#until it pops back on like a Lego piece

[stararch4ngelqueen]

Like a Horror Movie

A minor Zombie Ghost drabble to christen this account 💀🧟‍♂️✨

Heavily based off that one quote I saw where someone said Zombie Ghost broke his own jaw so he wouldn’t hurt you. 🙃

—

Is that…?

Your own thoughts grew nearly impossible to register over the chaotic rumbling of helicopter blades nearly half a mile away waiting for you.

“Keep running!” You heard a man’s shouting far ahead of you, or behind you, his accent grown heavier from such amplified, horrified distress in a race against time to outrun the dead.

Where it would take you, you didn’t know, but above ground was safer than the badlands below your aching feet.

The cold rain didn’t help, you weren’t sure why. It mingled with the sweat on your skin, tasting like cloyed gasoline on your tongue as it drooped along your lips. You didn’t want to run, but you had to. Evac had been waiting for you, in a helicopter at the end of the field.

Darkness invaded the night, the moon herself shielding her own eyes with dense, tearful clouds, diluting spilled blood and gasoline down along the earth.

You heard the shouting amidst all the gunfire. The gangrenous stench permeating the darkened fields, the flattened weeds under your boots from endless running.

You didn’t want to run anymore, the distress of your windpipes burning with each breath of air. All the bullets you wasted on reckless gunfire towards the mindless corpses that chased after you like relentless athletes had long since vanished.

You couldn’t stop, you knew that. One goal was on your mind as you continued along, pushing your limits to fight, to survive.

You could only imagine a haven on the other side of this, waiting for you with open, protective arms, promising a safe life that consisted of late mornings waking up to tired, dreary multicolored eyes, as the life you once had burned bright behind you.

You could’ve sworn you had an extra magazine on yourself, a strange attempt to grasp hold of it left you gasping and turning around, instantly failing your mission once you saw a tall, hulking beast coming to an abrupt halt at least eight feet away.

Is that him…? You recognized that uniform, sleeves torn from pitiful attempts to block the bloodied, infected flanges that scratched against his skin before sinking their teeth in.

But, the mask.

It had to be him, the meat on his body still clung to his bones, the decaying process too early still to peel the skin off his face.

“Lass! The fuck are you doing?! Hurry!!” Your partner called to you, the only other survivor from your once strong bodied team.

It was him. There was no one else you knew that was like him.

But, why was he here?? He was supposed to have secured this evac sight. He was supposed to be waiting for you, with a rifle in hand and an outstretched palm, lifting you up onto the platform towards that shimmering haven you desired.

The picturesque of such a high hoped eternity vanished like the snuff of a candle light within a canopy.

The watercolor that made up his eyes had long since washed off its leather canvas, replaced by two pearls without their iridescent sheen, measly shielded by dark, heavy lids.

Oh, Simon.

The way he stared you down wasn’t like that of an undead beast, like in the movies. He didn’t groan, or growl or grunt. As in life, his syllables were silenced by choice, giving him an etch of humanity based off your memory of his personality.

Did you fight? Of course you did. You’d never go down that easily.

But you knew better than to believe he was still alive. Like a stalking beast preparing to pounce, a killer always waits, preparing to pounce at just the right chance.

You weren’t unsuspecting, but waiting. Your heart ringing in your ears, your tears indistinguishable from this odd, putrid acid rain.

You were waiting, because you couldn’t go on. Not like this. You couldn’t see yourself rushing towards that helicopter, towards a dark, dreary existence, towards a life that meant living in dreadful solitude.

Did you scream out? What did you yell? Where did they bite you first?

You simply dropped your pistol, your rifle hanging carelessly by your side. An open target with blinking red lights and white flags, one that even the undead variant of the man you loved wasn’t stupid enough to resist.

Did it hurt? What did you think last? I’m sorry, I wasn’t there to protect you, or stopped you. Stopped you from reaching this point.

But, where did he come from? Why did he chase you all the way here? Or was he waiting for you? Could he tell, or was did this disease render him absolutely starved?

You didn’t need to scream it, you just needed to stand and wait, unable to fight the flinch of his body bursting from his spot, thick mud sloshing under his boots as he ran towards his prize.

When his unlatched, severed jaw failed to make its mark, it didn’t matter. This undead version of the soldier you loved wasn’t the man you knew, yet his ever strong determination remained.

You would’ve closed your eyes, should’ve even, but you couldn’t. Despite your hard flinch, you refused to let your last memory be of darkness as hot, heavy top teeth attempted to sever the sinews of your neck. Humid, heavy fermented breath and blood dampened the fabric fabric protecting your clavicle once his head drops lower, the straps of your helmet proving too pitiful to protect you much longer.

Even in death, he would find a way to kill you. He could break open your rib cage to feast at your quick beating heart inside, and you’d let him, dying while knowing he held onto your heart one last time.

His hands grasped hold of your shoulders, his heavy, dead weight forcing you off your feet in seconds, your tense body preparing to meet the cold, muddy ground.

The world went quiet, the screaming of your teammate ceased, your eyes merely catching a glimpse of the stars peeking through the crying heavens as your lover prepares to eat you whole.

The warmth of cotton sheets remained ever so soothing against the skin along your bare back, a hint of detergent making a pitiful note in the layer of expensive cologne.

An expensive brand you had bought him for his birthday.

Your eyes opened to promptly gaze into the darkness of the night, greeted with muffled breeze beating along your bedroom windows.

“Simon—?” Your croaked, emotional tone rasped out into the warm, stuffy ambiance, your aware self processing the emotions your dream state simply refused.

Warm arms reinforced their hold along your waist underneath cashmere blankets, tattooed skin nestled snug against your back. Usually, you’d hear his patterned breathing as during rare chances you had woken up while he slept, but this time, he merely waited.

Maybe you mumbled words in your sleep, or swatted your hand along his side, something to have roused him from his slumber.

Click. The warmth of a bedside lamplight vanished the darkness blanketing the room, the solidarity of each of your senses pointing out where you were.

Simple, minimalist decorated walls. A rich, dark red throw blanket you recalled wrapping yourself in while on the couch during movie night now sprawled over the corner of your bed.

The very same blanket Simon wrapped you in before carrying you off to sleep, temporarily embracing you in an exotic cocoon as your mind processed which dream you were to have.

“I’m here, love,” his voice rasps against your neck, the bridge of his nose brushing against your lower left clavicle.

Your head turned just enough to meet his gaze as his rose, greeted with the warmth of his tired, half asleep face, his hair slightly rustled after a minor process of anxious, short sleep.

The lamp ignited the warmth in his ever so exhausted eyes. Tiger’s eyes hues submerged in the deep blue waters of Alaska, heavy lids shadowed over with visible concern for your cold sweat riddled distress.

Warm blood pulsing through his heart, urging his cells to maintain the tone of his skin, the hint of pink in his cheeks, the hues of fool’s gold that made up the palate of his irises reflecting off the warm light.

His eyes flicker along the details of your face, as if instantly suspecting something. His hand makes a gentle effort to cup along the outskirt of your bare thigh, his heavy palm settling around your waist.

“Don’t tell me you had a damn nightmare already,” he mutters against your hair, practically able to hear the hitch in your breath after such an unsettling silence.

“Let me guess. The Walking Dead?”

“Nuh uh.” You mumble, silently thankful for the sound of his beating heart close to your ear, a smile tickling your face. “Shaun of the Dead.”

“Christ’s sake,” he grunts out, adjusting the position of his head, settling his cheek along your skull. The upside over movie streaming, he can tell if you’re lying about it in the morning on your watch history.

He didn’t ask what you dreamt of, not yet at least. He didn’t want to know, not unless you offered, or he was cruel enough to pry. For now, Simon wondered what that dream would’ve meant, if it contained the undead.

He thought for a while, wondering if you found yourself dreaming you were bit by a zombie. What an impossible image for him to come by.

Your hair smelled of honey and oat, your skin kissed with warm sugar from your lotion, and a faint butteriness from your homemade dark chocolate drizzled popcorn you made for horror movie night.

No, you were too sweet to be considered sickly deceased in such a crude manner. Him, however?

No, no he began to suspect, but those were thoughts he refused to ponder.

“Only one week in, an’ you’ve lost it. Don’t plan to watch anything with zombies for next weekend.”

“What about… Friday the 13th?”

“Pick something else in the morning, go back to sleep princess.”

-

Y’know how you’re trying to sleep and you wake up after feeling like falling? Imagine that. That’s what happened.

Idk how to write zombies, so this is all I got 🧍🏽‍♀️📱

#simon ghost x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #cod #cod modern warfare ii #cod zombies #call of duty x reader #ghost x reader #ghost cod #simon Riley zombie #ghost zombie #zombie ghost #his jaw wiggles #until his jaw falls off #until it’s jaw dropping to the floor #until it pops back on like a Lego piece #until it falls into the river in Lego City

[macravishedbymactavish]

Alex Keller SFW Headcanons

| Blog HQ | Modern Warfare Masterlist | 18+ MDNI |

Headcanons for the man who has me in a literal and metaphorical chokehold

He is a straight up a nerd. Think: Star Wars, lego, Star Wars Lego!

Sitting on the floor, clad only in a pair of baggy plaid pajama pants surrounded by lego pieces. Eyes shining as he scanned over the instructions, soul feeling free and finally alive as he snapped the pieces together.

Soft sounds of the original trilogy playing through the speakers from the TV. Ignoring the nagging pain in his lower back as the child in him squealed in delight.

Another component completed. Now, onto bag 4.

Prefers to clean up while or after you cook, rather than cooking himself

Tending to the food in the pan, he reached around you to grab the discarded utensils. Placing them in either the dishwasher or sink; making soft comments about how many spoons you decided to use for one meal.

"If you don't like it, you're more than welcome to cook for me," you teased, watching as the man froze. A mischievous smirk spread across his face as he pointed a spoon at you.

"If it weren't for me, you'd be out of spoons 5 steps ago"

Horrible (like "reminder on the phone but will still with upmost confidence say the wrong date") with dates. Appointments and anniversaries, he's not very good. He blames it on his brain shutting off from not being in survival mode when at home, but genuinely feels bad

"Ma said they have something for our anniversary and will pop over to drop it off closer to the day. I told her it's on the 18th, so Saturday would work better, " Alex explained mindlessly, leaning back against the counter. Eyebrows raising when you froze.

Smiling softly, you whispered, "Sorry, what day is our anniversary?"

"The 18th. No, the 17th, " his eyebrows scrunched together as he thought. "No, actually 18th. Final answer" 

Leaning over, placing one hand on his cheek as you gave him a soft peck on the lips. "It's the 21st, actually"

Takes FOREVER to get ready for anything (especially fancy date nights and events)

Sitting on the edge of the tub, you watched in awe as Alex continued getting ready. Shirt still unbuttoned, belt not yet threaded through the loops of his pants; and he wasn't even halfway through his hair styling routine.

Multiple bottles and products lined the counters, all of which in use at one point or another as you sat and watched. Your outfit was ready and laying on the bed for when he was done with his hair.

After so long together, you'd become efficient in the timing of when to start getting yourself ready for a night out. Depending on which hair product he reached for next.

He has a super dark sense of humor

"Hey, since you have a ton of tattoos," you started, leaning against the doorframe as he fussed with his hair. "If a shark came and bit your arm off, would you be more upset about losing the arm or the tattoos?"

"The tattoos," he answered immediately. Pausing after to look himself up and down, nodding. "Definitely the tattoos"

Terrified of holding babies (despite being a total natural). He loves interacting with younger kids though.

"Uncle Alex!" The young boy squealed, running over and wrapping himself around the man's legs. "I'm a brother now, too!" 

Smiling down at his nephew, Alex laughed. Hoisting the boy up into his arms as he listened to the excited stories about his new little sister. Nodding along with genuine interest until the baby was brought over to him.

"Be fair. You can't just cuddle your nephew. She'll get jealous, " his sister, Ellie teased. Holding the newborn out. 

Freezing in place, as his nephew squirmed out of his grasp. Loudly encouraging him to hold the baby. Looking over at you, Alex sighed when he realized he was outnumbered.

"What if I drop her?" He whispered, fear flashing behind his eyes as the small bundle was passed over to him. The girl remained asleep as she was cuddled by tense arms.

"The obvious answer is don't." Mrs. Keller walked up behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders. Pressing into the tense muscles. "And relax. Things are more likely to go wrong when you're stressed out and stiff like a board"

Appreciates a good horror or FPS game - but nothing beats couch co-op and cuddles.

Snuggled against your side, he yelled nonesense as your characters scrambled around the screen. Grabbing boxes and flinging them onto the truck.

"What?!" You both laughed, watching as his character hoisted an animal into the air. "I have the chicken!" 

"We'll I'm moving an entire sectional by myself, so drop Cluck and help me!" you elbowed him lightly

Absolutley can't fall asleep in silence, no matter how hard he tries

He blames a lot of this on his childhood, the sound of clocks ticking throughout the house driving him mad. Reminding him of the sleep he wasn't getting. 

Even now, years later, as an adult, he tells you that if it's too quiet, he can still hear the distant ticking. He doesn't tell you that the silence also brews night terrors; that's not a side he wants to burden you with.

On the nights when he falls asleep alone, he'll usually have a movie or YouTube video playing in the background. If you can't fall asleep to a lot of noise, he'll opt for a fan or one of those sleep background noise tracks.

Unlike some of the other COD men -- I think he'd be the opposite of a human furnace. He'd be like a reptilian creature looking to sap your warmth at any given moment.

He makes a point to cuddle against you, as much contact between your bodies as possible. Almost like a human backpack.

"You're so warm," he sleepily mumbled, pressing his face into your back. Humming in content at the feeling of your body warming his.

His hair lightens so easily during the summer (In MW2019, he was dirty blonde. MW2022, as an operator he has dark brown hair)

"You're like two totally different people," you laughed, fingers running through the light locks as he rolled his eyes.

"It'll be back to normal by halloween," he half-heartedly grumbled. Adjusting the sunglasses on his face, holding back a smile. 

100% cries during movies, has no shame. Especially since it gets extra cuddles from you (even if you lightly tease him for it)

Your heart aching within your chest, the protagonist grieving their loss. Sighing softly, you silently reached forward, grabbing the box of tissues from your coffee table. Holding the box up to your boyfriend, who was trying (and failing) to hide his soft sniffles.

Head falling against his shoulder, feeling his arm tighten around you. His chest shaking with emotion he was trying (and failing) to hide.

Taglist: @bloodonmyhands-1221 @v1naco @bowtruckleninja

#call of duty modern warfare #call of duty modern warfare 2019 #call of duty alex #alex keller #alex keller headcanons #alex keller x reader #alex keller fluff #cod mw #cod mw2019

[atom-writings]

hetalia axis & allies (+ canada) xmas headcanons

1.6k words ~ gender neutral headcanons

tw: uhhh christmas obviously. mention of religion and underwear?? uh... i think that's it

a/n: this is my first christmas as a jewish convert so that's been weird. anyway I just wanted something quick, so its mostly a list of gift ideas (:

America

Alfred is SUCH a huge Christmas fan. I mean, canonically he dresses up as Santa, so he goes all out for the entire month of December. He's been working on a huge holiday home display for decades, and it shows.

He plays Santa at his local mall during the weeks leading up to Christmas; and on the night of, he hands out hot cocoa outside his house. It's fun, but it also means he's a little distracted when it comes to you.

What he would get you: Posters of your favourite movies, super comfy pyjamas, expensive figures of characters you like, candy you like but never get for yourself, model planes or Legos for you two to build together, novelty pens, a stupid cowboy costume so you can match <3, those handmade coupons because he 1. Loves you and 2. Forgot about Christmas until yesterday

What he would want: Any video games, Funko Pops, vinyls of music he likes, those big packs of shirts (he is constantly running out of shirts because he rips or irreparably stains them,) Marvel comics, anything with an eagle on it, those mini wacky waving inflatable tube men things, bulk pens and pencils because he also breaks those constantly-

England

Arthur is not big into Christmas and never has been. He'll celebrate with you, but he's not going out when it comes to any aspect. If anything, he finds it a little exhausting getting gifts for everyone

But, he does adore walking around and looking at all the lights. He'll do that a couple times with you in December.

What he would get you: Any novel you’ve mentioned even once, tickets to a concert both of you will enjoy, classy jackets that fit you perfectly, cute keychains, fancy art supplies, fragrances that remind him of you, bags/purses that fit your style, CDs

What he would want: Sewing supplies (thread, new needles, new fabric scissors,) framed photos of the two of you, Doctor Who merch, foreign tea, a book on how to take care of your eyebrows properly (he will not learn otherwise,) slippers, those sarcastic magnets that all millennial women have at least one of, any ridiculous piece of merch with the union jack on it

France

Francis has very mixed feelings about Christmas. On one hand, he hates how consumerist it has become, but on the other hand, nothing makes him happier than seeing the joy the season brings to others.

Plus, he does enjoy giving and receiving presents. The music too? Wonderful. As long as you don't get too stressed out, the holiday should be perfect.

What he would get you: Tons of clothes; stuff that's already your style, and completely new stuff, room decorations (NOT posters,) a reservation at a nice restaurant, bracelets that he made for you, makeup (if you like that kind of thing,) candles that smell like his cologne, CHEESE

What he would want: Fancy fabric, any clothes (he doesn’t care what they are as long as you think they’d look good on him…) paintings or photography, literally ANYTHING creative you’ve made, hair ties (he loses at least 5 a day,) bird stuffed animals, (Basically anything! Francis is not picky)

China

Christmas is a new occurrence for Yao, and he isn't the biggest fan. He'll buy you stuff for it, but he would do that normally. The lights and the music aren't anything special to him either. Basically, he won't celebrate unless you want to.

What he would get you: Elaborate, very expensive jewellery, huge stuff like a car, Chinese cookbooks, traditional clothes that he made specifically to represent you (: luxury handbags (that he got at SUCH a good discount,) tons of weird off-brand merch of your favourite show, probably a nice meal too!

What he would want: Yao is hard to buy for. Soft robes, stuff to help with back pain, face masks, Hello Kitty keychains… reading glasses maybe?

Russia

Although he isn't as excited about Christmas as he is about the New Year, he still loves the holiday. It's a nice excuse to see family, and everyone is just so happy around the season! He's especially excited to celebrate it with you.

He's not the best at giving gifts, but he could be worse. Regardless of whether you like all of it, you're gonna get a lot of stuff.

(Also, he plays Santa for the kids sometimes. It's so cute-)

What he would get you: Random knick-knacks he probably found at a local market, knitted hats and gloves in your favourite colour, a scarf to match his, tickets to go somewhere warm on vacation, stuffed animals! books that made him think of you (usually philosophical or religious novels,) pretty rocks (:

What he would want: SUNFLOWERS! (This works for every occasion,) baked goods, clothes that aren’t 250 years old- new doilies and paintings to decorate his house, pictures of yourself, friendship bracelets, stuffed animals, if you can make a scarf somehow, DO THAT

North Italy

Feliciano cares about Christmas in a more religious way, but he's never mad about getting presents. So, he'll probably spend most of the day in church, but he still did put a lot of effort into getting you stuff you love.

What he would get you: Pajamas & bath robes, shitty romance novels that he wants you to read, weird hand-made knick-knacks, makeup, strange mugs that he found at a thrift store, a painting of you (: probably a pair of his boxers-

What he would want: New paint brushes, novelty pasta shapes, fancy jackets, any art that you’ve made (regardless of quality,) cat stuffed animals, The Ability To Get A Grip, skincare products, shiny garbage (For art purposes, duh,) those handmade coupon things

Germany

Ludwig does not enjoy Christmas particularly. He's terrible at giving gifts but he wants to so desperately that he spends all of winter stressing out about it. Yes, he's excited to see your reaction to his gifts, but at what cost?!

Although he does still like all the decorations at least. Maybe he just likes re-decorating though.

What he would get you: Puzzles you can complete together, soft sweaters, practical stuff you need (like book bags, lens cloths, that kind of thing,) stationery, reservations for private tours at museums you would find interesting, a subscription to whatever silly service you want (:

What he would want: Books about city planning, nerdy card games, a fun lanyard, a new coffee machine, those aroma-therapy diffuser things, household tools like vacuums and stuff (Get him an air fryer. He’s going to be fascinated.) stress balls, pens (He is boring.)

Japan

Kiku really has no particular feelings towards Christmas. If you weren't there, the most he would do was put up a mini tree. He's stressed out by both giving and receiving presents and is only willing to do that kind of thing if you want to.

What he would get you: Electronics, merch of your favourite Sanrio character, books that he thinks you’ll like, stickers, a bento box, comfy sweatpants, cute hairpins, plushies from your favourite media, a bunch of pillows, some obscure Japanese snacks too!

What he would want: Miku figures, posters, video games, manga, general nerdy stuff, history novels (he likes to correct them,) blackout curtains, cute face masks, a Polaroid camera, a guide on socialization (Seriously.) a knit scarf, if you can knit (:

South Italy

Romano desperately wants to care about Jesus more than getting gifts. He's a devout catholic, g*ddamnit! But... he does just really love eating baked goods and getting gifts more than anything. Getting together with family, the music, the lights, he just ADORES the holiday.

What he would get you: Blankets and pillows, your favourite snacks, clothes that are a little more revealing- cruise tickets (if going on wouldn’t be hell for you,) a journal where he wrote down all of the things he loves about you (completely honestly,) religious items, fancy perfumes

What he would want: Paintings from local artists, post-its (so he can finally remember SOMETHING,) anything with the Italian flag on it, stupid bumper stickers, pictures of the other nations that you’ve written insults on, fancy patterned scarves and fabric

Prussia

Like Alfred, Gilbert loves Christmas in a very childish way. He embraces that side of himself during the holidays and he'd love it if you joined him in that. He constantly insists on going out to see the lights, and he just can't get enough of Christmas movies. Even the bad ones (He's a Hallmark girlie.)

What he would get you: A vintage music box, hair dye, DVDs of your favourite movies (just to have,) stationery, random snacks he picked up from a gas station an hour ago, weirdly sentimental jewellery? Vintage journals, pictures of himself

What he would want: Coupons (???) goofy temporary tattoos, metal CDs, tea (he’s weirdly embarrassed about liking tea and doesn’t buy it for himself?) vintage maps that he can frame and hang up, probably like, WD40? DC comics, novelty trophies, Pokemon cards, video games

Canada

More than anything, Matthew loves winter. So, therefore, he loves Christmas! Seeing you smile when you open your gifts, he looks forward to it all season. It seems like the only time of year when everyone else is either as miserable or as happy as he is, so it's his favourite holiday.

Cuddling up in front of the fireplace with hot cocoa, watching some old Christmas movie, its all he wants.

What he would get you: Comfy hoodies, comfy slippers too, hot cocoa packs, big stuff like a new PC or fridge or smth- decorations for your room, face masks, fidget toys, novelty Canadian keychains, figures of your favourite characters, festive sweets (like candy-canes and stuff.)

What he would want: Anything with a maple leaf (yes, he wants MORE of that,) boring stuff like socks, wood-working tools or like a new snow shovel, fairy lights, DVDs (because he still uses them? Why.) a new phone case, gift cards (HES BORING,) pre-packaged crafts, lotion and cologne that smells like pine

merry christmas if you celebrate! this'll probably be the last full thing I post until 2024, so thanks to all you readers for sticking around this year (: you have no idea how much it means to me. i love yall. and to all a good night or whatever santa said

#heta tag #hetalia imagines #hetalia x reader #ivan tag <3 #arthur tag #aph russia x reader #hws russia x reader #aph england x reader #hws england x reader #alfred tag #aph america x reader #hws america x reader #francis tag #aph france x reader #hws france x reader #yao tag #aph china x reader #hws china x reader #feliciano tag #aph italy x reader #hws italy x reader #ludwig tag #aph germany x reader #hws germany x reader #kiku tag #aph japan x reader #hws japan x reader #romano tag #hws romano x reader #aph romano x reader

[anonymouszephyrus]

Keith's really smart but doesn't fully understand humor so he'll pretend not to know some pop culture thing or extremely essential piece of knowledge for the bit and everyone takes him seriously and now everyone on the ship thinks he not only doesn't know what Legos are but also didn't know the difference between blue and green until Voltron.

Now... At first, I couldn't whether this was supposed to be a request for me to write until I actually started reading it and my little brain processed the damn thing. So here it is <3

(I may have gone way too off the script but oh well. I really liked it NFKJAN It's short but oh well, whoever wants to use it- go ahead. Have fun!)

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

"Keith."

Lance stared back at him with a perplexed, almost offended look in his eyes. The red paladin was almost tempted to stop the act and laugh in his face at how gobsmackingly stupid he looked right now. "Don't be fucking with me right now."

The blue paladin looked so serious and so utterly cute as he stared down at Keith on the floor, "What?" Keith answered, tilting his head a bit as he looked up at Lance.

"Are you colorblind?" He asked, moving closer to him, "Or just actually clueless?"

Keith couldn't help but give out a small chuckle, "I'm not colorblind, Lance. I'm quite sure of that."

It had been just a few weeks since the 'reveal' that Keith didn't know what Legos were.. that was fine, apparently. Not everyone had the option of having those little foot-breaking blocks... no, the thing Lance was so offended and disgruntled by was the fact that Keith mistook his blue lion for Pidge's. Not only were they different sizes, but Lance was so offended that his beauty of a lion was being compared to Pidge's snarky and "know-it-all" one. No offense, Pidge. He said before.

He might have chalked it up to Keith being slightly colorblind or his Galran heritage having something to do with the way he sees color... but the red paladin have proved before that he did know the difference between the two lions.. and now, Lance was utterly convinced he was just doing it to fuck with him.

"You're such a bitch." Keith laughed at his reaction, the very nerve!

How could he just sit there and laugh and look so beautiful?! It seemed as though Keith took pleasure in tormenting him, mocking him with his laughter and leaving Lance feeling foolish and inadequate. The audacity of that little shit...

This infuriatingly bossy, annoying, devious, stubborn, hot-headed, irresistible-

The blue paladin stared at him. Stared at how Keith laughed, realizing he didn't do it very often. He sat there and stared at him, for a long time he now realized.

With a sudden gesture, Keith waved his hand in front of Lance's eyes, jolting him out of his daze. Lance's gaze locked onto the red paladin, realizing that Keith had stealthily closed the distance while Lance was lost in his thoughts. As Lance stared back, mesmerized by Keith's captivating eyes—a mesmerizing blend of swirling black and purple, sprinkled with specks of dark blue—he couldn't help but think how stunning Keith looked up close. However, Lance's mind abruptly snapped back to reality. Wait.

Oh dear.

Oh no.

Oh fuck.

#voltron #voltron legendary defender #scenarios #lance mcclain #keith kogane #pidge holt #vld #vld keith #vld lance #vld pidge #AnonZeph Asks! #you guessed it #there's a bit of Klance in this #because yeah #klance #duh #klance scenarios #Keith is smartly dumb #Lance is dumbly smart #that somehow made sense #anyways #smitten Lance #probably also smitten Keith

[minnesotadruids]

Peppernuts: Connecting With the Ancestors... 

On the Mennonite side of my family, the surnames that pop up are largely Belgian, Dutch, and Low German. Peppernuts, or Pfeffernüsse are tiny cookies that are about as old as the spice trade, and would have likely been an ancestral tradition in my family going back as much as 500 years.

My grandmother was always the one to make these for the winter holiday season. If my cousins or I would ask if we can help with the cookies and the zwieback buns, grandma would inevitably tell us to go play and she’d take care of it all. I never realized until she passed away in 2009 that this meant that she wasn’t passing the traditions down at all. When she was in hospice I had asked for her zwieback recipe, and she was happy that I wanted to take on that tradition, but it meant that I can never ask her questions about the confusing details. 

Not only was she the first in our lineage to write the recipe down, but there were notes on the side written in Low German, which is markedly different than modern High German. Low German (AKA Plautdietsch) doesn’t really have much for translation resources, and I only know a Low German a nursery rhyme that doesn’t really even exist anymore. But this isn’t about the zwieback, this is about the peppernuts! My mom rediscovered grandma’s peppernuts recipe about two years ago, so both her, my sister, and I started making them. Although technology has advanced, it still helps me connect with the ancestors.

These little aromatic and spiced cookies are really easy to make if you have one extra helper after the dough is ready. One batch easily makes like 400 cookies, I kid you not – but they’re supposed to be small, coming out like the size of a 4 or 6 notched Lego block. They’re supposed to be hard cookies, at least that’s how grandma liked them. Kept you from eating more than 5 in one sitting because they would make your jaw hurt. Tonight’s batch was too big to fit into a one gallon ice cream bucket, so assuming I’m the only one that made them this year, I’ll be sharing them with the family at their Christmas dinner. Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Ancestral Peppernut (Pfeffernüsse) Recipe

There are so many variants, so substitute* as needed.

PREP: ½ cup coffee 1 tsp baking soda stirred into coffee

MIX: 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 2 cups brown sugar 2 eggs, beaten 1 tsp anise extract

ADD: 5 & ¼ cups flour

SMALL BOWL: 1 tsp salt 1 tsp fine black or white pepper ½ tsp allspice 1 tsp cinnamon

Add dry spices to batter. Add the soda-coffee after mixing in most of the flour (gives the coffee time to cool so it doesn't cook the eggs). Burn out the motor in your hand mixer and finish mixing the dough by hand. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill until the temperature is consistent throughout (at least 30 min). Take small handfuls of dough at a time (no larger than a ping-pong ball) and roll into half-inch thick logs (between the thickness if your little finger but no larger than the thickness of a washable marker). Cut the dough rope into square (or then roll them into round) pieces. If rounded, no wider than a dime. They will expand to about the size of a quarter in diameter. Place pieces on cookie sheet (bakers paper helps) one inch apart.

Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until golden-brown. Once cool, the cookies are supposed to be almost hard like biscotti, which is why it's important to keep them bite-sized in order to break fewer teeth at once. Recipe makes several hundred. Store at room temp for 1 week, then freeze for up to a month. Dip in coffee or tea to soften, or enjoy them as they fossilize with each passing day.

*Other recipes add any combination of the following in ½ or 1 tsp of: nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger, and/or vanilla extract.

#holiday #holidays #recipe #peppernuts #pfeffernüsse #christmas #cookies #Yule #Midwinter #Winter #Solstice #mennonite #tradition

[stayandot8]

Track Six: Fairytale

Genre: Fluff

Relationship type: established boyfriend/girlfriend

Important Contents: Part 6 in Playlist. Longest part yet so if you read, thank you. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I know this isn't what the song is directly about but I decided to put my own spin on it. Okay? Okay. Hope you enjoyed. <3

WC: 3.2k

Next Part I Last Part I masterlist I Add-on

6. Fairytale

I hadn’t really heard from Chan that day and I didn’t plan on going to Chan’s that night. But when Han sent me that text, I had no other choice.

Han: Hey I think you need to come over tonight. Chan got a text earlier and he hasn’t come out of his room for hours. I’ve tried just about everything to get him to come out or eat or anything. You’re my last hope

Me: I’m already there. Hang tight.

I threw on my shoes as quickly as I could muster and bolted out the door, my feet carrying me straight over. The kitchen was dark when I opened the door, the only light in the room coming from the overhead lights over the stove. I searched the room for Han who poked his head out to motion for me to follow him into the silence of the hallway. My heart was racing and I was surprised he couldn’t hear it. I spotted the plate that was outside the familiar door, still full of food. I paused in my place, my eyes slowly raised to Han who looked depleted as he spotted the same thing I did. He raised his eyes to me again, giving a sad nod. 

“He’s been like this almost all day. Nothing has worked, even Felix couldn’t get him to open the door. It’s unlocked though. We checked just in case. It seemed like he wanted to be alone so we just let him be, thinking he would come out on his own but he hasn’t. I didn’t think he would be mad if it was you though.”

I nodded in understanding and patted him on the shoulder. 

“I’ll see what I can do. Thanks for telling me.” He gave me a sad smile as I ruffled his hair. He left me to it, closing his bedroom door behind him. 

I braced myself at his door, taking a deep breath and gathering myself for what I might face. I had yet to see Chan like this but now was as good a time as ever. If I could help him somehow, then it was worth anything he could throw at me. 

I opened the door a little quicker than I meant to see Chan sitting on his bed, his eyes glued to his feet, arms crossed, his headphones on both ears and being swallowed in his sweatshirt. The motion of the door caught his eye and he just stared at me for a minute, unmoved. I was afraid he would yell for me to get out. Or at least Chan’s version of yelling. But then his chest started rising quicker, his brows furrowing and lips quivering as he shut his eyes. I closed the door quickly and rushed to him, throwing my arms around him as he burst into sobs. I lowered him to rest on my chest, his heaving growing more intense as the tears fell. He clung to me like a child, his sobs only breaking to breathe. I hadn’t seen him like this before and it was bringing tears to my eyes. I had no choice but to cry along with him even though I had no idea why he was upset. Seeing him like this was such a stark change to the usual Chan I was used to but on the other hand I felt honored that he could be this way with me and not the others. It was all I could do not to pry for the reason, so I settled for sending my hand down his back in what I hoped was a comforting touch, quickly confirmed by him not shoving me away.

We stayed like that for what felt like hours, his sobbing lightening slowly until he was occasionally sniffling. My hand never left his back while my other had found the back of his head and into his hair. The occasional kiss to the head seemed to help him regain himself. So I pulled out the last trick in my book. I figured he was exhausted so I could at least try to help him sleep. I quietly started to sing to him the first song that popped into my head. 

I’m gonna pick up the pieces

And build a Lego House

When things go wrong we could knock it down

He didn’t seem to mind as his sniffling slowed even more as I continued on. 

My three words have two meanings

There’s one thing on my mind

It’s all for you

His breathing had slowed to even, long draws by the end of the song. I brought my serenade to a close with the final words and whispered his name. He didn’t respond. I had my answer when his snores started, deep and loud. Those were the ‘I am absolutely exhausted’ ones, reserved when he hadn’t slept well in a while. I didn’t have the heart to wake him to sleep on his own pillow and quite frankly, I didn’t want to. Well, if I really thought about it, he was sleeping on his own pillow. The thought made me smile as I nestled further into his bed, holding him tighter and letting my eyes fall. 

***

I was roused awake when I felt Chan remove his hands from around me, his eyes still not fully open as he sat up and climbed off me. His feet shuffled him into his bathroom and I heard the sink turn on. I moved to my side to face the door he had disappeared behind, sleep still fogging my brain to understand what had woken him. The door had cracked open and a hand popped out with a toothbrush in it, still in the package. He bought me a toothbrush. For his place. And just when I thought I couldn’t love him more… I slowly moved from his bed, begrudgingly giving up the warmth he left behind and headed for the hand outstretched. I took the package out of his hand and waited for him to be done, leaning against the wall with my eyes closed. The door opened again and out he came, eyes still half closed and shuffled to the bed as he laid on his pillow and brought the covers up to his chin. I heard him sigh from the bathroom as I took my turn to brush my teeth and splash water on my face. I didn’t know when he took the time to put an extra shirt in there but there it was, folded up beside the sink just waiting for me. 

Now fully changed into sleeping attire, I took the short hike back to the empty side of the bed, slipping under the covers beside him. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to be touched so I just let him lay there for a minute, probably exhausted both physically and mentally. I was resigned to just sleeping beside him until his arm stretched out behind him and grappled for something. He found what he was looking for and brought my arm around him and interlocked our fingers. I scooted closer to him until I was face to face with the back of his head and kissed him once, twice, three times. It was our signal to each other to express our feelings since we hadn’t said the words out loud yet. Physical expressions were always easier for me and I was elated when he expressed the same. The gesture had become more frequent after that. 

I intertwined our legs like always and rested my forehead square in between his shoulders when I felt him bring our hands to his lips and kiss them. Once, twice, three times. He squeezed my hand harder as he clutched them to his chest. I heard him whisper under his breath, barely able to hear him.

“Hannah’s birthday was today.” I felt him sigh into our hands. Hannah. His sister. 

 I couldn’t close my eyes until I heard him start to breathe heavily again, a tear falling down as I rested my head. 

***

The sunshine was brighter than normal, rousing me awake again. Chan was still asleep beside me, snoring away. He needed it and after the night he had, I wanted to return the favor he always did when I stayed here. I untangled our limbs without him waking up somehow and put on some pants I found of his and stumbled my way to the kitchen where I was met by Han, already sitting at the counter with a mug and an empty plate in front of him. He turned to me when he heard the shuffle of shoes on the floor. His brows shot up in question, a gleam of hope in his eyes. 

“I got him to sleep.” I said as I started getting pans out of the cabinets. I reached for the fridge to grab the eggs but Han had beaten me to it. He grabbed the half-empty bacon package for me too and put them beside the stovetop and leaned against the counter beside me, facing the hallway and brows furrowed deep in thought. I continued on. “He mentioned something about Hannah’s birthday being yesterday.” 

Han’s eyes lit up in recognition at the name and began nodding his head. 

“His sister. I can’t believe I forgot. Yeah, he hasn’t been there for her birthday since we debuted. I’ve seen him get upset about it before but never like that. It must have just hit him harder this year.” He thought for a moment as the eggs started cooking. “Ah I know. She’s eighteen this year. That must be why.” 

“She’s back in Australia, right? He must miss her and his brother too.” I said to the pan of bacon. Even thinking about being apart from my parents for as long as he had made my heart break on a level I didn’t like thinking about. “He must miss all of them so much…”

I had my plan as the bacon finished and I plated my boyfriend’s breakfast. 

“Han, I have an idea but I need your help. I don’t think it’s going to be easy.”

***

Two plates in hand, I nudged the door open with my foot. Chan had just opened his eyes when I put the plates on his bedside table. He cracked a smile when he spotted me, puckering his lips. I gave him what he wanted as I sat beside him, forcing him to sit up. I handed him his plate and grabbed my own and dug in, him doing the same. 

We didn’t speak much but it was a comfortable silence. I took his plate when he was done and left to go put them in the sink. My phone buzzed beside the sink as I washed the dishes I had used.

Han: They agreed to one week. Sorry I couldn’t get him longer.

Me: Thank you. That’s plenty. I owe you something expensive.

Han: I do it for the shiny things :) 

It was the biggest I had smiled in 24 hours. I couldn’t wait to tell him. I finished up in the kitchen and ran back to his room. Once I was back in his room, he was scrolling on his phone but he put it down when he heard me close the door. He held out his arms and I fell back into them, him pulling me into the same position we were in the night before but reversed. I would’ve been content to lay there all morning until I broke the silence. 

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” I hoped he would take the bait and tell me so I could surprise him. 

“I think I owe it to you. You did cook me breakfast after all.” He cleared his throat before he began. “My sister Hannah’s birthday was yesterday. She turned eighteen. I called her like I do every year and her voice…” He trailed off. After some deep breaths he started again. “Her voice sounded so grown up. I haven’t been able to be with her for her birthday since… I don’t even remember. She’s an adult now and I just couldn’t help but think of all the years and things that I’ve missed out on because of my work. I love it but I can’t help but wonder what or where I would be if I wasn’t here doing this. If I would even be here…” 

It hurt me hearing him talk like this. I knew there had been enough crying in the last twelve hours but I couldn’t help them. I was glad he couldn’t see my face as he continued.

“Anyways, I got a text from her when we got off the phone that said ‘don’t worry about it, you’ll be here next year’ and I couldn’t say anything back. I couldn’t even give a comforting ‘for sure’, you know? I couldn’t be strong for her anymore. It just… hit me. I just got so tired of missing them and I can’t do anything about it. Everything I do is for them and I just… couldn’t take it anymore. I came in here and just threw on my music and just… zoned out.”

“Han texted me saying he was worried about you. Said you wouldn’t even let Felix in.”

“I didn’t know he was there. I haven't been zoned out like that in a while.” Well, that was worrying. Maybe this trip was coming at just the right time…

“So it’s been a while since you’ve been home, huh?” I tried not to sound too excited but the tone in my voice gave me away. He brought my face up to meet his eyes and bore into my eyes. I couldn’t help the grin that slowly started to make its way across my lips. He continued to stare in confusion. 

“What have you done?” He wouldn’t let go of my chin which made it impossible to hide from that piercing gaze. He knew he only needed to stare at me long enough until I cracked. 

“Pack your bags Bang, you’re going home. For a week at least.” He dropped his grip in shock, his face blank as he processed. I scrambled off of him and traipsed over to his closet to pull out his suitcase and lugged it over the bed. I waited with baited breath as he sat, only breaking his comatose state to say one word.

“How?”

“I asked Han to help me. He negotiated with management and they agreed to let you off for a week. It’s all Han could get you. You leave either tonight or tomorrow morning, whichever you want.” I watched his face flip between shock and disbelief and about a dozen other emotions he couldn’t put a name to. “Is that okay? I thought you would be excited about it but I didn’t even think about what your schedule might be. I thought Han would’ve said something if you had something big coming up but he didn’t say anything so I thought-” Apparently the only thing that could shut me up these days were his lips. This kiss was more than surface-level, his appreciation tangible through his movements. His arms snaked across my waist and he yanked me up into his arms and spun us around all the while keeping our lips attached. When he broke us apart, his eyes were again wet. He reached for my hands to bring them between us, holding me in place. 

“I didn’t think it was something you would do on your own. Everyone knows you’re a workaholic so I took it upon myself. Maybe dragged Han into it but he was a willing participant. Now I have to buy him something shiny.” I was breathless now, wishing he would say something. He still hadn’t said more than one word aloud since I sprung it on him. 

“What have I done to deserve you?”

“Just existing is enough for me.”

***

Since this wasn’t a public outing nor an official one, I was allowed to accompany him to the airport. From the outside, we looked like just another couple, holding hands and walking through the airport and seeing each other off. His hat and his mask helped cover his identity while my mask was doing everything it could to hide my deep frown. I knew this was my idea and doing and he would only be gone for a week but I missed him already. I pulled him to a stop just before the waiting area. 

“They won’t let me pass through after this point.” I said through my mask, wondering if he was having as much trouble as I was at keeping my voice steady. He looked at me through the gap between his hat and mask. I would never get used to that look of adoration from him. It made me feel all bubbly inside and chased away every bad feeling I had. 

“I’ll call you every day. Just like at the beginning.” His eyes squinted with his smile. He pulled me into an embrace, sniffing my fill of him while I could. “Thank you.” He whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. This was going to be a long week.

“You better.” I said to his chest. “Or else I’m going to fly there myself and kick your ass.” His chest reverberated with his laughter. 

“Don’t worry about that. I’d miss you too much not to hear your voice.” At least I could hold on to that. 

I slowly pulled my face out of his chest, his arms still tightly secured around me and unwilling to let go just yet. 

“Next time, come with me. I’m dying to show you my hometown.” His hopeful eyes were impossible to say no to so I nodded.

“I promise the next time I force you to go home, I will come with you.” I smiled up at him, trying to let him see my sincerity as best I could. He could tell because I saw my sincerity reflected back in his eyes. He pulled me in for one last hug. “Now get outta here before you miss your flight. And tell Hannah I said happy birthday. That you are my gift to her.”

“I’m sure she’ll love that.” He said as he chuckled and turned to grab his duffel and plane bag. He walked backwards all the way to the escalators to take him to the next floor, never taking his eyes off me. People had to move out of his way as he walked backwards slowly. “Tell Han to stay out of my room!” He shouted from across the room. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it occupied for you.” I let out my first true laugh since we had arrived. 

“Please do!” He laughed with me as he backed up to the step that would take him away from me. 

“Bring me back something this time!” I shouted, not caring who heard me or who looked at me for shouting so loudly.

He blew three kisses as he rode the escalator up. I caught each of them and held them to my heart as he disappeared, heading home. 

#chan x you #chan x reader #chan skz #chan fluff #bang chan #chan angst #stray kids bang chan #stray kids chris #stray kids chan fluff #chan stray kids #stray kids #skz fanfic #skz x reader #skz #skz bang chan #skz fluff #bang chan x you #bangchan fluff #christopher bang #bang chan x reader #chan fanfic #chan scenarios #bang chan fluff #chan fic #bang chan x y/n #chan x y/n #chan x female reader #bang chan scenarios #bang chan drabbles #chan drabbles

[nagdabbit]

Daggs, I really really need the competing high school teachers AU with science teacher Nigel and lit teacher Bryan. I owe you one (1) thing of your choice in return.

i just think they're idiots, but i think bryan is the biggest idiot of all and also i realized halfway through that i don't remember anything about high school science classes. i dunno what happened

title: passing notes

Bryan had been waiting with baited breath all day long. He didn't need to hear the students' chatter to know what day it was. After five long years of sharing a wall with the misplaced Brit, he knew McGuinness' class schedule to a T.

The first weeks of class, he did all the flashy experiments and demonstrations. The kind to gain the kids' favor, make them excited about, if not science, then about just showing up for class. September through Thanksgiving, his mornings were full of loud, sudden pops, cheers and the occasional fire alarm as the back to back chemistry periods fumbled their way through all manner of experiments. Bryan had had to evacuate his class on more than one occasion, and he'd be salty about it until the day he died.

Then a few blessed weeks of peace and quiet, as even Nigel had to make his classes take finals before everyone left for Christmas break.

The return to classes meant Science Fair Season, the bane of Bryan's existence. It meant children in the halls, planning out their experiments. It meant skipped classes—usually his—and even more billowing smoke and fire drills. He didn't have to go to the gym in the early parts of the new year, he got all his exercise making the repeated ten foot walk to lean into Nigel's doorway and tell him to keep it the hell down. And each time he poked his head in, Nigel would laugh and slip a folded note into his hand with a wink, before waving him off. The notes were always blank, and he'd given up trying to figure out what trick the man was playing on him.

The rest of May, his final two periods each day turned into a waking nightmare as Nigel's Physics class began working on their final projects. Colloquially known as Rube Goldberg Season, it meant weeks of flying golf balls and scattered Lego pieces and not one single second of peace.

But even that wasn't half so bad as what came before it. That one horrid day, the final Friday before the start of Spring Break, the worst part of Bryan's year.

It was Egg Drop Day. 

The lead up was deceptively quiet, given how goddamn loud his final two hours of the day were. Two hours of cheering, two hours of feet stomping on the rooftop above his head, two hours of Freshman English getting too distracted to take their goddamn tests.

Two straight, uninterrupted hours of egg missiles dropped, not in front of Nigel's classroom windows, but in front of Bryan's.

All day long, Bryan had been waiting.

And in a surprise of all surprises, nothing came of it. There had been a brief trample of feet from the rooftop above his classroom, but that had lasted all of five minutes. He'd heard barely even a peep through the wall. It wasn't even until five minutes after the final bell that he heard any footsteps from the roof. 

He didn't even remember his final classes of the day, the relief was so strong. He thought he'd escaped the day unscathed. He thought he could finish grading in peace, maybe even head home before 5 for his week of peace and quiet.

But then 4:05 rolled around and there was a shout, a pale blue blur passed his windows, and a crash of a body into the bushes.

Before he'd even thought about it, he was flinging a window open faster than he'd done anything in his entire life.

Which was embarrassing, because Nigel was already laughing. Upside down, arms scraped up, twigs in his hair and egg on his shirt, the bastard was laughing like he hadn't just fallen off a building.

"Are you kidding me."

Nigel looked up at him, and just laughed again, "You still here, Mr. Dragon? Figured you'd've run on home by now." He flailed a little, and Bryan didn't bother trying to help as he gracelessly toppled himself out of the bush and into a small puddle of runny egg. Even that, he just laughed at.

"I was trying to finish grading quizzes," Bryan grumbled and leaned on the window sill to watch Nigel pick himself up. Handsome fucker. Even as undignified a fall as he had, the man still managed to pull it off. "But then I was rudely interrupted."

Nigel made a disgusted noise, "Quizzes on the final day before vacation? You're a cruel, cruel man."

He just rolled his eyes. "I noticed your Egg Drop was a little quieter than usual."

"Yeah, Garcia decided to show off for his idiot friends. Decided to crush all the cartons of eggs on the rooftop, rather than actually have a little fun first." Nigel just scoffed, dusting himself off. "Shame, that one."

And that was true, too. Kid had tested out of most of his classes at the start of the year, only to fall in with Jericho and his idiots. He'd even been Bryan's favorite student at the start of the year, before he'd begun skipping class. "Better luck next year, then."

The Brit huffed a little laugh, eyes twinkling. "Maybe you could even pull that stick outta your arse and enjoy it next time, eh?"

And, as usual, Bryan was back to being wildly unimpressed with the man. He stepped back from the window, "Well, I trust you can finish cleaning up without falling again."

"Oh, just relax, Dragon, it's—"

"I've told you time and again to stop calling me that," he snapped, glowering at the man. He was tall, and he was pretty, and he was too charming for his own good, and Bryan hated how much he didn't hate the silly nickname when it came from his stupid, smart mouth.

"And I've told you, time and again, that I would," he smarmed back, hands on his hips, "if you let me take you to dinner, and you ignored me every time."

He rolled his eyes again, moving to shut the window in Nigel's face. "I think I'd remember if you had."

It was Nigel's turn to give him a disbelieving look. "Did you not read my notes?"

"Oh, the blank pieces of paper you keep giving me?" he asked, feigning surprise. "I haven't had the chance."

Nigel stared at him for a long moment, and then rolled his eyes so hard he fell back into the bushes again. "Darling, we teach high schoolers. You really think I would hand you a fucking love note, in broad daylight, if it would be easy for them to read?"

"And a blank page is so easy for me to decipher?"

"I'm a chemistry teacher, and I've seen you reading spy books!"

"That answers nothing!"

"Danielson, you are, without a doubt, the most frustrating man I have ever had the displeasure of falling for." He levered himself back out of the shrubs and leaned through the still open window.

He knew it was coming, and he probably could've stopped it—had he truly wanted to—but Nigel looked just so delightfully charming with tigs in his hair. It was easy to just close his eyes and lean into—

Nigel's grimy hand pressed to his forehead, shoving him back. "Dragon, darling, I'm going to finish cleaning Garcia's mess, and then I'm going to change into something presentable," he said, looking smug as ever. "That should give you twenty minutes to finish grading, but I'm dragging you out to dinner then, regardless."

He watched Nigel pulled back and marched toward the closest door, and Bryan was at a loss. He leaned back out the window, watching Nigel go. "That still doesn't answer anything about the notes!"

"Invisible ink, you insufferable menace!" Nigel shouted back, tossing his hands in the air. "Lemon juice, paper, heat source! Even an idiot could figure it out!"

And he watched Nigel throw open the building door, Bryan rushed out of his classroom, intent on meeting the jackass in the hallway. So he could argue a little more, of course.

#prompt fic #aew fic #aew fanfiction #bryan danielson #nigel mcguinness

[minuy600]

LEGO On A Budget 2024 #3: 60401 Construction Steamroller & 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Turns out, going to college on a free day can lead to a lucky break. Shopping at 9:30am is a pretty magical feeling considering my sleeping issues that kinda prevent me from even waking up before like, 10am, without setting an alarm. In fact, I doubly scored this week, but this second haul is a lil secret for later. Stay tuned!

LEGO City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

City's back and it's back in style. Now that we're outta the 4+ territory, this is when we really get some nostalgia goin'. I remember having the very FIRST City construction set that released in 2005- and I actually found the manual yesterday in one of my old LEGO bins! Certainly made this build more appropiate.

Firstly, this box sets the record straight and absolutely dwarfs the other €10 boxes for the time being. I'm pretty sure it's dimensions are like, twice as thick as the regular sizes i've tackled so far. It's still a light box though, there's only 78 pieces in here, very slightly more than the boxes from last time.

Let's talk about the pieces themselves. I did nooooot know there were some usually Technic pieces involved in all this. For a 5+ set, that's rather awesome and means that the complexity can be just a bit higher. With this build, it's of course kinda limited to allowing the big wheels on the front to fit.

And yyyyeah, that's kinda it. This is the definition of okay. It's a bit more of an elaborate build which is appreciated, but it's not exactly wowing me. All it does is remind me of the golden oldies from 2 decades ago. This compares neither positively or negatively.

Will say though. It's nice that the construction worker is super easy to fit in the steamroller via the retractable roof. Might wanna call it 'above average' because of that alone. Speaking of above average...

LEGO Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Okay, so, I never actually uh, GREW UP with Ninjago, here. I always dismissed it as something that wasn't for me and kinda looked down on those that did. I also ate out of my nose.

Time to set the record straight. Although those small, differently shaped boxes still aren't something i'm gonna get right away (though the chances of me getting them after the series is finished are a lot higher now), I certainly was eager to check out what i've missed out all these years.

And, I mean, I like it. I think this is one of the cases where you don't really get the full idea of it's quality if you don't buy a more expensive set, or multiple other cheaper ones. Still, the mech's got some meat on it's bones. It's decently substantial and required a more elaborate 78 pieces to put together. Very bendable too. I'd say it's less flexible than Doc Ock was, but in return, it's also a lot larger and also comes with those nice projectile shooters.

I have nothing to say about these minifigs in terms of how accurate they are to the Ninjago 'lore', though I like that they all wield weapons, have head armor and can swap their facial expression for maximum smugness on Master Lloyd. Is that accurate to the show? I'll believe that untill someone proves me wrong.

So overall, this is a very competent set for posing and I think I could have had quite a lot of fun with my imagination way back when. And that's good enough.

Current rankings:

In my opinion, the Construction Steamroller was a nice throwback and has an interesting set of pieces included, but the finished result isn't doing that much for me. It's solid, yet unspectacular. Honestly, i'm not even sure if it would've beaten the Fire Rescue Motorcycle if it wasn't more or less obsoleted by Spidey's bike from the Marvel set.

Jay's Mech Battle Pack is a pretty rad set and comes pretty close to toppling the Marvel set, i'd say, yeah. I think it's up to your own preference whether you prefer pop culture over LEGO's own IP, and whether you want more smaller builds or one big boi build instead. I'm giving the nod to Marvel as I find it utilises the limited amount of pieces a little better in my opinion, but it was a close call between the two.

1. Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock 2. Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack 3. City - 60401 Construction Steamroller 4. City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle 5. Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition 6. City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Next week, a surprise intermission with the aforementioned secret, as well as me looking really fuckin' goofy at the toy store. See ya soon!

#minuy600 #review #lego ninjago #lego #lego review #lego city #ranking list

[secretswiftymarvelfan]

The Demigod From Asgard - Steve Rogers x Reader (Part 40)

Summary: You and Steve pick up the pieces following the fight with Ultron and the Twins

Word Count: 5.3k

Warnings: Angst! Bit of Fluff! Language!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics​

Series Masterlist / Masterlist

Chapter 40: They have to evolve

You hadn’t realised you had fallen asleep until Steve gently woke you up. His hand cupped your cheek, his thumb gently stroking your tear stained cheek. You slowly opened your eyes finding his instantly. He gives you a small smile, pulling the blanket that had been placed over you up higher.

“Where are we?” You ask when you feel the jet landing.

“Barton’s taken us to a safe house” Steve explains.

“Why haven’t we gone to the tower?” You ask confused.

Steve sighs glancing over at Bruce, you follow his gaze to find the man sat curled up in the corner. You instantly realise that the witch must have gotten to him too. You could only imagine what damage that caused.

“Did she get everyone?” You ask him.

“No Tony and Clint managed to escape it” Steve says shaking his head.

“She got you” you mutter realising he wasn’t included on that list.

“Yeah but I’m fine” he sighs with a weak smile “c’mon lets go”

He helps you stand up keeping his arm around your waist as you stepped out of the jet. Thor walked over to help but you once again flinched when he touched you. He sighed deeply before walking on ahead of you and Steve.

You could see an old looking farmhouse ahead. It didn’t look like a safehouse to you. It seemed too lived in. Maybe that was part of its disguise.

“Honey? I’m home” Clint called out as he stepped inside.

You glanced up at Steve who looked equally confused when a brown-haired pregnant women walked round the corner into the room.

“Hi, company, sorry didn’t call ahead” Clint smiles greeting the women with a kiss.

“This is an agent of some kind” Tony said shaking his head slightly.

“Guys this is Laura” Clint says introducing you.

“Hi, I know all your names” Laura says with a small awkward wave.

You look to the side when your heard footsteps approaching. Suddenly two children appear, a boy and a girl, both of them running straight into Clint’s arms calling him daddy.

“These are smaller agents” Tony mutters.

“Did you bring Auntie Nat?” The little girl says.

“Why don’t you hug her and find out” Nat smiles stepping closer picking the girl up and giving her a big hug.

“Sorry for barging in on you” Steve apologises.

“Yeah we would have called ahead but we were too busy having no idea you existed” Tony explains.

“Yeah well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD’s files. I’d like to keep it that way. I figured it’s a good place to lay low” Clint explains.

You then hear something break behind you, turning you see Thor brushing a lego house that he’d stepped on under a table. You hear the sound of toast popping out of the toaster, quickly followed by Thor walking out. Steve glances down at you before he goes to follow Thor out. You pause momentarily, the concern for Thor winning out over your feeling of betrayal as you two go to follow him out.

“I won’t get my answers here” Thor says looking at the house, a few feet from the porch.

“Thor-“ you say grabbing his attention.

He glances over at you, sad expression on his face, before swinging his hammer and taking off. Steve sighs putting his arm around you pulling you closer.

“He’ll be back, don’t worry” he sighs kissing the top of your head.

“I’m gonna go get everyone’s packs you head inside” he tells you before jogging down the steps towards the jet.

You sigh to yourself before turning around and heading back inside. You see Nat waiting for you in the hallway.

“Everything okay?” She asks.

“I dunno, Thor said he needed answers and just left” you explain.

“I meant with you? I’ve never seen you so shaken before, not even when Steve was in the hospital” she says taking a step forward.

“I’m fine” you lie quickly.

She looks you up and down, you knew she could tell you were lying. But what else could you say? You weren’t even sure if you could bring yourself to tell Steve.

“Okay, well um Clint said you and cap could take the room at the end on the right” Nat tells you nodding to the stairs behind her.

“Thanks” you say going to step past her but she gently stops you.

“Look if you need anyone to talk to, besides Steve, you can talk to me you know” she tells you softly.

“Thank you, same goes for you” you say with a small smile before walking up the stairs.

Heading into the room you glance around at all the photos and knick-knacks dotted around the place. It was quaint and cozy, something you didn’t initially associate with Clint, but it made sense. You were looking at a photo of Clint and his two kids on a fishing trip when Steve appeared holding your packs.

“It’s nice isn’t it?” You say putting the photo back down on the side.

“Yeah, surprising but definitely nice” Steve sighs looking around at the room.

“How you feeling?” You ask him “you took a nasty punch from Pietro”

“Just a little sore, how about you, that fall didn’t look nice” he asks making you chuckle slightly.

“It wasn’t, but I feel fine now, I probably have a nasty bruise but apart from that I’m fit as a fiddle” you say with a small and weak smile.

Yes, physically you felt better but mentally you were still stuck on what Wanda had shown you.

“Wanna talk about it?” Steve asks taking your hand.

“I dunno, I’m still trying to get my head around it” you sigh shaking your head.

“Well I’m here whenever you’re ready, you go shower first you need it more” he says nodding over to the bathroom.

“You saying I smell?” You say with a small smirk.

Steve chuckles lightly “only a little now go” he says.

You roll your eyes but head into the ensuite. As you strip out of your suit you catch sight of yourself in the mirror. Like you suspected you had a nasty bruise across your abdomen that stretched almost the entirety of it. You gingerly touch it feeling to sharp sting of pain whenever you did. You knew it would heal soon, like Steve your body healed faster than the average human. Not as quickly as him though, much to your annoyance.

Stepping into the shower you felt the warm water wash over your body. Instantly relieving the aches and pain you had. Your muscles relaxed as you shut your eyes. For a moment it was peaceful before memories of your vision flashed before your eyes pulling you back to reality with a sharp gasp. You rest you hand against the wall of the shower dropping your head as you tried to control your breathing.

Eventually your breathing slowed, and you quickly finished up your shower. You still felt shaken when you stepped out wrapping your towel around you.

“She’s dangerous” you hear your father say again.

“Doesn’t know how dangerous she really is” Ultron’s voice says making you screw your eyes shut shaking your head.

Were you really that dangerous? Ultron seemed to know something about you. He seemed to know about your vision before it even happened. What if it wasn’t a vision? You saw memories of your Loki and your mother, what if that fire was a memory too?

“Hey you okay?” Steve asks popping his head inside the bathroom.

“Yeah, sorry go ahead” you lie forcing a smile.

He goes to say something but you don’t wait and stepping out of the bathroom straight towards your pack. He turns to look at you, but you don’t look up, just grabbing a change of clothes. You hear him sigh closely followed by the bathroom door closing, the shower turning back on.

You dried off changing into jeans and a top. You could hear Steve was still in the shower. As you looked out the window you could see Clint’s kids playing outside, which made you smile slightly. When they run out of sight you moved to sit down on the edge of the bed and continue drying your hair. You were tempted to use your powers but you weren’t sure if you could trust yourself.

“Why don’t you relax? Get some proper rest?” Steve asks when he steps out of the bathroom.

“I don’t know if I can” you sigh watching as he changes into jeans and a blue under armour top.

“Lets try at least” he suggests moving to lie down on the bed patting the space next to him.

You smile slightly giving in and shifting to lie beside him, you head resting in his chest. His arm moves to wrap around you pulling your close and kissing the top of your head.

The two of you remain like this for a while. Just lying in complete silence, each other’s presence calming each other down. Despite your best effort your mind still went back to your vision. Replaying it as you slowly made sense of it all.

You had always known your birth mother died young, but you had no clue it was because of you. You’d killed her. Ultron was right, you were more dangerous than you realised, how long would it be until you hurt someone else you cared about. And why hadn’t you been told the truth by Thor?

“I killed my mother” you admit quietly.

“What? I thought Malekith killed her?” Steve asks looking down at you confused.

“My birth mother, Father always told me she was in an accident, but I think it was actually me” you tell him not being able to look up at him.

“You don’t know that though” Steve says trying to reassure you.

“I saw it Steve, my vision I was in a burning room. I could see myself as a baby in the crib screaming, my mother dead on the floor. I then hear Thor and Odin come and take me to Asgard” you tell him sitting up, hugging your knees against your chest as you felt yourself welling up.

“Hey it’s okay I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for all this” Steve says sitting up and putting his arm around your shoulders.

“My father said I was too dangerous to stay on earth, what if Ultron is right that I’m a danger to you and everyone else, I don’t want to hurt or lose you Steve” you cry shaking your head as you began to sob once more.

“Hey nothing that fucking robot says is true, he’s got a million and one screws loose thinking world peace means killing the ones trying to fight for it. Don’t believe a single thing he says” Steve tells you.

You couldn’t help but chuckle lightly as you wiped away your tears “language” you smirk making him smile.

“Hey we both know I’m not that boy scout” he smirks.

“No definitely not” you chuckle smiling over at him.

“And look you won’t ever lose me, I’m amazed you stick around and put up with me I know I don’t make life normal” he sighs dropping his head.

“Is that what she showed you?” You ask him taking his hand.

“Kinda, I was back in the 40s everyone was celebrating the war being over, but as they celebrated all I saw was remnants of war, spilt wine looked like blood, camera flashes like bombs going off. Then you appeared you told me we could go home that we didn’t have to fight. But as I went to follow you, I hear people calling for me, for help. I looked over towards them and could see conflict. But when I looked back at you, the look on your face broke my heart, you looked so angry and hurt shaking your head as you walked away from me” Steve tells you shaking his head with a small sniffle.

“Oh Stevie I’m not going anywhere, ever, I’ll be by you side through everything, you wanna fight it’ll be there, you wanna stop we’ll stop. Whatever you decide I’ll support you and be there, you aren’t getting rid of me” you tell him squeezing his hand.

“Really?” He asks uncertain.

“Really, because I love you and I’m there for you through thick and thin” you smile moving your hand to his shoulder running your finger across the nape of his neck up into his hair.

“I love you too. So, so much” he smiles cupping your cheek pulling your lips to his.

You smile into the kiss amazed how easy Steve could make you feel better. You couldn’t describe how amazing this man was and how much you loved him. You had found the best man on the planet and he was all yours.

“Did you sleep on the jet?” You ask him when you parted.

“A bit, wanted to make sure you were okay” he answers rubbing your back.

“Get some rest then, a fight is coming and we need to be on our best form” you sigh resting a hand on his chest.

“Only if you do too” Steve says making you chuckle.

“Fine, c’mon” you smile.

The both of you lie back moving back to your previous position. Your head on Steve chest. His arms wrapped around you, his fingers running up and down your arm soothingly. A mixture of that and his steady heartbeat was enough to lull you back asleep, relaxing into his embrace.

Despite his best efforts Steve struggled to stay asleep for long. Glancing over at you he saw you fast asleep snoring slightly. He smiled to himself before turning to look up at the ceiling. He could hear Clint with his kids downstairs which made his mind wander.

He always thought that this sort of life wasn’t possible. Not for him, not as an avenger. But Clint had it. He had the life Steve wanted, while still being in active duty both at SHIELD and as an Avenger.

He glances back down at you kissing you gently on the head before carefully slipping out of bed. He quietly closes the door to the bedroom before heading downstairs. He finds Clint in the kitchen asking his son to go find a tape measure for him.

“Hey um can we talk for a minute?” Steve asks him.

“Yeah sure cap, give me one sec” Clint nods before telling his son he’d be outside in a few minutes.

“What’s up?” Clint asks leaning against the counter.

“How did you do all this?” Steve asks gesturing around.

“Well it wasn’t easy not to begin with, it’s a learning curve, why’d you ask?” Clint asks.

“Well it’s been on my mind recently about this sorta life, building something like this” Steve sighs with a small shrug of his shoulders.

“With Y/N?” Clint asks with a small smirk.

“Yeah, she deserves so much, a normal life but I don’t think I can do that not with the Avengers” Steve admits.

“There’s no such thing as normal, everyone just has to find their own version of it, and you will” Clint tells him shrugging his shoulders.

“How do you find the balance?” Steve asks.

“Lots of trial and error, you just find what works best for you, and understand that it will change as your life changes, you’ll work it out though if I can you definitely can, you’re the king of planning” Clint says making Steve laugh.

“Thanks Clint that really helps” Steve smiles.

“It’s nothing you and Y/N are great together I really hope you get this” Clint smiles.

“Me too” Steve sighs nodding his head.

“Hey look if you need something to do, there’s an axe in shed and a bunch of wood you could chop” Clint suggests.

Steve laughs nodding his head “next best thing to a punching bag I suppose” he chuckles.

“Just don’t break the axe I’ve only got two” Clint warns before heading outside.

Steve easily found the axe and set about chopping wood. Quickly creating a sizeable pile. It was nearing midday when he spotted you step outside spotting him and walking over.

“Hey how long have you been up?” You ask as you approach.

“Not long I promise” he smiles,

It wasn’t exactly true and he could see you studying him trying to work out if he was lying or not. You probably knew he was but decided against questioning him further. Instead moving to sit at the picnic bench.

“Clint put you to work I see” you say nodding to the pile of wood Steve had created.

“Kinda, he suggested it, but it was my decision to actually do it” Steve says shrugging his shoulders.

“Well by the time you’re done they’ll have enough wood for 100 winters” you chuckle.

“Wanna help, there’s a second axe in the shed?” He asks pointing over to the shed.

“No, I’m good my torso is still tender so best not” you say shaking your head.

“Plus, I can enjoy the view from here” you add with a smirk making him laugh.

“Of course doll, I better get back to work then” he smirks.

A short while later Laura appeared with sandwiches for the both of you and glasses of ice tea.

“Thank you so much for this Laura, I’m sure 5 superheroes crashing at your house wasn’t what you were expecting” you smile taking a sip of your drink.

“It’s nothing, I’ve been wanting to meet you guys for years now, Clint talks about you a lot” Laura smiles.

“Good things I hope” Steve chuckles.

“Yes of course, I have to say I was very invested in your little love story, when Clint told me you finally got together I was so happy for you” she tells you making the both you and Steve smile.

“Yeah did take us a while but I wouldn’t change a thing” Steve sighs smiling over at you.

“Me neither” you smile back over at him.

Your conversation was the disrupted by Clint’s daughter, Lila, shouting for her mom.

“Duty calls” Laura chuckles before walking off back towards the house.

Steve sat down on the bench beside you. As the two of you ate Steve kept one arm around you, his hand on the small of your back. Enjoying the feeling of you next to him in this calm environment. The world could be ending and nobody would notice. It was perfect.

He looked down at you and smiled to himself. It was quiet moments like this that he loved just watching you. Not in a creepy way of course, but he just liked to admire you. He counted his blessing every days that you had quite literally fallen from the sky into his life. He could remember the first time you guys got to talk and get to know each other like it was yesterday. Bonding over the wizard of oz and flying monkeys.

Once he’d eaten Steve went back to the task in hand. Tony joining him after a short while.

“Thor didn’t say where he was going for answers?” Tony asks as he brings the axe down on chunk of wood.

“No” you sigh shaking your head.

“Sometimes our teammates don’t tell us things” Steve states “was kinda hoping Thor would be one of the exceptions”

“Yeah give him time, we don’t know the Maximoff kid showed him” Tony says.

Steve sees you drop your head with a guilty look in your eyes. He understood why you had pulled away from Thor, but he could tell you still felt bad about doing so. While Steve was grateful you sought comfort from him, he still felt bad for Thor. Steve has only known you a few years, you’d known Thor your whole life.

Your eyes meet his and he gives you a small reassuring smile which thankfully you return.

“Earth’s mightiest heroes, pulled us apart like cotton candy” Steve mutters shaking his head as he grabbed a large piece of wood.

“Seems like you walked away alright” Tony comments.

Steve has to school his expression as he looks back over at Tony. He couldn’t believe the ignorance of his statement. What Steve saw was something that has haunted him for years, something that played on his mind more and more. Especially now he had you in his life, and wanted to build a life with you.

“Is that a problem?” Steve questions.

“I don’t trust a guy without a dark side” Tony states “call me old fashioned”

“Tony-“ Steve hears you warn but he interrupts.

“Well lets’ just say you haven’t seen it yet” Steve states sending a cold look in Tony’s direction.

“You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart right?” Tony says making Steve scoff under his breath.

“Well I guess you’d know, whether you’d tell us is a bit of a question” Steve retorts swinging the axe down.

“Banner and I were doing research” Tony argues.

“That would affect the team” you point out from your spot on the bench behind Steve.

“That would end the team!” Tony snaps glaring over at you.

“Isn’t that the mission? Isn’t that the why we fight? So we can end the fight so we can go home!” Tony continues looking back over at Steve.

Steve got more and more agitated as Tony spoke. He felt like he was in a time loop. SHIELD tried to end the fight with Insight, now Tony with Ultron. As much as Steve hated it, he knew the fighting would never end. There would never be global peace and it was naive to think so. Of course he wanted the fight to end so he could go home, have a normal life but that just wasn’t possible. His emotions got the better of him and with a low growl he ripped the large chunk of wood he was holding with his bare hands before turning back to Tony.

“Every time someone tries to win a war before its starts, innocent people die, every time” Steve argues his voice low.

Tony looks back at him sighing deeply but doesn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry Mr Stark, Clint said you wouldn’t mind but our tractor doesn’t seem to want to start at all” Laura says walking over.

“Yeah I’ll give her a kick” Tony says with a small nod.

“Don’t take from my pile” Tony tells Steve before walking off with Laura.

Steve sighs dropping his head and resting his hands on his hips. He takes a couple deep breaths before turning to look at you. When he does he notices the stunned and shocked expression on your face.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to snap” he apologises walking over to you.

“No, no that’s not what I’m um” you say shaking your head before reaching out to take his hand turning it over and running your fingers across his palm.

“I just thought it was incredibly attractive how you ripped that log in half” you admit glancing up at him through your lashes.

Steve chuckles as he moves to sit down next to you pull your hand into his lap fiddling with your fingers.

“Maybe when we move to the compound I should buy an axe” he smirks.

“I would actually love that” you smile resting your head on his shoulder, he turns his head so he can press a gentle kiss to your head.

“You okay though? What Tony said was out of line” you ask him after a moment.

“Yeah, but I know tempers are frayed at the moment, people are tired and scared, they say and do things they don’t really mean” he says looking over at you.

“I still feel bad pushing Thor away” you say instantly understanding what he meant.

“I know but he’ll understand he just wants you to be okay” Steve sighs wrapping his arm around you rubbing your back soothingly.

“I know” you sigh.

Steve continues to make sure you were okay, while also relishing the fact that just being with you made him feel better. When he glances up to look back at the house, he furrows his brows spotting someone he didn’t expect to see.

“Is that Fury?” He questions out loud making you lift your head from his shoulder.

“What is he doing here?” You ask when you spot him.

“Hopefully he’s here to help” Steve sighs standing up offering you his hand to lead you back inside.

Walking into the living room everyone had gathered, curious as to what Fury had to help.

“I’m assuming this isn’t a check in call” Nat says with a small smirk.

“No not exactly” Fury sighs glancing round at the team.

“Where’s Thor?” He asks looking over at you.

“Don’t know took off looking for answers” you tell him.

“So what you got?” Tony asks.

“Some insight” Fury answers glancing over at him.

“Well hold onto that, Laura made dinner, we can discuss this when the kids are in bed” Clint says walking to the kitchen.

As everyone sat down to eat Steve couldn’t help but watch Barton and his family. The kids would excitedly tell him stories about school or TV programs they’d watch. Clint and Laura occasionally reminding them about manners. He glanced over at you and started to picture him and you in that situation little version of him and you running about. You caught him looking over at you and instantly smiles putting a hand on his knee under the table.

Once everyone had eaten, the plates were cleared away. Now that the temperature had dropped Steve went upstairs to go grab himself and you your hoodies. Well, he’d grab one of his for you considering he knew how much you loved them.

As he went to go back downstairs he could see Laura helping get the kids ready for bed. Both of them whining that they couldn’t stay up longer. Steve smiles at the scene before continuing down the stairs passing you the jumper.

“Oh my favourite thank you” you smile reaching up to kiss him.

Everyone then gathered in the kitchen to see what help Fury had. Tony was stood in the small utility room playing darts. Bruce was stood in the corner of the kitchen a short distance from Nat who was sat at the table. Clint continued to wash up some of the dishes from dinner. Steve stood behind you his arm wrapped around you as he lent against the wall.

“Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time, my contacts all day he’s building something” Fury explains as Lila runs in giving Nat a picture before running off again.

“The amount of vibranium he made off with, I don’t think it’s just one thing” Fury continues.

“What about Ultron himself?” Steve questions.

“Oh he’s easy to track, he’s everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a catholic rabbit. It still doesn’t help us get an angle on any of his plans though” Fury explains.

“Is he still going after launch codes?” Tony asks as he throw a dart.

“Yes he is but he’s not making any headway” Fury tells him making Tony furrow his brows.

“I cracked the Pentagon’s firewall in high school on a dare” Tony comments.

“Well I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that” Fury explains.

“Nexus?” You question, Steve also not knowing what that was.

“It’s the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access of earth” Bruce explains.

“So what did they say?” Clint asks twirling a dart between his fingers.

“He’s fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed” Fury explains.

“By whom?” Tony asks as Clint throws the dart narrowly missing Stark’s face which secretly make Steve smirk.

“Parties unknown” Fury answers.

“Do we have an ally?” Nat asks looking over at Fury.

“Ultron’s got an enemy that’s not the same thing. Still I’d pay folding money to know who it is” Fury tells her.

“I might need to visit Oslo find out unknown” Tony sighs walking back into the kitchen.

“Well this is good times boss but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you’d have more than that” Nat sighs with a small smirk.

“I do, I have you. Back in the day I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are back on earth with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world” Fury says walking over to the table.

“Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission and whether or not he admits it his mission is global destruction all this laid in a grave. So stand, outwit the platinum bastard” Fury continues.

Steve sees you glance up at him with a smirk and mischievous look in your eyes. He knew exactly what you were gonna say before the words even left your mouth.

“Steve doesn’t like that kind of talk” you smirk.

Steve shakes his head smiling down at you “you know what-“ he smirks poking you in the ribs making you giggle.

“So what does he want?” Fury asks as he sits down.

“To become better, better than us, he keeps building bodies” you sigh turning back to the group.

“Person bodies” Tony agrees “but the human form is inefficient, biologically speaking we’re outmoded yet he still keeps coming back to it”

“When you two programmes him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed” Nat says looking up at Bruce who had walked over to look at the painting next to Nat.

“They don’t need to be protected, they need to evolve, Ultron’s going to evolve” Bruce mutters looking around the room.

“How?” Fury asks.

“Has anyone been in contact with Dr Cho recently?” Bruce asks looking around the room.

“The cradle” Tony mutters shaking his head.

“Could he really use that to build a body?” You question.

“I thought it just created tissue” Clint adds.

“Maybe that’s what’s the vibranium is for” Tony points out.

“Would Helen just allow him to use it though” Nat counters.

“She may not have the choice, he has the sceptre” you point out with a heavy sigh.

“We need to head out fast, try and intercept him because if he’s successful” Steve sighs shaking his head.

“He’ll be indestructible” Tony finishes.

“Everyone suit up, ready in 5” Steve orders.

Everyone quickly got ready splitting up into teams “we’ll take Natasha and Clint” Steve tells Tony as you pass him his shield, slinging it onto his back.

“All right, strictly recon, I’ll hit the nexus and join you as soon as I can” Tony says walking over.

“If Ultron really is building a body” you say as the three of you walk towards the door.

“He’ll be more powerful than any of us, maybe all of us” Tony sighs “an android designed by a robot”

“You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me” Steve mutters as he pulls on his gloves.

“I’ll drop Banner off at the tower, you mind if I borrow Ms Hill?” Fury asks as he shrugs on his jacket.

“She’s all your apparently” Tony mutters.

“What are you gonna do?” Steve asks.

“Something dramatic” Fury smirks.

“You could be a world class actor you know” you smirk up at Fury.

“Who says I’m not” he says tapping his nose before walking away.

The three of you glance around at each other with slightly stunned expressions.

“That’s it I swear he’s living a double life and is actually Sam Jackson” Tony says shaking his head.

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Series Masterlist / Masterlist

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[evergreen-lyricist]

i feel like a lot of writers need to attend the Lego Ninjago School of Plot & Stakes Escalation, if only bc most of them don't seem to know how to raise the stakes without just making up an even more powerful villain to fight. like, yeah sometimes you defeat the villain but they're actually just a henchperson to the real antagonist of the story, or another worse evil pops up in their place; but that only works so many times in succession before it gets predictable & kind of boring. at a certain point it's difficult to suspend your disbelief bc we know the heroes will just get another wacky power up or deus ex machina & win anyway.

however, lego ninjago did one very important thing: at a certain point, they stopped making the antagonists more powerful/evil/etc. and instead made the stakes different. the prime example of this is the switch to master chen following the defeat of the overlord. we are told that the overlord is basically the root of all evil in ninjago, and all the major problems can be traced back to him (he created the great devourer, which bit garmadon & made him descend into villainy, etc). when you ask, "hey why haven't we heard of this guy before if he's been causing all the problems around here," they have an answer for that: the overlord has been trapped on an island far away from the mainland, without a body or anyone else to enact evil schemes on (it's later revealed that it isn't just any island: the first spinjitzu master literally split ninjago in two and separated the pieces to keep the overlord out. what a power move). of course none of the main characters have heard of this guy until garmadon washes up on the shore & gets roped into an evil scheme: none of them were alive when the continent was split.

following the defeat of the overlord and de-eviling of garmadon (with a short aside to destroy the overlord virus), the ninja are pretty chill. they've lost zane but aside from that things are looking up. then they get an invitation to participate in a tournament of elements, hosted by this master chen guy of the master chen's noodles restaurant chain. it's also held on a remote island in the middle of nowhere but it isn't that shady, right?? wrong. master chen is using the tournament to steal the ninja's powers & also yoinking them into his illegal underground noodle factory when they lose. also, he has zane in the illegal basement noodle factory for some reason. but the crucial piece here is that master chen is not more powerful than the overlord. he's not more evil than the overlord. for all intents and purposes, he's just some noodle company ceo who wants elemental powers so badly he's willing to do this whole song & dance to get them. the villain of this season isn't like. the overlord 2, electric boogaloo (this time with double the evil). the ninja aren't in mortal danger at the tournament, although if you get yoinked into the illegal noodle factory no one knows if you're still alive, but hey. the world isn't in imminent danger from master chen. however, this is also the first time that the ninja have been cut off from all of their allies: the four of them went to the tournament alone, so nya and sensei wu can't help them bc they don't even know where they are. once again: the stakes aren't just higher, they're different. and because these stakes are different than anything the ninja have faced before, it makes you wonder if they'll all be okay this time. like yes they survived the overlord, so a power-hungry noodle guy shouldn't kill them. but that little voice in the back of your mind goes, he just might.

#ev speaks #lego ninjago my beloved.... #this is also why the post-movie seasons trying to bring garmadon back but make him *worse* or whatever really fucking bothers me #especially with the introduction of the whole oni & dragons thing & the implication that the oni are the source of all evil like. stop that #clearly the new writers didn't go to the Lego Ninjago School etc. (they didn't watch the show lol) #long post

[doomfox]

Eclipse gets shoes

Wade sighed, raising a hand and rubbing at the bridge of his snout. He didn’t regret becoming an adoptive father to alien children. The boys were the best thing that had ever happened to him, given him a purpose, given him love and support and made his life amazing.

But sometimes it felt like trying to eat cement with a fork.

“Eclipse...” Wade counted to ten and shoved down the urge to hiss, “we’ve been over this.”

“I’m not going!”

“Dude, you need shoes.”

“I DON’T NEED SHOES!!!!”

Wade closed his eyes, bit back an irritable hiss, and lowered himself into a squat. Before him, somewhere within the collection of unused furniture and carboard boxed, Eclipse had gone to ground in his garage-nest. Wade was too large to fit back there and get him himself, not without dismantling his cover at least, and Eclipse would probably throw a fit if he did that. “Listen,” he said, doing his best to keep his patience. “Remember when you trod on that Lego? And it hurt so much? Imagine if that were a nail, or a piece of glass, and your foot actually got infected. That’s why we wear shoes, bud. To protect our feet. And that’s why you’re having some.”

There was a rustling from behind the furniture and an angry little black and red face popped out. “You don’t wear shoes!” Eclipse protested, scowling at the former human.

Wade lifted a foot, the sandal dangling in the air. “I got these,” he pointed out. “Which will do for now, until the weather starts getting cold. Then I’ll have my feet measured and pick up some boots. It’s important to protect our feet, little dude.”

Eclipse merely pouted. “I’m not going!”

Wade sighed, tail flicking irritably behind him. “Okay, fine. But... I figured we could pick up some chicken wings while we’re out... y’know, for supper?” He stood and shrugged, adjusting his foot in the sandal. “But if you don’t want to go, that’s fine...”

“What?? No!!” Wade smiled to himself as he heard little hands and feet plop into the garage floor. “I want chicken!”

“Great!” Wade turned to regard the Darkling, hands planting on his hips as his tail waved like a python, “so let’s go get your shoes.”

Eclipse stood, eyes making contact with their larger mirrors... before rearing back his head and releasing a groan every moody kid could be proud of. “UGH FINE...” he ducked his head and wandered past Wade, “but I get to pick them out! I only want ones I like!”

“Okay, good stuff. Let’s go.”

...

Eclipse was not happy. Even though Wade had promised him chicken wings, his favourite treat, he still didn’t want shoes. Or any clothes in general. Clothes were a human invention, made for soft-skinned creatures without scales or fur to protect them from the elements.

And he still didn’t enjoy going shopping.

Eclipse hung close to Wade, shrinking as they approached the human store. He instinctively reached out and grabbed Wade’s tail, the former human’s only response to slow down a little to allow his smaller charge to keep up. “Okay... shoes are over here,” Wade said, changing direction and entering an aisle, “go ahead. Let me go and go pick some.”

Eclipse did as he was told, letting Wade have his tail back as he looked over the wall filled with shoes. There were many kinds, none of which Eclipse found interesting or appealing. This was stupid. He’d gone his whole life without needing shoes, and while standing on that lego had been painful, he didn’t think there was any need for them. He huffed again, raising his tail into a hand and idly playing with it.

“Mom! Mommy, I want these!”

Eclipse frowned and looked down the aisle, to a human child who was presently holding up a pair of sneakers to his tired-looking mother. “Sorry sweetie...” she said tiredly, “you don’t need new shoes right now.”

“But they light up! Watch!” The boy clapped the shoes together and Eclipse watched, fascinated, as the edges of the soles indeed lit up and began flashing pretty colours. The lights reminded him of the computer consoles back on the Black Comet. The ones Eclipse used to sit and watch for hours and just marvel at how pretty they were.

Right then, watching the human woman making her son put the shoes back, Eclipse knew what he wanted.

...

Wade wasn’t the biggest fan of shopping these days. Quite apart from the fact he’d been unemployed and carefully eating away at his savings for the last month or so, he didn’t like the attention. He didn’t like people staring at him the way they did. He was somewhat used to it now, and a lot of people did their best not to stare, but it still made his anxiety rise. Being around humans was stressful these days. Not that he had a choice.

A woman he knew passed by, busily dragging her son away from the shoe section. He didn’t know her name, but he’d passed by her a few times in recent weeks and she had been kind to him. Even now, as her young son gaped up at him, she reminded the boy it was rude to stare at strangers. “Sorry about him!” she said hurriedly, “you know how kids are!”

Wade offered a polite smile, though made sure not to show his teeth too much. “I understand,” he said, “My kids are the same... you should hear half of what Silver’s come out with!” The woman shared a laugh, before Wade became very conscious of her son just gawping at him. “Uh... hi?”

“Are you a dragon??” the kid asked in pure fascination.

Of all the questions the boy could have asked, that was pretty out there. “uh...” Wade rubbed the back of his head, unsure how to answer that. “Sure?”

The boy gasped in delight while his mother nudged him away. “We are LEAVING, Timothy!” she said pointedly. She apologised again, leaving a somewhat baffled Wade stood before the sock shelves.

“Wade? Wade?? DAD!!!”

Wade’s attention was suddenly diverted as something pulled at his tail, the adult whipping around irritably to find Eclipse gaping up at him with a pair of shoes in hand. “Don’t do that,” Wade said tiredly as he turned to face the Darkling. “What’s up?”

Eclipse held up the shoes. “I want these!”

Wade blinked. Five minutes ago Eclipse had been absolutely adamant he didn’t want shoes. And now he was eagerly presenting these once, tail flicking excitedly and teeth bared in a wide eager grin. “O... kay? Let’s take a look...” Wade took a shoe and flinched when he saw the price tag. “You.... sure bud? You don’t want any others?”

Eclipse shook his head. “No!”

Wade sighed and decided he’d bite the bullet. The kid seemed to really like these shoes, and he’d had enough of a battle already getting him out. He started work soon, he could afford it for now. “Okay...” he sighed, slit nostrils flaring, “let’s get you measured...”

Soon enough Eclipse’s feet had been measured and a nearby staff member had been asked to find a pair in his size. Fortunately the shoes came with straps instead of laces so the Darkling wouldn’t be struggling to tie them up. The footwear was finally secured and Wade stood back to his feet. “So...” he said, frowning as he watched the Darkling stare down at his feet, “how do they feel?”

Eclipse seemed confused for a moment, before he raised one foot and stomped it into the ground. At the action, multicoloured lights flickered on around the edges of the sole, bringing an excited gasp from the little alien. Eclipse hopped up and down in place, stomping his feet and giddily cackling like a gremlin as the lights continued flickering.

At least Wade knew now why he wanted these ones. Apparently he liked blinking lights. “These are great!!” Eclipse chirruped,  sharp teeth flashing as he looked back up to Wade, “I want these!!!!!”

“Sure, fine, okay...” Wade fished around in his pocket for his wallet, preparing to give his credit card a battering, “take ‘em off and put them back in the box so we can pay...”

...

An hour later, it was apparent that Eclipse REALLY liked his new shoes. For a kid who had this morning absolutely insisted he neither wanted or needed any. Wade busied himself with some housework and finishing up some forms he needed to take in to mister Stone before he started work, and now and then he’d catch Eclipse cackling to himself, stomping his feet or clapping them against the wall to get the lights to flicker again. Right now the little alien was laying on his back, a big stupid grin over his face as he held his flashing feet up to inspect.

“No kicking the walls,” Wade said, entering the room and watching the Darkling with amusement. “You really like them, don’t you?”

“Yeah!” Eclipse wriggled to his feet and hopped in place, looking down as the lights flickered again, “the lights are really cool! Why didn’t you tell me humans made shoes with lights on ‘em??”

Wade shrugged. “I never thought.”

Eclipse smirked mischievously as he watched his feet glow. “Silver doesn’t have lights on HIS shoes! That means mine are better!”

“Hey!” Wade pointed a finger, “no teasing your brothers!”

Eclipse hopped onto the sofa and went quiet for a moment. “These are really cool!” the Darkling said, wiggling his new footwear before his eyes. “Thanks dad...”

Wade remained still, processing how often the ‘d’ word was being used these days. He figured Eclipse had picked it up from Shadow and Eclipse, but... it was beginning to feel like the Darkling actually meant it.

Wade could deal with that.

“You’re welcome,” the former human said, turning to head back to his chores, “just remember to wear socks with them from now on, else you’ll ruin the insides.”

A thoughtful look came over Eclipse’s face. “Do they make socks with lights on them?”

Wade paused in the doorway. “Uh... no?”

The Darkling now appeared crestfallen, scowling and pouting with arms folding across his chest. “Then I don’t WANT any socks!!!”

God dammit

#my writing #Darkling Wade #Wade Whipple #Eclipse the Darkling #I am cringe but I am free #THE BOI HAS HIS SHOES AT LAST

[ninjago-bingo]

Telestrations: Writing start!

What’s this?  It’s time for ninbingo’s first game!  And if you’ve ever played the game Telestrations or perhaps Gartic Phone, you should know how to play this one!

Writers and artists will go back and forth creating drabbles or sketches based on the work above them, as much or as little effort as you’d like.  Each person will put their contribution under a read more.  Without looking at any of the ‘read more’s’ except the last, reblog with your contribution also under a read more!  Mark whether it’s art or writing for the next person’s sake. Afterwards, you can go back and look at the rest of the works if you want :D  You definitely don’t have to be a part of the bingo to participate, but if you’d like to check us out, information is here!

After 7 or so people, or whenever it seems to die off, I’ll make a new post with the full chain.  You can reblog this post and add your contribution afterward, but it’s also fine to wait and reblog until your work is done.  

Writers: keep it around or under 300~ish words (the starting one here is 296!)

Artists: no words in yours

@k1ngtok1 @crappy-coffee @master-of-cosmos @sebilini @art-i-sticks @viioletpixels @miserable-flamango @marsipain​ 

First fic under the cut :D  To find the art start version, click here!

Create an art piece based off this drabble:

"Is that- is that a LEGO version of your dragon?"

"Nope," said Lloyd, popping the 'p'. His eyes were locked onto the tiny plastic bricks in front of him; his hands moved like a machine as they magically dug out tiny piece after tiny piece among hundreds and clicked it into place on the build in front of him. "It's a LEGO version of Morro's version of my dragon."

"That's what I meant," Cole said faintly. He took another step into Lloyd's bedroom, forgetting his original question as he crouched down beside him. "Wait, is is an official set? I didn't know they were making those."

"That's because you never bother to Google yourself like the rest of us do." He glanced up and laughed at whatever expression Cole was wearing. "Don't worry, me and Jay met with them beforehand and gave our permission and all that. Part of the proceeds are going to repairing Stixx, too."

Cole exhaled. "Oh. That's good. I mean, I guessed that if you were building it, you couldn't have been all that upset, but-"

"Is it weird to say I find it therapeutic?"

"Lloyd, you've been calling everything therapeutic to get out of going to actual therapy."

Lloyd pouted. "Mean. But it is." He gestured, and Cole followed his finger to the side table where tiny minifigure Kai stood with his LEGO aeroblade between minifigure Morro's separated body and head. "Hey, since you're here, you wanna help me put it together? It's a bigger set than I expected it to be, and, uh, it might be good practice for..."

Cole grinned a little, even as he focused on sitting on the floor. "Yeah, I get you.  On one condition though: you've gotta replace Kai with me."

Lloyd grinned back. "Deal."

#ninbingo 22 #telestrations #fun fact: this was originally gonna be about nya painting lloyd's nails and then i remembered that would involve Hands :D

[denjirv]

Sometimes Kishibe ends up thinking about how he's getting attached to a fiend who is technically weaker than a devil and how she might die

Until he saw you missing your limbs and a lot of blood after playing while your fiend friends just pop your limbs back in, gave you blood, and voila your body is good as new!

Yeah, you won't be dying anytime soon because unlike humans your body parts are like lego parts that you can just remove and attach easily

He has seen you lose half of a leg and piece of your stomach but you drank blood and suddenly you're healed

He doesn't understand nor wants to figure out how you regenerate so quick, mainly cause you regenerate a bit quicker than most fiends

[casspurrjoybellbittner]

Wreckless - It's been a Rough Week

*Warning Adult Content*

Emmett

Finnegan has woken up twice.

That may not be accurate.

He's gotten out of bed twice.

Once he went to the bathroom and this time he went downstairs.

I hope he's been sleeping in between but I'm starting to worry he's not.

"Darling?"

He's standing in front of the window and jumps a bit when I speak even though I said it softly.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up."

"Not worried about it. Can't sleep?"

"No."

"The alarm is on and I'm here, Finnegan."

I'm not stupid though... I know that's now how sleep or fear works.

"Come here and snuggle."

He does, thankfully and I wrap him up.

He smells so good... it's his cologne.

He has fancy shit that wears forever but luckily he doesn't overdo it.

I can only smell it now because we're practically molded together.

I have to kick the sheet off, the window AC can't keep up with this much shared body heat but I'm fine with that.

"Thanks. I'll sleep better tomorrow night."

I'm not sure if he's reassuring me or convincing himself.

"Probably. It's Sunday, maybe you can sneak a nap in."

"Yeah, after Mass I should. Sounds decadent. Thought about working but I'm not sure I have enough brain."

"No, I draw the line at working. Cartoon, snack, snuggle, all good."

Twenty minutes later I'm back asleep.

It's been a rough week.

Finnegan is busy.

He's only left the house with me one morning... he's been gone when I woke up every other day.

On Wednesday he was home for dinner but he's starting to worry me... there's working hard and then working yourself to death.

He's not sleeping great.

I'm not either.

The more I worry about him, the less sleep I get.

It's a vicious cycle.

Friday night and finally, he sleeps well.

He falls asleep before me and practically doesn't move all night.

No wonder, he's got to be exhausted.

Luckily I got dinner and some lovies into him before then and I don't have to work this Saturday so it's all good.

Maybe we're over the hump.. hump... I'm awful.

I spend most of Saturday trying to woo 'Little Finn' out.

I make little pancakes, we play Lego Harry Potter and I offer to take him to play mini-golf or go bowling and hit the arcade but he turns me down.

Mostly, I spend the day ignoring my birthday.

I don't have some sob story about not celebrating... I just don't.

It seems pointless to me.

All I've done is breathe for another year and that doesn't seem cake and balloon worthy.

At least Finnegan sleeps well even if there's no appearance of 'Little Finn'.

I miss that kid.

Finnegan can't be happy without him... he can't be.

********

Finnegan is at Mass which is good... he always seems a bit calmer when he comes back and this week he definitely needs some peace and calm.

Just before he's due home, Andy rings the bell.

I know it's Andy because his face pops up on my damn cell-phone.

I swear, there absolutely is such a thing as too much technology.

I let him in and he has pizza and beer and a Styrofoam container holding a piece of cake.

It's nice of him, really.

It's also weird.

I text Finnegan that Andy is over so he's not surprised when he gets home and ten minutes later he walks in the door.

"Hey Emmett, Andy. Ooh, is there any pizza left?"

"Yeah."

He beelines for the kitchen while my brain screams at me that you can't eat pizza in good clothes.

"Hey, is it your birthday, Andy?"

He's leaning against the door frame, pizza folded.

He's so cute but his question is gonna cause trouble.

He must have seen the cake... shit.

Andy just laughs.

"Nah. It's just this ass-hole's," he teases, tapping my beer.

Shit, now I drink.

At least it gives me a minute although it's really hard to think while chugging.

Finnegan waits until I'm finished and then very slowly, like he's trying not to yell, says...

"It's your birthday?"

Now I have to make it worse.

This is not how I wanted today to go.

"Yesterday."

Andy's eyes are wide, he realizes the severity of what's going on and just puts his bottle down.

"I just remembered, I've gotta.. uh.."

"I'd leave too, Andy... if I was you and after just dropping that bomb-shell," I joke.

"But thanks.... it was nice of you to think of me."

"You should have come by the alley last night like you said you would... then I wouldn't have had to cart this crap over here. Uh, see you later Finnegan."

I don't know where to start but as soon as the door closes I work on limiting the most recent damage.

"He asked me to and I said I might."

He's put his pizza down, shit.

His arms are crossed over his chest and he's mad.

"Look, some people make a big deal out of birthdays but I don't. I didn't want to do anything."

He's still quiet and it's somehow worse than him yelling.

I give him a minute but no, nothing.

Eventually he just walks past me and heads upstairs.

[tiikerikani]

A crack in the glass

This post is incredibly difficult to write, there's just so much to process. Except for putting on the radio this morning with my alarm, I haven't had any music on since Saturday night...

I didn't even make coffee this morning. Today I worked while putting together the Lego I got for my birthday and making some paintings. (You already saw one in the previous post, there's another I'll post after this one, after which this title will make more sense.)

2023.05.06 Logomo-sali, Turku

I guess we can start with some nice stuff.

The Viking look is kind of my thing now? All of the pieces of random medieval/Viking garb stuff I'd ordered arrived just in time for this magnificent outfit inspired by the album cover colors.

(I also had a blue bandana over my hair which isn't in this picture, and it was cold so I ditched the hand fan.)

The gaggle (again)

I noticed the gaggle almost right away upon getting my stuff dropped off at the coat check, so, as had been suggested, went over to say hi. So who are they really? The gaggle consists of a Finnish couple and a German couple. They were suuuuuuper wasted that other time in Tampere (which explains a LOT, really) and yeah they seem the party type (which isn't MY type, but I've had a lot of practice awkwardly bullshitting along in undergrad).

The Finnish woman was like "yeah we've spoken crappy English with each other for 10 years"; at least she has not found that to be a barrier to making friends... The German guy was going on about how they've gotten sometimes to hang out and get drinks and other goodies with the band after shows and I'm thinking what if I glommed myself onto these people but I really can't do the party personality thing.

The number of chairs in this room is too damn high

That is, way over 1000 seats. I was close to the middle, so you're seeing only like half the width of the room here. Kinda sucked that the floor was just folding chairs but at least there's more elbow room than if we were jammed into a crowd.

Fanclub Founder was next to me (again! what are the chances?? she's local though).

Before I forget, the music stuff

The performance was being taped for their next live album (yay!). They didn't mention this until a number of songs in, but it had the effect of emboldening people to sing along more loudly.

I hope they don't use this take of Samaan mutkaan kaatunut though, because there were some things I didn't like about it. (For one, there's a minor goof in the intro and for two, they kinda went straight into the preprogrammed transition track rather than letting the song end on the piano motif.)

Fanclub Founder doesn't know this (and I think she may have thought my reaction interesting) but Senpai can REALLY STOP MOTIONING AT ME ON THE ONE LINE ANY TIME NOW

Exodus got the backing vocals, well, back (all 4 of them)

I am still not entirely convinced about the extra brass parts but ok

I'd already pointed this out on my Instagram last time but Markus has fun 🍄 socks that you can only see when he's on the cello :P He's also got a cheat sheet on the floor in front of him for this song, for whatever reason.

(Been a while since I last took pictures of the acrobatics routine.)

Fanclub Founder handed up a wholesale box of mints before they lined up for bows, which made Very Serious Security Staff a little nervous (it's not the first time I have seen somebody make this offering).

Hey this wide-angle thing on my phone is great, I can actually get all 18 of them into the picture from the first row. (Also, that is TOO MANY!!)

The aftermath

The gaggle went almost immediately to the adjoining bar after the performance. At some point a gaggle guy popped out to ask me whether I'd seen any of the band members yet. I hadn't, so he went back to the bar.

The bathroom queue was easing up—and as I returned to the lobby after, I heard the final strains (again!) of Happy Birthday from one corner and it turned out the whole ladies' quartet was there with somebody, who was shedding tears of joy. [1]

I should probably further point out here that at least Heini and Jepa have also solo careers independent of the band so they have a bit of their own cult followings. (They are also incredibly friendly, so there's that.)

So yeah I missed my chance there... but I did catch the two of them to get their playing card pictures signed.

Blonde fangirl appears to attended alone (minus second blonde fangirl), and tells me I'm not the first person to collect signatures on the cards, but how would I know, I don't come from the kind of background that would enable me to go to art school AND for all intents and purposes LITERALLY follow them around to EVERY show. But in the interest of fairness I asked her to sign the card with her dedication note on it too.

I managed to flag down a couple more people for their signatures, but after that, the whole place was pretty much cleared out and the folks working the merch table even put everything away already before Pate showed up to take the stuff out back. He offered to take my stack of cards and get them signed by whoever was still around. The building is absolutely massive so it took a while and I'm loitering awkwardly waiting for him to come back because by this point the place was deserted and it was just Very Serious Security Staff watching me impatiently wondering when I was gonna get the heck out of there.

Anyway, he suggested I could talk to merch lady next time before the show and she could help get the last two signatures sorted. [2]

__________

[1] Incidentally it was also the birthday for one of the "regular" pair of ladies who, well, at least the one of them, is friendly and invites me to have a coffee or drink with them before we're let into the room.

[2] He had forgotten that Jukka-Pekka is even on a card and as a roadie of course he was still there but it didn't make sense to run all the way back again just for one card.

The after-aftermath

I'm sad I didn't get to talk to Senpai, especially since it was (almost) my birthday. I know it's just life and I'm nothing more than just one random fangirl and I shouldn't intrude on their (professional) lives nor expect anything special.

But on the other hand... some of the other groupies HAVE had special treatment? Like blonde fangirl and her illustrations on the cards? And the gaggle have had the privilege of partying with them? How do I earn this?? Is it like a five-year groupie privilege or something (I'm making this up)??

They weren't going straight home either; I'd asked Pate and got a little clingy about it and was politely told to go away. The rest of the players had left after he got the signatures for me, and it was just him and the roadies who were still there packing stuff. The gaggle reappeared from the bar and he also sent them away after a few words. Next time I'm around it will be the end of the spring tour so if it were me, I certainly wouldn't want any outsiders crashing THAT party (and it wouldn't be my birthday anymore anyway).

So I went back to my lodgings and cried for half an hour, left an apology on his Instagram, and ate Hesburger on the floor while crying for another half hour:

...I know I'm being a little unreasonable. I desperately want to be around people who care that I'm having fun, who value my presence and enthusiasm, and who kind of see me as an individual on some level (however superficially), and those rare occasions when I am, I never want them to end.

Because I can feel it:

This fire is going to die if I keep just feeling so bitter and alone after these shows. The whole run this spring of what will be 5 shows in 3 months is a bit…mentally taxing, tbh. Especially so because of this. But for now seeing Senpai is still worth it for its own sake, and I would lose even more if I stopped going and just stayed home. [3]

As a small consolation (OK it was not actually the intention but let's call it that) I had organized a small birthday meetup for geocachers Sunday afternoon (which was my birthday proper anyway). I don't even geocache all that much anymore, and I was hoping I'd have cool "shenanigans with Senpai" stories to tell, but at least it was 45 minutes of things actually being "officially" about me. (Also, there were Swedish-speakers!)

__________

[3] Incidentally the Fall tour schedule was published today and the only date I kinda even feel like going to is in December. They're Kind of a Big Deal enough now that they're booking a lot of arena and resort shows and I'm just trying to avoid those for as long as I can, because like this one felt like way too many people. even if I didn't need to look at them from the first row.

Fanclub stuff

From last time: Very Serious Security Staff walked over to get somebody to put their (small) paper sign away (and at another point mistook somebody's white phone case as one) Turns out the latter was actually Very Serious Security Staff being (mistakenly) Very Serious against people filming the performance. They were either misinformed or simply didn't ask the band whether this was allowed, because they have never forbidden it, and have even encouraged it, so people who weren't there can enjoy it too. (But OK be reasonable and don't just film the whole thing???) I mean heck, even boyfriend and I both filmed a few clips.

There was some debate over whether it was appropriate that people sang along and stood and danced (at an ostensibly sit-down show), especially for those on the floor level where we were just chairs instead of tiered seating. This is a bit of a tough one, since they were also kind of encouraging this (considering you usually want crowd noises on a live recording). I don't (really) dance but I certainly sing/shout to everything I'm confident to the words for and dramatically gesticulate (what I lack in vocal technique I compensate with body language), and it was nice to learn that Fanclub Founder actually appreciates the latter. (Feelings seemed a bit ... cold the last time we met.)

In my latest bid to try to be relevant, I decided to follow a few of the regular groupies on Instagram, or at least some of those who seem to tend to go through the tags.

#music #concerts #vesterinen yhtyeineen #i swear to god fangirling is such a dang rollercoaster #sad fangirling #forever alone #this post is too damn long #but the outfit IS hecking magnificent

[umitscomplicated]

Legoland

So I got back on the dating apps. I tried Hinge and Bumble, at the suggestion of Giraffe, and hated them. I had them for a few hours, got a few matches, and deleted them. Too monogamous for me. So I opened up my old OKCupid account. I had already removed the link saying I was dating Raven, but did have a bunch of profile updates to make to my prompts and put up all new pictures. One thing was kind of cool though. My old profile had a prompt asking about a goal I was currently working on, and it said something about finding a career I was actually passionate about. So I got to delete that one :)

There was one guy that I matched with on Bumble that I then also matched with on OKC. We’ll call him Hamster. His profile suggested a date of going to the Lego store and picking out a small set to build together, which sounded like an amazing idea for a date. So we did that!

We did lunch, went to the Lego store, then went back to his apartment and talked and built Lego. It was super fun and interesting. I apparently came across a bit intense, but that’s me so whatever. I asked him a bunch of questions about like what he’s looking for and his dating history and whatnot, seems like totally normal first date conversation to me?? 

Anyway. So he somewhat recently got out of a relationship, which ended basically because distance was too hard. Before that he was married for about a year, and divorced. His experience with polyamory is that he wanted to have an open relationship, his wife said no, so they didn’t. Then a while into the marriage, his wife asked to open up, and he said yes. She started dating someone else, then ended their relationship, and is now still with that other person in a monogamous relationship. He says he’s open to poly, but basically just until he finds “the one” or some basically monogamous bullshit. So major red flags there. 

This was all during lunch. I also learned he’s pretty nerdy, pretty introverted, and is currently dating several people - so green flag there I think? Off to the Lego store where we nerded out over basically everything. We ended up deciding on two sets and swapping some of the pieces, because Lego is doing their equivalent of pop figures now, and they had some Harry Potter sets we liked but wanted different pieces from. So we each bought one then traded. I ended up with Bellatrix, Voldemort, and Hermione. He ended up with Harry, Ron, Hagrid, and Nagini. While building Lego he asked me about a line on my profile where I say that I am looking for more pieces to my jigsaw. I explained that it’s a fairly obscure reference to a Daniel Sloss comedy routine - and he actually knew what I was talking about! He said that someone else made him watch it and he thought it was good. So we put those two comedy specials on in the background while we were building Lego. 

So he identifies as bi. And I had noticed at lunch that he wears this really cool bi colored metal ring bracelet thing, and also a bi striped ring. I didn’t mention it at lunch because I was trying to tone down my intensity (at which I apparently failed), but at this point we had spent like 5 hours together and I had to know. So I asked why he was wearing that ring on his ring finger. His response was, “I guess I just miss the feeling of having a ring on that finger.”

To which I made quite a face. Because how the hell am I supposed to take that, on a first date, when I am polyamorous as fuck? I said something along those lines, and he kind of made a face like he had never really thought about that before. He did take the ring off though.

Overall impressions: Super cool date idea that I will 1000% be stealing and using again (he agreed to this), but he’s way too monogamous for me. I also did not get any vibes from him at all. We were together for like 6.5 hours on a first date, and he didn’t even try to touch me at all, even when we were sitting next to each other on the couch. I think we could probably be friends because we obviously have enough to talk about, and I actually think he would get along really well with Raven. 

He did invite me on a second date. I brought up that I wasn’t really sure about feels, and he agreed. I asked what to do next, because my thoughts were either 1) ghost 2) friends 3) idk try again and see if there are feels?? 

We landed on try again, and planned actually 2 more dates because we had so many things we wanted to do.