#Fic: both sides now

[michelangelo-sky]

surprise attacks, over-protective brothers and living on borrowed time

Thrawn comes to stand behind her, barely a breath between them now, and she feels it rather than sees it - glowing red eyes following her fluid movement with avid interest, while their sudden proximity ignites every nerve ending in her body - it’s a familiar sort of flame, the one that prickles her skin with yearning to get closer and closer still.

She is about to spin around, but instead of going for a side strike as she turns (his position does give her a perfect opening), prefers to succumb to an utterly irrational impulse. He does have an unfair height advantage after all, so she’s just levelling the playing field – the blow isn’t that powerful, of course, his face doesn’t even flinch, but her strike on the inside of his knees brings them roughly to the same eye level.

“Surprise attack,” Leia whispers into his lips, enjoying their new position: his mouth is cool, and she can feel his small, wry smirk against hers. Once she discards the melee stick, her hands fist in his black-blue hair, still mused from whatever sparring session he had with Luke. His hands study the outline of her back, tracing intricate patterns that are sending small shivers of want down her spine.

“Is falling into your former enemy’s hands part of your style?”

Smoky velvet of his voice is just as distracting as his hands - all that measured, familiar cadence, coupled with new depth, new, intimate texture she’s still getting used to - wrapping around her like a caress.

“No but bringing them to their knees may be.”

“For future reference, all you have to do is just ask.”

Heat flushes to her cheeks, and Leia prefers to let her mouth linger on his instead of answering, to feel his teeth grazing her lower lip and get lost in a kiss, heated and all-consuming.

“Ready to admit your defeat, Grand Admiral?” Her voice sounds more out of breath than she expected.

“I see only advantages of this strategic position for now, so no, thank you.”

[torchflies]

Because Childhood Cancer Survivor Jake will always have my heart 🧡💛

“In 2002, Ice meets a little boy undergoing cancer treatment at the same hospital as him.

In 2020, Ice survives his second bout of throat cancer and that little boy pulls off miracle number three.”

[lunar-years]

i love it in fics when Roy reacts before he's processed his feelings and says/does something he very soon after hates himself for saying or doing and then he spirals in guilt and regret and apologies. something about it resonates soooo deeply like yeah!! lets give this guy a hug and some grace!! let's shower him in it!!

[autistic-katara]

u ever think of a ship u like one-sidedly and wonder why tf u didn’t project onto them when suffering from a bad one sided crush

[sysig]

Delusions (Patreon)

"Could I have your hand, sir?" Max didn't move, which Dexter was, sadly, getting used to.

"Sir?" Max jerked, then turned and stared at him, lost and blank. "Your hand, please."

Max's hand lifted shakily, and he laid it gently in Dexter's upturned palm. Dexter gave a quick and quiet "thank you," then turned it over in his own hand, observing him closely.

Too closely - his knuckles were rough and his fingernails were dull and cracked in places. His once-soft, not-a-day-in-his-life-subjected-to-hard-labour hands were now, already, toughened and split and scarred in places, especially the heel of his palm. He turned it over again, this time to stop looking so intensely. He had only wanted to give it a cursory glance to begin with.

"Do you know what I see, sir?" he asked as conversationally as he could manage, running his fingers along Max's abused flesh. He seemed to be at least half paying attention, his eye gazing down between them, and he'd occasionally twitch, encouragingly Dexter thought. He seemed to want to curl around him, then stopped and shook, his hand squeezing into a fist. Dexter coaxed him back out, encouraged him to hold himself lightly.

"What do you see?" He was almost startled by Max actually continuing their conversation, that happened so rarely now, shaking and quiet as it was. He took a deep breath, was he really going to do this?

"I see a hand, with five fingers." Max remained quiet, though his brow curled, and a guarded look came into his eye, though he still wasn't looking at Dexter. He felt a pang of guilt, but he had to try. "What do you see?"

Max's eye unfocused and began to water. He looked up, but not enough to reach Dexter's gaze in return, instead staring through his chest, and he felt just as hollow and empty as he must look to him.

"Do you take me for a fool, DAX?" Quiet and as close to angry as he'd heard since they'd been here.

No, not angry.

Betrayed.

He swallowed down the stinging lump at the back of his throat. He had to put on a brave face, had to keep his composure if he wanted Max to get better. That was the only thing he wanted, more than anything.

"Of course not, sir. Genuinely, what do you see?"

Max pulled his hand away and turned his body, his bandaged side facing Dexter. Shutting him out, pointedly. Dexter's empty hand curled into a fist, he was no better.

"Please, don't..." Max took a shallow, shuddering breath, and several beats before he spoke again, even quieter. "Don't ridicule me." Dexter could hear his breath catch, and he wanted nothing more than for this all to just stop.

"Sir, I didn't-"

"I've had enough of that." He shook his head stiffly, the action strange and wrong, like he had forgotten how. He stilled, his head turned even further away. "More than enough."

[sanguine-tenshi]

... I'm gonna have to write an Astarion/Lae'zel fic ain't I?

[lasocia69]

(tw: blood, character death.)FIRST EVER EDIT PLS DONT BE MEAN 😭. Joni Mitchell is back on spotify so i was listening to Both sides now and it reminded me of joel sm. anyways should i post on the tik tok?

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

got so into my laughingstock feels that i burnt my fuckign toast

[michelangelo-sky]

Chapter 15, or the art of a grand finale

No one is reckless enough to challenge the hero, not when he has the entire Imperial military might on his side.

No one apart from her, that is.

“Tell me, what do you see, Grand Admiral?”

“A list of quite talented warriors and tacticians.” His voice remains calm, tone dry and the matter of fact, as if they’re talking about something as self-evident and trivial as weather.

“And all would’ve had problems getting to these appointments in a normal world.”

“Which, perhaps, is more of a testament to the fact that using the word normal to describe it, is a contradiction in terms.”

Leia swallows her irritation. Thrawn either doesn’t get her veiled hint, or pretends not to. Well, luckily for them both, she has never been the one to hide under polite ambiguity of diplomatic protocol if a situation calls for a direct question.

“You are an Emperor in all but name!”

She doesn’t mean for it to come out as an almost cry, really doesn’t, but the invisible cold hand twisting her stomach with fear is there again. She feels a sting of irrational disappointment, too. How could she have missed it? Such an amateur mistake… And why, why in the name of stars does it feel personal, a bitter taste in her mouth has nothing to do with the implications for the New Republic, but everything  to do with a sense of being blindsided by… an adversary? An ally? Well, whatever he is to her.

“Supreme Commander, rather, but I would caution against putting labels on things.”

“How would you call it then?”

She crosses her arms over chest.

“A temporary tactical position.”

“There is nothing more permanent than temporary, Grand Admiral.”

[deiaiko]

#5.2 FUG

"Are you sure?" Agni –the new name Khun had decided on– asked him.

Grace had been giving it some thought ever since Agni asked him what he wanted for his younger self. As much as he wanted to shield Bam from the tower's shadow, he knew it'd be impossible. Bam would still have to kill to climb the tower and to protect his friends, and if leaving him to FUG could give him the power and experience he needed to survive, Grace thought it was a necessary sacrifice. "Yes. I'm sure."

"If you say so…"

"He will be fine, Khu- I mean, Agni. Because I will be there for him."

Agni hummed as if he had expected this outcome, "So you'll also join FUG?"

"Yes," Grace confirmed. "Besides, I still want to call my Master as Master."

Agni snorted; it was as good as a hearty laugh. "Then count me in, will you?"

"You'll also join FUG?"

"Depends on their terms of agreement, but I'll aim for it."

"Okay. What should I do, then?"

"Arrange a private meeting with Hansung Yu. Let me talk with that bastard on our behalf," Agni gave a tired sigh, which Grace learned that Agni did whenever he found something troublesome. "On second thought…maybe seek out Hwaryun first. See what she has to say."

Grace gave a saluting motion toward his pocket, grinning to himself. "Got it, Mr. Lightbearer."

Masterlist

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[torchflies]

Moon Song by Phoebe Bridgers. ❤️🥹

I was having feelings while writing Chapter 6 of TVFBC 🤣

So here’s a thing (references used listed under the cut).

I am aware that the fonts are different sizes, that was —

✨on purpose✨

Devotion (2022), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Matching Jack (2010), Fellow Travelers (2023), Litvinenko (2022)

[machihunnicutt]

Chapters: 1/12 Fandom: MASH (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: B. J. Hunnicutt/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, B. J. Hunnicutt/Peg Hunnicutt, "Trapper" John McIntyre/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Erin Hunnicutt & Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, B. J. Hunnicutt & Erin Hunnicutt Characters: B. J. Hunnicutt, Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Erin Hunnicutt, Peg Hunnicutt, "Trapper" John McIntyre, Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Helen Whitfield, Radar O'Reilly Additional Tags: Post-Canon, 1970s, Las Vegas Wedding, Summer Camp, Family Drama, Rom Com Adjacent Premise, Non-Linear Narrative, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Grief/Mourning Series: Part 3 of both sides now (extended universe) Summary:

July 1970: BJ & Hawkeye's Vegas wedding (complete with unconventional wedding party), 20 years of emotional baggage to be unpacked, Erin goes to summer camp.

(sequel to both sides now)

“You want to invite your ex‐wife and her husband to our wedding,” Hawkeye said.

BJ shrugged. He felt every jealous impulse seep out of his body. He was an adult. He’d navigated all sorts of complicated interpersonal relationships. They were cool, modern people, weren’t they? Hawkeye was, at least. He’d always been.

“If you’re inviting your ex, shouldn’t I get to invite mine?” BJ said.

Hawkeye sat down on the bed again. He put his feet up and rubbed at his bad knee.

“Is this some sort of game of chicken, Beej? You’re telling me you’d be just fine with Trapper as my best man?” Hawkeye said.

“Completely fine, the very definition of fine,” BJ said, brightly, lying through his teeth.

[secret-origins-crossover]

SECRET QUARTET UPDATES

I was waiting impatiently for the poll to finish and dare I say, I have never been more excited for the next part- especially because this is set after the first installation. Now, one thing I'm sure all of you are curious about: can ghosts be stanked?

Much like what I said about Akumas, no- this simply isn't possible for, well, a few reasons but that will come later, so you'll just have to wait! (as for halfas, the answer to that question is also being left ambiguous-)

This does mean that whatever happens in the next part won’t be involving ghosts being affected by the Sorcerer’s magic- now whether ghosts exist inside Norrisville, well, we’ll just have to see won’t we? I do like to think ghosts aren't a common phenomenon everywhere because of other reasons

For now, these are my current forming ideas. Either Danny ends up in Norrisville somehow (which would be partially dependent on the timeline-), or Randy is sent to Amity Park as a result of... other reasons. This is a bare minimum draft to say the least and I have some stuff that will be included immediately and the rest will be added in as the series continues!

I will say that Danny’s going to be having a time if he’s the one to arrive in Norrisville. Poor Danny gets to go through the burner during a lot of this- he is one of the protagonists after all hahaha

Though I decided to use this time to explain some of the lore and information about this AU people are still interested in (which I’m admittedly surprised about-), so without much further ado- let's get right to the point!

Also, one last thing before I start: this takes place before the season two finale of RC9GN for what I feel is kind of obvious, but moving on-

Lore Dumping + Headcanons

Something that was canonized in the first installation: not all heroes are aware of another- due to certain restrictions and, well, some magic of the universe... a lot of the organizations basically were sanctioned off to specific locations as a way of maintaining the peace. What this means is that clashing will go down at first- perhaps not between the main heroes but say, a certain council with other groups but we'll get to that later

Norrisville does not have a high concentration of ghostly energy since there isn't a portal (natural portals are an entirely different story; i'm more referring about something like what's at fenton works-). This didn't really need to be said but just in case! I'm shoving it into the lore dump anyway

Randy faces a lot of pressure just for being the Ninja but without the added knowledge of other heroes- he's genuinely living the best life and having fun while still being the protector, though we all know this won't last. I also will say this is going to explore the whole thing with the tengu but I'm not sure how much just yet-

Could someone else be shloomped inside the Nomicon? Hahaha, you'll find out later- I thought about saying it, but decided to hold myself back for now. I will say this: the Nomicon is still a sentient being and, well, who is able to go inside it (since technically, in one of the episodes, Howard did but I'm not sure how far into the RC9GN 'canon' it's set in-) has some rules to it

Danny and Randy are obviously different in terms of personality- having them work together is going to come with its challenges, but I do think they'd have a good partnership going. They just have to get comfortable with one another

I'm trying to keep myself from saying things about future installations lol, but- I will say that so far, Vlad has zero connections to Norrisville. This one-shot is going to be a little different and that's all I'm going to say for the time being

If anyone's curious about the difference in strength between Danny and Randy- well, their methods of combat are different so, do with this what you will for now :)

As of right now, there are no confirmed ships within the series! To be honest, I don't fully see it as important but it may show- just... not right this second

So far, this is all I got! It's getting a little late and I am honestly really tired which means posting will have to wait until later, but do expect more content soon! I am very excited for the continuation of this project to say the least!

Goodnight, my lovely readers!

[dykrophone]

thinking about That Time a guest read all 10 published chapters and 30k words of my toxic yuri fic only to leave a four page literal 1700 word comment about how unhealthy and toxic it was AND THEN proceeded to write their own revenge fantasy fanfiction in my comments in bullet points like brother their hater game was INSANE

[ff7-has-taken-me-over]

“I love you…”

Cloud hummed, frowning at the TV when it showed the same ad for the second time in a row before absently responding.

“So you’ve said.”

There was shuffling behind him, no words following his statement before arms were draping over his shoulders, face burying into the side of his neck and petulant whine escaping the man draped over him.

“But I do Cloudy! Why don’t you believe me?”

The blond shrugged, switching to a different channel when he couldn’t be bothered waiting for the ads to finally flick over to his show.

“Probably because you have half of Midgar in your pants Zack.”

Said man leant a little more heavily on Cloud’s back, hands attempting to sneak under the collar of his shirt but failing miserably with how drunk and uncoordinated he was.

“But they don’t mean anything to me! You’re the only one I actually love! I’m just waiting for you to fall for me.”

Cloud snorted, ignoring the way his heart ached with the words. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard any of this and it most probably wouldn’t be the last time either. But there was a reason he’d never reciprocated the feelings or so much as hinted at being interested in doing so.

“Well I’m waiting for you to tell me all this while sober. I’m not gonna indulge a drunken fantasy.”

Cloud felt the pout against his shoulder, ultimately ignoring it though in favour of settling back to watch the TV once more. It wasn’t a good show but it was late and at least it wasn’t ads.

“It’s not, I swear… it’s just scary that I might ruin us…”

The blond sighed through his nose, turning his head and resting his forehead on the side of Zack’s face. He could feel the heat coming off it, and based on that he was mostly sure the older man wouldn’t remember any of this. Again.

“Well it’s scary that if I do tell you I love you while you’re like this, that you won’t feel the same in the morning.”

He says the words quietly, though he knows that with how close their faces are and how good SOLDIER hearing is there’s no real point to it. But he also knows Zack has fallen asleep by this point, snoring away on Cloud’s shoulder and none the wiser to the words or the turmoil he has once again left Cloud in.

It’s fine though. As long as they’re together Cloud can deal with it. They’re friends if nothing else.

[sysig]

Gotta sweep up all this Dust (Patreon)