#but yes running around with her in her dc outfit and red hair and a tweaked face model made me soooooooooooooo not normal lmao

[arklay]

oh shit i just realised i didn't post my modded claire screenshots here... i made a whole thread on cursed bird app lmao but mayhaps i do a lil recolouring of my favourite ones and post them all nice 🥰🥰

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing 83 Review

guess who isn't weeks late this time. my opinion of the series is going up a little bit. it's still not great, but i'm not actively put off by it anymore the way i was after 81. not going to tag as spoilers, but be warned that they are under the cut

i’m sure you all are well aware of this but now, but dear god i love bruno redondo’s art. like, an unhealthy amount. the pink and blue is getting to be a theme with either him or just this run, but i am definitely enjoying it. the movement in this cover is clearly obvious, but well done. you recoznize right off the bat that the cover was drawn to drag your eyes down the page until you get to the bottom, but you enjoy the whole ride there. 

also, redondo’s way of drawing a character in stages of action so we can see just how much they’re doing in a split second of movement is quickly becoming something i like to see drawn with dick, and any other character that has that sort of ease of movement and body sense, like cass or sin or maybe a super. 

and he’s in action the entire time! there’s shot drawn just to show off a shirtless comic book character, the way nightwing is so often subjected to. he’s shirtless because he’s changing his clothes, and that’s all we see, no more and no less. very practical, very well done. i like it.

he looks so cute right here oh my god. the little squint, the hair curls. it’s adorable.

but also like. unless melinda has specifically outfitted the door spyhole so that the person on the other side can’t see dick looking through it (and in all honesty she might have) then everyone on the other side can see dick looking through that door. 

bringing your attention back to the “i can’t see melinda’s fbi file oh no!! it’s redacted!! whatever can we do!!” stupidity. redacted files are child’s play for oracle, and definitely doable for both dick and bruce. so that’s bullshit.

now, melinda apparently grew up with the maroni family, then took down part of the family from the inside. the maroni family is a large and notable presence in gotham, one that bruce pays a respectable amount of attention to. he definitely would have grown suspicious when two members of the maroni family were taken down, and with some investigation, he would have discovered melinda’s plan. and it should go without saying that the majority of things you see batman doing? dick can do it too.

it’s not so much that i don’t like how clever the villains/antiheroes are getting. i don’t like how dc heroes are increasingly written as less intelligent. they seem to be relying on pure fighting skills or luck, which may be the case for a couple heroes, but has never been the case for most of dc’s big name heroes, the bat family included. it’s irritating to me to see this sort of stuff pop up as a major plot point when i know that, if dick or bruce had been written with the amount of skill and power that they canonically possess, this entire mess would have been sorted out years ago.

unrelated but dick and melinda have the same hair

this may just be me, but i was always under the impression that dick doesn’t really have a “double life???”

yes, he’s talented enough to create enough differences between robin/nightwing and dick grayson’s mannerisms, way of movement, voices, and speech patterns so that it’s very difficult to put the two together.

but nightwing has never been separate from dick grayson, not the way bruce and batman is. he’s always leaned more towards clark in that aspect: his hero persona is an exaggerated, stately, larger-than-life version of who he really is. there’s no second persona, no real “dick grayson identity” and “nightwing identity.” they’re the same person with the same goals, ideas, and skills. one just pretends to abide by the law, and one gives up pretense of that.

oh good thank god. if he’d trusted her right off the bat (hehe. bat.) i would have slapped him upside the head. at least he’s still got instincts.

gosh the colouring on this is cool. the red has enough purple and pink tones to it that it doesn’t abruptly ruin the tone of the artwork. but it’s definitely glaring enough to take the reader outside of this personal moment they had slipped into between dick and melinda, to put them back in the present where they’re reminded that oh yea there are people hunting dick down. 

the next panel keeps this up too, in a less severe way. melinda’s bodyguard shows up (i forgot her name sorry :[ ) and subtly places us in the middle of an action scene rather than a private, personal scene.

laughing so fucking hard have our little vigilantes grown so accustomed to breaking into places that it doesn’t even register as a crime anymore??? tim coming in through the fire escape to pick bernard up for their date and being very much confused as to why bernard is freaking out.

i really like melinda’s shirt and now despite all the work i have to do and the fucking conference i have to host on monday i want to spend hours scrolling through clothing shops online trying to find this shirt. the mock neck/neckline is so cool i want it

so roland just assumes that a very dangerous vigilante who is highly talented in combat and a very dangerous bodyguard who is also highly talented in combat had a fight that ended with this very dangerous bodyguard being tied up and she looks completely fine? roland just assumes that her having no visible wounds or bruises means that they got into a fight and she lost that easily? uh. aight then

dick what are you doing. legitimately what the fuck are you doing. why are you posing oh my god. you are injured and tired and in absolutely no position to go hand to hand with one of main enemies. jesus christ run away or head to lower ground or something. don’t just stand around letting the floodlights show exactly where you are.

i don’t understand what he’s trying to do here??? blockbuster fully bought the story that dick fought them both, won, tried to get info out of them and failed, then hightailed it out of there. he didn’t have to draw roland out for a fight.

but it does look cool. the way the light just highlights his silhouette and the blue parts of his costume does look badass. he does get style points in my book for this.

w h a t  d i d  i  f u c k i n g  t e l l  y o u ,  d i c k ?

very classic superhero line and it does sound like something dick would say in a fit of righteous rage but also it makes me laugh so hard because all vigilantes think they’re so powerful that the law doesn’t apply to them. dick vigilantism is illegal. you’re acting above the law and pretending it doesn’t apply to you. hypocritical much?

it happens so often in superhero movies, tv shows, comics, whatever and it makes me giggle every damn time.

pretty decent comeback but before i start seeing people writing blockbuster as a thug i’m going to remind you that he made a deal with a demon for genius level intellect. if this turns into another bane situation i’m going to be a little miffed. he’s a smart man, which makes him a dangerous and infinitely more interesting enemy for nightwing.

this is so horribly in character i want to scream. (or. at least. it lines up with one of the versions of nightwing i have in my head.) he’s running right towards the bullets, miraculously doesn’t get shot, while making a sort-of pun. i hate this so much. i love him.

this is cool. this art is really really cool.

he leaped from a building right towards a helicopter that’s actively shooting at him, but none of the bullets are touching him. none of the corruption of the city can touch him no matter how hard it tries, because he’s too good to be corrupted. Comic Book Logic Can Be Good Sometimes Actually.

batman’s belt what??? swiss army knife who?? sorry, i only know nightwing’s bright blue escrima.

this is one of my favourite things about heroes with exceptional abilities, even more so if the hero is human. the things they can do are so far beyond the realm of normal human abilities that it’s equal parts terrifying and awe-inspiring every time they act.

he just used modified grappling wires to hook to the door of a moving helicopter, swung around the helicopter safely without hitting the blades, gained exactly the right momentum to swing upward again right through the opening of helicopter, then fought and tied up the men before they had any idea what was happening. that’s near impossible to do.

it’s stuff like this where i just sort of sigh in contentment. no matter how many times they leave out dick’s detective skills or conveniently forget that he’s actually a master planner and team leader and make him out to be this forgetful dude who makes everything up on the fly because of his “circus roots,” at least they won’t ever take away dick’s sheer physical ability honed to perfection. 

the art, too! in a few panels, dick’s drawn a little lightened or blurred. he’s moving so quickly and fighting so efficiently that he can barely be seen by the enemy. he’s got perfect form all the way through.

and THIS!

there was a helicopter that had five men shooting at him with what looks like machine guns. most people would be dead. some would run away, and be nimble enough to survive without fatal hits. there are very few people, even in fucking comic books, who can look at that hopeless situation and turn it around so quickly and thoroughly that he benefits from it instead.

i just. love nightwing.

it was funny the first time as a comic reader aware of the meme. it’s really not anymore. why the hell would you, in universe, be wearing a shirt that has a picture of your boyfriend being hit in the face by his father. 

okay that was funny. 

look at lil bitewing, so concerned for her human!!! love her sm. 

also a question as to the timeline of things. is nightwing happening before or after urban legends? 

i was so distracted by dick wearing a robe and briefs and nothing else that i didn’t register the second part until later. he slept for two days?? babs, baby, he recently had a very traumatic brain injury. why do you sound so nonchalant?

@TIM X COFFEE SHIPPERS GET FUCCCCKKKKEEDDDDD

ngl i totally forgot about that dude oops

this comic is giving so many reaction pictures. you know how you always use the worst possible picture of your friend for your friend’s contact picture? i’m just getting so many of these.

leslie!!! the titans!!! lucius!!! dick going to go see old friends!!!! the titans!!! this part made me so irrationally happy it really did. gar being the one to just. offer dick solutions with open arms. this was the best

i wish i could just copy and paste this entire scene, but that would take up way too much space, so i’m just going to talk about it instead. 

you gave me my name, nightwing, and you gave me some of the best advice i’ve received in my life: beautiful little throwback to nightwing’s origin. you’d be surprised at the amount of people who don’t know where the name came from, or who don’t know how much clark means to dick. and the fact that dick still looks up to clark as a hero, recognizes that clark isn’t always perfect and yet continues to hold him in such high esteem, and still looks back on advice that clark gave him fondly just warmed my heart so much.

for a man who has fearlessly stood up to darkseid, bruce will do a lot to avoid a conversation: “grrr. i’m the BATMAN. i’m so DARK and MYSTERIOUS. nobody knows the true me. no one ever will. i will be LONELY for the rest of my CURSED LIFE. such is the price of a hero. ignore my farmer himbo husband in the background”

but i don’t think there’s anything heroic about being a billionaire: another nod to how much dick follows clark’s example rather than bruce. yes, this was a very poignant and important criticism, and i think it’s wonderful that this was published in a pretty popular comic book. but the thing is, there is a way to be a heroic billionaire, but only in fictional universes. the way bruce, ollie, t’challa only ever use their wealth to help people. they donate massive amounts of money to charities that they themselves create so they know exactly how the money is being used. they hire people who aren’t likely to get jobs anywhere else and pay them much more than what a base living wage is. they use their power to help push progressive laws and social change. they are helping. 

dick doesn’t fully see it that way. he spent more than half his childhood the son of a billionaire, but still believes that one could be more heroic when one doesn’t have obscene amounts of wealth. whose example do you think he followed to come to that conclusion?

superman looked up to alfred pennyworth?: i mean yea alfred may have been a wildly irresponsible guardian and one hell of an enabler but goddamn if he didn’t love his kid.

you don’t need my input. you’ve thought it all through: ooooooh this line made me grin. for so long, dick’s treated clark as a mentor and a guiding figure. he’s still seen as a kid, an up and coming, snot-nosed titan with dreams of a better world. clark still thinks of him as a kid, despite watching him grow up. but this little line was something i think dick needed sorely to hear. he doesn’t need anyone’s guiding hand on his shoulder, he doesn’t need to ask for permission. he doesn’t need clark to support him the way he did when he was a teenager. he’s all grown up now, and he doesn’t need clark’s help. i imagine it was a bit of a surprise for dick to hear that. 

honestly, i couldn’t think of a better role model: ohhh but it doesn’t stop there. clark just straight up turns the tables on dick. imagine you’re dick, and you’ve looked up to this one hero your entire life, and then one day he turns to you and says that he thinks you’re so kind and smart and worthy of a person that he wants you to mentor his son!? goes to show just how much clark trusts dick.

i swear to god dick probably cries every time he hears clark compliment him because bruce is so rare and sparing with his praise that clark giving him the slightest hint of approval is just a dopamine rush.

also, now deathstroke and superman have both asked nightwing to mentor their kids. the juxtaposition is fuckin hysterical. imagine either of their reactions when they realize what kind of company they’re with

lets talk colours for a second, because i absolutely adore how classic colour tropes have been subverted in this comic, and in this general run really.

warm tones have usually (usually, not always) been associated with light and comfort and friendship and,,,,,well,,,warmth. whereas cool tones are usually used to unsettle, or make a scene seem colder and put the reader on edge. this varies if a comic only uses cool tones, or only uses warm tones, but if a comic uses both, this is generally well-used.

that isn’t the case in this run.

dark red, orange, and other warm tones have been used to symbolize danger, action, attacks. hot pink isn’t usually included in this colour group, but it’s definitely part of it in this case. in contrast, scenes that have cool colours give us the impression of slipping into a comfortable, calm scene with babs, tim, the titans, and other allies. even the beginning scene with superman has this blue, but then it transitions into something more golden coloured. dawn broke over dick, as his new idea came to light, and that was reflected in the art (and the sunrise setting.)

have there ever been times when dick’s longed for the comfort of his mask because he didn’t feel confident as dick grayson? i can’t think of any. i may be wrong, but this struck me as pretty ooc.

am i just??? gay and reading this all wrong??

cause i was under the impression that when someone says they are grateful for your friendship you don’t immediately kiss them. 

or is this like. normal straight mating rituals.

i mean he’s smiling afterward but still babs aren’t you supposed to at least make sure it’s okay first? you guys broke up a while back after you said something along the lines of “i want to be coworkers with you and nothing more because i don’t trust you or feel comfortable around you as a civilian anymore.” like lmao after you say something like that to someone i would assume that you don’t have the permission to just kiss them whenever you want.

show of hands who else got real sad when they realized dick was talking about himself in this.

sure, he could be referencing the things he’s seen blockbuster pull, and the children on the streets. but “i’ve seen money used for enforcement,” sounds a little too close to dick’s entire life being destroyed by one man threatening the circus to pay protection money for me to completely ignore. and “i’ve seen the poorest and most vulnerable blamed and punished rather than assisted” becomes a lot worse when you remember dick was thrown in juvie for a couple months until bruce was able to obtain legal guardianship, and in there, not a authority figure believed him when he told them his parents were murdered.

he’s lived this before.

a. mother. fucking. typo.

fucking why

i mean i’ve stated my distaste for the batfamily groupchat before but like. this is reaching new levels of ridiculousness. jason sounds like he was written by a fanfic writer. tim sounds like he was written by a fanfic writer. steph sounds like she was written by someone who doesn’t know the first thing about steph and wanted to include her for “family points!!!!!” damian’s supposed to be completely off the grid, and everyone’s searching for him. i do love the way cass texts tho.

well god fuck now i’m crying

dick got a phone call, a sorry, and a thank you out of bruce. i feel so much secondhand happiness for him, if that’s a thing. we’ll just ignore the way bruce looks ugly af and focus on the good parts okay?

and again with the colour symbolism here!

i’m either going to love this or hate this. who knows, we’ll see.

something something hearts something something pink is an evil colour something something. i need to know more about this guy but there’s definitely symbolism there. 

is it just me or does this dude look like the backstabbing traitorous absolutely motherfucking piece of shit villain that killed tadashi hamada in big hero 6?

~~

taggggg list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan  @subtleappreciation @screennamealreadyused @bikoncon @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @maplumebleue-blog-blog @sundownridge @thatsthewhump @xatanna-troy @red-hood-redemption​ @capricorn-stark​ @batshit-birds​ @comics-observer @buticaaba​ 

[quiteaweirdworld]

Anxiety- JJ x Reader

Synopsis: Detailed story of Y/N having a really bad anxiety day. It’s a realistic story, a.k.a. JJ doesn’t immediately solve everything with a kiss. Anxiety is real, it is a struggle, and I tried to portray it as best I could. Based on my own experiences with anxiety. I feel it’s really important for this fandom to have works that aren’t sugar-coated, and that actually show the truth about these mental health issues. I hope this helps you!

Requested: nope

Inspired: Mental Health Awareness Month!

Warnings: YES! Mentions of anxiety, including anxious spiral, self-loathing, and detailed description of anxiety attack. Do not read if you might be triggered by these descriptions. 

Contains: whump, soft JJ (my brand), anxiety, fluff, hopeful ending

Words:  2.1K (longest yet)

Today was not a good day. You knew as soon as you woke up that it wasn’t going to be a good day, and it only went worse as the day went on. You woke up alone in the Chateau. This was normal, as it was often just you, JJ, and John B who stayed over for the night, and they often got up earlier than you. This really surprised you at first, expecting the boys to be lazy, but 90% of the time they got up to start working on various projects before you were awake. When this happens, you start making breakfast for the three of you and just wait for them, completely fine, but not today. Today you just knew something was wrong, you could feel it. 

As soon as you woke up, you went outside, calling for JJ. What if he was hurt? What if DCS got John B? What if, what if, what if-

“Y/N? You ok?” JJ rounded the corner and saw you, his face immediately morphing into one of concern. You ran the rest of the distance between you two, and his arms were already opening up to wrap you in a hug. He’s there, he’s ok, he’s not hurt. It was just your brain playing tricks on you again. You were doubly sure of this when JJ himself softly said “Hey hey hey it’s ok” while soothingly running his hands through your hair

“Is today a bad day?” he asked, definitely already knowing the answer.

“Yeah, I’m so sorry” you responded, embarrassed about being worried about nothing. JJ only looked at you caringly, and pulled you tighter. You both walked together back to the Chateau, and JJ sat at the table talking to you as you made breakfast. 

By the time that John B was back, you were feeling much better and were able to banter and laugh with your boys while you three ate as usual. However, the bad feeling never left your brain. You were tense, feeling restless and constantly looking around the room as subtly as you could, worried that something would go wrong. 

If John B noticed, he didn’t say anything, but JJ knew and stayed close to you all day. 

Kiara stopped by and organized a boat trip for the day with John B, calling Pope and getting all set up. As they started to leave, she turned back and called to you

“Y/N, JJ, you coming?” JJ looked at you, letting you answer how you felt. You gave him a shaky smile, nodding slightly and responding 

“Yeah, we’ll be right there!” You knew JJ was worried about you, but didn’t want to be a burden and ruin his entire day. You couldn’t stand to be a bother to anyone you loved, and JJ had it hard enough as it was without you having a stupid bad feeling. 

As you stepped on the boat, beer in one hand and JJ’s hand in the other, you felt the bad feeling come back 10 times stronger. Your heart started beating fast, and you didn’t want to get on the boat. You were sure that if you got on, something horrible would happen. But Pope was looking at you with so much happiness to finally be able to hang with his friends, and JJ squeezed your hand comfortingly, and you didn’t want to let your friends down. 

You got settled on the boat, wishing that your stupid brain wasn’t broken, and that you could just enjoy the time with your friends. 

You managed to get in the water with some reassurance from JJ, and actually enjoyed yourself a lot. Physical exercise always helped your mind calm down, and soon you were so focused on trying to tackle JJ in the water that you almost forgot about the bad feeling. Of course, it was always there, but as soon as it got too strong one of your friends would help you out. When you all got out of the water, Kiara called you over to braid her hair, claiming

“Y/N can you please do it? You’re the best at it”

You knew that she had just noticed your little ticks and was giving you an excuse to keep your hands busy. Even Pope seemed to notice a bit later, giving you another beer with a soft look. 

John B was oblivious as always, but that was comforting in itself. You were just hanging out with you four best friends in the world, and nothing bad could happen (you hope). 

As the sun started to set, a new group of fears kicked in. Suddenly, you were worried that the boat would get stuck and you wouldn’t be able to get back. 

You’d be stuck in the ocean forever (nevermind that you were barely a mile off of shore), and be lost at sea. No one would ever find you. You friends would hate you for some reason, but of course they would. A rescue ship would come, but there’d only be room for four. They’d leave you behind, but you couldn’t blame them. You’d leave yourself behind too. And then you’d be all alone. And then you’d starve. And then. And then-

And then JJ put his hand on your knee, which had started bouncing out of control without you noticing as you’d spiraled down into your thoughts. John B still hadn’t noticed, talking on and on about some dumb thing or another while Pope and Kiara looked on at you. Luckily, as soon as you snapped out of your spiral, Kiara simply handed JJ a towel to wrap around you and they went back to John B, who hadn’t noticed yet again. That boy had the social awareness of a sloth, but you loved him for it.

Not as much as you loved JJ, who had just shifted you so that you were completely leaning into him. He wrapped the towel around you because while you hadn’t even noticed that you were shivering, JJ had.

JJ, your sweet boy who didn’t deserve to deal with you and all of your problems. You went back into a cycle of self loathing, wishing JJ had a better girlfriend like he deserved, instead of you, but were thankfully interrupted by Pope suggesting that they all head back. Kiara engaged you in a conversation making fun of the newest weird kook fashion that you both saw in the store window of the boutique up by Figure 8 the other day when you were delivering groceries with the boys, and you made it back to land without incident. 

You loaded back into the van to head to the hilltop to watch the stars for a bit, and you finally felt your anxiety ebb away a bit. You had made it through the entire day without something bad happening, so you were safe now.

Of course, as soon as you were finally feeling better, something bad happened. The old van had been spluttering for a few minutes, but no one paid any attention to it because it always did. You only even noticed when it gave one big shudder and gave out completely. You were stuck.

You were stuck, in the woods, at night with no help. 

It was barely dark, but the air got thick and it was hard to breathe. It was hot, you were sweating, and you were definitely about to die. You faintly heard a voice in the distance, but couldn’t focus. You zoned out, struck with fear. Why was someone talking? Why would someone waste energy talking when you were about to die? Couldn’t they see you were about to die? All of the overwhelming sounds filtered down to just a steady buzz, but it was so much worse. The buzz was overwhelming you, getting louder and louder. You were stuck, in this phantom zone where you were barely breathing and everything was just the buzz, it was all blank. 

Off in the distance, you could hear that voice come back, faintly but growing stronger. You couldn’t make out the words or the voice, but something about it was comforting. It kept going, some string of incoherent words you weren’t understanding, but you focused on it. The voice steadily became more distinct, and after what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few more seconds, you could make out who it was. 

JJ. Of course it was, it was your wonderful boyfriend. Once you found his voice, it only took a bit more concentrating to pick out the words. He was quietly and calmly describing something… you? He was describing you, and your friends. He talked about the details in your shirt, the blue of John B’s bandana, the purple and red of Kiara and Pope’s favorite outfits. It didn’t matter what he was saying, he knew his voice would bring you out of your anxiety attack. 

Sure enough, as soon as you moved he brought your head up to look in his eyes. 

“There you are, my beautiful Y/N” he said, cupping your cheek

“You’re ok, are you back?” You nodded, all you were able to do, but he took it like the win it was.

You both settled into the seat again, as at some point you had slid down to the floor and JJ had come down as well to help you. 

A few minutes later, JJ still describing random things, Kiara interrupted

“They’re back!” 

You hadn’t even noticed that John B and Pope were gone, but you saw them coming back, both carrying what looks like fuel tanks. Kiara explained

“The van just ran out of gas. They went and got some from the Perrys a few minutes down the road. As soon as they get it in the van, we’ll head back”

You just nodded again, still in shock. Anxiety attacks take a lot out of you, and it’s hard to recover quickly. You were still in a fugue state the entire way back, and JJ half carried you to your room that you both shared when you stayed the night. You half heard Pope and Kiara say goodnight and John B ask JJ if he needed anything, but only began to really come back to yourself when JJ laid you on your bed. 

“Arms up Y/N, let’s go” he said, and you subconsciously raised your arms as he helped you change out of your shirt into a comfy sweatshirt. You were aware enough to then change into some leggings, but JJ stayed in the room to make sure you were ok. That’s fine, he’d seen you much worse. Much worse. Oh no.

You had freaked out over nothing! He was definitely going to break up with you now. There was no big deal, but you thought you were going to die. They were all definitely laughing at you behind your back, you were so embarrassing. You tried to stop the tears that were flowing down your face, trying not to embarrass yourself further, but they came fast and fiercely anyway. 

JJ noticed, pulling you close on the bed. “Shhh Y/N, don’t cry!”

“I’m so sorry! I’m such a baby I’m broken I’m so sorry” you sobbed into his chest. 

JJ’s heart broke, like it did all day when he saw you struggling. He hated that his girlfriend, soft sweet Y/N who was so kind to everyone else, found it so hard to be kind to yourself. 

“Y/N, you know this isn’t your fault” JJ said has he began to rub soft circles into your back

“I love you so much. You’re not broken at all”

As if he knew how hard that was for you to believe, he kept repeating it. “I love you, you’re so special to me”, and a bit later

“I love you, I love everything about you”

You eventually calmed down, but stayed wrapped into JJ. You still felt bad, but were so thankful to your boyfriend. You’re not fixed, far from it, but with JJ, you’re better.

[hyunrun]

Dream SMP/Batfam

This is my reasoning for connections between Dream SMP members and the Bats. This was all just for fun, but feel free to give feedback if you’d like! And do say if I’ve made a mistake. I haven’t done everyone, so if there’s anyone else you’d like me to do, lemme know! Please read, I spent a good while on this :D

Batman (Bruce Wayne)/Technoblade: Technoblade's Dream SMP origin story starts with his parents dying, so the backstory fits. He swears to kill all orphans because of the way they killed his parents (Similar to the way Bruce wanted to stop crime from running rampant in Gotham). Techno is also, technically, an orphan as Bruce was. I've always imagined Bruce's voice to be kinda like Techno's, especially that monotone tone he uses, and especially when he's Batman and not Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is -Bat-man and Technoblade is a pig, need I elaborate? Both of them seem to stay up till ungodly times of the day, and I'm sure their sleep schedules are never on the same clock as anyone else's, Bruce's because of his vigilante lifestyle and Techno because... well, he's a Minecraft YouTuber. Both of them have a father figure, although not biological. They also have a friendly rivalry with a fellow content creator/hero (Cough Dream/Superman cough). We say Dick/Wilbur is dramatic, but you can't possibly mean to tell me Batman/Technoblade isn’t subtly more dramatic. They practically invented being dramatic in their respective businesses.

Alfred Pennyworth/Philza Minecraft: Is the father figure to Batman/Technoblade. Is really a force of chaos but everyone pictures them as a soft, loving dad because we all have parental issues and we need more father figures. Both of them are very badass in their own ways. Old and British. Here's a parallel I thought was pretty cool. Philza had been building up his hardcore world for 5 years before he died. It was like his home disappeared in front of his eyes as he fell away from his life. I'm not sure which continuity/arc this is from (Please do not hate on me, I am but a small child) bUT I do know that Alfred died of a heart attack/stroke at the same time the Wayne Manor was destroyed. His home was destroyed as he died. Just as Philza's had been.

Damian Wayne/TommyInnit: Is never really loved by anyone at first glance (From the fandoms). Tommy's the loud, annoying one, Damian's the grouchy, haughty one. But everyone eventually gravitates towards their characters later on. Their families were wary of them at first but grew to love them. Both of them are the youngest, and generally angriest child. Both are not American, Tommy being British and Damian, Arabic. They both have ICONIC mothers. MotherInnit is a queen, we all know this. If she can handle Tommy, she can handle absolutely anything. Talia Al Ghul has a reputation of her own right, and while she hasn't quite the pristine repertoire, she definitely strikes a strong mark on people. Now, this is a dumb connection between the two, but hair!! Tommy’s seems nice and floofy while Damian's is generally drawn spiky, and I think that's a cool contrast. Their love for pets is also important to note. Tommy's the one that's known for starting wars over the deaths of his pets, and it's easy to know that Damian wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone if they did anything to Titus or Batcow. It’s been shown on multiple occasions that he loves his pets a lot.

Jon Kent/Tubbo_: Best friends with Tommy/Damian. Do not try to argue that Jon and Damian aren't best friends because come onnn. And PLEASE do not take this as a dumb excuse to ship Tommy and Tubbo, as I know people ship Dami and Jon. Both are the embodiment of chaos wrapped in kindness, and both are definitely the more stable of their friendship with the other gremlin children. I am confident that both would probably refer to their parents as mother and father dearest. You cannot convince me otherwise. Tubbo has already done so, and Jon would never disrespect his parents, so this would obviously be the next best alternative for when he is upset by them. Jon’s powers fluctuate upon shifts in emotion and he can’t really control his powers, like the shifting of Tubbo’s alter egos. We never know when Toob or Big Law will creep out of the shadows.

Dick Grayson/Wilbur Soot: (Second) most dramatic in the family, though perceived as the drama queen because of their boisterous personalities. The one that was probably a theatre kid in school. The lighthearted one that keeps everyone cheerful, but also the one with the easiest path to a horrid descent into madness. They have a flair for drama, the glitter and sparkles to Batman/Technoblade’s sombre smoke and haze, which is why they work together so well. The closest family member to Tommy/Damian. Their little brother/big brother dynamics are just impeccable. Both are the most simped for by their respective fanbases (from what I’ve seen). The token pretty boys. Both artistically talented in different ways, with Wilbur’s music and Dick’s acrobatic skills. Also the ones that get constantly shipped with every woman they literally even look at. They also express their dramatic tendencies through their clothes, Dick with his jazzy Discowing suit and Wilbur’s dramatic L’manburg outfit.

Superman/Dream: The OP gods, need I say more? Friendly rivals with Technoblade/Batman. Very often perceived as ‘Perfect’ which they are not, but many refuse to accept that. A funny parallel I drew was the fact that both of them are famous in their own rights, but can just walk around and not get recognised despite millions of people knowing their online/superhero identities. Both are technically not human.

Stephanie (Batgirl/Spoiler)/Sapnap: Both of their names start with S! Not my only reasoning, but I’ll take it into account anyway. Both are basic looking in my head (Blue eyes blonde hair for Steph?? There’s at least 3 other girls that look EXACTLY like her in the nearby DC universes. And Sapnap blends in with every other white boy, though I love him regardless.) but both also have immaculate personalities to make up for it. They’re the most normal people out of all their co-streamers/superheroes in my eyes, also my favourites. (I didn’t realise as I put them together that I loved them most but here we are). They’re both great at dumb banter. They don’t have huge, hilarious bits often or any constant jokes that are pulled on time and time again, but their general atmosphere makes everything seem like a joke. They may not be the best at what they do in their friend groups but are actually really good nonetheless and do not get due credit for their effort and talent sometimes. Has a warring relationship with Damian/Tommy (Sapnap over the pets and Steph and Dami didn’t have the most friendly relationship at the start)

Jason/BBH- Same but opposite but same. Exists to cause chaos. I wouldn’t have associated these two with each other till the Badlands became a thing… but then the Badlands became a thing and I had to. Now, I know that technically Bad doesn’t have a grudge against Techno, but Jason would totally set up a whole empire just to mess with Bruce’s plans, just to get in the way, to instigate, to fan the flames of the fire till he’s driven Bruce to his breaking point. Bad isn’t exactly trying to do that, but he’s only around for the chaos. He’s only here for his own benefit, and he’s only here for that because of the hurt caused to him by the nation he came from. A parallel being Jason causing havoc because of the pain Bruce caused him. Besides, both have a cool red and black colour scheme, and both wear jacket!! Both are also technically not alive (If we're considering BBH as a demon).

Roy Harper/Skeppy: I have absolutely no explanation for this, but it just Fits. Besides, they have cool opposing colour schemes and are best friends with BBH/Jason!!

Aaaand last but not least

Jason/Technoblade: Now you must be thinking But Kaly you already spoke about them! And yes, I did, and they do go really well with their respective characters but I couldn’t simply ignore the connection between these two, so I thought I might as well write about it. Technoblade was an English major (If I remember correctly) before he dropped out to pursue his youtube career. Jason, though this may not be a well-known fact, was a definite literature nerd at school before he met his demise. Their cut off education in English is an interesting parallel to me. Both of them also have destructive tendencies, with Technoblade being an anarchist and Jason periodically running an underground empire to make sure he can do whatever the hell he wants to. They don’t generally care who they hurt on their way to reach their end goal. Jason’s reckless shooting and killing clearly shows this, as he continuously justifies his actions by saying he’s ending crime rather than just making it wait in line for its turn to pop up again, while Technoblade’s release of the withers and excessive use of his firework crossbow clearly shows that the deaths of the residents of L’manburg do not matter to him as long as he abolishes the government.

[pl-panda]

Damienette arranged marriage: part 9

If someone wants to know how I can write three chapters in the span of 24 hours... I have no idea, but this is around 5k words, so ten times the length of essay I was supposed to write today. But it is more interesting.

Credits: Miraculous Ladybug team for the elements I take from MLB show. DC for their characters, @ozmav for the AU, @maribat-archive for giving me access to so many different stories to have take inspirations from, @thyladyanput for idea for Chat Damian and me for the plot.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Part 8

Damienette arranged marriage: part 9

NEXT

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They got into her room and Chloe locked the doors.

“Okay. Now you explain to me Dupain-Cheng how did you manage to get a mysterious Damian Wayne, the damned ‘Ice Prince’ of Gotham, to act like a lost puppy toward you.”

-------

Marinette almost fainted. She had an urge to mentally facepalm. Of course Chloe would recognize a celebrity. It was stupid to bring her so close to Damian on the first meeting. Maybe from the distance she would shrug it off or ignore this, but now that she saw them interact and could get a better look at him there was almost no denying it. But Marinette would still try. 

“Wayne? I have no idea who are you talking about. This is Damian Grayson. He can’t be Wayne if his name is Grayson. Besides aren’t Wayne’s this rich and powerful family running an international company? Damian is not rich. He is just an exchange student…” Marinette tried to talk her way out of it, but the expecting face Chloe was making told her it was not working. “Yes, this is Damian Wayne…” The bluenette relented

“Nice try Dupain-Cheng. Maybe I would even believe you if I didn’t know better.” She stated before walking to her wardrobe. Chloe then started to toss out multiple clothes onto her giant bed. 

“Wait! That’s it?” Marinette questioned. She expected… something. 

“Well, while you tell me how did you melt his heart I can at least start looking for something utterly fabulous for you to wear. I can’t stand this ridiculous outfit you wear right now. So spill!”

Marinette looked at Damian and he shrugged. “tt. I am not getting involved. You brew this and you solve this.”

“I will get you back for that.” the bluenette threatened with a smile. They both knew this was mostly a tease. Marinette turned to see Chloe with three dresses. One was lemony yellow, one was smooth pink and one was deep red. “Uh… Red one?” Blonde shoved the cloth piece at the girl and pushed her into the bathroom. 

“I’m waiting for a tale Dupain-Cheng.”

“Okay. Okay.” This girl has probably the best interrogation tactics I’ve ever seen… “So yesterday Damian joined our class as part of some exchange program. He decided to sit next to me and we exchanged few words. After classes his pen slipped under the desk and he had to get down to pick it up. Lila thought I was alone and decided to threaten me to stay away from him and the next thing either of us know is he held the sword to her throat. After that he asked me out and that’s the story.”

Marinette walked from the bathroom and Damian felt air leave his lungs. She wore a modest red dress that reached a bit beyond her knees. It had long sleeves that ended about one and a half inch before her wrist. The upper part was a bit darker than the lower part, but otherwise there was no decorations. It hugged her small figure perfectly, but at the same time was not restaining and allowed much space to breathe. Marinette looked beyond stunning, at least to him. Pull it together Wayne. You are not some emotional schoolgirl. You are cool and collected. You are the Prince of Assassins. Damian tried not to blush. But then there was another voice inside him. And she is your princess and your wife. Get your game together. Somehow, it sounded pretty close to Beast Boy’s voice. 

“Close your mouth hunny or you will catch flies.” Chloe laughed. “It looks perfect, but I think you need one more thing.” She walked to the bluenette who was feeling a bit insecure about this look. Chloe pulled her hair bands off and let the hair flow freely. “Now you look perfect.” 

“I… I don’t know.” Marinette spinned around to see herself in the mirror. “Are you sure?”

“Check the lover-boy over there and you will believe me.” Without turning Chloe pointed to Damian who was still glaring at the girl in red. An idea came to Marinette’s head. She would get her revenge faster than she expected. She slightly nodded toward Chloe’s phone that was laying nearby. Luckily, they had an understanding. Marinette turned so she was now facind Damian and looked deep into his eyes. She stood there smiling the most prominent smile she could muster. Suddenly, a flash illuminated the room. “And done. Already sent it to your phone Dupain-Cheng.”

The light finally got Damian’s brain to start up. He looked at Chloe holding a phone with camera aimed at him and Marinette giggled. “Told you I would get back at you for that.”

If it was anyone else, he would curse them, threaten them or just punch them, but strangely he couldn’t get angry at the bluenette. “Worth it.” He stated with a smug grin. “If having an embarrassing picture taken is the price to see you look so beautiful, then I am willing to pay it.” He complimented her and Marinette felt like her face turned more or less the color of her dress. 

“Smooth mr. Ice Prince Charming.” Chloe commented. She then took a picture of blushing Marinette. “Now you are even. Close your mouth Dupain-Cheng. You are the one to start catching flies now.” The blonde then turned back to Damian and her face took the standard expecting look. “Now back to you. Care to explain why exactly did you decide to ask her out of all people out? You have tons of girls throwing themselves at you and yet you chose her.”

Damian didn’t answer immediately. He had to think this through. The big factor was that she was technically his wife, but through the last twenty-four hours he came to conclusion that if they weren’t married, he would still ask her out. She was… her. He had no other word for this. But his mother was in details. “She saw me as just Damian. I felt that I could be myself with her.”

“Sweet. Want some tea to this sugar?” Chloe deadpanned. “No seriously, want something to drink? I… I only ever had Sabrina in here and she drank just the tap water.”

Damian was honestly not surprised. Chloe had the Queen Bee personality and they usually only had followers, not friends. But he actually liked the no-nonsense personality. “Green Tea with half spoon of honey.” He stated and walked to the couches.

“And for you Dupain-Cheng?”

“Uh… water?” Marinette was still not entirely sure what to do with this situation. Chloe was not herself while at the same time being herself. It was… strange. Blonde just shrugged and made a quick call downstairs.

“It will come soon.” She walked to the couch and sat, motioning them to do the same.

The bluenette remembered that she still had some macaroons with her so she pulled the box and placed it on the table. “Maman and papa made them for me and Damian, but you can have some too.” She nudged the box slightly toward Chloe, who reluctantly took one.

“... Thank you Dupain-Cheng.” She said after a moment of hesitation. Another tear formed in her eye. “I am truly sorry how I treated you. You did not deserve this.”

“tt. On that we can agree.” Damian almost growled. “After today don’t be surprised to see a change in teachers.”

“What?” Marinette almost jumped. “No. Madame Bustier is a good teacher.”

“She is unfit to even be in the same space as anyone below her age. This woman will be lucky if she doesn’t face criminal charges.” Damian held the urge to spit, but he didn’t want to damage anything in this room. It looked more expensive than his room at Wayne’s manor and this was saying something. 

“But… But…” Marinette tried to find right words. “Madame Bustier is so lovely. She has her… original methods of teaching, but everyone would defend her in a blink of an eye.”

“tt. That doesn’t excuse her. Sadly this type of procedure usually takes years if school is not willing to cooperate. And yours definitely won’t. Bunch of idiots.” The last part was added in arabic so neither girls understood. There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a moment until Marinette decided to stop beating around the bat.

“Chloe… It’s not that I don’t appreciate the change, in fact I am proud of you, but… why? what made you change so suddenly?”

The blonde shifted in her place. It was clearly an uncomfortable topic. Finally, she decided to play an open hand. Deep inside, Chloe wanted to have real friends. She saw how Damian looked at Marinette and how he spoke about her acting normal toward him. When Adrien spoked about things like this she could never understand what he meant. But now she finally got it. It was this feeling of being just herself. “I was lonely. Sabrina left me and became a loyal Lila worshipper, surpassed only by Alya. And Adrien… He cut himself off completely about a month ago. Now he plays along whatever Lila plans for him.” She had a small tear forming in her eye, but she quickly wiped it out before it ruined her makeup (not that there was much of it left). “I… I went to talk with my father, demanding he do something about the liar. But my mother was there and… and… and she laughed at me. She said that it’s utterly ridiculous and if my friends left me it’s because of me and not someone else. But the most painful part was that she was right. My friends left me and others hated me. I was completely alone. It was utterly… awful.” Marinette handed her the box so she could cheer herself with another treat. It worked. “I am so sorry Dupain-Cheng. For the first time I was on the receiving end of harsh words and painful comments. I never imagined how much it hurt.”

“Well, I am happy you realize your mistakes.” Marinette smiled and Damian clicked his tongue again. 

“But,” the Wayne heir started, “it is not that easy to earn forgiveness. Just because Marinette is too good for this world does not mean I will let you exploit her good heart.”

“Damian!” The girl in question shouted at him. “I am a grown-up girl who can make her own decisions.” 

“You are fifteen and have heart made of pure gold” He deadpanned.

“You are fifteen too. And we are married, so we are as adult as a person can be.” She stated in mandarin grinning at him. 

“This doesn’t prove anything. And I am still your husband.” He argued.

Chloe sat there, not sure what to make of the discussion. She was about to say something when something crashed through the window. The three teens starred at the form of Chat Noir. He was looking different. His ears and tail were real instead of accesories and instead of bell on his neck he had only a choker with word ‘Marinette’ written on it.

“My Purrincess! I come to save you!”

——————————————————————————————————–

Taglist (sorry if I missed you)@pheonixashtree @sassakitty @unabashedbookworm @vixen-uchiha @maggiecc12 @actualdisasterwoman @tired-butterfly @shizukiryuu @floralfi @imanerddealwith @northernbluetongue @krispydefendorpolice @toodaloo-kangaroo @dast218 @bluesoulblueheart @theatreandcomicfreak @disneyfoxuniverse @mindfulmagics @alwaysnumberonetruth @nyaabinch @jardimazul @lenamau @rosep16 @dramatic-squirrel @sonif50 @daminett4life @lulutheawkwardess @weird-pale-blonde-person @mooshoon @jeminiikrystal @mochegato @moonlightstar64 @dragonflyswing @silverwhiteraven @shamefullove @magic-miraculous @valeks-princess @heaven428 @mlbchaosqueen @winter-gardenflower @spicybelladonna @emo-elaine13 @vetilora @karukofox21 @my-name-is-michell  @sturchling @lokiifriggasonn @redscarlet95 @melicmusicmagic @interobanginyourmom @the-fusionist @razzledazzle247 @miss-mysterys-blog @darkthunder1589 @i-is-mysterious @catthhay @the-one-woman-army @zestyzealot @dahjokester @write-for-your-life2 @mermaidreject @peachedpocky @sassakitty @dahjokester​

[lenawin4]

an offer you can’t refuse

HOW WE DOIN ELLICK FANS?

I had this fic in my drafts halfway done, but after I watched that promo, I finished it in like, two hours. hope y’all enjoy. (also, may or may not contribute to the wave of 18x05/18x06 speculation fics. EXCITED)

summary: 

“It’ll be fun,” Nick said on Day Four, then looked at them incredulously. “What? You’ve never taken down the mafia before?” ft. the whole gang, some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mentions of Tiva, and prank wars.

Or: Nick’s jealous, Ellie’s clueless, and the team dismantles a crime family.

rating: gen, k+

length: 3.4k

genres: fluff, minor angst, romance

read on ffn | ao3

So Ellie’s in her corner of the bullpen, and Nick can’t stop looking at her. That’s how it all starts.

She’s wearing one of her cashmere sweaters, and they’ve been working this case for so long that her outfit is three days old. The bags under her eyes can’t be hidden by makeup and the curls in her hair have started to flatten. She has that crease in between her eyebrows that warns him not to bother her with a stupid joke, but that’s never stopped him before.

Ellie’s phone rings, so he freezes in the middle of sauntering over to her, halfway through the bullpen. It’s magic: her eyes widen slightly; the crease disappears; a slow smile spreads, then a grin.

The corners of his mouth start to slip upward, but he fights it down because McGee is at his desk. He’s talking to the local PDs, spelling out one of the long Italian names they’re trying to pin on something, and Tim is eyeing him like a hawk.

“Mark?” Ellie shouts into the phone. 

Who?

“Gimme a sec,” Ellie points to her phone and mouths, I have to take this, sorry, and Nick is left gaping at the back of her head as she runs to the break room.

-

That happens on Day Six. A recap:

Dead sailor in a drive-by shooting in Bethesda. Grab your gear.

There was cocaine underneath the bed and piles of cash in the closet in the sailor’s apartment.

McGee traced a bank account in the Caymans to a Joey DiGiorno, as in, It’s-not-delivery-it’s-DiGiorno’s.

“Do you think he has a cousin named Domino’s?” Ellie asked; and —

For the fifth time this month, Nick realizes that he’s in love with Ellie Bishop.

Joey does not have a cousin, but he does have a criminal record and an uncle who happens to be the DC/Virginia/Maryland leader of the DiGiorno Family. 

“Wow, two states and the capital city,” said McGee. “Impressive.”

On top of Nick’s To Do List - Get Gibbs everything on this guy: records, cars, girlfriends, other nieces and nephews, etc., etc.

“It’ll be fun,” Nick said on Day Four, then looked at them incredulously. “What? You've never taken down the mafia before?”

-

McGee follows the money to a nightclub in DC (“Do they serve pizza?”; “Nick, please.”), but there’s no way to know when or how the drugs are smuggled into the building, which can only mean one thing: stakeout time.

Stakeouts are the worst. Stakeouts mean unlimited time in a confined place with nothing better to do, the uncomfortable silence of Nick and his thoughts and the little place in his head that teeters between sixteen different names and a glass jar of lake water that hides on the shelf of his apartment.

Right now, a stakeout is the best thing that could ever happen to him.

So, Mark. He can’t exactly Boyle his way into this, not after Bishop nearly chewed his head off because he cancelled her date. 

It’s not helping that Bishop keeps smiling at her phone every two hours, and semi-aggressively types out a text in all caps and extra exclamation marks. (He watches the way her fingers move. He knows those are exclamation marks. Like, at least ten of them.)

“Didn’t know dates liked it when you yelled at them all the time.”

“What?” Ellie says, not looking up from her phone.

He puts his feet up on the desk a little too harshly. Ellie wrinkles her nose.

“What could possibly be more important than this very, very interesting stakeout right now? Don’t you see there’s a hooker in front of the club and it’s barely noon? We should report it to Gibbs.”

There’s that sarcastic laugh that’s reserved for him, a quip about not being able to afford her, then back to the invisible Mark he’s heard nothing about.

-

To: ninja lady, 11:59

hey on a stakeout w El. what should i do

To: big wuss, 12:05

prank war. worked for us.

To: ninja lady, 12:06

i’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not

-

He tells her he’s buying fast food and chips a few blocks away. He asks the cashier for an extra paper bag and places a spring-loaded glitter bomb from the Dollar Tree at the bottom.

-

To: ninja lady, 14:05

success

To: big wuss, 14:07

ha! watch your six. revenge is tasty, no?

To: ninja lady, 14:09

i think you mean vengeance is sweet, but check with your husband

-

Nick returns from a bathroom break and peers left and right. Nothing in the room has changed: Ellie is still finishing the bag of fries. Her head is turned towards the window, and she’s glancing at her phone every few seconds. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but he sort of doesn’t care. His chair hasn’t moved from the computer desk, and there are no booby traps outside the bathroom door or in the hallway.

Okay. The coast is clear.

“Hey, maybe you should check your face one more time, I think you still have glitter — ”

Splat.

His chair explodes in a tidal wave of green and red paint, splattering all over his jeans — gross, it feels so cold — and his leather jacket. 

When he looks up, Ellie’s beaming at him from behind her phone, fry stuck in her mouth like a cigarette, green paint smeared across her cheek like evidence. Mercilessly, she sends the video to McGee, Kasie, and Tony.

-

To: big wuss, 17:25

I’m disappointed.

To: ninja lady, 17:29

yeah, yeah, laugh all you want

this sucks

To: big wuss, 17:30

Not just the stakeout, I presume?

To: ninja lady, 17:32

who the hell is Mark

she keeps texting him

it’s distracting me

To: ninja lady, 17:35

you know, from work

To: big wuss, 17:40

Oh, Nicholas.

-

(Across the Atlantic, in a small apartment in Paris, a married couple compares recent messages.

Ziva clicks her tongue. “I think he might be a bigger wuss than you, Tony.”

“I had better pranks than this guy, okay, at least give me that.”)

-

There’s a crowd of seamen lounging around the club. Their voices send pinpricks into his brain, and he can smell the alcohol from the second floor of this building. The bouts of laughter and shouts are interrupted by crunching. Next to him, the foul smell of artificial cheese surrounds Eleanor Bishop. Her fingers are coated with orange dust. Her eyes are laser-focused on the group of men, arms around each other, starting to sing the first bars of “Piano Man”. She licks her lips, and a bit of orange dust is left over at the edge of her mouth. She brings her fingers to her lips to lick them clean.

Nick’s mouth is suddenly dry.

Okay, okay, he needs to focus. Focus. It’ll be easy.

When he finally turns away, the hooker is grabbing one of the men by his tie, who tries to pull away. He rolls his eyes, but before Nick can say, “Playing hard to get, are we?”, the sailor is handing her a thick wad of cash. It’s exchanged for something thickly wrapped in saran plastic wrap, and he jolts out of his seat.

“It was the hooker!”

-

Nick did not know running that quickly in high heels was possible.

-

Ellie’s phone dings three times past his limit on the way to the interrogation room. The sound grates against his ears and his eyes can’t roll further up his socket. She doesn’t even notice.

They’re behind the glass, waiting for McGee to question her, when Gibbs walks in. He takes one look at the green paint on Ellie’s cheek and sees the same paint on Nick’s jeans.

Before Ellie can try to explain, Nick announces, “Gibbs, I told Ellie to call you about the hooker hours ago and she didn’t listen to me!”

“That is not true!”

“Yes, it is!”

-

“Wait, so we’re just going to give up?” Ellie’s hair is still slightly frazzled from tackling the suspect down, strands loose on her forehead and around her ears. She ran up and down four flights of stairs to catch her, but they’ve been given an order to push the case to another day with another lead. “What about Sugar Honey?”

“We can’t catch anyone higher up the food chain if she doesn’t consent to wearing a wire.”

“So sneak one on her!” The Director raises his eyebrows.

“Bishop.” She snaps around, eagerly awaiting Gibbs’s cowboy orders. “Go home. Get some sleep.”

“What? I can’t believe you’re actually agreeing with this.”

“Ellie,” Nick says, coming to her supposed rescue. There’s a flicker of hope in her eyes, and he hesitates to kill it. But he has to. He stands up, and immediately yelps and whines. Guiltily, he savors the look of concern she gives him. “Actually, could you drive me home? I think I twisted my ankle when we were chasing down Sugar Honey.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Ellie pouts. It maybe makes his stomach flutter, which is stupid, because Nick doesn’t feel things like that.

“You know me. Stoic face and all. I could get stabbed and none of you would know.”

“You know, that’s not a good thing.” She grabs his car keys from his jacket and puts his arm around her shoulders.

Bishop throws a stern look to the Director and Gibbs. Their bosses look half-confused, half-amused; Nick avoids Gibbs’s knowing look. “Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She walks him to his car. He feels warm and lonely all at once, because her phone rings two more times.

Nick plops down on the passenger seat, and Ellie wrenches the car into ignition, and says with no small amount of strife, “I know you’re lying and I’m either taking you to your apartment or back to the club. Your choice.”

Um. “Hey, let’s not do anything dangerously impulsive here.”

“Me? Impulsive? What about you?”

“What? When have I ever done anything dangerous or impulsive?”

“You stole a truck and totaled it when you were chasing down a suspect last month. Gibbs was already waiting on another block to cut him off.”

“Well, at least I didn’t get hurt.”

“You had a concussion and I had to wake you up every hour that night.”

They’re already out of the Navy Yard, almost ten over the speed limit, and going in the opposite direction of his apartment.

“Okay, I’m sorry I lied about my ankle. But Bishop.” He’s not sure how to say it, so what leaves his mouth is a sound of frustration. “You can’t dismantle the mafia with just this one case. These things take time. One Sugar Honey confession was the best we could do today. And that’s okay. But we’ll catch another one tomorrow, or maybe next week, and the week after that.”

The car slows down; Ellie’s pout becomes more pronounced. The sudden U-turn makes him clutch at the dashboard and pray for his life.

“Fine,” Ellie says. “But — ”

“Tomorrow, I will help you possibly arrest a drug dealer, that will lead us to the drug supplier, that will lead us to the boss.”

She nods, hands tightly holding the steering wheel. There’s glitter in her hair and streaks of paint on her jeans. They’ve barely slept in the past two days, driving each other insane. 

“I can take the couch for a few hours and then we’ll be on our way. We both need to rest.”

Ellie doesn’t reply.

“If you don’t crash at my place, I’ll call Gibbs and tell him you’re going back to the club.”

Ellie protests for the rest of the car ride, but Nick doesn’t budge an inch.

-

The stakeout resumes peacefully. Gibbs and Vance were right: the dealers are spooked and no deals occur for the next week.

Bishop doesn’t spend every single moment on her phone, so at least there’s that. He can’t deny the twinge of longing every time he sees her eyes brighten at the sound of another text.

Still, even that is nothing compared to the ache he feels when she yawns and rubs her eyes. It’s the type of case that makes her want to prove herself, to risk everything to accomplish her ambitions, to run after something without a thought of the consequences. He knows the feeling. He has that feeling every time a kid is involved.

So he triples the bags of junk food on the floor of the moldy apartment. He lets her rest a little more when it’s his watch. She curls up in the blanket she stole from his apartment and sighs in her sleep.

They’re both exhausted, so their prank war grinds to a halt. Nick’s exasperated, and he doesn’t reply to any of Ziva’s requests for updates. Ellie’s smile is something admirably distracting and infuriating, especially when it’s not directed to him.

-

Here’s the thing, though: Nick can’t imagine when Ellie had time to go on a date with a Mark that he’s never met or heard of in the past few weeks. Before Operation Take DiGiorno’s to Prison, they had back-to-back murders that took a total of two weeks out of their lives. Before those, Nick went to pilates with her for three consecutive weekends. So whoever this Mark is, might be special to her. Someone she wants to keep to herself. Someone she wants to talk to all day, someone she wants to smile and laugh with, someone she wants to be with. It’s that simple.

It’s just not Nick.

-

The seaman in Interrogation still isn’t talking, but at least there’s something in the cocaine.

“Local PD’s been digging up everything they can about the drug ring for months, and this little sample here matches their signature packaging and purity. But I’m telling you, whoever hired their chemists needs to do a better job, cause this stuff ain’t pure at all.”

“Can we connect it to Joey or the uncle?”

“I’m so glad you asked. We, in fact, do have a way to arrest them, thanks to Kasie — ”

“Don’t talk about yourself in the third person.”

“Okay, someone’s grumpy! DiGiorno’s olive oil company bought bulk chemicals, which are being delivered to this address. We’ve got dimethyl sulfoxide, tetrahydrofuran — ”

“English, Kasie.”

“Coke. They’re making coke. Trust me, those materials are not extra virgin.”

He grunts out a thanks and swirls around, ready to leave.

“Woooaaahhh there, son.” Kasie holds her hands out in front of her to tame him. “What’s going on with you, Nicholas?”

“What? Nothing!”

“Okay. Then I guess it has nothing to do with you and your feelings.”

“What? Nothing’s up with Bishop and me!”

“I didn’t say anything about Bishop.”

“Okay,” Nick chuckles, searching for an exit route that may or may not involve rolling past Kasie in a very ninja-like manner before booking it out of the building. “You said something, I said something, now we’re both confused, and I gotta go now, bye!”

-

McGee’s hawk eyes peer at him when Bishop retreats to the break room again. It makes Nick squirm in his seat and try to pry his gaze away from her empty desk.

“Is something going on between you and Bishop?”

“Uh, no, why, did she say something?” He crosses his arms to quell the sound of his heart.

McGee scoffs. “I mean. You guys have barely talked since you came back from the stakeout.”

“Well. I don’t need to talk to her. All the time.”

“But you do.”

Nick makes a face. Bishop strolls back into the bullpen, carefree and light, and he shuts his mouth.

“What do we got?” Gibbs says, and McGee has no choice but to brush this under the rug.

-

It’s Day Ten, more accurately Night Ten, and they’re sitting in the car, driving to the warehouse where they’ll arrest Joey and his uncle. She’s wearing a vest and he has the urge to clean his gun before a shootout. But they’ll be fine.

He glances at her tied-up hair and the clench of her jaw. His hands tighten on the steering wheel, because he wants to hold her face in his hands and tangle his fingers in her hair. He wants to tell her something he can barely admit to himself.

She says nothing. The phone doesn’t ring. He keeps driving.

-

He forgets she has a vest on. He forgets everything, really, when he sees Ellie go down in the middle of the raid, and Joey starts running away. Gibbs yells at him to call an ambulance before he and McGee chase after the idiot who shot his partner.

Nick scrambles to her side, vision blurring, and he has more trouble breathing than she does when he reaches her. “Bishop, El, you’re gonna be okay, alright?”

Ellie groans as he slices her vest open. The bullet clatters off the Kevlar.

“Nick,” Ellie’s saying. “Nick, I’m fine.” His hands hover, barely brushing over her arms, neck, head — I have to check for concussion — and it does nothing to reassure him, until her hands fold into his. “Nick.”

She looks at him, mouth parted, cheeks flushed. Her ribs are probably bruised, if not broken. Her hands are the only source of stability; every other part of him is shaking.

“You’re alright.”

Ellie breathes out a heavy sigh; it shakes like his legs quiver, and he has to kneel next to her. “I’m alright.”

-

Along with the DEA, they confiscate every last bit of cocaine from the warehouse, effectively crippling the crime family’s major source of money. Joey rats on every aspect of his uncle’s business for a shorter sentence. As the EMTs are wrapping her ribs up, Nick holds his hand up for Ellie to slap and says, “We took DiGiorno’s to prison!”

He offers her his arm and a ride home. She graciously accepts, and the smile is his, again, for now.

But he can’t not say anything now. She almost — she almost. There’s nothing else to say about that.

So Nick says, “So, you’re going home to Mark today? You got a hot date?”

He’ll get over that lump in his throat, that spike in his pulse eventually. She’s alive, and he’ll be fine.

He doesn’t expect her to start laughing, only to be interrupted by a wince and a tender hand on her left side. “Nick, who do you think Mark is?”

“Uh.” There’s a dark hole of miscalculation, the feeling of falling down the cliff of Being Wrong. “Your hot new date you kept texting over the past, like, five days?”

Nick rolls his eyes. “Stop laughing, you’ll make your ribs worse.”

“It’s — ” Ellie takes a deep breath and pulls out her phone. She scrolls, and Nick’s about to say something about not wanting to read her love letters to Mark when:

Auntie Ellie, thanks for my birthday gifts! I miss you so much.

The voice can’t be older than five, with a light stammer and a lisp. Nick takes his eyes off the road to gape at a boy with two missing front teeth, and his heart both soars and sinks. Someone honks behind them, and he steps on the gas pedal, startled that he’s stopped at a green light.

“Well.”

“He turned four last week, and my brother’s been letting him call or text me videos every day. They’re stuck in Oklahoma and they miss me.” He can hear her shrug, the fabric of her jacket rustling against the car’s leather seat, but he keeps his eyes on the road. “I haven’t been home in almost two years.”

“I’m sorry.” It punctuates the silence that follows, leaving them both speechless, wondering, wishing.

“Were you jealous?” Ellie whispers.

“Yes.” He can’t stop himself. Not anymore. Nick floors the brake and looks at his passenger’s seat, red light shining on her, everything else dark and unimaginably lonely. “Yes.”

Ellie nods, then smiles. “Okay.”

-

They arrive the next morning together. McGee smirks at his phone. Kasie’s eyes switch between them, back and forth, before she raises an eyebrow and glares at Nick, threatening and protective. Gibbs says nothing. Nick smiles the whole morning, because he still tastes her lipstick on his teeth and feels her hair in his fingers.

-

To: big wuss, 10:20

Congratulations. You aren’t a bigger wuss than Tony.

To: ninja lady, 10:25

ha. thanks

for everything, i mean, i guess.

To: big wuss, 10:26

You’re very welcome, Nicholas.

fin.

[gracelandwritestoo]

introducing - Delilah Alexandra Connelly (mafia verse), details below the cut 

ORIGINS & FAMILY:

Name: Delilah Alexandra Connelly

Nickname: Lilah

Birthday: March 10, 1988

Age: 33

Gender: cis female  

Place of Birth: Richmond, Virginia

Places Lived Since: Charlottesville, VA; Cambridge, MA; Washington, DC

Current Residence: City name tbd, very large and fancy apartment with Clarke 

Nationality: American

Parents: Senator Scott Connelly (R-VA) & Eleanor Calhoun Connolly

Grandparents: John & Alice Connelly (deceased); Stuart & Elizabeth Calhoun

Aunts & Uncles: tbd

Number of Siblings: one older brother

Relationship With Family: Close to her brother, major daddy issues

Happiest Memory: graduating top of her class at Harvard Law (what like it’s hard?)

Childhood Trauma: Daddy issues from being used as a pawn for her father’s political career

PHYSICAL:

Height: 5’7

Build: slim

Hair Color: blonde (dyed from red after a breakup lol)  

Usual Hair Style: polished & professional shoulder length

Eye Color: grey

Glasses? Contacts?: none  

Style of Dress/Typical Outfit(s): high fashion power suits, professional, she favors darker colors

Typical Style of Shoes: heels to step on people with

Jewellery? Tattoos? Piercings?: engagement ring & simple earrings, she has a tattoo of a scorpion on the back of her neck

Scars: scar on her shin from falling off a horse as a child (very rich bitch of her)

Unique Mannerisms/Physical Habits: southern gentility accent that deepens when she drinks or talks to her parents, she spins her engagement ring when she’s focusing

Athleticism: she’s very fit, runs regularly and plays tennis when she can

Health Problems/Illnesses: anxiety, probs a lot more unaddressed 

INTELLECT:

Level of Education: JD from Harvard Law School

Languages Spoken: english, spanish, turkish (sanem), portuguese, latin, working on korean 

Level of Self-Esteem: lol very very high

Gifts/Talents: photographic memory, charming

Mathematical?: more analytical

Makes Decisions Based Mostly On Emotions, or On Logic?: logic and ambition

Life Philosophy: to obtain influence and power in whatever way she can

Religious Stance: raised southern baptist, absolutely not practicing

Cautious or Daring?: cautious & calculating

Most Sensitive About/Vulnerable To: sanem, her daddy issues

Optimist or Pessimist?: realist

Extrovert or Introvert?: extrovert

RELATIONSHIPS:

Current Relationship Status: engaged to Clarke Maeng, sleeping with Erica Durmaz-Markovy

Sexual Orientation: bisexual

Past Relationships: Sanem Durmaz, others tbd

Primary Reason For Being Broken Up With: bossman doesn’t like when the lawyer fucks his daughter

Primary Reasons For Breaking Up With People: they outlived their usefulness to her

Ever Cheated?: yep, currently is

Been Cheated On: not that she knows of

Level of Sexual Experience: high

A Social Person?: Yes

Most Comfortable Around: her brother, Clarke, Erica, Sanem

Oldest Friend: tbd

How Does She Think Others Perceive Her?: charming & wealthy, she thinks people tend to underestimate her intelligence due to the way she looks and her general demeanor but she doesn’t mind this. Those who know her better she thinks see her as ruthless and ambitious

How Do Others Actually Perceive Her?: ice cold and ruthless, ambitious, falsely sweet/soft, intelligent

SECRETS:

Life Goals: achieve the most power & influence possible

Dreams: being happy and satisfied with what she has

Greatest Fears: losing control

Most Ashamed Of: hurting Sanem & lying to Clarke, doesn't mean she’s going to stop

Secret Hobbies: true crime books, cooking overly elaborate meals

Crimes Committed (Were they caught? Charged?): so many crimes too many to list, her job is to keep others & herself from being caught so nope

DETAILS/QUIRKS:

Night Owl or Early Bird?: night owl

Light or Heavy Sleeper?: heavy sleeper

Favorite Animal: foxes

Favorite Foods: whatever fancy cuisine she’s currently into, will always go for her grandmother’s apple pie & vanilla ice cream

Least Favorite Food: fast food - babes is a snob

Favorite Book: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Least Favorite Book: torts textbook

Favorite Movie: Heathers, Legally Blonde, campy horror movies

Least Favorite Movie: cheesy Rom-coms & screwball comedies

Favorite Song: Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls

Favorite Sport: tennis

Coffee or Tea?: coffee

Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter?: smooth

Type of Car She Drives: 2021 Land Rover

Lefty or Righty?: left

Favorite Color: blue

Cusser?: yep

Smoker? Drinker? Drug User?: only smokes when she’s very stressed or very drunk, yes to drinking, has dabbled in drugs in the past

Biggest Regret: hurting sanem & continuing to do so

Pets: a two year old german shorthaired pointer named Banana

[fics-by-maria]

Good to be Bad [4]

Based on this post by @musicfeedsmysoul12

Warning: This story will be rated Mature for mild sexual content and violence, dead dove do not eat and all that.

Previous | Masterpost | Next

The brick dug into her back, but she didn’t care. She was too focused on the hands in her hair, the softness of his lips, the words being murmured in her ear, the chime of a bell- there chime of a bell!

Marinette woke suddenly to her phone going off. It was 7:45, which meant she had 15 minutes to pull herself together before Timothy showed up.

At exactly 8 there was a knock at the door before it was opened. Marinette was standing in the kitchen, waiting for her coffee to brew.

“Good morning Ms. DC, I brought breakfast.” He set down the bag on the counter.

“Please just call me Marinette and I’ll just call you Tim, formal stuff makes me feel old.”

He cast a smile at her before moving to the table to set up his laptop. As she was pouring herself a cup of coffee he took the opportunity to take a picture of her outfit and sent it to Jason. The look was undeniably Red Hood inspired, from the black and red camouflage cargo pants to the leather jacket and completed with a red bandanna around her hair. He wished he could see Jason’s reaction, but he had things to get done.

“So today it says you should finalize the details on X’s design. Who is X?”

“What color is it in?”

“Bright green.”

“Oh. That'd be Lex Luthor, sorry about my shorthand.”

“It’s alright, I’m more concerned about the all day appointment tomorrow that just says ‘bastard brunch’” Marinette flinched and spilled some of her coffee.

“That’s tomorrow?? Tomorrow is the 16th?”

“Yes, what’s wrong?”

“Time is just.. getting away from me I guess. Congratulations, you can either have the day off tomorrow or come meet the world’s worst father.”

“I thought your dad was the nice baker?”

“Oh, he's not my father. He was my best friend's.”

“I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm afraid I already know two pretty terrible fathers, so I doubt this guy could be any worse.”

She hit him with an icy glare that had a chill running down his spine before she went back to staring into her coffee.

“Take the day off, go do something touristy with your fiancé.”

He couldn’t help but notice that over the three days that he’d worked for her that she used that word often, like she was reminding herself of something.

-

“So how was work?”

“Did you know that our designer does commissions for supervillains? Because I certainly didn’t.”

“What? Like who?”

“Lex Luthor apparently. I got a look at the designs too, there's going to be kryptonite and kevlar woven into the suit itself.”

“Whoa. Do you think she knows?”

“Probably not? No idea, it wasn't labeled as kryptonite in the notes but it couldn't be anything else.”

Tim curled into his boyfriend’s side, sighing. “We’re not going out tonight, she’s got some meeting tomorrow that’s gonna be rough on her I think.”

“Really? With who? Chat Noir’s dad I assume, which has got to be Gabriel Agreste. I can’t figure out why she hates him, so that’s gonna bother me forever.”

“You overthink everything. But enough about that, let’s talk about me.”

Tim laughed and elbowed him in the ribs, rolling out of his embrace.

“Oh yeah? What did you think of her outfit?”

“She was just breathtaking, pretty sure it made me experience a new emotion.”

“What, you discover horny 2?”

“I am going to beat you to death.”

“Do it, you won't, I'm the only thing standing between you and tax evasion charges.”

“Ah yes, that's why I keep you around, tax reasons. You're such a dork, I love you.”

Tags

@gingerdaile @shizukiryuu @crazylittlemunchkin @snowstar1016 @indecisive-mess-named-me @zebrabaker @abrx2002 @maribat-owns-my-ass @jessigurl-design @copitix @trashystar420 @northernbluetongue @my-name-is-michell @starwindmaden @dorkus-minimus @princess-of-fangirls @sassakitty @area51qt @echpr

[chasing-dreamers]

Close encounters

This is my entry for Patricia’s Halloween Challenge!

#12: “I paid $50.00 for this haunted house. I better die.”

#53: “There will be a lot of screaming tonight.”

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Reader

Word Count: 5.6k 

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Billy Hargrove or Stranger Things. This is completely fiction and made up.

A/N: I totally finished this within the first couple weeks and have been waiting to post this, just so I wouldn’t post it too early! Then I started working again and completely forgot about it. This is also the first time I have done anything like this and shared it this publicly.

-

Halloween. It’s literally the BEST day in the entire year. Candy. Costumes. Scary movies. Parties. Oh, and a possible Demogorgon every now and again. You know, usual Hawkins Halloween celebrations.

Thankfully we hadn’t seen any Demogorgons in almost a week and everyone in the lab were getting closer to closing the gate. They we reminded us frequently to stay cautious, but we weren’t going to let the worry of it get in the way of having a good night.

“Okay. So, these shorts or these ones?” I held up two pairs of short jeans in front of myself.

“Hmmm...” Robin tilted her head and squinted her eyes. “I like the red ones, but you have to wear your AC/DC shirt with them.”

“Are you sure?” I grabbed the shirt out of my closet, went into my bathroom, and changed quickly. I went back into my room and stood in front of the mirror. “SO, like this?”

“Tuck your shirt in and please, for just once, keep your hair down.” Robin sighed.

“Do I have to?” I whined. My hair was a curly mess all the time and I hated it.

“Yes!” Robin said. “Who knows, maybe your knight in shining armor will show up?”

“What is up with you and Nancy always teasing me about him!” I glared at her. I turned back into the mirror and tried to get my hair to fall where I wanted it to, but there was no point.

“Because you're actually obsessed with him,” Robin teased. “and I didn't even have to say his name.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Billy Hargrove.” Robin shook her head. “I don’t know what you see in him, Y/N.”

“I don’t know either.” Billy was literally everything I wanted. Well, mostly. The guy was probably the biggest asshole I had ever met, but he was so god damn gorgeous. “It’s just a crush. It’s not like I have a chance with him or anything.”

“If he doesn’t realize that you are literally the coolest girl in Hawkins.” Robin stated. “Then he is actually the dumbass everyone says he is.”

“Yeah, I guess your right.” I chuckled.

“Hey guys! Hurry up!” Nancy walked into my room and grinned when she saw me. “Ooooo, look at you. Someone got all fancy for Billy.”

“Shut up, Nancy!” I groaned and we all giggled. I grabbed my backpack, made sure the walkie and other things I needed were in it, then followed the girls downstairs. Steve and Jonathan were sitting in the living room with my parents. “Are we all ready to go?”

“Yes!” Steve exclaimed and threw his arms up dramatically. “We were just waiting on the princess!”

“I am not a princess.” I rolled my eyes. “I just couldn’t figure out what to wear.”

“Well, you just proved his point.” Jonathan laughed.

“Watch it Byers.” I shot him a look and chuckled. “Do we have everything we need?”

“Yupp. Here’s your bat.” Steve tossed me the nail covered bat and I threw it over my shoulder

“Alright. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Hold on!” My mom grabbed her camera off the table.

“Mom!’ I whined.

“No, Y/N. You know the rules!” My dad scolded me.

“Alright. Fine!” I sighed. I grabbed the others and made them stand next to me.

“1, 2, 3, cheese!”

 -

Click. Click. Click.

“Mom! You have taken like a million pictures!” I groaned as my mom stood there snapping away with her camera.

“Okay! Okay! Okay!” My mom chuckled and began to shoo us out the door. “Go have fun! And no boys, Missy! And why do you have to take that ugly bat everywhere?”

“Bears, mom. Duh!” Steve opened the door and we started walking out.

Right before I left the house, my mom walked over to me and started messing with my hair. “We have to have something done about this hair of yours.”

“Mom come on. Stop!” I shook my hair away from her and huffed. “Robin already tried.”

“Stay safe, Y/N.” My mom started lecturing again. “And I’m serious, no running into the woods with any boys.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her, Mrs. Y/L/N!” Nancy waved behind us, as we quickly tried to walk out the door.

“Thank you, dear!” My mom stood on the porch and waved as we headed down the driveway.

We all piled into Jonathan’s car since it could seat all of us, pulled out of my driveway, and headed to the forest. The haunted trail was a new thing the mayor decided we had to do. Pretty sure it was just his way of getting more money in his pocket. I mean, why else would a haunted trail cost $50.00.

-

We got to the field where the beginning of the trail was set up. A few feet away were a few food stands and small carnival games. The boys had just arrived on their bikes and were wearing their signature Ghostbuster outfits. Jonathan parked the car and they put their bikes right next to it. We all started laughing as we could hear them singing the Ghostbuster’s theme song.

“Who you gonna call?”

“THE NERDS!” I laughed as I jumped out the back and the boys all shot me dirty looks.

“Really, Y/N? Really?” Dustin scolded.

“Oh. Come on. You guys are such nerds.” I chuckled. El and Max giggled as other boys rolled their eyes at me. We all grouped together at the front entrance of the forest.

We all got our walkies out and made sure we were all on the same channel. “Y/N and Nancy, you have the front entrance. We cut up the trail into different sections on what it is going on in that area. All of you have map and a list of where we will be inside. Everyone will stay inside the trail with everyone else. If ANYTHING happens, use your walkie, and if you have to run; Hopper said we can go straight to his cabin and hide out there.” Dustin directed.

“Got it, Dad!” Steve shouted as he ran into the forest first with Jonathan right behind him. The party went in after them. Then El, Max, and Robin went it. I sighed.

“This is lame.” I huffed and leaned against the tree next to me. “We have to just sit here all night, take tickets, and listen to people complaining because it’s $50.00 to walk through a forest.”

“Would you rather be in there with them?” Nancy shrugged.

“There is NO WAY I am going into that forest.” I shook my head. “Not even if you paid me.”

“But what if Mr. ‘He’s-So-Hot-I-Could-Die’ showed up?” Nancy smirked.

“I should have never told you too that.” I laughed. “Plus, he will be with them and they are the last people on the planet I would want anything to do with. I definitely wouldn’t go into a god damn forest with them.”

“You never know.” She grinned. Oh, I knew. No way. As much as I was obsessed with him, I never had a chance. Even though I would go with him, I’d die before I went with anyone else he hung out with.

“I just don’t have a chance.” I shook my head in defeat. “It’s 5 til 8. People should start lining up here soon.”

“He will show up.” Nancy said, putting in her last thought about it. “Just you wait.”

-

It had been about an hour after the haunted trail opened, and ticket sales were higher than I expected. Even though everyone complained when we first heard about it, it was the only thing for anyone over the age of 13 to do. Except getting shit faced and partying, which is what I thought everyone would have been doing.

“I SO told you so.” I was taking someone’s ticket as I felt Nancy’s fist connect with my arm.

“Those are actually the last people I want to see tonight.” I huffed. Tommy H, Carol, and Nicole. Literally the worst trio ever. Then I realized Nancy was right. Billy did show up. I stood there in awe as he shuffled his feet around. He was mindlessly crewing his nails and you could see the muscles in his jaw tighten. His hair was falling into his face perfectly and his eyes sparkled in the light. My heart leaped into my throat as I noticed his chest and torso were completely bare under his jacket. His was made by the gods and I could stare at him forever. I looked back up to his face and those blue eyes were staring right back at me. “Shit!”

“Were you staring hard enough, Y/N!” Nancy half shouted; half whispered at me.

“I’m sorry! Look at him!” I groaned. I went back to taking tickets for the kids that were standing in front of me. I looked back over to where they were standing. Tommy and Carol seemed very eager to get into the woods. Nicole was too busy trying to get to Billy’s attention, but he showed no interest in her.

“Billy is TOTALLY staring at you!” Nancy nodded and jabbed me in my side.

I shoved her back and hissed at her. “Nancy, shut up. He’s not even here to see me.”

“How can you be so sure about that, princess?” Excuse me? What is happening! Why is he standing right here!

“Because you came here with me, Billy. Come on.” Nicole explained as she stomped over to him and tried to wrap her arm around him.

Billy rolled his eyes and tightened his jaw. “No, Nicole. No, I didn’t. Now get in there before you have to go by yourself.”

Nicole shoved the ticket into my hand, then went back to where Tommy and Carol were.

Nancy winked at me and giggled as I shot her a dirty look. I turned back towards Billy and he was standing even closer to me.

“So, what do you say, Y/N? Care to join me?” Billy purred.

“Nah., I think I’ll pass.” I shrugged.

“Why not? It could be like a date.” He smiled even more, and I could hear Nancy squeal as she continued to keep the line moving.

“Date? Billy Hargrove, do you even know me?” I laughed.

“Yes, Y/N. I do.” There is no way he did. “You just decide to run off every time I get close to you.”

“Well, then this is me running off again.” I threw the tickets into the trash can next to me, grabbed my backpack, and then grabbed my bat. “I am going to go get some food, Nance. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, fine. It’s not a date, but I still want you to come with me.” Billy insisted and grabbed my arm to keep me from walking away.

“Why Billy?” I pulled my arm out of his grip.

“Come on, princess! Live a little!” Billy shouted. “Nancy can handle this by herself.”

“Definitely.” Nancy grinned. She nodded toward my bat. “You were going to leave me anyway!”

“I do live, a little! That’s why I am just selling tickets!” I pointed him in his broad, bare chest. “Billy, your dates end up in a car or a bed or just where the hell ever, and usually with someone screaming. So, thanks but no thanks.”

“Oh, there will be a lot of screaming tonight.” Nancy chuckled.

“Nancy!” I yelled.

“Y/N, you are literally the biggest baby I know when it comes to this stuff.” She quickly shot back. “You’ll scream before anything even jumps out at you.”

“Well, then you definitely need me to go with you.” Billy laughed.

“Go on, Y/N. Have some fun for once.” Nancy took his ticket and tried to get me to walk into the trail.

“Nancy, you literally told my mom this was the last thing that would happen.” I didn’t budge.

“What’s the worst thing that could happen, princess?” Billy asked.

“Actually everything.” I huffed.

Nancy looked at me and rolled her eyes, then started pushing me into the woods. “Gotta keep the line going.”

“You are a traitor, Nancy Wheeler. A traitor!” I yelled. I tried to go back out, but Billy slinked an arm around my waist and walked into the trail.

“Is this trail even worth $50.00?” Billy asked as we finally started walking deeper into the forest.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t know.” I replied. “I have never been in here. Obviously.”

“Well, I paid $50.00 for this haunted house, so I better die.” Billy stated.

“If you died, it would definitely make it worth $50.00” I shrugged. “This is literal kidnapping and it’s just a trail, dumbass.”

“Ouch.” Billy gasped, putting is hand up to his chest. The first part was just a long tunnel made from cardboard boxes and with fake candles hanging from the top. We walked through it silently, but I couldn’t understand what I was doing.

“Billy, why am I in here?” I asked him.

“Because you can’t resist me.” He chuckled.

“But I said no.” I said. “I mean, why me and not Nicole? Actually, why me at all?”

“I think you’re cool and I have been trying to figure out how to get you to hang out with me for months.” He nervously rubbed his hands on his jeans.

“Who are you and what have to done to the Billy Hargrove I go to school what?” There was no way he had been trying to hang out with me. Absolutely no way.

“Very funny, princess.” Billy chuckled. He moved his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to where his lips were touching my ear. “And yes, I do.”

“I just can’t-AAAH!!” As we turned a corner, someone dressed up as a clown jumped down from the trees and yelled right in my face. I instantly swung the bat up, barely stopping myself from swinging.

Billy burst out in laughter. “Looks like Nancy was right.”

“Oh, shut up.” I growled.

Before I could answer him, something jumped out from behind us and I shrieked. I whipped around to another person dressed as a clown skipping back behind the wall and laughing manically. Then suddenly two arms were wrapped around me. I pulled away and, again, instinctively swung the bat above my head.

“Y/N! Holy hell!” Billy reached up and ripped the bat from my hands. “It was just me!”

“Fuck!” I stumbled back and put my hands over my mouth. Billy looked at how freaked out I was and let out a sigh. He grabbed the bat from me and took my hand with his free one.

“Is there a reason you get scared so easily?” He squeezed my hand reassuringly as I just shook my head.

“I’ve seen some shit, Billy.” I shuddered. “It would scare you too.”

“I can tell. From how jumpy you are, to how fast you react with this bat of yours.” He swung the bat down next to his leg. “But don't worry, princess. You have me now.”

“Well, that’s comforting.” If only he knew.

“So, what happened?” He asked. “What is there in Hawkins that could have you so freaked out all the time?”

“Okay. There are big, scary monsters, called Demogorgons coming into Hawkins from another dimension called The Upside Down. The Hawkins Lab is responsible for keeping the door open. Then your sister’s best friend has crazy powers that lets her control stuff with her mind. Oh, and there might be Russians somewhere too.” I explained as we walked through the third part of the trail.

“I know I’m an ass.” Billy growled. “But you don’t have to bullshit with me.”

“I’m not.” I shrugged. We turned a makeshift corner and I realized there was blood in pools on the ground. “Billy. Don’t move.”

“Why? Is some big, scary, whatever monster going to hurt me?” He grumbled and rolled him eyes.

“Billy. Shut up.”

“Come on, princess!” He sighed and pulled at my arm.

“Billy!” I grabbed his arm and pulled back as hard as I could. He stumbled back toward me and gave me a bewildered look. I slammed my hand over his mouth and ripped the bat out of his hand. “I said ‘Shut up.’”

He grumbled but nodded. “Now stay behind me and do exactly as I say.” He nodded again and turned back toward the blood on the ground. I slowly turned to look around the corner and felt my blood go cold. There was a Demogorgon dragging a deer through the trail. I grabbed my walkie from my backpack, ducking behind a tree and dragging Billy with me. He just stood there with a questioning look. Shit.

“Code Red. Repeat. I have a Code Red. Section 3. Code Red. This is a Code freaking Red.” I quickly said.

“Copy. On our way.” Nancy responded.

“Copy. We are in section 5. Give us two minutes.” Lucas also replied.

Billy sat there and tried to get me to walk back towards it. “It’s just part of the trail, princess. What kind of trick is this?”

“This isn’t a trick, Billy. Stay quiet.” I snapped.

“Stop messing with me, Y/N.” He growled.

“I’m not, Billy.”

“Then let’s go.” He pulled me and, in the process, stomped down on a tree branch and it snapped.

I froze. Billy pulled on my arm again. I ripped it out of his grip and whipped around. The Demogorgon had now turned around and was walking towards us.

“Seriously, Y/N? I’m not falling for this.” Billy yelled. The Demogorgon opened his face and screeched towards us. “What the- “

“Billy. Run.” I shoved Billy right as the Demogorgon started running towards us. We ran back towards where we had just come from, but we had to get off the trail. I couldn’t let this thing get to where everyone was. I pushed through a pumpkin set up and got away from the trail. I would NOT let this thing find anyone else. Billy stayed close beside me as we continued running through the forest. My first thought was to stay several feet outside the trail so the others could still find us...somehow. I just hope they could find us before we get killed. I tried to run towards the cabin, but I had lost track of where we were is the midst of my panicking.

“Umpf.” Billy tripped and smashed his face down onto a tree root. I dropped the bat and tried to pull him up, but the Demogorgon was already standing less than fifteen feet away from us.

“Y/N, What the hell is that?!” Billy screamed.

“A Demogorgon. I told you to shut up! Maybe if you had listened; he would be dead already!” I yelled back at him.

The Demogorgon opened his opened his face again and screeched at Billy. Billy scuffled back as far as he could, until his back was up against a tree, and I stood in front of him. “Y/N, what are you doing!”

“Shut up, Billy! Shut the HELL UP!” I tightened the grip I had on my bat and started swinging it down in front of my feet. For some reason, I wanted to keep this thing distracted. “Billy. Get out of here.”

“Y/N, there is no fucking way I am leaving you with this thing.” He sounded completely terrified and I couldn’t blame him. I was fucking terrified.

“Billy, please.” The Demogorgon let out a long growl and was slowly getting closer.

“Come on, big guy. You know you want this.” I tried to remain calm as I began to shake violently.

As I taunted him, he leaped forward and I swung the bat as hard as I could. It made a loud squelching noise as it connected with the side of the Demogorgons head. The monster jumped back and crouched down. He shook his head, flinging blood everywhere. He tried to attack again, getting hit with the bat a second time.

We went back and forth for several minutes. He would swing, I would dodge it, then connect the bat to some part of his body. I kept my distance and tried to make sure I stayed between him and Billy. After another hit, the Demogorgon made it to where I could hear Billy breathing right behind me. I turned and at look at him. His face was covered in blood. He stared at the monster without even blinking. He looked at me and I could see tears starting to collect in his eyes.

Suddenly, everything went white. I had let my guard down. I now I could feel a sharp, agonizing pain it my side. I screamed and felt the Demogorgon’s claws catch my body and I fell into the dirt.

I sat there and watch the Demogorgon stand up and get ready to attack again. I ducked my head and felt the bat get ripped from my hand. Billy swung it over his head and smash it down onto the Demogorgon’s head. The monster backed up and screeched in pain, but Billy didn’t stop. He yelled as he continued swinging without giving him anytime to swing at him.

“GO. TO. HELL!” Billy spun the bat in his hand, swung it up, and caught the Demogorgon on the side of the head.

“Billy!” I tried to stand up but fell back down quickly. Small, black spots began to fill my vision and I felt my body wobbling around. “Billy!”

Right as Billy swung the bat at monster again, I heard someone else screaming and the Demogorgon was lifted into the air. Eleven stepped out past the trees, her hands stretched out in front of her, and blood pouring out from her nose. The Demogorgon screeched as he was thrown through the trees and make of cracking sound as him body connected with a tree.

“Billy!” Max was right behind Eleven and I could faintly see a few more shadows walking towards us. I tried to say anything, but I felt my body give away and my eyes get heavy. The smell of blood filled my nose.

“Y/N! Oh my god!” I heard Nancy yelling and I felt my body being picked up.

Then everything went black.

A few moments later, I felt my head bobbing and my body moving slightly. There was a sharp pain in my side that was more intense than anything I have ever felt. I could hear distorted talking and slowly tried to open my yes.

“Hey. Hey. Hey. Careful, princess.”

“Billy?” I blinked a few times and looked up to see Billy's face right above me. I turned my head and could see the trees flying past us as the car sped down the road.

“Billy. You seriously can never tell anyone what happened.” Nancy was rambling and freaking out.

“Nancy, seriously? I don't even want to try and figure out what the fuck happened back there.” Billy snapped at her. “Y/N is injured and all that matters to me is getting her to the damn hospital.”

“Why do you even care what happens to her, Hargrove?” Steve yelled at Billy.

“That’s none of your damn business, Harrington.” Billy snapped. As their voices continued to get louder, so did the pounding in my head. I groaned and tried to cover my ears. “Hey. Hey. Hey. Careful, Y/N. Careful. We’re almost there.”

-

“Beep. Beep. Beep.”

I woke up to a mild pain in my head and a numbing feeling in my torso. I felt extremely groggy. I groaned as I opened my eyes and a bright light flooded into my vision. “W-Where am I?”

“Woah. Woah. Woah. Be careful.” Someone said softly.

I tried to focus my eyes on who was talking, but everything was still too fuzzy. I brought my hand up to cover my eyes, hoping any part of my headache would go away. “What happened?”

“Honey, you got attacked by a bear.” Another voice said. “He messed you up pretty badly. Thankfully, your boyfriend here and your friends got you to us fast enough.”

“What?” My eyes focused and I looked at the nurse standing by my bed.

“Do you need anything, Hun?” She asked.

“J-Just water. Please.” Boyfriend? The nurse left and I turned to see who else was in the room.

“Hey there, princess.” His eyes were flooded with concern and he held my hand firmly. “How do you feel?”

“Hi, Billy.” I leaned my head into his hand that was holding my face. He was definitely a sight for sore eyes after what happened. I looked down and realized he had changed out of what he was wearing before. Instead he just had a light blue button up shirt on and had tucked in into a cleaner pair of jeans. “I just feel like I got run over by a truck.”

“Well,” he raised his eyebrows and chuckled. “considering what I saw, that doesn’t seem like it hurts too bad.”

“Here is your water, dear.” The nurse came back in and she had Billy help her sit me up more. I yelped out in pain when I tried to push up with my hands. “Careful, Hun. Here you go.”

“Thank you.” I said weakly. I took a few sips out of the straw and sighed. The cold water felt relieving going down my throat.

“Now that you are awake, my name is Anna. I will be the main nurse taking care of you while you are here.” She gave me a warm smile.

“Thank you, Anna.” I drank more water and Billy helped me hold the cup without spilling it. “Are my parents here?”

“Yes, dear. They were here as soon as they got called. Hopper had to have them go down to the station, but they should be back here very soon,” Anna explained. She asked if I needed anything else and I shook my head. She left the room and said she would let my parents know I woke up.

“I finally know where you get your little spark from.” Billy chuckled. “Your mom almost killed me when she saw all the blood all over me. Then yelled at me from almost twenty minutes about taking you into the woods.” “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry.” I groaned.

“I don’t blame her. Her daughter leaves with her friends and then ends up in the hospital because Billy Hargrove took her into the woods.” He shrugged. The door to the room opened and I smiled as my parents came in.

“Y/N, oh honey, you’re okay.” My mom rushed over as soon as she saw me and hugged me. She pulled back, keeping her hands around my face, making my look at her. “Are you okay? Do you need anything? Have they been taking care of you?”

“Yes, Mom. I’ve only been awake for a few minutes. I’m fine.” She pulled her hands away, only to give my dad some room to hug me. “Hey, Dad.”

“Hey, kiddo. I’m glad you’re doing okay.” He said. He tried to sound firm, but I could hear him holding a choke back, trying to keep himself from crying.

“Me too.” I relaxed a little more. Having my parents here made me feel more comfortable.

“We came as soon as we got the call from Hopper.” My parents pulled up a chair and my mom started explaining what happened after they had gotten me to the hospital. “All of your friends were here, and Joyce and Hopper were here too. We all waited until after you went in to get your stitches done before going down to the station. The other kids tried to stay here, but their parents wanted them home where they knew where they were.”

“Billy here, he is the only one that hasn’t left yet.” My dad nodded toward Billy. He was nervously twirling his ring on his finger and I reached up to grab his hand. He took a deep breath and looked back up at us.

“But I do remember telling you not to go into the woods and especially not with any boys.” My mom scolded both of us. “You’re lucky he was there with you and was able to get you out of there.”

“I know, Mom.” I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“We are just glad you are safe, kiddo.” My dad said.

“We will go get you some food and be right back, sweetheart.” My mom stood up and kissed my forehead.

“I love you too, mom.” They walked out and I turned back toward Billy. “You never left?”

He shook his head. “Hopper almost killed me because I made him bring the paperwork to file the report to me. I couldn’t leave your side, Y/N. You saved my life and I almost lost you.”

“Billy, you saved me too.” I reached up and wiped the tear that rolled down his cheek. I giggled lightly. “But for future reference, I told you a haunted trail was a horrible idea for a first date.”

“Y/N, I’m so sorry.” Billy stammered. “I should have... I should have listened to you. Plus, you went in there because of me. This is my fault.”

“Billy,” I said taking ahold of his hand. “there is no way you knew what was going to happen. You didn’t even know it was there. How could you?”

“I could have lost you.” This was a side of Billy Hargrove that I had never seen. He looked so vulnerable. Over me of all people.

“Trust me,” I laughed. “you can’t get rid of me that fast.”

“I hope not, princess.”

­-

It was finally time to go home. It was a still early in the day, so only my parents were there with me. We had finally convinced Billy to go back to school after a couple days and we only agreed so he could get my schoolwork for me. It was weird without him here

“Well, Miss Y/N. It looks like the doctors are finally ready to let you go home.” My nurse happily stated. “As much as I enjoyed having you here and getting to take care of you, I am very glad to see you finally going home.”

“You have been the best nurse ever, Anna.” I gave her a quick hug and she handed me all my paperwork. “If I ever come back, I will definitely ask for you.”

“Y/N, if you end up back in the hospital,” my dad shook his head. “your mother will kill you.”

“Yes, she will.” My mother laughed and sighed.

I chuckled. After three and a half long weeks, the doctors we finally allowed to give me the ‘Okay.’ Mostly, because Dr. Owens heard about the attack, knew what it was, and they made me stay longer. Thankfully, there were no severe infections and the wounds healed up relatively quickly.

“A list of all the ointments and antibiotics you will need are in here. You will just need to take that paper to Kathy down the hall.”

“Thank you so much for taking care of her, Anna.” My mom had tears in her eyes as she thanked her.

“Just make sure she isn’t running into the woods with anymore boys.” Anna smirked. “She’s definitely not one to mess around with.”

They all laughed, and I headed to get my medicine. Once I got that, it was finally time to go home.

-

Five years later.

“Hey, princess.”

“Billy!” I laughed loudly as he picked me up and spun my around. I kissed he deeply. He wrapped his arms around me tightly and slowly put me back down on the ground. I pulled back and staring into his still, memorizing blue eyes. “I missed you.”

“I told you I would be back from California for Halloween. I can’t miss this one.” He kissed me again, then took my hand as we headed toward the ticket booth.

“You would never hear the end of it.” I grinned. We walked to the back of the line and waited to get our tickets. “I’m kinda nervous. I’m surprised they decided to do this again.”

“Well, there haven’t been anymore ‘bear attacks,’ so I guess the mayor decided it was worth a shot again.” Billy shrugged. “It’s been made a lot shorter and Hopper said the police are even working it this year. Like, fully overseeing the whole thing.”

“That’s good to know.” I crossed my arms and could still feel the deep scars running across my side. Five years. That’s how long it took them to do another haunted trail. That’s how long it took me to even want to go back into the woods. That’s how long Billy and I had been together now. Five years.

“You okay, princess?” Billy’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I realized he had gotten the tickets already. “Are you sure you’ll be ready?”

“Yes. I even made sure I brought this.” I laughed and shook my backpack. The handle of the nail covered bat stuck out the top. There was no way I wasn’t taking that thing with me.

“Of course, you did.” Billy slung his arm over my shoulders and kissed my head. “Let’s go, princess.”

We joined the line headed into the trail. There were two officers standing on both sides of the entrance, and then they had adults walking through with all the kids. The safety precautions were through the roof for this thing. I couldn’t blame them. We were lucky I was able to recover from the attack last time.

The officer took our tickets and we walked into the trail with a few other people that had been standing in front of us. Billy kept a tight grip on my hand, and I nodded whenever he looked at me with worry.

My skin crawled as we walked deeper into the trail. We were very lucky I was still alive. But there was something that nobody could have known.

We wouldn’t be so lucky this time.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #212: Men of Deadly Pride!

October, 1981

Here they are -- the new Avengers!

But not the New Avengers (the difference is that the hairy monster they have is Tigra instead of Wolverine).

And they are having difficulty.

I don’t know what they did to piss off Galadriel over here (I mean yes I do, she says it right on the cover) but she is kicking their asses.

A dark queen indeed.

Not much to actually say about the cover. Uh, the composition looks neat! There we go. A thing.

So lets jump inside.

Where in a moody dawn scene, Jarvis walks alone through a nearly empty Avengers mansion, little knowing he is being stalked until

RAWWR! IT IS CAT!

Tigra jumps out to do him a startle.

C’mon, Tigra. Be nice.

You’re the only Avenger actually staying in the mansion so try not to terrorize the butler.

And he was bringing you a glass of milk for your breakfast!

Although he says that he’s dealt with a lot of unsettling things and he’s learned to maintain him composure. He didn’t even spill a drop.

Jarvis: “I must say, madame, that I find you rather more unsettling than our previous resident Avengers!”

Tigra: “Oh? You a cat-lover, Jarv?”

AND DON’T FLIRT WITH HIM EITHER TIGRA GEEZ

Poor Jarvis is even allergic to cats which seems to include giant cat women.

Jarvis asks how she got this way, prompting Tigra to give a very laconic backstory that once there was a human Greer Nelson who got almost dead and then the cat-people saved her life by turning her into a cat-person.

Tigra: “And, so, here I am, one pretty kitty! But, c’mon, Jarv, does it matter how I got this sexy?”

Jarvis clarifies that he meant how she got this way as in her upbringing. Like, why you so rude.

I guess I’ll just be grateful that this is just playful Tigra flirtiness as opposed to ‘i must make out with someone 24/7 oh hey a supervillain sure I’ll make you with you’ hypersexuality she’d have while on the West Coast Avengers, in the future.

Elsewhere, Tony Stark is decompressing from his one night stand, Teri. Admiring her very comfy couch, grateful that she’s still asleep so he can sneak out (Tony, you cad), and lamenting being on the wagon. When all that’s left to drink is scotch, bourbon, and half a can of warm, flat Dr. Pepper, you drink that Dr. Pepper if you’re Tony Stark.

Tony calls his secretary to have a janitorial crew clean up after the party and to send up a dozen roses for Teri.

And then he flies out the window as Iron Man, the Man Who Kisses and Runs! as Teri wakes up and is like ‘hey tonykins what the hell was that whooshing sound?’

Tony, you cad.

And elsewhere meanwhile, Steve Rogers wakes up promptly at six o’clock in the damn morning bright as the sun and raring to go. Disgusting. Truly disgusting.

I joked about Steve getting up at 6 to run ten miles and whatever because of him criticizing Beast that time but its sickening to see it in action.

Anyway, after he damn sings in the shower like the perky morning man he is, he bounces out the window to the first Avengers meeting since the roster shake-up, musing how little they know about Tigra and how he’ll have to keep an eye on her because he doesn’t know if she’ll crack under pressure or not.

And then onto, ok wow, we are just having full pages of individual Avengers going about their mornings.

So we’re onto Normal Human Man Dr. Donald Blake reaching the end of the night shift he just pulled at a hospital.

Nurse Wilson pretty blatantly flirts with him (thinking to herself “C’mon, doc! Notice that I’m a woman! I dare you!”). Normal Human Man Dr. Donald Blake doesn’t seem to notice but his thoughts are on her, wishing he could take her out for lunch but that he has important Avengers business.

He then taps his walking stick and transforms into Thor and flies off towards the mansion.

And that brings us to Cresskill where Janet van Dyne aka the Wasp and Hank Pym aka Yellowjacket are going about their morning.

Befitting her blase attitude last issue, Jan just wants to stay in bed longer and cuddle but Hank is desperate not to be late to his first meeting as a newly active Avenger again.

So he’s in costume and ready to go while she’s still choosing which of her many many costumes to wear. Albeit with the ulterior motive that she’s trying to look good for him. She does put in like 90% of the effort into the relationship.

So she’s narrowed her choices down to a red and blue costume and a green and purple outfit that looks like maybe she raided the Green Goblin’s wardrobe. She asks Hank to decide for her.

And he does. In a sense.

He blasts the green and purple number to shreds and yells “Wear the other one!” and when she protests the destruction of her stuff he goes “So what? Like you said you’ve got lots!”

Hmm. We haven’t seen Hank in a while. And he didn’t talk much last issue what with all the Moondragoning. But he’s taken a bit of a level in being a jackass.

And then on the ride to the mansion, the limo gets stuck in traffic.

Yellowjacket: “That does it! You can ride in your blasted chauffeured limo so your two-hundred dollar hair-do doesn’t get mussed -- but I’m flying to Avengers Mansion under my own power!”

And then he ditches. He ditches hard. Leaving Wasp to fly after him begging him to wait.

You’re a bit of a rude, Hank.

Like Hank feared, the two do arrive late to the meeting and he is gently ribbed by sudden class clown Captain America.

Captain America: “Well, look who’s finally here! Now the Wasp has arrived with her new partner -- uh, Yellowjacket, right? We can get started!”

Is funny joke. Its been a time so they’re pretending he’s a new guy and ha ha he’s being described as Wasp’s partner instead of vice versa. What an upset.

And it is an upset. Tigra notices what the other Avengers seem to miss, that Cap’s joke just pissed Yellowjacket off.

And its not helped when Cap mentions that its time to elect a new chairman but Iron Man interrupts to say that he and Thor have agreed that its better for Cap to remain chairman. They did just reorganize the roster and all. Some stability is fine.

Thor: “We choose to waive the elections! Such is our right as founding members!”

And this sets Yellowjacket right the hell off.

Yellowjacket: “Is that so? Well, I resent not being consulted! As the Ant Man I was a founding member, too!”

Iron Man: “uh, of course Hank... you and the Wasp! But you came in late... we’d already decided...”

Yeah! The Wasp too!

But Yellowjacket has some kind of insect in his bonnet and he yells that he’s done being forgotten and treated as a has-been while Janet just silently cringes.  She wonders what’s happened to the man she loves. And why he won’t let her reach him anymore.

The meeting continues but the scene transitions.

To a cottage in an isolated glade among the wooded hills of Virginia. Where the olde talking power couple of Gorn and Linnea wake up. Linnea wants to lay in bed with Gorn a while longer but he decides NAY TIME TO GET UP NOW.

Hey wait.

Hmmm.

I’m sensing... thematic parallels. I’m sure its nothing, though.

Anyway, Gorn is tired of living a quiet idyllic life in a beautiful glade with a woman who dearly loves him, as they’ve done for ten thousand years. His dander is up and he wants battles to fight and glory to win! He’s tired of being safe in the glade, protected by Linnea’s power. He’s a warrior, not a farmer!

(I see no evidence of farming around the cottage, just saying)

And since its either be ditched or go with him, Linnea decides to go with him.

Gorn: “You are beautiful in that gown, Linnea. Men shall again call you Elf-Queen as they did in ancient days!”

Linnea/Elf-Queen: “They also called me witch and devil-spawn! They are ever so cruel to my kind!”

Gorn: “Aye, and once we fled them! This time, if we must, we shall fight them!”

Ah, geez, Gorn. The cover implies this won’t go well for you.

So Gorn and Elf-Queen, him on foot and her on horseback) wander into Washington DC literally looking for trouble.

But before trouble, something to eat. Looking for an inn, they wander into a random restaurant.

Gorn, being Gorn, immediately starts yelling at the maitre d’, who he assumes is the innkeeper.

And here’s a bit of an interesting and not often used touch. Even though all speech bubbles are rendered without <> as is sometimes used to denote someone speaking a different language, Gorn and Elf-Queen Linnea are in fact speaking an ancient language.

Nobody can understand a thing they say.

And they can’t understand modern English.

This is a perfect setup for some farce.

Gorn ends up just yelling that he wants food and the maitre d’ gets the gist even though he doesn’t understand the words. This is Washington DC. A lot of people from other countries wander through. So he shows them to a table.

Linnea and Gorn decide that the maitre d’ is probably the innkeeper’s idiot brother. I mean, that’s probably why he can’t understand normal language, right?

And there’s more culture shock to be had. Linnea is realizing how differently dressed everyone is in this era. None of the men are even wielding swords!

Elf-Queen Linnea: “And the women, Gorn -- ! The way they’re dressed --! Like -- like harlots!”

Gorn: “Aye! Hmmm...” -totally staring at a butt and not paying attention-

Linnea: “Gorn... ?! I-if we stay here... would you like me to dress so? I do not know if I can learn the ways of these women... but for you my love, I would try! Gorn... ?”

Gorn: “Mmm...” -still not paying attention-

Linnea: (Oh, Gorn! For ten thousand years we have dwelt together in solitude, as one in our love! Am I to lose you now, here in this city of temptresses?)

Hmmm.... this reminds me of something.... but what?

A Barry Kaplan interrupts her inferiority anxiety by coming up and trying to hire her as a fashion model.

And neither Barry nor Linnea can understand each other still.

But she senses something of his intentions and warns him that this isn’t a good idea since she’s sitting next to a warrior and all.

Barry is like ‘maybe if I try other languages?’

And then Gorn notices. And Gorn is displeased.

Gorn: “NO ONE TOUCHES GORN’S WOMAN!”

Barry: “I warn you, I’ve had six jiu-jitsu lessons!”

Wow!

So Gorn gets up from that and just bodily lifts the guy over his head (Barry lamenting that he dropped out before jiu-jitsu lesson seven). But if you get the barbarian or warrior dropped into a modern setting trope they’re usually just way better than any soft modern man. So its funny to see this random dink get the better of Gorn, even if its just the preamble to what would have been Gorn delivering a thorough beatdown.

Its just not what you expect to see in this story.

Linnea magics Barry out of Gorn’s hands, trying to defuse the situation but Gorn interprets the situation as her ‘unmanning’ him.

Gorn: “Why, Linnea? Why do you seek to unman me? Is it not enough that your power has preserved my youth and kept me for centuries? Must you now interfere in my battles?”

Linnea meekly apologizes.

And then the maitre d’ comes pissed off that this loud, shouting weirdo started a fight and is going to call the police on them. Until Linnea goes ‘oh right we should pay for the damage we caused’ and gives the maitre d’ a gold and diamond necklace.

And the maitre d’ mentally goes cha-ching and reroutes an order about to be served to give to the big spending non-English speaking weirdos.

When Gorn and Elf-Queen finally leave the restaurant wouldn’t you know it, someone stole their damn horse!

What kind of city is it where you can’t leave a horse tied to a parking meter without someone making off with it??

Linnea once again is like ‘hey lets go home to our nice glade where nobody ever stole our horse’

Gorn: “It is your home, Linnea, where I am but a guest -- nay, a pet kept by your grace. Ages ago, I was a renowed warrior, honored and feared by nations and kings! If I am to be a man in my own eyes I must regain the glory I once knew!”

And then a cop comes up to Gorn because you can’t just carry a sword around Washington DC.

Gorn: “Eh? His words are gibberish but the intent is clear! This blue-clad warrior issues me a challenge! Have at thee scoundr- AHH!”

And then the cop just maces Gorn.

Its not funny like the talent agent tossing him into a salad bowl because: cops. Its still a little funny because: Gorn.

Anyway, while Gorn is screaming and coughing the cop just slaps some handcuffs on him.

And Linnea magics the cop away from her boyfriend and worries over him.

Given this new horrible thing that has happened to them, another in a line of horrible things happening to them once they left their home, Linnea begs Gorn again to give up this quest to fight a random thing to make himself feel manly.

Linnea: “I am so worried, Gorn! The world has grown so strange! There is so much here that we do not understand! Please, let us go back before something terrible befalls us!”

He again refuses and she asks if he would die for his pride.

So he slaps her across the face.

And after all that she’s meekly gone along with his whims and tantrums and whatever else ways to describe Gorn’s exceptionally gornish way of being, she draws the line here.

Linnea: “Go ahead, Gorn -- stay! Win your stupid ‘glory’! I do not care! Farewell!”

And she just walks away into the sky, twinkle, because she can do that.

When she’s too far to hear he whispers an apology but its too late and he sadly trudges off alone into the city.

Wow, that was six pages of just Gorn and Linnea, Elf-Queen. That’s nearly a fourth of the whole issue! We spend a lot of time with these two new characters!

Back at Avengers Mansion, Iron Man and Yellowjacket prep the Quinjet to fly.

Wasp: “You mean we’re going all the way to Washington, D.C. just because somebody there claims they saw a woman walking on air? What’s new about that? I do it every time my sweetie Hank gives me a wink! Then, again, they do have some wonderful stores there! Last time I went there I bought six fur coats!”

Tigra: “Sounds expensive! I’m lucky! Mine’s built in!”

Iron Man chimes in that the air-walking woman also assaulted a cop so clearly this looks like a job for the Avengers.

But when they finish up checking the Quinjet, Yellowjacket says that he’s discovered the ‘sonomodulator circuit’ on his disruptor gun is acting up.

He’s pretty sure he can fix it but Wasp chimes in with a more different idea.

Wasp: “I’ll just ring up Jeeves over at the East Side Penthouse! He can grab one of those doohickies from your lab there and zip right over in the limo! It’ll just take a few minutes!”

Yellowjacket: “You love doing that, don’t you? You love taking every opportunity to flaunt your blasted money! Well, I don’t need your butlers, your cars or your money -- and I don’t need you!”

And Wasp runs off crying that she only wanted to help. Yellowjacket storms into the Quinjet telling the other Avengers to forget Wasp and get going.

Making the other Avengers feel very awkward about witnessing this fight. Cap even feels as if he should do something but doesn’t know what since its a personal matter.

A suggestion? Mandated couples counseling since this kind of thing could affect the team, will be the reason you give? Like. This clearly is something that’s going to cause trouble. Get ahead of it, Cap.

Meanwhile, back in Washington D.C. because yes Gorn didn’t just walk out of the book forever alone. He walked into a very honestly uncomfortably stereotypical gang who decide hey maybe we should mug that guy with the sword, it’ll probably pawn for something.

Gorn still can’t understand a thing anyone says but they’re carrying weapons and finally here’s a situation he understands. And finally he also doesn’t get played for a chump. He just wades into the crowd of six and starts laying them out with his bare hands.

This is what you’d typically see for a warrior type dropped into modern world thing.

Oh and then the cops hear the fight and go hey its that guy with the sword that there was an APB about.

And Gorn goes, hey its guys wearing the same livery of the guy that got me with that stinging vapor. Time to run at them with a sword.

So they shoot him five times.

And he dies.

It turns out that Linnea has been watching Gorn from a distance this whole time, apparently unwilling to actually ditch. So she sees him get gunned down.

She floats down from the sky to his side and realizes that he is already dead. The cops mistake sky woman for an angel (but there was an APB out for Gorn so why didn’t the flying woman warrant a mention?) but if Linnea is, she’s an avenging one.

She turns on the cops with her magic and makes them sink up to their necks into the concrete.

Elf-Queen: “Are you begging? It is for naught! He’s dead! DEAD! My love is dead -- and this city, this world shall PAY!”

And she turns her magic on Washington D.C., blasting a building and a helicopter, lashing out in grief at the world that killed her dickbag boyfriend.

This is when the Avengers finally arrive to the Plot, in this Avengers book.

The Avengers just see someone breaking property and go to stop her.

Captain America: “Avengers... attack!”

Of course, Tony being Tony, and kind of a loose man immediately gets distracted at the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.

Iron Man: “Excuse me, miss! Couldn’t we discuss whatever’s bothering you... say, over dinner at the diplomat club?”

Its... not a bad idea. A little bit of empathy. Its just his motive that’s bad.

And also, his inability to speak ancient languages. Elf-Queen still can’t understand a thing anyone says. She does think a flying man in armor is something Gorn would have liked. But that just makes her mad.

So she magics a railing to wrap up Iron Man.

Thor grabs Elf-Queen from behind, pulling her arm behind her back. Its strikingly reminiscent of the Standard Female Grab Area trope but Elf-Queen doesn’t believe in that trope.

Elf-Queen: “You are strong, jackal! Your strength might have been enough to hold even me -- had you not presumed I was as frail as I appear!”

And she throws Thor into what is probably a monument.

Hmm, Iron Man and Thor got dunked so far because they really underestimated this woman because she’s a woman. Maybe don’t do that?

Meanwhile, Yellowjacket is thinking that this is his chance to prove what a star he is, if he’s the one that takes the threat down with his disruptor blast.

While Elf-Queen distracts herself with the dropped Mjolnir, Yellowjacket tries to shoot her with his disruptor from behind.

But it shorts out again!

Maybe he should have gotten the replacement part instead of trying to jury-rig a repair!

Elf-Queen senses the power in Mjolnir and tries to pick it up to better smash the world but finds she can’t lift it.

She guesses that there’s some enchantment on it since it doesn’t crumble the ground beneath it.

SO

So she magics the ground to form a hand to grab and lift Mjolnir.

And then she hits Thor in the face with his own hammer. Hah.

Another for the list of silly Mjolnir loopholes.

Linnea monologues about her backstory because. Look. She may not be a villain. And people may not be able to understand a word she says. But people in comics have to comic.

Elf-Queen: “I am Linnea, called Elf Queen and great is the power I was born with! It transported my love and me across the ocean to this land ages ago in search of solitude! It preserved our youth! It kept us hidden when civilization spread its taint hither! The forces, forms and sustenance of the world bend to my will -- but all my power cannot help my Gorn now! Now, my gift serves only as a means for vengeance!”

Iron Man manages to tear free of the railing wrapped around him just as Tigra loudly pounces at Elf-Queen.

And Elf-Queen just gestures and sends Tigra flying into the air. High, high into the air. So high, so into the air that Iron Man has to fly after her to make sure Tigra doesn’t end up asphyxiating in space.

With all of the other Avengers out of action (or standing around uselessly like Yellowjacket), Elf-Queen turns out wrath on Captain America.

She blasts a building, sending a whole wall at him.

Cap dodges through the rain of rubble and berates himself. He realizes that he should have attacked sooner but he’s been holding back, trying to figure things out.

She’s speaking a language that doesn’t sound like any he knows of. Her clothes seem to be of ancient design. And he’s wondering if she maybe just popped out of the past, somehow surviving from some age undreamt of.

And hey, relatable, kinda. He spent decades in suspended animation.

Elf-Queen throws a lake of fire between her and Cap and Cap figures hey she’ll expect me to go around. So he jumps over it, doing her a startle.

Cap: “Good! I took her completely off guard! This is a perfect chance -- to show her that we want only peace!”

So he stands in front of her, hands to his side, palms showing. Showing no aggression.

Elf-Queen: “You did not strike when you had the opportunity! I could slay you easily now! Unflinchingly you face death! How like... my Gorn... my brave warrior!”

The fight could have ended here. Could. Could have. Could’ve.

Because Yellowjacket has been focused entirely on fixing his disruptor this whole time and has not paid any attention to how the fight has been going.

So when he gets the disruptor fixed, he doesn’t think ‘oh hey Cap is standing there and nobody is currently fighting!’ he thinks ‘wow this is a really easy shot’ and shoots Elf-Queen in the back.

And turns out that Linnea - a person who can toss Thor around - can also weather a disruptor. So she’s just mad. Furiously.

She figures that Cap’s courage was just a bold ruse. So she’s going to kill him. AFTER she throws a car at Yellowjacket.

Yellowjacket: “Oh, no! My sting’s shorted out again! No time to dodge! I’ll be crushed!”

But before Hank can be crushed like some kind of insect, can’t really think of a specific example, he is saved by Jan, who comes out of nowhere and blasts the car away with all of her might.

And apparently car blasting is under that umbrella.

But it takes it out of her and she weakly flutters to the ground.

Hank has mixed feelings about not being dead.

Yellowjacket: “You -- you saved me! You shattered the truck with your bio-electric sting! You saved me! You! She must have followed us down here... probably chartered a plane! She followed us down here, and when I was dead meat for sure, she saved me! Why her? WHY?”

Where are you in your life where you have to ask that, Hank?

Elf-Queen is like well that just happened but I’m just going to try to kill him again.

But Cap jumps in front of her again and very assertively non-aggressives.

Captain America: “Don’t do it! Don’t you see? It was a mistake -- an accident! If only you could understand me! Don’t kill him!”

Elf-Queen: “You dare stand in my way? Can you not see the rage in my eyes?”

But nonetheless, she subsides. The Avengers all re-assemble, ready to rush her but Cap tells them to stand down.

Elf-Queen Linnea starts crying and just walks away from the team.

Feeling a bit awkward, Cap decides to follow her to see what’s what. And they find her crying over Gorn.

Thor: “A fallen warrior! Her husband, perchance?”

Captain America: “Somehow I -- I think I knew! I mean... I’m not surprised! She seemed... grief-stricken!”

Iron Man: “I -- I wonder how this all came to pass?”

They’ll probably never know. The shot isn’t wide enough to say for sure but I think that if the Avengers saw, they’d say. I’m pretty sure those cops Linnea sank into the concrete have finished sinking. So it goes.

Cap says he’s sorry for what happened, knowing that his words will probably mean nothing to her. Language gap and all.

Linnea: “I hear compassion in your voice, brave champion! Is there such a thing in this cold, cruel place, save in your own heart? I cannot forgive your world for what it has taken from me.. but, for you, who are so much alike my beloved... for you, I will go in peace... for now!”

Yeah. She’s never coming back.

This is her and Gorn’s only appearance.

So despite Tigra wondering if she’ll be back and despite Iron Man’s suspicion that she might be a mutant, it doesn’t matter.

She’s done her role in the narrative and she’s gone.

But as the Avengers try to figure out what this was all about, Wasp looks at Yellowjacket with worry. For the issue ends with him still consumed in bitter thoughts and oblivious to Wasp.

And the big next time teaser says COURT MARTIAL! so. Yeah.

We’re coming on to a storyline that anyone who knows at least two things about Hank Pym knows. You probably already know it or will be able to guess it.

I was familiar with this story but only the moment where Hank shoots Elf-Queen in the back and makes things worse for himself. I hadn’t absorbed via osmosis how much of a shit he was being throughout. And nobody ever talks about Gorn.

Which is a shame.

The title of the issue comes right out and connects the obvious dots.

“Men of deadly pride!”

And that can only be Hank Pym and Gorn.

Much of this issue doesn’t actually feature the Avengers. There’s this long stretch in the middle that just has Gorn and Linnea leaving their home, traveling to the big city, Gorn’s attitude getting worse and worse, and finally his death.

Its clear enough that Gorn represents Hank Pym.

Hank rails against Janet for flaunting her money and emotionally withdraws from her and even becomes angry with her. He rankles at the idea he might be perceived her partner instead of vice versa. Feels he’s not being given the respect he deserves.

While Gorn resents that Linnea is the one caring for him. He emotionally withdraws from her. He perceives himself a pet to her. That he was once renowned and desperately needs to regain his glory.

And he just gets angrier when Linnea has to rescue him from his dumb mistakes.

Much like Jan had to rescue Hank in this issue, something that basically made Hank check out of the rest of the issue.

I don’t know what Gorn may have been like ten thousand years ago that Linnea sees him in Captain America most, but he’s a shadow for Hank Pym.

And what’s interesting is how the story looks at Gorn and his machismo. His obsessive preoccupation with proving himself. The story highlights the problems he creates for himself eventually leading to his death. It shows a person that just can’t live in the modern world.

And then the story looks at Hank Pym. One of the 60s style manly men holdovers. Paints him in much the same light. And seems to ask. “Can you live in the modern world?”

The question is in the air.

Its not particularly deep symbolism. But it surprised me that nobody ever mentions it.

Interestingly, if Hank is Gorn then Jan is Linnea. Their personalities are different enough that this might seem strange.

But they both draw the line in a similar place with their partners.

And there was a What If? based on this issue What If? #35 where Hank did die, much as Gorn did. And Wasp became an avenging angel of her own. Taking the identity of Black Wasp and brutally attacking criminals.

She even contemplates letting Cap be killed by falling debris, blaming him for Hank’s death.

All I can say is that this has been one awkward first day for Tigra.

Follow @essential-avengers​. Like or reblog this post. Stay tuned for more of this sort of thing.

[codyfernmorelikedaddyfern]

Killer Queen - Duncan x Royal fem!reader // Part Five

It’s missing Duncan Shepherd o’clock. Which it all the time when you’re someone like me...

Read it all here.

Description: After a difficult revelation from Annette, Duncan falls off the radar without warning his pretend girlfriend. Vulnerable and hurt, he runs to (Y/N), the last person he opened up to.

Warnings: Sad Duncan, Happy Duncan, Sexy Duncan. Angst, sparse use of strong language, things gets sad and heated?

Word count: 3574.

Let’s take a minute to appreciate how big Cody's hand are for a second, thanks (Yes, Duncan isn’t the only one with a size kink, leave me alone)

Worry stirred (Y/N)’s stomach when she pulled herself out of bed. Her first reflex had been to check her phone. Nothing. Her concern grew thicker and it felt like a blow to her gut. It had been 5 days since she last saw Duncan and 3 since he had gone apparently missing. The last piece of information she had received from his mother was that they had jumped into a plane to DC in a bit of a hurry after she had a heated conversation with her boy.

Pride pulsing through her veins, she had refused to call him. Knuckles white and her jaw clenched, she shook the dread from her bones and stepped to her bathroom, turning on the water of her shower. She stripped from her pyjama and stood by the glass door, waiting for the temperature to grow warm.

 A loud banging shook her apartment and her worry picked up some more. (Y/N) quickly turned off the water, wrapped the bathrobe hanging on the peg across her frame and quickly made her way to the door. For a second, she cursed her father for giving her one of the only flat with no peepholes. Turning the key in the lock caused the knocking to stop and the view of an extremely dishevelled Duncan standing there had something new clutch at her chest. His eyes were heavy and hooded, bloodshot and wet. The duchess’ gaze interrogated him silently before allowing him inside.

Duncan stepped inside, not bothered by breaking the first rule of his host of removing his shoes. His steps were out of sync, aimless, and his hands seemed to reach for the thick fabric of his long coat in the same manner before crossing behind his back. “I know our deal finishes tomorrow”. The sound of his broken voice shook (Y/N) to her core. Her fingers wrapped around the key, locking the door while he spoke again. “I know I spent most of this time being an idiot as well” he continued, pushing the Brit to pull her eyebrows together. Her feet walked them to the living room where she sat on her couch. But he stayed standing.

“I’m the type of man who is true to his words. I’ve always told myself that I would never have to break up with a woman over the phone” his breath broken up by the sobs he tried so hard to supress. (Y/N) opened her mouth to talk but was quickly stopped by his tone again. “There is no point in us doing this anymore. My mother- Annette, has never been my real mother so playing this game is now useless”.

(Y/N) stood to her feet and closed the space between them, her arms pushing him close to her chest. The height difference prickled his mind again, his arms falling on her hips. “What are you talking about, Duncan?” she gently whispered. “Can I fix you up with something?” she continued, pushing back the tears that had peppered her tear ducts.

“I’m here to stop this, (Y/N). Before it’s too late and you end up stuck” the tears he was desperately trying to hold back seeped when her arms tightened against him, pushing his face down the crook of her neck. His fingers pressed on her hips, pulling away from the embrace. “I’m not a Shepherd. Never has been. My m-mother was the housekeeper. Annette t-took me in because my birth mother could not look after me” he turned his back to her, unable to show his face stained with tears.

 (Y/N) gingerly sat back down, trying to register the information Duncan was unpacking. “I don’t have a family to try and fight for now so, we can drop the act” his voice was harsh. He hoped she would accept it and get on with her life, marry into someone of her rank, live a life filled with adventures, travels and new experiences. But he wanted her to call him to extend that little deal just as much as he wanted her to run away from it. “I’m afraid this isn’t going to be possible, Duncan” (Y/N)’s gentle voice took him aback and he shifted on his heels, swallowing his pride and allowing the Brit to feast upon the tears and pain rolling off of his eyes.

“I really don’t need this” his voice stuttered some more and the young woman rolled her eyes at his answer. “What you don’t need right now is loneliness. There is obviously something wrong and you shouldn’t keep people away because of your pride” (Y/N) continued, her arms now crossing over her chest.

She motioned to the spot next to her and he caved in, sitting next to her small frame. “First of all, good morning to you too” she tried teasing, watching the vulnerability seeping out of his gaze. “I don’t think you being alone when you are in such a state is a good idea, Duncan”. The Brit’s small fingers brushed his knee, causing a halted breath to escape the chest of the American. “What I think we should do is stay here and talk it out, okay?” her (Y/E/C) gaze looked for his. “Have you told her you were coming here?” she asked, pulling him gently closer to her. “No” he simply said, anger lacing through his features.

 “Okay, well, you’re welcome to stay here for a couple of days and talk about it if you want. The two weeks are not over y-“. “I don’t want to go out for the goddamn cameras, (Y/N)” his harsh tone interrupted her as he rose to his feet. “I want to get out there because I care about you and I hope you do too”.

A blush spread across her cheeks and she averted her gaze again. “I mean, I have grown quite fond of you, yes, so whether you are a Shepherd or not, I couldn’t care less”. (Y/N) watched him drop to his knee, his fingers brushing against the soft skin of her calf. “We don’t need this deal anymore”. The beautiful shades of red deepened at his words, and once more when Duncan pressed his lips against her cheek.

 She coughed to miserably cover the sound of her heart thrumming in her chest. “I-I need to shower” she excused herself, practically running to the bathroom. As she turned on the water and dropped the dressing gown to her feet, she jumped in the shower, thanking the cold water for dispersing the crimson from her cheeks.

Duncan sat back on the couch, lost in his broken thoughts. He fumbled with his thumb as he reviewed the actions he had taken over the past few days. His mother had felt obliged to uncover her deepest secret to Duncan and the lack of words from his uncle only twisted the knife heavily plunged in his chest. Annette signing adoption paper did not change the tone Bill had used when he told his sister that Duncan was “Not one of us” and the pain subsided.

The validation he had been working on so hard throughout his life had been in vain. “If you and I are to have any chance, you need to stay right here” he remembered Annette saying as she gripped his hand tightly. But the only thing he could think of as their car drove down the streets was I need to get away from here and his first instinct was to book the first tickets he could jump into and run to the last human contact he had opened up to, (Y/N).

And there he was, sitting on her couch, regretting even coming in her apartment. What was he thinking? A heavy sigh rumbled Duncan’s chest and he rose to his feet. The sound of the water quieting stopped him in his tracks as he was getting ready to leave. The door creaked open and his eyes devoured the sight bestowed upon him. (Y/N) slinked out of the bathroom, tightly wrapped in a large white towel. But she was avoiding his gaze once more, trotting to the bedroom to get somewhat of an outfit sorted out.

 He couldn’t stay. He couldn’t bear to see her. As much as he loved watching her prowl around in her fancy clothes or in her comfortable sweatpants, he hated the bitter reminder that she had been his last effort to prove himself to his family. And seeing her walk out of her bedroom, her hair still a knotted and wet, her small frame approaching him while she zipped up the hoodie she chose to wear over the comfortable pair of sweatpants and tee shirt, it made him doubt his presence once more. So dainty and small, he groaned as she sat next to him.

 He wanted to leave yet he watched her place her hand on his. Then he watched her lean and pull his chest closer and he let himself droop in her arms. “Talk to me, Duncan” her gentle voice spoke again. Always so soft and tender. (Y/N)’s fingers gently combed through his hair why he started to unwind on her chest, his tears staining her hoodie. Duncan needed to go. He needed to go away from her before he could get hurt, or worst, hurt her.

Because he cared about the both of them and so did she, otherwise, why would she have thrown her phone on the other side of the coffee table, pulled him against her chest and let him be so open and vulnerable? Why did she want to know everything that pained him? Because she cared and she was listening to him intently while her fingers brushed through his chocolaty locks. A comfortable silence fell upon them as he ran out of pain to convey. Duncan was a broken man in desperate need of someone to fix him.

 “I need you to listen to me, Duncan” she whispered after gently planting her lips of his forehead. “I think everything happens for a reason. I enjoy your company and as far as I can understand, you enjoy mine. So what we’re going to do right now is enjoy this without anybody’s interferences” her voice was gentle and rippled through him with waves of warmth.

“You are capable and you don’t have to listen to ‘mummy’ anymore so you can be your own person. The person I’m rather enjoying spending time with behind closed doors”. Duncan lifted his gaze to meet hers and the vision of his tortured expression made her shudder painfully. She pressed a soft kiss against the bridge of his nose, her thumb brushing the light stubble covering his jaw and he rose against her chest, pushed himself higher to crash his mouth against hers.

 A soft sigh escaped (Y/N)’s lungs as her lips melted against his, her arms coiled around his neck, hooking Duncan gently in place until they had to part for air. But his lips dove straight down to her jaw, peppering and wetting it with sloppy and open mouth kisses while his hands crept up under the fabric of her tee-shirt. She wrapped her hand around his wrist once the pad of his fingers reached her ribcage. “This isn’t right, Duncan. You’re not in the right headspace” she breathed, her face tainted with deep shades of red. “So you don’t want me?” his gaze met hers, dripping with concern.

“I did not say that. I said you’re not in the right headspace. Have you even had breakfast?” (Y/N)’s hand released his grip on him and he shook his head no. “Alright, let’s get up and have something to eat, okay?” Duncan sighed before pushing himself off of her and holding his hands out for her. She linked her palms in his and, with a quick and fluid motion, she was up on her feet, the American’s hands had snaked around her waist and she was consumed by another burning kiss.

Duncan chuckled against her when their lips left each other and (Y/N) was looking up to him with big round eyes. “Have I ever told you that I think you’re beautiful?” he whispered, brushing a few strands of her wet hair away from her face. She rewarded him with a gentle smile, leaning in for his touch and nodding. “You’re not too bad either” she stopped herself mid-sentence, trying her hardest not to punctuate her sentence with her usual “Mr. Shepherd” to avoid for her guest to burry himself in his thoughts again.

 Her small hands pushed her out of his embrace and just like that, the warmth of her body left his and she disappeared to the kitchen. “What do you feel like eating?” were her next words while she fished in her fridge. “Your grace, I’m afraid that none of the possible choices I would rather have are one the menu” he leaned against the frame of the door only for her to roll her eyes.

“What, isn’t this the backbone you wanted me to grow so badly?” Duncan chuckled. Touché, she thought while pulling out a carton of eggs from the fridge. “Fancy an omelette?” He shrugged in response, propping his elbows on the kitchen island and then resting his face between his hands. Duncan watched her work the hob. “Could you grab me two plates, please? Will save me grabbing my step stool” she pointed at the cupboard above her head and Duncan obliged. As he stood behind her, he placed one hand on her shoulder and reached up for the dinnerware.

(Y/N) could not help but blush at his towering presence beside her. “You know you’re really tall, right?” she whispered, trying to focus on not burning the eggs in the pan. “I’m not really tall, you’re just incredibly short” he scoffed, watching over her before leaning in and whispering to the shell of her ear. “I’m not going to lie, the difference of height is actually turning me on”. His voice was husky and raspy in her ear and her eyes widen in shock.

“So you have a size kink?” she threw him a side glance before watching him drop a languid and slow open mouth kiss to her collarbones. Yes, indeed, he did. The tension dissipated as he went to retrieve his stool. The conversation gave space for the clattering of cutlery and the praises dripping off of Duncan’s tongue, devouring the content of the plate his host had cooked for him.

  “So you have the day off today?” Duncan asked as he removed both of the empty plates that (Y/N) had previously served their breakfast in. “I was supposed to, yeah. Something else came up though” the princess spoke after taking a sip of her hot cuppa. “Oh, what is it?” he leaned against the fridge, after dropping the dinnerware in the sink next to it. “I don’t know, about 6ft tall, smouldering and all, brunette, great to look at” she shrugged while spinning on her stool, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand.

“Thanks” Duncan blushed. “He also keeps on kissing me and dropping dirty innuendo’s thinking it’s going to make me fall” (Y/N) teased, absentmindedly smiling at the tall man on the other side of the kitchen. He lifted an eyebrow and leaned his head in her direction, looking smug as all hell. “Is it working?” Duncan asked.

(Y/N) gave him a shrug before getting to her feet. “Nah, but he can be quite domestic when he wants to, luckily he hasn’t started giving me a pet name yet, that really would get me going” she finished, standing in the frame of the archway leading to the living room. She then slipped out of his view as soon as he started to step towards her. A little jog brought him out of the kitchen only to watch her pull out the mattress from her couch. “A pet name, ugh?” he chuckled. “That only happens after the 3rd date, my dear” he pulled an eyebrow up mischievously.

 “Well, won’t you look at that, we’re about to have our 4th one” (Y/N) pushed her features in a shocked expression as she pulled all of the cushions from one couch to the other and plopping a thick duvet down on the sofa. “4th? When were the first 3?” Duncan laughed, finally deciding to join her and help turning the pull out mattress into a comfortable bed.

“Well, the first one was when we went for breakfast the first morning we spent together. The second was when you came over for dinner and we both opened up about our mummy and daddy issues and the third was the morning after that when you kissed me. Am I missing one, sweetheart?” she teased, crossing her arms across her chest.

 Duncan chuckled once more. Even when the animosity was gone, she still managed to have the upper hand on him. He was still at the mercy of her own rules and he enjoyed playing her games more than he would be able to admit. “Pick a movie” she instructed while making her way to the large display of DVDs and Blu-Rays. His hands went to rest on her shoulders once again as he looked around. “The Green Mile! No hesitation” Duncan reached forward to grab the case, letting the Brit take it from his hands and dealing with the rest of the process. “Get all tucked in” she gently instructed, closing the blinds before jumping between the folds of the duvet next to him.

 “Make yourself comfortable” she whispered as her hands worked on peeling off her hoodie and considered discarding her sweats too. Duncan stood up, quickly despatching the heaving sweatshirt on his chest and starting to unbuckle his belt. He paused for a second before having his gaze meet hers’, seemingly in the middle of wiggling out of her own trousers.

“How comfortable am I allowed to get?” the brunette wondered. As he watched her throw her sweatpants on the other side of the room. “I would way however you want but I don’t expect you’re getting nude either” she shrugged while pushing the covers against her waist.

 His pair of black slacks quickly pooled to his ankles and he gently joined her one he got rid of his shirt as well. Leaning back against the cushions, he opened his arms to her, inviting her to nestle against her warm and exposed chest, she did after a little bit of hesitation. “What pet name are we settling on, then?” Duncan asked, unbothered by the fact that the movie was now playing. “Take a little guess?” (Y/N) teased while the American’s arms snaked around her waist, softly stroking her back in the process.

“Princess?” she scrunched her nose in disdain and he chuckled. “Honey?” she shook her head no. “Baby?”. She looked up as if she was deep in her thoughts before giving him another negative nod. “Kitten?”. A series of shivers coursed through her body, prickling the pad of Duncan’s fingers.

 She shook her head no once more, pushing a scoff out of the young man’s chest. “Really? How about...” he paused, bringing his lips by the shell of her ear “My little kitten?”. As much as she wanted to hide the fluttering in her stomach, the slight squirming of her hips against him while her legs wrapped around his as well as the gentle mewl escaping her chest did not work in her favour. Duncan’s eyes blew open in shock.

He cleared his throat before whispering again, “Oh, I’m sorry, was that because I called you Little or Kitten?”. The bucking of her hips pulled him to realise she was only wearing her underwear besides the simple tee-shirt covering her chest. He could feel his heart thrumming in his chest.

 “That depends on what you want me to call you, Duncan” she softly whimpered back in his own ear and his hands clenched directly to her thigh with a deep groan. “You’re playing with fire, kitten” he continued, pushing a kiss to the supple skin of her shoulder. “I didn’t tell you, it should be spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E” her fingers hooked in his hair while she leaned her head back and pulled his closer, his hands practically hoisting her to rest on his hips.

The alarming feeling of his mouth suckling on her skin shrouded (Y/N) in a cold sweat and besides the sound of the tender  moans parting her lips, she pulled him away, quickly bringing her hand to the spot he had just started to work on bruising. “Oh my god, Duncan, you can’t give me a hickey right where people can see it” she whimpered. His hands travelled from her thighs to her waist, pushing her down gently. “How are people going to know you’re mine then?” Duncan shrugged with a stupid smile plastered on his face.

“I don’t know, hold my hand in public or something, not with love bites.” She scolded, still allowing his large hands to guide her hips to grind against him with a soft groan. “Why not?” he sat up, peppering gentle kisses to her collarbones, thrusting his pelvis up to meet hers with a shared moan. “Duncan, I’m fucking royalty and I-“. She was interrupted by him twisting their bodies around and resting between her thighs.

 “Oh, kitten, give me a couple of minutes to get yourself worked up enough and then I’ll be fucking royalty too”

______________________________________________________________

I think you guys should buckle up for the next part... Just saying...

Tagged : @idespac​, @psychobitchtess, @hplotrfan​, @tea-party-at-wonderland​, @langdxn​, @hecohansen31​​ & @blakewaterxx​​

Also tagging my bae @wroteclassicaly​

Just let me know if you would like to be tagged whenever I post a piece!

[marinsawakening]

you know what really annoys me about the whole “she chooses to dress that way!! she’s empowering herself!!” argument that people (read: guys) like to pull out when people criticize the way a female character is objectified is that it’s really ridiculously easy to tell the difference between a female character whose well-written personality includes being confident in her sexuality, and a female character who is being objectified. 

lets use a character who gets thrown under this bus really often as an example: Koriand’r aka Starfire from DC Comics debuted in the 80′s The New Teen Titans comic book series, and has stuck around as a decently popular character since then. She’s an alien from planet Tameran, where people are a lot more open about their emotions and their sexuality; as a result, she has trouble understanding Earth’s social conventions surrounding those things, and often does not particularly care for them either. Kori often wears revealing clothing because that’s the norm on Tameran, it’s what she feels comfortable in, and she’s open about her sexuality. Considering the fact that she debuted in the 80′s, it’s important to acknowledge how feminist a female character confident in her sexuality was back then, and to a lesser extent, still is today. 

Unfortunately, DC Comics is staffed by assholes and idiots, and as a result, she is often badly written and/or objectified, especially in modern comics. However, whenever people point this out, they get hit with the “she’s written to be that way!!” argument. Which is bullshit, because Kori, in the never comics, is often given very little agency, and is instead presented as a sex object. And I will show you a comparison between two scenes to show you what I mean.

Exhibit A, From the 1980′s The New Teen Titans:

[Image: three panels of Donna and Kori getting dressed in swimsuits; donna is still wearing her jacket, while Kori stands with her back to the audience, naked, but with her hair covering up everything but her legs and arms. She says (off screen, while Donna is getting changed): “Wonder girl, I still don’t white understand... why am I supposed to wear...” she appears on screen in the above mentioned position, holding up a bikini “This!?! (bolded, in capslook) It certainly can’t be for protection, does it possess any special properties?” 

Donna looks exasperated and says “Yep. It’ll keep the guys from going insane when they see you. Trust me, Starfire.” 

The ‘camera’ focuses on both their faces when Kori answers: “Please, call me Koriand’r, that’s my real name.” 

Donna: “Only if you call me Donna. Anyway, on this planet, you’ve got to wear clothing.” 

Kori: “I don’t understand why, but if you say so, I will do it.” End description.]

Kori is literally naked on in these panels, but it’s done tastefully: she’s with her back to the audience, and the camera is far enough away that there is no ‘hint of an ass’ or whatever, just the basic shape of her body and what she’s holding. When it does pan to a close-up, it’s focused clearly on her face. And on top of that, she asks a very reasonable question for an alien who has just landed on Earth, in a way that doesn’t infantilize her or make fun of her, but rather in a very plain ‘these Earth ways are strange to me’ kind of way that you’d expect from, you know, an alien. Maybe this was immensely titillating in the 80′s, but as far as I can tell and to a modern audience, these panels show her confidence with her own body and sexuality clearly without making her a spectacle for the audience. 

Exhibit B, from her 2015 solo series Starfire: 

[Image: (cropped) comic page showing Kori showering and getting out of the shower while Boone is also outside. Kori is showering happily, swaying her hips to one side as she washes her hair. Her soapy hair swings to strategically clover her vagina, and it and the soap also strategically hide part of her breasts, although you can still make out their outline. 

When she gets out of it, she’s turned away from the camera, wearing a towel around her head but otherwise fully naked; a fern strategically covers her ass, while a convenient leaf just manages to cover the nipple of her breast. She says: “Hello Boone! It is very windy, yes?” Boone stares at her with open mouth, replying “Uh-Oh” before hastily shoving a towel at her, his head turned away, saying: “Kori, this isn’t a nudist camp”. 

Kori seems surprised, and the towel only barely covers the lover half of her breasts as she says: “Oh, thank you, but I do not need another towel. The sun and wind dried my skin. It is only my hair that is wet.” 

Boone: “Uh... Right. Anyway, just take it. Not that I’m complaining, but you gotta get dressed, and we gotta go over grandma’s rules for living here. And then there’s that storm coming, so we need to get ready.” 

The camera pans out to show a wider shot of Kori and Boone. Kori, now with an additional towel covering her body, steps into a caravan as she says: “That sounds wonderful! I am going to go watch the sunset first.” 

Boone, facepalming: “What --?” 

Kori: “I will see you later.”

Above this whole page, there is a black rectangle with blue writing in it, which reads: “Wet, then wild”. 

End description.]

This is almost the exact situation as shown in Exhibit A, yet you can see how it’s handled very differently. Exhibit A never really focuses on Kori’s body or her looks, but rather on her personality. This page, however, makes a point to show as much of Kori’s body as they can get away with; the strategically placed hair, leaves, and soap cover only barely enough to be decent, and in all panels except the last one, you can see at least part of Kori’s breasts. 

In addition, Kori is rather infantilized in these panels; rather than have her ask questions about the American customs in a way that still acknowledges her agency and maturity, she undergoes a social misstep and doesn’t seem to pick up on it, then gets corrected in a way that doesn’t really expand her knowledge of Earth’s customs, and she doesn’t seem at all curious about why Boone was so shocked to see her naked. Her character and her agency don’t really matter in this exchange: Kori does not learn anything new, we the audience don’t learn anything new about Kori (outside of basic plot progression), and Kori is given little to no agency about the way she’s presented to the audience. 

And above all, there’s the header to this page: “Wet, then wild”. While ‘wild’ could refer to Kori’s adventure later on, let’s be honest here, this header was definitely meant to be an innuendo. 

So, to summarize: this page shows Kori’s body of in a way that’s definitely meant to entice the viewer, Kori character/personality is not developed in these panels, Kori herself has no real agency in the way she’s presented to the audience, and above all this, the header to this page is an innuendo. All this cements that the way these panels are supposed to be viewed doesn’t fall into the ‘Kori is a strong female character confident in her sexuality’ category, but rather the ‘fanservice’ category. 

And I didn’t even bring up Red Hood and the Outlaws yet, but just in case anyone wasn’t convinced yet about Kori’s current objectification, this is how Kori flies in her superhero outfit in The New Teen Titans:

[Image: Starfire flying off into the air saying: “Then, we will make (bolded, in all caps) them help us. We have the power to do whatever we want!” While Robin in the corner yells: “Starfire! Don’t!” Starfire’s outfit is made out of metal and consists of a large necklace that’s connected to what’s essentially a metal bra, with metal strips running down her stomach to her metal panties. She has three bracelets on both her arms, and a forth on her left, and two long boots. There are two golden, red, and black ornaments in her outfit, one on her chest below her necklace in the shape of a flower trapped in a circle, and one where the metal strips connect to her shorts that vaguely looks like a sun trapped in a rectangle. End description.]

Outfit is undeniably revealing and looks extremely uncomfortable and unpractical, so I’m not exactly enthused by it. However, it’s still infinitely better than whatever this is:

[Image: page from Red Hood and The Outlaws showing Starfire standing on burning rubble, purple starbolts flickering out of her hand. Next to her, there are red-on-black text boxes explaining her backstory. Her outfit is still metal, this time purple metal with white accents. She still has her long boots and bracelets, but the rest of her outfit is different. Her shoulders and neck are covered by the metal, but they aren’t connected to the rest of her outfit. Her breasts are cupped by a thin piece of metal that barely reaches the nipples from the underside of the breasts and does not cover them entirely. They aren’t connected to her metal shorts, which look like sexy panties, even thinnier than 80′s Kori’s, with another slap of metal slightly raised above them. Her back is bent on what looks like a painful angle, jutting out her ass, and her breasts resemble balloons. End description.]

Aside from her outfit being absolutely atrocious (HOW are those breasts not popping out of those cup holders???) her entire pose and the way she’s drawn clearly mark as a sex object rather than an actual character. Her back is bent in a way that makes me seriously worried about her health, her ribs are jutting out in a way that ALSO makes me worried about her health, and her breasts look like flesh-coloured balloons. This is an absolute disgrace and I hate the fact that someone looked at this and greenlit it.

Compare that to 80′s Kori, who, while definitely wearing an impractical and revealing outfit, still had some actual dignity going for her. Her body has human proportions, for one. 

Like, I could keep dragging out examples of Kori being objectified, but I think everyone with a brain has gotten the point now.

Koriand’r, when well-written, is a character who is in control of her appearance and proud of her sexuality, and not afraid to show off either. However, newer comics use this as an excuse to blatantly objectify her, while erasing her agency entirely.

Let’s put it like this: if your sexy, in-control female character doesn’t have control over how she’s presented to the viewer, you’re not writing a sexy, in-control female character, you are writing a sexy lamp. The fundamental difference between 80′s Kori and newer Kori is how she’s presented to the viewer: in The New Teen Titans, her sexuality isn’t used as an excuse to use her as a blatant tool for fanservice, and the art remains respectful to her and her body even when she’s wearing revealing clothing. In the newer comics, the camera is showing off as much of Kori’s body off to the viewer as it can, and often puts her in weird and unnatural stances in order to achieve what the artists think is ‘sexy’. 

The difference between a sexy, in-control female character proud of her sexuality and a tool for fanservice is who is meant to enjoy this character: is it women, who might relate to her or at least admire her, or is it horny men?

Anyway, essay over, TL;DR: there is a fucking difference between objectification and ‘being proud of your sexuality’ and it’s called basic fucking respect. 

[sassycassie-s-writing]

Kissing Strangers

By: SassyShoulderAngel319

Fandom/Character(s): DC, BatFam - Jason Todd/Red Hood

Rating: PG-13/T (for mentions of drugs and minor violence)

Original Idea: This Prompt List

Notes: (Masterlist)(By Character)(About Me) Shout out to @jason-redhood for encouraging me through this when I was kinda stuck and looking for something new to write! You’re awesome my friend! Enjoy some angst, y’all! @welovegroot @batboys-and-other-messes @haylo4ever

^^^^^

Jason dated around a lot. I didn’t exactly blame him. He was handsome and eye-catching and generally a pretty decent guy. But it was kind of infuriating, trying to keep track of him. One night we’d be scoping out a bar for mob bosses while he made out with a waitress in a corner and the next day he’d be flirting with the girl working at the café where we stopped for lunch.

Being an Outlaw was dangerous work, but that wasn’t why I was always so irritated.

I was basically carrying the weight of the team on my shoulders. Jason was supposed to be the leader but I was the one doing all the work.

Jason couldn’t be bothered because he was too busy finding some lovely lady to kiss in a corner. Ugh.

I’d hoped tonight would be different.

Apparently not.

I rolled my eyes and wove through the club in my evening gown, glittering mask snugly nestled on my face. Jason was, of course, distracted by some socialite he was flirting with. Artemis and Bizarro were sitting out the gala. Bizarro attracted too much attention and Artemis didn’t want to wear an evening gown. So the mission boiled down to just me and just Jason. Hunting for the target.

But now it was just me, prowling through these upper-class richies looking for our target on my own.

“What’s a young lady like you doing alone at an event like this?” a voice asked from behind me. I whirled.

Just. My. Luck. Internally I fist-pumped. The businessman who moonlighted as a drug trafficker. Our target. He was standing right there. He was in his sixties—so a good forty years too old for me—and smiling at me warmly.

“My date disappeared,” I said with a saccharine smile.

“Would you care for a dance?” the target asked, offering me his hand.

I took it. “I’d love to. What a gentleman,” I said.

He led me to the dancefloor. His hand was a little too low on my waist for my comfort, but I would put it aside until I could persuade him out of the hotel ballroom and into a side room to knock him out and take him away to have a… conversation. “I don’t see why your date would leave a lady like you behind.”

I shrugged. “He and I have a complicated relationship,” I said.

“Shame.”

I fell into silence, letting the target talk about business how lucrative his practices were for a few minutes.

I nodded in all the right places, pretending to listen.

“Get your hands off her!”

Wham!

The target dropped. There were gasps from the other attendees as the target let me go. “Keep your hands off my date!” Jason snapped. The target held his jaw where he’d been struck. He looked almost amused.

“So this is the mysterious date,” he said.

Jason narrowed his eyes. “D*&% straight,” he spat.

“Hey. How about we take this outside,” I said, putting one hand on Jason’s chest. This wasn’t part of the plan.

“It’s alright, young lady, we can handle this like grown men,” the target said. Jason pushed me behind him, making me stumble in my heels. I caught myself by grabbing Jason’s shoulder.

“Jay,” I hissed in protest.

“No, I think she’s right, old man, let’s handle this outside,” Jason snarled.

“Red, don’t cause a scene,” I whispered, squeezing his shoulder.

“Alright, son. Let’s talk outside so we don’t disturb these nice people,” the target said. I made a face of abort, abort, ABORT. Whenever someone called Jason “son,” he got testy. He ignored me grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the door. The target followed my pulling Jason out the door to the outside corridor. The three of us got out of the ballroom and went to a nearby conference room. Galas in hotels that held conferences and conventions were great.

“Red, you’re out of control,” I said. “You can’t just punch businesspeople in the face at a gala for dancing with me.”

“Princess, you are my date,” Jason growled.

I sighed and pulled the skirt of my dress to the side to extract the syringe tucked into the garter around my leg. I plunged it into the target’s neck and depressed the plunger. The target cried out and flailed his arms before dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Once he was unconscious, I whirled on Jason. “What gives, Red?” I snapped. “You punched him in the face! That wasn’t part of the plan! We had one of those—remember?”

“Shut up, Starbeam,” Jason muttered, leaning down and moving to haul our target onto his shoulders. But I grabbed his shoulder and forced him upright.

“No! You’re going to tell me what’s going on in that head of yours,” I ordered. “You can’t spend all these missions ignoring me and then suddenly get protective.”

“I don’t ignore you!”

“Oh yes you do! You find yourself in some corner with whichever girl is the most eager to make out with you on every single mission and leave me to do the bulk of the work! You’re the leader of the Outlaws—so lead. Don’t leave it to me. I'm not a leader.”

“Can we talk about this at the safe house?”

“No because then Little Bro and Big Sis will be listening. We’re talking about this in private, now.”

Jason sighed and propped the target up on a chair so he looked like he was just dozing in a chair while Jason and I… talked.

Yeah.

Talked.

“Stars…”

“Look, Jason, I don’t begrudge you dating around. You’re a handsome guy and we stay places just long enough that romantic flings happen. But when you forsake the mission in favor of a random girl in every town we pass through while I actually get crap done, I start to get irritated. Heck I could even say discouraged because I can’t do all this all on my own and with how much Biz and Artemis don’t want to be seen in public, I'm gettin’ stressed and really tired of doing all the work like we’re doing some high school group project!”

Jason clenched his jaw. “What I do is none of your business,” he ground out.

“It is when we’re on-mission and you’re unfocused. Need I remind you that this is a team. We’re the Outlaws—not some band called Jason and the Thrilling Three. I'm not going to stand by and allow your distractions to put Artemis or Bizarro in danger.”

“Two nearly-invulnerable superhumans,” Jason said.

“There is still plenty enough stuff on this planet that can hurt them and I'm not going to let you macking on some girl be the reason why one of them gets injured.”

“You’re not worried about yourself?”

I scoffed. “I don’t have time right now. I'm too busy doing all the work. And yes, I am a powerful telekinetic, but that does not mean I am capable of all the heavy lifting, ya hear?”

“Alright, fine! I’ll stop!” Jason exclaimed.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

Jason yanked his beautiful black satin masquerade mask off to stare right into my eyes. His were cold, steel blue and full of some emotion I couldn’t label. “I'm serious about this,” he said.

“And why would you even expect I could believe you?” I retorted, exasperated, as I untied my mask from the back of my head.

“Because I can’t keep kissing strangers pretending that they’re you!”

I dropped my mask to the ground.

“Wh… wha—?”

Before I could even complete my one-word question, Jason’s lips were crashing against mine, his hands cupping my shoulders, bare because of the dress I wore. I could feel his calluses and his body heat escaping into my skin.

Almost immediately my muscles turned to putty, body giving way to whatever whims he could come up with, molding me under his fingers. Our lips fit together perfectly—like puzzle pieces destined for each to find their place with the other.

Then I shoved him off, getting my senses back. “Nuh-uh, Hood! You don’t just get to say something corny like that, kiss me, and expect everything to be smoothed over!”

Both of us were panting and heat was spreading over my neck, ears, and face.

I was blushing.

I got angry at how flushed I was. How flustered. How easily I’d completely given way to him. His words and actions caught me off-guard and I hated myself for the longing in my chest now that I pushed him away. My heart, its beat pounding in my ears, reached for him with the grabbing hands of a small child desperate to snatch a beloved teddy bear.

“I'm not… I'm not going to just be the newest notch on your belt,” I said breathlessly.

I ignored the aching pull yanking me toward him, scooped up my mask, and ran out of the conference room. My high heels weren’t too terribly tall and I’d gotten used to moving fast in them when I needed to.

Once I escaped the hotel, I wrapped myself up in telekinetic power and launched myself directly into the air.

I flew over the city and landed at the safe house. Once I was inside, I ran to the room Artemis and I were sharing. “Hey Biz, hi Artemis. I'm gonna be out in the woods for a while. Jason should be back soon,” I called as I pulled on my normal clothes after abandoning the formal outfit.

“Blue-Her am… sad?” Bizarro asked.

“No, no. Blue-Her is fine,” I replied, tying my hair back and running to the backdoor. “I won’t be gone long. Promise. ‘Kay bye!” I slammed the backdoor shut and launched myself into the woods beyond the safe house.

I landed hard in a clearing and just sat on the ground in my normal clothes, not even caring that it was getting cold out.

Curling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them, I shook my head. “It wasn’t envy. It wasn’t,” I muttered.

Jason’s words echoed in my head. Because I can’t keep kissing strangers pretending that they’re you!

Jason was many things. A liar wasn’t one of them. He only lied to marks and targets and civilians who didn’t need to know about the life we led. He didn’t lie to us—to his team. He wasn’t lying to me when he said that.

I knew he meant it based on his tone and eye contact and the fact that he wouldn’t lie to me.

But knowing he was telling the truth didn’t really help me any. It just gave me one more piece of information. Not a path to take. I didn’t know what to do about him or what just happened in that conference room. I didn’t want to admit to myself that sitting on the cold forest floor I could feel myself pining for that kiss. The sensation was there—the desire and desperate longing—but if I didn’t acknowledge it, it didn’t exist, right?

“This is ridiculous. I'm not in love with you, Jason,” I muttered into the empty night. “I wasn’t angry because I was envious of those women you kissed. I don’t need… I don’t need you or your—” His what? His love? As if. Jason wasn’t really in love with—

I can’t keep kissing strangers pretending they’re you.

Pretending all those women were me…

“Biz said I’d find you out here,” a familiar voice remarked casually.

“Go away, Todd,” I snapped, putting up a telekinetic shield between him and me so he couldn’t come closer. He was never catching me with my guard down ever again.

He sighed and sat cross-legged on the ground at the edge of my shield. “I just came to say I'm sorry and you were right. That wasn’t fair of me. I shouldn’t have done that. Or said what I did. I meant every word but I shouldn’t have told you. I just…” He shook his head. “My explanations sound like excuses so I won’t bother.”

I eyed him carefully and let the telekinetic shield dissipate but didn’t let my guard down. “Thanks,” I said. “But… you should have told me. A lot sooner. It would have saved us both a lot of irritation.”

He sighed. “You… are probably right,” he muttered.

I couldn’t help but snicker to myself and bounce my eyebrows. “Thanks,” I said.

“Starry, I'm not going to ask you to feel obligated to return my feelings. It’s just—”

“Shuuut—uuup,” I complained, reaching for him and setting my hands on his shoulder. “I am pining for what we shared in that conference room and I promised that I wasn’t going to let you catch my with my guard down ever again but d*&% it, Jason, I can’t keep those walls up when all I want is you.”

He gasped quietly, surprised. “R… really?”

“Jason Todd, just kiss me and get it over with. No more pretending with strangers.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

We leaned closer to one another and crashed together with the reckless abandon of youthful eagerness. His lips fit perfectly against mine, just as before, and I could taste him. A tropical lip balm and the metallic aftertaste of blood.

Our trafficker could wait. For now, the whole universe melted away until it was just him and me.

“Jay,” I whispered, not even pulling away from the kiss.

“Mm?”

“Promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“No more kissing strangers.”

“As long as I have you—never.”

[ultramarvelslug]

Somebody to Love

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader

Warnings: like two swear words

2.5k words

Summary: You just got over a bad break up and need somebody to love, will Peter be that one? Written for @connorshero writing challenge. I had so much fun writing this! Thank so much!

***

Your alarm rang at 7 in the morning briskly waking you up from your tear induced sleep. You grumbled as you made your way to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Your eyes were puffy and red due to the week and a half of crying straight. You looked sadly at the grim reflection of yourself and barely knew the girl looking back at you. It had been a little over a week since Andrew broke up with you and you knew it was time to face the world.

After you get ready for school, you check your phone. MJ texts you asking if you wanted to walk with her to school. Michelle Jones has been your friend since your trip to DC and you two had gotten close over the summer. You reply ‘yes’ and go out front to meet her. Betty was walking with you as well.

“Morning y/n, how are you doing?” Betty asked in a concerned voice.

“I’m better; for the last week I’ve been crying my eyes out, but I’m better now. I just feel like I need somebody you know?”

“Boys are idiots.”

You give a hearty laugh, ”As much as I agree with you MJ, sometimes you need to be in the company of idiots.” The three of you laugh together. “I just don’t know why he broke up with me, I mean I thought things were going great.”

“He wanted something and you didn’t give it to him so he broke up with you. Like I said, boys are idiots.”

You pondered on that thought. Did Andrew really break up with because he wanted something you didn’t want to give him?

“You need someone to rebound with.” Betty said interrupting your thoughts.

“I don’t want a fling, I need somebody to love.”

“I’m sure you’ll find someone soon y/n.” Betty gave your arm a reassuring squeeze. You hear a faint rustling behind you and turn to see Peter and Ned trying to sneak up on you.

“Aw man!” Peter hits Ned lightly on the arm and you giggle. Peter whispers something and Ned goes up to Betty to talk. After a second they are laughing at some inside joke.

“Those two are adorable.” You whisper to no one in particular. You space out for a minute wondering if you will ever find something like that. A voice jolts you out of your daze.

“What was that y/n?” Peter looked over at you inquisitively.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” You walk into Midtown Tech nervous to see Andrew again. But all those worries go away when Peter offers to walk to calc together. You wonder if everything will be ok?

***

“What about Peter?”

You nearly choked on your stale lunchroom pizza. “Oh my gosh, no!” Your nose scrunches up at the thought. “He’s way too nerdy for me.” It was lunchtime and you, MJ, and Betty were talking about your “somebody to love” as Betty dubbed the new love of your life.

“Who are you talking about?” Peter and Ned joined you.

“Nothing” Peter and Ned looked confusingly at each other from across the table.

“Hey so, does anyone want to come over after school today?” Peter looked around the table expectantly.

“I’m free, MJ?”

Without looking up from her book she answered, “Can’t, Anna and I have plans to make out in her brother's treehouse today.” You eagerly looked at Betty and Ned across the table

“Ned’s coming over to hang out, sorry.” They blushed heavily at this and it took you a while to understand what they were talking about. When it dawned on you, you sent Betty a wink. She only turned redder at this.

“Well Peter, I guess it's just you and me. We can work on our WWII project.”

“What did Mr. Warren assign you?” Betty piped up. Her face had gone back to its normal shade

“We got Captain America.” Ned gives an animated laugh.

“That's funny because Peter knows hi-.”

“Peter knows what a great idea that is.” He shoots Ned a glare which only makes him laugh harder. Still trying to process what just happened, you turn to Peter.

“So can I walk home with you?” Peter nodded his head and MJ looked at you with an eyebrow raised.

***

Over the next few weeks, you and Peter hung out a lot. You went over to his apartment almost every weekend and even met his Aunt May. Over time you felt something you hadn’t felt in a while; you had a crush. You were in love with the nerdiest, dorkiest, most handsome guy in the history of ever. Your crush got so bad that you couldn’t even look at Peter without wondering what it would be like to kiss him. Your friends began to notice your mood begin to improve.

“What’s up with you y/n?” You, MJ, and Betty were shooting the breeze in the locker rooms.

“I have literally no idea what you’re talking about Betty!”

“Cmon, you’re super happy all of the sudden. After your breakup with Andrew, I thought you’d be more, you know, depressed.”

You laugh “I’m just over him, that’s all.”

Betty gasped, “You found your ‘somebody to love’!”

“No, I didn’t. I honestly don’t think that I’m worthy of anybody’s love.” You had some skeletons in your closet that you thought was unforgivable.

“What’s your obsession with this ‘somebody to love’? I think you’re going crazy.” You roll your eyes at MJ as you walk out of the locker rooms. You see Peter and wave to him.

“Hey y/n!” As soon as your name falls from his lips, you want to run up to him and kiss him. If you didn’t have more self-control you just might have. He looked adorable with his curly brown hair and a loose t-shirt. After a second, Betty cleared her throat.

“All right lovebirds, we better get started on our warm-ups or Coach Wilson’s gonna be pissed.” Your face turns red as you take your place next to MJ.

“I don’t have a crush on Peter!” You whisper defensively.

“Oh c’mon y/n you were practically drooling over him. And I can tell he wants you too.” MJ couldn’t be right; could she?

“Maybe he’s your ‘somebody to love!’” Betty added excitedly.

Were they right? You looked over at Peter and saw him looking back at you with those beautiful chocolate eyes and waved. There was no denying that he was hot or that you had a crush on him, maybe he was your ‘somebody to love’. You realized you were staring and turned back toward Coach Wilson wondering if Peter saw your complexion change.

***

Later that day, you walked into the cafeteria and sat next to Peter.

“Where is everybody?”

“Well, MJ is eating in the library for some project and Betty and Ned went out with Ned’s brother and girlfriend; kinda a double date thing.” There’s a comfortable silence as you eat your food.

“So y/n,” you turn to him “about what Betty said earlier about-”

You laugh, “Oh it’s no big deal Peter, she was just messing around.” His eye flicker to the ground, a look of… disappointment on his face. “That’s not what you were going to say, is it?” he shakes his head and looks at you. He’s so gorgeous, you could look at him for hours.

“Well, I was just thinking...well I-I think you’re an awesome person y/n and I thought that i-if you wanted to, you could co-come over on Sat-Saturday f-for like a kinda sorta little bit of date?” He ended with a little head nod that you had always found endearing. You didn’t even have to think about it.

“Yes.” You affirmed with the same little head nod. A wide grin spread across his face and you knew your face mirrored his. The bell rings shaking you both out of your daze. You said bye to Peter and skipped down the hall feeling Peter’s eyes on your back. You couldn’t wait until Saturday; two days to go.         

***

When Saturday rolled around, you were giddy with excitement. You put on your best outfit, a little makeup, and fixed your hair. Peter was coming to pick you up around five and you still had half an hour before he got there. Just enough time to freak out. You text Betty and MJ and tell them how nervous you are. They were so excited when you told them about your plans for the day.

Right when the clock struck five, you heard a knock on the door. You check yourself once more in the mirror and go to open the door. Your mom was working the afternoon shift today so you had the house to yourself. You open the door to see Peter looking as beautiful as ever. He very obviously looks you over. You do a theatrical spin.

“What do ya think?”

“You look, um, you look amazing.”

“Peter, if you are going to be this nervous the whole night, it's not gonna work.”

“I know, I’m sorry. It's just, I’ve liked you for a while and I didn’t think you actually like me back so I don’t want to mess this up.” You put your hand on his arm and feel him tense up.  

“Peter, it’s ok. If one of us messes this up, it will probably be me.” He relaxes and laughs at this.

“Well, we should get going.” You take his arm and start down the sidewalk.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” The two of you walking talking about everything and nothing until you reached your destination.

“Peter this is your apartment building.” You say matter of factly. Peter laughs.

“Yes, it is.” You looked at him in confusion and he giggles. “Don’t worry I have a plan.” He leads you in the door and up the staircase. You stop and Peters floor.

“We’re not there yet.” He continues to lead you up the stairs until you reach a door. He opens the door and you step out onto the roof.

You gasp at the stunning site in front of you. All along the roof were fairy lights strung up to each side with the most delicate care. In the middle of the roof on the ground was a picnic blanket with all of your favorite foods on top. From the rooftop, you could see the New York skyline laced with fog.

“Peter, did you do all of this for me?” He looked down at the ground and nodded. When he looked up his face was ruby red. You were flattered, not to mention impressed.

Peter took your hand and lead you to the food. You two ate and talked about school, family, and learned more about each other than ever.

About an hour and a half later Peter got up.

“Um, y/n I have to go get something. I’ll be right back.” you gave him a nod and continued munching. As soon as he left, you got out your phone and started texting the girls.

y/n: OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's going so well. I really like him!!!!

Betty: congrats! I’m so happy for you!!

Mj: told u so.

You hear a sound that can only be described as thwip and turn around, confused. In front of you is a silhouette that you can’t quite make up in the low lights. As he comes closer you recognize the masked figure. It’s Spider-man! But, it can’t be, you’re not in any sort of danger, so why would he be here? He clears his throat and speaks.

“Hi, I’m um Spider-man and I was wondering if you wanted to go on patrol with me?” Your mouth gaped open. There was no mistaking it, it was Peter. He tried to make his voice deeper but you could tell. So, you decided to have some fun with him.

“Sounds fun, but I don’t know what my boyfriend would say.”

“B-boyfriend?”

“Yeah, Peter. He went to go get something, I’m sure he’ll be back any second.”

“Um, Peter was the one who asked if I could come as a surprise through the Stark internship.” He gives that little head nod you adore. You step closer to him.

“Well, if Peter arranged all this, I guess it’s ok.” The two of you walk to the edge of the roof.

“Do you wanna like hold on to me or...something?” You grab onto his neck and he puts his arm around you and off you go.

***

After a while, the two of you swing back to the rooftop. Nothing that exciting happened on patrol, just a few lowkey petty thefts. Peter was disappointed that he wasn’t able to show off for you.  

“Um, y/n?”

“Yes?”

“I have to confess something to you.” He takes his mask off and you fake a gasp. “You knew?” his face a mix of confusion and maybe.. hurt?

“Peter, I knew from the moment you swung up here and tried to mask your voice.” He gives a small smile.

“I’m just wanted you to be impressed with me, but I guess I didn’t do that tonight.”

“Peter, you don’t have to be a superhero to impress. I like you already, there’s no reason to impress me.”

“I know, it’s just that I like you a lot and I don’t want to lose you. Being Spider-man is fun, don’t get me wrong, but, I really like you an-”

You couldn’t take it anymore you drown out what he was saying and just stared at his lips, thinking about what it would be like to have his tongue in your mouth. “Fuck it.” All self-control out the window, you grab the back of his head and reach up to meet his lips. When they meet, you see fireworks go off and never want to stop. But after a few seconds, you break apart.

“Sorry you were talking too much and I couldn’t help myself.”

“Y/n, it’s ok. I quite enjoyed it.” The two of you laugh. “I have another surprise for you.” He gets his phone from his backpack on the ground. You notice it’s a different one than he had yesterday. He puts on a 70’s playlist and asks you to dance. You happily oblige. As the music fills the night you lay your head on Peters' shoulder and sway to the beat.

As the next song plays you recognize the tune. You smile to yourself. It ‘Somebody to Love’ by Queen. You don’t need to find somebody, you already have somebody to love (although you won’t tell Peter yet). You’re finally out of that prison cell.

[kindabraveandlittlestupid]

Couples Costumes

So Halloween snuck up on me this year because it’s fucking tomorrow and I kinda forgot about it with all the things on the news. I had a handful of Halloween related posts that I wanted to post and while I managed to get a few done, the ones that require some photoshop work are still on my ‘To Do List’. Clearly, I went a little overboard with my post here posting 45 Halloween Costumes above (I am counting the classic Batman Costumes and the Wayne/Garth pics as just two costumes, so yes my math is sound).

I WAS planning to do a Velma/Shaggy or Salt/Snail costume with my S.O. but I am remarkably alone yet again, woe is me and my pity party. ^_^ Not being a downer, I promise. *Slaps Cheeks* Back on topic, Michael! You're rambling again. Yeah so here is a list of costumes. I might make another list next year but let's be honest the best couples costumes will be on this post. If you have your ideas/suggests I love to hear/see them in the notes.

Cartoons

Ash & Misty (Pokemon) - Kind of a classic costume these days as they are both iconic. Who wouldn't want to see their girlfriend in some jean shorts tiny yellow tank top? Misty can be switched out for sexy Pikachu.

Bob & Louise (Bob’s Burgers) - Lots of great characters in the show but none better than Bob and Louise (sorry Tina fans). This would be a fun outfit to host a party and cook burgers. Just a thought.

Birdman & Birdgirl (Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law) - Fun costume for Adult Swim lovers. I love for my girlfriend to do that inner monologue out in the open the way Birdgirl does. I could also switch Harvey out for Phil because “Ha Ha Naughty”. 

Max & Roxanne (Goofy Movie) - Simple costume with some paint on the nose and select clothes. I suspect only the 80′s thru 90′s kids would make the connection but the Z Generation has proved me wrong before.

Wanda & Cosmo (Fairly Oddparents) - Not my favorite costume set but one that would be fun if we had a kid who we were fairy godparents too.

Curious Georgia & Man in the Yellow Hat (Curious George) - This is all the excuse you need to jump on my back or my front or my bed. 

Alice & The White Rabbit (Alice in Wonderland) - Alice in Wonderland has lots of males to dress up as between the March Hare, White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and more. I am sure you girls like options.

Lilo & Stitch (Lilo & Stitch) - If I had four arms the sexy stuff we would do in bed but I don't sadly. However, I can make a great stitch voice not that a cartoon voice does much for you.

Jack Skellington & Sally (Nightmare Before Christmas) - I might be too broad shouldered for this sort of couples costume but if my partner is willing I am game. 

Mavis & Jonathan (Hotel Transylvania) - Mavis is perhaps a little to cute. I mean kind of a strange crush on a little vampire girl, so yeah I am not against someone cosplaying her for me.

Nick Wilde & Judy Hopps (Zootopia) - A little bit anthropomorphizing of Nick and Judy but they got good chemistry and so do we.

Spinelli & T.J. (Recess) - Not to take an innocent toon in a wrong direction but you know they probably smoked weed in high school together and T.J. convinces her to wear a dress for prom but no doubt still has her boots on. They make a cute couple to say the least.

Finn & Fionna (Adventure Time) - Heroes of Adventure Time! Sadly (not really sad about that) I am not blonde but we can always up on some 

Velma & Shaggy (Scooby Doo) - Yet another cartoon crush. I like a nerd and a little thick Velma.

Fred & Wilma (The Flintstones)  - Costumes are epic enough being basically caveman tunics. I can get behind this costume more if we had a Pebbles or Bam Bam to take out trick or treating.

Movies

Black Widow & Captain America (Avengers) - If I could afford it I would be Stark. If my hair was longer I would be Thor. Perhaps Hawkeye would be a better pairing. Regardless Black Widow is a woman among many men. This means you get your pick of which hero I dress up as.

Sam & Suzy (Sunrise Kingdom) - Kind of a hipster approach towards Halloween but sometimes being a nitch audience is ok.

Max & Furiosa (Mad Max) - If my girlfriend had a buzzed head, (for whatever reason that was) Mad Max would be an awesome costume to do together.

Mask & Tina Carlyle (The Mask) - I am a big Jim Carry fan so any excuse to dress up as his characters is a win. Camren Diaz was also smoking hot in this film.

Ash & Sheila (Army of Darkness) - Ash is pretty badass and the number 1 reason to dress as him is to have a chainsaw on your hand and double barrel shotgun on your back.

Dorthy & Scarecrow (Wizard of Oz) - I can also be a Tinman or Lion for your pleasure. That and you can be a green witch... no, I think prefer Dorthy.

Mary Poppins & Bert (Mary Poppins) - This costume would be so much better if I could sing or dance but I can't so I won't.

Aragorn & Arwen (Lord of the Rings) - If I find a woman into the Lord of the Rings (and Game of Thrones) she might be a keeper.

Harry Potter & Hermione Granger (Harry Potter) - Am I the only one who is upset Harry didn't hook up with Hermione? Am I the only one upset Emma Watson didn't hook up with me? Am I rambling? Should I shut up now?

Peter & Gamora (Guardians of the Galaxy) - Might easily be my favorite couple in the MCU. Gonna be a long night painting my girlfriend green.

Beetlejuice & Miss Argentina (Beetlejuice) - Again painting the girlfriend green and myself white! I suppose you could be Lydia and I can actually do a great impression of Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice.

Morticia & Gomez Addams (The Addams Family) - I would pay Thing if I could but sadly I can not disembody may hand and have it run around. I will have to settle for Gomez but your free to pick between Morticia or Wednesday. 

Wayne & Garth (Waynes World) - Playing to males? Meh sure. I loved this movie and I don't mind some cross-dressing for my partner. Just gonna be weird when Wayne makes out with Garth.

Shows

Burt Macklin & Janet Snakehole (Parks and Rec) - I am a special agent on a mission and your a wealthy widow with a secret. Only Parks and Recs fans will get this and that's just fucking great. Two rules though we don't break character and if I find a Johnny Karate, I must fight him.

Dexter Morgan & Hannah McKay (Dexter) - Might have been one of the hottest love scenes in a TV show ever. This costume works well with the plastic wrap and doubly fun to take it off you later.

Eleven & Mike (Stranger Things) - Pretty adorable couple on screen. Not sure about Season 2′s ‘rebel’ storyline in the city but still awesome all the same. I can't wait for season 3.

Batgirl/Catwoman & Batman (Batman Show) - I’m Batman. *Coughs* I mean I am dressed as Batman. The 1960′s Batman costume were simple but fun. Woman didnt look bad at all in their costumes either.

Daredevil & Electra (Daredevil) - I may keep it simple with the black mask and black shirt combo over the body armor. The good thing about those Marvel shows is the outfits are basic as hell.

William Riker & Deanna Troi (Star Trek) - Loved the TNG. Loved Star Trek. Can't go wrong with simple clothes and the Starfleet badge.

Comics/Video Games

Wonder Woman & Superman (DC Comics) - Open to interpretation about which Superman or Wonderwoman we are dressing up as. I have to admit the Wonder Woman movie costume was awesome. 

Batman & Catwoman (DC Comics) - Few romances have ever been so ‘Cat and Mouse’ or rather ‘Bat and Cat’ than that of Batman and Catwoman. The skin-tight body suit and whip make Catwoman all that much alluring. You can decide if you want to go TV show, Cartoon, Comics, Video Game or Movie versions of Selena Kyle.

Rogue & Gambit (Marvel Comics) - A man with deep love and a woman who can never be touched by him (at least skin to skin). This is some Shakespeare level tragedy for this lovely duo.

Spiderman & Black Cat (Marvel Comics) - What can I say its the costume on Black Cat... 

Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda) - I am totally open to also as playing as Ganon if you want me to capture you and tie you down to the bed. 

Misc

Mimes - A whole day of not talking to one another and miming shit out?! Sounds horrible lets just talk in private when no one is looking.

Fireman & Dalmation Girl - Who’s a good girl? Who’s a good girl? You are! Yes you are!

Little Red & Big Bad Wolf - I won't lie 90% of the reason this costume works is that it leads to sexy time in the bedroom.

Waldo & Wanda - We go to Good Will, buy a bunch of random junk. Write Property of Waldo on it and leave it around the neighborhood all night long. We can set up a Waldo themed house so people can bring items back to us.

Snail & Salt Shaker - Oh ho ho am I clever? Probably not someone has been bound to make a costume like this before. I think it be fun for you to avoid me the whole part as I walk around as a Salt Shaker.

Frankenstein & Bride of Frankenstein - Classic movie costume and its really all about the hair for the bride. I can imagine this being a big hit with the kids and fun for a monster movie night.

Regards Michael California

[everlarkficexchange]

Feast Your Eyes - Chapter 2

by @lovely-tothe-bone

Written by: @savvylark @lovely-tothe-bone @ra3lynn3

Prompt 91: Peeta as the tatted, ex-rocker owner of bakery chain (like in in DC-Balto area called dangerously delicious pies). Katniss is an attached (engaged or otherwise unavailable) food critic or reporter doing a piece on him but she and P can’t deny the attraction. Angst and such ensue. [submitted by Anonymous]

Rating: M; later change to E Warnings: Vague references to child abuse, sexual innuendos, eventual smut

A/N: ICYMI Chapter 1

Thank you to @javistg and @xerxia31 for running EFE!

Ch 2 is actually broken in two parts though you won’t have to wait too long for Ch 3. Are ya’ll ready for some Everlark Meet Ugly?

The exposed worn brick walls and concrete floor were offset by wood and steel everywhere. She admired the double length farm table displaying every bread imaginable beneath pendant lights. A circular steel staircase led to an upper level lounge area. She was surprised that not only was it fairly busy, the crowd itself was eclectic. Katniss glanced at her phone, it read 3:00. “Right on time,” she thought as she approached the counter.

Katniss appraised the pastries, cookies, and cakes. She was a food critic yet she had always been drawn to baked goods. Her mouth watered at the display, in just a few minutes she would get to try a little of everything.

“Good afternoon! Is this your first time with us at Decadent?” The peppy cashier greeted her.

Katniss cleared her throat, “Uh, yes, I’m actually here for a meeting with Mr. Mellark.”

The girl’s eyes lit up with excitement, “Oh! You’re the reporter?” The young blonde asked, eyeing Katniss. “You don’t look like a reporter, especially one that gets to eat all the time.”

Katniss’s eyes widened then quickly narrowed, “Actually I’m a writer and I do not-”

“Ok Delly! Why don’t you go clean the lobby!” A man’s voice cut through.

“Sorry about that Miss Everdeen, Delly is enthusiastic,” The man explained carefully. “Sometimes she doesn’t think before she speaks. Messalla, Decadent manager.” He reached across the counter to shake her hand. “Peeta’s running a little behind today. Can I make you a drink while you wait?” He gestured to the far-right side of the menu.

Katniss briefly studied it, noting aloud, “You have six kinds of hot chocolate?” She scoffed.

Messalla chuckled with a shrug, “Yeah, Peeta’s a bit of a big kid, always coming up with crazy concoctions.”

Katniss glanced at her phone and scowled, 3:12, she thought his punctuality matched that of a child.

“Just a classic hot chocolate please,” she ordered.

He nodded, “I’ll come find you when it’s ready.”

Katniss wandered through the lobby, taking in the rest of the shop. Even with all the dark and steel accents there was a softness to the bakery. Natural light flooded the space. Plush cushions on chairs and pillows of every size were scattered along the bench seating. A shelf of board games just waiting to be played sat in the corner. A sweet reading nook with a rainbow of board books available for the tiniest of customers. Katniss had never seen anything quite like it; there really was something for everyone.

The manager brought the hot chocolate just as Katniss slid into the empty bench space near the back. He reaffirmed that Peeta would arrive soon.

Katniss gazed out the window, lost in thoughts about what the last few days meant for her relationship. She was not being dramatic when she told Johanna she didn’t know what to feel. Unable to wrap her mind around how quickly things had spiraled, Katniss began racking her memories for more red flags she may have missed in the last nine months. She was always so careful. Before Thom she never bothered to invest in a relationship. When she met Thom, she took her time in accepting what he appeared to be; dependable, practical, rational. Katniss knew she could love him because he was steady, so she allowed herself to get comfortable.

An escalating roar pulled Katniss back to reality, her vision settling on a motorcyclist that cruised past several open spaces before gliding up the curb cut on to the sidewalk. He kicked the stand down and let the bike rest before hauling his leg over to dismount. Katniss crossed her arms, “How cliché,” she muttered. She made a face, “Motorcycle, tattoos, unruly hair, monochrome outfit, leather jacket. So original.” She snorted, wondering if he was trying to compensate for something. However, once she caught sight of the figure’s backside Katniss repeatedly found herself averting her gaze as he removed his gloves, jacket, and helmet.

Katniss checked the time, 3:32. Her jaw tensed and she dropped her head into her hands taking a couple deep breaths. “This guy has five minutes to show,” she growled internally.

A moment later the doorbell chimed and the bakery’s lulling buzz of voices swelled with catcalls and a smattering of applause. Katniss swept her braid back as she leaned across the table. Her jaw dropped ever so slightly, her hands clutched the table, and her heart rate doubled. There stood the motorcyclist and his front side was just as delicious as his back side. The riotous ashy blonde curls she had mocked fell softly above brilliant blue eyes. The tattoos were striking against the backdrop of his creamy skin. His broad shoulders and chest held his gray shirt taut. He flashed a dazzling grin, causing two deceiving dimples to appear, then flourished a wave as he strutted up to the counter.

A giggling pair of curvy blondes in volleyball gear sauntered into his path. Katniss looked on as the co-eds cooed and fawned over him. They tousled their hair, stroked his arm, bit and licked their lips, leaning in as they spoke softly. Her lip curled up, nose wrinkling, she had no idea who this guy was but wanted to vomit at the display.

Once the flirt fest broke up and the mysterious motorcyclist disappeared she began to make her way out, fed up with waiting. As she pushed on the door, a hand caught her elbow.

“Miss Everdeen, Peeta just arrived. Let me show you to his office.” Messalla said.

“Uh, sure, lead the way.” Katniss released the door to follow him.

She must have missed him coming in with all the ruckus over the motorcyclist. “Do you regularly serve celebrities?”

Messalla laughed at her question, “Thanks to Peeta, yeah, we do have a few famous regulars, and others who stop in whenever they are in town. He usually comes in through the back, I guess he forgot his keys this morning.”

Katniss was baffled as to why a famous customer would have keys to the bakery, but there was no time to question further as Messalla knocked on a door and announced her presence.

“Boss, Miss Everdeen’s here.”

Katniss stepped through the doorway but halted with a furrowed brow at the sight of the motorcyclist. Then the pieces fell into place. “You!? You’re Mr. Mellark?” She blurted.

“Please, call me Peeta.” He smirked while offering his hand.