#(i need to write at least 1.5k more words in this chapter and then the paper is also still missing an introduction and a conclusion)

[airenyah]

me: really tired, eyes hurting, just wants to sleep bc i have violin lesson in the morning and some deadlines to keep in mind

insomnia, the moment i close my eyes:

[burning-academia-if]

Hello, I am mostly back and recovered at the time of writing this lol. June wasn't very productive writing wise (...for BA), which is fine because I needed that break! Look at everything I did do in June:

RELEASED CHAPTER 2 FINALLY

Spent like 2 weeks fixing bugs (dw chapter 3 I'll get beta readers so it doesn't happen again LOL)

Participated in the Raffle for Palestine + wrote and sent out the story to the winner!

Wrote about 5k words of Chapter 3

Wrote and edited Zoe's back story

Wrote most of Lars back story because I was inspired (sorry you won't get this until after Chapter 3 drops)

I'm pretty happy to have released Chapter 2! I'm gonna be honest, this felt like such a daunting release lol When I started BA, I was expecting no one to read it save for a handful of people and I'd just be chilling and writing mostly for myself like usual, so releasing it with over 1.5k followers was very daunting. With that said, I am glad people overall enjoyed the new chapter! The plan is for Chapter 3 not to take as long, but life is still hectic so we'll see. At the very least, it hopefully won't be any later then October (BA's one year anniversary month!).

I also just want to give another shout out to everyone who participated in the raffle for Palestine! Raising over two thousand euros in two weeks is still amazing to me, and I'm happy the IF community could come together like this to help out a cause! This was lowkey another thing I was nervous about since I've never really done anything that's felt like a personal commission before (asks definitely feel different lol), but other then my initial nerves the whole thing was a really nice experience!

Now, going into July, I want to focus on the UI updates I want to make. I have some things I want to shift around and change, and since coding is my biggest weakness I know it's one of those things I'm going to have to focus on. If things go well, I'm hoping to do a pure UI update by August. It'll mostly be the menu pages (achievements/stats/relationships/etc), but there are a few other things I want to add in and adjust outside of it. As for Zoe's backstory, that should be out soon, so keep an eye out of that! Finally, I also might not be too active in July. For personal reasons, July is always a hard month for me. Hopefully it isn't obvious, but just in case I'm not around as much as usual, that's why!

OH and before I forget, here's this month's chapter preview ft Angry Rook:

Lastly, I made the questionable decision to make a side IF. Updates will be very sporadic since BA is and will always be my main project until its completion. But if you want to follow it, it's To Taste Sweet Silver. An 18+ gaslamp fantasy about trying to steal the Fruit of the Old Gods in order to bring the world to an end. It's a little more niche I think, but feel free to check it out! The demo shouldn't take too long to get out since I did accidentally write most of opening already.

[plusultraetc]

👀👀 you mentioned a sports festival rant?

YES Sports Festival rant!! When I answered this ask about MHA favorites, I 'jotted down a couple of notes about the Sports Festival' which turned into like. A 1.5k word essay. In my defense, this arc truly does have it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly. There's so much to talk about here that 1.5k words doesn't even begin to cover it!!

The Good:

So until now I have been a predominantly anime fan who occasionally reads the manga when I need a quick refresher on something, or I just want to reexperience a chapter through a slightly different lens. That being said, I haven't read through the Sports Festival arc in its entirety, so my opinions are based on the anime, and in the anime, this is genuinely such a fun arc to watch. It has a similar low-stakes-high-energy vibe to Joint Training; the audience is properly introduced to so many new characters and their quirks; and there are some really great emotional beats throughout (shoutout to Todoroki vs Sero. I am HAUNTED by the entire stadium in awe of Todoroki's instant-win juxtaposed with Midoriya thinking 'In that moment, he looked very sad to me.' That split-second moment where Todoroki wonders if not using his father's quirk really makes him any less Endeavor's son? HAUNTED.)

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE PART OF THE ARC: Aizawa & Present Mic's stand up comedy routine in the commentator's booth. They had no reason to be as funny as they were. 'There you have it folks, Eraserhead is a terrible teacher' I mean. I did write a fic about the circumstances leading up to the comedy routine and it is,, not super lighthearted but let's ignore that for now and focus on the silly. I WILL SAY, something else Sports Festival does is constantly remind me that characters like Aizawa, Mic, Midnight, and All Might are products of UA and, in turn, of pro hero society. Those first three especially are products of an All Might-centric pro hero society, which adds another messy layer to the things they are willing to accept and even encourage. Huge brainrot about the pro hero house of cards balanced on the wobbly table that is All Might forever!!

Midoriya is really at his most Midoriya in this arc also. I personally think Izuku is at his best when his ingenuity and empathy are the focus (these are character traits that imo become less and less prominent as the show goes on and his focus shifts to becoming stronger. You can probably pinpoint the exact moment where his priorities change (at least I think so?) and then you could probably write an essay about trauma and responsibility and cry). ANYWAY, early Midoriya is Very Worried All The Time about doing exactly as All Might says, which is why it is so so important that he does not win the Sports Festival. The Festival is kind of a microcosm of the pro hero world, with the medal ceremony being the parallel/precursor for hero rankings. Coming in first place/being Number One is a big big deal in this arc, as always. Izuku's most impactful moment is when he prioritizes something (or someone) else over that coveted first place medal, in spite of how badly he wants to impress All Might and be worthy of his legacy. He was just a really good bean in this arc okay???

The "Bad" (but no less interesting!):

As wonderful as it was to see the pro heroes come to the rescue at USJ, the Sports Festival is here to remind us that, in so many ways, this world is a dystopia. It's not just because of the Hunger Games-esque nature of watching children fight each other & broadcasting it worldwide for entertainment and profit. When you think about it, the Sports Festival is kind of like college-level sports, just with superpowers and high schoolers (there's even a recruitment aspect. It's literally like MHA college football). And sure, fighting each other with superpowers is considerably more violent than your average sport, but they do have people with healing quirks like Recovery Girl on standby. Even serious injuries can literally be undone in seconds. What makes the college sports-ification of hero school so weird is the 'hero' part. Like, not only are you already indoctrinating your future heroes (who have so much relatively unchecked power & responsibility as pros) into the hero/celebrity culture super early on, but the students are competing to impress current pros, secure a good internship, and further their careers. Like. You're essentially teaching them that being a good hero = putting on a good show. Maybe if the point wasn't to 'win' an internship it wouldn't be so strange to me but as is? Wild. Really fun bit of worldbuilding. I am spinning it in my head like a carnival prize wheel.

I also want to take a minute to talk about the medal ceremony here. I thiiink that Bakugou being chained to the podium is meant to be comedic(?), kind of a 'look how mad he is, they literally had to drag him out here' moment, but the conflation of hero/villain imagery in this scene. Omg. Again, the medal ceremony is like a mini hero ranking (that he has won!!!) but the only other time we've seen a muzzle-like thing like the one Bakugou is wearing is on a villain in the first episode. To bring that back at this moment?? The bars of my enclosure. The bars of my english degree. Agh.

I actually mentioned this around the time I posted that very silly Sports Festival fic for Monoma’s birthday, but can we talk about how 1-A IMMEDIATELY turns on each other during this arc? Like?? They’re a MESS. Obv the writing reason for this is that there needs to be competition to make this competition arc interesting (and it succeeds!) but 1-A’s immediate willingness to go for the jugular gets Really Awkward when you realize they are literally the only class that does this—and, what’s more, that there is literally no reason for them to do this. Unnamed 1-C student #3 is right: the other first year classes are only participating in the Festival to make the hero students look good. We know this because the first challenge—the obstacle race—is literally designed to eliminate non-Hero Course students from the competition. Even if hero students didn’t have (generally) more powerful quirks and more training than everyone else, the very first obstacle in the race is the Hero Course Entrance Exam robots—ie, a challenge the hero students have already beaten, but that disqualified students from other courses from admission. Even deliberately hanging back and doing recon, 1-B is able to get all of their students through the obstacle race. Then, after the Cavalry Battle, we see 1-B once again demonstrating a level of maturity and support that the vast majority of 1-A severely lacks. I know I sound like Monoma rn, but I think this has a lot to do with the fact that, as we continue to see throughout the series, 1-A takes a lot of their cues from Midoriya and Bakugou and, to a lesser extent because he’s so quiet, Todoroki. Later, this is a good thing, because the mini big three pushes their class to be the best they can be, but here, these three characters are in shambles—insecure and off-kilter and desperate to prove something, and that energy very much spreads to their peers--which I personally think is great bc it makes for good TV and leaves lots of room for character growth!

The Ugly:

You have no idea how tempted I am to just put a picture of Stain here. He would deserve it for what he did to my man Tensei. I actually love Stain as a villain but SPEAKING OF WHAT HE DID TO MY MAN TENSEI.

The show tells you how important the Sports Festival is. Everyone treats it like it’s the Olympics, except fifty times more important. UA students are scouted by pro heroes and agencies during the event, and putting on a good show can literally change the course of your career (just as doing poorly can ruin it before you even get a chance to graduate). More sports analogies! This makes sense. But the thing is, countless pros show up to watch the event in person. Even more provide security. Literally my first thought was, if I was a criminal I would commit so many crimes during the Sports Festival. Who tf would be around to stop me? And then I had a good laugh because we actually see Shigaraki watching the Festival and I was like ‘oh, there isn’t a spike in villain attacks because the villains are watching it too lol.’

But THEN, Tensei gets attacked by Stain ON THE DAY OF THE FESTIVAL. So there are still heroes out hero-ing and villains out villain-ing, and it’s probably way easier to do the latter when everyone from All Might to Endeavor and beyond are watching teenagers beat the tar out of each other. But you’ve gotta scout those future interns and sidekicks so what are you gonna do!! Once again, the Sports Festival is a microcosm of pro hero popularity society—it’s this insulated little bubble where everyone is so worried about how they look, where they ranked, who they beat to that podium, while the real world carries on outside. Iida himself is distracted by that shiny first place medal until Stain attacking his brother body slams him back to reality.

[spnexploration]

Collared part 40

The final one!

Pairing: Dean x Reader eventually finally

Series summary: Sam and Dean save a woman from where she has been held as a slave by a witch. But things turn dark whenever they try to take her magic collar off, leaving them with a slave to look after and a curse to break.

Episode summary: You try sitting

Warnings: None

A/N: You guys!! I can't believe we're at the end! This is my first series and it took me 40 chapters to get there, but we're finally there!

Word count: 1.5k

Series masterlist | Supernatural writing masterlist

Part 39 <-

Sam watched you staring at the dining table chairs. He’d come up behind you and you hadn’t seemed to notice him yet. He didn’t want to interrupt your moment, but he was worried if he tried to back away you’d hear and it’d make it even more awkward.

You sighed and then started to head to the collection of cushions on the floor.

“You know,” he said gently, trying not to startle you, “you don’t have to start with the hardest thing first.”

“Huh?”

“Chairs seem like they have a lot of baggage. You were literally tortured by the collar when Dean tried to get you to sit on one, and I’m sure there was worse. But what if you start with something that doesn’t have that association?”

“Like what?”

“I dunno, the kitchen bench, the table itself, the top of the step ladder?”

You turned to look at the bench. You seemed to contemplate it for a few moments before heading over to over to it. You ran your hands along it.

“This could work,” you murmured. You turned around, putting the heels of your hand on the edge of the bench. You looked like you were testing your weight on your wrists, deciding whether to lift up. He would offer to lift you, but he had a feeling this was something you’d want to do by yourself.

He turned to the pantry, busying himself so you didn’t feel like he was staring. He heard a noise behind him and had to force himself not to turn around. You didn’t sound hurt, you didn’t need him. You needed privacy.

He gave it a minute or so before he turned back to you. There you were, sitting on the bench. You looked a little apprehensive but not too bad. He smiled at you then continued busying himself getting breakfast ready.

He heard Dean’s footsteps enter the kitchen. “Wa-hey Bambi! You’re airborne again!”

Sam watched your whole face light up at Dean’s joke. It was adorable how you two acted with each other when you weren’t freaking out about the other one’s reactions.

Dean headed over to you, leaning against the bench next to you. Sam took that cue to busy himself again, although he was running out of things to do to get breakfast given he was just getting out cereal. He could still hear the conversation, but at least he didn’t look like he was intruding.

“How you feeling?” Dean asked.

“I mean, it’s not quite comfortable, you know? But it’s not that bad. It’s kinda nice being up high too.”

“Yeah, you almost made it to a sensible height.” Sam could hear Dean’s voice turn to teasing you.

“Oh? Is only your height sensible, is it?”

“Of course!”

“Sam, you got an opinion on that?” you called to him.

Sam turned around, glad he didn’t have to keep pretending he was getting out cutlery. “Hey, hey, I support people of all statures. I’ve never been to jail for a hate crime against little people.”

You looked at Dean, shocked but still smiling.

“Oi! That was not a hate crime!” Dean replied indignantly. “I was trying to tell you that the problem was fairies.”

You giggled. “You fought fairies?”

“Yeah, look, just because things have a cute name doesn’t mean they’re not problematic.”

“And you solved that by going to jail?”

“What? No. Look, whose side are you on?”

“Anyone who’s against you, obviously!” You stuck your tongue out at Dean. The flirting was really reaching fever pitch now, Sam thought.

“Sassy Bambi has come out today, I see.”

“Aww, did Sassy Bambi hurt Ickle Dean’s feelings?”

Sam was very torn. On the one hand, he wanted you two to get together, if that’s what you both wanted. On the other, he didn’t really want to be incredibly awkwardly third-wheeling your first hook-up while holding cereal.

“So, uh, breakfast?” Sam said, holding up the cereal and spoons. You two could recreate the moment. Alone.

---

“You ok?” Sam asked Dean quietly when they were alone.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You literally woke me up because you were terrified you’d scared Y/N.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. All good.”

“So we’re not going to have any more ‘Missing woman found in own bedroom’ moments?”

“Shut up, bitch.”

“Just checking...”

---

Dean walked in to the library to find you sitting on the table, looking at the phone Sam had gotten you yesterday. “Heya Bambi,” he said.

“Hi Squirrel.”

He raised his eyebrow, fixing you with a glare.

You laughed.

“What you up to?” you asked after a moment, turning the conversation.

“I was thinking of looking for a case. One we, umm, could take you to, but only if you promise to stay in the motel. Or you can stay here, if you want.”

You turned your head on the side, looking quizzically at him. “You have changed, haven’t you?”

“Huh?”

“Maybe I mean ‘you listened’, rather than changed.”

“Sweetheart, you gotta be less pensive if you want the rest of the class to follow you.”

“I just- I’m happy. I said I didn’t want to be treated like I was fragile, and you’re finally not. Well, in your own overprotective way.”

He scratched his neck, awkward. “Umm, yeah. Ok. So, do you wanna help look...?”

“Can we go practice some moves first?”

“If you’re not ready, we can wait.”

“No, I’m ready. I just want to remind myself that I can do this before we do.”

“And getting to hit me reminds you of that, does it?” he said with a smirk.

“Oh, I mean, that’s absolutely a side benefit. Hell, that’s the whole goal some days.”

He put on his best bitch face. You playfully clapped your hand on his chest as you jumped off the table.

---

“Is it easier?” Dean asked you.

“Is what easier?”

“Sitting on the bench.” He gestured to where you were perched, watching him cook.

“Umm, I think so. The chair is just...” You trailed off.

“Too much?”

“Yeah.”

“Fair enough.”

Dean kept cooking, not noticing you staring at your fingers.

“Sometimes I worry I won’t ever be normal,” you said quietly.

He turned to you. “Sweetheart, you’ve been sitting on furniture for one day. You’ve been healing and making huge progress.” He reached forward and cupped your cheek. “And yeah, maybe you won’t. Sammy and I have been through some shit and we’re not the same, we’re not normal. But we’re ok.”

“If I’m not normal, how am I going to leave?”

He froze, “Do you- do you want to leave?” He dropped his hand.

“Don’t you want your freedom back? I appreciate you’re willing to take me to a case to stay in a motel, but I’m sure eventually that’ll be annoying or unsuitable.”

“Logistics is not a reason to leave,” he said in a choked voice.

A small smile appeared on your face. He breathed again, a small glimmer of hope igniting within. “Do you... Do you want me to stay?” you asked in a very small voice.

“If you wa-” he started, then noticed your face falling. He steeled himself, if he didn’t take this moment you would be gone forever. “I mean- yes, Bambi, I want you to stay.”

“You’re not just saying that to be nice?”

“I was telling you it was your choice to be nice. What I want...” he moved closer again. “What I want is-”

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Dean span. Fuck, the smoke alarm was going off, he’d burnt dinner. He quickly crossed to the pan, turning off the burner and trying to deal with the mess. He could see you’d jumped off the bench behind him and we’re trying to fan the smoke away, and Sam came running in to help.

Later, when it was over, Sam turned to Dean. “What were you doing? Not like you to be so distracted.”

“I, uh-” Dean started.

“It’s my fault, I was distracting him,” you answered.

Sam smirked. “Well, maybe I’ll leave you two to the clean up then.”

“Yeah, sure, Sammy, we’ll clean it all up. Might be eggs on toast for dinner though.”

Sam nodded and headed out, a grin on his face. Dean didn’t have time to wonder about that as he turned back to find you biting your lip and looking up at him.

“Where were we?” he asked you playfully.

“Well, I was over here,” you said moving towards the bench. Dean reached forward and lifted you up, sitting you on top of the bench. You giggled.

“And I think I was here,” he said, moving closer.

You spread your legs a little and pulled him to stand between them. “I think this is a better place, don’t you?”

“Certainly has some advantages. And as I’ve said before, I like what your newfound bench sitting does for your height.” He reached his hand to cup your face again.

“Oh? Does that present some advantages too?”

“Can certainly think of some uses.” He leaned forward, watching your reactions. You were smiling and leaning forward.

He bent down slightly and kissed you.

Finally.

.

.

.

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[neon-junkie]

In the Heat of the Moment - Chpt.1

Summary: "Less than ten percent of domesticated species go into heats," accord to Tech and his research, and (un)fortunately, you're one of that ten percent. What else are you meant to do? Trapped during a heat cycle with five men - five willing men who are happy to help relieve you, but not all have the confidence to say so.

Relationship: The Bad Batch x fem!Reader (she/her)

Tags: Heats, Mating, Sex pollen, Friends with benefits, Friends to lovers, Slow burn, Sex, Jealousy, Pining, Scents, Knotting, Creampies, slightly A/B/O, Tags to be added.

Word count: 1.5k

[Chapter 2]

Notes: I've had this series in my drafts for a while. I keep adding to it here and there, and I figured I should start to post *something*. Not going to lie, I purely had myself in mind when writing this. I've been tired of trying to write for an audience, and instead, I'm just writing what I want to read. I also miss writing smut-centered fics, so let's scratch all of those itches at once!!

For context: Your heat is vaguely based off the heat cycles that you see in animals. Once a year, your species goes through a heat cycle, where you have a high physical urge to mate. These can last 1-2 months, depending on if/when you mate. I took a lot of inspiration from the sex pollen trope, kinda "fuck or die" but without the death. Just a lot of pain/discomfort. It's a craving, your body NEEDS to fuck or else you're going to get nasty about it. Very nasty. The lads won't be happy with your attitude, but how can they turn down such a pretty and desperate thing?

Chapter 1 - And here we are...

"I should not be doing this."

"I should certainly not be doing this."

"I understand that I am assisting you, but this? This is going to get me reported, shamed, decommissioned and-"

"Tech, please!" you whine. "Stop thinking out loud. I'm only going to report you if you hold back from what you're doing!"

Tech slams his hips forward, coming to a halt. "I apologise," he mutters, and tightens his grasp on your hips before returning to a brutal pace.

How did it come to this? On your knees, your elbows propped up on the Marauder's pilot chair - Tech's chair, in fact. Speaking of the devil, he's also on his knees behind you, with his cock slamming into your slick cunt.

Tech is 'assisting' you through your heat. Yes, because you're no standard species. The galaxy has a vast variety of beings out there, but "less than ten percent of domesticated species go into heats," accord to Tech and his research.

He had noticed that something was off with you recently - a slight temper, recklessness, lack of sleep - not to mention that you smell. Like, you really stink, so much so that even Wrecker has pointed out that, "you're getting as bad as me!"

And Hunter, poor Hunter, has kept his distance from you. Neither of you have commented on it, almost like a silent, mutual agreement. The poor man has heightened senses, and you can't tell if your scent is driving him the good or bad kind of crazy.

At least your scent is tolerable, a sweet, yet sweaty lingering flavour. Tech had begun silently researching after noticing that your 'new behaviour' had stuck around for a few days, with no intention of disappearing, which brought him to a series of detailed articles about ruts and mating.

Well, the articles weren't about your species specifically, seeing as there was little to be found on that topic, but it gave Tech more than enough to understand what your body is currently going through.

You're horny, to put it blankly. You're pent-up, frustrated, and desperate to be filled.

The Batch had left for a supply run, leaving you and Tech behind to guard (and repair) the ship, which gave him the perfect opportunity to speak to you alone. He began explaining how he has done some research, and "somewhat understands the difficult time you are going through. Perhaps I can assist you in some way?"

Tech said that line with the intention of giving you medical assistance, supplements or whatever, but the pathetic whine that you let out caused his cock to harden, even more so when you shifted your thighs together and innocently asked, "are you suggesting that you can satisfy my natural urges, Tech?"

Back to the present. Tech's eyes drift to the side when he notices a light flashing on his datapad, resting on the co-pilot's seat. "The others are on their way back," he informs you through gritted teeth.

"But we've barely started!" you whine, knowing that your urges will be lingering for the next month. Minimum.

"And we'll find other opportunities to satisfy you, General," Tech comments. He notices the way that your cunt twitches around his length at that word alone - General - because you are his superior, after all.

This is all so complicated, a desirably defective Clone Trooper mating with his Jedi General for the simple purpose of assisting her during her natural urges. Insane, and incredible.

There's a silent and mutual agreement to keep this matter private, seeing as it would... complicate everything. But Tech had already let some information slip when Crosshair caught him researching ruts. "Do I dare ask?" Crosshair had pried, but it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together.

Another hard slam of Tech's hips causes you to let out a heavy moan, and with it, your upper body practically collapses on the pilot's chair. You're fucked out, debauched, yet still craving more. "Where shall I finish?" Tech sputters behind you.

"Inside," is all you can whimper.

Tech's hips come to a halt, "I may be willing to assist you during your heat, but I am not willing to impregnate you," he comments with a raised finger.

Peering over your shoulder, you explain, "I can't interbreed."

"Oh," Tech blankly sighs, and his finger softens before returning to your hip. "In that case, I'll happily finish inside," he cheerfully smiles.

And with that, he's slamming into you again, his brows furrowing from the pure intensity of it all. It doesn't take much for you to climax, just a few messy rubs on your clit, and you're cumming on Tech's cock with a series of pathetic moans escaping your lips.

Tech practically explodes, his mind fogging up at the sensation of your cunt gripping the life out of him. You're milking that poor man, and all he can do is fold over and rest his forehead on your back, panting heavily as he waits for you to relax and release your death grip on his cock.

"I..." Tech begins, and licks his lips as he straightens his back. "I assume the males of your species have the ability to knot?" Tech observes.

"What gave it away?" you sarcastically reply, and attempt to relax your muscles, allowing Tech to escape.

Tech lets out a pained, "ah!" as he slips his cock out, then tucks his poor little trooper away. "I'll certainly need to get used to that sensation," Tech casually states.

"Did it... hurt?" you ask, and begin cleaning yourself up, tucking your Jedi robes back into place.

"Not at all, but I am particularly sore," Tech replies as he offers you a hand, pulling you up to your feet. You watch as he clasps his codpiece back into place, followed by correcting a few pieces of armour that have drifted astray during his wild turn of events. You needed urgent care, and Tech didn't see much point in removing his armour when he's simply providing assistance.

There's a moment of silence, an awkward pause, and Tech breaks it by nervously rubbing the back of his neck as he states, "feel free to ask for assistance when you next need it."

"Oh..." you stutter. "Yeah, thank you, Tech."

Like the fool that you are, you push up onto tiptoes to plant a light kiss on Tech's lips, before making your way through the Marauder, ready to splash your face with cold water in the refresher.

Everything happened so fast. You were painfully aroused, and ate Tech up like a three-course meal. Your hormonal urge has been filled, but from experience, you know that this is only a temporary fix. Hopefully, before you know it, your yearly rut will be over, and you'll be back for to your standard, witty self.

As for now, you'll need to tolerate it, and redeem your Tech voucher whenever the time is right.

After coming to your senses in the confinement of the refresher, you shimmy out to find that the others have returned, shopping bags in hand. "You look tired," Echo comments as soon as he locks eyes with you, and you're unsure if that's a statement or an insult.

"That's what happens when you spend the afternoon doing repairs," you sarcastically reply, and Echo rewards you with an eye roll.

Wrecker is quick to drag your attention away as he begins going through the fascinating new foods that he's brought, all thanks to your Republic credits. You're starved, hungrier than usual during your troubled times, and before you can pick out a treat and tuck in, somebody else pulls your attention away.

"Here-" Hunter interrupts. He chucks a small prescription bottle at you, the tablets rattling as they come into contact with your hand, and you rotate the bottle to read its label. "For your... new problem," Hunter explains before heading down the ship, obviously trying to keep his distance, even more so seeing as he can't simply hand the tablets over to you.

Wrecker can be heard sniffing the air, and proudly comments, "you don't stink any more!"

How innocent he is, unaware that you've been given assistance to your 'medical problem.' "Yeah," you say with a soft laugh. "Scrubbed extra hard in the refresher this morning."

"I still think your problem is stress related..." Wrecker begins, and waffles on about his thoughts and opinions on the matter. All the while, your eyes gloss over the label, the cure to your problems sitting in the palm of your hand. Yet, your mind is asking the same silly question over and over.

Why don't you want to take these pills?

[rei64bit]

Heimdall x Reader ⎯⎯  From Dusk till Dawn [Chapter 6]

Night 6  (Heimdall X  F!Reader)

================================================

✎  Summary: Fanfic of reader married to Heimdall cause Odin wanting a grankid.

✎ Word count: 1.5k

✎  Title:  From Dusk till Dawn

✎  Chapter: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] ... more  // trying to publish as much as possible.

✎  Note: Im not a writer, its the first time I want to write something on a character I like alot.

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After that night, you two are getting a little close to each other, at least that is what it seems like. Perhaps its after what you two did, to finally be one intimately, and now every night when your husband back to the bed chamber, he always find a chance to start getting touchy and get intimate, even when you sit on chair doing work, he will just stand behind you and start teasing, in anyway you can think of.. “Isn’t that your wifey duty to take care of your husband needs?” As he said, which one time you trying to reject him as you too busy doing preparation for your work next day.

Today you have been way too busy than usual working on the new mission assigned by All-father, checking on the dwarves’ progress on the new mining site, a dwarf leader named Durlin has been making a scene and on this. You still remember Durlin was the rebel lead of the Dwarves, you may not be part of the war but you did know some of the story from the Asgardians gossiping in the mead hall. Durlin has certain demand before they will start working on the new mining fields and you been trying to negotiate with them which now still with one more demand left – “to grant the dwarves the right to trade in other realms with other species. ” which you will need to get permission from All-father and All-father been away the whole day, your work come to a halt.

Since there is nothing much you can do at this point, the only thing on your mind is to go back and rest, perhaps tomorrow morning All-father will be back to discuss the dwarves matters. “haahhh--” You sighed loudly in a long breath, this is so much work you think to yourself. “Welcome back, wife” You already heard your husband voice even before you open the door.. He really has this weird habit.

“It’s quite rare to see you back so late hm, did you get lecture by the Svartalfheim’s sow hm?” Heimdall sat on the chair, reading his diary. “It was the mission in Svartalfheim, their leader demand something and now left the last one, I need All-father agreement on that.” Rubbing your eye, you said.

“Durlin huh” Heimdall responded. “How you know his name is Durlin?” You questioned. “Well, he is one of my dear old friend I knew from the battlefield, and I gave him a little special treatment” Heimdall been sarcastic again, you know what he mean little special treatment and you remember the scar on Durlin’s head, perhaps that’s his so called special treatment he gave to him. “Yes, to remind that traitor to never bite the hand that feed them.” Heimdall replied to your thought.

You want to avoid talking about war, it’s not really your favorite topic. Putting your equipment on top of another table, you try to catch your breath from the long working hours going back and forth multiple time both Asgard and Svartalfheim the whole day.

“How was your day?” It’s just one of your habits asking such questions, Heimdall found it annoying the first few times but now he just get used to it. “haa- it was fine. Next question.” Turning to the next page he said. You smiled at the way he talks, it’s funny for some reason.

But now you do have something in mind that you have been curious about the whole time since the first day of your marriage, the diary. “Why do you keep reading your diary? It’s the thing you always do when you get back. Seems like you’ve been reading the same few pages over and over.” You probably now regret asking it to cause the way he looks at you is not what you call friendly.

“Sorry..if I crossed the line...” Not wanting to meet his eye, you turn your head continue to clean yourself and change your clothes to your night wear. It is quiet the whole time after you asked that question. You really regret it now, it was dumb.

Getting the book you bought from the Svartalfheim market about wood carving, you lay on the bed to face the window and start reading it. Not sure after how long, you heard Heimdall preparing himself to sleep too. You tense up a bit when he joins you on the bed, hoping he is not mad at you, it will be hard for you to fall asleep when you know someone hate you just next to you.

You felt his hand on your waist, slowly feeling your skin and starting to move up. “hm!” You squeaked at his hand motion, it’s tickle. You grab his hand but not because you want him to stop. “It was my mother’s diary.” Heimdall finally told you what it was and quite a surprise as you don’t expect him to told you especially something belong to his mother, he never actually talk about his mother at all. The suspension after his answer, you gently squeak his hand to get him some comfort.

“That few pages were the page she wrote about me.” Heimdall snuggles his head on your neck and continues. It’s really a very rare sight to see Heimdall to be so vulnerable, even more vulnerable than the time you two get intimate. Heimdall is always a prick to everyone even to you when you both are still not married to each other yet. You still remember the Asgardians complain about the god of foresight how he purposely spills his mead on the floor so the lady not able to have her midday rest. He also a jerk to you too way before you two put in this arranged marriage, he purposely throw your notebook that you accidentally left in the mead hall as you getting too busy into the nearby pond and he told you he thought it was just some garbage and doing you a favor to clean your mess, what a prick. You still remember it took you a week to fully dry your notebook, the content is too valuable to throw away. “I see..” Cut off your own thoughts and you replied back to Heimdall, not sure what to say. You can feel his breath on your neck and his hand trying to turn your body to face him and you comply.

“…” Still silent and you decided to break it. “Do you know where she is now?” You really want to test the water to see if the dreki monster will come out and bite you. “..not sure, her last few pages doesn’t sound happy about Asgard, so she definitely not here..” Heimdall closed his eyes and spoke. That’s kinda make you sad to think that his mother left Asgard, things must be hard for him even he never say any--. “Don’t you dare feel pity for me.” That’s sound like an order to you. “I’m not pity you, I feel sad about it.”  You answered genuinely. Heimdall opens his eyes look into your eyes, you know he is searching something, a falsehood of the statement you make just now. Heimdall is very prideful, he can’t stand people feeling pity for him, this applies to his wife too. You cradle his face with your one hand, kissed on his forehead. And yes, that’s how he started to get in the mood and demanding more from you and things start to get messy..again.

After some time the wave of pleasure finally cooled down, both of you cuddle for sometime before felling asleep.

“Hey, can I ask you another question?” You want to make sure he will answer you or you can drop it if he is not happy about it. “haa--- I knew this going to happen..go on..” Heimdall sighed and put his head on top of your head, and one hand feeling your belly. “I saw the scar on your back, what happened?” You go on. “Is this your hobby to poke on people weak spot?” Heimdall looked at you and said it in a sarcastic way, this is a good sign that means he is not angry.

“..it was when Baldur still a brat, even he still is now. I was not paying attention to him as I thought he won’t be too physical and hurt me in anyway. He threw a spear at me just for fun as he thought I definitely will dodge it.” Baldur, his younger brother was very active when he was a kid and hardly see he sit at one place, he always running around the whole city causing trouble although he didn’t mean it. You put on hand on the scar to feel it. It did give Heimdall a weird but pleasurable sensation as he trembles when you move your hand across the scars. That’s cute you think.

Heimdall has been feeling your belly the whole time whenyou two talk. You looked at him and he just stared at you silently. “..?” Raising your eyebrows signal him to tell you if anything wrong, but he just imitates your face expression and continue feeling your belly but changed to use his finger drawing circle on your belly. “oh.” Realized what he means, that’s the only word came out of your mouth.

“I think it’s a boy.” He looked at you.

Cont.

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[mamashenanigans]

Bad Ending Event-AFO Writing & Art

EDIT: PRIZES HAVE CHANGED

Starting at the beginning of February, @possiblycringe and I will be hosting a Bad Ending event featuring All for One!

Writing or drawing a bad ending can be a challenge, so this is a great event if you want to push yourself to try something different!

This event allows for 3 different types of bad ending scenarios: a bad ending(the bad guy wins) at the end of your story, the aftermath of a bad ending, or nobody wins. You could even mash 2 or 3 of them together if you so choose!

Requirements

At least 1k word requirement for writers

Artists can do anything as long as it sticks with the bad ending theme and features AFO

MUST include AFO! However, including Yoichi, DFO(Dad for One), or other characters is acceptable as well as whatever world or setting you want. I.E. Real world/No Quirks, fantasy, sci-fi, historical, etc. All AUs are welcome!

Horror and gore are perfectly fine for writers and artists. Obviously, NO NSFW(you know what I mean!)

Prizes

Winners in writing or art have the option to choose either a fic or an art piece. This is a FIRST COME FIRST SERVE rule. I.E. Once both 1st prize winners are chosen, which ever 1st prize winner contacts me first and chooses art or fic, the other 1st place winner will get what the first contact didn’t pick. This is being done to give winners an option between the two, but to make it fair so one of us isn’t doing more than the other!

Winners that want Fics: Send prompt to me

1st Place: 2k words

2nd Place: 1.5k words

3rd Place: 1k words

Winners that want Art: Send prompt to @possiblycringe

1st Place: Full body color with cell shading

2nd Place: Half body color

3rd Place: Half body lineart

For those that may need examples, here are three of my works that represent each acceptable “bad ending”

COLD—example of a nobody wins bad ending. Horror

Alternatives chapters 2-3 & chapter 5 epilogue featuring the bad ending of a Mafia AU

Alternatives chapters 3-4 & chapter 5 epilogue featuring the aftermath of a bad ending where fat!AFO has already become Emperor of the world.

The official start date will be announced here and in Discord servers I’m in like Silver’s Vault come the end of January.

This is going to be a nice challenge for a lot of you and we’re both so excited to see how yall decide to torture the characters…and probably feed the glutton that is AFO 😉

[teaandfiction-28]

acdassenza asked: Been loving everything you're writing 💙🥺 Could I ask for Fluff 2, Smut 2 and Angst 1? [2 of 3]

Thank you so much @acdassenza​ 💛 

Fun fact. I almost wrote a non-smutty chapter in “Brand New Day” on the below but I ended up putting it in the virtual trash! 😅 If you guys enjoy it, perhaps I’ll revisit the full chapter and either post it here or retrospectively sneak it in to BND! 

Anyway, some smutty goodness with our favourite duo below the break! 🙃

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Prompt: “Ten? I only need five.”

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: Language, Mentions of Gun Violence, Pregnancy Sex [18+ Only]

Timeline: Set between C1 and C2 of “Brand New Day” 

"This is ridiculous.” Kate grumbled, gazing down the length of her body to where the waistband of her black tailored dress pants stubbornly refused to be buttoned, despite having spent the last ten minutes valiantly sucking in her burgeoning bump in an attempt to force the fabric closed. 

At five months pregnant, she had begrudgingly purchased some maternity jeans after Hank threatened to toss her favourite pair of Levis into the narcotics incinerator when he caught her tearfully trying to wriggle into unforgiving denim for the third day in a row. 

'It’s all your fault.’ She had grumbled, narrowing her eyes at him as she woefully packed down her ‘normal’ sized clothes and replenished her closet with a myriad of stretchy fabric and elastic waistbands. 

What she hadn’t anticipated was needing to squeeze into her dress blues and attend the Chicago PD Annual Police Recognition award ceremony to have a chunk of metal pinned to her chest for being careless enough to almost get herself killed. But just as she was about to try fastening her pants one more time before deeming the whole thing a lost cause, Hank appeared in the doorway to their bedroom clad in his own formal attire (currently sans the jacket) with a bundle of fabric in his arms. 

“Here, try these on.” He said, his mouth tugging into a grin as he took in the sexy black lace barely containing her ever-growing chest and the open pants that he instantly knew she wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of buttoning. 

“Where’d you get these?” She asked, accepting the pile of clothing with a slightly pinched brow. 

“Trudy sent ‘em over. She said the jacket might be a little big in the shoulders but at least you’ll be able to do it up.”

“I dunno whether to be thankful or offended.” She muttered, tossing the clothes onto the foot of the bed.

“Why do I have to go anyway? Technically I’m not on the active roster so-”

“Do you know how rare it is to receive both a Blue Star Award and the Superintendent’s Award of Valor?”

Of course she knew. Receiving either one of those awards was an achievement in its own right but to receive them together was almost unheard of. Hank and the rest of the Intelligence Unit would also be receiving the Award of Valor for their involvement in bringing down Eduardo Guterra but the Police Blue Star was only awarded to those who had been critically or fatally injured in the line of duty. For Kate, both those awards were just a reminder of how close she had come to not only losing her own life, but the little life she had growing inside of her. 

“I’d much rather have not been shot.” 

Hank’s mouth pulled into a thin line at her somewhat dejected tone, his eyes softening as he watched her shoulders slump forwards. 

“I know.” He replied softly, closing the space between them to rest his palms on her shoulders, the pads of his thumbs sliding over the thin straps of her bra. 

Of course he understood why she didn’t want to go. Hell, he had skipped out on more than his fair share of award ceremonies over the years so it wasn’t like he could force her to attend. But she deserved to be recognised publicly for her willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice, even though the memory of kneeling in a pool of her blood left him feeling ice cold. 

“How ‘bout I make you a deal.” He murmured, gliding his fingertips down over her ribcage to settle on her waist, drawing her warm body flush against his. 

“You go to the award ceremony...” Hank trailed his lips along the line of her jaw, pausing briefly to push a soft kiss to the smooth patch of skin beneath her ear. “...and I’ll make you come before we leave.”

Gooseflesh instantly exploded across Kate’s skin, the familiar heat of arousal pooling low in her stomach as he whispered his tantalising compromise in that deep, gritty voice, her head falling backwards as he laved the sensitive skin of her throat with sensual, tongue-filled kisses. 

“Hank, the cab’ll be in here in like, ten minutes.” She breathed, her words a complete contradiction to her actions as she cupped the back of his head in an effort to root him in place. 

“Ten? I only need five.” He replied with a wink, looping the tips of his fingers into the waistband of both her pants and her underwear before slowly dropping to his knees, drawing the dark fabric down her long, toned legs as he went, carelessly tossing them over his shoulder. 

Releasing a slow, shaky breath, Kate peered down at the top of his head, her heart hammering against her ribs as he drew one thigh over his shoulder, planting a hot, sultry kiss against the inside of her knee only to begin a meandering path along the silky skin of her inner thigh. 

“You sound pretty sure of yours- uh fuck!” 

Before she was able to finish her sarcastic remark, Hank had promptly buried his face between her legs, drawing his talented tongue between her slick folds with a hum of pleasure. 

“You were saying?” He mumbled, swirling the very tip of his tongue teasingly around her clit, barely containing his smug amusement when her eyes rolled into the back of her head and a lewd groan tore from her throat.  

Clutching frantically at the back of his head, Kate’s free hand darted out to find purchase on a nearby dresser, sending Hank’s cologne and a few tubes of moisturiser tumbling to the floor. 

“Just shut up and do that again.”

With a deep chuckle, Hank got back to the task at hand, alternating between long, languid strokes with the broad flat of his tongue and sucking her throbbing nub into the warm cavern of his mouth, grinning against her soaking core as she ground against his face with a tight whine, desperately seeking more friction. But just as he could feel her tipping over the edge, he eased up on his pace and pressure, just enough to prevent her from reaching the blissful euphoria she was frantically chasing. 

“Please...please don’t tease.” She panted breathlessly, nails scraping gently along his scalp as she ran her fingers through his hair. 

In the few days since they had been given the green light to intimately reconnect, Hank had discovered that pregnancy had made various parts of her anatomy even more sensitive than before and he idly wondered how many times he could make her fall apart beneath his touch before she became an incoherent, boneless mess. But eventually he decided that was a challenge for another time.

“You said I had ten minutes.” He reminded her gruffly, blowing a steady stream of cool air along her glistening seam, supporting her weight with strong hands on her hips as her legs wobbled precariously. 

When her only response was a strained whimper, he finally took pity on her and created a perfect vacuum around her aching clit, tongue flicking rhythmically against the sensitive bundle of nerves until her entire body went rigid above him, hips frantically canting forwards with his name tumbling from her lips. 

He held her tight as he coaxed her through her climax, lapping at her saturated core until she eventually released her vice-like grip on his head, her fingers running softly through the short tresses. When her heart rate had regulated to something akin to a normal rhythm, Hank pressed one final kiss to her flushed centre and eased her thigh from his shoulder, stifling a groan of discomfort when his knees audibly protested as he pushed to his feet. 

Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, mouth blindly searching for his as she leaned against his chest, clutching fistfuls of his pressed white shirt in her hands in an effort to keep herself upright. He returned her soft, sensual kisses with equal fervour, sliding his arms around her waist until the need to draw breath became pressing. 

“I know it’ll do nothing but remind you of what happened but you deserve to be recognised for the lives you saved.” He said quietly, palm coming to rest on her protruding stomach, fingertips brushing along the raised, pink incision lines that were still vivid on her skin. “Besides, if I show up without you, Trudy’ll just come and hunt you down anyway.”

He wasn’t wrong. The Desk Sergeant was like a fucking bloodhound when it came to tracking down people who didn’t want to be found! 

Later that evening as he watched her cross the stage to collect her awards, he applauded politely along with everyone else but, internally, he was beaming with pride. 

“How’d you get her to come?” Trudy whispered, nudging him in the ribs with a pointy elbow. 

Hank had to disguise his bark of laughter with a loud cough at her unfortunate choice of words, drawing odd looks from both Trudy and Commander Fischer who happened to be within earshot. Clearing his throat, he let his eyes linger on Kate for a moment longer, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards into a wry grin. 

“I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.” 

[gubes-sweaters]

Fire on Fire

Content Warning(s): discussion of childhood trauma, small mention of Cat’s mother’s murder

Word Count: 1.5k

Chapter 2: I Almost Started to Believe Her

“I think this session went well, but before we go. Overall, how’ve you been feeling? I know these past couple weeks haven’t been easy,” she says, pushing her blonde bob back behind her ear. She looks carefully at the young woman sitting across from her. The young woman who was clearly avoiding the conversation busied herself by rolling an M&M in her hand, then popping it into her mouth before the candy coating began to melt.

Her mouth opened slightly like she was getting ready to talk, but she grabbed a few more M&Ms out of the bowl of candy on the wooden coffee table in front of her. She ponders her thoughts for a moment before opting to speak.

“I don’t know it’s been… heavy,” She wasn’t sure what to say. Knowing the sister she desperately looked for and created this star studded image of from a young age before and after they were separated by the foster system, did what she did, left her numb to say the least. She popped the colorful candies in her mouth signaling that she was done talking.

“I know the idea of finding Catherine one day was something you dreamed about. We talked about that when you first came into my office six years ago. It has to be disappointing, knowing she turned out like this,” she says, while writing something in the woman’s patient file.

“I think I just liked the idea of her more than anything, Someone who protected me and loved me, but looking back without the rose tinted glasses, her love was conditional. If I didn’t do A then she did B or she would ignore me for X amount of time. All while I have the other childhood trauma running alongside the turmoil she put me through,” she says with a solemn look on her tired features.

“Well, why did you stop listening to her? What changed?” The therapist asks before adjusting herself in her leather seat. The two women had been talking for over an hour at this point and it showed because both of them have been wiggling in their seats more frequently as the time passed.

“I guess I started to get a mind of my own and she didn’t like that. Shortly after our dad killed her mom, and we were both sent off to foster care. She ended up with some man in North Carolina I guess and I eventually ended up with my foster moms. Since we have different mom’s and her mom was murdered, we were considered different cases, so we were split up and we lost all contact,” she says bluntly. It wasn’t even two years since she originally unpacked all of this trauma. Reliving all of this feels like opening old wounds. Especially since she had to go into depth about her childhood because of Cat getting arrested the first time. She had talked about her childhood a lot when she began therapy, but Cat now being brought into this brought a whole new set of memories. No longer did she see her older sister as this snarky, funny, and strong person. She was a bully at the end of the day. She used to be able to look at her old memories and see Cat as a beacon, but those memories are now forever stained.

“So, it didn’t end on either of your own accords?”

“No, I was still very young when everything went down and Cathrine was a teenager,” she says before adjusting herself and fidgeting with her necklace.

“Alright, I’m sorry to cut this off, but we are over our time and I know you have to go back to work. I’ll still see you next week, at the same time?” The therapist asks.

“Yep,” the younger woman responds, while grabbing her belongings off the tan leather couch.

“Alright then and you know if you need me for anything, call my number,” the woman says while standing in unison with her.

“Will do. Have a nice weekend,” she replies while walking out of the office. She repeats those same sentiments to the man who works at the receptionist desk after picking up her doctor’s excuse for work. As she makes her way out of the building the sun that's peaking through the cloudy sky warms her skin and she pulls out her sunglasses from her purse while making her way to her car.

She doesn’t even get to open her car door before her phone starts buzzing. She expected it to be her boss or even a co worker wondering when she’ll be back to work. Instead she got an unknown number in her phone.

“Hello?” she picked it up, curiosity looming in her voice.

“Hi, um this is, well, I don’t know how to explain this very well. This is Spencer Reid, I’m with the BAU. We did an investigation on your sister, Cat. Well, my team did, I wasn’t there because… the reason isn’t all that important right now. I wanted to know if we could talk about a few things over coffee,” a shaky voice replies on the other line.

“Listed I told your team I haven’t even seen Cathrine since I was eight. There’s nothing I can do to help,” she snapped back.

“No, it’s nothing work related. It’s just personal. Cat has caused me a lot of… problems in my personal life and I’m just taking my therapist’s advice. I wanted to know if it was alright to meet for coffee, maybe we can talk. If- If you don’t want to that’s fine,” he ended his rambling sounding unsure and awkward. Spencer sat in his car fidgeting with anything that was in the cup holders or center console, waiting for a response with bated breath.

She lets out a long, but quiet sigh. The other line was nearly silent for a minute minus the muted sounds of the young woman on the other line opening her car door and cranking the car up.

“Sorry, I wanted to switch the call to the bluetooth in my car. I don't want to be running late for work,” speaks up. Spencer suddenly feels the shred of confidence he had when making the decision to call begin to dissipate.

“How does Thursday afternoon work? Like three o’clock? After two I’m off work for the rest of the day.” She says with a slightly gentler tone. The tenderness makes Spencer’s ears perk up a bit.

“Yeah that’ll work. There’s a great coffee place that I love. They have a latte that uses robusta coffee beans. Which has very high levels of caffeine. It's actually very interesting. I can send you the address to the coffee shop.” He says before cutting himself off before going on about his prefered type of coffee.

When Spencer first moved into his apartment after Gideon recruited him that was the first place he visited. Ever the routine-oriented person, he has gone there before work almost everyday since.

The women's cold demeanor began to be chiseled away. This was proven by her light, airy laugh she let out at Spencer’s sudden facts tumbling from his mouth, an old habit of his.

After her small laugh she agreed with a simple ‘okay’, with the remnants of her laugh still lingering.

Now it was Spencer’s turn to be quiet. He wasn't sure how to navigate certain conversations, especially with new people because of how often he was bullied as a child. It doesn't make it any better when the new person he’s talking to is a half-sister of the woman who’s dedicated the past few years of her life to ruining his.

“I'm sorry if that seemed like I was laughing at you, I wasn’t . You kind of sounded like my mom when you started bringing up random facts.” She says, noticing the quiet. Y/N tended to be very perceptive. Captivating a small crowd of people with varying reactions is important. Knowing how to get shy, curious people to speak up, get overtly snarky know-it-alls to quiet enough for everyone else to enjoy the tip, but entertaining their conversations enough that they did not feel rejected, or to get more bored people engaged with the stories she tried to paint became her forte.

“That’s alright, well I’ll send you the address. I’ve uh- got to go. I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, have a good day. Bye.” She says, admittedly kind of awkwardly.

“You too, bye.” Is all Spencer udders before fumbling with his phone then hanging up.

When the call drops he heart is left pounding. Not with fear or worry, but the type of anxiousness that makes someone have butterflies in their belly. The type of anxiousness that brings a little bit of warmth to the tips of a person’s ears and cheeks.

She has a small smile she can’t wipe off her face as she pulls out of her parking spot and heads towards work.

A/N: I’ve had this unedited sitting for so long, but i finally decided to edit it and put it out, mostly only because I said I would yesterday and now I feel obligated. So enjoy! Also if you have any requests my messages along with submissions are always open! Also this is inspired by the Sam Smith song Fire on Fire. The titles of the chapters are the lyrics to that song. Their voice is absolutely breathtaking and I listen to their music a lot while I write.

Taglist (if any aren’t gray that means i tried to tag, but couldn’t find the user sorry :/): @striving4averagegirl @measure-in-pain @tvandfanfic @haylaansmi @rexorangecouny @sophiario

[butterscotch987]

Celebrating 1.5k hits: Through the Shadows of Shame

I finally hit 1.5k hits on my story!

This may be tiny compared to some, but honestly? I'm overjoyed that my work has been viewed at least 1.5k times. (Well, 1.6k as of finishing this draft)

Woohoo! When I first set out to write this story, I told myself I'd do it for me. I'm still writing for myself, but it's nice to know other people are actually reading the words?

Like wow. Thank you.

I also hit a milestone on the story outline (that I call my roadmap)!

Part 1 (out of who knows) is complete! I would say a part is every time something significant happens in the story.

In the image attached, Part 1 is the one in the red square to the left. We've officially published 17 Chapters! ✨🥳

17 down, and so, so many to go 🤪

Right now, I think I have 5-7 parts in total?

I've plotted out 80 chapters but honestly that's subject to change. Sometimes I consolidate chapters, sometimes I need to add a chapter to flesh out the story more, but one thing's for sure:

I'm having so much fun~

*bow*

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Goddess of Secrecy & Mark of a Hero: Should You Read Both?

Ok, I know I've talked not amazingly about GoS some on this blog so far. Most of that is because I'm stuck in the middle of edits with it and so you know. My opinion of it isn't the best right now.

That said, I do still adore GoS. It's a story I'm proud of. It's a story I will be prouder of after edits. And it's a reflection of my growth as a storyteller. I'm sure the chart of what that looks like is interesting with the hiatuses mixed in there, but here we are. And on top of that, GoS was/is really well liked over on Wattpad. It is creeping up on 300,000 reads and it didn't get there for nothing. Is it big? Yeah, absolutely. It's got nothing on MoaH though in size. GoS will likely reach about 500,000 words by the time it's done with edits. MoaH hit that word count at the end of act 3 of book 2 (of 9).

That said, GoS & MoaH do share lore connections. MoaH continues GoS's timeline with the most interconnection of any of my fics (they are all generally on the same timeline, but really only GoS & MoaH focus on it). Now, MoaH is standalone, you don't have to read GoS to enjoy MoaH's lore. But. If you have read both, the lore does expand on each other. There are also easter eggs in MoaH based on GoS (a non-spoiler one is that GoS's Sages are on Hart's cards in their oracle deck). If that's something you enjoy, GoS is slowly releasing chapters in its first phase of edits onto AO3 now as well as the chapters are being edited and released on Wattpad with banners, I will be putting out announcements as we get through to the end of dungeons (~10 chapters). It is at probably its most approachable point right now as it goes through phase 1 edits. They said about the 197 chapter fic, I know, but like. It is at its smallest right now. I'm aiming to get 2-3 chapters out a week, so it's gonna add up eventually.

I like to think that GoS is to MoaH lore-wise what The Hobbit is to The Lord of the Rings. A more kid friendly, shorter, and tonally very different prequel to the main series it follows. Can you read one without reading the other? Yes. Are both expanded by how they interconnect? That's the goal. I mean, if I'm gonna put out something massive like this, I ought to at least make sure y'all get some fun out of it for reading both.

And to answer the phase 1 edits thing real fast, I realized very quickly into GoS that I was going to have to break up edits into two parts. Phase 1 is "What the fuck did I write 12 years ago" where I rediscover some of the things this brain at 16 years old thought was a good idea to write and publish. Some of these things are the reason we're putting out phase 1 immediately over waiting to get through phase 2 for releases. I don't want the original text to exist anymore. Some of it was just bad. Offensive. I mean it's offensive and I don't want that available to read for as much as I can prevent it so the Wattpad chapters have to be replaced. But also, I worked on this book for over 12 years, I forgot a lot of what I wrote and I have no notes from the entire process. So we're getting the story in order, the yikes cut out, and then we'll go into phase 2, which is:

"Ok, but some of these chapters are only 1k." Phase 2 of GoS edits aims to get the word count of chapters, minimum, up to 1.5k. Ideally, up to 2k. GoS is shorter for chapter goals, that's lower than my goals for MoaH chapters (which seems to be adding a thousand per book, but we'll see how book 3 goes), but some of these chapters in GoS barely qualified as chapters. They have plot points I think deserve the breaks! But they need more description. Less floating heads. More details. At that point, the story will be there though because of phase 1 and I will know better where they go, so phase 2 won't really add anything new plot wise, it'll just make what's there better in presentation.

As I've said previously, GoS is being backdated for its original publication, mostly for the archival process of it. It is linked on the pinned post of this blog if you wanna give it a go.

[alder-saan]

The Path of Poisons .9

Bugloss

Larissa x gn! Oc

the Path of Poisons masterlist . [01] . [02] . [03] . [04] . [05] . [06] . [07] . [08] . [09] next chapter ->

Sorry! It was supposed to be released yesterday but I forgot haha!

TW: Larissa's low self esteem, hospital, stupid lesbians

words count: 1.5k

Again, sorry for any misgendering, this is the only fic I write in French at first, yada yada yada...

from: avareidahydrurga@gmail.com

to: l.weems@nevermore-academy.com

Hello Larissa,

Thank you for your email, it was great to hear from you, I hope you're well. I haven't forgotten you, and even if it hadn't been for all this, I wouldn't have forgotten you.

I forgive you.

For everything you've done and everything you've said. I forgave you a long time ago. We've grown up, I've changed a lot, you've probably changed a lot too.

I wish you lots of strength, lots of courage and lots of happiness.

All the best,

Avareida

Larissa's heart leapt in her chest as she read the three words "I forgive you." It was more than she could ever have imagined. And she burst into tears in front of her desk. I forgive you. It was as if something released in her whole body. I forgive you. All the pressure she had built up, all the hatred she thought she was the object of, gone. I forgive you. Those were three words she had waited so long to hear, three words she only heard in her wildest dreams. I forgive you, three words she thought she'd have to die to hear.

She froze. Tears streamed down her face and soaked the papers spread out on her desk. She dropped her pen in surprise. She thought she'd read in the email something along the lines of "thank you for your email but I'd rather not talk to you". It was unexpected. She didn't even understand how it was possible.

I forgive you.

I

forgive

you.

Those three words echoed so loudly in her head, it was almost painful. She felt as if a small fire had been lit in her chest, a tiny flame, just a match, and the ice that had clung to her heart was gradually melting. She rubbed her misty eyes and took a deep breath.

"Pull yourself together, Larissa. It's nothing, it's just… it's just Ava forgiving you."

"She has? That's wonderful!"

Larissa gasped and looked up. Rei was closing the door and coming towards her.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to frighten you. I knocked but you didn't hear me, so I came in."

"Did… Has something happened?"

"The nurse has been informed that Wednesday is better. She asked me to tell you that we'll be able to see her soon. This afternoon, probably."

She nodded and finished wiping away her tears.

"Okay, that makes me feel better."

"Do you want us to do something before we go and see her? Go for a coffee or something."

Larissa frowned slightly, not really understanding.

"But you said that…"

"Yes, I said that romantically it wouldn't be possible at the moment, but I didn't say anything about friendly. You clearly need to take your mind off things, and I think getting out would do you good. If you want there to be no ambiguity, Thalia can come with us."

Larissa shook her head.She didn't want there to be too many people. What's more, while Rei was quiet, she knew Thalia to be very talkative. A little too talkative for her taste. Of course, she liked the Gorgon very much, but spending time in her company tended to exhaust her more than anything else, and she needed to rest today.

"No, it's fine, we can meet for a drink in the early afternoon. How about Weathervane?"

"That's fine."

Rei nodded. At least Larissa wasn't angry with him. That was something. Now she just had to wait for the right moment to tell her. Maybe at the Weathervane the next day? Or after the hospital visit, hoping she'd be a bit calmer.

Rei had absolutely no doubt that Mercredi would pull through. The young girl had resisted the poison for a long time without an antidote, so with the antidote, she should recover very quickly. So obviously, Larissa was going to be relieved, and hearing that Rei had been Avareïda all along would take a load off everyone's shoulders.

Perhaps a little more for Rei than anyone else, it's true.

__

Larissa was waiting at the Weathervane. She was 5 minutes early, as usual. Rei arrived right on time, as usual. They sat down opposite the principal, and handed her a small brooch in the shape of a little blue flower with four petals.

"Is that… is that for me?" she asked, taking the little brooch.

"Yes, I thought you weren't going to come to the hospital and leave with flowers…"

Larissa hung the brooch on her white jacket. But she didn't know the name of the little blue flower.

"I ordered for you."

"Oh, and what did you get?"

"It's a surprise."

Larissa smiled. She loved surprising her partners. She liked to see their faces light up when they finally found out what she was going to give them. Rei wasn't her partner, of course, but… She also liked to surprise her friends.

"Speaking of surprises," Rei began, "after we went to see Wednesday, I have something to tell you."

Larissa frowned. Rei looked a little stressed. She was worried about her friend.

"Is everything all right, Rei?"

"Yes, yes, everything's fine haha. Sorry, this whole thing's got me a bit worried."

They gave her a smile that was meant to be reassuring, but Larissa could see it was fake. However, she didn't insist. Rei had every right to keep certain secrets, and she told herself that she would ask again at another time. Their drinks arrived. The waiter placed two hot chocolates on the table, with lots of whipped cream on top. Rei arched an eyebrow, amused to see that the surprise drink was a simple hot chocolate.

"Hot chocolate?"

Larissa nodded, her lips already on the edge of the cup.

"They make the best in the area."

"So you're a fan of hot chocolate?"

"Absolutely. Why, don't I look like one?"

Rei laughed softly before taking a sip of her hot chocolate, her eyes planted in Larissa's. They put the cup down and seemed to think.

"Well, no. You don't really look like a fan of hot chocolate. No offence, of course…"

The headmistress smiled and leaned forward slightly.

"And what do I look like, then?"

"You look like someone who likes expensive tea and wine," Rei quipped as she drank a little more.

She let out a small laugh.

"That's a bit true too, oh wait…"

Larissa stood up and leaned over the table, her arm outstretched to reach Rei's face. They had a smear of whipped cream above their lip, and she wiped it away gently. The botanist's face turned slightly red, and they looked into Larissa's blue eyes. Their lips opened slightly as the principal's thumb lingered there. They held their breath. If Larissa kissed them now, he wouldn't be able to resist. And in Larissa's eyes, they could see all the hesitation. She wanted to kiss them too.

Their lips met. Larissa tasted hot chocolate. Who had kissed first, Rei wasn't sure. They put their hand on the main girl's cheek and gently pushed her away.

"Forgive me, Rei, I…"

"Don't apologise, that's for me to do. I shouldn't have, I said that…" they sighed and then let out a small laugh, "I guess you're hard to resist. Let's forget about it for now, shall we?"

With a bit of luck, that very evening they would kiss again. For that to happen, he had to find the courage to tell her who he was. And that wasn't easy.

"It's time to go and see Wednesday, I think."

Rei blinked, drawn out of her thoughts.

"Yes, you're right."

Larissa had already got up and was paying for their two hot chocolates. Rei was about to protest, but by the time they got to the counter, she had already swiped her card.

"Hey, I can pay, you know?"

"I'm the one who chose, I'm the one who pays. That's the rule."

Rei laughed softly and held the door for Larissa to come out.

"Oh yeah? Since when is that the rule?"

"Since today. I just created it."

__

Larissa swallowed as she entered the hospital. She had left just three months earlier, and had promised herself she would never return. She watched Rei talking to a doctor, and tried to hold her breath. She'd hated that clean smell ever since. Those white floors, those white walls, those white doors, those white coats. She hated it. But she had to go. She had to face her fear. She had to go and see Wednesday. Because it was her fault, and entirely her fault that a pupil had been poisoned under her roof. It was her duty to protect them, but she had failed. She had failed.

"Riss? Everything OK? Wednesday has been moved to room 666. At her own request."

Larissa gasped and then nodded. She didn't even notice the nickname.

"Yes, everything's fine."

"Shall we?"

She nodded and reached for his hand. She needed something to ground her, to anchor her to reality, to make sure she wasn't in one of her nightmares. Rei guided her to a lift. They got in and the doors closed behind them. The six floors seemed like an eternity to Larissa, whose gaze went from the floor to the doors to Rei to the small screen that showed "third floor". Three more, she thought. Rei's hand was warm in hers, and that reassured her. Everything around her was blue and white, too cold for her. Rei gave her a small smile.

The doors opened onto the sixth floor.

Mercredi was sitting on her bed, her eyes open and her face impassive. Thalia was already there. Larissa quickly removed her hand from Rei's, but there was no mistaking the arched eyebrow on Wednesday's face: she'd seen everything.

"Laurel is back," she said simply.

"Excuse me?" Larissa choked, and widened her eyes.

"Laurel is back. She's the one who poisoned me. And she has an ally again."

"Who?"

"Avareïda Hydrurga."

_______________________________________

:)

[moseslikellamas]

Ginny Weasley and the Year of healing

Pairing is a mystery! Its also a mess so.

Summary - following the end of the Second Wizarding War, Ginny Weasley isn't doing well. In fact, she actively losing her mind. Constantly plagued by memories of the war, Ginny is struggling to hold herself together. Adding to her stress is another year at Hogwarts. Unsure of how to continue her life with the devastating effects of the war looming over her, Ginny embarks on the hardest year of her life. Follow along as Ginny remembers what it feels like to feel safe and alive again. -LONG so very long. -love triangle -SLOWEST BURN TO EVER EXIST.

Warnings (general) - depictions of ptsd, trauma, mentions of violence and death, character death, angst, mentions of grief, anxious thoughts, mental health issues.

Word count - 1.5k

Surprisingly Molly Weasley did not blow up on her daughter. When she arrived to join them she had simply stroked Ginny’s cheek and told her she looked like a grown woman. They had departed shortly after visiting the bank. After the war, several members of the Weasley family had been compensated by the Ministry for their efforts. Because of that, they were living more comfortably than they ever had. Ginny thought it was the least the Ministry could do to make up for the terrible sacrifices they’d made to help win the war.

When they returned home no one made a fuss about her hair. George had smiled affectionately at her and Bill had ruffled it, remarking that it reminded him of when she was young. Ron had simply grunted at her which she supposed was a neutral response. Her father was working late so he hadn’t seen it.

Ginny made her way up the stairs to her room and unpacked all of the things she’d gotten. She wanted to take the cloaks and the mirror with her to hogwarts. She went to grab her trunk when she remembered it had been burned at the battle at the castle. Most of Gryffindor tower had gone up in flames. Deciding now was as good a time as any to write a list of things she needed for the school year, she pulled out some parchment and set to writing.

She needed a new trunk, two new sets of robes, all new parchment, quills, ink, new quidditch uniform, new gloves. Ginny paused to consider if she should get herself a new broom. She’d been using the same old slow broom for years. She considered herself good enough that the broom didn't slow her down, but still it would be nice. As she concentrated on what else she might need, Hermione entered. Ginny could hear her setting her own things out and shuffling her books around.

“Ginny? What’s that hovering around you?”

“Hm?”

Ginny glanced up and saw what she meant. Tiny sparks of light were dancing and exploding around her. The little shadow she had acquired.

“Oh. I got it at The Magic Lantern. The shopkeeper wouldn’t even let me pay for it, and said he didn’t own it. It’s a fascinating bit of light magic if you’re interested.”

Hermione’s curiosity peaked and they spent a long while going over what Walize had told Ginny.

“It’s incredible. I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

“Never heard of what?”

Harry and Ron entered Ginny’s room, making themselves comfortable on a few conjured chairs. Hermione answered Harry.

“Ginny’s obtained a bit of rare light magic. It’s called the shadow of desire and it’s supposed to reflect whatever your dreams are.”

Ron looked at Ginny amazed, watching the tiny sparks whiz around her. Harry sat up straighter in his chair paying close attention.

“Do you think it understands us?” Harry asked, looking thoughtful

Ginny shrugged. “I dunno. The shopkeeper was vague about it, but he did promise to keep me informed if I updated him on its behavior. Who knows, maybe it does.”

As they sat contemplating the nature of the shadow, it changed to a blue and black smoke that sparkled like stars. Mysterious and beautiful, Ginny watched mesmerized. Then she spoke up.

“Whatever it is, I think I love it.”

As the four of them slowly drifted off to their own activities, Ginny decided to go visit Luna. Luna had written to tell her she was back home for the remainder of their break, having returned from the amazon forest where she’d been looking for a rare creature said to inhabit the trees. Ginny hadn’t been a good friend to Luna lately, ignoring her letters and going silent. She vowed to mend that today.

Ginny went downstairs to find her mother and froze in her tracks on the last step. A gaggle of aurors stood in the main room looking awkward and shuffling around. Ginny raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t tell me you lot are here recruiting already?”

Before any of them could answer Kingsley entered with her father. They were whispering furiously to each other.

“Dad? What’s going on?”

Both of their heads snapped up at her question and her father's stressed face smoothed out as he looked at her.

“Nothing darling, just discussing future safety plans for you all.”

Ginny furrowed her brow. The war was over, who did they need protection from now? Deciding not to push the subject with a group of aurors hanging around, she changed the conversation.

“I was planning to go to Luna’s, do I need guarding for that?”

She tried to keep her tone playful but despair was seeping into her voice. The walls of the house suddenly felt very close again. Her father looked concerned.

“No dear but I’d feel better if you got someone to walk with you.”

Ginny nodded and left off to find her mother. After she had alerted her mother of her plans, she made a point to thank her for the trip. Molly had hugged her tightly before shooing her off. Ginny had set off then to track down George, who liked to go for walks with her anyway. She was sure the walk down the hill would be nice for him and Luna wouldn’t pry.

Ginny found him at the Oak tree they often sat at. He was laying against the trunk staring out at the field of grass. His clothes were baggy on him and he had dark circles under his eyes that seemed permanent these days.

“Fancy a walk with me to Luna’s? Dad seems to think rouge death eaters may be hiding in the grass.”

“As if we would be so lucky.” George rolled his eyes and stood to join her.

The walk to Luna’s wasn’t that long, only taking them about twenty minutes. It would’ve been shorter if they hadn’t stopped to admire the little creek that ran downhill. Her little shadow had turned into a water sprite flying this way and that as they passed.

Soon they could see the tower of Luna’s house and their floating plums. The bush was significantly smaller now as Luna had to basically start over but it was growing in nicely. When her father had tried to report Harry during the war, the house had been mostly destroyed. As Ginny raised her hand to knock, Luna opened the door. She immediately hugged Ginny. Just for a moment before gesturing them in.

“Hello Ginny, George. You have a very bad case of wrackspurts George. I have a necklace I could lend you, if you want.” Luna said dreamily, leading them into her newly remodeled kitchen.

Luna’s father had experienced a deep mental break as the war wore on and was currently undergoing treatment at St. Mungo’s. As such Luna was named the sole heir and proprietor of the Quibbler. The paper had flourished under her care and Luna had used the funds to redo their home and pay for her father’s treatment. Luna flittered around the kitchen, putting on tea and pulling out some pastries for them.

“How was your hunt for the latest creature Luna? Was the Rain Forest as magical as I am imagining?”

Luna gathered her blonde waves and used her wand to pin it up.

“It was wonderful, I saw two crinkled gaspears. They only come out when it’s a blue moon, you know.”

It was easy to fall back into being around Luna. She regaled them with her adventures, the successes and the failures.

“One day I misinterpreted a sign. I was sure the younger Windilier had left me a message but it was a forest fey playing tricks on me. I was out of sorts for two days!”

Ginny nibbled on a pumpkin pastry while she listened. She wished she would’ve done something with her time off but she hadn’t a clue where to begin. She didn’t know what she liked anymore.

“… about that. Ginny, who is this delightful creature?”

Ginny pulled herself out of her head and told Luna about the light shadow. It was a little water sprite again. It splashed water at Luna, playfully circling her.

“It likes you. It hasn’t interacted with anyone else besides me.”

Luna’s eyes twinkled back at her.

Ginny spent a few hours with Luna, until it was time for dinner back home. Ginny promised to come by more often. Luna had smiled and assured her she hadn’t held Ginny’s silence against her.

“We’re all fighting our own battles right now. Just don’t forget that.”

Luna was right, of course.

[robthegoodfellow]

summer retrospective time because i'm feeling down about term starting up and not writing as much as i wanted to but I KNOW this is ridiculous and my goals were unreasonable.

so totally unasked for and unprompted here's what i got:

Chapters 8 and 9 of Upside-Down - 32k (total wip 118k) - E - Harringrove - Crazy long March chapter wherein an ominous phone rings and rings, Billy experiences some firsts (first time playing D&D against his will! first time fucking Steve! first time enduring a birthday party!), and Eddie drags Billy to a thrash metal concert. In Flayedville, the kids rally the troops to save Billy, he and Steve share body heat, and plans don't go as planned.

Two fics written for upcoming @strangerthingscharityzine totaling 4k words in their original state, trimmed down to 1.5k words each for the zine edition. Idk if I'm allowed to summarize but one of them made Remy cry!

That Bartender Sure is Something - 1k - G - Harringrove - Sideways scene rewrite from alt character's POV wherein I try to lay groundwork for why Steve's parents are out of town so often (aside from my need to give boys safe space to fuck and be super freaking domestic).

Chapters 11 and 12 of Only One Bed - 13k (total wip 59k) - E - Harringrovesoningham or whatever Steve/Billy/Eddie/Chrissy is called - Chrissy POV and Eddie POV chapters wherein Chrissy and Billy bond and then Billy/Eddie/Chrissy navigate their dynamic as asymmetrical polyamorous triad. Mostly cute!! Minimal angst!!

¿Por qué no los dos? - 18k - E - Harringroveson/Metalsandwich - What was supposed to be an excuse to make Steve and Eddie thirst over Billy in space buns becomes unexpectedly harrowing exploration of aromantic experience for me and apparently others, some of whom may be entitled to compensation. But there's smut... at the end?

Drafted aaalmost first half (7k) of @bigbangharringrove fic wherein Steve flirts with necromancy and necrophilia and NO STOP where are you going it's all gonna be fine!!! See, Billy died in this contemporary fantasy version of Hawkins where magic and supernatural creatures are just kinda there and so Steve tries to revive him but he imports the wrong file. The wrong Billy. Because there happens to be a lust demon that goes by the same name as Steve's dearly departed husband and let me tell ya he is NOT jazzed to be here. Working with @LucaDoodleDoo who is awesome AND so far has not run away!

Drafted 1.5k of fic for upcoming @harringrovezine. Still on track to be way too long but I WILL trim it down. Not sure what else I'm free to say but I'm excited how it's shaping up?

what follows is me convincing myself i did a good job

And that's... that's it. About 76.5k in all. Which is more than I realized (and also according to haphazard math is more than last summer by maybe 10k?)

I'm not usually fixated on word count much (aside from like laugh-crying when a fic just balloons way bigger than anticipated), and more words does not equal better words by ANY means, but I think this gives me a reality check about getting down on myself. I didn't finish the major things I originally set out to finish but... yeah, such is life when you have more than one WIP in which you are painfully invested 😅

And it's not like I won't EVER finish them which is prob my biggest fear because i had a rep growing up for all my grand plans and projects just losing steam and going nowhere. But I am capable of finishing fics because look ma, there's 3 whole multi-chap fics with the little green check mark (please actually DON'T look, ma).

I'm just babbling now. When work starts I'll be back to writing in random libraries after last bell and my output will slow, and I'm sad about it. But wow you know what I did shit out a bunch of words in like 2.5 months so at least there's that.

(Hesitant to post this because I'm sure it looks like flexing or fishing or something? Or like I'm implying that unless you too are shitting out words you suck? Which uhh I am not! The intent is more for Present Me to flex on Past Me, maybe? And fish some reassurance out of cold hard numbers to more easily put things in perspective.)

Mostly this did work, though! I feel better about the summer. If you need a boost, look over what you've done across a certain span of time using whatever measurement suits you and talk yourself into a pat on the back.

Pat, pat.

[purpureumwrites]

Darth Vader x Reader | Twin Moons | Bonus Chapter

A/N: Anon asked for more Twin Moons, I read the message, and for some reason, after not writing for so long, I just couldn't stop myself. So here is the bonus chapter. If someone has a good idea for another Vader one-shot or fic, I'd be happy to hear it. I really enjoy writing him, and it really bothers me when he's written ooc, which is way too often tbh, so I try to capture him as best as I can and it's quite fun. Hope you like this c:

Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6

Warnings: None.

Word Count: 1.5k.

A year ago, the two of you had reached an agreement. A fragile, very risky, agreement.

Keeping a curated public image, you continued your days behaving as the typical superior and subordinate would. No displays of affection, not a single trace of anything beyond a professional relationship. You mimicked the way everyone else reacted and conducted themselves around him: with caution, docility and a constant dose of fear. Not that you had to fake much of it. You may have gotten closer than most, but neither would pretend he wasn’t Darth Vader. It wasn’t just about being caught. He was a risk himself.

You endured the lectures, punishments and trials expected, some by his own hand, some by others. You trained and worked tenaciously, always dancing over the line of averageness. Enough to be useful and worth of working with him as your boss, but always short of presenting yourself as competition in the intricate game of power within the Empire.

Your training with the Force never finished. There were no official sessions anymore, but he hadn’t stopped teaching you and testing your abilities. You had managed to damp it down, restrain it. Even though it would probably be useless if you were to meet the Emperor himself, it could save you a lot of trouble and attention from everyone else. It was a constant effort that had gained you a finesse and control over it that you never thought you would have.

It felt unnatural at first. This energy had been something natural and flowing, not to be reined in and obfuscated, but to be felt and experienced just as the wind or the sun could be. You worried sometimes about bursting. But if there was something that could push those thoughts aside, it was fear and of that you had plenty.

After a few weeks of routine, you got used to the rhythm. What you couldn’t get used to, was him. Actually him. Intimate, personal him.

Sex had so many shades. It was needy and abrupt when you had spent too much time apart, each on your own missions. It was slow and steady if you had the time and privacy. It was harsh and overpowering after you misbehaved.

You couldn’t say he had become open and vulnerable to you. Most probably, that would never happen. But he was more tolerant and more aware of your cues, and he seeked your presence unlike any other. He may not love you, probably wouldn’t admit it even if he did, but at least he seemed to feel some warped version of it. You weren’t sure if you did anyway. The power balance was so off that lines blurred where they shouldn’t, and feelings were a convoluted mess. It would hurt if he discarded you and you missed him dearly when apart. That was all you needed to know.

As he kneeled before his master, Vader focused only on his current objective. There was nothing else, not until this business was done and he was out of there. Just as he had done countless times before.

Once you had established the nature of your relationship and its rules, he easily compartmentalized that new side of his life. It was crucial that he did. He would feel the consequences, he would be punished for it, but you… you would pay the price with your life. You were the only thing the Emperor had no control over in his life. He would kill you in a blink to regain absolute power over him.

It was a necessity that he saw you struggle with the first few weeks. He treated you the same as anyone else which, to be fair, meant as cruel and brutal as the rest of his subordinates endured. He could see glimpses of sadness in your eyes, that the rest would mistake for horror. And you would be more quiet and withdrawn the next time you were together. He never apologized, there was nothing to be sorry for. He did what he had to do. Though he couldn’t deny that he may be more gentle those nights.

But as quick as you seemed to learn everything else, you adapted to it. He hated the intensity of his emotions around you but… god, was he proud of you. Maybe you weren’t a natural at many aspects your position asked of you, maybe you still struggled from time to time, maybe you were scared deep down. But you were resilient, strong and tenacious.

And the same way you got used to some things, he had gotten used to others. The closeness, the weight of your body on his bed, the warmth when you locked your arms around him, the intoxicating, glorious sex. He longed for you when you were separated in a way he was sure he never would again.

And together, you were serving the Empire with unrelentent determination.

***

A sudden tug pulled you out of your sleep. You looked around the red lit room, finding no one. The sea of lava outside the fortress was all that could be seen through the windows, an unexpected scenery for such a calm place, at least from the other side of its black, impenetrable walls.

“Run”, a voice roared in your mind.

You jumped out from under the sheets. That was his voice. He wasn’t in Mustafar, there were no alarms going off in the building and the outside looked exactly the same as any other day, which could only mean that whatever this imminent danger was, it was coming only for you.

Putting your clothes on, you went over the steps of the emergency plan: pick up your bag, run to the closest, most discreet vessel you could find and fly off to a planet with weak imperial presence. Probably stop on the way there in some space station (one dodgy enough for anyone with common sense to avoid) for some fuel and quick alterations to the ship. Pick a new name. Tiptoe around for the rest of your life.

You had no time to assimilate the situation. You ran through the corridors as if in a trance, your feet moving by themselves, everything feeling like a dream you couldn’t wake up from. It didn’t really hit you until you had been sat in the ship for a couple of hours. Once the adrenaline started to wore off and you were semi-confident that there were no imperials following you, you held onto the arms of your chair as you started sobbing.

It didn’t matter how much you thought you were ready for this, how aware you were of the outcomes of your decision. Your life ended here. Maybe you would die or maybe you would disappear. Whatever your future entailed, it was certain the person you were until that very moment would soon expire. You would be no longer.

After you reached the worst space station you had ever stepped in and agreed to some questionable customization for your ship, you rented a small, bleak room to rest for a couple of hours before you made your final trip to your potential new, depressing home planet.

You weren’t even deeply asleep, you were still too agitated, when the door opened. You felt him before even opening your eyes. You sat up in the bed, staring at your legs embarrassed by your own weakness, a tear already rolling down your cheek. He sat next to you in complete silence.

A few seconds passed before he spoke. “They are going through your room in my fortress. You’re still hours ahead of them”

You didn’t answer. Neither of you moved until you felt his arm around your waist pulling you to him. As he pat the bed, you moved instinctively to straddle him. You sighed, wrapping your arms around his neck and finally feeling some sense of release when he held you tight.

“You will survive this, girl”

“Will you?”

“I will not be crushed so easily”

After… seconds, maybe minutes, your sense of time had been warped since you woke up, he stood up with you still in his arms. As he loosened his grip, you put your feet on the ground.

“I have taught you better than this”

“I know”, you looked up to him. “I’m sorry. This is going surprisingly worse and better than I had imagined, at the same time, somehow”. You wiped the last tears off your face. "I will miss you"

“Go to your ship after I leave. Don’t look back. He will be searching for you”, he said walking towards the door, but stopped for a moment. “I will not forget you”

[cadiacore]

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ night sky: chapter four: gone | ruhn danaan x fem!reader

a/n: hello everyone, I know I said that I was struggling with writing but idk what happened this past week (actually i do, but we won't get into that), but I finally had the urge to write. I'm warning you though, this is sad. Idek if this will be good, it could actually suck, I apologize if it does lol. But I hope you at least enjoy the plot. thank you <3

wc: 1.5k

warning(s): angst, kidnap, swearing(?)(I think, I can't remember), loss, threatening with a gun, if there's anything else, please let me know. ty

Once Y/N was dressed, she rushed down the stairs and out onto the front lawn with Ruhn trailing not far behind her. This was the last thing she wanted to deal with, especially after recently finding happiness again. “Why are you here?” she asked. Her father’s deep brown eyes held hers and she could feel the violence in his stare. His blue shirt was stained with some kind of potent liquor, the smell made her stomach turn. 

“I need you to come home, it’s Fury.” Her father's words sent a shiver down her spine. Fury always made him sound so happy, but the tone in his voice made the alarms ring in her head once again. 

“What happened to Fury?” Y/N said, her tone sharp as a blade. It made the male slightly flinch but he left hers and went to the male behind her. To Ruhn. Fear crossed her father’s expression but as quickly as it came it vanished. Worry and fear coursed through her mind as she thought of her sister. “Tell me what happened to Fury,” her voice was gentle as she spoke.

“She’s hurt and she’s at the house waiting for you.” 

Y/N went to speak but Bryce did instead, “That’s a lie,” she took a step forward, “I just spoke with Fury, she sounded normal.” 

The male fixed his posture and stared blankly at the princess. This wouldn’t be the first time that he had lied to Y/N about her sister. It was a way of manipulation. 

“Why are you lying?” Y/N questioned. 

Her father didn’t give her any time to react when he lunged to grab her. He was too quick, even for Ruhn. The male who stunk of liquor yanked her behind him. She saw the prince launch forward but her father had pulled a gun from the waist of his pants and pointed it at her forehead. He looked directly into Ruhn’s eyes and smiled.

“Stay away from my daughter or I will kill her. She is already promised to another,” he said. Y/N’s throat dried. When had he set an arrangement? Why didn’t she know before now? So many questions ran through her head and all she wanted to do was cry. 

“Stop, papa, stop,” tears spilled down her cheeks as the barrel of the gun pressed harder against her skin. Her father’s eyes met hers and she knew that it wasn’t the father she grew up with. This was someone way more sinister. He had never threatened her life like this. It was only threats. 

His finger shifted on the trigger while his hand shook. Y/N let out a shaky breath and kept her eyes on her fathers. She desperately wanted to look at her mate and to make sure he knew that she loved him but she knew she couldn’t. The only way she would be able to get through to her father was by being present to him. “Please don’t do this.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her friends begin to inch closer and Hunt’s lightning flickered around him. Storm clouds had begun to gather and the thunder roared through the sky. “Let go of her, now.” The angel said. Ruhn’s shadows were wisps around him as he stepped forward ever so gently. She could see and feel his anger through the bond. Bravery was one thing she had always struggled with but right now as she faced her father, she was proud of herself. 

Not for what was happening now, but for her realizing she had found her true family. She would be forever grateful for Ruhn showing her the kindness that he did when she was ready to disappear. Y/N’s eyes stung with tears but she didn’t blink. Her father knelt in front of her, the gun still pushed against her head, “It has to be this way.” 

Once the words were out of his mouth, the scene changed. Before, she knelt in the front yard of her home, and the next she was on marble. The gun was taken away from her head and her vision spotted a teenage boy. He was sitting on a throne and the air seemed to glow around him. Bryce had mentioned an archangel that had fit her exact description. Which meant he was Regulus. 

“Hello, Y/N. It’s nice to finally meet you.” 

***

Ruhn blinked and blinked again but Y/N was still gone. Everyone was so still from the shock. A lump had formed in his throat and his heart beat so hard against his chest that it winded him. Ruhn didn’t like to cry in front of people but with his mate gone, he wanted to break down in front of everyone. He couldn’t though. There was a plan to be made on how to get her back. That is if they could figure out where her father had taken her in the first place. 

“What the fuck just happened?” Flynn whispered. Ruhn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn’t understand what had happened either. Flynn, Declan, and Y/N had all become the best of friends. She fitted right in with them and helped them whenever she could with different tasks. 

“I don’t know.” That’s all he was able to say and it killed him not to be able to think straight. He needed to get her back. He faced his brothers and something in his expression brought them all into a hug. Behind Ruhn, he felt his little sister’s hand on his back, a sign of her being there. 

“Where do you think he could have taken her? Did she say anything at all about an arrangement?” Bryce asked.

He turned to face his sister and shook his head once. He tried to replay every conversation they’d had since they first met, but there was no mention of anything about an arrangement. Only that her father had ignored her most of the time. 

“Ithan,” The wolf straightened, “we may need to use your nose.” 

Ithan grinned and dipped his chin, “Sure thing.” 

Ruhn then turned to Declan and Flynn, “Do you two mind scouring around in footage for a while?” Both males shook their heads, 

“It’s what I do,” Declan grinned. 

“Then let’s get started,”

***

With the Starsword strapped on his back and a gun position on his hip, Ruhn walked up to the rundown house. Even on the front porch, he could smell the stench of alcohol. No lights were on and there was no sound. 

The footage Declan and Flynn had combed through showed no trace of Y/N and her father. That unnerved Ruhn. He didn’t like the fact that he didn’t have anything to go on regarding his mate’s whereabouts. The prince looked over to where Bryce was standing. Her eyes scanned to upper windows, “Her light isn’t on, and it’s way too quiet,” she said, worry staining her words. Ruhn was already shaking from the rage that continuously pumped through his veins. It would only go away once he had Y/N back into his arms and when he knew she was safe. 

Where are you? 

He was pulled from his thoughts when his phone rang. Yanking the phone out of his jacket, he saw the caller ID was blocked. He pressed the green little accept button and placed it on speaker. “Hello?”

“Ruhn, it’s Fury.” He had never heard the assassin so, so, panicked. Fury never panicked. His eyes found Bryce’s and he could tell that she was thinking the same thing.

“Hey,” he said. It was all he could say. 

“Tell me exactly what happened, now.” He sucked in a breath and began to explain what had happened. It had been exactly five hours since he last saw his mate and his heart ached with every second she was gone. He wanted to hear her voice, to know if she was safe.  

Once he had told Fury everything, there was a long pause on the other end of the line. He was afraid she had hung up but a deep sigh came through. It was laced with sadness and disappointment. Ruhn knew it wasn’t because of him but because of her father. He wanted her to say something, anything. Just one clue she may have. “We are at your old house and no one is here. It looks like it’s been abandoned,” Ruhn placed his hand on the door and furrowed his brows, heavy magic pushed against his palm. That wasn’t right. The house was warded but there was no one inside. He couldn’t feel the pull of the bond or even your scent. 

“Hey, Fury? Does your parents' home usually have a ward surrounding it?” Maybe they were home but the ward only disguised them…

“No, not usually. Y/N was always the one to place the wards because of…” Fury trailed off and he waited. 

“Because of what?” 

“Only when Regulus visited our parents,” the blood that coursed through the prince's veins went cold. Just hearing that one name sent fear and panic rushing through him. Regulus would kill her and especially if he knew she was mated to Ruhn. He had her scent and she had his. They may not have fully connected the bond but it was there and any male would be able to scent it, scent him. 

The archangel would kill her if Ruhn didn't get to her soon.