#plus that panel does nothing to help your argument

[vickylamore]

Little Protective Boy

Summary: Jungkook is caring— overprotective and nearly always gets his way— but caring. Although, it takes one comment to ruin your entire day and it's even worse when you have to see him for hours on end. Everything will work out in the end though... maybe, I don't know. Requested? Yes! WC - 2k Pairing - Jeon Jungkook x F! Reader Genre - Fluff, slight Angst

It was stupid, in fact, he was stupid. There’s no way he meant it but there’s no way you were going to let it go because it still hurt. Plus, your own pettiness wouldn’t let you.

So, as you walked into the building and passed by the reception without saying a word, the staff already knew something was up. It was just a quick glance at your posture and the way your eyes occasionally flicked towards the ground to avoid eye contact with anyone made it all the more clear that you were upset.

Even when your favourite elevator song played as you stepped in, the smallest smile didn’t crack your lips and you looked straight ahead, bored out of your mind. Although your eyes remained focused on the elevator shutter forward, your mind was elsewhere.

Jeon Jungkook might be the best and worst man to come into your life, dismantle your career and turn your love life into havoc. Tall, handsome and charming man but also possessive, overprotective, and a total asshole most of the time. It’s always his way, we always have to listen to him otherwise the house will be turned upside down and graves will fill themselves with carcasses.

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes as soon as the elevator opened again and walked out, passing the other staff members around you. Soft clicks lingered through the long hallways and when you finally reached one of the largest rooms on the floor, you took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Again, the argument was stupid. It all started this morning when you told him you had a recording session after his own with some of the trainees that might debut later on in the year. It was okay, he was fine with it until you said the name of one of the male trainees who has been hitting on you since you’ve worked for Big Hit, a whopping five years. And suddenly, the man stopped drinking his coffee and stared at you like you were crazy. It only got worse when you justified that it was only for work, like it always been. Then, it ended up with a screaming match that only made you think that he didn’t trust you or had very little faith that you could handle yourself to the best of your abilities. You walked away from the argument, telling him to hurry up and get in the car. Again, it was fine just until he had to open his mouth and affirm his point as if it didn’t pass through the first time. “Boys will be boys, you can’t protect yourself against them.”

Was he being overprotective and maybe had good intentions? Yeah, maybe. But the way he voiced it irked you to no end. One moment, you were in the passenger seat and the next, you were out of his car and walked your way to the studio by yourself, at nine in the morning, while your boyfriend asked you to get back in the car.

“How long are you going to play with those keys?”

“Until he gets here so we can start.” You rolled your eyes at Taehyung’s questions, playing a few chords on the keyboard to registered the melody in your head again. Taehyung glanced at Namjoon, who only shrugged then proceeded to look at Yoongi, who then proceeded to roll his eyes but didn’t say anything.

It’s been ten minutes since you got to the studio, the boys getting in a few minutes after you, Yoongi and Jimin being the first inside. The only thing you’ve said was morning and they haven’t heard you talk since. Naturally being closest with Yoongi because you both are producers, he was basically peer-pressured into asking what was wrong because five pairs of eyeballs stared at him expectantly.

Yoongi sighed, “where’s Jungkook?”

“I don’t know,” you said, playing the last few chords and changing the pitch of the system, “I don’t really care.”

Hoseok blinked longingly, looking between both you and the second eldest before chuckling under his breath, “what did he say this time?”

“Nothing I haven’t heard before,” you got up and settled yourself in the chair in front of the booth, turning on the panel. “Ask him when he gets here.”

Sure enough, Jungkook slowly opened the door and doesn’t say anything as he drops his bag on the couch and immediately enters the booth without a word, without even a glance at you. The guys raise their eyebrows but don’t say anything and watch as their youngest slips the headphones on, a troubled expression on his face.

You sighed and turned around, annoyance covering every bit of your face. “If I hear any of you comment about what happened, I’m literally going to walk out the door.”

You couldn’t, and they knew that but Jungkook didn’t. He didn’t even know what you said, he just cleared his throat and pinched the bridge of his nose as you turned back around.

Leaning forward, you press the mic button, “alright, we’re starting with the chorus as your voice will be lead and then we’ll—”

“I’m sorry.”

You closed your eyes as soon as he turned to face you, the words still ringing in your head. I’m sorry, he says, I’m sorry, he says but is he actually? You opened your eyes and spoke in the mic again.

“Jungkook, we’re at work. We can do this later.”

“You won’t listen to me later.” He isn’t wrong. “Look, what I said was stupid and I shouldn’t have said it—”

“Yeah,” your lips were now pressed into a thin line. “You shouldn’t have said that.”

“What did he say?”

A yelp escaped Jimin’s mouth as Jin replied, “not now.”

Jungkook looked pleadingly at his bandmates then back to you, he took off his headphones and fully turned facing the glass window. “I shouldn’t have said it and it’s been bugging me and I can’t concentrate if you’re mad at me and I’m really sorry—”

“(Y/n),” whispered Namjoon, “he won't quit rambling if you don’t say something.”

You only sighed and clicked the mic button, “Jungkook.” The other stopped talking. “I’m not doing this with you right now.” His face dropped in the slightest but then nodded, slipping the headphones back on. You sighed again before you continued. “I understand that you want to protect me but I can take care of myself.”

“But—”

“The chorus,” you cut him off, eyeing him down. “Let’s start with the chorus.”

The guys behind you didn’t say anything and watched as the youngest nodded, clearing his throat. You turned up the music and leaned forward to access the panel, ignoring the stares behind your back and an upset boyfriend.

--

It was early afternoon when you finished recording the last few harmonies. The rest of the guys were already gone since they finished their parts for the day. You tinkered with the program you were using, moving various voice clips so they’d be aligned with one another. You glanced back at the last man in the booth before asking, “ready?”

Jungkook nodded and opened his mouth to start, but stopped for a moment. You paused the music and looked back. “What?”

“Are we not going to talk about it?”

You let out a scoff, “I said, I’m not doing this with you at work.”

“Hyungs are gone,” he argued, slipping off the headphones, “there’s no one here but us.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” You asked and leaned back in the chair, making sure your mic is still on. “What am I supposed to say? I get that you care, I really do but you can’t control who I meet up with, especially for work!”

Jungkook clenched his jaw, “I was warning you about him, that’s all.”

“And I get that, I do,” you sighed, “but it doesn’t mean you have to force your rules on me.”

It was now Jungkook’s time to scoff, “I’m not forcing any rules or implying anything.” His once stressed face turned soft, “I just want to make sure you’re okay. I’m not always around and people can be really… disgusting and mean and I don’t want you to feel like your alone.”

Your expression softened at how vulnerable he looked right now. Maybe his methods weren’t the best but he truly meant no harm. Even if Jungkook always wanted things to be his way, he does it with the right intentions. Should it always be like this? Of course not, there should always be à mutual agreement between the both of you, but you can’t blame him now. Fame, publicity and rumours could ruin your relationship, not to mention that people will take advantage of both of you for whatever reason.

You closed the program you were using then proceeded to speak into the mic, “come on.” You sent him a small smile. “We’re done for the day.” Jungkook didn’t hesitate to take his headphones fully off and walk out of the booth. He stood, pressed against the door as you turned off the electronic instruments and computer as well as the panel before turning towards him.

A silence fell in the room, neither of you uttered a single word. It wasn’t awkward nor was it comfortable, you just stood in the lighted room, staring at each other. With a sigh, you walked towards him and brought him into a hug, at which he melted in right away.

“Thank you for caring for me,” you whispered in his ear, “I understand everything, you know? Just— just try to be more open about how I feel, okay?”

He nodded his head, his chin buried in the crook of your neck. “Are you mad at me?”

“No,” you said immediately, “you had your reasons to be upset and I had mine. We both understand why the other was upset, so let’s fix it, okay.”

He nodded again before burying his head in your neck and let out a small chuckle, “you’re warm… and you smell good too.”

A giggle left your mouth as you tried pushing him away, but he just got clingier and put his entire weight on you. “Jungkook, come on,” you said with a fit of giggles, “you’re going to make us both fall.”

“I’ll catch you.”

“Not if you’re on top of me.”

Another fit of giggles echoed through the room/ The once cold and stressed expressions were now replaced with smiles and glowing eyes. You might have your differences but you mean the best for one another. And again, you were reminded that your boyfriend was the little protective boy you grew to love.

#bangtanidx #bts #bts x reader #bts x y/n #jungkook #jeon jungkook #bts fic #bts imagines #bts scenarios #bts reactions #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #jungkook fic #jungkook imagine #jungkook x reader #vickylamore #vickywritings #request

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

Hi! I am a big fan of the Tokyo Mew series, and I was wondering if you could do an analysis on the Mew Mew's projected elements and animals and colors, and how they all tie into their powers as magical girls?? I've always wondered if there is a certain mythology or reason behind it, but it seems like the girls' colors are mostly based on their names(Strawberry- red and pink, Lettuce-green, etc), but what about their powers?

Like you said, TMM colors are much more based on their food names than on their animals. (Although, based on that one 4-panel side comic in volume 1, it seems that the colors came first, then the characters were given food names that matched.) There are two seeming exceptions:

1) Mint, but it is relatively common for mint flavored candy and gum to have blue packaging.

2) Berry, whose theme color doesn’t seem obviously related to her fruit. There are a few plants with white berries (snowberries, white beautyberry, etc.), but none that are very common in cuisine or native to Japan as far as I can tell.

Actually it seems to be the opposite (at least for the manga), with characters’ animal parts being colored as to fit with their food/theme color! Zakuro’s ears are colored much more purple than on an actual wolf, and Berry has pure white ears and tail despite neither of her animals being that color irl.

I guess it’s possible she’s supposed to be based on albino plants and animals? Her Mew form does pointedly have pale blond hair and red eyes…

Anyway, as for their powers/elements…

The Mews don’t really have defined elements, with the exception of Lettuce! They more so seem to have different methods of using generic light/emotion-based attacks.

Lettuce obviously has water powers in both the manga and anime. She’s introduced telekinetically controlling a swimming pool, and her attacks are always drawn/animated as water. (Except possibly in ReTurn? It’s hard to tell if LettuSniping Shot is a jet of water.)

Her power is clearly based on her animal and not at all on her theme color. She’s actually one of the few water powered magical girls who isn’t blue! I guess you could also make a connection with her name, in that Lettuce tends to have a lot of water in it (at least Iceberg does), but I’m not convinced that’s relevant.

Ichigo seems to have the power of love/heart/purification, in that her attacks can purify the Chimera Anima. You could also argue something to do with harmony/friendship, as she tends to get upgrades by receiving power from the other girls. Also, maybe healing, considering she brings Masaya back to life? In a way, it seems like the Mew Mews powers are very analogous to the Mew Aqua. As for her animal…. I guess people do love cats? But again, it seems more based in genre conventions than exclusive to Ichigo. Pink is classic love, but it’s also classic magical girl leader.

Berry seems to have the same powerset as Ichigo (logical, since she’s her replacement), at least at first. Her powers seem to be emotion-based, as she’s able to undo mind control with Ribbon Loveberry Check, but the other girls’ words (plus the fact that they attack her classmates first) imply this is true of all Mew Mew powers, not just hers. In ReTurn, however, she seems to explicitly have healing powers, which does seem like a natural direction to go from purification/love. Same as Ichigo for the animal connection. White does seem very associated with purity and healing (at least via association with nurses/doctors). Plus white mage.

Speaking of healing, Ringo pretty much exclusively has healing powers, plus her ability to grant power to Ichigo. Very appropriate for a Mew Aqua powered character! She also has a little bit of a music theme since her mini attacks are named after solfege and involve music notes. Penguins aren’t really associated with healing or music (really, you’d expect ice), nor are red or apples (really, they’re more associated with poison!), plus Ringo was explicitly designed to be a healer so your party wouldn’t get wiped out in the RPG. So, her powerset came first, then her design…

Next up is Pudding! Her element, as it were, seems to be… pudding! Sort of… It really looks more like gelatin than crème caramel. In the anime, she does raise up the ground to protect herself in her first appearance, and her attack animation does show it tunneling through the ground, so I can see why you’d make the argument her element is earth, but she never really does anything with this again. Even when it could really come in handy, like when she's trapped underground. And her attack is edible, as per the manga, so it can’t be clay or something! As for an animal connection, I guess you could say that monkeys are kind of known for eating things, I feel like this is clearly based solely on her name.

Zakuro…. sort of has an element? Her whip is called a “whip of light” in the anime, and in the manga it’s literally a glowing cross-shaped whip. This plus the “Cross” and “Pure” give it definite holy/purification/light vibes. But, in my opinion, this isn’t unique to Zakuro! Mint’s arrows are also pure light/energy, Ichigo’s attack is also very glowy, and Pudding’s… puddings(?) seem to form from light/energy. It seems like rather than a unique light element, she has the normal Mew powerset but used in a way that can cut or tie up the enemies. I can’t say wolves are particularly associated with light. Really, I’d assume dark, if anything, since they tend to be cast as villains? Same for purple…

Moving on to Mint! I’ve seen it claimed that Mint’s element is sound, but she never really does anything sound-based. Sure, her weapon has “Tone” in it, and her attack has “Echo”, but Pudding’s attack has “Inferno” despite having absolutely nothing to do with fire. “Check”, “Surprise”, and “Pop” are also seemingly unrelated to the attacks they describe. As for her weapon being lyre-shaped, yeah! All of the anime-style weapons are based on instruments!

As a a ballerina, she has an association with music, but she isn’t particularly useful in the fight in episode 6 vs Mary McGuire Chimera Anima, who really does attack with music. When she fights the ballerina bird Chimera Anima in episode 9, she doesn’t use music, or even really dancing! She defeats it with the power of Kicking Really Hard. And she does hear the Mew Aqua swan calling for help, but that’s just an extension of the generic “can talk to animals closely related to their infused genes” power that Ichigo and Zakuro also demonstrate.

Really, it seems like her power is just “arrow”. Like Zakuro, she doesn’t have an element; she’s just the one who’s able to aim the best from a distance. I guess when Lettuce steals her thunder in ReTurn, she's forced to upgrade to “a whole bunch of arrows all at once” and hit everything.

All Mew Mews basically have light and emotion based powers that they use slightly differently, with the exception of Lettuce, who seems to actually just generate water out of nowhere. But her powers are obviously connected to her emotions still (see how they manifest when she first awakens them). Them all having the same base power is supported by the way the manga will often not depict each attack individually, instead having each girl say her attack name and then showing the Chimera Anima exploding in a collective burst of light.

In short, rather than individual elements, I think it’s more like:

Ichigo: big finishing move

Mint: long range precision attack

Lettuce: knocking back the enemy? area of effect? (water)

Pudding: holding the enemy in place

Zakuro: cutting through small fry or holding the enemy in place

Berry: big finishing move, healing

Ringo: healing (music)

So, none of their character traits (color, animal, power) are that related? There’s some stuff that seems linked, but overall it seems like they’re most informed by genre tropes. (Also, a lot of the details of their powers were hammered out by the anime.)

#Ask #strawbellbellsurprise #Meta #Attacks

[morganaspendragonss]

holly's august extravaganza day 17: you and me (moving through this world as a two-man team)

for both my incredible birthday twin jenny (@laelipoo) and a little bit for myself! i hope you are having a wonderful, wonderful day and i wish you all the love in the world. i'm so glad we became friends and i cannot tell you how glad i am for our conversations 🥰🥰🥰

many, many, many thanks to jenny as well for helping me out with the plot!

ao3 | 3.1k | firefighter carlos, hurt/comfort, pining, developing relationship, major character injury (two of them 😌)

TK does not have a crush on the 126's latest hire.

Carlos Reyes: an Austin local, an incredible firefighter, and—objectively speaking—the most beautiful man TK has ever laid eyes on. Which is, in fact, the entire point; TK has eyes and, yes, he will use them to sneak a look or two when he’s suddenly sharing space with a man who looks like a Greek god.

That does not mean he has a crush, Paul.

(and, sure, maybe he does sometimes dream about how soft Carlos’s lips look and the soft blush he gets when he laughs and those little flecks of gold in his eyes, but he’s only human)

(how TK knows about the gold in Carlos’s eyes is none of anybody’s business)

The thing about Carlos Reyes is that he isn’t only stupidly hot; he’s also just plain nice. TK can’t even make up a flimsy excuse to keep his distance. Carlos is, quite literally, perfect.

He shares recipes and book recommendations with Paul, he spars with Marjan, he discusses superheroes with Mateo, and Judd has had nothing but good things to say since before Carlos even joined them. Apparently they’d worked together a lot before the explosion, when Carlos was with the 116, and he’s ‘one of the best damn firefighters’ Judd has ever seen.

He even makes time to hang with the paramedics, which...isn’t a new development, exactly. But it is recent, and TK is willing to bet they’d still be pretty divided if Tim hadn’t suddenly transferred back to Maryland and he hadn’t taken the leap to be a full paramedic.

Even after that… His friends were hardly going to abandon him after he switched, but Nancy had still only been semi-included at best. She’d called him out about it during their first week working together, but fixing it had been a slow process.

Until Carlos came along, that is. Excluding Judd, they all regularly hang out at his place now, and Nancy’s inclusion had never even been a question. Safe to say, Carlos has charmed everyone in the firehouse, including both captains, and the worst part is, he doesn’t seem to realise he’s doing it.

He’s perfect, from his freakishly toned body to his infuriatingly sweet personality to his incredible skills in the field, and TK does not have a crush, goddammit!

One morning about three weeks after Carlos’s arrival, TK is greeted in the firehouse by the sound of a long, beautiful laugh coming from the kitchen. Three weeks is an embarrassingly short amount of time to admit that he’s memorised everything about him, but he instantly recognises the noise as coming from Carlos, even if he can’t see him yet.

He saunters into the kitchen, where Carlos is standing with Paul, and leans up against the counter. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Carlos turns with a winning smile and holds out a steaming mug of coffee, clearly freshly made even though TK only got in two minutes ago.

He blinks. “How—” Then, taking in the slight pinkness to Carlos’s cheeks, “Are you seriously offering me your own coffee, Reyes?”

Carlos shrugs, forcing the mug into TK’s hands. “I only just made it so technically it belongs to anyone, and I can always make another,” he says. “Besides, you look like you could use it more than me.”

His grin has TK narrowing his eyes and stubbornly refusing to drink even though Carlos is right—he really, really needs it.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that was an insult.”

“Who says you do know better?”

TK splutters, momentarily left speechless in the face of Carlos’s smile and the twinkle in those goddamn eyes. He turns to Paul for help, but Paul...has disappeared. Huh. TK honestly hadn't noticed him go.

He shakes his head and looks back to Carlos, only to be stunned silent again by the way his smile has softened into something else, something more.

TK’s heart skips a beat or two and he swallows, staring down into Carlos’s coffee. “Whatever, Reyes,” he mutters.

It was too late for a witty comeback anyway.

Carlos’s laugh follows him out of the kitchen, and TK wonders when, exactly, he let himself fall this far.

*

“Earth to TK? Hello?”

TK is rudely snapped back to reality by one Nancy Gillian’s hand waving violently in his face. He scowls at her, to which she responds with an eye roll.

“Stop drooling over your man and come help me with inventory.”

“I’m not drooling,” TK argues, following her over to the rig. “And he’s not my man.”

“Right,” Nancy drawls, folding her arms over her chest as she leans against the ambulance. “So you’re just going to deny that weird energy around you two that makes the rest of us feel like we’re creeping on something?”

“Exactly.” TK nods emphatically, then frowns. “Wait, what?”

Nancy casts her eyes heavenward. “You know,” she says, “you’re a lot of things, Strand, but I hadn’t pegged you for oblivious.”

TK’s next words are reflexive, said without thought for the consequences—the story of his life, really.

“I’m not oblivious!”

The grin spreading over Nancy’s face rams home just how much he’s fucked up with those three words. TK drops his head in his hands and groans, unable and unwilling to look Nancy in the eye.

“Not a word,” he warns, which Nancy appears to respect, for now. TK is well aware that there will be words—several of them—later, whether he wants them or not.

The thing is, he really isn’t oblivious. He knows perfectly well what Nancy is talking about and he has often fantasised about all the things he’d do to Carlos given half a chance. TK likes Carlos, way more than just in the physical sense, and he’s pretty sure that Carlos likes him right back. It would be so easy to start something between them and, god, TK wants to. He just… He can’t.

One year—that’s what he promised himself back in New York. One year on his own to sort his head out and figure out how he fits back into the world after the overdose. Granted, his sobriety anniversary is only a couple of months away now, but he refuses to give up on his promise, especially when he’s so close.

Maybe in a couple months, if Carlos hasn’t gotten bored of something that’s clearly going nowhere.

But not now.

*

“He did not ask me out!”

“He totally did, dude, and you know it. You want to say yes, I can tell.”

“No, I don’t. I—”

“Children,” Tommy interrupts from the back of the ambulance. They’re heading to a callout, and Nancy has not let up the entire way about something TK is certain never actually happened. “Either of you want to enlighten me on what the argument is about this time?”

“TK’s too chicken to go out with Carlos,” Nancy jumps in, before TK can stop her.

“I am not!” he protests. “Plus, he wasn’t asking me out, he said we should go over to his place for dinner sometime, which Carlos does all the time. So there.”

“Strand, you are not this dense,” Nancy snarks, probably rolling her eyes. “His exact words were, ‘You should come over sometime’.”

“We were all there! It was obviously the plural you.”

“Oh my god—”

“Alright!” Tommy sighs wearily. “Nancy, can we keep from provoking TK until we’re back at the firehouse and he’s no longer driving?”

“Ha!” TK exclaims, but Tommy’s not done.

“TK, if I weren’t your captain, I’d be telling you that Nancy is right and you should pull your head out of your ass before it’s too late, understand?”

Now it’s Nancy’s turn to be triumphant as TK struggles to form a coherent response. Thankfully, he’s saved from further torment by them finally pulling up at the scene—a warehouse where one of the workers had become trapped after parts of the upper level walkway had broken and fallen. Apparently, the falling metal had caused some of the machinery to malfunction, turning the call from simple to beyond complicated in a matter of minutes.

“TK, grab your turnout gear and your bag; I’m sending you in with them,” Tommy informs him as soon as they’re out of the rig. “Normally, we’d just talk the firefighters through it over radio, but given your training it’ll be quicker and safer for you to deal with our patient.”

TK grins; he’s missed the adrenaline rush of running into emergencies more than he can say. “Got it, Cap.”

“Maybe try and look a little less happy about a serious injury, too.”

“Copy that.”

*

The noise when they enter the warehouse is deafening, an ugly screeching cutting right through TK’s skull.

“Shouldn’t they have shut the machines off?” he shouts, fighting to be heard.

“Apparently they can’t,” Judd calls back. “Something wrong with the control panel, I don’t know exactly what.”

TK groans—just what they need. The sound is lost in the din, but Carlos still looks over and gives him a sympathetic grin, shrugging in a ‘what can you do’ motion. TK can’t help but grin back, the mere sight of Carlos easing the annoyance he feels and the headache already beginning to build behind his eyes.

Their patient, when they reach him, is pinned under a large, heavy-looking sheet of metal. He’s bleeding from a gash on his temple and his skin is worryingly pale, to the extent that TK can tell even from a distance. He jogs to the patient’s side and kneels down, pressing his fingers against his neck.

“Cap, I have a pulse,” he reports into his radio after a few seconds. “But he’s unconscious with a head wound, and I think there are probably injuries I can’t see yet. Possible spinal damage, but I can’t tell until we’ve got this metal off him.”

“Copy that,” Captain Vega says. “Get ready to run a line; he’s gonna need it as soon as he’s free.”

TK nods and moves to secure a c-collar around his neck. “We need to cut this thing off of him,” he says, addressing the team. “Quickly, but carefully.”

Judd steps forward, brandishing the saw. He hands TK a couple of spare turnouts and kneels on the patient’s other side. “Couple of you need to cover him, and yourselves.”

TK doesn’t even have to ask before Carlos appears next to him, taking one of the turnouts from him. He smiles gratefully before arranging himself to provide maximum protection to all three of them as Judd starts working on the metal. The vibrations from the saw are unpleasant, and TK dreads to think what effect it’s having on the already unstable machinery, but it’s the only option they have to get their patient free.

Fortunately, everything seems to go off without a hitch, and soon the team are able to remove the metal. TK immediately gets to work, feeling for any damage. As he suspected, there’s a pretty large gash on the man’s leg which is bleeding badly, though thankfully it seems to have missed any arteries. He also seems to have a broken wrist, but he should heal.

TK quickly wraps his leg, then gets Carlos and Judd to help move him onto the spine board. It feels like, for once, the call has gone as smoothly as possible, and TK allows himself a breath of relief as they prep to get the guy outside to the ambulance.

Naturally, that’s when everything goes to hell.

The machine closest to them lets out a threatening groan and shudders before there’s a loud roar and it explodes. On instinct, TK folds himself over the patient as shrapnel rains down on them, and he sees Carlos doing the same in his periphery.

The downpour seems to last forever, but eventually it slows and comes to a stop. TK cautiously lifts his head, his heart pounding, and sags in relief as it seems that the worst is over.

They need to get out of here, now.

He stands, a brief stab of pain running through his back—probably because of his awkward position over the patient—and turns to Carlos, reaching to offer him a hand up.

Only to see Carlos’s face tight with agony, and then the cause—a jagged piece of shrapnel running right through his hand.

“Carlos,” TK breathes, horrified. Carlos looks up at him, his breathing carefully measured and his eyes wide, and TK drops back to his knees, reaching out for him. “It’s okay, I’ve got you, don’t worry.”

Carlos swallows and nods, his eyes squeezing tight. TK’s heart rate skyrockets, and he’s barely able to keep his cool as he signals to the others to get their first patient out of the warehouse.

“Cap, the team are bringing him out, but we have a problem.”

“Talk to me, Strand, what’s going on?”

“It—It’s Carlos.” TK breathes out shakily and takes a moment to steady himself before continuing, “It’s not serious, but some of the machinery broke apart and some shrapnel impaled his hand. I’ve got to stabilise the shard before we come out to you.”

“Alright, but hurry. I don’t want you guys in there for longer than necessary.”

“Copy.”

Stabilising the shrapnel with rolls of gauze and wrapping Carlos’s hand should be a matter of course—it’s an easy process that TK could probably do in his sleep. But this is Carlos, so his damn hands won’t stop shaking and he almost fumbles and drops his supplies.

He manages though, and soon he’s helping Carlos up, instructing him to hold his injured hand above his heart. Carlos sends him a wobbly smile, which ends up turning out to be more of a grimace, but it’s a comfort nonetheless. Things could have gone so much worse today; TK could have even lost him, and he would have never been able to—

But that’s not important. Carlos is okay, or he will be, and they still have plenty of time to figure out whatever this is between them.

Everything will be okay.

TK’s back and side twinge again as they make their way out, but he brushes it off, too focused on getting Carlos to the hospital as fast as possible. Tommy shakes her head as they make their way over, her eyebrows raised despite the concern clearly in her expression.

“Never a peaceful moment with you, Strand, is it?” she asks dryly, hissing as she inspects Carlos’s wound.

“In my defence, Cap,” he says, more at ease now that they’re safe, “it’s not me who’s injured this time.”

Tommy hums, then directs Carlos into the back of the rig, jumping in after him. “Get back here, TK. Nancy’s driving.”

She has a teasing look in her eyes that instantly makes TK suspicious, but he moves to comply, shrugging off his turnout coat as he does. The movement hurts, which is weird, but he thinks nothing of it.

At least, until Tommy’s eyes go wide and she stands from her seat, holding her hands out towards him. “TK, do not move,” she instructs, her eyes firmly fixed on his right side.

TK frowns, then follows her gaze down, and— Oh.

His grey undershirt is stained with blood, and it’s difficult to miss the large piece of metal sticking out of his side. He has no idea how he missed it, but now that he knows, the pain slams into him full force, causing him to stagger.

“Oh,” he gasps, eloquently.

Then, his legs buckle and the world goes black.

*

TK wakes up to a steady beeping sound, which only exacerbates his pounding headache. He groans, scrunching his face up, before slowly peeling his eyes open, almost slamming them shut again after getting an eyeful of obnoxiously bright fluorescents.

“You’re awake,” a voice says, sounding surprised, then the lights suddenly dim, the room lit by the gentle glow of a lamp. TK sighs in relief and shifts to look at his saviour.

It’s Carlos.

“You… You’re here,” TK states, confused. His gaze drifts down Carlos’s body and lands on the white bandages around his hand, the memories of the warehouse suddenly hitting him all at once. “Shit, you— How are you?”

Carlos shakes his head and comes to sit in the chair by TK’s bed. “I can’t believe you’re the one asking me that.”

“I’m a paramedic, it’s my job.”

“Not when you’re the one in the hospital bed,” Carlos counters, sighing. “If you must know, I’m fine. They gave me some pretty good drugs, so…” He shrugs, and TK can’t help but laugh, which proves to be a very bad idea.

His side lights up, an unnecessary reminder that TK is very much not on the good drugs, and he moans softly, slowly settling back in the bed. “I hate you,” he mumbles, eyes closed.

“You love me,” Carlos says, and TK’s heart seizes in his chest.

The silence after his words is deafening, so TK forces himself to crack his eyes open enough to look at him. Carlos is frozen in his chair, biting his lip hard, and he looks like he either wants to bolt or be swallowed by the earth.

TK thinks he should probably be feeling the same. They’ve been dancing around this issue for weeks now, and he’d thought he had it under control. That he could last that little bit longer until his one year was up; that he could ignore these feelings that have been steadily growing since he first laid eyes on Carlos.

It was a hopeless endeavour; he recognises that now. TK remembers the fear he felt when Carlos was injured back at the warehouse, the desperation for him to be better, and now with his own injury…

He could have lost this chance before he ever got it, and TK isn’t about to let it slip through his fingers now. He reaches out and takes Carlos’s good hand, startling him into meeting TK’s eyes.

“Yeah,” TK whispers, just loud enough for Carlos to hear him. “I think I do.”

The smile Carlos gives him lights up the room, and he doesn’t waste any time in leaning down to kiss TK. And it’s… It’s everything TK had hoped and imagined it would be and more. It’s soft and sweet and gentle and perfect, and he never wants it to end.

But end it does, though Carlos doesn’t go far. TK smiles at him, squeezing his hand with all the strength he can muster.

“That’s a yes, by the way,” he says.

Carlos frowns. “What?”

TK’s smile widens and he flicks his eyebrows at Carlos. “To dinner. Or were you not asking me out after all?”

Carlos huffs a laugh, and the look in his eyes when they lock back onto TK’s melts his heart and makes his entire chest ache. “Does Friday work for you?”

He nods, tugging Carlos down for another kiss. “It’s a date.”

#911 lone star #911 lone star fic #tarlos #tarlos fic #tk strand #carlos reyes #nancy gillian #tommy vega #lone star #911ls #holly's august extravaganza #fanfiction #my fanfiction #writing #my writing #jenny tag #userkimmy #userjillian #tuserpaige #tuserjamie #reyeslonestartag

[staarshines]

The Force Awakens Chapter 1: Secret Ties || P.D.

| The Force Awakens Masterlist |

Warnings: TFA Spoilers

Word Count: 2.7k

After following Poe Dameron to the planet of Jakku in order to retrieve a map that supposedly leads to Luke Skywalker, a series of unthinkable events ensues and you’re left, stranded on a planet you know next to nothing about. After finding Finn, the stormtrooper you and Poe escaped with, BB-8, the droid who holds the map, and Rey, a girl who is surprisingly strong with he Force, you four embark on a mission full of long-lost family members, life-threatening situations, and tricks played by the Force. A mission that will change the fate of the galaxy.

[A/N]: The cliffhanger I leave you guys on is arguably worse than “I’ll Come Back” ch3 but anyway-

A light knocking jolts you out of your serene state of sleep. Stealing a quick glance at your alarm clock, it shines a bright 01:57 back at you. Probably just the new recruits playing pranks. Again. You’re too tired to tell them off, instead burying your head back into your pillow and allowing sleep to overcome you once more.

But there’s more knocking, and this time, harder.

“These kids are really pushing the fucking limit,” you mutter, tiredly getting out of bed and slamming your combination panel, ready to yell at a bunch of rookies while they scurry away. Instead, you see Poe, which brings a smile to your face.

That smile doesn’t even last a second, the expression on his face wiping it off yours almost immediately.

“I know that look. What happened?” you question, grabbing his hand to pull him into your room. He steps back as if you’re a stranger and not his best friend of four years.

Awkwardly dropping your hand back to your side, you take a step towards him and rest your weight on the doorframe, trying to read his expression to get a clue as to what he was about to say next. 

“I just came to say goodbye.” Your raised eyebrows cause him to elaborate. “Leia briefed me an hour ago. We have intel on the map that leads to Luke Skywalker.”

“Luke?” you blurt out, eyes widening. “All right, give me ten.”

“For what?” You scoff at his question, motioning to the shirt and shorts you were wearing.

“Does it look like I’m going to be flying in this?” He shakes his head in confusion, and you automatically know you’re missing something.

“You’re not coming.”

“Says who?”

“Leia.” You groan at the mention of her name, massaging your forehead.

“You’re listening to Leia? Where’s Poe and what have you done with him?” He doesn’t even crack a smile, which causes alarms to go off in your head. “Exactly how dangerous is this mission, Dameron?” you inquire, standing up a bit straighter than you had been before.

“Either I come back in a couple of days… or I don’t come back at all.” You inhale sharply at the last part of his sentence, already starting to feel your anxiety heighten. 

“And why the hell am I not allowed to go?”

“She said that you’re in more danger than I am there, or else she would’ve sent the both of us.” You roll your eyes, growing increasingly frustrated with Leia.

“Of course she did,” you mumble under your breath. 

“I know there’s something you two are hiding from me.” Oh. So that’s why he’s being so moody. You wait for him to say something, but apparently he’s waiting for you to address his theory—which isn’t entirely incorrect—because you two just stand in an uncomfortable silence. “Okay then. I’ll be back soon.” 

You’re at a loss for words as he walks off without anything else. No hugs, no promises, no jokes. He just… leaves.

Deep in your thoughts, you retreat back into your room and sit down on the edge of your bed, holding your head in your hands and bouncing your leg anxiously.

You have to go. You have to go help him and make sure he doesn’t fucking die.

But Leia said you couldn’t.

Fuck what Leia said. Since when do you listen to her, anyway? Isn’t Poe more important than a decision you know is wrong?

You could die. He won’t do anything to Poe, but only the Maker knows what will happen if he gets his hands on you.

Poe wouldn’t let him do anything to you, and that’s just a fact.

He’d kill Poe if he tried to protect you. Think about that.

Your emotional and logical sides battle it out in your head as you clench your fists, sighing and letting your emotions win over. Taking off your shorts and slipping on a pair of pants, you leave your quarters and head down to Leia’s office.

You don’t even bother to knock, typing in the combination and nearly barging into her office. She gives you one glance up from one of her many datapads strewn across her desk, almost literally buried in work.

“This is about Poe—”

“No.” She raises her eyebrows, shifting her attention from her reports and other general duties to you, leaning back in her chair. “This is about why you won’t let me go with him.” She groans, rubbing her eyes tiredly. 

“You know why you can’t go.”

“What, do we not even take his name anymore?” You’re not quite sure why you snapped, but maybe it was because of the fact that she was sheltering you. And you weren’t one to enjoy that.

“He could hurt you.”

“He could hurt Poe,” you point out, unwilling to lose this argument. “He could hurt anyone. I’m not at any more risk than anyone else is.” That’s a lie.

“Have you lost your mind? If you encounter him, you’re at more risk than anyone else in this galaxy is.”

“You mean my loyalty is.” She starts to talk but closes her mouth, realizing you weren’t wrong. “My loyalty is strong with the Resistance. Both you and I know that.”

“The Dark Side is tempting.”

“I’ve been trained.”

“You quit in the middle of your training!” The way she retorts shuts you up for a moment, because she’s not wrong.

“I’m stronger with the Force than him. We both know that,” you counter, tired from lack of sleep and the fact that she’s restricting you from this when it’s quite literally your right. Whatever she said, you were going. That was final. 

“He’s had more training than you.”

“That evens it out!” Your breathing is quick from how swiftly you two are throwing remarks back at each other.

“You’re not going.”

“Whatever you say,” you mutter, throwing your hands up in fake defeat. Getting up from the chair, you make it one step away from her desk before she calls out to you.

“I just said you’re not going.” You stop in your tracks, glancing wearily over your shoulder.

“I’m not,” you lie straight through your teeth, shaking your head.

“You lie like your father.” You crack a smile but pull your lower lip in between your teeth, willing it away.

“You know I can’t just let him go alone,” you try to explain, turning around to face her. “Plus, I may lie like my father—which is actually a compliment—but I’m my mother’s daughter.” She smiles at your last sentence, waving you away hurriedly.

“Get out of here.” You grin, grabbing one of the spare datapads on her desk before leaving.

Exiting her office, you turn your attention to the datapad in your hands, typing in BB-8’s callsign and chewing your lip impatiently, already starting to feel the blood coursing through your veins. The ‘pre-mission high’, as most Resistance members had dubbed it. Lots of them hated it. But you?

You lived for it.

“General?” you hear him beep through the datapad.

“No Beebee, it’s me. I need a favor.”

“I’m about to leave for a mission with Poe. He didn’t tell you?”

“No, no, he did,” you cut him off hurriedly, needing to cut to the chase. “Listen. I need the coordinates.”

“Poe told me you’d try this. General Leia strictly instruc—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Forget about that. Transmit his graph coordinates, at least.”

“Well, right now, his graph coordinates are the Resistance base which is located on the planet of D’Qar—”

“Just shut up with your wiseassery and just send me his grid coordinates, will you? We’re really rubbing off on you,” you remark with a groan, even though you’re smiling in real life. Damn, he was becoming a carbon copy of you both. Wouldn’t it just be easier to find the coordinates from Leia’s files? “You and I are most of his impulse control. Do you really want him to be reckless on a mission this dangerous?” You hear silence over the line and silently pray that he’ll give in. 

“Jakku. I-Thirteen in the Western Reaches, Inner System. I just sent the exact coordinates to your X-Wing.” A wide grin spreads across your face and you repeat the planet name a couple of times to make sure you’ve got it.

“I’ll see you there, buddy,” you tell him before ending the call.

You land your X-Wing right next to Poe’s, scanning the makeshift camp and deciding to check out the main tent first. Slamming the button to open your cockpit top, you hop out of your ship and land effortlessly on the coarse sand, quickly dusting it off of your pants and heading towards the camp, blaster ready to engage within a second.

Peeking around the corner of the tent and through the torn-up curtains, you breathe a sigh of relief when you see Poe and run in, catching him off guard with first, you being there, and second, a bone-crushing hug.

“You fucking idiot,” you mutter, pulling back and giving him a light slap upside the head while holstering your blaster with the other hand. “Giving me all that last words shit and then telling me not to come with you.”

“Wh—I didn’t give you any last words! How the hell did you even get here?”

“Oh, I don’t have an X-Wing. I used a speeder.” He shakes his head and you wink at Beebee, watching him nod back eagerly. If droids could convey facial expressions, you’re sure he’d be grinning right now.

“Now is not the time for sarcasm. And I’m the idiot? You’re the one who somehow managed to make it here against Leia’s orders!”

“Forget about Leia’s orders,” you mutter, shifting your attention to Poe’s hand. “That’s the map, isn’t it?” The data drive encased in cloth heightens your worry for some reason, but it takes a couple of seconds for you to realize that it’s not the drive worrying you.

It’s him.

He’s here. He’s here, and he knows you are, too.

Fuck.

“We have to go,” you state resolutely, feeling like you’d just been punched in the gut.

“We’re going,” Poe tells you mildly, concerned at your sudden change of emotions.

“No, I mean we need to go. They’re here.”

“Who’s here?” The older man who had presumably given Poe the map asks, gaining both of you two’s attention. Before either of you can answer, the roaring of a transport catches all four of you off guard. 

“They’re here.” You run outside with Poe and BB-8 on your heels, only being able to see faint lights. Poe whips out his macrobinoculars, observing the lights for a second before grabbing your hand and making a run for it, catching you completely off guard. “We gotta go!”

“Wow, I definitely didn’t understand that from the sound of the fucking transports!” you scream back, matching his pace and ridding your hand of his when you both break away to get to your respective X-Wings. Before you can even reach yours, a blast catches the center cockpit, making the entire thing burst into flames before your very eyes.

“Fuck. Fuck!” you scream, turning back around and sprinting for Poe’s, but the Maker nor the Force must be on you three’s side tonight, because a blast hits his left engine perfectly. You don’t know what to do now, trying to bury your panic under the fact that you needed to get the three of you out of here or else the galaxy would have no hope.

The connection has gotten stronger; so strong, in fact, that you can feel his emotions. Anger. Anger clouded his mind and when it got to you, it turned to unruliness in the heat of the moment.

Running scenario after scenario through your mind, you can’t find a single one that allows you three to escape safely with the map in the Resistance’s hold. The only thing you can think of is sending BB-8 off with the drive.

While you two get taken as war prisoners.

“What the hell are we going to do now?” Poe yells at you, practically tripping over his own feet because of how fast he’s running towards you, trying to get away from the flames that now coat Black One. Adrenaline is rushing through your bloodstream and you use it to your advantage, knowing exactly how to manipulate your emotions in such a high-risk scenario because this is the millionth time you’ve been in one. You note the blaster sniper rifle at his side, knowing you two would have to fight as hard as you could even though it would do no good in the end.

“Give me the map!” He throws it to you and you catch it dexterously, dropping to your knees next to BB-8 and motioning for him to open a compartment. He rolls back, a bit surprised at what you’re doing. “You take this! You take this and you get as far away from here as you can! Do you hear me?”

“What about you guys?” he chimes, watching you place the drive in the compartment he’s ejected.

“We’ll come back for you! Go!” Poe yells from beside you. You give BB-8 a reassuring little scuff, smiling sadly.

“So much for impulse control,” he beeps, rolling off as fast as he can. You snicker a little bit, getting back up and biting your tongue when the gravity of the situation hits you yet again.

There was no way you two were making it out now.

“What the hell does he mean by imp—” A blast whizzing right in between you both causes you both to duck to the ground.

“That doesn’t matter right now! Let’s take these troopers out!” He nods in agreement and you both crawl up just behind a sand dune. You grab your blaster from your holster and prop your arms up, beginning to aim for stormtroopers and shoot them. Poe does the same thing with his blaster sniper, obviously having more luck than you.

A black suit catches your eye and you’re pretty sure you’re imagining things until the figure turns around and you see the helmet.

It’s him.

You’re so shocked the grip on your blaster loosens and your jaw drops just at the sheer sight of him, even though he’s masked. You can feel him sense your surprise and he starts scanning the area because he knows you’ve seen him.

You never did learn how to control your emotions through the Force.

“What is it?” You don’t answer Poe’s question, too deep in shock to even register it. It’s been years. “Listen to me. What is it?” He shakes your shoulders with one hand, pulling you out of your momentary trance. His eyes dart all over your face as he tries to read your expression, tries to figure out what you’re thinking.

“It’s him,” you whisper, pointing to the figure who was now circling the man who had given Poe the map. You two are too far away to hear what they’re saying, but in an instant, the older man is struck down by the raw lightning of the Dark Jedi’s lightsaber.

All you do is flinch, knowing he can do a lot worse than that. Poe jumps up and over the dune with his sniper, bewildering you for a second before you’re right on his heels and yelling at him not to shoot.

But you’re too late.

Kylo whips around with an outstretched hand, stopping the blast mid-air and immobilizing both you and Poe. Four stormtroopers run towards the both of you, breaking off into groups of two and kicking out your legs from underneath you, Poe’s two guards doing the same with him. They cuff you and presumably do the same with Poe, and even though you know it’s impossible to shake out of First Order Cuffs, you still sure as hell try.

You both are led to Kylo and forced to your knees in front of him, only making your anger and fear increase and mix together to make a lethal poison, ready for you to unleash on anyone.

He removes the Force Hold and finally allows you both to breathe correctly, earning heaves of effort from both you and Poe. You don’t even give him the satisfaction of a look from you and Poe does the same, eyes fixated on the sand. Kylo crouches down in front of Poe, and you can see Poe glare up at Kylo out of the corner of your eye.

“So… who talks first? You talk first? I talk first?” You would’ve laughed had it not been for the shock of the situation, knowing you both are either going to die or be taken aboard the dreadnought in the outer atmosphere. Most likely the latter.

“The old man gave it to you,” Kylo speaks from his helmet, voice sounding almost mechanical. 

“It’s just very hard to understand you with all the—”

“Search him.”

“—apparatus.” He groans as the stormtroopers pull him up rather roughly, and you hold back a wince. They begin to pat him down but obviously find nothing.

“Nothing, sir.”

“Put him on board. Keep her here,” Kylo instructs, immediately alarming Poe.

“No. No. Not without her.” The stormtroopers give no heed to his demands, forcing him to the transport. “What are you going to do with her?! Let her go!” he yells back, trying so hard to break from their hold that you’re scared he’s going to dislocate a shoulder. His yells fade as they take him into the transport, leaving just you and Kylo. You’re still on the ground, but you decide to look up at him and give him a glare of defiance just for the sake of making sure he knows you’re not going to break.

He crouches down once more, his head becoming level with yours. There’s silence for a few moments, like he’s making sure it’s really you. As if the biological connection through the Force isn’t enough.

“It’s been a while. How’s mom?”

Masterlist

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#poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #poe dameron x y/n #poe dameron fic #poe dameron imagine #star wars fic #star wars imagine #my writing #100

[let-it-raines]

your wonder under summer skies (14/18)

Summer in Storybrooke, Maine means one thing for its residents: tourist season. This year, for Emma Swan and Killian Jones, it means relationships ending and friendships changing all the while they attempt to figure out just what their relationship is. It’s somewhere straddling the line between friends and lovers, and there’s no guarantee of a soft landing if they fall into new territory.

Rating: Mature

ao3: beginning | current

tumblr:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 

-/-

This place is decidedly more cabin in the woods than Killian was expecting. Well, if the cabin in the woods was a bloody large cabin made for groups of people in Maine looking for a weekend away from their regular lives. When he looked at the link Anna sent him when they were planning this trip, he didn’t look past the specifics of price and how many bedrooms there were.

So when he pulled up and saw the two-story cabin with its wraparound porch and large, floor-to-ceiling windows nestled near a lake, he was a little taken aback. Mostly, though, he doesn’t understand how the owners of this place decided to make every wall wood paneling and for each damn piece of furniture to be made out of a log or pine or something that looks like it’ll put a splinter in his ass when he sits down.

Hell, he’s pretty sure that he’s going to turn the corner and there’s going to be animal heads hanging from the walls.

At least there’s sunshine and clear water and all of the food and alcohol that a man could ask for.

Or, well, that could be asked for by a joint bachelor and bachelorette party that Elsa and Liam wanted, the both of them insisting that they needed a weekend away and that it should be nothing like the beach…so naturally they’re spending it on a lake.

Anna seemed to think it was all a brilliant idea, and since she is so keen on planning things, he figured he’d let her do it instead of getting into arguments over it. Or, well, he might have been distracted when she called to talk about the trip because Emma was on her knees in front of him, and he wasn’t paying attention to anything other than the feel of her.

“Why do I feel like every time I turn a corner, a deer’s antlers or something are going to poke me in the eye?”

Killian chuckles and turns to Emma next to him. She’s got a large duffle bag hanging over her shoulder, and he doesn’t know what she packed, but it must be all of the contents of her closet.

“Because you probably will.”

“Okay,” Anna shouts as everyone keeps walking through the front door, chatting and dragging in suitcases and looking around, “I have had all of the bedrooms labeled. Elsa and Liam get the master, obviously. Mary Margaret and David have bedroom one on the first floor, and Kris and I will take bedroom two, which shares that bathroom. Will and Belle, bedroom three, which is at the end of the hall just down that way. Ariel and Eric, you have bedroom four, which is right at the top of the stairs and will share a bathroom with Ruby and Mulan’s room, which is bedroom five. The final room is, like, basically the attic. Emma and Killian, you guys get that one. It may or may not be the kids’ room, so don’t be surprised if there are bunk beds up there.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Killian mutters. “Bunk beds? We’re twenty-eight. We don’t get our own regular beds?”

“Do any of the couples here want to give up their private rooms with big beds to go sleep in the attic in bunk beds so that Killian can have a queen mattress?” “For fuck’s sake,” Killian laughs, rolling his eyes at Anna, “the beds are fine. I simply wasn’t aware Emma and I were going to be punished for not having significant others.”

“Yeah,” Emma joins in, “we should get compensated in, like, first choice of food tonight.” “I think Elsa and I get that,” Liam says. “You two will be fine. I’m sure the beds will be comfortable, but Emma, lass, as someone who lives with Killian, you might want earplugs. He snores.”

“Liar.”

Liam shrugs, bright smile on his face. “Have some mercy on the poor girl, Killian. Try not to be too loud.”

Killian opens his mouth to keep protesting, but then he snaps it shut. There’s no point. He doesn’t snore, and Emma knows that. Why should he care if everyone else thinks he snores? He’s sure that half of the people in this room do anyways.

This is Liam’s weekend.

If he reminds himself that enough, maybe he won’t try to pick at everything Liam says and does, and they can all have a good time like they’re supposed to.

Even if he does have to sleep in a damn bunk bed.

Emma elbows his side. “I have ear plugs, but that was mostly because I was scared I’d have to sleep next to David and Mary Margaret.”

“Please don’t put that image in my head.”

“We’re in a cabin full of couples, KJ. How is the image not in your head?”

Killian groans and tilts his head back, and Emma laughs, nudging him again before adjusting her bag on her shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go put our stuff up. My legs are stiff from the drive, and I’m ready to go hiking.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Anna squeals, “I have sunscreen and bug spray for everyone who forgot it. I’ll leave it in the kitchen. Let’s all meet up in half an hour, okay?”

“Anna is…very organized,” Emma sighs as everyone begins walking in different directions looking for their bedrooms. “I feel like she’s a very intense version of Mary Margaret.” “That’s exactly who she is,” Elsa laughs, walking next to Emma up the stairs, which leads them to a hallway with more wood paneling and more large, paneled windows. There are no animal heads yet, though, so Killian would count that as a win. “I think she wants everything to be so perfect for me that she’s taking it overboard. Plus, she’s used to working with all of these extravagant people, so this is kind of out of her wheelhouse. You’re just lucky my cousins couldn’t come this weekend, because that would make it even worse.”

“She’s doing a great job. With this and the wedding. I mean, the wood paneling here is a little much, but this is beautiful.” “Hey, I could have helped plan this,” Killian protests.

Liam, Elsa, and Emma all laugh at him.

“What?”

“If I was a betting man, I’d say the only thing you planned was the food and the alcohol.”

“And to that,” Killian laughs, “I’d say you were right. If I had gotten my say, I would have found a place with one more bedroom so that Emma and I weren’t sleeping in bunk beds while everyone else got normal rooms.”

“I mean, technically,” Elsa says, “I think there’s another bed in David and Mary Margaret’s room, but I think you two might be safer upstairs.”

They get to the end of the hallway where the master bedroom is, and Elsa and Liam tell them that they’ll see them in a few minutes before walking inside while he and Emma turn to find the spiral staircase that leads up to the attic. It’s beautiful, but it’s not exactly convenient when carrying luggage, but he and Emma manage to get their stuff upstairs without any kind of disaster.

“Those stairs would be horrible if you’re drunk. I feel dizzy just getting up here.”

“Aye,” he sighs, dropping his bag and looking around the room.

It’s small, just a set of chairs, a dresser with a television, and then, indeed, a set of bunk beds covered in red plaid bedding. In the center of the room is a round window, and when Killian looks out it, he has a direct view of the lake and all of the surrounding hills and trees.

He imagines none of the other rooms have a view like that.

“Wow,” Emma whistles, “a view like that will almost make you think the lake is better than the beach.”

“Never,” he laughs, looking at her to his side. “I like my salt water and my sand too much to ever give it up, but it is stunning.”

“I can’t wait to get to explore it. It’s so damn nice not to be working this weekend. I haven’t had an actual, multiple-day break in months, and I’m taking full advantage of it.”

Killian nods as he keeps looking out the window. He sees two people walk out onto the deck, and he believes it’s Ruby and Mulan. It’s hard to tell from here, but then one of them walks a little further out and he recognizes Ruby’s red shirt. They must be ready to go already. He needs to change into a different pair of shoes.

Turning around, Killian moves to grab his bag only to see the last seconds of Emma pulling down a sports bra. She’s in nothing but a pair of black shorts and a white sports bra, and dammit if she doesn’t drive him mad like this.

He’s grown to know the curves of her body more intimately than he ever thought he would, and that’s how he knows that she’s been running more this summer and that places where she was once soft are the slightest bit more firm and how he knows the way her skin has changed from a creamy white to a shade or two darker, all of her freckles showing up more and more.

It’s how he knows that if that’s all she’s wearing today, he’s going to struggle holding it together in front of all of their friends.

He doesn’t know what to do when it comes to Emma any longer.

He wants her all the damn time, but his traitorous mind keeps telling him that he wants her in a way that he hasn’t had her: where there are no rules or implications or anything even closely relating to the friends with benefits situation they’ve got going on.

Where Killian can get it out of his mind that Emma kisses him in greeting now, how she intertwines their fingers, how she finds a way to touch him even when they’re not alone. It’s subconscious, he thinks. She’s not doing it on purpose, not seeking him out like she would a boyfriend, but it’s still happening.

(It matters not he is also guilty of doing the same things.)

It’s messing with his mind, with his heart, with everything.

And all he knows is that he feels like he’s betraying her because what Killian feels for Emma is far more than friendship, and he has no idea how to deal with that without mucking it up.

Especially because he can’t seem to stop being with her.

Their first rule was to keep the friendship at the center of everything, to make sure that neither of them messed it up, and the more time that passes, the more time that he thinks he’s barreling them toward disaster.

But he can’t stop.

“You gonna just keep staring at me like that?” Emma teases as she ties a jacket around her hips.

“I don’t believe I was staring.”

She chuckles and saunters toward him until she’s standing toe to toe with him. Killian glances away from her face, but that only leads his gaze toward the top of her breasts and the freckle that seems to be calling him.

Not now, not now, not now.

“Oh, you definitely were.” Emma presses up on her toes and runs her lips across his jaw. God, this is another one of the things about her that drives him mad, and he has to focus all of his attention on his breathing to keep himself from becoming too aroused. “Later,” she whispers. “I really do want to go on this hike, and I’m not going to let you distract me, Jones.” “I thought you were the one distracting me.”

“Eh, it goes both ways.”

And then she’s pulling away with this bright, kind smile on her face, and he has no idea how she can go from seductive to friendly all within the span of five minutes.

“See you downstairs. I need to get Ruby to braid my hair, so I’m going to go ahead and go.”

“She’s out on the deck with Mulan.”

Emma nods, grabs her phone, and then walks out the door.

This weekend is going to be bloody torturous.

-/-

If Killian had to guess, he would say that David and Liam have gotten them lost somewhere in the middle of the woods despite the fact that they’re all following a trail.

Or, well, supposed to be following a trail.

At one point, Anna and Elsa got distracted by this flower bush, and once they veered off the path to look at it, wondering if they could get Elsa’s florist to change her bouquet arrangement, they all started veering on and off the path, especially since there are twelve of them out here on a trail that really only allows two people to walk side by side.

If someone had brought alcohol on the hike, he imagines at least half the group would be lying dead in a ditch by now.

Honestly, Will usually has a flask on him, but as far as Killian knows, he hasn’t pulled it out yet.

Damn.

Killian ignores David and Liam arguing and keeps looking ahead. Emma and Mary Margaret are directly in front of him, now leading the group, and he tries to focus on the ground instead of the way Emma’s ass is nearly on display from the way her shorts are riding up. She hasn’t paid him much attention since they started the hike, and he’s never been so thankful to be left alone, if only for a little while.

He hasn’t been able to run all week, and this is exactly what he needed, even if the quietness of nature is cancelled out by everyone talking.

“I’m not kidding,” Ruby chuckles. “It’s awful. I mean, I get it, these are teenagers who are getting away from their parents for a little while, but do they have to make out in booths that I have to clean? There are so many places they could go, places where I don’t have to look at them while I’m trying to do my job.”

“We’ve made out in those booths.”

“That’s different, and you know it.” “Why? Because you’re the one who is getting a little action?”

“Exactly.”

“Granny’s is a fucking popular make out spot,” Will adds in. “There’s the hallway that connects to the B and B, which has seen more action than Killian has all summer.”

“Oi,” Killian scoffs, turning around to stare Will down, “mind your own bloody business.”

“Sorry, mate. I couldn’t resist.”

“You know who I keep seeing there?” Will continues. “Neal Cassidy. I know he’s dating Tamara, but damn, you’d think they could go to one of their places every once in awhile.”

Killian cringes, nearly faltering in his step, and he finally looks up to Emma, who is simply continuing to walk.

Good. That’s good.

She told him that she was over Neal, that she’s letting it go, but you don’t love someone for that long and have them break your heart and not be affected when someone is talking about them.

“Will, shut up,” Belle hisses.

“Why do I need to – oh fuck,” he mutters. “I’m sorry, Emma. Please ignore me and that bloody wanker.”

“It’s fine,” Emma shouts back, not turning around. “Neal has nothing to do with me anymore. He can do what he wants as long as I don’t have to look at him while I’m eating my onion rings.”

“I’d never make you do that,” Ruby tells her. “I’ll kick him out.”

“Can you even do that?”

“Eh, I can try.”

“Look,” David interrupts, and they all stop to stare where he’s pointing. “There’s that damn split tree. That’s where we were supposed to be going.”

“How do you even know that?” Liam grumbles.

“Because I noticed it on the way up. We’ve been here before, so it we turn that way, it should take us back to the house.”

“Can’t we use our phones to check where we are?” Killian asks only to have both Liam and David glare at him. “Okay, okay,” he backtracks, holding his hands up, “I guess we’re not using technology to make our lives easier.”

By the time they’re back at the house, Killian’s skin has been kissed by the sun, his feet ache, and his stomach is growling with hunger. He could really go for a nap, but Kris offers to cook burgers for everyone down by the lake, so everyone grabs their swimsuits and some drinks and heads down to where the grill is.

Killian settles into one of the lounge chairs that’s set up down there, a bottle of water in hand, and leans back, wondering if napping outside would be possible, but then Liam starts blaring music over some speakers and he knows the nap is never going to happen.

“Hey,” Emma says as she plops down in the chair next to him, “why do you look like you’re about to fall asleep?”

“Because I desperately want to.”

“How are you tired?”

“Because, unlike someone, I drove us up here and could not nap in the car.”

Emma shrugs and curls her legs up in the chair before taking a long sip of her water.  “You make a good point, KJ. Do you think I’d get my hand slapped away if I went and got the bag of barbecue chips off the table before all the other food was ready?”

“Depends on if the picnic table guardian is looking over it or not.” Emma laughs and leans forward, looking over at the table. “David seems to be occupied staring at the grill being all macho man with Kris. I’ll be right back.”

And then she’s jogging over to the table, slowing down right before she gets there, and then grabbing the big bag of barbecue crisps before springing back over to him and sitting back down in her seat, dropping the crisps between them. David looks over at them, and Killian swears that he sees his eyes narrow, like he knows Emma took the crisps off the table.

“Sneaky, love.”

“I try. I don’t know why he does that at any event. It’s like he gets some weird high off of making sure no one gets too food, but the worst part is definitely the fact that he watches to see if people throw any uneaten food away.”

“It is rather odd, isn’t it?”

“It’s the worst is what it is.”

She leans over between them and opens the bag, grabbing a crisp and taking what he swears is the loudest bite in existence. David is likely about to look over at them and give them hell for it. The man is going to make a great father one day.

If only because he can monitor food better than anyone else in existence.

Killian leans back in his chair and settles down into it, closing his eyes. He stretches out his arm, his hand laying against the arm of the chair, and after a few moments of relative silence, he feels Emma’s fingers tracing over his forearm in soothing patterns that have a shiver running down his spin and settling in his stomach.

It feels so natural for her to do this, for him to let her do this, and he should stop it.

But he can’t, not now.

Soon. He’ll figure it out.

Soon.

“I’ve always liked this tattoo the best.”

“Hmm?”

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” She traces the words inked into his skin as she says them out loud. “I don’t know. I just feel like it’s so fitting to have them mixed in with your scars.”

Killian fights with himself to keep his eyes closed, to keep himself from looking into Emma’s eyes. Not a lot of people get such unfiltered access to his scars, and yet here she is in the open tracing them and talking about them and yet again making him feel like maybe they’re not too bad.

“I mean,” she continues, “I like all of your tattoos. They always make me want to get more than my buttercup, but I really like this one.”

“Aye,” he sighs, deciding that just for today, he can let everything be. This is a good moment, and he’s not going to let his mind ruin it. Instead he’ll let Emma run her fingers over his hand and let her hold onto him for a few moments. “I am fond of that one as well. I am also fond of yours, though it is rather small.”

“What? Do you want me to get a giant one?”

“You should get one that covers your entire back.” “Shut up,” Emma laughs, digging her nails into him. “I am obviously not doing that. I don’t know what I’ll do, or if I ever will. I think I’ll just stick to liking yours.”

“I like that plan. Do you think if I eat a crisp that David will hear it?”

“He hasn’t noticed me yet.” “Ah, but you have better luck than me.” “Guess you’ll have to try your luck to see.”

Killian slowly opens one eye, then the next, before moving his arm away to reach into the bag. He takes one bite, eyeing David who still has his back turned, before eating a few more. He thinks that maybe he’ll get away with it until David turns around.

“Jones, put the damn chips back on the table before I burn your food.”

“Sorry,” Emma says to him, shrugging, but he can tell that she’s not sorry at all.

“I think I’ll survive, love.”

When the food is finished cooking, everyone settles around tables and in chairs, eating and drinking and laughing. And it’s nice, a nicer time than Killian has had in awhile if he’s honest with himself. But then the night falls, crickets finding their places in the surrounding trees and a breeze wafting through the campground, causing a chill to travel down his spine as his skin pebbles with goosebumps.

There is a fire going, though, and plenty of alcohol being passed around to warm him, but really, the alcohol might not be the best idea right now, especially since Mary Margaret and Ruby tend to like to play games when they’re halfway to drunk.

Mary Margaret said something about how they needed to play a shower game. It was tradition, but Elsa and Liam hadn’t wanted that. Then Ruby stood up from the bench she was sitting on and declared that they would play Truth or Dare like the grown adults they are. They love their games, though, and, well, Ruby does know how to turn the game into something that is rather more adult than what he played when he was a lad. This is nothing new. They tend to do this at every party they have, but he never knows if it’s going to be tame or not.

So far Elsa has had to share some intimate details about the first time she slept with Liam, which Killian truly did not need to hear about, Liam has chugged down half a bottle of ketchup, Will has jumped into the lake, Mary Margaret has had to answer what the one thing she’d change about David would be, which resulted in a hushed argument, and Ruby has run to the neighboring house and asked them for condoms.

She came back with an entire box.

So, now it’s Ruby scanning the semi-circle they’re sitting in looking for her next victim, because, really, of all the people here, the last person he’d want to have pick out whatever form of torture this is would be Ruby Lucas.

His one glass of rum has not numbed him enough for this.

“Emma,” Ruby finally says, and Killian swears he hears half the group let out sighs of relief.

“I hate you,” Emma mutters, flipping Ruby off.

“Oh, no you don’t. You love me, and I’m going to be really nice to you by telling you that if you pick ‘truth,’ I’m going to ask you about the guy who gave you that hickey last week.”

Killian’s cheeks immediately heat, and he swallows, pushing the thought down. He hadn’t meant to do that. It had been an accident because they are not teenagers and don’t usually leave marks, and he didn’t even know it happened until Emma had sent him a picture the next day.

Shit.

At least Emma’s a damn good liar since it’s not like anyone is actually forcing them to do this.

It’s the spirit of it all.

“Dare, you asshole.”

There are a few whistles from around the group, and Killian already knows there are going to be a few follow-up questions to Ruby’s words later.

“I dare you to…kiss Jones. Killian, not Liam. And none of that on the cheek shit. You two have so much chemistry, and I need to see it. I feel like everyone here needs to see it.”

“Oh my God,” he hears Emma murmur next to him at the same time that he has that exact thought. The whistles increase, some hollering too, and he swears that everyone here but he, Emma, and David are drunk off their asses. “Ruby, no. Pick something else. Like, something normal that non-tipsy you would pick.” “You chose ‘dare.’”

“Because you were going to ask me something I didn’t want to talk about. I don’t want to kiss Killian.” She turns back to him and winces. “No offense.”

“None taken,” he mumbles, knowing she’s trying to save face.

“Why not? He’s super hot. I mean, I know you think he’s hot. You’ve said it before, and you guys kind of have that ‘will they, won’t they’ thing going on, which I have been saying all summer. We actually have all talked about getting a betting pool as to when you’ll finally get together, especially since you and the dumbass are no longer a thing. So, come on, it won’t be that bad. You’ve got to uphold the integrity of truth or dare.”

Emma’s lips part, and Killian knows she has a retort on her tongue. She always does.

But then she’s turning and leaning over her chair until she’s grabbing the collar of his t-shirt and pulling his mouth to hers.

Fuck.

Her lips press into his, soft and warm as they always are, but it takes him a minute to fully close his eyes and appreciate how she feels against him. Eyes are on them, whistles ringing out around the group, and Killian swears he sees flashes of camera lights as Emma sucks on his bottom lip and his hands thread into her hair, pulling her closer.

And for one, miniscule second, he forgets about the people around him and the warring thoughts he’s been fighting for weeks now, and he lets himself revel in how damn good it feels to kiss Emma Swan.

But then it’s over.

They part, gasping for breath, and Killian’s grip tightens on the back of Emma’s head as her forehead rests warmly against his.

Strangely, all he can focus on is the fact that she smells like sunscreen.

“Well, hot damn,” Ruby sighs, and Killian finally drops his hand from Emma’s hair, “I feel like I need a glass of water now. Anyone else?”

There’s a murmur of voices, but Killian ignores them, focusing on the way Emma is blinking at him with a smirk painted on her lips. “That wasn’t too bad, was it?” “No, that wasn’t bad at all.”

“Emma, it’s your turn,” Ruby reminds her. “Feel free to do your worst to me.”

“Trust me, I plan to.”

In the blink of an eye, things go back to normal. The attention is back on the game, not on him, not on Emma, and no one says anything else about the kiss.

Apparently everyone cares about it a lot less than he thought they would.

But it was all part of a game. It wasn’t real.

None of it has been.

And he has no idea how much longer he’s going to be okay with that. He also has no idea how he could make any of it real, even if Emma wanted that, because he’s got no fucking clue how to do this.

His brain doesn’t seem to be conjuring up any ideas either.

Shit.

Eventually, the game dies down, everyone quieting and forming their own circles and conversations, and while Killian tries to stay for a little while, when the opportunity to sneak out and go to bed presents itself, he takes it.

-/-

-/-

tag list: @qualitycoffeethings​ @mrtinski​ @klynn-stormz​ @scarletslippers​ @jonirobinson64​ @snowbellewells​ @therealstartraveller776​ @thejollyroger-writer​ @sherifemma​ @galadriel26​ @galaxyzxstark​ @idristardis​ @karenfrommisthaven​ @teamhook​ @spartanguard​ @searchingwardrobes​ @jamif​ @shireness-says​ @ultimiflos​ @nikkiemms​ @resident-of-storybrooke​ @onepunintendid​ @bluewildcatfanatic​ @superchocovian​ @killianswannn​ @carpedzem​ @captainkillianswanjones​ @mayquita​ @mariakov81​ @jennjenn615​ @onceuponaprincessworld​ @a-faekindagirl​ @scientificapricot​ @xellewoods​ @ultraluckycatnd​ @stahlop​ @kmomof4​ @tiganasummertree​ @singersdd​ @tornadoamy​ @cluttermind​ @lfh1226-linda​ @andiirivera​ @elizabeethan​ @captain-emmajones​ @csalltheway​ @itsfabianadocarmo​

#your wonder under summer skies #cs fic #cs ff #cs fanfic #captain swan fic #captain swan ff #captain swan fanfic #Captain Swan

[gunnerpalace]

It is Time to Kill The Common Understanding of the Dome of Las Noches Fight Once and for All

I’ve been thinking about @starrdustcrusader​‘s post making fun of BBS’s interpretation of Full Hollow Ichigo, and while it is very good and covers a lot, I felt that I had something further to add. Please go read that post first so you are on the same page.

I also invite you to go read chapter 350, The Lust 4, and the next few chapters as well.

Now, like I said, the post in question does a very good job of pointing out what’s happening here: Full Hollow Ichigo has less than zero concern for Uryuu or Orihime. He is not interested in protecting them whatsoever. Indeed, he directly attempts to kill Uryuu, with that attack being very likely to kill Orihime as well. It is only stopped by Ulquiorra’s intervention.

And why did Ichigo attack Uryuu? Because he was a threat.

When you are doing dispassionate threat analysis, whether that be tactical or strategic, when you are thinking with an essentially military mindset, motive stops really mattering, because it cannot be taken for granted. What matters is capability. What someone says their intentions are, or what their intentions seem to be, often matter less from this perspective than what they can do, or are doing.

What is Uryuu doing in this fight? He is interfering with Full Hollow Ichigo killing Ulquiorra. And that is Full Hollow Ichigo's only goal. Thus, Uryuu is an enemy and is also to be killed.

And so is Orihime (if “merely” as collateral damage).

It's that simple. This is again pointed out in the original post. In the same way that Ulquiorra earlier said to Ichigo that, "Killing you is synonymous with protecting Las Noches," killing Uryuu and Orihime at this point is synonymous with “protecting,” because they are in the way and are actively impeding the mission. (”Protecting” what? We’ll come back to that.)

I haven’t said anything new yet, now have I? So let’s get to that.

Here is Orihime demonstrating several flavors of hubris, and also completing failing to do anything to save Uryuu from his imminent demise. What do I mean? Well, let’s take apart her statements:

“Because I said that, Kurosaki-kun is trying to help me.” This is an assumption on her part, and it is wrong.

“I trained because I didn’t want to be a burden to him.” Mind you, she also says this in both the Xcution and TYBW arcs, and is a burden and fails in both as well (the infamous ”Why am I crying?” and “Her shield didn’t work” moments). This should have been a learning moment for her and it was not.

“I came here because I wanted to protect him.” There are other meta posts that detail the selfishness of Orihime’s actions in Hueco Mundo and in general. I would also like to point out that this was also her exact same logic in going to Soul Society. She didn’t learn anything from that experience either.

“So why? Why at the very end did I depend on him?” A great question. One that she never truthfully owns up to, given (2). But there was a reason Kisuke told her to stay out of the war. You may recall Rukia's statement to Orihime in chapter 228, Don't Look Back, that "In a battle, the ones who get in the way are not the ones that lack power, but the ones that lack resolve." She went on to say "Of all the battles in Soul Society, no one was a burden to anyone else. Not Ichigo, nor Sado, nor Ishida, and neither were you, Inoue. If any of you were less than who you are, I wouldn't be where I am today." This was very charitable of Rukia, because Orihime's contribution to her rescue was negligible and was, to reiterate, not why she was even there. Furthermore, Orihime didn't listen to her here either: she is once again demonstrating a lack of resolve, as she will continue to.

So Orihime doesn’t learn. Great. But maybe you’re thinking about (1). What do I mean she was wrong? I mean, doesn’t the manga confirm she’s right?

This is the crux of that argument. And this is also one of the cruxes of IchiHime as a whole. The thing is... it’s complete and utter bullshit.

This is the exact same scene in the original Japanese:

Now, I don’t speak or read Japanese very well at all. I’m still a novice at it. What I can do, however, is use optical character recognition and translation tools.

(よ)呼んでる - Yonderu - Calling

(よ)呼んでるんだ - Yonderunda - They’re calling

(き) 聞 こえる -  Kikoeru - I can hear

(た)立てよ - Tateyo - Stand up

(た)立 て - Tate - Stand

(おれ)俺が - Ore ga - I will

(おれ)俺が - Ore ga - I will

俺が護る - Ore ga mamoru - I will protect

(The parentheticals are furigana used as a pronunciation guide.)

Now do you see a single instance of “her” or “she” in this dialogue, particularly when it comes to the final line of “I will protect”? No, you don’t. Because it’s not there. It was never there until a biased translator inserted it into the dialogue. I’m not alone in this analysis, by the way.

Quite some time ago, @kodoku-no-maria​​ did a wonderful analysis about Ichigo’s instincts (”Mistranslations that Created the IH Fandom”) that also covered this (using anime quotes instead) and came to a similar conclusion. It’s a great post and you should read it. 

This isn’t the post she mentions in hers, but there is one done specifically of the manga by a deactivated account. You should read this post too. (This also notes other things, such as how Orihime says “Help, Kurosaki-kun!” and not “Help me, Kurosaki-kun!” so we can take it that the Mangastream / Mangareader English translation is just generally dodgy all around at this point. Which may well impact the points I made above about Orihime’s character; but I think given the events of the Xcution and TYBW arcs that it is evident she did not in fact learn anything, so I will stand by the basic thrust of them.)

Okay, so I’ve marshaled my evidence on the battle and provided corroborating analysis. (I have also reblogged all three of these posts because they’re good, although the links are to the original sources or as close to them as I could get.) 

Ichigo didn’t turn into Full Hollow Ichigo because of Orihime. She had nothing to really do with it. Great. So what?

Well, let’s now move on to my theory.

Now, you might be thinking that it is fairly obvious that all of those lines are Ichigo’s inner monologue. But I don’t think it’s so obvious. In fact, I would suggest to you that it is actually a dialogue.

On the second page, with the third panel, it suddenly zooms in to the wound in Ichigo’s torso. This notably later becomes Full Hollow Ichigo’s Hollow hole. You notice here the dialogue changes, from commands (e.g., “Stand”) to personal pronouns (e.g., “I”).

I would submit to you that the first three lines are Ichigo’s. But I don’t think the last five are. I think they belong to two other entities. Especially the last three. First, let me steal two of Maria’s highlighted panels to make a point:

So who is talking? It’s simple:

Do you really think it’s a coincidence that Zangetsu (Hollow Zangetsu) shows up wearing the exact same outfit as ‘Full Hollow Ichigo’ after Tensa Zangetsu gives a speech about how:

I don’t think so. Ichigo "fell into despair and halted [his] progress" and Zangetsu, as 'Full Hollow Ichigo' is "the "source of [his] despair." (This is the same despair that Rukia noticed when Ichigo came down from the top of the dome to confront Yammy.) As has been previously pointed out in the linked posts, we see this despair on the dome after Ulquiorra’s defeat in Ichigo’s attitude. Starrdust covered these, but let’s go over them again:

He’s doesn’t seem all that shocked or concerned here, to be honest.

He’s a lot more shocked at what he did to Uryuu.

But the thing that really gets him is that he’s gone and killed Ulquiorra. That’s his despair.

This is the first time he’s out and out killed somebody. (And yeah, Ulquiorra is dead because he had his bits vaporized with a cero, not purified.)

He finally has to learn this isn’t all fun and games, that you can’t turn everyone to your side and redeem them and be friends with them afterward, as he did with Ikkaku, Renji, Kenpachi, Byakuya, and even to an extent Dordoni and Grimmjow. This is exactly what Dordoni was warning him about. This is the lesson he will be forced to learn again after weakening Aizen long enough for Kisuke’s kidou to work on him.

And it is why later, his determination to “save everyone” in the Xcution arc by cutting Ginjou down and killing him (even if he turns into a Plus as revealed in TYBW, undermining the whole symbolic importance of the act) is a big deal for his character development, and one of the few redeeming aspects of that arc: it shows that Ichigo learned a lesson from this fight: sometimes to protect you have to kill.

And who taught him that lesson? Zangetsu.

Who was speaking in the 4th and 5th lines in that transformation sequence? My bet is “Zangetsu” (Quincy Zangetsu) or Tensa Zangetsu. And who was speaking in the 6th, 7th, and 8th lines? Zangetsu.

What was Zangetsu protecting? Ichigo. That’s his instinct. That’s all he cares about protecting, just like Tensa Zangetsu. He sure the fuck wasn’t protecting Orihime or Uryuu. And the mask of ‘Full Hollow Ichigo’ is there to protect those instincts. And the mindless rage of ‘Full Hollow Ichigo’ is Zangetsu’s rage at Ulquiorra for trying to kill Ichigo.

We of course know from much later, in TYBW, that zanpakutou spirits aren’t some separate entity from the wielder, but are the wielder (hence why we go from “The Blade and Me” to “The Blade IS Me”) which Ichigo will affirm in the reforging of his into the “two Zangetsus.” So this can ultimately be read as self-preservation instinct. These are the aspects of Ichigo that were willing to do what he himself consciously wouldn’t in order to stay alive.

(Also, Uryuu was an idiot and wrong to stop Zangetsu as Ulquiorra still clearly constituted a threat, so he frankly got what he deserved, if a bit harshly.)

In summary, not only did the fight above the dome in Las Noches not have anything to do with protecting Orihime, but it was entirely about Ichigo’s character development and relations with the personifications of his powers, and everyone has been reading it completely fucking wrong for years and years.

If you don’t know, now you know.

#Bleach #Ichigo #The King

[soda-drabbles]

Comforting Big Cat //Arin Hanson x Male!Reader

Synopsis : After having another video game burn out after a recording, you try and help the Big Cat feel better.

Pairing : Arin Hanson x Male!Reader

Type : Fluff

A/N : After watching the 2015 PAX Panel and hearing the story of how Arin has weird little burnout times after many fits of rage during gameplay, I figured I'd take it and use it as a prompt. Hope you like!

You weren't exactly sure what you expected when you came home from getting McDonald's but it sure wasn't this. The recording was finished by the time you got home with Danny consoling a beyond angry Arin. A look that you honestly never seen before.

Danny took a quick glance up at you, smiled and looked down again at Arin. “Come on now, Big Cat.” He patted the man's back. “Let's go eat.”

Arin, who once had his face ducked in his hands, pulled up and ran his fingers frustratedly through his hair. Eventually the two men did join you but you could tell there was still something off about Arin. Instead of asking him about it at first, you handed Arin his food and he went back into the main room.

You then handed Dan his nuggets and lowered your voice. “What's up with Arin?”

Dan shook his head. “Just another game burnout. He just gets that way sometimes.”

With a frown, you peeked over at the room and back to Dan. “Is there anything I can do for him? I mean..how long does he stay like that?”

Dan also looked back into the room where the solemn man ate. “Hard to say. Sometimes it takes an hour or two and other times it takes thirty minutes.” He looked back at you with a hopeful smile. “I'm sure he'd just like you to talk to him, even if he's being all weird.”

Dan's reassurance made you feel a bit better about the situation. Besides that, Dan always seemed to find a way to make things better, no matter the situation.

“Thanks, man.” You smiled and Dan brought you in for a little hug. He ruffled your hair afterwards.

Dan would give you both some space and enjoy his nuggies elsewhere. Slowly, you approached the main room. A knot of butterflies tied in your stomach. Arin was still sitting there, silently enjoying the food that you bought him.

You hesitated a beat before you joined him on the couch. He finally looked up at you, clearly still stuck in whatever emotion he was in. He muttered a quiet 'Oh hey', which only got you more nervous.

You weren't exactly sure what to say. You've never seen Arin like this. “How are we doing?”

Arin peered at you for a moment before he sat up and straightened himself out. “If you count wanting to literally hire a hitman on myself then I'm good.”

Your brows knitted together. “Hey, no. We don't talk like that. Bad cat.” You said that last part playfully, which brought a small hint of a smile to Arin's face. A good sign.

“I'm serious.” Arin said through his smile. “I mean after six hours of playing shitty Sonic Boom, you'd think you'd get somewhere.”

“Oh, Boom-shmoom.” You waved off the shitty game. “I mean, yeah, time was wasted and yeah it is a shitty game-”

Arin smirked. “You're only helping my argument.”

“–Shh. I'm not done.” You said firmly and scolded the man before continuing. “My point is that in the end, its a game. Plus, not something to get too busted up over.”

Arin shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you're right.”

“I know I am.” You corrected and then nudged his side, a growing smile on your face. “You just gotta press on, yknow? You're strong.”

Arin smiled. “Since when did this turn into some motivational speech?”

“Since I wanted it to be.” You retorted, z-snapping like some sassy chick. A gesture which actually caused him to laugh.

Arin turned to look over at you, looked like he was gonna say something until his eyes spotted something else. “Wh-” He paused, giving a look to wherever his eyes were. “What the fuck are you doing, dude?”

You also turn around to find an eavesdropping Dan holding the nuggets in his hand, one in his mouth, with a guilty look on his face. Had he been here this whole time?

Dan took his time to eat and swallow the nugget before answering. “..Nothing.”

“Were you eavesdropping on us?” You asked before gasping and pointing accusingly at Dan. “SPY!”

Dan couldn't help but laugh at how silly your voice was. “I wasn't!” He said defensively between laughs. “I just..came for something.”

Arin leaned over the couch, joining you in your accusations. “Man, you were literally peeking at us from the corner of the wall. How is that not sus.”

“DECIEVER!” You yelled once more.

Finally, Dan caved in. “Okay so, maybe I was a little bit but I swear I was going to get a water bottle.” He explained, showing his water bottle as proof.

Although you and Arin were both still equally suspicious, you let him off on this one. “Alright, fine, I suppose you are free.” You said, letting him off easy.

After a bit of talking, you raised up from your place on the couch which was when Arin hesitantly called for you. “Hey, dude.”

You looked back down at him, surprised some. “Yeah?”

Arin peered up, looking a bit hopeful. “I was wondering if you wanted to play something? I just thought you'd be in handy in case I, yknow, go into another burnout.”

You couldn't help but crack a smile, “Yeah. I'd like that.”

#arin x reader #egoflapbang #game grumps x reader #reader insert #male reader #x male reader #gay #lgbt

[adanigujarat2021]

Solar energy pros and cons in 2021

If you’re looking to install solar panels on your home, you’ll find a wide range of information. This can  Adani Gujarat   make it difficult to figure out whether or not solar panels are the right fit for you.

To help you out, we’ve put together a conclusive list that weighs the pros and cons of solar.

Solar energy pros and cons Looking at the advantages and disadvantages of solar energy from a homeowner's perspective is an important step in the research process when considering installing solar panels for your home.

The argument for the average American homeowner to install solar panels for their home is now better than it has ever been, as the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these solar energy pros and cons.

Advantages of solar energy 1. Reduces your electric bill One of the biggest benefits of solar panels is that they can provide you substantial savings on your electric bill. Many states require utilities to offer net metering, which allows homeowners to offset their electric costs with the energy their solar panels produce.

They can then sell that excess energy to the utility. This will usually be added onto their electric bills as a credit that can then be used to offset future electricity costs.

In many states, adding solar panels to your home can bring in electric bill savings of well over $1,000 per year. Residents of California who go solar save an average of $99,181 over the lifetime of their solar system!

2. Insurance against rising power prices One thing most homeowners know is that electricity keeps getting more expensive. The price of electricity has increased steadily over the past 10 years, with an average increase of about $0.2 per year. The cost of electricity will continue to rise into the future, meaning your electric bill will continue to go up too.

Solar panels protect you from these rising electricity costs. Because you are producing your own energy, you don’t have to buy that expensive power from your utility. So, rising electric costs are a worry of the past! In fact, rising prices might actually be a good thing when you install solar.

For example, let’s say your utility charges 12 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity. That means with net metering, your utility would pay you 12 cents for each excess kWh of electricity your solar panels produce and send to the grid.

If your utility raises its electricity price to 13 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, that means the power you send to the grid would also be worth 13 cents.

So, net metering is saving you more money each time your utility raises their prices!

3. Solar is cheaper than ever While electricity prices continue to get more expensive, the cost of solar has continued to fall. Solar is now cheaper than ever; in fact, the cost has fallen over 70% in the past decade. These low prices make solar more accessible to more homeowners than ever before.

Installing solar can be even cheaper when you take advantage of solar incentives. For example, if you install a solar system before the end of 2022, you could be eligible for the 26% federal tax credit.

This tax credit is equal to 26% of the total cost of your solar system and is applied to your income taxes. In addition to the federal tax credit, there are many other solar incentives offered locally.

Find out how much you can save on solar with local incentives in your area 93305 4. See return on your investment Solar panels not only eliminate your electric bill, they can also be a source of extra income. As we mentioned before, net metering allows you to earn money by selling excess power your solar panels generate to your utility.

Some states have other performance-based incentives, like Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs), that have the potential to earn you hundreds of dollars a year, depending on where you live.

The money you earn from net metering, combined with your electric bill savings and other incentives, goes towards paying back the cost of your system. In areas that have all of these incentives, the payback time for a solar panel system can be as little as four years.

Once your system is paid off, your solar panels will continue to generate free power for your home for the lifetime of the system!

5. Environmentally friendly Another big selling point for solar is that it is a renewable energy source. This means that as you use the resource, it doesn’t deplete the source. So, by using the sunlight that hits the earth and turning it into electricity, we don't deplete the sun’s energy.

Plus, electricity created with solar panels does not produce any greenhouse gas emissions. Nothing is being released into the atmosphere when we produce electricity with solar panels. The only thing that's created is clean energy!

[themadauthorshatter]

This is EVERYTHING WRONG WITH/GREAT ABOUT RED SCHOOL BY SOMAN CHAINANI AND VICTORIA AVEYARD PART 2!!!!!!

If you haven't read part 1, the link is here:

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR RED SCHOOL PART 2!!!! We're hopping right into part 2 of the comic, so LET'S GO!!!

Picking up where we left off⚡

Exposition about the storian towards people who don't have magic⚡

Tedros and Cal look like they're standing the same way and it looks confusing. If this was a movie, Tedros is standing with his right side facing the camera. Either his foot his elevated or his foot is turned towards the camera. Either way, this stance is extra and is too dramatic for thiis situation.🖤

Uhm... If Tedros, Agatha, and Sophie mogrify into any animal at all, shouldn't they be able to turn into animals like phoenixes or dragons and CARRY Cal, Mare, and Maven? That way the Red Queen crew can safely get to the tower safely and they have more numbers.🖤

😑. Either the silvers are broadcasting this ball back to Norta for all to see or this blimp showed up out of nowhere. I want to say the former, but I did not see a camera crew and twenty Evergirls and Everboys crowding around the camera and waving because they want to be famous in the ballroom.🖤

The argument between Mare and Agatha is a great way to build tension. No one's really gpimg to be paying attention because they're going to try and form a plan so everyone gets from point A to point B. Plus, you try talking or expressing your ideas when two people are arguing. My mom and my aunt are damn near impossible to talk over or calm in a fight⚡

Is that RED blood coming off Evangeline's lip? Did she bite someone or did someone forget she's a slperson with SILVER BLOOD?⚡/🖤

Self sacrifice. Seriously, this part hurt more than it should have, and I read this AFTER reading War Storm while we could go to school.⚡

I don't know whether or not Cal and Tedros would have survived this fall, but the fog takes them over so they could be fine. I say I don't know because the fall isn't TOO far down, but in another panel, the blimp is TOO high to survive, but that can be perspective. Either way, these two SOMEHOW survive this fall🖤

The scene of Mare revealing her blood to Agatha and Agatha's response is... underwhelming. Really, the main plot of Red Queen is that Mare needs to hide in plain sight or she, her family, and anyone else suspicious will die. The only discrimination or segregation Agatha has to deal with is bring an outcast, or a witch as everyone likes to call her, and being picked on for "being in the wrong school," which is not the case. Don't get me wrong, bullying and being ostracized are not okay, all the same that is not the same as being pushed down by a higher class or forced to work or go fight a war that shouldn't be your problem in the first place.🖤

Even the STYMPHS are taken over? IS THERE NO MERCY FOR ANYONE!?⚡

That'll teach you to be careful with your words⚡

Sophie: Best driver ever. 10/10⚡

Super hero pose⚡ +2 for the SGE trio and Red Queen trio going toe to toe with the SGE trio.⚡⚡

Going back to the points of the who our baddy is, once you really break it down, it's not that hard to figure out. Some characters disappear and then reappear somewhere else, either as fodder, background characters, or zombies. We saw Elara once when she was normal, and then she disappeared. Here she is now in the School Master's tower with the storian.🖤

I will admit that it was a great idea to have Elara be our villain. She was one of the main villains in Mare's story and only wanted the throne, even when she was a king's wife and close enough to the crown in order to manipulate the person WEARING the crown.⚡

The emotion in Maven when he sees his mother IS the reason for the fog is just sad. Anyone who's read the Red Queen series will know how Elara treated Maven and what kind of scars she left on him, taking out what wasn't "perfect" in her eyes and replacing those pieces with whatever helped him to surpass Cal. Their relationship was extremely problematic, to say the least, but there is some serious sorrow on his face at the thought of hurting or potentially killing her. There's pain and maybe some hate in abuse, but there is still love for the abuser FROM THE ABUSEE. My sister's boyfriend came from an abusive relationship with his mother and he still talks to her because he loves her.⚡

Okay. Evil Dovey is kind of scary.⚡

Credit where credit's due. Dovey does not stay down, even after that hit from Agatha⚡

Self sacrifice ⚡

Elara's fast for a possessed woman⚡

Oooh, the whispers controlling Agatha. Tragedy points because Mare can't just HURT Agatha⚡

OKAY. Maybe it's because her whispers aren't as strong because she's not herself. Maybe it's Agatha's will power, but her self esteem and self worth are questionable. All the same, it was TOO damn easy fpr Mare to pull Agatha out of those whispers!!🖤

ALSO, why is there always a stomp on the fingers or hand when a character's hanging or on the ground? This is a legit question, why is that a trope in everything I see!? Is it like salt on the wound? Insult to injury!? Idk, someone PLEASE tell me because I'm confused and it's driving me barking mad!!!!🖤

I will admit I did not see Mare grabbing the storian and saving herself. Clever, Mare. Clever⚡

Hugging⚡

The red spirit/fog that leaves Elara is so telling. Thw School Master WE'VE been seeing is not the same School Master as the SGE series. Way to make this seriously deviate from the original books⚡

Well. Earned. Comeuppance. I will never forget Chapter 21 of Red Queen or the chapters prior.⚡

I am so glad to see everyone go back to normal. Really, just helps me breathe now.⚡

Not joking: this was me during this scene with Elara facing the king and School Master⚡/🖤:

>LAUGHTER<😂 I'm so sorry!!! I keep hearing Edna from The Incredibles saying, "EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" and Elara responds in Vincent Price's voice from narrating Tim Burton's Vincent, "I'm being possessed." ⚡

Also, Tibe, KEEP THOSE MANACLES ON HER. DO NOT LET HER TAKE THEM OFF. YOU WILL LIVE LONGER IF YOU DO.⚡/🖤

Okay. So we saw RAFAL in spirit and the School Master we've been following is his brother Rhian. This is technically a timeline where either Evil has a winning streak or bith sides are equal. ... 😑I want a series of THAT now. Same characters, same events, but both schools now more competitive than ever to see who gets to next win in their fairytale.🖤

I'm on the fence now with the resolution of this situation. True Elara is getting off with nothing but a scolding and a slap on the wrist(especially for what she does in the Red Queen series), but at the same time, SHE WAS POSSESSED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT. She probably didn't have a lot of control over her actions. There's a debate that's going to happen now, and I don't know if I can participate because I'm on the fence. ... I hate fence sitting😑 ⚡/🖤

Love. Granted it's probably going to toxic and they're going to fight a lot, but who knows? Maven can teach Sophie how to be Good AND Evil, and Sophie can TRY to help Maven. ⚡

I know it's technically an AU, but I'm still mad good boy Maven is not with Mare.🖤

If Tedros was a little bit older, his and Cal's ship name would be/is either Gold Blood or Fire and Gold. ⚡

Again, IF TEDROS WAS OLDER🖤

This isn't tied up with a neat and tidy bow. There's a chance Rafal can come back. The world and school are still in danger. THE LAST PAGE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A "THE END." JUST "THE EN." 🖤

... Oh, well. I still had fun reading this. Thank you so much to Soman Chainani and Victoria Aveyard for doing this for your fans!!!😃😁😃😁😃😁😃😁😃😁⚡⚡⚡💛💛💛❤💛❤💛❤💛❤💛

MAN, I had fun with this!! A little on the nose, but hey, this is a tumblr post, not a video.

I really hope you guys liked this, I had a great time writing it!! I know some of the sins are harsh, but I still really like this comic and what it had to offer.

It came out while I was in a really bad place, both physically and mentally, and it was one of the things that got me through it. Sorry if that sounds bad, I promise there's more I value and look forward to in life than some books😅

Thank you again for reading, wtay safe durimg this time, AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

#red school #red queen #school for good and evil #cinemasins #cinemawins #parody post #everything wrong with #everything great about #swearing tw #SPOILERS

[thetourguidebarbie]

Can you please write a follow up to your recent safehouse drabble? I read it like 5 times. ❤

Sequel to this drabble where Klaus and Caroline explore BDSM in a safe house. Fulfills my “lust” square for KC Bingo.

-----

 Caroline laid back on her bed staring at the ceiling, wondering where she'd gone wrong.

Okay, fine, she knew where she'd gone wrong, and it had been letting Klaus lead her down a path of deviance. In her defense, he was basically Satan, so it was totally his job. But also like, she should have known better.

He'd dropped her off on her doorstep earlier that night, bending to press a kiss to her cheek that made her skin prickle with need before whispering that he'd see her around and walking off with his hands in his pockets, leaving her completely confused.

Sure, she'd said what happened in the safehouse stayed in the safehouse, but she hadn't really thought through what that would mean when they got back. Now that she was lying in her own bed and feeling in desperate need of touch, she realized that there had been a major flaw in the plan: she really wanted to keep having sex with Klaus.

And not just sex, but the kinky kind of sex. The toe-curling, super-hot kind where she called him 'master' and begged to come around his cock. The kind that she would be mortified for anyone to know she'd had, let alone enjoyed, but wasn't that what made it hot anyway? That it was so forbidden?

Or maybe it was just Klaus himself that made it hot.

She huffed, grabbing a pillow and pulling it to her chest, pouting at the ceiling. She'd been used to having sex almost every day for the past month, sometimes more since vampire libido had a habit of kicking in after meals, and she felt jittery. Like she needed a hit.

She knew that she could easily go to Klaus, that the only thing he'd do would be to give her a smirky dimpled grin and lead her to his bedroom, but it felt like caving somehow. Now that she didn't have the excuse of close quarters and curiosity, she wasn't sure that she could justify seeking him out, not when he gave her a get-out-of-jail-free card and had sworn not to tell anyone. Plus, if she went now, she wasn't sure that she'd ever stop. She was even less sure of whether he'd let her go once she gave herself over.

But that may or may not have been part of the appeal.

She hated that she was lusting after him, that her stupid horny vampire brain couldn't get him out of her head. Maybe she could go to him once? To get him out of her system?

But like, now.

XXX

She was thankful she couldn't feel cold as she made her way to Klaus's front door in the low light of the driveway lamps, the beep of her car reassuring her that it was locked cutting through the silence like a siren. She was highly aware that she was only in a tank top and the yoga pants she'd pulled on before she left, her flip-flops smacking lightly against the porch as she walked, and she took another deep breath before she knocked on the door.

The door swung open the second after she finished knocking, and she couldn't help but suspect that he'd heard her coming. That he'd been waiting.

"Caroline," he greeted with a nod, a smirk pulling at his lips.  "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Caroline took a deep, shaky breath, trying to stop her hands from trembling slightly by wiping them on the stretchy fabric of her yoga pants, hoping that her swallow at the darkening of his eyes as he followed the sink of her teeth into her lower lip wasn't audible. "I...I wanted to see you."

"Why?" he asked, his head tipped slightly to the side, eyes glittering. He knew he had her, didn't he? The knowledge that he'd just been waiting for her to crack, to seek him out, made her bristle a bit, and she narrowed her eyes.

"You know why," she bit out, not wanting to come out and say it.

"I haven't the faintest, actually, love."

She huffed, looking away and glaring at one of the pillars on his porch. "Can I come in? I don't want to talk outside."

"Of course," he said, stepping aside to allow her to breeze past him, shutting the door and following her into the sitting room. "Now, Caroline, what brings you--"

"I want to play," she interrupted, her chin held high, making sure to meet his eyes as confidently as she could despite the skip of her heartbeat. "With you."

He quirked an eyebrow. "I thought what happened in the safehouse stayed in the safehouse, love."

"I mean, if you don't want to," she began, starting to walk away, but Klaus's hand shot out to wrap around her wrist before she could take a single step.

"I want you, Caroline. Always," he said simply. "But you'll have to be sure, sweetheart. I was willing to let you experiment when we were in close quarters, but it's different now. If you give yourself to me, there's no going back. Do you understand?"

She bit her lip, tugging her hand away from his to cross her arms over her chest, suddenly unsure. She swallowed. "I mean, I want you, Klaus," she said softly. "And I liked...I liked what we did. But I'm seventeen, you know? How am I supposed to know what I want for the rest of my life?"

Her argument was logical, she knew that, but the protest felt like an excuse even to her own ears, and Klaus seemed to think along similar lines judging by the way he was looking at her. 

"A bargain, then," he offered, taking a few steps towards her to crowd into her space, his palms pressed against her hips, thumbs tracing the stitching holding together the panels of the stretchy lycra that molded to her figure. "How does that sound, love?"

"What kind of bargain?" she hedged, unable to look away from his eyes, her undead heart beginning to pound in her chest.

"Be mine for a year," he offered, squeezing her hips lightly. "Give yourself to me. Let me show you how it would feel to belong to me. And when the year is gone I'll give you a decade."

"A decade to do what?" 

"Whatever you please. Find yourself, as the youth attempt to, these days. Date, if you must, though I'll assure you, nothing will compare to how you'll feel with me."

"Arrogant."

"But not incorrect," he said with a grin. "And when the decade is up, I'll find you. And you can decide whether you want to continue on your own or let yourself stay where you belong. With me."

"And what if I don't choose you?" she asked. His eyes flashed gold.

"You will," he said, his tone decisive. "I can assure you of that."

She let out a sharp breath, considering her options. A year with him and then ten alone? She could make a big life decision at 28, right? People decided who they wanted to spend the rest of their life with by then all the time. Sure, most people's lives weren't eternal, but Klaus would probably get tired of her eventually, anyway. It's not like he'd want to be with her forever. She might as well enjoy it while she could.

"And if I...if I give myself to you for the year, will you make me tell my friends?" she asked hesitantly. 

"Afraid they'll disown you for being with the big bad wolf?" he drawled, his fingers tracing the skin just under the top of the waistband, making her shiver.

"Something like that," she admitted.

He seemed to think about it for a moment, which made her uneasy, but she sighed in relief at his next words. "No. You needn't tell them. But just as you put yourself in my hands, I'm putting my trust in yours, Caroline. If they come up with some inane plot to hurt my siblings and I and you keep it from me, not only will I not be lenient with you, but I'll lose my trust in you. Do you understand?"

She did. It was a big thing, what he was ceding, and she knew that. She wasn't about to take advantage of it. She said so, feeling a bit of warmth flood through her at the fondness in his gaze when she promised him that she wouldn't betray him.

"So you agree, then? To be mine?"

"For a year," she said, nodding, excitement beginning to build within her as the reality of what she'd just done gave her a burst of adrenaline. "Well, I guess tentatively. Depending on the rules. We need to agree on those, right?"

"We do," he said with a nod, gesturing to the couch. "Sit."

She sat, folding her legs underneath her and settling against the cushions, watching him as he sunk down a few feet away and placed his feet on the polished coffee table, his fingers steepled together. "You'll call me Master in private," he said softly. She nodded. "You'll sleep here. It's your choice whether to move your things. I won't force you to move in, but I want you in my bed every night."

"I can do that," she said easily, already planning out how she'd make it work.

"You'll follow my every command. You'll let me take care of you."

"Yeah."

"And you will be honest with me, especially regarding whether you enjoy the things I do to you."

"I can do that."

"Good. And you will, of course, tell me the moment anything becomes more than you are comfortable with. What's your safe word, love?"

She didn't even have to think about it. "Hummingbird."

His lips twitched, his eyes glittering. "And more rules to be established as we go along, once I learn all the things I can do to make you hunger for my touch. Be good for me, Caroline, and you'll be rewarded beyond your wildest fantasies."

Her lips curled into a smirk. "And if I'm bad?"

"I have many punishments I can bestow, Caroline. I'll provide you with a list, if you like. Any limits you'd like me to know about?"

"No compulsion," she said immediately. "Ever."

He looked like he was about to say something, but after a moment of looking at her, she saw the light of realization in his eyes. He reached for her hand, his thumb tracing the heel of her palm. "I will never compel you, sweetheart. Ever. I promise."

"Okay," she said, taking in a shaky breath. "I think that's it. For now. If you come up with something freaky like toe sucking I a hundred percent reserve the right to add more to my nope list."

He huffed out a laugh. "Agreed. Now, come to bed with me. It's late."

He tugged her hand lightly to encourage her to follow. She did.

#kcbingo2020 #klaroline #klaroline drabbles #klaroline drabble #klaroline fanfiction #mydrabbles #eliliyah #ask #answer

[tonyglowheart]

This entire thing is a rant, feel free to ignore it, but I saw your post about how destiel fans can’t win in this context, and yeah. So have some rambles.

I’ve been thinking about the fact we (current spn/destiel fans) can’t win all night... I’ve seen so many people talking about how homophobic it is - and while I would very much like to argue, as every point I’ve seen made by a non-spn fan has been wrong so far, if I did everyone inside the fandom would agree and everyone outside would either call me straight or pity me for believing it’s okay.

(Cas wasn’t even sent to hell lmao. He was sent to angel death (the empty), a place he has escaped in the past. Other points, like that meta about spn has been predicting exactly this for months, that Dean ended up sobbing on the floor because he was so upset, like that death means next to nothing on spn, like that there is two episodes left, etc etc. you feel me right? I just don’t want to post wank to other spn blogs atm, we’re getting enough frustration as it is, no need to add to it.

It’s also worth pointing out that the bar is very, very low. Spn is a prominent TV show - not a Netflix show, or indie, or whatever - and it just said “main character in gay love saved the world”. [insert gif of ghostfacers dude saying that gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day here]

I just saw someone saying that spn having Naomi try to brainwash Cas out of loving dean makes spn homophobic (it is a conversion therapy parallel). My first response to that is that Naomi was the villain lmao? I guess we can’t write villains doing anything homophobic because having villains do homophobic things makes, uh - checks notes - villains look homophobic, and clearly we can’t have that.

There certainly are legitimate things to criticise spn about, but this isn’t it lol.

Also now some people are unironically trying to cancel Jensen because “his acting was homophobic, and so he’s clearly homophobic”, nevermind that he’s an actor and his character struggles with understanding his emotions (which I think he played excellently, myself. That scene had a very Dean delayed emotional response), nevermind the support he’s given to us queers in the past. Like. Idek man.

We would have been laughed at if we got no destiel, too.

It would have been worse, had the writers pulled a dumbledore. At this point I also trust the writers not to pull a GoT - they have explicitly criticised that ending in spn’s canon.

Spn’s writers did that by making the main villain of this season, Chuck / God, say GoT had a good ending. To reiterate a previous point I had: villains do bad things because they’re bad. And the bad things they do make them bad. For the people out there not still following, if someone does something in a story and it makes them a villain, that is explicitly telling you the story (and probably the writers) thinks that thing is bad. In this case, Chuck likes to write things for him, and we the audience have been shown and told that is bad.

Apparently thinking a gay confession is good in 2020 makes me straight. Seems unlikely, but whatever. Sorry for the length, I guess I went overboard, I’ve been holding it in lol. Anyway, DESTIEL IS CANON 💚💙 hope you have a good night

Helloo supernatural anon I hope you are living your best life right now. Yeah I’m like..... skeptical and leery myself but having lived through some absolute garbage discourse that is general purity wank, as well as the C/QL greater fandom here and on Twitter I find myself... much more wanting to question the “general wisdom” of things esp in terms of negativity, bc a lot of the time I find.... it’s wrong? Like so wrong. Or at least presents such an incomplete picture of the whole situation and also presents it in such a removed context that words that have meaning and are operationalized in a certain way for a reason, no longer have meaningful usage.

Anyway I don’t... know too much about the specifics of Spn but someone I follow is into it and talks a lot about the Gnostic stuff and that all was very fascinating to me, and I also have been grappling a lot with cultural Christianity bc of cmedia and the way ppl just *clenches fist* unthinkingly or uncritically slap some Christian norms on it and call it a day 😩 help I’m Tired. My thing here being... I actually got tired of the uncritical “superhell”s at some pt bc I am, in fact, incredibly exhausted with cultural Christianity, and because it does seem like, even possibly(?) without the Gnostic stuff it’s different from a “hell” or other Protestant-derived afterlife concept, and also yeah that it wasn’t seeded out of nowhere, it was set up to happen, which then... lends credence to the idea that whatever the current era of Spn is doing, the current showrunners are doing it with purpose.

And idk I just... refuse to believe the concept that ALL of the fans of Spn - esp the ones who have been following it still, or got back into it and are following it currently, are acting under delusion or are fooling themselves into liking it or thinking it’s good or whatever. I personally find that kinda infantilizing and patronizing and playing into issues of dismissing things women and/or other marginalized identities like.

Plus I find the concept that (from what I think I’ve been seeing Spn fans say) that the current era of the show is quite actively grappling with itself, its past, its legacy. to be very interesting and compelling; it hearkens back to like an old lore kind of feeling, of a thing that has grown into a nigh undefeatable monster and realizing that, also realizing that the only way to defeat itself is through grappling with its own nature and transforming and transmuting itself into something else. I personally find that more plausible and compelling than “Supernatural has been actively and continuously queerbaiting for 15 homophobic homophobic years., so right now we’re all very sorry for you because this maybe is no longer queerbaiting but it’s still homophobic and it can never be anything different ever.” I’ve been sort of tangentially aware of Spn thru the years and didn’t we agree, around the time of that in-universe play about Spn and with the lil Destiel shoutout, that Spn has come a ways as far as coming to terms with its fandom and working to treat its fans better? Why the sudden regression into “oh no, Supernatural is and forever will be homophobic and a hate crime”? 🤔 

The rest under a cut bc the ask is already long and then my rambling will get longer-

But yeah I mean..... I get that the legacy of Supernatural has been certifiably Rough, but I think people also forget how different of a time 2005 was? Hell, how different of a time 2015 was, even, prior to, say, Obergefell v. Hodges. Now I’m not saying that to blanket-excuse Supernatural, but like, you look at mainstream shows from the era and... there’s a lot of shit lmao. The fact that Supernatural has existed this long seems to me like.... maybe we CAN look at how it’s developed through the years vs just insisting it is what it was 15, 10, hell, 5 years ago. Especially since, to my knowledge, there’s been showrunner changes? Which seems to me like it would... affect things? I mean honestly, I remember back when I got into Spn for a hot second because of Castiel, I remember watching panel, Q&A, etc vids thru the years, and like... I thought we agreed that... it was the fans who were going a bit far pushing the shipping question like literally ALL the time to the actors, who are not in control of the show and.... like at the time.... that could have had personal implications for them? And yes homophobia bad, and people can still be allies despite that, but again like.... I do feel like - from what I’ve seen - that these guys were NOT ready to deal with a lot of that but they’ve (okay Jensen I’m talking about Jensen here) genuinely grown and learned? Also how many years ago was the essay autograph thing that people keep trotting out, like what year was it in and what year of spn was it, and what were the prevailing opinions on LGBT issues and bisexuality then.

I’ve been seeing some murmurings of identity politicsing surrounding ppl who enjoy Supernatural, and I’m sorry that that’s happening to you, it really fucking sucks and it’s also the dumbest way to “make” or “win” an argument because it shouldn’t ever be a final determiner, just factors to consider when considering what life experiences might have informed someone else’s PoV and views as well as maybe how you can better communicate with them. Instead of it being a “weapon” or “tool” to either dismiss someone or de facto validate an argument.

Also yeah I get it that you don’t want to send discourse to spn blogs bc I imagine you guys ARE actively grappling with all the bs rn and it’s a lot. Even just from like, the stuff I see around, I’m like tired of it. I’m genuinely having more fun with ppl who are having a good time with Supernatural than the ppl who are hating on it, even in this sort of backhanded “oh we’re not clowning YOU we’re clowning the writers and showrunners who think you should be satisfied with this,” when... yeah? the people who HAVE been watching the show and therefore... know what’s up.. DO seem to be? And all this based on *fake gasp* context. And that’s where the backhandedness becomes kind of poisonous to me, because it implies that it IS bad, and that you SHOULDN’T be satisfied, but poor little you are but don’t worry, we’re not making fun of YOU for liking garbage, you’re just the hapless victim who is consuming the garbage bc... idk, whatever reasons ppl are coming up with ig.

idk man it’s 2020. Fandom isn’t activism, performative or otherwise, it’s okay to let people enjoy things even if you think they’re “objectively” bad, and like... I don’t know if people can call something bad when they’re not even working with the whole context and instead are dealing with rumor and reputation. 

#supernatural cw #I tag this for ppl who I know want nothing to do with spn rn and are blacklisting and so it doesn't end up in main tag #Anonymous #asks answered #long post

[bugheadfamily]

🎶 They're creepy and they're kooky 

Mysterious and spooky 

They're all together ooky 

The Bughead family 

 Their fic is for the season 

When people come to read 'em 

They really are a scream 

The Bughead family 🎶

Happy Halloween, Buggies! We gladly feast on these mysterious and spooky fics. Below you’ll find a mix of supernatural, horror, dark, and seasonal type fics with Halloween specific ones (marked with a 🎃). Curl up in your favorite costume, pull out the treats, and get your Halloween fic fix here below the cut!

🎃 10.31.17 by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency | T

On that night, when the veil is at its thinnest, he finds his way home.

🎃 A Kiss That Thrills by @lilibetts | E

On Halloween, college students Betty and Jughead go through a Haunted House and finally act on their respective crushes.

And the Ash Shall Rise by @likemereckless | M

Riverdale is actually Purgatory (why else would so many crazy things happen in one town!) Jughead Jones, Shadowman of purgatory level one has been tasked with finding an Awakened soul, one who the Premier Shadowman says jeopardizes the future of their world. When Jughead discovers Betty Cooper’s soul down by the River Styx he finds all is not as it seems and a final battle between Heaven and Hell is on the verge of breakout. *It’s Purgatory so ALL characters are dead. *You will find out how they died. *Get ready for a ride!

🎃 Be More Chill by @literatiruinedme | M

Betty and Jughead run into each other in the bathroom at the annual Blossom Halloween party.

body talks by @justcourbeau | NR

Instead of late morning light being his wake up call, Jughead was woken by the horrendous chirp of an alarm clock going off, and, really, that should have been the first sign that something was wrong.

Cooper’s Monsters by @cooperandjonesinc | M

In the darkened halls of an abandoned mental hospital Dr. Hal Cooper has been making monsters.Betty, oblivious to her father’s machinations, comes across a horrifying creature. Together can they stop the doctor and free the others?

Curl of Ash by @darknessaroundus | T

Jughead attempts to save a strangers life in Queens one night. Nothing is what it appears to be.

Darkside by @exmachina187, @itsmarscosta | E

Jughead has had centuries to reflect on his life, but none of it had meaning until she came along.

Dear Angel series by @tory-b | M/E

🎃 Dirty Devil by @thesecretfandom | E

Betty and Jughead are celebrating Halloween, but their costumes seem to be interfering with their fun.

Dust & Desire by @darknessaroundus | T

They have a rhythm to their days, the result of having very little company but each other for years now. When Betty wakes from the nap, they eat mac and cheese before they go hunting. A Vampire Slayer AU.

erase & rewind by @sopaloma | M

When a powerful storm hits Riverdale, five students are hit by lightning as they leave school. The result of that storm will change their lives forever, in ways they never could have imagined. A Misfits AU.

Ever Since We Met by @lilibetts | M

It's almost All Hallow's Eve and witch!Betty has a broomstick breakdown. She lands near werewolf!Jughead's bar and he helps her out...by giving her another broom to ride.

🎃 go home people (the party’s not over) by @grilledcheesusyouredelic | T

“It was your dad’s idea,” Betty chirped. “He told my mom that if people were going to stare at us she may as well make it worth her while.” Jughead bit back a sigh. “And she said ‘like what, throw a party’? And he said ‘sure, Alice, the perfect holiday is coming up’.”

🎃 Howling by @lovedinapastlife | T

Jughead’s working a shift at the Blossom haunted house when he spots a familiar blonde ponytail and decides to try and give her a scare. He ends up smashed in the face, real blood added to his costume. Horrified, Betty tries to make it up to him. She’s nervous to finish the house by herself, so Jughead offers to let her work on a few scenes and scares with him until Archie comes back from his break. There’s nothing quite like method acting with a childhood crush and best friend when hearts are pounding and limbs are entangled in a ravenous display. Something’s building inside of them, a low, penetrating howl.

🎃 I Don’t Have a Lot of Friends by @typing123 | M

Joker Jughead and Harley Betty meet at a Halloween Party. It’s definitely a treat.

Interview with the Coopers by @typing123 | E

What a perfect little family they make

🎃 It’s A Great Pumpkin, Jughead Jones by @alisoncollis | NR

Jughead and Betty go to a pumpkin patch.

i will hang on the hook of your splendour by @jughead-jones/@stark | G

“We have to go up to Woodland House tomorrow,” Betty said, hopping out of the back of the van the night before, dressed in something that she called summer sleepwear and Jughead deemed to be sweet torture. “There has to be a clue there about these abductions.”Mystery Inc AU

Jug the Ripper by @lovedinapastlife @theheavycrown | NR

Murder kink isn’t on the menu—not really. But he’ll do anything for his beloved.

🎃 Let the Right One In by @yavannie | T

When Jellybean talks Jughead into going to a Halloween-themed birthday party in Greendale, she does such a good job on his make-up that not even his best friend can tell it’s him.

🎃 love is kinda crazy (with a spooky little girl like you) by @whaticameherefor | G

Jughead always thought that falling in love would feel like a punch to the gut. It didn’t, of course. It was more like a punch to the face. Right in the nose, to be exact.

🎃 Movie Night on Elm Street by @bettsc | NR

Jughead Jones finds himself at the Cooper household on Halloween night, and it’s not just the scary movies that are giving him goosebumps.

🎃 No Guts No Glory by @thesecretfandom | E

Jughead may have taken their pumpkin carving competition a bit too far, and now it’s Betty’s job to get the both of them cleaned up.

🎃 Nobody Knows You Now by @bettsc | M

They moved like this for what seemed like hours; neither one relenting to the other; both losing themselves in the intertwining of two souls.

🎃 october 2017 by @elizabethbettscooper | G

“Jug, you’re home!” she glanced up, grinning at him. He nudged off his shoes and started towards her.

“So it seems.” he said, smirking and dropped onto the floor beside her. “What’s up, Betts?”

“Do you have plans tomorrow? I want to go to the pumpkin patch.”

“The… pumpkin patch.” Jughead raised an eyebrow and put his arm across the sofa seat, leaning in to look at Betty’s planner.

Outbreak by @moon--mama | T

The breakdown only took 36 hours. 

🎃 Over the Wall by @typing123 | T

The Over the Garden Wall AU nobody asked for.

🎃 Pumpkin Spice (and all things nice) by @itsindiansummer13 | G

Jughead, Betty, and Halloween through the years.

Seek Forbidden Things by @maeve-of-winter | T

Kevin Keller has gone missing from Riverdale, and it’s up to Betty and the rest of the gang to bring him back.

🎃 Self control by @bettyscooperr | NR

Jughead just really hates Halloween

Spirits, Are You There? by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency | T

An abandoned asylum, plus a ouija board, plus Cheryl Blossom? The perfect potion.

Strange and Unusual by @lovedinapastlife | M

AU loosely based on the film Beetlejuice - where a ravenous ghoul and a shrewd teen make a strange and unusual alliance that goes far deeper than convenience.

strange days by @sopaloma | T 

His sister is missing, his dad is talking to Christmas lights and Betty Cooper needs his help. November 1983 is a strange time for Jughead Jones. A Stranger Things AU.

Taboo. by anonymous | NR

Death becomes her.

The Beast Within series by @cooperjones2020 | M/E

He likes to watch her sleep.

🎃 the business of being dead (and the curse of virginity) by @thetaoofbetty | M

🎃 The Cooper House by @satelliteinasupernova | T

“Let’s go to a haunted house, Jughead,” Jellybean had said. “It’ll be fun,” she said.

Except, now he was turned around somewhere in a dark hallway; alone. With no source of light nearby, he could barely make out his surroundings. Tentatively, he reached out to use the wall to guide him, taking one step at a time. The surface of the wall was uneven and with each step he felt another notch as his hand moved across one panel of wood to the next. The floor creaked softly under his feet. Here in the dark, it was unnervingly quiet. The only other sound he could hear was of the wind passing through the trees outside the house.

“Hey, JB?” he called out. “Where the hell did you go?”

🎃 The First Halloween Since by @typing123 | G

Single Mom Betty doesn’t think she can face Halloween this year. She just wants a quiet night in with her daughter. Jughead’s not so sure.

THE HOUSE IS NOT HAUNTED by @satelliteinasupernova | T

“For the hundredth time, the house is not haunted,” said Gladys Jones as she lifted another box from the U-haul to carry into the house. “Now, go help your brother carry your things to your bedroom.”

JB huffed, and marched over to Jughead, reaching for her box of vinyl records, “How else did we get this place so cheap? You know it’s because that girl disappeared here.”

Silently, Jughead agreed with her, but he was getting tired of the argument. He knew JB wasn’t bringing this up to stop them from moving into the new house, she just wanted their mom to admit that was the reason they could even afford it. Gladys Jones wasn’t one to own up to her own methods, much less admit weakness.

The Hunger by @mistressofmalplaquet | M

Betty is being slowly starved at the Farm, while Jughead is hungry for blood. Hunger and seductive Blood Lust leads the pair into a swirl of terror, torture, and an inescapable dark fate.

🎃 The Jack-O-Gram by @noorakardemmomesaetre | T

The Jack-O-Gram has become the perfect way for Riverdale High students to express their feelings for someone special before the Halloween Banshee Bash at the end of the week.

Betty can't help but hope she receives one from the only boy who's ever captured her heart, Jughead Jones.

the key to (harm)ony by @lovedinapastlife | E

Everything else falls away, even her mother, sister, and Geraldine, when he steps towards her, untethered and confident with the grace of a circulating fountain. Up close, his eyes are blue - brilliant and deep like Sweetwater River, just on the verge of a knowing wink. His long spider-leg lashes flutter as he exhales in a hum of satisfaction, and the longer she looks at him the more it feels like she’s in the tub, water rising up over her chin until she can’t breathe.

“Hello, Betty,” he says with a soft, secret smile, and her heart rattles.

~~~

Betty resents her drunken mother's attempt to replace the recently deceased Charles with a stranger, his enigmatic half-brother Jughead. It's almost like he's waiting for the right moment to please her, to slink into her latest mystery and submerge her in something foreign: Freedom.

🎃 The Mouse by @typing123 | G

A hungry Jughead is lured into the woods on Halloween by a hungry vampire.

🎃 The One That I Want by @dreamersshouldknowbetter | T

Betty and Jughead meet at a Halloween party where they accidentally form two halves of a couples costume

the strange death of Elizabeth Cooper by @wolfofansbach | T

Betty Cooper, after a long struggle with illness, has passed away. Except–she hasn’t, because against all rhyme and reason, she awakens on the coroner’s slab, hale and healthy. The illness is gone, and she couldn’t be in better condition, to the weeping relief of her friends and family, not least of all her longtime boyfriend, Jughead Jones. No real explanation is forthcoming, but what does it really matter, when Betty is alive? And he can discount the occasional oddity in her behavior. She’s been through a lot, after all. Except, as the days go by and the strange happenings pile on, Jughead begins to suspect that whatever it is that crawled out of the grave that day isn’t really Betty Cooper.

🎃 the unexpected perks of being a pumpkin by @thetaoofbetty | M

Jughead Jones has a damn good Halloween.

🎃 Things that Go Bump in the Night by @createandconstruct | T

Are sometimes things that also squeal…

Thrill Me, Chill Me, Fulfill Me by @ms-maj | T

The gang does Rocky Horror.

Time Honoured Tradition by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency​ | T

When Cheryl dares Betty to spend some time in the abandoned house across the street she gets a little more than she bargained for.

What Happened on Elm Street by @tory-b | M

When Jughead Jones moves to Riverdale with his family, he uncovers a few mysteries this simple small town has been trying to cover up–specifically the murder that occurred in his house during the late 1950s that was never properly solved. Unable to keep his curiosity away, he teams up with neighbor and fellow mystery lover Betty Cooper to uncover the truth.

🎃 what we pretend to be by @sylwrites | G

It’s his little sister’s first Halloween, but his parents don’t have money for a costume or the time to take her trick-or-treating. The answer to both of these problems comes in the form of his best friend’s neighbour.

🎃 What’s Your Favourite Scary Movie? by @gellsbellshead | T

Betty Cooper doesn’t do scary movies. However maybe she could be persuaded by some cuddling from her boyfriend Jughead. This is a continuation of the fic “Movie Night”

🎃 when things go bump and grind at night by @rainystripe | M

Betty dresses up and Jughead is her slave.

Wild Creatures by @lilibetts | E

Neither Betty Cooper or Jughead Jones were particularly hopeful about their soulmarks; the inky black First Words seemed custom built for their hole-hearted selves. But with a mysterious game ensnaring students on campus, and killing some, it was a question of whether they would learn to work together before them being at cross-purposes destroyed everything.

🎃 Wish Fulfillment by @lilibetts | T

On Halloween, the core four meet up to go Trick-or-Treating, only to find themselves turning into their costumes. Revelations are had for Jughead and Betty.

🎃 won’t you tell me what you’re thinking of? by @flwrpotts | G

Betty enlists Jughead, Reggie, and Archie to help her set up for the annual Riverdale middle school Halloween dance.

Still haven’t satisfied your itch for Halloween fics? Check out our fanfic tag on @riverdale-events! Our Halloween event, Tricks and Treats of Riverdale, is going on and you can find fics posted exclusively to Tumblr there!

#bughead #betty x jughead #bughead fanfiction #bughead fanfic #bughead fic rec #riverdale #betty cooper #jughead jones #halloween #fanfic #fic rec #masterlist #*admin #tricksandtreatsofriverdale #riverdaleevents

[unadulteratedfandomtrash]

Loki Laufeyson x Reader ~ Rest Assured [Pt. 10]

[My Marvel Masterlist]   [Previous Part]

A/N: Sooooo.... Plans have changed and now there will be more than ten chapters because this segment ended up being much longer than anticipated. I’m sorry it took this long for me to write and post this chapter!

Also, the time difference between now and the previous chapter is mentioned in the dialogue, but for those of you who want to know before reading this, it has been two Midgardian years.

Word Count: 2359

“Well, that should conclude today’s session. Have you experienced any negative reactions or symptoms since my last visit two nights ago? Lightheadedness? Headaches?”

“No, she has not,” Loki answers from the threshold of the room, stepping in with a sly smirk on his face, “and, as my wife, she would be wise to inform me if otherwise, right, darling?”

“Spying on us again?” An amused smirk stretches across (Y/n)’s lips. She gestures for her husband to take a seat beside her on the bed, her head immediately resting upon his shoulder. “You both know as well as I do that I have been feeling just fine, so quit worrying so much over nothing. All that fretting will turn you two into wrinkly old fellows before I even get a chance to become a mother.”

A pregnant silence leaves the God of Mischief and Sorcerer Supreme staring awkwardly at a random corner of the room. Their constant badgering comes with good intentions, but (Y/n)’s teasing brings up the fact that maybe, just maybe, they truly are worrying over non-existent health issues that she has long since overcome.

“Now, if you two don’t mind, I would like to rest.”

With a quick nod of acknowledgement, Stephen bids the two Asgardians a good night before exiting, the door automatically closing behind him thanks to JARVIS. Loki and (Y/n) remain unmoving in the darkness of their shared chambers, both unsure of their next move.

Deciding to break the silence, Loki clears his throat softly while glancing over at his wife. “You wish to conceive children in the future?”

“Of course,” (Y/n) answers quickly, though her voice can barely be heard. “Why would you ask such a thing? Of course I wish to have children with you, though I have no demands on when it will happen. Is it not something you wish for, my love?”

“I have done nothing to prove myself worthy to potentially be a parent. If anything, my actions discredit me.”

“Oh, Loki, you have done no such thing.”

“What are you tal-”

“Let me finish,” she states, cupping Loki’s face; her firm grip pulls the black-haired god closer until there is no longer an empty gap between them. Pressing a chaste kiss to her husband’s lips, (Y/n) ensures his eyes meet her own as she explains, “I understand and am fully aware that several…previous events…have broken both legal and moral codes, but you’ve moved on from that. So long as you learn from those mistakes and never repeat them, that alone proves your worth.”

“Be that as it may, there are many others from numerous realms who will disagree with such a statement.” 

“Who says you have to listen to them?” (Y/n) has a point. Listening to others has never been Loki’s favorite thing to do, so why should he bother to stop now? Plus, he can never win an argument against his perceptive wife— (Y/n) knows best. “Ignore those who only express their hatred towards our lives; they do not deserve a second of our attention.”

Birds chirp happily as they glide throughout the morning sky, providing a serene view as (Y/n) gazes out the window from her seat on the couch, the book in her hands long forgotten as her mind wanders.

“Good afternoon, (Y/n),” Thor greets as he strides into the room. Despite the large smile on his face, the dark circles convey his weariness from having just returned from a mission with his fellow heroes. “I was informed you wish to speak to me as soon as possible.”

The God of Thunder’s entrance startles her from her thoughts. She closes her novel, setting it aside with the intention to continue reading later on, and stands to greet her brother-in-law, who pulls her into a tight hug. Her arms remain wrapped around Thor for a moment longer than anticipated, prompting to him question the reason he was summoned.

“Yes, but first, I must ask: How are you, Thor? You must be exhausted between all the assignments with your team and your continuous travels to and from Asgard. Surely you can ask for Heimdall to pass on messages instead of running back and forth between two worlds, or request for one of his messengers to assist you?”

“Though the many journeys have left me weary, it is my responsibility to inform the AllFather of Loki’s progress here on Midgard. I do not wish to burden Heimdall. He has many duties as it is. Now, what is it you wish to discuss, (Y/n)?”

(Y/n) returns to her seat on the couch, resting her hands in her lap as they fiddle around anxiously. Patting the cushion next to her, she gestures for Thor to sit beside her. The large blond does as he is asked, a worried frown taking over the cheerful grin on his face once he notices the young woman’s nervousness.

“It has been nearly two Midgardian years since my departure from Asgard…and though I do not wish to pressure Loki into agreeing unless the decision comes from his heart, I have given this decision a lot of thought: if and when the time is right, I wish to have a child with your brother.”

“That is wonderful, (Y/n)!”

“Yes, however, Loki's opinion on the matter differs drastically. Your brother believes his attack on Midgard, along with his upbringing and bloodline, dictates the future of his child, should he decide to have one.” 

“I do not understand…” Upon noticing Thor’s blank, lost expression, (Y/n) shuffles to sit closer to her confused brother-in-law. For several seconds, the young woman remains silent to gather her thoughts in order to clarify the situation.

“Thor… Loki is afraid. His hands are stained with blood and betrayal, his biological father was a manipulative, cruel individual who only ever brought death and despair to those near and far, and numerous realms do not take kindly to his existence,” she cautiously explains in a hushed whisper, afraid to catch the attention of any unwanted listeners. “Your brother believes he is unfit to father offspring, and I am quite sure you are aware of his hatred towards his heritage. He still struggles to accept himself; he sees himself as a monster.

“As the child grows older, they will bear the responsibilities of being Asgardian royalty, which is a formidable expectation alone, but Loki’s past will follow our family even after our passing; it is a part of our history. Asgardians are warriors. We often yearn for the thrilling rush of being on the battlefield. If they were to learn of Loki’s current situation, that alone would rile the citizens enough to start a war between the people and sovereign family. Loki’s child will only receive hatred just as he does.”

“Father has a plan,” Thor interrupts (Y/n)’s explanation. He understands his brother’s fears, and with the help of the Allfather, steps have already been taken to ease the citizens of Asgard into the idea of Loki’s return to the realm. “We had discussed this long before Loki was permitted to return to Midgard with you. The Allfather plans to slowly convince the people of Brother’s improvements. With you by his side, I am sure we will be able to persuade them in no time!”

“Stark, I require your assistance on a matter of great importance!” Thor storms into Tony’s lab with only his thunderous footsteps and booming voice providing the latter any hint of the Asgardian’s arrival. The sudden announcement piques Tony’s curiosity, but without any context, he remains silent to allow Thor to continue his train of thought. “(Y/n) approached me with her concerns over a personal issue she wished to discuss, but given that you claim yourself to be a genius, I shall ask for your assistance.”

An eyebrow raises at the mentioning of (Y/n). Since Thor mentioned her issue being personal, Tony is confused as to why he is being so open about the matter; if it were him, he would not want his brother-in-law going to someone else to talk about a private problem, but maybe this is different.

“Okaaayy…I need context here, buddy. What sort of godly problems call for my help?”

“Loki requires assistance in bearing a child wi-”

“SAY WHAT,” Tony shouts suddenly, hands dropping the tools that were once hovering cautiously over a new prototype gauntlet. Said prototype discharges without warning thanks to a soldering iron coincidentally falling onto the operating panel.

From across the room, Bruce is quick to duck beneath a nearby desk as debris rains down from the hole in the ceiling that Tony has now created, shooting a pointed look at his colleague once the dust settles.

“My bad,” he apologizes with a sheepish grin. “But in my defense, Point Break shouldn’t have sprung that sort of information on me without any warning. I really didn’t need to know that Reindeer Games and his wife are trying to make more trickster gods. In my tower at that.” 

“That is where you are wrong,” interjects Thor, “My brother fears his late attack on your planet, amongst many other issues, will affect his ability to produce children. I understand you possess plenty of experience with women, especially with your lover, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could lend your expertise to Loki.”

The God of Thunder’s statement leaves Tony sputtering out his coffee mid-sip, staring at the man in question in absolute disbelief.

“Excuse me?! What did you just say? Please tell me that I did not hear what I think I just heard. JARVIS, am I going crazy?”

“Well, according to an analytic scan I performed the other day, your br-”

“Y- Don’t actually answer that. I was being rhetorical.” Hunching over the table with his temple resting on three fingers, the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist loudly exhales as he takes his time to take in the words Thor had just spoken. 

He truly does want to help the blond god, but the topic is neither his or Thor’s business to be sticking their noses into. Everything should stay between the two gods concerned with matter. Tony is pretty sure that if he were to approach either of the two to talk about it, they would turn him away.

“Okay. I’ll humor you for a bit, blondie. Why should I help you? Correction: Why should I help Loki? Even though he’s staying in my tower, that doesn’t mean I actually like him.” 

“As you already know, (Y/n) belongs on Asgard. Though she is content with staying on Midgard, so long as Loki is by her side, her heart longs to reside in the realm she was born to live on, and the Allfather is well aware of this. He allowed for (Y/n) to follow us to Midgard in hopes that Loki will yield to his lengthy sentence. 

“Those two are heirs to the throne. Without them, Father has nobody to succeed him when the time comes, as I do not wish to rule Asgard as its king. Loki and (Y/n) are expected to birth an heir in order to secure the fate of Asgard, should tragedy befall on either of them.”

“Wait, why don’t you want to be a king? I would love to be born into the royal family of gods from another planet.”

“Being a ruler is a heavy burden I am unequipped to bear. My brother, alongside (Y/n), is far wiser than I will ever be. He may not act like it at times, but Loki is the perfect candidate for King. I am far happier with my role as the protector of my realm, not its ruler.”

“But a king has to protect too, ya’’ know,” Tony points out. “But that’s beside the point. We’re getting off topic! So, what’s the point of me talking to your brother?”

“My father has informed me that Asgard shall soon accept Loki with open arms. If the two were to become parents, the Allfather may permit an early return. I understand that you wish for my brother to vacate your tower, and I only wish for him to live in contentment, so by helping Loki, we shall all benefit.”

A pregnant silence fills the room as Tony mulls over the proposition. A hand strays from his side to his beard, absentmindedly playing with the strands that come in contact with his fingertips. 

No words can describe how much he yearns for Loki’s departure from Earth, he must consider his options. On one hand, if he does help the blond god with his family issues, Loki will no longer bother the Avengers, life in the tower will be peaceful, and everyone gets to live a happy life. However, on the other hand, Tony is willing to bet his entire fortune that the God of Mischief’s reaction to the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’s interference with his personal matters will be anything but positive. Since the start of his sentence on Earth, Loki has been irritating towards every person who has stepped foot in the tower, yet he has never crossed any lines. If Tony provides his input, he fears more than just lines will be crossed.

He prepares to say no, to turn his back on the situation and let it pass without another thought, but movement outside the laboratory captures his attention. Beyond the frosted glass, the wealthy hero watches as the blurry figure of Doctor Strange puts a hand to (Y/n)’s head; she must have gone to him with concerns regarding her health, since Stephen has been studying Asgardian anatomy and physiology within the adjacent lab in order to treat the female Asgardian during her stay on Earth. Despite the strong urge to turn his back on Loki, Tony cannot find it in his heart to do the same with (Y/n). And so, with the guilt hanging over his conscience like the blade on a guillotine, a decision is made.

“Well, looks like I’ve got no other choice but yours. Lead the way, Point Break.”

[Next Part]

Tag List

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[almaasi]

reaction post typed while watching JIBcon videos (part 1 of ?)

Cockles panel

in which Misha still has an unapologetic pee kink and Jensen is way more submissive than I remember him being

03:44pm (may 24th nz)

i legit don’t know if i have the energy to watch and type about this but i’ll try. might pause and come back a different day if i need to

watching this first

“JIB10 - Jensen Jared and Misha panel part1″

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRPKIAeNoFA&ab_channel=thiniassk

-

03:54pm

needed a break already but hi i’m back feeling less sick

LET’S BEGIN

-

03:55

misha: “he was like “let’s do this”... and i went on stage and... jensen went to the bathroom”

pfft

-

FINAL JIBCON??? OH NO??????????? OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

;n;

i’m sad now

aw

-

danella: “some issue backstage, we don’t talk about what happens backstage”

misha: “did he not MAKE it to the bathroom?”

misha !!....

mishaaaaaaaaaa

i wanna squish his face between my hands and just sigh lovingly

kinky little asshole, i love him

-

seriously he’s been on stage less than three minutes, jensen’s not there, and he’s already pulling stories out of nowhere implying that jensen pissed himself 

i can’t even

-

04:02pm

https://youtu.be/fRPKIAeNoFA?t=2m54s

jensen: “do you need help?”

his voice is so gorgeously deep and warm

-

misha: “do you need a pair of dry pants?”

i can’t think of words but

//clutches my head and whines

does jensen have context? does he just get on stage and the first thing he’s asked is whether he needs fresh pants??? whY DOES HE THINK MISHA IS ASKING

-

jensen: “i’m not wearing any pants”

T

THEY

ALL THEY DO IS FLIRT

-

04:08

this was such a soft and submissive hug??????????/ jensen just??? slid up and???? aWWWH

-

AND THEN HE JUST

“I LOVE YOU”

RIGHT OFF THE BAT

OKAY

OKAY I’M ON BOARD

GIVE ME MORE OF THIS X10000

-

jensen: "and there’s a reason i haven’t told you that today”

misha & jensen: “”’cause you/I don’t”

STOP THIS

jensen: “I’M KIDDING”

CEASE AND DESIST

misha: “about what”

EXACTLY

misha looks at jensen like., oh man. :c he laughs after but he’s a tiny bit jilted there. love is always a joke ;<

but also misha gets it, jensen’s a wee bit awkward in front of an audience but he’s MAKIN’ AN EFFORT DAMMIT

-

04:14

they’re sitting so close

-

jensen: “alright, driver, what are we listening to?”

DID HE JUST

(i mean, driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole, obviously)

jensen just gave misha the driver’s seat

he’s so goddamn submissive????? i just

i haven’t watched or seen anything with fresh jensen in like. months. MONTHS. maybe a full year since the last jibcon. and i completely forgot he was like this

especially with misha

i know i often interpret dean as submissive but actually?? in comparison to jensen those lil occasional traits are nothing. jensen’s just openly and unapologetically putting misha in charge with words and with the way his body moves

he’s so soft.

SO soft.

-

and when misha doesn’t answer for a few seconds, jensen looks over, first into his eyes, then down to his lips, checking his expression

misha was kinda stiff before but he got stiffer, ponderous

i honestly, HONESTLY didn’t think i’d be analysing body language this time round but i can’t help it, its so obvious to me, more obvious than it ever is with ANYONE else

these two just give off MASSIVE signals, all the time. maybe because they’re actors and they’re not currently acting, but are performing their own selves, so they perform a heightened version of their personality. but there’s so much to see

plus like. you can see in the background how jensen holds the mic. both protective and phallic at the same time. flirty and nervous and relaxed

-

and THEN MISHA SAYS “we’re listening to the song “why are there so many songs about rainbows”

everything is not-so-secretly gay

this is a rainbow bullet train heading for rainbow city and there’s no stopping it

-

04:26

https://youtu.be/fRPKIAeNoFA?t=5m5s

misha pushed the mic down to whisper to jensen, then jensen’s like “no~. no~!!” and then flirty and winky and “teeease”

WHAT DID THEY TALK ABOUT

maybe about how far they wanna go on stage idk. THIRD BASE MAYBE

or how much of season 15 they can talk about

either way misha was tryna keep it private and jensen was literally broadcasting his answers into the mic. jensen is 100% an exhibitionist.

you know what, i love that look he gets in his eyes when he’s flirting with misha in front of people. you know the look. dark eyed, uncontrollable smile, head set a little down. really open shoulders, probably swaying hips, if he’s standing. ugh i love that

but like. i’m pretty sure he flirts different if nobody’s watching. i think if nobody’s watching (or if he doesn’t realise people are watching) he’s just a regular guy talking to his best friend/wife. except his wife is sometimes misha. some of that big smile, definitely some unnecessary touching and preening and back-of-neck-holding

the crazy thing is i’m essentially making that up, but we all know his movements and behaviour with misha so well i don’t think any of us would struggle to imagine it was true

idk

-

04:37

i will never get tired of seeing them lay their heads on each other’s shoulders

also sidenote: in my opinion this is the best beard + haircut combo jensen has ever had

-

04:39

jensen: “misha......... what’s your latest dad joke?”

-

jensen: “we’re telling stories about CARPOOL now”

i love that they already know each others’ stories and jensen’s like OOH THIS STORY and comes back to sit down to listen

-

04:41

crowd: “we love you misha”

jensen: “thanks, misha’s mom!!!”

and then he looks at misha so softly and so lovingly, he’s not joking any more, he just loves misha as much as the rest of us, maybe more

someone called “we love you jensen” but he didn’t react at all because he was appreciating misha, didn’t even blink

(also as i re-read this post i realise he said “misha’s mom” in a way that’s like “hey stop flirting with him, he’s mine” not in a “dear misha’s mother, thank you for giving us misha”)

-

jensen: “you speak in more puns as a dad. yeah~”

the way he says that with a smile and a nod. like he observed that in misha and also in himself maybe

but he just finished misha’s sentence

they are MARRIED

but i for one ADORE puns and even if i was the only one in my year 10 economics class who laughed at my teacher’s puns i STAND BY THAT LAUGH

-

“when salmon spawn in a stream, and then they die, and an otter eats the carcass”

HE’S TALKING ABOUT HOW HE MAKES MORE PUNS NOW

AND HE’S RELATING IT TO THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

MY LOVE FOR HIM GROWS BY THE HEARTBEAT

-

04:48

there we go, hand on the back of the neck/shoulder

-

THE FIRST QUESTION WAS “can you maybe take a sip of the apple juice”

GET DRUNK !!!

AND THEN MAKE OUT !!!!

yes please

jensen looks at misha checks with him, and then says “no!!!!!”

because he knows flirting will happen

BUT THEn MISHA

GETS UP

GET THIS BOY DRUNK

HELL YEAH

nesnej is much flirtier and we all enjoy it

but like. jensen said no but then he shuts his eyes and shakes his head when misha gets up, knowing what’s gonna happen. ‘cause like. he could say no again. but he already consented to misha leading this thing, right? and if misha hands him a drink he’s gonna drink it. that’s just what’s gonna happen.

and he knows misha’s not getting up just to get himself a drink. there’s something very specific about getting jensen drunk. he knows what he’s like drunk. and so does misha.

i just need to enjoy for a moment how jensen’s vehement resistance to getting himself a drink is immediately completely overridden by misha’s choice to get a drink for him, and jensen gives zero argument. the moment misha moves jensen’s gives over to knowing he’s gonna get tipsy

i have literally never in all my life seen anyone as easily and happily submissive as jensen is with misha

-

05:00

HE COULD SAY NO. HE COULD SAY NO

BUT MISHA DOESN’T EVEN FORCE HIM HE JUST OFFERS IT AND SAYS NOTHING

AND JENSEN GOES “awww mannnn” buT THEN TAKES IT with an “alright~” before he’s even done complaining. as though the complaints were all a farce to begin with and he was eager to say yes?? maybe he likes being drunk and flirting with misha, no surprises there. maybe the look he gave misha before saying “no!” was a permission look saying “yes but only if you make me”? they clearly communicate a lot unsaid, i wouldn’t be surprised by that either

i swear to god this is a sex scene. i’ve written this but with water instead of booze. nobody can convince me they don’t do this in private, drink a lot so they need to pee and get drunk and flirty. *o*

and i am kind of reeling right now. i should sound like i’m making this up but OH BOY THE WAY THEY TALK. THE WAY MISHA OBSESSES WITH PEEING (and has done so consistently for years, especially with jensen). THE WAY HE JUST HANDS JENSEN AND DRINK AND JENSEN TAKES IT. misha wants jensen flirty and REMEMBER THAT TIME HE WAS DIRECTING AND HE MADE JENSEN DRINK THE SAME DRINK ON CAMERA 20 TIMES OVER

-

jensen watches misha drink first

and then he drinks

-

i’m so wrecked by all of this right now

legitimately

their energy is so sexually charged??? and so comfortable and so loving

this is not at all the same aggressive sexual energy jensen brings to the stuff we see in the gag reel, i.e. “pranks” i.e. flirting. but it has equal magnitude imo, it’s just quieter because he’s being himself, not dean (and jared’s not there)

misha knows jensen so damn well and even that bullshit about whether or not jensen loves him was understood to mean “i do but i’m self-concious about being firm about it in front of an audience” and then jensen shows his love instead of saying it (but even then he made a point of saying it straight away)

but oh LORD the biggest thing i’m getting from this so far is that jensen is indeed misha’s princess-slash-cabin boy. and we should never ever doubt that misha used those terms in an affectionate, dominant sort of way. (on the one hand i’m wary about the use of a ~feminine~ term as a means of domination, in general, but on the other hand, I AM SOOO INTO IT for them specifically. maaaay have written "princess” into a destiel fic that one time)

-

anyway where was i

oh yeah jensen just agreed to get drunk because misha wants him to

-

05:25pm

you know what, i’m gonna stop here and come back maybe tomorrow. i didn’t finish this video yet but there’s still a part 2 of this panel, and then other panels and i’m definitely not getting through them all today, these last 11 minutes of footage have taken me almost 2 hours to watch

i’ll post more of my reactions under #Elmie watches things so ... stay tuned!!

#Cockles #Misha Collins #Jensen Ackles #Elmie watches things #jibcon #post of postiness #the kink that must not be named #submissive!Jensen #body language #my Cockles meta

[ifeveristoday]

Are we in Bizarro Land?

@jenny-calendar has already keyboard flailed about the progress of Jenny and Giles in the Boom!verse (and I definitely have thoughts of my own) but this issue is so good about picking up from the quiet introspectiveness of issue 7, as if Jordie thought, ‘Okay, I’ve let Willow breathe and Xander come to terms with his new existence...now shit’s really getting real’ and we’re back into action.

A feature of the Boom!verse has been the feeling that each issue has a mini cliffhanger - not necessarily, OMG what happens next?!? in feeling all the time, but ‘why did you end it THERE?’

It happened for me in the Chosen one-shot - I would have liked to have spent more time with the individual slayers (possibly giving each one her own issue instead of sharing?) but the glimpse I got of each life was intriguing.

With issue 8 of the Boom!verse, we’ve definitely hit upon OMG what happens next territory.

And one of the elephants in the fandom - the Buffy/Angel relationship gets introduced in this issue.

There’s a lot of other plot points about issue 8 that I’m going to address in separate posts, but I want to comment on the B/A dynamic as it is in the Boom! verse. OG canon will be referenced but for the most part I want to focus on what Jordie and Bryan have decided to do with them and how that impacts their relationship in 2019.

Did I go down a google deep dive to ascertain if Bats do in fact have tails? Yes. Yes I did. And they do, but it’s not quite to the extent that Handmade Costume Buffy takes it to -- her costume looks more like a cartoon version of a Bat, with the little forked end. There are 1000 species of bats, however, with the majority of them having some sort of tail, both obvious and not so obvious. And there’s a bumblebee bat that does not have a tail. I highly recommend that you google it because it’s goddamn adorable.

Despite his many years existing, I don’t think Angel really was cataloging all 1,000 species of bats and just went with the common perception that bats are tail-less. The bat motif has been repeated over with them in canon, however - there’s Camazotz, Buffy’s pegasus bat (who’s returning for HELLMOUTH), the endless Batman comparisons Angel has (TV and Bryan comparing him to Bruce Wayne) and of course vampire bats (Dracula and his party trick). Buffy dressing up as a bat is pretty on the nose for this ‘verse.

And I like that it’s obviously homemade - Joyce (or Eric! Doctor after all) probably helped her stitch on ears and a tail to a black hoodie and black shorts, and she just needed fishnets to complete the look - cozy with a slight detour into Women’s Halloween Costumes Must Be Sexy All The Time Now, Especially if It Is Not Sexy Before. Buffy wasn’t going to spend Tuna Palace money on wearing a costume for an event that she was forced to unofficially chaperone, hence the surliness/over it attitude with Halloween. We still have no idea what fifteen-year-old Slayer Buffy was like and if her Halloween in Los Angeles was eventful or it’s a Los Angeles vs “small town” approach to Halloween.

Or if it’s Buffy just being annoyed that once again, she really can’t participate in an ordinary teenage ritual, she has to watch over it to make sure everyone’s safe. The visual of Buffy on the fringes of the party, observing, not participating is something that really resonated with me, as a fan of the TV canon and just being a withdrawn person in RL. 

Buffy’s had a setback - her friends have gotten hurt helping her slaying, her crush has fizzled out before it could properly begin (and Robin dancing with a look-alike didn’t help) and as Giles likes to remind her, evil is always in the background. Her doing normal stuff - group date with her friends is directly before Xander gets turned by Spike and Drusilla, and then she witnesses Willow giving up a part of her soul for Xander, and being defensive when Willow tells her she hardly knows herself - Buffy is both a part of their group but separate. The argument the two get into in front of the demon - that Buffy tells Willow she’s pretending, and Willow tossing back that Buffy is a master of pretending and lying (Slayer, secret identity after all) and the demon sneering at Buffy’s overinflated sense of worth - just because she’s the Slayer doesn’t automatically give her soul more weight. Xander and Willow’s bond excludes her because they’ve known each other forever and she is the new girl. The outsider.

We’ve been given more insight to Willow and Xander, but just peeks at Buffy’s mindset - and with all that’s happened, I don’t blame her for being resentful or less sunshine-y than her season 1 TV counterpart. But Boom! Buffy as always, is her own person.

It’s this person Angel is trying to figure out. Over in his world, Buffy/The Slayer is nothing but a flashing danger sign - a shadowy figure that he first mistakes for Mara/Marius - a source of regret/love from his Angelus past. Mara was chosen by Angelus because she was a renowned fighter, and he makes/renames her in his image - possibly referencing the Roman god of War as well. But all the omniscient demons in his life insist that this girl is a danger to him and that love will bring him nothing but pain and she is the instrument of that pain.

Moth, meet flame.

Boom! Angel is not burdened with destiny in the shape of a girl, he doesn’t know anything about the Slayer or what role she’s going to play in his life, only that she’s going to impact it - most likely in a negative way.

So what does he do?

Treat it like a war campaign - do the recon, know your opponent’s weaknesses.

Which brings the comedy, because the Slayer he’s been warned off so many times isn’t the feared creature of vampire myth and legend, but a resentful tired girl in a bat costume who does not appreciate the tall dark ‘looks like a serial killer’ man in a devil mask sitting right next to her. She wants to be left alone.

In any other typical story, there would be that element of fear with a stranger, but because Buffy’s the Slayer, she knows she can defend herself and put the hurt on this guy.

Meanwhile, it’s Angel’s turn to observe. And 2019 Angel’s social skills have ...not improved. There is a slight symmetry to their meeting - Buffy watching a world she’s not quite a part of, and Angel watching her and not sure how she fits into his world, both outsiders looking at something they’re not sure they want but still are fascinated by.

Angel’s initial attempt to get closer to Buffy (literal sitting down next to her, then being a troll and moving up one stair) is the personal approach - he notices that she’s bothered by Robin dancing with another girl and then quickly enters Uncomfortable Job Interview Questions territory - 'tell me about yourself - where would you be if you weren’t here? What if you had more time for you?’

These are not mortal enemy questions, obviously. Angel is trying to decipher Buffy as a person and subtly mirroring her body language.

In a callback to Willow’s accusation that Buffy doesn’t really know herself - she admits she doesn’t know what she would be doing if she didn’t have to be there - she said to Xander that she’d rather be home studying...but come on. That’s not what she really wants to be doing.

To defuse the suddenly personal conversation, Angel makes the observation that the reason no one can tell she’s a bat is that she has a tail - and Buffy is so wrapped up in her situation that she doesn’t clue in on the fact that Angel has used Xander’s words almost exactly. She repeats that she hates Halloween while flaming with embarrassment that she’s appeared both vulnerable and not bright in front of a stranger.

This whole exchange - about who Buffy is and what she presents to the world - no one knows if she’s a cat or a dog - I’m a bat fits neatly with her identity crisis as a Slayer and as a teenager still figuring stuff out. 

Similarities to TV canon - Angel knows more about Buffy than she knows about him, and he’s intrigued by her, and she’s...annoyed by him.

The update to their histories is what makes me intrigued about the potential of their romance/relationship - it’s definitely happening with all the hints that have been dropped, anvil-like from the sky - but Buffy is not Angel’s route to redemption or desire to be useful for the fight for Good. He was already going down that path/doing that before he meets her. Angel is not a romantic figure for Buffy, she doesn’t know what he looks like, only that he’s really chatty (!) and vaguely has motivational speaker vibes. He’s not a canvas for her to project ideal fantasies on, just yet.

They’re both damaged, unsociable in their own ways people - but a connection has been made. Where Jordie and Bryan (and Jordan Lambert for HELLMOUTH) go with it, is the exciting part. The ending we know is inevitable, plus it’s the first year of their series, and creators rarely get OTPs together and stay together that quickly, but because Boom! has them both under their umbrella, crossovers will happen more easily and the mythology will be tighter instead of the same tiresome ‘one is more darker and adult than the other blah blah blah shut up dude creators as if that’s the only worthy characteristic of a story’ box.

So, I’m excited about the journey, and as you can see in my chat bubbles above - any Hades/Persephone parallels.

Look how gorgeous this panel is - the colors and the way Buffy is perched above it all...like a bat. Or Nosferatu.

#meta #buffy comics #boom! studios #boom! verse #the ballad of buffy and angel #not that i've thought about this at all #overthought? yes #buffy summers #angel #what's the point of an English degree if you can't wildly blow up every little pointless detail?

[fernwehbookworm]

Woke The F*ck Up- Chapter 12

Kara threw herself into both her jobs. The gym opened and so she was training people during the day and hunting Cadmus at night. She stopped even bothering to go to her apartment. When her lease ended two weeks after the break up she just moved everything into storage instead of renewing it, keeping the essentials and living in the Super Cave. Alex grew worried, dragging Kara to her apartment once a week for movie nights that usually ended in both sisters drinking. And crying.

Alex was slowly getting over Maggie but it still sucked, loving someone and knowing they loved you but being torn apart by different futures. After the crying, Kara usually painted. Most the time she didn’t remember them but she would wake to paint splattered on her clothes and hands in Alex’s spare room. Most of the time they were of Lena in some form. Others were just full of angry brush strokes and harsh colors.

Lillian hadn’t returned to National City as far as Kara knew and they had only located a couple warehouses with even fewer arrests. Even though the secret organization Alex worked with, she was still tight-lipped about, knew about Kara’s activities, she had had no contact with them. They were able to keep the Cadmus agents in prison which was a good thing. Kara didn’t know how but at least she didn’t feel like she was stuck in an endless episode of Roadrunner where she was Wile E. Coyote. In the third week since the break up she called Lena. Sent straight to voicemail but she was drunk enough to leave a message. Alex had passed out and couldn't stop Kara like she usually did. Kara was proud that she was able to keep her voice steady and not slur her words. Rationally, she knew she should just focus on her mission here in National City, but her heart wasn't rational. She wasn't even very angry anymore. Just sad and hurt. But even then, she just blamed herself. She should have told Lena earlier. Maybe then this wouldn't have happened because then Lena would have known why Kara was missing all the flights and phone calls. Even now the flimsy excuses for not telling Lena held up like wet paper towels under the weight of her heavy heart. She just wanted to tell Lena in person. So Lena could see her face and know it was the truth. Christmas came and went, then New Years.

When nights were slow in crime, that's when Kara found herself in her own criminal activities. She stumbled upon it on accident while patrolling. It was stupid, she knew, but it helped her with forgetting in a way she couldn't with alcohol. She became the rawest forms of her emotions, letting her anger at everything that had been happening in her life, out. The fight club was a TV cliche, but it pulled her in anyway. Dark warehouses and underground places, seething with angry people yelling and shaking fists. Placing bets on outcomes. She didn't fight as Power Girl, though she still wore a mask to hide the lower half of her face. She went by the name Andromeda and was currently undefeated. Bringing in major cash, donating most of it back into the youth centers that were hit hardest by Cadmus’ cruelty. By the fourth week after the breakup, the name Andromeda was whispered through the underground scene as much as Power Girl was shouted about above.

Kara rarely slept. Sleeping met seeing Lena’s face in a way she couldn’t avoid like when she was awake. Sleeping meant dreaming about soft pale skin and sharp green eyes only to have it torn away by waking up. Sleeping wasn't the nightmare, waking was. It hurt every time so it was easier to just stay awake. Sleeping came in the form of passing out with her sister or until her head throbbed and her eyelids drooped shut without her permission. The shadows under her eyes were beginning to be harder to hide. Makeup could only do so much when she sweat it off one way or another almost as soon as it was on. But still, Alex said nothing until two months after the breakup.

She had stopped drinking with Kara, only taking care of her sister when she had too much in the safety of Alex’s apartment. But Alex had enough when she walked into Kara’s office in The Power House as Kara desperately tried to cover up a black eye.

**

January 11th, 2018

Kara went to one of the underground fights the night before and the guy got in a lucky hit. It was the first time she had been hit in the face during a fight since high school. Kara still won but it hurt like hell. Kara jumped in her chair when her sister burst in unannounced an hour before Kara’s first class. Alex took in the dark bruising and her eyes hardened.

“What happened?”

“Nothing, just some thug last night.”

“Don’t lie to me. Winn invited me to hang out with him and James. Power Girl was not out last night.” Alex crosses her arms, somehow she seemed bigger as she stood in the doorway, physically blocking Kara’s escape.

“I can go out without Winn and James,” she says defensively.

“Lie.”

“No, it's not.”

“Tell that to the crinkle in your forehead.” Damn, she knows me too well. Kara thinks.

“It's nothing Alex, I’ve had black eyes before.” Alex uncrosses her arms and Kara can almost feel the anger rolling off her sister.

“If it was nothing, you would tell me. And the last time you had a black eye was when you and James were trying to fight off twenty heavily armed, well trained, men. What happened?” Alex’s tone left no room for argument. Kara stares at her sister trying to find a way out of this. Alex raises an eyebrow pointedly.

“It was just a fight.”

“Just a fight?”

“For money.” Kara mumbles.

“Kara! Are you fucking kidding me? Those underground clubs that usually end with someone in critical care?” Alex raised her voice and Kara stood, suddenly very defensive of her actions.

“Those people are the idiots who refuse to tap out. I know my limits and I have been nowhere near them. No one can beat me. This was just a lucky shot from a desperate man who bet more than he should have on winning.”

“No one can beat you?”

“I’m undefeated.”

“Of fucking course you’re Andromeda. Of course, you would paint a bigger target on your back because you couldn’t just have one secret life, you need two.” Alex says, exasperated.

“What I need is a sister who doesn't look down on everything I do.” Kara spits back.

“Don’t you dare. I have been nothing but supportive since you came back from London.”

“Yes, since I had my heart fucking broken. But you haven't been supportive of Power Girl. Not even really Le…. About her. You have indulged me in everything I've done but you haven't been supportive. You are critical and condescending. Just waiting for me to fuck up so you can be right.”

Alex gaps at the accusation. Then she peers closer at her sister. Alex walks around the desk and begins pulling open drawers, despite her protesting sister. The last draw opens with a loud rattle and the whiskey bottle slide to the front. Half of it is gone. Alex sniffs toward her sister, then cringes away.

“Really Kara? Drunk at 7 am?”

“What does it matter.”

Alex ignores her sister, she rummages around for a pen and paper scrawling ‘ Closed for Family Emergency’ across it before adding tape. She unexpectedly pulls Kara into a painful hold with her sister’s arm twisted behind her back.

“What are you doing?” She spits angrily. Alex continues to ignore her and proceeds to dial a number into her phone.

“It's me… I need an emergency session... We are on our way now… No, she isn't coming willingly, but this has gone on long enough… We will be there in ten.”

“Where are we going?” Kara resigns to her sister's strength. In her current state, she wouldn't be able to beat the older Danvers.

“To see Dr. Hamilton.”

Kara tries to protest but her sister twists her arm harder and forces her out of the building.

Kara sits on the leather couch with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them. Dr. Hamilton sits patiently with a notepad in the chair just out of Kara's direct line of sight. Kara stares blankly ahead, not wanting to be here. Although, there is a strange sense of comfort. The office hadn't changed since she had last been here. Warm wood paneling with a large oak desk. It had the comforts of a sitting room with fresh flowers in the window. Kara had pretty well sobered up on the drive over as she prepared to see her therapist for the first time in years. After fifteen minutes, Dr. Hamilton breaks the silence.

“Kara, I know you don't want to be here. That much is clear. But you know your sister won't let you be unless you say something. Anything.” She's met with silence. She tries again after a few minutes.

“You opened up a gym, right? How is that going? Any members?”

Kara ponders speaking. The gym was a safe subject. She clears her throat.

“Yeah. It's doing really well. For the most part, it's just a gym but I'm also offering different sessions. The Crossfit one is really taking off. I'll need to hire more trainers soon.”

“Well, that's good. What made you want to start one?”

“Jeremiah, actually. If he hadn't started me on the path he did, I wouldn't be able to… I wouldn't be where I am in life. I hope that when this takes off I can start scholarships for teens to bring them in. Take then to competitions. Help teach them control and get them off the streets. A lot of different fighting competitions will offer college scholarships. I got that idea after…” Kara trails off. She got the idea when Lena talked about getting STEM and music programs into LGBT shelters so that those kids would be able to get scholarships that way.

“After what?”

Kara snaps her mouth closed and buries her face in her arms. Tears sting her eyes. Kara takes a shuddering breath.

“After my ex-girlfriend started doing the same in children’s shelters.”

“Is that what has your sister worried? This break up?” Kare shrugs, non-committedly.

“Or is it the vigilantism?” Kara’s head snaps up and she glares at the dark haired woman.

“Don’t worry, Alex had me sign the most airtight NDA I have ever seen. Plus Kara, I figured it out a long time ago. I treated you through one of the hardest times in your life. I am just surprised you didn’t start sooner.”

Kara cries. She cries for a long time. Then she just talks. She talks about all her frustrations. It feels good not to have to watch her words or feel judged. All Dr. Hamilton does is listen, offering a few words here and there to keep Kara going. One hour turns into two before the doctor calls it a day. Kara makes another appointment for two days later and finds Alex in the lobby dozing in an armchair. She starts when the door opens and stands to greet her sister.

“Hey,” she says shyly.

Kara pulls her sister into a tight hug.

“Thank you.”

“Breakfast?”

“Please.”

**

January 19th, 2018

It takes four sessions for Kara to open up about Lena. It starts easy. Kara talking about how they met and all the places they went. Kara talks about Lena’s smile and how the color of her eyes changes from a seafoam green to as deep as a pine tree. Kara laughs so hard she starts to cry. Then she does cry. Over the hurt of how they ended. Over Veronica. Even if Lena didn’t expect Kara to come, that was the worst part. Anyone else would be better, a stranger would have been better. But it felt like Lena was saying that Veronica was better than Kara so she ran straight to her arms.

“Do you still want to be with her?” Dr. Hamilton asks.

“I-I don’t know. I- she- I love her. But she didn’t give me a chance. She was so scared of me leaving her, that she left me. No matter how much I told her that she was wonderful and beautiful she still doubted it. She doubted everything.”

“That seems like a very one-sided relationship then. That is a lot of pressure to have to constantly reassure your partner.”

“Sometimes it wasn’t. Sometimes she made it so easy. The rest of the time it was hard. Like I might say something that she would take wrong.” Dr. Hamilton nods at Kara to keep her talking. It was almost good to start picking out Lena’s flaws. It helped to break the perfect image Kara had of the Singer. Well, not perfect, she knew Lena had flaws, but it helped break the glowing bubble she had placed their relationship in.

After three more sessions, Kara agreed to just start meeting once a week. Regular sessions so Kara could stay on top of her feelings and have a safe place to talk about all of her secrets.  Andromeda disappeared with great speculation from the underground fighting clubs. That chapter of Kara's life was at an end. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been about the whole thing. Alex was right, one secret Life was enough.

Power Girl had been needed less also. Since Lex Luthor's arrest, Cadmus had settled down. Weapons sales had been becoming fewer and fewer and the technology had been less and less sophisticated. It was clear the LexCorp was the main reason that Cadmus was able to stay afloat. Crime was on the decline so Kara was able to focus on The Power House. It was a busy place now, with Kara able to hire on four other trainers and some part-time high school students for simple cleaning and customer service.

The gym was bright and open with a red and blue color scheme. James had even found old photos from Kara's competition days and printed them out. They hung on the walls proudly, even if the one that had Jeremiah pained her to look at. This was something he would have been proud of, he would have been sitting at the front desk every day, if he was still alive, talking to new members and telling awful jokes. Kara can almost see his phantom, the future that could have been. She shakes her head and makes a mental note to talk to Dr. Hamilton about that. She finishes strapping on her gloves before stepping into the small boxing ring with the woman who hired her for private lessons.

**

February 23, 2018

Kara’s days fall into a simple rhythm. Gym, vigilante, sleep. Once a week Alex kept up their sister nights, nither drinking anymore, and also Kara would go to therapy once a week. It was comfortable and simple. As simple as being a vigilante could be. Her art collection was growing too. Dr. Hamilton had suggested Kara try painting each stage of her and Lena’s relationship to help her process everything better. The rhythm was broken when Lena’s face was plastered all over National City. She had been named the new CEO of LexCorp because her brother had ensured the company would fall to her before he was even arrested. Now, several government agencies were investigating her and the company. Slander and rumors were circulating the last remaining Luthor and Kara wanted so badly to reach out, to call her, to make sure she wasn’t spirling as hard as she admitted to after Lionel killed himself. She hasn't even tried contact Lena since the drunken voicemail that received no response, not that Kara was surprised. But she wanted to now, even just to hear her voice. Kara canceled her private session that day and went to see Dr. Hamilton.

#supergirl #supercorp #kara danvers #lena luthor #singer #Vigilante #au #WTFU #fanfiction