#I KNOW its my oc and my ramblings but i want him to be enjoyable for yall

[x1702x]

Cookin some silly Askr content, feeling cringe on the good way

[akaviri-dovah]

Do tell me all about your Mary Sue OC *rests chin on hands*

ahhhhh first of all I gotta say I'm so flattered that you followed me >w< I've been a fan of your art and writing for your while but that's another story for another day-

anyways about the character herself... I have A LOT to share, and the post editor doesn't like me so I apologise for taking so long on this, and thank you for your patience. I am going to start by saying that right from the start, before she even had a name, I thought her already dangerously close to being a mary sue due to her original purpose... shipping with one of my favourite canon characters.

this is Rumeranwen Malathelaere (or simply Rume), a 6'8 greatsword wielding high elf templar and my main character for ESO. though I haven't had much time to play the game I know enough to weave a story in my head about her, her love interest, and the forces threatening to tear them apart.

long ramble under the cut about her story, and all things about it I am worrying about making her a mary sue. spoilers abound. I'd like to hear opinions about this, also.

as is in the nature of all Elder Scrolls protagonists, it is in her hands that the fate of the world is placed. and not just once, either! though I plan to have multiple characters in my game and story, she is the one who takes the role of Vestige, completing the main quest as well as her alliance's questline, alongside the major DLC's.

Rume is a wonderful girl, for the most part: passionate, boisterous and energetic, righteous, and fearless (or at least claiming to be - there are some exceptions!). a true enjoyer of all the wonders Tamriel and its various peoples have to offer - see all the places, try all the food, pet all the creatures. but she is far from perfect: naive (especially after soul removal), stubborn, and a bit too impulsive for her own good, often learning things the hard way. not to mention that her engagement with other races puts her at odds with most of her fellow Altmer.

seems like quite a decent personality for the saviour of Tamriel, time and time again. but how did she get swept up into it all? why choose her (especially since she can put up quite the fight against any potential captors) to sacrifice and kick off the Planemeld, condemning her to an eternity of torment in Coldharbour?

simple, because she was the lover of Vanus Galerion. brought together by a certain Daedric Prince's playing matchmaker in an attempt to alleviate the Great Mage's troubled mind, and stayed that way for many years prior to the events of ESO. but sadly, it does not last, because Mannimarco (who in my and many others' interpretation is Vanus ex, who nevertheless wants him back) finds out and threatens them both. and so they separate for the time being, with Vanus going to confront Mannimarco alone and Rume left to wander Tamriel "as if she never knew him like she did" . but the Worm Cult's forces find her anyway, and proceed to capture her and drag her to Manni's lair, where he personally sacrifices her to Molag Bal.

but unlike so many others sacrificed in the same way, she returned to Nirn as if alive again due to her love for life itself being so deep and boundless, acting as an aedric force protecting her. but without a soul, she has no memory of her experiences from her previous mortal life. she does find Vanus again, much to his shock as he was given visions of her death. and especially since this Rume - though looking and sounding exactly the same as the Rume he knew and loved - does not recognise him at all.

things will get better for them, though. Rume will know him again, and realise her love for him even before she regains her soul. and their bond stays ever strong for the years to come - even though she travels far and wide, he is never far from her mind. and once her adventuring ends, and they retreat to a hidden estate to live out the rest of their lives in peace, she will be remembered by the people of all provinces for eras to come by myriad titles, with one of the most notable being "the Warrior Bride of the Great Mage."

if only it were so. for Mannimarco was not done with them yet, and was doubly furious for this perceived enemy of his to have escaped her fate, beat his ass, and stole his lover once again. and so came the fateful battle between Vanus's army of warriors and mages and Mannimarco's forces of death and darkness.

A thousand good and evil perished then, history confirms. Among, alas, Vanus Galerion, he who showed the way, It seemed once that Mannimarco had truly died that day.

from the book Mannimarco, King of Worms. this is canon.

Rumeranwen Malathelaere was among that thousand. sort of, but not quite. for she was a Vestige, and could not be truly killed, unlike her mortal lover who was then taken as an undead thrall by the King of Worms. but knowing this, Mannimarco sent his subordinates to the nearest wayshrine to capture her upon her resurrection, and imprisoned her in a pit at the bottom of a dungeon complex hidden beneath a lonely part of Tamriel untouched by man, mer, or beast, forced to die and come back to life over and over and over again with no way to escape nor anyone to rescue her. all written records of her were destroyed and word-of-mouth stories of her twisted into unrecognisability by the Worm Cult; by the tail end of the Third Era, nobody knew such a person had ever existed.

but rumour has it, that there is still someone who not only knows about her, but is searching for her, even after all this time. for immortals never forget their friends.

TLDR - "chosen one" oc who saves the world on multiple occasions, manages to defy fate due to "the power of love", nice for the most part but goes through awful undeserved things, has important canon character/in universe historical figure as love interest, is treated as a character who really existed in-universe

hope you enjoyed, nonetheless. and special credits go out to @titanwolfackerman for major inspiration and help in creating this story. please do check them out.

[whump-n-comfort]

🔪 this is a sideblog! if you see interactions from a blog called @halorocks1214 in your notifications, that's me :)

🩹 on that note, I go by Halo! I use she/her and he/him pronouns and am proudly aroace 💚💜

🔪 I'm one of those guys that has always been into whump as a kid—I REALLY enjoyed the kidnapping episodes in animated shows lol—but didn't have a name for that enjoyment until I got onto Tumblr and immediately felt at home with all y'all cool people 😎

🩹 as you may have seen by this blog's title and description, most of this blog's motif is sharing hurt/comfort content! I will be upfront and say that I project a loooot onto my faves, which is why I like to see them comforted so much (touch starvation is a bitch 😔) and in general prefer "soft whump" most of the time or explicit happy endings for the harder tropes i'm into

🔪 however, I still also enjoy whump because of its core foundation: being able to beat the shit out of your favorite character. sometimes, I will find something that does not have comfort in it that I want to share because it's simply too good not to! if all you're here for is that sweet sweet comfort, feel free to blacklist the tag #no comfort to avoid those sparse posts :)

🩹 outside of that, I tag art as #art and gifs as #gif as well as gifsets as #gifset when applicable; #whump trope for the posts that get more descriptive and #whump prompt for the posts that are more quotes/"fill in your characters here"-type interactions; #whump meme is self-explanatory and #whump community is for sharing love to all you lovely people out here browsing this corner of Tumblr; I occasionally tag #fave whumpee on characters that have stuck with me through the years (characters in the tag liable to change as time goes on); and of course, #~my stuff~ are the posts where I'm OP; #before whump was here is a cheeky tag I use for specific moments I remember feeling strong whumperflies for growing up but still had yet to learn about the term "whump" lmao

🔪 everything else is up in the air as tagging goes. I try my best to catch as many descriptors in a post as I can, but I'll admit some stuff could slip through. let me know if you think a post is missing something and I'll be sure to add proper tags 👍

🩹 my squicks are mainly things like pet whump, mind break, forced full-nudity, betrayal/broken trust between close characters (if it's because of a "twist villain" then that's fine), and heavy NSFW, so, for the most part, you won't see those on this blog, but my philosophy has always been that if it has comfort, I'm willing to give it a shot, so even if it's really rare, it could happen. remember to just let me know if I'm missing a tag!

🔪 my inbox is always open under the "💌 insert rambles here 💌" button if you ever wanna submit whumpy thoughts. I try to post everything I get, so feel free to hit me up! all answered asks regardless of what they contain will be tagged with #ramble tag

🩹 I will occasionally take requests in the form of "[A] replied to [B]" scenarios, sentence starters, or if you are feeling particularly nice, requests about my OCS! (questions and inquiries about them are always welcome regardless of request status) be sure to watch the "REQUEST:" blip in the description to see whenever they are open as I will switch "CLOSED" to "OPEN" to signify they are, and if they are open because of something like an ask game, I will convert the status into a link that will take you to the original game so you don't have to scroll through a bajillion things to get to it

🔪 as mentioned, this is 99% a SFW "soft" whump blog, but I still support my more NSFW and otherwise "dark" whumpers! I am a firm believer in that there is no "correct" way to enjoy whump. whatever your reason is that makes you enjoy it is valid and as long as you are properly tagging your content then keep on doing stuff that brings you joy :) we may not interact with each other all that often because of squicks or personal preferences, but just know that I will have your back and defend your right to write whatever you want ❤️‍🔥

🩹 I do believe those are all the topics I wanted to cover, so if you managed to make it this far, thanks for checking out my blog, and most importantly, the whump community in general! If you decide to stay, well, then hope you enjoy it to your fullest capabilities :D

[atypi-cals]

Pinned Post Time

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Formerly the Calendar Collective, now the Atypical Collective. We like the nickname Cal.

Polyfragmented DID System. 23 body age. Unknown alter count in the 200 range and many subsystems. White, trans, queer. It/Its pronouns are always OK to use for us, He/Him pronouns are OK to use unless otherwise indicated. We use both we/us and I/me personal pronouns. Sometimes we forego personal pronouns altogether.

Tonetags: In general we don't usually mind using them in message we send, but sometimes will ask them not to be used in messages to us, as they can cause us confusion and distress. We are also able to use the full word forms of tonetags as a compromise sometimes when otherwise incapable of using them.

We tag our posts with some sort of identifier like (Name).exe. This is mostly for personal/archival purposes.

Everything that you physically can reblog is OK to reblog.

We're also autistic, have ADHD, OCD, schizoaffective, and several PDs (Prism has a blog for PD stuff @prismposting )

We are physically disabled from multiple conditions and use forearm crutches.

I'm not bothered to make a DNI list and no one will probably care to DNI if they're on it so instead, know this: I curate my online experience to my personal enjoyment and safety. This means any blogs that threaten our safety or the safety of marginalized others, spread misinformation, or make us feel uncomfortable will be either removed as a follower or blocked, as we see fit.

This will always include bigotry, such as racism, homophobia & transphobia, and ableism.

I prefer not to participate in syscourse, for my mental health. My disorder doesn't need to be a debate. I'm just living here. The only "syscourse" this blog will see is correction of misinformation, regardless of "side".

Please keep in mind that our posts are not necessarily meant to be broadly relatable and may be specific to our own experience with C-DID. I tend to view my system through a very medical lense as it has helped me with recovery from my trauma. Do not assume I am forcing this choice on you or come at me with ill intent for voicing my own experience.

Do not feel entitled for more information than I have given. This paragraph is so long because I, lightheartedly, like to overshare on the internet, on my own terms. Really want to find out more and you have to sift through the endless sea of meme reblogs to find my untagged 3 am ramblings.

Anyone using the term "narc/narcisstic abuse" will be blocked on sight.

Tags we use if you need to block something (with the exception of flashing gifs or explicit talk about these subjects we only tag original posts): #alcohol ment, #weed cw, #drugs cw, #flashing gifs

OC tags: #oc.exe (catchall), #cal.oc, #poison.oc, #city.oc, #sol.oc, #von.oc, #oriel.oc, #os.oc, #chase.oc, #cora.oc

You can find our ClanGen Warrior Cats OC Webcomic at @frogclangen

The tag for our actual cat is #naomi

[tidetospine]

Hello, I am new to Mao's channel and these RP's (well, I watched a few of Mao's videos from Abyssal Despair and Dawning Century. Love the art style btw.) ,and tumblr in general. I would like to ask a few questions if you all are okay with it:

I am curious to know who the cast and host's mun's are for this DanganRP. If they wish to remain anonymous I completely understand.

What the inspiration for both the RP and its name " Tide To Spine"?I'm curious to know its meaning.

Are there specific pronouns that the cast prefer's to use? I ask because I'm familiar with Angelop's works and I noticed that Orpheus was a part of this and they go by (they, them) (sorry I'm rambling at this point).

Who is who? I know who Orpheus looks like, but I was having a bit of trouble interpreting who is who.

Again, You don't have to answer this if this is either too much or too insulting if you don't want to. I'm not a very good people person when it come to being more than giving out compliments (or whatever my social issues are), but I do sincerely hope everyone has a wonderful and enjoyable experience. Have a nice day

One by one...

Hi! For the privacy of the players, we will not be disclosing the muns of our accepted cast. However, I can say that the characters here in the roster video are the mod teams OCs - from left to right, they belong to mod Celyca, mod Anya, and mod Moa.

TTS's name is inspired from the song, From Tide to Spine, off the soundtrack for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Mod Moa's previous game (Dawning Century) took some inspiration from the Amnesia series, and TTS does too, as well as from Layers of Fear and The Binding of Isaac.

+ 4. We have just set up a roster page where you can view everyone's relevant information. But, if you wanted something quicker and easier to read, here you go! Each name links to the character's respective roster art piece. Adrian Wieslander (he/him) - Socialite Avril DuBois (she/her) - ??? Caligula Lacoste (any) - Party Planner Florida (she/her) - Traveling Merchant Freja Björklund (she/her) - Ult. Shepherdess Jigoku Kobayashi (she/her) - Ult. Martial Artist Johann Strauss (he/him) - Former Violinist Kaien Hattori (he/they) - University Student Magnus Majoris-Maroune (he/him) - M.C. Morgan Davies (she/her) - Antique Dealer Naoyuki Kannouji (he/him) - Ghostwriter Nuno of Meradeur, Magus of the Infinite (any) - Keymaster Orion "Ori" Lee (he/him) - Wanderer Orpheus Kanata (they/them) - Bouncer Sachiko Matsuoka (she/her) - Gardener Sebastian Skies (he/him) - Clerk Serge Qingren (he/they/any) - Embalmer Taka Izukunzo (they/them) - Librarian Yuuki Yukiyama-d'Aureville (she/her) - Antique Collector Additionally, one of the accepted applicants refused their position, so if you notice a slight difference in the characters in the roster video against this list, that's why. Thanks for reaching out!

[eddieswifelmao]

My One And Only<3

∘Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem Oc

∘Rated: smut, fluff (18+)

♡ Summary: Eddie confessed his feelings towards you after being close friends for two months. You loved him just as much as he did. When he confessed this was the perfect moment to finally able to do what you’ve always wanted to do with him. ♡

This is my first story, thing btw so enjoy 🥲

Saturday, 1986, 6:30 AM

It was a quiet day for you. You woke up to a quiet morning and you assumed your parents already left for work since it was silent. It was so silent you could hear a pen drop all the way from downstairs.

You got ready thinking school was today excited to see Eddie. You hear tapping at the window assuming it was a tree branch tapping.

You turn to the window as you were getting dressed, your red vs (victorias secret) lingerie set on you as you were putting a hellfire shirt Eddie gave you. As you were putting it on, the shirt wasn’t even on since you noticed him tapping on your window.

You see Eddie staring at you and walk towards him putting your shirt on.

Y/N: “EDDIE WHAT THE FUCK” You say even though you don’t mind since you had a big crush on him. You wanted him to see your body. You were so in love and obsessed with him.

Eddie: “Sorry princess, couldn’t resist. You have a beautiful body after all.

You blushed at his words and you open the window to let him in. You put on a short skirt to match your shirt, the shirt was tight on you shaping your body. He watched and you didn’t care since you loved him so much.

Y/N: “Shut up..” You said thinking of a comeback at his response “Aren’t you supposed to be at school Munson?” You said teasingly.

Eddie: He chuckled. “It’s Saturday my dear” he says.

You turned red from embarrassment thinking it was Friday.

Y/N: “Oops..Thought it was Friday heh.” You reply frowning.

Eddie: “It’s alright, I love seeing you wear my shirt anyway.”

You blush as butterflies are in your stomach making you love him even more.

Y/N: “Why’d you come here anyway.? I mean did you come just to see me change.” You joked.

Eddie: “No..I wanted to talk.”

Your heart starts to race, you start to get scared wondering what he will say. What if he doesn’t want to be friends anymore.? You panic as he tells you to sit down with him.

Eddie: “Ok..I know this might sound weird and its totally fine if you don’t feel the same..”

He starts to get nervous fiddling with his fingers.

Oh my gosh is he really saying this? You thought.

Y/N: “Go on..”

Eddie: He takes a deep breath.. “I love you Y/N. I always have. I can’t resist it anymore, I have so much love for you, and it’s fine if you don’t feel the same but I-“

You stop him from rambling by passionately kissing him for a while. The kiss lasted for what seemed like hours and you enjoyed every moment of it. You both smiled into the kiss as if you waited for this your whole life. You pull away and stare at him. You finally say how you feel.

Y/N: “I love you so much Eddie. I never knew when or how to tell you but ever since I layed eyes on you, I fell hard for you. Your my one and only.”

He blushes really hard. He’s always wanted to hear how much you love him. He chuckles and asks you, “Will you be my girlfriend.?”

He looks down scared and nervous while biting his nails.

You have been waiting so long for this day. Waiting every second to hear him say those words. You put his hand down to prevent him biting his nails and put your hand on his chin turning his face towards you. You cup his cheek rubbing your thumb on it.

Y/N: “I would love to.” You get so excited and start blushing really hard as well.

He grinned which you thought was so cute and adorable, so you ask, “Can I kiss you?” He grins and says, “Of course my love.”

Without further question, you sit on top of him and start to make out with him. He rubs his hands on your waist, making circles on them. You slightly moan as he deepens the kiss. He asks for an entrance with his tongue, you allow him to do so and both of you make every moment enjoyable. You love his hands rubbing on your waist, you feel his soft delicate hands with the cold rings attached to your warm skin.

You pull away and it’s silent as you just stare into each other’s eyes, your foreheads touching each other gasping for air.

Eddie: “Gosh..I’ve been wanting to do that forever. I love you Y/N.”

Y/N: “I love you too Eddie. So much”

You feel a sensation suddenly reach you, you get horny and feel his boner. you start grinding on his crotch as its touching your lonely pussy. (You’re a virgin by the way). You moan softly and start to kiss him. He trails his lips to your neck and starts to kiss it.

“Eddie..” You say.

mm he hums as he kisses your neck.

“Fuck me.” You reply.

He looks up at you with his dark brown eyes. As they glow in the glistening sunlight making him more beautiful then he already was.

“Are you sure.? It’s pretty early love.” He teases, obviously wanting to.

You nod, allowing him to pick you up onto your bed. Laying you down while he’s on top of you. You start making out. You pull away and start to take your shirt off and threw it on the floor.

Eddie: “My my..” He says. “What a beautiful sight we have here. A fucking beautiful sight.”

Y/N: “Let’s see what you’re hiding under these clothes.” You smirk.

He grins as he takes off his shirt with you helping him. You’re amazed by the sight of his chest. His abs and his tattoos..It made you love him even more. You put your hand on his chest tracing the tattoos on his body.

Eddie: “You like what you see sweetheart?” He grins looking down at you.

Y/N: “I most certainly do.”

You kiss him as he kisses you back. You pull away and start to pull your skirt down showing your red vs thong on you. He looks down and his eyes widened. He’s in love with the sight and so amazed by it.

“My beautiful girl..” He says softly.

You start to take the thong off and he looks at you asking if its ok. You give him the look and nod its ok with what hes going to do to that innocent pussy of yours..

Eddie: “I want to eat it out. God your so fucking gorgeous, I love every part of your body, your perfect.”

He spreads your legs as you hold on to your bed sheets. He licks the folds of your clit and you moan loudly. He looks up at you and chuckles,

Eddie: “Awe so sensitive and its all for me.” He stated.

He continued to go faster hitting your sweet spot. You moan and pull his hair making him groan. He stops and starts to pull his jeans down and he has no boxers underneath. He starts eating you out again with his cock in sight. Your clit urging for him to be inside you.

Y/N: “Eddie..I-“

Eddie: “I know princess, you’re already going to cum for me.”

You grab him from your clit and put your mouth to his ear and whisper, “I want you inside me”He looks at you with his cock right in front of you. “Are you sure?” he asks. You nod quickly and he has a sinister grin. He waisted no time and started to put the head of his cock inside your hole. You whine and he pushes further. He starts to thrust slowly and picks up the pace each time he goes in and out. You moan and enjoy every time hes thrusting your clit.

Y/N: “Eddie!! I’m gonna c-cum.!!” you yell. Thankfully nobodies home.

Eddie: “Cum..for..me my love..Your so..fucking..gorgeous.” He says in between his moans.

He moves faster and you moan loudly as he starts to rub his fingers on your clit while thrusting you hard and fast. You came loudly wetting his cock with your cum. He puts his fingers inside you to taste your cum. “God you taste so fucking good too.” he says.

He starts to put his cock back in you and thrust more even after you just came. He starts moaning and groaning as he feels hes going to cum.

“Let me cum all over your stomach.” He says demanding. You nod and he thrusts faster and harder. You moan loudly and he puts one hand digging on your thigh creating crescent marks on then as he places the other hand on your neck. You enjoy the pleasure given to you and feel warm inside. You feel as if nothing mattered, just him and you. As you snap back to reality you feel him hit your g spot and moan in awe, tears starting to roll down your face. He chuckles at you, “Awe my poor baby..” he whispers. You feel his cock twitch and he pulls it out, letting all his cum get all over you. He moans loudly as he gets some in your mouth and you swallow it. He grinned and layed beside you.

Eddie: “That was..”

Y/N: “Incredible” You say catching your breath as you finish his sentence.

Eddie: “I love you so much.” He says as he’s putting his pants back on and hands your clothes so you can get dressed. “Let me care for you.” he says. He dressed you up as you were too tired to move, your legs shaking from all the excitement. He kisses your clit one last time making you whine and he puts your thong back on. He starts to put on your bra and doesn’t put on anything else. He leaves you in his vs set and takes one good look at you.

You look at him with puppy dog eyes and ask him to cuddle.

Eddie: “Awe my darling is already tired.”

You chuckle and he opens his arms. You lay your head on his chest hearing his heart beat, you put your leg over his thigh and hes stroking your hair as you trace random patters on his body.

“You’re the most beautiful girl in the world. I wouldn’t ask for anyone better, you’re my one and only. I love you so much” He says as he strokes your hair.

His voice gave you butterflies and you respond,

“I love you too. Words can’t describe how much I love you. I want to be with you until we die.”

Eddie: “So do I.” He says grinning. He hears you yawn and says, “Get some rest my love.”

He kisses your forehead as you start to get sleepy on his warm body. He wraps his right arm around you and holds you tightly, while he plays with your hair with the other, thinking of all the things he wants to do with you (with your permission of course).

As he starts to drift off to sleep he looks down to see you half awake staring at his face. God hes so gorgeous. You thought (accidentally out loud unknowingly). He smiles softly and gives a real, passionate kiss. You pull away and you both start to close your eyes. Just as he was about to sleep he hears you say..

“I’m so lucky to have you. I’ll never leave you, I’ll take care of you when your sick or sad, visit you basically everyday, spend every moment i can get with you, you deserve the world and I’m here to give it. You’re my world, my one and only.” Which made him cry tears of happiness and plays with your hair. He gets emotional so easily and you loved it. He kisses your forehead softly and ran his fingers through your hair.

Eddie: “I’m so lucky. I love you in every good way possible.” he says as he sniffles.

You both smile and look at each other one more time before falling sleep. Enjoying every moment as the sun shines through the blinds beaming light on the both of you while having a warm blanket over both of you as you cuddle each other like you wanted this for years. But one thing is for sure, and will always be true..

You were his one and only.

—

Hope you enjoyed, I certainly did lmao, but idk if there will be a part 2, but if you want it then request it to me. Idk how that rlly works since im new but i’ll figure it out. But idk how far this story will get and it will probably flop but yea. Love y’all tho and thanks for reading <3

[1kook]

ZOOM CALL

⇢ meeting two

jeon jungkook x (f) reader

⇢ series masterlist

summary: Most notably, there’s one group project waiting for you, which leads you to Friday. Sitting at your desk, bright and early, absolutely dreading being assigned to your group. genre: fluff, slice of life, smut (tags tba) warnings: ITS A SLOW BURN OKAY...., sweetheart jk, campus crush jk, college crushes, social distancing, zoom -_-, jk owns a keroppi plush, oc thirsts over his hot bod, jk’s sweet attempts at flirting </3 he’s just 2 cute for his own good ratings: e for everyone <3 wc: 3.7k

notes: this took long bc i wrote one version but it was SO LAME u guys r lucky my friend and editor ( @kigurumu​ 🖤 ) stopped me from posting it. so then i had to reorganize my thoughts n b like girl. the ppl are waiting. get it together. anyway here’s zoom jk 😎

Being grouped with Jeon Jungkook (he/him) for your first class on the first day of your first Zoom semester truly sets the standard.

By no means do your other classes suck; they’re quite enjoyable, more relevant to your area of study. They’re familiar which makes them comfortable, your Zoom meetings filled with faces you’ve seen time and time again the last four years. The material interests you, so you definitely don’t have anything against them or your classmates. 

That being said, no one is prepared for the awkwardness that comes with each and every Zoom meeting. You never thought you’d be embarrassed to turn your mic on— to speak in a class filled with your peers. And the meetings are all like that, filled with uncomfortable silences and endless black screens. 

You wish there was a Jeon Jungkook (he/him) in every class. 

Jungkook’s just got this bubbly aura to him, this magnetic presence that staples itself into the back of your mind with each passing day. No one fills a Zoom call like he does, making every person laugh and smile like him. 

Wednesday rolls around and you find yourself a little disheartened when you don’t get sorted into the same randomized group as him again. Disappointment melts into annoyance when you find out how incompetent your other classmates are, refusing to speak in the small group or just completely clocking out all together. A lot of them didn’t do the reading— the one you stayed up all night doing —and your first partnered assignment of the semester finds you doing it all by yourself. Muted mics, black windows, complete radio silence; you hated it all. 

You find yourself weirdly longing for Jeon Jungkook’s presence, even if he’s only there to talk about some movie he saw last night. No one is as much of a chatterbox as him, can’t even hold a candle to the way he draws everyone in with his mindless conversations. At least he speaks during Breakout Rooms, you think bitterly. 

Anyway, the first week of classes ends and your brain is a frenzied mess. There’s schedules to memorize, professors to impress, assignments to plan out. There’s definitely no time to sit around and fantasize about the curly haired cutie in one of your general classes. The weekend is spent trying to organize your planner, filling in due dates and exam days ahead of time. It’s your last semester and you’re dead set on making it your best one yet. There’s a lot of written work this time around, analyses and research papers that need to be organized. The road ahead is manageable, but you’ll have to work hard to keep it that way for the next five months. 

Most notably, there’s one group project waiting for you, which leads you to Friday. Sitting at your desk, bright and early, absolutely dreading being assigned to your group.

Jungkook is early this time, not like on Monday where he’d been one of the last to filter in, and he’s looking as chirpy as ever. Donning this horrendously hot pink shirt, completely unlike the neutral tones he’d worn during your last two meetings and that decorate his room, and the cutest pair of circle glasses sitting on his nose. He says his regularly scheduled ‘good morning’ to you all and receives a collective response from the rest of the class that not even your professor got. 

Speaking of the professor, you’ve been giving him the stink eye this whole time. Not that he can tell, given the fact he’s probably miles away in his own home while you angrily glare at him through your webcam. It’s this old guy who’s decided to sort you all into semester long groups for the class, which is the absolute worst. These types of groups always go the same way: you make a group chat promising to study together, those plans fall through, and then everyone just leeches off of each other for homework answers. And in most cases, it’s you handing over your homework answers because no one else ever bothers to do anything. Sadly, it’s a routine you’ve had to suffer through many times in your academic career. 

The thought makes you sick. Having to spend another semester being labeled as the bossy, nerdy dictator of the group? Not exactly how you wanted to spend the last few months of college, but there’s nothing you can do. Maybe this time around you’ll just let it be, won’t fight it (and by it, you mean your lazy classmates when they inevitably try to guilt trip you for homework) and simply let it run its course. 

“I’m going to put you guys into Breakout Rooms with your new groups!” your professor claps excitedly, and then you and the rest of your classmates are forced to watch him lean too close to the camera as he begins clicking around to find the preset groups he’s assigned the class. “Remember, guys, this is it for the rest of the semester. So if something isn’t right, let me know by the end of today.” 

Man, this was going to suck, you groan. The syllabus had said that the purpose of these groups was to keep you all connected with your classmates during these trying times, to give you the same opportunities in-person learning would. Frankly, you’re not too worried about making friends with everyone in this large class. Most of them are younger than you anyway, save for Jeon Jungkook (he/him) and a handful of others who are apparently in your year. Befriending lowerclassmen only to have to bid them adieu in a few months seems awfully sad, a little too heartbreaking. You really just want to get a good grade in this class, collect the last of your credits, and put this whole college experience behind you. 

Your thoughts are wrapped up by the pop-up message that appears on screen. 

The host is inviting you to join a Breakout Room: Group 12

You sigh, contemplate dropping this class for all of two seconds, before dutifully accepting the request. Worse comes to worst, you make up some lie to tell your professor that you’re allergic to group work and hope it works. (It won’t.) 

You sit through the mandatory loading screen for a few seconds before being abruptly dumped into your new room, Group 12, or so the message had said. There’s no one else here yet, which isn’t really a surprise. A lot of your classmates are probably like you, scowling at the pop up message every time your professor sends you into small groups before accepting the request. So you chill by yourself, eyes tracing over your own mirrored image. The notes on last night’s reading are neatly laid out before you, your copy of the book off to the side. 

Another beat and then, much to your surprise, Jeon Jungkook (he/him) is appearing in your room. “Oh,” he says, round eyes magnified by the thick lens of his glasses, the glare of the computer’s glow casting a funny shape across the lens that momentarily robs you of his pretty eyes. His pretty pink lips stretch into a smile, upper lip thinning out a bit when he flashes you those perfect teeth. “Hi, __,” he greets politely, bubbly. 

It’s embarrassing how much his presence affects you, your back going ramrod straight in a terrible attempt to compose yourself. “Hi, Jungkook,” you manage to get out, fingers nervously reaching for something, anything, to ground yourself. They land on a pencil. 

Jungkook doesn’t seem even the slightest bit aware of the commotion he causes within you. “I was really nervous for these groups,” he begins rambling right away, lips pushing down into an exaggerated frown as he shivers at the memory. “But I’m glad I got placed with someone hardworking like you!”

Despite how sweet he sounds, you’re not entirely sure if he’s buttering you up just to take advantage of your ‘hardworking’ attitude later down the road or if he’s genuinely being polite. The little information you know about Jungkook wants you to believe it is the latter; he’s very kind, sweet and nice in a way that makes everyone he speaks to feel warm. Still, for all you know this could be some elaborate ruse of his to make you trust him now and then convince you to do all the work for the rest of the semester. 

Tentatively, you ask, “and how would you know that?” You try your best to keep your usual snappiness out of your voice, pose it simply out of curiosity. But everything you say or do feels like a stark contrast to Jungkook and his bubbliness. 

His head tilts cutely to the side, imploring brown eyes looking at you for one hard second. And then, “I read your forum analysis from Wednesday,” he admits, breaking into a smile. Shy and tiny, bashfully looking down at his desk. “I thought your perspective on the piece was really interesting,” he says, lips pursing together as if he’s suddenly too embarrassed to admit such things to you. 

Stunned, all you can manage is one slow nod. “Thank you,” you eventually choke out, trying to ward the heat away from your cheeks as Jungkook sheepishly nods back, cute smile still on his face. 

“Oh, please,” he chuckles, raising his hand to rub at the back of his neck. “Don’t thank me!” 

It is in this exact moment that you are suddenly made aware of two things. 

One: despite his collection of soft sweaters and t-shirts, his bouncy curls and sweet smile, Jeon Jungkook’s body is neither as cute nor as soft as any of his belongings. In fact, Jeon Jungkook’s body is all hard planes and prominent veins. Arms beefy, biceps that bulge beneath the fabric of the short sleeve t-shirt he’s donned today. His shoulders fill out the material nicely, making him look broad and huge, but that’s not even the worst part, because—

—two: Jeon Jungkook is covered in ink. Dark streaks and swirls paint his forearms, curling around his elbow. Every inch of his pale skin is littered with tiny designs. They dance along the back of his hands, over his knuckles, and end at an unidentifiable point beneath the sleeve of his t-shirt. When he tugs at the neckline of his shirt in an effort to readjust it, you hope your eyes are deceiving you and that isn’t a hint of ink by his collarbone. 

Your normal composure seems to slip away at the mere thought. 

It’s Jungkook’s voice that brings you back, a soft timbre that asks, “aren’t we supposed to have someone else in our group?” You flinch as if you’ve been caught ogling him, never mind the fact he’s started mindlessly shuffling some papers around on his desk, not the slightest bit concerned with you. 

“Oh— um, yes. I think,” you stammer, feeling like some creep for ogling your very cute, very sweet classmate. The memory of his inky skin nearly sends a shiver down your spine as you navigate back to the class syllabus. “We’re supposed to have at least three people,” you read off, glancing at the boy on your screen who frowns at the news. 

“Do you think they dropped?” Given it was still only the first week of school, probably. There had been a fewer number of people in the call when it started, you remembered. Jungkook sighs, this rather light sound that ends in a hum. “Well, we can always wait a few minutes just in case.”

So you wait, nervously bouncing your leg up and down. It’s not awkward, or at least, not as awkward as it would be with anyone else. The other week you had silently sat with another classmate in a one-on-one discussion and hadn’t uttered a word for five minutes. It wasn’t because you didn’t care about the class, but because said classmate had been tapping away on their phone the entire time and hadn’t even responded to your simple greeting. That was awkward. 

With Jungkook it’s more weird than awkward. You can tell the silence makes him uncomfortable because he keeps doing these tiny inhales like he’s about to speak, followed by a little head shake where he seemingly stops himself from saying anything at all. He wants to talk, very badly it seems, but holds back for some odd reason. 

He’s scribbling on some sheet of paper, leaning forward to give you a view of the top of his head. From this angle, his shirt hangs forward and a silver necklace falls out from beneath the neckline, thuds against the table. And then your suspicions are nearly confirmed, and oh god, is that a chest piece—

You quickly look away. 

Robbed of his handsome face and feeling like you’ll die if you look at his body any longer, you settle for your newly acquired favorite pastime: inspecting your classmates’ rooms over Zoom. Yes, you’ll admit it is incredibly nosy, but what else can you do? You can only look at your professor for so long until you inevitably grow bored, attention drifting off to your classmates tiny windows. And with no professor in sight, just gorgeous Jeon Jungkook, you quickly begin your examination of his bedroom. 

Jungkook’s room is pretty much the same as you remember it, rather neat and plain. There’s not a lot going on in terms of decoration, which is a little surprising to say the least. Over the course of the week, you’ve watched your classmates’ dormitories and bedrooms gradually change, decorations and tapestries decorating the walls, mountains of pillows added to their beds. It’s only natural that everyone has an innate need to show off who they are now more than ever, and you thought Jungkook would be the same. 

Apparently not. 

Aside from the guitar you had spotted on Monday, his little dorm room remains unchanged. Blank walls, grayscale sheets. The same perfectly fluffed pillows and then—

A tiny Keroppi plush smack dab in the middle of his bed. 

It’s adorable but a little out of place amongst Jungkook’s rather masculine decorations (or lack thereof). A tiny green doll sitting by his pillows, cute striped shirt and ridiculously dopey smile. 

Leaning forward, you unmute yourself and conversationally say, “I love your Keroppi.” 

At the sudden sound of your voice, Jungkook abruptly straightens up, glasses practically at the very tip of his nose. Eyes wide, it takes him a second to process your words before jerkily whipping around to stare at the aforementioned item. “Oh,” he jumps, slowly looking at his screen again, lips pulled into a tight line. “Um… it’s not mi—“

“It’s adorable,” you add, propping your chin in your palm, absolutely endeared with the rosy color that paints his cheeks, fades down the column of his neck. 

He squirms, hurriedly pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He looks like he’ll deny it again, nervously nibbling at his lower lip, before eventually he settles with a sigh. “I won it from a crane machine,” he confesses with a sheepish huff of laughter, rolling backwards to the edge of his bed to snatch it from its spot. 

(Of course he manspreads as he sits, dark jeans hugging his thighs as he rolls back your way. His arm looks so strong, covered in all that ink, you nearly drool.)

“It’s cute, isn’t it?” he says, abandoning his embarrassment as he shakes the little figure around, makes it look like it’s dancing for you. “My mom said it looks like me.”

At that, you laugh. Loud and boisterous because you were definitely not expecting Jungkook to say that, such an odd but weirdly fitting comparison that has you looking at the doll in his hands with renewed interest. And through the pixelated screen, you can see the similarities: Jungkook does have the same smile as Keroppi. 

“Your mom was right,” you agree, wiping a faux tear from the corner of your eye. “Very cute.” 

Jungkook’s got this big goofy smile on, shaking his head in disbelief that you would ever dare agree with his mom. Like he’s genuinely enjoying himself, you think, oddly proud to have evoked that reaction from him. Granted, Jungkook always looks like he’s pretty happy during class, but it feels nice knowing that you were (confirmed) the reason why.  

A little caught up with the bumbling feeling in your chest, you’re not expecting his next words. “Does that mean I’m cute?” he asks, still with that same dopey smile on his face. 

It’s a bold statement you wouldn’t have expected from him, someone who seems content being the world’s friend, but apparently Jeon Jungkook also craves compliments. 

Slowly, you nod. “...yes,” you say, trying to keep the tumultuous emotions inside of you at bay while you grant him this one compliment. Outwardly, you give him what you hope is an obviously feigned look of disbelief, managing to lace it with a little amusement as you shake your head at his inquiry. On the inside, your mind and heart are a thundering racetrack, the roar of the engines and the screams of the crowd enough to momentarily make you lose your senses. “Very cute,” you repeat, hoping he can’t hear the same pounding of your heartbeat in your throat and in your ears as you do. “Like a little frog.” 

Jungkook graces your robotic response with the most boyish laugh, head tossed back as one loud cackle (because, really, there is no other way to describe the sound that tears itself from his throat) escapes him, curls bouncing back from the movement. “Cute like a frog,” he wheezes, seemingly to himself as he shakes his head with a grin, scooting closer to the camera again. “That’s a new one.” 

“You set yourself up for it,” you defend, busying yourself with the papers spread out in front of you before Jungkook can distract you any further. “Anyway!” you announce, neatly lining the papers up. “Our group.”

Jungkook does his best to wipe the glee off his face, but even as he reaches around for his things, it’s still there. “Right,” he agrees, “we have to, um—“ a huff of laughter “—group contract! Or, well, partner project.”

Briefly, you consider calling in your professor to inform him of your missing partner. He had said to let him know by the end of today if something was wrong. But, honestly, you didn’t see a problem with your group the way it was now. While you can only hope he’ll turn out to be as dedicated to his work as you, as it stands now, there weren’t any major red flags surrounding Jungkook’s character. 

Besides, you didn’t mind being with him for the rest of the semester. 

You nod, forcing yourself to ignore the glimmer in his eyes when he looks at you through the screen. “I think it’s safe to say it’ll just be the two of us, which I don’t mind,” you say, glancing at the time on the corner of your screen to see five minutes have passed since you agreed to wait. “Do you?”

On screen, Jungkook profusely shakes his head, curls bouncing all over the place. “Nope,” he hums. “I don’t mind at all,” he reassures you, resting his chin in his palm as he regards you, and then sweetly adds, “it’ll be nice with just us, __.”

Right. 

You gulp, heart fluttering at the dreaminess he exudes through your screen, the soft strand of hair that falls over his forehead, tickles his brow bone when he flashes you another smile.  He was so handsome. Before you say anything silly, you quickly attempt to move on. “But it does make us more of a duo than a group.” 

Jungkook looks away from his screen for the first time in what feels like forever and you finally let your heart rest for a second. “A duo,” he murmurs, shuffling through his papers. “Like Mickey and Minnie?” 

You nearly choke on your spit, coughing to hide the surprise from his rather cute suggestion. He’s not even looking at you, doesn’t even realize the absolute shock he’s thrown you in by comparing the two of you to one of the most famous couples— that’s what they are, a goddamn couple, not a duo! the words mean two completely different things! —in the world. Instead, Jungkook is humming the theme song to Drake & Josh. 

This man was dangerous for your heart. 

After having felt all the emotions in the world in the span of ten seconds, you eventually gather the courage to say, “sure,” and quickly try to move the conversation along. “We just need to, um, make some ground rules and responsibilities for us to follow.” 

Jungkook nods, finally glancing up again, but not at you. He’s glaring at some point behind his computer, brows furrowed together as he begins brainstorming on his own. You try to, really, but his lips pout adorably when he’s deep in thought, and they’re just so pink and look so soft and would feel like—

“Well, we should probably exchange numbers first,” Jungkook says, interrupting your spiraling thoughts with a new topic to spiral over. He tilts his head to the side, brown eyes focused on you. 

“Yes, of course,” you stammer, fumbling for your phone as Jungkook lets out a soft yay at your acceptance of his request. Quickly, he recites his number and you type it in with trembling hands into the number pad, giving him a quick call so he can have your number as well. 

You save him right away, just his name followed by the class you share with him. Not like you know any other Jeon Jungkooks, and if you did, you doubt anyone could ever leave such an impact like this Jeon Jungkook. 

“__, look,” Jungkook calls, that same excitement lacing his already lovely voice, and you raise your head up at the screen again. He’s waving his phone over his camera, so you don’t get to see his face when he says, “It’s a little mouse emoji and a pink bow— just like Minnie!”

Dangerous for your heart and, most likely, the death of you this semester.

Copyright © 2021, 1kook on tumblr. absolutely NO reposts allowed.

[ohallows]

how is our flag means death? I see everyone talking about it and it looks great but I'm a bit uncomfortable with RPF and I'm worried it will feel awkward since Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach were real people :/

so, as someone who is also wildly uncomfortable with RPF - its basically a similar level of 'rpf' as something like black sails or hamilton, you know? so if those made you wildly uncomfy for rpf-specific reasons as opposed to content (or fandom....) reasons, you might have the same reaction to ofmd. hamilton i think is a bit worse - it sticks pretty closely to the historical side of historical fiction, whereas black sails (based on my limited knowledge of piracy in the 1700s) and our flag means death definitely hew closer to the fictional side of historical fiction, if that makes sense. which is great for kinda.. tempering the issues i have with rpf.

genuinely, my main discomfort with stuff focusing on real people has to do with people who are alive now, or who were alive more recently. like, if there was a show in progress about [spins wheel] obama and [pulls a card] harry styles falling in love, i would be SO uncomfortable with it (and, i think, rightly so). but there's a certain level of disconnect with watching a show about a real person from the 1700s, where historical records can only do so much, that makes it feel MUCH less weird, and i was able to get through black sails and ofmd with zero discomfort whatsoever related to rpf stuff!

with ofmd as well, i think both ed and stede (and izzy, i suppose) are very much so... vague allusions to who they were in real life. based on what i do know about him, i dont think the irl stede bonnet was a dandy fancyboy who just wanted to be kind all the time and used a 'people positive management style' with his crew, and blackbeard was definitely not a polynesian jewish man w heart eyes who decided to give it all up for an aristocrat he met on the high seas who, frankly, sucked shit irl.

(israel hands may have been a horny little freak irl, but i don't want to know. thats his business.)

there's also a specific level of handwaving in ofmd that makes it feel more baked in fiction than anything real - the characters are able to row across entire oceans (i guess????) in fucking canoes, there seems to be fast travel implemented based on how quickly they move around, and it very much so is 'oh this is convenient for the plot but doesnt make sense at all? put it in' which i actually found really enjoyable. (genuinely, there's a scene in which stede sails IN A DINGHY on THE OPEN OCEAN to a remote island with ZERO knowledge as to where the island is OR why he should be going there. but he shows up in a day. the show truly said we dont care and i love that for them.)

also, when i was watching ofmd (and black sails, which i know you didn't ask about but i WILL plug anyway), it was very easy to sort of... forget that they were real people and just enjoy the characters and the story! i think david jenkins (+ the other writers) do a really good job of sort of. taking the people's names and making them into characters of their own.

sorry this got long im rambly. yes ofmd is basically rpf, but the show itself feels so removed from the real blackbeard and stede bonnet that it's very easy to ignore that stuff.

honestly, give it a try! the show is an absolute delight and might genuinely be one of my faves of the year (yes its only march i am still confident in this). the discomfort about rpf is incredibly valid and i'm in the same boat as you (pirates, boat, get it), but our flag means death didn't kick up any of that for me, and i've watched the show three times now bc i am mentally ill. i would really recommend you give it a chance, and then if it does feel uncomfortable, you can always stop watching or just enjoy the supporting cast, which are basically all ocs there to be gay and cause problems.

[wesimpforxiao]

Say My Name and I’ll Be There:  5.2

Author’s Note:  I saw this on pinterest and thought it applied to Xiao XD  P.S.  Do you readers like that the story is in 2nd POV, or should I change it to 3rd person?  My thinking is this POV allows me to get away without mentioning appearances or a chosen name so ya’ll could be put in OC’s shoes?

..............................

Is it just me, or is he looking my way?  You caught Childe in the act while you and your team retreated into the opposite tree line after Aether had taken the dragon tooth.  Something didn't feel right.  The trees seemed to close in on you like tunnel vision.  Was he planning on attacking you with the skirmishers at his side? Was he going to show his true colors now?  Is it time to face death?

He dismissed the soldiers and retreated from the direction you had all spotted the skirmishers in the first place.  He made a point to cast a meaningful glance your way.

I can't let it happen now, you looked to each of your teammates as you all ran through the snowy woods.  If he brought all of those Fatui agents on board with taking you out, the entire group would be overwhelmed.  The sheer cold puts us at a disadvantage.  Bennett could get hurt.  Xiao can't fight with his full strength.  When was the last time Aether and Childe sparred?  I can't rely on those results to protect me either.  

No one was paying attention; you could slip away and try to strike a deal with the Harbinger.  Bargain for Xiao's freedom and safety. You were hypersensitive to the weight of your coat on your shoulders, and the crunching of snow beneath your boots.  He can't hurt us now...not now!

You peeled away from the group and they continued to run towards a cave several hundred yards from their current position.  No one had heard you.  When you finally reached the first firepit, you found Childe waiting next to it.

"Oh there you are, ojou-chan!  Did you get the tooth? Where are the others?  They didn't run into trouble, did they?"  He greeted you with his signature friendly stature.

"Drop the act, Childe." You came to a halt maybe ten feet from him, with your back to the firepit.  It warmed your body significantly and you could finally feel your fingers and toes again.  He was on the far end of the open area.

"Whatever do you mean, ojou-chan?"  The mask didn't crack.

"We're alone now.  Is that what you wanted?"

Childe stared at you for a moment before breaking out into a loud fit of laughter.  "Oh ojou-chan, you know me so well〰"  He took a couple steps toward you.  "You should know I've been meaning to talk to you."

"That's close enough."  He stopped.  "I know what you're after."

"Oh?"  A dangerous glint sparked in his eyes, one that you've never seen before.  "Enlighten me then."

"I don't want Xiao dragged into whatever mess you brought upon us.  Whatever your plan entails, it ends with me."

"A noble sacrifice for a man that will not love you," he smirked.  "Why do you try to protect him when he can clearly fight for himself?"

"He's been through enough already," your hands closed into fists as you recalled his horrific past.  "I'll go with you, but only if you give me your word you won't take him too."

"Ha!  I feel no need to fight you, ojou-chan."  The sincerity in his voice attracted your gaze back to him.  "I don't wish to hurt you."

"Huh..?"  That's out of character.  Is this some sort of trap?

"I...have other goals in mind.  They require your cooperation, of course.  And your cutting of ties with the adeptus."

"Cutting ties?  Why would I do that?"  Your brows furrowed.

"My loyalty lies with the Tsaritsa, but I have a special interest with this mission after meeting you, ojou-chan," he made his way closer, and you stood in total confusion.  "I will personally see to it that you will not get harmed at all in Snezhnaya.  It all depends on your answer."

"You...I don't get what you mean.  What answer?  What exactly are you asking of me?"  Whatever it was, you sure as hell weren't going to agree with it.  But as soon as the questions left your lips, you knew.

He does like you.

Childe took note of the realization--and the fear--on your face and continued. "Surrender is a valid option, I promise I'll be gentle.  This is a simple route that avoids all the fighting and pain.  All you need to do is allow me to love you, and I won't harm your friends.  You have my word."

"L-love me?"  The words left a terrible taste in your mouth.  "I...I could never!  I could never love you, either!  You killed my Granny...you stole her house from her frail hands.  You...You!" Your sword made a metallic sound as it was unsheathed.

Childe inhaled and manifested his bow.  He nocked an arrow onto his finger and drew the string to his cheek.  "A most expected answer, ojou-chan.  Thank you for strengthening my resolve.  This will be much more enjoyable now."  Whatever turmoil that shone in his eyes was long gone  and replaced with pure malice.  "Let's make this a fair fight."  The arrow shot into the fire and extinguished it.

"Tch." You ran toward him as fast as you could in the snow, and crossed sword with lance.

"Not bad," your opponent grinned with satisfaction.  "Where'd you learn this technique from?"  You somehow managed to keep up with his unrelenting blows thanks to the muscle memory that belonged to Xiao.  "I don't recall the adeptus ever training you."

"Ngh!"  He landed a kick to your stomach and you fell into the snow.  Childe let you get back up, completely high on the thrill of fighting you and more than intent on dragging it out so he could watch your fighting spirit diminish.  I may be keeping up with him, but I can't land a solid blow like this.  You slowly removed your two remaining jackets and tossed them into the snow next to the extinguished firepit.  If I can somehow finish the fight quickly...You knew it was a hopeless battle.  A fight between a non-vision wielder and a harbinger that wields both vision and delusion? Complete and utter self-annihilation will ensue.

"I admire your tenacity, comrade," he watched the jackets fall.  "But now that I have my answer, there's no reason to wait any longer."  He shoved his lance towards you when your guard was down.

"I won't let you hurt him!"   You swung your blade to parry, and a sudden blast of material sent the two of you flying backwards into the snow.  Your vision was suddenly looking into the tree canopy.  "Ugh, wha--?"  You sat up to find ice shards scattered across the snow.  Something cool and metallic sat in your free hand.  You opened your palm to reveal what you least expected.

A vision.

You stared at your hand with bewilderment while Childe rose to his feet with a mixture of shock, admiration, and annoyance.  "I see.  An unexpected development," he remarked with cold eyes.  "It's a shame you won't have the chance to wield it properly against me.  He drew his bow and aimed for your chest.  Another block of ice manifested before the arrow could pierce you.

You placed the artifact into your jean pocket, and you rose to your feet with a newfound confidence.  Maybe you could beat him here and now.  Images of Xiao's fights involuntarily crossed your mind, and a lance of ice materialized in your hand.  You held it so that the tip pointed directly at Childe.

Another clashing of blades, this time converting Childe's into an ice sculpture.  But not before you had managed to freeze his leg into the snow for a hot second.  You ducked at his swings, parried his attacks, and followed through with a sequence of your own--or rather Xiao's--attacks.  It looked like you were gaining the upper hand until Childe caught your blade in his gloved palm.

"Thank you for the entertainment, ojou-chan," he growled.  "But this is where it ends for you."  Did you really think he hadn't studied your newfound techniques during your previous fighting session?  So naïve of you, ojou-chan.  You can't use the same tricks twice.

You retracted your weapon and lay waste another blow.  He easily parried it.  You engaged in a combo before swiping your feet at his legs; he leapt away before you could knock him down.  You were frustrated now, your movements becoming sloppier with each passing movement.

There's the real you, he mused.  His frozen blade dug into your dominant shoulder with such force that he had you pinned to a tree.  He felt nothing but sadistic pleasure course through his veins at the sight of you squirming in pain.

"Gah!" A shriek escaped your lips and your lance dropped from your hand.  You tried to claw the spear out of your body as he stalked ever closer to you.

"I don't even need Foul Legacy to kill you. You could never defeat me, not even in your wildest dreams," Childe stalked towards you as he twirled a new hydro polearm behind his body, stopping once its blade pressed against your neck.  He could kill you in an instant, and he would if he wasn't required to bring you alive.

You were seething with anger and hatred. It was stupid of you to go after him on your own, to seek a peaceful resolution to this conflict when you knew all along that there wouldn't be one. It didn't matter now. Your anger subsided, shoulders releasing themselves from the tension in your muscles once you thought of an idea. Even the pain in your dominant shoulder seemed to subside a bit.  Your sudden change in demeanor made Childe's grip loosen for a moment as he questioned the newfound peace emanating from you.

Your eyes closed and your lips curled into a smile. Adeptus Xiao, you called to him in your heart.Please hear me and answer my prayer for protection.

A sudden gust of wind blew against your back, and Childe faltered. He looked to you for an explanation, and you met his gaze through his mask. "I know, but he can."

Xiao burst into Childe at an incredible speed, knocking him square into another tree. The trunk splintered in half from the force.  He conjured his polearm and held its blade at Childe's throat. "Why the sudden politeness in your prayers?" He called out over his shoulder without taking his eye off the Harbinger.  I'm cursed with hearing her rambling whenever I'm gone, and only now she speaks politely to an illuminated adeptus?  Despite that thought, he actually loved hearing your voice reach his ears.

"I-I don't know.." WAIT, he COULD hear me all this time?!  Blush further tinted your pink cheeks that were red from the sheer cold.

"Tsk," Childe spit blood onto the snow and glared at the yaksha.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't decapitate you here."

Childe wasn't going to give him a reason and debated on conjuring his polearm instead.  Here he was, about to die at the hands of the damned yaksha, and all because he had decided to give you a chance to 'escape' a portion of the hardship that awaited you.  Signora would lose what respect she had for him if she ever found out.  Oh well.

"Ngh," you writhed against the tree.  Your feet were just inches from solid ground, making this injury all the more painful as you hung from the lance.  You couldn't move your dominant arm anymore.  Xiao let go of Childe's collar and moved to your aid.  He slipped your other arm over his shoulder so he could relieve the pressure off of your injury, then yanked the spear out without warning.  Your shout of pain scared the nearby foxes away.

Xiao gave the Harbinger one last glare before he lifted you in his arms and took off at an incredible speed.  It was only a matter of seconds before the two of you caught up with the rest of the group, who were waiting just inside a small cave that held mysterious lab equipment.

"Be careful,"  the yaksha set you on your feet but refused to remove your arm from around him.

"There you are!  W-where'd Childe go?"  Bennett paled when he saw your injury.  "Here, let me see that."  Aether, Paimon, and Xiao exchanged knowing looks while Bennett examined your shoulder.  "You should sit down.  This isn't anything I can't fix!"

"What happened? Did Childe...?" Aether trailed off once he returned with a bowl of water from a boiling pot.  

"Mn," you winced when Bennett peeled your shirt off of your bloody skin.  "I thought he was conspiring with those agents when we were making a run for it, so I followed him."

"A foolish decision," Xiao grumbled.  He took the water from Aether and held it to your lips.

"Were you at least able to find anything else out about his plans? Or Signora?"  Paimon spoke up.  "It's not worth getting hurt over if you just throw yourself in harm's way like that."

"I thought he was going to..." your eyes flicked to Xiao's for a split second before they fell to the ground.  '--Hurt you,' you wanted to say.  But the yaksha would not hear of it if you said something so foolishly naïve.  You were just a measly human after all, with little knowledge of fighting and a large heart that wanted to protect those around her.  A big heart could only go so far; it proved useless in your battle today.  Or did it?  You nearly jumped up when you remembered, "I have something! I got something from this!"  Your loud yelp scared the daylights out of Bennett, and he nearly yanked the stitch out that he had just put into your skin.  You dug into your pocket and pulled out the artifact.

"Is that--?!"  Paimon and Aether sprung to their feet simultaneously.

"A vision?"  Xiao's eyes widened slightly.  And a cryo one, at that.

"So cool!" Paimon spun around with excitement.  "You're officially one of us now! Er, not that you weren't to begin with--"

"Congrats,"  Aether nodded and flashed you a toothy grin.  

"Yeah, congrats!"  Bennett also flashed you a bright smile and observed the trinket in your palm.  "Wow, we're like, polar opposites!"

"Heh, yeah," you nodded with a faint smile.  Your eyes found Xiao's, which were locked onto your vision.  "Xiao?"

"You received a blessing from the very god that's hunting you.  Do you not find that odd?"  His lack of enthusiasm made your chest ache in disappointment.  

Was he not proud of such an accomplishment?

"Yeah now that you mention it," Paimon held her chin and thought.  "It is really weird.  Why would she make her target more powerful? Wouldn't that just make it more difficult for her to capture you?"

"Did Childe say anything about it?"  Aether prompted.

"No," you shook your head slightly and pursed your lips.  "He seemed as surprised as I was."

To be blessed with the cryo vision, one must commit an act that revolves around love, Xiao's brows furrowed.  Had she done something on the behalf of her grandmother, or is this all in the Cryo Archon's plan?  It never crossed his mind that you had gotten it on his behalf.

[significantlylesschill]

Please infodump about Raymond he's the most oc ever 👀

OH, WELL ! if you insist!!

(for anyone who is unclear!! raymond hashimoto is my [bmc fanon] Creator Of Squips and current head of the organization who manages their creation and distribution)

god we were just talkin abt this yesterday, but my guy raymond got his start as a character bc we wanted an Antagonist and i was the first one to mention i had a character concept on a backburner already; this wassss, three, four years ago-ish and turns out i really liked him so ive been lovingly developing his character since lmao

im preemptively adding a readmore bc i already know im gonna ramble FHKSDJF so buckle up raymond enjoyers!!

THEMATICALLY SPEAKING hes a little bit The Villain Has Some Points But Is Going About It The Wrong Way type beat . i mean. he went the 'use ai to fix everyone' route, yall know how it is; [see Be More Chill for examples]; raymond has always had trouble connecting to other people, fully understanding social cues--stuff like that doesnt come naturally to him, yknow? and the people around him growing up didnt respond well to this, and he understandably grew frustrated, and then that anger just.............ddddidnt go anywhere for like twenty years, and oops! my guy started taking some drastic measures

to provide a loose timeline, SQUIPs first came into fruition as the passion project slash college independent study project of one young adult ray--a chatbot type thing you could talk to, and in turn it would learn more about human social behavior, and help its user to become more comfortable navigating such!

every following iteration of this little bot was both more impressive and less noble in concept. for a while raymond fixated on making them ~*marketable*~ [party blower noises] but that didnt go over well in the long run, and long story short, this project hed poured his heart and soul into continued in more underground and MUCH less legal ways, until we reach in-universe present day, where something like the Mess That Happens In Be More Chill Musical Canon is not only probable, but expected

the world is full of people who dont listen, after all. its a squips job to figure out how to make them listen

raymond has an absurd amount of power, and he has little problem with exerting it for the purpose of keeping himself entertained. raymond likes sour candy and energy drinks and all manner of sugary sodas, and doesnt have anything resembling a sleep schedule. raymond has seven squip units of his own, three of which are no longer functional, and he tests all new major iterations on himself. raymond thinks he has it all figured out. raymond has an enormous personal stake in the success of his squip project. raymond never tells an outright lie because the ramifications of such are annoying and confusing and take way too much mental energy to bother.

raymond has a DEEP appreciation for the natural world; astronomy especially, he's been fascinated with it since he was young. there are things mankind can only barely touch, catch merely a glimpse of, things that will never fully be understood--not because mankind does not try, no, far from it--but because their perspective will simply never be large enough. also he names all his squip units after planets lol

his employees are treated with care and respect; given they play by his rules, of course. the professional world is where raymond is at his most capable; it's a world of rules and wages and agreements, and these are things that can be studied and mastered

raymond is a villain. he came to the conclusion once that mankind is flawed, and he felt as though hes the only one willing to act in a drastic enough manner to change things. he took drastic measures, spent years clawing into a position of power, and decided once he got there that he rather likes having power, actually. why shouldnt he indulge himself a little bit? why not get comfortable while hes here, hm? and at the top is where he plans on staying for as long as he possibly can.

i do also associate him with Every Single Track In The Album Spirit Phone By Lemon Demon . thank you for your time <3

[ace-t-fic]

This a Peter si fic I started (its purely 'feel good' no eye roll moments) but never found out what I wanted to do with it. This hasn't been grammar checked ethier.

The yearly trip to science industries (after the fiasco concerning OC labs) was heavily guarded by the gpa efficiency minimum and it was usually 123 Seniors at Midtown high each year. That only left less than 30 who had the gpa needed in order to attend the field trip. But with detentions and tardies that often brought it down to 25 added in with the people who actually turned in their permission slips drop that number down to a solid 13. That usually  meant the whole decathlon team, one jock, the Sat acres and people with tiger parents. 

So when the paper was only passed to Peter and Flash in their homeroom he wasn’t surprised who qualified for the field trip. 

Last year's field trip the students all got to go to Tesla and returned the day after. Liz said it was a fun experience and even one of the kids was later offered an internship available to him after their graduation. Liz herself wasn’t all that interested in the company herself but she said the experience was an enjoyable one. So Peter would have been lying if he said he wasn’t practically buzzed for when his senior year trip came. 

He wondered if they would be able to tour the new labs Wakanda had set up. He wanted to go for a while but their outside personnel was strictly limited to certified personnel and those with names that ended with Stark or Banner or Avengers. But the name staring back at him was just laughing at him, “congratulations, you have qualified for this year's exclusive Senior trip to SI inc.” an all paid expense to visit his work. Now instead of taking the City bus he could just catch a ride on a big ugly yellow one. 

Not that this was a let down it was still an amazing opportunity many would kill for. He thought gazing behind him to stare at Flash who fist bumped the air. The attention caught his attention and he made brief eye contact with Peter with a smug little smile on his face. Peter only flashed back his before the flash rolled his eyes and no longer paid him attention. 

Flash still didn’t partially believe Peter's internship-neither did anyone else really- but flash was the most put out about it. He would be lying if he says he wasn’t rooting for Peter the night of his junior year party. He even helped Diana, the maid clean and dust just in case Spiderman really did show up. And when he didn’t show up he told Peter exactly how he felt about it with a new string of nicknames. Added on to the occasional passive agressive shoulder shove but nothing more or less beyond that. Sure he was a dick but he wasn’t a good fighter, just richer than Parker he was beating him in the fight of life. 

Peter only rolled his eyes back, shoving the paper into the back of his class notebook. 

The minutes ticked by steadily as Peter waited to meet Ned at his locker. He’s almost deadly positive Ned received one too and is waiting to shake the life out of his shoulders. Peter may work at Si but Ned’s never been and the experience in itself is quite entertaining. Things are always different when best friends are involved. 

“Anyone who received a field trip paper will have to have it signed and returned to me, the office, or Mrs. Meyers up to five days before the date of the field trip. Other than that we will continue on with the stock market Tomorrow!” The teacher screamed over the rustling papers and scraping chairs as he let them out a minute early, if you ask anyone on campus that made him the cool teacher.

Petter grabbed his folders, having lost another backpack he was sure laid webbed to the building and exited the room. He easily made it to his locker before Ned did and even got to close it before he was approached

. 

“Dude you can show me your lab.” he whispered to peter. 

“Actually I can’t, my lab is Tony’s and that's only because Bucky has been keeping him away from the lab.” Peter announced before he got his hopes up. “We’re probably gonna tour below mid level, I don't think they allow anyone without a permanent badge into any of the labs.” 

“Do we get to meet any of the avengers?” 

“Probably Bruce, he’s usually chilling with all the other scientists. It’ll be cool though you know i haven’t actually met him? The dude has to be dumb smart, you know Tony scraps ideas if he can’t get Bruce to sign off on them.” Peter gushes, before an arm is roughly swung around his shoulder. “Ow-no.”

Flashes pffts, “give me a break i hate this as much as you but apparently since I’m friends with idiots i have to slum it with you and- I’m sorry what's your-”

“Ned”

“Yeah Ned, that sounds familiar for the trip. I asked more about it and this might be a good time to turn in our submissions for the upcoming Intern conference. We get in ahead and we can probably impress him enough for our stuff to actually be looked at. Peter, I know your tech smart, I do numbers and possibilities and Ned we’ve been in coding since middle school together so we can definitely do that.” Flash rambles.

“What are you talking about?”

“We’ve been coding together for 6 years and you just barely remembered my name?”

“What I’m talking about-Peter is welcome to the winning team. Listen your smart parker you may or may not have an internship although its kinda sketchy that out of nowhere you a loser 17 year old defies all social laws and pops on the popularity chart” Understandable he still cursed Ned for saying anything right before he asked Mary jane to prom god that was embarrassing. 

You know that fancy stuff doesn’t bother me Peter. If I wanted to solely date you for your internship I’d hope someone would’ve knocked sense into you to get over me. 

“But I honestly feel as if we wow at least one impressionable person. They'll seek us an audience with Stark before the rest of the crowd.”  Flash continues. 

“You know that honestly doesn’t sound bad?” Ned finishes unsure over the look of alarm on Peter's face. Because yeah it’s not a bad idea and that expo meant the world to the real science losers around the GLOBE. And Ned really did want to be involved beyond the guy in the chair way before Peter turned into Spiderman. Peter would probably still be hands deep in his theories if he hadn’t gotten bit by some escaped lab spider. This expo at one point in his life -sophomore year- was the only thing that was gonna get Aunt May out of the nearly slumps. 

And flash…. Well he’s just a fucking nerd to put it lightly he was just rich, and since he was rich and gushes this much about being a intern of all things meant he might’ve been worse then both Peter and Ned when they first envisioned running coffee for Tony stark. 

Plus it would be kinda unfair to see if he could pull strings for Ned instead of proving that he was capable of it far more on his own. “Fiiiinn-”

“Whoop! You might actually not be so bad penis.” and with a clap on his shoulder disappearing with the ringing of the bell. 

Peter clenched his jaw shooting a ‘why’ look at Ned, “Oh don’t give me that look, you think I want to work with him. He has money and resources and he is good at real numbers not technical of coding, look you're an spaceship mechanic, he does the landing the thrust or whatever they do and I’m the guy who counts down which is honestly better then both of those jobs-” 

“Please Ned you're embarrassing me '' Peter laughed as he and Ned made their way through the day. 2 months until the field trip that was more than enough time for three geniuses to at least come up with a concept and a prototype for something cool. 

Scrap that they’re screwed. 

“I almost died.” Ned said, sitting in a shock of foam. “You guys just sat there, you were gonna watch me die.”

“Don’t be dramatic.” Ned reared back at Flash's comment, “Dramatic! I just went up in flames!” 

“Hey, it was your boy Peter who made it. Plus maybe if he didn’t bail early last  Monday we could’ve caught that our numbers weren’t matching up with his” Maybe if some assholes weren't trying to rob F.E.A.S.T after their charity event he wouldn’t have had too. 

“I told you things happen Flash, I do in fact have a life.”

“MJ tell you that”

“-oo burn”

“Ned!- ok listen in order for this hoverboard to work we have to make sure everything is matched up. It shouldn’t have done that so something else must’ve gone wrong too.” Peter explained grabbing the notebooks and tossing them on the Flashes workbench. Hoverboard and back to future stickers on the covers.

“Might be the fact that it isn’t Hovering. But that's just me.”

[issa-me-addy]

Better Than Words (OC x Bucky Barnes)

Move In Day 

PART THREE/?

A/N: Day 2 of my posting several days in a row to feel something about this goddamn fic and again a kind reminder that this takes place in an AU after Spiderman: Homecoming (also after rewatching it I realize that in this AU they did not locate upstate they are still in the original Stark -> Avengers tower in the city) where the Avengers have reassembled and the following all live in the Avengers tower: Tony, Pepper, Steve, Bucky, Natasha, Wanda & Vision. Peter Parker’s identity is still intact and he spends his free time training at the Avengers tower under his ‘Stark Internship’. 

also here is my masterlist! 

Word Count: 2686

Warnings: fluff, mild angst, and slow burn 

Eventually, they cruise into the faculty parking lot and Steve pulls into the spot right next to them very shortly after. 

The four all grab one box to start, just so Maya can unlock all the doors and show them exactly where the classroom is. They proceed into the building, up the stairs, and all the way down the long hallway and in through the second to last door to the right. 

It was obviously very underwhelming for Nat, Steve and Bucky to see blank walls, a mess of 40-odd something student desks and other miscellaneous things left by the previous teacher. But Maya’s heart swelled and she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. 

She walked up to the school provided desk and dropped the box in her arms so she could float around the classroom to truly take it all in. The three followed her lead, dropping all their boxes and waltzing around the room as well. Steve reached up and touched the flag hanging in the corner while Bucky messed with the several maps that sprung down from above the white board. As for Nat, she walked across the wall filled with windows, opening all the blinds and pulling on the strings that let them fly up, flooding the room with sunshine and then brushing the gray dust away on her pants. All the while, Maya continued to dance around the room, admiring every bit of it from the hole filled ceiling panels to the pale marbled floor tiles. 

After a few minutes of complete awe on Maya’s part, Nat suggests that they start bringing things up. 

“We can just bring everything up for you,”  Nat suggested, “You can stay up here and start unpacking. Unloading the cars won’t take long anyways.” 

“That would be great! I’m gonna start moving some stuff around to fit the new furniture.” 

Nobody wasted any time. The three Avengers made their way out of the classroom and Maya started moving the provided teacher’s desk to the back of the room. 

Said teacher’s desk and chair were placed in the far left corner for storage and potentially a future TA, and without even stopping to think Maya got started on rearranging the student desks. She started by roughing out half of them and parting a distinct path down the center,

After realizing how exhausting this was already proving to be, Maya stopped and to her enjoyment, the three were already coming back upstairs. 

Despite being kind of winded already from moving the desks around, Maya still convinced herself that it really did get harder to breathe when she saw Bucky walk into the room. 

But who could blame her? This was the first time she really took the time to notice his metal arm. It was difficult not to stare, considering it was holding a 90-some pound box steady on his shoulder, the plates shifting and making very low humming sounds as they did. And all the while his right hand was still managing two full boxes of books. And to Maya’s disbelief he carried all this weight as easily as if the boxes were filled with feathers. 

Bucky floated in and plopped the books down on the closest student desk and then asked, “Where do you want the desk?” 

Maya was still staring a bit, so much so that Bucky had to clear his throat to elicit an answer from her. 

“Sorry! You can just drop over there,” she pointed now to the far right corner that you could see from the doorway. “Thanks, James.” 

He nods and drops it before turning his heel straight back to the cars. 

Nat drops down the box she was holding and nods her head at Maya. “Were you staring at Bucky?” 

Maya automatically shook her head. “No, I wasn’t staring. I just never really look at his arm, I guess,” she said softly. 

“You get used to it,” Steve chirped in, dropping four boxes full of books. “But a lot of girls stare, Maya. Anyways, the arm adds to the broody thing he’s got going for him.” 

Nat laughed a bit. Maya did too but hers was pretty forced due to the fact that her mind was filled with more thoughts of Bucky’s arm.

It was after a quick glance back at all the desks that Maya decided to wait until they were done bringing everything up to the classroom so that she could ask Steve or Bucky to move them for her. She took the downtime to assemble her new desk chair. 

By the time she was half done with the chair they had brought every last book and box into the classroom. 

“Alright! What next, boss?” Steve asked, setting down the last box. 

After clumsily finding her way to her feet, Maya brushed off the dust from the butt of her pants. “Um, Nat, can you start alphabetizing the books by author? And then you guys can help me rearrange the chairs.” Her feet carried her towards the messy sea of chairs. “I want to split them in half and create an aisle down the center of them, and then have both sides facing the aisle, so like, facing each other.” 

After a few minutes of trying to go back to the chair, Steve and Bucky kept having more and more questions. Steve decided it would be best if he finished the chair and Maya just gave Bucky more explicit directions. 

Despite feeling conflicted about being “alone” with Bucky, Maya managed to give him direction and they got it done fairly quickly. 

By the time they were done, Steve had finished the new rolling chair and was sitting in it, his legs stretched out in front of him and reclining slightly. He tested out the wheels and grinned as he rolled smoothly towards the door. 

“Ooooh, that is nice! Mind if Buck and I take this thing for a spin?” Steve asked, grinning.

“Go ahead,” Maya laughed, as Bucky’s face lit up, automatically following Steve out of the room. 

Maya decided to start organizing the pieces for her new desk so she could have one of the guys help her afterwards. She didn’t get very far in this task before she was whipping her head up at the sound of Steve’s whooping. 

To her surprise, Steve was sitting on the chair with his legs up, zooming down the hall a little too fast and was always shortly followed by Bucky running up behind him. This happened maybe half a dozen times before they switched spots. 

She couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Bucky, his hair disheveled and his knees tucked up in front of him with a smile on his face, flying past the open doorway. 

It was after they switched back that Maya and Nat heard a slam. They both got up and went to the doorway to find Steve on the floor at the end of the hall, the chair tipped onto its side and Bucky running up towards him, practically doubled forward with laughter. 

“Are they always like this?” 

Nat snickered, “Oh yeah. And you would think that Tony’s the one that hates it but you should have seen when Pepper caught them with a rolling chair and one of Tony’s glove blasters. They were using the glove to propel themselves down the longest hallway we have. She was so livid, she literally sent them to their rooms.”  

Maya’s brow rises and she laughs before sticking her head further out into the hallway. “Steve, you good?” 

“Never better!” He calls out, getting up and bringing the chair and Bucky back into the classroom. 

-- 

After Steve and Bucky built Maya’s desk, she left all her things in a pile on the desktop and decided to leave it for later so she could help Nat and the guys organize all the books instead. 

The duration of this book organization was predominantly teasing Steve for not having the alphabet memorized. This joke continued on for a longer than reasonable amount of time.

The minority of the book alphabetizing was Maya telling Steve everything that he missed about literature since he froze. 

“Stevie here was always the bookworm,” Bucky shared. “Would rather read than go on the dates I set up for him.” 

Steve shook his head slightly, “All the girls you ever brought around were there for you, Buck.” 

Maya didn’t know about Steve’s physique pre-serum so this was kind of hard to believe. Despite this, she thought about Bucky and the way his voice sounded when he called her doll. She believed in the concept of Bucky being a ladies’ man after relishing in the memory of his velvety voice. 

“What kind of things did you read Steve?” Maya asked, changing the subject out of sheer discomfort caused by thinking about Bucky taking two girls home. 

“The classics, some of Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Hemingway. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Tolkien’s series went off! I made Buck watch all the films with me when I found out about them.” Steve beamed. 

Maya got excited to hear about his liking of Tolkien and got talking about her favorite fantasy series. She raved about Harry Potter, which Steve was very skeptical about in the beginning. She also raved about contemporary work and how fantasy has started to merge with science fiction in the last decade.

For the duration of this conversation, Nat and Bucky simply listened to Maya ramble on about her book collection and Nat giggled when she warned Steve about the Twilight series. 

“Stephanie Meyer’s best work had to be The Host. Great sci-fi and significantly less teen angst.”

“I promise you, Harry Potter is worth reading. It’s an easy read but still deeply enjoyable. The characters are lovable and it's definitely a world you can submerge yourself in when this one just isn’t cutting it, you know?” 

By the end of it, Maya had convinced him to give Harry Potter a chance. She sent him home with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and a few classics he missed while he was in the ice including Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, and Where the Wild Things Are. 

After marking Steve down for having these books, giddy about her new library system, they were done for the day.

And with that, they filed out, Maya locked the door and they made their way down to the cars once again. 

--

“Are you guys sure you can’t do dinner tonight?” Maya asked. 

“Sorry, shortstack, no amount of books you own is going to replace a real workout.” Steve gave Maya a bit of a side hug squeeze before walking towards the driver’s door of Happy’s SUV. 

“I’ll ride back with Maya and just meet you guys back at the tower,” Nat chirped, climbing into the car. 

“Thank you again!” Maya called out. 

“No problem, doll,” Bucky hummed, as he waved goodbye closing his door behind him

-

Once they were on the freeway again Nat asked, “So not Steve… but maybe his best friend?” 

“Natasha! You really don’t quit do you?” Maya rolled her eyes.

Nat hesitated for only a moment. “No, I don’t. You should really know that about me.” She paused to laugh. “I do think the Steve thing was just cute but Bucky-- you and Bucky have tension.” 

Maya rolled her eyes. “No!!! There is no tension! You are totally misreading it.” 

“I know what tension is. And you guys have tension. Even Bucky noticed it.” Nat grinned to herself. 

“You are so full of shit!” She made sure her tone was playful but she just prayed that Nat wasn’t looking at her because she felt her cheeks begin to flush. “James didn’t say anything to you about me, did he?” 

“You’re going to have to ask him yourself, sweetheart.” Nat teased. 

“Stop! I don’t even know why he calls me that. And doll? Does he call everyone these names?” 

Nat shook her head, “He definitely doesn’t call me any pet names, but that’s because he called me princess once in the ring and he regretted it shortly after.” 

Maya laughed at the thought of Nat kick dropping Bucky onto the floor of a boxing ring. “I don’t even know James. And I severely hope you’re joking about him thinking anything of me.” 

“Okay, okay. He didn’t say anything about tension. But he does think you’re weird-- well, not weird per say.” 

Maya groaned a bit, knocking the back of her head against the headrest. “Absolutely nothing you’re saying is making me feel better about seeing James ever again. Ever.” 

“He didn’t say anything bad! He just thinks that you don’t like him. He feels like you avoid addressing him,” Nat explained. 

“I don’t avoid him! I just don’t know how to talk to him. I feel like he only really talks to Steve and I didn’t want to overstep and make him uncomfortable.” 

“No, Maya, it’s fine.” Nat patted her shoulder. “I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. But Bucky’s also not wrong. You’re not your same chirpy self when he's around. You kind of get quiet, like you’re thinking about every move you make.” 

“Well, I kind of do! He makes me uncomfortable. Not in a bad way! I just-- The only things I know about James are the things that were in the news, and those were obviously all… horrible really. Of course, I also saw a few pieces about when he came back and joined the Avengers initiative, but I still can’t wrap my head around everything he’s been through.” 

All of the things that Maya said were true. She remembers being in grad school, watching the news and being introduced to this new character: The Winter Soldier. It was appalling, having to find out that he was nothing but a pawn in some grand scheme that did nothing but cause pain-- Learning that he had to live with the things he did, despite not having any control over it was difficult for Maya then and difficult to think about again now. But the fact of the matter is that Maya never thought this moral war would actually be relevant to her. And now here she was, becoming very invested in her friendships with several super humans and renowned heroes. 

The other thing to take into consideration was that she was attracted to Bucky. She had to stop herself from thinking about all the bad things he was capable of. This was especially important when she got well ahead of herself, thinking about what it would be like to develop her own relationship with him. And aside from the physical attraction, another part of her couldn’t help but daydream about all the stories he had to tell. The 40s, the war, HYDRA, The Avengers. As a person who dedicated her life to loving stories, she couldn’t imagine how blissful it would be to hear some firsthand from Bucky himself. 

Nat nodded, her smile fading as she had to face the reoccurring realization that Maya was a risky person to befriend. “I understand. Truth be told, we don’t really mix with the non-vigilante types anymore.” 

Maya scoffed softly, “I mean, yeah, I figured. That’s why I was so nervous about asking to spend time together outside of Corners, and then when you teased me about Steve and I-- well, I’ve just been confused.” 

“We have too! It’s been a moral conflict really. We don’t want to put you in any danger, of course, but I don’t know. I guess, you just give us a glimpse of what normal life is like, and it's really refreshing.” 

A small smile creeped onto both the girls’ faces. 

“Well, I’m glad I can give you guys that. I genuinely enjoy spending time with you guys, too. You’ve made the move a lot easier on me, to be honest.” 

“I’m glad. Since we’re being honest-- I think you’re in too deep now. We’re not going anywhere.” 

Maya couldn’t help but grin and be ecstatic about the fact that she had friends to rely on in the city. 

-- 

TAGLIST: @asuperconfusedgirl @amisutcliff

[thethoughtsfromthreeam]

Sunshine

Pairing: Maxwell Lord x OC (Evelyn “Evie” Blaker)

Warnings: None

A/N: I have to admit I’m really struggling with this story.  I don’t know if my brain is finally coming to the end of this writing jag its been on for the last month and a half, but I’m determined to see it through and get it posted.  So we’ll see what the next couple of weeks bring.

Reminder:  I ain’t ever seen Pedro Pascal in FUCK ALL, I’m just coming up with this as I go along, using imdb.com, wiki, and 84,000 tabs I got open to plan out this shit.  I also write soft versions of his characters so if you’re craving asshole vibes, I ain’t got any but my own to offer.

Tags:  @zeldasayer , @romanticgumchewer, @beskars​ , @coolmaybelateruniverse , @the-feckless-wonder, @lavenderl3mons , @pascalisthepunkest , @mandoandyodito​ , @randomness501 , @fioccodineveautunnale  

[PART 1] 

Part 2 

Then Move on to Dinner

As Evie disembarked from the train, she felt as if she had been taken through a ringer and thought that she probably looked it.  Such an auspicious start to her date with Maxwell Lord of all people.  But she was here and as she stepped further into Grand Central Station, she looked around for Maxwell’s driver.  When she spotted the man holding a sign with her name on it, she smiled while adjusting her small bag on her shoulder, walking over to meet him.  Her look of apology was all over her face and he could clearly see it.

“Are you Bennett?”

“I am, you must be Miss Evie.  Mr. Lord said you’d be easy to spot in the crowd.”  She laughed and he smiled at her.  They shook hands and he began to guide her out of the station, dodging the mass of people exiting the city for home after a long workday.  

“I am so sorry, Bennett, there was a delay coming out of Poughkeepsie. I know you had to have been waiting a while.”

“Naw, it’s all good.  But the traffic is a little heavy today, so let’s get going.  I know Mr. Lord is already at the restaurant.”  Evie had the rare knack for making friends with everyone she met, and Bennett was no exception.  As they walked to the car, they chatted like old friends.  They stepped out into the warm evening and Bennett pointed to the car.

As she climbed in, she continued to ask questions about the man’s family, how long he had been working for Maxwell, and when Bennett admitted he was an artist, she began to prod him about that, too.  All the while, she was in the back transforming herself from seemingly mild-manner accountant to date worthy.

She didn’t have an opportunity to get ready on the train coming into the city as she had hoped, so Evie took a chance to update her make-up for the evening and twisted her hair into a sleek up-do.  When she needed to change clothes, she asked Bennett if he could just briefly turn the mirror.  He smiled and told her that there was a partition.  He raised it and she slipped out of her sweater and slacks and into a deep gold cocktail dress.  The crepe satin had metallic thread woven through it and it sparkled in the light. When she knocked on the partition, Bennett whistled when he saw her emerge as it lowered.

“Miss Evie, I’m pretty sure Mr. Lord will have a hard time keeping his eyes off you.”  

“Yeah, well, I suppose that’s the goal of any date night, right?”  She grunted as she moved to put on a pair of nude flats.  As she put on her jewelry, Bennett kept talking.

“For sure, my Bette, that first night we met, I knew I was going to marry her.  I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.  She wore this pink dress that just. . . .  Well, let’s just say it was a good night!”

They both laughed and soon Bennett was pulling up to the restaurant. She cleaned up her mess and stowed her bag under the seat before getting out, wrapping her green silk shawl around her shoulders.  The sudden sounds of the city caused her to pause a moment before she rushed up the stairs and into the restaurant.  She smiled at the hostess, who immediately took her to a private room upon hearing her name.

As she stepped into the room, Maxwell looked up, relief washing over him at the sight of her.  He had been worried that she wasn’t going to come given how late she was.  A small part of him wondered if Saturday night’s little adventure and promise wasn’t something his muddled brain hadn’t just made up.  Seeing her in person again washed away all those uncharacteristic doubts that had been swirling around for the last hour.

“Maxwell, I am so, so, so sorry I am late.  I’ve kept you waiting and I’m sure you’re hungry.  I should have called you, but I didn’t realize how bad the delay was and then the traffic was bad. . .”  She rambled on in her apology as he stood up to greet her, not even noticing the feral look in his eye.  He took her hand and when he spoke her name, she looked up.

“Evie.”  His tone was even but carried authority and it was often one his own staff heard from him. It easily broke through her worrying thoughts, bringing her back to him.  “It’s fine. Things happen.  What matters is that you’re here.  Give yourself a second to breathe.  We have all night.”  

She heaved a sigh of relief and for the first time since she walked into the room, she smiled at him.  He smiled back and dropped his hand to her lower back to guide her to their table. He signaled the young man waiting at the door and he left to get their waiter.  He pulled out her chair and as she sat down, he caught a whiff of her shampoo – just as soft and warm as he remembered, and he felt his cock stir a little.  

If Maxwell Lord weren’t already captivated by Evie Blaker, then tonight he would have been.  When she walked in, wearing that golden dress, he felt as if the room brightened considerably and it was all he could do to talk to her.  He was mesmerized by her everyday beauty, but she was a radiant sun goddess now.  He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her until she was panting for him, until she begged him to fuck her on the table, dinner be damned.  Instead, he willed himself to calm down and for his erection to stop growing.

“Just a ginger ale and water please, Alonzo.  And I’m sorry, wait.  Maxwell, did you want another drink?”  He straightened up at the sound of his name from her voice and simply nodded.  The waiter bowed his head to fill their drink orders and the two fell into silence as they looked at the menu.  He already knew what he wanted but waited patiently for her to decide.

“How did you know his name was Alonzo?”  He asked.

“I asked him?”  If she weren’t so kind, he would have guessed her questioning look was akin to something like, are you stupid?  He never blushed, but he could feel heat rising in his neck in embarrassment.  He cleared his throat to rid himself of this foreign sensation.

“You asked him.”

“Yes, and the young man over there is Zachary.  And the hostess is named Melanie.”  She smiled at the boy and he shyly smiled back before looking away. She looked back at Maxwell, whose mouth was slightly hanging open.  He looked down at the menu before looking up.  He saw her eyes sparkle with amusement.  She had the courtesy not to giggle out loud at least.

“Oh.”

“You don’t really talk with the people around you, do you?”  He thought about it and really, unless he had something to say to them, no he didn’t.  And when he did, he was prone to speaking at them rather than with them.  Before he could say anything, Alonzo returned with their drinks and to take their order, before whisking away the menus and signaling Zachary to follow him.  The two were left alone.

---***---

His dinner with Evie was one of the most enjoyable nights Maxwell had had in some time.  He found himself more open than he usually is on a date and he was certain her natural friendliness was the reason.  Something about her made him answer her questions truthfully and to share even when not prompted.  Their conversation was non-stop, even after the food came, and they seemed pressed to learn as much about each other as possible – as if both were worried this was a dream that would disappear.

While most people knew that Maxwell’s father committed suicide, he revealed how his mother died a much slower death.  He talked about how that shaped him and his real feelings about Chimtech.  He felt pride in the company’s success under his leadership, but knowing it was also the ultimate cause of his parent’s deaths made him feel a little resentful towards it.

They laughed together over his antics in college or at least the ones he was willing to share. And he shared tales of travel and the time he got lost in Prague that led him to the most beautiful church he had ever seen.  As he shared, he became more and more relaxed.  And Maxwell relaxed was a sight to behold for Evie – she was certain she was witnessing something special.

On her part, Evie loved to tell stories and she reached out to Maxwell when he talked about his father’s death because she too had lost a parent.  She talked about how her mother’s sudden death in an accident caused by a drunk drive lead her to never want to drink.  But she was close her to pharmacist father, who loved and was devoted his only child.  And how he was supportive when she took a risk and went all the way to Notre Dame for college.

She also regaled him with stories from her childhood antics with her cousin and best friend, Maribel.  He never laughed as hard as when Evie described how the two of them destroyed a pier and Maribel’s brother’s boat trying to recreate the Lancelot and Elaine scene from Anne of Green Gables.  They thought they could do it better and she admitted they clearly didn’t.

“Well, to your credit, you did recreate the scene from the book pretty faithfully.”  Maxwell laughed.  She laughed too.

“That is true, although I don’t think Brad has forgiven us over the loss of his boat.”  They sat back in their chairs, with little chuckles permeating the small room.  She sighed as she took a sip of her drink and Maxwell watched her, a small smile on his face.  He was more content and relaxed than he had been in a long time. Her sitting across from him felt so natural and a small part of him thought that he could get used to this.

“Would you like dessert?”  He asked and she nodded.  She wasn’t about to pass up the chance for dessert in a four-star restaurant in New York. After perusing the menu, Maxwell decided on a berry tart and she went for a caramel cake.  They continued their conversation through dessert and as it wound down, Maxwell texted Bennett to bring the car around.

“I’m sorry, Maxwell, can I order a dessert to go?”  She looked at him shyly, not wanting to seem greedy. He smiled with a hint of confusion but nodded as he finished his wine.  After she placed the order, she excused herself to go to the restroom. He sat back and realized they had been sitting for hours but it seemed so much shorter than that. The warmth that haunted his dreams had enveloped him all evening and he was hesitant to let her go just yet.

When she returned, she noticed the box on the table and smiled.  Maxwell smiled back and stood up to meet her. She picked up her things as he held out his hand and she slipped hers into his grasp.  He lightly squeezed as they left the restaurant.  Evie thought that holding his hand seemed to be the most natural thing in the world, as if his hand were made to hold hers perfectly.

Evie bid good-bye to Zachary, Alonzo, and then Melanie as they exited the building before giving Bennett a large smile when they stepped outside.  He returned it and the couple slid into the car, with the door closing behind them.  When he got back in the car, Evie stopped him.

“Here Bennett - this is for you and Bette.”  She handed him the box and he looked stunned.

“For us?”

“Yes, it’s a caramel cake, you said that it was yours and Bette’s favorite dessert, right?”

“Yeah!  You remembered?!”

“Of course!  I had this for dessert, and you will both love it.  It’s divine!”  She patted his hand and he looked so happy that she not only remembered but cared enough to bring him something.  She sat back, putting on her seatbelt.  He set the cake down carefully so he could take it home before turning to Maxwell and asking where their next stop was.

“Give me a minute, Bennett.”  The driver nodded and waited.

“Stay with me tonight.”  His low voice didn’t demand, but it was firm, and he was glad it hid the desperation he was feeling.  He wanted her to come home with him.  But she no more wanted the evening to end than he did, and Evie simply nodded, and a smile bloomed on his lips.  Finally, the sensations that haunted his sleep wouldn’t leave him at dawn’s first light.

“Home, Bennett.”  The driver nodded and he pulled away from the curb to begin the trek across the city. As they sat there, Evie reached over to grab Maxwell’s hand and lace her fingers through his.  He tightened his hand, as if to keep her from floating away from him.

“How did you know about cake?”  He asked suddenly, but quietly and she turned to look at him with a confused look on her face.

“Because we talked earlier on the way in?”  It was a question-comment.

“You talked about cake?”

“Among other things.”  She looked at him closer.  “You didn’t know Bennett was married, did you?”

He slightly shook his head no and she nodded in response.  Bennett had been his driver for six years and until tonight, Maxwell didn’t know anything about the man.  Evie squeezed his hand and looked out to the window to enjoy New York City in the evening.  The two lapsed into their own silences for the remainder of the trip.

---***---

She expected Bennett to pull up to a large apartment building, thinking Maxwell lived in a penthouse.  Instead, he pulled down a tree-lined street with large houses on either side. Bennett stopped in front of a three-story brownstone that exuded charm and warmth.  She could see in the flower beds daisies, asters, and lilies interspersed with small ornamental trees.  She was almost shocked at how homey and welcoming the property looked.  

The car stopped and Evie withdrew her hand to grab her bag from under the seat.  Bennett opened the door and Evie stepped out while Maxwell opened his own door and stretched his long legs as he walked around the back of the car.  Evie was already into another conversation with his driver as he came up to them.

“You say hello to Bette for me and you’ll let me know what she thinks of the cake, won’t you?”

“Absolutely Miss Evie!  You have a good evening with Mr. Lord.”

“Good-bye Bennett!”  She gave him a small wave as Maxwell guided her up the steps.  As they entered the house, again Evie found herself surrounded by a cozy and charming space.  She stopped and looked around her, noting textures like dark wood and soft fabrics.  It was clearly the home of a man and yet it felt homey and well lived in.  

Instead of modern art, she noted classical style paintings and landscape photography hanging on the walls.  She sucked in a breath at the beautiful stain glass that hung in the windows and she thought that the place was probably heavenly when the sun shone through them in the late afternoons.

“Not what you expected, I bet?”  Maxwell watched her as she took in his home.  His tone was playful, and she laughed.

“No.  I expected a penthouse with a harsh modern look that was more like a magazine set than a real home.  This is beautiful, Maxwell.”

“I detest modern furniture.  It’s lifeless and cold.  Give me a leather couch any day.”  She supposed it made sense, he was a fashionable man, but he also came from money. He probably grew up in a similar house, where the traditional trappings of wealth surrounded him.  She decided it suited him much more than anything she had imagined.

Evie didn’t move from her spot in the foyer, not sure what would happen if she stepped further into his home.  For the first time since all this began, she felt apprehensive.  Meeting in an office or restaurant is one thing, that could be considered more neutral meeting grounds.  But here?  She was on his turf and was keenly aware he had an advantage.

It seemed as if Maxwell could sense her hesitation and he stepped up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders.  He could feel tension there and he wanted to wipe it away, so he bent his head down and kiss her underneath her ear.  She inhaled sharply at the sensation and her fingers gripped the handles of her bag.  When he kissed the spot again, her eyes fluttered shut.  They both knew what was going to happen next and they both wanted it. Saturday may have been the appetizer, but tonight was the dessert.

[xdefending]

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW SHIPS WORK ON YOUR BLOG

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE? :

Lorelei x some god damn peace and quiet.

Also Lorelei x someone who won’t die. That works too.

Oh, and I guess I like the classic HoK x Martin Septim ship, but I enjoy other ships just as much, tbh?

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE? :

Lorelei is chronologically 227 and physically in her late twenties to early thirties, so anywhere under legal age is where I draw the line at shipping romantically. That goes for both mental and physical age. Idc how old your immortal child is mentally or chronologically; if their appearance doesn’t match my limit at the least, I won’t be comfortable with it, sorry.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING? :  

It’s sort of a yes and no for me. On one hand, I definitely ship based on chemistry. If our muses don’t click well, it simply won’t work, and I’m not going to force it to. On the other hand, if I read up on a muse before interacting with them, and I can already sort of assess a pretty good potential for something shippy, I'm not afraid to contact the mun and plot something out along those lines. Sometimes you just know. And it just tends to happen with Lorelei more often than I initially anticipated, especially because she tends to be rather emotionally unavailable due to circumstances regarding her canon.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NS/FW? :

When it becomes implied that nsfw content will be taking place, that’s usually when I put it under the cut. Inappropriate touching/groping/grinding or even just an outright “do you want to have sex?” ---> “yes, please.”

WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH? :

Canon muses tend to be pretty obsolete, minus Martin. I guess I also slightly ship her with Legate Rikke because that’s who she married in her first Skyrim file, lmao. I am currently plotting to test the waters with a ship between Lorelei and @mechanicosmia​‘s Sotha Sil because I adore him and it’s something I see potential in, surprisingly. Oh, yeah and @grimhymns​ and I have a cute little ship between my bab and Serana as well.

With oc’s, there is only one ship that I’ve extensively plotted with @grimhymns​, and that’s if she’s still on board with creating Remliel (an Aureal/Golden Saint oc). There have been brief mentions of others, but nothing really developed. I’m always open to welcoming more.

Now, crossover ships? Oh, now I have plenty of those that I would love to write at some point, if I can find willing muns to write them with me. One of my dream crossover ships is Lorelei x Aloy (from Horizon Zero Dawn). I’d at least love to write a close friendship between them if one isn’t willing to write a romantic ship with them. Lorelei would stan Aloy SO MUCH, you have no idea.

ANY NOTPS? :

Not particularly; there aren’t any ships that I’m so much vehemently against. Typically, I’m pretty open to the idea of trying out anything, so long as it makes sense and I can see the potential there. I mean, I definitely can’t see potential in Lorelei being with anyone who represents the opposite of her morality. I feel like there are probably some people out there who ship the HoK with Mehrunes Dagon, for example, lmao.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU? :

Well, yes, of course. I’m pretty oblivious af, so unless you ask me directly, I probably won’t pick up on your intentions unless they’re explicitly implied ic or something. And I’d feel uncomfortable if someone just outright decided/assumed that a ship will take place without consulting me about it.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP? :

I’m always open to it, but I like to ship non-romantic ships just as often as romantic ships. /shrug

ARE YOU MULTISHIP? :

Yes. Every ship I write takes place in its own separate verse unless specified otherwise between muns.

ARE YOU SHIP-OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS? :

Somewhere in the middle, I think. I love ships, and they make my rpc experience incredibly enjoyable, but I don’t have to have them, you know. I'm more of a “if the situation calls for it” kind of person.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM? :

I honestly don’t really have one.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU? :

Ask first, then ramble about shippy headcanons with me if I agree, lol. Because you will be subjected to my pathetic nonsense if you’re brave enough to explore a ship with me.

Tagged by: @mechanicosmia ( ilysm <3 ) Tagging: anyone who wants to do the thing /lazy