#based on everything we know it’ll just make the pacing really wonky

[wuwubean]

Happy 5th anniversary Deltarune! Can’t wait to wait all day for Ch 3 news knowing full well it won’t happen!

[rorynne]

Touch

Pairing: Bucky/Reader

Summary: Request:  a fic where the reader really hates being touched by someone they’re not close with and all the Avengers learn about it. Except they only accept being touched by people they’re close with or someone they like and that’s how one of the Avengers realises the reader likes them. You can do it with whoever, i know it’ll be great anyway!  -Anon

Warnings: None as far as I know, its just Rory Brand Fluff.

Word count: 1.8k

A/N: It should not have taken me 8 hours to type up 1.8k words from a notebook. ADHD handed my ass to me tonight

Masterlist

It was no secret that you didn't like to be touched, hated it even. You did everything in your power to avoid it. The only time you would even tolerate it was from friends, and even then it was just that, tolerating. Most people didn't understand it, they usually just wrote you off as being snobby, or maybe just a germaphobe. What they didn't get was just how much unwanted contact hurt. It was easier to manage with friends, but just one small touch from a stranger was enough to make you completely unable to speak for the rest of the day, or worse, have a complete breakdown from the sensation.

The Avengers understood though, or at the very least, they accepted without judgment. They each had their fair share of quirks and needs, and to them, your touch avoidance was no different. It was honestly a blessing to be working for them. You provided them with ground support and helped repair their gear. They provided you with moral support and freedom from unwanted contact. Of course, they weren't perfect, every so often someone might accidentally bump into you, or excitedly clap a hand on your shoulder without asking first. But that was okay, you could tolerate it from them. Especially when they did their best to make you feel included in the team in any way that they could, more than anyone else had done for you in the past.

No doubt that desire to include you was exactly what brought Steve to your workbench in the lab, a long-haired man following close behind, not unlike a confused puppy. You had glanced up from your current project as they approached, Steve radiating his typical golden retriever-like aura, while the man behind him looked none too happy to actually be there. "Y/N! I'm glad I found you. I wanted to introduce Bucky yo everyone he hasn't had the chance to meet yet."

Bucky shifted slightly uncomfortably on his feet as he gave you an awkward smile and held his hand out to you. “Glad to meet you.” You glanced at his hand and grimaced mentally. Steve had spent months talking about Bucky and the progress he was making, Steve was beyond excited to have his best friend back and on the team, but Bucky was still a stranger to you. Your grip tightened around your wrench and you glanced over at Steve.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Bucky.” You said, leaving his hand unshaken, instead, giving him a polite smile. Steve immediately jumped into action, whispering something, likely an explanation, into Bucky’s ear.

Bucky’s eyes went wide and his face went red as he dropped his hand. “Sorry.” He mumbled out quickly and something in your heart squeezed.

“No, it’s fine.” You reassured, “You couldn’t have known.”

He nodded and cleared his throat, “For what it's worth, I'm not a big fan of touching people either.” Your heart gave another squeeze and you weren’t quite sure why. His aversion to touch made sense, you recalled Steve explaining the things that had happened to him.

"We have something in common then." You said setting your wrench down on the table in front of you. "Luckily everyone here is very understanding about it."

He smiled, and for a moment your brain completely blanked as you saw the was his smile made the skin crinkle adorably around his eyes. He was attractive, there was no denying that, but honestly, something about his smile was special. "I'm glad to hear that," he said softly before pointing at the device on your work table. "What are you working on anyway?"

You blinked before looking down at what he was pointing at. "Oh! This is the Maximum Operational Radius Support Aerobot or MORSA. Tony came up with the name, I like to call him Moe for short. He's like redwing, Sam's drone? But more support focused than combat focused. He's my eyes in the sky, he's great. I wouldn't be able to be nearly as much help without him. Time to wake up Moe." You said, tapping the drone twice. It burst to life, hovering a few inches above the table, albeit as a noticeable angle. You winced at Moe's lopsided hovering, but Bucky seemed enthralled. "He isn't usually so…. Wonky. He got damaged by an explosion a few missions ago and I only just got him flying again. I'm sure Wakanda has things way more advanced but…" you trailed off as Bucky shook his head.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked, circling around for a better look. You almost didn’t notice his hand accidentally brushing against your arm as he moved past you, but to your surprise, it didn’t feel unpleasant. “It’s like that car Stark showed off in ‘43. You remember that Stevie?”

Steve seemed almost surprised as he watched Bucky gush over the drone, you would have never been able to guess that he had been begging Steve to not bother introducing him to anyone not even half an hour before. “The one that crashed to the ground?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Listen Punk, don’t even pretend to act like you stuck around long enough to see that.”

You bit your lip to fight the urge to laugh. You would have never expected the Winter Soldier to be a science nerd. “I did base Moe’s propulsion system off Howard Stark’s flying car propulsion designs, though I reworked them to be more efficient and a bit faster. When they’re properly adjusted at least.” You finished by tapping the drone again and it gently lowered onto the table before turning off.

“That’s absolutely amazing,” Bucky said rubbing his jaw. “What else does it do?” You grinned as you began to explain Moe’s functions in detail, Bucky clinging to your every word. Neither of you noticed as Steve quietly slipped away, grinning like a Cheshire cat. It was rare for either of you to take so quickly to someone, and he wasn’t about to do anything to draw your attention to it. He could finish introducing Bucky to everyone tomorrow.

From that day, your friendship with Bucky was easy and fun. You both just seemed to click in a way you had never experienced with someone before. He would spend hours in the lab while you worked, talking to you about anything and everything that he could think of. You wouldn’t shy away from him on the extremely rare times he would accidentally touch or brush against you. Strangely, you actually found yourself liking his touch and, for that matter, him.

Actually, saying you liked Bucky was probably the understatement of the century. You were absolutely head-over-heels for him. You didn’t have a damn clue how you managed to fall so hard for him, especially when it didn’t even feel like falling at all. You could barely even focus if he wasn’t there. You had grown so used to his presence that when he was on missions the entire tower seemed to feel empty.

Which was where you found yourself right now. You tinkered aimlessly on your gadget, there were countless repairs you should be doing, but you just couldn’t motivate yourself to do any of them. Bucky had been on a mission for the last two weeks, the longest he had been away since he joined. You had no idea what to do with yourself as you pulled yourself through the paces of adjusting Moe's propulsion system. You were waiting for FRIDAY to inform you of Bucky's return, just like she always did the moment he came back. You couldn't wait to greet him as he got off the quinjet. At least then you could stop worrying so much and get some work done.

"Y/N, FRIDAY's voice echoed through the lab. Your heart soared as you looked up toward the ceiling at the disembodied voice. "Sergeant Barnes has just landed, he's been rushed to the med bay." And just like that, your heart crashed to the ground. Something fell to the ground with a loud bang as you jumped up, but you didn't care to see what it was as you rushed out of the lab.

You ran as fast as your feet would carry you as you hurried to the med bay. Horror stories played through your head as you pushed through the doors. You paid no mind to the nurses yelling for you to slow down as you searched for Bucky.

Your lungs bere burning when you found him being stitched up by Bruce, talking to Steve. Relief hit you like a tidal wave. He was okay. Bruce had just finished Bucky’s stitches when you threw your arms around Bucky. You hadn’t even thought about the contact, you were just so happy that he was okay. You only realized it when you felt a cool arm wrap around your waist.

“Don’t cry Doll.” He said softly, tightening his arms around you. You hadn’t even noticed you were crying until he pointed it out. “I’m okay. The bullet only grazed me. I promise I’m okay.” He reassured you, his hand stroking your hair. Being held by him was probably the nicest thing you’ve ever felt.

You took a deep, shaky breath as your tears slowed. You nodded as you pulled away from him, smiling weakly. Bruce and Steve stared in disbelief as they watched you. You had never so much as willingly shook someone's had, let alone hug them, and yet there you were with your arms wrapped around Bucky’s neck. Bucky ignored them, pulling you back into him, touching his forehead to yours. You sniffled, “FRIDAY said-”

“I know Doll. It’s okay. Are you?”

You swallowed and nodded again. You had never been so close to him before, but honestly, it felt right, it put your mind at ease in ways you severely needed right now. He was so important to you, and you were so scared you might have lost him. Especially before you could tell him just how important he was. You took a deep breath, filled with a sudden resolve, “I love you.” You finally said, bracing him for his response.

Tears threatened in your eyes again when he laughed. “Doll, I figured that out when you hugged me.” He brushed away a tear welling in your eye with his thumb. “And I love you too.” The breath caught in your throat and you choked out a sobbing laugh. “Want to talk about this over milkshakes?”

“I’d love to.” You smiled with a big sniffle.

“As sweet as this is.” Bruce cut in. “I need to finish bandaging Bucky up before you two try to take off.” You both pulled apart to see Bruce holding up gauze and bandages.

Bucky smiled that smile you had come to love so dearly before kissing your forehead. “Go get ready, Doll. I’ll pick you up in 10.” You nodded, giving him one last hug before leaving. You really could get used that feeling. 

Taglist: 

@part-time-prefect @anxiousamandapanda

[lvkswrites-blog]

A school trip, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. (I)

Pairings: Professor Loki(au) x Student reader

Warnings: Oral, (m) receiving

Summary: The trip to Switzerland is long and Professor Loki have very short patience towards waiting. You are a little mischievous yourself and made the trip worthwhile.

Y/N’s POV

I feel really wonky as the Airbus landed. I’m not really good on long trips. The teachers noticed my discomfort and they all asked me if I am still able to get along with the trip. I really don’t like to be the bummer so I said, “I can. It’ll get better later.” Professor Loki gave me a look like he knows I really don’t feel well. He may have said something to the other teachers that I can manage.

Y/F/N went to me and rubbed my back. I squeezed her hand and we walked towards the airport lounge. I quickly knock myself out as we get inside the cab. I vividly remember that Y/F/N took my head and placed it on her shoulder.

The next thing I know I was in a moving train boot with a really warm blanket wrapped around me. Oh God, it feels so good. The blanket is really warm and that voice that soothes me. Oh, bollocks!

I snapped and realized that voice. My body jolted upwards making Professor Loki halt from his incantations. What’s he doing?

Professor Loki just gave me a blank face. There’s a small table in the middle of the booth where he placed his hand and he just stared back. The air is thick and cold. Yet, I can barely breathe. I feel so warm. My breath’s hitching. I looked away from his stare it’s starting to make me feel dodgy.

He cleared his throat. “It’s my first time to see you like this.” “You’re usually full of tricks under your sleeves, a bit of a tosser, and witty I might add.” I felt his gaze is still on mine. What’s with him? I fidgetted the hem of the warm blanket over me. My face is facing the view, gloomy woods and dark skies. 

----

I think it has been an hour since but when I looked at my watch I realized it has only been 35 minutes since. I don’t know how long this ride will take. I feel better, to be honest. However-- “How long are you planning to grin like a nutter and stare at me?”, I announced with a tinge of annoyment. Professor Loki laughed. “Until I catch your attention?”

“Okay, now you have it.” Now we're face to face. “Spill.”

-”I reckon you feel better.” He looked over his shoulder and checked the boot. He scooted a little bit closer and his legs now touch mine. This blanket makes feel warmer, crap. I have to say his a fit bloke and I had a text conversation with Y/F/N that Professor Loki is very scrummy while in class. 

“Y/N” He called. I looked at him and he grinned like a wanker. I laughed and he started to talk about what happened earlier. Me honking on the loo, me on the cab ride, him getting me here. “... you’re cheeky, aren’t ya?”

I’m about to have a narky remark when a guy knocked on our boot. A lad dressed very formally with two bottles in hand. Professor Loki slid a tip in his pocket and whispered something. The lad thanks him and slid off the boot.

Professor Loki served me a Johnny Walker and handed me the drink. “You are getting me in trouble.”, I said looking up at him. He smiled, “For the record, it helps you ... warm up a bit.” He took a sip and I took a smooth swig. “You’re a pro.” I squinted and finished with an “aggh”. “Not that much...”

After a glass or two (Or double that). Me and professor Loki and I are laughing is ass off. This is very bad. I started spilling every teacher’s gossip to him. “...yes Sir. We heard Walker and Roberts on the closet room. We’re pretty sure it’s them.” Professor Loki laughed with a shock expression. “Those filthy bastards. I knew it.” and then I showed him my phone. I kept telling him stories and I did not know I stopped when I realized I’m being very chatty.

Professor Loki cheekily smiled, “Who do you think I am... or will... be hooking up with?” Is he up for it? No, it must be the alcohol.

“I don’t know”...”But, I can bear if it isn’t me.” What the actual fuq y/n.

Professor Loki spat his drink and What?’ed me. I’m under influence, don’t uiopasdfghjkl me. What? huh, What. Professor Loki scooted closer and wrapped the blanket all over me. I giggled. His touch is tickling me. Oh, how I would love to feel his touch.

“Blimey”, Professor Loki cussed. His strong arms engulfed me. I believe I look like a fully wrapped burrito around his arms. I really feel so hot and thoughts played inside my mind. I giggled again and my hands have a life of their own. My hand find its way out of the blanket and unto his tighs. Professor Loki stilled and watched my hands snake upwards.

“Y/N”, a warning voice from him. “You--” I sush’ed him. He did it again and nodged him. “we don’t wanna get caught, aren’t we?”, I managed to say half smiling. Professor Loki threw his head back and his hand rested on my waist.

His moans and the chugging of the steamer filled the room. My hands have not yet done anything yet. I’m just running my palms up and down his crotch. When agony mixed his moans it signals me to free him from his trousers.

I lowered my body and the blanket draped over my body. Professor Loki, by reflex, bucked his hips and position himself. I’m still running up and down his shaft. He looked down on me and moaned as he sees our position. His base hardened more. “Fancy, a head?” I asked. Professor Loki nodded in assurance. He wants this. For how long has he been thinking of this? I took him on my mouth, slowly but with a grip. My hand my mouth are having a feast. My inner self is dancing. 

Professor Loki moved a bit and pulled the blanket over my head to cover our did. We can’t be careless. We are with other teachers and other people may come in anytime they want. I see very faint light and his little one pressing on my face. The smell of Johnny Walker and him is intoxicating me. I can feel my insides getting wetter too. I gave him a ‘pop’ and let my hand to the rest. Honestly, going on makes me dizzy. 

“Professor Loki, there you are!!”, I heard a man called him out. Professor Loki tensed and held his breaths. “I’m wondering... Where’s Ms. Y/L/N?”--”She went to the loo, it’s been a while. I think she searched for her uhm her friend.”, He responded quickly. My hands still moved along his base and gave his tip a little caress.

When everything is clear. Professor Loki lifted the blanket and ordered me, “Kneel.” I obliged and kneeled properly. I felt it was more proper kneeling down on the floor than earlier’s position. I felt more comfortable. He’s not yet getting his high I believe. The blanket again draped over me and his lower area. I took him again inside my mouth and he moaned harder. He bucked his hips and his member went deeper I almost gagged. Sloppy kisses and a little more caress, I felt him twitch. Almost there. His hands then supported my head, guiding me as I suck him, feeling him. “Mm yes, keep going.” I kept the pace and sucked harder. “Ah” “Bloody hell” “Ah, c’mon c’mon c’mon.” He stopped my head from bobbing and felt him release inside my mouth. I let him for a second fill my mouth.

I removed the blanket and showed him his mess on my mouth. His eyes are on me, his hand caressed my cheek and said, “Take it. You earned it.”  I swallowed and used the back of my hands to wipe off what’s on my lips. I felt so filthy yet chuffed at the same time. I grinned and went to sit beside him.

He tucked in and collected himself. He fell silent and poured himself another drink. I sat there wet and contemplating what will happen next.

What a ride it has been.

[avengerscompound]

Swipe Right - Chapter 3

Swipe Right: A Captain America Fanfic

Series Masterlist Previous | Next For your POV

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count:  2100ish

Warnings:  None for this chapter.

Synopsis:   Steve comes to your house to cook and watch movies on your second date.

A/N:  Re-uploading from @emilyevanston.  

THERE ARE IMAGES IN THIS FIC THAT ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE STORY.

Chapter 3

Steve felt like he was walking on air on his way back down to the subway station.  He had really enjoyed spending time with you and the thought of a casual dinner at home with you without all the eyes sounded perfect.  He made it down the stairs to the platform just as the train pulled away.  That was not nearly enough to change his mood.

He did wonder about the kiss.  He was glad you’d kissed his cheek, but he still kept thinking he should have gone for more.  That things were different now.  That he had to stop taking to long to make a move on people.  He pulled out his phone as he waited and texted you.

Those few words made a wave of relief wash over him.  You trusted him to trust himself.  You’d just taken the pressure off.  If he needed to go slow you would be there setting the pace with him.

Something shifted between the two of you too as you spoke for the next week.  Along with the usual comfort you had together through the screen there was now a buzz.  An excitement that this could be more.  That it was real.  There was an excitement about taking what seemed to be there through the screen and bringing it into the real world.

Often conversion turned to the upcoming date.  It was on both of your minds a lot and Steve really enjoyed stripping off his uniform at the end of the day and just going through plans with you. It set his mind at ease and gave him something to look forward to.  Food plans were made and you settled on watching a movie.  He had told you to choose a film.  He was interested to see what you would settle on.  It would be a good way of seeing the person you were, and how you saw him.

You spoke about other plans too.  Each conversation increased Steve’s excitement.

Steve pondered the question.  He pictured the two of you together cooking and he liked the way it felt.  He’d never really gotten the hang of cooking though.  Food was scarce growing up and cooking involved boiling.  The fact there was a cafeteria at the tower saved him a lot of effort.

Steve smiled at his phone, loving that you had the options already thought out like that.  That you wanted him to be as comfortable as he could be in your home.

He laughed at your teasing.  He liked the playful undertone.  For the first time in a long time, his mind actually flicked to sex in a way that wasn’t just abstract.  He imagined kissing you up against the kitchen bench and something else stirred in him.  Something he had thought had died with him in the ice.

He stared at his phone for a moment with a smile on his face before putting it away.  When he looked up he realized that Sam had been staring at him the whole time.

“Damn, you have it bad.”  He teased.

Steve nodded.  “I’m not even going to argue with you.  I really like this woman.”

“I’m really glad man.  Just… and I can’t believe I’m the one suggesting this, but don’t rush.  You still have to get to know each other in person.”  Sam said getting up and patting Steve on the shoulder.

On the day of the date, he went out to a nearby bakery to buy dessert.  He settled on a chocolate babka and on the way home he passed a florist.  He looked at the different bouquets and settled on one of daisies dotted with brightly colored pom-pom chrysanthemum.  He liked how it looked a little wild yet innocent.

After work, he showered and dressed and grabbed the dessert, wine, and flowers before texting you.

He felt his face flush.  There was something about you that made him blush a lot.  If it was anyone else he’d hate it.  There was no way Tony would let him get away with bushing.  With you though, he wasn’t bothered at all.

It took him about half an hour to get there and when you answered your door you smiled brightly up at him.  Wow, these are beautiful.”  You said taking them.  “Let me just go find something to put them in.”

He followed you into your apartment and took in your room.  You’d obviously cleaned.  A lot.  He took in your photos and knickknacks.  The rug you had over your couch.  The way you’d laid out your room.  Each thing telling him a little more about you.  “Your place is really nice,”  Steve said following you inside.  “Do you rent?”

You laughed.  “Yes.  Who can afford to own in New York?”

“Honestly, I’m surprised people can afford to rent in New York,”  Steve replied.

He watched you dig around in your cupboard and pull out a glass.  You added water to it and put the flowers inside, before putting the glass on the window sill.  You turned back to him and grinned.  “Okay.  So.  I already did the rice because it’s supposed to be cool.  And I fried some egg.  Now we just have to cut things up and try and assemble them.”

“Alright, show me what to do,”  Steve said, rolling up his sleeves.

Steve really enjoyed assembling the sushi with you despite the fact he couldn’t seem to get it to work.  The chopping bit was fine.  He was good with a blade after all.  It was rolling them that didn’t seem to work.  They wouldn’t stick and as soon as he unrolled the mat they just unwound with it.

“I really have no idea what I’m doing wrong.”  He said looking at you for help.

You started giggling.   There was something about the sound that made him feel like this was exactly how it should be.  Just having fun and not taking it seriously.  “It’s fine.  Really.  Look.”  You said pulling his chopping board over.  You grabbed your knife and chopped everything up so it was just a complete mess of ingredients and then scooped them into a bowl.  “There you go.  Now it’s just a rice bowl.  It’ll still taste good.”

Steve laughed, though he could feel his face flush a little again.  “Tasting good is the most important part I suppose.”

“Here,”  You said, picking up one of your wonky Maki Rolls and raising it to his lips.  He opened his mouth ready for you to put it in and you shoved the whole thing inside.  He made an exaggerated choking sound and you both broke down in laughter.

“Mmm… good.”  He said through his still full mouth.  It was true though.  Even though they were wonky it tasted good.

“Okay.  Let’s take what we have and go watch the movie.”  You said.

He nodded and helped you gather everything up.  As you lay things out on the coffee table Steve poured you both a glass of wine.  “So what are we watching?”

“I have three options.  Two classics.  One I just haven’t seen so it’s a risk.  First up, this is an animation from my childhood.”  You said handing him your copy of the Last Unicorn.  “Here we have a musical I thought you might like.”  You said putting a copy of Into The Woods on top of the first one.  “And finally, we have Rampage.  Which is based on a video game where you play as a monster and smash building and eat people.   It has the Rock in it.  I have no idea if it’s good or not.”

Steve took it and added it to his small pile.  Flicking from one to the next.  He was really mostly tempted to watch the two older movies to see what it was you had chosen specifically to show him.  In the end, the call of the musical won.  He always liked a musical.   “How about the musical?”  He said handing you ‘Into the Woods’.

“Fine choice.”  You said getting up and putting the disk into the machine.

You watched the first half of the movie sitting side by side and making your way through your meal.  The second half you sat cross-legged beside him as he lounged back more into the couch.  You both randomly tore pieces of Babka off and ate them, or topped up each other's wine glass.  He could tell you were getting tipsy and for the first time in a long time regretted that the alcohol had no effect on him.  He liked the movie though.  It was modern and funny while calling back to more classic stories.  He liked the humor in it and the spin on the old stories.  He loved the quote ‘Nice is different to good’ particularly.

“I really liked that,”  Steve said moving to tidy things up with you as the credits to the movie started.  “Good choice.  Now I'm interested to see what the one that was a childhood favorite was.”

“Well, it’s still relatively early if you wanted to make this a movie marathon.”  You suggested.

He smiled at you.  He was glad for the offer.  He wasn’t at all ready to end the night.  “I would love that.”

The two of you settled back onto the couch and put on ‘The Last Unicorn’.  Once again Steve relaxed back into the couch and you sat with your legs tucked up beside you.  As it moved on it was like there was a magnetic pull between you and you ended up curled into his side with his arm around you.  It felt good. He loved the way you felt nestled into his side.  Warm and soft against him.

As the movie ended he gave you a little squeeze before stretching.  “God, that was sad.  You really watched that as a kid?”

“Sure did.  It has a happy enough ending.”  You said.

“Being the last of your kind is very real, let me tell you,”  Steve said.  He’d tried to make it in an offhand way but realized there was a dark undercurrent to the words as they left his mouth.

You looked up at him and smiled.  “Well, maybe you’ll find them again too.”

“Getting there.”  He agreed.  He stretched again and sat forward.  “I should probably get going.”

You nodded and stood and he got up behind you.  “Thank you for coming.”  You said as you walked him to the door.

“Thank you for having me,”  Steve said.  He turned to you at the door and smiled.  “I had a really good time.  We should do it again soon.”

“I would love that.”  You agreed.

He looked down at you.  The darkness he’d just brought to the surface seemed to take away the moment and he didn’t feel right kissing you now though even half an hour earlier it would have been perfect.  He leaned down and pecked your cheek.

“Good choice.”  You teased running your hand along his forearm.

“Thank you.”  He said, blushing yet again.  Once again your reassurance making him feel much better about it.  “Good night.”

“Night, Steve.  Text me when you get home.”  You said.

He headed to the stairs feeling better already, he turned back and smiled at you.  “I’ll text you on the train.”

[spiders-hth-is-an-outlier]

@propinquitous tagged me to talk about myself, and yeah, I generally do that when people don't run away fast enough, so here we go!

Name: Hth is my real-live name; it is pronounced “Heather.”

Fandoms: Oh, I dunno, I guess it depends on the entrance requirements?  Right now I'm pretty absorbed in The Magicians, but I also follow fannishly and have recently written for Schitt's Creek and Supernatural, and I follow fannishly but do not write for the MCU and Star Trek and Star Wars and, like – other things, as they catch my fancy?  Also many others over the years, but that's kind of where I am these days.

Where You Post: AO3, like all the classy bitches.

Most Popular Oneshot: According to kudos on AO3, it's In the Hands of Yes, a Stargate: Atlantis fic which I posted there in the Year of Gay Jesus 2009.   Aliens make Rodney and Ronon get married; they're fine with it.

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: I actually very rarely wrote those until pretty late in my fannish career and I really only have four or five to choose from, but so far it's my current Magicians coffeeshop-AU-with-no-coffeeshop WIP, Pretty Good Year.

Favorite Story You Wrote: My favorite is always the one I'm currently writing, so definitely Pretty Good Year, but if you exclude that one as having an unfair advantage, I think – damn, I don't know.  I'm pretty partial to Casanova (Fucked Me Over), the canon-verse Supernatural story I spent half a year on and nobody besides me gives a shit about (that's not true, I had some very nice commenters, but it's – more true than not).  I don't know, I think maybe it's just too personal to resonate with other people?  But I reread it periodically, and it's really satisfying to me every time, which is rare.

How You Choose Your Titles: I either jack a lyric from one of the songs I was listening to as I brainstormed the story, or else I lean toward really lean, noun-based titles that kind of underscore whatever I think is the High Concept of this particular story (T-Minus 1 is about the dramatic irony of David being on the verge of his big love story and not realizing it yet, The Bee-Charmer is about slowly approaching people without spooking them, wherein Ronon is both the bee-charmer and the swarm of bees, Lexicon is about communicating with actions vs with words. Yadda yadda.)

Do You Outline?: Depends on the length of the story.  If it's a genine one-shot, where I don't plan on very many scene changes, it may just be in my head as a complete entity and I don't need to bother.  If it takes place over any span of time, and I intend to show things developing and changing, yeah, I can't pace that out mentally without taking at least a few notes. Sometimes it's just a page or so of bullet-points to make sure I get from one place to the next, and sometimes when I'm feeling my way through a story, I'll just start writing, and I'll have a mini-draft that's just like “and then this happens and then they do this, and then Character X is like, I will never forgive you! And Character Y gets drunk and” I don't know, whatever.  Those tend to run anywhere from five pages to twelve or fourteen.  My outlines usually look – mostly like the finished versions, although there's always at least one point where they start to diverge enough that I have to reconcile the two versions somehow, and that's fun.

Complete: So on AO3 I have 44 complete stories, but that is a serious lowball in terms of my whole fannish career, which – I started writing X-Files fic in 96 or 97, and then wrote voluminously until I burned out on fandom in around 2009 or 10. Not everything I wrote during those thirteen years or so is up on AO3 – some of it I just don't like well enough to want it to be that easy to find (I mean, it's all on the internet somewhere, I don't kid myself that it's not findable, I just don't want to help), and a lot of it always felt like ephemera to me – 2k or 3k of something I just wanted to try in a particular voice or a tense or commentary on a minor character or a wonky crossover idea, stuff that I feel weird about Archiving as though it was ever meant to be a published product rather than me dicking around on mailing lists or on LJ.  Also, I don't have any of the stories I wrote under the Betty Plotnick pseud on AO3, which was something like a dozen interconnected Sentinel stories and around the same number of unconnected boyband stories.  I think they're still up on the internet somewhere too, but – I don't know, it's not that they weren't good, because some of them were.  They just come from a weird part of my life and I haven't been motivated to think about them or look at them for a long time.  Maybe someday.  Anyway, if you add it all up it's a fucking lot of fic, but I think all the significant stuff is part of those 44 stories on AO3.

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started: I'm bailing through a Schitt's Creek story I signed up for right now; I think it'll be short but sweet, which seems to be the role that Schitt's Creek fandom is filling in my life at this time.  There's also an Eliot-centric fic event happening at the end of the month, and I thought I'd knock something out for that, although I still haven't decided what, exactly.  In terms of big projects, I have a running file of outlines and notes for, hrm, I think five Magicians stories and six or seven Supernatural stories (some of which I have actual words on and some of which I don't), and when I'm done with Pretty Good Year, I'll probably throw a dart at my laptop and pick one of those to actually write.

Do You Accept Prompts?: I mean – theoretically?  I never know what's going to spark in my head and what's not, but I really like hearing ideas.  I guess I accept “you should totally write this!” as long as it's understood that my response is likely to be “omg, I totally should!” followed by never doing that.

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: I don't know, going back to that file of stuff, all of it is exciting enough to me to have put some thought into.  Maybe the Lisa/Dean/Castiel story I outlined when I got really annoyed thinking about how much wiping Lisa's memory and leaving her with a dead boyfriend in her living room would have fucked up her life, and I decided I could come up with something better than that nonsense.  I don't know if anyone would ever in a million years read a Lisa-POV story that spans four years and kind of makes Dean look like a careless dick, but it interests me, at least.

I don't know who I know that hasn't been tagged, but – how about @orchardsinsnow and @amagpie if they haven't been yet?

[murasaki-murasame]

I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to do entire posts about each episode of :re season 2, but episode 14 was really good and I have a lot of things to say about it, so here we are, lol.

It still might crash and burn later, but for now I’m still enjoying it, even though I’m clearly in the minority.

Anyway, the rest will be under a cut since it’ll be long and also spoil the entire series.

In a lot of ways, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by this episode, even though a lot of it technically went the way I expected. Like how they decided to end on the note of Arima slitting his throat. But a lot of the stuff in-between was interesting.

I was kinda surprised that they actually included Yomo’s entire backstory flashback about how Hikari and Arata got killed. I kinda figured they might cut it out, or at least heavily condense it, but they kept it pretty intact. I’m glad they did, though, since it gave this arc some much-needed thematic content.

On a more minor note, I appreciate that the anime doesn’t bother with some of the little things the manga did in order to set up chapter by chapter cliffhangers. In the Yomo-Arima fight in the manga, there was a whole cliffhanger where it looked like Yomo got killed, but that doesn’t really work at all in an anime when you don’t have to wait a week to see how the scene progresses, so thankfully they don’t even bother with stuff like that. On the one hand, it probably contributes to the overall feeling of the fights being less ‘intense’ than they were in the manga, but on the other hand, I very quickly got burned out by the constant, unnecessary cliffhangers in the manga. So this is much more pleasant in my opinion.

The other big change, from what I remember [beyond the fact that this episode just focused on continuing the Cochlea arc instead of swapping between it and the Rushima arc like the manga did], is the stuff with Hide. I feel like I’m gonna need to sit on it for a while to sort out all of my feelings about it, and in general I’m very curious to see how they handle his character later on once he actually returns to the main story, but my immediate reaction is that I think I actually prefer this to how the manga handled it.

As much as I love Hide as a character and basically everything surrounding his relationship with Kaneki, I never actually liked how Ishida handled the whole plot point of how Kaneki ate part of Hide’s face at the end of the first series. At the very least, it was executed very haphazardly, and a lot of it felt kinda clumsy and unplanned, with the flashbacks that Kaneki had to it at this point in the manga being some of the more glaring examples of it. It still to this day bugs me that, in the manga, we never got any clear answers for why Hide knew to find Kaneki there, why he knew to lead him to Arima, why he was willing to let Kaneki eat him, etc etc, and I feel like even once he came back into the story, there was no real impact to it, and the story spent absolutely zero time exploring the concept of how Kaneki’s feelings of guilt would change after knowing that Hide’s actually alive. And the specific way that the initial flashback to the sewers was handled always felt like a blatant retcon in general, and it just didn’t really cleanly fit with how the scene was initially portrayed in the first series.

So honestly I can totally live with the anime heavily changing how it handles this entire plot point. It’s always been a bit of a thorn in my side, so I’m glad they pretty much cut out the stuff that annoyed me the most, and kept the really nice stuff.

And also, I think that the whole detail of Kaneki being suicidal in this arc still makes total sense even without the whole lingering thread of him thinking that he murdered Hide. It’s pretty consistent with Kaneki’s personality in general to be suicidal and want to throw his life away to protect others, so I think it still works totally fine. And it also avoids the kinda awkward dissonance the manga had where the idea of Hide’s self-sacrifice got unironically glorified by the narrative and never criticized or explored at all, but it was used to say that Kaneki’s self-sacrificial attitude was bad and stupid, which still feels kinda hypocritical to me.

I wish the hallucination scene could have been a little longer, but it was still really nice and effective to see Kaneki finally open up about how severely he misses Hide. I still think that it’s a very effective scene even if you remove the context of him thinking that he killed Hide in the first series. Also, the :re character designer’s take on Hide is cute as hell and I can’t wait to see more of him later on.

We’ll see how it goes, but I’m really hoping they change things a bit later on so that he shows back up again a fair bit earlier than he did in the manga, since it felt like by the time he became relevant again, he was immediately overshadowed by everything else going on, and there was no time to do anything with him. So I hope they bring him back into the main cast a fair bit earlier, so they have more time to work with.

I’d actually kinda forgotten about it at first, but I guess they also skipped over Kaneki’s flashbacks to being kept prisoner in Cochlea, and how he lost his memories. To begin with, it’s entirely possible that they’ll just bring it up later, like during Arima’s whole dying monologue or something, but honestly I don’t think it’s a huge deal. It doesn’t tell the audience anything that couldn’t be easily pieced together. It also put an even more overtly off-putting slant on Kaneki and Arima’s relationship. It reminds me a little bit about how the manga outright spells out that Akira is intentionally acting as a mother figure to Kaneki because she was told to do so by her bosses to manipulate him more effectively, but I prefer how the anime cut it out and just let the audience think on their own terms about Kaneki and Akira’s relationship.

Other than that, I don’t think there’s too much to say about this episode itself. Although I did quite like the choice of translating that one line from Furuta as ‘teeth-hee!’. That was pretty good.

I know this post is mostly just about episode 14, but I’ve been thinking a lot over the last week about the writing choices made in episode 13, in terms of how it dives straight into the Cochlea/Rushima arc, and the more I think about it, the more I think I really like it. It’s not completely perfect, but still.

I think people forget that the overall start of the whole Cochlea/Rushima arc in the manga was where the pacing of :re in general started getting notably unbalanced and wonky, and a lot of things just kinda happen or get introduced with very little set-up. For example, the manga doesn’t exactly give much more of an explanation for how the CCG found out about the Aogiri base on Rushima. We just kinda find out soon after the time-skip that they’ve already started their raid on the island. And even the introduction to the second generation Qs was basically just ‘here they are, here’s their names and a few personality-establishing lines, OK now we’re going to do other stuff now and forget about them’. It basically ended up being a running joke that the Qs got more and more unimportant as more of them were introduced.

I’m at least assuming that some of the details like the way that Urie and Mutsuki in particular feel betrayed by Kaneki abandoning them will get touched upon once we properly go back to the Rushima arc, but that’s really most of the relevant stuff that episode 13 skipped over. It was also a bit sad to see them cut the dinner party scene with Urie and Matsuri, but honestly I’d prefer the anime not do anything with Matsuri at all as a character, if the alternative is them handling him as badly as the manga did in the long run.

Also, another important detail is that the manga also intentionally took us out of Kaneki’s head for a while after the time-skip. There was a good like eight or nine chapters or so where he was basically just being moody and we had no idea what was going on with him. So it’s not exactly a surprise that episode 13 also involved us not getting a look into his head.

I also really like that the anime is way more focused in how it’s just showing one arc at a time, whereas the manga was a lot more liberal with how it kept jumping between Cochlea and Rushima. And as someone who was reading the series as it came out by that point, trust me when I say that it was pretty agonizing. This is WAY smoother. To put it into perspective, Kaneki’s hair turns white at the end of :re chapter 75, but after that it doesn’t really return to his fight with Arima until around chapter 82, which ends with Arima slitting his throat. So the pacing here really does feel WAY more satisfying.

It’s also part of why the anime probably feels faster to people than it actually is, since it’s front-loading the Cochlea arc much more heavily than the manga did, and pushing back the Rushima arc to later.

And on that note, it looks like we’re actually going to have a Rushima arc episode next week, which is a little bit surprising, since I thought they would go through the entire Cochlea arc at this rate before going to the Rushima arc. But this is fine. We left off on a pretty satisfying cliffhanger with this episode, so I’m down with the anime shifting to an entirely Rushima arc-focused episode now.

I’m curious to see exactly how much of the arc they cover in the next episode. Considering that about half of volume 8 and all of volume 9 of the manga was focused on it, I think it’d take some substantial cuts for them to cover it all in one episode. The preview/synopsis for it seems to focus mostly on the Suzuya-Kurona fight, and the Tatara-Houji fight, but it also looks like it’ll also include some of the stuff with Takizawa, and at least some of the Mutsuki-Torso stuff. But even aside from that, there’s still stuff like the flashbacks to the time Amon and Takizawa spent with Aogiri, the raid on Kanou’s lab, and the whole scene where Marude assassinates Yoshitoki, so I don’t exactly think they’re going to get through all of that in one episode.

So after the next episode, I suppose it’s just a question of if they can wrap up the remaining threads of both arcs in one episode, or if they’ll need two. I guess we’ll see.

In the long term, I still have no idea exactly how the anime will be paced after this whole arc ends, but either way it looks like we’d effectively be left with seven or eight episodes to adapt the last seven volumes of the manga, so I’d expect there to be some substantial cuts and changes to make it work. Hopefully it’ll work well.

[hunnybadgerv]

SNAFU | Free to Be | SNAFU

Summary: Finding a new home for humanity after the invasion of the Zin and the destruction of Earth can be exhausting. These explorations also hold the potential for hidden and unpredictable dangers.

a/n: Inspired by this Remy/Matt prompt—First time lost/stranded/broken down somewhere together—sent by @Chyrstis in May of 2105.

Links: AO3 | FFnet

SNAFU

-1-

From the shuttle, Matt monitored the feed from the boss’ armor cam. So far, the planet seemed completely deserted. The heat signatures the scanner picked up turned out to be just a large pack of carnivores. He studied the stills he’d taken from her encounter with the beasts. They looked like a weird cross between a naked mole rat, a dire wolf, and an octopus. They even had beaks.

He shivered again. An alarm sounding pulled his attention back to the panel.

“You’re going to want to pick up the pace,” he said, tapping the comms.

Her breathing came in pants before Remy spoke. “Next planet, you’re doing the recon, smart ass.”

He smiled at the sound of her voice, playful and challenging. It sounded like she might just be smiling. “That storm’s moving in fast. If you don’t get a move on, we’re going to get stuck here.”

“Yeah, right,” she laughed brightly. A few choice sounds announced the roughness of the terrain she traversed on her return to the ship. “I’ve seen that movie Miller and it always ends with someone opening the shuttle door right before the couple climaxes.”

He didn’t key the mic again until his own laughter calmed. “This time it’s not a ploy to get you out of your space suit. Plus, most of the time I don’t need a ruse to get you naked.”

“Oh, really now. Are you suggesting I’m easy, Miller?”

“Not a chance.” No, he thought, that would never be a word he used to describe Remy. She was like a Rubik’s cube missing half its colors. You never knew if the moves you were making were right, and even if they were, the puzzle remained unsolvable.

“Good,” she replied with a hint of mirth still in her tone. The next moment it was completely gone. “Contact Kinzie and have them set an intercept. If that storm’s moving on us, I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Agreed,” he replied, with just as much professionalism. He switched channels and raised the ship, or tried to.

His focus turned wholly to trying to figure out why he couldn’t get a no response from the mother ship. Multiple channels left him with the same lack of response and Matt resorted to attempting atmospheric scans. All the while, the storm front loomed, growing closer and more ominous with each passing moment. Brown clouds billowed at the base, beneath the weight of a heavy gray tower. Lightning slicked over the exterior, rocketing down to the planet’s surface throwing dirt and debris into the air.

-2-

Remy moved at a pace faster than a jog but slower than a run. Her eyes scanned the foliage as her telemetry guided her back the direction she came. Once she hit the tree line, she halted. The head of the storm reached high into the atmosphere rolling like an explosion. She stared in awe at the massive wall of cloud as lightning flashed within it, flashing brightly, and arced over the exterior. The rumble of thunder could be heard even though it was still a ways off.

She hadn’t seen a storm like that … maybe in forever. That storm did look bad. A part of her thought his suggestion might just be Matt being libidinous.

The flicker of her HUD pulled her back into reality. The alarm started her moving again. She tapped at the panel on her wrist as she sprinted for the ship. It just flickered in a mix of color and static as everything went silent, including the quiet, ever-present hiss of her life support system.

By the time, she landed against the side of the shuttle, she was gasping. It felt like she was trying to breathe underwater. Her hands fumbled at the panel frantically before the door opened. Matt stared at her with wide eyes, not realizing her distress.

Remy scrambled in and punched the panel to close the door. She didn’t wait for the lock to pressurize before she was pulling at the seals on her helmet. Her lungs burned as she choked down more carbon dioxide than oxygen.

Matt grabbed at her wrists and tried to stop her; she saw his mouth moving, but heard nothing between his helmet and her own. He looked as intent to keep her helmet on as she was to get it off. The combination of clumsy movements and oxygen deprivation left her head spinning. While he couldn’t fend her off for long, Matt managed to thwart her until the green light beamed. She threw the helmet off her head and gasped in a breath as she dropped to her hands and knees, coughing and gulping down more greedy breaths.

Matt’s own helmet rattled across the floor. “Remy! What the hell?”

“Don’t know,” she said between breaths.

He knelt next to her his hand on her back as he leaned over her, his other hand on the panel of her suit to inspect it. “Bloody hell. What happened?”

Her steely blue eyes shot to his. “No. Clue!”

Neither of them said anything for nearly a minute. As her breathing calmed, she sat back on her calves. Matt just stared at her, studying her.

“I hit the edge of the clearing,” she explained finally. “And the display in my helmet flickered. Then the suit just—” She shrugged and shook her head. “It’s like it just shut down or shorted out or something. The panel got all wonky, then it went silent.”

He didn’t even blink, just stood there for a moment. In the next his hands were on her face, his lips on hers. Leaving her breathless proved easier in her current state. Matt rested his forehead against hers, relief shining in his bright cyan eyes. “Let’s get you out of this. I’ll get us out of here.”

“Couldn’t agree more.”

He hopped back behind the control panel and tapped at several buttons. “I haven’t been able to establish contact with the others.”

“What?” She froze.

Matt didn’t answer for quite a long time, so Remy, only half way out of her suit crossed to him. When she leaned on the back of his chair, he looked up at her, not even bothering to try to hide his distress. His mouth moved a few times as he looked at her but nothing came out.

“You know? If I hadn’t just nearly choked to death, I’d think you were trying to get in my pants.”

“I can’t get the engines to spool up, Rem.”

-3-

Her mouth tightened. Matt recognized the look. He’d seen it a few times since the Zin invasion and after. Without a word, she crossed to the rear of the ship and pulled off the rest of her malfunctioning suit. Turning in his chair, he watched her start pulling open cabinets.

The inventory finished quickly, and he could have told her exactly what she found. As he watched her, he calculated how much air was in the cabin and how long it would last them, then calculated the air in the other three suits. All told they’d have 38 hours of air, if this storm shut down the ship’s life support like it had her suit’s.

Of course, Matt really hoped the shielding on the ship could withstand whatever the storm might dish out. Though he also knew, that shouldn’t have happened to her suit. So, all bets seemed to be off.

“I’m thinking a day and a half,” Remy announced, breaking the silence.

“Little more,” Matt corrected.

“Set off the beacon. They might not be able to hear us, but maybe they’ll be able to pick up that signal.”

“Did your suit get damaged in that encounter with those … ?”

Remy shook her head. “No, managed to keep them from closing. When I shot the alpha, they seemed to circle it to protect it. They didn’t follow. Seemed like they chose to take care of their own over coming after me.”

“Then it was probably the storm. There is a lot of lightning flashing about out there. Perhaps there’s some interference. It’s the only thing that explains your suit and the radio.”

“And the engine,” she added.

“And that,” Matt agreed. He turned to the controls again, opening the panel and launching the distress beacon. The firing of its own small engine gave him a sense of hope. As the sound faded, he really wanted to believe that the launch went off without a hitch. He watched the monitors, following the trajectory into the clouds. A little bit of him, the pessimistic part, wondered if it would make it above the fast-moving front unscathed. If it would reach the high atmosphere and do what they couldn’t on the ground—signal the rest of the crew.

It’s the only way …

The weight of her hand on his shoulder, pulled his attention away from the panel. “It’ll be fine.”

He wanted to believe her.

“They know our operational window. That’s why we set the damn things,” she reminded him as she fell into the chair beside his. She propped her foot on the arm of his chair and started to rock it back and forth. “In six hours, they’ll be on top of us.”

Logically, she was right. Matt had done it all by the book—sent their landing site coordinates and received confirmation that they were received correctly.

He tried to give her more than a half-hearted smile before he ran his fingernail over the ball of her foot. Remy pulled it away from him with a laugh.

“It surprises me that someone as tough as you is ticklish.” He let his eyes rake over her. The thin, skin-tight shorts and racerback sports top showed off the lean muscle that coiled around her petite frame. She told him once that dynamite came in small packages, and Remy McGinnis certainly seemed to be proof of that. She was a powerhouse—strong, smart, beautiful.

He still didn’t know how he was the one she chose.

Like she knew what he was thinking, she climbed out of her chair and curled up in his lap. Her kisses were soft, lingering on his lips as her fingers chased the line of his jaw. Matt draped his arm over her legs, his hand resting on and pulling at her back to get and keep her close.

There was no other way he’d want to spend his last day and a half, if indeed it was that.