#did we forget to update the tumblr last time the fic updated?

[adnauseum11]

SITREP (John Price x Reader)

Dinner continues after you get a hold of your emotions.

3.6 k words

CW: mention of deceased parents.

Hopefully I slalomed through this dinner without adding too many personal details so the reader remains as much of a blank slate as possible while retaining some interesting backstory.

This work is part of the SNAFU series - most of which has been posted here and the Masterlist is pinned to my page. Due to threats from apps like lore.fm and Ai data scraping, I'm feeling less and less secure posting my work to Tumblr. I'm toying with the idea of taking it all down, although that feels a bit like closing the barn doors after the horses got out.

This will be the last chapter I post in its entirety here on Tumblr for the time being. Partial chapter updates only going forward. If you want to continue, please consider asking for an invitation from Ao3 to make an account. It's free, and then you can read anything, even the locked fics, like mine. It's worth the little bit of a wait.

link to the chapter over on Ao3

feedback welcome, let me know if you primarily read here on Tumblr or over on Ao3. I asked earlier and the responses seemed to favour Ao3. Not the case? Let me know!

sorry for folks on the taglist - let me know if this upcoming change works for you or if you'd rather not be tagged if it's not the full chapter. I'm trying some stuff out, love to have your thoughts.

You take a few long moments in front of a large gilded mirror to breathe deeply, shaking off the lingering pall of grief, occupying your hands by checking your hair and make-up. John had been out of the country when your parents had been killed, unreachable for long months while you struggled to keep your ship afloat amongst the ensuing chaos. The situation had left you de-stabilized for longer than you cared to admit, John more familiar with the aftermath – the constant fighting with David and wild emotional dysregulation that he had weathered with equanimity. You can’t help but wonder what your parents would think about you dating the man you’d been fast friends with for all these years. Would your mother think it inevitable or inconceivable that you would see John in a new light after everything you had been through? You’re touching up your lipstick when Michelle’s face appears over your shoulder in the reflection. 

“Are you ok? I’m sorry if Kate upset you. She’s prone to prying and forgets herself sometimes.”

“It’s fine, the emotion takes me by surprise every now and then. Needed a minute to get my head on straight, as John would say.”

You answer as you square your shoulders, turning to face the other woman. Michelle nods sympathetically, twisting her fingers together in front of herself.

“I’m sorry for your loss. John is pretty concerned; I think he would have come in after you himself if I hadn’t offered to come check on you.”

You give the other woman a reassuring smile, gently rolling your eyes at the unsurprising news of John’s overprotective streak. She carries on before you can make a weak joke about his hovering.

“You guys are pretty serious, hm? He didn’t call you his girlfriend when he took Kate to task about being too intrusive, he said you were his partner.”

A warmth blooms from the pit of your stomach, and you have to fight to keep your smile from growing into an inappropriately triumphant grin. John was listening after all bouncing around in your mind. Michelle follows you out of the bathroom, chatting easily.

“It’s nice to see him with someone that loosens him up. I can’t remember the last time we did something like this. There was a time where I didn’t think he would ever relax. I swear his shoulders were habitually around his ears most of the time I saw him. I’m rooting for you two.”

“Thank you, we’ve had our challenges so far but have come out the other side stronger I think.”

You squeeze John’s shoulder again as you step around his seat, his hand coming up to rest on your side protectively before you sit, his attention zeroing in on you.

“It’s alright, I was just caught off guard. Everything is fine.”

You reassure him, squeezing his wrist before his hand slips away again. Kate is contrite.

“I apologize, it was tactless to ask such a personal question.”

With a smile and a wave of your hand you try to place her at ease, not wanting dinner to grind to an uncomfortable halt.

“No, no, you couldn’t have known. Quite alright. I’m usually better behaved, I blame the red wine on an empty stomach for making me emotional.”

John huffs, having seen you far worse for wear but satisfied all is well if you still have a sense of humour. Kate’s face also relaxes into one of relief, and they both sag back into their chairs slightly. 

“Are you a cigar aficionado as well, Kate? John’s been wanting to come here since it opened.”

“Only when we’re playing poker. The ‘lil missus doesn’t like the smoke.”

Michelle takes a half-hearted swat at her wife who smiles in return, shrugging slightly as if the truth would come out regardless.

“No more smoking inside if everything works out, sorry John.”

Michelle adds with a small smile in John’s direction. He nods, as if he was expecting the news.

“Fair enough. I’m not smoking as much as I used to these days. Although I am interested to pop downstairs and see what their selection is like. I was gifted a beautiful lighter for Christmas, would be a shame to not use it a little more.”

The look John sends your way makes your skin prickle again. Not just with the desire that’s been simmering between you two all night but backed with the warmth of genuine deep-seated affection. It makes you want to crawl on to his lap and mess up his perfect tie despite all the onlookers. He reads the look on your face and the corner of his mouth quirks up. He doesn’t take his eyes off of you as he reaches into his inner jacket pocket, finally breaking eye contact to hand over the vintage lighter to Kate’s curious reach.

Your eyes follow it as she turns it over, examining the silver rectangle. It has a unique arm mechanism for lighting, effectively stamping out the flame when shut. It’s all hand wrought, the screws on the bottom for refilling the chambers individually made. There’s a delicate filigree up the corners, leaving the worn space in the middle empty for the engraving you had commissioned with John’s initials. John had been thrilled with your small gift, it had immediately joined his wallet and watch as an essential item he carried around every day.

“It’s a 1928 Kickstarter from Colibri. No idea where she found one in such good shape, it works like a dream.”

Kate tries the lighting arm and it swings upwards easily, a flame springing forth almost instantly. She snaps it shut again with a satisfying click and offers it to Michelle to inspect. You take a sip of your wine to avoid John’s intent gaze on the side of your face, certain that if you look over, you’ll give in to the overwhelming urge to reach out and touch him. You can practically feel him willing you to turn and he only relents when Michelle hands the lighter back, a knowing smile hovering at the corners of her mouth.    

“Looks like she’s got a homerun here. That’s a lovely piece, John.”

“I had to look for a while to find one in good working order.”

You supply, pleased these women who seem to know John so well are impressed with your gift.

“You know who else would appreciate that? Simon.”

Kate gestures to the lighter in John’s hand, raising her eyebrow at him in an expression you don’t understand. Michelle turns to face her wife immediately, concerned.

“Kate, no. No work stuff.”

“What? John will want to know.”

Kate’s tone is innocent, but her wife’s posture tells another story.

“Know what?”

John is cautious, returning the lighter to his inner pocket slowly, his eyes tracking from Michelle to Kate.

“He’s asked for the paperwork to be discharged; he’s going to retire. Making noise about moving back to this neck of the woods.”

John hums and his hand settles on your forearm, making you glance over at him in surprise. You’re fairly certain he’s unaware he’s reached out and grabbed you, his focus solely on Kate’s face. Kate notices the knee-jerk reaction though, and you watch her face rapidly go through a series of complicated emotions you couldn’t name even if pressed.  

“You’re right, I do want to know.”

John’s tone of voice has a measured calmness to it that belies the grip his hand has on your forearm.

“Well, this is all very cryptic. Who is Simon?”

You don’t dislodge his hand, raising an eyebrow at him when he slowly turns away from Kate to explain.

“Simon was my Lieutenant. He’s had a… rough go lately. Not surprised he’s wanting out but did he say what he plans to do?”

John answers your question broadly before directing another question back towards Kate. Michelle sighs, and you get the impression that this hi-jacking of the conversation happens more often than she condones.  

“No, not to me. Nor anyone else as far as I know. I was hoping maybe you could check in on him.”

“Hm. Yeah, could do – “

John is interrupted by dinner arriving. Everything is laid out still steaming and fragrant, fresh from the kitchen. Michelle shakes her head at the platter that is set before Kate, disbelief written across her face. John’s plate isn’t much better, the thick slab of meat before him making your eyebrows raise.

“Is this a military thing?”

You ask Michelle in a stage whisper, John letting go of your arm to attend to his enormous meal. He’s got a baked potato and lightly roasted green beans to get through as well, never mind the huge cut of meat. Kate’s lobster tail and steak take up most of the plate before her, with a potato of her own nestled beside a garden salad.

“No, it’s an excellent food thing.”

John answers, his eyes crinkling in good humour. Kate makes a sound of agreement before adding with a smile.

“And it’s a John’s paying kind of thing.”

“Kate!”

Michelle’s back to scolding her wife but John just smiles, not offended in the least.

“She’s earned it, Michelle. Don’t worry.”

“Lord help us, don’t encourage her John. I haven’t decided yet how I feel about you two not working together anymore.”

Kate smirks at that and clinks her glass against John’s, and in a flash the depth of their friendship becomes clear. You refocus on your own food, wondering again at this part of John’s life you’ve heretofore been excluded from. You soothe your slightly wounded ego by reminding yourself that John’s trying at least to bridge the formidable gap between his work life and what you consider to be his ‘real’ life. His enjoyment of the company across the table is evident to you though, giving you pause. Michelle picks up on your thoughtful turn and catches your eye as you cut into the tender side of the filet mignon in front of you.

“They’re always having side conversations, it’s insanely annoying. It was worth putting up with it to know someone out there had her back when they were working. Now, it’s just taking the piss, as you say over here.”

She narrows her eyes at John who has the good grace to look slightly chastised. Kate ignores her wife, digging into the lobster with gusto.  

“John doesn’t talk to me about his work much. It’s all classified, apparently. I just found out that you two existed the other day.”

You try to gently joke with her, brushing off the fact that you know next to nothing about John’s work other than the broadest strokes. Michelle sends you a kind look and nods in understanding while Kate stares down John over her buttered lobster.

“Field work is difficult - Kate you know that. It’s safer for everyone if there’s nothing to leverage. As recently proved.”

You barely understand the context of John’s words, leverage striking you as an odd phrase when talking about relationships. You gather he’s talking about the break-in and subsequent shit show only just recently put behind you. Kate understands his meaning straight away though and shrugs, arching a brow across the table at John who’s paused in eating his meal.

“God love ya John, you always pick the hardest possible path forward. I get where you’re coming from, just not sure on the execution in reality.”

“Could you two speak English, please?”

Michelle interjects, her eyes on your face as you quietly puzzle over the layered conversation going on. If you knew her better you would say the look on her face was sympathetic. Kate explains herself for your benefit, her eyes flicking between you and John.

“I worked with John for years and if it makes you feel any better, he didn’t tell me that you existed until recently either. He seemed to be under the impression that keeping the spheres of his life from overlapping was the safest way to operate. The idea being that it would keep you from becoming a target. I’d say forewarned is forearmed, myself. But I understand his logic. His work was dangerous.”

John’s face is suddenly serious, his hands still, waiting for your reaction. You’re trying to piece together what little you know of his work and the events of the last few months. The idea that he’d been living what amounts to a dual life is jarring for some reason. You like to think you know John well, and this night is reminding you there’s a lot you are unaware of. Kate’s revelation that she didn’t know him as well as she thought either is cold consolation.

“So, keeping everyone separate in their own little box was about safety?”

“It’s always about your safety.”

John answers and you get the impression there’s more to be said but he’s holding his tongue. You decide to leverage it out of him later. What possible danger could there be in meeting these women now that wasn’t there when he was working? You exchange a long, silent look with him that must convey your skepticism because he only physically relaxes when you eat another bite of dinner, seemingly letting it go for the moment. Kate watches the tense exchange between you with rapt interest as she polishes off the rest of her lobster and salad.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but my dinner is simply delicious.”

Michelle breaks the silence, reaching across her wife’s arm to snag her gin and tonic and take a delicate sip. You smile in appreciation at her attempt to break the newest layer of tension, Kate’s chagrined face only making your grin wider. You exchange an amused look with Michelle as she hands the gin and tonic back to her annoyed wife.

“The food is really delectable. I’m getting full but it tastes so good! I’m going to risk popping my dress.”

Michelle laughs and Kate smiles over a bite of steak.

“I know John can put away a lot of food, but these portions are massive you guys. I’m impressed.”

You continue, a hint of awe entering your tone as you watch Kate’s methodical approach to her plate.

“I suspect they don’t half-ass things around here.”

Kate supplies, looking pointedly at the rich appointments around the big dining room. From the chandeliers to the floor length window dressings, the restaurant screams sumptuousness. John is just as regimented about his food as Kate, most of his steak gone and half of the side dishes remaining. He huffs in acknowledgment of Kate’s words, amused.

“They haven’t half-assed their prices so I would hope not.”

You smile into your last bite of filet mignon, relaxing into the gentle banter again. You take a moment while finishing what you can of your dinner to observe the way the group easily pivots from topic to topic, and the familiarity of it is striking to you. John is himself with them, there is no pretence in his conduct and you puzzle over his insistence on keeping you separated from people he gets along with so well. If what he says is to be believed, John spent his career being concerned about your safety such that he went to extreme lengths to keep you protected from its dangers. That’s not the behavior of a man who has only recently decided he wanted more from your friendship. His admission about the dress you're wearing turning him on years before he asked you out rattles around in your brain like a marble you can’t stop rolling around. His hand on your forearm draws you back to the present, and you look at him, his vibrant blue eyes taking in your dazed expression.

“Do you want more wine? I’m having coffee. Kate’s having another gin and Michelle is going to have a decaf.”

He asks, filling you in quickly once he clocks that you were lost in thought.

“Yes, that would be lovely. Please.”

The return of your manners earns you a warm smile and John turns to the waiter to relay your order. The dishes are cleared and you spend the next three quarters of an hour forcing yourself to stay present in the moment and not withdraw to puzzle over all you’ve learned. You find yourself naturally drawn to Michelle, her dry wit cutting and more than a match for her formidable and straightforward wife. Kate and John seem to be able to have a conversation within a conversation, and you quickly learn what Michelle means about it being annoying. It especially grates on your nerves as it’s typically you and John with a litany of inside jokes scattered through any conversation. Having the shoe on the other foot is less fun than you imagined. John excuses himself to the bathroom, which you know is code for paying the bill and you steel yourself to spend the next few moments alone with his friends.

“You’ve had a lot of change over the last few months, what with starting to date John and then moving in so quickly after the break in. How are you finding living with him?”

Kate’s got the question out as soon as John’s big frame leaves the general vicinity of the table.

“It’s like anything, a bit of an adjustment but it’s been good. He’s far neater than me, maybe you should ask him what living with me is like instead.”

You laugh before you continue, mentally acknowledging your vastly different decorating styles. John’s a minimalist where you love fun and funky tchotchkes. Your flat had been crammed to the rafters with knick-knacks. Moving in with John had necessitated parting ways with a lot of your less sentimental pieces. The lowkey dispute about the Christmas decorations had hardly been a solitary event.

“So far it's been lovely, he lets me have my way most of the time and pairs the most delicious wines with dinner. I have no complaints or salacious details, sorry ladies.”

You keep your most recent fight to yourself, unwilling to expose John or yourself to the scrutiny of these women, even if they mean well. In the end, you had gotten what you wanted there too, which was to be heard and considered in matters that concerned you. Which by all accounts, seems to have landed for John.

“He plays it pretty close to the vest too, as previously established. Was hoping you would be a bit more forthcoming.”

Kate smiles, not unkindly, but her rampant curiosity might as well be a neon sign flashing over her face. Her wife elbows her arm with all the subtlety of a gunshot and the dirty blonde schools her face back into something more restrained. You offer a smile and swirl the dregs of your wine, unsure what the other woman was hoping to learn.

“He snores when he’s been drinking?”

Kate gives a startled laugh and shakes her head quickly.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“I suspect the John you know and the John I know are the same, we just see him in different scenarios.”

“True enough to a point. He doesn’t let me have my way as often, I'm going to guess.”

You can feel heat creeping over your cheeks at the suggestive tone and she carries on before you can speak.

“I’m more interested in you, than how he behaves when he’s with you, to clarify what I meant. You went to university?”

You nod dumbly, the wine doing nothing to help your mind focus. Kate rolls along with more questions, to her wife’s open annoyance.

“Kate, leave her alone. Seriously.”

“Where do you work? Have you been there long?”

“Uh, I quit, before Christmas. After the break-in John and I talked and I’m going to find something else. I wasn’t happy there. So, technically working nowhere right now.”

“Were you using your degree?”

“No, it was customer service essentially with some data entry. Soul sucking. Awful.”

“What would you prefer to do?”

“I’m not sure. I think being a docent would be fun but those positions can be quite hard to get.”

Michelle’s distracted from trying to back Kate off this line of questioning by this tidbit of information, and her attention swings to you.

“Oh! Like at the Tower of London? They were phenomenal! That would be a fun job.”

“Yes, exactly. Having new faces to chat to every day and all that history around would be – “

“What does John think?”

Kate interrupts, the curiosity on her face in full force. The wine answers before you can corral your thoughts into something more even-tempered.

“I haven't mentioned it yet, besides, why would he care? He won’t be the one working there.”

Michelle tilts her head backs and laughs, John’s quizzical face popping into view at the end of the table eventually subduing her mirth.

“Hate to interrupt but everyone ready?”

You exchange a smile with Michelle and nod at John, standing and linking you hand with his outstretched one. He leads you back through the restaurant to collect your coats from the coat check. Afterwards you stand on the chilly sidewalk to exchange hugs and goodbyes, a whispered good luck sent in to Michelle’s ear that she acknowledges with an extra squeeze before letting you go. Kate bundles her wife into a waiting cab with a final wave out the window, and John convinces you to go peruse the cigars downstairs before heading home yourselves. If things work out for the two women, he reasons Kate will need a celebratory cigar to herald in their newest adventure. You can’t say no to his sentimental reasoning and find yourself an hour later, back in the same place on the sidewalk, John’s newest purchases tucked into your clutch to protect against the damp while you wait for the valet.   

Taglist: @beebeechaos @cadotoast @syoddeye @writeforfandoms

@itr-00 @chloepluto1306 @batw3nch @magsmagic @h0n3y-l3m0n05

@chickennn-soupp @fruitymoonbeams-blog @redwites @glitterypirateduck

@tf141gloryhole @bespectacledhuman

[rereadanon]

✨Weekly Tag Game✨

Thank you for the tags @deedala @tanktopgallavich @ @mickeysgaymom @gardenerian and @whatwouldmickeydo

And thanks to all the pals that keep tagging me in these, I always copy and paste and leave in my drafts and then something distracts me and days go by and I forget or decide it’s too late. 🫂

Name: Anna 🍌

Location: the DC metro area!

Astrological Sign: Sagittarius bb

What's a TV show or movie you plan to re-watch this year? Started the year off with my current hyper fixation tv show- Deadloch. It’s on prime, it’s a murder mystery, it’s pretty entertaining.

Whats a book or fic you will probably re-read this year? I stayed up way too late reading Ball Kings last night because all it took was @gallawitchxx mentioning Vegas to give me a craving. Otherwise, it’s all my standards to help me survive another year, but @thisdivorce’s most recent update to Change Like Shifting Shadows really made me froth at the mouth for a reread of that!

What is a song you will likely continue to play on repeat? One by Swedish House Mafia- currently my eldest’s hyper-fixation. Who has music recs that we both can enjoy?

What's a tasty treat you look forward to eating more of this year? I try not to live in a world where specific foods are kept for specific events or times but I am still enjoying some Chex mix I made and I am probably going to make it again!

What's a time sink that you will continue to sink time into this year? Tumblr, fic, discord, block breaker, pimple popping videos, meme sending on instagram.

Did you pick up any habits in 2023 that you plan to continue? Wearing unflattering clothing that I like! Platform crocs included.

What's your toxic trait? Encouraging others to spend money or make insane choices if they are fun!

What is a coping mechanism you will continue to indulge in this year? ✨disassociation✨ just like @deedala 🥰 also see time sink answer

Tell me something you like about how you look! I work/ed hard to unlearn society’s standards for loving myself!

Give me at least three adjectives describing things you like about yourself. Loud, loving, rebellious

Tagging a few babes @gallawitchxx @heymrspatel @michellemisfit @whatthebodygraspsnot @sluttymickey @sam-loves-seb @thisdivorce and anyone else that is reading this!

[europodfriends]

Europodfriends 2023!

Before we get to the meat of the matter, just a quick note to let you know that Dell has stepped back as a mod for this year due to health concerns, leaving y’all with two mods running the show, Sylvie (@thriceandonce) and Robin (@robinfai).

Next: the plan for this year is to have an in-person meet in Berlin on the weekend of October 13th - 15th, 2023! For those who have been there before, hopefully we’ll be able to rent the same place we usually do, but we shall see!

As in previous years, the meetup won’t have a flat attendance fee. We calculate the contributions based on your means, so don’t worry about not being able to afford it! And if you need extra funds to be able to attend (for travel expenses, for instance), don’t hesitate to let us know - we budget in such a way that it’s possible for europodfriends to fund your journey as well. It’s important to us to facilitate everyone’s attendance to the best of our ability.

Regarding food & drink, in 2019 we provided that for everyone out of the epf budget. We would like to be able to do that again, but that depends on how much people are able to contribute - we know the pandemic has hit a lot of us hard!

And before I forget - here’s the survey you need to fill out if you want to join us! The survey will close in one week, on February 18th, 2023.

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

For those who’ve never been to an in-person EPF meetup, or who would like a little refresher, here’s roughly what we did the last times and what we’ll likely be doing this year as well:

Friday is mostly for everyone arriving, greeting each other, hanging out, and making name badges. Very ambitious people might already be podficcing that evening, but since not everyone will have arrived yet, we don’t schedule anything specific for that day.

Saturday morning there’s a meeting where everyone introduces themselves “formally” with names and pronouns. This is also when we do pitch ‘n’ pod - in short, everyone who wants to gets a few minutes to talk about a fandom and a fic in that fandom that they want to podfic at the meetup, and afterwards everyone can sign up to the podfics they want to be a part of. Saturday evening might be another scheduled event organised by attendees - in past years we’ve had a video call with Podfication, or a game of “Guess That Voice”, or watch parties, for example - but that part is up to y’all: if you want to organise something, get in touch so we can figure out the scheduling and planning!

Sunday morning we’ve done a big, fun multivoice with everyone participating the last two times, and that would certainly be fun to do again - 2018 we did Earth Is Space Australia (and Chuck Norris Isn’t A Man With A Beard. He’s A Beard With A Man) and 2019 we did I Has a Sweet Potato. After that, people start leaving as their travel plans call for.

Throughout the three days, there’s a lot of podficcing happening at all hours of day and night - the EPF collections on AO3 should give you some idea!

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

We know that by virtue of going back to an in-person meetup, some of you who joined us in 2020 and 2022 will not be able to come hang out with us again, which really sucks! Unfortunately we don’t have the capacity to organise a virtual meetup in addition to the in-person one, and past years show that none of us really spend a lot of time online during the weekend, so having that run parallel wouldn’t work either. However, if anyone wants to start their own virtual podfic meetup, get in touch with us! We’re happy to share our experiences with running EPF 2020 & 2022 as well as do lots of promo.

Like in the past few years, we will mostly be updating you via email, but we’ll also try to crosspost to Dreamwidth, Twitter, and tumblr, life and time permitting. If you want to make sure to stay up to date, contact us via DMs on any of the usual social medias, Discord, or email us at europodfriends at gmail to be added to the mailing list!

[hrodvitnon]

Some more Shamhat questions I'm shooting your way because i read porn for the plot dammit

Some of the mechanics of Mothra's pheromones are interesting to me. Like, is it just a run of the mill pheromone or a weird magic one with special rules? Would masturbation actually get rid of it's effects or do you have to make physical contact with another person? (the reason I ask is because when we were first shown it's effects they only went away after Vivienne and Goji lip-locked)

We know that the girl kaiju have some unique effects/gimmicks to their individual heats (Mothra produces pheromones, Tiamat glows in an almost hypnotic pattern to entice partners). Is the same true for the guys and their ruts? It doesn't seem like Goji has any special properties to his rutting self, unless I missed something. (this could be a cool way to diversify smut scenes though, like how Mothra's pheromones did back when they were introduced)

Playing off the last two, if Battra were to ever enter rut, would he have pheromones too? If so, would they work the same as his sister's or would they have their own unique effects?

Last one because I may have asked this one before, I can't remember and I don't want to comb the dogshit search function to dig it up, so bear that in mind. Is rut exclusively triggered by heats or does it also operate on a cycle? If the answer to this is yes, then can rut trigger heat just like heat can rut?

We read smut for the articles. Also, I think we can chalk these answers up to "I didn't think about it too much at the time because Shamhat was just a silly smut fic compared to Abraxas and also I forget a lot of details because I'm Tumblr Old and it's been a while".

Maybe her pheromones are more comparatively mundane, if anything, like an aphrodisiac. It can last for a while but will eventually wear off. (Did it wear off after a Grahamzilla kiss? I remember it first happening when Mothra solicits Rodan for sex and then the four-way happens, but that's it.)

As far as I know, the male Titans don't really have a "gimmick" to their ruts, just their scents changing. Like Rodan goes from a cozy fireplace scent to spicy. The guys tend to have more emphasis placed on courtship displays like bioluminescence and such.

Who knows if Battra will ever appear in Shamhat (the inspiration well for it seems to be running dry so who knows when it'll update at all), but let's say for now that he does have pheromones and they work similarly to Mothra's.

Ruts can be triggered by heat, or by another male's rut if the Titan in question is gay or bisexual. And the rut itself crests in intensity throughout its duration, hence the parts where Goji and Rodan are more cognizant at times while they're still in rut. At the risk of TMI, it's sort of like how menstrual cramps in human women aren't a constant state of discomfort and can be more intense at the beginning.

[thebansacredbanned]

Tagged by @wishthefish!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

123... somehow... oh wait i know how its bc i did whumptober

2) What's your total AO3 word count?

392,687

3) What fandoms do you write for?

Currently: The Untamed/MDZS, Nirvana in Fire, A League of Nobleman, The Blood of Youth [screaming, crying, trying please i need more people to write tBoY fic my crops are dying], The Disguiser [sometimes]. I'm also working on a few ideas for Mysterious Lotus Casebook which I finished last week

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

So these are all from back when I was actually writing the most popular pairing for a popular fandom, as opposed to now where I'm either writing the Rarest of rare-pairs or for fandoms that have <100 english fics so:

Yellow Petals - The Witcher, Geraskier, hanahaki

I Would Know Him In Death (At The End of the World) - Les Mis, E/R, les amis are reincarnated greek heroes

Butter-cup of Tea - The Witcher, Geraskier, round robin me and @nemainofthewater wrote together that I'm sure had a plot

as I reckon with the effects of your life on mine - The Witcher, Jaskier & Valdo Marx, another one by me and Nemain where I wrote Jaskier's letters and Nemain wrote Valdo Marx's

Know the Water's Sweet but Blood is Thicker - The Witcher, Jaskier is Calanthe's brother, yikes I never finished that one oops

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to (sometimes I forget though lol)! It feels nice to have some kind of interactions with other fans, plus that's how I made friends with @wishthefish so there's always a risk chance of getting to know people ;P

6) What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hahhaahahahahahahaahahahhah

ummmm all of them?

it's probably 'You left me here behind, do you not care?' which has very little room for any hope at all come the end

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

this is actually harder than the angst one, somehow. like happy? are any of truly happy??

I'm restricting it to things I wrote this year and I'm going to say As we walk with the sun hand in hand from the wreck, which is the 'happy ending' stem of the Xuyao choose your own adventure thing I was working on this year

8) Do you get hate on fics?

I did once, but it was for a fandom I was already over in a work I wasn't like 100% sold on anyway and I found it kind of funny

9) Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No but as I put in a group chat the other day "every day i inch closer to writing porn and i am not happy about it".

To be fair I don't think I'll ever write full-blown smut, and generally I find that, for what I'm writing at least, having things left implied is better bc then people can imagine whatever they want (and I don't have to write it)

10) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I do in fact have a NiF/Untamed bodyswap crossover in my docs which I either need to write more of or decide that I'm not going to write any more of and just post as is

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! There's a French translation of I Would Know Him in Death (At the End of the World)!

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have several co-written fic with @nemainofthewater - we share a braincell so it's always a lot of fun

14) What's your all-time favorite ship?

See that's a. that's a question that I'm finding WAY harder to answer than it should be.

Probably E/R (Enjolras/Grantaire) from Les Miserables. Like R is still my tumblr/ao3 picture (and my phone home screen), I might now actually be in the fandom so much any more but forever in my heart etc

15) What's a wip that you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Oh man I just went on my posted works on ao3 and I have a les mis fencing au that I last updated in 2020. That's never going to to happen

16) What are your writing strenghts?

Lets see how much angst I can fit in a very small amount of words 😈

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle finishing anything longer than about 2k which is a pain bc I have lots of ideas that deserve a lot more words than I can focus on writing for them

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

It's cool when people do it (especially if they have hover-ovre translations)! I haven't ever tried and am unlikely to any time soon

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Turn! (actually the first fandom I wrote for was Hamilton but that never saw the light of day and NEVER WILL)

I'm going to tag @nemainofthewater @luzzeagain @woobifiedvillain and anyone else who feels like it!

[random-mailbox]

Random-Mailbox's Favorite Sailor Moon Fics - Week 28 - Fix-It Fics

This week we are covering another one of the tropes from @floraone ’s matrix - Fix-it Fics. As @lilliebellfanfics so aptly put it “Aren't all fics fix-it fics?” - yes, I agree. this particular subset of stories are all about giving Usagi and Mamoru that eventual happily ever after, even if things did not go to the original Manga / Anime plan. 

As always, my apologies in advance for spoiling some of these for you (Fic Titles are linked to either FFN or AO3 entries).

DARK LADY - luna-magic-2005

Endymion betrayed Goddess Selene who chose to become his wife due to his own insecurity. Now millennia later Mamoru has to prove to Usagi that he will always be true to her.

Golden Afternoon - Dejana Talis (Dejana)

In this AU, Usagi and the girls find each other like they were always meant to but something is still missing, which is bothering Sailor Pluto. Then one golden afternoon, all the pieces fall into place.

Just Can't Forget You - @allyunabridged

After a 6 year absence, Usagi and Mamoru are forced to interact for the first time at the opening of Motoki and Mako’s new restaurant. Polite conversation gives way to whispered confessions, as they try to find new footing. The last chapter / epilogue makes this story so much better! (I will not be spoiling that for you)

All In - @idesofnovember

I love this take on eventual happily-ever-after. Years after Usagi and Mamoru break up, Setsuna approaches them both with a proposition that would ensure that timeline stays intact and brings Chibi-Usa into the world, something both of them agree to do. Her latest WIP of The Long Way Home seems to have a similar premise and I really hope we get to see more chapters of it one day.

Desperate and divine - @idesofnovember

Usagi remembered everything after the defeat of Metalia but Mamoru never did. In a final attempt to get him out of her system before he leaves to study in the US, she convinces him to spend just one night with her, telling him to “forget about her and find himself a cool girlfriend”, as she leaves.

Enough - @uglygreenjacket

In this one shot, Usagi and Mamoru deal with repercussions of his choice to leave to study in the US, and him being stuck in the darkness without his crystal, while Usagi thinks he left her behind all alone.

Déjà vu - @floraone

One day Usagi wakes up next to a very content  Mamoru, which is so different from the man she knows so well. Eventually she realizes that she managed to get misplaced in time, which happens to her again, leaving echos behind.

---

That's it for this week! Next week we are doing something super light and fun - Mugs Prompt!

Here are the links to the previous Tumblr posts in these series to explore more amazing works based on different themes - make sure to check them out if you haven't had a chance! (Click on title name to go to the post) - I will keep updating the list every week as new posts come up:

Week 1 - Groundhog Day

Week 2 - Established Relationships

Week 3 - Sex Positivity

Week 4 - Unfinished Stories

Week 5 - Darker Stories

Week 6 - Potions 🧪

Week 7 - Reveals

Week 8 - 👻Halloween🎃

Week 9 - Wrong Perceptions

Week 10 - Non-Senshi AU

Week 11 - In-Progress Fics

Week 12 - Mutual Pining

Week 13 - Enemies to Lovers

Week 14 - Slow Burn

Week 15 - Christmas Part 1 - Ugly Christmas Sweaters and Santa!

Week 16 - Christmas Part 2

Week 17 - New Years

Week 18 - High School AU

Week 19 - Slice of Life

Week 20 - Coffee shop AU

Week 21 - Huddle for Warmth

Week 22 - Friends to Lovers

Week 23 - ❤️Valentines Day❤️

Week 24 - Do a Grouch a Favour Day (or Cheer Up Fics)

Week 25 - Soulmate AU

Week 26 - Amnesia Fics (and resources)

Week 27 - 🍀St Patrick's Day🍀

[carry-on-big-bang]

COBB 2023 Rules

GENERAL RULES

You are expected to treat everyone participating in this project, including the mods, with respect. We do not tolerate shaming of any kind. Offensive or disrespectful behavior will result in getting kicked from this year’s COBB and future events.

You must keep up with the schedule. We will send out reminder emails regularly (you can check our schedule for these dates). If you cannot meet a deadline, please inform the mods and we will work something out.

You may register as both a writer and an artist, but due to the collaborative nature of this event, you will not be able to make art for your own story.

You must respond to check-in emails within a week unless otherwise specified in the email.

We might send updates or further information any time, as well as reminders and check-ins, so don’t forget to check your mailbox from time to time.

Please do not discuss your work in detail with the general public until after the works have been posted, but you are welcome to post teasers. (And after posting, you may promote your work as much as you’d like).

Your team will be given a specific date for posting. Please talk to your partner to make sure you post at around the same time and decide who will be submitting the masterpost. Keep time zones in mind!

You may post your work(s) anywhere you like, as long as you send the mods a link after posting.

We highly encourage you to consider posting either on Tumblr or on AO3.

You may drop out before matching without any consequences, just contact the mods. You are asked not to drop out after matching, for that would leave someone without a partner.

If you need to drop out due to emergency reasons, please let the mods know so we can work something out. There will be no judgment or punishments.

(Yes, simple stress or fatigue does count as an emergency. You know yourself best and it’s your decision to make. You get to have the last word in this.)

WRITER RULES

Fics must have a minimum word count of 4000. There is no maximum.

Fics must be unpublished and specifically written for this big bang. You are allowed to use prompts.

If you are co-writing, there will be space to name a co-writer on the form. Only one of you needs to fill out the check-ins, but it would be great if both of you did!

Fics must be posted on your assigned day. Chaptered posting for multi-chapter fics is permitted, but we ask you to post the second chapter after the posting period for the event has ended. (If you want a more detailed explanation, please check our FAQ in the writer section.)

Your fic may be part of a series but must be able to be read as a stand-alone.

You may register as both a writer and an artist, but due to the collaborative nature of this event, you are asked not to make art for your own fic.

ARTIST RULES

Artists can claim more than one fic. That means, if there are more fics than artists, a second round of claims will be opened, which will be entirely voluntary.

Permitted artwork is drawings (traditional and digital), edits, songs, videos (minimum length 40 seconds) or anything else you and your writer agree on.

You must create at least one piece of art. You can make more if you want to, of course, but it must be finished before the final check-in.

You may register as both a writer and an artist, but due to the collaborative nature of this event, you are asked not to make art for your own fic.

[baekhvuns]

thank you for the recommendation of the angsty songs!!!! how'd i forgot about osts that truly helped for angst 😭😭 and and anddd!!! i have been writing my fics in google docs as well and it's very helpful! since i saw someone said that writing straight on tumblr usually happened to have repeated paragraphs at times so,,,

hegehehegdhrj i think my mingi ff is a little rushing towards the ending since im sucks in writing good ending considering my brain only generating ideas somewhere for the climax lmaoo but i hopeeee i can have audiences enjoying it <3 im not really good with angst although my life is full with angst so i guess i just wanted to be happy once in my own stories (ouch). i dont really consider myself a writer, just a mere reader tbh skshsjkss but i will let you know once i have the courage to drop that fic :D

no but recently, as i said, i only saw porns on my tags, etc and barely seen any mafia with actual plot yk,,, like real legit plot with long ass words written so im a little sad and thought that nobody wants to write mafia anymore or they have lost any new twist for the trope lmaoooo 😭😭😭 being said, i missed your mafia mingi so much i hope its doing well and in a pink of health in your draft <333

anyways new update: i have started writing reincarnation au san and next to write perhaps news reporter yunho (that my brain generated when i was watching morning news yesterday 🫡) or fake dating au seonghwa (that i have been keeping the draft for more than a year now),,, let's see.... ehe :D

p/s: kinda want a new job but at the same i dont want one yet just so i can continue converting all my ideas into writing 🦍

ofc any time!! forgetting you by davichi is the ultimate angst wiring song pls do give it a listen if u have the chance! you’re right, ever since tumblr updated from mid last year(??) it’s been repeating paragraphs and even has a word block limit 😭😭 glad ur writing on something that can save ur works!

AAAAAAAAAA im very excited for ur mingi fic im sure the audiences(me) will love them!!! no bc i also suck at writing endings so i just leave it at a cliffhanger-ish/up to the reader type of ending 😭😭 LMFAOOOOO NOT UR LIFE BEING FULL OF ANGST FBWNBSKCK pls do!! hopefully u get the courage ✊🏻✊🏻

😭😭😭 how did we as a society move from full bloom plot heavy fics to just porno’s 😭😭😭 NO BC FBSJHFS I WAS VISITING MY MINGI MAFIA DRAFT BEFORE I WAS ANSWERING THIS ITS STILL THERE AND SITTING PRETTY IVE COME UP W A BETTER SAME PLOT FOR IT AND I WILL BRING BACK MAFIAS FOR YOU my dedication for that fic will be u <3 if i don’t write the f1 fic first that is 😭😭 or a miraculous lady bug fic <3

WE NEED SMALL DETAILS OF ALL UR PLOTS. WHAT THE FUCK DO U MEAN NEWS REPORTER YUNHO. ????. WHAT THE FUCK DID U SAY ABOUT PARK SEONGHWA AND FAKE DAYING FHKWHDWKJDKW

ANON IDC THIS HOLIDAY I BETTER SEE THAT FAKE DATINF FIC ON THIS APP I DO NOT CARE I WILL HUNT U FOR THAT FIC FHAMFJKSJDLA

[wanderingandfound]

Suicide cw (I'm fine I just can't sleep, cw is about somebody else).

Meant to go to bed at 10 and let this be a day I did pretty much nothing but feel sick.

Was on track to go to bed at midnight and opened up the package from the new-ish mail pharmacy to see a fucking ad about portion control. Went to unsubscribe from ads and the site glitches. I'm mad now. Take my meds at 12:11.

I'm mad so I try to distract myself by playing Two Dots and listening to the newest episode of F@tT. Admit that this is not helping me sleep.

Try reading some one shot fic in a fandom I don't really care about. Finish that one and try to find another but I'm not really feeling it. (The search features a canonically suicidal character and the attempts come up in the fic. I don't think this is going to affect me.)

It's 1 AM.

Get some half-remembeted lyrics stuck in my head. Look them up, get the band. Put that band and another and "sleep" into 8tracks. Scroll through and choose one that isn't labeled "SAD SAD SAD" or depressed or heartbreak. The first song so happens to be the one in my head, what a neat coincidence/stroke of fate. The next song starts playing. I shut it off. I'm thinking of someone I was *briefly* Twitter mutuals with and later found out they ended their life. I'm thinking of them. Before we were mutuals they had purged their AO3 of everything they had written and all the comments they had left and deleted their Twitter account. They created a new Twitter account and I followed them there and they followed me back and we talked about our fandom a couple of times. I didn't realize they had deactivated until much later. They may have come back and deactivated again I don't remember. Found out many months later from another Twitter mutual that they had taken their life. I barely barely knew them but it still makes me so sad. (I don't know if they ever had a tumblr. When you search their name here one secret santa gift comes up. If you go to that person's blog you see other secret santa works from that year in that fandom. One of these is an 8tracks mix. Probably because I refuse to update the app and get ads, my 8tracks app forgets my recent history. And has my last played mix as that one from the secret santa event.)

Write this all up on tumblr. Now it's 1:30 AM. So fucking late.

I need to put my phone down and sleep but I don't want to be alone with my thoughts. I found out the Twitter mutual died quite some time ago, but I'm still so sad. And long before they took their life they purged the art the created and the conversations they had from the intenet.

I've never been good with the ephemeral.

Ff.net is dying. Twitter has been sabotaged. People are deleting their art from DeviantArt due to AI. An algorithm came through Tumblr and purged it of so much stuff deemed adult. Tumblr loses millions of dollars every year.

[interrogatormentors]

Event Eleven: Natural

They dissected Ualona in their anatomy class the following day. Sollux knew he should’ve been ready. All of the other subjects in the dissection videos to learn about the inner workings of the body, were young and fit, and more than a few showed signs of distress and torture when they were working on the cadavers. Sollux knew they were working on other trainees, but still they all stopped and stared at the body on the table waiting for them with the exception of Rosmer and Zesaim. Those two remained as placid as ever as of late, eerily so as they took their seats.

A new instructor waited for them, a goldblood with a horrific burn across one side of her face and a bright red eye. “Welcome, recruits,” she said, stretching on some gloves as she spoke, “to the next stage of your anatomy schoolfeeding. As you are well aware, this specimen hasn’t been dead long and I wish to make efficient use of it while it is here. Please take up your tablets-- You will be answering questions as I perform this dissection, so no need for gloves just yet. Once I have been satisfied with your performance, you will be tasked with practicing cuts and sutures on the specimen, as in the field you may have to patch up both yourself and your interrogation subject at any time. Do keep in mind that dead flesh is very different from the living, and respond accordingly. Be very grateful one of your own perished at such a convenient time, as knowing the subject in this unit is optimal. We would hate to have to give you a frozen subject.”

Sollux sat down in his usual seat, and despite his best attempts to remain impartial to avoid punishment he couldn’t help speaking up. His tablet zapped him as he did so, but he continued on without so much as flinching. “I’m not saying I won’t do this, because I know that isn’t an option,” he said. He kept his expression passive, and managed to avoid any further electrocution. “But I’d just like to know what’s accomplished by knowing.. The specimen.” He narrowly avoided grimacing then. He hated speaking as though Ualona was just a piece of meat, but that too had to be buried. Emotions were weakness.

Rosmer scoffed beside him, but the instructor lifted a hand. “Calm yourself, Leywet. Captor here has asked an excellent question.” She began to pace, arms folded behind her back. “Why indeed? The answer is simple-- there is no greater weakness than close relationships. Alliances are useful to use and exploit, but sentimental clinging will always serve as a detriment. If your closest friend is a traitor to the empire, you must be able to detach yourself and do what is done.” Sollux stiffened by a millimeter, and immediately the instructor’s good eye fixed upon him as she continued speaking. “We are the sharpest knives of the empire, recruits. Do not forget that.”

Trisia averted her eyes as the instructor went back to the table and picked up a scalpel, but Sollux forced himself to watch. He could feel something in him slipping away, giving up as the instructor put the knife to Ualona’s chest. “You are all familiar with the first cut to start with, yes? Do tell me my predecessor did not fail you in that regard.”

Sollux glanced over at Mercuo, who shrugged a shoulder, but they all answered correctly: a Y-cut, to access the chest and organs within for an autopsy-style investigation. Ophlia refused to answer, hands flat on her desk in front of her, and didn’t move as her tablet zapped out at her.

“Please be mature about this, Miss Davrot,” the instructor said. She made the initial cut, exposing the abdominal and thoracic cavities with a clean Y-cut. “When performing your own dissections, remember to start at the corner of the pectorals and go diagonally until they meet at the midline. Do not make the mistake of starting with the vertical cut down the middle. Cherry picking will get you nowhere. Trolls will, on occasion, hide valuable information in any and all bodily cavities and if they are former helmsmen such as Captor, their brain will have been modified with a partially electronic sector. Never forget to check that area when working with a lowblood. If you have enough adrenaline to mitigate shock, you can even do as much while the subject is awake. That way, you immediately know when you have made a mistake in their pan rather than being surprised by their later incoherence when they come to consciousness.”

The instructor peeled the skin and muscle back, revealing Ualona’s internal cavity. Considering how long he had been dead he did not bleed, but Sollux swallowed back a retch at the foul smell. “Next question, what tool is used to open the ribcage?” Mercuo wobbled in his seat, looking queasy, but answered with the rest.

Sollux got the answer wrong, as did Ophlia by virtue of once again refusing not to answer. Sollux readjusted his grip on his tablet, and took the incorrect answer in stride. He filed the answer away in his notes, color-coded and neat. The sane part of him asked why, why bother considering how he still yearned to escape, but the other half of him reminded him of the futility of the attempt. He had already experienced the helm. Wouldn’t it be better to have a semblance of agency, to walk and eat and sleep like a normal troll? Better trolls had sacrificed more for such a life.

The instructor sliced open the digestive sac then, interrupting Sollux’s thoughts. Mercuo actually threw up then, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth as he lifted his head. Rosmer’s eyebrows twitched, but he leaned in all the same as the instructor started going on about how fast to move to recover objects before stomach acid could damage them if the troll hadn’t taken precautionary measures against it.

The rest of the lesson passed just as unpleasantly as the beginning, and the whirring of the bonesaw at Ualona’s skull continued to echo through Sollux’s pan as they filed from the block. Another new instructor awaited them at physical endurance training, a teal with blind eyes, sickly black cracks shattering his skin, and a shadow that seemed too long and too solid as he paced the room.

Sollux went about coding a new, private chatroom for them all, barring Rosmer and Zesaim seeing as the two both seemed compromised now. He pinged the others, one by one over the next hour so as to not arouse suspicion.

[twinArmaggedons [TA] has opened up the memo porndonotopen]

glorifiedCorpsification [GC] has entered the chat!

cavortingGratuity [CG] has entered the chat!

accentuatedAntimony [AA] has entered the chat!

AA: 7his isnt porn is i7

TA: not iin the mood funniily enough TA: anyone know what wa2 up wiith the two new iin2tructor2?

GC: *No.* GC: *Don’t care.*

CG: i actually Heard oTHers Talking CG: pozoia and juyere were parTners and THeir sHip was aTTacked.

TA: let me check the helmiing channel2.

Sollux opened up the helming channels, plugging in his well-worn code string to bypass the firewalls. A quick scan had his pusher skipping a few beats, and he rolled over on his reclining platform onto his stomach as he scrolled through the data.

TA: the rebelliion got them. TA: they managed two get iin the 2hiip, extract the iinterrogatormentor2, and get out. AA: 7ha7 sounds bull to me. AA: 7hey never would ge7 7aken alive.

TA: word iin the helm ii2 that poiizoiia’2 old mate2priit wa2 iinvolved.

AA: wai7 AA: so i7 wasn7 an a77ack?

AA: i7 was a rescue?

GC: *So our quads weren’t culled.* GC: *Someone misses us.*

AA: oh god did you have a quad.

GC: *Pale*

GC: *My diamond, lime bright and secret.*

GC: *My soul traded for hers. They stated her death was a quick one. Do not know what to believe now.*

TA: okay. TA: okay you know what you diidn’t make a trade.

TA: we’re gettiing out of here.

TA: ii 2ay we try and move wiithiin the periigee before anythiing wor2e happen2 two one of u2. 

Sollux turned off his tablet then, putting it under his pillow and flipping back onto his back to stare at the ceiling. He dared to imagine his friends’ faces then, the friends he’d tried to force himself to forget in an attempt to minimize what the interrogatormentors could use against him. Was Karkat actually looking for him? Was he somewhere out in the stars with the others, tearing ships apart and searching them for a helmsman or a mangled corpse within?

The weeks passed. The escape plan took shape, pupating into something actionable as each day passed. Mercuo had the advantage of his blood, and along with Ophlia’s intimidating bulk he managed to procure escape pod codes from the docking bay. Trisia, already a favorite amongst the guard, managed to get a shift shadowing another while Sollux worked on adjusting the cameras just enough to create blind spots in their vision without arousing suspicion. Another night, another millimeter, until there was a foot of space the cameras couldn’t see leading down the corridor to freedom.

Despite his efforts Sollux found his motivation draining from him with each passing night. He voiced none of his doubts in the chat, but what was even the point of escaping? Interrogatormentor training haunted his every moment, but at least it was better than running from the Empire. Just like rebels, they would be hunted down and given no quarter for abandoning their posts. They’d signed away their lives. Ophlia seemed more outwardly hesitant than he was, but he wasn’t sure how much of that was just her brusque manner of speaking and general stoic demeanor.

After dinner one night, Sollux decided to turn in early. He felt off, a headache building up behind his eyes, and Trisia just about booted him down the hall to sleep. The training that night with Rapard had worn him down to the bone, and he fell asleep the moment his head hit the reclining platform. Only much later would he make the connection between the taste of the food that morning and Rosmer’s bright, eager eyes watching him across the table to how deeply he slept.

When Sollux awoke the next night, Trisia and Mercuo had gone. Sollux met Ophlia’s eyes across the room, and while she betrayed nothing he could tell she was thinking the same as him. They abandoned us. Sollux got dressed in silence with the three others, and out of the corner of his eye saw Ophlia pick up her tub of face paint to apply it for the night, before putting it down again without a word. She walked out of the room, blank faced as the rest of them to meet their usual instructors for training

One by one as they walked, an instructor pulled them away. Sollux followed Rapard in silence, and came to a stop with him outside an unfamiliar block. “Your final exam, recruit,” Rapard said. “Congratulations on making it to the live interrogation. You will be tested on your ability to extract information from the subject and to resist emotional attachments.” Rapard opened the door, revealing Mercuo stripped down to his shorts and strapped to a chair with his head slumped forward to his chest. “You are tasked with interrogating Mercuo Trevan for his attachments to the rebellion, and discovering the location of Trisia Avarae. Culling the subject before you are given the clear will result in immediate failure and your termination. Is this clear, recruit?”

Sollux nodded, a faint pang in his gut as he entered the room. The door slammed shut behind him, and Mercuo’s closed eyes screwed themselves shut a little tighter. Sollux took stock of the situation, seeing a rolling table to the side of the room, equipped with various tools that he’d become well acquainted with in the gruelling time that they’d been in training. Scalpels, knives, scissors. Bundles of wire. Bottles of different types of fluid, one of which was labeled as liquid nitrogen. A styrofoam container that no doubt contained dry ice. Then there was a kettle, a hairdryer, pliers. Each item, regardless of how innocuous they seemed, all had a grim purpose in this room.

Sollux closed his eyes and inhaled, gathering himself. While Rapard had forbidden immediately culling Mercuo, Sollux doubted that Mercuo would walk out of this one alive. Maybe he could try to give Mercuo a quick death anyway. He’d prefer Mercuo lived, because a distant part of him longed for all of this to end and for everything to be okay again. He missed Ualona. He missed Mercuo swearing at him and Zesaim and Rosmer being normal. He missed Trisia managing to make Ophlia laugh. He missed Karkat, accessible now only to Sollux on the culling block should they meet again.

Sollux opened his eyes, rolling his shoulders before raising his hand to the thermostat on the wall. He cranked the temperature up, and braced as a wave of hot air blasted through the vents. Mercuo stirred then, lifting his head and jerking at his bonds.

“Captor? What… What’s going on?”

Sollux almost gritted his teeth, but the ghostly chill of his memories in the freezer helped tame him back. “I think you know what’s going on. You failed. I’m going to pass.”

Mercuo swallowed hard, running his tongue over his lips as the heat in the room rose. “...Sparks. Fuck, what-- I talked to you yesterday.” His eyes fell on something behind Sollux, and Sollux glanced back to spot a blinking red light in the corner. They were being watched. Sollux wondered how soon they would edit down the footage, how long until they released this as just another schoolfeeding supplemental. 

Mercuo recovered first, fins flaring out in a clear signal of aggression as Sollux approached him. Other than that, his face fell into a familiar blank mask of indifference all interrogatormentors wore. “I don’t know what exactly you want, dude, but you’ll have to try harder.” He laughed, thin and mirthless while not a single muscle in his face twitched. “The temperature trials don’t work so much on me anymore. We both went through them.”

Sollux smacked Mercuo in the face, watching a drop of sweat fly off the seadweller’s nose and across the room. “Then you know how this works. I’m asking the questions.” With the addition of the camera in the room Sollux worked harder to maintain a cold mask of control, killing any last remnant of resistance to his training. He had to pass. He had to live. Mercuo had proven his weakness. “I know you went through the training, I’m not a wiggler.” He picked up the bundle of wires from the table, pushing the operculum back and hooking the metal ends to the seadweller’s delicate torso gills with little clamps. “I don’t care if your pan isn’t scrambled, it’s your body I need weak.”

Sollux clutched the wires then, using them as a conduit to direct psionics through all of Mercuo’s gills at once. Mercuo held himself together for a whole thirty seconds before he lost his nerve and screeched, little trickles of blood bursting from the gills’ fillaments from the shock. He bent as much as he could in his restraints, rasping with his eyes wide as Sollux watched him. “Why did Trisia leave you behind? I thought she cared about you.”

“They shot my ankle out,” Mercuo said, wheezing and wincing. A quick glance down confirmed this-- the seadweller’s whole foot and ankle up to the shin were swathed in bandages. The wound still looked fresh. “I threw her into a pod and made her go.” He lifted his head, baring a shark-toothed grin even as his breathing hitched from the pain. “Anything else, Sparks?”

Sollux clenched his fist around the wires, and he caught the tiniest flick of Mercuo’s fin at the motion. Good, he’d managed to already get a panic response. Still he had to remind himself to keep going, to get the answers. He had to cover the bases. He already knew Mercuo’s name. That was always the first step. He had to make sure the subject was uncomfortable, and the blazing hot room accomplished that.

He cocked back his free hand, punching Mercuo right in the face. Mercuo gagged around blood as the punch to the face caused him to cut his inner cheek on his teeth, and Sollux turned as he recovered to turn the heat up even more with his psionics. “I’m asking the questions. You’re just making this difficult, you know it. This could be over now. Where were you planning to go? You never told the rest of us.” He sent out another wave of psionics at Mercuo’s gills, eyes narrowed. “She had to go somewhere. Where is she?”

Mercuo bit his lip hard enough to bleed even more with the second surge of psionics, eyes watering as his gills started to tear under the psionic pressure. Sweat dripped down his face. “No. Try something else. Fffffuck you, Captor. C’mon. This cheesy villain shtick doesn’t fit you. Like I knew you were compromised, man, but you can still bounce back.”

Sollux wrenched Mercuo’s head back, forcing him to stare up at the bright bulb above them. “You know where she went. But take your time. I’m here all night.” He dropped Mercuo’s head, removing the wires and starting to tape them shut instead with some medical tape provided to him. His fingers slipped a little in the violet blood, but he pressed on and moved up to Mercuo’s neck gills until the seadweller was, for the first time in his life, watertight. He covered Mercuo’s face with a cloth, grabbing a pitcher from the table and pouring it onto Mercuo’s face to simulate drowning for a troll that never should have the context for such a situation. Mercuo yelled and trilled under the cloth, his legs jerking in their bonds as Sollux waterboarded him. He repeated his question, firm and unflinching as the seadweller gurgled.

It took an hour for Mercuo to stop choking and to begin crying instead, and Sollux pulled back when the desperation reached its peak. Mercuo coughed, head lolling back before he caught himself. “No. Fuck you. I’m not budging. Ask something else.”

Sollux grabbed Mercuo’s face, forcing eye contact. “I think you know I won’t budge either. I don’t care if you give me an answer now or after hours of me tearing your guts out through your nostrils.”

He raised the temperature again, and grabbed himself a sip of water after doing so. Mercuo watched him with hungry eyes, actively panting now. Sollux grabbed another towel, a dry one this time, scrubbing away the sweat and water on Mercuo’s face to rob him of the chance to cool himself down. He put the towel down, placing the heel of his hand over one of Mercuo’s eyes. “But if you’re still going to be stubborn, eyes are a pretty quick route to the pan.” Mercuo writhed. “No, Captor, wait-- I’m sorry, we’re sorry! We tried to wake you up, you weren’t moving, it was just like Ualona-- oh god, no no no no oh god Sollux please--”

The seadweller screamed as Sollux turned his psionics on him, burning his eye beyond repair. Blood and fluid bubbled up around Sollux’s hand and Mercuo’s screeching rose in pitch, body jerking as he tried to back away. He screamed himself hoarse for what seemed like hours as Sollux held him there with a single hand, the blood pooling down his face while his other eye glazed over from the pain.

Sollux pulled his hand away, wiping his hand clean on Mercuo’s face. Part of him ached as he saw Mercuo sobbing before him, hated himself and the situation he’d been forced into. That part of him grew quieter as he swiped a smear of violet blood from his cheek and flicked it onto the floor. “You have no right to call me by name.” He placed his hand on Mercuo’s other eye, ignoring the wail that resulted. “You were dead to me the moment you tried to escape.”

“You came up with the idea!”

Sollux glanced back at the camera at the other side of the room. “It never would’ve worked. When you two left without us I realized something.” He leaned in, his face an inch from Mercuo’s. He could smell the sweat and the panicked pheromones whirling around his head. “I’m better off here. They take trolls that are weak and turn them into something stronger. I don’t need to run for the rest of my life.”

“They broke you, Captor, and that’s the point.” Mercuo wheezed, flinching as Sollux pressed down on his eye. “They’ll break you so you can’t feel anything and what’s the point in calling yourself a troll anymore?”

Sollux snorted, and silently berated himself for betraying that emotional response. “They broke me down and built me up again and turned me into a weapon. I’m the one walking out of here alive today. If you give Trisia up, maybe she won’t suffer the same fate as you. I’ll give you one more chance before I take your other eye.”

Mercuo sniffled, starting to hiccup in terror. “Please, Sollux. Please.”

“You have two seconds.”

“I can’t I can’t, I’m so fucking pale for her, I can’t.” He spat then, purposeful and directly onto Sollux’s free hand.

That spelled the beginning of the end for Mercuo. Sollux blinded his other eye then, and after that Sollux tortured the seadweller for hours. They instructors had provided adrenaline, and Sollux forced Mercuo back from the brink more than a few times. He didn’t take a break, not even to grab a bite of the food that a wordless instructor brought in for him.

The process took a total of six hours. Six hours of hell, pushing this person-- who in another life, Sollux could have considered being actual friends with --to just shy of death. Every tool on that table ended up in use. Gills were dried with the blistering heat of the hair dryer. Mercuo’s wounded leg, torn free of its bandages, dunked into the vat of liquid nitrogen and then shattered off like glass. His fins, cut off and then cauterized with the blistering heat of Sollux’s psionics. The delicate filaments of his gills cut by a scalpel with precision, where the nerve bundles were greatest. Dry ice forced down his throat with no reprieve or water in sight. Every little bit of interrogation tricks he’d learned through the course shone through, applied meticulously to ensure that not only would Mercuo still be alive, but he would sorely regret that fact.

Clearly, it was all too much to bear. Mercuo sagged back against his chair, ruined eyes dripping blood onto the floor as his head lolled to the side, making him seem more of a corpse or a daywalker at best. “Kill me, please.” He took in a deep breath, coughing. “She entered in Alternian coords. Shhhekfk- gkgg- Found forums… They have a base down there. New heiress… she’s.. She’s coming. Feferi Peixes.”

Sollux’s ears flicked as he heard a soft beep, and looking to the camera he saw the light had gone green. Any residual guilt had leaked out of him at this point, and he felt nothing upon being given the implicit order to kill one of his dear friends.

No. Allowed. He was allowed the privilege of culling a traitor. 

Sollux put a hand to Mercuo’s chest, powering his psionics up to deadly levels and letting out a shock directly to the seadweller’s bloodpusher. Mercuo smiled right before he did so, croaking a ragged thanks before jerking once. Then he died, breath rattling and rasping to a stop.

Sollux felt nothing at all.

Sollux stepped out of the interrogation room, covered in violet blood and with his back straight. Rapard awaited him, arms folded behind him. He stopped Sollux dead in his tracks by smiling, honestly smiling, reaching out to grab Sollux by the shoulders.

“Nice work, recruit. You’re a natural.”

[aftgficrec]

Do you know of any fics where Andrew and Neil get kid/s, either having them themselves, adopting, or one of them having a younger sibling they need to take care of?

(Preferably not abandoned)

Thank you so much.

Oh, there are so, so many fics about Andreil with kids or siblings!  Our previous posts contain many complete fics, but who knows of a complimentary comment or kudos on an older wip wouldn’t provide the author with the encouragement and motivation to continue?

The fics included in this post are either complete, or have been recently updated.  And don’t forget the behemoth that is ‘Blame It On My Youth’ (previously rec’ed here), a wip that updates consistently and currently stands at over 1 million words! - S

Also see …

Andreil dad aus here

recent Andreil with kids here

long complete Andreil with kids here

Andreil adopt Kevin here

Andreil fostering/adopting here

cute parental Andreil here

complete Andreil as parents here

Andreil with a kid before meeting here

Andreil and Kandreil with kids here  

K(andreil) fostering here

new single parent/domestic with kids here

kid fics here

new kid fics (parental) here

the minyards with long lost siblings or kids here

Neil with a kid/younger sibling here

Neil with a twin here

Neil with a brother/sibling here

Neil with a sister here

Neil with a half-sister here

Foxes taking in a younger sibling here

‘Pinch of Salt’ here

‘A Home for the Holidays’ here

‘Say You'll Stay’ here

‘I could carve you in my dermis’ here

‘My Brother's Keeper’ here

‘where the heart is’ series, ‘Forming a Family; Forging a Future,’ and ‘We Are Survivors’ here

‘"Do you see my old man’s scowl? That’s his nice face…"’ here

‘Meant to Be Loved’ here

‘spilt coffee and bumped heads’ here

‘Bean.’ (a/b/o with mpreg) here

‘All Hail the Underdogs’ here

‘Growing With You’ here

Big Brother, I'm Just Like You by hoziertozier  [Rated T, 16312 words, incomplete, last updated March 2022]

What if Neil got a call weeks, months after Baltimore, that he had a little sister? Well, this series of vignettes shows how he and the other Foxes would adjust to having a kid around, and also gives a new point of view on Neil, Andrew, and the Foxes.

Everyone, meet Charlotte Josten.

(this originally started as posts on my tumblr, and i'm still gonna make those but i'm moving it onto here as well for ease of navigation. very self-indulgent, i'm very passionate about these characters healing slowly goddamnit!)

tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: nightmares, tw: panic attacks

Jostens And Minyards by Flaunt_the_weird [Not Rated, 21713 words, incomplete, last updated March 2022]

“And why did you sign me up?” he asked, drawing her attention back to him.

“Would you believe me if I said it was supposed to be a prank?” Nyla asked him with an innocent, almost sheepish, expression that did not fool Neil for a second. He was having words with her once they get out of here.

“Did you or did you not?” Neil asked again.

“Did” she replied, this time her eyes flickered with concern.

“Nyla I presume?” asked Wymack.

AFTG but they all have to babysit while fighting the mafia.

tw: canon-typical violence, tw: internalised homophobia

and there is happiness. by smokeandspirits [Rated G, 881 words, complete, 2022]

She wonders if this is what it means to be happy. Happiness - that word that never meant much to her because it was the definition of a feeling and it was a feeling Piper had never felt. She wants to know if that is what she's feeling now; if happiness is bubbles in your chest like fizzy  lemonade, is warmth like the sun on your skin, is your face aching because you're smiling and smiling and smiling. So she does something she was never allowed to do with Ma and Pa - she asks.

~~~~

Neil and Andrew adopt a daughter; this is her realising they make the best parents (because i believe they would)

After You Two by Fox_Fan13 [Not Rated, 13482 words, incomplete*, last updated Feb 2022]

Neil is forced to have a child after his father kidnaps him, but after his father hurts his son, he decides to take things into his own hands and has him killed. After getting out safely with his uncle, they move to London with him, but decides to move back after reconnecting with his old roommate Matt.

He goes, not knowing that his first heartbreak was still living in the small town of Palmetto.

tw: child abuse, tw:  violence

*there’s only an epilogue to come

It’s like being smashed in the stomach by allforthegayz [Not Rated, 3346 words, complete, 2021]

She took the seat and pulled out her jotter, reading what was on the board and listened to the teacher talk. It’s fine. She could get through this. She took a sip of her water and focused on getting the work done.

Only an hour till break, you’ll be fine.

Post-canon, Andrew and Neil have two daughters and one of them feels sick and calls Andrew to come pick her up. Andrew comforting his daughter + soft Andreil aka what you get from me when i’m angst about my period.

Big brown eyes by LukaHatsune [Not Rated, 3354 words, complete, 2021]

"But there was something, something like acceptance.

Nina accepted Neil before they could even figure it out, something like an automatic connection, something that might have happened between him and Aaron if they had stayed together or met earlier. Nina looked at Neil and blinked, lying her head on his shoulder soon after, Nicky made a sound that sounded like a cat meow that called King Fluffkins and Sir Fat Cat straight into the room.

Andrew would later discover that only Aaron had seen something that seemed close to a smile pulling on his face."

Or

Andrew and Neil adopt a little girl.

the one that got away (now stay) by neilwrites [Rated T, 5792 words, complete, Aftg Exchange 2021]

Andrew fiddles with his keychain. “Oh, you know, I’m not sure if we’ll be able to make it.”

“Oh, no! Are the girls okay?”

Andrew turns around to watch as Hazel drools on her shirt and Sienna takes turns between giggling and shrieking at an inhuman frequency.

He didn’t think far enough ahead to create an excuse to go back home. Fuck.

“It’s just that the meeting will start in five minutes—” Renee says, dangerously neutral.

“I know, maybe next week—”

“— and I can see the Mas parked out front.”

Damn it.

---

Andrew Minyard, forced to attend a 'Single Parent Support Group' meeting by his best friend, Renee Walker, unexpectedly comes face to face with his old teenage crush. Although looking at him (and Renee), it's not so unexpected to him. Just where have you been, Neil Josten? And where did that four-year-old carbon copy of you come from?

tw: implied/referenced violence

We Are Family by LufwoodEmilius [Rated T, 23052 words, complete, Aftg Big Bang 2021]

Andrew and Neil never considered having a family. Not until other Foxes began and then family suddenly became important. Look into the little family moments of the Minyard-Josten family from birth until age ten. Chaos ensues but also warm family moments. They never knew that being fathers would be so good.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj4t8aGZLva5KKy85DsgmUmXsrgqgYTI8

For an additional bit of fun I made a playlist for the fic as well.

Thanks to caraleadraws for doing the art. And RainbowObsidian for betaing this mega fic!!!! You two rock!

NB: art for this fic by @caraleadraws here

blood on their teeth by foxholedumbasses (everyonedeservesamiracle) [Rated T, 6558 words, complete, 2021]

Marian wakes up to her mother’s steely face and her younger brother’s sleepy one. She is the one who stays awake in the car with Mary as Nathaniel slips back into dreams. She is the one who asks, “Where are we going?”

And she knows Mary’s smile is fake when Mary replies, “An adventure.”

-

Katelyn Williams is born as Marian Ophelia Wesninski and the world shifts sideways

What if Neil had a younger sister? by @the-high-queen-emory [tumblr, 2022]

okay, i feel like this headcanon is popping up more and more and I have some things to add to it

Wesninski Brothers Au by @you-are-a-fox [tumblr, 2018]

(Just something I thought of. Don’t know if it’s been done before.)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Neil and Aiden Wesninski art

tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: violence

Aiden Wesninski by @you-are-a-fox [tumblr, 2018]

Part 1, Part 2

Aiden Wesninski art

[midnightswithdearkatytspb]

VelvetCardiganBucky’s Recommendations 2021: Week 12 & 13 | March 14th – March 27th

Welcome to weeks 12 & 13 of my recommendations, if you would like to be featured on a future list, I follow the hashtag #VelvetCardiganBucky, message me, tag me in your future works, or reblog this post and link to your story, one-shot, Masterlist, writing challenge, etc.

Be aware some if not most stories and writers on this list are meant to be consumed by an audience of those 18+. My blog is also an 18+ blog.

✨Page breaks are made @firefly-graphics✨

«Last Week

Week 14»

My Masterlist

My Fic Rec List of Mafia/Mob Bucky/Sebastian & Steve/Chris/Andy

Stuff I Posted This Week:

Steve + Bey = 4Ever » Steve Rogers and Bey carved places in each other’s hearts, that no one else could ever replace.

I Hear A Symphony » Bucky Barnes x Mutant!Reader — Reader plays an important song to her for Bucky.

—Formerly The Winter Soldier » “I’m no longer the winter soldier, my name is James Bucky Barnes & you're part of my effort to make amends.”

Lee Bodecker

(Mini) Series:

*Give In by @not-a-great-writer » soft!dark!Lee Bodecker x shy!Reader — She didn’t think she was anything special. So when the intimidating Sheriff takes an interest in her, she can’t help but feel a little unsettled. Her boring life is about to get a little interesting. | This story has to be one of my all time series I’ve ever read, and I know I will weep when it’s over. The chapters are decently sized, you have angst, fluff and smut. I couldn’t ask for more, it’s simply a masterpiece.

Deadbeat Pt. 9 by @the-witty-pen-name » Lee Bodecker x F!Reader — You work at the bar at the edge of town, the Sheriff is going through a divorce and needs to rent a room. | Cole thank you for feeding my current Lee Bodecker obsession after I watched The Devil All The Time, for the time. This story is good and I love soft!Lee, and one where no one dies. At least I hope no one dies...

SamBucky

One-Shots:

Loving You Is Cherry Pie by @river-soul » Sam Wilson x Reader x Bucky Barnes — When Sam Wilson, one of your regulars at the cafe finally asks you out, you’re ecstatic until he tells you he wants his friend to join. When you meet Bucky, you decide it might be worth your while after all. [Allusions to stalking, exhibitionism and explicit sex, 18+] | There is just not enough SamBuck stories out there and we have @river-soul to thank for feeding our love for the boys and giving us some good smut, especially to tide us over till Friday.

Nothing Good Happens After 2 AM by @callmeluna » Sam Wilson x Reader x Bucky Barnes — You are admittedly a handful when you’ve had a few drinks in you. Luckily, your partners Sam and Bucky are more than up for the challenge… maybe. | If you are looking for something to make you laugh, might I suggest reading this? The whole time as I read this I couldn’t get the huge smile off my face, it was that good.

Bucky Barnes

Drabbles:

Matching by @heli0s-writes » Bucky Barnes x Reader — Reader and Bucky are “matchy matchy,” with their belly button rings. | This is adorable as well as very funny.

One-Shots:

Smooth Criminal by @bestofbucky » Bucky Barnes x Reader — Based on a dream @velvetcardiganbucky had. You’re parents told you to never give rides to strangers, but when you notice Bucky Barnes trying to break into your car, you know some strangers aren’t so bad. | Jenny did my dream justice! I honestly couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Don’t Over Do It by @whisperlullaby » Bucky Barnes x Reader — Your boyfriend is an asshole. Bucky reminds you that you are perfect the way you are. | I can’t describe this anyway other than perfect, that I wish I had a Bucky like this there for me. Trust me you’ll love the ending.

Coming Home to You by @angrythingstarlight » Biker!Bucky Barnes x Reader — Your Biker boyfriend is finally home and he’s going to show you how much he missed you. With every inch he has. And you’re going to remember how much he loves you. | It’s not very often you read something that has an alternate ending and when you do you find yourself loving both endings. Both endings are hot, the smut is great, again who couldn’t love Biker!Bucky?

Won’t Let You Go by @kind-of-crazy-butthatsokay » Mob!Bucky Barnes x OFC!Kori — Kori met Bucky in one of his clubs, out to get shit-faced with a couple of friends to forget about her worries and maybe take home a guy to further rid herself of her numerous frustrations. Little did she know that the one-night stand with Bucky would turn into so much more than that. | Thank you so much for entering my writing challenge, it means so much. This one-shot is so good, it hit me right the feels and left me falling in love with Kori and Bucky.

Show Me How To Ride by @angrythingstarlight » Beefy Biker!Bucky Barnes x Reader — You’ve been keeping a secret from your biker boyfriend. He is going to get the information out of you one way or the other. | It’s hot and it makes you realize just how much you realize just how much you love Biker!Bucky.

Bubble Baths by @floatingpetals » Bucky Barnes x Reader (Modern AU) — Even your boyfriend Bucky, needs to wind down at the end of a stressful with a bubble bath, but he doesn’t want to do it alone. | Okay, so my summary of this sucks but let me just say this is fluffy and smutty all at once. I wish I had Bucky to take a bubbly bath with.

Bad Boy!Bucky Barnes x Shy!Reader by @gagmebucky — in which there’s nowhere to sit and bucky offers his lap—then, subsequently, his cock. (bad boy!bucky x shy!reader, dirty talk, exhibitionism and voyeurism, cockwarming, unprotected sex.) | *chugs water* yeah is it a little hot in here? I probably would have failed class if Bucky had been in my class along with Steve, I wouldn’t have known who to stare at, forget learning the material.

**Greater Good by @fuel-joy » Bucky Barnes x Reader — There is a cure for the zombie outbreak but is it worth the cost. | Grab your tissues, because you are going to need them. Thanks darling for entering my writing challenge and making me feel so many feels with this one.

(Mini) Series:

A Tender Heart ♥️ Pt. 2 by @river-soul » Alpha!Bucky Barnes x Omega!Reader — You’ve been sweet on Bucky since you started working at the compound six months ago. Normally quiet and mild mannered, an unexpired fight with a coworker brings Bucky into your orbit. [A/B/O dynamics, brief mention of bullying and fluff] | If anyone can pull at your heartstrings it’s @river-soul making the beginning of this series look so promising and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Run To You 🪙 Pt. 10 🪙 Pt. 11 🪙 Pt. 12 by @bestofbucky » Mob!Bucky Barnes x Bodyguard!Reader — Mob boss Bucky Barnes hires you to be his bodyguard. | Jenny left me at the edge of my seat, making this such an amazing story, I always look forward to her updates, and so sad that there is only 1 chapter left.

Better than Working sequel to This by @angrythingstarlight » Beefy Biker!Bucky Barnes x Reader — Beefy Biker Bucky shows you all the benefits of working from home. In fact what he has for you is so much better than work. | Sometimes you just need to read something hot to lift your spirits, let this do that.

Stucky

One-Shots:

*Tell Me What You Want by @angrythingstarlight » Mafia!Steve Rogers x Reader; Mafia!Bucky Barnes x Reader — Your mob boyfriend, is none other than Steve Rogers and he is willing to get you whatever you wanted, all you have to do is ask. And be careful what you ask for because he’s going to give it to you over and over again. | This is so hot that I highly recommend not reading this anywhere out in public. The smut in this is just *chefs kiss*

(Mini) Series:

Miracle Pt. 2 🥀 Pt. 1 by @heavenhatesme » Soft!Dark!Bucky Barnes x Reader; Soft!Dark!Steve Rogers x Reader — When infertility threatens mankind with extinction and there hasn’t been a baby for almost 18 years, what happens when two certain super soldiers fall for the same woman and accidentally impregnate her? | It’s not tagged as dark, sorry to the writer I tagged it that please forgive me? But I just want to tell everyone heed the tags. I do look forward to reading what happens next. The smut in this is great!

Invisible Ink by @navybrat817 » Bucky Barnes x Reader, Steve Rogers x Reader; Bucky Barnes x Reader x Steve Rogers — The owners of the Howling Commandos Tattoo Parlor want to make you their best girl. | I love the idea of tattoo’d Bucky and Steve, but that's because I have a weakness for tattoo’s. So this series is just right up my alley, and the start of it is so good that I know it’s good to be a great one!

Steve Rogers

Drabbles:

Chocolate Milk & Dino Nuggets by @nony-bear » Steve Rogers x Reader — Daddy Steve helps make his little girl feel better after a long week. DDLG THEMES | Had me wishing I had a Steve to make me Dino nuggets after a long day at work. It’s precious folks.

Prompt 4K Drabble Challenge by @sweeterthanthis » Steve Rogers x Reader — “Show me how deep you can take it.” | You’re going to need an ice cold bath after this one.

One-Shots:

A Cruel Tide by @writerwrites » Nomad!Steve Rogers x Reader — A lost hero thinks she needs saving, but this divorcée’s needs were different, fleeting, and then full of attachment. Can they overcome the burdens on their shoulders and keep their word? | Sometimes you want to wrap the reader and Steve in a blanket and protect them while enjoying the smut. This gave me that and more.

Untitled Request by @navybrat817 » Steve Rogers x Reader — Sending Steve a naughty photo while he’s in a meeting leads to punishment that will remind you to never do it again, right? | Hi, I’m just going to drench myself in ice cold water. ✌🏻

(Mini) Series:

*Control Pt. 3 🔐 Pt. 1 🔐 Pt. 2 by @river-soul » dark!Steve Rogers x Reader — When a probationary agent asks you out on a date you learn Steve’s intentions for you have evolved. He doesn’t take kindly to someone touching what’s his. [Noncon, physical violence (biting), grooming behavior and explicit sex, 18+] | Definitely one of my favorite series to read on Tumblr so far, you know it’s dark, and the smut is great. I always look forward to the updates on this one.

*Lipstick and Crayons 🖍 Ch. 4 by @oneoftheprettynerds » Dark Mob!Steve Rogers x Reader — Steve can’t ever repay you for what you did. After meeting you, Steve believes his broken family is the missing piece in the puzzle of your own wrecked one. Indebting the crime lord to you has been the biggest mistake of your life, cause now you can’t get rid of him, no matter what. Loyalty and favours go a long way in the mob. | This story always gets my heart a racing and leaves you with questions as to what is going to happen next. I truly love it and Soft!Dad while being Angry!Mob boss Steve all at the same time, this story just has it all for me.

This Is My Unbecoming by @river-soul » Werewolf!Steve Rogers x Witch!Reader — When the Hydra pack graduates from turning humans to swell their ranks to kidnapping and murdering witches to consolidate power, Steve knows he needs to strike. He makes a deal with a powerful coven leader for a witch of his own in exchange for destroying the rogue pack. [Magical realism, biting, blood, slightly dubious consent and explicit sex, 18+] | Okay this is so good and I would like to thank the teenage mind of @river-soul for creating this! Like seriously thank you. I look forward to reading more!

It’s been a long, long time ☕️ Ch.1 by @mostly-marvel-musings » Steve Rogers x Reader — Steve Rogers – a man who has lost too much finds himself blending into the crowd in attempts to forget his past but revisits familiar places and spends days sketching his heart out. A rainy evening leads him to find shelter in your coffee shop. Is having meaningful conversations over endless cups of coffee with a stranger the key to unlocking a heart that’s lost the will to love? | The prologue tore my heart out, it truly did but the first chapter just puts the pieces back together. I really love this and I’m honestly looking forward to reading what happens next. I can’t thank you enough for entering my writing challenge!

*Not A Team Part: 1 by @shedobewritingalittle » Steve Rogers x Reader — The Reader tries to live a normal life, but her memories won’t leave her alone. Rhodey comes to visit the reader with a proposition. | There aren't a lot of stories out there that have walk on parts with Rhodey in it and I didn’t know how much I missed out on having him in stories till I read this. This was just so well written and the characterization of Rhodey was perfect, how Peyton got the emotions written across, it’s perfect. Read this and have some tissues on hand. I will always love it.

Andy Barber

One-Shots:

Closing Arguments by @river-soul » Andy Barber x Reader — Andy and you are going out for the first time since your daughter’s birth. Anxious about leaving her behind Andy does his best to make you feel better. [Fluff with explicit sex (f recieving), 18+] | So fluffy and sweet!

Keep the Heat by @ozarkthedog » Andy Barber x Reader — Andy fucks you in the coat. | Semi-Short and the smut is oh so good.

(Mini) Series:

Homebound 🏡 Ch. 1 by @fuel-joy » Dark!Andy Barber x Reader — You witness your neighbor kill his wife. You try to gather evidence all from the comfort of your home. | Prepare to be at the edge of your seat with this one, it’s just that good.

One Night by @darkficsyouneveraskedfor » Dark!Andy Barber x Reader — One night changes your entire life. | This is dark and exciting, with tons of angst in it. I love a real good dark!Andy fic and this is it.

Chris Evans

One-Shots:

Mirrors by @cherrychris » Chris Evans x Reader — “wanna know what i see? me owning you and this sweet little pussy” | Sometimes you read things that just blow your mind and this was one of those things.

*Work Party by @harrylovex » Chris Evans x Reader — you get drunk at a work party and chris looks after you… | This is really adorable and probably one of my favorite fluffy Chris Evans one-shots I’ve ever read.

Misc.

One-Shots:

An Act of Kindness by @stargazingfangirl18 » Jake Jensen x Female!Reader — A simple act of kindness seals your fate. | I would like to simply start of by saying that this was my first Jake Jensen fanfiction in years, or maybe my first one, and all I could was where have I been hiding from him? So good and glad I read this and so will you!

*Come Back Safe by @celestialbarnes » Sam Wilson x Reader — based on tfatws, you find out sam’s leaving for a mission, afraid to lose the man you love, you confront him, and he promises you to come back. | So fluffy you’ll want to cuddle it under a blanket fort and wish under a thousand starry night skies for it to come true.

(Mini) Series:

Fiery Friends Pt. 3 🔥 Pt. 4 by @wanderinglunarnights » Johnny Storm x OFC!Sophia Jones — Johnny invites his best friend Sophia to stay with him in his penthouse during quarantine. | I really like this story, because I find myself mentally rooting for Sophia and Johnny, also going you go girl. Looking forward to what is next for this duo.

Ensnared Pt. 2 🔗 Pt. 1 by @stargazingfangirl18 » Ransom Drysdale x Female!Reader; minor Robert Pronge (Mr. Freezy) x Reader — Robert preps you for the handoff to the smooth talking stranger who bought you, but before he lets you go, he wants to have a little fun first. | So good and hot. Honestly I look forward to hopefully finding out what happens between the reader and Ransom.

Made With Love by @ayybtch » Wanda Maximoff x f!Reader + Friends to Lovers — Wanda is an excellent cook but a terrible baker. A rough day leads her to the bakery in the Avengers compound where she meets you, the lead baker. After a dismal attempt at making chocolate chip cookies, you volunteer to help Wanda learn how to bake. Your friendship grows stronger with each successful recipe until the two of you stumble into something even sweeter than baked goods. | This story will constantly have you smiling, sure it’s only 3 chapters so far, but I started off reading it in a bad mood but by the 3rd chapter I was just so sappy and happy. I can’t wait for more!

Without Me by CuttingMyFingersOff » Legolas x OFC!Braigeth — Braigeth was an elf who has nothing but memories of Legolas to help her survive being imprisoned in the walls of Orthanc. That is, until she is able to escape and reunite with him. | I’ve been invested in this since my friend came forward to me with the idea for this story and now that it’s being written, I couldn’t be more excited to read it. I need more Lord of the Rings in my life if I’m being honest.

Forever and Ever More by @syntheticavenger » Dark Alpha!Ransom Drysdale x Omega!Reader — Ransom Drysdale may be Boston’s most eligible Alpha but he has his eyes set on you. With his inheritance hanging in the balance, he won’t take no for an answer, whether you like him or not. | Prepared to go on a Hawaiian EMOTIONAL roller coaster with this story, there are so many times in this story you find yourself picking your jaw up off the floor. I’ve linked you to chapter 9, which has all the previous chapters, listed.

Is A Shout Out To My...

@bluemusickid in celebration of 700 followers is hosting a Holi Celebration Writing Challenge, that is due April 30th, but extension can be given. Any Marvel or MCU characters can be used in addition to Chris Evans and his characters. The theme is Holi and its colors, for better explanation visit the link provided.

@whisperlullaby in celebration of 700 followers is hosting a 700 Followers Challenge, your entries will be due May 5th. The theme is kinks, no RPF, DDLG/MMLG, bathroom related , incest, or under age kinks. This is MCU characters, Sebastian Stan, and Chris Evans characters x OFC or Reader. For more information visit the link provided. Congrats Becca on the 700 followers you deserve it hun!

@stargazingfangirl18 in celebration of 5K followers is hosting a Soft Dark Writing Challenge, which is due May 31st. Don’t let the name fool you, your writing can be soft, dark, or soft!dark, or headcanons about any Chris character. 500 word minimum with no max, but new or be read as a stand alone piece. For more information visit the link provided and be sure to congratulate Siri on her 5K milestone!

@cloudystevie in celebration of 4K followers is hosting a Mob!AU Writing Challenge, that is due on May 30th. You can use Chris Evans and any of his characters he’s played before, as well as make it NSFW or SFW. To learn more about it please visit the link below. Also congratulations Jasmeen on the 4K followers! 💗

[severetimetravelnerd]

Drop The Act (ft. Kim Hongjoong) (Part 2)

“The very essence of romance is uncertainty.”

-Oscar Wilde

You and Hongjoong couldn’t stand each other…right?

I only write on this blog on tumblr, so if you see my work on any other platform, please let me know immediately.

Taglist: @kwonnansi ; @unabashedturkeytreeslime ; @happiestgirlontheeastcoast ; @to-all-the-stories-i-love

Appearances from the Wooyoung and Seonghwa, and also Sunwoo from The Boyz

Helloooooo~ I know it’s been a while and I’m kinda back with this series. It’s a rivals to lovers fic with Hongjoong and it was something I just had to write, even though I am dying with college stuff~

I hope you enjoy this! Please do leave me notes and comments :))) I love them! I’ll update every week or so, but it’s not fixed, so please do let me know if you want to be added to the taglist.

RIVALS TO LOVERS AU, IDIOTS TO LOVERS AU, Not exactly Enemies, but kinda, FAKE DATING AU

Warnings: Cursing, talk of snobby families, ‘old money’ looking down on new money, body shaming

Word count: 2379

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Eventual Smut in later chapters

————————————–

“Okay, we have a problem.”

You groaned, putting away your phone to look up at the very annoying man who had been keeping you waiting for him for the past half hour. 

“And that is supposed to surprise me because?”

“Y/N, please. This is important.”

“Remind me again; when did I sign up for dress up at your house?”

“You didn’t. Seonghwa dumped you here to make sure I get ready on time.” 

He grabbed your shoulders and spun you around, making you look at him.

“On which note, if you don’t help me with this, you’ll have to deal with Seonghwa’s lectures.”

You rolled your eyes but started paying attention. Seonghwa’s lectures were the worst.

“What is it now?”

Hongjoong took a deep breath and you mentally prepared yourself for the rant that was coming your way.

“See, Y/N. So for today’s event, they had to go and make it themed. And I, of course, have to meet the theme brilliantly. They asked for fantasy? They’re going to fucking get fantasy.”-

“Hongjoong.”

-“Yes, yes. So for my look, I need curled hair, but I don’t have a curler. My last hook up took it.”

“…I’m sorry, what now?”

“Yeah, yeah, not important. Point being, I only have a straightener and I’ve seen the tutorials about how to curl your hair with a straightener, but I can’t seem to get it right. And I need to figure out what to do.”

It was only then that your eyes landed on his now wonky hair and you burst out laughing. He looked adorably ridiculous. 

“What on earth have you done?”

He glared at you, subconsciously pouting his lips. 

“Look, if I knew how to handle this on my own, I wouldn’t have come to you.”

You shook your head. 

“Give me a hairbrush and a straightener. I’ll do it for you. Looking at this is causing me physical pain.”

He glared, but he still handed it over to you and sat in silence while you fixed his hair, eyes glowing in awe while he watched you until you finished, spraying it down to keep in it place. You smirked when you looked down at him. Adorable. But only when he shuts up.

“There we go. All done. Can I finally change into my dress?” 

Hongjoong nodded his thanks and showed you to the room where Seonghwa had kept the dress he wanted you to wear. You shrugged.

“I still don’t get why you guys had to style me for today’s event, but okay.”

Hongjoong shook his head and walked out, not wanting to explain that he was the one who asked Seonghwa to do it. Hongjoong had a promise to keep.

---

You carefully undid the packaging surrounding your dress, forgetting to breathe for a moment when you finally saw it. It was a light gauzy material. That, paired with the powder blue shade of the fabric mixed with a hint of grey, made for an ethereal look. It had delicate translucent bishop sleeves, set right off the shoulder, with a bustier top, cinched at the waist, before flowing in delicate pools of material. The translucency extended to the top half of the dress, only stopping when the layers of satin under the gauze came into the picture as the skirt. You were enthralled. It was just such a gorgeous dress. 

“Holy fuck, this is amazing.”

You loved the dress. 

You did your hair in a low bun, with a few stray curls escaping it, and rushed to do your makeup before enlisting the help of Hongjoong’s housekeeper, Mrs.Robin, in lacing up your bustier. She was…incredibly strong. Feeling thoroughly out of breath, you realised you didn’t have faith in your own ability to remove it anymore. She laced up the last one before stepping back and patting your head.

“You look adorable dearie. Come back next time when you aren’t in a hurry. I’ll make you my famous cheesecake.”

You found yourself feeling warm as you grinned, hugged and thanked her. 

Finally stepped into your matching shoes, courtesy Seonghwa, you made a mental note to find a secretary like him (your secretary just resigned because he was moving), before stepping out of the room. Hongjoong turned around, fully prepared to make a snarky remark, but he couldn’t, because both of you were speechless.

You openly stared at him, jaw slack as you took in his appearance. From the slightly worn dark brown leather boots, complete with straps and gold buckles, you worked your eyes up. He was wearing form-fitting brown pants and a ruffled, lace up white poet shirt, showing you hints of the toned chest that it did a poor job of hiding. He was also wearing a brown vest, almost carelessly thrown over his torso. Your eyes reached the bits of burnt gold hoops he had dangling from his ears before reaching his hair. Good lord his hair.

You were so so glad you curled his hair, because the way the soft waves of his dark brown hair enhanced his outfit was truly unmatched. 

Hongjoong, on the other hand, was equally as speechless. He knew he told Seonghwa the theme was fantasy, but boy, oh boy did he deliver. Hongjoong drank in the sight of you, looking like something out of a fairy tale. He gulped when he took in the cinch at your waist and his eyes trailed upwards to the translucent bustier, deliciously hugging your curves and your breasts. Just the sight of the shadow between them and the curve of them was enough for it to be imprinted in his mind. He knew he shouldn’t have been having those thoughts, but all he wanted to do was press his lips down on the soft skin that teased him, marking them for the world to see. He finally forced his eyes to travel upwards, and immediately, his eyes softened. 

God, you were beautiful. And all he wanted to do was run his fingers through your hair as you lay in his bed, wrapped in his arms- He shook his head.

“Hey Y/N?”

You snapped out of your reverie, trying to seem like you hadn’t been staring at the man you hated. 

Nope, not you.

“Hmm?”

Hongjoong turned around with a silk scarf the exact shade of your dress. 

“Tie this around my wrist.”

You raised an eyebrow, but you didn’t say anything, still too taken aback by everything. Neither of you noticed Mrs.Robin watching you tie the scarf around his wrist, shaking her head as she muttered to herself.

“I hope Hongjoong doesn’t lose this one. They’re cute together.”

---

When you walked into the ballroom on Hongjoong’s arm, even though your eyes were busy taking in the tasteful blush pink and cream décor, your body very much felt the pain of the heels and the bustier.

“Who the hell decided to throw a fantasy themed party and why do we have to attend?!”

Hongjoong didn’t let your grumbling affect the fake smile he had on.

“A ten-year-old girl did. And it’s her birthday, so play nice.”

Your cheeks and neck grew hot.

“I had no idea.”

“You never do.”

He stifled a giggle at your indignant expression. 

“Her name is Alina. She’s the daughter of Mr and Mrs Lee.”

“Nigel Lee? The magazine one?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re friends with them?”

He turned to give you a grin.

“Nope. I’m friends with Alina.”

He paused to pull you a little closer, out of the way of the incoming crowd, making your heart speed up for reasons you did not want to think about. 

“I used to tutor her. I’m friendly with her parents, of course, but she was always lonely because no one was ever home with her. So, I started playing games with her and getting her books and stuff. As you can tell, she adores fantasy. She goes out to play a lot more often now, but we’re still close.”

Your voice was small when you said,

“We should have gotten a gift for her.”

Hongjoong turned to flash you the smirk you were so well acquainted with. 

“You’re here with me Y/N. We got her a gift already.” He paused to do a little hair toss. “It’s by the table there. She likes taking pictures, but she only ever does that with my phone.” 

Hongjoong paused to show you the hundreds of pictures she had taken on his phone.

“So, we got her a camera.”

You stayed quiet, having nothing to say. You didn’t realise Hongjoong was that caring, especially since he just acted like a selfish brat around you. You felt the slightest prick of annoyance when you realised you acted the same way around him. But still, seeing him being caring and considerate made you feel warm on the inside…almost like he never disappointed you in the first place. 

The sudden feel of his breath near your ear brought you back.

“Remember, play nice.”

And that’s when he let go of you to scoop Alina into a hug. 

“Happy Birthday sweetheart!”

She squealed, clinging onto him in a bear hug.

“Uncle Joong!”

“Hey, we’ve talked about this. There’s no need for the uncle.”

She giggled.

“Sorry Uncle Joong. You’re old.” 

Her smile grew wider when she took in his outfit.

“You dressed like the rogue! You kept your promise!”

Hongjoong put her down and ruffled her hair. 

“I always keep my promises, Ali.”

She beamed up at him, and that’s when you felt Hongjoong’s hand grip yours. He was still facing her while he pulled you forward, squeezing your hand upon seeing your nervous face. Alina’s parents didn’t make you nervous but she did. Maybe because she is important to Hongjoong.

“I want to introduce you to someone Ali.” He continued holding your hand. “This is my girlfriend, Y/N.” And he couldn’t deny the odd sense of pride he felt as he introduced you like that. It felt right. It just did. 

He picked Ali up again so she wouldn’t have to stare up at you. (Plus, he already saw you preparing to squat down to talk to her and he was certain you’d hurt yourself in those heels.)

Her eyes widened as she took you in. She suddenly scrambled to grab Hongjoong’s wrist and find the silk scarf.

“Oh my god. You guys have the best costumes ever!”

Hongjoong smiled to himself. He didn’t want to disappoint Ali after he promised to go all out.

“You look like a princess!”

You blushed from Ali’s words, not quite knowing what to say, when you heard Hongjoong let out a low chuckle.

“Well, she is my princess.”

You turned towards him, surprised. He took your hand and gently raised it to his lips, pressing down on them softly while staring you dead in the eye, with an intensity to his eyes that made a shiver run down your spine. Maybe you liked the nickname princess after all.

---

You smiled as you made your way over to the dessert table. You may not be the most comfortable in the outfit, but if it made Ali smile like that, it was worth it. You were just about to pop an éclair into your mouth when you heard a familiar snide voice behind you.

“Ah Y/N. Good to see you again.”

You pouted at the éclair you had to put down before forcing a smile.

“Auntie Regina. It’s been ages.”

Your father’s sister. Was like him in every way, that is, she was positively awful.

Her hand gestured at your outfit.

“Who are you wearing? Dior? Gucci?”

You shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

Regina sniffed.

“Ah. Looks like it. Don’t worry dear. It’s cute.”

Your fists clenched. She most certainly did not think it was cute.

“Thank you, Auntie.” You looked up and down her bedazzled yellow and lime green outfit. “You look lovely. Tropical, perhaps?”

You bit back a grin when you saw her eyes light up with anger. Maybe she’d finally get annoyed into leaving you in peace. You looked down at your beloved éclair and raised it to your lips. Finally-

“Should you really be eating that?” You froze. “You know what they say. It goes straight to your hips. And you, my dear, certainly don’t need that.” 

Okay, that’s it. Aunt Regina was going to learn about your secret Taekwondo lessons far earlier than you planned. You turned around to aim a discreet kick to her shin and that was the exact moment when you smelled the familiar warm, woodland scent and Kim Hongjoong pulled you closer by the waist before feeding you an éclair, wiping a bit of chocolate off your lips.

You wish you could say you were rejoicing at Aunt Regina’s look of horror, but you were entirely too captivated by the feel of Hongjoong’s warm hands around your waist. He was the one who turned to her and nodded.

“Regina.”

She nodded back, still in a shocked daze. Hongjoong turned back to you, smiling at you.

“I saw an éclair and remembered it was your favourite, princess.”

He leaned in to whisper, “Eat as many fucking eclairs as you want. Do not listen to the hag.” And you had to bite back a snort.

He dropped his hand from your face, but his grip around your waist was still tight. 

Protective. 

He had been coming over to annoy you into getting him dessert, but when he heard you talking to Regina, he knew he had to step in. He hated you and your family with a passion, but somehow, the thought of anyone speaking to you like that was...was just not right. 

Aunt Regina’s hands were shaky when she grabbed yours.

“Y/N, are you here with…?” Her eyes darted to Hongjoong. You moved closer to his side, wanting to shield him from her judgemental gaze, never bothering to think about why.

“With Hongjoong? Yes, I am here with my boyfriend.”

She nearly gasped, but politely nodded at the two of you before leaving. You turned around to face Hongjoong, rolling your eyes at her, but he just gave you an odd glance; one you couldn’t quite decipher. 

“I guess I am the rogue who ran away with the princess after all.”

---

Copyright © 2020-2021 @severetimetravelnerd All rights reserved.

Any unlawful and unauthorized sharing of these works will result in legal action.

(Reblogs are good :) )

[angry-slytherin]

We Really Like Fluff

a totally incomplete guide to dousy fan fictions that are a must:

according to me, anyway

no idea where to start? looking for a fic you read a year ago? I’ve got you.

help me find the tumblrs of those not tagged (if they have one)!

all we do is drive. (romantashas) @romantashas

Daisy has missed the open road. She used to always love taking her van out and just driving. Los Angeles was where she liked to stick around, but she would always go on these road trips just because she wanted to explore somewhere new.

She's always liked running away from things.

It was different, having someone with her.

In which Daisy Johnson helps Daniel Sousa explore the modern world by taking him on a cross-country road trip in a van. Post-Finale road trip AU with MCU tie-ins.

the first beloved fic by this fandom. completed in august 2020, it strays from canon somewhat at S7E11, but the characterization makes you forget that anything is different at all. truly a masterpiece, and definitely a must-read.

6/17/55 (lazyfish)

6/17/55.

She never thought it would mean 1955.

(Spoilers up to 7.06.)

one shot. soulmate au. beautifully written. it’s only just under 2k words but one of the most popular fan fictions under the tag on ao3. absolutely adorable and you’ll feel your heart flutter for them.

One Year Later (marvelsquake) @marvelsquake

Set right after the series finale's 'one year later' part where Daisy stares into space with Sousa and Kora.

Inspired by the 'anatomy analysis' bit Jemma says to Daisy.

there are so many amazing “anatomy analysis” fics out there. that is one of those “if you know, you know” things;) this one is really thoroughly written, and marvelsquake took their time to make every detail perfect. really, just excellent.

Stay (SteeleHoltingOn) @steeleholtingon

Not everyone knew she could feel heartbeats. Sousa’s sped up every time he looked her way.

His reaction wasn’t particularly unusual, and Daisy was an expert at fending off unwanted advances. But that was just it: Sousa hadn’t actually made any advances, and if he did, Daisy wasn’t sure she’d ward them off.

Her heartbeat, it seemed, liked to match tempo with his.

this one needs little introduction. it has been recced(??) to death, and rightfully so!!! the author is this incredible genius and I love them for giving this to us. it’s over 150k words, so be ready to commit some much deserved time to this excellent character study on both Daisy and Daniel.

Feel Good(I Like It) (enigmaforum)

It's not the the first time she’s felt something for someone since Lincoln but it’s the first time she felt like it had the possibility to actually turn into something. Something Good.

I’ve always loved the title of this fic, but that’s besides the point. enigmaforum is a very talented writer who does plot AND characterization like a pro. definitely an A+ in terms of quality. also part of a series with some other excellent works!

Exposure (agentquakingskye) @blcssqvake on instagram

Dying in a half-second blast of radiation wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be.

Dying all over again, slowly, because of that half-second of radiation?

That was worse.

okay I lied. we also love angst and this work is angst central. it’s a cancer AU following the finale, but it’s just as happy as it as sad. prepare your tissues, but also prepare for some seriously good writing.

A Week After Death (manoutoftimeandquake) @puddle-of-awesomeness

An explosion in an alien junkyard sends Daisy, Sousa and Kora back in time to meet some people from Sousa's past.

the astro ambassadors sent back in time to meet the AC cast(essentially). such a fun, action-packed, hilarious work. such a classic. go read it now!!

Where I Need To Be (JennaPotter)

This is set from Episode 7x03 onwards and follows the story of Daisy Johnson and Daniel Sousa, and how their relationship has been developing throughout this amazing season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.! This story mostly follows canon but is interspersed with missing moments between Daisy and Sousa that I imagine could have happened off-screen.

almost 200k words of absolute beauty. it’s incredibly detailed and excellently written. it’s like reading a published novel!! but with dousy!!

you’ve got that power(over me) (romantashas) @romantashas

"It's you," Daniel whispers. He's in awe, looking at Quake. She steps back away from him. "Let me help you," he says, reaching out toward her injured arm slowly.

Daniel only gets a moment more to admire her glowing eyes and her purple hair before she turns and runs away, her hand slipping out of his.

In which the superheroes of the Marvelverse actually try to keep their identities a secret and Daniel Sousa is determined to figure out who is behind the mysterious Quake mask. Superhero AU with MCU tie-ins.

yet another classic(I’m definitely misusing that word… it’s deserved by these authors) work by romantashas. the description gives the gist of it, but it’s one of the best dousy AUs out there.

get ready for the shameless self promo…

Your Heartbeat On The Highline(Once In Twenty Lifetimes) (doctorsimmonswilson) @angry-slytherin

He’s a man out of time and she’s an orphaned superhero. They’ve just got to figure out what to do next, after the mission is over.

[aka Daisy and Daniel’s story post finale]

welp… I included my own story. honestly it’s because it is one of the most popular in the tag(I’m sifting through too kudos and top hits). I’m really super proud of it, so read it if you’d like. it’s canon compliant (and extremely fluffy for the most part:)

somebody hurt you(but you’re here by my side) (agentmmayy) @agentmmayy

Daniel doesn't leave Daisy's side, even when she's out of the healing chamber.

very popular, and for good reason. such a sweet, nice fic. I very much enjoyed it and it’s a quicker read than most on this list!

and here’s to the question marks

aka: unfinished works that are beautiful and deserve your attention

want you(to unravel me) (IzzieBee)

Daisy never wanted to be rescued, by anyone. She never wanted to owe someone that debt, but especially not to a handsome WWII Vet, traveling through time. Daniel, who was brave and decent, and kind of funny, and who she could easily depend on, which was way too dangerous to consider.

OR

Daisy really wasn't ready for Daniel Sousa.

sexy, fun, well-written… what more could we ask for? it’s missing the last chapter, but the brunt of the story is there, and it’s satisfying either way.

A Truth Stranger Than Fiction (wordsmithraven)

Daniel Sousa was having the worst day of his life...and he’d lived through a war. Service had always been something he’d understood. Honor. Sacrifice. Duty. He’d just never thought his journey would mean leaving everything he loved behind.

a lot of daisy and daniel getting to know one another… a little bit of season 7 adventure… a whole bunch of fun.

Loving The Journey Together (manoutoftimeandquake) @puddle-of-awesomeness

Moments in the lives of Daisy and Sousa (and Kora) after the end of the team's final mission.

this one is a WIP(being updated currently). manoutoftimeandquake has some amazing snippets/slices of life waiting for you in that work!

it’s in the subtext (eggsaladstain)

Snippets of the relationship between Daisy Johnson and Daniel Sousa through the words they said and the ones they didn’t.

SO. FREAKING. GOOD. just go read it, okay?

and finally, some links to some authors who’ve written a bunch of amazing stuff.

romantashas

manoutoftimeandquake

enigmaforum

@hecckyeah

lazyfish

hereforthephilindafics

dearemma

seriously, there’s so many more amazing fics in this tag. I didn’t have the energy to include all 800+. these are just some that are most popular and/or deserve your attention.

thank you for taking the time to read through all of this! I hope you’ve found some things to bookmark(or binge-read;)

[intoanothermind]

Flying Solo - Reggie

Word Count: 2.1k

- Reggie x reader

Synopsis: ever since you died, all you do is walk around the city and watch people going through their lives in restaurants, pubs and other establishments. That is until you meet another ghost in one of these places.

Masterlist

(This is based on a request I asked a few days ago. I’ve tried putting a gif instead of a picture, but tumblr doesn’t let me do it, but I’ll keep tryind. Don’t forget to check out my other Reggie fic and the one I wrote for Luke!)

Stand Tall - Reggie // Akai Ito - Reggie (soulmate au) // Bright - Luke

—

Since I died, I have enjoyed spending time watching the lifers. I walked the streets of Los Angeles and spent hours and hours sitting in restaurants, coffee shops, pubs and other establishments. Many people spent their time on their cell phones or typing on their laptops, but I liked to watch other people interact. I would like it even more if I could eat, but the smell of coffee and pie always calmed me down. And sometimes I would discover some other ghost in those places.

Especially if he moved a customer's food and the person looked around confusedly. I paid more attention when the woman took her eyes off her cell phone, picked up her plate and changed tables, without noticing the two boys sitting at the table. A third boy, who had previously been in front of the counter, sat in the empty seat. They talked for a while - unfortunately I couldn't hear from where I was several tables behind - before the blonde walked out the door and the third boy shortly after. I got up quickly before the cute boy who was making a prank on the client disappeared too.

"Hi." I said, taking the vacant seat for the blonde. "What's your name?"

His blue eyes widened and looked back before turning back to me and pointing at his chest.

"Me?" he asked, confused, and he just seemed even cuter.

"Yes, you." I laughed. "My name is Y/N, what’s yours?"

“Reggie. I'm Reggie.” he smiled and shifted in his chair, looking excited. "How can you see me?"

I shook my head, still smiling. He clearly didn't understand.

"I'm a ghost too." I replied, extending my hand to the side just as a girl passed and my arm went through her.

His smile widened even further, making his eyes narrow.

"Cool!" he opened his eyes wide. "I mean, it's not cool that you died, or anything..."

But my smile has not diminished.

"It’s okay, I had a year to get used to it."

"What did you die of?"

“Car accident last year. I was with my mom coming back from a performance. She crossed over to the other side, I didn't.” my smile became a little sad. "But what about you? How long have you been a ghost?”

"Well..." he made a funny face. "About 25 years ago we ate some bad hot dogs."

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. "Really?"

"I know." he made a face of suffering. "It was not our best moment."

"Our?"

"Me and my bandmates."

"Those who were here with you."

"Yes! Luke and Alex. We died together.”

"So you must have seen a lot of things together in the past 25 years." I commented excitedly, leaning on the table.

"Not exactly." he made another funny face. "After we left the ambulance, we were in this dark room where Alex was crying and the next thing we remember is falling into a girl's garage a few days ago."

"So that means I have more ghost time than you do!"

“Oh, but we’ve already discovered some really cool things! We managed to play in front of people when we played with Julie!”

My heart sank when I heard that name and I opened my mouth to comment, but I felt a shiver go through my body when someone sat in the chair where I was. I got up quickly, because the worse thing than passing through people was staying in the exact spot where she was. I looked at Reggie and he too had stood up when another girl sat down where he was.

"Do you want to get out of here?"

"For sure." said Reggie, holding my hand and whooshing us to a beach where I have never been.

It was not as crowded as the most famous beaches in Los Angeles, but it had some movement.

"Where are we?" I asked when I noticed Reggie kicking some sand and sitting with his back to the sea and facing a bike shack.

"I used to live here." he replied while I sat next to him. “This bike shack used to be my home. Every now and then I come here and wonder what happened to my parents. ”

"I'm sorry." I murmured, lying my head on his shoulder and just watching the movement in the store.

"Okay. I'm sorry I spoiled the mood.”

"It's all right. I think about my family as well.”

"But you've only been a ghost for a year." he said, turning his head slightly towards me. "Didn't you ever see how they're doing?"

"Once, two weeks after we died." I whispered. “My family was destroyed. I couldn't see them like that without being able to do anything, so I only come back once every few months to see if they were okay.”

"I'm sorry." he murmured, resting his head on mine.

We stayed there for a few minutes in that position, not saying anything, just watching people coming and going in front of the store that used to be his home.

"Did they really kill Han Solo?" the question was asked so unexpectedly, I could only lift my head from his shoulder and look at him a little confused.

"What?"

"Do you know Star Wars?" he said quickly. "We went to a club the other day and Luke and I were trying to catch up on what we missed and a couple of the living told us that they made about eight more Star Wars movies and that they killed Han Solo!"

"Whoa, easy!" I laughed. "I do know the movies. And yes, they did. His son killed him.”

"What?!" he looked shocked at me. "I think I would rather never know about the continuation of the series."

"I’m sorry." I said, but I couldn't help but laugh at the expression on his face. “It certainly wasn't the best moments in the saga. This latest trilogy disappointed a little.”

"I was hoping you would tell me it was a lie." he grimaced before letting out a breath and getting up. “Y/N, I need to go. We have a band rehearsal. We are playing tonight at the pub we met, you should go.”

I stood up as well and smiled at him a little, but I denied it.

“Sorry, Reg. I had a really big connection to music and my family when I was alive. It still hurts to think about it, so I always avoid it. But I promise that one day I will see you playing. ”

"Okay." he gave a big smile. "See you around then."

And disappeared.

   ~*~

  As the days went by, Reggie and I got closer and closer. We met several times and went to different places. Especially places where I could update him on the things he lost in the last 25 years. But then he stopped appearing beside me with that wide smile and dork way. For several days I didn’t see him, wondering if anything had happened. I heard stories about ghosts who were trapped by contracts, others who ceased to exist, and I was afraid that he had crossed over or was in trouble - and I couldn't do anything to help.

The next time he showed up I was on the beach again, in front of the bike shack, waiting for him to show up at some point. When he appeared, I barely gave him time to pull himself together before jumping into his arms and hugging him tight.

“Reggie! What happened? You went MIA, are you okay? I got worried!"

He didn't answer, just pulled away from the hug, held my face in his hands and kissed me. I reacted instantly, kissing him back in the same intensity.

"It hurt to think that maybe I didn't have the opportunity to do that." he murmured when we leaned away.

"What do you mean by that?"

He then set out to tell me about the Hollywood Ghost Club, the stamp, the shocks, the threats, the Orpheum show and how they managed to touch Julie afterwards.

"Julie?" I asked, feeling my throat tighten. “The girl who can see you and make you visible? Is her name Julie Molina? ”

"How did you know?" he asked, confused, and I had to take a deep breath to keep from crying.

"She is my little sister."

Reggie's eyes widened in surprise. "You are the Y/N who died with Julie's mother."

I just nodded.

“So did she play again? Is she fine?"

He gave me a knowing smile.

“Why don't we go back to the house and you can see for yourself? I think you've gone too long without seeing her. ”

I agreed, still a little stunned.

"Hey Hey." he caught my eye until I looked him straight in the eye. He stroked one of my cheeks and smiled when I blushed. "It's gonna be okay. I was really going to invite you to meet the band. ”

"So let's go." I smiled at his excitement.

He hugged me around the waist and we teleported directly to mom’s studio. It was different from how I remembered. The piano was uncovered, the lights were on, and instruments were scattered on the other side. I think they were the instruments that the boys used. But they were not there.

"Yeah, I think the boys haven't arrived yet." Reggie commented, scratching the back of his neck.

"It's all right." I mumbled, moving towards the piano and sitting on the stool.

Reggie sat next to me.

"Do you play?"

"I used to play with mom and Julie." I said, concentrating my energy on my fingers and starting to strum one of mom's favourite songs. I looked at Reggie and he was smiling at me. I continued to play, feeling the music flowing through me like when I was alive. It was great to know that I could play even now.

"Boys, I already said that you can't play while I'm not ... here."

I stopped playing abruptly when I looked at the garage door and Julie was there looking at me as if she had seen a ghost. Well, had had. I got up from the stool quickly and went towards my sister.

"Julie..." I sobbed, trying to reach her at the same time as she held her hand out to me. But my hand went through hers and I started to cry.

"Y/N." she was crying too. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Jules." I laughed.

"I thought you crossed over, I never saw you here."

“I came here a few times, but you never saw me. I couldn't stand to stay long. I spent most of my time walking around the city. ”

"What about mom?" she asked hopefully.

I shook my head. “I never saw her. She crossed right away.”

Julie tried to dry the tears, but they just kept coming down.

"Please, don’t go." she pleaded in a voice so low it broke my heart. “You can stay here with the boys. Just please don't go.”

I looked at Reggie in exasperation, but he came over to me and rested a hand on my back and I managed to take a deep breath.

"Okay." I smiled at my younger sister. "I’ll stay here."

"Yes!" I heard Reggie murmuring and Julie and I laughed, slowly composing ourselves.

“Julie? Is everything alright here?" I heard a third voice and turned to see the two boys who were in the pub with Reggie when I met him.

"Alex, Luke, this is Y/N, my sister."

Luke, the one with the brown hair, raised his eyebrows in surprise. "The sister you said that died?"

Julie made a face, but I just laughed and confirmed it.

Alex, the blonde, observed my closeness to Reggie and smirked. "I imagine this is also the same Y/N that Reggie kept talking about."

"Eh... Well... It wasn't like that..." Reggie gasped trying to brush it off, but I just laughed as I grabbed his chin and pulled him in for a quick kiss.

I barely noticed the boys' laughter and Julie's comment on how weird it was to see her sister kissing someone. I was too busy drinking on Reggie's expression, who had his eyes closed and an ecstatic smile on his lips.

[twiceasfrustrating]

Absolutely Nothing

I said I wouldn't post my new fic until after SWBQ is done, but I want to begin posting it before S4 drops. It won't update consistently atm, but it's there... I will only be posting the first two chapters to Tumblr. Everything else is going on AO3 because Tumblr is not longfic friendly.

Rating: Teen and Up

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Category: Gen

Fandom: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!

Characters: Main Character, Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphegor, Diavolo, Barbatos, Simeon, Luke, Solomon, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Original Angel Character(s)

Additional Tags: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, War, Trauma, Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Canon is like a vampire, it can't enter this house unless I let it, Emotional Baggage, Lies, Manipulation, Ships not intended but I'm not stopping you

Summary: War is not unknown to the three realms, but that does not make them any less a tragedy of strategy. Though relations between the three have never been favorable, they have never truly gone to battle with each other. At least, not until now. The heavens have been planning for a long time and have finally decided to execute their machinations. Now it is time to see how every piece will play out this bloody battle.

A/N: These tags are for the overarching fic, not the first two chapters. Only Lucifer, Simeon, Micheal, and Gabriel show up in the first two chapters.

Chapter 1: I Will Not Go With You

“We’re heading for a war,” Lucifer warned, “and I want you to come with me.”

Simeon solemnly blinked a few times before closing his eyes. The weight of the choices laid before him pricked at the edges of his mind. He’d known this was coming. He’d known for a long time that this question would eventually be asked of him and for just as long he’d known what his answer would be, “I must decline.”

“Why?” Lucifer spat out, “Simeon, you have to know what’s about to happen. If we don’t fight then Lilith-”

“I am not stopping you from this rebellion.” He opened his eyes and looked to the pages stacked neatly in the corner of his desk, carefully flipping through the avalanche of writings he’d collected over the years. Somewhere, buried deep in the pile, he vaguely recalled his moment; where his brother would ask him to do the impossible. He’d hidden it away from prying eyes, afraid that others would find it and interpret it as he had. Though, even if they had read it and understood what the contents were, it was nigh impossible to change the events that were foretold.

He pulled the page from the pile, taking care so the others above it would not collapse onto the delicately inlaid wood of his desk, and perused the contents held within. The paper was so old that it had begun to grow fragile to the touch and discolor at the edges. Simeon desperately wished that time had chosen not to show its touch on this particular relic he would rather have forgotten about. It was frightening how long he’d known about this day and he would rather pretend he was shocked when Lucifer had come to him. Sometimes, having a glimpse into what would eventually be was a cruel reality.

That brother, who would come in need of his fellow, will find no quarter. So shall he return with hands left empty, but convictions emboldened by the forge of his stature. He shall take with him those who share his resolve and lead them to where metal sings and cries. Blood shall be shed but on one side, though the cost of the blood spilled shall

It was an old, short paragraph he wished he could forget. Though he could never truly put it out of his mind, because he knew it was left unfinished and his mind and pen longed to see the end of the story. However, his heart and will would prefer not to know every detail of this particular future. For so long, he’d clung to that final shall and hoped that not knowing the entirety of the story would somehow keep it from unfolding. However, his pen only put the stories to page. He was not responsible for the events that inspired him to write.

“You will have to make do with those who are already on your side. No one else will turn their back on Father for your cause.” It was the only warning he could give. In those words he hid the message that Lucifer should tell no one else. If war was approaching, then it was better he have the element of surprise.

Lucifer could only stare at him in disbelief, “Is that your answer?”

“It always was.” He placed the paper face down atop the pile, “I cannot aid you in this, Lucifer.”

“Then you would fight against me? You would condemn Lilith in the same way as our Father?” His voice shook, the rage building inside of him clearly beginning to boil over even as he tried to contain it.

“I will not betray my family.” Simeon’s face remained unchanged as he pushed his chair away from the desk and rose to his feet. Despite the malicious aura that began to circle around his fellow Seraphim, he approached with an unguarded stance until they were only an arm’s reach away from one another. No matter how upset Lucifer may become, Simeon would not fear him. Though, he did fear *for* him, “You and she are still of my kind and that means I will not meet you on the battlefield.”

Lucifer’s eyes widened at the declaration. This time, it was his turn to fear for the other, “You can’t stay out of this. You know they won’t allow you.” If he did try to remain on the sidelines, Simeon would still be seen as a traitor. Not in the same vein as him and his siblings, but a traitor nonetheless, “I won’t ask you to fight if you really refuse to lift your blade, but you can’t stay here.”

“As much as you and Lilith are my family, so are Micheal, Raphael, Uriel, and Gabriel. I cannot leave them.”

“Simeon…”

Simeon’s lips pulled back into a smile and he let out the shortest of laughs, “You worry far too much, Lucy. You are aware that I am still a Seraphim, are you not? Even if I do not step onto the battlefield, I do not believe I am in nearly as much danger as you are putting yourself in.” He wanted to reach out and touch his brother one last time as the fear of the unknown overtook him, but he kept his hand within his own space. He did not know what would happen at the end of all of this, but he knew it would not be the same and reaching out to hold onto what they had would only pain them both.

Lucifer looked over the other angel’s shoulder, toward the pile of papers where Simeon had placed one face down. Countless writings that revealed the future to their author and Lucifer did not envy that gift. Others often wished to know what would be, but he had seen far too many times the burden placed on Simeon for having such a skill; the amount of times he had been made to see both grace and tragedy was carved on his face, just behind that smile. That is why, despite knowing that whatever was on that page was related to this very discussion and his ultimate goal, he would not pry. It was not as if knowing the future allowed it to be changed anyway.

“We’ll still be on opposing sides, you know?” No matter how much Simeon proclaimed not to betray his family, that was an unavoidable truth.

He nodded, “I am aware.”

“And you refuse to go against your family?”

This time his confirmation was wordless.

Lucifer took in a deep breath, “Then once the battle begins, I believe we can hardly be considered family anymore.”

Large blue eyes shot up to look at his pale face. It seemed that Lucifer had said something Simeon hadn’t expected, “What?”

“You will not betray your family, but you know they will not allow you to remain neutral in this. As soon as the drums of war beat, it is fine to stop thinking of me as your brother.”

There was a long moment of silence before Simeon could reply, “You cannot ask me that.”

“I am not asking. I am stating a truth,” one that would hopefully allow Simeon a way to follow his morals and gain some leniency if he continued to insist on this path, “I refuse to be your brother from that moment on.”

“Please... you cannot ask that of me.”

“I am not asking anything of you. I am simply stating where we will stand.” And now he needed to leave before the hurt welling in Simeon’s eyes tugged at his heart anymore and shattered his resolve.

He dipped his head in a polite bow, “Thank you for your time, Simeon. I do hope we may speak like this again.” He turned on his heels, refusing to truly look at the other angel again. His only goal was the door, where he opened it wide and stepped through the threshold.

“Lucifer! Wait!”

It took far more will than Lucifer would ever care to admit as he shut the door behind him without saying another word, and even more to walk away.

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

Chapter 2: Traitor

“How long have you known?” Micheal nearly growled as he stared down Simeon where he kneeled. His pale blue eyes ran wild with rage and it was clear he was just barely holding himself together. That was to be expected after everything he had just been through. Lucifer was unapologetically his favorite brother so it was unimaginable the distress he was in right now as he came to terms with having lost a member of his family. They had been like two halves of a whole, and now they were fractured.

“How long have I known what?” Simeon asked, feigning ignorance.

“That Lucifer would lead a rebellion against Father!” Micheal’s voice raised so loud that the room literally shook around him.

“Calm yourself, Micheal,” a melodious voice shushed him and lithe hands rested on his shoulders to hold him steady, “We’ve lost enough of our siblings today. There is no reason to lose yourself and risk losing another.”

“You would call him our brother after that disgraceful scene, Gabriel?” The disgust in his voice was clear and overwhelming, “He knew this would happen and refused to warn us or lift a finger. Everything we lost today is because of him.” Simeon had to know about today. He was blessed with the gift of prophecy and spent his time writing what was to come. If he had simply shared whatever he knew about today, Micheal knows they could have prevented the rebellion. He knows that he could have convinced Lucifer to stay somehow. Instead, he was left to face his own brother on the battlefield. He could still recall the cold eyes Lucifer had looked at him with as if they barely knew one another. That sight would never leave the darkest parts of his mind.

“You are blinded by your pain, Micheal.” She removed her hand from his shoulders and moved to stand over Simeon, “He is clearly as much our brother as ever. If he were against us he would have joined Lucifer, but Father has deemed that he is still worthy of his halo. Is that not enough for you?”

Micheal chuckled darkly before answering, “Uriel nearly lost an arm and he’s one of the lucky ones.” Even with so few numbers on their side, the rebellion had a gifted Dominion that made the most of their small force.

“And everyone harmed will heal, but we gain nothing in dividing ourselves further, and our brother has already been punished for his transgressions.” She took a knee before Simeon, reaching out her hand and running her fingers through his silken hair, “Will you not put our brother’s worries at ease, Simeon?”

Simeon knew the threat in those words. As kind as Gabriel pretended to be, she was someone he feared far more than Micheal. Not because she was stronger, but because she knew exactly how to most hurt those who upset her. As such, he had no interest in declining her wish, even if what she was asking for was for him to show his shame.

He took a deep breath before unfurling his wings behind him. They shimmered golden in the neverending light of the Celestial Realm, a blessing bestowed upon him by their Father that reflected his very essence. Every angel had such a blessing; different colors, shapes, a range of sizes, and lays of their feathers all differed from angel to angel all dependent on their Father’s grace. That included how high in their Father’s favor they were, and it was obvious at a glance just how out of favor Simeon had fallen. His six beautiful wings, the blessing afforded to all Seraphim, had been reduced to a simple two.

Gabriel’s eyes filled with pity for him but Micheal’s face twisted in glee and disdain, “Is that all? You betray us and all Father does is reduce your rank.” The laugh that left his throat was so dry that it sounded like it hurt, “You must really be beloved to get off with such a light sentence.” If it was up to Micheal himself, Simeon would face the same punishment as Lilith.

“Still your anger, Micheal. As you can see, Father has spoken.” She raised to her feet once more, her nails pulling painfully at Simeon’s hair as she stepped away from him, “Simeon is still of our kind and as one of our subordinates it is our duty to shepherd him.”

A wicked smile crossed Micheal’s face as he continued to look down on Simeon and his now unsightly form that marked his betrayal, “You may be correct, Gabriel. It is only right that we guide lost sheep, especially those of our own flock.”