#i need ONE big positive step forward to have happened by the time i’m a week from 24 please

[sixpiecechickenmcnobody]

23 in a week. god damn. what the fuck

[steddiealltheway]

When Eddie gets excited, he gets a bit overwhelmed. At least, that’s what Steve has noticed, with the way Eddie has to take a quick running lap, bounce up and down, etc. whenever he gets too happy.

Steve secretly thinks it’s adorable and tries his best to induce these little happy zoomies.

It doesn’t take much. Sometimes it’s just a small compliment such as, “That shirt looks nice on you,” that has Eddie bouncing on his heels and fidgeting with his rings with a smile on his face. Sometimes, Steve tries to notice something new like when Eddie trims his bangs or paints his nails, that makes Eddie flush red and mumble, “Yeah, I did,” before taking a quick walk around Family Video before making his way back to him.

This time, Steve isn’t really trying to get a reaction out of Eddie who is angrily storming around the break room of Family Video after Steve had seen his face upon entering the store and ushered him to the back.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Eddie mutters out, running a hand over his face. Steve sits back quietly, letting Eddie go on a little rant. “He said, we were allowed to have the basement for our campaign. All of it. Then, Ted Wheeler in all his glory suddenly says that we’re too loud, and we can’t do the campaign at their house anymore. I mean… it’s one more session! He could’ve sat in that damn recliner and shut him mouth for one more session! Fuck.”

Eddie groans dramatically and sits on the ground, head in his hands. “I don’t know what to do. It’s summer so we don’t have access to the school. And I can’t risk breaking in and having them take away my well earned diploma. Plus, my trailer is too small, and no one else has the privacy of Mike’s basement. We’re done for!”

Steve shrugs, seeing a clear answer to the problem. “You can do it at my house. My parents are never home, and I can stay in my room for as long as you need.”

Eddie’s head snaps up. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, not really sure why he’s so shocked.

Eddie stands up quickly. “You’re positive you can deal with all the Hellfire members in your house?”

Steve nods. “I’ll even buy you guys pizza if you want.”

“Buy us pizza…” Eddie mumbles under his breath in disbelief. “Steve Harrington, are you granting me permission to use your house for Hellfire Club meaning hours of us yelling maybe even late into the night while we play our nerdy game?”

Steve nods and shrugs again. “Yeah. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Not that big of a deal?” Eddie repeats, once again in disbelief. He slightly smiles. “We’re going to be able to complete the campaign.” He bounces on his heels excitedly. “We’re going to complete the campaign!” He runs up to Steve and hugs him tightly, jumping up and down, successfully jostling a laughing Steve in his arms. “We have a place to complete the campaign!!”

Eddie puts him down and pulls back with a big smiles. “Thank you! Seriously thank you. This means so much I could just-”

Before Steve can react, Eddie is leaning forward and pressing his mouth against his in an enthusiastic kiss.

Eddie pulls back quickly and puts his hands over his mouth in horror. “Oh my gosh. I’m so- fuck. I’m so fucking sorry. I just got uh…”

Steve waves him off as Eddie backs as far away from him as possible. “You just got excited. It’s okay.”

It’s okay as it can be considering that Steve really wants to kiss Eddie again although he’s not sure what that really means. But suddenly the urge to make Eddie happy makes a whole lot of sense.

Shit. Okay. He can work with this.

He glances up at Eddie who looks petrified in fear. “I just got excited…” he whispers out.

Steve slowly makes his way to him and puts his hands on his shoulders. “It’s okay, Eddie. Really. I uh, enjoyed it.”

“You enjoyed it?” Eddie echoes uncertainly.

“Yes. But if it was just an excitement thing, I understand.”

Eddie breathes out, “And what if it was more than an excitement thing?”

Steve takes a step further into Eddie’s space and tilts his head. “Then I’d ask if I could kiss you.”

Eddie swallows harshly and leans forward. “It was definitely more than an excitement thing.”

Steve smiles softly and asks, “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” Eddie says, slipping his hands into Steve’s hair as he moves forward again.

This time, Steve knows to respond, moving his lips against Eddie’s gently before tracing his tongue against the seam of his lips, exploring the inside of his mouth when Eddie lets him in.

When Steve reluctantly pulls away from the kiss to check on Eddie, he gets a quick nip to the lip.

Eddie flushes red. “So, I sometimes bite when I’m happy.”

Steve leans in again and whispers against his lips, “Thank god I’m into that.”

And he’s going to make sure to learn all the ways to elicit these responses from Eddie, but first, he’s going to learn all the ways Eddie likes to be kissed.

[thatsmzbitchtoyou]

The Naughty Nanny Chapter 7

Summary:  Bucky had a lovechild from a one night stand.  He barely even remembered it, and was surprised to find a baby on his doorstep 9 months later.  But one look at that little girl and he knew she was his and that he’d die for her.  The only problem was, he knew nothing about babies, and being an Avenger meant he couldn’t just drop everything and be a dad full time.  Then he found the perfect nanny…or so he thought.

**In this universe Steve never left, Tony never died.** **curvy reader** Warnings: talk of sexual harassment, unwanted/non-consensual touching/sexual assault, eventual smut

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“Thanks to you, we’ve finally been able to get ahead of this,” Tony said as he shook Y/N’s hand.  Y/N gave him a slight nod and a tight-lipped smile.  “And I’m sorry about what I said,” he continued, looking away bashfully.  

“It’s fine, Tony, I understand,” Y/N said quietly.

He nodded and walked away.  Steve stepped forward and opened his arms.  She smiled wider and stepped into his embrace.  “I’m glad you’re okay.  I’m sorry we used you as bait.”

“It’s okay, Steve,” she reassured him.  When he pulled away she patted his chest.  “I’m a big girl.  I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure,” Steve smiled.  He looked behind her then back at her.  He leaned in slightly and whispered.  “He likes you.  Whatever happened, please talk to him.”

Y/N blinked and nodded as Steve smirked at her then walked away and out of the apartment following Tony.  She turned back to Bucky who was holding Winnie and rocking her to sleep.  After they had gotten home and done a quick mission debriefing she had taken a shower to clean off the blood and grime of the night.  She had been checked over for any after-effects from the alien taser, but everything seemed to be fine.  She was back in her comfortable clothes, a large cardigan over her sleep tank top and shorts.  Y/N padded over to him, her slippers shuffling on the floor softly.  “I can take her, Buck.”

“It’s okay,” Bucky replied, not looking at her.  “You need some rest.  It’s been a rough night.”

Y/N’s hands dropped.  “I’m okay, Bucky.  If anything I’d rather just forget all about it and focus on something else.”

Bucky shifted, watching Winnie’s eyes flutter.  “I just need to hold her for a bit.”

Y/N watched him then nodded and turned towards her room.  When she closed her door behind her Bucky exhaled shakily.  He didn’t know where to go from here.  The mission was over, she was safe, but too much had happened for them to just go back to how it was.  He still dreamt of her dancing on him, how her hips felt against him, her lips on his neck, her sultry voice.  And now the gruesome scream she’d let out over the earpiece, having to watch Kingpin hurt her replaying in his head repeatedly.  He hugged Winnie close to him, kissing her head and cheeks.  He hoped she’d never have to deal with those kinds of things in her life.

Bucky got Winnie set down for the night and closed her door.  As he turned to his room Y/N’s door opened.  “Buck, can we talk?” She asked quietly.

He froze and looked down at the floor.  “About what?”

”Everything,” she said.

Bucky turned around and looked at her.  “Sure.”  He might as well bite the bullet now.

Y/N turned back to her room and he followed her.  She gestured to the bed for him to sit and he did, keeping a foot between them.  She sat and crossed her legs, wringing her hands again.  “First off, I want to thank you for helping me tonight.  I feel,” she sighed, “better than I have in a year and half.  More free.  So thank you.”  Bucky nodded, still not looking at her.  “Secondly, I just want to apologize again for not telling you about going back to the club, and for putting you and Steve, but especially you, into a compromising and uncomfortable position.  And I apologize for how I handled it when we fought about it a week ago.”  Bucky glanced at her.  She was watching him, searching his face for something.  “And lastly, I want to apologize for lying during that fight,” she said.

”Lying?” Bucky asked, his eyes narrowing.

”Yeah, I uh, I lied.  You asked if that was just fun to me.  I said yes.  I lied,” she breathed.  

Bucky’s head tilted.  “Then what was it?”

She smiled softly at him.  “It was….”  She cleared her throat and swallowed harshly.  “I’ve been attracted to you from the moment I met you.  But I pushed it away because it was a job.  But then you turned out to be a great guy, and a great dad to a wonderful little girl,” she smiled wider as she talked about Winnie.  “I love her, Buck, I hope you know that.  I’ve only been here for a little while and I feel like it’s been forever.  And when I saw you at the club that night I was so grateful it was you there, and I poured all my fear and my feelings for you into that dance because if that was all I was going to get then I was going to make it count.”  She huffed a breath.  “And when Kingpin had me tonight and was so…rough, it hurt so bad and all I wanted was for you to hold me and touch me like you did that night,” her voice cracked as her lips trembled with emotion.

Bucky quickly moved so he could sit next to her.  He reached his hands out as he twisted his body to face her and cupped her cheeks gently, rubbing her cheekbones with his thumbs to swipe any shed tears away, leaning forward so his forehead rested against her forehead.  He could see the red welt where Kingpin had slapped her and he softly palmed the area with his metal hand.  She seemed to melt into his touch, welcoming the coolness on her face.  “Tell me where it hurts.  Whatever you need, I’ll do it.”

Y/N inhaled shakily and looked into his eyes.  “You won’t judge me?”

“I don’t judge you, you don’t judge me, remember?” Bucky asked.

She licked her lips and bit her bottom lip before replying.  “I just need…I need you to touch me, everywhere he touched me.  Make me forget it all,” her hands gripped his wrists.

Bucky nodded in understanding.  She needed trusted hands, good hands, to take away the hurt he inflicted.  He moved his hands away from her face and down to her neck.  His fingers tilted her jaw to her left, and he leaned in and kissed the welt on her cheek.  She was breathing heavily, her eyes closing at his soft touch.  He then slipped his metal hand away from her neck to her shoulder so his flesh hand could wrap around her throat.  He didn’t squeeze, didn’t move, just kept his face close to hers, his nose gliding along her cheek as he held her there.  Her fingers moved from his wrist to his hand at her throat.  He felt her swallow against his fingers, her pulse racing for a few moments before she was able to calm down.  She lightly pressed against his hand and he moved it down her chest.  Bucky stopped his hand just above the swell of her breast and looked at her again.  “What do you need?” he whispered.  

Y/N looked down at her breasts, her cleavage already slightly showing from her sleep top.  She looked back up at him with a hesitant look.  “Could you sit behind me?”

Bucky slowly nodded and pulled away.  He stood and maneuvered his way behind her.  He leaned against her headboard of the bed, splaying his legs for her to sit between them.  Y/N shuffled back into him, leaning her back against his front.  He kept his hands to his sides, waiting for her to tell him what to do.  She sat for a minute, evening out her breathing, then her right hand grabbed his flesh hand and brought it back up to her throat.  He laid his hand across her throat, once again not squeezing, just resting it there.  Her left hand grabbed his metal hand and brought it to her stomach to rest there.  She then reached her hands up to her tank top, gripping the top hem with her fingers.  She twisted her head to look back at him.  “Is this okay?”

Bucky nodded.  At this point he would do whatever she asked of him.  She nodded and looked back down.  She pulled the hem of her top down until her breasts spilled over it.  She paused for a moment, then pulled his metal hand up to her left breast.  He rested his hand on it, not moving, letting her decide what she wanted to do.  As much as he enjoyed this view, he knew this wasn’t for him.  She paused for another minute, then brought his other hand down from her throat, her chest, her stomach, then cupping his hand between her legs.  Y/N let him hold her for another minute or two, then leaned her head back against his shoulder.  Her eyes were closed and she exhaled through her nose.  “Touch me…please.”

Bucky inhaled deeply then did as she asked.  His metal hand began gently cupping her breast, squeezing it and his thumb rubbing over her nipple.  Her nipple stiffened as he continued touching her.  His flesh hand between her legs didn’t move, just covering her protectively.  She turned her head slightly towards his face and he nuzzled his nose into her hair, kissing her forehead.  She let him keep touching her until he carefully tweaked her nipple with his fingers and her back arched, a low hum reverberating through her chest.

“Feels so good, Bucky,” Y/N moaned.  Her legs parted wider, opening up against his thighs that caged her.  Bucky’s breathing was getting faster seeing the effect he was having on her.

“I want to make you feel good, Y/N,” he murmured into her ear.  “You made me feel good that night.  Let me take care of you.”  Y/N’s mouth dropped open as she gasped.  She looked back at him, the expression on her face one of pure desire.  “Do you trust me?” he asked.

Y/N nodded frantically.  Bucky smirked then pulled away.  She looked at him confusedly as he moved away and stood by the bed again.  He pushed her shoulder back until she was lying down, looking up at him.  He climbed up the bed until he was laying next to her, propped up on his metal elbow.  He used his flesh hand to reach up and cup her face as he leaned down to bring his face closer to hers.  He studied her face for any sense of hesitation, and upon finding none, he closed the gap and kissed her.

Y/N immediately responded, her lips pressing up into his hungrily.  Her hands reached up and around his head, one hand gripping the back of his neck to keep him close and the other running through his hair.  She tugged the strands at the back of his head, making him moan against her.  His hand then traveled down from her face, to her neck, to her chest, over her breast, down her stomach and to the top hem of her sleep shorts.  He hooked his thumb under it and paused.  She nodded against his mouth and he started to pull her shorts down.  After some giggles and awkward positioning he was able to get them and her underwear off.  His hand slowly moved up her thigh until his fingers slid along the crease of her leg to her pussy.

Y/N opened her mouth and her tongue tasted his lips.  He quickly opened his mouth and let her taste him first before greedily sucking her tongue.  His fingers slid between her lower lips, finding her already getting wet for him.  He moaned again as his fingers rubbed easily along her lips until he found her clit.  He smiled against her mouth as he started rubbing it gently.  Her hips bucked against his hand and her head fell back, finally breaking the kiss so she could loudly gasp.

Bucky’s face moved into the crook of her neck, kissing, licking and sucking at her throat as his fingers moved down below.  His thumb flicked her clit as his middle finger started to prod at her entrance.  He pushed his finger inside of her and her hands moved to grip the bed sheets.  As he started to thrust that finger in and out of her, his mouth moving along her neck to her collarbone she whimpered.  “That’s so good, Bucky.  Fuck sweetheart…”

Bucky smiled as he licked the swell of her breast and looked up at her.  “Sweetheart?”

Y/N giggled, her face finally fully smiling as she peered down at him.  “You don’t like it?”

“No, I love it.  Too much,” Bucky smirked as he sucked her nipple into his mouth.

Y/N’s head fell back again.  Her legs spread even wider as he added his pointer finger inside her, thrusting deep into her and curling his fingers as his thumb rubbed and flicked her clit repeatedly.  Her moans turned into high pitched squeaks and squeals as his fingers thrust faster.  “Give it to me, honey.  I want it so bad,” Bucky growled against her breast, the tip of his tongue flicking her nipple at the same speed as his thumb flicking her clit.

Y/N’s voice gave out after another squeal and her body stiffened before she sputtered out a groan and she came around his fingers.  He could feel her pussy fluttering around them as he watched her cum, his smile widening as he gave her nipple one more particularly hard suck and then let off of it with a pop.  He watched her hips twitch and buck against his hand as his fingers fucked her through her orgasm.  Bucky continued thrusting his fingers languidly until she reached down and gripped his wrist.  “I can’t…Bucky…oh god…”

Bucky stopped and pulled his fingers out slowly.  He brought them up and looked at her cum on his fingers and his hand.  He shifted himself up the bed till he was closer to her face.  Her eyes were still closed, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to breathe normally again.  He kissed her cheek, making her open her eyes and look at him.  He waited until she was focused on him and then sucked his middle finger into his mouth.  She watched him taste her.  His eyes rolled slightly as he licked his finger clean.  When he pulled it out she moved her head up and her hand gripped his wrist again to bring his fingers to her mouth.  She sucked on his pointer finger, looking at him the entire time.  She then sucked his middle finger into her mouth, too, and licked and sucked them both like they were his cock like she did that night of the lap dance.

Just as Bucky bit his lip while watching her, a cry came through the baby monitor in Y/N’s room.  They both froze, waiting to see if Winnie would settle down, but a moment later it came again, louder this time.  Bucky plopped his forehead down on Y/N’s shoulder and sighed as she removed his fingers from her mouth and giggled.  

“Cockblocker,” Bucky mumbled against her skin.

Y/N laughed as she ran her fingers through his hair again.  “I’ll get her.”

“No, I’ll get her.  You just relax,” he said as he moved away.  He got up and went to her bathroom in her room, grabbed a washcloth and wetted it before coming back and wiping between her legs gently.  He picked up her discarded underwear and shorts and handed them to her as she was adjusting her breasts back into her top.  She sat up and thanked him.  He smiled and turned to leave before coming back to her.  He leaned down and kissed her deeply again.  “Rest,” he instructed her.

“But…?” Y/N started, looking down at the tent in his pants.

“I’ll be fine, honey.  We can figure that all out later,” he said as Winnie’s cry rang out louder through the monitor.  “Tonight was all about you.  Thank you for trusting me,” he smiled again and kissed her nose.

Y/N smiled up at him, her eyes looking more tired by the second.  “Okay, sweetheart.”

Bucky smiled a wide, toothy smile at the pet name before Winnie wailed.  “Alright, I’m coming!” he called out, turning and jogging out of the room.

@angelbabyyy99 @capswife @julvrs @bellabarnes1378 @mostlymarvelgirl @mega-kittyglitter-1 @buckitostan @drdbnkl2008 @wintrsoldrluvr @danzer8705

[forever-rogue]

Hey lovely! How are you? I was thinking of requesting some sort of soulmate au with a protective soft din djarin x reader? I’m a big fan of the au where you share an eye color with your soulmate as in one eye is yours and the other is theirs so that would mean din would know before reader and you can choose to have them find out or keep it a mystery! I just know you’ll do great!

AN | I don’t think I’ve tackled a soulmate!au before but this was so much fun! Enjoy🥰

Warnings | None

Pairing | Din x Fem!Reader

Word Count | 3.1k

Masterlist | Din, Main

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Din Djarin had never seen his eyes in anyone else. 

And he looked - he spent so many years looking for them but he had yet to find his soulmate. 

The advantage of being behind a mask meant that no one could ever see the disappointment on his face when he realized they weren’t the one. 

As time wore on he started to wonder if the one was out there for him. He’d heard tales of poor unfortunate souls that were destined to be alone. Maybe their soulmate had met an early end or maybe they never wanted to be found. He was almost positive that was going to be him as well. It was rare for people to get so far in years and still remain without their soulmate.

He was a lone Mandalorian making his way through the galaxy and life with only his son at his side. Maybe his heart was meant to be alone too. 

He hated the idea of that.

So much that he was completely lost in his own thoughts as he followed Grogu through one of Nevarro’s markets. So lost that he didn’t even notice you until he walked right into you and knocked you over.

You landed on the ground with a soft oof as Grogu babbled at his father in what could only be described as a scolding tone.

“I am sorry,” and he felt genuinely terrible. He was no small man and covered in armor made it only that much worse. He crouched down in front of you held out a gloved hand, “are you alright?”

“I think so,” you felt dizzied but alright otherwise. You looked up at the Mandalorian and offered a small smile in response, “nothing hurts so that’s a good sign.”

You put your hand in his outstretched one but he was frozen and didn’t help to pull you up to your feet. You raised an eyebrow in concern - maybe he was the one that needed help.

“Are you alright?” your soft question seemed to pull him out of his trance as finally hoisted you up. You could tell that he was studying you intently and that made your entire face flush with warmth, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he almost choked on the words as Grogu looked between the two of you. The little one was already well aware of what was happening, “sorry again, it was my fault.”

“No worries,” you looked between the two of them before taking a step back, “I, ugh, I should go. Take care, Mandalorian.”

He watched you go for a moment before Grogu’s soft protest urged him to move forward, “wait!”

You turned around at the sound of his voice, a bemused little smile on your face, “Din Djarin. My name is Din Djarin. And this is Grogu.”

“Hello Grogu and Din Djarin,” you repeated and oh. He liked the sound of you saying his name. In exchange you offered your name and gave him a proper handshake, “is there something I can help with?”

“Do you live here?” you thought the question was odd, but you received no bad feelings from him so you didn’t think anything of it. He fell into step with you and you felt a jolt of electricity run through you.

“I do,” you stopped to look at some fresh fruit, “you are not from here.”

“I am not,” he confirmed, “but we live here now.”

“Welcome to Nevarro,” you quickly bought some of the fruit and handed a piece to the excited and curious looking child, “I hope you’ll like it here. If you need anything, I’m around.”

You turned to leave again and this time Grogu pulled on your pant leg to hold you back.

“Your eyes,” he blurted out suddenly and that caused you to stiffen in surprise, “the color-”

“I don’t have a soulmate,” you answered without another word before turning on your heel. You were most decidedly not going to do this right now with a virtual stranger, “take care Din Djarin.”

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure of what to think or feel at that moment. That was not how he had expected this to go. 

Maybe he was wrong, maybe you - no. He wasn’t wrong, he was a lot of things but not wrong. Your eyes were just like his, mirroring them almost exactly. 

You were his soulmate.

And yet you didn’t believe you had one. 

He was going to change your mind…hopefully.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You didn't look back until you were home and alone. Your heart felt like it was going to beat out of your chest and your mind was racing.

You looked at yourself in the mirror, taking in your wild and frazzled appearance before staring at your eyes. You'd looked at them a hundred million times before but never like this. Dark brown but golden and honeyed with flecks of warmth. They'd always been unique and you'd never see another pair before.

And yet…maybe you'd just met your soulmate. It wasn't totally out of the question, right? The universe usually worked to push soulmates together. Maybe that was what was happening now? Maybe - no.

You hadn't even seen his eyes. What if he was just making a comment about yours?  But…you'd felt so drawn to him, so safe and comfortable without hesitation. Like your heart felt at home.

You gasped out loud at the revelation. After so long of searching and waiting and hoping you actually have a soulmate, your wish might have come true.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"I know," the Mandalorian looked at his son and sighed in exasperation, "I didn't know what to do in the moment."

Understanding babbles met his ears as he picked Grogu up and started to walk to his bedroom. He settled him gently in his bed and looked at him fondly, "perhaps I am wrong-"

Grogu blinked at him owlishly, absolutely telling him off. The little one was far wiser than people gave him credit for.

"Even if I am not, I can't just…" he waved his hand around, at a loss for words, "I have to figure it out. If I even see her again."

He bade his small son a good evening, mind anymore but in the present moment. When he walked into the fresher, he stood in front of the mirror and studied himself. He looked the same as always, or so he supposed, as he didn't tend to look extremely closely most days, but his eyes seemed to stand out a little more.

With hands braced on the counter, he leaned and looked at their color and depth. There was no mistaking it - you had the same eyes.

You were his soulmate.

Now he just had to convince you of the same…somehow.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Several days passed before you came across the Mandalorian alone. You felt relieved at not having seen him, but felt an even larger rush of relief when you did see him. 

He found outside of the small shop you worked, his son in tow. You couldn't help but smile at the sight of them. Oh. Something was definitely going on.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing he said as he looked at him in surprise, "for the other day. I didn't mean to scare you off."

"It's okay," you promised softly, "I'm sorry for how I acted too. I shouldn't have…done that."

“You were scared,” he hated the idea that you were scared in general but especially of him. He felt the urge and pull to protect you, and he’d vowed to himself to do that, whether you accept him at your side or from a distance, “I’m sorry.”

“I wasn’t scared so much as…surprised,” you shrugged sheepishly, “no one’s ever said anything about my eyes before so I just assumed that you were…anyways, it doesn’t matter.”

“You can tell me,” he gently encouraged you, desperate for you to say the words he was yearning to hear, “you don’t have to be worried.”

“I shouldn’t have assumed that you were going to say you were my soulmate,” your cheeks warmed up and you bit the inside of your cheek, keeping your gaze focused on the ground, “I don’t think that person exists. It’s been so many turns that I’m sure I would have met them already.”

“And what if I told you I was?” that piqued your interest and you looked at him in wonder. Your lips formed a pretty little pout and he couldn’t help but already dream of kissing them. 

“I wouldn’t believe you,” you admitted quickly, “it would be too…I can’t see your eyes. How would I know without seeing you? I know you cannot take off your helmet in front of me, Din Djarin. I’d be going on your word only.”

“I would not lie to you-”

“I want to believe that you would not,” more so you didn’t want to be some sort of mistake because that might crush your heart, “as far as my understanding goes, you can only show your face to your spouse or children.”

“You are correct,” really he was ready to whip off the mask and show you his face but he refrained, “let me prove it to you.”

You laughed, a lovely, magical sound that went straight to his heart, “you want to prove you are my soulmate?”

“I do,” he promised with a fervent nod, “because I am not wrong.”

“Say you manage to… convince me that you are right,” you articulated a lot when you spoke, a trait that he found endlessly endearing, “and we…marry or whatever allows me to see you fully and we find out we’re not soulmates, what then? Have we wasted our time on each other and set up the possibility for a lifetime of broken hearts?”

“You think people who are not soulmates can fall in love?”

“I believe that anyone can fall in love,” you shrugged, “there have been instances when soulmates weren’t right for each other.”

“And what if we fall in love despite not being soulmates?”

“What if we did and then one day one of us meets our intended soulmate?” you hated that idea almost as much as you disliked the idea that he wasn’t your soulmate, “that might be even worse.”

“We would have to figure it out then,” he mused in agreement, “but you don’t have to worry - that will not happen.”

“You are so convinced,” you did enjoy his persistence, you would not deny that, “are you always right? Or just stubborn?”

“Perhaps a bit of both,” you looked into the black T of his visor and you just knew that he had a smile on face, “what do you say? Let me try to show you.”

You inhaled deeply before slowly exhaling. This was a lot he was asking of you, but also a lot he was doing as well. But you couldn’t deny the pull you felt towards him either…maybe that was something after all.

“Yes,” you whispered softly, “show me.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

And show he did. 

It started out slowly at first, the two of you forming a friendship that felt so natural and easy - like you’d always been friends. The two of you had a lot in common, but were also very different but found that you fit together almost perfectly. One of the things you both shared was the love for his son. And Grogu loved you just as much in return.

You realized soon just how very much you cared for them the first time they left to go on a job. The idea of them being gone for any amount of time was enough to make your heart ache, but it wasn’t like you could do anything. You had thought about asking to go with them but he quickly shut that idea down; he insisted you stay behind where it was safe and he knew you’d be taken care of. He promised the next time he was certain there was no danger you could go with them. 

You never argued and the few times you had disagreements it was over something silly or trivial, and it was resolved quickly. You liked being around the two of them and found yourself always gravitated towards them as they often did to you. 

They were gone for a little over two weeks; you felt like a part of you had gone with them and you were left to wait and wander listlessly. When they got back you almost refused to leave them. 

You’d experienced such a pull towards the Mandalorian from the start and that feeling was only growing, day by day and bit by bit. Part of you was ready to give in and admit that he had been right from the start but another part of you was still scared to have everything fall apart. So you danced around each other, but over time it was becoming harder and hard to ignore. Something was going to have to give. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

And something did, about a year after you’d meet the strange Mandalorian and his son. 

“I-I think you might be right,” the two of you were sitting around a fire in the backyard, enjoying the cool shift of summer into fall. Grogu still had enough energy to be running around and playing with some stray lothcats. Din regarded you curiously, tilting his head in your direction. 

“About what?” you knew that he knew exactly what you were talking about. You huffed lightly before gesturing vaguely. He wasn’t going to give you the easy way out on this one. 

“Stop,” you buried your face in your hands, feeling butterflies flutter wildly in your tummy as you tried to tone down your nerves, “you know what I mean.”

“I do,” he nodded in agreement, “but I want to hear you say it. Please.”

“I think you are my soulmate,” you whispered just loud enough for him to hear over the merrily crackling fire. For a moment he almost wasn’t sure if you’d said anything but he heard you loud and clear. When he remained silent you began to panic…maybe he’d changed his mind and just hadn’t told you. You swallowed thickly and tried to get a read on him, “say something, Din, please.”

“What made you change your mind?” he slowly rose to his full height before walking over to you and sitting down at your side. You could practically feel the excited but nervous energy flowing off him. You shifted slightly so you could face him, “hmm?”

“It’s just…everything,” you reached up and touched his helmet, right where his cheek would be, “I think I’ve always known. When I didn’t realize.”

“Are you not afraid of being wrong?” but he didn’t ask it in a cruel way. He was genuinely curious and wanted to make sure you knew the potential implications of what you were saying.

“I was,” you confessed softly, “but I realized that even if for some reason, we weren’t…that whatever we had was still real. But I’m also sure you’ve been right all along.”

And yeah. It was all really real.

“Do you trust me?” this time he touched your face, after pulling off his gloves and letting his warm skin touch yours. You’d gotten peeks of his skin here and there but having him touch you so tenderly was an entirely different thing. He’d grown more physically affectionate with you over time, but something about this felt so different, “even if-”

“I do,” you leaned into his touch as he brushed his thumb over your cheek, “I trust you more than anyone else. I think the rest, Din Djarin, is up to you.”

“It is not just up to me to decide if we should marry,” he insisted gently, “you have to be part of that decision as well. I’m sure, cyar’ika, you know what my answer is.”

Your whole expression softened as you looked at him and nodded softly, “I want that too.”

“Even if you haven’t seen the proof yet?”

“Even if I haven’t seen the proof,” you laughed softly, “I know you’re right.”

He put his hand under your chin and turned your face up to his, “close your eyes.”

You wanted to protest, to give him a little bit of push back as you loved to do. But this time you decided not to do it, to just go with it. You breathed out softly before closing your eyes. He pulled his hand away from your face and you frowned at the loss of his touch. It was quiet for a moment before you heard him moving around and setting something down. Oh.

Your heart was beating so wildly it felt like it was going to burst out of your chest. 

“Open your eyes.”

You inhaled sharply, taking a moment to breathe before doing as he said. Slowly you opened your eyes and you were pretty sure you stopped breathing.

Looking back at you was a sight you had never expected to see - your own eyes reflected in your soulmate’s face. 

You gasped in surprise before leaning in and taking his face in your hands. He’d been right this whole time; he’d always been meant for you. You’d been made for each other. 

“Wow,” the whisper escaped your lips despite your best efforts and Din couldn’t help but chuckle fondly. He turned his face slightly and pressed a kiss to your palm, “your eyes…you were right. Maker. You’re so handsome…on top of everything else.”

“I told you I’d prove it to you,” he sounded even more golden and honeyed when he was unmasked. You could definitely get used to hearing it for the rest of time, “do you believe me now?”

“Yes,” you beamed at him, “I think I did from the beginning, even if I didn’t fully realize it. But wait - your face! We - we’re not-”

“Will you marry me?” he asked and you nodded without hesitation, “then I believe this is allowed.”

“Says who?” your eyes widened as he grinned at you.

“Says me,” he leaned in so his lips were almost brushing against yours. Your heart felt like it was going to burst with pure unadulterated happiness, “what do you say?”

“Yes. A million times yes.”

“Then I have one more question for you,” he ghosted his fingers along your jaw as you made a small sound, “may I kiss you?”

And you definitely knew the answer to that, just like you’d known all along. 

“Yes.”

[lady-of-nightmares-and-heartache]

Crossed

Hobie Brown x Fem!Reader

You never were able to sleep all that well, knowing that your best friend was out all night fighting crime, and out all day staging unpermitted political actions, and concerts with his band. Hobie Brown did entirely too much.

He makes it a point to check in every so often so that you know he hasn’t forgotten about you. His only non-band member friend and the only one in his universe that knew about his big secret. Hobie Brown was Spider-Punk, and it was a full-time, penniless gig.

Shortly after you had become friends, you learned about his identity on accident. You were glad you did though, because it explained a lot about his prolonged absences. When he officially became homeless because he didn’t have an actual job, you offered up your place until he could get back on his feet.

That was a few months ago. Now he happily has his own flat, but spends just as much time at your own flat, if not more than his own.

So when he hasn’t stopped by or called in a week, you were worried. You know that he got called to Spider Society HQ to deal with some anomaly threat, but that was a week ago. Normally he’d be back by now, or would call you mid-fight just to check in.

You’re in your cotton shorts and an oversized tshirt while you watch a scary movie in the living room before heading off to bed. You likely won’t sleep well anyway, so you’re not overly concerned about potential nightmares.

While jump-scares are a cheap way to get a reaction out of the audience, they get you every time. So when the music peaks and the demon suddenly appears on screen AND you hear a violently loud, very real noise right outside of your bedroom window, your heart jumps into your throat and you swear you can feel your soul leave your body.

Pausing the movie (there’s no way you’re gonna continue watching that tonight) you creep towards your bedroom. Slowly opening the door, you see a figure opening up your window very slowly and shakily stepping into your bedroom. You flick on the light and you immediately calm down.

“Hobie, you nearly gave me a heart attack! Where have you been!”

Hobie pulls his mask off and looks at you, and you immediately notice that his eyes seem unfocused.

“Sorry bout th’t love.”

He takes a step forward and promptly crumples to the ground.

You’re only frozen in shock for about 30 seconds, but it feels like ages. You rush forward and drop to your knees, attempting to scan him for injury.

“Hobie?? Oh my god what happened to you??”

Hobie groans and mutters something unintelligible. You immediately get to removing his leather vest and that’s when you see the blood seeping through his spidey suit. You suck in a sharp breath.

“Hobie, I’m gonna have to remove this so I can fix it okay? I know you don’t like hospitals so I’m going to stop the bleeding and see if I can fix this.”

You’re amazed that you don’t panic, as you carefully lift Hobie’s shoulders up towards you so you can peel the top half of his suit down until it hangs around his waist. Carefully leaning him back into a flat position on the floor you gulp. It’s a lot of blood. You’re hesitant to leave him but you have to grab the first aid kit and some towels from the bathroom. You run there and back and immediately press the towel to the gaping wound that stretches from his brusing ribs to his lower side of his stomach.

The minute you apply pressure his eyes fly open with a gasp and he tries to sit up.

“Hobie, Hobie stop” he looks panicked and disoriented. “It’s just me, love.” You adopt the nickname that he calls you hoping it’ll snap him back to reality.

It has the desired effect, and he winces as he slowly lays back down.

“That bloody hurts y’know th’t?”

“I know,” you look down at the towel which is thoroughly soaked through and replace it with the next one. “I can’t get the bleeding to stop,” your voice pitches up towards the end of the sentence showing how worried you are. “And I’m certain this needs stitches.”

Hobie peers at you, pain still clouding his vision. He manages to lift a hand and place it over yours. “No.. hmph, no hospitals.”

You sigh. What seems like hours (it was really only twenty minutes) you finally staunch the blood and prep for the stitches.

“This’ll be a bit painful innit.” Hobie phrased it like a question, but really it was a statement. You brushed the sweat from his forehead.

“It will. I’ll try to be as gentle as possible.”

You chew your bottom lip as you begin the sutures. Obviously you want to get it done as fast as possible, but it also has to be done right. With every pull you can feel Hobie tense up as he tries not to flinch.

His breathing is ragged so you try to distract him by getting him to talk.

“You know, I was worried when I hadn’t heard from you for a couple days. I know you don’t believe in consistency but I had a feeling something was wrong when you never checked in… how did this happen??”

Hobie squeezes his eyes shut as you pull the needle until this portion of the stitch is taut.

“Just the usual ‘azards that come wit being spidey,” he grits out.

You scoff. “Hobart Brown, in the last two years that I’ve known you, you’ve never even come home with a scratch.”

“We’ve had a bit of a multiverse crisis.. s’why I been gone for so long”

You hum in contemplation as you make your way through the last few stitches.

“What happened?”

You tie off the thread and disinfect the area again, as Hobie tells you all about Miles Morales and Miguel and The Spot.

“So these canon events happen to everyone?”

Hobie averts his eyes. “What of it?”

It seems like a touchy subject, so you decide to leave it alone. Just because your friends, doesn’t mean you’re entitled to know every little detail about him, just like he doesn’t know every little detail about you.

“C’mon.”

You help Hobie up off the floor, and lead him to your bed. His arm immediately crosses his middle holding his aching ribs. Hobie starts to protest, saying he’ll just head back to his flat.

“Hobie, please lay down. I want you here so I can make sure you don’t rip your stitches, and you’re not swinging to your place.”

“Aye I’ll do it, but not b’cause you told me to.”

Once he lays flat on his back you go change into some not blood soaked clothes. You decide to toss all bloody paraphernalia in the dumpster outside, so you slip on your sneakers. Not five minutes later, you’re perched on the edge of your bed.

“Miles seems like a good kid,” you say absentmindedly.

“‘e is, jus’ wanted to fit in wit the likes of us.”

You grab his hand. “I’m proud of you.”

He raises a pierced eyebrow at you. “For wha’?”

“Helping Miles try to stop this.” You rub your thumb across the back of his hand, the shock of finding Hobie the way you did starting to wear off, and a deep sense of unaddressed dread starting to set in.

Hobie shakes his head. “He betta stop ‘is event, or I got all a these stitches for nothin.”

Your thumb stops moving and you squeeze his hand.

“What does that mean?”

Hobie’s silence is VERY loud.

Finally the puzzle pieces start to click into place.

“Nothin’ love, I jus-“

“Hobart Brown, is this ridiculously deep laceration from Miguel O’Hara?”

Hobie winces at the deadly (deceiving) calm in your voice.

“Uh it’s possible-“

“I’m going to kill him myself.”

As if a higher power was listening to you, Hobie’s watch activated requesting he return to HQ.

“Perfect!”

“Love it’s prob’bly a trap-“

Too late. You reach across for his other wrist and slap the button that opens the portal. One minute you’re in your apartment, and the next you’re on your first interdimensional travel field trip, with Hobie right beside you.

———————————————————————————

Crossed Masterlist

[samstree]

I'm taking it slow (feeding my flame)

a little firefighter!obi-wan au. it's a finished fic so please do not tag as wip. ao3 link is here.

“What do we have today?”

Anakin turns towards the source of that warm, honeyed voice, and finds the familiar sight of his favorite uniform in the world—well, his favorite only because of the wearer.

Obi-Wan Kenobi walks through the front door of the robotics lab of Coruscant University in dark navy overall with reflective stripes, hands gloved, well-combed auburn hair covered in the safety helmet. All standard-issue for members of the city’s firefighters.

“Officer Kenobi.” Anakin nods to him, as properly and politely as he can with his prosthetic arm trapped between the stair rails. It’s an awkward position he has found himself in, having to twist his body to sit on the steps while waiting for his rescuer to arrive. “As you can see, I fell.”

He gestures to himself and the half-formed circle of bystanders around him, the grin on his face upon Obi-Wan growing, stretching from ear to ear.

“Uh-huh, I’m sure you have,” Obi-Wan replies, passing the crowd and laying down his toolkit on the step beneath Anakin’s feet. “Right into these rails that happen to be the perfect size for your arm to get stuck in. Just like last week on the bridge, and the month before when it got caught in one of your fancy machines. You are lucky it’s always the one made of metal.”

Obi-Wan sends a look of disbelief while pulling out a crowbar from his kit, eyes blue and piercing. Anakin’s face grows warm when they are so close, and Obi-Wan is kneeling by his feet. It’s inappropriate to get flustered simply being near his favorite firefighter in front of all his friends—he can hear Aayla laughing at him somewhere in the curious crowd—but it’s hard to help himself when Obi-Wan is so close.

“Well, you know me, officer. Ever the clumsy one.”

Anakin looks at Obi-Wan with wide, innocent eyes, and only gets a sigh in return.

“And you don’t need to call me ‘officer’, Anakin. You don’t call firefighters anything.” Obi-Wan has put the crowbar in place right beneath the metal railing as a lever, his grip shifting a few times before pushing on the other end to pry the thing apart. “Try pulling your arm out.”

Anakin shifts his prosthesis, but it won’t budge. His arm is actually trapped quite solidly, the pain sensors sending a tingling sensation to his real nerves.

“Can’t move yet,” he says, and then, “but what else should I call my valiant rescuer?”

“Obi-Wan, darling. As we’ve established many times, you can just call me Obi-Wan while I’m saving your limb.”

Obi-Wan grimaces while exerting more force on the crowbar, heaving out a labored breath, brow furrowed with concentration. Despite the loose-fitting uniform jacket, Anakin can vividly picture the way those biceps are bulging underneath the clothes.

The blush on Anakin’s face becomes warmer, his heart picking up pace. “Obi-Wan, then, answer me this. Are all the firefighters this sexy when they are on a rescue mission, or is it just—oh!”

Distracted by both the show of strength in front of him and his own poor attempt at flirting, Anakin doesn’t notice his arm being freed with a final push, and now he’s falling over with the sudden lack of constraint. He tips forward and slams right into Obi-Wan’s chest, landing his firefighter right on his back.

Their faces are a hand’s breadth away. Anakin meets the slight panic in blue eyes, morphing into indignation.

“Anakin!”

“Hello, there,” Anakin says smugly. “Told you I was clumsy.”

Despite the big eye roll, Obi-Wan still holds Anakin close, arms right around his waist protectively as he pushes both of them off the floor. His jacket smells like dust and petrol, and Anakin presses their bodies together to revel in the moment longer. They both regain their composures as the crowd dissipates now that the show is over.

“There, you’re all rescued,” Obi-Wan huffs, collecting everything and straightening his back. “This is not convincing me that you’re not doing all of this on purpose just to be around me.”

“Who says I was trying to convince you of anything?”

They walk slowly to the door side by side, somehow Obi-Wan’s hand ending up by the elbow of Anakin’s mechanic arm, the touch casual but lingering. He pushes open the door to guide Anakin away from the prying eye of the lingering students in the hallway, and takes off his helmet to tuck it underneath his arm.

With his free hand, Obi-Wan holds Anakin’s prosthesis, inspecting it carefully. When it’s just the two of them, he finally lets the worry show.

“Move your fingers for me, darling,” Obi-Wan asks gently, hand gliding down to hold Anakin’s mechanical hand in his palm. “Any pain on the interface?”

Anakin obliges, the motors in the digits whirling quietly, only a little stiff from the ordeal.

“It’s fine, Obi-Wan. I’m fine,” he adds for emphasis. “It’s nothing I can’t fix later. Artoo has been telling me to upgrade anyway.”

By the gods, Obi-Wan is beautiful like this. With the helmet gone, Anakin can see the streaks of silver by his temples, the few strands of auburn hair out of place. He’s never been able to resist the urge to smooth them down, so he does with his flesh hand. His firefighter needs to look perfect on the job.

And those laughing lines around Obi-Wan’s eyes… Anakin loves those lines. Especially when they deepen because Anakin has done something foolish yet endearing.

“Alright, I’ll see you at home,” Obi-Wan says, the lines around his eyes deepening beautifully from the indulgent smile on his face. “And be careful when you’re working. Don’t get hurt.”

“That should be my line!” Anakin protests.

Obi-Wan raises their linked hands and kisses the back of the metal fingers. “And yet, you are the one that needs my rescuing.”

Anakin’s breath hitches, his heart thrumming with happiness. The kiss is so light that the sensors are barely picking up any pressure, and yet his face is flaming hot.

Obi-Wan has too much power over him, the sight of him lighting up Anakin’s world, a single kiss filling it with technicolor without effort.

“Kenobi! You coming or is your boyfriend actually dying?” An annoyed voice shouts from the driver’s seat in the truck. “You know we have fires to put out, right?”

Obi-Wan answers without looking back, eyes still fixed on Anakin’s face. “One moment, Quin.”

Anakin sends Quinlan a wink, and receives a dirty look from Obi-Wan’s partner. “Hey, Vos.”

“Shut up, Skywalker.”

Obi-Wan fixes the strap of the helmet and turns to leave. “Don’t wait up if I’m late—”

“Wait!”

Anakin catches Obi-Wan’s hand and wraps a hand behind his back, pulling them close again. With their slight height difference and the helmet, he has to dip down to press a chaste kiss on Obi-Wan’s cheek, his fingers lingering on the soft beard that he loves to touch.

“A reward,” Anakin says softly, “for my knight in shining armor.”

He watches his firefighter walk away with pink dusting over his cheeks, turning back from time to time and nearly bumping right into the truck.

Maybe Anakin should flip the table more often.

[xo-urban]

HI HIII HELLOOO

soo, request for ghost x male reader? :D

probably this one may be a little sad, but let's say reader also uses a mask like ghost so no one actually knows his face, not even ghost. he has been working on his team for years now gets along with ghost (they're in love but in denial lol) bc both use masks and the team finds it funny.

one day one mission goes wrong and his mask gets snatched, ghost sees and they act like nothing happened the rest of the mission but ghost clearly sees that the soldier is affected by this.

later, ghost takes him to a more private place where they adress the situation and the soldier let's ghost take off his mask basically showing his face again more carefully, seeing this big ass scar that covers a lot of his face and that's mostly why he used the mask in the first place. they already have a lot of trust in eachother so simon let's the soldier see his face and then they kiss.

kinda dramatic, but that's my thing lol bye bye!

I loved this sm 🫶

Good Things Come in Damaged Packages

Pairing: Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley x Male Reader

Summary: A mission went a little south and Ghost supports you all the way when you show him your biggest insecurity.

Warnings: Typical mission violence, angsty themes, fluff and Ghost support, no beta read cause I’m lazy 😭

Word count: 883

Despite how much time had actually passed serving with Task Force 141, you have never shown your face, not to a single person. You despised your looks and cherished your privacy. You were okay with it, knowing there was another person who also his his face made you feel a little bit more welcomed when you first came.

You and Ghost never asked about taking off the masks, keeping to yourselves was the normal. You liked him for being wary of your boundaries as you are of his own.

The reason for your mask was this nasty burn scar that made you heavily insecure, to you, it was hideous, your only option was to hide it so you wouldn’t be so heavily judged. It took up almost half your face, like someone tried to erase you but couldn’t quite get the job done. You’d never thought about anyone loving you to this day, it was completely hopeless to you.

Over the years, you and Ghost became closer, you would trust the man with your life, but you’ve still never shown your face to him. You’ve seen him lift his mask to take a drink, and you can’t lie when you were caught staring for a few moments.

Tonight you two had a mission to retrieve some intel for your operations. It was dark out when the two of you approached the building which said to have held the information you needed. The place was littered with enemies.

You stayed dead silent when you lead Ghost into the building. Whenever an enemy appeared, you aimed and pulled your trigger. You had no silencer which alerted the whole building. Footsteps ran to your position as Ghost had your back, firing clean shots at your enemies, savoring his ammunition as you tread forward, clearing a path.

You took a step forward, only to get pulled into a dark room. “Fuck!” You yelled, capturing Ghost’s attention. The enemy yanked your mask off before you threw yourself at him, sending the two of you tumbling to the ground. When Ghost turned into the room, he froze, shocked as he saw your angered face, it was the worst yet possible time to have seen it. You gritted your teeth when his fist connected with your jaw, cursing as you pulled out your pistol and shoved it into his chest, firing multiple shots into your enemy. You stood silently, picking your mask off from the ground and putting it on. You huffed turning to leave, only to see Ghost with his eyes on you.

He saw.

He saw your face.

The face that you found hideous, you cursed to yourself as you shoved past him, this wasn’t the time to deal with your anxiety. The mission continued without further problems, happening to be too easy for you and Ghost. You grabbed the files and left quickly, not wanting to say a word.

When the two of you hopped in the car to head back to base, it was so uncomfortably suffocating but silent for the most part. The tension was there and you hated it. When you arrived at base you were in a hurry to leave, gripping onto the files to hand to Price later. You heard Ghost call for you but you ignored him, he probably found you disgusting and you hated it, you hated yourself for it.

You dropped off the files before quickly walking to your room with your head slightly down. That's when you were pulled into a room you found so much comfort in. You looked up to find Ghost staring at you with soft eyes, “What do you want..?” You spoke softly, afraid of what he’ll say after seeing your face.

“You don’t have to run away from me.. Scars can still be beautiful and shouldn’t define you at all..” Ghost spoke softly, cupping your face in his hand, rubbing his thumb over your cheek. “You’re beautiful y’know? You don’t need to hide from me.. Not any more” Ghost spoke softly, slowly lifting up your mask to reveal your teary eyes, you never fought him, letting him remove your sense of security.

“You’re so perfect.. I love you so much..” Ghost whispered, watching with soft eyes as tears rolled down your cheeks. You hiccuped, pulling Ghost close to you as you cried into him. You felt accepted after hiding for so long.

But most importantly, you felt loved.

Ghost hushed you, cupping your cheek to get you to look up to him through teary eyes, his mask was off and you couldn’t help but sob out of pure happiness.

Ghost pulled you into a kiss, hushing you softly as you leaned against him, he rubbed your back with a free hand while the other rubbed away your crystal tears.

“I love you so much, ever since the day we met, just knew you were the one. You’re so perfect darling.. Wouldn’t trade your handsome face for the world… never. I love you.”

It was all you’ve ever wanted, to be an accepted human again.

You cried in Ghost’s comfort, sobbing as you told him you loved him so much, over and over as if Ghost was too stubborn to get it in his head.

“You’re perfect, just the way the world built you.”

[pagesfromthevoid]

Safe & Sound | j.m. | 2

Joel Miller x fem!reader

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: She’s Frank’s niece; age gap (she’s 32); flashback

Author’s Note: Joel Miller is actually a big ass softie but he won’t let anyone know

Series Masterlist | Talk to Me! | AO3

Ellie jumped from the third to last step onto the floor, feeling clean for the first time in her entire life. Honestly, if they weren’t on the whole ‘deliver her to the Fireflies’ mission, she would have stayed in the shower for hours, just enjoying the hot water and how it felt against her skin. It was fantastic. And to have clean clothes? God, Bill and Frank were the best. 

Joel had given her a look as he walked up the stairs himself, carrying a set of new clothes. Ellie swore there was a tiny smile there, but he was gone before she could tell. Frank’s niece was in the living room, holding a little notepad and a pen as she wrote. 

“Whatcha doing?” Ellie asked, announcing her presence. 

“Making a list,” she answered simply, not looking up from her work. “I’m making Joel shower and sleep —so it’s you and me on packing duty. Figured it would help you out to know what to get.”

“How have I known you for like an hour and you’re already nicer than Joel has been?” 

It was a sarcastic question, meant to be joking. But it was also laced in a sincerity that Ellie didn’t realize she meant. But the woman just eyed her for a moment before setting down her notebook. 

“Joel Miller can be an ass,” she explained, moving to sit on the couch. She pat the seat beside her, and Ellie sat down. “He means well, most of the time. I think, at least. But he’s…he’s jaded. Angry. And he has every right to be, but he seems to let that anger out on the wrong things. I think Frank only put up with him because of Tess, and Bill did it for Frank.”

“Who did you do it for?” 

She hummed for a moment, leaning forward some. Her hands rubbed together, and she let out a breathy laugh that almost sounded embarrassed. 

“I think I put up with him for myself,” she admitted. 

“What do you mean?” Ellie raised a brow at her, leaning forward to mimic her position. She looked like she was debating telling Ellie the truth, sitting there looking anywhere but her. “Listen, if it’s because you wanted to like, do it with him —,”

“Jesus, no. Not…not that,” she quickly corrected, shaking her head. “I…I was twelve when Bill took us in. So I’ve been here, ten years, with my uncles. Joel just happened to be the only…unrelated, straight man I’ve ever really interacted with as an adult.”

“So you did do it.”

“Will you shut up? We didn’t do it,” she scolded, rolling her eyes. “Bill would have actually killed the man if we had.”

“Okay…,” Ellie watched her curiously, leaning back against the couch cushions again. The shower shut off, and they both looked up at the stairs. But the door stayed shut. “Then why put up with him?”

“I…,” she looked embarrassed again, and her eyes kept darting between the stairs and Ellie. “I wanted someone to kiss me, that’s all. And Joel just happened to be the only person I could kiss. And Tess, but I don’t think she swung my way.”

“Gross. I’d rather it have been Tess.”

“You literally kept asking if we did it and you think kissing Joel is gross?”

“Oh no, doing it is gross too. But you actually kissed him?”

“Once or twice.” 

Ellie decided she was lying about once or twice but didn’t say anything. But she was curious. 

“How did you even get him to do it?” 

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

2014

“Do me a favor?” Frank asked, holding out a small basket of vegetables. “Take this inside to Joel and Bill. Tess and I are gonna chat for a few minutes.”

She sat on the back porch step, one leg pulled against her chest as the other rested outstretched in front of her. Her uncle was giving her a knowing look, suggesting that business was about to be talked about and she didn’t need to be there for it. Huffing, she pushed herself up and took the basket. 

When Joel and Tess came to barter and trade, everyone was always so on guard. The house was tense, and it usually devolved into an argument once they were outside the gates. Sometimes she wished they just stopped coming by, but at the same time —it was nice to have people who weren’t her uncles to interact with. 

Besides, Joel was easy on the eyes and she didn’t get a lot of outside contact in that regard. 

Finding neither of them in the kitchen or the dining room, she slipped through the main hall to the living room. Joel sat alone, staring at the front door that was open with the screen door shut. 

“Where’d Bill go?” She asked, walking into the room and setting the basket on the coffee table. 

“Said something about checkin’ the fences,” he explained simply. That had become code for I pissed him off so he left. 

She hummed a bit in reply, looking around awkwardly for a moment. Frank and Tess were still outside, and she knew Bill would be gone for a while to cool down. Which left her and Joel Miller alone in the house. 

It wasn’t a frequent occurrence. It had happened twice now, when Frank and Tess were chatting or Bill stormed off to do whatever he did. But it was still a little thrilling, to be alone with an older man that wasn’t related to her. She had thought about it a lot since they had met last year. It wasn’t that she had a thing for Joel Miller. He just happened to be the only man she’d interacted with as an adult. 

It made sense. 

“Can I ask you for a favor?” She finally asked, though her voice was trembling as she sat down beside him. There was at least a foot between them, and her hands rested in her lap as she tried to calm her nerves. 

The worst he could say was no, and she could absolutely accept that. But she just…she needed to know. 

“Depends,” he moved over some, adding more space between them. 

“I’ve uh, been thinking. About you.” She closed her eyes then opened them, realizing how weird that probably sounded. His raised brow suggested he was thinking the same. “Not like that, I mean like you and Tess. How you two are the first people I’ve met outside my uncles since I got here.”

He sort of just stared at her, brows raised still as he waited for her to keep speaking. To ask her favor. And Christ, could he just give her something to work with? 

“And?” 

That wasn’t enough to work with, but she had to take it. “And I was…I was thinking that I can…I can trade you something if you help me with something else. You know, trade for trade. That’s what you and my uncles do —,”

“What are you asking for?” He interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back into the couch. “Because if you’re asking me to sleep with you —,”

“Oh, no, no,” she quickly corrected, shaking her head. “No. I…I am quite content not sleeping with anyone in my life if that’s what happens. I just…,” she trailed off, feeling her face heat up as she considered her request. “I’d like to be kissed. Just once.”

Joel stared at her for several moments, blinking slowly as he processed what she was saying. “You want to trade me something to kiss you?”

She nodded once, feeling foolish for even asking. Her eyes found a spot on the far wall incredibly interesting as she stammered out her apologies. “You don’t have to —it’s a weird thing to ask someone to do. I’m sorry, I —,”

“I’m not tradin’ your first kiss for anything,” he interrupted, turning to face her. 

She should have expected his answer. It was a ridiculous request, and she knew it was inappropriate to ask. But she didn’t know what else to do, and he was a decent enough person. And he was handsome and —

“I’ll just…I’ll just kiss you, okay?”

She looked back at him, heart thudding against her rib cage. “You will?”

“I don’t see why not,” he admitted, shrugging some. “I understand why you wanna, and why you asked me.”

“I guess I could have asked Tess —,”

He laughed at that —an actual laugh. It was warm, and genuine. And Jesus Christ, he was even more attractive suddenly. 

“She wouldn’t’ve done it. Not without a drink or two,” he explained, giving her a small smile. “Should kiss someone who isn’t drunk, and just wants to make you feel good. That’s hard to come by these days.”

They stared at each other for several moments, and she swore she could hear the blood rushing through her veins. There was a knot in her stomach as she looked up at the man in front of her. She knew it was bold, but she couldn't help herself. 

Maybe he had seen the fear in her eyes —that fear of never finding what Bill and Frank had. Of being alone eventually, at the end of the world. But it didn’t matter, because he wanted to kiss her and she was incredibly grateful. 

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered with a sheepish smile.

He hesitated a moment, glancing at the door, before he moved closer to her on the couch. She turned to face him, swallowing hard as he reached up and pushed a strand of hair out of her face.

“Just meet me in the middle, okay?” 

She nodded once, leaning in slowly. He leaned in next, and brushed his lips against hers gently. It wasn’t fireworks, or explosions. There was no magical spark that suggested that this kiss was more than just one between two people, sharing a moment. But it was nice, and she could feel he was trying to be soft about it. She closed her eyes, savoring the sensation. A sense of relief washed over her. 

He pulled back slightly, but she chased the touch just once more, kissing him again before pulling away entirely. She was a bit breathless, if anything because she didn’t know if she was even breathing when he kissed her. 

“I…,” she didn’t know what to say, and instead let out a small, embarrassed laugh as she looked down. “Thank you. For that. For um, kissing me.”

His indifferent demeanor had shifted back, taking what momentary softness he had shown her away. Joel simply nodded, looking at the front door as Bill opened the screen up. She shifted, reaching for the basket of vegetables, trying to cover up any sign of what had just happened. 

“Where’s your uncle?” Bill asked, voice rough and annoyed. 

“Out back with Tess,” she offered, pointing towards the back door. 

“We were about to go join’em,” Joel continued, standing up. 

Bill didn’t respond, instead trekking through the house ahead of them. She watched him for a few seconds before standing up next, holding the vegetables. As Joel moved to step away from her, she grabbed his sleeve. He turned, looking at her curiously. 

“Um,” she hesitated before finally looking up at him with a smile. “Feel free to do that whenever you want to. Kiss me, I mean.”

Joel just nodded once, glancing at the back door as it slammed shut behind Bill. Then he pulled away, leaving her there with a basket of vegetables and the lingering taste of salt and pine on her lips. 

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

Ellie snickered when she finished the story, making a face. She wasn’t sure what the relationship between the two were; Joel seemed annoyed by Ellie and her existence. And Ellie seemed just as annoyed by how he felt about her. But in that moment —seeing Ellie scrunch up her nose like she was truly disgusted by the thought of Joel kissing someone —made her think they might as well be family. 

“So he did kiss you again?”

“One more time,” she admitted with a small laugh, picking up the notepad and continuing her list. “When I turned 25. I asked him to kiss me for my birthday.”

“What a shitty gift!”

Both shared a laugh just as Joel descended the stairs, hair combed back from the shower. Ellie hopped up, pointing at him accusingly. 

“You are supposed to be sleeping, old man.”

Joel scowled at her before opening up the linen closet from before. He yanked out a pillow and a blanket. 

“You’re sure you’re okay with gettin’ started without me?” He questioned, looking between the two and the lack of work they had gotten done. 

“Go take a fucking nap, Joel,” Ellie ordered. 

She looked between the two, both surprised and impressed by Ellie’s tone. But she nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, what she said, cowboy.”

“Stop callin’ me that,” he scolded. “Fuckin’ menaces. Both of you.”

———

Taglist (OPEN): @aheadfullofsteverogers @jasminedragoon @buzzing-honeybee

[chimkin-samich]

Hi!

I have had a block for both writing and drawing for several years. I look at your works with longing in my eyes and think how wonderful it would be to draw regularly again. I was never particularly talented and had many gaps in learning to draw, but I enjoyed it. Now I don't know how to start drawing or writing. My laptop is full of unfinished stories. I have lots of ideas for drawings, but it's hard for me to get down to work.

Therefore, my question is: Do you have any advice for people who haven't drawn/written for several years and would really like to get back to it, but can't motivate themselves, have no ideas, etc.? Or quite the opposite. They have lots of ideas, but for some reason they can't draw anything?

Greetings and have a nice morning/day/evening/night!

Hello! Sorry it took so long to respond, I wanted to make sure I could respond properly to this so I thought it over a lot, I’m going to put it under a read more cuz it’s gonna get long lol

I (sly) am kinda in the same position as you at least when it comes more to art, writing ive kinda cracked the block but still trying to break through the ice, all the art on our blog is Ferals art, I only complete the line work and shading (but not always) I haven’t drawn any of my own stuff in probably a few years but I’m trying to get back into it cuz I miss it as well, I completely get the whole feeling of looking at Feral’s art and wanting to create my own but finding it so difficult to do

For the art aspect my plan is to start at square 1, start how I first starting drawing, which for me was to look up refs, animals and draw them by sight, just to get back into the groove of trying to bring back that muscle memory, maybe you started by tracing images, you could trace only the rough outlines and then shade and detail them, just something simply and easy, you probably won’t be happy with the results (I know I certainly won’t be with my own) but it’s a start

Look up things that you enjoy, draw your squad, incorrect quotes to do with ocs maybe even draw them out, try and keep it simple, you don’t need to create a masterpiece on the first day back, any attempt is a step forward even if you dislike it, try it out at least once a day everyday, a simple doodle just for fun or to exercise your muscle memory again, the first part is gonna be hard and messy, that’s totally ok! All that matters is the attempt!

For the writing aspect try and keep it simple as well, focus on making short one-shots or even just bullet point dialogues, your old unfinished writing isn’t going anywhere, when you feel comfortable enough to attempt to continue it just go for it!

I had a big gap in my writing periods and sometimes I still go a few months with out touching any of my stories, blocks happen and are normal, something that I try to get back into is read other people’s work, both to see the writing style and to get some inspiration to continue my own works

When I actually get down to actually writing my story I just dump down the story as I think it, I just keep writing even if it looks messy and grammatically incorrect to at least get the story moving and progressing. After I have the rough story down, is when I go back to correct spelling mistakes, add more details/dialogues or events in between to create a much better flow for the story

I usually do this multiple times for each fic I create, usually in between pauses (either due to blanking on ideas or just cuz I wasn’t feeling it) so whenever I reopen my doc, I just reread and add on, then I do it again one or two more times once it’s completed

I struggle a lot with perfectionism when it comes to my art and writing, and unfortunately it’s a big killer for my motivation, especially when I see others that make better works than me. I’ve been slowly unlearning that urge to make everything perfect, by just allowing myself to have messy and rough works, it’s not always going to come out how I want it but at least I got it as close as I could in the moment with my current skill level

I like to tell myself, the more I keep doing it, the more I’ll improve, and I’ll always be able to come back with more ideas and skill to remake this better than my first attempts, just because I did it doesn’t mean I can’t try to do it again

Being easier on yourself does wonders (I know easier said than done unfortunately 😭) but your practically having to relearn skills that have gotten rusty, even if you were doing great before, your gonna have to build back up to that point, it’s just like exercising a muscle ✨

I hope this was able to help! I wish you much luck in your journey back into art and writing!

[stiffyck]

(Considering the Hotguy cramps post, sorry if Mumbo’s voice is off slightly. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t watch his videos all that often)

Mumbo’s eyes snapped open as they hit the ground. They’d been closed in the first place due to the wind- that came from being carried by the city’s local hero Hotguy. Who was carrying him because there had just been a charged creeper explosion that shaken his office building. He was pretty sure it was just shaken, granted it wasn’t certain. Hopefully it was just shaken, but then that raised the question of why he’d been rescued. His heart was still racing and his feet hit the ground so he had to focus on getting his legs to stand instead of the likely imminent danger he’d just been in.

He zoned back in to actually looking around as the arms holding him released. Hotguy stepped back, before grumbling slightly as he grasped the side of his stomach. The hero bent forward slightly to support his free hand on his knee. And oh, maybe there was quite the danger earlier and Hotguy took the majority of the pain. No, he wasn’t hurt any so it was all.

“Are… are you alright?” He asked, leaning slightly forward with a hand raised tentatively. Hotguy responded by holding a finger up, making further pained noises. Mumbo lowered his hand, staring with increasing concern. By the time Hotguy managed to reply in words he was certain that his brows had become stuck in the pinched position.

“Please just give me a moment. My uterus has decided to cramp. Just have to wait for it to stop.” Hotguy said, giving a slight thumbs up. Mumbo stood there wringing his hands. He didn’t really know how to respond there, maybe say he was sorry?

When he opened his mouth to do so, Hotguy yet again motioned for him to wait. There were a good few dozen seconds of silence before Hotguy pat his knees and stood up fully with a surpassingly quick snap.

“Sorry about that! It likes to mutiny. Right, okay. Are you hurt? Alright? Do you need something?” Hotguy said, grinning- even if it looked slightly pained. Mumbo blinked a couple times before responding.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Umm, I’m sorry about the uterus mutiny?” He said.

“Oh well that’s great! And I know it’s a real bother.” Hotguy said, placing a hand on his chest before continuing in a far more dramatized tone, “Such a horrible betrayal, however will I trust one of my organs again? Will they all follow suit? And then what would happen if I’m out of commission, unable to save fine folks such as yourself? Truly it’s the greatest villain ever seen!”

Mumbo chuckled slightly at the theatrics. Hotguy looked at him grinning. It was a simple coincidence that Mumbo had to readjust the ends of his sleeves at that exact moment.

“Well, I’ll be off then. Stay safe and have a good day!” Hotguy cheered, waving as long mechanical wings unfolded from his suit.

“Yup! Goodbye!” Mumbo said, waving slightly as the hero took off into the sky.

Once he was certain he was out of Hotguys’ line of sight he placed his head in his hands and grumbled slightly. His face felt hot, according to his friends he’d always had a fairly visible blush. So he was definitely visibly blushing now. Hopefully it had only appeared now, and not when Hotguy was standing there.

At least his heart was racing for a different reason than earlier. He could handle being flustered far better than the fact that his office may have been destroyed by a charged creeper. And, his office had nearly been destroyed by a charged creeper if it wasn’t actually destroyed. That was a problem. A very big problem.

He decided to focus more on the sound Hotguys’ voice as he began to walk home.

FUCKING SOBBING /POS OH MY GOD

THIS IS THE GREATEST THING IVE EVER SEEN DKVKFKGKS THANK YOU THIS WAS THE BEST THING TO WAKE UP TO

[highpriestess13]

Collective Reading

Many of you are standing 10 toes down when it comes to self. You’ve been hell and back more than you can count on both hands but you’re standing tall and strong and you’re realizing but also recognizing the challenges and obstacles that you had to endure. I’m getting 5 of swords energy where you were the one that was always being betrayed and people getting what they want out of you. You’ve experienced more negative than positive but I see you’re putting a stop to it and standing your ground! That cycle of constantly taking unnecessary leaps of faith without knowing the truth or getting the full story before just jumping into things. You’re finally understanding that certain things and situations aren’t what they may seem and you’re finally getting the bigger picture. What no longer serves you, you’re moving away from it. You’re becoming more wiser and more calculative with the moves you make! Releasing fear and illusions are also the next step but you’re in the energy of processing certain things better and learning a new lesson/ chapter in your life. You’re no longer afraid to hold back when you need to nor are you afraid to shed on things that you know deep down doesn’t feel right. Especially with love or in connections generally. You’re planning and wanting to move forward, you’re taking the first steps to recognize, release and let go. I see that you’re beginning to realize what must go even if you feel will be a big loss but you have the mindset of “if it’s meant to be then it’s meant to be” it is what it is, is the current motto you guys or this may be what you’re saying to yourself and others. Collective, you’re no longer putting the hard work, time, energy into people/ things that aren’t going to grow. You’re no longer in the chaser energy but more in the attracting energy. If you don’t want to put effort into something then you’re not and that’s fine because you can validate how how you feel and the actions you take. I’m hearing the song “Grown Woman” by Beyoncé… she could be a personal role model for you or her personal growth as woman is becoming something that you’re recognizing. You’re highly intuitive, you’re no longer letting low vibrations, or anything that keeps you in the constant cycle of being someone else pawn cloud your judgement/ mind. You’ve shed so many tears and will continue to shed tears because you’re needing to release the energy of beating yourself up and bringing yourself down to other people’s energy. With this energy, you’re allowing yourself to be free, you’re allowing the Divine shower you with gifts and divine love. You’re becoming the master of your Universe, the “going against the grain” is no more. No more fighting against what’s meant to be and happen. “Free Yourself” by Fantasia is significant. I see that a lot of you are using the energy of fire to create something new!

[cherryaxiel]

Kiss Me (Sequel to 'Misunderstood')

Character: Chester Lake

Description: You and Chester go on your first date!

Rating: Mature - Strong language

Monday

7:00 am

Ever since THAT happened, I've been thinking about him for the past two weeks. Daydreaming and coming up with dumb scenarios. I can't help it. We've been texting, but haven't gone on a date because of our busy schedules. I'm trying to get ready for work, but he's still running through my mind. I'm imagining different scenes, waking up in bed with him, him making me breakfast, cuddling on the couch, watching movies together, late night dates- okay I need to focus. It’s Monday, and it’s going to be a long work day. I get dressed after a shower, eat breakfast, feed my cats, it’s my usual morning routine. I work at a thrift store which is just a few blocks from my house so it’s quite convenient. I’ve always loved clothes but I am someone who is big on sustainability, hence why I chose to work with preloved clothes specifically. 

While walking to work, my mind remains plagued with thoughts of him. I sent him a good morning text, wishing him a good day at work. I’m listening to music, allowing myself to seep into my desires. Once I arrived at work, I put down my headphones and prepared myself for the day.

3:00 pm

Oh my god, it was a disaster of a day. The only way I managed to go through it was thinking about him. I’m so fucking pathetic. Oh wow, a guy helped me go through the worst day of my life by invading my brain without even meaning to. Whatever, my shift is over, I’m going home. I packed my shit and left the store. I looked at my phone to see if there’s any messages from him, nothing, not a single message from him the entire day. I feel a certain sadness in my heart. I shrug it off and start walking home.

3:30 pm

When I reached home, I flopped on my couch, stretching all over as my body aches from the day’s labor. My cats came over to me, one loafing on my chest and another laying between my legs. I looked at my phone again, my eyes widened. A text notification from him. I sat up so quickly, shocking my cats. They jump up and about from the sudden movement. “Omg, I’m so sorry,” I blurt out to my cats, before unlocking my phone and pressing on the notification. 

‘I’m so sorry for not texting you the whole day, got held up with a case but no excuses. Let me make it up to you?’ The text from him reads.

I’m giggling and kicking my feet. I calm myself enough to reply, ‘It’s okay, I understand! How are you going to make it up to me?’

‘How about I take you out on a date? Dinner’s on me.’ Free food with a cute guy? Why not, right?

‘Sure! When?’ I replied.

‘Tonight, I’ll pick you up at your place, 6 pm, wear something cute ;)’ 

My cheeks are red, ‘Alright! Here’s my address :) Looking forward to tonight <3’ I managed to send out before turning my phone off and burrowing my face into the couch pillow. My heart’s beating fast. Oh my god, I need to figure out what to wear. 

4:00 pm

I’m stressing out, laying on the floor in defeat with piles of clothes scattered around me. I literally couldn’t find anything to wear. I decided to get back-up and called Selina. Thankfully she lives nearby, so she was able to get to my house quickly.

“OMG babe, did a hurricane come through this place?” Selina walks into my room, seeing the mess I made, and carefully making sure she isn’t stepping on my clothes.

“I don’t know what to do! I have nothing to wear!” I sat up on the ground with my face buried in my hands.

“Don’t worry, I got you.” Selina gets to work almost immediately. 

5:45 pm

Selina managed to get me cleared up and dressed, having enough time to clean up the mess I made earlier in my room. It’s 15 minutes before Chester arrives and I’m a nervous wreck. It’s my first date in a long time after all. Selina is comforting me by providing me positive affirmation and making jokes. 

15 minutes later, I could hear the sound of a car parking in front of my apartment building. It doesn’t take long before there’s a knock on my door. Selina does one last check of my appearance. I walk towards the door, prepping and hyping myself up. I took a deep breath and exhaled, opening the door to Chester holding a bouquet of flowers and a cheeky grin on his face. He’s wearing a black blazer, trousers, and shoes with a white dress shirt that has the first button unbuttoned. He looks me up and down. Oh my god, he’s checking me out. 

“Good evening, love.” He says in such a sensual voice that I feel like I’m about to fall to my knees but I stood firmly.

“Good evening, Chester,” I smiled with my cheeks all flushed, I tried very hard to hide my infatuation even though in my brain, I’m screaming.

“These are for you, flowers as beautiful as you,” he passes the flowers to me. I took the flowers and enveloped it into a slight hug while smelling it.

“Well, well, look who’s here,” Selina approaches from behind me and stands beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, “Take care of my sibling, will you?” She plays it off as a joke, but there’s a hint of aggression in her voice to show she actually means it.

“Of course, I’ll take care of your precious gem.” He extends an arm out to me, prompting me to hold his hand, which I do. “Shall we?” He asks, I nod. As we walk out my door, I look back mouthing ‘Oh my god’ to Selina, who gives me an encouraging smile and two thumbs up.

As we approach his car, he opens the passenger seat door for me. I thanked him and sat inside with the bouquet of flowers in my hand. I’m nervously picking at my fingers as he gets into the driver’s seat, putting his seatbelt on after helping me with mine which was totally unnecessary but he did it anyway. I thanked him again. He gives me a smile before we drive off.

6:30 pm

We parked near the restaurant and it didn’t seem too crowded. Chester was able to get a reservation from this place since it was a Monday night. He opens the car door for me again and I get out of the car, leaving the flowers in the car and giving my thanks to him again. He closes the car door and locks his car before extending his arm towards me, wanting me to hold his arm closely. With me practically clinging onto him, we enter the restaurant.

Once we’re inside the restaurant and the waiter seats us at our table, we go over the menu. “Been here before?” Chester starts the conversation. 

“Nope, it’s my first time, what about you?”

“Same here, I heard good things about this place so I thought it was a good idea to experience it for the first time with you tonight.” His eyes were sparkling in the candle light and the way it made him look was making my heart flutter.

“Ah, I see.” I looked back down to the menu. I didn’t want to meet his gaze again, it was so captivating that I thought I was going to be pulled into him like being drowned by the thundering waves of the deep blue sea.

After a while, we ordered our food. I felt awkward in his presence. I’m not sure what it is about him but I’m anxious and I’m picking at my fingers again. He notices this, so he takes my hand in his, laying it gently on the table and caresses it. I let out a light gasp but all he does is give me a reassuring smile. For whatever reason, it comforts me. My heart slows. Maybe it’s also the calm atmosphere, or the jazz music playing in the restaurant, but I start to feel comfortable and my body relaxes. 

7:45 pm

We’re sitting for about an hour, talking about our backstories and lives. We eventually talk about our love life and how it has been. At this point, I’m sitting next to him, caressing his arm, and we’re looking deeply into each other’s eyes.

“How many dates have you been on?” I asked him.

“Too many to count, honestly.” He shrugs.

“Really? Can’t relate, it’s hard for me to find anyone I’m interested in.” I look down at his arm, drawing hearts on it with my finger.

“Oh? So, I’m interesting?” He jokes, making me lightly smack his arm.

“Were any of them bad?” I looked up, waiting patiently for his answer.

“This one time...” He recalls a story.

“Oh my god, that’s so bad.” I laugh at his story, appalled by it.

“Is my pain funny to you?” He laughs, which makes me laugh a bit harder. We tried to silence our laughter as we remembered we were in a restaurant and people were starting to stare at us.

“Hey, I'm craving ice cream. I noticed an ice cream place nearby, let’s leave and buy some. The desserts here don't sound too good.” He chuckles at my last comment and agrees. We left once he had paid for our meals.

8:15 pm

After getting ice cream, we decided to walk through a nearby park. The sky was so clear that we could see the stars and the moon. Other than the crickets chirping loudly, there was silence in the park. It was just us, and I found profound peace being next to Chester.

“Let’s sit here.” Chester gestures to a bench, holding my hand and lightly pulling me to it before I follow him. We sat down on the bench and finished off our ice cream. We looked up to stare at the starry night sky. The night was becoming colder, and I realized I was starting to shiver from it. I’m guessing he was feeling cold too because unconsciously, we got closer to each other. It was almost as though our bodies were seeking and moving towards each other for warmth. Chester notices that I was shivering, so he wraps his blazer around me, our faces closing into each other. So damn close. He looks at my eyes, then to my lips, and back to my eyes again. I did the same to him. His hand reaches to cup my face, holding me so gently. I sink into his hand, into his warmth. Before I knew it, he’s leaning in, we're both leaning in. Our lips meet, and my heart bursts like fireworks sparked on New Year's. Butterflies swarm my stomach. His other hand holds my waist, and my hands are on his chest. His lips are so soft, a juxtaposition from the rough hands on me. In each second, we deepen the kiss as if we're going to swallow each other whole. His hands move to my back to pull me closer, like he doesn't want me to leave his grasp, as I cup his face with both of my hands. After a few while, we pull away, breathless. All we could do was look into each other’s eyes as we catch our breath before we laughed at how flustered the other looked.

“Let's get you home, love.” He sees my tired eyes, and stands up, extending a hand to me once again. I nodded and held his hand. We walked back to his car, he opened the car door for me, I gave my thanks, and we drove back to my apartment.

9:00 pm

We arrived at my house. I tried leaving the car first with the bouquet of flowers but he told me to wait, wanting to open the car door himself.

“Aren't you tired of that?”

“Of course not, anything for my love. It's only the bare minimum.” I blush, giving him a peck on the cheek as a ‘Thank you’ after leaving the car. We walked up to the front door of my apartment.

“I had a wonderful time, we should do this again, Chester.”

“Me too, I hope to see you again. Have a good night, love.” 

I give him a kiss on the lips before bidding him farewell, making the both of us smiley and giddy. Chester leaves as I open my door with my house keys to see Selina on the couch with my cats, watching a movie. 

Once I closed and locked the door, placing the bouquet of flowers onto a nearby table, Selina urged me, “Oh my god, spill the deets!” Selina and I spent the night talking about the date with snacks and movies before passing out on the couch, with me still wearing his blazer.

[deripmaver]

Casca in Ch 372 - Fridged again? Or the beginning of a healing arc?

I’ve seen mixed responses to Casca’s current status as a caged little dove in Falconia, with good reason. It took, no exaggeration, two hundred and fifty chapters, and twenty years of real-world time, for her to be revived after the eclipse - and now after barely beginning to scratch the surface of her trauma, she’s seemingly back at square one. 

Despite her current upsetting circumstances, though, I can’t help but feel cautiously optimistic, which seems like a weird thing to say after chapter 372. To me, Casca’s circumstances seemed to mark a fundamental shift in how she interacted with the Berserk world as compared to Elaine. I wanted to present a possibly more optimistic, Casca-centric look at chapter 372 and why I think we don’t need to start despairing just yet (that can come later).

To start off, I do think I need to clarify that I don’t actually have any fundamental issues with the outline of Casca’s arc up to this point, even post-eclipse, so if you do that’s kind of a non-starter for this whole post. I don’t think, without taking into account the details, an arc where a female warrior is raped by one of her closest companions, becomes completely catatonic due to the trauma, and needs to be taken on an odyssey to have her mind restored is an arc that’s fundamentally bad or misogynistic. Do I think Miura always wrote this arc sensitively or well? No, of course not lol, see the beginning of this post for an example of that. 

As a bit of an aside, though, I actually really think Berserk did something unique by having Casca’s rapist be someone she knew and trusted. In reality, the vast majority of sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim knew, but that’s not something you see often reflected in fiction.

With Casca in Falconia, kidnapped by Griffith, I go back to the quote Miura made about her recovery. 

I don’t think it would do justice to the extent of her trauma if, after being revived, she went back to kicking ass and being the same girl she was pre-eclipse, and I appreciate that Miura seemed to understand that. I really think that it’s necessary to take time to have Casca process her trauma before having her jump right back into the action, so the question, to me, is if what’s happening right now is in service of that processing. 

To cut right to the chase lol, I actually do think it is.

In contrast to her time as Elaine, the magical hold placed on her is much more tenuous, and it battles with her will and her memory. More filters through from the outside world, the bath reminding her of Farnese and Schierke, and the band of the Falcon reminding her of the Hawks.

(There’s also a gratuitous bath scene because it’s still Berserk lol)

This is not a trauma response as Elaine was, it’s a position she’s being forced into, and the person forcing her into that is the one who broke her mind in the first place, adding to the aspect of her needing to face up to what Griffith did and what he’s still doing. 

Being kept prisoner as she is, her memories of the Hawks, and of her friends, are necessary to keep her grounded - she can’t let time do its work to heal her wounds. 

This chapter also is the first time that Casca is able to think of Guts without going catatonic, which to me shows significant progress. 

I’m also just realizing that this set of panels has Guts walking away from Casca, and honestly I think that deserves its whole section of analysis. I wonder if it’s making her think of Guts walking away after the eclipse, leaving her with Godot, or how even right before her kidnapping Guts heard her scream and attacked Griffith instead of going to her, hm... That’s for another time though. 

Guts and Casca have a huge amount to reconcile of course, considering how Guts assaulted her as well, but I think being able to think of him is a positive step forward with that.

Then, of course, there’s the big moment in chapter 372 where Casca tries to escape. 

You’re seeing her think like a warrior again, she’s outnumbered and completely unarmed, but she uses her long-honed battle intuition to gain advantage and steal a sword. She is ultimately overcome by fear and trauma and is unable to escape, but this is not at all something she could do as Elaine. This chapter represents, to me, incremental progress in her gaining control of her own mind when she’s not being actively hindered by Griffith. Even comparing her here to her last moments in Elfheim, you see her still struggling with the trauma, but also focused on returning to her companions, and using her smarts to try to escape despite significant disadvantages.

While it’s frightening to know that she’s without friends and near Griffith, I’ve said before I think this is necessary for her to confront what Griffith did to her. She kind of doesn’t have any other choice at this point LOL.

That brings me to one of the questions that I had after the chapter, which is why won’t Griffith interact with her? I remember just absolutely SEETHING after the chapter ended because Griffith broke her mind, ignored her afterwards entirely, kidnapped her away from her support system, and now won’t even acknowledge her. It’s like, I wanted to shake the screen and shout you cared about her once, and now you treat her like this? It’s infuriating!!!! Honestly I think a part of me that’s huffing EXTREME copium wants him to be ignoring her because HE can’t face up to what he did, and that Casca reminds him of that in an inescapable way. The alternative is that he really, genuinely doesn’t care about her anymore, which kind of makes me want to scream. 

I have a couple other miscellaneous thoughts after this chapter. The first, it’s interesting how Griffith has kind of forced Casca into his heterosexual nightmare scenario from immediately pre-eclipse (the one that made him want to kill himself LOL). 

It just goes to show that, while I do think Griffith had affection for Casca in the Golden Age, he always saw her as a doll he could place where he wanted, regardless of her feelings. Of course, in the Golden Age, she would have wanted to be with him always regardless of what happened - but now she very much does not, and he’s overriding her autonomy to enforce his will upon her. 

The second thought I had is that I think Casca’s separation from Guts, though the circumstances are very different, somewhat mirrors Guts’ separation from Casca after the eclipse. Guts had his whole edgelord Black Swordsman arc, and at the end of it he realized that returning to Casca and protecting her was actually important to him. Now, Casca has her own version of this separation arc, which I believe will be an arc where she can process her trauma, and at the end of it she’ll get to a point where she can decide if she wants to return to Guts. I’m not entirely convinced that this arc is just another excuse for Guts to rescue Casca - more will be clear in the next few chapters, I think, but right now he’s having his mental breakdown while again Farnese and Schierke are taking control of figuring out where Casca is. Also, it looks like physically they’re going to be heading east, so they’ll be prevented from reaching Casca for a while. My hope is that we’ll get Casca rescuing herself, but of course I don’t know.

It’s weird to say that I want to see Casca having PTSD flashbacks  and trauma responses every chapter but considering everything she’s been through, I kinda think she has to or it’s just not going to feel appropriate 😭 Honestly, while I’m cautiously optimistic about where she’ll go from here, it’s hard to say how well her story is going to be told until it’s over, and that’s not going to happen for a while. It’s definitely frustrating wanting to see Casca heal and having that dragged out longer and longer, after already waiting so long for her mind to be restored. There’s always a delicate balance of wanting to see things done right by your favorite character and not wanting to be disappointed if they aren’t. 

Still, though, I don’t think my optimism is completely unfounded, hence me making this post. Maybe I’ll be shown to be wrong, but if that’s the case, I certainly don’t regret wanting better for Casca, and hoping that we will get the chance to see her process her trauma. My (cautious lol) optimism won’t be the problem, the writing will. 

[lukin08]

Up In The Air Chapter 8

Kristanna Modern AU

Rated T

WC 3900

Summary: Tired of her nomad lifestyle, traveling nurse Anna Arendelle on a whim picks Pensacola Florida as her new town to try find a sense of home. Meanwhile, Navy Pilot Kristoff Bjorgman has accepted a dream position at the Naval station in the same town. After a chance encounter goes south, the two of them find their lives entwined, with neither of them all that happy about it!

Also Available on AO3

Previous Chapter

“You’re coming to the house on Monday, right?”

Kristoff looked away from the map projected up on the screen for the upcoming show.  “That’s still happening?”

Sven gave Kristoff a look of exasperation.  “Did I say it was canceled?  Of course it’s still on.  You’ll be there, right?”

“I’ll be at my parents for part of the day.”

“Then you’ll be over? I’m going to have the smoker going.  Should be good food.”

“Yeah, if I get done in time.”

Sven didn’t relent. “No one’s coming over until 4.”

Kristoff sat back in his chair.  “Why do you care so much that I’m there?”

“Because Nikki is having some friends over and I haven’t met them yet.”

Kristoff shrugged.  “So?”

Sven just sat there not moving for a moment, blinking at Kristoff.  “So, I want to make a good impression.” Sven leaned forward and spoke quieter.  “You know I can’t shut up if I get nervous and start talking. I need you there to reel me.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Kris, bud.  This is for Nikki, not me. I do not want to screw this up and you’re the only one that can shut me down.”

“Wow, you really are actually nervous about this aren’t you?”

Sven looked back at the screen. “You know me and first impressions. I’ll be fine once I meet them.  Nikki’s making friends and I don’t want to screw anything up.  She’s really happy and I just need this to go well.”

Kristoff crossed his arms and sat there for a moment to make Sven sweat.  It had been a lot for Nicole moving to a new state again.  While she was used to it, it didn’t make it any easier.  He could see how Sven was devoted to Nicole’s happiness and why he was unusually nervous right now for this to go well. Kristoff finally gave Sven some relief. “I may be a little late, but I’ll be there.”

Sven broke out into a big grin.  “Thanks.”  

Sven’s grin was short lived when he looked up past Kristoff’s shoulder at the rap against the doorframe.  Masters stepped in and saluted, an amused smirk plastered on his face.

Kristoff gave a nod of acknowledgement.  “At ease.  Can I help you?”

“I won’t be long.”  Kristoff gestured for him to sit, but he shook his head.  “I see we have an audience.”

“Nobody asked you to show up.” Sven snapped before Kristoff could answer.

Kristoff quickly took over. Sven knew he and Masters didn’t get along and had taken up an instant disdain for Lieutenant Masters the first day he arrived on base.  While Kristoff appreciated Sven having his back, he wasn’t in the mood for anything to start today.  “We’re working on the layout for the show.  What do you need?”

Sven had moved to lean back in his chair, arms up and behind his head as if he was ready to watch a show.  “It really bugs the hell out of you that you have to salute him, doesn’t it Masters?”

“Shut the fuck up, Olsen.”

“Last time I checked we are the same rank.  I don’t have listen to anything you say.”

Masters sneered. “You fleet guys are all the same when you come down here.  Thinking you’re hot shit when all you are is a bunch of circus clowns for the Navy.”

“At least I’m not a Whiskey Delta.”

Master’s whipped his head towards Sven and stared him down. “What did you call me?”

Sven returned the stare, unflinching. “Did I stutter?  You heard me.”

“Alright, enough!” Kristoff said sternly.  “Masters, what do you want?”

“To give you this.”  He stepped forward and handed Kristoff a file.  

“What’s this?” Kristoff’s eyes flicked up from the file to Masters.

“The re-evaluations you ordered.  Enjoy.”

“My orders were for your team to submit re-evaluations.”

“Oh, we did.  Except these three in the file.  I’m not passing them based on the guidelines you set.  Those are the entire files- grades, notes, flight documentation.  You want us to change things around here? Fine then you can start with these three ensigns.”

“What?”

“Advancement decisions are now yours for the ones in this file.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I can and its already approved.  I’m not the only one around here that has connections.”

Kristoff wanted to reach over and grab Masters by his collar and give him a piece of his mind.  But he thought of the goading look in Master’s eyes and wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

“Is that all?” Kristoff said as controlled as possible.

“Yes.”

“I’ll have my decisions to you by the end of the week.”

“Run along now,” Sven said in a sing song voice turning away to look back at the screen.

Masters glared at Sven, but quickly composed himself.  He saluted Kristoff and turned to leave.

“You want me to kick his ass?” Sven asked as soon as the door was closed.

“I want you to stay away from him.”

“What an ass.”

“Agreed.” Kristoff tossed the file down on the table.

“What are you going to do?”

“Pass them.”

“Just like that?”

“You think I would have been on Masters team so much if I hadn’t been through every detail of these files.  These kids are solid.  I just need to make sure he hasn’t slipped something in here to catch me up.”

“You ready to put so much on the line for three ensigns?”

“It seems that I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

********************

“Oh, here’s the street. Turn right.”

Camilla followed Anna’s directions until they came up to the address.  They pulled up to an open space on the street and parked.

“I don’t know Anna,” Camilla said, undoing her seatbelt.  “Are you sure Nicole really wanted me to come?”

“Of course she does.  She invited you, didn’t she?”

“Yes, but I’ve only met her a couple of times through you and-,” Camilla blew a breath into her bangs.  “I feel like you want me to come to this party more than Nicole does. Are you sure she didn’t ask me because you didn’t want to go by yourself?”

Anna laughed.  “Don’t be silly. Nicole wouldn’t have asked you if she didn’t want you to be here.”

Camilla pondered Anna’s answer for a moment. “Fair enough,” she finally said then looked pointedly at Anna.  “And you?” 

“As much as I’m excited to meet new people, having someone I know along with me is nice. But I didn’t ask her to invite you.  I swear.”

Camilla feigned contemplating her decision.  “This does beat sitting at home tonight alone.  Jose already got called into work.”  He’s had to go in for emergency surgery the last three times he was on call.”

“A surgeon’s job is never done.”  Anna sat there for a moment and looked down at her hands.  “Camilla, if you really don’t want to go, we can leave.”

A smile broke out on Camilla’s face.  “I’m just giving you a hard time.  Come on, let’s go.  This should be fun.”

Nicole was already at the door as they walked up the driveway.  She pulled Camilla into a hug then did the same with Anna.  “I’m so excited you’re here!  Come inside.  There aren’t too many people here yet. Let me show you the house first.”

After a tour of the house Nicole excused herself to get Sven.  She was back a minute later from the backyard with a tall man with brown hair in tow.  Nicole was smiling as she led him up to Anna and Camilla.  

“Pleasure to meet you,” Sven said holding his hand out to Anna after Nicole introduced them.

Anna noticed how striking he was, his features warm and inviting with a smile that had to have gotten him in trouble before.  His hair was trimmed short on the sides and back, a telltale sign of his military status.  But he had a little bit of growth on the top that gave away just hint of a wave in his hair.  Anna found herself analyzing Sven with a familiarity she couldn’t place.

“Congratulations!” Camilla exclaimed.  “How was it finding out?”

Sven beamed and placed his arm around Nicole. “Amazing!  I thought I was prepared, but when they told us it was a girl, I gotta admit, I was a little overwhelmed.” Sven looked down at Nicole.  “Shed a few happy tears.”

“Anna, were you at the office that day?” Camilla asked.

“No, I was off.  But I did hear something about Sven having to sit down for a few minutes to compose himself.” She winked at Sven.

The smile didn’t leave Sven’s face.  “Whatever rumors you heard; they are all true.  Come on, let me introduce you to everyone.”

********************

“One more thing,” Bulda said as she went into the kitchen.  Kristoff followed her in and watched as she opened the oven and pulled out a dish.

“What’s that?”

“Lasagna.  For Nicole,” Bulda stated.  “She mentioned she was craving it, so I made some you can bring over.  She started putting the dish in an insulated carrier.  “Make sure she gets this.”

Kristoff chuckled.  “Don’t be surprised if Sven is calling you asking to make more.”

“Any time for them.” Bulda fussed around the kitchen before saying nonchalantly, “Funny timing, Amanda called last week and asked for the recipe.”

Kristoff tilted his head.  “Amanda did?”

Bulda nodded then went to the counter to grab another container.  “She remembered having it once and asked if I could send the recipe to her.”

“That would have been a long time ago.  Your food must be that memorable.”

“Of course it is.  You’re just spoiled from having it for all these years.”

Kristoff cracked a grin. “Maybe, but I sure did appreciate it as soon as I got back home.”

“Is Josh going to be able to come out for beach week this year and the air show?” Bulda had stopped her movements and was looking directly at Kristoff.

Kristoff shook his head quickly.  “No.  Amanda said she still isn’t ready.”

“They could just come in for the day.  Or she could let him come by himself and stay with us.  I know he’d love to see you fly.”

“Ma, Amanda’s not letting him go anywhere without her.”

“He’s going to be eight this year.  I don’t think-“

Kristoff knew where Bulda was going with this and stopped her short.  “It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand or think its best.  We have to accept it as the way it is going to be.  They’re doing good and that’s all that matters.”

Bulda put both hands on the island across from Kristoff.  “That’s true?”

“Yeah, ma they are. Josh really likes Ben and Amanda-“ Kristoff hesitated, determining how much he wanted to share with his mother.  “Ben treats her like she deserves and she’s really happy.”

Bulda glanced over at Kristoff before putting both containers in a bag.  “And what do you think about Ben?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“I disagree.”

“Ben’s a great stepdad. I’m glad if Josh can’t have his father that he has Ben.”

“Well then.” Bulda picked up the bags and walked over to Kristoff.  She seemed to be thankfully done with the conversation.  “Like you said.  It’s all that matters.”  She held out the bag to Kristoff.

“What’s all this?”

“Some other goodies to bring over to Sven and Nicole’s.”

“I was going to stop at the store and pick something up.”

“You aren’t showing up there with something store bought.  Not on my watch.”

Kristoff laughed.  “Thanks.”

“And I already told Sven you were coming with all this.  So, no backing out and going home instead.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

********************

Kristoff could hear the group in the backyard when he got out of the Jeep.  He wanted to get the lasagna into the oven for Nicole first and opted to go in the open garage.  As he walked into the kitchen, two pictures on the counter caught his attention.  They were 8 x 10s, pulled out of an envelope.  The first picture was of his and Sven’s jets frozen in time as they crossed each other.  The bright yellow numbers 5 and 6 were clear on the tails.  The second picture was a formal portrait of Sven in his blue flight suit.  Someone from the team must have brought them over.  It looked like Sven had quickly looked them over then forgotten about them.  

After quickly perusing them, he noticed a women in the kitchen getting food at the island.  Not wanting to startle her, he cleared his throat and walked in. “Oh, hello.”

She jumped.  “H-hi.” 

“Sorry,” he said as he walked over to the oven, setting his face to a neutral expression.  “I didn’t want to scare you.  Guess I failed.”

“Don’t worry about it.” 

Kristoff fumbled with the oven trying to figure out how to turn the warming setting on.  He could feel her eyes on him, which did not help him figuring out how to get the setting to work.  After a minute, he gave up.  

“Do you know how to turn the warmer on?” he asked with a defeated sigh. “It’s for Nicole.  I wasn’t sure she’d be hungry, but I thought I should at least keep this warm.”

“She’ll be hungry,” the woman responded.  She went over and adjusted the settings for him.

“Thanks,” he said as she went back to her plate.  “You must be one of Nicole’s friends?”

She looked over. “Are you assuming or asking?”

“Asking.”  He noticed her stifle a giggle as the inevitable redness was most likely creeping up his neck.  

“Then the answer is yes.  I’m Camilla.”

“Kris.” Wanting to see how Sven had been doing, took a chance.  “Can I ask you something?”

 “Sure.  I may not answer though.” 

“Sven.  He hasn’t been too-“ Kristoff paused, contemplating the best way to ask. “-overwhelming, has he?”

She laughed then smiled over.  “No, he’s been fine.”

Relief washed over his face. “Good.”  He stood there silently not knowing if he should stay and try to make more conversation or leave.  Camilla smirked knowingly at his awkwardness.    

“So uhm, did you meet Nicole at the doctor’s office. Sven was saying that’s where she met some of her friends.”

Camilla quirked up a brow. “Gathering intel?”

“Maybe.”

“Actually, I met her through a friend that works there.  I work at the hospital.”

He nodded and went to get some food. As Camilla walked around the island, the pictures piqued her interest, and she walked over to them.  Kristoff heard her say “He’s a Blue Angel,” to herself she studied the pictures.  Kristoff noticed her look over to him and then back to the pictures.

Camilla came back to the island, not taking her eyes off Kristoff. “You work with Sven, then?” she asked slowly.

“Your turn to gather intel?” Kristoff didn’t bother to look up.  “I fly with Sven.”

“You’re part of the Blue Angels?”

“Sure am.”

After a few moments Kristoff could feel Camilla staring at him again.  He couldn’t take it anymore.  “What?”

She jumped slightly almost as if coming out of a trance.  “What do you mean?”

“Is there something wrong?  You’re staring.”

“No! No, I’m not.” She stopped and shook her head.  “No, that’s a lie.  I feel like I’ve seen you before.  Sorry, it’s just bothering me.”  

Kristoff had no recollection of seeing this person in his life.  But he could almost see the wheels in her head spinning when a thought came to him.  “You said you work at the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe you’ve seen me there?”

“What?”

“I represent the Navy on an outreach committee at the hospital.  I’m there pretty frequently.  Maybe you’ve seen me coming or going there before.”

It was as if the last piece of a puzzle fit into place for Camilla. She let out a squeak and managed to say “excuse me,” before practically running out of the kitchen.

Kristoff watched her head for the backyard, almost knocking into Sven on her way out.  Sven caught sight of Kristoff, waving as he smiled and walked into the house.

********************

Anna was having a great time.  Sven and Nicole had introduced her to the other guests at the party.  She couldn’t remember all their names, but everyone was absolutely lovely.  She could tell that no one was interested in talking about their military work.  It suited Anna just fine.  Besides telling people how she met Nicole, she had no desire to talk about her work either on a day off.

Earlier, Sven had come and sat by Anna and Camilla to talk for a bit.  While she had only known him for a few hours, Anna could see that Nicole and Sven were a good match.  Sven was certainly charming.  He could pull information from a person like nobody’s business.  Camilla already had an invitation for her and her husband to go out sometime and Sven had gotten the story of Anna’s travels around the country over the last few years.  Anna sat there listening to Sven and Camilla, her thoughts going back to why Sven looked familiar.

As Anna was talking with Nicole and a few other people, she noticed Camilla come from inside the house, bumping into Sven as he was walking through the sliding door.  Camilla made a bee line for Anna.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Camilla said with an overly sweet smile.  

Anna was taken off guard at the force Camilla grabbed her elbow pulling her away from the group. “What is it?” she asked as they walked away.

“We need to go.”

“Wait, what?” Anna stopped so she could get a look at Camilla.  “Why?”

“I’m not feeling well.” There was an urgency in her eyes as she tugged Anna’s arm.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later.  Can we go? Now?”

“No. Wait. Camilla.”  Anna’s voice went lower.  “It’s ok if you want to go.  I can call a ride.”

There was a strangled laugh that came out of Camilla’s throat.  “We are not doing that again.”

Nicole came over, a look of concern on her face.  “I can give Anna a ride home.”

“Ooh that’s a good idea!” Anna said.  “Are you sure you’ll be up to that?”

“Of course, it’s not too- “

Camilla interrupted. “That won’t be necessary.  I’m sorry, Nicole.  Anna, I really need you to go with me.”

Anna went to protest, but the look on Camilla’s face was almost pleading.  She wasn’t going to get to the bottom of things until they were alone. “Ok fine.  Just give me a minute to say goodbye.”

“I really need to go.”

Anna felt Nicole’s hand on her forearm.  She gave Anna a sympathetic smile.  “It’s ok. I’ll let everyone know you said goodbye.”

“Thank you.” Anna looked back at Camilla and raised her arms from her sides as if in defeat.  “Ok I guess we can go.”  She went to take a step towards the house, but Camilla’s arm was around her elbow again, leading her a different way.

“We’ll just go around the backyard.  It’s closer this way.”

Anna tugged back towards the house.  “I need to grab my containers from the food I brought.”

Camilla kept pulling.  “Nicole can give them to you next time you see her.”

“My purse is inside.” Anna pulled free from Camilla and started walking towards the sliding door to the house.  “I’ll meet you at the car.”

“That’s not a good idea.  Anna, wait!” 

Anna kept walking, picking up the pace so Camilla couldn’t pull her back again.  She was going to give Camilla a piece of her mind as soon as they got in the car for whatever ridiculous game she was playing right now. 

Nicole had picked on the tension and was following Anna now as well.  “Is everything ok?” she asked as they walked into the house.

“I’m fine.”  Anna turned back to face Nicole and gestured to Camilla. “Ask her.”

Camilla was on her heels, her eyes going wide. “Oooh I really don’t think this was a good idea.”

“Camilla, what has gotten into you?” Anna was trying to stay calm, but she was embarrassed and losing the battle to keep her frustration with Camilla in check.  Camilla just looked past Anna, her mouth clamped shut, refusing to answer.  That was the last straw. “You’re acting ridiculous!” Anna yelled out so loud it surprised her.

“Wow, the name Firecracker really does suit you.”

Anna froze at the voice.  She scrutinized Camilla who mouthed ‘I’m sorry’. Then realization hit her as to why Camilla was trying to get her to leave so suddenly and why she didn’t want Anna in the house.  Anna spun around, refocusing he frustration on a different target.  

Kristoff was standing in front of Anna.  A first look of shock had morphed into a wicked grin.  

“You!” Anna pointed her finger at Kristoff.  

Sven stood next to Kristoff with a look of puzzlement across his face. “You know Anna?” Kristoff ignored him and kept his gaze fixated on Anna.

“What are you doing here?” Anna demanded.

 “What am I doing here?  Kristoff pulled his hands up to his chest and crossed his arms.  He leered over at Anna.  “Forget about me.  What are you doing here?”

Behind her, Anna could hear Nicole asking what was going on, but she was too distracted to answer.  She put her hands on her hips and her chin out.  “I was invited.  Are you following me?”

“Anna.” Camilla tried to interject.

“Why would I be following you?” Kristoff lifted one of his hands in bewilderment.

“Anna.” Camilla took Anna by the shoulder and twisted her until their eyes met.  “Sven’s a Blue Angel.”

It only took a moment for everything to click. Anna’s head was spinning. She looked over at Sven, wide eyed with another realization and pointed again.  “And you!”  Sven threw his hands up in surrender and took a step back.  “You were at the bar that night!”

“What bar?”  Nicole’s question was again ignored.

Anna took a step forward. “You were talking to Sue!” She looked back at Camilla.  “That was him, wasn’t it?”

Camilla grinned with her realization.  “You’re right.  He was!”

“Who’s Sue?” Nicole asked, this time with more forcefulness.

Sven’s hands were still up.  “I have no idea, hon.  Ask Kris.”

“You were the one apparently talking to her,” Kristoff shot back.

Anna put her hand to her head, her thoughts were jumbled.  “This is just my luck.  I meet one jerk at a bar and now everything’s a mess.” When she looked back up, Kristoff was staring at her, the jerk comment apparently not sitting well with him.  She met him with the most intimidating look she could muster.

“Wait a second.” Sven took a step between Anna and Kristoff. He looked at Anna.  “You mean you’re-” He swiveled back to Kristoff.  “-hospital Anna?”  As soon as Kristoff gave him a curt nod, Sven broke out into a wide smile, the epiphany hitting him.  “Karaoke girl!” he exclaimed before breaking into a howl of laughter.

“It’s not funny, Sven!” Kristoff and Anna yelled at him in unison as Sven bent over from laughing so hard.

Their shared reprimand took Anna by surprise, and she noticed for a split second Kristoff’s eyes grow softer.  She didn’t have a chance to think about it as Nicole’s voice rang out, silencing Sven.

“That’s it!” Nicole yelled.  “Sit! Now. You’re all going to explain to me what is going on.”

Everyone scrambled for a seat at Nicole’s sternness.  “Oh, this is going to be good,” Sven said under his breath, trying to stifle his laughter.  

[jenniferstit]

pac: what makes you UNIQUE?

22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 *+°

one

you have a remarkable ability to remain balanced. no matter what happens, positive or negative, you operate from a place of neutrality. you are neither impulsive nor impatient, you understand and appreciate the value of hard work & endurance. you have excellent resilience, and you are not afraid to get your hands dirty, so to speak… you recognize that you are the only person who can take yourself to where you want to go. you are a truth seeker, you see things clearly. you don’t let others’ doubt cloud your clear mindset. i’m also hearing “don’t take no for an answer.” i feel that you handle rejection very well. you recognize that one closed door simply leads to another opportunity. you welcome new beginnings and aren’t afraid of change. this pile is very independent. your belief in yourself and faith in the universe is unmatched. i believe this pile is highly protected & very in touch with divinity… earth angel vibes. whatever seeds you are planting at/around this time will sprout beautifully in the next few months… big or small. there is an energy of emerging victory present. stay true to yourself & remain authentic. the world needs it. you know your shadow traits and you keep them in check. it may spook the people around you because they never see you step into a negative energy, giving them the impression that you do no wrong. this energy cracks me up bc it’s so calm & assured… you’ve been this way your whole life so you don’t recognize it as special but these traits are indeed unique, embrace it.

two

ok this group has lots of messages coming through, the last pile was more straight forward. so i see that you have big dreams, especially related to finances, or it could be that you have a strong emotional desire for family or some sort of stability or support. you definitely have star quality, whatever financial aspirations that you have can be achieved if you believe in yourself & plan accordingly. if you try to cut corners or achieve things quickly you will almost certainly run into obstacles. universe is really emphasizing the importance of patience & planning. i’m seeing that you are an EXTREMELY creative individual and your creativity needs to become the primary focus. i’m getting the energy of someone who’s thinking too far ahead into the future. success will come but what are you doing right now to ensure that success? i’m seeing that these thoughts abt success/finances may stem from self-worth issues. i recommend really putting in the work to develop your solar plexus chakra bc that will 100% help you get to where you want to be. in order to have this success you need to believe that you are truly worthy of it and this reading suggests that you may not [unconsciously] believe that. i definitely believe that you are meant to be a star, at any age, but you have to believe it too.

three

what makes you unique? you’re showing up as the magician, which says a lot. it’s also showing up here with the high priestess so i’m definitely going to say that you are a witch or mystic of some kind… even if you don’t practice. you just give off that energy. i’m seeing that people don’t know whether to love or hate you lol. it’s like they find you inspiring but they also put themselves in competition against you… weird. you may deal with a lot of weirdness from people… inconsistent behavior, oddities, things that just can’t be explained. this has nothing to do with you but everything to do with them and how they choose to react to your energy. i’m seeing that people try to compare themselves to you but they’re only able to perceive a percentage of who you are. it’s like they’re comparing 100% of themselves when they really only see abt 20% of you lol… not a rational thing to do. but that’s just it, these people aren’t thinking with their rational minds. 2222. you have a strong sexual presence as well, i think it’s very easy for people to idealize/sexualize you. you may find fantasy creation to be a problem inside your relationships bc people just can’t receive the real you. it’s very easy for people to perceive themselves to be inadequate when in your presence. i think you’re aware of this on some level and you intuitively know to stay away from such people. i think you have an incredibly powerful auric field and you consciously or unconsciously carry the weight of that. you may perceive it to be a burden bc it’s challenging for you to make quality connections, or even just navigate normal social situations. things won’t always be this way, but i think it’s important that you learn the lessons from these situations bc the lesson is the most important thing. i also have to say this: if you are manifesting a romantic relationship with someone, it will happen, but not when you expect it. it will be with a king of pentacles character— someone established and well off financially.

☆ more readings on tiktok ★

[the-dumpster-fire-of-life]

Can we get jinx fluff maybe?.like a cold stoic looking reader who's actually like extremely kind to them and loves them,but jinx has n e v e r

Like

N e v e r seen them cry,and one day something just triggers the trauma that they have a they have a full mental breakdown like,complete in shock ,shaking sobbing fetal position is the corner of the room and jinx comes to help after wards and uses the methods that yn used to use on her whenever it happens to her?

Only if you can ofc pls do tell me if you can't I totally understand <3 have a good day or night

(Hey! Sorry, this is actual shit but eh. Here ya go, Enjoy!)

Don't Leave

She didn’t really notice you not showing any sadness at first

She had a few moments where you were there

And she was grateful you were there when you were

Even before you started dating she had a lot of moments where she was vulnerable

And you were so fucking nice

But after a while, when you guys started dating she started getting suspicious

Why did you never cry? Did you not trust her enough to cry around her?

She was sorta sad, thinking you didn’t wanna show her that side of you when she had

Even if it wasn’t on purpose

She had you when she needed you

She just wanted to be that for you like you had been for her

She never really heard anything about you though

Like your family or anything

You sorta knew about Vi and Powder, some of her life before

Not a lot though, but she had a lot of questions

She just never got around to asking you them, she was kinda afraid to also

Thinking they were too far

When she was crying you were hold her, reminding her you were there and she appreciated it

It helped her a lot

Sometimes it was harder than that though

Especially when she got mad

She always felt guilty afterwards though

Jinx know’s you love her, you remind her everyday

But she has some doubts, your kinda stoic and are nice to her but you never say or show how you feel

Until she made a mistake

She was freaking out, Vi was back and she didn’t know what to do

And you walked in at the wrong time

She was angry, she was hurt and she was sad and confused

At Silco, at Vi, at Sevika, at herself and even you for some reason

When you tried to help her she smacked your hand away, yelling at you to leave her alone

That’s when it started, she didn’t even notice it going on at first

“Jinx?” You asked, walking closer to the girl as she kept pacing around.

“What?!” She snapped, whipping around as you jumped back at her sudden yell.

“What happened? Are you okay?” You asked, calming down as you placed a hand on her arm.

“Dont! Leave me alone!” Jinx yelled, smacking your hand away from her and resulting in some scratches from her nails. 

You winced, looking down at your hand as the girl went back to her pacing and muttering as it began to bleed.

You shook it off, ignoring the pain and focusing back on her.

“Jinx, what happened?” You continued asking, the girl not answering as she just grabbed a bomb and pulled the pin, throwing it as you flinched when the big boom rang out and te bats flew by.

“Why are you still here?! Leave!” Jinx yelled at you, not getting why you stuck with her.

“What? Why wouldn’t I be here, Jinx?” You asked, confused as to where this was all coming from.

“You’ll only leave like everyone else! Or is this some trick? A play, huh?! Just like her?!” She stepped forward, yelling.

You stepped back, not knowing what she would do until you had to stop, almost falling off the edge of the giant turbine.

“I’m not leaving, Jinx.” You stated, Jinx scoffing as she stopped in her tracks before turning around and swatting at something, Mylo probably.

“Jinx. Calm down, I’m here, it’s okay.” You tried what you usually did, slowly stepping forward as Jinx shook her head and dug her hands into her scalp.

“No, no, no, no. Just leave…or I’ll leave, it’s better than way.” Jinx slowly nodded, beginning to walk away.

That’s when you began to panic, not knowing where she was going or when she was coming back. You didn’t want to be alone.

“Jinx, please, please don’t leave.” You muttered, scared as she ignored you as she searched for her pow-pow.

“Jinx! No! Please, don’t go.” Your voice began to grow hoarse, your vision blurring as your breathing picked up.

“Mom? Where are you going…? Dad?”

“We’ll be right back for you. Just stay here.”

“No, no, no, please don’t leave me!”

“We have to. Stay here.”

You felt like you couldn’t breath, looking around wildly as you stumbled back into Jinx’s desk, hitting it as the tools on top clattered.

Your legs then gave out from under you, you backed up under Jinx’s work desk.

You were crying, something you swore to never do after that night, especially because of someone.

Your eyes were wide, shaking with every sob that wracked through your body as you couldnt breathe or move at all from your position with your knees in your chest.

When you had bumped into the desk, Jinx finally snapped out of it.

She looked up, startled slightly and even more shocked when she saw the tears in your eyes.

You were crying? You never cry.

She then saw when you went under the desk, hearing your sobs and your mutters for someone not to leave, then you eventually said her name.

She finally understood, you felt like she was leaving you? She didn’t want to, she just needed to leave.

She didn’t know what to do, sure she thought it was odd you didn’t cry around her, but she didn’t think about what she would do when you did.

She finally moved, slowly dropping her pow-pow back onto the floor before slowly walking to her desk and looking under.

There she saw you, shaking and crying in the corner of the desk like you were hiding.

She slid under the desk, placing her hand on your arm and jumping back as you flinched away from it.

You then went back, Jinx hesitated before trying again. This time, you didn’t move away.

Jinx took that, slowly moving closer to you and before she knew it, you clung onto her as she froze.

“Please, don’t go, don’t leave me. Please…” You kept muttering, Jinx feeling your shaking before she slowly put her hand on your head, letting you hug her as she remembered what you usually did.

“I’m right here, I’m not leaving…it’s okay.” Jinx recited, playing with your hair and holding you for god’s know how long until she felt your breathing and shaking slow down.

“See? I’m still here. It’s okay, I’m not going anywhere…” Jinx muttered over and over, confused when she didn’t feel anything until she looked down to see your eyes were closed and you had passed out from all the crying.

Jinx didn’t want to move you, so she stood there. Well after you fell asleep, not wanting you to wake up and think she left.