#thank you brandon for the code!

[slayerchick303]

I got a prize and a mention in Trixie Mattel's Twitch stream tonight. I'm trying not to be parasocial about it, but I'm kind of freaking out.

#thank you brandon for the code! #because we all know it wasn't trixie in my DMs #seeing her and katya is still on my bucket list #rupaul's drag race #drag race #trixie mattel #twitch #sims

[deliciousangelfestival]

Lovers Say Goodbye | 2 - B.Barnes

Character: soft!dark Bucky x ex-girlfriend!Reader

Summary: Bucky finds solace and love in an unexpected place, only to have his world shattered by a shocking revelation about the person he cared about.

Chap 1, Chap 2 , Chap 3 ,Chap 4, Chap 5 , -

Thank you to everyone who has read this chapter. Please let me know what your thoughts are. I'd love to hear your feedback. Thank you once again.

Main Masterlist || support: Ko-fi

A dangerous glint flickered in Bucky's eyes as he stared at your employee photo on the screen. "What if," he said, his voice barely a whisper, laced with a chilling intensity, "I stirred up a little trouble of my own? Got her attention the only way she understands?"

Steve furrowed his brow, confusion etching lines on his forehead. "So, you're saying you want to create some chaos to get her back?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.

Based on your sudden disappearance, Bucky could only conclude that you had already made your decision, that you weren't coming back. But messing with Bucky Barnes was a grave mistake. He had developed deep feelings for you, and now, he was determined to do whatever it took to see you again, even if it meant the world went up in flames.

"Is it worth the potential consequences?" Steve pressed, his voice heavy with worry. He knew the depths of Bucky's past, the darkness he could unleash when provoked.

Bucky's posture remained rigid, his jaw clenched tight. "For her?" he rasped, his voice firm, leaving no room for argument. "Without a doubt."

Steve swallowed hard, the weight of Bucky's unwavering resolve settling in his stomach. He knew his friend better than anyone, and when Bucky set his mind on something, he always got it. No matter the cost.

Bucky continued staring at your picture, a twisted smile on his lips. A silent promise hung heavy in the air, a promise that sent shivers down Steve's spine.

"Y/N," he murmured, his voice barely audible, "we'll meet again. One way or another."

***************************

The rhythmic click of high heels echoed down the long, sterile hallway. The cheerful facade of the friendly florist was gone, replaced by a steely resolve. Gone were the warm smiles that had charmed customers and Bucky alike; your expression had turned as cold and sharp as the winter wind.

The sun-kissed summer dress you once wore was a distant memory. In its place, a crisp white shirt and a severe black suit, the skirt hitting just below the knee, encased your form. Black high heels completed the transformation, adding an air of controlled power to every step.

As you entered the imposing exterior of the CIA building, you shed the remnants of your borrowed identity, "Alex Lynch." With each click of your heels on the polished marble floor, you stepped further away, leaving behind the carefully constructed charade and reclaiming your true self: Y/N L/N.

The elevator doors slid shut, sealing you within a metal cocoon. You pressed the button for the hidden floor, a destination accessible only to those with the highest clearance. As the elevator descended, the tension in the air thickened. When the doors finally opened, revealing the bustling operations center, a hush fell over the room.

"She's back?" A stunned murmur rippled through the ranks of agents. They couldn't believe their eyes. You, their elusive phantom, had returned after two grueling years embedded with the target: Bucky Barnes, the world's most notorious assassin.

Previous attempts to neutralize him had resulted in nothing but body bags. They'd taken a gamble, sending in their last hope, the agent renowned for overcoming impossible odds: You, with the code name of ODIN - Operational Deception and Intelligence Network.

The nervous click of Peter's heels echoed in the stark hallway as he approached you, "Ehm, Agent L/N," he stammered, barely daring to meet your gaze, "welcome back. Director Brandon is waiting for you." It was clear he was awestruck, speaking to his idol, the legendary ODIN.

You acknowledged him with a curt "Hmmph," your voice devoid of warmth. Reaching Director Brandon's office, you stopped. No knock. No announcement. Just a pregnant pause before the heavy oak door swung open with a silent by Peter.

Director Brandon, a man hardened by years of service, found himself instinctively straightening in his chair as your icy blue eyes met his. A tremor ran through his hand, a stark contrast to your unwavering demeanor. Even though he was considerably older, an aura of authority clung to you, making him feel like a student in the presence of a seasoned master.

"Y/N," he began, his voice strained under the weight of your presence. A fleeting smile, more of a grimace, played on his lips. "Welcome back. Splendid work, truly. We secured everything we needed thanks to you."

You didn't respond, your silence a weapon hanging heavy in the air, thicker than the unspoken questions and unspoken judgments. With a practiced grace devoid of human warmth, you lowered yourself into a chair, your posture rigid and unyielding, as if carved from granite.

The silence stretched, broken only by Brandon's nervous cough. "Anything you desire," he offered, the words tumbling out in a rush, his voice tinged with desperation. "Name it, and it's yours. A vacation. Anything to show our appreciation for your... sacrifice."

A single word, devoid of emotion, dripped from your lips: "Mission."

He leaned back, surprise momentarily cracking his carefully constructed facade. "But... wouldn't you like some time to... relax? After two years undercover, surely even Agent L/N needs a moment to reacclimate to the real world."

You tilted your head ever so slightly, a ghost of a smile playing on your lips. It was a smile devoid of warmth, bereft of amusement. "Tending to flowers for two years," you drawled, your voice like the whisper of an arctic wind, "has left me... unproductive. I require... stimulation."

A sigh escaped Brandon's lips, the weight of responsibility and the chilling efficiency of his top agent settling heavily on his shoulders. "Very well," he conceded, defeat lacing his voice. "I'll have the mission parameters ready shortly."

You offered a curt nod, the only acknowledgment he deemed worthy of his desperate plea.

He cleared his throat again, a nervous habit exacerbated by the intensity of your presence. "So," he ventured hesitantly, "no... regrets?"

Even though Brandon had been the one who sent you in, a sliver of unease gnawed at him as he regarded you. He couldn't shake the feeling of misplaced sympathy for Bucky, the notorious assassin you'd manipulated.

Your brow furrowed, a flicker of something akin to annoyance momentarily flickering in your eyes before being smothered by the practiced indifference that had become your second skin. "The success of the mission," you stated, your voice a monotone devoid of inflection, "is the only consideration that holds any relevance."

You rose from your chair, your movements smooth and practiced, your heels clicking like a death knell as you turned towards the door.

Without a single backward glance, you exited the office, leaving Brandon alone with the silence and the weight of his decision. He sank back into his chair, the image of your emotionless face etched in his memory.

Still, a sense of relief washed over him. Operation Pandora, a two-year-long covert operation, was finally over.

****************

A heavy sigh escaped Bucky's lips, a guttural "Huft," as he strained through another repetition. The training room, shrouded in darkness except for a single bare bulb illuminating the space, held memories he'd actively tried to suppress for the past two years.

Everywhere he looked, the ghosts of his past mocked him. Rows of gleaming weaponry hung on the wall, each instrument of death a stark reminder of the life he'd left behind.

Weight benches and punching bags stood like silent sentinels, their leather surfaces worn smooth from countless hours of his relentless pursuit of perfection.

He gripped the bar, his knuckles white with strain as he executed another hanging sit-up, the burn in his muscles a welcome distraction.

His gaze, however, remained fixed on the opposite wall, where a lone photograph served as a silent witness to his solitary workout. The image – a woman with warm eyes and a captivating smile – held the power to both soothe and ignite a storm of emotions within him.

Your fake name, Alex, echoed in his mind, a stark contrast to the cold reality of your true identity: Special Agent Y/N L/N.

"I'll get you," he whispered, his voice hoarse with a mix of determination and simmering anger. It wasn't just a vow of vengeance; it was a promise to himself, a pledge to reclaim the life stolen from him, to understand the woman behind the mask.

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Author Note:

My dear readers and followers,

Could you please share your opinions about this series with me?

If you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear why it appealed to you.

If not, I would greatly appreciate your feedback and advice on improving the series.

Thank you!

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes #bucky x y/n #bucky x reader #bucky barnes au #bucky x you #james bucky buchanan barnes #buckybarnes #james bucky barnes #bucky x female!reader #bucky x female reader #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x female!reader #bucky barnes x you #marvel x reader #sebastian character #lovers say goodbye series

[stratossphere]

first date | v.v

you and ville finally get a chance to go on a long-overdue first date.

warnings: tooth rotting fluff, chock-full of suggestive content, mentions of sex, a teeny-tiny shred of insecurity, reader smokes

word count: 6.4k

taglist: @asskickedbygirl @lieutenant-cinnamon-roll @kissofdawn666 @brandons-wife

— —

"Okay. Hold the fuck up. You're not dressed nice." You stopped where you had just come out of the bathroom in a fucking dress, only to see Ville sitting on the couch in the same ratty jeans and Siouxsie and the Banshees shirt he'd been wearing since yesterday with a velvet black blazer over the top. You were intending to go on your first real date ever together tonight considering it was your first trip to Finland sans-Bam, and he'd insisted that you dress nice, but here he was dressed exactly how he always was. However, he was too busy letting his jaw drop to pay any attention to what you’d just said to him.

"Holy fucking shit." He muttered as his eyes dragged over you, sucking in a deep drag of his cigarette that he was holding between his lips while he set down the magazine in his hands. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you." You smiled softly at the dumbfounded look on his face, coming towards him and then promptly being yanked into his lap by his hand on the back of your thigh once you were in range. You then repeated what you’d said before. "You're not dressed nice, Ville."

"What are you talking about? Yes I am." He motioned to the velvet blazer like it was obvious, his finger just happening to point to a stain on the front as he did so. You deadpanned.

"You didn't even change your clothes from yesterday." You pointed out dryly, your unimpressed look deepening when he pushed up the hem of your dress where his hands were resting on your thighs as you straddled his lap. You had no idea how he could shower and then put the same clothes on from the day before when he'd spent the majority of it in a disgusting house party. Men.

"No one's going to be paying attention to me, anyway." He said coyly, his eyes falling to the cleavage that your dress allowed for as he literally licked his lips. You let out a soft sigh, stopping his hands where they were clearly still trying to get the hem of your dress up. The underwear you were wearing was a surprise for later, and he was going to ruin it if he kept it up.

"I'm going to be paying attention to you. The whole time." You wondered if he really understood the point of going on a date. He seemed pleased at your words, however, and he also seemed to mentally make a decision on the dress code issue at hand.

"On this one occasion, I will let you dress me." He decided, smacking your ass lightly and then motioning for you to get up. "You can look in the clean clothes pile."

"Pile?" You didn't like the sound of that. If there was anything that you had learned in this past month or so that Ville had been slowly introducing his personality and everyday life to you, it was that he lived a painfully-aggressive bachelor lifestyle. His apartment was chronically disgusting, he had a habit of hiding dirty hair under a hat for as long as he could manage, he drank more than he ate, and more often than not cigarette butts never ended up making it into ashtrays.

But, on the other hand, he was incredibly sweet and unbelievably intelligent in every sense of the word, so it wasn't very hard to ignore those little...quirks. Most of the time. So, you still followed him into his room, unsure of what you were going to find when he went for his closet.

"Where are we even going?" You asked as you stepped around his piled up junk that almost completely covered his bedroom floor. If you were going to dress him, you needed at least a vague idea on what you were doing.

"Somewhere nice." He answered dismissively (and unhelpfully) as he pulled open his closet. There, you were met with exactly what he'd said it was: a giant pile of assorted clothes and loose socks. You let out a heavy sigh, and he motioned to it like he was giving you the go ahead. "But wear comfortable shoes."

That did not reassure you in the slightest, but you kneeled down regardless, starting to sort through what seemed like an endless abyss of weird shirts.

You couldn't help but laugh when you pulled out a long-sleeved shirt that was mesh and completely see-through, raising a questioning eyebrow as you held it up to him. He shrugged.

"Just in case." He supplied vaguely, taking it out of your hand and holding it out to inspect it himself. He then snickered. "You should wear this."

"You're funny." You said dryly, continuing to sort through shirts that all seemed to be black and all seemed to have some variation of a band logo or crude slogan on the front. You then pulled out his maroon button-up that he wore quite often for press. "What about this?"

"I don't like that shirt." Of fucking course. You huffed out a sigh, sitting down fully and leaning your head against the doorway of the closet as you looked up at him exasperatedly.

"Why not? You look so good in it." In fact, it had been the shirt he was wearing when you’d met him for the first time (and had, concurrently, realized you were deeply attracted to him), which made it one of your favorites. He made a face.

"It chafes." He was a handful sometimes. You gave him a look, because who knew he was so picky, before tossing the shirt to the side and continuing to dig. You then produced his white button up that had a little couple dancing printed all over it, which also looked really good on him, only to get a similar dismissal. "It's got stains."

You went through five more fucking shirts before you finally threw the simple long-sleeved black shirt he'd vetoed and let out a groan.

"I want to go on a date, but oh my god." You leaned your head heavily against the doorframe, looking up at him with helpless eyes where he was still standing over you with his arms tightly crossed. "Work with me here, honey."

"Honey, huh?" His lips were curling into a shit-eating grin, and you suddenly realized your vocal slip up. You had refrained from using any affectionate nicknames with Ville quite yet due to the newness of your relationship (you hadn't even been on your first date yet, for leading example), and it had just come out unconsciously. You froze a little bit, but he just grinned wider. "Stop picking all the garbage shirts and we can be done, honey."

"Okay. Final pick or you're just going to go on the date looking homeless." You said finally, patting his leg and then digging through the pile for a little bit longer before you came up with a black turtleneck. "Please say yes."

"Oh! I forgot I had that! You are a saint, love." Thank. Fucking. God. Ville immediately accepted the shirt, which didn't seem to have any stains, and it was then that you got a look at his disgusting, probably hardly-washed jeans.

"When you change your clothes, you usually change all of them." You pointed out dryly, motioning to the muddy, ripped bottom hems of his pant legs. And he wasn't wearing any socks.

"Find some pants, then." He was already taking off his t-shirt, and you sighed yet again as you turned back to your enemy of a clothes pile. Luckily, you quickly recovered a pair of gray tartan-patterned pants that didn't look too grimy, and you held them out to your boyfriend, who was in the middle of pulling a loose thread out of the turtleneck with his teeth.

"These?" With your luck, he was going to say something along the lines of 'they hurt my dick' or something. He looked over at you, staring at the pants for a long moment before he shrugged.

"Works." He confirmed. Thankfully, he was grabbing underwear out of the new pack that was sitting on top of his dresser (because apparently he'd rather buy new ones than just wash the ones he had), and you let out a breath of relief and grabbed him two socks before standing back up and bringing him the other half of his outfit.

"I can't believe people say that women take longer to get ready. You're not even dressed yet and I'm ready to go." You teased as you set the clothes on his bed, sitting down and putting your feet up to watch him get ready.

"Well you're the one who wanted me to change. I thought I was dressed nice." Ville defended himself, jabbing a finger at you as he undid the zipper of his jeans. "That's my favorite fucking blazer I took off."

"Hey. If I have my tits out and my hair nice, you have to at least change your clothes." You shot back, trying to keep your eyes on his face despite the fact that he wasn't wearing any underwear underneath the jeans that he had just taken off. "Or you could just go in nothing at all, sexy."

"Hey. We are on a schedule here, young lady. Keep your libido under control." Ville lectured, making a whole show of covering himself with one hand while he unrolled his new pair of underwear with the other.

"Young lady? Ville, you're only a couple years older than me." You said dryly, throwing a hand in the air as he turned around to grab his cigarettes off of the dresser. And, as a result, giving you a front-row seat to the great view of his bare ass.

"I’ll be older in two weeks." He reminded you, shooting you a look over his shoulder as he stuck a cigarette between his lips. You rolled your eyes, then let them fall a little further south.

"Mm. Keep standing just like that." You joked, wiggling your eyebrows and in turn earning yourself a glare from Ville.

"Watch yourself." His underwear went on pretty fast after that. You groaned, rolling over onto your stomach on the bed and then letting out a long sigh of impatience, only to receive a hard smack to your ass. "Don't whine."

And you weren't allowed to flirt at all? Lame.

When Ville finally got dressed and had all his rings back on, your mood was immediately lifted by the fact that he looked deliciously, mouth-wateringly handsome. His hair was clean (for once) and tucked neatly back into a bun with loose strands falling in his face, and he was still smoking as he concentrated on getting his rosary out from under the neck of his shirt in the mirror. Now you really wanted to stay and do a little more than dinner. Chances are you would be putting out on this first date.

"Oh my fucking god. The cat is purring so hard right now." You came up behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist and grinning at him in the mirror. He gave you a shy smile, settling the rosary around his neck and then turning in your arms to give you a kiss.

"Your pussy is going to have to wait. Dinner first, honey."

—

Wearing nice clothes while in vans that looked like they were falling apart and him in a pair of scratched up Doc Martens didn't exactly feel classy, but as you and Ville arrived at a restaurant that you couldn't pronounce, that's exactly what you were doing.

Your grin just kept getting bigger when Ville got you seated at a tiny table in a corner away from everyone else, and you were barely able to let go of his hand when you had to move to sit opposite him.

"You want wine or beers?" He asked once the waiter left so that you could have some time to look at the menu, a slight smug look on his face at how much you were smiling. You leaned forward into your chair so that you could whisper.

"Which one makes you hornier?" You smiled coyly, brushing your foot against his under the table. He chuckled, biting at his lip just slightly.

"Red or white, darling?" Jesus Christ, he was hot. And you hadn't even really started talking yet. You knew that white wine made you a little bit of a spastic drunk, so you were going to lean away from that.

"Red."

A few minutes later you were both sitting with red wine in hand (and a fancy one that you’d never heard of, at that), and a little closer to each other at your table than you had started out.

"Okay. First date, so we have to ask each other first date questions and pretend that I wasn't inside you this morning." It was a good thing that you were away from everyone else, because Ville had no fucking filter, and he also didn't know how to whisper. You rolled your eyes.

"What's your favorite color?" Might as well play his games for the fun of it. He pretended to think even though you both knew what his favorite color was, before his eyes lit up just a little bit.

"The color of your eyes." He then winked at you, and his foot rubbed against yours harder than yours had his. "Are you single? I am."

"Ville." He could never do anything normally. He gave you a grin that told you he knew he was being a little shit, and he took a long drink of his wine.

"Alright, alright. I'll behave." He reached out across the table to take your hand, brushing his thumb over the top as his gaze softened in your direction. "You look fucking beautiful."

"Not as good as you look." You liked holding his hand, and you were pleased when he didn't let yours go. As you looked at him, something funny suddenly popped into your head. "You wanna know something funny?"

"Pray tell." He didn't look like he wanted to hear it, because you had a habit of finding stupid things funny that didn't qualify as the same in his book, but he indulged you regardless.

"Bam and Novak have a bet going on us." Your friends (who were simultaneously your biggest supporters and biggest haters), were more than invested in your relationship, and they’d jumped at the chance to shove themselves into it as much as they could. There had obviously been alcohol involved in that bet, but it was ongoing until either one met their goal. Ville deadpanned, and you held up a finger. "You cannot tell them I told you that."

"What the fuck is the bet on?" He pressed. You were putting yourself in trouble, because Novak and Bam had made you swear on your life that you specifically wouldn't tell Ville, but out of the three of them, he was the only one wining and dining you, so he had the upper hand.

"Bam doesn't think we'll stay together, and if we break up he wins, and Novak thinks we will, and if one of us gets a tattoo dedicated to the other, he wins." You revealed. You thought it was stupid (and yet a little funny that Novak knew the both of you well enough for the tattoo aspect), but Ville just laughed.

"Oh, Bam Bam. That's a little hurtful." He shook his head at the thought, tsking as he took another drink of his wine. "What the fuck is his problem? You and I are like...what do you say...two peas in a pod."

"I don't know. It's probably the fact that he's already in love with you, so he doesn't want anyone to take his place." Sometimes you got the feeling that Bam saw a competition between you and him for Ville's attention. Which was why he was betting against you, considering he always lost that game. "He says we fight too much."

Ville raised a disapproving eyebrow at that, looking at where you were holding hands as if to prove a point.

"Debating is different from fighting." He scoffed, giving you a look that told you that you couldn't disagree. Not that you would've. "I'll give him this. I have never dated such an opinionated woman in all my years of living."

"Telling you to change your clothes after two days isn't opinionated." Sometimes you wondered what the hell his previous girlfriends had been like if no one had ever brought that up to him before.

"You didn't let me finish. I was going to say 'caring' after that." Ville saved himself, grinning at his own words as he let your hand go in favor of fishing his cigarettes out of his pocket while letting out a sigh. "Don't listen to what Bam says, Y/n. His girlfriend barely even likes him."

"I don't listen to what Bam says." You scoffed, repulsed even by the thought of that statement. Bam was usually the last person on the list when it came to looking for good advice. You then shrugged, resting your chin in your palm. "I just...I don't know...I don't know how you'll eventually feel. I realize we live in two different countries, and we won't see each other very much anyway."

That revelation seemed to startle him, and he just stared at you for a second as smoke poured from his nose in two separate tendrils.

"So you lean more towards Bam's side of the bet." He surmised, not looking impressed by the fact. You winced, because when worded like that it didn't sound great.

"I don't want to, but I just...sometimes you seem too good to be true." That was a little embarrassing to admit, but Ville seemed to have a superpower in bringing out the honesty in you. He chuckled at that but didn't smile, taking another drag off of his cigarette before you felt his foot rub against yours once more under the table.

"Love, I am absolutely enamored with you. I know exactly what I want." It's like he was trying to stop your fucking heart. And he didn't even look affected in the slightest. "Every night you're not with me, I miss you in my bed. I miss the sound of your voice, the touch of your skin, your smell, everything. Every second of every fucking day."

Now it was your turn to stare at him for a second as you smiled a little dumbly, knowing that if you hadn't been at a table in the middle of a nice restaurant you would've been all over him.

"Okay." You said softly, letting him take your hand again and watching as he pressed a kiss to your knuckles with tunnels of smoke coming out of the corners of his mouth at the same time. "You know, you make me look bad with how good you are with words."

"Oh, don't be like that. It's my job." He didn't let go of your hand, instead keeping it rested against his lips while he continued to talk to you. "I would listen to you talk for hours. Doesn't matter what you're saying."

"You have listened to me talk for hours. And you didn't like it." You reminded him dryly. There had been multiple instances where you’d gotten drunk and then had just talked his ear off about worthless bullshit because you had no self-restraint, and Ville always looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"How do you know that?" He scoffed, watching you finish off the last of your wine with his eyes trained subtly on your lips. You then gave him a 'seriously?' look before motioning vaguely to his face.

"You have a look." It was pretty extensively used for things such as you making jokes about his ass, you drinking too much, talking his ear off about shit no one cared about, getting into fights, and more, but there was definitely a look. It usually lost momentum the more he drank, but a sober Ville's stare was fucking lethal.

"Okay. I'll admit, sometimes I'm just looking at your face and maybe not listening to what you're saying." He admitted, a smirk pulling at his lips as he did so. "Just like you're doing right now."

Damn. Caught. It's not like you could help it when he was literally still holding your hand to his lips while he talked with his head less than a foot away from yours.

"I can't help it! You look so handsome." You defended yourself, brushing your thumb back and forth on his cheek. You could feel just a tiny bit of scruff coming in, and a thought suddenly occurred to me. "Can you grow a beard?"

"The best I've done is a shitty goatee." He rubbed subconsciously at his face with the hand that was holding his half-smoked cigarette, his eyes staying on yours the entire time. "Makes me look fucking old, though."

"Ooh, does it really?" You bit your lip dramatically, trying to picture what your usually-smooth-faced boyfriend would look like with facial hair. Even hotter, if that was physically possible. "Have I ever told you I'm into older men?"

"Oh, really." He kissed your knuckles a little slower then, his lips lingering warmly as he watched you with teasing eyes. "Those extra few years really get you wet, is it?"

"Shut up. I'm saying you would look hot with a goatee, asshole." You complained, taking your finger and shoving it between his lips on purpose just to fuck with him. He immediately pulled your hand away and forcefully set it down, giving you that look again.

"Who taught you how to behave in fancy restaurants, hm? Were you raised in a damn barn?" He lectured, shaking his head as he wiped his mouth. "Maybe Bam thinks we won't work out because of your problem with keeping your hands to yourself."

"You need to learn how to have fun." You teased, rolling your eyes as you leaned forward to sneak a cigarette from his pack and his black lighter. When he just stared at you, you held your hands up in defense. "Okay, okay. I'll behave. Swear."

He put his foot over yours when you tried to rub it against his leg. "Yeah. You fucking better."

—

Once you were both fed and each had about a bottle of wine in you respectively, you decided it was finally time to leave (the decision was heavily influenced by the fact that Ville couldn't stop leaning in for kisses that were getting more and more indecent for public eye), during which you finally got what the second part of the date Ville was hiding from you was out of him.

"Okay. Now you have to tell me why I couldn't wear nice shoes." You said once you were out on the street where it had gotten dark and giggling at nothing in the cold because you were both tipsy. Ville zipped your jacket further where it was only half closed, motioning to the street in front of you.

"We're going on a walk to get home." He announced, lighting a new cigarette as he stepped down off the curb. His boots were protecting him from the snow, but your shoes were shit, so you had to grab his arm to help yourself off so that you avoided getting your feet soaked. "If you're sober enough to make it."

"It's just wine. That's like, one joint's worth of intoxication." You brushed it off, sticking your own cigarette between your lips after a night of stealing Ville's and fumbling around for a lighter. He then tutted as he watched you struggle, gently gripping your face in his fingers before turning you to face him.

Then, in a moment that could've whipped the pants right off of you had you not been in the middle of a freezing street, he leaned in, dragged off of his cigarette, and then pressed the cherry to the end of yours, igniting it with just his inhale.

You barely even had the mental capacity to inhale back, but you did, mouth hanging open just a little bit as smoke came pouring out of your noses simultaneously.

"I can't believe you're real." Wine didn't exactly leave you well-put-together. The words fell out of your mouth before your filter could stop them, and you knew you probably had a stupidly love-drunk look on your face as you said them.

"Don't slip, love." He snickered when you almost did exactly that, grabbing your hand tightly where you were holding his arm and then righting you so that you were steady on your feet again. You leaned your head against his shoulder, a smile on your face as you took a drag from your cigarette with no hands and quickly blew the smoke out of the side of your mouth.

"Do you like winter?" You asked as you kicked some snow, admiring how beautiful it looked even in the middle of the city. You weren't exactly a fan of being freezing cold considering you weren't wearing any pants and your dress was a tiny bit skimpy, but the visual aspect was nice.

"I don't mind it. I like autumn better." Ville responded thoughtfully, letting out a hint of a sigh when you almost slipped yet again. "You clearly don't do well in the winter."

"Hey! I'm fine. These shoes just suck." You defended yourself, pointing to the hole in the top where you could see the fabric of your sock showing through. "My toes are basically out."

"Are you waiting for those to fall off of your feet?" Ville made a face when he looked down and really inspected your feet, a tiny chuckle of disbelief accompanying his words. You then took your turn to keep him from slipping, and then almost slipped yourself when his weight redistributed heavily against you. He huffed. "Jesus fucking Christ. This was a bad idea."

"No no! I'm having fun!" You insisted, swinging his arm back and forth with yours where you were holding hands as you moved to walk under a building overhang so that it wasn't snowing directly on you both. "I like holding your hand."

"You're a lot more talkative when Bam's not around, you know that?" He said it after a second, and you looked at him in surprise where you had been trying to pull the hem of your dress down with your free hand.

"What does that mean?" Sure, you were pretty talkative right now, but it had a lot to do with the fact that you’d downed about a whole bottle of wine in a short period of time. You didn't know how you felt about his tone and what it suggested. He must've sensed this, because he squeezed your hand reassuringly.

"You're more open when it's just you and I." Alright. That was a good point. As a matter of fact, after about three glasses of wine, you’d had to restrain the urge to start telling him ‘secrets’, so he was pretty on the dot with that one.

"That's because when Bam's here it always feels like he's trying to compete with me for your attention, and I fucking hate that." You said truthfully, grimacing at the thought. You were half-wishing that your walk would last forever because you were having fun, but you were also half-wishing that you would get there faster because your legs felt like they were going to freeze off. Ville hummed in acknowledgement.

"I'm aware." To give him some credit, he was extremely talented in pretending he didn't see it, but it was pretty fucking obvious. You loved Bam to death, and Ville had been his friend first, but sometimes he was just a little...much. "Well, has your first trip here without him lived up to standard, then?"

"Past standard." You confirmed with a grin. You were thinking both of your very successful first date and the fact that you’d had sex in every room of his apartment multiple times over the last few days without any onlookers to stop you. It was very freeing on both ends. "I gotta say. You're not bad on your own, either."

"Was I before?" He asked dryly, considering you’d spent a couple days together at the start of the month. You took your interlaced fingers and stuck them in his pocket because your hand was cold as you laughed.

"Mostly no." When you earned yourself a dirty look with that answer, you snickered and then sighed. "It's because when I first met you, you freaked me out."

"I don't understand why. I was exactly how I am now." Ville reiterated what he'd already said multiple times with exasperation, throwing his free hand in the air. You had a feeling he had a general lack of self-awareness for how he came off to other people meeting him for the first time.

"You're also super quiet when you want to be. And you don't smile." Meeting a random man from a different country who was over 6 feet tall and possessed one of the most unnerving stares you had ever encountered and then immediately staying at his small apartment had been a little nerve wracking. Even for you, who were genuinely fine with putting yourself in dangerous situations. "And you're really hot."

"We should've fucked before. We could've." Ville said woefully, which was a little funny to you considering you’d seen your first time meeting as the both of you barely even interacting the entire time. He'd been super quiet around you, he'd been working half the time, and he'd been drinking himself to shit every other hour that had been available in the day. Not exactly great bonding material.

"We basically did like, a week later." You’d only been in Helsinki for a few days after you and Bam had come from Pennsylvania together before you and Ville had ended up in his bed. In the grand scheme of things, you actually hadn't taken much time to get to know each other at all. But Ville was ever the go-getter, apparently.

"Ah yes. The night you called me a Finnish god." Once again, he caught you just as you slipped on basically nothing. There was no traction left on the bottom of your shoes, and it was clearly showing. You groaned at the same time.

"Stop bringing that up. It's so embarrassing." You complained. You and Bam had been just fucking around and making jokes after you had assumed Ville had gone to bed, and apparently Ville had still been awake, because he had clearly decided that he was going to hold onto it for the rest of his life. He just laughed.

"Would you like to know a secret about that night?" Ville asked as he flicked his burnt cigarette butt off to the side, glancing down at you with a coy look on his face. You raised an eyebrow, because you weren't sure you liked the sound of that, before agreeing. He rubbed his thumb over the top of your hand in his pocket. "I was jerking off when I heard you say that."

Jesus fucking Christ.

"What?" Men never ceased to amaze you. Seriously. Jerking off with multiple people in the house that Ville had barely known at the time still being awake only a walk away was on a different fucking level. "What is wrong with you."

"We were drinking red wine and I couldn't sleep! I'm only a man!" Ville defended himself, his voice raising a pitch at your reaction to his admission. You just shook your head, because yes, he very clearly was just a man, as only a man would do something like that.

"I can't believe you. I touched your hand right after that, too." You were just teasing him for the fun of it, and you could tell that it was working because he let out a scoff.

"I fucked you right after that. You were fine with my cock being in you, but touching my hand that touched my cock would've been too much?" He asked sourly, shaking his head at you as he spoke. You patted his chest, laughing as he pouted beside you.

"I'm kidding! I'm just glad I didn't walk in on you while you were doing it." You had been high out of your mind that night, and you probably would've had a heart attack if you’d walked in on the super hot, super scary guy jerking it in the middle of the night. That had happened once since then, but thankfully you had known each other a little better by that point.

You had made it a good distance since you’d left the restaurant, and it hadn't been a super long cab ride to get there, so you knew you were getting close to home. However, when you almost slipped on the snow yet again, Ville suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Alright. I'm just going to carry you before you slip and bust your fucking skull." He announced with an unimpressed look, taking his hand out of yours and motioning towards his back. You grinned, because you were tipsy anyway and your shoes were full of snow, before your grin turned into a shy smile.

"Can I ask you a favor?" You asked, giving your best convincing look. He frowned at that, but sighed.

"What."

"Can I wear your coat? This dress is short and my ass is going to be out." He had a long coat that was fit for a Finland winter whereas your thin, fall-esque coat was doing close to nothing to protect you from the cold. At the reference of your ass being out, Ville was already shrugging said coat off, and you silently cheered in triumph.

"Give me your jacket." He said as he held his coat out to you, subconsciously pulling down his sleeves a little bit where they had rolled up as the cold air hit his skin.

"It's not gonna fit you." It was close to being snug on you, and his arms were considerably longer than yours. He just brushed that observation off, motioning for you to hurry up before you were swapping coats. And, low and behold, your coat didn't quite fit. You really wished you’d had a camera on you at that moment. His, on the other hand, was almost down to your feet, and you felt your grin go even wider as he knelt down to button it up for you.

"You look hot as all fucking hell, but remind me to never let you dress nice in the winter again." He grumbled as he slowly made his way upwards before he was finally standing up to his full height in front of you again. You reached up and cupped the back of his head, letting him lean down slightly before you gave him a kiss.

"You're a saint and a siren." You did your best impression of him, because that was exactly what he said to you every time you did him a favor, and pulled at least a hint of a smile out of him as he kissed you again before turning around and holding out his hands so that he could hold you when you got onto his back.

You kind of felt ridiculous in Ville’s long-ass leather coat and your exposed legs wrapped around his hips, but you had your chin on his shoulder to where your cheeks were pressed together, so you weren't that torn up about it. It also didn't hurt that his coat smelled strongly like his cologne, so you were basically being basked in his smell as he carried you down the street.

"You need to eat more. You don’t weigh enough." Ville huffed as he shifted his hands further under your thighs to hold you up, the sleeves of your coat riding almost all the way up his forearms as he extended them further.

"Why thank you." You joked, brushing a strand of hair that wasn’t held back by his bun out of his eyes before you went back to resting your chin on his shoulder.

"That's not a good thing." Coming from someone who was as skinny as a stick. You had been successful in lifting Ville the one time you’d ever tried, so he was one to be talking.

"Yeah whatever. You just keep walking, strongman."

—

When you finally made it home, you were both close to freezing to death, so when you stepped into Ville's heated apartment, there was a collective sigh of relief when Ville turned the lights on.

"Oh my god. I have to get in bed." You groaned as you took his coat off, cursing ever wanting to look pretty and dress up for once in your life due to the loss of feeling in both your legs and your feet. Your shoes were full of snow, your feet were damp, and your hair was frozen in certain places.

"You're very intolerant of cold." Ville commented in amusement as he shed your coat slower, watching you quickly kick out of your shoes and then peel your socks off.

"Finnish winters are different from American winters." You reminded him dryly, waiting impatiently for him to take his boots off as you pictured the warm, comfortable blankets on his bed. He chuckled at that, then eyed you with a look that you knew all too well.

"I've heard that the less clothes you're wearing, the faster you warm up." He said lowly, eyes sticking to your tits as he finally kicked his shoes off before he was coming towards you. You laughed as you rolled your eyes, only getting a few steps towards his room before he was right up behind you while smacking his hand onto your ass and squeezing harshly. "I can help get your blood flowing."

"Damn. I should make you drink red wine more often." You snickered as he basically shoved himself right up behind you to walk every step along with you, yelping slightly when his fingers found the hem of your dress and ripped it right up over your hips. And, thus, revealing the surprise underwear. You whined. "It was supposed to be a surprise!"

"Holy fucking shit. Get in the fucking room. Right now." Well, at least the purchase was well-received. You laughed as you did what he asked, his lips on your neck and his hands all over you the entire way there.

So, overall, first date: successful.

#ville valo #ville hermanni valo #ville valo x reader #ville valo fic #HIM #his infernal majesty #bam margera #brandon novak #jackass #jackass mtv #jackass movie #jackass imagine

[fictional-crushes-unite]

Cheater, Cheater

Keys x reader! Based off an idea by @loliakeoghan23​

Before the story of Free Guy begins, reports of a hacker stealing user codes pile up to the extent that Antwan enlists Keys to track the culprit down or risk losing his job

TW: Cursing, sexual themes, actual crime

The furious clacking of the keyboard’s tiles echoed around the room as Y/n’s eyes fixated on the screen, finger whirring as she fired repeatedly at the digital avatars.

The Harlequin-style character shot in accordance with each click, sending the surrounding players to the ground.

“You’re pretty good at this,” the chat crackled to life through her headphones as the player count dropped. Y/n rolled her eyes at the condescending tone and flicked down her mic. “I’m no expert,” she replied coquettishly in a sugary voice. “Just playing for fun.”

Clearly it was the right move, as the guy seemed to gain more confidence from her answer. “Your boyfriend help you rack up all those levels, babe? Pretty high score for someone who’s using it for rec.”

Jeez, that was predictable, Y/n smirked, used to the ‘smooth’ lines of Free City’s most frequent players. Judging by his skin and gamer tag, this dude was either some geeky teenager or a thirty-year old who was still dependant on his mother.

Pulling up a sidebar, she started implementing lines of code into the program, mining through the available data as her opponent kept obliviously blabbering on. “I’m just saying, there are hardly any gamer girls that get this far. And the ones who do are like, threes at best.”

Y/n grimaced, stalling long enough for the information to transfer before discreetly moving her character into the enemy’s line of fire, yet not enough so it looked purposeful. 

The gun sound effect mixed with the guy’s triumphant exclamation brought her back to the game, where a heavily decorated YOU LOSE floated over the image of her opponent’s avatar dancing idiotically.  

“Sorry, baby, tough luck,” he crowed, more focused on collecting the onscreen rewards to realise his entire financial information log had been compromised. “We could do this again sometime, I could give you some pointers?” he added hopefully.

“Thanks, but no,” Y/n sighed, double checking the info transfer before exiting the match. The game disappeared into it’s small window, revealing the clear numbers of every purchase ever made with his account. 

Sliding her headphones down around her neck, she started scrolling down each date and timestamp until she got to the core signup information. Free City’s account creator was sketchy from the beginning, with little to no credit security, yet every player needed bank information to join. It was like they were ASKING to get hacked.

“You spend a surprising amount of money on video games for someone with no income, Mr...Brandon,” Y/n mused aloud as she copied each code down and encrypted them. “What would your mother say if she knew you linked her debit card onto your account as well?”

“I really hope you learn your lesson from this, honey” she tsked, 

_____________________________________________

“Keys, Keylime, K with a capital E, what is up, man?” Antwan called from behind his desk. 

Keys hesitated awkwardly as the doors slid closed. “Um. Hi. I heard you wanted to talk about something?”

Antwan hopped up, his jacket swishing as he made his way around the table. “Well, I was just thinking about you, bro! I wanted to see how you were doing, ask how’s the wife, you know,” he shrugged. 

“I’m not married?” Keys protested weakly as Antwan wrapped his arm around his shoulder. His boss nodded, clearly not interested. 

“Right, right, that’s cool. So I had a little question I wanted to run by you, being the smart little nerd you are.” 

He opened his mouth to respond, before Antwan kept on talking. 

“I was talking to my dudes in Account Security, that boring stuff, yeah? And usually those meetings are a total snooze. But this week, they had some new stuff to blab about. You got any complaints about bank info being whisked away?”

Keys frowned. “Yeah, uh, we got like four this week. But I checked through the player data base and there’s no record of any breakthroughs.”

“Hmm. See, that’s the fun thing. I know that there’s a hacker, with a cute setup in a dingy basement somewhere, and they’re smart.”

Antwan tapped the side of his head. “But I, my geeky little man, am smarter. Which is why I’m assigning you to finding our fun little thief.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Keys closed his eyes, trying to process what he was saying. “You want me to find a hacker, who could be literally anywhere in the world? Don’t you have a security team for this kinda thing?”

“Aw, bro, those guys are pathetic. Besides, you’re more than capable. Think of it like a mystery, Detective Hair Gel, assigned to you from the King himself.”

“You’re kidding.” Keys deadpanned.

Antwan smiled, pulling Keys along with him to the large windows at the back of the room. “Look out there, bro,” he said seriously, gesturing to the city beneath them. “There are people out there in danger, losing their hard earned money to this secret villain. Don’t you feel the urge to defend your fellow dudes?” he asked seriously. 

He turned to stare at Keys, a momentous look on his face. “This mission, if you so choose to accept it, will make you a hero.” Suddenly his whole expression changed. “Besides, if you don’t, I’ll have you fired.”

“Antwan, what-” 

“Nice talk, man,” Antwan said nonchalantly, shooing him out. “Good luck on catching the hacker!”

“-but I’m not-” Keys started, before the door slammed in his face. “-going to catch the-damn it.”

_____________________________________________

Keys collapsed into his chair, sending it spinning in lazy circles around his cubicle. 

Mouser looked up from his own desk, a scrutinising look on his face. “What happened in there, man? You left and came back looking like you haven’t slept in weeks.”

Keys groaned in response. Tilting his head back to the ceiling to avoid Mouser’s inquisitive gaze. “Antwan’s making me track down this prick who’s stealing user codes.”

 “Oh, man, that’s awful.” Mouser chuckled. 

“Tell me about it,” Keys griped. “My job is riding on tracking down some deadbeat loser.”

Mouser shook his head. “A genius deadbeat loser. I’ve gone through some of the user complaints, and there’s like, nothing there.”

Keys sat up. “So what, I can’t track this guy,” he put down a finger for each point. “We have no idea how he’s managing to get in the accounts,” Another finger. “And finally, my career is on the line if I can’t figure this out.”

He shrugged, exasperated. “I’m screwed.”

“Man, you can do this,” Mouser argued, leaning on the divider between the desks. “Use the MIT smarts.” 

Keys glared at him.

“I’m serious! This dude is pretty good at taking advantage of idiots, right? So act like an idiot and pull a full whamo on him”

“So what, you want me to just parade around in hopes that this one specific hacker decides to hack me?”

Mouser shrugged. “Sure. Catch a fly with your web of smarts, I guess.”

“Thanks, man,” Keys sighed. 

_____________________________________________

Y/n hummed along to the music playing on her speakers, nodding her head to the beat as she swiped through the Free City menus.

“-and the haters’ gonna hate hate hate,” she sang along quietly, clicking on her avatar. The pixelated figure appeared on screen, along with the customisation menu. Scrolling down, she settled on a lower grade cutesy costume, and selected the Online Play option. 

Y/n leaned forward in anticipation, fingers resting lightly on the keyboard. As the dial up appeared on the screen, she paused her music and lowered her headphones over her ears. 

When the game finally kicked in, she immediately noticed the classic “I’m-an-angsty-teenage-boy” combo, and sighed in disappointment. Easy marks, with next to no security whatsoever. Sad.

She barely had to do anything, letting the appearance of her character do most of the work as the players shot and fired in accordance. 

As she entered in the code, her phone rang, loudly blaring from beside her. “Shit!” she muttered, scrambling to shut it down, quickly entering the last line of numbers before quickly exiting the lobby. 

Pressing the button on the screen, she exhaled, letting some of the tension roll off her. Putting the phone on silent, Y/n pulled her headphones back on and reentered the game.

_____________________________________________

From across the city, Keys sat forward, startled by a security error in the mainframe. A small mistake, only a couple letters misspelled, gave him a pinpoint of someone entering through a backdoor. 

“Bingo,” he grinned, typing in the error location. 

His avatar appeared onscreen, in his default customisation, as he entered the lobby address into the game bar. 

He inhaled deeply as the screen displayed the loading symbol, plugging in his earphones and focusing on the screen.

_____________________________________________

mister-mk86 has joined the lobby

The words popped up at the top of the screen, momentarily distracting Y/n from the current menus in her inventory.

She scanned over the player bio, looking for any irregularities that could equal a bot or scammer. Coming up with nothing, she exited the profile and focused on the game.

new message from mistermk86

Y/n groaned. Predictable, really. The lobby had gone down to significantly less players, all newbies or bots at this point. She clicked on the message.

Hey

“Wow. How eloquent.” Y/n scoffed, pulling up her keyboard. 

_____________________________________________

Keys stared at his screen, watching the typing indicators in the message board.

rebelfan is typing...

Hi there 

He smirked, quickly typing a response.

_____________________________________________

mistermk86 private match?

She rolled her eyes, but clicked on the invitation.

The icon over her character appeared, showing the game type and weapons menu. Navigating it easily, she selected her defaults and began playing.

Part 2----> Coming soon

#keys x reader #free guy joe keery #free guy #joe keery free guy #joe keery x reader #free guy x reader #walter key #keys mckey #keys mckey x reader #x reader #fic #x reader fic

[mommasunshines]

Do you have any headcanons for the zoo boys? I find the dynamic between that group kind of interesting

Oh do I ever! Thank you so much for asking.

I haven't thought about it much so bear with me, this isn't gonna be structured. Like, at all. This will lose coherence quickly.

Ward is gay. He was actually the first character while reading these books wehere I was actively looking at him and decided that he was gay, or at least could be if the author would write queer characters. I don't even quite remember what it was that sparked that believe in me, but something about the way we saw him portrayed made me think that he was. He was the first zoo kid next to Aubrey, and he was very much the awkward kid, and he was very protective of all his siblings. The way he kept fighting with Justin also could've been the start of a funny enemies to lovers dynamic, but that was only for like, a book or two. Him so desperately not wanting to be like his womanizing dad was also a thing where I was like: "Valid, but also, maybe you are so uncomfortable with that idea because you might not be into women? Who knows.

Vinny gives me the vibe of randomly dropping lore about himself. Like he'll be making burgers and talking and suddenly go "Oh yeah, I slept with some guys, it was fun, but you know, nothing too special. Except one, but that one moved across the country and he's got a girlfriend now so..." and never mention it again. It's just the vibe he's giving. Also in the bad boy era to infiltrate the gang? He could've been pullingggggg.

Lance is kind of a wild card. He is kind of the cute a little awkward guy, but at the same time very outgoing. He's described as pretty feminine or "pretty" at times which is something that is coded as something queer a lot of the times, guys being more feminine or pretty. Might have had something with a guy, might not have, I am leaning towards definitely a little bicurious, but I can't quite tell.

After a lot of thinking I decided Freddy either discovered he liked men during his time in Juvie, or he is somewhere on the ace spectrum. This man probably would make the dirtiest jokes known to man but when someone actually approaches him he's like: "No thanks, but hey, I wouldn't mind some food, wanna get some garlic bread?" He was kind of one of the hardest to pin down, but I think that's where I am at now.

Brandon I'm not sure about. Brandon we haven't seen much off, and he might just be straight. But you best bet that that man makes the whole world look rainbow in pride month the way Jesper can make it black and white. He is an Ally to the max.

Kayden is a kinda tricky one. Because like, if he does like men, he was probably always at least somewhat aware of it considering where he's from. He grew up on an island witht he warriors of Maui, and of course there would've been nothing sexual happening cause they consider each other family, but he's definitely discovered pretty early that he likes men if he does like men.

Now if it comes to dynamics within the group, not entirely sure. They all consider each other siblings to some degree, so it would be absolutely awkward. But I can see either Kayden of Vinny being the queer awakening for a lot of them, especially ward. But that's honestly most of what I got rn

#Cape High #Queering up Cape High

[morbethgames]

Harper/Carter’s Scene is FINISHED - UPDATE OUT NOW

Hear ye, hear ye, Harper/Carter Lance’s scene for Chapter 3 is officially DONE! Fun fact that I’ve now learned - well, a couple, really. 1. I am terrible at coding. I didn’t just learn that, to be fair, though. I’ve known that for a while. 2. 150,000 words give or take is about 1MB worth of space in a txt file. Regardless, I hope the people that have been waiting for their solo scene are pleased with it. It’s almost time to get back to that sweet old investigation and try to get to the bottom of who killed Brandon White. All that’s left to finish off this portion of angst and sadness is Kris/Kristina Alvarez’s scene, which I can say with confidence will be a fair amount different than the rest.

I hope you all enjoy the update, because after K. Alvarez’s scene is going to be another flashback as well. Lots of things planned for the rest of this chapter. Thank you all for being patient, and happy holidays!

go play the update: https://dashingdon.com/play/morbethgames/the-bureau-wip/mygame/

And visit the forum page: https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/wip-the-bureau-chapters-1-2-400k-words/99993

#the bureau #the bureau chapter three #Harper Lance #Carter Lance #writing #wip #work in progress #original story #original game #interactive fiction #interactive games #Interactive Novel #ChoiceScript #OC

[catierambles]

Null Ch.1

Pairing: Incubus!Charles Brandon x Anna Williams (OFC)

WC 1747

Warnings: There will be themes of sex and sexuality throughout the entire story. This is a blanket warning. Minors DNI 18+ ONLY. As for this chapter, spicy dreams and non-sexual ghostly touching.

@brattymum96 , @ouroboros113 , @peaches1958 , @summersong69 , @henryownsme , @fvckinghenrycavill

She expected it to be cold. House this size, this old, up on a hill, having been unoccupied for as long as it has, it should be cold. It should be drafty as hell. It wasn’t. It was warm, almost comfortably so, reminding her of a hot bath or a blanket fresh from the dryer. The air was still but not stagnant, there was no smell of dust or rot, and the house itself felt…amused? Intrigued? Hard to say, but it didn’t feel empty, even though she knew it was. Anna had bought the house without ever having stepped foot inside it, having seen pictures of it online and instantly falling in love with the gothic architecture, the many beautiful windows that let the sunlight in gorgeously, and let’s be honest, its isolated location away from the town itself. She liked her privacy and seeing as her job was one hundred percent remote, she didn’t have to worry about leaving her new home unless she needed to. Then again, even groceries could be delivered these days. A bit of a shut-in? Maybe, but that was her life and she was comfortable with it.

Its price had been…surprisingly low. Almost too low and it made her wonder what was wrong with it. Mice in the attic? Termite damage? Crumbling foundation? Faulty wiring and plumbing? The real estate agent she had spoken to had assured her that none of those things were the case and the house was completely up to code and move-in ready. Why was it empty for so long then? That question had been handily ignored and while Anna found it a tad suspicious, it wasn’t enough to make her rethink her decision. Not everyone liked gothic architecture.

The town itself at the bottom of the hill was small, close-knit, an “everybody knew everybody” kind of place so her arrival was quickly noted. She stopped at the diner upon coming into town ahead of the moving trucks to grab something to eat, the waitress asking her if she was just passing through.

“No, I actually just bought a house here.” Anna said.

“Oh! Where?”

“That one on the top of the hill, The Addams Family lookin’ one.” She said and there was a pause.

“Oh.” The waitress said, her professionally jovial demeanor dampening somewhat.

“Is something wrong?”

“No! No, nothing is wrong. It’s just…it’s been a while since anyone has lived there, is all.” She said, “Old superstitious stories that it’s haunted, local college kids daring each other to spend the night in it, that kind of thing.”

“Well if they try now, they’re going to get surprised that the doors and windows are actually locked, the hooligans.” She said and the waitress gave a small laugh, her demeanor returning.

“I’ll get the kitchen started on your food right away. Welcome to the town.”

“Thank you.”

The moving trucks had been pulling up right as she was in the circular driveway and she let them in, propping the front door open. Once the couch had been brought in, she sat down on it, propping her feet up on a moving box as she scrolled through her phone, answering questions from time to time on where she wanted things placed. It was a five-bedroom, three-bath kind of place, bigger than she actually needed, but with a price that low and architecture that gorgeous, she hadn’t been able to say no. Lord knew everything in her actual size range was way too expensive. Stupid seller’s market. The warmth of the place instantly put her at ease and she found herself enchanted by the way the sunlight came in through the stained glass windows, casting colors and shapes onto the dark wood floors. Pictures were one thing, seeing it in person had a whole different effect. The waitress's words about the house being supposedly haunted made absolutely no sense. It wasn’t cold or foreboding, things stereotypically associated with ghostly activity. Anna felt like the house…wanted her here, and was glad of her presence if a bit intrigued by it. Whatever, it was just a feeling. She wasn’t a medium and didn’t claim to have psychic abilities of any kind, though she was skeptically optimistic when it came to the paranormal and supernatural.

But as she sat there on the couch scrolling through her phone, she suddenly got the feeling that she wasn’t alone on it and it made her look up from the screen. Looking over, she fully expected to see someone sitting next to her, staring at her, but the couch was empty and she gave herself a little shake, turning her attention back to the screen.

“Ms. Williams?” She heard and craned her head back, seeing one of the movers standing there with a box.

“Yeah?” She asked.

“Where did you want us to put the books?”

“Uh…sorry to tell you this because I know they’re heavy, but there’s a study on the third floor if you could put them there?” She said and he gave her a quick nod. “I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay, Ms. Williams.” He said with a chuckle, “It’s what we get paid for.”

“Feel free to help yourselves to the case of water in the kitchen!” She said as he walked away with the box.

“Thank you!” He called back as he climbed the stairs, relaying the location to the other movers. Oddly enough, the master bedroom on the third floor had come fully furnished with a massive four-poster bed frame made of heavy wood and matching dressers and armoire. As such, she took pity on the movers and had them put the bedroom furniture from her old place in one of the other bedrooms on the ground floor, only having them carry her mattress up to the master.

It was late afternoon by the time everything was moved in and she settled up with the movers. Game plan: work from top to bottom, master bedroom, and bathroom first, then the study, and then work her way down to the kitchen. Would she stick to that plan? Probably not, but it never hurt to have one in place. They had kindly put the mattress actually on the bedframe instead of just leaning it against the wall and she sat down on it, looking around at the boxes of clothes and other bedroom items. Laying back on the bed, she covered her face with her hands and made a complaining noise, kicking her feet slightly. Her hands left her face, however, as she thought she heard a low chuckle and she looked around, but of course, the room was empty. She lay there for a little while longer and again, she felt like she wasn’t alone. There was a closeness to the feeling like someone was laying next to her on the bed, watching her and there was…something, the sensation of fingertips ghosting down her arm and she rubbed at her skin as the feeling faded.

Okay, maybe this place was haunted.

Shaking herself out of it again, she hoisted herself up and got off the bed, starting to unpack her clothes, putting them in the dresser or hanging them up in the armoire. That took only about an hour, but the study she knew would not be so quick, given the number of books she had. Thank goodness for built-in bookshelves.

Anna unpacked and organized until she felt like she was going to collapse, getting the study done and the bathroom sorted the way she liked it. It was nighttime by the time she called it quits and she thought about ordering food, but she really wasn’t that hungry. She was making the bed, the lamp on her nightstand turned on, and filling the room with a pleasant golden glow. The fitted sheet fought her, because of course it did, and when she flung the top sheet up in the air to lay it out, she thought she saw a figure through the pale fabric, illuminated by the light. Her heart pounded in her chest just once, but when the sheet fell to the mattress, there was no one there.

Okay, this place was definitely haunted. That would explain the price, then, and the agent’s steadfast refusal to say why. Whatever, as long as they stayed in their own lane and realized that she wasn’t going anywhere because of a mortgage contract, they would just be a really reclusive freeloader, and that she could handle. Lord knows she’s had worse roommates.

The warmth of the room seemed to increase a notch as she got changed into her pajamas but eased as she went into the attached bathroom to brush her teeth, and the room was just comfortable again when she came back out, going over to the bed and climbing in under the covers, turning off the light with an app on her phone, internet having been set up before she got there.

The house was quiet as she lay there, staring up at the ceiling. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and shifted slightly to get comfortable, quickly falling asleep.

Hands on her skin, soft lips capturing her own, her naked body pressed against another’s. Strong arms held her in a lover’s embrace and she could feel his breath on her neck as her hips rocked in his lap, the feeling of being filled so strong but not unfamiliar. Stubble scraped across her skin not unpleasantly and dark hair was soft under her fingers. Her dream lover was passionate, holding her close and whispering words she couldn’t make out against her skin. Friction against nerve endings pushed her closer and closer to the edge and she tumbled over it.

The strength of the orgasm is what woke her up and she lay there, feeling as she still clenched and released around nothing, her inner walls trying to massage something that wasn’t there. That was…odd. Sex dreams were incredibly rare for her, but they did happen. She knew that having one the first night after moving into a house she heavily suspected to be haunted should have given her pause, but she had never heard of a ghost doing something like that before. They mostly just tried to scare the living daylights out of occupants to get them out of “their” house, not give them intense orgasms. Closing her eyes again, she slipped back asleep, but right before she slipped completely under, she thought she felt a featherlight kiss on her temple.

#henry cavill #charles brandon #null #my writing

[binxdoesgaming]

「𖤐𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𖤐」

After over a year of waiting, Starfang finally makes her grand appearance!

Thank you Brandon Vuong for her and all the wonderful concepts you've brought to life and into the community! ❤️

If y'all plan on getting her or anything else in shop, here's some codes I'd recommend!

Daraku (@/ehebai)

Lexa (@/mahdy358)

Fluffu (@/Fluffuistired)

Riftsune (@/riftsune)

Hannahlinnexe (@/hannahlinnexe)

Desdemona (@/iSteezzzyy)

Monksy (@/Monks0w0)

Steel20ninja (@/steel20ninja)

EGirl (@/EgirlCharlotte)

Wasting_Night (@/Wasting_Night)

SpiiceFN (@/Spiice___)

DahjaCat (@/DahjaCat)

DENNI (@/D3NNI_yt)

JoeysCornerYT (@/JoeysCornerYT)

Maraxia (@/MaraxiaFN)

Zoinkster (@/The_Zoinkster)

#i forgot the tags #help- #fortnite #fortnite art #fortnite battle royale #starfang #countess daraku #vampire #im so fucjing hapoy shes finally here yall

[teeth-cable]

Hi im the anon who did the question about ethnic casting. Thank you for correcting me on Brandon and Richard's ethnicities that was a big fuck up on my end especially with the topic I was critiquing Vivziepop on.

No problem, one thing to note is I don't think Richard Steven Horvitz is actually latino. I could be wrong but from I can find he's just white. The only reason why Moxxie is mixed latino is because his dad is coded Italian, the accent and being a mobster and his mother is wearing attire clearly inspired from Latin American.

EDIT: Richard Steven Horvitz is Jewish too

#꧁rambles꧂ #➥asks

[ambitionsource]

I was just wondering, you guys have always said you had the series and where it was going mapped out from the beginning. Is there any storylines or characters that you changed from your original plan as time went on?

omg i absolutely love this question, thank you for asking!! while es and i have always had the general plan and arcs sketched out (literally, we were talking about S3 stuff in the early days of S1 lol, we are crazy), there were definitely things that caught us by surprise or unexpectedly emerged -- one of the most beautiful and baffling parts of the writing process i think.

also in full disclosure, while we definitely do have a lot of big tent poles set up from the very start -- which allows us to make so many early, long-term plants (josh being mentioned in season 1, the lucas patron plot point, brandon and missy both appearing in seasons much earlier than their main storyline), many things still develop organically as the story unfolds. to sound a bit like an insane person (or maybe just a writer -- synonyms?), i have genuinely had moments where it feels like the multiverse is sending me messages through the ether about this story. when an idea that had literally never occurred to me before suddenly hits me like lightning, and i think about it more and then realize it has been perfectly set up like it was just waiting to be incorporated into the story, those moments always feel like multiverse conduit dylan is sending me urgent mental morse code to make sure i get the storytelling right in this world (there is a BIG example of this i'll share later after season 5).

ANYWAY, to your actual question. here are just a handful of moments where i think this applies:

charlie gardner, end of sentence. es and i cop to this all the time, but we legitimately thought of him as an non-entity in season 1 and more of a prop for zay's character and arc than his own fleshed out persona. i feel like compared to other seasons, you can kind of see shades of that in early season 1 -- but once we hit "the miserables," that started to change, and now he is not only one of the most essential ensemble members that we love to write, with one of the richest and most fleshed out character arcs, he is also both es and my's favorite character LOL. it's really remarkable how things like that develop. so as a writer, to any other writers out there -- listen to your characters, and give them the room to grow. they truly might surprise you.

dylan and asher, end of sentence. they also apply in a similar vein as charlie. they were mainly interchangeable comedic relief in season 1, sidekicks to lucas who just happened to be boyfriends too, and now they are such a quintessential... essence of the vibrance of ambition. they literally weren't even going to have individual storylines until we were in the middle of planning season 2, when i randomly decided out of the blue while listening to the grinch soundtrack that i wanted to do a holiday special featuring the two of them. i figured it would be mostly comedic (mostly remained), a short like theoretical 10 minutes in length (definitely did not remain), and that would be that. what it did instead was fleshed out their characters and individual quirks so much in my own head, and from there the whole storyline of their complex dynamic with lucas throughout season 2 just emerged organically and i became obsessed with it (it's one of my favorite parts of season 2). from there, they've become such a seamless piece of the main ensemble -- and, like charlie, very beloved by readers as far as i can tell (which i'm grateful for 😊).

haverford's involvement. again, since we kind of wrote off charlie early on -- big mistake! huge! -- we knew he would transfer but we didn't have a big picture as to what haverford would be like. this led to some admittedly pretty cringe storylines that briefly floated around the idea map, one of which involved zay hooking up with a havie (i think dweezil?). it was needless drama, and it made no sense. i cringe to think about it now. another tip from one writer to others -- you do not have to keep every idea. it's good to have them, like don't scratch out an idea before it gets the chance to breathe, but god, toss the ones that just ain't fresh anymore. anyway, much happier with the story role haverford ended up having instead.

nigel, yindra, and jade. much like dasher, these three were promoted going into season 4 when we realized we felt like they had a lot of story to tell in them (and i'm super glad we did). theirs was more of an organic, natural progression of an ensemble and shifting the nature of the series though going into college, unlike dasher and charlie where it really was like boom suddenly they are everything to me and they were trying to tell me the whole time. but these three are such great additions to main ensemble (individually and with their dynamics) and i am very happy they evolved that way.

rosie and uri. there wasn't any point early on where we set out to be like omg let's have the junior gardner and minkus date, but once the opportunity arose it was just too funny not to (and also a great story vehicle for examining certain elements of the gardner family dynamic + charlie's growth). (and also, i just love the idea of the small ways our lives are interconnected and the extension of the definition of family, etc. etc.) (but again, also, it's just too funny).

like the above, there's another duo that fits into the nearly the exact same category of "we didn't plan for this to be romantic but now i've stumbled upon it and somehow it's the best thing i've ever thought of and i need to follow through immediately," but i won't be able to speak on that until season 5. stay tuned.

the depth of vanessa's character. we always planned to have vanessa be a major character in s4, and we long planned to explore her rivalry / potential feelings with zay. what we didn't expect is how easy it was to expand her world, dig into her insecurities with her family, intermingle her with the main ensemble once the quincy rivalry was set aside, and discover some of the natural characters she just clicks with (one big one is nigel -- writing her scenes with him in 409 was actually so much fun and something i didn't expect to like as much as i did). there's another one that will fit into that in a big way (an endgame, you could say), that shifted slightly from our original plan, but again, will have to wait until s5 is wrapped.

-- Maggie

#for the most part its like the BARE BONES of the series we've had from the jump #and the core themes + endgames + arcs #but the details... the beautiful magical nuances... those take time #those grow as the story grows. and boy has it been a journey #again thank you for asking such a fun question!! #answered

[thepapernautilus]

naut's book reviews 2023!

so i have read around 50 books this year! (the answer according to my storygraph is 45 books but listen i've done a lot of rereading and i want that to mean something so we're rounding up). here's my top nine!

not that i think anyone will argue with me but: this is just my highly subjective opinon! take this with the same grain of salt as a fic rec list, it's just what i've been enjoying this year!

1.) pretend to act surprised, it is The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir! honestly Gideon The Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, and Nona the Ninth are all competing for #1. i've reread them each in every format possible on multiple occasions. i've been in a permanent book hangover since i read it. this book. this book!!!!! it didn't feel so much as "right time right place" as a semi-truck to my frontal lobe. i had GtN on my bookshelf for MONTHS before reading and i wish i'd picked it up first. HtN and NtN just fundamentally changed my brain chemistry.

2.) The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon. she's here for one reason only and that's because i got to watch my favorite fanfic author get a book deal so i'm going to be really annoying about it. this is the bar for reylo-coded enemies-to-lovers that all romantasy will be judged by.

3.) Ninth House / Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo. she was the reigning queen of the summer. ninth house and hell bent were so refreshing, especially after i'd read the shadow & bone series (spoilers: not my favorites!). absolutely obsessed. paired immaculately well with the new Sleep Token album.

4.) A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. this book absolutely delivers on exactly what it is! thank you for my life!

5.) Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. has a book ever had such phenomenal vibes. i really don't think so.

6.) there's a lot to be argued with "fanfiction doesn't count as reading a book" but if any piece of fanwork has transcended that barrier, it's Manacled by SenLinYu and this was the year i finally read it. i'm simply not the same person i was before i read this ! i am haunted !!!!!!!!!!

7.) Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. i'm really loving these smaller books he's doing because i love this man's writing but i've tried to reread the stormlight archives like three times so i can catch up. this was a delight. the endpapers made me weepy which is a weird flex for a book???

8.) The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. this snapped me out of my post-tlt hangover! reading this was a delicious fucking meal. i haven't finished the trilogy yet but this one was so, so, so good.

9.) Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas. okay. listen. i decided to read every single book this woman has written. statistically one of them had to be good. it's hard for a seven book fantasy series to stick the landing but i'd argue she did it, i cried on my bedroom floor for an hour.

i've had so much fun reading this year 😭😭😭 i have so many books on my TBR i'm trying to get to.... and so many good ones!!! currently reading What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher and i'm already having a massively great time.

maybe i will talk about the bottom of the barrel from this year 😭 i'm officially breaking up with romantasy as a genre, if i see another book called "x of y and z" i will throw up !!!!

if you read all this please feel free to drop any recs 💕

#naut's book reviews #i am trying to find anything that fills the bisexual vampire niche atm #surprisingly slim pickings

[incorrectaew]

Brandon Cutler: Imagine if someone handed you a box full of all the items you have lost throughout your life

Adam Cole: Self-esteem, haven't seen you in years!

Bobby Fish: Oh wow, my childhood innocence! Thank you for finding this!

Nick Jackson: I knew I lost that potential somewhere!

Matt Jackson: My moral code, is that you?

Brandon:

Brandon: I was just gonna show you this cool trunk my mom sent me from when she cleaned out the attic, but do you guys need a hug?

Kyle O'Reilly: SHUT UP, LANDON. I'm lamenting my lost belief in magic and Santa Claus.

#aew #Brandon Cutler #adam cole #Bobby Fish #kyle o'reilly #matt jackson #Nick Jackson #the young bucks #ReDragon #SuperKliq #listen they're having a day ok? #incorrect quotes #incorrect wrestling #incorrect aew

[enkisstories]

Twenty minutes later at Grand Circus Park, within walking distance of Geek Con, a teenager was taking a selfie.

Afterwards the boy looked around, then walked up to a food stall.

Brandon: "Hello! I saw you two getting harassed by that cop at Geek Con. Did you by chance figure out how to enter the secret cow level before you got tossed out?"

Dean: "No, but I hear the code is Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A."

Brandon: “Swell! So you��re my contacts.”

Kevin: “Yep. I’m Kevin Phillips and this is my android, Dean. He’s the one who came up with the code phrase.”

Brandon: “Oh, that’s so cool! A creative android! Does he play games? If so, I’d love to play a match against Dean sometime.”

Brandon: “Anyway, to business! Here is the information about the Red Ice shipment. First by boat, then...”

Kevin: “Psst! No need to let all of Grand Circus Park in on it. I can read just fine.”

Brandon: “Oh, right! Sorry!”

Kevin (whistling apprecciatively): “Whoever came up with that route knows what they’re doing! I don’t think the cops could ever have figured that out.”

Brandon: “That was me, so thank you! But don’t underestimate the DPD! I hear that the likes of Chen and Reed are real street-savvy.”

Kevin: “They have their merits, I guess...”

Kevin: “Okay, Dean has recorded the route and schedule. We’re set to go. And here is the key to a safehouse at Spice Market. It comes with an android, her name is Tina. You can trust her same us you can trust us.”

Kevin: “Enjoy your stay in Detroit, Mr. Villareal.”

Brandon: “Oh, it’s Colch, actually. My old woman never married Jacques...”

Kevin: “Doesn’t matter. You’re part of the family and that’s what we’ll treat you like in this city!”

#sims4 anotherjunkyardchallenge #sims4 #sims 4 #the sims 4 #simblr

[kaponebi]

Vanessa and representation in Fablehaven

What is representation? Why is it important?

Representation in books for young people is important for many reasons that I don't need to explain because they are quite obvious.

A young person needs to be represented in order to feel understood, even more so if they belong to certain discriminated ethnic groups, if they had any kind of problems that can hinder daily life, or if they are of a different sexual orientation.

Being diverse when creating one's work allows one to reduce the stigma of these groups, pretending as if they don't exist.

But sometimes, however, for authors, especially older ones, being diverse doesn't work out so well. At least in the good, not harmful, way.

In slightly older TV series, books, films, some hurtful stereotypes are repeated despite their efforts to be diverse.

There may be Asian characters, indigenous peoples of America, homosexual or wheelchair-bound.

An Asian character knows kung fu or karate. The Native American is strongly connected to nature and wears feathers in his hair. A homosexual behaves and looks like a girl if he is gay or like a boy if he is lesbian. A person in a wheelchair is a genius and must be dragged everywhere by the rest.

These are recurring patterns in books for young people because this is how pop culture portrays these people.

If these examples don't seem hurtful to you, I'll present another one that might speak to you.

(That's the example I gave in the Polish version)

How would you feel if every Pole in a book or movie was a stupid donkey drinking too much alcohol?

(Example for the English community, mostly Americans)

How would you feel if every American was someone overwaighted, stupid and always talking about... I don't know... Some eagle and freedom stuff.

It's not the nicest thing to do, and that's how Poland is perceived by pop culture.

(In films they try making the USA seem badass and all so I'm not counting it here)

Representation in Fablehaven

Representation in Fablehaven is an interesting topic.

People of different colours and curves appear through which one does not feel discrimination in this area.

You can accuse Brandon of lack of LGBT+ representation, but let me justify this by saying that then he could not have published the book in countries that censor these topics (e.g.: Russia).

True, he could have created a queer coded character, but he didn't, and I think we can forgive him for that as he also never mentioned anything negative about this community.

Let's just hope he doesn't do like J.K. Rowling who waited until the end of the series and Dumbledore's death to reveal the fact that he was gay.

However, there has never been a character who was an invalid.

In the fourth volume, Vanessa loses her eyesight. In a stupid way, yes, but she loses it. She is officially blind, and I consider her disability a good thing.

Brandon has made one of the main characters a blind person and has prepared the field for a great example of representation.

Vanessa is a strong, "badass" character, and she's very appreciated.

Not only that, the fact that she can't see adds to her character development allowing blind listeners of the audiobook to identify with one of the cooler characters in the series, perhaps their favorite.

It allows such people to feel more normal, not like overgrown children who need to have everything done for them all the time.

For the beginning of my writing in English I chose a shorter text so I can translate it with ease.

English is not my first or even second language so I am aware that it is not perfect.

Please be kind and if you see a fault, inform me in the comments.

I also gently ask to not spoil me the last tom of Dragonwatch because I didn't read it yet. If you want say something and it contains spoilers I would be gratefull if you ad a big "SPOILERS" at the top of your comment.

Thank you for reading and the warm responses I got in my last post.

Greetings friends and to the next time.

#fablehaven #dragonwatch #brandon mull #vanessa santoro #opinion

[thewriterghost]

Tag game: Nine people you want to get to know better

My first tag game ever!!!

Tagged by @pens-swords-stuff, thank you so much!

Three Ships: I am not really a shipper but here are some that came to my mind at the moment. Luke and Lorelai from Gilmore Girls (I didn't finish watching the show but still), Winry and Edward from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Damon and Elena from The Vampire Diaries (even though they made me want to pull my own hair out sometimes).

First Ship: I don't know if my first ship ever was Stella and Brandon from Winx, or Yumi and Ulrich from Code Lyoko. I watched them both when I was really small so I can't quite remember.

Last Song I Listened To: DEEP CUTS by You Me At Six

Last Movie I Watched: After a lot of debate, me and my sister watched TAU a few days ago. It was a good one.

Currently Reading: More than one, because I am incapable of reading one book at a time like a normal person *facepalm*. The Iliad because there's a musical coming up soon about The Odyssey (EPIC The Musical) and I thought I needed to read both before that. And also Percy Jackson series because how did I not read that as a kid? I am currently on the third book and really enjoying it.

Currently Watching: Also more than one, because I like to switch between shows to not get bored or overwhelmed. So; Criminal Minds, Gilmore Girls and Stranger Things. This reminds me that I should start watching Hawkeye as well, I am trying to catch up on Marvel really really slowly at the moment.

Currently Consuming: Ummm, water?

Currently Craving: Something sweet. Maybe chocolate.

Tagging randomly because I don't really know anyone (but, this is a get to know kind of tag game after all): @nicole0anne, @local-single-wizard, @assisi-writes, @j-1173, @smol-feralgremlin, @human-still-developing, @autumnalwalker, @writingpotato07, @blind-the-winds.

No pressure, by the way!

#this was fun #tag game #tagging game

[gumnut-logic]

This was going to suck.

Alan taxied Tracy Two into her hangar and groaned. Thunderbird Two was up on her struts, over module four, obviously undergoing a maintenance cycle. Virgil would be on the floor and he had no hope of avoiding his brother.

Not going to stop him from trying though.

Post flight, a grab of his bags and he was sneaking.

Stealth Tracy. He could do it.

First things first, locate Virgil.

From where he was standing there was no sight of him.

“Hey, Alan. Good trip?”

He jumped and dropped his bags. “Hell, Gordon, give a guy a heart attack.”

His fish brother raised his hands in defence. “Well, excuse me. Next time I’ll send you a morse code welcome from the other side of the Island so I don’t disturb you.”

Alan let out a sigh. “Okay, I’m sorry. Great to see you, too.”

And Gordon was staring at him. “Are you hiding?”

“Gor-“

“What happened to your face?” And his sunnies were ripped off his nose. “Ho, ha, this is gonna be great.”

He grabbed his glasses from his brother and shoved them back on his face. “Shut up, Gordon.”

“Does Virgil know?”

“No, and I’m trying to keep it that way, so shut up.”

His brother grinned at him and held out a hand. “For a price.”

“Price? What price?”

“Help me flush Four’s sanitary systems.”

“Aw, god, Gordon, no! I’m not cleaning up your shit.”

“Heh, then I’m going to go get Virg and have a discussion about your face.”

“Gordon, please.”

“Nope, sanitary flushing or embarrassed blushing.”

“You suck.” He glared at his brother. “I’m going to remember this. Next time Scott is after you, don’t bother coming to me for help.”

For the briefest of moments, Gordon’s eyes widened before he regained his composure. “We’ll see about that. Have fun with Virgil.” The aquanaut wandered off.

Aaargh, Gordon could be such a...

Something clattered on the concrete on the far side of the hangar. Alan shrunk into Tracy Two’s shadow.

Okay. Let’s do this.

Grabbing his bags he slipped along the edge of the hangar until he reached the module train. Creeping around the far side of module six, he peered out the around its backend.

Virgil was hanging from Two’s thruster assembly, head buried in a hatch.

Okay, he might just be able to manage this.

Stepping lightly as possible, he crept past his brother towards the elevator.

“Hey, Alan, welcome back.”

Damn.

“Uh, hey, Virg.” He refused to look up and just waved casually, his heart beating like crazy. Maybe those several metres up in the air would save him.

“Did you have a good time.”

“Had a blast. Brandon sure knows how to throw a party.”

“So I heard.”

Heard? “Uh, I’m a bit tired I’m just going to go upstairs and unpack.”

“See you at dinner.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, and Alan.”

“Yeah?”

“Nice sunnies.”

He almost looked up. Almost.

“Uh, thanks. See you later.”

Not if he could help it.

He beelined for the elevator. One annoying brother avoided...mostly...one more to go.

The elevator was blessedly cool and he leant against the silvery wall while the car carried him up to the residential levels. God, he hoped he could make it to his rooms. He felt hot and just ugh.

The elevator stopped just short of his destination.

Damn.

The doors opened and he held his breath.

Brains and Max entered and the ride resumed.

“Max, honestly, I d-do not know w-what you were thinking.”

The robot sputtered at his creator, beeping madly.

“But that was G-Gordon. You h-have an entire d-directive listing regarding his behaviour. Y-you know not to do everyth-thing he asks.”

Another impertinent beep.

“That is exactly why you h-have an entire d-directive listing!”

Apparently they hadn’t even noticed he was there.

The elevator slowed at his level and he made a point of edging around Brains. Max beeped at him, but Brains had fallen silent, chin on hand, elbow on wrist, as if posing for a sculptor.

Alan didn’t care, he just wanted out of there and  threw himself around the corner.

Straight into Scott.

“Woah! Allie, welcome back! Hey steady there.” He wouldn’t admit it, but despite what he knew was about to happen and the suffering that would follow, it was good to see his eldest brother.

And kinda nice to be held by him too.

“What’s with the sunglasses?” He could almost count it down in his head. He looked up at those mirror image blue eyes and let his shoulders drop. This was so gonna suck. “Alan? What’s wrong with your face?”

His brother held both of his shoulders and peered at him. A moment and one hand gently peeled off the sunglasses. “Oh my god, Alan. What were you thinking?”

He let out a sigh. So busted. Who was he kidding. This was inevitable. “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

“That much is very clear. You are going to the infirmary now.”

“Aw, Scott it isn’t that bad.”

“You have blisters, Alan!”

“I have?” He hadn’t really looked in a mirror since he left the Gold Coast. Brandon, of course, had laughed at him. It hadn’t seemed that serious. A bit of sunburn was all.

That’s what you get when you party all day in the Australian sun and forget your sunscreen.

Though come to think of it, he was feeling rather hot.

“Virgil, drop everything and meet me in the infirmary.”

“Aw, not Virg, really?”

Scott wrapped an arm around Alan’s shoulders and started to herd him towards the elevator. “He is the most qualified.”

“But it is only sunburn.”

The elevator doors closed behind them.

“Alan, you know I know you know all the symptoms of exposure, so don’t even bother.”

The arm around his shoulders was very gentle.

Virgil was standing in front of the elevator as the doors opened. How the hell he had gotten there so fast...but the expression on his second oldest brother’s face told him everything.

He hadn’t managed to sneak past at all. Virgil had been following him.

Nice sunnies indeed.

Virgil approached quietly, not saying a thing. One large finger reached up under Alan’s chin and tilted his head up gently. The medic sighed and a worried frown creased his brow.

But he didn’t say anything.

Virgil let him go and led them out of the elevator and into the infirmary.

Alan climbed onto the bed as directed and waited for the lambasting. After all, he knew he had been an idiot, and deserved every word.

“Where else?” Brown eyes were looking at him in concern.

“What?” Damn, he was hot.

“Where else did you get burnt.

“Oh, arms, hands, feet...and maybe my hair? Feels like my hair is on fire.”

“C’mon, lay down.” Scott was suddenly shoving a pillow under his head. The pillow was lovely and cool. His shoes were gently taken off and that was a relief in itself.

Virgil took his temperature and frowned even more. A glass of something was handed to him and he was told to drink. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was obviously something medical. It was cool on his throat.

Grandma appeared and as with everything Grandma, it was fussing, hugs and, well,...love.

“Did Brandon know you were burnt this badly?” Something pricked his hand and he discovered Virgil had stuck him with an IV bag. Was that really necessary?

Gordon barrelled in. “Hey, Brandon has you on his vlog!” His brother held up his phone and all the family turned to watch.

And Alan saw himself for the first time.

Sunburn panda.

Omigod.

Very sunburnt panda.

In front of twenty odd million viewers.

“Thunderbird Five.” It was Commander Tracy who spoke.

His middle brother blinked into existence beside the bed. “What can I...Alan? What the hell?!”

“John, hack the Bear’s feed. I want those images gone.” John’s turquoise eyes lingered on Alan for a moment, before narrowing on the feed spouting from Gordon’s phone.

His voice was almost menacing in reply. “FAB.”

He blinked out.

Twenty seconds later, the Bear feed went offline. Rather abruptly.

Gordon was staring at Alan. “Allie, what the hell did you do to yourself?” Obviously the hangar had been dark enough to conceal at least a little of his colouring. “Blisters?”

Virgil was hovering with some kind of medicated cream in his hands. The next moment was absolute bliss as his brother applied the ever so cool, numbing wonderment to his face. He literally sagged into the bed.

“I was so, so stupid.”

“Yes, you were.” Virgil’s voice was a reassuring rumble. “But at least we know you won’t do it again.”

“No, no I won’t.”

John blinked in again and Alan found himself surrounded by his family. As Virgil started applying the cream to his feet, Alan suddenly wondered why he had been trying to hide from these people. Sure there would be nagging, perhaps some laughter and good natured ribbing, but...

Grandma reached over and draped a damp cloth over his hair. “Feeling a bit better, dear?”

“Yes, Grandma.” It was only a bit of sunburn, but... “Thank you, guys.”

“Don’t do it again.” Scott, as always worried.

“Look after yourself better, Alan.” Virgil, always caring.

“Don’t make me keep an extra eye on you.” John, always watching.

“A panda! I’ve always wanted to see a panda!” Gordon, always loving.

Grandma gently brushed a stray hair off his forehead. “Rest, honey.” Always Mom.

His family.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirds #Alan Tracy #nuttyfic reblog #yeah I've reblogged it before #But I reread it last night and it is a favourite #sorry can't help myself