#and he's still trying to process and figure out what the hell to do c. requiem for methuselah while consumed with jealousy

[anghraine]

It's now Thursday, but I was tagged by @brynnmclean in WIP Wednesday and wanted to share my accomplishment! It's for the f/f K/S AU and follows directly from this scrap, just after "That Which Survives":

The skin on S’paak’s fingers itched: not a genuine dermal reaction, nor intense, but noticeable. She wished she could meld with Jess again, just for a moment, enough to see what eluded her rather than fumbling through language. But she was honest with herself: wish hardly encompassed the hunger she felt. S’paak had only once touched Jess’s mind when the captain was fully herself, and then, only at her invitation. Or rather, at her command, since it had been the only way to protect Kirk, Scott, and McCoy from death. Mr. Scott had been on the point of panic when S’paak projected her controlled assurance onto him, McCoy nervous and resistant, but Jess—Jess, whose mind she had forced until her memories returned, S’paak herself reeling from the experience—Jess had looked at her with the same easy trust as ever, eyes steady and focused on S’paak. Nor was it only outwards composure: her mind had been entirely receptive when S’paak reached for her thoughts, welcoming the touch with no emotions more turbulent than curiosity and a certain pleasure S’paak had no time to analyze. She had not remained in Kirk’s mind longer than necessary. She had not suggested another meld; she knew better than that. But she craved it. “You had reason enough to consider the possibility of death,” S’paak told her. “Determining available resources while indefinitely stranded was a logical priority. The away party had no reason to assume the Enterprise would rescue you, or even data to suggest that we had survived.” “Very generous of you, Commander,” said Kirk, looking gratified.

She leaned back in her chair, turning the angle slightly to look more closely at S’paak. But S’paak found her own self-command easy enough to retain, now that she was free of the stabbing anxiety that had tormented her before. Her mind felt clear, and her body spared the vibrating, painful sensations from before, spared everything but that tingle at her fingertips. She even felt untroubled, apart from the puzzle tugging at her mind, and her embarrassed awareness that Kirk had conducted herself more logically in all this than S’paak.

It was not only that Kirk’s conduct had been superior, although it had been, and although S’paak knew Jess was already strained and tired in general. But Jess, trapped in a situation that seemed designed to torment her specifically, had borne the weight of it with far more reason and assurance than S’paak herself had.

Torment—

“In all honesty,” Jess was saying, brushing some lint off her uniform, “we were all tense and worried, and I snapped at them a few times, but we had reason to react far worse than any of us did. Not that I wouldn’t love to hint at some great feat of will in my log, but it wasn’t that. The whole thing seemed too strange and fantastical to completely register for what it was, I think. Even after everything we’ve seen.”

Between one instant and the next, S’paak’s blood seemed as cold in her veins as so many of her crew mates had always insisted it was. At the same time, she felt much as she did when she adjusted the sensors and saw blurry shapes taking crisp, comprehensible form, the data now properly illustrating the paradigm.

The mystery was so clear now: Jessica on the surface, understanding the weight of the crisis better than anyone else could, yet bearing it with startling ease; S’paak, light-years away, oblivious to what the away party faced, oblivious even to Jess’s survival, yet carrying so much dread and tension in her body that she had felt consumed by it for hours, lashing out without reason or provocation. A lever, of sorts, between them, but one these humans would never have encountered.

S’paak knew, without a doubt, that she had forged this, bridged the chasm between their minds. She had done it with no deliberation, intent, even awareness until today: and yet she had done it. Jess could hardly consent to such a connection. She would never have heard of one such as this and could hardly register its effects. S’paak, herself, had only vague knowledge of rare, strange bonds that could operate with such force across such vast distances; certainly hers with Stonn had not done so.

Still, she knew.

[headdinthewall]

MATCH CELEBRATIONS ── g.clarke ౨ৎ ⋆｡˚

summary : in which george forgets to celebrate his goal during the match, so he makes up for it afterwards a/n : my brain is just full of creative ideas atm so… also can you tell george is my favourite? but i was rewatching the charity match and got this idea // italics is stephen doing the commentary content : established relationship ,, sexual innuendos ,, mentions of injury ,, a severe lack of knowledge on how football works xx

─────── THE ENERGY THROUGHOUT Wembley Stadium was electric and buzzing. The match had gone incredibly smoothly so far, with a new record of 16 goals being scored, making the overall score be 8-8 with only eight minutes to go. Your fingers were crossed on your lap, knees bouncing nervously as your boyfriend was subbed back on.

You were sat between Sabina and Arthur, both of them talking to you and making casual conversation. You and Sabina murmured over what the hell was going on during the match and the newest make up releases that were actually worth buying, while you listened to Arthur just complain about the constant off-side passes — whatever that meant.

You continuously checked your phone, a nervous habit you picked up when George wasn’t around. It made no sense — of course — because it’s not like he could text you right now anyway, he was literally on the pitch.

“Oh! It’s a corner! It’s a corner!” Arthur exclaimed, hand gripping your arm ridiculously tight, causing your bracelets to dig into your arms.

“Arthur!” You hissed, pushing him off like an annoyed older sibling.

“Sorry.” He laughed, staring at the huddle of players in front of the goal.

Tobi was stepping back, preparing to boot the ball towards them.

Just as he did, Angry Ginge completely missed his defence kick, the ball flying straight past him and into the foot of—

George.

All of a sudden, the stadium burst into screams and yells of support and excitement, everyone raising from their seats as your boyfriend’s foot knocked the ball into the back of the goal (and himself in the process as he stumbled into the net).

“Oh my God!” You screeched, standing and jumping whilst clapping, “Yes George! Oh my God, yes!”

Arthur and Isaac were just as excited as you, arms around each other’s shoulders and jumping in joy. Arthur pulled you into it and you laughed at their boisterous celebration.

George looked incredibly confused as he ran towards Tobi, gesturing between the two of them and trying to figure out who was actually to be credited, but when the rest of the Sidemen team joined in on clapping his back, he relished in the feeling.

He found you in the crowd and waved, resulting in him getting an air kiss back.

“And there goes George and his mrs, subtle PDA, we love to see it. Blowing kisses at him, though I’m sure he’ll be getting more blowing of another kind for that goal.”

You cupped your mouth with both hands and whooped for him, screaming loudly.

The cheering died down as the game continued to progress but you still couldn’t get over the adrenaline rush of the love of your life scoring a goal right in front of your eyes.

The grin never left your face, even after Theo Baker scored a last minute equaliser, making the score 9-9.

“Does that mean penalties?” You looked over at Arthur and Isaac, and they nodded.

You refrained as much as you could from biting your nails, considering you’d just had them done a couple days ago.

The crowd was in utter shock as Sketch saved Simons goal, as he was known for being a great penalty shooter.

As the game came to an end, with Speed getting the winning shot for the Youtube Allstars, a lot of people began filing out of the stadium, ready to leave and go home, yoy however, could not, as you had to wait for George.

From your spot, you could vaguely see Munya and Els doing interviews on the pitch, grabbing different players and putting a microphone in their face.

“Clarkey! Clarkey!” Munya called out, grabbing George’s shoulder and turning him to the camera. “Your goal virginity is gone!”

“Yes.” George laughed.

“How does that feel?”

“Well, it’s one of them ticked off the least, hopefully that means the second one tonight!” He joked, smirking, “No, um, honestly I had absolutely no idea that it was my goal, hence the complete lack of celebration and just, sort of, pointing at Tobi, um, but no, insane.”

“With more time, how would you have celebrated?” Munya asked.

“I—“ George laughed with a scoff, “I don’t think time was the problem, I think it’s just that I’m a pure idiot— uhm, but I do have a celebration now … where is she?” He hummed, eyes scanning the crowd and then pointing at you. “Isn’t she beautiful.”

He beckoned you down, waving his hand at you.

“Me?” You mouthed, pointing at yourself.

“Yeah! Come down!” He shouted, even though you probably couldn’t hear him.

“Is this a camera moment?” Munya questioned, confused as to what was going on.

“I mean, it’s going to be caught on the fifty thousand phones that are here, so might as well get it in good quality.” George shrugged with a laugh.

You made your way down the stairs and through the tunnel, when security stopped you.

“Sorry, love, players and interviewers only.”

“Oh, no, my boyfriend asked me to come down—“

“Tom, it’s good.” Simon came through, patting the security on the back, “She’s allowed through.

Tom nodded and let you past.

“Why does he want me?” You asked Simon, as he clearly had an idea as to what was going on.

“No idea.” He lied, gesturing for you to follow him.

You jogged up to George, ecstatic to be seeing him, and threw yourself at him, arms around his shoulders, “I’m so proud of you!”

He laughed, arms around your waist, and tapped your bottom to put you down.

“I’ve got something for you.” George stated, stepping back slightly.

Munya and the camera man cleared the scene, allowing him more space.

“What— Oh my God.”

The air was knocked from your lungs as you watched George, panting and flushed red from his exertion, as he got down on one knee.

His eyes were full of pure adoration and nothing short of unconditional, eternal love.

The air around you seemed thick, and despite the roar of the crowd and buzzing atmosphere around you, it didn’t seem real. You were grounded by his presence, and the scenes around you disappeared, as if it were just you two, alone, on a field of grass.

“Reader … you have been in my life for seven years now, and those seven years have been the most wonderful, exhilarating years of my life, and I genuinely couldn’t have done this whole Youtube, social media thing, without you.”

You burst into tears, unable to control yourself.

“Waking up next to you every morning is like witnessing the human embodiment of an angel, and there is no one else I could dream of doing that with. I don’t usually believe in ‘everything happens for a reason’, but I whole-heartedly believe that we met for this reason. Because you are my soulmate, through and through. You’ve been there for me through everything, from tough times like when my mum was sick and to the best days of my life, like asking you to be my girlfriend, and every day that’s followed since.”

Your sobs were uncontrollable as you nodded with his words, your hands on your cheeks.

“You’ve put up with me since day one, which shocks me, especially since I sweat like a pig when it’s only eight degrees outside, and even though we lost the game today, I know that I’ve already won in life, because I get to call you my girlfriend— and hopefully my wife.” He laughed, clearing his throat as he neared on crying himself.

“So … reader … will you marry me?”

The question lingered for a split second and you were entirely speechless, opting for a shaky nod instead of saying anything.

“Yeah?” He muttered.

“Yeah.” You croaked, holding your hand out.

He grinned and slipped the ring on. Once it was secure, he shot to his feet, lifting you off the ground. Your arms locked around his neck and your legs around his waist as you sobbed into his shoulder.

“To Mr and Mrs Clarkey!” Munya exclaimed into the microphone and everyone erupted into cheers.

“I love you so much!” You sobbed, pulling away from his neck and placing your hands on his cheeks, “Of course I’ll marry you, oh my God!”

He laughed at your reaction, giving you a chaste kiss, keeping it appropriate and sensible for the cameras and children in the crowd or watching.

yourusername

liked by arthurtv georgeclarkeey chloeburrows and 439k more

after five years on knowing you and four years of dating you … i can legally call you mine (soon)💓

tagged : georgeclarkeey

georgeclarkeey aren’t you sweet x

↳ yourusername and you’re performative, proposing in front of everyone like that x

georgeclarkeey loving you forever x

↳ yourusername loving you forever and always x

chloeburrows awww, the cutest! so happy for you two💞

arthurtv ‘we might have lost the game but i’ve won life’ 🥶🥶🥶 (congrats you guys❤️)

↳ georgeclarkeey cheers, was waiting for your approval (thanks mate❤️)

chrismd10 proposal was almost as cold as my free kick mate

↳ stephen_tries give it a rest, it was one of 18 goals

behzingagram best proposal oat🙌🏼❤️

sidemen ❤️❤️❤️

↳ georgeclarkeey thanks for letting me do that guys

livvydimartino beautiful girl🥹 so happy for you xx

↳ yourusername thank you ml💓

bambinobecky he can’t take my munchkin from me. tell him i’m coming for him

↳ yourusername nothing can split us apart becky x

↳ georgeclarkeey i can read her comments🤓🤓

arthurnfhill george please film fifty more platform roulettes before a baby clarkey is on the way

↳ yourusername don’t plan on getting preggy for a while yet finchy x

↳ faithlouisak neither did i babe x

user1 everyone’s getting married and having babies now!! this is so cute it’s so nice seeing everyone make their own families!

user2 the fact that she immediately burst into tears🥹

↳ user3 she’s so real for that honestly

user4 clarkey for the best proposal of all social media couples!!!

user5 they’re so in love it makes me feel sick (with jealousy)

[occasionalsnippets]

I’m curious about Tim and MC’s relationship.

Like, is Tim grateful for the fact that MC took care of him?

Does he know that MC took his shifts as Robin so he wouldn’t deal with B’s bad days/nights?

Does he know that Jack and Janet didn’t really like MC?

How much does he resent Jack and Janet?

How does he bond/show his love for his sibling?

Also, how would the members of the Batfam bond with MC? (Before and After Damian snitched)

And what do the Batfam think of MC?

- Storm.Anon

Focusing on just Tim for this! Send another ask for other Batfam members owo because I do want to individually dig into each relationship.

Taglist: @dragondevinity, @lonely-star2044, @sheep-from-rad, @ilxandra, @thethingwiththefeathers, @star-wars-lycanwing-bat, @sackofsadstuff, @zonked-times, @paastaboi, @venfia, @fantasy-angelo, @linaisadream, @shirp-collector-of-fixations

Their relationship is both less complicated and more complicated than it should be. On one hand, you’re Tim's older sister-caretaker-parental figure-best friend- who can’t be categorized neatly into any singular category. On the other hand, none of those categories matter when you are the person he trusts more than anyone else in the world. More than he trusts himself.

Your parents do not hate you. You were an accident (huge, immensely big, giant accident) but they do care for you in some nebulous, difficult to discern, rich-people kind of way. They give you all the money you could want. They teach you the rules of high society and how to deal with the company. They try. Sometimes.

In many ways, you are their protege and student before a lot of things but you are still your mother’s child. A reflection of Janet Drake in every way that matters with a mind like a steel trap and a mouth that murmurs sweet poison. It is one of the main things Tim notes as a child when he thinks of you and mother.

The biggest mark against your parents, really, is the neglect. Their children weren’t their number one priority and both you and Tim knew. They could be worse. They could be better. C+ parenting all around.

Tim’s view on Jack and Janet are a bit fickle? Inconsistent? Complicated? He had wished for a very long time when he was younger for them to come home more often but he never really processed the whole situation until you forced everyone to get therapy. There’s quiet sadness in his feelings about his parents but not really resentment, not like you.

Not that those feelings have anywhere to go anymore. Both of you still grieved during their funerals.

Tim gives you gifts on mother and father's day and overtime the message written in the cards attached get longer and sillier. He still remembers the stillness of your initial reaction when he first presented you with a card.

He hadn't really noticed how much you did behind the scenes until he got older and realized you were internalizing a hell of a lot of things. His early days of existence are marked by your ever encompassing presence in his life. His parents leave. You stay. You always stay even as he digs himself into the pit that is becoming Robin.

He can always rely on you. If there is any truth in his life then it is that you will always be there for him. So, when you tell him with dark shadows cast upon your face that he shouldn't go out as Robin tonight, he accepts with minor protests.

You keep detailed reports on patrol to keep everyone updated when you're filling in as Robin and the ones from Tim's early days are... rough. Tim reads them because of course he does, and talks with you about it. A lot. You insist that he shouldn't have to deal with Batman because Tim is like 13 and Tim keeps saying that he chose this. So, the two of you compromise on it. Teamwork makes the dream work, right?

No one else really reads the old patrol reports. What happens during the early days stays between you and Tim and Bruce. Tim thinks Bruce still feels guilty about it, about both him and you.

Tim shows affection for you the same way you show affection. He'll go to company meetings in your stead. He learns to cook and bring meals to you when you're too busy. He orders materials for your hobbies whenever he notices you're running out.

Your relationship is not immune to normal sibling shenanigans though. You yell, you fight, he stands a centimetre away from the entrance of your room for no apparent reason, the two of you want to kill each other sometimes because "mother and father always liked you better-" and "I never wanted to raise you-"

You and Tim are so crazily co-dependent even if it isn't obvious. You're a bit less dependent than he is but you've also revolved your life around him and everything you do is basically for him so how true that statement is can be debated.

Sometimes you think you need him in order to be allowed to exist. There is no role for you except in reference to him, to your little brother who you'd give the world to.

Tim literally doesn't know how he'd survive or live without you. You taught him unconditional love. You're his favourite person. You've always protected him. He can't fathom the idea of existing without you.

You're impossible to separate from him and him from you. Aren't the two of you one and the same? Where does one end and the other begin? Who is he if not a reflection of you and who you raised him to be?

Alsjfjak so yeah. The Siblings. Them.

[thirdsaltyhunter]

Hold Me Together

Dean Winchester x Reader (could be read as platonic or romantic)

Summary: you're having a hard time trying to hold it together after Bobby's death, but Dean's there to pick up the pieces

Warning: hurt/comfort, sweet Dean, character death, talk of death and depression, smoking, season 7 spoilers

A/N: this is written as a reader pov but it's more of an o/c just without a name, not proofread all mistakes are my own

Bobby had taken you in when you were a teenager. At fourteen your entire life had been upended. You lost your parents and any semblance of the normal life you had. Bobby had found you on a hunt and had taken you back to his home. You were hesitant to trust him and for the first few weeks you hardly talked, ate, or slept, still processing what had happened to you. At least processing the best a fourteen year old, with no prior knowledge of the hunting world, could.

Bobby was patient with you, gaining your trust and trying to get you to open up. He was hesitant to tell you about hunting and the world of the supernatural, but you were a curious kid and you started to read his lore books. After that you figured it out pretty quickly and took quite the interest in it. Many days, you spent reading about monsters and the paranormal. You learned about how to kill them and Bobby taught you how to protect yourself.

At the age of sixteen, you decided to become a hunter, against Bobby's wishes. You fit the bill of a hunter: no family, no friends, and a boat load of trauma. Despite how young you were, you were pretty good at killing monsters, given that you now had two years worth of knowledge about hunting and a lot of training.

Hunting became your life. You were on the road a lot of the time, but you would always come back to Bobby's house after every hunt and he would take care of you. Through him, you met Sam and Dean. You helped them find their dad and after he died you went quite a few hunts with them. Eventually you became close friends and hunting partners, being there when Sam died, when Dean came back from Hell, fighting side by side during the Apocalypse.

You were one little, messed-up family, brought together by the fact that Bobby was like a father to all of you. And now he was gone.

It had been almost two weeks since Bobby had passed away. You and the boys were holed up in Rufus's cabin in Montana, trying to deal with his death. You hadn't been sleeping, opting to stay busy to try and keep from breaking down. You had spent a lot of your time getting his affairs in order and calling the people closest to him to let them know what happened. As his adoptive daughter, you felt it was your duty.

When you weren't doing that, you were trying to figure out what the numbers he had scrawled on your hand meant. You had tried almost everything you could think of, bank numbers, passwords, lock codes. Nothing worked and it was driving you crazy.

You had been distant from the boys, even though you were all staying in the small cabin together, you were quiet and in your head most of the time. You knew they were worried about you, trying to get you to eat or sleep. They knew that you were the closest to Bobby out of the three of them and would take his death hard, but it surprised them that you never broke down, you just kept working.

But everyone break eventually. There's always that moment where everything hits. That is where you are now. Crying so hard it hurts and utterly exhausted.

Both the boys were gone, Sam had gone on a supply run and Dean had gone to give Bobby's mystery numbers to Frank to see if he could figure them out.

You sat crammed between the coffee table and the couch, knees to your chest, holding a picture of you and Bobby in one hand and a cigarette in the other. You don't even know what had started it, but you had just...broke. All the emotions you had been pushing back came to the surface all at once and now you had sat there and sobbed until your chest ached.

You didn't know how much time had passed when you heard the front door open. Lifting your head from your knees, you saw that Dean had walked through the door. You didn't want him to see you like this, you never really cried in front of him and certainly not sobbing like you were now. He hadn't seen you yet, given that you were on the floor, so you quickly wiped your tears. Maybe you could run to the bathroom before he saw your face.

Nope. As soon as he turned around, he locked eyes with you and you knew there was no way he wouldn't notice you had been crying. He noticed everything.

"Aw, Sweetheart," he said softly. Seeing your face, he crossed to room and moved to kneel beside you.

"I'm ok," you said and stood up, trying to brush him off. "I'm ok," you repeated, more to yourself, as you tried to will away your tears.

However, you couldn't hold back the fresh wave building behind your eyes. You let out a broken sob and your legs gave out on you, partially from the awkward angle you had been sitting at and partially from how exhausted you were.

Dean caught you before you could fall. "Ok, you're ok," he said, holding you to him with one arm as he took the photo and your cigarette from your hand and put it out in the ashtray.

Before you could protest, he had lifted you into his arms and move to lay on the couch with you on top of him. All you could do, was let the tears fall as you clung to his shirt and let him position you in a way that was comfortable.

"Shhh, I got you, it's ok," he soothed, wrapping you in his arms and running a hand up and down your back.

He didn't say anything other than whispered assurances, just letting your emotions run through you as he fought tears in his own eyes. After what felt like an eternity of crying and soaking his shirt, sleep finally pulled you under.

Sam walked through the door with an arm load of groceries. "Hey man, wha-" he stopped himself when himself when he saw his brother raise a finger to his lips and then point to you. Only then did the younger Winchester realize that you were asleep on top of his brother, wrapped in a blanket that Dean had pulled over you.

"She ok?" he mouthed, noting the solemn expression on his brother's face.

Dean shook his head 'no'.

"I'll make her some food, she needs to eat," Sam whispered, as to not wake you, and proceeded to make dinner as quietly as possible.

You felt a hand gently shaking your shoulder before you heard Dean's voice.

"Hey Sweetheart," he said, when your eyes finally peeled open. "Sammy made dinner." He hated having to wake you, but you had to be starving.

You nodded and untangled yourself from Dean's embrace. You really didn't want to leave the comfort of his arms, but your stomach was demanding food after so long without eating.

You went to the bathroom to wash the tears stains from your face before joining the boys at the kitchen table. Neither of them made you talk if you didn't want to, instead they made light conversation and tried to make you smile. You knew this was going to be a hard time on all of you, but you were eternally grateful to have them by your side.

[marigold-field]

i lost the submission from the person who requested this :( so sorry! but a wonderful idea <3 not proofread b/c i wrote this quickly between classes

CW: uncomfortable interaction with a stranger, insecurity

John Marston x Shy!Reader

- John Marston likes to consider himself a man of many words. Considering his never-lacking ability to relentlessly conjure up snarky remarks, sarcastic observations, and his fearlessness in expressing unpopular opinion; many would agree that he is, indeed.

- So it was not only to the others shock, but also to his, that he found himself so devastatingly enamored by you

- Make no mistake, you were absolutely gorgeous in every way. Tastefully styled hair that perfectly framed your face, enhancing your seemingly perfect features, and a wardrobe that perfectly accentuated your figure; you looked fresh out of a beauty catalogue

- So, it was a no brainer that John would fall for a pretty girl like you. No, absolutely not. It was something else…you were so quiet and shy

- Always keeping to yourself, avoiding eye contact, responding in head nods more often than words, and heat instantly rising to your face anytime someone paid extra attention to you

- You weren’t exactly John’s usual type, per say

- But that’s what made him like you

- And he wasn’t the only one guilty of having confusing feelings

- Though you were more certain he’d rather spend his life entertaining working girls rather than give you the time of day. Especially when you considered your shy nature in comparison to his blatantly bold one

- However, you couldn’t have been more wrong

- He loved keeping his eyes trained on you from across the camp and seeing the way you’d get flustered, picking at your sleeves while looking away anytime you realized he was looking at you

- Compliments often rolled off the tongue awkwardly as he tried his best to determine what you would or wouldn’t be comfortable with

- Either way, you’d blush fiercely and stroke John’s ego by doing so

- He was definitely a fool in love

- You were everything he’d ever wanted and he was dead set on making you his and him being yours

- To say the least, he felt protective over you. Though unclear and unaddressed, you were his girl and may God bless anyone trying to get between that

- Due to your timidness, you were an unexpected threat and a perfect fit for picking up leads and, on occasion, pickpocketing

- You and John got sent out to town to poke around the locals and find out anything thst would be possibly helpful

- Sitting in a bar stool with John monitoring you from a booth behind you, you quietly nursed your drink while listening to the conversation two men were having next to you.

- However, things quickly escalated when you caught the attention of one of them

- With a cocky smirk and bushy, wiggling eyebrows, he leaned close to your ear

- Your breath hitched as he drunkenly slurred something about how “a dame like you shouldn’t drink alone”

- Before you could even think about what to do, John inserted himself between you two and pushed the man back

- “Get the hell away, fool. I suggest you go on ‘bout your business ‘fore things real ugly in here.” he warned, his tone intimidating.

- The man waved his hand in defeat and hobbled away with his friend without another thought.

With his back still facing you, you rested a soft hand on his bicep to get his attention. He spun around instantly, nearly falling on you with his speed. “Sorry you had to deal with that. I shoulda’ told Dutch I’d take this one solo,” he stopped to hesitantly rest his calloused hand against the soft of your cheek, “you okay?”

You were sure that your face was a deep crimson color as you processed the sudden contact in your head. John’s gaze softened as he took the moment to fully ingest the sight before him.

Staring into his deep eyes as you felt your body get warmer at the sight of who was supposed to be one of the strongest men you know, look at down at you with such worry and softness. “Yeah. I’m okay. Thank you so much, John.” you whispered. With your glossy eyes staring up at him, plush lips partly agape, and no intention of moving away from his touch, He was awestruck. John was sure that he’d tell off a million more men if it meant he got to spend the rest of his life seeing you stare at him like this.

[phantomchick]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

You Need Prayer (I Guess It Couldn't Hurt Me) by WonderlandPup

Jason opens the door, stepping out of the booth like someone emerging from purgatory. His eyes are red-rimmed, and too sharp. Too tired. Too green, where the blue should be. “Doesn’t it ever piss you off?” he asks suddenly. “That people like me are expected to come back from things like that and still be good?” Slade looks at him for a long moment. “You came back. That was enough.” Their eyes meet, and it steadies something in Jason’s chest. A moment’s respite, from being a monster. “Let’s get back to it.” OR Jason is still learning why he came back to life; Slade will go with him through Hell to show him he's worth it.

> FORTITUDE by vfx_batman

Bruce is waylaid when he finds an adolescent beside the Batmobile clutching a detonator. [Red Hood: Lost Days #2 Canon Divergence.] Very little surprises Batman. He has helmed the defence of Gotham for fourteen full years and counting, and over that time he has faced all manner of threat. City takeovers; plagues, earthquakes, transportation hijackings, brainwashing—nights that canvass the entire spectrum of the human experience. Over time he has come to expect the horrors. Has learnt to brace in advance and prepare his stomach for the novel reveal of another sick trick. But tonight it is not some new depravity that startles him. It is instead the ingenuity of a figure cloaked in fabric imperceptible to his cowl’s thermal scanning. An invisible man creeping away from his car. Batman laughs and the stranger whips his head in his direction.

To Rise by scandalsavage

Jason finds out the Penguin killed the asshole who donated sperm to bring Jason into the world. He lost his friends (his family, really). Got beaten to a bloody pulp by the man he considered his true father (considers, really, even now). Then Roy dies, and Bruce is being Bruce, and something's gotta give.

Requiem by scandalsavage

He blinks as his brain takes it’s sweet fucking time processing what his eyes are seeing. “So you’re me, huh?” the kid says, rocking back and forth from his heels to his toes like he can’t sit still for three god damn seconds. “That’s pretty cool. You’re huge.” Jason hates him. He hates those stupid fucking curls. He hates that stupid bubbly energy. He hates that fucking earnestness, that eagerness to please. He hates that goddamn costume. He hates the way the kid clings to Bruce’s shadow. He despises that hand Bruce has on his shoulder.

Left Out by alittlefoxedup

Jason is not invited to help with Gotham mayhem. While contemplating life, Deathstroke shows up to collect a bounty.

why im not a bad brother and why damian owes me a trix yogurt and why bruce also owes me a yogurt for keeping a secret from alfred and why alfred owes me a yogurt bc i had to deal with this mess and JEAN SHRIMPTON WANNABE CAN GET ME A SPOON by Anonymous

that one fic about the trix yogurt

give me a dream by envysparkler

Bruce wakes up to see someone creeping into his bed. resurrected-Jason-returns-to-Gotham au

he’s your hero, forever your son by uncorrectgrammar

The memorial case glows in the cave. Jason walks in its shadow.

Bruce still keeps the past on display, even as the present slips through his fingers.

The Magicians and The Red Hood by LeantheBean

The first sign that something was really wrong came when Jason found a half-digested body in the dumpster outside his safe house. The second sign was when the Marvelous Madame Mishka—the polish fortune teller from 26 B—left a flyer on his door offering him a free tarot reading. The third sign was when he got a text saying that Batman wanted to talk about new patrol routes. Nothing to do but ignore Bruce and try to figure out what the hell is eating the good folks of Crime Alley. Neither is going to be easy, but only one has the makings of being deadly. Jury's still out on which. Or, in an attempt to avoid his family, Jason Todd fights extra-dimensional horrors, lets a chain-smoking magician crash on his couch, and accidentally gains a reputation for competence among Gotham’s magical community.

In Another Life by LERDM

In another life, Jason finishes his training with Ducra and actually takes the time he needs to come to terms with what has happened to him. He comes back to Gotham, not with murderous intent, but with the goal to make sure that no Robin is ever killed again. Basically, Jason protects the crap out of the Batkids while Bruce drives himself somewhat insane trying to figure out who the newest Gotham vigilante, Ghost, is.

floor collapsing, falling by Pinknight22

Tim thinks Jason is immune to fear toxin, so the best (and only) plan they have to combat Scarecrow's new formula is to test it on him and get an antidote ASAP. Jason might've been bluffing when he said that the poison didn't affect him - but he'll be damned if he lets Barman see him scared. Again. So he accepts. Unfortunately, the Lazarus Pit's unexpected side-effect forces his family to live through his most painful, terrifying memories with him. And none of them know what to do.

lurched like a stray to the arms that were open by Mysana

Jason wakes up whole and alive. He doesn't know what to do, so he goes home.

Wings over Gotham

“Eighteen years ago, an earthquake ripped through Gotham City, and in the aftermath, instead of helping, the US government sealed the city under a ‘quarantine’ and left them to die. Two years later, when signs of life and even civilisation were still detectable inside the shattered city, the government sent the military in to reclaim and rehabilitate Gotham. Gotham has not forgotten, and they have not forgiven either.” An AU where an altered version of No Man’s Land happened while Bruce was in his late teens/early twenties, and Batman was born in the hellish crucible of a trapped city that was left for dead and then violently retaken. Gotham may pretend to run by mainlander rules for the sake of those who would have died otherwise, but under the surface, Bruce, Jim, Leslie, Ivy and Oswald and their pack keep their own council, and look with jaundiced eyes on the mainland. This story also includes a very non-traditional variation on A/B/O, where alpha and omega are expressed via psychic auras and not biologically, and those same auras allow platonic empathic connection between pack members.

I need your love before I fall by ThaliaJackson

Jason's plans are all coming together nicely — Black Mask is poised to release the Joker, Batman is more suspicious than ever, and Jason has the Replacement right in the sights of his scope — it's just a shame he shoots through Nightwing's grapple instead. OR AU where Red Hood hurts and then kidnaps Nightwing instead of Robin

we're all ghosts by envysparkler

Tim is woken up by Bruce Wayne's screams.

Son of Shiva by rafamarkos5998

An AU about Jason being Lady Shiva's son, and yet being something else. He dies again, comes back to life again, and decides to figure out what to do next.

a million dreams by CaptainOzone

A magical something-or-other pulls Mary and John Grayson from their final performance, mid-fall, and spits them out into a grungy alley with no idea how they got there, much less why they're there now. And to make matters worse, Dick is nowhere to be found.

Insane or not insane- that is the question by AlrightWhatsAllThisThen

Jason Todd is back in Gotham. Not for vengeance. For justice. Armed with an MD and a decade of silence, he’s determined to put an end to the Joker’s crimes for once and for all. Reconnecting with his estranged family in the process is an unavoidable evil.

A Fractured Inheritance by hispnaicin

Jason Todd cannot accept Dick has changed. It goes against everything he believes is true.

CRAZY QUILT by medusaceratops

Bruce Wayne finds himself trapped inside of the newest innovation in interrogation technology. The real shame is that this technology just doesn't seem to work.

Naruto

in which shikamaru is an alien parasite and nobody minds by sunburnhurts

The thought that he doesn't belong in this world worries Shikamaru quite a bit. The thought that no one seems to mind worries him more. They really should be more concerned. What if he eats one of them or something? He'll just stay in the woods until further notice.

JJK

Back in 2006 by ioiites

Ah, the 2000s—a time when bullying was basically a national pastime, and everything was just outdated enough to make your skin crawl. So, after pulling some “selfless” (read: mildly performative– you just didn’t want the girl next to you to get the ick) stunt that got you shot in a library, you wake up in 2006. Engaged. To Naoya Zen’in. A walking, talking nepo baby with a superiority complex. Lucky you. One of the funniest self-inserts I've read, if you can get used to the whole 'You shrug' second person narration, it's a treat.

DP / Danny Phantom

Dream Lantern by Marsalias

Nocturne needs something neither alive nor dead, awake nor asleep, willing nor unwilling, something caged, but uncaptured, hungry, but full, complaisant, but steadfast, to light their way through the Dream Wilds to the object of their longing. They know just the thing. Or, rather, just the half-ghost. (Danny needed to catch up on sleep - but not like this.)

Marvel

And Then There's You by Sineala for phoenixmetaphor

Explicit Steve/Tony. Arriving home at the mansion, Steve finds Tony in need of some first aid. He provides it. Then he provides something much nicer.

[rainystressed247]

Ohhhh!! Can we talk about the Pokemon AU?? What ideas do you have for professors and gym leaders? What about a regional champion?? I 100% think that Techno is the regional champion and Phil could be either a professor or part of the Elite 4! Tommy can be the scrappy teen that is trying to accomplish the gym challenges and try to fight Techno for the title! Dream can be his unofficial mentor the one that comes by when things get tricky with the evil team and then had a dramatic twist of “he is the villain but actually not, he is just a tragic figure”

*crack my back and rise* Be prepared for a long post because I have a lot of them in my brain.

Original pokemon AU (base plan):

The original headcanon I had for the pokemon AU is more based around cc!Dream with a dash of drama from canon linked here! You are absolutely right that Techno is the champion and has and will continue to challenge and enter competition even outside of his region! Phil can absolutely be one of the professors! He can be invested in the study of fossil or death >.< The gym leaders are pretty loose as I don't give much thoughts to that tbh, but I do think that Tina as grass leader, Puffy as water, etc. Maybe I will throw in the newer mafia, who knows? I definitely see Tommy, Tubbo and Ranboo as the trio working their way through gym challenges, stumbling into villain organisation and accidentally saving the world hahaha.

Dream in this AU is more laid back, not liking to battle but his pokemon has maxed out friendship and can definitely rain hell on any trainers foolish enough to approach with ill intention. He works in a pokemon daycare during his free time and will give out friendship eevee for those close to him. His care to the pokemon means that most of the eevees have good EV! He definitely gets dragged into the plot unknowingly, much to the dismay of his close friends.

This AU is mostly chill and just shenanigans!

The B side of the Pokemon AU:

This, this is the part where things start to derail for me because if I can have a pokemon AU based on the cc why not go all the way to c!Dream as well.

So this is an alternate Pokemon AU involving c!character. In this side of the AU, c!Dream still possess the revival book and because of that, he forces himself to release all his pokemon with the intention to perish witht the revival book. In the process of destroying the book, he accidentally intergrate the book with himself so we now have an immortal walking revival book that is Dream. Worried that he and any of his close ones will get targeted, he devoted himself a life of a lone hermit and proceed to travel the land in hope to find a way to truly end his existence. He does, however, perform small miracle act subtly whenever he passes by someone or some pokemon in need of help as a way to atone for his sins. He makes sure to do it discreetly so that he would not gather unintended attention.

Alas, sometimes people still put two to two together so he still occasionally gets targeted. What he doesn't know is that most of the people he helped one way or another, does in fact help cover up his trail, misleading any hunters after him. Dream has one pokemon willingly follow him; a stubborn Charcadet, which prove to be a good helper by saving Dream multiple time in their travel.

Dream can hold his own against pokemons in this AU. He kinda has to, as he doesn't have a companion pokemon of his own for the longest time. Phil, as the angel of Death or the guardian in pokemon term is actively tracking down Dream to detain the revival book, but after he witness the bond between Dream and Ceruledge, he let Dream go with the condition that should Dream one day run into any problem bigger than he could handle, he would find Phil to help.

Techno is one of the child Dream helped revive on a whim. He was born sickly and wasn't supposed to make it past the night, well, if Dream hasn't shown up like a wet cat on his doorway. Techno still makes fun of him on the off chance that they met. Because of the second chance, Techno was able to become an extraordinary trainer. He helps out Dream whenever he can and even offer a roof for the homeless Dream to stay in. Dream refused ofc, but he would crash in from time to time to rest.

Speaking of the B side, it leads to an uncontrollable spiral in which I start imagining Pokemon with any and most of my AUs. Like would syndicate!Dream has an Eevee as well or would he has a Arcanine, I can totally see him accidentally taming Zygrade (Dog) without knowing it as a legendary. Also witch!Dream would have a Hatterene. Cornelius can have a Floette, Hubert and Indeedee works because of the bulter theme. Can you see how I am absolutely normal and not being able to talk about this has only made me more normal?

Anyways, thanks for the ask and sorry for taking so long to reply. It is...a lot.

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

Steddie Upside-down AU Part 6

Part 1 Part 5

“What now, he says,” Steve mutters, quietly enough that hopefully Munson won’t hear him where he’s jogging to catch up to Steve’s long strides. “How the fuck should I know?” 

His hands clench where they’re tucked around the straps of his pack, knuckles turning white. Muson’s right behind him now, almost walking on his heels, and Steve does his best not to scream, but all he can hear is Munson’s stupid little “what now?”. As if Steve knows. As if Munson isn’t a good year older than him. Why is it his responsibility to figure out what the fuck they should do?

He wants to go home. He wants to see Nancy’s brow furrow when he says something stupid, and he wants to put his potatoes on Tommy’s lunch tray when he’s not looking. He wants to hide in his closet. Hell, Munson can come with, if he wants. Steve’s sure he’ll be markedly less annoying when the sky’s not red, and the quarry water doesn’t feel like it’s crawling through his stomach.

“What now?” Steve says again. It’s still quiet, but the irritation has bled out of his tone. “What now?”

Munson pivots around him to walk by his side, shoulders bumping companionably. It makes his fists loosen.

“We should kill it,” Steve says. He can still feel the things claws around his ankle where it had dragged him down.

Munson squawks, “we can’t kill that thing!” It’s too loud, echoing off the rocks and up into the sky.

Munson’s eyes are wide as Steve slams him into the wall of rock that makes up the right side of the trail. Steve’s hand curls into Munson’s hair, stinging from where it was cushioning the idiot’s head from the blow. His other hand snaps up, slapping over Munson’s stupid fucking mouth. 

They’ve gotta stop finding themselves in these same positions – Munson’s lips are starting to feel familiar on his palm. 

“Shut. Up.” It comes out as a hiss more than words, but Munson nods like he got the message, the rapid way he’s moving his head digging Steve’s hand further into the rocks. Then, the little bastard licks his palm like the consummate shit-stirer he is. 

He drops him, turning around to continue making his way up the path. He doesn’t feel relieved when he hears Munson’s footsteps following in his wake. Really, he doesn’t.

“Uncle Wayne has a shotgun,” Munson murmurs, less like he agrees, and more like he’s appeasing a wild animal.

It doesn’t make Steve feel great.

He imagines Munson crouched on top of a roof, rifle cocked and ready, Steve playing convenient bait for the monster below. Would he be able to aim from that high up? He’s basing all his knowledge of guns on the war movies his dad likes, and that one failed hunting trip when he was eight. He’d come home branded a failure in his father’s eye – a pansy, not a man. It’s a stain he’s never been able to scrub off.

“How close do you need to be to kill it?” Steve asks.

Munson squawks, “I don’t know–” before seeming to catch himself and dropping his voice low. “I can’t kill it,” he hisses.

“Look, it hasn’t given us much of a choice.” Steve says, finally stopping his upward trek to lean against the rock wall, trying for causal, like they’re just chatting in between classes and not planning a murder in a hell dimension. “It’s us or it man, okay?”

Munson’s staring at him, eyes wide, mouth hanging. Steve reaches across the distance to squeeze his elbow, and Munson’s cheeks burn as his eyes shift down to their single point of contact before shifting away, back down the path they’d just come up.

“I don’t know how to shoot.”

“What?”

“I don’t know how to shoot!” Munson throws his hands in the air, shrugging Steve’s hand off in the process. He’s as close as he can get to shouting while still managing to maintain his whisper. It’s almost impressive. “I’d love to fucking kill it, Harrington but I’ve never shot a gun in my fucking life. Okay?”

“But you’re–”

“What, poor?” Munson interrupts. “Not all trailer trash shoot beer cans and squirrels for sport!”

Steve looks at the tattoo peeking above the collar of Munson’s shirt, the ripped off sleeves of his vest, and the black shit-stomping boots the other boy’s wearing and decides not to contradict Munson’s assumption of where he’d gotten that idea. 

He sighs and starts walking again, ignoring Munson’s angry muttering from behind him. 

“I went hunting with my dad once.” It comes out like pulling teeth without laughing gas. Feels like it, too.

Munson huffs, amusement and anger all tangled up together as he jogs to catch up. “Of course you did.” Munson nudges their shoulders together, but it doesn’t feel friendly this time. “Little rich boy.”

“When I was eight.”

Munson laughs. “Well, shit.” he says, slapping the back of his hand into Steve’s elbow once, twice, thrice. “Do you think you’ll even be able to find the trigger?”

“Pray to god I can, Munson.”

Munson looks up at the sky, the red shining off his eyes hauntingly and replies with a twist to his mouth the Steve can’t quite read, “I’ll be praying to someone, that’s for sure.”

Part 7

[aziraphales-library]

Hi wonderful librarians! Thanks for providing this service. I'm hoping to hear a few of your favourite non-AU fics in which the author is delightfully creative with how they have Aziraphale and/or Crowley use their supernatural powers. E.g. guess who by attheborder where they settle a bet by temporarily wiping their memories and trying to figure out who's who. Thanks!

Hello! Here are some fics in which miracles are used in fun, silly, and dramatic ways...

Heavenly Dues by IneffableDoll (G)

Months after Armageddon, Heaven still receives receipts detailing Aziraphale’s daily miracle usage. Michael makes the mistake of checking them one idle day. OR Aziraphale reheats a lot of tea and admires his demon, scandalizing an archangel in the process.

Five's the Charm by EA_Lakambini (T)

Aziraphale and Crowley challenge each other to not perform more than five miracles in a day. (They’re both also competitive, and may or may not be above sabotage.)

Five Miracles Aziraphale Performed Accidentally and One that was Entirely Intentional by anywh3r3y0uwant2g0 (T)

Only inexperienced angels will become so overwhelmed with emotions that they accidentally perform a miracle. Doing so is laughable. Aziraphale would never! Except that he has... five times now. Each and every time when he was around the demon Crowley. Why on God's green Earth would a demon make an angel feel so strongly that he would perform accidental miracles? CW: discussion of car accidents, a nightmare with the use of holy water on Crowley by Crowley, description of a panic attack. It'll be very clear when it's coming in the story though, so if you want to skip it you can! Mind the tags :)

Barking Up the Wrong Tree by inflappible (G)

Crowley loses a bet with Adam and gets turned into a dachshund for a week as punishment. Aziraphale has to deal with the consequences.

A Curious Case of Miracles on Marlborough Street by akfedeau (M)

After stopping the apocalypse, Crowley and Aziraphale finally take the next step in their six-thousand-year friendship. But when a spate of miracles sweeps across Soho and Mayfair, they realize their amorous escapades may have an unintended side effect. As they scramble to restore balance and an archangel arrives to investigate, Heaven and Hell’s messengers learn that you can never have too much of a good thing.

One Miraculous December by journeytogallifrey (T)

Candles. Mistletoe. An entire frozen lake. Festive memories from their past together keep appearing out of nowhere. Crowley's sure he's manifesting them accidentally out of sheer romantic desperation. It's bad enough trying to hide his unrequited love as they grow closer post-Apocaloops - what if Aziraphale sees the objects for what they are, a window into his yearning soul? Unfortunately, the only way to banish the objects seems to be talking about each memory... Meanwhile, Aziraphale is just trying to woo his demon boyfriend with big gestures, ready to prove his devotion. And if Crowley acts awkward about the miracles? Surely that's just his difficulty accepting affection. The solution: shower him with as much of it as possible... Eventually these two will communicate, even if it takes 'til the end of the year. For now there will be cuddling, excuses for closeness, sappy words, flashbacks, nostalgia, bickering, and an obscene variety of holiday foods. Oh, and footnotes. That's right. We're doing those too.

And the one you mentioned...

guess who by attheborder (T)

“Ha!” exclaimed A. “We’re married!” He grabbed C.’s hand and held it up, pointing at the gold band around his ring finger. C. stared at the ring, and then at A., a delighted grin appearing on his face. “Oh— that’s brilliant!”

- Mod D

[belovedstarrs]

do you even care?!

• pairing : geto x fem!reader

• tags : angst, breakup??, just a shit ton of one-sided fighting (verbal) , language galore, drinking mentioned & used, cheating, geto never betrays jujutsu high au.

• a/n : god im half asleep writing this and i havent proof-read sooooo deal w/ it i just need to actually post and get over this writing slump.

• w/c : 602

• loosely based off of all too well & youre losing me

you were laying in your bed and pondering. suguru hasnt been home in hours and he told you he was gonna be home at 5 pm, its 10 pm. you checked his location and he turned it off a few hours ago.

you heard the keys jangle in the doorknobs and you quickly got up, you didnt even know what you wanted to say to him. you looked out your doorframe and saw him taking off his shoes at the front entrance as you angrily walked over.

"suguru what the hell! where the fuck where you at? you turned off your damn location. you know what nevermind you were probably at the bar with gojo flirting with some girls since you clearly dont give a shit about me."

it all blurted out, you felt like throwing up. why now? suguru had to take a minute to process everything from you talking to fast. "y/n i wasnt flirting with any girls nor at the bar. i just had gotten a new mission right before i got off and my phone had died." he said with no emotion in his voice. you could tell it was a lie. just by the way he looks uneasy you can tell hes been drinking.

"oh stop giving me that bullshit suguru. if you dont like me just fucking say it. i dont get how you can just cheat on me yet still have the balls to say the words i love you." you wanted to die. you used to love this man with your whole life, why is this happening? why does he lie to you so much.

the past 3 months have felt like hell. sugurus been getting more distant and staying out later than he tells you while getting drunk. you dont fucking get it. why is he doing this? what have you done to deserve this? youve put so much into this relationship and hes tearing it apart like its nothing.

he doesnt even have a response to your stinging words. "y/n i promise i still lov-" you quickly cut him off. "you dont ever keep your promises! stop spouting shit that isnt true for once! your just an asshole liar." you pause for a moment before you continue

"why have you put nothing into our relationship? did you never love me from the start? ive been trying so fucking hard to still love you and act as nothing is wrong and ive tried to tell you that but youre just a dumbass!" you brush shoulders as you go to the front door to quickly put on your shoes and a coat to leave. making sure to grab your keys and get the hell out before he says anything.

there was this burning feeling in your chest that also felt like a little freedom. were you meant to not be with suguru? you wished so hard in your head he would come back for you and apologize, make it right. you kept walking down the street and nothing happened.

you pulled out your phone to text utahime and ask if you could stay the night.

y/n : utahime you awake?

utahime : yeah. why?

y/n : just fought with suguru. wondering if i could stay the night.

utahime : totally! stay for as long as you need.

that gave you some relief. your gonna have to figure out you and sugurus situation but for now you need time to yourself to figure out what the hell youre gonna do with him since you two live together and dont have a actual apartment of your own.

part 2 is out now!!

made by @belovedstarrs do not copy or use in any way without permission

[arcadiabaytornado]

I had the most bizarre experience of my life today at a Walmart eye doctor and I need to document it because…what the hell. So here’s a list of what happened:

A: As I walk in for my appointment the receptionist says that there’s been an emergency and they aren’t taking anymore clients today. I say okay and turn around to walk out before the doctor comes FLYING out of his room and goes “Oh! No! No! No! It’s fine. I’ll be taking more patients today.” The receptionist shot him a look like she wants to beat him to death with a hammer before snapping at me to “Take a seat I guess.”

B: I do but I don’t have time to process…any of that before a guy 1. Comes charging at the front door. 2. Runs into the door. 3. Causes the doors to fly open on impact 4. Stumbles. 5. Fully falls on his face and tries to…I don’t even know what the fuck he was doing, but he was rolling around like roly poly for a good ten seconds while no one helped him because we were all in shock.

C: He finally jumps up and says “I’m fine!” Which is good, but doesn’t explain why he was charging the door like a bull seeing a red cape.

D: I finally get called back for my appointment and the doctor, who I’ve never seen before, tells me that my eyes remind him of one of the squirrels in his yard but my personality reminds him more of his favorite cat. He also stands WAY too close to me during the entire appointment. He basically stood in my lap while he told me that my vision hasn’t changed much and therefore this entire experience wasn’t for much either.

E: I go into the other room to pick out some new glasses and an older guy decides to stand behind me and just…stare like the dude at the end of the Blair Witch Project. And he stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. Obviously he was freaking me out by this point, but I don’t want to engage with the guy, so I flagged down a female employee and told her I was freaked out. He was staring at me so intensely that she noticed right away and offered to call security or walk me back to my car. I didn’t take her up on either offer; but I watched that guy like hell when I was walking out and I would have circled back to her if he had tried to follow me.

So it was a long day. And I’m still not over it. And I’m still trying to figure out if it’s a compliment to be compared to a squirrel or not. And I thought I was going to be murdered. But I wasn’t. So that’s the good news of today.

[whats-it-mean]

mikoto/john protecting reader from kotoko… like kotoko is beating reader down for being guilty and john absolutely BODIES her. i love protective boys

Not gonna let you get hurt ☆

Mikoto/John x reader

A/N - THIS IS SUCH A SILLY PROMPT. we love a protective boy SO MUCH <3333 its more john leaning than mikoto since in canon mikoto says he doesnt remember fighting kotoko off, which leads us to believe it was john who fought her, hope thats alright <3

C/W -  Descriptions of a violence/fighting, Being chased, cussing

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was cold and quiet, practically no noise other than the tap of your rushed footsteps on the metal flooring and your labored breathing. Everything felt rushed and messy with the way you almost ran directly into the wall trying to turn, practically tripping over yourself as you made a last-ditch effort to switch directions on the corner before you sent yourself sprinting down the next hall.

You tried as hard as you could to ignore the feeling in your legs that they might give out at any moment, spending all your energy without so much as a thought spared for the issues it might cause you later. All you could bring yourself to was run, in no particular direction, the fear in your body being the only thing powering your adrenaline.

“Fuck.” It was as if you froze in place, your legs unable to move until you collapsed into the corner of where the hallway ended, promising your doom. Would she kill you? Escaping was futile now, with how close you could hear Kotoko’s footsteps chasing after your own. “Shit, shit, shit…”

On instinct, you imagined all your options- you could try to fight back, but you knew full well that Kotoko had done this before, in and out of prison. By now, you were stuck at a dead end with nowhere to run, so escaping wasn’t a choice- and if Es hadn’t helped Fuuta and Mahiru, then calling for help sure as hell wouldn’t be much use to you in this situation.

Ah. Was this it? Was this how you would die?

On cue with your darkening thoughts, You glanced upwards to see Mikoto, just barely in your line of sight as he jumped around the corner, closely following Kotoko. Landing his leg against her back, he sent her thudding onto the ground with a grunt. You blinked, and within an instant he was right in front of you, glancing over you once to make sure you didn’t have any serious injuries before turning back to face Kotoko. 

By the way he held himself, you could tell it wasn’t quite Mikoto in front of you, but.. the other one, and his eyes narrowed at the girl now sprinting at full speed towards you, instinctively reaching an arm out in front of you. You could see the intensity burning in her eyes when she jumped out, gleaming silver bat held high above her head before Mikoto kicked her again, this time in the stomach, and she fell harshly to the ground with a yelp of surprise.

You could barely process all that was happening in front of you, your backed-up brain still trying to figure out what Mikoto was even doing here, let alone the fact that he was… protecting you?

Everything felt like a giant blur of things moving way too fast, a jumble of more Kotoko jumping at you again and again, only to be met with harsh kicks and hits from the man who still sat in front of you, keeping one arm outstretched in front of you the entire time.

By now, Kotoko was laying on the ground, breath heavy and face bruised as she glared at the two of you, huffing with annoyance. She coughed, slowly but surely picking herself up off the dirtied floor, wincing as she did so.

“Fuckers.”

She lifted a hand to her face to wipe the dirt off her cheek, but only ended up smearing it as she scowled at you before turning on her heel and leaving. The way her eyes gleamed with malice towards you before her departure promised she wasn’t done with this, but the moment she was gone you found yourself dragged into Mikoto’s embrace.

He didn’t say anything for a while, just holding you close to him as his breathing started to slow back to a normal pace. You could tell he was exhausted from the way he leaned onto you, huffing off the adrenaline from all the fighting before he finally opened his mouth to speak.

“I won’t let her hurt you.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─── End

[verdemoun]

timewarp au btw sean becomes a da also this is why i haven't been able to write any fics yet this is just dot points and it's 1000 words

maeve beatrice macguire was born roughly eight years into the timewarp and chaos would be an understatement.

life was going so well karen and sean are still in the trailer on lenny and jenny's driveway. they'd just figured out how to connect the hot water system in their trailer to the solar panels so they didn't have to go inside the main house to shower.

blissful polyamorous life where lenny gets to be with both jenny and sean, and sean gets to be with lenny and karen and karen is still trying to hit on jenny who surely cannot be the only straight person to ever exist in the VDL gang why is life so cruel but everyone is happy and in love and well adjusted to modern era

karen absolutely did not know she was pregnant until she went into labor she didn't even know she could get pregnant between the lack of access to affordable birth control in the 19th century and getting diagnosed with pcos she just assumed she couldn't because she'd never gotten pregnant before??

every single person lost it. there was not a single brain cell to be found in the house just panicked screaming. grimshaw (who helped abigail give birth to jack) was their literal savior. it was too late for hospitals. the macguire genes are too strong this baby was already restless and impatient and coming now

sean malfunctioned so hard trying to process the fact he was a parent that lenny ended up being the first person to hold the baby and love at first sight is real. instantaneously they were All parents and she was going to be the first VDL to not grow up in a broken home. no name no crib but she had two moms and two dads and she was going to be the most spoilt little princess in the world

karen wanted to name her mary-beth because mary-beth stayed with her the longest in canon era and tried to help her even after the gang fell apart but they all agreed this shrieking siren born with orange curls like fire was not going to be a mary-beth so her initials are intentionally mb. they had to go with the most cliche irish girls name starting with m imaginable and then beatrice is actually bessie's full name c:

cannot overstate how strong the macguire genes are her first words might as well have been death to the english. in so many ways she is a copy paste of sean she is loud and the second she could walk she was getting herself into trouble. the whole gang is trying to help but no one knows what to do jack and isaac were both really easy kids who didn't climb on the counter and eat fistfuls of white sugar.

but maeve is so, so loved. she is exactly what their collective child was destined to be. she's energy she's lightning in a bottle she's smart and messy and overconfident and terrifying when she decides she needs to be and they would not change a single hair or freckle about her.

it deserves its own post but the macsummers crew would all have so many emotions being a parent after the childhoods they went through. sean wishing he could ask his da for advice how is it possible to feel so much love for something. karen just feeling lost because she already had so much self-doubt and a really frail sense of self the idea of being a mother would be so terrifying. lenny remembering his father's letter and even though he knows it word for word he wishes he had it with him and could feel the impressions of the pen on paper as if it would hold some answer to how the hell he's meant to be a parent. jenny who was literally found abandoned at the side of the road only now entering the second stage of grief because how dare the people who were meant to care for her abandon her when she would die a million times over to protect this little girl. they all would.

but even with their own shit they are such good parents they will not push their intergenerational trauma onto their baby girl and the lads are girldads to the max: lenny teaching her how to read and going to work in outfits his daughter picked out. sean holding her against his chest watching the secret of kells for the millionth time. karen playing with her baby girl constantly and using her acting skills to do all the voices. jenny braiding her hair and baking cookies with her which she will regret when the sugar demon takes over. whole family tea parties where they all have to play dress up. matching poorly done nail polish

getting her to sleep alone is hell because they all love her so much they want to take her to bed with them even when she's already feisty and independent and wants to sleep in her own room. everyone has a very important role in the nighttime routine and if anyone isn't home at bedtime maeve is not sleeping. jenny has to check for monsters. sean has to carry her to the bathroom and hold her against his hip while they both brush their teeth. karen has to be the one to tuck her in, and lenny has to turn on the nightlight.

she once looked sean dead in the eyes after he turned the nightlight on and turned it back off because lenny has to do it it's his job!!

they must all pay the kiss goodnight tax independently getting multiple kisses from one parent does not nullify the other parents obligation to the republic of maeve

wind down is either lenny reading to her (which has on multiple occasions also put sean to sleep), karen singing or sean telling (child-safe) stories about the VDLs or darragh macguire. sean's stories are maeve's favorite but she gets so excited it takes an extra 20 minutes for her to get to sleep.

her teachers hate her. they want this child medicated because she definitely has adhd. she will rock up and be telling other kids 'i never got to meet my grandpa because the british killed him' and is trying to radicalize her classmates 'they can't catch all of us if none of us go inside at the bell it'll be recess forever!!'

she is the queen of 'my dads can beat up your dad!! my moms can beat up your dad!! i could beat up your dad!!'

lenny and sean at a parent teacher meeting trying to pretend they know what a normal childhood is. 'your daughter has been playing cops and robbers' 'that is a normal thing children do we definitely did that at maeve's age' 'yes but she started throwing rocks from the top of the playground while screaming "macguires never surrender" and she used a jump rope to hogtie another child'

lenny shooting sean a look absolutely begging him not to laugh

no one taught her these things she just inherited the muscle memory of an outlaw and it's really hard not to be proud of her they were some pretty complex knots for a 5 year old!

[themoonsketch]

Shelter

It was an October afternoon and the sky was closing in more and more, gray and black taking over what was blue, the wind becoming too strong to the point that you closed the windows at home and started to worry about who was there, Outside, without an umbrella, it was setting up for rain, a lot. It was almost perfect for you to have an afternoon of movies and laziness alone, as you always loved, all you needed was some popcorn and a hot coffee to make everything complete.

Looking at the big nothing from the corner of your kitchen and waiting for the coffee to be ready, you start to hear the violent and heavy rain falling outside and hitting the windows of your apartment, looking a little through the kitchen window you almost don't see the big and bright city around him, everything was a little blurry because of the storm.

When the coffee is finally ready and you are struggling to balance the bucket of popcorn and the mug in your hands, loud and desperate knocks start to come from outside the balcony, in fright, you almost drop everything on the floor and on yourself. , what the hell was that? Who was on your 10th floor balcony in all that rain? still a little upset and with your heart racing, you leave the popcorn and coffee on the coffee table in the living room and go towards the balcony, still a little reluctant to open the metal part of the sliding door, you hear the knocking again, now in a lower tone but still euphoric, "Hi… Is anyone home?", the deep and somewhat impatient voice comes right after the knocking, returning to itself and leaving the trance of fear and reluctance, you open the door , and lifting his head up he came across a large and wide figure in a red and blue suit completely soaked and dripping, it was Spider-Man, “An…can I help you?” you say, still in shock at the completely random situation, "I'm sorry for showing up like this, can I take shelter here? The rain is really heavy and Layla isn't working properly." You nod your head in a sign of “yes” and give space for the big man to enter while you still process the information, how on earth did Spider-Man appear right at your door, what was he doing, and by God, who was Layla? .

He was wetting the entire floor of the room, a puddle was forming around him that was growing more and more, he seemed to be moving around in his totally soaked and shiny suit, a little angry at not being successful in what he was trying to do, not really understanding what he was doing. happening you decided to stay silent and just watch, but you heard a sneeze, “Atchhh.., puta madre, dios mio, I just need to get sick”, acting completely on impulse you suggested he go take a shower, “Do you want to take a shower warm?, it will warm you up and prevent you from catching a cold, you can also stay here as long as you need.” He takes off the mask that covers his face and head and reveals to you an extremely beautiful being, you had never seen someone like that, especially the spider without his mask, the few times you came across him out there, he was always fully dressed and in fight with some villain or bandit, he had some marks on his cheekbones and dark circles under his eyes, but what in anyone was synonymous with bad habits and ugliness, in him he was extremely attractive and made him more irresistible, his tanned brown skin matched perfectly with his dark brown hair, which at the moment was also wet and shining, making water run down your face, chin and jaw, the dark red eyes, mysterious and intense, looking at you, made you lose your way a little, “That would be great, I'll just go Take your time until the suit dries and Layla is back to work, I will try to be as imperceptible as possible, since I disturbed you in some plans.” he says, looking and referring to the popcorn and coffee mug still on the table in the living room, but you can only notice his extremely inviting mouth, and… fangs?, he had fangs, which by the way were sharp in appearance and dangerous, what could a bite like that do to someone?, especially to you, thinking about that man who looked like a wall, so big and robust, grabbing you and biting you made you shiver all over in an extremely good way, and only the thought of more things happening between you made you sigh and almost moan with desire.

Your reaction did not go unnoticed by him, who was also analyzing you closely from the moment you opened the door for him to take shelter from the rain, he noticed when your eyes became a little cloudy, when your entire body got goose bumps and the peaks of your breasts marked on her fragile and transparent blouse, temptingly transparent, her sigh and her mouth opening just a little, perhaps to speak or…moan, but nothing came out of her, “Yeah…well, don't worry about what I I was going to do it, I'm going to take you to the bathroom.”, you said a little agitated and embarrassed by the thoughts you had seconds ago, he just stayed quiet and followed you, in the hallway he had to dodge a little to enter the bathroom door, which for you, was normal size and even large, but for him, it was too small, you decided to leave him alone to take a shower, but if He remembered not having gotten a towel for him.

With a clean and dry towel in hand, you headed towards the bathroom, and when you arrived at the door, smoke and hot steam were already coming out from underneath and through a crack in it, showing that the door had not been closed completely, you, sinful as it was, it already stopped and almost went soft there, with the thought of a spider man being totally naked and vulnerable in your bathroom, just a few meters away from you, one way or another you needed to hand over the towel, so, you started to enter through the crack, the door didn't even open halfway, but it was enough for you to see, to see something that wouldn't leave your head so soon and easily, that would haunt you for the rest of the day, night, weeks and months , who, when you were about to close your eyes to fall asleep, would hit you in an aggressive and fatal way, that man, who appeared out of nowhere in your house asking for shelter, showed you to be a temptation and stirred your deepest and most repressed senses and instincts, he was there, behind the glass shower that was neither private nor dark, with his forehead resting on the cold white marble of the bathroom with an expression of pure pleasure and desire on his face, his hair low and dripping, his back broad and muscular. a little tense, also wet and dripping, her hands on his hard, thick, pulsing member, wrapped in something red, by god, were those your panties? forgotten somewhere in the bathroom, but he found it and now he was having sex with her wrapped around his dick, god, my god… you gasped and almost went to see Jesus right there, you were paralyzed by the scene, you couldn't stop watching, his also strong and tanned legs were shaking a little, that's when he moaned, “Ah..Joder, que rico si su coño es tan pequeño y apretado como parece, nunca me iré de aquí, hm..ah.”, you let out a sob of lust, that was when he turned his eyes to the door and saw you, suddenly you jumped out of the bathroom with your face red with embarrassment and closed the door with all your might.

The towel was still in your hands, crumpled from your grip on it during the scene that occurred moments ago, your chest was rising and falling rapidly as if you had just climbed the highest mountain, your breathing quickened, what the fuck just happened? happen?, you couldn't control your breathing, you were still in shock, your legs were wobbly and your pussy was completely wet, as wet as the state that man was in when you found him in that downpour, you were still trying to process and compose yourself, was it When he opened the door in front of you, you first looked up and found his chest, his broad and large breasts, still with a few drops of water, but it was when you lifted your head up, that you found his red eyes, which now they seemed to be scarlet and with a golden glow that you had never seen before, making you look away instantly, you started to tremble, maybe from fear, maybe from excitement, your mouth was also trembling and only meaningless things were coming out of it, “h-look, It's… I-I, I don't know…” but he interrupted you, grabbing your chin and lifting it upwards, making you look eye to eye again, “Que perra, ¿quieres decir que me estabas espiando en la ducha? Hm?” he says while shaking his face from side to side a little aggressively, “What a little slut you are, wanting me from the moment I set foot here, you don’t even hide it.” you were speechless, without words to say to that man, after all, it was all true, you had spied on him, desired him, had thought of him biting you, and worst of all, in front of him, but who was he to want to fight with you? ?, he was fucking your panties, your poor defenseless panties, “Y-you had my panties in your m-hands and in your…” you couldn't continue, the way he was looking at you, as if he could tell you eating the whole thing in one mouthful left you too upset to continue your sentence, you closed your legs a little when your pussy reacted to that look, and he brutally grabbed you and pulled you into the bathroom, pressing you against the cold wall that ripped you away. a little scream, it was when he pressed you that you realized he was naked, the towel now lying outside the door never reached him.

Hi, I wanted to apologize for any gross mistakes you may have found, my English is a bit bad and I'm starting to write publicly, anyway, I hope you liked it :)

[space-mermaid-writing]

The Vamp and the Were [IronStrange]

Summary: Tony would mark the day he met a vampire that did not immediately jump at his throat. Just for once – that would be a nice change.

Relationship: Werewolf!Tony Stark / Vampire!Stephen Strange

Tags: hurt/comfort, idiots in love, angst, fluff

Ko-fi | Read it on AO3 | Masterlist | Word count: 5k | Previous | Next

Chapter 11: Shit goes down (down under)

Roughly, they fell through the air and landed on sandy ground.

"Ouch," Tony complained, "what the hell?"

Stephen scrambled to his feet, wincing in the process. The graze that had hit him must have been infused with silver, because the wound on his arm was straight up burning. And the magic that had been blasted in his face wasn’t so great either. “You shouldn’t touch magical artifacts.”

“Sorry. They really should come with warning labels, though.”

Stephen would have laughed at those familiar words, if he hadn't currently been so worried.

It was quiet around them. The landscape had changed and smelled different, too. The wand must have teleported them a good distance.

“Let’s go back.”

Stephen reached for his sling ring in his pocket – only to find it empty. He patted down his clothes. But there was nothing. Muttering a curse, he looked around to see if he could find it lying somewhere on the ground.

In the meanwhile, Tony paid little attention to him. He was busy trying to figure out where they had landed.

Around them was the endless expanse of a steppe, almost desert-like, and stars shone in the night sky above them. There were hundreds and thousands to be seen, he could even point out the Milky Way. There was no light pollution at all, and that meant they had to be far away from any city.

The changed landscape and the fact that it suddenly was much warmer, made him come to the solution that they had been sent to a different country.

His gaze dropped to his glasses on the ground. They were smashed by the explosion and he had also fallen on it. He put them back on, hoping that there was still a signal coming through.

It was to no avail. The connection to Jarvis was dead. There wasn’t even so much as a glitch.

This wasn’t good.

“Please tell me you can get us out of here, doc.”

“I’m afraid not.”

Their eyes met.

“Shit.”

So thanks to the unknown attackers who had surprised them, they were now stranded in… wherever this was. It was still night, but Tony couldn't tell if it was a later hour or if they at least had been given more time until the sun came up and became fatal for Stephen.

Either way, they shouldn't waste this time standing here idly.

"Let's go this way." Tony turned left and started walking.

Stephen followed him. "Do you know where to go?"

"No. But it's West. If anything it may delay sunrise a bit."

It would make little difference, but for once Stephen kept any comments to himself.

The ground was red-ish and barren, with only some small trees and bush scattered. There was no road and no path, but the ground was firm enough that it did not make walking unnecessarily difficult.

Tony ruled out Afghanistan as their current location. There had been nothing there except sandy dunes and a small rock now and then.

He didn't need to repeat that trip.

Nevertheless, they absolutely had to find a shelter before sunrise. Preferably a shelter with some form of internet connection.

“I think we’re in Australia,” the vampire noted.

“Oh, great.”

~~

They had been walking for maybe an hour when they crossed a road. A real, paved road. Tony thought it was beautiful.

Now they just had to decide whether to turn left or right.

Tony glanced at Stephen.

Stephen shrugged his shoulders. He had become unusually quiet for the last hour. Tony wondered if the temperature was already getting to him, but it was barely 15°C / 60°F degrees.

He took the decision in his own hands and turned to his right. The vampire followed.

Not only had he been quiet, he also was slowing down. Tony matched his speed and watched him out of the corner of his eye. The smell of sweat and blood was on them both – a result of the fight before. But there was something else on Stephen. Something metallic. The cloak on his shoulders was a familiar sight, but Stephen's posture under it was odd. The way he hunched and kept his arm angled at his body. As if he was…

Tony stopped rooted to the spot.

"You're injured!" He was angry for not realizing it sooner, and also with Stephen for keeping it a secret.

"It's nothing. Barely grazed me." Stubbornly, the vampire continued moving forward.

"Morning will be arriving soon. You should have a drink." With his thumb Tony pointed toward the bright streak on the horizon behind them.

"No."

The Were moved right into Stephen's path and looked him in the face. "If our roles were reversed, you'd be suggesting the same thing."

"But it's not." Stephen had stopped, but wasn't looking directly at him. "I'm fine. Really." He hesitated for a moment. "There's a spell that will protect me against the sun so I won't burn immediately."

It would buy him time, but he was realistic: he was still in need of a hiding place. No vampire survived the sun for long.

He started walking again and circled Tony.

Sighing, the Were trailed behind him.

~~

For Stephen it became more and more exhausting to put one step in front of the other. The bullet had only scratched his skin, there was barely any silver in his blood. But his vampiric body was still not happy about it. He also felt incredibly warm, although the temperature had barely risen since they arrived.

The increasingly bright line on the horizon told them that the sun would soon appear. His cloak still protected him from the light, but to be on the safe side, he put the spell over him, even if he felt exhausted.

They still hadn't encountered anything or anyone on the road. No car, no house, not even a sign that could have told them how far it was to the next city. They really were in the deep vastness of Australia.

Tony remained by his side, casting worried glances at him from time to time, but said nothing to their ever decreasing pace.

This was not how the engineer had imagined their camping trip. Fucking hunters! They had been clearly prepared for Weres.

He hoped the others had survived.

Unfortunately, he had no way to contact and inform his business partner, the owner of the cabin, about the incident.

He had no working technology. That alone was bad enough. But they also had no water while being in the middle of a desert.

It had to be worse for the Vamp at his side.

The first rays of sunlight tickled Tony's face. Normally he liked the feeling, liked the warmth of the sun, but now his focus was on Stephen.

The Vamp knitted his brows together and squinted his eyes. They were sensitive and everything already felt too bright. But otherwise there was no spontaneous and instantaneous combustion to dust on his end.

Still, he was clearly uncomfortable.

The cloak had lengthened and its collar had also grown, as if to do its best to shield its owner from the harmful sun. It did not quite succeed.

Tony took off the plaid shirt he wore to the BBQ and again stepped in front of the other man. “Here, maybe this makes it less worse.”

With practiced hand movements he folded the shirt to a turban on Strange’s head. Maybe he had watched some tutorials after being rescued from the last desert he was trapped in. You never know when you need this kind of knowledge.

Stephen looked at him while the smaller man handled the fabric. “What about you?”

Tony scoffed. He still had his undershirt. “I tan nicely. Worst, I will get a bit sunburned. You can make it up by rubbing aloe on it when we’re back home.”

He looked at his work. Stephen's face was a little bit more protected. He did look pale. More pale than usual. And he looked like he tried to make himself smaller, as if that would help to escape the inevitable trajectory of the sun.

"Let's keep moving," Tony said, but Stephen's hand shot out and stopped him, holding his arm.

“Tony, if…”

The Were turned back to him, concerned by his sudden change of tone.

Their eyes met and Stephen swallowed. His throat was dry and he tried again. “… if we don’t find a shelter and my skin starts burning, I want you to go on without me.”

“I won’t leave you behind, doc!” Indignation resonated in his voice.

Stephen shook his head because Tony didn’t understand. He now grabbed the Were's shoulders with both hands. His grip was weak and his hands shook a little, but his face was more serious than ever.

“Tony, I will lose control at some point and I don’t want you or anyone else near me when that happens. You have to be so far away, that I can’t even smell you. In fact, I should stay here to give you more of a head start. If anything happened… if I killed anyone… if I killed you – I could never…” A kiss from Tony interrupted him. Gentle, like a butterfly on a flower, but it was enough to shut the vamp up.

Tony’s eyes were determined when he looked back up to him. “I won’t let that happen. If you go feral, I will keep you from harming anybody. I promise.” He said it with all the conviction he could manage. “But I will not leave you here to die. Not if there’s a chance we will still make it. Okay?”

Slowly, Stephen nodded, but still objected. “It would be safer for you.”

“I’m perfectly safe with you. You’re the most composed vamp I’ve ever met. C’mon, let’s keep going.”

He pulled Stephen along and it took only a few steps for the vampire to start walking on his own again.

Tony side glanced at him. They were still holding hands.

“Besides, it would be less of a problem if you would drink my blood now to give you strength.”

The answer was as curt as last time he brought the topic up.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Stephen looked away. “I know if I tasted you, I would never want to have anything else. You smell like ambrosia."

A blush crept onto Tony's cheeks at those words. He wrestled a smile from himself. "Only you manage to seduce me while we are in an emergency situation. I gotta keep you alive just to hear more of that.”

Tumbleweeds accompanied their way. Driven by the gusting wind and with only the sounds of their own steps. They fell into a silence to conserve energy, and it grew heavier with each mile they traveled.

They had been walking for hours without encountering anything other than sand, stone and some shrubbery along the road.

They had let go of their hands at some point for it had gotten too warm and Stephen's skin seemed to crack even under the light touch of the Were, who was afraid to hurt him. Now Stephen's arms hung weakly down the side of his body. The cloak dragged him more than he was walking himself. His legs moved forward only mechanically.

His tongue hung heavily in his dry mouth and he had the feeling that if he spoke, he was hardly able to form a coherent word. He longed for a sip to drink.

He noticed how his skin became brittle and cracked. The protection spell slowly wore off and the sun began to take its toll. He would not last much longer.

Greedily, his eyes wandered to his companion. With iron willpower he suppressed his instincts, but his senses sharpened and he could hear Tony's blood pulsing softly in his veins.

It was calling to him.

And it promised to be delicious.

Stephen looked down at the ground, watching his feet as they took one step after another. They seemed foreign to him. As if they were not part of his body, but something alien.

They were getting faster and faster, driven by an invisible force.

It took Stephen a moment to realize that Tony had grabbed a tip of his cloak and was pulling him forward with renewed vigor.

It took a little longer for Stephen to understand that Tony was talking to him.

„… c’mon, doc. We’re almost there. I will bathe you in slushy and ice.“

They passed a sign announcing a gas station in three miles. Stephen stumbled. His awareness of his surroundings was slipping again. He trusted the Were enough to just follow it, even though his subconscious told him that in his current state it was a bad idea to go to a place with people.

Another, louder voice in his head disagreed. He was thirsty and this would be a great opportunity.

When the building finally came into view, Tony spurred him on even more. He dragged the vampire into the shadow of the gas station.

A big out-of-order sign hung on the gas pumps, and the building's windows were taped shut with foil.

But fuck it. Shelter was shelter.

The doors were locked, but with a well-aimed kick Tony kicked them open. He didn't care if he demolished them in the process.

Inside, empty shelves and refrigerated displays greeted them. There was a cash register on the counter but no merchandise. It looked like the gas station had been closed some time ago.

The air in here was stale but cooler than outside in the sun. A small hallway led to the restrooms and staff room.

That was where Tony dragged Strange and dumped him on a worn-out couch. The cloak flew off his shoulders and hung like a curtain on the window, darkening the room even more.

Stephen lay there for a moment as if dead. His joints burned when he tried to move even a few inches.

"How are you feeling?" Tony asked while he was searching the closet, the only other piece of furniture in the narrow room. It was empty except for a few old newspapers. Nothing of use.

The vampire stared at him, only partially present mentally. It took a while for the words to get through to his brain.

He licked his lips. It felt so incredibly hot even in here. And the delicious blood was only a few feet away from him…

He shook his head to dispel those thoughts.

But he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. In the end, his survival instinct would win, he knew that.

The irregular panting he had gone over to and the pale look on the vampire's face did not please Tony at all. He took off the shirt turban to help him cool down faster.

"I'll be back in a minute."

Slinging the cloth over his shoulder, Tony exited the building through the main entrance and circled around it. At the back he had seen what had looked like a power generator when they arrived. And he indeed found such a device of considerable size in the shadow of the building.

The engineer examined the controls and hoped to get it working.

"Please don't leave me hanging," he muttered as he tried to fire it up.

On the second try, he heard the familiar hum.

"Yeah, that's it, baby."

It gave him hope that they would get out of here soon. He hurried back inside.

There was a cistern outside next to the generator, and when Tony turned on the tap in the bathroom, water came out of the pipe. A little stale and brown at first, but soon clear. It was lukewarm, but it would do.

He soaked the plaid shirt in it and then returned to Stephen to use it to wet his forehead and wrists like a fever-stricken patient, hoping it would regulate his body temperature down a bit.

Unfortunately, he had no ice on hand. It would take too long for the ice machines to produce any if he turned them on. But maybe he could knock over one of the refrigerated displays and use it as a cooling bed for Stephen. It would probably be quite uncomfortable for the vampire, but in his current state he could not value such luxury. This was a matter of survival.

Stephen stirred awake under him and interrupted his train of thoughts. The vamp still breathed heavily and his body felt like it was burning. With eyes glowing red, he stared at the Were above him.

Tony cupped his face. „I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken you camping.“

The vamp’s face leaned into the touch, turned his lips towards it. He sensed the blood pulsing behind the delicate skin.

He opened his mouth, fangs out.

Tony was able to pull his arm back just in time before Stephen bit him. The vamp followed the movement, sat up jerkily. He noticed Tony's horrified look, and only now realized what he had just tried to do.

„Get out!“

Stephen’s voice was hoarse.

„Doc-…“

„No, please! Leave and lock the door.“

Stephen could feel his mind slipping. He tried to maintain control but it became harder and harder with each second passing.

He could see himself pushing his sharp teeth into Tony's neck and tasting the engineer's delicious blood. He would drink until there was nothing left. And he wouldn't care.

He wanted the blood.

He needed it.

Everything before his eyes blurred yet again and the smell of blood in his nose grew stronger.

He forced himself to remain still, to not move a finger in fear he wouldn't stop until they caught their prey.

When the Were heard the low, bestial growl from the vamp's throat, he finally complied.

„It’s going to be okay,“ Tony promised him.

There wasn’t any answer from Stephen. His scared fingers clawed into the wet fabric of the shirt to hold back from jumping at Tony.

The Were left the staff’s room. There wasn’t a lock on the door, so Tony pushed an empty vending machine in front of it.

Then he got to work: his sunglasses were still in his back pants pocket, still broken. He fished them out and gathered some additional equipment from the shop.

He happened to find no actual tools but managed to craft ones that would do the job. He also swiped some cables from a machine and microchips from the cash register. As long as he had some form of electricity, he could use it to power a temporary tinkered signal transmitter.

It wouldn't win any beauty contests, but that didn't matter.

Tony held his breath as the glasses, after everything was hooked up, made a soft beeping sound. "Jarvis?"

„I’m glad to find you alive, Sir.“

Relieved, Tony exhaled a breath he didn’t know he held and smiled. If he could, he would hug his A.I.. "Do you have a visual?" he asked instead.

„Negative. I do have your coordinates, though. Do you want me to send a suit?“

"Absolutely. And message Wong. Tell him I need him ASAP. And he needs to bring blood bags."

"Sir?" Concern resonated in that one word, but now was not the time to explain everything that had happened.

„Use a satellite to get a proper picture of this gas station. Hell, use google street view if available. He’ll need it to get here.“

„Understood. The suit’s ETA is 23 minutes and 45 seconds.“

A noise in the staff room made Tony look up briefly. „I might need it faster than that.“

„You are literally on the other side of the world, Sir.“

„I know, I know.“ Tony had yet to master instant transportation. In that regard, magic with its portals was really more handy. „What can you tell me about this area? Is there anything nearby?“

„There’s a town twenty miles in the west and another one a hundred miles in the south.“

Well, Australia was one big empty hell space. At least people were far enough off to be safe from whatever was going on with the vampire.

There was scratching on the other side of the door.

Tony, on the other hand, should probably be more worried about himself.

„Doc? You okay in there?“

There wasn’t an answer. Just eerie silence. Tony kept an eye on the door just in case.

„ETA 21 minutes and 26 seconds,“ Jarvis offered unhelpfully.

Without another warning, Stephen burst through the door. The vending machine fell over with a loud thud and its front glass shattered.

The vampire bared his sharp teeth as he sniffed the air. Bright red eyes zoned in on Tony.

He had lost any composure and now bore more resemblance to the bloodsucking monsters the Avengers normally fought.

Tony was standing perfectly still, not breaking eye contact. „You don’t want to do this.“

Strange snarled at him. Then he leaped.

Tony jumped over the counter. Fortunately, his reflexes were faster than those of an ordinary human.

He shifted mid-air, not caring about his ripped jeans and undershirt. When he hit the ground, he did so with four legs. Immediately he yanked around to keep his eyes on the vampire, which turned out as too slow anyway. Stephen was faster and crashed right into him, knocking him off his feet.

Tony collided with an empty store shelf and huffed.

That would give a big bruise tomorrow; if he survived today.

The vampire snarled and Tony was too slow to avoid the greedy teeth. But before he could bite him, Stephen was yanked back by the cloak. That gave Tony enough time to get back up.

The cloak was wrapped around Stephen's torso and arms, forcibly holding him back. The vampire thrashed, the sound of tearing cloth was heard, and the cloak flinched. With his superhuman strength, Stephen managed to free himself.

He didn’t use any magic, only working with his primal instincts. He was hungry, desperate for blood, and that made him unpredictable and dangerous. But also weak.

Tony didn’t want to hurt Stephen. Not really. But between dying and surviving he might have to make a tough choice.

Normally he preferred to fight against undead in his armor in human form. In it he was safe from bites, had his weapons and also the advantage of two thumbs. As a werewolf he wasn’t helpless, he had his claws and teeth, but on the other hand he didn’t truly want to hurt Stephen.

They demolished more and more of the furniture. Shelves fell over, the glass of a freezer broke when Stephen was hurled against it.

Tony managed to push Stephen with his weight on the floor near the front door, growling warningly at him.

The vampire thrashed, not thinking about calming down. Even if Tony had been able to speak to him in his present form, the vampire would not have listened to him. The rational part of his brain had shut down. There were no emotions left but rage and hunger.

Stephen didn't even recognize the Were. He needed blood and his primal instincts had taken control of his body.

An encounter with a vampire in this condition was usually fatal. To voluntarily offer him blood was bordering on insanity. No Vamp would be able to stop until they emptied their source out.

Tony shifted his position and moved his front leg in front of the vamp’s face. Strange took the bait. He managed to free one of his hands, grabbed the furry leg and sunk his teeth into it.

The Were whined in pain. The vampire was anything but gentle. With each sip he drank his sharp teeth moved in the flesh. Tony felt the life energy being drained out of him.

He waited only a few moments until he found he had given enough blood and before he became too weak to fight back. Then he kicked the nearby front door open. Sunlight poured in and Stephen hissed in agony. He let go of his meal and scrambled back into the darker corner of the room.

Tony moved in the other direction, limping slightly. To the door and outside.

There he was safe. For now.

The Vamp hissed. Where the sun had hit him, his skin turned dark like burnt coal. He was angry about the pain. But he was even angrier about the fact that his food source had disappeared.

He followed the trail and approached the windows. But he wasn’t able to face the sunlight.

The blood he got from the Were took off the edge of his thirst, but it was nowhere near enough. It also didn’t magically change him back into his regular self, like Tony had hoped.

Did he need more blood to regain awareness?

Or was the Vamp forever lost? Doomed to stay this mindless, instinct-driven monster? Was this the fate of vampires? What had happened to the others Tony had fought so far? He had never considered it necessary to ask these questions until now, and therefore, unfortunately, he had no answers.

A throbbing pain went through the bite wound on his leg and some more blood spilled. Stephen's eyes were fixed on it and he made angry noises for he couldn't reach him.

Tony felt the magic before he even heard it. It might have been because his senses were on high alert. It was the familiar feeling of frizzle and his ears twitched in that direction.

A gold-orange circle appeared in front of the gas station sign, forming a portal. It was probably the image Jarvis had found and forwarded.

Wong had a cooler bag shouldered and he hurried to the Werewolf as soon as he spotted him. „What happened?“ His gaze followed the Were's.

The man wasn’t known for emotional outbreaks but Tony recognized the signs of worry in his face when the sorcerer realized Stephen’s condition. “Oh no…”

He needed a second to collect himself, before he opened the cooler bag and pulled out a blood bag. „He won’t drink it if he smells us nearby.“

So, what he was saying was that they needed to shove it down his throat. Tony shifted back into his human form, not caring that he was now standing butt naked next to the other man.

„I’ll take care of it.“ Between the two of them, he was the better choice than the human. „J,“ he called inside. „What’s the ETA?“

„Two minutes and four seconds. Sir, might I add it is quite dangerous to-“

But Tony had stopped listening and turned back to Wong. „I need your magic as backup. And a pair of pants.“

The sorcerer only raised an eyebrow, but complied with the request and with a gesture he magically fetched a pair of pants from somewhere. They were slightly too long but would do.

Tony trusted his armor but still didn’t want to risk certain body parts getting injured by what was probably a stupid idea anyway.

Right on time, he heard the familiar sound of thrusters as his armor descended and landed next to him. It opened automatically for him to enter.

It was one of the sleeker versions, still agile and – the most important part – vampire safe.

Tony stepped toward it, turned, and the armor closed seamlessly around him. He took the cooler bag from Wong and ripped the first blood bag open when he stepped back inside the gas station.

To the normal eye, Stephen was invisible. He had adopted a new tactic and was hiding. Tony's sensors found him anyway and on his screen Tony saw that he was lurking behind a shelf.

Even mindless, the vampire wasn't an idiot.

"I got your juice box, doc." Tony waved it. "Come and get it. It's very yummy." He felt Wong rolling his eyes at him, which was totally unnecessary.

His focus remained on Stephen though, and when the vampire attacked him, he forcefully stuffed the red liquid down his throat.

At first the vampire swallowed the stuff reluctantly and he glared angrily at the armor. Then, however, his thirst took over and he went for the blood.

Tony immediately threw two more of the bags at him.

Like a junkie, Stephen tore them open and feasted on the tasty liquid until his face and clothes were smeared all over with red.

His breathing slowed. He was still pale, but his burns were already beginning to heal.

When the last reserve was emptied, Stephen looked back at Tony and growled softly. Though his thirst was quenched for now, his mind was still not back.

He had only grown stronger and used that to fling Tony away from him. He was about to jump after him as well, but before he could do so, a spell from Wong hit him, knocking him off his feet. He slumped down, unconscious.

Tony waited a few seconds to make sure the vampire didn't get up again before he opened his faceplate, still sitting where Stephen had thrown him. "Couldn't you have done that earlier?"

“No.” Wong didn’t elaborate.

Tony stood up and looked at Stephen's bloodied, motionless form. “Will he be back to normal when he awakes?”

Wong hesitated slightly before he answered. “Probably.”

The Were didn’t like the wavering uncertainty in his voice. But before he could ask, Wong moved his arm in a familiar circle and he portaled Stephen away.

"Where did you send him?"

“Somewhere safe to regenerate and wake up.”

He didn’t mention if it was safe for Stephen or for everyone else, and Tony didn’t ask. He was exhausted. It had been a long day and a long night even before they arrived involuntarily on this continent. He wouldn’t mind sleeping for a day or two.

Tony turned his head to Wong and noticed that he was watching him. But Tony was too tired to wonder how battered he looked on the outside.

Fortunately, Wong refrained from commenting.

“Can you give me a lift?” Tony asked and Wong nodded.

“Where to?”

Home. As much as he would like to stay close to Stephen, he would be to no use right now. And he had other stuff to take care of.

So he collected his glasses and had a portal created onto the roof of his tower.

This hadn’t turned out to be the camping trip he had had in mind.

________

Tag list: @jekyllhydetrash @goopierthenyou Tell me if you wanna be added/removed

[prettyflyshyguy]

Anyway here's wonderwall. I'm trying to start the new year off strong. Already feel sad its been a week and I've barely accomplished this. But that's the kind of negative talk that's so 2023. I'm throwing it in the bin. We focusing on personal achievements only.

I've been writing tonight! It's been fun! I'm still trying to get into the groove and struggling with the age old issue of whenever I hit a 'blank' I just stop working on the project, opting to wait for the stroke of inspiration to hit. This isn't helpful, and means I don't work through the issue. So 2023. Fuck that noise.

I'm still building my confidence back after having it a bit crushed last year, so no ETA on the final chapter of the main C Virus Fic, but you'll probably see some other mini projects pop up. Less stressful, helps me practice for the big stuff.

Anyway the song "Talking in your Sleep" has had me at gunpoint for 2 hours and I'm really happy with this interaction so here's a taster under the cut.

Chris and Leon attend a meeting with a Big Pharma client post-incident cleanup and they can't handle the heat of corporate talk.

Something had felt off about the job from the minute he set boots on the ground outside the factory. Chris had assured him that it’d be smooth, he’d done it a hundred times before, there shouldn’t be any issues. It was a C-Virus outbreak for sure, but not the normal kind. Valhanian was working on vaccines and preventative medication, blockers for the immune system that could quickly and effectively obliterate the virus or prevent it from even gaining a hold on the system. The most common form was the standard strains that had a very similar effect on humans as the T-Virus did, which they were lead to believe was the main focus of the factory - manufacturing and R&D for the ‘zombie’ strains. 

What they found waiting for them was most certainly not the standard C-Virus infected humans. 

Chris had brushed it off at the time, claiming that with how volatile the virus was, he wasn’t surprised that something had gone wrong and there were chrysalid variants in the facility.

Nothing’s without risk, something must have gone wrong, it’s not like we haven’t handled this sort of thing before.

Leon knew that there was no way in hell that a company with that much money in the game of vaccines would fuck around and find out - risking everything in the process. But it wasn’t worth arguing with Chris, he insisted that it wasn’t his job to worry about the science team’s side of things and that ‘Rebecca will figure it out.’ 

Chris was ever the optimist on his good days. Leon had seen too much to trust any corporation that invested in the field of medicine. You don’t get fission without fusion, and anyone who claimed that advancements in bio-organic warfare had no links to advancements in medicine, was a fool or a liar. Most likely both. 

Of course something went wrong on the job, sure he’d had a little ‘mutation’ incident, but Rebecca’s drugs worked a treat, they just took a while to fully kick in. 

“I don’t know what this is or what you’re trying to do, we don’t employ BOWs, whatever you’re trying to claim is unfounded.”

No no no you dumbass, don’t give it to them Chris!

“Mr. Redfield I’m just being thorough. You’re no stranger to the industry, and I’m sure you understand we are very conscious and concerned about protecting our trade secrets. Incidents like this are of a high concern to us as the entire reason we brought the BSAA in to assist us was to stop a B.O.W incident.”

Chris glanced briefly at the BSAA staff seated around him, and Leon. Fear and panic in his eyes, crying for help silently. He knew who was in the photograph and could only lie about it for so long before the game was given away.

Leon cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the sharks.

“Ms Harker I can assure you that Chris is just as shocked as you are, and that the BSAA operates at the highest level of-”

“Thank you for your assurance, Mr Kennedy, but I believe you are not a member of the BSAA is that correct?” her full attention snapped to Leon, her eyes looked predatory.

“Yes, I’m temporarily assigned to assist them in operations regarding the C-Virus as I have first hand experience with it that has proven invaluable in us combatting further outbreaks.”

“I don’t doubt that Mr. Kennedy. I’m aware of your reputation and high standing. Our country has a lot to thank you for.” 

He shivered. There was no kindness in her tone.

“I just wish to express my concerns, as the security footage doesn’t lie.”

Leon digged his fingers into his thigh, scrunching the fabric of the chinos, his hands hidden under the table. 

“Trust is critical to any operation as I’m sure everyone in this room is well aware. How can we trust the BSAA after seeing this? How can you trust yourselves?”

Chris began to speak, being swiftly interrupted by Harker’s shrill tone.

“Have you considered that there may be individuals laying dormantly infected, unbeknownst to the world?

Leon bit down on his tongue. 

“Perhaps there’s an infected individual sitting in this room with us right now.”

The colour drained from Chris’s face.

“Perhaps it's someone not within the BSAA.”

Leon felt the eyes of every member of the meeting shift to look at him.