#but. also. you just know half of them are straight up denying his power as head of the church.

[littlemoonglow]

Warning: Long post?

—

Jason did not expect his ghost form to feel…like this.

(Oh, dealing with his body randomly phasing through the ground and smacking his face onto hard concrete was not fun, but Jason dealt with that just like with every other hurdle in his life. By being more stubborn than the problem itself.)

It felt like something… settled into place. That was the best way he could describe it.

He felt as if spite and anger were finally not the only things keeping him awake and running. 

He felt calm, almost. Stable, at least. Whatever pent up energy that was stuck in his chest cavity now flowed freely throughout his body, redistributed, instinctually easier to manage.

It's almost like he could breathe a little bit easier.

(After much… ranting that Jason decided to ignore for his own sanity, Danny said that his case ectoplasmic corruption was probably due to the fact that Death, as a concept, doesn’t let go of things easily, time shenanigans notwithstanding.)

(Becoming a half-ghost was seemingly the only working compromise.)

—

Danny once told him that broad strokes of a ghost’s personality could be guessed by looking at their physical appearance. 

Despite the cool powers, this was a slight downside. Jason dealing with the filth of the Earth meant that being to hide his emotions and who he is was kind of important. Life saving, even.

He realized later on that his ghost form was way too easy to read.

—

He looked at his arms covered in bandages, and got reminded of the amount of times he had to patch himself up in the last month.

His jacket was ripped in place he knew that would have been sewn together when he was a living breathing human (well, as much as he could be).

He always looked slightly on fire?

(Danny told him it's probably related to his... core?)

(He know he died in an explosion but really?)

And then, there was his… veil? Shroud? Cloak?

It looked really nice.

But on the other hand…

It drooped when he felt under the weather. It flicked and thrashed around when he’s either irritated or barely holding back his urge to headshot someone.

And—

(No Danny, my cloak was not fucking wagging when you brought me fresh ectoplasm last week, you’ll have to get your goddamn eyes checked—)

He'll deny it until the day he dies (a second time).

And then his cloak could sometimes just…grow bigger. He figured that it acted as an extension of his own body, and had a nice add-on of allowing him to sense things he couldn't see. Hell, he could even make a hand out of it (wacking Danny with it - gently - never gets old). Jason had to also admit it looked cool, with the wispy bits and with one of its sides becoming a bright yellow.

(It reminded him a bit of his time as Robin.)

—

Being a ghost had a lotta perks.

Dealing with targets was so much easier when no one could see you. Inflitration was so much simpler when walls became optional. Cameras will glitch out when he's around, he left no traces visible to the naked eye and, combined with his training, to say that it was useful would be an understatement.

But, sometimes, he feels like he’s changing as well the more he transforms. Not drastically, but enough for him to look back and notice.

He usually was someone who prided on being efficient and straight to the point.

But now he’s starting to… have fun.

He started using his claws whenever he could. Don't het him wrong, he still uses his guns plenty, but there was just something deeply satisfying about vaulting over things, scaling a wall or crawling on the ceiling with bare hands. 

(Punching people is still the most satisfying by far, though.)

That one time hunting down the Joker wannabes was fun too.

(Danny said he’d get along great with Skulker? Did Jason want to find out? No.)

Fading in and out of invisibility, he picked them off one by one, watching as panic and dread slowly but surely creeped up on the remaining ones.

(After all, he has no respect for those trying to emulate the dead clown.)

—

(Yeah, the Joker was dead.)

(Surprisingly, that has not been a good day.)

—

One of the favorite things he liked to do was rooftop parkour. The… bendability of gravity is… fun, not gonna lie.

(Not flying though. Jason is used to having feet in regular contact with solid ground, thank you very much. No offense, Danny.)

But he gets why ghosts love to fly. When he’s jumping from rooftop to rooftop in Gotham in the at night, watching the city light fly by, cloak spread behind him, it’s as if nothing else matters. 

(No Joker, no petty criminals to beat up, no avoiding the Bats so they don’t find out about his existence—)

He can just enjoy, even just for a little bit.

—

(Somehow the Demon Brat and Orphan could sense him. Will keep and eyes on those two, and also the more reasons to avoid them.)

(The real problem was the new Bat in town. Bruce, what the fuck, another one? Again?)

(The yellow one, Signal. No time to check his profile yet, but probably a meta or something.)

(First night out and the guy almost managed to actually fucking see him —looked at him straight in the eyes and all, then did a double take. Jason never phased into the pavement so fast in his entire fucking life.)

(And so far no Bats on his cloak tails yet.)

(He did help the guy incognito, just a couple of times.) 

(And he also did steal his escrima sticks for fun, and once the guy went out looking for them, he’d put them right back where they were.)

(Turns out, he discovered later, that being a little shit runs in the ghost community.)

—

(Sometimes he also wonders what happened to Danny before they met.)

(He wasn't a Gothamite, that was obvious. He doesn’t pry, but it doesn’t take a lot to piece two and two together.)

(He just wonders who he has to kill this time.)

—

(Jason could not believe he forgot and underestimated just how fucking persistent every single one of the Bats could be. Of course it had to run in the family.)

He gazed down, thought the agony, at the gaping wound under his right armpit.

(The Bats have been chasing him relentlessly for a while now. He got more injuries than he can count, especially from Bruce.)

(They know. Oh, they know.)

(It didn’t go well.)

(He knows the others are there surrounding him to prevent him from escaping, he knows that Dick is right behind him, but at the moment he couldn’t care less.)

It has been a long time since the last time he got shot.

(It felt like someone set his right side on fire.) 

What was flowing out in abundance was a neon, toxic green.

(The Pit Waters, ectoplasm, he didn’t even know that he could fucking bleed in ghost form—)

(Danny—)

He looked back up at Batman, holding a (frankly) ugly gun, white casing and highlights in the same shade of toxic green. 

(A gun that Danny warned him about. And everything behind it.)

Jason felt something in him... snap.

(Why did it have to be you, Bruce.) 

His mouth opened—

(waitsincewhenhecoulddothatthroughtthe mask—) 

(Jason could see the billows of neon green smoke—)

(He couldn’t see Bruce’s expression.)

(Every. Single. Goddamn. Time.)

— and wailed.

---------------------------------------------------

I am genuinely delighted that my last post got that much attention! Thank you so much, to all who liked, rebblogged and commented, it really does mean the most. 💕

This AU may be continued? No guarantees, tho.

For those interested: Part 01

@fandomnerd103 @phoenixdemonqueen @satisfactionbroughtmeback @ascetic-orange @apointlessbox @bathildaburp @fisticuffsatapplebees @aisforanonymity @phandomhyperfixationblog @help-i-need-a-cool-username @hashtagdrivebywrites @did-i-miss-anyone-tagging-is-a-monk's-job-first-time-doing-this-aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[we-stan-cale]

Defeating the White Star so easily relied heavily on Kim Rok Soo - not just what he learned from reading The Birth of a Hero, not just his special powers, but all his experiences, his way of thinking, all the things that made him who he was .

Fair warning, if haven't finished part 1 you might want to skip this. I'll be talking heavily about Kim Rok Soo, and I don't remember which chapters we learned this... Just that it's fairly late.

Kim Rok Soo is an analyst first and foremost. Record allows him to remember and process information at ungodly speeds, but it takes real skill to take masses of information and filter out all the irrelevant and distracting details.

Cale, as the transmigrated KRS, has that skill. He has repeatedly been able to take information from the books, information he gained as a noble (whether purchased from an information guild like what Deruth gave him at the beginning, or just reports or books he has access to) and pull it all together to find the most important factors.

Like why the crown prince might want a naval base, or why Ubarr would be a good location for one.

Or that the Mogoru Empire would want slaves for their alchemical experiments, and that that slaver noble he learned about was probably selling them to the empire (though, naturally, he found the evidence to back up his intuition. It's just knowing where to look and what to look for probably sped the process up tremendously).

And given how much he knows about the importance of any sliver of information, it's no surprise he constantly looks for sources of it.

He repeatedly asks Choi Han to capture rather than kill their enemies, and it's not just that he dislikes killing. Every captured enemy is a source of information - from the Arm member they captured at the elf village, to Cloppeh, to Syrem, to the dragon half blood... Cale learns a tremendous amount of information about the organization they are fighting. He even got the dragon half blood to lead them to one of Arm's bases on the Eastern continent.

And he's able to get even more through encounters with people like Hannah, and even the bandits on the Eastern continent that he shanghais into serving as waitstaff in his hotel.

He also denies information to the enemy as much as he can. From the silly fake uniforms that Choi Han dreads to his insistence they kill or blind the mage who saw Ron's face, he and his people are constantly able to take Arm by surprise.

Imagine if we were in Birth of a Hero, and Choi Han just straight up killed all those sources of information? And didn't wear a disguise, so he became a known opponent that the White Star could plan for and target?

Then we get into his experiences taking down corrupt guilds, which he used on corrupt nobles and priests alike. From selling of the treasures he found to the priest of the sun god, to handling the Stans and more..

He has the skills and experience - as well as an ability to quickly plan with the resources on hand and the flexibility to adjust his plans as needed - to handle almost anything thrown his way.

The foreknowledge from The Birth of a Hero and the wealth and connections he gained as a Henituse are only partially able to explain his success.

[whysojiminimnida]

Remember When I Said Taehyung Might Not Be As Gay As We Thought?

Don't judge a man by his milfy wardrobe, he looks goooood.

It was... awhile ago. Maybe as far back as 2021 although I do not feel like link-searching it. It's in the archives if I didn't kill it.

Granted, there was a lot going on, then. There's still a lot going on and until now I had no desire to ever - EVER - return to this hellsite. Because Taekookers are fucking weird, yo. And some of y'all got a lil bit up in my shit too as I (fuzzily) recall. Which: it's whatever. I'm extremely unsocial, don't even answer my own DMs. And it's not personal, so I get it. I don't need or want to defend myself, but I will protect people I care about. With my absence, if necessary.

OT: I also totally kicked the big C while I've been out so that was nice. Yoongi the cat is pleased that his noms will continue uninterrupted. I will be in wigs for at least another year. It's all good. Oh LOOK at what we have here. Don't come at me for publishing this, I will explain.

I got it from actual media days ago, okay, and also: there was no expectation of real privacy. Keep reading. Or don't, I'm not telling you what to do.

ANYWAY. I had to come back, mainly to say TAENNIE IS REAL I TOLD Y'ALL IDK WHY NOBODY EVER BELIEVES ME BUT HERE WE ARE. I'm gloating. Honestly, it's so rude, I'd apologize if I cared. But I am rude and snorfling into my cheerios about this. Tae just made me so damn happy, is all.

LET THE MAN BE BI OR HETEROFLEXIBLE OR EVEN STRAIGHT IDC. Jennie clearly makes him happy. Look at his "I'm going to Paris to see my girlfriend" face!

And in that very specific jewelry look, no less. Foundrae. Again. Still. Hm.

Here's what I can tell you based on my limited third hand no sources no receipts this is probably utter bullshit usual disclaimer: It's a soft open, kids. This whole "oopsie we just so happened to get caught taking a lil walk in public with our managers in tow during which date at least one of us signed several autographs, what a surprise" is in fact a soft open for what will likely be a public confirmation PRETTY DAMN SOON. It might happen before I get this thing published, actually, depending on when I get it up. If it's before May 22 at noon my time, no idea. If after, well. Guess we'll see. Jennie's supposed to show up at the screening of HBO's The Idol that day, screening at the Grand Lumiere at 10:30 CEST. One wonders if she will arrive alone, or bring a plus one. It's a big ask, and if he does it they're probably getting married, that's how big a deal it would be. So I'm not holding my breath, but.

This seems like a reasonable prospect for a plus-one viewing. Might not be the only one but... Jennie's IN IT so.

I'M NOT SAYING THIS IS GONNA HAPPEN. I think it would be a fucking POWER move if it did, but I also do not necessarily expect that it will. It COULD. It... MIGHT. It might not. Either way they're a thing, I'm telling you. They are, have been, a thing. For awhile. And it is apparently quite serious - like up to and including talk of engagement serious.

Remember when a bunch of folk thought that one gummy bear dude was going to jail for "hacking" Jennie's phone only there's been no actual movement on any "investigation"? Yeah. Trickle truthing, they call it. Give 'em a little bit, let them deny it and yell and chew on it for awhile before you give 'em a little more. But c'mon, nobody's wearing half the love-themed couple pieces at Foundrae for no damn reason.

Seriously they got the whole collection almost and both have been seen wearing them almost exclusively. For a year.See airport pic above.

Look, I don't have inside info on Taehyung. I do not. I ain't hang with his friends and I don't know him personally. Never met the guy. But I know a PR move when I see one and this is exactly that.

We all know how toxic stan culture can be. Some ToadlicKKers (and a few of us house elves) are certifiably bonkers, if stan twitter is anything to go by. And the guys, the company, they expect a whole meltdown. They know this is not gonna make half their fans happy. I mean the tkkers have a point in that it looks like they wanted to be seen. BECAUSE IT'S A SOFT OPEN. What Taejen/Taennie/Jenhyung and the companies also know is that based on historic shipper behavior, this is gonna come back on Jimin, Jungkook, maybe Rose' and Lisa. And by extension, the other members. Maybe not as much due to their respective distance, but still. I bet by the time I finish this it will have already started.

Oh look there it is. Fuck those bitches, really.

Good LORDT. I'm not adding the audio, if y'all are that hungry for psycho hose beast Jimin hate hie thee to stan twt.

But, totally off-topic kinda...

... wouldn't it be cool if Jennie, who speaks great English, was hanging out with Troye Sivan and was like "so you know my boyfriend tells me that his bffs..." I'M JUST SAYING NETWORKING IS COOL AND FRIENDS OF FRIENDS GET THINGS DONE OKAY.

You know that girl has the scoop. If Tae knows it, she knows it. Oh heeeeyyy Troye.

Also OT: I love that Taekook have been hanging out a little more lately. It's refreshing. I genuinely think having Jennie in his life has been good for Tae in several ways. And you know, I'm kinda surprised Taennie has lasted this long. I didn't honestly think they would. It warms my decrepit, sad old heart a bit. Turns out I have a lot more to say so IDK IDK, if I feel okay about it I might be back. Right now I'm just waiting for the official Taennie nod and the continued total meltdown.

[delopsia]

I usually don’t send in requests cause I don’t want to be a bother but I saw your post about you wanting requests so I was wondering if you have any Rhett Abbott headcanons? Like just in general of what he likes or certain habits he has. I really loved what you wrote about him loving to snack and Bob loving chicken sandwiches lol. You write both Rhett and Bob really well so I’m always interested to hear your takes on either one of them! 💕

aaaa hello lovely! :D I absolutely have some headcanons for ol' Rhett 💃💕I had to limit myself because otherwise, the list would roll right out the damn door.

✧˖° General Rhett Headcanons

Rhett has a hard time sleeping alone. No matter how exhausting the day has been or how long he's been awake when his head hits the pillow at night, nothing happens.

Late-night drives are one of his go-to cures for those sleepless nights. Hell, half of the time, he doesn't even try to get in bed; he just grabs his keys and hits the road. It's hard telling where the road will take him, but he'll be out there until he's either low on gas or the road has finally lulled him into sweet, sweet drowsiness.

On the rare occasion his drives don't work, he takes a blanket and lays on the haystack outside his horse's stall. Company is company, and sometimes a little shut-eye is worth the ache in his neck when he wakes up in the morning.

But the moment his significant other is in the room with him? He's out cold. He's out cold. He can spend an entire night struggling to sleep, only to fall asleep the moment he knows they're in the room.

That being said, it also works if he's not even in bed. One moment he's leaned against the fridge sipping his coffee, then you walk in, and he's sleeping standing up. He will stay like that if you let him.

Royal got Rhett into using tobacco when he was around fourteen, and Cecelia hated it so much that she offered to help Rhett buy the horse he had his heart set on in exchange for him quitting.

Now, he has a nervous habit of taking invisible dip out of his lip. It's the only thing he never broke himself out of doing, primarily because he hardly realizes he's doing it.

Rhett's got a sweet tooth bigger than he is. From sweet tea to just straight-up eating packets of sugar when he can't scavenge anything out of the pantry if it's sweet, he loves it. Royal and Perry give him hell for it, but Rhett drinks his coffee just as sweet as his tea.

He still has most of his childhood toys and stuffed animals. There's a box of toys beneath his bed, and those old, dusty plushies reside on the high shelf of his closet.

When he's drunk, Rhett gets his heart set on things. Sometimes he just wants a particular food; others, he wants a certain object. A rock he found on the floor, that obscurely tiny pen on the end of the table, the keychain he saw in the store two-weeks ago.

Once, he drunkenly wobbled all the way up the stairs and practically crawled under his bed because a conversation had reminded him of those old Power Rangers he used to play with.

May or may not have fallen asleep on the floor, with the toys scattered next to him and one clutched in his hand.

Doesn't speak unless you directly address him, especially in group settings. Sometimes Rhett gets so content with listening that he just...forgets that he can contribute to the conversation.

It's relatively easy to bring Rhett to tears; he's the first to get glassy-eyed during a sad movie, and his heart breaks a little when it comes time to send the cattle off to market. But it takes years of trust for him to let you see those tears, and even then, he tries to deny it.

Secretly very talented in welding. He took the classes as a high school elective, and it's a skill that's morphed into a hobby. On the rare instance that he has free time, Rhett's busy welding scrap metal together. The attic is filled with boxes upon boxes of trinkets he's made; do you want a tractor made out of a bunch of junk nuts and bolts? He's got plenty.

Sometimes? He just? Winds up on the floor? One minute he's supposed to be working, the next, he's lying on your kitchen floor. He usually doesn't know why, either; he just felt like being there.

Chews on the inside of his cheek when he's nervous. If it's quiet enough, you can usually hear the soft clicking of his teeth as he does it.

Confident when he's out in the country, shy puppy dog anywhere else. He's oozing confidence when he's out in those old fields, from tagging calves to dodging their pissed-off mommas, but the moment you take him away from what he's familiar with? His tail is between his legs. Quiet, glued to your side, and following your lead.

Always does this thing where he crouches and gets surprised when the spurs on his boots dig into his ass. Twenty years of wearing them, and he still hasn't learned.

Absolutely got in trouble for not taking his spurs off when he was in high school. He just forgets they're there until someone makes a comment.

[oblivious-aro]

I remember you saying you had some thoughts on Morro being a less effective version of Tai Lung from the Kung Fu Panda movie. Do you have any more thoughts on that :o

Quick introduction, both Morro and Tai Lung are students who turned evil much to the of their old teachers (Wu and Shifu respectively). If you watched Kung Fu Panda 609 times as a child like me, you probably caught on that Morro's character was taken whole cloth from Tai Lung.

Now let's get into the details!

So Tai Lung and Morro have two parts to their character: the threat/villain aspects, and the tragic relationship/falling out with their mentor.

As a villain, Morro works pretty well. Possessing Lloyd establishes him as a threat both emotionally and power wise, since he's taken someone the ninja care for deeply and robbed them of their most powerful member in one swoop. I always kind of thought of him as the dark version of Lloyd, but he’s really more of a “What season 1 Kai could've been”, further supported by Kai's unyielding determination to protect Lloyd this season, contrasted against Morro literally using Lloyd as an actual meat puppet and casually threatening to kill Lloyd to get what he wants.

He’s threatening, hateable, and thematically appropriate as a villain.

As for his “tragic” relationship with Wu, well…despite general fandom opinion, it's actually pretty weak.

Tai Lung's screen time is dedicated to building up how powerful of a threat he is, outside of two key scenes that establish and build on his relationship with Shifu. The first is a flashback that happens somewhere around the half point of the movie. Reveling that Tai Lung was groomed to work his entire life for a role he ends up being denied point-blank recontextualizes the audience's feelings about Tai Lung. Up to that point he was presented as just some dangerously power-hungry villain, but now that the audience knows that Shifu has a personal connection to Tai Lung, and that changes their feelings on both of them.

The second relationship-focused scene is the penultimate fight between Tai Lung and Shifu. Before the combat, the two of them have a conversation that is just loaded with tension, and that tension stays prominent for the rest of the fight. The audience obviously doesn’t want Tai Lung to win, but watching Shifu attempt to take down the child he raised with his whole heart doesn’t exactly feel all sunshiny. Everything from the dialogue to the dark and rainy atmosphere (later heavily contrasted against Po’s triumphant fight in the rising sun) is meant to emphasize the heaviness and tragedy of the fight, building the flashback and Shifu's character growth to twist the knife in the audience's heart.

On the surface, Morro works similarly, spending the majority of his screen time being built up as someone that needs to be stopped, outside of two scenes that focus on his relationship with Wu. While Tai Lung's flashback happens in the middle of the movie, Morro's is told in the second episode of the season. Changing the timing of the flashback changes the effect it has on the audience. Instead of establishing an evil scary guy and then going ‘oh wait, there’s also this other important aspect to him’, we see the more human (literally) side of Morro almost straight away and then spend the remaining 80% of the season showing how evil he is. If Morro’s backstory garnered any sympathy from the audience, it will inevitably be overshadowed by the proceding 8 episodes of Morro doing nothing but make selfish choices. Doing Morro's flashback earlier has the exact opposite effect that Tai Lung's flashback had on his story.

Also worth noting that while a large part of Shifu’s characterization comes from his hand in Tai Lung’s fall (his cold relationship with his new students, his need for control, etc), Ninjago shifts the fault more so onto Morro as a person:

Wu: After I told him he could be the Green Ninja, there was a hunger unmatched.

Morro: (He kicks some of the other trainees, making them fall. Aggressively) Get up. Get up!

Wu: Enough.

Morro: But Sensei, I'm gonna be the Green Ninja. I need greater tests.

Wu: I said, enough!

Kung Fu Panda meanwhile feels no need to shy away from the idea of Tai Lung's actions being the result of Shifu's failure as a teacher. In fact, it embraces it:

Tai Lung: Not your fault!? Who filled my head with dreams? Who drove me to train until my bones cracked? Who denied me my destiny!?

...

Shifu: I...I have always been...proud of you. From the first moment I've been proud of you. And it was my pride...that blinded me. I loved you too much too see what you were becoming...what I was turning you into...I'm s-...I'm sorry...

Ninjago doesn’t completely kill the vibes, it’s still understandable that Wu would be sad a student of his didn’t turn out well, but lessening the responsibility Wu’s bears for the way Morro turned out gives their relationship a lot less weight than Shifu and Tai Lung’s, and lessens the impact their relationship had on Wu’s character compared to Shifu’s. They do retroactively imply Morro's reaction was the reason Wu never told his new students about the green ninja prophecy, which is kind of neat, but Wu doesn't really seem to be affected by his relationship with Morro beyond that.

They're not showcasing Wu being affected by the soured relationship, or building up any kind of emotional conflict about having to oppose his old student. The fact that this season's antagonist is Morro doesn't make Wu behave any differently than he would with any other run-of-the-mill Ninjago villain.

Shifu's character, as I mentioned earlier, is felt in pretty much every moment he's on screen. You can feel his fear of history repeating itself in everything from how frugal he is with praise for his students, to the sheer panic in his voice anytime he and Oogway talk about Tai Lung returning.

In fairness to Ninjago, Shifu was a character made entirely for that movie and nothing else, so his character was built from the ground up with his relationship with his student in mind for the whole process, while Wu is an already existing character in an establised franchise (that's also on a much smaller budget than a Dreamworks movie *ahem*), but they aren't really trying to build up the relationship between Wu and Morro outside over the course of Posession at all, outside of the two specific scenes I mentioned.

Speaking of, there’s the final scene between mentor and student that both charaters share. For Tai Lung, this was a fight, and for Morro, it's a redemption, and I don't think the writers considered how that key difference would affect Morro's story very deeply. Morro and Tai Lung follow the same structure of building up how evil and threatening they are until their ultimate defeat, and since Tai Lung’s story wasn’t building towards redemption, neither does Morro’s. This is fine for Tai Lung, because the emotional climax of his story is acceptance of the tragedy that his and Shifu’s shattered relationship is completely and totally beyond mending. Not only that, but it mainly takes place over a fight. It makes sense to just continuously ramp up Tai Lung’s threat level.

Morro on the other hand, completely switches sides at the last possible second of both his life and the season. With no buildup, his redemption feels very sudden and insincere. This guy who’s been plotting around the same obsession he had as a child for decades, kidnapped and possessed a child, put in the work to literally rewrite destiny, and made deals with satan/hell herself just decided “Actually I’m good now okay byeeeeeee!” in the space of two seconds?

Tai Lung and Shifu’s fight crushes your soul a little. Morro’s redemption just leaves you going “I guess that happened?”

They ripped off Tai Lung and only got him half-right.

[wintervalewritersecond]

birthday surprise - xavier thorpe

masterlist

requested: yes! requests: open! Hello there! How are ya?I literally just found your blog and I loved your writing, so I thought on sending in a lil request :) I didn't find a request rule so feel free to deny or change anything if you want to, okayCould you make a Xavier Thorpe x gn!reader where it's reader's birthday and Xavier, Ajax, Enid and the rest of the group plan a surprise party for reader in a restaurant at the city, and by the end of the night Xav and reader sneak out and Xavier confesses his feelings? Just a friends to lovers w a lot of fluffHope it's not to specific though lolTomorrow's my birthday and the thought of spending it w them just makes me go 😭😭 anyways, thanks for reading!!

A/N: i am doing quite good, thank you! happy birthday! normally, i work from oldest to newest requests, but i just had to finish this before your birthday! i hope you have an amazing day and i wish you the very best <;33

wordcount: 1,605 warnings: they/them reader, no specified power, rushed so its not the best

Your friends had planned a surprise party for your birthday. As the night comes to an end, you get one last gift from Xavier.

When Enid had asked you to go out to Jericho, you didn't think much of it. You would go with her oftentimes, shopping at all the stores there were and ending the day at the Weathervane before going back to Nevermore. So, you weren't surprised when, after a long day of shopping, the two of you walked into the area where the Weathervane was located. What did surprise you is that she walked straight past the Weathervane, crossing the street.

"Enid? The Weathervane is right here!"

The girl turns around, a nervous smile on her mouth as she raises her eyebrows.

"Oh, I know! I just... I wanted to check out a new store! It's right here, it will be quick, I promise."

The store turned out to be your favorite restaurant.

"Surprise!" She squeals, clapping her hands as all of your friends come from around the corner. "Xavier and I invited everyone and we are having a birthday dinner!"

That is how you ended up sitting at a big table. Enid and Xavier had invited the entire group. Yoko, Ajax, Kent, Divina, Bianca, and Wednesday. Though some people were strategically placed at opposite ends of the table, it was still fun.

"Time for gifts! And I want to be the first one!"

Enid jumps up from her chair, reaching into her bag.

"Okay, so everyone got you a gift, but I have the best one!"

She hands you the small package. The box had your name on it and was closed by a thick ribbon. Enid ushers you to open it, she couldn't wait any longer.

The box contained a crocheted piece in your favorite colors.

"It's a snood!"

You had gotten a lot of gifts before the night ended. The snood, stationery, a book, and much, much more. Your phone was now also filled with group photos and silly pictures of your friends.

"If we all manage to sneak out," Yoko speaks up with a grin. "Then I can mix up some drinks in the Nightshade library."

That is not something you say no to. Everyone agrees to it; Yoko does mix some mean drinks.

Half an hour passes as everyone finishes their meals, leaning back on their chairs while sipping the last of the drinks they have. You look to your left, seeing Xavier nervously bouncing his leg up and down.

"You okay?" You whisper.

No one heard it anyway. Everyone was either talking or too full to hear anything. Xavier breathes in deeply before looking at you, a smile on his face before nodding. He was doing very well, actually. It took him and Enid a while to plan this party, but so far, everything had gone well. What makes him nervous is the gift that he hasn't given you yet.

"Yeah," he smiles. "No worries."

After the meal got paid for, everyone exited the restaurant. Xavier even took hold of some of your bags, insisting that you shouldn't carry them all yourself. His hand was on the small of your back as everyone stood outside. It is nothing that he hadn't done before, but it still makes your cheeks glow.

The air was a bit cold, so everyone decided to just walk back to Nevermore. It was only a twenty-minute walk, although you wouldn't be too surprised if it was going to take a bit longer.

"Xavier! Tell me I'm right!"

Kent lets out a groan, shaking his head.

"That's not true! Come on!"

Xavier looks at you with a grin as you just let out a laugh, looking at him as he walks a bit faster to try and find out what Kent and Ajax were bickering about.

It's not silent for long as Wednesday and Enid start walking on either side of you.

"Xavier has such a crush on you!"

Enid took hold of your arm, pointing at the long-haired boy way in front of you.

"It is actually the worst kind of torture to see," Wednesday replies. "A guillotine would be less bad to see."

"I don't know," you sigh. "I hope he does, but..."

"Come on, Y/N! He does!"

Everyone could see how head over heels the two of you were. Every time the group hung out, he would be right by your side. You would always make sure to never stray too far away from him.

The group arrived at Nevermore right on time, sneaking into their dorms. Yoko would have to get some mixed drinks from her room, and you really wanted to bring all your stuff to your dorm before continuing the party in the Nightshade library.

Xavier had walked with you as he was holding a lot of your stuff as well. The second the door closes, you let out a sigh, letting yourself fall onto your bed. You love your friends, but it could get quite tiring. Your social battery is just a bit drained.

You open your eyes when you feel a weight next to you. Xavier had sat down on your bed, looking down at you with a smile. The bags that he was carrying are neatly placed underneath your desk, together with all your other items.

"Tired?"

"A bit," you admit. "But I can't just skip out on a Yoko drink party. I might get some fresh air."

He lets out a chuckle, admiring you as you get off of your bed.

"Want to join me?"

You open your window, sitting on the windowsill as your legs dangle to the outside. There is a small balcony anyway, so you wouldn't consider it dangerous. Xavier takes a deep breath before sitting up straight and reaching into his backpack.

"I forgot to give you the second gift."

You look at him, squinting your eyes.

"So you are telling me that you bought me expensive art supplies, paid for my dinner, carried my things and that you have even more?"

"It's small, I promise."

He walks up to the window, climbing to the outside as he sits down on the floor of the balcony. The box he gives you is messily packaged with a ribbon and colorful wrapping paper. His hands are a bit shaky as he fiddles with the hem of his sweater.

"Tying ribbons isn't my strong suit," he lets out a laugh. "I just- I am not that good with words."

You open the small package and it reveals a painting. On it is a picture of you with Xavier, a memory from a while ago. The two of you had decided to have a picnic in front of his art shed. It had started raining, so you both had to hurry to get all the food and items inside the shed to keep it from getting wet. You were stuck in there all night and eventually fell asleep.

"Xavier! This is amazing!"

The picture animates itself, the sun disappearing and rain pouring down before the sun comes up again, paint-you and Xavier coming back out of the shed, returning to their original poses. When you turn the painting around, you see some text written on the back of the canvas.

'The moment I fell in love with you. Happy birthday, y/n. - your Xavier.'

You look up from the words to your friend, who is nervously watching your reaction. Your eyes are big and your eyebrows are furrowed, but what does it mean?

The longer you stay quiet, the more nervous Xavier gets. He can't quite tell if its a good or a bad silence.

"If you don't like it I can paint over it," he quickly says. "I can-"

"You like me?"

He stops talking, looking at you nervously. He blinks a few times before nodding.

"Yeah," he whispers.

You carefully place the painting next to you, your hands resting on Xavier's hands. A big smile is on your face as you look at him. There is not a lot of light outside as the sky had turned a dark blue, yet you still see the sparkles in Xavier's eyes.

"You really do?"

"One hundred percent," he pauses for a second. "Do you? Like... me>"

"Yeah," you reply with a big smile on your face. "One hundred percent."

He holds your hands tightly, almost as if you will slip away from him the second he lets go. His heart is beating even faster than it did before - something he didn't even think was possible. If it will go any faster than this, he might pass out.

"Can I," he breathes in shakily. "Can I kiss you?"

"Always."

And so he does.

His hands rest on your cheeks as he presses a soft kiss on your lips. You kiss for a few minutes before hearing shuffling beneath you. When you look down from the balcony, you see the entire group sneaking off to the library.

"Well," Xavier softly says, a sweet smile on his face. "Time to party?"

You nod and let out a laugh, grabbing his hand before pulling him inside, closing the window behind you, and walking to the door. You stick out your head, looking to see if no one is around before pulling Xavier with you.

Two soft snaps make the Poe statue move, your other hand still holding Xavier's. You can already hear everyone talking, the two of you soon joining them. Yoko hands you a drink before you can even reach the bottom of the stairs.

The entire night was filled with drinking, games, and laughing. You would often glance at Xavier, but most of the time, he was already looking at you.

Truly, the best birthday ever.

[saika077]

[Book 6 Spoilers]

Night Raven Quest but make that TTRPG, baby (ft. The Overblots)

Riddle doesn't really understand the whole roleplaying thing at first but surprisingly enjoys the whole dungeon exploring and puzzle solving. He'd be a Human, pretty basic, I know. And a boy scout like him would be a Paladin with very strict moral code and is very stubborn about it. His stubbornness and temper sometimes causes conflict on the table but he'll work on that. Most of the time it's not even him starting the conflict, but rather some people (Azul) getting on his nerves and causing his anger to explode. This boy seriously needs to learn to cut himself and others some slack and have fun like a normal goddamn teenager.

Leona is the type of mf who makes a hard-boiled character with serious fucked up backstory but gave them a goofy ahh name no one can keep a straight face calling him that. His character would be a war veteran Dwarf Cleric named Angus Schmungus or something. And you know what? That's probably not even his real name. His character name, background, affiliation, etc. is between him and god (the DM). And if anyone asks him about his background and/or motivations he'd just give different outlandish story every time like that one ex-convict dude from Ratatouille, neither confirming or denying the credibility of the story.

Azul would try to cheat, so they'd need a dice tower. They'd also need to check his dice before every campaign (can't be too careful with this slimy mf). During his character creation process, he prioritize stats like Charisma, Intelligence, etc. He plays a Bard and a Tiefling for that extra +2 Charisma and +1 Intelligence. Though when I said a bard, he's more like a...conman of some sorts (though he wouldn't call himself that). He'd Mansplain, Manipulate and sometimes Manwhore (should the situation call for it) his way into and out of situations.

I genuinely feel like Jamil would be a Yuan-Ti Warlock. I know how obvious and on-the-nose this is but idk it just feels right. He'd make very calculated decisions even if Lady Luck isn't on his side all the time. He'd also be the one who always take one for the team whenever one of them need to make a skill check, even if his stats doesn't seem to be the highest. He doesn't seem to be fazed by any trials that come his way and generally keeps his cool, unlike some people in this table. That is, until the DM puts down a giant enemy spider mini figure on the table and Jamil falls off his goddamn chair.

Vil surprisingly takes roleplaying pretty seriously? Idk I just can't see Vil half-assing acting even if it's only for a table top roleplaying game. And who knows? Maybe he'll finally get to be the hero he always wanted to be. His only obstacle? Leona's goofy ahh character name. Anyways, his character is an High Elf who comes from a long line of powerful noble Wizards.

Idia wanted to go fully on a "stealth DPS" (whatever that means) build, so his character creation focused primarily on what stats benefits his class more, which in this case is a Rogue Artificer. He'd invest most of his stats in Dexterity and Intelligence. For the race, he'd probably be an Elf for that +2 Dexterity; or maybe a Lightfoot Halfling for the nimbleness trait, no darkvision tho; or he could be a gnome for darkvision, +2 Intelligence and +1 Dexterity. All depends on what kind of Rogue Artificer he wants to be, he'd either be a Arcane Trickster or a Phantom (oof too close to home?). Whatever he is, he's all about that "Meta".

Malleus is very unfamiliar with the whole rules, character creation, etc but he's just happy to be invited here :). His whole thought process while creating his character is probably like 'hm..a Dragonborn? Well, I am a dragon fae..". So yeah, his character is a Dragonborn Sorcerer. Kinda predictable tbh, but very... Malleus, also his solution for every problem is to cast Fireball. Yea, his character is pretty much just him but a dragon. But hey, my golden rule in DnD is that it's all about having fun, regardless of the characters.

Almost all of them would try to be the team leader, so there's gonna be a lot of fighting and arguing on the table.

This party is dysfunctional as hell idk what to tell you

Did I mention that this is also a group therapy?

Nothing says group therapy more than a whimsical adventure with your not-friends am I right?

Yea that's all I got for them, not much but yeah idk man

[ghost-town-story]

Hello and happy STS! :D This would be especially hilarious for The Astral Chronicles, but feel free to choose which WIP you inflict this question onto. ;) If your main characters were sucked into our world, The Devil Is a Part-Timer-style (i.e., dropped into our world without the resources/status they had in theirs, transformed into basically human with no powers, and the only thing they've got are the clothes on their back and their memories), how well would they fare? What would they do to survive, who's failing at adapting and how, and most importantly, who is working at McDonald's?

Oh my god this question is great

The funny thing about this for Astral is that I actually have a half-canon storyline where this actually happens. And considering Aiden is from our world, the answer ends up being "find Aiden and enlist his help in getting back to Astral"

If they're tossed into our world with no way of getting back tho, hmm... Rose would be doing her best to adapt, but also be having several breakdowns of "oh god I left my brother behind D:". Jared would absolutely get fired from most minimum wage jobs because he has a problem with authority, but he also has the energy of "will scavenge garbage cans if that's what it takes."

Will and Finn would be the ones to end up working at a McDonald's, as an "ok, this is what we have to do to survive I guess." There would definitely be a lot of I'm so done with this shit looks happening between them though. Customer service yo *jazz hands*

I also thought of Space Pirates for this question, because there's a lot more differences between that world and ours and it's very entertaining, so here goes:

Reizora, Artemis, and Deva adapt the best. Reizora spends the first hour or so straight up crying because Artemis has her body back, then she kicks Artemis onto bed rest and starts figuring out how the hell to make sure she and her crew survive this new world.

The answer is basically the same way they survived their world: Robin-Hood-type piracy XD They'd end up with a reputation for fucking with corporations and helping out the local community of wherever they end up.

Artemis would accept the bed rest mandate for maybe a week before she gets tired of Reizora's overprotectiveness and insists on joining the shenanigans. There are things she misses about her old world, but she can't deny she likes having a body again and seeing that associated guilt lifted from Reizora.

Syl (the Medic, alien with many tentacles) and the Engineer (unnamed so far, round and fluffy with many arms) are both annoyed with their lack of appendages. The Engineer will use her mouth and feet to hold things instead.

Aeryz has the hardest time adapting. She has a hard time adjusting to the fact she can't shapeshift anymore, she hates not being amongst the stars, and depending on where they all end up, she might not even be able to see them. She really just wants to go home :(

As for the Imperial kids, I think it would be really funny for Caelan and Rossano to be working at McDonald's in this scenario. I just have this image of Rossano as a wannabe influencer who's always like "I'm gonna quit the second I get enough followers, just you wait." Meanwhile Caelan is just like "ya know what? This is 10 million times less stressful than the rest of my life has been. I'm content staying here forever."

[broomsticks]

bellatrix/sirius and bellatrix/draco?

SIRIUS/BELLATRIX: Ship It

ship it so hard i might have to write a ship manifesto at some point lmao. they are peak blackcest, i know sirius/reg and bella/andie exist, idk i can't explain it but they might be my favorite blackcest ship.

reasons:

they are the cousiblings we have the most canon info on! and while Making Shit Up is totally fine and legit, there's more here to work with and it's just more fun to have more shared material to discuss.

narcissa is the only other one i'd consider alongside them, but she's less explosive and outwardly expressive, which is a totally different dynamic and one i'm totally down for, but sometimes you want to Make Thing Go Boom lmao. (and also doesn't have that physical resemblance that is seriously half the point of shipping incest!)

anyway. so much room to explore Gender Roles angst and tragedy! all the power and status she was denied just by virtue of being born female, and here's the actual heir just turning his back on it all?

and then what really seals the deal for me is and then she killed him!!! without meaning to!! spell had a red light! 🔥🔥🔥

also knife kink. i love it, i adore it, It's Canon.

this is another ship i have a bunch of good oneshot recs for. so many different canon-plausible scenarios you could mash them together in to get a story featuring a romantic and/or sexual relationship between them, and it just… this ship, more than any other, i think (snarry is probably the other major contender, except it's not quite My Ship!) encapsulates what shipping can be, to me.

the fics for this ship also tend to be very similar in style and that i personally really like - usually oneshots of 5-10k length, straightforward writing, very emotionally charged smut with a highly inventive premise. recs under read-more - they're just the fic summaries, but j/i/c

no correction, just cover up by basketofnovas (slashmarks): In a world with no Voldemort and fewer radical blood purists, Sirius marries his cousin straight out of Hogwarts instead of running away.

Red and Gold by mumuinc: Bellatrix didn’t consider herself a cradle robber. Sirius was nine years her junior, and still a whining little shit when things didn’t go his way. But when he shut that fat, stupid mouth of his, when he turned those glittering eyes in her direction, she had to give pause.

wonder how whatsername has been by basketofnovas (slashmarks): a tonks POV of past!blackcest

Cruel Bravery by TrinityDay He's on a mission for the Order of the Phoenix. She's on a mission for the Death Eaters. Only one of them can succeed, but neither are getting out of this unscathed.

A life, a breath, a dance by yletylyf: Sirius defects from the Order to join Voldemort as a faithful Death Eater. As reward for his services, he asks Voldemort for only one thing: Bellatrix Black.

[khr-guilded-cage]

I had forgotten how much I hate Vongola 'approach' of their 'heir'. They just...straight up send Reborn to attack and 'train' some random clueless civilian? Out of nowhere? And don't even bother explaining the situation? The 'home tutor' trap piss me off a lot.

Its so stressful and disrespectful.

Neither Dudley or Harry swore allegiance to Vongola, they aren't Vongola's, yet Timoteo thinks he has the right to name them heirs against their wills and hijack their lives and time with Reborn's abusive training. They're also adults with lives of their own.

Does they realize not everyone is a spineless coward pushover like poor Tsuna? Thats other people would hate their guts with passion? That Nono's giving those people a lot of power as Decimo and its better don't antagonize them? That neither of them get to handpick the Guardians this time? Or to order those people around as they please? The parents are not a dumb bitch like Sawada Nana to fall for the home tutor? And most likely won't be pleased with a strange man wanting something with their kids under their nose?

Timoteo already has Xanxus (the head of a independent and loyal assassin squad, with Guardians loyal to him first and Vongola second) wanting to murder him in cold blood, does he wants his so-called heir against him too? I would be so spiteful. The Ninth is a Enemy.

I won't bother 'playing nice' or whatever, even in public, I hate his fucking guts and would make sure the fucker knows it, it would be me and Xanxus (and our Guardians) ganging up on him and cutting off his power within the Family.

I also would openly deny begin 'a Vongola', I would be [insert my surname here] first and Vongola NEVER.

To hell with this hellhole he call a family. If they insist on calling me that, there would be serious consequences.

He sure as hell won't be my 'grandfather' or 'advisor'. Maybe after I gained more power, I could have him and his Guardians killed off. Reborn...depends how he reacts after he finally understand I don't have Tsuna's Stolkhome Syndrome with him, I refuse to bow to his pathetic arrogance no matter what and I if am to be the Head of Vongola, I can easy have him killed (he's a single man and his freelancer status is most likely protected by his association with the Vongola). Perhaps, he's smarter than Timoteo after all, even if they both are vile and cruel men.

We are not friends, much less family. In any, way shape or form. I won't even let him call me by first name. I would confront him about the Ring Battles, Basil as a decoy, the seal, his lies to Xanxus, his lies to me, the fact he ruined and hijacked my life and his whole ass manipulation and puppet mastery.

You lost three heirs and alienated the fourth, why should I trust my life to you? Do not bother, any kind of loyalty, trust or respect I could have for you ended before it even existed (But he still would harrass me for a 'familiar relationship', don't you think so?).

The cheer control Vongola has over Tsuna piss me off.

Lol, Harry would fuck with Timoteo so much, with Xanxus as his half-sibling now? Manipulative old man demanding to clean his messes? This Dumbledore rippoff is doomed. He even has his own tiny Snape too!

I wonder how paranoid cunning sly old man is going to react to having his suppose to be moldable and naive civillian heir so openly against him? Its going to drive him up to the wall. Try to get in his good graces? To bring Harry to heel? Forced him to bow to his whins and demands? When things start to get out of his control? Intimidade and threat him? Use his loved ones against him?

Reborn's a bully and abusive teacher that would reminds them all of Snape. None of Harry's friends would obey him or acknowledge his authority and superiority and the hitman's going to be a prissy little bitch about it. His 'tests' and 'plots' to dictate Harry's life won't be taken well at all. He's dead the moment he tries to hit or shot Harry.

He and the Vongola Nono are going to suffer. Sawada Iemitsu too!

I. Hate. This. Senile. Old. Fucker.

And his pathetic pet hitman too.

No excuses.

Burn arrogant Vongola to the ground!

[msclaritea]

This is a response to a private question I received. I hope this helps to answer some questions and forgive me if all of this is upsetting. As an ally, I find all of it incredibly upsetting. Hope this helps.

Years ago, CDAN, a popular and pretty damn accurate gossip blog told the story of how the Lavender Mafia was created and it makes total sense. Someone in Hollywood endeavored to help gay actors in getting into the business, with helping them get jobs, protection. Allegedly, it was Merv Griffin, who had only the best intentions in helping. But then, another guy came along, introducing the idea that, "No. If these people want jobs, they have to pay to play." In essence, being willing to do anything. Allegedly, that was Geffen.So the 2 groups developed, but as with everything else in life, especially lately, the dark side got stronger. There are tons of sex scandals including child abuse linked to various members and unfortunately, now, a lot of their members are the most powerful in Hollywood but also in the British entertainment industry, and in media. They want to be the ones to make or break careers. Some Gay people may look at this and go 'great! They're looking out for us." In a way, but only a handful make it and only by playing by the rules. These days, with the introduction of Russian influence, that's tipped over into even more heinous criminality. Also, mafias are not known for championing the rights of anyone except themselves. And just like other marginalized groups, throughout history, even the Gay movement has it's share of bad actors who use the movement as cover. Black movements and women's movements have been used. And how do you ensure that you will always be able to use a movement as cover? By making sure that the movement never truly succeeds. We all get just so close, only to have an invisible hand come along and snatch them away. Look at Bruce Jenner as one example. Transitioned and was assumed would be a champion for Transgender but instead she supports right-wing. At least she's publicly honest about it. Most will not be. This is also not to say there are not straight members in this group. There are. But the original members are the strongest.

Cue everything that's been going on with Benedict and us now knowing he is known as a Monarch, one who suffered some of the worst abuse as a child. The rule among cultists who do this is that a Monarch is supposed to die. Apparently to these sick bastards, they're also supposed to be humiliated at every turn. Leaf first pointed out about Parade's End being a sort preprogramming Team Z engaged in; a sort of blueprint for what they planned to do to him. But then recently, I realized that this same storyline has been done to Ben in at least a half dozen other projects: his character is a smart but lonely type, is shunned by people, humiliated in some way and usually dies alone. Christopher did not die but he DID suffer a social death. That's when it clicked: Ben was treated exactly like this in BBC Sherlock. The casual audience never bothered with all the clues but the meta writers here did. As far back as 2016 I learned through my own research, ironically, after feeling so frustrated about Season 4, that The Sign of Four canon is based heavily on the play Faust and there are many parallels in the BBC show to the play. Meta writers found many clues to Sherlock being subtextually in a medical crisis. Subtextually, Moftiss killed Sherlock, who then goes on to a final battle with the devil, like Faust. There are other tie ins between the projects, including using personal stories from the victim's life. Recall the Boot and 'Its a Shotgun wedding!' Over the past year since being involved with all of this, I noticed links to BBC kept popping up in this drama but didn't get it. Now I do and it can't be denied when you look at the recent history of the BBC and all of sex scandals they've been involved in. I'm not saying every person, every artist there is involved but some of those who run it, are. And who did I say earlier was in charge?

[feuqueerfire]

Never Let Me Go Ep 7 Live Blogging

Watching this during the break between my lectures. Also I finished watching Strangers From Hell yesterday and I'm still kinda in that mindset, so hopefully this will keep my attention

Just kidding, Part 2 has no subs + they're pillowfighting on the bed in part 1, so I feel awkward watching it in public. Will watch after I get home - now to reblog Strangers From Hell gifsets instead heh

Episode 7: Good Fortune

Part 1

oof pillow fight in bed, can't watch this in uni esp from where I'm sitting

ah fuck i knew someone was gonna see them looming over in bed. at least Palm's mom didn't make it a bib deal

David's gonna proposeeeee

Palm orchestrating a romantic moment with the dirty cheeks - it's giving me War from YinWar flashbacks

damn not Phum also being like hmm you're a good guy, huh but apparently you blamed Nueng for initiating the kiss - he and the viewers have some stuff in common ig

the endless school fighting when it comes to Phum

damn Ben reflecting on his shortcomings that he denied his involvement because he was a coward and selfish; not as brave as Nueng, which he was impressed by. Interesting self-examination because honestly they're pretty rare in BLs

Ben and Chopper convo - I hope Chopper's not the one who released the photos please - I wonder how much Ben knows about

Nueng's really caught up on the fact that Palm brought him to this romantic ass beach that: the server's boyfriend took her on a date, is perfect for proposing, Palm thinks is romantic.

aww proposal

it's good for Nueng and Palm to get to see these happy gay adults in love and thriving

Part 2

oh good there's eng subs now

i'm gonna lose my fucking head it's gonna start rolling palm is giving nueng a foot massage/wash like their power dynamics already goes so hard but this is actually about to send me to an early grave

Palm has been sooo smiley this episode and probably also last episode since getting here

100 baht per day from 500 baht/hour expectations lmfao

plsss quitting after half a day is killing me. things i should've done at my last internship

Nueng straight up asking Palm if he's included in the people Palm loves. ahh them shouting "Please keep Khun Nueng safe" and "{lease keep Palm safe" and "Please keep us safe"

rip both of them getting bad predictions

the reason Palm's father and he owe this family is because they paid for Palm's surgery and "Gave them new lives" but is this new life just for their benefit? no sir you can't lose your life for them.

so true you tell him Nueng that nobody's the owner of his life (did Maggie previously say this too?)

Part 3

so Tanya's still alive as expected, but in critical condition

so did Chopper's father kind of admit that he called the hit on Tanya? or is he somehow a red herring cuz we're getting hints too early?

lmfao they're getting married a day after proposal

So it wasn't chopper who released the photos but Phum paid Palm's basketball friend to do it?

Palm's mom taking a chance again at this gay wedding to ask Palm what's between him and Nueng - "Are you having an interclass romance between a boss and his servant?"

Palm's mom reads him so hard "I can see it from Chiang Mai!" and then asking him if they've kissed

oh now she's talking about why she left his dad and Palm

interesting that she brought up her husband stifling her with his love, wonder if Palm will take something from@that

girl why's Palm smiling like that, does this dumbass already love Nueng?

Part 4

everybody loves this part, i'll watch it at one watch through maybe? it's taking me 3 hours to watch this ep cuz I'm distracted

ahh boyfriends while on the island, I'm assuming we're gonna get some more sadness when they get off the island

kiss ahh

ah fuck palm's father arrested

Got spoiled on before watching:

just a few moments from preview of last ep and a few screenshots on twitter but nothing much

just kidding i went to check the on-air thread for which pars have subs and apparently they're boyfriends in part 4 and have a good kiss

Overall Thoughts:

Thankfully we got to see more of what's going on with people outside of Nueng and Palm's bubble and it's all going to shit while Nueng and Palm are being cute and giggly lol

Thoroughly enjoyed the ep, and stood against my mild obsession with Strangers From Hell.

Fave Scene:

The kiss scene probably? Or is it the pillow fight? Or maybe Palm washing Nueng's feet

Posts I made

None

Most viewers that I saw per part during the premiere:

1: 17k || idk after that and also there may have been missing subs for at least part 2

12 hours later 

14 hours later actually

Part 1: 641k || 2: 538k || 3: 423k || 4: 462k

Avg: 516k

Views Tracking (just because I’m curious): 

6 days later bc last time was a day late

Ep 1 - 1: 2.074M (+103k) || Avg: 1.322M (+61k) || Max Part: 1

Ep 2 - 1: 1.328k (+56k) || Avg: 1.066M (+49k) || Max Part: 1

Ep 3 - 1: 1.133M (+53k) || Avg: 985k (+50k) || Max Part: 1

Ep 4 - 1: 1.365M (+64k) || Avg: 1.056M (+58k) || Max Part: 1

Ep 5 - 1: 1.175M (+102k) || Avg: 1.024M || Max Part: 1 (also part 3 with kiss has 1.143M)

Ep 6 - 1: 1.219M || Avg: 953k || Max Part: 1

[widowshaze]

midnight sadness | w. maximoff

pairing: wanda maximoff x reader

summary: a short little one shot in which wanda hates birthdays and you make her love them again.

warnings: straight cuteness and fluff

word count: 2.6k

authors note: i don’t know why i wrote this, it’s honestly a bunch of word vomit and it’s shit (‘: but here it is, i hope you enjoy it <3 also thank you sm for 300 followers wtf ily guys

this is proofread to the best of my abilities, please ignore any mistakes (:

navigation | wanda maximoff masterlist

Hate is a strong word. A word that is used in the most extreme situations to describe how we feel about something. It isn’t a word that should be use so lightly, yet it is, and Wanda definitely uses it more often than not.

To say Wanda hated birthdays would be an understatement, if she could get rid of birthdays, the cake, the balloons, the celebrations and the presents, and just have every day be a normal day, she would, zero hesitation.

But unfortunately, life never worked in Wanda’s favor and this was one wish she would never get.

Growing up, Wanda liked the idea of birthdays, she loved waking up as a little girl, running into the living room to see the presents that her parents had set out for her, with a single balloon and a small cupcake with rainbow frosting, which was her favorite.

Wanda and her twin Pietro always had their own cupcake until they turned the young age of 10, and it was then that the two decided to share a cake, and one would blow out each numbered candle.

The fond memories of her childhood with Pietro were enough to bring tears to the young woman’s eyes as she stared up at the starry night sky, hoping and praying that Pietro was watching over her.

Wanda glanced over at her nightstand, looking at the bright red numbers that lit up her clock, noting that the time read 11:55. She sighed to herself as she picked at her nails, not wanting it to be tomorrow, not wanting it to be her birthday.

This is the first birthday she will be celebrating without Pietro. The first birthday that he won’t come running into her room to jump on her bed and wake her up. The first birthday that he won’t be waiting in the kitchen with a freshly baked cake, with their age lit up with numbered candles as they blew them out together. The first birthday she’ll be missing her second half.

It was to no surprise that Wanda and Pietro were inseparable growing up, and the pair grew even closer when their parents died. The love and adoration that Pietro had for his sister was incredible. She was so strong willed and brave even after everything they had been through and he couldn’t of been a more proud older brother, even if he was only older by 12 minutes.

And Wanda felt the same way about Pietro, she looked up to her brother and saw nothing but good in him. He was so selfless, always putting others before himself. He didn’t have to run in front of Clint and the little boy that he was trying to protect to save them, but Pietro was Pietro so of course he did, taking his own life to spare that of a child.

Wanda was broken to say the least when Pietro died. The Avengers, as well as Clint’s family, we’re beyond grateful for the heroic act Pietro had done. So they took Wanda in under their wing and she was graciously accepted as one of their own. Wanda wasn’t used to this, she wasn’t used to the love from so many people, because it had been just her and Pietro for the majority of their lives, and that’s all she was used to.

She couldn’t deny the fact that she loved all of the idiots, especially a certain Avenger. Wanda adored you. Not only as an Avenger, but as a person. You were the most strongest and will-powered person that Wanda had ever encountered and she immediately took a liking to you.

It was to no surprise that the two of you hit it off quick, being the only two female Avengers, it left very few people for her to interact with and you loved having something other than testosterone invading your personal space.

You felt sympathy for the young little witch when you first found out about Pietro. You were grateful for him, he had saved your teammates life, you would forever be in debt to Pietro and the sacrifice he made. You almost made it your mission to make Wanda feel welcome at the compound, to make her feel at home and that she wasn’t alone, that she did have family even if half of them were raging idiots.

So it came to a shock that when you were coming back from your late night walk around the compound, that you heard quiet sobs coming from Wanda’s room.

Wanda was sat on her bed, knees pulled up to her chest with her face buried in them as she cried. The time had just struck midnight and it was officially her birthday, their birthday. She half expected to see Pietro come running into her room and begin to jump on her bed as he did so many mornings before while he sang a shitty version of happy birthday to her.

Her heart broke even more when she realized that Pietro wasn’t going to be coming at all and she cried harder.

Her head snapped up quickly from where it was just resting on her knees when she hears three soft knocks being gently placed on the outside of her door.

“Wanda?” You called out softly. “It’s- It’s me. It’s Y/N.”

Wanda let out a small breath of relief when she realized that it was you who was on the other side of the door. With a quick flick of her finger, she unlocked the door to allow you entry, allowing you to quickly open the door and take in the sight before you.

A small gasp escaped from your slightly parted lips as you rushed over to climb on the bed next to Wanda, pulling her tightly into your embrace and holding her close against your chest as you raked your fingers through her hair to try and calm her down.

“Oh my darling..”

And Wanda broke down for the second time that night. Sobs wracked her body as she cried into you, gripping your shirt and burying her face deep into the crevice of your neck.

You did your best to try and calm the young woman down, rubbing her back and whispering soft words into her ear. You didn’t know what was wrong with Wanda, and your heart broke at the fact that if you hadn’t of taken your routine walk, Wanda probably would’ve been left here to cry alone.

So you sat there, holding Wanda in your arms, pressing soft kisses to the top of her head every so often as you rocked her, letting her cry and just get whatever emotions she needed to get out.

Eventually, Wanda calmed down, your calming and protective presence was enough to help keep her grounded and safe as she tried to stop the tears from rolling down her face. She pulled back ever so slightly as she wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie. “I’m sorry,” is all Wanda was able to say as she looked up at you, tear stains littering her cheeks.

You were worried, you cared deeply for the little witch, more than you knew, and you hated seeing her like this. The last time you had seen Wanda like this was the first few weeks after Ultron. Wanda kept herself locked in her room for weeks upon end and all that could be heard from her room was quiet sniffles as she mourned the death of her brother.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” You finally spoke after you had sat in silence for a few minutes, brushing some falling strands of hair out of Wanda’s face as you stared at the woman in before you with nothing but love and compassion radiating in your eyes.

Wanda sniffled some more as she debated on telling you why she was crying. She was slightly embarrassed for sobbing in front of you, leaving your neck and part of your shirt soaked from her tears. She also didn’t want anyone knowing it was her birthday, she didn’t tell anyone when she first arrived when it was, even against their protests.

Tony always has a thing for throwing big parties for absolutely no reason and the last thing that she wanted was for him to throw some extravagant party to celebrate her, when it should be a celebration for her and Pietro.

She looked away from your gaze, and went back to staring at her fingers as she picked at them, before mumbling something so softly that she could barely be heard.

“What was that darling? Can you speak up, please?” You asked so kindly and Wanda could’ve started crying again from the sincerity that laced your voice.

“It’s my birthday..” she finally managed to say as she looked up at you, a look of shock yet surprise written on your face.

“Oh kitten, why didn’t you tell anybody?”

“My birthday isn’t important.” Wanda deadpanned as she went back to picking at her nails. You grabbed Wanda’s hands in your own, interlacing your fingers together.

“Of course your birthday is important. It’s a celebration of life.” You said and a single tear fell down Wanda’s cheek.

“What is there to live for when your only family is dead?” You sighed and pulled Wanda back into another tight embrace.

“I’m so sorry that Pietro isn’t here, really Wanda, I am. He died saving the life of a child, something he shouldn’t of had to do. But he wouldn’t want to see you like this Wanda,” you paused as you took the younger woman’s face between your hands and wiped at her tears with your thumbs. “He would want to see you celebrating another year of life. He would want you to be happy, eating cake and and opening presents like you told me you used to do with him. More importantly, we can use this day to celebrate him, to celebrate the life of Pietro Maximoff, a hero, an Avenger, and most importantly, a brother.”

By the time you had stopped talking, Wanda was crying again. She had never experienced so much kindness from one person before and it was overwhelming.

The one thing she had never done was look at it from that perspective. You were right, Pietro would not want her locked up in her room, crying all day. He would want her to celebrate, to have fun and be with her new family. More importantly, it could be used as a day to celebrate Pietro and the amazing life that he did have.

Wanda looked at the beauty in front of her with love and adoration as she took in the words spoken to her. You continued rubbing soft circles on her cheeks with your thumbs as you watched her.

“Why don’t you some rest little witch? We’re going to celebrate your birthday today.” Wanda smiled at the little nickname you had given her, although she wasn’t ready to let you go just yet, you made her feel safe, something she had never felt with anyone before besides her own brother.

“Do you uhm,” Wanda hesitated for a second as she began to ask her question, you just watched her, waiting for her to finish but sighed when you saw the hesitation written all over her face.

“Do you want me to stay, Wands?” You asked softly and Wanda nodded, before burying herself under her sheets and cuddling with the duvet. You smiled to yourself as you took in the sight before you, looking more than comfortable within the safety of her bed and you didn’t think you’d ever be able to leave her again.

So you climbed into the bed after her, burying your own self under the covers, and opening your arms for Wanda to crawl into. Wanda happily obliged and cuddled herself right up against you and sighed in content, listening to your heartbeat to lull her into a deep sleep.

You found herself watching Wanda as she slowly breathed and feel deeper into sleep, stroking her hair and admiring the features on her face. You were always attracted to the little witch, it wasn’t a shock to anybody but yourself when you finally admitted your feelings out loud. Her ocean eyes were so captivating that you caught yourself staring into them far too often. You loved how Wanda crinkled her nose when she smiled, it was so adorable that you almost melted at the sight when you saw her do it for the first time, the first time you had ever seen her smile.

You smiled to yourself as you felt Wanda’s grip tighten around your waist as she snuggled further into you. You could definitely get used to this. It wasn’t long before you found yourself drifting off to sleep, holding Wanda tightly in your arms as you did.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☁︎

Wanda woke up, stretching slightly and reaching her hand out to feel for you but was only met with cold sheets. She frowned as she sat up, looking around her room for any sign of you and was disappointed when you were no where to be found.

She got out of bed, checking the time to see it was half past 9, so she decided to go downstairs to the kitchen, knowing a lot of the team were probably training and it would be fairly empty. She grabbed a fresh hoodie on the way out of her bedroom and threw it on as she padded down the stairs to the kitchen.

She was not prepared for what was waiting for her.

“Happy Birthday!” The whole team cheered when Wanda stepped foot in the kitchen and she let out a shriek of surprise as she held her hands up, small red balls forming into the palm of her hands.

“Calm down little witch, it’s just us.” You spoke up first as Wanda finally took in her surroundings. The entire team was there, Sam, Steve, Tony, Bruce, Clint, Thor, Nat and even Carol seemed to have stopped by when she found out there was going to be a surprise party for Wanda.

They all had cheesy happy birthday hats on as well as those glittery tubes that when you blow in them they make that ear piercing sound. And Wanda couldn’t help the tears that began to fill her eyes as she was overwhelmed with love and gratitude for the people who stood in front of her.

You were the first to make her way over to Wanda before wrapping her up in a tight embrace. “Happy birthday sweets,”you whispered in her ear before placing a kiss on her cheek.

“I thought you had left me this morning..” Wanda spoke soft enough that only you could hear what was being said. You just smiled and tucked some loose hair behind her ear.

“Oh no, I wanted to surprise you, you deserve this. Now stop your crying and dig in, we made your favorite, chocolate cake! I made it myself just for you.” You smiled brightly, placing yet again another soft kiss to the woman’s cheek as you clapped your hands together and made your way over to the cake, slapping Nat’s hand away as you scolded her for yet again going in to swipe some of the frosting off on her finger.

Wanda couldn’t help the smile that broke across her own face as she was bombarded with hugs from the rest of the team as they all wished her a happy birthday. She could definitely get used to this. She finally felt at home for the first time since arriving at the compound, being surrounded by so many people that loved her.

So as she stared lovingly at you as you had your hands outstretched in her direction, holding a plate with a piece of cake on it, with her age lit up on those dorky numbered candles, Wanda felt at peace.

Maybe birthdays weren’t so bad after all.

[wonwoonlight]

my daisy / chapter 10 (finale) | kim mingyu

➝ CEO!Mingyu x Secretary!Reader

➝ strangers to lovers // single dad!Mingyu // fluff // lighthearted // non idol!au // like pls dont expect any dramas here lol // tiny bit of angst ig

➝ series warning: mentions of sex, no smut but there’s implied sexual activities, insecurity (as always jshbdjhsfshbf am sorry), curses, food, let me know if theres more ^^

➝ word count: 4k

➝ song rec for this particular chapter: EXO - Lucky, Super Junior - No Other (wow, literally my first kpop song lol)

➝ A/N: here bc it's too long sjdhfbjsdhfb

when your cousin asks you to be her substitute at SVT Inc. as she takes her maternity leave, you’re pretty sure this wasn’t what you signed up for.

series masterlist

If you didn’t have a clear view about the kind of power the Kims has before, you do now.

In the span of three days, they have managed to book a court date for the lawsuit against the poor media company. Mingyu stays true to his words, refusing to personally make an appearance to deny the whole thing and instead simply releases a company statement about how it’s a disgrace to be spreading hoaxes against anyone in SVT Inc. He makes sure to emphasize that it’s a violation against privacy, and he’ll also sue everyone making unfounded comments over his ‘friend’. The message is clear: if anyone dares to pull this kind of stunt against any personnel of SVT Inc. ever again, the company would not hesitate to take every necessary action.

Mingyu has half the mind to buy the media company altogether just so he can close it down himself, but you manage to convince him it would be too much because there are probably still good enough people within the company that doesn’t deserve to be jobless out of nowhere.

“They know better now, okay?” you remind him, softly holding on to his arm. “And you’ve made sure they delete every picture and files regarding that day, which means Lili is safe and that’s all that matters, right?”

“And you too,” he huffs, loosening the cuff of his sleeve. “They had the audacity to ask for a settlement, you know? But I told Seungkwan I want them sued no matter what.”

“You really should treat him one of these days,” you push his shoulder away when he sneakily tries to lean his head down to you. You’re both in his office now, the blinds are shut tight from prying eyes. Still, you’d rather be careful and you never let Mingyu touch even your hands during office hours. Sitting next to him on the sofa in his office is the most you’d give in to him. “He’s been swamped with the lawsuit thing that his workloads are piling up.”

“Already planning on it,” he grins at you, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. You scoff at his childlike tendency, something fond bubbling in your chest at how free he is in front of you. It doesn’t take long for Mingyu to get rid of his usual work persona when it’s just the both of you, he’d whine and he’d beg you to accompany him unwind whenever he could.

That’s about all, though. Even though he whines and complains that he has too many things to do, he does them all perfectly and never once misses a deadline. You guess Mingyu is just glad he can openly whine to you (he used to do it to Jennie too, you find out later on. But not to Seungkwan because he still wants some dignity to himself) and that helps from being too tense from work.

Like a ghost, Seungkwan knocks on his door and his head peeks in the moment Mingyu says he’s welcome to come in. “Oh, okay. I’m glad you two aren’t doing something inappropriate.”

“Boo Seungkwan!” you glare at him, face blazing from whatever the guy is implying. Next to you, Mingyu just laughs without denying whatever implication Seungkwan has in his mind.

He simply shrugs, and then sits down on the sofa across you when Mingyu tells him to do so. Mingyu cracks his neck to the side before he sits straight and links his fingers together, smiling at Seungkwan.

“Thank you so much for taking care of the media situation. I know you have enough work as it is but you took care of this flawlessly nevertheless.”

Seungkwan shrugs, telling him it’s no problem and he’s glad he could help not only as an employee but also as your friend and Mingyu’s.

The boss asks him if there’s anything he’d like to eat or any other form of present he’d like to have. Seungkwan jokingly asks if he needs to eat with you and Mingyu or if he can just use the chance to eat by himself, but when Mingyu seriously tells him he can just take his card and Seungkwan’s free to invite anyone with him, the younger guy immediately shakes his head and says he’d be happy to visit that steak restaurant from two months ago again.

“You know, when I told you to shoot your shot, I didn’t mean for you to end up in a ‘scandal’ with him and his kid,” Seungkwan says once you’re both out of Mingyu’s office.

“Can we not talk about this in the office?” you pout like a kid, though a part of you is just nervous that people would talk if they find out. Mingyu has made sure no one finds out it was you in the picture and, as far as the majority of people know, the girl and the kid in the rumour were simply his childhood friend and her little sister.

He has no idea how the media has somehow got the picture of Gyuri in your arms but not Gyuri getting out of his car.

“It’s fine,” Seungkwan teasingly waves your worry away with a cheeky grin. “Your boyfriend makes sure no one knows it’s you.”

“Seungkwan!” you scream under your breath, hitting his arm.

“Alright, alright. I’ve got reports to finish and presentation to prepare before today ends and I’d appreciate it if you don’t bruise my arm.” His words are playful, but you can tell for sure how tired Seungkwan is from tackling the lawsuit problem himself. Mingyu didn’t let you help him in this case, saying he doesn’t want to risk any of the media people recognizing you at that point.

“’Kay, I’ll help you do the reports,” you pretend to be reluctant when you say it, knowing that Seungkwan gets how grateful you are to him. “Give me the notes and I’ll help you finish them.”

The smile on Seungkwan’s face is too playful that it’s borderline annoying, but when he takes your hand and squeezes it once, he immediately turns sappy and tells you that he’s glad you’re fine and not bothered by the amount of harassment directed to you online.

“Hey, they don’t even know it’s me,” you give him a small smile. “They’re just making up stories, for all I know.”

“Still,” he frowns. “It must’ve been hard to see people calling you gold-digger for being caught on camera with Mingyu.”

“It’ll come sooner or later if I really want to be serious with him,” you shrug nonchalantly. It hurts, if you’re being completely honest. Even though you know they’re all just baseless assumptions and none of them are true, you know this would be the case once people find out someone as ordinary as you are dating the heir of SVT Inc. It almost feels like a teaser to you. “I’ll consider it practice.”

“What a world we live in, huh,” Seungkwan comments, knowing full well that you’re right.

“It’s fine,” you smile genuinely at him. “You’ll help me sue them again if it happens, right?”

Seungkwan grins before telling you he’d beat all of them up for you if that’s what you’re into.

Two weeks later, it’s Saturday and you’re eating lunch with Gyuri and Mingyu in his house. The guy has just gone back from a phone call, grumbling the moment he returns to his seat next to you at the dining table.

“Mom is asking about you again,” Mingyu says, making you choke on your drink. Gyuri pats your arm twice and tells you to drink slowly before she goes back to her apple. “Do you not want to see her?”

“Gyu, we’ve been dating for a month. One. You haven’t even met my friends!” you try to reason, hoping it’ll mask the nervousness in your voice.

“I have, actually.”

“Not as my boyfriend.”

“Well, then, why haven’t I?”

“They’d beat you up, Gyu.” Mingyu raises his eyebrow, but he doesn’t get the chance to answer because you’re already shaking your head at him. “It doesn’t matter that you’re taller than them, your Highness,” you roll your eyes playfully.

“I can take them,” he nods to himself. “I take boxing classes sometimes.”

“Gyu, Soonyoung has a black belt in Taekwondo, Seokmin is almost as buff as you are, and Jihoon is basically Hulk just waiting to pop out.”

Mingyu’s about to retort back when he suddenly frowns, crossing his arm in front of his chest. “Wait, why do they want to beat me up in the first place?”

“Stupid guy friends stuff,” you shrug nonchalantly. “They’ve always wanted to do it once I have a boyfriend. Unfortunately for them, I didn’t get into any serious relationship until now.”

“So we’re serious, huh?” he whispers as he playfully squeezes your thigh under the table, hidden from Gyuri’s eyes. You quickly slap his hand away, but Mingyu isn’t really affected by your glare and just continues to grin.

“Alright, alright,” he chuckles, holding up his arms in the air because your glare doesn’t seem to falter until he does so. “She’s just curious, okay? Gyuri always talks about you. We can take it slow, but I’m just telling you she’s interested in knowing you.”

You nod as you hold back a sigh, trying to focus back on your meal and failing to do so. You look back up at him again when his palm lands on your thigh once more. But this time, his touch is comforting as if he knows what you’re thinking about, promising you there’s no need for you to worry about the whole thing. You often wonder if you’re just that readable or if Mingyu is just that good at detecting your mood.

“No need to be afraid, Daisy,” he gently reassures you, long gone is his playful grin and instead a small, encouraging smile replaces it on his face. “I know that you can’t help being nervous, but trust me when I say you have nothing to be afraid of. She’s nothing like the evil mom in high society dramas.”

You chuckle at the comparison, thanking Mingyu once again for not being tired in reassuring you things are going to be fine. “I know, I know. I’ll meet your Mom if you agree to meet my friends.”

“Deal!” he replies quickly, much to his embarrassment. “I’d be happy to meet Jihoon and Soonyoung again.” Then, after a beat. “And Seokmin too, even though I practically know him first before you.”

You raise your eyebrow in challenge, a smirk blooming into your face at his reassured tone. “You do know Jisoo and Jennie are included?”

“Maybe we should wait a few months before you meet my mom.”

Mingyu would never get bored at the sound of your laughter.

“Daisy, okay?” Gyuri asks when she notices how much you’re fidgeting under her. She’s the only source of your calmness, her weight against your lap calming you down in ways you don’t understand possible.

“Yeah, just a little nervous,” you tangle your fingers in her hair, combing through them softly. “Are you excited to meet the baby?”

“Yes!” she turns to you. “Auntie says Lili now big sister.”

Your heart soothes at her excited smile, and you immediately exhale in relief when your eyes catch the sight of Mingyu still in his dress shirt, making his way to where you and Gyuri are sitting in the waiting area.

It’s somewhere around 3PM when Jaebum has called you in panic, telling you he’s just finished filling in administrations after rushing Jennie to the hospital because her water finally breaks. After hearing the news, Mingyu tells you you’re allowed to get off work early because, evidently, you’re too nervous to be at work since the phone call. He asks you to pick Gyuri up from her daycare on your way, as he knows Gyuri would want to be there and that he’d join you in the hospital after his meeting is done.

You immediately lean into his touch once he sits beside you, his arm goes around your waist the moment he’s close enough to do so. You’ve been doing this a lot these days in front of Gyuri, slowly letting her know that there’s something more between you and her father. So far, she doesn’t really comment on it, but she always insists on holding your hand everytime she catches Mingyu holding the other one.

“How long has she been in there?”

“Not long,” you try to fill him in. “Jennie’s still in her room when I arrived because they’re still waiting for another contraction. When it came, they didn’t wait long to bring her into labor.”

His hand softly rubs your back to remind you to relax before he drops a chaste kiss on top of your head, telling you Jennie and her baby are in good hands. The serene scene doesn’t last long though, as Soonyoung and Seokmin barrels through the waiting room minutes later, Jihoon walking behind them because he really doesn’t know why the two feel the need to run.

“Is she okay?!” Soonyoung asks immediately, and you’re sure he would’ve shaken the answer out of you if not for Gyuri on your lap. “Is the baby here already?!”

“Not yet,” you tell him to sit down on the seat in front of you. The waiting area is pretty empty for some reason, but you’re not going to complain because you’re sure your group of friends would need seats once everyone is present, and everyone will show up because that’s just the kind of people they are. “We might need to wait for an hour or more.”

You’re not finished explaining when Jisoo and Seungcheol come in, Jisoo just as panicked as Soonyoung was which makes you think maybe you’re not that nervous after all.

“The baby’s not here yet, she’s been there for half an hour, and we might need to wait longer,” Mingyu sums it up before Jisoo can even open her mouth.

Your best friend narrows her eyes at him, somewhat annoyed at the way he relays the information on. “Don’t you have meetings to attend, Mr. CEO?”

“Finished for the day,” he shrugs. Seungcheol greets him with a high five, one that Mingyu accepts with his free hand. This makes Jisoo’s eyes flicker to his arm disappearing behind you, his fingers softly grip your waist through the material of your clothes.

“Did you say we need to wait longer?” Jisoo throws the bait, crossing her arms before her chest. Mingyu nods, unaware. Your friend then shares a look with Jihoon, Soonyoung, and Seokmin, nodding to each other as if they have some kind of telepathic ability. “Then you won’t mind if we step out for a while?”

“Do you want to step out?” he asks you instead, unsure if you want to leave just in case Jennie comes out earlier than assumed. But you’re holding back a laugh for reasons that he doesn't seem to understand. “What?”

“I don’t think they want me to step out, Gyu,” you giggle, hugging Gyuri closer to your chest.

Mingyu blinks owlishly, still not getting it until the four of them stand up and signal him to follow them outside. Seungcheol laughs at this, holding up his fist in encouragement. “Good luck, dude. I’ll be here with [Y/N] and Lili.”

He sends you a helpless look, but you simply pat his cheek and scrunch your nose at him, reminding him that indulging them now would mean you meeting his mom sooner than later. This seems to be enough motivation for him, so Mingyu reluctantly stands up, telling Gyuri with a flair of drama that she has to behave well because ‘Papa might not be back for a while’.

“Uncle Cherry, Papa go somewhere?”

“Do you want to see Daisy for long?”

“Yes!” Gyuri enthusiastically answers. “Want see Daisy a lot.”

“Well, Papa is making sure that can happen,” he helpfully supplies. You laugh at his words, well aware that Mingyu is going to do more than that. Your friends can be a lot when they want to be and you’re pretty sure they aren’t going to let Mingyu have it easy just for the sake of it.

“Then Papa try his best,” she nods to herself, and you share another laugh with Seungcheol, despite the fact that you’re a little afraid that they’d scare Mingyu away somehow. Gyuri easily distracts you though, babbling about her day in the daycare and her word of the day.

Mingyu will be fine… right?

That night, you agree with your boyfriend when he suggests you stay in his place instead of back to yours. The day has been long and tomorrow you’re all going to visit Jennie and her baby again, anyway, so might as well just stay at Mingyu’s and go with him tomorrow because his place is closer to the hospital.

That proves to be the wrong choice.

Gyuri is sleeping in your arms when you arrive, but you tell Mingyu it’s fine and you can put Gyuri to her bed when he offers to take her from you. The girl has only fallen asleep for ten minutes top and she seems to be way too tired, you’re worried she’d wake up if she’s being moved around like that.

Naturally, Mingyu tries to open the door so you can step in first, but it opens before he can even reach for the doorknob. Jooyeon’s name is already at the tip of his tongue, but it’s his mom behind the door, a soft ‘Oh my’ out of her mouth when she sees Gyuri soundly asleep in your embrace. You’re so shocked that you’re frozen in place, but she quickly ushers you in because it’s getting late and Gyuri might catch a cold.

Mingyu tells her to wait by the living room as he escorts you to Gyuri’s room as if you’d get lost. You’re both whispering to each other the moment his mom is out of earshot, and you really want to bop Mingyu on the head because of his stupid grin if not for the little angel you’re holding.

“Well, it was you who told me meeting your friends means you’d meet my mom,” he teases you softly once you manage to untangle Gyuri from your body. You’d change her into her pajamas if you could, but the girl is way too sleepy that she immediately succumbs back to sleep the moment her back meets her bed.

You’re at a loss of words, but can’t really blame Mingyu because it’s not like he knows his mom is in Seoul to begin with. You take a deep breath before the last step of the stairs, and Mingyu pulls you for a sweet kiss to calm you down, telling you everything will be fine and he will make sure his mom won’t cross the line. You believe him, but it’s only natural that you’d want to impress your significant other’s family and you don’t know what to expect when her first impression of you is… thatscandal and, the first time she sees you for real, you’re holding her sleeping granddaughter at this hour—in her son’s place at that.

At your hesitation, Mingyu gently grabs your face and pulls you for another kiss. This time longer, because he needs you to stop thinking too far away and he knows you’re always a little disoriented when he kisses you out of nowhere.

“You’ll be fine,” he reassures you. “We’ll be fine.”

And, true to his words, his mom is mostly just curious about Mingyu’s new girlfriend—you. She talks to the both of you over light dinner. Her questions are all well-meaning, and when she asks you what do you parents do for a living, you can tell that she’s just curious in a way that I-want-to-know-more-about-the-girl-that-catches-my-son’s-heart and not I’m-ready-to-judge-you-whatever-your-answer-would-be.

After a while, she excuses herself for bedtime, taking the only available empty room that you’d usually use when you’re sleeping over. Surely, in a house this big his mom should’ve had her own room? But Mingyu says his parents rarely sleep in his house, preferring to stay in their own place in Seoul so the old room that was built for his parents has been turned into Gyuri’s play room a long time ago.

Well, there are two other empty guest rooms. But one of them has the biggest window in all of the rooms here, and the other has a big mirror facing the bed. Simply said, you’re too scared to sleep there by yourself. You half contemplate to just go home, but Mingyu sternly says no because it’s too late already and you can just sleep in his room if you’re afraid to take the other available rooms.

“Come here,” he pats the space beside him the moment you step out of the bathroom, already clad in a shirt and a pair of shorts of your own because you already have spares in his house. “Baby, it’s not like this is the first time we’re sharing a bed.”

“Yes, but usually we’re just taking naps and your mom is most definitely not here,” you mumble, but dutifully sits next to him and plops into his waiting arms.

“What makes it different?” he asks curiously, not really getting it. “But you know it’s still not the first time.”

You frown at him, still not getting it until he’s giving you a pointed look without even saying anything. Oh. “Um, right. I thought we agreed not to bring that up ever again?”

“Huh, did we?” he playfully indulges you. “I thought we had just never talked about it until this very second.”

“Okay, then now I’m telling you we agree not to bring it up ever again.” Mingyu barks out a laugh at this, squishing you further into his embrace which makes you squeal in return. “Mingyu! Stop! I can’t breathe!”

“Are you embarrassed?” he grins annoyingly to get a raise out of you, and the soft touch of his fingertips against your arms suddenly burns in the most pleasing way possible. It’s working very well, if you might say so yourself. “It was pretty good though, wasn’t it?”

“It was just okay at best,” you pretend to be nonchalant, scrunching your nose.

Mingyu gasps dramatically, shaking his head in disbelief at your outrageous lie. “I’m pretty sure the whole floor heard you scre—”

“Kim Mingyu!” you slap his chest again, trying to get out of his embrace even though his strong arms are trapping you in. “I’ll tell Jennie if you don’t let go.”

Mingyu doesn’t really let go, but he reluctantly loosens his arms at the threat. You don’t mind though, because who are you to deny yourself from sleeping in his arms? Also, you’re more tired than you thought you were, it turns out, because it only takes the both of you shifting into a more comfortable position and Mingyu’s fingers threading through your hair for you to fall asleep almost immediately.

“You’re not going to leave me once you’re awake this time though, right, Daisy?” he whispers against your ear, his laughter once again filling the room when you simply decide to jab your fingers where you know he’s ticklish instead of wasting your energy screaming at the guy.

“Am sorry, am sorry,” he finally says, catching your wrists once he’s too tired from laughing. There’s mock annoyance in your face, one that he only finds adorable, if anything. Mingyu pulls you closer to his chest after that, telling you to get some rest because tomorrow’s Saturday.

A comfortable silence falls between the two of you, and Mingyu could’ve sworn he can hear the content hum buzzing in his chest. He looks down at you, falling asleep as seconds go by with the most adorable frown Mingyu has ever seen on someone. How did he get so lucky, really?

“Thank you for giving me a chance, Daisy,” he whispers against your hair, his arms tightening in the subtlest way possible.

“Hm?” You sleepily look up at him, barely even conscious.

“Nothing,” he smiles before he plants a chaste kiss on your forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Night, Gyu.”

“Night, Daisy.”

©wonwoonlight – all rights reserved.

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[redrobin-detective]

Ben 10 lore that exists in my heart regardless of canon

- Ben’s personality in his mid-late teens is a mix of his Alien Force and Omniverse self. On the surface, he’s very cheerful and kind even if he is a bit of arrogant showoff. He makes jokes and plays around and acts as if he isn’t bothered by the things in his life. Those who know him best understand a good portion of his outward confidence and cockiness is just a facade to cover up his insecurities and to project the ideal, effortless hero. While sometimes seen as immature, most beings know Ben 10 means business as he takes his unofficial job and people’s safety very seriously. He’s clever, adaptable, charismatic and empathetic which makes him a formidable opponent and a loyal friend. Doesn’t open up easily but if you get to him, he become so dearly attached. 

- Drinks smoothies so much for several reasons. Comfort food go brrr, reminds him of the good easy times with him Gwen and Kev. It’s also a light but generally nutritous food to give him energy for heroing. Anything too heavy and he’ll be puking (both from physical and emotional stress). Though he jokes about his mom’s health foods, his are a crazy concoction of add in proteins and vitamins/minerals bc he knows he’ll out and out collapse without it. (Still has on occasion bc boy still doesn’t eat right/enough)

- While Fame is exciting for him at first he soon begins to detest it. Not the fans, no, he can’t bring himself to hate the people who look up to him. But he hates the constant attention, that he can’t walk outside without being mobbed. the only place he feels safe is his hometown where most people are so used to him and his weirdness that they don’t react much anymore. Takes to wearing a cape and face shield when going out anywhere so he can actually get things done without being recognized and mobbed.

- Part of the reason Bellwood isn’t concerned with Ben is partially because ben’s been weird and alien for as long as they can remember but also many don’t realize how famous/powerful he is. Yeah that’s just Ben Tennyson over there, sometimes he turns into funny creatures- wait what do you MEAN he’s the savior of the universe?? He cried over a spilled smoothie the other day.

- Does mostly online schooling by the time he’s 15. At first he tries to do half day things to maintain something of a normal life but it quickly becomes overwhelming and dangerous him/the school. Finishes his GED early but the Plumbers and Azmuth make him take additional college level and alien courses to prepare him for his future role. Ben gripes but really does love learning all these things, especially on his terms (ADHD and stress + the public school system do not always go hand in hand). He’s a quick learner when he deems the information important and is made accessible to his learning needs.

- Ben definitely has ADHD speaking of which, it was nearly uncontrollable as a child bc his free-spirited parents didn’t believe in medicating. Ben convinced them he needed it and after some trial and error, found meds that worked. As he became more involved in heroics/growing up he had to change his medicine regimen (resulting in him being a bit more off the rails in OV) and needed antidepressants and therapy to manage it better. As an adult he has a whole litany of coping mechanisms (good and bad yes) and regularly checks in with his therapist and doctors to keep things under control. 

- Has a complicated relationship with his necrofriggian children. Considers himself their mother and worries after them. They too feel a connection to their parent despite this being unusual for their species. A few visit (some more than others) while they grow while others maintain distance. Ben never breathes a word of them to the media for fear of them being targeted. Still he keeps an eye on them and ensures all 14 mature to adulthood (another rarity for the species). Checks in every now and again with the ones who don’t want to see him and those that do. Two join the Plumbers and Ben is both proud and worried. His youngest becomes partners with Rook Ben.

- Just in general loves kids, they’re his favorite fans and while he’ll grumble at pushy adult fans he always smiles and kneels down for the little ones. Not so secretly wanted to have children of his own but knew it was a risk overall and used a lot of that energy with mentoring and teaching. Eventually had Kenny later in life (late 30s-40s) and was over the moon, becoming such a loving and doing parent or as much as he could be with his hectic schedule. 

- Omnitrix can’t come off, never has at any point since it first latched onto Ben’s arm. Azmuth tried and failed to get the device off, doesn’t let Ben know for many years as he feared the consequences. The watch loves and protects Ben even beyond it’s programming making him much more durable to damage and releasing energy charges when he’s threatened. Not even removing Ben’s arm would separate them. They’re stuck for life.

- Ben does have Anodite heritage but the Omnitrix actively suppresses it and uses the built up energy to power the transformations which is why ben is mostly unaffected by what should cause a massive energy drain on him. Theoretically if Ben learned to harness and safely use his Mana at an early age like Gwen he would have been fine but letting it build up without safe outlet meant activation would have killed him. Omnitrix Ben, however, went his whole life not knowing of his latent abilities and how the watch saved his life.

- Ben’s eyes get more green and glowy as time passes from the Omnitrix. At first they think its a trick of the light but by the time he’s an adult his eyes are pretty much glow in the dark. His veins light up too after long stretches of using the Omnitrix. Its vaguely unsettling to people who aren’t used to Ben.

- Max and the Earth Plumbers work so, so hard to keep teen Ben on Earth when half the universe is blowing up their comm lines asking for The Ben 10 to help with whatever problem of the day. Ben himself doesn’t quite understand when he’s younger the prestige and expectations on his shoulders. Max throws up a million and one roadblocks so Ben can live as normal a life as possible while he still can. Still, while doing that he Still overloads Ben with expectations and responsibilities on earth and beyond. He becomes a soldier again with Ben as their greatest weapon. He never forgave himself of losing sight of his grandson underneath the hero esp after Ben’s breakdown. 

- Rook partnership with Ben ends not long after Omniverse with his promotion to Magister. Ben tries to play it cool but the thought of another loved one/teammate leaving his tears him apart. Max revealing that Ben most likely wouldn’t get a new Plumber assigned partner since he’s almost an adult and won’t need it and Rook accidentally missing their last smoothie run due to a scheduling mishap causes Ben to snap and have the nervous breakdown that had been building for almost a decade. He completely loses it for a little while and needs to take an extended leave of absence from school and heroics that lasts about a year. Spends time recovering both on Earth and Galvan Prime, does some diplomatic training, learns about aliens, actually confronts the stress and loneliness of his life. He comes out the other side stronger but still fragile and exhausted.

- Ben’s above mentioned breakdown brings him closer to all his friends who didn’t quite realize the extent of Ben’s burden. Rook had been under the impression Ben didn’t like him all that much so the knowledge that his departure was the final straw for friend/hero’s collapse was shocking. Ben and Azmuth also become closer, the Galvan becoming fiercely protective of the boy seeing as his Earth family didn’t do well to keep him safe. It takes years for him to get over his anger at Max for putting so much on his grandchild. Ben makes more friends, in and out of the hero business, finally gets a therapist and gets some of his burdens eased a bit. It’s not a sure fire fix and Ben has several smaller breakdowns the rest of his life but its something.

- Azmuth was straight up suicidal before he met Ben for the first time. Ben gave him back hope for the universe and his ability to create items for peace not weapons. The boy infuriates him, frightens him, frustrates him but Azmuth cannot deny in his heart of hearts that he loves Ben dearly. He’s very upset at Ben’s breakdown and doesn’t know how to handle the worst of the initail outbursts. Azmuth talks Ben down from a suicide attempt. He reaches out to Ben that he Too felt overwhelmed by pressure, thought himself only good for war. Ben’s arrival in his life saved him and now he will do the same for Ben. It’s the first positive step forward in Ben’s recovery.

- For no other reason than I like it, Azmuth primarily refers to Ben as Benjamin (mostly to annoy the kid but he likes the way it sounds too) and Ben in softer, more serious moments. 

- Professor Paradox continues to flit in and out of Ben’s life. He says its because Ben is the most equipped to handle universal peril (true) but he’s also just very fond of the boy. Ben, existing in so many forms and having such importance also exists a beat outside of normal reality which Paradox identifies with. Ben is naturally attuned to time related problems because of this (instantly IDing Spanner as from the future before being told later deducing him to be his unborn son). Plus Ben named him, way back when. He’s just drawn to Ben.

- Adult Ben, while being seen as an impressively skilled fighter and champion, really has his strength as a universal diplomat of sorts. Based out of Earth, he helps mediate and defuse conflicts, advocate against tyranny and overall preserve peace and balance. He’s not perfect, he makes mistakes and sometimes is forced to become violent (and yes kill) but overall is regarded as a peacekeeper, something younger ben simply couldn’t understand. 

- Gwen gets her degree and primarily does work with advocacy and teaching about magic/alien culture. While she and Ben are still close, there’s a bit of a frustrated divide in that she isn’t helping him share the burden of the universe. Gwen never wanted to be a hero and has enough worth to not shackle herself to a job that’ll burn her out. Ben loves heroing but gives too much of himself away trying to fix everything. They get into screaming arguments that it wouldn’t be so bad out there if she just helped him but she refuses to budge and says he shouldn’t make himself do so much. They always make up and thy still are each other’s closest relationships.

- Ben marries Kai in a political move, Kai is Asexual and Ben Aromantic. They didn’t love each other but they got on well enough and Ben was really feeling the stress of carrying the hero burden so Kai also being involved made him feel like he wasn’t alone. Both were also so tired of the universe constantly asking about their love life and said ‘fuck it we’re married leave us alone’. Gwen was always mad about it feeling Ben deserved better but the two of them were happy with it. They had separate rooms, mostly separate lives but they became strong friends and supports with their strictly platonic marriage. They had Ken via Invitro in an incubator and were loving if extremely busy parents. 

- Also from the moment he appeared, Ben knew that Spanner was his future son, Kenny. He played ignorant and then was kind of deliberately teasing him in future encounters. He knew the rules of time and didn’t want to disrupt things further even if he was angry and worried as heck about why Ken felt the need to time travel. When future Ben catches up in the timeline, Kenny gets SUCH a lecture. 

- Ben isn’t quite immortal but he’s also not entirely human anymore either. The Omnitrix not only keeps him safe from most harm but it lightens the effect of aging. Ben 10 is active many, many years when most humans would have been forced to retire. He’s not sure how long the watch will keep him alive and it terrifies him. Gwen too is functionally immortal however she ages like a normal human, then when her natural death came, shed her skin and became a fulltime Anodite. So in the end, it was her and Ben together wondering which of them will die first. Gwen has trouble retaining her humanity as pure energy and swears she’ll let herself fizzle out when Ben goes. When that’ll be however...

[luminnara]

It’s Been a Long, Long Time | Ch 6

Summary:  When HYDRA had their prized asset, the Winter Soldier, they did something no one ever thought was possible: they gave super soldier serum to an omega. With the sole purpose of tending to him during his ruts, she spends decades living in HYDRA facilities, denied her humanity and her life. Now, years later, Bucky Barnes has his mind and his own life back...and the last thing he ever expects is to see a familiar omega again. Bucky/OC, a little angsty but mostly smutty/fluffy/romantic!

Part One | ... | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven

Tags:  @kyrah-williams @oceanmermaidwitch @shawnie--jo @super-cape @ferxaniti @namjoonwatcheshentai @fandomsstolemylife00 @youngblood199456 @nightlygiggless @darlingely @ bluemoon-icecream @kaz11283 @jenjen8675309 @dollfacev8 @witchinpractice @mystical-b3ar @sukeraa

Bucky refused to leave the omega’s side while she stayed in the lab. Bruce had to stop him from trying to crawl onto the bed with her, and after about the third time, he convinced the super soldier to just pull up a chair like a civilized person and hold her hand while she drifted off to sleep again. Now that she was with her alpha, she had settled down for another nap, more interested in resting than answering any more questions so long as Bucky stayed and kept an eye on her. 

Steve had to admit, it was endearing. He had never seen his friend so absolutely enraptured like this. Whenever the omega, or Ten, as Bruce was still calling her, shifted in her sleep, Bucky’s eyes were snapping over to make sure that she was okay. Whenever she let out a little whimper, he was purring and stroking her hair. Whenever she seemed like she might wake up again, his attention was completely on her.

“So...sure you don’t remember her?” Steve asked, pulling up a chair. He had left for a few hours to work out, and after a lack of updates from FRIDAY, he headed back down to check on everything. They were exactly as he had left them, which was a good sign. At least nothing was getting out of hand. 

Yet.

Bucky shrugged, rubbing the back of the omega’s hand with his thumb. “I dunno. It’s...foggy.”

“Well, it seems to me like you’ve either got a history together, or she’s mistaking you for someone else.” Steve said. “Quite frankly, it’s hard to do the latter.”

“I’ve dreamt of her.” Bucky said quietly. 

“...what?”

“It’s not much, but...I’ve seen her face.” Bucky looked down at her. “I think that no matter how many times HYDRA wiped my memory, she’s always been in there. Kinda like the one constant that was always around, the one thing I could always count on being in the base with me.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Steve asked.

“Never knew if she was real or not.” Bucky sighed. “I thought...maybe she was just something my mind made up to fill some of the gaps. But she smells exactly like I remember.”

Steve sat back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched his friend. Bucky wasn’t snarling anymore, most of his attention trained on the omega while she slept. Now that he was close to her, he had calmed down significantly, though he still wouldn’t let Steve within five feet of her bed. 

“Just got off the phone with Tony,” Bruce announced, walking in. “He and Pepper will be back tonight. Pepper’s having some clothes and personal items delivered for our new omega friend here. They also asked about renovating a more permanent room for her, but I, uh...told them I wasn’t exactly sure what the situation would be.”

“She’s staying with me,” Bucky said immediately. 

“Now hang on, hang on,” Steve leaned forward. 

“Steve,” Bucky growled. “I want her with me.”

“Buck, you don’t even know her—“

Bucky interrupted him with a loud snarl, the omega in question whining and squirming in her sleep at the sound of it. 

He immediately shut up, brushing a thumb over her cheek and shushing her until she was sleeping soundly again. Fuck, he felt so stupid. What was wrong with him? She could have woken up, or been scared, or upset, all because he couldn’t keep his big mouth shut. She needed her rest, and he needed to stay quiet. 

Steve almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

“Oh, Buck,” he shook his head. “You’re in deep.”

—

Amoretta woke feeling well rested, and it wasn’t until she tried to stretch and felt the tug of her IV drip that she remembered where she was. Opening her eyes revealed the bright lights of the lab, and as she started to sit up, a few faces came into view.

“Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty,” Bruce said. “How are you feelin’?”

She licked her lips. “Juice box. Now.”

“Way ahead of you. Had this one waiting as soon as you started waking up.” He tossed one to her and was pleased when her hand shot up to catch it. “Reflexes look good. Vitals are all reading normal. I’ll have to run another test to see what’s going on with those suppressants, but I’m willing to bet you’re metabolizing them fairly quickly now. How are you feeling?”

She pulled the little straw off the back of the carton and jammed it into the top. “Nauseous. Like usual.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Side effect of the suppressants?”

“Always has been. Other than that...I feel great, actually.”

“Well, as soon as these wear off, we can figure out something nicer and more modern for you. If you want to use them, I mean.” Bruce shrugged. “Your choice.”

She smiled. “Choice. I like that.”

“Hey, we’re all about independence here,” Steve said happily. He was glad to see she was awake, even though Bucky wasn’t.

The other alpha was still at her side, but, as of about half an hour ago, he was napping. Steve made a mental note to never let him forget the way he slept straight through the one moment he had been waiting for all day. 

“What time is it?” She asked. “There’s no windows in this damn place.”

“Just after dinner,” Bruce chuckled. “You slept most of the day. Bucky hasn’t left your side.”

She looked over to her soldier, smiling warmly at the sight of him sleeping. He was even snoring softly. “I haven’t gotten to see this in forty years.”

“Did you two, uh…” Steve cleared his throat. “Spend a lot of time together?”

The omega laughed. “You always this awkward around girls?”

“That’s not—“

“Relax, I’m just giving you a hard time.” She sucked on her straw. “But...yeah, we did.”

“So...you were just kept for his ruts, or…” Steve was so awkward it was almost endearing. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I think.”

“It’s okay. I know my lot in life.” She kept her eyes trained on Bucky as she spoke. “But if I’m going to answer more questions, I want to get out of this bed. And I want real clothes. Then I’ll talk.”

And so, only several minutes later, Bruce was handing her a sweater and some shorts he had grabbed from a little stash of extra clothing, and Bucky was startled awake by Ten stepping past him. She was finally free from all the tubes and cords that had been sticking out of her during her little hospital stay, and she was all too eager now to explore the tower.

She stood on wobbly legs, almost falling onto him when she tried to take a step. Bucky was up in a flash, ready to catch her, and as she fell against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her. Despite just waking up, he felt fully alert, completely ready to tend to his omega’s every need. 

His omega...he liked that train of thought. 

“We can head up to the common area. It should still be quiet.” Steve said, leading the way out. 

Bucky kept an arm around his omega’s waist as they followed, Bruce bringing up the rear. He wanted to be touching her at all times, constantly in contact so that he couldn’t lose track of her. His instincts were roaring to life, demanding that he do everything in his power to make sure that she was safe and in his line of sight. The elevator ride was tense and full of possessive growling, Bucky constantly shoving Ten behind him to keep her in the corner and as far away from Steve as possible, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the doors slid open and they could step out of the cramped space again. 

The common area was empty, thankfully, FRIDAY informing them that the other Avengers were all either working out or in their private quarters. 

“Good,” Steve said, heading towards the couches. “No interruptions. Got it, FRIDAY?”

“Understood, Captain Rogers.”

“C’mere,” Bucky mumbled, pulling his omega down to sit on one of the couches with him. Part of him was feeling a little sheepish and self conscious of his behavior...but the rest of him didn’t give a shit. The others could stare and shake their heads all they wanted, but he’d be damned if he let Ten slip through his fingers again. 

Or whatever her name was. 

Steve and Bruce sat across from them, making sure that they left as much space as possible between themselves and the new omega. Neither of them had ever seen Bucky behaving quite like this--he was on guard, hyper aware of everything around him. He made sure that she was pressed up against his side, an arm draped possessively over the back of the couch so that it was unmistakable that she was with him.

Christ, what had gotten into him? He couldn’t remember ever acting this way about an omega before. 

“So…” Steve cleared his throat, sitting with his elbows resting on his knees.

Bucky didn’t really like the way his posture made him lean forward towards his omega, but he could deal with it for now. “So.”

“What do you wanna know?” Ten asked, plucking at Bucky’s shirt. She seemed to be even clingier with him than he was with her, perfectly happy to be hanging off him or tucked up against his side. “You met my demands. I guess I’m an open book now.”

“I don’t want to overstep my bounds,” Steve said. “We just need to know as much as you’re willing to share.”

“Then ask a question.”

“...Alright.” he cleared his throat again. “You said HYDRA used you to help with Bucky’s ruts?”

Ten nodded, her expression remaining even and cool. 

“Could you tell us more about that?” Steve glanced at Bucky. “Were there ever any other omegas, or anyone we should know about?”

“There were omegas before me.” she answered. “When I first got to the compound, there were a lot of us. They kept us all in big cells, so everyone talked. People said things about how HYDRA was grabbing omegas off the street for their super soldiers, and how the one at our base was the biggest and scariest.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow at her tone. He wasn’t exactly sure what he expected her to sound like while she regaled them with her life story, but he definitely thought there would be a tad bit more apprehension in her voice. She seemed proud of herself, and more matter-of-fact than a lot of omegas would be while talking about their alpha’s previous partners. Or...whatever you called prisoners whose only purpose was to help during ruts.

“And I bet he was,” she sighed, leaning her cheek on Bucky’s chest and looking up at him adoringly. 

“Well, I don’t know about that…” Bucky said, an almost shy smile on his lips. And...was he actually blushing?

Steve was going to lose his mind. 

“You said the other omegas couldn’t handle it? That’s why you were given the serum?” he prompted, trying to keep them on track before he drowned in the sticky sweetness of her happy pheromones. 

“Right.” she turned her attention back to Steve and Bucky let out a quiet huff. “HYDRA didn’t really like to take care of us. And the soldier--I mean, Bucky--would wear them out. So...HYDRA would just kind of let them go. Or put them down, maybe. I never saw it.”

Bucky’s expression dropped. His blush was gone, and he almost looked like he was going to be sick as he listened to her talk.

“But it wasn’t his fault,” she said quickly, glancing between him and Steve. “I don’t think it was ever on purpose, you were just...demanding.”

He gave a groan, leaning his head back against the couch. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it, doll. I’d rather know what I did, at this point.”

She offered a small shrug. “I don’t really remember it being that bad, but I don’t think I ever met you before they gave me the serum.”

“That’s something, at least.” he mumbled, dragging a hand down his face. 

“Why you?” Steve asked. “Did you have any prior military experience, any ties to something the others didn’t?”

“No.” she laughed. “I never even got in fights before HYDRA.”

“Then why’d they use such an important resource on you, specifically? Not trying to take a dig at you, it’s just...well, omegas don’t usually…”

“I know,” she said. “Omegas aren’t supposed to be tough, right? That’s why they only ever let alphas become super soldiers.”

“That’s not what I…” Steve trailed off and then sighed. “Sorry.”

“I told you, they gave me the serum so that I would be strong enough to hold my own. It also ensured I would always be around, no matter how many years passed.” Her fingers found Bucky’s free hand and she took it, absentmindedly playing with the smooth vibranium knuckles. “Having me as a constant meant they could stop spending so much time and effort on always having a new omega around for him. Plus…well, I wasn’t really there, but I heard something about it once…”

“What?” Bucky asked. 

“They let you choose who was going to become your omega.” She said, looking up at him. “They gave you a bunch of scents, and you chose mine. I guess it was the only reason they didn’t, uh...humanely euthanize me.”

His eyes were wide. The thought of HYDRA killing his omega brought a low growl to his throat, his chest rumbling with the vibrations of it. “No.”

“Well, clearly they didn’t!” She said brightly. “My file said I was a kicker.”

“So they gave you, an already aggressive omega, the serum, but never gave you any trigger words or fished around in your brain?” Bruce shook his head. “Surprisingly sloppy, considering who they are.”

“It’s not like they ever sent me out into the world. I stayed in my cell all day, unless I was needed for a rut. Then I went and stayed in a different cell.” She sighed. “And if they ever needed to, they could just use the alpha to grab me.”

Bucky clearly didn’t like the thought of that. He made a frustrated sound, leaning his head back again. “Great.”

“It was never bad.” She let go of his hand, moving her fingers to cup his jaw. “You never hurt me. You wouldn’t. Sometimes, when I acted up, they would make you go retrieve me, because they knew you were the only one who could do it. If they didn’t send you, they would just knock me out.”

“So...that was it?” Steve asked. “Ruts, serum, cryo?”

“For thirty years!” She chirped. “The last time they froze me, they were freezing him, too. They always tried to keep us in cryo at the same time so that I could be thawed out and ready when he needed me. But...I guess they just...left me there?” She frowned. 

“See, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.” Steve said. “I didn’t see any signs of a struggle at that base. I’d say they left in an orderly fashion, but the fact that they didn’t take you along makes me think they were in more of a hurry than they made it seem.”

“Natasha might have a better idea,” Bruce suggested. “We can talk to her, try to figure out—“

“FRIDAY, open the damn door or so help me God I will rewrite your entire personality.” A voice interrupted from the other side of the door. 

“I’m sorry, Tony, but Captain Rogers asked me not to.” The AI said. 

“Well, is it an emergency?” The man scoffed.

“No emergency measures have been executed. No security breaches have been identified.”

“Then I’m sorry, but Captain Rogers does not outrank me when it comes to my own robots. Open the door, beautiful.”

She seemed to sigh. “Very well, Mr. Stark.”

Ten perked up, leaning forward slightly. She was watching the door curiously, tilting her head a little when she heard it slide open. Bucky rolled his eyes, grumbling to himself quietly and pulling her up against his side as another alpha strode in. 

“Really? Having a party without me?” the man asked, a smooth, casual air about him as he walked in and looked at everyone on the couches. When his eyes landed on the omega cuddled up next to Bucky, he stopped. “Ah, is this our new guest?”

“Go away, Stark.” Bucky growled. He didn’t like how long the other man’s gaze was lingering on his omega, not when there weren’t any scars on her neck to show who she belonged to.

“Always such a charmer, Barnes.” Tony said, flopping down next to Steve. “Lovely to see you, too. Care to introduce me to your friend? ….No, you’d rather just snarl and forget your words? I knew you were old, but I didn’t realize you were actually a caveman.”

“Tony,” Bruce groaned. “Don’t aggravate him. Please.”

“Why not?” Tony leaned back against the cushions, completely at ease and totally happy to be pressing every one of Bucky’s buttons. 

“Are you Tony Stark?” Ten asked, wiggling out of Bucky’s grip to sit on the edge of their couch. 

Bucky caught her around the waist before she could get very far, though, and dragged her onto his lap. He loomed over her, sneering dangerously at Tony as the other alpha flashed a smile. 

“Bingo.” he said. 

“I never thought I’d meet a Stark,” she admitted. “I always heard about Stark Industries, but I lived too far away from any big cities to ever get to see any of his exhibitions.”

“Ah. You’re from my father’s time. Of course.” Tony shot a pointed glare in Bucky’s direction. “Seems like Bruce left out a few teensy weensy important details on the phone today.”

“Well, it’s been, uh...an ongoing learning experience.” Bruce said sheepishly. 

“Lots of developments, huh?” Tony raised an eyebrow. 

“You could say that.” Steve said under his breath. “We came up here so Ten could be more comfortable while we talk.”

“Oh yeah? What’re we talkin’ about?” Tony asked. 

“They were asking about my time with HYDRA,” she answered, cutting in before anyone else could. “And with...Bucky.”

Saying his name felt odd. Her tongue wasn’t used to it, and her mind wanted to call him alpha, or Winter Soldier. Bucky just seemed so…casual, such a strange thing to call a deadly super soldier. When she heard herself, though, she decided that she definitely didn’t hate it. 

Bucky’s heart gave a little leap at the sound of his name falling from her lips. He wanted her to say it over and over again, in whispers and in screams, for nobody else’s ears but his. 

“...Buck?” Steve asked, pulling him away from his thoughts. “You, uh, kinda zoned out there.”

It wasn’t until Bucky looked at Steve that he realized his eyes had been trained on the omega in his lap. “Yeah?”

“...Is this seriously how you’ve spent the past day and a half?” Tony asked. “Steve, I’m sorry, and I’m sure you’re just trying to be as helpful as you can be, like always, but I think you should let these two get a room.”

Steve looked at him incredulously. “Tony, really? I’m trying to get to the bottom of why exactly HYDRA would abandon the omega they pumped full of super soldier serum. They can get a room later—“

“Yeah, uh, wonder boy? I don’t think your pal is gonna last much longer before he tries to rip our heads off.” Tony nodded towards a very disgruntled Bucky. “You can resume your interrogation tomorrow, Cap.”

Steve looked to Bruce for help, but he only offered a small shrug and stood, heading towards the door. “He’s right, Steve. They deserve some alone time.”

“But—hey!” Steve protested as Bucky picked his omega up, striding past the two alphas sitting on the opposite couch. 

“Thanks for everything, Steve.” Bucky said over his shoulder. 

Ten squirmed, peeking around Bucky’s arm as she was carried away. “Bye, Mr. Stark!”

“Don’t look at him,” Bucky growled as they walked out the door. 

“Did his father really make hoverboards? I heard once that Howard was promising hoverboards—“

“No.” He said flatly. 

“...oh.” She huffed, slumping against him. “Where are we going?”

“My apartment.” Bucky stepped into the elevator, his grip still tight around her. 

The omega perked up. “You have a whole apartment?”

He puffed his chest out a little. “Course I do. Gotta have a nice place for you, don’t I?”

“So I can stay?” Her eyes were bright and happy. “I can stay there, with you, all the time? Not just when you rut?”

He felt a sad little pang in his heart. When he spoke again, his voice was low and soft. “Of course, sweetheart.”

Then, his eyes widened as he realized what he was saying. “I mean, uh...i-if you want to, that is. I know it’s fast and all, and maybe...would you rather have your own room? Or I can stay on the couch—“

“Bucky,” she cut him off with a laugh, a soft hand cupping his jaw. “You’ve been my alpha for seventy years. I’d say we’re actually moving pretty slow.”

His expression relaxed again, lips stretching into a small smile. “Right. Yeah. You’re right.”

They spent the rest of the elevator ride in comfortable silence, Bucky rubbing his scent glands all over her hair. He wanted to make sure that the next time they encountered anyone else, she smelled exactly like him.

Like her alpha.

When the elevator came to a gentle stop at Bucky’s floor, the doors opened, and he stepped out in front of his apartment door. It opened for him, having already scanned his biometrics, revealing a small, but cozy, living room. 

He set his omega down on her feet, watching anxiously as she stepped into his quarters. Did she like it? Fuck, was it too small? It was too small. She probably hated it. Fuck, fuck, fuck...he had to salvage this somehow. 

“Well, uh…” shit, he sounded too nervous. He wanted her to think he was a strong, capable alpha. 

He cleared his throat for another start. “Welcome home, Omega.” 

Wait. That wasn’t right. Should he be calling her that? No, probably not, it sounded too possessive, too uncaring. He wished he just knew her fucking name, or something. 

“I mean…Ten?”

Shit, he sounded so stupid. He wanted to impress her, not...do whatever this was.

She just laughed, though, turning and looking at him with those eyes that sparkled like starlight. “Amoretta. My name is Amoretta.”