#Oh Tiny and her super mutant problem

[bonefydskeleton]

Can I touch your birdy wing?

And fly and hop and everything

Can the sun reach down on us

And through the heavens only we would sing

[x]

[padfootdaredmetoo]

Sleepover - Wade X Reader

Wade X fem reader

Reader is a mutant with telekinetic abilities. Wade invites her over for one of their usual movie marathons expect this time there isn't any movie watching....

Warnings: SMUT, Kinky sex, The word daddy isn't said but damn it's implied. Good after care.

Part two: https://padfootdaredmetoo.tumblr.com/post/663986564339286016/sleep-over-pt-2-wade-x-reader

It was a rare weekend off and you were going to spend it at Wade’s place. He had invited you over for Mexican and movies, normally events like this turned into you staying the night so you had your overnight bag packed. Memories of an easier time filled with sleepover parties ran through your mind.

Sleepovers with Wade were just as fun as they were painful. There was always a thick tension around you that was bearable when running around the city or when you were working on a task. Sitting on the couch next to him was a whole world of heightened senses… You thought about backing out as anxiety swirled in your stomach. As if he knew, you looked down at your phone buzzing.

WW: bb u on da way?

Y/N: Yessss just leaving

It was decided then. You shouldered your bag and headed out into the evening sun. The city looked sticky and lively at the same time.

To prevent everyone from getting burnt out, all the supers in New York put together a schedule. This weekend and week onward everything that went down in the city was the Fantastic 4’s problem. This was more of a relief to you and Peter as it was to Wade. So far with his free time he had taken up lots of little hobbies. This week's goal was knitting….

Just as you suspected pushing his door open, there was a rainbow tangle of yarn all over the place. A small smile crept on your face as you shut the door and placed your bag down in the cluttered entry.

“Honey I’m home” You called out in a sing-song voice and followed the deep laugh radiating from the kitchen. You walked in to see Wade in a tight faded T-shirt and hello kitty bottoms.

“I hope you brought your PJ’s babe because you are not going to be able to walk after this.” He gestured to two giant paper bags stuffed with delicious smelling food.

You laughed and felt your face get hot.

“I better get changed then.” You said with a wink

“Did you bring stuff? If not, I got some stuff that I can lend you.” He said while grabbing some glasses down from the cupboard.

The thought of lying your way into one of his giant comfy shirts crossed your mind… But you also knew how picky Wade was with materials that didn't bother his skin, and once that shirt was on your body there was no way he was getting it back.

“Yeah I know how these nights end. I’m prepared.” They didn't end the way you longed for, but they were a lot of fun nonetheless.

You grabbed your bag and changed in the bathroom. Having half the side of the house being windows normally by this hour the apartment was sweltering. Looking down at your tiny cotton shorts, you realized it was relatively chilly.

You walk down the narrow hall into the living room to see Wade outstretched on his spot on the couch.

“Why is it so chilly?” You said climbing into your spot on the other end of the couch. Settling in cross legged you saw that your half of the food was laid out in front of you on the coffee table.

“I finally got around to fixing the fucking AC. Turns out it wasn't as hard as i thought it would be”

“Really? What was wrong with it?” You started in on your food, while Wade scrolled through Netflix.

“Oh by not so hard I mean I looked at it and gave up. BUT the guy I got to come by and fix it was delightful.” Wade said absently. You couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy slide through you. Wade flirted with absolutely everyone, everywhere, and damn was he good at it.

“Hmm” You said in response with a mouthful of food.

“Hmm is right. Okay I’m feeling -insert movie here bc im trash - Hot dude, great car chase, at least three semi realistic explosions, and i'm pretty sure there's a hot & sexy make out scene for you in there somewhere”

You choked. Wade just laughed and slapped his hand on your back.

“Yeah I know what you like. Horn-dog” Or at least your 80% sure that's what he said because 99% of your brain was calculating the size of his hand and how good it felt pressed into your back. The majority of it was placed above the line of your tank top between your shoulder blades. Wade finally got over showing you his skin, but he never touched you. Ever. you’d never felt his skin before. So far it felt rough, and electrically charged.

When you registered his deep voice calling out to you, your face got even redder realizing your position probably made you look like a frozen T-rex holding a burrito.

“Yeah sorry, I'm good. Just. yeah sounds good. Who doesn't like a good make out scene.”

He tossed you a strange look but you kept your eyes glued to the TV.

“You're uncomfortable.” He stated in a low tone. No trace of his normal animated self.

“No. Nope. I'm not. I'm good.” you stammer out. He removed his hand from your back and winced at the loss of contact.

“Ah. I’m, uh, its not contagious. But I understand if you want me to cover up.” He said eyes unfazed staring at the tv.

“What?! Nono this has nothing to do with your skin.” You said trying to touch his arm, he moved it away before you had the chance. As if someone hit the restart button. He let out a laugh. But not one that made you relax any.

“Here you start, I’ll be right back and I’ll grab you a blanket.” Panic raced through you as your realized 6 months of progress was about to slip out of your fingers.

Not thinking with any portion of sanity, you thrust yourself towards him before he could stand up.

Great, literally throw yourself at the guy. That always works.

Obviously he saw you coming and decided to catch you, instead of standing up letting you flop on the couch, which was a good sign. You squirmed, righting yourself and ended up straddling his lap. Looking up at him his eyes were wide, eyebrows raised, with a slightly amused smirk on his face. You realized he was probably waiting for you to say something. Or maybe do something. You shuttered.

“Ugh. Your skin doesn't bother me. Really I don't mind one bit, I feel lucky that you trust me.” you whispered staring up in his eyes. For a moment there was a flash of hurt that ran through the deep blue.

“Well something bothered you.”

“Ugh just sometimes you flirt with me? Or like around me? Idk and i just-”

“So the flirting makes you uncomfortable” his forehead scrunched together and you could feel the concern radiating off of him. You’d always reciprocated, often pushing dirty jokes further.

“No. lord no don't stop that” You mentally slapped yourself. There was no way out of this that wasn't going to cause confusion and hurt. Honestly it is. You take a deep breath. He was still staring into your eyes so you know that he's witnessed your internal conflict.

“That only leaves me with one other possibility and I know it's not that so, why lie?” His eyes were sharp and yet he was chuckling. Cruel feelings made themselves at home, twisting like hot knives in your stomach. Fuck. You could feel tears start to prickle. This was such a mistake. You refused to meet his eyes, you could tell you had been caught.

“No, no way. Me. really?!” He asked lightheartedly like it was the world's funniest joke. Wade always found it hilarious when you would shoot down peoples advances, make all kinds of jokes about how you were saving yourself for the perfect person. Deciding you’d had enough of him watching you crumble, you made to get up. Thick arms held you in place.

“Look at me” He whispered, but there was nothing soft about the way he asked. Your wet eyes met his, but you couldn't understand his expression.

“Take a deep breath and calm down.” You hadn't realized that you were shaking.

“Look I have feelings for you. I have for a long time. Can you not be a dick about it?” You snapped without thinking. He met your fiery tone with an amused expression.

“Gosh don't be a dick. What kind of grand confession is this, don't you know how to treat a lady right?”

“Well this was forced out of me I was still scheming a way to tell you.” You replied shyly.

“Excuses.” You snorted, but before you could retort and fall back in your usual charged banter, your eyes fell on his pink lips. Just barely out of reach, you could easily force past his grip around your waist and take what you wanted.

“Look babe. I have no idea what's happened to you that would make you stoop this low. BUT, I'm a good friend and I would be happy to pay for your therapy. When you're in a better place I’ll even wing-man you around.” His tone was joking but his eyes held years of pain you had only caught glimpses of in passing stories he had opened up about.

“Don't want anyone else. And fuck you. I’m doing fine, I don't need therapy.” The last part was a lie. After 24 years of fighting and watching people die you were not probably not the poster child for being well balanced.

“You sure?” he pressed his forehead against yours. You closed your eyes leaning forward.

"I've never been so sure about something in my whole life." You whispered. His nose brushed yours and electricity shot through your body. You felt dizzy sharing the same air, every inhale thick with his scent. You were sure the whole apartment building could hear your heart hammering.

He leaned back. Your eyes shot open, you know you looked wrecked and nothing had even happened yet.

"Babe, I want this, trust me, I've wanted you since I met you. But I can't. I won't do this to you." He kissed your forehead

"You're going to end up hurt like everyone else-" the statement ran through your mind.

"Wade, I know what's at stake with these kinds of situations. Trust me I have lost plenty over the years."

"You're still so young though, you shouldn't know about all that, you shouldn't know what you want" His eyes were sad again.

"Does my age bother you?" You knew he was older than you by a bit but you never wanted to ask him. He snorted.

"No but it probably should." He said giving you a squeeze. Your whole body went on edge causing your heart rate to rise. Your eyes met again and he let out a sigh.

"You ever gonna give this up?" he asked softly

"As long as you don't specify that you don't like me that way. No chance. I'll follow you everywhere" He moved back in nice and slow putting your body back into is spastic state, breath hitched, eyes wide and blown out. This time he didn't pull away.

Chapped lips softly brushed yours causing your whole body to tighten. He kissed you like he was afraid you were going to break. You squeezed your thighs, and put your hands on his shoulders trying to move in closer but his arms kept you there in an iron grip. It was clear that the pace was non negotiable, and he was in charge. This concept only made you more desperate. He chuckled.

"Slow down, this is all new." He broke the kiss to whisper in your ear. Embarrassment flushed through you. It really wasn't new, you'd been with a few people before, nothing ever felt like this though. Were you that bad?

"It's not new to me" you slurred quietly. He kissed down your neck and sunk his teeth into flesh at the bottom of your neck. You let out a loud moan.

"It's been so long since someone looked at me like that." He placed a soft kiss over the spot.

"Just wanna take my time with you"

You let out a strangled sound in response. His words caught you off guard. No one had ever been this soft with you, it's definitely not what you were expecting from Wade.

You had never felt this naked. Strong hands ran up along your sides causing you to shiver. His thumbs came up to brush along your cheek bones and settled on either side of your face. The kiss shifted to something deeper. His tongue slowly made its way into your mouth causing you to let out a deep moan. You could feel the edges of his mouth pull into a smirk.

He knew he had complete control, a thought that made you fall even deeper into this hot mess and made you feel a little afraid. You were momentarily grateful that he didn't just let you rip his clothes off like you'd wanted. You could barely breathe as it was.

Reading you like a book he pulled away so you could catch your breath. He tilted your head back getting better access to your throat. You could feel every nip and open mouth pull on your skin right down to the core of your stomach. Your moans only made him bite harder.

"You still sure about this? Unlike you I know how to treat a lady. I wanna do this right. Take you out and stuff." His voice was deep and husky.

"Technically you bought me dinner" you said giving a sly smile.

"That was before all of this. So it doesn't count" he motioned between the two of you.

"So then this" you copied his movement "Is an official thing" you had an idea what the answer was but you wanted him to say it. A part of you knew that he still had doubts.

"You think I'd play tonsil hockey like that with just anyone?!" His voice was filled with mock offense. You thought about it for a second.

"Well. Yeah kinda actually."

"You're right. See not special enough."

You laughed and he caught your lips into another heavy kiss. He finally pulled your hips in close enough that you could move against him with delicious friction. This time it was his turn to moan. A sound that almost made you faint.

He rolled you both so he was laying on his back with you still straddling him. This left room for even more grinding. It wasn't long till you were out of breath again. He looked at you with hungry eyes, his hands were on your hips. You bit your lip when you felt the rough skin of this thumbs sliding across your skin to sit just under your waistband.

"This okay?"

"Mmmhmmm" you hummed, holding your breath.

"Not good enough. I wanna hear you say it" he replied in a dark tone.

"Please Jesus"

"Not the name I normally go by, but hey I'm not gonna judge you if you're into some kinda kinky biblical stuff"

"WADE I SWEAR TO G-" his thick fingers made their way down into your shorts and through your folds causing your voice to get stuck in your throat.

"Fuck" you breathed followed by a bunch of incoherent noises.

"Good girl" he whispered in your ear and you let your forehead fall to rest on the arm of the couch next to his. You were not going to last long.

"Wade Wade ah" he got the idea and you had a fleeting moment of peace, before those fingers traveled south and dove into the hot wet mess they had made. Slowly two thick fingers made their way deep inside you causing you to bite down onto his shoulder. You could feel the texture of his scars and it only made you hungrier for him to fill you properly.

You wanted to verbalize this need. Rip his pants off and take what you wanted, but before your hands could start their own path of destruction, his hand was around the base of your neck. All the air rushed out of your lungs.

"Stay put. Don't worry about me." He practically growled, his fingers loosened around your neck.

"No don't -" you panted, his fingers tightened again and you felt yourself start to float.

"Fuck your so hot baby. So tight, n sensitive. Fucking your self on my fingers" His words only pushed your further. His fingers shifted their position inside you and you felt his thumb start moving against your clit. You screamed out, and begged him not to stop. You could feel the tightness inside you start to become overwhelming.

“Wade - Please - can - ah - fuck - cum” Your voice didn't sound like yours anymore

“Such a good girl for asking. Course you can baby, cum for me baby girl.” He coaxed while tightening the grip around your neck. It was everything you needed to crash over the edge. Your whole body seized up for what felt like forever, burning heat spreading through you.

Suddenly the twisting grip inside you lessened leaving you to return to your body, the hand around your neck changed from gripping, to cradling the base of your head, your face tucked into the crook of his neck. You felt him slide out of you, snapping your waist band loudly before licking his fingers clean.

“Fuck you taste good.” You didn’t realize that your whole body and most of the apartment were shaking.

“Ah sorry” You tried to get up, but his second arm found its place holding you down across your back.

“Just relax.” He murmured. You tried to relax your muscles but couldn't stop the shaking. He sat up taking you with him and stood up carrying you. On the tour to wherever he was taking you, you could see the mess you made of the place, items rattling harder the more embarrassed you got.

He placed you on an incredibly soft bed, your muscles seized at the thought of him leaving you. One hand on your chest the other found something in a drawer. You didn't understand what was happening till you felt a soft washcloth sliding down between your legs. He pulled your shorts back into place and slid into bed next to you. Heavy blankets were pulled up over you and you were pulled and pressed against Wade’s body.

“Sorry I don't know what happened I just-” you mumbled into his warm chest.

“Shhh none of that. Don't take this the wrong way but you don't really seem to relax. Like ever.”

“It's hard for me. But people haven't ever been like that with me before either.” You felt your body shutter as the thoughts of what he was like ran through you. No one ever made you feel small, or this safe.

“Like what?” Wade seemed oddly tense.

“Just soft. But also really not soft. Like you're in charge, but not scary like.”

“And you like that?”

“A lot. Too much. You made me feel all floaty and I guess I accidentally took everything in your place with me.”

“It was quite the show.” He laughed.

“Did you like it? I haven't even - you - i should-” You tried to move but those delicious muscles fired around you keeping you in your place, you couldn't help butler out a soft moan. Wade laughed.

“Babe we got all night. Technically an entire week. I mean you’d be taking me away from my knitting, but considering that no one’s corrupted you with the world of kinky shit, I'm willing to make an exception.”

“Oh really, strictly for educational purposes”

“Of course”

“You're so generous.”

“Just you wait.” He pressed his lips into your forehead. You just laid there like a cat in a sunbeam, basking in his warmth.

[fallout-drabbles-n-stuff]

Pining companions and sole getting stuck in a small cramped place to hide from some enemies maybe? Also with X6 if possible...? 👉👈 and I absolutely love your most recent companions react. Keep up the great work and stay safe!

(Thank you so much for the request and extra special thanks for the compliment, things like that are what keep me wanting to write 💖 hope you enjoy.)

Cait:

She was both super excited and super freaked out. That was a major problem for her, mainly because she wasn’t nearly as unnerved by the feral ghouls outside the shitty little fortress you assembled as she was scared of saying the wrong thing while you wait. She never has been the type to worry about such stupid things, but with you? That was a different story, ever since you proven yourself to her...and since she realized that you stopped becoming just friends and she started wanting something more.

So with that being said, she’d nervously tap her foot, bite her lip and take back-to-back swigs from her flask- sheepishly offering you some of her drink as well. Just anything to keep her mind off of how strongly she felt the urge to grab ahold of your pretty face and kiss you and tell you how crazy you drive her.

That probably wouldn’t be the best thing to do when your life was literally being threatened.

Curie:

Oh my, she was so excited. I mean..as excited as someone forced into hiding for their life could be..which was still pretty excited for her. She was well aware of the dangers beyond your tiny refuge but she couldn’t help but focus on the way that your hands brushed up against each other as you settled, a big smile on her lips and a small blush to pair.

She wasn’t quite sure why you had this kind of effect on her much less what the “effect” really was, but whatever the reason, it was intoxicating.

Danse:

At first he was completely fine, jumping out his suit of armor to use it as a barricade in case the super mutants just so happened to track the two of you back to your makeshift hiding space. However..when he climbed out of the steel contraption and realized just how small the room was, he began to panic all over again.

There wasn’t anywhere he could move without brushing up against you. It would’ve all been okay has you been literally anyone else, but you? Well you just had this terrible way of setting his flesh ablaze with a mere look, his nose and cheeks flushing bright red when you flashed a small cheeky smile.

“Well Paladin...think we should just wait it out this time. I call being the big spoon..”

And just like that, Danse thought he was going to faint.

Deacon:

More than anything deacon was scared. Not because it was you though, no, he was far too comfortable despite his little crush to be scared to hunker down with you. You were like his best friend after all...well he certainly hoped that one day you’d be a little more when the two of you were in a better place......literally.

As for now, he’d settle for whispering small jokes to distract you from the looming feeling of peril that took form as the pissed off institue synths lurking just beyond the safe refuge of the meager broom closet he pulled you inside.

Gage:

His primary objective was to make sure the stupid nuka-lurks wouldn’t bust through the doorway, his single hazel colored eye darting around the ridiculously small room in search of a way to fortify your surroundings.

He’d be damned if he let anything happen to you.

After your help putting up what little barricades you could make, he sighed, turning on his heels..only to completely brush up against you.

It was then the raider realized just how cramped your makeshift refuge was...he realized just how close the two of you were going to be for who knows how long.

While the thought made his heart hammer in chest, he couldn’t help the smug grin that tugged at the corners of his lips.

This should be interesting to say the least.

Hancock:

Had it not been for the inherent danger of the vastly outnumbering amount of raiders on the other side of the wall, he might’ve actually gotten to enjoy the close contact with you. Don’t get me wrong though, a piece of him was starting to feel all..strange.

By this point he was well aware of his feelings for you, just not on how to proceed with them..there wasn’t really ever a good time to confront you with it anyways. Besides, now certainly wasn’t either.

That still didn’t stop Hancock from doing a little victory dance internally. Hey, it might’ve not been ideal..but at least he was damn close to you right now.

He’ll take it.

Macready:

Be it his experience in little lamplight or the countless other “eventful” things he’d endured throughout his life, Mac wasn’t terribly phased.

Sure, the mere thought of being truly stuck, death literally around the corner was scary, but it was nothing compared to the rushing of blood in his ears. Had you been anyone else, he might’ve been more annoyed, willing to toss you out to whatever was trying to get the two of you and run but..no.

It was you. It was you that truly made him afraid now. A seemingly endless amount of time to spend with the one person he felt such intense feelings for after Lucy..so much time to fudge it up.

This was going to be a long night.

Maxson:

The close proximity didn’t even register with him at first. Instead his mind was more preoccupied with firstly, devising a way to get out with the two of you wholly intact and secondly, pondering just where he went wrong...also just what the hell was taking the backup he requested so long.

However when he tried to back away from the closet door, only to bump right into you he visibly froze.

Oh by steel, this was hell.

He had been in plenty of predicaments like this one before, but never in any of said experiences had the person he was with has the ability to make his speechless nor cause an unfamiliar fluttering in his stomach.

So...he’d remain rigid until finally the spinning barrel of a mini gun could be heard on the other side of the room’s barricaded steel door.

Nick:

He should’ve seen it coming. Thanks to him, the two of you were stuck, completely at the mercy of whatever higher power was watching over.

Since when did deathclaws inhabit old department stores??? It didn’t matter.

What mattered to him at this point was the soft lulling of you voice when you yawned through whatever witty remark you were going to shoot his way. If he had a true heart, it would’ve been hammering out of his chest at this point. As a matter of fact, it would’ve probably stopped altogether when you decided to take a long overdue nap- snuggled up in his trenchcoat.

What was he going to do with you?

Old Longfellow:

This wasn’t his first rodeo with this kind of predicament, so he wasn’t entirely bothered. An uncontrollable grin shaping his face as he watched you visibly pout, leaning up against the boarded up window as you eyed the only visible entry way- trying to block out the snarls of the feral ghoul hoards on the other side.

He couldn’t help but chuckle when you scoffed, rolling your eyes when the noises stopped.

Damn, you were cute.

Wait...what? Where did that come from?

Piper:

Luckily she had an ability to pretend nothing was wrong at all. It was one of the many perks of what her occupation and its experience does to a person. So, outwardly Piper would just snicker as she watched the Deathclaw outside frantically try to find where you ran off to- almost outwardly busting out laughing as the fearsome creature literally chased its own tail for a moment.

However on the inside she was practically jumping for joy. It was perhaps not the best way to get to spend some quality time with you but..eh, beggar’s can’t be choosers. She wouldn’t want anyone else to hide from death with anyways!

Preston:

It had crossed his mind to simply just jump out of the window a couple times. It wasn’t because you were just that insufferable, heavens, it was quite the opposite. He just couldn’t stand the way he couldn’t stop staring at your lips, the way he could hardly form a intelligible word and the way you just seemed to radiate beauty in a time where most would’ve been scared shitless.

How were you so unbothered? How did you manage to make him feel so out of control?

To make matters worse, the close proximity you shared only intensified the nervousness he felt. As though the thought of an angry mole rat pack eating him wasn’t enough...

He knew the reason, but..why?

Sturges:

This wasn’t exactly the first time this had happened to you and him..only this time was different in the sense that it was just you and him, the room was a whole hell of a lot smaller and finally, the first time..you didn’t make his heart flutter by just smiling at him.

Surprisingly he’d be pretty good at hiding his awkward internal feelings, instead choosing to focus on an escape plan.

However...this event did encourage him to finally find himself at your doorstep one night to confess the way he truly felt.

X6-88:

Life certainly has a way of surprising you, doesn’t it? X6 certainly thought so at this point. There was hardly ever a situation that he couldn’t shoot his way out of, even if there was, he would just relay the fuck out of there as soon as he could...and yet here he was. Stuck behind some old collapsed building while a behemoth aimlessly hunted the two of you down.

Although the structure was big, there was no telling how safe each room was so using better judgement, the two of you decided to stay in the one tiny interior room.

It was then that X6 really wished he could teleport at that time. He loved being in your company, he really did..but as of late? Well lately an unfamiliar, scary feeling took over his senses when you merely looked at him.

He was terrified. Now? He was absolutely horrified. There was no stopping the awkwardness he felt as he so desperately tried to look anywhere but those pretty eyes of your’s.

Wait, pretty? Oh no..what has taken ahold of him?

[blankblankityblank]

Just, don’t wake up

Hi everyone! This is my fic for the @starkerkink exchange, dedicated to @vaguekiwi! I really hope you enjoy it :)

Pairing: Peter Parker x Tony Stark

High school AU, with superpowers.

Tony’s home life has never been amazing, but one night, it’s just too much for him. He flies blindly to the first destination he can think of in his battered suit, holding his breath when he realises exactly who’s house he’s flown to. He doubts this evening will be normal, especially when he realises there’s only one bed.

Warnings: Masturbation, Flogging, Name-calling, Restraints, slightly dub-con, both 17. Check ao3 for further warnings!

Read on ao3!

Tony arrived late to class, as usual. Peter sighed, the usual thought flitting through his head: How does he always manage to arrive late, even with a full body suit that flies?

The teacher for their class, AP Bio, glanced at Tony unimpressed but unsurprised-this was a regular occurrence, and it showed.

Tony waltzed to his seat with the usual I-really-don’t-give-a-shit attitude, plonking down and prompt executing a yawn. Peter rolled his eyes; did he always have that look on his hot face? How did he even get into AP Bio when he didn’t even pay attention? Oh yeah, that’s right-Howard Stark’s son, prodigy at 4, bla bla bla. Peter needed a break from the constant ‘Tony Stark made his own suit’ fawning that half the girls, and guys, constantly exhibited. Like yeah, big deal-was anyone gonna talk about Peter’s amazing skills to do with web fluid? Or crafting his own suits, which, well, didn’t always go particularly well?

“And today, we will be taking a bit of an off-topic turn into some neurobiology! Chemicals and hormones produced by the brain!” The teacher sang, trying to mask her own boredom with the unresponsive class, “who can tell me what the four main hormones to do with happiness contain?”

Peter shot his hand up, excited that he for once knew the answer to the question before smart-ass Tony.

“The four main chemicals are endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, often abbreviated as D.O.S.E,” Peter stated. Tony slowly turned around in his chair, and glared at him. Peter just smirked. ‘One day,’ he mouthed at the growingly frustrated classmate.

“Very good! Can someone tell me what each of these hormones’ functions are?” Their teacher again asked. Peter’s hand shot up for the second time, his mouth forming a smirk in sync.

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

“Well well well, if it isn’t smart-ass Parker in a sticky situation?” Tony purred, his smooth voice richoeing off of the poorly-designed science lab. Peter sighed, closing his eyes in preparation before facing the problem.

“Does it look like I don’t know what I’m doing? Wouldn’t wanna steal your thunder now, would I?” He snarked back, trying to stir his web fluid in peace. The teacher had allowed his class 15 minutes of time to work on their various powers, any tweaks or fixes being attended to. Tony had apparently finished oiling up his suit, but Peter had no such privilege.

Tony flicked the back of Peter’s head as he strutted away, going over to talk to Steve and Bucky. Goddamned overpowered mutants. Ok, so maybe Peter was a tiny bit jealous of their friendship, but that was his business.

He dispensed the web fluid with a sigh, getting ready to pack up and head back to his apartment, and hopefully blow off some steam with a Star Wars movie night. He smiled softly to himself; maybe the day wouldn’t be so bad after all. He could chill with may, have some hot chocolate, quote every line of Empire Strikes Back because he totally doesn’t know it word for word.

The bell rang, immediately followed by a cacophony of bags zipping, several whirring sounds as various students fired up their ride home. Peter ducked his head down, knowing his power wasn’t as rich or powerful as his classmates’ privileged ones. And they didn’t even know it, how lucky they were. They’d never know what it’s like to be born with stickiness and a general strength upgrade. No super-advanced knowledge of tech, engineering, how to fly, being able to fly...everything that separated him from the rest of his peers.

Peter swung his backpack over his shoulder, cursing as his AP Bio textbook dropped onto the ground, setting off a too-loud thump on the concrete floor. A few heads swivelled in his direction, and Peter flushed as he hurriedly picked the offending book up, and returned it to its rightful place. Face still hot, he all but rushed out of the classroom, eager to change into his suit and get this day over with.

“Hey! Parker! Wait up, for fuck’s sake. You dropped two books, not one, you blind-ass bat,” Tony hollered, his feet slapping against the linoleum. Peter grabbed the exercise book from Tony’s offering hand, not dignifying the teen with a response. Ok, so maybe it was a bit harsh. But he had to stay ice-cold around Tony; if it got out Parker had a crush, it would not go down well. At. All.

“You’re not even gonna say thanks?” Tony spluttered in disbelief, hand still outstretched.

“Nope,” Peter replied, popping the ‘p’.

“Pretty sure I deserve some recognition, I could have just left that book on the floor for some other snotty-nosed kid to find,” Tony said indignantly, hand returned to his side.

“Well then don’t do it next time. I don’t give a shit, Stark,” Peter fired back, attempting to quell his progressingly noticeable butterflies.

Tony opened his mouth in a retort, but instead opted for an eye roll and spun on his heel. Probably to get back to his fancy 5 star penthouse, Peter thought bitterly. He headed to the bathrooms, diligently fighting his instinct to catch a glance of that ass. God, he was so, so gone.

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

Peter entered his apartment silently, not wanting to disturb May. He kicked off his shoes, deflating his suit and carrying the rest of his belongings to his room. Or, his cave, as May liked to call it. The 16 year old dungeon was another favourite of hers.

“May? ‘M home..” He trailed off when the bright Post-it note caught his eye. He frowned, peeling it off the bench and reading the bubbly handwriting. ‘Picked up an extra shift, be home tomorrow at 7! Sorry I couldn’t make it tonight kiddo xx’ Well. He could kiss his plans of venting to may goodbye, it seemed. Hot chocolate and a movie night still lifted his hopes, albeit less enthusiastic with no one to share it with now. The teen hummed the Star Wars theme song as he boiled the water and got his hot chocolate ready. He finished his task from earlier, dumping his stuff in an impossibly messy room that cleaning seemed impossible. There were things he didn’t want to uncover by doing so.

The TV flickered to life, selecting the chosen movie as directed by Peter. He sipped on his hot chocolate, swearing softly when the liquid burnt his tongue. It’d probably need to cool, considering the loss of feeling in his taste buds. The TV screen suddenly paused the movie, indicating the buffering icon as the infuriatingly slow loading bar popped up.

“For fucks’ sake…” Peter muttered, deciding to take a quick shower to pass the time. He didn’t bother getting clothes, seeing as he was the only one home. He padded to the bathroom, turning the shower on and watching as the water slowly began to produce steam. He then stripped, chucking his clothes into the overflowing hamper and stepping into the soothing water. He let it wash over him, adjusting himself to the temperature as he scrubbed himself with vanilla soap, the day’s events flicking hazily through his mind.

The teen looked down, noticing his growing hard-on. Maybe his thoughts about Tony had taken a...darker turn. He palmed himself half-heartedly, almost jolting when the spark of arousal ran through his body. He groaned softly to himself, putting more energy into pumping his hard on. His precum provided lubricant, his hand going up and down faster and faster until he was right on the edge and it felt so good, and-

Peter pulled his hand off, letting his erect cock bob helplessly in the air. He was breathing hard, not having reached his orgasm. It just...it didn’t feel right. He rubbed soap on his body again, his dick slowly returning to it’s normal size.

The shower came to a close after 15 minutes of staring at the wall, he may or may not have been thinking about a certain black head of hair, brown eyes flecked with gold, the body of a Greek god...maybe he lost track of time, but it was time well spent in Peter’s opinion. He towelled himself off with less energy, suddenly losing the motivation to actually dry himself off-probably because all his brain power was used trying to figure out a certain someone’s personality.

He plopped onto his nest of blankets and pillows, smiling when he saw the movie was ready to watch again. He hit play, content with the world at last.

That is, until some fucking idiot banged, not knocked, banged, on Peter’s door. He resolutely ignored it, turning the volume of the TV to max. Until, the banging didn’t stop. It just kept going. And going. And going-

“This better be a real good fucking reason,” Peter snarled, pausing his movie with more force than he probably needed to, and he stomped to the door.

The assault on the door didn’t stop, even when Peter yelled ‘Coming!’ to try and ease the banging. It did not succeed. He swung open the door, fuming, the epitome of annoyance as expressed on his face. He was ready to give this newcomer a piece of his mind, what, interrupting his fucking movie night, the audacity-

The words died in his throat as he looked up to launch a deadly glare, only to be met with chocolate brown eyes, flecked with gold, a soft pink cupid’s bow, the presence of stubble beginning to form a goatee, and oh wait, he’s seen this before, wait a minute-

“Tony?” He spluttered, taking a step back as he took in the scene before him. Tony, in a banged up suit he probably used as his transportation, his hand poised to bang at the door again. Tony’s expression mirrored Peter’s, a mixture of shock and confusion. Unlike Peter’s, Tony’s cleared quickly, and formed a new expression-one of almost desperation.

“Look, Parker, I’m sorry alright? I just...I need somewhere to stay tonight,” he rubbed a hand over his face, “forget it. I knew it was stupid to come, sorry for wasting your time I guess,” he muttered, already pivoting on his heel. Without his conscious consent, Peter grabbed Tony’s arm as he turned away. They both froze, neither knowing what Peter did.

“Wait, I...you can stay, Tony. You can come in, I just was watching Empire Strikes Back,” Peter ranted, gently tugging Tony inside. The latter seemed to be in a state of shock, obviously not expecting the positive response.

“Empire Strikes Back? You would be watching that, of all movies,” Tony snarked, recovering quickly from his bout of shock.

“You’re the guest, at least try to be nice,” Peter countered, blushing at the tips of his ears from embarrassment. He huffed, flopping onto his comfortable collection of pillows. He raised an eyebrow meaningfully at Tony, who looked a little out of place with his scratched suit. Peter was curious, but didn’t pry-there was obviously something that caused Tony to come in so suddenly.

“Being nice? To Parker? Talk to me when you have an achievable goal,” Tony grumbled, walking around to tour Peter’s apartment. Peter hoped it would be up to his standards. Wait, no he didn’t, Tony’s standards didn’t matter to him. At all.

Peter resumed his movie, soon becoming engrossed in the iconic plotline that he’d seen hundreds of times before, yet it never failed to make him excited. Tony watched his classmate from the shadows, the smile on Peter’s face contagious. His auburn curls, sharp jawline...Picture perfect Tony mused, as the lights from the movie danced across Peter’s angelic features. Tony shook his head, afraid of getting caught in the act-someone that beautiful would never return his feelings.

The depressing thought prompted Tony to emerge from the shadows, gliding over to where Peter was laying down and slumped nearby, resigning himself to the fact he’d have to watch this nerd movie. His suit whirred in the corner, fixing its own malfunctions as Tony had programmed it to.

“I don’t even know what the fuck is going on, Parker,” Tony muttered, the movie’s plot confusing him due to the lack of knowledge in previous films.

Peter just smiled, deciding it would take too long to explain the plot. Tony saw this, and a small smile spread across his face, too. It was nice to have a friend that just accepted you into their home, even if you had no explanation. Well, he couldn’t really tell the boy his explanation. Home was...a bit hard to go to at the moment, not that he’d ever tell Parker. He glanced at the serene expression on Peter’s face again, taking in the pure joy as he watched his seemingly favourite movie. Yeah, he was not gonna spoil that expression. Not ever.

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

The movie’s credits rolled, signifying the end of the movie night. Tony softly blew out through his nose, wondering if it would be overstepping to stay the night. Before he could dig a hole of despair within himself, Peter noticed his obvious inner battle. Deciding to put the rivalry behind him for now, he reached out to Tony, gently touching his arm and effectively grabbing his attention.

“We should head to bed...if you’re ok with that,” Peter murmured, gently tugging Tony’s arm as he stood up.

Tony sucked in a breath at sparks of pleasure that rippled through him as Peter’s hand lingered. He got to his feet, following Peter through the apartment, taking in the few decorations and pictures. He paused at an old picture of an obviously much younger picture of Peter, sitting on a man’s shoulders. He looked so...well, happy. Tony frowned; what had happened? Not wanting to intrude, he tucked the question away for later, and hurried to catch up with Peter.

“So, this is it. The humble abode, I guess,” Peter chuckled nervously, giving a dramatic wave with his hands. Tony looked around, taking in the worn twin bed, well-read books mounted on shelves that looked as if they could fall at any minute, the stained dresser, obviously the victim of many late-night hot chocolate spills. Tony could feel a slight smile tugging at his lips-this felt like Peter.

“Humble, huh. Didn’t know you were a Potter fan,” Tony smirked, gesturing at the aforementioned books. A red blush tinted the teen’s cheeks as he rushed to defend himself.

“I’ll have you know Harry Potter is a very famous series, thank you very much,” he huffed, crossing his arms. The following silence was comfortable, Peter rifling through his dresser as he looked for his pyjamas. He succeeded, muttering a soft ‘aha’ at the victory, and turned to head to the bathroom.

“Get yourself comfy, you can sleep wherever, couch or bed,” Peter stated, trying not to blush for a third time in an hour. He made quick work of changing, exiting the bathroom once he was satisfied with his appearance. A new toothbrush smacked Tony in the back of the head, credits of Peter.

“The fuck, Parker? Why couldn’t you just ask me to turn around,” Tony muttered, grabbing the toothbrush and making his way to the meager bathroom. He cleaned his teeth, checked his face for any signs of, well, outstanding blemishes, and once satisfied, returned to the bedroom. Peter was already in the bed, having turned off the lights and receiving a wave of sleepiness that he couldn’t refuse.

Tony hesitated before quietly sliding in beside Peter, careful not to touch him in hopes of keeping him comfortable. After all, this was Peter’s bed. He shifted, finding the proximity a little too...exciting.

Peter stirred, muttering something incomprohensive that sounded suspiciously like ‘Stop fucking moving,’ which Tony grudgingly obeyed. He found himself drifting sooner than he usually did; maybe it was the company that finally got his eyes to close, who knows. It just felt good to be cared about.

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

“Fuck, harder Tony,” Peter cried out, relishing the feeling of the flogger on his burnt ass, “please. Please Tony, ah!”

Tony whipped mercilessly, painting the teen’s ass and lower back a pretty scarlet colour. He knew Peter loved it, despite the whimpers of pain as he relentlessly assaulted his body, again and again.

“Little slut, begging for me to stop like a good little bitch. Ask me nicely, I might consider,” Tony snarled, drinking in the moans that came tumbling out of Peter’s mouth at the sentence.

“P-please, I promise I’ll be your good little cockslut, please just let me go,” Peter repeated, rolling his eyes back from pleasure. His cock twitched at the constant stimulation, begging for touch, but Peter couldn’t move, the restraints preventing him from relief.

Tony growled, pausing the flogging at 15 hits. “You better live up to that, whore,” he snarled, taking in the sight before him. Peter, bound to the bed face-down, bent over the back, ass on display. His petite frame quivered in anticipation, preparing for more of the flogging.

“Yes, Tony, I promise I’ll be good, no more,” Peter begged, too aroused to care how desperate he might sound. He jerked his hips forward, trying and failing miserably to acquire friction for his painfully hard dick.

Tony untied the restraints slowly, careful not to hurt his lover any more, now that the scene was over. Peter sobbed, reaching down almost immediately to try and relieve his aching cock. Tony slapped Peter’s hand away, taking the matters into his own hands.

“Such a naughty boy, trying to touch yourself without permission. What do we say?” Tony crooned, teasing Peter’s tip. The latter cried out, grinding against Tony’s hand in hopes of release.

“‘M sorry, so sorry, please, please let me-ah!” Peter abruptly cut off his rambling as Tony took him in hand, stroking along his length tantalisingly. Peter sobbed, crying out as the feeling grew. He centered in on the sensation Tony was giving him, pumping his dick with such earnest it was almost too much, the heat building in his lower abdomen, ready to burst-

Peter woke up with a start, acutely aware of his burning arousal. Oh. Oh shit. He just had one of those dreams...about Tony. Who was right next to him. Peter sucked in a breath, his eyes going wide. He calculated his options, quickly realising he couldn’t move without waking him up.

He cursed the lack of space in the bed, horror taking over as his arousal became too prominent to ignore. He whined softly into his pillow, at loss with how to deal with the predicament. How did things go so badly wrong so soon?

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Tony elicited a groan in the silence of the room and shifted to that his hip was pressed against Peter’s...problem. He unconsciously bucked into the stimulation, immediately regretting the action as Tony groaned again and moved, if possible, closer to his dick. Well, wasn’t this just amazing.

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

Tony awoke from his sweet abyss of darkness, groaning in annoyance. What had woken him up? He thought he’d heard a whimper, but that couldn’t be right. He shuffled closer to his warm pillow, which promptly moved back against him. Tony froze; pillows weren’t supposed to move. Pillows...also didn’t have a bulge. He recovered quickly, a smirk slowly growing when he realised what had happened here. Parker was hard. So, so hard.

Tony groaned again, this time intentionally shifting against Peter’s bulge to try and gauge how exactly this was going to play out. He was met almost immediately with a response as Peter grinded against him. Tony stifled a moan; it was insanely hot, how responsive Peter was. He was obviously trying to hold back, covering his mouth as he desperately sought relief against Tony. The latter helpfully shifted again, receiving a small squeak in response. Peter’s hand snaked down to his cock, unable to hold back anymore. Tony closed his eyes, savouring this moment-possibly the only time he’d get to be this intimate with his crush, even if he was ‘asleep’.

Peter palmed against his sweats, the pleasure making his breathing uneven as he neared his climax. He felt so bad for doing this with Tony in the same bed, but he was past the point of being able to control his movements. The pressure built up inside him like a spring coiled at it’s base, as he desperately rutted against his hand, when it all became too much-and Peter went rigid. The white-hot pleasure consumed his body, racking through him in wave after wave as he tried to silently ride out his orgasm. The spurts of come soaked his boxers, but Peter was too out of his mind to care as the high slowly came down. His breathing was hard and his sweats were cold and sticky, but the aftershocks of the orgasm jerked his softening cock.

The world slowly came back to him as Peter blinked a couple times, trying to orient himself. The first thing he thought was oh shit, now I’ll have to lie in this mess until Tony wakes up.

That is, until he realised a tiny detail. Tony’s back and hip was completely covered. In. Peter’s. Cum.

Peter looked up slowly, the horror beginning to consume him. His entire body froze when Tony looked right back at him.

[taraninja]

Review of A Ghost of a Chance

Just in case my review is too long for fanfiction.net, I’m posting it here. 

To start, I want to apologize for the tardiness of this review. I actually began writing it after finishing Chapter 34, but thanks to College finals and the holidays it’s only getting out now. I like my reviews to in some way reciprocate the amount of effort the writer/writers spent in their fanfic, so this was definitely a multi-day project.

Firstly, I’d like to go over the characters and characterizations. Others have pointed this out as well, but you truly do get their personalities down perfectly. There were multiple occasions where I was tricked into reading this as if it were an episode screenplay, which is perhaps the highest praise any fanfic could achieve. Master Splinter is as elegant and effervescent as always, but you delve more into his character than the mere surface level; he also shows off humor, worry, empathy, concern, and of course, the love he feels for his sons and daughter is truly palpable. A great example is in his dealings with the Lotus; he is able to disagree in a way which shows honor and maturity, and even when the Lotus leave, he does not press the issue but let’s both parties (Donnie/April and the Lotus) have their disagreement and move on. It sent a perfect message to Leo that sometimes, interference is worse than simply letting an argument run its due course. I wish someone had taught that message to 2003 Leo, so maybe he could have avoided getting entangled in the gang wars.

Speaking of Leo, there are several facets of his character which have been masterfully delved into here. Something I prefer in the 2012 show is how they show that Leo is much more than just a serious and dutiful leader; he can also be awkward and silly at times, and this is perfectly encapsulated in his conversations with Karai within this story. Instead of distracting from the main plot, it melded perfectly with it and even helped to add to the plot. Karai has trouble getting used to life in the sewer, but has no problems understanding Leo and getting him to hopelessly unravel himself when talking with her. In contrast, Leo seems unsure of where he stands with her, and sometimes doesn’t know what the right approach is. Should he flirt back, or would that be too forward? Are their conversations one big game, or do they mean something to her? And are her questions meant to be taken literally, or as part of a running joke? As a master of deception, I can imagine how confusing talking with her must be. But on Karai’s part, it must be lots of fun, since it’s really more like she’s gently prodding him into taking the first step. I can still vividly imagine the chapter where they spar together, both teasing each other and then that one moment Karai thought she might have pushed too far. The tension between them was so thick that I could feel it past my computer screen, and I inadvertently held my breath as Leo drew closer and almost, ALMOST kissed her, but then revealed that he had just been teasing her back. That scene was perfect poetry, and it really showed me that you get their dynamic. You understand how and why they work, and that’s always great to see in a fanfiction.

Of course, Leo and Karai aren’t the only two lovebirds who have amazing development here, and the next two I want to gush over are Raph and Casey. I’ll admit that I didn’t really ship them before, but after reading this, you’ve made me a believer! There are of course, multiple ways a gay romance can go wrong; it can either feel too pushy, or not pushy enough, depending on the way it’s written. However, I think it was perfectly handled here. Our titular Raph and Casey start as more on the ‘bromance with benefits’ side, which works; a slow beginning helps get new shippers like me to see just how it can develop. Both of them have very similar outlooks and personalities, so there’s already that common ground between them, and then the scene where Casey gets drunk allow us to see them acting uncharacteristically caring for each other. Seeing adult Casey and Raph making out is definitely a—unique way to kickstart the romance, and a rather believable one. As someone who’s bi, I’ll readily admit that curiosity is what often causes a spark in a relationship like theirs. And again, the slow burn is the smartest move when it comes to them. Their kiss was left open-ended, as you could say ‘oh, they didn’t like it’ and not ship it, or you could think ‘hmm, I don’t think their answers were all that truthful’ and continue to ship it. I personally count myself among the latter category, but either way, their scenes have been written exceedingly well so far and I can’t wait to read more of them.

And, of course, my personal favorite ship, the one that made me get off my butt and read this fanfic; Apritello! After Chapter 34, I was squealing for literally hours. It got so bad that my roommate, who is not even a little into TMNT, forcibly grabbed my shoulders and ordered me to stop jumping around like a ping-pong ball. So suffice it to say, I have a lot to comment on when it comes to this dynamic within your fanfiction.

To begin with, I am SO glad that the music box was brought up again! When April pushed it aside in the “Bigfoot” episode, I felt so sad for Donnie and was more than a little peeved at April. It was no wonder that Donnie felt like ‘just a mutant’ with the way she was treating him; she pushed aside his heartfelt present, never lets him speak about his feelings with her, and yet continues to lead him on with hugs and kisses instead of actually being clear with her emotions. This is not to say I entirely faulted April, as having two boys crushing on you is never fun and is a situation I’ve had trouble with in the past. But nevertheless, it felt like a breath of fresh air to see the event be brought up and mentioned again between the two of them here. It gave the ship some well-needed groundedness and maturity, so that it could develop beyond just two lovesick teenagers. And oh, how beautifully developed it is! Of course, it begins rather bumpily (April, why d’ya have to take your anger out on Donnie? Him who would never fault you, ever?) with April asking out Casey for dates, keeping it a secret from Donnie, and then trying to get closer with him while not revealing anything to him. But there’s been tons of cute build-up too! The whole ‘evil scientist and best lab assistant’ bit has to be the most adorable love-speak ever, and of course, the silent glances at each other and the secret armor Donnie built is super sweet as well. And there’s no possible way I will ever forget when Future Donnie shook current Donnie to his senses and sent him chasing after April, which resulted in the most romantic scene of all time. Oh yes, it was certainly sappy; but it was a sappiness that felt VERY well-deserved and had been a long time coming. And I’m also really happy that you had Splinter inform and reassure Kirby on all the goings-on; I always feel bad for parents when their children hide things from them within stories, and it was yet another source of relief when Kirby was not only fine with April and Donnie but gave them the go-ahead. I knew he was a good father, but now I’m absolutely certain of it. And that means that April can continue her relationship with Donnie and the others without fearing for her father or focusing solely on college. Not to mention, dating Donnie can only mean good things for a future college career.

Oh yes, and then THAT ABSOLUTE BOMBSHELL in episode—I mean chapter (oh boy you know it’s good when I start calling it an episode!) 35, where April had to watch Donnie get knocked out in front of her. My heart definitely wasn’t shattering into a thousand tiny pieces at that moment (sarcastic tone intended). I’ll get into more detail later when I discuss the pacing, but man, did that scene hit like an oncoming bus.

Of course, I can’t leave out Mikey, the Future Turtles, or the Lotus from my gushing on the characterization! Mikey was at his most hilarious within this fanfic, and I’d even go so far as to say he was handled better within this story than in the usual 2012 episodes. Able to be light-hearted, a prankster, a gamer, and life of the party while still having a certain level of gravity and groundedness goes a long way to show that though Mikey may be the party dude, he has a charm and worth that is so much more than just cracking the odd joke here or there. While Leo and the others were certainly excited to have the Lotus staying with them, it was Mikey who went the extra mile to try and learn as many names as possible. And Mikey is the one who coordinated their family movie night to try and get ‘Karaiwa’ cheerful again. He’s an absolute gem who I want to protect, yet I also know that he is beyond capable of protecting himself.

I’ll admit that the Lotus took a bit of getting used to. When I heard there would be another ninja clan, my impromptu thought was ‘ah yes, the perfect way to insert OC’s’ because that’s usually how I’ve seen it handled within other fanfictions. But it definitely didn’t feel that way here. Though they were all original characters, they only served as big of a part as the plot required and were beneficial to the story’s development, instead of detracting from it. Hachisu-no-Hana served as a great parallel for Splinter, as both are heads of a clan who had been wronged by Shredder, but who took very different responses to said wrong-doing. Wakai wasn’t around long, but he emanated a youthful simplicity that made it hard not to like him, and of course Juro and Atsuko were easy to like as well. In the end I found myself liking the clan quite a bit and was hoping for their well-being just as much as I hoped for Karai’s.

Finally, we have the Future Turtles. It’s a bit harder to speak on their personalities, since they are literally different versions of the same characters within the story, but I think they were sufficiently developed enough to stand out from their current counterparts and show how the passage of time can truly make a difference. Leo has of course become a lot more serious, and along with all the other future characters, his moral compass is more black and white. Either you are on his side, or you are an enemy that deserves death; there is no in-between. This change is devastating to see when compared to how Leo currently is, and I would certainly be interested if you ever decided to do a spin-off fic detailing how the future turtles got to their current states. A lot of details have been divulged already, but like any good reader, that just leaves me wanting even more.

Future Raph and Casey seem to do a lot more laughing and have lot more fun than I would have thought, but it makes sense in the context of their relationship and is yet another great addition to their dynamic. Being in a relationship not only strengthens their bond, but themselves as people. Current Casey definitely can’t be described as sensitive, but Future Casey is not only willing but able to lend April an ear along with some solid advice. And Raph is seen helping Leo out more than arguing with him, which really warmed my heart. After Future Splinter’s death, I can imagine how hard it must have been for the turtles; but especially for Leo, who already had a heavy burden as the team leader, but with Splinter gone, that burden can only have hardened. I’m glad Raph decided to step up somewhat and help support him, instead of escalate their rivalry. It shows maturity and caring on his part, both attributes which I believe Raph already possesses, but doesn’t choose to emphasize.

In contrast, Future Mikey and Donnie seem much more solemn than their current selves. Mikey still has that fun-loving spark, but through his calmer mannerisms and way of speaking it is evident that the future events have tampered him down just as thoroughly as they tampered down his brothers. And while Donnie’s seriousness could be attributed to the important matter at the forefront of their time-traveling visit, I believe there’s more than the fate of his family which keeps him grounded. He’s always been the problem-solver of the group, and his brother’s reliance on him can only have escalated after Splinter’s demise. Plus, he lost the ‘best lab assistant in the world,’ so there has been an additional mental and emotional burden for him to carry. And though you didn’t go into the repercussions for this in too much detail, I imagine it must have been absolutely soul-crushing to see Casey go from dating April to Raph. The thoughts of “April is so great, I would have done everything in my power to make her stay,” “how could he abandon her like that?” “Maybe April feels the same way; maybe she was never into guys” and even “maybe she only dated Casey so she could finally get away from us mutants, and now that she has, she doesn’t care anymore.” I don’t know if he’d actually think like that or not, but I can envision him doing so. It must have caused at least a temporal shift between him and the two lovers and cooping himself up within the lab has obviously become a habit at this point. If he still remains within the lab while brought back to the past while his father is alive, then there’s no stopping it at this point. But hopefully he pulls himself together in a similar fashion that current Donnie did, and fixes his relationship with April. That would certainly be an ideal ending, if not an altogether realistic one.

Alright, now to more boring aspects of the story. First off; Grammar! While this has for the most part been on-point and smooth, there are some small things which could have been better to give the story a better flow. Most of these are nit-picks, because there aren’t many faults within this fanfic, but I think they bear mentioning. There were some misplaced words here and there, like “to” instead of “too” (slightly hypocritical since I KNOW I’ve probably made a similar mistake in this review alone) adjectives which were repeated three or more times in a paragraph, and one particular (and this is the most nit-picky comment of all) word phrase which stuck out and really bugged me, which was ‘portable portal.’ I believe the first time you used it, you had just described how the portal was transferrable, and my first thought was “well, if you wrote a whole section describing it as mobile, why did you describe it as portable again?” And then I saw that phrase repeated more than five times, which just led my OCD brain to go crazy. It might also have more to do with the fact that both words have a “po-“ beginning and an “able” or “al” ending, so it sounds like a repetitive description word, but nevertheless that’s more of a me problem than an overall issue.

Next, there is the plot. I read somewhere that the best plots can be outlined in a sentence and described in ten paragraphs, which I believe definitely applies to this story. While my descriptive powers are not great enough to fully divulge ten paragraphs, I shall do my best to review it properly.

It starts out simple enough; Donnie gets a message from his future self and learns that not only can he communicate with himself past the bonds of space and time, but eventually he can meet his future self without the fear of a time paradox. As Donnie and his brothers prepare to meet their future selves, they meet up with a fellow ninja clan who also has a beef with Shredder, and multiple cases of drama ensue as a result. However, there is so much more than that to pick apart in the plot. There’s action, mystery, romance, secrecy, plus a lot of confusion and mixed feelings which help to add tension and character development. And all the character dialogues don’t seem abrupt, out of place, or like mere exposition; they all blend perfectly together to give the story the feel of a big mixing pot, with multiple themes, characters, and motives blending together to give the story/soup an exquisite taste.

I could be wrong, but I think the main message behind this story is that ‘it is not our actions in the past that define us, but our actions in the present.’ In the very first chapter, we see a lot of characters mingling together who all have argued or slightly resented each other in the past. There’s Splinter and Karai, who used to believe she was Shredder’s daughter and wanted revenge on Hamato Yoshi; Casey and April, the former who used to see Raph as a villain, and then later saw Donnie as a romantic rival; the latter who blamed the turtle’s for her father’s mutation, and avoided them for weeks afterwards; and though it’s more minor, the turtles have all had big arguments with each other in the past. But the fic starts with them all united, sharing ‘Sensei Day’ together and really rallying together as one big family. Yet even though they’d love that moment to last forever, it can’t. There’ll be new hardships, arguments and struggles they’ll have to go through, and sometimes it may seem that the bad outweighs the good, like when Karai leaves the lair to go with the Lotus. But if they don’t keep striving for tomorrow, to make the best of fate while at the same time carving their own destiny, then they’ll never know just how beautiful life can be. This is the message I think Future Donnie learned when he urged current Donnie to run after April, and what all of the Future turtles realized when they learned they could time travel to this point. It may have happened in the past, and it might be too late for their happy ending; but who says they couldn’t help bring a happy ending to other versions of themselves?

And of course, this message is closely intertwined with Splinter, Karai, and Oroku Saki. Shredder chose to follow in the footsteps of his former clan; to carve for himself a path of bloodshed and vengeance, which would dictate all the future choices in his life. Splinter had the choice to follow a similar path, but instead took the path less traveled on; the path of peace. This has opened new options for him, as he gained a new family, obtained happy memories to replace the bad, and got to know many amazing people he wouldn’t have otherwise. Who knows if he would have met April, Kirby, Murasaki, Leatherhead, or Kurtzmann if not for his sons? And while Splinter tries to tell Karai that to choose peace is to choose the higher option, Karai has been raised by the Shredder for too long, and her thoughts are obviously tainted by her false father’s teachings. After all, surely someone who hides away from a fight is the bigger coward…? Surely more honor belongs to the man who seeks out his opponents and does away with them…right?

This is all part of why the Shredder-Splinter-Karai relationship is so compelling. Karai is literally the gray line, separating Splinter’s white and Shredder’s black; she has parts of both of them within her, which makes her choices and actions truly interesting. Someone who is neutral is more relatable than someone who is wholly good or wholly bad, and (at least for me), we want to see what she does because we want to know how we’d react in those same situations. Personally, I can’t fault Karai for a single one of her actions and could see myself making the same mistakes. Even if every part of my rationale told me to trust Splinter, I wouldn’t be able to wholly turn myself away from someone who’d raised me from birth. I’d want to cut off that wrongness, that falseness from my life so I could truly feel free, and that perfectly describes what Karai does. She can’t separate what happened in her past, so she wants to cut it out; even though Splinter and the others don’t care about her past, they just want to help and support her current decisions. I hope Karai comes to realize this by the end of the fic, and that her bond with the others becomes stronger as a result of this whole experience.

For the final tidbit of this review, I’d like to go over the pacing. Like everything else within this fanfic, the pacing has been very smooth and well-handled, with one event following another like dominos falling one after the other. The first chapter starts with a peaceful scene, which leads into a comedic scene in the next chapter, which in turn leads to a romantic scene gone wrong in the third chapter. The progression feels very natural, and the slow as syrup beginning is perfect to help ease the reader into the action. I described the fic as a screenplay earlier, because the events really do take place in a movie-like pace. The tripartite structure has long been lauded as the perfect story system, and that still holds true to this day. Having three big acts which are either followed or preceded by a consecutive list of smaller acts is the perfect way to hype up your big scenes and give them more weight, which your fanfic certainly did.

I promised I would go into a little more detail for Chapter 35 and go into detail I shall. At this point I think you have the three-part structure down so well, that you’re even starting to instill it into your chapters! The first act starts out peacefully, if slightly tear-jerking; the Future turtles say good-bye to Splinter for the last time, and he had some great advice to give the four of them. Once again I found the fanfic hitting close to home with me, as my grandmother has Alzheimer’s and I know any day could be the last day I say bye to her. I swear, your fanfic is going to be one of those I return to over and over again just for the little personal tidbits of emotion it gives me!

Anyways, returning to the topic; the second part of the chapter sees the different groups initiating their plans. Leo, April and Mikey taking the secret passage by the church catacombs, and Donnie, Raph and Casey entering through Baxter Stockman’s lab. Of course, things don’t start out well for either group, as Leo’s group/Team Nerf gets the ceiling caved in on them, and Donnie’s group/Team Roof has some mutated human kids attack them. I was thinking this would be the point the Future Turtles come in to help, but since they don’t I’m sure there’s another aspect to the plan that the Leo’s are looking out for. Perhaps they realize that Karai would have split off from the main Lotus group and want to save some man-power to help her when the time comes.

And then, the third/final act of the chapter comes and gives me a minor heart attack. Three mutants aptly named Lock, Shock and Barrel enter the fray thanks to Rahzar, and don’t only injure most of the main fighters; Barrel knocks out Donnie as well. The turtles, Casey and April barely manage to defeat Barrel before the focus returns to Karai, who places herself straight in Shredder’s den amidst a throng of enemies. While cliffhangers aren’t my favorite things in the world (again; intended sarcasm), I do think it was perfectly timed here. Any more action taking place would just be too much, and at least you ended it in a way that reminded us readers of the important stakes behind their battle. Even though the turtles may be beaten and battered, it is imperative they push on; not just for their sakes, not even just for Karai, but also for the Lotus, Future Turtles, Splinter, and everyone else the Shredder has hurt. While it is true they can’t turn back time and reverse all the evil he has done, they can at least stop his hand right now, and save those that matter most to them. And that is truly the most important cause the turtles could have for their fight.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

@thecorteztwins 

I wound up writing a little thing based on those panels you showed me of villains “rehabilitating” (but actually being mind-controlled) at Clear Mountain Center in X-Men 92.  This was meant to be a funny story about Fabian in rehab learning how to talk to women, but it got a little disturbing because of the mind-control aspect, and also Avalanche tells a grim little story about baby murder, so warnings for that.  But now I’m really tempted to write something about Haven taking the place over and actually Doing It Right.

“So,” Fabian began, speaking in the halting tones of someone attempting to wrap his mind around a difficult concept. “You’re saying you’re not attracted to me?”

               “Not in the slightest,” said Tabitha Smith, the mutant known as Boomer (and also Time Bomb, Boom-boom, Meltdown, and whatever other code-name caught her fancy).  Her tone was firm, but she smiled at him, as if to soften the blow.  “I mean, you’re obviously good-looking, just not my type.”

               “Oh, of course, you prefer women.  I understand.  I am open-minded about such things –“

               “Nooooo…..” Boomer cut in, with some slight irritation creeping into her voice.  “I’m mostly into guys.  Just different types of guys.”  Fabian thought hard.  He was tempted to spread his legs out wider, to give her a better look at what she was rejecting, but he’d gotten enough tiny power-bombs to the crotch to learn that that was a bad idea.  (The low-powered bombs did no real damage, but they certainly stung.)

               “I get it, I get it.  You are holding yourself back.  You are maintaining a professional relationship because you are my counselor.”

               “No!”  Boomer held her head in her hands for a moment, sighing.  “Look, not every woman will find you attractive, okay?  Everyone has different preferences.  Like, people think Leonard Decaprio is super-hot, and he just doesn’t do anything for me, I’m more of a Brad Pitt girl.  It’s not something you need to feel bad about, it doesn’t mean you’re like, ugly, or anything like that.”

               Fabian’s mind whirled.  This girl was young, beautiful, a powerful mutant, and had showed him such kindness as his mentor.  She had a surprising amount of wisdom underneath her shallow and flippant demeanor.  And yet, her judgement was so unsound. Perhaps she had some kind of psychological condition, like a strange form of face-blindness?  But then, Fabian had been learning to accept many ideas that had previously seemed impossible.  The idea of living with the humans in peace.  The idea of answering hatred with understanding, not violence. The idea that he should treat others with kindness and respect, instead using them as stepping stones in his quest for status and power.

               “Very well,” Fabian began again.  It was difficult to force the words out.  “I…accept that you do not find me attractive.  I….accept that some people…..may….not find me attractive.   After all, there are many different preferences in this world.”

               “Yeah, dude, exactly.  It’s like…some people like Cool Ranch Doritos?  And some people prefer Nacho Cheese.  There’s no right or wrong, except for the people who like Funyuns, because that shit is nasty.”  Fabian wanted to roll at his eyes at her rather low class tastes, but instead he found himself laughing good-naturedly.

               “Ha, ha, yes, that is a funny joke,” he said, beaming.  It was strange.  His mind felt so….slow.  Like there was this weight pressing down in it.  But at the same time, it was oddly pleasant.  A bit like Anne Marie’s more enthusiastic hugs, which always threatened to break the recipient’s back.

               “In Spain we have jamon flavored potato chips.  Perhaps you would find them interesting to try.  I will bring some back the next time I visit home.” He did not add that he had never eaten those chips, they were junk food for peasants, but if this girl found them enjoyable, he would indulge her.  It was a nice thing to do, and he found that he wanted to be nice lately. He didn’t entirely understand why.

               “Oh dude, that would be amazing!”  Boomer exclaimed.  “I love trying junk food from other countries.  There’s so much cool stuff out there.  Did you know that they have, like, a whole ton of Kit-Kat flavors in Japan?”

                I don’t care, Fabian wanted to say.  I spent my time in Japan eating Kobe beef and blue-fin tuna, not wasting my money on cheap candy.

               “No, I didn’t know that,” he said aloud instead.  He hadn’t meant to say that.  He hadn’t intended to sound so interested, but his mouth and brain did not seem properly connected.  The pleasant feeling hung over him, almost suffocating.

               “OMG, there are like, so many!  There’s strawberry, and sweet potato, and soy sauce, and wasabi – which is like, better than you’d expect – and sake, and…”

               Fabian wanted to tell her to stop prattling, but he couldn’t quite find the words.  He looked around the outdoor area while she rambled on.  There was Blob pruning rhododendron bushes with Storm, the blossoms tiny in his huge, clumsy hands.    

               “….and blueberry cheesecake, and apple pie, and brown sugar syrup, and cantaloupe which sounds totally disgusting but apparently it’s pretty good, and…”

               The Kleinstock brothers and Frenzy were tossing a Frisbee around with Feral and Cannonball, while Vertigo and Arclight were playing scrabble with Polaris and Multiple Man.  Ruckus was strumming a guitar, pausing occasionally to sweep his hair back dramatically, and clearly looking around for an audience.  Ugh, he was singing “One Tin Soldier.”  Fabian hated that song.  Fabian hated……a lot of things that were happening at that moment.

               “….and maple, and pumpkin, and chestnut, and green tea, and Tokyo Banana, because apparently that’s a thing, and..”

               He hated listening to this stupid girl spew out every thought in her empty brain.  He hated sitting in group therapy and listening to the peons that he shared the facility with whining about their inconsequential problems.  He hated having to hug people.  He hated being stuck in this adult daycare while he should be leading his Acolytes to victory against humankind (and racking up a few kill points for the Upstarts while he was at it.)  Something in his mind was breaking free.

               “Enough!” he snapped, jumping to his feet.  “This isn’t right!  I shouldn’t be here!”  Boomer paused in her Kit-Kat flavor recital.

               “Whoa, dude.  Chill out. You need a time-out, or something? Maybe you need some time in the Angry Room.”

“No, I do not need some time in the Angry Room,” Fabian snarled.  “I don’t belong here with the  rest of these losers, there’s nothing wrong with me.  I’m….I’m so much better than the rest of you.  I’m practically a god!  I should be….should be –“  His eyebrow twitched.  His body shuddered, and a fixed grin came over his face.

               “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be saying things like that. What am I thinking?  We’re all special in our own way.  I just want us all to be friends,” Fabian continued.  A single tear leaked out of one corner of his eye.

               “Hey, good job, man,” said Boomer, patting him on the shoulder. “You recognized a negative thought pattern, and then, like, stopped it.  That totally deserves a Hershey Kiss.”  She tossed him the silver wrapped chocolate.

               “Thank you.”  Fabian shuddered again, and then his body seemed to relax, his tense smile softening into one that seemed genuine, if a bit dazed.  “I like Hershey Kisses.”

               “Don’t we all, buddy.”

               “They are good,” Fabian continued, pulling the foil off and popping the chocolate in his mouth absent-mindedly.  “This place is a good place.  We are all good here.”

               At the table, another group was mid-way through a fairly intense game of Uno.  Most of the group (X-Men included), would have preferred poker, but apparently that wasn’t wholesome enough the rehabilitation process.

               “I’m just saying, we didn’t start the war.”  Avalanche slapped down a card, perhaps slightly too hard. “Humans want to stomp out anyone who’s different.  That’s the whole damn history of the human race.”

               “But nothing will change if we continue the cycle of violence,” argued Colossus.  

               “We must ‘turn the other cheek,’” agreed Nightcrawler. “Send out a message of peace and love.” He betrayed that sentiment by tossing down a Draw Four card.

               “Yeah, and the guy that did that got nailed to a cross, didn’t he?”  Avalanche retorted.  “Didn’t work out so well for him.”

               “You can’t be expecting us to imitate Christ, can ya?” Pyro put in, throwing a Reverse on the stack.  “He was all flawless and perfect and ‘ineffable,’ right?  And he had a get-out-of-death-free card.  We ain’t got that.”  

               “You could have that, by the Grace of God –“ Nightcrawler began, than stopped, shaking his head.  “I’m sorry, this is not the right place for that conversation.  I know religion is very personal, and everyone must make their own choices.  But I will talk about it with any of you privately, if you want.”

               “All I’m saying is, humans have tried to bloody kill us,” Pyro continued.  “Are we supposed to just lie down and take it?  I’ve had people turn on me, even back before the Brotherhood, before I committed any crimes.  People that I thought I could trust.”  The cards in his hand crumpled as his fist clenched.

               “Humans are fucking brutal.  I’ve seen…..”  Avalanche shook his head.  “There was a woman back on Kalymnos, gave birth to a baby with gills.  Nothing wrong with the kid otherwise, it was just a cute baby.  But people acted like it was the damn anti-Christ.  Her husband moved out and wouldn’t have anything to do with her. And one day….”  A slight tremor rippled across the table as he continued. “One day some guy just snatched the baby out of her arms and threw it down on the rocks.  I’ll never forget how she screamed.  And nothing ever happened to the guy.  He was a murderer, and the police did nothing.  Everyone just pretended that it never happened –“  The table shook visibly now, the vibrations spreading out into the ground around them.

               “Tovarish, please calm down.  I understand how that memory must pain you, but –“    

               The vibrations suddenly stopped.  For a moment, Avalanche looked confused, then a dull smile spread across his face.

               “I’m sorry, friends.  I just get upset sometimes, thinking about that.  I shouldn’t dwell on such horrible memories.”

               “Yes, we should just think about good things,” Pyro agreed, wearing the same sickly smile.  “We are in a good place.  We are all good here.”

               Sitting in the sun on the roof, Toad wrapped his arms around himself, smiling.  He felt….good.  For the first time that he could remember, he was entirely at peace with himself.  He wasn’t plagued with anxiety at every social interaction, waiting for the inevitable rejection, wasn’t miserable when he looked into the mirror.  No more flashbacks or sudden fits of sadness or anger.  He woke up and was actually eager to get out of bed in the morning, eager for a day that he knew would bring good things.  And people were actually being nice to him!  There was no superficial politeness or poorly hidden disgust, no cheap pity.  Just genuine kindness.  His counselors and the other former super-villains actually seemed glad to see him every day.

               Of course, sometimes it felt too good to be true. Sometimes he would look around and everything would feel slightly off, like one of those hyper-realistic dreams where you can only tell that you’re dreaming because something in your room is out of place.  He felt like he was constantly wrapped in a blanket of warm air, and it was so good and comforting, but it made him dull and sleepy.  (Perhaps this was what being drunk was supposed to be like?  For the normal people?  When Toad tried alcohol, it only seemed to make him sad.)  Things were very hazy, and it was hard to put his thoughts together.  But that didn’t matter, did it?  Because finally he was safe and happy, and everyone was so nice.

               “This is a good place,” he said aloud to no one in particular. “We are all good here.”

[thecomicsnexus]

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES / SAVAGE DRAGON, SAVAGE DRAGON #22 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1995 BY MICHAEL DOONEY, ERIK LARSEN, STEVE LAVIGNE, ALTERED EARTH ARTS, REUBEN RUDE AND ANTONIA KOHL

SYNOPSIS

A clone of Complete Carnage appears in Chicago and the Turtles recognize him on TV. Raphael decides to go to Chicago to fight, while the rest of the Turtles decide to go to Radical to figure out what’s going on. She tells them that this is a copy of Complete Carnage, made of the arm that was left after their last battle. She sends the Turtles to Chicago (as she cannot leave the museum for very convenient reasons).

In Chicago, Raphael has the mandatory team-up confrontation but with the Super Freaks. The confrontation ends when Savage Dragon appears. They are surprised by Complete Carnage and then the rest of the Turtles come to the rescue.

Since Complete Carnage recharges by absorbing man-made elements, they decide to throw him into the ocean where a random villain kills him.

After the fight, Dragon takes the Turtles to his girlfriend’s apartment, but he cannot stay as she just had an incident with a water bed.

REVIEW

Oh my. That girl needs:

To eat.

To see a specialist about her spine, and legs.

Also, those breast are too much weight for her tiny body.

This cross-over plays very much like the previous one. For some reason, they are incomplete if you don’t read Savage Dragon. This only make sense if you want to hook people into buying your comics. But the thing is... it only benefits Erik Larsen. As there is no tie-in in the TMNT book. Perhaps for the best.

While this time we know who the villain is, it still feels like a poor excuse to cross the properties. There is not much to the story.

On the art, Dooney does a good job, as usual. Larsen so-so. At least the Turtles look cool. Of course, if you are a fan of Erik Larsen, you won’t have a problem with it.

I give this story a score of 4.

[thecorteztwins]

(Done for @awkward-snake-girl, starring her OC Mattie meeting my fave Serpent Society ladies---with a Lord Cortez cameo, of course!) “Hi, I’m the one who called? Mattie Granger?” asked the short brunette on the doorstep with serpentine gold eyes and patches of green scales on her otherwise human skin. “Oh, hey, welcome,” said the beautiful black-haired woman who had answered the door. She leaned lazily against the doorway with sensual ease, a cup of coffee in her hand, clad in a short black silk robe and apparently little else. “I’m Tanya Sealy,” she said, reaching out a beautifully manicured hand, “Black Mamba. You got a codename, Mattie Granger?” “Uh, no,” said Mattie, taking it and shaking politely, “I’ve never been a superhero or a supervill---er, anything else, so I never had a need for it.”

“I get that,” said Tanya, stepping back inside and indicating for Mattie to follow, “I took one as soon as I got my powers, but then, I had immediate employment. Roxxon, specifically. Joined the Serpent Society right after though---good thing I named myself after a snake! That’s a requisite, by the way. Your powers don’t have to be snakey, but your name better be.” “Really?” said Mattie. That...was confusing. She’d heard about this whole organization super-powered snake people, and even though they were villains-for-hire, she’d felt compelled to check them out. That was why she’d called up and asked if she could visit. Now it turned out they WEREN’T snake mutants at all, they just had snake NAMES? “Yeah, so if you do join up, pick something like...” Tanya tried to think of a snake name that wasn’t taken, “Um, we’ve got a Rattler, a Rock Python, a Fer-de-Lance, which I didn’t even know was a thing but apparently it’s some exotic Caribbean snake...so I don’t know what’s left, but use Wikipedia or something, there’s got to be SOME snake name left.” Their path was suddenly blocked by an enormous blonde muscular woman. “This the broad?” she asked gruffly. “Uh, I’m Mattie,” said Mattie, stepping back behind Black Mamba a bit. Yeah, maybe this was not a good idea after all. “A pleasure to meet you, Mattie,” said a dusky-skinned woman with a mid-length black bob haircut, who stepped out from behind the massive blonde and gracefully extended a hand as Tanya had done earlier. “My name is Cleopatra Nefertiti, or simply The Asp. I understand you are interested in our organization. Naturally, we cannot just open our headquarter doors to any caller, but the house that myself, Black Mamba, and Anaconda presently share was deemed acceptable as a site to vet you at.” “Vet me?” “Make sure you’re not planning something funny,” said the big one, Anaconda, with a tone and expression that suggested she thought exactly that. “You think no super-suit has ever tried to just ring us up before?” “Oh, uh...” “Of course,” the Asp injected, in a smoothing-over sort of voice, “We already investigated you before calling you back with this invitation. And it discovered no previous super “heroic” activity of yours---though you do seem to be a personal friend of the Agents of SMASH?” “Well yes, b-but I promise I’m not here because of them!” Mattie squealed under Anaconda’s penetrating gaze of displeasure, “I just wanted to meet more snake mutants! Like me!” The women looked a little surprised. “So, when you said you wanted to join...” Tanya begin. “I wanted to just meet you!” Mattie said frantically, “I don’t know any other snake mutants!” Anaconda groaned and facepalmed her forehead with a force that would have shattered a normal person’s skull. “I’m afraid we’re neither a social club nor are we snake mutants,” Asp explained delicately, “I am a mutant, yes, but Blanche and Tanya received their abilities through other means. And while Blanche has scales like yours, and my bio-energy blasts have neurotoxic effects like snake venom, Black Mamba’s powers have truly nothing snakelike about them.” “Oh,” said Mattie, looking down, “So, uh...should I...go?” Tanya looked at her teammates, then back at Mattie, “I mean...you’re here. Why not hang out? We don’t get a lot of visitors, besides Puff Adder coming over to wreck our furniture with Anaconda.” “That was just the couch,” Blanche snorted, arms cross, “And just three times.” “Three times and three couches!” Not that the money was a problem, but it was annoying all the same to Tanya, and she was someone who LIKED seeing her teammates hooking up! She thought it was sweet that even a scalefaced behemoth with bad manners with Ana could find a guy who loved her, but she just wished they would do that lovin’ somewhere else! “Erm...” said Asp, trying to divert the conversation back to the topic at hand, “Certainly, Mattie. I don’t mind at all. Ana?” “No skin off my nose.” Blanche grunted, turning away, “Just no goin’ in my room or gnoshin’ on my grub.” It ended up going well. Cleo and Tanya seemed to appreciate the company, and Cleo in particuliar seemed glad to have someone a bit more reserved than the other two to balance them out, though Tanya was clearly her best friend. Even Blanche suddenly became exhuberantly chatty once Mattie dropped a “Defying Gravity” reference by chance in her presence; turned out she was a fan of musicals! Mattie would definitely come back for another visit. *** “Oh no, he’s coming over,” Asp grimaced. They were on a beach, by the little tiki bar set up, the shade provided by its roof rendered redundant as Asps’ sunglasses by the blue cast of evening. But sadly, it wasn’t dark enough to obscure the sight of the musclebound redhead in the far-too-tiny man-thong that had been blatantly leering at them in what he seemed to think was a flirtatious manner. “I mean, he’s cute,” said Tanya casually, “Better looking than most of our customers, come on.” “So?” Asp did not seem convinced, “My clients also have stay at arm’s length. This guy looks like he’s trying to get way closer than--” “Hello there ladies. I thought the sun had come back up when I felt the heat on my back, but then I realized it was just your smoldering stares.” They had not been staring before, actually. But they were now. In bafflement. The man took this as them being stunned speechless at his good looks and their incredible luck at getting a moment of attention from him, so he continued, flexing as he spoke, “As I’m sure you know, I am Fabian Cortez, the--” “Wait, what?!” Tanya burst out in a MOST unladylike manner over her drink, “YOU’RE Fabian Cortez?! The Fabian Cortez?!” She sounded truly delighted, as she should! Why, she was so overwhelmed with delirious happiness it almost sounded like she was laughing!

“I am indeed!” he said, his chest further swelling with pride at the recognition, even though it was to be expected. “I s---” “’Ana! Ana! Hey, Ana!” The girl interrupted him, a sin only made forgivable by the fact she was clearly calling for a friend here, hopefully as comely as the dark beauty already by her side, as evident by how she was looking to her right instead of at him and waving wildly. It was nice that she was willing to share! A good sign for what might soon follow between them! “Ana, this is Fabian Cortez! This is the guy Mattie told us about!” And Fabian turned to come face to face with Blanche “Anaconda” Sitznski. “Yeah?” said the blonde behemoth, pounding her fist into her oppposite hand, “Heard a LOT about you, pretty boy...” Things went downhill from there. END

[minijenn]

Peridot and Pacifica Preview 1

alskdjalsdjlad well at least I fucking wrote something tonight ahahahah I’m so fuking tired send help anyway here’s this. Probs won’t write anything else for this until sunday since I’m gonna be busy all day tomorrow. RIP

“Special delivery!”

Caustically, Peridot glanced up from the drill’s blueprints she was looking over to find Steven standing before her, a small, wrapped box in his hands. Mabel stood alongside him, practically beaming with excitement as they both presented the green Gem with this unknown item.

“What are you doing?” the green Gem asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked between the pair.

“Weeelllll…” Mabel began, eagerly. “We were feeling kinda bad about throwing your lemon hancers-”

“Limb enhancers,” Peridot corrected pointedly.

“Yeah, those,” Mabel nodded. “Into the ocean when we poofed ya. Soooo…”

“So we thought we’d get you a little something to make up for it!” Steven finished, holding the box up to her. “We hope you like it!”

The green Gem still largely had no idea what they were offering her, but she took the box all the same, opening it to find a small, black, keyboarded device inside. “Its… a rectangle.”

“And a cell phone!” Steven quipped. “I found it all busted up in Amethyst’s room awhile back. Its kind of old, but we had Soos fix it up for you, so it should work just fine!”

“Ooooo…” Peridot’s formerly bored manner quickly dissolved as she accidentally turned the phone on, its bright, pixelated screen instantly catching her interest.

“You can work it by using those tiny keys,” Mabel informed, peeking over the green Gem’s shoulder. “You can call people, send texts, even play a few fun little games! It’s it great?”

“Plus, it even has wi-fi on it!” Steven added. “Which means you have the whole worldwide web to hang out on!”

“Worldwide?” Peridot scoffed. “Ha! With my finger screens, I had the ability to search and retrieve data across multiple star systems.”

“Hm… impressive…” Steven mused. “But I think we can do you one better… with TubeTube!”

The young Gem navigated to the video app on the phone, pulling up a popular cat video that baffled the green Gem as she squinted to properly watch it on the tiny screen. “Why was this documented…?”

“And even cooler than that, you can share whatever you’re thinking with the entire world!” Mabel exclaimed brightly. “Just as long as you keep it under 140 characters.”

“That’s so many people!” Peridot gasped, stars of amazement in her eyes as she continued tapping away on the phone. “I really, really like this. But it’s a shame it doesn’t come attached to your body like—oh wait!”

Without missing a beat, the green Gem rushed inside the barn, rummaging through what scraps were left inside it before hurrying back with a strap of velcro in hand. “Behold! My innovation!” Peridot proclaimed, fashioning the tape to the back of the phone before doing the same to her wrist. She quickly connected the two before pulling off a dramatic pose to show off her handiwork to the impressed pair. “I’ve harnessed the power of your interlocking fabric strips!”

“Um, not that that isn’t cool, Peridot,” Steven said with a small, bemused grin. “But it would have just been easier to put the phone in your pocket when you’re not using it.”

“…What’s a pocket?”

“Wow, you guys really just gave someone who doesn’t even know what pockets are a fully-functioning, web-enabled cell phone,” Dipper spoke up from his spot nearby as he continued leafing through the first journal, his tone absolutely deadpan. “Nice one.”

“Hmph, like I need to know what ‘pockets’ are,” Peridot scowled back at him. “What matters is I finally have cutting-edge tech again! Everything is finally all at my fingertips once more… What a wonderful feeling.”

“Yeah, a refurbished phone from five years ago,” Dipper said, still just as dour as he closed the journal. “That’s real ‘cutting-edge’ tech right there. Super advanced stuff.”

“Aw, c’mon, Dipper, let her have her fun,” Mabel interjected, grinning. “She’s been really good lately. She deserves a reward!”

“A reward?” Dipper scoffed incredulously, more or less ignoring the green Gem as Steven continued showing her how to use her new phone. “For the Gem who tried to kill us on multiple occasions? Who only came here to check on a ticking-time bomb of a Gem mutant buried under the crust of the Earth? Who fused with Bill Cipher? Are you and Steven actually insane?”

“No, we’re just being nice,” Mabel huffed, hands on her hips. “Maybe you should try it sometime, bro-bro.”

“I don’t have anything against being nice,” Dipper countered, crossing his arms. “But I do have a problem with being nice to Peridot. In case you haven’t noticed, Mabel, she’s not our friend. She’s barely even our ally. And its about time you guys realized that before you have to learn it the hard way.”

“Oh yeah?” Mabel countered. “Well, have you ever stopped to think that maybe Peri’s not as bad as you think she is? If you just gave her a chance, then maybe you’d see that, yeah, she might be sorta rude and loud and mean and cocky and-”

“And this is supposed to prove me wrong… how, exactly?”

“Point is,” Mabel cut in succinctly. “She’s still learning about Earth and about all of us. She wants to help us stop that Cluster thing. So why can’t we meet her halfway and help her learn?”

Dipper didn’t offer an answer to this as he instead glanced past his sister and over to the green Gem instead. Peridot noticed his stare and returned it with a sour glare of her own, one that more or less reaffirmed the mutual disdain they both had for each other. Disdain that, for the most part, neither of them were willing to give up so easily and so soon.

[dreadhaus-literature]

{Collection} Double Trouble #4

“Mmm, I appreciated that little murmuring you did in my ear.”

“…That wasn’t me.” 

Wade Wilson tipped his head back, from it’s perch on Monica’s chest. He paused, blinked at least twelve times, before opening his rarely closed mouth.

“Are you...sure that wasn’t you? Because it gave me a tingle, and that special tingle that only you give me--”

James “Warpath” Proudstar made a show of clearing his throat, a dour expression on his tanned face. The Apache mutant was not one to entertain Wade Wilson’s motormouth, most especially on this most special of occasions--Monica knew who he was, and that enabled him a special spot with her, and it was a time Wade was not going to fuck up...even if James wasn’t entirely certain of how this entire arrangement was working in his favor, at the moment.

Initially it had started out just James and Nathan, known to most as Cable, as the two were good friends and when Nathan mentioned Monica knew who he was, that meant it was time for James’s proper introduction to the highly coveted and ultimately cherished Empress of the Haus. James had of course been around, but keeping a respectful distance--it was a distance he wouldn’t have to keep anymore, and that he was exceptionally grateful for. Now that he’d spent time talking to Monica, listening to her and getting to know her likes and dislikes firsthand, he felt closer to her and hoped she, too, felt closer to him.

But all good things, as they say, must come to an end, and soon James and Nathan found their private time with Monica interrupted by none other than the infamous Merc with a Mouth, who squealed in excitement to find not only Daddy Cable and a fellow mutant beefcake (James, for anyone wondering) but his MOMMI DEAREST! And James knew enough to know Wade wasn’t going anywhere, especially since he attached himself to Monica’s waist, which put Wade squarely in James’s lap. As the hours had ticked by, Halloween finally winding to a close (after much festivities and playful tricks and tasty treats) the Warrior Mutant was lucky enough to secure a close spot to Monica in her multi-person coffin--he was more than large enough to be the person she slept on, and now that he had her tucked against the hard muscle of his chest, with Nathan at her side and Wade attached to her middle, James had just started to relax when Wade had to make it weird.

“Oh don’t be jealous, big guy, Mommi just does it for me. It doesn’t mean the tingle you get from her is less than the tingle she gives me--which it is, she gives me the best tingle in my dingle--”

Nathan had had enough and firmly clocked Wade on the side of his head.

“Thank you,” James said gruffly, his heavily muscled arms tightening around Monica--unconsciously, but he very much liked the way she fit into his arms.

“...Joke’s on you, that gave me a tingle too,” Wade murmured, re-resting his head against Monica’s chest. “So no one wants to know who was whisper moaning in my ear, then?”

“Why...did you think that was me?” Monica couldn’t help but ask.

“Wishful thinking,” came Nathan’s grunted reply.

“Mami totally moans in my ear, for anyone curious, and she does it a lot.” Wade’s reply only came out sounding a teeny tiny bit defensive. “But now that I think about it, it was wishful thinking. It didn’t give me the balls deep tingle so it couldn’t have been her.”

“...If I choke him out, will I be in any trouble?” James asked, and though Monica was only just getting to know him, could tell there was not a single hint of humor in his deep baritone. He was genuinely asking.

“Yes, Mami would be super sad and if you make her cry I’m pretty sure Atamu will rip your spine out through your dickhole, sooooooo,” Wade reached up, booping James on the nose. “Don’t~♫”

Monica didn’t quite have the heart to say she wouldn’t cry if James put Wade to sleep, so she burrowed a little closer to James with a muffled giggle.

“There’s only four of us in here, Wade, you’re hearin’ shit--”

“Five.”

The group paused before a sheepish clearing of the throat could be heard and then Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler’s luminous yellow eyes popped up on Monica’s other side.

“Hello Family, I hope you do not mind the intrusion,” came that distinct German accent, “but I saw your small party and thought to myself, vhat a perfect opportunity to be extra close to Monica! I could not help myself.”

Monica couldn’t hope to stop the giggle as Kurt snuggled right up against her other side, his arms just above Wade’s, those curiously thick fingers squeezing her lovingly even as his tail wound up one of her little legs.

“Hi Kurt!” She offered cheerily, and James couldn’t wait until she began to greet him just as excitedly.

“Oh Kurt~” Wade batted his non-existent eyelashes at the sapphire-skinned mutant. “If you wanted to touch my ass all you had to do was say so. You didn’t need the foreplay moan in my ear, I’m always ready to go.”

“One, knock that shit off,” Nathan all but ground out. “And two, Kurt just got here. He couldn’t have been the one to moan in your ear.”

“Nor...vould I, Vade.” Kurt answered earnestly. “It is not that ve are not close but...I am here for Monica.”

Wade paused for a split second before nodding. “You know, that’s fair. I’m here for Mami, too.”

So now, Monica’s coffin held the Empress herself, James, Nathan, Wade, and Kurt, none of whom were owning up to the sound Wade was certain he heard--and he was certain.

“Are you sure you heard somethin’? Like are ya sure the last time your head grew back that it grew back on straight?” Nathan asked, mostly joking.

“Oh Daddy don’t be silly! You know nothing on me is straight.”

“I’m gonna break his neck, babygirl.”

Monica floundered a little, laughing because though she might not be brave enough to declare she knew Nathan well, she knew her Daddy was a man of his word and would absolutely, without a doubt break Wade’s neck.

“W-Wade, don’t bother Daddy.”

“Can I bother you~?”

Monica’s laughter increased, though it turned a touch shy when Kurt’s arms tightened around her in response. “Y-You don’t bother me!”

Nathan’s grunt of disbelief was ignored by Wade, who was tickled in all his pink parts that Mami loved him so much! It was enough to make the Merc’s whole life!

“Mami have I ever told you how sweet you are? Not just when you’re sitting on my face but--OKAY WHO IS DOING THAT, IT’S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE.” Wade had cut off his inappropriate train of thought forcibly, his head lifting off Monica’s chest again to look around--but he couldn’t see in the dark, and with the coffin lid down, there could only be so many culprits to this.

...Right?

James had been tuning Wade out, in lieu of running thick, calloused fingers through Monica’s soft hair, but he’d heard the breathy murmur. It had only lasted a few seconds before Wade started to yell over it, but it had been there.

James shifted one broad shoulder, working out a twinge of unease. “I heard it too.”

What was meant to be a comfort turned out to be not so much, as the occupants of the coffin fell deathly still--for all of two seconds, before Wade’s proclivity to either be asleep or at 100 took over.

“Okay so no one wants to admit mouth-fucking my ear just to whisper sweet creepies on Halloween night? No one at all?”

Monica had never felt uneasy in her coffins before, whether truly hers or borrowed from Vincent or another lover, and it was a strange sensation, to feel uneasy surrounded by her loved ones--especially such powerful ones. Between James and Nathan there was 15 feet of height and muscle, not to mention Kurt’s impressive combat skills and Wade’s ability...to talk an enemy into submission. But even surrounded by those she held dear, as the silence stretched out like a body on a slab, she began to feel a prickle of fear start at the nape of her neck. She could see perfectly well in the dark but the problem was there was nothing to see. All the bodies accounted for should have been there, but that didn’t explain the disembodied voice Wade was claiming to hear--and had been confirmed by James. Monica had been a little too distracted by James’s fingers in her hair to listen for the voice, and a part of her was glad she’d missed it.

A deep inhale from Wade was cut off when James’s large hand wrapped around the Merc’s mouth, effectively silencing the male--so he could listen.

So they all could listen.

But as the saying goes, be very careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

In the dead silence of the coffin, the last remnants of Halloween made themselves known in the form of a ghastly whisper, spoken into the darkness as the dead return to the their graves and the demons dance merrily back to Hell--

“See you next year...”

[moonlightreal]

Winx Club season 8/1

In which the Winx are back and younger than ever.

Welcome to season 8!  I love this show, I love everything about it... including the parts I don't like, because I can snark at them.  So warning: there will be some snark when I see something dumb.

About the new art style:

Why I don't like it:  The girls have gotten a little more samey-samey with the loss of their individually shaped features, and Tecna's eyes shifted from turquoise to blue.  I know that's a tiny thing, a slight eye color change but it's one more step towards them all looking the same.  It feels like by the time we get to season 20 they'll be six identical fairies!  Also the girls now look twelve.  There’s been no mention so far of them de-aging so it's just the art style change, but... ok most of y'all wouldn't care but I'm writing a fanfic that parallels the show and now I have to decide whether to de-age my characters or what!

Why I like it: They're sooooo cute! They look like Moondreamers or Lady Lovelylocks or some 80s dolls!  I love it!

I have a theory about why the style change.  This is only a guess since I don't know animation, but is it possible they're using a program with sort of mannequins, and they're now using the same bodies for both Regal Academy and Winx?  To save money maybe, since now the animators will only need to learn one style?  Is that even the way computer animation programs work? Animators, help me out here!

And yes, Musa and Flora are now basically Caucasian looking.  This is not cool.  I have acknowledged it and written to Rainbow about it but since there’s nothing else I can do I’m going to enjoy my show in spite of it.  That’s my response to the color change; your response is something you’ll have to decide for yourself.

1 Night of Shooting Stars

We open at Alfea where some minor fairies are watching shooting stars.  Familiar minor fairies!  It's not just the Winx who have a new look; the whole class has been ported over.  I'm really happy about this!  I was sure they'd just do a whole new background cast and we'd lose more continuity, but here are Evie and Lori, those two dark skinned and indigo haired girls, and other familiar faces.

The Winx are up on a sort of bridge over the courtyard-- Alfea has had slight upgrades for the new season and it looks great.  And so do the girls!  They're so detailed, the layered outfits and all their accessories are so fun.  Their necklaces sway when they move, even, props to the animators.

Bloom is delighted by the shooting stars but Musa’s not feellin’ it, she was hoping for musical inspiration but it isn’t coming.  Flora, Tec and Aisha join them and it turns out Musa wants to write the new song for the concert tomorrow!  Tecna conjures her “astroscope” so they can watch the stars, and starts to explain something but Aisha shuts her down. Kiko pops up on the other end of the astroscope and scares Musa when she looks through.  

Out comes Stella, for a selfie!

In the Italian, Stella says “Selfie time!” in English.  Heh.

But Musas’s glum face spoils the selfie.  Stella says there should be no problem since, “You have ME to inspire you!”

Kind of not a great intro for the girls, but now we leave them and cut to Twinkle being chased by star-eaters.  Which are cool, as villain minions go.  They look like dark purple puffs or blobs, I’m getting a very Original My Little Pony vibe from them.  A whole swarm of them are chasing tiny Twinkle through the rings surrounding planet Magix.  They merge into a giant blob that roars as Twinkle flees towards the planet below.

Musa’s spidey sense tingles!

The star-eaters display their power of splitting into tadpoles and joining together again.

The Winx are concerned: this star is coming down awfully close!  Twinkle zooms above their heads and crashes in the woods.

The girls arrive in the scene we saw in the trailer and are immediately charmed by the sleeping Twinkle. Stella identifies her as a Lumen, “a creature of pure light that lives inside stars.”  They take their find back to Alfea to take care of her.

But evil is watching them!  Or at least a turban-wearing lackey of evil with a bunch of star-eaters around him is.  Obscura says, “Oh no!  That Lumen managed to reach the Winx!” so he knows who the Winx are.

In the Winx common room Twinkle is still asleep and the girls and Faragonda admire her cuteness.  I think she’s got some kind of charm ability!    Stella gives us some more information, “She’s from Lumenia, the star that lights Solaria.”  and Faragonda says Lumens never leave their stars except for serious reasons.

The next morning—daylight shots of Alfea, great cg—Twinkle wakes up, gets scared of Kiko, there’s some chaos and room destruction, Twinkle flies around screaming until she bangs into Stella.  Stella introduces the Winx, “We’re fairies and this is our school.” and asks why Twinkle came.  But Twinkle can’t remember.

Tecna scans Twinkle and detects “a memory lapse.”  The Winx offer to help her remember but Aisha thinks scaring her is the way to go!  So they try to scare Twinkle, who just laughs.  Short slapstick scene.

Then Bloom gets a text: the boys are coming!  Their ship lands in the courtyard to a rockin’ beat.  The girls stand with little hearts around them, Stella twirling her hair.

The boys look so weird in this art style.  I will try and probably fail at not mentioning this every time they appear.

And oh heavens, Brandon still has a deep post-puberty voice in his 12-year-old body.  I think this may be the same voice actor from last season.  Voice weirdness aside, he brought Stella a big pile of presents.  These two are the best couple.

Helia is showing Flora a picture he did of “a rose from the planet Iris, but its beauty is nothing compared to yours.”  Wasn’t Iris where Diaspro’s from?  Flora blushes and it’s cute.

Sky and Bloom kind of twirl each other around and laugh, which is sweet.

Timmy and Tecna are already up in the dorm working on a Lumen amnesia curing device, which explodes. Twinkle bounces and chirps, “Again!  Again again!”  Ok she is a little bit adorable.

They get the memory viewer going and its screen shows Twinkle’s memories of being chased.  She freaks out and flies into the air glowing brightly.  Then the memory viewer overloads.

Cut to the courtyard, the girls ponder what they saw while Twinkle looks glum.  Kiko tries to cheer her up. Stella says that Lumens are peaceful creatures with no enemies, so the girls don’t know what was chasing her.  Poor Twinkle is very down, and Stella prescribes music to cheer her up.

Over at Red Fountain we’re in either the ship or a locker room.  The boys are tired out, they’ve been on a mission to the Omega dimension before the Winx called!  Points to the writers for remembering the names of places!  Also points for how the boys are powering-down their suits, it’s a neat little detail that they do this.

The boys talk about how they wish they could’ve helped the Lumen, then do some reminiscing!  They had a mission on the planet Hypsos where they beat a horde of space mutants and destroyed an opal dragon??  And apparently neither of these was as scary as the landing!  Timmy, who was the pilot, droops.  Then he blames Helia for not being able to read a star chart.  It looks like they’re about to fight when…

A Mysterious Figure arrives!  Wearing a kind of ship-captainish coat and purple neck scarf.  Codatorta said he could come back.  The boys are pleased, more pleased than most of the fandom is!

The mysterious figure is not Venomiya, so there should be no sabotage at the Winx Band concert we go to next.  More great cg Alfea.  Is there an official map anywhere, of what rooms are what?  There are some weird outbuildings and stuff. I’m not even sure if the bridge is new or if it’s just that the girls didn’t hang out there in previous seasons.  And did the wings attach differently before?  I can’t tell if the school has changed shape or not!  I think it has...

And there’s a blast from the past, it’s Knut the ogre, Alfea’s handyman!  He’s back after many seasons, helping set up the lights for the concert with Kiko’s help.

And here’s Grizelda, and the new art style has not been kind to her!  She looks younger and has a more WoW art style look, and I don’t like it!  And whaaaaaat happened to her voice?  She does the ‘I’m watching you’ thing at Knut.  she’s not very nice.  I mean, she’s not supposed to be nice, she’s supposed to be a scary lady so that’s good.

The concert is being held at the top of the steps in front of the main door to the school.  All the minor fairies hang out on the steps or in the courtyard to watch.  It is so nice to see the same minor fairies as before.  They’re super excited to see the Winx in their—freaking adorable—concert outfits.  The girls are all in brightly colored fake fur and music note themes, with streaks in their hair.  Bloom dedicates their first song to ‘Our new friend from far away.’  and Twinkle giggles with delight.

And then… concert transformation! The girls’ PURSES do magical girl henshin routines and transform, Bloom’s into a microphone, Stella and Flora get guitars, Musa has a keytar and Tec gets a three-piece piano while Aisha’s got drums. Ok, I love this.  I know, it’s gotta be a gimic to sell toys, but sparkly henshin instruments, it’s wonderful!

The song’s all right, it’s Winx pop just like every song in Winx and I don’t think the voice actresses are in any way professional singers, but it’s fun.  Miss F, Grizelda and Palladium are in the audience.  Twinkle loves the music. Knut seems to be trying to pick up on the minor fairies, but Grizelda shuts him down.

Then the concert is rudely interrupted by a portal opening and delivering a bunch of star-eaters!  Twinkle sees them and remembers what happened to her and flies for help!

Stella observes the sun-eaters don’t look too scary, but then they all pile together into one big one.  Oh no!  The minor fairies, unable to fight since the artists haven’t designed transformations for them, back away in fear.

Faragonda and the teachers—Wizgiz appears too—direct the minor fairies to take cover inside.  The Winx transform.  Butterflix time!

Twinkle is impressed.

The girls fight but the giant eater can portal in and out and break apart whenever it wants.  Only Stella’s sun power seems to have any effect!  Then they get an idea: Twinkle lit up with the memory viewer, maybe she can help here!  Stella gives her some power and little Twinkle is just so happy!  She lights up like a sun and the big eater breaks apart into little eaters that all look despondent and flee back through their portal.

Since Twinkle has remembered everything, now she can tell her story!  The girls and Grizelda for some reason meet with the headmistress in her office.

Twinkle is the messenger of Lumenia, on a mission from Queen Doranna(?) to the “most powerful fairies in the magic dimension.”  The stars are in danger!  The eaters are eating their light!  I do like that there’s a reason the Winx are going to be called to save the world again, that Doranna specifically requested them.  

Then there’s… Faragonda tells them this is a delicate mission and to be cautious.  Stella breaks in with, “caution is our middle name!  well, more of a nickname.” Heh.

Then Bloom has an anime moment, she goes to the window and puts her hand up to her reflection, with a serious expression.  Not the kind of moment we usually get in Winx, and I really like it.  “Tomorrow we leave for Lumenia, Queen Doranna can help us understand what’s going on.  This is a mission for the Winx!”

[thequietoftheroom]

Hi. Is this thing on? Lauren Graham said in her new book that we should write more so this is my attempt at that. Oh by the way, I started reading again. I write these for myself so why don’t I just use “we”, but that will probably be weird reading it back. I’ve read Feminasty: The Complicated Woman’s Guide To Surviving The Patriarchy Without Drinking Herself To Death, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice On Love And Life From Dear Sugar, and now I’m almost done with Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls To Gilmore Girls. I’ve gone through several lists to pick out the books I plan on reading in the next few months, at least if I can afford them, but I like to think the books I ultimately bought found me and not the other way around. I have been read cover to cover, my soul pierced, and my mind opened. Of course fiction books have a similar effect but I never thought I would be interested in what people had to say about this grand thing called life and I learned that I cared a whole lot, not because I wanted to model myself after them but because I care about people and reading their explanations on life is like suddenly remembering they’re my best friends and they’re just catching me up on little secrets that come packed with nuggets of wisdom. 

I got myself into several situations I never planned on getting myself into even though the red flags were there and even though the people very openly said “Hey, this is exactly who I am”, but you know how your mind works when you have anxiety and depression. You start to convince yourself the puzzle pieces you find yourself assembling are actually part of the picture even though they don’t fit because deep down you’re trying to finish the puzzle of your life and no one is giving you quite the right pieces. In other words, and to quote my friend Allie, I drank a nice glass of “dumb bitch” juice. Which lead me to want to consider joining a dating site sooner than I planned. I know these things take time but it’s been 3 days and I’ve sent 40 likes (I think that’s how okcupid works idk) and practically got 0 back. Here’s why that sucks. On okcupid they focus strongly on your personality and beliefs. So someone not only saw my face and said “yeesh no thanks” they took the time to get to know the information about myself I put on there and were still like “yikes I don’t think so”. So all in all this was an experiment in derailing my self esteem and increasing my depression. What crazy color will I dye my hair to suddenly avoid dealing with my problems? Or maybe I’ll give myself another buzzcut. Stay tuned!

On a serious note, a lot of the stories I’m reading made me SO relieved that at 27 I’m still very much single and have only had 1 relationship which wasn’t that great (it was both of our faults). There were so many stories and anecdotes about young love being messy and about true commitment coming in your 40′s. Honestly, idk if I can wait that long. If NASA and the CIA and the FBI were like “you have been randomly selected to test mating with androids” I’d be like “yes please but can I choose their face”. I mean realistically I’m in the worst position to be in a relationship. For one, I don’t have much money saved because I’m sadly addicted to ordering things online, most of which are either useful to me or to my job (and no I don’t get reimbursed but I think the prospect of waiting for something in the mail to kill time is momentarily greater than the prospect of having more money later). I still live at home. Obviously, that’s a hella yikes and tbf I’m reading to get the fuck out of here but {see A: i have no money} and I have no one to move in with. I keep doing extensive research but I learned that in 2018 everywhere is problematic. So as much as my love for NYC is slowly fading I also realize this is it for me! I’m a city gal who needs to be surrounded by diversity. I can’t do suburbs and I can’t do living near more than 50% white people. I’ll die. I know that’s discriminatory but we are in the dawn of BBQ Beckys so can you blame me when the majority of white people keep voting against my existence. So I’m stuck. Every once in a while I look up “most LGBT friendly places to live” or “least racist places to live” and hope there’s a magical place with both but there isn’t (especially since, hello, twinks are hella racist). But I’ve literally cuddled my body pillow to death: it broke apart and I need a new one. And I learned I can’t fall asleep unless I’m cuddling it because I’m that lonely.

Everything in life is so complicated. I hate not being out at work but at the same time everyone there is ignorant so I wouldn’t be any more comfortable having them walking on eggshells around me. I love the individuals though and sometimes I feel very motherly or big brotherly towards them and they make me REALLY love work. But I want to be me. And I want to get rid of my legal name. Every time someone calls me John I die inside. Sometimes I don’t even respond because I have to be like “oh shit that’s me”. Can I change my name now? Probably, just have to have the money and redo all my paperwork at work? Will i? No because then either a) the individuals will have to learn my new name and their lives are confusing as fuck as it is or b) i keep my current legal name as a nickname but then it will get confusing for paperwork. I don’t like inconveniencing people that much even for something super important to me. I’ll just die inside until I save enough money, do my last few undergrad psyche classes, and then get into grad school. So like in 5 years, knowing me.

I’ve developed some little crushes here and there but most of the time it’s people that live out of reach or are straight or bottoms or any combination of them or I can just tell they will never like me in that way. So honestly, why bother. I miss the days when I didn’t care about this and the only thing plaguing my mind was what show I should marathon while building in minecraft.

Speaking of games, I play a lot with my friend Sal. He’s like my best friend which is weird because he was my boss once on a minecraft server but now I can’t ever think of him that way? He’s more like an older brother now, even though he’s younger than me. We talk a lot and also enjoy a lot of silence, and introduce each other to different games and shows. But mostly games. We’re both obsessed with 7 Days To Die and I check constantly for news about the update (no set dates for Alpha 17 AHHHH). To fill that void we started playing Fortnite, which I know a lot of people make fun of but it’s actually fun. Here’s a fun fact about me: I can’t take serious games serious so if there’s no building element, or fun element, or explosives I can blow things up with, I won’t do it. I have 0 competitive bones in this body. I like to have fun. That’s why Fortnite is perfect because it is a competitive FPS type game but it’s also a parody of that genre and it’s so whimsical. Save The Day is a lot like 7 Days To Die so that’s been fun. Listen, when you play a game with someone and you beat it, especially a survival game, it’s such a relief and you learn so much and it’s like you went on a literal adventure with that person. Did Sal and I actually get stranded on an island full of mutants and cannibals? No but that’s what it actually felt like after finishing The Forest because it was that real for us. My love for Pocket Camp is fading because it’s the same stuff, new textures. I mean the prospect of having a cute camp is fun sometimes (fun enough for me to spend way too much money on it. HELP!) but now it’s like “oh they just stand there and I don’t really do anything”. ALTHOUGH they are saying that now they are adding a LOT more gameplay to the point that you need at least 1gb of space of the game so I’m excited. I’m still obsessed with minecraft so there’s nothing new there.

Here’s something weird. I spent much of my time, when I identified as gay, being annoyed at gay stereotypes and mostly twinks being like “if you don’t do x,y,z you might as well be straight”, so much so that now that I came out as queer those things still bother me and I have to be like “it’s okay that’s not you anymore you literally figured this out which is why you’re this person”. That’s how I should introduce myself tbh “Hi I’m the Q in LGBTQ”. I don’t care about fitting in but because of my lack of in person friends sometimes I worry that maybe I should care, just a little. I’m so tempted to try Tinder just for that but then I think of all the people who have Tinder that live in this building and I’m like God that is a huge mistake. I need a huge life change. I need someone to come in and shake up my life but no one has volunteered. I’m kind of regretting thinking of all those stupid romantic things like “Oh I want my future boyfriend to teach my how to ride a bike :)” “I want my future boyfriend to take me traveling” “I want my future boyfriend to serenade me”. I’ll just become a full on Capricorn and teach myself everything, travel the world alone, and serenade my goddamn self.

Speaking of which again, can my depression like.. not? I was so into learning and practicing chords daily and I just stopped? Like my motivation was like “It’s been a nice 1 week. back to not caring about anything again” I mean I started to try to learn Burn and Satisfied from Hamilton (well, “learn”) so I at least have interest and I still listen to classical music and jazz to light that fire under my ass but still. I’m just going to do what I always do and restart from lesson 1 and hope I make it to 3 although my extensive research of chords has already put me at an advantage for lesson 3, which is chords. Of course I would go and try to learn something in an unstructured manner because I have a problem with routine and authority even when that authority is me.

I should write me. Which reminds me I was going to write about this one dream I had on my regular blog. See ya!

[believerindaydreams]

This is Threeeee Dog, bringing you the hot, the heavy, and the just plain hellacious of the Capitol Wasteland. Do yourself a favor and listen to Galaxy News Radio, it's cheaper than chems.

Only one news item making the rounds today, but boy is it a biggie- the Jefferson Memorial, ex-home of a whole lotta Super Mutants, has been cleaned out to play host to the first peace conference in Washington since the bomb drop. That's right kiddoes, representatives of half a dozen major communities are gathering to talk about making your wasteland a little less of a shithole, including the Brotherhood, the Enclave, and your favorite Moira Brown of Megaton! Who'll be checking in with us this Saturday as usual, for more tips from her ever-popular Wasteland Survival Guide.

That is, assuming the conference cease-fire doesn't segue like this segment, to a whole lotta hackin' and whackin'...

Whatever they had expected on entering the Jefferson Memorial, and Arcade's been ready for everything up to Autumn trying his damn Mesmetron again, the tiny woman in workman overalls immediately waylaiding them wasn't it.

"Boone! My favorite research assistant ever! I'd hug you but I know you're picky about that."

"Do I know you?" Boone growls, stepping back towards his wife.

"You'll have to forgive him," Arcade intercedes. "He had a...bad bump on the head. Some memory problems."

It doesn't seem that Moira's bubbly cheer can be dampened by much, but she makes a valiant effort. "Oh no! That's really terrible- you mean you don't remember jumping off that roof to help me with the chapter on injuries? Or getting rad poisoning? Or all the poor little moles that exploded when you tested my repellant stick?"

"...no."

"Oh, that's too bad, it really is. I hope you feel better soon- and the house in Megaton is waiting you know, whenever you'd like to move in."

"I have a house?"

"He has a house?" Manny says incredulously.

"He sure does! That is, it was going to be for the Lone Wanderer but he said he didn't need it and you could have it, and you've been fixing it up with all kinds of nice little goodies. The last thing you were going to buy was the Nuka-Cola machine, you were saving up for that and then you just disappeared. I was a teensy tiny bit worried, so I thought I'd hitch a lift with Lucky's Caravan and try out my own guide- and here you are, safe and sound! Or safe, anyway."

"...sure."

Moira beams. "Aw, you haven't changed a bit. I'll be sleeping in the gift shop tonight, come by if you want anything repaired! Right now I'm off to go see how Project Purity works, see you later!"

She departs; leaving quiet and a certain sense of relief.

"I thought we had a home already," Carla says, hugging her husband distractedly.

"So did I. Wish I knew what I was thinking."

"Whatever it was, you didn't tell me," Manny says. He sounds hurt. "Maybe I should have stayed home with Cindy."

"We need you," Arcade reassures him quietly. "You're the only one who can make a stand for Nacochtank."

Manny sighs, lets his hands stray to his hunting rifle. "I know. But that caught me off guard."

They move further in, down stone halls that someone has made an effort to tidy. Hannibal's been busy, it seems; Manny's keeps up a constant running commentary as to who people are, and who they represent. Canterbury Commons and the Regulators; which in turn has led to Littlehorn contractors and even a few Talon Company mercs. The Memorial feels like a powder keg, and it bristles with weapons.

This has so much potential to go terribly wrong.

Arcade can't help flinching when they see the first soldier in Hellfire armor; Boone places himself in front of Carla, who hugs Daisy closer. Any thought that they should have separated vanishes; none of them are whole, they have to come to terms with that or they'll never get over this fear.

"It's all right," Manny says. "They aren't taking you again, Arcade."

The warm hand on his shoulder stops him trembling.

*****

Boone

Don't think I've been minding this so much as the others.

Arcade, he hates not having all his knowledge at his fingertips, and Carla says the gap between who she was and who she feels like is still too wide. But I didn't need Manny to tell me I'm a good soldier, ready to take orders. Maybe if Autumn had pushed me the right way, if I'd been "clean", I would have disappeared into power armor and never seen daylight again.

And when Manny found us at Rivet City, told me who I was and what my blood-sight was, I gave him all that trust instead. Made the others see him my way.

Only now there's things about me that he can't account for, he looks at me with tenderness he doesn't have for Carla and Arcade, and I don't know what he's hiding. Or what I was hiding from him.

No, strike that. It was something unforgivable. There's no gun made can wipe away your mistakes, I guess.

But was I going to run from him, or with him?

*****

Carla

"The elder Autumn, at your service." He kisses her hand chivalrously.

She resists the impulse to deck him with it. "Charmed."

"Carla Boone, of the Nacochtank settlement," Manny says, a threat rumbling beneath his smooth words. "She'd be missed."

"I'm sure she would," James says, elegantly stepping back. "Still, it's a pleasure to meet the woman who's captured the whole Wasteland's heart- I do regret not meeting you before that grandiose escape, all the same. A good deal of...unnecessary drama could have been avoided."

There isn't a word in the Capitol for what she's thinking, his mixture of snake and wolf. She takes a crispy mirelurk cake from the buffet table, thinks about driving the metal pick into the more tender parts of his face.

"So when's zero hour? Everyone here knows the Enclave's here to show off its technological prowess."

He tuts. "Technically, Project Purity is separate from the Enclave, per se. I might be very proud of my son's success under President Eden's regime, but Purity is a Rivet City project and always has been. Its effects will benefit the whole Wasteland, of course."

Daisy starts to cry.

Just as well: changing diapers gets her gracefully out of the conversation, and stops her getting into debate.

And with the showdown that's bound to come, it's just as well to keep her powder dry.

*****

Veronica

"She likes yoooou."

"She does not," Christine splutters, taking my hand- the one without the atomic cocktail in it. "All Sarah sees is COS Knight Christine Royce, someone she'd like to have on her side."

"See? You're already calling her Sarah."

"She's more stuck up than Hardin. That takes some doing." My girlfriend leans in for a kiss, and gets it. "She's just playing nice and hoping for resupply from the Mojave chapter- V, are you sure this is how we want to play it? I trusted Carla, but that was before the Enclave captured her. She might be compromised."

The rest of my cocktail goes down quick. "Even if she is- even if those escapees are nothing more than Enclave puppets- she left a legacy. That Follower base is the brightest hope in DC, I promised her I'd defend it and I will."

"Then I'll back you to the hilt. Always."

"Always."

We clink glasses as Sarah comes back in, having swapped out her power armor for something...a little more sparkly and with a lot less back. If memory serves, that was the dress worn by the last First Lady at the First Street Wax Museum. Nice bit of salvage.

"C? What did I tell you?"

Christine drains her drink impertuably. "Ah, to be constantly the target of beautifully dressed women with their eye on me. What a fate."

"Oh, there you are Christine! It was silly to be wandering around in full armor- shall we pick up where we left off? I'll buy you a drink?"

"By all means," Christine says, as tranquil and unapproachable as I've ever seen.

Only thing that undercuts it is my giggles.

[green-eyeddragonfanfiction]

Running from the Past: Chapter 1

Summary: Reader is a mutant who was experimented on by HYDRA. Due to her unique powers, she escapes without being seen when the Avengers attack the Hydra compound she’s been kept in for the last 5 years of her life. Her mutations and Hydra experiments allow her to blend in with her surroundings (like a chameleon/cuttlefish/octopus) and change her appearance in minor ways (such as hair, skin, and eye color), though the changes are only temporary. She’s now on the run, avoiding both Hydra and SHIELD. Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader Word Count: 3,361 Warnings: language (swearing), violence/fighting, traumatic past

Masterlist // Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Present Day

You groaned, fighting the urge to throw your ancient keyboard and monitor across the room. Instead, you settled for kicking your desk halfheartedly and leaned back in your decrepit, squeaky rolling chair. It wobbled ominously and you almost hoped it would fall apart with you on it; it would give you a reason to leave your tiny home office and avoid your work... or break something out of anger.

It was another dead end. The third one in the last five days. You weren’t used to failing so tremendously at your job. Being a private investigator was usually easy for you. You were literally made to spy on people and you had gotten good at it in your year and a half doing it. Most of the time you followed around rich peoples’ spouses and caught them cheating or tracked down missing people. There was also that one time you helped a kid find their birth parents which had been particularly satisfying.

Tracking even the most suspicious people was easy when you could look like a different person at a moment’s notice. It was made even easier when you could literally blend into the background. You made a good living being a P.I. New York had many rich clients and your reputation was sterling. You made enough to live in an old apartment in Brooklyn; The bathroom, bedroom, and office were tiny, but you liked it better that way. Open spaces had made you uncomfortable since your time at Hydra. You knew all too well how easy it was to hide in the huge cement jungle that was New York City. It was easy to disappear there, but you also knew how easy it was to be found if you knew what to look for.

You spared one last look at the screen and your cork board covered in notes, pictures, and string before angrily turning your computer off and stomping towards the door, grabbing your hoodie and purse as you went. You thought fresh air might help clear your head, and you’d been putting off going to the grocery store for a day or two now. Surviving off of Pop-Tarts and a block of mild cheddar cheese wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. A few choice curse words left your lips as you grabbed your keys, flicked off the lights, and locked the door behind you. You grumbled the entire way down the stairs, muttering about “bullshit marriages” and “unreliable fucking sources.” All 8 floors. Swearing. You would have also added in some stomping for good measure, but the man two floors down in 6B had the hearing of a bat and the temper of a bull... and, also, a very large, very illegal shotgun. You would have turned him in a long time ago, but he was a surprisingly good source of information. Also, you didn’t want to deal with the police any more than necessary.

You reached the bottom of the stairs and pulled your hoodie on, then paused for a moment. After a brief scan of the area, you deemed it safe. You focused your attention on your powers and saw your hair slowly change from it’s usual (Y/H/C) to a deep red. Your skin tone shifted, too. You blinked rapidly as your irises changed, your corneas prickling uncomfortably. You checked your reflection in the glass of the doorway. Satisfied no one would recognize you easily, you left the apartment complex and made your way towards the nearest neighborhood grocery store.

You glared up at the sky. You’d lost track of time, and it was starting to get dark out. You walked swiftly, but let your thoughts wander. You’d never hit such a wall with a case before. Every time you got a new lead, it was as though all the evidence surrounding it vanished into thin air. Someone was trying very hard to hide something or someone. You thought about what you knew.

Your clients were wealthy. They hired you to look for their son who vanished from their home without a trace two weeks ago. They wouldn’t go to the police- they were worried about the scandal it would cause; the heir to the business running away tended to ruin stocks, you supposed. The father was pissed, but the mother was distraught. You had already checked into their alibis; they were air-tight. You had visited their home. Your beat up yellow ‘64 Mustang had looked hilariously out of place on their driveway. You checked out the son’s room. Nothing had been out of place as far as you could tell. According to the parents, they didn’t go in his room enough to know if anything was missing. There were no signs of a struggle. It had been a huge waste of your time. The son was 25. He was some sort of super genius with computers and also had a good mind for business. You had checked out a few rival companies, but that had also turned up nothing. He had a surprising lack of friends. His parents said he would have business associates over sometimes, but when you went back to your place to look up the names they gave you, you couldn’t find anything on them. In fact,  you couldn’t find anyone with descriptions matching the names the parents had given you. You knew something was wrong, but you couldn’t find any leads to help you crack the case. You were half tempted to tell your clients their son simply left, but you knew when something smelled fishy and this case stunk like raw sewage.

You turned the corner and spotted the sign of the local grocery store. Your shoulders relaxed slightly as you stepped through the sliding double doors and into the tiny store. The cashier looked up from her phone long enough to bid you welcome, not recognizing you even though you came in about twice a week. You perused the aisles absentmindedly, occasionally picking up items and throwing them into your basket. Once you were satisfied with your haul and the handles of your basket creaked threateningly, you went up to the cashier. A man in a crisp black suit was being rung up in front of you, but you were too engrossed in your thoughts of the case to notice his utilitarian haircut, or the suspect bulge in his jacket over his hip. The cashier didn’t notice either and rang him up and halfheartedly wished him a good night. As you stepped forward, you pulled a couple reusable bags out of your purse and handed them silently to the cashier.

“Thanks, was just about to ask,” she said, throwing you a small smile.

“No problem,” you said quietly. She looked up at you and furrowed her brows. She studied your face for a moment.

“Hey, you got a sister around here or something?” she asked, ringing up items as she spoke.  “You look familiar.”

You thought about telling the truth- that you didn’t- but realized it would be more convincing and a better cover if you just agreed.

“Yeah, she lives two blocks away at North Gate Gardens,” you say with a small smile.

“Oh, I think I remember her! That makes sense,” she said, placing your last items in the bags. You almost breathed out a sigh of relief. “That’ll be $86.42.” she said, putting the bags up on the counter for you to take after you finish paying. You pulled out the correct amount of cash and change- you didn’t pay with card for anything. It made your life hard sometimes. She took the cash and change with a smile. “Have a good night,” she said, returning to her phone as soon as you were out the door.

It was good and truly dark now. You groaned. You’d bought too many things, and it was a long walk back followed by 8 flights of narrow, steep stairs. You set a brisk pace, not wanting to get caught out by any unsavory characters. It was still relatively early and New York was the city that never sleeps, but you were a P.I. You knew what happened in the city when the sun went down.

You were about halfway back to your apartment when you felt it.

A presence.

You fought the urge to look behind you. If they were following you, it’d tip them off immediately that you knew they were there and with only grocery bags and a couple of keys to defend yourself, you didn’t like your chances.

I should have just taken the car, you thought to yourself bitterly. But you knew it would have been pointless. Parking was nearly impossible to find in your neighborhood. You would have just wasted gas. Your mind raced. Could it be Hydra? No, they’d think you were dead. SHIELD? Or whatever they went by nowadays? No, they shouldn’t even know you exist. If they did, they would also think you were dead, killed in the Hydra compound with all the other test subjects. Your heart thudded in your chest. The person following you was keeping a set distance. They didn’t keep walking when you stopped at the crosswalk- they wanted to stay out of sight. You briefly hoped it was a drunkard, making his way back to his house or into a cozy alley for the night, but the lack of catcalling or general drunken tomfoolery made you realize that wasn’t an option.

Still, whoever was following you shouldn’t have been able to recognize you. You made sure you never looked the same when you left the building- maybe that was what had tipped them off? That didn’t make any sense, though.

Your apartment complex was in sight now and you looked up at the window of your room that faced the street. Your blood ran cold. The light was on. The light that you specifically turned off whenever you left to save money. The one you never left on when you’re not home. The one you turned off before you walked to the store. Your senses and mind kicked into overdrive, all doubts about whether or not you were being followed thrown to the wayside. You knew the building’s layout like the back of your hand- you were paranoid enough to memorize the layout of any building you frequented. It was definitely your room. You had half a mind to call the police, but thought better of it. That would only get you into more trouble. You didn’t trust cops, and you weren’t technically in the U.S. legally.

You stared at the walk signal. You pretended to rummage around for your phone, grabbing your car keys out of your purse instead. Out of the corner of your eye you saw the cross traffic’s light turn yellow, then red. A half second later the walk signal turned and you took off running, dropping your bags at your feet. Your feet ate up the pavement as you ran. You didn’t look it, but you were actually pretty quick.

“Shit, shit, shit,” you muttered under your breath. You could hear your stalker running after you, feet thudding on the pavement. The person sounded huge, but you didn’t dare turn around to find out. You glanced down the cross street as you ran and were horrified to see a nondescript black SUV make its way out of a parking garage at a ludicrous speed, tires screeching angrily. You willed yourself to go faster. Your car was parked a little over half a block down, just past your apartment building. To your dismay, you saw even more men in black suits come thundering down the stairs, guns drawn and pointed directly at you.

“Oh sweet Jesus,” you said, turning your attention back to what was in front of you and ran for your life as fast as you could. Your lungs were burning, and even as fast as you were, you heard the person behind you gaining. You saw your car ahead, once bright yellow paint faded and peeling. It was parallel parked on the shoulder. Not the most inconspicuous getaway car, but fast. And even though it didn’t look like it on the outside, you kept it nice. You pulled out your keys and for once cursed its old age- no power locks to make this go faster. You heard shouting behind you, and glass shattered as the men in your apartment building began shooting in your direction through the lobby’s glass. You were running to the driver’s side when the black SUV came out of nowhere, ramming it, shoving it up on the sidewalk. If you had been even a little bit closer or on the driver’s side you would have been sent flying or been crushed between the two cars. You barely had time to process this before the person who had been following you slammed into you from behind. You nearly went flying with a breathtaking force as the solid mass of muscle hit you but the person grabbed your arms, hauling you back into their grip. You heard the doors of the SUV open. Your mind was screaming at you to run. You flailed against the man’s grip, but to no avail; it was as though you were in a vice.

“Wanda! Sam! We need cover, now!” came the voice behind you. To your horror, everything around you went red and for a second you thought you’d been shot, but then it undulated and moved and you realized it wasn’t a bloody haze, but some sort of energy. Your head whipped around to the sounds of guns being fired right next to you and to your amazement, the bullets stopped upon hitting the weird red mist. You heard something that sounded almost like a jet from above you and looked up to see a large bird. No, wait, that wasn’t right. It was dark, but you were able to make out the shape of a man... but he had wings. The Falcon? The Falcon was here? That means... You turned your head as far as it would go to look at the man behind you. The air in your lungs left with a hiss.

Steve Rogers. Captain America.

The red mist meant Wanda Maximoff was around somewhere, too. The Scarlet Witch. You struggled even harder. You knew what SHIELD really was. You knew its agents couldn’t be trusted. Not even the great Captain America was above reprimand nowadays. After Hydra had nearly taken over the world using SHIELD a few years back, you didn’t trust them. He spared a confused look at your struggling before looking around and assessing the situation.

“I think it’s her, but I can’t be 100% sure,” he said into the comms.

The men next to you banged on the energy barrier, but it didn’t budge. They took turns shooting at it, but it had no effect.

Someone must have responded to him because he spoke again a moment later. “They obviously want her for something- you should have seen her reaction when she saw her apartment was compromised. She’s not safe here, either way.”

Another pause.

“Got it. Bucky, ready for extraction?” he said into the comms. You were too preoccupied trying to get away to truly take in what he was saying. You didn’t know exactly what your plan was, but step A was getting away from the super soldier. You’d rather take your chances with the guys in nice suits toting large guns than Captain Fucking America. You paused your struggling when you heard the sound of an engine getting closer. 

The Captain looked down at you and gave you what you assumed he thought was a reassuring smile. You glared at him in response, but he didn’t notice. He was already looking back over his shoulder.

“Hold on,” he said. You waited for him to explain further, but he didn’t have to. In fact, it became very clear very quickly what he meant. “Now, Wanda!” he said, throwing you on the back of a speeding motorbike the moment part of the red barrier disappeared. Your instincts kicked in and you grabbed onto the whatever was in front of you- in this case, a person. A man, in fact. A very large one. With... a metal arm. James Buchanan Barnes. The motorcycle picked up speed the second you were on, racing off the sidewalk and into the road once more. If you weren’t going at least 60 miles per hour down busy New York streets, weaving in and out of cars, you would have thrown yourself off rather than be with the Winter Soldier a moment longer. You had heard of his earlier exploits and had seen the most notable ones on the news.

You heard him yell something back to you, but you couldn’t hear anything over the wind whipping past you. He seemed to realize this because he grabbed one of your arms and quickly wrapped it around his waist. You removed it immediately. He yelled back to you again, louder this time.

“Hold on- being followed- tight maneuvers-” you managed to catch a few words and got the gist of it. They were following you and he’d have to pull some fancy moves to lose them. You turned around carefully, thighs gripping the leather seat. Sure enough, there were three black SUVs following you. You groaned as another two turned up the street you were on, following closely behind the first three. For such large cars, they wove in and out of the traffic with ease. To your horror, a few men stuck their torsos out of the SUVs’ windows and pointed huge guns at you. You ignored everything your mind was telling you and wrapped your arms around his waist.

“Go, go, go!” You screamed. You didn’t know if he could hear you, but he drove faster anyway and turned the corner at a speed you didn’t think possible. You heard bullets rip through the air and you swore you could feel them miss by inches. He put his metal arm out against the ground and sparks flew as he kept the bike from going over sideways completely. You would have screamed, but your mind was telling you two things and two things only: Oh god, oh god, we’re all gonna die and hold on for dear life. Nowhere in your head was there processing power for “screaming.”

The city passed by in a blur. A horrifying, bullet-filled blur. The Soldier pulled some truly amazing maneuvers on the bike. You nearly passed out when he finally lost your pursuers by jumping the bike over a draw bridge that was being raised slowly. You’d looked down into the murky waters a hundred feet below and very nearly lost your lunch. The bike hit the opposite side of the bridge heavily, but kept on speeding.

You realized you were headed north out of the city. You began panicking again. Where was he taking you? What did they want from you? What did those men in suits want from you? You had so many questions and no answers to them.

You felt his chest rumble a couple times; He was speaking to the others over the comms. You looked out at the scenery around you. The darkness made it hard to tell, but you knew you were going fast. Whatever you could see whipped by in a blur. You knew you were stuck on the bike until he stopped. If you tried to get off or messed with the controls, causing him to crash, you were sure you’d turn into a lovely red smear on the road. You kept your body as far away from him as you could now that he was done with his dangerous maneuvers.

You had a plan.

Your butt was nearly completely numb when he finally turned off the highway and turned onto an inconspicuous road. He slowed down marginally, but still kept it too fast for you to risk jumping off. The road seemed to stretch on forever, but you felt him shift as he reached for a button on the center of the bike and pressed it. You craned your neck around his broad shoulders and gasped. About three hundred feet ahead the ground was giving way. The road was actually a monstrously giant ramp that led down into the darkness. As you got closer, the lights on the side of the secret tunnel ahead of you turned on, bathing everything in a cold, fluorescent glow. Your stomach jolted at the sudden change in angle as the Soldier drove down the ramp and into the hole. The tunnel was enormous. The walls changed from stone to metal and concrete. You turned around and watched the ramp begin to rise again, once again taking its place as a false road, and your stomach filled with dread. There was no escaping that way now. He drove further down underground; your ears had almost begun popping when you leveled out. He navigated the bike into the corner of a huge underground room and slowed down to almost a crawl. You looked around. A couple of undeniably fancy cars and a sleek jet were in the huge room. You now understood why the tunnel had been so large- they had to fly a jet out of it. The bike coming to a stop pulled you back down to planet earth. You stopped gawking at the shiny marvels of engineering and smoothly grabbed the gun holstered to his thigh that you had noticed on the drive out, and hopped off of the bike, out of his reach.

He looked back at you in surprise as you pointed the gun straight at his head.

“Y/N?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“How do you know my name, Soldat?” you asked, eyeing him warily. Something about his face seemed familiar and your gun lowered a fraction, but you chalked it up to seeing him plastered all over the news off and on for years. You raised it again, taking a half step back, further out of his reach.

He cringed slightly at your use of the name he was called when he was The Asset. “You mean... you don’t remember?”

Chapter 2

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Deep Space Mutant

hi @ihamtmus!!

OKAY, I'm super late but let's do this thing!! Thanks to @wellntruly, who is a GEM and helped come up with a ton of these and was just super fun to scream about this with

little background: most everyone has powers, it's very House of M although since this is a Star Trek universe they make a BIG DEAL out of ~equality~ between powered and non-powered people. Still, life is harder for you if you're non-powered or have weak powers, especially in terms of employment. Would you hire a non-powered bodyguard if you could get one that could shoot fire? I didn’t think so. It’s one of those undercurrents of society that DS9 addresses, and everyone else pretends doesn’t exist. Unsurprisingly, most colonists (and Maquis) are non-powered or have weak/not ‘useful’ powers as they willingly risk that danger to create a world for themselves where they’re not the ‘lesser’. 

And not every planet/species has the same style of powers that we're used to in our mutant comics, where everyone has different powers. Some are like Changelings, where everyone has the same powers. Some have symbiotic powers, like the Trill who have individual powers and then the symbiont all have the same power - which is the ability to retain and pass on memories and powers from previous hosts.

ANYONE ON TO THE GOOD STUFF (readmore below!)

Sisko has The Voice. When he speaks, everyone listens. It's more of a telepathic power, that compels everyone within hearing distance to listen to him. It doesn't force them to actually do what he says, but they have to at least listen to what he says. It's near impossible to interrupt him, and even a whisper is enough to get everyone around him craning to listen. He mostly finds this embarrassing or annoying at first, since it means no muttering under his breath and his superiors are always a little pissed since whenever he says anything everyone stops listening to them and tunes in exclusively to channel Sisko. The Bajorans are ALL OVER IT though. For so long, they were kept oppressed and silent by the Cardassians. Now the Prophets have sent them an Emissary that CANNOT be ignored - the Bajorans will be listened to at last! This power is definitely not inspired by the beautiful chocolate velvet that is Avery Brook's voice, what voice fetish, I don't have a voice fetish, YOU HAVE A THING FOR HIS VOICE DON'T LIE WE ALL DO.

Kira has flame powers, connected to her body. She literally has sparks flying from her eyes when she's enraged, and can punch a flaming fist into your stomach. She can't really spread the fire outside of her body, but that's what a blaster is for. She doesn't need to use her powers to kick your ass. When she was young, she thought that if she got fatally shot she would use the last of her strength to self-immolate in the hopes of burning some Cardassians to death. She has some control issues, but over the course of the series learns to be gentle with herself and her powers - lighting candles with the tips of her fingers and turning herself into a glowing pillar of warmth.

Miles tells everyone that he can talk to machines, but it's no big deal. He doesn't do anything that any good engineer couldn't do. In reality, he connects with systems like no one else can dream of. It's more than just communication, the machines themselves fall in love with him and jump to his every word to try to make him happy. It gets very boring though, every problem bending over backwards to fix themselves. It's why DS9 is so interesting, it's the first time that machines have fought back against him, argued and dragged their feet rather than eagerly work with him. Of course he doesn't realize that this is because Cardassian computer systems are justlike Cardassians themselves, and show their love via intense argument. He doesn't realize for a LONG time that all that petulant breaking and constant backtalk is really just Cardassian for TAKE ME NOW YOU HOT PIECE OF ENGINEER.

Here is a story about Julian: when he was 6 years old, he still wasn't showing any sign of powers. He couldn't read, he could barely write his name, but his parents clung to the idea that his powers would elevate him beyond needing those things. They worried constantly that their own weak powers (she glows very slightly in the dark, he has enough heat powers to fry an egg on his chest if he concentrates) might have doomed their son to mediocrity. Then the doctors tell them, very gently, that their son was among the tiny percentage born without an x-gene. The next day, they start looking into augmentation. If genetics couldn't make their son great as their dreams, then they would use science to do the job instead.

So Julian has super-smarts, and incredibly reflexes to go along with them. But somehow they are always...incomplete, in some weird way. Because they are artificial. He doesn't understand them innately, like a native speaker. He's FLUENT, because he's STUDIED, but there's always something just a little off. However he's CONSTANTLY talking up his smarts and Miles wants to fucking kill him at first because 'yeah okay GOD super smarts are a good power to have, shut UP about them you fucking show off I'm not constantly talking to your tricorder am I?'not realizing that Julian is hella over compensating and also would LOVE Miles to talk to his tricorder all the time. His brain is so weird, sliced and diced and reconnected until the wave length it sends out gives every telepath a headache which Miles thinks is HILARIOUS. 'your real mutant power is ANNOYING EVERYONE.'

It is not lost on Julian that he immediately attaches to Miles, rather than any other officer on the station. Keiko jokes that all machines fall in love with him, and Julian just gives her a very strained smile and agrees softly. When he tells Miles what he is, that he's unnatural, he says that of course Miles is his best friend - Miles has plenty of practice speaking to machines. And Miles is just like 'listen buddy even the cardassian machines aren't as annoying as you are, only a REAL PERSON could be as much a pain in my ass as you are. and that's from the HEART'

Garak keeps his powers a secret. Also a secret? Whether or not he even HAS them. Julian is absolutely FASCINATED, and adores hearing all the stories Garak spins about them using his, quote. 'rare gift for obfuscation':

my powers stimulate nerve endings. I could make Bajorans scream with pain without ever touching them

when I was young I discovered I could disappear into the shadows. Elim had the same type of power, which is why we were known as the sons of Tain, who could disappear in plain sight

haven't you noticed my clothes are exceptional? cloth listens to me as raptly as you do

oh my dear Doctor, my power? I told you everything. It was all true. especially the lies.

It;'s a different power every time and we never ever find out what his real powers are, or if he even HAS ANY. He might be baseline, for all anyone of them know

Jadzia is, to quote Tarra, "the actual cool version of Apocalypse". As I said earlier, Trills are born with a vast array of potential powers (plus a small percentage with none just like on Earth) and the symbionts are much the same as they are in the show, except they don't just pass down memories/personality but also the powers of their previous hosts - though the powers are weakened in transition. The Trills chosen for joining though are only chosen by those with really strong powers and incredible control though, since if those powers are gonna be saved forever through the symbiont you want them to be GOOD ones and if they're gonna be weakened you want them to be as strong as possible to start out with. For example, Curzon had super strength that he used to impress the Klingons and gain their respect; it's something Jadzia uses frequently to help her withstand some incredibly violent Klingon sex. Emony controlled water with incredible precision, able to control each drop just as she controlled her gymnast muscles, and used them often in her routines as water whips in rhythmic gymnastic style; Jadzia mostly uses it to flick water in people's faces when she's feeling mischievous, which is most of the time. Audrid was famous for her amazing flying powers, able to zoom around like a rocket, which is actually why Tobin, adrenaline junkie and first Trill to join Starfleet, joined the program: to get those flight powers and zoom around without a shuttle. He ends up disappointed at their weakness, though he still loves flying without a shuttle, and it's what pushes him to test drive new experimental engines - he will fly like he an remember!! - and what eventually kills him. CAN YOU TELL I'VE THOUGHT WAY TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS???

Jadzia herself had touch telepathy, able to know everyone with a hug. She has a ton of control though, and usually just skims the surface of people's thoughts. It's one reason she's super good at flirting - she knows IMMEDIATELY if someone's attracted to her. It's a rough power on DS9 though; that station saw a lot of misery and pain, and it shares that pain with her every chance it gets.

Ezri had very very weak powers, which is one reason she never even considered trying to get joined. She can technically smell emotions, but she has a really bad sense of smell. She would have to get REALLY close to smell something, and she's not alway gauranteed to recognize it. Like, do you realize how many emotions people generally feel?? It makes for a very weird, confusing blend! Fear is of course, the easiest to smell. She can smell fear!! Kinda. If she's close to you. And you're not wearing perfume. It's a pretty terrible power, and one that she really doesn't use very often. Fun fact: Garak liberally douses himself in cologne every time he might run into her. Un-fun fact: when she's trying to treat him he calls her  'a poor imitation of a betazoid, trying to be a poor imitation of Jadzia'

The Dax powers are technically weakened, but since she had such shit powers in the first place it's yet another thing to get totally overwhelmed by. like oH MAN NOW I SUDDENLY KNOW JUST HOW MUCH THAT THE GUY I BRUSHED IN THE HALLWAY NEEDS TO POOP, THANKS JADZIA'S TOUCH TELEPATHY. OH SHIT THERE GOES THE TABLE EDGE DAMMIT IT CURZON'S SUPER STRENGTH. WELP NOW I'M FLOATING HOW DO I TURN OFF AUDRID'S FLIGHT POWERS

Worf is basically the living embodiment of no. Non-physical powers don't work on him, he can't be affected by telepathy or illusions or anything like that. If someone has super-strength or stretchy powers they can use them against him, but whenever anyone tries to trick him he can just be like 'I see you giggling and waving your fingers. You look ridiculous and are doing nothing.' He's too straight forward to be tricked! It's the first thing that really intrigues Jadzia, he's the first person she can't just know with a touch. She has to work hard to get to know him, work doubly hard because his personality can be just as closed off as his powers, and eventually that desire to know him develops into love. He's the one person who could keep a secret from her if she wanted to know it, but he never would. THEY'RE REALLY CUTE.

Rom has magnetic powers, but really really shitty ones. He mostly just accidentally gets cutlery stuck to him. He does use his powers sometime to turn little bits of machinery that can't normally be reached - something he thinks of as pretty whatever but is actually SUPER USEFUL. Miles gives him a big clap on the shoulder and is super proud of him when he finds out, and Rom nearly dies of joy right then and there.

Quark IS Drinks Space Nine. He can look at you and tell exactly what your blood alcohol content is and how alcohol would affect you. It means that he can keep his patrons at a pleasant buzz all night, or can tip someone into sloppy drunk if they're winning too much at tongo. Despite how much shit the bar goes through, it almost never has to deal with rowdy drunks, and that's because of Quark's ability to keep everyone at that pleasantly tipsy state all night.

Nog is an awkward tree fog, with literal sticky fingers. It's very useful for stealing little things when he's young, but becomes HORRIFICALLY EMBARRASSING when he grows up and joins Starfleet, especially at first. Some people get sweaty hands when they get nervous but he just gets EXTRA STICKY HANDS. Like, picture him frantically trying to shake off the PADD he was just handed with his first assignment while Sisko's back is turned and then being like EVERYTHING IS FINE SIR AHAHAHA I JUST.... REALLY LIKE THIS PADD when he turns back

Jake has stretchy powers because come on have you SEEN Cirroc Lofton??? I almost can't believe that guy DIDN'T have stretchy powers. He's no Mr. Fantastic, but he can drape himself across all the furniture in the room in Peak Teen fashion. It also makes for some baseball shenanigans. He uses it a lot to tease his dad by being taller than him, at least until he ACTUALLY GETS THERE. It's a bit tiring for him to hold a stretch though, which is why when he first hits his growth spurt his dad is like 'hey watch out son, you'll strain something keeping yourself so tall for so long.' Jake tries to tell him that no, he's just naturally growing, and Ben is just like 'LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, I KNOW YOU'RE JUST USING YOUR POWERS, YOU'RE NOT ACTUALLY TALLER THAN ME, YOU'RE STILL MY BABY'

Keiko has growing powers. She's heard all the jokes, a botanist with growing powers? How obvious. It's mostly really annoying though, since when she discovers something new and gets excited she can accidentally spark some intense growth spurts and totally mess up her data. She loves making flowers bloom for Molly and Kirayoshi.

[kruppxreader]

A Super Help (Fem!Reader)

@jackie-sugarskull This prompt moved me so much. I don’t think my heart can take this any longer. The Captain interacting with children is my absolute favorite thing ever.

Hope you enjoy!

-

“There! That should be the last of them!”

The Captain clapped his hands together, brushing off the dirt. Your ten year old daughter and her little brother watched in awe as the superhero helped load the last cage onto the animal control van

“Who knew gophers could grow that BIG!!!” Your daughter threw her arms up in wild emphasis, while your five year old son began to play pretend, growling as if he too were a rabid gopher.

“Thank you so much, Captain! You really saved the day!” You eagerly threw your arms around the trouser-less wonder.

“Haha! It was no trouble at all, Ms. Y/n!!!” The Captain beamed, tightly wrapping his arms around you in return. “Trapping them was easy once we found out they were magnetic mutant gophers! Just open the hatch to the metal cage and they zip right in!”

The gophers snarled and rattled in the van, stuck to the sides of their metal cages. The Captain released you, and your two children came running to cling to your legs.

The Animal Control workers slammed the van shut, and soon they were driving off, taking the reactive rodents far, far away from you and your children.

Captain Underpants let out a proud exhale, placing his fists on his hips.

“Well, it was a pleasure seeing you all again.” He said tenderly, playfully tousling your son’s hair.

“Huh? No, don’t go yet!” He reached up to grasp at the Captain’s cape.

“Yeah!” Your daughter piped. “Can’t you stay just a little longer, Captain Underpants?”

He could swear his heart was ready to shatter to pieces. He bent down to their height and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

“I really wish I could but I’ve done my duty, young ones. I don’t want to overstay my welcome.” He brought your children in for a warm embrace.

You couldn’t bear to see your son and daughter in such disarray. It isn’t every day their favorite superhero comes for a visit. Actually this was only the third time they had ever seen him in person. Apparently he had saved their school on more than one occasion.

One of those occasions being in the middle of your class when the school was being overtook by an invasion of stink-spewing skunk cabbage creatures thanks to the work of a new garden-themed villain.Three of the creatures had you entangled in their vines, forcing you to inhale their toxic fumes.

That is, until Captain Underpants swooped in, tearing you from their creeping foliage and whisking you, along with the rest of the school to safety.

The other time was when a dastardly fiend attempted to swarm the school with hundreds of tiny android insects, which you had to admit was pretty cool at first. They were actually pretty cute, and the kids loved playing with them, especially your two.

But when you saw that vile man attempt to attack your son when he accidentally crushed one under his sneaker, that’s when you drew the line. Your daughter tried to step between, arms outstretched to defend her little brother, but to you horror she had taken a swift kick to the side, knocking her clean to the floor.

But before you could react, that brief-clad hero quickly intervened, scooping up your daughter and son in one arm, then delivering the evildoer a swift uppercut to the jaw.

You gazed in awe at the strange bald hero as he clobbered the villain to the ground, then gently lowered your children into your arms.

“Take care of them. I’ll have an ambulance on the way for your daughter, Miss Y/n.” He said to you before returning to finish off the creepy-crawly creep.

You held your children close. “Th-Thank you, Captain... Wait! How did you know my-....”

But it was too late. He and the villain were gone, and the mechanical bugs were all scurrying out of the building. And in an almost second, an ambulance siren wailed around the corner of the elementary school for your daughter and whomever else was in need of assistance.

So you did technically owe him three times for his valiant efforts.

You tapped at your chin.

“You know, I was planning on baking a pie tonight.” You grinned amusingly.

It was almost as if you had revealed the Holy Grail.

“PIE?!” Your children exclaimed with stars in their eyes.

You nodded contently. “Mm-hm. It would be a shame if you couldn’t join us for a slice.” You flashed a playful wink at the Captain.

“Oh...? Well, I do believe it would be rather rude of me not to partake, now wouldn’t it?”

The Captain passed the wink to the kids who in turn, clung to the hero in delight.

You couldn’t help but laugh as the waistband wonder soared into the sky, twirling your two children in his arms.

“Alright, you three!!!” You shouted up to the sky. “Come on inside and I’ll start making the crust!”

“I wanna put the filling in!!!” Your daughter exclaimed.

“I just wanna lick the spoon after!” Your son giggled.

“Alrighty then! To... YOUR KITCHEN!!!”

And with that being said, the Captain swooped down with your children, racing into the house while you happily sauntered behind.

-

“Mmf-... Thiff if a luffly place you haff here, Miff Y/n!” The Captain attempted to speak through a mouthful of your favorite pie.

“Thank you, Captain. It’s an old place, but I think we spruced it up rather nicely, the three of us.” You replied, sitting down on your sofa next to him with your own plate.

“Captain Underpants, look!!! I like superheros too!!!” You smiled as your son came running into the living room with an armful of crayon drawings, haphazardly spreading them on the floor in a personal gallery for the Captain to view.

The Captain’s eyes lit up. He swallowed and leaned forward to get a closer look.

“Wow, son! Those are amazing! Is this you?” He picked up a drawing of a boy in a bright green cape flying and saving a cat from a burning building.

Your son pumped his arms excitedly. “Yeah!!! When I grow up, I wanna be a superhero just like you, Captain!!!”

Meanwhile your daughter sat in the back corner in the recliner, scribbling away in her writing notebook.

“I’m sorry bro, but you’re gonna need superpowers for that to happen.” She scoffed.

“Superpowers?! HA!!!“ The Captain set down his plate on the coffee table. “They do help quite a bit, but you don’t need superpowers to be a hero! Why when I first became Captain Underpants, I didn’t even have powers!”

“REALLY?!” Your son put his hands on the Captain’s knee, his mouth open in shock.

“Mm-hm! But I knew deep down in my heart I wanted to do something good for the world.” He reached under your son’s arms and plopped him down on his knee. “If you really want to be a superhero, you need to ask yourself one thing and one thing only: .... Do you want to do something good for the world?”

“YEAH!!!” Proclaimed your son, pumping his fists in the air once more.

“Then, my boy, you CAN be a hero!!!!” The Captain lifted your little boy in his arms, holding him high above his head.

It was a beautiful sight, seeing your son so overjoyed. You knew he was going to remember this moment for a lifetime. Even your daughter was enthralled in the excitement. It almost felt like the moment could last forever.

“Well, I am sorry to say this, but I think I need to be heading home.” The Captain glanced out the window, noticing the sun was just about to set for the day.

“Aw, really?!?!” Your children moaned as he lowered your son back to the floor.

“It is getting rather late. You two need to be getting ready for bed!” You felt like a sword was being driven through your chest watching the happiness drain from your children’s faces, but you knew it had to happen eventually.

“Can you come back tomorrow, Captain?” Your son asked, tugging slightly at his cape. You reached down and scooped him up in your arms.

“Honey, Captain Underpants has to keep an eye out and protect the city. That’s his job! He’s got to make sure no weird robot gophers come back to take over Piqua!” You bounced him in your arms, making him giggle. You turned back to the Captain.

“But please, don’t be a stranger, will you?” You smiled graciously.

“Only if there’s more of that delicious pie!” He winked, then turned to your daughter who was back in her chair, still writing away.

“You’ve been rather quiet back there, Little Lady. What are you working on?” He asked.

Your daughter quickly folded her notebook shut and pointed to the cover.

“I’ve been writing about all the times you saved us! I never want to forget them!!!” She beamed proudly.

The Captain chuckled and ruffled her hair. “Be sure to keep those safe and sound. And who knows? Maybe someday you’ll become Piqua’s next ace reporter!”

A wide, toothy smile spread across your daughter’s face. And with a leap off her chair and a tight hug goodbye to the Captain, she bolted up the stairs to her bedroom.

“Thank you, Captain Underpants!!! I won’t let you down!!!” She yelled as she darted into her room.

You and the Captain shared a laugh as you lead him towards the door.

“Will you be safe heading home, Captain? Er-... I mean I know you’re a superhero, but it is getting dark and I-.... Ugh, I’m a mother, what do you expect?” You shook your head, wanting to kicking yourself.

“Not a problem, Miss Y/n! I appreciate the concern!” The Captain wrapped his arms around you and your son one last time. “Thank you for such a wonderful time!”

You nodded. “Yes, please do come again! I’m sure the kids would love seeing their favorite superhero again someday.” You gave a small kiss to the side of your son’s head.

The Captain saluted and clicked his heels. “You have my word!!! And now I must bid thee, farewell and goodnight!!!”

And with a bend of his knees, the Captain soared high in air. A triumphant “Tra-la-laa!!!” echoed through the evening sky as he zoomed off into the night.

Your son let out a long, heavy yawn, which contagiously made you yawn in return.

“Let’s get you up to bed, then, shall we?” You cooed, taking him back inside.

The sleepy boy rubbed his eyes. “Mommy, do you really think I can be a superhero like Captain Underpants?”

You smiled, bringing him close in your arms.

“Yes. Yes, I do, sweetheart.”