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k-llama-llama · 3 years

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Bloodbath

Stray Kids AU: 9th member

Tori x Stray Kids

A mishap during their second Kingdom performance causes some complications.

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Masterlist and other Follow Me links in bio!

“If someone comes at me with a giant magnet, it’s game over.” Tori chuckled.

Chan rolled his eyes. “You’re the one who said you wanted to be sparkly.”

“Yeah, sparkly. Not add ten pounds in jewelry.”

They were moments away from their second performance on Kingdom, and Tori was still trying to get used to her outfit. They had rehearsed in their outfits earlier, but Tori had had a bunch of jewelry added right before filming started. Now, in addition to her nose ring and multitudes of earrings, she also had a bunch of rings and a chain around her waist.

“You look pretty, Noona.” Jeongin offered.

“Thanks.” She shook her hands out, trying to get used to the weight on her hands. “Are we about ready?”

“Just a few more minutes.” Someone replied.

Tori bounced on her heels for a few more minutes, before taking her place for the start of Side Effects.

The performances for Kingdom were fun because they could move around and really interact with the camera. Without Hyunjin there, they were working harder to make sure that their choreographies would be good not only for the viewers, but for the professional panel of judges.

Side Effects started off without a hitch, and Tori moved into place for her first solo shot. They’d rehearsed this section of the choreography what felt like a hundred times, but when she dragged her hands up her stomach like she’d been practicing, she felt her hand snag on her new jewelry.

She didn’t let the panic show on her face. The next move required her to swipe a hand across her face in time with Felix, and it was a point move.

So without thinking, Tori ripped her hand free and continued with the dance. As she moved her hand across her face, she felt a warm liquid coat her skin. When the camera moved away for a moment, she looked down, but couldn’t make out anything beyond a dark stain spreading down her white sleeve.

She’d cut herself, she realized. She didn’t have time to check how badly, but from what she could see in the dim light, it wasn’t good. There was no pain, but she doubted she’d be able to feel any of it over her pounding heartbeat.

There would be time to deal with this later. Right now, she had a performance to finish.

As they struck their ending poses, Tori breathed heavily, forcing herself to appear composed for the camera. A light went off signaling the switch from the performance cameras to the show cameras, and they all stood up as the lights turned on.

“Tori.” Chan grabbed her elbow. “Are you alright?”

Adrenaline still pounding in her ears, Tori just shook her head. “We can deal with this when we’re back in the room.”

“You’re bleeding on the floor.” He hissed, worry clear in his voice. “Where did you cut yourself?”

He started to lead her off stage, following the others to their dressing room.

“My hand.” She whispered. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“It will.”

Tori let herself look down at her hand. Chan was keeping it elevated with his grip on her elbow, but it was a lot more gruesome than she’d thought. Her sleeve was stained bright red and sticking to her skin. Now that she focused on it, she could feel a twinge on the outside of her hand, but she couldn’t see the cut.

“Is it bad?” She asked quietly.

“We’ll just get a medic to look at it.” Chan reassured. “Jeongin, run ahead!”

Tori wanted to shout at the maknae to come back. There were still cameras on them and they had to walk right by the other groups’ rooms. Having him run by in a panic would only draw attention to the issue. She could already envision how this would look on TV, with her arm blurred out and the group in a panic.

The world tilted sideways.

“Minho!” Chan snapped, catching Tori against his side.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” She repeated as Minho looped his arm around her waist.

“You really don’t look fine.” Minho helped Chan walk her forward.

“I’m getting blood on you.” She mumbled.

“It’s fine, Tor.” Chan promised. “I think you’re in shock.”

“That seems likely.” She agreed. She didn’t feel ill, but there was a growing pain in her hand and the world seemed to be bit fuzzy around the edges.

“That was amazing guys!” San’s voice exclaimed as they moved by.

“Thanks, we gotta go.” Felix said quickly. Clearly all of the boys were aware of her injury, and anxious to get her into the dressing room where she could be looked after.

“Tori, that bit with the blood was so cool! You should – “ Seonghwa appeared in her line of vision, leaning out of doorway. “Woah, what’s wrong?”

“It wasn’t a blood bit, and we’ve got to go.” Chan shouldered past them, and together he and Minho lowered her onto a chair in the dressing room.

“That was rude.” Tori scolded.

“You were getting blood everywhere.” Minho kept his hand on her shoulder. “We didn’t really have time to chat.”

One of the medical staff appeared in front of them, and Tori turned her attention to the woman. A towel was spread out on the ground, and then she started pouring water on Tori’s hand to try and get a better look at the wound.

When it was finally visible, Tori thought she might be sick.

“That’s disgusting.” Changbin recoiled.

“How did you keep dancing?” Seungmin exclaimed.

“Adrenaline, I guess.” Tori turned her face away from the jagged cut on her hand. “How bad is it?”

“Stitches, for sure.” The staff member gave her a sympathetic smile. “We’ll wrap it up and take you to the hospital.”

Tori caught her reflection in the mirror. She had blood smeared across her forehead and down her cheek, and she looked a few shades paler than was normal. “I look like a murder victim.”

“Here.” Jisung perched himself on the dressing table counter, a wet wipe in hand. “I’ve got it.”

Tori tried not to wince as the staff member wrapped her hand, letting Jisung clean all of the blood off her face.

“Your clothes still look gruesome.” He noted.

“I wasn’t a fan of the all-white anyways.” Tori sighed, turning to Chan. “Are they going to have to tell everyone?”

“I think they already are. You’re going to be absent for the rest of filming today.” He smoothed back her hair, before grimacing. “You have blood in your hair.”

“Gross.” Tori sighed. “Did I at least look cool during the performance?”

“Apparently you looked like a badass. But now everyone is freaking out because they’re mopping your blood off of the floor.”

“I hope it doesn’t delay filming too much.” Tori’s eyes widened.

“It’ll be fine, Tor. Just worry about yourself.” Minho smiled.

“On the bright side, I think a certain someone is very worried about you.” Felix looked back from where he was leaning out the door.

“A certain someone?” Chan asked.

Tori flushed. “Shut up, Felix.”

“What’s he talking about?” Chan looked down at her.

“Nothing.” She shook her head quickly. “He just knows I hate being the center of attention.”

“You picked the wrong job then.” Jisung hauled her to her feet.

“Let’s get you to the hospital.” The medical staff, grabbed her elbow. She didn’t feel dizzy anymore, but she knew that they had to be careful.

“Have fun filming.” She waved weakly with her good hand, not even glancing at the ball of gauze that was her other hand.

“We won’t have too much fun, Noona.” Jeongin promised.

She gave them a weak smile, following the staff out of the room.

The hallway was mostly deserted, except for the door of Ateez’s dressing room. Seonghwa was standing there, arms crossed and arguing with their manager.

“Tori!” He exclaimed when he saw her. “Are you okay?”

She pointed at her bandaged hand. “Off to get stitches.”

“Seriously?” He gasped. “You cut yourself that badly?”

“Looks that way.” She nodded. “On my jewelry during the performance.”

“Well…” He shook his head, looking for the right words. “This is probably weird to say because you’re hurt, but it looked freaking awesome during the performance.”

“That’s something at least.” She smiled. “I need to go get my hand put back together, but I’ll talk to you later?”

“For sure.” He grinned. “I hope you guys win.”

“I hope you guys win too.” She teased.

#stray kids #stray kids au #stray kids imagines #stray kids 9th member #female kpop #female member kpop #female!kpop #requests open #au #kpop au #imagines #imagine #kpop #kpop imagines #kpop imagine #ateez #ateez au #kingdom

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djadins · 3 years

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aurora glow | thrawn x f!reader — part one

An alien ship lands on Earth after electrical failure. You have been surviving alone, the planet being struck by an EMP-like solar flare years prior. What happens when you meet the inhabitants of this ship on your travels?

warnings: violence, explicit language, canon divergence

rating: T

word count: 2.8k

a/n: Thrawn probably is and will be OOC during this series. also, as the story progresses i’m definitely bound to get things wrong and probably accidentally add something that’s actually from star trek (so apologies!) loosely inspired by the Voyager episode ‘Gravity’ and a book I recently finished!

You saw the crash before you heard the explosion.

It had been a long time since something had lit up the sky that wasn’t the moon, sun or auroras. You weren’t very far away from the crash site, you could tell. Although, admittedly, you were still bad at measuring distances. It was on your way southbound anyways - as it was fall, and winter and the first snow would be fast approaching.

You arms tightened around the smooth handle of your walking stick, one of your favorite found items. You preferred to think of them in this manner, rather than “looting” or “stealing”. Could they even be considered that if their owner was no longer there to use them? You didn’t think so, at least.

It took twenty minutes before you were close enough to see the smoke rising out of the giant space... ship. You felt a shudder rip through your body. You know exactly what you saw but it was still a concept you had to wrap your brain around. Believing for nearly your whole life that out there, somewhere, other life had to exist... and actually seeing it with your own eyes were two different things.

You instinctually began walking lower to the ground, closer to the shrubbery and trees, checking your hip for the well hidden, small 9mm you kept on you at all times. You knew you had few bullets left and would not use it unless you really needed to. There was a knife in the inside of your boot that you would try to use instead but only if the situation called for it.

You could make out many white, helmeted figures from here. At least, you assumed that was armor and not their actual bodies. There was also one, deep, calm voice alongside a fair amount of shouting that you couldn’t quite see. You walked in a semi circle, closer to the voices. There was a lot of brush, thankfully, that you could hide yourself in.

When you were close enough to see the event that was unfolding, you instinctively held your breath. There was the spaceship, in all her glory, smoking and partially buried in the ground. You were surprised there wasn’t more outward and obvious damage, but you weren’t sure of the full extent of the electrical failure or how far from the planet it had reach. Many of those white figures were scattered around, holding some sort of weapon in the direction of the action.

The shouting figures, which were now only a few feet from you, were holding weapons you recognized. Even with their backs fully or partially turned from you, you could tell that the three of them were human. Two men, who had their weapons pointed towards select armored white aliens, and one woman. She had a short-barreled shotgun that was pointed at the tallest of the aliens.

His crimson eyes caught your attention first and you released your breath at the sight of them. They were dark, reminding you of the Red Delicious apples you had stored in your pack. His vibrant blue skin contrasted harshly against his eyes and his pitch colored hair and uniform. His hair was short and slicked back but a few strands were hanging over his face. He seemed humanoid apart from his angular face, but even with that, if he wasn’t blue he might actually pass for human.

You realized the woman wasn’t shouting at him, but the uniformed men around him. Their weapons were pointed at the three humans but they were taking no action.

“We want all the food and supplies out of that ship, now!” she shouted. “If we don’t get it in five minutes, I’ll take big blue here down!”

You were close enough to see the jaw in the tall blue alien’s mouth tighten. He pinched his lips together tightly before responding in a cool, calm voice. “As I have already stated, my men will not respond to your demands. Neither will I, for that matter.”

The woman began shouting again. You bit your lip and wondered if you had gone mad for what you were considering doing. You didn’t even give yourself time to think if this was the smart move before you picked up the palm-sized rock that was on the ground beside you. There was a large, wooden warehouse on your right where one of the human men had been standing beside, weapon ready. You were about 30 feet away from it from your current position.

You wound your arm back and threw that rock with everything you had. It smashed through a wood panel, making a sharp cracking noise. All heads momentarily turned, except for the blue alien, who’s line of sight was now firmly focused in your direction. You had already taken off from the bushes, walking stick in hand, when you realized he was looking directly at you.

While everyone else’s attention was still focused on the dilapidated warehouse, you spun your walking stick behind your back and then quickly whipped it back in front of you, hitting the woman with the shotgun square in the head. Your walking stick shattered where it connected with her. She crashed into the ground with a bloodcurdling scream and you grabbed the shotgun she dropped. All eyes were now on you as you pointed it at her.

“Drop your weapons, you two,” you yelled, partially out of breath, eyes still focused on the woman on the ground. You poked her with the barrel of the gun. “Tell them,” you warned her.

She nodded her head and looked around at the two men. You heard the familiar crunch of grass as the two weapons were dropped, but your eyes were still focused on her. Then you heard the shrieks of the men and a sickening crunching sound that followed. Two of the white armored men now approached either side of you, weapons drawn. The blue alien was still silent, but he put his hand up towards his men. They lowered their weapons instantly.

He motioned for you to back up and you did just that. The two armored men flung their weapons behind their backs and went towards the woman on the ground. They restrained her before you finally drew your attention fully to the tall man in front of you. He had stepped closed to you now that you were hanging onto the shotgun with one loose hand, the barrel almost brushing against the grass.

He held a large, cerulean hand out to you. His eyes had seemed to lighten. “If I may,” he started, “it will take my men off edge.”

You nodded and passed the weapon over to him. He held it in both hands, studying it for a moment, before handing it to one of his men.

“Why did you betray your people?”

You looked from his hands back up to his eyes, your voice suddenly gone.

You bit your lip and looked around you, fully realizing the situation you had now put yourself in.

A handful of the armored men had restrained the three humans but the rest were looking at you and the alien. They still had their weapons drawn, and although they weren’t pointed in your direction, you knew that they easily could be.

“Th.. they weren’t my people,” you stammered, looking back into his vibrant eyes.

He tilted his head slightly. “Hmm.” He took his time, looking you up and down before doing the same to them. “They resemble you. Are you of a different race?”

“N.. no. I, uh,” you struggled on how to explain. You bit your lip again. “We are all humans, from this planet, yes. But I do not know them personally.”

Another hmm escaped his lips as you wondered how on this good earth you could even understand what he was saying to you. “I am still perplexed,” he admitted. “What would compel you to help me?”

You looked down at your feet after he asked you this. You honestly weren’t sure what surged through you in what had only happened moments earlier. You looked back up at him, directly in his eyes. “I’m not sure,” you answered honestly. “I have never seen an alien before and I didn’t want you to think we were all bad.”

His eyebrows scrunched together at your response, giving you what you could only describe as a quizzical look. It was as if he was trying to figure you out entirely by solely examining you. He took a step towards you.

“You have never met another who wasn’t from your own planet?”

You shook you head. “Before the blackout, it was a widely debated topic whether or not there was extraterrestrial life somewhere in space.”

He smiled at your response. “Well, I’m happy to inform you, there are many different life forms, spread across millions of light years.”

He watched your eyes light up at this statement. You couldn’t help but look up at the sky above you. You felt infinitesimally small in that moment.

“I am Thrawn, Captain of the Thunder Wasp.”

You looked back at him and gave your name.

“I am unsure of how your people greet one another, however it is a pleasure, nonetheless.”

You held you hand out towards him without thinking at his response. Some of his men tightened their grip on their weapons at your action and you flinched. He looked towards them and shook his head. He slowly mimicked your action, bringing his hand out but not quite touching you.

You grasped his hand, slow enough that he could pull back if he was uncomfortable. You looked in his eyes and smiled, slowly shaking his hand up and down. His hand was large, enveloping yours easily. He was incredibly warm to the touch. “Nice to meet you, Captain.”

He caught on to your action, bringing his hand up and down in a synchronous motion with you. When you both released your light grip, he smiled back at you. “Please, Thrawn is sufficient. I am not your commanding officer, but a visitor to your planet.”

After this interaction, Thrawn’s men separated, leaving the two of you to yourselves. There were still four guards with the other humans and only then did you bring your attention to them.

“Dirty bitch,” the woman spat at you and as soon as she did, one of the guards knocked her in the back of the head. A shudder ripped through your body after witnessing this.

Thrawn called out your name and you focused your attention back to him. “If I could borrow you a moment, I have some questions I would like to ask.”

You shook your head in affirmation. He turned on his heel, hands firmly clasped behind his back as he walked towards his ship. You left your walking stick on the ground as you followed behind him.

The ship was tilted sideways slightly, it’s nose buried in the ground while it’s backside was raised a little above. You approached the side of the ship, where two of his soldiers were standing in position beside a door.

At the Captain’s approach, they grasped what appeared to be suction cups on each individual door. The pulled and the door split open in the middle and Thrawn walked towards it, taking a large step up into the ship easily with his elongated legs. Upon realizing you would struggle a lot more to get in than he would, he bent down and reached a hand out towards you.

You didn’t hesitate as you put your hand into his and one foot on the floor of the ship. It was angled just above your waist and you could feel the stretch burn the back of your thigh. The sensation didn’t last long as Thrawn hoisted you into the ship, seemingly using little energy on his part. He dropped your hand as soon as you were steady and the doors were manually shut behind you.

The corridors were lit with dim red lights along the wall. Shadows bounced as you and Thrawn navigated through the ship. His skin looked almost iridescent in here.

You followed him through many different corridors until he paused in front of a door. He pulled a card out from somewhere in his uniform that he swiped against the panel next to the door and it slide open automatically. Same at the doors outside, just without someone manually pulling it apart.

You looked around as you followed behind him. You were in a large room that resembled an office and had another closed door leading to somewhere else along the wall. There were many different pieces of what you would describe as art scattered through the room along with a giant desk. It had two large, comfortable looking chairs settled on either side.

Thrawn pulled out the chair that had its back facing the door you had just entered, clearly made for whoever was visiting the owner of this desk, which you could only assume was the man in front of you himself. Once you had settled in the chair, which threatened to swallow you whole, Thrawn settled into the seat across from you.

He started by asking you what exactly you had meant by the ‘blackout’ you had mentioned earlier. You did your best to explain what little you knew of it, telling him that a few years prior the sun had sent out a solar flare strong enough to act as an EMP, effectively wiping out all electronics, everywhere, and sending humans back to the stone age. Thrawn listened to you intently, without interruptions as you did your best to work through what information you had gathered through the years. You ended your long explanation by telling him that approximately once every 30 days, another solar flare would hit the Earth for roughly 12 hours and restore most of the electronics during that time. You could tell it was approaching by the aurora that would brighten the sky the night before.

You both sat silently as Thrawn chewed through the information you had just given him. Finally, he simply said, “That explains some things.”

You waited patiently for his next question while he formulated it. You had trouble keeping your eyes off of him, but didn’t want to come off as rude, so you looked around the room every once in a while.

Thrawn called out your name softly while you were staring at a painting situated over his left shoulder. If it wasn’t eerily silent on the ship, you might not have heard it. You looked over at him. He was examining you as if you were that painting hung on the wall. Finally, after a minute that seemed like an hour, he asked what your plans were.

“Well, winter is fast approaching. I aim to keep heading south where it will be warm during the season.” You looked down at your feet. “I have found it best to keep migrating through the years. Staying in one place invites danger,” you practically whispered.

“Are you all alone?”

You held back the emotional outburst that threatened to rip through you at that question. You shook your head in confirmation.

“How long?”

You swallowed hard. “7, maybe 8 seasons.”

You could feel Thrawn’s pity even if you weren’t looking at him, even though if you had looked at him you would have only outwardly seen stoicism.

“When do you expect the next flare to hit?” he asked you after a few silent moments.

You looked up at him for the first time in a while. His red eyes were soft, the color nearly washed out compared to the first time you saw him. He had folded his hands on top of his desk and was hunched over — or what a military man like him probably considered hunched over. His back was still pretty stick straight.

You pondered his question. “If I had to guess, 10... maybe 12 days. I don’t keep track very well anymore and sometimes it doesn’t follow an exact pattern. But it always happens, eventually.”

Thrawn nodded. “Would you be willing to stay with us while we repair the ship?”

Your mouth fell open. Sensing your confusion he added, “You are the only one who knows this planet, we could use your expertise.”

You bit your lip so hard you tasted metal.

Thrawn continued, voice near a whisper. “I will take you off this dying planet in return.”

His transition from ‘us’ to ‘I’ didn’t go unnoticed by you. You still sat there, silently processing his question.

You took a sharp breath in and let it out shakily. Tears prickled at your eyes.

How could you leave the only home you had ever known, if Thrawn and his men could even get their ship working again in the first place?

How could you survive out there, in space? A place you didn’t know... none of your people really knew, where you didn’t belong.

Where would you go? What would you do?

But you had no one and nothing left here.

You gave him your answer and you could have swore you saw the corners of his mouth twitch upwards in response.

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bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture · 3 years

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Team Midoriya versus Team Todoroki! Who will win? (spoilers, that gets determined next chapter.)

I skimmed over the chapter, and the character sheet actually had me cackling. Can’t wait to get to it!

[No. 29 - Unaware]

We come back into the middle of the battle, with Kendo pointedly telling Monoma to not add insult to injury, and that there’s no sense in making enemies. Monoma agrees, saying it’s not very hero-like, plus you hear a lot about begrudged heroes getting payback from villains. Which, naturally, is him still doing his best to rile up Katsuki, which is working.

Katsuki is shaking from barely-repressed rage while Kirishima tries to talk him down. He warns that if Katsuki doesn’t keep his cool, the team won’t be able to get their points back. Katsuki slams a fist into his other palm, setting off an explosion, and then he tells Kirishima in his most furious voice to keep moving, because Katsuki is as cool as ice.

Yeah, totally cool as ice. Honestly, I still wonder how Monoma survived his introduction into the series.

We get a nice cover spread for the chapter, featuring all the staring character of the chapter (from 1a anyways).

Not gonna lie, the horse really, really confuses me. I guess it’s a reference to the fact that this is a cavalry battle, and so the team has a ‘rider’ and ‘horses’? It’s still kind of weird and a bit creepy looking, since I don’t think the horse has pupils or irises or anything. Ghost horse.

Anyways, we move on with the chapter, returning narrative attention to Izuku and the two teams targeting him. Tsuyu comments to Mineta on how teaming up with him had seemed like a good strategy, so how’d he lose his headband? Mineta says he doesn’t know, but now they have nothing to lose. He dramatically points at the other two teams, saying that their own team is out if they can’t steal the other teams’ points. Shouji himself swaps into an attack mode, abandoning the cover in order to have all his arms free to attack.

Meanwhile, Izuku and Shouto are having a dramatic staredown - and it’s not even the last one of this arc! Tokoyami comments on how this likely won’t end without a fight, and how the other teams are really gunning for them. Izuku replies that they’re halfway through, so they have to keep moving, but there are… well, there are multiple teams incoming.

At the same time as he’s noting that, Shouto tells Tenya to move forward, Yaomomo to prepare the defense and the insulator, and Kaminari to- well, Kaminari cuts in to say he’ll stay alert. We also see that team Todoroki all have roller blades on their feet, which have likely been helping with the mobility, especially with tenya basically making them speed on wheels.

(Ka-chow.)

The insulator gets pulled out just in time, providing Shouto with a barrier against Kaminari’s Indiscriminate Shock that gets teams Minetas, Kendo, Rin, and Hagakure. Team Midoriya is just able to avoid being shocked because of Dark Shadow, but the poor quirk does not like it in the least and it’s obvious.

Dark Shadow doesn’t deserve this. He’s a good birb. :(

We get a few more closeups of the teams being zapped, and then a scene of Shouto holding a long rods in his right hand, dragging it along the ground. Said rod is made from his ice, and allows him to send his quirk outwards and trap the unfortunate teams in place. While he’s doing this, he apologizes and tells someone to hang in there - probably Kaminari? Who to be fair does seem to have managed to restrain himself enough to not make himself brain-dead despite the immense power he just put out.

Up in the announcement booth, Aizawa gives a quick play-by-play of what just happened: Shouto waited until the other teams were stopped by Kaminari’s attack before freezing them in place. He wouldn’t expect any less, especially if Shouto recalled how many competitors managed to dodge his ice during the obstacle course. Present Mic complements said play by play, and we transition right back into the action.

To add insult to injury, Shouto does take the headbands off of Rin and Kendo. For Team Midoriya, even if they avoided most of the electricity and the ice, enough got through that the jetpack is on the fritz, meaning no more escaping into the air. Ochako worries that the other team is too strong and that they’ll never get away. Tokoysami says he’ll create a diversion, sending out Dark Shadow ahead of them in a threat to attack.

However, Shouto was one step ahead, with Momo pulling out her premade defense to block the attack. Tokoyami is annoyed, Momo is pleased, and… she just lets it drop the ground. Uh, Dark Shadow probably come have come in swinging for another attack there, you know. Just saying? Izuku calls her creation quirk a pain, but Tokoyami corrects him - Kaminari is the real problem. His sunlight(?) attack would have wrecked his defenses.

[I’m guessing here that it was a flubbed translation, and was meant to translate to a lightning attack.]

In order to clarify this statement Tokoyami made, we get a brief flashback to before the match started. Izuku is informing Tokoyami that he just needs to focus on defending, and that there’s no need for him to attack. Tokoyami considers the plan interesting, and lets Izuku know of Dark Shadow’s dual nature. The darker it is, the more ferocious Dark Shadow’s attacks - but also the harder it is to control. In daylight, Dark Shadow is easier to manage, but not much help in a fight. It’s not like Izuku knew, but choosing Tokoyami and his quirk for pure defense is not a bad choice at all.

We transition back to the present as the flashback concludes with Tokoyami telling Izuku to use him as best he can, and that he trusts Izuku. Izuku acknowledges Kaminari’s electricity as an issue, while Tokoyami tacks on that as long as Kaminari keeps it up, he doesn’t have a shot at doing anything. Dark Shadow, meanwhile, is sniffling and crying, asking why they can’t all just get along. Tokoyami calls his quirk fickle.

God, I love these two dorks.

Izuku acknowledges that Dark Shadow has less offensive power now - but the other teams don’t know that, right? Tokoyami says that’s probably the case - the only one he told about his weakness was Koda, back at the USJ, and he doesn’t talk much.

[Another translation flub here, wherein they call Kouda ‘Kuchida’ instead. Probably an alternative reading of the kanji in his name? That’s all I can really think of… or maybe the site I’m pulling from, despite posting the official translations on current manga chapters, might have been a bit less discriminating in the beginning. Hard to say for sure.]

Anywho, we get a brief panel shot of Shouto wearing a few of the other teams’ headbands around his neck, with an interesting little flare at his left shoulder, as if drawing attention to it. We shift back to Izuku, who determines that as long as the other teams don’t know, they can fake them out. They’ll be fine, and the ten million points will stay with them.

We shift back to Katsuki and Monoma’s teams, with Katsuki taking an explosion to the face. Monoma calls it neat, and complements Katsuki’s quirk as he shakes off the last of the explosion. Katsuki realizes it’s his quirk, as well as Kirishima, who hardened to take the blow. Katsuki throws his own explosion right back at Monoma, who blocks it with Kirishima’s hardening, stating that he’s better at it (which I guess refers to using the quirk.)

Kirishima is shjook, no doubt by what seems like another person with the same quirk as him. Katsuki corrects him - Monoma is just a copycat. Monoma acknowledges Katsuki getting it right, then undermines the ‘complement’ by saying any idiot could figure out that much. We then get a blurb on how his quirk, Copy, works: after touching someone, Monoma can use their quirk as much as he wants for five minutes. However, he can’t use more than one at a time!

As if team Bakugou wasn’t having enough issues, the massive guy with the oddly-shaped head from before swoops in and shoots out a massive amount of what turns out to be glue, surprising both teams. Bondo and his rider rush up, while Kaibara tells Monoma he can get away now - with that many points, he’ll be in the top four for sure.

Kirishima struggles to get his leg out of the glue, since it’s already hardened. Mina tells him to hold up, and that her quirk will be able to melt it away. Sero tells her to hurry up, since they’re at zero points, while team Kodai and team Monoma rush off in the other direction. Of course, Monoma can’t leave well enough alone, and turns around again to give a mocking goodbye by flashing Katsuki’s quirk again. As he does so, he tells Katsuki to not be mad, since it brought it on himself, after all. And hey, what was that pledge he made earlier? Sees kind of embarrassing now… well, whatever, thanks for the points!

Seriously, how did Monoma not actually die? At this point, he’s honestly earned a death by murderous mobs. Katsuki states that he’s taking first place - but not just first place, no, it’s gonna be the first to end all firsts!

...and with that, we’re closing out this half-ish of the chapter. Monoma really just drains me to have to read / analyse. See y’all tomorrow with the rest of the chapter + the character sheet.

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natalyelle · 2 years

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Secrets of Hyperion

Rika Ryder finds out about her father's secret note and starts to investigate it, 2.5k words

Also on AO3

Despite the fact that Alec Ryder was a public figure, he had a lot of secrets. He hid them from everyone - from the command, from colleagues, from like-minded people, from their own family… He may not have been the best father, but he knew how to keep secrets masterfully - he even dragged them to another galaxy!

Of course, they found out that he was working on creating AI, this secret cost him his career. But it was thanks to AI that he was where he was. And to live long enough for this, his ability to once again not open his mouth helped him. As well as multi-stage encryption of all records.

"Rika," a voice sounded in her head, "Another entry from your father's personal diary has been deciphered."

"How many records did he have?" The girl was surprised. "And why bother so much with this encryption? We are in Andromeda, millions of kilometers from home, everyone is like-minded here."

Rika headed for the monorail that connected the premises of the huge Nexus station and the Hyperion ark ship docked to it. Since Alec sacrificed his life for his daughter, she has taken his post as a Pioneer of people. In addition to fun activities, including exploring alien ruins, this position also provided for more boring activities, such as meetings in the office of the director of the Initiative. They were boring to the point of insanity, but Rika liked the Nexus. It was unfinished, but she always watched with delight as it grew more and more in size, and where there were wires yesterday, a blooming park was already spread out today. And what awaits them tomorrow?..

Rika went into the Pioneer's cabin-now her cabin-and turned on the computer panel. Her father's calm voice came softly from the speakers:

“Well, it looks like I'm up to my ears in all this... the Benefactor is very generous, but very eccentric. For the benefit of the whole business, he asked to do him one favor. And it is secretly bringing a passenger with us. I don't understand why he needs it, but he insists. Even threatens to cancel everything if I refuse… Well... I have the opportunity to take the “hare” to the cryo. And this flight means a lot to me… And now on board of Hyperion, in compartment #1404, Galina Leonova is sleeping in a wonderful frosty dream. I have no instructions about her awakening. Therefore, for the sake of everyone and my own good, I will keep this lady in cryosleep for now. No matter how famous she is, we don't need problems at least at the initial stage of unfolding in Andromeda. I don't need any problems. And her methods will only add problems for us… So only I can wake her up from her sleep. I don't know if I should tell Jien… Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see.”

The message stopped. Rika stared in disbelief at the computer screen, which now displayed a picture of Kadara.

“SAM?” she called.

“Yes, Pathfinder?” the voice of artificial intelligence immediately responded.

“So we have an unregistered passenger on board, right?”

“It looks like that.”

“Do you have an access code that can open her cryocapsule?”

“Yes.”

“Then go ahead!” Without knowing why, Rika was inspired.

“Are you sure this passenger definitely needs to be awakened?” SAM asked cautiously.

“Do you know who's there?” Rika asked cheerfully. “If you're so worried? Galina Leonova... does it ring a bell to you?”

“No, there is no data about Galina Leonova or about any extraneous passengers of Hyperion.”

“It's probably a pseudonym. I wonder who is hiding behind it? Maybe some big shot from the Council? Or maybe my father had a mistress?..”

”As far as I know, Alec Ryder was loyal…”

“I know, I know, I was joking. He didn't have time for mistresses.”

The cryotech was quite lively. Someone was awakened, someone asked to return to the capsule… Rika made her way to the back of the room, where was a huge number of capsules. It was cool, but Rika didn't feel cold because of curiosity and excitement.

“Here is capsule #1404, Pathfinder." SAM's voice rang in her head as a special mechanism rolled it up to the first level.

Rika ran her hand over the frosted glass.

She saw the calm face of a blonde woman, which was covered with small scars. Rika frowned slightly:

“SAM, I'm not sure... I don't recognize this woman...”

“I do," AI immediately responded. “This is the first person to whom the Council granted the title of Spectre.”

“Commander Shepard?” Rika exclaimed in amazement. “But... how?" Are you sure?”

“Yes, a scan is required to obtain more detailed information.”

Rika turned on her omni-tooln, and a soft orange beam ran up and down the cryocapsule.

“This is indeed Commander Gloria Shepard,” SAM confirmed.

“But how... they said that she died when an unidentified ship, presumably the Geths, attacked her ship Normandy. How did she manage to survive?”

“I don't have enough information for an exact answer. However, the scan showed that Commander's body was reinforced with cybernetic implants. Perhaps someone managed to save her in time and save her life. At the moment, all vital signs are normal.”

Rika staring at Gloria Shepard's face mesmerized. Yes, now she recognizes her. The Savior of the Citadel! The first human Spectre! Not a woman, but a legend.

“We definitely have to wake her up,” Rika said decisively.

“Are you sure?” AI's voice sounded a little worried, as it seemed to her.

“Yes. She can help us. I believe that.”

***

“And why did you call us at such a late hour?” Dr. Asari Lexi T'Perro asked wearily.

“Apparently, this is something very important,” the turian Vetra Nyx remarked. “Otherwise, why do you need just the two of us?”

“I'll tell you everything on the spot,” Rika said.

Three girls were standing in a dark hall near the monorail on the Nexus. It was night in this part of the station now, so there were practically no people around. Rika, Lexi and Vetra got into a small cabin and went to Hyperion's cryotech.

The cryotech was empty. The night was announced here too, so all the staff went to rest. This was to the advantage of Rika and her comrades. They went to capsule #1404.

“I need to secretly awaken the passenger from this capsule,” Rika pointed to the frosted glass.

“Why secretly?” Lexi frowned.

“Because of the reasons,” Rika wiped the glass. The legendary Commander's face appeared again.

“Is she who I think she is?” Vetra asked.

“Maybe,” Rika grinned. “Depends on who you're thinking about.”

“Commander Shepard,” Lexi answered for Vetra. Doctor frowned. “I heard she was dead.”

“Yes, we all heard that," Rika nodded. “But apparently, someone managed to save her.”

“And to conduct on Hyperion secretly,” added Vetra.

“Exactly,” Rika agreed. “ And now we need to secretly awaken her and also secretly take her to the Tempest.”

“But why such mystery?” Lexi exclaimed. “If the heroine of the Citadel is openly present with us, it can raise the morale of the settlers.”

“It can both raise and undermine their morale,” Vetra objected. “After all, everyone thinks Shepard is dead, there has never been a word about her participation in the Initiative. People may suspect something is wrong. In addition, our hope here is primarily the Pathfinders, and people who know Shepard can choose her as a leader. And knowing her reputation, she has enough charisma for that. And her motives are unknown to us.”

Lexi turned to the Pathfinder.

“How did you find out about her?”

“Completely by accident!” Rika gave herself the most innocent look she could. “And since we found her here, I think she should be given a chance. She is a good warrior and will be able to help us in the fight against the Archon. She won Saren after all.”

“But how did she end up here?” Lexi couldn't come to terms with the unknown.

“Let's wake her up and find out,” Rika shrugged.

Lexi pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. It was useless to argue with Ryder.

“Okay. We are preparing the equipment.”

“But once again, this should remain a secret for now,” Rika said.

“That's why I'm here,” Vetra said cheerfully.

“Exactly!”

The girls used automatic machines to move the capsule to the medical table in the far niche of the cryotech. Lexi connected the capsule to the equipment and began to conjure. The ice was gradually thawing, the lights on the panels were blinking merrily green. Rika stared at the capsule intently. She had only seen Gloria Shepard on an extranet video a few times, and she aroused some admiration and respect. It will be a great honor to meet her live.

“Have you come up with an introductory speech yet?” Vetra asked.

“Hmm, I think welcome to Andromeda, is not the best option, huh?”

A Turian semblance of a smile appeared on Vetra's face.

“Attentuon, please,” Lexi announced, fingering the keys on the panel. Rika and Vetra shifted all their attention to the lid of the capsule.

Something hissed around, steam poured from the capsule door. The transparent door of the cryocapsule slowly opened. The girls stared at the woman inside.

Gloria Shepard slowly opened her eyes. She ran her hand over her face, wincing at the cold and humidity. What's happening? Where is she? It was dim around, something was squeaking nearby. Gloria sat up and tried to get up.

“Be careful!” she heard a low voice. “There is no need for unnecessary movements, you have not yet fully recovered from cryostasis.”

“Cryo...stasis?” Shepard said slowly and frowned.

She ran her hand over her face again and looked around. Her gaze cleared and she saw three figures near her - a human, an asari and a turian. None of them were familiar to her.

“Where am I?” Shepard slowly began to rise, but immediately jumped up abruptly “What happened with Joker? What about Normandy?”

“You shouldn't make any sudden movements,” Lexi said, gently holding Shepard back. “Six hundred years of sleep did not do any good.”

“What?” Shepard, frowning slightly, stared at the asari.

“It's an honor to meet you personally, Commander Shepard,” Rika said. “My name is Rika Ryder, I am a Pathfinder with the Andromeda Initiative. You are on the Hyperion ark ship.”

“Hyperion?” Shepard repeated. “Open thine eyes eterne, and sphere them round

Upon all space: space starr'd, and lorn of light;

Space region'd with life-air; and barren void;

Spaces of fire, and all the yawn of hell.”

“Is that... Keats?” said Rika, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

“Yes... Hyperion...” Gloria said softly. She began to slowly get out of the capsule. Lexi and Vetra held her by the elbows and helped her to move to a small couch next to her.

“I don't understand,” Shepard repeated again.

“Don't worry,” Lexi said, examining Gloria carefully. “I'm a doctor. Please tell us what is the last thing you remember?”

“The Normandy has been attacked,” Shepard gasped. “We tried to evacuate. Joker... my pilot, didn't want to abandon the ship, I barely shoved him into the escape capsule… But the explosion threw me into space, the armor was damaged and... and that's it. Darkness.”

Shepard paused. Lexi and Vetra exchanged worried glances.

“Although... no,” Gloria said. “I think I saw some woman, dark-haired, with a kind and gentle smile. She leaned over to me and said that everything would be fine.… Perhaps it was just a hallucination. But... wait, you say six hundred years... the ark.... Where am I?”

“Apparently,” Rika began cautiously, “you were put into cryostasis and sent with us as part of the Andromeda Initiative. Our journey took about six hundred years, we are millions of kilometers from the Milky Way.”

“It can't be happening,” Shepard said as she stood up carefully.

“It can,” Rika nodded. “Perhaps you'd better see everything yourself .”

She took Gloria by the arm, and the girls slowly walked together into the hall of the cryotech. There was a large viewing window above the entrance, through which one could see a variety of colorful stars and nebulae, as well as the Scourge glittering with an ominous copper-gold light.

Shepard stared at the cosmic landscape in amazement. Not a single familiar star. Gloria was born and spent most of her life on spaceships, she and her family traveled from one star system to another, so she knew the space maps by heart and could determine the location of stars and planets at a glance. But the starscape here was completely unfamiliar. It was a little scary. As well as an incomprehensible sparkling substance.

“What's it?” Shepard pointed at it.

“It's a long story,” Rika sighed and smiled. “And you seem to be a part of it now, too.”

“Now you need to rest,” said Vetra who just came up. “And the best place to rest for a seasoned spacer is, of course, a ship!”

***

The Tempest was a small ship. She was currently docked to the Nexus, until Ryder decided it was time to go to other distant stars to search for worlds suitable for life.

Gloria Shepard sat on the bed in Rika's cabin with a mug of hot coffee in her hands and stared intently at the variety of stars behind the huge observation window. The unknown got on her nerves a little. All her life she moved among the stars and planets that she knew like the back of her hand. And now?..

She didn't know what now. Her whole life remained in the Milky Way. Her family, her career, her friends, her love... it was all six hundred years away. Few people live for such a long period of time. If a life-prolonging remedy hadn't been invented, then maybe everyone she knew was dead now. Perhaps not everyone, the asari live for a thousand years, which means that somewhere out there Liara, alone, is mourning her death, or maybe she has already recovered from her death, six hundred years is a long time. Perhaps there is some chance of seeing her again. Maybe, if only...

“How are you?” Rika asked softly, coming into the cabin and sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Weird,: Gloria replied and shook her head. “I can't believe what happened…”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“Are there any news from... home?” Gloria asked after a pause. “Is everything all right there?”

“I don't know,” Rika answered honestly. “We tried to contact the Milky Way, but no one responds to our signals, as if everyone there has died out.”

Gloria frowned and closed her eyes.

“It's quite possible,” she whispered.

“How's that?” Rika was surprised. Of course, nothing kept her in the Milky Way, and most of her old acquaintances, except perhaps asari, were dead because too much time had passed, but still... “ Maybe times and epochs have just changed there, the language has changed...”

“Perhaps,” Shepard said in a colorless voice. “But that's only if our Galaxy survived the Reaper attack.”

“The Reapers? But isn't this an old Prothean myth about synthetics that destroy entire civilizations?”

“I wish it was a myth. But, alas, it's true… And if their invasion has not been successfully repelled, then I'm afraid we will never hear voices from home.”

“I don't understand,” Rika whispered.

“It's a long story,” Gloria smiled sadly.

#mass effect andromeda #mass effect andromeda fan fiction #custom ryder #sisRyder #fanfic #my writing #finally I could edit it

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themightyaliendwarf · 3 years

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TPN s02e08

Maaan, what an rollercoaster! We literally go from amazing to fine to incredible. Which kinda makes me angry because this is how this season SHOULD look like. Okay, fine, let’s skip Goldy Pond, but let’s make it equally amazing as this. Just in an anime original way. And this episode proves they COULD do it. It’s a pity that it took them over a half of the season to reach this point. But let’s start from the beginning.

1. So, Peter Ratri is voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya. I was joking with my friend that it might be the reason why the quality of the animation isn’t always the best - because he took a half of the budget. Anyway, I think he is doing a good job with voicing this character right now, but I will wait with the final judgement for the Peter’s meltdown scene.

2. Just a fun fact I read in the manga: apparently when Isabella tells Norman that he is going to a new home, Shirai used the kanji that can also mean ‘cage’.

3. Another thing I loved: they showed how Norman found about Vincent. It’s shown in the extra pages for one of the volumes (I don’t remember in which one right now).

4. Again, I like that the first 7-8 minutes were fully focused on Lambda. I think that this is something that anime-only people really needed (without the context, it’s difficult understand how MUCH those guys hate the demons and why). And for manga readers it was cool to see it in colour. But on the other hand, I’m kinda disappointed that they just showed us the images of the experiments. I think adding movement and sound would make those scenes absolutely terrifying. But hey, at least they showed it!

5. So, we found out a little bit about the escape, buuuut it was nearly as much as I was hoping for. Based on the panels in the manga, we could have already guessed that they used some kind of explosives. I guess we still need to wait for another special chapter/light novel.

6. Annnd after the amazing lambda part we jump to the search... Now, do you know why this whole thing was more engaging in the manga?

Because we got her. I don’t think it will be controversial if I say that the search for Mujika was really boring. Just a bunch of pictures and building up suspense by showing us that CGI demon. Speaking of that demon!

7. You know what pains a lot in this episode? SO MANY reused animations. I mean, the test solving animation, the demon, the chase, later the demons degenerating and demons eating other demons... look, I know they want to save money, but there are some limits!

8. Apparently Ray, a guy who has been living in the wilderness for months, needs a watch to tell that sun is setting. Just a minor nitpick that I had to point out.

9. Okay, I think we can official crown Norman as our new edge lord. I mean that monologue on the top of the rock... I know that words are from the manga, but when it’s shown like that, it looks more silly than serious. Also, the quote ‘I will gladly become a God or a devil’, doesn’t make THAT much sense here, because we didn’t get this scene:

To me it felt like unnecessary fan service towards manga readers, but I’m happy for you if you liked this scene. Norman is allowed to become our tiny edge lord.

10. You know what made me angry? Don and Ray shooting the demon, but Emma and Gilda not. Yes, Emma does it a second later, but it became a trend to give her badass scenes to boys. The next scene, however, made me furious.

11. Ray shoots the demon and then he and Emma share a sigh of relief. But then it turns out that the wild demon is still alive and it’s going to eat Emma. Wait a minute... I have seen it somewhere... OH, RIGHT!

Of course, there are situations where Emma is the one who is being saved. The problem is that in the anime she is always being saved by someone - never the other way around. I’m happy that Ray is given stuff to do, but why is it that he is given Emma’s stuff. Come on!

12. Also, how did they know that it was Norman who caused the explosion? How far did they actually went? Are you going to tell me that they were in practically the same location for months and nobody found them? Again, those are nitpicks, but they bother me a lot!

13. Also, apparently the drug is now spread through the air, and Norman’s whole gang is made out of edge lords who need to stand dramatically on the chimneys. I can imagine that during planning they had a conversation similar to: - Boss, do you know what ever genocide needs? - What? - Dramatic JoJo posing over the burning villages. - Good, good... write that down!

14. Okay, enough ranting, let’s move to the incredible stuff. First of all, the music in those last scenes really reminded me of the Witcher Soundtrack and I LOVE the Witcher soundtrack. So epic!

15. I actually stopped taking notes at this point, because I was so immersed in everything that was happening on the screen. The music, the tone, the colours, the expressions - THIS! This is what this anime should be from the very beginning. Making us care about the demons, and showing that they are also the victims of this system. The actual dread and thriller, the moral issues, engaging plot lines.

16. The scene with the old demon and Norman? Good anime original content? How is it possible? When the old demon asks Norman whether he is a human and he doesn’t answer - because at this point he himself isn’t sure. Yes, give me more of that!

17. Norman being terrified after seeing blood on his hands? That’s a good change from the manga Norman, because it makes narrative sense. Really, CloverWorks, how can you make such an amazing scene after those 6 mediocre and one good episode?

Anyway, it’s difficult for me to add anything right now because I don’t feel like I have enough words to describe how much I loved that last scene. Does it mean I have forgiven this season its previous sins? No, but I’m a happier person right now, and I’m REALLY looking forward into the next episode.

#tpn #the promised neverland #tpn s2 ep8 #anime #season 2 #tpn manga spoilers #tpn anime spoilers

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atqh16 · 3 years

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To Bury Your Dread With You

A Batman & Robin fic. (Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson

TW for Claustrophobia

Summary: Dick tries not to panic. Bruce had been incredibly clear about how it was all just a simulation. Nothing real. Nothing actually being shoveled on to his coffin. In fact he wasn't even in a coffin. Because coffins had spongy lining that made lying down in a comfortable pastime as opposed to the hard wooden panel he's lying against. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real

AO3

Dedicated to that one Anon who asked for a DD+Dick Grayson fic. For which I have yet to deliver. This is not what you asked for but i hope it’s enjoyable for now. I am definitely gonna write the DD+Dick Grayson but not at the moment

It was supposed to be a drill. A rehearsal in a way since neither of them could well afford for the real thing. Especially, since it's always important to note that Bats never got to go through drills himself. He relieved his mistakes straight on, consequences and all which usually came in bloody capes and armor piercing bullet holes. Sometimes Robin wonders if Bruce stays up late just thinking of other contingencies he has to yet prepare his protégé for. Not that he's ungrateful for it of course. After all it's always better to learn how to relieve dangerous experiences in a controlled and safe environment as opposed to when he's running for his life. He appreciates it really. Though he does sometimes feel certain menial preparations are uncalled for. Or at least that seems to be Alfred's opinion of them, menial or otherwise. Which is probably why Bruce doesn't inform him about half of the more dangerous ones. But it's Alfred so Dicks betting his money on the fact that the guy already knows.

Though as Dick listens to the sound of dirt falling with hard thuds on his coffin, he can't help but wonder if the ever faithful butler knows about their current effort.

Dick tries not to panic. Bruce had been incredibly clear about how it was all just a simulation. Nothing real. Nothing actually being shoveled on to his coffin. In fact he wasn't even in a coffin. Because coffins had spongy lining that made lying down in a comfortable pastime as opposed to the hard wooden panel he's lying against.

The pressure pushing against the creaking box is also fictitious he knows. But as he's lying prone within the confines of the casket, mulling over the thought doesn't do much against his strained nerves.

"It will all be a simulation", Bruce assured him for the umpteenth time since it had been proposed. But there's a glint of doubt in his eyes that prods a painful thrum in his own chest.

Robin had wanted this though. Begged for it in fact.

"It's necessary. Better you than the joker" , he had insisted. Actually being on his knees would have done little to refine his plead.

At the clear refusal in his mentor's eyes, the young boy adds "Make it a simulation then. Like you did with the fear gas. Just so I know how it feels. Please B."

It had taken a bit more needling but Bruce finally relented. Dick remembers the gleam of pride he'd shown at how dedicated the young acrobat was to their cause and it had made him feel so alive.

He tries to remember and grasp that feeling as he enters the 10th minute of being stuck in this stupid pressurized wooden box.

In his defense it works for another 20 minutes before the drop of oxygen reaches a significant enough level that breathing becomes a chore.

"Don't panic", he thinks which is of course a bad idea because that only opens up the actual possibility of him panicking. So he tries to push his thoughts in a different direction. Tries to fight the accumulative feeling of claustrophobia by imagining himself flying through the air in one of his routines. But that only serves to remind him of his mother which wouldn't be a bad thing if it wasn't acquainted so closely to a sharp feeling of dread. It had barely been half a year after all since they fell. Since he hadn't managed to catch them.

"Ok, stop!" he admonishes himself again for the intrusive thought, trying to instead remember more pleasant memories.

"We're not meant to sit still Dickie", His mother's words wash over him with a soothing sense of relief. Like a cooling balm spread over a wound. "We're meant to fly. We're meant for the skies". But still, the reminiscence hits him with a hint of sadness. Like tendrils wrapping itself around his heart and giving it a painful squeeze and suddenly he wants to cry. He's wants to scream. He wants out. He feels drowned in a way that has nothing to do with the four tight walls that hold him.

He grits his teeth against the prickling, invasive desire and instead starts to sing.

He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease

A daring young man on the flying Trapeze

His movements were graceful, all girls he could please

And my love he purloined away

He repeats the chorus over and over until the hour finally ends, feeling the pressure release before the box opens. Oxygen rushes into his tiny space and his mouth hangs open to swallow the air greedily but he doesn't move.

"Dick?"

Strong hands burrow under his shoulder and lift him out and almost reflexively he curls up in his guardian's arms that in turn hold him close.

"Hey...shhhhh... it's ok. It's ok. I'm here. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have agreed to this", Bruce's voice is thick like he's speaking through gritted teeth. The rise of his chest uneven as if he's holding back sobs. On a normal day Dick would've leaped at the chance to comfort and assuage the much older man but at that particular moment there's a heaviness in his limbs that refuses to fade and instead he clings ever closer to the fabric of his guardian's shirt.

A part of Dick wants to concur. Wants to protest that he's too young for this. Too young to be pushing himself so hard. Too young to be feeling this desperate need to improve and be better. To rise above and beyond what is required of a boy his age.

But a bitter voice in his head snaps back that he'd been too young to lose his parents too and he recoils.

"No. No it's ok Bruce. I needed this. It's ok. I needed this. Thank you"

He attempts to assure the vigilante but it only succeeds in the man pulling him ever closer to his chest.

"No chum. No it's not. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You're still hurting and I didn't notice. I didn't see it. I'm so sorry chum"

"I did it though. I did good didn't I?"

He gets a warm, lingering peck on his forehead for his trouble.

"You did great chum. Better than I expected. You always do"

The praise envelopes him like a temperate sun on a sunny day of spring and he feels the tightness in his chest loosen as he lets out a breath he hadn't realized he'd held. The taut, rigid spring of his muscles uncoil. He opens his eyes and raises them to meet his mentor's and he sees in them the same thing he saw the first time they'd met.

Understanding. Comprehension. Not only of the pain he felt but the overwhelming desire to fight tooth and nail against the numbness that threatened to drag him screaming into nothing. It fills him with a burning gratitude and he can't help but think that maybe, it's enough for now. Dick is still in pieces. It's been months and he still feels fragmented. As if parts of him had been scattered across the floor of that circus the same way his parents had and he still hasn't managed to gather himself up. He wishes he wasn't so desperate to feel complete and collected again. But he is and he can't help but hope that maybe one day he won't be so broken. Though as he relaxes in Bruce's arms, he concludes that until then, maybe they'll help each other feel whole. Maybe that's all he can do for now. Maybe that's all either of them can do and maybe -for the time being- it'll be enough to get him through the day.

#dick grayson #bruce wayne #batman and robin #batman #angst #fanfiction #mine #My writing #hurt/comfort #batdr #claustrophobia

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blackberry-gingham · 3 years

Note

okay but like, a drabble where you’re friends with ringo and of course the other beatles, except paul (bc all honestly i’m a major simp for him) and you two could just never seem to get along, but since you’re friends with the rest you suffer through it... and overtime you both realize your feelings for each other and are scared to admit it... i dunno, it’s a cheesy idea but i love it 😅

Absolutely yes, this is such a fun idea!! And let's be honest, "cheesy concepts" are actually just fanfic classics, bc I mean... cringe culture is DEAD 💅🏻

Lol, anyway this is kinda way more then a drabble bc I have no self control ig, so I hope that's ok djdjdj, but enjoy! It's kinda sweet at the end, ngl 🥺

---

The lights of the recording studio hum above while the gentle musk of old wood paneling and carpet surrounds you.

Today, you're spending time with your dear friend Ringo and he's invited you to hangout while he and the lads practice. Ringo beats out a little tune while you add some improvised vocals for fun. The two of you laugh and chat and before you know it, the rest of the lads trickle in.

George walks in and immediately comes over to catch up with you. He's easy going and polite, so you get along well. In fact, you get along well with all the boys! Well, except for...

In walks Paul McCartney, followed by his friend John. Now, John you like. He's a bit abrasive at first, but an absolute joker and sweetheart when you get to know him.

No, it's Paul you can't stand.

Or perhaps, it's that he can't stand you. It's hard to say really, it just feels as though from the minute you met, you simply didn't mesh with each other.

John grins and waves, glad to see you after so long. He walks past to say a proper hello, but keeps on his trajectory to set up and tune his instrument.

Paul, ever the ass, walks up to you, George, and Ringo and begins talking to them as though you're not even there. He greets them, then goes to handing out commands as if he were the manager. George is to go tune up and Ringo to make sure he's warmed up to keep on beat today. It'll be a long one after all.

George and Ringo look from Paul to you and back again. "Well sure, but we were just talking to-"

"I know. What are you doing here anyway, eh?", Paul turns sharply to you.

You set your face sternly. You've leaned by now not to let Paul bully you away, "Ringo invited me to stay today", you cross your arms defiantly, making sure to convey that you won't be leaving anytime soon.

Paul give you a hard stare, but decides you aren't worth the trouble. "Fine, just try not to be a distraction"

With that he walks off to tune up with John. You can't hear their conversation, but John doesn't seem to be too happy with him. Meanwhile, George apologies on Paul's behalf, "I'm sorry, I don't know what his problem is"

You sigh and let it roll of your shoulders, "Thanks, but it's nothing", you smile and shrug.

George laughs, "You're tough alright... I remember John use to treat me like that, and I nearly left!" You share a laugh and he walks over to the other three to chat and get ready for the session.

You and Ringo talk a bit before he focuses up on his drumming. For now, you sit and listen.

And watch.

The boys have spread out a bit and you now have a very clear view of Paul. You think back to the interaction you had just moments ago. Compared to his behavior when you'd first met, you could almost count what had just occurred today as kind.

The old Paul you knew would certainly have thrown you out.

Strange... This was actually becoming a pattern with him. This wierd, "niceness". Truth be told, you do sort of want to befriend him. After all, you're friends with all his friends. But he's just so frustrating!

Paul catches you staring and stares back for a moment, although, there's a look in his eyes as though the gears of his mind are turning. He gives you a nod before turning back to the boys.

You quickly turn away. What did that mean? A neutral nod may seem like nothing to most, but with the way you and Paul are it might as well be a friendly kiss on the cheek.

That's it. You need to find out what's going on here...

Over the next few weeks you play it cool and try to observe Paul as much as you can. And in that time period, the change in his behavior is... Alarming, to say the least.

The next time you saw each other, not only did he say a proper hello, but he even addressed you by name!

Then another time, he opened and held a few doors for you during a group outing with the boys.

But nothing tops what he did today...

Today, not only did Paul strike up a decent conversation with you. Asking all how you've been and what you've been up to lately and such... But after some recording, the boys decided to take a quick break and you had to be going anyway. You let the boys know and said your goodbyes.

While you were walking through the hallway, a voice calls out to you, "Hold on a minute, wait now!"

You stop dead. Is that...? No, it couldn't be. You turn around to find just who you expected.

Paul trots up to you, mildly out of breath. You ask him what's up, being a little more civil then your old self would've. Paul straightens up, having caught his breath, "I uh, I just wanted to say... I'm sorry for being such a right bastard to you. I know this is out of nowhere, but um... I don't know, I feel like as we've been getting more acquainted I feel just awful for how I've treated you. So... for what it's worth... I'm sorry"

You... Well, you're not sure what to say. He's right indeed, this is rather out of nowhere. At first you're not sure you believe him. After all, this could just be some joke to dupe you for his amusement. But then again...

Paul's eyes are big and glossy as they stare back at you. His eyebrows are quirked up and an uncertain frown is settled on his pretty lips. Wait, what did you say?

You shake the thought out of your head. "I um, I forgive you McCartney. Glad to see you've some manners", you cross you arms, daring him to take it back or like fun.

But he doesn't. Instead, he looks relieved. A brilliant grin replaces his frown and his eyes light up with a joy they've never before possessed while beholding you.

"You mean it? No hard feelings?"

You smirk, "Don't push it"

Paul actually laughs. "Fair enough", he says. Then, "you know... We're having a little concert nearby, would you like to come? The hotel is supposed to be serving a cracking dinner spread after the show! Y-you know, if you'd like to tag along that is..."

You blink, thinking you must be in a dream. Before you can even take a second to weigh your options and come to a decision, you hear yourself say, "Sure!"

That same light comes back to Paul's face. For all intents and purposes he seems genuinely excited that you'll be coming. One of the boys calls his name from down the hall. It's time for him to be getting back. But first, he fills you in on the details of where and when to be.

"Then just come backstage afterwards, we'll go together!", with that he says a proper goodbye and jogs off. You head for the street and catch a bus home, looking all the while as though you've seen a ghost.

You know, when he's being civil, he's actually... Not bad. For the life of you, you'd never tell, but you always thought Paul was the pretty one. Besides that, he's talented and charismatic... You were more then a little sore to find that he didn't like you at first.

After all this time you've gotten so used to putting up with him and his jerk behavior you don't know how to feel. And yet... These last few weeks you feel as though you're seeing a whole new side of him.

One you like.

Did you really just think that? You're about to shiver in disgust, but something stops you. He was bizarrely sincere with his apology today, and rather genuine with his invitation for you to join them after their show this weekend, you know.

Hm... After an evening of pondering, you decide to let him prove himself at dinner. If he wants to be a gentleman, then so be it. You're willing to bury the hatchet. And if not, then nothing's changed. Although, you would be rather let down...

Later that week, the concert is a blast. The boys were at their absolute best for sure. They practically brought the house down with the screams and applause they drew from the crowd.

All in all, you have nothing much to report. You enjoyed yourself in a comfortable position up front but... Well, you may have imagined it, but you could've sworn Paul winked at you after the show... Or perhaps it was the girl next to you.

Afterwards, you did as Paul said and passed through security backstage. The boys were in the midst of cheering each other on, celebrating the excellent work as you jogged up to join in. Ringo calls you name, and gives you a hug, "Did you see that! They loved us!"

The other three chatter to you excitedly, affirming Ringo's statement. Even Paul. No, especially Paul. You can't deny his bass playing and singing were absolutely top notch tonight, and he seems over the moon to receive your validation. Odd.

In the limo ride to the hotel, you sit between George and Ringo, yet you can't help but steal glances at Paul. This is crazy. You know it is. And yet, you can't help but dare to think... you mean, the way he's been acting lately, especially given the strange turn around... Could it be? What if... What if Paul...

Likes you?

You break from your thoughts just in time to see Paul looking at you with a shy smile as you stare into space. When you catch him, he looks away quickly.

Later at the dinner, Paul sits besides you and your heart jumps into your throat. A small part of you expects a ribbing or something of that sort, but your time together is actually quite enjoyable. Conversation flows easily between the two of you.

You make each other laugh.

You get each other excited.

You finally get to meet the kind and charming Paul you've heard so much about...

Paul pays for your meal and you continue chattering on all the way up to his hotel room. You stop at the door, and find that you're sad to say goodbye.

"Well, I guess I should let you get your rest..."

"Heh, suppose so", Paul shuffles his feet and looks away. "Uh, but before you go.."

You stop mid turn, "Hm?"

Paul hesitates for a beat, then gently takes your hand, just by the fingers. "I um, I probably have no right to say this, given how horrible I've been to you, but... I uh, I just can't go another moment without telling you the truth..."

He makes eye contact with you at long last. His eye lashes flutter slowly, only accentuating his doe like eyes.

"I uh, I don't know how to say this, heh... I've just been so afraid you'd hate me even more for this, but... I um, well I-I suppose I have feelings for you... I have nearly from the start, I just didn't know how to, well, you know"

Paul's voice trails off like he's afraid of your answer before he's even finished his sentence. He bites his lip and closes his eyes, bracing himself for insults or laughter, whatever you might throw at him.

But when your lips meet his, soft and passionate and warm... He swears he's in a dream. You pull back slowly, and open your eyes to look deeply and knowingly into his.

You didn't even know you were waiting for this moment...

Paul looks breathless as he gazes back at you, and he's hardly able to form a sentence, "W-wh-? S-so, you do-?"

You smile coyly, and it only makes Paul's confusion bloom into a beautiful, Paul smile. You don't have to say anything. His heart already knows the answer.

"I'll see you tomorrow, McCartney", you wink and walk away, holding Paul's hand until he's out of reach.

And see him tomorrow you did. And the next day. And the next...

And the rest, is history.

#the beatles #paul mccartney x reader #paul mccartney #enemies to lovers #beatles fic

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makeste · 4 years

Text

not a cavalcade of Katsuki panels

damn, anon. you stone cold came for me with that last part. and just fyi to all onlookers, this was before I had posted the headcanons ask proving this exact point lmao.

but a challenge has been issued now! so I will do my best to pick a variety of impartial panels featuring a veritable medley of characters. not sure I can really provide much in the way of insightful analysis of symbolism and metaphors and stuff, but I can certainly type a lot of words about the pretty pictures, and about how cool people look when they’re standing around all serious surrounded by clouds of billowing smoke.

why I like it: I figured we’d start off strong. no point in holding back. can the other panels possibly even hope to compete. maybe. we’ll see.

why I like it: because, you see, he punched a giant robot, and it exploded. you see that, there? and the text was all “SMAASH” in humongous comic book letters, and it was pretty cool. also Deku is very tiny and the robot is very big. and just to clarify, most of the time if a tiny fifteen-year-old child tries to punch an 80-foot robot, it’s not actually going to go all that well, and the robot probably will not explode. but in this case it did! and so this is a very novel and unexpected outcome, which makes it all the more visually striking, which is a very good thing to be when you are trying to show off the brand new superpower which your protagonist just inherited, and letting people see it in action for the very first time.

why I like it: so you may have noticed we just skipped a whoooole bunch of chapters lol. this is because there are almost 300 of them, and so I’m going to have to use a bit of discretion. anyway so this is a gorgeous panel. just, everything about it. the lighting; the expressions; Shouto’s hesitation; and his mom facing away, not looking back yet, and us not yet knowing how she’ll react. and the fact that they’re visually separated by as much distance as possible -- at opposite ends of a two-page spread -- and yet they’re so close, closer than they’ve been in years. mm. anyway it’s pretty.

why I like it: first of all because there’s nothing like seeing a deserving character get punched in the fucking face, and few characters IMO have been as deserving as Stain. and second because this is Deku, showing up to save the day out of nowhere at the last minute, because excuse you, but he’s a motherfuckin’ hero. sorry to interrupt your evening plans of stabbing a kid while lecturing him about why, philosophically, he deserves to die. but I’ve got a package here for a Mister Stain. it’s from Mister Smaassh, with two A’s and three S’s.

why I like it: fyi, anon said nothing about a cavalcade of BakuDeku panels. you didn’t think I’d let that loophole go to waste, did you? but nonetheless I will try to restrain myself until we get to the second ground beta fight. anyway, I like this panel because All Might’s canonically 7′2″ self looks about twelve feet tall here, and he is just TOWERING over these two boys, who’ve been tasked with somehow outwitting him during this curiously sadistic final exam. and it’s just an interesting perspective, because we know they both look up to him, and here they are physically looking way, way up, up, up at him.

why I like it: now this is how you do a villain entrance. I love absolutely everything about this. the sheer scale of destruction, and the way he’s just sort of casually hanging out there in the middle of the panel almost dwarfed by all this dust and smoke and carnage, and yet is unquestionably the focus of the page. the way that you can’t actually see his face, not yet. not until the end of the chapter. the way the clouds are drifting so calmly and peacefully in the night sky in stark contrast to the horrific events that are about to take place on the ground. this panel gives me literal chills, especially when I think about All for One’s creepy theme music playing in the background.

why I like it: this panel is so iconic to me that it’s one of the first ones I immediately knew I had to go and find when I got this ask. this entire fight is perfection from start to finish, and there are other panels that are more artistically striking if I’m being honest (in particular, the ones where he’s half-transformed with his face perfectly split down the middle between Muscle Might and Skinny Steve). but there’s just something about his determination in this panel, though. something about the fire in his eyes, and the way he clenches his fist. “my heart is still the heart of the Symbol of Peace.” I remember being sooooo fucking anxious when his true form was revealed, wondering if this was it, if the people watching were going to turn on him, if he was going to lose both the fight and their faith. turns out I was wrong on both accounts. basically what I am trying to tell you guys is that this panel was and is still the most badass thing I’ve ever seen.

why I like it: because he’s just a frail old man doing what he can to protect the last flickering embers of the thing that enables him to fight on. there’s something so fucking desperate and yet so determined about this image. he knows it’s futile, but still he persists.

why I like it: damn it was hard to find a “you’re next” panel with just the right angle I like best. this is probably as close as it gets, but I kind of wish Deku was somehow visible in this image as well. but at any rate this is an amazing moment, and All Might is dramatic af for basically no reason but IT’S BADASS. “no I’m not going to actually look where I’m pointing. it’s cooler this way.” or was it because he wasn’t sure if he could keep the emotion off of his face if he actually turned and looked? in this moment of knowing that it was finally over for him, that he would never be the Symbol again, and knowing that he had no choice but to move on and entrust that burden to the next generation? damn.

why I like it: I... fucking... okay, here’s a fun fact. did you know that I still get emotional over this panel almost a full two years after reading it?? obviously a good 84% of it is the context -- All Might losing his power; Deku being forced to take up the mantle before he feels ready; All Might feeling responsible for him; and both of them being so desperately grateful to have each other in that moment. but don’t underestimate that remaining 16% either though! this is just an extremely well-drawn hug, on top of everything else. All Might pressing Deku’s head to his shoulder with his fingers laced in his hair is some mighty fine fiercely protective hug tropes there, you guys. and the way Deku is clinging to his shirt so tightly his knuckles have probably gone white?? while he cries?? while both of them cry? ON THE BEACH? WITH THE WAVES LAPPING SOFTLY AT THE SHORE IN THE PEACEFUL NIGHT AIR?? jesus fucking christ. this hug contains more emotions than I am capable of carrying inside me at once. I just sort of have to let them flow in and out little by little until they finally subside.

why I like it: you bet I skipped right from Kamino straight to Deku VS Kacchan Part 2. no regrets. anyway, so these two panels are an absolutely gorgeous one-two punch. so much has changed from the days when they were innocent little kids marching off into the woods to have adventures. they’ve changed. their relationship has changed. and yet, at the end of the day, Izuku is still willing to follow Katsuki even without being given any kind of explanation. and Katsuki still seeks out Izuku when he’s on the verge of having a spectacular emotional breakdown. because he doesn’t know who else to turn to. and because despite everything, there is trust there still, on some deep, fundamental level neither of them fully understands or knows how to acknowledge. anyway, so these two panels just give me a ton of feels all about the passage of time and how everything changes and how you can’t get back what’s lost, but also sometimes if you look deep enough you find that parts of it were never fully gone.

why I like it: because in a striking display of dramatic main character energy, these boys decided to stage their life-changing destiny-affirming rival fight on the coolest possible stage in the middle of the goddamn night. and then Katsuki made it even better by producing WAY MORE SMOKE than his attack by all rights should have produced! and then they went and crouched down all symmetrically so as to more poetically make intense eye contact at each other. I really like panels with smoke and/or dust clearing dramatically. there are like four more of them coming up on this list. what can I say. it’s cinematic.

why I like it: I actually had this one as my icon for a while. it’s rare imo to see an action panel that’s so balanced and has so much going on and is so clean and easy to read. both of their poses are so dynamic. I like the way the arc of Izuku’s kick is drawn, and I love the way you can clearly see that Katsuki propelled himself backwards with his quirk in order to dodge it. it’s just a really cool little panel that for me perfectly sums up the general feel of this fight, and its awesome choreography.

why I like it: actually you know what, before I go any further, let me skip ahead a bit and add three more panels with this same energy.

I just really, really love these rare moments when all differences between them are momentarily forgotten and they’re just two teenage boys caught up in the intense pressure of an awkward social situation. the one enemy neither of them is the least bit equipped to handle. anyways Horikoshi clearly enjoys it too because he seems to delight in drawing it over and over and over.

why I like it: because it’s more billowing smoke and dust. because it’s Endeavor, the guy we all swore we would never ever root for, and then 160 chapters later Horikoshi pulls this shit without an ounce of shame. because it’s All Might’s pose, but tweaked juuuuuust enough so that Enji can avoid copyright claims. because he knew that pose well enough to know which arm not to use. because Endeavor is a profoundly flawed human being, wholly incapable of filling the void All Might left behind. and yet he still tries. because it’s better than nothing, and because it’s all he can do. it’s the one thing he can do, his sole redeeming virtue. he tries. he doesn’t give up. anyway so yeah, Horikoshi didn’t have to take the single most unlikable person in the entire manga and give him the world’s most controversial and openly scorned redemption arc. but he did! and I think it’s one of the best things about this entire manga.

why I like it: because nothing in BnHA is just black and white!! it’s messy and layered and complex, just like in the real world. Shouto despised his dad for almost his entire life. with good reason! Enji was abusive and selfish and treated his son more like a prized possession than a person. we as readers are fully aware of all of this, and we sympathize with Shouto 100%, and that’s completely by design. Horikoshi is well aware of this. so for him to still give us this little moment, where Shouto is so relieved that Enji survived that he drops to the floor and presses his face against his hands in this little prayer gesture -- whatever you think it might mean -- is just so fucking powerful, and again speaks to his commitment to refusing to let anything in this series be completely clear-cut and unambiguous. I love that the characterization of Shouto and Natsu hating their dad exists side by side with the equally authentic characterization of them being terrified that they’re about to watch him die. because those two things aren’t contradictory! sometimes that’s just how it is. anyway so this is a beautiful moment of nuance that instantly adds so much to this relationship with just a single panel.

why I like it: for once the symbolism is so obvious that even I can’t fail to miss it! Izuku’s face half in light and half in shadow as he thinks about the power bestowed on him. “All for One’s power.” anyway so in my mind Izuku having AFO could not be any more fucking foreshadowed if he was wearing a freaking t-shirt with the Musketeers saying on it and the background was peppered with little Sistine Chapel-esque images of AFO giving his quirk to his brother lmao. but regardless of how it does end up playing out, this is nicely done.

why I like it: I wasn’t sure whether I should include this image, given that I just made a whole separate post about it a few days ago. but I just really like it, okay. this is one of the all-time great entrances in the series. Bakugou being perched on that pole for absolutely no reason other than to add visual interest. Todoroki’s hair blowing dramatically in the wind. Katsuki’s frayed pant hems and characteristically asymmetrical facial expression. the fact that you just know both of them spent the ride home with their faces pressed to the windows of their taxi cab hoping desperately for an opportunity to break in their brand new licenses, and then lo and behold. that’s amazing you guys. it’s almost like you’re main characters or something.

why I like it: they did great.

why I like it: because I lost my fucking shit at this fucking reveal and can you even blame me?? we knew coming in how much trouble Endeavor and Hawks had dealing with just one of these Noumus, and then Horikoshi goes and divulges that the villains have at least A DOZEN MORE waiting on standby. including Hood right there in the foreground, which is a fantastic touch! this panel, for me, almost instantaneously established the League as a legitimate threat once again, and gave me the kind of spine-tingly evil vibes I hadn’t felt since the Kamino arc. and while the payoff might not quite have lived up to my expectations, the Mirko fight at least was more than worth it.

why I like it: BILLOWING SMOKE AND DUST CLOUDS. you just see this vast landscape of destruction that Tomura has oh-so-casually wrought, and this once-powerful enemy utterly defeated on his hands and knees bowing before him. and it’s just like, oh. Tomura just became a fucking king, didn’t he. he finally stepped up and became the main villain. really the main villain, not just an awkward fumbling NEET whose adopted dad is not-so-secretly pulling all the strings. he did this himself. he went out and conquered and Awakened and won himself a fucking army. and he’s just standing there so cool and casual in the aftermath of it all. and then he goes “oh wait, you guys have money right, that means you can buy us the good sushi.” yes, Tomura. yes.

why I like it: um because this panel is fucking amazing?? hello?? do I really need to explain this one. the detail is jaw-dropping. he’s got the little scars which are either from the head wound that caused his death, or from his Noumufication. his expression is fucking heartbreaking, and the transition from Kumo to Kuro is so subtle and seamless, and yet it distinctly is both of them. this panel is gorgeous and fucking haunting and almost made me gasp when I first saw it.

why I like it: the decision to have the night sky take up so much of the space in the panel was [chef kiss]. nothing says existential like the night sky on a cold winter’s night.

why I like it: this is the best panel in the entire fucking series.

why I like it: dude. showing his actual family holding onto him with their hands in the same spot as the severed fashion!hands was a stroke of genius in and of itself. but combining that with the emotional tension of them desperately trying to hold him back and protect him from AFO?? that’s just so fucking smooth it’s almost inhuman. just how much meaning can you cram into a single image?? sometimes I wonder just how far in advance Horikoshi plans these things.

why I like it: guess I’m just a big fat sucker for panels of Tomura calmly standing around in the ruins of his own senseless destruction. the sense of scale on this one is really great, too. and yet again, those dust clouds. gotta love it.

why I like it: because Tomura literally appears out of nowhere, like he’s ripping a hole through the fabric of time and space. it’s so fucking sudden and he looks evil as FUCK, and Deku and Kacchan are totally caught off-guard, and it is scary. this is one of those panels that made me say “holy shit” out loud. in fact I practically screamed it. and the angles are all funky and weird, and the sky is all BLACK FOR NO REASON, and it really just feels like Tomura could reach right over and just MURDER THEM like it was nothing. just like that. this panel is so incredibly effective at conveying how hopelessly outclassed the boys are. they’re not even in his league, and it’s honestly terrifying.

and on that happy note, we have come to the end of my list of favorite panels! and I gotta say, it’s really gratifying that a good deal of them are from this year alone. I said it in another post a few days ago, but imo the overall quality of the series has been insanely high as of late, and it honestly just blows my mind whenever I stop to think about it. the art is still this good six years into the game. the story is still this good. we are spoiled goddammit.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #all might #endeavor #todoroki shouto #shigaraki tomura #horikoshi kouhei #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks

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ricinbach · 3 years

Text

mercy. | chapter 3 - reverie

waking up was never this different.

Sounds of water trailing down the pool waterfall echoed as drinks poured and barbecue was served.

Everything felt so good, so normal, almost mundane. It had been a cheerful, sunny day of summer, warmth seeping into your bones, making your skin shine as you lounged by the pool. Droplets of cool water splashed on your face, a crisp interlude to your reverie. Fingertips loosely wrapped around the ice cold drink, taking occasional sips from it. Kids laughed and cheered as they played, splashing you with water in the meantime. You did not mind. You had always been fond of them.

“Think she’ll walk again?”

“Hell, I’d be surprised if she lived.”

Children lured you to play with them in the pool. You could not be anywhere near bothered from your comfortable spot with the mango-flavored drink in your hand, cooling you. Their squeaky voices had been so excited that you gave it a second thought. Playing in the pool sounded like a lot of fun, certainly more fun you had in a while at your stressful job. You wanted to go back, at least for a little while, to the peaceful times when you were a little girl, how you would jump from floaties and giggle and spread happiness. Oh, how you loved summer, spent at the shore, without a single care in the world, enjoying everything the beautiful weather offered you.

"I'm jumping in!"

Drops of water from the cool rag placed on your forehead woke you up, in more ways than one. The dried blood and bruises on your face appreciated the feeling, sending a relaxing tingle over your skin. Your could feel, feel your fingertips, the humid air engulfing them against their dried texture. Consciously breathing, your lungs getting filled up with air once more. Your eyes took their sweet time in fluttering open, a blurred vision welcoming you into reality.

It would have been the epitome of a peaceful resurrection if it was not for the two strangers staring you dead in the eye from above.

It was ironic, really. A gruff, dark-haired guy and a much smaller, green-eyed, young little girl staring you down like you were the odd bunch in this scenario. You dealt with much worse, held captive by far more terrible, dark souls.

Were you at the mercy of this odd little survival gig now?

“Where -” your lips moved, with the pathetic excuse of a voice you have left. Your vocal cords didn’t want to co-operate either, apparently, as you spoke in a low, raspy tone. All of the limbs in your frail, undernourished body screamed at you not to move, as you laid on an old, dirtied mattress. “…where am I?” you managed to ask. Your lungs fought for air in a desperate inhale as you gasped uncontrollably, taking in the stuffiness mixed in with the linger of mold in the room. As your vision cleared out gradually, you find yourself trying to look around where you were holed up in.

Just how long had you been out?

Sweat was forming on your battered skin and the room felt stuffy, so your instincts told you it was late summer still. Another question to add to the growing list to ask these...hunters? Fireflies?

No, you would have recognized them if they were. There were not many left flying around.

Your conscience was beginning to come back into you, slowly but steadily with every single heartbeat and breath taken, like waves in a lazy ocean. You almost didn't want to be conscious - wanted to be left alone, just sleeping in a safe place, without a care in the world.

Yet, it looked like this cruel, relentless leftover of the universe had more in store for you.

It took a couple of moments of steadying your breathing - then it hit you. Pain, lots of it, invading your mid-thigh like a swarm of ants all over your skin. It was the kind of pain that almost-healed, sore wounds created, nevertheless, you hadn't been able to feel any sort of sense during the time you were asleep - God knows how long - and it was making itself known alright. You let out a hiss, your eyebrows furrowing as your gaze directed itself to your bandaged wound.

The lower half of your pants were missing, cut-off right below the bandages... how the hell? Last you remembered, you had a bullet in your thigh, almost dying of blood loss in a tenement high-rise on your way out of the state, and your pants covered your lower leg.

Why, on the damned scorched earth, would anyone help out someone like you?

"You're in safety," the gruff man spoke, a vague answer to your question, his voice sounding low and threatening beneath that peppered beard. "for now."

The two little words he added at the end with such a tone that you just knew he would shoot you on the spot if you tried to do anything stupid by his books. You could not do anything but nod, and gulp. Even that hurt.

Your worried expression seemed to go unnoticed as an exasperated voice intruded your thoughts. "Yeah, Joel, this is a terrible idea," the girl who was looking down on you earlier with bright, green eyes scoffed, shaking her head, her hand flying out to gesture at you. "The hell were you thinkin'? She cannot even walk - what are we gonna do with her?"

Just what was this little girl talking about? You could not help but look in between the two survivors, the man supposedly named Joel shooting the girl a side glance, his flannel-covered arms folded in front of him as he kept his gaze on you. He looked strong, very strong - the type of hardened survivor that could snap your dainty little neck in half if he wanted to. There had been just something about him, something that you could not quite place a finger on. It took you another look in his green eyes combined with the familiar crimson patterns of the flannel that stretched on his chest to finally come to your senses. Was this...

"Wait," you called out, trying to lean yourself on your forearms with a hiss. "You're the guy who saved me from the hunters," you continued, as if trying to make yourself believe rather than ask the guy, couple strands of hair falling onto your damp face as you propped yourself up. The scoffs and the little murmurs of you gotta be kidding me coming from the teen, ringing in your ears.

"Thank you. Not a whole lot showin' mercy these days."

"Damn right, y'hear that Joel? We've heard that before," the kid started talking again, this time in a little mocking tone as she crossed her arms and walked over to your figure, her eyebrows furrowed and her fiery green gaze focused on the gruff man.

If anything, this had to be a rather unusual dynamic between a father and a daughter you had ever seen - made you think that he had taught her well, not to trust strangers and all. Oh, she surely had to be his daughter, judging by your first impressions of her - fiery, headstrong. But what the hell was your fault? The man had helped you himself, carried you to safety and she sure as hell wasn't there when those damned hunters ambushed you in that high-rise right when you was about to escape Pittsburgh.

What were they going to do with you? You were surprised when the man had left you some supplies back in the city, you supposed he had cleared out the damned infected scraping at your door but compared to the level of surprise that you had looking at the little girl and her father, arguing about what they were to do about you - the former had been nothing. Even in your weakened state, it did not make sense in the survival mindset that you all had grown so accustomed to over the past twenty years, to take in a damsel in distress simply because you wanted to play the hero for a while.

It was a hard-learned truth that there had been no heroes left in this empty shell of the world - it was the survival of the most cruel, most resourceful and the most violent.

Hell, if you had been in his position when he found you, you would be quick to put a bullet into your head - without glancing at the dead look in your eyes.

You had done it many times before. You were damn sure he had as well, else he would not be surviving this far into the outbreak. Why was this one time different?

The man in front of you, standing all tall and broad, had a contrasting troubled expression in that rogue face of his. Just one look at him could tell you he had seen the worst of the outbreak, killed and tortured. That strength he seemingly possessed and that recluse surrounding his aura did not come from simple blind luck. His eyes assessed you, every single movement you made - almost as if he was judging whether to spare you or kill you right there on that ugly mattress based on what your next moves entailed.

It was not like you could even raise your hand to throw a punch - the strange pair knew you could not harm them even if you so wanted to. You had been down the road of recovery before, getting shot many times in the course of a pandemic, a couple days of rest would get you back on your feet. Before, you had always been alone or with people you somewhat trusted. Not with complete strangers who acted out of their sheer leftover notion of mercy to save you.

You were vulnerable, in such a state that you depended on them, on someone if you wanted to continue the little survival gig you had been on for two decades. Over at the corner of the room, you could spot your familiar backpack with your supplies staying intact in it, your trusted guns resting on the floor beside. Unarmed and weak, you slowly rose yourself up to sit on the edge of the bed, dragging your injured thigh along as your feet touched the ground, your jaw clenched all the while to avoid screaming out of pain. It was not the time to show weakness, to emit even the slightest grunt of misery - even a small sound, a little indication of you not being able to tolerate pain would decide whether they left you abandoned there or not if you were deemed useless in their eyes.

"Look," your voice would echo across the wooden panels of the room, making the little girl in front of you move her hand to the pistol tucked into the waistband of her jeans. Your hand rose up in defense, indicating that you meant no harm, your tired orbs moving back and forth between the pair as the stuffy air in the room felt even more stale with the added tension of the unknown.

"I don't know who you both are but I know you saved me from that mess," you would speak slowly, your tone softening ever so slightly as your gaze rested on the man. "If it wasn't for you, hell, I'd be long dead from blood loss. I'd like to repay you in some way."

To your surprise, the little girl's expression grew even more grim as her eyebrows furrowed in doubt and distrust, however, her hand left the revolver she had been holding onto earlier only for them to be placed on her hips as her green orbs bore daggers into you. If only you could look in the mirror then, you would see the helpless expression your delicate features harbored, an unusual feat by itself.

With the girl's watchful eyes over him, the gruff man crouched in front of you, couple feet away to match your gaze due to his towering height. Your eyes immediately focused into his amber green ones, with glints of doubt and fear in them, as well as determination. One of his large hands would stroke his peppered beard slightly, lost in thought yet his gaze never faltering from your orbs, his elbows resting on his bent knees.

"Think you can handle a gun once you're walkin'?" he asked, though he already had an inkling of an idea that you had been a decent marksman based on the body he had found on the first floor of the high-rise with a bullet lodged in his skull.

To which, you could only nod with a strong look in your eyes, making it clear you were not playing around.

Much to the little girl's dismay, Joel would nod pensively before getting up and breaking your gaze.

"We leave in a couple of days, and you're comin' along. If you want to pay what you owe me, you're gonna have to protect us. "

#mercy #val writes #fanfiction #chapter 3 #the last of us #tlou joel #joel miller #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel is such a daddy

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blankdblank · 3 years

Text

Hobbit Soulmate Pt 41

The Jens and Ben had to head to their preplanned after parties alongside Orlando’s girlfriend, with tight hugs to you, both again stole a glance at the same ring on your finger they had admired earlier in the night without your having to show it off. Having shared the observation that a unique design like that made it all the more special and suited for your fated relationship. Liv from the group snuck to your side in the ride to your new place in the limo the four hobbits had arrived in with Viggo, David and Sean B.

Smiling widely she took your hand saying, “I am so excited. I know the house will just be perfect.”

“Will be one day hopefully.”

Orlando asked, “3 Million is pretty steep for you, right?”

“That’s just the average for the block, but it’s 1.5, got a good deal for it.” Your dad said.

Andy said, “Peter will be sad for missing out.”

“No problem, baby business is more important house isn’t moving. He can drop by later when it’s done.”

“Oh that’s nice,” Sean A said leaning forward to see the five story marvel the limo stopped at turning more heads with the group all taking turns spilling out onto the sidewalk.

Once out of the car you let go of your skirt to reach into your clutch bringing out the keys you held in the hand lowering to lift your skirt again leading the walk to the darkened front stoop. Excitedly Liv kept up with you smiling widely at the adventure luring smiles out from the others again who had noticed the extra bars added to the front entrance you unlocked to pass through the shadow finding the lock in the dark by thwacking your knuckle into the knob by mistake. Explaining the bars your dad said, “There are lawyers and some politicians who live on this block, they voted for the extra gates on the doors together. It’s a good neighborhood they just wanted extra security so people can’t pound on their doors I guess.”

Andy chucked saying, “That’s alright, heard a few lads back home who thought of gates too to keep their doorbell off limits.”

Billy, “Could also help with pets to keep them from running away down the steps.”

Your dad said, “There’s a buzzer for guests when it’s locked, which you could see-,” he said reaching over your head to find the light switch panel turning on both lighting up the stoop along with the main floor. Eyes shot from inside the mudroom to the again dark stoop at the bulb dying that had you giggle for its timing on its dying breath. “Perfect timing. Lazy bulb,”

Dominic said pointing at the buzzer panel lined in a silver frame, “Ooh, nice buzzer, shiny,” that the others could see in the light from the mudroom.

You smiled unlocking the next door, saying to yourself in easing them open, “I can imagine myself fighting these having to pee,” that earned chuckles from the others while this switch you managed to find turning the three lighting up the main open areas and what would be your study/library. Behind them the group closed the front doors and pooled into the front entrance blocking off the view of the cameras gathering on the sidewalk. “Ok, first off, mind the floors, Dad took out a few walls so there are a few uneven grooves where those were,”

Sean B asked eyeing the dent in the floor, “And that crater?”

Glancing from him to the dent and back again you said pointing up bringing the dimly lit chain to their focus as to why this area was the least lit, “Old tenant liked to hang things on the chandelier, it fell, but the chain and mount have been repaired just have to think of what to get to replace it.”

That had Liv saying, “You liked the chandelier in my study, it came as a set the other is just sitting up in my attic. It’s yours, housewarming gift.”

“Oh, thank you, gift,” you turned for the stairs lifting the box there, “Wedding present, before you can explore.”

Smiles spread through the group watching her open it and let out an excited squeal, “You bought me a typewriter!” Moving closer to wrap you in a tight hug, “Thank you, I love it,” her husband chuckled accepting it to settle it down back on the stairs adoring his wife’s new addition to her collection. “You are getting my chandelier, when are you back to Canada?”

“Tomorrow,” you said in her move back.

Your dad said, “I’ll be staying here though to mind the repairs.”

That had her smile at him, “Good, I will bring it for you at the apartment then.” Then she asked you, “What’s first?”

You pointed to the study, “This one over here is a sort of study or library, bit perfect for it once we get the shelves in.”

Viggo came in smiling wider imagining the long ended room stretching behind the stairs saying, “Perfect for a hiding spot for books.”

Out you went allowing everyone to have their own turn to envision it while you led the way across the floor past the stairs to the living room where more than a few took focus on the fireplace mantle shaped wonderfully. “This is gonna have carpet, in a sort of swoop shape right to the edge of the closet there. Up to this pretty wall with this detailed milky glass pane with the vines that go with the mantle carvings. Ooh, before the kitchen here’s my favorite guest bath,” you said crossing the floor pointing out a groove for them before they each took a turn in the black and cherry themed bathroom under the stairs then turned to head with you to the kitchen. “And there’s this other bath over here around the corner to the pantry,” each looking over the cabinets on the ground and counters without a top broken and split showing how someone had beaten into them.

Your dad said, “Used to have two rooms here we tore out, just shrank the place down absurdly. And over here we’re gonna add an island and move this counter and that whole wall outside the pantry and bathroom is going to have built in cabinets and cubbies for the dishes and spare appliances and whatnot. And maybe a built in for the dining area, bench possibly.”

“Oh and you should have seen it when the sun was out, this sunroom, just glows, new sunroof and needs some tile but leads to the patio. Helps to distract from the travesty that will be reborn into a kitchen.”

Sean A, “It’s not the worst I’ve seen, don’t be nervous about it.”

Elijah, “Where does this go?”

“To the basement,” you said with a smile, “I love these stairs. Just out of a castle.” You said and he smiled leading the way down the hall to the stairs lit by a switch you found and amusedly the others headed down as Liv kept close to your side wondering what the basement held as her mind was already reeling with love for all she’d seen so far.

Her smile doubled as you said tapping the chute door on the wall, “Laundry chute,” you heard the group excitedly exploring into the laundry room already after he turned on the light switch he was warned of to light the way by your dad.

Dominic was heard saying, “It’s got a kitchen!” already leading the swarm out through the floor relaxing you a bit you didn’t have to play guide down here.

“Oh I love these stairs,” she said and took notice of the chutes and gasped excitedly at the laundry room, “So much space, love this.” Out she went and smoothed her hand on the door to the apartment, “Love these doors.”

“Keeps nice and separate from the living space, and the garden entrance too.” Ignoring the patches on the walls tours of the kitchen and spare bath in silver and blue that led into the spare bedroom. Past the hall the bedroom was next to be explored with the open study lined with pillars. “This could be a sort of study area, like not a room but a room.”

Sean B, “Great for when you have kids to work here and let them run around.”

Billy, “Plus good to keep the little ‘uns from climbing into the fireplace at not being out of sight.”

Your dad said, “We’ve ordered glass doors for the fireplaces already to replace the old ones that were broken to help with that too.”

Orlando smiled saying, “Can we go up now? Gotta see more.”

You smiled and led the group back up hearing them turn off lights on the way with just flashes of cameras from one cameraman who’d climbed onto his car to see simple glances over the closed shutters covering the lower half of the windows. Back to the staircase on the main floor you led the way up to your dad’s floor to Ian’s saying, “Those shutters are a lovely touch. Adds to the privacy without barricading yourself in.”

“They might add to the castle touches a bit. Least for my take on them. This one’s dad’s floor.”

He flipped the switch lighting the main open area starting the tour in the wave shaped long bath/closet mixture feeding into a spare bedroom with the group eager to follow you again. “This would be the guest bed and bath.” Out of that crossing the floor was another fireplace containing open area, “Another living room, where my big tv is going.”

Another mini kitchen past the dividing wall similar to the one downstairs with a small room after for an office or hobby room, back past the staircase with exposed shelves was the impressive master bed and bath he had chosen.

Again those stairs called and up the group went to explore the three open rooms, two with sliding doors the other without any. Split by shared baths without a mini kitchen clearly could be the guest floor shaped in elegant curves around a rounded nook in the center of the back wall divided by a milky glass paned set of sliding doors.

“Oh there’s so much space,” Viggo said smiling at you, “guess this is for the babies?”

“I mean, if I had to pick I’d think that one would be a nursery, just has the best view and the one that way would be too close to the road and there’s a fire and police station.”

Liv, “Oh I get that, same as my place, gonna be interesting when babies come.”

Billy asked, “Let me guess, animals for the design?”

Awkwardly your grin crept out answering, “Peter Pan, actually, my mom had sketches for mine. Found this cool pirate ship chandelier for it. I haven’t said anything about this to Rich yet.”

Sean A shook his head, “Won’t hear it from us. I know my wife had it all planned long before we ever got engaged. And it is good to pick the room when you pick the home.”

Andy, “And you have a yard?”

“Small one, but we can always take the courtyard back to stretch it out some more the tiles are coming up anyways we’d need to replace them. But when these imaginary babies get older we’d have time at the ranch back in Texas too and the place in England has a decent back garden if we end up there when they get to school age.”

All the parents agreed that was a big thing for you as a cross continental couple who would be traveling often making your dad say, “Either way I’d be bunking in as stay home grandpa, so work travel won’t disturb that,”

You added, “And I was thinking for this room across here on this long wall for these built in bunk beds. Like stairs in between them all wood, surrounded by shelves and cubbies.”

Ian, “Twin beds?”

Your dad, “We mocked up a group of Queen sized beds, so not fully a kids room could also be for adult guests. Gonna have some added to my spare bedroom on my floor too in case family wants to drop in with all the munchkins.”

Ian smiled trying to picture them, “I can’t wait to see them.”

Elijah said, “I’m thinking by this layout your room is huge, like whole top floor.”

That had you giggle and lead the way up the final set of steps, “Not the whole floor, bigger than my bedroom now,”

You flipped on the light and the open floor plan had eyes traveling throughout from the mini kitchen they passed to get to what would be the study across from the open living room. The floor was worse up here with scuffs and dents between chipped planks and the damage to the bathroom had Liv gasp and cover her mouth in the horror scene and Dominic ask, “Did the old guy just like to party?”

Your dad answered, “Well he was a lawyer and he decided not to pay his rent and then decided to tear the wiring and pipes out of the wall and just broke everything he could on the way out through his eviction. Part of how the price got so low, all that had to be repaired and Jaqi picked new tiles for the counters, floors, new wood and carpet to go with the new cabinets and shelves that will be swapped after the flooring is done. They’re coming to tear it up in a few weeks, and by the time it’s all out the new flooring will be in and the wood will be piled in the garage for the woodwork. But we at least got these spacious tubs, showers and sinks replaced at least so far for the bathrooms. Not a full remodel after what I’ve manage to handle for Jaqi.”

Liv, “You have a garage?”

Your dad said, “On the other side of the yard, it’s got parts and supplies all in it now that will be cleared out when the repairs are done.”

“Which it doesn’t really need much since dad’s been sneaking here before I got to look at it and handled the plumbing and wiring, including the black brass fixtures I love. So not a full tear down job. And I’m glad he managed to find these huge tubs.”

Sean B said, “Nightmare,” along with David who added, “You lucked out, good move dad, because I have been there. Wanted to commit arson.”

Elijah, “What about the roof? My first three apartments had terrible roofs I had mold down my walls within a month each time, went house hunting and the realtor turned and I was up in the attic before they knew it, flashlight in hand scoping it out.”

Your dad answered, “New roof, brand new had to change out a beam and did that all at once to fix the dip and prevent the water damage before it started raining again. Another winter and the snow would have taken it out. But it’s been built up to a safe foundation for my little girl to start out on.”

Liv, “It is a great start, and I really do love the shutters you have that block out the bottom half. Helps to let the stars and light in. Have you thought on curtains yet?”

“Not really, I know I’d want to not have those sheer curtains, I love it for yours but they creep me out middle of the night,” earning a few chuckles from the group, “Especially under ac vents. Rich’s has these nice green ones he picked fabric for his mom to make for him she might help pick some fabric for me to make them. And that all goes in with the paint and wallpaper discussion.”

Orlando, “Well you’ve picked a great place to make your own. You can throw one hell of a party when it’s done.”

Dominic, “And I know the perfect painting for your wall downstairs.”

David, “And you should let Peter know and by the end of the week when the shelves are in you’ll have tons of stuff to fill them from Weta.” That had you giggle again.

Viggo, “I’m making you something, I’ll know it when I feel it.”

Billy asked, “Where’s your music room going to be?”

“Don’t know yet.”

Your dad said, “Either way the floors are all soundproof so wherever it goes will be perfect.”

David, “Soundproof would have been dangerous for me and my siblings. Our mother lived by crashes and distant muffled screams.”

You and your dad said, “We’ll hear it,”

David, “For now, we need to feed you, Hugh said he’d get us a table to celebrate Joe’s win.”

Your dad smiled saying, “You guys won things too.”

Sean B waved his hand, “We’re old news, have to celebrate your first win. Come on, let’s feed you.”

Lights were shut off all the way down and you locked up while Liv clung gladly to her box she settled on her lap unable to wait for the time she got home to find the right place in her home when she got there. While it needed work the project home had every one of them searching for what they could find to add to the shelving to come along with coating those walls desperately needing some paint.

Once at the place Hugh smiled giving you a hug, “Sorry, had a few interviews, but I am seeing your place next time I am back in town. When are you coming back from work?”

“Couple months, floors and shelving should be done by then leaving furniture and painting debacles.”

Hugh, “Just the basics, how big? Bed, bath, footage?” His eyes narrowing a bit to make it click in his imaginary home he was drafting for your personality.

“8 bed, 7 bath, 7500 square foot.”

“Wow,” he said, “Don’t hear that a lot out here, more than one story, right?”

“Yes, five including the basement.”

“Lot of stairs,” he replied in a chuckle.

“My apartment is five flights up, so it’s the same, but at least now everything around it is mine so if I’m tired I can sleep anywhere.”

He chuckled and Andy said, “Even has this cool gate at the front to keep people from the doorbell. Apparently there’s a lot of politicians and lawyers who voted for them.”

Hugh, “Voted?”

“Brownstones are historical styles and there are councils you have to consult on anything structural on the front, they picked the more classical wrought iron gate appearance matching the gates around the front walkways leading to the basement apartments.” Your dad answered gaining a nod while you all took your seats.

“Probably only close them when I’m not in New York, there’s a mud room behind that until you’re inside and that could only be hard to race my bladder on days I’ve been busy.”

Hugh said, “I can agree with that, especially after nights out and a long ride home, had many times one of my first apartments had to knock on the neighbor’s door to pop in on the way up.” He flashed a grin to the waitress that brought in a round of menus and he asked, “I saw on the news something about you and Keanu Reeves?”

“He lives next door in the apartments there, got home when our Landlord was waiting to show me the new place and he was being tailed I guess and they caught the introduction moment.”

Elijah, “Those shutters will certainly help with that in the future.”

Hugh glanced his way then to you as you said, “It has big front windows. And there are sectioned shutters inside that cover the lower half on one set and a second for the top so if I want light then I can still leave the top open and someone would have to stand on a car like a camera guy did tonight seeing us all heading in.”

“I love that,” he said, “Might have to borrow that idea.”

“I mean it’s not like I streak or go running around in my underwear but walking around and the front room is feet from the street it can get kinda awkward to catch someone’s eye.” Making the others chuckle, “I’d like to have curtains for night time but the place just glows when the top shutters are open, which we might have just caught it at the right time and it’s all shadows after that hour passes but for an hour it is perfect.”

Hugh, “I feel like that’s a realtor tactic, finding that window to trap you. Been browsing options for price ranges on what we might be able to rent and they all have a certain glow to each picture I’ve seen. But I’m glad you love it and I will be available to help often cuz I got chosen for The Boy From Oz on Broadway through the winter.”

“Oh that’s amazing,”

“Thank you,” he said with a massive grin, “I am excited about it, my last couple films did help.”

“They love a big name, no secret about that, I was a last minute tolerance out of desperation losing lead and understudy who only my teacher had been gunning for me they so badly wanted me to fail so they could find someone bigger who could draw in crowds. I will be getting a seat for the show when it’s out.”

“I can’t wait for your next show, wonder how you can top Chicago.” Next projects picked up and over the meal animatedly carrying on through to split rides home.

Face washed and changed to sweats again cuddled up to your dad’s side you slept trying to ignore the fact that Richard still hadn’t returned your message from the night before or the call you’d made to him earlier that morning. True you’d have to wake up early to catch your plane so you might miss his return call while you were in the air or jumping right back to work. And it did bother you to leave your dad here alone but he was dedicated to ensuring the new home would be taken care of while you were away, glaring the workers into line protecting his baby girl in your absence. Keeping everything in line on the most unpleasant tasks to handle that while he could to spare you that hassle until the day you had to take over when he had been drug kicking and screaming to the afterlife hopefully when you yourself were old and grey.

“So, I sort of bought a house,” came out of your lips and mouths dropped from your friends hearing about it and from the mention of spare bedrooms you could swore Lee was already wide eyed with pupils dilating to commence the begging.

Fully drained your pasta sat waiting for the sauce you were stirring to finish when your phone rang in a call from Richard luring a curious grin across your face. “Hey Richy Rich, busy day?”

After a calming exhale Richard steadied himself and said, “I am so terribly sorry I’ve been a bit distracted, but I swear I’ve been thinking about you the whole time.”

“It’s ok,”

“I caught a glimpse of the award show, Joe have fun?”

“He did, so glad he won something for his acting to add to the wall.”

“That’s great, how was your break from work?”

“Good, um, Dad took me to the Brownstone, it’s really nice under the scuffs.”

“That’s great, so you want it then?”

“Yes, I um, I put 250k into it for a down payment.”

“Fantastic, so it’s not too much then?”

“1.5 mil, which is staggering, but I could always put funds from the box office pay into it whatever that will be, and Keanu Reeves apparently is our neighbor when it’s done. I helped dad pick the new flooring and sketched up new cabinets and shelves, old guy broke all that.”

“Can’t wait to see it, I know I’ll love it.” You could hear his anxious pause before he said, “While we’re on news, um, as far as real estate goes, I bought us a house too.”

“Another one?”

“Well, got a call from a buddy from my real estate days with a tip. I have a buyer for the old one, Chris has been helping me pack, why I was distracted. It really is perfect I know you’ll love it, I love having the three of us for Holidays but my place was kind of small. And this is going to sort of come out upside down, but Chris finished his degrees and now he’s been hired with a good place and he put funds down on a house of his own closer to Mum and Dad, but his roof caved in.”

“Oh, he okay?”

“Oh he wasn’t there, it was another deluge over a week and the beams gave out, some error on the build code, but he’s having that replaced. And I moved near Oxford to be by him in the first place so knowing he was close to finishing I have been looking at places close by too and with the funds coming in I was able to pick something more spacious. So I settled on the big place Mum has always wanted a tour of it and the owner I bought it from was be glad to be rid of it for people trying to buy it to tear it down for more flats. Moved in yesterday and while his place is being fixed up him and his girl are moving in until the new roof is built.”

“They’re moving in together now?”

“Yes, she’s already been talking to her doctor about some hormone shots for a baby. He’s picking a ring and they’re going to pick a date for a court ceremony to make everything official.”

“So what happens if she gets pregnant and they’re still at your place.”

“Our place, and it shouldn’t take long he was quoted a month to mend the damage, they know it’s our place and she’s not too fond of the size of it, shares your cleaning urges when she gets stressed. Their place is the same size as my old place. I really do know you’d love it, blue shingles and grey slate tiles outside, covered section on the drive right in front of the door. Two stories, tons of room, and,” he said pausing to wet his lips, “It’s got the perfect room for a nursery upstairs overlooking the back garden.”

That had your grin creep out, “I suppose we’ll have to trade pictures when you get here then.”

“Yes we will,” he hummed happily then asked, “There’s room for little ones in the brownstone?”

“8 bed 7 bath, 7500 ft, it’s got a small yard about the size of my apartment but we can always take trips to the ranch in Texas or out to England as they get bigger and need more space.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an 8 bedroom anything in New York before.”

“It is out there, as far as what we’re getting, I’ve seen 14 million for penthouses or town houses with no more than 4 beds and two are usually Murphy beds to share as office space. But it is going to be amazing, I do have to warn you I also found a room fit for a nursery.”

“Thank you, for doing that, I know we haven’t settled on a time frame for when babies might be coming but I do like that we have a place for them to have as their own. And eight bedrooms is so much room.”

“Some aren’t as spacious as they sound, and dad took out some walls on the main floor especially which just would have gouged the living space. So now we have room. But I have seen where we could do bunk beds, not like wobbly metal ones but where they are built against the wall with shelves around them for books and such, then there’s space to play. I did pick carpet for the bedrooms and the room I picked for your study.”

“I have a study?” He asked excitedly.

“Yes, it’s on the top floor, great lighting and we’re going to add shelves and a desk if you like that you can pick or armchairs for a sort of deflating zone for you if you need it. It has its own fireplace.”

“Perfection. What about you? No study for you?”

“There’s this little odd room on the main floor to the left as you walk in, runs behind the stairs, I thought it could be like our mini library,”

“Oh that’s fantastic.”

“Yes, not too big to entertain there but it’d be nice to hid in, stash some big armchairs and just cuddle up, maybe have a wardrobe for blankets and pillows.”

“That’d be amazing, and I truly love the carpet idea.”

“Good, I picked a sort of crème color, then we can have runners and rugs for halls. It’s got new ac and heating and fireplaces have all been repaired to be wood burning but winter, it’s gonna get chilly and I did not want door to roof wood floors, especially if we’re gonna have kids playing on it. I don’t really care if it gets stained in their rooms and we could always toss a rug on top of a designated play area anyways, something more colorful, the guys after the show were glad for a tour and I thought they might be iffy on carpet since most people are crazy over wood.”

“I love carpet, crème is a great choice, there’s something therapeutic about vacuuming, and wood floors things can just ghost around when you sweep it.”

“Exactly, oh, and dad talked about getting a puppy.” That had him chuckle, “He misses our old dog Jet. We’ll train it so it won’t destroy anything. Do you have a preference on paints or wallpapers?”

“Not particularly, I love the choices you picked for your apartment, you can choose what you like and I’ll love it.”

“I just know we’ll have to paint everything, there’s huge chunks of replaced drywall, he broke the counters and cabinets in the kitchen,” that had him scoff, “And he tore the damn cabinets off the wall, all of them,”

“Arsehole.”

“Exactly, and he tore out the pipes and wiring, smashed tile flooring and these beautiful milky glass panels that are in these half walls dividing the open living and dining areas.”

“There’s more than one dining area?”

“Yes, mini kitchens for our floor and dad’s and in the basement. Ooh, and we have laundry chutes! The basement steps are sort of dangerous for hamper hauling, you know those spiral staircases they have in old castles, all from this pretty wood, pretty but dangerous for hauling. Oh, and Dad’s going to add barn door gates to the stairs like at the big house at the ranch to add to the prep on munchkins.”

“I love it already. I am all for hurling dirty laundry into a hole in the wall to hide it from guests. And I do love those gates. Have you picked where furniture goes from our places?”

“No, not yet. I sort of want to see it when the floors are done, then when I get back I can help dad start to prime the walls so we won’t see the patches, ooh and Liv is gifting us the twin to her tree branch chandelier for the chain by the door, and also I found a pirate ship one for the nursery.”

“Pirate ship,” he chuckled out, “Sounds lovely, pirate theme then?”

“My mom had some Peter Pan sketches for mine, thought it might be a nice theme.”

“Now that will be phenomenal to build that up. Truly. We could double it here if you like, I absolutely love it.”

Sheepishly you smiled at your food you’d been taking sparing bites of between turns talking at your place on the floor in the living room glad he didn’t think this was weird to have planned this already. It wasn’t hard to find out why tears were threatening to fill your eyes, the tie to your mom you missed even without truly knowing her yourself, knowing that she would have given anything to have been here right now to plan a wedding and nursery with you to raise your babies in. “Thank you.”

“I absolutely understand, my mother is a formidable force in my life, who out of tradition will be insisting on a stuffed turtle in the room, anywhere, but there must be a turtle. And she could find the best curtain material for a Peter Pan theme with blankets galore.”

“My aunt makes these plushy pillows shaped like animals, we could have that in the story corner or something.”

“I love story corner idea, I can see Mum loading up on the classics now.”

“We have ample copies out at the ranch, still have mine, we could have a whole section of shelves for the kids sorted by age. And those time traveling tree house book series and the Junie B Jones series and Madeline and Suess, Giving Tree and that Sidewalk book.”

“And we have to add the Beatrix Potter books too to go with the Hobbit.”

“They will be getting their own illustrated copy for their room, it will be read often, trust me.” That had him chuckle deeply beaming with tears in is eyes planning all this. Wiping a tear away he heard you say, “We haven’t um, we haven’t talked about, for the wedding, last names. Liv was talking about how she did that for hers.”

“I have no qualms taking your last name,” he blurted out parting your lips, “Honestly I don’t they’ll still be part of my family and Chris’ kids can keep the name, your dad took your mum’s name and I would really love to do that for you. No one can say my name right anyways,” that had you giggle and wipe away your own tear.

“Richard Crispin Pearisiyiae?”

“Sounds flawless doesn’t it?” He said with a smile, “People get married all the time in the industry and I can keep my stage name. If they try to give me trouble for my passport I can hyphenate it for the pencil pushing jerks. I am not letting you give up that name, however chauvinist that hints to I love you and I won’t do that to you. It will never be something my family takes personally ever either, I swear that to you I’ve talked to my parents about it when I said I was going to propose.”

“You do realize your name is more vanilla than mine is, it’s a lot of vowels together.”

“I’m prepared, I’ve practiced signing it already,” that had you giggle again, “Primary school all over again full journal with hearts and all signing our names in hearts.”

“This new place of ours, how much work does it need?” You said with a smile trying not to focus on that tear drawing image of his thoughtful promise.

“Surprisingly all it needs is a water heater. It almost seems too good, I’ve been over every inch and had people to check the pipes and everything else. So far all I can find is this obnoxious bird nested on a corner of the back porch cover.”

“Well we can handle that, give them a nice little house,”

“So encourage it, fair plan,” he teased making you giggle again.

“Win them over, kill with kindness.”

“Ah, so end goal the bird is dead, I’m all in.”

Pt 42

#Richard Armitage x Reader OC #House Tour #Back to Canada #Big Plans

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katsukikitten · 4 years

Text

Weighted

A/N @zbops for you bb as per your request. I hope that this lives up to at least half of your expectations. Thank you so much for supporting me and for encouraging me. Enjoy it and may it help you just a bit more. I send my love XOXO Kitten 💋

It was not unlike you to occasionally stay up late into the night. Late enough to see the moon rise high in the inky black sky watching the constellations move by at a lazy pace.

But to lie awake long enough to greet the sun was abnormal.

At least it was supposed to be abnormal now. Before it was your normal to lose sleep as fat droplets slid from unblinking eyes. Thoughts consuming you with nothing and everything at once.

You thought yourself better.

Not cured, not immune, but well.

Fine and level headed for once.

Yet here you lie again unable to will your exhausted body to sleep as you replay failures from pasted years.

Like an old film one must study to improve but every time it is rewatched another haunting flaw jumps out.

And there is nothing you can do to right your wrong.

Frustrated tears well in your eyes now as you watch the clock for the second week in a row burn an obnoxious 3 am into your retina.

Furious as you thought you had put this problem in its place. That you had long ago learned how to make your demon small and to lock it away.

As with everything in life it adapted, slipping through the bars of its cage only to find itself looming over you once more. Delighting in your anguish as it exploits the coping mechanism you developed.

Turning it on its head to haunt you, to hurt you. To put you in your place as you thought you did it.

Although it knows this will be enough to pain you, it wants to do more.

Truly a petty being as it steals your voice, worming into your head just to whisper.

"Did you really think a few extra hours of training a day would make a difference? That you would suddenly be sought after as a pro hero? You could barely get an apprenticeship and look at how you're failing at that!"*

This dredges up your failure from last week, your first offical mission as apprentice.

What was supposed to be a normal patrol quickly unraveled into a full on street brawl.

You aided your hero holding down the perpetrators bodies with your quirk, straining to keep them in place.

There were tenty or so overpowered drug enhanced strength quirks fighting the pull you placed on them.

Your arm pangs now, reminding you of how it threatened to snap beneath the own weight of your quirk.

"Useless." Its laugh echoes in your ear.

Your temper flares, fist smashing the small black box that mocks you with the time before you rise. Dressing into your training clothes, sliding on your weighted vest as your bruises groan against it. You push your already consistent 1.5 times Earth's gravity pull to a consistent 2.5 for now.

Hands grab for your phone and headphones before fumbling to find your key in your amassed returning symptoms. Throwing piles of clothes, books, and homework onto other piles of long neglected items.

Irritation mixed with a twinge of panic sets in as you look for your FOB that accesses not only the gym you are so desperate to use but also it accesses your dorm building as your dorm room key rests on a chain around your neck. Your memory works overtime as you wonder where it could have been placed.

Was it it Kirishima's room?

Or Bakugou's?

Who's room did the three of you spend the night in last?

You cannot remember, time all runs together much like a watercolor painting caught in the rain.

Colors bleed and the world dips into sun bleached greys as you think of the two of them.

Had you even texted either of them good night?

When was the last time you told them you loved them?

You pick up your phone, bloomed bruised hand winking back at you before the phone obliterates into metal and glass confetti at your feet.

"Fuck." You hiss having forgotten that you had the gravitational pull around your hands as well. Damning yourself for being so careless although you are still careless enough to walk over the shrapnel with bare feet.

It is then you find your key FOB lying in the middle of the chaotic room which you snatch greedily before locking your post nuclear bomb room away.

And with that the thoughts of ash blonde and ruby red hair.

You slink on guilty feet in the shadows of the hall, the moon your only witness as you make your way outside.

The air is cool agaisnt your heated skin, hinting that fall is almost over. That winter will be sure to rear its ugly head and harshly at that.

As if to prove a point an icy wind cuts through your skin deep into your bones, you sigh out upping the force on your body.

The gym is a short walk from the dorm, the night caressing you with soft fingers as it guides you to the thick metal door.

A worried gulp echoes back at you as your hand hovers just before the panel. FOB just out of range to be scanned.

Last time a student was on rest probation their key could only work if Sensei scanned theirs as well.

With gritted teeth you bring the key to kiss smooth plastic. For a moment you're sure it will flash red but when it beeps with a flash of glorious green you cannot help the small smile that spreads across your lips.

They must have forgotten to add those restrictions to yours, that or they didn't think you would disobey your physical therapist and other Sensei.

It doesn't take long before you're sweating.

And the more you swing the harder you make the gravitational pull on your body. The floor groans from the pressure as you push the pull towards you beyond limits for a recovering body, 3.5 times Earth's normal pull. Sweat slides down a bruised nape and drips into now stinging eyes.

You do little to alleviate the pain or sweat that is trying so hard to blind you.

Another swing of your weighted fists has your bones creaking, muscles burning while you have half a mind to add more sand to your wrist and ankle bands.

Hell maybe even more to your vest although it presses against your sternum harshly with each step, threatening to snap a rib. You begin to lose the concentration on the areas you want to afflict as the incresed gravitational begins to spread out. The floor groans harder depsite being designed to withstand many powerful quirks.

A hairline fraction fissures through the smooth wood, attempting to snake up the cinderblock wall.

"None of this is going to change anything. You will still be..."

A heated punch hits the dummy hard, causing it to skid but you advance without letting up, snarling.

"Don't fucking say it."

Another hit to the dummy and you've got it cornered agaisnt the wall but still the voice goes on, a smile dancing along its tone as it purrs.

*"Worthless"*

You begin to jab agaisnt the dummy with enough momentum and force that the padding begins to fall away from its "face" revealing unforgiving metal beneath.

Metal that you pound into anyway.

Metal that warps for a moment from being too close to your pull, still your barrage of fists and feet cease to let up.

You follow up a punch with a round house kick increasing the force on your body subconsciously. As you rotate your vest slams heavily into your ribs and an audible crack echoes around the room.

"Fuck!" You huff slamming your foot against the cool surface, the dummy implodes as you land on your feet.

In that moment the room pops from the pressure as you let up the force. The floor creaks, almost breathing as it returns to normal although now heavily warped. Suddenly you feel as light as a feather. As if at any moment you could float up to the ceiling like a lazy balloon only to get tangled in the harsh overhead lights.

Crimson splatters the floor from your knuckles and spit, hand feathering over your ribs. Sliding beneath dampened fabric, smoothing over already bruised skin. You're sure it will only worsen now that you count, one, two.

Three fucking cracked ribs. Your breaths come out in heavy puffs all echoing back to you as you right your self, eyes seeking out another dummy, ignoring the pain begging you to stop.

But feeling pain was better than feeling that weighted void in your chest.

As if you were a super nova that imploded, pulling everything around you into the darkened abyss.

Turning it all into hollowed nothingness.

The first sparring dummy you spy seems to look at you funny, you rear your fist but before it can make contact a growl cuts out.

"You've done enough little one."

His voice dips low, borderline pissed. It is a warning and one you must obey as the air permeates with salted caramel.

But you're in no mood to deal with Katsuki, no mood to be submissive, obedient or anything relative to feeling at all.

Regardless if it's clearly for your own good.

All you wanted, needed, was for everything to fade.

And maybe to black.

But it doesn't instead he advances hand finding your wrist with a sharp grip, that softens only to assess. Turning your wrist this way and that with heated calculating eyes, before he rips off your weighted vest with a growl. Lifting your shirt to reveal blush black painted beneath your smooth skin. His finger prods your ribs and when he counts them in his head he snarls. You watch his muscles twitch as he holds himself. Muscles that had grown twice their size since first year and yet you were left unchanging.

"Training is futile, you'll always be puny."

You rip your wrist free, teeth bared at an already snarling Bakugou.

"Not. Now." You misread his actions beneath the initial rage. He is concerned but all you see is punishment in his eyes

Disappointment.

You look over Katsuki's sculpted shoulder to see Kirishima waiting at the door with glistening ruby eyes that seem to be torn.

Who does he support? How can he defuse this?

"You're fucking hurt." The blonde bites out venom.

"I'm fucking fine. Drop it!" You shove past him slamming your shoulder into his. He wants so badly to reach for you. To yank you back to him so you can look him in his angry scarlet eyes.

"Oh so the blood on the floor means you're fine? Your cracked ribs and bruised to fuck all body means you're fine?!" His temper shows with deadly pops that dance along his skin.

You weight him and Kirishima down gently as you leave, hoping it slows them down long enough for you to return to the safety of your dorm room.

Katuski snarls as he walks with leaded feet, as if walking through mud under the influence of a muscle relaxer. But he and Kirishima have trained with you plenty of times, not to mention they are exposed to your increased pull.

"Maybe we should give them sometime? They are upset, babe." Kirishima offers only to be met with a glowering glare.

"I've tried listening to you, I've tried it your way and look what has happened." A snarl so low that Kirishima feels his gut twist.

"But..."

"But what?" He turns on his lover quickly, "We gave them two weeks of no contact. This is clearly a symptom we need to bisect before they kill themselves over some stupid fucking training."

Kirishima can do nothing but follow as Bakugou stalks you up the steps that you stomp.

You're seething, steam rising from your skin with each heavy breath as your vision blurs between rational thought and white hot rage.

Rage that is always so easy to give into. Especially when your only other option is immobilzing sadness. Before you know it Bakugou is barking at you from the jamb of the door while your ruby haired boyfriend presses gently against his back.

Trying to remind him that his own irate reaction could further the situation, Bakugou feels it but it is lost as you strip to change. You rip the velcro from your wrists, dropping the fifty pounds weights with a harsh thud. The floor rattles the items on your desk and even the window before you move onto the hundred pound weights on your ankles.

Grumbling as you think of your two hundred and fifty pound vest abandoned in the gym. How hard had Bakugou torn it from your strong yet sleek frame?

Would you have to take it to the support class?

You strip your shirt and then your pants as two sets of red eyes gauge different reactions.

Rubies widen, shining with the threat of tears. While blood scarlet narrow with burning, hot, wrath.

Katsuki knew you were bruised, he knew you had those broken ribs and he knew you were set out of rehabilitation probation due to injuries but he did not know the extent of them.

And how the fuck could he? What with you locking yourself away in your room, refusing to text them, refusing to eat the meals cooked and left for you.

Refusing help as you promised you would not do.

Katsuki's warning signs of blowing do not go unnoticed, a strong hand wraps around his hip. Squeezing, hoping to convey the softness the ash blonde so desperately needs.

It works, at least as far as his quirk goes. Bakugou Katsuki could erupt in more than one way.

"What. The. FUCK?!" He goes to take a step in but Kirishima keeps his grip tight. But that does not stop the tongue lashing you get. Bakugou takes a large slow breath, as you once taught him and snorts it out like a dragon.

"You promised you would stop doing this..." His voice, once soothing now grating your last nerve, "You fucking promised, damn it."

Kirishima gives another small squeeze before piping up.

"We are just worried about you, love. Very worried." His voice cracks at the end, causing Katsuki to look over his shoulder.

The tears well faster over dancing garnets.

From the weight of the guilt something in you finally snaps. The room blurs as you subconsciously pull the force to you, items slowly crushing beneath the weight as you lunge for the first thing you can wrap burning hands on.

Your desk chair to which your hurl while screaming

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Your hot headed boyfriend catches the chair with ease, exploding it on impact.

With an angry enough blast that the paint on the ceiling and walls peel.

Oh if Bakugou wasn't pissed at you before he was now.

And not angry over the fact that you've thrown something at him.

But over the simple fact that you were hurting in deadly silence. So badly suffering that you cannot even rationally express yourself anymore.

And more over he is pissed he has let it get this far.

The glass of your window shatters behind you, both from your exertion and his explosion pulling you into the here and now.

The room spirals as quickly as you do, suddenly forgetting how to breath. Gasping as a fish does out of water before you fall to your knees. The two men rush to you, fearing you'll lose yourself in your panic. Two sets of strong arms wrap around you both crushing you between them.

"You're okay." Kirishima soothes, "You're okay. Just breathe."

Nails bite into toned flesh though you are unsure which unfortunate mail is receiving the half blood moons as tears prick your eyes. Falling towards the Earth as much as you wish they wouldn't. Your stomach lurches, your side screams but it does not stop the racks of sobs that tremor through your body.

You come undone in the worst way before the very two men you wanted, needed to be strong in front of. There was already a detrimental gap between your development and theirs. In every fucking aspect you could think of.

Muscle mass.

Durability.

Capability.

The list could go on.

After some time Bakugou coos to you.

"Now tell me what's wrong."

Kirishima places his head between your shoulder blades, reaching out for Bakugou's hand.

"I...I'm behind. I... I cannot even train right." Tears slip over ruddy cheeks that Katuski gently wipes away.

"Behind how?" Kirishima prompts, letting lazy circles trace your stomach.

"On my first mission I get put on recovery suspension, I worked so so so *hard* to even get that hero to agree to take me on and yet I fucked it all up!" Another frustrated sob that has you hiccuping for a moment. You watch Bakugou's face turn to stone as he tries to calm himself.

"I almost died on one of my first big missions. I sat out for a long time, this was a little bit before you transferred." Kirishima admits, "Resting and PT made me stronger."

"Hell I was behind at one point too. I couldn't even fucking pass the provisional!" Katsuki growls at the thought.

"Neither could Todoroki-kun." Kirishima adds.

"But you three...you three are strong. I'm so....weak." With that Bakugou snaps.

"You think I can run with a two hundred fifty pound weight on my chest and keep pace with Iida's jog? Do you think Kirishima could hold down twenty fucking tweaked out villians at once?" His voice is gruff but his hands are soft as he lifts your chin, purposefully making you hold his gaze as he speaks, "Answer me, little one."

"N...no." You sob, Kirishima's strong arm squeezes tigher around your middle, careful to avoid your ribs, as he peppers kisses over your blackened shoulders.

"Just because your body does not reflect mine or Eijiro's does not mean you are weak. You are strong Y/N. Real fucking strong." He kisses you softly, capturing your lips tenderly as Kirishima kisses along your throat.

"Share this weight with us." Bakugou breathes out after pulling away.

"Its not weak to cry or ask for help baby." Kirishima whispers in your ear, your eyes look over your sturdy shoulder before they fall to their hands intertwined. You notice Bakugou's knuckles turning white. Had you really made them worry this much?

"Isn't that right Suki?" Eji asks, resting his chin in your shoulder. Katsuki looks at him for a long time, this man and you have helped him more than he would ever like to admit. But if this is what brought that natural magnetism about you that attracted him in the first place he'd say it

Fuck, if it brought that blinding smile of yours back to your kissable lips he'd scream if from the fucking roof.

"Yes." He lets out a shaky sigh, "Now please, please let us help you little one."

Searching his eyes you wonder if there will ever be a time when you will stop feeling this way.

When you will stop feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders over little to nothing at all.

When you will stop feeling that black hole that crawled into your chest weighing you down and making you weightless all at once.

When you will stop the haunting feeling of sadness that lingers on the fringes of your every thought, tainting every memory and moment with its shimmering darkness.

You wonder if this cancer, if this demon that has since crawled into your chest and devoured your heart whole will ever die.

Scarlet eyes soften as they rove over your lovely features, strong arms support you from behind and you know what the answer is.

The answer is no.

It will never die, never cease to exist, never leave you alone. It will stay with you until you lie motionless forever and even then it will crawl into your casket cradling your cooling skin.

But you will not stop fighting.

Cannot stop fighting because of the small sliver of a feeling you have now.

The love that resiliently blooms despite the pressure, despite the darkness, despite it being trampled over and fucking over.

You know that these two men are not your worth nor or they your reason for being and even if, Kamisama forbid, you three broke up, you would fight on.

Tooth and nail keeping this demon under the ball of your steel toed boot.

Because in the end, after it is all said in done you will do anything to feel this.

This hope and love that radiates from within. You sigh out a shaky sigh, releasing the tension of your shoulders and the constant pressure you've kept on yourself since that mission, your shoulders sag from relief.

"Thank you, thank you for baring this with me." You squeeze their arms respectively as you speak to them both at once, "I love you."

They speak in unison their two tones melding together and soothing over your skin like an ointment.

"I love you too."

#bakugou x reader #baakugo x reader #gender nuetral reader #katsuki x kirishima #kirishima x reader #bnha x reader #bnha kacchan #bnha fanfiction #kirishima x bakugo x reader #kirishima ejirou #katuski bakugou #bakugou katsuki #bakugou #katsuki bakugou #bnha bakugou #bakugou imagine #kirishima #kirishima imagine

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liquidminecraft · 4 years

Text

End Update Ideas

The End as a dimension in Minecraft is in dire need of an update, and I’d like to throw about some ideas and suggestions as to what that could include.

Dragon

Firstly, outside of the End. The Overworld and Nether need to have things that hint at the existence of the Ender Dragon. This new archaeology mechanic appears to have that as a pottery piece, but it needs more. A player that has never heard of Minecraft before should be able to become aware of the End, of the Ender Dragon, and that the Ender Dragon should be destroyed. On that note too, while story and Minecraft don’t really mesh that well together, we need some kind of motivation to kill the Ender Dragon so it doesn’t feel like we’re barging into something’s home to murder it. The Strongholds could be made a bit more inspiring than just a dark hall infested by the generic darkness spawning gang.

As for the Ender Dragon fight itself, I think it’s fine right now. I suppose the platform you spawn on when you enter the End should be tweaked to always spawn on the island instead of at a distance forcing you to make a mad scramble bridge-making exercise to the island.

World Generation

The islands of the End need a serious overhaul. Right now they are nothing more than just white blobs. They really need to take advantage of the floating islands thing and have far more vertical variation. Force a player to build towers up to the next one, or to feather-fall down. There also should be some cave generation inside the islands. There should be some new blocks added to the generation to break up the monotony. Firstly I think gravel and packed ice could fit in here and there, though maybe some new blocks as well.

End Biomes

Like the Nether Update, the End’s landscape will best be broken up with the introduction of new biomes. The world generation should work so that each island has its own biome without sharing. Here are a few suggestions of mine:

End Barrens: The old End, spiced up with a new worldgen a few extra blocks as mentioned above. Also, the central island with the End Dragon can remain untouched. Small patches of chorus trees can still show up, but reduced.

Chorus Forest: A very lush biome. Several varieties of chorus tree grow here. Dominating the islands are giant trees at least as large as the obsidian spikes in the dragon fight, with roots spreading throughout the entire biome. The usual variety fill the biome, and there are smaller shrublike plants. While the regular trees can be smelted into purpur bricks, this giant tree provides you with purple planks, a deeper purple than the Crimson Forest planks. There are mods that add a purple grass to the End, but this looks hideous. A more vine-like effect on the Endstone would be better. I’m on the fence on whether the forest should just rest only on the top of the islands or dangle from the bottom as well. There should definitely be two varieties of forest, purple and that teal of the End Portal frame, so maybe these two forests can fill those two roles. The growth spreads to the island caves in any case. Also, since it’s called a “Chorus” forest the background noises need to be an alien choir.

Ice Caverns: These islands have very large caves, which are filled with ice and water. These caverns have their own little dangers, but Endermen will never spawn here providing a bit of an End oasis. Their exteriors are poorly distinguished from the End Barrens; you have to go digging for them.

Some additional ideas could come from different shapes of islands. Thin wafer islands, shattered islands, stuff like that. I have a couple of more ideas that revolve around certain blocks or mobs, which I’ll elaborate on when I get to them.

Generated Structures

Gravel bridges: I’ve always loved the gravel ledges that spawn around the Nether that fall down if you disturb them. So I feel we need them to spawn as a deliberate dangerous terrain features. Large structures composed purely of gravel will sometimes span the gap between End islands. The slightest disturbance, such as an Enderman picking up a piece, will send it plummeting into the void.

Enderman Settlements: Places similar to the Bastions in which the Endermen live. Maybe the End Cities could be repurposed, I don’t know. One idea I had is that they would live in much larger structures made from hollowed islands. Or maybe they’re overtly artificial islands. Have some mechanics to allow for peaceful interaction with my Enderboys.

Ruined Nether Portals: Similar to the ones in the Overworld, these portals were used by the Endermen in their first ventures to the Nether before they could do it individually. Built taller than Overworld portals, and have Endstone bricks instead of regular stone. The Nether landscape spreading back through is Warped Forest themed, with the Nylium and even some Warped Fungus trees, since that’s the Nether biome they live in.

Ruined Summoning Circles: Shattered obsidian spikes that clearly formed a structure similar to the central End island. I took this from an End mod that managed to get something worthwhile in.

Blocks and Items

Not every block, but some key ones. I’m more imaginative with landscapes and mobs than mechanics.

Purpur but Teal: Maybe called Turqur or something. Unlike Purpur which is baked (which is pretty cool and unique honestly) I feel this should be an ore to mine out. The End is sorely lacking that right now. Like Purpur it’s just decorative, but hey we need a teal brick.

Chiseled Blocks: Chisled variants of Endstone, Purpur, and the new teal one, because I love the pictures chisled blocks always have.

Purple and Teal wood: Like I mentioned before. Logs and planks and all that.

Some kind of leaf block: For the trees. I had an idea they’d be some sort of metallic structure, like natural solar panels or something. No clue other than that.

Mercury: A third liquid for the game, since Endermen hate water and the End is too cold for lava. Lots of mods add some sort of purple lava, but I feel something more real was in order. It should have some unique flow mechanics. You get a poison effect if you swim in it. Rivers of it flow in the forest biomes, and maybe it can have a swamp biome dedicated to it with large lakes and weird End pads floating on it to step on.

Mobs

Endermen: Have a severely reduced spawning. Currently they swarm the End milling about doing nothing, but since they’re a sapient species (we assume) they should act as such. They still swarm the central island, but in the outer islands they spawn only in little patrols like Piglins do in the Nether, and in larger groups in specialised End Settlements.

End slime: Since there’s Magma Cubes in the Nether acting as Nether-slimes, there should be an End equivalent too. I feel they should be like balloons; they start as the smallest form and grow larger and deadlier until the largest one just dies.

Undead Endermen: I’ve always been fascinated by the undead afflicting different Minecraft species; humans, villagers, piglins, and I feel the Endermen should not be immune. I’m leaning towards zombie Endermen spawning in the darkest caves of the lowest islands.

Enderswarms: Some kind of flying insect about the size of the player. Have a “hive” biome dedicated all to themselves where they build their nests, introducing new kinds of blocks like some sort of Endwax. Can also spawn in little hunting parties across the End, and are always hostile. I don’t want to imply they’re a sapient species, just complicated.

A passive flyer: Like how you have the Strider to traverse Magma seas, there should be something you can tame in the End to ride and fly about. It should be very difficult to tame. I’m picturing something like a squid, but made deliberately different from the Ghasts.

Ice predator: An aquatic mob that spawns in the ice caves biome I mentioned. Lurks in the water and is super dangerous, just to keep you on your toes inside those caves.

I suppose Endmites should be able to spawn naturally. Every biome that I’ve mentioned should have a unique mob to inhabit it and make it feel like a living place.

#minecraft #the end #enderman #update ideas

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the-ghost-and-the-writer · 5 years

Text

Better with Three-Maria Hill X Female Reader X Natasha

It’s your one year anniversary, so of course you want to celebrate it in one particular way.

Sorry this took so long, I didn’t have a clue how to write f/f, let alone add another /f into it

Requested

18+

Fandom: Marvel

Ship: Maria Hill/Female Reader/Natasha Romanov|Black Widow

Characters: Maria Hill, Natasha Romanov, Female Reader

Word Count: 4, 113

Warnings: Brief mention of violence, NSFW, Swearing

NSFW Content: F/F/F Sex (Oral (Reader receiving), Sexy Toys (Natasha Receiving)

You didn’t know how, in a tower filled with people who had abilities most would only dream of having, it could be so easy to hide a relationship like this. Especially with Friday’s omnipotence, the way that Tony and Pepper could read people like a three panel comic, Wanda’s mindreading abilities, and the fact that you really weren’t too good at being subtle, it was a miracle you got to one month hiding this, let alone one year. To be fair, it was the Avengers; there were more important things to focus on, like missions and the odd attempted invasion of Earth and their own personal lives.

One year, you thought giddily as you waited in the elevator to get to your floor. One year to the day, in fact, you had made a decision that only made everything better. When you finally got to your floor, you hurried out and scurried off to your room “Friday, is anyone in my room?” You asked with a smile just before you got to the door. “Miss Hill has been waiting for you for a few minutes.” “Thank you.” You smiled before entering the room and seeing Maria perched at the foot of your bed, messing about on her phone. When the door slid closed, she looked up with a large smile. “Hey there brawler.” She sighed when she saw you, dropping her phone to her side “How was it today?” You shrugged and advanced to her so she could wrap her arms around your waist and look up at you as your hands fell to her shoulders. “Same as usual. Bruce is still trying to make up with Big Guy, and Steve thought we should try to teach him basic self-defence if it doesn’t work out for a bit.” “Did he let you at him?” You laughed and shook your head. “With my fists and his dodging skills? I’d kill the poor fucker. You know how heavy-handed I am.” Maria pouted and took your right hand in both of hers. She manipulated your fingers to curl over her palm so she could press her lips to the mid-section of your fingers. “I think your hands are very gentle.” She smiled up at you cheekily and you rolled your eyes. “Get here, dork.” You sighed and bent down slightly to kiss her, just to stop the little tangent you were sure was inevitable if you left her lips unoccupied. Every single time you’d mention your hands and your abilities, she’d get this way

Since it had first developed, you had a love-hate relationship with your power. Sure, it sounds really cool to be able to punch through almost literally anything with little-to-no pain, but it also meant that you had to be careful any time you tightened any muscle since they could become as solid as steel; that meant hugs, and handshakes, and holding things. At least you could control it somewhat now. It was Wanda that had ‘found’ you, really. The streets were being ravaged by some alien robots or whatever, you hadn’t cared about the specifics, and while Scarlet Witch was fighting off a few on her own with a bit of difficulty, you had run headfirst into that crowd of metal and punched one of them through a building with hardly any effort and no hesitation, a few of his buddies following after him. Soon afterwards, after having Tony run tests on you to see exactly what the hell made you punch like that, you’d met the Avengers, been (partially) accepted with a glowing recommendation from Wanda, gotten close to everyone. The rest was history.

Maria was always so responsive to you, especially when you kissed her slowly and made sure to pay close attention to all the things that you knew would make her melt for you. Her hands came down to your hips as you slowly guided her to lie on the bed with your hand at her back. She coiled her leg around yours to knock your balance so you almost collapsed onto her. You only just caught yourself in time so you didn’t slam your body into hers, starting to laugh softly and needing to pull away. The grin that Maria gave you didn’t calm yours down at all “Are you trying to cause an injury?” You chuckled and she shrugged softly. “Just eager.” She sighed, trailing her fingers across your hair “It’s our anniversary.” “I know.” Quickly, you leaned down to kiss her briefly again “Happy one year.” Your girlfriend smiled widely. “Happy one year.” She echoed back and pulled you down to kiss you again, just as gentle as before. You had to pull away, however, when a smile spread across your lips. Maria sighed softly as you pressed your forehead against her shoulder and set into silent giggles "You're thinking about that vine, aren't you?" With a tiny laugh, you nodded against her shoulder and she rolled her eyes "I'm in love with a dork." "Just a bit." Then you started kissing her neck as an apology for the inability you had to have a serious moment without thinking back to the many 3am vine compilation video binge sessions you had "I love you too though." "You better." Then, with her leg still wrapped around yours, she pushed up and turned the two of you so you were below her with her hands braced on either side of your head. The movement pulled your lips from her neck and she took that to move for another kiss. This one, you didn't mess up. Your left hand came to her jaw, your fingertips brushing against the nape of her neck as she gave a soft bite to your bottom lip while pulling away for just a second. She tilted her head to the side and deepened the kiss yet again. You whined against her lips and curled your right hand around her hip to tug her even closer "Scootch up." She muttered when she pulled away, unbuttoning her shirt as you shifted back onto the bed properly. You pulled your tank top off in one swift movement and threw it across the room, which made Maria stop in her efforts with two buttons left just so she could look at you. "What?" You asked with a smile. "It's so hot when you do that." "You're just saying that because you're horny." You muttered and Maria nodded slightly as she finished with her shirt and dropped it to the floor before hopping up onto the bed. She took two steps then fell to her knees, straddling you, as she spoke. "Maybe. What are you going to do about it?" You hooked your index fingers under the straps of her bra and tugged her closer so you could kiss her again. Your hands shamelessly went almost instantly to cup her ass and pull her further into your lap while she trailed her fingers down across your clavicle before softly placing them at your neck.

"I swear, the others are more trouble than they're worth." Natasha sighed as she walked into your room, dropping her shoes at the side of the door. You didn't move from kissing Maria, almost as though you hadn't realised she was there "For all the times Clint just goes AWOL, you'd think..." She cut herself off as she took in the sight on the bed "Really? You couldn't wait?" "Sorry, baby." Maria said as she pulled away from you. "She started talking about my hands; I had to stop her somehow." You pouted before pressing a few kisses to Maria's neck, specifically down the path of a vein that made her groan "You can catch up." Natasha looked over the two of you and then nodded once. "I guess I can." She sighed before taking her shirt off with one hand and crawling onto the bed.

Her fingers tangled in Maria's hair and guided her head back so they could kiss. Your lips carried on with their attention to Maria's neck, sucking small marks lower down her neck in areas that would be easily hidden if she zipped her jacket up fully for once. The lower you got, the more she arched against you and raised up to give you more places to kiss and bite. One of your hands trailed around her side to her stomach, drawing circles upwards until you cupped your fingers around one of her breasts. Natasha seemed to have the same idea; her fingers knocking against yours which made her break from the kiss and laugh softly. You pulled back to look at her with a little smile, kissing her for just a second "Sorry we didn't wait for you." You muttered but she just shook her head to it. "I'd have done the same." She said before bringing you in again, pulling away just as you tried to push forwards "And I'm much more patient than you." "I'm not patient." Maria said, a frown on her face "Can we please get back to celebrating? Please?" You shared a look with Natasha before swapping roles; you dragged Maria down into a kiss again while Nat focused on her neck, giving her identical marks on the opposite side to where your attentions had been.

Natasha's free hand, the one that wasn't preoccupied on Maria's breast, moved gently up the agent’s back, making her shudder, before making quick work of the clasp of her bra. In a second, due to the efforts of all three of you, it was across the room and Maria gasped as you and Natasha returned your touch to her now bare chest. She didn't seem to be able to deal with having idle hands any longer as her fingers tugged blindly at the knot of your workout pants. When she only succeeded in knocking her hands against her stomach, the knot unrelenting, she whined and pulled away from you to see what she was doing, pushing Natasha's head away when she only served to distract her more. "Want some help, darling?" Nat asked with a smile, teasing Maria’s nipple between her fingers while you were more set on tracing a spiral across her puckered skin. "No, let her figure it out." You tried not to laugh, especially with the glare that Maria set you with. "It's not too late for me to get rid of you, you know." That's what made you laugh, how seriously she said it, and you cupped her face so gently in your hands that it almost made her glare falter. "You would if you didn't love me. Gerroff, then we can get everything out of the way." Maria moved off you so you could easily undo the knot and tug your pants off to drop them beside the bed, while Maria didn't even bother with buttons before shedding her own trousers.

You cried out when Natasha gripped your ankles and tugged you to lie down on the bed properly before she crawled over you "Hi, sweetheart." She smiled and kissed you deeply before you could even think to reply "Today has been so unfair." She muttered against your lips "All I've wanted to do is kiss you. Fucking team bonding bullshit." "You can do a lot more than kiss me now, baby." You reminded her and the smile she gave was almost predatory before surging downwards instantly and latching her mouth around your right breast. Maria lay beside you and took your hand, pressing kisses across every section of your fingers with a look in her eyes that instantly got you suspicious "Say a single thing about my hands, I swear to god." You muttered breathlessly when Natasha flicked her tongue over the quickly hardening bud of your nipple before blowing a focused breath over it. “I wasn’t going to say a thing.” Maria smiled softly, though you were sure that she wanted to so gave her a look “Well, I was going to say-” You covered her mouth with your hand to stop her before she even started. Natasha looked up at you and rolled her eyes as she moved her attentions to your other breast. “Don’t.” You muttered and she licked your palm, making you scrunch your nose up and draw your hand away “Gross.” “Why do you think I’m gross? You know where I’ve been.” “Exactly.” You cried out suddenly as Nat bit you a bit harsher than she had done before "Nat." You whined and she looked up at you as she licked across the reddening mark around your nipple as an apology. "You two talk too much." She said for an excuse, with a shrug, before looking away from your eyes and kissing down your stomach.

Her lips made a path across your waist, across the outline of your panties, and sometimes let her tongue peak out against your skin. As she curled the fingers of one hand under the only scrap of fabric you had on, her short nails just barely scratching against your hip, the other tapped your thigh twice as a sign for you to lift up. When you did, it took hardly a second before your panties were across the room and Natasha put herself between your thighs with her hands underneath your body. Two fingers of her right hand stroked up across your slit slowly, spreading apart so she could expose your clit more easily. She removed her touch just to put one of your legs over her shoulder, arm curling over your thigh and parting your intimate lips again so she could instantly swipe her tongue from the bottom of your entrance up to your clit. Craving her touch all day, on such a day like this, seemed made it feel a hundred times better than usual and your brain short-circuited as she carried on her attentions. You didn’t notice, too caught up in what your gentle assassin was doing, that Maria slid off the bed and started to shift around in one of the side-drawers. Natasha noticed, however, and her eyes met Maria’s when the brunette stood with a strap-on in her hand and a sly little smile on her face. The redhead moaned against your clit, eyes sliding closed as she lifted her hips up slightly.

Maria trailed her hand down Natasha’s back, causing her to shudder and whine. Her back arched even more when Maria was behind her and started to slowly pull her almost skin tight workout pants down her ass. The brunette hardly even pulled them down to her ankles before she started to don the harness, softly moaning herself as the textured pad on the inside of the harness settled against her clit. With a little pout, as she looked over the sight of Natasha, she absently trailed a finger up and down the length of the toy. Nat, uncharacteristically impatient tonight, tried to entice Maria into doing /anything/ by shaking her ass slowly. In return, she got a light but still shocking slap. The sound of it caused you to open your eyes and look down at your lovers. The sight was incredibly arousing, especially when Maria sent a cocky wink your way. Almost the second that she did, she was slowly working the toy into Natasha.

The feeling seemed too much for Natasha to handle while keeping busy with you. She moved away to press her forehead against your thigh as she let out a shaky breath of a moan "Боже ты мой." (Oh my god) With a smile, you reached down and stroked your hand through Nat's hair slowly. "Does it feel good, baby?" You cooed. Her responding nod was strangely cute and you almost laughed. "Oh, it's been a while since one of us fucked you, hasn't it?" "Yes." Natasha whined, as Maria's hips pressed fully against hers. Maria's nose wrinkled with her smile. Her hands trailed over the assassin's back and thighs, soothing her until she started to slowly roll her hips against the bed and kiss your inner thighs. Maria took note and the two of you shared a look over her. When her lips came up to your pussy, slowly starting to build you up to orgasm again, Maria pulled out just a little before quickly filling her again. The little moans, groans, whimpers, from Natasha as Maria set a slow pace just served to turn you on even more and you had no shame in moving against her face as she carried on eating you out so perfectly.

Soon enough, Natasha had you on the edge of orgasm. Your movements and breaths started to become more frantic, your grip on her hair tightened just enough to make her softly moan, and it seemed like your whole world had fallen away to just you and your girls "Nat, baby, make me cum." Natasha rubbed at your clit with her fingers as she pulled away to talk. "Are you close, sweetheart?" "I'm almost there, just make me cum, please, I love you so much." You came, pretty soon after, with her lips around your clit and her name leaving your throat almost as a scream.

As you were recovering, Maria took that chance to really give it to Natasha since now she had nothing to be preoccupied with. She bent over more, bracing her hands on the bed either side of Nat, and fucked her deeper and harder than before. Nat was helpless to do much else than cling on to your still slightly trembling legs and moan near incoherently. Absently, you kept your fingers carding through her hair even after you had properly calmed down from your, frankly amazing, orgasm. You took a second to admire the expressions that crossed her face and let her muffle her moans against your thigh. Eventually, you decided to shift down the bed and put your fingers under her chin to make her look at you before you kissed her softly. She melted into it eagerly and you even felt a slight smile come across her lips, the two of you lazily kissing while Maria spattered the redhead’s shoulders with kisses of her own. Natasha pulled away from the kiss for just long enough to turn her head towards Maria and mutter “Harder.” “Of course.” Maria said with a smile, almost as breathless as Natasha was. How couldn’t she oblige? With a soft chuckle and a kiss to Nat’s cheek, she seemed to almost brace herself to work your girl harder. That just made Natasha whine out a deep moan and shudder in the pleasure.

After that, she barely lasted a minute before she was warning the both of you of her impending orgasm. You held her through it, as Maria took to nuzzling at her neck. When Maria deemed her ready, she pulled out though it caused a slightly overstimulated half-whine to tumble from Natasha’s lips when the toy stroked slightly against a sensitive spot inside her. Maria didn’t even bother taking the harness off before joining the two of you properly on the bed again. You looked over to her with a slightly amused smile at the sight “Did you cum yet, Ri?” Maria shook her head dismissively. “Not just yet. But we’ve got all night, right?” “Hear her, Nat?” You laughed softly “Maria thinks we should spend the entire night just fucking, not going out and celebrating another way.” “Sounds fine by me.” Natasha purred, turning onto her back and reaching up to trail her fingers across your jawline “Unless you really want to do something else.” The look she shot you was almost identical to Maria’s, both of them knowing that you really didn’t want to do anything but spend time with them this way. “I could be convinced otherwise.”

The Next Morning Afternoon

The morning perhaps didn’t go as planned.

You had fully intended to wake up and start the day off right with the girls, maybe start the morning off right with a quick extra bit of appreciation towards them, before joining the team for breakfast and carrying on your days. However, the three of you had exhausted plenty of energy with each other so easily slept through the morning; unfortunately that meant that you missed breakfast and also your absence eventually caused a bit of worry amongst the team.

At first, they assumed that sparring had taken it out of both you and Natasha (unaware of Maria’s presence in the tower), especially with how beat Nat had looked as she left, so left you both to rest up. When it hit around 11, however, it seemed to be a unanimous agreement that something was wrong. So, they decided to check around the tower. Evidently, not every room had cameras but the ones that did were checked first in case the two of you were just hiding out in one of the many recreation rooms that Tony had put around so that escape was possible without hiding in bedrooms all day. When the cameras showed nothing, they went to check your bedrooms. Not all together, obviously, but pretty much evenly split.

Natasha’s room was almost undisturbed. She hadn’t slept there for a few days, preferring to stay with you since your room was just slightly closer to the gym than hers and she had been going pretty hard recently, but that fact was obvious so just served to add to the suspicions of everyone. Tony was with Buck and Wanda to check your room. As he tried to open the door, Friday spoke up “I’m afraid Y/N has engaged the privacy lock.” Tony sighed. “Come on, just override it, we wanna check on her.” “She told me not to let anybody in.” “Friday, open the door or I swear to god I will reprogram you.” After a beat of silence, almost as though the AI was considering it, she spoke again. “Yes, boss.” The door slid open, exposing the room to the three.

Exposing the sight of you, Maria, and Natasha curled up together, Maria between the two of you, and almost completely bared if it wasn’t for the blanket that was tangled between you all.

“Holy fuck!” Was your unpleasant wakeup, jolting you from your sleep. Well, kinda. It also didn’t help that Natasha’s lightning fast reflexes made her shoot up and instinctively cover you and Maria with the blanket while pulling out a gun, which also made the intruders freak out quite loudly.

It didn’t take too long for you all to calm down, and for Maria to prise the gun from Natasha’s fingers, but the silence took a while to be broken “So.” Tony said with a half-smile “This is…Unexpected.” “Tony.” You sighed. “I mean, I’m never going to complain about having this sort of view.” “Tony, I’m going to punch you if you carry on.” Having seen exactly what your fists could do, Tony was quick to shut up and almost sink down into himself “Right, so you probably have questions so I’ll make this quick because I would love to get back to cuddles.” Maria and Natasha smiled softly, especially as you rubbed your eyes “We’re all in a relationship, it’s not just sexual –Tony, keep your eyes decent I swear to God-, Maria and Natasha were together first, I don’t get jealous of their relationship. Anything I’ve missed?” “How long have you been together?” Bucky asked quietly. A goofy smile came across your face and you reached for Maria’s hand. “A year. Exactly, as of yesterday.” Maria answered for you “Now, can we please…just have the day?” Buck nodded once, and muttered a ‘sure’ before leaving. “See you later, have fun.” Wanda smiled, almost suggestively, and let you be with a slight nod.

Tony, however, stayed for a second and seemed to start speaking his train of thought but cut himself off each time before he could say a word. After the fourth time, Natasha sighed “Tony, either talk or get out.” “Happy one year.” “I’m 35.” The assassin said, without hesitation, in the ‘dumb blonde’ voice from the vine. Maria groaned and fell back to lying down. “The two of you fucking nerds, I swear to god.” A fond smile came across Tony’s face and he let out a soft chuckle. “I’ll leave you three to it.” The door quietly clicked closed behind him, and the second that it did Maria grabbed both you and Natasha to pull you back down to cuddle her on either side.

You didn’t ask any questions when the three of you suddenly got sent matching necklaces, that were far above what all of you could afford.

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