#anyways so I saw the movie for the first time last night and I’m unwell m

[subaruthegamer]

About My OCs (Colby and Jack)

This is my fantasy, so bear with me here.

Colby Roberts

“Colby... I can’t do this...” - me, a few weeks after we have an argument

“I still want you anyway... because I’m madly in love with you...” - Colby

For those who don’t know, Colby is Jack’s son, so if you wonder where he gets those looks from, here’s my answer. 

Colby was born to a extremely wealthy heiress, who’s father was practically unknown because, he just vanished off the face of the earth, and since he was born to a wealthy family, it didn’t take long before he starting falling into the wrong crowd... with his drug habits starting to catch up at his adult years. His drug habit, oddly enough, didn’t affect him as much as the doctors thought - because they were thinking, surely, he’d have either died from an overdose, or somehow turned into a vegetable. But yet, that didn’t happen. And there was nothing conclusive with his bloodwork. Since he was filed on charges, they gave him two options (which, as far as I can tell, seem to be the mother’s choices) - either rot in prison for possession, or go into the military.

You can pretty much tell which option he went for.

Colby enlisted at the military, which at 18... he had plenty of time to start shaping his body - and he was a genius too. His scores were practically almost record breaking - considering the record was from 16 years ago! Colby is an expert tactician, and when you added hand-to-hand combat training plus all the muscle he gained from training... he was practically a Spartan.

During his time, he met Randy when, by chance, he was a captain - and Randal was a second lieutenant. In fact, Colby and Randal felt something between them. In fact, at one point, Colby once told me that if you put him and Randal in a room all alone at some point during the night, you might be able to hear Randy’s pleasuring at taking Colby on. However, it wasn’t just at a relationship level - they really were an unstoppable force.

Rather disappointingly, Colby resigned from the military after serving 8 years - and ended up heading back to Riverview... and somehow, relapsing again.

A year later, Colby ended up in my care as I was his sober companion after his relapse, and to be honest, when I met the guy, he was honestly more intimidating than I ever imagined. Sort of like the Hulk, but scaled down, and human.

To be completely honest, the first 2 weeks, he had been avoiding me since he insisted he didn’t need my help - but I stayed - because I wanted to get him to open up about himself. But - when you live with a 230+ lb man, you’d kind of want to stay out of his way when he simply won’t budge. Didn’t stop me from trying though. Sure enough, I gradually got him to be able to quietly strum his six-string guitar on the occasional night.

Our relationship took a little bit of an unexpected leap, because one night, Colby was invited to the family dinner, and this being a part where the father walked out on him... it lead to them being quite verbally abusive to him about it. Of course, we walked out and headed home with them still being pretty abusive... and hearing his mental health shattering into a million pieces. By that time though, I’d been his companion for what was stipulated, but because I didn’t want to leave him in that state, tried to renew the contract.

The lawyer said... no. So I ended up lying much to the bemusement of my therapist. 

I was wondering if I was going to get away with it when I still accompanied him to his musical composition job (guitars and pianos are his favourite) but I had to remind him at the end of the day that I still was his sober companion.

“Like hell you are.” Colby shouted. “You sure as hell haven’t been for at least a few weeks.” Much to my shock, I thought I had had it for a moment.

A sigh came from him shortly after. “I knew you lied when I called her lawyer the next day after you said he had extended the contract.”

I tried to figure out what I was going to say next. “Colby, I...” 

“I’m not angry over this.” Colby inched forward towards me to corner me between him and a wall. “I’m actually quite touched... since you saw the state that I was in after that... so for a while after that I adopted a more... aggressive mood.”

I was actually frozen stiff because he had cornered me between him and the wall with both bulging arms at the side of me.

“Until I found out you had been lying last week, I started to pull you along a little to see if you would realise that I was fine and moved on... but instead... you stayed. Didn’t occur to me that at the same time you were also having feelings for me... and I was still in denial until I gave into your feelings...”

Colby gradually moved his left hand off the wall and started feeling my back down.

“So... I want to offer you something... you stay with me... and we’ll see where our feelings for each other go... sound good?” Colby whispered.

At this point, I could hardly control myself, and Colby knew I was begging to be given the treatment that I’ve sorely needed. I was still gay at that time, but my love life had gone nowhere... and I was fidgeting a little because this was practically a dream come true for me.

“I’ll take that as a yes...” Colby later leaned in and gave me a rather sloppy lick on my face. And the next thing I knew he had leaned even closer to start making out with me.

“Why did you think I was this aggressive with you... you are so damn cute...”

After work, we gradually continued to have feelings for each other much to the disgust from my classmates with that lick.

So, we dated, we laughed, we cuddled, we had our idea of hunter and prey... which I have to say, was one of the very sexual relieving moments we’ve had together. When that happened, Colby flew up the ladder to being a hit movie director, and I wasn’t trailing far behind with my (slightly stalled) career in journalism as I was being promoted, and transferred to Lucky Palms.

Sounds perfect, you might think. Actually, in a way, it wasn’t. Because Randy showed up asking for Colby. More on that in his side of the story.

Jack Winter

“I wasn’t expecting myself to be this... swept away with you.” - Jack, slowly leaning into me for a spot where he has the advantage on me

“Yet... here you are, wanting me as much as everyone else we know.” - me, trying to find a way for him to stop but realising I’m going to be doomed

With Jack, complications turn into one story, so trying to analyse him is almost easier said than done - simply because: he’s a pure-bred demon. 

How demons work in my world, is that demons are in a world separate to ours - they have their own world much like fantasies. How they go into human bodies is through the sort of capsule that is a remote link to a human body. Some demons don’t use the bodies at all because they’re more nature demons, but the human demons - those are a different story. Jack is the latter, and one of the more emotionally manipulative kind. It works like this: he takes a body - steps on anyone’s toes and makes them make terrible decisions or suffer a embarrassing (but not fatal - he’s not that cruel) fate. All targets are random, so one day, a wealthy bachelor might suffer an a problem one day, and then the next, it could be someone like me. 

When Jack just “appeared” (what Randy and I joke about how he was created), he was one hell of a rollercoaster to deal with - he was having a hellva lot of fun slowly manipulating people into doing stuff they couldn’t realise. A hell of a time for him, after all, with all the powers he had access to, the fun was going to keep rolling like a Bugatti Chiron with an endless supply of fuel. You wouldn’t run out of it, you’d keep going.

That changed when Jack met Colby’s mother - when Jack was about to ensnare his powers on her, for some reason, she fell in love with her. Why that happened, we may never know, but the next morning, she saw a gorgeous hunk of a man sitting at her desk - which took some explaining on Jack’s part (that old charmer) to what was going on. Thankfully, she decided to not alert anyone, and allowed him to stay in her house - and getting to know that mysterious man who had suddenly appeared. Over that time, they both got together, had long walks, and spent a few days being intimate with each other - and satisfying each other as well. The only people who knew the truth about Jack were; Colby’s mother, the staff at the house, and a lawyer handling her estate. The romance didn’t last as long as she hoped - because one day, Jack was summoned to go back into the demon world, much to her sadness (the one time she was in complete love, according to Jack). Until she was unwell one morning and found out she was pregnant - and decided to keep the baby.

So 30 plus years later, when she died, he came back hoping to continue everything... instead, she died of an untreatable cancer tumor... with a son that had grown up to be living in Lucky Palms after moving from Riverview. The lawyer had a moment alone and discussed what had happened in those 30 years - her death, and her son... as well as some last letters to him about getting him to “finish what she started.” With that said, Jack had no idea what to do on the day he knocked on the Lucky Palms door - at that time, we were just engaged, and I was quite shocked when Jack said he was Colby’s father even though he looked quite young.

Obviously, it wasn’t without it’s shortcomings. Since Colby practically had so many questions, it really did beg the question... who was this person who looked, in age, practically close to a point where it wouldn’t make any sense?

So, at dinner, the three of us (in a rather tense manner) had dinner that I had decided to cook. While we were discussing it, we started to notice a few similarities in habits and preferences. Except on Jack’s side, they were much more prominent when he managed to somehow tempt me to get close to him. 

When he was planning on spending the night in Randy’s old room (which was empty since at the time, Deacon and Randy were experimenting with sleeping together), Jack started to tempt himself with me. He started to get closer and closer, and before we knew it, Jack had me pinned on the bed and began his near identical and significantly rougher (sloppier kisses, sloppier licks and so on) but then, he also backed off thankfully 10 seconds before Colby walked in. Before you asked, I did tell Colby about the similar interactions he did in that one move, but obviously, we were still skeptical. So, with Jack’s permission, we managed to withdraw blood from him and using Adam’s futuristic DNA sequencer, managed to get a father-son match with Jack and Colby.

Before you asked how the two finally settled their differences (and have Colby get all the questions he needed), Deacon suggested we put them in a rage room to settle it. Sure enough, I had to pay for damages, because, well, they did put a “few” holes in the wall when they were done. And a new set of clothes.

[sincerelyreidburke]

17 for bencole

“Wow, Mel, this is soooooooo late!” First: I know. Second: I’m profusely sorry. My semester was awful, and I have outstanding sappy prompts. This is the first of me finally finishing them off. Also, here’s the list, and if you want to request one no matter when you’re reading this, I will fill it!

Anyway. I’m so sorry. Both for my lateness, and for what I’m about to do to you. This isn’t really angst so much as it’s hurt/comfort, but I’m just warning you: Cole is in a bad place. There’s nothing more serious than depressive language, but it’s definitely hard to write him being so sad.

Read at your own risk, depending on how much you want to see Sad Cole Kolinsky!

17. “Because I love you.”

four years after graduation | november

 It’s getting dark again.

Cole hates this time of year. If he had the energy for it, he would honestly be down to personally fight the inventor of daylight savings. He really doesn’t understand the reason for setting the clocks back, and causing sunset to take place at 4 PM. Cole is pretty sure the only thing ever accomplished by daylight savings in the history of ever is making people feel dark, gray, and gloomy.

Case in point: out the apartment window, the sky is quickly and steadily darkening over a wintry Providence skyline. He hates how you can be facing away from a window in the winter, lose track of time, and turn around to find it’s pitch black out there. The city lights give him a little glow, cast across the floor of his studio, but that glimmer of light doesn’t stand a chance against the overwhelming night.

What time is it? Cole has no idea. He’s been on the floor in the studio for a couple of hours, at least, working away at the bridge of a song he’s been trying to finish for the past three days to no avail. He hasn’t eaten since breakfast, but he isn’t hungry. His guitar has been in his lap so long that his legs, crossed beneath it, are starting to fall asleep. The sweatshirt he’s wearing— one of Ben’s, baggy on him the way he likes it— needs to be washed. He knows it needs to be washed, because it smells. He’s known this for at least a week. Putting it in the laundry is a small, stupid hill he can’t seem to climb, so he’s wearing a smelly sweatshirt. He hasn’t showered in two days.

The studio is dark. He’s been trying to work for hours, and hasn’t made any progress. It feels like every small task, right now, is that kind of hill.

He blinks into the dark, and leans forward on the rug for his phone, which is buried under a steadily growing layer of crumpled papers, broken pencils, and random trash. When he finds it, he turns it over to look at the time.

It’s 4:31 in the afternoon.

He looks, blankly, at his phone screen for a second, aware of some stacked notifications but not really reading them. It’s been a couple of hours since he even unlocked it. The glow of the screen, bright in the dark studio, hurts his head a little, and when it auto-sleeps, he sets his phone back down and exhales.

4:31, and the only thing he wants to do is go to bed.

And, honestly, what’s stopping him from that? Because bed is one room over, and if he just gets under the covers, he won’t have to think about how impossible it’s been to finish this bridge, or how behind he is on literally all of his music work, or how he has a shift tomorrow at the café, which, no matter how soul-sucking, is real work, and will be, until he makes something of himself, which is probably never going to happen, because he’s worthless and useless and can’t even write a bridge when he has a completely free Friday afternoon with nothing else to do—

Or, come to think of it, the dark. Most of all the dark. Because when the world is dark for so much of the day, it leaves a free place for Cole’s own darkness to occupy in his mind. It makes everything worse. It always has.

If he gets in bed, hides under the covers, he doesn’t have to think about any of that.

So that’s what he’ll do, he decides. That’s all he has the energy to do. It’s not like he has anything to do for the rest of the day anyway. Ben will be home from work in half an hour or so, but Ben won’t mind if he’s asleep.

It’ll just be easier. He doesn’t want to be alone in the dark with his thoughts anymore.

*

It’s getting dark again.

Ben is over it already, honestly. Summer is his favorite season, for a variety of reasons, and pretty much the only things that make winter tolerable are hockey (a significant benefit) and the holiday season (sort of). He hates daylight savings, because it’s so dark when he leaves work it might as well be eight PM. Today is no exception; he leaves his office building to a black city sky and a certifiably nasty winter wind. There might be snow coming, which would be a hate crime, since it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet.

At least it’s Friday. He catches a good stretch of music on the radio during his short ride home, and he’s still nodding to the beat on the elevator ride up to his floor in the apartment building. It’ll be a good night in; they can order from that good pizza place down the block, and maybe watch a movie. Cole has to work tomorrow, but it’s an afternoon shift. They have the next twenty or so hours all to themselves.

Ben is looking forward to it.

“I’m home, Coley!” he sings, as he pushes open the apartment door. There aren’t any lights on when he walks in. This isn’t concerning, until it is— because Cole doesn’t really hang out in the kitchen, but a quick glance tells him that the lights aren’t on in his studio, either. The door is open, and it’s dark behind it.

It’s like there’s no one home at all.

“Babe?” He flicks on the main kitchen light, as he shuts the door behind himself. There’s no response. Ben hesitates, just a second, as he hangs his jacket and keys, and then adds, “You in here?”

Which is a stupid question, because Cole has to be in here somewhere. He doesn’t drive, and even past that, isn’t the kind of person to randomly go out without saying where he’s going. Ben knows he’ll find him, somewhere in the apartment— he just doesn’t know where, or in what headspace, he might find him.

He can’t help but get just a little nervous, when he comes home to a dark apartment.

Because nine months into this relationship, Ben knows what dark means. Cole shuts lights off, habitually, when he’s in a bad place. He blocks out the light on purpose, like it’ll hurt him if he sees too much of it. Ben has come home to this before. And he knows, on top of everything, that the onset of winter doesn’t do anything good for Cole’s mental health.

So he treads carefully, across the kitchen, and speaks gently as he goes. “Cole?” He peeks into the studio, and flicks on the light. Cole isn’t in here— but evidence of him is. His working area is a disaster scene, with his guitar left on the ground, surrounded by writing utensils, crumpled notebook pages, and trash. His phone is in here, too, near his guitar.

It’s… a mess. But messes can be cleaned up. What’s worse than it being messy is the fact that it’s a clear sign of Cole being unwell.

Ben steps back from the studio, and glances down the hall. Their bedroom is the last room, and its doorway is just as dark as any other door in the apartment. He tries to be quiet, as he walks there, and when he glances inside, finds his hunch was accurate— Cole is a lump under the covers, on the far side of the bed.

“Cole?” he tries, again, but keeps his voice low. If he’s asleep, he doesn’t want to wake him up. At least not right this second. “I’m home, baby.”

The lump doesn’t move.

Ben hesitates, a second, as he hangs on the doorway. Cole is obviously asleep— his body, huddled almost completely under the comforter except for the hood of his sweatshirt and top of his head, is rising and falling, steady breathing. The problem isn’t exactly that he’s sleeping, but that he’s sleeping in the dark at 5:15 PM. That fact, combined with his mess in the studio, can only mean one thing.

Cole didn’t have a good day today.

It pains Ben to think of what must have led to this— because he knows this boy, knows him well enough to understand these signs, knows his brain never takes it easy on him, least of all on days when it gets dark in the middle of the afternoon. He must have been in the studio, at some point— that’s what he said he was doing today, when Ben left for work this morning. Last he saw him, he was sitting on the counter, eating Trix out of a mug, and he said, I really have to finish that bridge today.

That’s a good idea, babe, he’d replied, putting the lid on his travel mug of coffee. You’ll have to play it for me, when I get home.

Cole had smiled— thinly, like it took a lot of energy, but still, he smiled. I will, if I finish.

Ben doesn’t know what filled the hours between his leaving for work and right now. But he knows Cole wound up here, instead of in the studio— where he would be, if it’d gone well— and that that can’t mean much good.

But he can’t change any of that. What he can do is try to make the rest of the night better for him. And if nothing else, that is something he knows how to do.

So he turns on the lamp on their bedside table, the lowest light in the bedroom, and lets him sleep, as he changes out of his work clothes and into sweats. He turns other lights on as he backtracks through the apartment— the hall light, the dimmer in the living room, the fixture over the kitchen island. Each makes the place feel a little warmer, a better place to be on a cold, wintry, maybe snowy night. He looks into the fridge, then the freezer.

Yeah, screw ordering. He’ll make pizza, tonight. He’ll do Cole’s favorite— barbecue chicken, green peppers. He has enough in the fridge, and something home-cooked could probably do him some good.

It takes ten minutes to roll out the dough, another ten to do the toppings. He preheats the oven, and while he waits, he cleans up the trash in the studio. He zips Cole’s beloved guitar back into its case, and brings out his phone, leaves it on the charger in the kitchen. He doesn’t really want to throw away any of the notebook pages, just in case Cole decides, later, in a songwriting frenzy, that something he crumpled up previously might be important. So he leaves those, flattens them all and puts them into a pile on the studio desk. When he’s satisfied, he shuts the studio light off, and closes the door as he leaves it.

Next, he grabs a fresh change of clothes for Cole from the dresser, and sets them on the sink in the bathroom with a clean towel. He highly doubts that Cole showered today, and he hasn’t seen evidence of him doing so in at least a few days. Cole won’t like that, but it’ll do him some good.

He’s back in the kitchen, taking the pizza out of the oven, when he gets company. He doesn’t notice, at first— Cole is in socked feet, and moves quietly, so much so that Ben starts a little when he turns and sees him coming in. “Hey,” he breathes, keeping his voice mostly quiet, as he sets down the pizza stone on a potholder to cool. “How was your nap, babe?”

Cole stops a few feet from the island. Head to toe, he looks so hollow and tired that it hurts Ben’s heart a little. He still has the hood of his sweatshirt— well, Ben’s own sweatshirt originally, but basically it’s Cole’s now— pulled up over his head, the way he slept, and his hair, longer than usual, hasn’t been brushed in awhile. He’s squinting, not wearing his glasses, and he rubs one of his eyes over and over.

When he speaks, he only has half a voice. “Hi.”

Ben walks to him. For some reason, he feels like he has to hold him up, to keep him steady on his feet. He takes him by his elbows, and Cole falls into his embrace— he’s dead weight, and he exhales, presses his head into his chest. He’s a little shaky. Ben would wonder if he caught a cold, but knows better. He knows this. This is a different kind of sick.

“Hey,” he says again, and squeezes him tight around the waist. “What’s wrong, baby?”

Cole is still shaky, in his arms. He doesn’t speak for a minute, so Ben holds on tight. Cole smells like his clothes haven’t been washed in too long, and his hair is greasy.

“I didn’t—” comes Cole’s voice, small and unsteady, from his head pressed into his chest. “I didn’t get anything done today.”

“That’s okay, babe.” Ben knows his assurance in this category won’t really do much, because Cole is so, so hard on himself when it comes to creative productivity— but the least he can do is try. “You don’t have to get things done every single day.”

Cole groans, and shakes his head. “I had the whole day,” he says, and Ben doesn’t realize until right then that he’s crying. His voice breaks on the end of his sentence, and he sniffles. “I had the whole day,” he repeats.

“Hey— baby.” Ben tugs, very gently, at the hood of his sweatshirt, and eases him up so he can look him in the eye. His eyes are glassy, and he has a pillowcase imprint on his cheek. Ben wipes at a wet spot on his cheek. “That’s okay,” he says. “The writing isn’t important if you’re not okay.”

Cole sniffles again, and his eyes well up further. “Hey,” Ben whispers; his stomach turns at the sight. He pulls him close to hug him again, and pressed close against him, Cole cries a little more openly. “Don’t cry, baby. I’ve got you. I’m home now.”

“I’m so—” Cole stops, to sniffle, before he continues, “I feel so useless.”

“You aren’t useless,” Ben tries. He tightens his grip. He knows he’s the only thing keeping him steady. “It’s a tough time of year.”

Cole groans again, and then nods, and for a minute, they’re quiet. They stand in the middle of the kitchen, and Cole sniffles a few more times against his chest, and to take this away from him is the only thing Ben wants to do.

He can’t do that. But he can do what he can. He can try.

“I made dinner,” he says. “And I took out clean clothes— you should shower, babe.” Cole grumbles a little in protest, so he adds, “I know you don’t want to, but you should. You’ll feel better.”

“I don’t have the energy to shower,” Cole whispers, a little less tearily but just as weakly.

“I can—” Ben bites back his first response, because he doesn’t want to give the wrong impression. “If you want,” he rephrases, gently, “I can help you.”

Cole is quiet, and then lets off a long exhale. When he looks up, his eyes are still full, but he tips forward to rest his forehead against his, and reaches around the back of his head. Ben knows what he’s doing before he does it— he pulls at his elastic, and takes down his hair. When it’s out of the bun, Cole threads his fingers in it, like he’s holding on for dear life. It doesn’t really hurt, but it’s tight.

“Why,” Cole mumbles, and then swallows. He sounds like he’s fighting to keep his voice steady, to keep more tears from coming. “Why are you being so patient with me.”

It’s a question that isn’t phrased like one. Ben knows the answer, would always know the answer. “Because I love you,” he replies, without waiting. “And I would do anything to help you feel better. Even if it’s only a little at a time.”

Cole sniffles again, and Ben can see the exact moment he loses his fight against the tears. When they fall, Ben wipes them away with his sleeve.

“I’m sor—” Cole starts, but he cuts him off.

“No,” he says. “You never— look at me. You never have to be sorry, baby.”

Cole sniffles, again. His voice is strained, but he murmurs, “I love you,” and Ben doesn’t want to do a single other thing in the world tonight but be here. And hold him. And keep letting the light in.

“I’m right here, babe,” he tells him. “Okay? You can shower while the pizza cools.”

Cole takes a long breath, a shaky one, but his exhale is steadier than the inhale. It’s a good sign. It’s progress. It’s something.

They’ll take the night in steps, and go from there.

“Okay,” Cole says, finally, and he wipes his own face with the sleeve of the oversized sweatshirt. He nods, and repeats himself. “Okay.”

Ben reaches down, and takes his hand. When he squeezes, Cole’s squeeze back is tight. “Good,” he says, and tips his head toward the bathroom. “Come with me, baby.”

Out the window on his way by, Ben notices it’s snowing. It’s early, for sure, for that to happen. But the apartment is warm, and they have each other, and they don’t have anywhere to be.

It’ll be a long winter. But Ben is going to get them both through it.

Because through good and bad, dark and light, through any season, he has Cole— and he’s never letting go.

[windowlessatmosphere]

Lighting a Candle, Ch. 11

Read on AO3

Summary: Tony takes matters into his own hands, and elects to get Steve and Bucky together by any means necessary. Steve and Bucky, who have been married twice already, are amused and slightly concerned.

“Anthony? Are you unwell?” Thor put a hand on Tony’s shoulder, who was still staring at Steve and Bucky, gesturing somewhat wildly between the two.

“He’ll be fine,” Sam snorted. “It takes a second to get over the shock,” he explained knowingly.

“Get over the…” Tony trailed off. “You knew!” he accused, pointing his finger aggressively at Sam. Sam shrugged and hid a grin behind his hand. “Who else knew?” Tony demanded, looking around the circle. Bucky half-raised his hand before Steve snorted and put it back down for him. “Not funny, Barnes!” Tony pivoted away from Sam, still pointing. “Ok, that’s it! We’re going around the circle!”

“Around the circle?” Natasha questioned, raising an eyebrow and smoothly pouring herself another drink.

“Yes!” Tony insisted, looking around at everyone. “We are going around the circle and everyone has to say what they know and when they found out!”

“Good idea, I’ll go first,” Bucky offered mildly. Steve ducked his head and snorted, looking to the side.

“Barnes!” Tony barked. “Sam! Go!”

“Uh, okay,” Sam looked amused. “Hi, I’m Sam, and my best friend got married twice without telling me.”

“Hi, Sam,” chorused Natasha, Clint, and Bruce, causing Thor to wave at Sam, looking confused.

“Sam!” Tony sounded way past indignant at this point.

“Ok, ok,” Sam waved him off. “Um, ok, I thought they both had a secret thing for each other, so I warned Steve about your plan. I thought it might make things awkward. Then, after the debacle that was movie night, Steve comes to me the next day, tells me that he and Bucky are married.”

“Twice,” Steve tacked on the end.

“Yeah, twice,” Sam amended, rolling his eyes fondly and holding his hands up in resignation. “Then I thought it’d be funny to see how long it took you to figure it out,” he added, grinning at Tony, who started spluttering for a second before recovering.

“Ok, we’re skipping the apparently happy couple,” Tony glared at Steve and Bucky. “Nat, you were in on the plan with me, so you didn’t know anything. Clint?”

Natasha coughed pointedly and looked down before Clint could respond. Tony immediately jerked his head back to her. “Nat!” he protested, looking put out. “What did you know?” he pointed accusatorially.

“Not that they were married,” she snorted. “Not until about five minutes ago, anyway. That probably doesn’t say anything good about my next performance review,” she mused, tilting her head to one side.

“But you knew something?” Tony pressed further, eyes narrowing.

“Yeah, I figured they were a couple,” Natasha shrugged. “I don’t see either of them being huge on PDA. Add some old-school homophobia from when they were young, I figured they were just a little more subtle than people nowadays.”

“Why’d you do the plan?” Tony questioned, looking put out.

“It was funny,” Natasha said, like it should’ve been obvious.

“Worst partner-in-crime ever!” Tony complained. “I guess Clint was on the same page?”

“Pretty much,” Clint chimed in. “Tasha told me what she thought was going on after movie night. Though she didn’t mention Bucky and Steve were also messing with you.”

“Didn’t know,” Natasha grumbled, giving Bucky the stink eye.

“Bruce? My buddy, my amigo, my fellow scientist, please tell me you weren’t in on this?” Tony pleaded, pressing his hands together in supplication.

“I wasn’t,” Bruce confirmed.

“Good,” Tony sighed and relaxed his shoulders.

“Although…I sort of knew they were together,” he offered meekly, adjusting his glasses as he spoke.

“Bruce! Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony questioned, looking lost. “Wait! You were the one who kept saying to leave them alone about it! You totally didn’t know,” he decided.

“Bruce knew,” Steve interjected, turning a deep shade of red.

“Um, ok, what’s with color, Capsicle?” Tony laughed, turning to Bruce and raising an eyebrow when he found Bruce a similar shade of red.

“There was…an incident,” Steve chose his words carefully, grimacing. Bucky snorted and nudged Steve slightly, who turned even redder.

“An incident?” Tony sounded bemused.

“Yes,” Bruce agreed. “An incident. Basically, I found out about their relationship. But the way Steve reacted, I thought nobody was supposed to know, so I kept it to myself. And tried to get you to leave them alone,” he finished, avoiding eye contact with Steve.

“But what was the incident?” Tony pressed. “And if it wasn’t a secret, why did Steve act like it was?”

“I wasn’t acting like—” Steve started before stopping himself. “I was just embarrassed. About the…incident.”

“What was the incident?” Tony was getting more and more insistent, furrowing his brow.

“Let’s move on,” Bruce said hurriedly. “Thor’s next.”

“Thor didn’t know!” Tony argued. “Anyway, about the incident—”

“I knew,” Thor interrupted calmly.

“You knew?” Tony was incredulous. “You told him?” he questioned, turning back on Steve, who shook his head.

“You mean you knew like Nat did?” Sam questioned. “You figured they were a couple, but didn’t know they were married?”

“No, I thought they must have been wed,” Thor stated.

“Why?” Tony quirked his head.

“I thought Midgardians had a custom of exchanging rings to signify a marriage,” Thor explained. “Although, I believe there to be only one such marriage, as I only saw one ring,” he added sagely. Everyone’s eyes snapped to Steve and Bucky’s hands.

“They’re not wearing rings!” Tony protested. “And Barnes’ left hand is metal, how would that even work?” he started wondering aloud, staring off into space.

“Left hand?” Thor questioned.

“Yeah, you wear a wedding ring on your left hand,” Sam explained. “At least, here we do,” he amended, gesturing at Thor.

“Usually,” Steve added on, pulling a chain with a gold band and doglegs on it out from under his shirt. Everyone looked expectantly to Bucky, who snorted and pulled out a similar chain, but without the ring or tags.

“So…?” Clint trailed off, making an odd face. “Where’s yours?” he finished, when Bucky just stared at him. Bucky scowled and tucked the chain back under his shirt.

“HYDRA took it,” Steve explained for him, leaning his shoulder against Bucky’s, who relaxed slightly.

“I’ll get it back.” Bucky stated flatly, a clear threat in his voice.

“Course you will,” Steve agreed, pecking him on the cheek, which seemed to calm him down a bit.

“Wait, so if you two weren’t supposed to be a secret, what’s with the hidden wedding rings?” Tony pointed out, looking victorious.

“It was more secret before the war,” Steve explained, ignoring Sam when he picked up the ring and started looking at it. “Then, it was fine in the war, but it was harder to lose on a chain. Now, it’s just our thing,” he shrugged, smiling at Bucky.

“Ok, these say James Barnes,” Sam pointed out from where he was leaning over to look at the chain around Steve’s neck. Steve rolled his eyes and tugged the necklace out of Sam’s grip.

“Yeah, we switched after—when we met up,” he changed course mid-sentence, looking at the ground.

“Weren’t those supposed to ID your body if you were unrecognizable?” Sam had a note of clear judgement in his voice. “I had a very recognizable outfit,” Steve pointed out. “As well as a virtually indestructible, very well-known shield. Besides, everybody knew we wore each other’s,” he shrugged, tucking it back under his shirt.

“And it’s romantic,” Bucky added on, staring Sam down with no emotion in his face.

“Barnes is talking about romance now,” Tony observed to Bruce, eyebrows drawn tightly together.

“Yes,” Bruce conceded after a second.

“Ok.”

“You said it was fine during the war?” Clint interrupted. “Everyone knew?”

“Yeah, they were all fine,” Steve explained. “They woulda been fine anyway, but the first time I met the Commandos, I ended up saving their lives, so they probably would have been fine with a lot of things,” he snorted. “Plus they already loved Bucky,” he added.

“So you just told them?” Clint asked, curiosity evident in his voice.

“No, they figured it out pretty quickly,” Steve laughed, sharing a quick look with Bucky. “I mean, within ten seconds of meeting me, quickly. And Bucky wasn’t even there,” he grinned, knocking his knee against Bucky’s.

“Ok, fine,” Tony nodded, still looking lost. “Why the two weddings then?” he questioned.

“Well, the first one was cause we were in love and wanted to get married,” Steve explained.

“Yes, obviously,” Tony waved him on impatiently. “The second one?”

“The Commandos thought it’d be nice. They knew we had the rings, but they thought we’d never gotten to actually have a wedding, so they threw us one as a surprise,” Steve remembered. “We figured it’d be cruel to refuse, so we just went with it,” he shrugged. “Besides, we all really needed it with everything going on in the war. Anyway, you can all come to the next one if you want?” he offered.

“The next one?” Tony asked, incredulous.

“And last,” Steve confirmed, nodding.

“Why are you having a third wedding?” Tony questioned, gesticulating wildly.

Steve raised an eyebrow at him and waited a second for Tony to get it. When he didn’t he sighed and said, “the first two weren’t exactly legal, Tony. Now that it can be, we’re gonna make it official.”

“I’m on James’ side. Sorry, Steve,” Natasha added as an afterthought. Steve just shrugged back.

“We already put you there, anyway,” he explained. She nodded in response and fist bumped Bucky, both of them looking straight ahead.

“Don’t worry, man, I’m with you,” Sam clapped Steve on the back.

“Already decided, Wilson,” Bucky rolled his eyes.

“Where am I?” Clint asked excitedly, pointing at himself.

“Dude, that was my question!” Tony protested, reaching over Bruce to pull Clint’s hand down.

“What, where I am?” Clint snorted.

“No, you idiot—”

“Guys!” Steve interrupted both of them. “We haven’t started planning planning yet. And we do have some time before we’re having the wedding,” he pointed out.

“How much time?” Sam asked.

“As much as it takes,” Bucky responded flatly.

“For?”

“For me to get my ring back.”

[inspired-by-the-music]

For You: 4 O’Clock

Chapter 3: Secrecy

Taglist: @jineunwootrash

I walked downstairs with the reasons why I shouldn’t be required to attend Donghae’s birthday party pressed on the tip of my tongue. 

The Reasons: 

I saw Donghae so often that seeing him for a split second at a work party (where he would dash from guest to guest) seemed kind of ridiculous

SuperM was setting out on a world tour at daybreak, and I couldn’t afford to lose hours of sleep. My face was already swollen, drowsy from staying up all night playing Truth or Dare with the guys. 

I was still working on the third reason, but it would probably be something along the lines of “What’s the point in going to a birthday party if I can’t even eat cake because of this stupid diet?”

I didn’t get to voice any of my reasons to convince Mom to let me stay home, though, because I dropped my jaw on the floor when I found her sitting on the living room couch. She was still wearing the red tracksuit she wore when she drove me home from the campsite. She wore a pale green clay mask. 

“What are you doing?” I checked my phone because if Mom was laying around, I must have been mistaken about the time. Nope, the screen said, I was right. “Donghae’s party starts in 30 minutes.” 

She joked, “Oh, you don’t like my outfit?” before registering my unamused expression. “I’m not going, Lei. I’m sick.” She forced the least convincing fake laugh of all time, and I rolled my eyes. How gullible did she think I was? 

“Fine.” I plopped down onto the couch next to her, saying, “Then I’m sick, too.” I didn’t go so far as to fake a cough, but I doubt she would have been convinced even if I had been truly unwell. 

“Oh, no.” Mom kicked me off of the couch with her (mismatched) socked feet. “You used your fake flu excuse to get out of ‘Knowing Bros’—” 

My entire body cringed at the mention of Heechul’s variety show. I loved Heechul, but that show— with great effort, I had managed to have a successful career without appearing on a single episode, and I planned to keep it that way. 

“You need to go to Donghae’s party, anyway.” Mom lectured with facts I already knew well: “He’s never been anything but kind to you, so grab his present off the kitchen table. There’s a car outside waiting for you.”

Just to be clear: I wasn’t trying to weasel out of going to the party because I didn’t want to see Donghae or celebrate his birthday. I never would have said this out loud for fear of sounding like a total freak, but I really, really hated work parties. Although the atmosphere was always uncomfortably formal, even for birthday parties, boys (namely, Sehun) tried to blur the lines in strictly professional relationships. 

Maybe I shouldn’t have been so bothered. Maybe I should have tried to understand that they were grasping at romance the only ways they could— even if it was a fake, pseudo-romance explored in the shadows of an S.M. banquet hall. But I was bothered, and I didn’t understand, and I didn’t want to go.

And, more pressingly, I didn’t want to see Taemin again. Except I did. Just not so soon, and not before I could figure out how to thank him for his jacket. Not before I understood why I wanted him to smile (the real smile) at me. Not before I understood why he wanted my ribbon. 

Wanting to avoid Taemin wasn’t just cowardly; it was impractical, considering that I would have to see him every day for the next few months on our North American tour. I would have to face him sooner or later, talk to him sooner or later, and there was no point in delaying our next conversation. 

I opened my mouth to complain— or least to ask how I was supposed to get home after the party— but Mom had turned her attention back to the paperwork in her lap. Maybe she was genuinely too busy to go to the party, even though it was for work, even though it was hosted on Donghae’s behalf. I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to ask if she was still avoiding Donghae. 

I felt like the longer I stayed with her, the likelier I was to ask if she was the idol who never debuted. I didn’t see what good could come from asking, so I ran out of the room, grabbed the small wrapped gift from the table, and crawled into the back seat of the company car in the driveway. 

“Damn, Lei,” Lucas whistled when he found me in the corner of the banquet hall where the light didn’t quite reach. “You look good!”

When he tried to pull me into a hug, I swatted him away. “This is why we have dating rumors, Lucas,” I scolded, knowing that he would shrug my concerns away while laughing. 

Lucas’s eternal smile broadened as he teased, “If anyone figures out where Taemin got his bracelet, your dating rumors won’t center around me anymore.”

The only comfort was knowing that even if my blush broke through my makeup, Lucas wouldn’t have been able to see it in the dim lighting. “Stop saying that. There’s nothing like that there.” 

“That’s what you keep saying.” Lucas raised a disposable red cup to his lips, so his next words were muffled. “But that dimple in your chin— the one that only deepens when you lie— says otherwise.”

Cupping a hand over my chin, I hissed, “There is no dimple!” 

Lucas laughed at my reaction, and I realized that he was just messing with me. While these dating rumors were my greatest source of stress, they were just another thing for him to laugh about. I never wanted to be the reason Lucas’s laughter died, so I had to learn to play along. 

This was the issue: Lucas understood my point of view; he just didn’t share it, and I couldn’t force him to. 

Once he realized that I couldn’t force laughter, Lucas tried to get our conversation back on track. “Anyway, you called me over here to talk about Mom and Donghae. Does that mean there are updates?”

I shrugged and shuffled closer to him so I didn’t have to speak louder than absolutely necessary. “I still don’t know why she’s avoiding Donghae, but she didn’t come to the party—”

My attempts at secrecy were thwarted when Lucas repeated, loudly, “She didn’t come to the party?” He clamped a hand over his mouth when I cut my eyes at him. As he should have in the first place, he whispered, “She didn’t come to the party?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, tucking behind my ear a curl that had escaped my bun. “She even faked some kind of illness. She did one of those lame coughs—” Lucas hacked frailly into the sleeve of his shirt— “Yeah, exactly like that. She’s definitely not sick.”

Lucas’s brow furrowed so tightly that I imagined steam might blow out of his ears from over-exerting his brain. “But why? What could Donghae have done?”

Before I could say that I had no idea, a voice spoke from the deeper shadows, “I can find out if you want.” Sehun stepped into the light. 

As I rolled my eyes at the sight of him— the second to last person I wanted to see that evening— Lucas snorted into his drink. 

“What do you say, Lei?” Like a character from a movie— some kind of spy film whose plot I couldn’t quite follow no matter how hard I focused— Sehun offered his hand to me. “I’m close to Donghae. I can ask him what’s going on with him and Momager if you really want to know.” 

I shook my head at the offer. Dropping his hand to his side, sure to slap it against his black dress pants, Sehun drew his eyebrows together curiously as if to ask, “Why do you always reject me?” The words didn’t have to leave his mouth; he asked them frequently enough while making that face— brows arched more than usual, lips pressed in a thin line— that I knew when they were blaring in his mind. 

Unable to bear the silent exchange, Lucas tried to explain to Sehun, “She doesn’t want to owe you any favors, dude.” 

I know it sounds cynical, but Lucas was right. Nobody liked to admit it, but in the entertainment industry, nobody does anything for the sake of accomplishing a good deed. Everybody is always looking to get ahead somehow, usually by performing these little favors, and I never wanted to be involved in anything like that— especially not with boys (like Sehun) who only wanted to see how close I would get to dating them. 

Sehun rolled his eyes at my cynicism like he always did. “How do you know that I’m not offering out of the goodness of my heart, Lei? You know I would do almost anything to make my fans happy.” He smiled at me, and my heart might have fluttered if I harbored the slightest budding feelings for him. As it was, my glare hardened, and I wanted to slap Baekhyun for telling Sehun that he was my bias. 

Shaking my head, I brushed past Sehun to find Donghae. I thought that after wishing him a happy birthday in person, I could have justified leaving the party early.

I wasn’t surprised (just disappointed) that Sehun trailed closely behind, asking, “Why am I your bias, anyway, if you dislike me this much? Is it because of my visuals? That’s it, right? I’m the most handsome guy you’ve ever seen.” 

“As a matter of fact,” I rounded on Sehun, frustrated that he grinned at the attention as he held his hands up in mock surrender, “it’s your eyebrows. I like your eyebrows.”

“Oh.” Sehun laughed, leaning against a nearby table. “So this is what we’re doing? We’re listing what we like about each other?”

“No,” I said sternly. 

I knew that the more I resisted, the more he would pursue me. This was a game. I hated it, and I hated that my natural temperament made it drag on forever. 

“I don’t dislike you, Sehun, but when you act like this—”

“Like what?” He smirked. “Like the man of your dreams?”

“Like the total opposite,” I replied maybe a little too harshly. The festivities around us died down as some guests tried to listen to our conversation and even more relocated to carry on joyfully without having to hear us. 

I always felt bad at this part— when I snapped because I felt cornered, and Sehun stood still, staring at the ground like I had drawn blood. If I hurt him, then why did he keep flirting me? If this wasn’t a game, wouldn’t he get tired of rejection? 

If it was a game, it wasn’t fun for me. I didn’t like rejecting Sehun, and I didn’t like that I had to avoid him at events like this, but the fact remained: I wasn’t interested in him like that. I didn’t know how else to tell him. I didn’t like that he made me into this villain— or, worse, this unattainable ideal— just because it made me more interesting to him. 

I wasn’t something to chase: I was a person. Why couldn’t he understand that? Did I really have to explain it to him? 

Sehun met my eyes when he said, “I won’t give up,” for the thousandth time. 

I started to beg him to give up— or to at least stop blurring the lines between fantasy and reality— or to at least outright say that he liked me if that was the problem— but I didn’t get the chance. Donghae, Heechul, and Baekhyun crowded around the table, so I swallowed my concerns. 

“Wait a minute.” Heechul’s gaze flickered between me and Sehun. Dimples formed in his cheeks. “This isn’t the boy I usually see you with, Lei!”

Baekhyun laughed. Nudging Heechul, and, cupping around his mouth as if he was divulging a secret, Baekhyun explained, “This is another one of Lei’s suitors. Apparently she and Lucas are ‘just friends,’ much to the fans’ disappointment, and Sehun is ‘just her bias,’ much to Sehun’s disappointment.”

Sehun and I, at least, were united in the simultaneous rolling of our eyes as Baekhyun and Heechul cackled together. 

Sehun promised, “I’ll text you later, Lei,” and stalked away without responding to Baekhyun’s and Heechul’s harmonizing whistles. 

Donghae, who had been shifting uncomfortably since arriving at the table, asked the dreaded question, “Where’s your mom?” while Baekhyun and Heechul were too busy harassing Sehun to notice. 

Whatever he had done to upset Mom must have been an unwitting accident; Donghae smiled at the mere mention of her. For a second— a split second— I hated Mom for sending me into this situation where I had to break Donghae’s smile by answering, “She’s not here. She, um, isn’t feeling well.” 

“What?” Donghae, Heechul, and Baekhyun asked in unison. 

Heechul slipped away from the conversation without arousing Donghae’s or Baekhyun’s attention; their wide eyes were too focused on me to notice anything else. I wondered how mad Heechul would be when he drove to my house just to find Mom sitting (perfectly healthy) on the couch, probably watching episodes of their drama without him. 

“She’s not feeling well?” Donghae repeated. Tiny dimples formed in his chin as he realized, frowning, “She’s never missed one of my parties before. This one year, she came even though she had the flu, and I had to beg her to go home!”

“It’s very unlike her to miss a work event.” The sadness in Baekhyun’s voice was so exaggerated that I met his gaze anxiously. What was he up to? Mock concern flooded his eyes as he said, “She must be really sick, huh, Lei? Coughing and everything?”

Oh. I realized when the corner of Baekhyun’s lips twitched upward that he overheard my conversation with Lucas. I guess he had already proven through his successful kidnapping plot that he could keep his big mouth shut when he needed too; now, he proved it again by quietly eavesdropping on me and Lucas and using his knowledge to make me squirm. 

Note: Baekhyun was dangerous not just because he was cute. He was also sneaky. 

Unsure of how to maintain Mom’s lie when Baekhyun knew the truth, I nodded subtly. 

“It’s so weird how health can take such sudden turns for the worst.” Baekhyun shook his head and pounded his fist on the metallic navy blue table cloth. “Momager seemed fine when I talked to her earlier—” he paused to stage a dramatic gasp before asking, “You don’t think we’ll have to postpone the tour, do you? If Momager is sick, how can we leave first thing tomorrow morning?”

“Tomorrow morning?” Donghae’s eyes rounded as they looked to me for confirmation. “You’re leaving on tour tomorrow?”

I nodded, and I would have apologized to Donghae— even though I couldn’t explain why I was sorry— but Baekhyun interrupted by asking, “You don’t think she’s faking, do you? Do you think she had a hot date or something?”

Donghae gasped, “What?”

Glaring at Baekhyun, I answered through gritted teeth, “My mother would never prioritize any date over her work obligations.”

I didn’t expect Donghae to react by dropping his gaze somewhere on the table and wheezing, “I’m more than a work obligation, right?” 

“Yes, of course, absolutely,” I wanted to tell him. “You’re so important to us— to me and to Mom. You are a member of the first group she helped debuted, and you have been such a fixture in our life, and you’ve never been anything but kind and—”

Oh. My stomach tied in knots as I understood why Mom didn’t want to come to the party. The knots tightened as I realized how similar Mom and I were. Neither of us wanted to worry about anything other than performing our jobs well. Neither of us knew how to respond when somebody tried to cross that line between colleague and— I don’t know— boyfriend, so we always ran away. 

Oh. My heart sank as I wondered if I ever made Sehun frown the way Mom made Donghae frown with her mere absence. I doubted it, but the thought was still sickening. Maybe— maybe Mom thought that Donghae wouldn’t notice her absence among all the other party guests, but that misunderstanding didn’t lessen his very real disappointment right before my eyes. Maybe— maybe you don’t have to try to break a heart. 

Baekhyun must have been oblivious to mine and Donghae’s shared discomfort. He rattled on, “Maybe Momager isn’t as virtuous as you, Lei.” Although Donghae and I bore into him with our glares, Baekhyun suggested, lips pressed out in a tiny pout, “Maybe she’s more like the idol who never debuted.”

“This again?” I set my jaw and narrowed my eyes at the ceiling before telling Baekhyun, “I don’t know why you’re so hell-bent on believing that my mom is some failed trainee, and I don’t know why you’re stupid or cruel enough to keep saying it right in front of me, but you’re really pissing me off.” 

Storming out of the party after yelling at my leader the night before our world tour was probably the worst thing I had done in my entire career. I knew that even as my pulse sounded angrily in my ears, but I was too angry to swallow my pride and apologize to Baekhyun. 

Maybe I thought that the cool Autumn air outside would soothe my temper and enable me to do what would encourage a peaceful tour with SuperM. Maybe I knew that I wouldn’t return to the party no matter how many hours I wasted under the stars, trying to throw away the feelings I couldn’t express. 

Whatever I thought would come from running from my explosive emotions, I didn’t expect Donghae to find me. I didn’t expect him to say, wearing the same gentle smile as always (as if he hadn’t been frowning just moments before), “Come on. I’ll drive you home if you really don’t want to be here.” 

I stared at him, unable to blink, because those were exactly the words Taemin said by the lake last night before untying my wrists. I stared at him because I was trying to map the similarities between Donghae and Taemin. I couldn’t quite articulate it, but the same thing that made Donghae’s eyes tender made Taemin’s smile brilliant. What was it about them that I couldn’t understand— that I wanted to understand?

Had I been thinking clearly, I might have been able to understand. I might have considered that Mom probably didn’t want Donghae near our house; then, I wouldn’t have accepted his offer to drive me home. 

Often, I wonder what would have happened if Donghae hadn’t forced his way past Heechul into the house. I wonder if the truth would have come out some other day— some other way— instead. I wonder if events played out as they should have. I wonder what I could have done differently.

[probskay]

434 Usher Lane, Appt. 6

A reimagining of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Back when I first read the story, I found Poe’s version to be held down by the language of his day, but thought the concept was earnestly terrifying. As a result, I wrote a modern version of the story. The original story has been transcribed below.

As I stepped toward the apartment, I felt a very particular sense of sadness. It was a dilapidated and weary building, one that had seen the sorrows of a dozen years and never spoken of a single one of them. The rain gutters were falling off, a few of the windows were boarded up, and there was evidence of re-plastering in some places. There were 6 mailboxes out by the door, hanging on the wall. Apparently, anyway. Numbers 1 and 4 had fallen off, and it was clear no one was going to put them back on.

To make matters worse for this already wretched building, it was essentially isolated. Any other buildings that used to be nearby seemed to have been leveled, for something to be built in their places. Nothing was ever erected, and odds have it nothing ever will be. The closest building to this apartment is at least a block away. Why Roderick chose to keep living here despite how terrible the place is made no sense to me.

The porch of this particular building had two doors. One of those doors led into a small hallway, visible from a small window in the door, and the other led to a stairway that went up, also visible from a small window in the door. The hallway contained apartments 2, 4, and 6, leading me to believe apartments 1, 3, and 5 were upstairs. A cold breeze blew through my jacket, making it clear that I should head inside.

The small hallway was still chilly, but it at least protected me from the breeze, which was a gift. However, the air was musty and filled with dust, which couldn’t have been good for my lungs. Thus I elected to get into Rod’s home as quickly as possible.

I walked down the end of the hall to the door labelled 6. I knocked on the door and waited for Rod to answer. I held my jacket up to my face while I waited, to keep the dust out. However, after a couple minutes and two more knocks, there was no answer.

I went to the other doors and knocked on them, too, but they threw up dust as if protesting my hand rapping against them. Obviously no one had used those doors in a long while, and the rooms were unoccupied. I sighed behind my jacket, and returned to Rod’s door. I knocked on it once more, louder than before, and waited.

Moments later, Rod opened the door up.

“Ah, you’re here!” he exclaimed.

“I am,” I replied.

“Come in, come in,” he said. “God, it’s been too long since I’ve seen you. High school sure has been a long time ago, huh? Even college, as a matter of fact.”

Rod led me into his house. His front room was poorly adorned, filled only with a blue love seat and a small desk with an old computer and some other device I was unfamiliar with. It must have been providing him with internet. The desk had a wooden chair seated at it.

He walked into the kitchen, which was cleaner and better furnished than the rest of the home. For one thing, there was a dining table there with 3 chairs, matching that of the one by the desk, as well as a proper refrigerator, stove, oven, and various cupboards.

“Rod, what’s up with this apartment? It’s empty and abandoned except for you. I’m honestly surprised the place hasn’t been torn down yet,” I said.

“Take a seat,” Rod said, pulling a chair out for me. “And yeah, that’s true. I’m basically squatting here. The landlord died, and the city is still looking for his most recent relatives. Or were, anyway. It’s been 4 years and they haven’t found anyone, or they gave up and haven’t bothered the place. Either way, home sweet home. This place provides for all we need, free of charge. Electricity, water, and heat. The only thing I have to get myself is food and a stable internet connection. Food is fine, I just walk up the street with a shopping cart I keep hidden behind the apartment and head to the local superstore. There’s also a prescription place in there so that I can keep Maddy medicated.” Roderick paused and looked wistful. “Or, well, so I could keep Maddy medicated.”

Madeline was Roderick’s twin sister. They were only fraternal twins, so they didn’t look too similar, but they had always been by each other’s sides. Their family was very wealthy, and the two of them lived through all of high school without either parent after they died. Rather simply, they’ve been independent for basically all of their lives.

“What happened to Maddy?” I asked.

“She got sick,” Rod began. “She has some sort of heart condition. I can’t leave her alone for too long or she might do something drastic. You know what I mean.”

I shook my head. “I’ve never heard of a heart condition that would make someone,” I put up my hands to make air quotes, “‘do something drastic.’” I cocked my head at Rod. “Are you sure she isn’t just depressed? Or anxious? There are plenty of therapists she could talk to about this. Keeping her isolated in a place like this can’t be good for her.”

Rod shook his head, looking somber again. “No, she had a heart condition. She’s dead.”

“Oh,” I responded. We both sat in silence for a few moments, heads hung low. Eventually I spoke up again. “What should we do with her?”

Rod looked back up. “Well, I tried talking to her about a last will and testament, but all she ever told me was that she never wanted to go anywhere. Now that she’s dead, I have to interpret what that means myself, and I think she wants to be buried in this house. I prepared a place a little bit in the basement, but I’ll need your help actually putting her to rest.”

I stood up in indignation. “You want to bury your sister in this abandoned old apartment? No, she deserves a proper burial, or at least to be cremated. Maddy shouldn’t just be thrown into a basement and forgotten. She was a good girl, you know this.”

Rod sighed. “She told me what she wanted.”

“She’s mentally unwell, Roderick. You can’t just take her word like that.”

“You know the ill still have will. We’re obligated to fulfill her request, even if it doesn’t make sense.”

I stepped backward, once. “I’m not following through with this.”

Rod sighed. “You can either help me with this and stay the night, catch up with me a bit, or you can just go. I don’t care which you do. To be honest, I can bury her myself. I called you here because I’ve been feeling lonely.”

I clenched my fists and stared Rod down. He made no motion to move. I sighed and let go of my hands. “Fine, Rod. I’ll help you. It’s… unfortunate that this happened. I feel awful.”

Rod stood up and put his hand on my shoulder. “Me too. Hopefully things will get better once this is all said and down. I’ll probably leave after tonight, anyway. Too many painful memories in these halls.”

I nodded.

Rod walked further into the apartment, and I followed him. He led me into a bedroom, where his sister laid on her bed, over the blankets. She was utterly still, and her cheeks were still flush with blood.

“My. She died recently, hasn’t she?”

“Yes,” Rod answered. “I called you just after I heard her last breath. I cried for a good while too. My tears are dry now, though. I just want to see this through to the end.”

I nodded. We walked over to her, and I picked her up, cradling her in my arms. She was still warm, too.

“It’s unfortunate that death plays these tricks, isn’t it? She still feels so lively.”

Rod nodded vigorously. “If I hadn’t heard her stop breathing, I would have thought she was still alive. Death isn’t kind to us.”

Rod led me out of the bedroom and into a hallway. There were two other doors and a stairway leading down. Rod went down the stairs, and I followed him. Downstairs, I saw a washing and drying machine, but not before I noticed a huge section of the wall had been pulled aside, revealing a hole behind it.

“You built Madeline a tomb,” I stated, aghast.

“Well, digging into the floor wasn’t going to work. At least this way I can seal the wall back up.” Rod pointed to a bucket of plaster he had next to the wall. “Just lean her into there, and then help me push the wall back.

I gently laid Maddy into the tomb. It felt as if she had sighed as I put her down. I shuddered at the thought. It must have been her body settling and releasing gasses from when she was alive.

I helped Roderick shove the wall back into the slot where it was meant to be. There were thin cracks on either side, and Rod took to filling them in with the plaster rather quickly.

“Plaster doesn’t seem like the right solution for this stony basement wall,” I said.

“Likely not,” Rod replied, “But it’s the best I’ve got. This place is abandoned anyway. I doubt anyone will notice or care.” Rod sniffled. “It’s what she wanted,” he finished.

He finished sealing up the wall, and kneeled in front of it for a while, silently. “I’m sorry, but could you give me a few moments alone?” He asked.

“Yes,” I replied. I walked back upstairs, and returned to sitting at the kitchen table. He returned after a few minutes as well.

“It’s going to be a night before I’ll be able to sleep again,” Rod said.

“Maybe we could pass the time watching a movie?” I suggested.

“I don’t know. I just feel awful. I don’t know if anything can really help me.”

“Let’s give it a shot anyway,” I said. I pulled out my phone and started looking through a couple apps for a suitable movie.

I found something. “Have you seen this movie?” I asked.

Rod shook his head. “I haven’t been watching many films.”

“Perfect,” I said. I turned the movie on and set my phone up so that we could watch it together.

Not even after the opening credits had finished did I hear a loud sound coming from downstairs. “Did you hear that?”

Rod chuckled to himself. “We made a mistake, friend.” He said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’ve heard those pounds many times before.” Another pound. “She’s been pounding at the door of this place for months now, desperate to escape. She’s wanted out more than you or I could ever understand, but I was scared.” The pounds continued in earnest. “I didn’t want Her to leave me alone in this wretched place. You see, it wasn’t Her who held me here, but the other way around.” Every time he referred to her, I could feel some sort of intensity behind the words. “I gave Her pills to reduce Her will to fight me and to break out of here. I had been drugging Her to keep Her in a nearly infantile state so that She may never leave me, and now I’ve done something much worse. I’ve buried Her alive in that basement. If I couldn’t have Her, no one could. Now here we are, and She rattles in Her grave to escape.”

I heard one final, deafening pound from below. I stood up in shock. “You mean to tell me that you knew she wasn’t dead, and you had me bury her anyway?”

“She’ll be here any moment now,” he replied.

I picked up my phone and stepped away from him, and toward the exit. “You mean she’s-” I didn’t finish my thought, as she was standing in the doorway. Her clothing was bloodied and covered in stone and dust, as were her arms similarly bruised and bloodied. Stone jutted out of various wounds in her body, but she simply stared at us with an intensity I never knew nor could ever know. There were bags under her eyes and bruises on her nose and forehead that made me shiver in their utter grotesqueness.

I stumbled backward as Roderick laughed, his mind broken, and Madeline jumped atop of him and began to strangle him with her beaten and broken arms. His cackling was replaced by death rattles as she crushed his windpipe with her bare hands.

I turned heel and fled that building, plowing through doors and rushing back to my car.

I jammed my keys into the ignition and turned them. The car failed to start twice, during which I heard a scream so inhuman that I could never attempt to describe it again. On the third attempt, my car started and I sped away from there faster than I had ever driven before.

[letswritebangtan]

Ace | Jeon Jeongguk

Jeon Jungkook x reader  f.t. olderbrother!Jimin

fluff + !mature content!

synopsis: Jeongguk wants to make you his but Taehyung keeps getting in the way.

______________________________________________

You had no idea why you agreed to sit in the scalding hot sun for 2 hours to watch your brother practice. He was whining about how you weren’t supportive and how you never watch him play, and he was right though, you’ve only been to one of his games but there was a reason that that was your last one. He just wanted you to bring food for him, why else would your brother want to see you on a boiling hot tuesday afternoon during football practice? 

“Go long!” you heard a manly voice yell. 

You sighed and checked your phone for the hundredth time, counting the minutes to when practice would end. You couldn’t scroll through Instagram because the glare from the sun gave no use to the brightness settings on your phone. And you certainly couldn’t stare at your big fat crush Jeon Jungkook because you were too embarrassed. 

“Run! Pick up that speed, Jeon!” the captain yelled. 

You watched as Jungkook sped through the field, legs moving like the flash as he ran to catch the ball. You saw him leap up high to gracefully pull the ball into his embrace and land onto the grass with a thud so loud you heard it from miles away. 

“Nice catch!” 

“That’s why he’s our ace!”

Jeon Jungkook was a man you’d never find in a lifetime. You could say that you pretty much hit jackpot. He was tall, muscular, handsome, hair as soft as cotton candy, built like a god damn greek god. And let’s just say you got to see pretty much all if him. Your brother was pretty well-known around campus and he had tons of friends who loved to party. Usually he never let you attend, saying that it was too unsafe for you, but the moment you entered college you demanded that he let you go. And man was that the best decision of your entire life. 

It was there that you met Jungkook. He was in his white t-shirt that displayed his broad chest, and his jeans so ripped it was pointless wearing them. But it worked, because he still looked dazzling. You couldn’t keep count of the number of girls that approached him that night, but you knew exactly how many he didn’t turn away. One. That one was you. You saw him walk towards you so effortlessly through the mushed-up bodies on the dance floor. He made small-talk, and it was the first time you heard his voice. 

“You’re brother would probably kill me if I did this,” he muttered, his lips only inches away from yours. 

And you couldn’t take it anymore. Jimin can go to hell for even trying to keep you from such a catch. 

“Can we pretend I don’t have a brother tonight?” you whispered, alcohol running through your veins making you dizzy and yet so bold. 

His smirk was the last thing you saw before things got heated up. 

So that was what happened when you first met Jeon Jungkook. You slept with him. That was two months ago, and the most you’ve had contact with Jungkook since then was a small smile that he sent you when he passed you in the corridors one day. The two of you were too afraid to reach out to each other. Well for one, you were embarrassed because how on earth were you supposed to face him again after possibly having the best night you’ve ever had in your entire life? And if you did face him, what the heck were you going to say? It bummed you out sometimes when you thought about how you were just a one time thing, but it was true. That also kept you from trying to talk to him. 

“y/n!! You came.” Jimin shouted from afar and ran over to you. 

He sat next to you with a thud, and his arm brushed against yours.

“Ew, you’re all sweaty. Don’t touch me.” you grumbled as you handed him his takeout. 

“Aw, why such a sour mood?” he cooed as he dug into the bag with his sweaty, filthy hands. 

You cringed at the sight but you knew your brother, even if you had told him to wash his hands he’d never listen. 

“You’re really asking me that? After making me sit 2 hours in this heat with nothing to do, you really don’t know why I’m in a shitty mood?” you asked sarcastically. 

“It wasn’t that bad, was it? You got to see Jungkook being all sporty.” Jimin teased.

You flushed red and resisted the urge to smack his arm only because it was sweaty and gross. “Shut up, fool.” you said embarrassed. 

Jimin laughed and bit into his burger, strands of lettuce falling out of his mouth and sticking to his sweaty chin. 

“Don’t worry, y/n. I’d never let you date him anyway.”

You turned to him and looked at him worriedly, “You wouldn’t?”

“Yeah, he’s not right for you. He’s a good friend of mine but I just can’t have him dating my sister. My friends are off-limits.”

You rolled your eyes, staring ahead of you. “And you just had to be the popular kid.”

“Are you telling me that you-”

“No! No I don’t like him.” you you cut him off quickly.

Jimin looked at you quizzically before turning back to his burger, chomping at it.

“If you say so, sis.” he shrugged. 

You sighed and leaned back against your seat, fanning yourself with a notebook that you had pulled out of your bag. You knew you looked like a mess right now, and sometimes you wondered how, although sweaty and not at all composed, that your brother could still manage to avoid looking like a melted snowman. 

“Can I steal a fry?” you heard an all too familiar voice. 

You snapped your head to look at the intruder of you and your brother’s sibling bubble. Of course it was Jeon Jungkook. 

“I’m hungry.” Jimin complained. 

You gulped, shifting in your seat and trying not to make eye contact. But somehow Jungkook’s eyes lured yours to meet his, because when you looked up, he was staring at you. 

“You know it’s really nice of your sister to bring you lunch.” Jungkook said raising an eyebrow. 

You smiled kindly at Jungkook and then glared at your brother. 

“At least someone’s appreciative. You didn’t even thank me, dumb butt.” 

“Thank you, y/n. You’re the best, you know that? Come, let me give you a hug.” he said as he set his burger down and moved his sweaty arms to try and trap you.

You squealed and protested as Jimin laughed evilly. You could see Jungkook smiling amused from the corner of your eye but that wasn’t important now. You had to get away from the sweaty beast you called your brother. 

“Jimin I swear to god I’ll spray paint your dance shoes pink!” you threatened as you held your bag in front of you as a shield. 

“You wouldn’t dare.” he said dramatically. 

“For god’s sakes, hyung, leave the poor girl alone. She brought you lunch, I wish I had someone to do that for me.” Jungkook called out. 

“Yeah, listen to your friend, oppa, please.” you begged. 

Jimin’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. He sat back in his seat making you release a sigh of relief. 

“I don’t know what you did to my sister, JK, but she hasn’t called me oppa in 12 years.” Jimin told his friend. 

Jungkook smirked, his gaze shifting over to you with a small glint in his eye. 

“Guess I just have that effect on her.”

You had never turned so red in your life. 

“Eat your damn burger.” you grumbled at your brother and you earned a small chuckle from Jungkook. 

“Are we still on for later?” Jimin asked.

“Yeah, we are. Would your sister like to join us?” Jungkook asked looking at you. 

He was smart not to use your name. In Jimin’s eyes, you and Jungkook hadn’t met before. 

“Where are you guys going?” you asked curiously. 

“A few of us are going to Starbucks to chill. I asked you if you wanted to join, remember?” Jimin said. 

“Oh yeah, no thanks. I wouldn’t wanna intrude.” you smiled slightly at Jungkook. 

“You wouldn’t be intruding, we’ll be happy to have you. The team has been wanting to meet you for a really long time but Jimin-hyung never allowed it.” Jungkook said disapprovingly to him. 

“I never said no!” Jimin protested. 

“Yeah you did, we wanted you to bring her to the movies last month but you-”

“She was feeling unwell so I assumed she wouldn’t wanna join-”

“You can’t just assume, hyung. Your sister has her own opinions-”

“Oh shut up, since when were you so concerned about-”

“You shut up!”

“No you!”

“Jesus, guys quit it. I’ll come if that’s what you guys want.” you interrupted. 

The two ‘men’ rubbed the back of their necks embarrassed and you giggled softly at how cute Jungkook looked. 

“I can meet you at your last class and we can walk from there.” Jungkook suggested. 

“No, I’ll take her. What do you think your date will say when she sees you walking with another pretty girl?”

Date? You frowned slightly and your gaze flickered to Jungkook who’s facial expression held a mix of disgust and annoyance. 

Suddenly you weren’t so keen on going anymore. 

“You finish at 4 right? Second floor.” Jimin asked.

You nodded, and then stuffed your notebook in your bag, zipped it up and shrugged it on. 

“I gotta go now, I’ll see you guys later.” you said. 

You stepped past Jimin and came face to face with Jungkook. He moved slightly so you could get around him and he offered you a small smile to which you didn’t return. Jungkook frowned and watched as you exited the field and then turned to Jimin. 

“You gonna finish-”

“Oh for god sakes just have the fries.”

Jungkook’s date was a dare and he was forced to take her so yeet he def. likes u :D but you don’t know that yet so shhh

time skip

“Jungkook, could you order for us?” Namjoon asked. 

Jungkook nodded and pulled out his phone to open the notes app. He handed his phone to his ‘date’ to enter hers. 

“Don’t you know my regular, babe?” she asked obnoxiously. 

“I don’t, just write it down.” Jungkook sighed.

There was a visible frown on her face as she typed her order into his phone. In the meantime, you sat there as awkward as a potato. 

“So y/n, it’s so nice to meet you. Jimin never told me he had such a beautiful sister.” Taehyung said smiling from next to you. 

He was really cute, and he had cheeks that you wished you could pinch but sadly that was very inappropriate. 

“It’s nice to meet you guys too.” you replied giggling softly. 

Jungkook sent Taehyung a death stare mouthing the words “mine” but Taehyung shrugged it off. 

“y/n, would you like to be my date for the next Starbucks outing?” Taehyung asked shamelessly. 

You were surprised that Jimin hadn’t said anything, but you didn’t mind. You blushed slightly and looked at Taehyung. 

“Depends. Give me pros and cons.” you challenged. 

Taehyung laughed and took your hand in his. “Pros, I’m handsome, funny, and I’m very romantic.” he said as he lifted your hand to place a kiss on top. 

Jungkook was practically fuming at this point. 

Also, you were really pink by now. 

“Cons, he snores and releases fart bombs in his sleep.” Yoongi cut in. 

“Hyung!” Taehyung whined. 

Everyone laughed, except Jungkook. “I think that’s cute.” you said smiling cheekily. 

“Not as cute as you.”

“y/n, your order.” Jungkook snapped. You didn’t realise he was standing right in front of you and shoving his phone into your face. 

“Oh, I don’t really drink Starbucks so I don’t know what’s good here.” you said taking the phone from him. 

“My drink’s good! The matcha latte is nice. We can share.” Taehyung offered. 

“Oh, sure.” you replied smiling. 

You turned to Jungkook and you were slightly taken aback with his foul expression. 

“I’ll share with Tae, thanks.” you said politely. 

“Tae?” he asked and then scoffed. “Yeah, fine.”

“Babe I think I’ll share with you instead!” Jungkook’s date piped in. 

“Yeah, no.” Jungkook replied before storming off to the counter. 

“Is...he okay?” you asked. 

“Jungkook’s unpredictable, but don’t worry about it, it’s probably nothing.” Jimin shrugged. 

You were about to say something but Taehyung was already asking you questions. 

After an hour of talking and drinking sugary drinks you decided to go to the bathroom. 

“Don’t take too long.” Taehyung whined and you smiled. 

“Unfortunately for you, Tae, girls pee longer than guys.”

“Yeah we have better aim, plus we don’t have to sit.” Jimin said. 

“But we have to stand next to each other while we pee.” Yoongi added.

You left before the conversation got any more wild. After you were done with your business you washed your hands and stepped outside. When you looked up you got slightly startled by Jungkook standing there with his arms crossed and his tongue poking out from the inside of his cheek. He was pissed. 

“Hey.” you greeted awkwardly. 

“It’s gotta stop.” he said suddenly. His fiery gaze on you.

“W-What’s gotta stop?” you asked feeling slightly intimidated. 

Jungkook stepped closer to you, cornering you against the wall. He placed one hand on the wall beside your head and the other on your waist firmly. Your breath hitched when his lips made contact with your neck. 

“Can Taehyung make you feel like this?” he growled lowly. 

He sank his teeth into your sensitive flesh making you whimper. Your hand instinctively went up to tangle in his hair. 

“Can he make you feel this good?” 

Jungkook kissed all the way to the underside of your jaw leaving multiple marks. 

“Do you need a little reminder baby? Hm? Do I need to show you again? How amazing I can make you feel?”

You moaned softly when he pressed his hips against yours. He held your chin between his fingers and pulled your face closer to kiss you feverishly. It’s been so long since you felt his touch, it made you weak in the knees. 

“Jungkook.” you gasped. 

His fingers slipped under the hem of your shirt and started to trace the bare skin near your waistline. 

“Just say the words, baby, and I’m all yours.” he rasped into your ear. 

You closed your eyes and let your head fall back against the wall. You craved his touch. You craved more. He was making you feel so weak, and he hadn’t done anything yet. 

He placed another soft yet stimulating kiss just below your ear. You groaned and latched your hands onto the back of his neck and tugged him closer with so much force he practically fell onto you. His lips crashed onto yours and his hands started travelling across your body in a way that made you feel so good. Jungkook picked you up, supporting your weight from the bottom of your thighs and stumbled into the restroom careful not to run into anything. He placed you down onto the sink counter and locked the door, quickly returning to you. 

“You really thought you could flirt with him like that and get away with it?” 

Jungkook’s hands slowly moved up your thighs closer and closer to where you felt the heat pooling. You panted as you tried to lift his shirt over his head but he tutted. 

“I’ve gotta have my way with you first, babygirl.”

Jungkook removed your top and he was just about to unclasp your bra when a knock was heard. 

“I HAD TOO MUCH COFFEE AND IT’S URGENT.” you heard Taehyung yell. 

You stifled your laughter and Jungkook groaned, cussing a little. 

He turned to you and smiled sheepishly, his previous dominating demeanor vanished. 

“We’ll continue this later.” he said handing you your shirt. 

“Jungkook? Who are you talking to? Will you hurry the fuck up I need to piss.” Taehyung hissed. 

Jungkook rolled his eyes at his friend and helped you off the counter. 

“You’re mine, remember that princess.” he said placing one last kiss onto your lips before unlocking the door. 

Jungkook stepped out and held your hand, pulling you out with him. Taehyung froze and examined your flustered states. 

“I guess you really meant it when you said she was taken.” Taehyung mumbled in shock. 

“Better get in there before you pee in your pants.” Jungkook teased. 

Taehyung scowled and wasted no more time. You giggled and turned to Jungkook who was now smiling fondly at you, still holding your hand. 

“I’m sorry I never reached out after...you know.” he said. 

You shook your head, “Well I didn’t either so we’re even.”

“I really like you. Like, really really like you. Like really really really really-”

“Okay, I get it.” you laughed, making him flash his bunny smile. 

“I really like you too. Really times ten.” you said cheekily.

Jungkook placed his hands on your waist to pull you to his chest. He leaned down to kiss you softly on the lips. You tip toed, holding onto the back of his neck for support to push your lips against his to deepen the kiss. 

“I think the ladies room isn’t occupied.” Jungkook muttered breathlessly against your lips. 

“I’m down.” you smiled, squealing as he picked you up again and carried you into the room. 

extra

“I told you my friends were off-limits!” Jimin complained. 

“Jimin, pleasee? I really like him.” you protested. 

Jimin scowled at Jungkook who was leaning against the door so that he’d have a head start if Jimin ever charged at him. 

“Did you sleep together?” Jimin asked. 

“Um....t-that’s none of your business.” you said. 

“Oh my god, you did. I swear Jeon, if you weren’t my friend I would have found a deadly spider and I would have shoved it down your pants.” Jimin snapped. 

“Oppa, please.” you begged as you tugged on his shirt sleeve. 

“Don’t you go all ‘oppa’ on me.” Jimin grumbled. 

“I swear I’ll bring you lunch during every practice and I’ll do your laundry for the whole month and I’ll give you my Marvel figurine collection.” you offered.

Jungkook’s and Jimin’s eyes widened at the mention of your figurines. 

“y/n, that’s a bit much, baby-” Jungkook tried to reason. 

“Don’t baby her! I’ll kill you!” Jimin exclaimed. 

“Jiminnnnnn~” you whined. 

You looked at your brother with puppy eyes and he tried to stare back at you but you were his cute little sister so he gave in. 

He sighed and wrapped his arms around you, “Only because I love you, y/n.”

You shouted in victory and hugged your brother tight. 

“You know I was joking about the figurines right?”

“Yeah I’m not stupid, y/n.”

You laughed and pulled away from him and Jimin smiled down at you. You turned to Jungkook and held out your hand for him to take.

Jungkook cautiously stepped closer, not taking his eyes of of Jimin. Slowly he took your hand in his and stood in front of your brother.

Jungkook smiled sweetly at him and Jimin only squinted his eyes at your new boyfriend. 

“Hyung, you know I love you right?” Jungkook said smiling. 

Jimin sighed, “Fine, at least you’re better than Taehyung.”

“I think Taehyung’s sweet.” you said. 

Jungkook turned to look at you, “What was that, babygirl? You wanna say that again?”

You smirked, “He’s sweet.”

Jungkook bit his lip as he stared you down and you teasingly smiled back at him. 

“I guess one time wasn’t enough...” he said tracing your cheekbone with his finger. 

“Guys.” Jimin called. 

“Hm?” you and Jungkook hummed in unison. 

“Get out.”

[helloalycia]

too much love [one] // kara danvers

summary: Kara is under the influence of Red Kryptonite, and this impacts your relationship with her, seeing as you don't know that she is supergirl.

warning/s: verbal abuse.

part two

          "Are you sure you don't want a ride to work? I'm sure it would be much quicker than getting the bus," I offered for the millionth time now, an amused smile on my lips.

         I had spent the night at Kara's apartment last night because I fell asleep during our movie marathon; now the two of us were about to head out to work. I insisted that she got a ride from me to work, because I had a car and she didn't, but she was adamant on taking the bus for some odd reason.

         Kara chuckled and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose adorably. "Honestly, Y/N, I'm good. I have to grab coffee for Cat anyway. I would only make you late."

         I understood how true her words were, seeing as I began earlier than her, yet I still scrunched up my face with fake disgust. "But... the bus."

         She laughed melodiously, it echoing around her apartment and sending butterflies to fly a storm in my stomach. "Let's just say that taking the bus is a..." she paused for a moment, before biting her lower lip to contain her amusement, "...a breeze for me."

         I furrowed my eyebrows with confusion, not understanding her joke, but whatever it was seemed to humour her, which was enough to make me smile because she was happy. I smiled and pressed a gentle kiss against her cheek. Even though we'd been together for almost a year now, she still flushed an obvious shade of pink whenever I was affectionate to her. It was so cute.

         "Come on, weirdo, before you get late and make your boss angry, or whatever she-devils get when their coffee isn't with them on time," I teased, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the front door.

         Quickly grabbing her bag from the kitchen counter, she allowed me to pull her along, nudging me in the shoulder in the process, probably for my comment about her boss, Cat.

         "She isn't even that bad, Y/N," she defended the successful business woman. "I don't get why you don't like her. Especially when you've never met her."

         As we locked her apartment door and headed to the elevator, I explained. "She doesn't treat you as well as she should, and from the sound of it, she doesn't give you any opportunity for growth in your career. You deserve so much better." I gave her a knowing look as she purposely stayed silent. "You know I'm right, Kara. She doesn't even remember your name for crying out loud."

         She moved her mouth, searching for a response, before sighing with exasperation, earning laughter from myself. Pouting adorably, she crossed her arms over her chest. I laughed even more, stepping into the elevator as I watched her stay on the other side of the doors.

         "Before you explode, you might want to check the time and step in here with me. You're gonna be late, love," I informed her a little too enthusiastically for her liking.

         Seeing the time on her wristwatch, her eyes widened, and she decided that racing into the elevator and punching almost every button on the panel was the right thing to do. The doors closed and she started to tap her foot impatiently, making me bite my lip as I watched with amusement.

         "Sure you don't want that ride?" I offered once again, finding her current state extremely entertaining.

         "Mhm," she hummed, glancing at me before looking straight ahead. "Absolutely."

         I shook my head, unable to contain my giggles. I loved her to pieces, but she was so going to be late to work. Honestly. Who did she think she was? Supergirl?

***

         "Y/N, this is absolutely amazing!" my boss gushed, his expression showing how impressed he was. It was surprising to see him this excited seeing as he only ever expressed three emotions: anger, annoyance, and hunger. The latter indeed isn't an emotion, but never say that to him or you'll get your own first-hand experience of his anger and annoyance combined.

         Despite his implied difficulty as a boss, he was talented at what he did and recognised talent, too. This was another reason I was surprised. He thought I was talented.

         "Wow, thank you, sir," I said appreciatively. "That means a lot to me."

         And it also took me a whole month to plan and draw, I wanted to add, but didn't dare.

         Maybe I should have said by now that I was an architect, and I had been working on a design for a while now. Finally completing it today, I built up the courage to show my boss, and unexpectedly, he was impressed with it.

         "I'm gonna look at this in more detail tonight," he told me, shaking the papers in his hand before setting them on his desk. "Is this you done for the day then?"

         I glanced at the clock on his wall, it reading almost seven in the evening. "Yeah, if that's okay with you."

         Actually smiling at me, he nodded and motioned to the door. "Have a good evening, Y/L/N, you've earned it."

         I returned the smile. "Thank you."

         Excited to finally be done for the day, I packed up my things and made my rounds before deciding to ring Kara. She rang me earlier, but I was unfortunately too busy to talk for more than five minutes, and all I wanted to do right now was hear her lovely voice.

         "Hello?"

         "Hey, love," I spoke, a smile subconsciously forming on my lips when I heard her voice. "How was your day?"

         "Uhhh...," she seemed unsure of her answer, making me confused. "Good. How was yours?"

         Deciding to ignore the confusion, I answered, suddenly feeling all excited because I could share the news with her. "Awesome! The boss man approved of my designs!"

         "Y/N, that's amazing!" she exclaimed, and it made me feel even better to know that she was happy for me. It made it feel that extra bit worth it. "I'm so pr-" She was cut off abruptly by a faint 'thud', and I furrowed my eyebrows.

         "Kara?"

         I heard her groans through the phone, making me stop in my tracks. "Kara? What is it? What was that noise? Are you okay?"

         She hummed through the phone, before saying, "Hmm, yeah, sorry..."

         "Kara, what the heck was that noise?" I questioned, still not feeling reassured with her answer.

         It took her a few seconds to answer. "Oh, I walked into the door. Sorry, I'm just feeling a little dizzy right now. Can I call you later?"

         "Of course," I said, though my worry was still evident in my tone of voice. "Kara, shall I come over? Are you feeling okay?"

         "No!" she was quick to respond, only furthering my confusion. "Uh, Alex is here with me. I'm okay, Y/N. I think I'm gonna get some rest. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

         I didn't feel good knowing she was feeling unwell, but knowing Alex was there eased that feeling just a little bit. "Okay... I love you, Kara. Get some rest."

         Her voice was soft and kind, and I could imagine the matching beautiful smile that graced her lips as she said, "I love you, too. Goodnight."

         I hung up and tried to ignore the uncertain feeling inside of me. She would be okay. She was probably just tired. Right?

***

         Finishing earlier than usual on Fridays was definitely something that got me through the day, but it was different today. Kara hadn't called me this morning, or earlier on, and now it was lunch time and she still hadn't checked in. I had texted her a few times, and gave her a few missed calls, but no response. I was worrying too much, and now that it was lunch time and I was finished for the day, I worried even more.

         I attempted to call Alex, several times in fact, but she wasn't responding. I had no idea what could possibly be keeping her busy, but it wasn't making me feel better. Next, I tried visiting Kara's apartment, hoping that maybe she was just sleeping the day away or something. But she wasn't there, and I didn't know what to do. All I could do was wait in my own apartment, hoping to hear something back from either of the Danver sisters.

         So, that's where I found myself next.

         I pushed open my apartment door and slammed it shut, needing to express my frustration somehow. Sighing heavily, I headed to the fridge in my kitchen, deciding food would potentially make me feel better. However, as my head was dug in the fridge's shelves, searching for something that wasn't out of date, a loud noise made me jump and hit my head on the shelf above.

         Pulling myself out of the fridge, I rubbed the top of my head and turned around, wondering what that noise was, but I immediately grinned when I saw Kara standing there.

         "Kara!" I raced towards her, only for her to do something unexplainable. She ran? I think? To the other side of the room? But it happened so fast that I barely registered it happening. Only one person could do that...

         As I paid closer attention to her, I saw that she was wearing some sort of jumpsuit, with a small 'S' logo printed on it. She wasn't wearing her glasses, and she looked kind of like...

         "You're– you're–"

         "Supergirl?" she suggested, though her voice was nothing like usual; it was harsh, teasing, mean.

         Eyes widened and eyebrows raised, I found myself staring at the girl before me with disbelief. Kara Danvers was Supergirl. But how? She couldn't be. Kara... the cute and clumsy journalist, the girl who couldn't even open the jar of pickles when I asked her to, the girl who grew flustered with the smallest of kisses.

         Supergirl performed every action with confidence, and Kara was the complete opposite, stuttering over her words and being her clumsy yet adorable self. They were completely different. But here she was right now. As Supergirl.

         "When did this– how did this– huh?" I was practically speechless. I didn't know whether to be amazed that she had all of these powers, or upset that she didn't trust me enough to tell me.

         A devious smirk was on her lips as she looked me up and down. "Wow. If I knew you were going to react like this, I would've told you sooner."

         I cocked my head to the side. She wasn't acting like Supergirl. She seemed more... malicious. Something wasn't right.

         "Kara–"

         "Yeah, don't call me that," she interrupted, pursing her lips and beginning to walk in circles around me.

         I knitted my eyebrows together, wondering why she was acting how she was. Watching her, I asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

         She laughed, though it was dry and humourless. "Why would I tell you? So you can treat me like a child even more? Tell me what and what not to do? How to act? Who to be?"

         I frowned as she stopped walking and paused in front of me, her eyes darkened with anger as she glared at me. The fact that she was radiating a strange red aura was freaking me out. This wasn't Kara, let alone Supergirl.

         "What are you talking about?" I asked, searching her eyes for any sign of the loving, caring girl I had met a year ago, but she wasn't there.

         Sensing my mood, her lips curled into an evil smile. "You're pathetic, Y/N. Constantly worrying over me all the time? Whether I'll be safe taking the bus to work? Whether my boss will be mean to me? Ha! Do you know amusing it was to watch you stress about all of these little things? Watching you deem me incapable of looking after myself?"

         "Kara, I–"

         "Oh, no," she stopped, laughing at my expression. "I'm not done, sweet Y/N. You were treating me like a child, like I couldn't care for myself, when all this time, I had more power in my little finger than you'll ever have in your life. The irony is hilarious, don't you think?"

         As I watched her throw her head back in laughter, I couldn't help but feel my throat close up. I knew there was something wrong. This wasn't her. This wasn't my Kara. Yet, the harsh words that were coming from her mouth weren't making me feel any better. She wouldn't say all of this if she didn't mean it. And whether it was really her or not saying these things, they were coming out of her mouth at this very moment, and hearing the woman I love say all of these hurtful things pained me inside.

         She stepped forward and rested her hand against my cheek. For a moment, I thought I saw Kara looking back at me. I thought she would tell me that this was a joke. That she didn't mean any of it, but she didn't. Because after patting my cheek slowly, she plastered a sly grin on her lips all over again.

         Faking a pout, she said, "It sucks to be you right now, doesn't it?"

         My lip quivered as I tried to hide that I was affected by her words, but she obviously knew, and was humoured by the situation.

         "You're not Supergirl," I said, my voice wavering nervously. "I don't know what's happened to you, Kara, but you're not yourself. I know you don't mean all of those things."

         Once again, she laughed at my words. She laughed so hard that she had to clutch her stomach to keep herself from crying with laughter. She looked like her old self, laughing at a terrible joke or something, but I knew she wasn't. She was laughing at me.

         Walking slowly towards me again, her face was inches away from mine, and her eyes were cloudy and blue, murky with an evilness I never imagined she would possess.

         "I don't need to be like this to admit how I really feel about you," she spat, and a wicked grin was on her lips. "I'm powerful. I'm smart. I can do anything I please, whenever I want. Why would I want you to hold me back?"

         I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. My eyes were filling up with tears, and I felt a sharp pain in my heart when I saw her staring at me like I was nothing in her life. She seemed satisfied with herself.

         Stepping back, she began to walk to the window, and I saw as she glanced outside before facing me again. Winking, she said, "I'll see you around, Y/N."

         Before she could leave, I extended my arm, about to make a move towards her, before deciding against it. Instead, I said, "Kara, wait!"

         With amusement, she turned to meet my glassy eyes. "Oh?"

         I sucked up a deep breath and tried to hold back the tears. "This isn't you, Kara. Please, tell me what's happened."

         Sighing over-dramatically, she placed her hands on her hips. "This is very much me. But maybe you're not used to me having so much power, right? Being able to look after myself?" I didn't know how to respond, and she smirked. "Well, Y/N, here's my answer to that."

         She blew a kiss my way before using her heat vision to blow up my toaster, making me duck immediately. My heart was racing as I turned around, only to see my toaster in flames. Quickly rushing over to put out the fire with my fire blanket, I tried not to think about the fact that Kara had almost killed me!

         Once I sorted out the toaster, I looked back to Kara, only to see her winking at me once before flying away. As I watched her go, I felt my heart ache.

         Kara was Supergirl. She thought I was too possessive and treated her like a kid. She hated me. I had just lost my girlfriend, and Supergirl had gone mad.

         This realisation made the tears finally fall, and I soon found myself sitting on the kitchen floor, leaning against my drawer, sobbing. I missed Kara. The real Kara. I wanted her here with me. But I was sure she was gone. For good.

[thebibliomancer]

Dark Crystal Age of Resistance ep 3 liveblog

“What was sundered and undone”

Just a stream of thoughts.

The Order of Lesser Service.

Everyone is dunking on Brea.

“The order of Lesser Service is not a punishment. Its an opportunity to lift yourself up by performing the lowliest of deeds.”

Its not a punishment but Brea can’t leave and a possible task is to chew up roots and spit it into baby Nebrie’s mouths. It SOUNDS like a punishment.

“I’ve never met a princess before. I imagined they’d have shinier hair.” EVERYONE is dunking on Brea.

So the Order of Lesser Service is TOTALLY not a punishment but you have to wear a jester hat and also this other Vapran gelfling girl Juni was sent to the Order for hanging out with a boy of a different clan. 

It really sounds like a punishment.

“I always thought I’d make a fantastic princess, I have the hair for it. Its very shiny.” I kind of like Juni.

So the service for the day is to swan into a Podling village and force cleaning on them.

They seem awfully happy throwing mud at each other. And bellyflopping into the mud. And eating the mud. And rolling in mud.

“There is no filthier creature in all of Thra than a Podling” cool cool cool cool racism, Gelflings.

Yeah it seems gross but its what they like? So don’t be dicks about it, geez, Gelflings.

They seriously seem upset by all this forced bathing. Leave them alone!

Theres a lot of paternalism here is what I’m getting at.

Seladon just spent five minutes complaining about Brea while Cool Sister Tavra is just trying to hone her sword and mind her business.

Tavra really is the Cool Sister. The Cool Very Patient Sister.

“I can’t be washing Podlings, I had a vision that the world was ending or beginning!”

“Sounds like heatstroke”

“FUCK YOU ITS NOT HEATSTROKE”

Brea cuts a deal with a Podling to not wash them and the Podling immediately dives into the dirt to make dirt angels.

Live your truth, Podling. Live your beautiful truth, you actual potato.

Deet: “What if we fail?”

The First Podling Paladin: “Pssh”

Hup has to explain to underground elf Deet that actually Gelflings are pretty racist against each other and may not listen to her just because she’s an underground elf.

“It may be hard at first but like anything else in life, it just takes time to adjust” -dramatically removes blindfold to make a point-

Rian knows that just because you’re on a quest to save the world and are carrying a plot critical item, doesn’t mean you can’t stop to do a random act of kindness sidequest.

“Thank the harvest we have the Skeksis to keep us safe” Dramatic ironyyyyyyy

Rian immediately gives up the game by protesting that the Skeksis killed Mira.

“We protect the lords. The lords protect the crystal of truth. All lies!”

And he ditches all his castle guard gear so he’s not so easily identified in the future.

Brea trying to hide. While wearing a jingly hat.

Tavra: “You ran away? Good.” Such the Cool Sister.

So news of Mira’s death has filtered to the Vapra by this point. And since Rian is of the Stonewood clan, ooo its time for factional tension I guess.

Cool Sister Tavra has to try to keep the peace between her sister.

Tavra: “I think you and Seladon are more alike than you realize.”

Brea: “That’s a mean thing to say!”

Tavra: “Well, you’re both very stubborn!”

Also both Brea and Seladon can tell from Tavra’s silence when she wants to say something.

“The bonds of sisterhood can be tested… but never broken” Awww, Tavra!

Deet, you’re the most sunny person possible considering you’re an underground elf.

There’s a cool ominous pillar full of swords and Hup wouldn’t let Deet ask someone about it.

“Look at that filthy green Gelfling” well fuck you too, background character.

The Stonewood Gelfling at the bar try to rearrange so there’s no room for Deet but she’s oblivious to bullying and just squeezes in anyway.

Apparently a Fizzgig are just fizzgigs. So Kira was like a pokemon trainer who names her dog Dog.

“Go crawl back into the nest you came from you dirty Grottan” and then they shove her. I think she’s less oblivious to bullying now. But also Hup doesn’t approve of that behavior and launched himself across the bar and beat up EVERYONE.

That’s what a paladin is, Avatar.

“Rascal hole” wut.

I was just thinking that there’s been a dearth of Skeksis so far and BAM scene: castle, in saunters SkekSil.

“Not talk. Just listen.” ‘Hey wanna know about this cool beetle that eats eyes?’

“Noooo never use on gelfling. Only on Skeksis who misbehave. Did you hear screams last night? Friend Scientist was naughty, so saw peeper beetle.”

Chamberlain is one of those people who uses friend ironically, I think. And the nicer the term of endearment the more worried you should be, Gurjin.

“Think Gelfing. If Skeksis do that to Skeksis, imagine what Skeksis do to Gelfling that will not talk.” 

“Tell Chamberlain where Rian is.”

“Never!”

-actual affronted gasp-

Librarian: “Weren’t you sent to the Order of Lesser Service?”

Brea: “I ran away. I gotta go steal from my mom”

Librarian: “You wut”

OH HEY FLYING SCENE! Wonder how they did that.

Seladon: “So the person Brea mindwiped is here. There’s been a murder at the castle. Creatures going mad. And there’s a bunch of Gelfling worried about the Blight.”

All-Maudra: “I had to send Tavra on a dangerous mission. And Brea to the Order of Lesser Service. My daughters… gone.”

Her other daughter Seladon: “.... wtf mom”

Seladon gives her mom a pep talk to break her out of her funk.

All-Maudra: “You’ll be a great All-Maudra some day. … Straighten your wings. You look like a lopsided unamoth.” 

It was almost positive reinforcement for a second but you just had to undermine it, huh?

And then Brea breaks into the room to do a Theft like right after they leave.

So the Brightest Jewel is part of the chandelier? Of what significance?

Scientist: “Treacherous, perfidious Skeksis! Oh, soon… soon they will all see!”

The guy was a Mad Scientist by default of being a lizard nightmare man but he’s going Mad Scientist “they laughed LAUGHED but I’ll show them all” from his default level of Already Mad Scientist.

He’s also saying all this out loud while Chamberlain is just standing behind him.

Chamberlain: “How is friend skekTek? Good? Mm?” You’re a card, SkekSil.

Oh, cool. Scientist replaced his eye with a cybernetic prosthetic. 

Chamberlain found some lab assistants for the Scientist called Gruenaks. I guess this is why the other Skeksis managed to put up with him for so long. He backstabs them all but then gives a shoulder rub and goes ‘lol sorry’ 

First he’s sour, then he’s sweet. Sour Patch SkekSil.

Chamberlain: “So, we are friends? All is forgiven?”

Scientist: -grudgingly- “It's a start”

Deet is off to see the Maudra Fara and is very tired of the myths that the Grottan Gelflings are all dead. Or bats.

And then Rian shows up. Holy crap, two of the protagonists in the same square mile!

Deet: “He’s much dirtier than me, why does he get to go in?”

Guard: “Because Rian is one of us! Unlike you!” Rude.

So the Rascal Hole is just an oubliette type prison dealie. And its right in the Maudra’s court, like she’s a Jabba.

Maudra Fara: “Your return puts the Stonewood clan in a dangerous position. The Skesis have declared you a traitor to Thra.”

I have to wonder how news travels so fast. Do they have female gelfling couriers sent out to all the clans to spread the word? Is there a fantasy telegraph? I guess even a courier on a landstrider would run fastere than Rian’s tiny little legs.

Rian: “The Skeksis are the traitors! They lied to us about everything!”

Fara: “I will not tolerate heresy from a murderer”

Will you tolerate heresy from a counterfeiter? Whats the crime threshold here that will allow you to tolerate heresy?

Heresy is “belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine” so are the Skeksis literally the religion of the Gelfling? I guess the Crystal holds a massive spiritual significance to everyone of Thra and the Skeksis as the Lords of the Crystal would have a level of respect but heresy?

Rian: “I have soul goo that proves I didn’t kill Mira!”

Rian: “Dreamfast with me” which should solve everything but Rian’s dad arrived first and told Fara what the Skeksis told him that dreamfasting spreads the Madness.

Good job derailing this guaranteed plot resolution, Chamberlain.

“You are my father, why don’t you ever believe me?” I can’t wait for Rian and Brea to meet so they can commiserate over bad parents.

-Rian sees chandelier, sees rope, thinks Flynn-y thoughts-

Oh wow thats an awful lot of chandelier. And they’re full of fireflies instead of fire. Because you don’t want puppets anywhere near fire.

And Rian did do the thing where he cuts a rope and lets it carry him to escape.

Aughra: -sees the castle, reflexively- “Bah!”

Skeksis spa day???

Emperor: -applying cream and looking into a mirror- “Ah, beautiful!”

Aughra: “Skeksis?”

Emperor: “Oh shit mom’s home!”

Scroll-Keeper: “AHHH I’M NOT DECENT!”

Aughra: “PAH” -rinses her eye in his bath just because-

Aughra: “I’m unwell because Thra is unwell. I’ve come to see the Crystal, see what ails it.”

Skeksis: “NOPE CRYSTAL IS FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE”

Aughra: “Everything is well? You speak and know nothing! Or is it you know and speak nothing?” Well wordplayed, Aughra.

-starts poking the Scroll-Keeper’s belly with her staff so he has to splash her to get her to back off-

It turns out her interrupting their banquet by being kidnapped in the movie wasn’t her being upset. She’s just that rude at a constant level.

Show her the Crystal before she traumatizes the Scroll-Keeper more.

Wow, the Emperor tries a very daring guilt trip on Aughra. Having gotten her addicted to space, he criticizes her for neglecting Thra and leaving the Skeksis to take care of it. 

Emperor: “Then go back to your travels and we can go back to caring for the many you left behind.”

Emperor: “Guards. Throw this useless old crone out of our castle forever!”

The Gelfling guards of course do the “i thought she’d be taller” routine.

A Guard: “My grandfather said she cursed his village with ear mites because they forgot her birthday.”

B Guard: “Well I heard she sneezed and a mountain crumbled.”

Aughra: “Its all true so stay where you are or you’ll suffer the wrath of all eight and a half fingers! BAH!” -they flinch- “BAH!” -flinch again- “Ninny wheelers. Ingrates.”

And then the guards just let her wander off on her own.

-wanders past crystal. Stops. Wanders backwards-

She is not happy with how they redecorated the Crystal with EVIL.

Apparently Past Aughra recorded a message into the Crystal for Future/Present Aughra?

And Aughra tells Aughra “The moment Skeksis possessed the Crystal they abused it.” Aughra is a bad judge of character, apparently. 

So the corruption of the Crystal creates the Darkening. And the Crystal or Past Aughra also replays the footage of Mira getting turned into soul goo.

“Gelflings return to Thra when they die. That is the natural order. But when Skeksis consume essence cannot return home. Thra is out of balance, thus the Darkening spreads faster.”

Eating souls is bad for the environment. Gotcha.

“You have lost the Song of Thra.” So now Aughra is off on a quest too. Like Earthbound except singing to the Skeksis isn’t going to make them feel so bad they leave.

Deet is still trying to figure out a way to rescue Hup. By wandering around aimlessly.

What a cute random tree snake rabbit.  I keep expecting it to be actually huge and try to eat her.

Dammit Rian, you startled the random tree snake rabbit!

But hey, now two of the protagonists are in the same vicinity and ACTUALLY interacting. 

Of course, Rian is massively paranoid now.

Rian: “Who sent you? Maudra Fara?”

Deet: “Maudra Argot! Well, actually it was the Sanctuary Tree.”

Rian: “??? oh.”

Deet has decided that since Rian cut in line in front of her, he has to help her rescue Hup. But he can’t what with being on the run from everyone and having broken all of the chandelier at Maudra Fara’s throne room.

Rian: “It won’t light, the ground is too wet”

Deet: “We’ll see about that.” -instantly succeeds-

Castle living has made you a bad camper, Rian.

Rian: ‘Holy shit the one person who hasn’t heard the lie about me being a murderer!’ -Deet has an epiphany and runs off- “Aww =( .”

It was nice to have two whole protagonists in the same conversation for two whole minutes. =P

Brea returns with the Brightest Jewel. And finds that Onica is now Elder Onica.

Elder Onica: “I served as Cadia’s apprentice for many trine. His memory loss allowed me to give myself a long overdue promotion.” 

Hey, whatever works.

Brea was assuming, as I was, that the Brightest Jewel was payment. Which offends Onica because Stereotypes about Sifa. (Sifa Sea Faring? Boo) But the Brightest Jewel is actually a chrysalis and the answer. 

Brea: “Oh. …….. I don’t understand.”

Onica: “A great many things.”

EVERYONE dunking on Brea today.

“This is the chrysalis of an Imperial unamoth, the totem animal of your clan.”

Onica: “Ask your question”

Brea: “Ask the moth??????”

Oh thats a pretty moth. Annnnnd it just flew off.

Onica was pretty cool.

Sooooo, wait. Wait. Brea is trying to learn what a vision means and is following a moth.

Annnnnd the moth turned into the symbol on the All-Maudra’s throne and opened a secret passage. Thats some good good fantasy nonsense.

Although I thought the throne room was not on the ground floor so where could a secret throne passage lead?

Questions, questions. Too many questions...

[maximows]

Against the Odds - Chapter VII

Love you, Wifey,

MASTERLIST (mobile) AO3

Warnings: pure smut (right at the end), lil’ ass play, fluff, alcohol, drinking, honestly the smut scene it like two pages long

After 3 hours in the make-up chair, I was 100% positive my hair was going to fall out within the next week. Since I was blonde now, I had agreed to have it dyed to Wanda’s hair colour instead of using a wig. We were filming mostly in Atlanta and it’s May, so I just didn’t want another layer of silicone on me. Instead, I had to go through hair-dying two times, because they didn’t get to colour right the first time.

Dodger was sleeping on the couch in the corner of my trailer with a fan running directly on him, like a true diva. Chris has been shooting since early in the morning and he was already gone when I woke up, so the dog spent pretty much all the time with me.

I haven’t been feeling very well for the last few days. It was my first shooting day, but I came here with Chris a couple of days ago, because he started shooting earlier and I had some screen tests. I’ve been having some mild headaches during the day, which could turn into nearly unbearable ones in the evening. I’ve also been experiencing some sickness and was barely able to keep anything down, unless it was something very light.

They didn’t want to blow-dry my hair, because it makes it fuzzy, so I got to have a lunch break. Dodger followed me out and we went to Downey’s trailer. Robert had invited me for lunch earlier and I couldn’t say no, because he always has the nicest food on set and it doesn’t make me sick as much.

“Oh, hello, my brown-haired beauty!” he exclaimed when I was nearing his village. “I thought you’d never come.”

I approached him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry, Rob. They messed up my hair and had to do it all over again.”

“It’s fine, nobody shows up on time anyway,” he said and laid out a water bowl for Dodger. Dodger is now the official set pet. “Help yourself, honey. We have everything you like.”

I grabbed a chicken salad and sat at the table with Robert. “Who’s coming today?” I asked, stuffing the delicious food into my mouth.

“Well, Mackie should be here soon, Evans and Scarlett when they finish their scenes, Emily, as in VanCamp,” he saw my face, when he mentioned the last person. “I know you don’t love her, but...”

“It’s not that I don’t love her, I just don’t like being around people who say that I stole their role, because I slept with someone.” I said and took a sip of my smoothie.

“You’ve gotten feistier since I last saw you.” Rob chucked. “Is everything alright?”

I scratched Dodger’s head and sighed. “You’re not only our main feeder, but also a therapist,” I smiled. “Chris and I are having a bit of a rough time, I think. We, um, we bought that house together, then went on the Age of Ultron press tour together, now we’re filming this and we also agreed to do another movie together... It just started to seem like we are just trapped together. Well, he says that.”

“How is that a problem? Evans can’t stop talking about you when you’re not around and suddenly he feels like he’s in a trap?” Rob asked. “Honestly, I’ve known the guy for a few years now and you’re his longest relationship, so maybe it’s just his odd way of getting used to commitment or something.”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I try not to think about it, to be honest. He was talking about engagement like 3 months ago, so I figured it’s not commitment he’s uncomfortable with. Anyway, he’s been taking care of me now that I’m sick.”

“Give him a break, love. He’s a Gemini.” Robert nodded and turned around to see Anthony walk in, still wearing his suit. 

“I hate this city, I hate this city,” he kept repeating under his breath. “Do ya’ll have any ice I can eat?” He sat back on a chair and sighed loudly.

“Have any one of you had any scenes today?” he asked. “Because it’s fucking hot out in the sun and I wouldn’t let my worst enemy work in that heat.”

While Mackie was complaining, Emily joined us and sat on the other side of the table. Our relations have been very, very tense, since I found out what he has been talking about me. She was stupid enough to spread those things amongst people who knew me.

So. I oncereceived a text from Aaron. “I didn’t know you were already dating Chris at that party at his place in February”

It was just a casual text, he basically wanted to express his shock, when he found out we were appearently already a couple at that time.

“We weren’t. We met that night. Who told you that?” I replied.

“Emily VanCamp is working on a movie with Sam and she told her, and I quote ‘I actually almost got to work on a movie with your husband too, but Emilia Dawson started to magically date Chris Evans right when the auditions started and suddenly I lost the job.’”

What a fucking bitch, I thought. To be honest, I had no idea she auditioned for my role. I got an invitation to audition, but the process was incredibly fast and I figured they considered me to be the only candidate.

“Looks like she’s just mad I got “her" role. I hope she hasn’t been spreading those rumours around too much.”

That’s why we are not on speaking terms, but that’s alright, because her contract expires after Civil War. I’ve never been mean to anyone on set and, to be honest, I’m not mean towards her either, I just don’t speak to her. Chris was trying to talk me into solving this issue with her, but that’s not my thing to do. She should’ve just shut her mouth and thought this through.

I felt my headache kick in again, so I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. “I really hate this city.” I mumbled.

“Hey, maybe you want me to get you to an air-conditioned room?” Anthony asked. “I mean, the heat must be just making it much worse.”

“No, I’m fine. I just didn’t have to time to adjust here It’s probably just a late jet lag. I’ve never reacted well to heat.” I explained. “I already filmed one scene with Scarlett and I only have a few more takes to do today.”

Both Anthony and Robert sighed. “You’re just too stubborn.”

Because of the temperature, my hair dried out quickly, so the make-up team notified Joe and Anthony that I’m ready to work. They put me into a jacket and leather pants, which didn’t help my condition. I left Dodger with Robert, even though he didn’t really want to stay there without me. Probably because he was getting bad vibes from Emily.

Chris was waiting for me on the set. He had been doing some shots with Mackie, who was supposed to join us soon.

“Hi,” Chris wrapped his arm around me and kissed my head. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m alright,” I lied. “I’ll probably get used to the temperature in a few days and I’ll be completely fine.” I explained, pulling away from him.

“Em, you got up in the middle of the night to throw up and were covered in cold sweat when I woke up today,” he whispered. “I’m not saying it’s something serious, but you’re obviously not comfortable…”

I rolled my eyes at him and watched Joe walk up to us for instructions. We were supposed to do a few simple sequences of Wanda and Steve fighting together against Crossbones. I mainly had to do gestures with my hands and fingers, so it wasn’t very tiring. Sometimes I had to do some running and that was all. Chris kept checking on me, making sure I’m not about to faint. I wasn’t. We had a few retakes, but I was as fine as I could possibly be.

At some point, I had to wait for my turn to show up at the end of Steve and Crossbones’ fight. At first, I had to contain energy from a made up explosion with Chris and Frank in the shot. Then they left and I had a few single takes. I had been practicing my choreography a lot and my headache was helping a lot with showing actual struggle on my face.

“Okay, cut!” Anthony yelled and I felt my legs turn into jelly. I started to feel a little bit dizzy and weak. I fell down and that was the last thing I remembered.

I regained my consciousness feeling very cold air around my body. I still had a knot in my stomach and felt I could throw up any minute, but at least my head wasn’t exploding anymore. I was laying on a bed with something under my legs to keep them up.

I felt someone’s hand on my bare calf, one finger brushing over my skin. I opened my eyes slowly to see Chris sitting right next to me, doing something on his phone. There were I’ve bags around my head and stomach and I was only wearing my underwear.

“Chris?” I mumbled and he reacted instantly and came to my side along with a paramedic.

“Dawson, I’m going to kill you for ignoring your health later.” He said and I could hear concern in his voice and saw it on his face.

“Ms. Dawson, we figured it’s be better for you to rest in our medical area rather than transfer you to the hospital right away. We have some tests to run and we’ll probably hook you up to IV, but I do need to ask some questions.” The paramedic said, taking out a form.

I tried to lift myself up on my elbows, but they stopped me. “I wouldn’t do that, you’re still very weak, Miss.” She said, trying to hold me down on the bed.

She asked me a few questions about my allergies, medical history and symptoms. “How long have you been feeling unwell?”

“About 3 or 4 days probably.” I answered. “But I get a few days of headaches every year when it starts to get hot, it’s normal for me.”

“She also has been throwing up.” Chris interrupted. The woman glared at him, because he probably wasn’t supposed to get involved.

“Is that true, Ms. Dawson?” she asked me.

“Yes,” I nodded. “It happens during the night or in the morning.”

She raised her eyebrow and moved her gaze from me to Chris and to me again. “Are you on any kind of birth control?”

“Yes, I’m on pills.” I said, looking at Chris who seemed to be looking at the wall above me, because of the topic we were stepping into.

She reached to her bag and took out a pregnancy test. Why does she even have those? How often do actresses find out they’re pregnant on set?

“I need to be sure you’re not pregnant, if I’m going to put you on IV or other medication,” she explained. “Drink some water now, wait 30 minutes and then take the test.”

She left the room, leaving Chris and I silently staring at the box. He finally moved and brought me a glass of water. “It’s not possible, is it?” he asked quietly. I knew it wasn’t possible. I knew I wasn’t pregnant. I took my pills every day, 11 o’clock on the dot.

“I barely eat or drink during the day, so when I have a snack in the evening…”

“You what?” he raised his voice. “Emilia, I carried you here and I realised that you lost weight, but I didn’t know you haven’t been eating. I assumed it was because you couldn’t keep anything down.”

“Well, I couldn’t keep anything down, so I only are maybe one meal a day,” I explained. “And I know it sounds fucking stupid, but…”

“No buts!” Chris snapped “I know we haven’t been talking much lately, but I can’t believe you had to lose consciousness for almost an hour to realise that you might need a doctor. I thought that, if you never said anything maybe it wasn’t that bad.”

I sat up slowly and reached out for Chris’ hand. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “We’ve been busy here and I genuinely thought it was just heat and some bad food combined.”

He looked down at me and pulled me against him. “Don’t ever do that again, alright?” he whispered against my head. “Em, I was so scared when you collapsed. This last hour…”

“I’m better now.” I said. “I’ll take the test and she’ll give me some meds. Tomorrow we start filming indoors, so I’ll be ok.”

Chris’ eyes wandered off to look at the test. “About the test…”

“Chris, I’m not pregnant.” I stated quickly, making sure he doesn’t get his hopes up.

He chuckled. “I know, I’m not going to bring up kids until you say you’re ready.” He clarified. “I just meant to ask if it was even possible, because the morning sicknesses checked out.”

We waited a little bit more and I went to the bathroom to take the test. I set it on the sink and went back to Chris, who was texting again. “I called your mom, by the way.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I sighed. “I’m surprised she hasn’t called me yet.”

“Well, your phone’s not here, so I’ll just text her that everything’s alright and you’ll call her later.” Chris said. “By the way, I was supposed to yell at you for ignoring your health issues.”

“I get it, I’m stupid.” I snuggled into his side. “Why haven’t you been talking to me, Chris?”

Chris sighed and, even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew his mouth was slightly open and he was thinking of things to say. “You know how we signed up for over a year of working together, right?” he started and I nodded. “Well, I always thought that people in a relationship should, you know, have their own things and I thought that we would get tired of each other while living and working together.”

Looking at the fact, that not so long ago he was talking about engagement, I was really surprised by what he was worried about. “Chris, how far have you gone with your previous girlfriends? Because, if moving in together is overwhelming for you, then I can’t imagine what a wedding would feel like.”

Luckily for Chris, the paramedic came back with a doctor and he didn’t have to respond right now. They checked the test, and because it came out negative, they put me on IV for a while. It turned out that I was dehydrated (not surprising) and suffered from a light heat stroke and had a food poisoning.

I got some meds to help tone down my symptoms and then I was released. Chris and I drove back to our rented house. He then left to walk Dodger out and I sat on the sofa and phoned my Mum.

“Chris told me that you’ve been unwell for some time and did nothing about it, Emilia.” She complained. “He’s such a good guy.”

My mum talking about how she feels when she can’t be with me in moments like that and how dad reacted when she told him. I was mad about that, because I didn’t see it as such a huge thing.

Chris came back and my mum heard that, because she was on speaker. “Hello, Christopher! Thank you so much for letting me know! I would’ve have to find out from the press, if it wasn’t for you.”

I rolled my eyes at her words as Chris approached me and sat on the edge of the sofa where I was lying. “It’s alright, Mrs. Dawson. I just wish Em would take care of herself more.” He said, which made my jaw drop.

“Says the guy who smells like an ashtray.” I mumbled. “Anyway, Mum, did dad also start swooning at the mention of Chris when you told him how he took care of me today?” I asked sarcastically, pushing Chris away from me.

“No, I think he still remembers that thing he said on the late night show,” Mum said and I started to laugh so hard my stomach started to hurt again. “I mean, you guys do your own thing, but I don’t think you had to say it on television, Chris.”

I couldn’t contain my laughter, especially because he didn’t know what Mum was talking about. “I love fucking girls in the butt.” I choked out and Chris suddenly became very embarrassed.

“I didn’t know he watched my appearances on the TV,” Chris said. “Had I known, I wouldn’t have drank alcohol before the recording.”

At some point my mum had to go and we were left alone with our unfinished conversation. “So… do you want tea?”

I rolled my eyes again. “Someone’s having commitment issues…” I sang. He wrapped his arms around me and laid us down together on the sofa.

“Alright, girlfriend,” he murmured. “I have never in my life proposed to anyone, if that’s what you want to know. I’ve only once officialy bought a place with a girlfriend, the rest were just sleeping at mine from time to time.”

I raised my eyebrow and reached under his shirt to pull on his dog tag. “So I don’t get it. First you demand commitment and now you're like ‘let's spend as much time apart as we can'.”

“Well,” he sighed. “In fairness, you’re the more mentally mature one and you shouldn’t listen to the shit I say. I’ve only ever worked with one of my girlfriends and we broke up before the movie premiered. That was my only long term relationship, so thought it’s just something i shouldn't do.”

“Age of Ultron has been out for some time and doing fine, so...” I shrugged and snuggled into his chest. “I think we do have our own things anyway, so you shouldn’t be worried about that. You’re the reason I sold my flat in NY and we moved in together, so suck it up Mister. Anyway, you’re the one who’s doing only one movie after Civil War. I’m also filming a TV series in September and another movie in March, so we’ll get our dose of alone time.”

Chris chuckled and kissed my forehead. “Alright, let’s just not get on each other's nerves and we're golden.”

“Now go make me a sandwich, I’m getting hungry.” I mumbled into his chest.

“You mean a grinder?” he corrected me, pronouncing it more as ‘grindah’.

“Not this again.”

I started to take my meds regularly for a few days and I got much better. To make sure the situation doesn’t happen again, the Russos decided to film all of my indoors scenes first, so could get on with work, but also avoid a similar situation.

Chris had started to treat me more like a baby than usual. He was present while I was filming all of my scenes, also the ones he wasn’t involved with. I was very uncomfortable with giving Paul Bettany romantic looks when my boyfriend was right next to me. I mean, I didn’t insist on being there when he shoot that uncalled for kiss between Steve and Sharon.

Around mid-June we got a week off from filming, so Chris and flew back to LA. It was the first time we were staying at the new house, since the renovating team had finished it while we were gone.

Dodger had no problems getting used to his new home. Chris also seemed to love it, even though it wasn’t his first choice. And I was utterly in love with this house. Every day, when I woke up, I had a sunrise in front of me, sneaking through the windows. I looked at Chris, who’s still asleep peacefully and snuggled into him. Even in his sleep, he pulls me closer to him and kisses my shoulder. It’s heaven.

On Friday the 12th, Chris’ friends visited him from Boston to celebrate his birthday. They had an all-boys night with snooker, beers, whisky, American football and stakes, so I let them be and left to run some errands and for a meeting with Jeremy. I had agreed to do an independent movie next year and after reading the script, I thought that the other lead role would be perfect for Jeremy, so I asked him for a meeting.

I walked around a few shops, not really knowing what I wanted to buy, but ended up buying a cute set of pyjamas, jeans and a pair of high heeled shoes.

“Hi, Jer!” I greeted him as he stood up from the table. “How are you?”

“You saw me a few days ago, not much has changed,” he smiled and pulled out the chair for me. “Anyway, you got me interested in that movie.”

I handed him my script. Taylor had asked me not to make any copies, so Jeremy had to read at least a part of it here. We ordered our food and discussed some parts of the movie. “Have they told you where you’d film this?” he asked.

“They’re thinking of Utah in spring,” I answered. “It’s about 5 weeks of filming, but I looked up the locations and they’re incredible, Jer.”

Jeremy seemed very interested in doing the movie. “I’m just a bit worried, you know. I barely got joint custody for my daughter, because my ex tried to prove I don’t have enough time to properly raise a child, so I was actually thinking of having some time off.”

“I mean, I’m not trying to persuade you or anything,” I clarified. “Taylor only mentioned that they still need a male lead, so I asked him for characteristics and thought of you. I’m gonna give you Taylor’s number so you can discuss some matters with him, if you have any other questions.”

Jeremy nodded, putting the script aside. “Anyway, where’s Evans?

“His birthday is tomorrow and his mates from Boston are visiting, so I have house full of Bostonians,” I said. “They’re spending the night, too.”

“You’re in for a loud night,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, but I actually have an invitation to a club for a few of my friends, so I might just do that.” I shrugged. “Seems a bit odd to leave Chris the night before his birthday, but I wouldn’t want to crash their evening either.”

“Good call, guys get super mad when their buddies girlfriends join,” Jeremy said. “How are you two? I gotta be honest, I was pretty sceptical about your relationship at first. Not that I didn’t like you, Em, everyone fucking adores you, but on set relationships have ruined a lot of fun on set.”

I took a bite out of my chicken and said, “We have our ups and downs, but it’s great. So, unless we have a fight, we won’t be ruining the atmosphere.”

“Evans is a great guy, but he’s still lucky to have you,” He grinned. “Honestly, when I met him, I just couldn’t imagine him in an actual, serious relationship and now he responds to the snap of your fingers.”

I laughed out loud, knowing exactly that it’s not true. “Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement.”

We joked a bit more about Chris and talked the Wanda and Hawkeye relationship in the comics, which is sort of a father-daughter thing. It was really fun, especially when be realised that he could, in fact, be my father.

“I’m sorry, I can’t stay longer, but I left Ava with a sitter.”

“Yeah, of course,” I said. “Anyway, I really hope we get to work together again soon, not only for Marvel.”

“And I’m waiting for a housewarming party invitation.”

Jeremy walked me back to my car and we said our goodbyes. I had already noticed a photographer while we were inside, so I was positive that there would be a story about me cheating on my boyfriend with Jer.

It was still early and I knew that Chris hasn’t even started the proper party yet, so I decided to actually go to the club. I got invited by some friends I made on the set of Tudors, who have now also moved to LA.

I didn’t drink, since I had my car with me, but we mainly sat at out table and talked. It’s been too long since we had previously spoken, so it was nice to catch up. At some point we started to dance and I lost track of time.

It’s been too long since I went clubbing and it felt so good to just to close my eyes and not think about anything. I need to take Chris out to a club sometime soon. We’d have a lot of fun.

I think it was around 2 am when I decided it was about time to go back home. I could barely stand on my feet from all this dancing and had to take my shoes off to drive normally.

When I arrived home, the lights were still on. I was hoping to get inside quietly and go to the bedroom, but as soon as I walked in, Dodger started to bark. I bet he wasn’t a fan of the noise.

“Shhh, buddy. Come on, don’t be like that.” I scratched him behind the ear.

Chris came downstairs to greet me at the door and I saw that it took a lot for him not to fall down the stairs. “Hey, babe,” he blurted out. He wasn’t overly drunk, but I would say that he should've stopped drinking about 3 shots ago. “Where ‘ave you been?” His Boston accent was back from spending half the day with his childhood friends. I was kind of loving it.

“I met up with Jeremy and then went out with some friends,” I said and kissed him quickly. “Happy birthday.”

“Oh, God, don’t mention it,” He mumbled and connected out lips in a kiss again. He tasted like alcohol and cigars, which is exactly how I imagine their party would look like. “I hate gettin' old.”

“Old or not, I love you, Evans.” I whispered and made him grin.

“You’re an angel, you know that?” I could see how much he had to focus to say those things out loud properly. “Come on, let me show ya off to the guys a little.”

I rolled my eyes and climbed the stairs with his arm wrapped around me, probably for balance. “Fellas, this is my girl, Emilia,” he said, presenting me almost like Will Smith did with Jada in that one photo. “Some of you have met her, some haven’t been blessed yet.”

“Hey,” I waved at them almost awkwardly. “Don’t worry, I’ll just get something to drink and I’m running upstairs.”

“Why? You should stay with us.” Adam pointed at a spot next to him. “You’re all Chris talks about, anyway.”

“Yeah, I may have never met you, but literally know everything about you,” said the guy that introduced himself as Sam. “Ain’t your fault though, he’s obsessed.”

“I’m sorry, I have no idea what’s gotten into him.” I shrugged. “Anyway, I’m getting myself some wine and I’m gone. Chris, try to change the subject, alright?”

Chris pouted and let me go. I went to the kitchen and grabbed myself a glass of wine and a small bowl of strawberries. I rushed upstairs, taking Dodger with me, grabbed my laptop from the study and set it all on the bedside table. I took a quick shower and changed into my newly bought pyjamas, which I knew Chris will love once he sees it.

I buried myself under the sheets and played a random episode of The Office. Dodger laid down next to my legs, setting his head on my lap for him to scratch. This is the thing he’s takes after his owner. “You’re such an attention seeker, buddy.” He just sighed, signalling that he couldn’t care less, he just wants his petting time.”

I downed my glass very fast and didn’t get a refill, even though I wanted to. At some point I feel asleep with the show still on, Dodger laying down high enough to reach my shoulders and half the bowl of strawberries set on the keyboard.

I woke up to the sound Chris stumbling on the floor. He took the laptop and the bowl off the bed and tried to climb on to the bed without waking me up, but failed.

“You’re such a clumsy drunk, love,” I mumbled against my pillow. “What time is it?”

“It’s, uh, half past 4.” He said, taking off his trousers.

I shifted on my elbows to look at him struggle with the famous red belt which obviously was too complicated to figure out now. “Here, let me help you, old man.” I laughed and sat up on the bed to help him undress.

He gave up and laid back on the bed, before noticing my clothes. “Are these NASA PJs?” He asked.

I smiled and nodded. “You forbid me from buying you any presents so I decided to buy one for myself.”

Suddenly, he wasn’t so helpless anymore and wrestled me down to lay under him. “You’re sadly mistaken, if you think that it’s only a gift for you, fool.”

I turned on the bed to give him a good view of the booty shorts covered with NASA logos. Chris hissed and bent down to leave a few kisses on my thigh and butt. “Fucking amazing.” He whispered to himself, before biting down on my soft flesh.

“Chris!” I squealed, because he wasn’t gentle. Dodger woke up and barked at us.

He sat back and looked at me. “Honestly, I’m so drunk, full and tired that even the sight of this sweet ass isn’t keeping me alive.” He said in such a sad voice that I felt kind of bad for him.

Chris just sighed and threw himself on the bed next to me and brought me as close to him as possible. “Goodnight, Angel.” He whispered and kissed my ear.

“Goodnight, love.” I chuckled and feel asleep.

I woke up a little bit over 5 hours later, again because of Chris, who started to snore unbearably. He was sprawled out on the bed, barely leaving space for me. And that was impressive, because our bedroom bed was huge. Dodger spent the night in his bed on the floor, because once Chris came back, he didn’t leave much space for his rommies.

I got up and went to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and rushed downstairs with Dodger, who demanded a breakfast right away. I gave him his food and found some leftover pasta for myself. I ate it, made myself some lemon and lime water to go and took Dodger on a walk. First, we went up the hill so he could run around and have some fun. I threw him some sticks and tried to teach him how to fetch, but he was being too playful. I wanted to jog a little bit, but it was too hot and I didn’t want to tire myself out again.

We walked back home, but I let Dodger in to the car and we drove to the shops. I wanted to buy some ingredients for the breakfast I was planning. Chris’ friends were leaving today, late in the afternoon, so we still had to find some entertainment until 7pm.

Having used up a lot of his energy, Dodger was politely walking around by me, not caring around other people or dogs. I bought everything I needed, including more water and Coke and drove back home.

As I suspected, it was almost 11am and none of them have woken up. I went up to the kitchen and placed everything in the fridge, before preparing crust for my breakfast pizza.

“You’re always hungry, aren’t you?” I grinned at Dodger who wouldn’t let me out of his sight, hoping to get some of the smoked chicken I was slicing, which he loves so much he tries to nick it off the counter. At some point he got tired of standing, so he laid down and kept checking on me once in a while.

I made 8 doughs, chopped some meat and vegetables and made a sauce, so everything was ready for me to pop into the oven.

“Am I in hell?” I heard Chris’ low, hoarse voice on the stairs. He was only wearing black jogging pants and no shirt. He had just taken a shower and, I hope, brushed his teeth. “Because it fucking feels like it.”

I giggled at him, but also felt bad for the state he was in. “Do you want some water? It’s ice cold.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He mumbled and sat on the stool at the kitchen counter. I brought him the glass and kissed him on the head. “God, you're too good to me.”

I walked around the kitchen island and put one pizza in the oven. It shouldn’t be long until it’s done. “Do you want some painkillers?” I asked.

“Do we have any?” he lifted his head rapidly, too rapidly apparently. He groaned in pain. “Fucking alcohol.”

I found the pills and refilled his glass. “My poor baby,” I stoked his wet hair, pulling him in for a hug. “At least you had fun.”

He nodded and set his head on my shoulder. “I’m dying...” He whispered and I barely could hold my laughter. “I regret the fun.”

“I mean, you’re 34 today, so...” I chuckled.

“Fuck you,” he muttered. “God, I wish I had the strength to actually fuck you.”

I tilted my head to the side, smiling sweetly at him. “Take the pills. You go upstairs and I’ll wait for the pizza to be done, then I’ll come to the bedroom, feed you and then fuck you.”

Chris groaned and stood up. “Love you, wifey,” I raised my eyebrow at the nickname. “Too much?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I like it, it’s alright.”

Even though he was still a wreck, Chris smiled at me and went up the stairs. “We’re so fucking cheesy.”

I waited a few more minutes for the pizza to be done, sliced it and went upstairs. At this point, I was really hoping Chris' friends wouldn't wake up for at least another hour.

Chris was laying on the bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. I shut the door and he turned his gaze to me. “I got way too drunk to be treated this good today.” He said.

I climbed on to the bed and handed my boyfriend a glass of Coke. „Drink this,” I said, rubbing his bare chest. He didn’t have a shirtless scene in Civil War, so they didn’t make him wax his chest, and as much as I never like hairy chests, he had the right amount of hair. The only scene that allowed him to show the incredible shape he got into, was the helicopter scene, which as I told him “could literally replace our foreplay”.

“I really hope these will help, ‘cause I’m guessing you’re not into necrophilia.” He chuckled dryly, referring to the pills he took.

“I can’t believe it’s the first time I’m seeing you hangover.” I said.

“Well, I had to show you my better side, so you wouldn’t want to leave me in the beginning,” he answered. “What do you mean ‘you can’t believe it’s the first time’?”

“Brits and Bostonians have a lot in common,” I shrugged. “As in, both like to drink until we throw up. Did you throw up today?”

Chris looked at me and grinned. “None of your business,” He sat up on the bed, leaning on the headboard. “Now give me my food, woman.”

He ate his pizza while talking about what they did while I was away or asleep. I couldn’t understand how grown up men could entertain themselves in the exact same way I did with my friends 5 years ago, when I was first allowed to drink. “In all honesty, you’re all just a bunch of immature boys.”

“I know,” he shrugged, his mouth full. “Half of them uses Tinder for one-night stands and haven’t been in a serious relationship for a while.”

“Do they have a problem with that?”

“Not really, but they do have a weird look on serious relationships,” he answered, taking sip of Coke. “They thought that as soon as you come back, the party would be over.

I raised my eyebrow. “And as we can clearly see by the state of my boyfriend, the fun continued for a long time after I came back.”

Chris smiled sweetly and grabbed my hand. “Yeah, because your boyfriend’s more into long term relationships, I guess.”

“Oh, I know that, I’ve known that for a long time, “ I said. “That’s why it took me less than a month to know he was worthy of taking my virginity.”

Chris tilted his head to the side. “Less than a month? We did it after 5 weeks.”

“When I was already halfway through my first month of birth control,” I explained, moving my hand from his chest down to his abdomen. “Anyway, Cap might not we worthy of wielding Thor’s hammer, but he’s definitely worthy of hammering into me anytime he wishes.”

Chris choked on the food and started to laugh so loudly, I was sure he would take everyone up. “Holy, hell,” he choked out. “I want that on a shirt and I want you to wear it all the time.” That comment seemed to energize him a little bit, so I decided it was time. Also, I was super horny. I moved to sit on Chris’ thighs and removed my shirt to reveal a thin, white bra. “Oh, Cap’s gettin’ laid.”

I smirked and moved down to hover over his calves, so my head was right above his abdomen. “Let me suck you off, daddy.” I whispered, before lowering my lips to leave wet kisses on his lower stomach, my fingers toying with the strings at the waistband of his pants. It’s been a long time since I‘d gone down on Chris and I didn’t even have enough will power to make him wait. I pulled down his pants and boxers, revealing his half erect length. I looked deep into Chris’ eyes and felt my mouth start to water. I sat back for a second and tied my hair into a ponytail.

“Oh, it’s gonna be good.” Chris mumbled as he saw me do that. I smirked and sunk back down to attach my lips to the base of his cock and lick all the way up to the tip. I rested my hands on his hips and locked my lips around the tip, swirling my tongue around it, tasting his pre-cum. I released him and smiled at Chris who was watching me with his mouth open and eyes half-shut.

I wrapped my hand around him and sunk down to the base of his cock again, but this time moved lower to play with his balls. I’d suck on few spots and give it small licks, toying with his balls, as my hand was stroking up and down his shaft, tugging at it, its movements moisturized by the leaking pre-cum. I hear Chris’ light moans as my lips became more forceful in toying with his sensitive area. I moved away to take a breath and sank down to wrap my mouth around Chris’ throbbing cock. I hollowed my cheeks around him, reaching as far as I can go and covering the rest with my palm. Chris jerked his hips forward, making me take him even further. I moved my hands to fondle his balls, as my lips reached the base. I moaned as he hit the back of my throat and Chris immediately responded to the vibrations caused by it. “Fuck yes, babygirl,” He groaned and grabbed my ponytail and gently guided me to work my mouth up and down his shaft. “You’re so good to me.” he mumbled between heavy breaths.

I kept up the pace, feeling Chris’ dick twitch inside my mouth. My boyfriend was squirming a lot under me, as his orgasm approached. I sucked on the side of his shaft, moving up and down, along the visible veins. Seeing Chris throw his head back, I took his whole length into my mouth again, bobbing my head up and down and waiting for him to reach his orgasm. “Fuck, I’m going to come, baby,” he whined. “Stop, I don’t want to come yet.”

“I’ll get you hard again,” I breathed out, giving myself a very quick break to catch a breath. I sunk down again, trying to finish Chris off. He always lasts very long, but that’s really the opposite of a problem. As Chris groaned loudly, I felt him twitch inside my mouth as he released is load. I swallowed every last drop and licked his cock clean, looking him straight in his eyes.

Chris was panting heavily and shifted on his elbows. “Emily,” he sighed, barely able to say anything. “I could barely stop myself from proposing to you in the middle of a blowjob.”

He sat up leaning on the head board again. I smiled and straddled his thighs, gently tracing veins on his shaft, which was a bit softer now. “I know, I know,” I whispered. “I enjoyed that too.”

Chris moved his hands up and down my hips. He reached behind me to unhook my bra and pulled it off my chest. “Mm, yeah,” He placed his palms on my breasts and started to fondle them. “Come ‘ere.” he mumbled and pulled my chest against his face to attach his lips to my nipple. I gasped as he bit down lightly. I started to gently grind on his dick, rubbing my wet pussy against him. Without his mouth leaving my skin, he reached his hand to my butt and slapped it, before grabbing one cheek firmly. I put my hands on the back of his neck, supporting myself as I rubbed against his length, waiting for him to be hard again. “Babygirl, you’re so good to me.” He breathed on my wet nipple, giving me a tingly sensation. He grabbed both of my cheeks and started massaging them with the same pace I was rubbing against him.

I reached down with my hand and grabbed his semi-hard cock, guiding it against my entrance. I rubbed the tip against my folds, causing both of us to moan loudly. “We probably should be a little bit more quiet.” I breathed out.

“Fuck it, these losers should know you’re the best thing that even happened to me,” He mumbled as I sank down onto his cock. We kept the eye contact as I moved down until he was completely buried inside me. “We should stay like this all day.” Chris said quietly, taking a deep breath.

I started to move up and down, as he started thrusting up. I was already very turned on, after going down on Chris, so I was very close to my first orgasm. I was breathing heavily with my forehead against Chris’ and the know in my stomach tightened. “You feel so good inside me,.” I muttered. “Faster, daddy.”

I came for the first time, gripping Chris’ bicep tightly, trying not to wake up the whole house. It sped up my heart rate, I couldn’t stop letting out little moans, releasing tension from my body. Chris wrapped his arm around my waist to bring me closer to him and thrust faster into my pussy. His other hand was still roaming on my ass cheeks. I felt my walls tighten and a smirk appeared on Chris’ face. He was panting at the same rate as I was. “Since it’s my birthday,” he hummed against my lips. “can we try something new?”

A smile formed on my lips, because I knew what he was asking for. “I guess you weren’t joking about loving fucking girls in the butt.”

“I’m not gonna fuck you in the butt now,” He said, giving me a little, soft kiss on the lips. “I just wanna play a lil’.”

Chris brought his forefinger to my mouth. “Suck it, baby.” I wrapped my lips around his finger, twirling my tongue around it, using extra saliva. Chris slowed down the pace and I swayed my hips to the sides and around, trying to reach different spots. He moved his finger to my butthole, circling around it. I opened my mouth, experiencing something I never have. His finger started to enter my hole and it gave me a weird, but pleasurable sensation. He was very gentle and slow, trying not to cause me any pain.

“I’m so close,” I mumbled and connected our lips. I moved my tongue with his, twirling around it. I felt the knot again, everything in front of me became blurry and I couldn’t speak property. While Chris’ finger was fingering me, the other hand reached my clit to rub it and speed up my orgasm. I was barely able to control my muscles and not collapse onto Chris. I felt overstimulated and helpless.

“You like daddy fingering your tight little hole, huh?” Chris whispered. “Who’s doing that to you, huh?”

I wasn’t able to speak, because of the speed Chris was pounding into me at an incredibly fast speed. I came hard on his dick, as he removed his finger from my hole, stopped rubbing my clit and just brought my body tightly against his.

Chris came right after me, with a last, hard thrust, staying inside me and shooting his load into me. He turned us to lay on our sides, out bodies still intertwined. We were both panting heavily, unable to stabilize our breaths and heart rates. Chris took a few loose strands of hair from my wet forehead and tucked them behind my ear. He then kissed my nose.

“Let’s take a nap, princess,” he whispered. “You deserve it.”

@daybreak96 @coffeebooksandfandom @smilexcaptainx @betinalunardi @rollinsuh @lily2089@stella2445@hy-pocrite @l0rd-disick @beholdoritou @klaussstilinski@achishisha@givenchymercury @just-trying-to-survive-marvel @henry-cavill-gossip-girl @rock-titties @bombsandsparkles @marvel-fan23 @cap-just-said-language @blackaestheticislife @justsomemarvelspam @nerdchester17 @shyofaspark @cssrogersse@crispyearthquakezombie@ultragalaxy @bit-of-a-timelord @kingofallthingsz@morguleth@calicokitkat @areelphony@gemgemswift @donut-crazs@dontchawishyouknewhowtosalsa@kandomeresbitch @deafeningpsychicpandahands @severely-theoretic@chmedic @patzammit@winterssoliderss @metalarmlover @saturnki @coolkimchijoy16 @sammyjammy92@coolkimchijoy16 @peruvian-bae @avngersx

[nhlarchived]

Part One ~ Part Two ~ Part Three ~ Part Four

Word Count: 2.1k

Fic Type: Series

__________________________________________

You decided not to go out to the beach with everyone else. You weren’t in the mood. It was only two weeks ago you broke up with your boyfriend of two years. The worst part was, you didn’t break up because he cheated, or you got into an argument or anything like that. It was simply because he had moved out to Europe, which you weren’t able to do, and the long distance became intolerable. You tried your hardest to keep the relationship going but couldn’t. You only ended up hurting each other more.

Your best friend Sydney invited you out to her and Matt’s beach house out on the Jersey Shore. You figured it would be the perfect way to get your mind off of things. Besides, you were friends with Matt and all his old Toronto teammates as well, they decided to have one last get together before Matt runs off to New York, so it was a flawless recipe to happiness. The house could fit twelve which promised plenty of distractions from the argument going on in your mind anyway.

However, today the break up was really bothering you. You arrived at their house midafternoon yesterday. Everyone else was planning on arriving the next day so you were able to spend some time alone with Matt and Sydney that night. As wonderful as it was to hang out with your friends alone once more, it reminded you of your past relationship. No matter how much you tried to push it away, you envied the simple things like how they would look at each other or even the caring questions he would ask. You missed being cared for and you were hoping a good night's rest would fix it, but it didn’t.

Everyone else arrived early this morning. Not being able to hold in their excitement, before even unpacking, they all decided to take a quick run to the beach. You opted out due to feeling unwell, deciding to settle in the kitchen. You grabbed a drink from the fridge, resting your forearms on the marble topped island as you watched the waves accompanied by your group of friends busying themselves with either football, tanning, or boogie boarding.

You rested your head into your hand as you continued to watch. A light breeze cooled off the air in the house through the screen door and you closed your eyes with the peaceful sound of the water crashing, allowing the wind to gently blow your hair off your face. You took deep breaths to relax your body and intake the sweet salty aroma. It had been a while since the last time you were at the beach. It was your favorite place to go with your ex, so you tended not to go without him, but you were hoping this trip would change that mindset. However, you couldn’t seem to stop the memories replaying in your head of how much fun the two of you used to have. Almost as if a movie was playing in your mind.

“Is everything okay?” You heard a male voice from beside you. Your head fell off your hand and a loud gasp escaped your mouth. Your heart beat felt like it could be seen out of your chest and if it wasn’t for your arm resting on the marble, you probably would have fell over. At first you believed it was an intruder due to the fact everyone had left for the beach. However, you were theory was proven incorrect when you saw Matt’s ex teammate Auston grabbing a drink from the fridge behind you.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said while trying to hide his giggle. He even left his head facing the inside of the fridge a little longer that way you wouldn’t see the giant amused smirk across his face.

You and Auston knew each other very well due to Syd and Matt. You were from NYC which is how you originally met them, but before Matt was even traded you took up your dream job in Toronto. Once he got traded it was effectively the best day of your life since they were both your best friends.

Auston and Mitch were the first two teammates Matt had introduced you to since they were practically inseparable. You and Auston hit it off immediately. It wasn’t even that you had a lot in common, your personalities just clicked. You became really close friends but due to your boyfriend, you've always kept some distance from Auston since he was very attractive, and you knew he thought the same of you. Everyone said the two of you had a thing for each other, but at the time Auston was with someone as well. So, you mutually decided to only to hang around friends and talk to each other sparsely in respect for your significant others.

There was no denying that there was a spark between you two that you had always ignored, but you figured it would never work out. Even now. Rumor has it Auston left his girl a couple months ago, and even though you’re single as well, you knew it would still take a while to rid your mind of your own ex. Besides, his lifestyle may not be ideal for your liking either. Considering your recent breakup was due to distance, this wouldn’t be much different.

“Other than the heart attack, yes, everything is fine.” You responded holding your hand to your chest. Auston turned around from the fridge, a huge smile still evident on his face revealing his flawless pearly whites. He still had some stubble growing around his mouth and his hair was wet, lying lazily over forehead. You bit your bottom lip in hopes of stopping the possible drool about to escape your mouth from his appearance as his newest addition to his tattoo sleeve peaked out from his T-shirt. God, you were such a sucker for tattoos.

“Somethings wrong why are you crying?” He questioned. You hadn’t noticed it but two tears had escaped your eyes while lost in a trance about you past relationship earlier. You didn’t want Auston to know that was the reasoning, so you quickly had to come up with an excuse.

“Probably because you just scared the hell out of me.” You teased. As you spoke you noticed your voice sounded slightly nasally due to congestion from crying. Before Auston responded he lifted his hand to rest on the side of your cheek. As a reaction you turned towards his body that was adjacent from yours now. He watched you cautiously as he wiped away the tears with his thumb. His eyes studied you carefully as you watched his sympathetic features above you.

“Who hurt you?” He asked, the muscles in his face tightening as he tries to solve his own question in his mind. His hand continued to rest on your cheek and you tried your hardest not to lean into him for comfort. His hand was so warm, and it sat perfectly on your cheek like a pillow. You wanted to give into him. Forget everything about your ex and finally move forth with Auston but it was too soon, and you were aware of that.

“No one Auston. Seriously, I’m fine.” You reassured. Moving your head away from his palm, turning to face out the window once again. Knowing that if you stayed there any longer, you would fall for his touch.

“Listen I may not be a fighter, but I’ll still beat someone’s ass for you.” He admitted. You couldn’t help but let out a breathy chuckle from not only the accusation, but also the thought of it. However, your giggle released another tear onto your cheek followed by a sniffle. You were in such a tough situation. The boy you’ve known and loved for years is now thousands of miles away, and the one who seemed to be your true pairing was standing right in front of you with arms wide open, but you couldn’t get your distractions out of the way. There was no way of hiding it now as you watched Auston stare at you concerned. You knew that it was time to face the truth. Maybe telling someone would help ease the pain.

“Jack and I broke up.” You whispered staring at the counter in front of you. Your lips folded into your mouth as you attempted to prevent a frown. Hoping it’ll keep more water works away from falling. Your hands were resting on the ledge of the island and Auston mimicked your moves adjacent from you.

“Why?” He asked sympathetically. You couldn’t pull yourself to look at him in his face, so you decided to only watch his hands.

“Distance.” Was your short response. You didn’t need to explain. Auston wasn’t foreign to your relationship. He knew the distance was always an issue between the two of you. Hell, you may have told him almost every issue your relationship had. But he also understood how much he meant to you.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized. As if he had anything to apologize over. But you knew he was trying to be nice and supportive.

“No need to be sorry. Let’s just hope it was for the better.” You responded in attempts to stay optimistic. Finally looking him in his eyes and flashing a sincere smile. Yet he watched you with a poker face. You couldn’t tell if it was sympathetic, happy, sad, mad. His emotions were lost as if he was in deep thought over something.

“What are you doing in the house anyway? I thought you went out with everyone.” You questioned in hopes of breaking the awkward silence but also wanting to know why he decided to stay back. His eyes blinked before responding, proving he was daydreaming.  

“I wanted to unpack first knowing I wouldn’t have if I went down there. I was about to head out but then I saw you.” He explained. He bent over the marble resting on his elbow facing you as his head leaned onto his hand indicating he wasn’t leaving until you did.

“Well don’t let me and my sobby attitude stop you.” You admitted lifting your hand to signal out towards your friends on the beach. He gazed out the window for a couple seconds watching them as he pondered what decision he was going to make.

“Come on.” He suggested standing up straight. He turned half his body towards the stairs that led to the exit while holding his hand out for you to take.

“No Aus, it’s fine really. I’m not much of a beach person anyway I just came to hang out with everyone.” You explained shaking your head back in forth to deny him. He was always one to include you in things. He thought everything was more fun with you around but at the moment you really wanted to be alone. Especially since confessing your break up didn’t exactly make you feel better.

“Who said we were going to the beach?” He inquired, opening and closing his palm to emphasize he wanted you to take it. Your head tilted in confusion.

“Didn’t you just say you were about to go out onto the beach until you saw me?” You inquired. Your sight was flicking between his hand and his face that was watching you enthusiastically. He had a plan. You didn’t know what it was, but you knew that expression he was giving.

“I changed my mind. I know somewhere better.” He said widening his eyes attempting to intrigue you. You wanted to. You wanted to so bad. You didn’t even know what was holding you back at this point. You’ve always wanted to get alone with him and now was your time.

“I can see you’re thinking about it too much. Just trust me. Please.” Auston spoke softly. He was right. You had no reason not to trust him either. You wanted a distraction, and this was the perfect one, so you finally pulled yourself together and placed your hand in his.

His face lit up in a large smile. He pulled your hand down to his side and intertwined your fingers to hold hands as he guided you out of the house. You weren’t expecting it, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t like it. He pulled you quickly, clearly impatient about what he had in store and you couldn’t wait to find out.

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Author’s Note: Let me know if you would like a part two!

[pluckyredhead]

Daredevil 101: Kingpin Murdock

Last time, Matt went out on a disastrous date with Milla Donovan and took out the Owl’s criminal organization. Things continue to go wrong personally and right criminally in this installment.

Content warning: harmful displays of mental illness, violence against women, domestic violence, some fairly sadistic violence from Matt, mention of suicide, threats against sex workers.

We begin with Fisk - out of the hospital and with his vision restored - putting his house back in order. For starters, he gives the FBI enough evidence to put the Owl away for a very long time:

FBI Man Whose Name I Forget isn’t thrilled to be working with Fisk, but he doesn’t have anything on him so he has to go along with it.

Fisk also finds Typhoid Mary. She has had extensive therapy, mostly hypnotism focused, that has helped her lock away her Typhoid personality and actually become a successful soap opera actress in her Mary personality. Fisk basically backhands her across the face, which undoes the hypnotism and turns her back into Typhoid. It’s pretty fucked up.

Meanwhile, Matt has asked Milla out again and despite the misgivings we saw last time she accepts. Once again, we don’t see the date itself, just see them returning home, accompanied by Jessica as Matt’s bodyguard...when Typhoid attacks and uses her pyrokinesis to set Matt on fire:

Luckily, Luke has just arrived on the scene to take Jessica to lunch, and between him and Jessica they manage to take Typhoid down:

Yeah, I’m pretty uncomfortable with two superpowered people beating up a deeply unwell woman while she screams. I think this scene is supposed to be funny? But it’s just disturbing.

The police take Mary away, Luke and Jessica go on their date, and Foggy puts Milla to bed (she’s very shaken) while Matt meditates in his underwear because, well, he’s Matt.

Once Milla wakes up, Matt climbs in bed with her. She starts feeling out the scars on his torso, but accidentally touches the wrong one:

Okay. So this scene is legitimately pretty hot - the low light and the intimacy and the fondling and the hey hey. I’m into it. It’s the first time we’ve been allowed to see real chemistry between Matt and Milla...

...and then he hits her.

It’s just a smack on the hand, and he doesn’t really hurt her, even if she is still rubbing her hand in the next panel. But. This is only the fourth time they’ve met, and their second date. Milla knows Matt’s a vigilante. She knows he’s a person of interest in a murder. She knows after their second date, he went and beat the Owl to a pulp. Their first date ended with a police investigation, and their second with Matt’s ex setting him on fire. And now he’s telling her that two women he loved were murdered. AND HE HIT HER. Surely this is where she walks out the door, right?

Again: we haven’t seen either of their dates. We have no idea why Milla is fond of Matt. And this is what frustrates me so much about how Bendis writes women who aren’t Jessica, because - okay, so I like to joke that Bendis has a crush on Matt, because every single other character he writes does. Every woman in the world falls in love with him. (At one point in her own series even Jessica thinks she’s in love with him.) None of them ever get over him. Natasha and Elektra are constantly trying to get into his pants no matter how married he is. There is an issue of Avengers written by Bendis that is almost entirely talking heads of all the Avengers talking about how wonderful Matt is, and in the next issue Squirrel Girl hits on him. As far as Bendis is concerned, Matt exists and that’s a good enough reason for Milla to want to stick around (and Milla’s feet smell like vanilla for some reason, which is apparently a good enough reason for Matt to want to subject her to the horror show that is his love life).

Every other love interest Matt has ever had up until now either fell for him as Matt Murdock and then had to deal with Daredevil, or was a ninja. But this comic has not shown us any reason Milla would want to be with Matt except hearsay about how nice his tushy is. AND HE HIT HER. ON THE SECOND DATE.

Note to all of my readers, especially the young ones: IF SOMEONE HITS YOU ON THE SECOND DATE (or ever), THAT IS A SCREAMINGLY HUGE RED FLAG AND YOU SHOULD LEAVE.

(And no, Matt is not habitually physically abusive, but MILLA DOESN’T KNOW THAT. What she does know is that Matt hits people until they’re unconscious every single night. And Matt was physically rough with Heather, and also emotionally abused her, so there’s precedent.)

So yeah, Bendis writes women to have no damn sense around Matt, and it pisses me way the hell off.

ANYWAY. Matt knows Fisk is behind Typhoid’s attack, so he heads off to deal with him and tells Milla that she’s welcome to stay, which she does. As soon as Matt leaves, Milla gets a visitor:

This is around the time that writers were not only fridging female characters left and right, they were really reveling in it by giving villains lots of creepy speeches about how much they loved hurting women. Milla isn’t fridged (...yet), but this is very, very on trend. And gross.

Also please note Bullseye’s new look to match the movie.

Luckily for Milla, Matt returns!

Yeah so I guess Bullseye’s real first name is Lester? We never find out his last name or any of the other stuff Matt’s talking about.

Then Matt, as he tends to do when Bullseye’s involved, kind of goes off the deep end:

I’m not going to transcribe all of that dialogue, but basically Matt is screaming at Bullseye that his tattoo is dumb and he should kill himself. Then he picks up a large, jagged rock (of which we have so very many on the streets of New York City) and carves a bullseye over the tattoo, screaming that the first circle is for Elektra and the second is for Karen.

Luckily for Bullseye, the FBI (who are constantly surveilling Matt anyway) show up at this point:

Despite all this secret identity stuff, Matt’s willing to unmask if he needs to to keep Bullseye in jail.

He leaves Bullseye with the FBI and heads back inside to Milla, who is hiding, terrified, in the closet, which: fair enough, God knows I would.

Milla, he CARVED OPEN A GUY’S FOREHEAD. Please think this through.

Despite the close call, Matt decides to leave Milla again, this time to deal with Fisk for realsies. But first, a very important cover:

YOU’RE WELCOME.

Anyway. Fisk is pleased to see Matt because it’s tauntin’ time:

They fight. Matt wins:

But dressing up like the devil and beating up a crime boss isn’t nearly Extra enough for Matt anymore, so he takes Fisk’s unconscious body, loads it onto the hood of a car, and drives it through the front window of Josie’s. And he doesn’t even have a license:

Matt, Josie didn’t do anything to you.

Anyway, you think Matt’s gone extra now? YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET:

HE UNMASKS!!! AND TELLS THEM HE’S THE NEW KINGPIN!!! WHAT!!!!!!!

(Matt Hell’s Kitchen isn’t a city.)

(Matt leave the prostitutes alone, go after the pimps.)

(Milla please dump him.)

Next time: Matt’s the fucking kingpin you guys, I don’t even know.

[decadentenemyturtle]

The Great Unknown

Summary: As if it wasn’t bad enough to fall in a random hole in a road and find yourself in Middle Earth, travelling with Thorin Oakenshield and his company, but also get turned into a dog by Gandalf. And when the wizard doesn’t even know how it happened or how to turn you back, you could only hope that this was just a bad dream. But is it?

Pairing: Thorin's company x Reader

Words: 2308

All parts of The Great Unknown

What else could the howl be than a warg. After Radagast had suggested that he'd lead the orc's to other direction while the company could escape, the so called marathon began. Oin, Nori, Bilbo, Bofur and Bombur took the ponies with them, Bilbo riding his pony and the others were keeping the reins while running. No one complained about Bilbo riding his pony since he had threatened to let her go.

And since you couldn't run because of your paw, you were tossed over one of the ponies like a sac of potatoes. It was uncomfortable, but you'd still be rather on top of Gungoll than trying to run yourself. You were trying to encourage the ponies to carry on, or then they would die. Later on when you thought about it, you surely had good methods in use. "Run bitches, or ya'll die" And the five ponies agreed silently. Running with dwarves was better than being on your own in the wilderness and being killed by orcs, wargs or wild animal.

You didn't know how long you were running, or how long the others were running while you were marveling the scenery. And sometimes getting horrified how close Radagast and the orcs came, until one got too close. You were hiding behind one rock, while the warg and his rider were on top of it. How they didn't notice you until Kili had shot the warg and they fell to the ground, you didn't know. Not that it mattered, they had alarmed the rest of the orcs with their dying sounds.

And now you were running like there really was a fire under your arse, as if the running before had been just a warm up. The orcs and wargs were hot in your trail, Radagast all forgotten. Then you came halt to over a big boulder, Gandalf taking his disappearance. You sniffed the air and spotted his smell over the cluster of rocks.

"The entrance" you whispered, lifting your head. The ponies were moved closer to it, and Bilbo, Ori, Bombur and Oin were looking after them. You started to wiggle yourself so you could get down, and finally managed to drop yourself. You let out a little whine, when your unwell paw hit the ground, but you had to take the pain. You could hear the dwarves shouting to each others. Gandalf had disappeared, left them. Oh, if they only knew...

"Now wait a minute, lass" Oin said when he saw you moving towards the rocks. Then Gandalf appears from behind the tinier rocks and shouts you to follow him. You seem to brighten up, you were almost in Rivendell. You would soon be safe and maybe Elrond could figure out a way to turn you back to yourself. To a human.

The first dwarves ran past you, some trying to take the ponies with them. But they were hesitant to move. Balin, who was helping Bilbo with Myrtle, shot a pleading glance towards you. You sigh and nod to him. Then you turn so that you could see every five pony.

"Move your arses or we'll leave you to wargs!" you say with brisk voice. The ponies paused for a minute and gaped at you, horrified.

"You wouldn't!" Minty breaths out. You take a step towards her and squint your eyes.

"If I'm not going to get you to the secret path over there... I probably would" you say and after this the ponies have a race towards the rocks, dwarves and Bilbo staring after them their mouths open and their jaw almost on the ground.

"Oh my Mahal...." Dwalin says and ruffles then your head. He looks down at you and... smiled. You looked at him, horrified. Dwalin, the killing machine of the Company, smiled to you! And then he even picked you up and followed the rest of the company to the entrance, sliding down.

Balin, Bilbo, Gloin, Oin, Bifur and Bombur had taken the ponies further to wherever you were in now so that everyone could fit in. Dwalin was still holding you, refusing to let you down. He claimed that it was better to carry you where ever you were going to. And you just wiggled your tail to this few times and pressed yourself against him. When everyone were finally down, you heard a sound of a horn. And right after that, a sound of a battle began. Luckily none of you were up there anymore, getting between the fight.

After the dead orc had fallen down and the dwarves had realized where Gandalf was taking them, everyone moved silently towards the elven city. Even the ponies were quiet. Maybe they, too, had realized that it was alright now, thought the dwarves didn't want to go to the city. A further you got, the more you started to feel... something. Was this magic? One time you had readen that strong magic surrounded this city. But you hadn't realized that any person entering the city could feel it. Or then it was just you, since you had encountered a magical accident. And Radagast had mentioned that he felt magic around you, so... Well whatever it was, this feeling felt welcoming.

 You were sitting on the ground, watching the dwarves glaring a new buttholes to the elves, who had just come back home from killing the orcs you had encountered earlier. Nice to know they were now dead.

You sat between Dwalin and Thorin, both of them keeping you still. The ponies were behind the group with Bilbo. And because of the ponies, the dwarves hadn't circled around Bilbo like in the movie. And the elves didn't circle them. They were merely looking at them with keen interest and smiling like they knew a dirty secret they'd happily share.

"We use a toilet and then we'll leave" you heard Thorin whisper to Dwalin, who nodded in agreement. You moved to lean on Thorin's leg and looked up to him. The leader glanced down at you and raised his brow in question. You let out a silent whine and then turned to look at the elves. You could feel Thorin's grip of your neck tightening. You let out a little whine and Thorin loosened immediately. You were still leaning to his leg when Elrond turned to adders him. The elf lord eyes drifted down to you and for a second he stayed quiet. But without saying anything about you, he invited the company to a dinner and offered place in stables for the ponies. And when the invites had been accepted, everyone started to take their leave. Thorin took a step and then stopped, turning towards you. You stayed there, not sure where to go. With the company or with the ponies? You were a animal now, so you kind of had to go with the ponies, but...

"One of our company is hurt" Thorin said suddenly, when Elrond turned to take his leave. He stopped and turned towards Thorin. He didn't say anything, just lifted his brow in question. A quick glance towards the dwarves told him otherwise, that they were all fine. Thorin took a step back and laid hand on top of your head.

"She was hurt last night. She needs a healer" Thorin told to Elrond. You leaned more to his leg, pressing your head fully to him. Behind smiling Elrond was Gandalf, frowning and looking at you. You avoided his and Elrond's gaze all you could. Then you heard Elrond's kind voice and lifted your head.

"I'll take a look of her. She seems to be find, so let us eat first" he said and then he turned and left. Great. You wanted to make sure you were OK, like right now. Your side wasn't that bad anymore but your paw was still killing you. And you needed it to walk. But oh well, dinner waited. Thorin was kind enough to wait you as you limped the stairs to the open terrace like area, where almost every member were already sitting and waiting for their food. Few had went with the elves to the stables, Elrond had gone to change and Gandalf had went somewhere.

 Kili had taken you to sit next to him and shooed Bifur to sit on top of the table. You were served salad like everyone else. Like, what?? Did dogs in Rivendell eat green food too, or did elves favor bunnies and other rodents and didn't know what dogs ate? Dwalin was digging his food and the he lifted his face, looking quite shocked.

"Where's the meat?!" he questioned and looked to the others. You let out growl, agreeing with Dwalin, and moved your plate away from you with your nose. The dwarves grinned to you and Dwalin shook his head, amused.

"Who's idea was it to let a dog to eat with us?" he murmured and let a grin spear on his face, when you shot a death glare to him. No one commented of your appearance more and were now looking at Kili, who was openly flirting with the elf, who was playing a harp. You turned to look at him and sighed. Did he openly flirt with every good looking female or were the elves only exception? In the movies you had seen him looking only elves with keen interest, so you weren't sure. You sneaked closer to Kili's plate and snatched one of his salad's, when he was explaining the beauty of elves to Bofur. When Dwalin snorted, Kili turned to look at you. Then his mouth opened in shock.

"Y/n?! Whaa-y?" Kili questioned, forgetting the good looking elves. You still had the salad hanging from your mouth and you tried to look innocent. You glanced towards the table, trying to assure them that you were innocent. But the chuckles told that they didn't believe you, only finding you looking rather funny with the salad in corner of your mouth. Bifur said something and Bofur nodded, smiling a little. You went and dropped the leaf on Kili's lap and then he turned to look at you in disgust.

"I'm not gonna eat dat!" he said, shooing the salad away from his thigh. You frowned and shot you tongue out. Like he was going to eat his salad anyway. Then you move closer to his salad plate and he snaps your nose, looking at you.

"Mine" he grunts. You let out a growl and try again. And he snaps your nose again, repeating that the plate is his, not yours. This happens few times, Dwalin watching the two of you looking like he had nothing better to do.

"Did somebody die?" you hear Oin ask and you lift your head. What? Did somebody... oh, they meant the music. Then Bofur jumps up, claiming that he had an idea. He got up on the small table-like thing and started to sing. And when the others join in his song, you start to howl with rhythm of the song. They don't stop the singing, but everyone glances at you. Then they start t throw food. What a waste... Even thought that you didn't any of it. When the song is ended and the supper is pretty much ended, Elrond leaves with Gandalf.

You turned to looked after him, being confused. You lift your injured paw and whine. Wasn't he.... supposed to...

You drop your paw back down and let your head drop. Kili starts to pet your back and you turn to him. Every dwarf was looking at you, even Thorin who was standing behind the others.

"I'll look at yer paw, lass. I'll just get ma back first" Oin says and gets up. Kili gets up too and lifts you easily in his arms. You let him carry you near a beautiful fountain, the rest of the company following you, minus Bilbo who disappeared to somewhere. Oin came a little later on with Gloin and started to mend your paw. It wasn't broken, luckily, but it needed time to heal. Oin forbid you to use it, meaning that you rather walk three legs or somebody would carry you.

After your paw was mended, the dwarves started to wonder, where they could bath. And then Fili said jokingly that they were at the fountain and the water was nicely warm. And after Nori and Kili started to strip and jumped in, it was kind decided that they would bath in it. You sigh and turn your back to them watching in other direction and waiting them to finish. Luckily they didn't ask you to join, thought you would have preferred to be somewhere else before they started their bath. When you noted Elrond and the other elf walk close to the fountain and noticing the dwarves, you closed your eyes and played to be asleep. And it kind of worked, those two didn't seem to give two thoughts about you.

It was evening and the dwarves were sitting on one of the terraces. They had refused the chambers, even Thorin had. He and Balin were talking with Gandalf and Elrond about the map. You kind of hoped that they wouldn't talk about you. Elrond hadn't come look for you after the incident in fountain. Or then he had seen your wrapped paw and thought that he didn't need to do anything for it. Well, anyhow, now you were happily eating sausage Nori had stolen from the kitchen. And after that Kili took you on his arms and carried you to the sofa like furniture, sat down and set you down on is lap.

You yawned and stretched. You looked over the company as they were talking and joking around, Kili scathing you behind your ear. A bit by bit your eyes started to drift close and then you fell asleep. 

Tag list;

@lidda​ @bee-wrecker​ @queendarkmuffin​ @silencegetawayfromme​@kettnerjanea​ @sdavid09​ @ealasaid​ @jumpingmanatee @fab-notfat​ @bae-kage @fricking-ghoul​ @k-youre-a-fantasy

Those who I couldn’t, from some reason, tag in this, have been marked in bold. 

[lovemesomesurveys]

Have you ever read the Hunger Games series? Yep and saw the movies. When was the last time you ran into something? I’m constantly banging my elbow or hand on something. Do you enjoy dressing up? I used to. I just don’t have the energy nowadays. I used to actually put some effort into my appearance. Do you live in the city or a rural area? I live in a city. Would you say you have a sense of style? My style is very casual.

What’s your biggest fear? Losing my loved ones. Have you ever been bitten by a wild animal? No. Are you close to any of your cousins? I used to be close to 3 of them, but that has since dwindled... mostly by my own doing. I’ve been very distant and withdrawn from everyone. Have you ever been lost in the woods? No, and I can’t imagine ever being in that situation. I hope to never be. Where did you last travel? A nearby touristy city. Do you enjoy driving? I don’t drive. What song did you last listen to? I don’t remember at the moment. If you have a job, how often do you work? No job. What time do you normally go to sleep at night? I start to fall asleep around 3, but usually not for good until about 5. :/ Do you watch a lot of movies? Not really. Do you like Tom Petty? RIP Tom Petty. I like a couple songs. Would you rather have snow or rain? I love the rain. I think I’d love the snow, too, if it snowed here. Do you own a lot of sweaters? Yeah. Have you ever tried rock-climbing? Not sure how that would work as a paraplegic. Ever ridden in a police car? No. Favorite decade of music? Probably 90s and 2000s. Have any of your best friends been your best friend longer than a year? Yes. Ever witnessed a murder? No. Do you care what people think of you? I do and I don’t if that makes sense. Like... I feel self-conscious about my appearance and what people think of me, and yet I don’t put much effort into my appearance and don’t take care of myself like I should. I do things that don’t help the situation because part of me stopped caring. Does your room have a ceiling fan? Yes. Would you consider yourself poised? No. Have you ever tried blogging? This is it. Before Tumblr; though, I had Xanga. Favorite television channel? E! and MTV. Have you ever lied under oath? I’ve never been under oath. What are your religious views? I’m a Christian. Are you a romantic person? I haven’t really been able to given my lack of experience in the relationship department. Would you consider yourself a flirt? No. At what age do you plan to be married? I don’t think I’ll ever be married. Do you eat a lot of junk food? Yes. When did you last go on vacation? May. Are you resilient? I used to be when I was younger, but not anymore. Have you ever failed a subject before? No. If so, what was the class? Do you wear more bright or dull colors? Dull. Do you know anyone who has attempted suicide? Yes. What’s your favorite quote? I don’t know. Ha, that’s probably my favorite since I say it all the time. Would you consider yourself mature? Yeah, I mean for the most part. How many clocks are in your house? Several. Do you play any sports? Nope. What is your biggest life regret? I have too many. Have you ever been injured in a car accident? No. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be? Somewhere cozy where it snows. Have you ever had highlights in your hair? Yeah, I did that for years. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chick-Fil-A. In what country were you born? USA. Are your eyes more than one color? Nope. Have you ever caught something on fire? The tip of my hair.... What would you consider your biggest flaw? I’m too sensitive. What do you think your best quality is? I don’t feel I have one. Do you enjoy listening to others’ problems? I used to be a great listener and was the one my friends came to, but I haven’t been that person in a long time because I’ve been too wrapped up in my own problems. Do you keep any plants in your house? No. What is your mother’s occupation? She’s a manager at Walgreens. Do any of your friends like your musical style? Yeah. What are you most looking forward to? Christmas. What was your favorite television show as a child? I was obsessed with Barney when I was little. Are you afraid of insects? Terrified. Are you cold-natured? No. How old were you when you got your first pet? Five. Did you/do you enjoy high school? Some parts of it. What would you say was your favorite age? My childhood. What annoys you most about social networking? Oh where to begin. Are you the center of attention most of the time? Noooo. I wouldn’t want to be. What are you currently reading? Troubled Waters (The Lake Series, Book 2) by Annalisa Grant. When did you last go to the library? I went to the school library at the college I attended sometimes while I was in school. Are you ill at the moment? I’m always feelings unwell in some way or another. Do people tease you about anything? Jokingly, but yeah. How late did you stay up last night and why? Until about 5 because that’s just how it goes.

Have you ever written poetry? Yeah. Well, tried to anyway. Curtains or shades? Curtains. How many people have you spoken to in the last hour? One. Do you tend to text a lot? Nope. Ever lost a great best friend? Yes. What is your favorite kind of flower? Roses. How tall are you? i would have been about 5′7. Do you own any guns? No. What would you say is your favorite book of all-time? I couldn’t choose. Do you think you’re living a good life? No. What’s your least favorite part of the day? Meh. Are you an over-achiever? Ha, no. Have you ever won an award for a speech? No. Do you tend to curse a lot? No. Have you ever played on the Ouija board? No and I never would. Do you sleepwalk? I don’t. Have you ever slept on the floor before? Yes. Are you a fan of public displays of affection? I don’t mind some PDA, just keep it G. When did you last attend a yard sale? Years ago when a family friend used to do them. Do you wish your life were simpler or more interesting? More interesting. What goals do you wish to accomplish tomorrow? Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, my goals are to eat a lot. When is your birthday? July 28th. Which is worse: going blind or deaf? Bad question. What was the best part of today? Nothing. Do you attempt to stay away from drama? Yes.

What liquid did you last drink? Soda. Do you ever prefer to be alone? Yes. I need my alone time. Have you ever had a deadly animal as a pet? No. Favorite Disney movie? Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story. Have you ever been to the beach? Many times, I love it. If you have, how many times have you been? Numerous times. What was your dream occupation at age ten? I wanted to be a teacher. Are you terrified at the idea of weight-gain? No. I’ve never had an issue with gaining weight, I’ve actually always been a bit underweight. A little more so now given some health issues, and I need to gain some weight. Do you drink a lot of water? Yes. Does your room have carpet or hard-wood floors? Carpet. Do you take naps daily? Not daily, but often. Who were you named after? No one. Do you plan on traveling this spring or summer? Spring and summer have passed. Do you know anyone who is colorblind? No. Have you ever been a teacher’s pet? So they say. What is your absolute favorite hobby? Reading and Tumblr. How many times a day do you brush your teeth? Once. Ever been to a tanning bed before? No. Are you satisfied with your financial stability? We have our necessities, but it gets stressful.  Who is your favorite actor/actress? Alexander Skarsgard.

Are your nails painted? They aren’t. What’s the meanest thing you’ve ever said to someone? Hopefully nothing. Do you ever accidentally talk to inanimate objects? I yell at inanimate objects when I get frustrated with them. What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream? Strawberry. Have you ever kissed someone of the same gender? No. Do you receive any hate mail? No. Have you ever sent a letter in the mail? Yes. If you could, would you have a pen pal? We did that in 3rd grade. What color are the pants you’re wearing? I’m wearing black and white leggings. Have you ever had a stalker? I haven’t. What is your life philosophy? I don’t know. Who last sent you a goodnight text message? *shrug* Do you own any clothes that are your favorite color? Yeah. Have you ever been in a hot tub before? Yes. What’s your favorite comedy movie? I have a few.

[zephyroh]

i got you (please don’t let go of me)

it’s 4am again and im having feeling about jason scott again

Read on AO3

-----

There was something wrong.

Jason couldn’t put his finger on what, but there was something not right. He felt uneasy. Like his body was trying to tell him something. He was lying in his bed – his window always opened ever since the night at the mine in because his friends had taken the habit of coming to his room whenever they wanted, usually when they needed company or comfort.

He remembered the day Pearl was born - he looked at her with wonder in his eyes, holding her tightly in his arms. He heard her laugh, and saw stars in her eyes, and vowed to himself to be the best brother in the world. Just like in the movies. He had wanted to be a superhero for her, before actually becoming one. And now he had added four persons to protect in that oath. He was, in some ways, a big brother to his team – “more like the mom friend”, had said Zack laughing one day.

He usually felt them coming, before seeing them. In was an unshakable feeling in his body, in his bone, and when they were feeling bad, it was like something was out of place. Like something in the universe had shifted, was out of balance, and he couldn’t rest until he fixed it. Like those night after an argument with his father where Pearl came to his room crying because he didn’t want them to fight, and he couldn’t sleep before reassuring her. Going to sleep knowing his baby sister was unwell was impossible. Just like if one of his teammates was having a hard time.

This night was one of those night.

He felt like crying. He felt like he was suffocating. He wanted to scream at the world, but could only lie immobile, staring at the ceiling. He could only hear the soft sound of the wind gently passing through his curtains. The light of the moon was shielded by clouds, and the only other source of light was coming from his digital alarm clock on his night stand.

4:48, it read.

The silence was almost maddening.

He waited for the familiar sound of Kimberly’s heel hitting the frame of his window. Or a pebble hitting the wall because Zack found it hilarious to throw rocks at his window even though he knew it was open. Or the soft “You up?” that Trini whispered, always afraid to wake him up. Or the sound of metal and cable in Billy’s backpack when he didn’t want to work on a project alone.

But nothing came.

It was a month after they saved Angel Grove – or the world actually – and it was the tenth night he couldn’t sleep, not knowing why.

Some night he just couldn’t get asleep.

Some night he woke up soaking with sweat, bones trembling, dread in his heart, and a scream stuck in his throat.

 -----

“Jas, you need to close your eyes if you want sleep.”

Jason blinked three time, shaking his head. He looked at the coffee machine in front of him, who had already stopped pouring coffee into his mug two minutes ago, before shifting his gaze to the little human being beside him.

Pearl was standing next to him with wide open eyes and such an innocent look on her face he couldn’t help the found smile growing on his lips.

“Why are you saying that, P?” The girl frowned and pouted at the surname while Jason smirked. “I don’t wanna be pee!”, she had cried out, horrified, the first time he called her that – and he never did stop after because her reactions where adorable.

“You wasn’t moving, like when you sleep, but with your eyes open. You have to close them.”, she answered matter-of-factly. He let out an amused laugh as his heart swelled.

“Thank you, I’ll think of that next time.”

He smothered a yawn and rubbed his tired eyes. The day was going to be long, he thought as he brought the coffee mug to his lips.

 -----

He felt like he was functioning in slow motion. Even superhero powers didn’t compensate sleep deprivation. He almost arrived late for his first class after taking too much time to prepare in the morning, and cursed himself for missing his friends before class. They would usually gang up at Billy’s locker before going their own way.

He couldn’t concentrate. The only remaining seat when he arrived was the one by the window in one of the rows at the back of the class – the perfect spot to not listen one word of what the teacher was saying and just daydream. His chin in his hand, he started dozing off, regularly jerking awake when his brain was warning him he was falling asleep.

The guilt of not listening to the class – history, the only one he actually liked – started creeping on him. He just couldn’t wait for the day to be over. He hadn’t had such a horrible day since the Power Rangers thing. Before that, he was used to waking up hating everything, and endure the day until he could come back to bed. But he hadn’t feel this way again, until now. He was not thrilled to remembered was it was like.

After two hours of pure torture, he speeded out of he classroom, eager to join his teammates. He walked into the cafeteria, mentally insulting everyone. They were making so much goddamn noise. He was definitely too tired and not caffeinated enough to deal with that.

He quickly spotted his squad at their usual spot. He felt his mood lighten up was he saw Trini and Zack fighting over their food trails while Kim was smirking and throwing crumbs of bread at them, and Billy was carefully sorting his food by colors, probably occasionally commenting on how it would be physically impossible for Trini to fit an entire bus up Zack’s bottom, and therefore pointless to try or even threaten to.

He sat in front of him, automatically putting his apple on Billy’s trail. It was his favorite fruit, and Jason was always too happy to give up his just to see Billy excitedly clap his hands. Today however, Billy merely looked up to him and thanked him, giving him a small smile, before returning to his food. Jason didn’t miss the dark circle under his eyes, and understood that he wasn’t the only one with sleep problems.

He frowned and his body only tensed more. The feeling of the night before, shaking his bones to the core, was back.

“You alright, farmboy?” Jason slightly rolled his eyes at Trini’s nickname she found for him after he told them the whole story about the cow in the locker. “You do dress up a bit like Clark Kent”, she had argued.

He felt his heart warm up at the sight of four concerned looks directed at him when he lifted his head from his food.

“Didn’t get much sleep last night, but I’ll be fine”, he answered with a tired smile. They nodded in agreement, and Trini gave him an understanding smile, looking at him intensely like she was trying to communicate with him telepathically. “I feel you”, he though she was trying to say. He nodded back, knowing it was her own way of expressing herself. Not with words, but it was just as well.

He felt kind of guilty for worrying them. He was used to be the one worrying about them. He liked that role, he wanted to care of them, and hated feeling this low and miserable.

The sound of the school bell felt like a blow in the stomach. Here we go again, for four more hours. While the others started hurryingly picking up their stuff, Jason was feeling out of it. Like in another dimension, like he was out of tune with the world. There but not quite there. He forced himself to move, trying to keep up with the rest of the student body. He saw Zack waving and blowing kisses at them, heading for the exit, and Jason knew he had decided to skip class today. Kim was teasing Trini, pulling down her beanie on her eyes as the tiny girl was feigning being mad, while they were headed to their Biology class.

Without even thinking about it, he launched himself forward, elbowing a few students as he spotted the back of Billy’s head in the crowd. He caught up to him as Billy was opening his locker. Jason smiled at the sight of the inside of it. Pictures of the five of them together, a flyer of Krispy Kreme, five tiny dinosaurs toy and carefully scotched in the back, a crumbled-up piece of paper reading “we should start a band”.

“Are you alright, Billy? You look as tired as me, and that’s not good news.”

“Jason.”, the boy acknowledges him, looking at him straight in the eyes. Jason wondered if it was the lack of sleep or the amount of caffeine he had ingested, but his heart twitched at this moment. “I’m just having a few nightmares recently. Of Rita… but it’s alright, I’m okay.”

The red ranger suddenly felt powerless at the sight of Billy’s tired – and somewhat resigned – smile. Jason wished so hard he could make all his problems go away, because Billy Cranston should never feel sad about anything in his life, ever. He was too good for this shitty world, and Jason wanted so much to protect him from it.

Billy seemed to notice the former quarterback’s sorrow, because before Jason could register what was happening, Billy was ruffling his hair.

Everything seemed to stop for Jason, even his heart. He only managed to tilt his head to the side with a questioning look on his faces, mouth half open but not trusting his vocal cords to actually be able to function at this moment.

Then Billy smiled his pure, angel-like smile, and everything momentarily felt right in the world.

“I’m cheering you up!”, he explained. “Kim does that to me when I’m feeling low, so I’m doing it to you. Zack usually makes a lot of bad jokes and then explains them to me, but I don’t know as many as him, and you know I’m not really good at jokes anyway. And Trini, she brings me food, but I don’t have any snacks on me. Besides, we just ate so it would be pointless to give you more food right now. Should have I not done that?” Billy suddenly looked worried, like he made a mistake – he was always too self-conscious even around the team, always afraid to be “weird”, as if the squad would ever feel weirded out by him.

Jason immediately snapped out of his dazed state to reassure the boy. “No! No, no absolutely not, I- it was good- well, it’s alright. You did good. It worked”, he stuttered, and it never felt this complicated to get coherent words out of his mouth.

Billy shot him a glowing smile, exuding pride because he managed to lighten up Jason’s mood, and the red ranger felt like he could breathe a little bit better, and the world was a little more colorful than this morning.

 -----

Jason stared at the sharp, red inked letter in front of him. He stared so long it felt like the letter was floating on the blank piece of the page he was holding.

He blinked. And blinked again. And stupidly pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, and regretted it immediately afterwards. He tended to forget about his superhero strength from time to time.

The classroom was buzzing around him, student putting their books in their bag, pulling chairs, talking and laughing loudly. But Jason couldn’t move.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and lifted his head to see his teacher looking at him with a small smile.

“I’m proud of you, Jason. You really did improve. Keep up the good work.”

His eyes dropped again at the paper.

He got an A. At a math test. Him. Jason Scott. Jason Scott, who was only good at football. Jason Scott, whom only shot at having a future was a sport scholarship at a local university. Jason Scott who was constantly failing his class, and felt to depressed to even try to study. Jason freaking Scott.

He had to show it to the team.

They were all pretty good students, even Zack when he bothered to show up, and prepared a study plan for Jason when he told them, ashamed, that he wasn’t even sure he’d graduate. Without question nor his opinion on the matter, they immediately organized study sessions in between training sessions, and before long, Jason learned the pleasure of learning.

Trini helped him mostly in English, but never with the others present. She just showed up one day in his room with the reading assignment of the semester in her hands. And after an hour, Jason learned that Trini loved literature and poetry – she actually wrote some, but threatened to slit his throat if he ever mentioned it to the others, especially Kimberly who would never stop teasing her about it, and Jason still remembered the feeling of fright in his heart in front of her dead serious face. He never heard her talk as much as when she was passionately explaining the meaning of some obscure figure of style the author of the book used, and why he used it. “It’s easier to express fictional people’s feelings than my own.”, she admitted once.

Zack’s subject of predilection was physics, and he liked to dress up as old famous physician as he was moving around, his arms flipping around, talking with animation trying to explain the laws of physics to Jason, occasionally throwing apples at his head screaming “Eureka!”.

For biology it was Kim who was his assigned tutor. She wasn’t much of a pedagogue, but she had a way of vulgarizing complex mechanism about DNA and cells with simple words that made sense to Jason. They actually both hated it, but going through it together made things better and easier.

As for math… It has always been Jason’s worst nightmare. His parents had tried to get him private lesson before giving up, seeing that there was no results. Not matter how hard he tried, how long he could tire his eyes on an exercise, nothing made sense to him.

But then Billy came along. It came so naturally to the boy, he made it look easy. And the blue ranger loved that he could monologue as long as he wanted about math, Jason would never complain. When Billy noticed there was something Jason wasn’t getting, he tried to explain it in another way, and in another if it was still not enough, again and again until Jason understood. Step by step, Jason started to catch up on his lacunas, and God knew there was a long way to go.

Until this day. Because this day, his efforts were rewarded, and he owed it all to his friends.

He jolted out of his seat, suddenly filled with energy. He almost ran up the hallway leading to Billy’s locker, which Zack was already leaning against. He strode swiftly to reach up the boys and planted himself in front of Billy.

“I’m going to hug you now.”, he announced. “Is that okay?”

Billy nodded, a bit surprised and confused, but relaxed as soon as he felt Jason arms around him. Jason knew he was still getting used to physical contact. The red ranger tilted his head to press Billy’s body even harder against him and his nose ended up grazing the boy’s neck for a slipt of a second. As he felt Billy shudder, he released his grasp, fearing that it was too much for Billy. But as they separated, the other boy seemed fine, even happy if not still confused.

Jason realized he was staring a bit too long at Billy’s dark brown eyes when Zack’s voice startled him.

“Hey, man, I want some love too!”, he joked, and Jason hoped he didn’t notice the redness of his cheeks. “Why so sappy?”.

Jason brandished the paper he was still holding in his hand, harboring a proud smile. As Zack took in the information, a similar smile appeared on his lips.

“Yeah, that’s awesome dude! You’re a genius now”. He put his arms around Jason for a quick hug, patting firmly the red ranger’s back.

A confused Billy appeared near Zack, countersigning his neck to look at the paper, and his eyes grew wide with excitement when the saw the “A” at the top of the paper. He started hoping around, clapping his hand and laughing excitedly.

“Something to celebrate?” Kim’s voice came from behind Jason. He spun on his heels, with a wide grin still on his face as her and Trini – the two always looked like they were joined by the hip – raised their eyebrows.

He answered simply,

“Billy turned me into a math genius!”

 -----

Jason sighed heavily. Then let out a groan. Then slammed his fit against his mattress out of frustration.

3:27. The glowing, dimmed light of his alarmed clock seemed to be mocking him.

He felt the impulse to throw it against the wall, then decided against it out of fear of waking up his little sister. But he just wanted to break something.

Exhaling slowly, he tried to relax his fist, then the muscles of his forearms, then his entire body. He concentrated as he remembered Trini’s words when she was teaching him yoga one night, at the top of a cliff near the mine.

“Focus on your breathing and the beating of your heart. The more you think about that, the less you think about everything else.”

After what felt like an eternity, Jason noticed his mind had already started to wander off, and he felt himself giving up. Shooting a glance at the time, a deep sense of despair crushed him as his saw the red numbers.

3:51.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

He clenched his jaw and pressed his palm against his forehead where drips of sweat were starting to form.

Instinctively, he took his phone, which was resting on the nightstand, in his hand. He paused for a second, staring at the numerous apps on the screen – which was at the lowest setting of luminosity but still hurt his eyes – decided what he wanted to do.

Trying to ignore the feeling carved in his gut, he opened his text messages. Without thinking, he just followed his impulse, and tapped on one of the conversation.

“Hey, you up?”

After five minutes of silence from his phone, he stared at the name of the contact one last time. Billy Boy.

He felt empty as he put down the phone next to him, then turned around in his bed.

 -----

When he woke up, tears were burning his eyes, and he didn’t know if his heart was crushed in his chest or if he wanted to rip it out of his ribcage himself.

It took him three whole minutes for his limbs to stop shaking, and five for the sobbing to cease.

Even though he was sure he knew exactly why he was crying when he woke up, the memories were already starting to fade away. The feeling of frustration was almost too unbearable.

Blue lips. A still body, too still. Rigid. Numbness. Clouns in his mind.

He clenched his eyes shut just and let out a whimper.

Weight in his arms. A loud thump on wood. Rope gliding through metal.

Tears were running down his face again and he hugged his knees tightly against his chest.

Electricity. The rope stopping abruptly. Opened eyes, but a blank, lifeless look.

Jason buried his head in his arms.

Billy was alright. Billy was alive. It was just a nightmare. Billy was fine. Billy was alive.

He repeated those words like a mantra In his head until his body finally calmed down.

The clock was now reading 5:05.

Wiping his tears with the blanket, he mechanically reached out for his phone again. His heart skipped a bit when he pressed the button to light up his screen. Billy Boy.

He fumbled on his phone, trying to unlock it as fast as he could.

“Yes, bad dream again ☹ Why? Everything alright?” Send forty-five minutes after his own text. He cursed himself for having missed it, for not having been there for Billy when he woke up from his own nightmare.

“I just couldn’t sleep…”, he texted back. As he was hesitating to elaborate, to explain that his first instinct was to reach out to Billy, the sight of three jumping dots made his heart race. Before he could do anything – strangely his first impulse was to throw the phone away – another text popped up.

“Seems like you still can’t :p”, immediately followed by the dots again. Jason waited patiently, smiling softly at the emojis Billy loved to use and sometimes, overuse.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to be mean. It sounded mean. I was thinking: “what would Zack say in this situation?” Was it mean?”

“It’s alright, don’t worry 😊  I had a nightmare too, just woke up.”, he replied.

He suddenly felt a little bit better, imagining Billy’s rambling voice in his head. Relaxing, he waited again while Billy was typing… only to nearly choke on his saliva when the words appeared in front of his eyes.

“Maybe next time we should sleep together!”

Jason froze on the spot, forgetting to even breathe and he read the text three times to make sure his eyes were not playing games with him.

“That way we won’t be alone having bad dreams :p”

Air slithered back into his lungs, and Jason refused to acknowledge to himself that he was blushing.

And this moment, the thoughts keeping him from sleeping were all kind of different from the ones before.

 -----

Jason mentally cursed himself when he greeted Billy and a blush crept onto his face ; Billy didn’t make it any easier for the red ranger when he didn’t stop when approaching Jason, and rather wrapped his arms around him. He only had his reflex to thank when he reciprocated the hug on auto-pilot, because his mind was racing, and his body was feeling too much all at once.

“Wh-what that for?”, Jason managed to get out, trying his best not to sound weird – and probably failing.

“I wanted to thank you for yesterday. I actually did sleep much better after we talked, or rather texted. Well, even though it was for a short time because it was early. But I feel better than yesterday.”, Billy exclaimed, smiling happily. “Jason, are you okay? You look weird? Did you not sleep at all after?”.

“Yeah, no, I did actually. I’m-“. He shifted awkwardly on his feet, clearing his throat, avoiding Billy’s eyes as he pushed back the thoughts he had this morning in the back of his mind. “I’m good.”, he added, finally meeting his friend gaze.

Then without thinking, Jason saw his hand raise itself to land on Billy’s head, gently ruffling the boy’s hair. Realizing what he was doing, Jason froze as his eyes widened. He was starting to positively panic when Billy merely tilted his head, confused look on his face, not embarrassed in the least.

“Don’t worry, I’m not sad, Jason. I just told you, I’m really feeling better.”

 -----

“Okay, what’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting off for a couple of days now.”

Jason jumped in his seat as a pile a book loudly landed on the table, right in front of him. Kim promptly dropped herself unceremoniously in the seat next to him, crossing her arms, a serious yet concerned look on her face.

Jason sighed. He knew pretending would be useless with Kimberly. She was too perceptive for that.

“I- I don’t know actually.”, he answered, waving his arms around to illustrate his words. “I’m just either having horrible nightmares or I have insomnias.”

He turned to face her and was surprised to meet a raised, unimpressed eyebrow. She was expecting something else. She blankly started at him as seconds passed by, apparently not intending to speak, nor letting him off the hook.

“… Okay fine, there’s maybe something else.” A satisfied smirk grew on her lips. He cursed her under his breath. “Never become a shrink, you’d be horrible.”

He swallowed his saliva with difficulty, trying to make sense of the turmoil in his mind.

“I’m having weird feelings… about Billy.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulder. Like the blinds were suddenly opening in a dark room and light was coming through. Like a dam had just exploded and water was flowing through. “I keep seeing him dead in my dream, Kim. I just can’t erase the imagine of him just- lying there, on the dock, not breathing. So, when we’re together, I just- It’s like I constantly want to make sure he’s alive, that’s he’s here with us. I’m always catching myself looking him out, like when I walk into a room I automatically look for him. It’s like I don’t want to get him out of my sight. Wow, that’s sounded creepy, didn’t it? But then, there’s sometimes the way he smiles to me, or talks to me, or looks at me, or just is- It’s weird, I don’t know how to describe the feeling…”

The words kept pouring out of his lips like he couldn’t stop them. Kim’s simple, knowing smile made him feel better, and something in her eyes just made him realize. It dawned on him harder than the train hit them that night.

“Is that- Is that how you feel about Trini?”

And the pink ranger simply nods, smiling ever so calmly. She didn’t say a word, and didn’t have to. Jason just had to figure it out by himself, he just needed a push.

He just sat there a while, mouth opened and jaw hanging low – he knew he probably looked like an idiot but there was too much on his mind for him to care. After a while, Kim finally spoke out, putting a gently hand on his arms, squeezing it.

“You almost lost him. Well, you actually did lose him for a while. It’s normal if you’re a mess. It’s okay. Just talk to him about it.

And that was just about the most terrifying thing he’d ever heard.

 -----

Jason couldn’t sleep.

Again.

But this time was different. He was just restless, thinking, pacing around his room, sometimes picking up his phone, staring at it for a second before putting it down. And repeating the process all over again.

He had to jump off the cliff. He had to talk to Billy. But it was easier to agree with Kim than to actually do it.

He sat on his bed with vigor, taking a deep breath, taking the small object into his hand. His heart throbbing in his chest, he looked intensely at the black screen… which lighted up as the phone vibrated.

Billy Boy.

As panic ran through his veins; he let out a shrill scream and impulsively throwed his phone on the pillows across the bed.

Rolling his eyes at his own reaction, he picked up the phone again to answer the text.

“I’m afraid to fall asleep. Can I come over?”

Once again, Jason froze. Then laughed nervously. And started to hyperventilate a bit.

As his fingered were slightly trembling, he typed “Of course, the window is always open!”, trying to figure out if it sounded chill enough.

He was actively trying to calm his heart beating loudly in his chest when Billy came through the window, landing carefully next to Jason’s bed – who couldn’t hold a found smile when he saw Billy’s batman pajamas.

The blue ranger put down his bag before hoping into Jason’s bed, immediately rolling the covers around him. He breathed in deeply before casually saying “Thank you, Jason. Your smell always calms me down. That’s why I take some of your shirts sometimes. But I’ll give them back, I’m not a thief don’t worry. “

Jason wondered if Billy was in fact actively trying to kill him, or if he was just oblivious to the effect he had on the red ranger. He also wondered if the boy could see, despite the darkness, that he was as red as his armor in this very moment.

“Of course, anytime you need”, and his voice sounded a bit off to his ears.

As Billy was making himself comfortable, Jason thought he was never going to get sleep. And at his grand surprise, he actually did start to feel himself slip into slumber when he closed his eyes, feeling the heat emanating from Billy’s body next to him, listening to the boy’s calm breathing, his own body relaxing.

 -----

It was either the hands shaking his shoulder or the voice in his ears that woke up him.

He had that same feeling of panic in his chest than that night.

He was covered in sweat, body shaking and he felt the cold air hitting his damped cheeks. But then…

Warms palm running through his back, his forearms. A soft voice whispering calming words. Then hands on his hair, across his cheeks, and on his back again.

“It’s okay, Jason. It was just a dream. I’m here. I’m right here.”

Jason’s body relaxed all at once, crashing against Billy who reaffirmed his grip to a just at the sudden weight. Jason’s head landed on the boy’s shoulder, his nose grazing lightly Billy’s neck. And at this moment, in this position, he absolutely understood was Billy was saying about comforting smell.

“You kept calling me in your sleep. And then you started to get agitated.”

“You were dead.”, Jason said simply. His tone was grave, heavy with a sob that was about to burst.

‘You were dead.”, he repeated, as tears started to form at the corner of his eyes, shoulders shaking abruptly.

“I just- I don’t know how to deal with that.”

Billy squeezed his arms around Jason, holding him even closer. He took Jason’s wrist, placing it against his torso, against his heart which rhythm was as fast paced as Jason’s.

“But I came back. You brought me back. And I’m here, Jason. I’m here with you, right now.”

He could feel Billy’s breath against his cheeks as the boy was pressing his forehead against Jason’s temple. The thumb of Billy’s hand was gently caressing Jason’s, still placed against the blue ranger’s torso. Jason’s adjusted his position to that his forehead rested against Billy and lifted his chin a bit. His fingers pressed harder against the other boy’s chest, digging into the flesh.

“It was so horrible…”. His voice cracked and Billy answered by squeezing him ever harder.

“Let it out, Jason. It’s okay. I got you.”, he whispered against Jason’s lips.

Jason’s heart exploded at those words, and as their lips met, the universe seemed balanced again.