#Alt Prompt 1: I’ve got you

[zsbrainrot]

Safe in your arms ❤️💙

Happy Buddy Daddies Friday!

@flufftober Alt Prompt 1: “I’ve got you”

[bluejaywuzhere]

Collisions of Then and Now

For the Flufftober prompts: Days 4, 11, 13, 14, 18, 28, Alt 1, Alt 2, and Alt 3: Market Day; Ingredients & Spells; Attic, Cellar, Hidden Room; Fantasy AU/Mundane AU; Bewitched; Lucky Charm; “I’ve got you”; Rainy Day; “Wait, you love me?” - “I always have”

- - - - - - - - -

James Buchanan Barnes hadn't always been of the magical world. He had been normal, once. Before the war, before Hydra, before ice, he’d been a normal young man in a normal village with a normal best friend and housemate. 

Well, he supposed his housemate wasn't the most normal. Stevie had always had health problems, and despite his best efforts, it’d been hard on him and his mother’s finances. When Ms. Sarah passed (bless her soul) and Stevie needed help with managing the house, Bucky moved in to help his buddy out. Yeah, sure maybe it wasn’t the most normal of situations, but it worked for them and they were happy. And then their kingdom of America declared war and everything got a lot more complicated. 

- - - - - - - - -

Bucky said he’d volunteered (that was a lie. The royal guard had threatened his sister). He said he was fighting for his kingdom (that was also a lie. He was fighting for his sister. He was fighting for Stevie. Maybe it was selfish, but he didn't give a damn about America). He said he’d be back soon (he hadn't meant that to be a lie. It was). 

- - - - - - - - -

His entire troop was captured by the other side, instead of being slaughtered (at the time, he was thankful. But later, Bucky decided he would have preferred death to the hell they put him through). 

- - - - - - - - -

It was a league of witches, witches who called themselves Hydra. They were experimenting with spells and potions and runes,  combining all three into dangerous magics that they hoped would help achieve immortality (and if not immortality, enough power to win the war). Bucky became a test subject (it felt like they were pumping lava into his veins sometimes, turning his skin inside out other times, and some of the worst times it felt like all the warmth was being leeched from his insides. He wasn’t surprised that everyone died, he was only surprised that he had survived). 

- - - - - - - - -

Steve (brilliant, wonderful, idiotic Steve) rescued him. Steve had signed up for an American experimental program and had become extremely strong and fast and tall and healthy. Steve had barged into Hydra’s little lair and stolen Bucky away. Steve, who used to be fifty pounds soaking wet and couldn't run more than six feet before wheezing. (Stevie, who made the most fantastic paintings and had the biggest heart ever for such a tiny body. Stevie, who fought guys three times his size in back alleys, on the justification that “he was attacking her, Bucky” and “he can’t just say that about the men who’re out there dying for us”). Steve, who their kingdom called Captain and lauded with glory, who didn't care beyond the muscle and blonde hair, who girls fawned over and littered with kisses. Steve, who meant no more to America than a glorified weapon. (Steve, who Bucky knew better than himself and who he would die for a thousand times).

- - - - - - - - -

Bucky didn't know it, but Hydra had stuck magic inside him. America had done the same with Steve. Magic that would keep him alive. Through tortures, through swords, through ice. 

- - - - - - - - -

Bucky fell. Hydra found him. And this time, they made sure that he could never resist them again. 

- - - - - - - - -

Seventy years. They kept him spelled him, tested things on him, and made him a murderer. He was their puppet for seventy years. 

- - - - - - - - -

Stevie saved him. Stevie always saved him (true love broke the most powerful of curses). 

- - - - - - - - -

After everything was said and done, Bucky left America. He established his own little hut in the forest, bought spellbooks, and tried to make a living for himself. After a few years, Stevie hesitantly showed up on his doorstep. Bucky, like always, welcomed him with open arms. It was five years before anything disturbed them again.

- - - - - - - - -

After almost a decade of practicing magic (or well, ninety-something years if you counted the mindless Hydra puppet years, which Bucky did not), Bucky Barnes was getting used to being a witch. And he humbly considered himself to be fairly decent at it. So, when a traveler asked for a luck charm, Bucky deemed it an easy request to answer.  

“Steve, we’re out of yarrow again!” Bucky yells over his shoulder, frowning at the empty space where the dried yellow flowers were supposed to be. 

Steve pokes his head through the wide open doorway separating the kitchen and the sitting room, furrowing his brows as Bucky rifles through the cupboards. 

“You sure? I swear we just bought some three suns ago.” 

Bucky sighs and shakes his head, his grown-out hair swishing strangely around his face. 

“Yeah, I did! Where’s it all gone?” He complains. Steve thinks for a moment, walking into the kitchen and resting his big blonde head on Bucky’s shoulder. “Well, if we’re really out, then the market is open until sunset tonight. You have a deadline, right?”

Bucky groans, thunking his temple against Steve’s head. “Yes.” He grumbles, turning his face into Steve’s fair hair. Bucky distantly notes that it smells faintly of grass and fresh linen. “I have seven suns as of today. It takes two to brew the potion, and then it has to soak for three. ‘M already cutting it close as is.” 

Steve smiles into Bucky’s shoulder before pulling away, reaching around Bucky’s head to close the open cabinet. 

“Well then, you better get to it, Mr. Magic Man.” 

Bucky rolls his eyes and swats Steve’s shoulder, nodding towards the door. 

“You gonna come with me?” He demands, and his acerbic tone would have sounded terse and harsh to anyone else, but Steve knows it was simply Bucky’s way of hiding (whatever it was that it was hiding). Steve beams at him and whacks his shoulder as he passes. “Of course! I need to get some more sorrel anyway. I’ll grab the umbrella.” 

- - - - - - - - -

One accomplishment of Hydra’s experiments with Bucky was diluting the effects of what Hyrda dubbed ‘wasser-seele-korrosion,’ literally, ‘water-soul-corrosion’. A common consequence of gaining witch powers was that fresh or running water would erode one’s core of magic, destroying them from the inside out. Hydra’s efforts to reverse the side effects were not entirely successful, but they did manage to reduce the fatalistic nature of water to witches: instead of the water eating away at one’s soul, it would eat away at one’s skin. Thus, instead of killing the subject, it would merely cause them unbearable pain. Needless to say, Hydra saw this as an outstanding breakthrough and tested it on a live subject at the first opportunity. Specifically, the super-enhanced, bewitched live subject they had helpfully in custody.

- - - - - - - - -

When in the process of changing, Bucky resolutely avoided the mirrors. After nearly a decade of being free from Hydra’s control, he still wasn’t able to look at his patchwork of scars without feeling sick. Especially his arm- god, every time he caught even a flash of metal, he had to stop and breathe for a moment. 

- - - - - - - - -

In another one of their experiments, Hydra had turned his left arm into solid metal. They spelled it to feel normal, to move like normal, to feel no different than his arm made of flesh and blood and bone, disregarding the fact that they had irreversibly transformed skin and muscle into steel. They then made him use that arm to spatter blood and crush bone. 

- - - - - - - - -

Bucky takes a breath and pulls off his shirt, flinching as sunlight glints off the metal. He closes his eyes and breathes, feeling the air in his lungs and the wooden flooring beneath his feet. He pulls on a new shirt, the feeling of his fingers scraping over his pockmarked back sending shivers of revulsion down his spine. Eyes still closed, he grabs a glove to fit over his metal hand. Only once the entirety of his left arm, from his shoulder to his fingertips, is covered, only then does he open his eyes and breathe freely. No panic attacks, then. A good day.

- - - - - - - - -

Steve smiles brightly when Bucky emerges. If he notices Bucky’s shaking shoulders and the way he grasps Steve’s arm a little too tight, he doesn’t mention it. Instead, Steve starts chattering about his paintings. Bucky knows that Steve mostly paints for himself, but he’s recently received his first commission, which he’s working on now. Steve talks about the difficulty of certain pieces and how hard it is to get the colors right, but also about how good it‘s turning out. Bucky relaxes bit by bit at the sound of Steve’s voice. Warm, familiar, soothing, and above all else, safe. Then Steve says something that makes Bucky tune back in sharply: 

“Hey, do you mind if I draw you sometime?” Bucky shoots him a sharp look, mind whirling. Steve just gazes at him, expression open, honest. Bucky doesn't know what to say. He’s… he’s thought about Steve drawing him. He’s always squashed that thought down though, because… well, that’s not really something friends do. And Bucky‘s long since buried any hope of being anything more than friends with Steve. 

“You want me to… you want to draw me?” Bucky hedges, still eyeing Steve for, well, he doesn't know what he’s expecting. Steve doesn’t seem like he’s joking, or playing some kind of prank, but Bucky can't quite believe the words coming out of his best friend’s mouth (best friend, that’s what Steve is, dammit, and that's all he’s ever going to be, Bucky has to keep reminding himself). Steve is still smiling, oblivious to Bucky’s overthinking. 

“Yeah! You have a very pretty face. I’ve wanted to draw it for a long time, but I wanted to be able to do it justice. Now, I think I can draw you right.” Steve says sheepishly, and well, how can Bucky say no to that?

- - - - - - - - -

The market is surprisingly busy, considering it’s past mid-sun and barely halfway through the lunar cycle. It is always busy on a full or new moon, or solstice, or at night, but to be this busy in the sunlight on no remarkable moon is… odd. Bucky finds himself uneasy. Something’s wrong. Steve feels it too. There’s something different in the air, and it’s making them both nervous. Instead of splitting up like they usually would, by unconscious and mutual agreement, they stick together. Bucky pays for the yarrow with quick hands and a strained smile, every hair on the back of his neck sticking straight up. When he bids hasty farewells to the yarrow seller and looks around anxiously, he accidentally locks eyes with a strangely familiar-looking guy across the square. Bucky has a moment to wonder where he’s seen him before, and then Steve brightens and hurries over, beckoning Bucky to follow him.

“Sam!” Steve whisper-yells and the guy nods tersely, glancing around. 

“Oh yeah, I remember you,” Bucky realizes, finally remembering glowing red wings that appear and disappear at will. Sam nods hello, then turns back to Steve. 

“America’s rounding up anyone magic. Everyone, actually. The king sent out the whole royal army, they’re sweeping every house within a three-sun journey. Word on the street is that we’re all gonna be killed. Be careful.” Sam warned. Steve nods seriously, sharing a nervous glance with Bucky. 

“We’ll be careful. You be safe too, okay?” He asks, and Sam smiles. “Hey, I’m not the one with a damn metal arm, for Christ’s sake.” 

Bucky tries not to flinch, Steve takes his hand, and Sam notices. “You two take care of each other now.” He says, a not-so-subtle smirk tugging at his lips. Steve, for some reason, blushes. As they leave the market, Bucky’s mind lingers on it because what the hell was that?

- - - - - - - - -

It’s a long walk back to their hut: Bucky chose a pretty secluded spot deep in the woods, which is a little inconvenient for trips to and from the market, but it’s rather protected. They have plenty of time before the soldiers get there. Nevertheless, Steve and Bucky begin preparations. There have been raids in the past, usually lawless flash mobs with torches and pitchforks. Not much danger if one knows a simple concealing spell. But the king's royal army would be a much more formidable force. Their armor is constructed to see through enchantments and their blades are sharpened to slice through any conjured barriers. No, against this foe, Bucky and Steve have but three options: they can either stay and pretend to be nothing more than simple peasants (difficult, considering they’re a fair distance from the nearest village and Bucky has a solid metal arm), they can abandon their home and flee into the woods until the guards move on (problem is, neither of them wants to leave), or they can split up, with Bucky hiding in the woods and Steve staying behind to watch the house (no way in hell). After too much time spent deliberating, Bucky finally sighs.

“Steve, there's nothing for it. We're gonna have to jump ship.” 

“Buck, we can't just leave. Our lives are here, we have to stay and fight.” Steve, unsurprisingly, is being stubborn, but Bucky’s made up his mind. 

“No, Steve, listen. I can hide the magic stuff. We can pack a bag each, fill ‘em with what we can’t leave behind, and we can go.” Steve opens his mouth to argue, but Bucky presses on, reaching out and gripping his arm. 

“Steve, Stevie listen to me. We can leave the house. The house doesn't matter, what matters is that we don't lose each other again, okay? That's what's important.” 

And well, Steve can’t seem to argue against that.

- - - - - - - - -

Bucky’s in the middle of transfiguring the cauldron when a rough thunk-thunk-thunk sounds at the door. Bucky knows that noise. It’s armor on wood. It’s the royal guard, hours early. Some bastard must’ve let slip about the witch in the woods, and now the royal army is seconds away from knocking down Bucky’s front door and he’s not ready, they aren’t supposed to be here yet, why are they here- 

“Breathe,” Steve’s voice cuts through Bucky’s panicked spiraling, and he blinks, suddenly staring into Stevie’s blue blue eyes. 

“It’s okay. It’ll be okay. We need to go, Buck,” He says, calm and sweet as molasses candy on a Sunday morning. “You’re doing great, sweetheart. Come on Buck, that’s it. One foot in front of the other.” Steve gently leads Bucky over to the back door, snagging both their bags as he goes and quietly turns the handle, slipping out into the wild as the soldiers finally break down the front door. 

- - - - - - - - -

There’s a tree hollow that they’ve hidden in before. When the nightmares were too much, when the walls were closing in, when Bucky found himself awake at night, he’d make his way out to the little tree hollow and let nature lull him to sleep. Crickets and frogs drowned out the venomous spells that slithered around in his mind, and he could finally close his eyes peacefully. He often awoke in Steve’s arms, the blonde curled protectively around him even in sleep. 

That tree hollow is where Steve and Bucky hide, trusting good old-fashioned vines and leaves to artfully hide the entrance from view. They crouch there for what feels like hours, still as stone and hardly daring to breathe as soldiers clomp and stomp and yell and grumble, searching the undergrowth for the duo, at times mere inches from the witches in question. And when the soldiers finally, finally leave, the heavens open wide and dump the heaviest rainstorm of the season. Safe to say, Steve and Bucky aren’t going anywhere.

- - - - - - - - -

Bucky keeps pale blue eyes fixed on the deluge outside, hugging his knees to his chest and leaning his head on Steve’s solid shoulder. He knows Steve well enough to know that the blonde is very nervous about the sound of hammering raindrops against wood. They’re both more cautious of rain nowadays. Bucky doesn’t know what to do to help though, so he drops his soft brown head on Steve’s shoulder and breathes.

“You know I’m shit at emotions and stuff, but I’m here, okay Stevie? I’ve got you. You’re gonna be okay,” Bucky murmurs, and Steve sighs but relaxes minutely and rests his head on top of Bucky’s. 

“I know. Thanks, Buck,” 

- - - - - - - - -

Two days later, the house is more or less completely fixed, the royal army has moved on to bully some other witch, and Steve and Bucky are finally getting back to some semblance of normal. Then Bucky remembers the lucky charm he was supposed to make for the traveler and groans. 

“Steve, do you remember if we stored that yarrow?”

- - - - - - - - -

“Buck, could you grab the crushed buttercup for me?”

“Stevie, pass the hare fur.”

“Sweetheart, I needed oregano, not mint.”

“Ooh, hand me the goldenrod, doll,” 

- - - - - - - - -

Miraculously, they brew the potion, soak the charm, and have the package ready in time for the traveler to pick it up. 

Honestly, Bucky doesn't know how they did it. But hey, the traveler paid up generously (enough money for Bucky to get a nice new pack of paints for Stevie’s birthday), so Bucky wasn't about to complain over a job well done. 

After the whole soldier fiasco is over and the potion is delivered, Bucky decides to be productive and make a little hidey-hole in the cellar. When Steve comes down with a drink, a cool rag, and a few questions, he gives answers. 

“Don’t like seeing you scared. We can just hide down here next time bad guy come a-knocking.” Bucky mentions flippantly, wiping dirt off his forehead. 

Steve feels a tender warmth welling up in his chest, and he can’t contain a smile. “I love you, Buck.” 

They both freeze. 

It's the first time it’s been said out loud. 

Bucky’s heart is pounding too loudly in his throat, and he coughs, trying to dislodge it from where it’s very stubbornly hanging out by his vocal cords. 

“Wait, you- you love me?” He asks, his voice hoarse and crackly, scarcely believing what he’s hearing.

Steve swallows, and for a terrifying moment, he can’t speak. Everything freezes, his lungs seize up and his mouth won’t move. Bucky’s face shifts. He suddenly looks… frightened. Scared. No, terrified. It’s that heart-wrenching look that snaps Steve out of his frozen trance. He has to say something, anything to get that awful expression off Bucky’s face. “I- yes. God yes. Of course I love you, Buck. I always have.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, a blinding smile illuminates Bucky’s face. It's one of those rare, precious smiles that Steve treasures, hoards like valuable gold. Bucky’s sky-light eyes crinkle at the corners, his lips curl up, his skin turns a lovely shade of pink, and he smiles, brighter than the sun, moon, and all the stars in the sky. 

Steve would kill to keep seeing that smile. 

Bucky strides forward and grasps Steve’s head between his two hands, one flesh one metal, and presses their foreheads together. Steve closes his eyes, breathing in the orangy smell of Bucky’s soap, the slight tang of iron from his arm, the mildewy odor of the basement, and the woody, earthy scent of his magic that seeps from his being. Bucky’s flesh hand grazes against Steve’s jaw, and the blonde half-opens his eyes to find Bucky gazing at him, open, curious, hesitant, eager. He gently tugs Steve’s chin just a hair closer, then stops. 

Steve glances down at Bucky’s lips, red as an apple skin and half-parted. A most tempting invitation; one that Steve cannot find a single reason to refuse. 

- - - - - - - - -

A few truths of the universe:

One: Bucky Barnes has been, is, and will always be weak for Steve Rogers.

Two: Steve Rogers has been, is, and always will be weak for Bucky Barnes.

And three: strengths and weaknesses are often one and the same when it comes to Bucky and Steve.

- - - - - - - - -

Soon, the walls of Steve’s art studio are covered with Bucky’s face, in acrylic, in watercolor, in pencil, in charcoal, pale blue and chestnut, lashes, lips, eyes and a little quirk of a smile. 

Steve is in Bucky’s arms, and in Bucky’s bed and in Bucky’s heart. 

And he stays there. 

- - - - - - - - -

Thank you for reading!

[kybercrystals94]

The Same and Not

@summer-of-bad-batch Week 1 | Alt. Prompt: Late Night Beach Walks

Banner by @tlmtwelve

Read here on Ao3!

Rated: G | Words: 728

The sea doesn’t sleep. In the dim light of the waning moon, the sea continues to tumble frothy waves over the dark, coarse sand. It drags itself back to lap again and again and again. A tireless, constant voice murmuring to anyone who will listen. But Wrecker isn’t listening. Not tonight. His thoughts are occupied elsewhere; his attention honed on the tinny voice valiantly reaching across the galaxy to join him on his weekly beach walk per their years long tradition. Only instead of her little hand in his, a communicator is nestled in his palm, turned to full volume to be heard over the surf. 

Since she left to join the Rebellion, Omega has made a point of reaching out to each of her brothers individually and regularly. While the time differences can be a little difficult to maneuver around, Omega is determined and steadfast. Weekly morning chats over caf with Crosshair; afternoons with Hunter while he works in his garden; and evening strolls with Wrecker down the beach and back…just like the old days—but not. 

It’s not the same with her gone. She’s not a missing piece of their lives, but an absent piece. Wrecker doesn’t like it, doesn’t like wondering if she’s safe or getting enough to eat or sleep. He reminds himself that this is not the same as when Omega was stolen away to Tantiss. It’s not at all the same. Omega chose this. Omega is a part of something important. Omega can call them anytime, day or night, and if she needed them, they would be there. And yet the healed scars of losing her so many years ago still ache on nights like this, when she’s so far out of immediate reach. When she can’t tell them exactly where she is or what she’s doing for security reasons. 

It’s not the same. But it can feel the same. Sometimes. A dull, frightening, persistent ache. 

“...you probably never expected me to say I miss Hunter’s cooking,” Omega is saying, and Wrecker can hear the fond smile in her voice. 

“We only let him cook on special occasions,” Wrecker tells her. “Like when you’re home visiting.” 

“Ha. Ha,” Omega returns dryly, but the smile is still there.

They’ve been talking for a while now. Their time’s almost up. Wrecker swallows. “You staying safe, kid?” 

“As safe as I can,” Omega answers honestly. “I’ve got a good squad. We watch out for each other.” 

“I know.” 

Silence for a few, ticking seconds. “What’s the moon like tonight?”

Wrecker looks up at the familiar sky. Strange that it’s now the sky he’s known the longest. “A crooked smile.” 

“Sly or toothy?”

“Sly.” 

Static breathes through the comm. “I miss you. I miss all of you.”

“Miss you too, kid.” Wrecker refuses to cry. 

“Same time next week?” 

“Always.”

Wrecker ambles down the cobblestone path, comm unit in one hand, walking stick in the other. The sun has already set. He watched it slip beneath the horizon after late meal with his brothers on the veranda. He tries to always be on the beach already when Omega calls. Just seems right. He’s just made it to the old stump where the path ends and the beach begins when a voice says, “You’re late.” 

He isn’t too proud to admit he startles at the sudden voice. Who wouldn’t after all? But like the good soldier he was, Wrecker recovers seamlessly, and is scooping up his sister in his arms, holding her so tightly Omega’s laughter comes out in wheezy gasps. 

“What’re you doing here?” Wrecker cries. 

“Surprise,” Omega squeaks out. 

Wrecker makes her endure one precarious spin before he releases her. “You should’ve told us.” 

“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?” Omega chides gently. She lowers her voice, as if anyone else is around to hear her. “Besides, this might be an unauthorized little visit. Just happened to be in the area and told command I needed a few hours to rest before the next mission. Didn’t tell them where, and they didn’t ask. So, here I am!” 

“Here you are.” Wrecker looks back up the path. “Head back to the house, then?” 

But Omega grabs his hand. It still feels small in his. Just like the old days–but not. “After our walk. We can’t break tradition, right?” 

Wrecker grins. “Right.”

END

Tag List: @arctrooper69 @groguandthebadbatch @ezras-left-thumb @maeashryver @laughhardrunfastbekindsblog @omegafett99 @heidnspeak @fionas-frenzy @dreamsight73 @royallykt @blackseafoam @skellymom

[seastarblue]

new year, new me, new intro! as always this is subject to change as time goes on <3

all ids in alt ~ ✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚

Nice to meet you! You can call me Sea, or Seastar, or whatever really I don’t mind too much!

-> About Me:

She / Her

18

AroAce

Black and Muslim (feel free to ask about either ^^)

Somewhat neurodivergent but I don’t know what exactly …

My favorite colors are red, yellow, and blue! Classics.

Favorite food is really anything my mom makes 🙏

I try to be funny sometimes and idk if it works but I’m doing it anyways

I’d like to use more tone indicators (like /pos, /gen, etc) and to ID more images here ! sometimes I forget…

CST (GMT +5 I think?)

✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚

Anyways. Onto…

-> what I do and post about:

I’m a writer (or I try to be), artist (again: try to be), and a professional Silly Lil Guy 😌. I’d like to be a pharmacist soon, I’m planning on going to college for that !

This is my Main Blog! Here I’ll post about:

My cool Moots and their charatcers

Updates on my writing, art, and life in general

Prompts! I wanna make prompts! And reblog cool ones too

Writing!

Art!

✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚

I’ve got a pretty decent tagging system if I do say so myself ^^ so a quick guide to that here:

#sea speaks! - for when I have random stuff to say! not always about writing stuff though

#sea draws - self explanatory

#sea’s asks - self explanatory

#sea’s games - for now, its tag games I’ve participated in! hopefully I’ll start making my own games soon…

#sea’s moots - for things that my (Aweseomesauce) mutuals have done

#sea’s story 1-7 - posts relating to WIPs of mine! more on those… in a bit

✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚

-> Important Links:

I have theee tag lists! This one is for writing , this one is for tag games, and this one is for art

Dm me if you want on any ^^

here’s my master list for prompts! hopefully I’ll fill it up soon ^^

✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚

✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚

now onto…

-> My Original Works:

All art that’s done by me is under the tag #sea draws (I’m SO bad at tagging sometimes tho so expect some stragglers)

I participated in Writemas last year! here are all my entries for it

(literally half of this ain’t canon no more sobs)

more about my WIPs under the cut:

-> Ardenia WIPs:

(Psst, the following all come from one specific world, of my own creation! In order, it’d be the unnamed one, Interwoven, then TGS, then AGGTRG!)

Interwoven - lovingly tagged as #sea’s story 1 status: hiatus as I figure out more Plot — outlining Genre: Fantasy Themes: family, friendship, grief, loyalty, power, justice, belonging

[will fill out soon]

———

A Golem’s Guide to Regaining Goodness - lovingly tagged as #sea’s story 2 status: brainstorming and shitposting Genre: Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Themes: Identity, belonging, morality, family

A former war golem, Arbor, and his young dragon companion Fiamma, travel the now war torn continent of Ardenia. Join them as they meet new people, explore the realm, and search for the answer to a single question: “What makes someone good?”

———

The Guiding Star - lovingly tagged as #sea’s story 3 status: brainstorming only because I don’t have enough Plot to shitpost Genre: Steampunk Pirate Fantasy Themes: (idk yet) Masterpost (Very Undone)

(will fill this out more later)

———

[Title Pending.] - will be lovingly tagged as #sea’s story 4 Status: just an idea Genre: Fantasy (structured like a field guide) Themes: (idk yet)

A field guide of Ardenia, written a long time ago.

———

and now the WIP that isn’t a part of Ardenia:

[Title Also Pending] - will be lovingly tagged as #sea’s story 5

Either way, it’s a whump story surrounding a healer and a crownchain knight, both of which are trapped in a fighting ring against their will!

It’s set in the Crownchain universe, which was created by @whumpdreaming and I HIGHLY recommend their content ok peak whump right there!

✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚✶⋆.˚

Now that the yapping’s outta the way… I’d like to take a moment and say…

to all my lovely lovely moots and followers: I love yall sm <3

stay funky, and have a wonderful day!

[morgana-larkin]

MWAHAHAHAHHA. ALTERNATIVE ENDING TIMEEE. The vender flowers fic thing. I am here to request an alternative angst ending. Ok SO *cracks knuckles* Mel still chooses you and still goes to your place to confess. However, when u lean in to kiss her, she kisses u back. Then, smut (y’all sleep together). Then, she goes home to break up w Gary. She explains her feelings and he was so understanding and loving that she realizes she doesn’t want to let him go. So they end up staying together. Then at school u see her w Gary and you’re (patiently) like “hey what’s up have u done it yet like what’s goin on” and she tells u that she hasn’t but she will and that she can’t wait to be with you. Then y’all fuck again maybe or just make out idk, up to u, and you’re all happi and giggly BUT THEN the next day she tells u the truth. That she doesn’t wanna let him go and you’re like “ok so u just used me/lied so u could get the best of both worlds/just to sleep w me” and then idk what she says after that u can pick. And idk how to end this u can pick hahaha.

Alright, I finished it! And before anyone asks, we made a deal that if I do a lot of angst then I can have my happy ending. 😊 Although I think it’s more sad than angsty. And when you put the cracks knuckles, I burst out laughing. Not edited in the slightest and I hope you like it.

On another note: I notice that half of you put compliments for me in your prompts and I love reading them, you guys are so sweet! 🥹❤️ Also I spent 10 minutes picking out a gif cause I got distracted looking at Lisa…I regret nothing.

Part 1 Part 2

The Vendor, The Teacher and The Roses - Alt End

Warnings: where to start? A bit of toxic Mel, angst, sadness, heartbreak, fluff, smut, happy ending. I literally went through a whole rollercoaster of emotions while writing this so good luck!

Words: 7.3k

“What do you mean when you said you chose me?” You ask her.

“I mean if I went home then I would be choosing Gary, and I know I would lose you. If I came here then I would be choosing you and lose Gary.” She tells you. “And I can’t lose you.” She adds on and you look at her shocked.

“But you can lose Gary?” You ask her and she nods.

“He’s not as important as you.” She tells you and you look down at your fingers and twiddle your thumbs. Melissa takes your hand with hers and interlace your fingers and brings her other hand to your chin and gets you to look up at her. “I want to be with you.” She tells you and a tear rolls down your cheek. She wipes the tear and cups your cheek.

“I want to be with you too.” You tell her and you lean forward to kiss her and she leans forward to kiss you back. Once your lips connect you immediately feel that this is right, where you’re supposed to be and you’re already hooked on her.

Melissa is feeling the same way and she puts her hands in your hair and moans. She pushes you back on the couch to deepen the kiss but you stop her.

“Me-Melissa.” You say and she pulls back and looks at you. “We shouldn’t do anything else, you’re still with Gary.” You tell her and leans forward to you and puts her hands in your hair again.

“I don’t care, I’ve wanted you for so long and I don’t want to wait any longer.” She says and kisses you again. She pushes you back again and this time you let her. She’s on top of you now and runs her fingers down your body and you gasp a bit and she slides her tongue in your mouth. You moan at that and she takes her shirt off and you run your hands all over the newly exposed skin. She brings her mouth to your neck and leaves kisses all over it.

“Melissa, do you want to go to the bedroom? Lot more space on the bed.” You suggest and she groans. She then slides her hand under you and pushes you closer to her and she sits up and brings you with her. She then picks you up and she stands up and carries you to the bed. She goes back on top of you and goes and sucks your neck and you gasp and buck your hips. She then unclips her bra and takes it off then takes your shirt off. Her breasts fall out of her bra and are freed from their prison and you set your eyes on them and stare. “Take your pants off.” You tell her and she pulls back from your neck and looks at you before she takes her pants and underwear off. At the same time you take your pants and underwear off. She then goes back to you and all you have on is your bra and she straddles your lap as you’re sitting against the headboard. She gets hit by a wave of desire for you and starts grinding your leg and you go and suck on a nipple. She takes the opportunity to unclip your bra and take it off then places her hands on your boobs.

You then place her between your legs and slide a finger in her entrance and she moans out. You notice she’s tight and you slide another finger in to really fill her and she falls forward into you. “Omg! Yes!” She says and you slide them in and out and quickly go faster. “Omg! That feels so good! Yes! Don’t stop! Oh fuck!” She screams out.

“You’re so tight. Been awhile?” You ask her and she nods. “Hmm, how long?” You ask.

“3…we…weeks.” She says and you smile.

“He has you and is able to go 3 weeks without sex?” You say and she whines. You figure he must have a lower than average sex drive and it must be driving her crazy as 3 weeks is too long for her. “You know, when we get together, I don’t think I’ll be able to go more than 3 days without fucking you.” You tell her and she whines again. You place a hand on her back and pull her closer to you and she moans. You place your thumb on her clit and she gasps. A few seconds later her legs start shaking and you feel her clench around your fingers. “Go on and cum.” You tell her and she comes a couple seconds later. You stop your fingers but she starts riding them and places her thumb between her legs to rub her clit and she must still need more and you smile. “Oh you’re very horny.” You say and she moans. You move your fingers in her again and she gasps. You move her fingers out of the way and place your thumb back on her clit and rub it. She places her hands on your back and has her body pushed right up against you. Her legs start shaking again and she comes seconds later. This time it’s you that doesn’t stop and she cries out as she feels another orgasm building and she’s sensitive. The next one hits not even 30 seconds later and she screams out as she comes. You pull out of her gently and she’s holding on to you tightly and you don’t move as her heart rate slows down. She then slides off of you and down your body and is on her stomach and connects her mouth to your clit.

“I love how you taste.” She tells you and goes right back to licking your clit.

“Ooohhh Mel…omg your tongue feels so good!” You say between gasps. She then slides two fingers in your entrance and you scream out. It doesn’t take long until you come with her name in your mouth. She pulls out of you and comes to lay down beside you.

You cuddle each other for a few minutes until you stop shaking and you’re breathing normally. You then go and get a cloth and you both clean yourself up. Melissa then gets dressed and she gives you another kiss before she leaves to go home to end things with Gary.

When she gets home, she takes a deep breath before getting out of the car and going inside. She sees Gary sitting on the couch and watching tv and he’s looking at her with a smile.

“Hey, you’re home. Where’d you go?” He says without any judgement, just curiosity.

“I went to see y/n.” She said to him and he nods, knowing you two are good friends.

“How is she?” He asks and she walks towards him.

“Good. We need to talk though.” She says and sits on the couch next to him. He turns off the tv and turns to her and gives her his full attention.

Melissa then explains everything, leaving out the part that you two had sex. She tells him about the friendship you two formed and when her feelings for you started. Then she admits that she found out you feel the same and that’s why she went to see you.

“And I feel bad about it cause you’re really good to me and I never wanted to hurt you.” She finishes and Gary looks at her with understanding. He then explains how he knew something was going on with the way you both look at each other. Then explains that he’s always wanted what’s best for her and to support her. Melissa looks at him shocked. She expected for him to be angry, not supportive of what she wants and she’s overwhelmed with it. She realises she doesn’t want to let him go but also doesn’t want to let you go, she doesn’t know what to do.

The next day Melissa and Gary arrive in the break room in the morning and you frown. You thought she was talking to him last night but then thought that maybe she didn’t want to do it on Valentine’s Day.

It did hurt a bit when you also see them at lunch, being all happy but didn’t mention anything. Melissa noticed your reaction all day and she feels guilty, knowing she’ll have to make a decision. At the end of the day you go to see her in her classroom.

“Hey Melissa.” You say to her and she spins around to look at you with a smile.

“Hey y/n.”

“So what’s up?”

“I’m happy that it’s Friday.” She answers and you close her door.

“Ya so am I. I was wondering if you’ve done it yet or are you going to, you know, break up with Gary.” You tell her and she smiles at you.

“Ya, I didn’t want to do it yesterday being as it was Valentine’s Day and a Thursday but I’ll do it. I honestly can’t wait to be with you.” She says and you go and kiss her. She kisses you back and it turns into a heated make out session. You end up getting pushed to her desk and you go and sit on top of it, continuing to make out with her. You then pull back after making out for a few minutes. “I just love kissing you already.” She says and you smile at her.

“I love kissing you too. And I can’t wait until I can kiss you whenever.” You tell her and she smiles at you.

“I’ll let you know when I break up with him.” She says and boops your nose and you giggle.

“Alright, but don’t make me wait long.” You tell her and she gives you another kiss and then you both leave.

You go home and sit on your couch and watch tv for the rest of the day, waiting to see when she’ll text you that she broke up with him. You don’t get a text that evening.

The next day she comes to your place in the morning and you open up the door and smile widely when you see her.

“Morning Melissa, so does this mean it’s done?” You ask her and she looks down at the floor.

“We got to talk.” She says and your smile drops and you tilt your head.

“Um…ok.” You say and let her in.

You both sit on your couch and she takes a few deep breaths before speaking.

“I spoke to Gary on Thursday night after coming back from your place. I told him everything, well except for us having sex. And he was so understanding and supportive and I couldn’t let him go. And now I don’t want to let him go at all but I also don’t want to let you go.” She admits and you look at her. You’re processing everything that she just told you and you sigh.

“So let me see if I got this right. So you lied to me and used me to just get the best of both? For him to meet your emotional needs and sleep with me to meet your sexual needs?” You ask and she nods.

“I’m sorry, I never want to hurt either of you.” She says and you suck in a breath.

“You can’t have both of us Melissa, it’s one or the other.” You tell her and she looks defeated.

“I don’t know who to choose.” She admits and your anger comes out.

“If you can’t choose then that means that you just don’t want to tell me that it’s him you’re choosing.” You say sternly and she goes to answer but you don’t want to hear anymore. “Get out.” You grit through your teeth and she looks taken back by your words. “I said get out!” You yell and point to the door. Melissa is on the verge of tears so she does as you say and leaves.

You immediately block her number and text Ava asking if she has plans tonight. She texts you back and tells you what club she’s going to and if you wanted to tag along. You immediately accept and you go to the bar with her and a couple friends of hers and you get drunk. You dance most of the night and get hit on by men and women. You kiss a couple women and by the end of the night Ava gets you a ride home.

You spend Sunday morning trying to not die and get rid of your major hangover that doesn’t leave until the afternoon. Then you spend the rest of the day doing chores, grading and making a couple changes to your lesson plan.

On Monday morning Melissa tries to talk to you but you shut her down and avoid her. You end up avoiding her all day, which is followed by all week and followed by all month.

At the start, Melissa tries to talk to you every chance she gets and found out quickly that you blocked her. As the days go on with you doing everything to avoid her, her hope and determination of talking to you and trying to make it up to you, goes down. You see she eventually gets the hint and stops trying to talk to you. You see she still glances at you throughout the day but those become fewer and fewer as the days pass. Glances you can handle though, as long as she doesn’t try and talk to you then you can deal with her looking at you.

Eventually she stops looking at you at all and you two are basically just co workers who don’t interact. You start to make friends with other teachers that aren’t friends with Melissa or anyone that is friends with Melissa’s friends. Everyone notices the growing distance between you both and Barb is the first to mention something.

“What’s going on with you and y/n?” Barb asks, about 2 weeks after you started avoiding her.

“Nothing, nothing is going on.” Melissa says with a bit of anger. No one mentions it again but feels bad that Melissa is taking it hard, while you seemed to have moved on easily. Ava did mention that you went out to a club with her and her friends and kissed a couple girls, to which Melissa was shocked and got upset at that.

You want everyone to see that what happened between you and Melissa didn’t heavily affect you but in reality, it crushed you.

About 3 months later, you’re having a rather rough night after a bad date so in a split second decision, you unblock her number. All the texts that she sent you in those 3 months pop up and you’re shocked at the amount of texts there were, probably about 200.

Melissa knew you blocked her number but still chose to text you anyway, it made her feel better and no one tried to stop her.

You read all the messages and you feel like you went on a rollercoaster of emotions. She starts with saying how sorry she is about what happened and that she broke up with Gary a week after. Then she goes on saying that she misses you, she misses having you around her, even just as a friend. She says that she wants to have you back and will do anything to make it up to you.

You start to feel sympathy for her as you read them and then remember what she did and how it made you feel and then go back to angry at her and continue reading.

The texts start to get a bit angry as she’s upset about what happened and obviously going through the 5 stages of grief. She goes on saying a bunch of English and Italian curse words, some directed at you and some about the situation. She then goes and apologises for everything she said, even if you never see the texts she’ll know what she said and would feel bad about it. It takes you a good 2 hours to get through all of them. Her last text being the one that hits the hardest.

Melissa: I know you haven’t seen any of these and might never. But wanted to apologise for everything that happened. For not noticing the signs, not having the courage to admit my feelings, and then putting you through hell and having sex with you. I never wanted to use you, it was never my intention. And I’m sorry about the fact that it took losing you to figure out what I want. I guess it’s true what they say, you never know your lover until you let her go. I spent almost 3 months sending you texts, I don’t even know why, but it made me feel better in a way. But now it’s time to fully let go of everything. I wish you the best luck and life you could have and I’m sorry that I messed it up and won’t get to see you thrive and live your best life. Love, Melissa

You cried so much that night and you think about everything that happened and everything she told you and all the texts she sent you. Melissa on the other hand didn’t notice that all her texts went through to you, even the one she sent a week ago. The one she knew she had to send to finally let you go and move on herself.

A week goes by as if you didn’t read all her texts. You’re debating whether you should talk to her or not and think that you should protect yourself and your heart from her. But on the other hand you think about her texts and how hurt she sounded. You see her throughout the day and see that she’s now mostly healed from what happened and you shouldn’t put each other through that again. You come to the decision that you two will never talk and be in each other's lives again.

That day happens to be the same one that you’re too in your head and don’t see a car coming straight for you. All the teachers are heading out to their cars across the street, as they’re fixing the parking lot. You’re crossing the street and it seems you parked right behind Melissa so you two are heading in the same direction. You start crossing the street as she’s saying goodbye to Barb and about to cross as well. Melissa sees a car coming and you don’t notice as you’re crossing, she immediately starts running towards you, and pushes you out of the way right before the car hits you.

Melissa gets hit by the car instead and goes flying into the windshield. Luckily the driver was slowing down as he noticed you walking out onto the street, he still did damage to Melissa but fortunately didn’t kill her. The driver was able to fully stop and got out to go check on her, as well as Barb who saw the whole thing. You hit the pavement and turned around to see Melissa hitting the windshield and rolling off the car. You run towards her as well, overwhelmed with what just happened. You all go towards her and the driver calls for an ambulance.

“Melissa!” You say as you reach her and she’s unconscious as she hit her head on the windshield.

“Oh my Lord!” Barb says as she reaches you both. You both stay by her until the ambulance arrives.

Janine, Jacob, Gregory, Ava and Mr Johnson end up seeing the commotion before the ambulance arrive and go towards it to see what happened. As they get closer they realise Melissa got hit by the car and they start running.

“Omg what happened?” Janine says and sees you with Melissa’s head in your lap and Barb trying to comfort you.

“All my fault!” You exclaimed through tears.

“No it’s not dear. You forgot to check for cars and didn’t notice the car coming, it happens. But it was Melissa’s decision to push you out of the way and got hit by the car instead of you.” Barb says and Janine and Jacob gasp. Ava puts a hand over her mouth in shock, Gregory and Mr Johnson are too stunned to do anything. They all stay with you until the ambulance arrives.

The ambulance gets there 4 minutes after the call was made and they check her over quickly and say she has to go to the hospital for further examination and treatment. They gently and quickly put her on the stretcher and into the ambulance, and then drive to the hospital.

They all stay next to you as they all watch the ambulance drive Melissa to the hospital. You’re still blaming yourself for what happened and even wish that she didn’t push you out of the way. She shouldn’t pay the consequences for your mistake.

You look defeated and walk towards your car and Barb speaks up. “Dear, do you want to get a ride with me and Gerald to the hospital?” She asks you and you turn around.

“Why would I go to the hospital?” You ask her.

“To go see Melissa.” She says with a gentle tone.

“I’m not going to see her. This is all my fault. I mean why did she even push me out of the way? She should have let me get hit by that car!” You say and everyone but Barb leaves so you and Barb can have privacy.

“Sweetheart, it was Melissa’s decision. And she pushed you out of the way because even though whatever happened between you two happened, she still cares about you and would rather save you then watch you get hurt.” She explains softly.

“We haven’t talked in 3 months because I cut her out of my life! How can she still care about me?” You ask with tears in your eyes.

“Melissa feels deeply for people in her life. Once you find yourself in her life then she has hard time letting go, I saw her struggle with trying to let you go. She never said what happened, all she told me was that she screwed up with you.” Barb tells you and you’re crying at this point but you stay away from her when she tries to comfort you.

“I’m not going to the hospital, it’s my fault she got hurt and I don’t want to hurt her more. I do hope she makes a full recovery quickly though.” You tell her and Barb knows you’re not going to change your mind and lets you go. You go to your car and drive home.

She gets Gerald to drive to the hospital to go see Melissa, as well as the trio. They’re surprised when you don’t show up and Barb tells them that you blame yourself. Melissa does end up waking up a few hours later after the doctors treated her injuries. Janine was the first to notice and makes her way to her side beside Barb as Gregory goes to get a Doctor saying she’s awake.

The doctor asks her a few questions and checks her over again and says that she’s healing properly and should be good to go home in a few days. They did mention she’ll need crutches as she got hit in the leg and they put a cast on her left leg. Once the doctor leaves, the trio stays for about half an hour before heading home. As soon as they leave, that's when Melissa asks Barb about you.

“I’m sorry, I tried to get her to come but she was very against it, saying she doesn’t want to hurt you again, and blaming herself for what happened.” Barb tells her and Melissa groans and puts her head back on the pillow. “If it’s any consolation, she was surprised that you pushed her out of the way. She thought you didn’t care about her anymore.” Barb tells her and Melissa looks at her.

“On Valentine’s Day she was going to see me with flowers and a card to confess her feelings for me. She saw how Gary and I declared our feelings and threw out the flowers and the card in the garbage. I guess she must have kicked it in anger cause the bin was knocked over and I saw the flowers and the card. I went over to her place right after and we both confessed our feelings.” Melissa is finally telling Barb what happened. “But then I screwed up. We didn’t hold back and we…we had sex. Then I promised her to go and break up with Gary. I went to do that, like I talked to him about it all but the way he was supportive and understanding made me not want to let him go since it’s been so long since I had a partner like that.” Melissa says and Barb nods in understanding. “She came and talked to me the next day and I promised again to break up with him. But then on Saturday I went over to her house and told her the truth and I said I couldn’t choose between them. She got angry and told me to get out.” Melissa finishes. “That’s what happened.”

“Melissa, you made a mistake, I mean my god. You and y/n are both putting blame on yourselves for making a mistake because you’re human.” Barb says. “It’s not your fault that Gary’s support and understanding made you feel good and left you confused because Joe kept hurting you. And it’s not y/n’s fault that she got distracted and didn’t notice the car coming at her and the fact that you pushed her out of the way and got hit instead.” Barb says and Melissa sniffles. “She got so mad at herself that she wished you just let her get hit.” Barb tells her and Melissa looks at her in shock. “I know you wouldn’t have let that happen and I told her that. But something tells me that there’s more to y/n’s side than she was letting on.” Barb tells her and Melissa goes to her phone to go to your texts to see pictures you sent her. And that’s when her face pales instantly. “What?” Barb asks when she sees Melissa’s face.

“They sent. All the texts that I sent her got delivered. That means she unblocked my number and she must have read them or at least a few of them. Probably not all since I sent a lot.” Melissa says and rambles a bit.

“Do you know when she unblocked your number.” Barb asks.

“It says it was delivered…last week.” Melissa says the last 2 words quietly.

“You know I did notice that she was distracted this week and that she looked at you a few times.” Barb says, knowing that you acted differently this week but didn’t say anything. When you cut Melissa out, you also cut out her, the trio, Ava and Mr Johnson, pretty much everyone in Melissa’s life from school.

A week goes by and Melissa returns back after that. The cast has to stay on her leg for a month and then a brace after for another month. She’s using crutches that she learned to use in the hospital during her stay there.

You secretly spy on her for a week when she returns and you see her get frustrated a few times about her limitations. You stay away though, thinking it’s the best course of action. You even hand Ava your notice, saying after the school year ends in a month, you’re not coming back. Ava accepts the notice but never approves you leaving, she said she’ll put it through on the last day.

On the second week that Melissa returns, she moves one of the crutches wrong, causing her to slip and fall. You happened to be right behind her and you caught her. It took both of you a second to figure out what happened and you lock eyes when you help her back up.

“Thank you.” She tells you and you look down at the ground before looking back up.

“I should be thanking you, this would have been me if you didn’t push me.” You say and she stares at you. This is the first time you guys talk to each other in over 3 months. “Melissa, why did you push me? Why didn’t you just let me get hit?” You ask, the guilt eating away at you.

“Why would I let you get hit? I care about you and I don’t want to see you hurt, especially if I could prevent it.” She says. “I’ll take having to walk around in a cast and with crutches, and cursing when I can’t do something the same way for a bit, if it means that you don’t have too.” She tells you genuinely and you’re speechless.

“How have you been getting to school and back?” You suddenly ask and she tilts her head at you, confused.

“Barb and Gerald have been driving me. They let me sit in the passenger seat to have room for my leg, and they help me in and out of the car.” She explains.

“Can I drive you home tonight?” You blurt out and it takes both of you by surprise. “To give them a break and as a thank you for saving me.” You tell her and she smiles.

“You don’t have to thank me.” She tells you.

“I do actually. I don't know many people who would save someone from getting hit by a car and let themselves get hit instead.” You tell her and she looks down and blushes.

“If you really want, then sure. I’m sure Gerald and Barb would like the break.” She says and you nod.

“Ok, I’ll come to your classroom after school then.” You say and she nods and you walk to your classroom. Melissa watches you walk away and she sighs contentedly. Maybe she can make it up to you after all.

Ava saw the interaction and passes by Melissa. “You might want to interact with her while you still can.” Ava tells her and Melissa looks at her confused.

“What is that supposed to mean?” She asks.

“It means that she gave her notice a couple days ago. After the year is done then she’s not coming back.” Ava tells Melissa, and if she didn’t have crutches then she would have fallen right there.

“She’s leaving?” Melissa mutters but Ava hears her and nods.

“Like I said, interact with her while you still can. There’s 3 weeks until school is done.” Ava says and walks away.

Melissa feels like the weight that once crushed her 3 months ago came back. You were leaving Abbott in 3 weeks and she didn’t know why. She thought you loved it here.

At the end of the day, she’s sitting at her desk when you come and knock on her door that’s open, signalling your presence.

“Ready to go?” You ask and she looks at you. You were probably never going to tell her that you’re leaving, this favour you’re doing is the only thing that you’ll probably do as a thank you before leaving. You were probably just going to finish up the last 3 weeks, and not mention to anyone that you’re leaving. And just leave them to figure it out when they don’t see you again. A bit of anger courses through her at that.

“Why are you leaving?” She asks you and you look at her stunned. You told Ava to not tell anyone, you just want to leave quietly.

“Ava couldn’t keep her mouth shut I see.” You say and her face gets more stern. “I’ll tell you in the car.” You say and she takes that compromise. You help her up and then walk beside her all the way to your car. You take her crutches and help her stay up as she gets in the car and then put the crutches in the back seat.

You get in and start the car and start the way to her house. You see her looking at you and you sigh and take a breathe before answering her question.

“I’m leaving because I have too ok.” You start and she looks confused. “I don’t belong here anymore. I made a couple friends with teachers but nothing too serious. I feel lonely here and all the students and teachers know that you got hit because you saved me. Do you know how many weird looks I get from people daily? I lose count. And I feel guilty everytime I see you or when I hear your crutches. You’re the only one who made me feel welcomed when I got here, and then I cut you and everyone you know at Abbott out of my life. So now I have no one. I figured it was best to leave and just start fresh.” You tell her.

“And you weren’t going to tell anyone?” She asks.

“There’s no one to tell.” You tell her casually and with a shrug. That got to her, the way you said, like you accepted it.

“You told Ava not to tell anyone.” She says.

“That’s because I didn’t want anyone asking why I’m leaving.” You say and glance at her.

“How many of my texts did you read?” She blurts out and she sees you tense. “I saw they got delivered to you, a week before the accident.” She tells you and you sigh.

“I came home after a bad date and I felt vulnerable so I unblocked your number.” You tell her and she gets surprised by you having a date, that means you’re dating again. Melissa decided to break up with Gary and swore off dating forever, not wanting the drama and pain it causes. “I read all of them.” You admit and her eyes go wide. She thought you would never see a single one and it was her way of therapy for losing you.

“I thought you would never see them.” She says and looks down.

“Well whatever the reason you sent so many must have helped as you moved on.” You tell her and snaps her head up at you. “You said so in the last text and you seemed lighter, the week before the accident.” You say. “It’s part of the reason why I thought you didn’t care about me anymore.” You admit.

“What are the other reasons?” She can’t help but ask.

“The fact that I cut you out of my life and you eventually stopped trying to talk to me. I thought you’re the queen of cutting people out and not having any emotional attachment to people that you cut out. Also, I thought you’d be happy with Gary and forget about me.” You tell her and that stung her.

“I broke up with me and I swore off dating.” She tells you and you let out an airy laugh.

“Ya right. Melissa, I know you, you want to be loved, you want to spend your days with someone. For them to give you physical affection and you love cooking for people that you love and want to show that you care.” You tell her.

“You’re right, I want to spend my days with the right person. But that person cut me out of her life because I fucked it up.” She tells you and you’re glad there’s a red light or else you might have made a mistake while driving. “So yes, I gave up because I didn’t see a point.” She tells you and you turn into her neighbourhood. You’re silent for the minute it takes until you pull up in her driveway and then you turn to look at her.

“Why didn’t you choose me then?” You ask her. “I gave you a choice. You told me on Valentine’s Day that you chose me then 2 days later you said you're not choosing me anymore.” You obviously still have anger about what happened.

“I went home and did start to talk to Gary to break up with him. But I never got so much support and understanding that I got from him from anyone else, including Joe. It felt nice and I got confused. I broke up with him a week later but by then it was too late, I already lost you.” She says and a tear rolls down her cheek from remembering how it felt to lose you. “Y/n, it took me 3 months to not always feel the pain of losing you. All I wanted was to talk to you, for you to have me back in any way that you were comfortable with, because I just wanted you in my life. I looked lighter like I moved on but I didn’t, it seemed like that because I was adjusting to life without you, I was finally forcing myself to accept that you weren’t going to be in my life again.” She tells you and looks you in the eyes. “Then I saw that car coming right for you and you didn’t notice. So before I even thought about it, I was running towards you and pushed you to safety, knowing it was you or me that was going to get hit. And I chose for me to get hit, because I care about you. And honestly, if I knew everything that was going to happen, I would have still done it.” She tells you and a tear rolls down your cheek.

She goes to wipe it away but you beat her to it. You turn away from her and wipe your eyes. “Come on, I’ll help you get to your house then I’ll leave you be.” You tell her and she grabs your arm and you look at her.

“You have never been in my way. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. I regret not breaking up with Gary when I should have, I regret not choosing you when you gave me the option. There’s so many things I regret and they all centre around you. I regret all the things that made me lose you.” She tells you sternly, making you understand the importance of what she’s saying. You look at her and see how vulnerable she’s being and you’re stunned, she’s never this vulnerable to anyone. Without thinking, you lean in and kiss her. Melissa is stunned for a second then kisses you back. She missed you and even though she only had a few kisses with you, she still remembered what it was like and missed being intimate with you. You pull back a few seconds later with fear in your eyes. “What’s wrong?” She asks you as soon as she sees your eyes.

“I don’t know what came over me. I mean we’re both trying to move on and then I go and do that.” You say and she laughs. You look at her and furrow your eyebrows, confused as hell.

“Oh y/n, I gave you a whole love confession and you think I could ever move on from you?” She asks and your brain goes blank. “You’re adorable. You’re so smart but so clueless. I love you y/n, I always will. No matter what happens, my heart will belong to you.” She tells you and she cups your cheek. “Whether you forgive me or not, whether we’re ever together or never together, if you cut me out of your life forever or let me back in. Even if you break my heart or decide to spend your life with someone else and I have to watch. I will always love you. These past 3 months, I’ve been loving you from a distance. Every day it broke my heart but I never stopped loving you.” She tells you.

“That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. And I’ve watched so many romance movies and read so many romance novels, been to multiple weddings and never heard anything as sweet as that.” You tell her and she gives you a watery smile. She goes to pull her hand back when you don’t react further but you grab it and place it back on your cheek and lean into her touch. You undo your seatbelt and lunge forward and kiss her.

“Woah!” She says as it takes her by surprise. Your lips land on hers and she immediately kisses you back. You pull back after a few seconds and look at her.

“I love you too.” You simply say and she smiles. “I’m not even going to attempt a speech because it will never come close to yours.” You tell her and she giggles.

“I don’t need one. I know how you feel about me. I see it in your eyes and feel it in your kisses.” She tells you.

“You should seriously stop talking, because you’re saying all the sweetest things.” You say and she gives you a kiss.

“As much as I would love to stay in this car with you, my butt is going numb.” She tells you and you get out of the car, grab her crutches and open her door. She uses you to push herself up and balances herself with the crutches. You help her into her house and onto her couch. You feel out of place here and you don’t really know what else to do so you say goodbye.

“Well if you don’t need anything else then I’ll just go.” You tell her and she tilts her head at you.

“You don’t want to stay?” She asks.

“Well do you need help with anything else?” You ask.

“You don’t have to help me with something as a reason to stay.” She tells you and sees the conflict in your eyes. “Well it would help if you stayed. Keep me company cause I’ve been really bored. Sitting here most of the evening with nothing to do. I can’t even cook a lot because that requires two hands and perfect timing. And I wouldn’t mind some cuddles. You were right about that too, I crave physical affection from a partner.” She tells you and you make your way over and sit beside her on the couch. You don’t miss the way she beams when you decide not to leave.

“I knew you were a big softie.” You tease and she glares at you.

“If you tell anyone-”

“You’ll what?” You counter and raise your eyebrows, questioning her threat.

“Well I wouldn’t do anything to you but I’ll have to kill them.” She says and you laugh, knowing her threat is empty.

“I do forgive you btw, for what happened. Do you forgive me for what happened to you?” You ask her and she’s confused.

“Y/n, there was nothing to forgive, you didn’t do anything.”

“If I paid attention then it wouldn’t have forced you to save me.” You tell her.

“Y/n, like I said there’s nothing to forgive, but if it makes you feel better then I forgive you.” She tells you and you hug her. You have your arms wrapped around her neck and body pressed to hers. She puts her hands on your back cautiously then hugs you back. Feeling this is more intimate than any kiss she had with her exes. It’s a hug full of love, of promise to not letting each other go again. And you both keep that promise till death do you part.

Taglist: @esposadejoyhuerta

@imaginesmultifandoms

@idonothingalldays-blog

@sexysapphicshopowner

@dvrkhcld

@lilfartbox1

@ricejucie

@unicorniusfallapatorius

@a-queen-and-her-throne

@sleep-deprived-athlete

@og-kxsh-420

Let me know if you want to be added!

[just-horrible-things]

‘Verse: Resistance, co-author @whump-sprite AU: Alt to Unlikely Salvation Arc 1 – what if it was Anders who found Ari broken, not Alex?

Debrief, pt2 [First | Prev]

“So then what?” Riven presses. He has both hands on the table, leaning over it with interest. “Morgen just walked out, you’re claiming?” “Yeah.” “Did you check the door, when she left?” Ariadne stares at him flatly. “I couldn’t get up,” she tells him. “She broke my legs. And my arms. And my hands.”

It’s Riven’s turn to go quiet. Ari doesn’t like his skeptical frown any more than she liked his grin. “I know,” she says. “What it looks like. I got healed, since then.” Riven lifts his eyebrows. “Healed like magic?” “Yeah. Let me – tell it in order?” “Well, keep talking then.” He sits back down, resting his elbows on the desk instead of his palms. Ari watches his hands, still feeling that creeping sense of unease.

“Okay. So. Morgen – walked out. I was… alone a, a few hours maybe–?” “How many’s a few?” “I don't know, she didn't leave me a fucking clock.” For a second she thinks he's going to language her, which would be fucking rich from his mouth – but if that is what he was about to say, he reconsiders. “C’mon,” he prompts instead, “any kind of estimate? I know you're guessing. But are we talking one hour or twelve?” “I don't know,” Ari stresses. “Six? Twelve?” “Not one, then.” “Mh,” Ari agrees reluctantly. It had to be more than that. It felt like fucking eternity. She thought it was gonna be the rest of her life.

Looking back, it could have been an hour or a week. There's nothing to distinguish one awful minute of it from another.

“And then?” Riven prompts impatiently. Sweat itches uncomfortably under Ariadne’s clothes. “Then… Anders Reyan.” “He tortured you too?” “No, um. He… drugged me, and moved me.” Another sequence she cannot get straight in her head. “I don't… know which way round. I blacked out – a few times maybe.” “Drugged you, what kind of drugs?” “I don't know. Morphine – he said later? Felt like – could’ve been – morphine.” The constant, nagging need to regulate her breathing isn’t helping her get her thoughts straight.  “I was – unconscious a while – I think.” “You think.”

Ari grits her teeth behind the mask. “I know he moved me. I don't – remember much of it – y’know because of the drugs.” “Did he talk to you? Did you talk to him?” “I don't remember.” She has a handful of jumbled images, in no particular order. Mostly Reyan's face. And how much she needed the morphine. “So you could have?” “I don't think so. I was out cold  – pretty quick. I think.”

“This could be really important, Ariadne,” Riven coaxes. “Try to remember. Anything he said to you, anything you might have said…” “I’ve tried,” Ari snaps. “I'm trying. Let me…”

Riven waits impatiently. Ari wracks her brain, but she knows there's nothing new in there. Mostly she takes the chance to catch her breath. 

“What about symptoms?” Riven presses. “What do you remember?” “Felt like morphine. Some kinda painkiller.” “Any hallucinations, seeing shit?” “I don't – remember anything like that,” Ari answers honestly. “Not sure I would remember though.”

It's blank, she almost says. Just a big fucking gap. 

But she owes it to the analysts to give the most complete account she can, however irritating Riven is. Say it for the microphones, not for him.

“I remember he used, mh, magic to move me. To lift me. I remember he was – angry? And maybe – scared? Don’t – remember what he said. I’ve tried. I don’t – think he said much. I remember – the needle, with the drugs. And that’s – it – that’s all I’ve – got.” The speech leaves her breathless. Riven’s expression is flat. “You said scared? Why would Reyan be scared? Of you?” “I don't know.” Ari feels like a broken record. “That's – what I saw. He looked scared. I know – it doesn't – make sense. I was drugged. Probably m’wrong.” “Okaay.” The exaggerated sarcasm is childish, but it has the intended effect. Ariadne feels stupid for even mentioning it. She knows it sounds like nonsense. It probably is nonsense.

“So. He moved you, you lost consciousness… Where did you wake up, then?” “Some room. Like – a bedroom. Don't think they had another – cell.” More not-deep breaths, pulling in as much oxygen as she can while she turns over her next words in her head. “You're not gonna – like this,” she observes sourly. “Doesn't – make a lot of sense to me – and I was there.” Riven lifts his eyebrows at her but he says, “Well, go on. Try me.”

“So I woke up with, mh splints on. All over. And.. still drugged, so, I don’t remember a lot.” She is sorry for how shitty her account is. But she doesn’t want to say so, not to Riven. Not while he’s being an ass. “Reyan came and gave me water – food – more drugs. Like they – went too far and were – trying t’not – kill me. Gotta – breathe a sec – hang on.” Riven says nothing, just keeps on watching as she catches her breath. “He brought – Reyan brought – a healer. Told me not to talk to the healer.” “And did you?” “... No.” Ari admits. “Couldn’t… think of anything that’d help.” Riven hums, and makes a note. Heat gathers in Ariadne’s cheeks.

“The healer – fixed my ribs, mostly, then… most of the rest of me. Not – all the way, any of it, but – enough I could move. Not – all in one go, I mean. The healer came back – I don’t know, a dozen times?” “That’s a lot of healing.” “Yeah. I kept… expecting to go back to the cell, you know. Reyan didn’t – talk to me much. When he did, it was…” she shakes her head – fractionally, carefully, “I think he’s crazy.” “Facts not speculation, hm?” Ari grimaces, and Riven seems to take it as acknowledgement. “He kept saying he hates torture – fucking – hypocrite. Saying he was mad at Morgen – Taryn Morgen – for what she did to me. Like it was… too far for him. He was… drunk, a lot. He’d get – like – freaked out, sometimes? And – leave halfway through something. Slam the – door. He seemed… really unstable.” “Did he hurt you?” “No. I was – drugged a lot – to start with. Less later.”

She takes another pause to breathe, but Riven is impatient. “And then?” Ari almost raises a hand to gesture wait a sec but her whole arm threatens to cramp and it’s not really worth it. “Eventually… he says he’s – letting me go. With – conditions. He said – he wanted to let me go. Peyroux wanted – conditions. Or – wanted to kill me – but agreed to conditions. You know,” she adds, conscious of Riven’s skepticism, “good cop, bad cop.” “And they cast Anders Reyan as good cop? Not very believable.” More breaths. “And?” “He said – don’t hurt any warlocks. Don’t – report back. Don’t tell – anyone. Or they kill me. Yada yada. He – gave me – five hundred dollars cash. Told me to – get a bus or something. Gave me a fake id. And – dumped me out on the street. Blinded me – again – from inside the room to – out of the car. And – drove off.” Riven doesn’t look like he believes her account any more than she believed Reyan. His silence is no more reassuring than his questions. “I figured they were – watching me – pretty close,” she forges on. “At least – at first. So I… got a – hotel room – while I got my bearings…”

Riven still doesn’t say a word as Ariadne struggles her way through her account of the last week, trying to explain her flawed reasoning as she goes. She omits some details, she knows she does. Nothing she thinks is important, but she knows she should be specific. She just can’t muster the breath. Riven wouldn’t be wrong to interrupt and press for those details, but he only stops her when she finally gets to Connor’s arrival and the disastrous extraction attempt.

“Now hold on, let’s go back a little,” he declares. “You’re claiming that the Resistance gave you weeks of healing and just let you go wander off on your own, just for the hope they could use you as bait? 

“Why would they need you up and about for that? Let alone giving you cash. I’m sure Thompson would have come running if they’d set you out somewhere as a pile of broken bones and gotten you to cry down the phone.”

Ari hasn’t got an answer for him. She’s had the same thoughts – minus the specific of Connor being involved. “I’m sure you can understand why I’m finding that a little hard to swallow, hm?” “It’s what happened,” Ari insists. “It – doesn’t make sense to me either.” She can’t help a flinch when Riven stands up again. 

“Ari, Ari, Ari,” he chides as he strolls unhurriedly round the desk to stand beside Ariadne. “Are you scared of me?” He sits down on the edge of the desk, right next to Ariadne so that his legs almost brush against her knee. It leaves him looking down at her. Her head throbs, looking up at him. The glare of the ceiling light is in her eyes. “You know we can forgive some… lapses of judgment made under the kind of duress you’re claiming you were under. But you also know how important it is that you tell us about everything that happened, anything you told them, any deals you might have made…” “I didn’t make any deals,” Ari insists. She sounds plaintive to her own ears. “I’d – tell you if I had. I know it’s important.”

“Why would the Resistance waste healing on a federal agent, Ariadne?” He leans forward. “Why would Anders Reyan want to baby you – a torturer – if he wasn’t getting anything out of it?” “I don’t know. Because – he’s crazy? Because he lost his fucking mind when we – had a – psycho contractor torture him?”

Riven puts a hand on Ariadne’s shoulder. Her skin crawls at the obvious threat. She ought to be angry but she just feels very, very helpless.

“I’m trying to help you, Ari,” he lies. “You know the truth always gets out. Mistakes made under torture can be forgiven. But lying in debrief won’t be. So you’d better be very, very sure that what you’re telling me is true.” “I’m not lying.” It comes out feeble and breathless. “I wouldn’t lie. Sir.”

He doesn’t outrank her. But right now, in this room, with his hand on her body… it can’t hurt to stroke his ego a little.

“Maybe you missed some detail,” he suggests. He doesn’t take his hand off her shoulder. “While you were drugged, perhaps.” Offering her an out, to change her story without admitting to lying. Familiar tactics. “I told you everything I remember, sir.”

“Did she even break that many bones?” Riven’s hand snaps out to grab her wrist. Ari makes a sharp, inarticulate noise as he tugs on the broken bone. Her back arches away from the wheelchair. “Oh hush, I’m just taking a look.” “The – medical will –” “Don’t panic, I know what I’m doing.” Yes, she thinks, that’s exactly what I’m scared of.

She grits her teeth and holds still, locking as many muscles as she can bring herself to in a futile attempt to control her sudden trembling. Her eyes sting, but she refuses to cry. Riven’s fingers probe firmly over the bones of her hands, searching for the places that were broken. “M’sure they’ll – take – an X-ray – or – anh! – fuck –” Despite her shame, tears spill down her cheeks.

“Maybe she did do a number on you,” Riven allows, probing another ridge of not-quite-healed bone until Ari squirms and hisses. “I’m – telling the truth –” she insists. “I know – know it’s – fucking crazy. But I swear –” He drops her hand, and she yelps as the bone is jolted again. Her face is on fire, and the tear tracks burn cold against the heat of her skin.

Does he really doubt her story, or is he just fishing for submission?

“Please, sir,” she forces out through gritted teeth. “I’d tell you – if I’d done – anything. I’m just as – confused – as anyone.” Riven hums, drumming his fingers on the edge of the desk. Each impact sets a little twitch off in Ariadne, imagining those fingers drumming on her broken bones. He’s not smiling, but she can see the hint of it around his eyes. Fucking psychopath.

[polizwrites]

PoliZ's WIP Update - 14 May 2025

Last week was a bust (out of town again) but I tried to make up for a bit this week.   I touched  3 fics (2 new and 1 WIP) for a total of 1959 words this week - nearly all on one fic. 

On Ao3, I posted: 

 When Guardians and Asgardians Collide: A Tony Stark Bingo Round Robin - April 2025 -  Tony & Loki plus Tony & Stephen - a magical mess! 

New Kid In Town - Tony & Pepper double drabble

It’s Going to Take a Miracle (Berry) - No Powers Workplace WinterIron AU ficlet 

On Tumblr I posted: 

Tomorrow You’ll Be Worlds Away - pre-war (barely) Stucky ficlet

A Misplaced Companion - WinterHawk + Alpine domestic fluff ficlet 

I’m juggling 10-ish  active/semi-active WIPs with my current  deadlines being  the  Tony Stark and Beginning  bingos.  

See  below cut for what I’m working on/planning to work on - arranged more or less by bingos/challenges/etc.  As always, feel free to send me   prompts or plot bunnies as well as asks regarding  any of these projects  or any other WIPs I’ve got out there.   Interaction really helps feed the Muse and keep me motivated!

Character A/Character B Bingo  [CACBB]   

The Character A/Character B blog () & Discord server run a bingo where you get monthly 3x3 themed cards - I managed two fills on my February Rare Pair Bingo card -  might sign up for June's card if I get my writing mojo back on a semi-consistent basis.  

Beginnings  Bingo  [BB_25]   (Ends 31 May 2025)

This new all-fandoms bingo event (courtesy of  @sweetspicybingo) celebrates beginnings. I’ve got a 3x3 card with nine fills - will be getting a blackout with using both Alt prompts - trying for at least one more square before the event ends!  

* A2 - first impression - Combined this with the Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF289 Blinding Gaze] for  Close Encounters of the Blue-Eyed Kind - a Stony College AU meet cute/meet ugly with Tony literally running into Steve. It came in as a double drabble (200 words) and will get posted to Ao3 before the event ends.

* A3 - first apartment - filled with with A Misplaced Companion - another Flash Fiction Friday crossover with [#FFF303 Out Of The Box] where Bucky’s packing up to move out of his first apartment and in with Clint. Unfortunately, Alpine goes missing along the way.  It came in at 462 words.    

* B1 - first breakup - Combined this with the Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF302 Talk to Me ] for  We Can’t See Eye To Eye - CA;CW compliant Tony x Pepper breakup ficlet.  It came in at 238 words and will get posted to Ao3 before the event ends. 

* C3 - first victim - May be filling this with a Tony & Bruce ficlet where they’re discussing the Winter Soldier.  It’s sitting at 123 words and will (hopefully)  get posted before the event is over. 

* Alt1 - first heartbreak - Filled this with Tomorrow You’ll Be Worlds Away - a crossover with the Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF304 One Day More]  that’s Steve’s POV of his and Bucky’s last day together before Sergeant Barnes ships out. It came in at 338 words.   

Tony Stark Bingo - Mark VIII [TSB_R8]  (Ends 31 May)

This amazing bingo event from the folks over at @tonystarkbingo is heading towards the finish line! I have  twenty-eight squares filled - may try to pick up another adoptable or two before the event ends. 

* T3 - KINK: praise kink Combined this with the Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF290 Midnight Distractions] Sweet (Tech) Talk  where a pining!Steve visits Tony’s workshop late at night and the way he’s sweet-talking his tech sends Steve’s mind right into the gutter. It came in at 456 words and will get posted to Ao3 before the event is over. 

* Oct Adoptable: Facial Hair Bros - Posted  New Kid in Town to Ao3. It’s a double drabble that crossed over with the Flash Fic Friday prompt  [#FFF287 I Can’t Stand It]. Tony is complaining to Pepper about that so-called wizard stealing his look - she thinks Tony doth protest too much. 

*Apr Adoptable - Wingfic:  Adopted this prompt with the intent to work on/wrap up   Half of the Flesh and Blood that Makes Me Whole - my post CA:WS  canon divergent fic where Steve brings Bucky back to the Tower.  (Re)Established Stucky → Stuckony.   I pulled in my WIB O1 - Tony’s Workshop and FFB Dec B2 - FREE squares as well.    I’ve got Chapter Eight drafted at 1380 words and hope to have it posted on Friday.  

Post July Break Bingo 2024  [pJBB_24] (Ends 30 Jun 2025)

I requested two 2x3 cards for this  Discord-server only event from @julybreakbingo.  I have ten   fics posted  with a blackout on one card & 0 WIPs - need to figure out some more crossovers.

* C1_C1 - “What are we?” - Combined this with the YOTP March prompt  Florist/Tattoo Artist AU, my FFB Feb - A1- Body Art square and the Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF298 Hidden Chemistry] for  More Than An Inkling, where Tony is all too aware of the trope and tries to resist the chemistry he has with his next-door business neighbor. It came in at  373 words and will get posted before this event ends. 

Hot Bucky Summer [HBS_25] (Ends 30 Aug 2025) 

This steamy event - brought to you by the fine folks over at @bucky  - is a go for this year!  Weekly themes and prompts (as well as the rules) have been posted here on Tumblr and starting June 1st  - participants can create whatever their smutty (or not so smutty) hearts desire!  I’ve picked out a few prompts to work with - my goal is to complete at least two fics/month, with a stretch goal of creating something for every week!  

Fandom Free Bingo - FFB

The @fandom-free-bingo blog offers up themed cards on a monthly basis - either 3x3 or 5x5 - you have a year to create your fanworks if you want them reblogged. 

Gingerbread Edition (December) - Ends 30 Nov 2025 

Six  of nine fills completed - no WIPs at the moment

* A2 - "I can't believe you!"  Combined this with last week’s Flash Fiction Friday prompt [#FFF299 Stranger Than Fiction] for Caught In the Act  - a Tony & Pepper IM1 canon-compliant double drabble - expanding a bit on the scene where Pepper walks in on Tony being extricated from the armor after Gulmira.  It came in at 200 words and will get posted to Ao3 before the event ends.  

* B3 - Fake dating, real feelings - Posted Something To Talk About  as a crossover with the April YOTP prompts Pranks & “Right in front of my salad!” - Tony suggests a prank where he and Bucky pretend to have had sex with each other; it backfires in the best way.  It came in at 975 words and posted this morning. 

* C1 - Juice -  Posted  It’s Going to Take a Miracle (Berry) to Ao3 last week. This ficlet combined the  Flash Fic Friday prompt [#FFF296 Before the party’s over] and the YOTP March: “What are you doing with that?” prompt in a No Powers workplace AU where Tony brings something to experiment with at the monthly team brunch; his crush gets involved. It came in at 526 words.

Half-Baked Edition (February) - Ends 31 Jan 2026

Six of nine fills completed with one bingo - no WIPs at the moment. 

* A1- Body Art – see  pJBB C1_C1 - “What are we?” above 

* B2 - FREE - I combined this with a previous Flash Fiction Friday prompt   [FFF#294 - Cursed Trio] for Horning In - a SamBuckyJoaquin ficlet where Brock tries to hit on Sam’s two partners at the club.  It came in at 222 words and will get posted to Ao3 before this event ends. 

Fool's Edition (April) - Ends 31 March 2026

Three fills and 0 WIPs 

* A2 - "I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve."  - Combined this with three Flash Fic Friday prompts:   prompts:  [#FFF300 Let Me Go] [#FFF300 Burn It Down] [#FFF300 Rise and Fall]  for  A Mysterious Musician - a No Powers College AU WinterIron fic where Tony falls at first sight for the singer of a local band, only to discover that he knows him from somewhere else.  It came in at 747 words and ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. I may expand it at some point before posting to Ao3. 

* Alt 2 - Muscles - Posted Offering A Hand  last Friday.  It’s a crossover with an older Flash Fic Friday prompt [#FFF295 Help Not Wanted] for a No Powers AU where Tony happens across two hunks, one of whom might qualify for a Stark Industries program.  It came  in at  575 words.

Year of the OTP [YOTP_25]   (Ends Dec 31 2025)

Making good progress on this challenge where you create (at least) twelve works for a specific pairing by using the monthly prompts provided. I’m a bit of an over-achiever with eight prompts filled so far! 

* March - “What are you doing with that?”  - see FFB December C1 - Juice  above. 

* March - Florist/Tattoo Artist AU -   see  pJBB C1_C1 - “What are we?” above  

* April - Pranks &  “Right in front of my salad!”  See FFB Dec: * B3 - Fake dating, real feelings 

WinterIron Bingo Round 3 [WIB_R3] (Ends 16 Jan 2026)

@winterironevents is bringing back their WinterIron Bingo for a third round! I help co-mod this event and we will have pre-made cards available probably starting next month. I've got one fill and 1 WIP so far need to look for more crossovers with my active cards! . 

* O1 - Tony's workshop - see see TSB Apr Adoptable - Wingfic  

Warm and Fluffy   Bingo  [WFB]   (no end date)

Nine fills on my card, courtesy of   @warmandfluffybingocards  - need to try for another crossover or two!

————

On  other creative fronts:  I’m working on a Spider-Gwen/Ghost-Spider figure for an upcoming con with Gamora and Wolverine on the way!  

If  you’re looking for one of a kind gifts for birthdays or other celebrations, check  out Stuffed With Character    over on Facebook for a full list of my designs (now over 150!).   These soft stuffed figures are  mostly Marvel and monsters, but I have some Star Wars, Star Trek, DC   and Disney figures as well. Plus I love to take custom design   requests  for any fandom!  I still have one commission slot open for May - feel free to reach out via DM or to  StuffedWithCharacter@gmail.com!

[dollgutzzz]

Sicktember Update! 🚨🚨🚨

As Sicktember draws ever closer, I’ve been doing a lot of brainstorming and got some amazing suggestions from some of you!

Here is the masterlist so far (Everything with *** at the beginning is a prompt I do not yet have a specific idea in mind for yet. Feel free to suggest!)

⭐️ Day 1: “I’m not hungover, I’m just sick.” (Kavehtham) https://archiveofourown.org/works/58622329

⭐️ Day 2: Too much of a good thing/Overindulgence (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 3: Campus Crud (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 4: “Great, I got a cold for my birthday.” (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 5: Rogue Organ (TighCyno)

⭐️ Day 6: Dizziness/vertigo (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 7: Borrowed hoodie (TighCyno)

⭐️ Day 8: “The closest doctor is probably hours from here!” (Genshin modern AU: camping: 4ggravate)

⭐️ Day 9: Overdramatic patient/caretaker (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 10: The sniffles

⭐️ Day 11 (ALT): “I didn’t mean to wake you up.” (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 12: “You’re not fine, you’re throwing up/coughing up a lung.” (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 13: Mononucleosis (Stardew Valley Sambastian)

⭐️ Day 14: Clean sheets/fresh pajamas (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 15: “Who decided ____ is sick people food?” (Kavehtham)

⭐️ Day 16: Toxin/poison (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 17: Brain fog/spaced out (TighCyno)

⭐️ Day 18: “My body is one big ache.” (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 19: Hypochondriac Tendencies

Day 20: Medication Bribery

Day 21 (ALT): Doctor’s Note

***Day 22: “You didn’t use my cup, did you?”

***Day 23: Under a Spell

***Day 24: Tales from the Waiting Room

⭐️ Day 25: Summer Flu (FFXV)

⭐️ Day 26 (ALT): Flushed Cheeks (FFXV)

Day 27: “This is non-negotiable.”

Day 28 (ALT): Hospital Bed (FFXV)

Day 29: Sick on a Roadtrip (VenXiao)

Day 30: Past Prompt of Your Choice!

Also yes, I am finally branching out to writing more than just Genshin and FFXV! I’m gonna be ushering in some other fandoms as well. So far I have one prompt I have chosen to write as Sam and Sebastian from Stardew Valley :)

[bricky-brikson]

I’ve decided to do a Bad Things Happen Bingo!

My goal is to get at least one (1) bingo, but honestly I just want to write some suffering

How this is going to work:

Send me an ask with one (1) prompt + the character(s)/media.

I’ll mark that prompt as “claimed” on this post by editing (so check the original post before you ask).

When the writing is done (and published), I’ll shade the prompt in completely.

Prompts that are shaded in or claimed cannot be asked for! So if there’s something here you like, grab it quick!

Things I’m willing to write:

My original characters. See my #dear cassedy tag.

Drabbles of characters created solely for the situation/prompt. In this case, the asker has to propose the characters themselves. Please don't use this as a roundabout way to get writings of your OCs.

Psychonauts

Sky: Children Of The Light (Elders and Spirits, I’m not big on writing skykids)

Hollow Knight

Gravity Falls

Things might get a little homoerotic (especially with the cannibalism prompt), but I won't do straight-up NSFW. Gore though? That's fine.

As always, I retain the right to refuse a prompt if it squicks me or it's just not something I'm interested in writing, in which case I'll respond to the ask privately stating as much.

Prompts are listed in the alt text for those with screen-readers. Below divider by @/cafekitsune. I don't remember where I got the snake dividers, sorry :(

[walker-extended-universe]

Dead Weight, Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Relationship(s): Trevor Strand/Stella Walker, Cordell Walker & Stella Walker, Micki Ramirez & Cordell Walker, Malcolm Bright & Cordell Walker, Martin Whitly & Hector

Tags/Warnings: Hostage Situations, People Used as Bargaining Chips, Hostage Negotiations, Bleeding, Threats of Violence, Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence

Summary:

Alternative version of Walker s01e11: Freedom and Prodigal Son s02e11: You Can Run. Martin Whitly made it out of the state with Hector but the plan only had enough fuel to get them to Texas. After their forced landing, they come across a couple of teenagers in a summer cabin with a duffle bag full of money. One of these teenagers is Stella Walker, daughter of a Texas Ranger. Martin would be stupid not to take advantage of this opportunity.

Written for @augustofwhump alt prompt 5- Human Shield

Taglist: @theladywyn, @ihavepointysticks, @klaatu51, @itsjessiegirl1, @neptunium134

-----------

Trevor survived his encounter with Dr. Martin Whitly, something that 23 other people were unable to do. He was still in the hospital but they were optimistic he would make it out okay.

Cordell would be more excited about that if Trevor could tell them anything useful.

“I swear, I have no idea who they were or how they found us. They just showed up out of nowhere!”

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, fine. Now, do you mind telling me what you two were even doing out there? Stella was supposed to be at a soccer game and she hadn’t heard from you since you ghosted her at the dance. Why were you together in a cabin outside of town?”

Trevor had the decency to look sheepish. “I…. Look, my dad sent some goons after me at my aunt's house and somehow Stella tracked me down and got me out of there. I needed to hide out and get out of town and she offered to take me. We went to that cabin because I knew my dad had money and stuff stashed away there….”

Right. Okay. That sounded exactly like something Stella would do. They were gonna have to have a talk about that if- when they found her safe and sound. “Do you have any idea where they might be headed?”

Trevor shook his head. “The big guy knocked me out before they left. I don’t even know why they took her….”

Cordell wanted to punch something. Micki picked up on that and quickly got him out of the room. “Freaking out isn’t going to do us any good right now,” she said. “What happened wasn’t Trevor’s fault; we need to focus on finding The Surgeon.”

“I know, I know,” he muttered. “But we don’t know where he is or where he’s going. At this point, the best we can do is put an ABP out on the car and there’s no guarantee that’ll even work. Meanwhile, my daughter is in the hands of the most notorious serial killer of the 20th century and his goon!”

“Walker, you need to chill,” Micki snapped. “I get it, I get that this sucks and you’re freaking out. You have good reason to. But if you can’t keep it together, you’re gonna get pulled off of this case. You’re lucky James hasn’t pulled you off as it is and the Feds are not gonna be as lenient.”

“I know.” But knowing that didn't make it any easier. “I just- I don’t even care about the serial killer. I just want my daughter home, safe and sound, where she belongs.”

“And I have every intention of making that happen.”

Cordell’s head snapped to the side. A man approached them. Cordell didn’t recognize him but he walked like a fed and dressed like a PI. Not a good combination. “And you are?” he snapped.

The man smiled and extended his hand. “Malcolm Bright. Profiler and resident expert on the Surgeon. I’ve been following this case since Whitly’s initial escape and I’ve been brought on by the Marshals as a consultant.”

Bright. Cordell had heard that name before but he couldn’t remember where. He returned the hand shake. “And you can help find Stella?”

“I can help find the Surgeon, which should get us to her,” Malcolm confirmed. “And, don’t worry, I plan to help you stay on the case. I know they’ll want to kick you off since you’re ‘too close’ to it, but I know what it’s like to lose family to something like this. And I think you can help more than they realize.”

“How do you mean?” Micki asked. “Walker’s good, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not exactly an expert on serial killers…..”

“No, but he is an expert on his daughter. And I suspect you’ve taught her a few things about leaving a trail.”

“I’ve done my best to make sure she can take care of herself,” Cordell said. Hopefully, she would try to leave a trail, something they could hold onto. Martin would be too smart for that.

“I expected nothing less.” Malcolm smiled. “I think we can work very well together. Maybe you can start by filling me in on our witness before I interrogate him? Not that you didn’t do a good job, but there may be some details he left out given who you are….”

Cordell nodded. He couldn’t argue with that. “Whatever you need.” He’d do anything, as long as it got Stella home safe. “What do you want to know?”

—-----------------------------

Stella kept her eyes on the road, more out of a desire to not see the gun pointed at her rather than adhering to road safety guidelines. She didn’t think she’d ever driven so safely in her life. Even checking her hand placement was better than acknowledging the situation she was in.

“You seem nervous. Would it help if we stopped and got a snack?”

“It would help if you let me go.”

The older man in the passenger seat- Martin- sighed and shook his head. “I can’t do that just yet. See, I made a deal with your father that if I kept you alive until we reached the border, he would let me and my friend here go, and I intend to keep my word. So, you’re stuck with us for a while I’m afraid.” He shrugged. “Would it make you feel better if we turned on the radio? Maybe Taylor Swift’s newest album has something relatable to your current situation.”

“No thanks,” she muttered.

“Can we still stop for snacks?” the man in the back seat- she was pretty sure his name was Hector- asked. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea. I’m feeling a bit peckish myself,” Martin said. He looked back at Stella. “Do you have any money we could use?”

“No. I spent it all on gas before we got to the cabin,” Stella replied honestly. Not that she would’ve willingly given them money anyway.

“Ah, well, no matter. I was hoping we could use some cash but there’s other ways to get what we need.”

Stella didn’t like the sound of that at all.

She should try to stop this. Just pull over and run for her life and try to get home. But what good would that do? These two clearly weren’t above hurting people to get their way. If she didn’t go along with them, they could easily just drop the dead weight. They clearly had no issue with killing to get what they wanted.

Maybe if she just played along, she could keep them busy long enough for Dad to catch up.

That had to work. It had to.

Martin directed her to get off the highway at the next exit. Then, to pull into a gas station. “We don’t really need gas yet….”

“That’s not why we’re here. Park the car at the convenience store. Hector, watch the car. We’ll be right back.” Then, Martin grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her out of the car. “Now, you’re going to test your acting skills and be very scared so that we can get what we need.”

Stella gulped when she felt the end of a gun at the small of her back. Even if she was reasonably sure he wanted to keep her alive (for now), she had a feeling it wouldn’t take much for that to change.

There was no one in the store except the clerk, who was boredly flipping through a skin mag. He looked about her age and like he couldn’t care less about keeping this job. “We’re out of breakfast burritos so if that’s what you’re after-”

“I’m after a little more than that.” Martin lifted the gun to the side of Stella’s head. “Empty that register to start, then we’ll need some food and a few full jugs of gas.”

The kid finally looked up and Stella could see the blood drain from his face. “L-Look man, I make minimum wage, I-”

“Poor you,” Martin snarked. “She’s got a gun to her head; you don’t hear her complaining. Now, come on. Money, food, gas.”

“Okay, okay! Just- Just give me a minute….”

Stella tried to keep her breathing steady while Martin got what he wanted. She didn’t want to give him a reason to use the gun. But she was shaking and it took everything in her not to break down crying.

She just hoped the kid was smart enough to pull some kind of silent alarm or call the police as soon as they left. It would be a clue for Dad to follow at least.

Martin made her carry the money and the food and called for Hector to grab the 6 containers of gas the kid poured. It would be enough to last them a while. Then, still holding the gun to her head, he made her get back behind the wheel and drive. “There, that wasn’t so hard now was it?”

She stayed silent as they got back on the highway and tuned out their bickering over the gas station snacks.

Please, God, let them find me soon.

[misty79]

👻 Miraculous Flufftober 🎃

I’ve decided to try and write something for everyday of flufftober even if it’s just a single scene. Here’s day 1 because I didn’t get to the prompts until really late last night.

Day 1: “I’ve got you”

Chat Noir is sitting across from the Eiffel tower, fists clenched onto the roof’s edge. “Kitty?” Ladybug drops down behind him, “I got you message, are you okay?” - It had been too many close calls with one or the other showing up late so they had set up alt phone numbers.

“I- My-“ He couldn’t speak. Ladybug knew this feeling all too well and pulled him into a hug, “You don’t have to say anything. I’m here for you, I’ve got you.” Chat Noir relaxes a little and rests his head on her shoulder.

@flufftober

[kybercrystals94]

Neon Warfare

Read here on Ao3!

Summer of Bad Batch 2024 | Week 1 | Main Prompt: Water Gun Fight | Alt. Prompt: "It's not what it looks like."

Rated: G | Words: 3109 | Summary: Wrecker buys two little water guns. What's the worst that could happen?

“Hey, look at this?” 

“How much do you think something like that costs?” 

“They call that art? I’ve blown up things that ended up looking nicer than that!” 

“If we could get one of those, would you want red or blue? I know red is part of our colors, but blue is nice.”

Crosshair tries to ignore Wrecker’s incessant commentary as they cut through a district of novelty shops. Keeping Wrecker on task during slow paced missions is like herding wild tookas: impossible and incredibly annoying. 

“We’re not here to sightsee,” Crosshair finally snaps. “Are you even watching for our contact?” 

“I thought you were watching,” Wrecker says, “I’m just backup.” 

Crosshair rolls his eyes. “So help me…” 

Wrecker gasps, and Crosshair turns to see what has distracted his brother now. Small, neon colored, plastic pistols. “What are these?” Wrecker asks the shopkeep. 

“Water guns,” the man says. 

“What do they do?” Wrecker asks before Crosshair can haul him away. 

The man looks unimpressed with the question. “Shoot water.” 

“They’re so tiny,” Wrecker croons. “You just fill ‘em with water? Simple as that?” 

“Simple as that.” 

“Wrecker, come on,” Crosshair growls. 

“They’re on sale, two for a credit,” the man says. 

“Sold!” Wrecker whips a credit out of nowhere, drops it in the vendor’s waiting hand, and snatches up a green and a pink pistol from the basket. 

It takes every shred of patience for Crosshair to keep his mouth shut until they move away from the cart. “Put your toys away, we’re busy,” he hisses. 

“We’re always busy,” Wrecker says, ignoring him as he fiddles with the tiny orange stopper at the top of the pink pistol. Once he dislodges it, he hands the green pistol to Crosshair. “Hold this.” 

“I’m not holding your toys!” Crosshair cries, taking the pistol anyway. 

Wrecker gets out his canteen and tries to delicately dribble a stream of water into the hole at the top of the gun. Most of the water ends up in a puddle on the ground. 

“I’m not sharing my canteen with you when you’re thirsty later,” Crosshair mutters. 

Wrecker either doesn’t hear him or doesn’t care. “There!” he says, triumphantly, poking the stopper back into place. Before Crosshair can react, Wrecker points the gun at Crosshair and pulls the trigger. A spurt of water splatters harmlessly across Crosshair’s visor. 

He’s annoyed nonetheless. “Ugh! Grow up, Wrecker!” 

“Here,” Wrecker says, unperturbed, reaching for the green pistol, “let’s fill yours up.” 

“It’s not mine!” Crosshair says, thrusting it into Wrecker’s hand. 

“Sure it is! I bought it for you.” 

“I don’t want it.” 

Wrecker’s shoulders slump. “Aw, c’mon, Cross. You’re no fun.”

“We’re not here to have fun. We’re here on a mission. Now, put your kriffing toys away.” 

Crosshair starts walking, and hears Wrecker start trundling along behind him. And then he feels it. Something wet on the back of his neck.

“Ha! That was a good shot!”

Crosshair sighs. This is going to be a long patrol. 

*

Surprisingly, Wrecker seems to lose interest in the water guns the moment they come within sight of the Marauder. He shoves them in one of his pockets and goes about his chores without a word about his newfound toys that he’d been harassing Crosshair with nonstop. 

Crosshair isn’t complaining. Maybe the stupid water guns will be forgotten, lost in a crate somewhere…or found by a certain sniper and shot out the airlock while in deep space. 

However, Crosshair’s hopes are dashed when he opens his firepuncher case the next cycle and finds that someone has put a neon green water gun inside. A torn piece of flimsi is folded beside it. Crosshair picks it up and opens it. Got plan. Practice. Secret. - W. 

Shaking his head, Crosshair picks up the tiny pistol. He can tell by the subtle weight that Wrecker has already filled it with water. With a scoff, he aims idly at a bolt in the wall and shoots. The spurt of water misses by at least nine centimeters to the left. Crosshair’s jaw drops. He missed? He adjusts the pistol in his hand. Shoots. Five centimeters too low. 

Crosshair swears under his breath. 

Squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt…

Miss, miss, miss, miss…

He’s about to throw the water gun across the ship when a rumbling voice says behind him. “Harder than it looks, huh?” 

Wrecker’s pink water gun appears in his hand, comically miniscule in his massive fingers. He aims for the exact bolt Crosshair was aiming for. 

Direct hit. 

Crosshair actually chokes on his gasp of shock. He’s coughing so hard that Hunter comes back to check on them, Wrecker slapping Crosshair on the back as if that’s gonna do anything to help.

“Everything alright?” Hunter asks. 

Wrecker grins. “Yeah, he’s just fine, sarge.”

Hunter quirks an eyebrow at Crosshair, and Crosshair can only nod. With one last bewildered look, Hunter retreats back to the cockpit. 

“That’s why you gotta practice,” Wrecker says loftily. “Otherwise, I’ll just be a better shot than you with a water gun.” 

Crosshair glares at his largest brother, seeing the shameless goading for exactly what it is. And yet, he will not be outdone by Wrecker, not even with a stupid little toy water gun. “Oh, you’re on.” 

*

Echo is tracking their flight plan when he hears Wrecker start sniffling behind him. He ignores it. 

“Sure is dusty in here,” Wrecker comments offhandedly. 

“Whatever you say,” Echo mumbles. 

More sniffling. “My nose sure feels funny. It’s like a sneeze is stuck in there.” 

Echo grunts in vague sympathy. 

Then comes the shuddering breath of an attempted sneeze, loud and exaggerated…and prolonged. 

“For force sake, Wrecker, if you’re gonna sneeze, sneeze!” 

“ACHOO!” 

Wet droplets shower the back of Echo’s neck. His reaction is immediate. “Wrecker! Did you just sneeze on me?” Echo squawks, standing and whirling on the giant. 

Wrecker doesn’t look the least bit ashamed. In fact, he looks alarmed and frantic as he tries to shove something bright neon pink in his pocket. Echo is faster when he’s annoyed or angry, and it pays off now. He snatches the mystery item out of Wrecker’s hand. A tiny, cheap water pistol. 

“You shot me with this and made me think you sneezed on me?” Echo demanded. “That’s disgusting!” 

“It’s called a prank,” Wrecker says, sounding offended by Echo’s evident lack of humor. 

Echo rolls his eyes. “A childish prank.” 

“It’s called fun,” Wrecker says, holding out his hand. “Now give it back. I still need to shoot Hunter and Tech with it.”

“Do you honestly think that’s going to end well?” Echo asks, deadpan. 

Wrecker smiles. “Not sure, but I’m willing to find out.”

Echo hesitates, weighing his options. If he returns the kriffing toy and Wrecker pranks Hunter and Tech with it, Echo risks being called complicit in the crime. 

If he keeps the toy…

“C’mon, Echo,” Wrecker whines, making a grabbing motion with his outstretched hand. “It’s water. It’s not like it’s gonna hurt them.”

The manchild does have a point. 

Echo sighs. “Fine. But so help me, you shoot me again with this thing, I’ll send it out the airlock.” 

Wrecker grins almost apologetically and snatches the toy up the moment it’s placed in his hand. “Ah, it was a good prank. You can’t actually be mad.” 

He’s not, but Echo narrows his gaze anyway. “You wanna bet credits on that?” 

“Fine! I won’t shoot you with water again,” Wrecker grumbles, folding his arms, hiding the water gun from view. Echo shakes his head and turns back to finish his calculations. He chooses not to react when Wrecker mutters, “Killjoy.”

*

Hunter is on the very cusp of sleep on one of the bunks when something hits the side of his face. Something cool and wet. He jerks awake with a gasp, hand flying up to touch where the attack occurred. His glove comes away damp. Turning, he sees Crosshair, polishing his rifle. 

“What was that?” Hunter demands. 

Crosshair looks up. “What?” 

“Someone splashed me with water,” Hunter says. 

“Someone splashed you with water,” Crosshair echoes. He rolls his eyes. “Sure they did.” 

Hunter glares at him. “You did it.” 

“How?” Crosshair asks. 

“Easy. You threw water at me.” 

“Where did I get this water?”

“Your canteen.” 

“Does it look like I have a canteen on me?” Crosshair asks, glancing around himself pointedly. “Maybe you’re just imagining things.” 

“My glove is literally damp!” 

“Maybe it’s sweat. Between that mop you call hair and that bandana, you must be roasting alive.” 

“I’m not sweating!” 

Crosshair shrugs, returning to his task. “Whatever you say.” 

Hunter watches him a few more moments before he closes his eyes, keeping his head turned toward his brother, and tries to resume his nap. 

Another water strike, square in the middle of his forehead. Hunter’s eyes fly open, and Crosshair is still there, not looking at him, polishing his rifle with the same leisurely ease as before. 

“You did it again!” Hunter cries, sitting up. 

Crosshair meets his gaze. “What are you on about? I didn’t do anything!” 

“Yes you did! You’re the only one in here! There’s no other explanation!” 

“How the kriff did I do it then? Explain it to me!” 

Hunter grits his teeth. He can’t explain it. But he knows it’s true. “You’re the one doing it, so you tell me!” 

“I’m not doing anything! I’m cleaning my rifle. Maker!” 

Hunter stands up. “You know you’re the worst sometimes?” 

“So I’ve been told,” Crosshair muses, going back to his task.

Hunter starts to storm to the cockpit when something hits the back of his head. He whirls around and Crosshair is still at work, an almost imperceptible smirk twitching at the edge of his lips. Hunter growls a curse under his breath before making his retreat. 

*

“What are you doing?” 

Wrecker and Crosshair startle and look up to find Tech standing over them. The casings of two water guns are on the floor between them, taken apart, amongst a plethora of spare parts from Tech’s stash for his projects. A stash he has very deliberately told his brothers not to touch without express permission. 

And neither of the clones in front of him had any such consent.  

“It’s not what you think,” Wrecker says. He has the decency to sound guilty.

Tech frowns. “What I think is that you are modifying toy pistols using my personal collection of parts.” 

Crosshair shrugs. “Then it’s exactly what you think.” 

“Put the parts back immediately! They are meant for serious projects, not hobbies.”

“Ah, c’mon, Tech,” Wrecker complains, “this isn’t just a hobby. It’s for science.” 

“How so?” Tech asks, unimpressed. 

Crosshair holds up a data pad with crudely designed schematics. “We’re going to increase the weapons’ accuracy by approximately one hundred and five percent.” 

Tech takes the data pad and examines the modifications. “No you are not.” 

“Why?”

“Because I am not giving permission to use my parts for these modifications. Give them back.” 

“Maker, Tech, don’t be stingy,” Crosshair protests.

“It is not being stingy to say that these parts are for specific purposes. Not a single one of those purposes include water guns. Put them away.” 

“Or what? You’ll tell Hunter on us?” Crosshair snarks. 

Tech glares. “You are being immature.” 

“Fine!” Crosshair says, “We’ll put your precious parts away. We don’t need them.” 

Wrecker frowns. “Yeah, we do.” 

“No, we don’t,” Crosshair says. He scoops up the spare parts and dumps them back in their box. He hands the box over to Tech, now a jumbled mess to be sorted. 

“You are behaving like a juvenile,” Tech says irritably. 

Crosshair smiles, but there is no friendliness in the gesture. “Oh, you haven’t seen juvenile yet.” 

“Is that a threat?” Tech asks. 

“Of course not,” Crosshair says, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. “Just something to think about.” 

*

Tech calls a meeting between himself, Echo, and Hunter, closing the cockpit door while Crosshair and Wrecker are distracted with cataloging inventory. At least, that is what they said they were doing when they disappeared into the upper hold. 

“Something has to be done about Wrecker and Crosshair,” Tech says. 

“What do you mean?” Hunter asks. 

“Are you talking about their stupid little water pistols?” Echo asks, rolling his eyes. 

Hunter’s jaw drops. “That’s how Crosshair got me!” 

“And Wrecker got me,” Echo says. 

“I caught them trying to modify them to have better accuracy,” Tech says. “I stopped their attempt, but it is only a matter of time before they find alternate means.” 

“I told Wrecker if he shoots me with water again, I’ll send his water gun out the airlock,” Echo says with a shrug. “I say we follow through.” 

Hunter shakes his head. “No. We should fight fire with fire.” 

“Water with water, as it were,” Tech chuckles. 

“Please no,” Echo entreats. “Let’s end this before it gets out of hand.” 

“I’ve been doing some research,” Tech says, bringing out his data pad. “I believe I have found the perfect solution.” 

****

“We have four standard hours of shore leave,” Hunter says, “That means you’re all back to the ship in three and a half. Got it?” 

“Yes, sir,” Crosshair snarks with a lazy salute. He and Wrecker saunter off, leaving Hunter, Echo and Tech without a backwards glance. 

Once they are out of earshot, Hunter turns to Tech. “You got those coordinates?” 

“Affirmative,” Tech says, pulling up the directions on his data pad. 

“Are we really going to spend hard earned credits on water guns?” Echo asks.

Tech frowns. “These are not simply water guns, Echo. They are classified as super soakers.” 

“Cross and Wrecker won’t know what hit them,” Hunter murmurs almost gleefully. 

“Do you even hear yourselves right now?” Echo cries. 

Hunter ignores him. “We need to head out. We have to be back here and in position before the targets return.” 

Echo rolls his eyes, but follows Tech and Hunter anyway. 

*

They turn more than a few heads when they walk into the toy store; however, Crosshair ignores the incredulous stares of the other patrons. He walks straight to the counter, Wrecker at his shoulder. “We had an order for pickup,” he says.

“Sure, what’s the name?” the clerk asks. 

“Crosshair.” 

The clerk disappears into the back room and returns with two packages. “Two special order water guns?” 

The burning sensation of embarrassment creeps up the back of Crosshair’s neck. “Yes,” he says. 

“Aw, yeah! I can’t wait to try ‘em out,” Wrecker crows. 

“Can you be quieter,” Crosshair hisses at him. 

The clerk rings up the order and accepts the payment before relinquishing the packages to the soldiers, fully armored sans helmets. Wrecker takes them both eagerly, tucking them under one arm. They leave the shop and nearly collide with three more armored figures about to walk in. 

“What are you doing here?” Hunter demands. 

“Nothing!” Wrecker cries, sounding panicked, shoving the packages behind his back. 

“We could ask you the same thing,” Crosshair counters. 

Hunter crosses his arms. “We were following you.”

“Why?” 

“We’re suspicious.” 

“Of what?” 

“Of what you’d be getting from a toy store.” 

“How did you know we were coming to a toy store?” 

Hunter doesn’t have a comeback for that, and changes the subject. “What did you get?” 

“Nothing,” Wrecker reiterates guiltily, “It’s a surprise.” 

Tech adjusts his goggles. “Which is it? Nothing or a surprise?” 

“How about,” Crosshair says, stepping in front of Wrecker, “none of your business.”

“This is ridiculous,” Echo grumbles.

Crosshair reaches back and grabs Wrecker’s arm. “C’mon. We’re leaving.” Dragging Wrecker behind him, he shoves through the suspicious trio. 

“See you lot back at the ship,” Hunter calls after them. 

“Not if we see you first!” Wrecker hollers back. 

“Shut up!” Crosshair growls. “This is bad enough as it is.” 

*

They watch until the suspicious duo disappear into the crowd. 

“Those packages were definitely within the dimensions of super soakers,” Tech says. 

Hunter nods. “We should have known they’d do something like this.”

“We’re doing something like this!” Echo exclaims. “I never asked to be part of this. I’m never going to be dry again!” 

“Stop whining, Echo,” Hunter says, opening the door of the shop. “It’s three versus two. We’ve got the advantage. They might have started this, but we’re going to end it.” 

*

When they return the Marauder, the ramp is down, but it is quiet. Too quiet. Hunter holds up a fist, and Echo and Tech immediately stop short. Hunter’s eyes rove over the ship’s exterior. 

“Are we within range?” he asks Tech, a whisper over his shoulder. 

“If Crosshair is positioned on top of the ship, affirmative. He will have gravity on his side.” 

Echo groans. “Need I remind you all that we are in public?”

“We split up,” Hunter says, voice low, gripping his colorful weapon and holding it in ready position. “Circle the ship.” 

Echo sighs and takes the left side while Tech goes right. Hunter bravely takes center. He barely makes it four steps forward before he is hit in the face with a stream of water. 

And that’s when all hell breaks loose. 

*

No one says anything until the Marauder is settled in a hyperspace lane. The only sound is the hum of the ship and the faint sound of water dripping off five drenched commandos. 

Until… 

“They had no right to confiscate our weapons!” Wrecker grouses. 

Echo huffs. “It was that or the city putting in an official complaint with the GAR.” 

“I find it a little extreme to be prohibited from an entire planet. No one was injured,” Tech says. 

“Crosshair shot a child point blank with a super soaker and made them cry,” Echo points out. 

Crosshair chuckles darkly. “In my defense, I thought it was Hunter. They were similar heights.” 

Hunter scoffs. “You are such a liar.”

“Wait, who was it that then shot an officer sent to investigate the disturbance?” Crosshair asks, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “Oh, yes. It was Hunter. That’s what got us in real trouble.”

“Now wait a minute,” Hunter starts indignantly. 

Echo stands up. “I just want to go on the record and say I didn’t want to be involved in any of this!”

“This is true,” Tech agrees, “Although you are the one who soaked the second officer.”

“That was an accident.”

“That’s not how the officer saw it.” 

As the bickering escalates, Crosshair catches Wrecker’s eye and holds out his hand, mostly fisted, but open enough that the demolitions expert sees a glimpse of pink and green. He grins, looking back at Crosshair. Crosshair puts a finger to his lips. Wrecker nods. 

The war is far from over. 

END

Finally got my first prompt fill done for my own prompt event 😂 It's been an absolute joy and delight to see all the fills so far! I dedicate this story to @just-here-with-my-thoughts' kiddo 😉 A lot of work went into getting this prompt in the top 13 🤣

12 more weeks of Summer of Bad Batch!! Can't wait!!

✨Let me know if you'd like to be added to my tag list!✨

Tag List: @followthepurrgil @amorfista @mooncommlink @arctrooper69 @nagyanna424 @proteatook @ezras-left-thumb @maeashryver

[no-goodbyes-no-regrets]

Ok I've decided I'm doing Flufftober for tarlos this year and the goal is the full 31/31 - aka a fic a day in October.

since i'm so great with deadlines and writing short fics *snorts*

i did it for robron a few years ago, it was fun but sooo much work

BUT the list is under the read more, if anyone has any suggestions or requests for fluffy tarlos one shots with any of these prompts, drop me an ask or reply to this post and I'll do my best to make it happen!

(I've swapped a few prompts with the substitutes and removed the alternate scenarios that didn't speak to me so my list is slightly different from the 'official' one)

Prompts

1. “I’ve got you”

2. Family, Friends, Loved Ones

3. “Wait you love me?” - “I always have”

4. Alt 5: “Oh no, you’re a Morning Person!”

5. x + 1 "5+1 things" [or any number you want]

6. Alt #3 wearing each other’s clothes

7. Porch Swing

8. Rainy Day

9. (...) at first sight (think "love at first sight", "enemies at first sight"...)

10. Love of my Life

11. Sweet Tooth

12. Alt #2 "You’ve told your parents?"

13. Wrong (...) (think "wrong number", "wrong train", "wrong person"...)

14. “I hate it” - “No, you don't”

15. Emergency, Confession, Adventure

16. Singing one another to sleep

17. Encouraging someone to achieve a goal

18. “Did you plan for this to happen?”

19. Keeping someone safe

20. Pumpkin

21. Swoon

22. Picking (think "picking flowers", "picking up someone", "picking out a dress", "picking a song for the wedding"...)

23. Trinket

24. [melting emoji] (does anyone even know what this emoji stands for? No? We neither but we would love for you to get creative with it 😉 but also, think "melting in the heat", "melting from embarrassment"... also, I would've loved to add it here but tumblr doesn't have this emoji yet)

25. Nook

26. Fireplace

27. Outdoor Event (think "hiking tour", "concert", "picnic"...)

28. Soothing Touch

29. “Hey, wake up!”

30. Self-Worth / Self-Love

31. Dreams Do Come True

Prompt Extras

Last Year's Favorites

Alt 1: Hot Chocolate

Alt 4: Candles, Lanterns, Fairy Lights

Scenarios

Alt 8: Give your character a new occupation

Alt 10: Have your characters share the last table at a café

[lbibliophile-sw]

Whumptober 2023 Masterpost

@whumptober-archive

And that's another year done! 31+ prompts, across 31 fills, in 31 days.

Badges:

Participant | Completionist | Secret achievement ('reluctant whumper' fill)

Statistics:

Characters The first year it's all been in the same fandom. Mostly clone-centric, but also a handful of Sith/Falling plotlines (including an AU I've had in the works for months).

Fox took the brunt as usual (15 fills, sorry Fox), with a few less common characters (Kix, Ima-Gun Di, Wolffe) or group/meta.

Format This year's fills were all written rather than art, totalling almost 6000 words across 17 drabbles, 8 ficlets (av 360w , max 660w), and 7 poems.

I also trialled a new system of posting drabbles as their own work on AO3, and was reminded that means finding 31 sets of tags...

Fills:

Day 1: Safety Net | Breaking Habits (A03) | drabble | Rex Day 2: “They don't care about you.” | Trust Fall (A03) | drabble | OC Day 3: “Make it stop.” | Good Commanders Follow Orders (A03) | ficlet: 430w | Fox & Zontal (OC) Day 4: Shock | Out of Clear Sky (A03) | ficlet: 660w | Fox Day 5: Pinned Down | Deal with the Devil (and the Devil is Winning) (A03) | ficlet: 415w | Fox & Palpatine

Day 6: “Do or die, you’ll never make me; Because the world will never take my heart.” | Raise Your Glass (A03) | poem: 190w | Clones Day 7: Radio Silence | “Can you hear me?” | On Mute | poem: 80 words | Fox [OC] Day 8: Outnumbered, “It’s all for nothing.” | Supernova (A03) | ficlet: 380w | Ima-Gun Di Day 9: Polaroid | Memories Caught in Amber (A03) | drabble | Rex Day 10: “You said you'd never leave.” | Missing You at My Side (A03) | drabble | Fives & Echo

Day 11: “All the lights going dark and my hope’s destroyed.” | The Tragedy of War (A03) | poem: 200w | Obi-wan Day 12: Red | Bloodgilt (A03) | drabble | Fox Day 14: “Feed me poison, fill me ‘till I drown.” | Fuel to his Addiction (A03) | drabble | Darth Vader Day 15: Suppressed Suffering | Business as Usual (A03) | drabble | Fox

Day 16: “Don’t go where I can’t follow.” | Guiding Lights (A03) | drabble | Fox & CG Day 17: “Leave me alone.” | RE: For Approval (A03) | drabble | Fox Day 18: “I tend to deflect when I’m feeling threatened.” | Need to Know Basis (A03) | drabble sequence: 600w | Fox Day 19: “I’ll take one final step, all you have to do is make me.” | Not Your Success Story (A03) | drabble | Dooku Day 20: “People don’t change people, time does.”, Found Family | Alternate Love Language (A03) | ficlet: 290w | Fox & batch

Day 21 : “See the chains around my feet.” | Until the Music Stops (A03) | drabble | Fox & Palpatine Day 24: “I’ve got a head full of chemicals; mouth full of ridicule.” | You Didn't Kill Him | poem: 80w | Darth Vader Day 25: “They’re not breathing!” | Forever Unanswered (A03) | poem: 120w | Fives & Fox Day 26: Working To Exhaustion | Decisions (A03) | drabble | Fox

Day 27: Scars | Markings (A03) | drabble | Wolffe Day 28: “You'll have to go through me.” | Mix & Match Clones (A03) | drabble | Clones Day 29: Troubled Past Resurfacing | Safety Briefing (A03) | drabble | Fox & Rex Day 30: “Not much longer...” | The Nightmare (A03) | drabble | Cody Day 31: Emptiness | Standard Procedure (A03) | ficlet: 490w | CG

Alt 2: Aftermath of Failure | Out of Time (AO3) | drabble | Kix Alt 5: Body Modification | Vader’s Miracle | poem: 45w | Vader Alt 15: Reluctant Whumper | Would Not, Could Not | poem: 60w | Vader & Obi-wan

[thenextdawn-temporarilyclosed]

Fuck dude that was heavy. Your story cheater. Damn. That's actually a big fear of mine loving someone and then falling out of love. Having something special and then loosing it.

Can you do an alt, kinda based of the prompt from cheater, where the reader is madly in love with Jenna on set and the viewers are all over the internet about the chemistry they see. And the directors who are not shitheads decide to make the characters an unofficial couple and give them a kiss scene and then reader is like, yep I love her and confesses. Now I'm not sure how Jenna would react to this entire thing she's still her own person, so weather you think she would fall for the reader or reject them. Do whatever you see fit.

I’ve Been Waiting

Word count: 3.3K

Summary: request above

Warnings: maybe slight angst?

Pairing: Jenna Ortega X Fem!Reader

———

You weren’t that big of an actress, you have never been. Your roles were side roles most of the times and even though you sent auditions here and then you never got picked, this was until you were younger. Eventually though you grew up and started getting better roles. At age 19 you had already done a couple movies and had gained a little following, though not enough to have paparazzi stalking you or to get called on red carpets or to movie premieres, and even though you wanted to be recognized more, you knew you had to keep these “peaceful moments” close, because they’d never come back. Your manager was a great guy and even though you had wanted to send auditions everywhere, he always stopped you because he knew the directors or the movie company and either the actors were treated badly, or it didn’t pay enough.

Recently though you started sending auditions for Netflix shows, knowing that they paid well and that they welcomed new or unknown faces. It was the best shot you had at getting more recognition, plus, working for netflix was the best way to reach younger people. You auditioned for a few roles, and you heard back from only one. Tim burton in person had chosen you to act in series, Wednesday, for season 2. You didn’t know who you would play yet, but the fact that you’d be working for him, was enough to make you happy. A couple weeks later you got your first scripts, and you immediately went through it. Your character, Athena, was a main one, and it would be Wednesday’s girlfriend. You hadn’t watched the show, but you had heard of it from your best friend, Emma Myers. She acted in that show and had been trying to make you watch it forever but you never had time, and you figured that this was the perfect time to text her.

You: hey M&M! Wanna hear the news?👀

M&M💕: SHUT UP I HEARD!!!!!! I’m so excited, I literally can’t wait for you to meet everyone else!!

You: I’m honestly scared though! I mean, I don’t know who the others actors are but I’m sure they’re more experienced than me! I’m gonna suck

M&M💕: nooooo don’t worry! They’re all really nice and sweet, I’m sure you’ll love them! And you need to watch season 1 before coming here!!!

You never found the time to watch it, but you took a look and memorized the scripts. Wednesday sure was an intriguing girl, but your character was way too stubborn to give up on her the first chance she got. Wednesday was a softie deep down and only Enid and Athena saw that. It took your character a while to figure that out, but to her, Wednesday was as easy to read as a book, given that Athena’s ability was to read minds. She knew what everyone thought, she knew everything about everyone. Finally, after a couple months you were on your flight to Romania. You were in first class or course and you didn’t have to hide from paparazzis because there were none for you… of course not yet. The flight was incredibly long and extremely boring, but when you arrived there were a lot of paparazzis.

Not for you though. They were around Emma, who had come pick you up. As soon as she saw you she immediately came your way and hugged you. “Hi M&M!” You smiled and hugged her back tightly, paparazzis shooting pictures from afar, obviously having to keep distances. “I missed you so much (Y/N)! Come on let’s go to the car and we can talk more in there” she said, you gave her a smile and a nod before the two of you headed to the luxurious VIP car with darkened windows, something you weren’t used to yet, but soon enough you were heading to the set of Wednesday. “So, how was the flight?” Emma asked. “Boring. But what flight isn’t?” You laughed and she did the same “what about you? How have you been?” She smiled and snuggled up to you, she has always been very affectionate towards you. “I’m good! Been missing my best friend but now it feels so weird that we get to act together! Oooh wait till you meet the others” she said smiling.

You soon arrived on set and just like Emma had expected, everyone was in a trailer together playing cards. She took you to your trailer to put down your stuff, before going to the trailer everyone else was in. “So… expect lots of questions, they’re really curious people… oh! Wait till you meet Jenna, she’s the one who plays Wednesday. She’s amazing-“ you interrupted her “Emma, you’re more excited than I am” you giggled and soon enough you walked in the trailer. “Hey everyone! This is (Y/N), our new cast mate” everyone waves at you, but a certain brunette caught your eyes. The black hair, brown eyes… she must be Jenna, the girl who plays Wednesday. She was stunning, to say the least. She smiled back at you and waved “Hi everyone… it’s really good to be here. Sorry for how I look but you know, flights” you giggled and scratched your neck.

“Oh don’t worry! It’s not a problem, it’s okay to feel comfortable. I mean look at us.” Some boy said. Everyone was actually dressed pretty comfortably so it was okay. “So, they’re Jenna, Percy, Naomi, Joy, Johnna and Georgie.” You nodded, already having forgotten the name. “It’s gonna take me a while to remember y’alls name, but it’s alright.” Everyone giggled again, and you couldn’t take your eyes off of Jenna. She was… just something else, you have never seen someone as pretty as her “so… how’s it feel to be Wednesday’s love interest?” It was Jenna who asked, as you all sat down round the table. “I mean… I haven’t watched the first season, but from what I read-“ “YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED SEASON ONE?!?!!” Emma yelled in your ears. “Jesus Emma no I haven’t, I thought I told you-“ Emma decided it would be a great choice to interrupt you again. “Okay everyone, I don’t care what you want to do but erase that, we’re watching season one now”

That’s how you ended up binge watching season 1 of Wednesday that same night, and guess were you were sitting? Right next to Jenna. You had to admit she did make you a little bit nervous. Just a little bit, she was so pretty and she seemed so pure and sweet, you HAD to get to know her better. First episode started and when Wednesday said “I’d never fall in love” you quickly said “u-uh! You’ll fall in love with me next season don’t you worry” you said, making everyone giggle. Jenna didn’t usually like watching herself on screen, but you seemed so into it, she didn’t mind. Then the final episode… “OH YES ENID! GO SAVE MY FUTURE GIRLFRIEND!” You yelled, once again everyone laughed, Jenna included. They all liked how you seemed confident with yourself and no one saw it but Jenna blushed at what you said.

The show was finished soon “woah. This was a roller coaster of emotions. It was so good! Now I can’t wait to see who’s the stalker” you said and really thought about it. Curiosity was killing everyone in the room, even if no one yet knew who it would be. “Now tell us a bit about yourself” Percy asked. “What movies did you do?” “Oh… uhm you don’t want to see my movies” you said, color rushing to your face as your cheeks turned red “I only had side roles, secondary characters… I never got more than a line or two. This is my first important project and I have to be honest it feels weird to be here with y’all… I actually think I saw some of you in movies… Jenna I’m sure that I saw you in “The fallout”, you played Vada right?” You asked her, and she nodded happily. “God I loved that movie! So you know Maddie! I was actually on dance moms with her, though I stopped dancing like 5-6 years ago.” You said and watched Jenna’s jaw fall. “That’s where I saw you! You looked so familiar!” You two spent the night talking with them, getting to know them and it was useless to say that y’all immediately clicked together.

Eventually filming started, and you grew closer with everyone, especially with Jenna. Emma was also friends with her and it was hard to see the three of you separated from each other. Stories on instagram of the three of you were a daily thing and even though Jenna wasn’t the social type, she didn’t mind that. Talking again about the filming, you still had to get used to everything, you never had hair and make up done this good, you never acted as a main character before and it was so good to be given this kind of attention for once. However, going forward with filming you later found out that in this season, Wednesday and Athena wouldn’t be together yet, but it served as a way to create chemistry within the two characters, with teasing, flirting and such, which only confirmed that there’d be a third season and that you’d be in it, to finally give Wednesday a couple.

When season two aired, you knew you had reached your dream. You finally had fans of yours, you were finally getting called on red carpets, premieres and people wanted to take photos of you and with you. Of course fans had noticed the chemistry within Athena and Wednesday… but also within you and Jenna. The tension between the two of you has always been so thin to cut. Of course you had told Emma about your so obvious crush on Jenna, and neither you or her ever found out if she liked you back, but it was also obvious that Jenna had grown quite attached to you, sitting on your legs, cuddling up to you… and all of this made you always gay panic. Finally, it was time for the Wednesday season 2 premiere. Your dress matching Jenna’s and paparazzis were so eager to take your pictures and couple pictures with Jenna. You looked at her with heart eyes while she was oblivious of it all, even your fans had figured out you liked her.

With time, you got called on interviews as well, with her and with the rest of the cast. They always had you sitting next to Jenna, and you couldn’t be happier, yet you were always so nervous, especially with the way she looked at you when you answered to questions. You always tried not to brush your hands with her, and you kept your own in your lap, but in this particular interview it was hard, as the couch you two were sitting on was pretty tight. “So, (Y/N), Jenna, you may know that fans noticed that there is a lot of chemistry between your characters. Is there anything you can spoil us about next season?” You smiled as Jenna passed you her microphone, hands touching as your cheeks briefly flushed. “Ooh let me see. So we haven’t seen any script yet, but we do know something. The chemistry between Wednesday and Athena will definitely be stronger and more… palpable.” You nodded, happy with your choice of words as the interviewer nodded.

Then the interviewer moved her attention to Jenna. “So, Jenna, there’s definitely a lot of chemistry between Athena and Wednesday, but people also noticed chemistry between you two in real life. You look like you’re a couple, is that true?” Jenna giggled and you blushed, covering your face “well uhm-“ Jenna turned to look at you. “We bonded really quickly actually. It’s like we were meant to be friends, really good friends. I literally cannot be without her or Emma, they’re the best people I know.” Jenna said and nodded. Friends. That’s what you were to her, a friend. Maybe she said it for the cameras, or maybe it was really true, that she only saw you as a friend. You had to admit, this revelation hurt you deeply. If this was really true, you knew you had to suppress your feelings for her.

For weeks you tried to avoid her, but it was incredibly hard. Jenna’s love language was physical contact, and even if you two were just friends, she hugged you and snuggled up to you a lot. And you let her, of course you did. But you avoided having deep conversations with her about anything, but luckily she didn’t notice… Emma did though. So one night when only you and her were together, she decided to confront you about it. “(Y/N) you’re in love with her! If you don’t tell her it’ll be too late, you need to tell her NOW!” She said, but you shook your head, sighing “Emma she clearly said she sees me as a good friend, nothing more, nothing less and-“ she interrupted you. Now you were used to this, she did this all the time “but that was an interview! I’m sure she actually likes you a lot” she said and you shook your head. “If she gives me more signals, I’ll tell her.”

More time passed and you parted ways, everyone had other projects to care for and it was fine with you, at least you had a little of freedom, you didn’t have to think about your feelings for Jenna, right? Nope, wrong. She’d text you every day. Even privately! She asked for videocalls which you couldn’t deny, and you found yourself falling harder for her, if that was even possible. The situation went on like this until it was finally time to film season 3. You were going through your scripts when you saw it. A kiss scene, between Athena and Wednesday. You knew that this would be your end, this would make you break and you were sure of that. However as hard as it was for you, you needed to make this scene as best as possible.

“And… ACTION!” You were in Wednesday’s room, it being filled with nothing but you two as you had just entered. “Athena. What is so important for you to disturb my writing time?” Wednesday said, as the tapping on her typewriter never stopped. “You’ve been avoiding me, Nes. Care to tell me why?” You asked, crossing your arms as you stared at the back of her head “call me that again and I’ll make Thing rip your tongue off. He doesn’t go easy on people.” She tried to threaten you. But you never got scared of her threats. “I’m not scared, you know that.” With that, Wednesday got up, storming towards you with her fist tightened, god, Jenna looked so beautiful. This is what you kept on thinking, this also contributing to the way you looked at her. “What do you want?” She asked and you took a deep breath. “I’m not sure why you’re ignoring me, but I think that feelings are involved” you said as you slowly stepped closer, she didn’t dare move back.

“Feelings that you’re trying to hide, perhaps” you said and watched how she averted her gaze from yours. “Look Wednesday, I like you. And I know you like me too. But you promised not to be like your mother, you promised you’ll never love someone. But the fact that you love or like someone, doesn’t make you like your mother. You’re your own person Wednesday. You’re way different from her” you continued. She finally looked at you and you felt your breath hitch, god did she look pretty. “Get to the point.” She said and you smiled softly, as you hesitantly moved a hand up to her face. You didn’t caress her cheeks, knowing Wednesday hated physical touch, so you just traced your fingers on her braids. “What I’m trying to tell you is… I would like to try and be something more with you. I want to be your partner… if you’ll allow me”

She didn’t speak a word for a while, but you waited. “Are you aware of the fact that I’ll probably torture you?” She said, and you smirked, grabbing her cold, yet soft hand. “I like a bit of torture.” You said, though she was quicker to reply back to you. “I could hurt you. I could die too, remember I have a stalker.” She said and you sighed. “I would bare the pain. I would die for you if it meant I could save you” you moved closer to her, your lips almost brushing hers “you’re making a mistake.” She said and you smirked “and it’ll be the best mistake I’ll ever make” you said and closed your eyes, finally leaning in for a kiss as you felt her pull you closer from your hips, you smiled as you brought your own hand up to her cheek, to deepen the kiss.

“CUT! that was amazing girls! 10 minutes break” you would have continued kissing her if it wasn’t for the fact that you were filming. In that moment it wasn’t Athena kissing Wednesday, it was you kissing Jenna and it felt heavenly. Her lips were so warm and soft, her skin felt like porcelain under your hands and she just felt so fragile. However you had to pull back when the director yelled cut. You looked at her with heart eyes for a while and she looked back at you with a smile, only for you to storm out running. “(Y/N)! Wait-“ Jenna said and ran behind you, but Emma was quicker. “Hey! What happened?” She asked before Jenna could reach you. “We shot the kiss scene and- and I don’t think I can handle hiding everything for more time” she was about to reply when Jenna reached you. “Jesus aren’t you fast. (Y/N), will you tell me what’s wrong?” Jenna asked while trying to catch her breath.

“Can’t you see what’s wrong, Jen?” You asked her, trying to stay calm and not raise your voice at her. “For months I’ve been hiding my feelings for you but you make it so hard, Jen. You snuggle up to me, you sit on my thighs, you treat me like no one ever did… but then at that interview you said we’re friends- how am I supposed to act? I love you Jen. I’m in love with you just like Athena loves Wednesday, if not even more. But what are we? Are we just friends? Because I would love to try and be more, but it’s up to you…” you said and looked down, though hands in hair. You were lost in thoughts, but she soon pulled you out of them when she walked closer and put a hand on your cheek. “I’ve been waiting to hear you say this in forever” she said as she leaned in and kissed you, but it was a different kiss than the one you shared before while filming.

It wasn’t a “fake” kiss like the ones you share for tv purpose, it was an actual kiss. She pulled back briefly, looking at you this time with heart eyes as well, Her soft lips gently brushed against yours before kissing you again, her hands bringing you closer from your shirt as your hands moved down to her waist, gently caressing it with her thumb. It felt perfect, exchanging hot breaths and soft kissed, it was what you had desired in so long. When she pulled back, she made sure to keep your foreheads attached.

“I love you too.”

[nurse-buckley]

Sicktember - Day Four

Fandom: 9-1-1  Pairing: Buddie x Reader (platonic)   Word Count: 1,293 words Prompt: @sicktember Alt. Prompt 5 “Can You Be Brave For Me?” Tagslist: @firemedicdiaz @fireladybuckley @winterreader-nowwriter @iamasimpingh0e @dayrin085 @hauntedmilkshakeghost @floralbuckleys @writingmysanity  If you want to be added or removed from my tagslist, please let me know!  Authors Note: CEO of getting these fics out 25 minutes before midnight! Once again, unbeta’d so I apologise for any mistakes! Requested by the amazing @firemedicdiaz I hope this helps cheer you up lovely <3

You let out a low groan as you feel someone shaking your shoulders in an attempt to rouse you, “Hey. Y/N? Can you hear me? Open your eyes for me sweetheart.” You can vaguely hear Eddie’s voice cutting through the haze, but your eyes are just too heavy. 

Eddie moves his fingers to the side of your neck, feeling for your pulse. He lets out a sigh of relief to feel the gentle thrumming beneath his finger tips, even if it is a little fast for his liking. He gently shakes your shoulders once more, releasing another sigh of relief as your eyes begin to flutter open. 

“Ed…?” you slurred, as consciousness returns to you. “What? Why am I on the floor?” Your mind still fuzzy, your head pounding, probably from the impact of your head hitting the floor considering the last thing you remember was helping Eddie in the kitchen before the world began to spin. 

Eddie can sense your rising anxiety as you come to your senses a little more and attempt to sit up, easing you back down with a gentle hand on your shoulder. “Easy cariña, you fainted. Just lay back for me, you’re alright. We’ve got you,” he reassures. 

We? Right…you were at Buck’s. You and Eddie had gone there after work to hang out. 

You startle as you hear a noise from your side, watching as Buck comes into view and sets the first aid kit you knew he kept in his closet beside you. The younger man kneels beside you, opposite Eddie, unzipping the kit to pull out a piece of gauze before passing the kit over to Eddie. 

Buck moves into your line of sight, taking your focus away from Eddie as he begins to pull out various pieces of equipment, sensing your anxiety growing more. “I’m just going to hold this to the side of your head, alright? You bumped your head pretty hard when you hit the floor.” He apologies as the contact causes you to flinch away, but he holds your head steady with his other hand on the other side of your face. 

You see Eddie placing a stethoscope around his neck, and feel your breathing start to come a little quicker, suddenly feeling self-conscious of all the attention on you. 

“You know, I’m actually feeling a lot better. It’s okay. I’m just really tired or it’s probably just low blood sugar. I’m fine…really. I don’t need the hospital or anything, really,” you stutter, trying to sit up once more. 

“Hey,” Eddie speaks up from your other side, taking your hand in his and squeezing it reassuringly, “No one said anything about the hospital, I can’t rule it out just yet, but I just need to check you over, that’s non-negotiable. Can you be brave for me? Just for a little while.” 

You nod defeatedly, allowing Buck to ease you back down this time. A stray tear rolls down your cheek at the thought of there being something wrong with you, but you know you’re in safe hands with the pair of them at your side. 

“That’s it. Just lay back, we’ve got you. You’re safe,” Buck reassures, wiping away the stray tear with the pad of his thumb. 

“Did you have any symptoms before you passed out? Any dizziness, blurred vision, palpitations?” 

You give a worried look to Buck, but an encouraging nod from him has you nodding your head, “i-is that bad?” 

“Try not to worry, it could be nothing,” Buck tries to reassure you. 

“B-but it could be something. I’ve never passed out before,” your panic begins to rise once more, the thought of something being wrong with you overwhelming you. 

“I need you to take a deep breath for me sweetheart,” Eddie says this time, “We need you calm okay, just let me worry about everything else.” 

You mimic Eddie as he takes a slow, deep breath, feeling a little calmer. “Good, now, keep taking deep breaths with Buck here, and let me check you over. I’ll explain everything before I do it and if it gets too much we’ll take a break.” 

Buck gently moves back into your line of vision, taking slow deep breaths for you to follow. 

“I’m just going to check your pulse,” Eddie announces, gently placing his fingers around your wrist and glancing at his watch. You focus on your breath, following Buck and trying not to focus on the feeling of your pulse tapping away against Eddie’s touch. 

He sets your arm down by your side, before picking up the blood pressure cuff from the kit next. “Is it alright if I just slip this on here?” You nod your consent, trying not to focus on the feeling of the cool fabric as Eddie wraps it tightly around your upper arm. You watch as he puts on the stethoscope and places it at the crook of your elbow, “Just a little squeeze here.” He inflates the cuff, just enough to be uncomfortable before releasing it, quickly and efficiently taking the reading. 

“Your vitals are a little concerning,” Eddie quickly continues, before you work yourself up again, “I’m just going to check one more thing, is it alright if I check your blood sugar?” 

The thought of the needle pricking your finger is enough to make bile rise at the back of your throat, but you knew Eddie wouldn’t be asking if he wasn’t certain. 

As if he were able to read your mind, Eddie speaks up once more, “I’ll be as gentle as I can and it’ll be over before you know it.” 

You nod once more, offering your middle finger to Eddie and holding out your free hand to Buck to hold as Eddie gets the necessary equipment together. “Do you want me to count down?” Eddie asks as he presses the tip of the lancet against your chosen finger. 

“Count down please,” you ask as you look away and focus on Buck, squeezing his hand tighter. 

“One…two…three.” 

Before you have a chance to even think, you feel the needle quickly pinch your skin before Eddie squeezes your finger and takes the reading. Buck is quick, grabbing another piece of gauze from the packet he’d opened earlier and wraps it around the tip of your finger. 

The machine beeps and Eddie lets out a small, “hmm” drawing both of your attention back to him. He turns the monitor around, showing you and Buck the reading. “I think we’ve found our culprit.” 

“Low blood sugar?” you ask. 

“Seems to be the issue, and it fits your other symptoms,” Eddie confirms. 

“Am I going to be okay?” you ask, worried at the thought of a trip to the hospital and more needles. 

“I think we can manage it here, we’ll settle you on the couch and get you some juice and a snack. Does that sound okay?” 

You sit up with the help of Buck and Eddie either side of you, leaning against them as you sway a little. They help you to the couch, settling you down with a glass of juice. 

“We’ll let you finish that and then we’ll just check your blood sugar once more, make sure everything's coming back to normal but I think you’re going to be just fine,” Eddie reassures as he takes the seat next to you. 

Buck takes a seat at your other side, nestling you safely between the pair of them, “you know, if you wanted to pick the take out and movie tonight, you didn’t have to go to such extremes.” 

The three of you fall into a fit of laughter, the anxiety from earlier long forgotten as you settle in for the evening with the two people you felt safest with.