#but he’s in control of the phone plan and I don’t know how version works

[imeaniguessthatsfine]

father, I know you are likely working and can’t actually answer your phone, but it’s me your child with questions that—despite it being 10pm and can’t actually solve till at least morning—need immediate answer bc i will keep ruminating about this till morning otherwise

[toothpastecanyon]

Return, to the Scene of the Crime

Playing human again, Alcor makes it longer than he usually does. He's in college now, juggling classes, family, a curious vampire, and a strange, increasingly sinister web of mysteries weaving themselves around him. Without his omniscience to guide the way, he'll have to work hard to get to the bottom of this before it spirals out of control.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

Lucy Ann was asleep when her phone rang. She grumbled and turned over, fishing in her pocket to mute it. Then it rang again, and with a heavy sigh, she cracked open an eyelid to see who it was.

“Alcor,” she muttered. “Ugh… fine, alright.”

Sitting up, she pushed the lid of the coffin open, and shielded her phone from the screams in the funeral home as she put it to her ear.

“Yeah, what?”

“Lucy Ann?”

“Yeah, it’s me, dude.” She rubbed her eyes. “What is it? Kinda in the middle of something here.”

“Oh, do you want me to – I can call back-”

“What is it?”

She heard him take a deep breath, and rolled her eyes. She stood up and stretched as he seemed to collect his thoughts.

“I…” he started. “I’m going away for a while. I wanted to call you before I… I won’t be summonable, so I wanted to let you know how to, how to reach me if you need me.”

“Ah, this is one of these Noie deals, huh? Glad you’re finally giving me a heads up.”

“Yeah, I don’t – I-I know how it went last time, I don’t want that to happen again.”

Lucy Ann glanced down at the glove on her hand. He kept going.

“So I’m giving you a special circle you can use to contact me – uh, it’ll break my enchantments, so if it could be an emergencies only kind of thing…?”

“Got it.”

“Okay… yeah, thanks. And if you need to see me in person, I’ll be down in the California Isles. The family’s really nice – they, hah, they actually own a funeral home-”

“No way! In Maine?”

“In- no, California. I just told you-”

“Oh, yeah! Right.” Lucy Ann gave a little chuckle as she looked at an urn. “Sorry, I got carried away there. That would’ve been a hell of a coincidence.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it, uh,” she cleared her throat. “Okay. That sounds good. Thanks for letting me know, Al.”

“Of course. I’ll send the circle to you and then… get set up.” He seemed like he wanted to say more; after a moment, he spoke again. “So, uh, see you in a couple decades?”

“Yeah, see you then,” she said, and then grinned. “Or who knows, maybe I’ll pay a visit.”

“Pay a visit? What?”

“Yeah. Maybe I’ll see if you loosen up a bit without that demon angst you’ve always got going on.” She heard him laugh, and gave a little chuckle herself… but soon it faded, and she cleared her throat again. “Uh, anyway, good luck with that, I guess. See you around.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you.”

When Lucy Ann hung up the call, the little joke she’d made about dropping in on him had already slipped her mind. For almost twenty years she went on wandering as she always did, thinking of Alcor only rarely, wondering how he was doing. She wasn’t ever thinking of actually following through on that joke… but, you know, sometimes things don’t happen for anything as grand as fate or careful planning.

Sometimes they just fall into place.

She was bouncing around the Isles when she remembered Alcor. googled the name of that funeral home he’d given her, as she sometimes did – just to see if they were still in business, but she came across a little blog post the owners posted: ‘HE GOT INTO HONORS COLLEGE!!!’ It was a picture of Dipper with a dorky smile and a graduation cap, and she couldn’t help but snicker to herself at the glowing paragraphs his parents had posted to their business page. Jeez, he was still going, wasn’t he? She didn’t want to be rude on the phone, but she was expecting this thing to flame out early as it usually did.

So… he was just living the regular human life, huh?

Huh.

…

Lucy Ann looked around the motel room she was in, decided she didn’t have anything interesting going on, and started packing.

______________________________________________________________

“Murdered! She was murdered!”

“Dude.”

“I can’t believe it, who would do this! I just can’t-”

“Dude, Darren!” Dipper put his hands on the guy’s shoulders. “Keep your voice down. I thought you came to me because you didn’t want the RA to hear!”

Lucy Ann chuckled a bit as Darren shut his mouth. She watched Dipper walk back to the bird cage under the dorm room bed. There was a little pile of ash under the perch; opening the cage, he pinched some between his fingers.

“Look,” Dipper said. “Nobody killed your phoenix, okay? This isn’t phoenix ash.”

“Wha- what?”

“Phoenix ash is highly magical.” He brought out a little necklace tucked under his shirt; there was a dull blue glass pendant on the end of it, and nothing happened when he brought the ash to it. “See? My necklace lights up when it’s repelling magic, and it’s getting nothing here. It’s just regular ash.”

Darren sniffed and wiped his nose. “So… so Flamey’s alive?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, man, she’s alive.” He paused, meaningfully. “But… someone wanted you to think she was dead.”

Darren gasped. Lucy Ann watched with a grin as Dipper got to his feet, dusting off his hands.

“My guess is it’s some kind of prank, but it could be that someone stole your phoenix for themselves. Who else knows about Flamey?”

“I-I don’t… no one, I think!” He wrung his shirt. “I mean my dorm mate does, but he wouldn’t steal her – Alex hates living with her!”

“Hates living with her, eh?” Lucy Ann raised her eyebrows at Dipper. “Maybe it’s not been stolen to keep.”

“That’s exactly what I thought,” Dipper nodded to himself. Darren leaned in further.

“You think… you think Alex murdered Flamey?”

“No, I told you, no one murdered-” There was a knock at the door just then, and Dipper looked up. “Hello?”

“Uh, hello?” Said the voice. “This is my room, who’s in here?”

“That’s Alex,” Darren murmured, and then he called out: “Just some friends of mine!”

The door opened slowly, and Alex popped his head in, frowning. “Uh, okay. Hey, Darren, how long are they gonna be here? I’ve gotta study.”

“Oh, we’re just wrapping up,” Dipper said, letting what he probably thought was a very sly smile snake across his face. “But, uh… Alex, was it? I just got one question for you.”

“Uh, sure?”

“You got a lighter?”

Alex frowned. “A lighter? No.”

“Oh, okay.” Dipper glanced across the room. “That’s weird, then. You got a scented candle on your desk.”

Darren groaned. “I hate that candle, man, it smells like old people. And isn’t it, like, a fire hazard?”

“Fire hazard?” Alex crossed his arms. “Seriously, man? You’re going on about a fire hazard?”

“You don’t like that he keeps a phoenix under his bed, do you?”

Alex blinked, and then scowled at Dipper. “Yeah, duh, would you?”

“So you stole it.”

“So- wait, what? I didn’t – hey, who is this guy, Darren?”

“You stole Flamey?” Darren stared slackjawed at him. “You did, didn’t you!”

“And then you burned some paper and planted it in her cage so he’d think she was dead.” Dipper crossed his arms. “Pets aren’t allowed in the dorms, so you thought Darren wouldn’t report it to anybody. It was the perfect crime!”

“I… I…” Alex blinked a few times, then huffed and threw up his hands. “Okay, fine! I gave her to my aunt!”

“Alex!”

“And I’d do it again! You know what the real crime is? Keeping a flaming fucking bird in a tiny cage under your bed! I was doing you and her a favour!”

“I can’t believe you! You get her back, okay! You get her back or, or… or I’ll tell the RA about the candles!”

“Oh-hoh, okay, you tell them about the candles and I’ll tell them about the giant bird you had under your bed! We’ll see what they’re more interested in!”

“Flamey!”

Dipper and Lucy Ann strolled out of the dorm room together. Lucy Ann took one look at his smug face and poked him in the ribs.

“Wha- hey! What was that for?”

“If your head gets any bigger it’s not gonna fit in the doorway.” She smirked at him. “I guess you did okay, though. Quick thinking on the ash.”

“Yeah, heh…” He rubbed his side. “That was not what I expected when Darren came over. Still, that was pretty good, wasn’t it? It was like being a detective!”

“You’re a real Sherlock Holmes.”

With a laugh, Dipper unlocked his dorm, held it open for her, and followed her in. It was a tiny space, but at least it was a one-bedroom; a bunk bed slotted against one wall, and a desk was crammed against the other, leaving only a narrow walkway from the door to a tiny square of window. Dipper’s desk was covered in books and notes; his magi-orb was open but asleep, and he made his way over to wake it up.

On the way, he got a little tangled with the sleeping bag on the floor – more accurately, this used to be a one-bedroom. Lucy Ann snorted.

“Hey, you’re stepping on my pillows!”

“Oops, sorry.” He watched her lounge out on the floor with a raised eyebrow. “You know, you sure you still want to stay here?”

“Yup.” She picked up a book beside her bed, and glanced over at him. “What, you tired of me?”

“No, no! I just – I mean, it’s been so cool to meet the real Lucy Ann, but I still don’t get why you’ve decided to hang around me.” He watched her face twist into a knowing grin, and rolled his eyes. “You’re never gonna tell me why, are you.”

She just winked at that, and buried her head in her book. Shaking his head, he turned back to his magi-orb and tapped it a few times; it flared to life, and Dipper’s necklace gave off a soft blue glow as he started scrolling. A news article popped up, and he clicked on it.

“Huh.” He said to himself. “Hey, you remember that jewellery store robbery last week?”

“No.”

“It was that one super close to campus – we got alerts about it.”

She just shrugged, so he started reading off the article.

“Suspect in jewellery store stick up still at large after mysterious disappearance, magical influence suspected.” His eyes skipped further down. “Oh, nice, looks like the guy he shot got out of the hospital today.”

“Good for him.”

“Mysterious disappearance… they say he went into a back room away from the cameras and just disappeared. No windows in the room either, isn’t that weird?”

Finally, Lucy Ann glanced up from her book and gave him an odd look. “Yeah, I guess it’s weird. Why, you wanna rob a jewellery store or something? It’s not as fun as it sounds.”

“No, I’m just… how did he disappear like that?” He sat back in his chair, stroking his chin. “I mean, locked room, no windows-”

Lucy Ann let out the biggest groan. “Oh, no. You call a guy Sherlock once and he becomes insufferable – if you start reading every random crime report to me I really will leave, okay?”

“Okay, okay!” He put his hands up. “Sheesh. I just thought it was a cool mystery. You don’t have to bite my head off.”

“I’m not biting your head off, I’m just saying that’s cop shit.” She flashed a fanged grin at him. “Come on, your life’s too short to care who makes off with some pretty rocks or whatever. The world’s full of way more interesting mysteries than that.”

“Hm.” He sat there for a second, and then reached out and closed the news article. “I guess you’re right.”

She watched him sit back, and sat up. “Hey, you wanna do something tonight?”

“Huh?”

“You know, go out somewhere. I saw this thing the other day for an escape room – you ever done one of those?”

“I haven’t. That sounds cool, but…”

“You gotta study?”

“Ahh,” he checked his phone. “Actually, Mom texted, asked if I could drop some groceries off at home tonight. I’ll probably stay for dinner.”

“Oh, okay.” Lucy Ann sat back and picked up her book again. “Sounds good.”

______________________________________________________________

Quicksilver Funeral Home & Crematory was on the southernmost tip of the New Fresno Peninsula, about a fifty minute’s drive from Dipper’s university. It was, politely, in the middle of nowhere; Dipper always smiled when he remembered the long, lazy days he spent in the forests behind his house… just as much as he’d remember the long drive to school, the friends he could never casually invite over. As remote as it was, though, his dad always liked to remind him that at least they were on the mainland.

“Oh, we’re hardly in the middle of nowhere, son. If you wanna see the middle of nowhere, take a skylift out to one of those floating islands down south. Poor saps are so remote their dead get brought to us in helicopters!”

It was, if not a convincing argument, a very illustrative one. Dipper thought of his dad’s voice as he pulled up the driveway, and a little grimace tugged his lips down. He turned off his car, glanced at the groceries on the seat next to him, and sighed.

Then he sat up, opened the door, and got out. Picking up the groceries, he made his way to the side entrance and rang the doorbell. There was a muffled, “I got it,” and footsteps up to the door.

It unlatched, swung open, and revealed his sister in the doorway. Mallory nodded at him.

“Hey,” she said, and stepped aside to let him in. He smiled at her.

“Hey, Mal. Got the groceries!”

“I see that. Need a hand?”

“No, I got it, thanks.” He headed down the hallway into the kitchen. “Hey, Mom! That smells great!”

“Dipper!” His Mom looked up from a pot of bubbling soup; her face creased into a smile, and she gave him a big hug. “It’s so great to see you, honey!”

“It’s great to see you too – oh, watch out, eggs!” He put the bags on the counter before hugging back. “How’ve you been? Where’s Dad?”

“He’s in the living room with Mallory – I can put all this away if you wanna see him!”

“You sure?”

“Of course! He’ll be delighted to see you!”

The living room was just around the corner; Dipper hesitated for a second before walking in.

“Hey, Dad.”

His Dad was sitting back in his favourite green armchair, and for a second Dipper could just pretend he’d fallen asleep in it as he loved to do, and him and Mallory were two giggling kids about to balance as many toys as they could on his body until he finally woke up, made a show of stretching and going, “Whoa, what’s all this!” as they both shrieked with laughter. He could see it so clearly… but then there was the bed behind him, hastily dragged down the stairs into the living room, and the hospital wheelchair at the foot of it. His Dad’s eyes were closed, but they were struggling to open; his head fell to the side, and he gave a lopsided smile, a weak wave. Dipper waved back, and then he moved in closer to give him a hug.

“It’s good to see you.” He said, squeezing carefully, and then standing up. Mallory put a hand on his shoulder; he glanced at her. “How’s he… I-I mean, how’re you doing, Dad?”

There was a pause, and then his hand flopped very deliberately to the side, as if to say, “How do you think?” His eyebrow quirked up too, and Dipper gave a little laugh.

“Yeah, hah, makes, makes sense.”

“We’ve been doing some exercises,” Mallory said; she turned on the TV, picked up a foam ball, and gently opened their Dad’s hand to place it in. “Do you know there’s one where you’re supposed to crumple up a sheet of paper? That’s been my favourite.”

“Hah, really?” He looked towards the bin, which was overflowing with tightly-crumpled balls of notepaper. “Hey, he’s doing really well on that one!”

Mallory didn’t respond; she shrugged obliquely, and then crushed a sheet of paper between her hands. His smile turned awkward.

“Oh, uh…” He rubbed his neck. “So! What are we watching?”

Dinner was ready soon. Dipper helped his Dad into the wheelchair, and Mallory guided him into the dining room. Their Mom had set out plates; they all took a seat, Mallory next to her Dad. Dipper watched him pick up a spoon with a shaking hand and dip it into the soup.

“So how’re classes going, honey?”

“Huh?” Dipper blinked, and looked to his Mom. “Oh! Um, they’re going good… yeah, good.”

“That’s good.” She smiled. “Midterms are coming up, aren’t they?”

“Yeah!”

“Ooh, how’re you feeling about that?”

“Pretty, pretty prepared, I think!” He grinned. “And then it’ll be winter break soon! I can come back home for Christmas.”

“That’ll be great, honey! We’ve missed having you around. And you know, we could use a little help around the-”

“I’m doing the best I can.”

Mallory’s voice cut her right off. She saw them both stare at her, and narrowed her eyes.

“What? I just said I’m doing the best I can.” She glared at their Mom. “You’re talking like I’m not doing anything around here, I just wanted to say I am doing stuff, okay?”

“I didn’t say that, honey, we really appreciate-”

“I know, I’m just saying-”

“-could help take some things off your plate-”

“I was just saying-!” Mallory stopped and put up her hands. “You know what, forget I said anything.”

“Honey-”

“I said forget it, Mom.”

“But-”

“Forget it, okay? I don’t want to do this again.”

The room froze into a tense silence. Dipper glanced nervously between the two of them, and took a long drink of water. There was a grunting sound from across the table; their Dad was pointing at something.

“Dad?” Dipper blinked. “What do you-”

“He wants the salt.” Mallory rubbed her forehead. “Dad, I told you, you’re not supposed to have too much-”

“Oh, just give him the salt, dear.”

Mallory froze. She looked up at their Mom, grabbed the salt, and slammed it down on the table next to their Dad before getting up and walking away. A door shut hard down the hallway; their Mom gave Dipper a tight smile.

“Sorry, honey.” She said. “She’s not… she’s finding this all a bit hard to adjust to. But she’s really happy to see you!”

“Yeah…” Dipper looked down at the soup. He half stood up; then looked at her. “Can I…?”

“Oh, of course! She’s probably in the crematorium.”

Dipper nodded, and followed after her. There was a door by the stairs that opened into the main foyer of the funeral home; he passed by the front desk, by an empty viewing room filled with chairs, up to a door tucked away in the back with a very clear ‘EMPLOYEES ONLY’ sign. Through there was the crematorium: its concrete floors, stainless steel gurneys, and safety tape stood in stark, clinical contrast to the rest of the building, but Dipper had long since gotten used to this place. The shining metal cremation machine dominated the middle of the space, and though it wasn’t on, there was a whirring sound behind it. Dipper walked past a row of body freezers set into the wall to find Mallory.

“Uh, hey,” he said. She was standing arms crossed in front of a little glass kiln, and didn’t look up at his voice. He hung back, a nervous smile on his face. “Mal? Are you okay?”

Mallory raised her eyebrows. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “Doing great.”

“Mal-”

“You want a plate?” She sifted through a little pile of things next to the kiln. “I was saving this for you – here.”

She held out a small, multicoloured glass plate. Dipper blinked as he took it from her; he held it up to the light, and marvelled at the colours splashing on the side of his hand. “Wow, this is really pretty! Is this enchanted too?”

The slight smile on Mallory’s face vanished. “No, it’s just a plate. Why would I enchant a plate?”

“Oh, I just-”

“Your necklace was a lot of work, you know. I don’t do that for every single thing I make! Sometimes I just want to make a fucking plate, okay?”

“Okay, sorry!” He watched her turn away. “Mal, I’m sorry! I didn’t- it’s really good, thank you!”

“Oh, I don’t know, you sure you don’t want me to melt it down and put an enchantment on it first?”

“No, no…” He sighed. “I’m sorry, Mal, that was really dumb of me. I really like the plate, okay? Thank you for giving it to me.”

“Hm.” She stayed like that for a second, then looked back and grinned at him. “You’re welcome, dummy. I’m glad you like it.”

He grinned back. “I do, it’s really beautiful! How’d you get all the colours like that? I’ve never seen something like this from you.”

“Huh, that? Oh, I started buying this coloured glass scrap.” She opened a drawer; in it was a box full of big and small shards of coloured glass. “You can get it in bulk for super cheap – nobody gave me a scholarship for this, so I make do.”

Another sharp remark – Dipper cringed again. “Mal?” He asked, and she started picking through the shards. “Are you… is everything okay?”

“No, obviously, everything’s not okay.” She took a look at his expression and rolled her eyes. “Look, it’s not- I’ll survive. It’s fine.”

“Mal…”

“It’s hard on us all right now, okay?” She sighed. “I shouldn’t have done that with Mom over dinner. She’s just been – just been getting on my nerves lately, you know?” She picked up a blue shard, and looked through it. “Just on and on about how I’m so good with the families, I should totally take over!”

Dipper rolled his eyes. “Oh, god, yeah.”

“She even found a mortuary sciences course at my college, just tried to ‘casually’ bring it up to me the other day.” A chuckle. “You know how she acts when she thinks she’s being subtle.”

“Heh, yeah… how’s your classes going?”

“I withdrew this semester.”

“Oh… Oh, jeez, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise.” He watched her pause, staring into the middle distance. He stepped a little closer. “You know, Mom and Dad always said they only wanted us to take over if we wanted to. I don’t think she’d want you to feel obligated.”

“Yeah, but I am obligated, aren’t I?” She glared at him. “What are they gonna do now if I leave? Mom can't run this whole place on her own.”

“They always said they’d hire-”

“Hire someone else, yeah, like they can afford that right now.” Rolling her eyes, she pushed off the counter and started pacing. “And they can’t sell the place either – where’s Mom gonna find another job? No, unless Dad gets better fast, I’m stuck here.”

“You’re not-” Dipper struggled for words. “You don’t have to… it’s not your responsibility. They wouldn’t want you to feel like this.”

“Oh, okay then.” She stopped, and looked straight at him. “So how about I leave, and you come back home to take care of Dad. How’s that sound?”

Dipper blinked. “I…” he started, and frowned as she flashed a grin. “Hey, come on, Mal, that’s not… You’re not being fair.”

She scoffed at that, and crossed her arms.

“Mal-”

“I’m not actually asking you to do that – obviously. But it’s you or me, okay? And if it’s gonna be me, can you stop acting like I could just walk away from them?”

Dipper hesitated, and then he sighed. “You’re… you’re right. I’m sorry. That sounds really hard.”

“Thank you,” she rubbed her eyes. “Look, how about you just go back to dinner?”

“What? What about you?”

“I’ll be out in a bit, I just…” She looked back at the shards she’d taken out, picked one up, and tossed it back into the drawer. “I just need to cool off.”

“Wh… you sure? I can stay here if you-”

“It’s fine.” Glancing back at him, she managed a smile. “It’s fine, okay? I’ll be out soon.”

Dipper lingered for a second longer, and then, with a sigh, he turned and made for the door. One last glance over the shoulder showed how he left her: a small figure hunched over a desk, disappearing behind the machinery.

He opened the door, and walked away.

______________________________________________________________

“You’re back late,” Lucy Ann said as he made his way into his dorm the next morning. “I thought you were only staying for dinner?”

“Yeah… I was just, I was trying to be helpful.” He closed the door, and leaned against it for a second. “It’s just… it’s like… do you think I’m…?”

Lucy Ann watched him for a moment, her eyebrow slowly arching. “Do I think you’re what?”

“It’s… nevermind.” With a sigh, he went to his desk and tapped his magi-orb. “I’m only here to pick up some stuff for class. Are you coming?”

“Depends, what you got on?”

“Uh… public speaking’s first – shoot, my presentation’s today!”

With a cackle she hopped to her feet. “Oh, I’m definitely coming for that one!”

Dipper shook his head at her, but before he could reply, there came a knock at the door. Lucy Ann groaned.

“Shit, is that the RA?”

“I’ll see… uh, hello? Who is it?”

“Dude, it’s Darren!”

“Oh, thank the stars.” She dropped her sleeping bag. “I didn’t want to have to hide again.”

Dipper frowned as he opened the door. “Darren? What’s up?”

“Hey, dude!” Darren looked a little out of breath, but he perked up at the sight of him. “Oh, I forgot to tell you the other day – thanks for finding Flamey for me! Alex drove me over and-”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome,” Dipper started to close the door. “Look, I gotta get to class-”

“Oh, wait! That wasn’t what I came over for!”

“Huh?”

“I was telling my buddy Marsh about how you found her the other day – and you know, Alex’s aunt, she actually has a whole aviary, it’s amazing! She has so much room to fly around-”

“Darren…”

“Right, right! So I was telling Marsh about how crazy it was when you put all the clues together, and he was saying he could use your help!”

Lucy Ann snorted. “Congrats, on the new job, Dipper. Campus animal control.”

“I don’t-” Dipper looked from her to Darren. “I don’t know, man. What’s the problem?”

“It was something about a weird ghost in his apartment… I-I don’t remember exactly, but I said I’d give you his number and he could tell you about it!”

“A ghost?” Dipper blinked. He opened the door a little wider. “Huh… Uh, yeah, what’s his number? I gotta go… like right now, but I can call him after class! What was his name, Marsh?”

Behind them, Lucy Ann shook her head. She wanted to know what he was like without demon powers?

It turns out he wasn’t so different – he could still be such a dork.

[sunshine-overload]

[BSTS] Taiga Crane Game 4* Card Story

ran pov

chapter 1 -game centre-

saki: (Unei-san told me that a cast member had left a message that they’d like me to meet them here…)

taiga: Looks like they’ve installed a new action controller over there… Hweheh, it was worth coming to the first day of play testing. Next I’ll try a different combination of attacks~….

-saki walks over to him-

saki: Taiga-san, sorry for making you wait.

taiga: Saki-san…? Wasn’t expecting to see you here, what a coincidence.

saki: Coincidence…? You mean you weren’t the one that left that message asking for me to come here?

taiga: Message? Nope, that wasn’t—

-ran appears-

ran: It was me, me! I’m the one who left it! I was the one who called ya out here, Nee-chan. Actually, why are ya even here Taiga? Are ya bein’ all clingy actin’ like you’re her boyfriend or somethin’?

taiga: Scary, he just picked a fight with me as easily as he breathed. I’m here because an arcade version of a mobile game I play just came out, that’s all.

saki: So you play arcade games as well as phone games, Taiga-san?

taiga: Yeah, I guess. I play a bit of everything really. Despite being the same game there’s different skills in the arcade version compared to the mobile version… Like the cabinet that’s being play tested here for example has a rare special skill that’s only available in the arcade version. But well, if there’s anything about game’s you want to know more about just let me know.

saki: You sure know a lot, Taiga-san. It’s reassuring having you here.

ran: When ya played that fightin’ game way back I remember that ya lost hopelessly though~!*

taiga: That’s because my opponent was an anomaly.

ran: Oh really~? Makin’ excuses is lame ya know.

taiga: I mean, if you had been my opponent I definitely wouldn’t have lost.

ran: What was that just now? I don’t think I heard ya correctly?

taiga: I said that if it were a match between you and me, my victory would be guaranteed. My experience level is simply that much higher than yours.

ran: Damn you’re really talkin’ yourself up, aren’t ya? A match that uneven wouldn’t be fun at all! If ya wanna go then let’s have a crane game showdown!

taiga: Huh? I mean that’s fine too, but why the crane games?

ran: I have some tricks up my sleeve too.

taiga: Well whatever it is there’s no way in hell I’m losing. 

saki: (It suddenly became a competition…)

ran: I’m definitely gonna take out the win, so make sure ya watch me, Nee-chan!

taiga: Is it not obvious that I’m gonna win? Saki-san can be our witness then.

saki: Umm… Then, Ran-san, Taiga-san, do your best!

(*note: I think they’re referring to the trick or truth event story where taiga lost to gui in a fighting game)

-

chapter 2 -game centre-

taiga: When it comes to games there’s no way I’m gonna lose. I’ll show Ran that I can win this contest.

saki: Good luck!

taiga: My first target will be those boxes of sweets. It’s the most suitable for working out the specifics of how the crane’s arm and claw works. It’s an important factor you need to check.

saki: Those look like they’d be really hard to pick up… The box is smooth so it would slip easily.

taiga: That’s exactly why I’m going for them. Ah well, you’ll understand in a minute. Watch closely now.

-taiga starts playing the crane game-

taiga: Let’s see, for the horizontal placement… about there should be good. And then then… about that far back. Perfect. Go, Crane-chan!

-cg

taiga: Heck yeah!

saki: Yay, it picked the box up! Ah, but it looks like it might fall!

taiga: Don’t worry, this is all according to plan.

saki: It slipped out…? Amazing, you really did get it!

taiga: The centre of gravity on these kinds of boxes is right in the middle. However, if you position the claw in a way that’s slightly off centre, then they’ll slip and fall right into the prize collection shoot as you saw. Well, this is just scratching the surface of kinds of the techniques you can use. Here, you can take the prize.

saki: Thank you. I’m happy to receive a gift from you.

taiga: …….

taiga: I think I’ll try this machine again.

saki: Hm? Are you sure?

taiga: Yeah, it’s easy mode. It’s always convenient having some snacks around. I can munch on them whilst messing around on my computer… By the way, is there a specific kind that you want in there?

-time pass-

saki: Woah, you’ve won so many! You really are great at this. I wonder how your competition with Ran-san will pan out?

taiga: Competition…? Oh right, that was a thing. He started it didn’t he? At first I just didn’t want to lose to Ran, but then I started thinking that as long as you’re enjoying yourself then I’m a winner either way.

—end

[nekoannie-chan]

Escape

Title: Escape.

Fandom: Marvel, Captain America.

Ship: Steve Rogers & Brock Rumlow.

Word count: 565 words.

Square: I1 “Atonement.”

Rating: Teen.

Summary: Brock has a plan.

Major Tags: Thoughts of betrayal, The Winter Soldier.

Additional tags: This is my entry to @marvelrarepairbingo, @marvelrarepairs Marvel Rare Pair Round 3 2024. MRP-066.

Links: Wattpad, Ao3, Spanish version.

@saiyanprincessswanie

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistakes, please let me know and I will correct them.

I don’t give any kind of permission for my fics to be posted on other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don't steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other people. The only exception is the ones I gifted 'cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and are not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel's characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

Add yourself to my taglist here.

My other media where I publish:  Ao3, Wattpad, ffnet, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. 

If you like it, please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

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Brock was alone in his flat, the dim light illuminating the room as he was lost in his memories. That wasn't even the flat he used to live in years before; he couldn't even be sure what to call that room; the place was so small.

He had always been willing to do whatever Hydra asked him to do, no matter what the plan was, blindly following orders without question. But now, seeing how that organization had abandoned him, he had to do something to keep himself safe, even if he had to sacrifice his pride because he wasn't willing to die or be confined to the Raft.

And there was only one person he knew who could help him do it; unfortunately, he was one of the beings he hated the most, but if he helped him with what he wanted, he would have no other choice, and that person was Steve Rogers.

Brock reached for the phone and dialed Steve's number. Of course, it wasn't his phone, but he knew that if he used it, they would find him easily. It rang several times before Steve's voice was heard on the other end of the line.

"Who is this?" asked Steve; he didn't know the number.

"Rogers, I need to see you," Brock said, clenching his fist tightly. He didn't mean what he said next, but if he wanted his plan to work, it had to. "I need to make things right."

Steve listened quietly. They had arranged to meet the next night, so he was determined to catch him.

The next night, Steve was speechless and completely confused when Brock assured him that he could help find Bucky in exchange for a deal. Steve swallowed hard; he didn't know what to do, so he had no choice but to accept what Brock was proposing, and of course he didn't quite trust him.

Finally, they found themselves standing in front of a very old building in a remote corner of Eastern Europe.

Brock pushed the door open, preparing himself for what awaited them. They knew they could find him without being completely out of control, but Brock knew how to make him react.

And then they saw him: Bucky Barnes, sitting alone in a small room, looking tired and resigned. For a moment, there was silence as Brock and Bucky looked into each other's eyes, but then Brock stepped forward, his voice steady as he spoke.

"Soldier, I know we can never undo the things we've done, even if it wasn't exactly what we would have wanted, but it's time to mend everything we caused."

Steve frowned when he heard the word "soldier,"  but relaxed when he saw that Bucky wasn't going to attack them. Whatever had happened between Brock and Bucky all those years ago, somehow it had worked out so that they could get Bucky back.

Of course, nothing that was happening erased the previous events, but Steve couldn't let an opportunity like this pass him by either.

Now what he had to think about was how to advocate for the pair. It wasn't easy; in fact, everything was very complicated. Of course, they could look for something in Brock's past to allege that he was forced or something like that.

But for the moment, it was time to go back, and at least Steve was satisfied with the results.

[a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all]

Up in Smoke (Pure Angst Edition)

Fandom: DC, The Suicide Squad, Rick Flag

Summary: Rick feels terrible when he has to work late and misses dinner with you, but he is in for a deadly surprise when he gets home.

Word Count: 2318

TW: Angst, Language, Reader death, Smoke Inhalation, Heartbreak

Note: I wrote 2 different versions of this same idea. Both start the same but do take a dramatic shift after a few paragraphs so I would suggest reading both if you are interested.

This current one is extremely angsty with no happy ending.

The other one has angst, but also ends with comfort and fluff and can be found here.

Rick sighed, glancing at the clock on his dashboard as he waited for the red light to turn green. It was 11:47 pm. Shit. He had promised he would be home early tonight to take you out to dinner. Just add it to the ever growing list of ways he let you down lately. Fuck Waller for forcing him to run drills with the team all night. She must have heard him talking to Economos about his big plans for tonight. That woman was the biggest cock-block he had ever met. First with June, now with you. If she even caught the smallest hint that he had something going on in his personal life, she did everything in her power to derail it. She didn’t even give him the chance to call or text you and let you know he was going to be late. And when he finally was able to check his phone as he was leaving the prison, he had half a dozen missed calls from you. When he tried calling back, your phone had gone straight to voicemail. Fuckin’ Waller!

He finally turned down his street still muttering under his breath, but his anger quickly shifted to confusion and panic as he saw three fire trucks parked outside his apartment. Smoke was still billowing out of the top of the building, but it seemed like the firefighters had managed to get the main blaze under control.

Rick quickly pulled his truck into the first open parking spot he saw and jumped out even before the engine had shuttered to a stop. There was a large crowd of people huddled around the barriers the police had set up and Rick recognized most of them from around the building. Spying Ms. Thompson, the friendly older woman who he sometimes cat sat for, he approached her.

Her worried face softened slightly when she saw him. “Ah, Colonel! I’m so glad to see you! We were all hoping you hadn’t been left up there. But seeing as where the fire started and all, we couldn’t be too sure.”

“No, I’m fine ma’am. I actually just got off of work. Can you tell me what happened?”

Her face dropped even further as a dark shadow passed over it. “Oh… I thought you knew. I’m sorry, Colonel, I am so sorry…but the fire started in your apartment.”

Rick’s face twisted up in confusion. “My apartment? How did that happen?”

She hesitated, placing a hand softly on his arm. “Your young lady stopped by.”

Rick’s blood ran cold. “No… she wasn’t supposed to be here tonight. I told her I would meet her at her place.”

Ms. Thompson saw the panic cross his face and she just shook her head. “I don’t know what happened, Rick. I haven’t seen her but…they just carried out a body a few minutes ago. They brought it over by the ambulances.”

Rick gave a quick nod of thanks then hurried up to the cops guarding the barrier. Pulling out his military id, he flashed it at the men.

“I am Colonel Richard Flag, Special Ops. This is my building, and I was just informed my girlfriend was involved in the fire. I want to see her. Now.” Rick barked the orders gruffly.

The two officers glanced over at each other hesitantly but stepped aside. Rick pushed past them and stormed over to where all the emergency vehicles were parked. But he stumbled to a stop when he saw a gurney with a body on it. The body was mostly covered in a thin white sheet, but the right arm had slipped out from under the covering, exposing it to the world.

Rick fell to his knees as he spied the familiar tattoo just recognizable through the burns on the body’s wrist. He folded over, forehead pressed tightly into the concrete as he released a wail of agony. This wasn’t supposed to happen, not to you. He had done everything he could to keep you away from the dangers in his life, yet you still had been taken from him.

A concerned looking cop approached Rick slowly. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, he asked, “Hey, are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”

Rick sat up slowly, tears still streaming down his face. He managed to ask in a gravely, hoarse grunt, “What the hell happened?”

“Um, do you mean with the building?”

“No…her.” He jerked his head in the direction of your body but was unable to look at it again.

The cop understood immediately. He tightened his grip on Rick’s shoulder, giving it a rueful squeeze. “Ah, I’m sorry, son. We’re still trying to figure out what happened but the best we can figure, it seems she had some candles lit in the apartment and one of them must have fallen over. The fire spread quickly, and we don’t know how much time she had before…” He stopped and sighed. “Are you sure you want the details?”

Rick nodded stiffly so the cop continued. “I’m not supposed to be telling you this, but I heard you say you were special ops and all… We found her curled up by the front door of the apartment. She had burns on her arms and legs, but they weren’t too serious. It appears she…died… from smoke inhalation. There was a heavy chest of things next to her that we think she must have tried to go back for. But it’s all just speculation.”

“She wasn’t even supposed to be here….I was supposed to meet her for dinner tonight, but I got stuck at work.” Rick muttered robotically.

“One of your neighbors talked to her this afternoon when she arrived.” The cop shifted uncomfortably, but Rick once again nodded for him to continue. “Apparently, she said she was planning on cooking dinner for her boyfriend to surprise him when he got home from work. I’m assuming that's you.”

Rick squeezed his eyes closed tightly. He thought back to the conversation he had with you last night just before you headed home… your last conversation.

“Rick, we don’t have to go out tomorrow. We can just stay in and I’ll cook.”

“No, darlin’. I haven’t taken you out in weeks. You deserve to be shown a good time.”

“You show me the best time when we’re right here. Plus, you’re always exhausted when you get home from work. You don’t have to drag yourself out to some restaurant just because you think that’s what I want.”

“I’ll be fine. And we’re going to do things right. We’ll get dressed up all nice, you can wear that red dress I love so much, and then when we get back, I can take it off you. How’s that sound?”

“A little like overkill. I can just wear the dress over here and then you can still take it off.”

“Can you please just humor me for once? I get off at 5 so I can pick you up around 7. Is that okay?”

“It’s perfect, baby. I’ll see you tomorrow at 7. I love you.”

I love you. Those had been the last words you had said to him. He could tell you still weren’t happy with the situation as you left so it really didn’t surprise him that you would have snuck over to surprise him. You would have wanted to prove to him how wrong he was thinking they needed to go out to have a good time. This was all his fault….

“I need to see her.”

The cop sighed. “Son, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you think. I. Need. To. See. Her. Now.” Rick practically threw the words at the other man. The cop hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

As they approached your body, the cop motioned for the other men to leave the area. Rick deserved some privacy for what came next. Rick slowly trudged toward the gurney, each step making his feet feel heavier and heavier. And then, he was at your side.

At first, Rick didn’t have the strength to look at your face. His gaze got as high as your neck before he had to stop. The sheet that had been draped over you was pulled back and was folded at your collar bone, covering everything below that point. But Rick could see just the smallest bit of red sparkling from under the cloth and his heart seized. You were wearing the dress he had asked you to. The red one that always took his breath away.

He couldn’t put it off any longer. Rick followed the beautiful curve of your throat until his eyes settled on your face. Half of him was disappointed your eyes were closed as he was desperate to see them one more time. But the other half thanked God that they were. He didn’t think he could bear to see the blank, glazed look he knew would be staring back at him. Your face was slightly red, assumedly from the heat of the fire, and soot coated your skin, but besides that, you could just be sleeping. It was the same sight that had greeted him on countless mornings as he got up for work. But this time, you wouldn’t be rolling over, begging him to come back to bed for just a few more minutes. This time, you wouldn’t be sneaking up behind him to trail kisses down his bare back as he brushed his teeth. This time….you wouldn’t be waking up.

He could just imagine what had happened in the apartment. You crawling across the floor, desperate for air. Scratching frantically at the door when you finally managed to reach it, only to discover the doorknob was too scalding hot to turn. He knew you, and he knew that even up to your last moment, part of you would have believed that he would arrive in time to save you. That the man who swore to never let anything happen to you, who would always protect you, would swoop in and carry you to safety. And it was crazy he knew, but he could almost see his name imprinted on your lips, left when you whispered it with your last breath.

He lightly cupped your cheek, tilting your head down slightly. Then he leaned over and placed a last, long, lingering kiss to your forehead. You tasted of smoke and sweat but Rick didn’t care. He put everything he felt for you into this kiss. His love, his devotion, his sorrow, his regret, his guilt. He hoped that wherever you were now, you could feel all of it.

Finally, he had no choice but to pull away. Brushing his hand across your cheek one last time as he tried to memorize every pore on your face, Rick whispered, “Goodbye, darlin’.” And he turned his back on you.

The cop from before slowly approached Rick, a large chest in his arms. “We found this on the floor next to her. We think she was trying to carry it out and that is why she didn’t get out in time. We didn’t open it, so I have no idea what is inside. But it was in your apartment, so I see no reason you shouldn’t be able to take it now.”

Rick nodded and took it from the man. He had instantly recognized it as the one he kept stored in his closet. It was normally empty so he had no idea why you would have been trying to carry it with you. But it didn’t matter. If it was important enough for you to die over, Rick wasn’t going to leave it behind.

He walked back to his truck, ignoring the words of sympathy and condolences from his neighbors as he passed. He climbed into his driver’s seat and slammed the door shut, tossing the chest on the seat next to him. He sat there in silence for a moment before his dam burst. He slammed his fists repeatedly into his steering wheel as an animalistic howl of grief tore from his lips. It wasn’t fair! You hadn’t done anything wrong! All you were trying to do was do something nice for him. If he had just called, or demanded Waller let him leave like he had considered, you would still be here. If everything had gone according to plan, by this time tonight, the two of you should have been curled around each other after a night of passion.

Instead, he was sitting here alone with just this stupid chest. What could have possibly been so important for you to not flee the apartment immediately? What in his apartment was worth your life? He pulled the chest into his lap and opened the lid. What he saw inside took his breath away.

It was everything he would have wanted to save from his place. His military medals, the flag he had been given when his father was killed in action, the photo album that contained the only picture he had of his grandparents. It was all there, perfectly protected within the sturdy case. You had known exactly which irreplaceable items he would have mourned the loss of the most. Though nothing compared to the loss of you.

The last thing he pulled out, smushed at the bottom of the box, was the stuffed monkey he won for you on your first date. The one you snuggled with every night when you stayed over. The one that still smelled like you.

Rick curled himself around the ratty toy, smashing it so deeply into his chest it felt like part of him. And sitting there in his truck in the parking lot of his apartment building, the smell of smoke and ash still filling the air, he allowed himself to fall apart.

[randyortonofficial]

title: we’re not built for relationships (just each other) (click here to be taken to the ao3 version) pairing: randy orton/cody rhodes word count: 8368 description: It's been two years since Cody left WWE, and coincidentally, two years since he saw Randy Orton. When Randy suddenly calls Cody one day asking to catch up over dinner, the both of them have to address all the unfinished business they left behind.

There were a lot of nerves announcing All In.

It’s the first wrestling event outside of WWE to be held in such a high regard but Cody is ambitious and he’s been working nonstop at all of this ever since he left WWE a couple years ago. Every day, he thinks about how he can increase the stock of his name and every day, he wonders how he can improve, how he can better himself not just professionally, but in his personal life as well.

Even then, however, the All In event is his baby. This is the chance to show everyone what wrestling is truly capable of and showcase those stars that don’t want to relinquish themselves to the bland, uninspiring world of sports entertainment that is World Wrestling Entertainment, at least in Cody’s words. This is a big fucking deal for everyone, but especially Cody.

One phone call from Randy Orton, however, makes all those nerves he had about All In seem very insignificant.

“What’s up, Codeman?”

Cody sighs and rolls his eyes. “You know I hate that name,” he murmurs.

“All the more reason to call you it.”

Cody and Randy have been best friends for a long time. Even if they haven’t met up in person since Cody’s left WWE, the both of them have just been busy, Cody moreso, and that’s okay. Life happens, and Cody doesn’t get in his feelings about it, not anymore. He’s older now, smarter now, and more in control himself. They’ve still tweeted at each other and texted and what not, and it’s always fine when they do.

“You never call people. What’s wrong? Your back finally gave out to the billions of RKO’s you gave?”

“Not yet,” Randy tells him. “Hopefully never.”

“So what’s going on?”

“I’m in town. We should catch up.”

Though there is a reason why they haven’t met up in person since Cody’s left WWE.

Cody bites at his lip and looks over to Brandi on the couch. With a deep breath, he begins to walk away from the kitchen and out into their backyard, big and beautiful under a beautiful, sunny day to really top it off. “What uh, what did you have in mind?”

“Just get dinner? Talk? It’s been like, what, two years?” Randy chuckles. “C’mon, I wanna see you.”

“Random question and totally unrelated,” Cody says, “but how are you and Kim?”

“She’s good. Taking care of me since I injured my shoulder, but I wanted to give her a break so I decided to come to Florida-”

“By yourself?”

“Hotel room and all.”

The adrenaline in Cody’s soul lights up all over to send flares of heat throughout, because Randy is in Cody’s state alone and he’s in a hotel room-

“Just um.” Cody swallows and shoves a hand into the pocket of his sweats to dig his nails into his thigh. “Just the two of us at dinner?”

“We’ll go to a nice steakhouse. Remember when we went to Stonewood-”

“Grill and Tavern,” Cody finishes quickly. “Yeah, was uh, that the plan?”

“You in? You all in, I should say.”

Cody’s mind is telling him no.

He absolutely should not go out to see Randy under any circumstances. He should stay here at home with his beautiful girlfriend and their adorable dogs, far far away from any temptation that Randy is very good at instilling with one look from those steel blue eyes. There’s a reason why he hasn’t been alone with Randy since he left WWE, and following that, why he left WWE.

It would be a terrible idea to see him alone at a restaurant and talk.

Randy doesn’t just want to talk. He’s Randy fucking Orton, he hates talking.

Cody knows all of this logically. He knows this is the smart choice to make.

So he’s incredibly upset with himself when he says, “sure. See you at like, 7?”

“Sounds good. See you in a few hours.”

After saying their goodbyes, Cody shoves his phone into the pocket of his sweats before plopping himself down into the nearby chair and running his hands down his face. His hands clasp together right in front of his nose and mouth and his fingers tap against each other as he stares out into the backyard he and Brandi have helped cultivate together. He takes a deep breath before closing his eyes.

He needs to calm that adrenaline coursing through him. It’s just dinner, and he can control himself. He’s moved on, and Randy has married Kim since then. They’re like, super totally official now so maybe it really is just best friends catching up.

This is what Cody tells himself, but deep down in the part of his mind he’s tried so hard to shut out, he knows their business is unfinished.

Cody can’t keep lying to himself when he sees Randy walking towards their table, in black pants and a black button up with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and a rare, genuine smile spread across his lips.

“Suits really are all you wear now, huh?” Randy laughs and spreads out his arms. “C’mon, it’s been awhile.”

He forces a chuckle as he stands up from the booth to let Randy pull him in with those big, strong arms. Despite himself, Cody is easily relaxing into him, eyes falling shut and his hold on Randy tightening. The scent of Randy’s cologne, a Saint Laurent cologne Cody had bought him a few years ago, stabs Cody right in the heart but Randy soothes it when he murmurs into his ear, “I missed you.”

“Yeah,” Cody breathes. “I missed you too.”

Randy gives Cody a squeeze before he pulls away for them to look into each other’s eyes, though their hands stay on each other’s shoulders. The smile is no longer on his face, but he’s rather contemplative as he looks Cody over in his outfit; blue suit vest and pants, a white button up, and a yellow tie. It gives Cody time to do an appraisal of his own but he come to the conclusion that he always does, which is that Randy is fucking sexy in absolutely anything and it was stupid to pretend otherwise.

“You look good.” Randy nods and lets go of Cody to shove his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I like that uh, you wear suits all the time now,” he chuckles.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” Cody awkwardly clasps his hands in front. “Black’s always been your color and don’t say it’s because your soul is black-”

“Damn, you really do know me, huh?”

“That doesn’t change just because we haven’t seen each other in a few years.”

“Just surprised. Haven’t found someone that’s known me like you.” Randy bites at his lip and looks up at Cody with wide eyes. “Besides Kim-”

“Goes without saying.” Cody nods politely. “Yeah. um… should we sit?”

“That’s a good idea.”

They both slide into the booth on opposite sides to begin looking through their menus. Cody had their drinks ordered before Randy arrived, so they sip them as they read through the options, though Cody already knows what he wants. He’s just afraid to look up to Randy’s eyes staring back at him and see something in them that’ll just lead further into that pesky temptation Randy is so good at instilling.

While Randy hasn’t let being in a relationship stop him, Cody being in his own relationship does.

“So just dinner, right?” Cody asks. “Just don’t think our respective significant others want us out so late,” he forces a chuckle. “Congrats on tying the knot with Kim, by the way. Don’t think I ever gave my kudos.”

“Thanks, man,” Randy chuckles as he leans back into the booth with those big arms crossed over his chest. “She’s a lucky woman, and I’m a lucky man. Um,” he clears his throat, “But how’s life been with you? What are you up to these days?”

Cody knows Randy knows, but he also knows Randy is just trying to make polite conversation and it’s better that then talk about anything deeper. However, he would have thought Randy would want to go on and on about his wife.

But Randy is just like that sometimes.

“Yeah, uh, life’s been good.” Cody nods and moves his eyes to the other page, though he’s not paying any real attention. “I’ve been making a pretty good name for myself on the indies, and attaching myself to the Bullet Club definitely helps,” he chuckles. “That really raised my stock, and, you know, now I’m running my own show with them and-”

“Just like your dad.” Randy smiles. “He’d be really proud of you.”

Cody swallows. He bites at his lip before setting down the menu and clasping his hands on top the table. “Thank you,” he says just above a whisper.

“Like, you really have come so far. I was pretty upset when you left WWE but to see you thrive and like, do your own thing and make a name for yourself, like you said, it’s great to see you succeeding.”

“Yeah.” Cody nods. “And uh, I was born to be like, a WWE guy, so it’s cool to get away from it and set myself apart. Really develop my skills better.”

“You’re really living up to your potential. You think you might like, come back to WWE at all later down the line? Some guys do that, get better in the indies and then come back to WWE and it’s like, Vince and everyone has so much more respect-”

“I’m good with where I am right now.” Cody quirks a grin and looks up to Randy, though his eyes take a quick detour to those big, tattooed arms that he can still vividly remember being wrapped around him, or beside him, or holding him down, and that’s when Cody takes a long, long sip of his water because he really needs to quell that thirst.

Randy does too.

“Um.” Cody licks his lips. “I mean, I guess you can never say never though? I dunno, but the Bullet Club is treating me right and I think we have a lot to offer. Also, like, my girlfriend - Brandi? You remember Brandi, right?”

“Ring announcer?”

“Yeah. She wants to make a name for herself too and I wanna help her with that. More than anything though, I wanna see All In to the end,” he chuckles before sighing and running his hands down his face. “God, that’s been all I think about. I want it to go well so fucking bad and I’m fucking relieved we sold out all our tickets-”

“Half an hour, right?” Randy smirks. “Fucking impressive.”

“Was not expecting it.” Cody shakes his head. “But that means expectations are high and we both know that wrestling fans can be so fickle over the weirdest shit.”

“Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

“Are you seriously quoting Dr. Seuss?”

“It was good advice. I’m not questioning where good advice comes from.”

“What’s the saying? Consider the source?”

“A children’s book author? Yeah, I’d say I trust the source.”

“Is that something you do a lot? Read children’s books?”

“I am a dad…” Randy smirks then and tilts his head to look Cody over again. “And if you can believe it, others consider me a daddy.”

For a few seconds, his heart is pounding. His breath is caught in his chest, and all he can think about is how easy it would be to fall back into their old habits and to just kiss him like they never ever stopped. That name brings Cody all the way back to the start, to the night where their friendship changed forever, to which it would then progress every day until they’d lay in each other’s arms and talk about their hopes, their fears, and their deepest desires despite their relationships with other people.

Every day spent thinking about each other, every night spent with their names falling from the other’s lips, and every second taking risks and letting their hearts take over while their heads play catch up.

Cody swallows heavily and sets his hands to his sides. He digs his fingers into his thighs and clenches his jaw before giving Randy his attention again. “You know what happens when we meet up,” he says quietly. “Did you really wanna catch up, or is there something more to this?”

That confident facade of Randy’s falls completely as they lock eyes for what feels like an eternity. Though the world is busy around them, they might as well be the only two people in this restaurant. Cody can only see Randy, smell Randy, and hear him, and the rest is a blur he can’t even comprehend.

Randy takes in a deep breath before breathing out, “I missed you.” He rolls his lips back between his teeth and after letting go, he says, in a slightly wavering voice, “I just - I needed to see you.”

It's both everything and nothing Cody ever wanted to hear. He knows how badly he desires Randy, but he also knows that desire is an all consuming fire that wrecks everything in their path. What they have is so intensely passionate that nothing else compares, but he's-

"I miss you too," he breathes out in admission. "But you're married," Cody reminds him quietly. "And I'm..." He takes in a shuddering breath. "I'm dating Brandi. Randy, we - we were hooking up behind Kim’s back before you married her," he chuckles humorlessly and bites at his lip before looking down to the table. "I just - Randy, what we were doing - what we had, that’s…” He shakes his head, and after a few moments, he looks back to Randy. “That’s not something we can do forever, it’s - it’s not feasible-”

“Cody, I want you to be happy,” Randy tells him, low and quiet. “I really do. You deserve the best, and you deserve it all, I want you to have everything, but… Cody, man, I can’t help it.” He shakes his head and bites his lip. “I still want you, and I want this, we’re - it’s a compulsion, we’re like magnets-”

“So why did you get married then?” Cody asks. “Why did you marry Kim if you still want me?”

“She was easy?” Randy huffs out a breath and runs his hands down his face. “It was - it was the easiest option, it was the safest choice-”

"The easiest option," Cody repeats in a humorless chuckle, and he has to shake his head to himself at the sheer audacity of Randy saying that to him. “You don’t even love her?”

“I do, I just don’t think I love her enough.”

He's always known Randy has had rocky times with his love life. Hell, this is his second marriage after his divorce in 2013, and that divorce was what led to him and Cody hooking up in the first place, so yeah, Cody is well aware of his tumultuous love life and how much Randy likes easy and safe. Cody just took solace in the fact that he never had to experience the tumultuous nature of it, not until he did.

"So, um, why wasn't I easy?" Cody looks back to him. "Or safe, like you always used to say? Or when uh, you've told me before that I know you better than anyone else? What about us, Randy, isn't easy or safe?" He almost spits the words out.

Randy’s eyes canvas all of Cody’s face and he clenches his jaw seeing the betrayal that’s etched all over. His tongue pokes around the inside of his cheek as he hangs his head, now unable to meet Cody’s gaze as he shakes his head. “I don’t know, Cody,” he says quietly. “I don’t - I don’t…” Randy bites hard at his lip now before closing his eyes. “Look, do we have to do this here? Can’t we talk privately?”

“So we can do it all over again?” Cody’s grin is bitter. “You uh, take me back and you fuck me into the bed, y-you tell me all the sweetest things in the world, a-about how you wanna be with me, and take care of me, that nobody can ever feel the way I do and that I’m special and one of a kind,” he wipes at his wet eyes, “before taking me into your arms and holding me close, and telling me that, th-that you want to do this forever just to stay with her?” his voice cracks as he gasps out, his grin having fallen completely. “And then we go back to being friends, l-like you didn’t just pour out your heart to me the night before?”

��I know I fucked up, Cody,” Randy breathes out before opening his eyes. “And I… I’ve spent so much time thinking about that. The last thing I’ve ever wanted was to hurt you-”

“I would’ve gave you everything,” Cody whispers as he shakes his head. “I would’ve done it so quick, Randy-”

“I know, man,” his voice shakes a little as he looks up to Cody, his eyes wet. “Seriously, we can’t talk about this here, all of this, and us, we deserve a place to like, actually talk about this, don’t we?”

Cody swallows and looks off to the side. His hand comes up to stroke down his tie while he thinks on that, because he supposes a conversation with his best friend about the weird thing they had a few years ago is worth a private discussion so they can say how they feel with no watching eyes.

But it also means they’ll be alone, and they know what happens whenever they’re alone together. It’s like Randy said - it’s like a compulsion, like magnets.

Grabbing hard at his tie, Cody clarifies, “you said you had a hotel room?”

“Yeah. I’m here for a few days.”

“How’d you get here?”

“Took an Uber.”

There’s silence for a few moments. Then, with a deep breath and against the voices in his head screaming no, Cody takes out his wallet to drop a bill onto the table and tells him, “we’ll take my car there.”

The ride back was uncomfortably silent with the tension that weighed heavily in the air, but thankfully, the hotel is close by. The hotel room itself is as big as a small one bedroom apartment. The main area is large with a huge flat screen TV, there’s a wet bar by the spacious kitchen, and Cody can see into the private bedroom with the large king bed.

Hopefully, it’ll end up there-

Cody immediately slams his eyes shut and scrunches his face before running his hands back through his hair. “Do you have anything to drink-”

“Something sweet? Maybe with strawberries?”

He can’t help the fond breath through his nose at the mention of his favorite drink choice. “Preferably,” he mumbles. “Think I’m gonna need a lot of alcohol for this conversation.”

“Probably a good idea,” Randy sighs as he goes over to begin pouring their drinks. “Where do you wanna sit? The couch? My bed? My lap?”

Cody opens his eyes to glare over at Randy. “How do you have the audacity to make jokes after what we said at the restaurant?”

“I was just trying to-”

“Lighten the mood to take away from the years of pain you’ve given me? We’re long past that point now. There’re no amount of jokes or special entendres you can make to distract from that, y-you led me on for years, Randy, you led me on behind Kim’s back-”

“I’m in love with you.”

“- and you made me think that what we were doing was going to go somewhere and…” Cody stops then as Randy hands him his drink and furrows his eyebrows, eyes wandering all over the floor before he glares up at Randy again. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Randy glares back at him. “I just fucking told you I’m in love with you-”

“You can’t just drop that information, Randy!” Cody’s voice raises. “You can’t casually tell me in the middle of me telling you how you hurt me that… that you’re…” He closes his mouth and swallows before looking the other way and shaking his head. “You can’t do that,” he whispers. “You can’t fucking do that.”

It’s completely unfair. It’s too late. It cuts off his train of thought and forces him to focus on the fact that, apparently, Randy is in love with him and takes him away completely from the very real and harsh reality that Randy had led him on for so long, did all of this wonderful, amazing stuff with him just to go back home to someone else’s arms.

What’s the point then, of doing all that stuff with him, if it doesn’t lead them to each other at the end of the day?

Randy sighs and looks down to the floor. He places his hands on his hips, fingers tapping against them before he begins to turn to head into the bedroom. “Cody, I’m - I’m not the best at this-”

“What, fucking communicating like a normal person?” Cody says before taking a long sip of his drink and he follows Randy into the room. “Yeah, I’m aware.”

“I… yeah, you know what, that’s exactly it.” He sips his drink before setting it on the nightstand and runs his hands down his face. “And I’m sorry, Cody. I can’t tell you enough how sorry I am, okay? Look, ever since you left WWE, I had a lot of time to think about shit, about the past and the future and everything in between, and when you’re alone with yourself and your thoughts, you like - I figured it out, my feelings for you.”

“Great.” Cody nods. “You’re two years too late, but I am so glad you figured it out after leading me on-”

“I wasn’t trying!” Randy’s voice raises as he steps closer. “Cody, I swear I wasn’t - I’m sorry if that’s how it felt. Okay? If it felt like I was leading you on for it to go nowhere. But you, Cody - and us - it was…” He bites at his lip and looks up to the ceiling. “Fuck.” He shakes his head. “It was too good to be true sometimes,” he quietly admits. “Everything we had, it - it was great, it…” He breathes out a chuckle. “Fuck, it was perfect, but that’s just it, it was perfect, and - honestly, again, it was too good to be true a-and I didn’t think I deserved that.” He looks back down to Cody then and takes a deep breath. “I didn’t think I deserved you, Cody and… I-I know I hurt you. I hurt you a lot, and I was worried fucking sick calling you up today because I had no idea how you’d react, and I understand if you hate me and if you want, i-if you want nothing to do with me.” Randy presses a hand at his eye and looks down at the wetness on his fingers before wiping his hand off on his shirt. “But I can’t not tell you.”

He had always dreamed of Randy telling him all of this. It was his wildest fantasy next to reliving that crazy vacation they took together in 2015, so this should be all Cody has ever wanted. Here Randy is, finally confessing his love for him and telling Cody that he doesn’t deserve him, that what they had was perfect but then, it’s the exact thing Cody didn’t want to hear.

Because he spent all this time away from WWE trying to get over Randy, and he did.

He did get over Randy.

Upon hearing Randy’s confession, however, he realizes that is not the case at all.

He’s never been over Randy.

He’s pissed that he’s never been over him, has only told himself that he was over him, but he’s more pissed that after everything was said and done with, he doesn’t hate Randy.

Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.

He only loves him, and he hates himself for it, hates himself for being so into Randy and everything about him and how badly he’s under Randy’s spell. Always has, always will.

Cody sets his drink down on the nightstand before stepping closer and looking into Randy’s eyes with his own, even wetter than his. “You can’t just do that,” he gasps out. “You can’t decide to… what, tell me you’re in love with me? After all this time? What, like, d-do you wanna date me? When you’re still married to her? You married her, Randy, right after I left-”

“I’d drop her for you in a second, Cody,” Randy tells him so quick and firm. “I would-”

“You think that’s reassuring?” Cody scoffs.

“What’s the problem?”

“If you can drop her so quick for me, what’s gonna stop you from dropping me for someone else?”

The silence is deafening as they continue to stare at each other. The hurt in Cody’s eyes is heavier than the confusion in Randy’s, and the thoughts in their head are going a mile a second, desperately trying to figure out what to reply with or to add on, because what the fuck are they now? They could tell themselves, in the time between, that everything was fine and they were still friends, pretend that what they did was just good fun, but it’s so hard to deny when they’re with each other.

When they’re alone together, the whole world ceases to be as well as any rational thought.

When Randy hasn’t responded after a minute, Cody takes his drink to slam it back before slamming it down on the nightstand. “I’m gonna go-”

“You’re leaving?”

“Randy, I can’t do this with you-”

“I can’t do this without you, please-”

“You’re not in love with me,” he scoffs as he opens the bedroom door. “You’ve never even been into me-”

“Don’t you dare.”

Cody clenches his jaw as Randy’s arm moves forward to close the door in front of him, his hand firm on it to keep it shut. With a deep breath, he turns to face Randy and his body sort of hunches on itself seeing his eyes, which once held confusion and is now holding pain.

“Don’t tell me how I feel about you,” Randy tells him, quiet but low. “I’ll tell you how sorry I am about everything until I’m six feet under, I will, I will do it every single fucking day if I have to, Cody, but don’t you fucking dare tell me I’m not in love with you.”

“What happens if we date then?” Cody asks. “You break up with Kim and date me. Would you let the world know you have a boyfriend? Would you take me out and show me off like you do with her?”

“Yes, Cody!” Randy answers. “I would, I would do every fucking thing for you!”

“You said that all the other times too. Why is it different this time?”

“I didn’t know I was in love with you those times, Cody, but I know now, I fucking realize now, and I’m trying to make up for all that lost time and make it right-”

“What makes you think I’d even want that with you?”

“Shut the fuck up, man,” Randy scoffs and rolls his eyes as he backs away from Cody to run his hands down his face. “Cody, Cody, Cody, I know you do-”

“Cause you know me so well, right?”

“Yes!” Randy exclaims as he throws his hands in the air. “I do! If you didn’t want me, want this, you wouldn’t have agreed to go out with me, let alone come back to my fucking hotel room-”

“I was curious,” Cody mumbles. “I wanted to know wh-why you wanted to talk-”

“You said it yourself, Cody, you know what happens when we meet up. You know exactly what happens.” Randy narrows his eyes. “You can’t lie to me.”

“And you can’t just come to me on your schedule,” Cody tells him with venom dripping off his words. “It’s all about you, Randy, it’s always about you and what you want, if you don’t want a relationship then it doesn’t happen, but if you do, it has to happen right now-”

“We both want each other, what’s the problem?”

“I left because of you!” Cody shouts out at him.

Randy’s eyes roam all over Cody’s face as his lips form into a slight frown. “What?” he almost whispers.

“I left WWE because of you!” Cody shouts again. “I-It was because of Stardust a-and all that creative stuff, but it was also because of you, Randy! I wanted you and I wanted you so bad, I wanted us to be together and I wanted to be yours and I wanted you to be mine,” his voice cracks, “and you’d always give me hope, every single fucking time we met up, just for nothing to fucking happen! Nothing ever fucking happened, it was always the same, it was always the same!” he sobs out. “I loved you, Randy! I loved you so much and I couldn’t do it anymore! I moved on, I tried to move on with someone new because I-I have more respect than to just - just be that pretty boy you get with to escape reality and live in some bullshit fantasy world with!”

At the end of it, there’s tears, plural, running down Randy’s cheeks and it might be a surprise to anyone else, but with all the nights they’ve had together, after and before hooking up, Cody knows how capable Randy is of that. Everytime though, it never fails to tear at Cody’s heartstrings, regardless of the reason.

Randy swallows heavily as he steps back towards Cody. He reaches out for his hand but Cody swats it away. He reaches out again, but Cody repeats the action, though Cody doesn’t move an inch when Randy places his hands on his cheeks to guide their watery gazes into each other. His thumbs caress Cody’s cheeks, as loving as ever, and Cody’s sobbing starts to quiet down the longer he feels Randy’s sensual touch, for the first time in a long, long while.

“Listen to me, Cody,” he whispers through his tears. “I love you. I would do anything for you and I’m not going to screw that up again. I figured out what it was like these past years to be without you and I can’t do that again.” Randy shakes his head and sniffs. “I can’t do any of this without you. I need you, Cody, and I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner, I am so fucking sorry but I know better now and I’m not gonna make the same mistake again. You’re all I need, Cody, just you. Not Kim, not anyone else, just you.”

“How do I know you mean it?” Cody asks, almost whining as he does it.

“I wish I had an answer to that,” Randy chuckles humorlessly and bites at his lip. “I wish I could show you or tell you something that would make you trust me like you did before, but I know I’m gonna have to work to get that back. A-And I can do that, Cody, I don’t care what it takes, I-I’ll do the work to make you trust me again, I promise.” He removes a hand to wipe at his cheeks and then Cody’s. “It’s going to be you and me, Cody, it’ll always be you and me.”

  “It’ll always be you and me, Codes.”

Cody stares at Randy for a few moments before chuckling. “You don’t mean that-”

“I do.” Randy brings up a hand to cup Cody’s cheek. “I think, no matter what happens and… wherever our relationship goes, it’s always going to be you and me.”

“And your girlfriend is okay with that?”

Randy rolls his eyes with a small smile. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. It doesn’t matter anyways, I - what you and I have, it’s so different then it is with me and Kim.”

“How so?”

Randy looks over Cody’s face, from those beautiful baby blue eyes to those plush pink lips, before quietly telling him, “what we have is realer than anything I’ve ever had in my life.”

“Y-You’re just saying that,” Cody chuckles nervously. “Like - I… Randy, that’s a big thing to tell someone-”

“I know…” He smiles and huffs a fond breath through his nose. “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it, and I mean everything I say with you, Cody, I… everything is so easy with you. Everything is safe with you. You’re like, you’re fucking special, man, and I wanna do this shit forever. Don’t you feel like that?”

Cody relaxes entirely against his side. He brings his hand up to Randy’s cheek and as his eyes dip to Randy’s lips, he tells him with no hesitation, “absolutely.”

 That was the night their relationship went past the point of no return.

The confusion starts and ends with, “it’ll always be you and me.”

“Randy, you better fucking mean it,” Cody says as he shakes his head. “If you do this shit to me again-”

“You can cut me off completely.”

Cody sniffs as he looks back up into his eyes. He gasps out as his hands fall to grip Randy’s collar. “I love you, Randy,” he tells him. “I love you so much-”

“You have me now.” Randy takes a deep breath and lets his gaze dip to Cody’s lips. “You’ll always have me, I promise.”

“You really promise?”

As Randy presses their foreheads together, he promises him, “always.”

Their breaths ghost so hotly against each other’s lips as they breathe out, and Cody can feel himself becoming more lightheaded and dizzy with Randy’s presence all over. The warmth of his hands on his cheeks, the familiar, intoxicating aroma of his cologne, and the firmness of his body under his desperate fingertips.

He’s never wanted someone so bad before in his life. Never needed someone the way he needs Randy, not now and not ever. It will never be the same, and as Randy guides Cody’s head to the side to lick into his mouth to take him, Cody gives up his entire heart for Randy to take too, and whatever else Randy wants - forever and until the end of time.

They kiss like no time has been lost and immediately, they pick back up from where they left off, the shattered pieces of their heart that was broken apart on the floor coming together again with each second their lips move together. They have all the time in the world, not just tonight but every other night ahead. It’s no longer a fantasy, no longer empty platitudes said with hopeful tones, but a reality that will stay true.

Nobody has ever known him like Randy. Cody has a done a great job over the years at putting together a carefully constructed caricature that lets people think they know him and all that he is, but it’s still an act, still a way to keep the private sides of him hidden to the people who don’t have the privilege of doing so, people that aren’t Randy Orton. Only Randy knows him at his worst and still continues to want him, to be with him, and that street goes two ways.

Because they’re not built for relationships with other people, they never were; only built for each other.

Cody’s hands roam down over Randy’s body, big and firm as ever, and back up over his shoulders. They run down his strong, tattooed arms, fingers pressing into his muscles that he loves so much, and as Randy lowers his hands from Cody’s face, he takes Cody’s hands in his own to intertwine their fingers. He squeezes Cody’s hands as he holds them up in between their bodies, the action letting Cody know that this is real, that this is a promise he means, and he won’t make the same mistakes again.

Their lips drag away so slowly, neither of them wanting to be apart from each other for even a second after being apart for years. They’re both desperate to keep this going and take this to the next level, remind the other that they belong to each other, were made for each other, as their bodies become one with another once more.

Their eyes lid open to look up to each other. There are glimmers of the future lighting up not only their eyes, but their bodies, and they can’t help but to steal one more kiss, and another, and another after that before they pull away to finally, and really, get their air back. They breathe in slow and deep together as they look at each other again.

“I’m gonna take good care of you, Cody,” Randy whispers. “Every single night.”

As he walks them backwards to the bed, their lips are back on each other, though their hands are quick to take them to where they want to go. Cody begins to unbutton Randy’s shirt and Randy’s hands are quick, skillful the way they undo Cody’s tie before unbuttoning his suit vest. Cody pushes Randy’s shirt off his shoulders and Randy shrugs it off completely before helping Cody remove his shirt and vest. Suddenly then, he’s grabbing Cody’s hips to turn him around to press him down onto the bed, lips attacking Cody’s neck while he palms him through his pants.

“Fuck, I missed you,” Cody whimpers as he brings a hand to the back of Randy’s head. “Missed you so bad-”

“Missed you so fucking much, never missed anyone like I have with you,” Randy breathes out. “Mind if I mark you up?”

“Please.”

Then Randy is latching his teeth onto Cody’s neck and Cody’s eyes roll into the back of his head as he lets out a loud moan into the room.

He can think about how to deal with it later, can think about how to tell Brandi that they’re done and he’s sorry but he just can’t do it anymore, that he really did love her but he’s always loved Randy, he did then, he does now, and he always will, and it’s not fair to keep them together knowing that.

Randy is worth it. He’s worth everything.

Cody moans with each mark Randy leaves on his neck. He’s drowning in the feeling of Randy’s ravaging mouth that he sort of tunes out everything else, and it’s only when he feels cool air settling on his hard cock that he realizes Randy has pulled down his pants entirely. He lids his eyes open and looks down to see Randy brushing his lips down his chest. Randy then begins to press kisses down his abs, over his belly button, and as his hands grip onto Cody’s hips, he’s looking up into Cody’s eyes right as he flickers out his tongue to taste the precome beading from the tip and Cody would be more embarrassed by the noise he just made if it wasn’t Randy, but it is and Randy has seen all of Cody, at this point, so he’s absolutely shameless.

“Don’t hold back from me, baby,” Randy’s voice rumbles as he tilts his head. “Let me know how good I’m making you feel.”

Then he’s closing his eyes to press a suckling kiss to Cody’s tip. He leaves a trail of them down his shaft, and the further down he gets, the further down his hands move until he’s got his hands clutching tightly onto Cody’s thighs. Randy’s tongue sticks out to circle Cody’s hole, lapping at it before it begins its trail back up, over his balls, and the suckling kisses return on the way up his shaft, Cody moaning and thrusting against his mouth all the while.

It wasn’t often that Randy sucked him off, not because he didn’t want to, but because he always got Cody off with his cock and Cody was always so needy for him more often than not. On nights like this, however, where they’re feeling sentimental and in need of exploring that side with each other, it’s greatly appreciated.

Randy is such a thoughtful lover too, far more than people give him credit for. Cody imagines he doesn’t do that for just anyone, because he is still Randy Orton and feelings and emotions aren’t something he partakes in, but he does it with Cody and that’s what matters, that’s all that will matter now that they’re back in each other’s arms.

When Randy takes him into his mouth, he can’t take much. Cody’s the only man he’s been with, and he’s not going to be able to match Cody’s skills in that department, but he more than makes up for it with the attention he gives him. His hand comes around to touch what his mouth can’t take, and he’s quite an expert with his tongue, letting it curl around him, press at him, lick at him, and after a few minutes, Randy begins the lovely process of opening Cody up.

Thank fucking god.

So he drags his lips off from Cody’s cock to run them down his shaft, past his balls, to begin licking at his hole again. His hand gently pumps Cody as he licks him open, fingers of his other hand grazing over Cody’s thigh, along his ass, until the pads of his fingers are tracing the rim of his entrance.

“I’m gonna make you feel great, I promise,” Randy tells him. “Better than I ever have, and I’m gonna fuck you every night I’m here-”

“Do you promise?” Cody moans. “You’re gonna keep me in here? Make me feel good?”

“Until you only remember my name,” he grumbles. “And until I only remember yours, Cody.”

Cody gasps out when Randy pushes the first finger in and throws his head back with another moan as Randy quickly moves it in and out, his tongue still working alongside it. Cody’s hands grip hard at the sheets beside him to wring them between his fingers, and he tugs at them as Randy continues. He pulls at the sheets, he keeps making the prettiest noises into the bedroom as Randy adds another finger, and then another, until he sounds absolutely broken. Afterwards, he’ll have a bit of decency to be embarrassed by how desperate he sounds, but then, that desperation is what Randy likes so much anyways, always has and always will, especially when he himself is so desperate. It makes him go harder with fingering him open, makes him mouth more at Cody’s opening to get it super slick with his spit, and makes him moan against Cody before, finally, pulling his three fingers out to spank him.

With a whimper, Cody brings his head up enough to watch Randy stand up between his legs. He’s drowning under the dark intent of Randy’s gaze and he can only lie there, seemingly helpless as Randy takes his time undoing his pants. Randy swipes his tongue out along his lips as he drags his belt out from the loops, holding it up in the air for a few moments before dropping it onto the floor, the metal of the buckle sounding with the collision.

Cody couldn’t say a word right now if he wanted. He’s wrought with an urgent need for the man in front of him and can’t think beyond Randy, can’t look or smell or feel beyond Randy, because his desire for him is all consuming and withers away any sense of rational being left.

Right now, Randy is heaven. He is ruin. He is everything.

He manages a long, loud whine as Randy’s thickness enters his view. He moves himself back on the bed and pushes up on his arms to watch Randy jerk himself off, all while Randy looks him over. Randy groans out as he knees up on the bed between Cody’s legs and his other hand comes down to grip Cody’s knee hard, his gaze still dragging over every inch of Cody’s exposed skin.

“Fucking perfect, Cody,” he whispers. “Always so good for me, always look so fucking good.” Randy bites his lip hard as he squeezes his length. “Can’t believe how long it’s been… you ready for it?”

“Please,” Cody begs. “Randy, please, I can’t wait for you anymore, I don’t wanna wait for you anymore-”

“I know.” Randy nods and looks up to Cody before leaning in. “Neither do I, baby.”

He seals their lips together in a short, but promising kiss, one that assures Cody, once again, that this is real and he will not make the same mistakes again, and he drags his lips away so slow before leaning back to reach for the lube conveniently within the nightstand. Cody’s eyes are trained on Randy’s cock as he drizzles the lube over, as he strokes it all over, even as Randy spreads apart his legs at his thighs with those big, strong hands to be right back where he belongs.

Randy guides himself to Cody’s opening and he’s leaning over him to press their foreheads together. His breath is hot against his lips, Cody’s breath is hot against his, and they’re breathing in each other’s air as Randy begins to push into him, for the very first time in a long awhile. When Cody gasps out, Randy moves a hand into his hair to guide Cody’s lips back onto his as he gives Cody all of him, every single inch, and drinks in all the pretty moans Cody makes into his mouth all the while.

It could be too much, were it anyone else, but there can never be too much of Randy, only not enough.

Randy drags himself out to the tip before slamming back into him to make Cody gasp out against his lips once more. He does it again, and again, Cody’s gasps becoming louder until he’s moaning out, and then Randy is fucking into him with consistent in-and-out motions, hand still in Cody’s hair with the other hand at Cody’s side to keep himself up.

“Thought I’d never have this again, Cody,” Randy breathes out as he looks down between their joined bodies to watch Cody take him. “I can’t believe I get to have you again, I can’t fucking believe it-”

Cody moans, “you get to have me whenever you want.” His hands grip at Randy’s shoulders and his fingers press down hard into his skin. “Just - I want to be yours, I want to be the only one, Randy-”

“You will, I promise.” Randy steals another kiss from him. “It’s just gonna be me and you from now on.”

“What’s gonna happen? With you and her?”

“When I get back, I’m gonna end it. Tell her I can’t do this anymore, that it’s not working, that I fucking love you-”

“You’d do that?”

“I would, and I don’t fucking care what she’s gonna do, because you’re the only thing I care about.”

Randy doesn’t even need to ask Cody what’s going to happen with him and Brandi, because they both already knew that Cody was going to drop her for him, but in case Randy didn’t, Cody tells him, “I only care about you, Randy, it’ll be me and you, just me and you, it is over with me and her, I promise-”

“I know.” Randy nods and moves his hands to cup Cody’s cheeks as he lowers his body onto his, Cody’s hands dragging away from his shoulders to grab the hands on his cheeks. “I know you’d do anything for me, just like I’d do anything for you, because I love you, Cody, you love me, we love each other, and it’s just us, okay?”

“Fuck, I love you so much.”

They take each other’s lips again and this time, they’re able to unleash all that passion that’s been building up over the past few years. The taste of sin is so pertinent on their tongues but it’s never been sweeter, so profound, and the more they taste, the more they want. They’re practically breathing into each other’s lungs now, and each breath is another thought that lets the other know they still care, that they have always cared for one another and everything else was just a distraction from what really mattered.

They both invoke such heavy pleasure within each other in their shared climax that can never be reached with anyone else. The other’s name falls from their lips so quiet, but so heavy and full of love, of yearning, and afterwards, they’re panting against the other’s lips and just barely do they open their eyes to stare at each other in the warm and sensuous afterglow.

While their business is still unfinished, and they have a lot more to discuss before officially ending the night, the silence afterwards is comfortable as Randy coaxes Cody into his side to snuggle close. Even though they now have each other forever, that truth still hasn't settled in yet, so Randy holds Cody tight to his body, as close as he can, as Cody’s face presses deep into Randy’s neck to fully immerse himself in Randy again.

In that time apart, they have been living in the same dream put together of all their shared memories. Every night wondering what would happen if they took that chance to sweep the other off their feet, if all of that fabricated pillow talk had meant something more, but they don’t need to wonder anymore. They don’t need to stay awake at night getting so lost within the debilitating thoughts in their head of what could have happened between them.

No longer does tension fill the air, but rather hope for the bright future ahead of them. They aren’t ships passing in the night anymore, no, they have found their way back to each other, because they were built for each other; forever and until the end of time.

[rebeccasteventaylor]

Right, time for my to dive into episode 3, so my incoherent rambling thoughts will now follow

Coffee shop is playing Radio Gaga

Muriel is so adorably incompetent and she clearly doesn’t want to lie to Aziraphale and he’s so sweet with them. And Crowley is delighted!

Aziraphale makes no objection to Crowley running the bookshop. Obviously he trusts Crowley to do it properly and not sell any books.

Huge gasp! Ok, so in opening titles and in Maggie’s shop there is a poster for Stairway to Heaven, the American title for A Matter of Life and Death, the Powell/Pressberger film about a man in trial in Heaven to return to his love. This episode is called I Know Where I’m Going which is another Powell/Pressberger film, about a woman who falls in love with someone she isn’t supposed to love, against all her plans. The man’s family is under a curse and the curse turns out to be when they fall in love they fall in love forever.

Ok, so Crowley refers to Gabriel’s beauty (when looking at the statue) and Aziraphale gives him a very perturbed look.

Scottish David Tennant doing a variety of very fake Scottish accents here is a dazzling example of how that man controls his voice.

Aziraphale gives himself a Scottish name (McFell) but doesn’t even bother to try a Scottish accent.

Oh god, Aziraphale always has his heart wrenched every time he meets someone poor and damaged by life. Like he feels god and the angels have abandoned them and he feels it’s wrong but can’t question it.

Ooh , the starting everyone off equal conversation from the book!

Aw, the Bentley is playing Danse Macabre for Aziraphale. A distinctly demonic piece of classical music.

So Crowley comes through the radio to chat to Aziraphale just as Satan once came through to chat to Crowley.

Yellow Car! (Hello Arthur)

The mountains are tartan and there’s a monster in the Loch…

Beelzebub’s eagerness to find Gabriel is very different now…she seems worried.

So Crowley is moving books around the bookshop? Apart from the moments where he casts them aside, I presume he’s doing what Aziraphale would do? So he knows Aziraphale’s plan for the bookshop?

There really was a Mr Dalrymple at Edinburgh university but I don’t know if this was him and did just ask him to call him Doctor?! Really going for the Doctor Who references this season.

I see Aziraphale has to ask Crowley to freeze people. He does often enough that now he just hints and Crowley does it.

Aziraphale doesn’t like the whisky but by the time of the events in S1 he is happily pouring a whisky out for both him and Crowley.

Oh dear. Aziraphale hearing about the 7 year old who died. His faith is tested so much.

So the pub owner read both Beelzebub and Gabriel as Masons?

The laundanum is made by C.M.O.T. Dibbler! Another Pratchett reference!

Teeny tiny Crowley and then giant Crowley - it’s all very Alice in Wonderland

Crowley playing the Angel role!

Aziraphale holding up drunk Crowley and calling him kind - definitely smitten. Is it just me or is there a lot more touching and holding than last season?

And then Hell steals Crowley and the next time he sees Aziraphale he asks for Holy Water to protect them both from Hell.

Thing is - if Hell was watching him do that good deed they might have known he was with Aziraphale. Perhaps he had to spend all that time convincing Hell he wasn’t working with Aziraphale, that they weren’t friends.

Aziraphale isn’t afraid of those thugs at all. In the book he ‘takes care’ of Mafia thugs. He obviously can protect himself when Crowley isn’t around.

Crowley doing his own version of Aziraphale’s not selling any books when he answers the phone.

Hmm, it looks like Aziraphale replaced the British flag wallpaper on the phone with a Scottish flag. I wonder if that’s a reference to Scotland leaving the Union?

Ok, the newspaper headlines in this one (and it looks like one of the less reliable papers) has Elvis Kidnapped By Aliens Because He Made Such Good… the other word is cut off but probably burgers as we know he works in a burger place. And the other headline is Pope Missing.

Crowley is so delighted his plan works. He’s very invested in the love story of Maggie and Nina.

I presume whatever Gabriel is saying in this bit is from the Bible but I can’t find the exact quote. It sounds like Revelations.

Very much enjoying that inbetween Shax and Crowley threatening each other he’s explaining to her how to fix the boiler in his old flat.

Oh, very protective of Aziraphale Crowley! My darling!

Oh dear, Crowley saying ‘it’s always too late’

[smileythefirst]

More art from my DA, part 

This is an AU I made named Sonic Inverse, and it’s basically a “what if?” AU based on what Scourge’s Universe would be like if it existed after the Archie Sonic Reboot. Btw, most of these aren’t final designs, and mostly concepts.

More facts and stuff:

This universe also has things borrowed from other iterations of Sonic, such as ideas in Sonic The Comic. This means I used some of the characters in there as well, such as Turbo and Extra Life Sonic, who gets renamed Xeno. Turbo still has the Alien hedgehog thing going on, and ultimately works as a “space cop” of sorts. Extra Life Sonic’s 1-up box is found by the Alien race enslaving Turbo (which I still haven’t given a name). This lead’s to him being captured, as well. The alien race also find a prototype Metal Scourge. Turbo get’s partnered with Extra Life Sonic, who is now referred as Xeno, after being named by Turbo when Xeno tells him he doesn’t really have a name, as he’s just a copy of another person. Turbo and Xeno have a brother relationship. Xeno does have a plan to break out, as he originally only got captured willingly, thinking that the alien race might have had info on Sonic.

Reck The Tasmanian is supposed to replace Shadow’s role as Scourge’s rival. He was also an experiment, but somehow managed to escape when he was younger. This was because during the time, Dr. Ivo was being defunded by the King, meaning all of his labs were raided. Both him and Shimmer are orphans, in a sense, as Shimmer lost her parents, and Reck is an experiment. Shimmer The Bunny is supposed to be Reck’s younger adopted sister, and takes Cream’s role!

Prower hates Scourge, because of an incident that happened between them when they were younger. This also goes with Pentas The Hellion, the Amy Rose of this universe, as she also hates Scourge because of an incident between them. (Mind you, I still haven’t posted the concept art for her, because, again, my phone is broke and I can’t take pictures of the art unless I ask my friends but I don’t want to bother them.)

Scourge’s dad is King Maurice, who basically manipulates Scourge as he grows up. Alisson Acorn, Sally’s counterpart, is the General of the King’s army in this Au and she’s in charge of training Scourge. She’s mostly forced to ignore the abuse that go between King Maurice and Scourge, which leads to Scourge hating her.

The Zone Cops do exist, and I have my own version of Zamy, who is more of a partner to Zonic. She befriends Pentas The Hellion at some point, but is exiled from the Zone Cops themselves after she helps Pentas break out of the prison.

The Blaze of this universe, Lilac, does have rivalry with Pentas.

I know this might sound dumb, but I’m also using Coldsteel in this universe. He’s an experiment as well, but is mostly locked away in the King’s castle because of how catastrophic he can be. He’s mostly a trump card against the other kingdoms. Scourge does eventually use him whenever he gains control over the kingdom after he gets rid of his father.

Prower isn’t a tech guy in this universe, he’s a biologist/chemist. Null, the Knuckles of this universe, is the tech guy.

Null has a sister, and his clan still exist, except he was banished after rejecting the idea of being the guardian, as he was forced to deal with violence. Null hates violence for anything, and hates that it was an ideal that the clan thought that was supposed to be practiced. This does break the ties he has with his sister, but he does try to help her leave the clan at some point.

Rouge has her own clan, as well, and they’re enemies with the echidnas. She takes role of the guardian in this universe.

Honey The Cat and Breezie do exist, as well, named Maple The Cat and I’m still working on Breezie’s character. Maple and Inverse Breezie do have a rivalry, as well, as Maple is a crime leader who works undercover for the King, and Breezie does the opposite, and tries to limit crime. 

King Maurice is extremely manipulative and influences most of the kingdom to fit his own wants, even as going as far as building a bad reputation for his “son”. This means that even if Scourge does call him out on the shady things he does, no one believes him as he’s painted as a troublemaker. Scourge does try to sabotage his father’s plans at times, and that gets him in plenty of trouble.

Antonio De Corales, Antoine D’Coolette’s Inverse counterpart, is one of the most high ranking soldiers in the army. He’s mostly against Scourge, especially whenever he becomes King. He starts out not trusting the people who want to remove Scourge from the position as King, though, because he still honors his job. He does come around at the end and helps the rest of the gang (Prower, Null, Reck, Shimmer, Pentas) defeat Scourge. (I still haven’t made a Bunnie for this Au, though)

I still have a lot of things to explain, but I’ll leave it at that, thanks for reading ^^

[paigelts05]

Execution of a plan [FNAF AU]

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/Execution-of-a-plan-FNAF-AU-893023558

Published: Sep 26, 2021

Renegade File Server Location: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23858029

Contains a plot that revolves around mind control and other scary things. After waiting for so long, Adelaide is finally able to execute her plan, taking over Steve's body and setting the stage for a process that some may call a ritual so that she may collect remnant in order to being herself back in someone else's body. I had so many ideas as to what I wanted the artwork for this story to be, but I decided to draw it from Mark Cho's perspective, as it required the least amount of background work because I am bad at thinking of backgrounds. I also got to do some funky stuff that made it look like the POV character could see veins in thier eyes: you know the trope and so do I, and I just think it's neat. =°•.🌹 Story 🌹.•°= °*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•🌹•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*° It almost felt like a dream for Steven Wilson; he was in his own body, but he couldn't control what was going on. Adelaide was using him as a temporary vessel and was passing for a normal - albeit tired - version of himself quite well, or at least well enough to make it to work without suspicion. Daniel Rocha felt nervous. He knew something wasn't right. Anna was not here, and Mark Cho looked like he was about to puke. It was only them in the break room, and none of thier colleagues were anywhere to be found. "I can't take it anymore. Where's Raha and Anna? They're usually here by now." Mark said, keeping his bucket that usually housed his mop in his lap just in case he did throw up. "Um..." Dan checked his phone. He had a text from Raha. "She had to take her mum's car to get MOT'd. She should be here soon." "And Anna?" Mark replied, still just as anxious as before. "I -" in this moment, Dan felt that he needed a bucket too, "I don't know. When I clocked in, I saw that she didn't clock out yesterday. We were all so tired I think I fell asleep well before she'd usually leave. I should have stayed awake to call her to make sure she was ok." Dan saw that Mark's skin somehow looked paler than his own, the tension of the situation made them both nauseousness, as Mark clutched his bucket, feeling more and more ill by the second, his nerves more than getting the better of him. Dan felt the same way, but he also felt that he would never be able to forgive himself if anything bad had happened after everyone left last night. They both knew something was wrong, but didn't know what to do about it. "And where's Steve? He's usually exactly on time, but he's running late. Is he sick? Dead?" Mark was getting more and more anxious, his head feeling more and more fuzzy the more he tried to figure out what was happening. "He clocked out last night, but he was the last to leave other than Anna. Do you think he actually left?" Dan felt like he had connected the dots a little too late. "Do you think..." Mark replied. His voice was shaky. He seemed like he was about to be sick. Before Dan could reply, someone else entered the break room. The best that Dan and Mark could do was act like nothing was wrong. "Hey Steve!" Dan said, his nerves clearly showing through, "When did you get here?" Steven Wilson didn't respond as he sat down next to Mark, effectively blocking him in. He simply dropped his duffel bag on the floor and pulled out a black and white rabbit mask: the same one that Mark found himself wearing way too often. Almost on instinct, Dan shot up and tried to pull Steve away as Mark screamed for help, but Steve didn't budge as he forced the mask onto Mark's face. Mark's screaming became muffled, but when Steve seemed happy with how the mask fit onto Marks face, the screaming stopped. Mark's body went limp in his seat. Steve tinkered with something on the side of the mask. Dan then begun to scream as he kept trying to drag Steven away from his friend, but all his efforts were for naught; Steve - more precisely the thing in control of Steve's body - wouldn't budge in response to Dan's attempts. Once Steve was done tinkering with the mask, he pushed Dan out the way with a crack, sending him flying and crashing to the ground. The force of the shove had not only winded him, but he felt like something had broken, and as he tried to clamber to his feet, Steve placed a foot on the back of his neck. "What did you do to him?" Dan shouted as he tried to free himself, only for Steve's foot to push him back to the ground. "The same as last time, and the time before," a voice that was definitely not Steve's but that of a woman came out of Steve's mouth, "And I'd recommend you stop struggling. Snapping your neck here and now isn't exactly part of my plan, but I'm no stranger to alterations." 'Same as last time?' Dan thought to himself, remembering exactly what happened last time. That must mean that ... The screaming, the pain. This has all happened to Mark before, and when he started moving again, he would be on that woman's side. He wanted to fight back, but he knew he was outnumbered and would be swiftly killed if he tried. "You... Monster." 'Steve's' face crept into a smirk, "I know," the woman's voice said, "But I'll be human again soon enough. Once I cause you enough pain, I should be able to use the remnant you produce to assume a human form. Now we just need to get you somewhere more soundproof and ensure that you won't escape." The weight on Dan's neck shifted as 'Steve' grabbed something out of the duffle bag before clamping something around his ankles so heavy and so cold that even though his jeans, he felt like he was going to freeze. "That should weigh you down and stop you from running away," the woman's voice came out of Steve's mouth once again, "And this-" Dan shrieked as 'Steve' grabbed his ponytail and pulled him up so that he was kneeling instead of being curled over in a heap. He tried to struggle to make 'Steve' let go, but the more Dan struggled, the more 'Steve' pulled, so Dan knew he had to give up. As he stopped struggling, the grip on his hair eased and he could look around the room, but he was only interested in knowing one thing. He could now see Mark: the mask was stuck to his face by seemingly nothing and he sat limp in his chair until he slowly got up, in a fashion similar to a puppet, and begun walking over to Dan. Mark picked up a section of the chain and shackles. He seemed to be untwisting them and laying them out to the sides so that 'Steve' could keep him restrained in the meantime. After the chains were laid out on the floor, he felt something click around his neck. It was heavy and cold, just like the shackles around his ankles. "Should hold it all together once we're done," the woman's voice continued, "and one final step." Mark grabbed one of his wrists and 'Steve' grabbed another. Moments later, cold and heavy shackles were locked around his wrists, and the chains were behind him. "There we go." 'Steve' finally let go of Dan's hair. Dan tried to get up, but the chains were too heavy. Having to curl back over so the shackle around his neck didn't suffocate him, he only realised this minute how much he was crying by the small pool of water on the floor. "Now, let's go somewhere safer for me," 'Steve' said, the woman's voice again spilling out instead of his. He and Mark grabbed Dan and pulled the terrified and restrained blond to his feet. Dan could bearly stand, let alone move, but that didn't matter to the creature that had taken control of Steve's body. She used Steve and Mark to drag Dan towards the basement door. Thier grip was too tight for Dan to struggle free, and even if he managed, he doubted he'd be able to get far. Once 'Steve' opened the basement door, Dan knew this was the point of no return. A wave of fear washed over him and he made one last ditch attempt to struggle free. But it was no use. 'Steve' didn't even seem to realise that Dan had attempted to struggle, but the grip around his arms tightened. Without a care for Dan's body, 'Steve' and the mind controled Mark dragged Dan down the basement stairs. Dan tried to make sure his feet were on the ground, but the two moved too fast, and his shackled ankles kept hitting the steps. Once at the bottom of the stairs, he saw that the basement had been heavily modified. It was no longer the animatronic storage room he knew. It had been transformed into something that resembled a church for a cult, with the room only dimly lit by candles, and an altar near the back. There was a woman behind the altar. Dan knew who this was. "Anna!" Dan yelled as he saw Anna Qwemto standing behind the make-shift altar. He hoped that she was ok. He hoped that she still had control over her body. She didn't respond. Dan then noticed the mask on her face and the dress she was wearing. A white bunny mask decorated with intricate gold patterns, and the dress reminded him of something, or more specifically someone. One of the women on the founders page of Fazbear Entertainment's website was wearing a similar dress. It was the ginger one, which must have been Adelaide. Adelaide had dressed Anna up as herself, but why? "You seem confused," the woman's voice came out of Steve's body again, "are you an idiot?" Dan didn't respond, but Adelaide didn't seem to be looking for an answer, as she continued talking far sooner than expected. "I have her under my control. Note the mask. Or did I somehow blind you back there." Adelaide continued to use Steve's body to speak, "I have calculated what would cause you the most distress so that I can extract the most remnant from you." Dan remembered something that Ness had warned them about regarding remnant: it was basically liquid ghost. Handling it was dangerous, and to produce it in vast quantities would require someone to die; the more painful and traumatic the better. Whilst remnant could be produced from a living host, the torment and trauma required was incredibly great to produce a worthwhile amount. Both options were bad for Dan. He begun to try and figure out what's going to happen to him, and now he knew he was crying. "Save your pain for when we kill you. You will die slowly at the hands of your friends, whose bodies are under my control, and I will turn the remnant you produce into blank remnant and use it to permanently inhabit Anna's body, and hopefully get rid of her too." Adelaide said again, now appearing above Steve like a puppeteer above a puppet. She seemed so confident in her plan, and the only reason she'd speak of it to her victim would be to instill more fear. And it was working. Dan was a shaking mess on the ground, trying to crawl away but ultimately being held in the basement by the heavy shackles. Adelaide could sense the distress of those she was controling as well - they were as much her victims and remnant sources as Dan was, but having that come as a surprise would be far more interesting to her. "I will finish the preparations," Adelaide gestured to the makeshift altar, "so untill that's ready, you will have to wait." Still shaking and sobbing, Dan couldn't react as Adelaide used Mark to drag him into a large crate. The lid had been re-attached to the crate by a hinge, and he could only watch as it was closed, and the click of what he presumed was some kind of lock sealed him in the dark. Minutes felt like hours, but the longer Dan waited, the more he realised there was one slim ray of hope: Raha had taken her mum's car to get MOT'd, so she hadn't been controlled or kidnaped. As of this morning, Raha was herself, and he hadn't seen her in the building yet, so she likely was either not here or on her way here. Raha was the only one left. He hoped that she'd get here soon. He hoped she would be able to put together the peices of this macarbe puzzle and figure out what's going on faster than he did. °*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•🌹•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°•°*°

[hannahsmusings]

Renee

*I just stared blankly at Anthony as he ruined my entire plan, I couldn’t back out of it either since I just said I was going to go eat, knowing that if I changed my story, he’d know that I was 100% avoiding him and that would hurt his feelings plus make this whole tutoring thing way worse and super awkward, I couldn’t do that and potentially ruin his chances of graduating on time or at all* *I just nod as he asks if I still like sushi* Yeah… I still like sushi. *I throw my backpack over my shoulder, not knowing why I was actually about to agree to go off campus with Anthony, knowing I should’ve just told him that I was just going to get food to go from the student center cafe but I was apparently too fucking nice for my own good* Sushi sounds good. We can take my car. *I don’t give him a choice to offer up his car, knowing I needed to be the driver so I’d feel more in control, the time frames of the meal being on my watch and I could set the boundaries* *I walk with him out of the library, torn between regretting my decisions but also being slightly excited to spend time with him, wanting to know more about his life and his family and everything, part of me desperate to know this version of him* *we get to my car and I toss my bag in the back before climbing in the driver’s side, waiting for him to climb in before starting the engine and pulling out of the spot* You’ll have to give me directions… you’re not still awful with directions are you? Because if so, we can just use my phone. I’d prefer not to get super lost tonight. *I glance over at him with a knowing look before focusing back on the road as I pull out of the campus gates, Anthony used to make us go on walks in the woods behind our houses and everytime he swore he knew the way, but we got lost without fail every single time, Anthony being utterly useless back then when it came to finding his way, wondering if that’s changed at all now*

____________________________________

*I felt like I was holding my breath until you agree, face lighting up in a bright smile and feeling lighter than I had since we’d reconnected, eyes alight and so happy that we’d actually be able to talk about something other than biology* Great, you’ll love this place. They shove ginger with everything. *grins, remembering how you’d always love loads of pickled ginger with your sushi, all these little facts I remembered about you just showing how close we’d once been, feeling I knew you better than myself sometimes* *grabs my stuff and follows you out of the library, nodding ass you suggest your car* Sounds good. *I was clearly in good spirits after your agreement, practically skipping as I begin to ramble* Me and the team always come here, its so cheap and they do an all you can eat menu so for all of us it works out pennies. It’s sick. *chuckles, getting into your car and grinning* I see you upgraded. *raises a playful brow at you as I put my belt on, remembering your first little tiny car and laughing a little to myself, looking at you before gasping playfully as you tease about directions* Hey! I was never awful. Just a little confused sometimes. *shrugs with a grin before laughing a little* I know this place, don’t you worry. *smiles brightly at you before immediately jumping into the questions, desperate to learn as much new stuff about you as I could* So, whereabouts on campus do you live?

[mzminola]

Had the thought “How would the Dynamic Duo of Batman!Dick and Robin!Stephanie have gone?” and immediately started tearing Preboot canon apart and rebuilding it like a LEGO set.

~

Firstly, we gotta make sure Damian isn’t getting sidelined, and for that I propose he and Tim are a team for BruceQuest. Have Damian’s yearning to get to know his dad outweigh his dislike/jealousy/etc of Tim, and highlight Tim’s canonical compassion and forgiving nature.

Either they both make new mantles for this, or they’re both color-coded Robins. Red Robin for Tim, since he’s using Kon’s colors, Green or Blue Robin for Damian (I like Green for he ties to his mom, but him trying to make his own version of the Nightwing suit in some attempt to outrank Tim and everyone calling him Blue Robin would be very funny).

Things start out tense, Damian is only listening to Tim because a) Tim will just have a Titan pick Damian up and drop him back off in Gotham if he’s too much trouble like he was during Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul, and b) Tim is the only person who believes Bruce is alive and is cautiously keeping some of the methodology of proving it to himself at first.

In the original 2009 Red Robin comic, Tim repeatedly got sidetracked with hero work during his quest. Have that keep happening, and actually spend more time in that period than RR did, because it’s part of Damian’s growth. He starts out pissed at the delays and confused by Tim’s insistence on helping strangers. Tim gives some talks about the Bat philosophy and about why he keeps coming back to the hero life despite everything it’s taken from him.

Damian gets thanked by some of the people they rescue, and slowly shifts from pride in his fighting skills to pride in helping people. Eventually starts actively looking for people to help while they’re searching for artifacts. Tim is so flipping proud of him.

Sets us up for some big choices when the League of Assassins finally gets involved.

~

Okay, back to Stephanie, rewinding the comics even further:

1: Don’t kill off Arthur ‘Cluemaster’ Brown, we need him for later.

2: Tim & Steph never date because this is my LEGO set and I want more platonic boy-girl friend pairs in fiction, dang it. Bruce never tells Steph Tim’s identity and Tim is still keeping it secret. Rather than stalking Tim at school and seeing another girl kiss him, Stephanie and Tim are in the middle of an ongoing argument about secret identities when Jack discovers Tim is Robin and makes him step down.

Tim contacts Steph over the phone to let her know why Spoiler won’t be seeing him around, and that’s when she pulls what she did in canon of making her own Robin suit and volunteering with Batman.

Keep most of War Games, but nix the prolonged torture (because fuck that shit) in favor of quickly-gained but extensive injuries (she was tossed off a building? A building fell on her while she was saving someone?) so she really does need a long recovery period, complete with Dr. Thompkins taking her out of the country.

Honestly not sure if they should still fake her death. If yes, I think it should be Bruce’s idea.

This keeps Steph out of the way so we don’t need to rearrange the in-between canon too much, and potentially adds more fuel to the Keeping Secrets vs Not Keeping Secrets arguments.

The start of our big change for Stephanie’s arc is Violent Tendencies. Instead of agreeing to Bruce’s messed up plan, Stephanie is raring to atone for the lives destroyed back in War Games, and what do you know, some motherfucker just started another city wide gang war!

Spoiler works with Robin to stop Ulysses Armstrong. They never worked their shit out before she first left town, so it’s tense, and they fight, but they prioritize stopping the bad guys and bringing what peace is possible in Gotham.

Have repeated moments where Stephanie’s temper and instinct to argue almost messes things up, but she reins herself in to focus on butt-kicking and detective work. Have Tim notice this newer self-control, and have Steph notice changes in Tim, too.

At least one instance, preferably more, of Stephanie meeting someone who was hurt or lost a loved one in War Games, and wrestling with the fresh reminder of her guilt.

If we want to have a two-steps-forward, one-step-back situation, Tim gets caught in the blast of Armstrong’s bomb because after one of their fights, Stephanie stormed off in a temper, leaving Tim to deal with a two-person job on his own.

This sets up Stephanie second-guessing her decision to keep being a hero. If her own temper keeps getting in the way, should she really be doing this?

If we don’t want that, have it be that Tim takes the brunt of the blast because he threw Stephanie to safety or threw himself on top of her. Because that’s the kind of hero Tim is, because at this point in her arc Steph needs reassurance that her friend still cares about her despite her mistakes, and because it’s an example of heroism Stephanie needs to decide if she wants to copy or not.

Stephanie wants to be a hero.

Does she want to be the kind of hero who throws herself between another person and a bomb?

So either scenario, we set up for Stephanie to be doing some introspection when Bruce gets tossed into the timestream.

~

/points at the fried clone-corpse nearly everyone thinks is Bruce/ “Well he ain't gettin’ any deader!”

Tim calls up Cassandra during the whole Battle For The Cowl incident. She needs to wrap up an investigation, but comes back as soon as she can, which is when the dust has settled. Welcome back to Gotham, Batgirl!

(Cass is the Batgirl to both Tim & Steph’s Robin. She gets her own solo book back and has lots of interactions with Babs during this era.)

Not sure whose idea it is for Stephanie to be Robin again; Tim resigning himself to Dick not helping with BruceQuest? Dick acknowledging Batman needs a Robin and seeing Spoiler is struggling? Stephanie herself, volunteering for the second time?

Regardless, very early on, Arthur Brown gets out of jail or comes back to town and is being a Problem. Stephanie’s got a lot of anger, and Dick helps her deal with that. This is both an echo of Stephanie’s introduction, when she tried to kill her dad, and a way of bringing up Dick’s roots as Robin. He wanted to kill Tony Zucco, remember?

One former hot-headed Robin who’s learned how to find balance and prioritize justice over revenge helping the next generation do the same!

Meanwhile, Jason is also around being a Problem, providing straight up antagonism, but also a different opinion on how vigilantism in Gotham should work, so that Stephanie has multiple views to wrestle with.

Stephanie is a middle-class kid from the suburbs, who, as Jason put it to Tim when breaking into Titans Tower, “slept in a real bed”. But she’s also got a (recovering) drug-addict mother and a criminal father, providing points of commonality for Jason to work with. Remember his speech to Mia Dearden during the Green Arrow crossover?

Jason also plays on Stephanie’s guilt, talking about the fallout of the gang war she started, all of the ripple effects that kept going after the initial burst of violence was over. Describes some of his Under the Red Hood crime lord takeover work as “cleaning up your mess.”

Stephanie regrets everything about War Games, Dick is helping her do better going forward, whereas Jason’s argument is that she should have been more decisively violent at the start. It’s hard for all the mafia bosses to fight each other and get the little people caught up in it if the mafia bosses are dead.

During one altercation between Batman & Robin and the Red Hood, Jason punts Black Mask’s head to them and sarcastically says “You’re welcome.”

Arthur’s current criminal enterprise should directly affect Stephanie’s life in some negative way, so that all of this is fresh, not a It’s In The Past situation, and also be endangering civilians’ lives.

This arc has a big climatic scene of Dick being restrained while Jason gives Stephanie the chance to kill her dad.

(We know she’s not gonna, because she’s the Robin in Batman & Robin, but it should be as suspenseful as we can make it.)

~

Meanwhile over in BruceQuest, Tim & Damian are bonding over being raised with high expectations, and confusing relationships with one’s parents. Tim finally allowing himself to think & say negative things about Jack in order to help Damian grapple with his own upbringing? Heck yes.

Damian & Tim & the crushing weight of family legacies & parental expectations!

Tim being allowed by the narrative to be a big brother to Damian like Dick was to Tim!

Damian coming to see Tim as his brother despite his upbringing focusing on blood, and expressing remorse for the introductory murder attempt!

Ra’s trying to pit them against each other and getting his ass kicked!

Tim standing up to Bruce about his toxic habits once they rescue him because Tim refuses to let Damian go through the same crap he did!

~

Since dads are a big thing for both of the above arcs, we could go for three and bring back David Cain for Cass to deal with. Or keep him away, but bring him up in Cass & Steph’s shared scenes. They bonded over having terrible dads in Batgirl 2000, we can have callbacks.

Tim was sending progress reports back to Gotham during BruceQuest (because whether he left on good or bad terms, he wants the Bats to know what’s going on in case something happens to him and the ten year old he’s in charge of needs a rescue).

Once a week Cass makes popcorn and Babs reads the reports aloud. They make bingo cards for What Crazy Shit The Boys Got Up To This Week. When Tim gets home he makes bingo cards about Batgirl & Oracle’s shenanigans (while stealing some of theirs for his scrapbook). Stephanie demands Batman & Robin bingo cards too, and we discover Babs actually made some years ago when Dick was still Robin.

~

There are a lot of different ways who has what mantle could shake out once these arcs are over (in the very short time before the universe reset) but instead of getting into that I’m just going to imagine everyone reunited & hugging.

[nathanbatemanfucker]

Seeing Him (5+1): Deeper and Darker

summary: reader sees hotch that way again, and does nothing about it, take 2.

pairing: gn!reader x aaron hotchner

warnings: pining, angst, lust if you squint really really hard

an: i…yeah i don’t really know, but i think i really like this? @ssahotchie’s comment on this part: “I CANT WAIT TILL THEY FINALLY STOP BEING KNUCKLEHEADS”. enjoy i suppose? gif is by the talented @madneyfiles!

word count: 1.4k

masterlist

part 1 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6

In your time on the team you hadn’t seen Hotch so much as raise his voice. He was good at the low voice that instills fear into those it’s directed at, and that’s always been sufficient for you. For him. For unsubs. And on today, a day that you finally feel you have some control over your feelings for him, it stops being sufficient.

You’re there with him and JJ as they walk through the plan, they’ll feed off of each other’s behavior in a good cop, bad cop kind of way. If you’re not mistaken you sense some reluctance in Hotch’s voice even though he’s the one who proposes the plan. But it’ll require him to raise his voice and you just can’t picture it.

Even 2 years in, there’s more for you to learn. Being the newest means teaching moments still come and this is one of them. While the rest of the team goes to search the woods for the victim that may still be alive, you're to stay and watch the interrogation, read the unsub’s behaviors, and run point with the police precinct if any other information comes in. This is how you end up, staring wide eyed through one way glass, your hands so tightly around the other that they go numb.

Your assignment forgotten, you watch him silently, grasping onto every word and movement. He’s strategic, slowly but surely building into this version of a man he could never truly be. He’s angry, viscerally almost violently so, his neck red and straining against the knot of his tie. He stands, sliding off his jacket, moving in closer to the unsub as he sneers at him with eyes dangerously dark and empty.

It’s a facade, one that he’s too good at and you wonder how much of it is true. How much of this anger bubbles inside him about all that he’s lost and endured? You know that he would never handle it this way, that he uses his work or exercise or doesn’t handle it at all. In this show he’s put on, you see him once again; deeper and darker.

The unsub finally cracks, giving JJ and Hotch the exact location of the victim who is in fact still alive. JJ dials a number on her phone, rushing out of the interrogation room as the words pour out of her mouth a mile a minute. Hotch follows shortly after, stopping to assess you as soon as he’s out the door.

“(Y/L/N)?

His voice snaps you out of the trance you’ve been in. You frown at the pain that’s begun to register in your hands from your grip. He moves closer to you, prompting you to take a step back. You can’t risk him reaching out again, or smelling the fresh, heady scent of his cologne. You can’t describe the feeling you get when his impassive mask fractures for just a moment.

He’s reading your reaction completely wrong.

While the glint of mixed emotions in his eyes is subtle, it's his eyebrows that aid in reading him. Surprise and denial, confusion, woundedness and then a sort of acceptance. It seems he feels all of this and pieces himself back together in no more than 2 seconds. If you weren’t so dedicated to seeing him you would’ve missed it. Anyone else would’ve missed.

Instead of responding you gather your bearings, and walk away, ignoring him when you hear him call after you. You make a beeline to the bathroom, locking the door behind you. Your hands meet the cool, white stone of the sink. You thought you had things under control, that you had turned your feelings for him into this tangible object and locked them up. But somehow he’s found the key and set them free, allowing them to take over you entirely. You were lucky to make it out of there without spilling your guts.

Turning on the tap you concentrate on the feeling of frigid water splashing onto your warmed skin. It’s like a shock, a switch and after a few moments of staring at yourself in the mirror you feel more balanced. When you step out of the bathroom you’re almost inclined to turn right around. Hotch is just down the hallway, on the phone with someone but clearly waiting for you. Hoping he’ll keep talking and let you by you start towards him, keeping your eyes on the ground.

“I’ll call you back, ma’am.” He murmurs just as you pass him. “ (Y/L/N).”

You stop in your tracks and glance over your shoulder at him. “Please, don’t.” With a head tilt and soft eyes, the complete opposite of what he just was, he nods. You don’t hear him following after you as you walk away.

The case is only an hour away from the BAU, allowing the team time to head back and start reports. The drive also gives you time to imagine what it would be like to give into your feelings. And to have them reciprocated. While your feelings for him are definitely there you find them jumbled, and a little terrifying. If you weren’t so hellbent on trying to deny and eventually erase them, you could talk to him about them.

It doesn’t take much for Hotch to understand a person, to assess their wants and needs. With the kind of man he’s shown you he is, you’re convinced that he would hold you in the way you would need. He could explain your feelings to you, rationalize them, validate them. You’ve surpassed looking at him as a boss or a leader or a man…you’re thinking about him as a partner.

“Are you stayin’ in here?” Morgan interrupts your hazy contemplation. He’s standing outside of the car, holding your door ajar. Hotch is a distance away but is definitely looking and you wish that you could be swallowed up by a hole.

“No, no, I’m good. Sorry.” You reach for your bag and jacket before scrambling out of your seat, brushing past Hotch without so much as a word.

All of you work diligently, nothing but writing fixtures at your desks. It takes you a lot longer than usual to finish your report, your eyes drift around always finding your way up to Hotch’s window. His blinds are open, so you’re treated to an array of sights: him staring down at his desk at report, the slight movement of his left arm as he writes, and even a smile when you catch him on the phone with who your heart hopes is just Jack or Jessica.

Completed report in hand, you knock on his door, obliging when you hear his voice float through the wood as an indicator to come in. You only get as close as you have to, dropping the file on his desk from a distance. “Finished this.” You avoid eye contact, turning on your heel to walk out of his office.

“Wait, (Y/L/N).”

Fuck.

You turn around slowly, keeping your expression impassive. “Sir?”

“About today,” He begins but you wave him off with a light chuckle.

“You played the part you needed to. It was impressive.”

“I saw your reaction, you were unsettled. I just want to emphasize that it was an act. That’s not who I am, no matter how well I play it.”

“I know, Hotch.” You breathe, hoping that’s the last of it.

He’s nothing if not persistent. “You’ve been avoiding.”

“I have not. I easily could’ve bribed Morgan or Reid to bring this up to you. I came myself, that’s the opposite of avoiding and you know that.”

“You’re pushing back against honest concern, again. You’re getting wordy and defensive. Clearly there’s an issue, and if it’s something that I’ve done-“

Your hands are on your face in frustration, rubbing at your temples. “God, it’s nothing that you’ve done. There’s nothing wrong. Just stop, alright?”

There’s a flash of something in his eyes before they harden. “Alright.”

You’ve hurt him, which has never been something you want. This is to protect both of you. Softening your features you take a cautious step towards his desk, resting your hand on the edge as you avert your gaze. “Don’t stay too late.”

He lets you sit like that for what feels like an eternity, wondering what he’s done to deserve the snide remarks and back and forth. Keeping the wall up with you is harder, he started to acknowledge that long before you did. It doesn’t occur to him that you’re possibly struggling with the same issue in your own way. He doesn’t see himself that way, and doesn’t expect you or anyone to.

He settles on, “I won’t.”

tagged: @ssahotchsbitch , @ssahotchie, @azenpal, @chelseyjoyce, @dadbodhotch11, @ssamorganhotchner, @choppa-style, @kuolonsyoja, @heliotropehotch, @averyhotchner, @zetasaturno99, @art-and-thoughts, @scuttling, @akira-155, @j-cat, @laurensprentiss, @ssa-montgomery, @thinking-bucky, @silvermercy, @lilacprentiss, @fightingdragonswithreid, @vintagesubmariner, @ashhotchner, @moonshine-evelyn, @emlynblack, @ssahotchnerxx, @sunshinexhotchner, @dindjarinneedsahug, @angelfxllcm, @ssahotchslover, @wheelsupkels, @multiverse-mxdness, @jaspxr, @gspenc, @sadgirlml, @hotchs-bitch, @lcvingprentjss, @crowfootwrites, @wilbur-rabbit, @hotched

series tagged: @mintphoenix, @kajjaka, @rousethemouse, @alldaysdreamers, @bitchwhytho, @temilyrights

[douchebagbrainwaves]

OK, I'LL TELL YOU YOU ABOUT WEALTH

When we started it, there wasn't any; the few sites you could order from were hand-made objects become store-bought ones—a wire service article whose first sentence is your own ad copy. Every startup that isn't profitable meaning nearly all of them, but none of their software could compete with ours. Most of the disputes I've seen between founders could have been having this idea at the same time, of course, but as far as I can tell it must be hard by how few startups do it. People think that what a business does is make money. In any purely economic relationship you're free to do what you want, not money. With trend stories, PR firms usually line up one or more experts to talk about selling the company to them, we had no experience in business. A programmer can sit down in front of a computer and create wealth. A lot of them try to make relativity strange. In industrialized countries, people belong to one institution or another at least by reputation, the level of measurement is more precise than you get from smallness alone.

I don't think there's an answer. Switching to a new set of buildings, and do things that you do not, ordinarily, be a group. The company that did was RCA, and Farnsworth's reward for his efforts was a decade of patent litigation. Who cares if you could read the minds of the consumers, you'd find these factors were all blurred together. It's rare to get things right the first time in our history, the bullies stopped stealing the nerds' lunch money. I had the misfortune to participate in what amounted to a controlled experiment to prove that. The discoverer is entitled to reply, why didn't you? I know, without knowing they know, that they can create wealth. When we switch to the point of view of a programmer using any of the languages higher up the power continuum. What were the results of this experiment? It takes an effort of will to push through this and get something released to users.

But these had had literally orders of magnitude less scrutiny. By the end of last year. In fact, nice is not the only way to decide which to call it is by comparison with other startups. What you're doing is business creation. It's a good metaphor because it reminds you that when the audience can communicate with one another. The whole tone is bogus. If you want a potato or a pencil or a place to work. Good does not mean being a pushover. But this is a list of the biggest ideas at Google is going to come up with more. And for the same reason: their performance can be measured. When you hear your call is important to us, please stay on the line, do you think, all you have to know who you should be nice to everyone. Developing new technology is a pain in the ass.

Giotto saw traditional Byzantine madonnas painted according to a formula that had satisfied everyone for centuries, and to lose one's sense of humor is to shrug off misfortunes, and to a lesser extent Britain under the labor governments of the 1960s and early 1970s. They didn't care what language Viaweb was written in, or didn't care, I wanted to keep it. He probably considers them about equivalent in power to, say, Python? For one thing, the official fiction is that you don't realize that. And it can't have been heredity, because it was more valuable, but because it is a good bet, he's still at a disadvantage. Gas stations? In this case we get three: the NPD Group, the creative director of GQ.

I had that something was amiss was that I couldn't talk to them. Their reporters do go out and learn Lisp. It must have seemed to our competitors that we had some kind of consumer gadget. If you do everything the way the average big company does it, you should leave business models for later, just as you'd leave some trivial but messy feature for version 2. But Durer's engravings and Saarinen's womb chair and the Pantheon and the original Porsche 911 all seem to me slightly funny. This bites you twice: in addition to the direct cost in time, there's the cost in fragmentation—breaking people's day up into bits too small to measure. Like having more than one founder, one VC, and he'll chase down the implications of what one said to them. Why call an auction site eBay?

When you made mistakes, what caused you to make them. I am much the richer for the operating system FreeBSD, which I'm running on the computer I'm using now, and so is Yahoo, which runs it on all their servers. I never reach them through the Times front page is a list of 5 commands Don't ignore your dreams; don't work too much; say what you think; cultivate friendships; be happy. And God help you if you choose them. There is no shortcut to it. It seems unlikely this is a simple answer to the wrong question. If you have a much greater chance of succeeding. But once you've admitted that one high level language can be more powerful than a community of talented people working on related problems. Another thing blogs and open source have in common is the Web. Salesmen are an exception. The recipe for great work is: very exacting taste, plus the ability to gratify it. Our startup made software for making online stores.

They want statements with punch, like top ten. When those far removed from the creation of wealth—undergraduates, reporters, politicians—hear that the richest 5% of the people have half the total wealth, they tend to write it first for whatever computer they personally use. Presumably it killed just about 100% of the startups we've funded have had a founder leave. They believe this because it really feels that way to them. Ditto for many other kinds of companies that don't make anything physical. For most people the best plan probably is to go to work for them. Facebook rightly ignored, look for ideas from the other direction. But you don't need to join a company to do that completely. But more people could do it than do it now. We did it because we want their software to be good. I had that something was amiss was that I couldn't talk to them.

And we weren't the only ones they did great things for the companies they fund, why didn't they start them? Microsoft would still have signed the deal. You look at them and you think, all you need is good hackers: if you depend on an oligopoly, you sink into bad habits that are hard to overcome when you suddenly get competition. When my IBM Thinkpad's hard disk died soon after, it became my only laptop. Few know this, I mean the structure of the calculation. The sterility of offices is supposed to suggest efficiency. If there are three founders and one who was away half the time talking to executives at cell phone companies, trying to arrange deals.

Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Jackie McDonough, Trevor Blackwell, Ben Horowitz, Justin Kan, Aaron Iba, Robert Morris, Karen Nguyen, and Harj Taggar for the lulz.

[eykismyfav]

Being Otto Octavius’s Kid and being pulled in by Dr. Strange’s Spell

Requested: No!

Genre: Fluff and a little angst

Warnings: Swearing but that’s a given at this point

Pairing: Otto Octavius x Young Adult!Reader

Characters: All the No Way Home Characters I guess

Authors note: I love Otto so much I just want him to be happy. Last post of the year! I hope you all have a happy healthy 2022!

Major No Way Home Spoilers Below Keep Reading

Marvel Preference Masterlist

You and your father were always very close up until the accident with Fusion energy core. 

Your Father distanced himself to protect you.

You found out Peter Parker was Spiderman after your fathers death and you made it your mission to help Peter as much as you can in order to ensure nothing like what happened to your father ever happens again.

You also keep you fathers legacy alive by following in his footsteps trying to create your own version of safe clean energy.

That is until one day you find yourself in the middle of the woods looking at a young man in a spiderman costume working with who you recognize to be Flint Marko to contain a man made of electricity.

Eventually when everything is under control you approach the three men. 

“Peter? Marko? What is going on I was in my lab and now I am here and who the fuck is that guy?” You ask knowing damn well it was too many questions at once.

Peter uses you as a distraction to shoot the electricity guy with something and he disappears.

“What the fuck was that Peter?” You and Marko shout simultaneously.

“Woah! Wait I can explain!” Peter rushes to explain but Marko lunges at him causing Peter to shoot Marko with the same thing as before. 

Peter takes off his mask and looks at you. You both have your hands in the air at this point.

“Your not Peter Parker.” You say tilting your head to the side slightly obvious confusion on your face. 

“You know you are the second person to tell me that today... I’m not your Peter Parker, but I am Peter Parker.”

“String Theory Multiverse it’s really all of it?” Peter merely nods

“I called it! Now before you shoot me with whatever that is please don’t I work with my Peter Parker I am not a bad guy.” 

“Okay ummm I need to clean this up so I guess I can give you the address...”

“That will work I’ll swing over.” You show him your wrist with your own web shooter. (You had to keep up with your Peter somehow)

When you finally make it to the address Peter gave you a man with a cape opened the door.

“Umm Hello?” He merely nods and points you in the direction of the stairs. 

Upon arriving in the Wizards dungeon (that is literally the only way to describe it.) You come face to face with a man you thought no knew was dead.

“Dad?” “Y/N?” The two of you speak in harmony.

“But how are you here your...your...” seeing him again well and alive is too much you break down crying at the mere sight of him.

Otto wants nothing more then to collect you up in his arms and tell you everything is going to be okay but the cell he was in prevented him from doing so. 

You had to walk away it was too overwhelming at the moment you borrowed the girl you learned was this universe MJ’s phone in order to call Peter and tell him that you would meet him later you needed to go for a walk and get some space. 

Peter gave you a new address and told you he had a plan to help the villains.

When Peter and his aunt show up with the villains you keep your distance from your father still thinking it was for the best until the new inhibitor chip was installed afraid that he would say something to you he would regret if you approached him now.

Instead you stick close to the man you had at one point viewed as an uncle Norman Osborn as soon as he saw you he pulled you into his side saying that you looked so grown up. 

You knew he was the Green Goblin but you had missed him and you could tell that right now he was Norman not his other identity so you stuck by his side for now.

“Saltwater or Freshwater?” You heard Aunt May ask

“What? Uhhh Freshwater.” Your Father response confusion heavy in his voice.

“Oh I just assumed because of the Tentacles you know.” 

You lost you shit laughing at the interaction drawing your father's attention to you and Peter.

“Hey umm the chip is done.” Peter says handing it to you. “I think it might be best if you do it.” 

You nod taking the chip and running up the stairs while Peter raises your father to the second level.

He struggles as you try to attach it so you bend down slightly to whisper in his ear.

“Dad please stop struggling I’m trying to help you I promise.” He stops struggling almost instantly allowing you to install the inhibitor chip. 

After a few seconds he comes too and Parker gives him control of the robotic limbs again. 

Your father is quickly in front of you looking at you with big sad brown eyes.

“Hello my Dear.” He whispers wiping away tears as they roll down your cheeks.

“Hi Dad.” You mumble back clinging to him in a tight hug.

The two of you stay in this hug for a long time every now and then your father gives you a light kiss on the forehead or the temple. 

You finally had you dad back and you would be damned if you let him go anytime soon.

[collecting-stories]

Jolly Rancher - JJ Maybank

Request: Hey! Do you think you could do an imagine where the reader is Sarah’s twin and all the pogues are at a party or on the boat and her blood sugar drops really low (she has type one diabetes) and her pump keeps beeping. She is mid passing out, not feeling good and rafe has her Insulin so little bit of big brother rafe worried about his little sister and JJ and her not being together yet but he was super worried about her (like all of the pogues tbh). Thanks xxxx I really love your writing 🥺 every time you post something it makes my day

A/N: I did moderate research for this because the only person I actually know with diabetes is a cousin I don’t speak to. 

Outer Banks Masterlist

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

In hindsight, taking the Druthers out in the bay for a party after sunset wasn’t exactly the best idea you and Sarah had ever come up with. And yeah, technically, taking the boat out would have been totally fine and acceptable but none of you had considered bringing anything but alcohol with you. Six pogues (two honorary) on a yacht in the middle of the bay with just alcohol and weed. It was a bad combination in any version of the world but especially in this one, where you’d been pregaming white claw because you were finally, finally, gonna tell JJ how you felt about him.

The crush had been a saga ongoing since you had first discovered JJ Maybank, which coincided with discovering that boys, while terrible, were incredibly attractive. And sometimes...not too terrible. John B had started working for your family the summer before highschool and at the same time JJ started to pop up. Around the Druthers when John B was cleaning the boat, in a neighbor’s yard mowing the grass or cleaning the pool. And then at the Island Club. By then you’d started hanging out with Kiara and her friends and JJ wasn’t just some cute guy who was friends with John B.  

“Honey,” Kiara laughed, reaching for the can of Naturdays in your hand, “I think you need to slow down.”  

“I’m fine.” You promised, knee jerking rapidly as you gulped the rest of the drink down before Kiara could take it from you.  

You weren’t a heavy drinker. The last time you’d gotten drunk was in ninth grade, at a house party on the cut with Kiara. You’d guzzled down one too many Pabst trying to act cool in front of JJ and had ended up in the hospital in diabetic shock. Once everyone was sure you weren’t going to die, your father had laid into you about how irresponsible you were and how you had acted like a child. It was embarrassing, mostly because you were still saddled to a hospital bed and your friends were standing in the hallway, well within ear shot of Ward.  

After that, you stayed away from anything more than two drinks at a party and you always kept your insulin with you. Except, apparently, for tonight. You’d gotten yourself worked up over confessing your feelings to JJ and the possibility of rejection that you were well on the way to drunk. And your insulin was in your backpack, in Rafe’s truck.  

“You’re not fine.” Kiara laughed, “you’re like, buzzing.”

“Buzzing,” you offered her a dopey smile as you leaned forward, whirling your pointer finger around as you made buzzing noises and tried to poke her.  

“What the hell?” She swatted your hand away, “are you sure you’re okay?”

The commotion was enough to get Sarah’s attention and she turned away from John B to look over at the two of you. “You’re like vibrating babe,” Sarah said, “you’re really jittery.”

“Fine, I’m fine...I’m all good.” You promised, bracing your hand on Sarah’s shoulder as you went to stand up. You missed your footing, tripping over the air and hitting the deck before either Kiara or Sarah could catch you.  

“Oh my god!” Kiara got down on her knees next to you and helped you sit up, leaning partially against her. She pushed your shirt up so that she could check your pump and noticed realized it had been going off. “Hey, do you have like...something to boost her blood sugar? I think it’s dropping really low, I can’t really read this?”

“It’s definitely low.” You replied, hands shaking as you checked your pump, “yeah...too much...too much alcohol.”

“Where’s your insulin?” Sarah asked, crouching down so she could try to meet your eyes, “hey, look at me, where’s your insulin?”  

You hummed, a little too long before finally looking at Sarah, “uh, Rafe’s...shit, Rafe’s truck.”

“Are you kidding me? Fuck!” Sarah cursed, getting up to grab her phone so she could call him, “John B, can you take us back?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded, heading for the ladder.  

“Here!” JJ pushed through Pope and Kiara, spilling the contents of his backpack onto the deck beside you. Amongst a change of clothes, some pilfered pens, his wallet, house keys, weed, a stick of deodorant, and a travel toothbrush, was a bag of jolly ranchers. He grabbed a green one out and unwrapped it, holding it out to you, “here, it’ll make you feel better.”

“You have a bag of jolly ranchers in your backpack?” Kiara asked incredulously.

“Of course,” JJ replied, “if her sugar drops she said one jolly rancher usually does the trick.”  

It was a stupid thing to smile about, especially since you were currently using Kiara to hold yourself up and sucking on green apple jolly rancher, but you couldn’t help it. You had mentioned that ages ago, the first time you went out with the pogues after your drunken night turned ER visit, as you sat on the dock next to JJ. You had doubted he’d even cared and been embarrassed afterward for just rambling on about yourself but he remembered.

“You remembered,” you said as JJ sat beside you, letting you lean on his shoulder as the yacht headed back to the dock.  

Sarah had gotten a hold of Rafe quicker than she expected. He was already talking when he answered the phone, telling her that he was on the way back from Topper’s. According to Rafe he turned his truck immediately, that was what he told you later, when you were feeling more like yourself again. That he’d realized your backpack was still sitting on the passenger seat and he did a u-turn right there in the middle of the street. You weren’t sure that was totally true, your older brother’s pension for dramatics and your family’s obsession with treating you like a baby.  

Usually, it felt stifling but right now you were feeling pretty shitty about yourself. The jolly rancher did exactly what it was supposed to, boosting your blood sugar enough that you were beginning to feel better.  

“What were thinking?” Rafe called the minute he boarded the Druthers, “you know alcohol makes your blood sugar drop!”

“I know, I know!” You huffed, crossing your arms over your chest. You’d moved from the floor to the couch, JJ leaving your side the minute your brother ran up the jetty. “I’m not a kid Rafe,” you muttered, grabbing your backpack from him.

“Really? Cause you left your bag in my truck and you’re out here drinking your ass off.” He snapped.  

“She’s okay,” Sarah urged.

“What if she wasn’t?”

“I am! And I’m right here!” You huffed, “Rafe, thank you and I know you were worried but I’m okay.”  

Rafe sighed, running a hand through his hair, “I’m not trying to be dad here...but you can’t take risks like that, you know better.”  

“I’m fine!” You slung your backpack over your shoulder and pushed passed Rafe, climbing down the ladder to the jetty. You’d apologize later, for now you were irritable and embarrassed and you just wanted to be back in your room, locked in where no one could see you and remind you how horrible this entire night was. The only decent thing that had happened was JJ but the more you let yourself psychoanalyze everything that happened the more you were positive that the pogues just saw you as a kid too. Like you couldn’t take care of yourself. Like you hadn’t been for the last ten years, since you were diagnosed.  

The Druthers said docked but you couldn’t tell from your bedroom window if everyone had gone home or if they were still hanging out and partying. You thought about texting Sarah but she would just tell you to come back down to the dock and stop pouting in your bedroom. You did your usual checks, to make sure your blood sugar had gone back up, and changed into comfier clothes. Even scrubbing off your makeup...you’d let this shitty feeling die before you saw anyone again.  

Or at least, that was the plan. As you were sitting in bed though, a knock at your window startled you. Not just a tap but a full-on knock. You climbed out of bed and went to the window, laughing when you saw JJ standing on the small balcony off your room.  

“What are you doing here?” You mouthed, reaching for the lock so you could open the window.

He pointed to his ear and then shrugged his shoulders, “I can’t hear you.”

You rolled your eyes as you pushed the window open and sat on the sill, “What are you doing here JJ?” You were trying your best to calm your racing heart, the last thing you needed was to go into cardiac arrest in front of him too.

“You left the party.”

“Not exactly in a partying mood...I was being stupid tonight.”

He sat down on the windowsill beside you, facing out toward the backyard but turning to look at you, “hey, I’m stupid every night.”

“You know what I mean,” you laughed, “I’m so careful...I haven’t had a night that bad in a long time.”

“Why weren’t you? Careful, tonight, I mean.” He asked.  

“It’s stupid.” You put your hands on your knees and looked away from him. You’d hyped yourself up to crashing lows and now he wanted you to tell him why? “You should go back to the party.”

“Not really in the mood...can you believe it?” He laughed like it was nothing but you could hear the heaviness in his voice.

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault...I just meant. If you’re up here, I don’t really feel like hanging out down there.”

You bit down on your bottom lip and looked over at him, feeling just the slightest catch in your throat. For a second you thought this night was going to get even worse and you’d throw up...but instead you just started talking, words falling out with no control, “I pregamed with Sarah before we even got on the Druthers cause I told her I was gonna tell you tonight that I liked you but I was so nervous that you would tell me you didn’t wanna date me so I just kept drinking...” you said. You realized a moment later what the implication was, “not that its on you that my sugars dropped...or like, not that you have to say you like me just cause I almost passed out.”

“What if I do like you though?”  

“You do?” You asked, shifting more toward him, “seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously...why do you think I came all the way up here? Or carry around jolly ranchers? I like you...I’d do anything for you.” He replied.  

You couldn’t stop the smile on your face as you leaned closer to him, “oh well, now it’s definitely your fault.”  

He laughed, “let me make it up to you.”  

You nodded, standing up and climbing back through the window before holding your hand out for him. JJ was quick to his feet, taking your hand and pushing the window closed as he followed you further into your room.  

[callme-barnes]

A Lesson in the Art of Seduction

*GIF does not belong to me!*

Summary: You love the way Bucky sounds when you’re making him fall apart. So after a night out, you decide to put a little plan into action to fulfill one of your fantasies. 

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2,310

Warnings: SMUT (possibly poorly written), oral sex (m! receiving), IF YOU ARE A MINOR PLEASE DO NOT INTERACT! 18+ only!

A/N: Again, 18+ only! Minors DNI! Please do not repost my work anywhere! I wrote it for Tumblr so it should stay on Tumblr. Idk what the title is that’s the hardest part of this writing stuff! This is my first time ever writing smut of any kind. I’m surprised I was able to get it out on screen but I’ve had this idea on my mind all day so I guess that’s why I was able to finish it. Again, I’m not thinking much about posting this so I won’t back out so all mistakes are mine! Enjoy!

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If there was one thing about James Buchanan Barnes, just one thing, that you could enjoy every single day for the rest of your life was the way he sounded. The way he grunted after lifting something heavy. His gasping for air when he came back to the apartment from a run. The moans and groans in protest when you needed to get out of bed in the morning for work but he wasn’t quite ready to let you go just yet.

And then there was the not so PG version of those delightful sounds.

The grunting when he seated himself inside of you after a short dry spell when he went on a mission. The gasps you pulled out of him when you were riding him like you might never be able to again. The moans and groans he presented to you when he was fucking you into the mattress. Him fucking you was something you wanted until the day you would die to be honest. The power you felt you held, to be the reason the ex Winter Soldier was falling apart at the seams, was the best thing to have in your true opinion. It's a power you liked to take full advantage of, as well as test out every now and again.

Which brought you to this very moment in time. You were hardly the type to be jealous. It was a promise you made to yourself after a young life full of jealousy in partners. The feeling you had within you right now was not one of jealousy exactly, but more playful curiosity. You were both returning from a public Avengers event, a little earlier in the night than expected but the feeling you were feeling just couldn’t wait. It bubbled to the surface when you watched an investor get a little too close to Bucky. It seemed like the more their conversation went on, the closer she got and the more hands on she decided to get.

When you made your way over to them to join their conversation, the woman pulled out her card, handed it to Bucky and walked away, probably wanting to keep that mystery working for her. You remember the move well, it was what you used on Bucky when you first met him. You smirked to yourself when you approached him, him reiterating what the woman spoke to him about and you nodded in acknowledgment, your eyes peering up at him through your lashes, sending him a knowing look. A knowing that only you knew what was going to happen tonight, and he had no idea what was going to be coming to him.

Bucky had walked up to your apartment building and unlocked the door before stepping in and removing the jacket he had on, you following close behind him.

“Who would’ve thought these functions would start to become a monthly occurrence”

You laughed as you set your bag down on the counter and slipped off your heels, “Yeah well you are a part of the team. The rich people gotta know who their investing in after all”

Bucky reached out to you and hugged you to his chest, the gesture making you even more ready to show him exactly what you were all about. Just before he reached down to press a kiss to your neck his pocket began to vibrate. He let out a small groan, one of those cute little frustrated groans that you loved hearing from him so much. He reached in and pulled out his phone and answered, his face lightly exasperated. You heard a woman on the other side and you smirked a bit to yourself, realizing it was the woman from the party.

The plan you had to begin the night was in rotation, thanks to not only your scheming, but Natasha’s willingness to help you. Before you left you asked for the assistance from the super spy to get the woman from the party to give Bucky a call. You left Bucky’s side, his lips turning down into a frown as he began to hold a conversation, although it was very clear to you he would rather start doing something else.

You made your way to the room, slipping off your jewelry and letting Bucky drop his guard a bit. He had to be completely oblivious in order for you to get the reactions you wanted to get from him, and you were more determined than ever to get him to be vocal tonight. You knew he wouldn’t look at any other woman the way he looked at you, but tonight you wanted to just show him exactly why that was. You wanted him to fall apart, and you wanted to be the reason he did.

After about 5 minutes, you walked out to the living space seeing Bucky had unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and was sipping on a beer, sitting down on the couch as he continued his conversation. He looked up, giving you an apologetic look since he wasn’t supposed to be exactly working right now. You smirked a bit to yourself as you sent him back a reassuring smile before you pushed yourself away from the doorframe you were leaning against.

You maintained eye contact with him as you swayed your hips and made your way over to the couch. Bucky’s eyes watched you very closely, the way your hips moved and the way your legs looked in the dress you were wearing made his body react and you knew that. You made your way behind him, the sofa back separating you from him as you reached your hands to his shoulders. You began to massage his shoulders a bit, your fingers kneading into the thick muscle that was present there. Bucky let out a soft sigh in response, leaning back and enjoying the actions you were making. You leaned over to kiss the side of his neck as your hands slipped down from his shoulders to his chest, your lips now traveling up to his ear.

“Pay attention to your phone call Bucky, let’s not be rude”

The tip of Bucky’s tongue flicked out against his bottom lip as you made your way to stand in front of him, his eyes roaming down against you once again. You smiled at him before you ran your hands down the front of your body, making your way down to your knees in between his parted legs. Bucky made to sit up before you moved to press him back against the sofa again.

“I’m sorry can you hold for a second…”

You raised an eyebrow at him as he pulled the phone away from his ear, “What do you think you’re doing pretty girl?”

Your hand trailed down his chest, to his abdomen and continued its way down until you reached the tent that was fully formed in his dress pants, the hitch in his voice like music to your ego.

“Just being productive while you're preoccupied. Shouldn’t keep her waiting, finish your phone call James”

Bucky muttered a quick ‘fuck’ under his breath before he pulled the phone back to his ear, “I’m really sorry about that what were you saying?”

You maintained eye contact with him as you popped open the button to his pants and unzipped him, your other hand resting on the thickness of his thighs before making its way to release him from the confines of his briefs. His thick cock sprang free, slapping him lightly on his lower abdomen as your eyes moved from his face to the entire reason you were down on your knees. You sent him a smile, taking him in your hand and bringing him to your lips, the way his abs tightened making you more than excited to continue.

Bucky’s free hand reached down to caress your cheek and made its way up into your hair in anticipation. Your tongue reached out and began to lick at his dick slowly, taking your time to really map out where it was that made him shiver and clench up. You gave him that sultry look between your lashes and you could’ve sworn you saw his soul leave his body as you leaned up and took him into your mouth. You took your time, working on the tip of his dick before you felt you had him on edge enough to take him further into your mouth towards the back of your throat.

“Oh fuck...shit”

Bucky’s hand tightened into your hair, not quite pushing you down just yet but just holding onto you to keep him grounded in a way, “Sorry I was...I dropped something”

You internally laughed as you bobbed your head up and down his length, your hand fisting and pumping at the rest of what you weren’t quite ready to bless him with yet.

“No I don’t….I don’t think that would be a problem”

Bucky sounded breathless as he spoke, the way he was trying to maintain control was cute to you, but you knew you had him exactly where you wanted him. You wanted him breathless, and you wanted to be the reason why. You kept your pace, jerking him off and sucking him as he continued his conversation. When you felt he had gotten too comfortable controlling himself you removed your hand and pushed your head down to take in the rest of him down your throat, gagging around him in response. Bucky quickly jerked up in surprise, causing his hand to hold onto your hair tighter and pressed you down in the process.

“Shit! Holy fuck”

His hand reached to the back of your head as you sped up your head bobbing, now taking it upon himself to push you down against him and letting his hips meet you halfway into your mouth. You looked up at him again to gauge his face and holy fuck you were sure you were going to cum with how he was looking. His eyes were closed, his lips parted and in that tiny grin that you loved seeing on him because it meant he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Bucky twitched in your mouth, the beginnings of his orgasm coming when you suddenly slowed down your movements, wanting to keep him on the edge for as long as you possibly could.

“No I just...fuck I’m going to have to call you later. I’m sorry”

Bucky quickly hung up and through his phone behind him, his other hand reached over to join his grip on your head, causing you to let out a moan in response.

“Shit you’re such a bad girl baby. You like me watching me struggle to stay together don't you? That shit turn you on?”

You let out a hum in approval at his words as you sped up once again, spit dribbling from the corners of your mouth and your gagging getting less prominent the more you took his dick down your throat.

“Shit sweetheart, I’m gonna fucking cum. Want me to cum down your throat? You want this don’t you?”

Bucky grabbed onto your hair and pulled you completely off of him, making you gasp and look up at him as he leaned over and pulled you to meet him halfway, meeting you to kiss you roughly. It was all tongue and teeth, your hands rested on his thighs and your core pulsing in anticipation.

“Tell me. Tell me you want it”

He pushed you back down to your position as he took himself in his hand and pumped himself in front of you, making you whine with how hot he sounded to you right now.

“Fuck I want it. Give it to me Bucky please. Please I want it so bad”

Bucky smirked as he stopped pumping himself and pushed you close to him, you taking the hint and taking him completely down your throat once again, “Then take it baby. Fucking take it. Oh shit yes just like that Y/N”

You let out a moan, swearing that if it weren’t for Bucky’s hand in your hair you would think this was all just a dream. Bucky allowed himself to moan, a string of ‘oh shit’ and ‘fuck’ coming out of his mouth. Soon it turned into just your name, over and over again, causing you to grind down to receive some sort of friction, any type of friction. You felt Bucky pulse and tighten in your mouth before he released, the sound of his moans and gasps making you grind down a bit harder. His hand tightened in your hair as you continued sucking him off until he was spent, and even a little after that.

“Shit Y/N, you gotta...gotta stop baby”

You couldn’t help but continue, just for the simple fact that he wanted you to stop. Bucky moaned and grabbed you, pulling you off of him. You let out a small gasp for air as he pulled you off and you sat back on your heels, just watching him recover from your actions. His chest was rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath, his hand running through his hair before looking up and over at you. You sent him an innocent look, but the smirk that you sent him was the complete opposite. Devilish, sexy and a little bit mischievous.

“Shit Y/N you....I don’t know what all that was about, but I’ve got a feeling you had that planned somehow”

You smiled and shrugged, “Just had to prove a point to myself”

Bucky let out a groan and smiled before he moved over quickly grabbing you and standing up. You yelled as you wrapped your legs around him and laughed as he made his way over to your room, “My turn now you little minx”