#task submission

[mist-see]

Pairing: Ghost x Tall Black!Female!Reader

Imagine hating your boss. And he definitely doesn’t like you back.

⚠️enemies to lovers, slow burn undertones, dominant!reader, Ghost being annoyed (and aroused), mutual antagonism, height proximity tension⚠️

Setting: Off-mission base in some cold, miserable part of Eastern Europe

A little au im dabbling in, I am still taking asks and Drabbles btw 👀

You were trouble the moment you landed.

Not because you were reckless. Not because you were new. But because you didn’t flinch.

Not when bullets cracked past your ears. You���ve heard gunshots since you were a kid.

Not when Captain Price barked orders. Your mom was scarier it felt like, suffering from bipolar disorder.

And definitely not when Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley threw his weight around like his skull mask gave him divine authority.

You were 6’3 of no-nonsense, broad-shouldered command. Black girl from South Side Chicago, taught to bark back, fight first, and survive always.

So when Ghost tried his usual ice-and-intimidation routine, you looked down—literally—and said:

“If you want me to follow, you’re gonna have to try harder than that.”

He hadn’t liked that.

Not one bit.

It was always you and Ghost, forced on the same unit like someone upstairs had a twisted sense of humor.

Mission after mission, you clashed like two tectonic plates—grinding, shifting, making the rest of the team brace for the inevitable quake.

Tonight was no different.

Eastern Europe. Ice in the air. Mud in your boots- how the fuck did mud get in your boots. You just got back from a recon op and were stripping off gear in the shared safehouse.

He leaned against the wall in that usual brooding-ass pose—arms crossed, eyes shadowed by the mask, like he was trying to make the air tense just by breathing. It wasn’t working. You didn’t see yourself less than him.

“You went off comms,” he muttered.

You peeled off your tactical vest slowly, deliberately, like you weren’t just stripping off gear but defiance.

“Had to reroute. Signal was jammed. I made it out, didn’t I?” You had already known that this was going to start an argument, but what you trying to figure out was… are you gonna be the bigger person or irritate him even more. But when do you ever back down.

“Barely,” he said, stepping closer. “You don’t take orders. You don’t check in. You act like this is your op.”

“No- I act like I know what the fuck I’m doing.” You said matter-of-factly, strictly and irritatingly.

You closed the distance, chin tilted up—not that far. Just an inch between you. Enough to let him know: I’m not backing down, I couldn’t care less if you’re my lieutenant.

“You gonna try and muscle me next?” you smirked, a challenge. As if you actually wanted to finally get physical. “Or just keep hiding behind that skull like it scares me? That shit don’t scare me.” You shrugged in indifference, your brows pushed together as you looked between his light brown eyes.

He looked at you long and hard. You could feel it behind the mask, that simmering burn—annoyance, challenge, something heavier.

“You’ve got a death wish,” he said.

You tilted your head. “Only if you’re offering.”

That did it.

In a second, he pushed you up against the wall, not rough, but with enough force to show he could.

Could, but didn’t.

Didn’t because something in the way your hands stayed at your sides made him hesitate. You didn’t bother fighting back.

Didn’t because you looked amused.

“You always this hands-on, Lieutenant?” you murmured. Don’t you feel embarrassed?

His breath hitched. Just once.

Your hand slid up his chest, slow and steady, pausing right over his heartbeat. It wasn’t sexual, but it was intimidating. No one ever touched him.“I think you like the fight, Ghost. I think you need someone to push back.”

His jaw ticked.

“I think…” you leaned in, voice dropping to a low purr, “…you want to know what it feels like to be handled for once.”

You felt him flinch. Not fear. Not disgust. Restraint.

The man was a soldier, a killer, a shadow—and yet his pulse stuttered under your fingers.

“I could make you beg,” you whispered, so close your lips almost brushed the side of his mask. “But you’d bite your tongue just to keep the pride.”

“…You don’t know me,” he rasped.

You finally pulled back, slow and smug.

“I know enough,” you said, walking past him with a purposeful brush of your shoulder against his chest. “Next time you pin me, make it worth it.” Punch me or something.

Pt 2

COD Masterlist

[inchidentally]

"short and easier to read" babe I am so sorry to you and everyone else for how my insane posts come out - it's why I link to so much stuff bc it is a struggleee for me to not write just run-on sentences ;__; but I do get what you mean and I promise I tried my best - it's def shorter than the og and in smaller bites if that helps ??

(I actually wrote this on someone else's laptop so it's got proper punctuation and capitalization and everything!)

For those who don’t know: Oscar is an acts of service guy Lando is a words of affirmation guy. Let’s remember that someone’s love language is how they choose to express themselves, not what they should demand of others!

Oscar is also very much not a PR guy, for anyone totally oblivious to the obvious (and that all his "greatest hits" in PR were done unintentionally or bc he's awkward or bc his mom is cooler than him). For example, Oscar brings up his girlfriend of 4-5 years a fair amount but it’s almost hilariously not gushy or romantic (having a “cuddle” is as far as it goes lasfgjlsagfl). But he’s said himself that for the most part he’d prefer not to have too much private life available to the public. *His downtime with Lando joins in with all his other social life in being extremely limited to the public. 

The “thanking the sponsors” thing is one of Oscar’s safe, approved speeches he pulled from Andrea so that Oscar doesn’t have to do spontaneous on-camera speaking. Sorry but not all of us are good at it and it’s wayyyy easier to just have some rehearsed pre-approved soundbites. He tends to have a few that he repeats for a while until he updates the list lsafjslafhlafh.

He also very openly struggles to do on-camera speaking and no one knows that better than Lando who’s had to help him a huge amount. 

It does seem to be mostly cameras that make him stressed bc he was fine thanking Lando for his help in Baku at the fan stage in Singapore and overall he can use more of his dry humor when he's speaking to people rather than just to a camera. 

Lando’s recent inclusion of Oscar in his media responses to this degree is a reaction to Hungary and Monza - normally, his post race responses focus on himself and his own performance (which is literally normal and the default for drivers!!). The recent emphasis on teamwork/Oscar is something he feels he needs to do with his own PR work right now. He’s a smart man who’s been doing this a long time, so his reasons are valid no matter what fans think. He’s not sitting there working out or analyzing Oscar’s PR, just his own. 

People are absolutely running away with themselves over Monza and ignoring that apart from that one moment, Oscar is widely popularly seen as the supportive teammate role. To the point where last year and even part of this year, Lando was criticized by a lot of fans for not acknowledging Oscar enough.

Going off of that, let’s show how easy it is to take PR and media to make one of them look bad by turning it around onto Lando (!! this is for an example, I do NOT endorse hating on Lando for any of it !!)

Lando openly disliked being referred to as the “older teammate” and kinda left Oscar to his own devices so much last season that Oscar wouldn’t know where he was going a lot of the time and even semi-joked “my teammate’s abandoned me” (again, reminder this was not a source of drama for anyone but fans). He got called a little duckling a lot bc he’d tail Lando closely so as not to lose him. In fact it started irking some people that Lando would spend so much time with Carlos or Daniel and not getting to know his new teammate and helping him out with his rookie season of F1 the way Carlos did for Lando.

In every team photo where Lando has had a podium and Oscar has had nothing (and sometimes due at least in part to team orders!) which is very often! the comments sections have always had plenty of ‘Oscar is such a great team player, always happy and showing up for Lando no matter what’. So the whole ‘Oscar doesn’t do enough for Lando’ narrative is extremely recent and at odds with the rest of reality.

Please read the very first part of my enormous full post bc Lando didn’t thank Oscar for his Miami win, he praised his driving.

Even though at Silverstone this year Lando got on the podium and Oscar didn’t, Oscar made the fan stage all about bringing Lando out of his disappointment and even said he did the shoey “to make us feel better” and then dedicated the top row of his IG that week to photos and videos of him and Lando. Special note that this is in no way Oscar’s home race and he was solely seeing it as emotional for Lando and McLaren - and he had zero reason to personally be very happy after that weekend.

I’ve seen Melbourne this year get mentioned in the team orders discussions on my fyps, so that’s a handy example in many ways: Despite Melbourne being Oscar’s literal hometown race - and Lando even filming some Quadrant stuff at Oscar’s childhood karting track where a corner is named after him* - this year Lando didn’t acknowledge Oscar really at all over the weekend until someone mentioned him at the end of the podium press conference. Lando acknowledged that Oscar following team orders made his (Lando’s) drive a bit easier in Melbourne this year but said that he was faster than Oscar and deserved third over him anyway. (Good contrast to Hungary and even Carlos stating that something an undercut due to pit strategy shouldn’t erase one teammate being faster/more dominant in a race in order to give the other teammate the win!) He did PR work with pretty much everyone except Oscar actually, even doing promo for his (Lando’s) dad’s electric scooters on the new dotmov acc. Kind of like him being on a similar PR campaign at Singapore this year because of a sneak preview of Quadrant rebranding and announcing the Landostand at Silverstone  - he went for the biggest PR hits and posted Daniel on his jpg account, did a golf day with Carlos and Max F and was more active on socials than he had been for months. All while only having Oscar in one photo out of the whole weekend’s carousel despite the McLaren double podium. You could even read into him cutting Oscar and Oscar’s trophy out of two of the shots if you wanted! (He did include Oscar in the big group photo after the podium celebrations.)

*I saw some ppl say he didn't include Oscar in the Melbourne karting filming bc McLaren doesn't cross over with Quadrant, which isn't true. Zak has shares in Quadrant and Bianca has been included in the Quadrant rebranding launch with Lando's Singapore helmet design.

See how easy that was to flip it around?? If you’re even slightly biased against a driver or never see flaws in another- or are dying for two teammates to hate each other - then confirmation bias will always find plenty of “evidence”! Because the reality is that after the Austin GP, Lando found his “older teammate” mode and began helping Oscar out with his rookie year. In Melbourne, Lando spent his first day filming for his .mov account including the Oscar jersey and merch he came across - and Oscar mentioned how he and Lando talked about Lando filming at his old track. (Again, not PR coordinated or filmed, just mentioned!) And that after the Singapore race this year, they beamed at each other every other second of that night, filmed a deliriously happy post race video and joked in the cool down room - I honestly doubt have even noticed yet what the other has posted to IG salfhsalfafa. All of the negativity fans are coming up with is their own personal spin and does not resemble how Lando and Oscar are behaving to or speaking about each other.

They base their relationship on their conversations and interactions solely away from the public and the cameras and don’t do any inflammatory commentary about each other. They bragged about the door in the team hub that separates their drivers rooms from everyone else and leaves them open only to each other. Their communications only matter to each other when in private.

Segueing on from that: media and social media are literally PR. Lando is extremely skilled at it now and Oscar is not at all naturally skilled and is still learning. Lando is quick to be able to adapt his media responses, Oscar is not and often sounds stilted and uncomfortable. But it still has nothing to do with how they think of each other and talk to each other personally.

And “Landoscar” has never had the typical PR bromance aspect that we all love in other teammates, and it never will. Lando and Oscar mention but don’t broadcast or package their downtime together and they don’t share their private dynamic with fans or the media apart from the glimpses we see in more relaxed content. It’s just their choice! And just like it doesn’t mean Lando and Oscar are less friends because they don’t PR their relationship, it doesn’t mean the friendships who do utilize PR are less friends! 

And tbh that’s a good note to leave on: that seeing two drivers with no PR to gain from openly liking and respecting each other should mean that we as fans place less importance on the PR responses they give to media and put on social media. So many people want them to hate each other (Netflix even begging them outright) and rivalries get far more headlines and fan engagement, that if these two didn’t like each other or even were blah about each other, they wouldn’t waste time trying to fake it (side note ppl actually thought this joke was deadly serious for a short while). F1 isn’t team sports, no one really cares if drivers or teams appear “friendly” unless they’re desperate for money/engagement to keep them afloat (even there, Alpine prove it clearly isn’t a priority to have friendly teammates when you’re lower down the grid!)

There is absolutely nothing to be gained for them in faking the smiles and laughter and twinning. Equally there’s nothing to be gained by us as fans in judging them and their relationship based on their PR responses and PR work. Lando beams and smiles the same at Oscar after all of Oscar’s awkward, stiff debrief speeches and I kind of want one of these crazy stans to say to him that Oscar is a bad team player and doesn’t show Lando enough appreciation just to watch what his adorable face does in response (don’t do that I’m joking).

[cogitxre]

TASK 2.5 :: THE ITEM.

DURING THE INTERROGATION . . .

{ ✦ } Several items were found missing from THE TRAGEDY's quarters. Did you take anything that belonged to them? Did you see them in possession of anyone else?

Milo processes the list, foot tapping.

"I don't know anything about most of these."

A truth. He had never placed much interest into Vincent's private affects. His eyebrows furrow, trying to recall any of them.

"The last place I saw the watch was…on Vincent, I believe; so if it wasn't there at his death, that may be a good place to start."

A likely assumption. He didn't know it to be true, but he wouldn't be surprised if it was. A small hesitation elapses, the pause stretching for more than a few seconds.

"…the vial, I found. It was lying on a table in the museum—but I don't know who placed it there. I didn't even know it was Vince's."

All true, mostly. This early in the game, it was better to build up a rapport with honesty than it was to try and turn the tables on the masters' heads.

"And I took it, yes. I've been trying to decipher the symbol on the front. No luck as of right now, but…I could always let you know if I find anything."

The offer hangs from his lips, bouncing off a half-raised shoulder. When the other woman betrays her answer, eyes darting to his hands, his pockets—he has to resist the urge to smile.

"Ah…it's not on me, I'm afraid. Apologies." TRUTH.

AFTER THAT NIGHT . . .

torn from the pages of a journal entry of one Milo Foss.

– vial: found within the scales of Lady Justice. – depositor: unknown. – liquid: clear, green tinge, viscous. tends to "ooze" in drips and drops. – unable to test prior to interrogation; was moved away from equipment soon after. tests have not gotten far. – research: symbol on outside. appears to be alchemical in origin, though the exact definition remains elusive. clearly obscure. further research is required. – final results: inconclusive.

[joysmercer]

ok but. imagine

gina accidentally telling ricky she doesn't want a [public] proposal but to ricky (she thinks) it sounds like she doesn't want a proposal at all because she worded it badly. and he doesn't really react in any way but gina comes home and immediately bursts into tears and terri's like "just propose to him instead problem solved". and then the two of them spend the rest of the evening planning the thing out because this is the kind of thing porters find fun i guess and they decide the best time would be just before her graduation party in a couple of months and gina gives terri the very important task of wrangling ricky because there are only two people in this world who can ensure he's somewhere ready and on time without question and one of them is doing the proposing so.

the next day ricky comes to pick gina up for another date (gotta maximize her last spring break of college!) and while waiting for her to get ready he lets terri know he's planning to propose just before gina's graduation party (yeah.) and could she please make sure gina gets her hair and nails done or whatever that morning and get her to the place at the right time so he can pop the question but not say anything to her or their friends because he wants it to be a surprise?

and now terri has a headache.

(and has to buy a hot glue gun because of course they're both planning to go all out with their respective proposals too.)

[payphoneangel]

Long Black Cloud Coming Down

Rating: General Relationship: Sam & Dean Wordcount: 3,541 Tags: pre-series; hurt/comfort; sickfic; illness; fever; nightmares; psychic sam winchester; Dean pov;

Summary:

“C’mon, princess!” Dean stopped under a streetlamp. “You want a royal invitation?” His ears were stinging. The cold gripped him, making his head ache. The halo of light made the sideways flakes whipping around him glow gold.  Sam didn’t respond. He kept shuffling forward. Head bowed, hands crammed into his jean jacket. He was too quiet. “Sammy?”  He finally made it into the glow of the streetlight. Still no answer. The light flickered above them. Sam looked up.  There were marbles where his eyes should be. Glassy, unfocused. They almost looked—Dean’s breath hitched. Yellow.  The lamp died. Sam swayed.

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