#can we kill this guy with hammers (affectionate)

[wardinespurrit]

good lord it is late and i just finished drawing this fucker. ggggggggggooooood hey chat did yiu guys know i like sco did yiu did you did you did you did y

[thenightshadowqueen]

The Hobnob Affair—Watchthrough Thoughts

Yes! I’m back! I’m not sure if I’ll continue to be in a place to do these going forward, but I’m feeling up for it today, so here we are. I loved this play so much (and Luke was hilarious in the livestream chat), so fair warning that this is, as always, pretty long. But for those of you who, like me, have fun reading these things: I hope you enjoy!

Ooh, the idea of starting with a narrator is really interesting; I like it

“Sorry. Just killing time. There you go.” I love the way he says that and I don’t know why (also I always adore it when they use a microphone)

Tom having to lean down so far to reach the mic is my new favourite thing, actually

“A little café” I think they forgot that basically immediately and I love that for them

“Oh… Love can be difficult. It can be even more difficult when you’re trying to get a mic off the stage whilst maintaining your gravitas.” I love Tom so much

“Sometimes when I’m angry with David, I call him a fat cunt.” What a healthy-sounding relationship (I mean, I guess if David’s really fine with it…?)

“I don’t mean it, though. He’s not fat.” The moment of pure silence

“But I am a cunt” I will never be able to hear this without thinking of Luke in the live chat saying ‘so true Sam’

“Raw materials” AJ (also I adore when one of them (to be honest, it’s usually AJ, and I say that with so much love) fucks up some little thing and it becomes the plot of the play)

“You mean ingredients?” “Ingredients—Noooo.” Go on, AJ, double down on it

“Dough and flour. You’re a maverick, you are.” Sassy Sam, hell yeah

“Steel-dough flour biscuits” only in a SFTH play, I swear

Ooh, John and David/Terry/Dave—we’ve got another gay couple!

Also “John.” “John.” is hilarious

“Even though his name’s definitely Dave” um actually Luke it’s David (lighthearted; I love it when they forget names)

The look on Sam’s face when he changes the scene is glorious

Hello Tom (he should wear tank tops more often, because, like… he looks good)

This is so fucking ridiculous and I love it (a blacksmith-bakery—peak SFTH)

“You ever seen a pussy cook?” Jesus, Tom

“Took about nine months” I love Sam

Sam always goes all out for Scottish accents and I adore it

The continuation of the Sam-Tom stagecraft war!

I love Cindy Campbell with all my heart

Sam’s dramatic fucking door-opening is incredible

Wait, so John (AJ) is trying to buy raw materials from the blacksmith-bakery? Do they sell raw materials, or just the finished products?

“Oh, no, don’t. ’Cause it’ll make me feel bad about mine.” Um, no, excuse me, Tom’s not ever allowed to feel bad about himself, actually

I love how Tom’s always the one to hype up AJ’s muscles; it’s so sweet

AJ playing football (???) with the hammer is just so quintessentially AJ

“You [thruhmp] and I’ll [duong]” AJ???

I love it when they sing so much

“You could be the son I never had” right in front of your daughter???? Okay, you know what, this guy might have great arms, but fuck him

“She’s only fourteen.” “I’m eighteen.” Ah, Shoot from the Hip, the kings of ‘yes, and’ (sarcastic but affectionate)

“It’s so they can fuck” thank you for that hand motion, Sam

“I treasure this young man, and I bet he’s got standards” okay, nope, yep, FUCK THIS GUY

“No offence” yeah, fucking sure

Okay, so he’s a self-aware asshole

The way they fade in and out of conversations in order to do two scenes simultaneously is incredible holy shit (you can really tell how long they’ve been doing this and how well they work together)

Tom just jumping in and breaking the two-scene flow to correct AJ is beautiful

“My girlfriend says that I’m a massive weight and I have nothing to offer” what healthy relationships on display in this play

Tom and Sam in the background oh my god

…am I starting to ship Angus Campbell and Sam’s character?

“A series of fun parlour games” I don’t know why I love the way Sam phrased that, but I do

Also this is not about SFTH but they mentioned daylight savings time and I just feel the need to add FUCK DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

“A biscuit can mend a broken heart” that would make great merch (“it’s on our slogan”) (although I’m hoping for ‘raw materials’ merch, personally)

God damn it, Angus, you were so close

Look, I know I said I hate Angus, but I am rooting for him; I like to think that someday, in the future, he does some therapy and gets to make amends (although I wouldn’t blame Cindy if she didn’t accept his apology)

“Don’t call your ex. Don’t do it.” As someone who doesn’t have any exes, I can’t speak personally, but I’ve heard that calling them is generally a bad idea, so: hey you! Listen to AJ! Don’t call your ex!

I love Sam’s “bad girl” characters, actually

The detail in Sam’s mime is killing me

That is so many beeps, good god

“That was my unlock code” I love AJ

AJ is just picking on Luke at this point and I’m here for it

Sam

Also Sam is just staring directly into the camera and it’s scaring me

“Call averted” ???? Is that a British thing, or a misspeak, or…?

“Phone unlocked” ah, Luke’s revenge, I see

“MEGACALL unlocked!” …I’m not even going to ask, actually

Oh, John, baby, you are not helping yourself right now

Shoutout to the subtitlers for the placement of the captions saying each person is laughing

I adore Lucy, actually

“What if I can’t move on? What if you were everything to me and there’s no life—” oh, sweetheart, we really need to get you some self-esteem

The little cheek rub? I’m sorry, that was so fucking cute????

Oh, okay, cute might have been the wrong word

Fucking hell, Luke (at least he didn’t take his trousers off again (Nigel flashbacks))

“Du-bye-bye” that was so stupid and I loved it

Okay, Sam, damn (I love how much Sam carries the others)

Also Lucy carrying her go-go-dancer partner bridal style is one of my new favourite things (they are literally in half a scene and I’m so invested in their relationship)

ALSO the way Luke holds his arm out as Sam carries him is giving me “behold, Luke” (Marigolds, Bluebells, and Hugh) flashbacks

The captions are the best as always; “heartbroken rage-screams” is indeed the best description of that noise

AJ oh my god (this is the new Tom-with-the-wine moment) (which means it’s never going to leave my head) ((we don’t need to talk about how often I think about Tom with the wine))

…Are we just brushing past the fact that Angus Campbell and Sam’s character literally sleep together? Because my conviction about this ship is growing

Do they genuinely just sleep in the blacksmith-bakery???

I never knew the name of that song (I know, I’m uncultured), so I’d like to thank the captions for that

Special-effects-J™

“She became a series of crumpets” I’m fucking sorry??? Tom???

This is graphic

“Aye, I’m not sexiest.” “No! You’re just abusive to your daughter.” “Aye!” Well that’s a quote

Ah, so Angus has good intentions and is just fucking horrible at executing them

Ooh, Troll-Father?

As someone who has no idea what a hobnob is, I’m greatly enjoying trying to piece it together (I know it’s a kind of cookie/biscuit, and I’m getting chocolate? But that’s it)

Oh, okay, they’re happy about the chocolate on both sides; I thought they were going to be upset, but I’m pleased to see they’re not

“You didn’t even put any ingredients in” excuse me, Tom, what are ingredients? We only know RAW MATERIALS here

“The Bussy Café” fucking—I was NOT expecting to hear that today good god (does Tom know what that means? Because in the QnA I got the sense he doesn’t) (to be honest it’s probably for the best that he doesn’t) (but it sounds like Sam does know what that means and to be honest, I’m not surprised)

“Alright, Sally” you know, Sam is the only one who ever gets away with getting people’s names wrong

“It’s here on this plinth.” “The plinth came out of nowhere as well.” “No, it came from here; you just didn’t see it.” I love the stagecraft war (and the word ‘plinth’)

“It’s been a while since I’ve been impressed” look, I am trying to root for you and your potential future redemption arc, but you sure making it very hard

“The technique was all mine” HELL YEAH show them Cindy!

Hey! Mrs. Campbell can be a beautiful, seductive, blonde, muscular, big woman; who says she can’t be both?

“’Cause I trusted myself even though you didn’t trust me” go on, Cindy, overcome your upbringing!!!!

AJ taking the phone again????? I am never going to get over this oh my god (look, I don’t know why the Tom-wine bit and now the AJ-phone bit get in my head like this, okay? They just do)

No, John, don’t do it!

“I’m lying here in Dubai, just thinking about you while I’m wrapped up in Marco’s arms” No, wait, I really like Lucy and Marco! Or, wait, hang on, maybe they’re polyamorous; I mean, if she’s making this call while in his arms, he’s clearly fine with it, so… Yeah, that’s going to be my headcanon (Also, I know the storyline is about John moving on, but now I’m thinking about a Lucy-Marco-John-Cindy polycule, and… I’m getting off track, sorry)

Also I don’t think we’ve ever gotten this many names before; I think every character has a name except for Sam’s character who works at the blacksmith-bakery (and Mrs. Campbell, technically, but she’s a. dead and b. got a surname)

“I’ve sent you a selfie” Sam

“How would you like to bake something in here for nine months?” SAM

The beginning of Angus’s redemption arc!

…AJ, what are you doing?

Oh, Jesus

Oh my fucking GOD

AJ

What the hell were you thinking

He just dropped someone’s phone

They are unhinged

They are unhinged and I love them so much

Wait, no, I like Lucy; I don’t want her to be a crumpet (maybe the phone is a crumpet now, and she’s just fine)

Kiss!

That’s a great kiss, as well

“I knew they were” Tom

I adore it when they end the play with the title (and I love that it’s always Sam who does it)

Unhinged. Fucking insane. I love this play.

[kisakis-boyfriend]

I lowkey feel like a weirdo just reading and interacting with your posts without actually sending anything in the ask box LMAO

So here I am, to rant about pretty (not so) little twinks to my favorite writer

Everyone headcannons Hanma to be sadistic, and while I can definitely see that based on the way he acts and fights, I personally headcannon him to be a hardcore masochist who just tries to hide it by saying he's a sadist. Like this man doesn't dodge powerful punches and kicks from Mikey or Draken, no, no, he blocks them with his own body instead. His whole thing is always getting back up after tanking heavy hits like a monster. But he also very regularly eggs people on. He taunts and maims people to get them to fight him. He does this, every. Single. Fight.

So how does this translate into the bedroom? Well of course, his lanky ass wants nothing more than to get on your nerves. He wants to see how far he can push you, if he can make you genuinely mad. He wants to be the biggest little shit he possibly can until you have no choice but to punish him for it. And this boy can take a lot. Spanking? No problem. Choking? Yes please. Cbt? Why the hell not? Putting him into a borderline painful full nelson while relentless pounding into his prostate at mach jesus? He'd love every second, even if it renders him damn near bedridden for the next three days. Hell, we've seen how Hanma fights, you could probably beat the shit out of him or try to kill him and he'd pop a stiffy.

I feel like he might have a humiliation kink too. Like- shame this man for being so kinky and mock him for being pathetic. You could call him your little bitch and spit in his mouth and he'd just grin in response. And he's not really the type to break easily either. Even as you have him clutching the sheets, trembling, tears rolling down his cheeks, barely even able to stay conscious, he'd still talk shit and try to aggravate you. That carries into every day couple life too, just in a more minor way. He likes to play pranks on you, poke and prod you both literally and metaphorically. He's also almost definitely smart, I mean- Kisaki hates dumb people, and he hangs out with Hanma. That just means that Hanma will start the dumbest, prettiest arguments, and win purely by technicality. He's a total smartass. Of course, Hanma wouldn't say or do anything to actually hurt you, he's just be annoying and a nusience on purpose because he finds it entertaining to piss people off. It's alright, there's an easy fix. Just fuck hin so dumb he can't talk, so hard that he just passed out in your arms straight after.

Moral of the story, Hanma is a freaky little masochist, and the world's most annoying little asshole (affectionate)

~Neon

(Ajdksj no need to worry! I accept lurkers of all sorts — including lurkers who don't interact at all, and instead silently read my works <3

I do appreciate things like this too though, thank you! I love hearing y'all's thoughts and ideas!)

—

THIS is canon, as far as I'm concerned. He's such a painslut, it's not even funny. I definitely agree that Shuji will do his best to annoy you, that's just his favorite past time :P

I recently learned that getting punched in the gut (or just, in general) is a kink/fetish, so I think we can safely assume that Shuji would be into that too. I know that wrestling is also a sexual thing for some people. Just tossing that out there. Pin that tall boy in a painful position and hammer your cock into him, he'll love it!

Forget play fighting, he's the kind of guy who'd want to actually fight you until he's spitting up blood. Rasping a snarky remark even as his knuckles are busted, and his ribs ache from your heavy hits. Just normal couple things~

I also just thought about a "softer" moment: Cuddling with Shuji and pressing on the bruises you left on him. He winces as your thumb presses down on the large purple area on his arm, your other hand combing through his hair. This kind of pain is the kind that makes his whole body tremble, and he easily becomes addicted to it <3

[hexhomos]

Can I ask...what actually happens with Viktor in S2?? I keep hearing people being really vague about it being Bad but I haven't seen the leaks and now cannot find out anything that isn't just someone saying they won't say anything;; I just want to temper my expectations bc I was only excited for S2 for his storyline (+ Jayce interactions) and I'm getting the impression they don't do.....much?? with it?

spoiling stuff for real under the cut

As of ep5, Viktor:

-Doesn't have his mask or armor

-Has no outspoken ideological drive

-Has never once expressed interest in the traditional venues of transhumanism ocurring all around him

-Never made blitzcrank, never did shit ONSCREEN

-The only tangible reference we get to the machine herald is this shot of cards back on s1:

I genuinely dont know if he has even 5 full minutes of actual footage across all of these episodes lmfao...

His contributions to the story are, in sequence:

-stuck in stasis. jayce waits by his bedside for over an episode

-emerges from coma, immediately rebuffs all of jayce’s warm affectionate advances to the point its a little comical. looks like a dried grape, barely any bigger. declares that he's mad over not being left to DIE; he has to go away now. he hears... her voice! oh! that girl who spoke one time in s1 and that he ignored in every scene!

-left the lab buttnaked and barefoot with a blanket jayce wrapped around him to explore the streets on zaun. a bunch of sick homeless guys (who are, of course, shimmer addicts, see my note about war on terror) think he must be augmented so they want to kill him for scraps and parts. But they dont know that viktor is jesus now. he turns his stigmata palm to that guy who sold out caitlyn in s1 and proceeds to magically cure the lepers.

-this is his last scene for a little while. we Hear Of Him when one of the disabled councilors is looking for ways to deal with his pain from the accident. arcane loves looking over the shoulder of the rich and powerful like they are the main drivers and movers of the story

-like an hour of footage later, jayce reemerges (from a nexus-type of situation) and he finds one of Viktor’s servants -- its that councilor guy-- doing something unspecified. He's surprised to see jayce and tells him that he may speak to viktor; viktor says he misses him and wants to see him and basically "my bad man i was tripping when i said that shit to you the writers needed some lazy disagreement point," but he sounds really cult-leader sleazy and jayce is really mad over being left behind. Jayce is having some flashbacks to void monsters in the other side and tells servant guy he's not allowed to let him go. Servant councilor guy says well too bad! Im going! So jayce pulverizes him with his hammer. based jayce. he looks like brown bearded dante from devil may cry

That's the ep5 clifhanger. i think you can tell how i feel.

My predictions are as follows: jayce tracks him down to his lair and we get a showdown that is a vague reference to their original character bios battle; the one where viktor sics a bunch of brainwashed people on him and the building falls over everyone from the impact. It's possible that viktor is still not wearing his armor, and in this altercation jayce beats him up so bad or dismembers him enough that in act 3 he will have built one. That feels insulting to me but they legitimately have been very lazy.

oh and jayce also has a magical stigmata now. i hope they get to scissor those things together

[silena-styles]

Heyyy, I joined Tumblr along with literally everyone else, so here I am, I guess. I'm the daughter of Aphrodite, in charge of the Pegasus stables at Camp Half-Blood, blah blah blah. Okay, you know the drill, right? I'm pan, use she/they pronouns, and my tags are #silena speaks and #beauregard blabbers

And here's everyone! (list will probably be updated frequently)

@percy-jackson-is-a-seaweed-brain / @that-dam-son-of-poseidon very awesome guy

@annabeth-in-your-chase she's smart and scary

@lukemessedup okay, maybe he was evil, but he has his charms, okay?

@amazing-war-god-ares the guy from that game + future father in law?

@explodes-cutely nerd

@the-better-stoll-brother very cool (bribery is not cool however)

@artemisandhunters the cooler twin ofc

@thatonebitheaterkid another kid of Apollo I think (why does this mfer have so many kids like are you collecting them like Pokémon or smth 😭)

@magnus-falafelking also dead (and annabeth's cousin)

@apollos-favorite-child the favorite

@miss-naomi-solace will's mom

@thesmallbadwolf lil bitch

@imhotterthanallofyou lil bitch Sr. (affectionate)

@zoe-can-see-the-stars-again the dam huntress constellation

@askoctavianhoo 1/8th god

@dionysus-god-of-all-things-wine nico is his favorite

@blitzen-imnot-that-short yes you are that short (+ gay for some elf guy)

@one-and-only-ariadne can we call you auntie ariadne 👉👈 this is a joke please do not stab me

@thomas-jefferson-jr the mfer who brought a rifle to doomsday while everyone else had traditional viking weaponry (you are so amazing for that tho)

@im-cool-and-your-not clarisse's sister?

@moththecabin7kid Apollo's kid idk

@everyone-is-a-punk her >>>>>>> she's also so pretty though wtf

@mallory-keen-to-kill clarisse, but dead and irish

@halfbornhalfdead um idk who is this guy again-

@stop-hammer-time supports gay rights

@god-of-powerpoint raven guy

@percys-blue-food-vendor better mom than Aphrodite (or any godly parent actually)

@nico-the-ghost-king / @nico-di-angelo-aaaaa GAY EMO BOI

@sunny-boy-solace / @will-solace-aaaaa very cool too

@the-argo-2-matchmaker PIPES

@grover-eats-cans the goat (literally and figuratively?)

@the-best-superman-on-olympus / @jason-graceeeeee blonde superman + stapler muncher

@best-dam-huntress badass

@the-queen-meg owns acne guy

@tyson-the-cyclops percy's lil bro

@why-did-i-get-acne acne guy (your haikus suck)

@im-aphrodite-dearies my mother is on here for some reason

@theonlycoachhedge why is this dude obsessed with bats

@silena-beauregard-official other me (insert spiderman meme here)

@hazel-is-confused HAZEL

@the-amazhang-teddybear FRANK

@team-leoo / @leo-valdez-graaa fire boi

OOC: my main blog is @siimplyapril and I use he/they :]

[buried-stars]

OH LET'S FUCKING GO. goro akechi, amame doi, fuka yamagishi, gyu-hyuk lee, maya fey, mukuro ikusaba :3

yippee!

goro

Sexuality Headcanon: this is a gay man. we all know it to be true. Gender Headcanon: some kind of trans and non-binary swag going on here... A ship I have with said character: eiichi mukuhira because oc/canon isn't dead A BROTP I have with said character: frankly his (potential) friendships with all the PT make me feel insane in one direction or another, but special mention to the sumi goro brotp. i so desperately need more platonic content between them that doesnt have any romance as a backdrop. goro's like "i don't have friends" and sumi says "yeah we're BEST friends :D" A NOTP I have with said character: its so hard to be a goroboy who doesnt like any ship with him. but any of the girls or akira makes me want to start attacking people with hammers A random headcanon: after royal he becomes roommates with annshiho. i love it when lesbians adopt a pathetic little man. shiho is still trying to figure out whether or not he's joking about having killed people (he's not) General Opinion over said character: you know exactly how i feel about him and if i start trying to summarize it here im going to end up with an essay so instead im just gonna glitch out of existence

amame

Sexuality Headcanon: LESBIAN!!!! Gender Headcanon: she/they-isms A ship I have with said character: mamebiki is the only one that could ever matter to me. waaauuuggghhh A BROTP I have with said character: i want to believe her and iris rly are besties. show it to me uchikoshi... A NOTP I have with said character: gen is a father figure to her. fuck you. A random headcanon: AI3 PSYNCER AMAME I KNOW IT TO BE TRUE General Opinion over said character: incredible how she went from being a joke side character in the first game to one of the most interesting and complex characters of all time. i adore her. she did nothing wrong.

fuuka

Sexuality Headcanon: ace lesbian Gender Headcanon: i honestly dont think ive ever thought about it...? A ship I have with said character: funnily enough i don't have one! maybe minako idk A BROTP I have with said character: i think her friendship with yukari is really sweet A NOTP I have with said character: i will never get the appeal of her and natsuki. even in 2017 i was like "why do we want her to date the girl who harassed her to the point that she thought she killed herself" A random headcanon: she carries minako's old earphones in her bag all the time General Opinion over said character: my sweetie <3 she silly. i don't have a ton to say because it's 5:30 in the morning but i like her a lot

gyu-hyuk

Sexuality Headcanon: undoubtedly gay. look at him Gender Headcanon: CANON* he/she. (*it's a typo but i can dream) A ship I have with said character: gyuyoon makes me feel like im trapped inside a salad spinner (affectionate) A BROTP I have with said character: gyu and juyoung... they're so besties A NOTP I have with said character: either of the girls :P honestly i can't see him with anyone besides do-yoon A random headcanon: his eyes are brown those are colour contacts. General Opinion over said character: mr sad eyes sopping wet tragic oarfish id do anything for him. he did a lot wrong but hes still my guy. get him help pronto

maya

Sexuality Headcanon: lesbian (do you see a pattern) Gender Headcanon: trans girl :D A ship I have with said character: emamaya my beloved <33 A BROTP I have with said character: phoenix and maya are the fucking blueprint. i adore them so much. siblings of all time A NOTP I have with said character: i mean aside from obvious garbage i am a massive frnmy hater. we all been knew A random headcanon: kurain is a vegetarian village so maya's love of burgers come from them being forbidden at home General Opinion over said character: ive loved her since the day i picked up aa1 way back in 2014. my dear darling

mukuro

Sexuality Headcanon: lesbian of course Gender Headcanon: non-binary <3 A ship I have with said character: gee! i sure wonder! who could i, the person who popularized ikuzono, possibly ship with mukuro? it's a mystery. A BROTP I have with said character: chapter one trio still does something to my brain tbh A NOTP I have with said character: known nk hater since 2015 and this will never change A random headcanon: she's afraid of clowns General Opinion over said character: i just want her to be happy

[ii-mephone3gs-confessions]

Okay okay I NEED to get this out somewhere. I’m tired of people characterizing 3gs as just “oh well he’s the soldier phone!!” BECAUSE THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO HIM THAN THAT. PLEASE PEOPLE ACT LIKE HE’D BE JUMPING UP TO FIGHT AGAIN!!! HE WOULD NOT!!!

not going to name any names but I started reading this fic about cobs returning and trying to kill everyone and it leads to this big war and 3gs is like “Oh well I was built to be a soldier so i’ll join you guys!!!” He would nooot. First off, he’s probably still HORRIFIED of cobs. Even if he’s dead now (which he isn’t in this fic!! he’s alive!!) that man has very clearly done some terrible terrible things to him. As we see in ii16, literally just mentioning cobs makes him start glitching out and panicking!! Why would he even want to be near cobs let alone fight him?? I guess there’s the arguement that could be made about how “oh well he’s fighting him so he’s more comfortable with it” but still. I feel like he would not want to be anywhere near cobs

Second off, why would he be going into war again??? Like genuinely??? Last time he did two of his siblings DIED and, I thiink somewhat quoting a brian tweet here, “when 1 and 3g died, 3gs was surprised by just how much he felt” so!!! He probably feels HORRIBLE about that. Also iirc in either a brian or justin stream (i’m leaning more towards brian though) I think brian talked about how guilty 3gs would feel about how he enabled cobs to do. Whatever he was going to do with the egg (he doesn’t know!!) and also that he WOULD feel guilty over 1 and 3g’s deaths. Also something something the whole ii movie is about breaking away from your coding and doing what YOU want to do so 3gs going back to being a soldier after all of that would just be. Weird

I get that people are scared of infantalizing him and treating him as some “poor old sad baby who’s never done anything wrong in his life and he needs to be protected” but like!! You can not do that whilst also making him more than just!! “The Soldier MePhone”!!! Please i’m begging you he’s such an interesting character PLEASE he’s more than just a sad baby, yes, but he’s also more than just a soldier. He’s a traumatized man who YES has done bad things and YES is by technicality a war veteran and war criminal but. That doesn’t mean he has to just be some generic soldier guy he is a morally gray little ohone guy and I need to kill him with hammers (affectionate)

Sorry if i’m actually like butchering his character here i’m just mentally ill about him. Sorry i’ll go now

.

[kittyt-hexxed]

A Place for You - Part Three

Post-Santa Barbara!Ellie x Ex-Firefly!POC!Reader

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Final Part

Word Count: 9k

Warnings: TLOU2, Apocalyptic Religious Community, Attempted Kidnapping, Murder, Flashbacks, You and Ellie take in a teenager, Raising a traumatized teenager, References to Joel, Ellie brings home a baby

Summary: You and Ellie run into some snatchers during a supply run. In the process of getting away from them, you end up taking in a teenager they picked up. The young girl ends up finding a place among your little family.

~ Late Winter of the Year 2045 ~

“LET ME GO, YOU FUCKER!” You scream, thrashing around and trying to break their hold on you. They had taken your gun and were dragging you over to their vehicle. You called them Snatchers. People who drove around and snatched people off of the streets. No one knew why, but you knew people they took never returned. The Fireflies made it their mission to kill them whenever a truck was spotted. The fewer of them around, the better.

You had been traveling with Ellie, heading to the closest city to raid one of the Veterinary Clinics. They were the only places people didn’t break into when shit went down. You knew that they would have a bunch of needles and medical equipment you could use for your animals. You were leaving the city and these fuckers had come out of nowhere. One of them got the jump on you and earned himself a knife to the head. Unfortunately, his buddies didn’t take too kindly to that and here you are now.

You brace your feet against the back of the truck, refusing to let them throw you in. You can see other people in there handcuffed and looking at you with wide eyes. A lot of them are wounded or covered in dirt which means they’ve been there for a while. Another snatcher comes around and tries to grab your legs when his blood splatters onto the truck and he drops to the ground. Dead. That sends the whole group into a panic.

The guy that has you tries harder to throw you into the truck, so you can’t see which direction that shot came from. Either way, the guy restraining you suddenly stops and his hold on you vanishes. You catch yourself from falling and you hear his body hit the ground. A glance at him shows blood rapidly pooling onto the road underneath his head. Running off of pure adrenaline, you grab your gun and bag from him and run for cover.

“Y/n, run! Run as far as you can and hide!” Your mother hisses at you, shoving you toward the back of the store.

“Hey. Hey, darlin’. It’s okay.” You blink and see Ellie crouched in front of you, blood splattered across her face and torso, “They’re dead. They’re all dead.”

“All?” You question airly. You feel like you are detached from your body as your heart hammers in your chest. It was the most common sign of your attacks, especially when they involved your parents.

“All of ‘em.” Ellie confirms, wiping some blood from your cheek, “You know I wouldn’t have let them take you, sweetheart. You’re safe, okay?” She pulls you into her arms, squeezing you tightly to her chest. You’re trembling. Shaking so badly that Ellie sits down and sits you on her lap, curling her body around you to bring you more comfort.

“I-I...” You stutter, burying your face in her neck.

“I know, beautiful. You haven’t had an attack in a while and this was clearly a trigger for you.” Ellie whispers, smoothing your hair back, “Go ahead and cry. We’re secure in here.” You feel safe in your wife’s arms and allow yourself to cry. The grief and sheer panic from your parents’ deaths wash over you again. You sob, mourning the life that you lost with them. Even when you thought you had moved on, the grief came back to haunt you. Sometimes it’d be in the way you arranged the bouquet on the table, the same way your father used to. Or, how you’d cut the sleeves from Ellie’s shirt like your mother would. Your wife holds you in her arms until you calm down, kissing your forehead and whispering affectionately to you.

“We need to start our walk back home before the final storm of the season rolls in.” You mumble into her neck, “We don’t want to get caught in the city.”

“I know.” Ellie hums, letting you get up, “We need to get out while it’s still light out.” She stands up, adjusting her sniper, and takes your hand, guiding you back to the front door. Through the glass, you can see all of the dead snatchers and as you step outside you can see one with her throat cut. ‘That’s probably how Ellie got blood on herself.’ You observe the mess, frowning at the dead people in the back of the truck.

“I hate snatchers.” You sigh, “If there’s a chance of escape, they kill everyone they’ve taken. There’s always one person dedicated to that.”

“It was her.” Ellie kicks the woman you looked at earlier, “Gunned ‘em down while I was distracted. Fucker.”

“There’s nothing we can do now. Raid their bullets and we’ll head out.” You tell her, checking the bodies for spare ammo. You don’t mind leaving the guns behind, but you’d take all the ammo you could get your hands on.

“Help…” A weak voice sounds from in the truck. You jump up, whipping your gun out as you stare into the truck. Ellie comes around the side, her gun out as well as she raises an eyebrow at you.

“Please… I-I don’t want to die here.” The voice says again. They sound young and that makes you feel apprehensive.

“Is that a kid?” Ellie mutters and you nod. You creep forward, checking to make sure the people close to you are dead as you open the back. Ellie helps you move the bodies and at the back of the truck you see a young girl wedged in the corner. She turns to you, eyes widening as she notices that you have your gun trained on her.

“Were you shot?” You ask, looking her over. She’s wearing a black hoodie, so if she was shot you can’t see it in the shadows. Her arms are cuffed to the seat so you’d have to find the key. You weren’t worried about her having any weapons as the snatchers took all of those from the people they captured. If she wanted to fight you, you’d be getting physical.

“Yes. Shoulder. That guy blocked me.” She motions to the guy next to her with multiple wounds, “Please let me out. I’ll just starve to death or an infected will get me. Either way, it’ll be a slow one.”

“Honey?” You call to your wife.

“I have the key. We’ll let you go but you wait for her to exit the truck and then we’ll call for you to come out. Any aggressive moves toward my wife and I’ll shoot you dead, kid.” Ellie growls, “Got it?”

“Got it.” The girl immediately responds. You slowly back out of the trunk, keeping your gun trained on her as you accept the key from Ellie. The girl watches you with hopeful eyes as you undo the handcuffs, tuck the key back into your pocket and leave the truck. Your wife quickly looks you over, quietly confirming that you’re unharmed before turning back.

“Come on out with your hands up. Slowly.” Ellie advises and you watch as the girl gets up, slowly making her way to the end. You and Ellie walk back as she drops down into the light, hissing in pain from jostling her shoulder. Now that she’s in the light, you can see how beat up she is. A busted lip and bruised cheek cover her fair skin and you can tell she hasn’t slept in a good amount of time. But, you can’t help but feel a little dumbfounded. You and Ellie share a confused glance. The girl looks like she could be your kid. She looks like a mixture of you and Ellie, other than her bright red hair. You shake your head to chase away the shock.

“She’s going to check you over for bites. I know the snatchers would have already but we have to keep an eye out on our own.” You indicate to Ellie as she lowers her gun and moves closer, “What’s your name? How old are you?”

“Venus.” She responds nervously as Ellie checks her over, “I-I’m thirteen.”

“Venus.” You raise an eyebrow, “Like the planet?” What are odds of that?

“Like the… Goddess?” Venus says, “That’s what my mother had told me, at least.”

“What happened to her? Your mom?” Ellie steps back, giving you the go-ahead to lower your gun, “She’s all clear. Not even a scratch.”

“Dead. She was infected when our group got ambushed. I don’t know my father, either. It’s just me.” Venus sighs, exhausted. You look up at the sky and note that the clouds are getting thicker. You’d have to leave now if you wanted to make it out of the city before snowfall. If you move quickly, you’ll make it to the shelter before then.

“Babe, we’ve got to go.” You remind Ellie, “Snowstorm.”

“Alright. We’re leaving.” Ellie nods at you and turns back to the kid, “We set you free, so don’t you dare follow us. I’ll shoot you if I catch you.” She wraps an arm around your waist, narrowing her eyes at the kid. Ellie was more protective over you now that you’re married. You laughed at her one day because you told her that she reminded you of Joel and she profusely disagreed… in a very Joel fashion. The next morning she had begrudgingly agreed before heading out into the field. That old man lived on in her, and you knew Ellie took comfort in that.

“Wait! Please!” Venus panics, taking a few steps to you, “Please let me come with you! I’ve been with these people for weeks and I don’t even know where I am. The last place I remember was Indiana, and I’ve got no one but myself. No weapons, no food or water, and just the clothes on my back. I’m a walking dinner for the infected. Please.” She begs you, making you frown. This world was a cruel place. It left no one untouched, not even the ones who thought they were safe in a QZ. You could remember being that age, losing your parents, and having to figure things out on your own. You were lucky enough to have the homestead and Scout. You couldn’t imagine how she must be feeling having nothing.

���Stand there while we talk. Don’t move.” You state before grabbing Ellie and pulling her away a bit, “...We can’t leave her here to die. She’s lucky that we’re the ones who set her free and not some fucked up assholes.” You whisper.

“I… I know.” Ellie exhales heavily, rubbing her eyebrows, “She’s too young to be out here on her own. We’ve got to take her, but if she tries anything that puts us in danger we’re leaving her on the side of the road.”

“So, we agree on this?” You meet her eyes. You knew Ellie was being serious about leaving her behind. If there was a chance anyone would put you in danger, she’d get rid of them.

“We agree on this.” With a nod, you and Ellie turn back to the girl. When she realizes you’re done talking, she’s looking at you with hopeful eyes. She really didn’t have anyone else if she was still here.

“You’re coming with us.” You tell her, “But any funny business-”

“You’ll shoot me.” Venus grins, rocking on her feet, “Got it.”

“Come on then.” Ellie tucks her gun away, but takes out her switchblade, “We’re on a tight schedule.” Venus comes over to you two and you start walking back to your route. A subtle white Firefly symbol marks the street you need to head down. Ellie found it interesting that you continued to use Firefly passages. They were the safest in cities. Perfectly cleared out and fixed up so the infected couldn’t get inside. Other people who weren’t Fireflies wouldn’t know how to access them, either.

“So… can I get a gun?” Venus asks after five minutes of silence.

“No.” You and Ellie chorus, getting a groan from the kid. You continue to walk in silence, slipping into a building with a fake chained door. The red lights make the hallway appear eerie, but you continue down it anyway.

“Fuck.” Ellie mutters randomly, making you raise an eyebrow at her, “…I really am like my old man.” Her shoulders deflate and you can’t help but laugh. Ellie scoffs and playfully shoves you, making you laugh some more.

You got to the shelter outside of the city just in time. You didn’t have time to remove the bullet from Venus’ shoulder, so you moved slower. When you got inside, you sat her down to take care of the wound while Ellie secured the perimeter. You dig out the first-aid you have stashed and sit down next to Venus.

“Uh, what are you going to do?” Venus looks at the forceps in your hands wearily.

“I have to remove the bullet. It’s not a clean shot.” You say, flicking on your lighter, “These will take it out and then I’m going to stitch you back up.”

“How do you know how to do this?”

“Rule one about living in the middle of nowhere? You know how to handle every wound possible. My momma made sure I knew how to stitch myself up.” You chuckle, thinking about the times your mom made you stitch up your own wounds, “Deep breath, kid.”

“De- AH!” Venus shouts as you put the forceps into her wound, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” She curses as you dig out the bullet. You try to keep a grin off of your face as you pull it out but her reaction makes that impossible. Now you understand why your mother laughed at you.

“That wasn’t too hard, was it?” You tease her. She’s breathing heavily, looking at you like you’re crazy. ‘I probably do sound crazy to her.’ You see Ellie come in over her shoulder and she gives you a thumbs up. The building is secure. You wouldn’t have to worry about infected as much in this weather, but it didn’t mean the possibility was zero.

“Yeah, no. It totally wasn’t like you were digging around in my body or anything. No big deal.” Venus grumbles, cursing when you pour some alcohol onto her wound, “Stop that!” You snort, holding back a laugh. You have to admit, being an ex-Firefly made you more hardened to this stuff.

“Wait until she does the stitches.” Ellie sits in the chair next to you, putting her boots up on the table, “I’m assuming you’ve never gotten them before since this is your first time being shot.”

“No. My mom never let me get involved with grown-up stuff. She and the others said I was too young. Anyone under sixteen wasn’t allowed to help the community and only focused on school.”

“It’s nice that she tried to shelter you. Keep you a kid longer.” You pull the needle and sutures out, “But, that’s a bad thing outside of QZs. That’ll get you killed… and right now you're about to learn why your mom kept you out of it.” With a lot of cursing and complaints, you stitch up Venus’ wound and make sure she’s secure before getting prepared for bed. You leave the room to open up the hidden stash that has your blankets and pillows. You take the blankets out and pause when you reenter the room. A smile graces your face when you see that Venus is slumped over and knocked out. Ellie is a few feet away and busy bringing the fire to life in the pit she had created.

“That was fast.” You chuckle, walking over to Ellie and kissing her cheek. She glances at the kid and nods her head.

“If she’s been with those guys for as long as she said? This is the first quality sleep she’ll get in a while. I wish she ate before passing out, but that can't be helped.”

“Do you think we made the right decision?” You start laying out the blankets around the fire, “Bringing her with us? I mean I feel bad for the kid, but do you think this is the right thing?”

“You know we’d feel bad if we left her behind. Probably turn back around and hunt her down just to drag her along.” Ellie stands and walks over to her, gently picking her up and placing her down on her blankets, “So, yes. I think we made the right decision.” You watch as Ellie delicately tucks her into the blankets to make sure she stays warm. ‘She’s out cold… She must feel safe with us to knock out like that.’

“Cuddle with me tonight?” You lay down on the thick comforter, holding your arms out to your wife. She chuckles and comes over, laying her gun down before crawling onto the sheet with you. There’s a moment of shifting around, Ellie pulling you into her chest and getting comfortable with you. You cuddle up to her feeling the exhaustion setting in. Your proximity to the fire heats up the blankets enough that you’re no longer feeling the chill in the air.

“We’re going to be here until the storm dies down.” Ellie says quietly, “It’ll give us time to get to know her. We need to teach her how to shoot if she’s staying with us.”

“Mhm.” You hum, enjoying the warmth radiating from her body.

“Life on the homestead will be hard for her to adjust to.”

“Mhm.”

“We might have to get her a dog.”

“Mhm.” You open your eyes, sleepily peering at Ellie as she giggles at you. ‘Do she just say we’d get her a dog?’

“Oh yeah, you’re too tired to hold a conversation right now.” You feel her chuckle, squeezing you to her body, “Get some rest, darlin’.” You nod and fall asleep in the arms of your lover.

You sing softly to yourself as you heat up breakfast and the smell of the tea fills the air. Ellie is laying down and sketching in her journal. You were likely to see a sketch of yourself if you took a peek at it. If she didn’t have a view to draw, she’d draw you instead. It was something you found sweet. Her desk at home was covered in pages of drawings and half of them had to be you.

“You know, you should ride my face when we get home.” Ellie says from behind you.

“Ellie!” You gasp in alarm, eyes darting over to the sleeping teenager, “There’s a child here!”

“She’s asleep. Besides, I’m warning you from now. I’ve been thinking about it this whole trip so I’m taking you the first chance I get.” The smirk on her face has you giving her an exasperated look,

“You know she’s going to be in the house.” You point out.

“And you know that you can’t hear shit in the rooms unless you’re in front of the door. Your family knew what they were doing.” Ellie wiggles her eyebrows.

“I hate you.” You laugh, pouring out the tea into her canteen, “Why don’t you go check the weather and be a menace somewhere else?” You hold out the warm drink to her. Ellie takes it from your hands with a grin, kisses your lips and leaves the room. You shake your head and place each of the cooked eggs onto a slice of bread. ‘We’ll have to go hunting at some point with an extra person to feed. It’ll be a good first lesson for her since most of it will come after winter.’ You sip your own tea, waiting for Venus to wake up so you can all eat. You end up zoning out, staring at the crackling fire until you hear movement from in front of you.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” You greet Venus. She blinks at you, rubbing her eyes as if she couldn’t believe you were still here. You couldn’t blame her. She probably thought you’d pack up and leave her here while she slept. Or, maybe she couldn’t believe that she was here.

“Morning.” Venus yawns, “What’s that?”

“Eggs and bread. I have some tea, too. It’ll wake you up.” You reach across and hand her a cup, “Once Ellie is back, we can eat.”

“I’ve… never had bread before.” Venus looks down at her cup, swirling the tea around, “I grew up in a small religious community and that kind of food wasn’t given to regular people. Things like that went straight to the offering pit.” Ellie comes back inside, holding up two fingers that make you chew the inside of your lip. You’d be here for two more days at most.

“Offering pit?” You tilt your head, “What’s that?”

“They placed certain foods on an altar to appease the Gods. If you were caught trying to steal from it, you were punished. My mom and a group of people fled from the community when the leaders slowly became overbearing. My mom would tell me that it reminded her of when women had no freedom, and she didn’t want me to grow up in that.”

“That sounds rough. I’m sorry you went through that. It seems like a lot of communities fell to oppressive leaders like the QZs.” Ellie sighs.

“It was the reason my mom and I ended up making our way to Indiana. We heard there was a better community there. We ended up caught up with some unsavory people and the commotion lured in a group of infected. My mom got bit when one of our group members pushed her into the way.” You can hear the pain in Venus’ voice, “She begged me to leave with the rest of the group, so I… did. The snatchers grabbed us two days after that. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows out here… not like I thought it would be.” She shifts her position on the floor, clearly uncomfortable with the thought.

“Well, now you’re with us.” Ellie hands her one of the sandwiches as she sits down next to you, “It may not be sunshine and rainbows, but if you stick with us… You’ll live long enough to see one.”

“You… are really bringing me along?” Venus gasps, “Seriously?”

“Listen.” You say firmly, “If we weren’t bringing you along, we would have left you to die or killed you ourselves. We’re not good people, but we’re not bad people either. We’re just trying to live our lives, and if we thought for a second you’d put that in jeopardy we wouldn’t be having this breakfast together.”

“But… we know what it meant to have no one.” Ellie nudges you, “If you want a place where you can live and not survive… stick with us. You’ll have to follow our rules though.”

“Deal!” Venus chirps.

“You don’t even know the rules.” You chuckle.

“For once, I want to stop feeling like I have to wake up every morning and try to survive. I’d like to live a life that doesn’t involve begging for food.” You and Ellie share a glance.

“Don’t worry.” Ellie says sincerely, “You won’t be.”

It takes you a week to get back to the homestead because you slowed down for Venus. She wasn’t used to moving around with a wound like you two are. It made you realize that growing up as a Firefly gave you more freedom than others. You didn’t notice it when you were younger, but it was easy to see now. Along the way, you taught her a few basic things like creating a fire and how to keep it alive in the night. Ellie brought her on one of her patrols and showed her how to cover her tracks in the snow. Venus learned it all with a refreshing enthusiasm that touched your heart. She really was just a kid. It’s been a while since you’ve had to deal with one not corrupted by the adults around them.

A howl from Missy signals that you’re home to the rest of the family. You had warned Venus that you have dogs and she had gotten excited. She’s never seen a dog before, so she was looking forward to it. When you open the gate, you’re enthusiastically greeted by your dogs and even tackled by Springer. You laugh as you try to push the dogs away, Ellie helping you up as Scout runs around in circles. ‘You crazy old man.’ You smile at him. No matter how old he gets, he still greeted you the same way. You look at Venus and find her standing paralyzed outside of the gate as two of the dogs growl at her.

“Bandit! Ivy! Heel!” You whistle and they stop growling, coming over to you and Ellie, “Don’t worry, like I said, they won’t hurt you as long as I tell them not to. You’re safe. Let’s get inside and warm up.” You motion to the house.

“I’m dying for a hot cup of lemonade.” Ellie sighs longingly, starting to walk to the house, “I’ve been dreaming about it all week. I might even put a shot of whiskey in it.”

“I thought you were dreaming about sleeping in our bed?” You laugh, shutting the gate behind Venus who cautiously walks after your wife. The dogs were swarming her, sniffing her, and trying to figure out who she was. You know it’s overwhelming to her so you shoo them away. They sprint for their dog house, disappearing through the door but you knew they’d come to the house once they knew it was clear. ‘Damn dogs.’ You think fondly.

“I was. I was dreaming about drinking hot lemonade in bed with my darling wife.” Ellie grins at you, making you shake your head with a smile. She cleans off her boots and hurries inside, likely to start up the fire. It’s going to be chilly in the house, no matter how well-built the place is. You stop on the porch deck and knock the snow from your boots. ‘I’m lucky there’s no ice this time.’ You observe. That was always a pain in the ass to get off.

“What’s hot lemonade?” Venus asks you, following your lead and knocking the snow off of her shoes.

“Lemon juice mixed with water and sugar. We warm it up during the winter months, sometimes add a shot of whiskey for extra warmth.” You explain to her, “I’ll show you to your room and give you a change of clothes. You look like you’ll fit mine from when I was younger.” You head inside, seeing Ellie crouched in front of the fireplace with a soft fire already going. ‘Man, I love my wife.’ You think fondly.

“My room?” Venus blinks.

“Where’d you think you were going to sleep?” Ellie snorts, looking over her shoulder at you, “In the barn with the livestock?”

“Well, no… but-”

“-You do get a room of your own. A growing girl like you needs her privacy. Trust me, I was glad to have that. I’ll give you my old room. It still has all of my books and toys you might find interesting. When you get older, you can always choose a different room.” You guide her up the stairs and lead her to your childhood bedroom.

“Woah.” Venus gasps, taking in the room, “This was yours?”

“Yup. My parents helped me decorate it over the years. You’d be surprised how many posters are still in their plastic wrappings even today.” You watch as she walks in, spinning in a circle to take it all in. Glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, walls covered in posters and crappy drawings, and school papers scattered on the desk.

“What’s this?” Venus points at the telescope.

“It’s called a telescope. You can look through this end and see the planets or some stars. I can show you it tonight.” You offer.

“That… would be nice.” Venus nods, going back to looking around. The two of you stand in silence, you thinking of your childhood and her exploring your things. You think about the life she went through back in her old community and it upsets you. A young girl shouldn’t have to struggle to get her basic needs met, much less be kept ignorant of the world around her.

“I do need to ask…” You hesitate, “Did your mother teach you about periods?” Your question gets you a confused look from the kid.

“Periods?” Venus frowns, thinking about what you asked, “You mean the dot at the end of a sentence?” You didn’t know whether to be happy that she knows that or worried. From what she told you, you’d be reteaching her a lot of the basics.

“Well, there’s my answer.” You sigh.

“What is it?” Venus tilts her head.

“I’ll explain later. Let me show you to the bathroom so you can get cleaned up.” You walk a few feet down the hallway to the bathroom, flicking the light on, “Do you know what this is?”

“Yup. Ours didn’t work so we used buckets of water so… could you teach me?”

“Of course, I can.” You ruffle her hair and show her how to work everything. You take out a towel for her, toss it onto the towel rack, and explain the various items she can use. Your family had been entirely self-sufficient even when it came to body wash and hair care products. You really did live a spoiled life.

“You can take your time, and come downstairs when you’re done. Ellie and I will be sitting around the fireplace.” You tell her, getting a nod. You close the door behind you and head back to your old room. You see Ellie standing in there, folding up some clothes onto the bed and placing a menstrual cup down.

“You beat me to it.” You grin.

“Someone did this for me once.” Ellie glances up at you, “I thought I’d return the favor.”

“Her mom hadn’t taught her about periods, so it looks like that’s our job too.” You start walking to your bedroom, “I told her to meet us downstairs after her shower, so we should get ours done.” You slip off your boots and place them by the door as she closes it.

“So, we’ll have to teach her basic schooling and hygiene.” Ellie frowns and crosses her arms, you can tell that she’s really upset, “Growing up in a religious community like that… it makes FEDRA seem tame. It’s a miracle she’s even alive after they escaped.” She takes off her gloves, gently placing them on the dresser, and flexes her fingers.

“I know.” You sigh heavily, “But from the sounds of it, her mother did what she could to protect her. We’ll get to that topic once we’re settled in… How are your fingers feeling?”

“The cold hasn’t affected them yet, so I’m not feeling any pain.” Ellie rubs her fingers, “I’ll have to moisturize them though. The skin is starting to become dry.”

“I’ll do that for you after our shower.” You take her hand and kiss her fingers.

“It looks like we’re showering together then.” Ellie purrs, pulling you into the bathroom, “I can’t promise to keep my hands to myself.”

“I hope not, you’re the one washing my hair.” You joke, making her laugh. The two of you exchange kisses in the shower, taking turns washing each other’s hair and scrubbing clean. You loved doing Ellie’s hair with how long it’s gotten over the years. She kept saying she was going to cut it, but the most she did was shave the underside. It now fell down her back in loose waves that you enjoyed braiding. You think she secretly loved it too so that’s why she hadn’t cut it yet.

With your hair up in a towel and fresh pajamas on, you tell Ellie to sit down on the bed. You grab the aloe vera lotion and sit down next to her. Your wife watches you with a smile on her face as you rub the lotion into her skin. You can feel yourself blush as she continues to gaze at you, eyes sparkling with love.

“Can I help you?” You giggle, giving her a playful look.

“Even now, you’re taking care of me.” Ellie whispers sweetly, “I was right for making you my wife.”

“And I won’t stop taking care of you.” You lean down and kiss her hand, then put her deerskin gloves on, “Now, we’ve got some lemonade to make.” You stand up and intertwine your fingers. Ellie used to feel insecure holding your hand without her finger extensions, but now she enjoyed doing it. You were constantly awed by the progress she’s been making over the years. You make your way downstairs and note that Venus’ door is closed. When you walk into the living room you’re greeted by the sight of the dogs lazing in front of the fire. They perk up but don’t move as you head for the kitchen, content to enjoy the warmth of the fire. ‘It looks like she’s not down here yet. That’s okay since I told her to take her time.’

“You took the lemon juice out?” You grin at Ellie, seeing the bottle sitting on the counter.

“Yeah, I did. I wanted it to warm up while we showered.” She places three mugs on the counter and puts the kettle on. You grab the bottle and open it, filling up half the mugs with juice. You slide the filled mugs over to Ellie and she stirs in the sugar. You let out a yawn, leaning against the counter as you watch her stir. The kettle starts to whistle and you turn it off, pouring the hot water into the cups. Ellie gives you a kiss on the cheek before moving to the pantry.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Um… why don’t we do grilled cheese? It’s not too heavy to eat before bed.”

“You got it.” Ellie vanishes into the pantry. The pantry was actually a small room in itself, with enough space to hold food for a full household of thirteen people. Your jaw dropped when your mother told you about your family history and sometimes you wondered what it would be like to have that many people living with you now.

“Should I get the whiskey?” Ellie gives you puppy eyes, walking over with the bread.

“No.” You wink at her, getting a pout.

“Why nooooot?” She whines.

“Because we’re drinking whiskey for your twenty-sixth birthday, and I don’t want you finishing the bottle before then.” You give her a look.

“Ugh, I love when you’re being stern. It’s so hot.” Ellie purrs playfully, winking at you, “Scold me some more.” You roll your eyes, a grin on your face as you get ready to make the sandwiches. You can hear footsteps on the stairs, indicating that Venus was coming down.

“Stop it.” You chuckle, lightly hitting your wife on the arm.

“There she is!” Ellie turns away from you, “You look much better.”

“I feel much better. Are one of those cups for me?” You hear Venus say and look at her. You feel a bit nostalgic seeing her in your old pajamas, but Ellie was right. She looks much better now that she’s showered and washed her hair. Her hair is in tight curls that has your heart clenching in your chest. When you found her, her hair had been in frizzy waves.

“Yup.” You pick up her mug and hand it to her, “Be careful, it’s still steaming.”

“Thank you.” Venus accepts the cup, “Uh… where do I…?” She looks around the living room, lingering on where the dogs are hanging out.

“We are going to sit on the couch.” Ellie leads her over, “Y/n is making sandwiches for us, so you and I get the time to talk and bond.” You watch them for a moment, taking a drink and enjoying the warmth flooding through your body. With a smile to yourself, you get to work assembling part of the sandwiches. You listen to the two of them talk while you thinly slice the veal and tomatoes. Ellie asks Venus about her life in her old community, wanting to know more about what they did or didn’t teach her. By the time you finish making the grilled cheese, you’re sad and trying your best to hold back tears.

“Here you go.” You hand Venus her plate, “And here you go, sweetheart.” You kiss Ellie’s cheek as you hand her plate over. Your wife grabs your wrist and forces you to sit down next to her, knowing that you’re upset. She gives you a subtle look and you take that cue to snuggle up to her.

“Ellie told me this is made with deer meat…” Venus looks at her plate nervously, “Are you sure this is okay to eat?”

“Yes, it’s okay to eat. All animals are killed humanely and by my own hands. I don’t kill anything I know I can’t eat.” You try to comfort her, “I always give a small thank you to the animal providing for my family.” Ellie gives you a soft smile at that. She found it adorable that you thank the animals you kill, and she liked to tease you about it sometimes. Venus nods and you watch as she carefully takes a bite, chewing slowly as if she’d get punished for daring to take a bite. Her eyes flick up to you and you nod in encouragement. You’re saddened even more by how quickly she eats, devouring the food as if you would take it from her the moment she stopped eating. It prompts you to get up and refill her mug before you eat your own meal.

“Did you like it?” Ellie’s voice is thick with emotion, so you know you’d be talking about this once Venus goes to bed. The two of you are definitely on the same page when it comes to this kid.

“I… I loved it. I’ve never tasted anything like this before.” Venus looks down into her lemonade, “I’m touched that you’re sharing all of this with me. I promise to repay you by helping out around the homestead.” You choke on your sandwich, struggling to swallow as you try to keep yourself from coughing. They look at you with wide eyes as you try to orient yourself with Ellie handing you your drink.

“Venus.” You rasp out, “You don’t need to repay us. Please don’t look at it that way.” Venus sniffles, tears appearing in her eyes as you say that.

“We’ll teach you everything you need to know.” Ellie wraps her arms around you, “By the end of it, you’ll be able to take care of yourself if it becomes necessary. But, you working on the homestead is not you repaying us. It’s just how we live and that’s what you’re here to do… live.” You can see tears running down Venus’ face and you feel your heart break.

“T-Thank you…” Venus chokes up, wiping away her tears, “Thank you for not l-leaving me to d-die! Thank you!” She sobs, her body shaking from how hard she’s crying. You and Ellie glance at each other and place your cups down.

“Would you like a hug?” You ask gently, still not too sure about her feelings toward physical affection. Venus nods her head and you and Ellie embrace her in a tight hug. A whine has you pulling apart to see Scout wiggling in to rest his head on Venus’ knee.

“Good boy, Scout.” Ellie pets his head and you look up hearing the other dogs get up.

“Uh oh.” You chuckle as the rest of the dogs come rushing over to you.

“Oh, shit!” Ellie yelps as they start jumping all over you guys, trying to join in. You all end up laughing at the dogs’ antics and the atmosphere in the house goes up. That night, you and Ellie agreed to do everything you could to take care of Venus. Winter made it perfect to work on reteaching her and introducing the other things she needed to know. You and Ellie split up the work and spent one-on-one time with Venus. She - just like you and Ellie - ended up falling in love with space, but she found a real interest in geology. You had a lot more books on a variety of subjects since the house has your parent’s old textbooks. They wanted to be able to teach you and any other siblings you had as much as possible. When you showed Venus the little library you have, she nearly fell over in shock. She spent a lot of free time in there and would ramble to you about what she learned. The entire time you taught her how to properly assess a tree and cut it down, she told you about animals in the ocean and begged you to go see them at some point. You promised her to talk to Ellie about it.

The longer you are around Venus the more secure you are in your decision to being her along with you. Although Venus was happy, there were still things she was working through. Her mother’s death was fresh in her mind as she watched her get bit. You and Ellie were no strangers to grief and helping traumatized people, so you were there for her. Venus is a very sweet girl and - funnily enough - has Ellie’s temper. You laughed so hard watching as she got frustrated with one of the sheep that kept running from her. She let out the same curses that Ellie would have and you burst into laughter. It was even better when you called to the sheep and it had come to you with no issue. Venus complained about it for a week, and you showed her how to properly handle the sheep and other livestock.

Before you knew it, Venus had become family. It was kind of an unspoken thing with how you and Ellie treated her. At first, you had been mindful of the fact that she lost her mother. Neither of you wanted to step on any toes and trigger Venus accidentally. She was the one who tested the waters and got closer to you. You weren’t surprised with how quickly she and Ellie seemed to bond. They had a lot in common, and it made you happy to see how much they cared for each other. Even the dogs had grown to love her and you were able to teach her the commands for them. Venus was really starting to find her place in your home.

~ 2 Years Later ~

“Nessie?!” You call out, furrowing your brow when you don’t hear her respond. You sling your bow over your shoulder, turning in a circle to see if you can spot her. ‘Where the hell did she go? She was right next to me.’ You glance down at Ivy whose ears perk up and she goes stiff. ‘Shit. Infected?’ Your guard goes up and you pay closer attention to your surroundings. You swallow, feeling the anxiety flowing through you. Venus wasn’t near you and if there’s infected nearby that made it more important to find her.

“Ivy. Retrieve Ve-” Suddenly, you hear a scream echo through the forest.

“NESSIE?!” You scream as Ivy takes off to your left. You chase after her, listening out for more screams as Ivy barks and looks for Venus. You notice as you approach your property line that a section of the fence is broken. ‘She left the property?’ Your heart sinks when you realize that you were heading in the direction of the town. That was the area infected generally came from when they did wonder their way out here. You’re running faster once you’re clear of the fence, a good distance behind Ivy who was taking the lead. Your gun is clutched tightly in your hand as the snarling of infected reaches your ears. The screaming only gets louder and Ivy lets out a hunting howl as you see a dead infected on the ground. Horror fills your veins when your eyes land on Venus. She was trying to climb up one of the trees, kicking at a small group of infected beneath her.

“MA!” Venus screams when she sees you, her eyes flicking between you and the infected, “PLEASE! PLEASE, HELP ME!”

“GET HIGHER INTO THE TREE!” You start shooting at the infected, intending on leading them away from her. Two of the runners screech and sprint toward you only for one of them to be tackled by Ivy. While you shoot the other one, the final three decide to give up on Venus. You are a better target since you’re within their reach. You whirl around and run, using the trees as an advantage to keep them at a distance. You and Ivy pick them off one by one and you don’t have a minute to catch your breath. ‘Venus!’

“Venus!” You run back to her, Ivy hot on your heels, “Venus, are you okay?!”

“Ma!” She drops down from the tree, throwing herself into your arms once you’re close enough. You hug her tightly for a few seconds and then immediately begin checking her over, “You didn’t get bit, did you?” Your heart is still racing and the worst thoughts pop into your head.

“No! No.” Venus grabs your arms to steady your frantic movements, “Ma, I’m okay. I’m okay.” You meet her eyes and let out a long breath to calm yourself.

“Why did you leave the fence?” You ask, tucking your gun away.

“It was damaged. I figured I’d do the inspection since you and mother are busy.”

“But, you weren’t prepared.” You cross your arms, “All you had was your mother’s switchblade.” You motion to the closed blade in her hands.

“I-I’m sorry.” Venus stutters, putting it away, “Please don’t yell at me.”

“Nessie.” You take a deep breath, steadying yourself, “I’m not going to yell at you. The situation was less than ideal, but that doesn’t call for me to yell at you.”

“You’re… not going to yell at me?” Venus’ voice comes out small and quiet. That makes you pull her into your arms once again.

“No. I’m relieved you’re okay.” You squeeze her, feeling the exhaustion set in, “If you had gotten bit… It would be devastating to your mother and me. We can’t lose you.” Ivy lets out a whine and nudges Venus’ leg. You two step back from the hug and Venus squats down to comfort the dog.

“Sorry, girl.” Venus ruffles her fur, getting a soft woof in return, “And I’m sorry to you, too, Ma.” She looks at you regretfully. She’d been with you for a few years, but fence inspection was the one thing you and Ellie did alone. It was rare that anyone came to your property. Even rarer if the infected got through, but living surrounded by trees came with extra maintenance.

“Ivy.” You whistle, “Retrieve Ellie.” Your dog takes off, leaving you alone with Venus.

“Let’s just get back and fix the fence.” You start walking, “You know I’m going to have to tell your mother, right?” You hear Venus groan.

“She’s going to kill me.” Venus looks at you with a pleading expression, “Please don’t let her kill me.”

“No can do, kiddo.” You shrug, “You know how your mother is about being prepared. You had your switchblade - which is great - but there’s a reason we gave you a gun.” The fence was within your line of sight now.

“No one ever comes out here!” Venus throws her hands up, “All we’ve encountered are infected and Gayle!” You stop, gritting your teeth as you try not to snap at her. This was the one conversation you had to keep having.

“Venus.” You say seriously, getting her attention, “One day, it may not be infected or Gayle. The chance may be low but strangers stumbling upon our home is not zero. On top of that, your mother is immune. The Firefly network is active again and I am an ex-Firefly with a lot of classified information… so you keep your damn gun in your holster.” You point at the empty holster on her thigh. You and Ellie weren’t hard on her, but she knew not to break the one rule you have. Stay armed. Venus thought you two were paranoid but that was far from the truth. You both knew things had a way of coming back and, well, you have to be a little paranoid to survive out here.

“Ma…” Venus frowns, “I’m sorry.”

“I understand that.” You sigh exasperatedly, “But, your mother’s switchblade can only get you so far. You need to know how to use it properly.”

“Did mother really kill that many people with this knife?” Venus glances at her pocket.

“That knife saved my life many times.” Ellie says, making you two look in her direction, “It saved your ma as well, but there are times when a gun is necessary.” You raise an eyebrow at your wife, who only winks at you. Ellie was too good at sneaking around even when she wasn’t trying to.

“Mother, I…” Venus loses her words.

“I can guess what happened.” Ellie pulls Venus’ pistol out and holds it out to her, “Don’t forget it again. You won’t always have one of us around to cover your ass.” She says sternly.

“Yes, ma’am.” Venus pouts and takes it from her mother, tucking it away, “I just can’t imagine anyone coming out here.” You turn and walk back to the fence, stopping to inspect how it ended up failing.

“Venus.” You grab her attention again, “We’re serious. You need to listen to us on this.”

“I will… I…” Venus looks back to where the infected are, “I’ll listen. If it wasn’t for Ma, I would be dead by now.”

“Thank you.” Ellie exhales, giving her a smile, “Now let’s fix the fence and then get you ready for Gayle. Her daughter came by asking for you to help her and her brother do some repairs. Apparently some leaves got into the machine and they need to dig ‘em out.”

“Oh, Fran needs help?” Venus perks up, making you and Ellie snicker, “What?! Why are you laughing?!” She whines, watching as you and Ellie get to work fitting the pieces back together.

“Damn bears.” You mutter to yourself. You’d have to replant the repellant so they stayed away. Your fence had been unbothered for years now, so you didn’t think you’d need it anymore.

“Oh, nothing.” Ellie shakes her head, a grin on her face, “You just… seem very into Fran.”

“It’s cute.” You add, climbing to the top of the fence, “That’s all.” Ellie sits down next to you, her gun out so she can keep an eye on the forest. Venus holds her hand out and you grab it to help her up.

“I know what you’re thinking and that’s not it! I am not crushing on Fran! I’m not into women!” Venus protests and you and Ellie exchange another glance. She was still in denial.

“Whatever you say, hun.” You chorus together, getting a groan from Venus.

“I’m heading back home!” Venus huffs and stomps away into the forest, “Where I’m not being tortured by my moms!”

“Tortured?! You’re so dramatic!” You laugh and she flips you off as she walks away.

“She’s in denial.” Ellie chuckles, dropping down to the other side. She holds the log steady and you stomp the top of the fence back into place.

“Just because her mothers are accepting doesn’t mean she’s accepting of it herself.” You shrug, letting Ellie help you down, “She needs to realize it on her own time.”

“I know.” Ellie smiles, kissing your cheek, “She reminds me of me and when I had my first crush.”

“Oh, awkward?” You tease her.

“Yes.” She laughs, “Horribly awkward.” The two of you walk in silence, enjoying the atmosphere together. You can’t help but think about what just happened. If she had gotten bit…

“Ellie.” You glance at your wife.

“I know.” She sighs, “We could have lost her. I didn’t think that there’d be anyone else in my life that I cared enough about to cure.”

“Would you be able to get another one?” You frown. She never told you how she made the cure. You both agreed that if the Fireflies ever came back around, it was safer that you didn’t know how it happened. No one alive knows that Ellie is immune, but she didn’t want to take that chance.

“I don’t know. Maybe? I’d have to find my contact again and see.” She runs a hand through her hair, “I’ll be gone for a while, so you’d have to hold down the place.”

“Babe.” You chuckle, “I nearly shot you the first time you showed up. I can handle it.”

“Can you handle Nessie and the horses by yourself?” She raises an eyebrow at you.

“Yes, I can. You asshole.” You laugh, lightly hitting her shoulder, “You fall from a horse one time and your wife suddenly thinks you’re incompetent!”

“To be fair, it was your first time on a horse!” Ellie laughs, dodging another hit, “It was cute! It was cute! Don’t hit me!”

Ellie ends up leaving for a while, taking her horse with her so the trip won’t be too long. The two of you decided to keep quiet as to why she was leaving. That way if she wasn’t able to get more of the cure, you wouldn’t be letting your daughter down. You and Nessie keep the place going and make progress with her keeping a weapon on her at all times.

When the dogs let you know that Ellie is home, the two of you run back home to greet her… only to be met with a surprising sight.

“Ellie.” You blink, seeing the sleeping baby in your wife’s arms, “Where did you get that?”

“I can explain.” Ellie gives you a sheepish grin, rocking the baby in her arms, “His father was the one who made the cure. His group got raided while I was there. I helped them fight ‘em off but he got a fatal wound. He begged me to take him and showed me proof that Kieran is immune. Apparently his wife died during labor so he was all he had.” You frown and look at the little one. He was sleeping peacefully, cradled in your wife’s arms like he was always there.

“I took what was left of the cure.” She sighs, smoothing down the baby’s tuft of hair, “But I couldn’t leave him, not after everything his father did for me.”

“Can we keep him?” Ellie walks over and grabs your hand, “I’ll take care of everything for him. You won’t have to lift a finger.” You stare into her eyes, her green ones pleading with you to accept. ‘She has such a soft heart.’ Your eyes flick to the baby and you sigh, a smile fighting to appear on your lips.

“You’re such a softie.” You joke, giving her a quick kiss, “I like it. And no, you won’t be taking care of him alone.” You smile sweetly.

“You’re the best.” Ellie grins, her eyes shining happily.

“Does this mean I have a little brother now?!” Venus grins excitedly, practically skipping over.

“Yeah, I guess it does.” You chuckle.

[bad4amficideas]

you are GIVING us stuff todsy man!!! can we get some more hcs (if possible) of Two-face, Riddler and Poisin Ivy? you can choose who to do if three is too much for you ☺

I'm posting random drafts. incomplete. And so. English with translator. I suppect this maybe even double posted. Uhm. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I've writing pre Two-Face in my previous post so here only Two-Face version.

Poison Ivy

Although she doesn't show it, of all the maniacs throwing drugs at her, Bats feels cautiously (paranoidly) intimidated by Ivy (lots of sex pollen fics in their previous life and little time for sex in this life if that's they cares about it). Already in case their costume is fully masked and therefore with filters (Spoiler and Black Bat Type) but every time they faces Ivy they does not allow themselves to be touched afterwards and they decontaminates before changing.

But in the face of Ivy, Bats treats her exactly the same as Joker, Penguin or Black Mask of course. Which Ivy doesn't know if it offends her greatly or pleases her because you already know "the hammer of justice is unisex"

The fact that Bats is not seduced by pheromones does not mean that Ivy does not flirt, it helps to make the robins furious (and if they are hooked on top of that, lust-hate is a bomb that clouds their thoughts)

Batfam hated that Ivy would "go over to the neutral-good side". You can't imagine how much she comes to visit.

Ivy in her villainous days sent messages in the language of flowers to Bats. Complex messages of the type that not only the color but the number of flowers and certain positions or pairs count. I think I already said out there that Bats is "Dandelion" (affectionate).

Deep down all villains want attention because what's the point of leaving clues if not???

It means a lot to her that your relationship has been formed without drugs or seduction.

Two Face

Bats' problems with Two-Face come when his "bad" personality stands out, obviously.

That being said, EVERYONE would rather have them stand out or be completely shut down than hear them BOTH argue about whether or not to kill Bats. They are like the angel and the demon of Kronk. And it's your turn to be Kronk. A very confused one.

I don't know why, but I imagine it half burnt, meat, red. And apart from the bicolor suits, using gray suits and red shirts. Don't ask. The villains of this Bats I think lean towards red.

Two-Face enjoys kidnapping Y/N Wayne and attempting psychological torture (I remind you that this side does NOT know that Y/N is Bats, the good guy does)

He never gets it so he ends up being like a kid who yells for your attention (and hits you, too). If you try to be patient and bring out his friendly side, he will make fun of you, as Harvey pleas for you (a bit Overreacting, gotta tell you, he ain't dumb, Harvey). If you don't get upset for once, however, he'll get mad because he'll think you don't care for him. Figures.

I personally think you prefer the Batman-Two Face relationship (OMG I turned this into Ladybug dinamics, kill me). Harvey will stay relatively low so as not to give you away, and your relationship is a totally different one as self-respecting opponents, although between us Two-Face is sadomasochistic everything Harvey hated getting bullied as a kid.

He likes to speak in absolutes. You spend your time speaking in gray. You are both stubborn as mules, no one wants to hear you argue when you are in a intellectual streak (everyone thanks Two-Face and his coin that there are not many of these situations), the minions (it takes me hours to remember this word, damn it) prefer to force the situation and hope for the best. Don't eat their heads, just break them.

Riddler

If you're waiting for Batman 2022!Riddler, stop reading now, sorry (I haven't seen The Batman YET, I don't like how Pattison plays Bruce, Batman is good though)

You always try to sneak him a job to rehabilitate him. It does not work. Actively the one you try to rehabilitate the most.

In Earth-1T8 he has also created an Oracle-style cyber identity. You even have him in the soup. Between hacks and crashes he and Barbara have made your Batcomputer have mazes and minotaurs at the back doors.

Literally, if he is very bored sometimes he hacks all the satellites in the world to change a letter to a symbol or some extremely irritating nonsense (this is how he starts and works his way up to destroying the world economy if he is not listened to. Listen to him)

So you have your "unwritten rules" of "hey Bats, BaTs, BATS I have one new" "I'm coming Ed, don't kill/cause the death of anyone" "OK"

If he didn't put lives on the line to get attention and increase the difficulty of his puzzles, which is fucking stressful, you'd consider him a friend.

Everybody knows. Still Harley beat him in "frienemy n1". There is a disagreement between the two of them about that and whether or not Harley is still a villain although they get along pretty well.

Riddler is the first on fall -intellectually- in love with you. And he knows your secret identity. And he strongly suspects that you are 1. a rejuvenated any of your parents (this one saw Detective Conan), 2. a time traveler (almost!). 3. Clairvoyant or telepathic. He really leans towards the second option. What is terrifying.

And he kindly takes your identity into account when he programs his riddles. Another of the unwritten rules, there are things that ARE RESPECTED.

Have you ever told him, more seriously than jokingly, why don't you meet in a cafeteria to talk instead of meeting like this. The most critical hit, always leaves him baffled.

[piracytheorist]

okay okay, maybe I'll add another if I see no one ask you it, but for the character opinion bingo, I want to see Ethan Winters and Mia Winters; hm hm *wink wink*, wanna go for that Mithan duo

I'll admit I have no f idea how bingo works, should I add on the previous card? I'll do that but using different colours, it'll be yellow for Ethan and blue for Mia, so:

Ethan:

I am aroace, not interested in relationships, but Ethan Winters is a guy to marry. Certainly take good care of him and cherish how much he'd love you, but despite his apparent "lack of interesting traits", he's the kind of person you'd actually want to settle down with. Caring, loving, sweet, not hindered by any toxic masculinity in him, and would make you laugh with his stupid jokes. And also very brave when it comes down to it.

For all of that, he is blorbo. As I mentioned with Manny, Ethan is a delight to play as because despite the shit happening around him he's still so stuck to reality and I love how I'm exploring the fuckery with him because he's always going WHAT THE FUCK just like I am. Plus his one-liners are perfectly horrible to give me a laugh during stressful gameplay.

He was done so f dirty by the fans, I can't even... - meaning the RE fans of course, particularly the re8 fans, not the Ethan fans. The villains existed in the story to die, accept you're a simp and get over your hate for Ethan, Jesus. I'm all for loving whatever fictional thing you want to love but when people start coming with torches and pitchforks for a character just because he isn't hot or morally ambiguous or doesn't have a complicated backstory and character WHEN THAT'S NOT EVEN NEEDED IN THE STORY... we're starting to have problems.

My blog my rules, so I picked "Why does he look like that" but (affectionate). Because look at him:

We weren't even MEANT to see this face but they nailed the "plain white bread" taste even on the hidden face! This is the face of a Just a Guy who wanted to go buy groceries but saw the tired overworked grocery workers were closing down for the night, and he's now hating that he has to get up earlier next morning so he can shop before work. I wanna pat his shoulder and tell him it's okay, then hand him over a flag with a hammer and sickle and tell him we should go protest in the square.

If all that couldn't portray why I've lost my mind for Ethan "Just a Guy" Winters I don't know what else to tell you XD

And yes of course he hasn't done anything wrong in his life <3 He even taught himself to not swear because he had a baby (remember how much he swears in re7, compared to re8) even if a few fucks slip through here and there <3 If the villains didn't wanna be killed they should have just stayed out of his way of getting Rose back. They wanted a good parent figure but god forbid a father try to get his own kid back.

Mia:

I feel like with this fandom, I have to repeat over and over that I'm not a big fan of Mia, but I don't hate her either. Of course I'm being sarcastic with the "everyone is wrong but me" but considering what the gaming community mostly consists of, I'm not surprised at all that the female character who was neither a) sexualized, b) OP, c) mysterious, or d) firmly on the "good" end of the spectrum received all the fucking hate from the community - and even the latter could still make her a target for that. I don't understand why fandom communities have to pick one character to hate on, period. But the hatred for Mia is completely uncalled for, especially considering how criminally little time she got in re8. Sure I can understand that she wanted to leave her past life as a bioterrorist behind, but she was a fucking bioterrorist and I'd like to know more of how she regretted her past work and especially how she worked it out with Ethan enough to reach the point of deciding to have a baby. That's just missed screentime, not a reason to hate on a character, unless you're always prepared to see the worst in a character with limited screentime. But again, she's a female character who doesn't have any of the traits that most gamers *cough*incels*cough* consider they make a female character worthy of existing in a story.

So yeah, just like Ethan, she got done really dirty by the re8 fandom. I'm pretty sure most people who complain that "RE8 should have given us the choice to join Heisenberg just like RE7 gave us the choice between saving Mia and Zoe!" have forgotten that initially saving Zoe brings the bad ending, because they've missed the entire point of re7 is to save our wife, Mia, because Ethan is a wife-loving dumbass who will risk life and limb (... literally) to save her, and whether or not we agree with that IS NOT THE POINT. We are meant to get into Ethan's headspace, not force Ethan into ours. That's the entire point of first-person games with a linear story.

Idk if I was supposed to just be positive here, lmao. Most of my feelings for Mia are like a reaction to the absurd amount of hate I see for her, I'd probably not care much for her aside from "I'd like to see her development between re7 and re8" if people were just normal about her. I mean, even almost perfect characters get haters, so there would be some for Mia anyway and I'd understand that, but this fandom genuinely worries me to the point I had to add a disclaimer on a fic I wrote so that people wouldn't hate on her in the comments because I'm just tired of all the negativity. And that's not fucking normal, especially for a character whom I only care about because of her relationship to my blorbo.

Fandoms be weird, y'all.

[pretoriafics]

Therapy sessions with the devil

I'd did this request yesterday on my Portuguese blog, and I thought that you guys would love it!

Anonymous asks: Y/N is a therapist who works for Vought and is doing a few evaluations on the Super.

Word count: 1.806 Contain: Therapist!Reader x Homelander Warnings: Mention of sexual violence, mention of serial killers, mention of cases of children with psychopathy, mental disorders. +16 only Versão em português aqui  PART 2 THE BOYS MASTERLIST

Your profession was gratifying.

You loved the idea of helping people, getting to know each other better, and getting them to learn to deal with life's challenges. For you, being a kind of "confidant", where people could talk about their lives without any judgments, was an honor and your purpose. You believed that it would make the world a better place.

However, it also had its burdens. Some things were difficult to hear, even for you with all your knowledge and professional background. Patients who suffered from sexual violence, for example, demanded of you a stomach that you were not always able to have. It was something you talked to your therapist about, and you kept a mantra in mind: After all, you were still human, and it was okay to feel that way.

And when Vought invited you to work as a therapist for The Seven, you went nuts. It was the chance of a lifetime!

Or, at least, this was what you thought at the beginning.

It was not uncommon for you to hear things that made your stomach a little sick, just like when The Deep told you about the way he “welcomed” Starlight. You felt nauseous but, on the outside, remained impassive, just watching him as a silent request to continue to talk.

All of them were, simply, not only media products but also puppets of the advertising world. You already had some political patients, and in fact, you thought The Seven was a similar case: Both went to that market with the intention, many times, to help people. However, they ended up corrupted in the middle of the road, forgetting their whole purpose in helping others.

You saw a point in common between The Seven: Everyone, with perhaps the exception of Starlight, was too worried about their own egos to be real heroes. They were all too narcissistic.

But Homelander was the worst of them.

The childhood phase was the most important part of a person's life. A traumatic childhood could lead to a troubled adult, as in the case of Mary Bell and Beth Thomas. Homelander's case was no different: his non-affectionate childhood, being raised as a laboratory rat, was the bigger reason to make him that kind of man.

Although at the same time you were fascinated about to study a mind like that - since one of the reasons why you did psychology would be to unveil the secrets of the human mind - each therapy session was daunting and made you rethink your job at Vought.

In short, you were interviewing a serial killer. Easily one of the most cruel and unhealthy.

"Good morning, Homelander." Your voice was soft, just like the smile you gave to the super who just sat on the couch.

"Good morning, Doctor." He returned the smile to you, but the smile on his own way: The corners of your mouth pulled to the side in a smile that you recognized as fake.

"So..." You put your hands on your knee, looking at him with the best receptive look you could pretend. There, in that office, your sessions with Homelander made you feel you deserved an Oscar "How was your week?"

“Well…” He lay down on the couch, his blue eyes staring at the ceiling, and his hands joined in front of his stomach “Nothing new. In fact, he had a little incident with Maeve. Sometimes she is so… pathetic. ”

"What happened?"

It took a while for Homelander to actually get some confidence in you. In fact, he only started telling you things in detail when he realized he could get something out of the sessions. They were productive to him, they made him think. You didn't know if you were thanking God for getting something out of him, or if you should cursing yourself because of the horrors he tells you.

"Maybe you saw something about the 37 Flight on the news."

"The one who had been captured by the terrorists?"

"Exactly! Maeve and I had to rescue the plane. We managed to take down the terrorists, but when I killed the last one, in the Pilot's cabin, I hit the plane's controls with the lasers. And then, the flight was doomed. I told Maeve that our job was done and we should leave, but she was reluctant. He wanted me to save the passengers! ” He laughed, but a natural one. "Can you believe that?"

Oh, it was going to be a long therapy session...

"And what happened next?"

“What did she want me to do? That I fly 137 times from the plane to land? Ah, pathetic, pathetic! ” He shook his head, clearly humorous. "Now, just imagine: You are on a flight with 137 people shouting 'Help, Homelander!', While your stupid partner insists that you should do something to save everyone. I was losing patience so I threatened everyone with my eyes, and they finally settled down. I don't blame them, I mean, they are so vulnerable. They are bugs! ” He looked at you, the corners of his mouth pulled in a fake smile. "No offense."

Homelander was a cold-blooded killer. Not only, but like Ted Bundy, he was a narcissist. He liked the feeling of power that invaded his body when he saw that people feared him, and when he felt that he had the power to decide whether that person would live or not. He didn't mind if killing people just for fun was against the law. Homelander didn't care about the law or any kind of rules. Furthermore, just as Bundy believed he was fully capable of defending himself in his court's judgment and did not need lawyers, Homelander thought he was an incarnate God walking among the 'bugs', simply because he had powers.

"And how do you feel about Maeve?"

“She bothered me a little with the drama on the plane, but that's okay. I am sure that after I spoke to the journalists, near the wreckage of the flight, she understood. This is all going to be an excellent opportunity to make our presence in the army happen. ”

A sociopath.

Empathetic behaviors aren't part of him. He was unable to have that feeling. Self-centered, Homelander was unable to love. The relationship he had with Stiwell, for example, was far from loving. He didn't feel it, quite the opposite: Homelander had a feeling of possession with her. She was his, and nobody else's.

A doubt hammered in your head: Homelander was intending to drop the plane? Your stomach was upset, you felt bad about that therapy session. How could Vought leave someone like him in The Seven?

The answer was simple: They didn't care. Homelander was profitable, and that was all that mattered.

That was one of the times when you thanked God that Homelander was self-centered enough to lie on the couch and just think about your own life, instead of analyzing you and realizing that you were completely terrified. It was as if a misstep, a wrong word, was going to cost his life.

And you would end that today.

You conducted the therapy session normally. In the end, you shook hands with Homelander as you always did and closed the door. Tears invaded your face as you thought of each life that was lost in vain on that flight, and, worse, you were sure that Maeve would tell you about the flight at her therapy session, early next week. In an attempt to calm down, you took some coffee and sat down in front of your MacBook. There, sipping coffee, you wrote your resignation letter.

Alright. You were free.

Or at least this was what you thought.

 * * *

Another week has started, and the fact that you worked at Vought made you get a more comfortable office, in addition to increasing your service price. You were ending your day. Your last patient had left the office, and you were about to go home when you heard a familiar voice from your couch.

"I miss you in the tower."

Homelander looked at you with his pairs of sick blue eyes, his fake smile, and his murderous hands behind his body. He was standing next to the couch, and you felt your whole body freeze. A lump formed in your throat, and your hands vibrated in pure dread.

So he would kill you there? In your office?

Trying to take control of the situation, you faked a slight smile.

“Sorry, Homelander. I didn't saw you here. Need something?"

"Actually, I do." He started walking towards you slowly. "I didn't want to end our sessions, so I came to ask you what our new schedule is going to be."

You narrowed your eyes.

"I thought Vought was going to hire someone else to work with The Seven in my place."

“In fact, they put an incompetent in your place. I really prefer that we continue where we left off. ” He stopped in front of you with his smile, his eyes emanating pure insanity "I like our therapy sessions."

“I'm glad that you like my job and that you appreciate our results, Homelander” You gave him a smile, but inside you were still in pure dread “But I don't have appointments available. My schedule filled up easily after I came to this new office. ”

“Oh, but I'm sure you can fit me in your schedule. I can pay you well. ”

How to say no to Homelander without putting your life at risk?

You walked over to your tablet, on your desk. You took it in hand and slid your finger on the screen, analyzing awhile. You didn't need him to tell you that you would be paid well. In fact, you were fully aware of that. The point was that you could exchange all the money in the world to be at peace, without having to deal with Homelander. Without much choice, you concluded that you would reserve a single day for your therapy sessions with him. That way, your head wouldn't get so tired when you still had to deal with other patients.

“Are you available on Friday morning? At nine."

He nodded, giving the same smile he did when he achieved something. One of pure contentment.

"Of course!"

"Great so." You typed 'Homelander' in the space corresponding to the hour. You put the tablet down on the table, next to your MacBook “There, it's done. Friday, at nine in the morning. ”

“Ah, perfect! Thank you. Have a good night."

"Good night, Homelander."

He walked over to your balcony. With a jump, he flew through the sky. You lay on your couch, terrified. Would you never get rid of him?

All that was left for you now was to be the therapist of the incarnate Devil.

[thesmokingguns]

Going to the Carnival

Tommy

-You’re going to puke. Either from drinking too much, his crazy driving, something gross he shows you that he thinks is funny or from getting stuck on a carnival ride you WILL puke

-You’ll also laugh so hard all night that your cheeks will hurt the next morning

-So energetic wanting to go to do something fun

-Takes you to a carnival and gets so into playing the games trying to win you something

-Feels bad for the goldfish and tries to win them all which then leads to him driving to the ocean so you can set each of them free as he names the fish

- Stands up when you get to the top of the Ferris Wheel giving you a mild heart attack as it swings wildly

-Tries to kill you when you’re playing bumper cars

-How does he eat all the sugary treats without puking?

-hugs the animals the the petting zoo because he loves them

-Proves he’s not human when he rides all the spinning rides and wants to go again

-Shares his snowcone with you

- Buys kids tickets when they run out so they can still play

-Takes the funniest pictures in the photo booth

-“Are you having fun? If you’re not we can go somewhere else?”

Mick

-Fights with the people who run the games explaining why they’re rigged

-He will go on the Ferris wheel because he can sit there and look over the city

-He’s not eating any of the food and warns you about food poisoning

-“I’m only here because you like this so make sure you have fun”

-is surprisingly good at the ring toss and wins you an inflatable guitar

-Spikes the lemonade with vodka and is much more pleasant

-You convince him to go on the flying swings because it won’t be so bad and he loses his sunglasses so it turns out to be very bad

- Hes sitting on the bench holding your dripping ice cream as you wave from a ride and he actually smiled at you

-Random kid tries to come up to him and he glared making said kid cry

-Whispers and tells you how to cheat at the games so that you win

Vince

-Flirts with the girls working at the food booths

-super competitive during bumper cars and gets pouty when you crash into him

-Goes missing to probably have a quickie with the girl from the food booth

-Gets mad when he can’t win one of the big prizes and tries to bribe the guy

-Really likes the deep fried Oreos

-Finds the bar tent and starts getting absolutely hammered

-Finds out he slept with some guys girlfriend and gets into a fight so you’re both thrown out

-As you’re putting him in the car you see his photo booth pictures which is just him and a bunch of pairs of boobs in the booth

-“I had such a fun night. We should go back tomorrow.”

Nikki

-Holds your hands as you walk around together, just enjoying seeing all the flashing lights and the nostalgic smells

-Tips the guy at the Ferris Wheel so it stops at the top and he tries to point out where you live as you cuddle up

-Tips the guy again on the next go around so you can make out at the top

-hits the strongman bell and wins you the stuffed animal as big as you and asks if you’d mind if he gave it to a little kid

-Sharing cotton candy together

-Both of you squeezing into the same bumper car as Nikki tries to kill anyone that hits your side

-Going into the funhouse maze and keep getting caught kissing and trying to go further

-Hes just super affectionate all night because he’s excited to be out with you

- Laughing so loud together when you get your fortunes read

-He drags you to a quiet place to hookup

-he doesn’t want to go on the zipper with you and gets so fucking mad when some guy jumps into the ride with you

-He was going to be mad when you got off the ride but you felt sick from the spinning ride so he just gets you a water

-Kissing photobooth pictures and you both flashing your nipple rings

-riding home on his Harley

[9worldstales]

MCU “Thor: Ragnarok” - The elevator scene

So I’ve heard that Tom Hiddleston’s interview “Tom Hiddleston Looks Back at 10 Years of Loki | Entertainment Weekly” has sparked some discussion…

…because, when talking of the elevator scene Tom said Thor had been honest in it, sparking the joy of who enjoyed that scene which is one of the few emotional moments of the movie between the two in which Thor says something ‘nice’ to Loki (I think that scene is actually one of the most well known and popular about the movie) and the disagreement of who remembered that Thor used that moment to place an obedience disk on Loki’s back, an obedience disk that basically tortures who wear it once it’s activated… and Thor later activated it when Loki attempted to betray him, and left it activated, abandoning him in that hangar where the grandmaster, which he knows has no qualms to melt people who disappoint him, could find Loki. The fact that Korg finds Loki first and free him from that torture is mere luck on Loki and on Thor’s part as Loki will then bring Asgard a ship large enough to save all the Asgardians.

Long story short, a part of the fandom felt that Thor said such words to cause Loki to lower his guard so that he could place the obedience disk.

So I wanted to share my two cents about it.

But first let’s look at the full script for it.

Thor: Hey, so listen, we should talk. Loki: I disagree. Open communication was never our family's forte. Thor: You have no idea. I've had quite the revelation since we spoke last. [The door opens, revealing a bunch of guards. Thor and Loki heft up two Sakaarian guns.] Thor: Hello! Loki: Hi! [Thor and Loki BLAST all the guards, moving to another door.] Loki: Odin brought us together, it's almost poetic that his death should split us apart. We might as well be strangers now. "Two sons of the crown" set adrift. [A guard tries to ambush Loki through the door. Thor TAKES OUT the guard.] Thor: Thought you didn't want to talk about it? Loki: Here's the thing.

[ELEVATOR. Thor and Loki are going up.] Loki: I'm probably better off staying here on Sakaar. Thor: That's exactly what I was thinking. Loki: ...Did you just agree with me? Thor: This place is perfect for you. It's savage, chaotic, lawless. Brother, you're going to do GREAT here. Loki: Do you truly think so little of me? [Thor pauses, considers his brother. Then:] Thor: Loki, I thought the world of you. I thought we were gonna fight side by side forever. But, at the end of the day, you're you, I'm me... I don't know, maybe there's still good in you, but let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago. [Loki is wounded by Thor's willingness to discard him. Masks his feelings with:] Loki: It's probably for the best that we never see one another again. [Beat. Thor pats Loki affectionately on the shoulder. Hold on Loki. Did Thor just get through to him?] Thor: That's what you always wanted.

Yeah, I included the bit prior to it because it kind of introduced the scene. And as the obedience disk scene is also part of the discussion, let’s look at it as well.

Loki: I know I've betrayed you many times before, but this time it's truly nothing personal. The reward for your capture will set me up nicely. He triggers the alarm. Thor: Never one for sentiment, were you? Loki: Easier to let it burn. [But then Loki sees Thor holding up a fob device. Loki realizes that Thor affixed an Obedience Disk on him in that heart-to-heart moment.] Thor: I agree. [BZZZT! Thor ZAPS Loki and HOLDS DOWN the button. Loki HITS the ground, WRITHING in pain. Thor approaches. Pause.] Thor: Oh brother, you're becoming predictable. I trust you, you betray me. Round and round in circles we go. [Thor continues to "think about it" for a beat while Loki convulses in agony on the floor. Finally, Thor kneels down:] Thor: See, Loki, life is about, it's about growth. It's about change. But you seem to just wanna stay the same. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll always be the God of Mischief, but you could be more. I'll just put this over here for you. [Thor places the fob on top of the security panel, so close but so far from Loki's paralyzed reach.] Thor: Anyway, I got places to be so good luck.

Okay, now with these scenes in mind, let’s go and see how Tom comments the elevator scene.

The elevator scene, in “Ragnarok.” The dialogue was… was scattered across these different… places as they were trying to escape and find their way through. Taika said: “Guys, do you know the rest of the scene?” and we both said: “Yeah.” He said: “Maybe we should just do... do one where we just do all of the dialogue here in the elevator and you haven't really had a chance to catch up and maybe you should just talk to each other,” and Thor… is quite honest with him. And I think it really affects Loki, he thinks ‘oh actually maybe… maybe I got this wrong, maybe I did have a place in that family. Maybe… maybe this guy is my brother,’ but it was a really enjoyable scene because it was just a very quiet moment with Chris in a very calm space in a big colourful spectacular film. [“Tom Hiddleston Looks Back at 10 Years of Loki | Entertainment Weekly”]

So… is Thor being sincere? Or just being manipulative?

When one look at Thor’s sentence there’s a thing that hit me:

Thor: Loki, I thought the world of you. I thought we were gonna fight side by side forever. But, at the end of the day, you're you, I'm me... I don't know, maybe there's still good in you, but let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago.

At Loki’s question ‘Do you truly think so little of me?’ Thor doesn’t say ‘No, I think the world of you.’ He says he THOUGHT the world of him. As in previously he thought the world of him and we can speculate this previously refers to before he stopped considering him a ‘brother’ something that happened likely in “The Avengers” according to “Thor: The Dark World”, probably when Thor told him they could stop the Chitauri together and Loki stabbed him.

Thor: I don't. Mother did. You should know that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me and I will kill you.

And I can believe Thor used to love Loki before all that, so he’s sincere in saying that, back then, he thought the world of him.

Now, I know there’s people who think Thor didn’t properly appreciate Loki in “Thor”, especially when he used the pretty unlucky sentence ‘Know your place, Brother’ but also when, in a cut scene, he waved away Loki’s contribute to the victory saying ‘Some do battle, others just do tricks’ but this is exactly the point.

Thor’s ‘sin’ in that moment is his vanity, his arc in the movie centred on him learning humility.

Thor loved Loki, same as Kevin Lomax, in “The Devil’s Advocate” loved Mary Ann. There’s quite a good quote in that movie.

John Milton: I rest my case. Vanity is definitely my favorite sin. Self-love, the all-natural opiate. It's not like you didn't care for Mary Ann, Kevin. You were just a little more involved with someone else: yourself.

Thor also in the first half of the movie was more involved in himself than he was in his brother. Or his friends. Let’s remember Fandral got hurt and it was Loki and Volstagg which helped him, while the Thor is described by the script as busy fighting the Frost Giants, his bloodlust rising, with Loki and Sif both telling Thor they’ve to leave instead.

Loki: Thor, we must go! [Thor, still without his hammer, fights his Jotun foes mercilessly, a man consumed by blood lust. Loki sees the look on his brother's face -- the savage thrill of the heat of battle.] Thor: Then go! Sif: There are too many of them! Thor: I can stop them! [The others hesitate. Jotuns break up through the ice all around them.] Sif: Thor! [But Thor ignores his comrades, continues fighting.]

When they’ll be back to Asgard it’ll be Odin who’ll say Fandral has to be taken to the healing room, not Thor, something that the movie will technically address when it’ll show that Thor, once back to Asgard after he learnt humility on Midgard, will be the one to tell his friends to bring Heimdall to the healing room.

in “Thor”, Thor had to be a bad brother due to his vanity… but this doesn’t mean he was an unloving one, just one who might have thought the world about Loki… but thought the whole universe about himself and thought more about himself than he ever did at Loki… because he was vain.

Sadly although most of the second half of the movie is set up to prove Thor is the opposite of how he was before, they never quite manage to prove he would have an opposite dynamic with Loki. He tries to save him twice, and clearly didn’t want him to let go, he tells his brother not to let go, he’s the one who screams when Loki does anyway, while Odin merely says a quiet no which wasn’t even in the original old script, but, unless we consider the fact he accepted Loki to be the king to exist to be the opposite of ‘Know your place, Brother’, this is maybe the only aspect in which the movie doesn’t prove Thor now has a reverse mentality (I’ve listed all the scenes the movie had or was meant to have that proved how Thor made a 180° turn in another meta if someone is interested).

But whatever, Thor’s ‘Loki, I thought the world of you’ was clearly meant to be the truth, Thor used to think so of Loki, the movie is just skipping on the part he wasn’t so good at showing it because in “Thor” Thor was a vain boy.

And it’s likely also the truth how Thor said ‘I thought we were gonna fight side by side forever.’

In “The Avengers” Thor not only insisted for Loki to come back home but also for them to fight together against the Chitauri.

Thor: Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule? Loki: (tries to look away) It's too late. It's too late to stop it. Thor: No. We can. Together.

And the fact they used to fight together is implied in the already mentioned cut scene of “Thor” as well as again, in “The Avengers”.

Thor: We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?

So yes, Thor for a while thought they were gonna fight side by side forever, then things in “The Avengers” went downhill and by the time “Thor: The Dark World” comes around he refuses to acknowledge Loki as his brother… even though he still needs him.

There’s no lies in Thor’s words, he said something he thought before Loki’s fall, that he and Loki would always fight together, on the same side and, all considered, he had no reason to think otherwise. He had no idea things would take a turn for worse so of course he would think Loki would continue to fight at his side. The old script and the novel implied the original plan prior to the coronation was for Thor to rule and for Loki to be at his side, offering him counsel.

Odin: Do you think he's ready? Frigga: He thinks he is. He has his father's confidence. Odin: He'll need his father's wisdom. Frigga: And his humility? [Odin reacts.] Frigga: (cont’d) Thor won't be alone. Loki will be at his side to give him counsel. Have faith in your sons. Odin: Yes, but Thor's still a boy. He could be a great King...

So yes, in this too Thor is sincere. He assumed Loki would stay at his side. He had no reason to think otherwise.

The last bit though, ‘But, at the end of the day, you're you, I'm me... I don't know, maybe there's still good in you, but let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago’ is just Thor basically letting go of Loki. Loki is not him, maybe there’s good in Loki, maybe he’s just evil but anyway he isn’t going to be a hero like Thor. As he said before, for Thor, place like Saakar, savage, chaotic, lawless, is perfect for someone like Loki.

Is he being manipulative here? He’s rejecting Loki knowing Loki actually needs Thor to tell him he needs him?

Well this is what Hemsworth said Thor was thinking about Loki:

One of the more fascinating parts of the franchise has been the relationship between Thor and Loki… How do you continue that relationship without repeating what you’ve already done before? Hemsworth: Without giving too much away, I didn't want to repeat that relationship either. And Tom felt the same. All of us were like, ‘What can we do again here?’ There’s a bit of reversal as far as... In the first films, a lot of the time you’re seeing Thor going, 'Come back Loki, and da-da-da-da.' [But now] there’s a feeling from Thor that’s just like, 'You know what, kid? Do what you want. You’re a screw up. So whatever. Do your thing.' [Chris Hemsworth ‘Thor Ragnarok’, Embracing the Comedy, the Thor-Loki Relationship and More]

Loki is a ‘screw up’. He’s no more someone he thought the world of. He doesn’t think anymore they would keep on fighting together. He doesn’t care.

And this is what Waititi said.

Hewitt: For Loki, he might actually be the most emotionally independent of the movie, and I love that the big emotional epiphany comes when one brother is essentially electrocuting the other? Ah- Waititi: *chuckles* Hewitt: *chuckling* Yeah. But there’s a speech to Loki that Thor gives about change and about how you should change, that’s the first time I think Loki’s ever really listened. Waititi: Mm-hmm. Hewitt: From what we’ve seen, you know, there are moments in this movie where, you know, the betrayal takes place as you might expect, and then you begin to move it on beyond that and the character actually begins to change. Ah, can you talk about... progressing Loki, I guess, as a character? Waititi: Yeah. Yeah, well I feel like we were- You know, we didn’t want to change him too much because he was so popular and the fans love that version of him. We wanted to keep- we needed to retain who he is, because when you start changing all of the characters and just doing it for the sake of change, you know, people can’t handle that and definitely fans can’t handle that. So you know he was one of the few characters that we, you know, that we changed and so I made sure that- *pause* -that the main changes that were gonna happen there were to do with the brothers, and to do with their relationship, because I think people wanted to see that arc end on a satisfying way and culmination of all these films and all of the events being that Thor and Loki finally found some sort of way of co-existing without Thor always saying, “Loki, stop this madness! Come hooome! Oh, you can do better!” Instead of pleading with him, just, you know, I feel that’s the most mature version of these guys, you know, is to say to him, “Man, it’s cool. You keep doing what you’re doing, I’m- You know, I don’t need to change you. I’ve all the other stuff to concentrate on, that change thing is up to you, I’m not gonna- I’m sick of, like, pleading with you to, you know, to change your ways.” And I feel like giving that decision to Loki and letting him make that decision for himself was actually the most satisfying version of those have been. [“Empire Podcast Spoiler Special Thor Ragnarok with Taika Waititi”]

To be honest most of the discussion more than about the elevator scene is about the electrocution scene and the first part is Hewitt’s interpretation but Waititi does not disagree. Anyway the root of the discussion is that, according to Waititi, Thor isn’t trying to get Loki to change his mind, Thor is just done with Loki, which fits not just with the electrocution scene but also with the elevator scene. It’s not a very loving message.

If I were to question Hiddleston’s interpretation, I wouldn’t disagree on Thor being honest, I would just find weird that Loki had reacted to such words thinking ‘oh actually maybe… maybe I got this wrong, maybe I did have a place in that family. Maybe… maybe this guy is my brother,’ for two good reasons. One is that Thor spoke not in present simple but in past simple, so maybe that guy WAS his brother, now he doesn’t care about him anymore. As he said in “Thor: The Dark World” Thor has again renounced him. The second is… the electrocution scene, which starts with Loki betraying Thor.

Yeah, I know there are fans who interpret it as Loki not wanting Thor to die fighting Hela which I TRULY love because sometimes fans have better interpretations than the authors on why the character do what they do, but, skipping that the idea of handing him to the Grandmaster who could very well melt him wasn’t that bright (but whatever, Loki could still think he’ll manage to persuade the Grandmaster to let him alive and use him to replace the Hulk), this clearly wasn’t Waititi’s intent.

Waititi didn’t correct Hewitt when he talks about the scene and how that’s the first time Loki’s ever really listened. In Waititi’s intent the elevator’s scene is just an addition, something in which Thor and Loki talk to each other because they hadn’t had the chance to catch up before the electrocution scene that would remark how Loki is again betraying Thor but how Thor this time has grown and can predict Loki’s betrayal and be ready to strike back and even give him the speech that will cause Loki’s change of heart. Long story short, the elevator scene was an afterthought, what was meant to be included was the electrocution scene because on that scene was supposed to be rooted the idea Loki would change.

And of course this is a HUGE problem, because if you, up until a moment before, were willing to sell your brother to someone like the Grandmaster for money, the fact that he electrocute you and leave you writhing in pain on the floor, KNOWING if the Grandmaster finds you empty handed he will melt you… well, this normally wouldn’t inspire you to have brotherly feelings, speech about having the potential for being more or not.

Long story short, the idea that Loki would go to save Thor and the Asgardians DESPITE that, merely due to Thor’s pretty speech, doesn’t really feel that logic at all, never mentioning that something that gives you enough pain to cause you to crumble on the floor and be unable to move might not help you to be an attentive listener.

I’m not even sure why there’s this idea that Thor was always ‘come back, brother’ since in “Thor: The Dark World” Thor definitely wasn’t asking him to come back, he was actually giving up on him in an even more drastic way than he did in “Thor: Ragnarok”…

Loki: You must be truly desperate to come to me for help. What makes you think you can trust me? Thor: I don't. Mother did. You should know that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me and I will kill you. [Loki smiles]

It’s not said solely in the script, this is what Hiddleston said about Loki in “Thor: The Dark World” as well:

…and in a way reverse the arc of the character. Because he’s always defined himself in opposition. Thor has always been offering an olive branch. ‘Come back. We forgive you. Come back.’ And it’s Loki’s kind of arrogant privilege to say ‘No. I still hate you.’ And…in this film I think…nobody’s offering the olive branch. He’s in prison, condemned to be written out of history, forgotten, unseen, unheard, and haunted by his demons. You have to change at that point. So that surprised me. How far further down does he go before he hits rock bottom? Is there one for him? And…could he come back up? [“Nov 2013 Hiddleston Interview: Commentary on the Commentary (and much more)“]

…and yet, in “Thor: The Dark World”, despite his brother saying he previously held back when fighting because he hoped his brother was still there (a clear hint he loved such brother) and that now he no longer believes in such hope, Loki didn’t sell him to the Dark Elves and even stopped the Kurse from killing him, which lead him to be stabbed… and mind you, originally the wound was meant to be fatal… but whatever, this is a discussion for another post.

Anyway basically what Thor told him back then… is more or less the same he told him in the elevator scene so Tom Hiddleston’s explanation about how this would AGAIN affect Loki would make sense if it wasn’t for the electrocution scene that gets in the way.

On another note the Junior novel is apparently based on an older script for “Thor: Ragnarok” and in it things work a lot more better.

There’s no elevator scene or electrocution scene. The two brother had a talk in which Thor bares his soul to Loki and encourages him to change as well.

“You’ll help us free Asgard from Hela’s grip when we arrive? I can count on you?” Thor asked. “Of course. After all, I’m sure you blame me for her resurgence. It’s at least I can do.” Loki appeared contrite. “Although, I am curious, why the sudden change of heart to become Odinson and assume the throne?” “It is what is needed to defeat Hela. Therefore it is my duty,” Thor said plainly. He let out a small sigh, his voice almost apologetic. “In the past I demanded the throne when I hadn’t earned it, and then refused the throne when Asgard needed me most. You stole it. Twice.” “Yet you are always forgiven,” Loki said, trying not to sneer. “My point is that our self-centered conflict over Asgard has ruined our kingdom. We have been so focused on fighting for the top we’ve forgotten there’s a middle and a bottom. If I’m to be king, then I want to be a custodian, not a conqueror.” “Why the sudden baring of your soul to me?” Loki asked. Thor turned to his brother. “Because I want to change. I want to be better. And I think you can, too. Helping us escape has shown you can take strides toward that.” He looked at Loki earnestly. “Make a fresh start, brother. It’s time.” [“Thor: Ragnarok - The Junior Novel”]

While this bit is clearly not perfect (especially since there are some canon mistakes) it contains the same idea that Loki should change and be more that is also in the electrocution speech, but it’s way more love inspiring than having your brother leaving you wriggling in pain on the floor.

Thor doesn’t try to pass himself for a perfect hero but admits his faults as well as the wish to be better. This dialogue continues with the theme of “Thor” in which Thor tries to be worthy and, in opening his heart to Loki and saying they can both improve could have reminded him again they used to be brothers who loved each other and their own country.

But, okay, I’m digressing.

On another note… it’s clear they expected Tom Hiddleston to say something nice about “Thor: Ragnarok”. I know there’s a huge part of the fandom who would just love if it were to respectfully disrespected but, for start, I don’t think that’s Hiddleson’s style and, anyway, he wouldn’t be allowed to do so. Not only “Thor: Ragnarok” was successful but Waititi is now directing “Thor: Love and Thunder”. Marvel clearly counts on it to ride the success of “Thor: Ragnarok” and be successful as well so it’s not like they’ll want us to forget it or allow Hiddleston to speak poorly of it.

Still there are some interesting things to point out.

The first is that Hiddleston spoke about the other movies a lot more than about this one. It’s around 1 minute commenting versus the 1 minute and a half of the other 3 movies and he mentions just that one scene while in the others we see more than 1 (I’m obviously skipping “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame” because Loki’s role in the was way too small to discuss it at length).

Long story short, while Hiddleston doesn’t say anything against “Thor: Ragnarok” he clearly didn’t have much he wanted to say. He focused on what to the audience felt a nice moment about Thor and Loki and then moved on.

The second scene is that in the montage of the video they cut part of Thor’s sentence so that all the viewers hear is “I thought we were gonna fight side by side forever. But, at the end of the day, you're you, I'm me... I don't know, maybe there's still good in you, but let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago.���

Basically they left out the “Loki, I thought the world of you.”

Maybe it’s a coincidence but still it’s interesting they didn’t realize they were cutting the most emotional line of that bit.

Whatever, it happens.

Anyway, for what’s worth, those are my two cents on the whole thing.

[lovelyirony]

From the angst list: "I never loved you" with WinterIron if you're up for it? :)

Bucky takes a long look at the screen. 

“Why me of all of us? Why can’t Nat do it?” 

“You’re the closest to his type, whereas I am not,” Natasha says, looking particularly miffed. “At least, that’s what Bruce said.” 

“And I’m the smart one on this team for this one,” Bruce says, sliding his glasses down his nose. “Stark likes tall, dark, and handsome. Also potentially someone who could kill him.” 

“I can kill a man! You’ve seen me do it dozens of times!” 

“And as satisfying as it is each time, still not who we need,” Bruce says. “You can be part of clean-up.” 

“Why exactly are we doing this again?” Bucky asks. “Not saying it’s not necessary, but I’m assuming we can get past security.” 

“Ix-nay on that,” Maria says, frowning. “We’re getting Tony out of the weapons distribution game. He’s been selling under the table to a group called Ten Rings, and we need that shut down. Also, his security is impossible to break into. Trust me.” 

“Even past government level?” 

“Especially past government level,” Bruce says, admiration laced into his voice. “Government level is stupid-easy to hack compared to Stark Industries. Theirs is like breaking into Heaven itself.” 

“Or Hell, depending on your outlook,” Maria says. 

“If their security is good, then it means I’ve been had,” Bucky says. “I don’t think they’re gonna bypass this face and go ‘oh yeah, perfect for the job,’” Bucky says. “Which, by the way, am I just seducing him or getting a job?” 

“Seduction,” Natasha answers. “Bump into him. Disregard his status as a billionaire. He’ll swoon. Rich guys always do.” 

“Good to know next time my rent is late,” Clint adds, actually writing it down. 

“I have no idea why you always grumble that we never send you on missions when you do this,” Steve says. “But back to the subject.” 

The plan is this: 

Bucky runs into Tony as he’s out walking. For a billionaire, Tony is surprisingly easy to track down. Maybe it’s because he knows he’s built up a tech empire and if anyone does kidnap him (and they try) his tech quite literally saves him. 

They’re theorizing if Bucky is an outlier, a chance encounter, they might have an upper hand. 

He’s not sure, but hey. What the hell. Gets him out of the house. 

Tony frequents a coffee shop that is unfairly tacky, has lemon-blueberry muffins, and Bucky is ordering an iced latte. 

He bumps into Tony, sending him off-balance. 

The man is tinier than anticipated. 

Bucky all but lunges to make sure his head doesn’t go right into the glass windows. 

“Sorry about that,” he says. “Wasn’t thinking that hard, sugar.” 

Tony calls all of his friends by pet names. They figured he’d appreciate it. 

Judging by the small smile making its way onto his face, he does. 

“No harm done, not if I get to see someone as gorgeous as you,” Tony says, all but purring. “I’m a regular here, and I’ve never seen you before.” 

“Just moved back to New York,” Bucky supplies smoothly. “Work opportunity.” 

He buys Tony a coffee for the trouble. 

Buying a man with all the money in the world, coffee. 

He gets a number printed in blocky, engineering script on a napkin with a promise to “call for a date, if you want.” 

He calls the next day, heart jack-hammering out of control. 

It feels awkward to have Steve and Nat right there, egging him on to take him on a simple date. 

They go on a picnic. The weather’s nice, Bucky’s nervous, and Tony grinning at him is not helping. 

He feels...guilty. He’s pulled undercover work before, hell even gone down the same line of thinking. 

But this...this is different. Tony doesn’t seem to even acknowledge that he’s the most well-known person in the world. Sure, there are the signs. Allusions to business, Obadiah Stane “killing” him so to speak, if he doesn’t get a weapon done in time.  

Tony Stark is far more different than Bucky had expected. He wears old t-shirts and jeans that have definitely been in his closet for a long time, doesn’t always remember to style his hair, and definitely enjoys having Bucky around. 

The terrible thing is that Bucky actually really enjoys the man’s presence. He’s casually affectionate, unaware that Bucky could kill him if he was feeling particularly bored. 

Tony tells him about his day. About the little things in life, like that he discovered that he likes a certain kind of creamer or a funny thing Rhodey said. 

His friends are guarded, but nice. They don’t trust Bucky, and for good reason. 

(After all, Bucky’s just another one in a long list of people that have dated Tony for something.) 

And he hates it when his eyes light up because he’s excited to see him, or when Tony pecks him on the cheek when they get to Bucky’s place (and it’s not his place, it’s a safe house that he had to personalize a bit), and just...

“You catching feelings?” Natasha asks. 

“Doesn’t matter.” 

“Good.” 

They both know it’s not good. 

In order to maintain a cover and not have it blow up in your face, you need to feel a little bit. Or be a hell of an actor. 

Bucky’s not the type to be nominated for an Oscar. .

When he’s lying in bed, he remembers that Tony is the one who’s selling under the table. He’s causing needless deaths and it’s a shock to the system. 

Because Tony can’t even kill a spider. He gets a napkin and shrieks as he flings it out into the patio garden he has. He coos when he sees a dog walk past the breakfast place they tend to frequent in fair weather. 

Tony goes to farmer markets early and buys bouquets and hands out the baked goods to people on his way home. 

He complains that he needs a pinstriped suit but nowhere makes it right. He puts his head against Bucky’s shoulder after a long day at work, and is very tactile. He puts Bucky’s hair into buns and is so delicate. 

And it all is a lie. 

It is a lie when Bucky pushes that one unruly curl out of the way when he kisses Tony on the forehead. It is a lie when he gives him fun space socks and laughs when Tony’s first action is to slide on the wooden floor. 

It is a lie when they go to the art museum with hands interlaced and make fun of modern art. When Tony whispers that he loves Michelangelo, and everyone says he should like da Vinci, but he doesn’t. He can’t. 

“Michelangelo painted and sculpted what he saw, and that was strength in people,” Tony says. “He used everyday models. He created a sense of pride in creation. And I never forgot that, that pride of creation.” 

And Bucky swallows and it’s hard to breathe for a moment because creation is not something he would say. 

- 

Obadiah Stane knows about Bucky. He doesn’t approve of him because he is yet another distraction that pulls Tony away from work. 

“You’re a golden goose, boy,” he says, putting a hand on Tony’s shoulder. 

Bucky can’t help but be uncomfortable in his presence. He calls Tony “boy” and maybe that’s from knowing him from such a young age, but that doesn’t feel like it. 

“Well this golden goose likes going on dates with his love,” Tony says, pecking a kiss on Bucky’s cheek. He smiles on instinct. 

“Sorry, sir,” Bucky begins. “But he’s only human.” 

- 

Stane doesn’t like this Barnes guy. There’s something off about him, something that’s too...close. 

He looks into Bucky Barnes. 

Had some military service, was MIA. Almost declared KIA until a guy named Captain Rogers brought him back from somewhere in Eastern Europe, somewhere that Stane was familiar with. 

He calls two numbers. 

One is to inform the military of a surprise cancellation on a weapons demonstration regarding the Jericho missile. 

The other is to a man who he hadn’t dined with in quite some time. 

“Pierce, how do you feel about lunch on Saturday?” 

- 

Alexander Pierce is a man who is quite easy-going. He can do a lunch on Saturday, particularly with Obadiah Stane. 

“Good to see an old friend again,” he says, taking his wine glass. “What do I owe an occasion for? Did you finally get Stark to agree to marry one of my nieces?” 

“Not quite yet,” Obadiah says, smiling at the waiter. “Could I get the sirloin, medium-well? Thank you so much.” 

“I’ll take the grilled salmon,” Pierce says, handing his menu over. 

“How are the kids?” Obadiah asks as the waiter’s gone. 

“Fine, fine. You know how the younger generation is. Think they know everything when they get to college. Samantha wants free college. Thinks we didn’t pay for anything back in the day.” 

Stane laughs. 

“They’ll do that, for sure. Tony comes back with all sorts of ideas in his head about medical fees and do-good-community-bullshit.” 

Pierce takes another swallow of wine. 

“I assume you don’t want to just know about my kids.” 

“No, no that’s not all. I need to know how much you know about one James Barnes.” 

Pierce stills. 

“What do you know about him?” 

“Tony has a new...partner,” Obadiah says, “and he goes by Bucky. I saw that he was nearly declared KIA. Can’t imagine that that was satisfactory for you.” 

“It still isn’t. You know where he is?” 

“I can point you to his apartment.” 

“Excellent. Are we splitting the check?” 

“I’ll get it, you get the other thing,” Stane says. “And don’t make it too big of a thing, okay? Dramatics aren’t what we need.” 

“Got it. Thank you.” 

They enjoy the steak and the salmon. 

Stane tips absolutely nothing. 

- 

What Obadiah doesn’t know but probably should have is that Tony was sleeping over at Bucky’s place. 

He would not have sent Pierce there at the time that he did. 

He’s lucky that Bucky still remembers how to kill a man and gets out of the bed, knife already in hand. 

Tony is clutching the blankets, frozen. 

“You...what.” 

“Do you have anyone after you to kill you?” Bucky pants. 

Another guy comes up, and he’s not even looking at Tony. 

Well. Looks like Stane looked into him a little bit. 

“Babe, what the fuck is going on?” Tony asks sharply. He’s scrambling to get under the bed, yelping as he finds what is either the handgun or the machete. He thinks he put the handgun on the opposite side. 

Tony pops out with the machete. 

“I may or may not have not told you some things,” Bucky says, throwing the guy against a wall. 

“Like fucking what?” 

“I might have been a secret agency’s weapon for at least a year,” Bucky says. “In my defense, I remember nearly none of it except for sometimes.” 

“Except for sometimes?!” Tony yells, brandishing the machete. 

He’ll have to remember that he has the handgun on the other side. 

“Darlin’, I need you to go to the kitchen and grab my cellphone. Call Nat, tell her you need help.” 

- 

It’s a whole clusterfuck is what it is. Bucky’s dealing with three different men all in varying states of pain in his apartment, his boyfriend (well, kind of a boyfriend, he doesn’t know he’s not one) is on the front lawn, and Bucky is in his room debating on redecorating tips and panicking. 

“Why the fuck would someone send people after you?” Natasha hisses. “Who knows?” 

“Stane, most likely,” Bucky says. “Got suspicious. Hated that I would take Tony out for dates.” 

“Why, he homophobic?” 

“Among other things. I think I cut into Tony’s productivity time.” 

“Oh my fucking god, seriously? You took Tony out for ice cream and that’s what did it?” 

“Most likely. Rhodes and Potts didn’t suspect a thing. I’m thinking Stane knows Pierce, probably made contact. But it begs the question as to why. Because he could get around my timing.” 

“Maybe it’s not Stark who’s selling,” Natasha says, “and that means we’ve wasted a fucking year with this whole shtick.” 

Tony is standing outside the door. 

“You...so you were exactly like the other ones?” 

Bucky’s chest constricts. 

“I--I can’t say no.” 

“So you never loved me?” Tony asks quietly. “Every single time you got me a present, it was just to lead me away from something else? Every single time you picked me up for brunch, it was an act?” 

“Tony--” 

“So after all this,” Tony says, gesturing to the framed pictures and the set of drawers that were specifically for him in mind, “you were gonna look me dead in the eyes and say ‘I never loved you’?” 

“We thought you were selling weapons under the table,” Natasha explains. “We needed to get close without tripping any alarms. 

Tony freezes. 

“Well. You did your job. Now I’m getting the hell out of here. And I’m taking the fucking machete.” 

Tony tears apart Bucky’s tires on his way out. 

That’s fair. 

- 

Bucky was not expecting to feel like absolute fucking shit. 

Or try to apologize to Tony. 

He calls and texts and even shows up to the tower, but Jarvis says if he comes in then he’ll be obliterated to pieces. 

“Does it help if I don’t care that I die?” He asks hopefully. 

“I do not want to bother our cleaning services with something so trivial, Barnes,” Jarvis says. 

Even his AI is mad at him. 

Existence is a curse and a prison. He is definitely writing his own eulogy and telling everyone it was Bruce’s fault that he sent him instead of Nat. Nat probably could’ve done it. And not fucked it up and gotten feelings and now feel like drowning to Lana Del Ray. 

“You’re so fucking sad,” Sam says, poking Bucky in the leg. “Stop listening to sad shit, I think it’s affecting Bruce. You know how Bruce is when Lorde comes on.” 

“Yeah, he gets all mad and tells us we’re disappoints to natural worlds,” Steve calls out. “Bucky, you want a grilled cheese or are you gonna deny yourself a functional dinner and eat two pretzel rods later tonight?” 

“Aren’t we out of pretzel rods?” Bucky grumbles back. 

“I’m making you a grilled cheese now then. If you don’t eat it I’m going to tell you all about my day, and I had to wait in a really long line at the DMV.” 

“Ugh,” Bucky groans. “How is your life sadder than mine at this point?” 

“His life isn’t sad, it’s just boring,” Sam answers. “Steve, you’re boring.” 

“If I’m so boring, then why the fuck am I still here?” Steve asks. “You never call Bruce boring when he rants about nineteenth century art and elitism.” 

“That’s because I’m right and I called Cezanne a ‘punk bitch’ and made it funny,” Bruce says. “You are around for entertainment value and aesthetics only. Also because occasionally you let Sharon visit and I love her.” 

- 

Despite his best efforts, Tony is crying on a Friday afternoon at 2:34 p.m. This should not be happening, but it is. 

Pepper says he shouldn’t have his desk face the door, it’s kind of sad. 

“Just...god I hate that I like him!” Tony exclaims. “I hate that I know he kind of didn’t mean to do this, except he did, but he thought I was a criminal! And I still like him! Even though objectively what he did was bad but I haven’t talked to him!” 

“You’re a sad little man,” Pepper says. 

“If you call me a ‘little man’ one more time I think I might go unhinged and destroy the fourth floor,” Tony says. “And I know that you store your and Rhodey’s favorite coffee there because they don’t mess with cabinets.” 

“You monster.” 

Pepper reshuffles her papers. 

“Well, while you sign these--and you willl, stop pouting--I’m going to tell you something.” 

Tony starts signing. 

“While I think that Bucky is questionable at best, I don’t quite think he was there because he wanted something. Other than you in jail, but like. I don’t think even that.” 

“Should I be consulting a therapist about this?” 

“Probably. Are you going to?” 

“I’m me. No.” 

Pepper snorts. She gets one signed form back. 

“He felt guilty taking your gifts. He liked baking you desserts so when you got back home the house would smell like cookies. You’re not the only one who misses that, by the way.” 

“So are you saying I should take him back?” 

“At least talk to him. Decide if you want him back or not. Keep in mind he can’t come to family dinner for a hot minute.” 

“Understood.” 

- 

Bucky gets a text asking about dinner. 

He says yes. 

Obviously. 

- 

They go to a restaurant neither of them know. Tony still passes an old dinner favorite, and remembers that Bucky had hated the fish. 

Bucky passes by a breakfast favorite. Or late night favorite. 

He remembers making little pyramids of the coffee creamers and Tony figuring out how to get creative with the tin foil for leftovers. 

- 

The restaurant has a fucking wait list. 

Fifteen minutes. 

So they’re standing there and making the most awkward small-talk available because it’s not like you can ask if someone is doing fine after they were attempted to be killed and you also found out they thought you were the criminal mastermind. 

At least, you can’t ask it while you’re on a wait list at a restaurant. 

They get seated at the bar because Tony is a gigantic pushover and Bucky doesn’t mind bar seats. 

They order drinks and then Bucky orders an appetizer and it occurs to Tony that for the first time in a long time, he’ll have to ask to split the checks. 

“How have you been doing?” Bucky asks. 

How have you been doing. What a fucking sentence. What a damn question. 

“Are you asking me how I am doing?” Tony responds. “When I found out that my boyfriend was faking it, my uncle was basically Claudius from Hamlet, and I also have to revamp my company entirely from scratch and fired the most amount of people I think I’ve ever done because of said-tragic-uncle? Oh James, I’m doing just absolutely peachy.” 

Oof, James. 

Bucky orders a martini. 

“For the record, I am very sorry,” Bucky says. “About everything. I shouldn’t have done all that I did, and I probably should’ve just asked you if you were selling weaponry.” 

“You think I would’ve told you?” 

“Well no, but you’re the worst liar on planet earth,” Bucky says. “You said you liked my cardigan. You never did.” 

“It was a monstrosity and you know that,” Tony argues. “I hope you burn it.” 

“I’ll let you burn it,” Bucky says. 

“Are you serious?” 

“Course I am.” 

They order from a very nice waitress who most likely has no idea the amount of shit they need to talk about, or the epic level of just...drama. 

“How are you doing?” Tony asks, stirring his lemonade. “Still being a weird conman?” 

“I usually am not the conman,” Bucky answers. “I’m usually the guy who’s long-distance.” 

“What the fuck do you mean long--oh. Oh. Never mind, I don’t wanna know. Nope.” 

“Well other than that, I’m fine. You know. Making coffee. Getting up in the morning. All that fun jazz.” 

(Tony politely does not mention that all of those activities are not “all that fun jazz.” They are not fun, nor particularly jazzy.) 

They sit awkwardly. Tony checks his phone. 

“I still like you. And I want to hear your side of things,” Tony says. “I’m...open option.” 

“You did not just say open option like you’re a college tour guide.” 

“Get to the point,” Tony says. 

“We thought you were the one double-dealing under the table,” Bucky says. “So we decided that I would go in. We couldn’t surpass your security, Jarvis is too good.” 

“He’ll be glad to hear that.” 

(This is because Jarvis is a Smug Bastard. Just like his dad.) 

“And so I was introduced to you. Bumped into you completely by accident, or so it seemed. Sincerely didn’t mean to drop coffee.” 

“Okay.” 

“I was to get to know you in a way that didn’t involve anything with the company so that there wouldn’t be added security measures. You vetted me as a romantic interest, not a threat. You didn’t do deep digging.” 

“Good to know,” Tony murmurs. “I did it after all of...that. You have an impressively mysterious background, Bucky.” 

“I tried my hardest,” Bucky says. 

“Continue with your story.” 

“Somewhere along the line, I started...well I was conflicted. Because Tony, I don’t mean this as a way to sugarcoat, but you are genuinely one of the best people I’ve ever had in my life. 

And I just...I couldn’t stop hurting myself every single time I saw you because I thought you were this person who put profit over people, and then you weren’t. And I completely fucked that up. And I was a terrible person who manipulated you. That wasn’t okay.” 

“No, it wasn’t,” Tony says. “But it also should be said that I let the wool get pulled over my eyes. I wasn’t personally checking in on the company that I own. And if there were under-the-table dealings, the CEO should know. And I was just compliant with whatever Obie was doing because I thought that he was good just because I knew him. That was...stupid of me.” 

They order food. It’s kind of awkward. They are both pretty sure the waitress has caught on that something is up with them. 

Bucky decides to eat his mac n cheese. 

Tony is looking at it. 

“You want some?” 

“Better not. Your appetite is always huge.” 

“Yeah but you like mac n cheese.” 

Bucky scoops some of it onto Tony’s plate. In usual circumstances, Tony would’ve just swooped in with his fork and stolen it like the gremlin he is. 

But this is not the usual circumstance. 

They split the check. Get the wrong bills. Pay them anyway, because they are nothing if not nice and slightly desperate for each other. 

“I’ll..see you soon,” Tony says. “It was nice talking to you.” 

- 

They get to know each other as people, after that amazingly awkward lunch. 

-

Tony finds out that Bucky really, really loves getting up early in the morning. He has a ritual that he rarely strays from. Bucky also likes working on cars and bikes, and that’s something they enjoy together. 

Tony loves quoting old movies and talking in the very stupid but very adorable transatlantic accent. 

They find new restaurants to try. They figure out that they both would prefer to not go into sandwich shops. (Varied reasons, all stemming from events from 2004. Do not ask.) 

- 

Bucky gets Tony a series of old movies and movie posters, which Tony adores. Pepper and Rhodey approve. 

“You’re no longer on the kill-list!” Pepper exclaims brightly. 

“I think Bucky here could kill you if he wanted to,” Tony defends. 

“I could not,” Bucky immediately counters. “All of your friends terrify me on a level that shouldn’t exist.” 

“I’ll keep this in mind the next time I want late night pizza,” Rhodey says. “You should not have shared with the class, Barnes.” 

“Like you wouldn’t have found out anyway,” Bucky answers, snorting. “You found out where to find my middle school pictures and blow them up on Stark Industries’ presentation boards. What else couldn’t you find out?” 

“Bruce’s phone number,” Rhodey says, sighing. 

“Oh, I have that,” Tony says. 

“And you didn’t tell me?” He screeches. “I could’ve been taking him to brunch by now!” 

Tony rolls his eyes. 

“You’re so dramatic. I have no idea where you got that from.” 

Rhodey flips him off. 

Pepper delicately sighs, picking her plate up. 

“I’m turning in the for the night. Rhodey, I’d suggest you do the same.” 

It’s not subtle at all. They all know that Tony and Bucky are going to talk. 

- 

They’ve been doing this dance for a couple of months now. Going on dates, leaving each other at the door and kissing on the cheek goodbye. Only recently has Tony restarted activities they used to do. It still sends a zing to Bucky’s heart when Tony kisses him on the cheek before he leaves. 

“So.” 

“So.” 

God, what a great start. Really and truly. Their best one yet, of course. 

“Listen,” Bucky says. “I don’t have a lot that you don’t already know. But what you should already know is that I will and can die for you. Doesn’t matter what the circumstance is. And I know you’d do the same, I can always tell. But I know that you dying for somebody is different from me because you carry the world on your shoulders and I don’t. 

And these months have been rough, I know they have. I’m beyond grateful that you got that lunch with me and we agreed to actually date and have no secrets--except for the time you used the last of my blackberry preserves--but that’s okay. You can use all of my jams and preserves for whatever you want as long as I get to see you for the rest of time.” 

Tony stills. 

Because he wasn’t expecting this many words. He had actually prepared a whole speech. Even practiced it in front of his mirror. 

(Also he was not expecting to be in his ratty old workshop t-shirt, but here he is.) 

Tony melts. 

He crawls into Bucky’s lap, sighing. 

“I’m never leaving.” 

“Really? After all that, and all I get is cuddles?” Bucky sighs dramatically. “The folly of man.” 

“You get cuddles for the rest of time,” Tony says, “plus a little more. Discounted rate, of course.” 

“Oh, a discounted rate?” Bucky says, cackling. “Debit or credit?” 

Tony grins, laughing. He pulls Bucky into a kiss. 

“Missed that.” 

“Me too.” 

They won’t miss it anymore. At least, not for as long as it was. 

[burnedbyshoto]

Butterfly

Kinktober Day 8 ~ kink: tentacles

pairing: dom!amajiki tamaki x fem!reader

warnings: smut, cursing

word count: 2,848

a/n: wow.........I actually really hate tentacle porn, it always disgusted me, but I would let one man fuck with me tentacles. yes you guessed correctly, shouto. just kidding its definitely tamaki, enjoy sluts!

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You sometimes wondered how Amajiki Tamaki was such an unconfident man. His need for perfection was something that worried you, after all, in your eyes he was perfect. Your relationship with Tamaki had begun with major bumps in the road.

He had assumed in the beginning that you hated him. Your sweet words only a taunt in his mind, your affectionate smiles only a hidden snarl. It truly broke your heart when he finally admitted that to you. Tamaki was such a talented Pro-Hero that it often left you bewildered at his nervousness. You knew he would never get defeated in battle. But his often flashes of anxiety that filled his veins while he was in fights scared you.

You would watch via television while Tamaki went from confidence to crippling anxiety. Your hands always clutching your chest as you stare at your, at the time, best friend gets stomped on screen. However, without fail, Tamaki always pulled through. Of course, once you were finally done with work, you raced to his house. Waiting for the indigo haired boy to return home, bruised but victorious.

You could never resist throwing yourself into his arms, his voice squeaking your name. Heavy with embarrassment. You would always follow him in and help him with whatever he needed. You used to leave whenever Mirio and Nejire showed up. Given the three of them were best friends you always felt like you were intruding. It took a while but when Tamaki finally insisted along with the other two, you stayed.

You never expected to become friends with this very talented Pro-Heroes. Even now it made you smile whenever the four of you hung out. But things changed drastically between you and Tamaki. It all beginning after a fateful encounter with a merciless villain.

You remember watching from your office. Too many Pro-Heroes and sidekicks were getting tossed around like rag dolls. Your eyes widening as the onlooking camera crew focused in on Suneater running to the scene. They praised your best friend! Tamaki seemed unaffected by the villain's immense threat as he began to apprehend him.

It was a long fight.

It lasted an entire ten minutes, dramatic highs and lows. All to the point where you believed Tamaki had been killed. The panicked screams escaping your mouth as your coworkers held you. But with tears still streaming down your eyes, Tamaki rose. The costume is torn and in shreds, he ate something. Your shouts intermingled with the entire floors as you cheered him on. And within seconds, the villain was finally defeated. Tamaki standing over him, chest heaving as more Pro-Heroes arrived on the scene.

Tamaki shortly fainted afterward and was then rushed to the hospital.

He was released that same night, thankfully. You were in the waiting room for him to be discharged. Mirio and Nejire asked again if you were sure you were able to take him home. Your eyes were swollen and puffy due to the high amounts of sobbing you did. Your lips are chapped and brittle as you waved them away. “You guys have early rounds tomorrow,” Your voice weak and yet steely strong. “I can get him home. I’m fine now.”

“There’s nothing wrong with feeling scared, y/n-chan,” Nejire says, her voice serious as she held your cheeks in her hands.

It often made you speechless when Tamaki’s friends turned serious. They were all such dynamic people you forgot they could take things very seriously.

“I got this handled.” You affirm, your mouth pulling into a soft smile. They hugged you before leaving. The quiet hours of the late-night consuming you as you waited for Tamaki to be officially released.

You saw the battered hero exiting his room and into the hallway. Bandages surrounding his arms and a few gauges on his cheeks. He acknowledged you with a shy smile, his head slamming away from you as he talked to a nurse.

You stood up, collecting your things as you walked over to the Pro-Hero who talked with the nurse. She looks at you as you approach the counter, a tired smile on her face as she greets you.

“Hi, I’m assuming you’re here to take Amajiki-san back home?” She questions and your head nods in confirmation. “Okay, well please keep an eye on him. We were able to heal him mostly with our resident healing quirk. But he will be extremely groggy in the next few hours when it hits him.”

“O-Oh, of course. I’ll do my best to look after him.” You say with a bow, and a muffled sound comes from Tamaki as you grab his arm gently.

“Ready to go?” You ask, your eyes locked on his blushing cheeks.

He nods, and with that, you take him home.

It’s silent the entire car ride to his home.

Your eyes shifting over to his stiff form as you drive.

He had nothing to say to you, and you had nothing to say to him.

You had been scared out of your mind for him, but you couldn’t help the anger from filling your veins. The only question was why were you so angry?

Angry at him? No, that wouldn’t make sense. You worked hand in hand with Pro-Heroes, you knew what they did was because they wanted to be everyday heroes. So why were you mad at your best friend for scaring you like that?

Your hands tighten over the steering wheel as you pull into his driveway. Stepping out, you helped a stumbling Tamaki to his feet. Your eyes staring ahead as he leaned against your shoulder for support.

You often forget your friend was as strong and as big as he was. His weight crushing your shoulder. You attempted to maneuver him towards his front door.

“Y… Y/n…” Tamaki mumbles as you get to the front door.

“Yes?” You respond getting him to lean between the corner of the walls. All so that you can fish out his spare key from under his rock garden.

“Butterflies are my… my favorite things.” Tamaki tells you this, and you laugh as you shake your head. Your fingers finding the cool brass key and you stand up to see Tamaki looking at you with groggy eyes.

“I know that, Tamaki.” You remind him, “You told me that during our twenty questions drinking game.”

His face flushes red, and you sigh as he slams his head against the wall, his body shaking. “No… it’s not just that.” He admits and you quirk your eyebrow as you unlock the front door.

“Then what is it, Tamaki?”

“C-Can I call you butterfly?” He asks you, confidence seeping into his voice and you freeze as his front door opens.

“W-What?” You stutter, as the man stumbles in his stance, he looks so tired and yet so painfully in love with you.

“I… I like you a lot, y/n…” Tamaki whispers, and he takes a few steps towards you. His tired eyes burning as he presses his forehead against yours. Your chest is hammering as you feel his flushed skin against your own, his eyes closed as if this was a dream. His hands resting on your waist as you choke softly. “Today with that battle… I thought I was going to die, and I was going to die a coward. I couldn’t die knowing that I… that I never got to confess my feelings for you. I’ve always been a coward, my entire life… I know that! But as I lay there… as I lay there--” His eyes were full of tears and your hands grasp his face.

Your fingers brushing away his falling tears as you shake your head, “You aren’t a coward, Tamaki.” You say, the anger within you making sense now. You were in love with your best friend. “You weren’t going to die there, I wouldn’t have let that happened.”

A broken sob escapes his mouth as he shakes his head, furious. “I am a coward, y/n. I’m in l-love with you, and I never confessed until I thought I wasn’t coming back.”

“Tamaki…”

“Even if y-you don’t like m-me back, can I p-please call you butterfly… you just make me so happy…”

His dark eyes search yours, and without a single word more, your lips press against his. Your soul overcoming his own as he cries against your mouth. You don’t care, and tears are coming down your own cheeks as you pull him in close. Your lips uttered to him everything you had never told him. Promising him a future he would never think of until now.

You were in love with your best friend, and you were going to live the rest of your life engraving that into his heart.

When the two of you showed up to the next hangout with your friends. Everyone was so overjoyed to see Tamaki turning beet red as you held his hand cheering in excitement.

Your love was pure, forgiving, wholesome.

Late-night dancing, lingering kisses in the morning, and an insane amount of food dates.

Tamaki surprised you in many areas. His initial anxiety and unconfident nature erasing in many areas. After five minutes of doing something, he tended to feel confident. Of course, the greatest surprise came in bed.

Humans had a natural ability to make things… sexual, to say the least. It took until your fifth month anniversary for you to ask Tamaki to bring his quirk into play. Your mouth brushing against his trembling torso as your hand grasped his cock. “I want to use your tentacles one day,” You sighed, and like that, Tamaki had come into your hands.

Of course, it took another month for Tamaki to not crumble when attempting your request, but once he did. It unlocked something new and exciting within Tamaki. Something that made you wish you had asked him to bring his quirk to bed earlier.

Tamaki bit down on the golden broken takoyaki, your tongue slipping out of your mouth to lick your lips.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this, butterfly?” Tamaki asks as he finishes his food. Your thighs rub together in anticipation as you laugh.

“I’ve never been more ready for anything.” You counter, a cunning grin on your face as his gentle face smiles.

You had no idea what was going on in his brain, but the confident smirks sent waves of pleasure down your spine. Your breaths turning into pants as you wanted him to climb on top of you. Last time around he had simply fingered you, but it seemed he had a new idea in mind.

Your eyebrows furrowed as Tamaki pulled up a chair, and sat down on by the foot of the bed.

“Tama-chan?” You ask confused, why was he sitting down.

A shriek leaves your lips as something grasps your wrists and ankles.

Your body is pulled against the mattress, and you gasp as you try looking. Sure enough, four pink tentacles are holding your limbs tightly to the bed. The suckers on the limbs making you groan in pleasure at the intense pressure it added to your arms. Pants leave your mouth at the sight of Tamaki smiling at you, pure of innocence.

“You’re quite beautiful when you’re spread out like this, butterfly.” Tamaki sighs as he leans against a single hand, a grin curling on his features. Your body trembled as another tentacle traces up your leg. The cool limb touching your inner thigh, and you struggle against his tentacles. Your body wanting nothing more than to cover up. “Now, now, don’t cover-up. I love seeing your clenching pussy like this, butterfly. I don’t want you to hide from me.”

“Tamaki…” You moan his name as the tentacle moves to your left breast. It encircles it tightly but continues moving. It is quick to reciprocate its actions to your right breast. You arch off the bed as the tentacles pulsate, squeezing your chest delicious as you cry out his name. Good god was this on another level. You shudder against his groping tentacle. The tip of the tentacle pressing against your nipple and you whine greatly.

A chuckle comes from Tamaki, but you lack the will to stare at him in the position. Your arousal feels like its growing as you feel the heat being emitted from your lower lips. Your hips shifting to ease the uncomfortable buildup within you. You weren’t getting the attention you needed down there. Unfortunate for you, Tamaki seemed focused on your breasts right now.

“What’s wrong, butterfly?” Tamaki asks, a smirk all too evident in his tone.

You curse as your hips thrash against the mattress. Your jaw-dropping as his tentacles continue lavishing your body. The pleasure in you only seeming to spark higher as he watches from afar. Your head spinning with lust as you can’t help but feel dirty as his tentacles do his bidding. The tentacles around your wrist tighten and you moan out.

“Do you need more?” Tamaki wonders, and you finally manage to look back down at Tamaki who bites down on his lip. “Tell me, butterfly, do you want more?”

You nod your head, unable to trust your voice as he grins. He raises a single finger, and you watch with the utmost glee as it manifests into a tentacle.

It immediately sinks into your desperate cunt, and you mewl loudly. The moving appendage pressing against the walls of your pussy as it thrust into you. Your hips slam up against Tamaki’s tentacle, your jaw falling down as you pant. The feeling mind-numbing as it slams in and out of you. Over and over, twitching and twirling within your dripping cunt. You plead for more, wanting nothing more than Tamaki’s cock to enter your pussy as well.

“Tama, please! Oh my god!” You scream as the tip of his tentacle easily presses into your g-spot. “SHIT!”

He slams the tentacle into your g-spot without mercy. A feral grin on your face as you continue thrashing against your bonds. His tentacle growing in girth inside your spasming walls. All while he continues to build the fiery pressure from within.

“I think you’re being too loud.” Tamaki groans. The tentacle that was groping your breasts shooting down. The smooth skin pressing against your aching cunt.

Your head throws back and your mouth drops as you’re about to scream his name. You’re cut off as another tentacle fills your mouth. Your scream is muffled, and you choke around the tentacle. The tip of the tentacle pressing against the back of your throat. The tentacle rams further down your throat, and your eyes roll back. The double penetration overwhelming you. There is nothing more that you can do except take it. Letting him have way with you as he fucks both your mouth and clenching pussy.

In and out, your body trembling as he fucks you in both places fast, hard, unforgiving. Your dripping cunt making the most lecherous noises as he pounded into you. The occasional gags emitting from your throat as his thrusts don’t give you enough time to adjust to his speed.

“Kami, you look so fucking delicious like this.” Tamaki pants from the distance, and you moan around his tentacle. Your mind wanting him even more so as the building pressure of your pussy increases. “Are you ready to come yet, butterfly?” You sob a sound that’s choked around his pounding tentacles. Your head nodding as your cheeks feel as if they are on fire. “Then come for me.”

It all comes crashing down. The tentacle sliding up and down your throat erases your sobs. The tentacle pressing into your pulsating clit goes faster. The tentacle slamming into your pussy widens within your clenching walls. You come hard, your vision turns white as you choke around the tentacle.

Your body weakly thrashes around on the mattress as he tentacles finally leave you. Your body sweaty, aching, and on a whole new high as Tamaki finally crawls onto the bed. A teasing smile on his face as he presses butterfly kisses to your collarbone. You heave for air as his touches are achingly sweet.

He gathers your limp body into his arms, and you sigh as he smooths your bruised wrists. “You were so beautiful,” He whispers. You groan slightly as he presses a kiss to your aching throat. “But don’t think this is over.” Your eyes slide over to Tamaki who grinds his raging boner into the palm of your hand. “You’re just too sweet to resist.”

“Tamaki.” You moan as you begin palming him through his restricting pants. You grin as you feel his lips beginning to suckle against your neck. You smirk as his hips rock against your moving fingers. You whine as he pins you back onto the bed, the tips of his hair brushing against your flushed and sweaty skin. Butterflies once more erupting into your stomach.

“I’m glad you're ready for a round two,” Tamaki groans as your fingers grip his hard-on. You chuckle as you silence him with a kiss.

“Me, too.”

[baseballbitch116]

Beat Yer Ass

Prompt: Daryl hears a man making vulgar comments about his girl

Warnings: Violence, crude comments about women, strong language

Word Count: 2087

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The day started off like most others. You were on watch this morning, having gotten up only a few hours after Daryl came to bed. Your shift began at dawn, relieving the night crew. You remembered that Daryl was supposed to go out to the bridge today to help with construction, mostly to keep an eye on everyone in Rick’s absence. He had to go down to the Sanctuary today, so Daryl was covering for him overseeing the bridge.

You left an apple on the bedside table and wrote a quick note beside it telling Daryl that you were on watch and that you’d see him in the afternoon. You hated not being able to see him much anymore, but you each had a lot of responsibilities to manage. Standing in the dim light, you lean over the bed to brush the hair out of Daryl’s face. You keep meaning to give him a little hair cut, just so that he could see better, but whenever you were able to see him it would completely slip your mind - too concerned with soaking up as much time with him as possible.

Your fingers brushed against his stubbly cheek ever so lightly, appreciating how peaceful he looked sleeping. He stirs a little, so you quickly retract your hand and move away to start heading out before you accidentally wake him up, but it’s too late. “Mmm?” He groans out, one eye peeking open as his hand comes up to snatch your hand from where you were pulling it away.

“Sorry,” You whisper, rubbing your thumb over the back of his warm, rough hand.

“Where’re ya goin’?” He questions, his deep voice so groggy that anyone else may have a hard time understanding what he said. You loved his sleepy voice, you found it adorable.

“I have to go on watch at the gate. Relieving the night shift.” You remind him, leaning down so that you are squatting beside him at the bed. He rolls over onto his side, his hand still enveloping yours, and opens his other eye to get a good look at you.

“M’kay,” He mutters, bringing your hand up to his mouth and placing a kiss on the back of it. “Be careful.” Daryl says, his piercing blue eyes meeting your own. A shy smile crawls up your face and you nod in the darkness, moving closer and placing a kiss on his stubble covered cheek.

“I’ll see you tonight, hon.” You promise, moving to stand up, but he doesn’t release your hand, keeping you down at his level. He sleepily lifts his head and brings his other hand up to the back of your head. You instinctively meet him halfway, capturing his soft lips in a slow kiss. His body heat radiates onto you, warming you up in a way only Daryl can. You pull away slowly, a frustrated whimper escaping your mouth as you lean your forehead on his. You miss him so much, you want to lay here beside him forever - but the sunlight beginning to creep through the window reminds you that duty calls.

You loved how Daryl would let his guard down and be more open when he was tired like this. He could be very affectionate in the mornings and nights, which was one of the only times that you go to see him anymore. You stand up from your spot and head out of the room, but not without one last glance at the love of your life.

Daryl’s morning was not off to a great start. He was exhausted from the night before, grumpy because he didn’t get to spend any time with you, and it was a cloudy and cold day. Everyone was getting on his nerves and he was practically counting down the minutes until he would be able to go back to Alexandria to see you.

One person in particular was seriously testing Daryl’s patience today - a former Savior, named Justin. He has been giving everyone attitude from the moment they began working, and Daryl has just about had it. He’d just finished helping Aaron with some boards for the base of the bridge when he heard something stick out to him. Your name. In Justin’s mouth. Daryl knew that Justin had tried hitting on you once before when you came to the bridge to help out, and he had warned him to stay away from you. Normally Daryl would have trusted you to handle the guy yourself, but seeing as he was a Savior, and he was being very pushy toward you, Daryl had stepped in.

He stands up from where he was crouched, brushing the dirt off of his gloves and wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, listening in on the conversation Justin was having with some other Savior.

“She’s a hot piece of ass. The things I’d do to Y/N if that asshole would let her out of his sight, I swear.” Justin remarks as he hammers at a nail unsuccessfully. The man beside him just scoffs.

“She’d never go for you, man.” He responds.

“Wouldn’t have to. Just need to get her alone.” Justin continues, a gross smirk on his face.

By this point, Aaron had taken notice and knew that shit was about to go down. The look on Daryl’s face was enough to warn the younger man that he needed to intervene, now.

“Hey!” Daryl shouts, beginning to make his way over to the two men, Aaron following close behind, saying that it wasn’t worth it, but Daryl was deaf to his words. Justin turns around to face Daryl, gross smirk faltering slightly, realization washing over his face. “The hell ya just say about her?!” Daryl growls, stepping very close in the guy’s space.

He says nothing, just glaring at Daryl, who is fuming. He practically said that he would force himself on you. “You gonna try to hurt my girl?” Daryl questions, his voice deep and angry, intense stare not faltering for even a second.

“Not hurt, just show her a good time. We all know she don’t get none from you.” Justin stupidly comments, tilting his head at Daryl.

“Ya touch her, ya even look at her, I’ll beat yer ass into the ground.” Daryl growls, staring directly into his eyes, not a hint of fear appeared on his face. He turns around to get back to work.

“No wonder you’re so pissy, she must not give a redneck like you much pussy. More for me, then!” Justin hollers cockily, throwing Daryl over the edge. He spins back around fast as lightning and punches Justin directly in the nose, sending him falling back onto a large pile of sand. Daryl grabs onto his collar and continuously punches him in the face, pummeling the arrogant man, until he manages to grab a fist full of the sand and toss it in Daryl’s eyes, stunning and blinding him.

Luckily for the Savior, Rick had just arrived at the bridge with Eugene and heard the commotion going on, immediately running up to the top of the bridge to check what was going on. He saw the fight and the mob of people surrounding the two men, infuriating and worrying him. He pushes his way through the crowd as fast as possible and throws himself in between the two men, attempting to deescalate the issue. “Hey! Break it up!” He hollers, doing his best to restrain Daryl from getting to Justin, who was very bloody and bruised. Daryl didn’t look so great either, but Justin had certainly lost the fight.

Daryl continues trying to shove past Rick to get to Justin, but he holds his ground, firmly keeping himself between the two. “Enough!” Rick hollers, throwing his arms out to hold Daryl back. Finally, Daryl backs off just a little, taking one step back and stalking back and forth, his eyes not tearing away from the man that was still standing. If Rick hadn’t stepped in he very well might have killed Justin. It’s not like he’d be missed, and after the comments that he made about Y/N, he deserved it. “Everyone get back to work. Now!” Rick commands to their audience.

Justin scrambles away defeated, keeping an eye on Daryl as he leaves. Daryl continues stalking, his breathing heavy and erratic as he stares at the man getting away with speaking about hurting Y/N. “What the hell happened?” Rick demands when he turns to face his friend. Daryl spits out some blood onto the ground and shifts his weight, too angry to speak. Aaron hesitantly approaches the two of them and begins explaining what he witnessed to Rick.

“He was jokin about forcin himself on her! Said he jus’ needa get her alone!” Daryl exclaims, waving his arm in the direction Justin scurried off. Rick puts a hand up to Daryl and nods his head, processing what he’s been told.

“Daryl, hey! Daryl. We will handle this. He’s never even around her, he was just looking to cause trouble-” Rick starts, but Daryl scoffs and throws his arm again, pacing around in an attempt to soothe his rage. “He’s met her one time. He’s never been to Alexandria. Daryl! Y/N can handle herself.” Rick argues, but Daryl will hear none of it.

“You think I don’t know that?! Don’t matter! What if he said that bout Michonne? Huh! That’s not the point!” Daryl hollers, pointing a finger at his friend.

It took a while but eventually, Rick managed to calm Daryl down and he sent him back to Alexandria early. Daryl took off on his motorcycle, speeding his way back to the community, more anxious than usual to see you. He just needed to see that you were safe. He knew that you were, but he just needed to see it.

He arrived back before the sun had set, which was certainly early for him. The gates opened and he looked up at who was on watch, a combination of relief and worry set in as he saw that you were not. Relief because it meant that maybe he’d have some time with you, but worry because he did not know where you were. “Hey! Ya know where Y/N is?” Daryl shouts up to Rosita at her post on the wall. She shrugs her shoulders and asks why, but Daryl ignores her and drives into the community.

He makes his way to your shared house hastily, anxious to see you. He was furious, you were the only one going to be able to calm him down. “Y/N?!” He hollers when he steps into the house. He hears a noise before you appear out from the kitchen, peeking around the corner at him, a grin appearing on your soft features.

“Hey, you’re back early!” You greet. Daryl doesn’t say anything, instead looking at you, taking you in. You’re okay, you’re happy, you’re with him. “What’s wrong?” You ask, your face falling at his odd behavior. He doesn’t speak again, just striding over to you and dropping his face on your shoulder, an arm falling loosely over your smaller frame. You immediately envelop him in a tight hug, not questioning his affection - sensing that he needs you right now.

He pulls his head up to look at you, his blue eyes burning into yours. “That savior - Justin - he was talkin bout ya.” He starts. You raise your eyebrows curiously, wondering why he was talking about you and why Daryl was so worked up over it.

“What do you mean?” You ask, trailing a hand down his muscular arm to comfort him. You can see he is angry and stressed.

“He said some shit... I was gonna break his mouth. Rick stopped me.” He explains.

“Oh Daryl, you don’t gotta worry about me.” You say, realization hitting you. “I only saw him a few times, I’d kick his ass if he bothered me. You know that.” You joke, trying to lighten his mood.

“I shoulda killed him.” He mutters. You reach your hands up to cup his cheeks and force him to look at you.

“He’s not worth it. I’m not afraid of some scrawny savior. He’s not worth your time, Daryl.” He doesn’t reply, only looking into your comforting eyes before nodding slightly. “Come on, let’s go take a nap.” You mutter, dropping your hands from his face to his arm and dragging him along to go back to bed.

---

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