're based off of? that sounds familiar..." AND YOU WOULD BE CORRECT. @autisticzaphodbeeblebrox you did this to me. /silly

[yes this is why aub's letter of recommendation is that he did the despicable me thing to me. it was the one who introduced me to nbw]

anyway youve made it this far. have sharktopus [heads up for cartoon gore]

#TAG DIRECTORY YAAAAYYYYY #noonbeam rambles #noonbeam thinks theyre funny #noonbeam draws shit #noonbeam answers #noonbeam banging out the tunes #the drawing board #Youtube