#WHY IS EVERYBODY SO ANGSTY ALL OF A SUDDEN WHAT AM I MISSING

[ravensmadreads]

What is up with all the Hotch writers?? Guys?? Why are all of you simultaneously churning out the most heart ripping angst?? I am smol and weak and holding my poor traumatised blorbo- STOP HURTING HIM

[oscar-lettjohanssonloveme]

Glide (Miss Venable x reader)

a/n: hello :3 here we have another song fanfiction whoohoo- uhm Glide (by Lxandra) don't expect too much haha.. its angsty i guess lol :7 oh and its really long-

summary: I am really bad at this holy shit.. I guess its about the “"relationship” between you and Miss Venable (relationship is a weird word-)

warnings: alcohol, talking about depression and suicide (but nobody's actually depressed), notes of sex 

google translate :’D

"So, Miss Y / L / N", Mister Langdon finally said as he stepped around the table to stand in front of you.

"After telling me about your homosexuality, I would like to know if you are currently in love?"

You narrowed your eyes at the man in front of you.

"What kind of stupid question is that? Is this the part where we braid each other's hair and talk about our high school crushes?"

"Answer. My. Question.", the Man growled.

"Okay okay," you muttered quickly. "Uhm, well let me think about it for a minute."

--------------------

It all started when Miss Venable heard you scream one night.

You had been at Outpost 3 for a few months at this point and in all that time you hadn't spoken a lot and spent the entire time in your room except for meals.

The others didn't know much about you. They knew, you were one of the youngest residents of the Outpost and that you had left your family behind. And of course they knew your name. But that was all.

You spent a lot of time thinking about your family. Your relationship with your parents wasn't ideal, but you still missed them. And if you had known a year ago where you were today, you would have done a few things differently. Celebrating Christmas with them one last time, vacationing with them, simply spending the time peacefully with them instead of arguing.

Usually you cried quietly to yourself, with your head buried under your pillow, hoping, that everyone would forget you existed,  but crying wasn't enough tonight and after dinner you snuck into the kitchen to steal a bottle of the red wine, that you smuggled into your room afterwards.

It was now 1 a.m., the bottle was almost empty, and hours ago you had started tossing the items you had in your room. Your clothes were scattered on the floor, while you had tossed the boring books from the library against the wall. Your bed was a complete disaster and in all your anger you had torn the sheets. There were red wine stains on your pillows, which had almost slipped into the blazing fire of the fireplace after you tossed them off the bed.

And now all you could do was scream.

"Fuck you!" You shouted as you staggered in the room with the alcohol in one hand.

"Fuck you all! Fuck this apocalypse, fuck this outpost, fuck-"

"Miss Y / L / N" interrupted you a loud voice behind you and made you turn around.

Miss Venable was standing in the doorway in front of the locked door, staring at you in confusion.

"Ever heard of knocking?" You grumbled and hid the bottle behind your back.

"I knocked," Miss Venable hissed, her gaze wandering angrily over your chaos.

"And if you hadn't screamed so loud, you would probably have heard it. What the fuck do you think of making such a noise here at night? Stealing alcohol as well?"

"I uh- caught," you muttered as you put the bottle on the round table in front of you.

"Do you know what's really funny? We don't have anything to eat, but there is no end of alcohol. Whoever came up with that must be pretty stupid."

"It was my idea. I am in charge here, in case you forgot."

"Oh right," you sighed and slapped your forehead with the palm of your hand.

"Shit, well, i'm sorry, but what was your name again?"

"You forgot my name?" Asked Miss Venable sharply with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," you muttered before collapsing onto your messy bed.

"But I know it was something weird."

Miss Venable glared at you, which of course you couldn't see because you were buried with your face in your blanket.

"Hopefully you realize this will be punished," she growled.

"Oh suck my dick", you grumbled. "You enjoy punishing others, don't you? You are a little psychopath"

You laughed softly into your blanket and noticed how you became more and more sleepy. You almost fell asleep if Miss Venable hadn't tapped her stick loudly on the floor.

"You will start cleaning up here immediately, otherwise it will be the last night you spend in this outpost."

"Oh shut up. You are totally mean to me," you moaned and pouted at the angry woman.

"Why are everyone always so mean to me? I haven't done anything wrong."

You got up on shaky legs to walk past her to the door, but you tripped and fell against Miss Venable.

"Wow," you mumbled as you stared into her brown eyes with your glassy ones and grabbed hold of her hips.

"I may not know your name, but I know,  that you are really pretty"

"What the fuck is wrong withyou ?! "

Wilhemina pushed you away from her so that you stumbled backwards and landed on the floor.

You stared out at her with hurt eyes as tears welled up in your eyes.

"I didn't do anything," you yelled at Miss Venable, who was still leaning on her stick in front of you.

"It's not my fault, that you're beautiful. Be happy, others are ugly."

"That's enough," growled Miss Venable as she took a step towards you and grabbed your arm to pull you up.

"You're going to bed now."

"I'll do nothing," you mumbled and tried to pull yourself out of her grip, but you were way too drunk to use enough strength and she could push you like a doll on the bed.

You laughed again.

"Guess what, my bed is big enough for both of us, isn't that funny?"

You looked up at her playfully, or at least you tried.

"You beautiful woman. We-"

"Your behavior is disgusting," she interrupted as she leaned over to grab your chin. Immediately you fell silent.

"And my name is Miss Venable."

She looked down at you dangerously and you saw fire in her eyes when you started laughing out loud.

"Haha Miss Venable, I told you it was something weird," you shouted before you started screaming out loud.

"Miss Venable is beautiful whohoo. Can you all hear me? Miss Venable is beautiful. She-"

"What the hell", Miss Venable cut you off again and took her hand from your jaw to put it on your mouth.

"Are you going to be quiet at last?"

"M'sorry," you hummed against her hand and Miss Venable could see from the wrinkles around your eyes, that you were grinning under her hand.

"I want you to go to sleep now and clean up the chaos here tomorrow, do you understand me?" She asked in a sharp voice. But you just glared at her and wanted to bite her hand when she repeated her question.

"Do you understand me?" She barked louder and this time you nodded quickly.

"Good," she said happily as she took her hand from your mouth and straightened up again.

"Fuck you," you mumbled quietly and watched unhappily as the woman went to the sofa across from the fireplace and sat on it.

"Can't you just go?" You moaned as she leaned her cane against the edge of the sofa.

"Oh I'll go," she replied while staring into the fire.

"When you fell asleep."

You groan in annoyance.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Oh come on," you sighed and pulled your blanket over your head so she couldn't see you.

It was actually your plan to wait for her to go away, but at some point (who knows how much time had passed) you actually fell asleep.

Living my life in a bubble

Sometimes reality's too much for me

(I trip and fall into a dream)

Your love it gets me into trouble

Sometimes your gravity's too much for me

(It gets me weak in the knees)

------------

A week had passed and not much had happened. The next morning you woke up alone and with a big hangover and barely remembering what had happened the previous evening. Miss Venable had forced you to clean up the mess in your room after she had punished you for stealing the alcohol and as attractive as this woman was, she seemed genuinely angry about what had happened, even though it was actually nothing special. At least that's what you thought, but you couldn't remember either.

The world had ended and her problem was, that you had stolen a bottle of wine and ravaged your room. You wondered how fucked up her life must have been before the apocalypse, if that bothered her. And she wasn't the only one you wondered about.

The other residents of the outpost were all disgusting.

"Why do we have to eat this shit?"

"When are we getting out of here?"

"Why is life so unfair and let me be here with you idiots?"

You hate those ungrateful assholes. Everyone was dead and their only problem was, that they were still alive.

Other people deserved it so much more and the fact that mankind's only hope was in these conceited, stupid assholes seemed like a joke.

When you lay in bed that day and stared lost at the ceiling, you had lost all reference to reality. You didn't know what day it was or what month you were in. You also didn't know whether the last meal you ate was lunch or dinner, although a glance at the clock would have been enough. But you got tired of staring at the clock and watching the second hand, hoping something would happen.

Nothing changed anyway. And all you felt was that big feeling of loneliness that completely filled you. You were a very emotional person and all you wanted was someone who was normal. But everybody in this outpost was a huge disappointment. Conceited assholes, intimidated Grays and Miss Venable, who enjoyed punishing people.

Probably you would have started talking to yourself, but thank god you weren't there yet.

Sometimes you thought, it might be easier, if you opened up to others. But your body had become like a prison and you kept every thought trapped deep inside you because it did not match those of the others. Stupid assholes.

And while you continued to sink into your self-pity, you would probably have fallen asleep, if you hadn't been bothered by the sudden knock on your door.

"Fuck off," you moaned while staring angrily at the door, but the person standing in front of it only knocked one more time.

Asshole, you thought before reluctantly climbing out of bed to open your door.

"I said you should f- Oh Miss Venable," you stared at the woman in front of you.

"Are you here to punish me again for something pointless? If so, I can assure you it won't be necessary .. The wounds from last time still hurt, if you care."

Miss Venable screwed up her eyes.

"Well, Miss Y / L / N, actually I don't care, but if it still hurts, you seem to have learned your lesson," she replied coldly and you just snorted in annoyance.

"What do you want from me?"

"You are obviously depressed-" she started and you interrupted her immediately.

"What is that shit supposed to mean? I'm not depressed, I'm just sad. And since when have you been interested in how I'm doing?"

You glared at her with narrowed eyes, but her face still had the same deadly serious expression.

"You've been sad for a long time, don't you think?"

"I- uh".

You looked at her confused.

"All my friends are dead, it's only logical that I feel that way .. I find it rather questionable, that I'm the only one here, who feels that way."

"So?" Miss Venable raised an eyebrow, which made you even more insecure.

"I don't really care how you feel either. I just don't feel like wiping your blood off should you decide to kill yourself."

"Suicide isn't always bloody," you muttered.

"And because we don't have any doctors here-"

"By the way, that's the stupidest thing of all. You know, we have a hairstylist, but no doctors, you also notice that it doesn't make any sense, right?" You interrupted her and crossed your arms in front of your chest.

And again Miss Venable ignored your words and finished her sentence, which you had interrupted.

"..I thought that would help too."

Your eyes widened when you saw what she was pulling out from behind her back and immediately you started laughing.

"Are you serious? First you punish me brutally for stealing a bottle of red wine and now you come to give me one?" You laughed and stared down at the bottle she was holding out to you.

"What's worse is, that you think alcohol is replacing therapeutic treatment. That's pretty sad to be honest, Miss Venable."

Wilhemina narrowed her eyes.

"It's not sad, I just prefer red wine stains instead of stains from your blood," she growled.

"You can't possibly be serious," you mumbled and suddenly had to grin.

"You enjoyed punishing me, right? And now you're coming, because you need a reason to do it again."

"Oh come on," Miss Venable rolled her eyes.

"Take the bottle or don't take it, it's just an offer."

You were still staring at her in amazement. What was wrong with her that she thought this action would solve your problems? Another proof of how fucked up everything was and that the only person you could count on was yourself.

"Uhm, well thank you, Miss Venable," you stuttered and reached for the bottle.

"If you come over every evening and bring me a bottle, your diagnosis may work and I will have very different problems, than my sadness."

"Not funny," muttered Miss Venable, her lips pressed together.

"Well, good evening, Miss Y / N."

She turned around and started to leave and you could only stare after her in confusion. Evening?

Then you actually had dinner earlier, even though you could have sworn it was only lunch.

"Maybe you want to join me-?" You asked suddenly and were just as surprised by this question as Miss Venable, who turned to you.

"What?"

"I don't think getting drunk on my own would be fun," you added, stepping nervously from one foot to the other.

"You did it a week ago," replied Miss Venable and in the torchlight you could see the lines of confusion on her face.

"But I never said it was fun," you smiled crookedly as your grip tightened on the neck of the bottle.

"And I think it would be nicer to do that, in the presence of another person. Especially since you've already seen me drunk."

You looked at Miss Venable expectantly, although you did not know exactly what you were doing. It was probably just your desperate attempt to get someone's attention, simply because everyone, who has ever cared about you was dead. And you knew Miss Venable might not be the best choice. But while the others complained aloud about their suffering and argued about who was worse off, Miss Venable didn't show such feelings and kept her thoughts to herself. A circumstance with which you could somehow identify.

"Okay," Miss Venable finally muttered, surprising you one more time that day.

"Well, great," you said before stepping out the door frame to go back to your room. You sat on the other end of the sofa, across from where she sat a week ago. In your hand there was still the bottle of red wine and for whatever reason you were ashamed of this situation. Miss Venable brought you alcohol because she thought, you could use it to manage your sadness, or depression (as she called it). And if she had actually meant well, which was actually questionable with her, then you had to make a pretty pathetic impression on others.

"You cleaned up the mess," you heard Miss Venable's voice behind you, but it was more of a determination than an acknowledgment.

"And I just noticed that we have no glasses at all".

Your shoulders sagged at her words and for a moment you were afraid she would leave. But you heard her close the door behind her before she went to the sofa and sat down on the exact same place, that she had been sitting on a week ago.

You watched the woman confused, leaning her cane against the sofa.

Her gaze lifted to you and she stared at you as expectantly as you looked at her confused.

"What are you waiting for? Go into the kitchen and get glasses," Miss Venable uttered.

You blinked in surprise.

"I- I didn't know that was a request," you muttered before jumping up from the sofa to run from your room into the kitchen.

When you ran back to your room 5 minutes later with two wine glasses, Miss Venable was still sitting on the ugly fabric sofa just as she had done a few minutes earlier. And somehow there was something aesthetic about it.

Personally, you thought it was ridiculous, that everyone had to adapt to the Victorian style, just because she wanted to. But it was perfect for Miss Venable. As if it was made for it. Her red hair, which she always pinned up so strictly, then her almost black eyes and the lipstick. Also her pale skin and her cane. Even her strict personality perfectly matched the style of clothing.

"Do you want to stay in the door frame and stare at me, or are you finally coming now," Wilhemina hissed suddenly without moving even an inch and immediately a slight blush rose in your face.

"M'sorry," you muttered and quickly closed the door before going back to the sofa. After you sat down, you put the glasses in front of you on the table, where the wine bottle was now.

"I was just wondering," you explained as you poured the wine into your glasses.

"Why the Victorian style of all things?"

"Why not? It looks good," replied Miss Venable, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Well," you began before turning to give her her glass.

"The world is ending and you make us wear 10kg dresses, because you think it looks good?"

"Any better idea?" Miss Venable asked back, putting the glass to her lips.

"Uhm I, i don't know," you stuttered and watched Miss Venable as she drank her wine.

"Don't we have to be prepared somehow or something like that?"

You heard Miss Venable laugh quietly into her glass.

"Prepared?" She repeated with a small grin and put her glass back on the table.

"On what? For the aliens to come and get us out of here?"

You shrugged your shoulders.

"I don't know," you mumbled before you put your glass to your lips to take a sip of the bitter liquid and while you were drinking you could feel her gaze digging into your skin.

"By the way, I also find it very questionable what kind of people live in this outpost," you added, setting your Glas next to hers on the table.

Wilhemina let out a laugh. It was one of those laughs that you couldn't tell whether it was meant honestly or sarcastically.

"I'm not surprised you say that," she muttered.

"Is my dislike of the others that obvious?" you asked confused.

"I don't know if obviously this is the right word .. But what I do know, is that you always look disgusted when you see them, so I'm assuming you don't like them and to be honest, I like them neither.

Your confusion turned to laughter.

"Well," you said.

"With you it is obvious that you don't like any of them."

"These people are just as competent as they were poor. They are only here because of their money," she said disapprovingly.

You sighed thoughtfully.

"It's kind of sad, that money was the way in here. Scientists would have been so much more valuable. I'm only here because my grandfather had the money."

"What did you do before the apocalypse?" She asked you and you were surprised by this honest question.

"I went to college to study history," you replied when your gaze wandered into the fire.

"So I can  judge that the Victorian style wasn't the most practical choice."

You heard Miss Venable snort in annoyance and you couldn't help but grin.

"And what did you do before the apocalypse?" You asked, turning your gaze back to her. Miss Venable seemed as surprised by your question as you were by hers.

"It's a little tricky," she began. "Basically, I built human robots."

"Robots?"

"Robots."

For a moment you stared at her in amazement. Miss Venable had averted her gaze from you and directed it to the wine glass in front of her.

"M'sorry, but if you've built human robots, why are you letting real people, the Grays, work for us? Wouldn't robots have been revolutionary in an apocalypse?"

Unlike you, Miss Venable seemed totally unaffected by this.

You watched as the redhead reached for her wine glass and took another sip of the blood red liquid.

"You are asking too many questions for my taste, Miss Y / L / N," said Miss Venable softly, putting her glass back on the table. And even though she kept her voice low, you could hear her indirect threat.

"To be honest, I'm amazed, that I'm the only one asking questions," you replied, trying to make eye contact with the woman next to you again, but Miss Venable's gaze was tied to the blazing fire in the fireplace and you could see a dark glint in their eyes.

"You shouldn't get involved in things that are none of your business," she said suddenly in a monotonous voice. "All over the world there are survivors and it is not your job to question my system, nobody has the right to do so. You are just one stupid survivor of many, nothing more"

You and I, we just glide

Through the night

We just drive, we get by

We just glide

----------------------

"Oh c'mon," you moaned and ran your tousled hair.

"God must hate me".

You stood on shaky legs from the library floor, that you fell on after stumbling into the room. You brushed the dirt off your skirt and realized with gritted teeth, that it was ruined.

"Seems like someone is having a bad day," you suddenly heard a voice say and immediately your mood worsened.

You straighten up again to meet Miss Venable's eyes. The woman sat on the right of the two leather sofas and with one hand clutched her cane, which was propped on the floor.

"Fuck you", you hissed before you let yourself fall on the sofa across from her.

"Oh, someone is having a very bad day," added Miss Venable, and you didn't have to look at her to see, that she was amused by your behavior,

"Yes, my day sucks and guess what, it's all your fault," you growled and glared angrily at her stick.

"When I got up this morning and wanted to leave my room, I got stuck in the door with my blouse and the whole sleeve was torn. Did you also notice, how much you sweat in these clothes? It's really hard to go at the toilet with these clothes .. I'm sorry, but what the hell was your idea, when you decided to give us a Victorian dress code? Did you have to make our life after the apocalypse even harder ? "

You pressed angrily your lips together and screwed up your eyes.

"You are the only person who complains about it," said Miss Venable and sounded not quite as amused as a minute before. You let out a dry laugh.

"The others are too scared of you, to tell you that," you said bitterly.

"Besides, what the hell are you doing here?"

You tore your gaze away from her stick to look directly into her dark eyes.

"Why shouldn't I be here?"

"Because you're never here and you didn't look like someone who'd like to hang out with Mr. Gallant or Coco."

"Well, neither Mr. Gallant nor Miss St. Pierre Vanderbilt are here right now, right? And besides, I could ask you the same thing", Miss Venable replied indifferently and somehow she was right. It was also a rarity to see you in the library as you actually spent most of the time in your room.

"I suppose my great sadness is over now .. or as you called it 'depression'. I'm more in the mood right now, that I don't care and I am angry at everything and now you are my victim. Your lipstick is smeared by the way", you sighed, although that was actually a lie, her lipstick was perfect as always. But in fact her eyes widened slightly and you couldn't help but enjoy this view.

"You're lying," hissed Miss Venable and you had to grin.

"Maybe".

You shrugged your shoulders.

"Maybe you'd better go and see, or you risk the others seeing you ruined makeup."

It was obvious that Miss Venable was a perfectionist woman and she wasn't going to let her position of power be challenged over a smeared lipstick. On the other hand, you were an extremely bad liar and Miss Venable wasn't stupid.

"You're lying," she repeated, only with her lips pressed together, giving you the sense of achievement you wanted.

"Mhh Miss Venable," you hummed as your eyes found her stick again.

"This cane .. when I saw you for the first time, I wondered if it was just a symbol of power or if you really needed it-"

"..And then you saw me walk with it," added Miss Venable with a bitter tone in her voice.

"Oh no," you quickly shook your head.

"It wasn't your walk that gave me the confirmation that you really need the stick. It could never be your walk, you walk so majestically with that stupid thing, that even people, who don't really need a cane and only use it as an accessory would look handicapped next to you."

It was probably a rather desperate attempt to put the whole thing in a compliment and Miss Venable did not answer your words either, but you could see in the glow of the fire how her pale skin turned a light red shade and that was enough for you.

"It was your grip to be honest," you continued.

Miss Venable frowned.

"My grip?"

"Yes," you nodded and started playing with the fabric of your skirt.

"Your fingers are always clenched so tightly around the handle, as if you wanted it to break through. As if you were trying to strangle it or something like that, i dont know."

The furrow on Wilhemina's forehead only got a little wider with your words.

"You seem to spend a lot of time watching what my hands are doing," she mumbled and this time it was you, who blushed.

"It was just an observation, that I made on the side," you stammered quickly when you realized, that from one moment to the next the conversation had taken a completely wrong direction. Miss Venable did not answer again and you did not have the courage to look her face again and so the next few seconds were filled with an embarrassing silence, although you could imagine that Miss Venable was enjoying your discomfort.

"May I take a look at your cane-?" You finally asked to break the silence.

"You want to take a look at my cane?" Repeated Miss Venable, surprised with raised eyebrows.

"Only if it's okay," you said quickly.

"You are the first person, who asks me that".

Miss Venable looked thoughtfully down at her cane, which was still in her hand.

"As I said, the others are too scared of you-"

"The others don't care," Miss Venable interrupted, and you didn't know if she was sad about it or if she didn't care. But we're talking about Wilhemina Venable, she probably didn't care.

The red-haired woman sighed before holding out her stick to you.

You grinned and tried to grab the staff, but before your fingers could touch the wood, Miss Venable pulled it back again.

"How can I be sure, that you won't break it up and use it to make firewood?", She asked you and you looked at her in horror.

"I would probably be the last person to do that," you said indignantly.

"On the contrary, I think you would be the only person in this outpost who would dare to."

Miss Venable held out her stick to you again and this time she let you reach for it.

You immediately noticed how light the wood was in your hand as you carefully ran your fingers over the stick.

"What kind of wood is that?" You asked quietly without looking up from her walker.

"I guess it was blackthorn".

Your fingers moved on to the handle of the stick, which was probably the most interesting thing. A metal handle in the shape of a raven skull served as a support for the hand.

"Doesn't that hurt?".

You lifted your gaze back to Miss Venable, who obviously didn't understand what to do with your question.

"Well, if I had to support myself with all my weight on this skull, it would hurt," you added and Wilhemina just shrugged her shoulders.

"Uhm, it's a beautiful cane," you muttered, handing it back to her.

"May I ask why you need it?"

"I don't know what this should have gotten to do with you," replied Miss Venable, not sounding as nice as before. If you could call it "nice".

"Okay okay, taboo subject, I got it," you said quickly, desperately searching your head for anything to keep the conversation going.

"Do you actually enjoy it? To have control over everyone here? And know that, that almost everyone is afraid of you?", You finally asked and leaned back against the sofa.

"You asked me that a few weeks ago, when you were drunk," remarked Miss Venable, looking down at her gloved fingers, which were wrapped around her cane again.

"Really?" You asked confused.

"More or less. It was more of an accusation."

"An accusation?"

Miss Venable hummed in agreement.

"I told you, that you would be punished for your behavior and you said I would enjoy it."

"I understand," you mumbled, still staring hard at her face.

"What else happened that evening?"

A smug smile danced on Wilhemina's lips and she took a moment to consider your question.

"Well, you made fun of my name," she finally began as she drummed her fingers on the skull-like handle of her stick.

"And then you said, that I was pretty and that I should be happy about it, because other people are ugly."

Your eyes froze as her words entered your brain.

Wrong turn. Wrong turn.

"Uhm .. You know, when I'm drunk I tend to perceive things a lot more intensely than they actually are and then I exaggerate occasionally," you tried desperately to get yourself out of this situation, but Miss Venable just let out a loud laugh and you realized, that you had failed miserably. You cleared your throat briefly and sat up straight again.

"You haven't answered my question yet," you said, trying to change the subject again.

"I wanted to know, if you enjoy all of this."

"Do I enjoy it if you don't obey my rules? No, I don't enjoy that, why should I?" Miss Venable said and again had that indifferent sound in her voice. Of course you knew that she had bypassed your question and that was enough to prove, that she enjoyed her monarchy in Outpost 3.

"You said earlier, that you had got over your grief. That's good to hear," said Miss Venable, and this time she was the one who changed the subject.

"I thought you didn't care what I felt".

You smiled contentedly and cocked your head. Somehow you liked this game of mutual debunking.

"I don't care either, I just wanted to be polite."

Your smile widened when you saw her fingers clench a little tighter around her stick.

"Miss Venable and polite, I don't think this is a well-working combination," you teased her and in the glow of the fire you could see her roll her eyes.

"You were a lot less tiring, when you were crying in your room all day," she muttered disapprovingly.

Why should it be such a struggle

When it means so much to you and me?

(I trip and fall into a dream)

Built like a ship in a bottle

Gotta handle you so delicately

------------------

I don't know what we got

But I know what I want

The silence is killing me softly

What. The. Fuck.

When you arrived at the Outpost a few months ago, you couldn't even have imagined in your deepest dreams, that you would ever end up in this situation.

You lay on your back, still staring at the ceiling with wide eyes as you tried to stabilize your breathing. Only now did you notice, that you had your arms wrapped around your chest and that your fingernails were digging painfully into the flesh of your shoulder. Your body lay rigid in her bed and you couldn't move an inch. You desperately tried to put the things that had happened in the right order.

Was it a stupid idea to go in Miss Venable's Bedroom? Yes, definitely. In retrospect, you didn't even know what exactly you wanted there. And actually you should have disappeared, after you saw that Wilhemina hadn't even been there. But no, of course your curious ass had to inspect her entire room.

And by the time Miss Venable came out of her bathroom in her pajamas, you had already started counting in your head how many punches Miss Mead was going to give you as punishment. You had definitely crossed the line.

But it turned out very differently than expected. Miss Venable had been angry anyway, very angry, but her anger was not expressed in words. The woman had pressed you against the wall and before you could do anything about it, her hand had slipped under your skirt, between your legs and Miss Venable had broken her own rule.

Of course you could have pushed her away, but it felt so right. You wanted so badly for someone to pay you attention and Miss Venable had kind of given you just that, when she pressed you against the wall and fucked you senselessly.

The whole thing was just so emotionless. You hadn't been able to look at her. You were ashamed of every sound you made, and if Miss Venable hadn't put her hand over your mouth, everyone in the Outpost would probably have heard you scream.

Which wouldn't have been so practical, because this man had come here a few days ago and you knew he was interviewing all the residents for the sanctuary and it wouldn't have been very beneficial for you if he'd caught you, breaking you down Venables rules. Regardless of the fact, that she had broken her rule herself.

Miss Venable hadn't said a single word about what had happened a few minutes ago, as if she had absolutely no need to justify herself.

She hadn't even looked at you when she took her hands off you and wiped them with a kleenex.

"You can sleep here tonight," she had muttered.

"It would be noticeable if you left my room now."

And now you lay next to her in bed and tried to understand all of this. Your dress was messy on the floor and all you had on was your underwear. After your fingers relaxed, you had pulled the blanket, that she wordlessly gave you over you and clung desperately to the fabric.

You had calmed down and could now hear her breathing next to you. The fact, that she was just lying next to you and probably sleeping was disturbing. At least, she could have apologized, right? Although, that didn't make sense either, because you obviously enjoyed what had happened.

You carefully turned your head towards her and saw, that her back was turned to you. And you wondered if she was really sleeping or just pretending. Miss Venable had become your most private contact in the outpost and you didn't really know what that actually meant.

You wanted so badly to touch her, but you didn't know if you had the right to do so. Only now did you notice the scars on her back, that shone through the light nightgown. Add to that the snake-like curve of her spine and suddenly you understood why she needed her stick.

"You have scoliosis," you said your thoughts out loud and you heard her hold her breath.

"Congratulations," she hummed miserably.

"You figured it die out."

You nervously began to chew your lower lip.

"Did I make anything wrong?" You asked quietly.

"Ask yourself how you got into this situation, then you will know."

"I- do you want me to go?", Your voice sounded sadder than you actually wanted.

When Miss Venable didn't answer, you felt tears welling up in your eyes as the feeling of fear grew inside you. You screwed it up. Probably the next evening you would end up like Stu as stew.

"No," Miss Venable suddenly whispered before turning to you. The red-haired woman had a blank expression on her face while she watched you cry.

She raised her hand as if to wipe the tears from your face, but she lowered it again and you had to do it yourself.

"M'sorry," you muttered.

"You're stupid if you apologize," Miss Venable replied bluntly.

"That was more than just unprofessional of me, I should have let you go and tomorrow you would have been punished."

You looked at her sadly.

"That's the only solution, isn't it? Punishment."

"I don't know exactly what you're getting at? It's actually quite simple. Those are my rules and whoever doesn't stick to them will be punished for it", Miss Venable looked at you unimpressed and you returned her gaze thoughtfully.

"What about Michael Langdon? Does he have to obey your rules too?" You finally asked.

"What does this mean?"

"Uhm well, I guess I've known you for 18 months now and the first time you seem scared."

Miss Venable raised her eyebrows.

"You don't know anything about me. I'm not even remotely an emotional chaos as you are."

Emotional chaos. Okay she had a point. You blinked a few times to force the tears, that were still glistening in your eyes back down.

"I don't know if emotional chaos is the right word," you muttered.

"You should think less about your stupid feelings," Miss Venable sighed, turning away from you again.

"They've only got you in trouble so far if you ask me."

You pressed your lips together and had to suppress an angry comment, that would only confirm her accusation. Your eyes stared at her back again. The red curls of her long hair had slipped behind her shoulders and were now curling on her back. You would have loved to stretch out your hand to touch it. You would have loved to curl up in her arms to feel safe for the first time in over a year. You wanted to kiss her. Or at least hold her hand. Anything. Just a little bit of their affection would have been enough and you would have been happy. It probably all sounds kind of selfish, because she fucked you a few minutes ago. The whole thing just wasn't particularly loving. You felt like a disgusting animal and now you wanted her to show you, you weren't. Miss Venable was only a few inches away from you and all you had to do was hold out your hand and you would feel her warmth. But while it was actually only a few centimeters, you realized, that there were worlds between you and this woman and that she was probably never further away from you than at this moment.

You and I, we just glide

Through the night

We just drive, we get by

We just glide

Maybe we're just fooling in foolish imagination

Got no destination in sight

You and I, we get by

We just glide

-------------------------

Wilhemina Venable had a great talent at pretending everything was fine.

As if nothing happened. Nothing had changed in the days after that night.

Since Michael Langdon was at the Outpost, she avoided private contact with you and the fact, that you had shared a bed didn't change that. In addition, she was just as disgusting to you in front of the others as always and that was nothing new either. And while Wilhemina no longer seemed to care about what had happened between you two, at the same time it almost killed you.

You actually expected, that she would want to talk to you about it again, but nothing had happened and that made you angry. Miss Venable would always deny it, but she was the only one who cared about you. And you appreciated her weird way of paying attention to you so much.

The only problem was, you couldn't even begin to imagine, what was going on in her head. While you were acting like a lovesick teenager, the only thing you saw of her was her deadly serious face.

Oh and Miss Venable was right, you were a fucking emotional mess. Since you woke up the next morning in her empty bed, you have cried a lot again and spent a lot of time in your room, but this time Miss Venable would probably not come to offer you alcohol as medication.

It was the afternoon of any day and you were sitting on the floor, leaning against your bed. In one hand you held a pair of scissors, while in the other you held the skirt of your dress. You were still not used to wearing long skirts after so many months and you still kept poking around at yourself, when walking through the outpost, so you decided to cut your skirts short. Of course you knew, that Wilhemina would probably kill you, if she saw you, breaking her sacred dress code, but fuck Wilhemina. At least you could finally walk properly again.

The triple knock on your door made you look up from your work and you got up to go to the door. You probably should have known it was Miss Venable who knocked. Who else has been interested in you, in the past few months?

"We need to talk," said the red-haired woman firmly, without looking at you.

You just nodded and stepped out of the door frame to make room for her.

For a brief moment you were afraid, that Miss Venable would get angry about the dress, that was lying shortened on the floor next to the scissors, but she just ignored it and stood across from you.

"Well, Miss Y / L / N, I'm just here to ugh- "

Miss Venable was interrupted by you when you, you stupid idiot, reached for her face to angrily press your lips against hers. The kiss only lasted a second in total, because Miss Venable immediately pushed you away from her and the next thing you felt was her hand lashing angrily against your right cheek. A horrified gasp escaped your lips and you looked at Wilhemina in horror as you rubbed your cheek.

"If you do that again, I'll kill you," the redhead growled, glaring at you angrily.

You looked at her hurt and felt tears start to sting in your eyes.

"M'sorry," you muttered.

"Oh of course you are," hissed Miss Venable.

"What the hell were you thinking of?"

"I just- I don't know," you stuttered desperately.

"I think I love you".

Miss Venable's eyes narrowed and she looked like she was going to punch you again.

"This is not love, this is despair, you stupid thing."

"Despair?" You breathed in horror.

"How else would you describe your behavior?" She spat and angrily started knocking her stick on the floor.

"I mean, look at you. You are a total mess. Either you cry in your room all day or you are angry at everything and everyone. You are the only person, who ruins her clothes. You are the one which most often breaks my rules, just because you are too unable to deal with your feelings. You know, everyone can handle what happened, except you, because you are so damn selfish. But you have to wake up.. Do you think, that was what I wanted, when you cried into my bed a few days ago? Oh no. And I know that, was my fault too. You know, everything what I want, is that you obey my rules, but that seems to be too much for your incompetent ass ", Wilhemina scolded and angrily knocked her stick on the floor.

"And now you come and say you love me."

She shook her head.

"As I said, this is not love, this is despair. And I don't know what kind of answer you were hoping for, from me, but let me be clear: In my opinion, of all the residents of the Outpost, you are the most pathetic and I hate you, I really do and you're sick if you even thought it would be different. "

You stared at her in shock. The feeling, that rose in you at that moment was indescribable. A mixture of disgust, shame and anger. But also the feeling of betrayal. And you couldn't say who these feelings were for, for you or for Wilhemina.

"Y-you hate me?" You stuttered, wiping the back of your hand over your cheek to remove your tears.

"I hate everyone in this outpost, that includes you too," hissed Miss Venable.

You shook your head in disbelief.

"I don't believe you," you whispered.

"I still believe, that you are scared and that is why you act like that."

"Mister Langdon will interview you tomorrow," said Miss Venable without responding to your comment.

"If you tell him anything about what happened a few days ago, I promise you will wish you were never born. With your condition, you probably won't be in the sanctuary anyway, but I will don't let me spoil this opportunity from you. Do you understand me? "

You shook your head.

"I don't understand what your problem is suddenly ... I asked you that evening if I should go and you said no."

"The whole thing was a mistake, nothing more", Miss Venable growled quietly and stepped past you to go to your door.

"I hate you and you hate me, that's all that's between us, you understand?"

You wanted to say something, but you decided not to, it didn't make any sense anyway.

"I understand," you said softly.

"Good," replied Miss Venable before turning and walking out of your room.

You stared after her sadly. Of course you didn't understand why she was suddenly so mad at you, but how could you? Miss Venable had wanted to end whatever was between you, so that she would not feel guilty if you were to be murdered by her in a few days. She had never meant to offend you, but she had to make it clear to herself, that she didn't love you. She just couldn't love you.

Show me freedom

'Cause love don't cost a thing

Give me freedom

Yeah don't just let me leave

--------------------

"Miss Y / L / N", Mister Langdon barked and slapped the table with the palm of his hand. You winced and looked disturbed into the blond man's eyes.

"I asked you something".

He leaned down to you and his face was only a few inches from yours.

"Are you in love?"

You swallowed and blinked a few times, before you whispered softly:

"I am not."

The man leaned back and looked at you thoughtfully for a few seconds.

"Well, Miss Y / L / N," he finally sighed.

"You can go."

Without looking at the man again, you got up to run out of the room. You tripped and if you hadn't held onto the wall next to the door, you would have fallen. For a moment you leaned against the wall with your eyes closed and took a deep breath.

This man was disgusting and a little too intimate for your taste, no wonder, that no one liked him.

You opened your eyes again and realized, that Miss Venable was staring down at you as she leaned against the railing.

Your eyes were lost in hers, her almost black eyes in which the light of the torches is always reflected. You wanted to say something, but you were afraid, that she would leave and you didn't want that. Miss Venable had put on her indifferent expression as always and, as always, you did not know what was going on inside the woman.

Your lips formed a mute "fuck you" when you saw her turn away from you to move. And the faint tapping of her cane proved to you, that she was indeed leaving and you knew that she would not come back.

Maybe we're just fooling in foolish imagination

Got no destination in sight

You and I, we get by

We just glide

[bunnyywritings]

a good night’s sleep

katsuki bakugou x gn!reader

prompt #1- “I just love you so much...” & prompt #8- “You’re the greatest thing to ever happen to me...”

requested by @swankiifiied - can i get 1 & 8 from the fluff prompt list with bakugo please? 🥺

[a/n: I really loved writing this, thank you for the request sweetheart! I made it a little angsty but I promise it’s a fluffy ending, enjoy! -yours truly, bunnyy -`ღ´-]

It wasn’t something that usually happened but as time went on, Bakugou’s ptsd and anxiety got progressively worse. He was pretty good at hiding it since everyone was so used to his sudden outbursts, no one had really noticed that they were happening more frequently. He hid it so well that not even you knew. That was until he had an outburst at your guys’ home room teacher. That had left everybody stunned. 

No matter how rude he was, he still had some semblance of respect for the teachers and other faculty on campus. After that though, he was sent back to the dorms and he had missed the second half of the day.

“Hey don’t you think Bakugou’s been acting a little, I don’t know...strange?” You asked as you sat with Denki and Shinso during lunch. 

“What do you mean? Isn’t he always like that?” Shinso quirked an eyebrow in confusion. 

“Hmm no, I think (y/n)’s right, he’s usually a handful but not like this.” The blonde took a sip of his drink, “Come to think of it, Kiri said he hasn’t been sleeping well at  night. He said he could hear how much he was tossing and turning or something. Maybe he’s just grumpy.” 

You frowned before your eyes were wide open as everything clicked for you. 

He was jumpier than usual, he snapped easier than before, not sleeping well, and he was distancing himself from you and everyone else. He was struggling. Terribly. 

Your heart ached through the last half of school, so much so that you rushed off of campus to get to the dorms. Almost tripping over your own feet as you kicked off your shoes. Stopping at your room and haphazardly tossing your bag to the floor and heading over to your boyfriend’s room. You knocked twice before slowly opening the door. “Katsu?” You called softly, eyes falling onto his figure that was slumped over his desk. Textbooks and a notebook or two sprawled over it. You frowned when he didn’t even acknowledge you. 

“Katsuki?” You called a little louder, thinking that maybe he was wearing earphones. 

“The hell do you want?” He growled as he turned to look at you, scowl ever so present on his face. 

“I- uh I just wanted to check in on you. Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine, now leave me alone. I’m trying to do work.” Your own frowned deepend as he turned his back to you. You noticed his textbook was open to the chapter from the lesson he missed. 

“I could help you, since you missed the-”

“I SAID TO LEAVE! Are you that dense (y/n)?!” He had turned to you once more. His glare made a shiver run down your spine. 

“I just wanted to-” 

“I DON’T GIVE A DAMN!  GET OUT, YOU’RE ANNOYING ME!” Your eyes widened as his palms popped in warning. You knew he’d never use his quirk against you to cause you any harm but the gesture frightened the daylights out of you. Your eyes watering as fear filled your chest. His eyes softened the slightest when he saw that he scared you but it was too late to take it back. “What?! Are you deaf too?!” His heart broke as he saw you jump and run back into the hall. He got up, gripping the door and slamming it so hard that the wood splintered. 

Everyone heard the shout and the door slam, all frozen in their spots as you appeared in the common room with tears running down your cheeks and a protective hand over your heart. Iida and Izuku quickly moved to see if you were okay. 

After reassuring everyone that you were fine, you went up to your own room and not coming out till dinner. You thought that maybe Bakugou would've calmed down and want to join everyone for dinner but you’d be wrong. He was nowhere to be seen. 

“He hasn’t come out of his room once, just in case you were wondering.” Mina sighed as she sat across from you, a sympathetic smile on her lips. “Kiri already tried luring him out.” Said redhead sat beside you and patted your shoulder. 

As you all ate, you listened to everyone talk but your mind was still preoccupied with Bakugou. 

Did he not trust you enough with his problems? How long has he been struggling? Did he think you just didn’t care because you hadn’t realized it sooner? 

Once dinner had ended, you made a plate and took it up to his room. You stood in front of the door, contemplating on whether to leave it at the door or risk angering him by going in once more...a sudden wave of determination washes over you before you knock and open the door. You expected to be thrown out or yelled at once more but you were met with a crying boyfriend, curled up on his bed. He was frozen in his place as bloodshot and puffy eyes looked up at you. Your heart shattered at the sight of his tear stained cheeks. You closed the door behind you and put the plate down onto his desk. 

“Katsuki please tell me what’s going on.” He sat up as you approached, his knees brushing against yours as you stood in front of him. “ I can’t stand to-oof!” You were cut off by him wrapping his arms around your middle and burying his face into your stomach. His shoulders shaking as sobs wracked his body once more. 

This wasn’t the outcome you were expecting when you walked in. 

Holding in the tears that pricked your eyes, you wrapped your arms around his shoulders and gently ran your fingers through his hair, fingers scratching his scalp every so often. 

“Baby please, tell me what’s going on.” You pleaded softly, feeling the way he clutched onto you even tighter. 

“I-I can’t believe I did that to you...I-” He choked back a sob, nuzzling further into your stomach. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I know you’d never hurt me like that.” 

“No! (Y/n), you don’t understand…” Your hands moved to cup his cheeks and tilt his head up so he was looking up at you. His ruby eyes looked so broken as they peered into your own eyes. “You’re the greatest thing that’s happened to me and I did that to you, I made you scared, I-I threatened you!” He was shouting but his throat was so sore that it came out as a squeaky whisper. “You’ve been with me since our first year, you stuck around when people told you I was a lost cause. Why?” 

You couldn’t hold it in anymore, tears rolled freely down your cheeks as you climbed onto his lap and properly wrapped your arms around him. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you leaned back to see his face. A small smile coming to your lips as you felt his hands supporting your lower back. 

“I, well... I just love you so much. I love you so damn much Katsuki Bakugou. Sure you have your faults but so do I. You’ve grown so much since our first year and I’m so proud of you. These little relapses and setbacks are normal and absolutely nothing to be ashamed about.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before leaning forward and resting his forehead against yours. 

“What did I do to deserve you?” He chuckled breathlessly. 

“I am a pretty good catch huh?” 

“Don’t make me regret it idiot.” He spoke softly. 

“Now what’s this about you not getting enough sleep?” His eyes widened in shock before he frowned. 

“Did that spiky haired bastard tell you that?” 

“No..well it was Kaminari, he heard from Kiri and told me.” You smiled sadly as your thumb smoothed over the darkened skin of the bags under his eyes. “You're usually already getting ready for bed right now and I’d watch you brush your teeth and call you an old man.” There was 5 minutes till 9pm. 

“I-yeah, I’ve just been having trouble sleeping.” He avoided looking into your eyes, clearly embarrassed about admitting his struggle. 

“Do you want me to stay the night?” You didn’t want to force him to tell you anything if he wasn’t ready.

“Yes...please.” 

So the both of you got ready for bed. You were laid back on his bed when he shut off the lights. He watched as you got comfortable and opened your arms for him. The moonlight making your eyes shine brilliantly, his heart fluttering in his chest at the thought of falling asleep in your arms. Not that he’d ever admit it. 

Grumbling about being the little spoon, he plopped down onto you, chuckling at the grunt that left your throat. He wrapped his arms around your waist as he settled in between your legs and snuggled into your chest. You slipped your hands under his shirt and lightly scratched his back, littering his face with kisses before relaxing into the pillows and closing your eyes. 

“I love you…” he muttered, pressing a kiss against the base of your neck.

“I love you too Katsuki, now go to sleep.” 

That was the best night’s sleep that Bakugou had gotten in a long time. 

𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖑 𝖙𝖆𝖌𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙: @yuiji-yuiji @ohbois-biggay-bnha

[tinyyoungblood]

midnight in prague | tom holland

summary: you play MJ in far from home and when filming gets too stressful, you and tom sneak off from set to explore the city of prague at night while also talking about the idea of running away together

pairing: tom holland x actress!reader

word count: 1.9 k

warnings: a bit angsty but mainly fluff, one (1) violent metaphor, language 

a/n: i highly recommend listening to the song, it’s absolutely beautiful, sets the mood and inspired this story. used some of the lyrics as dialogue. enjoy! 

song/inspo: Canada (ft. Alessia Cara) by Lauv

↳ masterlist

* * *

“That’s a wrap, guys!” The crew cheered weakly, lacking the usual enthusiasm. Not moving from your spot, you meekly pumped your fist in the air in mute joy. To say you were exhausted wasn’t just an understatement, it was a big truck that rammed and then dragged you through the empty streets of Prague. You’ve been up since 9 am and the enormous clock, that had surely become the focal point for everybody, almost signaled three hours after midnight.

Your scene partner was even more drained than you. Tom was barely twitching a limb—only a hollow shell, containing the last remains of his wiped-out energy.

With his head rested on yours, you believed he was dead asleep and lightly poked his side to wake him up. But he only reached out and held your hand in a loose grip, arms dangling between your bodies. “I’m awake,” he murmured, and you were sure he was talking in his sleep.

“Tommy, wake up,” you said gently and wrapped your arms around his torso, letting him engulf you in a warm hug but he didn't budge, “You’re compressing my brain, Tom.”

Slowly, he lifted his head, eyes fluttering open to scan your face but only a second later did he realize that insomnia had caused him to believe your teasing for once. You couldn’t help but pout at the prominent exhaustion on his face. Footsteps on cobblestone and the movement of heavy filming gadgets made up your surroundings but you focused solely on Tom and the guilty look on his face. No words were needed for you to know that he was still sorry for something that he had no control over.

It wasn’t his fault that the weather conditions pushed the night shootings back and it certainly wasn’t his fault that cars were constantly driving over the bridge that you were filming at, forcing you to quickly jump to the side, only to shuffle right back to restart the scene.

But this was Prague and he was Tom. Much like his character, he had thoroughly planned a romantic trip for both of you and after weeks of gushing about it, he was sure he could make it work but something would always come up and push his plans into hopelessness.

At this point, he had accepted his fate but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t sad every time he looked at you and mad every time somebody said “action”. He loved his job and was forever grateful but for fuck’s sake, was it too much to ask for to spend some alone time with his girlfriend?

Just when he was about to open his mouth to apologize to you, you locked his lips with yours and he melted into the kiss, tense shoulders dropping. Releasing his lips with a soft plop, he sighed with a small smile, but his eyes still held sadness. Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed that the others were already walking toward the van to drive back to the hotel to fall into a restless sleep, but you couldn’t bring yourself to let Tom go to bed like this.

Your mind flicked to back home where you had naively envisioned your trip to Europe to be completely different—free and without a care in the world. You knew you were here for work, but you didn’t expect to have this many obligations that added to the constant pressure of having to deliver the perfect scenes. The world was counting on you to not fuck this up.

You sighed and looked down at the river. The water reflected the vibrant yellow streetlights and brought you a sense of much-needed peace and tranquillity. Tom watched you curiously as your eyes marveled at the scenery.

Your head whipped back to him and now you were beaming at him, a glimpse of mischief dancing in your eyes. “Let’s get out of here.” Tom blankly stared at you and blinked to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “What?”

“I’m saying,” you dragged out and let go of his torso to swing his arms excitedly from side to side, he squeezed your hand, “this is our last night in Prague! We’ve been looking forward to this for the longest time, do you really want to miss it? Come on, we can sleep on the plane tomorrow. Let’s be carefree for once.” Your soul was fueled with sparkling joy and you forgot about your exhaustion. “Let’s be free.”

Tom took a second to contemplate your words before a wide grin broke out on his face and he nodded eagerly, surrendering to bliss. “God, I’m obsessed with your brain sometimes.”

With your hand still in his, you pulled him with you, excitement shimmering. Crossing the Charles Bridge, the two of you slipped away and entered the night you had dreamed of.

Golden lanterns on the side of the houses marked hidden but absolutely breathtaking alleys and for the first time on this trip, it was quiet and serene. Your eyes couldn’t stop darting everywhere, taking it all in with the deepest admiration. It was like you were falling in love with the whole world.

You had a bounce to your step and Tom couldn’t contain his bubbly feelings at the sight of you. He didn’t really understand what switch of yours was suddenly flicked for your spirits to fly this high, but he didn’t need to. He missed spending time with you. Back in the States, both of your schedules were packed and barely allowed a fleeting glimpse but now, the girl of his dreams was buzzing with happiness while the streetlights highlighted her glowing face and he’d be damned if he wouldn’t treasure every moment.

The darkness made the town appear like a secret fairytale village with its colorful houses and narrow passages. Your soft chatter lingered in the warm summer air and every time a giggle left your lips Tom’s heart filled with more love for you, warming him from within. With his adoring gaze, he spun you around. Your dress flying up and you stretched your arms upward, enjoying the carefreeness with a broad smile. You felt like you were floating, feet barely touching the ground as the both of you were dancing to no music.

Drunk with happiness, both of you laughed as Tom pressed your back against a wall. With his hands caressing your hips and your foreheads pressed against each other, your heart throbbed with profound joy, something you haven’t felt in a while.

Adrenaline and happiness consumed you, so much of it that you nearly forgot to breathe but you didn’t need to as Tom’s lips were already on yours. You pushed off the wall, sealing the tiny space between you and he deepened the kiss. Your heart almost broke with joy. Pulling apart, it left you breathless again and you were certain nothing could ever wipe off the stupid grin on your faces.

Arms swinging, the two of you continued your fairytale walk and ended up at the Charles bridge again where you had started off the night. Still high on emotions, Tom pulled you with him as he swung his legs over the rim of the bridge and gestured for you to follow. You didn’t hesitate and sat next to him, legs dangling over the river. You rested your head on his shoulder and his arm wrapped around your small frame as you overlooked the sight in front of you.

Your voice was delicate as you spoke, cautioning into the silence, “I really needed this. It's almost like I've been stuck at home forever.” Tom was playing with strands of your hair and you knew he was deep in thoughts.

Again, you watched the dancing streetlights reflection on the water surface but this time it didn’t bring you peace. You had your night and that was all you wanted. So why did you feel a pinch of sadness at the simple thought of heading to the hotel, settling into your bed and calling it a night. You didn’t want this night to end and you knew Tom also dreaded having to end this feeling.

So the question he asked next wasn’t a surprise to you in the slightest—it resonated with you.

“What if we move to Canada?”

He sounded hopeful. Musing about taking on the world in a different way than you both already did but he knew you two were in no position to be bold and just not give a damn. It was neither in his nor your power to be selfish. A sudden breeze left goosebumps on your exposed skin, but he dreamingly gazed at you with vulnerable eyes and you let yourself dream with him.

“We could bring Tessa,” you voiced, and the corner of his mouth quirked up. “And your paintbrush and some candy,” Tom added, and awe transformed your face, eyes lighting up.

“I guess we’re lucky that we don’t need much outside of us, do we?” You chuckled softly and he shook his head with a sad smile on his face. He took your hand in his and started to play with your fingers, eyes looking heavenward. For the first time tonight, you noticed the endless stars sparkling from above.

“You know, when we film those movies...” He licked his lips and your gaze darted to his hesitant face. You weren’t sure if tears were brimming his eyes or if they reflected the deep water but they were glistening and you squeezed his hand to remind him that you were there. “...When they talk about those people in the movies who up and leave, I always think about how that could be us.”

He looked down at you, hands tightening around yours and now you were sure those were tears shimmering in his eyes. “That could be you and me.”

You didn’t answer and he didn’t need you to.

Both of you knew this wasn’t the heat of the moment talking. ‘Let’s get away from here and do our own thing’ wasn’t an option for any of you. Your thing was acting, you loved it from the bottom of your heart, and you wouldn’t be completed without that passion in your life and Tom—Tom was Spider-Man. Arguably one of the most recognizable cinematic characters in the world. Besides the fact that he couldn’t just quit, he didn’t want to either.

This was the life that you both chose. Unforgettable memories, unconditional support and overwhelming opportunities. There were also hours of press tours, draining interviews and nerve-wracking red carpets.

Your heart rate picked up at the single thought of it all but if tonight had taught you anything, it had taught you something deeply beautiful. Amid the chaos and pressure, amid the glamour and blessings, all you needed in the end was Tom by your side. He was the reason why you soared your highest heights and he was your support system when you plunged to the deepest depths. Gratitude flowed through you.

Leaning forward, you pressed a soft kiss on his cheek, letting it linger for a moment before you nuzzled your head back into the crook of his neck—brown eyes never leaving you. He returned the gesture by leaving a gentle kiss on top of your head, before resting his own on yours, pressing you closer into his body with a content sigh.

We are lucky that we don't need much outside of us.

* * *

wrote this at 5 am so it might be extra cheesy but i’m still too sleep-deprived to tell lol. i appreciate the hell out of feedback so feel free to leave me some and if you don’t, that’s okay too. thank u for reading, buh-bye! x

masterlist

[artificialqueens]

Control, 1/3 (Katya/Manila) - Dartmouth420

Summary: All it took as the deal went south was a split second, a single gunshot, and then the incredibly stupid, impulsive decision to grab all the coke the guy had on the table and run. Now Katya and Manila need to get rid of a dangerous, truly incriminating amount of cocaine as fast as possible, as they rocket towards rock-bottom in Katya’s 1997 Volvo hatchback. Lesbian AU heist tale, Katya/Manila main, past (plot-relevant) Rajila & Trixya.

A/N: It’s darker and sadder than the summary makes it out to be. This story was inspired by the request for Katya/Manila chaos a few weeks ago, and some Lana Del Rey songs, but it got unhinged and angsty so PLEASE heed the content warnings. but other than that enjoy :)

CW: codependent relationship, drug use, drug addiction, off-screen gun violence, smut, semi-clothed sex, strap-ons, past abusive relationships, angst, unreliable narrator

PS: addiction is a very complex issue, and not something to be taken lightly in real life.

Part 1:

She doesn’t mind I have a flat broke-down life

In fact she says she thinks it’s what she might like about me

Admires me, the way I roll like a rolling stone

-Lana Del Rey, ‘Off To The Races’

It’s the cocaine, obviously.

Katya knows the cocaine is what’s fuelling these decisions. It’s not her fault.

The knowledge hadn’t stopped her from accompanying Manila anyway, as what was supposed to be their deal on enough coke to fuel a big party this weekend had gone sour and scary, and the guy had reached behind him for the gun in his waistband. But Manila had been faster, she’d pulled her piece out of her purse and shot the guy in a sudden explosion of noise.

On the couch in the living room in Manila’s tiny apartment, Katya rubs some coke onto her gums, and presses her fingers to her temples in an attempt to calm herself. Manila paces back and forth in front of the coffee table while Katya tries not to think about the shock in the dealer’s eyes, and his tattooed arm grasping at the bullet wound in his shoulder as he fell back. Is he dead? Maybe. Maybe not.

There are seven single-kilogram bricks of cocaine, one torn open at the corner, sitting in front of them on the coffee table, among the coffee-stained mugs and crumpled McDonald’s bags and the cheap paperback sci-fi novels that Katya likes.

Manila paces with her phone out, and her leather jacket open. She turns on her heel on one end of the stained carpet and makes a call, bringing the phone to her ear.

“Heyyy,” says Manila, drawing out the word.

Someone on the other end shouts Bitch, how did you get this number?! and Manila scrambles, “No wait no, Trinity, hear me out-“

There’s an audible beep, and Manila glares at the phone, angry.

“Okay, okay,” repeats Manila to herself, pacing back and forth, “We can get this under control.”

All the pacing is making Manila’s short dress ride up her thighs, drawing Katya’s eyes. Manila’s legs are easily her best feature. Well, her curly black hair is nice, too. Katya watches her nervously. It isn’t that she’s afraid of her, no, Katya loves her girlfriend. Obviously.

But Manila did just shoot the guy back there.

Katya had shrieked, her hands flying to her mouth, gazing in horror at Manila’s blank, shocked expression. They’d stared at each other for a split second, and then, completely without thinking, Katya had rushed for the drugs that sat on the table next to the man groaning on the floor, shoving the bricks of coke into her purse, Manila had arrived at the table a second later, and they’d rushed out and leapt into Katya’s 1997 Volvo hatchback and sped off as shouts echoed from the abandoned warehouse.

Katya drove like a madwoman back to Manila’s apartment, her scabby knuckles bright white on the steering wheel while in the passenger’s seat next to her Manila dragged in big gulps of air, trembling.

So, yeah. Here they are. Katya had known that Manila had a gun in her purse, just in case, but she hadn’t thought it would… well, come out. Of the purse.

“We need to sell it quick,” says Katya, keeping her voice as calm as possible, despite her rapidly beating heart. In the thrill of panic they’d broken into one of the bricks and done some lines, and were now both a bit twitchy. “We can’t- we can’t sit on this much. Fuck it’s so much money, I could really use it-”

“I know, me too,” replies Manila, taking her phone back out and scrolling. Her movements are rapid, nervous.

Katya glares down at the table, willing her whirring mind to think, and suddenly she misses Trixie. The breakup had been terrible, Katya had yelled and cried and threatened and begged Trixie to stay, but it was well over eight months ago and Katya should be over it. She isn’t. It’s like Trixie took her heart out of her chest when she left, and is still carrying it around with her. Katya has known Manila for a lot longer, from even before she met Trixie, and in the aftermath Manila was well, single (sort of) and there.

Katya has always been incapable of making good decisions. Even alright decisions. But she’s been trying to talk to Trixie again. It’s been going well. She hopes they’ll be back together by the end of the year.

Manila taps her phone, and then hits speaker, and the sound of it ringing echoes around her small apartment. Katya watches her. Manila paces, holding the phone out in her hand.

“Hello?” comes a deep, familiar voice.

“Latrice!” enthuses Manila, all smiles and joviality, “Hey girl, long time no chat!”

“Uh-huh, same to you, what’ve you got going on?”

The mild skepticism in Latrice’s voice is as well-hidden as Manila’s own manic edge. But maybe Latrice would be interested, and she’d buy a chunk of their sudden supply. Katya fidgets on the couch, reaching out and sinking her fingers into one of Manila’s old throw-pillows, the one with the fading print of Bettie Page posing with a whip.

“I’ve got, uh,” says Manila, speaking like she’s consciously trying to slow herself down, still pacing, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “I’ve got something you might like to buy.”

“Oh? And what might that be?”

“Ah, just a little something for a good time.”

“How much have you got?”

Latrice’s voice remains cautious-friendly, and Katya gets her hopes up for a second. Latrice is a local club owner, large-and-in-charge, friendly and easy-going, and primarily a legitimate business woman. But she sometimes dabbles in other kinds of purchases. Like they all do.

“Yeah, uh, a little more than I thought…” says Manila smoothly, with a chuckle, like it’s all a big joke. “Seven kilos.”

Silence on the other end of the line.

“Latrice?”

“I’m still here,” replies Latrice, but her tone is now suspicious, reticent.

“Mm,” says Manila, nodding to herself, “Okay, so you’re interested? Think you want to buy a brick? Or two?”

“Two kilos? Girl.”

“Don’t say it like that, you know how these things happen,” says Manila rapidly, trying to smooth it over.

“Seven kilos of coke doesn’t just happen, Manila.”

“Look we need to sell it fast-“

“You always need something, don’t you.“ Latrice’s tone is unimpressed, annoyed. "How many favours have I done for you over the years, and how many times have you disappeared when I needed you to have my back? See this is your problem-“ They’d all been good friends once, recalls Katya. Champagne and glitter and birthdays and club music and VIP lounges. Perhaps not so much anymore. “I don’t even want to know, I’m not getting involved-“

“Just let me expl- no- don’t you dare hang up on me!”

There’s a beep and the call drops.

Katya stands up, and walks the short few steps to the kitchen, chewing at her lip. Her gums are going numb. Who does she know that could buy this amount of stolen cocaine and very, very fast? She scrolls through her mental list of contacts and stares at the counter, at the crumbs brushed to the backstop.

“Well that sucks, why am I the one calling everybody-” mutters Manila from the living room, and then says louder, “Okay, okay, this isn’t a big deal. We’ve got choices, we’ve got options.”

Manila paces the living room again, tapping at her lips with her finger.

“What if we parcel it out and sell it at the club tonight?” suggests Katya, wriggling her hips as she bends over to look in the fridge, before glancing over her shoulder to see if Manila’s eyeing her ass in her jeans or not. Coke always makes her a little horny, which used to make Trixie unsettled. But Manila likes that about her.

Manila pauses in her pacing, watching Katya’s ass, and a little thrill shoots down Katya’s spine. There isn’t anything of interest in the fridge. Some carrot sticks, old milk, leftover pizza. Slimy spinach from Katya’s attempt to get something green into them both last week. Behind her, there’s a snort as Manila does another bump.

“Maybe- no, the first place they’ll check is the clubs and they’ll probably recognize us, but if we could get someone else to sell for us-“

Katya looks back at her, arching her back with a giggle and wiggling her ass. Her heart is soaring, she can’t help smiling, and there’s a manic edge underneath it. Her gums are numb, and her throat is tingling.

Something changes in Manila’s eyes and a smile spreads across her face.

Manila always makes Katya feel good, of course, but it’s a different kind of good than she’d had with Trixie. Trixie, with her big hair, her flannel shirts in the morning over her those little pink nightdresses, her dry humour. The way she didn’t always realize when she was being funny. Her observations. She used to make up silly songs for Katya, strumming away on her guitar while they sat on the balcony and Katya smiled and laughed and spilled her coffee, kicking her feet with how happy she was.

But Trixie had been able to walk away from it all because she had a goal. Katya and Manila haven’t had real goals in years.

Manila walks the short distance from the living room to the kitchen, eyes on Katya’s ass, hunger on her face. There’s an impulsive, high thrill in the air, that might be from the coke or the crime or both. Katya straightens, shutting the fridge.

Manila grasps her waist from behind, pushing Katya against the fridge and murmuring in her ear, “Gotcha, baby.”

Katya cackles and smiles and pushes her bony ass back into Manila’s body. But she likes it, the way that Manila manhandles her sometimes. It’s thrilling. She’s always had a thing for tall femme chicks with an aggressive streak. Trixie used to do the same thing, playful, until she started refusing to touch her at all.

Manila takes Katya’s upper arms and turns her around, bringing them both from the fridge to push Katya back against the counter and kiss her. Now this is going exactly where Katya wanted it to go, and it’s messy and frantic and maybe they’re both a lot high and a little scared. Lips meet teeth and tongues mingle, delicious.

“Get up on the counter,” orders Manila, breaking the kiss, and Katya obeys, hopping up with the help of her hands. She wraps her legs around Manila’s hips and they make out some more, Manila running her hands up Katya’s muscular back under her T-shirt, and Katya’s heart beats a little faster.

Katya tries her luck sneaking her hand between them and feeling up one of Manila’s not-particularly-impressive tits. Anyone involved with Trixie Mattel, even for a brief period of time, is ruined for all other breasts afterwards.

Manila bites Katya’s bottom lip in response, and the brief shot of pain goes straight to her pussy. Katya whines, and Manila goes from her lips to her neck, sucking the sensitive spot right below Katya’s jaw, and then she pulls back, hands fumbling on the button and fly of Katya’s jeans.

“Are they building jeans more complicated all of a sudden?” mutters Manila impatiently to herself as she works Katya’s fly open and Katya laughs, lifting herself up on her hands like the athlete she is- correction, once was, as Manila finally manages to get the fly down and pulls her jeans and underwear down to her knees.

Sitting back down ass naked on the counter is hilarious and Katya giggles, and then there’s the matter of working the jeans down to her ankles while Manila returns to Katya’s neck with a vengeance, kissing and sucking, and generally sending tingles up and down her spine. Manila roughly shoves Katya’s legs apart and drops to her knees.

And now it’s time for the best part and it’s the best part because, simply put, Manila might not be very smart (Trixie’s smarter than her despite her endless dumb blonde jokes) but Manila’s really fucking good at eating pussy.

Any dyke in Boston will tell you if you ask.

So Katya lets out this strangled gasp as Manila goes in with that fantastic mouth of hers, and Katya tangles her hands in that black curly hair and shivers and whines and tries to open her legs as wide as humanly possible without falling off the counter.

“Yes, god yes, ha, fuck-“ babbles Katya, caught up between gasps of laughter. She’s always been expressive.

The pressure builds as Katya rocks her hips, and Manila pushes fingers inside her and flicks her tongue over her clit in that way that makes Katya’s eyes roll back. Her head falls back and smacks against the cupboard behind her, and Katya throws one hand back to catch herself, scrambling to stay upright, as Manila holds her legs steady, in charge.

“Ow! Uh no, not you- oh fuck yes-”

It feels so good, it’s like a rollercoaster, building building building. Manila does that thing with her tongue again, glancing up to meet Katya’s eyes for a second, and Katya sees stars.

Two or three orgasms later, Manila stands up and leaves Katya gasping through the aftermath of the last one on her own. Wiping her mouth with the back of her wrist, Manila leans in and captures Katya’s lips in a brief kiss.

“You want your turn?” says Katya, as her breath returns to normal. She hops off the counter, brushes the crumbs off her ass and pulls her underwear back up but doesn’t bother with her jeans yet, stepping out of them.

Manila nods. Manila’s turn is usually after Katya’s unless it’s one of those rare nights where Katya doesn’t want anything, doesn’t want to be touched at all, which happens sometimes. Trixie was always understanding, she was so loving, so patient. Manila is less so. But Katya has a lot less patience for her, too.

“Meet you in the bedroom,” says Manila, grabbing a lipstick-stained glass from the pile of dishes by the sink and filling it from the tap. To wash out the taste of pussy, Katya presumes.

Katya picks up her jeans and heads to the bathroom, pausing at the coffee table to cut out another line of blow and put it up her nose, while Manila does the same, except her trajectory is to the bedroom. As Katya washes her hands she stares into the mirror. Dark circles under her manic hazel eyes. Dryish lips. A weird pimple on her jaw that came out of nowhere. Straw-blonde hair up in a greasy top-knot. White T-shirt with Bob Ross on the front. But she’s wearing her favourite earrings, the ones that are dangly little plastic hands. Heh. Katya manages a smile. Those earrings always make her smile.

But what the fuck are they going to do with all that cocaine-

No time for that now, Katya breaks eye contact with herself and dries her hands, because it’s time to fuck Manila and fucking Manila is always an event.

In the bedroom, Manila has taken off her leather jacket but not her dress, and holds her phone in one hand, glaring down at it. She’s pushing forty but she still looks good and for a moment Katya just admires her figure in that short black lace nude illusion dress that hilariously doesn’t match her skin tone, and those long, fantastic legs.

They make eye contact across the room.

“Fuck me.”

It’s an order. Manila is always in control.

Katya crosses the room, leaning in to initiate the kiss. Softer this time, as Katya touches the back of Manila’s neck, and moves her bare legs against Manila’s own and eventually drops her hands down to grip her ass.

They stumble to the bed, and it only takes a quick confirmation for Katya to know what Manila wants. Katya’s on top of her, pressing her arms down, and pushing her thigh between Manila’s legs so she can grind on it. They furiously make out even as Katya’s gut is tightening, is reminding her, hey, you just saw this woman shoot a man-

As Manila’s breath gets heavier, Katya ignores the doubt and sits up and gets off the bed. Manila turns over, and slides herself back so that she’s bent over the edge of the bed, taking in a breath of anticipation. Her dress is riding up, and Katya can see the crotch of Manila’s plain blue cotton underwear. It’s damp.

Katya steps back and digs under the bed for her harness and strap-on, the one that she’s taken to leaving here. Hurriedly, Katya does up the leather harness and puts the dildo in place. It’s purple. Trixie used to wear it, and Katya would get on top and ride it enthusiastically, expressive, words of love and lust tumbling from her while Trixie gripped her thighs and smiled and fucked it up into her, her blonde hair splayed out on the mattress like a halo- Katya clicks it on to vibrate, angles it so that the end rests against her clit through her underwear and then gets down on her knees.

Manila props herself up on her elbows, and peers over her shoulder at Katya, her dark eyes intense and expecting. She licks her lips. It sends a jolt down Katya’s spine.

“Are you wet for me?” asks Katya in a filthy, half-joking tone.

“Why don’t you find out?’ replies Manila.

Katya decisively pushes Manila’s dress up to her waist and pulls her underwear down, and grabs her ass cheeks, squeezing, before running her knuckles across Manila’s pussy, to check. Manila sighs, and shuts her eyes. Katya isn’t sure who Manila’s imagining behind those eyelids, and she doesn’t ask. When Katya shuts her eyes it’s always Trixie.

On her lower back, Manila has a tramp stamp of the gemini symbol with a stylized little tail on the end. It’s ridiculous because as Katya knows well, Manila’s birthday is in October. Manila was getting it covered, redesigned into a monarch butterfly, but it’s half-done so only one side of it hosts a delicate orange wing.

She ran out of money for the other half.

Katya takes a moment to slips fingers into Manila and to stroke her clit and make sure she’s really ready, until Manila practically growls and looks back at her, widening her legs. She hates being teased. Well whatever, Katya’s not going to say no to fucking the pussy before her so she lubes up the gently vibrating strap-on, lines up and, because she’s a softie, slides it in gently, taking care.

She knows Manila doesn’t want her to take care, Manila wants her to slam it in and fuck her like she means it, but Katya learned to take care from Trixie and now she can’t (or won’t) unlearn it. Manila gasps, gripping the tangled, dirty sheets.

Katya snaps her hips forward, filling Manila and thrusting repeatedly, her hands on Manila’s hips, pressing her fingers into the crease where they’re bent.

Manila moans and curses, and Katya sets a good rhythm, because she knows it won’t take long. Manila pushes her ass back against Katya, and the sudden shift in movement makes Katya almost lose her balance again, arm reeling out to the side as she falls back on her heels, the strap-on sliding unceremoniously out of Manila.

“Oops,“ laughs Katya.

“Did you just fall?” says Manila glancing back at her, amused.

Katya giggles and Manila chuckles too, and maybe there’s a moment of love between them, for a split second. Katya gets back up and strokes the curve of Manila’s hip, then grabs it and fucks her hard, and Manila releases a passionate moan. The opposite end of the dildo rubs against Katya, and it feels nice, not enough to make her come again, but-

It’s all over fairly quickly, and as Manila arches her back and curses her way to a messy, satisfying finish.

And then there’s all the post-sex rituals to go though; Manila sitting up, slightly dazed, and pulling her dress down and wandering over to the bathroom. Katya unbuckling the harness, and listening to the water run. Manila returns for fresh underwear from the clean laundry basket by the bed that she hasn’t bothered to fold or put away, and then Katya goes to the bathroom to clean the dildo and comes back and tosses it back into the plastic bin under the bed with the harness, and the problem they’re faced with washes back over them.

They kiss briefly for the look of the thing, just because they’re supposed to afterwards or whatever, but maybe there’s some affection in it. Katya puts her jeans back on and then the fun’s over.

“Okay,” says Manila, pacing her bedroom as Katya sits cross-legged on the end of the bed, slumped, “Okay, who do we know?”

“Adore?”

“Amateur hour, no.”

“Violet?”

“She deals E and molly, she won’t touch coke.”

“Crystal?”

“Methyd? It’s in her fucking name, Katya-”

“Bob?”

“Moved to New York last I heard-“

“Alaska?”

“What? No. Fuck, I can’t believe Latrice is still mad at me-”

Katya’s list is over. Katya stares at the ugly carpet, and watches Manila pace. There’s another option that Katya hasn’t had the guts to bring up, until now.

“Your ex,” says Katya. Manila won’t stand to hear her name spoken aloud. It’s a ridiculous habit that Katya barely has the patience for.

“No-“

“She’s the only one with the buying capacity for this.”

“We’re not going to her.”

Katya throws up her hands, “If we sell this amount to anyone in the city she’ll know about it anyway!”

Manila stares at the dusty window.

“It’s not-“ begins Katya, and the hair stands up on the back of her neck and she releases a nervous giggle as the horrible possibility occurs to her, pointing to the bricks of cocaine on Manila’s coffee table in the other room, “That’s not hers, is it?”

“No,” says Manila abruptly, worry lining her face for a second, turning back to Katya, “No way, those weren’t her guys, she doesn’t hire guys like that. Those guys were fucking idiots. Besides, they'd’ve been ta-”

Katya breathes a sigh of relief, and Manila cuts herself off. There are two major gangs that run Boston’s underbelly, that bring in drugs and keep the crime organized. Katya’s on good terms with the north side guys, she knows a couple of them from way back and they don’t bother her. She works for them occasionally, when she’s gonna be short on rent. But Manila’s ex runs the other gang, and she’s powerful and dangerous.

The Gemini is not to be fucked with.

“Wait!” exclaims Manila, her eyes going wide and expressive for a moment, “What about your friend- your friend, what’s her name…?” Manila snaps her fingers frantically, as if to jog her memory.

Katya just looks at her, skeptical.

“Uh, uh,” says Manila, still snapping. “You know her, uh, she’s Laotian, short, great ass-“

“Jujubee?” says Katya, in complete disbelief.

“Yes!” says Manila, triumphantly. “Her.”

“No,” replies Katya, mouth twisting, “She’s not involved anymore, she said she’s getting sober and getting out-“

“Yeah whatever, everyone says they’re ‘getting sober and getting out.’ You said that.”

The words hurt. Katya looks down, drawing in a breath, the shame crushing her for a moment. Manila indulges all of Katya’s worst sides. Manila parties hard, she disappears and re-appears with new and better stories every time, she’s doesn’t get sad, she never gets tired, she encourages, she enables, she’s always in control, and it’s so, so hard to let go of her. Even when Trixie had given Katya the ultimatum.

Especially when Trixie had given her the ultimatum.

“Fuck,” says Katya, standing up and stalking back into the living room. “Fine, you wanna go hassle a dead end, whatever-“

“She’s not gonna be a dead end,” argues Manila, shrugging her leather jacket back on and following Katya, “I bet she still knows people who’ll buy. We have to shift at least some of this shit and quick, and maybe she’ll take it. We sell it to her on the cheap, she’s happy, we’re happy. Who cares what she does with it?”

Manila’s cynicism is so oddly pragmatic, so heavy. It’s crushing even Katya’s own cynicism, which is a weary weight to drag around. But it’s so hard for Katya to say no to Manila, saying no to Manila always comes with caveats.

“Fine,” agrees Katya, grinding her teeth, taking her phone out and firing off a quick text to Jujubee.

“Great,” replies Manila, and walks over to pick up the duffel bag next to the table, and begins shoving the neatly wrapped bricks of cocaine into it. She dumps some of the opened-up brick into a loose little ziplock baggie for easy access, rubs a bit on her gums, then puts the baggie into the duffel bag too.

There’s a sudden leak of noise as a car goes by outside, blasting music loud enough that Katya can hear the lyrics drift up into the apartment.

“Loving you forever can’t be wrong, even though you’re not here won’t move on-“

As quickly as the song arrives, it fades. Katya picks up her car keys, and wonders what Trixie’s up to right about now.

[marvel-mega]

Are you death or paradise?

(Ron Weasley x Reader)

A/N: apparently im feeling HORRIBLY angsty tonight so here is this heartbreaking fic with my absolute favorite billie eilish song “No time to die”. For reference (Y/H) =your (Hogwarts) house and (Y/H/T)= your hometown for my fellow united state inhabitants..? Well I hope you enjoy this is my first Harry Potter fit but I am hopelessly in love with Ron Weasley <3 so expect more??

word count: 1.8k 

warnings: sadness but also badass reader and Hermoine being the bad guy sorry... not sorry 

*I don't own this gif credit to the owner!*

I should've known

I'd leave alone

Just goes to show

That the blood you bleed 

Is just the blood you owe

To say you felt defeated was an understatement. 

No defeated isn't the right word you felt foolish, played, dumb, and most of all hurt. 

You knew there was something between Ron and Hermoine but you turned a blind eye. 

Why wouldn't you? You loved Ron more than anything 

You wanted to believe him when he said Hermoine was barely a friend.

"Honestly love we just tolerate each other for Harrys' sake." 

We were a pair

But I saw you there

Too much to bear

You were my life

But life is far away from fair

Yet here you were walking into the Gryffindor common room and there they were 

Kissing.

No, that wasn't enough

how can you describe a kiss that looks like its been waiting for years to be felt, 

a kiss that looked like it was oxygen for both people,

a kiss that was full of passion. 

Harry was behind you waiting to enter when he almost crashed behind you and was about to ask you what happened when you turned quickly and looked at him red-rimmed eyes and motioned with a single finger for him to not make a sound as you left the common room. 

Was I stupid to love you?

Was I reckless to help?

Was it obvious to everybody else

That I'd fallen for a lie?

You were never on my side

Fool me once, fool me twice

Are you death or paradise?

Now you'll never see me cry

Looking back you remember telling yourself that you didn't let him see you cry because he didn't deserve to see you so vulnerable.

But in all honesty, you didn't want him to see you cry so you would never have to mention this incident.

You were willing to turn a blind eye to his infidelity because you loved him so much. 

Who had you let yourself become?

You knew it was going to come up eventually especially if the two of them wanted to carry on with their new relationship who were you to jeopardize that? 

There's just no time to die

I let it burn

You're no longer my concern

Faces from my past return

Another lesson yet to learn

That I'd fallen for a lie

You were never on my side

"How could I have let him fool me ?" You asked aloud to Cho. 

Neither of you spoke very often considering you being in (Y/H) and her being in Ravenclaw. 

But she saw you crying in the corridor 

and girls help girls in need when boys break their hearts.

The two of you were sitting on the stairs leading to the grand hall. 

You couldn't help but think back to a happier time when you had finally gotten the courage to ask Ron to the yule ball. 

But he watched her the whole night, you were blind 

And everyone else saw what you chose to ignore. 

"I knew there was something between them and I still thought I was better, somehow different

I still thought he could love me, not her." 

"Hey, this is not your fault. He is a coward and a complete idiot if he can't see how perfect you are." Cho explained as gently as she could but she couldn't hide her anger for the red-headed git. 

"I appreciate that Cho. I'm starting to think this school is cursed," you laughed lightly. 

You were from the United States specifically (Y/H/T). It was your decision whether to go to Hogwarts or Ilvermorny and foolishly you choose to go to Hogwarts and were currently living with a distant relative of your mothers'. 

"What if I just went to Ilvermorny back home?" 

Cho looked completely aghast. "You mean you'd leave?" 

"I don't see why not it's our last year sure but I was planning on moving back home after graduation anyways. This makes it easier to make connections and find a job back home don't you think?" 

Cho didn't know what to think. Yes, Ron hurt you but enough to make you want to completely leave your professors, your friends, and more importantly him? 

"You would leave without saying goodbye?" Cho said sadly. 

"Nothing is for certain. But I'll send an owl to my parents. They've been trying to convince me to come home for a while maybe they were right." 

Fool me once, fool me twice

Are you death or paradise?

Now you'll never see me cry

There's just no time to die

The days after the incident, 

you referred to it like this because it made it easier to talk about like it was a car crash or an explosion, not a red-headed goofball you carelessly trusted,

you held your head high through the halls. 

'You will not let him see you fall' you told yourself. You were reckless to put your heart on the line like that for him. But what's that saying 'Only fools fall in love' well it couldn't be truer. 

Some days were easier than others you had spoken to the head of your house and made up an elaborate sudden illness that would sometimes make it impossible to go to class. 

So that covered your classes. 

But Ron...

You never spoke to him. 

It was easier this way. 

Made ripping the bandage off easier. 

You went up to the three of them in the courtyard ignoring how Rons' eyes lit up when he saw you coming towards them. 

You turned to Hermoine she looked beyond frightened at your cold and calculated stare. 

"I was hoping I could have my ancient runes textbook back Miss Granger? I let you borrow it last week"

Hermoine was confused not about the incident Harry had given the two of them an earful when you left the common room. 

As far as Hermoine knew you weren't taking ancient runes anymore. 

"Are you going to be taking the course again?" She asked politely hoping this met you'd put the whole thing behind you. As if it wasn't a big deal. 

You bit your tongue to refrain from saying "like it's any of your business Granger".

"I am. At Ilvermorny, next term. So if you could just leave it in the (Y/H) common room the password is 'paradise falls' I'd appreciate it." 

You were feeling very grateful at your ability to remain completely stoic to their gaping mouths at the news that you were transferring. 

You glanced over in Harrys' direction. 

He was one of the few people that made leaving Hogwarts more difficult. 

"Ilvermorny?" He spoke almost as if the word was an insult. 

"The wizarding school in America." You replied. 

Barely above a whisper, you heard Ron stutter, "W-Why?" 

This was the first time you had looked at him since the incident. 

He looked for lack of a better word, horrible. 

You wanted to scream and shout and cry and rip his head off. 

But instead, you gave him a once over from head to toe. 

Silently reprimanding him for even thinking you owed him a reason.

Regardless you spoke calmly "Personal reasons Mr. Weasley." 

You glanced at the three of them, the golden tiro, the one you trusted the most was the most responsible for the pain you were feeling.

Feeling like you were detached from your voice you said, "It was lovely to have met the three of you and I am fortunate to have had the pleasure of attending the same school.

Goodbye" 

You looked Ron in the eyes impassively when speaking the last word. 

No time to die

No time to die

Fool me once, fool me twice

Are you death or paradise?

Now you'll never see me cry

There's just no time to die

You had no time to lose yourself over a boy. 

You were an adult and so was Ronald. 

So why were there tears falling uncontrollably when you left the courtyard? 

Because he dug his claws deep into your heart and soul. That's why. 

Oddly enough you kept thinking about his family.

Rons' mother was such an amazing woman.

Speaking of amazing women Ginny was going to grow up and change the world 

You knew it. 

You never formally met Percy considering his poor decision making.

Bill and Charlie never faltered in making you feel protected and cared for. 

And most of all Fred and George made you laugh until your stomach hurt. 

You smiled at the thought before running into someone. Or someones?

Attempting to wipe your tears quickly you looked up to find Fred and George looking at you confused.

"Y/N?" 

Your heart broke you didn't have it in you to pretend to be strong and made out of marble.

You owed it to yourself to feel what you wanted to feel. 

Nor were you going to hold back and keep Rons' secrets for him, he did not deserve that.

He deserved the whole world to know he broke you. 

"Hey, guys." You managed a weak, half-hearted smile. 

Fred and George looked at each other and simultaneously said "What did he do?"

Jokingly expecting your tears to be for someone else and not their kind little brother.

But when you didn't laugh and let out a downright broken sob they knew it was something extremely serious. 

Without question, the twins embraced you and let you wholly release everything you were holding in. 

Just then Ron came running down the corridor 

"Please Y/N Let me explain it wasn't what it looked-" he spoke breathlessly behind but stopped abruptly when he saw his brothers disappointed expressions. You backed out of the warm encircle. 

You took a deep breath. A shaky breath but a deep one none the less. 

"Thank you for accepting me into your home. Please let your mother know she is the kindest woman in the world." 

Ron spoke behind you "Please my love. Talk to me. Look at me I'm begging" 

You turned with such fury and speed Fred and George thought you were going to take your wand out and curse their brother. 

You stood silent. In front of the boy, you would've given the world to. Maybe even now you still would.

"You do not get to speak to me. You do not get to 'explain yourself'. You do not get to say anything to me. I fell for a lie. It was my mistake believing you. I have nothing for you, Ronald Weasley."

You watched him slowly fall apart.

You wanted to feel something

Pride

Anger 

Something. But you were drained of every emotion you had given everything to Ron. 

You turned to Fred and George and smiled dispiritedly. 

From behind you, you could hear one of the twins say "Let her go, mate. You messed up. You lost her." 

And left. Alone 

Just as you had arrived. 

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #211: ... By Force of MIND!

September, 1981

THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH!

Oh hey, Dazzler, Hercules, Black Widow, Moon Knight, Angel from X-Men, Yellowjacket, Black Panther, Tigra, and Hawkeye?

Are you joining Captain America, Wasp, Beast, Thor, and Iron Man as the new Avengers?

Is this going to be the next biggest roster since the Korvac Saga?

Possibly! Jim Shooter is back and he was the guy behind that story.

Jim Shooter is very back, something the creative credits make sure you don’t miss.

“Joyfully welcome back long-time star Avengers scribe, me, Jim Shooter -- ‘cause I’m writing these credits, and, also I’m the boss!”

Charming. Non-facetiously.

It has similar energy to the ol’ Stan Lee introductions. And is probably just as much a pretense. Eh.

So the story “... By Force of MIND!” starts in the Avengers conference room.

And penciler Gene Colan sure has interesting ideas what that should look like.

We’ve seen the Avengers’ conference room a couple times in various books. They tend to have a grand conference table with assigned chairs?

Look at this one from Avengers Annual #10.

Or the one just as recently as last issue #210.

Pretty big overall. Suitably grand.

But the conference room has apparently been redecorated because it looks different. The personalized chairs are still there.

But the table is puny. It looks like the Young Avengers table at Thanksgiving. Set up off to the side for all the kids. Its dinky. It doesn’t look like all the Avengers can fit around it.

Which possibly supports Captain America’s point when he decides that the Avengers roster needs to be trimmed down to only six.

All those people on the cover are going to be really disappointed to hear this.

Captain America: “The Avengers have a habit of playing for high stakes! I believe that a lean, close-knit group is better... stronger!”

Beast goofs that they’ll need explosives to dislodge him from the team.

Also, there’s a trapeze on the roof of the conference room. Why. I mean, I know why. Your acrobatic characters need to be casually acrobatic at random times or they’ll be bummed out. But also why.

Wonder Man isn’t as bothered. Even after all this time on the team, he doesn’t feel like he’s ever really belonged here doing this hero stuff.

Vision and Scarlet Witch are selling themselves as a package deal. You get both or you get neither.

Captain America gives the Avengers some time to rest and think but they’ll reconvene at 1600 for the new roster announcement.

So there’s 9 people in or adjacent to the Avengers. Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Beast, Jocasta, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, and Wasp. Three are gonna have to go.

All of this possibly getting fired, gives a pretty dour attitude (except for Wasp who doesn’t seem very concerned and probably doesn’t have a reason to be. Would you want to tell Wasp that she’s fired? I wouldn’t). Beast decides to lighten things up.

By causing problems on purpose.

So Beast bounces through the crowd of Avengers, jostling them all, and stealing Wonder Man’s glasses. Who hates having his glowing eyes show.

Scarlet Witch: “What on-- !? Beast! You crazy -- !”

Beast: “Moi? Crazee? Begging your pardon, mademoiselle witch. I am merely, how you say... playful! So, like gimme some space to be a jerk in, you know? Okay?”

At least he knows he’s being a jerk??

And then he runs off with Wonder Man’s glasses, goofing all the way.

Wonder Man: “Come on, you lame-brained blue-furred buffoon!”

Beast: “Hmmf! I’ll have you know, sir, that I am a highly intelligent blue-furred buffoon. I hole a dozen PhDs! I speak fifty-three languages... but I tell you, I don’t get no respect! Wanna hear me say ‘eat my dust, jocko,’ in Latverian?”

In the face of all this buffoonery, Wasp still doesn’t really care.

She decides the done thing is to go get her hair done for the big meeting. And sure this is short notice but she’s Janet Van Dyne. She’s going to have a movie starlet’s appointment bumped for her.

Scarlet Witch reflects that maybe the reason Jan isn’t worried about the possibility of being cut is that the Avengers aren’t her whole life. She has other stuff going on. A husband. A fashion line. The fabulous existence of being Janet Van Dyne.

Jocasta comes and tries to ask Vision for advice. Even after her big focus story, she still feels like an outsider. And she doesn’t have a life outside the Avengers. So unlike her brain donor Wasp, she is very worried about getting kicked out.

Jocasta: “You’ve learned to fit in, even though you’re a robot, as I am. Please... help me to...”

Vision: “I beg your pardon, Jocasta. I am a synthezoid, not a robot! As such, I am a perfect meld of computer microcircuitry and living, synthetic flesh! In all ways I am a fully functional man! I have a wife -- who needs me now! I cannot help you with your dilemma.”

And then Vision peaces out of this conversation by flying through the ceiling. Even though he’s going to join Wanda who is in an adjacent room. Ya weird, Vision.

You’re also massively unhelpful whenever anyone asks you for advice.

This is fully the second time Jocasta has asked him for advice. At least he didn’t trash the room in an angst ‘I DON’T HAVE FEELINGS AHHHH I MISS WANDA’ tantrum this time.

Jocasta is left alone. Which basically sums up her time in this book. Poor, poor robot. She’s so lonely she goes off on an existential soliloquy right outside Vision and Wanda’s room. Which is a bit passive aggressive. But hey. Superheroes.

Jocasta: “Are you truly so much different, Vision? So much better than I? I know that my voice rings metallic... but yours is cold hollow and emotionless!”

“I have built-in sensors! I can see! I can hear! I can feel! I function well enough? Don’t I? Don’t I? What does it take to be alive?”

“Does it take warm flesh? Am I merely animated because I am made of metal? I did not choose to be what I am!”

“I am what Ultron made me! Ultron -- the evil robot nemesis of the Avengers! He made you too, Vision -- reconstructed you from a long-dead android body! Both of us rebelled against his evil! Both of us sided with the Avengers!”

“Why, then, am I less than you? Is it because you are loved... and I am alone? Ultron... loved me...”

;__;

Poor robot lady.

I do wonder why the Avengers have been so indifferent to her presence. She did come to them during a chaotic moment in the team history. Vision was based on Wonder Man who wasn’t on the team while Jocasta had to coexist with Wasp from day 1.

There’s also that while both she and Vision are angsty robots that turned against Ultron, Vision (despite his famous “even an android can cry” moment) tends to be more performative with his angsts. He sulks. He broods. He smashes furniture.

Jocasta sits quietly and sadly in the background. Makes tentative stabs at companionship but backs off without ever causing a fuss. Different socialization rules for the robot genders possibly?

The good news is that modern Jocasta has learned to assert herself a lot more. She’s been a delight in the Dan Slott Iron Man book.

Anyway. Hopefully that line about Ultron doesn’t foreshadow anything. Its going to be really dumb if Jocasta brings back Ultron because the Avengers treat her with all the attentiveness of the fridge (although she may still legally qualify as one depending on how much of the Henry Peter Gyrich’s nonsense has stuck around).

Time for a sudden, drastic tone shift!

Beast exits stage Avengers Mansion, pursued by Wonder Man.

He hides up a tree like a rocket belt isn’t something Simon has or the ability to jump hella high.

But Wonder Man takes neither of those options. Instead he karate chops the tree down in one stroke. Which is impressive but I imagine Tony Stark is going to be annoyed. That tree was part of the landscaping!

Not expecting this, Beast falls out of the tree complaining that cutting down trees is illegal in New York. Wonder Man catches him and takes his sunglasses back.

Beast: “You grabbed me! But nobody’s fast enough to do that!”

Wonder Man: “People think I’m just strong! Everybody forgets that I have instantaneous reflexes and blinding speed! To me, the world looks like its moving in slow motion!”

I feel like if Wonder Man was Actually Fast all along, he’s not been getting much use out of it, considering how often he takes dumb hits in fights.

And then Wonder Man hurls Beast into the sky.

Like. Really high into the sky.

Beast: “omigosh! omigosh! omigosh! He’s nuts! He’s crazy! He’s -- who cares about him?! I’m dead! He killed me over a crummy prank! For stealing his glasses I get to end up as a blue blotch on the street. My girlfriends won’t recognize me! I can’t look! Wait a minute! This is serious! This is for real! I’m falling at hundreds of miles per hour! Nothing can save me! I’m really going to die! Like this?! I’m going to die like this?! NO!”

Wonder Man: “Relax, Beast. You’re in good hands with Wonder Man!”

Beast: *Whuff*! You -- you caught me! But that’s like catching a bullet.”

Wonder Man: “Told you I moved quick!”

Beast: “thanks. You’re a decent guy for a common ruffian, Wondy!”

I mean, he also threw you straight up, Beast. Is it so impressive that he caught you?

But with the disproportionate response to a prank by making Beast think he’s going to horribly die, Wonder Man sort of apologizes and says he’s going to miss hanging out with Beast.

See, Wonder Man isn’t going to hang around hoping he gets to stay on the team. He’s actually decided to quit. As has been Wonder Man’s thing for a while, he just doesn’t enjoy the superhero life.

He’s always struggling with insecurity and dislike of throwing himself into deadly danger a dozen times a week.

In fact, he wasn’t too broken up when Henry Peter Gyrich kicked him off the team. Back when he got super into the idea of becoming an actor. He even said at time “If I can get used to playing roles on a stage - maybe I’ll feel more comfortable in my role as superhero!”

Except, as we saw in the Shadow Lord/Berserker two-parter, Wonder Man hasn’t gotten used to playing roles on a stage.

And we’ve seen that his Avengers responsibilities are getting in the way of his acting opportunities. So. Not a surprise he’s going to leave the team as long as the roster is being rearranged anyway.

Wonder Man asks if Beast likes that superhero life of facing death all the time.

Beast: “Frankly, I never really actually considered the possibility of dying... until a minute ago. But think of the fun, glamour and girls, Simon! This is the life!”

Wonder Man: “Is that stuff really enough for a guy as smart as you, Hank? The way I see it being a hero doesn’t make you a person any more than having power makes you a hero.”

Beast: “Yeah. But pigs make good pork chops so I’m staying!”

I’m not really sure what Simon is getting at here. I think its something about finding yourself?

As the time for the meeting draws minutes away, Completely Normal Doctor Donald Blake arrives at the mansion by cab. The cabdriver wondering what a guy like Blake is doing at Avengers Mansion. This Completely Normal Cab Driver is tempted to snoop but goes naw!

If he had snooped, he may have seen Completely Normal Doctor Donald Blake turn into the Mighty Thor and head into the mansion.

Here’s a funny thing, Thor claims that the reason why he talks to himself so much is out of protest that there’s just not enough heralds in Midgard to tell people how cool he is.

Thor: “Thus, the mortal facade is stripped away -- and thus, once again Thor treads the Earth! Thor, god of Thunder, Prince of Asgard! Thor, son of Odin! Bah! That the son of Odin must so proclaim himself -- ! Are there no heralds about? Nay... never when thou needest one! Unannounced, I enter this Earthly ‘mansion,’ poorer than the least dwelling in Asgard!”

Thor also wonders to himself that if he is chosen to take part in the new Avengers roster, will he choose to remain with them? One presumes he has a lot of Thor business going on. That’s why he left the team back when Moondragon was temping with them. She convinced him he was slumming by hanging with the Avengers.

OH. MEANWHILE. That Completely Normal Cab Driver?

He is seized by a strange compulsion. He parks his cab in an alley, takes off his clothes and -- MOON KNIGHT?

Inside, the Avengers are assembling for their meeting to find who is fired or not. Except they’ve decided to give the rinky conference room table a pass and are instead sitting around in a room with even fewer chairs and a table less conducive to holding a meeting.

Lateral move.

I’m wondering whether there was some miscommunication between writer and artist or what.

Cap tells the Avengers to find a place to sit (when there is only one visible chair) when Jarvis interrupts.

Moon Knight has shown up and demands to see the Avengers. And the automatic defenses that should have stopped him seem to have been switched off.

Moon Knight insists that the Avengers summoned him. That he was forced to come to the mansion. Which comes as news to the Avengers.

And then a whole bunch of other superheroes show up claiming that they were also forced to come here.

Hi Hercules, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Angel, Yellowjacket, Dazzler, Tigra, Black Panther, and Iceman!

So that explains the cover.

Wow, a cover that didn’t even lie!

There’s a hustle and bustle of the various superheroes complaining about being here because they had better things to be doing. Black Panther is late for a meeting to speak with the UN Security Council!

And Dazzler complains because its too cold to sit next to Iceman. And Iceman is just like ‘it be like that.’

Oh and Tigra seems to decide to get in some impromptu yoga. Don’t know what the deal with that is. But cats be like that sometimes.

Moon Knight sees all these heroes here and comes to the conclusion that this is some weird Avengers membership drive. But he is very not interested in this!

Yeah, I don’t know that a mysterious vigilante who mostly operates in the shadows would be a good match for a public superhero team.

Cough.

Iceman too is like sorry but I’m not into the hero stuff. I was on the Champions. I did my time!

So he and Moon Knight turn to leave. Iceman saying he’s going to need to find a cab and Moon Knight clearing knowing that he’s going to be picking up that fare.

But when they get near the door, the two freeze.

I realize that Iceman is involved so I mean that they suddenly stopped moving.

And they get super belligerent at each other and start fighting. With Iceman expositing about his skills. Which is normal for a comic. But seems a bit weird in the context of whats going on.

Iceman: “I feel compelled to explain how my X-Men training helped me to get the most out of my mutant ability to freeze the moisture in the air!”

And he freezes the ground under Moon Knight’s feet so he slips like a doofus.

But when he goes to finish the fight, Iceman’s head suddenly starts to hurt. Which he says is like someone else is in his head with him. He can’t think clearly enough.

While Iceman is distracted, Moon Knight throws some of his moonerangs at Iceman who blocks them. But neither can continue as the pain in their heads incapacitates them both.

Yellowjacket: “Wait a minute! I know who must be behind this! That arrogant self-styled g-- *uhh*”

And Yellowjacket freezes in place, as if in a trance.

The Avengers are concerned but Angel suddenly starts flying around the room, saying he can’t resist, he just has to flyyyyyy

Which apparently offends Tigra for some reason. Some mysterious reason. How mysterious.

Angel: “The Angel’s in the air! Watch me do my stuff!”

Tigra: “So, you think you’re pretty special, huh, Wings? Well, you’re just another bird to Tigra, the She-Cat -- and cats eat birds!”

Angel: “Sounds wild -- ! But you’ve got to catch me first!”

Tigra: “I will Bird-Man! I will -- with my nice, sharp claws! And, once I do, I’m plenty strong enough -- to tear your precious little wings right off!”

Eeeeeeeeesh. Well that’s retroactively a sore subject. Angel has his wings badly injured during the Mutant Massacre storyline and they end up amputated, sending him into a depression. And then stuff happens stuff happens, its his college roommate Cameron Hodges’ fault, Apocalypse gives Angel metal murder wings.

But in the here and now before that series of events, we must assume something similar to the sudden antagonism between Moon Knight and Iceman.

Something weird is going on and stating out loud that you’ve figured out what just gets you put in a trance.

Of course, I know what’s going on because I peeked ahead so I’ll just go ahead and tell you its M- *uhh*

Hahah, just kidding! Can you imagine, though? Anyway, its Moondragon.

She’s lurking behind the Avengers watching them watch this nonsense. They don’t notice her because she’s decided she doesn’t want them to. Until she does.

But before that, hey, time to call out Beast.

Beast: “Hey-- ! That’s not a costume! Tigra’s for real! She’s like a cat ... covered with fur -- like me! I should be thrilled, I guess... But instead, I find it vaguely unsettling!” 

Look, furries can’t judge furries for being furry. Its the law.

Anyway, Moondragon lets the Avengers notice her and they turn around and go ‘oh ffs its Moondragon’ more or less.

Moondragon: “I sensed your need for order... for organization! So I returned!”

Iron Man: “What?! What right do you have to interfere?”

Moondragon: “Why, divine right, naturally!”

You may not like her but you have to admire her confidence.

She recaps her backstory a bit, including her belief that she’s Actually A Goddess of Mind. Because she was raised by the demigods of Titan and she’s super psychic.

I’m not sure how super psychic. I don’t think she and Jean Grey, for example, have ever locked horns. And Jean Grey is kind of the byword for super psychic.

She’s at least psychic enough that she gave Daredevil his vision back. I think that’s psychic?

I do wonder how Moondragon stacks up on the Grey scale. But not enough that I want that kind of dick waving contest between the Avengers and X-Men. There’s enough of that already.

So after explaining how great she is the Avengers basically react with ‘oh ffs, we did not miss this’ and ask what this has to do with this circus.

Moondragon: “Come now, Iron Man! Who better than I to bring order to the tangled affairs of this company? When last I left this august assemblage, my status was still Avenger-on-call -- meaning that I would aid you in times of dire need! I am needed now! -- And so I am here!”

Iron Man: “Swell.”

I think I’ve actually missed her advanced state of arrogance. Or maybe I’m just charitably inclined to her because she and Phyla-Vell got back together and alive in the current Guardians of the Galaxy run.

Anyway, Hawkeye has not missed her advanced state of arrogance and decides to peace out. He’s got an actual paying job to do and he’s late for work because Moondragon dragged him out here.

Moondragon tells him he can go. FOR HIS FATE LEADS HIM AWAY FROM THE AVENGERS FOR NOW!

Hawkeye: “Baldy, if you’re so hot why couldn’t you figure that out without dragging me across town?”

Good point, Hawkeye.

Honestly? I think she did it to troll you.

Black Widow and Black Panther also take off. Black Panther to his UN thing and Black Widow back to her job with SHIELD.

Moondragon doesn’t stop them. So I’m guessing their fates also lead them away from the Avengers for now. But. Why bring them? They didn’t do anything?

Moondragon, were you just padding out the numbers for a more exciting cover? Dammit, Moondragon!

Hawkeye is Hawkeye and thus extra extra so he shoots a suction cup arrow at a helicopter to hitch a ride instead of taking a taxi. And as he dangles from it, he muses melancholic about what Black Widow and he once had. And ironically, Black Widow is also thinking about him and sure that he doesn’t care for her anymore.

Womp womp.

Inside the mansion, Moondragon decides to continue, to the protests of Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America.

So she yells SILENCE! and paralyzes them, just like with Yellowjacket.

The assorted crowd of everyoen else fusses and wonders what to do but Moondragon takes charge and demands that Dazzler show her stuff.

Or rather:

Moondragon: “You use your gift frivolously... as part of a musical act! Please demonstrate!”

That’s... a way to request that, yes.

Dazzler doesn’t like her tone but decides to demonstrate anyway. Cranking her pocket radio and converting the sound waves into a dazzling light show.

Dazzler: “I.... uh. Also skate! Not much of a power, huh?”

Moondragon: “Hmm! Greater than you suspect... but i sense that your desire to be a minstrel is deep and sincere!”

Minstrel? Really? Psychics have no excuse for not knowing the right word.

I’m getting a real mixed vibe from Moondragon talking to Dazzler. Its like she’s being condescending and complimentary at the same time.

But since she senses that Dazzler just wants to do disco stuff, she tells her that she can go.

Dazzler isn’t sure whether to leave the Avengers to deal with this or as she thinks “Baldy’s rap sounds real cool but this scene is definitely tense!” but Scarlet Witch tells her it will be alright.

So Dazzler goes. “When the Scarlet Witch says go -- I go!”

Dazzler knows the score.

With Dazzler gone, Moondragon is like ‘welp lets get back on with it’ but Scarlet Witch has had it.

Scarlet Witch: “Enough! We demand that you cease this outrage! We can make our own decisions.”

Moondragon: “Can you? Some of you would choose to stay out of force of habit... or loneliness... or fear of failure in the world beyond these walls! You are children! It is far better that I choose!”

And now Iron Man has had enough. And has also had an idea.

While his body may have been paralyzed by Moondragon, a lot of his armor functions are thought activated because, hey, I don’t see a lot of buttons on him, do you?

So all he has to do is think WHOOOSHy thoughts and WHOOOSH he goes, flying through the ceiling of Avengers Mansion. For once, it is Tony Stark who destroys Tony Stark’s home.

And once he’s outside Avengers Mansion, he is apparently far enough outside her range that he can now move. And since “brainwaves are electromagnetic in nature” he turns on his built-in transceiver to emit a microwave psionic jamming signal.

Which is something that he just can do!

The effect of which is that it’ll make Moondragon “feel like she’s got static on every channel!”

Sure!

Kind of reminds me of the First Foundation’s anti-psychic defenses they made against the Second Foundation. Ah, classic sci-fi. Sometimes it teaches us things like how to fight specifically Moondragon.

Moondragon is sure that she can overcome the jamming if she can just regain her concentration but...

With psychic frequencies jammed, the paralyzed Avengers start to spring into action.

So she just puts up a force field. Projected from her spaceship in Earth orbit and activated with a remote control in her glove.

Aside from the other things I’ve given Moondragon, I’ll also give her this: she came prepared.

Moondragon: “Why must you resist me so? Why can you not simply acknowledge that you need my godly guidance? We are wasting valuable time! I have yet another group of candidates to summon... but I cannot dally here much longer!”

I really want to know who her B Squad would have been.

But with the Avengers trying to break down her force field and Iron Man swooping back in to help, Moondragon decides ‘hey fuck this actually’ and teleports away.

Moondragon: “By the braided ring! How naive... how foolish you are! Perhaps I am wasting my time on your petty affairs! All right then -- enough! Have it your way! I am needed elsewhere in the galaxy! Farewell!”

And she doesn’t die on the way back to her home planet.

I do like that she recontextualizes the scenario as being actually this is a waste of her time and she’s just throwing pearls before swine. She’s going to go somewhere that appreciates the work she’s doing out of the goodness of her heart.

She is horrible. And like with Emma Frost, I just kinda appreciate that in a character.

With Moondragon not here to force people to stay, Thor tells all the non-Avengers to fuck off. Not very gracious, Thor. They were forced to come.

Iceman leaves and reminds everyone and me that his life goal is actually to be an accountant. Something I’m surprised by every time I hear it.

He even offers to help the Avengers with their budgets or tax forms. Heck of a guy.

Angel also leaves but muses that he kind of hates to.

Angel: “I... sort of hate to leave! I haven’t really done much with my life since the Champions broke up! -- Besides hang around with the X-Men a little! I never thought about becoming an Avenger --! Maybe I ought to!”

This is the thought process that will probably lead him to form X-Factor and that road leads to Cameron Hodge and Angel becoming Archangel. Dammit, Moondragon!

Although, the X-Man I really want on an Avengers team is Cyclops. He’s so defined by being an X-Man and by being a leader of X-Men, I want to see what he does on a team that already has plenty of leaders. I want to see if he goes through a weird character transformation like Beast and becomes relentlessly chill.

Alas.

Anyway, Tigra speaks up and says “I gather that you guys weren’t really looking for new members, but now that I’m here... uh, any chance?”

Cap is dubious because he doesn’t know a thing about Tigra (except that he gave her clothes to Patsy Walker) but Hercules is like hey we all saw how she tried to beat up Moondragon, that shows she has mettle.

Plus, there are Avengers that Hercules knows nothing about, which is totally the same thing.

Hercules: “You, for instance! You are called Wonder Man, though in sooth, I know not why!”

Wonder Man: “Really? Well, I... I’m as strong as Thor... almost...”

Hercules: “Eh? What?! HAVE AT THEE, THEN!”

And then he punches Wonder Man through a wall.

God, I love Hercules.

And then he tries to wrassle him, just pleased as all get out that Wonder Man is still conscious after Hercules gave him a big punch. “What fun!”

Wonder Man is less pleased.

Wonder Man: “Why are you doing this? Why are you attacking me for no reason?”

Hercules: “Men must brawl to know one another! How better to learn the measure of a man -- ? And what greater gift can a man give another than the thrill, the glory, the joy of battle? I am a friendly fellow who would often give this gift -- but, alas, most mortals are too frail to receive it. You are not, though! You and I may batter freely!”

Hercules just wants to punch people to be friendly but poor guy is just too swole for most men. He needs a real sturdy friend to beat the shit out of.

Wonder Man squirms out of the wrassle and clocks Hercules through a different wall. As the Avengers just watch like ‘yup this is the kind of day this has been.’

Hercules is in good spirit about being clocked through a wall and decides that now he and Wonder Man are friends and that Wonder Man is truly worthy to be an Avenger.

Wonder Man sheepishly mentions that actually he was quitting to pursue a career in acting and WHY HERCULES LIKES THAT JUST AS WELL!

Hercules: “Acting? Why of late, Hercules has kept company with those mortals known as the ‘jet set.’ I know many producers and directors! Come, I’ll introduce you to them! And the women, friend Wonder Man!”

Captain America, bemused: “you meet some strange folks in this business.”

There’s an non-existent Wonder Man and Hercules Take Hollywood Buddy Comedy Book and its a crime that its non-existent.

Geez, Marvel. GEEZ.

Anyway, that’s Wonder Man gone. Out of one buddy comedy into another.

Tigra reminds the Avengers that she’s still here and still wants to be in the Avengers.

Tigra: “Yeah... uh, back to my little problem... I’ve been at loose ends for a while... and I really want to belong somewhere! I know I could cut it as an Avenger! Please?”

This time, the objection is that the Avengers just don’t have room for a new person. They were trying to pare back! Not recruit!

But Beast interjects and reveals he is also leaving.

Beast: “Wondy and I had a talk this morning that started me thinking -- and I hate to admit it, but a couple of things Moondragon said hit home! You know, I used to be a scientist! I used to have a future besides my next gag and tomorrow night’s date! I want to see if there’s anything left of Hank McCoy besides a ‘blue-furred buffoon!’“

Hank’s early character beats on the Avengers were him struggling to find what his place on the team would be. He couldn’t be the strongest with Iron Man or Thor on the team. He couldn’t be the smartest with Iron Man again, Black Panther, or Yellowjacket. Wonder Man joining the team. Wonder Man joining the team gave Beast someone to be there for and with. But mostly Beast’s tenure has been kind of... party time for him. He’s been the fun member of the team. Going out to parties and juggling multiple dates and telling jokes.

Its been a fun time for Beast but he’s not really been living up to his potential And there were times he could have become the scientist on the team again. Or helped as one. Yellowjacket hasn’t been on the team as a core member for a bit. But he stuck in his role as the team clown.

Like with Thor, Moondragon has convinced Beast that he’s been sort of slumming it with the Avengers and now he’s gotta go rethink his character.

Where does this lead him? Why, he’s going to join the Defenders! And going to try to get that non-team team more organized like a team team. Is this a good thing? I don’t know, I haven’t read a lot of Defenders! Hopefully the Defenders podcast I listen to gets to that point soon!

But Beast isn’t the only one Moondragon has swayed.

Vision and Scarlet Witch likewise announce that they’re quitting the Avengers.

Vision: “Perhaps we will not succeed in finding a place among ordinary people -- but we must try!”

So perhaps influenced as well by the conversation Wanda had with Jan where Wasp wasn’t worried about losing her spot on the team. Which Wanda attributed to Jan having a life outside the Avengers. And apparently Wanda and Vision have been afraid to try for that. Until Moondragon dunked on her for it.

Geez. If there’s anything Moondragon is good at, its getting Avengers to quit the team. She got Thor and Hellcat last time. This time she got Beast, Vision, and Scarlet Witch.

So there’s room for Tigra now but also too much room. They were aiming for six and even with Tigra, they’d only have FIVE THERES ONLY FIVE CLEARLY.

Jocasta, in the background: -saddest robot in the world-

Yellowjacket shrugs and decides to rejoin as a full-time member to get the number up to six. His research hasn’t been going great lately anyway so he has time in his schedule.

Feeling overlooked, just like last issue, which was a filler which was supposed to address the Avengers overlooking her, Jocasta decides to slink away. Just leaps out the window and runs away from home.

Jocasta: “They didn’t even notice me... didn’t count me! Was it an oversight? Or had everyone already made up their minds that I would be one of those eliminated? What difference does it make? I am nothing to them! They do not want me here! Maybe I’ll find someplace where I am wanted! Maybe I’ll find someone... who loves me!”

=(

And where does Jocasta go from here?

She wanders the country looking for love, presumably in all the wrong places, and is seized by a per-programmed compulsion to rebuild Ultron. This leads to a big team up between the Thing, Machine Man, and her and Jocasta sacrifices herself to help stop Ultron. The Avengers hold a memorial and Machine Man attends, realizing that he had loved Jocasta.

So plus side: she does find someone to love her. Minus side: she dies and also its Machine Man.

Double plus side: she’s eventually rebuilt. Dies a couple more times. But she’s currently alive.

It’s going to turn out that this was a failure of communication.

(On the team less than a day after basically begging to join and she’s already made herself at home and is hogging the entire couch. How very cat of you, Tigra.)

Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor had decided privately to ask her to stay on as a Special Substitute Avenger, keep living in the mansion, and help out when its needed.

In the hubbub of Moondragon’s recruitment drive I guess they forgot to bring it up. I feel like its something you should have approached her with before the meeting, just to make sure she was okay with it.

Hindsight and all.

The snubbing from Vision definitely didn’t help.

Iron Man: “I hope she comes back! -- And I sure hope Moondragon doesn’t!”

Hah.

I do wonder what the initial plan going into the meeting would have been, before Moondragon took it over. What roster had Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America decided on before Moondragon talked three Avengers into quitting and introduced Tigra to the team?

I guess we’ll never knoooow.

Captain America muses that although it seems like they drove Moondragon away, she may have gotten what she actually wanted. “What if she used her mental powers subtly to influence the decisions that were made?”

And its possible because of how her speech influenced the three people who quit.

The thought just about makes Iron Man furious.

He doesn’t have time to dwell on it because the news shows up to get coverage of the last panel new roster AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! moment.

I do love a good last panel new roster Avengers Assemble moment.

And that was Jim Shooter’s first issue back. And a pretty great first issue too.

Not that the previous issues have been bad necessarily but he definitely brought a sense of fun to this issue. Even though there’s some forced fighting for those ACTION SCENES most of it is just character interactions. Even some of the pointless fights.

And like writers like to do when they take over a book, Jim Shooter draws a line in the history with a shake-up to the team roster. Reintroduces Moondragon into the book because he has unfinished business with her.

I’ve actually been reading the original Star Brand book by Shooter and the writing is night and day. Its all text text text words words words but its much punchier here. Though there are some strange spelling and punctuation choices.

Still, I’m excited to have a consistent writer back on and I’m even excited about it being Jim Shooter. I hated his first run on the book on first read and then appreciated it more the second time through. And I’ve heard interesting stuff about this upcoming run.

Psst, follow @essential-avengers​. You are being mentally influenced by Moondragon to do so. Wait, this is a counterproductive self-promote. Er, like and reblog because you choose to?

[futurewriter2000]

A Wallflower - pt. 1

A/N: So, I was really enjoying this fic and I am thinking of writing a second part to this because making everything angsty and then into a fluffy cute kissing scene was really challanging. You know either it’s all angst or full time fluff, butt it’s hard to go from angst to fluff, especially for me. Hope you like it.

PAIRING: Teddy Lupin x reader

REQUEST: Teddy Lupin x reader pls Kinda angsty but at the end cute Kissing scenes pls

XX

Confidence was a funny thing. Either you had it or you hadn’t and with Teddy Lupin, there was an exchanging bargain with his brain and heart. 

All he wanted from you was a look. One glance, one second of your gorgeous smiling eyes, your astounding, plush lips. “Come on. Come on.” he continued to mumble to himself meanwhile his leg that continued to jump with full time speed, kept James finally put his fork down. 

“Will you stop it!” James grumbled. “It’s 8am in the morning, I am barely alive, I have a test in three hours and I think I left half of my body in my own bed!” 

“Sorry, mate.” Teddy stopped jumping his leg, his fingers intertwining with his own as he tried not to look at you.

But what if you look at his direction and he doesn’t catch it? What if all of that constant pleading and begging got him for him to miss his chance? 

“Honestly, who are you looking at?” James started scanning the Ravenclaw table. 

“Me?” Teddy said nervously. “Noone.” he shook his head and focused his eyes on the table, unaware that before his eyes focused on the wood, they looked up at you and James noticed it.

“(y/n)(y/l/n)?” James leaned back and crossed his arms in disapproval. “Her?”

Teddy looked up. Somewhat ashamed, somewhat relieved that another knows. 

“Seriously mate. Not her.” 

“Why not?” he replied, straightning up his posture and quirking an eyebrow at him. “She’s smart and funny, gorgeous-”

“And she’s a real bitch.” James rolled his eyes. “Pureblood, rich and coming from the whole line of respected wizarding familes. I think she has a big dose of that pureblood in her ego.” 

“Aren’t you the same?” Teddy clicked his tongue and James widened his eyes at the realization before shaking his head and uncrossing his arms.

“That’s not the point. The point is that her whole family is against muggle-borns, half-breeds fiasco and she is no different. Just look at her.” he pointed his hand at you but you were nowhere to be seen. James and Teddy both widened his eyes at your sudden disappereance. 

“Merlin, she’s a complete monster.” you rested your arms on James shoulders and put your head on top of his. “Absolute beast. Voldemort would hide from her.” you continued to tease, removing yourself from James and ruffling his hair. “Where’s your daddy Potter when you need him?” you finished, taking a glance of the boy next to him, sending him a flirty wink and leaving. 

Teddy felt himself melt like butter meanwhile James was boiling inside. He was clenching his fists and digging his nails in his palms. “I promised my dad I’ll stay out of trouble... but she just fucking crossed the line.” he gritted his teeth and stormed after you. 

Teddy as long as it took him to get out from his daze, ran after him. He promised Harry that he’ll try to keep James out of much trouble as he could. Ephasis on the try. 

He was too far away to stop what happened next. You were hugging a First year who kept jumping of joy, showing you her E in Transfiguration. You were her tutor and she adored you. She kept coming to you for advice, any kind of advice and you always had time to help her because she as sweet, kind and full of life you couldn’t get to have at her age. 

“(Y/l/n)!” James shouted on top of his furious lungs. 

You looked up, your pupil, Melody, as well. 

“FUCK YOU!” he continued to shout while you stepped in front of Melody and stand up to this prick.

“Potter, go away. We can do this later but not now.” you felt Melody’s hand take a hold of your robes.

“NO! I want to talk to you now! You don’t get to throw my father, my whole family and the moment that scarred his life into my face like mud!” he kept clenching his fists, his eyes blazing and narrowed at you. 

“Shut up, Potter!” you snapped, feeling Melody’s grip tighten. 

“Don’t tell him to shut up!” Teddy now intertwined. “He’s right! You were being rude to him.” 

“And who the fuck are you?” you scoffed, knowing exactly who he was. The boy you shared most of your classes with. “Alright? Edward Lupin.” 

“Teddy.” he felt his anger boil, the daze completely gone. He hated his name, always preffered to be called Teddy.

“Well, Teddy, whoever the fuck you are, stay out.” 

“Whoever the fuck I am? Who the fuck are you, talking to everybody like you own them.”

“What?! You don’t even know me, half-breed!” 

That hit the spot in Teddy’s heart. His hair changed colour in a flash, his body covered James’ whole and he was standing above you. 

“Half-breed?!” he was leaning over you. “I may be a half-breed but at least my father even if he was werewolf, he still fought for you to have an education and so you can live meanwhile what did your father did? Sip his vodka and get drunk?” he was now getting close to your hitting your point in the heart. “I know you and your family, pureblood maniacs, thinking yall are so much more worhty than the rest of us but as I remember your mother never even finished school and your daddy inherited the money he spends on alcohol and well- you.” he made a hand gesture that implied at you. “You think your family is respectful but all they do is get rid of the muggle-borns. Don’t think I don’t know what your family does. You’re nothing but murderers.” he growled and after that last few words, the hand let go of your robe and as you wanted to speak, there was a scared voice speaking instead of yours.

“Is that true?” Melody took a few steps back with her teary eyes staring at yours. 

Teddy just now noticed the little First year, his anger flushing away meanwhile you turned around and looked at her. “No- no!” you quickly tried to deny, squating down and opening your arms. “It’s not- Melody-”

“You’re lying!” tears fell down her cheeks meawhile yours started to gather in yours.

“It’s complicated, Mel. Please don’t be afraid.”

“I’m a Muggle-born. You want to get rid of me?”

“What? Of course, not! Why would you think that?”

“You always say of taking the family business and if they get rid of-”

“Melody, that’s not what I meant. That’s not what we do anymore!” 

“ANYMORE?!” she shouted and tears started to fall down your cheeks. 

“Melody!” you pleaded. “Just let me explain.”

“NO! I thought of you like a sister now I can’t even look at you.” she started backing away and you tried to walk after her but she screamed. “LEAVE ME ALONE! MURDERER!” 

You felt your heart break. That was the point and she hit the middle. 

It didn’t take long after her heart-breaking leave that you felt like sobbing yourself. You couldn’t even look at them. From shame? Anger? It didn’t even matter at the point because you couldn’t feel yourself breathe no matter where you ran. And you ran far and further, somewhere where there was only loneliness. 

‘ You stepped down the stairs and stopped at the fifth step, just so you could see right in the kitchen. 

“Please, I don’t know anything!” the man, crouched and bare chest lifted his slim hands but he cursed anyway. Screams escaped his mouth, agonized screams. When he stopped crucifying him, he took a deep breath in as if it was his last. “Ple- pl-” he tried to speak but his tongue was tied. 

“TELL ME!” he roared and you jumped at the sound.

“It’s Timothy McKay! Timothy McKay! It’s McKay!”

There was silence and an malicious cackle. “McKay? That Half-blood is a half-breed as well? He’ll be a pleasure to torture. Never tortured half-veela. Explains why the ladies adored him.” 

“Pl-pl-pl-please...” his voice shook but your father stepped close and put a tip of his wand under his chin.

“Ava-”

“STOP!” another roaring voice came from the bacground. 

“What?!”

“Your child.” it was calmer now. “Stairs.” 

Your father’s eyes shot at yours and you could feel the chaos that will become. Your heart began to pound, the adrenalin in you but no muscles to move your scared little body. “YOU LITTLE PRAT!” he stormed over but the voice stopped him once again.

“Don’t hurt the child!” he said and your father’s hand stop close to your cheek. “Bring her here.” your fahter’s hand gripped your arm and life feather dragged you to the room where the another man was tortured. 

There he was. The voice. Tall, skinny, white hair and matching wild mustache. He knelt down and smiled. “Come here.” he opened his arms and as scared as you were, your feet did what they were told. “Come, come.”

And you were in his arms. He took a hold of your small hands in his skinny and all bones palms, holding them meanwhile he looked up at his son. “Don’t ever hurt a woman, son. Don’t ever hurt my grandchild.” he warned, turning you around and locking you in place with his long, slim hands. “Show her how the family business runs.” 

“Pleasure.” your father smirked and turned his head as well as his wand to the cruched, barely breathing man in front. ‘

You screamed so loud, holding the sides of your head and digging your nails into your scalp.

He broke his promise to his father. He may never have hurted you physically but every breath in that house, every word that was directed to you... it broke you much more but the one that broke you the most was the one that called you him.

‘ “You know?” he swayed on his numb feet, holding a firewhiskey. “They call us murderers and prehaps we are- we have been through all generations and I used to be like you. Against it till my every bone but there were things my father did to me that made me change my mind.” he sat on the edge of your bed meanwhile your heart pounded under the sheets. “I don’t want you to go through pain I did but as long as you rebel against me, that’s what I’ll exactly do.” his hand touched your leg, tapped it harshly meanwhile the mix of alcohol and cigarrates blew your way. “You’ll be a murderer like all of us. You grow to like it.” and he was gone. ‘

He told you that as soon as you start, you get to remember the eyes you take. He told you the order many manny times. His first were green, a family of brown, black, grey, grey, blue, mother’s were always more blue, then there were twins but with different eyes. One had a mix of blue and green the other hand just green. Then he took a man’s that were purple, completely purple, yellow - werewolf, a few of those actually but after that he lost count.

“Is that really who I am meant to be?” you asked yourself and there was a voice in the back of your head saying: ‘No, of course not. Times have changed since long the family business started. You know you’re not one. Deep inside you know you’re not who they want you to be.’ but there was another voice, saying the opposite: ‘Yes. It’s exactly who you are meant to be. As much as you want to escape his, you will never. Why? Because it’s in your blood. As soon as you kill, you’ll want nothing more but more blood and death in your hands. Accept the deep cravings your soul has.’

And you didn’t want to agree with the second voice but what if it was true? What if deep inside, you were a natural murderer. 

But you couldn’t. You remember that grandfather made the first target your father’s best friend, who was indeed a son of a werewolf and a witch. Green eyes. Those were his first to take. What if your first eyes to take would be Melody’s? Those big, round blue eyes? 

“No.” you told yourself. “I’d never do that.” 

But again the second voice spoke: ‘Yes. You’ll have to.’ 

And for some odd reason... you agreed. You will have to one day because your father scared you and you were too weak for him. You didn’t want to be the weak daughter of the almighty (y/f/n).

“I’m sorry.” a voice came from the distance. You turned your head to see but due to the darkness, you could only see a figure but due to the fact his voice cut deep wounds, you knew who it was. 

“You shouldn’t be.” you were quite calm. “You were right. At some point, I am a murderer- or more like become one.” you looked at the dark deep forest. 

He shuffled through the leaves and made his way to sit next to you. “I didn’t mean what I said there.”

“Yes, you did.” you simpered at him, looking at his green eyes before they changed to blue and you could only observe before taking a deep breath and looking back at the distance. “I attacked your family and you attacked mine. It was a fair battle.”

“You didn’t attack my family. You attacked James’ family and when it comes to James and Harry, I get over-protective. They aren’t only his family, they are mine too.” 

“I know.” you decided to look at him again, this time, keeping your eyes where they landed. “I’m sorry for what happened to your parents in the war. I heard they were amazing wizards and for Harry Potter.” you smiled. “I met him once and he was actually a great guy. I remember I was around thirteen years old and me and James got into this huge fight. Harry came to me and told me that nobody could get under James’ skin like I did.”

“Yeah, there really isn’t nobody like you that comes to his live nerves.”

“He shouldn’t have taken my compartment five years ago and we’d be just fine. Best buddies.” you joked and Teddy chuckled. 

“You would think so?”

“I know so.” you continued to joke. “But I guess that this time I really did cross the line and it would all be okay if Melody wasn’t there when it happened. I love that little girl.” 

“Yeah... I noticed.”

“Oh, did you now?” you nudged him a bit and he smiled.

“I shouldn’t have said those things to you.” he tried to apologise but you just couldn’t have that.

“Well, you were in the right all the way. You can’t choose into which family you are born to. I? I was born into the family of murderers. There was no false word you said.” you admitted, to yourself and to him.

“Yes, there was.” he could see the crescent iluminate its light in your eyes. It was lighting the whole forest if not and Teddy couldn’t help himself but see just how beautiful you were at the moment. In the moment when you were fragile and honest with yourself. In the moment where all he could say was how sorry he was to hurt this beautiful creature in front of him. To say sorry to those eyes, those lips, that hair, those ears, those hands, fingers, cheeks, nose... that soul that was the complete opposite of what you thought. “You’re not a murderer, (Y/n). Your parents, your family and none of your past ancestors define who you get to be.And I saw the way you cared for that little girl and not everybody cared so much for a stranger as you would. I saw the look in her eyes when I noticed you standing behind you. You weren’t her tutor, you were her hero.” 

“Not anymore.” you kept looking down, your hair blocking your perfect face. 

Teddy put his hand under your chin and gently moved it up, so he could see your perfection. Because that’s who you were to him. Perfect since the day he saw you and no matter what you seemed to say or do, all those flaws were never the trouble for him.  He just felt deeply for you even if it was just platonic for him. 

“Can I kiss you?” he was close and whispering. His eye colour changed to green, his hair to light shade of brown- the one you never saw before on him. With a gentle nod, you gave him your permission and gently, softly, he pulled you into a kiss. 

It was the perfect kind of kiss, the one he always imagined it would be but even more perfect. And you felt your stomach doing sommersaults when he was still kissing you, bringing you closer to more kisses which you deepened by putting your hands on his neck and pulling him closer. 

Until there was thunder and none of you jumped or pulled away in an instant. No. He removed his lips slowly from yours, gently, tenderly and taking his time in devouring that last kiss. He leaned his forehead on yours, brushed his nose against the bridge of yours and smiled. “I’ve wanted to do that since the Fourth year.” 

Your fingers lightly scratched the back of his neck and soon you felt goosebumps under your fingertips. That made you giggle to just how much effect you really had on the boy. “Why didn’t you?” you looked up at those green eyes. 

“I’m shy.” he grinned and you giggled in his arms. 

“Shy, huh?” 

“A real wallflower.”

“I could see back there, yes.” 

He smiled more broadly. “I think I might be falling for you, (y/n).” he was honest and your heart fluttered at those words. 

“You know what, Lupin?” your hand reached his cheek. “I think I might be falling for you too.”

[wewillwriteyou]

Crazy Little Thing Called Love || Chapter 3

A few elements from the main plot: A fine line falls between fiction and reality: what starts as a musical slowly becomes a game-changer. Tables will turn and it will get clear as the sun that the only unstoppable power in life … is love.

Summary Chapter 3: Joe decides to organize a little night out at the pub with the whole “theatre gang”. Things will not go as expected. 

Word count: 4.4k+

Warnings: Mention of alcohol, language and a hint of angsty arguments blink and you’ll miss it

A/N: Things start to get interesting and in this chapter, you’ll finally understand some of everybody’s love interests’ dynamics, so ... don’t miss it! 😏

Friday, 18 October 2019

“Is it possible to fall for someone without realising?”  

“Oh honey, you really know nothing about human heart…”             

“I don’t. Can you teach me? Can you heal me?”

One pirouette after the other, her mind was more and more confused.

She stopped all of a sudden, thumping with her feet on the wooden floor of the stage. Sighing, she brushed her hands through her loose hair and let them fall to her sides.

The auditorium was completely empty at that time of the day and besides, it was Friday so a lot of people were preparing for the night out.

Not Elizabeth.

She had spent the day studying for her imminent exams and decided to use the evening to do one of the things she loved most in the world: dance.

She had always danced, since she could remember. Even now that she was at college, and she was studying something completely different – she was studying to be an architect, just like her parents - she still took lessons sometimes and danced anytime she had her free time - which was almost never.

That’s part of the reasons she threw herself into the role of princess Hyv for Joe’s play: her character had a few sequences and even a solo at some point in the second act. Now that the play was starting to take shape, she rehearsed every time she could.

Dancing was one of the few things that she never got bored of doing and it had always helped her find inspiration and answers to the problems clouding her head.

She inhaled and exhaled and repeated the choreography from the start. She had pretty much come up with it herself but she had incorporated some of the moves that Malcolm, the choreographer Joe had chosen for the play, had taught her.

Music was playing in loop in her headphones and she let herself flow to the rhythm of the song.

The sequence was constantly evolving, following her train of thoughts. And that evening her thoughts brought her to Gwilym.

She couldn’t figure out why things had changed and when.

Before the summer, everything was fine between them, but now it seemed like there was a gap, a line drawn in the middle of their friendship and she didn’t know whether she was willing to try and cross.

Worst thing was: she didn’t know who to talk to about this…

Joe was her best bud but she didn’t feel comfortable talking to him about Gwilym, after all, he was his best friend too and she thought it could have been weird.

Denise had a lot of things going on in her life and even though she knew she could count on her, she didn’t wanna bore her with her teenage drama problems.

Gwilym himself was been one of her best friends but she couldn’t talk to him, for obvious reasons.

As those thoughts crowded her mind she began spinning and spinning again, till she perfectly landed from her last pirouette, nailing the ending of her choreography.

In spite of the mess in her head, dance had managed to make her body focus solely on the moves, as if completely separated from her mind.

She couldn’t help but smile as she took out her headphones when she suddenly heard a clap of hands.

She jumped on her feet and rushed a hand to her chest, trying to make out the source of the applause in the darkness of the auditorium.

As he walked toward the stage, she immediately recognised his figure.

What are the chances? her inner voice sarcastically commented.

“Jesus, Gwilym you almost gave me a heart attack” she had heavy breath as if she had run the half marathon.

He softly giggled as he climbed the stairs to the stage and walked up to the girl.

“Is that choreography yours?” he asked, genuinely curious.

She imperceptibly nodded, suddenly feeling insecure and exposed. He had seen her perform something that had come out of her body like a force she couldn’t control… she felt as if he had seen her naked.

“Something I’m working on… - she replied, adjusting a strand of hair behind her ear nervously – I thought I was alone”

“I hope it didn’t bother you I watched…” he half-smiled as if to excuse himself for having witnessed something that seemed so personal.

Shit, why are you always such a gentleman, she thought.

“I actually feel a little weird – she said, softly giggling – I can improve a lot and it’s not even finished yet and–”

“What? Are you crazy?” he interrupted her.

“Excuse me?” she was confused.

“Liz that was incredible! - he continued – You should definitely show that to Malcolm and to Joe absolutely…”

She felt her cheeks reddening more than they already were and she smiled “You really think it’s good?”

“Yeah it’s good! It’s pretty fucking amazing actually…”

She laughed “I think you’re too kind with me, but thanks Gwil”

He smiled back and for a few seconds they just stared into each other’s eyes, not knowing what to say or do and trying to understand what was happening.

All of a sudden they both burst out chuckling, trying to break the tension.

Elizabeth was trying her best not to look too much into that awkward silence. She did not want to create expectations. She did not want to let herself daydream. She did not want to throw herself into a pit of helpless hope.

Gwil’s voice brought her back to reality.

“I will look like a fool next to you” he chuckled.

“What are you talking about? You’re a good dancer!”

“Now you sound even crazier - he laughed harder – but I appreciate the effort…”

Liz didn’t know what came onto her, but she unexpectedly grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to her “I’m sure you’re better than you think”

She positioned in front of him and instructed him to put a hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder.

“Now one step at a time, let’s go back, forth, right and left until we make a circle” she patiently said.

And they did.

She guided him at first, but after a few circles, she felt him take the lead. She smiled and he smiled back, absorbed in the euphoria of the moment.

They were spinning faster and faster until Elizabeth left her grip on his left shoulder and spun open their embrace. Gwil immediately caught what she was up to and with a swift move of his arm he made her spin once, twice, five times, before catching her and lifting her from the hips.

She squealed and started wiggling in his grip “Gwil! You know I’m ticklish”

He put her down after a few more spins, as they both chuckled.

When her feet touched the ground again, she realised – but she was sure he had noticed too – they were really close.

She looked up at him and he just gave her a gentle smile, the one he always did when he found himself in lack of words, his signature.

She cleared her throat and took a step back, immediately looking down.

“See? You can dance” she half-laughed before nervousness took over her face again.

Liz glanced at his face and she could have sworn she’d seen a hint disappointment in his eyes.

She didn’t have the time even wonder about it, that they heard voices coming from backstage.

“For the last time, no! I don’t think it’s missing a character -  Denise sounded exhausted – the play is perfectly fine as it is”

“Yeah but don’t you think there should be another sorcerer?” Joe was stubborn as usual.

Why am I not surprised? Liz found herself to think.

They appeared from the back curtain and were startled to see their friends there, standing less than two feet apart and looking as guilty as if they’d done something stupid.

Which was kinda true.

“What are you two doing here? - Joe frowned – rehearsal is not until next week…”

Gwilym and Elizabeth shared a look but Gwil was faster to reply “I asked her to read lines – he lied – we had nothing to do so we came here to get used being on this stage…”

Joe glanced at Liz and she was smiling nervously. She was quite a good actress but had always been a terrible liar. He stared back at his best friend and he had the same awkward smile.

“Alright, if you were boning I don’t wanna know guys” he joked, but unexpectedly felt a sting of jealousy he was fast enough to ignore.

“WhAt?” Liz’s voice came out a bit altered as she tried to hide the redness on her cheeks.

Why was she being so weird about it? Was something really going on with those two? Joe couldn’t bring himself to answer that question.

“As I said, not my business guys – Joe continued - but now you have something to do tonight…”

Liz sighed “What do you need us for?” she asked.

Joe shook his head “You don’t have to do anything – he replied – I thought I would organise something at the pub tonight for the whole theatre gang, you know? To get to know our colleagues better outside of the play.”

“Okay first of all – Elizabeth was the first to speak -  don’t ever call us ‘the theatre gang’ ever again” she stated and Denise and Gwilym chuckled.

“Second of all… - she continued - What time is it?”

Joe grinned “Nine pm at Green’s”

“Neat – Gwil jumped in – we’ll be there”

Elizabeth internally screamed at the use of that pronoun. We.

So much for not daydreaming, uh? she thought.

“Cool – Joe replied – and guess what? Miss Lucy and her servant are coming as well, can you believe it?”

The smile left Liz’s face as she caught with the corner of her eye Gwilym smiling at the mention of Lucy’s name.

“I still don’t know how he convinced them” Denise chuckled.

“But I did – Joe talked back – and who knows? Maybe she’ll even agree to dance with you…” he winked at Gwilym and Liz felt like a bit of her heart was being ripped from her chest.

She kept on smiling flatly.

“Yeah maybe…” Gwil chortled lightly and the others followed him.

All that Liz could hear though, was the music she’d been listening to before, her steps on the wooden floor, one after the other, and that small, broken piece of hope falling into the pit.

She could feel her heartbeat hammering in her ears, until a muffled voice woke her up from her thoughts taking her back to reality.

“Liz? Are you with us?” Denise asked her, rotating her body to look at Elizabeth as the mattress bounced underneath her. Sitting on the other bed there was Alex, who had the same worried expression.

“Oh yeah, yeah. Sorry girls, I’m just a little bit tired - she nervously chuckled, caressing her forehead and abandoning her back against the chair - what were you saying?”

“Alex doesn’t want to come tonight” Denise whined, tilting her head towards the brunette who couldn’t contain a soft laugh that escaped from her lips.

“What? Are you joking?” Elizabeth shockingly asked, almost jumping on her feet.

“I already told Joe: tomorrow my parents will arrive in town and they asked me to help them with the moving and that shitty stuff, like lifting boxes and storing objects on the shelves. I’m probably gonna spend my whole Saturday with back pain and something tells me that reordering a house in hangover wouldn't be a great idea” Alex stated, crossing her legs and caressing her knees.

“You’re wrong - Denise replied, raising her chin - I’ve read many articles, like thousands of articles, about how easier is to move furniture when you’re drunk” she used such a serious tone and made her statement sound so real, that the two other girls couldn't contain the loud laughter.

“She’s right! I’ve heard about that too!” Liz said, standing up from her desk to sit down near Denise, who high-fived her.

Alex shook her head and covered her face with her palms. She was aware that it was a lost battle when it came to arguing with those two. It’d only been a few weeks but she already loved them.

“Besides, you’re the new girl. In movies, the new girl is always the talk of the town. You have to respect the cliché” Denise added, shrugging her shoulders.

“Sorry to disappoint you Didi - Alex started, getting up from the bed and walking towards the wardrobe to swung it open - let me fix this problem as soon as possible” she added extracting a short, black dress from the closet.

Elizabeth and Denise screamed and clapped their hands, getting up to their feet to reach and hug Alex, who giggled and theatrically announced:

“Let’s get ready”

***

The pub was pretty crowded and it smelled like cheap beer and old cigarettes, but the dim light was perfectly paired with the glam-rockish music that was playing in the background.

Liz, Alex and Denise were squeezed on a tiny, not-so-comfortable red couch, chatting lively as they were waiting for the boys to return to their table with the drinks.

“And did it hurt?” Alex curiously asked, leaning her elbow on the wooden surface in front of her. Elizabeth behind her was warmly smiling.

“Not really - Denise answered, curving her lips a little - the real struggle came when I started to take hormones. But it was all worth it, believe me. I think I’m finally feeling my real self like this”

“Sure as hell ‘t was worth it! You’re absolutely gorgeous!” Alex said leaning back on the couch so that she wasn’t covering Elizabeth, who didn’t hesitate to agree.

“You know I think the same,” the read-head stated, with an, it’s obvious tone.

“You two are angels, for real” and saying this, Denise couldn’t help but get a little emotional as she felt her eyes getting watery.

Alex noticed and extended her arm behind Denise’s back to hug her, while she rested her head on Alex’s shoulder for a moment and Liz winked with a proud smile.

“Alcohol is coming!” Joe’s voice announced a second later, as he was approaching the table followed by Gwilym.

An uncountable number of beer’s pints and bottles were dangling from their hands, and the three girls immediately stretched their arms towards them to avoid a complete disaster.

When they were all sat down with a cold beer in front of them, Joe raised his pint.

“Cheers, people!” his tone firm and serious.

“Wow mate - Gwilym said, patting his shoulder - what and inspirational discourse” the girls giggled and lowered their sights, to escape from Joe’s cheesed off gaze.

“I’m putting my entire creativity into the musical project. You can’t expect me to find poetic words even during an alcoholic Friday night!”

“I’ll drink to that” Alex said between the chuckles, raising her bottle in Joe’s direction.

“Thank you! Cheers, girl!” he immediately replied, toasting his pint against Alex’s bottle.

The others, shaking their heads in amusement, followed them and in a moment their chins were all addressed to the ceiling as they were all taking a long sip of their beer.

Soon a noisy chattering emerged from their table, as they were all feeling very talkative. Probably thanks to both the alcohol, that was making them pretty tipsy and the pleasant company.

“So, tell us Joe – Denise blurted, taking another sip from her second beer and already feeling the alcohol loosening her senses – what’s your type?” she inquired, cupping her face with both hands. All eyes were on him, as Joe visibly blushed.

“What does that even mean? Are we in second grade or something?” he stuttered, drinking as well.

He didn’t know what was making him so nervous. Maybe the fact that his brain had almost immediately associated Elizabeth with his type.

Or maybe his mind was simply clouded because of the alcohol.

He opted for the second alternative. Easier and less scary for sure.

On the other hand, Denise felt completely disappointed. A last little spark of hope was expecting him to confess his love for her. Even just that he liked her and he wouldn’t have said no to a casual date. But her rationality reminded her that it was more likely to see a dog fly than to hear Joe say I love you, Denise, let’s run away together on a white horse.

She tried to chuckle with the others, as she sank into the couch to hide her upset expression.

“Why don’t you ask the question to these two? – Joe mumbled pointing to Gwilym and Liz – they seem to be pretty close lately”. His tipsy and talkative self said the words he didn’t dare to speak. He still wasn’t sure whether he wanted an actual answer.

The thing he was sure about was that the tiny flick of jealousy he had felt in the auditorium and that he had been feeling quite often lately, was getting harder and harder to ignore.

“What?!” Elizabeth shrieked, opening her eyes wide. Gwilym, at the same time, scoffed on his drink, coughing a little not to die right on the spot.

“Pair on the stage falling in love in real life. A classic” Alex joked, winking to Joe, who fingered-gun her, and friendly pushing Denise with her elbow, making her finally smile.

“I let you have the part of the typical movie cliché. New girl” Liz sassily replied to her friend, stealing a sip from her beer with challenge in her eyes.  

“Wow. What a bad girl – Denise faked a shocked tone – ‘m sure Gwil loves bad girls” she added. Alex clapped her hands and burst out laughing and Joe tried to follow her right up, but his laugh only covered the ache he felt at the pit of his chest. Elizabeth and Gwilym shared a shy smile.

But, as soon as Gwil opened his mouth to talk back, the little bell on the top of the door rang and Lucy, Ben, and Rami made their entrance in the pub.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and puffed, taking the glass to her mouth to cover her annoyed face.

Gwilym stood up and waved at the trio to recall their attention.

“What is he doing here?” Alex whispered in Denise’s ear when she saw Ben taking a chair to sit next to his girlfriend on the other side of the table.

“Joe invited them because Rami and Lucy are part of the musical too. Hasn’t he told you?” she answered, leaning closer to Alex.

Ben looked at her and smirked, whilst the brunette as a response raised an eyebrow and looked away.

“No. He hasn’t”

A thin layer of tension had fallen between the entire group. Only Joe and Gwilym didn’t seem to notice it, as they kept talking non-stop to, respectively, Rami and Lucy.

“So – Gwil started, moving his chair closer to Lucy – ready for the tiring rehearsal?”

She adjusted a perfect strand of perfect blond hair behind her ear and started to show off about her past theatre experiences.

Elizabeth was watching the entire scene with a disgusted expression written all over her face, as she was trying to extinguish the fire of jealousy that was burning inside her chest.

Beside her, Alex chortled noticing the way Rami was completely ignoring Joe’s words and concentrating his attentions on Denise and Denise only.

“Do you know him?” she then asked, whispering in her friend’s ear once again.

“It’s a long story” Denise asked, sighing and rotating her eyes.

“Well, long story short: I think he likes you” Alex suggested, elbowing her with a grin painted on her lips.

“Don’t you have something else to do instead of playing Cupid?” the other replied, not being able to hide her half laughter.

Alex laughed along and started to get through her bag searching for her pack of cigarettes. She then put one in her mouth and got up.

“Actually I have – she said winking at Denise - excuse me, Madame” she jokingly asked to Elizabeth, who moved her legs to let her pass.

Ben followed her with his eyes and, as soon as the door closed behind her back, he slid an arm on Lucy’s chair.

“I’ll step out for a smoke” he announced in her ear, lightly kissing her cheek. Lucy snapped her head in his direction with widened eyes.

“What? You can’t leave me alone with – she hesitated, lowering her voice even more – them”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not like they’re gonna eat you… And you have Rami anyway – but when he turned around he noticed his friend had sat down at Alex’s place, near Denise; when he met his girlfriend’s gaze he saw she was looking at him under the lashes with her eyebrows raised – I’ll be back in a minute. Promise” he rapidly solved the question, getting up and walking fast towards the exit.

Lucy puffed and abandoned her face against her palm, before going back to faking interest in what Gwilym was talking about.

On the other side of the table Denise was silently asking for help to Elizabeth, not being able to handle Rami’s insistent advances anymore. But Liz seemed on another planet, with her eyes fixed on Gwilym.

Joe had noticed her gaze as well and at that moment he couldn’t lie to himself: he was jealous. For the first time since he had met her, he wanted Elizabeth to look at him that way. The same way she was looking at Gwilym.

“Joey – Denise’s voice startled him – why don’t you buy me a drink, sweetie?” she was clearly trying to let Rami think there was something between her and Joe. But deeply, she knew she was doing that just to see Joe’s reaction.

“Sweetie? Sorry, Den. I-I think I need to go to the bathroom” Joe excused himself and left the table at the speed of light, leaving Denise with her insecurities behind.

Once he’d stepped out, Ben let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and turning his head left, he’d recognized Alex’s silhouette pressed against the bricked wall.

Ben couldn’t tell what it was: he just felt strange anytime she was around, anytime she met her in the hallway. Even if she had been ignoring him since their first meeting, outside the auditorium.

As he walked closer to her, he could see her body tensing, showing how annoyed she was.

He lit up one cigarette as well and abandoned his back on the wall, few feet apart from her.

“Hi” Ben tried. But as a response, Alex let out a long trail of smoke.

“Are you ignoring me?” he then asked, immediately regretting his decision. Alex giggled, but he could tell it was a burst of sarcastic laughter.

“Wow, your sixth sense is incredible” she answered without giving him a single glance.

“Okay, but why?” Ben asked again, nervously wrapping his lips on the cigarette soon after. Alex finally turned her head, but the expression on her face didn’t omen anything good.

“You even have the boldness to ask such a question – she thundered, interrupting herself to take a puff from her cig – because ‘ve met so many people like you that broke my heart in the past. And, even if she’s spoiled as fuck, your girlfriend Lucy doesn’t deserve such a treatment. Nobody does.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t even know me and ‘re already jumping to conclusions!”

“Oh, c’mon Ben, be serious with yourself. Do you think that flirting with other girls when your girlfriend is literally in the room next to you isn’t a little bit shitty?”

Ben didn’t like her tone and her attitude and he didn’t like to hear the truth spilled to him in that brutal way.

But damn, he liked her.

“You could have just admitted you were jealous. It would have been easier” he shrugged, attempting to erase some tension and reacting the only way he knew how: faking indifference and taking the piss of the other person. Though, judging by Alex’s face he realised he had just made another snipe.

“Think as you like it, Ben. I’m not falling for your bullshits – she replied condescendingly – I only pity your girlfriend, to be honest” another grey stripe flew out from her mouth’s corner.

He didn’t know how he could like her. He didn’t even know why he liked her so much. He just did. He felt literally attracted to her by a magnetic field. And more he stared at her, more he felt the need to kiss her.

She had that strong attitude that intrigued him and the impossibility of the situation made everything even more exciting.

“Let me offer you a drink. To start again” he said, imperceptibly scrolling his shoulders.

“No thank you. I’ve already drunk too much tonight” she coldly replied, continuing to smoke her almost finished cigarette.

Ben nodded to himself and absentmindedly kicked away a pebble.

“Is there the slightest chance we could become friends one day?” he asked, tilting his head towards her.

Alex sighed, but when she looked up at him to answer someone cut her off.

“Mate! How are you?” a blond boy questioned, approaching the two of them. Once he was closer, Alex recognized him: he was the guy that had helped her to find the auditorium.

“Hi mate! ‘s been a while” Ben answered back, patting on his shoulder and smiling to him. They talked a bit about practice and sport and Alex understood they were probably in the same rowing team.

“And … hi to you too” the blond guy then said, diverting his attention to Alex. She grinned and waved back.

“Allen, right? – she inquired and he nodded – ‘m Alexandra. Last time I didn’t have time to introduce myself”

“Yeah, I remember. Last time you were pretty desperate, looking for the auditorium. Right? – he teased pointing a finger towards her; Alex laughed lightly and scrolled her shoulders, all under Allen’s intense gaze – so… can I offer you a drink?” he then asked getting closer.

Alex smirked and looked at Ben.

“With pleasure” she answered always staring at Ben. She put out the cigarette right near his shoulder, against the bricked wall, before throwing it in the trash can.

She then perched herself on the arm Allen had offered her.

“See ya, mate”

“Mmmh? Yeah, yeah. See you, Al” Ben carelessly replied.

“Have a good night” Alex sassily added, before stepping into the pub followed by Allen.

Ben remained there. Looking at the black sky above his head, with a finished cigarette dangling from his lips and thousands of thoughts crowding his mind.

In that precise moment, he knew that the knot to his bundle of thoughts was only one. The answer to his questions had a name. And her name was Alex.

-

Chapters: ⬸ previous | next ⤑

A/N: Things are getting intricated, folks. As always, please comment and reblog this chapter if you liked it. For us writers, there’s nothing better than get to know your opinion about what you read. 

Enjoy!

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[a-race-of-cannibal-ducks]

Chapter 1.

Yes, I haven’t considered a title for this yet. This is only chapter 1 of a 2, perhaps 3, part fic about Jem, Will and Jessamine aged fourteen (thank Herondale for this idea). It’s sad, it’s angsty and apparently the plot made people cry! It’s quite Jessamine centeric, but also focuses a lot on Jem and Will. Withought giving much away: arguments, crying. Enjoy. (Also please note I know Sophie wasn’t with them at the time, but I suck with names so Herondale and I decided all maids were Sophie now).

Spirits were anything but high and tensions were anything but low. A series of missing - presumed dead - mundanes had sparked the attention of the London Institute and Enclave, leading to tri-weekly meetings lead by an ever-more growing stressed Charlotte Branwell and an incredibly tired Henry Branwell. At morning breakfast, the tension was palpable.

Sitting around the large square table, were the residents of the London Insitutue, a low murmer filling the room as food was brought out and set down in the centre of the table. Toast, eggs, bacon - often enjoyable foods the people sitting around the table would savour. But no one seemed to be collecting anything for their plate. Everyone's eyes seemed to be stern and sorrowful.

"Oh do please have something," Charlotte sighed, lightly buttering a slice of browned toast. "It'll keep your energy up," she added, stealing a quick glance at her husband, Henry, whose eyes seemed to be trained to his copy of the news paper. The news paper had been surpisingly useful as of late, stating whether or not the mudanes had returned - dead or alive.

Sucking in a shallow breathe, Charlotte asked,"is there anything of use in there today?"

Henry shook his head, taking a sip of the steaming cup of tea which Sophie had poured for him. "Nothing I can find, but I'm looking." The reply was quick, uncertain, especially as updates had been appearing within the first few pages of the newspaper if there had been any.

Across from Charlotte and Henry, sat Jessamine, her face pressed to her hand as she picked at the corner of her toast spread with a thin layer of strawberry jam. "It's not like he's doing a good job of it; he's probably missed something," Jessamine bit, her tone laced with frustration. Being fourteen, it wasn't much of her place to be doing work on this case, nor her position to comment on the ability of Shadowhunters her senior.

"I don't suppose you'd do much better," Will replied, shooting an angered look at Jessamine. He, like Jessamine, was also fourteen and unable to be much of an assistance to anyone (in fact, one may call him a nuisance with the amount of remarks he seemed to make whenever tasked with helping out Charlotte or Henry) but still criticised Jessamine.

At this, Jessamine looked affronted - she wasn't known to be much of a worker nor a trainer, in fact, she despised the idea of even becoming a Shadowhunter at all. Often, she'd refuse to handle any and all weapons, she had only read very certain parts of the Shadowhunter's Codex, and wasn't very attentive to her studies. So, rather than replying, she scowled and continued to stare at her toast.

"Do stop the unnecessary bickering," Jem, Will's parabatai, replied, waiting for some angered reply from Jessamine which didn't come. Instead it was a weary Charlotte who had just checked the large clock behind her for time.

"Benedict and the rest of the Enclave will be here presently... Henry and I will be in the Great Library, but please try to leave us undisturbed," Charlotte spoke, her tone almost pleading as she rose. They were very often interrupted by anyone of the younger Shadowhunters whilst in the middle of a meeting - but this one was important. Charlotte gently tugged at the hand of Henry once she was standing fully, an urge to pry him away from the newspaper which had been ruled useless nonsense.

"Is there anything which needs doing?" Jem asked before Henry and Charlotte had exited, his tone was more quiet than usual, despite getting a world more sleep the night before. The question earned groans and sighs from Will and Jessamine, people who did not want to do anything extra.

But Charlotte shook her head. "No, I don't believe there is. If you'd like to catch up on studies or perhaps do some weapons training? Do be careful though." Charlotte directed her last sentence as Will as Jem nodded and the two older shadowhunters departed the room.

It took a good few more moments before Sophie appeared, a small smile on her face and her cap slightly askew. "Are you all finished?" her tone joyful and slightly accented with a cockney accent.

"Send Agatha my thanks," Will joked, seemingly ignoring the previous slight altercation. Although, when he looked down at his plate, he still saw his slice of toast and rash of back, almost perfectly intact.

Standing up, Will and Jem pushed in their chairs as they began to leave the grand dining room, leaving Jessamine sat in her seat, head still pressed to her hands. "Why do you always have to do everything together?" She asked as immediate regret filled her. She hurriedly pushed in her chair to catch up with the boys.

"Well," Will started, his tone already dripping in sarcasm. "Would you care to spar, Miss Lovelace?" he knelt in an almost proposal sort of way while Jem stood behind him, shaking his head very lightly.

"Of course I don't!" Jessamine exclaimed, throwing her hands up in a piqued manor. How dare he? Of course she didn't want to spar with him!

"Why ever not?" Will laughed, coming up from the position on the ground. "Are you afraid I'd win?" he asked, turning to Jem, who was doing nothing to diffuse the situation yet. "James Carstairs, your thoughts?" Will asked.

Jem blinked a few times, trying to focus himself back in. During the second brief altercation, he'd let his mind wander a little and found himself disconnected and relatively dizzy. "Perhaps we could interest Jessie in something we could all enjoy, hm?" His tone was light and kind. It was a talent of his, the ability to find a solution for everybody.

"I'm not afraid of anything you do William, but more, a lady doesn't fight!" Jessamine retorted.

"A lady?" Will scoffed. "You're a Shadowhunter, Jessamine! That's all you'll be, and a bloody bad one at that if you keep up the way which you're going. I very much doubt you've attended a single weaponry lesson, and only occasionally bother to turn up for other such studies!" William wasn't angry at her, per say, she could do as she pleased for all he cared, but it was something which Will knew would upset Jessamine. She never wanted to be here, to be a Shadowhunter. But neither did Will. Infact, none of them chose to even be in the London Institute anyway!

Jessamine felt the breath leave her body for a second, wide eyed. How could he say such a thing? She didn't have to be a Shadowhunter and she didn't need to learn Shadowhunter things! Tears pricked the back of her eyes and flashes of her mother and father shone behind her eyes. Oh how she missed them.

"You can't say that!" Jessamine spoke, her voice raised, not saying more for fear of the prickling tears becoming streaming ones.

"I can't? Well, I am aware I have a voice, so-" Will got cut off.

Jem had moved from behind Will to be standing in front of them both, a frustrated look on his pale and tired eyes. Jem always came to be the mediator - never Charlotte, never Henry - it was always Jem. Often, he was fine with it, allowing himself to have an open mind and take no sides. But this time... everything Will had said to Jessamine, it truly exasperated him to no end, but Jem also wasn't one to lose his temper.

"Take a moment," Jem started, taking a breath that was harder than it should have been. "Think about what you're both saying." He coughed. "Will, d-do you really... think that's what you o-ought to be," Jem coughed again, a few more times, bringing the taste of metal to the back of his mouth.

"Jem... are you feeling alright?" Will ask, sudden vulnerability rushing into his voice, rather than the sarcastic and hurtful tone he used to jab at Jessamine.

Jessamine stood motionless, still reeling from Will's prior comment, and now Jem. She knew he was ill, but not to which nature nor degree - it wasn't a highly discussed subject and Charlotte kept much of the details very hush-hush. But she knew the Silent Brothers were unable to cure whatever troubled him and, she'd heard, a few comments here-and-there passed around that death was inevitable.

Brushing off the concern, Jem went on. "Ought to be saying while the Institute is..." he tried to take a breath again, but it was harder, his chest was tight and heavy. He closed his eyes briefly for a moment of solidarity, but the moment he opened them again, everything was dimmer than he remembered and he could feel himself slowly collapse to the ground, a fit of coughing wracked his body.

"Jem," Will said hurriedly, dropping to the ground beside his friend as he supported his head, pulling out the handkerchief he had stuffed into his black trouser pocket and handed it to Jem. Will glared at Jessamine who was frozen in shock and terror, her heart pounding in her throat and she could feel the blood rushing in her ears.

"This is your fault," Will bit at Jessamine, colder than she had ever heard before. "If you hadn't said anything..." Will knew it wasn't Jessamine's fault, he knew it wasn't but he couldn't do much more than blame her.

Shaking, Jessamine shoved her arms into a crossed position, trying to fend off all of the memories which she and Jem had. Although she would never admit it, she saw quite a friend in Jem. Whenever she was having a difficult time at night, Jem would happily come to her room, to have conversations about whatever she wanted to, play with her dolls if she liked. Jem would play Father doll and Jessamine would play Mother and Baby Jessie doll. It was always a normal day they would playout, breakfast, piano, reading together. Jessamine's eyes welled up further with tears, this time she couldn't blink them back.

TAG LIST (hey guys, this is my Shadowhunter sideblog!): @wicked-books-101@bchcadcd @rubys-finger-cymbals @lessix

[the--sad--hatter]

Phantom Pain (1)

FANDOM - MARVEL MCU

PAIRING - Bucky X Reader 

WARNINGS - Bad Habits and Rough Sex, Angsty and Dark AF. 

DESCRIPTION -  Everybody in the world knew of you, but not who you really were. Some called you a vigilante, some called you a criminal and some called you a hero but all of them called you The Phantom. Only two people knew your real identity and they swore to never tell anyone but when The Avengers need to infiltrate a high-security facility, Bruce Banner deduces that you’re the only one who can pull it off. That decision puts you and Bucky Barnes on a path you can’t turn back from, even if neither of like where it’s leading.

Chapter One - Perks Of Being Dead

When The Avengers entered the briefing room there was already someone there. She was young, stunning and made the hair on the back of Bucky’s neck stand up.

He was trained to look for details, to see past the obvious and look for potential threats and weaknesses. His eyes roamed over you, taking in everything. At first glance, you seemed like a little rich girl who thought too much of herself and nothing more but simmering below the surface was so much more.

Your expensive high heels were well worn on the soles, but not so much they needed to be replaced. Your clothes were all tailor fitted except the cashmere cardigan wrapped around you. You were rich yes, but not spoilt. You wore your favorite shoes often and favored comfort over fashion.

The way you held yourself oozed confidence, from your casual leaned back position in the chair to your legs crossed at the ankle. But you weren’t posing or flashing yourself off. You weren’t the most conventionally attractive woman in the world, though not ugly by any stretch of the imagination. You sat in a way that let people see as much or as little of you as they chose, indicating that you didn’t care either way. Confident but not egotistical.

“I think you’re in the wrong room.” Bucky said, forgoing a polite greeting.

“No, I’m not.” You responded, almost dismissively.

“Miss King, you’re the heir to King Inc, the global tech and weapons company?” Sam asked and Bucky frowned.

He hadn’t heard of you or the company but judging by the reactions of everyone in the room he was the only one in the dark.

Tony chose that moment to sweep into the room and you smirked at him.

“Mr Snark.” You said with faux politeness.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite hot mess.” He said back with equal fervor.

You grinned and stood up, hugging him.

“So why have you summoned me?” You asked him.

“That was me, I asked you to come.” Bruce said, rushing into the room.

Your expression softened as you embraced the scientist warmly and to Bucky’s surprise, the normally nervous and timid man embraced you back.

His mind immediately spun through the possibilities. Were you a relative? You didn’t look like one but that didn’t rule it out.

“We have a security issue, as in security we need to get through. We need access to Hydra files but we don’t want them to know that we know what they are up to. We need a quiet way inside their system, without them noticing we were ever there.” Bruce explained, getting straight to the point.

“So you want me to break through Hydra’s cyber system?” You asked with what Bucky swore was relief.

Well that piqued his curiosity.

“If you don’t mind?” Bruce asked.

“She’d be happy to.” Tony cut in and you raised a brow at him.

Everybody waited impatiently while you and Stark had a mini stare off.

“What am I missing here? How is, no offense, a socialite going to help us break into Hydra?” Sam asked.

“None taken, and as well as being a pampered little princess I happen to be an excellent hacker. The best in fact.” You grinned.

“Debatable.” Tony coughed.

“How many times have I hacked your systems Snark? Twelve?”

“Thirteen I believe.” Friday interjected.

“Miss King is extremely talented, if anyone can get in it’s her.” Bruce added.

“So you’ll do it.” Natasha said and it wasn’t a question.

“I have some spare time, why not? Friday, you going to help me out with this?”You asked.

“Of course Miss King, it will be a pleasure to work with you again.”The AI responded.

“You’re only saying that because I’ve been inside you.”You said with a wicked smirk.

“Yet you still haven’t bought me dinner.”Friday sarked back.

“Ohhh, Minx.”You sassed back.

“Hey, no, stop flirting with my AI! And Friday, stop flirting back!” Tony admonished you.

“I’m going to need a lot more information about what I’m looking for.” You informed them, waving off Tony’s protests.

“I’ll show you what you need shall I?” Tony said and gesturing to the door.

“I’ll do it.” Bruce said quickly, standing up.

“It was nice to meet you all, seriously, I’m a big fan of The Avengers. Except for Iron Man, that guy is overrated.”You said, waving at them as you left.

“Says the B-List Kardashian.” Tony retorted, raising his voice so you could hear him as you walked away.

“Weak, you’re losing your edge Snark.” You called back.

The Avengers immediately launched into Tony with a verbal interrogation about who you were, how Bruce and Tony knew you and whether you could be trusted.  

“A hacker? Really? I can barely switch my computer on, that’s why I just leave it in sleep mode.” You said to Bruce as he led you away.

“Sorry, we had to tell them something. It wasn’t a complete lie though, you can bypass all their security. And Stark’s.” He said with an apologetic shrug.

“Perks of being The Phantom Brucey. Perks of being dead.”

Eighteen Months Ago

He had just put his hand on the car door handle when someone came up behind him.

“Dr Banner?”

“Oh, uh hello. Can I help you?” He said, turning round to look at you with a nervous and suspicious frown.

“I’m Miss King, my father is Alexander King of King inc.” You said, offering your hand.

“I know your father, he’s a very smart man.”Bruce said, trying to find a compliment.

“Not as smart as you Dr Banner, I believe you are the worlds leading expert in Gamma Radiation?”

“I’m something of an expert but I’m very busy with other things and I’m already working with Stark Industries.”He said politely.

“I’m not trying to recruit you, well not for my father’s company. I need your help. The company is building something, something big and my father and my uncle have been acting weird for months now. Can you just look at these? Please?” You said, pulling a bunch of papers out of your bag and handing them to Bruce.

He pulled his glasses out of his shirt pocket and put them on, flicking through the papers. His expression got paler and paler until he looked up at you, horrified.

“These readings are...”

“Bad?”You supplied.

“Ionizing Radiation, Electromagnetic Radiation and Gamma Radiation readings are all off the charts. Where did you get these?” He asked.

“I knew something wasn’t right but I couldn’t find a reason to get into that section the facility so I bribed one of the techs to take a radiation detector inside, hidden in his suit. Yesterday he quit the company and moved to Japan... Apparently. I can’t get a hold of him.” You explained.

“Alright, you did the right thing bringing this to me. Where is this facility?” He asked.

You looked uncomfortable and scared.

“The facility is in Upstate New York. I stole an ID card from one of the scientists on the project and I can get you in the building. But the security systems are all biometric.” You told him.

“We can find a way in, don’t worry about that. You’ve done more than enough Miss King.”

“You can’t though, you can’t just break in. If my uncle finds out...”

“Your uncle is?”

“Secretary Of State. Thaddeus Ross.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Explain to me again why we’re sneaking in, with the help of a civilian?” Tony asked as they trudged through the woods surrounding the King Facility.

“Ross is up to something and if we kick down the doors he’ll know we know about it. And find a way to use the accords to make us pay for it.” Bruce explained, again.

“Hey.”

“Jesus Christ, what are you some kind of horror movie killer?” Tony asked, jumping at your sudden appearance.

“If I was, would I tell you?” You retorted.

“Nice to see you again Princess.” Tony said, smirking at you.

“You two know each other?” Bruce asked.

“We’ve met at various functions and parties. Princess is the new me according to the press.” Tony smirked.

You rolled your eyes. You were the only child of a multi-billionaire, set to inherit the company one day if you could dispense of your partying ways and the press liked to call you the Millennial Tony Stark.

“Can we just go? I want to get this over with.” You told them.

You led them to a side entrance, past Scully, the security guard who always fell asleep at his post after eating. You’d personally delivered a box of doughnuts to him twenty minutes prior. You held your finger up to your lips to indicate silence to the two men and Tony rolled his eyes at you.

“I know how to be stealthy, princess.”He whispered.

“Really? I thought you always liked to make an entrance.” You whispered back and Bruce smirked at the little exchange.

“Touche.”

Tony did something with his phone and the red lights on the security camera’s flickered off. The entrance door looked like nothing more than a normal door but you knew better. You placed your palm on a seemingly random brick on the wall which lit up and another section of the wall opened to reveal a retinal scan.

Once you were done you pulled your hand back opened the door.

“We’ve got it from here Miss King, you should leave.” Bruce warned you and you nodded, passing him the pilfered access card.

“The code is 269212. Good luck.” You told them.

Bruce nodded and Tony mock saluted you as they slipped through the door, closing it behind them. You counted to ten and opened it again, following them.

You had to know what your father was doing, you couldn’t just let them go without you so you silently followed them through the suspiciously empty halls.

Where the hell was everyone? Maybe it was just luck that the facility was empty, maybe it was a sign that this was going to go well.

You peered around the corner to watch Tony swipe the card through the door the west wing of the facility and darted out to stop it closing behind them. You popped your head through the door and slipped through, ducking behind a pillar before they could spot you. You followed them through the room, hiding behind pillars or filing cabinets so they didn’t turn around and see you.

The room was huge and strangely warm. You wiped the rapidly forming sweat off your brow as you ducked out of your current hiding place to get a better look at the large metal circular chamber in the dead centre of the room.

The two superhero’s were huddled over a computer screen and discussing something agitatedly but you couldn’t hear what. You had to get closer.

You tiptoed as close as you dared, ducking behind a desk to listen in. What you heard made your blood run cold.

“When that bomb goes off, and it’s going off Tony, the radiation is going to settle over New York and most of the state.” Bruce said.

“The reading are rising by the second, we shouldn’t even be in here. We’re going to need anti-radiation injections asap.”

“We’ve got minutes, not hours before this thing goes critical. The chamber is designed to contain the radiation, but the outer locks been broken. The only way to seal it is from the inside.”Bruce said heavily.

“I know what you’re thinking and no, this thing is Gamma radiated. We don’t know that the hulk can survive it or what it would do to you both if he did.”Tony snapped.

“One of us has to do it and I at least have a chance to survive. Millions will die if I don’t.” Bruce argued.

Tony opened his mouth to argue back when the two mens attention was drawn by the chamber door slamming closed and the lock clicking loudly. They rushed over to look through the small window on the door to see you stood inside.

“Princess, what the hell are you doing? Open this door right now, you’ll die in there.”

“My family built this, it has to be me.” You choked out.

The air was thick and there was no oxygen to be had. The glowing center of the chamber was so hot you were already drenched in sweat and your skin was quickly turning bright red. You were being cooked.

“Miss King if you don’t come out you’re going to die, the radiation will burn you up.” Bruce said through the glass.

“I have to do this, I brought you here to help, not to die.” You gasped.

Your skin was beginning to blister in front of your eyes and the pain was excruciating.

“Radiation levels rapidly rising!” Tony called to Bruce.

“Listen to me, we can still save you if you open the door.”

“It’s too late.” Tony said, just as your screams started.

“Listen to me, listen ok. You’re saving a lot of people, I’ll make sure they know you did that and your father will pay for this.”Tony swore, raising his voice so you could hear him.

The light was blinding him and he had to back away from the chamber. Your screams were bone chilling and Tony and Bruce felt sick.

The pain was like nothing you had ever experienced and all you could do was scream as smoke started curling off of your skin. The last thing you saw was your right hand vaporizing.

Present Day

“You’re not dead.” Bruce admonished.

“I kinda am Bruce.” You rebutted as he led you into his lab and forced you to sit down.

He pulled something out of a drawer and came over to you and you saw it was a stethoscope. He put the eartips in your ears and held the cold metal bud to your chest.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

“Your heart is beating, you’re alive.” He said kindly.

“Yeah, but I died. I literally burned alive, I was vaporized. And now I can walk through walls, I can disappear. I’m a ghost. I’m dead.”

“You aren’t dead.”

“Am so.”

“No, you’re changed. The radiation changed you on a molecular level, we’ve discussed this.”He argued.

“Have I started aging again? Or am I still frozen the way I was when I died?” You asked him.

He sighed and pulled his glasses off, shooting an annoyed look at you.

“Do we have to have this argument every time?” He asked.

“Fine, we’ll agree to disagree. Gimme the information I need to kick Hydra’s ass.” You said.

“Sneak in quietly and steal information...”

“Same thing.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Romanov.” Bucky said, getting Natasha’s attention before she left the room.

“Google her. Everything about her life is on Wikipedia. You don’t need me to do any digging to find out for you” She said, smirking at him and walking away.

“What about her secrets? Like the fact that she’s a world class hacker?” Bucky asked, catching up to the redhead.

“I’ll let you know when I find out more.” Natasha said begrudgingly.

“So you're suspicious of her as well?”

“I’m suspicious of everybody.”

So was he. He was extremely suspicious of you though, something about you just didn’t sit right with him and he was determined to find out why.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This was pretty much taking over my brain and I wanted to get it written out before I forgot it and then I realized there was no reason to wait a week to post it.... So here you are my children, The Phantom Origins.

I'd love to know what you think of this, it's quite a different type of thing to my other stories. Different style, different focuses. I can ditch it if you don't approve though.

You can ask to be added to or removed from tags at any time folks, just comment or inbox :D @lifewanderer @drdorkus @gravedollie666 @sadsoldat @bigplantdaddy @moodyruth @likes-to-smell-books @shirukitsune @inquisitor-selvala@brownlee-22 @myfandomlife-blog @markusstraya @adeleoctobre @vajeenparty @sexyvixen7  @love-nakamura  @buckitybarnes @littledeadrottinghood @pinkisokay @jsmith509 @brownlee-22 @angieptt  @thosesexytexasboys @liveonce-sodoitright @tarastudiesalot @spnrvt @dahkness @dilaila95 @uuuuuuuuggggghhh

[lovelykhaleesiii]

Our Son (Part 2)

Pairing: Michael Langdon x fem!Reader

Words: 1.6k 

Summary: Michael and the reader previously were together before the nuclear attacks, though separated before after losing touch. During that time, the reader was pregnant and gave birth to their son, only to be reunited post-apocalyptic with Michael.

Warnings: FLUFF, Daddy!Michael, angsty af 

REQUESTED BY: @thatoneweirdgirl17

Tags: @del-rcys , @msjamesmarch , @chelsealaur , @suzumebailey , @fandoms-allovertheplace , @crownofrowan, @gracethegeek9902 @kellysimagines , @minnesota-loser @angelicdisgrace

Hours had passed since your reunion with Michael, the haste confrontation between him and his son, only to find that he’d known all along, undoubtedly left you puzzled. Yet you knew that the next time you’d see Michael would be afar, since the sole purpose of his arrival was ‘supposedly’ to complete his task on behalf of the Cooperative.  Though a part of you knew better, surely a part of his reason for being ‘allocated’ to Outpost 3 was because of Adam and you: you were his family, and as far as you knew, his only family.

Overall, you were happy. You were glad to know that Michael was in no mind set at all to reject his newly found family, and you were glad to see how well he’d already gotten along with Adam. It was a short introduction between the father and son, yet it was tender and genuine.

Reminiscing Michael holding his son for the first time, before you’d left before anyone had caught or worse overheard you two together, you’d remembered the scene of Michael cradling his son in his arm: seeing them together, it was unavoidable to see how alike they’d looked appearance wise. You’d remembered how carefully, how firmly Michael had his eyes fixated on Adam, not wanting to miss a single second of his presence, of this moment between a father and his son.

“So handsome” Michael whispered, a smiling brewing on his face, as his hand reached over to Adam’s hand, who instantly gripped Michael’s finger with his tiny hand. Funnily enough, it was as though Adam knew that the man holding him, this complete stranger who he’d only just met, was his father: his actual father. Usually, Adam was restless if anyone beside his mother, tried carrying him: so this sort of behaviour was most unusual, though was most certainly phenomenal.

“I think he knows” You utter, as you edged closer to the two, your hand stroking Adam’s head, gently resting his head in the palm of your hand.

“Knows what, my love?” Michael chuckles, still his eyes locked unto his son, as he begins playfully bobbing him up and down in his arms.

“That you’re his Daddy, just look at him staring up at you like that. He’s usually never this calm when someone holds him, if not me!” You gleefully exclaim, diverting your attention from Adam to Michael, watching his smile glow, despite the dim light of the room. This moment ever so precious: you felt your heart melting…It had been too long since you’d seen Michael this happy, and it was more you could have ever asked for.

Now retrieving your thoughts back to reality, as the night was getting late, you knew Adam’s bedtime was near. Cradling him in your arms, as you soothly swayed him back and forth, knowing it was what most helped him to fall asleep. His eyes beginning to fish off into sleep, you’d never been so captivated by anyone, as much as you had been with Adam. He was your entire world, one that both Michael and you had unknowingly created, and despite of the hardships, you were grateful.

“My sweet boy, look at how perfect you are…My little angel” You whispered, as you leant your head down towards him, bring him up closer to you, as you planted a small, tender kiss on his forehead. Finally and ever so quickly, Adam had drifted off fast asleep. Walking over towards the cot, gently and ever so slowly you began to lower him down, laying him beneath the blankets. God, he looked so cosy and simply too pure for this world, all huddled up in a bundle between the blankets.

“Sweet dreams, my love.”

The sudden knock on the door, caused you to instantly freeze, hoping to God that Adam wasn’t startled by it. Looking down carefully, you noticed he was still very much fast asleep, and instinctively tried to hurry to the door, not wanting the person on the other side to knock again.

Much to your surprise it was only Michael, and you’d immediately allowed him in.

“Where is he?” He insisted, concern growing on his face, before realising the cot hidden in the corner of the room.

“He’s already fast asleep. Seems he had a very eventful day finally meeting his Daddy” You joked, arms folded as you walk over to Michael, who was already cowered over the cot, watching Adam dozing away.

“This is incredible-” He whispered, a small smile brewing on his face, as his hand reached over to gently caress his son’s cheek.

“I’m sorry about knocking. I didn’t realise he’d be asleep already. I was hoping, actually, that he’d be awake.”

“That’s okay, well at least now you know when exactly its his bedtime.” You quietly respond, trying best to keep yourself composed, having been overwhelmed with joy.

“But I really am sorry. For everything that I must have put you through, since I left. I know what I was doing, believe me love, I was well aware of my actions and their consequences…Though it needed to be done. I hope though, you can find it in that beautiful, sweet heart of yours to forgive me, baby” He uttered, as he gradually walked closer to you, one arm snaking around you, pulling your body closer to his, as his other hand reached over to your face, cupping your cheeks gently.

“Michael, I- It’s just that, I don’t understand why, you’d even consider leaving me in the first place, or us now that I found you knew about Adam. After all this time, I had always blamed myself for your absence, convincing myself that I must have done something to upset you, something to make you stop loving me…” You exclaim, trying best not to raise your voice, as your frustration began to peak.

“Y/N I never stopped loving you, don’t you ever say nor don’t you ever think that… I should have ended things on a better note I know, but time was of the essence. I should’ve just told you the truth, but I couldn’t have risked putting both your lives in danger-” He’d gestured, tearing his focus from you to Adam, only to direct himself back unto you, unable to look at you straight in the eyes.

“What truth, Michael?” You intrigued, your brows furrowing, anxious to hear more.

“Baby, I need you to promise me you won’t do anything stupid. I need you to promise me, that you’ll believe me, and that you won’t tell anyone else here, or that you won’t leave me, all alone just like everybody else did. I need you to promise me, Y/N, please.” He begged, as he hastily walked over to you, grabbing your hands ever so tightly, as means of reassurance.

“Michael, I need you to tell me the truth, first” You imperatively demanded, your grip tightening around his: wanting him to know that you’d stay to listen to the truth and the truth only.

“Y/N I’m – I haven’t been completely honest with you…As to who I am, or more so, of what I am.” He stuttered: it shocked you to see him this nervous, it was a very rare moment. Michael had never showcased this much vulnerability within himself.

“Michael, what do you mean?”

“I’m the Antichrist, Y/N. The son of Satan, himself…This whole apocalypse, bringing the end times, and the whole destruction of the world, was what I was born to do, it’s always been my sole purpose in life.”

You felt your breath hitch in your throat, your eyes widening in fear and bewilderment hearing the words escape from Michael’s mouth. You felt your hands trying to slip away from Michael, doubting that this was in fact reality, though more so was simply a dream, or perhaps even a nightmare. Michael realising that your hands were no longer held in his, seeing you step away from him in fear, you’d noticed the tears swelling up in his eyes.

“Y/N, baby please. This is the exact reason why I couldn’t tell you, why I didn’t want to tell you the truth. But I need you to know, that my love, our love, and that the love for our son has and never will change. I knew this would be your reaction, and I couldn’t bear the thought of putting you through the stress, especially during your pregnancy. Y/N, please don’t-”

“I need you to leave, Michael. Right now.”  You interjected, gesturing Michael to stop in his tracks, as he tried walking closer to you: finding it hard to breath, finding it hard to comprehend it all, you simply needed the space to think.

“Y/N, please” He begged, as he took one step closer, his eyes teary, as his face contorted with sadness.

“Michael, I just need some time to think, to understand that the father of my son is the Antichrist. So I need you to leave…Now.” Determined to keep yourself composed. He’d walked over towards Adam’s cot, his tall figure leaning down as he bent over, planting a gentle kiss on his forehead, before returning to you.

“I-I love you” He stuttered, inclining over, intending for a kiss goodbye, only to have your face turned aside, his lips simply meeting your cheek. Giving you one final sorrowful look, he’d soon disappeared from your sight, only to hear the door shut behind as he left.

The Antichrist, you thought. Hearing the words for the first time felt far from the truth, yet the more you’d contemplated, about every single event that led to this moment, had made sense.

You’d fallen for the Antichrist and there was simply nothing you could do about it.

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[trueishcolours]

My siblings and I accidentally write a Ron/Victor Krum 4th year fix it fic in the group chat

Isabel: guyS

Rewatching goblet of fire

And I have to say

How amazing would it have if

It was a LOT less gendered

And also

If Ron and Krum had got together instead of Krum and Hermione

Thomas: Oh yeah there's so much Gender  

Isabel Ron already basically has a crush on Krum

Would have been great  

Thomas: idk, he's more jealous of him in my opinion  

Isabel: Nah

He has the action figure

He says he's an artist

It's definitely there

Thomas: Tru 

Clare: I mean on a superficial level I liked the Hermione/Krum part because it made me relate that a girl who is usually uninterested in 'feminine' things might still have some anxieties and take some interest now and again, and 'this super hot guy will like You, the Nerd' is standard wish fulfilment, but honestly I could take it or leave it. A grumpy feminist could equally well read it as 'EVEN smort girls like Hermione want to be feminine REALLY uwu'

And that would be a boring analysis but the whole feminine versus not argument is boring and not what we're here for

Anyway

The Krum drama kicks off the Romione subplot and honestly I hate Romione as a ship, to me it feels forced from beginning to end

But Ron/Krum would tie in really nicely to the whole character arc for Ron that JKR started in the first book and then forgot about where he evolves into an amazing intelligent badass without noticing it

Picture: He is dooting along, vaguely bummed because he's nothing special compared to his older bros, then in book four he realises wait he DOES stand out from others because he's gay/bi/whatever but he's not sure he WANTS that because standing out for being a minority is a fucking hassle but by the seventh book he is war hero, chess master and gay icon and vaguely confused about it

Hell, you could even have Hermione go to the ball with Krum, get her girly character development in and have Ron freak out and both of them /assume/ it's about her when it's not

It would just

Be better Thomas: Queer theory saves the day once again

Clare: :D  

Isabel: JUST BASICALLY RON, ALL THE TIME, WITH A BETTER CHARACTER ARC

Thomas: I love this  

Isabel: Honestly decades later I am still just so salty about Ron's lack of development, hell, anti development. I just want everything for him

Clare: Like, not to make it automatically angsty just because it's gay but Ron being Not Straight ties in so well with his typical theme of qualities that he think make him less than Textbook Perfect actually being his great strengths (I read a great analysis that Ron actually achieves all his brothers' goals without trying or noticing)

Ron just utterly stalls as a character in the books

And Harry is a shitty friend to him by the end

She kind of pulled it back with his deathly hallows arc but it was bungled and could have come across as just bashing him

Isabel: HE IS. Ron is so taken for granted.

Clare: God, Ron is SO much less of a dick if his yelling at Hermione in book four is coming out of Sudden Repressed Realisation, not just 'woman I like is doing something I don't like'

Isabel: I watched film 4 last night and just everyone??? Is so horrible to each other??? All the time??? I swear in the books it's so much better handled

Other reasons why bi/gay Ron headcanon is important: - most masculine of the trio/ has a million big brothers so dealing with toxic masculinity/ bucking queer stereotypes in there too - an extra 'fuck you' to the whole pure blood thing which I reckon is really homophobic as it means your bloodline won't get continued or some shit - Krum coaching Ron on Keeping in bad English. Tell me it's not cute. - Ron's a linguist (he learnt parselmouth on like 2 listens)!! Tell me he wouldn't learn Bulgarian?! - just, chaotic bilingual Quidditch talk, all the time, forever?!

Clare: UM your pidgin Quiddich is now my new fave headcanon forever????? You're SO RIGHT Ron is smart, he's just not academic. He would DEFINITELY pick up a language fast if he was using it to talk to his boyfriend/about quiddich

Isabel: EXACTLY

Clare: Plus all the stuff you said about toxic masculinity and purebloodism.

MAKE THE SUBTEXT TEXTUAL, YOU COWARDS

Isabel: #giveRonaBoyfriend2k18

Also not around for the lowkey weirdness of Ron and Harry dating CANONICALLY IDENTICAL AND BORING non white girls to the Yule Ball

I know that you can overdo all this stuff but seriously the fuck

Clare: It is a bit odd and icky   

Isabel: Ok so this is what happens

Krum asks Hermione to the Yule Ball and it's like she gets her cute moment with him

But then instead of spending the whole evening being a whiny bish Ron shows un-JKR-characterisation-characteristic maturity and puts a brave face on it and talks to them both

He's upset but doesn't full on ruin their evenings

And then Hermione after the ball, (gradually realising with slight horror that she and Krum actually have literally nothing in common) kind of keeps... asking... Ron to hang out with them

And at first Ron's like lol no way am I third wheeling

But then the temptation to hang out with his literal idol becomes too strong

And he and Krum start hanging out independently of Hermione

(who's probably in the lib helping Harry study for the second task at this point anyway)

The weather is still too cold for Quidditch

Ron thinks

But somehow Ron ends up playing anyway

IN THE SNOW

WITH VICTOR

HE'S GETTING COACHED BY AN ACTUAL WORLD CUP FINAL SNITCH CATCHING PLAYER AND HE IS NOT CHILL

Clare: Hoooooly fuck this is perfect

(except he actually is because it's like -10 and snowing what the fuck Krum) Ron putting his big boy panties on and dealing during the ball, leading to him actually having an in with Krum via Hermione

I love the dynamic of Hermione just...awkwardly asking her friends to hang with them...just to break the silence...

Isabel: YEAH EXACTLY

And then them all actually having a nice evening

Clare: I mean the point of Krum with her was to get that 'YASSSS I'm dating a hot guy!' moment WHILE ALSO showing how easily it fizzles, so nothing needs to change there

Hermione could even do her 'ugh, quiddich and BOYS' routine

Isabel: Awkward because of course it is awkward what is a teenage party without angst but also, fun

yeah exactly! the slow dawning that fuuuuck, I've just brought another stupid quidditch boi into my life oh god why

Clare: Ron still knows more about the history of the game and all the technical terms than Harry so has more to talk to Krum about

Isabel: And then you know Ron and Krum stumble back into the castle with Ron wearing Krum's hat à la Chad and Ryan, and Skeeter doesn't bat an eyelid because it doesn't fit her trashy narrative

Clare: RIGHT I've got to sleep I'm getting a cold but I love this

Isabel: ok go sleep

OK ONE MORE POINT

we almost certainly get the insanely awkward 'think you're in luurve Ron' or 'lol if you love Krum so much you should date him not Hermione'! moment from either Fred or George or maybe Ginny

And there's just a kind of... missing step moment

Clare: I think all of them would do that

I mean they're pretty mean to Ron anyway, especially about love

Isabel: Exactly they're all horrible but MAYBE this would teach them!!

Clare: Exactly! It would rip the rug out from under them and they'd be like wait shit

Isabel: We are actually mean to Ron... a lot

Clare: Especially because in this timeline Ron still gets the hassle from his sibs but unlike in the main timeline where he is just butt monkey forever he has the trump card that he's got a boyfriend who's a world famous quiddich player

Like, if you're Fred, George, Ginny or even Molly you can't really come back from that reveal. Ron wins.

Isabel: Krum actually being a laser focussed guy who gives people he cares about 300% of his attention

And middle child syndrome attention starved Ron just soaks it up like a blooming Icelandic kid under a sunlamp

Ron win evertiem

Clare: Yeahhhhhh. Being a prodigy who's trained from such a young age he's got to nail that work life balance and it's like 90% work 10% life but that life is INTENSE, he's seen too many people lose their relationships because they won't switch off their metaphorical phones during dates, he gets one (1) month a year and about three (3) important people and when it is Person Time it is PERSON TIME

Right bed for eal I'm dying

Isabel: BED FOR EEL

UGH ALL I WANT IN MY LIFE IS THE 50K+ SLOW BURN QUEER 4TH YEAR REWRITE

BUT I LEGIT DON'T HAVE TIME TO WRITE IT AND I DON'T TRUST MYSELF TO GET RON POV RIGHT ANYWAY

Clare: Bebs I wish you could write it

The raw chemistry my goodness

I ship it now

Is there going to be 'you are treating me like an idol not a real person please stop' angst at any point?

Isabel: OF COURSE THERE IS

Clare: Also Krum is like 'I knew I could trust you because you are bffs with Harry Potter and you treat him like he's totally normal you must be so mature and cool he is so so lucky to have a friend like you

Or well, Krum insecurity that people only like him because of his celeb status anyway

Which is probably why he went for Hermione in the first place because she didn't give a shit

'WOULD WE EVEN BE TOGETHER IN THE FIRST PLACE IF IT WASN'T FOR QUODDICH?'

'... I love you.'

'Bro I wouldn't care if you were the worst player in the world as long as we both are fans of the sport together.'

'Bro.'

Isabel: BRUH

Also can I just ask...?

What happens in the second task??!!?

It's already messed up enough under that lake, love triangles all over the place

This would just be the final straw that resulted in everyone just shrugging and teaming up

Clare: Holy shit

Krum just doots along, takes Ron and goes

Harry's like...wait what...OK...um I guess Hermione and Ron are equally important to me so I'll just take her kk

Isabel: Krum and Ron appearing on the surface of the lake like 'fuck'

The most dramatic declaration of intent ever

Turning yourself into a shark and rescuing them from the bottom of a lake

Clare: Everybody in the stands is SHOOK

Dumbledore like dang I did not predict this

With their hair soaking wet they are both at maximum hot

Isabel: Rita Skeeter's quill combusts

Clare: Krum doesn't point her out as a beetle in Hermione’s hair he's too busy with Ron

Isabel: Yeah she's like where is my gossip at??? Nothing is happening over in Hermione's hair

But yeah I feel like Dumbledore would be like, oh darn, looks like I'm gonna have to show queer solidarity with Ronald Weasely or something

KRUM AT THE BURROW VERY SERIOUSLY COMPLIMENTING MOLLY ON HER FOOD AND ASKING FOR BRITISH RECIPES AND WINNING HER OVER IN A TRICE

Clare: Would Krum charm Molly straight away though? He's very surly and shy and, in the books, not very handsome. Wouldn't Molly start out yikes who is this quiddich yob my son has taken up with?

Ginny on the other hand. Comes out as bi a couple of years later, tells Ron she only started to realise thanks to his example, apologises for being a dick about his love life

Isabel: Yeah I guess actually

I think Molly can get fierce

Clare: She's probably got a bit of pure blood/homophobic anxiety that she cloaks as objections about THIS PARTICULAR boy

Isabel: Either she loves you and adopts you right away or she is like /pulling shotgun down from the shelf/

EXACTLY

She's like

Blaming herself, oh I should have paid more attention and NOW look what's happened

Poor Ronald, always neglected

And Ron's like... mum... this is great

I am happy

Is not problem

Clare: Ron is like I AM NOT DOING THIS FOR ATTENTION JESUS CHRIST

I mean he's probably enjoying having the attention of a quiddich super star and I bet he'd even enjoy the celebrity status of The Boyfriend a bit (best friends get sidelined but romantic partners are news) but he's not doing it FOR attention

Isabel: Yeah, and I think the suggestion that he is would just make him so mad

First confused and then mad

Oh the ANGST

Clare: Especially since that's Krums biggest anxiety

Isabel: Mr Weasely would be chill. I feel like in this whole equation he is the chillest

Clare: What would Percy say? Would social climbing or doing the done thing win out?

Also the attention thing is a way for parents to make their child's relationship all about them. Oh you want me to LOVE you more! No mum I'm growing away from you this is normal

I think Ron would get jealous around Bill and Charlie because they'd swing in all oh our brother is rebellious and has a cool boyfriend? Well we are cool rebels also welcome to the family Victor

Isabel: Yeah... I think Percy is probably pretending to be chill with it and being a bit smarmy to Krum then says something awkward and homophobic and it's worse than if he'd just said it straight up

Clare: I think a lot of Liberal but still pure blood families would take the line of, 'it's fine that you're gay...because you're the sixth son so your blood line isn't in danger and making a socially advantageous match is probably more important for you anyway! And Ron is like Y I K E S

Isabel: Yeah exactly, well I suppose you have enough sons Molly amirite

What do we think about the Krum family?

Are they just happy that their son is forming human relationships

Clare: Hmm. How do they feel about celebrity? Do they think Ron is Not Good Enough or are they actually quite a normal family and are glad Krum has an ordinary guy to keep him grounded?

Isabel: I kind of don't want Ron to have to deal with random Bulgarian disapproval

I think maybe a quite normal family who had a kid who was a genius and has been at boarding school/ travelling for years and years

Maybe Krum already came out to them so that drama is in the past

Clare: Yeah and when he brings Ron home for dinner they're just delighted that Krum is home at all and that he's happy

Yeah maybe he did

He's probably had a lot of time to introspect because of his image and maybe he's an only child?

Isabel: And Ron speaks accented but ok Bulgarian by this point and they're like !!!

Clare: I think one aspect of the large family thing that WOULD affect Ron is its just that much harder to have a private word with your parents so confiding about yourself, especially when you're not 100% sure, just isn't part of the family culture

And there's no time for introspection when you're jockeying for position with six siblings

So Krum is out to his parents while Ron isn't even out to himself

Plus Krums just that bit older

Isabel: No, when you ask for a word it's all 'yes Ron' a bit exasperated

Clare: Krum’s family are just delighted that Ron speaks Bulgarian and is a normal guy who likes their son for himself

Isabel: Maybe they have some kind of cool engineery job and Ron goes out the back and is like well my dad likes cars I will try and help

Uses his mathsy chessy knowledge

Clare: Re. Homophobia I think it is important that it's not all YOU'RE GOING TO HELL like the Muggle brand but instead is very focused on producing pure blood children. Also with the smallness of the pure blood community I bet there's a lot of, not official arranged marriage, but kind of assumed marriage, like in Pride and Prejudice or what may have happened with Prince William and Kate, like, there's three girls your age who your family's on speaking terms with who aren't your first cousins and it'll massively throw off everybody's plans if you don't marry one of them

Yes Ron helping with engineering

Isabel: Headcanon of the Krums as magical engineers with a side passion for quidditch

Clare: I bet he picks up arithmancy that way. Can't learn it in the classroom, can learn it in the garage. And he comes home from the holiday able to actually help his dad with the car and thenceforth Mr Weasley is on board

Isabel: Yeah exactly... they're a bit 'sigh ok this means you're not gonna marry bertha from the bakery but hell at least it's not a veela'

Clare: Also wizarding society is inherently conservative, they haven't even updated their writing system, so anybody doing anything different is looked askance at unless they can play themselves as a genius eccentric like Dumbledore

Isabel: So yeah then Ron turns out to be WHOLESOME af and Krum’s family are like... ok fine. this is fine. In fact yay!

Ok I have to go do some work but this has been almost as good as having the fic itself

Clare: Maybe I'll put a summary on my tumblr and see if anybody wants to adopt it

[dreamingawaydolan]

Motorcycle Man {E.D}

Summary: What happens when Y/N gets caught up in a nasty protest and her options are run or go to jail and her only option to get away is a mysterious man and his motorcycle.

Authors Note: Wow two post in a couple days how’s that for being active. Anyway let me know if yall want a part 2 

Request: Open

Y/N Pov:

“Sooo” I say to the motorcycle man still not knowing his name even though he was my run away driver basically next to me “ sorry” I awkwardly laugh. He just looks over at me and shakes his head while letting up a small huff. I mean I don’t blame the dude I did get him arrested but it was for a good cause. Let me take you back to the beginning of this whole catastrophe.

“MAKE MEMORIES NOT MONEY” I yell while holding my sign up that says “playground are here to play not take down” I’m currently at a protest to keep my local park playground standing. I grew up going to the park, I had my first kiss here, I met my best friend Stef who is here with me here. This park in Long Valley New Jersey means so much to me.

And I will be damned if I let some rich assface come and take it down to put up apartment buildings like we already have enough places to live what the crap take it down a notch satan. I was about to yell but all the sudden there were police sirens coming our way. “ Shit” I say under my breath

“ Umm Y/N we aren’t breaking any laws right” Stef says asking since cops were coming to us “ Not that I know of we are just peacefully protesting” I smile while screaming “ Make memories not money” as loud as I could

The cops get out of the car and the protesters start to get angsty  and yell more which isn’t a good idea oh my god this isn’t going to end well

“ Miss what do you think your doing” An officer says to me while looking me up and down. “ Well Mr.officer I am simply enjoying the park I grew up in is there a problem” I sweetly say while holding my sign up

“ Y/N lets just go” Stef says tugging on my shirt “ No” I say standing my ground we aren’t breaking any laws so there’s no problem with us protesting. Stef and me are pretty opposite she’s one stand back and watch something happen while I am the complete opposite if I see something going down or something bad happening I will 100% say something. Despite being pretty small I can put up a good fight. My nana always said “ Stand up for those who can’t stand for themselves”

“ Yes quite a few miss you miss you and your hippie friends are being very noisy and people aren’t okay with that so you need to pack up you posters and peace signs and get outta here” The cops snickers at me.

Before I could respond Crazy Cameron as we like to call him tackles the cop. AHH no this was not part of the plan shit shit shit ahh crap were screwed ahh!!! I know the cops are gonna try to take all of us in with crazy cameron. This dude I swear we call him crazy for a reason. My first instinct is to run and well that’s what I do not the best idea but that’s what my body does.

As I’m running I hear the cops yelling telling everybody to stop running but no one listens. As I’m running I think about everything that just happened. I’m running from the cops would my nana be proud. Hell yeah she was doing this when she was 15 and here I am doing it at 19. I turn a corner still running from a random cop that started running after me. Luckly for me he was a little out of shape which was a plus for me.

As I turn the corner I see some dude on his motorcycle getting ready to leave. I jump on the back not even thinking and tell him to drive “ Who the- what the- Who the hell are you” He says abruptly standing up.

“ A girl who is in desperate need to get the hell out of here so like I said before DRIVE” I say putting my hands on his shoulder and pushing him on the seat. I’ve never been on a motorcycle this day keeps getting more and more exciting.

“Hey stop right there” The cops yells. I tell motorcycle man to not listen to him and drive he trys to objectify but it doesn’t work. He puts his hands on the two thingys and the roaring sound echoes through the alley.

We slowly but surely get out of the alley and take a back road somewhere. Was it a good idea to hop on the back of some randoms dude motorcycle no. For all I know he could be plotting my death or he could even worse take me to the cops oh shit I really did not think this through.

After losing the cop he pulls the motorcycle over and takes off his helmet “ Okay what the hell” He says standing up. I follow his action “ Protest gone wrong” I say while looking where we are. I kinda recognize the area this is where my nana lived.

“ So why are the cops running after you” He questions while looking me straight in the eye. Crap maybe going to jail would have been ever. This man was towering over me my 5’5 height had nothing on him.

His voice was low and raspy but with a hint of softness kinda like the fall leaves blowing with the wind. He was obviously muscular you could tell even though he his jacket engulfed him. He looked around my age maybe a couple years older than me. Looking at his sad scruff he couldn’t be over 24.

“ Because Crazy Cameron isn’t just called crazy for nothing” As he was about to open his mouth the cop car pulls up right beside us. I was about to run again but the cop caught me before I could. “ I did nothing” I scream before they put me in the car.

I hope they don’t take the dude in too he seemed like a nice person kinda apart from him being intimidating as hell. “Ay you aren’t gonna cuff me up” I asked confused “ I could pull out a knife or a firecracker” I add they just laugh at me and drive off to the jail. Oh man I hope stef is alright.

I was about to fall asleep but when I heard someone plop next to me on the bench. It was the motorcycle dude. Crap they took him in too, we really didn’t do anything wrong besides run from the cops. He surprisingly looked really calm considering we were handcuffed to a bench in the middle of a very run down jail.  

After awhile of silence I decided to say something “Sooo” I say to the motorcycle man still not knowing his name even though he was my run away driver basically next to me “ sorry” I awkwardly laugh. He just looks over at me and shakes his head while letting up a small huff. I mean I don’t blame the dude I did get him arrested but it was for a good cause. Save the playground!

“ Come on again it’s like you’re in here once a week” Bob the chief says while taking a bite of his apple. “ What can I say I have a passion for standing up for people” I remark. Bob and my dad are friends so he usually gets me out of things like this. If it weren’t for him I would be here a lot more than I already am.

Bob just laughs and walks away fixing his belt “ Ay you gonna get me out of these things I knew it was too good to be true about not being handcuffed” I mumble the last part under my breath. I sigh in defeat and lay my head back on the cold brock wall.

“ What was the protest about” Motorcycle man says in a nicer tone than before “ These ass wipes are trying to tear down the park by 21st street” I say he just laughs “ You got me arrested over a park?! Your kidding oh my god seriously? I had a date tonight you know? With a hot chic and I’m stuck here in cuffs because you held a protest over a park” He says with the same tone from earlier this guy is kinda a douche.

I was about to snap back at him and say it wasn’t just a park before Bob came over with the key. “ Listen if I see you in here one more time you’re done” And with that he unlocks me and douchebag mc.fart face. “Trust me you won’t I promise” I give him a kiss on the check and head out the main doors giving a high five to one of the tatted up man that was talking to the front desk lady.

As I walk outside I see the motorcycle dude walk past me “ It’s not just a park” I yell loud enough that he can hear me he turns his head in my direction for a second before putting on his helmet and driving off with his infamous motorcycle.

After everything that happened that night I still did not know motorcycles man name. “ Have fun on your date” I whisper to myself as I walk home

Part 2????

[theclaravoyant]

It’s alright (it’s just the end of the world) - Elena-centric 5x18 Coda

AN ~ Working through some of my own thoughts and feelings about this whole “grey morality” thing I ended up with this fic and it turned out quite well, if I do say so myself (although I will warn you, it’s kinda angsty. no MCD I promise). Enjoy!

Elena reflects on her decision in 5x18 and what it means for herself, her loved ones and the future of the world. Elena-centric, Mackelena, Angst (but a little bit of hurt/comfort, I’m not *completely* merciless), Rated T. Mentions of Ruby, Fitz & Daisy including a brief 5x14 reference (all non graphic / non descriptive).

(If you want to know any more about the contents of my fic before reading it, feel free to shoot me a message.)

Title and quote taken from “Preaching the End of the World” by Chris Cornell.

Read on AO3 (~1600wd).

It’s alright (it’s just the end of the world)

Elena watched the tiny crucifix dangling from her mechanical fingers. It glinted like a tiny golden star in the dim light, but still she felt lost in a fog, unable to read its guiding signs. It felt wrong, holding it like this: without its shape against her skin, without the cool metal, warming at her touch.

Truth be told, though, there was not much else that Elena missed about her arms – her new ones could do most of what they had been able to, and they were stronger, faster. They made her better. Even though they still didn’t quite feel part of her yet, she’d found them easier to accept, knowing she still had the parts that mattered. What was the body, after all, if not a tool for the soul and the heart and the mind to work their purpose? Now, though, she no longer knew if she had even that.

It was not so much that she hated killing. She did, of course, but sometimes it was necessary. Sometimes, in this violent world, it could even be for the best. She had thought that was going to be the story of today, but the long – and tense – flight back to base had given her a little too much time to think over it.

She’d killed a scared young woman today. Not a little girl, not quite, but still that’s what it felt like as her memory played it back over and over. She’s a kid. Ruby had been crying out for her mother, begging for help. That was not the way of a ruthless murderer and, whether she had saved the world or not, what she’d done – that split-second decision – was only growing harder and harder to face. Harder still as, from the way Daisy had been climbing the walls of the Zephyr, and from the hushed conversations between her and May, Elena had gathered that Ruby’s story hit a little closer to home than usual. It had started Elena thinking: what if she’d just stopped another Daisy from growing up? What if she’d killed a scared young woman for no reason? Or worse – what if this was all mapped out already, every action and reaction, and Ruby’s violent death and the blood on her own hands had been set in stone long ago?

It was Fitz who’d blurted out on the way here – somehow in Daisy’s defense, though they were in the middle of a fight themselves as well – that Elena hadn’t saved the world. That she couldn’t have. That Ruby hadn’t been the Destroyer of Worlds, Daisy had. That time was an illusion, and our choices all pre-made. He’d gotten very quiet after that, and so had Daisy. So had everybody on the plane. The air had grown thick and heavy and dark with the terrible thought. Was it better to believe you’d chosen, of your own free will, to torture and traumatize a dear friend for the sake of strangers? Or was it, somehow, better to believe you’d been destined to do it, from before you’d even met?

Elena did not envy Fitz his dilemma – nor Daisy, who was in the somehow even more unfortunate position of experiencing it from the other side – and yet she found herself staring down the barrel of the very same gun. Saving the world was a messy affair, this she had always known, but now more than ever Elena found herself wishing that she could do more than just pray that’s what they were doing. Especially since she knew - she more than anyone else – that there’d be more lives on the line before the end.

She clutched the crucifix to her heart, and that helped. The feeling of her own metal fingers against her skin was new and strange but when she closed her eyes, she could seek out that old, familiar shape. This was not the original, of course – that was drifting around in space somewhere, with the body of another brave man lost to the world too soon. But Mack had gone out of his way to find one just like it, and to always make sure it came back to her, and through the love imbued in his efforts, and her own, the most important memories remained. She could recall her mother giving it to her for her quinceañera; the warm embrace of her family; the familiar feeling of her old church and the quiet welcome of a new one in the States. She could recall, though it felt something of a distant memory now, the comfort of knowing that God was watching over her, giving her the gifts to do good in the world, and the passion and the intuition to know what that was. She longed for that same passion, that intuition again… and if she could not have that, then at least the comfort, or something, to soothe this lonely, grieving ache that was, in a truer sense than most living humans had ever experienced, the weight of the world.

“Please,” she whispered, into the heavy air, squeezing the crucifix as tightly as she dared without crumpling it like al-foil. “Tell me, am I doing the right thing?”

As if in answer, there was a soft click as the door pushed open. Mack hesitated in the doorway, but stepped in and closed the door behind him.

“Sorry,” he said, his voice soft and low as if trying even now not to interrupt. “The others told me what happened. Are you okay?”

Maybe it was the question that did it, maybe something about the tone of his voice, but all of a sudden Elena felt the tears come at her in a rush. They were bitter tears – anger at not being able to defend herself against Daisy’s accusations; fear that she might after all be right; grief for the soul that was lost today. The soul she took. They were tears of frustration, of loss, and she held them back as best she could, feeling a little breathless with the effort.

“Do you think I did the right thing?” she asked.

“I don’t know if I can answer that,” Mack replied – reluctant, sympathetic. “I wasn’t there.”

There was no scolding to his voice, although there could have been. Perhaps there should have been. But it was not needed; Elena felt appropriately scolded nonetheless. She hung her head – and, seeing how lost she was, Mack offered;

“As long as you didn’t do it out of anger, or vengeance..?”

That’s the girl who took my arms.

Elena’s eyes snapped up to his face. Had they told him that part? Did it matter? That’s not why she did it, the timing was wrong, the feelings – all the feelings – She stood up from the bed, begging him to see.

“No,” she insisted, shaking her head, as much to keep that little worm of doubt from her own mind as from his. “No, I didn’t, I swear. I-”

“I believe you,” he promised her steadily, a little taken aback by the force of her desperation. He opened his arms, gentle and accepting, and Elena felt a little of that panic drain away. She pressed herself gratefully against his chest and he closed his arms, enveloping her and humming, a soothing and tuneless sound.

“Mi amor,” he murmured. “I’m sorry I can’t do more for you right now, but… for what it’s worth, I don’t think we can ever truly know if we’re doing the right thing. We don’t know the consequences of our actions, or the consequences of those, or the consequences of those… We were never meant to know. You acted on what you thought was right in the moment. That’s all anyone could have done.”

Elena shook her head. “But- it didn’t achieve anything. Daisy’s the Destroyer, not Ruby. If I’d known that…”

“You would have what? Killed Daisy?” Mack pulled back from her a little, to look her in the eyes. “Elena. There are hundreds of thousands of choices between now and tomorrow, let alone now and fifty years’ time. Some of those are going to be hard. Some of them are probably going to be wrong. But who’s to say which? I know I can’t. Daisy can’t. Fitz can’t. Who’s to say that Ruby wouldn’t have been the Destroyer if you hadn’t done what you did? Changing the future and saving the world might not be mutually exclusive, you know.”

“I know.” Elena sighed, an unsatisfied sigh, and Mack pulled her back into his embrace.

“I know,” he repeated, in as much of a reassuring tone as he could. For all that he wished otherwise, Mack knew there was no truly comforting way to have this conversation, because for every reason such a thing might have been the right thing to do, there was a reason for it to be wrong. He knew that Elena knew more than she was saying about the future, but if her own knowledge wasn’t helping her then sharing it probably wouldn’t either, so he didn’t ask. He had faith in Elena, even if he couldn’t explain it, and even if she couldn’t see it herself. She would soon, he was sure, and if he had to he’d just hold her until that moment. Already, she was breathing easier, and that went a long way to soothing his aching heart.

Elena, meanwhile, laid her ear against Mack’s chest. She no longer felt as lost, or as guilt-ridden, as she had done while stranded alone with her thoughts, but there was still a nagging sensation of dread that would not leave. Knowing that Ruby’s death was not the end kept her on edge, and though she longed for nothing more in this moment than to lose herself in Mack’s embrace, she couldn’t help thinking about how every one of those strong and steady heartbeats, might still be bringing him closer and closer to his last.

[the--sad--hatter]

Phantom Pain (12)

FANDOM - MARVEL MCU

PAIRING - Bucky X Reader

WARNINGS - Bad Habits and Rough Sex, Angsty and Dark AF. 

DESCRIPTION -  Everybody in the world knew of you, but not who you really were. Some called you a vigilante, some called you a criminal and some called you a hero but all of them called you The Phantom. Only two people knew your real identity and they swore to never tell anyone but when The Avengers need to infiltrate a high-security facility, Bruce Banner deduces that you’re the only one who can pull it off. That decision puts you and Bucky Barnes on a path you can’t turn back from, even if neither of like where it’s leading.

Series Masterlist

Chapter Twelve - Mischief, Magic and Ghosts 

It was really hard to concentrate on what you were saying when Bucky Barnes was sat in your armchair gazing intently at you as you told him the full story of how you had become The Phantom.

“You locked yourself in the chamber? You didn’t consider letting one of the two superhero’s handle it?” He growled.

“I asked them to come, I couldn’t get them killed for trying to help me and I couldn’t let innocent people die because of something my family built.” You said reasonably.

Bucky’s mind turned over all the facts and he realised that yet again, everything he thought he knew about you was all wrong. You weren’t a spoilt brat like he’d assumed, you weren’t a badass vigilante like he’d thought. You were a ridiculously brave person who’d sacrificed your life to save others and when you’d ended up with extraordinary abilities you hadn’t hesitated to constantly throw yourself into dangerous situations because you didn’t want to waste those gifts.

“Oh no. You’re Steve.” He groaned.

“I’m who now?” You asked, extremely offended.

“You’re all bravery and no brains.” He said, throwing his head back in frustration.

Frank used the new angle to sniff curiously at Bucky’s hair and you narrowed your eyes at the furball of deception.

“You need to tell Steve everything.” Bucky insisted, reaching up to scratch between Franks ears.

“I’m not telling Captain Asshat anything. Five of The Avengers already know I’m The Phantom, that’s more than enough.” You said.

“Five?”

“Besides you, Tony and Bruce, Natasha figured it out and I just gave up and told Clint.” You admitted.

Frank chirped happily as Bucky scratched a particularly good spot and you lost it.

“How are you doing that?” You demanded, standing up and stomping over to check Frank for telltale signs of having been replaced by a robot cat or something to explain his behaviour.

Bucky sat up and smirked at you and you realised you’d placed yourself directly between his knees.

“I’m good with cats. And you do need to tell Steve, he’s got you all wrong. We all did.”

“My being The Phantom or how I got that way changes nothing, I’m still me.” You insisted.

Bucky stood up abruptly and for a brief second you were pressed together before you took a step back quickly and he followed. He backed you up all the way over to the couch and the backs of your knees hit the sofa and you sat down, bouncing on the cushion a little.

“The fact it changes nothing in your mind is why it changes everything.” He said cryptically.

You battled with the blush trying to paint your features as he hooked a finger under your chin and tilted your head so you were looking up his perfect body to meet his intense gaze.

“I won’t tell him until you’re ready but you have to tell him sooner or later.” Bucky said and released you and took a step back.

You released a breath you hadn’t even known you were holding in as he left the room, the door closing with a depressing finality behind him. Frank yowled in displeasure and you shakily drew your legs under yourself and silently agreed with the disappointed cat.

Bucky leaned against your door for a second in the hallway to centre himself. The way you’d sat there, so plaint and soft in front of him and looked up at him with those wide eyes filled with trust was too much for him and he’d needed to escape before the last drop of blood rushed from his head. If he’d left it even a second longer you’d have definitely noticed the tightness in his jeans.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Oooh, soup. Does that mean there’s bread?” You asked as you pottered into the kitchen.

Wanda smiled up at you warmly as you started sniffing around her where she was taking the loaf out of the oven.

“There is, Mr West taught me how to make it.” She preened.

“West makes the best bread.” You said excitedly.

“I know we have met but I don’t know if you remember, it has been an eventful few days,” She said nervously and you grinned brightly at her.

“I remember, who could forget you?” You joked and she smiled but the nervous look in her eye gave her away.

“That’s a good thing, trust me. West thinks so as well, he doesn’t give up his bread recipe for just anyone.” You assured her and the way her eyes lit up was breathtaking.

She cut into the loaf with a small, happy grin on her face.

“Will you be joining us for dinner?” She asked hopefully.

“I’m starving. Can I help with anything?” You asked.

“No!” She exclaimed in a hurry and immediately looked bashful at her outburst as she bit her lip and tried not to laugh.

“West told stories about my kitchen adventures didn’t he?” You asked and she nodded as passed you a heavily buttered slice of fresh bread.

It was still warm and the butter had melted into it, it looked and smelt heavenly and was a very effective distraction. You made obscene sounds as you bit into it and Wanda giggled at you.

“Well what have we here?” Someone said from right behind you and you turned your head and looked up. And up again.

Loki was smirking down at you with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and you gulped down your mouthful of bread and bit into the slice again shamelessly.

“You must be Miss King.” Loki purred, looking you up and down flirtatiously.

“Loki! Leave her alone.” Wanda chastised and you raised an amused brow.

When Loki had joined The Avengers it had been a global topic, some people were on his side and some weren’t. You had figured The Avengers wouldn’t have let him join if they didn’t trust him.

“I’m just introducing myself.” He defended innocently.

“Really? That’s just an introduction? What happens if you actually try to flirt, spontaneous ovary combustion?” You joked.

“Would you like to find out?” He asked.

“Kinda.” You admitted and he looked slightly taken aback at your answer before his smile widened.

“I do love a woman who is so... transparent.” He said heavily.

Six, six Avengers who knew who you were. Though you weren’t entirely shocked by this one, he had seen right through your invisibility at the warehouse.

“PRINCESS!” Tony’s outraged voice thundered through the compound.

“Uh, you haven’t seen me.” You said and disappeared.

“What’s going......... on?” Wanda asked, turning to you and frowning when you weren’t there.

Loki hadn’t taken his eyes off you and looked amused as Tony stormed into the kitchen.

“Where is she?” Tony demanded.

“Where is who?” Loki asked coolly.

“Princess. Her and Romanoff locked me in a cell and tortured me all afternoon. Being tied up by two beautiful women is supposed to be much more fun that it was.”  

“I haven’t seen her, I think Natasha’s in the armoury though.”Wanda said helpfully.

“Yeah, cause I’m going to confront Nat.” Tony scoffed.

“You aren’t as afraid of Miss King as you are of Miss Romanoff?” Loki asked casually.

“One is a deadly assassin and the other is a Park Avenue Princess.” Tony pointed out.

“Are you really not afraid of me Snark?” You whispered in Tony’s ear.

He jumped so high he almost hit the ceiling.

“Tony? Are you alright?” Wand asked in concern.

“What? Fine.” He squeaked out.

“For the record, my hand is literally inside your chest right now. Shall we find out if Tony Stark has a heart after all?” You said quietly.

“I’ve got to go!” Tony exclaimed and bolted.

Loki chuckled and Wanda looked perplexed.

“What was wrong with him?” She asked.

“No idea.” You said and reappeared.

Wanda was startled by your sudden reappearance and gaped at you. You winked at her and bit into the piece of bread you’d stolen while invisible.

“Are you The Phantom?” She asked.

“Yeah, but it’s a huge secret so you can’t tell anybody.” You sniggered.

That made Seven.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Wanda had asked if you were joining them for dinner you hadn’t realised she meant everybody. You sat back in your chair and watched in amusement as The Avengers all drifted into the room. Vision kept glancing at you and you grinned at him. And that was Eight.

“Yes, I can walk through walls as well.” You confirmed.

Wanda had already asked you if she could please tell Vision and could you explain that just because you didn’t need to use a door, it was still polite to use one.

“Fascinating. Would it be rude of me to ask you for a demonstration at some point?” He asked politely.

“Not at all, we can compare after dinner if you want?” You offered.

You were actually curious, you hadn’t met anyone who could do anything similar to you before. You wondered what would happen if you and Vision tried to phase through each other at the same time.  

“I would like that.” He said, smiling happily over at Wanda who shot the two of you a thumbs up as two tall figures came into the kitchen.

“Your highness! I am Thor, King of Asgard.” The large Blonde god exclaimed, grabbing your hand with surprising gentleness and bestowing a kiss upon it.

“She’s not royalty you buffoon.” Loki said in exasperation.

“Shhhhh, yes I am.” You insisted, fluttering your eyelashes at Thor.

“Do forgive my brother, This is Loki, Prince of Asgard.” Thor said.

“Oh we’ve met.” Loki smirked.

“Yes, we have. He said hello and now I’m pregnant.” You told Thor in mock seriousness.

“Loki!” Thor looked aghast.

“She’s jesting with you brother.” Loki said, rolling his eyes at Thor and draping himself on the seat next to yours.

Thor looked between you and Loki suspiciously.

“You are friends?” He asked.

“Yeah.” You said casually.

Loki turned his head to look at you without changing his bored expression at all.

“Friends. Yes, we are. Happy now Thor?” Loki asked.

“I am!” Thor boomed.

“Ow.” You said under your breath, leaning away from the exuberant blonde giant.

“You get used to it.” Loki assured you.

“You highness, might my brother and I sit by you?” Thor asked politely.

“Yes, you may your Majesty.” you said, pushing the chair on your other side out for him.

Natasha and Clint wandered in, whispering about something to each other and from the furtive glances that Clint kept shooting at you, you guessed you were somehow involved.

Steve, Bucky and Sam walked in behind them and you gaped. Once again, Frank was perched on Bucky’s shoulder. Steve kept glancing warily at the content cat that was looking around the room with disdain.

“Frank, you lucky little bastard.” You whispered, forgetting that most of the people in the room had super hearing.

“You wanna sit on my shoulders Domniţă?” Bucky asked with an infuriating smirk as he sat down directly across from you.

Steve managed to choke on air and Sam sniggered at the three of you. Loki decided to drape his arm across the back of your chair and Bucky glared at his hand. Frank leapt off Bucky’s shoulder onto the table and sat on Steve’s empty plate. You wondered if you should high five the cat or would that be too childish.

“Miss King.” Steve said in a strained voice.

“Yes Captain?” You said sweetly.

“Could you move your cat?” He asked.

“Frank, move.” You ordered.

As you expected, nothing happened.

“Sorry, I tried.” You said, shrugging.

“He’s a menace. He’s violent and stubborn.” Steve insisted.

“He’s an independent cat who shows his love in subtle ways.” You protested.

“He’s rather cute.” Thor said, reaching over to pick Frank up by the scruff of the neck and quickly dropping him when the cat yowled loudly and swiped at Thor’s arm. The cat scampered onto your lap and glared at the God of Thunder.

“Very violent.” Thor agreed, nodding at Steve.

“Well you’d probably scratch someone if they tried to pick you up by the scruff of the neck.” You defended.

“That is true. My apologies Brother Frank, it was shameful of me to try and pick such a fierce warrior like yourself in such an undignified way.” Thor said solemnly to Frank, who was ignoring him in favour of licking his paw.

“I like him. He reminds me of someone.” Clint said, ducking unsuccessfully out of the way of Natasha’s cuff to the back of his head.

Someone kicked your foot and you glanced across the table at Bucky who was looking at you.

“What?” You mouthed silently.

He shrugged nonchalontley and kicked your foot again. You narrowed your eyes and tried to kick him back but he caught your foot between his own and smirked. You wished you could ghost individual body parts but if you tried to free yourself that way you’d end up falling through the chair. It had taken you a long time and an embarrassing number of incidents to figure out how to phase without falling through the floor.

You settled for turning to Loki and ignoring Bucky.

“Alright, the party is here. We can begin now.” Tony called loudly as he waltzed into the room, Bruce tagging along behind him.

As soon as Tony sat down at the head of the table several phone’s went off in unison and Steve, Natasha and Tony checked all their ringing phones. Steve read his message and stood up, glaring down at you.

“Whatever it was, I didn’t do it.” You instinctevally said, holding your hands up in surrender.

“Steve.” Natasha warned lowly.

“Princess, Bruce, come with me.” Tony said, getting up and dragging you away from the table urgently.

“What the hell? What’s going on?” You demanded, shrugging your arm out of Tony’s grip.

“Alexander King just escaped from government custody.” Steve snapped.

“What?” You gasped.

“It says you visited him this afternoon, hours before he escaped.” Steve said coldly.

“Cap, back down. I was with her.” Natasha said.

“Were you in the room with her the whole time?” Steve asked.

“It doesn’t matter, she didn’t do it. She wouldn’t.” Tony snapped.

“How sure are you of that really?” Steve asked him.

“As sure as you were that Barnes didn’t bomb the UN.” Tony snapped, standing in front of you protectively.

“Cap, she did not do it. Take my word for it, I trust her.” Bruce said, standing up and coming to stand beside Tony.

“She turns up out of nowhere, leads us to Hydra, helps us arrest her father and the next day visits him just before he breaks out of a secure government facility. Why am I the only one who thinks this is a little suspicious?”

You didn’t say a word to defend yourself, you couldn’t. You couldn’t even think straight. You barely even registered Bucky standing up and trying to calm Steve down.

“How has she got everyone here falling for her innocent act? She’s lying and I’m the only one who seems to be able to see it. She has to have helped King break out, it’s the only explanation.”

“He’s right.” You sighed.

“So you admit it? You helped him.” Steve confirmed.

“No. I hate him, I wouldn’t help him even if he wasn’t Hydra.” You snarled.

“He’s your father, you expect me to buy that his lack of attention is enough for you to turn on him?”

“No he...”

“He what? What possible excuse can you come up with that would make me believe for a second that you are on our side?” Steve asked.

“Just let me...”

“Let you lie more? There’s something going on with you and there has been since you walked in here and I want to know what it is.”

“Oh for fuck sake.” You snapped and walked through Tony and Bruce, as in right through them.

“I’m The Phantom and I hate my father because he killed me. He built a bomb that blew me up and turned me into a ghost and I’ve been trying to bring him down for all the things he’s done. I knew he was corrupt but I didn’t know he was Hydra. And I’m not a computer hacker. Well done, you caught me out.” You yelled.

“You’re The Phantom of New York City?” Steve breathed out in shock.

“Yes!” Bruce, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Wanda, Vision Loki and Bucky all said in unison.

“Oh. I’m a huge fan of your work.” Steve said.

“Huh?”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reader: Frank is an asshole. Anyone Else: Yeah, he is. Reader: hOW daRe yOU?

So a LOT went down in this chapter.... From Bucky's boner, Wanda being adorable, Loki getting reader pregnant, Thor being Thor, Bucky playing footsie and Steve.... well. I hope you enjoyed my third chapter of the day? And oh yeah, dad is free!!!

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