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misssunflowersandsangria · 4 years

Text

Mine

Happy Day 4 of @shikakuweek ! I didn’t originally have a plan to write for today but I got hit by a burst of inspiration. There’s so much to explore in Shikaku/Yoshino’s relationship. I loved writing this story, I hope that you all enjoy it too. There are parts of this that reference the events from another story/chapter, “Meant to Be,” but you don’t need to have read it to understand what’s going on. My headcanon is that Shikaku and Yoshino knew each other when they were really little and she’s loved him since then. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. Enjoy!

Prompt: Romance

Summary: He wasn’t bothered by it. Not at all.

Mine

“I don’t like her,” Shikaku repeated once again while his teammates looked at him unconvinced.

It was a typical evening out and his team had decided to spend it at their favorite restaurant. Yoshino and her friends had also been there and this led to the inevitable discussion about their relationship.

Inoichi stared at him with a challenge set in his eyes. “So you’re saying that if I asked her out, it wouldn’t bother you.”

Shikaku shrugged in response. “By all means, you wanna saddle yourself down to someone like her that’s your funeral”

To his surprise, the blonde man made his way over to her with a grin on his face.

“Hey Inoichi! How are you?” Yoshino greeted him warmly. She loved Shikaku’s teammates and she was forever grateful that they watched over him.

“I’m good, your future husband is being a nightmare.”

Yoshino smiled at the thought. “Why?”

“He said that he wouldn’t care if I asked you out, which we both know he most definitely would.” Yoshino laughed at the explanation, understanding Shikaku’s glare from the other side of the room.

“He’s still far too stubborn. It’s alright, I think I’m starting to wear him down.”

“How’s your medical ninjutsu?” The blonde asked curiously, feeling Shikaku’s cold stare on the back of his neck.

“Pretty good, why?”

“I might need it if he stabs me for this. Come on let’s get a drink.”

Disbelief and shock were keeping Shikaku restrained to his seat in the crowded restaurant. The look on his face caused Choza to worry about breaking up a fight.

“So you’re really just going to let this happen,” Choza asked his friend who had been silently stewing in his seat.

“They’re free to date whoever they want.”

Choza shook his head annoyed at his teammates. “One of your best friends slash teammate is asking out the girl that you won’t admit you love and you’re just going to sit here.”

“Yes.”

Choza dropped his face into his hands. “We’re doomed.”

“Why?”

“Because clearly I’m the only one with brains on this team.”

The rest of the night Shikaku just glared at them watching as she smiled and laughed in his friend’s direction.

‘What the hell could she be laughing at? Inoichi isn’t that funny.’ Shikaku grumbled to himself.

“Stop being so stubborn and go over there.” Choza tried to reason with him.

“I’m not being stubborn and I don’t need to go over there. I mean she’s obviously just being polite.”

“Jealousy is an ugly emotion.”

Shikaku’s mouth was pulled in a tight line. “Well, then it’s a damn good thing that I’m not jealous.”

Choza shook his head with a frown of disbelief. And yet Shikaku complained that Yoshino was the stubborn one. He threw back another drink. Tonight’s tab was going to be on them.

Yoshino swirled her drink, an uncommon look of defeat in her eyes. “It’s tough Inoichi. I don’t know if he’s ever going to want to be with me.” They had many conversations about his teammate and she appreciated how supportive he had always been.

Inoichi looked at her surprised. Recently, it felt like something had changed between the two of them. Even now she was wearing the hair clip that Shikaku had given her weeks ago.

“Where’s this coming from. Since I’ve known you, you’ve been on this path to becoming a Nara.”

“After he gave me this I honestly thought things would change. It’s been weeks and he feels even more distant than before. He hasn’t acknowledged my existence once tonight. We’re getting older, it hurts getting rejected all the time ya know. You know how stubborn he can be, if I keep pushing he’s just going to move further and further away from me. If I want any chance then maybe I need to back off a little bit.” She rested her head tiredly against his shoulder.

“Hey, he’d be lucky to have a girl like you.”

She’d been thinking about this for a few weeks now. Those precious moments in the cherry blossom grove seemed almost like a dream. It might be time to wake up. “He deserves the best, that’s all I’ve ever wanted for him. Maybe though, that’s not me.”

Inoichi patted her head comfortingly, annoyed with his friend. “Don’t give up just yet. Come on, let’s get you home.” They made their way over to his teammates to say good night. Just being this close to Shikaku was breaking Yoshino’s heart.

“It’s getting late, I’m going to walk Yoshino home-“. Inoichi was cut off by Shikaku standing up to his full height.

“No problem. I’ll walk with her.” Shikaku announced moving to her side protectively.

Inoichi had to hide his grin. Shikaku was pissed. “It’s okay buddy, I’ve got it.”

“I insist.” He took her hand in his, leading her outside. “Come on Yoshi time to go home.”

Inoichi and Choza watched the couple leave with a smirk.

“Well, my work here is done.”

If Shikaku was as smart as everyone thought he wouldn’t let her go so easily.

It was a chilly, starry evening in Konoha. Shikaku instinctively pulled Yoshino closer to his side to keep her warm. Her hand was still clutched in his. He was purposely taking her the long way home and if she noticed she didn’t mention it.

“So, when are you two going out?” He asked curiously trying to keep the look on his face passive. He knew it probably wasn’t his business but he needed to know.

Yoshino smiled at him with a shake of her head. “Come on Shikaku he would never actually ask me out. Besides, he knows where my heart is. I would have never accepted.”

“Yoshino…”

Tears began to appear in her eyes. It was now or never. “Look, you know how I feel about you. How I’ve always felt about you. I’ve held onto a lot of hope that we’d end up together eventually but maybe I was just trying to force my own feelings onto you and that isn’t fair. I saw how many girls were staring at you in there. You probably don’t realize it but they’re always watching you. I’ve just selfishly tried to keep you all to myself. But, I think that the best way to show you how much I love you is to let you go.”

Shikaku’s heart dropped, confusion clouding his face. “What? What are you saying?”

“Shikaku, I love you. I’ve loved you since you foolishly tried to defend me from those bullies then I knocked them out myself. But love without freedom isn’t love. So after tonight, I’ll keep my distance. I’ll give you space to find whoever it is that you think deserves your heart.” She reached up to kiss his cheek.

“Goodbye, my dear.” His hand lifted to touch where she kissed his cheek watching her walk further and further away from him.

“Wait!” Yoshino felt herself still seeing shadows trapping her in place.

“You can’t just say that and decide the future of our relationship like that.”

“What future?”

He paced back and forth trying to get his thoughts in order. “For years you’ve been telling me that we're supposed to get married, that you knew that we belonged together. Don’t I owe you trees in the forest? How can you just give up?”

Yoshino’s shoulders dropped in defeat confused by his frustration. “I don’t know what you want from me Shikaku. I can’t have anyone else but you. You’ve always said that us together isn’t possible. You could easily just walk away, leave me here and move on but I can’t do that. I’ll never be able to just stop my feelings for you but if I know that your heart is safe with someone that you want then I think I’ll be okay.”

He reached up to grip at his hair. “God, woman it’s you I want.”

Her eyes widened at the declaration “Shikaku?”

“I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been. Time and time again you’ve offered me your heart and I just kept rejecting it but you stayed. I guess that I never allowed myself to believe that how you felt about me was real. I’m so sorry. Despite how I acted and what I might have said I think that I was selfishly keeping you tied to me. So that you would always be mine.”

He took a deep breath resting his forehead against hers. “All night I was watching you with Inoichi, really fucking upset and jealous. He’s one of my best friends and I wanted to knock him out cold because he got to see your smile. The one that I always work so hard to earn. I began to panic because even if it wasn’t him someone else could steal you away from me. Until tonight, I never imagined that could happen.”

A warm hand cradled her face, his thumb brushing away her tears. “Yoshino I love you.”

He felt her tears raining between them while they kissed his arms wrapped around her tight. He spent years denying how he felt, how much she meant to him and just how much he loved her. His demanding, beautiful, wonderful Love.

She gazed up at him with a watery smile. Her heart was whole and complete. “I love you too Shikaku.”

Yoshino hugged him tightly, her head resting against his heart. She shut her eyes tightly overwhelmed and relieved. He loved her. She had always believed that this was the path that their relationship would take but she wasn’t prepared for how wonderful it felt.

“Why are you still crying?” Shikaku asked worriedly, brushing her tears away. She reached up to kiss him, relishing in the fact that she could do so freely. He was relieved feeling her smile against his lips.

She curled into his chest, his strong arms wrapping her up securely. “I'm just really happy.”

A lifetime of shared memories ran through her head knowing they had many more to look forward to. He had been, and would always be hers.

Always: A Shikaku/Yoshino ficlet collection

My Dear

My Love

Meant to Be

Mine

The Yamanakas are the best wingmen. :D every incarnation of InoShikaCho is precious. I need more stories about the InoShikaCho daddies.

That’s all I’ve got for the week! Thanks for celebrating with me. I’ll enjoy seeing everyone’s submissions for the rest of the week. Thank you especially to @shikakunaras for moderating and a special shoutout to @temarihime ! Go read and love all their stuff!!! Love to everyone in the Nara Clan!

#shikakuweek #shikakuweek2020 #shikaku x yoshino #shikaku nara #yoshino #INOSHIKACHO #yamanaka inoichi #choza akimichi #day 4 #romance #fanfic #shikayoshi #shikayosh #jealous shikaku is the best #inoichi is the greatest wingman #choza is done with their nonsense

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nexstage · 4 years

Text

Starless

Larimar, Snowflake, and Centi: Can someone understand me?

Corruption.

For many people, it means the process by which something, typically a word or expression, is changed from its original use or meaning to one that is regarded as erroneous or debased.

However, for the gems like little Larimar, Snowflake, Centi and many others who suffered by the hands of the Diamonds that fateful day during the war, it meant two words: pain and confusion.

Ok, so that's an understatement because unless you're a gem, you can't get how it felt. Many things confused and/or upset people no matter how insignificant they were after all.

But the Corruption Attack, being corrupted, THAT was a whole, another story.

There were no words to describe it and, honestly, it's not that the healed gems were going to write an essay about what was the most traumatic moment of their quasi-immortal lives. Still, if someone asked them, they would have the same idea: it was like being swallowed by a hell made of confusion and pain.

Not that gems knew what hell was, but that explanation was enough for them to illustrate their trauma. After all, when your light form is twisted by a blinding blast and your mind wakes up with the sole programming of attacking and tearing everything apart as if you were going to die if you didn't do it, then it's understandable that the only concept of being corrupted is that one: being messed up endlessly.

No one was there to help you, no one was there to calm you down, there was no escape. Your body didn't felt like it was yours anymore, it was more from a beast.

The worst part was the mind.

Before the Corruption, a gem knew what to do and whom to follow. A gem knew who she was. After it happened, nothing made sense anymore.

It was an agglomeration of scrambled words, feelings, memories, and sensations that forced themselves to fit with the other creating a chaotic image, the only guide when you were corrupted.

A gem tried to make sense of it, but the mind of a beast had its limits and that's when the pain came to the picture.

It was a void where the word 'Lost' reigned ruthlessly. The corrupted ones could resort to their claws and fangs, to their strength and agility, to that animalistic nature that had replaced their calculating minds; however, it didn't last against others who were luckier than them for not being corrupted and for having better plans to deal with the unfortunate ones.

Too many aspects that were new for the gems when they came to Earth, before the Corruption, became utterly terrifying and overwhelming. They couldn't remember, and the feelings of helplessness and frustration hurt them more, made them snap and get attacked and bubbled which was worse.

Just with a single attack, any spark of hope left them.

But then, Steven came to the picture too.

The kid who, for the corrupted ones, was just another enemy or prey of their claws, and still he decided to face the fearsome Diamonds so they could be healed.

That sweet little human with gem powers who was looking for a solution so they could get back their lives and not suffer anymore.

It was because of him that they could live peacefully, and while some of them went back to Homeworld and slowly adjusted to the changes of a dismantled empire, the others -Crystal Gems and gems who wanted to start a new life on Earth- stayed on the planet to learn new things. Still, all of them had one thing in common: their absolute gratitude and respect towards Steven Universe.

And therefore, it was a huge and terrible surprise for Centi to be told that his little friend, his savior, had disappeared with his car to an unknown place.

It was supposed to be a surprise visit and some time hanging out with Steven, catching up and know if things were ok with him on Earth. However, when she and her crew received the news about his sudden departure, they couldn't believe it.

At first, Centi thought it was just a short journey Steven had to realize for some errand or another reason, her denial being strong enough to put her worst fears aside concerning the boy's well-being.

Everything collapsed, though, after a very somber explanation.

Steven wasn't doing ok. In fact, both the Crystal Gems and his 'dad' - as the human called Greg referred to himself- had noticed, pretty late, unfortunately, some unhealthy and worrying patterns of behavior in Steven that got worse until the last straw came, the cactus incident.

Centi's mind was divided in two. On one hand, she wanted to blame her former enemies due to their incompetence that led Steven to ran away from Beach City to stars-knows-where. The glares and open hostility on her part towards the Crystal Gems were very clear signals of that. On the other hand, she felt compelled to act, although impulsively, almost going to Homeworld to call the Diamonds to find Steven.

One of the Crystal Gems, the Pearl, stopped her by telling her that the Diamonds would cause a big scandal because not all Earth had getting used to see and interact with gems. And if Steven found out, he would freak out.

So, now she was in the center of Little Homeworld, accompanied not only by her crew but also two former Crystal Gems: a Larimar and a Snowflake Obsidian.

Before all this mess, she wouldn't imagine interacting with former enemies. However, the war was over, all the corrupted gems were healed and living their own lives, and bringing Steven back was the goal in common for her, her crew and those Crystal Gems.

What was most surprising, though, was how understanding they were at her worries despite her initial distrust at them.

"You know, when I was a mindless monster I thought deep down that I would never get back my life. But Steven gave me another chance and here I am, now. And yeah, Pearl and the other Crystal Gems are my friends and I don't like it when someone is mad at them, but I get it. Steven is truly important for all of us. If it weren't for him, we would still be monsters"

The Larimar, Little Larimar as she called herself, nodded at her friend's words "Steven helped me to find my purpose. And that is making others happy, especially human children. I don't know what kind of purpose do you have now that the war is over, but whatever it is, it must be really treasured by you because Steven gave you a chance to find it. Someone like him is so difficult to find these days and a big blessing"

"Yeah, he is" Centi agreed and even her crew members nodded at that "At first he attacked me because he saw me as a threat. But, the second time we met, he was so kind to me. He listened to me when I told him what happened before the Corruption"

"He even faced the Diamonds to bring us back" a nephrite of the crew intervened sadly.

"He might be a Crystal Gem, but he sees all the gems as equals and helps them no matter what", another nephrite said while clutching her left arm anxiously.

"Everyone here is in debt with Steven, and even if he would have never accepted us owing him so much because of how he is, we still need to do it. We have to"

And so, they started their own search.

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

If someone had told Larimar and Snowflake that looking for a human on a planet full of humans was going to be difficult or almost impossible, they would have ignored them.

As veteran Crystal Gems, both only knew one thing, and that was that action and determination could lead you anywhere. Whether it was war or any other project, if you don't have the guts to make it true, then it's useless to keep going. However, as days went by, the two gems came to the conclusion that just a strong resolve wasn't enough to find someone.

No clues, no handprints not even a single note. Steven really wanted to not be found.

"What kind of places should we list to start?" asked Centi to one of them, Larimar to be exact.

As surreal as it sounded, despite the bad blood between Crystal Gems and Homeworld Gems, both Snowflake and Larimar could befriend Centi and her crew while looking for Steven.

So, maybe it was because all of them were corrupted and saved by him because they cared about him because Steven befriended them and helped them to adjust to a new era. Maybe those were the only reasons to make a team with former enemies. However, with time they started to bond over other things like what they liked, how they were finding themselves without wars or Diamonds' orders around, their opinions about Era 3, trivialities. Anything that crossed their minds.

Just like that, differences stopped existing between each other, and yeah, at first they wondered why but then it became obvious: there were others whose experiences you could relate to, even if they were Homeworld Gems.

That single realization gave Larimar an idea "Guys, did anyone know how Steven was doing?" that question froze everyone's work. Seconds of silence turned into minutes due to a deep reflection.

"He wouldn't have left if someone knew he wasn't ok, wouldn't he?" a Nephrite said, but she didn't sound that sure.

"I think this isn't about if someone knew how Steven was doing, it was more about if they could understand how he felt" Snowflake's opinion got everyone nodding. It made sense, after what they had heard of how Steven was behaving, it felt as if he was isolating himself because there was no one who could comprehend what he was going through.

"I still remembered when I corrupted," Centi said somberly "I felt so lost and alone. Even with my crew at my side, I didn't know if this torment would end. Steven still tried and listened to me. I didn't feel so lonely after that"

"Did he have someone to do the same for him?" another member of Centi's crew asked concerned.

A heavy silence made itself present as the answer.

It was worrying as much as it was tragic.

How long would have Steven gone through that? Giving his ears and shoulders to anyone who needed them but finding a lack of support despite the love everyone gave him.

Then another more confusing question came, is love enough to prevent events like this from happening? But if it were so simple as that, Steven would still be here and ok.

"What if Steven is looking for someone like him?" Larimar's question was strange and their raised eyebrows demanded an explanation.

"We can understand each other because we know how terrifying it was the Corruption Attack or be corrupted. He may be feeling scared for some reason but no one can see it in his way"

"A human with gem powers, that is unique indeed" Snowflake pensive expression then turned into a scowl "I don't think his sudden journey is going to be successful. Never before has been someone like Steven. A mix of human and gem. Garnet told me it was like a fusion"

"Instead of searching another hybrid between human and gem, he might be looking for people who have enough ears and shoulders that he can rely on"

"We can give him that" a Nephrite intervened by showing her shapeshifting abilities to multiply her shoulders "There will be enough and even more for him to pick"

"I think it goes beyond the number" Larimar sat in a rock in the middle of the huge Strawberry Battlefield.

Even when the war was over, the air still felt heavy and bitter in the area. The screams, the clash of weapons, pieces of cracked and shattered gems covering the ground, the sky the color of blood.

Larimar hoped, really hoped, that Steven wasn't here hiding because this place, despite being calm and beautiful now, only harbored dark memories and feelings.

Perhaps that's how Steven was doing right now. Trying to keep a bravado or smile to everyone, even if inside of him there was a raged storm.

And no one better than him could get that sensation, but Steven didn’t want himself to understand him, he wanted another person.

"Larimar, something on your mind?" Snowflake put a comforting hand on her shoulder, encouraging her kindly to tell her what's wrong.

"Is it enough for someone to just have themselves?"

That was a very philosophical question. And no, Snowflake didn't know what to answer.

"Care to elaborate?"

"I mean, when we were corrupted we were scared, hurt and confused. We didn't have anyone, we couldn't remember who we were. If it weren't for Steven it would have been worse. So, how can someone be understood or feel like they're being listened if having themselves isn't even enough?"

"Honestly, I don't know. But we had the chance to be listened, to be helped. Steven gave us that chance"

"It's time for us to return the favor" Centi, who hadn't been that far away from the two gems, approached them after hearing what they were saying.

"We'll listen to him as long as he wants," another Nephrite said, determinedly.

"We can be those shoulders he lacked"

"Because we know how it feels to be lost and terrified"

"We'll try as hard as possible. He deserves it. He needs it"

Resolution ran through their bodies as if it were blood coursing through veins. Whether Steven was finding someone else to understand him or finding himself, once they found his savior, they will help him by being by his side.

That single step wouldn't be enough but it would be the way to make Steven see that people got his back.

#Steven Universe Future #Post-Prickly Pair episode #Angst #Friendship #Little Larimar #Snowflake #centipeetle #Centi's crew #Hurt/Comfort #Feelings

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tiffanytheweirdo · 4 years

Text

Before it’s too late (it’s not) -- Ellick

“You wanna get some sushi?”

Ellie asks, with a slight hope that Nick would say yes and keep her company. After all, the whole grand marshalling thingy still kinda stings.

“Oh I’d— I’d love to but I already got plans”

Nick stumbles through his words, not ready for Ellie to know about him dating someone.

“Oh really? You got a hot date?”

Ellie’s heart skins, putting forward the guess.

“Something like that”

Nick curses inside his mind. This is not how he imagined Ellie would find out, at least not so soon.

“Really? I was... kidding... I didn’t... I didn’t know you’re seeing anyone”

This time, Ellie is the one stumbles through her words. She is not prepared for this and jealousy is definitely building inside her.

“It’s just been a few weeks”

Nick admits, secretly paying attention to Ellie’s reaction.

“Wow. That’s like six months in Torres years”

Ellie knows that means Nick is serious. Her heart skins even more, and the jealousy level is not dropping either.

“You would like her, Bishop. She’s older, mature. I think it may be good for me”

Nick isn’t sure why he’d said and glances at Ellie and sees something in her eyes, something between hurt and jealousy, that makes him reconsider his action.

“Wow. How much older?”

Ellie is honestly curious. She wanna know who is this woman suddenly got Nick into a serious relationship.

“Does it matter?”

Nick takes another glance at Ellie and replies nonchalantly. He can tell she is jealous.

“No.”

It really doesn’t. Ellie looks sideway to Nick’s facial expression. She wanna know if Nick’s playing with her, joking with her. But Nick looks serious and she can’t see through the facade.

They walks through the navy yard in awkward silence towards the parking lot.

Ellie is deep in her thoughts, reflecting her jealous feelings. Why is she feeling jealous and where is all this coming from?

Nick, walking along side of Ellie, is also thinking. Why was there jealousy and hurt in Ellie’s eyes just now? And why is he caring about why Ellie might be feeling hurt?

Both of them have a lot of questions in them to realise they are unusually quiet.

When they reach their respective cars, parked right beside each other’s, Nick breaks the silence first.

“Hey Bishop, rain check on that sushi okay?” He offers a tight smile.

“Yeah sure. Enjoy your date” Ellie tries to swallow the bitterness of the words, she is really confused at this point.

“Yeah, thanks. Good night to you too” With a wave, Nick gets into his car and heads to his “hot date”.

Ellie doesn’t really know how she drove home. She’s in a trance and her mind just won’t and can’t stop thinking about Nick.

Is he at the date already? Who is this older, mature woman that she would like? If Nick is so serious about this relationship are they gonna get married one day?

And it shakes Ellie about how much she cares about who is nick seeing. But she still hasn’t get it. She still doesn’t know why.

Until she sees packs of bacon brown sugar chips on her coffee table when she flops down frustratedly onto her couch after changing out of her work clothes.

After Nick accidentally discovered her passion for the snack one time, she’s never out of stock again. He buys her a few packs regularly, brings over a few when he comes to hang out at her apartment, even got some stocked at his.

And their moments suddenly come flashing back to her.

She thinks about how Nick cares for her.

How Nick always spends time at her desk.

How he always protects her out in the field.

How he knows what makes her happy and what drives her crazy.

How he dances for her just to make her smile.

How he calls her nicknames like B or Tater Tots or Babe.

She thinks about their time spent together.

Them speaking Spanish together as their secret language.

Them missing Reeves together and finding comfort in each other.

Them hanging out at each other’s apartment off work.

Them going goat yoga despite Nick always complaining.

Them almost constantly flirting and bantering.

And she thinks about them as partners.

Them making quite a team.

Them taking care of baby Cody together.

Them solving cases together.

Them establishing codes to work in fields.

And she thinks about the kiss they shared as Charlie and Luis.

About how she pulled his arm around her in that bar while spying on their suspect.

About them as partners in life.

And it all clicks.

This man, Nick Torres, is the one for her.

After what she’s been through with her past two relationships, she told herself not to believe in this anymore, not to get hurt anymore.

She keeps shoving down her feelings for Nick, telling herself they are just best friends, good partners at work. She never dares to think there will be more.

But today, hearing about Nick being with another woman, ain't she supposed to be happy for him? But all she feels is jealousy. She can't help but think what if it's her who went on a date with Nick tonight?

Suddenly, she feels fear rising inside her. Is she too late? Nick is with someone now, and he is treating it seriously. Does that mean she missed her chance?

Ellie jumps up from her couch and goes to search for her phone. She needs to tell Nick now, before it's too late.

Nick drives to where he said he would meet Elena, his date, with Ellie all over his mind. He recalls their conversation in his head over and over again.

Ellie looked hurt when Nick said she’s like a sister to him, and seemed jealous when he said he’s having a date. And he hates seeing her hurting. It makes his heart aches.

And saying that Ellie would like Elena? What was he thinking? Nick frowns and swears when he takes a wrong turn.

This wrong turn leads him onto a familiar street, the one Ellie is living on. He stops his car in front of Ellie’s apartment building and stares.

Nick looks up to spot Ellie's apartment, soft lights coming out of the window and he imagines.

He imagines Ellie sitting on her couch after changing into comfy flannel and sweat pants, snacking on something chrispy, waiting for take out.

He imagines Ellie reading whatever book she’s into recently on her couch, curled up under the blue throw blanket she loves so much.

He imagines Ellie sketching casually on her sketch pad, tongue sticking out with concentration.

He imagines himself handing whatever snacks Ellie wants each time after she finishes one.

He imagines himself snuggling with Ellie while she reads and him watching TV.

He imagines himself sitting on the other side of the couch, letting Ellie sketch him.

He imagines himself spending the night in Ellie’s apartment, them sharing a bed and each other’s warmth.

He imagines himself moving across the apartment with familiarity, given the time he had spent there.

He imagines himself falling asleep and waking up next to Ellie.

He imagines himself living with Ellie.

And it hits him.

It all makes sense now. Him caring about how Ellie looked hurt, him being unsure about telling Ellie about his date, him worrying about how Ellie would react.

It’s all because he cares about Ellie a lot, and he wanna be with her.

His phone vibrates as a text comes in and this pulls Nick out of his thoughts.

It's Elena, asking if he's on his way.

He takes a deep breath and sends a text telling Elena that he couldn’t be there and that he owes her an explanation before starting the car and driving to the nearest sushi place.

Nick is about to knock on Ellie’s door when his phone rings, it’s Ellie.

“I need to talk to you”

“Open the door then”

Ellie opens the door with her phone still pressed to her ear, surprised to see Nick on the other side.

“Can we do the rain check now?” Nick asks sheepishly, raising the bag of take out in his hand.

Ellie nods and steps aside to let Nick in. She is still shocked by him showing up.

The two settle on the couch with their plate of sushi moments later, silence hanging between them.

Ellie is the one who asks first.

“So your date?” She holds her breath waiting for Nick to answer.

“I cancelled it” Nick stops eating and looks up.

And their eyes meet. Suddenly all the things beside them just seem to vanish. All they can see is each other.

“Look Ellie...” Nick tries to start but Ellie stops him by moving closer to him after placing her plate on the coffee table. Doing the same with Nick’s, she takes Nick’s now empty hands into hers.

“Please Nick, let me” Ellie says in a small voice, feeling vulnerable. She is about to open up to the man in front of her and it’s all or nothing to her.

Nick nods, moving his hands so he is intertwining his fingers with Ellie’s and squeezing them encouragingly.

“I’ve been thinking a lot, Nick, about you... about us. After... after what had happened with my past relationships, I told myself not to believe in this anymore so I won’t get hurt anymore. But you came along and you give me feelings that I’m so scared of having again” Ellie pauses to swallow the lump in her throat and wills herself not to break down right now cause she needs to tell Nick.

Nick moves closer to Ellie, their knees touching, and looks into her eyes with all the love and support he can convey with his eyes. He waits patiently for Ellie to continue.

“And today when you said you’re seeing someone and it sounded so serious, this makes me feel jealous and I didn’t get it at first, I didn’t know why I was feeling that why but you know what gave me the answer?” Ellie chuckles, lips tugging upwards to form the small smile Nick doesn’t know he love so much.

“What is it?” Nick shakes his head and asks.

“Bacon brown sugar chips” Ellie answers and chuckles more.

Nick laughs along and shakes his head fondly before replying “of course”.

“It reminded me of you, and all the time we spent together, work or outside work. And it made me see how much I want a life with you, Nick. I like you a lot Nick and I think I’m in love with you too. I hope I wasn’t too late to tell you this” Ellie ends with a shaky sigh.

Listening to Ellie’s heartfelt confession, Nick’s heart swells and aches at the same time. It swells because he thinks he’s in love with her too and aches for how small and scared the usually-confident Ellie looks right now.

Seeing a tear rolling down Ellie’s cheek, Nick moves one hand to cup her face and wipe it away with the pad of his thumb gently.

Ellie doesn’t know she’s crying until she feels Nick’s warm palm on her. She looks through the cloud of her tears into Nick’s eyes, seeing only adoration.

“You are so brave telling me all this Ellie Bishop, and you’re not too late I promise you.” Nick starts, hand still softly holding the side of Ellie’s head, “I made a wrong turn on the way to where I was going just now and ended up on your street. And all I could think of, sitting in my car and looking at your apartment building, is you El. About what you’re doing and about me being there with you too. I care about you a lot, Ellie, and I didn’t realise until just now how much I wanna be with you”

Ellie is full-on crying now, she lurches forward into Nick, who catches her with steady hands.

“I got you Ellie” Nick whispers and presses a kiss onto the top of Ellie’s head.

Ellie pulls back after a while, cries turned into occasional hiccups. She wipes her face with her sleeve as heat flashing through her face, feeling embarrassed.

Nick chuckles at Ellie’s sudden shyness and tilts her head up with a finger under her chin.

Holding her face between his palms, Nick says while looking right into Ellie’s eyes

“I think I’m in love with you too, Eleanor Bishop”

And when Ellie leans in to kiss Nick on his lips, all the fear inside her vanishes into nothing.

All she can feel now is Nick’s soft lips on her and his strong arms around her.

All she can feel is love

#ellick #ellie bishop #nick torres #ellie x nick #ncis #fanfic #post 17x06 #tiff writings

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unordinary-analysis · 5 years

Text

Episode 127

Honorable mentions:

So is pink haired girl Abby? I must knoww

Even if she’s not, she’s gotta be the cutest character yet

Is Illena pronounced eye-lena or ill-lena

While writing this and doing the necessary research, I realized that in my analysis of episode 125, I had some incorrect info. It doesn’t affect the theory at all, but when I said that Arlo made Isen head of the newspaper in episode 110, it was actually 109.

Im dying at the fact that the whole school left Isen bleeding on the ground because they were so s h o o k by John’s powers

Meili is so strong wth, she just picked up Isen

Arlo progressively gets more and more guyliner throughout this episode

Arlo is mad that John is a nuisance after refusing to help him… -_-

The pictures of Illena, Krolik, Wenqi, and Hower… who the heck takes school pictures like that. Smh haha

First up: CECILE

Cecile basically said she was going to team up with John in this episode. I’m really excited about this because I predicted this last week ;). Also because that is SO COOL. I’m imagining Cecile and John working together and oh my god they would be the BEST DUO. I can really see them working together though. Cecile understands why John acted up. He did it because Seraphina went missing. She gets his motives and still wants to help him. Nobody has done that yet, granted most people who know about John’s powers have gotten beaten up or threatened. Cecile’s mindset works like John’s does. They believe only people who are worthy should be in charge. Cecile said (about Arlo), “He keeps preaching about order while sitting on a throne he doesn’t deserve.” John and Cecile really have complementary morals.

The main difference between the two is that John doesn’t want to be a royal, which is understandable as he doesn’t deem himself worthy after what went down when he was king. Cecile wants the throne, she feels cheated out of hers. This doesn’t drive them apart, this is actually a perfect solution. When they defeat Arlo, Cecile can become queen and basically act as unofficial king, whilst John, the king, just does what he wants. Cecile gets to be in charge and John gets someone he likes in control of the school. Of course it would work better if Cecile could just be king and John is nothing, but due to uru-chan’s desire to make fun of anime tropes, only a male can be the main leader. So otherwise, great solution.

So basically, I’m all for a John/Cecile team-up

Next up: Why did Abby speak up?

Before I get into this, I want to be clear. When I refer to ‘Abby,’ I mean the pink-haired girl with pigtails. I’m too lazy to explain if you don’t know :/

Elaine is asking around about Seraphina, right. So she asks this group of probably low-tiers and all of them say that they haven’t seen her. They probably lying, but that’s not my point. Right after this, Abby approaches Elaine and says that she saw Seraphina yesterday. She gives Elaine some helpful info and later, figures out who the four students that took Seraphina were. She’s helpful and informative, which is actually very strange. Here’s why:

Abby is a low-tier. Along with her peers, she was treated close to trash by anybody higher up. She was mocked and made inferior. Also, if she’s a low-tier, there’s a good chance that she knows what’s going on in the abandoned house. I would say most low-tiers were present, even more know about it. Giving up Illena and friends’ identities is betrayal. So why does she want to help Elaine and Arlo? I have three reasons.

The first one is that I think Abby feels indebted to Seraphina somehow. Sera was helping her when she got into that fight. Abby told Elaine of this. Later when Abby is talking about her experiences as a low-tier, she makes the point that most high-tiers don’t pay attention to what happens to lower ranks. Seraphina was probably the first high-tier to help Abby out (even though she’s technically a cripple now). Abby seems to treat Arlo and Elaine with awe and blind obedience, probably out of fear. Due to this, I think that she would feel, more than any other low-tier, obligated to helping Seraphina. She could possibly be worried that if she didn’t Seraphina would smite her or something, but yeah that’s possible reason 1.

My second reason is that Abby really hates Illena and company. This reason probably has the most support. In this episode, Abby is real clear about how the stronger mid-tiers mistreat the low-tiers. She says they gang up on weak kids and make others do their assignments for them. She also says that anyone that complains is basically punished. So basically how the high-tiers treat the low-tiers but the effort it doubled and it’s intentional. Abby could see this as an opportunity, a way to escape the abuse of the mid-tiers. If she tells Arlo and Elaine, she could sick them on Illena, Krolik, Wenqi, Hower, and everybody else. Nobody would know that she was the one who snitched and she would be free. Probably why she looked so nervous in that panel of Arlo confronting Hower, she didn’t want Hower knowing about her helping Arlo. So yeah, that’s about it for reason two.

I would like to apologize in advance; this theory is completely reliant that the pigtailed girl is Abby, a reporter that has been mentioned only in name. She was the reporter that wrote the article about seraphina returning from suspension. So yeah… ;-; (I know I said I wouldn’t explain, but I feel I owe you some explanation).

My FAVORITE REASON (and probably most unlikely): reason 3. Abby actually isn’t aware of all that is happening to Seraphina. This sounds simple enough, but the reason for my reason is the real reason (I lost brain cells writing that).

So Abby is a reporter. She writes articles for the school newspaper and stuff like that. Because she’s written about Seraphina drama in the past, there’s a chance that she could do it again. The low and mid-tiers probably know this, hence the exclusion.

(before writing this, I was certain I would rant about this for like a page, but honestly, that’s all I have to say)

Moving onwards

Isen

I decided to make this a whole section even though there’s not much. I feel that the honorable mentions don’t get read all the way through.

WHEN MEILI FOUND ISEN HER FIRST WORDS WERE, “ISEN, HEY WAKE UP. WE STILL NEED YOU.” sksksksksksskskskksksk

She has no regard for Isen’s actually wellbeing haha. Even when she carries him, she is like so nonchalant. She even has her phone out.

Btw sorry for missing this meme Monday, I was pretty busy. I won’t forget this week though

#webtoon #unordinary #unordinary webtoon #uruchan #uru-chan #john doe #seraphina #line webtoon #webcomic #episode 127 #analysis #unordinary analysis #official

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occasionalfics · 6 years

Text

Human, p. 3

main masterlist | bucky masterlist | taglist | ko-fi | parts 1 & 2 and journal entries found in bucky masterlist

For me: Just some cute post-journals moments in the life of the Human reader and Bucky :D

Pairing: Bucky X Reader

A/N: I think you all know I love these two a lot, and I wanted to give them some happy, fluffy little memories.

Warnings: Vague mentions of sex but otherwise it’s all fluff

Words: 5,185

June

You’re not full to burst, but it’s obvious now. Georgie’s growing. He’s healthy and strong and active. He keeps you up, but you don’t mind. Being with him in the quiet of dark mornings is better than struggling through nightmares.

You don’t have many anymore, but they still come. You’re surrounded on all sides and outnumbered - but you wouldn’t have it any other way. Your boys are the world to you.

Sarge is too big to sleep in the bed now, but that’s okay. As long as you keep the bedroom door open, he sleeps soundly on the couch, stretching out his incredibly long legs and huge torso. With the door open, he feels comfortable coming in whenever you stir. He licks your hand to remind you he’s there for you, then he puts his face against your growing belly and sniffs like he’s communicating with Georgie.

Despite having a rather large Queen bed, Bucky insists on sleeping right up against you. Even with the body pillow meant to support your belly, he’s got a leg wrapped around yours at all times. He’s been like this since March, and you don’t have the heart (or really, the want) to deny him. Even when you’re back hurts and you’re sweating and just need some space, you can’t not be touching him.

You feel Georgie kick and pull Bucky’s hand to the spot. You know he’s asleep, but he wakes easily. He doesn’t mind. He’s told you he doesn’t want to miss any of it; if you’re awake and can tell him something’s happening, you do it.

Georgie’s kicks double with Bucky’s warm hand on you. You bite your lip so your chuckles don’t make too much noise. It’s still a dark, quiet morning, and it feels wrong to fill it with full volume voices.

“He loves you,” you whisper just as Bucky’s eyes open. “He’s gonna be a daddy’s boy. I can feel it.” You reach for Bucky’s hand and squeeze your fingers between his. Georgie kicks again.

“After all the time I’ve been waiting for him? He better,” Bucky mumbles, sleep still lining his words.

You laugh. Bucky’s been making a lot of old man jokes lately, especially when it comes to the fact that he’s technically over a hundred and just now having a baby. But you know he only feels old because of what he’s been through, not because of the time he’s spent alive. You reply the same way, if in different words.

“He knows. I think he knows it all already.”

You know one day you’ll have to sit down and explain to Georgie who the Winter Soldier was. You know he won’t come out of your womb with that knowledge already programmed in his brain. You know it’ll break his heart, and it’ll break Bucky’s to have to tell him… But it’s not like you won’t have your own trauma to share. You’ll have to explain, eventually, that you helped maintain the Soldier. Most importantly, you’ll explain that neither of you had a choice in the matter, and that the right to choose would always be something Georgie would have.

Still, it warms your heart and eases Bucky’s insecurities about fatherhood to think that Georgie already knows. Like, if he knows all of it and still loves Bucky that much, there’s nothing for Bucky to worry about. If someone pure and untouched by HYDRA could not only be made by him, but could show that kind of unconditional love for him, then he’s had to have done something right along the way.

Honestly, you feel the same way. If you can make something as perfect as George is and, after everything you’d already been through with him, still have him? You’d call that a success.

July

There are no more threats. Of course, the Avengers still find work, and intergalactic threats might loom, but there’s nothing coming for you anymore. You and Bucky move into a house - a real house, not a large one, but it’s still your home - with all the security Tony Stark could afford.

You often wonder why Tony cares so much. You know about Bucky and Howard and Maria. You know how hard that was for Tony to live with, knowing Steve, his friend, had known without saying anything. You know it took too long for Tony to deal with the knowledge, how long it took for Tony to trust Bucky enough to let him train with the team. How much longer it took before Bucky was an Avenger himself. You know things are sometimes still tense between them.

But when you ask Tony, in the rare quiet moment you get alone with him while Bucky and Steve are getting dinner for the team, he sighs and stares at the floor around you. His brows raise after a minute, crinkling his forehead and showing, for just a second, his age.

“Therapy, really,” he mumbles. “I learned how to look at people complexly. I didn’t ever do that before...before Pepper, i guess. But after the Accords… I realized that I wasn’t seeing Bucky, you know? Just the Soldier. Just what HYDRA wanted me to see.”

You rub your belly gently, listening intently. Tony doesn’t owe you this explanation. Not all of it. But you’re glad that he’s giving it.

“When I tore that arm off him, I saw something in his eyes… I dunno.”

You know what he’s saying. You sit a little straighter - as much as you can, with your stomach heavier and rounder than ever before. “Something...human?” you ask.

His eyes lift to yours and he stares, then nods slowly. “Yeah. Human. Like, I wasn’t looking at an assassin. And I took that to therapy with me. I kept thinking, That isn’t the thing that killed my mom. I know he was, but… But really, it was HYDRA.” He looks around you in silence then, like he’s not sure what else to say. But he’s Tony Stark. He always has something. “I went and re-read about the shit Nazis did in their hospitals during the War. I remembered things Steve told me about finding Bucky and…”

Georgie kicks, and quickly, without even thinking about it, you bring Tony’s hand to the spot so he can feel, too. You’re so used to doing it with Bucky that it doesn’t even feel weird with anyone else. Tony freezes, watching your belly shift below your thin shirt.

“Oh that’s so weird,” he says.

You laugh, because really, a baby kicking is not the weirdest thing Tony has ever seen. Tony keeps his hand where you’ve placed it as Georgie continues like he’s playing soccer from the womb, and you watch as the stress and lines fade from his face.

“My job with them was to keep him pliable. I wasn’t supposed to be showing him bits of his past. I was just supposed to...entertain him, I guess. Maybe, to some extent, they thought he’d develop feelings for me, then they could use me against him however they liked. I didn’t know any better. I knew what they were making him do - I had his file, I knew everything. But whenever they were done with him for the day, when they locked him up and sent me to do my job, I’d see those eyes. Human eyes.”

You get choked up, and you don’t know if it’s because of what you’re saying or hormones, but it doesn’t matter. Tony has his eyes focused on you again. Human eyes. Eyes not so different from yours or Bucky’s or Steve’s or anyone else’s - except for maybe Vision, for the simple fact that he isn’t human.

But you go on. “So whenever I could, I brought him pictures. He never really spoke to me - maybe he wasn’t allowed to, I don’t know that much. But every so often, I’d see a little hint that he might remember his mother or sister. I came in one night while he was asleep - I was supposed to wake him up, but I heard him muttering numbers. Sixteen of them. I wrote them down and realized they were his and his father’s service numbers.”

Georgie kicks, softer now, as if trying to make sure you’re okay. You nod and bite your lip.

“You think he remembered?” Tony whispers, like there’s anyone else in the room.

You shrug. “Maybe. Maybe not. I think they were both in the file. Even if he wasn’t recalling information from decades before, he knew there was a reason I was showing him the pieces of a person he didn’t recognize anymore. I don’t know if I was helping or hurting him, but he’s said that what I did for him made him realize HYDRA was lying to him about his identity.”

“He did say he’d gotten out because of you,” Tony says. “A million times. Everytime I questioned why you were here, actually.”

You don’t even flinch. You came straight from the same organization that had killed Tony’s parents. Of course he didn’t want to trust you at first.

“That’s why he spent months disappearing all over Europe for you, isn’t it? To get you out?”

Georgie kicks again as you nod. “After Triskelion, I was sent on a team to track him down and bring him back but I knew I wasn’t going to. I led them in the wrong directions for months, but then he found us. I got him out instead of bringing him in. I made the decision to run before I’d even known it, and all because I finally got to see who he really was. Mostly.”

Tony pauses, examining you closely. After a minute, he pulls his hand back and tells you, “You got guts, kid. Big ones. And if you and Cyborg aren’t the ones to take out HYDRA yourselves, that one will be.” He points to your belly just as dinner arrives.

August

After everything your body’s been through, your OBGYN suggests a cesarean. Maybe it’s not any less stress on your body, but it doesn’t involve pushing. Surgery. In and out, with Bucky right next to you the whole time. You’re dazed and hazy through the procedure, but you know when George is delivered by the scream he lets out the second he breathes oxygen on his own for the first time. It’s a purely blissful sound to your ears.

You barely remember seeing him for the first time. You’re so tired, ready for a nap and your dog. You get the former once the doctor says George is healthy.

Bucky, Steve, and Sam finished painting the nursery in your new home a week before George was born, so when you get home, it’s ready for him. The walls are a pale yellow, like the center of fresh baked rolls. You can see Steve’s touches all around; little Pooh Bears and Pigglets, Tiggers and Eeyores, Kangas and Roos are painted on each wall. The crib and rocker Bucky built are white to match the trim around the walls and the dresser and changing table. There’s even a large dog bed with a Winnie the Pooh cover on it by one wall for Sarge, which you’re slightly skeptical about, but you’re willing to give it a try.

You haven’t had a minute to get a good look at the nursery until now, but the second you step inside, you’re already crying. Bucky comes in with George in his arms, cooing nonsense at him softly. It only makes you cry harder. You grip the edge of the crib to steady yourself because everything is overwhelming and beautiful and you just can’t believe it’s all yours.

Bucky lays George down in the crib gently, lifting the side and locking it before he turns to you. “Babydoll,” he says, his voice quiet and concerned. “What’s wrong?”

You shake your head. “Nothing at all,” you say, sobbing as he wraps his arms around you. Arms that just held your baby, arms that, just a few months ago, he was scared would frighten the baby.

George is only a few days old, but you already know his favorite place in the world is right up against his daddy’s chest, one warm and one cold arm holding him. You’d be jealous if you didn’t think Bucky absolutely deserved the attention.

“Everything is perfect, Buck. Except,” you say as you stare at an almost entirely blank section of the wall. There’s no furniture in the corner between Sarge’s bed and George’s closet.

“Except?” Bucyk asks. He leans back and wipes tears from your cheeks, looking at you with eyes that match George’s.

Human eyes. Barnes eyes. Eyes you’ve loved and believed in for years now; eyes that will always remind you of the strength your family is built on.

“He needs a bookcase,” you whisper, nodding to the empty corner.

Bucky turns to see the space, never removing his hands from your back. He nods too, letting out a little breathy chuckle. “So he does. I’ll get on it tomorrow.”

It’s almost a year later before you and Bucky get a week alone. Neither of you mind; your life as parents, as a married couple with a baby is enough to distract and fulfill you during that time.

Georgie is the light of both your lives. He’s one of the happiest babies you’ve ever seen. Bucky says he gets it from you, but you’re not entirely convinced. You think he simply has amazing parents who love him unconditionally. He’s got a daddy who would pull the sun out of the sky for him and a mommy who’d move the stars if he asked. And an entire team of superheroes that would easily kick the ass of anyone who dared lay a malevolent hand anywhere near him.

And it’s that team - specifically Natasha, Clint, Sam, and Steve - who suggest Bucky and you take a week off and go on a belated honeymoon. Sam and Steve have come around often enough to know the basics of childcare - Steve’s Georgie’s godfather, after all, and Sam’s been sent over by his wife, Adrienne, to learn for their own future. And Natasha’s been a part of Clint’s children’s lives since they were born. Plus, they all agree to take the week off as well, leaving the world-saving to Tony, Bruce, Thor, Rhodey, Wanda, and new recruits who might be ready for battle.

So you and Bucky feel comfortable taking the time away from the baby. Mostly. Everyone leaving for the week boards a quinjet together, flies out to Clint’s off-the-grid home, and settles in. Georgie clings to Steve, especially as you and Bucky say goodbye, and cries rather quietly for a one-year-old. The last thing you see is Laura wiping Georgie’s cheeks and cooing to distract him.

You’re a little on edge as you, Bucky, Rhodey, and Tony board the quinjet again. Tony makes a few casual, if guarded, quips about lovebirds and alone time as he takes off. You and Bucky both ignore him, knowing the flight will take a while. Thankfully, Rhodey steps in and tells his friend to shut up and fly.

You’re not surprised that Tony Stark owns his own island in the Caribbean. You’re a little surprised that it’s called Carter Island, but once Tony and Rhodey take off for Manhattan again, Bucky tells you what he knows about Steve’s girl from the 40’s - that she was kind of a badass, that she was the one that went against orders and convinced Tony’s dad to fly Steve out to the base where Bucky and the Commandos had been held, essentially that she was at least part of the reason Bucky was even still alive.

You haven’t been on the island more than a few hours before you decide it’s one of your favorite places in the world. It’s beautiful - the weather is warm and the water is clear and the Stark staff is all accommodating and casual - but more than that, it’s named after Peggy Carter.

Other than the staff, you and Bucky are the only ones on the island. There are a series of cabins in the center of the landmass, all fully furnished and technologically advanced, like Tony’s been planning a team getaway or something. You and Bucky take the one that faces West, because you know you’ll only be able to sleep in for a week and the last thing you want is the sun waking you up every morning prematurely.

You sleep for thirteen hours. You both passed out before dinnertime the first night on the island, exhausted from jetlag, parenting, and seeing what you could of Carter Island before you settled in. And when you wake up, the sun is so bright that it fills the room even though it’s still leaning toward the East.

As he usually is, Bucky’s laying on his stomach with his Vibranium arm strung across your midsection. He’s snoring lightly, his breath falling on your shoulder in even bursts. He’s hardly ever this peaceful, so you drink in the quiet serenity of the cabin, of your sleeping husband and whatever dreams he’s having. They have to be dreams - he’s not fitful at all, and you might even classify the turned-up corner of his mouth as a small smile if you’re being particular.

For just a minute, you wonder why Georgie hasn’t woken you up yet. But then you remember that he’s not here, and you sigh a little sadly. You’re on your honeymoon - quite possibly the only vacation you’ll get with Bucky alone for the next eighteen years - and Georgie is in the best hands you can think of. You shouldn’t miss him that much. Not yet.

Still, you turn over and check your phone. Of course the island has perfect cell reception, regardless of carrier. Of course. You unlock the device and see you have a handful of texts. Your heart skips once, but when you open the messages, you relax. They’re all pictures.

Georgie with Nathaniel, playing with toy animals. Georgie with Laura and Nat, coloring at the kitchen table while Clint and Sam are cooking behind them. Adrienne, who’s bigger than you were when you’d been as far along as she is because she’s having twins, is sitting on the couch with Georgie and Sam standing next to her, all doing what looks like the left-leg-in motion of the Hokey Pokey. And your favorite - what you think will definitely be Bucky’s favorite when he wakes up - is a short video of Steve cradling a sleepy-but-fighting-it Georgie, bouncing gently from his knees as he sings the Winnie the Pooh theme song. It all brings tears to your eyes, but that video makes them fall and forces an excited little sob from your throat.

“What’s wrong babydoll?” you hear a groggy voice call. Bucky’s metal fingers flex on your side, and you shift around to show him everything. When you get to the video, he’s in the same situation - tears falling from his gorgeous eyes, his cheeks huge and pink, his smile wider than you’ve ever seen it. “How’d we end up with such a perfect little boy?” he asks.

You put the phone down on the bed and place your palms on the sides of his face. Without answering, you lean in and kiss the trails his tears have left. His arms - both of them now - wrap all the way around you, and your overwhelmed with the feelings of security, safety, and adoration. All the things you’ve associated with Bucky for what feels like so long that you can’t really remember a time when you didn’t feel them.

You lift your lips from his skin, but Bucky doesn’t let you go and you don’t want him to. You’re almost completely fine spending this first full day on vacation in bed, just soaking in the comfort and love and protection Bucky’s giving you.

“We made him, Buck,” you whisper, watching his eyes, because they’ve always been the tether between your humanity and his. “That perfect little boy came from you and me.”

His sigh is shaky and his eyes are watery again. You push your fingers through his hair, gently brushing out any knots from his pillow, and feel him shiver. His eyes close as he kisses you, and yours follow.

You don’t know if you ever really believed in soulmates, but you can’t help but feel that you and Bucky were meant to find one another. After everything - after HYDRA and helping one another escape, after traversing Europe and falling for one another and healing and growing together, after doing the family thing all backwards and not caring in the least about it - how could you not believe that some higher power in the universe had been pushing you together from the start? How could Georgie be anything other than proof of that push?

When Bucky pulls away, he only goes far enough to trace your jaw with more kisses. He goes along one side, comes back around, then finishes in the center at your chin, all before settling back on the pillow with a loud, content sigh. “I love you so much,” he says, his eyes slowly opening on your face again.

Your left hand on his right cheek presses in so he can feel the metal band of your wedding ring. You’re so full of joy and love, and you only just woke up. “I’d say I love you more, but I’m pretty sure that’d just end in a fight,” you joke.

“You’re damn right ‘bout that,” he says, chuckling and smiling so wide that his eyes crinkle.

Breakfast is easy and quiet, and then you spend most of the snorkeling. You briefly think you must’ve learned to swim in your past life, the one you still can’t remember, because it comes as naturally to you as breathing. You love the feel of the water on your skin, cooling the sun’s rays as you search for sea creatures.

Around dinner time, you FaceTime with Steve for a bit. Georgie grips the phone in his tiny hands as she sits in Steve’s lap and gurgles at you, mostly. He laughs and calls for Bucky, clapping whenever Bucky asks him how someone else in the Barton household is doing. You both tell him again and again how much you love and miss him, and just before Steve hangs up, you see Georgie slump back against his chest comfortably, a lot like how you slump against Bucky at the end of a long day.

For the first time in what feels like a long time, you and Bucky make slow, intimate, careful love to one another that night. You don’t have to rush - there’s no baby that’ll wake you up before the sun comes up, no missions to think about, no exhaustion left on your body. Just love and tenderness.

The week passes by in soft and heated kisses, gentle and bruising-passionate touches, fun indoors and out, sun and moon. For the first time...ever, you and Bucky are allowed to be together with no interruptions, no stress or worries. You don’t want the feeling to go away, but you know it has to.

You miss Georgie. As much as you love having Bucky to yourself, you miss your little happy boy. You both do, so as the week comes to a close and you pack your bags to go home, you and Bucky share an excited surge of energy. It’s odd to think, you consider, but you’re excited to go home, to be back in your normal routine and life with your boys and Sarge.

“Babydoll,” Bucky says as he shuts his suitcase. You look up from yours when he wraps his arms around you from behind, trailing kisses from your neck to your shoulder. “Next time we come here, Georgie’s coming with us. He’d love the beach.”

You nod with a sigh. “Sounds perfect.”

3 YEARS LATER

Georgie plays on the floor of the compound’s living room while you wait. You’re nervous, but just enough to make your leg jump in an annoying rhythm. You need Bucky to come back, but that’s not even what you’re nervous about. Any minute now, he’ll walk through the door and Georgie will run to him and you’ll follow with Sarge at your side and then…

You can’t tell him here, with everyone around. But you want to, because the thought of waiting even more until you get home only makes you more nervous.

“FRIDAY?” you ask, watching as Georgie pushes his toy car around the floor, making wet noises meant to mimic an engine.

“Yes, Mrs. Barnes?”

“How far?” You bite your lip.

“Only a few minutes now,” she responds. “They’re about to dock.”

You breathe heavily and shut your eyes.

“Daddy’s home?” Georgie asks. His car’s stopped, which you can only tell by the lack of plastic wheel sounds. You feel when he comes over to you and puts his hands on your knees.

You nod and look at him with a smile. “Yeah buddy, Daddy’s home. Soon.” You push his dark hair away from his face and wonder, yet again, how he looks so much like Bucky. If your husband looked a few years younger than he did, people might actually think he and George were brothers. “Remember what we talked about?”

He nods. “We gotta secret, but we can’t tell ‘til we get home.”

You nod, too, knowing that this is the best way. “You’re such a good listener,” you tell him, then you lean forward and kiss his forehead.

He goes back to playing for a few minutes, and you go back to bouncing your legs. Before too long, thankfully, the elevator sounds, and you sigh loudly. You wonder briefly why FRIDAY didn’t warn you that they were home, finally, but you don’t think too hard about it.

Georgie rushes to the elevator and gets scooped into Steve’s arms with a loud laugh. You make your way over with a smile and shake your head as Georgie says, “Uncle Steve, you’re stinky!”

“Always am, bud,” he says with a chuckle. “Looks like you kept Sarge and momma safe. Good job!” They high five before Steve hands Georgie off to Bucky.

Immediately, your heart skips when you see George’s hands go to Bucky’s face. “Daddy, mommy and me have a secret!”

Bucky doesn’t respond at first. He looks at you, then back to Georgie and asks, “Oh yeah? What is it?”

Sarge pads over and sniffs Bucky’s boots before Georgie answers, “Gotta wait ‘til we get home!”

You breathe in relief, even though you’d only gone over the plan a few minutes ago. Bucky looks back at you and pets Sarge between his pointed ears.

“Am I gonna like this surprise?” he asks, the hint of a smile on his lips.

“Hope so,” you say, moving right up to his side. You share a quick kiss before smiling at one another, and then as a group, you say goodbye to the rest of the team and head home. Sarge takes up most of the back seat of the car, though he’s bent awkwardly to make room for Georgie’s car seat. You and Bucky hold hands the entire drive home.

When everything settles for the night, you and Bucky cuddle up on the couch while Georgie and Sarge play together.

“So what’s all this about a secret?” Bucky asks, running his fingers along your shoulder.

You bite your lip quickly, knowing now is the time. “So the other day, I had my physical while Georgie was at school.” You pause for dramatic effect, but Bucky’s face goes into worry the longer you make him wait. You smile and say, “I’m fine. Better than fine, actually.”

There are obvious ways to tell him that come to mind, but they don’t feel right. You decide to grip his metal hand, the one that’s around your shoulders, and bring it in front of you. You position his palm against your belly and lace your fingers between his.

Nothing happens at first. You don’t blame him - he’s probably exhausted from the mission, and nothing moves within, so there isn’t much for him to go off of except the smile on your face and your hand holding his to you. But after a few seconds, he catches on.

“R-really?” he asks, like he can’t believe what you’re trying to tell him.

You nod. “Really.”

In a flash, Bucky throws himself over you, pressing your back into the seat cushions. He kisses you, slow and deep, and you laugh through it at his enthusiasm.

You have to break away sooner than you expect, when Georgie comes over and asks, “Mommy, are you okay?!”

Bucky laughs with you as you nod and turn your attention to your son.

“Yes, buddy, thanks for checking up on me,” you tell him. “I was just telling Daddy the secret.”

“Can I know now?” Georgie asks, his eyes widening as he looks at you and Bucky, his whole head swiveling.

You laugh again as Bucky sits up. He pulls Georgie into his lap, and you reposition yourself next to them again.

“Buddy, Mommy’s gonna have a baby,” Bucky says with so much joy and elation in his tone that you can’t help but beam too. “You’re gonna be a big brother!”

Georgie looks at you, and when you nod, his little face turns into the happiest expression you think you’ve ever seen. He tries to stand up, but falters. Bucky catches him, but he still manages to fall against you and wrap his tiny arms around your neck. You hold onto him like he’s the most precious thing you’ve ever had - which he is, though soon enough he’ll be one of the most precious things you’ve ever had.

“When?” he asks as he sits in your lap.

You and Bucky exchange a curious glance, then laugh once again. You kiss Georgie’s forehead, and when you’re calm enough, you tell him, “Not for a few months, buddy. But soon enough.”

He frowns a little at first, but apparently decides he can wait. “That’s okay,” he tells you. “I have Sarge until then. I hope you have a baby girl, mommy.”

At the sound of his name, Sarge comes and sits on his haunches, staring at the three of you expectantly. Bucky pets him while you tilt your head at Georgie.

“Why do you want a girl, buddy?” you ask, simply curious of what’s going through his head.

Georgie shrugs. “Me and Daddy and Sarge are all boys. You should get a girl,” he says like it’s the most sensible thing he’s ever thought.

And maybe it is. You melt at his words, smile at him, and hold him tight to you again. “That’s so nice of you, buddy. I’m kind of hoping for a girl, too.”

“You are?” Bucky asks. He’s got on the same curious glance Georgie gave you a bit ago, and when you nod, he shrugs. “I can get used to the idea.”

Tags!

Global: @infinityblogger @welcome-to-my-daydreams @loverofromance @httpmcrvel @capsheadquaters @samanthasmileys @sunigyrl @yeahbutmarvel @mysweetcookie99 @ourdreamsrealized @tinyfistwarrior @punkrockhufflefluff @lady-thor-foster @nerdywitch @dreamerinfinity @demonspawn2468 @blackpantherimagines @memyselfandmaddox @acciorinn @the-resal10 @untoldshortsofthefandoms @j-marvel-memester @vinyloider @fridolf-arach @cassiopeia-barrow @alexiamiky2003 @wildefire @super-fan-of-all-things @deathbyarabbit @raveennn @thesassmisstress @bvckysmanbun

Bucky: @girlwhoisfearless @athorable-and-deanlicous @mrsdeanwinchester19 @eyesfixedonthesun22 @marvelous-super-soldier @rodkrake @absolukeyrh @lauravalentinasblog @alexiamiky2003 @soulessbabylovesyou @buckywhoops

Human: @chook007 @a-kiddo-with-a-doggo @lauravalentinasblog @buckywhoops

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #human fic

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romanticatheart-posts · 6 years

Text

King Sized Revelations - 1

Pairings: Liam x MC (Catherine)

This series begins after the wedding of King Liam and Duchess Catherine and in my story, Constantine is still alive. Constantine decides to give Catherine his most heartfelt apology and also a glimpse of what Liam endured during his childhood after his mother’s passing.

Disclaimer: Pixelberry owns all characters.

No warnings

The King Father has requested a moment of your time and as you make your way to the study, you suddenly feel uneasy. You haven't seen much of him lately and with his health declining since the wedding, a private nurse was brought in shortly after to help take care of his increasing needs. Since Liam is away on business for the next several days, you will be facing his father alone. There is a sinking feeling that he is going to ask for your assistance in breaking the news to Liam that he hasn’t much time left.

Standing outside the door, one of the guards bows, you thank him and smile as you walk in. Expecting to see Constantine looking gaunt and in the wheelchair he's been bound to for the past few months, it’s a surprise to see him sitting behind his desk looking quite regal. And the wheelchair is nowhere in sight. He smiles when you approach, as does Regina and his nurse, both of which are standing on either side of him. They each greet you warmly.

"Wow, Constantine you look rather dashing today." Regina smiles at him. "He does, doesn't he?" Catherine nods and looks at him expectantly.

"So, you wanted to see me?" Constantine gestures to the chair in front of the desk. "Yes please, have a seat." He turns to the nurse. "Would you mind giving us a moment?" She nods. "Certainly your Majesty." Once she leaves the room, Constantine turns back to you. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice. I know your schedule is quite hectic with Liam being away, but I promise to be brief.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Constantine has some news to share. Isn't that right dear?" "That is correct, and I'll get right to the point. As you know, I've been receiving a new treatment and after visiting the doctor this morning, I'm told there is a bit of improvement in my prognosis." "This is wonderful news, Constantine! To be honest I was expecting something more to the contrary. Have you told Liam yet?" "No, but I will as soon as he returns." "He is going to be so happy. We should celebrate when he gets back." "Well, it might be a bit premature for a celebration but I’m certainly thankful to be given a second chance... to rebuild some of those bridges I’ve burned over the years. Each day will still be a struggle, but at least there is hope." "Maybe you'll feel well enough to attend the annual Apple Festival coming up next month." "It's always a delightful event," Regina replies. "I certainly enjoy the activities, and Liam's brother has hinted that he might be joining us as well. It would be wonderful having the entire family together." "Yes, it's been ages.” Regina concurs. "I know Liam misses him. How long has it been?" "He keeps in touch by phone from time to time, but the last time we actually saw him was at Liam's coronation. I hadn't realized how long ago that was…"

His expression becomes somewhat pained and before he looks back to you, he sighs almost painfully.

"Catherine, there were several why reasons I asked you here today." "Oh?"

Your mind starts racing... It was an innocent mistake… How could you have known the Dutch Prime Minister was allergic to dairy products? Constantine gathers his thoughts carefully and with an anguished expression, he begins.

"Things were a bit hectic before the end of the social season… I hadn’t planned to let so much time pass before addressing this issue, but... if you'll indulge me for a moment, I believe I owe you a bit of an explanation and an apology." "That's not necessary Constantine. It was a long time ago and even though I don’t understand, I think we've moved past that now. And besides, life is too short to dwell on things we can’t change. I wish you would just let it go… I know I have." "That is very commendable, but I cannot ignore how I brought so much grief to you and my own son by deliberately distorting the truth about the woman he loves... you have proven a hundred times over just how wrong I was… if only I had listened to Liam... trusted him...”

Constantine looks at you expectantly.

"Constantine, you don't have to do this..." "Yes. I do… I need you to know how deeply sorry I am... I've carried a great deal of guilt and it's time for me to try and restore peace within our family… Since retiring, I have had more than enough time to contemplate the poor decisions I've made over the years, but none more troubling than those I made against you. It's all so clear to me now… Liam was just as affected by it as you were. When I think back at the look on his face... the moment he saw those pictures of you and Tariq, I immediately regretted what I had done… his life was shattered in an instant and I kept thinking, what kind of man could do that to his son? And I was not prepared for his reaction… He was…"

Constantine tries to fight back the tears...

"… he was devastated and then, his expression resolved to desperation while he anxiously searched the crowd for you… It was then that I knew how deeply he cared for you… I wanted to reveal my deception… bring you back to him and erase this travesty… But by then it was too late, the damage was done… I didn’t know how far removed I had become, and even in my own grief, I can only imagine the torment you and he must have suffered...”

Regina puts her hand on Constantine's shoulder as he holds his head in his hands, and begins sobbing uncontrollably, shaking his head as if trying to erase that haunting memory. You feel a surge of compassion and tears begin to well up in your eyes as you reach out to him, placing your hand on his.

“...honestly, it was a relief when you discovered the truth… even though my shame was great, the guilt was much greater." "Constantine, please don't do this to yourself. It’s in the past. Have you spoken to Liam about this? It would mean a lot to him." "I have tried, but it's quite clear that he's not ready to forgive me just yet… if he does at all. I had lost sight of what was most important. I should have supported you and welcomed you into our family." "Granted, it wasn't ideal, but you're still his father." "Yes, his respect is palpable, but he no longer regards me the same way as before. Although... I can't say I blame him." "I'm sure it will all work out in time." "I can only hope… I have no right to expect forgiveness, but it would mean a great deal to know that it’s possible." "I already have. It’s not in my heart to harbor animosity."

He looks up in disbelief, but his expression turns to relief as he pats your hand appreciatively and sighs heavily as he leans back into his chair.

"Thank you... thank you for allowing an old man the opportunity to somewhat redeem himself. Over the last few months, I have come to respect your integrity and value your presence in our family." "It is quite honorable to look past the misfortunes of your life and be able to forgive. I'm certain it was not easy, but it says a lot about your character. I am quite impressed." Regina offers. "Well, we are family now, and families stick together, right?”

Constantine and Regina look to you with a newfound respect and sense of peace falls over the room.

"Absolutely. You know, I have never seen Liam happier, and the devotion that undoubtedly exists between you two is inspiring. Anyone can see that you belong together. I just wish that I had realized it sooner."

"We do make a pretty good team." "I certainly can't deny that... There is one more thing before you go."

Constantine slides back in the office chair and opens the drawer. He carefully removes an envelope and offers it to you from across the desk. You accept the thick, timeworn envelope and can’t help but notice the elegant wax seal that holds it closed. It is stamped with the Cordonian crest, making it appear official and upon seeing this, you turn to Constantine.

"What's this?" "A letter of course. Liam's mother wrote it... a few months before she passed." "Oh... but, shouldn't you give it to Liam? I mean…" "It's not for Liam, child… it's for you." "For me? But what… I mean, how…?"

Constantine's smile is bittersweet as his countenance becomes almost nostalgic, and then he turns to Regina.

"Darling, I hope you won't mind if I speak openly about Liam's mother for just a moment. I did make a promise and I would like to respect her wishes." "Of course I don't mind. It is important that you honor her memory. She is Liam's mother after all." "I hope you know that my reverence is no less for you, Regina." "You've never given me any reason to doubt that dear…"

Constantine smiles appreciatively at her and then slowly turns back to you.

"Victoria always knew that our son would grow up and marry someday. I am not quite sure if she had a premonition or if she simply wanted to put her emotions into words, but she wrote this letter a few months before that terrible incident and asked me to present it to the woman of Liam's choosing when the time came that he would take a wife. It was her dying wish to give her blessing to the woman he would one day marry, in honor of his true love. Her only expectation was that you would come to know her somewhat... and in her own words. I am not aware of its contents, but she was an exceptional woman as I am certain you will determine upon reading the letter. Since Liam won't be back for a few days, you'll have no distractions when reading it but, you may share it with him if you so wish."

"I... I don’t know what to say... I'm touched… she must have loved him very much.”

"Absolutely… In fact, I had never witnessed so much joy than what I saw the day he was born. She often felt consumed by the demands of courtly life, and taking care of Leo was a welcomed reprieve, but I always knew something was missing. I was happy to see that becoming a mother afforded her the solace she needed. She was a wonderful woman, and we all suffered a tremendous loss…" "I know it was hard on everyone. Liam still mourns her sometimes."

"It was such a terrible time for all of us, but I believe Liam was the one most affected by it. He was inconsolable for months afterward and when he learned the truth about her death, he remained despondent for many years. It was even worse after his brother abdicated. Seeing him become even more withdrawn and sullen... Well, it was cause for a great deal of concern." "My heart aches for him just thinking about it." "That is why I agreed to let him arrange that little excursion in New York before the start of the social season. I thought being away from court would give him time to reflect upon his life and in some way gain a renewed sense of hope and acceptance of his purpose. Upon his return, I could see that the trip had not proved to be the success I had hoped, but as Regina has so eloquently pointed out to me, it was only when you arrived in Cordonia, that he slowly began to recover from his seemingly dismal outlook and became the man I always knew he would be. I am thankful Liam found his solace in you." "He did the same for me... It was fate that brought us together, even against all the odds." "Victoria would have been proud of the man he has become... and his choice for a wife." "What was she like? If you don't mind me asking…"

He pauses for a moment as if deep in thought and then a smile comes to his face.

"Well, she was somewhat of a commoner by birthright but became a very strong presence at court. While I was born and bred to this life, it was a blessing to have the balance and simplicity she brought to our family. The people of Cordonia adored her openness and generosity but those attributes were ultimately the cause of her demise… Things were a bit different back then." "I wish I could have met her." "She was, in many ways, like yourself. I'd consider you two as kindred spirits." "I'll take that as a compliment." "The highest I could possibly give. Her zest for life was infectious." "Well, thank you for sharing that with me." "No, thank you, Catherine. Thank you for reminding me that life is more than just governing and politics… It is about devotion, to the ones we hold dear… and the value of family above all else." "I think you already knew that, but I'm glad if I played a part in helping you remember." "Watching how you've turned things around for Liam is a blessing in my eyes and I am eternally grateful." "Thank you, but I'm certainly nothing special." "You are to Liam, and that is what matters the most." "Well, we all have a lot to be thankful for. Especially your good news." "Yes, that too is a blessing."

There is a slight pause in the conversation as each of you take a moment to reflect. You sigh and then stand up from the chair.

"Well, thank you for giving me the letter and for this talk. It means a lot to know that I have your support. I'll go for now, but will I see you two at dinner?" "Yes dear. I look forward to the next item on the menu. The kitchen staff seems excited about your recent selections, and I must say, everything so far has been quite delicious." "That is very kind, but I can't take credit for planning the menu this week. Liam insisted that we think of him in his absence, so it will be all of his favorites." "He does have a gift for tasteful sustenance. Although I am becoming quite fond of the variety since you took over the menu." "I'm glad you approve." "It will be lovely." "I hope so, but it won’t be the same without Liam.” "He is only away for a few days…" "Yes, but a few days can seem like an eternity when you are newlyweds." "I suppose it does, but he'll be back in no time." "I know, but this is the first time we've been apart since the wedding and it's just a bit of an adjustment." "I remember the first time Constantine and I were separated after our marriage. I felt a bit lost without him as well but keeping busy seems to help. Constantine and I are here if you should need anything dear." "Thank you. And don't be surprised if I take you up on that. With this brunch coming up tomorrow I may need your expertise." "I'd be happy to assist." "I'll see you two at six." "Until then…"

You take your leave and walk slowly to your own office with the letter in hand. Upon entering you head straight to the desk and place the letter on the corner. Turning around you see a pile of documents on the table that your assistant prepared before taking the day off to attend to some personal business. You sigh and wander over, picking them up as you begin shuffling through each one. Almost as if being drawn by some force, your gaze drifts to the desk and the letter that sits on the corner. You stand there for a moment contemplating your next move…

"Okay Victoria, what is it you want to tell me?"

You walk back to the desk and sit down pulling yourself and the chair up to it. You casually pick up the letter turning it over in your hands a few times and then lay it down, so the seal is facing up. Your hand grasps it and carefully peels it back. Reaching in to pull out the contents, you can't help but notice there are pages and pages of handwritten words… words, written by Liam's mother.

"(This is going to take a while…)"

You slowly unfold the letter as your heart begins to thump wildly in your chest. Taking a deep breath… you begin to read…

#theroyalromance #the royal romance #playchoices #teamliam #kingliam #king liam #liam x mc

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aion-rsa · 4 years

Text

The Boys Season 2 Ending Explained

https://ift.tt/2GJg6xt

The following contains spoilers for The boys season 2 finale.

The Boys’ second season has featured everything from some long-awaited superhero faceoffs and multiple exploding heads to literal Nazis and almost everything in between. The season 2 finale “What I Know” wraps up a surprising amount of plot in a single installment, as Stormfront finally gets her comeuppance, Butcher and Becca attempt to rescue a kidnapped Ryan, and Starlight finally gets the evidence that could bring down Vought. That none of these plots turn out the way most of us expected shouldn’t be surprising at this point, and yet…

Here’s a rundown of how everything wrapped up – or didn’t – and what we think it all might mean for The Boys season 3.

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Stormfront’s Past is Exposed

The finale is another great example of the deft way The Boys has used Stormfront’s character to illustrate the insidious nature of white supremacy all season long – her explanation of the false idea of “white genocide” is particularly chilling – culminating in her declaration that a lot of people actually like what she has to say, and what they’re really afraid of is the word “Nazi”.

However, thanks to some sleuthing by Hughie and Starlight – with an important assist from A-Train – Stormfront is finally publicly exposed as the monster we’ve known her to be since Season 2’s second episode. Photos of Stormfront’s wedding to original founder Frederick Vought are leaked to the press, complete with giant swastika and photos with notorious figures from Hitler’s regime like Henrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels.

The fact that the same kind of memes and social videos that facilitated her rise are precisely what help bring her down is just the icing on the cake of her comeuppance. Yet, “What I Know” doesn’t really do much in the way of interrogating Homelander’s apparent support of her ideals and/or plans for a superior race of supes, instead choosing to make his motivation primarily about the gaping emotional void inside himself rather than his thoughts on race. Maybe that’s for the best, in the end, but it’s a plot point that would be worth revisiting in season 3.

A-Train Teams Up with Starlight

After eavesdropping on Stan Edgar and Alastair Adana, A-Train learns that the reason he’s been pushed out of the Seven is because Stormfront is a Nazi and virulent racist. Despite his previous beef with Starlight and Hughie (and, you know, the fact that he killed Hughie’s girlfriend in season 1), A-Train deliberately seeks the duo out to pass along a folder of information he’s stolen from the Church of the Collective’s apparently very extensive secret document database.

The Boys Season 2: What Is The Church of the Collective?

By Jamie Andrew

The Boys Season 2: Who Is Making Everyone’s Head Explode?

By Kirsten Howard

Though A-Train insists no one can know he played a part in leaking this material that will drive his rival out of his former superhero team, his willingness to work with someone he vowed to kill just a few short episodes to go certainly seems to indicate that he and Starlight could be uneasy allies going forward.

Butcher Makes a Deal

Billy Butcher’s goal for most of The Boys has been fairly straightforward – find out what happened to his wife. After discovering she was still alive that goal shifted to reuniting with her. But no matter what, Becca was always the foremost thing in Butcher’s mind. This is why it isn’t surprising that Billy both vows to help Becca rescue her son from Homelander’s clutches and immediately promises to turn Ryan over to Vought as long as they separate him from his mother. This isn’t the first time he’s tried to ensure that he can “get Becca back” without also having to be involved in her son’s life (see also: “Nothing Like It In the World”). But it is the first time he apparently realizes that what he’s been doing is wrong.

In the end, Butcher changes his mind, luring Vought to Homelander’s cabin to give Becca and Ryan time to escape and insisting that he can’t come with them because he can’t be trusted around the boy. It’s perhaps the first selfless decision we’ve ever actually seen Butcher make, and it’s unexpectedly moving, as is his decision to confess his deal in an attempt to get Becca to leave without him.

The Girls Get It Done

Though Maeve initially rebuffs Starlight’s request to turn on – and testify against – Homelander, the warrior queen still shows up when it counts, appearing out of nowhere to deck Stormfront, rescue Starlight and her friends, and ultimately blackmail Homelander into leaving them all alone.

The “Girls Get It Done” marketing ploy that has infused much of The Boys season 2 has meant a lot of lip service to the idea of female empowerment, but not much backing it up with action. (Though Starlight’s arc has seen her reclaiming her own voice and working against Vought from within.) In the finale, we finally get to see the series’ women come together in a meaningful way – and beat the crap out of a Nazi at the same time.

The sequence in which Maeve, Starlight, and Kimiko team up to beat down Stormfront is both immensely fun and intensely satisfying, and a sign that Maeve definitely isn’t the lost cause that some of her Seven teammates might be.

Ryan Accidentally Kills Becca

Unfortunately, Becca Butcher is the sort of female character who generally exists in the world of The Boys to provide narrative and emotional motivation for the men around her. The show spends comparatively little time exploring how she felt about either being violated by Homelander or faking her own death, ultimately using her as an emotional lodestone for both her husband and her son.

Desperate to save his mother from Stormfront’s clutches, Ryan’s Homelander-esque super abilities finally activate and he blasts both women with his laser eyes. Stormfront is badly injured, but Becca’s wounds are fatal because there was probably never any future for this character that didn’t include a tragic death. She spends her final moments begging Butcher to protect Ryan and insisting that it’s not his fault she’s dying. In short: That kid is going to need so much therapy.

Homelander Chooses Himself

After Becca’s death, Butcher and Homelander face off over the child. But before Homelander can kill Billy, Maeve arrives and threatens her Seven colleague with the video footage of him leaving a plane full of people to die last season.

Maeve’s terms are: Let Ryan go, stop hunting Starlight, and leave Maeve and Elena alone, or she’ll release the footage to the press. Homelander, predictably, threatens to destroy everything she cares about, but Maeve says that’s fine, as long as she gets to watch the entire world realize he’s a monster first. (Which honestly, would be pretty fun.) It’s the threat of the public condemnation – and the loss of the cult-like worship he currently enjoys – that finally makes Homelander stand down. This isn’t much of a surprise – the giant emotional void in his soul was never going to be filled by a single child that he never actually wanted that much in the first place.

Victoria Neuman’s Secret

The final moments of “What I Know” contain one last surprise – Congresswoman Victoria Neuman, a vocal opponent of Vought and a blood-smeared bystander in the supervillain attack on Congress, is actually a supe herself. And, since her ability allows her to make people’s heads explode, she’s apparently behind the attack on her own hearing.

The episode doesn’t reveal much about her motivation – except power, and more of it – but her decision to murder Chruch of the Collective leader Adana rather than owe him a favor for the information he provided doesn’t bode well for anyone. Especially poor do-gooder Hughie, who’s decided to take a job with her campaign.

What Now?

The season 2 finale actually manages to tie up quite a few loose story ends, so much so that it’s hard to predict exactly what might happen when The Boys returns for a third season.

Though Stormfront is left badly burned and missing multiple limbs, she’s somehow still alive enough to be blamed for the attack on Congress and used as a scapegoat for all the problems at Vought and with Compound V. Homelander vows she’ll be punished and welcomes Starlight back to The Seven, clearing her name and restoring her original superhero costume in the process. (Thank goodness.)

Starlight and Hughie finally admit what we all knew – that they’re both crazy about each other – and get back together officially. After a season’s worth of the two of them struggling to trust one another again, it’s nice to get to see someone on The Boys get what feels like a legitimate happy ending and these two deserve it more than most. If Vought doesn’t put some Starlight + Hughie forever merch on the market, they’re really missing a trick.

After almost sacrificing himself for Ryan, Butcher turns the boy over to Malory and her CIA team, despite his concerns over whether it’s possible for him to grow up to be better than his father. (“Becca thought so,” he says, and leaves it at that.) With Ryan in what appears to be child superhero witness protection, it’s unclear where Butcher’s story goes from here. And with Mother’s Milk finally returning to his family, Frenchie and Kimiko heading off to do some dancing on their own, and Hughie turning to politics as a legitimate way to fight Vought, it seems as though The Boys are going to spend some time apart. But with Malory’s declaration that she has some off the books cash to fund a group meant to help keep an eye on the supes…it seems unlikely they’ll stay away from each other for long.

The post The Boys Season 2 Ending Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3jNNOju

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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oshaviolater · 4 years

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just thinking lots of thoughts about Juno Steel tonight

#god i genuinely enjoy reading gerry's meta #i love their mind :)#tpp meta #the penumbra podcast

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two-friends-read-hp · 4 years

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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

CHAPTER NINETEEN: The Hungarian Horntail

At least with quidditch you know what to expect, whereas here, you have absolutely no idea what the first task is going to be Harry, so I fully understand the nerves

“The first task was drawing steadily nearer; he felt as though it were crouching ahead of him like some horrific monster, barring his path.” Hehehe, if you only knew Harry… I guess you are about to find out

“Admittedly, he didn’t see how Sirius was going to make him feel any better about having to perform an unknown piece of difficult and dangerous magic in front of hundreds of people, but the mere sight of a friendly face would be something at the moment.” Excuse me, what about Hermione? Is her face not friendly enough for you? Is she still in the hospital wing? Need I remind you, if it wasn’t for her insistence, you wouldn’t even be talking to Mr. Friendly-Face I’m-keeping-my-godson-up-on-a-school-night

Ok so I just realised that if he did try to talk to Harry on the weekend, they wouldn’t have any time alone because there’d probably be other students who were up late too, so it’s probably better that it’s on a school night... I’m sorry Sirius!

Ok but if they did need to drop a bag of Dungbombs as a worst case scenario for if anyone walked in on them talking to Sirius (who by the way neglected to tell them exactly how they were going to be contacted by him, so they really had to prepare for anything) would Filch really know who threw the Dungbombs? It could’ve been any of the Gryffindors and you know everyone would just assume it was Fred and George

How is Rita Skeeter even allowed to continue to write with all the garbage she spews?

Oh Colin, you poor sweet thing

Well at least she said Hermione was stunningly pretty

OF COURSE HE SNAPPED JUST WHEN CHO SAID HI TO HIM… Give this boy a break Good Lord

Honestly, Hermione and I would’ve been best friends… We’d have never left the library or gone on all the adventures that Harry had, but we’d have our friendship at least lol

Oh, also I’d be in Hufflepuff so it’d be difficult but not too bad

Gee, I wonder why Viktor Krum is at the library so often

“‘He’s not even good-looking!’ she muttered angrily,” OOF I hope Krum didn’t hear that Hermione

Lol, I admire Hermione trying to get Harry and Ron to meet in the three broomsticks without actually telling the other

Oh I always love invisibility cloaks in the three broomsticks lol, you never know what you might hear…

Can you imagine being so stubborn as to hang out with the friend you’re talking to with your invisibility cloak so that you don’t have to talk to the friend you’re not talking to

Yeah why doesn’t he do this roaming around in the invisibility cloak thing more often? I can’t imagine being under all this scrutiny and trying to go to classes and concentrate on schoolwork at the same time

Aw poor Hermione though

How are they even supposed to prepare for the first task? It's such an insane thing to expect of them… at least give them a hint like for the second task! Not that it helped Harry much

Is Hogsmeade the only all-wizard village in Britain? Well that kinda sucks

And apparently it’s a haven for hags lol

Oh because hags are not as adept as wizards at hiding themselves apparently, and that’s why they’re mostly at Hogsmeade

If invisible Harry did poke Ron in the back of the head, Ron would immediately know who it was lol

The way into the Hogwarts kitchens isn’t in Hogwarts a History? Just tickle the pear Hermione

Wait, how did Fred and George know how to get into the Hogwarts kitchens if it isn’t in Hogwarts a History or any of the books that Hermione has read about Hogwarts?

Wait a minute, it’s a saturday and they’re supposed to be meeting Sirius tonight? So it was on a weekend! Welp I guess I owe you another apology Sirius

“Moody had told them all during their last Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson that he preferred to prepare his own food and drink at all times, as it was so easy for Dark wizards to poison an unattended cup.” Oh, the irony

Lol Harry waved under the invisibility cloak

OH SNAP Moody saw him

Oh this was nicely timed, Moody probably told Hagrid to tell Harry about the first task and through sheer luck, Harry happened to be there just when they were about to leave

Oh crap I forgot about the Sirius meeting, Harry’s cutting it very close here

“The Creevey brothers had managed to get hold of a stack of ‘Support Cedric Diggory!’ badges and were trying to bewitch them to make them say ‘Support Harry Potter!’ instead. So far, however, all they had managed to do was get the badges stuck on POTTER STINKS.” I mean, that’s progress… now all they need to do is change the word STINKS to something else

Honestly Hermione and Harry make a great team

Oh yeah Hagrid’s got a date

BONG SEWER… I had to read that several times before I realised he was saying bonsoir

Yeah Hagrid could’ve at least given Harry an explanation before whisking him off to see the dragons

Is using wood to make enclosures for dragons a good idea?

Jeez, how far from the school are they that no one can hear the dragons? Oh there are probably spells for that sort of thing, never mind

Lol, Charlie Weasley sounds fun

“‘... I don’t envy the one who gets the Horntail. Vicious thing.’” Gee, I wonder who’s going to get the Horntail

Is Cedric the only one who wasn’t invited to the midnight dragon viewing party?

Can you imagine getting hit full force in the dark in the forbidden forest by nothing? I can’t imagine what Karkaroff thought it was

Lol what could possibly be worse than dragons that Sirius wants to talk about? Oh right, Voldemort. Harry’s life is really stressful

Honestly, hats off to Sirius for staying somewhat sane enough to remember that Karkaroff was in Azkaban with him, and for knowing about why they released him as well

WOW Sirius is really on to something, he realised something was wrong because someone tried to stop Moody from coming to Hogwarts… Definitely a lot smarter than I ever gave him credit for

Bertha Jorkins Harry! Remember her? Remember BERTHA JORKINS Harry???

Amazing, Sirius even called the whole Bertha Jorkins thing, fantastic

Oh she went to school with them, interesting

“‘Very nosy, but no brains, none at all.’” Ok I get that you’re trying to convince Harry, but have some respect for the dead Sirius. Or I guess the missing, since you guys don’t know she’s dead yet. Well one of you is supposed to know but I guess he’s dealing with a lot of things right now so I suppose we’ll have to forgive him

Gosh, of course the moment Sirius was about to help him, he got interrupted. Can’t Sirius send him the advice in a letter? I guess it would be too late then

Oof, it’s even more of a slap in the face that it was Ron who interrupted them

Oh Ron was worried because Harry wasn’t in bed, aw

I feel bad for both of them right now, but also STUPID FOOLS

Chapter 20

#hp #hp gof #HPGOF #harry potter and the goblet of fire #Harry Potter #harry potter thoughts #harry potter reread #Goblet of Fire #GoF #honestly boys are dumb

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firebunnylover · 7 years

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Hannah Watches LOSH - Timber Wolf

So I started to make gifs for the reviews because I found I was taking way to many screenshots in particular scenes in this episode. If anyone knows a good reference/guide on making gifs of parts of an episode with just one program that don’t stutter in tumblr and stay the same duration as the source, and the recomended sizes for images in text posts and, lemme know. I’m probably going to start assembling all images because i love them all and i hate how text posts kill the quality.

And this time I’m including the keep reading option.

Timber Wolf

The way the episodes starts off before the theme is on Rawl, focusing on Dr. Londo, and old man, with his robots, pursuing a werewolf like creature.

From an artistic standpoint, I found the planet’s environment very Halloween like. But here, writing wise, we get a dark glimpse of the show.

After the show’s theme, we cut to what is essentially a space version of the sea cucumber. Lorsax. Not sure how it’s spelled. We’ll just call it Space-Cucumber.

Lightning Lad is still the proud jock we encountered in the previous episode, as he cuts off Superman in mid question.

However, karma kicks in early by proving that Space-Cucumber is immune to lightning, and having a tentacle snag him.

The distress message, Dr. Londo does look panicked and anxious. Easy to believe he is in need if you’ve haven’t already seen this episode.

Oh Saturn Girl named Space-Cucumber Globby. Okay.

And it looks like Superman is coming out of his shell. He snarks back at Lightning Lad the very words he was told earlier playfully. That’s a good sign.

Garth u loser.

Creeping Cat B5.

And we get him insisting that Bouncing Boy used the system that he made to assist him, which results in one of my favorite funny moments.

That results in the ship hyper blasting off. And crashing onto the planet.

While we get our first hint at the Saturn Girl/Lightning Lad ship.

Upon landing, Bouncing Boy and Brainy are holding animosity towards each other judging by the facial expressions.

Lightning Lad seems to have the unquestioned position as the leader given Cosmic Boy isn’t in the picture. Makes sense given he’s a founder, but I think Saturn Girl is better.

Can’t help but smile at the confusion of Superman’s 21st century slang.

When Dr. Londo tells them about the Creature, he says it destroyed everything, including his team. I honestly can’t tell if he’s making that up or not, regarding if he had a team in the first place. More of that in the overall review in the end.

Ok, clearly the picture was several years old, given the hair was still dark for Londo.

Upon meeting Dr. Londo, Saturn Girl seems to be the hesitant one of the group, while the rest bought what he said. Obviously her powers give her an edge on the situation, but she is more observant than the others.

Thus return to more fighting B5 and BB. B5 is a stickler for order and doing things perfectly as much as possible, insisting that since he has a 12th level intelligence he doesn’t need to improvise, while BB is a “wing it” guy, as he will improvise in some way or another. But Brainy is also bad at picking up on social stuff, like Bouncing Boy being upset with him, who proceeds to break a rule Londo had set.

With the other three, Lightning Lad starts to tease Saturn Girl who snaps at him, catching him and Superman by surprise.

When she’s expressing her concern on what’s going on, they get ambushed by robots. When Saturn Girl gets separated from the boys, we see her powers can effect things physically, including robots. This knocks her out, but she is saved, but kidnapped, by the creature we saw in the beginning.

Bouncing Boy enters a restricted area, and is immediately hunted down by robots with guns. Nice welcome.

We then switch back to Saturn Girl, who is in a cave with the creature, groggy from her thought blast. We see her scared, telling, or begging rather, the creature not to eat her.

The creature is a good puppy.

Puppy is doing his best to tell you Saturn Girl.

“Why do I need permission? It’s a monster.”

HIS FACE

DON’T DO THIS TO ME OW

And then Lightning Lad and Superman swoop in, being two well-intentioned dummies. Knocking Saturn Girl out in the process.

PUPPY WAS TRYING TO CHECK ON HER NO SUPERMAN DON’T TOSS HIM

Karma has a stalactite chunk land on Lightning Lad, but he somehow survives??

And after getting his shirt torn and scratched, he then zaps Superman on accident. Which he apologizes for.

However, Superman had to hold Lightning Lad back after puppy is knocked out, although he seems upset about that.

We return to Brainy, who insists he’s not worried about Bouncing Boy… until he finds him held hostage by robots, and proceeds to save him instantly. Saying he improvised.

Well gentlemen, I don’t think this is what you were expecting in his labs, judging by your expressions.

You two are trouble.

Where did they get that net? Did Londo give them it?

LIGHTNING LAD YOU MEANIE TO THE PUPPY. I HOPE SATURN GIRL GAVE YOU AN EARFUL AFTER THE MISSION

The power of improvising. Works well in college.

NO MAH PUPPY.

SATURN GIRL SASS

She went out of her way to make sure Puppy was comfortable before she proceeded. Saturn Girl for queen of the legion please. And Queen of staring down twits.

Okay, time to address one question we all have: WHERE THE HELL DID THOSE BOXERS COME FROM?! I mean I get censorship and that the plot would have been spoiled if Puppy had boxes in full monster form, but COME ONE.

Brainy, don’t poke the Puppy. PET the Puppy.

Dr. Londo. With evil robots and can’t-determine-good-or-bad creatures. An absolutely abusive parent.

Saturn Girl being the friend to help keep Brin from snapping and loosing control. What a good person.

Then this declaration Brin makes.

So. Good. Holding Dr. Londo accountable for the abuse and determined to get away from his abusive parent.

“Take them all.” Dr. Londo, do you really think the rest of the Legion will just forget about them?

And we get some more jelly Lightning Lad. Garth u loser.

FEAR THE GREEN SMART CHILD WITH PERI-COPTER HANDS AND THE ORB OF IMPROVISING.

LIGHTING LAD IS A TSUNDERE. SAY IT WITH ME.

And after Dr. Londo’s animals try to gang up on him but then are scared off, the truly sickening part begins.

Using his own son for research. Against his will. Saying he should have thanked him for making something for battle. The music during this whole part is unsettling, as is the issue. Brin can’t go back to what he was before. The damage that has been done to him, it’s permanent.

Dr. Londo taunts him on how long Brin can maintain control over himself, but Saturn Girl rejects that. Saying that he will have help.

And Dr. Londo? He gets off. Jurisdiction can’t touch him because of where the crime took place.

Brin. He doesn’t get justice. He doesn’t get what he deserves.

To Brin, parents are people who should protect children from harm in the world. But his father didn’t do that. He deliberately harmed him.

Nothing will ever fix that. Ever.

The only thing he can do is destroy what Dr. Londo uses for his projects. And when he’s done.

His final statement to the man who should have protected him.

… Are there a bunch of spare uniforms just lying around? A machine on board that just made the outfit? TELL ME~

Brin expresses fear that Dr. Londo is right, that he will lose control. But this time, Lightning Lad is the one to offer words of comfort. Perhaps he’s seen something similar?

And so, the episode concludes with Brin swearing in as Timber Wolf.

So final thoughts on the episode overall.

OW. THE WRITERS HAVE TAKEN A SPEAR AND JABBED IT THROUGH MY HEART.

Except for a little plothole where they said in the last episode Colossal Boy was on Rawl. Brainy said there wasn’t much else aside from Dr. Londo’s research station. I don’t know how big Rawl is compared to earth, but kinda bothers me this wasn’t addressed. The only explanation I can think of is that his mission took place on the other side of the planet, and/or that the incident was resolved before Brin was transformed. Which leads to two more questions.

How much time did pass between this episode and the last one? And how long had it been since Brin was experimented on?

There has been enough time for Superman to start emerging from his shell clearly.

When I was younger, I didn’t get the significance of this episode. Now I do.

One of the main character has been abused by his father and changed into something he didn’t want any part of. And he doesn’t get justice in the end. Dr. Londo got off.

Let’s look at another infamous abusive Father and his son. Ozai and Zuko. A father who burned his son’s face for standing up in what he believed was right, standing up for others. Zuko still associated Ozai as a father though, as evident by the Freudian slip of “Father Lord”, associating fathers with negative things. But Zuko does have someone for support. Iroh. Who cares so damn much about Zuko it’s literally making me cry while writing this. And Zuko eventually held him accountable. But whether Zuko got justice regarding what his father did is arguable. Ozai got imprisoned, but Zuko still went to see him after the war in the comics. He wasn’t completely freed from him after two years.

Brin, there is no other father figure. No one else for him to lean on automatically during the abuse. But the Legion stepped in. They were going to be his support. They were new, but they were something at least. But he was determined to completely cut Dr. Londo out of his life, and knew fathers shouldn’t be associated with abuse. That’s different from Zuko.

Both are different reactions, but both are understandable.

But hey, Timber Wolf was far luckier than another dog person I know.

Now regarding what Dr. Londo said about Brin destroying his team. Did Dr. Londo kill off his own staff? Did they leave out of their own free will? Or were the staff impassive about what Dr. Londo did to his own son? Because if it’s the latter, there is the chance Brin could have injured/killed them out of anger when he escaped. Hence why Dr. Londo had to get the Legion. The way Brin was, he would have killed him. But if Dr. Londo had killed the staff himself, then he could have set it up to make it look like Brin did it.

Personally, I like the episodes that are on the dark side. I do think cheery episodes are important, but episodes like these? They are important.

Personally, I can’t think of any better way this story could have been carried out.

Characters in this episode:

Superman has clearly started to come out of the shell he was in during the first episode. He has more freedom to be himself. And given just how much my heart was breaking over him the last time, this is good.

Brainiac 5 has more personality this time, other than the gay/bi (going of the comics here; I probably should have addressed he’s canonically bi last time, I apologize, I was very hyped), and little evidence of the crush. This time, we see him as someone who tries to maintain order, and stick to the system as much as possible. But in the end, he is capable of change. We also see he’s not aware of certain social ques.

Bouncing Boy: We see he’s far more relaxed than Brainy, preferring to do things as they come along, and to improvise. He doesn’t let himself get trampled on. Is a happy version of a college student.

Lightning Lad you brat. I love him. Karma has got him several times in today’s episode, and he’s a jealous baby who hates being wrong. Garth u loser. But also nice to see him being nice at the end.

I WANT TO PROTECT TIMBER WOLF SO BAD. I WILL GET ALL THE BLANKETS AND WRAP HIM IN THEM AND GET ALL THE GOOD FOODS FOR HIM. HE DOESN’T DESERVE THE SHORT STICK LIVE HAS GIVEN HIM. But I’m so proud he went to join the team that is meant to help others. That’s a good way to go forward. Kind of sad he doesn’t get any speaking dialogue from him before the transformation though. I would like to see what he was like before the experiment happened.

Remember what I said in the last episode, about the villains needing development? Dr. Londo is a well-developed villain that he leaves us with an impact. He’s manipulative and smart enough so that when he does get caught, he doesn’t go to jail. He doesn’t have any remorse for what he did to his son. I would put the guy in a pit with venomous spiders because of what he’s done. And I would have let him get eaten, like Lightning Lad said.

Well, that’s all from me today! Lemme know if you think I forgot to mention anything, feedback is appreciated! Or if the gifs aren’t working...

#losh #legion of superheroes #legion of super-heroes #Hannah Watches LOSH #timber wolf #brin londo

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obsoletebooks · 7 years

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Stay the Night

I saw this prompt the other day and was just really inspired to write my own version after reading @ofstagsanddoes version which you can find here.

It was stupid really. How it all went down. He'd never had any problems with interviews before. After all, he was James Potter, and James Potter had a way with words. Except for that one day, that one day he made a big mistake.

"James! What is your opinion on the new campaign with Molly Mitchell?" A reporter had asked.

Normally he would have made a joke, and the reporters would've smiled and everything would've been okay.

He didn't though, instead he spoke his mind. "Honestly Lou, it seems a little too excessive for my taste. We're a professional football team, last time I checked we didn't need the help of a model to sell tickets."

He realized his mistake the moment he finished; the room went quiet. Not for long though, soon another reporter asked Benjy Fenwick about his game winning goal, and James figured it was all over. Sadly, that was not the case.

It started the next day. Someone James had never heard of took to social media.

@ dorymeadowes - @ lilyev you're close with Molly, what do you think of @ jpofficial 's harsh words?

@ lilyev - @ dorymeadowes he insinuated that her craft was less important than his. I feel highly offended by his words.

@ emmyvance - @ lilyev that's not fair to @ jpofficial , all he meant was that his work should be able to speak for itself.

@ lilyev - @ emmyvance did he though? @ mollymitch didn't take the job to "help" them but rather to enhance their image.

@ emmyvance - @ lilyev "enhance their image?" Really Lily?

@ dorymeadowes - @ emmyvance @ lilyev but she's right, it's like two singers recording a duet.

@ siriusly - @ dorymeadowes did you just compare my football team to a singer?

@ thepeterpettigrew - I believe that is exactly what she did @ siriusly

@ lilyev - @ siriusly @ thepeterpettigrew lovely, do you two want to shun models too?

@ siriusly - @ lilyev I would never do such a thing. Models are beautiful specimen.

@ mmckinnon - @ siriusly that is so disgustingly downgrading.

@ siriusly - @ mmckinnon who might you be?

@ mmckinnon - @ siriusly Lily and Mary's mate...

@ siriusly - @ mmckinnon who in God's name is Mary?

@ mollymitch - @ siriusly that would be me.. good to know people do their research before judging me.

@ thepeterpettigrew - @ siriusly Wikipedia checks out @ mollymitch 's story, she was born "Mary Margaret Macdonald."

@ siriusly - @ thepeterpettigrew well where'd she pick up the Mitchell?

@ thepeterpettigrew - @ siriusly her dad's first name.

@ dorymeadowes - So this is nice, but what's it got to do with the original topic of @ jpofficial 's idiocy.

@ jpofficial - @ dorymeadowes IDIOCY?

@ siriusly - @ jpofficial there he is! The King of Thieves himself!

@ lupin - @ siriusly don't make Disney references.

@ lilyev - Please tell me you aren't a supporter of this @ lupin

@ siriusly - @ lilyev ah, that's right, you and @ lupin go WAY back. Hate to break it to you Ginger but he's a football player too.

@ lupin - @ lilyev mistakes were made, of course I support @ jpofficial but that's because I understand what he meant.

@ mmckinnon - @ lupin I think you better watch your words as well R.J., sounds an awful lot like you share @ jpofficial 's crazy ideology.

@ lupin - That's not what I meant @ mmckinnon and you know it.

@ jpofficial - @ mmckinnon let's get one thing straight. I meant no offence to @ mollymitch but I did mean what I said.

@ lilyev - @ jpofficial that's rather contradictory.

@ jpofficial - @ lilyev okay I honestly don't know any of you, so I don't see why I owe you an explanation.

@ lilyev - @ jpofficial you should've thought about all of this before you dragged @ mollymitch through the mud.

That was just the beginning. While the opinions of the others stayed noncommittal, a war broke out between the Evanders and the Potterheads. Eventually though, at about the six month mark, the fighting stopped being about Molly Mitchell. It just became a public fact that if you were a fan of the actress Lily Evans, you loathed the football player James Potter, and vice versa.

@ sev_394 - @ jpofficial how do you feel about @ lilyev winning an Oscar?

@ jpofficial - @ sev_394 it's good for her, if she keeps this pace (one award every 22 years) she'll have the same amount of trophies as me in... never.

@ lilyev - Awh @ jpofficial I'm sorry, but your childhood dance trophies don't count.

It was about two years after the original fight, a year after Lily's Academy Award, that James realized they'd have to meet.

"So James, anything new in the works?" He was asked one evening on a talk show.

"I'm actually headed to America next month to do a brief cameo on a TV show."

The host smiled. "I heard that, quite the exciting time in your life."

James nodded. "Definitely, although football will always be my true passion, it's nice to get a chance to branch out."

"Speaking of things you're passionate about," the host continued. "Let's talk Lily Evans. After all, you'll be filming on the same lot that her movie is finishing up on."

James was not prepared for that. In all honesty he hadn't even thought of Lily when he accepted the role. Keeping his cool, he shrugged. "There's not much to it. I think the world has made it bigger than it really is."

"So you wouldn't say that you hate Lily Evans?"

James shrugged again. "I've never even met her."

That was the wrong thing to say. It was only two weeks later when he got an invite to an American talk show. The catch? They wanted a joint interview. James and Lily in one room.

He couldn't say no, he knew that. He'd just come out looking petty and childish. Instead he found himself flying out to Los Angeles nearly a week early.

James didn't see Lily before the show. They'd purposely kept the two apart. Too soon he heard their names being announced and he was directed onstage. She came from the right, he from the left, and they both failed to acknowledge the other until they were forced to.

"Well I believe some introductions are in order." The host said smirking slightly. "James Potter," he said gesturing to James, "meet Lily Evans. Lily Evans," he went on, "meet James Potter."

She smiled at him and he couldn't help smiling back. Lily Evans was gorgeous. Sure he'd seen pictures of her before, but nothing compared to the real thing.

"You two first started talking over Twitter, two years ago, is that correct?" The host asked moving the show along.

Lily answered. "Yes, we got into it over my dear friend Molly Mitchell."

"Is there still some bad blood between you two?" The host asked no doubt noting their hostility towards each other.

This time James spoke first. "Between our fans no doubt."

"We've moved past Molly though," Lily added.

"You two do however still appear to be quite harsh towards each other on social media."

James laughed. "I'm afraid that's just playful banter."

Lily nodded her head in agreement prompting the host to ask: "so there's nothing going on between you two?"

"Our relationship has been purely online," Lily said, her red hair glistening in the stage light. "I can't speak for James, but I honestly have no problem with him."

The internet blew up that night. The Evanders and Potterheads all questioned their existence. James and Lily did their best to put them at ease.

@ jpofficial - I don't see what the big deal is, I still have more trophies and fans than @ lilyev will ever have.

@ lilyev - Did you skip math class @ jpofficial ? Last time I checked 3 million was more than 2.9 million.

@ siriusly - @ jpofficial @ lilyev but the most important thing is that 3.2 million trumps both of you. #sorrynotsorry

@ lilyev - @ siriusly does anyone still use that hashtag though...?

@ siriusly - @ lilyev it's vintage Ginger

@ jpofficial - @ siriusly saying "it's vintage" doesn't make it any better mate.

@ siriusly - @ jpofficial #sorrynotsorry

Two weeks later James saw Lily for the second time. He’d just finished his last scene, and he spotted her sitting on the curb in the parking lot.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, confused at why she’d choose to spend her free time in a parking lot.

"James Potter," she said turning her attention to him. "Aren't you going to help a girl up?" She stuck out both her hands and he obliged.

They lingered for a moment longer than they should of and by the time they heard a camera click it was too late.

"That's going to be everywhere in the morning, isn't it?" She asked looking up at him.

He nodded. "They'll probably think we're getting married."

"It's ridiculous," she said looking down at their connected hands. "Can't two people just poke fun at each other without it becoming such a big deal?"

He smiled but she didn't notice. "You should've thought about all that before you picked a fight with me."

"Maybe, but it has done wonders for my career, really enhanced it."

"Arguing with me?"

Lily nodded. "You know I really ought to thank you."

"But you won't."

"But I won't." She agreed.

@ siriusly - @ jpofficial OH MY GOD MATE are you and Ginger together?

@ mmckinnon - @ siriusly @ lilyev AM I MISSING SOMETHING????????

@ siriusly - @ mmckinnon do you live under a rock ?

@ lupin - @ siriusly @ mmckinnon it doesn't mean anything.

@ mmckinnon - @ siriusly @ lupin WHAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING???

@ siriusly - @ mmckinnon James and Lily holding hands you invalid

@ lupin - @ siriusly @ mmckinnon it doesn't mean anything.

@ thepeterpettigrew - @ lupin @ siriusly @ mmckinnon I just saw. Do you reckon they're getting married??

@ mollymitch - @ thepeterpettigrew @ lupin @ siriusly @ mmckinnon WHAT?!

@ lupin - @ mollymitch @ thepeterpettigrew @ siriusly @ mmckinnon IT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.

@ lilyev - @ mollymitch @ thepeterpettigrew @ siriusly @ mmckinnon @ lupin guys.....

@ siriusly - @ lilyev WHAT??????????

@ lilyev - @ mollymitch @ thepeterpettigrew @ siriusly @ mmckinnon @ lupin I was sitting on the ground and he helped me up..

@ mollymitch - @ lilyev ooohh...........

@ lupin - @ mollymitch @ thepeterpettigrew @ siriusly @ mmckinnon do I even need to say it..?

James laughed as Lily relayed the conversation to him. His phone was plugged in across the room so he'd missed it all. He didn't much listen though. Instead his attention was directed entirely to gazing at the beautiful redhead who'd spent the night.

#jily #the marauders #Harry Potter #jily au #Lily Evans #James Potter #Sirius Black #marlene mckinnon #mary macdonald #severus snape #emmeline vance #dorcas meadowes #remus lupin #peter pettigrew

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