#anyway. this is because i was thinking about the ‘you think i left my best friend with no defenses?’ scene which is fantastic but.

[hugs2doie]

— I’M NOT SAYING ANY, THING. / L.D.H

summary. your best friend had a habit: falls easily in love, forgets about you, gets his heart broken, comes back to you again.

genre. angst

wc. 400+ or sum

nini’s note. wrote this under like 15 mins so if it sucks im soeey im lazy to do changes 💔 this is heavily inspired by hate yourself & anjela (i was gatekeeping anjela but 💔) by tv girl (one of my fave bands ever!!!), so i recommend u listen to those songs to understand the references & enjoy this blurb slightly more :3

Was it a coping mechanism? You’d call it that, at this point, by the large amount of times it has happened.

You loved your best friend you really, really did. You weren’t sure if he did feel the same though, your best friend only loved you when he was left alone and needed somewhere to go rest and cry.

You were confused, really confused.

Haechan was a pretty boy and a loverboy at heart, everyone knew that, which made it easy for some people to take advantage of him. He’d fall in love with anyone who fell in love with him, which happens so often.

Then the heart break would come. Typical.

The relationships wouldn’t even last that long, yet Haechan would pour his heart while crying about his (now ex) lovers.

He would isolate himself in his room, for about a week or so, and no one would know what he did or how he even survived there.

After this slump, let’s say, he’d finally come out of his room and he would crave love,

and this is the part where he reminds himself he has you, his best friend who’ll be there no matter what.

He didn’t do it on purpose.

He is used to you always being around, and if anything happens, he’d crawl straight to your arms, even if he payed no attention to you throughout the whole period he had a partner,

During this period of time, you didn’t know if he was even alive anymore. Haechan would be so focused on his lovers to even think of anyone else around him, even you, especially you.

When he’d seek for your touch and comfort, you’d get false hope. Why was he cuddling with his head on your chest? Why was he staring at your lips with glossy and teary eyes? Why were his lips moving against yours? Why was he playing with your hair with one if his hands and holding your hand with the other? What were you, his girlfriend or something?

You didn’t even know what you were at this point.

Lovers? But he only wants you when he has no one.

Best friends? But he doesn’t care how you’re doing.

Friends? But he forgets about your existence.

It was frustrating to think about, which made you give up, looking at his sleeping figure next to you, clinging to you.

Why does it matter, anyways? He didn’t like you anyways. He didn’t climb into your arms because he was trying to lead you on,

he was only trying to stay warm.

[breadbrobin]

our little affair

james potter x reader — harry potter; marauders era

[gn!reader]

summary: before three months ago, you hated james potter, and everyone knew it. then everything changed. now, you’re meeting him in dark hallways and he’s leaving hickeys on your neck, and someone is going full private detective to find out just who you’re seeing.

warnings: swearing, kissing, reader and james are in love but they won’t admit it, allusions to sexual content—non-explicit.

word count: 1.2k

(it’s been a WHILE but i’m back and writing for a completely different fandom lollll anyway james has always been the loml and i think he deserves to get made out with in a hallway thank you for coming to my ted talk)

———————————

three months. that’s how long it had taken for someone to figure out you were in love.

to be fair to lily, it had taken you around the same amount of time, and you were inside your own head, with full access to all those innocent and not-so-innocent thoughts 24/7.

it was a little stifling, how she watched you like a hawk to see who you were smiling at, glancing towards, blushing because of. and it was a little more than a little embarrassing that she’d figured you out so easily.

it was stupid, really. a hickey left slightly too high and a shirt collar dipping slightly too low while you studied. that was all it took.

“what is that?” she’d asked accusingly.

“what?” you frowned, looking up at her across the table.

“that.” she jerked her head at you, her eyes locked on your collar. “that’s a hickey.”

“no, it’s not,” you’d hissed sharply, but you’d tugged your collar up far too quickly to play it off anymore. she shot you a look, and you had to sigh. “fine. yes, it is. don’t ask who, when, where or how, please.”

“so you’re embarrassed.” she’d nodded understandingly.

your cheeks had flared red as you caught sight of james—god, james potter and his magic lips and warm hands and—stop it—over her shoulder, looking back at her before she could realise your attention had strayed. “i’m not embarrassed. it’s just… private.”

“for now or for good?”

“for now,” you’d answered like you knew for sure. in truth, you didn’t. you’d avoided talking about the whole public relationship thing with james because, well, was it even really a relationship now? could you call sneaking around and leaving secret notes and making out in secluded hallways a relationship? you really didn’t know, and you also really didn’t want to deal with it very much.

regardless, lily was obsessed. when she’d inevitably asked, claiming it was her right as your best friend to know and threaten the poor person, you’d shut her down, and she’d become a woman on a mission.

it was like she’d turned from your best friend to your bodyguard. you felt like the president of the united states, with the secret service watching your every move. it was, honestly, tiring.

it also didn’t help that james was as subtle as a gun in an echo chamber. every chance he got he was smiling over at you, slipping you notes half as sneakily as he should, winking at you across rooms and teasing you every chance he got. it wouldn’t take long, you knew that. you also knew that the moment lily found out the truth, every shred of your reputation that you’d built up over the years would crumble away.

years of hating james potter’s guts had slipped away in the blink of an eye, leaving you floundering in the deep end, and him as your dashing lifeguard, saving you easily. it was infuriating, and what was worse, was that you liked it.

you liked his lips on yours. you liked his body pinning you against a wall. you liked his touch, his smile, his voice… you liked him.

maybe you were a little embarrassed after all.

but you couldn’t even think of embarrassment when james slipped you a note with a tiny doodle of professor flitwick falling off his stack of books, and looked at you with that goofy smile that made you want to melt and then kiss him stupid. ugh, it was ridiculous.

but he was addictive, and after class when you met in the same secluded side hallway as always, and his lips found yours like they needed to be there for him to survive, and his hands were on your hips, your waist, your back, your hair… it didn’t feel so ridiculous. and suddenly you didn’t care.

he always melted into you like he’d been waiting all day for your touch. his shoulders dropped, the tension slipping away from them. a soft sigh of relaxation left him as he touched you.

and it was only you and him in the world, and it was perfect and—

“oh my god!”

james jumped away from you like he’d been burned. you covered your mouth with your hand and shook your head frantically, meeting lily’s wide eyes.

“lily, i—“

“ew, guys, really?” you thought she’d be mad that you were kissing a marauder, but she looked positively gleeful. “i knew i’d be the one to find you two!”

you and james both frowned.

“what?” he asked.

“god, marlene owes me ten galleons.” she laughed, shaking her head. “thank you, guys, really. fucking hell.”

you just stared at her with wide eyes. “you’re not upset?”

“upset?” she snorted. “babes, why would i be upset?”

“because…” you floundered for a moment, gesturing at james. “he’s a marauder.”

he snorted. “wow, thanks.”

“you know what i mean,” you scoffed.

lily laughed. “i don’t care who you make out with. i just care that you’re happy. and you’ve been happy these last few weeks since you two got together.”

“months,” you corrected absently.

“months?”

“three months and four days, to be exact,” james cut in helpfully.

lily stared at you two for a moment before shaking her head in wonder and stepping away. “wow… first of all, i’m offended you didn’t tell me. second of all… you guys have got to find a better hiding spot. everyone knows. marlene and i placed bets on who would find you guys making out first.”

you stared at her. “wait, what?”

she turned and walked down the hall. “toodles! i have to go cash in. use protection!”

and just like that, she was gone, leaving you and james standing in the hallway, confused.

“did that…?” you started, trailing off.

“yeah, i think so.” he frowned, leaning against the wall beside him. “huh. so… if everyone knows already…?”

you looked at him curiously. “what are you suggesting, potter?”

“what do you say to me asking you out? officially.” he stepped closer, fingers brushing a piece of hair out of your face.

you couldn’t stop the stupid smile from breaking onto your face. “i say yes.”

“great. that’s awesome. really.” he grinned, lips mere inches from yours. “because i’ve actually been wanting to ask you out for ages, and—“

“would you kiss me again, potter? and stop talking for once?”

“oh, yeah, right.”

and his lips were on yours again, and his hands were holding you close, and unlike every other time you’d kissed, you didn’t feel the need to hide and pull him down an abandoned hallway. actually, you felt completely fine kissing him in the middle of one of the main hallways of the school, even when footsteps entered the hall, and even when sirius black’s voice started loudly complaining at the two of you. even then, all you did was smile against james’ lips, and revel in the moment. you’d be late for your study session with your friends, but you had more important things to do.

[modanisgf]

015. LET ME LOVE YOU (HALF WRITTEN)

wc: <1k

warning(s): slight spoilers for a movie (atsv), profanity

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hanni was currently in her room getting ready, over analyzing her appearance. she was on the phone with minji, who was with haerin at the moment.

"are you sure all this is necessary?" haerin said, making hanni groan.

"i don't know, i just wanna look my best for her." hanni says.

"didn't you say you aren't in love with her?” minji asks, being met with a long pause.

“i’m gonna fight you.” hanni mumbles, making the two on the phone giggle.

“anyways, you need to hurry up. yn is supposed to be there in fifteen minutes.” haerin says, making hanni freeze.

“and you didn’t tell me until now?”

“it’s better than telling you five minutes before.."

"i'm blocking you." hanni said simply before hanging up, not missing the giggles heard from the other side of the phone.

hanni made quick work to clean up her apartment, the doorbell ringing as she was making the finishing touches. she opened her phone, checking her appearance before opening the door.

“hi hanni!” you say, grinning.

hanni was mesmerized by you, your voice leaving her in a trance.

“hi yn.” hanni says, letting you in.

the next hour was pretty quiet with you being invested in the movie, hanni smiling everytime you gasped at a plot twist.

“she seriously betrayed him like that?” you exclaimed.

“i mean miguel and spider-woman were her role models, of course she was gonna—“ hanni says.

“don’t defend her hanni.” yn interrupts.

hanni gives yn a blank stare, turning her attention back to the movie. one thing was on her mind though, were you really dating chaeryeong? she didn’t exactly expect you to let her know, your relationship being fresh but she really wanted to know.

hanni couldn’t even deny it anymore, she was in love with you and she was jealous that you and chaeryeong were on music bank together. she was jealous that the rumors might be true and that you and chaeryeong were togther. she was jealous that the internet loved you two together and the only fan you guys had was jay, hanni’s dumb fan page and hanni herself.

“yn are you and chaeryeong a thing?” hanni randomly asks, confusing you.

“hanni did you see that? his suit looks so cool!” you say, ignoring her question.

hanni sucks in a breath out of anger, why couldn’t you just tell her?

“yn, can you just answer me?” hanni asks.

“it’s really none of your business.” you say.

“aren’t i your friend? i just wanna know what’s up with you.”

“we barely know each other hanni.”

“are you serious? we’ve talked so much over text i just thought—“

“well maybe because we had to.” yn says.

“what the hell are you talking about? i thought we moved past the pr stunt, it might not even happen anymore.” hanni retaliates.

“that’s good because i think i have something going on with chaeryeong.” yn states.

“oh and you couldn’t have just said that like five minutes ago, that’s all i asked.” hanni says, infuriated at this point.

“y’know what just get out of my house, i don’t wanna see or talk to you anymore.” hanni says, turning off the tv and rushing to open the door.

“huh? i was just being straight up with you!” yn says in her defense.

“i don’t care, i know what i said i don’t wanna talk to you anymore.” hanni sneers, not noticing the hurt look on your face you failed to mask.

you left the house quickly, breaking out into tears as you realized the damage you had just done. hanni obviously wouldn’t know you weren’t allowed to discuss her companies plans with anyone, especially her. her ceo wanted to create a love triangle, and wanted nothing good for hanni after her scandals recently.

you didn’t know why you couldn’t just be honest with her and tell her, it was going to be hell for hanni soon and you chose to keep the information to yourself. you knew hanni was already heartbroken, rumors going around the industry she had wanted to be your friend for so long.

you felt horrible to say the least and you just wished you could start all over again, take it all back and just tell hanni the truth.

TAGS 🏷️ (OPEN): @jayjj7 @haerinsloverr @aribunnu @masuowo @multiliker @aeriniee @sewiouslyz @edenzeepy @popasi @home2venus @ghstvr @technicallyimportantsweets @he------len @yukianism @yeetaberry127 @haechansbbg @linnnsworld @sixflame438 @emotionallyrin @gtfoiydlyj @inosfavgf @rvoulte @hotluvlet

a/n— yearly update guys!! 😁😁 (swear im writing more tn)

[kari-go]

This was so much fun :D

They will change ofc. Mostly just Marinette and Chris get buffer xd

btw, the body birthmarks' placement was random.

Ramblings under cut

Marinette

Marinette has a typical teen girl body type. I don't think that her legs and arms would be weak tho. She helps around in the bakery and has to keep up with Kim. Sometimes she even runs with him in the morning (he takes a slower pace ofc).

She does have neat handwriting when she isn't in a rush, which doesn't happen that often honestly. Sometimes her notes are readable sometimes not, it's a gamble. She tries to make them look nice tho, she has a few highlighters she uses constantly.

Chris

Chris has a sort of hourglass shape. I always drew him as slender and like. Why did I do that. It's a crime that I haven't drawn him chubby like of course he will be. Mf sits around all day and goes on a walk sometimes like bruh. Other than that he has really veiny hands, another thing he got from Arthur along with his baby face lol (although, Arthur’s veins are even more prominent, so much they're kinda concerning). I like how I drew them :]. The baby face is not gonna change soon unless he stops transforming which he definitely won't do. Btw, despite being the weakest of the trio as a civilian, he's actually the strongest while transformed (with the lion ofc)

As for his handwriting, it's not bad. Sometimes he squishes the words together to not waste space and it ends up not being readable.

Stephan

He's already pretty athletic, he used to do competitive gymnastics and ice skating in his free time. Used to, he sprained his wrist (mostly out of stress and to occupy his mind to keep him from thinking about Viktor,,,, it's just.. a thing he does). Then they moved to Paris anyway, so he just stopped completely. He gained a little weight so he started running in the morning, to also get to know the city better. He also starts going to the gym with Kim after a while. His freckles are mostly on his face and neck

Surprise, his name is Štěpán lol. Would Štefan/Stefan be more fitting? Yes, but I like Štěpán more. Anyway, his handwriting is really neat, he's left-handed btw (idk just vibes). His notes are also nicely organized so he's the one to go to out of the yellow group if you need them.

Alya

Alya, my girl, I love her. She doesn't do much physical activity, she usually just sits around doing something on her phone or laptop. But after The Butterfly appears she starts running around more, to get the footage for Ladyblog. Her stamina gets so good omg

Her handwriting is not that bad. It honestly depends on the day and mood, sometimes she can't even read it herself xd

Chloe

Chloe is another athlete, she did gymnastics, track running, ice skating and sometimes ballet and fencing. Her legs are so powerful you have no idea. I know that's a lot of sports and her grades reflect that which is why she needs a tutor. She stopped ice skating, fencing, and ballet when she was younger and now she just does them for fun, when she gets the time ( ,,, she honestly doesn't lol). But now she also quit the other ones as she went into lycee because her grades were too bad and Andre put his foot down (he mostly just told her that Audrey would be disappointed oof). Btw, Aurore’s mom was her ballet teacher :) definitely no rivalry there 

She writes in cursive? She does, to make herself stand out and appear fancy. It does look fancy but she focuses on that too much so sometimes she doesn't write everything down :/

Kagami

My girl is BUFF. Her main focus is on fencing, which is how she met Chloe :D. She has a private gym wherever she lives, so she trains there. She also has an interest in archery and sometimes ice skating so she does that but also just regular sparring. But again, her main focus is fencing, she's already one of the best but she can be better. Her freckles are mostly on her face (her nose to be specific) and are more sparse on her body

Her handwriting, like everything else about her, is bold.

Lila

What do I say about her? She cares about her appearance a lot and she knows she's pretty. She exercises at home but also goes to the gym sometimes (she has to watch out for her asthma tho). Her self-control fails when it comes to sweets but it goes to her thighs mostly which she doesn't mind as much. Her tummy and fingers annoy her tho

Pretty handwriting. She tries to make her notes pretty but gets so occupied with that, that she doesn't even pay attention to the lesson and just the appearance (wow really subtle lol)

Nino

He's the least athletic out of the three besties, he doesn't even try to catch up anymore xd. He can barely run a lap (same tbh). 

His handwriting takes up space and is sometimes unreadable. That's not really an issue because he remembers stuff more by listening so he doesn't take notes. He just looks at Marinette’s (or Stephan’s after they meet) if he needs to.

Kim

Another athletic fella. He does track running and swimming. He did track sooner than swimming but he likes swimming more and wants to focus on it (it's also how he and Ondine met). And like I mentioned before, he runs in the mornings and then starts going to the gym with Steph. So yeah, another strong legs lol

His handwriting takes up SO much space. He goes through so many notebooks, it's also not that readable xd and it's not like he can focus on the study sessions with Nino and Marinette, they usually just end up playing UMS3. (he always loses if you're asking)

Juleka

Jules! She's pretty thin. She walks around a lot and forgets to eat sometimes. Especially when she's studying. Her collarbone is really prominent, she also has bony hands.

Her handwriting is small, sometimes unreadable

Luka

He has a belly button piercing!!!! (very important information imo) That's it. bony hands also

His handwriting is shit. You will not understand half of the stuff (unless you're Juleka).

Sabrina

Just an average teen girl's body, she exercises at home at least once a day.

The best person to go to for notes. So nice, so readable, so neat

Alix

Her legs are strong, she just flies around all day. She skates to school every day (which is like 45 mins on foot). Then she goes to a skate park or a roller skating rink.

Her handwriting is somehow worse than Luka's, like it's completely unreadable, just cat scratches.

Mylene

She loves walking around, just taking in the atmosphere and nature

She has really small handwriting, the words look lonely on the page

Max

He sits around a lot but he makes sure to exercise to make sure his body is healthy. He also watches his diet.

His handwriting is the best out of the class but his notes look less nice than Sabrina’s. He always writes down his full name

Rose

She has a hard time gaining and maintaining weight (even if we ignore her allergies) so she eats a lot and doesn't exercise much. Her chronic cough also doesn't help

Her notes are always decorated, there are so many cute drawings and stickers. It's so adorable

Nathaniel

He's a lot like Chris, except he gets forced to do stuff by Alix

He doesn't have the prettiest handwriting. He usually just ends up drawing all over the page

Ivan

His little sister is a back killer, she wants to be on his shoulders all the time.

His handwriting is on the smaller side

Aurore

She did ballet since she knew how to walk. She slowed down a little, wanting to focus on her grades and the weather competition she loses.

Pretty notes, she doesn't use highlighter and decorations that much, just headers

Ondine

Swimmer, she's like a fish. She has pretty wide shoulders. She has freckles everywhere.

Her handwriting is so round and spacey. She has a lot of pretty highlighters. Also her last name is Rosseau :D!

Marc

They don't exercise much, or at all. They like to take a walk when their inspiration is low

Their handwriting is nice, but it can get messy when they're really inspired and just write with no breaks.

[beabnormal24]

I just saw that you’re writing Carcar fic, a snippet pls 🙏

I love your stories so much so I’m really excited ❤️

This is the first thing that I read when I wake up, thank you so much anon because this means a lot to me, so I'll do it.

(I edited this post, 'cause I had a bit of trouble publishing it)

Soo, a not-so-little snippet for you!

“Mate, I honestly think you’re just exaggerating. It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal to me, really.” Logan stretches his legs out, knocking his feet right against Oscar’s knee. 

Oscar grumbles in lieu of an answer, lowering his head until he can hide his gaze in the bottom of his pint. 

“Don’t know why you hate the guy so much; he seems alright to me.” 

The thing is, Oscar Piastri does not hate Carlos Sainz.

Hate is too strong of a word for an individual with whom Oscar tends to have zero to no interaction whatsoever, except for forced polite greetings in the elevator and those rare times when Carlos decides that going out with Lando is worth his time. 

Oscar sincerely thinks that only pretentious people claim to be as busy as Carlos does, so much so that he never seems able to find an evening to spend an ounce of time with his best friend. 

So, no, Oscar does not hate him. He just can’t stand him, which is a big difference and Logan should note that. 

Is the prospect of working alongside him on his most important project of his entire career going to deepen that grudge? Probably, surely. 

But Oscar is, in fact, a professional, no matter what Carlos thinks of him, and he knows how to work with people he would rather keep a safe distance from. Nail guy and Germophobic guy should be more than enough proof. 

“You don’t know him.” Oscar protests, sighing in frustration. Lando raises an unimpressed eyebrow next to him, tapping his chin. “Alright, sorry Lando. You do not know him in a working context.” 

“I mean, how different can that be?” Logan says doubtfully. “Lando said you don’t even work in the same department.” 

“Lando is just biased because Carlos got to him before us.” 

Lando snorts, shaking his head with an amused smile. “Wow, thanks Oscar, you make it sound like I can make my own decisions.” 

Oscar shrugs. “You’re welcome.” 

“Has he started complaining about being paired up with Carlos, yet?” Yuki asks just as he settles down two other pints on their booth’s table. 

Alex trails behind him, carefully balancing two portions of fries on each arm before sliding in the empty seat next to Logan. 

“Mate, you have no idea.” Logan groans, placing a sloppy kiss on Alex’s cheek as he steals a fry from his portion. 

Alex rolls his eyes, but still lets him with a fond smile. Oscar sincerely thinks he could puke. 

“I really don’t understand why you despise him so much. He seems alright to me.” Alex says, failing at hiding the curiosity behind his voice. 

“Babe! I said the same exact thing!” 

“And he’s a great golf player, honestly.” 

Oscar sighs, knowing that he’s left with his shoulders against the wall. 

It’s not like his friends would understand, anyway, since they do not have to walk in his shoes. 

Logan and Alex do not count, because they like everyone, and Yuki is one of the most unfazed people Oscar has ever met, Lando is just obsessed with Carlos for reasons Oscar will probably never fully comprehend. 

He’s left alone, on this matter, even when they all go out together and Charles and Carlos tag along, Carlos is the only one who seems to not have any joke or a single word to address to Oscar. 

Lando says that he’s probably the one actually ignoring him. Oscar thinks that Carlos is just plain out rude to him, and only him. 

But that’s a bit childish, so he’ll keep that thought to himself. 

Everyone starts focusing on their own food, and Oscar stupidly hopes that the topic must’ve finally been brought out of his last Saturday night as a free man before three months of utter nightmare. 

And then Yuki quips in and reduces his hopes to shreds. “On his first day, Carlos told Andrea that he thought Oscar was too young for that position, and that he would be inexperienced. Oscar heard him, and he’s totally convinced that Carlos knows that he heard him but he still never apologised and Oscar took that personally because he’s peevish.” 

“I am not peevish!” Oscar groans bumping his forehead against the table. 

“Yeah, Oscar, you are a bit peevish. Just a tiny bit, though.” He feels Lando’s hand coming up to pat him on the back, sympathetic. “Come on mate, I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean it like that.” 

“Yeah, I mean, we say similar stuff about each other all the time at my workplace.” Alex offers, in an awful attempt at cheering him up. 

It doesn’t do any magic at all, because Alex works as a teacher and Oscar has gone to school for enough years to know that teachers are only capable of hating each other for stretching out their hours longer than they should and preferring different students. 

Well, unless they’re shagging like Alex and Logan, but they work in two different schools so that should not apply. 

“It’s not just that.” Oscar tries to defend himself. Because holding a grudge for something that happened three years ago does sound a bit childish, and he’s not. 

The rest of the table looks at him inquisitively, impatiently waiting for an answer, just the sound of the background music filling the silence that Oscar would so much prefer over having to talk about Carlos, of all people. 

The worst topic they could choose for a Saturday night out at the pub, really. 

“He’s just-“ he makes a vague gesture, hoping that they might understand it easily. Of course, everyone just blinks at him. “I mean, who goes around with only shirts that have his initials stitched on it? Who goes around acting like they know everything and they’re the best at it? And he says that Lando is his best mate, but I don’t see him hanging out with him that often, no? That’s just top dickhead behaviour, if you ask me.” 

“Aw, Osc!” Lando exclaims, and in a matter of second, Oscar finds himself with his head caged under Lando’s elbow, the Brit’s hand mussing his hair. “You’re so cute, defending my honour.” 

“You never did that for me.” Logan protests, and then more quietly to Alex. “Babe, he never did that for me.” 

Alex smiles, patting his back lightly. “Do not worry, Lo, I’ll do it for you.” 

“I’m not defending anybody’s honour.” Oscar splutters out, his cheeks growing hot, heart thumping in his chest, wild – a dangerous zone. He slaps Lando’s hands away from his hair, trying to ruffle them to some kind of order, but it’s no use, they’ll never make sense. 

Carlos’ hair is always perfectly styled and composed. What a dickhead, indeed. 

“I’m just stating the obvious.” 

“Still, I can guarantee you that you do not need to worry about that.” Lando assures him, trying to reach back for his head, but Oscar is quicker this time, leaving him to poke Yuki’s cheek with a finger, instead. “He’s got other things to do on Saturday, usually.” 

Oscar takes a sip of his beer to cover his snort. 

He doesn’t trust Lando’s words, he’s probably just too biased by having been Carlos’ friend for such a long time. 

Someone who’s not even married and who earns as much as Carlos does surely should not have that many things to do instead of hanging out with his friends. 

But anyway, it’s none of his business. Rather, he should be glad he can at least escape him on Saturday. 

“Sure.” 

— 

On Monday morning, Oscar clocks into work on time, his jacket is completely dry, his hair kind of makes sense and there’s a spring in his step, and he just feels good overall. 

He has spent most of his Sunday sitting on the couch binge watching the entire final season of Brooklyn 99 and he’s convinced himself that whatever mind games Carlos might want to play with him, Oscar is stronger and smarter, and he won’t let himself get squashed. 

Logan kind of fuelled his confidence, as well, with his usual monologues about the importance of believing in himself and remembering all the sweat and tears he put in to reach the place he’s in now, though Oscar is pretty sure he only comes up with them to exercise for his drama kids. 

But the point is that he knows that it’s his job, that it’s his career, and even if he would probably get the promotion either way, he still wants to earn it. If not for Andrea, then for himself. 

The fact that it’s his biggest project ever, just motivates him more. 

He plops down on his office chair with a smile that must be breaking his face if the way Yuki glances at him curiously from the other side is anything to go by. But he just shrugs it off, playing dumb. 

He’s just in a good mood, is that illegal? 

“It is if you’re called Oscar Piastri.” Yuki tells him, no hair on his tongue. “You always look like-“ he makes a serious face, his lips closed into straight line, one eyebrow raised, sceptical. Oscar does not look like that, he thinks (he hopes). “Like those statues from Christmas Island.” 

“I do not look like that at all.” Oscar glares at him, turning his computer on. “And it’s Easter Island.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” 

He spends the morning going through Andrea’s instructions over and over again until he can exactly tell the position of every single letter, and then he spends the rest of it making a first draft for a spreadsheet with all the products they will probably need to change a million times. 

Carlos does not write him, nor does he come around to ask for him, either, but Oscar doesn’t question it that much. God knows he has his own side-projects, although minor, to care about but he guesses that spending some time to start brainstorming over this new one it’s not entirely a bad idea. 

He’ll just email the file Excel to Carlos once it’s done, and then maybe they’ll shortly discuss about it, Oscar will even accept some suggestions because, against all odds, he is ready to work as a team. Besides, his creativity is pretty close to a zero percentage, but he has heard that Carlos knows how to do a mean presentation, and that’s how teams work, right? 

Combine your best skills and all that stuff about sharing each other’s strengths. Oscar wouldn’t know about that, really, since he’s always preferred the solitary work, but he doesn’t have that much of a choice right now. 

Yuki asks for poke at lunch, and Oscar is a man of his word, so as soon as the clock strikes half past twelve, they’re already out the door chattering about the latest apex legends’ update. 

The guy behind the cash register smiles at him sweetly when he pays, and Oscar swears he winks at him as he slides the receipt over the counter, and sure enough when he looks at it there is a phone number scribbled on the paper. 

Oscar isn’t exactly interested in dating as of now, but the guy was cute, and it did boost his ego a bit, and it might not be a bad idea to go out with someone that is not his roommate, his roommate’s boyfriend, his coworker and a weird friend from university. Maybe he could even get laid, which doesn’t seem like a bad prospect at all. 

It’s just the combination of all these tiny little things that makes him feel better, more confident, almost ready to let himself believe that he could change his mind about Carlos, like Lando has been trying to make him for years, now. 

Maybe he could actually reconsider him, even if just by stopping viewing him as a pretentious dickhead. 

But Carlos just makes it incredibly difficult, it seems. 

Oscar has just started settling back behind his desk when his attention gets caught by the new email in his inbox, that definitely was not there before. 

To: oscar.piastri@g...  From: carlos.sainz.vasq...  Sub: team project 

Hi Piastri,  attached you will find your part of the project.  Please, do not contact me on my lunch breaks, Friday nights and weekends. I will not respond.  I sincerely hope you do not need any clarification, but if you do, you can write to the email above.  Good work. 

[See more] 

“You have to be fucking kidding me.” He almost slams his laptop shut, feeling the rage bubbling up inside of him. Logan likes to say that he’s an emotionless human being, Yuki just compared him to a freaking statue, and yet Carlos Sainz is enough to make him doubt himself and his capability to have a decent control of his own emotions. 

He inhales deeply, nostrils flaring as he tries to calm himself down. Breath in, and breath out, it’s just the first day of three months. 

Which means that it can go even worse, fuck. 

“What is it?” Yuki asks, curiously peering over his screen to take a glance. 

Oscar had almost completely forgotten about his presence, and he just groans and turns the laptop around, not finding it in himself to explain without cursing one Spanish lineage or two. 

“Mh, okay, yes.” Yuki mumbles, nodding understandingly with his chin propped up on his palm. 

Oscar can see his eyes moving from one side to the other of the list, a list, of things that Oscar should do, that Carlos decided Oscar should do, just to prove himself once more as the biggest prick Oscar might’ve ever met in his life. 

“Well, I don’t see the problem here.” 

“You don’t- what?” Oscar splutters out, blinking once, twice. Yuki’s expression doesn’t change, it stays confused, amused even. “Isn’t it obvious? He gave me a list, Yuki, a list.” 

“Yes and?” Yuki asks, unsure. “I mean, I would kill to have a teammate who tells me what I have to do. Splitting parts is the worst step for a team project, in my opinion. You should be glad.” 

“I should be glad?” Oscar says, he almost feels crazy about it. “Yuki, can’t you see it? He’s doing it in purpose! He probably just decided what parts he didn’t want and gave them to me so I can, like, do his dirty laundry. I am almost 100% sure he’s going to take all the credit after and he just- ugh!” 

Yuki looks at him, unimpressed, standing in front of Oscar’s desk like he’s seconds away from giving him a slap on his head. When they’re like this and the height difference is completely reversed, Oscar remembers that Yuki can be incredibly frightening, too. 

“Oscar, listen to me.” Yuki says, gentle. Well, not really gentle, because Oscar is pretty sure that Yuki lacks that definition, but something akin to gentleness, surely. “I think you’re a bit stressed out right now, I get it, it’s an important project-“ 

“My most important project.” Oscar interrupts him. He feels compelled to remind that detail, which he doesn’t find small at all. 

It will dictate the rest of his career, his future, his curriculum, his self esteem. He might be exaggerating, but he’s used to take things seriously only when he manages to convince himself that they are, in fact, serious. 

But now that he thinks about it, he may just need a change of perspective:  maybe having to work alongside Carlos is just a challenge for himself, one last obstacle to overtake before he can finally make all his years of studying and working his back off worth it. 

He just needs to impose himself and he needs to show himself and to Carlos that he knows what he’s doing, and that it can easily be a 50/50 kind of work. 

Perfectly balanced, yeah. 

“- and I mean, anyway, if you’re not happy with whatever he decides, you can just go and talk to the guy.” 

“You know what, Yuki?” Oscar says, standing up as he shuts his laptop close, feeling thrilled about the prospect of taking reins between his hands, for once. It must feel amazing, to finally have control over something, and it only makes him want that promotion more. “I think I’m going to give him a little speech about respect.” 

“That’s not what I meant, but you do you.” Yuki shrugs before finally going back to his desk, sitting hunched over his screen and probably causing himself twenty different problems to his back. 

It’s a spur of the moment, Oscar is not used to get them often, he prefers to be more levelheaded, in a way, more rational, logical. 

But Carlos has always managed to get under his skin in a way that he never was able to point out, like he could just crawl inside and gnaw at it and smirk that too full grin of his that some would define as charming, Oscar just finds unappealing. 

If he were to admit it, he would probably find the reasons of their mutual grudge behind deeply buried thoughts that Oscar has long since tried to forget about. 

Like that time he had been scratching his own wrist with his nails, too long, too uneven, waiting for Lando to give him an ounce of his attention, just for Carlos to get it all with a bat of his eyelashes and a show of his straight teeth. 

And Oscar has thought that, well, he did not know how to style his hair and he had always had bunny teeth and he did not post shirtless selfies on his socials, and he did not like to hop from one club to another to spend the time on a Saturday night, so hoping that Lando could turn around and look at him and say ‘Oscar’ all British accented and tongue in the little gap was just- ridiculous. 

Rationally, that should not be considered as Carlos’ fault, but Oscar just knows that he knows. He swears he had seen him, winking at Oscar jokingly before taking Lando away by the hand, tilting his head to the side, curious, wicked, and then acting like Oscar wasn’t there, not even trying go engage him into conversations. 

At work, it’s quieter, at least. 

The only reason why Oscar still hasn’t spilled a hot coffee all over the front of his shirt is because Carlos kind of is his superior, after all, and people would surely almost immediately suspect of him if they were to find a distressed Carlos Sainz in sight. 

But they still work in different sections, and they never have to cross paths unless they happen to be in the same elevator at the same time, or by the same coffee machine at the same time. They never make small talks, sometimes Carlos just glances at him and nods his head and makes a half assed comment about his commitments for the week like he’s someone too important to be around Oscar. 

And Oscar wants to strangle him or scoff at him and give him a piece of his mind, but he does not, because he’s rational and levelheaded. 

On top of that, the inexperienced comment and the lack of apology thereof does still sting, though he’ll never admit it. 

The upper floor is a little bit nicer than the one his and Yuki’s office is, with longer corridors and opaque glass doors and plants that are actually alive. 

Well, he and Yuki had tried to keep one between their desks, but the attempt had failed after they had realised they had forgotten watering it for four weeks straight. But at least they had tried. 

Oscar doesn’t really think about what he’s going to say when he pushes the door open, nor does he when he strides into the office, basically uninvited. 

And then when he finally thinks about it, it’s just to remain utterly speechless at the sight of Charles half slumped down on the little couch in the corner, scrolling away on his phone. 

“Hi Oscar.” Charles says, enthusiastic as all the other times he and Oscar have interacted in the past. Oscar likes him, even though he can’t help but feel slightly intimidated by his attractiveness, but Charles has always been nice to him and when he goes out with them at the pub, he’s always asking Oscar about his day and appearing actually interested about it. 

Which doesn’t explain why he would be friends with such a douchebag like Carlos, but it’s not like it’s any of his business. 

“Hi Charles.” Oscar replies, unsurely taking a step forward. It doesn’t change the aspect of the situation, of course, what is supposed to be Carlos’ office chair is still as empty as the first time he laid eyes on it. “Am I in the wrong place?” 

“Were you looking for Carlos?” Charles asks with a strange lilt to his voice, one that is not just from his accent, Oscar can tell. 

“Uh, yes?” 

“Then yes you are in the right place.” Charles concludes. “But at the wrong time, he’s out for his lunch break.” 

Oscar checks his watch, then he checks it another time just to be sure. “But lunch break ended fift- twenty minutes ago.” 

“Yeah, but he has to do other things, so he asked for a later lunch break.” 

A later lunch break. 

What kind of immense prick asks for a different lunch break than all the other employees? Who does Carlos think he is? 

Oscar sincerely thinks he has never met someone as full of himself as Carlos in his life, not even that one guy at his high school that went around claiming to be able to get every single girl in his bed. 

Which Oscar knew for sure was a big load of bullshit because he had watched Lauren Smith reject him at their final year’s party, and Oscar had given him a drunken blowjob in a bathroom on the same night. 

And still, Carlos managed to top that off. 

“Alright.” Oscar says calmly. “Then I guess I can come back later.” He finishes, already turning around to get out of this office as soon as possible and go back to lament on Yuki. 

But Charles doesn’t seem to be of the same opinion, clearing his throat to get his attention back on him. “Uh, we will be in a meeting later.” He says sheepishly, and then adding, “I’m sorry I didn’t know you needed him so soon.” 

It’s not Charles’ fault that Carlos is a douchebag, really, and Oscar is not that immature to act like one. “Do not worry, I will come back tomorrow, then.” One deep breath, in and out. “Thanks Charles, I’ll see you around.” 

“Bye Oscar!” Charles waves at him, back to his enthusiastic self. 

Oscar can’t share even an ounce of that same giddiness, right now, so he just closes the door behind himself and curses the name tag on it, flipping the golden plate off. 

And then once again before getting inside the elevatore. 

It’s cathartic enough. 

__ 

To: carlos.sainz.vasq...  From: oscar.piastri@g...  Re: team project  Sub: adjustments 

Hi Sainz,  I was not able to find you and I would like to discuss the attachment of your last email.  As it is a team project, I think that we should work, in fact, as team, unless you might’ve missed Andrea’s directives, though I am pretty sure you were sitting next to me. I sincerely hope you do not need any clarification on that.  Good rest of the day. 

To: oscar.piastri@g...  From: carlos.sainz.vasq...  Re: adjustments  Sub: appointment 

Hi Piastri,  I guess I can concede you a talk face to face over the matter. You can meet me in my office tomorrow at half past ten.  Do not be late. 

To: carlos.sainz.vasq...  From: oscar.piastri@g...  Re: appointment 

I won’t. 

__ 

[argreion]

𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆'𝒔 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑫𝒓𝒐𝒑!

Warnings: POSSIBLE Somno/Non-con, Oviposition, Monster fuckery. All are to some degree OOC, and that's fun of it!

Secret code for that word that ends in b and ends in s or t (cause I want my shit to show in tags.) — peeps

I do take 'peep' requests still if anyone wants that. I don't want to drive traffic away from my moots who make 'peeps' themselves! But putting it out there in case anyone wants to. All of these are from my brain or some chat I had on Discord with a moot/friend(s).

Below the readmore/keep reading! 💜

𝟏 - 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆-𝒖𝒑 𝑨𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒅𝒂

𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:

'Roses are red, violets are blue, with a touch of mascara, you'll feel brand new.'

That's the one thing you recalled your make-up artist of a girlfriend saying. Giving a small smirk before she left you to your devices. Sneaking out of the dorm to visit her apartment. The smell of Dior in the air—Poison to be exact, one of her favorites.

Around you was what she called a 'fashionable mess'. Make-up thrown around you with satin pillowcases and king-sized blankets for tucking yourself in with. A few plants decorating the room that she made sure to care for; such delicate petals needed love, anyway.

Ada came back while looking at one lipstick in her hands, looking up at you to notice you hadn't moved. So good for her. As she made her way to bed, sliding onto the blanket. Manicured nails grabbed at your jaw, before pushing the stick or pigment to your lips.

"Don't move, you'll be prettier if you don't. I don't think we want a smear of red on that pretty face of yours."

𝟐 - 𝑶𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒕

𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:

All your life you lived with a werewolf pack in the forest. Right outside of civilization. Many have come to see if the rumor was true; true that werewolves were in the forest. They never came back to their families.

You'd consider have somewhat of the opposite with your mentor's teachings. Always stalking along the hiking trails with him, just out of view. Something the pack leader would hate—banish—you for. Watching as they walked by, talking about relationships or issues.

Well, that was until a certain someone went into heat. Your mentor now becoming primal at best. Parents trying to keep you away from him for your safety. Safety my ass, you'd say. Leon being primal and aggressive wouldn't stop you from going to see him.

Like a good child, you snuck out. Sneaking into the treeline and into the forest. Careful to be 'sneaky' the best you could. Minutes in, you arrived at the spot where'd you and Leon would stalk humans. Finding him laying there with his head propped up by elbow; laying beside him to watch humans alongside him.

"Did your mommy and daddy tell you Leon needs alone time?" He snapped, his nose inches away from your face as his head turned. "Why are you here? Can't you see a man needs his 'me' time?"

𝟑 - 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑯𝒚𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒅 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔

𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:

All your life you'd grown up North where wendigos, werewolves, were-whatever roamed the land. Taught to shoot and kill on site—if one even set a single foot near your cabin. Unless it could've been your were-bear boyfriend you met while on a hunting trip. At first, he was a snarling aging bear, but now turned into a gentle giant with claws. A gentle giant that became your 'roommate' within a few months of convincing. Honey, fish, and meat to waste because of this bastard. Worth it in your mind, got a hunk of a transforming man out of it.

One that really liked to observe humans…

“Isn't the snow pretty?” Chris asked, joining you by the window. Crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the flurry come down. Blue eyes glancing over to meet yours. “What are you thinking of? Got that look again.”

𝟒 - 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒚-𝒂𝒕-𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒚𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏

𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:

Nearly a year ago you wouldn't have guessed that your boyfriend became infected with a parasite. Now sporting new features plus getting watched daily by the government was fun. At least Leon was Leon, and now your house husband. Just wish he didn't almost burn the apartment down.

Coming back home from your job was a doozy. Tired, sweaty, and needed a shower. You wanted to go curl up into a ditch and cry. (And maybe combust on spot.) Being met with a happy Leon made you smile. With his tail thumping against the floor as he looked up from the couch, rushing to meet you.

"You're home!" He said, throwing his arms around you. Holding your face in his hands and kissing your lips. Mandibles touching your cheek with the giddy chitters and purrs of the infected male.

"How was work, love?" Leon asked, pulling away to stare at you as he awaited your response.

𝟓 - 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏

𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:

An all-expenses paid trip to Italy with your friends to go cave-dwelling, what fun! Grotte di Castellana, Frasassi, Toirano, and now Blue Grotto.

Reviews said to go in the morning, so you had to be pulled from your sleep with the promise of your friend buying breakfast for the group. The smell of dew and the sound of dripping water all around you. Watching as your friend grabbed her phone out to take a quick picture. Happy she got a photo to brag to her friends about. You waved her off, quickly moving past her and the few others funneling in.

Within a minute, you already found a crack you could fit through. Seeing a small little cove with a bit of rock. Perfect to get a breather in, mostly away from those 'celeb world travelers'. You took the chance and squeezed through the crack, feeling your lungs be crushed before you popped out. Almost tripping over yourself as you met your gaze with the cove. Breathtaking, one would say.

You let yourself rest, trying to gather your thoughts. Idly scrolling on your phone, googling things to do in Italy. Thinking why you took the offer. Was it to please? Or did you actually want to go?

While occupied, you hadn't noticed the Sharkman that had crept up on you. Crawling towards you with his tail rubbing against the earth beneath it. A burn he'd deal with later as he peered over your shoulder. Claws ghosting over your skin as he observed you scroll.

The mermaid's voice was hostile, hissing out, "What're you looking at?"

𝟔 - 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰𝒏𝒄𝒖𝒃𝒖𝒔 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏

𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:

Cornerstone libraries weren't something you thought you'd find a book for summoning demons in. Maybe it was the emo chick at the counter, or just something someone forgot to throw away. Wanting to indulge yourself in something trivial, you bought it.

With buying a book came the chapters and the 'tutorial' of summoning demons. Felt like those YouTube videos with the 3AM spirit. It wasn't like it would work—fakers.

As you prepared, you lit the candles as it said, and encircled where a 'demon' would spawn with salt. Said to keep spirits in if… Needed? Well, damn, you didn't know you needed to be wary of spirits. Exorcist would've made bank with the circle of salt.

Seconds passed by as you stared at the book, opening it to your bookmark on Incubus. Lord above, forgive me for trying to not be a depressing human and actually try something that would benefit me—probably.

An exhale left your lips as you began to chant the words in the book. Growing shocked as a portal to hell opened in your room. Screams of pain and lust filling your room, making your ears want to bleed. Throwing a shadow into the air before it landed straight into the circle, gracefully.

You met gazes with the incubus, watching as he stared down at you with his red eyes. Why was he so tall? A tall demon with black markings and seemingly was the darkness of one's soul himself.

“Well, are you amazed by the presence of an Incubus?” He leaned down to your eye level, winking. Was this normal for him? “Well, what does a cute mortal require? Pleasure? Soul eating? Death? Perhaps… Something more?” The demon raised his eyebrow at you, awaiting your response.

𝟕 - 𝑪𝒐𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒔 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏

𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:

Months Leon and you had a weird on and off relationship—human and the universe itself. How'd science explain that? A universe in a universe? Made your head spin thinking about how he worked.

First, it became him watching you at night, noticing pairs of white eyes or the weird waves of matter by your closet door. Made you want to vomit at realizing a literal god-like being was watching you slumber.

Next it became his voice in your head, toying with you like a game. What was that game called lots of girls played? Right… Sims 4. Exactly like that. Forcing you to do things you didn't wish on anybody else, some horrible and some pleasurable.

Now, it became Leon revealing himself to you. Standing right at the end of your bed. Pulling you from your sleep as his voice penetrated your mind. Making your eyes widen as you met glowing white eyes.

"Why didn't you talk to me earlier? You weren't busy at all! Do not make excuses, I know what you are underneath that skin."

𝟖 - 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝑬𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏

𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:

Nearly a day in Romania sent Ethan into a panic over his child. Then panic turned into desperation and despair. You tried to help, you really did. A hug, trying to comfort him and his lost, and watching the pain in his eyes as his child left his arms before he died.

Yet his death didn't stop what he hated; the mold. Something that warped his senses from right and wrong to the point he saw you as his child. Morphing into a monster that couldn't even stare at you the same. Once the awkward, family man now turned into a shell of himself.

In his change, you overlooked him. Watched him, attended his meetings with the other village lords, and ate meals with him. You wondered if he even noticed you were there with his covered eyes. Something you wondered often.

Seemingly wondering didn't help your attention be drawn to your name being called by him. The lordship sat down by the window while shuffling through papers in his hands. "Would you want to go to the gardens sometime? I think it might be good for us to get some fresh air—something refreshing—alongside the servants."

If you don't show in tags I will start crying you little shit of a post.

[canirove]

Friends, lovers… and an orange | Chapter 12

Previous chapter | Next chapter (coming out on Tuesday)

Masterlist

“Are you going to eat all that?” Mason chuckled.

“Yep” Adele said as she sat at the table.

“I still can’t believe you woke up early to go for a run after going out last night. What time was it when we came back?”

“Around 3 a.m.”

“And when did you leave?”

“At 7.”

“Addie, did you sleep?” Mason laughed.

“The moment my head touched the pillow I was out” she shrugged. Which was the biggest lie ever.

She had probably managed to sleep for maybe an hour and a half, and the moment there was light coming through the window, she had gotten up and ready to do the one thing that she knew always allowed her to not think about anything: running. So she put on her shoes, chose her favourite playlist, and left the hotel. 

“Lucky you” he sighed. 

“Didn’t you manage to sleep?”

“I did, but it wasn't pleasant. I kept waking up and… urgh” he groaned, checking his phone.

“What is it?” Adele asked, giving her croissant a big bite.

“My agency. I have a meeting in half an hour with them and they are already bothering me about it.”

“Is that the reason why you didn’t sleep well?”

“Yeah. We are organizing everything for the launch of the perfume's campaign, and it is driving me crazy.”

“Oh, the perfume… The one that started it all.”

“The same one” Mason smiled. Though it was his sad smile, the one Adele knew meant that something was going on. 

“Mase, are you ok?” she asked, reaching for his hand.

“I am, yes. Just tired” he said, his thumb caressing her knuckles, the butterflies on her stomach waking up.

“Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything.”

“I know. Thank you, Addie” he smiled. But again, it wasn’t his usual smile. “Anyway, I better go get ready. It’s a zoom meeting and I want to look a bit more presentable.”

“I like the way you look” she said, speaking before thinking.

“Even if my hair is a mess?” Mason laughed.

“Messy hair is the best hair” she shrugged, not daring to look him in the eyes. “Will I see you later?”

“Of course. I want to take you to El Retiro, maybe go on one of those small boats they have?”

“The walk part sounds perfect. The one about the boats… I don’t know if I trust you” Adele teased him.

“I would never let anything happen to you. Ever” Mason said, the way he was looking at her, giving her the impression that there was something else behind those words. “And I better get going. See you later, Miss Turlington” he smiled, lifting her hand and kissing it. They hadn't stopped holding hands since the moment Adele had reached for his.

“See you later, Mr. Mount" she replied.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Are you going to tell me what is going on?”

“Uh?”

“Mase, you've been acting super weird the whole day. Did something happen during the meeting?” Adele asked him after their walk. 

“No.”

“Then why do look you so…” she said, gesturing with her hands.

“So?”

“Miserable. You look the same you did before your birthday.”

“It’s nothing.”

“There definitely is something. C´mon, talk to me” Adele said, following him as he walked towards his room.

“It’s nothing” he repeated.

“Mase… Mason” she said, grabbing his arm and making him stop. “Talk to me.”

“It’s… Fine” he sighed. “Come inside.”

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“I’m ready when you are ready” Adele said, grabbing Mason’s hand and giving it an encouraging squeeze. They had been sitting on his bed in silence for what felt like an eternity, which was only making her feel more and more nervous. What could have happened in that meeting for him to go back to this mood?

“Remember that I told you that the meeting was for the launch of the perfume?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we are going to be throwing a party in Tuscany because that's where we got the inspiration from and where we shot the campaign.”

"I remember your trip there. It was when I was in Paris with my mum.”

“That's the one, yes. This party… this party is gonna be huge, Addie. Big names in fashion will be attending, and also actors, musicians, influencers… Even some football players.”

“That is amazing, isn’t it?”

“It is, yes. But…”

“But?” Adele said, squeezing his hand once again.

“My agency has asked for something. Something related to us.”

“I already told them I will be at the party. What else do they want?”

“Something you aren't going to like, Addie.”

“What do they want, Mason?” she asked.

“They… they want us to walk the red carpet together.”

“No” Adele said, letting go of his hand and standing up. “No, no, no. We agreed I would not walk any red carpet or do anything that involves me having to actually pose in front of a camera.”

“But Addie…”

“I said no. You know how much I hate it.”

“I do. But they are insisting.”

“You mean they are threatening you again. I can’t believe it” she said as she started to pace around the room. “This has to stop, Mason. You can’t keep working with such horrible people.”

“I don’t have another choice.”

“Yes, you do! Sue them and leave them! My dad knows really good lawyers, they could help you.”

“It isn’t that easy” he said, nervously playing with his hands.

“Why not? Whatever those clauses are, I’m sure they will find a way to, I don’t know, annul them? There is this guy I met once in Barcelona who works with football teams and…”

“Adele, no” Mason cut her, also standing up. “Lawyers can’t fix this. And if they can, it will be too late. My career will already be ruined.”

“Because of some clauses on your contract?”

“Because… because… urgh” he said, running a hand through his hair.

“Mase, hey” Adele whispered, caressing his cheek. “You can tell me whatever it is.”

“I can’t. Not this.”

“Why not? Mase, look at me” she said, cupping his face and forcing him to look at her. “Why not?"

“Because if I tell you what they have against me, what they are using to make me do all these things I don’t want to… You won’t be able to look at me the same way. And I can’t lose you, Adele. I can’t” he cried, resting his forehead on hers.

“You won’t lose me, Mason. Whatever it is… I’m not going anywhere. But you have to tell me. You have to let me help you. Because this, keeping this secret, is hurting us both.”

“I know” he sobbed.

“Then tell me. What do they have that is so bad that it could end your career?”

“Addie…”

“Mason, please” she begged him, feeling a tear down her cheek. “Please, tell me what it is. Trust me.”

“Ok…” he sighed. “It’s… They… They have a sex tape.”

[nativehueofresolution]

1x01 / 2x03

i thought this was an interesting parallel because the 1x01 moment is an entirely new creation of the show's team while 2x03 is a relatively straightforward adaptation of the scene from tvl. it's not a 1 to 1 parallel obviously, but i have to imagine rolin and co had that scene in the back of their minds when crafting the 1x01 church scene. they were completely re-inventing the context in which louis was turned. (and i know they've spoken more broadly before about having to. rework the lestat/louis relationship to be a gothic romance from the start, because that element didn't come up until later in tvc-- my point being they were really re-imagining a lot at the start of their relationship and one could imagine maybe there were several directions they thought of at one point, and i find it interesting that this is where they ended up.)

to be clear, i'm not saying they're exactly equivalent experiences or that louis was in the same position as armand - but i do think there is still an intentional link in the dialogue. and there's also a notable divergence in who lestat suggests take god's place in these situations.

behind door a: there is no god. we are all gods, we all have the power, stop trying to listen to this guy who acts like your absolute authority. behind door b: there is no god, so follow me instead, and actually what i can offer you is better than what god could anyways.

lestat has no real interest in running a coven. (heck, even when anne tried the prince lestat garbage in the later books, he mostly just fucked off and left marius in charge - even she couldn't write him being responsible and she retconned his character constantly.) so he has no problem telling these other vampires they should be in charge of themselves - it takes away armand's power but also gives lestat no need to involve himself. on the other hand, lestat does want to be a patriarch and a provider, so when proposing marriage he of course suggests louis look to him for deliverance and salvation. i think his hatred of god is quite genuine, but at the same time he also tailors how he presents this to best fit with what he wants at that moment.

[until-another-one-comes]

I’m REALLY REALLY interested in your tnmn headcanons 🖤

Particularly about Francis’s relationship with his parents. Is there more to this backstory?

AHHH THANK YOU! I'M HAPPY YOU FIND THEM INTERESTING

Ohhh I don't have the specifics of his backstory but for some reason I really like the idea of Francis having a really difficult upbringing because I really do see him as someone who's struggling a lot.

(Warning: A lot of angst and topics of depression and self-worth issues)

My Francis Mosses backstory headcanon:

As I said in my post, Francis's dad (no name, lets just call him Mr Mosses) was a hardass who expected too much of his only child. He wanted Francis to grow up being someone great in anyway but thats just not who Francis is and he couldn't live up to his dad's strict expectations. He wasn't academically smart, talented, strong or have any particular passion for anything. He just wanted to live his life normally (like most people do). Mr Mosses did not like that and saw him as a disappointment. Because of this Francis has incredibly low self-esteem issues and stays up a lot ruminating on how he's a failure and isn't worth anything (even though thats not at all true and he's doing fine technically speaking).

There is one particular kicker to his backstory. In my post I mentioned how Mr Mosses wanted him to enlist in the army and he almost did it (against Francis's will) but his wife talked him out of it. She was the only one who cared about Francis and tried her best to quell her husband's treatment of their only son. Mr Mosses relented so instead of going to the army Francis went to college to study and get a degree in business.

It... did not go well. The pressure got to him and he flunked. Francis left his hometown and jumped from job to job while beating himself up for failing. He still kept in touch with his mother but after she died he and his dad stopped talking and its been years since Francis saw him. He hates his dad but can't help feeling disappointed that he let him down and craved his approval but too late for that now.

One last thing: Because of his past, Francis compares himself to everyone a LOT and always think everyone else is better than him in everyway. He's not good enough for Nacha (I have my own backstory for them), he's not smart like Afton, he's not charismatic like Izaack, he's not brave and strong like Steven, he's not this he's not that and he still can't break free of this mindset because of everything thats happened. No one knows about this and Francis doesn't realise a lot of the people in the apartment likes him just the way he is, he just sees his own shortcomings.

So yeah, that's Francis in my hc. A milkman who stays up late at night because he couldn't help but dwell on his past and his 'failures' and constantly compares himself to others.

[hard-core-super-star]

Random thought popped into my head but it's about vampire Kate x reader. What if reader was a witch of some sort who got her heart broken because Kate is an fboy and became terrified and left when she realized how much she loved the reader but came crawling back a year later because she needed reader's witchy help and they ended up casually flirting because they clearly still have feelings for each other and stuff

ain't that the kicker [K.Bishop]

pairing: vampire!kate x reader

summary: the morning after your late-night encounter with kate doesn't go quite as planned...and neither does the day after that or the day after that. [aka you and kate have way more issues than you thought]

warnings: none, i think?; did somebody order angst?; so much tension, you need more than one knife; i rob you of a longer wanda scene; cliffhanger ending because this got too long; weird vampire powers that are badly explained; very long dream sequences; a surprising lack of actual vampire stuff [i badly need to rewatch first kill]; idiots in love but emphasis on the idiots!

wodcount: 3.2k

a/n: hey everyone, my motivation was pretty dead for a while but, unsurprisingly, vampire kate brought it back! and before you all freak out, YES! THERE WILL BE ANOTHER PART! and maybe it'll be less sad and more spicy, who knows? anyway, thank you so much for sticking with me and my constant disappearing act. my second year at university is wrapping up so hopefully you’ll see more of me this summer ;) that's all i have to say, hope you enjoy <3

* * * * * * *

Saying going home with Kate Bishop had been a bad idea would be a massive understatement.

You knew being alone with the heir of Bishop Security would come with problems but the problems all seemed relatively small compared to the continuous waves of pleasure you had been under all night.

To be fair, though, you never expected a grainy picture of you on Kate's lap to be part of that list of problems. You had expected some awkwardness from the charming brunette, the usual "we can't do this again" speech while actively making out in some random storage closet, maybe even some weird looks from your co-workers to further complicate things.

Your original plan had featured everything except you going viral overnight and waking up to the biggest PR disaster to ever hit Bishop Security. (Which is saying a lot considering the many one-night stand scandals Kate always finds herself wrapped up in)

You had so many ideas of what the morning after would be like but none of them included you waking up to an empty bed and a large pit in your stomach that tells you you fucked up big time.

Maybe it had been your fault, maybe you had been too naive for thinking you could really have it all.

Or maybe Kate was right. Maybe she had a longer list of enemies than you had been willing to entertain.

There were far too many “maybe’s” in your mind, an overwhelming amount of notifications on your phone, and you had no idea where Kate had gone.

You’re not sure how long you spend scrolling through Twitter and avoiding all the texts filled with unanswerable questions from your co-workers but eventually, you manage to regain control of yourself and get up from the archer’s ridiculously comfortable bed. You do your best to ignore how shaky your legs are as you get dressed, your mind unfortunately drifting to the night before.

You manage to find your way to the kitchen where there's a full spread of, slightly burnt, breakfast waiting for you. Your heart swells as you read the messy handwriting on the post-it note next to the biggest stack of pancakes you’ve ever seen.

Morning, sunshine. I didn’t know what you were in the mood for so I made a bit of everything. Eat as much as you can, you’ll need a lot of food and water to recover from last night ;) - Kate

It’s impossible to stop the wave of relief that crashes into you after reading that.

As impossible as it feels, you allow yourself to believe things will be fine. That Kate will stick by your side after opening up to you about her supernatural abilities.

But the fantasy doesn’t last long.

You’re halfway through your breakfast when you hear the front door slam shut with so much force you briefly wonder if the hinges came off. It takes no more than fifteen seconds for the archer to appear in front of you, her shoulders tense and an unreadable storm in her eyes.

Her posture already tells you the answer to the question forming on your lips but you ask anyway. “Everything okay?”

She seems almost startled by the sound of your voice as if hearing you makes you real.

It makes the mess you’re both in real.

“No,” she sighs. “I have some shitty news.”

“Shittier than being called a slut by all of New York?” You reply, unable to stop the urge to make her smile.

Kate doesn’t fully smile but she does let out a small chuckle, her shoulders dropping into a less tense position as the sound escapes her. “Yeah…shittier than that.”

You should’ve known where the conversation was headed. Should’ve realized there was no way you’d be able to have it all. No way for you to continue with your life as if nothing had happened.

Maybe you are too naive because you truly didn’t see her next sentence coming.

“y/n…I have to fire you and we...we can’t do this again. This has to be goodbye.”

Everything crashes into you at once.

The realization of what you’ve actually done, the stupid ease with which Kate is cutting you out of her life, the betrayal of her practically kicking you out onto the streets. You’re not an idiot, you know there’s no way you’ll be able to keep your apartment, your humble yet expensive life in New York, without your job.

Without her.

“You…you’re serious? You’re throwing me out just like that?”

“It’s not easy for me either-”

“It looks pretty damn easy, Kate.” You scoff.

“You’re not the one who spent her whole morning getting chewed out by her mom.” Her words come out like an afterthought, like she knows just how badly she’ll fuck up if you hear the annoyance behind them.

Unfortunately for her, you hear her loud and clear.

“Oh, come on. That’s your excuse? You had one bad conversation with your mom and suddenly I don’t mean anything?”

She doesn’t reply and her silence only serves to stoke the flames of fury and resentment rising within your chest.

“Do you know how many death threats I’ve gotten in the last hour? How many coworkers have tried to blackmail me already? Do you understand just how much of my life this has ruined? And you have the audacity to act like you have it hard?”

“Don’t pretend like you know anything about my life,” she spits back. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it, Katherine. If I didn’t know you, if you didn’t care, why the hell did you tell me your dirty little secret?”

She blinks, taken aback by the hard-hitting truth you throw her way.

If you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t notice the way she nervously fidgets with her fingers or the way she bites down on her lower lip while she tries to come up with something to say. If you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t know she’s hurting underneath.

You do know her, though, but knowing her isn’t enough if she’s not willing to let you stay.

So, because you do know her…you walk away.

It feels like giving up in the most infuriating of ways but it’s the only thing you can do. If Kate’s mind is made up, there’s no amount of reason that will get her to change. That’s another thing about her you’ve learned the hard way.

So you swallow your pride and walk away with no plan, no job, no way of supporting yourself. If you were a more spiteful person, you would have applied for a job at Stark Industries but instead, you do the second hardest thing you’ve ever done.

You restart.

It’s a bitter defeat and still, you pack up your things and pay an old friend a visit.

You had left Wanda behind after the Westview fiasco but she’s the only person you can think of running to after your entire life went up in flames. All it takes is one quick spell and the realization that a life without dark magic isn’t one you can live before you’re standing on the porch of her small cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Saying she’s disappointed would be an understatement, especially since she explicitly warned you not to fall in love with Kate Bishop. It’s hard to believe the witch knew about Kate’s vampire secret but you also wouldn’t be surprised if she knew what awaited you the second you left for New York.

Unfortunately, you had to learn things the hard way.

You could write multiple books on everything you’ve learned the hard way.

At the top of that list, though, is the true extent of a certain archer’s vampire powers.

It takes less than a month for Kate to reach you again…through your dreams. Dreams that feel far too real and leave you a tad bit more breathless than you’ll ever be willing to admit.

The first time it happens, you assume it’s one of Wanda’s new tricks, maybe it’s her way of helping you cope with what (or rather who) you’ve left behind. You think it’s weird but maybe a tad bit sweet and you make a mental note to ask her about it in the morning.

It’s not until you realize that you’re actively thinking that you start to worry.

To make matters worse, you’re inside Kate’s apartment…and she quite literally stumbles out of her bedroom to see you standing in the middle of her living room.

“Oh, shit.” She groans.

Your heart skips a beat at the sound of her voice. You know you’re just dreaming and yet it all feels so real. It’s like you can feel her eyes on you, hear the way your heart won’t stop pounding in your ears.

Your confusion must be written all over your face because she answers your question before you can even ask it.

“Yes, you are dreaming but this isn’t like a normal dream.”

“What the fuck happened to you not being a mind reader?” You blurt out.

You wait for that stupid smirk of hers to appear, maybe with a half-assed shrug and a semi-charming joke, but it never comes. “My dream, my rules, I guess.”

“That still doesn’t explain what’s going on.”

A beat of silence goes by before she sort of gives you an answer. “I can explain but you might hate me afterwards.”

The look in her eyes says more than you can possibly handle right now. You’ve never known Kate to be particularly insecure but all you can see in those blue depths is fear and insecurity. Fear that your feelings for her have changed, that you already hate her and never want to hear from her again.

Too bad you’ve never been good at lying.

“Try me.”

The corners of her mouth quirk up into a small smile. “Long story short, we’re bonded. That’s why we’re in each other’s dreams.”

There’s a bigger question to be asked but you’re still a little freaked out by how real this all feels. By how intense your feelings for her still are.

“But this isn’t like a normal dream, is it?”

“Nope, perks of having vampire powers.”

“So, you can do everything except read minds?” You can’t help but tease her like all the times before. “That sucks.”

“Shut up,” she says with an over-dramatic roll of her eyes.

A calm silence falls over both of you and you hate how normal it feels. How just like that, you forget your anger and the betrayal you’ve felt every minute since the day you left New York in favor of falling for her stupidly enchanting self all over again.

It doesn’t help that with every second, the distance between you gets smaller and smaller.

You don’t know who takes the first step, all you know is you blink and suddenly she’s standing right in front of you, those soft blue eyes of hers searching for the truth you can’t hide.

“y/n,” she murmurs, her hand tentatively reaching out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind your ear. “I’m sorry, I know this isn’t what you wanted.”

She’s technically not wrong, leaving because of her incapability to deal with her feelings was the last thing you wanted, but it’s not like you had any other choice.

She didn’t give you any other choice.

And now she’s here, staring at you with that wounded puppy look she so effortlessly embodies.

“I wanted you,” you whisper in response. “When are you going to get that through your thick skull?”

She chuckles, the sound warm but nervous. Her hand moves to cup your face and her touch is so soft, it leaves you breathless for a moment. “Never, I’m too stubborn for that, remember?”

You can’t help but tease her as the atmosphere shifts into something more affectionate than you’d like. “How could I forget? It’s your worst trait.”

“Ouch. Is that how you treat your favorite vampire?”

“Aw, poor little vampire baby.”

You wait for her to make one of her usual jokes but she doesn’t.

Instead, her eyes drift down to your lips and your mind instantly goes blank.

There’s an endless list of reasons why you shouldn’t do it. Just because it’s a dream doesn’t mean it isn’t a bad idea. Then again…when has that ever stopped you from being with Kate Bishop?

It’s subtle but you lean forward just enough to give her the invitation she’s too much of a gentleman to ask for. Her eyes widen the slightest bit before she meets you in the middle, the space between your lips becoming nonexistent in the span of a few seconds.

You try your hardest to hold on to your self control, to not seem as desperate as you’ve felt since that first night, but it’s useless. Your hands grip the front of her shirt in an attempt to pull her closer despite how insane everything is.

You’re simply dreaming and yet you can feel every touch, every breath, every desperate effort to make your desires a reality. You would feel embarrassed if Kate wasn’t acting the same way.

Her lips leave yours only to trail down to your neck, her fangs instantly teasing the sensitive skin she finds. The anticipation builds inside your chest as she toys with you and it’s all you can do not to beg for more.

“Kate.” Her name leaves your lips in the form of a whisper that disappears just as fast as it formed.

All you hear is her sharp intake of breath before it all fades to black.

Your eyes snap open and you’re greeted with the absolute silence you’re starting to associate with Wanda’s cabin. All you can do is lay there in the darkness, your heart pounding in your ears while your fingers trace the spot Kate’s lips had just been on.

It had all felt so real and now you’re all alone again. It shouldn’t be surprising at this point and yet you still hold on to the hope Kate will come looking for you.

But she doesn’t.

All she does is haunt your dreams in the most literal way possible. She doesn’t come to find you and fix your many, many issues, instead, she simply appears in your dreams long enough to send your mind reeling without offering any solutions.

You wish you could hate her for doing this to you but you can’t.

You love her.

Worse than that, you love her more and more each night. Even though it’s not nearly enough to heal any of your wounds, and maybe it only serves to hurt you more, it’s definitely addicting.

Wanda offers to help you sever the connection between you and Kate, something about a spell she read in the Darkhold being her only assurance that she knows what she’s doing. You don’t fully trust her on that but you do consider the option for longer than you want to admit.

You reason with yourself that there are much worse things to deal with on a daily basis than highly realistic dreams, though. That being bonded to a vampire isn't the worst thing in the world.

And maybe that would be true…if the vampire in question wasn't Kate Bishop.

You don't know what possesses you to ask but the question slips out in the middle of another midnight rendezvous. It’s been a little over two month since you moved away from New York, a little over two months since you've shared these weird dreams with Kate, when you finally ask.

“What exactly did you do for us to be bonded to each other?”

The question must catch her off guard given the way her eyes widen in panic. “What?”

“You said these weird dreams happen because we’re bonded or something but you never explained how that happened.” You watch the brunette from your spot on the couch and impatiently wait for a response, for something that will help you make sense of everything.

She swallows back her nervousness but gives herself away due to the way she fidgets with the rings on her hand. “Oh, yeah, that…it’s because I bit you that night in my apartment…remember?”

Her awkwardness would be endearing if her response wasn't so damn suspicious.

“Yeah but you're a vampire, biting people is kind of your thing. You're not automatically bonded to every person you bite, right?”

A beat of silence passes before she answers, her voice shaking the slightest bit. “No that…that only happens when there are…certain feelings involved.”

It takes a second for her answer to click in your brain. For her sudden nervousness to hold real meaning.

The answer hits you like a train and it makes your blood boil like nothing else.

“Kate, tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means. Tell me you didn't fire me because you were too afraid of having feelings for me.”

“y/n-”

“For fuck’s sake, Kate!”

The sudden frustration in your voice makes her jump, hundreds of meaningless explanations forming on the tip of her tongue.

You don't hear a word she says.

You can't hear anything besides the pounding in your heart and the devastation that threatens to swallow you whole.

You always knew being with Kate would be impossible but this was something else entirely. This wasn't a lack of feelings between you two, this was too many feelings and too many miles of distance and not one ounce of regret from her.

You're not sure when you stood up from your spot or when she approached you, you simply feel her hand on your waist and the unmistakable sound of her breathing.

“y/n,” she tries again. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m so tired of hearing you say that.”

“I know.”

The last thing you feel is her lips on the back of your neck before you wake up. Alone. Again.

Wanda must catch on to your desperation because she brings up the idea of cutting your connection with Kate that same morning.

“It’ll only be temporary,” she assures you. “No offense but you need sleep more than you need Kate Bishop.”

“I’m a little offended,” you grumble in response.

Despite your reservations, and the voice in the back of your head that tells you running away again is a bad idea, you go along with her plan. She's right, after all. You definitely need some time away from Kate Bishop and her never-ending messes.

The spell is simpler than you expect and it, thankfully, requires pretty much no effort on your part and no weird liquids.

It does also bring the best sleep you’ve had in months so you can’t complain…even when you wake up missing the sound of the archer’s voice.

You still miss her every day and you're sure that won't change any time soon but you welcome the peace with open arms.

Wanda spends her time teaching you random spells while you help her build a nice flower garden in the backyard. It's weird but…comforting.

You could even get used to life out here someday.

At least, that's what you keep telling yourself as the weeks go by.

Until Kate shows up unannounced and flips your world upside down again with those same soft eyes you fell on love with all those months ago.

[luminouslywriting]

what do you think would be the reactions of the different men when they’re falling for a single mum? I think going with the time it’s more likely a young widow than a girl with a kid out of wedlock but who knows maybe John Brady just feels the desire to make an honest woman out of a poor girl at church who’s man ran off or Bucky takes to teaching his neighbors kid baseball because he sees their mom is stressed… just whatever guys you think would fit this

Nonny, this gave me actual brainrot so I hope you enjoy this so much 🥰🤍 as always, my requests are open and I don’t mind spam haha! More under the cut, cut for length, light spice sprinkled in:

Bucky Egan: (I had to run with the baseball idea haha)

-Absolutely the type of man who does not care about the past sexual history or life of a partner....and he's kinda looking for someone to date at the moment??

-But there's this kid on his block who's about six and he watches this kid attempt to throw a baseball every day and it just pains his soul because the form is awful and where is this kid's dad??

-So one day, he rolls on over to the yard of said kid and just starts offering pointers—he always wanted to be a baseball coach in his free-time and he just hasn't gotten around to it yet

-This sweet little boy makes him a deal that if Bucky comes over and teaches him how to throw a ball, lemonade will be made and given by you (his mom) and he will help Bucky paint his fence

-Bucky thinks it's a swell idea and it's at this surprising point to you that your son brings in the attractive war hero Bucky Egan straight to the kitchen and demands lemonade

-Well you and Bucky get to talking and you tell him that your husband died in the Pacific pretty early on in the war and your son has never really known a father

-That being said, it's a slow burn. He really enjoys getting to spend time with you and your son and he's afraid that he'll mess things up. But then your kid is inviting Bucky to dinner and you're telling him that it's no problem and you usually make too much food anyway.

-And somewhere along the way, he starts thinking of your house as more of a home to him than his own lonely home that he purchased. So naturally, this man panICS and has to call Gale and ask what he should do because he doesn't want to spook you or ruin the nice thing you've got going on.

-Gale definitely has to reassure him that if you both clearly want him there, then he should just go for it; Bucky deserves to be happy too.

-But he DRAGS his feet in the process....right up until your son accidentally calls him dad after hitting the ball with the baseball bat

-And then there's actual panic between you and Bucky and he's trying to apologize because clearly he's overstepped

-It would be at this point that you have to tell him that it's quite alright and you'd really like to get to know him more...because you like having him around and clearly your son adores him

-CUE THE FIRST KISS (first of many, might I add)

-It's the most darling domestic thing and he absolutely views your son as his son and he's never been so happy in his life

Gale Cleven:

-I think the most logical move here is that he finds you after Marge's passing. It was a short and love-filled marriage for them, but it was gone so quickly.

-He's devastated, naturally. And he doesn't really have anything left in Wyoming, so he sets out for Wisconsin.

-Now the thing about this is that John Egan has married Josephine Pitz—and Josephine Pitz's best friend is you. Your husband was a Marine during the war and died in action, leaving you with two little kids.

-You're doing your best but it's hard being a working single mom during the early 1950s.

-Cut to Josie and John setting this up just so

-Bucky makes the point that your car needs some work and you're a good friend of Josie's

-So this is how Gale Cleven is introduced to you—matchmaking via car-service haha

-Your two boys? Absolutely just wanna watch him work and wanna hear about everything that he's doing to the car

-But you're no fool and you know that Josie and Bucky are trying to set this up for the two of you

-So you just flat-out confront him about it and tell him that they're trying to be sneaky and that you're sorry he got caught up in their schemes

-But the thing is?? He's perfectly happy and used to their schemes. There's also the fact that this is the safest and calmest he's felt since Marge died.

-So he admits that he'd be willing to give this thing a chance if you are

-So it's a slow-burn for the two of you as you're trying to navigate around the fact that you've both already lost a partner and the fact that you have kids

-But he's so good with them and helps with the homework and genuinely just tries his best

-It's not a surprise to anyone when you're married a year later

Robert Rosenthal:

-On his way to the Nuremberg Trials, he meets you—a young lawyer who has recently just found out that you're pregnant (not that you're telling anyone that).

-You two become fast friends and he finds out that your husband was a British RAF Pilot who died. He's entirely sympathetic and sweet about the situation.

-The pair of you team up for the trials and it's amidst the preparations for the Trials that he finds you doubled over with morning sickness. This man assumes that it's the flu. Babe, it is not the flu.

-So a few weeks into you being sick and dealing with the trials, he's getting real concerned and you just have to spill the tea that you're pregnant.

-Not gonna lie, Rosie's heart shatters a little bit for you. It's not as if you want to leave the Trials to deal with pregnancy but you're also a whole ocean away and who do you have to rely on?

-Well he makes a promise that he's gonna help you through it

-And along the way, he's absolutely falling in love with you—with your dedication and kindness, the way that you're soft about the baby and continue to focus on work, and the way in which you're so determined to do everything entirely on your own

-He definitely very quickly makes you an offer that you're a little befuddled by

-The offer is marriage—and the thing is?? It's a damn good offer. You're a recent widow trying to do her job at the Nuremberg Trials, just found out you're pregnant, away from home, and have no support system

-So naturally you accept and this is a marriage born out of convenience and kindness to you....but there is so much affection and care.

-He's had feelings for you for a while and he's perfectly happy taking his time in the relationship and understands that you might not reciprocate the feelings in the same way.

-If nothing else, at least you'll be provided for, your child will have a father, and you'll always have a friend by your side

-It's at this point that your feelings start to develop because he's just such a good person and treats you so well and so clearly loves you

-The two of you are icons during the trials (Mr. and Mrs. Rosenthal), and he comes back from Europe with a wife and daughter on his arm....and no, he didn't tell anyone so it was quite a shock to everyone.

John Brady: (Also decided to run with it haha)

-Listen, this man has a picture perfect plan for what he wants to have happen when he gets home from the war and that's all fine and dandy, but this man was NOT planning on you haha

-You faithfully attend the same church as he does and it's pretty obvious that you're pregnant.....

-But man the gossip is bad. And he's not one to listen to idle gossip and just believe what people say. But evidently your fianceé had run off when he found out you were pregnant and had taken any chance of a reputable life. It's ROUGH, okay??

-And the thing is, John Brady is out here just trying to do his Christian duty by seeing if you need any help over at your house....because he also passes it on the way to Church and YIKES, your yard is going through it

-It's the first time that someone just offers to do something nice for you??? You're so thrilled about it

-So he comes over that summer and does your yard work for you and you make little sandwiches and he gets to have lunch with you

-The thing is, you two get to talking and he finds out that you weren't even planning on having kids for a while anyway and it was YOUR former man who wanted to do the deed and refused to help out in any way. This is entirely a man's folly and has ruined things for you.

-Now he feels bad, he does....

-But he's not trying to make a move or anything. At the moment anyway haha. Instead, he invites you to spend some time with his sisters because you need friends anyway and they all have kids so they can help you know what to expect for pregnancy.

-Well it's all going great and he's pretty happy with the fact that you now have a support system and he's starting to make some waves in work. And then the yard is done and finished.

-And for some reason he's offering to help with the plumbing and the inside work too? It's definitely not because he's worried about you and it's definitely not because he's very very attracted to you in any way shape or form lol.

-I don't think anything actually happens until you're right ready to pop....at which case YOU kiss HIM because you're just real impatient

-And he doesn't get to respond to anything because your water breaks and he's taking you to the hospital

-So while you're in labor, this man is processing the fact that he MAYBE really really likes you and has already planned out the rest of your lives together, but that's BESIDES the point

-He still feels like he's taking advantage here....right up until you have a son and you name him Johnny because Brady was the only person that was kind to you during pregnancy and this man just melts on the spot, professes love to you—and tells you that he wants to take care of you for the rest of your life.

-Chef's kiss tbh

[xxspringmelodyxx]

Missing you~

Childe x reader

Childe had been on a long mission with Lumine, and you and him desperately missed each other. He finished the mission and was returning home very late as a surprise for you the next morning. After you went to bed, Childe came inside the house and cuddled right up to you in bed, which you will see the next morning.

A/n: I needed to write something sweet and simple because my heart is already suffering from angst…but I kinda like it???? Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this short, but cute, little session with the amazing fatui harbinger~ slight suggestiveness at the end so MDNI!!

I woke up, slowly opening my eyes as the sun's rays hit my face. I stretched a bit, getting myself ready to get out of bed when all of a sudden, I heard light snoring.

A small smile formed on my face as I turned my head to see orange locks covering a sleepy man’s face. I carefully slid towards him, trying not to wake him, and kissed his forehead. I was happy he was back home and safe. It had been roughly three weeks since you two had seen or heard from each other. Childe was on an important commission with Lumine. You were all for it, but a part of you was extremely worried for him. You trusted Lumine to keep him safe, but you still had your doubts. Nevertheless, here your loving boyfriend was, sleeping softly and soundly. You stared at him, debating if you should wake him up or not. You wanted to kiss him all over and snuggle with him right then and there…but you also knew that he was probably extremely tired. Your fingers delicately traced his new scars that formed, hating those marks being there. He hummed a bit, still sound asleep. As much as you wanted to talk with him, you decided to let him rest. You two have all day to spend time together, so it’s best if he gets his sleep.

You turned back around, thinking to yourself. Within a second, a wonderful idea popped into your head. You were going to make some breakfast for him. Childe always talks about how amazing your cooking is and how he can’t wait to eat it when he gets back home. So why not make something for him now?

You smiled as a new excitement hit you, making you start to move to get out of the bed. However, just as you sat up to leave, a muscular arm wrapped around your body and pulled you back into bed. A small squeak left your mouth as Childe’s arm held onto you tightly. He cuddled you right into his chest as he inhaled your scent.

“Don’t go…” he mumbled, still half asleep.

You chuckled as he nuzzled into you.

“Childe, let me go. I wanna go make you breakfast.”

He smiled as he heard your voice for the first time in forever, making his heart skip.

“You can make me breakfast later. Right now, all I want is you~” he said, pulling you closer to him. You felt heat rise to your face, but pushed him away anyways.

“As much as I like to hear that, you still need to eat. Especially after a long trip like the one you just came back from. Now I’m gonna go make you some food, and you wait here.” You said, getting up again, only to find yourself failing. Childe’s arm reached out for you once again and once he made contact, he threw you back into the bed and pinned your arms to the sides of your head. He was now on top of you, smiling down at you.

“I told you, love, that I don’t want breakfast…I want you~” he said, going down to kiss your lips. You instantly broke in and kissed back immediately. You missed his kisses so much, and he missed yours. He missed your beautiful face, your beautiful smile, your voice, your touch, everything. While he was on his trip with Lumine, Lumine almost made him go back because he wouldn’t shut up about you.

He smiled as he finally felt you again. He let go of the kiss and kissed your temples, then your forehead, then your cheeks, and finally your nose. This made you break into a fit of giggles as he did that over and over again.

“I. Missed you. So. Much.” He said between kisses, letting go of your wrists. You smiled and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him in for another kiss.

“Mmm, I missed you more~” you replied back.

“You have no idea how lonely I was while fighting. It was horrible.” He complained, making you smile. He laid down on your chest, listening to your heartbeat. You played with his hair as he continued to complain about how awful this mission was.

“Y/n, next time, promise me that you’ll go with me. That way we won’t be lonely and we can fight together!” He said with a sparkle in his eyes. You chuckled, bringing his face up to you so you could kiss his nose.

“I’ll think about it.” You said, teasing him.

“Y/n~ it will be so boring without you. I can’t possibly imagine going out on another mission without you. Please?” He begged. You rolled your eyes as he started to give you his puppy dog eyes.

When you weren’t speaking, a thought came to his head. A sly smirk crawled to his face as he instantly pinned you to the bed again. He kissed you with much more force and passion. He licked your bottom lip and forced his tongue inside your mouth. A small moan slipped from you, and that made Childe smirk into the kiss. He let go of on of your wrist to touch the rest of your body. His cool fingers sent shivers up your spine, and goosebumps all over your skin. He softly touched your neck, your shoulders, your chest, all the way down to your stomach and your thighs.

He then abruptly stopped and looked down at your flushed face and swollen lips.

“I absolutely love seeing you like this, darling.” He spoke, kissing you softly this time.

“Now will you promise to come with me on my next mission? I promise there will be much more of this and then some if you do~” He asked, making you smile up at him. You giggled as you pushed him away

“Fine, fine. I’ll go with you on your next mission.” You said, making his smile widen.

“Thank you! I promise it will be a fun one!” He said, hugging you.

After that, he laid on his back and laid your head down on his chest, making it your turn to hear his heartbeat. It was so relaxing and calm, as if hearing it made all your worries come to an end. You snuggled up to him and held him close, just as he was holding you close to him. You two ended up staying in bed for a good two hours after that, just enjoying each other’s company and being in each other’s arms. After that, you made him and yourself breakfast like you said, and then spent the rest of the day together in your shared home. And yes, things did get a little…Spicy in the middle of the day and at the end of the night~ do with that what you will my lovelies~

__________________

[goldenbloodytears]

Hey!! While waiting for the community to be reviewed... What are your thoughts on Danny's education? I wonder if this prick ever got an actual degree in journalism instead of finding a way to falsificate the whole thing somehow under the premise of being good enough for it anyway, tbh

Ooooh! Great question!

Well, honestly, I've been a bit back and forth about it--he's always given me major confidence trickster vibes, so the idea that he wouldn't....fluff up his credentials... seemed funny to me.

Prior to his tome release, I thought it would be interesting if he was more self-taught, especially since back in the day, it was a lot easier to get into journalism without strictly studying journalism. This isn't to say this is no longer the case, there ARE still situations where you can end up a journalist without going to journalism school... but generally the "best" way (if you have no network) is gonna be school. Anyways, his tome reveals he did take at least one anthropology related course in college, so I'm assuming he has at minimum a couple credits to his name. I like to think that he finished his degree, but the idea that he got wrapped up into the murdering and maybe didn't get to finish his degree is very fun too. Honestly picturing Danny at uni is such a trip because my general impression of colleges/universities is most of them tend to be very left/liberal-leaning and Danny's just a fucking centrist man... he's a bloody doomer getting into fights about how humanity is bad. He's literally the annoying guy in your seminars who takes the prof's entire attention and stalls the discussion just so he can have his own personal debate.

However, I like the idea that he didn't go to school strictly for journalism. I think part of the issue with his education is we don't know where it fell in relation to said patricide. It's not entirely unreasonable that his dad might have wanted Danny to get some university education and then enlist, it would look good in making him an officer, higher-ranking, stuff like that. If that's the case, Danny's credentials might be related to things that would be more useful to a theoretical future career in the military. For example, something like a BA in (military?) history with a minor in English. I'd honestly argue that his education is open season since his line of work as a journalist is one of those careers where as long as you can meet the technical skills required (writing, communication, research, etc.) it doesn't matter what you strictly studied since higher education at the university level generally already prepares you for that.

I have more thoughts so I might expand on this a bit later, but in the meantime I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this topic as well.

[pinkandpurple360]

i think house of asmodeus was supposed to be that “call-out” scene, like ozzie praising stolas for giving up everything “for a thrust” was a great twisted way of the villainous-ish character doing the whole “your approval fills me with shame” trope.

but then stolas faced zero consequences so it made it all pointless.

like if we’re looking at officially released materials (not leaks, not speculation, etc.) what has stolas lost bc of his relationship with blitzo? right now, as of s2ep7, he still has his title, his house, his daughter, his servants. he “lost” his wife, but he initiated the divorce, and he never loved her anyway

so why didnt they have ozzie either be like “if you keep going down this path you’ll lose everything you love” not as a warning, but bc he’s a demon and loves watching people self-destruct. or have ozzie’s happen AFTER stolas loses immortality/his daughter/his job/etc.

and if we want to keep asmodeus as a more “heroic”/morally grey character, just have ozzie’s be him basically calling stolas out for pressuring blitzo into the deal. arguing real lust is everyone losing themselves in their desires, not coercing someone who feels nothing for you

better yet, make FIZZ the one who calls stolas out! maybe at this point he’s still mad at blitz about the fire but even he sees thru stolas’s bs. and deep down, fizz cares. he did look up to blitz once upon a time. i dont have the time or energy but im sure someone could write a blitzfizzozzie fix-it fic out of this

“your approval fills me with shame”

Yeah I loved that too! He really wasn’t saying he disapproved but he was saying how proud he was, like “that’s the spirit! Give up everything for sex!” It was just such a complex situation and I don’t think dating fizz changed any of that, the only thing it changed was mocking moxxie and millie but when you think about it? All they said was ‘it’s not the place’ which isn’t that big a deal. The hypocrisy accusation was built up well, but the fallout was kinda ruined by the ‘i knew it!’ Scene.

To be honest, stolas may still lose it all from what we’ve seen. He did not heed Asmodeus warning, or take Octavias worries to heart, at all. Hell even after Striker stabbing him and being left alone in hospital and singing his LMW song he STILL is obsessing over running away with blitzø and that’s scary levels of delusional thinking. It’s really not Blitzøs fault he became obsessed with him, and he doesn’t owe him a relationship or equal feelings. Seeing him be blamed for someone else’s choices is so frustrating.

Arguing real lust is losing themselves in their desires not coercing someone who feels nothing for you

The out of pocket “lust shouldn’t be forced, it’s an art” “no never that” exchange is the best we’re gonna get here

“if he’s maybe sorta my prisoner what kind of monster does that make me? 🥺🥺” as well. Like…crying in self pity because you aren’t sure if you maybe have been assaulting someone all this time.

Fizz could have said something about it in Oops but it seems like they want us to forget the lyrics and meaning behind house of Asmodeus instead framing it as an actual date.

— Cage Scene Rewrite 🎬—

“I saw princey cosying up to you at Ozzies. You’re both disgusting.”

“Says the royal chickens peppy sex doll!”

“Don’t play that card with me. That’s different, much less gross”

“The hells so different about it?”

“Oh I don’t know, the whole married with a family thing?! Even I have the sense not to make shit like that paraded around in public.”

“That wife of his aint exactly a saint from what I’ve heard, and I could give two shits about some royal demons marriage. Probably an arranged bullshit.”

“Maybe the wife is a piece of work, maybe their shit marriage didn’t have anything worth salvaging in it. It’s not just that. You know my one rule, the one thing people do, that I hate.”

“I…oh. Kids.”

“Yeah. Hurting kids. Scaring kids away, you’ve always had that in spades. But being a damn home wrecker?What a mess. The Blitzo I knew protected family no matter what, united people with none. Made them..made them feel like a part of something. Look at you now. Feh.”

“I…still try to do that. For Loonie and for-“

“Loonie?”

“None of your business. I wouldn’t fuck him at all if I had the choice. I can barely stand the sight of him, he’s hotter as a damn human than a slimy twig ass owl and those fuckers look downright awful. I’ve helped him mend things with his kid a bunch of times, chased her round LA, drove them both all the way to that damn knockoff Lo—-loo…

“Huh?”

“Uhhh….local uh. Bowling alley.”

“That was weird. Anyways. Big deal. You’re still trash. Bet she hates your guts.”

— cut 🎬—

Anyways yeah it’s still wonderful that fizz is the catalyst of everything that happens from the beginning. Butterfly effects always unite the two, he’s helping him with the crystal without him knowing, and he’s even helping him with gear for the sex client. Not fully understanding how gross it is..but the show would rather die than paint stolas in a bad non sympathetic light for the bad things he’s done.

[sineala]

What do you think of Iron Man Volume 2? The Heroes Reborn stuff

When you asked this, I had not read any of v2 -- for any title -- beyond isolated panels, and I was fully prepared to tell you it was bad.

Then I thought, "No, I haven't actually read v2 properly, and I shouldn't just say that without having read it. I should form my own opinion. And IM v2 is only 13 issues." So I just read it.

It's still bad.

The sad thing is that it's not actually the worst comic I've read. It's bad, but it's only… medium bad? I have definitely read things that are worse than Iron Man v2. That doesn't mean it's in any way good. It's just not The Worst.

(It's The Crossing. The Crossing is worse than IM v2. If you have any other answer to "what is the worst comic book?" then I know that you have not read The Crossing because there is no other possible answer. Nothing is worse than The Crossing. Please do not take this paragraph as some kind of reverse-psychology encouragement to try to read The Crossing. It is so bad. It is bad in a way that no other comic can even approach. You will be sorry. I own it in hardcover.)

Insofar as anything would have been able to improve the IM v2 reading experience, it turns out that reading IM v2 in isolation doesn't do it a lot of favors. I didn't know this before I read any of it, but there are multiple issues that are crossovers with FF, Cap, and Avengers v2 -- and they're the kind of four-part crossover where each part is really in a different book, so it's hard to wing it. I knew that the #13 issues were Wildstorm crossovers, and in the case of IM v2 #13 specifically StormWatch (which I am familiar with in the sense that I've read The Authority so I know who Jenny Sparks is, but I don't know that I ever read the original StormWatch, because it's been a while). Anyway, it turns out that #6 and #12 are also the same kind of four-part crossover, so like a quarter of this comic is already incomprehensible crossovers! Great!

I do actually own the other three v2 series, and I could in fact have read them along with this, but I decided I had suffered enough.

The other thing I didn't realize is that these v2 series don't actually explain how everyone got back to 616. I thought they would! They did not! It turns out this is covered in Heroes Reborn: The Return, which is a separate miniseries taking place after v2 and is not the same thing as Heroes Return (either of them) which is obviously a different thing. Thanks, comics. I did go and skim that to get a general idea of the plot. It's not as bad as v2, possibly because Peter David was doing the writing, and the art is also less bad.

Because, yeah, the IM v2 art is horrendous. The best thing I can say about it is that it's not quite as bad as The Crossing and also that, luckily, IM v2 is not the v2 book Rob Liefeld was drawing, although everyone who was drawing these books appears to have wanted to be Rob Liefeld, in terms of style. But this doesn't mean you are free from horrors like this:

The IM v2 armor design is also bad. I say this as someone who does not normally care about armor in the sense that armor doesn't usually affect whether I like a run, as it does for some Iron Man fans. Is it nice if Tony has aesthetically-pleasing armor? Sure! Who doesn't want to look at nice things? But if a run has good writing, Tony could be wearing a cardboard box and I wouldn't care. In my favorite IM run, he literally lives in a cardboard box and later constructs a superhero outfit out of other superheroes' spare uniform bits!

However, the v2 armor sure got hit with the ugly stick:

So that's not… really helping.

The actual plot was-- I mean, yeah, no, it wasn't great, and it did start out with Tony being terrible and uncaring, and then approximately 50% of it was about the Hulk, who was not the character I'd come here to read about, and there were the aforementioned inexplicable crossovers.

What was left of the plot didn't make much sense, and I'm not sure if any of this was actually explained clearly in the other books, but as far as I can tell what was going on was that all the heroes here were dropped onto Counter-Earth here after fighting Onslaught, and given memories and backstories to suggest that they'd always been here, and a lot of their backstories weren't the same. In Tony's case, he wasn't the original Iron Man; this was Conner O'Reilly (Rebel), one of Tony's friends from college, who died being Iron Man. Tony then ends up being Iron Man but of course Rebel isn't really permanently dead and he comes back to fight Titanium Man with Tony. The series treats this information like you of course already knew it and it already happened, which, since comic books already do this while talking about things that did actually happen in previous comics, makes it even more incomprehensible. I spent like three issues wondering if I was actually supposed to know this character.

(Somehow Rebel shows up again in Fabian Nicieza's Thunderbolts run. IDK how, I haven't read it. I have, like, five T-Bolts books in my TBR pile. I do fully intend to read T-Bolts at some point. It just hasn't happened yet.)

I will say that the one interesting thing about reading IM v2 here was how much of it ended up in the MCU. I wasn't expecting that. I know people always say that about Ults, and I can definitely see where the MCU took some inspiration from Ults, but no one ever says that about v2. And I can see why they would do it, because both Ults and v2 are reimagined versions that are trying to tell a story that sort of evokes the feel of 616 without the reader actually needing to be familiar with decades of comics. Which is, you know, the thing the MCU wanted to do, so it makes sense. I just hadn't realized the MCU had borrowed any of this.

What did the MCU take from IM v2? Probably the most notable aspect is Tony being BFFs with Bruce Banner. Here in the v2 backstory, Tony, Bruce, Reed, Doom, and Hank all went to college together and became friends (or frenemies, in the case of Doom). Everyone on that list other than Bruce already had some kind of connection to Tony in 616. Mostly science friendship. Or, uh, science enmity, in the case of Doom. Bruce actually didn't have any connection to Tony, in 616. The Hulk leaves the Avengers in issue #3 and pretty much does not come back until after comics start getting MCU-ified. I think the Hulk being on Hickman's initial Avengers team and also Bendis' Avengers Assemble is when that started happening. So that's all starting in 2012, for sure.

Bruce does not play well with others in 616; the main team he's ever associated with is the Defenders, whose raison d'être is not playing well with others -- like, Namor's on the Defenders. 616 Tony and 616 Bruce were absolutely not BFFs and Hulk was never a regular Avenger; every so often, when they were building new teams, the Avengers called and asked him if he wanted to come back and he told them to fuck off. Tony's never, like, calling him up for advice. They're not friends. If you are here from MCU fandom, I really want to stress this. They're not friends. If Tony needs a science buddy, he probably calls Reed Richards. And yet, here, in v2, Bruce and Tony are lifelong BFFs! They were roommates in college! Tony cares deeply about him, to the point that half the plot of this series is actually about him trying to help the Hulk! I really wasn't expecting that.

The other thing in IM v2 that might look familiar to you, the MCU fan, is Tony/Pepper. They clearly have some UST all throughout v2 -- which, sure, is a thing they had in 616 -- but here, they actually sleep together, which they had never done in 616 at the time. (This actually happens in Heroes Reborn: The Return #4, if you've read IM v2 and are wondering how you missed it.) The only time Tony and Pepper sleep together in 616 is during World's Most Wanted, an arc that came out in 2009, which was clearly after IM1 and also clearly taking inspiration from IM1 because Tony gets a glowy light in his chest by the end of the arc after that one. So, yeah… it looks like MCU grabbed the canon Tony/Pepper too.

(Over in Cap v2, Steve is actually a robot fucker. He has also slept with robots on regular Earth-616. Come on, MCU! Why are you cowards?)

So, yeah. It's not by any means a great comic, but IM v2 is not the worst comic I have ever read, and it's actually kind of an interesting read from the perspective of seeing what they borrowed for MCU. I'm not saying you should run out and read this right now or anything, though. I personally took a bunch of plot notes while I was reading this just so I would never have to read it again.

Also, please enjoy this page from IM v2 #9 in which Tony brings Thor to Avengers Mansion to show him his hole.

Please note that Tony wishes that he had instead chosen to show his hole to Steve. This is all I am going to say about this.

[megumi-fm]

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