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randomshyperson · 2 years

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Coffee Stain - Milf!Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Summary: The one where Reader has been tutoring the twins for a few months, and not falling in love with the stunning Wanda Maximoff is an impossible task. | Requested by @abimess .

Warnings: Lots of fluff and domesticity, attempted humor and bad jokes, Milf!Wanda being adorable and a gay disaster, unspecified age gap, some mentions of low self-esteem and signs of an abusive past-relationship, kissing and making out, and Dom!Wanda allusions and implicit smut. || Words: 4.063k

General Masterlist || AO3 || Wattpad

--//--

When Agatha reassigned you to the mentorship of the Maximoff Twins, you were apprehensive about the proximity of their residences.

Since you started working at the Salem Institute, all your students were from the city center, and you were used to the subway ride of at least twenty minutes, the practice of having a cold drink at the local coffee shop became a treasured hobby over time.

But almost six months ago, a new family had moved into the empty house four doors down from your own, and apparently, as soon as they were stabilized, the matriarch looked for school assistance for the children. Billy and Tommy were in elementary school, and both have considerable difficulty in class - most likely because of the switch from homeschooling to the new model.

At first, you were afraid to give up your routine to attend to the Maximoffs, but besides Agatha insisting that you were the most viable option because of the proximity, you met the boys' mother at the street fair.

Wanda Maximoff was something else.

A few years older than you, and undeniably gorgeous. She was distracted by the shopping list and didn't notice that she hadn't backed the shopping cart up properly, but you stopped the little metal vehicle before it crashed and splattered her fruits. She gave a relieved laugh, promptly going to thank you, and you were so charmed by her smile that you couldn't help but introduce yourself.

"Oh, you're tutor that Agatha mentioned!" She suddenly recognized you, and you blinked curiously as Wanda started babbling about having gone to the institute after teachers, and Agatha having shown her on her computer dozens of options. You made a mental note about commenting to Agatha about digital security before focusing your attention completely on Wanda.

And after spending practically the entire morning chatting away with your new neighbor while you were shopping for vegetables together, you couldn't help but agree and immediately assure her that you would be tutoring the twins.

That was four months ago.

Now, you know as much about Wanda as Billy and Tommy know mathematics.

For instance, she is a writer and works from home practically every day - except when she has some appointment at the Agency - so she was always around when you were helping the twins with their studies. She has iced tea in the afternoon, and always saves a place for you at breakfast if you schedule a weekend study session. Wanda has tried to go vegetarian eight times in the last few months, three times in the same week, always having to restart the habit because she forgot her own eating commitments. She also loves Sitcoms - this you found out because you went to say goodbye one afternoon, and when you knocked on her office door you found her watching an episode during a business meeting, and she just raised a finger in front of her lips in a request for a secret and you laughed lightly, imitating an oath in front of your chest.

Wanda was also getting divorced.

His name was Jarvis Vision Stark, and although he was apparently a good father, he didn't seem to be such a good husband. He didn't do anything wrong as far as you know, but you concluded that he was no good at being a husband because he was never around, and if someone has the chance to be with Wanda Maximoff and chooses to be somewhere else, that person must have some problem with them.

As far as you can tell, in all those hours you spent with her, falling in love with Wanda was inevitable. If you stayed around her adorably clumsy and inquisitive personality, there was no other way out. She was simply the most charming woman you knew, and these were just the facts.

On Thursdays, the twins had judo class. And this week, the holiday weekend was with Vision. So you scheduled the class for a later time, having enough time to visit your favorite coffee shop and read a book in the afternoon.

Wanda apparently had the same idea.

The whole place suited her very well indeed. You hadn't even entered the shop yet, catching a glimpse of the older woman through the glass window - focused on a book and biting the tip of a pen, her red hair cascading down and making it almost impossible to recognize her. - and swallowing the nervousness that suddenly rose in your stomach, you made your way inside, and while your drink was ready, you built up the courage to approach.

Then of course Wanda got up to throw some writing drafts in the trash at the same moment you appeared behind her.

"Shit! I'm so sorry!" She apologized frantically, her eyes wide as she tried to diminish the stained mess on the front of your shirt with small napkins she grabbed from the table and making you blush more from the touch than from the curious glances from the other customers.

Wanda seemed to get more beautiful every time you looked at her, and her clumsiness got a soft laugh out of you.

"Don't worry, Miss Maximoff, it will dry." You tease, and she sighs but makes a small grimace at the stain on your blouse.

"I told you Wanda was fine." She retorts, quickly throwing the dirty napkins away and turning to grab her belongings. "Come on, I can't look at the mess I've made on such a lovely shirt."

Despite your insistence that there is no problem, you neither resist the gentle tug Wanda gives on your sleeve, nor refuse to accompany her all the way back to her house, where you exchange a few words about sharing a taste for the local coffee, or the tranquility of the environment for reading and writing that shop provides.

You even asked Wanda about switching the office to a place with other people, but she explained that she needed a change of scenery to get inspiration for the last few chapters of a story she was working on as she opened the door and guided you to the laundry room.

"Let's just make sure the stain doesn't stay, honey." She says as she opens the door and you follow her half-heartedly, suddenly realizing that this must be the first time you've been alone with her in her house. Wanda bends down to pick up some cleaning products and places them on the counter before turning her attention back to you. "Can you..."

"Oh, sure." You immediately agree, letting your nerves control your actions, and without much thought, you pull your shirt out in one motion.

Wanda's eyes widen, frozen at the sight of your torso covered only by a sports top. The redness in her face makes yours warm as well.

"I-I was going to suggest the bathroom. And a robe. " She remarks breathlessly, and it's your turn to widen your eyes, but your embarrassment is short-lived, because Wanda clears her throat, and looks down, holding out her hand for you to hand her the item.

She decides to start working on the stain, and you shift the weight of your feet as you watch her, unsure exactly what to do with your hands.

"Thank you for that again, Miss Maximoff. It was nice of you." You mumble trying to fill the tense silence between you, but Wanda gives a short laugh, raising her eyes from the fabric to you.

"Was it nice to knock coffee on you?" She retorts with amusement, and it's your turn to chuckle, scratching behind the back of your neck as the awkward tension dissipates between you.

"It was no big deal, Miss Maximoff."

She makes a small grimace. "Wanda." She insists again, and you notice the way her gaze falls to your cleavage for a micro second and the intensity of her irises makes your legs wobble. You offer her a small smile before repeating.

"Wanda."

She smiles and turns her attention back to your shirt. Not wishing for the awkward silence to return, you try to pull up a subject while she works. And in less than two minutes you are laughing at her stories.

“[...] Monica was so worried about the whole divorce thing, and I just surprised her with almost twelve thousand words about why marriage is humanity's worst invention." She tells it with an easy smile on her lips, which you share.

Monica has been Wanda's agent since she published her first book - a clichéd novel about the unusual love of a witch and a robot - and now, almost ten years later, she was one of the best friends of the redhead in front of you. You didn't know her in person, but you had seen Wanda talking to her by video call and on the phone a few times.

Wanda leaves your wet shirt to dry and mimics your position of leaning your back on the machine with your arms crossed on the opposite side, your feet a few inches away from each other.

"That sounds like a bestseller." You joke, making her laugh softly. She shrugs her shoulders.

"We won't publish it, but it sure helped me get something off my chest." She says half thoughtfully. "I don't know, it's been two weeks since I signed the papers, and I still..." But Wanda shuts up, shaking her head and sighing. "Sorry, I'm babbling. You don't care about that."

"Hey, it's okay." You assure her as gently as you can, adjusting your posture against the cabinet behind you, but resisting the urge to touch her. "You can vent all you want, I don't care. Or rather, I do. About everything you tell me, I mean."

She raises surprised but impressed eyes to you. And you smile, but Wanda raises an eyebrow.

"Are you sure this is professional?" She asks, and you almost feel embarrassed, but a mischievous smile appears on her lips that makes you understand that she is only joking. To your momentary hesitation, she adds, "Listening to your students' mother whine in the laundry room?"

You chuckle slightly at the description, shaking your head a little. "Well, the contract says I'm here to help." You comment, assuming a thoughtful fake expression. "I suppose serving as a liquor depot is my job..."

Wanda grunts guiltily, kicking your foot gently and making you laugh. "Jerk." She grumbles and you shrug.

"And on top of that getting cursed at, such a toxic work environment." You mock, getting a laugh from the redhead who shakes her head in disbelief.

"Shut up." She mutters with her arms crossed, and your laughter gradually ceases, until the noise of the machine is the only sound besides your soft breathing.

You and Wanda look away from your shoes to each other almost at the same time, dancing around the next subject as you exchange little smiles. You clear your throat a moment later, moving your hands to the countertop and squeezing the wood gently.

"So, if it's okay for you, I'll stay around until the boys' class time." You suggest but Wanda isn't even listening. Her gaze lost on your chest, because of course you had to have leaned in like that and she was just staring discourteously, and without any self-control. You let out a confused laugh, "Wanda?"

She turned as red as her hair, looking away so quickly it only made it more obvious what she was doing.

"I-I..." She tried to formulate a line of thought, grimacing at her own disaster, and sighing in frustration. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

You laughed, short and impressed. "My class. With the boys, this afternoon. Is it okay if I wait?"

"Oh, sure. Of course." She agrees nodding and swallows dryly as you cross your arms, an expression of virtual delight at having caught her in the act on your face. She clears her throat, trying to regain her composure. "If you're hungry, I can prepare something for us."

You deny it with a nod. "No way Wanda, you already washed my clothes today. I'm not going to make you cook for me." You comment humorously, but she gestures quickly.

"Don't be ridiculous, it was my fault. And it's no problem at all, let's go make us something, I clearly ruined your afternoon meal." She retorts and is leaving the laundry room so quickly that you have no way of denying it - no idea at all that Wanda needed to get out of such a small space before she did something she could regret.

Wanda was going to try to busy herself with food, but the third time she found your exposed chest as she turned around for some pot or supply, she let out a frustrated sigh.

"Okay, you need a shirt." She stated seeming to speak more to herself than to you, who scratched behind your head awkwardly, looking at her with confusion. "Just wait here, I'll be right back."

She disappears for a few minutes, and you busy yourself with the delicious cookies she left on the counter. Wanda returns with a shirt in hand, and you smile at her mischievously as you are caught eating her treats, making her smile affectionately.

"Worse than children when left alone, I see." She jokes getting a soft chuckle from you as she hands you the shirt. The return dies on your tongue as you slip the fabric over your neck, and the garment smells like Wanda and is at the very least intoxicating. She doesn't seem to notice your hesitation, distracted as she goes back to preparing the snacks she started before you left.

You clear your throat after a moment. "And I noticed these are vegetarian options." You comment approaching her at the counter as she cuts the tomatoes. "Is it for real this time?" You tease.

"Hey!" She giggles, throwing her shoulders against yours lightly. "I'm going to make it this time."

"I know you will, honey. I believe in you every time." You murmur sincerely, and you can't help but let your gaze linger on Wanda, especially as you listen to the soft sigh she lets out and notice the way her fingers tremble at the snack preparation.

You lick your lips, trying to think of something else when Wanda asks you to get the plates and you decide to take your cue before you confess something you might regret.

Soon, you both have vegetarian sandwiches in hand as you stand side by side at the countertop.

"Wanda, I really appreciate the gesture, but this tastes really bad." You declare and she is laughing heartily, throwing her head back and you are following her.

Wanda just takes the disastrous attempt at a vegetarian snack from your hands and throws both items in the trash, before going to the cabinets, and soon returning with a package of snacks.

"Here. Not another word about it." She says as she opens the package between you, the very delicious chips forgotten because you notice an almost sad or disappointed glint pass through her eyes, and you ignore the food to move a finger to her chin, asking her to meet your gaze again. The gesture surprises her a little, making her blush, but she doesn't pull away.

"Hey, it's just a sandwich." You comment, studying her face after whatever she was hiding, and Wanda let outs a humorless chuckle, trying to lower her face, but your touch escalates - your hand moves to her cheek and Wanda almost shudders, using all her mental control not to lean in. "You can talk to me, Wanda."

She swallows dryly, hesitating only for a second, and though she is twiddling her fingers nervously, she confesses without stammering, "It's stupid, but I wanted to prove that I can do it." She murmurs, and to your half-confused but patient expression for her explanation, she continues after a soft sigh. "I had a plan, a bucket list. All the way from high school. Like I said, stupid. Vis thought it was childish. I think I believed him because I gave up on most of them, but then we started fighting and I thought I could try those things again. Then he said I couldn't accomplish any of it because I can't even maintain a marriage, and I guess he must be right because I'm a disaster at that and-"

"Hey, hey, stop it." You cut off seriously, moving your other hand to her left cheek. "Don't talk about yourself like that, it's not true."

She let out a short laugh. "Come on, I just destroyed your favorite shirt."

You raise an eyebrow. "How do you know it's my favorite shirt?" Wanda hesitates, looking away and opening her mouth, but no explanation comes out. You laugh, shaking your head. "God, you're so cute."

Wanda looks at you in surprise, but you stroke her cheeks, and the touch is too good for her to question anything. However, she lowers her gaze and you sigh softly.

"Hey, look at me, Maximoff." You ask and wait for her to obey, offering a small smile when the green orbs return to yours. "You can do anything, Wanda. From writing incredible stories to completing a high school bucket list. Those are just sandwiches, and it was just a drinking accident. It doesn't prove anything about you. And god, I knew there was something very wrong with your ex, only a complete asshole would try to manipulate you like that, or worse, leave someone like you."

You blurt out, and Wanda blinks in surprise.

"Like me?" She insists, and since you've already said too much, you just continue.

"Yeah, someone so incredible, beautiful, and funny. I always have such a great time around you, and it seems so unbelievable that you're getting divorced because if I had the chance I would never leave. I would stay, for all the afternoons when you almost destroyed the printer, or set the kitchen on fire. I can hardly imagine how lucky I must be to wake up next to you every morning, or to spend the day with you, listening to you talk, and laugh, or hear your stories! It feels like a dream, and I don't understand how anyone-"

Wanda cuts you off, suddenly moving forward. You choke on a sigh as her lips press against yours, and it's messy and hungry as if she's afraid of you slipping away.

She moans softly at the feel of your tongue on hers once you kiss her back, but it gets calmer soon after until air is needed and you part with gasping breaths.

"That was even better than I imagined." She confesses with her eyes closed, getting a small laugh from you.

"Did you imagine it often?" You tease, and it's her turn to laugh, opening her eyes at you.

"You have no idea." She assures you before bringing your lips together again.

Making out in the kitchen was definitely not your plan for this afternoon, but you weren't complaining one bit. Not when Wanda felt so fucking good between you and the countertop, the warm, low sighs she let escape between one kiss and the next, the steady hands on your shoulders as yours became bold beneath your blouse.

Wanda's legs firmed around you once you lift her up to sit on the marble, and as you moved your kisses down her jaw and neck, missing her satisfied smile because you both have your eyes tightly closed, your hands wrapped around her covered breasts.

"Oh." She moaned affected, shuddering against you, who just squeezed softly and managed another deep moan as her hips went forward.

It was probably too fast, but neither you nor Wanda seemed very willing to stop, especially since the sensation was so addictive. She pulled your face back, sliding her tongue into your mouth and making your head spin.

You squeezed her breasts hard, swallowing her moans before running one hand down your body, your fingers scratching their way down her pants and working the buttons.

And then a car noise made Wanda push you away.

"Fuck, not now." She grunted annoyed, loosening her legs around you, and climbing down from the countertop. You blinked in confusion, mind clouded with arousal, but the sound of the vehicle parking at the front door and children's voices made you react, and start working on your crumpled clothes as Wanda was doing. She finished wiping off her smudged lipstick a second before the door opened, and two little boys rushed in through the front door.

"Wanda?" It was a male voice, and she tensed beside you before shouting that she was in the kitchen. She turned her face to you, exchanging a quick glance before disappearing into the living room.

You overheard the conversation - strained mutterings that were getting louder until you heard the door and the sounds became muffled again, suggesting that Wanda had gone out onto the balcony with her ex-husband.

Taking your cue, you made your way upstairs, deciding that you were going to give the kids some homework before you left. No chance of you teaching anything after what you just did in the kitchen.

Billy and Tommy were equally surprised and happy to see you, although the excitement died down a bit as soon as you left the homework with them. The boys went back to packing for their holiday with their father, and you said goodbye.

Vision and Wanda were back in the living room when you came downstairs, and it was at least embarrassing the look you received from the man with his arms crossed in the corner of the room.

"Good afternoon, Miss L/N." Greeted the man, and you merely nodded.

"Hey, Mister Stark. Good afternoon." You say, turning your gaze to the redhead who is approaching you. "Wanda, I'll be going." You let her know, surprising her.

"But what about the lesson?"

"I don't want to make the kids late for their trip." You clarify with a small smile. "Besides, I gave them some homework, and we can continue tutoring next week."

Wanda hesitates, not because you are not right, but because she wanted you to stay. It's good that you can see this in the look on her face, because it makes the presence of her angry ex-husband in the room less embarrassing.

"Come on, Wanda, she's right. The boys deserve a little rest on the holiday." Vis comments, but Wanda doesn't give him much more than an impatient look.

"I'll walk you to the door." She says deciding to ignore Vision, and you hesitate but decide not to contradict.

Once outside, you offer her a small smile, "I guess I'll see you next week, Wanda."

But it is Wanda's turn to hesitate before she lets go of the knob and grabs your collar, pulling your face against hers. You grunt softly into the kiss, wrapping her waist around you for a second before she breaks with an affected sigh.

"This is how you say goodbye to me now." She orders and you nod affectedly, resisting the urge to kiss her again. "What are you doing tonight?"

Your mind is a complete blur, especially since Wanda is so beautiful and close and has just kissed you hard in the ajar doorway through which her ex-husband can surely see from the living room, but you mumble softly that you are free. She bites a smile.

"One of my wishes was to have the courage to ask a crush on a date." She confesses in a mixture of shyness and mischief, her lips brushing against yours. "Would you take me out on a date tonight?"

"I-I would love to." You murmur immediately, your chest heated with excitement. Wanda steals one, two, intense kisses that make your heart race and your stomach fill with butterflies.

"I guess you're doing me tonight." She jokes against your lips, making you chuckle affectedly before kissing her again and finally parting. "Hey, eight o'clock. Don't be late."

"I wouldn't dream of it." You assure, stealing one last quick kiss before pulling away to leave.

Anyway, as soon as Vis has left with the boys, Wanda appears at your front door. She brought a bottle of wine that you won't even remember to open, but that should be enough of a date. Besides, you will have other opportunities.

--//--

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x reader #elizabeth olsen x reader #wanda x you #marvel imagines

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sookiesookie · 1 year

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swim good₊˚.༄ shuri udaku pt.1

titled inspired by “swim good” by frank ocean

paring: shuri udaku x blk fem! reader

summary: (a cliche) in sitcom-like fashion, an unathletic shuri udaku attempts to join the swim team to impress a girl she likes.

part summary: shuri is smitten and her lovesick ass gets into trouble.

word count: 2.5k

content will include: third person story-telling + reader goes by all pronouns, nerd!shuri, pining!shuri, athlete stem!reader, reader is aware of shuri’s efforts and finds it adorable, the reader is a huge tease, reader’s a flirt but they’re rlly sweet too, reader is shorter than shuri but stronger, college au, swim sports au, peter parker and friends cameo as her lil nerd group (???), shuriri are besties and dormates, swim teacher!namor, t’challa is alive and he’s the wrestling team coach :’), wrestling team co-coach!m’baku, fencing teacher!okoye mentioned, literature teacher!nakia mentioned, shuri’s hair is the short coily undercut in this story, I refer shuri by like six diff nicknames for fun bc it’s funny and we having fun, by “purple-clad” shuri I mean purple flannel and not the tracksuit, y’know, bc she’s a nerd /hj, I call them teens bc they’re still eightTEEN and nighTEEN, a good chunk of the story is just the other characters dogging on shuri for her sitcom ahh decisions and lines lmao, lots of banter, sitcom-like corniness and humor, sexual jokes but not rlly any content, some tension tho, pretty much fluff, just a lil fun🤷🏾‍♂️

a/n: i didn’t know whether to make this a college au or high school au bc technically I’m bout to leave high school but I’m also not in college yet so idk what id get right or wrong sooooo I’mma play it safe and go freshmen in college???

tags: @bellaallebbella1 for the dt @pinkwright @inmyheadimobsessed @zayswriting @generallysapphic bc they’re the pioneers and my favs fr, and @vampzxi cuz it’s lowkey inspired the shuri high school headcannons even tho it’s not rlly even close but shoutout fr

alsooooo since just getting back into writing like this outside of school direction and im not used to writing a straight shot one shot, this gon be multiple parts IM SAWRIIIIIIIIII, it’s only 2 parts tho

AGAIN THIS IS MY FIRST FF IN A WHILE AND I DIDNT HAVE ANYONE PROOFREAD IM SAWRI IF THE PACING OR THE PLOT COMES OFF INCOHERENT😭😭

[MONDAY AFTERNOON]

Her smooth silk brown skin glistens

under the sunlit illuminated windows

as the water trickles

down her broad shoulders

to her god-crafted muscles,

flexing with every step they take

ever

slightly

out the pool.

Their chest heaving,

a slightly tired

yet heavy gaze

as they skim around the room at their peers,

eyes landing on one particular figure

with a similar look in their eye.

Her stoic demeanor is slowly replaced

with a playful smirk as she eyes...

wait…

SHE’S LOOKING AT ME-

SHIT!

Shuri snaps out of her internal monologue, jumping from the huge glass that peered into the school’s aquatic center, and quickly bolts through the double doors that lead to the hallway. When she’s out of sight, she slumps over, catching her breath. “Wow, Ms. Nakia would have either granted me an A+ or sent me to the principal’s office with the type of words I was thinking,” Shuri chuckles to herself.

After a brief pause at her words, her face heats up as she quickly facepalms in shame.

“What the hell am I saying?”

Reluctant, she trudges down the hall in embarrassment, making her way to the place she considered her third home: the science building computer lab (her second home was chemistry lab 2b).

In there resides Peter Parker and Ned Leeds, sitting around a desktop clicking away at some first-person shooter game, with an unwavering MJ Watson sitting a couple of seats away from the boisterous boys, head in a book per the usual. All three teens lined up in typical geeky fashion. Shuri slumps her book bag over a computer table, the sudden noise breaking the immersion of the boys who then looked up from their game, spotting the presence of their purple-clad friend.

“Dude, what have you been doing all this time?” Ned scowls. “We didn’t have any clubs today and we’ve been waiting for you for the past twenty minutes to walk to that new milk tea cafe MJ’s been telling us about.”

Not lifting her head from her book, MJ snarkily remarks, “She’s probably been too busy ogling the crap out of that poor girl over at the aqua center.”

Shuri’s face heats up as she’s quick to defend herself. “Cut it out! Of course I wasn’t!”

MJ smirks, still not looking up from her book. “Sorry, lemme rephrase that better: she’s probably been too busy eye fucking the crap out of that poor girl over at the aqua center.” Blood rushes through Shuri’s cheeks as she sputters incompressible excuses from her mouth, MJ giggling at her discomposure from her book.

“You’re such a mess, Shuri! When are you gonna finally buckle down and rizz her up– or at least go up and talk to the girl instead of borderline stalking her almost every afternoon?” Peter playfully pokes the purple-clad.

Shuri sucks her teeth, swatting him away. “One: the word ‘rizz’ sounds extremely uncanny coming out of your mouth. Please refrain from using that word around me again.”

Collective snorts bounce off the embarrassed white teen whose shit-eating grin twists into a poker face.

“Two: I don’t eye Y/N almost every afternoon.” Shuri pshaws and waves everyone off.

“Oh, my bad!'' Peter dramatically gasps, slapping a hand over his chest. “It’s every morning, lunch break, assembly, dinner break, class transition, and EVERY afternoon.” Collective snickers break out as Shuri backhands Peter, not harshly, but hard enough to derive a strained “ack!” out of him.

“But seriously, Shuri, it’s about time you try and get this girl’s number.” MJ goes on, finally looking up from her book and putting it on the table spine up. “It’s no use for you to keep on hopelessly pining after this girl from afar and not putting in the effort to actually pursue her.” Shuri slumps into a chair and releases an exasperated sigh.

“I do, but what would a versatile and talented girl want with a one-trick pony nerd like me?” MJ visibly cringes at the purple-clad’s words. “Ewww man, this isn’t the 80s! We are NOT living in a Disney Channel sitcom. There’s a lot of people would go for somebody as smart and intelligent as you, you know that.”

“Yeah, maybe to do their homework for them,” Shuri retorts. MJ pauses. “Hmmm, now that claim, I won’t completely disagree with...” “MJ!” Ned dramatically gasps as he lightly slaps MJ on the shoulder.

“Don’t listen to her, Shuri. You are perfectly capable of winning Y/N over just the way you are.”

The purple-clad snickers. “Now THAT was something you could’ve sworn was straight out of a Disney Channel sitcom.”

About 15 minutes later, the eccentric group of teens close up the computer lab and continue down the hallways with milk tea on their minds… except for Shuri. She trails behind the bunch, head hung low, peeping at Y/N’s Instagram.

As her walking gets slower as she’s gaping at her phone, the coil-haired nerd brushes her shoulder against what she thinks is just a wall. She lifts her head to notice the shorter, dark, and gorgeous swimmer— the same one on her phone that she still had in open view.

“Oh! Whassup, Miss Shuri!” Y/N’s eyes light up as he greets the taller.

Shuri’s breath hitches at the lovely emphasis put on her name, blood running cold as she quickly checks her peripheral to make sure the gang wasn’t around to humiliate her more than she already was.

Meanwhile, the teens heard what was going on behind them, but chose to continue on their merry way, intentionally leaving the two alone in the middle of the hallway.

She looks back at the short athlete and returns the greeting with a bashful smile. “What brings you here, Y/N?” The nerd quickly asks in a desperate attempt to carry the conversation, forgetting that people don’t need a reason to just roam the halls, something she mentally facepalms herself for right after.

“Nothin’ much,” Y/N chuckles at Shuri’s nervous efforts. “I’m just coming out of my swim practice. Mr. Namor was runnin’ me dry today.”

The athlete pauses as if she’s recalling something, the corners of her mouth slowly curling into a knowing smirk.

“I saw you peeping me over at the center earlier,” she drawls, “figured you wanted to speak to me about somethin’?” The athlete’s tongue subtly swipes across her bottom lip, as she gazes up at Shuri with a particular look in her eye, irises occasionally shifting down to the open Instagram page still on her phone, waiting for an excuse.

It was enough for the poor nerd to melt into a puddle, knees buckle and collapse, and lay sprawled across the hallway floor right then and there, but luckily for her, she still possessed a pinch of dignity left within her. With fleeting composure, gripping her backpack strap with strain, Shuri gives a weak pshaw.

“Me? I was just passing by! I just really like watching the team…”

You…

“...practice.”

As Shuri desperately attempts to form more words that can potentially save her, her eyes flicker to a *very convenient* bulletin board behind the shorter athlete. There, plastered on the brown surface was a poster: “CALLING FOR NEW MEMBERS! Swim Team Tryouts This Thursday at 5 pm! Swim Your Way To Success!”

Oh, Bast…

“In fact, I’m thinking of trying out for the swim team myself,” the nerd straightens up and states proudly, hoping she masked the way she winced at her words.

Y/N, who was expecting a different answer, gapes at the helpless girl in slight shock. “Oh, for real? That’s crazy! I never pegged you as a swimmer, Shuri.”

The nerd’s mouth forms a goofy grin. “And why is that?” She dramatically slaps a hand on her chest. “Is it because I’m of the darker persuasion?”

This derives a hearty cackle out of the shorter athlete, Shuri’s stomach fluttering from the fact that she made the girl laugh.

“Negro, please,” Y/N catches his breath and straightens up. “It’s because… I mean…” The shorter athlete trails off, eyeing Shuri up and down, the nerd’s cheeks heating up in the act.

“You know what? Nevermind. I can’t blame you for wanting to try. Hell, I’ve been swimming since 4 years old, the feeling’s exhilarating.” Y/N sighs off into the distance, as Shuri internally gushes at the shorter athlete’s passion.

Suddenly she snaps out of her trance and backtracks on the words of the other girl.

“Can’t blame me for wanting to ‘try’? Are you still assuming I can’t swim?”

Y/N waves his hands in defense. “No! I’m just saying–”

“Well I’m GOING to try out, I’m GOING to swim like a pro, and I’m GOING to get on the team!”

After a brief pause at her sudden outburst of competitiveness, Shuri reels it back in with a small “...respectfully,” and a cheeky smile.

Amused at the nerd’s sudden wave of confidence, Y/N clasps their hands together in accord. “Sounds like a plan then! I guess I’ll be seeing you Thursday then.” The shorter athlete readjusts the duffle bag strap on her shoulder and starts to walk closer to Shuri, laying an encouraging, yet, knowing hand on the taller’s shoulder, and leans into her ear.

Shuri could have sworn she was imagining what was rasped next.

“Word of advice: work on that backstroke… I know I will.”

Y/N then pulls away with an innocent grin and brushes past the appalled nerd, continuing on their merry way, but to suddenly turn around to yell one last thing:

“And your phone’s still on!”

Frozen in place, the girl slowly peers down to her cellular (one she made the mistake of changing the display settings to go into sleep mode after 5 minutes) still on Y/N’s Instagram page.

Once the athlete was out of sight, Shuri’s knees buckled as she grips the nearest wall, releasing a sigh of relief, quickly washed over with a wave of anxiousness.

What have I got myself into?

“Y’know a backstroke is a type of swim move, right?”

Riri chuckles at Shuri as she clicks away on her calculator, doing her homework on her bed. The young prodigy lifts her face from it being buried in her pillow and whines.

“But she said it so… sultry like… and her voice was so… raspy… it felt INTENTIONAL!”

“Or maybe your horny ass misconstrued her words and heard ‘backshots’ instead of ‘backstrokes’!” Riri giggled as Shuri proceeded to throw a pillow at the girl.

“Regardless, either word could be used as an innuendo, she did it on purpose,” Shuri retorts.

“Okay, okay, whatever. Sooo, what are you gonna do?”

Shuri flops back on her bed with a sigh. “I will try out for the swim team, like I said I would. I mean, she sounded so intrigued when I mentioned I was interested, and the passion in the way she speaks about it— I should at LEAST try.”

“Aww, I guess that’s fair,” Riri begins to coo. “If you knew how to swim.”

“Huh?”

“Shuri, I have never seen you TOUCH water unless it was for drinking or an experiment, let alone be EMERGED in water outside of taking showers and baths in it. We’ve had campus water activities and pool days before and each time you’ve said ‘I’m busy, I’m busy.’”

“Well I was, you know I have school work as my top priority.”

“We have them during school breaks, Shuri, you don’t work on a school break!”

Riri releases an exasperated sigh. “Shuri, can you swim or not?” The prodigy gives her friend a hesitant look. “I mean, I’m not the worst at it…”

“Shuri, just say you’re shit at swimming.”

“Fucking hate it.” Shuri blurts out. “Haven’t stepped foot into a pool since I was 6.”

“Damn it, Shuri!”

“You wanted me to be honest!”

Riri chuckles in disbelief, shaking her head. “That’s not even it, Shuri! Swim team try-outs are on Thursday, that’s in THREE DAYS! You barely know how to swim, what makes you think you’ll be ready within the next three days?”

“I’ll figure it out, okay?” Shuri stresses, trying to calm herself down. “I mean, you seem to know how to swim. Why don’t you teach me?”

“One: you dug this silly lil’ hole yourself,” Riri wags her finger at the prodigy, “I’m not helping you with shit. The most I’ll do is braid your hair back the night before so it can fit better in the swim cap you’ll have to put on. Two: I couldn’t teach you even if I wanted to because I wouldn’t have time, I’m stacked up on homework for the next few days.”

Shuri groans in her pillow, flopping back down on her bed once again. The young prodigy felt hopeless with no more ideas left… except for one last hope.

“No.”

“C’mon, brother! This is my love life on the line!”

T’Challa chuckles, crossing his arms. “You got yourself into this mess when you knew you couldn’t swim.” He raises is hands in defense. “You have a death wish, I am not helping you.”

“But that’s what Riri said!” Shuri whines.

“Well Riri is a good friend, keep her around. As for me, I have a gym to organize so I am going to continue what I was doing.” T’Challa does just that as he starts to pick up idle weights off the floor.

“I’ll pay you!”

“I have a job, and you’re a broke college student.”

“But with an internship!”

“An unpaid internship.”

“I’ll be your very best friend!”

“I’m your brother, and I already have plenty of friends.”

“Oh, like that old brute that works alongside you?”

“I heard that, you oversized midget!” A snarky coach M’baku scowls from the connected office.

“I’m 5’5!”

“And I’m 6’5, midget!”

Shuri rolls her eyes waves him off. “You work with that oversized man baby,” she sneers to T’Challa.

The older chuckles as he continues to tune out his sister’s persuasions while he tidies around the ring.

“Brother, please!” Shuri drops to her knees dramatically, rubbing her hands together in impatience. “I’m becoming desperate, I REALLY need your help!”

The younger continues to plead as the older man begins to cringe at the pathetic display, checking his peripheral to make sure she wasn’t causing a scene for unwarranted pedestrians that may walk past the gym.

“Okay okay, I will help you! Just stand up, PLEASE! You’re embarrassing me!” T’Challa quickly reassures the girl on the ground.

Shuri’s pleas quickly halt as she jumps to her feet, showering her brother with “thank you”s.

“Ahh, don’t thank me yet,” the older waves the girl off. “And I’m only going to be RE teaching you the basics. Any extra stunts you want to pull for your little girlfriend besides that will be on your accord.”

“Deal,” Shuri clasps her hands together.

“Now will you please leave me be? I have a gym to attend to.”

“Whatever,” Shuri remarks as she starts to head for the exit, “But just know I will be at the gym pool, bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow morning!”

The girl slaps the doorway wall and points at her brother, who both chuckles and cringes at her enthusiasm.

Once the bubbly teen was out of sight, M’baku wheels himself to the office doorway in his rolling chair.

“You know she’s going to drown herself.”

A reluctant T’Challa sighs. “Yep.”

To be continued headass…

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tacobellabeanburrito · 2 months

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hey it’s anon — you’ve become my go to rec person, which is why I’m here to ask if you have any recommendations for short and sweet fics. Been looking for some bedtime stories :^)

Awwww, really!? That’s super cool. I’m glad I’ve been recommending good fics!

(Also, Anon, you’re the one that asked about Steel Samurai fics right? Well, I started reading this one called “A Brief For The Defense” by Ophelia_Writes on ao3, so check that one out cause it talks about what you were looking for a while back!)

(Also. I was searching for Christmas fics in my bookmarks just because the Christmas fics are usually the ones that are short and sweet, but now I’m really in the mood for Christmas how dare you Anon)

“Office-Appropriate” by cursedwurn: A hilarious Halloween fanfic that I adore. Featuring all the prosecutors in different costumes. Has an office sitcom type feel (People are seriously, SERIOUSLY, missing out on writing a prosecutors office sitcom type deal. For some reason, sitcom style doesn’t work for the Wright Anything Agency and mainly only works with the Prosecutors Office)

“Disrupting The Calendar” by 3musketears: Also a cute Christmas fic. I’m currently trying to find fics that are short and sweet and I found this one again in my bookmarks and as I started reading it to check if it was good I just kept getting into it and reading it. So yeah, good fic!

“Germination” by Ekat: I JUST READ THIS ONE. Omg, it’s soooo adorable. And absolutely hilarious. You just have to read it, really. It’s short and you can probably guess the real plot from a mile away but I don’t wanna spoil anything because I was so happy when I figured it out. It’s adorable.

“Court Record Companion” by rib14: I Remmeber revealing in this fic when I first read it. I’m also a big sucker for certain fics where the story is told by posts, texts, tweets and photos during the course of the story. There’s something so absolutely funny about it.

“Support Player” by Pirate_Jenna: A really good Larry centered fic. I have already mentioned in detail about how Larry has been done bad in lots of fics and in the games, so I am very partial to fics that are centered on “Good Friend Larry”. BECAUSE HE IS.

“Meet Me Down The Aisle” by bluemoodblue: I’m a true sucker for wedding fics, and this one takes the wedding cake! I’m also a sucker for wedding fics that go wrong. And this one also takes the wedding cake!

“This Christmas (I’m Gonna Risk It All)” by Samiolioli (Samioli): A really cute Christmas fic taking place during a holiday party! It’s all about Phoenix confronting his feelings for Miles, and I remember it being hilarious.

“Not What I Expected” by motivationisfortheweak: A Valentine fic set in an alternate universe where Miles and Phoenix go to high school together. Short and sweet, but Phoenix is sooo dense.

“Monster Movie Monday” by contritecacite: A breakaway from the norm! A Klavier centered fic about him getting a boyfriend and making amends with one Phoenix Wright.

“There Is Time To Kill” by realizationtime: Oh, oh bbg. You weren’t survive after this fic. “Maybe we were never meant to be older than nine”.

“A Fool For You” by bluemoodblue: ADORABLE!! It’s a Narumitsu one. I loved this one when I read it. It’s so funny and so perfectly them. Read it.

Ok so, there’s a couple that I personally really like but can’t find in my bookmarks. There’s this one where Miles and Phoenix are stuck in a mall during Christmas, it’s a newer one I know that. It’s absolutely adorable and I fully recommend it if you can find it.

There’s also a really cute one that I remember with Miles and Phoenix as kids making each other Valentines cards, and there’s even a very lovely sequel where they’re older and Trucy finds the card in Phoenix’s stuff! It’s not recent, but I read it recently. It’s very adorable.

Another fic I really like is one where Miles is a worker at a prestigious art museum and gets fired. Then he moves to a small town and ends up with Phoenix as a roommate. It’s actually really, REALLY adorable and pretty funny too. It gives me warm fuzzy sunflower vibes.

OK SO there’s this fic that I remember reading a long while ago, and it’s this one where Phoenix and Miles go to a Steel Samurai orchestra concert and make proposing to each other into a competition. It’s pretty hilarious and I fully recommend it if you ever end up finding it.

AND LASTLY (I think) there’s this fic that’s pretty unknown? I think? It’s absolutely CRAZY. I had no idea what was happening when I was first reading it. I really don’t wanna spoil any details in case you find it on your own. But long story short, through mystical Magatama fuckery, Phoenix and Miles end up in their own weird, fucked up worked where they’ve forgotten all their memories and are married. Characters like Trucy, Gumshoe and a lot of the others try to get them out of their own heads and it’s soooo cool and I read it pretty recently but I can not for the life of me find it. It’s really good and super interesting. Has the exact same vibes as “Perfect” by SideBlog (so if you find it, Fic Anon, I full heartedly recommend it)

ALSO IF ANYONE KNOWS THE FICS IM TALKING ABOIT IN THIS SECTION. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DIRECT ME. They’re soooo good.

These are ones that aren’t short and aren’t really sweet but that I feel should get highlights because I didn’t mention them in my other post (I don’t think):

“Everything That I Have Ever Learned Leads Back To This” by kbots: Oh. Oh this one is… Oh my goodness. SAD. I actually cried while reading this one. Like. Holy shit. Good luck not crying while reading this. It’s amazing and should have more hits.

“All The Better To See You With” by bluemoodblue: OH. Oh. I love this one. We love Trucy hating Kristoph. (Fuck Kristoph Gavin, all my homies hate Kristoph Gavin).

ANYWAY! That’s about all of them, for now at least. Again, full recommend looking at my bookmarks on A3O for other stories because this list isn’t even half of the short and sweet ones I’ve read.

AND! Also, if anyone knows the fics that I talked about in the, uh, other half of this fic ref lists where I don’t know the names but only know the stories. PLEASE DIRECT PEOPLE TO THEM IN THE REPLIES!! Or at least tell me or something cause they’re good.

Good luck reading Anon! Ask again if you need anymore recs! ;>

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get-hamilton-on-your-side · 11 months

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I've been seeing posts like these going around lately, and I don't want to start Discourse™️, but I do think it's an interesting conversation to be had.

OP mentions that this is a sentiment occurring in younger viewers, and I think there are lots of reasons for this response. I'm in my early twenties, and growing up, romance was pretty much guaranteed for any book/movie/TV series with a YA audience, even if it wasn't specifically in the romance genre. There were largely popular romance series, of course, (Twilight, The Selection, etc.), but romance was also integral to several series NOT centered around romance. The Series Which Shall Not Be Named ends in a hetero utopia, where basically every member of the original crew grows up, marries each other, and all have kids. Almost every main character of Rick Riordan's series experiences a committed romantic relationship, with the exception of Reyna, (although she's mostly a side character throughout HoO) and Meg (who is a god, and an actual child). The Hunger Games has fewer romantic pairings, but the marketing for those movies were very dedicated to the "love triangle" narrative between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale.

The dedication to establishing romantic relationships does appear somewhat differently for male/masculine and female/feminine coded characters well. For example, I've seen multiple series have a sort of "7th wheel syndrome" where one member of a friend group is made fun of and/or left out in some way because they're the only one not in a relationship. Shows like The Big Bang Theory majorly have this problem, where every character's main goal in life is to fall in love and have a family. In TBBT, Raj has major dating troubles and actually ends up settling for an arranged marriage because his friends are all married and he doesn't want to end up alone. Riordan's HoO series, once again, paints Leo as a tragic figure for being the only single person on the Argo II, but his self worth is finally in tact by the end of the series when he saves the day and gets the girl. Fez in That 70s Show is regularly made fun of for his inability to get a girl. It's not lost on me that many of the male characters in these situations are POC.

While male characters are set up with a last-minute shoehorned romance, female characters (particularly white women) are often given a love interest planned from the beginning. I love Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles but I was kind of dumbfounded by the end because every one of the 8 major characters ends the series in a committed relationship. Every single Disney princess up until 2012 had a prince (although, this has since changed---the only princess post-2012 with a prince is Anna).

And then, of course, you have the plethora of sitcoms that end with every character (or at least every main character) happily in a relationship. New Girl, Parks and Rec, Friends, The Office, The Good Place, Ghosts (US). Even shows like Phineas and Ferb assure the audience that the couples stay together when they're grown up. Almost every Marvel and DC superhero has a love interest, and most action heroes have a girl to save.

Don't get me wrong, I think many of the romances in the media I've talked about so far are good, well-written, and well-established. But based on the previous track-record of shoehorned romances, that is a concern I have about shows like Stranger Things (I won't talk much about The Bear because I haven't seen that show). Stranger Things has highlighted friendship as a major theme in the show, but as the characters have grown older, they've explored various romantic relationships as well. Many people online have already discussed how they fear relationships will be shoehorned in at the end of Season 5, since it is the final season. Ships like stancy, where it's clear that they wouldn't really work well together. I agree with Maya Hawke's sentiment about delving deeper into her friendships. It has been established that she has a crush on Vickie, but we've barely seen them together, and in a show that has to balance SO many different characters, I'm not sure it would serve the show well to put Robin in a romantic relationship. (There is, of course, another conversation to be had about how minority characters are presented in romantic relationships in media. Lesbian relationships are less commonly found in media and they can be really important to some viewers. My agreeing with Hawke is just my 2 cents as an ace lesbian. Other users have also mentioned that when it comes to The Bear, it can be harmful to perpetuate that a Black woman character shouldn't be in a relationship with the main white guy. I haven't seen the show and I myself am not Black, so I won't weigh in on that aspect, but it is another thing to consider in this conversation).

With romance so prevalent in media, it makes sense that our generation is taking a steep turn in the other direction. We've been shown all our lives that romance and sex trumps friendship in importance, but that's not how many of us actually live. Younger people are having sex less. I'm 22 and I'd say half of my friends are not currently in a romantic relationship, and many of them aren't looking for one. I know plenty of adults as well who are happily single, not looking for any more romance in their lives. Even the way people are experiencing romantic and sexual relationships is vastly different from what is shown on TV as there are more openly queer individuals, queer platonic relationships, and polyamory is becoming more prevalent.

I'm not an expert by any means, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. This is all based on my own observation and there is still a lot of media out there that don't have romance as a focal point, media like The Lord of the Rings, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Letterkenny, Bob's Burgers, Reservation Dogs, What We Do in the Shadows, Derry Girls. Shows like Doctor Who have characters in romantic relationships, but the romance is never placed above friendship with the Doctor. The amount of romance in a piece of media also relies on the genre it's in. I've mainly been discussing comedies, science fiction, and action, but other media such as horror, for example, treats romance and sexuality differently.

Still, showing romance, sex, and innuendo in media isn't counterculture, as is suggested by that second Twitter post. It's almost everywhere you look (and lots of kid shows/movies even include those kinds of jokes, as is shown by the amount of videos I've seen titled "I Didn't Get This Joke as a Kid.") I know we're on the internet so people don't care if they hurt other people's feelings, but acting like people who want a little less romance are immature or stupid can be hurtful. There's room for all different types of relationships.

TL;DR, I think a lot of people are just tired of media treating romance and sex as the most important relationship you can have with a person. We're not saying no media should have romance or sexuality or innuendo in it. It's just that as media diversifies, I think it's important to diversify the types of relationships highlighted as well. There's room for romance, sex, and friendship in media, and I don't think people should judge others for wanting positive representation of friendship.

#romance #aromantic #asexual #i'm just tired of shoehorned romance #tv #media #books #movies #bringing this convo over from twitter because that site is a hellscape i don't have enough characters there and i hate making threads #also tumblr understands me better than twitter #let's keep this conversation respectful though #multiple things can be true at once

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devflamme · 6 days

Text

MEMÓRIAS.

Summary: Agatha finally gives in and shows some of her memories to Wanda, for her to train her magic and also learn new things about Agatha herself.

Words: 3,1k+

Tags: Just soft and fluff Wagatha. There is also some angst (with comfort!) and light body horror (unreal descriptions of bodies and blood) but nothing too crazy.

Warnings: English is not my first language. This is a separate chapter from a longfic I'm currently writing called Wild Women Blues (yes, Mitski reference.) It is not fully written yet (and I don't know when it will be) but as this chapter is already written, I thought, "why not?"

Agatha got Wanda's hand on hers, the redhead's fingers shining scarlet red and sparkling, the noise contrasting with the silence inside that stuffy office from Agatha's house. She looks at Wanda with a soft expression, trying to pass some calmness to Wanda's anxious mind.

It's okay. Agatha says through the mind link they have, only staring at Wanda's nervous eyes that flicker through Agatha's face details. In a moment like that, Wanda appreciated the fact that Agatha knew she couldn't talk — not right now. She was too nervous to be verbal. You can do it.

I… I can't do it. I don't want to intrude in your mind. Wanda looks at Agatha's blue eyes, her own getting full of unshed tears. She blinks them off, her vision gets blurry for a moment and then focused on Agatha's lips, that had a gentle smile directed at her. Why do you want me to do it?

Because I trust you. I want to show you my memories, as you showed me yours. Agatha puts her hand on Wanda's cheek, caressing it gently with her calloused thumb. Wanda closes her eyes for a second, feeling Agatha's touch on her face. Come on, superstar.

Wanda sighs, taking her trembling hand to Agatha's temple, touching it lightly with her fingers that now shined a gentle red glow. She closes her eyes, concentrating on her trip to Agatha's old memories. Her hands shiver, as if she was in a snowstorm — a snowstorm of remembrance and feelings.

Wanda could hear light music. Voices talking. Glasses tapping.

She opens her eyes, noticing that she was now in a club in the 50s or 60s, she couldn't tell. Tables full of people chatting and singing, waiters walking around with drinks and food on their hands, people playing in casino machines and a big stage on the end of the big room— all the things she used to see in sitcoms.

Wanda looks around exasperatedly, trying to understand where she was, then feels a hand grabbing hers delicately. She turns around, seeing Agatha looking at her with a light grin that said she's up to no good. Wanda looks down, noticing the purple and long dress Agatha was wearing and almost fainting on the spot. The dress had a low cut, and hanging from Agatha's neck, a pearl necklace with the Harkness family broach hanging from it. Her hair was up in a clean bun and she had long black gloves that looked like black velvet, and, to finish, she was taller than Wanda, as her stilettos made her so tall that Wanda needed to cram her neck up a little.

Jesus Christ.

"Hello, superstar." Agatha says, still with that damned grin on her lips. Lips that Wanda needed to kiss right now and smear her lipstick everywhere. Agatha gets a glass of champagne as a waiter passes, getting a quick sip. "Did you like your clothes too or you liked mine more?"

"What…?" Wanda looks down, finally noticing the long scarlet red dress she was wearing. Her dress had a slit on her right leg and the sleeves were long, hugging her body in all the right places. She was wearing a smaller pair of black stilettos, and had a long golden necklace hanging from her neck. Her hair was loosen and curled, falling in waves on her back. She was beautiful. "H-how?"

"Oh, just some of my tricks." Agatha wriggles her fingers next to Wanda's face, smiling at her giddily. She gets Wanda's hand in hers, pulling her around gently, trying to find a free table for them to sit and wait for the main event. Wanda felt the cold from Agatha's ring, the one that Wanda gave to her the night Wanda told her she loved her. "Come on, love. It's almost time."

"Time for what?" Wanda blushes as Agatha pulls her chair for the redhead to sit, such a sweet act that Wanda had to stop herself from poking fun at Agatha for being so soft. She sits, looking at Agatha confused. "What's happening?"

"Oh, just wait."

A man walks up the stage, holding a small card in his hand. He was a tall and fat man, using sweaters and a pair of slacks, finished with polished shoes that Wanda could see shining from where she was sitting. The man goes to the tall microphone in the middle of the stage and clears his throat, trying to get attention from all the people in the room.

"Hello, hello! Good evening to everyone here. Hope you're all having a fun time." The man says with a smile on his face. Everyone claps excitedly, including Agatha and Wanda just claps lightly, a little — very — lost. "Today we have our gem, Agatha, singing! Please, a round of applause for our Agatha!"

Wanda thought her eyes would jump out of her skull at that moment.

What?

Agatha? Her Agatha?

Wanda blinks once, twice. The man gets out of the stage with a little jump that almost made him fall, and then the red curtains open to reveal the silhouette of a woman. Wanda blinks once more and looks at her Agatha, who was smiling big and not looking at her at the moment.

Agatha walks to the front of the stage and Wanda almost passes out. There she was — younger Agatha, in all her glory. Her hair was long and straight, a total contrast from the curly mess that it's now Agatha's hair. She was wearing a dress similar to old Agatha, but the color was a dark blue that combined too much with the blue from her eyes.

"Are you liking it already?" Wanda hears Agatha's voice near her ear, making her focus on her Agatha. The present Agatha, who was looking at her with a smirk. "I'm going to sing. Just you wait."

"You're going to what?" Wanda whispers, her voice a little strangled as she couldn't even focus on talking, her eyes lost on both Agathas. "Darling, what—"

Wanda hears the notes of a piano, finally noticing the band behind young Agatha. She grips the microphone holder with delicate hands and Wanda could see the magic crackling from them — the uncontrollable magic from a young woman, the one that Wanda was used to in her teens and young adult life. The type of magic that was going to explode at any moment, like a bomb of swirls and twirls.

Agatha had a light smile on her face, her eyes closed and her hips swinging side to side slowly, feeling the first notes of the song. Wanda could identify it — it was Fly Me to the Moon, by Frank Sinatra. Wanda smiles lightly, remembering the times she caught Agatha singing Frank Sinatra's songs around the house, her melodic voice booming through the thin walls and blessing Wanda's ears.

Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars.

Agatha's voice echoed through the room, her voice more delicate than Agatha's current voice, as she got older and more mature. Wanda could also hear her Agatha singing together while drinking some of her cocktail, the scene making Wanda chuckle.

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore.

Her Agatha sang that line while looking at Wanda, something that made her blush profusely and mutter "you're too", making Agatha smile so big that her eyes turned into half moons, her cheeks a little pink from the cocktail and Wanda's words.

Please, be true. In other words, I love you.

Young Agatha was now looking at her. Smiling at her. Singing directly at her, and finishing the song with a wink and a smirk so similar to the one from her Agatha that Wanda is now certain that Agatha didn't change at all in all these years.

Wanda had a big smile on her face, her smile dumb with love and tenderness for the woman in front of her, who now looked at her with care. People were clapping, whistling and kissing their lovers tenderly, but all Wanda could think was Agatha. Agatha, Agatha and Agatha. Agatha and her silly stunts. Agatha and her booming smile. Agatha and her beautiful voice. Agatha and her eyes that now looked at her, waiting for a response.

"Did you like it?" Agatha whispers in Wanda's ear for only her to hear, Wanda's skin shivering because of Agatha's hot breath near her neck. "That's only one of the memories I want to show you. There's many more."

Wanda recognizes this place.

It was hard to not recognize Sokovia, her home country — her gray, melancholic, beautiful and misty country, even during the war. Wanda could feel her eyes watering, all the bad feelings coming at her full force, especially grief.

“You're trembling.” She heard a calm voice beside her and felt a hand holding hers. Looking to the direction of the voice, she could see Agatha again. She was not wearing her dress anymore, choosing to wear a pair of dark brown pants and a cream-coloured sweater together with boots. Wanda was wearing normal clothes too, just a pair of dark blue pants and hoodie. “Why?”

“Why did you… bring us here?” Wanda whispered, holding Agatha's hand weakly. Agatha got closer to her, the warmth from the older’s body making her get a little calmer and less troubled with her feelings of grief and longing. “Why here, of all places we could be?”

Wanda looks up, her vision a little foggy from the tears. She could hear commotion near them, probably the sokovians’ protests — protests that her and Pietro took part in. “I wanted to show you something.”

“What? Wanted to make me feel all of this again?” Wanda says, her voice garbled as she got closer to Agatha and hugged her, hiding her head on Agatha's neck and inhaling her comforting scent. Cigarettes and lavender clothing softener. “Just as—”

“Just as I did in the Hex. You can say it, I won't be mad at you.” Agatha whispered, caressing Wanda's rebel hair, undoing the small knots and feeling the texture against her fingers. Agatha pulls Wanda away, putting her hands on the younger’s shoulders and looking at her, calmly. “I think you need to look behind you.”

Wanda hiccups slightly, but obeys. She turns around, looking behind her and seeing a big, dry tree some meters away from them. Below that tree was a woman — long, thick black hair, white sweater and blue jeans, looking at the commotion with a curious gaze. Agatha.

“What… What were you doing here?” Wanda turns around, looking at her Agatha, clearly confused and at the same time, impressed. Impressed that she and Agatha had met before, in some way. “Is this a prank? Are you playing with me?”

“Oi, oi, darling. I’m not playing with you, that's for sure. I was around Europe during the Sokovian war and the protests.” Agatha explains, smiling slightly. She looks to the side, noticing that the protesters were close to them already. “Oh, look. It's younger you. And… your brother.”

Wanda looked to the direction of the protesters so fast that she could hear her neck bones cracking. Pietro. Pietro. Pietro. Pietro! She started running to the protesters, feeling tears dripping down her cheeks and her voice, desperate, leaving her throat in small cries of Pietro! Môj brat! Prosím! Pozri sa na mňa!

When her hand could finally get close to Pietro's soft, teenager face, she felt a pull in her waist. So familiar and comforting — but then, in a flash, she was back to Agatha's side, where she wouldn't mess up Agatha's memories and their past.

“No! No! Please! Let me t-touch him!” Wanda was punching Agatha on her chest lightly, her hands weak and her cries so loud that Agatha's eyes were filling up just by seeing her love cry. “Please… Let me…”

“I’m sorry, angel. I can't let you interfere with that. You entered my memories with your magic, and we don't know what your magic can fully do yet,” Agatha says, holding Wanda's puffy cheeks and making her look at her. Wanda was crying profusely, sniffling and hiccuping like a little kid who just scraped her knee on cement. “We can't let you change the past. Hey, look.”

Agatha pushes Wanda's head to the side gently, showing her a memory of theirs that she didn't remember. She looked at Agatha during the protest — their eyes met for a second, her past self blushing slightly from the mysterious woman's gaze on hers. She didn't remember that.

“We've… met?”

“Yes. And I already thought you were special back then.”

“Do you want to see one more?” Agatha asks, her voice calm and quiet as they go back to their home. Wanda sits down on the bed next to Agatha, holding her hands with her own trembling ones. “I have one more I want to show you. A very specific one.”

“Am I in it?” Is Pietro in it? Wanda wanted to ask. She still felt upset about seeing her brother again in a memory that she had long forgotten — and that she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't touch him, she couldn't talk to him, she couldn't hug him and never let go.

“No. I just want to show you something I could— I mean, I can do,” Agatha says with a small smile covering her lips. Wanda chuckles and turns her body to face Agatha, touching her temple with her fingers and entering Agatha's mind again.

They were now in a forest — dense, snowy forest. It was cold, the temperature biting and deadly. Wanda started shivering until she felt Agatha's hands by her side, calming down with her Agatha's presence. “What do you want to show me?”

“Well… I don't know if you know, but us, witches, we can sometimes change our form. That's how I’m staying young even though I’m almost 400 years old.” Agatha says as if she was explaining this to a little, curious kid. In her vision, Wanda sometimes acted like a curious kid. “While I adventured myself with the Darkhold, it messed up a lot of my body and mind.”

“Mhm. So?” They were walking in a dirt trail, directly to a wooden cabin in the middle of the snowy forest. There was smoke coming from the chimney, indicating that someone was inside the cabin — probably Agatha, as herself said. Wanda reaches the cabin’s porch earlier than Agatha, opening the door slowly but being held by Agatha's hand gripping her wrist. Wanda turns around, whispering, “What?”

“Go slow. As I said, I don't know what your magic could do to my memories as we're seeing them again.” Agatha whispers. She enters in front of Wanda, protecting her from whatever or whoever was on the other side of that heavy dark wood door.

“Oh, what? Is there gonna be a monster inside this— Oh Gods above.”

As Wanda looked up, there was a very corrupted Agatha holding herself onto the ceiling. Her hair was long, black and curly, hanging down in messy waves as her body hung from the ceiling — she looked like a demon, her eyes totally dark purple and her skin full of dark spots just like the ones on her fingers.

“Not a monster, toots. Just me.” Agatha snickered with a small grin on her lips. She looks back at Wanda, who was shocked by the vision in front of her.

Agatha really did look like a demon. The blackened spots on her skin were covering most of her arms and hands, her limbs were longer — her arms looked like they were creating loops on the ceiling —, she had long, pointy teeth and her lips were dripping with blood.

“Oh my God, what—” Wanda mumbles. She tries to get closer to Agatha’s body on the ceiling, but just as she tries to reach out for her, she moves away quickly, growling through her teeth. Wanda looks to her Agatha, almost saying sorry with her eyes, and then notices the look on Agatha's face. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh, no, darling, you didn't. It's just how this memory goes. I moved away because there's someone getting closer to the cabin, that's all,” Agatha gets closer to Wanda, hugging her from behind and putting her chin on top of Wanda's shoulder. She pulls Wanda closer, walking with her to the wall and holding her gently. “Someone is coming through that door right now.”

Wanda turns her head to the door, waiting and waiting for someone to open it. After some minutes of just silence between the two women and growling, whimpering noises coming from the devil on the ceiling — who moved from side to side like a spider —, the door opens in a quick swap.

A woman, probably in her 30s, enters. She had long, brown hair and was wearing black robes with a cape covering her head. It wasn't possible to see her eyes, only her lips curved in a small smirk. She walks to Agatha — the ceiling one — and looks up, seeming proud of what she was seeing.

“Well, my dear Atha,” Wanda feels Agatha tensing up behind her, her hands gripping Wanda's clothes as if she was trying to ground herself with the help of Wanda. Her breathing was ragged, anxious by the presence of the unknown woman. “You finally discovered the art of body morphing. But… It is a failure, is it not?”

“Please, help me,” It was possible to hear Agatha's voice, pleading to the woman in fluent Greek. Her voice was corrupted — airy and hoarse, as if she had inhaled sulfur hexafluoride. “I cannot return to normal. I do not know how…”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I will help you.” The woman answers simply. She starts floating, a cloud of green smoke creating itself around her, as she closes her eyes and mumbles, “Monstrum naturae revertetur.”

As the woman conjures the spell, Agatha starts turning back to normal, but painfully. It was possible to hear her bones cracking and going back to place, her muscles breaking and the blood dripping on her skin, and the pained whimpers and cries coming from Agatha's lips. Wanda tries to move and help her come back in a less painful way, but her darling Agatha holds her tightly and only whispers “stop,” in her ear.

The Agatha on the ceiling falls to the ground in a loud thud, crying profusely and hurt from the failed spell. The unknown woman walks to her, putting herself on her knees and holding Agatha's face gently, drying her tears with her thumbs. “It's fine that the spell did not work, my love. We can make it work.”

“I am sorry, Rio, please, forgive me—”

Rio puts a finger on top of Agatha's lips, shutting her up expertly. She smiles at Agatha, who was looking at her with watery, bloodshot eyes. “It is fine. Let's get you up and treat those injuries. I will teach you more of these spells.”

And then, they were back to their bedroom in a flash, still processing everything that has happened.

c. devflamme.

#agatha harkness #wanda maximoff #wagatha #harkximoff #my writing #wandavision

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sadquickchristmassnowman · 4 months

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Overall what do you think of mythic quest? It's on my list to watch. How would you intrigue someone to watch it

(just want to preemptively say that I know this ask has been sitting in my inbox for months and I am so sorry for taking so long to get back to you)

I absolutely love mythic quest. It's my #4 sitcom of all time, which might sound not very high, but numbers 1-3 are taken by the good place, community, and it's always sunny, and I mean. there's no beating those. anyway

I don't know how much you know about it, so I'll give a quick introduction. mythic quest is centered around a video game studio, which produces a video game of the same name. season one opens with them launching their new expansion: Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet. the show follows around the different employees of the company as they each chaotically try to achieve their goals. there are a lot of sitcoms centered around a workplace (the office, parks & recreation, brooklyn nine-nine, superstore, just to name a few), so I suppose you could say mythic quest follows a similar sort of formula to those. but, I think it's super unique and has a lot of stand-out qualities, which I love. it's difficult to make something so unique, to do things on tv that have never been done before (or, at the very least, are rarely done) and I think mythic quest does a great job with all of that.

for one, the types of interpersonal relationships mythic quest portrays are extremely unique. it's hard to go into detail without spoiling too much, but I'll do my best. the show is definitely an ensemble sitcom (a whole gang of "main" characters), but I'd say the show focuses mainly on Poppy and Ian, and their relationship. but, they make it explicitly clear that they are NOT romantically or sexually involved. there's a few jokes here and there, but they react with disgust every time. their relationship is 100% platonic, throughout all three seasons that are out, and it is the FOCUS of the show. how many tv shows have done that? hell, how many stories, period? it's so incredibly important to me, especially as someone on the aroace spectrum, and it makes mythic quest that much more unique and interesting.

(disclaimer that of course there are some people who ship poppy and ian together, which is just kind of. objectively wrong imo. but yk. people can do whatever they want I suppose. the point is, that ship will never sail in canon.)

the ONE current romantic pairing is a lesbian couple!!! that is just SO wild to me. literally none of the other main characters have any sort of (canon) romantic subplot or anything. and the lesbians don't get put through a ton of heartbreak and unnecessary drama either!!! there's pining, there's slight miscommunication and the characters themselves go through some things, but the relationship itself??? pretty much thriving, even through the end of season three. again, SO incredibly important to me.

the character work, writing, and acting is also exemplary. given that mythic quest is already on your list to watch, you probably know some of the actors who are in it: namely, Rob McElhenney, Danny Pudi, David Hornsby, Ashly Burch, etc. The show was created by Rob McElhenney, Megan Ganz, and Charlie Day, who all obviously worked together on iasip. Megan actively writes for MQ, Rob stars in and writes, and Charlie has been pretty hands-off since the show actually got up and running, but who knows. maybe he'll have a cameo one day. David, Danny, and Ashly have all also been involved behind the scenes. I'm sure there's other stuff I’m missing, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head, production and acting-wise.

one of the biggest things that makes mythic quest unique is that, once a season, they have a "backstory" episode, which provides context to a different aspect of the show. the first time I watched season 1 and the backstory episode came on (it's called "A Dark Quiet Death") I had to double check that I didn't accidentally click on another show lmao. I didn't know What was going on. the backstory episodes from seasons 2 and 3 have more immediately recognizable connections to the main story, so they're easier to follow right off the bat, but yeah. the mythic quest backstory episodes are absolutely fantastic. it allows the writers to play with different story layouts, deviate from the established feel of the show, introduce different characters, etc. I could talk about each one for hours, but I won't right now. but yeah. those episodes alone would make the show worth watching.

a few other things I love: danny pudi playing mean, brad as a character in general, the chemistry the characters and actors have, the way it's shot is beautiful, the post season 1 specials (quarantine and everlight), how fleshed out and real the universe is (so much so that I thought mythic quest was a real game for a while), the animations they use as scene transitions, the multitude of background details that I notice more of on every rewatch, the sheer complexity of the characters, the diversity and representation (queer characters, mental health issues, familial trauma, etc), and god so much more. I could go on and on and on about this show. because this ask was so long ago it's possible you've already watched it but if you haven't please do! if you're not the asker and you haven't seen mythic quest and are reading this, ALSO please do! and let me know what you think afterwards If You So Choose. as we've pretty clearly established, I am always super down to talk about my favorite shows :)

TL;DR: mythic quest is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. unique episode/season layouts, dense worldbuilding, great writing and acting, lesbians, hilarious yet occasionally heart-wrenching plots, complex characters, and so much more. give it a shot. you won't regret it 👍👍👍 (plus season 4 is coming out this year!!!)

#also it is so underrated we need more fans #now is the perfect time to watch it #before season 4 comes out later this year #god I’m so hyped #anyway sorry again about the huge ass delay in a response #but that's just how the cookie crumbles I suppose #anyway #mythic quest #mq

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thethistlegirlwrites · 3 months

Text

Vampires Anonymous

Joey looks around the abandoned office-turned-Vampires-Anonymous and wonders how this night is going to go.

There’s about ten people scattered throughout the room. A guy playing a harmonica in a corner, some upbeat tune that’s probably actually a folk ballad about how some guy died in the old west, two heavily tattooed girls playing some kind of card game that involves a lot of yelling and smacking the top of the deck, a young guy with a frowzy shock of dark purple hair, an old man with cowboy boots and a weather-lined face apparently dozing off with his feet propped up on a battered desk, a guy who looks like he could have been a lawyer in his past life brushing off the seat of a wobbly spinning chair, and a woman with a dandelion poof of hair and a patch-covered jacket perched on top of a four-foot-tall filing cabinet. Then there’s Joey, and Shay, and the listing stacks of paperwork, file boxes, and busted chairs the previous tenants left behind.

Part of what Shay’s doing as community service for his own mentorship is starting a support group for fledglings that’s connected to the mentor program. It’s one thing for young vampires to have a connection to someone who can offer advice and the wisdom of experience, but it’s also good to have people who are at the same spot, sharing the same struggles.

Joey’s got her halfway house ‘sisterhood’, but she agreed to come anyway because Shay should have at least one person he knows to offer support the first few weeks.

But if Shay’s nervous about his first night leading the group, he’s not showing it.

Lawyer-guy looks around the room. “Shouldn’t we be, like, making a circle of chairs or something?”

“You wanna hold hands and sing Kumbaya, too?” Cabinet-percher asks.

“This group is what we make it,” Shay breaks in, with the same authoritative calmness Joey remembers from the days when he drove off jerks harassing her. “In my experience, too much structure makes everyone feel too formal, or too put on the spot because we’re all looking at each other. We’ll try it this way first.” He looks around. “I would like everyone to introduce themselves but only as much as you’re comfortable with, and no last names right now. I’ll start. I’m Shay. I’ve been a vampire for a little less than two years, but I was bitten in college and it took me quite a while to actually die and turn. The reason I got picked to work with this group in the first place is that I was trying to deal with the chronic venom pain and got hooked on heroin. I’ve been in and out of mandatory rehabs and group therapy most of my adult life. The point being, I know something about what makes a group work or what makes them useless, and we’re going to try to be one of the better ones here.”

Joey tries to pay attention as the others follow suit.

Tattoos and Tattoos Two are sisters, Kai and Lia. They got turned the same night when they played a punk-rock gig at the wrong bar and ended up on the menu instead of onstage. The old man is Loren, a name that makes Lawyer-guy snicker until Harmonica throws a ball of crumpled paper at him. He’s a former rancher who ended up bled dry by both the banks and vampire loan shark he turned to in desperation. Purple hair is Francisco, whose story is disturbingly similar to Joey’s, except that the vampire who took him and four other people across the border decided to hang onto them for a while. He’d been the only one infected, and had woken up in the middle of a body dump in the desert. Like Joey, he’s on Chimera’s case docket for home earth citizenship. Harmonica turns out to be a very unassuming Jay, which feels like way too short and normal a name for his charismatic aura. He’d been a bit part actor in sitcoms until he tried to break up what he thought was a rape in the backlot and ended up surprising a hungry vamp instead. Lawyer-guy, whose name is actually Keith, really was a lawyer, apparently. A divorce lawyer whose less than above-board methods led to him crossing paths with a sleazy vamp offering PI services for his clients. One argument over payments later, his practice and his life were over. Cabinet-percher is Aaliyah. Former LA cabbie who got literally stiffed on a fare. Twice over, unfortunately for her. The first time by a vamp who bit her rather than pay up, and the second time by a desperate guy who was fleeing an armed robbery. When the radio gave out his description, and Aaliyah had looked into the mirror to confirm it was her passenger, he’d shot her in the back of the head and bolted.

Joey didn’t really mean to go last, but it kind of just happened. She’s not the sort to break into the conversation, and she was trying too hard to take in everyone else’s story.

“Uh, I’m Joey. I’ve been a vampire for about eight months. I was bitten when I was nineteen, by a border smuggler.” She kicks at a dust ball on the floor. “I spent the next six years in LA and when I died, my family buried me and I turned. Now I’m in the mentor program to get a chance at getting them back in my life.” It feels painfully slow. Two weeks is too long to wait for the physical visits, but if everything goes well, in another month she’ll get moved up into the once-a-week bracket. “I hadn’t told them I was going to become a vampire. Mostly because I didn’t actually think it would happen.”

One of the two tattooed girls (it’s going to take weeks for Joey to remember who’s who) scowls. “Let me get this straight. You didn’t know you had the venom in you?”

Joey laces her fingers together and looks down at her hands in her lap.

“Not for sure.” She sighs. “I didn’t want it to be true. I couldn’t afford it to be.”

“Didn’t you feel anything?” Aaliyah asks. “I felt like my skin was going to burn off whenever someone touched me. It hypersensitized me to everything. And my teeth were killing me.”

“I kept telling myself everything I felt made sense.”

She was driving her sister to appointments, working the fights at night, scared she'd be caught and deported because she couldn't get a visa. She’d figured the stomach pains meant she’d end up like Jorge across the hall, with a stress ulcer before thirty because he too had overstayed his legal welcome. She thought the hunger was from skipping meals so her siblings got more.

She was ignoring the pain because Via came first.

“Everyone else in our neighborhood was just like me. Always tired, alert to anything that might be trouble, not enough in our pockets to put enough on the table.” Even the teeth had made sense. She’d always ground them in her sleep. Mauri used to complain about it in the camps, say she was keeping him awake.

The one thing she’d never felt was the aggression Shay had described, that drove him to the fights where she’d met him. Chimera’s been theorizing for a while that there’s a subclass of vampire in which the venom activates the victim’s flight instead of fight response, creating a stealthy, shadow-dwelling vampire when they finally turn, an ambush predator rather than one that stalks its prey actively.

They still don’t know if it’s linked to the person’s inherent responses to traumas, or if it’s connected to a specific strain of sires. After all, one could argue that the vampire who turned her was the same sort. That kind of alert wariness would be an asset to someone in his line of work.

“That’s messed up.” Jay shakes his head. “I can’t believe you just ignored that.”

Joey swallows. No one will blame her if she stops talking now.

She’s not sure telling anyone the specifics about her family is ever a good idea.

But that’s something born out of years of running and hiding and fear.

She doesn’t want to carry that with her into this place.

“I wasn’t alone when I came across the border. I made the deal I did in exchange for him getting my siblings and me here, so my sister could get the medical help she needed. Via was always the brave one. Facing her pain with a smile even on her worst days. If she could be okay, how could I be anything else?” Joey swallows. “It felt like nothing compared to what she must have been living with. She needed me to be strong for her, and I had to make sure she could get to the doctor, that we could pay for her treatments, and that she felt safe.”

“Damn. You just ignored vampire venom poisoning because taking care of your family was the most important thing in your life. That is bad-ass,” Aaliyah says. “You told something killing you from the inside out that it was gonna have to get in line because your little sis needed you.”

Joey didn’t think what she’d done was that impressive. She’d just been getting herself out of bed every day for Via, like she’d done every day since their mother was murdered. But apparently, to a room full of vampires, she’s managed to pull off something extraordinary.

“Yeah. Don’t think I can top that,” Keith says with a shrug.

“You literally got infected and died in the same day, of course you can’t,” Kai (Joey can tell now because she’s spun around in her office chair and there’s a big stylized K inked on her shoulder) retorts.

“Beginning to think you should be the one leading sessions,” Shay says, a hand resting gently on Joey’s shoulder.

She shakes her head. It was scary enough telling a roomful of vampires about her siblings even existing. She’s not someone who likes the spotlight. Ever.

“No way.”

He gives her a smile. “Well, in that case…” He holds out a chipped bowl full of strips of paper and pens. “Write down your favorite vamp bar. Has to be a legal one though, and not a coven-members-only kind.”

“Okay, why?” Francisco asks.

“Because I think we’re going to have a much better time getting to know each other over drinks.” Shay says with a grin. “We’ll draw names every week, rotate through.”

“That seems like a weird way to run the vampire version of AA,” Keith mumbles.

“We’re not trying to stop drinking synth-blood,” Lia says. “We’re trying to learn how to cope with being vampires. I think it’s great.” She tosses her slip in the bowl. “Heads up Kai and I have the same pick and it’s karaoke so be prepared to sing for a round because there’s double the chances ours gets picked.”

“Oh no,” Jay groans.

“What do you have against music? You were playing that harmonica for a solid ten minutes.”

“Music, fine. Me singing, so not a good idea.”

“Then you’d better start practicing and hope it gets picked a couple weeks from now,” Aaliyah says, tossing her own pick in.

Shay swirls a hand around the bowl. As the only member of the group without a suggestion, he’s the most unbiased picker. He pulls out a folded paper, opens it, and shakes his head. “Okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but who possibly suggested a dive like the Vein Drain?”

No one raises their hands.

“Well, it is a legal establishment, but can we at least try not to start a full bar brawl on our first meeting night?”

There’s a pretty mixed response of nods and shrugs.

Shay looks at Joey with the first really concerned expression she’s seen all night, but all she can do is shake her head. “You let them pick.”

“And I think I’m going to regret it.” Shay sighs. “I’m going to be really bad at this aren’t I?”

“I guess we’ll find out if Lawson has to read us the riot act and bail us out of holding in the morning,” Joey says. “In the meantime, I guess we’re going to find out why this place is one of our new friends’ favorite hangouts.”

(You can read this story and others from this universe on my WorldAnvil here!)

@catwingsathena @nade2308 @the-one-and-only-valkyrie @telltaleclerk @ettawritesnstudies @writeouswriter @whump-place @the-lovely-wren

#febuwhump #febuwhump2024 #febuwhumpday26 #help them #vampires anonymous #shane barrett #josefina quintero

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insidejizz · 1 year

Text

ROBOTUS alpha-beta headcanons

first writing post is gonna be some general headcanons for everyones favorite robot =) feel free to request any other characters , or anything at all

// he wont outright say it but he. has a bias against bears because of bearo now.

mostly he just makes like petty comments if he sees a bear or anything? calls them stupid and annoying

of course this would quickly change if anyone gave him something that was a bear.

hed make some comment about it, something about how "you must not know me very well if you thought this was a good gift" but also he. wont give it up no matter what.

like if they offered to get him something else? its instantly 'no takebacks live with your choices' because he refuses to genuinely say he likes something that is bear themed. but he does.

// i think if he had access to more shows (reagan please give him access to ur streaming services PLEASE) he would still love lighthearted cheesy shit like sitcoms

like as much as he enjoys high stakes where humans all die (lol), he finds it a lot more fun to watch shows where its just a bunch of. harmless idiots existing.

the office, parks and rec, schitts creek, etc etc.

of course this makes him. insufferable to any non-sitcom enjoyer but if you show him other things you can wean him off of it u just gotta find other funny shows

one time he compared reagan to sheldon from big bang theory. he didnt….. mean it to be mean? it was a simple observation, but it did NOT go over well with reagan

other shows he would enjoy, imo;

the good place

game shows! he gets SO heated watching gameshows bc he will play along and get mad if he cant get the answers right shgsghjdsjgn

columbo

gravity falls

// does not know his own strength sometimes and will just like crush shit in his hand accidentally

like he doesnt. MEAN to but hell be holding something and then flex his hand a little to make sure its not locking up and WHOOPS he crushed that solo cup and now reagan has to fix a beer-logged robot arm

tries to hold a cardboard box gently and just rips holes into it trying to get the right strength grip on the box

with things that are more solid, hes just fine because he can stop when he feels resistance and know he's holding it firmly but not breaking anything

but with fragile things? there is no resistance and then its broken and hes like. aw fuck

// myc gave him a furby at one point. said he found it in storage and it reminded him of ab because it never shuts up and runs on batteries.

ab HATES it. absolutely loathes the thing. it sets a bad example for robotkind, its UGLY, its ANNOYING, and he CANT MAKE IT SHUT UP.

has taken out the batteries before . insists that it kept going even after he took them out so he just put them back in anyway

( in reality he took the batteries out, got lonely, and put them back in)

he gave it a name but its like. a WEIRD ASS name. its essentially just a glitch noise

said he did it bc "no human should ever be allowed to sully its name" which is. oddly endearing in his own way

if you are able to sneak up on him you might be able to hear him cooing at the furby. plots world domination with it like an evil mastermind and his cat

// WOULD NEVER ADMIT IT AND ONLY REAGAN KNOWS BC THEY SHARE THE SAME STREAMING SERVICES BUT…….. he LOVES my little pony. specifically equestria girls

cried watching the first equestria girls movie, refuses to admit he cried watching the first equestria girls movie.

he also… secretly imagines the gang as the mane six? it wasnt hard for him to decide who was who and he will just sit there during meetings like "haha that is SO rainbowdash of you myc…."

(if youre interested, his assignments are :)

myc ; rainbow dash

glenn ; applejack

gigi ; rarity

reagan ; twilight sparkle

andre ; pinkie pie

brett ; both spike and fluttershy. ab will argue for both and he will win the argument.

(btw he sees himself as sunset shimmer<3<3<3<3)

#REDACTED #robotus #robotus alpha-beta #robotus alpha beta #alpha beta #alpha-beta #robotus inside job #robotus headcanons #inside job netflix #inside job headcanons #- angel #thank you for reading :)

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inlocusmads · 3 months

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7 and 8 for Nora! 4 and 5 for your MAH MC!

#7 for Nora:

Oh this is such a good question <3

Nora had two main jobs but she worked a lot of side jobs to pay for college expenses as well as just yknow, as jobs. She worked at a restaurant for a brief period in college just to have a bit of money and learned how to do things really really quickly. Just be more efficient with her time and get things done at supersonic speeds. She hates HATES it when something she set out to doing at a <xyz> bracket of time takes longer than usual and she will try everything in her power to make things go faster.

Then she worked at the NYPD as an officer and learned how to endure failure. It's tougher dealing with failure outside of the academic sphere and it gave Nora a lot of thick skin and lots to consider in terms of how to solve a problem. And of course, how to maintain a schedule, because that's something she struggled with for a long period of time.

While she was between jobs - after quitting the NYPD position and taking up Mafalda's offer, she was working in her uncle's bar mostly doing inventory. I like to think that's how she ends up moving out.

(She takes the bar job seriously, moves out of her uncle's place and gets the apartment she has now, to be there when the shipment arrives first thing in the morning. It starts out as a nightly patrol work - just filling in shoes while her uncle works at a different place to gather up money to fund his bar and Nora ends up running the place for a bit, along with "finding people's things" for people - missing hats, files, folders for a nominal fee and once she gets the job, she kind of moves into the small apartment and also takes care of her uncle's bar in her spare time.)

Anyway, she learns a couple of neat tricks. How to convince people into splurging on big pricey drinks, how to handle rush hours, do a lot of instantaneous math, work the business aspect of it, learn the trick of the trade, work the business and so on and so forth.

And right now she has the opportunity to put all of that into practical use.

#8 for Nora:

Nora: "Don't remember me. I don't - I don't want to be remembered or a statue in my honour. Just give me something because you want to. Give me something to remember you by. Not the other way around."

#4 for Rowan:

Rowan doesn't like noise or music or anything because it usually derails her when she's doing something important. She might be inclined to put on a TV show while doing homework or eating or making food or heck, even driving sometimes (hel-lo podcasts and audio dramas) but would hate it if she's working on a case or her internship or any kind of project really and have it just make her lose concentration.

She enjoys TV shows in specific, big dramas that go on for a long time - one hour-length episodes and stuff she can put on and not worry about. So sitcoms and period dramas where it's very serialized and episodic than each episode having some larger pay off in the end she needs to focus on, if that makes sense.

#5 for Rowan:

Rowan is right handed but can write with her left hand as well. She doesn't use her left hand all that much, but it's the one arm that would help her a lot and make her better at stuff if she y'know used it. Her left arm is her throwing arm, while her right can barely push a rock to land a couple feet away. She's good at tossing things with her left than her right and a lot more precise that way. She's got a strong grip in her left and has more dexterity there and her right arm is just tired, floppy and is a mess from schoolwork. But she never ever uses her left arm for more than just holding up a ruler while drawing a line or using it to pick things and it's frustrating for Stevie to notice it because Rowan's like a Batman with her left hand but she never uses it and when asked, she's like:

"That's a specific question, why are you asking me this."

___

Thank you for the asks Cady <333

character generator asks

#generator asks #cadybear420 #askboxed #nora rose #rowan stone

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storiesofsvu · 2 years

Text

Her Everything Ch 4

Warnings: Language. Talk of the job.

Also get ready for a time jump after this chapter…..

***

Hours turned into days before the squad was able to track Lewis down, a slew of assaults and murders in his wake. Olivia was more than lucky enough to get out of there alive, Amaro and Rollins had been on scene, accompanying Liv to the nearest hospital. Cragen practically dragged you off to Bellevue the instant Lewis was even semi conscious, knowing the psycho would no doubt attempt to lead the detectives into an unethical line of questioning/confession that would get thrown out the second it fell into an attorney’s hands. You reminded the Captain that Lewis would be hopped up on pain meds and anything he said would be inadmissible in a courtroom but everyone was so fired up it nearly didn’t matter.

You saw Rafael very briefly in passing as you worked through countless statements from the other victims, arguing back and fourth with Lewis’ lawyer. Cragen had you go through all of CSU’s reports with a fine toothed comb, making sure they hadn’t crossed any lines or missed anything, and considering there were four separate crime scenes, your desk was a mountain of case files and half empty coffee cups. Adrenaline was still pounding through your veins, no doubt increased by the amount of caffeine you’d consumed over the past three days, so you figured you’d use the energy to compile a detailed file for Barba.

The bull pen started to trickle empty, every so often someone would pop through to pick up something before finally going home for the night. Small exchanges took place, but before you knew it, you heard the click of Captain Cragen’s office shutting. Glancing up across the room you realized it was only your desk left with a light on, the room completely empty.

“You still going over CSU’s notes?” The man asked, approaching your desk.

“Nah.” You ran a hand over your face, “Figured I’d start putting details together for Barba.”

“Well that can wait for the morning, or at least at your own apartment.” He squeezed your shoulder softly, “Good work today. Now go home and get some sleep.”

“Yeah Cap.” You smiled as he left the room. Slumping back in your chair your eyes drank in the mountains of papers on your desk, you could feel the absolute exhaustion aching in your bones. Sucking in a deep breath you stood, shuffling files back to their homes, shoving the stack into your bag. Cragen was right, this would be much more enjoyable in your own apartment, you could finally tuck into that bottle of wine you had stashed away.

Back in the confines of your own apartment you realized just how badly you wanted to shower. You’d spent a few days surrounded by the worst of the worst, the metaphorical grime needed to be washed away. You changed into a pair of leggings and an baggy tshirt, dropping down onto the couch with the case files and your oh so reliable post it notes. The t.v played some sitcom reruns while you indulged into the very much needed wine. Luckily, it only took a few hours to finish putting everything together, you separated all the copies and info into the file for Barba before placing everything back in the right place to take into work Wednesday. Cragen had texted to say for you to take the next day off, get some extra well deserved rest, but asked if you could swing past the D.A’s office at some point to drop off what Barba would need. With that, you trudged to the bedroom, collapsing against the plush layer of blankets and pillows.

Rafael was on his couch, hunched over an argument for a separate case on the coffee table, half full tumbler of scotch beside him when he heard a soft knock on the door. The pen in his hand froze as his brows furrowed, glancing over his shoulder toward the noise. He paused long enough there was another knock, only a hair louder than the first. Slowly he got up, padding over to the apartment door, unlinking the chain and pulling it open. When he saw you there, he was a bit taken aback, he’d expected you to still be working, or passed out so hard you were practically in a coma, not to mention your softened, homey appearance.

“Hey…” Your voice was barely above a whisper, “Sorry if I woke you.”

“No..no, not at all.” He welcomed you into the apartment, shutting the door behind you as you glanced around slightly nervously, wrapping your arms around your chest. “I was still working.” You gave him a weak smile,

“I shouldn’t be surprised.” You sighed, “Sorry again…I..I couldn’t sleep…didn’t..really want to be alone..” You finally met his gaze and he wavered at the diminished look in your usual determined sparkly eyes. “And…Cragen wanted to make sure you got this tomorrow but I didn’t really feel like a field trip on my day off.” Tugging the folder from your bag you handed it to him, he barely glanced down at the label before tossing it to the kitchen island.

“You doin’ okay?” He asked softly, a hand daring to dart out, stroking at your arm.

Both of you were on the same confused page right now. You’d both heavily enjoyed the night you’d spent together, and there was clearly a reason beyond the case file that you’d showed up at his apartment tonight. You were drawn to him when you wanted comfort, enough to be ballsy enough to show up past 1 a.m basically in pyjama’s. Rafael was incredibly thankful that you’d come, able to finally see you outside of work, outside of the ever tense growing environment that had been SVU the past week.

“Uh-all things considered..yeah.”

“How’s Liv?”

“She’s…she’ll be okay.” You pushed your hair back off your face, “She went through one hell of a lot, but she’s stronger than any of us. Hospital’s keeping her overnight before she goes to Cassidy’s.”

“Good.” Rafael did the only thing he could, “You want a drink?”

“Please…” A weak smile turned your lips up as he moved through the kitchen, grabbing a fresh glass, dumping some scotch into it before his hand found the small of your back, leading you to the couch.

“Sorry…” He muttered, clearing the coffee table, “Harris case..”

“I intruded your home after midnight Rafael, there’s no reason to apologize.” He chuckled softly at that, tossing the files into a nearby armchair before he settled into the couch, grabbing the t.v remote.

“You can’t intrude if you’re always welcome.” His free arm had slung around the back of the couch.

Your breath nearly hitched as you glanced up at those stunning eyes, a moment of understanding wrapped around the two of you. One hand clutched the glass of scotch a little tighter while the other braced against his bicep as you leaned in, your lips gently met his, only for a moment, enough of a time to take away the worries of the day. His hand cupped your cheek softly, thumb stroking at the skin as his lips moved against yours with ease, a small grin evident on them as you departed, your cheeks flushed slightly at the intimate action. Rafael lightly pulled you to him, kissing your forehead, encouraging you to curl up against his frame while he flicked through Netflix suggestions before he spoke.

“I…I know this isn’t the best time, but I do really hope we’re on the same page after that night..” You couldn’t help the smile at his words, wrapping an arm around his chest.

“I’m here aren’t I?” You giggled when you felt his lips hit the top of your head, “I like you Rafael. I do. I wish I could’ve stayed that morning, but we both know how the job is.” You gave a soft sigh, “I’d really like to spend more time with you, get to know more of you, the real you…”

“Well you are more than welcome to.” His lips hit your head again as you cuddled deeper into his arms, the drink and the t.v helping, but mainly his embrace finally able to pull you away from the terrors you’d witnessed over the last few days.

When the clock hit three a.m Rafael knew he shouldn’t be up any later, you may have had the day off, but he still had a trial to work. You were practically asleep against him anyway as he nudged you, chuckling at your grumbling as he pulled you to stand, guiding you to the bedroom. He took a few moments to get ready for bed, eager to tug you into his arms, spooning you softly, his lips meeting the bare skin of your shoulder. He wasn’t sure if it was the lateness of the hour, the intimacy of the evening, of the darkness of the room but he felt shielded, more confident than he would if he was facing you in his office.

“I know this is…potentially wildly unprofessional..” You couldn’t help but chuckle at his use of your words that first night, “But I’ve really enjoyed our time together, I really like you Y/N, I understand if you don’t feel the same, but…I’d really like to take you out to dinner this weekend.” You let out a soft giggle, rolling in his arms to face him, his face barely etched out by the moonlight. Your hand stroked his cheek before you lips met his,

“I’d love that Rafael.” Even through the darkness, he could make out the gleam of your smile, the way you tugged him tighter to his body, the way you relaxed against him even quicker than before, falling asleep with the small smile still plastered on your cheeks

#rafael barba #rafael barba x reader #her everything #law and order #law and order svu #svu #law and order special victims unit

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