#am i going to make him put daredevil down so he can have a normal and happy life? absolutely yeah

[frankcastlescumslut]

What If

Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader

Summary: Family Planning w Matt Murdock

warnings: mainly fluff, maybe some angst? not really, mentions of pregnancy,

A/N: short little blurb that absolutely nobody asked for this but oh well!! I want it!!

It was calm in the apartment for a Friday night. The smell of Josie’s was confined to the hamper of dirty clothes in the corner while hints of lavender scented body wash permeated the bedroom. It was calm. Peaceful.

It was a nice change; your nighttime routine including Matt, for once— there was something homey about it. Domesticated. He was there, just around the corner, pulling the sheets back and adjusting the pillows to your liking before you would both climb into bed and recount your days to one another as if you had been married for years.

You were afraid that if you verbalized the thought, told him you enjoyed not sharing him with Hell’s Kitchen for once, that the illusion of peace and routine would snap. That he would snap, and you would go back to the familiarity of falling asleep alone again, only to be awoken by a bruised and heavy body falling next to you.

Some things were better left unsaid, so you kept quiet, brushing your teeth in circular motions until you noticed the blood dribbling from your lips.

You almost didn’t hear him, his question drowning behind the gargling water in your throat.

“What if it’s not enough?”

Enough?

“What’s that?” you yell into the sink before wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. “Did you say something?”

The bedroom was dark, your side of the bed bare, the comforter pulled back as an invitation. He was concentrating on something, his brows noticeably furrowed even as your eyes adjusted to the darkness.

“What happens when it’s not enough?” He followed the question with a kiss to your temple as you positioned yourself into the side of his body.

“When what’s not enough, sweetheart?”

“Daredevil.” The stunned silence speaks for itself. “The firm. You. Us.”

Us.

You.

Me.

Your body stiffened at the thought of being lackluster to him. That your life together was somehow incomplete.

Dread quickly spread throughout your body, practically pulling you away from his body, untangling just enough so you could prop yourself against the headboard.

“Well,” you cleared the knot in your throat. “I would ask you what ‘enough’ means.” The chipped paint on your fingernails stole your attention. “What does ‘enough’ look like? Did I do something wrong?“ He was blurry when you finally looked at him.

“No!” God, what an idiot. “No, you didn’t do anything at all!” He was quick to hurry you into his chest, internally damning himself for being the cause of the lump in your throat.

“Then what’s wrong? You just said I wasn’t enough—“

“It was a poor choice of words, that’s my fault, I’m sorry.” His heart galloped in his chest, just beneath your ear. “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“But?”

“Everything is good— great right now,” his grip against your frame grew tighter.

“But?”

“But it still… it still doesn’t feel like it’s enough.”

“Then what can I do to help? What do you need, Matt?”

The confusion began to transform into a mild frustration, and you were grasping at imaginary straws, trying anything to answer his impossible questions.

“I want more.”

The air became stagnant in your lungs as you held your breath.

“No, wait,” he stammered. “I want more of you! I want more of us.”

“I’m not following.”

“I want to start a family.”

The air left your lungs in an impressively long exhale, long enough for you to untwist from his grip and lean against the headboard, suddenly forgetting how to breathe.

“A family?” The mattress dipped beneath your palms and your neck groaned with the weight of your head. Your stomach churned, from both relief and anxiety.

He waited patiently, pushing himself next to you. His breathing was steady, an inconspicuous cue for you to follow his lead, and he gave you both physical and emotional space to process what he himself had been grappling with the past several days.

A baby.

“A family?” You repeated, desperate to read his face.

He was unable to conceal a soft smile, and you softened in return, inching your hand closer to his so that your fingertips barely touched.

“With me?”

“Only if you want to.”

His fingers interlaced with yours, the pad of his thumb rubbing melodic circles into your skin.

You would be lying if you said you hadn’t thought of starting a family with Matt before. He would be a wonderful father, that you were certain of, and there were times where you would catch yourself holding onto your stomach, fantasizing about how your appearance would change with a growing belly.

Many of your closest friends were having children or had already started their own families, so it wasn’t that out of the ordinary to think about your future with Matt, but you never allowed yourself to think that way or to go that far, given the implications of his second job and moral obligations.

“What about Daredevil?” Your voice was unwavering, much to your surprise.

“I have it under control,” he said with a lighthearted smile.

“Under control? What does that mean?”

“I got some help. It’s taken care of.”

“Taken care of?” His voice was so steady and matter-of-fact that your eyebrows raised automatically. “Did you just happen to pick someone off the street?”

“He’s from Queens, actually,” he laughed.

“Right,” you huffed in tandem, not fully understanding the connotations, but enjoying his ease nonetheless.

The room grew with a bloated silence, and for once, you allowed yourself to wonder. How does maternity leave work? Would he take paternity leave? Would you breastfeed or bottle feed? Are there any good schools in Hell’s Kitchen? Who would watch the baby while you go to work? Why aren’t there any cute boys clothes? Will a crib fit in the room? Would they look more like you or him? What if you dropped the baby? What if you’re not a good mom?

“Sweetheart,” he called, bringing your hand to his lips, as if leading you away from the cacophony of what ifs and hypotheticals.

“Hm?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah. I’m just—

“Thinking.” He finished your sentence and you deflated automatically, resting your head against his shoulder.

You weren’t sure of how long you sat like that. Inhaling and exhaling. Inflating and deflating. Slowly sinking into the mattress, disappearing beneath silk sheets.

“You’ve really thought about this then?” You whispered, afraid to jinx something so precious so soon.

“More than you know.” He kissed your temple, emphasizing his sincerity.

“I have one requirement.”

“Go on,” he stretched an arm behind his head, enjoying the simplicity and ease of the conversation.

“Call me old fashioned, but I want to be married first.”

His laugh mimicked a bark, and for a second you were almost embarrassed by your reservations.

“Sweetheart,” he turned onto his side, somehow towering over you, before meeting your lips with his own. “I am Catholic, you know.”

[mattmurdocksscars]

Exes

Summary: After a dare to call an ex goes the opposite way you thought it would, you and Matt reconcile.

Word count: 3k

It started out as a normal enough night. You and your girl friends had gotten together after a long week and were having some drinks. Then someone suggested shots. Then someone suggested truth or dare. And that's how you found yourself in your current position.

Your phone was held in front of your face on speaker as it rang. You had been dared to call an ex and after a moment of panic, you'd realized exactly who to call. There was no way he would pick up. Not only had the two of you ended on bad terms but it had also been quite some time since either of you had spoken to each other. Plus, he had nightly activities that would keep him busy. So surely he wouldn't answer-

“Hello?” You froze as Matt's exhausted voice cut through the chatter of the bar. All of your friends immediately began to giggle, covering their mouths to hide the sound. When you didn't answer after a moment, Matt said your name with concern. Clearing your throat, you blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“I didn't think you'd answer.” You heard the sound of him moving around on the phone followed by a small hiss of pain.

“Of course I answered. You never call. So clearly something must be wrong.” Your brain was quickly putting together the hints he was giving off, even in your inebriated state. He was obviously home, exhausted, and the sound of pain he'd let out all told you he was hurt. Without further thought, you took your phone off of speaker and walked away from the table, much to the disappointment of your friends. You told Matt to wait a second before you moved so you were outside the bar where it was slightly quieter. 

“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called. To be honest, it was a stupid dare from my friends and I genuinely thought you wouldn't answer.” Matt sighed on the other end.

“It's… fine. I just thought… nevermind. I'm glad you're okay. Do you need anything else? If not, I'm gonna go.” His voice was cold but you could still hear the exhaustion.

“Are you okay?” You blurt out, before you can second guess yourself. The line is tensely silent and after a minute, you find yourself rambling

“It's just that I can hear the exhaustion and pain in your voice. I don't mean to pry but I'm just worried about you. Did you get hurt again?”

“You're worried about me?” You feel your cheeks heat at his question and look down at your feet, kicking the pavement.

“I-...of course I am. It sounds like you're really hurt. I know we're not together anymore but that doesn't mean-” Your brain catches up with what you're saying and you abruptly cut yourself off.

“Doesn't mean what?” Matt asks, his voice quiet but hopeful. You sniffle, feeling tears prick at your eyes as the realization really hits you. You miss him. So damn much. And in your inebriated state you can't help but to tell him the truth.

“It doesn't mean that I don't care. Because I do, Matt. I care so much. I miss you so much. Where did we go wrong?” You ask brokenly. Matt's heart shatters at your words and he grunts as he gets to his feet.

“Sweetheart, where are you?”

“Why?”

“Cause I'm gonna come get you. You're obviously drunk and I don't want you walking home alone.”

“No, Matt, you're hurt. You don't need to be worrying about me right now.” You wipe your eyes and sniffle again. “I'll be okay. I'm sorry I called.”

“Are you?”

“...No. I'm not. I missed your voice.”

“I missed yours too.” Matt admits quietly. “I'm sorry I couldn't be who you wanted me to be. I know you wanted me to give up Daredevil but-”

“No, Matt, no! I never wanted that, I just wanted you to slow down some and take care of yourself. You were so hurt all the time and it got to the point I was scared you wouldn't make it home at night. I never wanted you to stop, I just needed you to understand that you were running yourself into the ground.”

“You- Really?” 

“Really.”

“All this time, I thought… God, where did we go wrong?” 

“I don't want you coming out because it sounds like you're hurt but… can I come to you? Can we talk this out?” You bit your lip as you waited on a response. 

“Are you sure you're sober enough for this?” You laughed, hearing the teasing edge to his voice.

“I will be by the time I get to you. Please, Matt? The thought that we could fix this…”

“It is a very tempting thought.” Matt murmured. “My place is a bit of a mess but it's open to you. It always will be.”

You immediately grinned and turned back to the bar.

“Let me pay my tab and say goodbye and I'll be there soon.”

“Stay on the phone with me? Since you won't let me come get you.” You chuckled but agreed. Swiftly, you paid your tab, said goodbye to your friends, and hurried to Matt's. The entire time, the line hung open between the two of you. Soft conversation flowed freely and you felt yourself getting giddy the closer you got to Matt's. By the time you reached his apartment complex, you were almost breathless. The alcohol had worn off on the brisk walk and you were almost wishing for the liquid courage it would have provided you. Instead, you pulled open the door and hurried up the stairs. You made it to Matt's door and got ready to knock when the door swung open. Still holding the phone to your face, hand comically in the air, you grinned. 

“Hi.” You breathed out. Matt smiled at you nervously, ended the phone call between you two, and let his hand fall to his side.

“Hi. Come on in.” He said softly. He stepped to the side, and you entered. You kicked your shoes off and slowly walked down the hall into the living room. You took everything in, from the empty beer bottles on his dining table to the open bottle of painkillers on his coffee table. Turning back to him, you looked him over.

He was dressed in a hoodie and sweats. The hoodie was zipped all the way up for once and you knew it was to hide the extent of his injuries. His hands were tucked in the pockets of the hoodie and he slowly made his way over to you. You felt sympathy well up at the way he was limping and opened your mouth before you could think it through.

“Are you sure you're up for this? You look like you're in a lot of pain.” You told him. His glasses glinted in the light from the billboard as he tilted his head at you. There were bruises hiding behind the lenses and across the bridge of his nose. His lip was split and it highlighted his frown.

“I'm fine. Like you said, the thought that we could fix this is something I can't ignore.”

“We could always fix it later, when you feel better.”

“Having second thoughts?”

“Not at all. Just worried about you.” Matt sighed and walked over to you. He hesitated before reaching out and taking one of your hands in his. You welcomed the touch and told him so by gently squeezing his hand.

“I'll be okay. I promise. Now, do you want anything or should we just get into it?” 

“Let's just get into it.” You told him. You gently squeezed his hand again before separating from him and sitting on the couch. You leaned forward and put your elbows on your knees, looking up at Matt.

“I am so sorry that I made you think I wanted you to stop being Daredevil. That is the last thing I wanted. I know how important it is to you and I would never come between you and your nightly habit. That being said, I did want you to slow down. You were getting so hurt and it killed me to spend my nights wondering if you were even going to make it home because you kept going out even when you were really hurt. If we're going to reconcile, I need to know you're going to take better care of yourself.” Matt nodded slowly at your words. There was a frown etched across his face and his head tilted as he regarded you. 

“I'll be honest, since we've been broken up I've been more reckless. With no one to come home to, I felt like there was no point in being home. Not that I'm blaming you or saying it's your fault. I just spiraled. Foggy and Karen had to set me straight. They made the point that if I ever wanted balance in my life, I was going to have to take more time as Matt and less time as the Devil. It took some time but I finally got it through my head. I'm actually home tonight because I'm healing. As you've already guessed. I won't trouble you with the details but it was bad. This is my second night home. Even with Claire patching me up, I knew I needed to give my body time to heal. So I like to think I am taking better care of myself.”

“Oh, Matt. How bad is it?” His sightless eyes darted back and forth as he shrugged, shifting on his feet. 

“Not as bad as the Nobu fight but close. Claire and Foggy stayed with me through the next day. Once I promised them I was staying home for a couple of days and would take care of myself, they left. When your phone call came through, I… I was so nervous. I was afraid you were calling because you were in trouble and I was too hurt to help…” Matt told you quietly. You teared up at his last words and put your hand over your mouth.

“I'm so sorry I scared you like that. But at the same time…I'm glad I got dared to call you. If it's alright with you, I'd like to keep an eye on you. Check in on you over the next couple of days as you heal.”

“Even if we don't work things out?” The tip of Matt's mouth curled up and you laughed.

“Even if things don't work out. But I have a feeling.”

“You have a feeling?”

“Yep. I have a feeling that everything's going to start getting better from here.” You smiled up at Matt, who finally moved to sit down next to you on the couch. He left plenty of room between the two of you and a part of you longed to close that distance but you let him have it for now. 

“Wow. So you're psychic now?” Matt teased. You laughed and settled back into the couch, turning to face Matt.

“Totally. That's how I really knew to call you. My new psychic abilities.” That caused you both to laugh though it was cut short when Matt gasped in pain and clutched his side. You immediately sobered watching him flinch in pain.

“When was the last time you took anything for pain?” 

“It's been a bit. Probably due for something.” You immediately stood up and headed to his kitchen, opening the cabinet he kept his cups in and pouring him a glass of water. You returned to the couch and took the painkiller bottle off the coffee table. You knocked out enough pills for a dose and then handed them and the water to Matt. He softly thanked you and took them. It was quiet for a few minutes before Matt finally spoke. 

“I missed this.”

“What? You, writhing on the couch in pain? Masochist.” Matt smiled and shook his head.

“No. Having you here. Being able to hear your heartbeat and know I'm not alone.” He admitted quietly. 

“You're not alone, Matt. You've got Claire, Foggy, and Karen to keep you company.”

“Yeah, but they're not you.” You suck in a sharp breath at his words. It never really occurred to you that Matt would miss you so much. You'd thought he would just keep himself busy and be fine. You realize now it was selfish of you to think of him like that. You hesitantly reach out and grab his hand.

“Do you want to try this again? I'm willing to give it a shot if you are.” You tell him and the smile that lights up his face has your heart skipping a beat. You'd almost forgotten just how handsome Matt could be.

“I'd love to try this again. I promise I'll try to be better. I don't ever want you to feel like you don't matter to me. Because you do. So much.”

“You matter to me too. And don't change too much, okay? I love you for you, Matt.”

“Say it again.” He whispered.

“Which part?”

“That you love me.”

“I love you, Matt Murdock.”

“I love you too.” 

And so the two of you spent the next couple hours catching up. You told him everything that had happened in your life since the two of you split and he did the same. It wasn't until you realized it was almost 2 am that you realized you should probably leave. You told Matt as much and he frowned.

“Don't go. Please? It's not safe out there this late. You can stay here.”

“Is that a good idea?” You asked him. 

“I'll stay on the couch if it makes you feel better. Just don't try to walk home this late.” He was serious and you could tell the idea of you leaving really made him anxious.

“Alright, I'll stay. But you're staying in your bed, mister. You are too hurt to be sleeping on this couch.”

“But-”

“Those are my conditions, Matt. I won't have you hurting yourself more for me.”

“Okay.” He sulked. But he stood up and pulled a blanket and an extra pillow from the closet, handing them to you. 

“Thank you. Goodnight, Matt. I'll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

He shuffled his way over to his room and carefully laid down. You noticed he kept his rolling door open and smiled. 

“If you want clothes to change into, you know where to find them.” Matt called out. You nodded and quietly padded over to his room and pulled out an old shirt and some pants. You then disappeared into his bathroom. Once changed and ready for bed, you laid down on the couch and pulled the blanket over you. You noticed Matt was breathing evenly and were glad he was already asleep. You settled down and let yourself drift off.

Only to be woken an hour later by Matt's quiet shouts. You immediately shot up and ran over. Realizing he was having a nightmare, you gently carded your fingers through his hair and cooed softly.

“It's okay, Matt. You're safe. You're just dreaming. Wake up, baby. It's okay.” You just kept whispering sweet nothings to him until he finally lurched awake, eyes darting everywhere in his panic. Once he seemed to realize where he was, he settled. He swallowed thickly. 

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't be.”

“Okay.”

“Do you need anything?”

“Will you…  will you please stay with me? I don't think I can go back to sleep on my own.” You nodded slowly then rounded the bed and crawled in beside him. There was a tense silence for several minutes before you finally sighed.

“Come here, Matt.” 

“I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

“You're not going to. I know you're not going to go back to sleep unless we're touching, so come here.”

Matt didn't say anything at first, he just laid there. For a second you were worried you had made him uncomfortable but then he sighed and carefully rolled over. Your heart broke for him and how badly he seemed to hurt. Before you could second guess yourself, you opened your arms to him.

“Come here, Matt. I've got you.”

Matt's breath hitched and then he was moving. He crawled into your arms and settled himself on top of you, laying between your legs with his head on your chest. You heard him inhale as if to say something but before he could, you settled your arms around him. He immediately relaxed into you, a soft rumble coming from his chest. You ran your fingers through his hair and gently rubbed at his back. Before long, you felt your shirt start to get wet and you felt your own eyes tear up.

“I missed you so much, sweetheart.” Matt said brokenly. “Please don't leave again. I'll do anything just don't l-”

“Shh, Matt. Calm down, I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm here and I've got you.” Like a dam breaking, Matt fell apart right there in your arms and all you could do was hold him through it. The sobs that wracked his body had to hurt but it didn't stop them from happening. You did your best to soothe him, assuring him quietly. Slowly the sobs began to fade and his breathing finally slowed as he calmed down. The odd tear still fell from his eyes but he relaxed and let himself sink into your arms. 

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't apologize, Matt. Everything has clearly been hard on you and you finally let it out. That's okay. I'd rather you let it out then bottle it up.”

“Thank you. For holding me and for being so understanding.”

“I'll always hold you and I'll always try to be understanding.”

Matt smiled and dug his head down into your neck, taking slow deep breaths.

There, wrapped in each others arms, the two of you slowly felt the broken pieces of your hearts start to heal.

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Don't Really Know A Lot About Love

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: reader is kidnapped because yeah, cannon level violence, oral (f receiving), slight overstimulation, multiple orgasms, fingering, praise kink Matty, unprotected sex (wrap them joysticks okay), creampie, implied cockwarming I think

Genre: angst, smut, & fluff

Summary: Life after Daredevil was supposed to be simple. Apparently, there's no such thing as 'after' him, at least not for you. “I don't really know a lot about love // But you're in my head, you're in my blood // And it feels so good, it hurts so much” - About Love by MARINA

A/N: People wanted a part 2 for Lies: Don't Wanna Know for some reason???? Either way, I wrote one.

Part 1

***

The first few weeks after you stopped seeing Daredevil, Matthew, were... hard. Harder than you expected. You'd become so accustomed to seeing him, even if your time consisted of sneaking in through open windows at the witching hour to share kisses nobody can know about. You miss him more than you wanted to admit, more than you wanted to miss him. You're surprised how much it sucks knowing he won't come back, but you go to work, you go out with your friends, you even let them set you up on dates, because it's not like you can tell them you're mourning the end of your barely a situationship with a local vigilante. You do your best to reestablish normal, the normal you had before he snuck in to hide in your apartment that first night you met.

Tonight, you don't have plans with your friends so, as you walk into your apartment after work you're very ready to take it easy and relax alone. You don't even manage to get your shoes off before something is pulled tightly over your head and you're thrown over a shoulder with your arms held tight against you. You flail your legs fruitlessly hoping to injure your kidnapper as you're carried presumably out of your apartment building, an assumption confirmed when you're eventually tossed into a car but before you can jump up to put up some sort a fight a needle is jammed into your neck and you hiss momentarily before losing consciousness.

When you come to some time later you immediately rub your eyes to adjust to the lighting. A quick look around and the first thing you notice is the three gun wielding strangers around you. One on each side and one behind you.

"You'll have to excuse them. I didn't want to tie you down like an animal but, of course as a result precautions must be taken." Your head snaps to the source of the voice and down the stairs comes Wilson Fisk.

"And you think you needed 3 guns on me to keep me in line?"

"Better safe than sorry."

"Sure."

"Apologies, my name is-"

"Wilson Fisk. I know who you are." You say cutting him off with your arms crossed.

"My reputation proceeds me as always."

"Of course it does, you tried to singlehandedly ruin hell's kitchen."

"You're misinformed dear, I've only tried to save it. Make it better than it was."

"By forcing minorities out of their communities? You'll have to excuse me if the employment of white supremacist ideology doesn't get me jumping for joy."

"White supremacist ideology? That's what you think of me?"

"That's what I think of anyone who forces people out of their homes by buying out the property and making it too expensive for the people to stay there, in their community and brands it as making said community better." You roll your eyes.

"Hm." Fisk nods contemplatively.

"What am I doing here? I can't imagine you kidnapped me because I disagree with your pompous arrogant savior complex."

"Did you know a certain red suited pain in my ass, follows you? Regularly. He watches, lurking just out of sight. Like he's guarding you."

"You kidnapped me because you think daredevil is my stalker?"

"He once tried to get at the woman I love he tried to take her from me."

"Wow you're like a cartoon. You kidnapped me because Daredevil tried to steal your girlfriend?"

"My wife!" He snaps.

"Semantics." You shrug. "I'm not Daredevil's girlfriend, I'm not 'the woman he loves' so whatever your beef is with him, trying to use me to lure your archnemesis here like this is some sort of bad action flick let me be clear, it doesn't matter who you have sitting in this chair, you could have anyone from Hell's Kitchen, maybe even anyone from New York sitting here and Daredevil will show up not because of your victim but because you are Wilson Fisk and he is Daredevil, and he stops guys like you. That's what he does, Fisk." You say. You're annoyed, being caught in the middle of drama that has nothing to do with you because of a man you haven't seen in weeks. All you wanted to do tonight was shower and watch a movie.

"It seems you don't know the hold you have on him." Fisk smirks.

"Gimme a break." You scoff. Fisk looks at you as if he's about to say something in rebuttal, but before he can say whatever he's planning to, there's a beam of red knocking out one of the armed men surrounding you. The other two turn sharply to find the source of the- apparently baton, that flew towards them which now sits on the floor. You watch as Daredevil rolls towards you to grab the baton.

"Hey." He says standing up.

"Hey."  You nod. Daredevil pulls you out of the chair and behind him as he takes on the two goons left standing.

"I told you to shout. You didn't shout." He huffs over his shoulder as he fights.

"And yet you came anyway."

"Of course I did." He scoffs knocking out both of the remaining gun toters. You're not paying enough attention, forgetting the guys by your chair aren't the only enemies in the room and you shout when Fisk grabs your arm from behind you.

"Y/n!" Daredevil shouts turning to you.

"Nice of you to join us, Devil of Hell's Kitchen, although you did interrupt a conversation and that's quite rude." Fisk says.

"Fisk thinks you're stalking me because you're in love with me." You tell Daredevil.

"We can test my theory, now that you're here." Fisk says, his grip on you tightening.

"Hey watch it!" You hiss at him.

"Leave her alone Fisk! Your problems are with me. She's got nothing to do with this."

"Yeah, I told him that already, he doesn't care." You scoff. Fisk hauls you over to the balcony of his penthouse, swinging the doors open.

"Let's see what he does about this one hm?" Fisk smiles at you before pulling you over the railing. He's holding your shirt tightly, dangling you off the balcony on the top floor of this building and the longer this nightmare goes on the less you want to believe any of this is happening. YOU ARE DANGLING OVER THE EDGE OF A FUCKING BALCONY. "Daredevil! Our friend here is in quite the pickle it seems. You can't save her, and fight them, but they'll never let you get to me. What oh what are you going to do about this?" Fisk jerks you around for emphasis. Daredevil is still for entirely too long in your opinion, you don't know what he's contemplating but the lack of solid ground beneath your feet has you less than patient.

"Daredevil do something!" You shout.

"This is stupid Fisk. You know she's got nothing to do with this." Daredevil tries to reason with him. Reason with the man holding you over the edge of a 20-story building like a rug he's about to dust off.

"Oh my God! He does not care Matthew! STOP TALKING AND DO SOMETHING OR I SWEAR YOU WILL HOPE HE KILLS ME!"

"I like this one. She's spirited." Fisk says with deranged excitement in his eyes.

"Look I'm not going to let you get hurt okay?" Daredevil tells you.

"Be careful making promises like that." Fisk says, losing his grip on you momentarily, just long enough to make you scream and grab his arm. You cannot think of a shittier way to die than being splattered on the streets of New York because one of Daredevil's enemies thinks you're more important to him than you are. From this height, by the time they scrape you off the pavement your family will have no choice but to cremate you or something. A casket would be pretty useless for an inkblot of a person. You close your eyes and think of anything but the fact that your life hangs in the hands of a flighty part time vigilante and his ability to stop a psychotic rich man. You keep them closed even as you hear grunting and punches landing because if Daredevil is losing against Wilson's goons you literally cannot deal with watching it happen. For a moment it all stops, the sounds of fighting settle and you think for sure these are your final moments, even more so when suddenly Fisk's grip on your clothes loosens entirely and you're falling. You don't realize it at first, it's a rush of air around you, and at 20-plus stories up the wind has been beating your face since you got dragged out to the balcony. You don't realize it at first, but then you're screaming and flailing as the sky gets further away. In the next moment, Daredevil shoots off the balcony towards you. He can't fly can he?! What does he think he's going to do in this situation? Holy shit you're going to die. You close your eyes and brace for impact but Daredevil catches up to you surprisingly fast and his arm wraps around you tightly. Your eyes open again when you feel something solid beneath your feet. Daredevil is lowering you onto a balcony. How did- you look around for a moment. Same building, several stories below Fisk's penthouse. Daredevil grabs your shoulders and your eyes snap to his face- well, helmet.

"Are you alright?! You aren't hurt, are you? Did I-" He trails off taking a nervous breath.

"I'm fine. Shaken up but not hurt, how did you do that? We should've hit the ground."

"My batons have grappling hooks I just used one. I told you I wasn't going to let you get hurt." He says. "We should get you home."

"I'll- call a cab." You say.

"No. No way. I'm not- I will take you home myself. I won't risk anything else happening to you tonight." He says. As much as you want to argue with him, you have no desire to get into any more nonsense tonight.

"Okay." You say. Matt scoops you into his arms and grabs his baton, shooting the grappling hook towards the neighboring roof. You're surprised he can carry you so easily as he hops from building to building with very little sign of exertion. It's not long before you're back in your apartment.

"I'm- I am so sorry you got dragged into all of this y/n."

"You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault Wilson Fisk is a delusional psychopath."

"Psychopath I can probably give you but delusional I'm not sure I can agree with." He huffs out a chuckle.

"Come again?! You're not sure you can agree with delusional?! He kidnapped me because he thinks you're in love with me. We fucked for a few months and then we stopped talking to each other, now I dunno about you but that situation didn't seem like love to me at all."

"Yeah- yeah I know that because of the circumstances we may not have had love between us but he was not so far off in his conclusion. I do care about you way more than necessary for our... arrangement."

"Huh." You mutter.

"That's all you have to say? 'Huh'?"

"I'm not sure what kind of response you're expecting from me Matthew."

"You can start by telling me what's on your mind right now."

"You're very good at faking indifference. If you care for me oh so much I don't understand what happened that night. You left."

"You told me to."

"I told you I wanted more than you were offering to give but if you cared for me as much as you claim to now why wouldn't you say something? What's the point of caring if you plan to do it in secret?"

"My life is messy and complicated. I wanted to protect you from it. I thought- it would be safer the less you were involved but I couldn't- I couldn't stay away when you asked me to."

"Well, clearly that was not a correct assumption."

"If I had known that I would've-" He trails off.

"Would've what? Clearly pretending not to care didn't work. You can't protect me with this one foot in one foot out thing you've got going on so if that's still all you're willing to offer you have to leave." You say. Matthew sighs and you watch his jaw muscles move as, you assume, he contemplates his response. As the moment of silence drags on you're sure he's going to bid you goodnight and climb out the window just like he did the first time you kicked him out but, to your surprise, his hands slowly rise to the top of his pointed helmet and, with notable hesitation, he tugs off the identity obscuring armor on his head. He clears his throat once he's removed it.

"My name is Matthew Murdock, by day I'm a defense attorney at a firm, called Nelson, Murdock, and Page. It's run by myself and my best friend from college and a woman insane enough to stick with us after she saw firsthand that our initial attempt at our own firm kind of went to shit." 

"Matthew Murdock."

"Yes. I was born and raised here in Hell's Kitchen oh and I've been blind since I was nine."

"You're blind?"

"Hard to believe I know but it's true. I can't see in the traditional sense, the world looks as if it's on fire, just blobs of reds and oranges really but I have other ways of- perceiving the world. My other senses are extremely helpful."

"So what happens now?"

"What?"

"I mean- thank you for sharing Matt but like- what happens between us now?"

"You- you wanted more from me, more than late night meetings with an anonymous vigilante, right?"

"Correct."

"Do you- would you still like that?"

"Would you like that?"

"I have always- y/n, it is not even a question of if I want it. I've always wanted more but it's something I never allowed myself to hope for."

"And now you will?"

"If you'll still have me." Matt has the sense to look at the ground nervously as he mutters the words. You almost want to chuckle, as if a blind man can truly find the floor more interesting than the conversation you're having. You take the few steps necessary to cross the short distance between you two and latch your hand onto the collar of his suit, pulling him towards you in a searing kiss that catches him off guard but he's quick to reciprocate. His hands settle on your waist and like second nature, yours wrap around his neck. Even after weeks apart there is no strangeness, no feeling of unfamiliarity as Matthew's hands roam your body. They pull you closer to him, trail across your back, under your shirt, as if he's trying to feel all of you at once. You walk Matt backwards towards your couch but before you can push him down onto it he turns the pair of you, guiding you to sit instead. He drops to his knees and pulls your pants and underwear off in one go.

"God I've missed you." Matt mutters between your legs before burying his face in the apex of your thighs. Your fingers shoot down into his hair as he laps at your center.

"Holy fuck." You sigh, your back arching at the feeling of his tongue. He lets out a grunt when you tug at his brown locks in response to a particularly sharp lick. One of his hands comes up to your thigh, holding you open for him, while his other hand joins his mouth between your legs. When two fingers slide into you and curl just right you realize Matt still seems to know exactly how to toy with your body. He focuses his lips around your clit while his fingers toy with the area inside you that has you whimpering and squirming against him. "M-Matt. Fuck!"

"Come on baby, come for me." He mutters into your clit and between his unrelenting digits thrusting into you and his lips sucking at your clit his request is easily met as your body tenses up and your release washes over you with a drawn out moan. "That's it." Matt muses, working you through the orgasm with his fingers. "You always get so tight after you cum." He groans still pumping his fingers into you while you draw shuddering breaths in an attempt to recover.

"Matthew-" You whimper pulling him up to kiss you. His fingers continue stroking your inner walls, slower now, working you open gently.

"You have no idea how badly I've wished to hold you again since you sent me away." Matt breathes against your lips as he works off the bits of his Daredevil suit.

"I'm sure I have an idea." You mutter back running your fingers against exposed skin once his suit hits the floor. Matt adjusts you on the couch, pulling you towards the edge and standing to line himself up with your entrance.

"Oh you think so?" He clips.

"What? Did you think it was easy for me to send you away like that?" You ask.

"You made it look pretty easy." Matt chooses that moment to finally sink into your heat with a strangled groan. Whatever retort you had in mind dies before you can say it as Matt settles into a rhythm between your legs. His thrusts are sharp and quick, your back arching towards him, chasing the pleasure he's so easily bringing you.

"Oh God Matt!" You groan. Your nails drag down his back and the hiss he lets out tempts you to do it again as he pumps into you steadily. Matt's fingers dip between your bodies and find your clit with ease. He rubs precise circles against the bundle of nerves reducing you to whimpers as the knot in your belly begins to tighten.

"Wanna feel you cum for me sweetness." Matt grunts and with a few more thrusts plus his fingers on your clit you're whining his name as release hits you hard. "That's it." He hums with a satisfied grin before tightening his grip on your hips. His hands tightening against you lets you know he's not far behind and his thrusts grow sloppy as he chases his end.

"Let go Matty. Wanna feel you fill me." You breathe out and the words seem to be the final push he needs, his hips stilling and that familiar warmth spreads through you. You both lay there for a while, the only sound your slowing breaths as you simply enjoy each other's presence.

"So many times I wanted to see you, but I thought you would be angry if I showed my face again." Matt eventually murmurs against your neck where his head is still buried.

"I probably would have. Unless you were going to do what I asked."

"Well if I'd known Fisk was gonna kidnap you even without me in your life I just might have."

"That's what you get for stalking me I guess."

"I'm sorry-"

"Stop apologizing. It was Fisk who kidnapped me. Plus you got to rescue me like the hero in a fairytale. All's well."

"Thank heavens for that." He mutters wrapping his arms a little tighter around you. You can't say you expected to find Daredevil back in your life when you first sent him packing, but you'd be lying if you said you weren't thrilled to have him back. On much better terms this time.

***

[farfromstrange]

OKAY.

I’ve got something to share with you!!

So, you guys remember when I said that I had an idea for a new Michael Kinsella fic a while back?

Well, whatever you think you’re about to read, this little news of mine is different, I assure you. But go ahead and read anyway if you find enjoyment in my writing regardless of fandom.

So: As it turns out, the idea I had was way too complex for a fanfic. I carried it around with me for a while, started writing down ideas and that’s when it all took a turn.

Writing for Kin these past few months kind of challenged me to broaden my horizons from the action and supernatural elements I put into my Matt fics, and while I love writing that side of fanfiction, it was also fun to explore something more human.

I’ve been writing pretty dark stuff from the beginning, and as you know I also write a lot of porn. I love dark romance books, I love angst and I love morally grey characters.

My first ever original book idea was also fantasy, and while I’ve spent months planning that one, I never got around to writing it.

HOWEVER!!

When I started writing Butterfly Effect, it sent a stone rolling, and then Chaos Theory happened, and it helped me explore other areas of fiction. I was afraid of diving into Kin, but I did it and it was the best choice I could have made.

The amount of planning I put into the story so far is surreal. The feedback I keep getting makes me feel so appreciated, and I’ve realized that building and writing for morally grey and damaged characters is what I do best. In all genres, really.

While writing this series, I noticed how much easier it is to shape characters when they don’t have any special powers. Like, it is so much easier when they’re just psychologically complex people, and I bow down to everyone who has no problem creating superpowers for their characters because it always takes me so long to get it all planned out. That is a superpower in itself. And while I love it, exploring this new side of my writing is very, very exciting, and I can just write very human humans if that makes sense to you.

Don’t get me wrong, I love writing for Matt and I love working on Foreigner’s God, but writing something about a bunch of normal human beings gave me a joy I had been lacking before. And it makes it so much easier to write.

Don’t worry, I am not switching things up or anything. But I have something else to tell you that directly connects to Kin and Charlie Cox, really, because without him, I would have never gotten back into writing, I would have never started doing Tumblr and AO3, and I would have never watched Kin.

This Mikey fic transitioned into an original idea, and I am so excited right now because I have officially started my first original story!!

I have it all planned out, and while I am still working on the characters, the profiles are slowly coming together as I write. And I owe it all to the Daredevil fandom being obsessed with Kin and me jumping into it for Charlie. Thanks to you all and our shared love for Charlie and his impeccable acting, I think I might have found my niche.

I know you came here for the fanfiction and I will continue writing it as normal, but I was so stressed the past weeks, I had to channel my emotions into something and that’s kind of what brought this to life. I needed an escape. I just wanted you all to be the first ones to find out because you have all been so supportive and I couldn’t wait telling you that I’m starting to put something of my own together.

I was also inspired by that one interview Charlie did for Kin where he said he had no idea that organized crime in Ireland was such a problem, and I did some research into it because I had no idea either, and that shit is scary. I was always like ‘omg the Italian mafia is the only one we always hear about in books’ and stuff like that, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention the Irish mob before, so I was surprised, but also intrigued because if we romanticize the Italian mafia in fiction so much, why not the Irish one?

Yeah, you can tell what the story is inspired by if you have watched Kin. And you can tell by the name I used for my main character that Daredevil will always have a special place in my heart (but also because I love the name Matthew, don’t attack me).

AND I took some inspiration from all the fics I wrote, especially when it comes to the names of my characters because I’ve already created OC’s, why not steal some of their traits? They deserve their time to shine. They’re a piece of me, after all. They’re all variants.

So, for those who are interested:

The book I’m working on is Dark Romance. It’s like Kin meets Killing Eve meets Taylor Swift’s Reputation.

The trope: Enemies to lovers.

Title: Checkmate.

It’s not written in stone yet, so just read it for fun or don’t read it at all; I’m just so proud of myself right now. Who knows if this will ever see the light of day, but I share everything with you all already, so maybe you DO care. I don’t know. I’m bad at this.

Basically, it’s ‘mob boss meets female assassin tasked to kill him, but she can’t kill him’. And they’re all morally grey.

I’ve written a little description for myself. It isn’t the official blurb because I want to finish the story first, but to give you a little insight, this is my idea so far:

“Checkmate occurs when a king is placed in check and has no legal ways to escape. That's the law of chess.

In a world of high-stakes assassinations, an assassin dubbed The King reigns supreme. However, unlike popular opinion, The King is not a man, she's a woman, and she is more dangerous than any man could ever be.

Recruited from prison and ruthlessly trained by the Four-Thirty-Two, a lethal organization that has turned contract killing into a lucrative business, she takes only one type of job – eliminating men she deems monsters.

Her next target: Matthew Callahan, a reputed figure in the Irish mafia.

As she delves deeper into Matthew's life though, the man she thought was a heartless criminal shows a side that challenges everything she's believed. Secrets unfold, and a conspiracy emerges, intertwining their fates in a way neither of them saw coming.

It soon becomes clear that she is capable of many things, but she can't kill Matthew Callahan, and she definitely can't stay away from him either. He draws her in like a moth to a flame, and she is highly susceptible to the pleasure of desire. But there is something else about him that she can't shake.

She can't kill him, that much she knows, but is she capable of loving something other than the thrill of the kill?

In a deadly game of cat and mouse, life and death blur, and she must decide where her loyalties truly lie.

A king can't checkmate another king unless there are too many kings on the board. And once the king finds his queen, there is nothing they wouldn't do for each other, even if it means burning the world down together.”

(The assassin organization has a hierarchy based on a chess board’s hierarchy, by the way, that’s why the story is titled the way it is AND that’s why the organization is called the way it is)

I feel like I just wrote an essay and I am afraid of the teacher’s feedback. But yeah, this is what I have so far and I’ve also started writing, but I’m not gonna share that just yet because it’s still in the works.

I think I’m 10k words in so far.

I just had to share this with you because ever since I started writing at like ten years old, my biggest dream was to be able to write my own books one day. I never felt like I had enough ideas, so I took on fanfiction, and that’s when I realized that I CAN build stories and have people like them, and that there might be hope for me after all.

I’ve been waiting for an idea to come around for a while, and the other book I have planned never made it out of the notebook. Doesn’t mean I won’t write it, but somehow this is easier. It really came to me in a dirty ass hotel room before the Harry Styles concert, and it started out as a fic idea. Look how far I’ve come since May.

CRAZY.

If you do want to read a snippet, let me know. Or not. I don’t know. I’m kinda shaking in my boots. It’s just an idea, and it might still change. God, I’m too nervous sharing this. It’s like a heart attack.

Anyway, thanks for staying with me, I gotta get back to packing for my move in five weeks now 🏃🏼‍♀️ (not at all running away in fear or anything nooo)

Bonus:

Possible book cover made by me. Will be edited once the official blurb is finished. (Yes, I do have Photoshop, I’m just very self-critical and barely show anything I make lol)

(The code at the bottom isn’t real. I just put it there so I can see if it would fit)

Okay, that’s it. Bye!

*excitedly runs out of here*

[ninadove]

for the ask game: nina you know i have to go with félix (18, 24)

YESSS MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(I am so normal about my blorbos)

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc.)

Felix likely was a little daredevil growing up, always getting himself and the other kids in trouble — Gabriel hated him with a passion, bracing himself for the worst whenever he came to visit. Originally, he was also the fun cousin, always trying to cheer up a very serious Adrien through plays and cute little magic tricks. And of course, he would try his best to lose or torment Chloé every time she joined in their games (poor girl pushed him in the sandbox once when they were five and sparked life-long resentment in him).

But over the years, Colt’s abuse became worse and worse and worse, and Felix became increasingly fearful of engaging in even the most innocent activities — until he eventually just shut down. Adrien found himself trying to be the funny one instead, cracking jokes in an effort to make him feel better, but they didn’t land anymore. He knew Colt wasn’t the best father and took the blame for any mistake Felix might have made as often as possible; but of course he had no idea how bad the situation actually was, and he couldn’t protect him behind closed doors.

I also think Felix suffered through hours and hours of Adrien rambling about fairy tale romances and Disney movies, rolling his eyes the entire time. Love is just sooo stupid! Like what, you think you can just bump into the love of your life at a ball and immediately turn your entire life around just to be with them? Preposterous.

24. What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Felix hates horses. He’s been bitten and almost stomped to death enough times to know they’re the bullies of the animal kingdom. But horse-riding is the one activity Amelie was able to choose for him, and he wanted to make her proud, so he persevered through gritted teeth and eventually became ridiculously good at it out of spite.

Once the cat is out of the bag, he takes every opportunity possible to complain about them. Especially to Marinette for some reason. He hates that his reputation is forever tied to equestrian activities when he and his girlfriend put together such creative interpretations of Shakespeare’s repertoire! The world just isn’t ready for his talent.

Thank you for the ask @noctie! 🦚💜

[a-heros-heart]

The Ascent

Hiya. I’m not dead. Life has a way of being funny and decided to make life busy between now and my last writing prompt post. But we just gotta keep moving forward no matter what. 

This is an idea I’ve mulled over in my head for a while. I like hallway fight scenes like in Daredevil, Oldboy, and John Wick and I wanted to try my hand at one. 

Felix yawned and stretched as his three thirty psychology class came to an end. He had taken the class at the behest of his twin sister Morgan, who wanted to take a class with her brother. 

“Remember class, the deadline to submit your research papers is tonight. Best of luck to those who have yet to begin working on them.” The psychology professor looked directly at Felix who gave a sly grin in response. Felix often gave the illusion he was not paying attention to class, but always received near perfect scores on assignments. Although he could obtain perfect scores, he did not want to add insult to injury to Morgan who practically begged him to take the class. 

 As they exited the class, Morgan slung her bag over her shoulder purposefully knocking her brother in the head. What she did not expect was for Felix to stumble over and hit the wall, slumping over. Other students gasped and slowed down to view the unfolding drama.

“I didn’t even hit you that hard little brother.” Morgan began. However Felix did not reply. After a few moments Morgan became concerned and approached him. Felix quickly spun around, grabbing his sister by the waist, and dragged her to the door laughing. 

“Put me down you menace!” Morgan protested. But Felix continued laughing as he carried his sister to the door, wading his way through the group of students were gathered by the door waiting for the rain to lessen. 

It had been raining for days in McCallen and today was no different. The gray skies were rare in McCallen where the days were normally sunny. Felix stopped just inches from the door and noticed Morgan was calm.

“What gives?” Felix asked. 

“If you were going to shove me out in the rain you would have done it already.” She wheezed. Morgan wouldn’t give her brother any satisfaction, not even her difficulty in breathing. 

“Who says I’m still not going to do it?” 

“I am.”

“But what if I do?”

“Felix I played along with your trick and gave you the reaction you wanted to see what you had planned. You wouldn’t really toss me in the rain but you wanted me to believe you would because I guess that’s what brothers do.”

“You’re no fun.” Felix sighed, setting Morgan down. 

“Maybe if you paid attention in class you would learn a thing or two about reverse psychology.” She huffed, straightening out her coat. 

“Oh I do. I just pretended that I didn’t care so that I could make you believe that you’re one step ahead.” Felix taunted, gently shoving his sister to the door. Morgan stumbled and fell onto the door causing it to fling open, becoming immediately drenched. 

Felix became red with laughter as the group of students silently stared on. Once Felix noticed Morgan, his laughter ceased. She gave him the most soul piercing stare that even the fearless hero began to sweat. 

“C'mon Morgan. It’s just rain.” Felix pleaded. 

Morgan silently stood, straightened her coat, and began walking away from Felix. 

“I’ll buy you lunch!” he shouted. Morgan stopped and considered the offer. 

One silent, half-hour drive later Felix and Morgan were sat in a Mediterranean restaurant at Felix’s offer. Morgan had not said a word to her twin since the incident. She stared at him, occasionally squinting at him and only spoke when the waiter asked for her order. 

“How long are you going to keep this up for Morgan?” Felix whined. In response Morgan slowly blinked and shook her head. 

Felix sighed “Look I don’t know how many times I can say sorry. I didn’t know your bag was open.” 

Morgan remained silent. 

“Alright well I have to make a phone call anyways so I’ll be back.” Felix bluffed. 

He stood up and left the restaurant, walking all the way to the corner of the street where the parking garage was. Felix tapped away on his phone for a few moments before the panicked sounds of a young woman caught his attention. He pressed himself against the wall and listened in as best he could. 

“-sweetheart. Either your husband finds the cash or he’s going to have to report his wife missing. Might not be able to find her for a coupla’ days.” the gruff voice of an unseen man threatened. 

Crouched and counted the pairs of legs he could see. “Two. Five. Nine. Er, fifteen? Has to be at least twenty.” He whispered to himself. 

The men gradually walked towards the back of the parking garage continuing to threaten and jeer at the woman who was holding back tears. Felix took advantage of this opening and quickly moved to his car which was close to the entrance. He slowly removed his keys from his pocket and placed one hand on top of the trunk. With his other hand he slid the key into the trunk slot and felt it pop open. Without letting the trunk fully open, Felix reached in and grabbed two metallic suitcases on the right side of the trunk and pulled the cover back down. The men were now by the elevator conversing just out of earshot. 

Felix inhaled and exhaled to ease his nerves. He stood, pulling the edges of one case and tapped the top of the other with his foot. Both cases whirred to life and began expanding and contorting to Felix’s body. 

“What the fuck was that?” someone shouted. 

“Go check it out numbskull.” another ordered. 

Both cases formed a suit of armor around Felix, though not as tough as his regular suit. He had constructed a lighter suit for moments when he didn’t have access to his main armor. Felix had dubbed this his ‘speed suit’. Light with just enough armor to stop a bullet, and easily portable.  

“Oh shit, it's him!” one of the grunts shouted before receiving a quick jab in the gut. 

“We’re fucked!” the other man flanking Sunrise shouted before he collapsed from a strike to the neck. 

Sunrise rose and glanced at the men who had begun to scramble. He saw a portly man holding the woman enter the elevator with two other men. The others argued for a moment before some took the stairs while four others approached him. 

“You don’t want to do this,” Sunrise warned. His plea fell on deaf ears. Two pulled out knives from their pockets. One slid a pair of brass knuckles on his fists. The last one tapped a bat against his palm. 

Without a second warning, Sunrise dove towards the man with the bat catching him off guard. They both fell to the floor wrestling for the bat. One of the men grabbed his leg and was rewarded with a swift kick in the nose. Another received a blow to the temple with Sunrise’s free fist and recoiled. Sunrise stood and lifted his original opponent with one arm. He struck the man in his stomach and released him. The man with brass knuckles had backed away from the skirmish. 

“Leave.” Sunrise ordered. The man obliged, dropping his weapons and taking off. 

Sunrise dashed to the elevator and tapped the call button rapidly. He was too late. 

“Fuck!” Sunrise hissed, punching the doors. He looked up at the floor indicator and noted the highest floor was 15. The light quickly switched from four to five. 

Sunrise knew he couldn’t waste any more time. He darted towards the stairwell and kicked the door open. The door slammed against a man sending him reeling backwards. Sunrise grabbed his shirt and shoved him face first back into the door. 

“He’s here!” someone shouted from above. The sound of rapid footsteps echoed in the stairwell. 

Sunrise met two grunts as he ascended the stairs. He swiftly struck one in the throat and blocked a kick from the other. Using both arms, Sunrise pulled the man with ease sending him tumbling down the stairs. Two more men quickly replaced the ones Sunrise dispatched. One grabbed a horn on his helmet, pulling his head back while the other wrapped his hands around Sunrise’s neck. 

With his raw strength alone, Sunrise freed his neck by grabbing his assailant's hands with an iron grip. The man yelped as Sunrise tossed him over the rail. Switching his focus to the other attacker, Sunrise grabbed his wrist and forced it away from his horn. His attacker instinctually released his hand not wanting it to be broken, but fell into the hero’s trap. Using his body, Sunrise shoved the man into the wall with his shoulder. The man crumpled to the floor with the wind knocked out of him. 

Before he could plan his next move, two shots hitting his chest plate drew Sunrise’s ire. 

“You fuckin’ idiot, you’re supposed to aim for the head!” a voice scolded before firing a shot that ricocheted off the side of his helmet. 

Sunrise turned his head towards the shooters and noticed they jumped slightly. Instinctively, Sunrise reached for his cape to block any more shots. His heart sank when his hand grabbed nothing but air. Mentally kicking himself, he walked menacingly up the stairs towards his next opponents. 

“Shit! He’s not stopping!” 

“I know moron!” 

Sunrise held his hand out as he walked, stopping the shots with the armor plating on his palm. When he was close enough and his attackers out of ammunition, he grabbed both of thier heads and slammed them against each other. 

The weight of his armor began to take its toll on the hero. His breaths were becoming more ragged as he dispatched foe after foe. Each gunshot weakened his already crumbling armor plates. Despite the overwhelming onslaught of henchmen, Sunrise continued to move up the staircase with an unmatched fury. Each punch numbed his wrist, each kick turned his legs to jelly. Sunrise lost count after the eighteenth dreg he subdued. 

Sunrise coughed as he received a strike to his stomach from the last minion guarding the door. 

“Wussa matter? You tired you fr-” Sunrise grabbed the leg of his last obstacle as he was taunting him, lifted, and swiftly slammed him into the ground. 

Before he had a moment to think, the man grabbed Sunrise’s leg catching him off guard. He fell beside the man groaning as his body hit the concrete. Both men writhed in pain for a moment before the lackey stood up with great effort. He moved over to the nearly unconscious hero and began punching his helmet. After the third punch, Sunrise grabbed the man’s shoulders and slammed his helmet against his attacker’s face, smearing his visor with blood. Sunrise now stood over his unconscious enemy and considered a final kick to the chest, but decided on saving his energy. 

Falling to one knee, Sunrise took a moment to catch his breath. It had been less than eight minutes since he entered the parking garage, but to him an eternity had passed. Sunrise was lightheaded and exhausted. Though he had reason to give up, he could never quit once he set his mind to a task. He stood, ready to press onward and placed a trembling hand on the door. Immediately after opening the door his senses were assaulted by the pounding rain and the shout of a man. 

“You bit me! You bitch!” 

“Help me!” she cried. 

Metal rang amidst the rain. Not a bullet. Sunrise determined. He looked down to see a set of keys by his foot. Her attacker had no escape, but he did have a hostage. 

A sharp impact on his shoulder sent his thoughts away and his focus returned. The boss had shot him, numbing his arm. Reflexively, Sunrise lifted his arms to protect his face from further fire. Two shots hit his left arm causing him to groan from pain. 

“Stay outta my business you freak! This one owes me a lot of money, and I ain’t walkin’ away until I get it!” the boss ordered. 

Without a word Sunrise slowly marched forward taking two more bullets to the leg. His armor had crumbled to nothing but metal, metal that made him heavy and hot. But Sunrise refused to relent. No one would escape his wrath, certainly not this man. The loud thunk of his footsteps overpowered the sound of the rain as he approached his target. 

“Get outta here you!” The boss had now aimed the gun at the woman’s head. 

“Please listen to him, I have kids! I don’t want to die!” she cried. 

“Heroes don’t run.” Sunrise huffed. His voice had become scratchy from his coughing a moment ago. He had stopped just a few feet away for safety.

“You think I won’t kill her and not get my money?” Sunrise noticed the man was shorter than he expected. Short and slightly portly, an easy target. 

“Shut up lady!” he shouted at his hostage who was now in hysterics. 

“Sure, you can kill her. But if you shoot her you won’t have the time to shoot me after. But if you did, I would be very very angry. So what’s going to stop me from feeding you your own spine afterwards?” Sunrise spoke calmly. The man’s face had become slightly paler. “Give me the gun. Police arrest you, and you can be out of prison in a few days. Then we can do this all over again.” Sunrise was now a few inches away from the man’s face which had now become as white as a sheet. 

Sunrise offered his open palm. The man thought for a moment, biting his lip. After some time he reluctantly placed the revolver into the hero’s hands and backed away from the woman. “Thanks.” Sunrise closed his fist around the weapon and without warning, struck the man on the nose which gave a loud crack as he fell to the floor. 

“G-guh.” was all he could get out before he received a metal boot to his mouth. 

“Are you ok?” Sunrise asked the woman. She nodded slowly, still in shock at what had happened over the past few minutes. 

“Question is, are you ok?” She asked in return. Sunrise was covered head to toe in blood. His armor was mangled and dented in many places. 

“You should see the other guys.” 

“You weren’t really going to let him shoot me right?” she asked. Sunrise revealed the revolver’s cylinder. All 5 slots were empty. 

“I figured I would let him think he had me where he wanted. Reverse psychology.” Sunrise said, tossing the empty gun at the man. 

“Sorry about all this. I had lost my job and needed some money to help my family. A friend of mine said that she knew someone who could get me a fast loan. What I didn’t know was that he was a loan shark.” She began. Sunrise nodded too tired to think of a response. “We used up the money pretty fast. And I couldn’t make the payments back at all. He started with a few phone calls, then sending people to my house. I’m just glad this is all over.” She finished, wiping her eyes.

“Tell that to the police when they get here. Also, get a lawyer. Don’t trust anyone around here except one firm on 3rd and Brighton Street. Ask for a girl named Kylie, she’ll help you.” Sunrise began walking towards the elevator. 

“Thank you!” She called out as Sunrise entered the elevator. He silently waved back, as the doors closed. 

Summoning all the stamina he had left, Felix ran to his car as the armor disassembled off his body. Once both pieces were back in their original form, he wrapped the blood-soaked cases in his forgotten cape and slammed his trunk shut. He checked his clothes in the side mirror, straightening out any wrinkle. Thankfully, his coat would cover the bruises on his body. Felix took one last moment to calm his nerves before joining his sister. 

After a much needed moment to himself, Felix re-entered the restaurant and took his seat in front of his sister who had a bored look on her face. 

“Long phone call.” She noted. Morgan folded her hands and placed her chin on it, staring at her brother. 

“Yeah, business as usual.” Felix replied, taking a sip of his now warm glass of water. 

“Oh, the rain stopped.” Morgan noted with a smile on her face. “Today is looking better already.” 

“Mm.” Felix mused, as the sounds of police sirens wailed in the distance. 

[justanisabelakinnie]

If the Madrigals Exchanged Gifts:

Pepa: *covering her ears* UGH!!!! Is this what mija has always felt like? I can understand it now. I guess I’m grateful for the gift that I was given...hehe...I’d kinda like it back! EW! Somebody just threw up! Now I’m thundering...well, I’m not, but, umm, I feel like I am. Clear skies, clear skies...*sighs* I’m really not adjusting to this well, am I? 

Dolores: Finally, some peace and quiet. No, but this gift is actually kind of cool! *grows some pretty red roses and beams at her work* Can I swing from a vine like Tarzan? *goes up to the upper floor and does just that* Yay, I can! *smashes into a wall, roses fly around her head* If only I could get better at this. 

Isabela: What?! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FLOWERS! UGH! And just when I was coming into my own and discovering all the new possibilities that my actual gift possesses, this is what Casita tries to do to me? Why would you--? On the bright side, I’ve always kind of wanted a gift like this. This is only for a week so the least I can do is test it out. *picks up a boulder and throws it into the air, screams as it falls down and crumbles on top of her* Phew. *beat* NOBODY CAN TOUCH ME NOW!!! *goes crazy performing all sorts of dangerous daredevil stunts and also helps put the donkeys back in the barn, clearly having the time of her life* 

Luisa: *shows up at Camilo’s door and knocks, Camilo opens and has a heart attack and slams the door in Luisa’s face. why did he see another him on the other end?* So...I can be anyone I want now? For the whole week? That’s...actually kind of cool! Hey Mirabel, look what I can do! *does impressions of all the other family members, Agustin is the best one, she and Mirabel both laugh their asses off* 

Camilo: *lying face up in bed with bloodshot eyes from all the crying he’s been doing* 

Mirabel: Hey, I’m Mirabel. What’s your name? *squawk* Pico? Awww, that’s an adorable name! Hey listen, about that incident in Bruno’s sand tower, that kind of...hurt my feelings a little bit. *squawks* It’s okay! *swawks some more* Of course we can be friends! And I’d love to meet the others, too! *spends all week hanging out with all of the animals in the Encanto, as well as speaking to other people’s pets to figure out what they need, she’s a Disney Princess so of course this is the most suitable power for her* 

Antonio: Mami mami mami! Look at this yummy pie I made! *Pepa screams in pain, and her ears are bleeding, but she smiles and says “Oh really, mijo? That’s wonderful!”* Try it! *it looks disgusting...and it is, because a five year old made it, but within a minute her ears are instantly cured* I’d better go make more! *runs off leaving Pepa in an oxymoronic state of pride and dread* 

Julieta: *holding Bruno’s hands as her eyes glow blue* Here’s what will happen to this family: The ringing in Pepa’s ears will never go away, Antonio will have to keep making more nasty food for Pepa’s ears to not perpetually bleed, and Dolores will need some too for her broken nose, so make sure to let them all know! My daughters and Antonio seem to be the only ones doing all right, and--oh! I forgot about mi sobrino Camilo! This whole family will be thrown into chaos very soon if Camilo doesn’t come out of his room. But once the week is up everything will go back to normal. 

Bruno: Mirabel, have you seen my rats? Two of them went away! What? They like you more than me?! *a bold gust of wind swirls around him* CAMILO GET OUT OF YOUR ROOM NOW!!! *thunder* I can no longer make fun of Pepa anymore and that is the saddest thing about this week. *snow starts falling, he sits in the corner of the room getting drenched like crazy, until Mirabel gives him back his rat friends and tells him that they were never gone, just taking a break, and he smiles and starts sunshining. Then Pepa walks in with a mischievous grin and says “it looks like rain.”, in doing so she floods his brain, and before they know it, everyone in the Encanto is locked inside their houses with the windows shut tight and stacked up on food, because there is a hurricane.* 

Abuela: Can’t wait for this week to be over. 

[atlasseas]

The Truth

Request: “Can someone please write a Matt Murdock x reader fanfic based on it’s all futile it’s all pointless by Wilbur Soot :)”

Summary: Matt confesses a secret to you, but it doesn’t go as he thought it would. Based on It’s All Futile! It’s All Pointless! by Lovejoy

Warnings: Mostly fluff, a bit of angst

Word Count: 883

A/n: for @musicaltrash523​! I hope you enjoy! As an avid Lovejoy listener, I had to make this fic. Fun fact it’s all futile it’s all pointless is actually my favorite lovejoy song :) If anyone hasn’t heard it before I HIGHLY recommend giving it a listen. p.s. there was a much more angsty version of this fic lmk if you want to see it lol

*not my gif*

'Cause this is the part where I shut up

And let you infest my brain

Wrap your arms around my cortex

Dig you in and let you drain

You'll never get rid of me

Oh, I'm like a fucking disease

I'll make a home in your gut

'Cause it's somewhere warm to sleep

You were putting away old case files when Matt approached you. “Hey, uh, can I, uh, talk to you?” he asks with a slight tremor in his voice.

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” You reply in your usual cheery voice. You pause for a second and then add, “Is there something wrong?”

Matt runs a hand through his hair. “Uh, yes, actually. Come to my office?”

“Yeah, for sure,” you answer while setting your files down, now sounding slightly concerned.

As you walk towards his office, an eerie cloud of concern and dread surrounds you. Matt closes the door to his office, and you both pause, waiting for the other to start the conversation.

Matt clears his throat before slowly expressing what has been on his mind for weeks, maybe months, now. “There’s uh… There’s something I need to confess to you…” As he begins to speak, Matt wishes more and more he never started this conversation. He wishes he could go back to about three minutes prior to this moment, before he decided to have this conversation with you. No, you have to know, you deserve to know the truth.

Picking up on his hesitance, you take his hands into your own and lead him to the old couch you found in the dumpster a week ago. “Matt, you know you can tell me anything, I won’t judge you, I promise.”

Matt takes a deep breath before continuing, “The truth is, I’ve been lying to you. I’ve been lying to you since I met you. There’s something you need to know.” He hesitates again as he forces the words out of his constricting throat.

“I’m Daredevil,” Matt whispers, waiting for the storm of fury that always follows the truth. But, it never came.

Honestly, you’re more surprised that you didn’t put it together before than the fact that he is Daredevil. He’s never available at night, shows up to work with random injuries, and has uncanny reflexes, despite the fact that he is blind, not to mention that Daredevil is also blind. He even looks like Daredevil for god’s sake, how did you not see this before?

“Ok,” you state, seemingly unaffected by what should be life changing information. He lied to you for as long as you’ve known him, and you’re acting like he’s just told you what he had for breakfast. To put it simply, Matt is perplexed. Utterly confused. Astonished.

To be fair, when other, normal people found out about his nighttime tendencies, they were justifiably angry. But he couldn’t detect even a whiff of anger radiating off of you. “So, you’re not angry?” Matt questions slowly, uncertainty clear in his voice.

“Oh no I am angry. At myself that is,” you clarify. “I mean it was right there, and looking back on it, it was honestly quite obvious too.” Matt’s confused expression morphs into a shocked one as you explain your thoughts. “Oh come on, you can’t actually think that you were doing a good job at hiding it. I hate to break it to you, Matt, but the fact that no one has realized yet isn’t due to your incredible subtlety. Wait, do other people know? Am I the only stupid one?”

Matt sighs and one of his hands finds a home one his hip while the other pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, Foggy and Karen know. But they didn’t find out on their own either. I told Karen and Foggy… Well Foggy only found out because he found me bleeding out in my apartment.” He pauses, and considers your words, “You’re not angry at me for lying to you this whole time?”

The truth is, you don’t think you could be mad at Matt even if you wanted to. With those eyes? You’re not a monster. In all seriousness though, you could never be furious with him. “I guess it’s a character flaw,” you shrug. “You’re too charming for me to form any logical thoughts around you.”

Matt stares at you for a second, and then smirks. “You find me charming?”

“Yes, of course. Did you seriously not realize? It wasn’t like I was trying to be subtle or anything, unlike someone. Though, I didn’t realize that you were Daredevil, so we can call it even. I suppose I can find solace in our shared inability to pick up on social clu—” Matt grabs your chin with his thumb and pointer finger to pull you into a kiss. A short, but glorious kiss. His hand slides up to the back of your head as he presses your foreheads together.

“You talk too much,” he whispers before pulling you into another kiss.

“Jesus, Matt, take me out to dinner first,” you say, and the corners of Matt’s lips turn down as he slightly furrows his brows. “It was a joke, don’t get all pouty on me. Except you do owe me dinner.”

Matt lets out a small chuckle before his face becomes serious again. “So you aren’t going to leave me? Because of what I told you, I mean?”

“After that kiss? Not in a million years. Nope you’re stuck with me forever, whether you like it or not buddy.” You pull his head back towards yours, pressing your smiles together. “Now, where are you taking me to eat? I’m starving.”

[aliasimagines]

It Was You All Along // Dave Lizewski

requested by a lovely anon 💕

Can u write dave x fem!reader where reader Always had a crush on him but he kinda ignored reader bc of Katie but then someone popular asks reader out and he gets jealous and y/n dresses up super hot and he realizes he fucked up

word count: 1809

a/n: i hope this is close enough! ❤️ (i couldn't think of a different title but this one reminds me of Agatha All Along xd)

"Hey, Dave! My folks are gone for the weekend and I thought we could have an X-men watch party. Wanna come?" 

"Sorry I can't, I'm hanging out with Katie." 

"Again?" you ask a bit louder than intended,causing a few people to look at you in the hallway. You continue with a lower voice "Aren't you like, tired of all the lying? Like, what if she finds out that you're not actually gay, hm? Cause you know she will, eventually." 

"Why do you care so much?!" Dave says, clearly frustrated. 

You raise an eyebrow. 

"Oh why would I? Maybe because we have been best friends since diapers, you stupid asshole!" you say not caring if some students hear you or not, anymore. "But you know what, you are right. I shouldn't care. Go play pretend with Katie but don't come to me, crying when you end up getting your heart broken." 

"Don't worry, I won't." he snaps back. And you turn around and leave but not before flipping him off. You felt the angry tears rolling down your cheeks as you zigzagged between the chattering teenagers. 

You couldn’t  believe how Dave could be so blind! He only had eyes for Miss Perfect. Whom by the way, is a real bitch and would go back to ignoring Dave or calling him a freak if it wasn’t for his little gay act. 

Somehow you made your way over to the restroom and locked yourself into one of the booths.

Dave couldn’t even see you as a potential “love-interest”. Eventhough you were the one who always were there for him, you were always there when he called, running to him like a lost puppy. And he couldn’t even care less. And you hate him for it. But you hate yourself more for still liking him. 

It’s not like you can do something about it, if you could, you would have. But that’s not how it works, so you are just crying your guts out on the toilet trying not to think about Dave.

In all honesty, you have no idea how you made it through the day. You almost cried during biology but you caught yourself after a few lonely tears. You could feel Dave’s gaze on you but there was no way you would look at him. As soon as the last bell rang you were out of school, hurring past Tod and Marty, not being in the mood for them either.

The next day wasn’t any different, you didn’t hang with Dave, Tod and Marty like you normally do. You didn’t sit with them at lunch, instead walked over to the only empty table you saw and placed your tray there. You mounched on your food, completely unaware of your surroundings until you hear the chair next to you being pulled out. You look up to see Matthew Greendale, resident hottie of the school sit next to you. 

"Hey, sorry, it's not a problem if I sit here, right?" he asks. You eyed him suspiciously. 

"No, it's fine." 

It's fine?! You mentally scold yourself. You never even spoke to this guy, outside of literature in first year. Why would he sit next to you? 

"I didn't want to sit with all the other "popular jocks" he answered you unspoken question while taking a bite of his canteen-hamburger. “They’re fun and everything but it’s nice to get away from them sometimes.”

You think of your friends who are sitting a few tables away and you can’t help but agree with Matthew.

“Yeah, I feel you.” you say without thinking.

“Hey..We used to sit next to each other in freshman year, didn’t we? It’s y/n ,right?” 

You nod with a smile, honestly being surprised that he remembers you.

“Yeah!”

“I haven’t really seen you around a lot. But when I do you are always hanging with those comic book nerds.”

“Hey! Comics are great.”

He puts his hands up in a defense.

“Oh no! I didn’t mean it as an insult. Some comics are good, my little brother made read one last month. It was actually great.”

“What comic was it?”

“Oh, uhm..It was about some kind of blind dude in a devil costume.”

“Daredevil?” you ask with a giggle.

“Yes, that one!” he laughs too.

The two of you continue talking until the end of lunch break. He is surprisingly fun to talk to and he even offers to walk you to your next class after lunch. You had such a good time you didn’t even think about Dave, heck, you didn’t even notice him literally glaring daggers into Matthew.

“What’s up with you, dude?” Tod asks snapping Dave out of it. 

“Yeah, Dave. What the shit is going on with you and Y/N?” Marty asks too.

Dave forrows is eyebrows. Yes, what the shit is going on with the two of you? Every since yesterday's 'fight' with you he can't stop thinking. About how he spends most, if not all of his time either with being Kick-Ass or, rather with Katie. It used to be different. He spent every second with you and he just threw you away so he could maybe get laid. And sure, Katie may be hot as fuck but she is.. Well, she is not you. 

"We had a fight, yesterday. I.. And she was right." he explains with a grimace. "But why the fuck is that Greendale asshole is with her?" 

"You jealous or something, dude?" 

"Wha- Of course I am not jealous! Why would I be? You guys are nuts." 

Jealous… The word rolled around in his mouth like a new flavored milkshake he never tasted before. 

Could he be… Jealous? He never thought of you that way, you were always his best friend. Just that. But.. The more he thinks about it the more he can't stop that twist like feeling in his stomach. 

That night he can't focus on crime fighting. All his thoughts are tied to you. Whether he likes it or not, memories of you keep popping up in his mind. How didn't he notice your beautiful smile before? And your laugh? It's like a beautiful melody. And… Gosh! When did he become such a sappy teenager? Oh and another thing.. He kept trying to think of something else, anything else like Katie for example but he doesn't care anymore! 

Dave goes home early with a frustrated growl. The remaining hours of the night he spends with tossing and turning and daydreaming instead of sleeping. 

(the next afternoon, Atomic Comics) 

Dave bangs his head against the wood table once again. A tired groan leaves his lips when he hears Tod almost choking on his iced coffee. 

"What the tunk, Tod?" Marty and Dave ask almost at the same time. The dirty blonde haired boy keeps pointing outside the huge window that they are sitting next to at Atomic Comics. 

"Is that fucking y/n?!" 

Now all three of them look outside the shop and see you, all dressed up nad seemingly waiting for someone. 

"Holy fuck!" Dave whispers. He stares at you, with his mouth a gap before jumping up from the booth they were sitting at and rushing outside the store. 

"Y/n! Y/-" he yells almost tripping on thin air. 

"Dave?" you question, quickly turning towards him. Damn, you missed him. No! Yeah, you did… "What do you want?" 

"What do I- What, can't I talk to you?" 

"If you wanted to talk you would have in these past days!" you say. Yes, you might have missed him, but it's not like you're gonna show it. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I am waiting for my date to show up." 

"Your.. Your what, now?!" 

"My date" 

"You can't go on a date!" 

"And why is that, Lizewski?" 

"Lizewski? Really, you're calling me by my surname? Are we in such a bad place right now?" 

"I don't know, you tell me. Are you going to tell me what i can and can't do, hm?" 

"I didn't mean it like that. I just…" 

"What, it's fine when you say it but when I do it with you about Katie I'm the bad friend?" 

"No,it's just-" 

"Sorry. Matt's here." you point to the street across the road where you saw the boy walk towards you. "I gotta go." 

You start walking away but Dave grabs your wrist. 

"Please, don't." he mumbles. 

"Why not?" you snap at him but your expressions soften upon your eyes land on his saddened face. 

"I- because I don't want you with him. O-or anyone." 

You raise an eyebrow. 

"What?" 

He took a deep breath before looking around. Matt was waiting patiently by the traffic light so he could cross the road. Dave quickly began explaining. 

"You were right. About Katie. I was such a dickhead, I am so sorry, y/n. I am sorry for ignoring you over her and and.." from the corner of his eye he sees the traffic light turn green. "Shit! I don't want you to go out with Greendale cause I.. Because I like you. Like really fucking like you. And oh my god you look so fucking hot in this outfit, not that you're not always hot but holy shit. I know we are just friends and you don't think of me that way but I ju-"

"Oh my god! Do you ever shut up?" you yell before pressing your lips to his. Dave stumbled back a little, but quickly recovered and kissed back. Your hands cupped his face and his hands grabbed your waist in response. You both tilled your heads, deepening the kiss earning loud knocking from Marty and Tod as they watched the whole scene through the window. Not that you noticed any of it. You didn't hear the passing by car honk at you nor the yells or whistles. You also did not notice Matthew walking away with a sad smile after seeing the two of you. Your touches intertwine and you're pretty sure you heard Dave moan slightly which causes you to giggle into the kiss. You both pull away gasping for air. You look down at your shoes, hoping to hide your flushed cheeks. Dave scratches his back and looks around nervously only to see his two idiotic friends making kissy faces. He lifts his middle finger for them before clearing his throat. 

"So.. Khm.. I guess you like me too?" 

You let out a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, I do." you say looking at him with a smile.

"That's.. Fuck. That's great." he replied genuinely happy. "Wanna get out of here?" 

You nod and you take off. You take Dave's hand and he intertwines your fingers with a smile. Maybe he is truly a superhero. He helps people and he gets the girl of his dreams. The happy ending. 

Dave Lizewski taglist : @sethcohenluvr @your-hispanichufflepuff

[mercurysstars]

All That Glitters Is Not Gold (part 6)

Summary: Y/n gets hired to be the avengers chief physician and also happens to be an ex assassin.

Word count: 2.1k

Warnings: swearing, the reader getting angry, violence. 

A/N: hope you’re having a better day than Y/n ;)

𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦

𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥

𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨?

_

Y/n's stomach grumbled as she made her way toward the kitchen. Between getting her room organized and training with Peter for 2 hours she didn't get a chance to eat and it was really catching up with her now. She groaned rubbing her face while she yanked the refrigerator door opened. After searching for several minutes she decided to give up and make a sandwich.

Y/n grabbed the bread and a plate out of a cupboard, she returned to the fridge and pulled out meat, cheese, lettuce, and just as she was about to grab a tomato her phone rang. Without checking the caller ID, Y/n answered, balancing the phone between her ear and shoulder. "Y/n Y/l/n speaking."

"Hey, doc it's Matt we've got kinda a situation here." Matt hesitated, Y/n could hear muffled yelling in the background.

"Okay? What's up?" She was confused it wasn't like him to call out of the blue and it was especially weird for him to not sound sure of himself, he was a lawyer, and lawyers always put on a confident front even if they weren't. Y/n began to cut the tomato into thin slices.

"So I kinda have one of his men tied to a chair in my living room." He blurted out quickly.

Well, that was unexpected "Are you sure it's one of his?" She asked cautiously.

"Yeah I checked, he has the branding. I normally would have just questioned him and texted you but the thing is he only speaks Latin."

She sighed, all Y/n wanted to do was eat 5 sandwiches, snuggle up in her comfortable bed and binge-watch the umbrella academy "Alright put him on the phone."

Y/n heard what sounded like the phone getting set down and the floorboard squeaking under Matt's weight. She heard a bit of wrestling and the sound of tape getting ripped off of something. She heard a quick shuffling and Matt picked the phone back up "Here he is."

"Sumus iens ut satus off facile. cur in New York." She questioned. Y/n started to make her sandwich again. We are going to start off easy. Why are you in New York?

"Im 'non adnuntiant vobis cacas." He hissed. This man was definitely one of his. Y/n rolled her eyes not in the mood for this. I'm not telling you shit.

"Iniuriam. Te volo experior quod iterum?" She purred. Wrong. You want to try that again?

At that moment Bucky decided to wander into the kitchen he heard someone speaking Latin and his curiosity got the better of him. He saw Y/n leaning against the counter talking to someone on the phone. Her eyes snapped up to meet his 'You want one' she mouthed to him nodding toward her sandwich. He shook his head and she shrugged.

The muffled talking through the phone caused an angry tick to Y/n's jaw "Pone super daredevil." She gritted out through clenched teeth. Put daredevil back on.

Y/n had to take a moment to collect herself before she threw something at the wall "Hey I'll be there in a bit." She hung up and when she turned back to Bucky her face softened.

He didn't know what to say, he's never seen someone 180 that quickly in his long life "Quite the conversation you had going on there." He tried to break the silence.

She chuckled nonchalantly "Oh yeah just some idiot that won't do what he was told."

"I didn't know you knew how to speak other languages." He quipped.

Oh Bucky you only know a part of me, I am a universe full of secrets she thinks. "I don't kiss and tell Sarge." She instead said.

Right after the words left her mouth Tony walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Sunshine I've got a meeting so I'm going to have to cancel for tonight."

Y/n's eyes lingered on Bucky for a few seconds then she turned to Tony "Convenient because I have some business in Hell's Kitchen to take care of."

Tony opened his mouth to press further until she added "Don't ask because you don't want to know."

Bucky ever the curious couldn't help himself or keep his mouth shut and blurted "What if I want to know."

Y/n raised an eyebrow at the super-soldier, amused "Would torturing a man until he confesses answer your question?"

She turned and walked out of the kitchen. Bucky's eyes went comically wide "She's joking right?"

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose at her recklessness and shook his head "Stay safe." He yelled back to Y/n.

_

Y/n let herself into Matt's apartment he have given her a key when he moved in. When Y/n was younger her father decided that she needed further training so he hired a blind war vet that specialized in martial arts. There she met Matt they clicked instantly him being only 2 years old, he taught them how to hear things others couldn't smell more things that you wouldn't believe was possible, how to heal faster, and even how to fight without seeing.

Y/n walked down the poorly lit hallway leading to his living room just wanting to get think over with. In the living room, the man had a cloth covering his eyes, hands were tied behind the chair behind his back and each leg was tied to the bottom of the chair. Matt was leaning against the counter already waiting for her arrival, he nodded toward her, acknowledging her presence.

Y/n sauntered over to the man, she lifted up the corner of his shirt and tisked "Mark of Cain, definitely one of his men."

The man began to thrash around hearing her voice, she pulled the eye cover off and smirked "Heu est dere." Hey there hun.

"Pedicabo ego vos bitch." He spat furiously.  fuck you bitch.

Y/n frowned at him "Bene quod suus 'non ut salutaret domina." That's no way to greet a lady.

She stood up and patted his cheek giving him a sickening smile that gave him the chill "Sit scriptor committitur. Cur ipse mittet vobis?" Let's start. Why did he send you?

"Irrumabo." He growled, the man jumped at her but the restraints didn't allow him to get far. Suck my dick.

Annoyance began to trickle down her spine and anger rushed through her body. "ego suadeant vos satus loquentes." She snapped in an angry tone. I suggest you start talking.

"Terrebis me non ex vobis, qui non vis tua boyfriend est vulputate." I'm not scared of you or that want to be superhero boyfriend of yours.

No longer being able to control her anger Y/n grabbed him by his hair and tilted his face up "Take a vultus, vultus diu, et bonum dicitur lets videre tua si adhuc durat." She fumed. Take a look, a good long look, and let's see if your statement still stands.

The man studied her face for several moments before recognition flickered through his eyes "Lamia." He breathed. Lilith.

"Nunc autem dic mihi, quid invenerunt in me pater meus!" She shouted her patience ran out long ago and she didn't hesitate to show it. Now tell me how he found me!

"Cur te et ipsum interrogate." The man taunted. Why don't you go and ask him.

The grip on his hair tightened and she lowered down eye level to him "Ego suadeant tu dicas, quod primus est I. cut off vos erant 'iens ut ne nimis" she pulled out her knife and nodded downward. I suggest you tell me because the first thing I cut off you're not going to like very much.

The man's eyes went wide and he attempted to squeeze his legs together. Fear settled into his stomach, he didn't know if she would keep her promise but he also didn't want to find out.

"Hoc tantum scio, aliquem cum Vindices compositis ei" He squeaked out. All I know is someone at the Avengers compound told him.

She didn't let her shook show, she kept her face cold and calculated even though her heart was beating a million miles per minute. "Si igitur deus, auxilium tu mihi mendacem." So help me God if you're lying.

"Im 'non ego promissionem." He exclaimed and Y/n believed him, she tended to have that effect on people. I'm not I promise.

"O Deus, hes 'iens ut interficias me." He muttered shaking his head. Oh god, he's going to kill me.

The man kept whispering to himself and Y/n grew tired and shoved a sock in his mouth. She stood back up and turned to Matt. "Dump him on 23rd street, my father will take care of him soon enough."

_

Y/n blew on her hot cocoa watching the mini marshmallows swirling around, sure it the middle of September but it was her comfort drink. She tried to go over everyone she knew in the compound. How could she be so dumb? How could she let her guard down? She was trained better than this. It didn't matter now what she did or didn't do, but Y/n knew she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Y/n could hear the elevator ding from her office and she was confused. All the Avengers were either busy with training or on a mission. She set down her mug on her desk.  A blonde head of hair peaked its head in. "Dr. Y/l/n?"

"Teresa how can I help you?" She questioned. Y/n was confused as to why she was up here Teresa shouldn't even be able to get past the 5th floor.

Teresa stepped closer with her hands behind her back "I got a paper cut stapling some papers together and I came up here for a bandaid."

Teresa was looking everywhere but at her. Y/n could tell she was lying but about what? Then it clicked, how he found out where she was, the weird look she gave her, what Sam said about her sudden move down to the front desk, but then the question struck again. Why was she up- she was up here to kill her.

Teresa lunged at Y/n with the knife she had hidden in her hands behind her back. Y/n went to block but she wasn't quick enough and Teresa cut a long strip down her arm and she hissed, it hurt more than she remembered. Teresa went to slash her again but Y/n grabbed her wrist and twisted causing her to drop the knife.

Y/ n grabbed her mug and smashed it over her head, Teresa staggered backward falling into a bookshelf. Teresa cocked her gun and began to fire, Y/n leaped over the table to take cover behind her desk. Her gun was on the other side of the office strapped underneath a chair. Bullets blew past her body, she shielded her head with her arms, the gun clicked signaling it was out of bullets.

She rolled from under her desk onto her feet. This time Y/n rushed toward Teresa, she threw 2 punches which Teresa both blocked, but the 3rd one Y/n got a hit to her cheek. Teresa attempted to throw a kick but failed, she went down and swept her legs. Y/n fell backward, she rolled onto her hands and shoulder, she pushed up causing her to land right side up, Y/n's movements were a bit slower and staggered due to the blood loss.

Teresa went to hit her but then Y/n grabbed her arm and the back of her neck and smashed Teresa's face into a mirror. With a bloody face, Teresa peeled herself off the wall Y/n collapsed feeling lightheaded. Teresa stood over with her knife ready in hand, she brought her hand up into the air, but Y/n grabbed the from under her chair and shot her right between the eyes. Teresa collapsed backward and the knife slide across the floor.

"FRIDAY Initiate the red button protocol." She coughed out.

"Alerting Avengers now."

Y/n grabbed her arm and hissed, she shouldn't have collapsed this soon, even if it was a cut this big, and the sting was worst too, but then she put it together Teresa would have had a better chance to kill her if she laced the knife with something.

She heard Bucky calling out her name "In here." She chocked out. Bucky rounded the corner to her office and ran in, there were papers scattered everywhere, the desks and chairs knocked over, glass broken. He crouched beside Y/n she was fighting consciousness.

"No Y/n don't you fall asleep on me." He demanded putting her head in his lap.

"It'll be okay Buck." She patted his cheek in a comforting manner.

"No, no, no, hold on they will be here in 30 seconds" He pleaded. That was the last thing Y/n heard before everything went dark.

Part 7

[stxleslyds]

NIGHTWING #81

UMM... HOW ABOUT NO. 

Ever since Tom Taylor took over Nightwing I have only made a post about one issue of his (I will leave it here Nightwing #78), that issue was beautiful, it was a solid start and the little things that made me feel a bit icky were not mentioned in the post because the issue was good.

Then the issues felt like connectors or just very bland story wise. I had problems with the book also feeling like a Nightwing and (fake) Oracle book instead of just Nightwing. There were many instances where Dick alone could have gotten himself out of situations without Barbara, but because she was there the opportunity to show that he can do things was taken from him. I guess what I am trying to say is that the book has disappointed me but I didn’t feel like making a post because it was too early and this is an ongoing book that Taylor said he planned on continuing for a while, but now I can’t not make a post.

A few days ago, I finally read the Red Hood story in Urban Legends (I have a review for that one too I will link it here Red Hood part 4) and I couldn’t stand how OOC and disappointing the story/characterization has been. I am saying this because I am only reading these two books at the moment, ONLY these two, and all I have gotten from them is shit.

I know it’s still early to say that the Nightwing book is bad but…I hated this issue, I hated it with all of my heart. But now that I am a bit calmer, I have come up with some ideas of what is truly going on with the Melinda situation.

Anyway, let me give you my thoughts.

There are big Wilson Fisk vibes coming from both Blockbuster and Melinda Zucco. Those two will lie, manipulate and be evil every chance they get. They are working together to make Nightwing disappear. I know it. The whole “make us all much wealthier and to extend your power beyond the city” idea does not include Nightwing.

Melinda might not want to burn anything down but she sure isn’t a hero. This woman accepted the position of Mayor after watching Blockbuster kill the former mayor. I understand that talking with the BHPD isn’t the best idea but this woman feels way too comfortable in the presence of a killer.

She is cunning and she has plans, I strongly believe that she might be a villain and that she will betray Blockbuster and take all the power (if it reaches that point) to herself.

Heartless is just another weirdo, he tricks both Nightwing and the reader into thinking that he has a soft spot for kids but surprise! He doesn’t. There isn’t much to say about him, he just has very complex gadgets and doesn’t know how to fight. I don’t even have any ideas about who he might be.

What I know though is that there was absolutely no need for Dick to think that he had “underestimated” Heartless, my love you threw your stick at him while he was looking directly at you, there was a 50/50 chance of him catching it. I swear I don’t understand the need to write him thinking that mostly because Taylor then has Dick swiping the floor with the guy, not only is it a simple fight (for Dick) but it’s also boring for him. Taylor’s writing is so annoying sometimes, he just loves to write extra things that are out of place like the “Tim Drake. Thought of by many as the best Robin” why the fuck did he put that there? Honestly, what was the point of having Dick say that, I don’t read a Nightwing book to have Tim Drake praise. If it doesn’t offer anything to the story that is being told then keep the thought to yourself Tom...

Moving forward the scene in the pier was quite nice, mostly because it’s Dick’s quick thinking that gets everyone to safety, he knows exactly what to do and how to contact the Maritime distress channel.

He has hope for his city, he knows there is good in it and he believes help will show up when lives are about to be lost. I loved that, just like Heartless said, Nightwing IS Bludhaven’s Guardian Angel. Once again, I am having Daredevil vibes from Dick (like from the show)

After the fight we get to see consequences of Dick not healing properly from a shot to the head. He loses his consciousness which is extremely dangerous but luckily Tim is at arm’s reach to help him out of the pier.

There are many things I want to talk about from the scenes that happen after Dick wakes up in his apartment so here we go.

First of all, Bitewing is adorable, she loves Dick the most and was happy to see him awake once more, what a good girl!

Secondly, Barbara, honey, you do not have three names, you aren’t Batgirl anymore, you are a grown woman that needs to move on from a mantle that has other people that can do something else/better with it. And we all know that this Oracle is just the ableist version of Oracle. So yeah…all I ask is for Barbara to move on from Batgirl, Cass and Stephanie are right there, enough is enough.

In these panels we have Dick, Tim and Barbara being kinda dismissive about the homeless kids, and it has been happening for so many issues, what is the point, Taylor? You made Dick a millionaire and you just can’t have him say or think for a second that he will monetarily help those kids and make sure they are put somewhere safe? You are really going to wait up until you have Dick running for Mayor or something to help the kids? I just don’t get it. Kids living on the streets and each time they are mentioned the three heroes of the book act like it’s normal and doesn’t need fixing. What the fuck.

Then we have the gang finding out that Melinda Zucco is the new mayor, the woman has an FBI file and a redacted one! This makes me think two things, either things are like I thought in the beginning of the post (she is evil and very good at it) or this woman is actually FBI and she is undercover (this one is less likely because of what happens at the end of the issue).

What we can see from the file that Barbara found is very little, but in these two pictures we can see that maybe she was put in foster care and x age? Also, she was apparently investigated in April of 20xx, the investigation must have been recent, why would the FBI investigate a minor or college student? What if these files were implanted by Melinda for someone to find them, and for her to have some sort of proof of her lies? If the file is about her being left in foster care or something while would the file be redacted? I don’t know, everything about her is shady and I don’t trust anything from or about her.

This could be a complex and very interesting character but Tom Taylor and DC really love to do stupid shit for shock value (more of this later).

All the new information (the Maroni, Blockbuster and now this very shady Mayor) has Dick saying that it is a bit too much for him and yeah, it is too much, you know who could help? Red Hood. I am of course not talking about current DC comics Red Hood, I am talking about the Red Hood that I would love to see, just yesterday I had an ask about who would I like to see working with Jason and I said Nightwing because Dick puts a lot of responsibility on his shoulders so it would be nice if they negotiated and each could work on different crime areas in Bludhaven, if only DC would hear me…

Anyway, now that we come to the end of the scene let’s talk about Barbara’s shirt.

That was unnecessary and not funny. That’s all it was. Yeah, I know it’s a meme and I know it was included for funny ha-ha purposes but I am not laughing. Bruce has been written as abusive towards his kids for so long, Jason, Tim and Dick have been physically harmed by Bruce and writers use it as just something that happens, there are never repercussions for the Bat. And this shirt sucks because Dick was Robin there and he was a kid, so having Barbara or anyone wearing a shirt with Batman hitting Robin!Dick right in front of Dick is just disgusting. What if someone wore a shirt that had Joker beating Jason with a crowbar in front of Jason, would that be a funny ha-ha too? What about Dick wearing a shirt with the Joker shooting Barbara, is that a funny ha-ha? The answer to those questions is no, it’s not funny.

The idea of that shirt shouldn’t have been pitched, drawn or included after the editor took a look at it.

The picture is a meme in our world, not in theirs. And the readers aren’t laughing.

 Back to the issue, Dick is left alone in his apartment to rest (seriously? You think the man that showed up to help Bruce in Gotham with a knee brace is going to rest?) but he can’t, he just found out that Mayor Zucco might be trouble for Bludhaven and might be working with not only Blockbuster but the Maroni family. He is not waiting one more second to have a chat with her.

Dick is obviously still concussed so of course he grabs a mask that has a camera that Oracle can view, and of course he enters yet another window without being careful.

Melinda and Audre were obviously waiting for him.

But here is where the real bullshit begins. Dick is unmasked.

I am so mad; it’s been four issues and Dick gets his ass in a trap and is unmasked by a villain? Are you kidding me right now?

But that’s not all, after Dick breaks free and accuses Melinda of being the daughter of the man that killed his parents, she pulls out a uno reverse card and says that her actual father is John Grayson, and that she is his sister.

How about no. Absolutely not. Go away.

Let’s re-visit Melinda’s appearances in the book so far so we can start theorizing about her real intentions or if she could be saying the truth.

Back in issue #78 where she is first introduced to us, after Melinda watches Blockbuster kill the mayor, she goes home and tells her Audre that she is now mayor because Blockbuster did what he does, so she knows that this guy is trash and a killer. But that’s not all, Audre asks her if she came across Dick Grayson to which Melinda answers “I am not ready for him yet”. Audre suggests she talks to him sooner rather than later because she might not have “another chance”, and the issue ends with Melinda agreeing with her while she is looking at a Flying Graysons poster with a red circle framing Dick’s face.

That whole thing? Shady. Melinda, obviously, wanted to talk to Dick Grayson, probably to tell him that she is his sister, but why is there a time limit, why is Audre telling Melinda that she can’t wait too long? Is it because her undercover work is ending soon? Is it because it’s not real at all and she needs to tell that lie in order to move forward with some sort of plan? I don’t know…

In issue #79 Melinda (and Audre) are out in the open with Maroni and they are talking about her becoming the next Mayor, Nightwing was watching from afar so this is his first contact with her. And it might be the first time that Melinda and her friend see Nightwing in action too. I cannot tell if she is aware that Nightwing/Dick Grayson are the same person here.

In #80 she doesn’t make an appearance.

But now in #81 she is taking her place as Mayor of Bludhaven, there Commissioner McClean takes her somewhere she didn’t expect to go (she is shown not knowing that Maroni and Blockbuster were in the next room over). Once in the room she refuses to take the cash from McClean but she will take the money as a transaction (for a second I thought she wouldn’t take the money but she did because she is very corrupt) and talks to Maroni once more. Before I talk about what happens with Blockbuster let me say this, she acts so distant to Maroni, she calls him Mr. Maroni every single time and she comes off as cold and feeling no type of way while talking with someone that is part of the family that actually raised her, and this is not because she is in a room full of other people, she did it too in #79. It seems weird that she acts that way with someone that took her under his wing since she was eight years old.

When she sits with Blockbuster he says “tell us your plan for my city” to which she says all of this: “My plan, Blockbuster, is to make us all much wealthier and to extend your power beyond the city. But to do so in a way that builds on the good work you’ve already done I have no interest in burning anything down.”

At the start of the post I said she gave me big Wilson Fisk vibes and that right there is why. She is shady, she has plans on top of plans, she calls Roland Desmond Blockbuster to his face but says that he has done good work for Bludhaven, which is weird because Blockbuster destroys Bludhaven a couple of times a year…

As I said before whatever she has planned does not include Nightwing, and here is where I kinda start theorizing a bit more, what if Blockbuster told Melinda Nightwing’s real name, he used to know who he was once upon a time…

Later in this issue when Nightwing is going to Melinda’s place Audre is already waiting for him right next to the window (with a sword), so, was he making an insane amount of noise or were they told to be ready for him?

Melinda traps him and takes his mask off, she barely seems surprised about Nightwing being Dick, she barely reacts when he jumps at her. She is in complete control of the situation and proves that by disarming Dick, as fast as he accuses her of being Zucco’s daughter she tells him that her real father is John Grayson.

She is in complete control. She has to be lying, she put a stop to whatever Dick had to say and do in seconds. This woman is trained and she is manipulative as fuck!

And if she isn’t lying then fuck DC and fuck Tom Taylor, this woman is either younger or the same age as Dick, John Grayson was not a cheater, the man is dead, has been dead for so long, don’t throw dirt on his name at this point. I refuse to believe this is true.

I honestly think that she is evil, and knows more than we are aware of, her first appearance was shady as fuck, let's suppose that she didn’t truly know that Dick was Nightwing, why on earth did she have a Flying Graysons poster with a red circle on top of Dick’s face? That doesn’t seem like something a sister would do! And why would this be information that is so important that she NEEDS to tell him in a certain amount of time?

It’s fucking insane. Tom Taylor, if she is actually Dick's sister then shame on you. Disgusting, what is with writers and cheating, what the hell is going on? Dick doesn’t need to think back to his parents and see a cheater in one of them. This better be Melinda being a cruel and vile human being that is trying to emotionally hurt Dick/Nightwing so she and Blockbuster can do whatever its they want to do.

That’s all I have to say.

[sineala]

Captain America: The Great Gold Steal

I wrote this up last week because I did not have access to my usual comics files but I figured I could review something that was just a book. So here is a review of the 1968 Captain America novel Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White, with an introduction by Stan Lee. I really liked it, actually! It was surprisingly good!

This novel features: Cover art of Captain America holding his shield in one hand and a very large gun in the other! A scene where the villains dramatically unmask Captain America and have absolutely no idea who he is! Captain America being extremely, extremely depressed about being in the future! Captain America dropping acid!

(I'm not kidding about the last part. In this novel there is a lot of LSD use. By Captain America. Talk about something the Comics Code wouldn't ever let you put in a comic book. Thank you, 1968.)

Faithful readers may remember that some time ago I posted reviews of Marvel prose novels from the 1970s. There was a line of prose novels featuring everyone's favorite Marvel superheroes, published by Pocket Books in the late 70s; I have reviews of the Iron Man, Captain America, and Avengers entries in the series; I liked the Iron Man one best, and I also have a Doctor Strange one I have not yet read. They're all short and action-packed paperback reads, of varying quality; the only one by anyone you might have heard of is the Avengers one, which was written by David Michelinie, who was actually writing the Avengers run at the time. That one was, um. An experience. 

(Yes, it's "prose novel" because otherwise the assumption is "graphic novel.")

Marvel still publishes prose novels now, of course, also of varying quality; some are new plots and some are straight-up novelizations of comics arcs, which I guess is useful if you want to, say, read Civil War and not look at pictures at the same time. I also have a bunch of those that I could probably review if anyone wants. But, anyway, I personally am particularly intrigued by the older Marvel prose novels, both because the stories are all original and not retellings, and also because I often prefer the characterization found in older comics. And the older prose novels of course use the then-current characterization. So reading a Marvel prose novel from 1979 is like getting to read a brand-new comic from 1979, and that's a whole lot of fun for a nerd like me. Also do you know what's not subject to the Comics Code? Prose novels. So things can happen in these that definitely could not happen in comics of the same era.

This brings me to my current prose novel, which is something else entirely. I mean, okay, not really, it's still a Marvel prose novel. But it's not part of the same line. It's actually a lot older.

Bantam Books actually published Marvel prose novels in the late 60s. Yep, a full decade earlier. They published exactly two, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that they were probably not bestsellers. The first one, which I do not own and now sort of want to track down, was an Avengers novel in 1967, The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wrecker. And then in 1968 they published the novel I am currently holding in my hands, Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White.

(I am still not sure why no one involved in titling this book thought of the word "theft.")

Judging by the back copy, it appears to be about Captain America foiling the villains' dastardly plan to steal gold from the Federal Reserve. Oh boy. Fun.

So this book is from 1968. The modern Marvel universe had kicked off just a few short years ago! Captain America was just getting his own solo book after the end of Tales of Suspense! And here's a novel about him, back when certain elements of his characterization were perhaps a little more flexible than they are today, by which I mean that the cover art -- which the internet informs me was painted by Mitchell Hooks -- is a striking full-body portrait of Captain America, head held high, shield in one hand... and a very large gun in the other. Hell, yeah. Not gonna see that in today's Cap comics, are you? It's amazing and I love it.

(Okay, you might see that in Ults. I'm pretty sure I have seen that in Ults, actually. But this is still cool.)

So the cover art is a definite plus, and apparently it's one of the few reasons anyone has ever heard of this novel. The other reason -- and the reason this is more expensive than the later novels, I assume -- is that Stan Lee's name is slapped on the cover, because he wrote an introduction. (I think I paid about $30 for this. The others were definitely under $20.)

All right. Here we go.

The first page is actually a brief summary of Steve's origin story, but not a version I was familiar with. Steve was born July 9, 1917 (yes, I was surprised too), was orphaned at a young age, and was a student at Columbia University (!) before Rebirth, which in this version is a gradual process that is also extremely body-horror. Steel tubing was inserted into the marrows of his bones. He was fed "high-protein compounds." Then they gave him a chemical that "gave him complete control over every nerve, muscle, and cell in his now-magnificent body." Sweet. Where can I get some of that?

The blurb also confirms his control over his own metabolism as well as his healing factor ("wounds would heal in half the normal time"), which is nice, because sometimes I wonder if canon even remembers the healing factor.

(I don't know why Marvel has this kink for filling people's bones with metal, though. It's not actually empty in there, guys! You need your bone marrow! How else do you want people to make new blood cells?)

The book is dedicated to "Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, without whom there would be no Captain America." Hey, Marvel, Joe Simon would like a word with you. I'm just saying.

The Stan Lee introduction is three paragraphs written in Stan Lee's, um, inimitable, distinctive and extremely florid narrative style -- if you've read any of his work, you know what I mean -- and making the point that Captain America is incredible and you will like him. If you are just discovering him for the first time, you will definitely like him. Okay. Thanks. I guess.

Oddly, the writing style here is substantially different than any of the other Marvel prose novels I've read; it doesn't immediately front-load you with exposition and a cast of colorful superheroes. It opens with a sort of James Bond spy-novel feel, running through a series of unnamed villains and bystanders, and a man who wants nothing more than to talk to Captain America but is killed before he can. Steve comes in halfway through the chapter, and he seems to be written for a reader who doesn't necessarily know who he is, and he isn't introduced as Captain America with his shield flying ahead of him to smite evildoers, or anything like that. He's just a tall, handsome blond guy who is reading a bunch of novels and is unsatisfied by all of them because all he can think of is the past. It's definitely an attitude I would expect from Steve in this era -- he is very much a Man Out Of Time here -- but it's also not how I expected the book to introduce him. You wouldn't even know he was Captain America by the end of the opening chapter, which then ends with a digression about the history of NYC subway tunnels. It's like it wants to appeal to someone who has watched a bunch of Man from UNCLE and just wants to read a cool thriller. Which is not at all what I was expecting.

By the beginning of the second chapter, of course, we discover that Steve is Captain America, as he changes into his uniform. The narration refers to him as Rogers when it's in his POV, if anyone is curious. He apparently keeps the cowl off in the mansion, because the cowl annoys him.

It was not so much that he needed to conceal his identity these days, because for all intents and purposes he had no other identity. Steve Rogers was officially dead, and had been for almost twenty years. Captain America *was* his identity. It was only when he donned the tight-fitting blue uniform with its shield chest-emblem, the red snug-fitting leather boots, and the heavy, yet pressure-sensitive red-leather gauntlets, that he began to feel real -- a complete human being.

Steve? Buddy, are you okay there? You're really not okay, are you, huh?

You see what I mean? They're really hitting the early-canon angst. Hard.

(Also it sounds like his uniform is a few sizes too small.)

We then get an expanded version of the backstory from the beginning excerpt. In this version of canon, Steve actually has an older brother, Alan, who is handsome and athletic and basically amazing, and when they are orphaned they are raised by their aunt and uncle. Steve gets TB twice as a kid, nearly dies from it, and when the stock market crashes, ends up separated from his brother and in an orphanage after his uncle loses everything.

(Honestly if I were writing this book, his brother would be the secret villain. Chekhov's Gun!)

Steve has glasses, gets bullied, is a nerd and an honor student, and studies law at Columbia because he wants to help stop fraudulent business practices and also fight organized crime. Legally, I mean. In a manner relating to law. I guess he's sort of like Daredevil. The lawyer part of Daredevil.

And then he joins Rebirth, and this is the part where I had to put the book down for several minutes, because Erskine's secret chemical, the key to making super-soldiers... is LSD.

Oh my God. You should see my face right now. My expression is, I am sure, indescribable. I'm trying not to wake the dog up laughing.

I just. Holy shit. This book is from 1968 in a way I definitely was not expecting. What the fuck, Marvel?

This project was headed by the brilliant biochemist, Dr. Erskine. His work with the endocrine system, and chemical body control, was well beyond that of his contemporaries. Only he, of all his colleagues, had fathomed the secrets of the Swiss Dr. Hoffman's 1938 discovery -- the mind-controlling LSD-25.

Let's just pause here for a few minutes and contemplate this.

I will point out that Albert Hofmann (yes, the book spelled his name wrong) didn't actually discover that LSD was a hallucinogen until 1943 when he accidentally tried it, but I am positive that 1968 here was a time when Some People were convinced LSD was a wonder drug. I'm still laughing. As far as I can tell, legal manufacturing of it stopped in 1965 so I am pretty sure that the author did not just decide to name a drug that had an ostensible legal therapeutic use, because it wouldn't have still had one by '68.

Anyway, in this version of events, Rebirth is a month-long process that involves a lot of vitamins, physical conditioning and training, and, yes, putting metal in his bones like he's the next Wolverine. They're filling his bones with stainless steel rods to make him stronger. That doesn't seem like a great idea to me, but I am also not sure about dropping acid to gain superpowers. Clearly I am not a genius scientist. Also Erskine knows what DNA is, apparently, because he's just that great. Anyway. Other than the metal, those all seem like relatively normal interventions. So far.

Now Steve has become fairly big and strong (and I guess he still has metal in his bones? this concerns me!) but they need to make him superhuman, so, yes, really, it's time to drop acid. Several pages of this book are devoted to describing Steve's acid trip. His acid trip is amazing and he discovers that he has conscious control of his entire body down to the cellular level. He can control the adrenaline in his bloodstream! He can tighten his muscle fibers! And when he's done tripping he still remembers how to do this, if not exactly on a conscious level, but he can still access the abilities. And that is how you make a super-soldier. It's LSD. Remember, kids, drugs are awesome! Do drugs!

Let's maybe take a few more minutes to think about this.

I just. I have no words. How did anyone at Marvel agree to print this?

I think for the most part superhero origin stories tend not to involve real drugs because people are generally aware that drugs they've heard of won't make you into a superhero. I guess this is what it looks like when you invoke the names of real drugs. They probably wanted something that sounded more realistic but somehow I don't think this was the best way to go. (Radiation, of course, will definitely make you into a superhero but I feel like most people have accepted that as one of the conventions of the genre.)

Anyway, after that Erskine gets killed by Nazis, of course, and Steve goes to war, and for some reason this book contains footnotes by Stan Lee himself listing the comics you can read all of this in. Just like the actual comics do!

We are introduced to Bucky, who for some reason is also from the LES in this version, although not anyone Steve knew before the war, and there is of course a description of Bucky's tragic death and Steve's subsequent icing.

They are really, really stressing the Man Out Of Time thing here:

No other man could have survived so fantastic a voyage through time. And no other man could feel so displaced by time.

He was a man twenty years in his own future. By rights, he should be nearly fifty years old -- nearly twice the age of his fellow Avengers. Yet his mind and his body were not yet thirty.

When the Avengers had brought him back to New York with them and insisted that, as an honored hero of the past, he join them, he felt a sort of melancholy homesickness for his own time and world.

We then get a few paragraphs with the usual being sad that he let Bucky down and got him killed, and also that he misses his family, and that Steve Rogers doesn't exist anymore, and that nobody is alive who remembers him, and that war is hell.

Hey, Steve, maybe the drugs you should do are antidepressants. Just a thought.

Also, this book is 118 pages and we're not out of the origin story flashback until page 34. I think there are some pacing issues here.

Actually, I lied, the flashback keeps going, but now we're up to the Avengers finding him, and I have to say that the list of things Steve finds strange about the future is kind of charming when the future is 1968. Men have long hair! Women have shorter skirts! Everyone is kind of blasé about rocket launches because there have been so many space missions now. (Oh, come on, you haven't even landed on the moon yet, 1968! You're not that blasé.) Color TV! And, excitingly, LPs! You can now listen to 36 minutes of consecutive music. (I actually don't know what previous standard he's describing that is a ten-inch record that holds six minutes a side because I don't think 45s are that big. Yeah, no, I just checked and 45s are seven inches in diameter. Hmm. Oh, never mind. He means 78 rpm, doesn't he? In my defense, the record player my family had when I was a kid didn't play those.)

The description of Steve coming into New York for the first time is definitely written by someone who knows New York, which is fun. There is generally a lot of local flavor to the setting of this book. That’s one of the best parts.

There is a brief summary of Steve's feelings about all the Avengers -- he is most impressed by Thor, which, I mean, fair, he's an actual god -- and Hank telling him all about how he can live in Tony's mansion. With Jarvis. Who Hank says is actually from Flatbush. Apparently Steve spent a lot of time at the NYPL branch at 5th and 42nd trying to catch up on history. And then of course the Avengers ditched him and gave him the Kooky Quartet, and for some reason they're not here right now either so it's just Steve being sad and alone and dealing with this mysterious dead guy. I think probably the book is also done explaining fiat currency now. This is definitely the weirdest Marvel novel I've read.

Anyway, we have now returned to what is ostensibly the actual plot. Steve shows up at the New York Federal Reserve Bank (I guess the theft is happening here and not, like, at Fort Knox) with the gold bullion that the dead guy from the beginning of the book had on him -- I think I got distracted by the LSD bit and forgot to mention that part, but the dead guy was carrying some US government gold -- because the actual plot is that villains are trying to tunnel into the bank vault and steal gold. Steve discovers this after he gets the bank manager to give him a tour. The bank manager tries to refuse, citing security concerns -- Captain America could be anyone under that mask, after all! Steve just smiles and says, "If I removed my mask, would you have any better idea of who I am?" and I guess that's a flawless argument because he gets his tour.

(I'm sorry, all I can think of is that one gif from the JLA cartoon where Lex Luthor bodyswaps with the Flash, announces that now that he's in the Flash's body he's going to discover the Flash's secret identity, then pulls off his own mask, stares at himself in the mirror, and says, "I have no idea who this is.")

Given that the theme of Steve's interior life in this novel is "Steve Rogers died twenty years ago" it seems even more sad that Steve is just walking around basically saying, yeah, well, I'm nobody. And apparently that is being reaffirmed for him by the narrative.

So Steve goes down the tunnels, takes out some of the bad guys, and gets himself knocked out and buried in a collapsing tunnel. Don't worry, he's gonna be fine.

A lot of this book, by the way, is from the POV of random people, like this bank guard who went with Steve into the tunnels:

He had wondered, briefly, if a man like Captain America ever knew the pinch of too many bills, had ever felt desperate over the arrival of yet another mouth to feed. But, of course, Captain America had no family, and would hardly concern himself with such matters. It didn't occur to Thompson to wonder if this in itself might not be something for which to pity Captain America.

Rude. I mean, come on, do we really need random characters telling us Steve is a sad sack whom nobody loves? Steve's already got that covered!  (Also, how does this guy know Captain America has no family?)

Anyway, thanks to the power of LSD, Steve is going into a trance, amping up his metabolism (he loses "several pounds" in a few minutes), and making himself super-strong so he can dig himself out. Hooray. This is definitely how human bodies work. Also LSD. This is definitely how LSD works. Yes.

Steve then finds out that a couple of the guards who were with him in the tunnels died down there and he goes home and eats dinner while stewing in miserable guilt because he was responsible for their deaths. He's really not okay. I'm not sure the book actually understands how not okay they have made him. Then someone from SHIELD is on the phone for him and he is briefly cheered up by the thought that it might be Sharon although I think we should also note that the narrative makes it clear that at this point in canon Steve still doesn't know her name. Remember when that was a thing?

Alas, it is not Sharon; it's just a random SHIELD agent who happens to have information about the plot and asks to meet. Then, as Steve leaves to go to the meeting, we get two pages of exhaustive description about the mansion layout and how it's built relative to the surrounding buildings. It feels like this book was written by a frustrated city planner. But anyway, the meeting is a setup and the villains capture Steve.

They knock Steve out, drug him, take him to their hideout, and tie him to a chair. Except, once again thanks to the power of LSD, the tranquilizer they're using wears off way sooner than they expected and so Steve feigns unconsciousness and listens to them discuss their evil plans.

And then the villains unmask him and I swear it's exactly like that JLA gif:

Rogers heard footsteps scuffing across a thick carpet, and then Sparrow's voice again, almost directly over him. His ears still buzzed, but he fought to catch the elusive familiarity of the man's tone. He wished he dared open his eyes.

"This is a moment which I, personally, have long awaited," Sparrow said, his voice rising in triumph. "*The unmasking of Captain America!*"

Then, his nails scraping along Rogers' face, Sparrow dug his fingers under his cowl, and ripped it back. Rogers felt air strike his exposed cheeks and forehead. Then fingers clutched his blond hair and pulled his head back. "Behold!" Sparrow said.

Raven was first to speak. "Well, I dunno about you, Sparrow, but it rings no bells with me. I never seen him before."

Starling agreed. "His face means nothing to me."

"He could be anybody," said Robin. "What good does this do?"

Sparrow let Rogers' head fall back to his chest, and his voice when he spoke was defeated. "I don't know. Nothing, I guess. I always wondered. I felt, if these guys -- these costumed heroes -- wore masks, it must mean something."

"Captain America was missing for twenty years," Starling said. "That could mean the first one died, and this one took his place. He looks awfully young."

"Perhaps. It doesn't really matter. Let's get going."

(Yes, the villains all have bird-themed codenames. I have no idea why.)

This scene just makes my day. I love dramatic unmaskings. I bet they'd have been a lot happier unmasking Iron Man.

The villains then leave Steve and go to a power plant, where we switch POVs to one of the plant employees and get two entirely unnecessary paragraphs about his racist and anti-Semitic thoughts about his coworkers before the villains murder him. Great. Thanks.

Anyway, the villains cause a blackout, while meanwhile they've left Steve alone with the girl villain, and Steve is busy trying to persuade her that crime doesn't pay. He's moved from the "do you know what they'll do to you in prison?" theme onto "how exactly are you going to spend a billion dollars in gold bullion when it's illegal for civilians to possess? who are you going to do business with?" and then points out that gold is heavy and hard to transport, which is when she gets out a a knife.

The bad guys are off to steal the gold, and Steve has now successfully turned the girl they left him with, because she frees him. Of course, the first thing he does is put the cowl back on.

"Why do you wear that?" she asked.

"The mask?" He smiled. "It gives people something external to concentrate upon."

"But..."

"Without it, I'm just another ordinary-looking man. With it, I become a symbol. For some people it creates awe; for others, fear. Look at me. I'm different now, aren't I? With the mask on."

"Yes," she nodded. "You look -- bigger, somehow. Stronger. Fierce, implacable. You look a little scary."

"Exactly. You no longer see me as a person, but as a thing -- an Avenger. It can be a potent psychological weapon."

"They were so disappointed, when they took your mask off. As though underneath they'd find a famous person."

"Maybe that goes on TV -- handsome playboys, and all that. But I've been anonymous all my life. Even my real name would be meaningless to you, to them. No, the mask is part of the uniform, a psychological device. That's the whole story.

Now: let's get out of here. You have a good deal more to tell me yet, and we can't waste more time."

Bwahaha. In a few years, Steve's going to be pretty surprised about who superheroes are, I think.

STEVE, now: Superheroes definitely aren't secretly handsome playboys! That would be silly! STEVE, after Molecule Man: fuck fuck fuck FUCK FUCK I'm such an idiot

I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Also, not that the issue of Steve's psyche actually recurs after this, but he's once again having the narrative vindicate his belief that Steve Rogers is dead and whoever he is under the cowl doesn't matter. Steve, I don't think this is very healthy.

Steve then tracks down the villains stealing the gold, has some geopolitical thoughts about where the gold could be going (he thinks either South Africa or Russia for the best laundering potential) and then hides himself in the villains' trunk while they drive to Staten Island, which is where they're taking the gold out of the country from.

During the final confrontation, Steve finally gets to see the villains, and he discovers that the one in charge is in fact the director of the Federal Reserve Bank who Steve met at the beginning of this book. Gasp. But that's not all! He's also... the Red Skull!

Honestly, I was kind of surprised; I didn't think this was the kind of book where we'd get any known comic villains, but I guess it's always gotta be the Red Skull. I think he's the only one of Steve's big villains who likes to disguise himself; Zemo has obvious disguise issues and I imagine it's also hard to cover up Zola's Teletubby-esque television body.

Steve shoots one of the villains, because I guess that's what he does in this era of canon.

So the plot wraps up in, like, two pages, because for some reason all these early Marvel novels wrap up very fast. Red Skull, of course, attempts to escape and then disappears and his body is never found. The end.

Well.

That was definitely a book. That I read. Believe it or not, I actually think it was the best of these early Marvel prose novels that I've read so far, even if it was also the absolute weirdest; I thought the thriller-style plot was entertaining, I liked Steve and his Extremely Sad characterization, I obviously enjoy all the identity themes, I liked how very detailed the New York setting was, and I do like how they tried to treat it all seriously. I mean, sure, this did lead to LSD in the super-soldier serum in presumably the name of realism, but I felt like the book was trying to present superheroes in a way that didn't feel silly and also didn't really take for granted that the reader would automatically accept superheroes.

It felt like a book that was written hoping that people who weren't superhero fans would read it, if that makes any sense. And I thought that was interesting, because most modern superhero work that I can think of assumes they've got complete audience buy-in and everyone is willing to suspend their disbelief and we all know the genre conventions and are expecting people running around in brightly-colored spandex. Whereas this is more like a James Bond novel if for some reason James Bond were called upon to defend his decision to wear brightly-colored spandex instead of bespoke suits. But I assume no one read it, because Bantam never published a Marvel book after this one.

If you can actually find a copy of this one for a price you're willing to pay. I recommend it. It was delightful and way more solid than I thought it was going to be.

Also, come on, you know you want to read about Captain America's acid trip.

[enigmalynne]

Something to be Thankful For - Chapter 4

Title – Something to be Thankful For Pairings – Jensen/Reader Word Count – 1,146 Warnings – RATED R FOR: Violence in the form of a mass bombing/shooting, injuries both explained and detailed, cursing SPNMixedBingo Square filled – Thanksgiving

Jensen Ackles’ life changes when he walks into his favorite coffee shop and meets Y/N, a Florida girl making a new start in Austin, Texas, as a Sheriff’s Deputy with the help of her sister. The two hit it off and quickly become an item that even the tabloids can’t tear apart. Jensen is excited to show his girl off at Thanksgiving dinner with his family, but she has to work the parade that morning first. What starts out as a normal event filled with balloons, clowns, and cheery faces soon turns deadly as one of the floats explodes and gunfire fills the air. Soon, Y/N is in a fight for her life as she and the rest of the deputies fight back against whoever it is trying to take over Downtown Austin.

Is Jensen doomed to watch the woman who brought love back into his life perish in a tragic mass attack, or will he have Something to be Thankful For after all?

Chapter 4

Holly clutched at her necklace as she watched the television screen. Her heart raced, not knowing where her sister was in that mess. The news was calling it a terrorist attack; something she was certain her sister wouldn’t see as a law enforcement officer.

“Holly…” she heard a familiar voice say. With wide, scared eyes, Holly turned and looked into the terrified face of Jensen, who had Jared in tow.

Holly slowly turned her head to look back at the news, just as the news chopper on screen captured another explosion at the parade happening downtown. Holly gasped as they watched a deputy get thrown by the explosion. At the same time, the chopper flew at a dangerous angle to get out of the way of the flames that were flying upward. The screen flicked back to two stricken-looking anchors on set.

“Holy shit,” Jared breathed.

“I don’t know where Y/N is,” Holly whispered.

“Okay, I’ve about had it with these douchebags,” Danny muttered. Y/N shook her head.

“Whatever you are thinking, don’t do it,” her rough voice ground out. She was leaning back against the car, eyes closed.

“I say we head in that direction. Cause a distraction. Give SWAT a chance to get into that building. Take out the fuck face that is blowing these bombs up. We’ve gotta end this.” Another male voice said with a shake of his head.

“No. Let’s just stay here. We are outgunned. SWAT has armor and we don’t,” Y/N said.

“Yeah, but some of us got military experience,” a third voice said. “We’ve beat these odds before.”

“I have a dislocated shoulder and a concussion,” Y/N said. “Danny, you have what I’m sure is a busted knee based on how you are moving. You, dude I don’t know, that has got to be a gunshot wound in that arm. And SWAT is right there.” Everyone turned to look at where she was pointing, the large armored vehicle speeding down the destroyed street.

“Just give them another minute,” Y/N pleaded.

“Then we can keep ‘em distracted,” Danny said, getting ready to run. The rest of the guys crouched and double-checked their weapons.

“No. C’mon, just wait,” Y/N warned. She grabbed Danny’s arm with her good hand, moving to a squat anyway. She already knew she lost the men to this daredevil idea. “Don’t do this. This is signing your death warrant.”

“You stay here and get the two on the right, Newbie,” he said with a cocky smirk, wiggling his brows. He then darted out into the open, three other deputies on his heels. Gunfire erupted.

Y/N cursed, jumping up and firing with one arm clutched to her chest. She watched as one of the two she was targeting went down and as she aimed at the second, she glanced at Danny. He got three shots off before he took a bullet to the left side of his neck.

The blood spay was large, and she forced herself to look away. She knew he’d be dead before his body hit the ground, and that pain was channeled into her trigger finger as she rapid-fire shot at the assholes who ruined what was supposed to be a cake assignment.

Holly, Jensen, Jared, and the rest of the patrons at The Last Drip watched in horror as the carnage unfolded on the television screen in front of them. Holly didn’t realize that she was crying silent tears until Jared handed her some tissues. Holly took them with a nod of thanks.

“I’m so sorry, I’m just so scared,” Holly muttered quietly. Jared shook his head.

“You have every right to be,” he said, before turning to look at Jensen. Both saw how rigidly he held himself, eyes glued to the screen with hopes of catching just a glimpse of the woman that had taken his heart. “You aren’t the only one, either.”

“What am I supposed to do if she dies? She’s my sister, the only family I have left,” Holly muttered softly, her eyes focused back on the television screen. “I don’t know how to live without her.”

“She’ll make it home,” Jared said. “She has to. She has a very special Christmas to look forward to.”

Y/N leaned back against the vehicle she was hiding behind and did a quick inventory.

Concussion? Check.

Dislocated shoulder, crudely put back in place? Check.

Massive hearing issue and bleeding from one ear? Check.

What is going to be a fantastic pattern of bruising on her back? Check.

Countless scratches and cuts, including a gouge at her hip where she got grazed by a stray bullet? Check, Check, and Check.

There was also that strange burning sensation in her leg that she hadn’t looked at yet. Overall, Y/N was starting to feel the blood loss and the concussion, her adrenaline running dangerously low. She was collapsed behind an overturned car, her head resting against the side panel. However, she heard footsteps fast approaching where she was hiding. She knew if she wanted to see Jensen or Holly again, she had to find some kind of reserve energy to lift her arm and aim her gun at the man heading toward her.

The relief that raced through her veins when it was a Tavis County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team member that turned the corner caused her to lose consciousness completely.

It had been hours since they finally neutralized the men that caused the attack on the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Austin. The news stations continued showing video of the explosions and Holly finally had to turn away before she had her third meltdown of the day.

Both she and Jensen had been calling Y/N for hours and there had been no response. Holly was thinking the worst. Jensen refused to believe it. He promised to give thanks to whatever God was listening if Y/N would just answer her phone… or sent another sign that she was alive.

All eyes turned to the door when it opened, and you could hear gasps when a uniformed deputy walked in. His eyes scanned the area, darting to the screen that showed news coverage. He frowned at it and then looked at the people watching him once again.

Holly and Jensen stood from where they were at and stepped together, clutching each other’s hands. Jared’s wide eyes watched from where he stood next to Jensen. Holly was shaking, on the verge of panic. Wasn’t this what they did when they were letting family members know that their loved ones had died? Is he here to tell her that Y/N was gone?

“Is there a Holly I can speak to?” the deputy asked kindly, his eyes and voice kind. Holly swallowed as all eyes swung to her.

TAG LISTS

Supernatural:

@akshi8278 @vicmc624 @agirlwithdemonblood @flamencodiva @hobby27 @mimaria420 @compresshischest09 @kkrivers @deanwanddamons @lovelyrocker

Jensen/Dean Taglist

@deandreamernp @siospins @sacriceria @sexyvixen7 @lanea-1 @nancymcl

Something to be Thankful For Taglist:

@wayward-gypsy @stoneyggirl2

[ohmystars-marvel]

So...you’re mine, huh?

Pairing: Tony Stark x daughter!reader; Peter Parker x reader (eventually)

Word count: 1,808

Summary: When your mother passes, she wrote in her will if she passed when you were still a minor, guardianship would get passed to Tony Stark. You have no idea what their relationship was, despite both of them living their lives in the spotlight. However, for someone who lived in the spotlight, your mother held plenty of secrets.

A/N: Hi welcome to my first ever fic....please be gentle with me, I swear I’ll try to get better with time. Anyway, since this is my first, why not kick it off with a series?? Depending if you guys like it, I’ll try to post a second part in a couple days, just depends on how busy I am with homework.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony was in a meeting when he found out that (Y/M/N) (Y/L/N) died.  Notification after notification lit up his phone, and his phone practically fell off the conference table with the constant buzzing. He was standing up to leave the conference room when he finally checked his phone. His heart dropped within his chest. 

Sure, Pepper knows she’s the one for him, but (Y/M/N) was a different love and certainly from a different chapter of his life. Hell, (Y/M/N) (Y/L/N) was one of his very few childhood friends, and probably his first love. It could be said that she’d match his intelligence, and when she couldn’t, she made it up with her wit and her own heartbreaker tendencies. She had that natural aura of capturing an entire room’s attention, even if she’s trying not to. 

A car crash. That’s what took out (Y/M/N) (Y/L/N). A fucking car crash. God, he never expected something that normal to be the thing to take (Y/M/N) away from this world. He thought it would’ve been some kind of freaky accident, some stupid daredevil attempt that would kill her. God, the last time he saw her, it was years ago. He was still the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist he once was, and she was still the rebellious heartbreaker she once was. That night they both had far too much to drink to think clearly. Still, in a very (Y/M/N) fashion, she made the parts of the night that he can remember unforgettable. The weight of (Y/M/N)’s death hit in like a freight train. The only thing he could do sit back in the chair he was in before and just stare at the words on his phone:

CEO OF (Y/L/N) TECH INDUSTRIES KILLED BY CAR ACCIDENT WHILE HEADED TO AIRPORT

Pepper found him still sitting in his chair in shock. She approached him slowly, and gently put her hand on his shoulder. He flinched in his chair, unaware that Pepper even entered the room at all. He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose  with his hand, closing his eyes.

“I saw the news and I wanted to check on you. I’m sorry, Tony.” she said softly. 

Tony was still hiding his face with his own hand, but used his other hand to squeeze Pepper’s on his shoulder. Tony took another deep breath, and took his hand away from Pepper and his face and stood up.

“I’m gonna take the rest of the day off.” he mumbled to her, grabbing his phone from the desk and leaving the room abruptly.

Pepper tried to follow after him out into the hallway, but he had already entered the elevator, and closed the doors on her.

******

Tony spent all of his time in the lab for the next couple of days. He didn’t leave, he didn’t eat; he was deep in his grief and putting his emotions through working on one of his Iron Man suits. Well, he was until Peter came in. Peter cautiously approached the lab, holding up a greasy paper sack with a small smile and knocked on the glass door. Tony only looked up at Peter and went back to working. It was a small step, but he at least acknowledged someone. Peter entered the lab, and gently closed the door. He sat at one of the benches, watching Tony for a minute.

“I-I hope I’m not bothering you, Mr. Stark, but Mrs. Potts said you’ve been working on your suit, and I thought maybe you’d want some help! I was also patrolling the neighborhood earlier and this guy was getting mugged and so I captured the mugger and the guy paid me back in a couple of free cheeseburgers and fries and I thought maybe you’d like one as well. I didn’t really know how you like your cheeseburgers, so I just got them plain.” Peter rambled.

Peter placed the bag on the worktable and sat on the stool across from Tony.

“I understand if you don’t wanna talk, Mr. Stark. I was the same way when my Uncle Ben died. I didn’t really talk to anyone for weeks, so it’s okay if you don’t want to talk. I can just sit here and help. But I think you should at least eat though.” Peter mumbled the last sentence as he sat on a work stool across from Tony.

Tony paused for a second, and sighed. It was almost like he was debating within himself. Peter couldn’t tell which part of the internal battle Tony wanted to win, but he resumed to work on a part of one the arms. Peter just patiently watched from his stool, resting his head on the worktable underneath his hands. He zoned out for a little bit, unaware of how much time had passed with his head in the clouds.

“Hey, kid. You said you wanted to help, but here you are daydreaming. Come here and hold this panel back and a flashlight while I toy with the cables for a second.” Tony didn’t even look up when he spoke up.

Peter jumped from his stool eagerly and did an overeager walk/jog over to help Tony. He held the panel and used the flashlight on his phone, trying to give Tony a good amount of light.

“Hold it higher and a little to the right.” Tony instructed.

Peter stood like that for a little while, despite his arms starting to get tired. He was determined though to power through it. After all, Mr. Stark trusted him with this task, so he should be able to uphold it.

“She was one of those types of women that when they were told they wouldn’t be able to do something, she’d go and prove them wrong. She started up her own tech company in order to prove to her own father that she could’ve been a worthy heir to his job within Stark Industries. God, the look on his face when at her first gala when she called him out in front of hundreds of people that attended. I’ll never forget that.” Tony softly chuckled. 

“She sounds like she was an amazing person, Mr. Stark.”

He put down his tools and eyed the bag of cheeseburgers and fries that were getting cold. 

“Maybe those cheeseburgers were a good idea, kid.” Tony smirked at Peter, who Peter smiled right back at.

Peter stayed for a couple more hours after that, and Tony talked of (Y/M/N) and the adventures that he had shared with her (keeping the stories strictly PG-13 of course) until Aunt May called Peter’s phone. Naturally, Tony covered for Peter before calling Happy to get the car to drive Peter home. When the car was ready, Pepper went down to the lab and told Peter Happy was ready whenever he was. Peter left with a quick goodbye, breezing past Pepper. 

“So, you used the kid to get me to open up, huh?” Tony raised an eyebrow at her.

“Tony, you practically locked yourself in here! You wouldn’t eat or talk to any of us, what was I to do? Besides, talking to him made you feel better, didn’t it?”

“I won’t say that it did, but if you put me in a courtroom, I would say yes to the lawyer.”

“Well it’s nice to hear your sarcasm again. I also came down to tell you that they’ve decided to give (Y/M/N) a funeral service and I think you should go.”

“Of course I’d go. What day did they decide on?” 

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Pepper, how long have you been sitting on this information?” Tony demanded, visibly upset. 

“Oh I’m sorry. Next time when you’re that deep in grief? I’ll still make you do missions or other Avengers activities.” Pepper responded, just as upset. 

“I don’t want to argue over this anymore. What time does it start tomorrow?” 

“Eleven. Do you want me to go with you?”

“No...this is something I’ve got to do by myself. Besides, imagine what will appear in the news. No offense, Pep, but it’ll look bad if you show up. It’ll be a field day of Stark’s new versus old girlfriend. I don’t want that for you and for her legacy.”

“I understand. Just...at least let Happy take you in the car?”

“Of course.” Tony briefly kissed her cheek and left the lab.

******

The next morning when Tony arrived at the address for the funeral, the press was already swarming his car. When he was just barely climbing out his car, there were 2 cameras being shoved into his face. Happy helped him get the front door by shoving the cameras down, and yelling at them to be more respectful. After all, it was a funeral, not the red carpet. 

When Tony went inside, he was surprised by the amount of people. It was an even mixture of other CEOs from other technology based businesses and people (Y/M/N) would’ve known personally. He could pinpoint all of the CEOs naturally, but was struggling to place the others. Perhaps they worked under (Y/M/N) or he recognized some of them from old social media posts (Y/M/N) posted. Tony went around passing niceties with those that were familiar to him. There was one person that he couldn’t place, however. It was a teenage girl, who was seated in the first row. An older man was sitting next to her, with his arm around her and rubbing her shoulder in a fatherly way. 

He as well didn’t recognize the older man, but it definitely wasn’t (Y/M/N)’s father. He suffered a stroke years ago, a couple of months after the gala, and didn’t recover. (Y/M/N)’s mother died from heartbreak months later. (Y/M/N) wasn’t very close to her parents, but he remembered how hard it still was to lose both of her parents within that time frame. He kept staring at the two in the front, despite trying to hold conversations with others and trying not to appear rude. Someone that he talked to, an awfully gossip kind of woman, caught him staring at the girl once again. The woman smiled knowingly.

“Don’t recognize her?” she asked, almost too sweetly.

The woman giggled. “She’s not an intern, Mr. Stark. That is in fact, (Y/N) (Y/L/N). Her daughter.”

Daughter? A million thoughts ran through Tony’s head, but before he could even ask the woman how she knew, he was interrupted.

“If everyone would like to find their seats, we would like to begin” the older man stood at a podium, speaking into the microphone, leaving Tony stranded with his thoughts. 

Daughter?

[obwjam]

thoughts on giant matt murdock?

funny you ask... a couple summers ago i actually started writing a little blurb about this that never really came to fruition that i am going to include under the cut ☺️☺️☺️ and i haven’t watched TV marvel in over a year now but:

giant matt would totally be a huge bitch to any tiny he discovered

the tiny would have been doing things seemingly under his nose but matt would sense it every time

soon he would feel the tiny’s fear and soften up

he would be intentionally aloof but he would also leave out food for the tiny. kind of an unspoken friendship

the tiny would just accept this and not question it

matt would hide the fact that he’s daredevil even from the tiny but one day he comes home just absolutely wrecked and the tiny is very scared and concerned

the tiny tries to help the best they can and it doesnt do much but matt is appreciative :)

now enjoy the blurb!

You considered yourself lucky.

You felt bad saying that, too. But most borrowers have to tiptoe around the human they live with, only going out in the wee hours of the morning just to get by. You didn’t have to deal with that. The human you lived with was blind.

It was a borrower’s dream. No need to hide, no need to leave things exactly how you found them. You could stand on the counter with the human while he cooked and take pieces of fresh food right under his nose and he’d never even know! As long as you didn’t make a lot of noise, you were safe.

You had been living here for a while. Your last place was blown to bits. Hell’s Kitchen was not the safest place to be, and you found that out the hard way. But you struck gold wandering into this place. It took a few days to figure out the human was blind, and that was only because you thought he had left for the day but he was actually just in the shower. He looked right at you on the counter but kept walking to his room, completely unaware of your presence. From then on, you… others would say you pushed your luck, but you liked to say you were taking advantage of your situation. You drank hot tea. You ate fresh fruit. You would even climb up onto the couch and listen to the radio with the human. You were bummed you couldn’t watch TV, but you were pretty sure he didn’t even own one. You hung out so closely with the human that sometimes you felt like you were really friends; that you really knew him.

You were out one day, borrowing while the human was lounging around on the couch. You were trying to push something across the counter to make a stepping-stone of sorts to some supplies, but you pushed too hard and the ceramic made an awfully loud screeeeeeeeench across the counter. The human’s head whipped around, his blank eyes staring directly at you. You froze in place, chest heaving, reminding yourself that he couldn’t see you, he couldn’t see you, he couldn’t--

“You’ve really been pushing it lately, you know.”

Your breath hitched and you let a small YIP! escape your lips. Surely he wasn’t actually talking to you. Maybe he was just monologuing to himself. You stepped away from the ceramic and slowly started to tiptoe back to your hole in the wall.

“I’ve stopped myself from saying anything before, but it’s really been getting out of hand, don’t you think?”

It was like your legs forgot how to move. You stood there, a feeling of deep sickness entering your stomach. The human slowly got up and started walking right toward you.

“I mean, I don’t really mind when you listen to the radio with me and stuff like that. But, really, when you start to--”

He stopped just a few feet away. Matt Murdock was now staring directly at you, and while he’d been this close to you before, he never really focused on you all that much. He had heard the tiny heartbeat in his walls since the moment you moved in, but he didn’t think anything of it. He was shocked to learn about the existence of tiny humans, but considering midtown was recently leveled by an alien attack, things like this weren’t all that crazy anymore. You never really did much damage -- he understood that you were just trying to get by.

But now, with his full attention on you, the pace of your heartbeat and the shakiness of your breath scared him. He had never felt such an intense level of fear before. He could hear you breathing so heavily and so rapidly he thought you were going to pass out.

The human began to reach his hand out, and your trance was broken. You took off for the wall, but suddenly you were lying face down on the ground, head throbbing in pain. Something just got in your way.

Matt hummed sympathetically at the way you so helplessly fell down when you hit his hand, but he had to remind himself how rude you were getting. Slowly, he pinched your torso between his fingers and dropped you into his palm.

As soon as you landed on this unfamiliar surface, you tried to find a way off. But he lifted his hand up to eye level, for whatever reason, and jumping was no longer an option. You had to face him. Somehow, his face was painted with wonder, even though he couldn’t see you… or could he?

“H-how-how did you know I was--I was even here? You can’t-- you’re…”

Matt scoffed. “You don’t need sight to see.”

You raised your eyebrow, but the logistics weren’t important to you. All this time… he knew you were here, knew you were borrowing right under his nose… he was pissed. He was definitely pissed.

“P-please… don’t--don’t put me in a jar, I--I promise I won’t-- I’ll never steal from you again! I’ll move away! Please! Just--just don’t hurt me!”

Your fear was so intense that Matt was starting to feel some of it himself. The more intense your shaking became, the more his heartbeat climbed. He almost felt like his entire body was going to rattle with you. And he was starting to sweat… this little guy was absolutely terrified.

“I’m… I won’t hurt you,” Matt said, but he knew his words meant nothing. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he caught you, but he probably should have considered the high likelihood of crippling fear on your end. Matt was used to people being scared of him, but this… this was completely different.

Tears began leaking out of your eyes, and you felt so pathetic. All the times you had walked around right under his nose… he was just pretending not to see you. He knew everything you ever took, everything you ever touched.

“How long were you going to keep taking things from me?” Matt asked out of pure curiosity. He realized after the fact how angry he sounded.

Your words got caught in your throat. “I--I--uh--I mean… as long as I could…” you said that last part so softly that no normal human would have been able to hear you. “B-but I can give you your stuff back! Not the food, obviously, but-but whatever you need, I--I can--”

Matt chuckled. He knew it wasn’t an appropriate response, but he couldn’t help but find the whole situation a bit funny.

“No, no, you don’t have to give my stuff back. I don’t care about missing paper clips and shoe laces,” he said with a laugh.

“Wh… what do you want with me then?”

Matt paused. Honestly, he had caught you because he was pissed. But after getting a sense of you, he didn’t have it in him to keep being nasty.

“I want you to be honest with me. No more taking my food while I’m in the middle of cooking. I can leave some stuff out for you.”

Your jaw was quivering. What were you supposed to say to that?

lol and that’s as far as i ever got

[crystal-moon-101]

Y and U? For the unnamed ask?

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?: I familiar with shows like Troll Hunter & Miraculous Lady Bug through a friend of mine, and I have been meaning to get into them, just a little busy and have a lack of energy 😅. I am also familiar with Yugioh (At least the earlier series), mostly because of the abridge and because I’m really into Season 0 stuff, as it’s more my kind of thing.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites: Given you gave me three, I think it’s only natural for me to pick from The Secret Generator 10 trio, as I always up to talk about these three and what they mean to me. Of course, they’re hardly perfect character, but they all are special in their on way for me, and I thought I’d discuss why.

Rex: My favourite out of the three, with his show being my all-time favourite. Development, interesting background, mystery, angst, tragic, fun to watch, mostly consistent, amazing powers, and gets so much found family stuff going on, he hits a lot of marks of what I love to see in a character, and the same does do good enough of a job with him. Rex is a character that plays well with the concept of being a child soldier, having amnesia, and being the key to the larger story at hand, and the show still treats him like a real person, living and breathing, and not just a means to screw over every time they want to plot to work. 

He has many layers to him, at the start seeming like a cocky, daredevil, rule-breaking and rebellious teen, who you sometimes question he understands the weight of what is happening to the world and himself, but then you learn that he does understand, so much more than he lets on. While he is naturally charismatic and a jokester, you can tell he often puts up this mask of joy and playfulness just to make a dark world around him feel a little lighter, along with hiding how alone and scared he actually feels. Because well, who wouldn’t be when placed in a role like that? He knows very well he has powers tied to saving the die, even if he doesn’t fully understand them. He knows the danger the nanites and EVOs pose, but also knows the danger that humankind can pose if they’re not willing to listen to reason. When things do get tough, he knows when to cut the crap and be serious. He’s someone who knows the world isn’t black and white, even if he hates to admit it at times.

While we didn’t get to see much of it, I’ve always seen Rex as a part of three worlds. He works closely with normal humans, like Six and Holiday (As normal as you can be at Providence), and he understands how scared the world is, how scared every day people are that any second they or someone they love could turn into a monster and go on a rampage. And sometimes that hurts for Rex is that he often tries to connect to this part of the world, because he knows he was once part of it, and he thinks it can make him happy, but the obstacle blocking him is that he isn’t human anymore, and that many people are scared of him, even if he saves them. And yet despite all the harsh things people have said or done to him, Rex always comes back to be the hero, because he knows he can help and that there are people that need his help, and it’s commendable that he’s willing to put aside those issues to save the day, even if he doesn’t get a thank you out of it.

His second ties are, of course, to his EVO world. It’s interesting that, at the very start of the show, Rex use to have this view that everything EVO was wrong, most likely something he picked up at Providence, despite being one himself. He’s hesitant around them, and while he’s not one to kill, he’s often quick to think they’ll be a danger. And while he can be right about that most of the time, he does start to learn it’s not all that it seems. His Hong Kong friends, Circe, Breach, even someone like Biowulf eventually. He even eventually learns that, while he’s not normal, he’s not a bad person for being something not human. And it’s an interesting thought that while he’s one of the most human-looking EVOs, he can be considered one of the most dangerous, even more so than EVOs that look like overgrown monsters. His ties to the EVO world are what make him start to see the world isn’t black and white.

And then his third ties, kind of, are to his nanites and history. Despite how human looking Rex is, and that he is an EVO, he’s very much something different to both sides, a middle ground thanks to his connection to the nanites. It’s always fascinated me that something about him, out of anyone in the world, he has this tie to nanites that no one else has. That can be explained by a number of things, but I also like to think it’s also because of the person he is. I mean, you get someone like Black Knight who got similar powers to him, but you never see her have a level connection with them like Rex does. And that can be explained by poor writing, but again I like to tie it back to who he is as a person, and how the nanites have evolved to be around him. And with how long he’s been tied to him, they just feel like a natural part of him, even if he may reject it sometimes. And to have him be once part of the past that involved how the nanites came to be, it adds a whole another layer to this boy. I will admit the writing can get to him at times, sadly, especially around season 3, and we don’t get certain answers to question about him, but he’s still a great character in my eyes, with so much potential for the stories and ideas you can play around him. I respect him for his hope for wanting to do things a better way, and yet knowing that sometimes you have to do the hard and logical things to do good, even if it’s not easy to do. I could ramble on more, but I got to move onto the next one. 💙

Zak: Ah, my sweet cryptid boy, have season 2 gave you crippling anxiety. Zak I would say, out of these three, is the most consistent with his writing. He’s still the same cryptid loving, cool kid, with a passion for his job back at the start of things, but he also grows in a believable way over time, especially when learning what he really is. The twist with making Kur adds such a spin on who he is and how he feels in a great way that I love, because he was someone who was building up to be the hero of the story by everyone around him, only to learn that the supposed villain he was meant to fight was himself. I think one of the interesting things that The Secret Saturdays does is that it never really answers the question if destiny is real, and if Zak is meant to kill all humans. It’s a question left up in the air, and while there seems to be facts that say otherwise, the idea that this boy could kill all humans makes people scared or eager, making everyone say that his destiny is real, even if there is no proof. And because of this, it makes Zak fear and believes that it’s real too, that he is bad just by simply being Kur’s reincarnation, even if he hasn’t done anything that makes him bad. And yet, as easy as it would have been for Zak to just accept this, he doesn’t, he still plays the hero and goes out of his way to help those that need it. Because whether or not destiny is real, Zak is willing to fight it, and that makes a noble character. And while we don’t get clear answers about destiny and Kur, many of us get to play with the idea of what it means for Zak and this world he’s in. I personally thing that Kur’s history is more complicated than him being ‘evil’ as I’ve written before, but Zak is his own character, his own person, and it’s fun to see who he is, how he reacts and how he grows. I also love that, while he’s pitched as one of those classic kid/teen boys during the 2000s action cartoon eras, he does things you wouldn’t expect. While he can get into fights and combat and have fun with it, if he knows the fight endangers someone or a cryptid, he will always take it seriously. Like when they found the cryptid fighting ring, he was always disgusted by it and keeps repeating the notion that he wanted to stop it as soon a possible, even hating to have to put Fisk into the fight just to stall and get info. He clearly as a loving passion with cryptids and the world he’s in, and is always out there looking to see more to the story than others may see. He’s not quick to label someone as a monster unless he’s 100% certain that’s what they are.  And his family relationships are just golden, I love the Saturdays. It’s adorable how, instead of calling them pets, he treats Fisk, Zon and Komodo like his siblings. He respects them as equals, and while he can argue with them, he’s willing to listen and understand that they have their own needs and wants, and the four of them are always by each other’s sides. Drew and Doc, being one of my favourite couples of all time, have different relationships towards Zak, but both love and respect him very much. Even when they find out Zak is Kur, not once do they ever turn their back on their own child, and do everything they can to help him see he’s not a monster. Zak clearly looks up to them, and it’s great to see the growth they have by letting Zak spread his wings, and stop trying to be over-protective with him. And, of course, Uncle Doyle is great, in that he’s always respected Zak, even if he’s a child. He’s willing to be level with him, and push him when he knows Zak needs it, and the fact that Zak was the one in the family to be so quick to have him join is just so well done, as he never had a doubt that Doyle could be a better person. Zak love the world he’s in, and the beings and secrets that lay within it. Despite how it might push and hurt him, he’s often willing to get back up and show who he really is, that the labels that people put on him don’t define who he is. Despite how his world turned upside down with one sentence, he’s doesn’t give up.🧡

Ben: Oof, right...*Cracks knuckles* Time to get into the more iffy ones of the trio. Right away, I have no trouble saying that Ben has a lot of issues and flaws as a character. I have no issue denying that he can be an ass, and has done many dumb things. However, I’m not one to hate or fault characters when it’s the writing that screws them over. Because at his concept and core, the person he was meant to be, Ben is quite an interesting character. He’s not the standard hero with a cape, he’s very much flawed, can sometimes be a jerk and cocky often, and has been shown to be young and naive. But that doesn’t make him a bad person, in fact he adds an interesting element to the normal hero archetypes. When written well, he’s quite fun to follow and has quite the concept to play around with. Despite his outgoing and witty outside, Ben does go through a lot of crap ever since he got the watch. His teen years and parts of his childhood are mostly just dealing with the foes he’s made, and the troubles that comes with being the main hero of the galaxy, which is defiantly not an easy task to take. And yet he does it, he goes through all the dangers just to help people and the worlds around them. He’s often willing to stand back up and crack a smirk because he’s not one to give up. He sees hope, he sees potential and light beyond the darkness, and he wants to give others the chance to see that. And while his cocky nature can get in the way when written wrong, I do think it’s a trait that makes sense. People across the galaxy praise him since he was young, which can cloud his judgement, it’s a natural flaw that fits him as a character, and it has been shown he acts this way to hide how scared he really is. Cause I mean, with all that he has to fight, it is actually quite a struggle, so it is amazing to see just how much he takes and never backs down. He’s not a boring character to watch, he’s not a perfect hero that gleams in a golden light, he’s flawed and hows so many issues to tackle, but have a noble and bold side to him that you can respect. He’s been shown to bring people up, to teach and to guide, to take on the hassles of others just so they can get by in life. And while he does like the praise he gets out of it, you know deep down he does this because it’s good to just do good, even if it doesn’t benefit you always. He could have easily given up the watch and hand it back to Azmuth, but he never does. And his connection with alien and the watch have always been a personal interest with me, even if canon doesn’t delve much into it as they should. The thing with Ben is that he’s perfect for the watch, because he has no problem shaping into another being. And while it’s still Ben underneath, he does change parts of himself for the time being. And the reason he’s fine with this is because he sees life and potential with all the aliens he can be. He sees the different powers they hold and wants to show just what they can do to help, what the galaxy could build if they worked together. It’s funny that the omnitrix was build for peace purposes, and while Ben took it a different way than what Azmuth wanted, he found a way to make it work. I know other characters wouldn’t be able to handle the watch like this the way Ben does, even Albedo proves this by how he acts with his aliens, seeing them as nothing but tools while treating himself as the higher being, while Ben accepts what he turns into, and understands what makes certain aliens special.  Sadly, Ben is a tragic character when it comes to the poor writing and constant switch in series, as Cartoon Network can’t seem to understand what to do with him. But that does make him a fun character to work off of and write, and I’ve seen some amazing things in the fandom with what they’ve done with him. So I've seen hated Ben, because I often see his as wasted potential for the character he could have been, and he does have great moments that are canon that I love. 💚