#and the rest of d-tent and some others are the players

[ceruleanmusings]

curve ball // inconsolable au

because @theblerdbox gave me the confidence to dive into writing more au ficlets/fics, this au happened. and that the last two paragraphs of stanley's "after cgl" section of his survival guide book when he talked about his life in high school exists. so thank you blerd and thank you louis sachar.

-------

Mickey sat at the top of the bleachers again.

It wasn't that he looked for her but, well, no one else was around so it was noticeable. She was noticeable. Even when she kept her head down, facing her drawn up knees where she doodled or did homework or something in the notebook she always had with her. She didn’t come every time, but every time she did he noticed.

Stanley messed with the brim of his cap, pulling it lower on his forehead, his curls puffing out from beneath it at all sides like a cloud. Though not quite like the light, fluffy ones dotting the blue sky above. People actually paid attention to those. Liked them, too.

Fidgeting with his hat again, he lowered the brim enough to block out the screaming glare of the sun. Unlike Zigzag who seemed to make it his mission to keep constant eye contact with the sun back in the outfield. Though he wasn’t alone in his idle distractions: Twitch gnawed on the excess lace of his glove as if attached to an infinite length of noodle and Barfbag lie back on the grass as if working on his tan. He may as well, they didn’t have much else to do while waiting for someone to get a hit.

So far all of X-Ray’s pitches hadn’t gone back to him, a feat he pointed out every time Magnet or Armpit whiffed with a loud guffaw followed up by some sort of taunt. Usually commenting how bored he is and if he wanted to give his one arm a workout he could just be spending his time at home. Squid stood quietly nearby, jaw working on the large wad of dark gum rolling in his mouth.

“We’re lookin’ at a power hitter.” Stanley nearly jumped when Hector spoke, even if his words were directed down towards the clipboard in his hands than up at him. They still commanded attention, only because words came so few and far between. Even though their tutoring sessions Stanley did most of the talking. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago Stanley knew Hector could speak at all. And that was to correct him on being referred to as Zero. The entire B-team bestowed each other with nicknames within a week after returning from a training camp. Judging by the stats collected in Hector’s small and tight handwriting, they would have benefited from less time ragging on one another instead. “Armpit’s good when he can land one, but otherwise...” Spelling and grammar may be difficult for him, but math and numbers all but poured out of his soul. They didn’t think twice putting him in charge of keeping track of stats, for them and their opponents.

Stanley nodded, going back to rubbing polish on the metal bat X-Ray insisted on using. There was nothing different about it compared to the others, though X-Ray claimed the bat length was just slightly shorter than the rest of the regulation ones handed out to their team, which meant his swing speed was superior than the others. If only that helped his lack of control on the hit. He could pitch well but he lacked when it came to landing hits in the right places, namely not directly into the opposing team’s gloves. His claims of his large glasses allowing him to see the field better than everyone else didn’t hold as much punch as it used to.

“C’mon man, let me have a turn,” Magnet said from where he leaned against the entrance to the dug off.

“Not until i get a hit,” Armpit replied, stomping his cleats into the dirt at the plate.

Magnet rolled his eyes. “So I’m never gonna get a shot then, huh?”

“Man, shut up.”

“Why don’t you give up? You’re never gonna get it. You’re always gonna strike out, like with that Tatiana chick.”

“Man, I told you to shut up!”

Magnet said something back in Spanish, which either wasn’t the right thing to say or Armpit just didn’t understand him; either way, the two ended up chest to chest within seconds, yelling in each other’s faces. Their coach could’ve intervened if their couch wasn’t passed out in his truck in the back parking lot. They didn’t have to check on him to see if that were actually they case, he was a coach in name only. The A-Team got the dedicated coach. The A-Team got everything, the better bus, the better jerseys, the better equipment, the school’s respect.

And the attention. Not that Stanley particularly wanted attention, he wouldn’t know what to do with it if he ever got it. People looked through him or past him so often it still surprised him if a teacher called on him in class. And attention from girls? That was a pipe dream. Besides, he didn’t even know what to do if one ever said ‘hi’ to him. They’d have to know he existed first.

“Bro, I’m takin’ a break,” Squid said, walking past X-Ray towards the stands. He spat out a long, thin stream of dark liquid as he went, the bulge in his cheek bouncing. X-Ray also left the mound, heading straight for Armpit and Magnet. Zigzag and Barfbag remained in the outfield but Twitch took off running, diving nearly headfirst into his bag once off the field to grab some sort of tubed candy. Not that he needed the extra energy.

“What do you think?” Hector’s large eyes bored into Stanley.

Stanley didn’t have a chance to ask about what—perhaps if they should forfeit the season before it even started?—when vibrating rumbles against the metal bleachers grabbed his attention and his breath lodged in his chest when he realized Mickey had descended and now stood nearby. She leaned against the fence, extending a gatorade in Squid’s direction, a half-open backpack hung off the crook of her elbow.

“I don’t need a babysitter,” he stated. The bite to his words softened a little due to the tiniest hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth when he took the bottle. He downed half of the bright blue liquid in two gulps.

“It’s not babysitting when you’re waiting on your ride,” she said.

Squid brushed the liquid running down his chin off with the back of his arm. “Speaking of, I gotta drop Zig off on the way back. That cool?”

“Fine. As long as he keeps his shoes on this time.”

“My car, my rules.”

Her head tilted back, amplifying her anguish. “Dude, I’m not drowning in boy stink again!”

Squid shrugged. “Open a window.”

“Your windows stick.”

“Well I’m sorry it’s not a horse-drawn carriage, Princess.”

“It’d smell better.”

A wicked gleam appeared in his eye. “Let’s compare.” Despite her shriek of protest, Squid lifted his arm and pulled Mickey’s face into the pit. “Yeah, get right up in there.”

“Oh my god, you’re so gross!”

Squid chuckled as she squirmed free, taking another big swig of gatorade just as the metallic smack of a ball vibrated across the field. Twitch dropped the bat by his feet and it rolled harmlessly away as the ball sailed through the air towards Barfbag’s position in the outfield. He jumped to his feet and shuffled backwards while Hector added new numbers to the chart on the paper he’d been keeping track of. Leave it to him to take even the practices into consideration. He certainly left no stone unturned.

Stanley lifted his eyes only to nearly drop X-Ray’s bat when they landed on Mickey only to see her looking back. Her face remained blank for a second, and then she blinked and she smiled. He turned, glancing over his shoulder, only to look back and see her eyes still on him, smile growing a touch wider, enough to carve dimples in her cheeks.

Air squeezing out his lungs, Stanley forced his eyes back to the filed just in time to watch Barfbag dive for the ball and end up crashing along the ground, head over heels.

The thudding of his heart against his chest jumped up, now sparked with a different kind of fear and something told him it had everything to do with Barfbag clutching his leg and Stanley was sure it wasn’t supposed to bend like that.

[thedarklordsnicklefritz]

I really like the campsite in bg3 and I want to figure out a way to use it in d&d.

Maybe it's just because I've been on an irl camping kick, but I think its adorable (everyone has their own little tents and decorations) and it also solves the issue of characters that are part of the campaign but not actively in the party.

Obviously some mechanics that make sense in a video game don't translate to tabletop and vice versa, but it would be great if a player misses a session and you could just say they went back to the camp for something.

Yeah, it's still a little handwave-y but it feels more natural than some other options, and the concept of having a base camp isn't a new thing. Plus you can have some more passive down-time activity stuff happening at camp. Maybe the party comes back to camp and there's a message waiting for them. Etc

I also don't track encumbrance or hit dice, just to reduce some complexity with the rules and keep things fun for new players without having a million things to keep track of. But Camp is an easy explanation for storage (without having to immediately give a lvl 1 party a bag of holding) and I like the idea that if you long rest at camp you get all your hit points/hit dice back because there's someone there managing the supplies and cooking etc vs if you're sleeping in the field you don't.

I think the concept could also scale up with the party gaining a house or stronghold etc. Cause I feel like sometimes that happens but the party ends up not actually going to their house etc because they're going other places. But the concept of teleportation/extra dimensional spaces already exists in d&d, so why not apply it to living space? I also like the idea of having some more levels between sleeping on the ground and getting attacked by dire wolves nightly and perfectly portable and defensible mordankeinens magnificent mansion.

[v-ternus]

pebis 8=D

pebis you say? boy do i got a treat for you

// The new ghoul was certainly… something, and he’s sure clueless to what he does to a certain earth ghoul //

Corruption kink, praise, size kink (if you squint) and a nice handy in the common room for you to indulge in :)

Aeon loved his new pack, loved the way they took him and Aurora in so quickly. He especially loved the way they shared parts of themselves— Rain taught him how to swim, Cumulus and Cirrus spent a day watching the sky and clouds with him, showing him how you could tell storms were coming in. Probably the most nerve wracking of all, Dew showed him how to build up the campfires when they wanted to enjoy the cooler summer nights outdoors. Fires hurt, he had murmured when his hand got a little too close to the growing flames. He got to learn the word burn that day.

Besides the accidents with fires and forgetting that he can't breathe underwater, (thanks Rain), his favorite thing was what Mountain had to show him. 

He would’ve guessed that he’d show him the gardens around the abbey, or even take him for a walk through the forest that borders the land– something with his element, like the others had done. Instead, Mountain had led him into the common space one day and told him to get comfortable on the couch. He did as he was told, put himself down with his legs crossed under him and found a blanket to put down on his lap. Mountain was still in front of the TV when he heard a beep and quiet whirring. 

“It’s a console,” Mountain said, and Aeon could only give him a dumbfounded look. “This one’s a PS4, Swiss has an Xbox. You play videogames on them.” 

Aeon chirped, mumbled ok as Mountain started up Spiderman before handing him the controller. Mountain had shown him all the controls, taught him how to swing through New York and be the ‘friendly neighborhood Spiderman’.

Ever since that day, it's become their thing. Every Tuesday after they’ve finished their chores, they’ll play one of the handful of games that sit by the TV. Some days they pick a shooter, or maybe an RPG, sometimes even an old school player versus player. Whatever it is, Aeon always has fun, and Mountain always gets a kick out of watching his bug like eyes that stay trained on the colorful screen.

Today was no exception. Mountain already had Call of Duty started up as Aeon finished his work. 

“Zombies?” Aeon asked as he walked in and dumped himself onto the free space next to Mountain on the couch. Mountain didn't answer, didn't need to. He just picked the mode and handed Aeon his controller. Their afternoons were always easy like this, with little words spoken besides when they were deciding on a game. 

Besides the groaning undead and hellfire sounds of bullets and grenades, they were quiet, both lost in the world. 

Until they weren't. 

Between rounds, when no shots were echoing through the room, Aeon could hear it. 

Mountain’s little coughs, muffled groans and heavy breaths. 

“You ok Mount?” He asked before the next hoard of zombies came around, only giving a passing glance out of his peripheral. He should’ve known then, when Mountain took awhile to offer a noncommittal grunt. Yeah, —m good.

It only got worse from there. The earth ghoul seemed more and more restless with each round. He kept rearranging himself, tugging on his pants, stretching his legs. 

The new ghoul had had enough. He quit the game, quickly before Mountain could realize, set his controller on the table and turned to face him. 

“Come on,” he whined, drawing out the words like a child. “Tell me.”

Mountain sighed heavily as he set his controller down and rested his arms on his knees, hunching himself over the tent in his pants that’s been quickly growing ever since they started. 

He keeps his eyes trained to the floor, knowing that fully taking the little ghoul in would have him aching for friction. With a wave of his hand, he finally breaks the silence, “—m hard.”

He can feel Aeon’s questioning gaze on him, like it’s burning a hole through his body. The words are too slurred, mumbled dismissively. He knows Aeon didnt hear him, so much to his dismay, he repeats himself. 

“Im hard,” he says, clearly this time, finally finding the strength to look at Aeon— what a mistake. He takes in the sly tilt of his head, swallows up the look on his face. He can see the gears turning behind the soft lilac eyes that still feel like they’re staring daggers. 

“Hard?”

“Hard.” Mountain mouths through gritted teeth, growing harder as the seconds go by. He’s sure he’d find a sticky mess right over his tip if he looked down. 

“An erection. Stiffy. A hard on, if you will.”

The words float in the air, heard, but not understood. Once Mountain realizes, shame washes over him. Mountain shouldn't be enjoying this the way he is. 

“What does it mean?” The innocence all but knocks the air out of his lungs, and so does the notion of explaining an erection. Where does he start? What words can describe it?

Oh yeah. It just happens because all I can think about is the way my fingers could touch if I grabbed you by the waist. My dick starts to ache when a sliver of your skin shows as you reach for something on the table. No biggie really. 

“It uhhhhh… happens when I'm attracted to someone.” Worst fucking choice of words ever. Literally anything else would’ve been better. But he’s thinking with his other head now, there’s no room for anything more coherent— what’s said is said. 

“Attracted?” Satan below this ghoul was going to kill him. He’s gotta be playing dumb, right?

“Yeah, attracted,” He tries to breathe, tries to put his urges to the side. “Means I like them.”

Aeon moves closer to Mountain, till his knees are pressed to his outer thigh. He sits back on his haunches and rests his hands palm side down on his legs. His excitement is palpable, Mountain can almost taste it. 

“Does that mean you like me?” His voice pitches up, animated and fun. Mountain can only nod. He should use his words, lie and tell him no, but he cant figure out why his tongue wont move. Regardless, the answer had Aeon sporting a wide grin, he’s got pride written across his features. Mountain likes me! His inner voice cheers. 

“Then I can help you, right?”

Oh the doe eyed innocence. Too kind for his own good. He shouldnt ruin him. Not like this. But he’s too sweet. Mountain has no choice, he cant help it. 

“Yeah, want me to show you how?” Aeon nods enthusiastically and Mountain finally relaxes and leans back onto the couch, spreading his legs just so. His problem is obvious now, pressed up tight against the seam of his boxers, pre leaking through and darkening the light wash of his jeans. Aching to have Aeon’s pretty hands wrapped around him. 

“I need help pulling it out bug,” he feigns incompetence as he stretches his arms over the arm and back of the couch. 

“Undo my pants for me,” he says gently. Aeon reaches over and gets to work, moving deft fingers over stiff denim. Its weird undoing pants from this angle, and Mountain is loving the struggle. 

“Pull my boxers down,” Obedient as the day he was summoned, Aeon follows. He hooks a finger under the waistband and slowly pulls down and out of the way, just enough for Mountain’s dick to spring out and curve against his stomach. The pre that smears onto his shirt is a problem for later. 

Mountain finally gives himself relief, wraps his hand around the base and holds gently. It's just enough to take the edge off. He looks at Aeon who’s fixed on the way his hand holds his cock. 

“Give me your hand little one,” he takes Aeon hand in his free hand and laces their fingers together, his hand almost covering Aeon’s entirely with the way its spread across the back. 

“Ready?” He asks, as if Aeon is the one that needs to be ready. Mountain thinks he might cum the second he brings their hands down. 

He was dangerously close to his prediction, the little warmth from his hand against his aching cock was better than he could have imagined. It had his stomach in knots faster than he’d like to admit. 

Stilling himself, he drags their hands along slowly, wanting to savor each touch, twisting over the ruddy tip that’s been leaking pre. 

“It’s sticky,” Aeon remarks the first time his fingers glide over Mountain’s slit. It’s cute really, the way he remarks so simply.  

“Yeah bug, it’s cause you’re making it feel really good.” A pit of guilt brews in Mountain’s gut, he shouldn't be doing this, not when the ghoul is so fresh, but it’s not his fault Aeon always eyes him up. It’s certainly not his fault the little ghoul has him chubbing up in his pants whenever he’s around. 

“I can do it on my own I think.” Aeon looks at Mountain with a slight smile, and Mountain answers by just taking his hands away. Wordless, easy, just like their regular Tuesday afternoons. 

He watches in awe as another slight hand wraps itself around him and strokes just as slow as before. Any other day he’d be upset with the teasing, but today? He’ll let the young ghoul do as he pleases, he is just learning after all.

Unknowing as he is, he’s doing well, very well. He knows how tight to squeeze, knows that Mountain loves to have mean fingers press into the spot right under the head, as if by magic. Maybe it is, he thinks, but Mountain sets that thought aside for later. 

He’s never fought this hard to not cum. He doesnt want it to be over, no matter how much he aches and throbs. The only things he lets free are the sweet sounds that are being drawn out of him. Aeon responds with hums, and before long, he’s purring, rumbling in his chest. 

“Do you like touching it, little one?” He studies the focused look on Aeon’s face. 

“I think so… I can feel it moving.” Moving, Mountain laughs, knowing his cock has been twitching in Aeon’s soft grip for what feels like hours. Each time he looks down, he feels himself throb with the way his hand barely covers half of his length. 

“It feels very good bug. You’re doing so well, being so helpful.” He chokes on the last syllable as Aeon thumbs at the slit, letting a string of pre stretch as he pulls away. There’s more now, slick dripping down onto his pants. He could practically hear everyone’s teasing if any of them came waltzing into the common room. 

Almost wetter than a water ghoul Mounty, all ‘cause the new ghoul has his hands on you.

Dirty Mountain, ruining our new summon like this. What would Papa think?”

Letting Aeon get you like this for all of us to see? Doesnt take much to undo you sprout. 

The thoughts get him too close to the edge, the fire growing in his gut burning too hot. He’s not going to last much longer at this rate. His eyes drift shut as he tries to pull himself back from plummeting to his finish. 

“Mount, why is it bigger?” 

Oh whatever peace he found is quickly washed away. Mountain peels his head off of the couch to look at Aeon, before letting his eyes drift down. 

“This…” Aeon’s voice trails off as he cups the base of Mountain’s cock where his knot is starting to form. “Bigger”

Fuck. It's not something he thought he’d ever have to say out loud. He’s not even at his fullest yet, and it's already filling Aeon’s hands. He tries to not think about how good it’ll feel when he squeezes it, but he can’t help but thrust up into the pressure that threatens to push him over the edge.

“Its my knot. Helps me stay inside, helps me stay close when I like someone.” The words arent perfect ,not by a longshot, they barely scratch the surface of what it is, but it seems good enough for Aeon who just hums as he keeps working his hands over Mountain's cock. 

“Would you like to knot me?” That’s it. 

“Someday little one,” he doesnt mean for it, but it comes out ragged, louder and harsher than before. He swears he sees worry, maybe even fear splash across Aeon’s face. He wears it so well. 

To hell with drawing this out, he thinks, he needs to finish. Desperately wanting to paint his spend on the fingers that hold him so tenderly, he finds the words to get Aeon just how he needs him.

“Help me with this first hmm?” Aeon nods as Mountain reaches for him and gets him to straddle his legs. He wraps his hands Aeon’s and fucks into their grip, twitching as Aeon squeezes on the down strokes. 

“Keep going just like that,”

“Watch it, watch how good you’re doing” He’s rambling and he doesnt care. He needs it now, worse than ever. He brings a hand up and cradles Aeon’s face, dragging his slick covered thumb across flush skin. He looks at him like he hung the stars. Mindlessly, he leans forward for a kiss, its soft and slow. He can tell Aeon doesnt know what to do, but it just makes it that much more enticing. 

“Put your hands around my knot little one, hold it nice and tight for me. Can you do that?” 

“I’ll try,” he mumbles against Mountain’s lips. His hands find their way around the growing base of Mountain’s dick and squeezes, just like he said. He watches as a hand keeps stroking, making wet noises as another pays special attention to the head, and before long, white ropes of Mountain’s cum coats their fingers and drips down his length

Mountain cums with a sharp breath. He’s sure he blacked out with the way his ears are ringing. As if by magic again, he can feel Aeon tightening and loosening his grip, milking him dry, making sure to get everything he has to give. 

“Good boy, Aeon” he says as he throws his head back, breathless and floaty, leaving the curve of his neck open to the ghoul in his lap. Curious, Aeon drags his tongue up the damp skin and groans at the taste of Mountain. If Mountain wasn't already sitting, the feeling would've had him dropping to the floor. 

“Can I taste it?” Aeon asks as he holds his messy fingers up between them, wet with pre and striped with cum. 

Mountain goes stupid and gives a quick grunt. Yes please, he practically screams the words in his head. He feels his dick pitifully try and fill out again as Aeon mouths at his fingers, sucking the cum off and taking in the heady taste of Mountain. 

Mountain watches as Aeon swallows him down.

“Salty”

[pinkyjulien]

🟨 Then n' Now - High Voltage edition ⚡

Yoinking @arcandoria's idea and making one of those before/after post focused on the babies💛 motivated by AND motivating @elvenbeard to do the same 😌🤏

This will be both a VP and Modding journey 👉

▶ December 2020

━ "No mods, we die VP like men!"

AKA open up PhotoMode and get as close as you can to your fav, playing with angles while getting the camera stucks in the surrounding 80% of the time and trying to make the characters look at each others in a "natural" way 👀

▶ early 2021

━ "I learned how to app swap and I cannot be stopped"

I got into modding because/thanks to Mitch 🤠 and the first thing I did was to .app swap him into all of the romance scenes 😩🤏 My BIG MODDER GOAL back then was to have Him and Valentin in the panzer scene, meaning I needed to find a way to:

Swap Valentin into Panam's place

Swap Mitch into V/Player's place

Unlock the camera / have a true free-roam experience

and also remove all of the HUD and green filter

I was just a tiny dude with Big Dreams 👀

▶ first half 2021

━ "I can change clothes now! AKA OOC-fest"

Ugh. JHGFHJGHFJ

Looking back at some of the stuff I did before legit gives me so much icks now 💀 the joy and freedom of being a simp with fresh modding power, you just Do Stuff because You Can! Who cares if the character turns extremly OOC, right? keeping them for the memories 🤭

▶ first half 2021

━ "ReShade? What's a ReShade"

My first month of playing around with Reshade! Everything was way too saturated, too bright or too dark- but it was new and exciting! Experimenting with more swapping, more photomode-posing 🤏

▶ July 2021

━ "the Modding High"

Camera unlocks, Player Replacer, FixSwaps, Bi River trick, Blur Remover, Facial expressions for V, Swap to Everyone... my peak as a modder still to this day ngl

I achieved all I ever wanted, did the mods I needed to be able to smooch Mitch and have my canon panzer scene 🧡 (cannot showcase it here on Tumblr for hornyjail reason)

The "bi river" trick was involving CyberCat, an old save editor software that allowed you to swap V presets! You had to launch the romance scene with River as a fem V, then save at the start of it using the "Save Anytime" mod, edit your save file by swapping in your Male V preset, and Voila~ you had a Masc V in the River scene :D

▶ August 2021

━ "Custom poses Fever"

...and the first true love kisses!

Searching and modding your first poses swaps, then spawning the blorbos in game, timing the expressions and animation correctly and... having them "kiss for real" for the first time 🥺😩 ouugghh IT HITS! It hits so good!

From there, the rest of 2021 was focused on playing around with custom poses and exploring my own canon; giving new canon-compliant appearances to Mitch and Valentin, doing VP comics... also exploring some AUs and doing special occasion outfits, like Halloween!

▶ 2022

━ "I can create my own story"

I focused a lot on my own canon in 2022, via comics and photoset exploring what happens to both Mitch and Valentin's respective past and shared future together

Modding was also a big part of the year! There wasn't any big breakthrough other than the scenerid extract for custom poses, which allowed me to finally use the amazing tender animations from the Judy scene in my boys tent 🤭

▶ 2023

━ "Still here"

There will always be new exciting way of exploring and creating content for my babes- the knowledge of custom made poses allowing us for even more angst, tenderness, passion!

and I'm looking forward to it all 🥺🧡

Those years's been a whole creative journey~ and it's thanks to those two, my blorbos, my beloved stinkies, that I'm the modder and photographer that I am now!

Who knows where they'll take me next 💛😊

[navree]

Are you still working on that velaryons team green fic? if yes can you talk more about it please it sounds really intresting

I've got an idea of it in my head, haven't done much to put pen to paper because I've got a bunch of other fic drafts that I want to get out (I'm legit so close to being done with my "Rhaenyra doesn't react to B&C like a dumbass" fic, and I want to get my MAWS Slade/Addie fic and my TMA season 5 au fic out into the world sometime this year too, plus I do have a Dance au that I'm far more actively plotting out, it's just between Daemon and Rhaenyra rather than Aegon and Rhaenyra, where fun fact the Velaryons are on Daemon's side). But I've definitely thought about it, and plotted some stuff out tentatively.

Basically, this is all based on the fact that, as I've mentioned in other posts, the show has given me no reason to believe that the Velaryons should want to side with Rhaenyra, any of them. Corlys should be feel antagonistic to Viserys and whatever his final wishes may be because of the constant disrespect he has been shown by Viserys specifically. Rhaena shouldn't be on board with anything Daemon is on board with because he's been a profoundly shit father to her. Baela, as someone who grew up on Driftmark watching it be ruled by a woman, should not be on board being no more than someone's consort (especially when she doesn't know him because she spent the first ten years of her life in Pentos and then the ten years after that warded at Driftmark, she shouldn't know any of the Strongs or Rhaenyra at all) and losing a throne that should have gone to her own mother to someone she doesn't know either. Rhaenys especially shouldn't be on Team Black in the show, because she spends the entire show hating Rhaenyra's guts, first for just being the heir (OK girl) and then for seemingly cuckolding her son and later, in her view, straight up murdering him, to say nothing of the antipathy she feels for Daemon as a person and specifically in keeping Laena away from her for the last ten years of her life. None of these people should be willing to follow Rhaenyra (and to a lesser extent, Daemon) down the fucking road, much less in a war. This is an inter-familial succession crisis, who the family members choose to side with comes down largely to personal preference, and based on what the show wrote, the preferences of the Velaryons should lean far away from Team Black. Like, I'm supposed to believe that Rhaenys does a complete 180 on how she's been characterized for the last twenty five years of the show's timeline because Rhaenyra managed to avoid singlehandedly starting World War Westeros in the twelve hours since she'd been crowned? Be serious.

So basically, the AU of the Velaryons being Team Green rests on the premise that the show would allow the Velaryons to be, like, upset at the constant disrespect they've been shown by the key players of Team Black. Corlys is upset at how Viserys has treated him, Rhaena is upset at Daemon for how he treated her, Baela has a stronger connection to her maternal side and Driftmark as a result, Rhaenys is consistently characterized and thus consistently upset at how Daemon and Rhaenyra affected her children, both of whom she's outlived. So during the Driftmark inheritance debacle in ep 8, Rhaenys does not magically come to Rhaenyra's aid after hating on her the entire episode, but instead keeps out of it and is neutral, as does Baela herself. And when episode nine rolls around, Rhaenys is much more amenable to Alicent's proposal. One, because Alicent saying "let us direct things behind the scenes since we're smarter even if we can't have institutional power because of the gender roles of our society" is the exact same thing Rhaenys has done her entire marriage (we legit see this in episode 5 and it's the entire basis of her power anyway). Two, because Rhaenys is, again, consistent, so she's against Rhaenyra having power, though largely for personal, petty reasons, though she does have legit concerns over having unrepentant murderers on the throne, since Rhaenyra and Daemon letting people believe they committed Laenor-cide unprompted just to satisfy themselves should have, like, consequences and people should fear what they're capable of as they said, thus not wanting them on the throne. Three, because Rhaenys and Alicent in this AU would have a pre-existing working relationship. Rhaenys has essentially been ruling over Driftmark ever since Corlys left ten years ago, while Alicent has simultaneously been the acting queen of Westeros as Viserys has grown more infirm. They've had to communicate with each other, as rulers, during that time, and be able to do so cordially and effectively in order to do right by the people living on Driftmark, who are under both of their purviews as liege lady and queen. So when Alicent gives this proposal, bolstered with her sincerity about how queens need to count the cost to their people when it comes to conflict, Rhaenys takes her at her word, and does decide to stay in King's Landing and lend legitimacy to Aegon. She stands with him on the dais, and she takes charge in sending negotiations to Rhaenyra to get her to capitulate without causing bloodshed, and she also leverages this for her own power.

One thing Rhaenys is adamant about in this AU is the same thing she's adamant about in episode 7: that the Driftwood Throne should pass to her granddaughters, not Rhaenyra's sons. So she uses the promise of her support to get the Greens to agree to that, that they will proclaim that, given the obvious bastardy of Rhaenyra's boys, the true heir to Driftmark is Baela. And Baela, who has gone back to Driftmark in the meantime, is on board with this. Again, Baela spent the last ten years there, watching Rhaenys rule. She has seen how a woman can be a ruling liege, and she has also seen Rhaenys treat with Alicent on occasion and how those two have operated as rulers themselves. And Driftmark is her connection to her mother, a mother she mourns and spent too little time with, a mother she can't even talk about with to her father because her father immediately remarried and treated his first wife and their children as if they didn't even exist. She doesn't know Rhaenyra, she doesn't know Jace, but she does know Driftmark, and Rhaenys, and even Alicent a bit. So she's fully on board with Rhaenys essentially kinda blackmailing the Greens into supporting her claim to Driftmark. And the Greens are on board with it because it gives them a PR boost. Now, they can say that they're not just disrespecting Viserys's wishes and being "sexist" for the Hell of it; they're trying to prevent a succession crisis by not allowing a woman whose heir is a clear bastard to ascend the throne and cause chaos in the realm. Look, they're fine allowing a woman to rule Driftmark, but she has trueborn Velaryon blood, even if it is descended through the mother (and this in turn vindicates Rhaenys even more, since it's lowkey a repudiation of what Jaehaerys essentially did with the Great Council, saying that not only could women not inherit but that men could not inherit through their female relatives, denying both Rhaenys and Laenor the Iron Throne). Rhaena, meanwhile, is conflicted. She has spent time on Dragonstone, she does know Rhaenyra and she does know Luke, though there's never been any formal betrothal. But she also knows and loves Baela as her sister, and she has legit issues with Daemon that have only grown and kind of left her standoffish towards her half-brothers and Rhaenyra as well. She's not sure what side she falls on, and she doesn't even know what power she really has because she doesn't even have a dragon. Corlys meanwhile I haven't given much thought to, since he's not that interesting to me, but I'm sure if I ever actually tried to write this I'd figure something out for him.

One knock-on effect of this, for the broader teams, is that it obviously gives the Greens a boost, since the Velaryons being on their side means that they get the fleet, something also important considering that Rhaenyra is on an island and desperately needs sea power as well as other kinds of power. And it makes Rhaenyra and Daemon a lot more militant, since they're now firmly disadvantaged. They're gonna be far more reliant on dragons, and far more willing to use them, and there likely would be a dragon battle involving Meleys, though not ending the way Rook's Rest did since Sunfyre and Vhagar would be on her side, not against her. I'm unsure as to whether I would have Rhaenys die in this version too, but I know at least Baela and Rhaena would live, and Baela would end up lady of Driftmark (and likely also the Greens firmly win with fewer casualties since this is my AU and I like the Greens). Luke also probably wouldn't die, since Storm's End might be less necessary now than it was in canon, and also Rhaenys would be the one to go to Storm's End to deal with the Baratheons since she is, in fact, part Baratheon through her mother, rather than sending Aemond, thus there's no chance for him to get mad and for his and Luke's dragons to then act out as a result.

Also, I haven't read it, but I saw it in the bookmarks of someone who'd left a kudos on my fic about Alicent and Viserys's engagement period, but I think this is also a bit along the lines of "Velaryons join the Greens rather than Team Black", if that idea interests you and you don't want to wait ten million years to see if I write something for it or not.

[ronearoundblindly]

The Stark Legacy (19)

Delight, part of Book II: Mind (see previous or series)

Summary: The compound deals with everyday challenges alongside holiday struggles.

Warnings for canon-level language and discussion of drugs and abuse. Rated Teen, 15+ ONLY, please.

CHAPTER NINETEEN—December 2038

“Ok, guys,” Peter Parker started energetically, “I gotta get back to decorate the tree tonight, so here’s what I got so far.”

“Go ahead,” Steve allowed.

“Bad batch of drugs is killing kidnapped homeless people, and now some of the same drug has been interspersed in huge illegal shipments around the world,” Peter rambled.

“Why didn’t we catch this earlier?” Bucky was given exactly the time it took to walk from the quinjet to the conference room to settle in. After yesterday’s all-nighter and a long flight, he was in a sharp mood.

“I found out when I ran into two kids who were experimented on,” Peter said.

“Romanoff and Thor got very little out of the drug’s creator,” Steve added. “We’ve had this professor in custody for a while,” he continued, sliding a file over to Bucky, “and he’s a full-blown nut job, with too many connections. It’s been a joke trying to track all the crime this guy might be involved in.”

“Seriously,” Bucky mumbled, “I’ve been sunning myself instead of helping with this?”

“Buck, we’ve got dozens of agents,” Steve snapped. He had rested no better than his friend. “T’Challa needed you more than us.”

Bucky scanned the file. “You have to be joking. D-Lite?”

“Yup.” Peter checked his watch.

“That sounds like an off-brand soda.”

Steve sighed in frustration. “Parker has two informants, Tandy and Tyrone, was it? They told us where the experiments took place, past tense, and now we are trying to help them control…whatever it was that triggered in them by this heroin substitute.”

“Whoever it doesn’t change, it kills flat out.” Peter’s face sank, remembering the stories he’d heard from his young recruits. “And it gets a little weirder because the survivors said that Professor Marshall was helped by a demon.”

“What the hell—”

“Yup. Basically. Named despair, at least that’s what Marshall called him, it, whatever.” Peter looked at his watch again and punched in something on the table’s comms. “And that’s it for me, so Natasha can go from here. Bye.” He bolted to the door, yelling a “Merry Christmas” to everyone on his path out. 

Steve leaned over. “He told me earlier that Christmas is the only time his teenager isn’t a ‘total douche,’ his words, so he’s a bit excited to go home.”

Nat’s face popped up in familiar blue. 

“Boys, I’m sending you new info that we’ve gathered, but,” Nat paused, “this is a mess. Only a fraction of these shipments have been tampered with, and there is no way to test all of it. We’ve got to destroy everything we find. You can imagine how many friends we’ve made.”

“And the other doctor affiliated with Marshall?” Steve sorted a few windows on his tablet.

“Clint was tracking Dorcas until the trail went cold. It’s like he actually disappeared into the ocean. We asked King Namor to keep a guard up just in case. The Sub-Mariner said he’d heard a legend of D’Spayre,” Nat cleared her throat, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but according to Atlantian lore, the demon D’Spayre was created from the fear their ancestors experienced when the whole kingdom sunk into the ocean. Hell of a bedtime story.”

“Well, the devil attacked us last year, so…” Bucky was going to need some time to absorb all this, line the players up on the field in his mind. “Alright, let’s get more details from Clint. Fresh eyes can’t hurt.”

“He’s states-side now,” Nat clarified.

Bucky looked at Steve. His friend shrugged. “And Sharon is waiting for me at the house,” Steve said, tentatively, “her rule when I came back. Home for the holidays unless…you know, disaster.”

“Guess it’s just me, Doc, and Wilson,” Bucky grumbled. “When does Stark get back?”

Nat pursed her holographic lips. “Gamora and Rocket send us subspace messages, but Tony’s been out of range for weeks. There’s a whole other problem…I’ll have to…we don’t know much, so I’d like us to wait for Stark to brief us. We’ve got enough to handle now.”

“Fine,” Steve allowed again, “keep us posted.” Nat’s form vanished.

Bucky leaned farther back in the conference room chair, sorting through what he’d just heard and known for a while.

“I think I liked being lower on the totem pole,” he said tightly. “There was a lot less to worry about. Go here, kill this guy. Go there, one more. Chill out and do nothing for a few months—”

“Buck,” his oldest friend interrupted, leaning forward with hands intertwined, “maybe you shouldn’t joyfully reminisce about single kills, yeah?”

Bucky swallowed inside his clenched jaw.

“For right now, I need you and Sam to work together,” Steve continued.

“She’s in Wakanda,” he replied quickly.

“Actually, both of them. Big Sam seems to respond well to Lil’Sam, and I think she can help him focus during training.”

“I should have just brought her with me,” Bucky mumbled.

Steve sat up. “Wait. So who…”

It only occurred to Bucky as Steve trailed off. No one had invited Samantha home. No one had even thought to do so just in case. All the pieces moved on the chess board and swiveled right past her. Her only remaining family was zipping through space somewhere. Clint hadn’t known he’d be back until the last minute. Natasha was flying around constantly. Bruce—

As if summoned by the thought, Banner pressed the door open with his back and looked up from his tablet. “Hey, gang, can we talk about Sam?” Bruce looked up over his glasses, unaware of his timeliness.

Steve’s expression said it all. “Shit.”

Samuel Wilson shoveled food into his mouth as if he were starving. A few people wandered in and out of the kitchen while Bucky looked on, mortified.

“You’re gonna get sick, buddy,” Bucky said as if he too would be sick.

“I’m in training, man. I lost so much muscle mass—it’s a bitch to put back on.” Sam gulped from the huge water bottle he carried everywhere.

“Glad to see your mood improved after sleep.”

“Bite me,” Falcon coughed between fork-fulls.

He ignored that rousing invitation. “You seemed to respond well to Samantha,” Bucky started.

“Lil’ Sam,” the hungry, hungry hippo corrected.

 “—so I thought she could help us out the next few flights. What do you think?”

“Whatever.” Sam continued to eat. Bruce had warned Bucky not to expect much real interaction from Wilson. After waking up, the onslaught of high brain activity had plateaued, and his personality was still recovering, if it was coming back at all. Wilson’s moods still jumped around, and his focus was erratic. Bruce had suggested trying some unconventional, new methods of acclimating Falcon back into the team. This was as good of an idea as any other.

To Bucky’s surprise, Samantha jumped at the chance to help, and he could she her projection sitting on the disc in the yard as he and Falcon approached. He was even more surprised when Little Sam took the reins right away.

“Tell you what, Big Sam,” she started, smiling, an odd thing to see for the first time on a projection. It seemed foreign somehow. “You beat me at cards, and you can skip flying today. Deal?”

Wilson perked up immediately. He stood straighter. He smirked. He bounced in his step, what he’d several times described to Bucky as ‘swagger.’ “You’re on. That’s what I’m talking about. See?” He glared at Bucky, “not everything has to be serious.”

Samantha dealt cards onto her platform, scooting off to lean only her face and arms into the projection, and Falcon took off his flight pack and curled up in front of the circle like a kid with a new toy. Bucky watched for a few minutes. Wilson stayed excited, fun, sarcastic, and competitive, but even when Samantha had a good hand that beat his, Wilson playful congratulated her. He never got cranky; he never snapped at her. Bucky left them outside, keeping a watchful eye from just inside the building. He couldn’t tell who was winning the entire time because they both seemed so genuinely excited for each other. The two Sams clearly joked and chided each other, talked animatedly, and finally, both threw up their hands in shock.

Samantha did a small victory dance while Wilson pressed his comm. “Alright, Barnes, it’s flight time. Fair and square.”

The whole practice was derailed by Samantha’s intermittent challenges for Falcon to fly in a certain way or pattern, once was hands flat by his sides like Iron Man launching, another was a figure eight, but Bucky didn’t mind as soon as he figured out what she was doing. He never caught her eye to confirm, but Samantha deliberately asked Wilson questions during flight, rehashed old memories, and left small details for Wilson to correct. Bucky suspected she was testing him, yet Wilson became his old self for the first time in half a year.

Sixty minutes became ninety. Ninety minutes became three hours, and still, Falcon flew strong. He’d successfully flown by a neural link alone twice without noticing because Samantha suggested he show off his dance moves. After a particularly fluid, in-flight Bruno Mars impression, Bucky clapped for Falcon’s achievement, assuming Samantha was equally impressed. When he turned to look, however, she wasn’t on the platform anymore. He could only see a combat boot on its side at the circle's edge.

“Sam,” he called, “did you trip?”

The foot did not move.

“Samantha,” Bucky tried with more urgency, “are you okay? Say something. We can’t see you.”

There was a quiet moan, and the foot dragged off out of view. “Ow…”

“Seriously, are you alright?”

“Lil’ Sam, come on. What’s up?” Wilson sauntered up. “You still got two left feet?” Bucky could hear the calm tone, but Wilson’s face showed only concern. They stood looking into thin air, helpless, unable to even reach out a hand.

Finally, a hand stuck itself into their view and gave a shaky thumbs up. A strained chuckle vibrated through the speakers. “I—I—just I need to eat is all.” Her voice was too quiet.

“What the hell? How long has it been since you ate?” Bucky put his hand to his forehead, demanding, “go into my place and eat something. You fainted.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll go lie down too.”

“I’ll send someone to check on you,” Bucky added.

“No,” Samantha said, leaning into the circle, her face stern, “I’m not built like you guys. I’ll just rest and see you tomorrow.” She switched off the platform from Wakanda.

“What’s wrong with Lil’ Sam?” Wilson stopped immediately in front of Bucky, so close Bucky could feel his breath. “Is she sick? Why didn’t she come home? She should be here.” The anger rose quickly in his voice.

Bucky raised his arms defensively without touching Sam. “Honestly, I don’t know. I wasn’t told to bring her back, and—” He stopped, himself a little hurt by the reality. “No one…” Wanted her home? That was a cruel way to put what seemed like a simple oversight. Asked her home? Did a Stark actually need to be asked to do anything? She could feasibly do whatever the hell she wanted, and did from what he saw. Remembered her? Bucky had to admit that he repeatedly forgot about Sam until he found a use for her today. “You’ll see her tomorrow, Sam. I’ll make sure of it. She’s fine. I’m looking after her.”

Falcon stormed off, knocking him against the shoulder hard as he passed. “You better,” he hissed and mumbled about food on his way inside. The quick turn of his friend’s dark mood shocked Bucky. They’d been doing so well.

Bucky thought back to years ago when Wilson had been so ashamed of falling out of touch with Samantha. How close had they really been? He flicked back through the recording of their card game. 

“—I definitely taught you how to bluff better than that—”

“—when you trained me to beat Nate with that trick shot before his basketball tryouts? He was pissed for weeks—I studied all the birds around the farm. I was gonna tell you all about them on your next visit—”

“—I should have taught you a good punch for those kids who called you that—”

It reminded Bucky of all the fellow soldiers at Lehigh who took over parenting him after his father’s accident. He had pieces of friendship and advice from everyone, but he remembered how sometimes the niceties only made him feel his loss more deeply. No single person could replace his father, and the more and more support he got, the more alone he felt when no one was around. His own father had died though; how did Sam feel knowing her father was still alive but took no part in raising her?

Bucky had always understood Stark’s perspective, perhaps because he felt so deeply responsible for how Tony became the man he was. Tony lost his parents to violent, evil forces, and after a period of burying his head in a bottle, he worked constantly to stop that from happening to anyone else. It was a full-time, all-time, forever job that only grew bigger and more complicated as the years went on. Now Earth needed two super soldiers, demigods, aliens, lab accidents, young drug-created recruits, and a veritable army of Inhumans running whole departments in every region just to keep evil at bay. Giving up on that to raise just one child alone, without her mother, the love of his own life, was such a foreign skill set, why wouldn’t he have outsourced it? 

After all the pain he put those he assassinated through, Bucky would never choose to be tortured by reliving what he’d done to their families. He would admit it, go through it for their benefit if he must, but if he didn’t have to, he would hide in a shitty apartment in Romania. Which is exactly what he did once. So Bucky had never blamed Tony for living separately from his daughter. Bucky shoved his head in the sand, hoping the world would heal and move forward without him; Tony dove head-first into protecting the whole world and hoped his daughter would be safer for it.

She was safer, in a way, but Samantha wasn’t really Tony’s kid anymore. She wasn’t really anyone’s kid entirely, and even though the responsibility had been spread thin over a dozen or so people over the years, no one, in particular, claimed her. Big Sam and Little Sam had obviously started a friendship that looked like family, but it died somewhere over the last decade. Bucky stood mesmerized by the ease at which the Sams picked up interacting with each other; he’d never seen Samantha so comfortable, friendly even. It was a little unnerving, like watching a stage performance before the curtain closed.

The footage paused when a message from Samantha popped up on his tablet. “Big Sam counts cards without knowing it. Can be distracted from doing it, but is capable of complex cognitive tasks he could not previously do. Tell Bruce.”

So, she really was testing him. Smart girl.

[Chapter 20: Nourish]

[appalamutte]

ok i literally was just planning out my own music au as well and oh my god this is the most comprehensive au i have seen holy shit. i seriously need to know more about the rest of the cast and how they fit in (bittysfoodbaby)

hi! i’m so sorry this took me *checks notes* two months and some days to answer. i don’t really have a reason besides school got the best of me and somehow i still feel like it should be valentine’s day, not the first week of may. omg.

anyway!! to make up for it i've pulled everyone i possibly could into this, because i like to flesh out alternate universes as much as possible, even if the character never makes an appearance:

(i already have a post/primer on jack and bitty in this au here! and here’s the other ask if you need a refresher)

shitty — shitty plays the viola, and it's solely because it's the instrument his father wanted him to play the least. the other country club fellows’ kids played the violin or the cello. shitty didn’t want none of that. (a small part of him loves the viola too, he just never says so)

lardo — percussionist. i just get strong mallet vibes from her, but i feel she wouldn’t limit herself to just the mallets either. she's not in the Founders ensemble or in the small group with everyone because she's not a string player, but she does live at the Haus, which is exactly the same as it is canonically except there's miscellaneous instruments and rosin and sheet music laying around everywhere on top of empty beer bottles and a lingering smell of dirty clothes/sweat

ransom — the cello. i feel it’s an obvious choice because he’s a d-man, and to me, the cello seems the most equivalent given it’s low voice that really supports the rest of the ensemble.

holster — cello (see above) but also for their small group, he plays the double bass. to be different.

as for how they fit in, ransom and holster complete the small group-slash-string quintet! so it goes bitty and jack on violins, shitty on viola, ransom on cello, and holster either on cello or double bass depending on what’s needed. i’m still figuring out the kinks on how they all meet since they’re not on a hockey team, so i can’t get you that far, but they are all the same ages/same personalities/same group dynamics etc etc

for the rest:

nursey / dex — see ransom’s explanation (can you tell i view d-men as cellists lmao). also they’re stand partners. that is not up for debate whatsoever

chowder — now he’s a tough one to pinpoint. i want to say percussionist since he’s a goalie (idk about anyone else, but in every ensemble i’ve been in, the percussionists had major goalie personalities. and ofc lardo is excluded from this parallel) but i also get very strong flute vibes too. this is in part because the flute is a very whimsical instrument and chowder is a very whimsical guy, and also because it just feels right when i picture it. so my tentative answer is the flute, but it’s still very much up for debate

whiskey — ideally he’s a trumpet player through and through. however, for the plot, he’s a clarinet player (i.e. the tadpole woodwind trio)

tango — bassoon. again it’s for the trio, but also bassoons to me are just so inquisitive. i can’t tell you why though

ford — flute and it’s again for the tadpole woodwind trio. also i went to school with a flute player who was also a huge theater lover, so it fits

kent — violin. he’s still jack’s ex-best-friend-slash-ex-boyfriend and they still have their fallout. but they also had planned to audition for julliard on the same day, like the nhl draft in canon, and as such kent does get into julliard and ends up becoming the concertmaster (principal violin) of the new york philharmonic

tater — double bass. yes, i said i think all d-men play the cello, but not tater. he takes it to another level. his height and wingspan makes the double bass cello-sized though so it checks out still. also he’s kent’s too-serious fwb

camilla — she gives me saxophone vibes. like jazz vibes (half of the saxophones in my school band played tennis btw)

[isabelasfriendfiction]

A Case of the Chills

Not me posting writing for the first time in 4 years?! I'd like to introduce you to some of the characters from my primary D&D campaign over the last few years. Finch is my tiefling arcane trickster rogue, Donahue is @brick-brooke's half-elf hexblade warlock, and Opal is another friend's dragonborn twilight cleric. More info on these characters can always be found on my main blog, @alistairweekend. The AO3 version of this includes art by Opal's player!

{ao3 link}

Finch was actually disappointed when her watch ended and she had to leave the soft warmth of the fire. After decades of living in a temperature-controlled palace and then several months in the tropical city of Kovali, adjusting to the temperate forest the Society for the Preservation of Fill found themselves in was proving a far larger problem than anticipated. Frankly, the situation baffled Finch. It wasn’t as if her clothing lacked, or there weren’t enough blankets, and by all accounts she ran warmer than most. Something about this forest just gave her the chills... literally.

As she exited the campfire’s embrace, Cricket landed on Finch’s shoulder and snuggled into the crook of her neck. “You cold too, buddy?” she murmured, reaching up to scratch the little faerie dragon’s head. Maybe she’d ask everyone in the morning how they were feeling.

She ducked into her tent and, taking care to avoid the two lumps that were Donahue and Opal, swiftly burrowed into the blankets of her spot in the middle. Cold. Of course. She gritted her teeth to try and prevent herself from shivering, holding on to the fact that the blankets should trap her body heat soon.

Minutes passed. And passed. Finch shifted, hoping finding a comfortable position would solve the issue, but she remained conscious. It was still just cold enough to be uncomfortable. Frustration bubbled in her chest.

At one point Finch heard rustling blankets as if in response to her movement. She stilled herself. “Donahue?” she whispered. “You up?”

No response. Finch let out an audible exhale through her nose. Then Cricket’s head poked out of the blankets, and he wriggled out to nimbly flit to the person on Finch’s left, an action rewarded with a grunt.

Finch rolled on to her side to face towards Donahue, who was nothing more than a mound of blankets with a faery dragon on top, nipping at the strands of blue hair sticking out. “So you are awake.”

“Maybe so,” he grumbled. “I’d like to not be, though.”

“Did I wake you up?”

He seemed to think about it. “...Yes.”

“Liar!” Finch hissed, propping herself up on an elbow and using her other arm to smack the blanket lump with her pillow. She immediately regretted the frigid air allowed to touch her skin at doing so, however, and gasped. “Gods, it’s fucking freezing. Are you cold?”

It was barely audible, but Finch made out a sigh from Donahue. “Yeah.” A moment passed, then he shifted to finally reveal his head. Cricket quietly trilled in delight and wasted no time in squeezing under the blankets, poking his head out right underneath Donahue’s chin. Donahue paid no mind and raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you’re cold?”

Finch pouted. “I know. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m starting to think it isn’t natural. It’s why I’m still up.”

Donahue’s demeanor seemed to sharpen into something more serious. “When was the last time you actually slept?”

“Technically, I don’t ‘sleep,’” Finch said, gesturing at her long elven ears.

Donahue scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Two can play at that. Neither do I.” He also waved a hand at his own tapered ears. “You know what I mean.”

Finch poked her tongue out at him but relented. “I was able to rest last night.”

“Ah. Lucky.”

“Oh? When did you last sleep?”

“Mind your own business.”

“Really? You’re gonna ask me and then say it’s none of my business to ask you the same thing, bitch?”

Donahue looked like he wanted to retort again, but his body betrayed him by making yawn, which he tried to stifle. “Ugh, fine. Two days ago.” Now that he said it, Finch did notice the dark circles under his eyes, even in the limited lighting. And he had seemed more tired than usual during the day, which was saying something.

“This is bad.” Finch put a hand to her face. “Especially if the others aren’t sleeping either. Though Opal seems fine...” She glanced to the right at their dragonborn companion, much more sprawled out than either of the blanket cocoons Finch and Donahue had made.

“Well, she’s a white dragonborn,” Donahue reasoned, “So she probably has way more resilience to cold than anyone else...”

“Mmmwha?” Opal suddenly mumbled drowsily, causing both Finch and Donahue to go wide-eyed and tense. Just as Finch was ready to believe she’d gone back to sleep, she spoke again, somewhat slurred: “You guys talkin’?”

“Sorry, Opal,” Donahue said, slightly above a whisper this time. “Go back to sleep. We’ll try to be quieter.”

Opal raised her head and rubbed her eyes, blinking a few times at them. The blonde fur tufts along her head and neck stuck out at wild angles. “You both aren’t sleeping?”

“Too cold,” Finch explained.

“That’s no good.” Opal’s brow furrowed as though thinking hard, though she was clearly still three-quarters asleep. “All right, everybody c’mere.”

Opal leaned forward, and suddenly blankets were being shifted and rearranged to the sounds of Finch and Donahue’s confusion and protest. When she was finished, all three of them were under the same pile of bedding. Finch found herself sandwiched between Opal and Donahue, not quite touching but still much closer than before, and she felt her face heat up. “I-Is this really necessary?”

“Warmer now, right?” Opal sounded entirely too pleased with herself. She stretched her neck out, which was just long enough to position her head right above Donahue’s. Cricket seemed thrilled by the new arrangement, settling in between Finch and Donahue’s shoulders.

Donahue had been incredibly tense, but slowly relaxed, if only a little. “Whatever. If it’ll help us sleep...”

“This is so embarrassing,” Finch groaned. “Nobody learns about this, got it?”

Donahue sighed and nodded, but Finch had more been asking Opal. Judging from the lack of response and steady breathing, however, she had already fallen back asleep. How did she do that so quickly?

Now Finch found herself worried about not sleeping for an entirely different reason. She had never shared a bed with anyone before, and was entirely too aware of both of her companions’ presences. She became acutely aware of the fact that any shifting she did could disturb them. But as the minutes ticked by, Opal was, to Finch’s chagrin, proven correct as the remaining chill faded away and her eyes fluttered shut.

[ymera-dathurn]

((Had our last in-person D&D session last night with the crew before the DM and one of the other players go back home to Chicago. It was the final round of the festival tournament we were taking part in, and it was the most intense combat we had experienced yet. No deaths would be had by the rules of the presiding order, but boy howdy did we feel like we were fighting for our lives. We were on the back foot for much of the battle, with the enemy team working like a well-oiled machine (they briefly took out our paladin, *twice*).

It was only with a lucky string of ability rolls that we turned the tide. Our fae-blessed barbarian Steff experiences a Wild Magic surge every time she rages, this time resulting in a holy lightning bolt firing from her chest at a target of her choice (she chose the leader of the group, naturally). He failed the save, resulting in sustained radiant damage and blindness. Unfortunately, his team powered through her rage and took her out a few rounds later. But then, in a stroke of genius, our dragonborn druid Nyomtasaliath managed to line up a few of the enemies such that he could catch three of them with his lightning breath, with only one of them saving. Lucky for us, it was enough to finish off the one opponent who was forcing disadvantage on our attacks, helping to even the field. Then, as if he wasn't carrying enough, he pulled our paladin Daffodil back from the brink twice with some ace use of healing word augmented by his Starry Form. For my part, Ymera is still not quite what I'd call good in a fight (she's more comfortable outside of combat), and her steel defender Feredir was down for the count in the middle of the crush, so all she could do was take shots at whoever she could, scoring a few decent hits. Our echo knight fighter Naidys was holding her own, spawning her echo as often as she could and keeping two of the opponents busy.

It was thanks to Nyomtasaliath's lightning breath, Steff's blinding lightning bolt, and Daffodil's searing smites that we managed to start whittling down the opposing force one by one. The enemy's leader, a Large Lad™ by the name of Rubid, was the last to go down, and he made us fuckin WORK for it. It took three rounds of 4-on-1 combat to finally finish him, at which point Ymera had a single spell slot left, Nyomtasaliath and Daffodil had none, Steff was down, and Naidys was badly injured. A tough fight, but we turned it around. After the awards ceremony, our PCs all went to bed, exhausted and proud of our victory, as the revelry of the rest of the festival attendees continued well into the night.

And then, like a jerk, the DM finished the session by saying, "We see the hanging lantern casting the pattern of the stars on the tent roof, slowly turning above you, lulling you all to sleep. This view fades into the sky outside, the sun slowly rising and dispelling the dark of night. And that's when the screaming begins."

Goddammit.))

[moxfirefly]

Good afternoon, this has been in the works for a while now and I finally got around to finishing it and being pretty content of it (this is gonna go up on AO3 soon along with the others that aren’t request) but I wanted to post it here first. Enjoy!

Rated Explicit (18+ only)

“Wish you were here right now

All of the things I'd do”

Gaming was always an escape.

From childhood to adulthood. There was some gaming equipment in your hands, controls, handhelds, keyboards and so on. There was just something calming about entering a fantasy world and immersing yourself in scenery and stories that made you stray from bad days and long nights.

For Donatello it was the same.

On one of his many supply scavenges Splinter had found a dumpster near a toy store that was going out of business. It was a memorable haul for them. What they expected to be routine things mixed with some type of groceries had turned into literal Christmas in July. Stuffed animals, board games, action figures and even a few gaming consoles with some cartridges and cd’s. Noticeably they were considered damaged or improperly manufactured, but they didn’t care and for Donnie he had spent a good week and a half fixing up the Nintendo and Play Station 2 consoles back into working conditions.

That alone had been plenty for him but nevertheless Mikey being so excited about playing wanted him to join him. They had played for hours and each disc or cartridge they tried out held a new story, a new set of controls to learn, new visuals and such. He was immediately hooked.

When he had gotten the first parts to start building a PC from scratch he knew there would be another world of possibilities for games.

Now gaming is a leisure for Donnie. Something he does for enjoyment and an escape when his projects become too much. The world of online gaming allowed him to also explore the possibilities of chatting with others though, the humans they were not allowed to see or speak to (with the exception of their Hogosha) but needless to say it wasn’t like Donnie broadcasted his identity and whereabouts. More so these people only came to game and speak game.

Donnie absolutely does detest the unnecessary sexism that gaming brings. Many a time he had read on chats or heard on his head set such derogatory comments thrown at female players. Never the one to stand such misogynistic behavior (he was raised better and had heard enough horror stories from April) he always shot that shit down quickly. Given his status as being far above his gaming peers he had developed respect and none of them ever shot back at him.

That’s how he runs into you.

On the opposing team nonetheless.

Once your female voice ran through the ears of the group he had been stuck in, the comments began to rain down. Some colorful, some lazy and some downright disgusting. Donnie had had enough and with some of his more illegal methods, had managed to push out the players in his party and send the audio recording to the email of the developers.

On exceptionally petty days he did far worse.

You had been stunned, wondering why the gang of immature boys had suddenly disappeared. Only one of them remained with the gamer tag specifying ‘Don_DuzMachines’ you couldn’t help but giggle at it.

You had asked if the sudden disappearance had been a weird glitch and if Don (as you assumed you should call him) had anything to do about it.

“Let’s just say I’ve got my ways” His soft voice rang through your headset.

“Well it’s hardly the first time I’ve had a gang of prepubescent boys tell me to suck their dicks” You started to move away in the map but stopped abruptly.

“Hey do you wanna play something else?” You asked tentatively. “Figured the least I can do is thank you” Donnie sat back pensively, well there was no harm in that now was there?

And so it started innocently.

Co-op games even the occasional match against one another. Each game you two always spoke through your headsets. Mostly banter about strategy or directions for who to do what or the occasional friendly jabs. You hadn’t revealed much that wasn’t the nickname you used as your gamer tag, and well Don had basically done the same.

That is until you decide to poke a little into his life. “You go to college?” You had asked, fingers gliding over the keyboard as you both partook in a raid. Donnie hadn’t expected such a question and he didn’t necessarily want to divulge much, he opted for a more ambiguous response. “I do my own studying, sort of like home schooling if you will?” Well he wasn’t wrong, Splinter had been both father and teacher to them, Donnie had just excelled more quickly and soon enough he was teaching his brothers on the academic side.

“You broke too, huh? Trust me it’s not worth the insane debt you’ll develop in six years that’ll take forty years to pay off” You chuckled with a hint of bitterness, Donnie couldn’t help but laugh and snort.

“That’s cute” You said sincerely. Donnie smiled, heat creeping up his neck.

How innocent things had been at the start.

For six months the two of you divulged little to no information. You never asked to video chat and Donnie never asked for your socials. It had just been a mutual agreement to keep the mystery that just wasn’t verbalized. Maybe it was for the better, because surely what had began as a gaming buddies situation had escalated to, well Donnie couldn’t really explain.

The first instance the two of you had been stuck on a map solving intricate puzzles. It was one of the more relaxed games the two of your partook in together when you didn’t want to deal with other players in a lobby.

“Dating apps are a nightmare, they’re only worth it for getting dumb funny stories” You had been playing but also checking some of the matches you’ve gotten on a site. Donnie swallowed, why did that settle so oddly in his stomach?

“Well any funny ones you’d like to share?” Don asked curiously hoping he wasn’t over stepping any boundaries. “One guy wanted me to cover my feet in marmalade, I really almost hit fuck it and did it” You couldn’t help but smile when Don choked, coughed and bursted out laughing.

“What kink is that even related to? I mean I know people enjoy feet but marmalade?” He was bewildered. “Come on Don don’t kink shame the poor guy, who are you to police his eclectic culinary desires?” Now the two of you couldn’t help but burst into another fit of laughter. Both your avatars were idle standing, the game somewhat abandoned in favor for the conversation.

“Hey I’m not kink shaming, we all have our weird kinks” Donnie smiled sitting back on his swivel chair. You clicked out of the dating site, chin resting on your hand. “Are we finally having this conversation? Cause I love this shit, it’s my bread and butter” You sat back in your gaming chair, tucking your knees.

Donnie felt so shy but the barrier of mistery the two of you had built urged him on. He was curious, like stupid curious what you looked like and while he had everything to figure out exactly where you were, it wasn’t morally correct for him. So why not just indulge in the conversation?

“Well it’s not feet, sorry to disappoint” He heard you laugh, an infectious sound he had grown to enjoy so much. “Feet are so passé anyways, what about bondage?” You spun slowly in your chair, the sounds of Don adjusting and clicking on the keyboard ringing in your ears.

“Bondage is a go, especially sensory deprivation” He was checking some documents April had forwarded to him in regards to a case they were dealing with, but he could multitask. You made an approving noise, nodding while taking a sip of your drink. “Into that D/s stuff?” You asked wanting to see what else he might like.

“Well yeah, but I do enjoy more um... Fem Dom stuff” He finished up the email he wrote out for April and hit send. “A man with taste, not something we get often” You chuckled but decided to add. “I wouldn’t mind having a guy submit to me” You bit the inside of your cheek a little shy suddenly.

Something about that statement made heat spread south for Donnie. The concept of being dominated? By a woman? He peaked a look behind him, pushing one side of his headset down to hear what his brothers might be up to but he heard only music and chatting voices.

“What’s your favorite thing?” He inquired almost too softly.

“Erotic ASMR” There was no trace of embarrassment in your voice and that somehow made Donnie hot.

“Maybe we frequent the same sites for that” Don boldly threw out. You made an approving face before sitting forward and typing on your keyboard. A beat or two later Donnie saw an email notification from you on one of his many burner emails. He opened it finding links to audios from various sites all catered to erotic audios. Donnie whistled, this was a gold mine and true to his predictions you did indeed have some of his favorite sites to peruse.

“It’s not just male audios by the way, there’s women too” You sat back once again, nervously playing with your hair. “Thanks... Well I do like hearing both” Donnie confessed, voice avoiding a stutter.

You grinned. Oh he was even more fun that you could’ve expected.

Curiously enough that had been the tamest experience into yours and Donnie’s sex talks. Because it hadn’t really stopped at that, they progressively escalated little by little. Fave kinks had turned to fave sites, fave sites had turned into fave videos. Donnie never pictured he’d share his hidden folder with a stranger no less.

You nor Donnie could really say how the two of you had ended up one late night, with yet another abandoned game, talking about weird but satisfying cyber sex experiences. Some of your stories had been on the more comical side but a few had riled Donnie up to the point that he couldn’t ignore it. There was a shift in your voice as well, an allure that enticed him.

“Can I be honest?” You licked your suddenly dry lips. Donnie tensed momentarily, not sure what to expect. “Of course, please” You squeezed your thighs together, ‘please’ shouldn’t sound so good coming out of his mouth. You trace lazy circles on your thighs, something pushed you. “I’m kinda turned on by this...by talking to you about all this stuff” Maybe this was overstepping it, surely there was nothing wrong between two adult friends discussing such matters.

There was no need to tell Don that you had yearned to put a face to the name. But his hesitance spoke of insecurities and you could understand that.

“I am too...” Donnie looked up at what he called a ceiling in his home, the darkness of the sewer system and concrete. He’d never have a chance with you, it was a deeply rooted desire for intimacy and if virtually he could obtain it then so be it.

For all your boldness you felt a wave of bashfulness hit, crashed around your self confidence. Then Donnie steps up and you feel your toes curl in excitement. “Do you want to have a better experience?” Donnie runs both hands down his face, who was he to provide better experiences, he’d never even physically had a partner. The slow sigh that escapes your throat is comforting static in his headset. “Yeah, yeah I really do actually” You feel a smile etch itself on your lips.

“You can call me Donnie” It’s the closest to his name, and truthfully he really wants to hear you say it.

“Y/N,” You say to which Donnie makes an approving noise, he finds your name to be pretty. He rolls it in his mouth, testing the syllables, he can envision moaning it, well he wants to moan it if he can be completely honest. He wants to put a face to that name but he quickly pushes the thought out. There’s a pregnant pause where neither of you engage or make the first attempt. Not wanting to let this mood flee, Donnie swallows and closes his eyes. The hum of the abandoned game grounding him.

“Say my name again” It’s not a forceful demand, all the contrary he wants to hear the pitch in your voice when you say it, he wants to picture how each tone would variate depending on what he would do or say. “Donnie...” You smile to yourself when you say it, a hint of desire nestled in it and Don notices that and wants more of it.

There’s a lengthy sigh from your behalf, hands wandering up your thighs towards your chest. “I’d like to be there right now, would like to say it against your lips” Your bold confessions makes Donnie’s pulse quicken. He runs a ghosting touch up his plastron, the vision of a delicate hand doing it. The imaginary weight of you on his lap grinding down on his hard member. Donnie grips himself through his shorts a soft groan escaping his parted lips.

“Want you to kiss me” He swallows dryly, the approving noise you make pushing him forward. “Feel your lips all over, feel your mouth around me...” He lifts his hips, hand cupping himself and the small hitch in your breath is a sound he wants permanently recorded in his brain.

“God are you big? I bet you are” You kneed your breast, thumb and forefinger pinching the sensitive nubs until they’re perked. Donnie smirks to himself, freeing his aching member and looking down at himself. Mutant genes aside he feels somewhat shamefully proud of his cock, he wonders if you would like it... deeply buried within you. “Yeah I am, I think you can take it something tells me” You catch that teasing tone and the urge to swallow him whole and make him see stars is too much.

Your hand finds its way into your underwear, the warm wetness making you moan as you tease your middle finger between the lips to find your sensitive nub there. You bite back another lengthy moan but recover enough to breathlessly say, “oh fuck, Donnie” and that very sound makes him shiver. Never did he think he’d hear something so temptingly good, said with such sincerity. God the things he would do to smell your arousal right now, to taste the wetness. “Push two fingers in slowly” Donnie almost pleas, his voice shakey, hand pumping his cock at a steady pace. You do as he wishes, your gutted moan making more precum gather at the tip of his member.

“God-shit- you sound so good, wish you were riding my big dick right now” He wants to chastise himself for saying something like that, but he can’t deny that statement shakes something in you. He can hear it, the sound of your fingers mixed with a continuously rising string of moans. “Ohmygod” Words tumble out strewn together by your pleasure. “Donnie please, please fuck me harder” That alone makes him sit up and push forwards, one hand on his desk as the other works himself up in upward twisting strokes.

Donnie can’t erase the idea of slamming into you right here on his desk, maybe bent over, maybe you’ll let him cum on your face...

He pushes the idea away, he can’t envision your face now, not right now, not when your moans have you sounding this deliciously in need. You’re plunging two fingers into your core as your free hand runs firm circles around your clit. “Christ Donnie you sound so good baby” You moan, perspiration covering your body and Donnie can only groan his approval.

There’s a few minutes where it’s just the two of you lost in your own pleasure together. The constant chants of ‘fuck’ and ‘god’ and ‘yes’ mixed between the two of you. “Say it... again” Donnie groans out, hand quickening, briefly gathering some saliva and letting it fall on his hard member for better traction. “Don-oh, Donnie cum in me!” You’re so far gone, not caring what comes out of your mouth. The wet sounds in your head set and a vibration you figured could be static mixed with his groans was all you heard.

Donnie’s hips twitch, feels that request swim inside of his brain and the image of burying himself as deeply as you could take is all he needs. Just as your moans rise in crescendo he feels the first twitch and relief of his orgasm overtake him. He’s never felt it hit him this hard it knocks the wind out of him, each rope shooting out onto his hand and floor. In his minds eye though, it’s your suffocating heat taking it, milking him until he’s a shivering mess. It plays perfectly like a movie, he swears he can even feel your lips at his neck and arms holding him tight.

Your sounds are enough to keep him stroking, the way your voice pitched up with the sound of his name entwined, forever recorded in his brain. Your entire body tensed to the point of uncomfortable but it was impossible to stop abruptly when he sounded so lost in you. Your leg shakes and stiffens and it takes every inch of control to not become liquid and slip away into comforting bliss.

Eventually the sounds of heavy breathing slowly but surely settling are the only things the two of you can hear in your ears. There’s a mess, for you and for him. The understanding of things transpired crossing each of you two’s brains. Should you speak first? Should he?

“Um, you with me?” You settle, skin sweaty and mouth dry. There’s movement on the other line, a quiet cuss here and there and you smile. “Yeah, sorry just... made a mess” His voice has that sheepish tone and you can’t help but chuckle.

“Great thing about being a girl, we can conceal the evidence better” You stretch your aching legs enjoying each joint pop. “The female anatomy never seizes to amaze me, trust me” Donnie leans back in his chair, napkin cleaning any other soiled spot.

The silence was somewhat comfortable, the buzzing of good chemicals slowly settling.

“Was this okay?” He asked, hesitant tone in your ears.

“More than okay if you ask me” You kept it light not wanting him to feel odd or even ashamed.

You ventured on slowly, forming the question in your brain and bouncing it back and forward with a swallow. “If, and I mean if you want to, we can maybe do this from time to time” You worried a thumbnail between your teeth. Donnie’s gaze watching the idle screen of the abandoned game, he thought hard but briefly.

“I... yeah I would” He smiles to himself, even if the nagging thought that this might not last clutches the back of his mind. Why ruin a good thing? This was good more than good and you suggested to continue.

He doesn’t want to preoccupy his brain with scenarios, or if that dreaded ‘let’s meet’ sentence decides to cross your lips. If this is the inch of intimacy he gets to have and it’s with you, who he has grown so fond of, then he’s selfishly taking that inch and guarding it with his life.

Mutely you both remain on the line, no words spoken from the agreement, just simply enjoying that the two of you were present.

Even if not physically.

[bxcketbarnes]

Off to War

Pairing: 40's!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Words: 3000+

Author's Note: I finally got an idea for 40's Bucky and I'm so happy with how this came out. This man is plaguing my brain and I'm so okay with it. I hope you guys enjoy and let me know what you think. 🥰

"I wish you didn't have to leave," you whisper to the tall brunette, your eyes glued to Bucky's hand that's resting on your lap.

Bucky hums in response and grabs your hand, lacing your fingers together before gently squeezing. "I wish I didn't have to leave either. I never wanted this life," he mumbles and you frown as your thumb gently strokes the back of his hand. "I mean, what are you and Steve going to do without me? I won't be here to protect you."

Your heart flutters at his words, always loving the caring side of him. A side only you and Steve knew about. Bucky's a bit of a player, always has been since he was in high school. He's the most gorgeous man you've ever seen, and you happen to be hopelessly in love with him.

"Steve and I can try to take care of ourselves. My older brother has been teaching me how to defend myself. I've got some skill now," you wink and earn a chuckle from the twenty-six-year-old.

"Yeah, but the thing is you shouldn't have to. You're a woman for God's sake. No man should be treating you the way you've been treated," Bucky argues and you nod your head slightly, agreeing with him. "If I could take you with me, I would. I'd keep you safe, doll."

Your cheeks flush at the compliments pouring from his lips, looking away from the brunette. "Bucky…" you trail off and your eyes meet his blue ones, seeing an emotion you've hardly seen in them before.

"Can I just-" he cuts himself off to lean in closer, feeling his nose brush against yours. "Just this once."

You clear your throat as Bucky moves his hand down your sides and rests on your hips. Your eyes flutter shut as you feel his lips grazing against yours, your breath catching in your throat. "Kiss me," you whisper and Bucky immediately captures your lips with his.

You're wrapping your arms around his neck, running your hands through his hair as you kiss him back feverishly. Butterflies swirl around your stomach as Bucky pushes you back, laying you against the cushions of your couch.

He hovers over you as his fingertips graze along the length of your neck. Bucky pulls away from you, both of you breathing heavily as your faces are still close. "Now, I definitely don't want to leave," Bucky sighs while resting his forehead against yours.

Your heart pounds against your chest and hums in reply, combing your fingers through his hair. "That's- Jesus," you stumble over your words, causing your best friend to laugh.

"Cat got your tongue, doll?" He smirks and you roll your eyes playfully as Bucky sits back up.

Before you can say anything your front door opens, both of you glancing towards it to see Steve walking into the place. His blue eyes dance between you and Bucky, an inquisitive look on his face.

"Everything okay?" Steve asks while moving to sit in one of the recliners. You and Bucky nod your head simultaneously, eyes glancing at one another's for a quick second.

"Yeah, just gonna miss you guys," Bucky states as his hand squeezes yours.

-

You couldn't believe the Peggy Carter wants to recruit you for her medic team. You've heard a lot about her through your letters from Steve and from various people you've talked to on the streets of Brooklyn.

One thing you wish is for Bucky to send you something… literally anything. You haven't heard from him in months and you're not going to lie- you're worried about him.

So, here you are, on the frontlines in Germany. You're nervous about being this close to the war, but you'd do almost anything to help your country out. Plus, Peggy mentioned that Steve's going to be here as well.

You jump at the sound of gunfire in the distance, releasing a deep breath as Peggy leads you towards the tent you'll be staying in. "Nervous, Miss L/N?" She asks you and you let out a small chuckle.

"Is it obvious?" You laugh while running a hand through your hair.

Peggy gives you a soft smile and lays a hand on your shoulder. "Don't fret. This is one of the safest camps along the frontlines," she reassures you and you nod your head in response. "So, have you known Steve for long?"

"Oh, since middle school. It's where I met both him and Bucky," you inform her with a smile and her face falls a bit. You notice the look on her face and furrow your eyebrows. "What is it?"

"You should probably know about James," she uses his first name and your heart drops. You swallow the lump in your throat as you nod your head for her to continue. "He was captured by the Nazis about a month ago."

All the air leaves your body, leaving you gasping for breath at the news. You place a hand on her shoulder to keep your body from collapsing. "D-Does Steve know?" You ask in a whisper and Peggy nods in reply. "Is he here now?"

"Yeah, I'll tell him where to find you," she mentions while leading you into the tent you're staying in. Once Peggy leaves your tent you break down, falling to your knees as tears pool in your eyes.

The memory of yours and Bucky's kiss flash through your mind, your heart clenching at the thought of him dead. Your lip trembles and you fully sit on the ground, leaning against your cot before hugging your knees.

He could still be alive… right? You think to yourself as a quiet knock is heard right outside your tent. "Y/N?" Steve's voice softly calls out and you pick your head up.

"Come in," you whisper loud enough for him to hear. A short gasp leaves your lips as Steve walks into your tent. "Steve?"

A chuckle leaves his lips and the blonde nods his head. "It's me, Y/N," he grins and you slowly stand up. "You must have been living under a rock. I've been like this for a few months."

"Wh-What happened? How?" You ask in astonishment while walking closer to him.

You suddenly wrap your arms around his waist, your heart heavy as you can feel the tears coming back. "Super soldier serum. I was the test subject. You knew how much I wanted to help," he explains and you nod your head. "Listen, about Bucky-"

"Is he alive?" You ask, cutting him off and Steve sighs. You rest your forehead against his chest as sobs escape your lips, the image of seeing his dead body plaguing your mind. "I-I never got to tell him about my feelings."

Steve's brows furrow together and rest his hands on your shoulders, pushing you back a bit. "What feelings?" He questions and you sigh while wiping the tears from your face.

"I'm in love with James Buchanan Barnes," you tell him and his blue eyes widen, shock written across his face.

"Since when?!" Steve asks and you let out a chuckle, scratching the back of your neck.

"Probably since high school," you inform him and you're amused that Steve never figured it out, especially since he was around you a lot. You move to sit on your cot, inviting him to sit next to you and he does. "You know the night before Bucky left?"

Steve nods his head, resting his hands on his thighs. "Yeah, you and Bucky were acting strange when I finally made it to your place…" he trails off and you snort, giving him a look. "No way. You two did something?"

A laugh leaves your lips as you lean your chin against the palm of your hand, sighing heavily. "To be fair, we only kissed," you explain to him, gazing at the super-soldier for a few seconds, "but, it was the best kiss I've ever had."

Steve rests a hand on your upper back, rubbing gently. "I'm going to find him. I'm taking our men out tomorrow to find him and everyone else they captured. I'm bringing him home," he tells you, and your eyes well up with tears, nodding your head to what he's saying.

-

"Medic! We've got wounded," someone shouts and your head snaps up before scurrying out of your cot.

You throw on your medic jacket and rush out of your tent, running straight to the med-tent. "Where are they?" You ask one of the other nurses, seeing the empty spaces in front of you.

"Guys from the 107th are bringing them in now," she informs you and you nod your head.

The flap of your tent opens up and about nine people hobble their way inside. You order the men holding them up to place the wounded on the cots as you start examining the one closest to you.

It doesn't take you long to patch the men up and thankfully there's not that much damage on them either. They all thank you and you grin to yourself, absorbing the validation. "Just doing my part," you tell them while patting the shoulder of the last man you attend to.

Steve walks into the tent and your eyes dance towards him. "There's something you need to see," he mumbles, and your heart pounds against your chest.

"I can't if he's…" you trail off and Steve shakes his head. A smile comes to the blonde's lips and you let out a small sob, stumbling towards him. "He's- he's alive?!"

"C'mon," he motions for you to follow and you glance towards the nurse, a pleading look in your eyes.

The brunette laughs and nods her head. "Go see whoever it is you need to see," she grins and you thank you quietly before running after Steve.

You fiddle with your fingers as your friend leads you towards Bucky’s tent. "Does he know I'm here?" You ask him and Steve shakes his head.

A deep breath leaves your lips as he stops you from going in. You look up at the six-foot man and he tells you to wait a minute. You nod your head and watch as Steve walks into the tent, hearing him tell Bucky that he's got a surprise for him.

"Come on in, Y/N," Steve calls out and Bucky's head snaps up at the sound of your name.

No way. There just happens to be another woman here with that name. It's not- Bucky's thoughts get cut off as he watches you walk into the tent, a nervous look on your face.

"Bucky," you breathe out and the twenty-six-year-old stands up from his cot before rushing towards you.

Tears come to your eyes as he wraps his arms around your shoulders, hugging you tightly. "Holy shit, you're-"

"I'm here," you whisper and wrap your arms around his waist, gripping his shirt tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Bucky glances towards Steve and the blonde nods his head before leaving the two of you alone. You pull away from your best friend, sniffling as you bring your hand up to his face.

His blue eyes look you over as he feels your thumb gently strokes his cheek. "What are you doing here?" Bucky whispers and you giggle softly.

"Peggy recruited me to help out," you tell him and Bucky leans into your touch before kissing the palm of your hand.

Your heart flutters in your chest, smiling softly at the man before resting your head on his chest. Bucky wraps his arms around you once more as the two of you stand in silence.

-

"Oh come on. Come with me," you beg Peggy, not wanting to go into a bar filled with men by yourself. "It'll make me feel much safer, at least until I reach Steve and Bucky."

You run your hands over the black material, your dress looking very similar to Peggy's except hers is red. "Fine," she sighs and stands up from her seat, her eyes meeting yours. "I have to talk to Steve anyway."

"Oh?" You question with a slight tease in your voice, nudging her shoulder with yours. "We happen to fancy a certain blonde hair, blue-eyed man?"

Peggy scoffs and shakes her head, clutching her purse. "Absolutely not. Howard has new equipment for him to try," she informs you and you chuckle in response. "Are you finally going to tell James about your feelings?"

Your chuckle dies off at her words and you clear your throat, gliding your fingertips along the smooth dress. "I- Don't know what you're talking about," you tell her, and she gives you a knowing smirk as the two of you get closer to the bar.

"Oh, come on, Y/N. Steve blurted out that you're in love with the man, and it's not that hard to figure out," Peggy teases you now and you scoff, crossing your arms over your chest.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll have enough liquid courage to tell him. We'll see how it plays out," you mention and she nods her head, glad that you'll attempt to reveal your feelings.

The singing in the bar dies down as the Howling Commandos spot the two of you. Your cheeks flush at all the attention and tuck some hair behind your ear as you follow Peggy. "Miss L/N, you look fantastic," one of the men comments and you thank him quietly.

You notice both Bucky and Steve lean back in their chairs as the bar suddenly becomes silent, the two men standing up when you and Peggy approach them. "Captain," Peggy greets Steve and you smile, knowing that the two have some sort of unspoken thing happening.

"Agent Carter," Steve nods, and your eyes move to Bucky, who's currently checking her out and your heart clenches in your chest.

Well… you move around them and head towards the bar, ordering yourself a drink. "I see your top squad is prepping for duty," Peggy tells Steve.

Bucky grins and shoves his hands into his pockets. "You don't like music?" He asks. The bartender places your drink down in front of you and you thank him politely before paying.

"I do, actually," she says, not looking away from Steve for even a second. "I might even, when all of this is over, go dancing."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Bucky flirts and you roll your eyes before taking a large gulp of your drink, already wanting to leave.

So much for him feeling the same way, huh? You think to yourself as you hear Peggy tell him that she's waiting for the right partner. She bids them goodbye before giving you a wave. You nod your head as the two men watch her walk away before Bucky turns to face Steve.

"I'm invisible. I'm turning into you, it's like a horrible dream," he laughs and moves to sit back down in his spot.

Steve claps him on the shoulder as his eyes meet yours. "Maybe she has a friend," he mentions and tilts his head in your direction.

Bucky's eyes find yours as you sit on the barstool, fiddling with the glass in your hands. The brunette finishes the drink he has before glancing towards Steve. "How long has she been sitting there?" He asks and Steve frowns a bit.

"She came in with Peggy," he informs him and Bucky begins to feel a bit guilty for not noticing you.

"Shit," he whispers and watches you order another drink. "I'll see you later."

Steve pats Bucky on the back once more with a smile on his lips. "Go get 'er, tiger," he laughs causing Bucky to roll his eyes.

You smile at the bartender and go to pay him for the drink when someone lays a five-dollar bill on the table. "This one's on me," Bucky says, causing you to look up at the man. "Hey."

"Hi," you mumble as he sits down beside you.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Bucky apologizes immediately and you furrow your brows, wondering what he's apologizing for. "I should've noticed you with Agent Carter, but I didn't. I'm sorry."

A slight scoff leaves your lips and you shake your head, taking a sip of the Brandy. "It's fine, Bucky. You can do whatever you want," you tell him and Bucky frowns before taking your hand in his.

"The night before I left," he starts and your eyes glance towards his blue ones, feeling his thumb stroke the back of your hand, "when I asked to kiss you. Do you know why I did it?"

You swallow thickly as you think about it, wanting to assume it's because he liked you. "Because that chick left you at that car show? I assumed it was because you're lonely," you mumble, your heart breaking at the expression on Bucky's face.

"I kissed you because I didn't know if I was ever going to see you again. I kissed you because I wanted to know what it'd feel like in case I died over here. It was the best kiss of my life," he mumbles and your heart begins to pound against your chest.

"But, I'm here," you whisper to him and Bucky smiles softly, squeezing your hand.

He nods his head and scoots his chair closer to yours, his leg brushing against yours. "You are. Although, I don't like that you're this close to the enemy I'm really glad you're here," Bucky mumbles as the distance between your faces begins to diminish. 

Your breath hitches in your throat as Bucky's lips meet yours. You place your hand on his neck as his rests on your hips. Wolf whistles echo off the walls, causing the two of you to pull apart. You look over Bucky's shoulder to see Steve and the rest of the Howling Commandos standing there with grins on their faces.

"We seem to have an audience," you giggle and Bucky looks over his shoulder before sighing.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" He asks you and you nod your head.

Bucky laces his fingers with yours before leading you out of the bar, ignoring the cheers coming from his fellow soldiers. You press your face against his arm as the two of you walk together, his thumb rubbing against the back of your hand.

"I love you, James," you blurt out and Bucky looks down at you, squeezing your hand.

"I love you too, Y/N."

-

Taglist: @jessalyn-jpeg​ @bumblebet-20​ @queen-of-mischief​

[give-grian-rights]

Bets Against The Void c7

ok i really like validation so its back again this week

crossposted on ao3

Whitelist AU by @petrichormeraki​

next chapter

last chapter

first chapter

They never quite fell back to sleep.

It took only three hours for them to start rolling out of their makeshift bed, and back to scrambling around the hobbit hole and making the most of the resources.

The two teens didn’t really talk, after how their last conversation finished.

Tommy peaked down into what looked like a not-so-hidden stripmine, before Tubbo’s head perked up.

“Someone’s at the door,” The brunett chimed, carefully striding their way over.

It was once again Grian, with a shulkerbox in tow.

“Sorry to bother you guys again,” Grian gave a sheepish wave while balancing the box against one arm and his chest. “I remembered last night that I didn’t leave any cooking supplies, or open up where the kitchen is.”

“It’s not just you,” Tommy decided to add, turning back towards where the entrance was. “That fuckin’ bird showed up again this mornin’. Woke us up.”

At that, Grian groaned. “Yeah..He does his own thing in the early mornings and at night. The hobbithole was basically his house. I’ll enclose him tonight, sorry for that.”

Moving the box under an arm, Grian tilted his head. “Can I go back and show you where the kitchen’s hidden?”

Tommy merely raised a brow. “It’s your house, ain’t it, dickhead?”

Tubbo lightly jabbed Tommy’s side.

“I made it, yeah, but you two are staying in it. As long as you’d like it, it’s yours and I won't come in without your explicit permission.”

With a second of baffled confusion, Tubbo cleared their throat and nodded.

“Yeah! Uh. Come in, I guess..?”

It took only a few minutes for Grian to expose the tucked away room by the super smelter setup Tubbo and Tommy were yet to investigate.

“I didn’t feel like decorating a kitchen since I already had so many plans with my megabase..If I had it my way I wouldn’t have made a kitchen at all, but the Jungle Gang of Hermits would’ve been severely disappointed if I was only having menu-crafted food.” He’d casually explain, pulling out a paper towel roll from the shulkerbox as he swiped down the tops and barren counters.

“How many Hermits are in the jungle?” Tubbo asked, brows furrowed. Their tablet’s visual narration was muted, as it repeatedly described Grian wiping off the dust from the counters.

“Ehh..Five? Including me? There’s also Ren, but he’s right on the edge, down in a masa. Beautiful setup he’s got going on.” He’d breezily explain.

Nodding along, Tommy glanced around the room.

“This is cool ‘n all but we don’t have to use this space. You left.. Shitloads of stuff, in the chests.” The blond had pointed out, turning back towards Grian.

With a shrug, Grian hummed dismissively. “Real food’s a much better idea, and i’m fairly certain steak’s most of what I got left, down here. Maybe for dinner but..Not really for breakfast, or anything.”

Tubbo shrugged. “Fair enough, yeah..We don’t exactly..Cook much? I mean- I know I certainly haven’t had the time to get much in me, other than coffee.” 

“Ooh, yeah, definitely a good traditional-prepped item.. Other than tea on occasion, I don't tend to stray from crafted food. Even on the days I sit down and eat it like a proper meal.” Grian nodded along, glancing off as he dropped the paper towels he had been using to clean into a little bin.

Tommy sighed, leaning against the wall. His head was pounding from the lack of sleep. “What’s the d-”

He was cut off  by a not-so-distant firework bang.

Tubbo flinched and ducked their head down, throwing their arms over their head. Tommy, on the otherhand, lowered to the ground, eyes sealed shut with his hands slammed against his ears.

“Hey! Hey, it’s okay, they’re duds, they’re fireworks! No firework stars, either, just a puff of smoke. You’re both okay. You’re in the hobbit hole. It’s fine, everything’s good.” Grian hushed, giving exaggerated movements as he demonstrated slow breathing.

The blond boy growled, turning to snap at Grian- “We’re not babies!  We’re fine.”

Grian nodded, stepping back to give them both more space. “Okay. It’s okay. And it’s alright if it’s not okay. That was probably just Scar. He’s gonna be in and out of there. He’s the closest neighbor.” He had calmly explained to the pair.

Tubbo had deflated, taking a breath. “Thank you. Sorry. Uh. Y-Yeah.” They nodded numbly.

Tommy raised, folded his arms and didn’t meet the gaze of Grian. His face was twisted as he glared down at the floor. He felt weak.

Taking a small breath, Grian tentatively stepped back towards the door. “I’m going to head out and let you guys cool down, okay? You’re both free to go anywhere you want.”

With that, he departed, leaving the two teens alone.

A brief, tense silence fell between them.

“..That was fucking stupid.” Tommy scoffed.

Tubbo’s brows furrowed, turning towards him.

 “Excuse you?” They spoke, voice edging towards accusatory.

“They’re gonna fuckin’ think we’re weak, Tubbo-”

“I’m sorry that i’m not a fan of explosions! Yeah- that- that one’s my bad, Tommy.” Tubbo growled, going to step away.

Tommy grabbed their arm with a loose grip. “That doesn't matter, Tubbo, we’re- we’re supposed to be able to do better than that! We look like kids to him. We look like cowards-”

“I’m not a coward, Tommy! Oh, void, can’t you just drop it?” They hissed out, yanking their arm free.

“For the love of Prime- Tubbo. Tubbo, I'm not mad at you! So I need you not to be mad at me-”

“Too late for that!” They spat, rushing themself out the door with a slam.

Left behind was Tommy, tense and red in the face with a growing pit of guilt.

...

The people slowly started to pour back into the server. With everything going as expected, the admin breezily flicked and dismissed his communication screen, leaning back as he rested atop the incomprehensible mess of community chests.

Frequent pings and beeps ran through his ears as the comms went off, mixed with alerts and chatting as people settled back down.

He hadn’t bothered to check the messages until an hour in, when a high-pitched chirp emitted. A private message.

Summoning his screen back, he read over it.

ItsFundy: Hey Dre? My messages aren’t reaching Tubbo. Why aren’t the two back yet?

Dream quietly laughed. The server could use a quick break from them. 

It only took a quick flick of the wrist to pull up Tommy and Tubbo’s info. They were both in a world. With the MCC servers closed to the public for maintenance at night, Dream could only assume the two had scampered off to Hypixel or something of the like.

Upon a brief investigation, the servers were left as unlisted.

...Nonetheless, Dream will allow himself to revel in some peace for now. Let them get a little scared. A little more respect for the server-

Dream sneered.

They’re lucky they’re as tolerated as they are, here.

...And without them present, well- that sure will leave L’manburg in an interesting situation…

Dream: Can’t say I know. Sorry. They probably ran off, dont worry too much about them.

Making up his mind, Dream scrolled back to the Player information.

“It would be a shame if they went M.I.A, especially with how fresh the wound on L’manburg is..” He mused.

A click or two on the screen and it was done. They were locked from the server. 

“Enjoy yourselves, idiots.” He yawned, kicking his legs off the chests and onto the floor.

His axe was summoned to his hand, and he stalked off, a chill running through the air.

[nightshade-minho]

- Miracle -

- felix x reader / changbin x reader

- part of @hanflix ‘s christmas collab

- warnings: breaking up, cheating, fingering.

- wc: 3k

You hummed a Christmas carol to yourself happily as you danced about your apartment.

It’d been a while since you’d spent Christmas with your boyfriend, so you were understandably excited.

You’d spent all afternoon cooking up an amazing dinner, all of his favorites included. You hadn’t cooked in ages, so it had definitely been quite a bit of work.

You didn’t mind though. Anything for him.

You glanced at the clock again as you adjusted an ornament on the tree, one which had both your faces on it. Grinning widely, you moved the gift box under it to the side a little. Satisfied, you made your way to the couch, staring at the door as you waited for the bell to ring.

To say you were excited would be an understatement. Not only were you anticipating spending this evening with him, you were also quite excited for the events that would follow. It’d been so long since you had any kind of relief- you were incredibly horny.

Your clothing reflected that as well. You’d purposely chosen a strapless dress that would clearly show off the lace of the crimson lingerie you had underneath. You’d seen the pair in a window last week and just had to have it. You felt so pretty in it, like a gift just waiting to be unwrapped.

A few minutes passed by, as you ran a hand through your hair absentmindedly.

Hm, he was a little late. It wasn’t a big deal though, right? The Christmas traffic was probably insane.

More time passed by, and you got even more antsy as the minutes passed by. But it would be fine. He would be here soon enough, you knew it. He probably just had extra work to do.

Almost an hour, now.

You were starting to worry about the turkey getting cold. Letting out a small groan of frustration, you grabbed your phone, dialing your boyfriend’s number as quickly as possible.

“Y/n?”

You inhaled, the tone of his voice confusing you a little. Why did he sound so surprised?

“Uh yeah...where are you, Bin?”

A small curse could be heard from the other end of the line. There were some rustling sounds, and then a cough. Followed by some silence. You felt your heart drop slowly, as the seconds passed.

“Changbin?” You asked again, your voice quivering slightly. “D-don’t tell me you forgot.”

“Uh...” There was more silence.

And then a sigh. A defeated, saddened sigh.

“I’m...I’m so sorry. I really am. Sorry for doing this to you. You really do deserve better than m-“

And that’s when you heard another cough. It was slight, but still audible. Quiet and...distinctively female.

“Changbin?!” Your eyes widened as you sat up. “Are you not alone?”

“Y/n...I’m really sorry. I wish things could have been different but-“ He hesitated when he heard you sniff. “I just...think we should spend some time apart.”

You let the phone drop. Changbin’s voice could still be heard, but you drowned it out. You tried to ignore the hot tears pricking at your eyes as you cut the call, burying your head in your hands.

So, that was it.

It had all been for nothing. All the effort, all the time and love you’d put into this relationship had been meaningless.

You couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. It helped, really. You let all your emotions flow past your cheeks, cursing out your boyfriend- ex boyfriend now, you supposed- in your head.

It was all you could do...cry. Cry until your eyes could barely stay open. You’d spent an hour crying and you were definitely going to spend the rest of the night the same way-

Until there was a knock on the door.

Opening your eyes, you blinked in confusion. Who could it be? Sitting up, you rubbed vigorously at your eyes until the tears were gone, more or less.

You moved to the door, pushing it open. You had an idea of who it might be…and if you were right, your heart already felt lighter.

Cause really, there was only one person who could possibly make you feel better right now.

And there he was, standing right in front of you.

“Lixie.”

Your best friend gave you a soft smile, holding what seemed to be a bunch of DVDs as well as a few snacks. “Hey.”

“Why are you here?”

“Uh well...I heard what happened.”

“How? I never called-“

“Changbin told me.” He bit his lip, pushing past you and into the room.

“He’s an ass. I can’t believe he would do this to you. I got all this ready as soon as I heard. There’s no way you’re spending Christmas all alone.” He turned to you. “I won’t allow it.”

You sighed, watching as he went and sat on the couch, arranging the DVDs and snacks in front of him.

“Do...do you know how long he’s been cheating on me?” You asked, wringing your fingers as you moved closer to him.

“I...I’m not sure. Although I know the girl. They’re childhood friends, but I thought they were just that.” He sighed.

Childhood friend. Weird, Changbin had never mentioned having one.

“He was making a bunch of lame excuses. Said that he’d fallen out of love with you and was going to tell you soon anyway. That doesn’t excuse it though...I’m really sorry, Y/n.”

The tears slowly made their way back into your eyes at his words. He’d fallen out of love with you? Why? You hadn’t even noticed any issues between the two of you. Of course, he’d been a little distant these past few months...but you’d just assumed it was because of how busy he was at work.

You slowly went and sat down next to your best friend, leaning back in silence.

“You look very pretty tonight, by the way...” Felix mumbled softly, running his eyes over your dress and turning back to the screen. You muttered a thank you, sighing.

“That...that jerk is just that, okay? I’m going to help you forget for a bit. You don’t deserve to spend Christmas night in tears.”

“It’s okay. You’re right. It’ll be hard to get over him though, Lixie...he was all I had.”

“You have me.” He said insistently. “And I’d never leave you. Now, erase him from your memory.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“I know. But you’ll have to try, atleast for tonight. Promise?” He tilted his head at you.

You held his gaze for a few seconds, your heart heavy. Groaning, you nodded. “Okay.”

“There’s my good girl.”

You blushed at his words, clearing your throat and moving forward in your seat. “Which movies did you bring?” You sniffed, inspecting the DVDs.

“Well, I know you like watching Christmas romcoms.” He chuckled, wiggling his eyebrows. “So I’ve got plenty of those.”

“Hey! I don’t.” You let out a small laugh, shaking your head. “I only watch them cause they’re so silly. And making fun of them is entertaining.”

“Then let’s do that.” He grins and picks out one, putting it into the player and sitting back.

The movie started playing, and you settled yourself to be more comfortable. Grabbing a blanket from your side, you draped it over the two of you. Felix smiled softly at the plushy blanket, bringing it over you higher.

There was silence as the two of you watched the movie, only interrupted by your occasional jeers. You forgot Changbin and his betrayal momentarily, your brain focused on the idiocy displayed by the Mary Sues on screen instead.

“This is so stupid...no one holds in their feelings for that long, do they?” You rolled your eyes as the character onscreen holds back their confession for the millionth time that day.

“Yeah…” Felix shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Glancing over at you, he observed your profile carefully. He couldn’t tell which one out of the two of you was more oblivious.

“I mean, you never really know...these movies might hold more truth than it seems.”

You scoffed. “I really doubt that. It’s just unrealistic.”

He stayed silent for a while, before shifting closer to you and wrapping an arm around you tentatively.

“How are you feeling now?”

“To be honest? Still not very good.” You mumbled, the tears slowly making an appearance once more as memories of your ex flooded your mind.

“Yeah...I know. I’m sorry.” He put his other arm around you as well, pulling you close to him. He let your bury your face in his shirt, his heart shaking at the sound of your muffled sniffles.

Felix felt warm, safe. You held onto him tightly as your tears flowed endlessly.

Patting your back, he kissed the top of your head. “You’re such an amazing person, Y/n. I’ve known this since day one.”

“I don’t know. I’m not amazing enough for him, am I?”

“Maybe you don’t need him to decide your worth.”

You looked up from his chest. “All I’ve known for years now is him, Lix. We’ve been together for five years, how am I supposed to just forget?”

Felix bit his lip, not knowing what to say. He kissed the top of your forehead again, humming to himself.

“You don’t...deserve him. You’ve deserved better from day one.”

“Better?”

You looked up at Felix, frowning as you observed the emotion in his eyes- so deep and profound. Swallowing, you sat up. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just…” he clenched his fists, closing his eyes. Fuck, this was so much more difficult than he thought it would be. Why was it so hard? He was the biggest hypocrite ever for criticizing those romcoms with you. The truth was, he was just as much of a coward as the protagonist.

Felix had held in his feelings for you for years, since childhood. The moment you stumbled into his life in grade 5, running into him with your full tray and spilling its contents all over his brand new shirt, he’d known.

You’d apologized profusely, offering to take him out for coffee to make up for it. He’d refused at first, but you’d insisted.

That was one of the things that made him fall in love with you. Your tenacity and stubbornness, the way you never backed down. You’d always been strong, as long as he’d known you.

That was exactly why it hurt to see you look so vulnerable. Of course he’d given Changbin a piece of his mind when he’d heard, but it still felt like it wasn’t enough. He wished he could do more.

Felix wished he could just blurt out his feelings to you. Wished he could be like you, the type to be unapologetic about their desires, to be straightforward.

“I don’t know. What if...what if the one who you really deserve was in front of you all along?”

You raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” He swallowed. Shit, what was he supposed to do now? He was in a corner.

There was only one thing he could do now, really. And the idea scared him and excited him at the same time.

“I mean this, Y/n.” He took in a deep breath.

And suddenly, his lips were on yours.

To say you’d never expected it would be an understatement. It was just too much of a shock, something you’d never even thought of happening.

His lips were soft and delicate. His kiss was fragile, his fingers gentle as they came up to ghost along your jaw. Everything about it was surprising, and yet...

It wasn’t unpleasant, that was for sure. Cause even as Felix pushed you backwards, you kissed him back.

You just couldn’t help yourself. You’d never seen your best friend in a romantic light- which made your sudden neediness for him all the more astonishing.

It was like there was a some sort of magnetic attraction connecting the two of you. You couldn’t hold yourself back. He tasted so sweet...

Everything about Felix is the opposite of him…and that somehow pulled you in even more. How had you never noticed until now?

He pulled away finally, his panicked eyes searching yours. His hands never left your body, though.

“Was that ok?” He asked, his voice shaky. His lips were still throbbing with the force of the kiss the two of you had shared.

“It...It was p-perfect, Lixie...want more…” you forgot the movie as you pulled him back to you, lips claiming his.

It just felt so addictive. Fuck, what were you doing? You’d barely gotten over your ex, and then here you were making out with your best friend.

His fingers ran down your back as he kissed you again, and again and again. His lips pulled your bottom lip, as he gazed deep into your eyes.

There was love in those eyes that you’d never seen before...not even in Changbin. It was an emotion so profound and raw it made you breathless, your heart pounding in your chest. It all felt so new, and yet not scary or daunting at all.

“There’s things I’ve always wanted to say to you.” He mumbled in between kisses, holding you tight as he lifted you up onto his lap.

“Tell me now then.”

“I will.” He nodded, kissing your jaw.

“The first one...I’ve always wanted to kiss you like that. I could stare at those pretty lips of yours forever...tasting them was like a dream come true.”

Felix’s hands were gentle as they ran up your bare back, lifting your shirt up over your head. You let out a shy whimper as he did so, your eyes fixed on him. He groaned inwardly at the innocent look on your face. What an idiot he was to let someone like her go.

Slowly he stood up, making you clutch onto him like a koala as he headed over to the tree in the corner.

He scoffed at the ornament as he set you down onto the ground, hovering over you. “Fuck him. You’re mine, now. And I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

You looked up at him with wide eyes. Was what he said true? Did he mean it all?

You didn’t know if you were being too suspicious. You’d had enough of empty promises, words spelling forevers that were never meant to be.

Felix pressed one more kiss to your lips before sitting back to run his eyes over your lingerie. His eyes widened as he ran his fingers over the satin, his finger gently playing with your clothed nipple. “Fuck, you really did all this for him? That prick really really doesn’t deserve you.” He bummed.

“So pretty…”

You watched as he reached to his side, pulling out the ribbon of one of the wrapped gifts. Taking the crimson silk, he took your hands and carefully tied your wrists together. “That’s it...You look so pretty like this. A little gift, all for me.”

He leaned in to nose at your neck, his fingers dipping down to rub over your clothed panties. He groaned at the feeling of the soaked fabric, wetness gushing out of you as he explored your folds.

“All for me. Mine.”

You stared at him, your lips parted. As his fingers slowly slid aside your underwear, you closed your eyes, whining gently.

“The second thing I’ve wanted to tell you...do you even know how amazing you are? You’re perfect. The way you always care for the people around you...the way you know exactly what to do in any situation...anyone would be lucky to have you in their life.”

You blushed at his words, your chest rising and falling with your breaths. Did he really think of you in that way? You didn’t know if you were all that special, to be honest.

The way Felix said it with so much conviction made you wonder, though.

Suddenly, your phone lit up.

Momentarily pulling away, Felix frowned as your phone dinged with messages. They kept coming, incessant pings piercing through the air.

Groaning, he sat up and grabbed your phone before returning to your previous position.

“He must be kidding…” Felix raised an eyebrow as he read the texts. Turning it, he showed you the phone.

There were a bunch of texts, all from Changbin. Apologizing, begging for you to meet him up so he could explain.

A few hours ago, you would have immediately grabbed the phone to reply to him. However, at the moment reconciliation with Changbin was the last thing on your mind.

You scoffed. Forget it. Felix was right, you deserved better.

“Forget it. Lixie...please. I need you.”

That was all he needed to hear. In an instant, the phone was discarded as Felix leaned down to kiss you again, smiling against your lips as he pressed his body against yours.

“The third thing I’ve always wanted to tell you...is how much I love you.” He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear as he gazed at you.

“I’m in love with you, Y/n. And I always will be.”

You opened your mouth, but he sealed your lips with a finger.

“You don’t have to say anything now. I know this is sudden. You can have time to think about it.” He said reassuringly.

You smiled up at him, shaking your head as you grabbed his cheeks and pulled him to you once again. Leaning in, you whispered against his lips.

“We have all the time in the world…and right now, I know all I want to be is yours, Lix. I’d be a fool to not love you.”

A smile lit up his face, and you giggled at the sight. He always looked so pretty when happiness consumes his face like that.

He kissed you again, as he gently slid in a finger into your core. You gasped, your eyes glazed over as you stared at him.

“I love you, my little Christmas miracle…” He mumbled, sliding his lips down your neck. You smiled, moaning softly.

And in that moment, those sappy Christmas movies didn’t seem all that far-fetched after all.

[ickle-ronniekins]

luck of the irish

request from @stars-shaped-clouds: Hi! If your requests are still open I would like to request for Fred Weasley! :D maybe meeting Reader the first time and fred is all like it’s like love at first sight thing? I really love your writing!!!!

request from @keoghans: Hi! I love your work sm!!!! I wanted to ask for a Fred one, where the reader is a Beater in the World Cup finals, and is a friend of Oliver Wood, and he’s all giddy looking at her play and stutters a lot when they meet and yeah, idk, flustered, stuttering Fred gets me hahah thank you love! ♥️♥️♥️

pairing: fred x reader

word count: 2.9k

A/N: yo what the FUCK i loved these requests—also i know wood doesn’t play for ireland but let’s just ~pretend~ and also i knoooow that in gof they don’t go home for the christmas holidays because of the yule ball but again let’s just ~pretend~ and go weak for flustered, head over heels, desperately adorable fred and his love and first sight with a professional irish quidditch player

tag list: @mintlibri @seppys-return-to-madness @how-do-life-does @fopdoodledane @fredd-weasley @iprobablyshipit91 @semmelsemi @bobduncanlover @cottageoflove @laneygthememequeen @snakesonaplane-7 @lupinsx @keoghans @helloallthethingsilove @dreamer821 | message me if you’d like to be added darlings!!!

Fred finds himself rather excited to get back to school. Not for the work, of course, but the mischief! He and George had also heard through the grapevine that this year is supposed to be more exciting, more chaotic—something will be happening, but what, he doesn’t know. He just has to sit tight and wait until the feast, where Dumbledore will undoubtedly give them a clue as to what’s about to happen. Fred can hardly handle the wait.

But when Fred ends up at the Quidditch World Cup with his father, siblings, and friends before he heads off to Hogwarts for his sixth year, the last thing he expects is to meet someone who makes him want to push off school for as long as he possibly can. He’s expecting the laughs and teasing and Butterbeer and Quidditch puns and stories shared with old comrades. Which, he supposes, he is getting, but also with something else, too. His twin makes sure to add in some extra teasing.

Fred’s skimming the campsite for a familiar face, and he finds himself becoming aggravated when he can’t spot who he’s searching for.

“Where the bloody hell is Wood?” Fred asks, searching desperately through the very large crowd gathered outside their tent. “I thought you said we’d be seeing him before the match?”

“I did,” George tells his twin, also skimming the sea of people in front of them. His voice gets lost in the crowd, “Could’ve sworn he told me so..”

Suddenly, Harry’s voice echoes loudly. “Oliver! Good to see you!”

George and Harry are giddy at the sight of Oliver Wood, their former Quidditch teammate and captain. The tall, lanky bloke stands outside of their tent, pulling both men into tight embraces. It’s been quite a while since they’ve seen him, in fact.

It’s when he begins blabbering on about the Quidditch World Cup that Fred notices his arrival.

“Mate! Finally! How are things?” Fred says, seizing his hand for a firm shake. “Thanks again for setting this up,”

“Not a problem at all, glad you lot could join! Been ages since we’ve seen one another,” Wood beams, now offering greetings to Ron, Ginny, and Hermione respectively. Turning back toward the twins and Harry, he asks, “How was your travel? Okay? No hiccups?”

“Not a one,” George says brightly.

“Good,” Wood says, sticking his hands inside his pockets. “Really glad you guys could make it—I know it’s mad as a hatter, here, but I reckon that’s what makes it more exciting.”

Harry laughs at this and offers, “Going to be really wicked watching you play professional, you know.”

But Fred is no longer listening to the conversation in front of him; instead, you seem to have caught his attention, and to his surprise, you’re making a b-line right toward him! He feels as though his throat is closing up; it’s not until he realizes that you’re actually headed toward Oliver that he begins to breathe properly again. If you’re not the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen—

“Merlin! Wood, we’ve been looking everywhere for you. We’ve got to head to the changing rooms in a bit. Reckon Lynch will want to give us a good chat beforehand.” Both you and Oliver erupt into chuckles, leaving Fred nearly breathless at the light, airy sound of your laugh.

“Who’s this?” Fred asks shyly, watching your eyes sparkling at the sight of all of them.

“Speaking of playing professional—” Wood begins, introducing you to the lot around you, “this here is Y/N. Wicked good Beater, started out just this year for the Irish National Quidditch team.”

Fred suddenly feels his insides constrict; you? A Beater? On a professional Quidditch team? You can’t be more than seventeen years of age, and the smile tugging at the edges of your lips as you shake hands with everyone nearly sends him to the ground in a flustered mess. Suddenly, you take his hand in yours and he feels the electricity almost immediately. He can hardly contain the nerves. He’s starting to believe in this whole ‘love at first sight’ thing—

“Fred and George are Beaters, too,” Wood explains to you, and Fred’s delighted to see an impressed look on your face, “really wicked, they both are. And Harry, here, what a brilliant Seeker.”

George playfully slaps him across the arm. Everyone around begins to laugh when he teases, “Stop it, Oliver, you’re embarrassing us.”

“You can’t be more than sixteen,” Fred says to you without fully registering what’s happening. He’s saying things without thinking. He apologizes, “Sorry—erm—what I mean to say is, you look so young to be playing professional Quidditch. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I—I mean—” he’s finding it hard to now create coherent sentences when all he can hear are annoying snickers from his brothers behind him.

“Color you impressed?” you ask, and he feels his knees go weak. He offers a nervous laugh when you continue, “I’m flattered. Seventeen, actually. But, yeah, I reckon I’ve just gotten really lucky for my age.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Oliver cuts into the conversation, “you’re brilliant. Just wait’ll you see her play—madhouse, she is.”

You begin to laugh and turn back to him, “Neither one of us will be playing if we’re late—Lynch is looking positively dreadful, reckon we’ll need to go and give the pep talk ourselves?” Wood agrees and picks up his broomstick he’d placed on the ground. You turn back to everyone, “It was nice meeting all of you. See you after the match perhaps?”

“Yeah!” George begins excitedly. To Wood, he says, “Mate, when your team undoubtedly wins, come back here for a drink, eh? It’s the least we could do to thank you.”

The nerves are bubbling up inside Fred; he’s hoping Wood will agree and bring you along. Something tells him he’s not quite finished talking with you yet.

Wood looks at you and both of you shake your heads. “Alright, then! We’ll see you in a few hours time!”

Shouts of luck echo from everyone in the group, including some people nearby in surrounding tents. Can’t this evening last forever? The thoughts of Hogwarts, and whatever’s planned for this year, have seemingly left Fred’s mind, now that you’re here. Before you leave with Wood, he says to you, “Good luck! But from what Wood says, it doesn’t sound like you’ll need it.”

You grin broadly at him. “Thanks, Fred. Keep your fingers crossed for me, though. We still need all the luck we can get if we’re going to crush Bulgaria.”

From behind George and Ron, Wood yells with delight, “We’ve got the luck of the Irish—it’s all we need!”

— -

The match is underway, and Ireland is absolutely crushing Bulgaria. When he flies close to them, Fred’s excited to see a very large grin plastered across Oliver’s face. But there’s still a long while to go, and plus—the Snitch is nowhere to be found.

But why is it, Fred thinks to himself, is he feeling so nervous? Perhaps it’s the heights. He’s standing with his family up near the top of the pitch, what looks like millions of rows of spectators beneath them. Are they in the highest one? He’s too nervous to move and find out; he’s nearly rigid.

He realizes, though, that it’s not the height that’s got him feeling jumpy. An incoming bludger is headed straight for the Ireland Chaser hovering right in front of them, and Fred feels as though his entire soul is on fire when you quickly fly past, pummel the Bludger to the other end of the very large pitch (much larger than Hogwarts’), and send a wink his way before heading in the complete opposite direction, nearly vanishing in thin air.

George notices this and laughs. When Ginny and Ron question him on this, he nearly replies, “Just having a laugh,”

“Why?” Ginny and Ron ask together. Ron continues rather anxiously, “You worried Bulgaria’s going to catch the Snitch before Ireland, too? That Krum is absolutely wicked—”

“No,” George laughs again over the crowd, “I’m having a laugh at Fred. Someone here,” he continues, pinching Fred’s cheeks, “is a bit flustered over one of those famous Beaters.”

“Am not.” Fred replies, a twinge of annoyance in his voice. He pulls at his long hair, trying desperately to cover up the cherry red color now flooding his cheeks. George just cocks his head to the side, as if to say, Really, Fred? You’re an awful liar. He can feel his insides tighten at the thought of it. God, you’re brilliant. He wouldn’t mind having you wrapped around him for the rest of the evening after Ireland’s impending win. He finds himself watching you with dazed eyes and a lazy smile, not even paying attention at all to the match in front of him. Instead, he’s counting the times you fly near them and meet his gaze. Fred swallows thickly and then agrees, albeit begrudgingly, “Fine. So what? She’s gorgeous—”

“—and sweet,”

“and our age!”

“and plays professional Quidditch.”

Fred rolls his eyes at the mocking yet truthful statements coming from his friends. George opts to continue, “It’s no wonder you’re in love, Freddie.”

Ginny squeals, “Putty in her hands, he was!”

“Would you lot shove off?” Fred asks, eyeing Mr. Weasley curiously, thankful to see that he’s deep in conversation with Amos Diggory. “Make fun of me all you want, but for Merlin’s sake, don’t let dad hear you—he’ll absolutely never let me live it down.”

“All the more reason to keep teasing, mate,” Ron tells him, turning toward Harry and Hermione before the three of them erupt into a fit alongside George and Ginny. Again, Fred just rolls his eyes.

But he doesn’t really care what they think. Not now, anyway. Not when you’re hovering near them again and he notices the tight grip you have on your broomstick, the thin line of sweat at your hairline, the dimples in your cheeks when you grin brightly at another goal for Ireland. You turn and glance at them again, wiggling your eyebrows at him before pummeling another bludger straight toward a Bulgarian player, and Fred can’t contain these feelings of both admiration and jealousy bubbling up inside him as his eyes try to follow you all around the pitch. All he can remember is the way your hand felt in his when you introduced yourself just a few hours ago. All he can think of is how bloody adorable you look in those Quidditch goggles and robes. And all that’s flooding through his mind now, as he watches you slam yourself against a Bulgarian Chaser and call out to the other Ireland beater across the pitch, are the grins he keeps eating up each and every time you make so to fly by his seat in the stands.

— -

“Holyhead Harpies, for sure. They’re brilliant!”

“Couldn’t agree more. And Puddlemere United?”

“Merlin, no—don’t tell Wood I’ve said this, but they’re bloody awful. Just like the Falmouth Falcons. How about the Chudley Cannons?”

“My family’s exclusive to the Cannons, actually.”

“Knew I liked you for a reason, Fred.”

He lets a soft laugh escape his lips as he watches you tip your goblet backward and drink hastily the rest of your Butterbeer. Your cheeks are flushed; is it Ireland’s win? The copious amounts of Butterbeer you’ve consumed? The fact that the tent is so bloody warm? Fred doesn’t know, but he gets a sense that it might be something else when you bat your eyelashes at him and bite down on your lip to keep from smiling too much.

He’s feeling much more confident now—nothing a few drinks and slaps on the shoulder from George couldn’t fix! He’s surprised at how.. normal you seem. He’s hungry and desperate to learn more about you in your fleeting time together that he’s not even letting anyone else chat you up for a bit. Not that you mind, really. It’s not like you’re itching to get away from him. Actually, Fred thinks to himself now as he watches you, you might just be inching closer—

“So tell me then, you’ve been a Beater since your first year at Hogwarts, yes?” you ask, and Fred nods his head, eager to hear more, “you and George. What about the other two?” you nod in the direction of Ron and Ginny, who are animatedly chatting up Oliver Wood now. “Your other siblings don’t play?”

“Not those two,” Fred says, grinning a bit, “They’ll join us for little games we have at home, but not for school. Although, come to think of it, Ginny’s kind of brilliant actually—maybe she’ll play for Hogwarts one day..” he thinks fondly on memories of the last summer when they’d finally let Ginny join in on some of their matches.

“And what about you?” you ask, the glittering of your eyes very evident in the moonlight poking through the tent, “plans for after school? Pranks, maybe? Professional Quidditch, perhaps?” you tease him a bit, nudging him in the ribs.

Fred beams again and sips his drink slowly. He absolutely loves that you want to know more about him. “You joking? Follow you after that brilliant match? I reckon you’d have quite a laugh.” Which you do. You laugh at this, and he’s positively melting into the ground beneath him, itching to hear your laugh more and more. “George and I have some.. plans up our sleeves. Creating mischief at school isn’t just a hobby, you know.”

“No?” you inquire, sipping again on another Butterbeer, “is there such a thing as ‘professional pranksters’?”

“If there is, that’s exactly what George and I are.”

The two of you fall into a fit of laughter, grabbing the attention of the other group nearby. George wiggles his eyebrows at Fred, who feels the nerves bubbling up inside him again and shakes his head at his twin, before turning back toward you.

“So tell me,” Fred begins again, soaking up as much information as he can before the night’s end, “you’ve won. You’ve won the bloody Quidditch World Cup—” the both of you giggle lightly, and he watches as you nervously pull at your hair and bite down on your lip again, “—what’re your plans now? School, holidays?”

“I’m going back home tomorrow, to visit with my family,” you reply, and Fred digests this. “My parents are here tonight, but they’re off somewhere with my aunt and uncle—tomorrow’s when I get to go and see my extended family.”

Fred nods, taking this in. He just has to ask; it won’t sound strange, will it? “Yeah? And where’s home?”

“Ottery St. Catchpole,” you tell him, twirling the Butterbeer in your hands, and there’s a catch in Fred’s throat at your words, “right in Devon, if you’re familiar?”

“You’re kidding,” he replies breathlessly, and he sees you waiting with bated breath for his next words, “that’s where we are. How’ve we never run into one another in the village? We live just across the large hill!”

You sit back, surprised, and Fred’s happy to see an enormous smile on your face. You open your mouth to speak, but just then, Wood calls to you from the entrance of the tent, noting that Ireland’s captains would like to have a quick word before reuniting the players with their families.

Fred feels his insides tighten; he doesn’t want the night to be over, and he finds himself clutching his goblet rather tightly. He glances at his watch; Merlin, it’s nearly one am! How long had you two been at this? He peers at you, the rosy color of your cheeks still evident in the moonlight, and he wonders if you’re feeling the same way. When you turn back toward him and glance at him with sullen eyes and a weak smile, he realizes you just might be. You tell him, “I’m sorry the night has to end.”

“Me, too.” he admits, continuing to twirl his Butterbeer in his hands, “I’ve had fun.”

“Me, too.” you echo him, standing up from your seat and stretching in your Quidditch robes. Fred’s feeling rather woebegone at your impending departure, but suddenly he feels his spirits lift a bit.

“Can I write you?”

You peer at him with admiration in your eyes. A large grin spreads across your face. “Absolutely. Is that a promise?” you wink.

He laughs cheekily and hope he doesn’t sound as positively giddy as he feels, “It’s definitely a promise.”

He watches as you look around the tent and pull at your robes. Then you ask him, “Could I maybe.. maybe see you for Christmas?”

He’s beaming again; he feels that fire coursing through his veins once again. He stumbles over his words and clears his throat, “Y-yeah—that sounds great. I’d like that.”

You grin and place a hand on his arm. “Good.” And much to his surprise, you lean in and place a gentle kiss upon his cheek before squeezing his arm once again and making your way to bid farewell to everyone else, and then toward the entrance of the tent. Once more, you turn back to him, raise a hand in farewell, and nearly vanish into thin air.

Fred doesn’t even realize that George and Wood are standing beside him; he’s merely feeling the electricity buzz through him at this very moment, and is already beginning to count down the days until the Christmas holidays. When George pokes him in the ribs and interrupts his thoughts, he’s brought back to reality and notices everyone watching him now—each of them winking and chuckling lightly at this new relationship he’s seemed to have sparked. He can feel a chill wash over him when Wood leans in and says to him before leaving,

“I’m telling you—it’s the luck of the Irish, mate.”

reblogs & feedback are much appreciated lovelies, thank you for reading and requesting x

[yukippe]

i sold myself on yuekki knowing there was v little content so ig i have to make it myself. heres my take on canon yuekki

so obviously yue lives! for this ill just say she gave back the power she got from the moon spirit and her hair turned black and she ended up w cool spiritbending powers for fun

sokka and yue get together properly 💖yue decides she wants to travel the world and help out with the war however she can and she and sokka have a conversation and theyre like yea we r both young and we dont know whats going to happen so we want to explore this however we can! theyre very soft together and sokka teachers her the basic combat he knows and he gets a lot better at carving because hes constantly making her little things whenever they stop somewhere 

aang and yue do spirit communicating and spirit world trips and bending together and its cool katara practices with them because yue wants to take waterbending influences - katara and yue become really close friends and they tease sokka together whenever they can

in the secret tunnel episode yue thinks the nomads r the funniest thing and shes laughing and having them teach her songs and her voice is HORRIBLE and sokka is just oh dear i love her…

in the swamp sokka and yue both see suki ;)

neither of them mention what they saw bc sokkas like uh? im with yue tho what does this mean is suki okay?? and yue is like oh thats a cute girl wow ! huh :O

yue shows up at the beifongs and goes oh…i am just a princess. nbd! the beifongs are ?!?! okay?? and tell toph to be nice to her. at first toph thinks yue is just a prissy princess but then yue challengers her to a burping contest and tophs opinion does a 180 to first girl crush

they still lose appa : ( yue went into the tower with them bc she wanted to talk to another spirit and when wan shi tong asks her for information shes just like oh lol i was the moon spirit and hes…..um okay that works

yue is the one who gets high off cactus juice 😌 she has a great time and sokka carries her on his back for a bit to make sure shes safe and fusses over her and yue is just bopping his nose and playing with momos tale and earnestly talking about how she thinks she might have to leave sokka for the mermaid (katara who is very flustered) shes flirting with

serpents pass is hijinks and romance at its best :)

suki still kisses sokka and yue sees the girl from the swamp vision kiss sokka and her IMMEDIATE thought is oh new girlfriend i guess and then her brain kicks in and she steps over and goes hey :( my boyfriend :( 

suki: what?? sokka: uh yea, hi suki this is my girlfriend yue. yue this is uh, suki? shes the leader of the kyoshi warriors

basically they sort it out as a haha oops my bad… but then the three of them talk around the campfire and sokka starts to make one of the carvings he always makes for yue and then he makes another and gives it to suki and suki and yue are REALLY getting along and the three of them sit under the moonlight and yue brings up that she saw suki in a vision and sokka goes oh and suki goes really?

they realize they all definitley like each other, but suki has to go back to the rest of the kyoshi warriors and they kiss and yue takes sukis hands and promises her she will find her again and theyll see where the go from there and gives her the carving sokka made for her and suki gives yue the carving sokka made for her and its very much an if we make it out well see where we go from there

azula has no idea who yue is because the nwt princess not being in the nwt is a tiny bit of a secret bc the nwt decided they didnt want it to be known that yue wasnt safe and azula sees her spirit bend and is ???? another avatar?? 

yea the fire nation thinks theres another avatar dw abt it

in ba sing se yues tales of ba sing se episode shes invited to join katara and toph and goes but she also gets her own little story where she gets stuck working a part time job at a pottery store and she so lost dfghj

when theres the confrontation at the end of book 2 azula tries to attack yue and calls her the avatar and zuko is??? no thats the nwt princess!! azula is v stunned and then shes like well. fuck you! and then she turns to aang and proceeds from there

yue pretends to be aangs mom so katara doesnt have too dfghj sokka and yue play up a v cute married couple act and katara keeps pretending to throw up

sokka makes yue a cool meteroite knife while hes making the sword and she loves it and immediatly starts target practice

yue and katara both go with hama in the puppetmaster and its actually a redemption episode and yue shares a message from tui with hama and hama thanks them both and decides to go to the swt 

yue goes on the boiling rock trip and eyes zuko from the other side of the balloon and he asks o uh how are you alive? yue: i gave back the moon spirit and then the moon came back and then i became a vessel for tui and i got spiritbending. sokka: ur so cool

yue spots suki first and nudges sokka and sokka sees her and goes !!. when zuko stands guard he is so extremley awkward abt it bc he doesnt understand why the both of them went in bc he doesnt realize theyre both kinda with suki. inside the three of them are hugging on the ground and outlinging a fast plan

when chit sang goes: hey ur girlfriend is going away, yue crosses her arms and goes: hey thats MY girlfriend chit sang: oh sorry didnt mean to assume

zuko: i thought you were dating sokka? sokka: yue and i are both dating suki because we are all really cool and awesome :D

when hakoda finds out his son has two badass girlfriends and one of them is the leader of an elite group of warriors and the other is the princess of the nwt he goes and takes a nap

you know that scene where suki is trying to sneak into sokka’s tent but zuko interrupts? yue is already in the tent with sokka and hears the stumble and is like zuko?? we didnt invite you but uh? i guess just talk to sokka quickly we have plans

zuko is very intimidated by yue already so hes much more awkward but he goes in and asks his question and then suki and yue go and hangout with sokka and the three of them have a cute date and do each others hair and suki brings out her fans and they fan each other even though suki goes: hey those are weapons! >:( yue, guiding sokka on hiding his face w a fan: yes suki we are so sorry, come fan me with your weapon please

yue dies in the ember island players version of events so suki sneaks yue and sokka backstage so the three of them can roast the actors and playwright and dfghjk yue is like you know what they wrote me out so im taking kataras place and suki and sokka shrug and they convince the katara actress to let yue take over for the next act

yue makes the show 10x better and almost refuses to die when shes supposed to be defeated and suki and sokka are just quietly cheering in the background like THATS OUR GIRLFRIEND

when theyre facing the fleet in the finale im not saying yue throws her meteorite knife and hits ozai but she totally throws her knife and hits ozai

suki sokka and yue kiss at zuko’s coronation bc they all love pda and then they seperate for a while as they go back to their respective homes but they stay in close contact and sneak away to visit each other whenever they can and they manage to make some sort of rotation schedule between homes between the three of them and have three kids :)

[kaaytea]

Hinata x reader 

warnings: angst, self doubt, its just sad man, fluffy ending tho :’)

Summary: It doesn’t matter how positive you are, after a loss as devastating as this one you’re bound to doubt yourself.

A/n: I rewatched the Seijoh vs. Karasuno match from s1 recently...safe to say I totally forgot how painful it is to watch.  

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

The entire gymnasium was a buzz.

The building slightly warmer than usual due to the athletes bustling back and forth like ants. Everything about this moment in time was alive, the air felt as though it were shaking from the cheers and yells echoing off the walls. The loud "thwack!" Of the ball being sent from one team to the other ignited your nerves as you helplessly watched the desperate attempts to achieve a point.

It was the 3rd set with Seijoh at match point.

You shook with anticipation, gripping onto the railing of the balcony like your life depended on it.

'They'd be fine, they can win the points back and take the set!'

A loud noise snapped you out of your thoughts.

Hinata had just spiked only to be blocked by three Seijoh players.

You watched in horror as the ball ricocheted off the block and sailed to the floor, Kageyama, Asahi, and Noya all diving for it.

Your heart sank.

It felt like you were just dropped into the middle of the ocean, the heavy water muffling all the sound around you.

Y-you just saw it wrong! Your eyes are playing a trick on you. T-they couldn't have actually-

The soul-crushing sound of a whistle reverberated around the gym.

No

Reluctantly, you looked over at Shoyo.

He was knelt on the ground unmoving, it looked as though all life had been stripped from him leaving an empty vessel behind.

The burning sensation behind your eyes built as Karasuno looked up to thank the crowd. The pressure in your head increased as you fought the urge to cry.

You knew if he saw you cry he would feel a thousand times worse, so you mustered all your strength to resist.

Shoyo avoided you for the rest of the time the team was at the gym, which was fine with you.

He needed to be with his team right now, he needed to be with his brothers.

It was around 9 now, you were starting to get worried. Shoyo still hadn't contacted you.

No call or text....nothing.

Shoyo makes it a point to text you by 8 o'clock every night to make sure you've eaten and wish you sweet dreams; he's never skipped a day. Since the day you accepted his confession his nightly texts have been a constant in your life, something was very very wrong.

In a moment of impulse, you were grabbing a hoodie from you closet and slipping on some worn sneakers. You called out to your mom Telling her where you were off too then you were out the door.

The chilly night air stung your nose as you hurried down the street in the direction of Shoyo's.

You knew he would be heartbroken over the loss but you expected him to at least say something to you, this was definitely not his usual behavior.

You walked up to the front door of the Hinata household. Usually, the home held a warm, welcoming atmosphere; the sunny personalities of the three people residing in it pouring out of the doors and windows. You hadn't even entered the house yet but you could feel an immediate difference, it felt like all joy had been erased or a large, gray storm cloud had blocked all light out.

Hesitantly, you reached up and knocked on the door. You felt like you were gonna explode from all the suspense.

A wave of warm air and light hit you when the door opened. Hinata's mother looked at you with a sad expression and hurried you inside.

"He's been sitting on the back porch for hours," she whispered leading you into the main room, "He wouldn't even eat his dinner."

Now that was concerning.

"I'll talk to him," his mom squeezed your shoulder reassuringly then left to go put Natsu to bed.

You took a deep breath and pushed open the sliding door that led to the back, tentatively stepping out and closing the door quietly behind you.

He was sitting on the edge of the wooden platform, knees drawn to his chest and head resting on his arms.

You sat next to him, your feet hanging off the platform, occasionally your shoulders would brush.

Everything was quiet, aside from the chorus of crickets singing away in the night and a sniffle from the boy beside you every now and then.

You turned your attention up to the sky, leaning back on your hands to watch the clouds lazily creep over the twinkling stars.

"It doesn't feel fair does it?" You breathed out.

You turned to your right to see him peeking out from where he hid his face in his arms, you could just see his eyes, red and glimmering with unshed tears.

"You come so close to your dream, it's right there in front of you just a few steps away... But when you reach out you can't go near it, it's like...it’s like there's a glass wall separating you from that goal. You can see it, it's right there staring you in the face but you can't grab it...and you're forced to just watch."

You felt Shoyo scoot closer to you and you could see tufts of fluffy, orange hair in your peripheral vision as he layed his head against you. You wrapped your arm around his shoulders holding him as close as you could.

"It's my fault," he meekly whispered, "If only I had made that final spike."

Hot tears ran down his face spilling onto your hands as you attempted to wipe them away.

"Sho.." you turned and cupped his face in your hands, his cheeks were damp and blotchy and his lip quivered as he tried to hold back tears. "I don't want you to ever think it's your fault... What happened, happened and there's nothing you can do to change that now."

"Your team has only played together for a few months and look at how far all of you have come...look at how much you've grown as a player in this short time. Think of what you guys are gonna accomplish once you've really synced up, think of how much more you'll be able to do once you start understanding and using your potential... because you have it in you Sho, you're meant to fly! I just know it..."

At this point, his quiet tears had transitioned to hiccups and choked sobs. He wrapped his arms around your neck and tucked his head into your chest. You both sat there like that for a bit, your hands running up and down his back in attempts to calm him down.

Those sentences pierced your heart. Hinata Shoyo was one who always looked to improve and challenge himself, hearing the fear and doubt in his voice broke you.

"D-do you really believe that?" He rasped out, the words slightly muffled from his position against your chest. "Do y-you really think that? Do you really think I'll ever be able to get as g-good as everyone else?"

"Of course I do! You love Volleyball don't you?" You felt him nod against you, "Well, as long as you love it and put your heart and soul into what you do you have the potential to become anything."

You placed one of your hands on his head, playing with the soft waves in his vibrant hair.

"Sho look at me"

He pulled away from your chest and stared you in the eyes. You reached out to brush the last remaining tears from his warm cheeks then held his hands in your lap.

"One day there’s gonna be kids who'll be in the same position as you are now, kids who love Volleyball with all their being but are cast aside for not being tall, or fast, or powerful...and you know who they're going to look to for inspiration?"

He furrowed his brows, "Who?"

You let out a small laugh, "You silly! Kids just like you are gonna hear your story and feel inspired, they'll push themselves to be just as good as you and never give up on volleyball because of that."

He looked down and mindlessly played with your fingers, "You really think I can do that?"

"I know you can do that."

He smiled then pulled you into a hug, he felt much more relaxed and at ease now.

"Thank you"

You turned your head to kiss his cheek.

"You're welcome Shoyo."