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#i would truly appreciate any commissions you guys want to send my way ^^
happyandticklish · 2 months
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Commissions are open!
Hey everyone! As the semester has gotten into swing and I have started to get the hang of my schedule, I have decided I will have a lot more time to work on my own personal projects. What does this mean for you guys?
It means that commissions are open!
I've updated my fandoms list and commissions info, so be sure to check that out before commissioning.
I do not know how long I will keep these open for, but ideally for the next couple of months. My rate for getting fics out should be anywhere within 1-3 weeks, with the exception that it may be earlier or later depending on its length. I would of course notify anyone if this was the case.
I have also decided to invest in a tattoo at last, and those bitches cost money. So consider this the "support Quill's cool ass feather quill tattoo fund".
Also I'm living like a college student so I need money 🥲
I've also just finally started to get back some of my creative juices after life kicked my ass, and I forgot how much I loved creating content on here. I am excited to get back into writing fun little fics for y'all!
Please consider commissioning if you have the funds and/or want to indulge in wrecking your faves 😌
[Commission info linked right here!]
[Fandoms info linked right here!]
[Kofi linked right here!]
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arknights-imagines · 2 years
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Exe's Update + Important News 🥳📰!!
(news is regarding what I've been up to, commissions, and what I have planned for the blog!!)
*most important bits are in BOLD!*
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Hiya everyone 🥳!! I hope you guys are well 💕~
This'll just be a small update post, also including some news and a sneak peek on what I'm working on for the blog 👉👈!!
Firstly, please excuse me for the low activity as of recently svshs 😔...!! I've been rather busy between writing the second raffle prize and also a private commission for someone I know irl aaa 😭 I'll keep working hard on both of those so I can resume working on my usual pieces for the blog sbsjs 👍
Also, regarding the gifts from the blog Anniversary event: as I've said before, I will eventually get to them all sbjss!! However I will admit, there's just so many of them and I'd also like to write different things, not just responses to the gifts all the time 👉👈 So, I hope you guys can understand if I may take longer to deliver everyone's gifts aaa
As always your patience means v v much shhss, ty 🥺!!
In terms of what I've been working on for you guys and the blog, my current wip is for a request for a Phantom + reader piece, centered around the new Phantom and Crimson Solitaire season of Integrated Strategies 🥳🥳 (I loved the concept of the request v v much, so I pushed it up to the top of my queue sbsjs 😶)!!
Here's a small sneak peek:
A commotion from his audience took the Blood Diamond’s attention. There, you stood far from the stage with your weapon in hand, surrounded by your squadmates all immobilized by shock, and Shalem’s hand held your wrist tightly to prevent you from moving. For a moment - just a moment - you all simply stared at the Feline, wide-eyed and transfixed.
I'm eager to keep working on it and complete it, and I hope you guys will look forward to it too aaa 👉👈
Lastly, I have been considering opening writing commissions for some time now (the reason being that money has been a little tight for me as of recently svshs), however I'm a little uncertain on the level of interest sgshs 🤔...!!
If any of you guys would consider commissioning me if I did open them, please do send me a DM or let me know through a reblog or the replies of this post sgsus 👉👈!! I would appreciate it v v much and will most likely decide based on whatever responses I receive, if any!
Either way, I will still be answering requests and writing stuff for the blog like I always have 💞!
Anywho sbsjs that's all 👍!!
I appreciate everyone's patience during times where I'm unable to be super active on the blog svshs 😭 and as I always say, I'm not going anywhere so please dw 💕!!
My asks and DMs are always open if any of you guys want to come chat with me sbsjs ✨ I love chatting with you guys about Arknights especially~ I know that there's lots of hype regarding stuff being released to the CN server of Arknights aaa 😮??
I'll get back to work now then! Ty for your time and please have a good day 🥰 I hope you'll stick around 🌸~
Yours truly,
- A busy Exe, who's sincerely thankful for you guys supporting the blog 😭💕!!!
('Rico/Executor sends his own thanks to everyone as well sbsjs 🥺~)
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Taglist for News 📰!:
@zone10-8
@originium-tears
@tiredstudents
@yoonielien
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paimon-rambles · 3 years
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Alphabet Fluff
Characters: Aether
A gift to my sister cause she never stops thirsting 😒 @katsukiibug
Doing all of them ;-;
Icon credit: Leheia
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A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?
Aether is opened to any activities his partner throws at him. He's not very picky.
But he does enjoy some dinner dates and strolls around the city, wheater it is Liyue or Mondstadt. He pays for all meals and snacks with the Mora he got from his travels.
Be warned, however, cause Paimon ain't gonna shut up about the food. Regardless it's comforting, followed by a nice walk through the city basked in moonlight.
Aether also in general likes to travel with you, other than Paimon you're his companion. He likes to take you to the forest to pick berries or other essential resources, beneficial for future endeavors.
Stories from his travels? Aether could ramble about for hours. Describing the little mishaps and mischief he and his sister found themselves in. Though he gets really sad whenever his sister is brought up.....oofles
He's traveled from world to world was introduced to many hobbies and games of variety, he's happy to introduce you to some of them if your willing to try something new out.
B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?
Your patience
Aether has a bit of a packed schedule; assisting with commissions and dealing with hilichrul attacks. Not to mention his mind is set on finding the 7 archons in the hope to find his sister. He's incredibly busy most of the times
He doesn't ignore you on purpose, but he's dragged everywhere. Poor guy:(
But he admires that you don't fuss about it and always hold patience. Of course, Aether will find a way to make it up to you eventually. He tends to send small souvenirs from his travels as a form of apology.
Your comfort
He recently lost his sister and is overhwaled by all these tasks placed on his heavy and tired shoulders. He leans on you when he needs that moment of peace or comfort.
He loves that you try to soothe him whenever he's in his worst moments. With your words or simple touches of comfort, he adores it all.
Your eyes
Aether loves to stare into your eyes. He finds them really beautiful and finds himself smiling whenever looking in your eyes.
He's memorized by how they lightly sparkle or glimmer depending on your emotions. Or how they light up whenever you laugh or smile.
He finds it soothing to just lean your foreheads against each other and stare endlessly at your eyes, his worries and concerns being carried away.
C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?
He's a brother and understands when his partner is under stress or feeling down. Similar to how he notices the small gestures Lumine has that show her emotions are swirling in her head.
He picks up on the small hints and notices right away the shift in your behavior. You can say you're fine but he ain't falling for it, he's seen the signs.
But Aether does give the space you want. He recognizes its benefits and understands it himself; He's lost his kin, there are times Aether wants to push everyone away.
So patient, he's not pushing you into anything instead he's letting you describe what's bothering you at your pace. You can break down sobbing and he would wait while comfortably drawing stars on your back. He even has his shoulder to cry on if you want, softly running his hand through her hair in comforting motions.
He tries his best to give advice from his own experience. He makes a promise to cheer you later. He's just trying to make you happy again cause he hurting inside if you're not :(
D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?
Aether pictures the future from time to time. Mainly thinking about finding his sibling. He pictures two outcomes the good now and the one he dreads dearly.
Of course, since you are his s/o, you do play role in some of the scenarios he plays on his head.
He wonders what will be of the relationship after he finds his sibling, would they continue to travel worlds as they had done previously?
It was his sister and himself life's work of jumping planet to planet and learning of the different kingdoms and such.
Teyvat is your home, you have all your plans for the future in this world, he couldn't force you to leave.
So he rather hears of your views on the future instead, listening closely as you explain everything you have planned while his heart slowly aches as he debates for his future.
E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?
He sees you as his equal. Nothing less or more- though he looks to up you a lot
He doesn't let any status you may hold hinder the relationship, and he wishes the same. He may be a traveler from another world, praised for his achievements, and his reputation in the nation's placed his name high. But Aether doesn't want that to affect his relationship with his lover.
So yee equals =
F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?
He hates fighting :(
Soft boy can't handle arguing with his s/o. It breaks his heart every time. Instantly feels guilty, even if he wasn't in the wrong.
Because of this arguments are incredibly rare. He's not an angry person in general and tends to stay positive most of the time. It will only occur if he's incredibly pent up about a situation. He'd bottle up those emotions before the string being pulled and he snaps.
Easy to forgive, the moment he notices he's angry he's apologizing for lashing out. Poor boy can't handle you being scared, upset, and disappointed with him.
After a fight, he gives you the space needed before checking on you and asking if you're alright. Aether would pull you into a hug, and probably sob depending on how bad the fight was. Cuddles until your both happy again or unless you really don't want to be in his presence at the moment.
If the fight was really bad he gives you some space to think for a bit and try to get it off his head. Afterward, he goes to apologize to you, to where you either sob together or things go back to normal right after
Apologizes repeatedly to you, you could say you've forgiven him but he's gonna continue apologizing for another hour or so.
G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?
Incredibly grateful for every little act his s/o does for him. Ever since losing his sister, he's been in a void and his s/o has been the light helping him back to his feet. Cheesy I know-
But he truly appreciates everything you do for him, it always brings a smile to his face whenever his s/o does the most simple little acts that go a long way for him. He acknowledges even the smallest of things
Simple acts such as setting up his stuff before he goes to complete commissions or cooking him some food. It always makes his day better.
H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?
Aether tells his partner pretty much everything, he dislikes keeping you in the dark. He would be really upset and heartbroken if he found out his s/o was hiding anything from him
He relies on you a lot, he tells you everything because you always put him at ease.
However, there are a few things that he would hide for a short time. He would tell his partner eventually but needs some time to plan out how to tell them. But those moments are rare and in between.
If he did find out that his s/o was hiding something from him, he'd be so torn :< feels betrayed a in way that you hid something from him.
Of course, he would listen to your reasoning as to why you kept secrets, but he starts to distance himself for a bit.
I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?
Aether works harder for you. In other words, he's constantly trying to impress you. He tries to act heroically around you to make you smile and all.
He learned to not always feel so down because of his sister and take time to be happy as well
He for sure helps you overcome any problems or barriers that have been holding you back, taking one step at a time. You work it out together and he's patient with the process
He's always inspired by you, he works harder for you and tries to complete his commissions at a faster rate so he can spend the rest of the day work you.
J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?
Can go both ways. On one hand, Aether isn't really one to get jealous, as he has complete trust in his partner but on the other hand, there are times when he gets insecure or jealous over somethings
But for the most part he isn't jealous, there are moments where he's scared to lose you like he lost his sister, to be left alone again :<<
In the moments where he is jealous, he would tell his s/o that he's feeling envious. Getting it off his chest and hoping his S/o would help calm down his worries
If he's feeling really envious, which are incredibly rare, he would avoid you for a bit trying to let his jealousy die away before confronting you
He'd feel really bad if he accidentally made you feel jealous instead. He would remind you that all his love is reserved for you and only you.
K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?
Something like that done here
An average kisser, a bit inexperienced when it comes to kissing, you're his first boyfriend/girlfriend but he caught on really fast.
But because of this, your first kiss ended up being really awkward and Aether got incredibly flustered cause he believed he did something wrong
He's still really shy whenever he kisses you, he grows flustered whenever you intimate the kiss.
His kisses are really gentle, pressing his lips against yours softly. Each kiss is filled with emotions, all his love into each one. Very gentle boi
L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?
A mess
Poor boi is stuttering and fumbling over his words. He a nervous wreck but he's trying his best.
He planned everything out but when the moment came he tripped over his words.
He invites you over for a nice dinner, nothing too fancy and nothing too cheap, just right. He pays for food, slowly bringing the conversation to an idea of a relationship. Of course, he's hella flustered and trying not to show(which he does) it.
Then he kinda blurts out that he has a crush on you and wants to try out a relationship
If you say yes he's gonna have a huge smile on his face for the rest day, it's really adorable TwT
If you say no, however, he freezes in place for a while, the whole thing repeating in his head up to the point where you rejected him. He apologizes and excuses himself. You don't see him for a couple of days, since aether is avoiding you, he's really embarrassed to talk to you. Oh and congratulations you get a nasty nickname from Paimon :D
M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?
He thought about it at least once when your relationship was growing. Similar to dreams, he had different scenarios in this head for the future and how they could play out.
He would like to get married one day, yes, but it isn't something he sees doing anytime soon as his primary goal is to find his sister, afterward however he will look into it more and suggest the idea to his s/o.
In terms of how he proposes, he takes you on a little adventure that highlights some your adventures you had together near the beginning of your friendship, before getting on one knee and popping the question.
Kind of that nostalgic feeling you get as you reminisce on some of the old memories you created together
The both of you plan the ceremony and incorporate your ideas into one. It's gonna be a big wedding though since pretty much all of Mondstadt, Liyue, and other nations that are yet to be explored will be attending.
Of course, if you wish for a smaller wedding, he doesn't mind at all and will plan out something smaller. He personally likes a small wedding too :)
N icknames - What do they call their s/o?
Aether isn't too keen on nicknames for his s/o but he does have a few. But for the most part, he calls you y/n, especially in public
He calls you sometimes a shorter version of your name. Or a flower that reminds him of you.
Really depends on your personality as well and which flower it associates with, or he might have a silly nickname for you that he called you once and it stuck with him. However, those types of nicknames are used rarely depending on the circumstance.
O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?
Blush blush blush blush
He might be a little oblivious to it since your his first, he doesn't realize it until someone cough venti cough points out to him.
He's in denial at first, swirling over his words while his face reveals the truth. He's crushing hard
Aether tries to mask his little crush from you and he does pretty well minus a few moments where he's got off guard, que flustering soft boi
But when he's in love, he has a smile on his whenever speaking to the person that makes his heart skip a beat. It's pretty prominent to others once you notice the behavior shift from someone random to you.
He expresses his love in a little of everything; kisses and little hugs along with serenading you in words or perhaps gifting you something. A little mix of all of them
His favorite way to express his love is to have his hand intertwine with yours. It's simple but it comforts him knowing you're close. He loves it whenever you give him a slight squeeze of reassurance; it never fails to put a smile on his face
P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?
Shy boy gets flustered in private, he gets really flustered showing PDA in public.
Don't get me wrong he loves showering you in affection but he gets easily flushed at the idea of people watching him kiss his s/o or giving them a comforting hug.
His PDA is average, he's open to hand-holding in public because it comforts him without having to do anything too affectionate in the public eye
He doesn't brag either, most people already know the existence of your relationship.
Although for the most part, he's trying to keep it a secret because of the Fatui and the threat it could place on you. You don't want La Signora chasing after you.
Q uirk - Some random ability they have that's beneficial in a relationship.
Paimon is usual around Aether meaning that whenever your feeling hungry, Paimon can point out the best places to sit down and have a delicious meal
An expert treasure hunter is in your area, and you're dating him! He knows where to find hints and little clues for treasures and can open any lock or seal. Many fortunes
He has so many stories to tell from his previous travels. It helps you connect more as you listen to him tell you every memory he can remember from the worlds he visited. You never get bored by his stories either.
R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?
He's can be really creative in his antic when it comes to making his s/o happy, but he also sticks to some more cliche methods as well
As mentioned previously he's visited many worlds and has seen the various ways people would do to cheer up their partners.
He uses that to his advantage when trying something to get that smile he loves dearly on your face
But the also likes to take some classic routes, little gifts, or acts of affection to make you happy
Perhaps a rose banquet one day and something new and really imaginative the next. He can be a wild card when deciding
One time he jokingly asked Paimon for advice, of course, she suggested having sticky honey roast as a nice evening lunch date. Which he ended up taking you to that afternoon
He's willing to do anything-within reasonable terms- to make his s/o happy. If just point something out or specify on what would make you really happy; chances are he's going to do it for you
S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?
100% support in you
He wants to see your goals accomplished as well. Just like your helping him find his sister, he helps you achieve your goal
If you allow him, he's willing to put aside some of his commissions to help you plan and get a better roadmap to obtain your goal
Aether helps keep you motivated whenever you're feeling down, reminding you of what you have accomplished so far. Cooking you food or bringing you some water to get your brain flowing again. As well as some encouragement from Paimon, although she tends to over exaggerate most of the time
He is also sure to help you take breaks whenever you're pushing yourself too much. He takes you outside to pick plants or berries, but it's really soothing and distracting
T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?
It's an adventure every day with Aether
At the beginning of the relationship, he tried to follow a more classical relationship routine. Since he was so new to affection, e mimicked what he saw other couples do thinking it was the correct way to go. But after spending more time with you he strayed away from that, adding his own ideas along with yours
He's constantly traveling the world, meeting archons and other powerful beings. There always a battle to be fought or a harbinger to run from. A lot can happen in one day
And you're his trusty and equal companion, he likes to bring you along through the chaos that is Teyvat
In other words, there is always a thrill in your relationship, plus Aether is always open to trying something new occasionally. Never a dull moment except for that one lazy Sunday where you cuddle all day, but it's really wholesome
U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?
Aether picks up on the little things that signal a behavior shift within you. With these notices he acts quickly to be sure your alright and accesses if he needs to shower you in more affection in order to make you happy >:0
He tries to sympathize with his partner, trying to understand the emotions they're going through. He understands grief and anger, as he had experienced it with the loss of his kin, and knows how to help alleviate his s/o
But he does try his best to help cheer you up regardless of the emotions you are feeling. Paimon is even there to cheer you with her own words
V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?
Aether's relationship with you is something he holds close to his heart. It's incredibly important to him, and he is sure to voice how important you are to him.
His s/o is that last speck of hope and happiness in his life after being filled with pain for so long. He'd be devastated without you
Unfortunately, his sister is his first priority, his family comes close. Lumine is the only kin he has. But your also really important to him, and so he tries to shower you with affection daily
W ild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.
Your Paimon's close friend, you get to hear her ramble about food- a lot. But she's also really supportive of your relationship, she's noticed how much happier Aether had become since then.
Aether likes it whenever you braid his hair. Finding it soothing as your fingers gently comb through his golden locks
X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?
A shy boy wanting to shower his s/o in affection. He's not the most affectionate person out there but he does try to be romantic and such
He adores hugs more than kisses, he finds it further comforting to hold his partner close and reassured that there beside him. He wishes he could cuddle with you for hours however commissions among other tasks that always pull him back
He also likes kisses, there always gentle and soft and he mainly kisses you on the cheek, forehead, or lips.
So overall he is pretty affectionate and he tries his best to make you feel loved
Y earning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?
He can handle it for a few days, he has trust in you and your abilities. But he does think about you whenever you have to leave, wishing he could go with you. He's already missing your presence the moment you kissed him goodbye before venturing off to whatever.
Then he starts to become worried, his head is racing even though you're fine. He's trying to stay calm in the situation, which he does pretty well but it's clear something is troubling the traveler from another world. Nonetheless, he doesn't act out that worry
He starts to take up more commissions in hopes it will put his mind off It, overworking himself just a tad too much until he finds himself exhausted and turns in to rest for the night.
He refrains from any thoughts involving you being in a dangerous circumstance, he's trying to stay positive and counting down the days until your arrival back to Mondstadt or Liyue. But he has had that one thought or two, dreading over his shoulders
When you do return, the moment he spots your familiar figure; his mind is washed with relief as he makes his way towards you. He approaches with a soft, kind smile as he engulfs you into a hug. He asks you how the journey or task went and if you hit any roadblocks or difficulties.
He takes you to dinner that afternoon to talk some more, he misses you dearly :(
Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lenghts for the relationship? If so, what kind of?
As mentioned before Aether tries his best to make you happy, he'll try somethings out but he won't cross any unnecessary lines or ones that shouldn't be crossed
Listen- he's stolen a Gods Lyre, angered the cryo God, fought a Harbinger, and almost destroyed a nation- oh and he's a garden thief. He's willing to go to some extra lengths to make you happy-he just doesn't want to add on to the list of chaos that had occurred already
But as mentioned previously, his main goal is finding his sister and he tries not to stray from it too much. But yes, he does care about your relationship and he is sure to remind you that you always hold a special place in his heart :)
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I'm done omg, yay
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consumeconstantly · 4 years
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Lady Cross (first aid)
Summary: Somehow, Marinette always ends up biting off more than she can chew. It started off with a kid and a nasty gash on their knee. The sudden escalation to treating the new head of Gotham’s underworld? It can only be explained by the fact that she’s catnip for trouble. 
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Marinette supposed she should have expected something like this to happen eventually.
Really, she patches up a few street kids and offers a meal and some resources and suddenly she's made a name for herself in the slums of Gotham. It’s not like she’s doing anything revolutionary. Well, okay, maybe she does cheat a little bit and uses her healing powers on a few of the tougher cases that really should have been out of her realm of expertise, but she’s living near the slums of Gotham for a reason. That reason being Marinette is just a little broke and can’t really afford to send everyone she comes across to the hospital, and the people who are injured certainly can’t. It’s not like she can leave them to die. That would be heartless.
When she stopped treating scrapes and cuts for kids on the streets as she came across them and instead found her apartment balcony frequented by families who needed her help, she couldn’t just say no. And so, more and more serious wounds started coming in. Kids brought their parents and friends. The parents and friends brought... well, if the police stopped by her apartment any time soon, she’s fairly certain they’d have a field day.
But again, it’s not like she’s going to turn these people into the police when they’ve come to her for help and have a small army of people who swear up and down that they’re good people and only doing what they have to do in order to get by.
Morality comes in such a variety of shades, who was she to judge? Ladybug and Marinette have both certainly had their fair share of mistakes that they’d gladly go back in time to rectify, and her hands weren’t clean of blood either. Sure, the Miraculous Cure may have brought people back, but their deaths were still on her. And Hawkmoth? Yeah, he’s alive now, but she hammered him into the pavement after dropping him from the top of the Eiffel tower, and she’s not going to pretend that she didn’t take a bit of morbid joy in that moment.
But back to the matter at hand. Which was, the notorious Red Hood—responsible for a coup amongst Gotham’s drug dealers and responsible for taking down a man whose morality truly vanished with the wind, Black Mask himself— was currently bleeding out on her second floor balcony, smoking a cigarette and lounging against the rail like he owned the place. 
“Lady Cross,” he inclined his head.
“Red Hood,” Marinette returned his greeting.
God, she really didn’t want to get involved with Red Hood. She wasn’t opposed to helping out street thugs and criminals, but Red Hood was a different league. He seemed to be a fairly decent guy, ensuring that kids weren’t dealt drugs and tried to keep them out of the circuit as much as possible. He took down plenty of worse criminals while he was at it. In fact, Marinette would go so far to say the Red Hood as one the good guys.
But the issue was, once she started treating people of a certain level, she’d be open game. And that didn’t seem very enticing to her. Not at all. Everyone knew that Red Hood had beef with the Bat Family for some reason or other, and also made enemies with almost every single rogue in Gotham, and a good number of enemies outside of it as well. Basically, Red Hood was a universal enemy of both the vigilantes and rogues. Someone she shouldn’t get involved with while she was trying to investigate the darkness surrounding Gotham whole running her online boutique and going to college at Gotham University.
Unfortunately, Tom and Sabine and her own stint as Ladybug taught her that she could never ignore someone in need. Marinette sighed and slid the mesh open, leading Red Hood to her living room. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
“Real nice place you got here,” he said.
With the mask covering the whole of his face, Marinette had no facial expressions to figure out whether he was poking fun at her current living situation or not. His voice sounded genuine, but vocal emotions were easy to fake.
The apartment she was living in was not on the nice side of town. There were three bullet holes in the wall between her living room and bedroom that she just didn’t have time to patch up, some pretty nasty looking stains on the ceiling near her kitchen, and a huge, spray painted red cross on one of her walls, which was where her street name derived from. Her floor and coffee table were also in states of disarray; she hadn’t gotten the opportunity to clean up after working on two commissions and the last guest whose wounds were heavy enough to warrant several rolls of gauze, which was now half stuffed into a garbage can sitting next to rolls of fabric. Perhaps not the neatest or most sanitary situation, but she didn’t have time to clean up before every single one of her unexpected guests came in.
Look, it wasn’t her fault that she didn’t have time to fix things up real nice and neat. She’d only been living in the apartment for a month and a half, and most times, she barely spent any time in it other than to sleep, cram last minute projects for her design course, or to help heal people. Her living situation wasn’t the biggest of worries.
“Sit,” Marinette gestured to the one of the few pieces of furniture that she specifically bought for the apartment. She didn’t mind the stained, half broken, and extremely creaky couch the last owners left behind for the first week, but after she started bringing back her first… visitors, it seemed important that the couch was comfortable, sturdy, and most crucially, cleanable.
Rummaging through a cabinet, she pulled out a tattered briefcase she thrifted a while back to keep all of her medical supplies in. Not the prettiest of things, but she tried not to keep expensive looking items in her apartment because she wasn’t a fan of getting mugged. The medicine she kept was already expensive enough, she didn’t need to attract everyone’s attention by owning one of those metal containers used in hospitals. Even though most of the people who dropped by her apartment were thankful to be treated, she had a few instances where people tried to steal things from her.
“What’s the damage, doc?” Red Hood’s voice came through rather tinny through his helmet. 
Marinette grimaced. The helmet must have awful air circulation. It looked like some sort of metal, and wet and metal never smelled good together. “I don’t know, you tell me.”
“Thought you were supposed to be some mystic healer who came from the far east.”
She paused and looked at the man, trying to judge whether he was racist as well as rude. “That’s rather insulting.” 
Red Hood shrugged. Marinette applauded the man for showing no outward sign of pain at that, even though there was a bullet embedded in his shoulder, and shrugging had to bite. “That’s what the word on the street is, though you sound French to me. Thought I’d come and check out who’s healing Gotham’s criminals. What’re you planning?”
“Sorry to foil your plans, but I’m not planning anything other than getting my college degree and not pissing off the people I live near.” She paused, flipping the lock on the briefcase upwards. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use me as your go to healer from now on. You’re going to bring trouble my way.”
“Trouble? Me? Perish the thought.” His hand rested comfortably on the holister of his gun, ready to shoot if the girl pulled out a weapon from the briefcase. “We’ll talk about repeat appearances after I see how you do today.”
Marinette rolled her eyes. “Any wounds other than the obvious?”
“Just need the bullet out, and some stitches on the gash.” His shoulder and his abdomen, respectively. The gash looked nastier than the bullet; no shrapnel, but the cut on his stomach was jagged and wide. Not a normal, sharp blade. Probably needed a good cleaning.
She grabbed the tweezers, a sterilized needle, and medical thread. “That’s fine. Now are you going to undress, or am I going to have to cut your… costume… up?”
“Getting me naked already? We haven’t even had our first date yet.”
“Very funny, little Red Riding Hood. Now hop to it. I have class at 9 tomorrow and projects to finish tonight.” Somehow, trouble always seemed to find her when she least wanted it to. Not that she wanted to have trouble find her at all, but luck was a two way street, and for all that being Ladybug granted her good luck, she attracted criminals like catnip. 
“And here my informants had me thinking you were a regular Florence Nightingale.”
Marinette snorted. “They wish. I’ve got to ask who told you, because everybody should know the rules. You know, the ones where they don’t speak of my existence to their higher ups?”
“I’m not a rat,” Red Hood said, taking the top part of his outfit off. “And it’s not like you would have gone unnoticed anyways. You might be treating small timers now, but people catch on to healers pretty easy.”
“Because some gauze and sewing skills make me such a prime target.”
“No, your magic does.”
Shit. Marinette never told anyone she was using magic, and she rarely used it unless it was a dire situation. If she could patch them up using regular skills, she did. 
“Yeah right, if I had magic healing powers, do you think I’d be shoving my fingers into your shoulder to get a bullet out?”
“Not a very good liar, Lady Cross. You have this deer-caught-in-the-headlights look about you.”
“Thanks for the compliment. I’m also the deer that tramples through your windshield and takes a dump on the driver’s seat.” She maneuvered the tweezers a little rougher, hoping to make Red Hood hiss in pain. He just chuckled, amused. His high pain tolerance was getting rather annoying. She had half a mind to pour hydrogen peroxide over the wound just to see if that would make him show he was in pain, but thought better of it. Even though she didn’t like the man, she also didn’t want to piss him off. Or worse, have him come back and make her fix him up again. 
Threading the needle, she made quick, small stitches on his shoulder, sewing the bullet hole up, then put some petroleum jelly to speed up the healing process and reduce scarring. At least the wound was in a position that didn’t require a lot of gauze. She needed to go out and buy some more soon. She barely had enough to wrap around Red Hood’s waist.
“So, the magic,” Red Hood started. “Is it a conditional thing? Can you not use it all the time?”
“Again, I don’t have magic.” Marinette did have to use some antibacterial on the knife wound. He would need to take good care of that one to make sure it didn’t get infected. 
“So a meta, then. What are you doing in Gotham? Everybody knows Batman hates metas.”
“Not a meta, either, sorry to disappoint.” She tied off the gauze, then stood to wash her hands. “Make sure to clean the stomach wound well. Hope you have your tetanus shot, otherwise you should look into getting one.”
“Surprisingly, I’m inclined to believe you on the not-a-meta thing. Back to the first thing, then. Magic. Why don’t you show me the old razzle dazzle? Do you have to say one of those weird spells like the godmother in Cinderella? Bibbity bobbity boo?”
“You’re hilarious,” Marinette dead panned. 
“How’s this for magic? Bibbity bobbity boo, kindly leave. Shoo.” She followed his suggestion, made a show of jazz hands as well. “Pity I don’t use magic otherwise you’d be gone now. Anyways, it’s time for you to make your exit. It would be great if you didn't visit me again. Ever. Thanks.”
She ushered him out onto her patio, then slammed the sliding door. He saluted her before dropping off the side of the building. She could imagine the man under the helmet smirking.
Marinette ran a hand through her loose hair. “He’s going to come back, isn’t he.”
@jasonette-july-2k20
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moonlitceleste · 3 years
Text
Elevator Love (Ch. 1)
A/N: Welcome to my first multi-chaptered fic! This was supposed to be a one-shot but I kept writing and here we are. I’m not super happy with this, so I’m probably going to rewrite it eventually. Staring at my document hasn’t seemed to help so far, so I’m probably gonna take a break on this and work on requests. For now, just sit back and enjoy :D
Marinette gnawed on her lip nervously as her fingers toyed with the ladybug keychain on her white crossbody purse.
Her eyes were glued to the towering Wayne Enterprises building before her. The big “W” atop it seemed to stare her down, issuing a silent challenge for her to walk past its doors.
“You got this, Marinette!”
The heroine smiled weakly at Tikki’s assurance—although she did appreciate the sentiment, Marinette wasn’t quite sure she could agree.
She was not prepared to meet Tim whatsoever.
Sure, they had been friends for nearly two years—but regardless, Marinette couldn’t help but stress.
It had all started when Tim decided to commission MDC for a few pieces, offering a large sum of money in exchange for her efforts. Despite being doubtful of whether or not he was truly who he claimed to be, Marinette accepted the request.
Soon enough, back-and-forth emails progressed to casual texting, which led to an eventual friendship. The two seemed to click naturally, which was evident in their smoothly-flowing conversations.
Tim knew everything there was to know about her (barring her identity, of course), yet they had never met in person.
He was the co-CEO of a multi-billion dollar company and she was a prominent designer that moonlighted as a superhero—finding time to video chat one another was hard enough.
But now that Marinette had finished université, she had nothing tying her down to Paris. 19 was a young age to be done with school, but her life wasn’t exactly normal.
That’s why a few weeks before graduation, Marinette decided to email Bruce Wayne.
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision; Tim had made an offhand remark about how he wished he could be there for her graduation, and the cogs in Marinette’s brain began to turn. Maybe he couldn’t come to Paris, but she could go to Gotham.
Once her mind was made up, it was only a matter of planning.
It was surprisingly easy to get ahold of Tim’s father; from then on, everything else fell into place.
Perhaps attempting to surprise someone as smart as him went against her better judgement, but it was too late to turn back now.
Marinette’s phone pinged, and she scrambled to press her thumb to its home button. Speak of the devil.
Mr. Wayne
It’s ready.
Tell your name to the receptionist at the front desk, and she’ll give you a lanyard with a pass into Tim’s office as well as a set of directions.
I apologize again for not being there to guide you; unfortunately, I have other matters to attend to.
Marinette tucked the gift box she was holding under one arm, freeing her hands to type out a response.
Marinette
Thank you so much for your generosity, M. Wayne!
I really appreciate all your help in planning this, and for allowing me to surprise Tim in the first place.
Despite your busy schedule you’ve gone through so much trouble to help me. I really can’t thank you enough!
Once she pressed send on her last message, Marinette inhaled deeply.
Her hands moved to smooth down the soft fabric of her blush pink dress.
It was an admittedly simple ensemble, but the billowy sleeves and fluttery skirt gave it a delicate flair. Her white strappy sandals, circle purse, and wavy half-up braided hairstyle tied it all together nicely.
Marinette checked herself over one last time to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything. She tucked her phone into her purse, grabbed the box containing Tim’s gift, and turned to look at the imposing building with a burst of newfound confidence.
Here we go.
-
“To the right…” Marinette muttered. “Or was it to the left?”
The designer scrunched her nose in confusion, turning around in a circle to better survey the building.
She had already obtained the lanyard and directions, but decided to make a last-minute detour to the bathroom. It shouldn’t have been a problem since Marinette was a few minutes early, but now she was lost. Sure, the place had a fairly open floor plan, but it was enormous! She couldn’t be expected to navigate this.
In hindsight, maybe deciding to deviate from her original schedule had been a mistake.
Marinette sighed and started walking. She didn’t want to disturb anyone, so wandering aimlessly was her only other option.
Well, it wasn’t her only option—she could easily use her Ladybug magic to give herself a push in the right direction, but Tikki would disapprove. Oh, and it was wrong to use her powers for selfish gain. Marinette totally remembered that.
Turns out she didn’t even need to use her Ladybug powers, though; it only took  a few minutes of searching for her to stumble across what she was looking for.
About 10 meters away was a set of elevators lined up against the wall. A glowing “up” arrow was visible on the panel beside a pair of open steel doors.
Marinette’s eyes widened at the sight of the open elevator. She promptly broke into a jog, careful to keep her speed somewhat appropriate for the environment. The doors started to close, and Marinette’s heart raced faster. There was a shadowed figure inside, but due to the angle they likely couldn’t see her.
“Wait!” she called as loudly as she dared.
It was almost funny how similar the experience was to her lycée days.
Marinette pushed the thought to the back of her mind—she would rather not taint her day with memories of that dumpster fire.
She turned her attention back to the elevator, whose doors had retreated. Thankfully, the person inside heard her. Marinette slowed her pace as she covered the last few meters, but was mindful to not walk obnoxiously so.
As she approached her destination, it became increasingly apparent that whoever was inside was remarkably tall.
Ugh, she could practically hear Tim’s jest in her head—are you sure it’s not just because you’re short? He loved to poke fun at her height with short jokes, even though he was only 8 cm taller than her.
Anyways, despite her petite stature, Marinette was sure the person inside would be considered tall by any standards.
She prepared a friendly smile, a “thanks” on the tip of her tongue when they finally came into view.
The first thing she saw was a pair of worn black men’s work boots on what was an admittedly toned body.
Marinette didn’t let her eyes linger on the muscles there, rather opting to trace her gaze from the man’s body up to their face. And wow, was that a gorgeous face.
She wasn’t the type to fall for someone based on appearance alone, but Marinette would be crazy to think this wasn’t the most attractive person she’d ever seen.
He had messy black hair with a pure white streak in the front, tousled to perfection in a way that would make a supermodel jealous. His brilliant green eyes were pools of emerald, richer than any shade she had seen before. Marinette would gladly drown in them.
Speaking of his eyes, he was looking at her with his captivating gaze and mesmerizing face...
Marinette would forever deny swooning at the sight. She would never swoon.
(She totally did.)
Say something! she scolded.
“Uh, than-thank you.”
Oh no. It was the stutter.
Not just a stutter, but the stutter. The one that only appeared when she was nervous and/or talking to hot guys.
Marinette had long outgrown it—or at least, she thought she had—but apparently now it was back with a vengeance.
Her face heated up, and she moved forward to press the button to her designated floor before taking her place some distance away from the man. She turned her head away in embarrassment, hair shielding her face so he couldn’t see her flushed cheeks.
If she had been looking up, perhaps Marinette would have been prepared for the flood of incoming mass. But she was too busy cursing herself to notice the group of people entering until she felt a nudge on her right side.
Marinette squeaked at the stack of boxes that was suddenly in front of her face and looked up to see a small group of workers entering the elevator, pushing a large platform truck stacked with packages. She shuffled on instinct to make more room.
The cart seemed way too big to fit, especially with the capacity of the elevator. Someone would have to contort themselves, or at the very least they’d be squished up against one another uncomfortably. 
Marinette watched as they pushed the platform truck in all the way. It left the tiniest bit of wiggle room, just enough space for someone to squeeze past.
The designer found herself slowly edging towards her left each time another person wiggled their way past the load.
The elevator wasn’t too crowded, and the process went relatively smoothly—that is, until the last worker attempted to get inside.
He had a build somewhat similar to her Papa: tall and large, so his struggle was understandable. It took a minute of grunts and loud sighs, but he managed to slip past the obstruction and into the elevator.
His large frame, however, meant less space for everyone, and Marinette felt the sudden impact of being shoved.
She couldn’t help the soft yelp that fell out of her mouth as her feet stumbled, and before she knew it her left side was firmly pressed up against someone.
Oh god. It was Hot Guy. Of course it was him.
She pressed her lips together in mortification, arms squeezing Tim’s gift to her chest even tighter.
“Sorry.”
Marinette nearly jumped as the husky voice spoke quietly next to her ear. Her head whipped towards the direction it came from, which wasn’t exactly hard to place. There was only one person on her left side.
She turned her head to face the man with the white streak. She had to crane her neck awkwardly in order to properly see him, which really put into perspective their height difference.
His green eyes were sincere, and Marinette could see the apology in them.
The lack of space wasn’t his fault whatsoever, but it was nice to see someone care about her boundaries.
“U-um, it’s okay.”
Marinette smiled at him shyly, then diverted her eyes away. Her brief burst of courage could only take her so far.
Before she knew it, the ride was over. The elevator stopped with a ding, and coincidentally enough, everyone was headed to the same floor.
Marinette fished out the set of directions Mr. Wayne had written from her purse, skimming over them once more. Her stomach filled with butterflies at the thought of finally meeting her best friend.
She barely noticed the workers pushing out the platform truck or Hot Guy walking away, the outside world long forgotten.
Marinette’s body went on autopilot, following the instructions on the paper until she found herself stopped in front of a sleek door. She didn’t know what it was made of, but she was glad it wasn’t glass like many other things in Wayne Enterprises. That would make her surprise a lot harder to pull off.
Above the key card security system on the left was a name plate, nearly identical to others she had passed on her way here. The name Tim Drake was written in elegant silver cursive letters, the metal gleaming as if it were brand new.
Marinette’s chest tightened in anticipation as she pulled out the lanyard Mr. Wayne had given her. She took a deep breath before knocking twice.
There was a short pause before a familiar voice responded.
“Who is it?”
She scanned her card and opened the door.
“Marinette?!”
-
A/N: For reference, Marinette is 5’3” (160 cm) and Jason is 6’4” (193 cm), so there's a 13" (33 cm) difference. I tried to use French terms and measurements so it'd feel more like Marinette's perspective.
And yea, I'm not super proud of this so I'm probably gonna rewrite it in the future. I have a bunch of other WIPs to work on though, so sorry in advance for my wacky updating schedule!
-
PERMANENT TAGLIST @avengerthewarrior @enternalempires @freesportspalacesalad @h1sss @nathleigh
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shera-dnd · 3 years
Text
Cupid’s Kiss
Took me way longer than expected curse the whims of my mental health but the winner of this month’s 3k fic poll is finally here!
In which Carmen and Julia have a lovely totally not date in Paris while in search for two thieves who are certainly also not having a date
if you’d like a chance to get your fic ideas written by me, or just want to support me, you can feel free to donate to my ko-fi (rules over here)
and here is the ao3 link if you’d rather read it over there
also this fic was brought to you thanks to the help of @cantdrawshaw
NOW ON WITH THE FIC
Carmen Sandiego was the best at her job. She had bested trained assassins and killer robots, evaded the world’s most advanced detective agency, and destroyed the largest criminal organization. All in her early twenties.
Yet there was one task she was not prepared to face. One that escaped her skills, both martial and technical. One that she had failed to plan around. One that existed entirely beyond the range of her skills. A foe that she could not beat.
“Come on, Carm,” Zack called, “it can’t be that hard. If even Ivy could score with the girls, you can do it too.”
“Even Ivy?!” His sister replied, furious, “I’ve been with more girls than you, jackass.”
“Guys, guys!” Carmen interrupted, “you’re not helping.”
Mentioning her interest in spending more time with Julia Argent had been the biggest mistake she had made in weeks. This was supposed to be a peaceful day at their old home base, but now here she was.
Her friends were trying so hard to help her and she couldn’t even be mad at how poorly they were doing, because she knew she wouldn’t fare much better were the roles reversed.
“Sorry,” the siblings replied in unison.
“I appreciate the support,” she assured them, “but I’m not trying to ‘score’ with anyone. I just wanna get to know Jules a little better.”
“So this is not a date?” Ivy asked.
“No!” She replied, a little too quickly, “me and Jules aren’t like that. She’s more of a… professional acquaintance. A coworker.”
“Carm,” Zack replied, “we’re coworkers and you’ve never had a bouquet of roses delivered to my door.”
“It was just a thank you for handling all those precious artifacts for me,” she explained, “she’s a hard worker, she deserved it.”
“Sure,” Ivy nodded, unconvinced, “is that why you take time to chat over coffee with her every other caper?”
“Not every moment of our lives has to be a chase, you know?” she countered.
“Or why you keep finding excuses to dance with her?”
“It’s the easiest way to speak privately at those parties without garnering unwanted attention,” she recited as if from a textbook.
“Or why-”
“Cease this!” Shadowsan’s stern voice commanded and the siblings fell silent, “VILE has trained her to never cave under interrogation. You’ll have a better chance extracting information from a rock.”
Carmen smirked at them, proud to have her skills of deflection recognized.
“Do not be so full of yourself,” he added, making Carmen flinch just a bit, “I have taught those lessons for years and I know how to see through them.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” she deflected, looking away.
He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder with uncharacteristic gentleness.
“I have seen the happiness Miss Argent brings you,” he said, “and I wish you the best of luck should you wish to pursue it.”
That meant a lot to Carmen. More than she could really express in words. But after she had been so thoroughly embarrassed by her friends, all she could really say was,
“Not you too.”
She looked up at the smirking siblings and braced herself...
“Hey, Red,” Player’s voice called, just in the nick of time.
“Player!” She jumped to attention and grabbed the laptop from their desk.
“Woah!” he exclaimed, “everything okay, Red?”
Zack and Ivy snickered as they sat by each side of her, so they could see Player.
“I think Carm would rather you sent her on a crazy chase instead of sitting here talking about her crush on Jules,” Ivy teased.
“Well it looks like you might get to do both,” Player replied, to Carmen’s dismay, “look who our cameras just found walking around Paris.”
The screen cut to a video feed of one of ACME’s hidden cameras over the streets of Paris. None of the people on camera seemed particularly conspicuous… until a particular pair walked on screen. Even without their costumes Carmen could always recognize them.
“Tigress and Paper Star,” she noted, “those two can’t be up to any good.”
“Looks like we’ll be going to Paris, eh Carm?” Ivy commented as she playfully nudged her side.
“City of love,” Zack added as he joined the nudging.
Carmen groaned. This was gonna be a rough mission.
Chase had grown a lot over the past few months. His deductive reasoning had vastly improved, his mood was far more amenable, and he actually stopped to listen to Julia nowadays. What hadn’t really improved with time was his overall clumsiness. 
“Miss Argent, I’ll be fine,” his insistence was interrupted by a powerful sneeze, “This is nothing.”
“Agent Devineaux, please,” she pleaded, “you’re in no state to continue this investigation.”
Devineaux had landed himself into his fair share of rivers over the months he had worked for ACME, and it seemed that so many cold baths had finally caught up to his health. Not that he would ever admit to that.
“Nonsense,” he claimed, “I’ll be back in perfect shape by the time we land in Paris.”
The sneeze that followed said otherwise.
“Chase, please,” she asked again, “rest. I can handle this.”
“I refuse to send my partner on a mission by herself.”
“As sweet as your concern is,” she countered, “I doubt I’ll be by myself for long.”
“Ah yes, I’m sure La Femme Rouge will make for good company,” he agreed and she was glad he did, but it sounded like there was more to his words. “Were you anyone else I’d worry this was all a ploy to have some private time with Miss Sandiego.”
She shot him an unamused glare.
“Apologies,” he said almost immediately.
“Accepted,” she sighed, “but I do not appreciate any insinuations as to the nature of me and Miss Sandiego’s relationship. We’re good friends, nothing more.”
“Of course,” he nodded, but Julia could tell he had more to say.
Truly his detective skills have improved considerably as of late. It had become harder and harder for Julia to pass her excitement for those missions as simple passion for her work. Not when she had abandoned that work as soon as it conflicted with her passion for… something else.
Chase was her friend and she knew he’d understand her feelings for Carmen. She was also sure he’d do his best to keep it a secret until she was confident enough to bring these things to light. She trusted him and she didn’t fear anything of the sorts.
What she did fear was Chase trying to wingman for her. Just the thought was enough to fill her with dread. Enough dread to keep her mouth shut about her feelings in the vicinity of Agent Devineaux. Even if it felt bad to hide this from her friend.
Thankfully the Chief chose that exact moment to call her to give her updated information on their targets. 
Now she could just shut off all these awkward feelings and focus on her work.
The Louvre had been an obvious target. The world’s most famous museum, home to thousands of priceless works of art, including the Mona Lisa itself. It was so obvious in fact that VILE had never bothered to consider it.
But VILE was gone now and its escaped students no longer had any faculty to dissuade them from this target.
That’s why Carmen now walked its halls, diligently searching for any security flaws that could be exploited and any sign of the two master thieves on the loose.
She still took time to appreciate the art of course. This was the most famous museum in the world for a reason and she wasn’t gonna let this unique opportunity escape her, even with the evil duo to watch for.
Carmen had her attention split in every possible direction, her mind juggling its many tasks as she wandered hall after hall. Until, that is, she found something that pulled her focus into one singular point.
A shorter woman in a nice fitted suit, standing before one of the statues.
“Jules,” she greeted as she walked up behind her.
“Miss Sandiego,” Julia smiled as she greeted her, utterly unsurprised. She must have been expecting her, “it’s nice to see you here.”
“It’s nice seeing you too,” she replied, “and we went over this before, Carmen is just fine.”
“Carmen,” she said, in a way that warmed Carmen’s heart, “I take it you’ve been enjoying your time in Paris.”
“Hard to go sightseeing while I’ve got work to do, but I’m making do,” she shrugged, “how about you? What caught your attention today?”
Julia turned back to the statue she had been appreciating until then, “Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss.”
Carmen smirked, it was her time to shine.
“Sculpted by Antonio Canova, commissioned by welsh art-collector John Campbell in 1787,” she recited from memory, “its prime version was acquired by the Louvre in 1824 after the death of its previous owner, Joachim Murat.”
“Very impressive,” Julia praised, “I wish my students put half as much time as you do into their research.”
“I’m just good at memorizing trivia,” Carmen shrugged, trying to hide her pride at earning that praise, “I’m sure you know so much more than me on the subject.”
Boy was Carmen right about that. That seemed to have been the cue to send Julia into a long lecture about the neoclassical and romantic periods, as well as an analysis of the sculpture’s mythological origins and the many interpretations of the myth.
Many people would probably find this amount of information unspeakably tedious. But for Carmen, who was always hungry to learn about the world around her (and could never get tired of Jules speaking so enthusiastically,) it was exciting and endearing.
Carmen had realized then that she wanted nothing more than to spend her every waking hour listening to Julia talk on and on about anything she wanted, as long as it was passionate like this. Maybe someday soon.
Right now they had the whole rest of the Louvre to scout.
“Alright, alright, victory is yours,” Carmen playfully interrupted, “I guess you really are the biggest history nerd here.”
“Oh I’m sorry, it seems I got a bit carried away,” Julia cringed in shame. Damn it Sandiego! “I didn’t mean to bore you.”
“You couldn’t bore me if you tried,” Carmen assured her as she placed a hand on her arm, “I mean it. It’s nice hearing you talk.”
“Unfortunately I no longer teach,” she replied, “otherwise I would have given you an open invitation to any of my classes.”
“Well, how about you show me around the place?” she suggested, “we can call this a private lesson.”
At that Julia smiled again, “then I hope your memory is as good as you say it is, Carmen Sandiego, because I’ll be quizzing you at the end of the tour.”
They both laughed as Julia led them along to the next art piece in what was clearly a meticulously planned tour of the museum. Jules kept her teacher face on for all of her little lectures, but as they walked from room to room it felt so simple and casual.
For once Carmen felt like there was no rush and that she could just enjoy her time with someone she cared about. Maybe that was the moment. Her chance to make something out of this and let Julia know how she felt.
“Hey, Jules,” she called, walking a little closer to her.
“Yes?” Julia turned to look at her, she seemed surprised by the sudden closeness, but did not move away from her.
Carmen decided to take that as a good sign.
“This has been really nice, you know?” she tried, her usual confidence failing her, “just spending time with you like this.”
“I guess it was,” she replied with- Wait, was that a blush? No, that had to be wishful thinking.
“Yeah,” she agreed, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck, “and I just feel like-”
It was then that she was rudely reminded of what she was here to do.
“-you have got to be kidding me!”
“What?” Julia jumped a little in surprise.
“5 o’clock, behind you,” Carmen instructed.
She turned to look and there they were. Tall, blonde and scheming, and short, monochromatic and homicidal. The two thieves they were here to catch. Two thieves that had also noticed them.
They both smirked at them for a moment, before Paper Star whispered something into Tigress’s ear and they both bolted in separate directions.
“I go for Tigress, you go for Paper Star,” Carmen ordered as she bolted after her target.
Tigress was the fastest of the two, and the one most likely to pull dirty tricks on them. Unfortunately for her, Carmen was well-versed in all of those tricks, and of course had all her equipment on her. It’s amazing how much she could hide in just a red hoodie.
Soon Tigress had led the both of them out of the main building, ready to make a run for it and disappear into the city. Her mistake though, was going somewhere Carmen could use her grappling hook without worrying about damaging priceless works of art.
She swung after her, quickly closing the distance and knocking her down with a kick to the stomach. Tigress groaned as she forced herself back up, but instead of running again or getting ready to fight Carmen, she simply shouted.
“Come on!”
“Done running around?” Carmen taunted.
“Yeah yeah whatever,” she replied. Well that was unusual, “did you girlfriend catch Paper Star already?”
“What!?” She nearly jumped in surprise, “She’s not- we’re not- that doesn’t matter! You’re going to jail, for good this time.”
“For what?” she replied.
“Trying to steal from the Louvre!”
“Ah yes, because that’s the only reason we’d be enjoying some time together in the city of love,” she mocked and rolled her eyes.
Was she implying what she thought she was implying?
“Aww, babe,” a voice above them called. Paper Star leaned out of a nearby window and openly teased her partner in crime.
Babe?
“She caught you already?” she continued
Tigress groaned again, “not my fault you got easy mode.”
Paper Star jumped down and casually hooked her arms around Tigress’s neck.
“Well I’ve won,” she declared, “now where’s my prize?”
The last thing Carmen expected was for the two of them to kiss right there in front of her, and yet that was exactly what they did.
“I did not need to see that!” She complained.
“You were the one who interrupted our date!” Tigress complained back.
“Do you seriously want me to believe that you two were just spending the evening together in the Louvre as a date?”
“Was that not what you and your little agent were doing too?” Paper Star teased.
Carmen’s reflex was to say no, but… was that what they were doing? They had been walking around, sightseeing, talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company and- oh god Carmen almost confessed to her back there. 
This was her chance to have a proper date with Jules and it got ruined right at the finish line because of a mission that didn’t even exist in the first place!
She would have time to figure all of this out later, right now she had a job to do and two smug assholes to put in their place. Thankfully she already knew just how to do that.
“You’re right, it was very rude of me to interrupt your romantic evening,” Carmen raised her hands in surrender and backed away, “how about you two get back to what you were doing and I can arrest you both tomorrow?”
“What?” Tigress challenged, “no romantic chase over the rooftops of Paris?”
“I’m sure your girlfriend would love that,” Paper Star added.
“Actually I think Julia would rather just have you behind bars,” she shrugged.
Right on cue the ACME’s blue sleep gas finally reached the both of them, making them both drop on the spot. It was kinda cute how they were put to sleep still holding each other. Carmen almost felt bad for arresting them. Almost.
She pulled her grappling hook again and launched herself through the open window above, landing right next to a very proud Julia Argent.
“Two for one,” Carmen praised, “at this rate, pretty soon you won’t be needing my help anymore.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but I had my partner down there to keep them in place,” Julia replied playfully. Carmen’s heart skipped a beat at the word ‘partner’, even though she knew she meant it as coworkers.
“Always happy to play distraction for you, Jules,” she played along.
Taking another step forward, Carmen felt her sense of balance completely leave her as she accidentally inhaled some sleep gas fumes. 
She tumbled forward, but before she hit the ground she felt Julia’s arms holding her up. It took her a second to shake away the effects of the gas, and another second to process the position they were in. How Julia was holding her like she had just dipped her in a dance.
For a moment they froze, staring into each other’s eyes as they held onto each other, until finally Julia helped her up again.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Julia apologized as she tried to fix up Carmen’s scuffed clothes.
“It’s fine,” Carmen assured her, “I should’ve been more careful around the sleep gas.”
Still Julia fussed over her, readjusting Carmen’s hoodie as she muttered a few more apologies. It took her a moment to notice just how close they were both standing now. The realization made her jump back a bit on reflex, but still she remained considerably close to Carmen.
She took a moment to collect herself before finally asking, “so uh- you had something you wanted to tell me?”
Carmen sighed in relief. Good to know those two hadn’t completely destroyed her chances.
“I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed our time together today,” she admitted, “before we got interrupted that is.”
Julia gave her a genuine smile that made her heart stop, “I enjoyed our time too. It’s nice to be able to talk about these things outside of work.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, feeling her confidence return bit by bit, “wanna do that again sometime? Maybe over some coffee.”
Jules seemed surprised at first as she caught on to what Carmen meant, but that expression was quickly replaced by a playful smile.
“Carmen Sandiego,” she called, “are you asking me out on a date?”
“Nothing escapes ACME’s best detective,” she joked, “I guess I am.”
“Then I’ll have to ask you to wait a little for my answer,” she asked.
Carmen opened her mouth to say that she was more than fine with waiting however long she needed, but she was frozen mid motion when Julia’s lips met her own. A quick, sweet little peck. 
“I want to finish our first before we plan the second.”
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thiswasinevitableid · 3 years
Note
17 chosen and 20 lunar for Indruck, nsfw, please!
Here you go!
Lieutenants Log, stardate 10015, Joseph Stern recording
We’ve finally arrived at an agreement with the Aquariads, the species who control this moon. They will allow our research team unfettered access to the planet, but at an odd price. They requested one of our crew agree to be married off to a high ranking member of their governing council. 
I suspect, but cannot prove, that this is not a desirable being to be married to. He’s a revered seer, and yet they’re willing to couple him to a human and not one of their own? Suspicious.
Myself and the other single members of the crew were all given extensive questionnaires on everything from our sexual preferences to our daily habits. It took me a good hour and a half to finish it. 
After a full earth day of waiting, we received word that chief astrobotanist Duck Newton was the chosen human. I have no idea how this happened, as Duck has little tolerance for what he views as “woo-woo” things like precognition. But he was chosen all the same. 
Because this is Duck, he grumbled a bit, but cheered up when he learned he would only be required to stay with his new husband for three weeks before joining us on our field word, and that we can send him specimens for identification and research. If we decide Aquaria is the planet we’ve been looking for and establish more permanent research stations here, Duck will be expected to spend at least a few days a month with the seer. Mama made it clear that if the idea was truly not something he could agree to, she would call the deal off and we could try another approach. Duck said that wouldn’t be necessary, and that he could think of far worse things they could have asked of us. 
We deposit him at the seers home tomorrow. After that, we begin our exploration of Aquaria, fourth moon of the plant Oceana and (hopefully) the home of the antidote we’ve been searching for. 
Joseph Stern, Lieutenant on the spaceship Amnesty, signing off.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Duck waves to the skiff as it pulls away, his planetside bag slung over his shoulder. There’s only one way to go; down the single stone levee, decorated with beautiful tiles, to the massive mansion at the end. 
It reminds him of the photos of Venice he’s seen in old National Geographics, beautiful buildings floating atop a planet of water. He knows Aquaria has islands, but the majority of it’s cities are on or near the water because most of its residents live beneath the waves. They remind Duck of mermaids, with scaled tails and fins giving way to humanoid upper bodies and faces. As far as creatures to get politically married off to, he could be staring down worse. 
There’s still the problem of not knowing why this mer is off by himself and without a partner. Or, as becomes obvious once Duck is inside, any company at all. The other high-ranking aquariads they’ve met come with miles of attendants; here there’s only the high, curved ceilings and rippling water. Maybe the guy is shy? Or maybe he’s a dick? Or just real fucking scary to look at?
As he walks further into the house, he notices the tiled walls are covered in striking murals that, when coupled with the odd half-light allowed in by the green glass windows, makes him feel as though he’s wandering through a dream. The pools and canals criss-cross the floor, and really the ground is more water than concrete, the fact he’s able to walk at all is a concession to the fact some aquariads evolved to be land dwelling. 
A splash makes him turn, and in the pool to his right a black fin cuts the water. He steels himself to not insult the alien he’s now legally attached to. The figure rises from the water, setting his arms on the edge of the stony floor and Duck steps back as a wide, toothy smile appears in an angular face. 
“Hello, Duck Newton.” His tail is the same black as his fin, and his silver hair is tucked behind ears of the same color, which Duck has learned can fan out as a way of communicating. 
“Uh, hi. You must be-”
“Indrid Cold, yes. Apologies, a peril of my profession is that I will always be a little bit ahead.”
“Right. So, uh, guess we’re gonna be seein a lot of each other the next couple of weeks.” He aims for a joking, nonchalant tone. 
“Yes, as we’re married.” He cocks his head, confused, then grins brighter, “Oh, oh I see, you are attempting levity because this is all very awkward. I, ah, I appreciate that. Here, let me show you where you’ll be staying” Indrid pushes off the wall, swimming gracefully on his back as Duck follows him down the hall. The center of the house has more skylights, allowing him to see that his host’s fins aren’t pure black; small silver and white dots are scattered across it. He wonders if he could find constellations in them.
“Here we are.” Indrid gestures to a room, one where the only water is in the form of two deep blue half-circles on the left and right walls. The center of the room is a large bed, linens gleaming whites and pale greens, and the skylight nestles against a chandelier of finely detailed rosey glass. 
“Holy shit.” Duck sets his bag down on a trunk near the door.
“Do you like it?” A flash of yellow up Indrid’s fin, echoed in the dots on his tail.
“I mean, anythin looks ritzy after months on a spaceship but” he turns, smiles, “yeah, I do. Thanks for giving me such nice digs.”
“You are most welcome. Now, this room is designed to give guests privacy. See that red panel on the wall? If you press it, it opens the pool on that side up to the rest of the house, allowing myself or servants to come in and help you.”
“So you do have staff.”
“They’re, ah, more like errand folk. None live here.” Indrid clears his throat, “I can show you the rest of the house, although if you need to sleep I can let you be. I am, ah, not entirely clear on where your internal clock sits now.”
“Aquaria’s days are about four days longer than earth’s, so I ain’t too thrown off. Happy to see more of the place.”
Indrid nods, and Duck follows him out of the bedroom. Most of the other rooms they pass are sparse squares of walkways and still water, under which lies the parts of the house Indrid uses. When they reach Indrid’s quarters, he spots what looks to be an artists’ studio under the clear blue water. 
“You paint?” He kneels and peers down for a better look, Indrid bobbing nearby. 
“Indeed. Art helps me make sense of my visions, and I enjoy it besides. In fact, all the murals you see in this house are my doing. There are even more under water.”
“Damn, that’s fuckin incredible. If I get my SCUBA gear rigged up, maybe I can get a tour?”
“Scu--oh, yes, an underwater breathing apparatus. We have a much smaller device that can help you breathe and sea down here” he dips his head at the pool, “unfortunately, the one I commissioned for you will not arrive until close to the end of your stay. They, ah, did not give me much time to prepare. Hence the lack of many comforts I might otherwise give, as well as places for you to and I to talk, eat or do, ah, other activities together.” The yellow intermittently flashing up his fin gives way to a burst of pink. 
Oh, right. Duck pulls up his infopad (given a generous waterproofing treatment prior to his leaving Amnesty) and opens the contract he signed. 
“Yeah. About that. Says here they expect us to, uh, ‘consummate’ the marriage.”
“I’m aware” Indrid’s voice creeps up.
“Do you...wanna do that now?” He spins a finger in the water.
“I, ah, I beg your pardon?”
“I mean, seems like we could just get it outta the way, rather than have the fact we gotta fuck someone we didn’t pick hangin over our heads?” 
“This...this is not at all how I wanted this to go.” 
Duck looks up and immediately wishes he could reverse time; Indrid looks genuinely hurt, ears flicked back like a scolded dog. 
“Duck I, ah, well, you did not choose me, that is true. But I chose you.”
“Well, fuck.” He sits down with a heavy sigh, “figured some big wigs used those surveys to pick me out. Guess what they say about assumin things is true.”
“.....”
“It makes an ass outta you and me?”
Indrid blinks, then snickers, “Your humor is part of why I chose you. It is very bad, but also extremely good.”
“Glad you think so. Pretty sure Mama was ready to blow me out the airlock for some of the ones I made on the way here.” He knows he’s dodging the conversation they should be having, but how the fuck is he supposed to respond when an alien mermaid tells him he picked him to be his husband?
Indrid swims over so he can rest his arms and chin on the stone, glancing shyly up at Duck as he says, “I suppose I also made an ass of myself, as you would say, by assuming you would not see this as an obligation.”
“I mean, even if you chose me, don’t this feel like an obligation to you?”
“No. For me, it is a reminder that most of my kind are too afraid of me to even give me a chance to court them. And that the council thinks I will get into too much trouble without someone to distract me now and then, and decides the company I am worthy of is an alien explorer with no interest in me.”
“I mean, the only reason we agreed to this is because there might be a plant on Aquaria that can treat the illness runnin rampant back home. So at least it’s for a good cause?”
Indrid flicks his ears, red running up his fin, “What you are doing is noble. What I am doing is being used as a way to keep your exploration team in line.”
Duck winces, “Fuck, I’m, uh, I’m just gonna stop talkin now.”
For an agonizing five minutes they sit there in silence, contemplating their situation and stealing glances at each other. Duck always tried to do the right thing, tried to live an honest life and treat the people in it with respect. He’s been kind and polite to beings up and down the galaxy. He can extend some of that to his own husband, can’t he?
“Indrid?”
The alien raises his head.
“Can we start over?”
“Yes. But I do not see how-”
Duck holds out his hand, “Name’s Duck. Thanks for invitin me in and lookin after me the few weeks.”
Indrid’s smile widens as he understands the game, and he takes the human’s hand, “A pleasure to meet you. I am Indrid, seer to the court of Aquaria, and your anxious husband in spite of the now-changing, much more pleasant futures.”
They finish their tour, the humid air less stifling in the wake of their confessions. Indrid shows him the kitchen, the sitting room, and the gardens which, to Duck’s delight, are as much above the water as below. 
After that, Indrid excuses himself to attend to seer duties and Duck goes back to his room to unpack. As he’s putting away his toothbrush and razor near a large, elaborate tub carved from golden stone, one of Indrid’s admissions from earlier floats through his mind, bobbing there like a buoy until he gets a chance to ask it.
When they’re in the gardens, Duck taking notes as Indrid dives and surfaces with new things to show him, the human slips his feet into the water and says, “Indrid? You said my offerin to fuck you wasn’t what you wanted. What, uh, what did you want?” 
The alien blinks, slowly, pink and teal flashing in his tail, “It is a bit silly in retrospect, but since I knew we would not have time for a proper human marriage courtship, I thought I could mimic the process leading to a one night stand; that way you would be romanced in a manner that made you both comfortable with me and the concept of sex with a relative stranger.” 
Duck chuckles, “Always wild to find out how human stuff gets interpreted by the rest of the galaxy. How’d you even come up with what you were gonna do?”
Indrid crosses his arms, mock affronted, “I will have you know I have seen a great deal of human media, courtesy of our minister of defense.”
“Oh yeah?” Duck shifts onto his stomach, sends a small splash Indrid’s way, “what was this night gonna involve, then?”
“Food, dim and therefore, apparently, romantic lighting, dancing to sensual music, and then hopefully some kissing.” The pink in his tail intensifies, “and then working out exactly how to have sex human.”
The mixture of enthusiasm and being utterly out of his element charms Duck to no end; not to mention it’s the most thought someone’s put into a hook-up with him in the last three years. 
“Seems to me you got the gist of it. Though I really wanna know what you picked out for ‘sensual music.’”
A playful glint enters Indrid’s glowing eyes, “I will show you, but we must go through the whole evening, otherwise it will seem like a disjointed choice. With, ah, with the understanding that you are not obligated to kiss me at the end.
“You got a deal.”
“Wonderful” Indrid claps his hands together, “wait right here.”
Indrid disappears in a whoosh of black and silver. When he returns, he hoists six opaque domes onto the floor in front of Duck, “I initially planned to eat in the sitting room, but you like this room much better, so we can have dinner here.” With that, he double-taps the top of each dome, revealing a confusing buffet. 
“Uh, are those french fries?”
“Yes. You are from the United States of America, and so I chose foods that would make you feel at home.” Indrid points to each plate in turn, “french fries, steak, a turkey with cranberries, lobster, macaroni with cheese, and an apple pie.”
The pie is covered with an odd, yellow meringue, the turkey is the size of a quail, and the black shell suggests this is not a kind of lobster he’s eaten before, but Duck can’t stop smiling.
“Also I took care to be sure none of the necessary substitutions were poisonous to you.”
“Thanks, Indrid.” He means it; in their travels they’ve learned it’s not only humans who think everyone lives and eats exactly the way they do.
Everything except the french fries tastes strange but he finds the meal, like it’s orchestrator, intriguing in it’s oddity. Indrid brings two cool, white bottles from below, offers Duck tastes of each. One is like the celery soda he drank on a dare, the other like root beer if it wasn’t gross. He keeps the second one next to him as the meal progresses, Indrid asking him all kinds of questions about botany and himself. When dinner is over, Indrid guides him two rooms over, grinning excitedly. 
“I will start the music; one moment.” 
A few seconds after he dives, a chrome cylinder descends from the ceiling and music fills the air.
Ninety-nine red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert!
There's something here from somewhere else!
He giggles, sits down so it’s easier to call, “Indrid? Not sure you got the right song bud.”
A silver-haired head pops up, “Not romantic?”
“Nope.”
“Hmmmm” He lifts a small, white rectangle and the song changes. 
He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way
He had a boogie style that no one else could play
He was the top man at his craft
But then his number came up and he was gone with the draft
He's in the army now, a blowin' reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
“N-not quite” The laugh is stronger now.
“Drat. How about….”
I threw a wish in the well, don't ask me, I'll never tell
I looked to you as it fell and now you're in my way 
Indrid looks hopefully at him.
“Ain’t what I’d call sensual, but you’d hear it at the kind of place you’d pick up a date.”
The alien beams, starts shifting back and forth to the beat, “shall we dance?”
Duck blushes, pretends he doesn’t know why, “Uh, probably should have said this earlier, but I ain’t much of a dancer.”
Indrid swims to him, stopping close enough that Duck can see the lines on his face that reveal they’re close in age, “That’s alright. Sometimes conversing while having a drink is acceptable behavior, correct?”
“Yeah.” Duck doesn’t bother to hide how intently he’s watching as Indrid dives, his form elegant and ethereal beneath the water. 
They sit sipping a hard cider that tastes of papaya and flowers instead of apples until the three other moons glow bright in the skylight. Duck yawns, and excuses himself for the night. 
“Thanks for a great evenin, Indrid.”
“You are most welcome. A pity I could not make the music work.”
He’s here for another three weeks at least. And Indrid is floating through the darkening water like a dream he’s tempted to chase.
“Guess you’ll just have to try again.” Duck winks. 
Indrid’s ears frill slightly and he flashes bright purple, “Yes, my dear husband, I suppose I will.” 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Duck’s routine is not the one he usually has while docked on a planet. Every day for the last week, he wakes up, joins Indrid for a leisurely swim, works on his research, and then spends his evening with a weirdly cute alien trying to accurately recreate the earth dating experience for him. 
The second night, he asked if Indrid would bring him some of his favorites for their next meal. The steamed coconut crab was a hit. The mantis-squid served still swimming, less so. From then on, when Indrid put in his food orders to the cooks at the main court, it was for a mixture of earth and Aquariad dishes, each one leading him or Indrid to share an anecdote from their time on their home planet. 
For the last two nights, he’s lifted the partitions on the pools in his room so Indrid can talk with him until neither of them can keep their eyes open. He wonders if it would be rude to ask him to stay, to sleep in such a small space just so he could be the first thing Duck sees when he wakes up.
There must be floating beds he could put in Indrid’s room, or maybe a hammock he could hang in the garden. 
Duck now understands that Indrid’s powers make him politically valuable, but also mean his fellow residents of the lunar city see him as dangerous, as knowing things they’d rather keep secret. Duck understands, especially if their only time encountering the seer is when he glides his formidable, dark body from the depths of his inner sanctum. But all he can see is his Indrid, awkward and well-meaning, whose fear of Duck disliking him has given way to genuine affection. His Indrid, who now pulls himself up onto the stones so they can sit shoulder to shoulder after breakfast or before dinner, whose tail Duck’s fingers beg to caress. 
His Indrid who is, at this moment, continuing his losing battle with earth music. 
“How about this?”
Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen
Thank you for all the joy and pain
“Oh fuck no” Duck guffaws, “anything but him, ‘Drid, he’s a boner killer if there ever was one.”
“I don’t think he’s that bad,  but I will be speaking to Vincent about his human music suggestions.”
“For the love of god, turn it off.” Duck flails for the remote.
Indrid sticks out his tongue, “Very well, but I am this close to pulling you down here and seeing if you can do any better.”
“You wouldn’t dare” Duck is still laughing, eyes closing as he does, which means he gets only a splash of warning before he’s yanked into the pool. He comes up giggling and spluttering, “now, is that any way to treat your husband?”
Indrid’s laugh is a siren song, “No, I suppose not.” The music clicks off as Indrid steadies him by curving his tail behind his legs, “how should I treat you instead?”
Duck drapes his arms over Indrid’s shoulders, “You been treatin me pretty damn well, dunkin me aside.”
A flicker of pink and yellow as Indrid rubs their cheeks together, “And if I wanted to be even better?”
“I, uh, I mean if you wanted to we could tryYYYYohfuck” he hunches forward as Indrid’s tail drags across his dick. The clothing on Aquaria is thin, so he can feel the cool scales tease his skin. 
“Oh, oh dear, apologies, I was only trying to embrace you further, I forgot yours do not stay concealed until they’re needed.”
“You, you keep doin that and it’s gonna be needed real quick.”
“Oh?” red eyes narrow wickedly, “does my sweet husband need attending to?” Another drag of his tail, much more deliberate, and Duck grinds his hips in reply. 
“Only if you want to.”
“I do, so very badly.” Indrid nuzzles his nose, “may I take a little while to acquaint myself with your wonderful body?”
“Uh huh.” Duck tugs his shirt off, throwing it onto the land and then giving his shorts the same treatment. 
“Ohhhhhhyes.” Indrid purrs, fins and tails shimmering purple and gold. Then he sinks down, swimming in a slow, tight circle around the human. Pleased chirps and trills bubble up to Duck’s ears. Cool fingers play along his legs and belly, eventually finding his dick and offering an experimental stroke.
“Fuck” he groans, and Indrid does it again, kissing his navel as both hands rub and tease his dick and folds. Indrid is clearly experimenting, maybe even using his visions to guide him, and Duck eagerness to get off succumbs to just how fucking hot it is to have a partner this enrapt by his body, to have them explore it like some awe-inspiring landscape. 
He spreads his hands out and runs them along Indrid’s torso and tail; the scales are just as wonderful under his fingers as he hoped, and he can feel Indrid sigh happily as he pets him. 
Then lips close around his dick and he makes a series of undignified noises, digging one hand into Indrid’s hair to encourage him. 
“Ohmyfuckinchrist, Indrid, yes, fuck please keep suckin like that.”
Indrid wiggles his whole body in response, happy trill underscored by a firmer suck. Duck can’t get enough of his body beneath his hands, of his mouth on Duck’s skin, and he wonders if someone can black out from how good a blowjob feels. 
Indrid’s fin breaks the water and Duck runs an appreciative thumb along the top. Funny, there’s a little depression between it and the membrane of the fin. Curious, he drags his pinky along it. 
The alien bursts upwards with a loud chirp of joy, “Ohgoodness, yes, oh that feels nice please do it again.”
“Yeah? My cute, needy husband need me to play with his fins to get off.”
“Not, not technically by my gods does he want you to.”
“Don’t worry darlin, I will--uh, ‘Drid? Is, is that your dick?”
Indrid follows his gaze to the thick, bumpy shaft emerging from his tail, it’s tip crowned with short, searching tendrils.
“Yes. Also an ovipositor, hence those lumps.”
“Holyfuck. Uh, I, I ain’t sure I’m ready for that yet.” 
“That’s perfectly alright. Though it does mean my cock is not going into you tonight; I’m not sure I can control my bodily responses enough to avoid ovipositing accidentally.”
“Lots of others things we can do.” Duck bites the tip of one ear, making the other flare out.
“Indeed. I say we start with this.” Indrid’s tail encircles his waist just as Indrid shoves his cock between his thighs.
“Like, like the way you think sugar. Fuuuck, fuck that’s good.” The bumps from the eggs have just the right amount of give as he humps them, Indrid matching his tempo with his thrusts. He keeps his arms around his husbands neck, kissing him furiously. Indrid kisses back with a chirp, gold flashing in his scales, and Duck knows he won’t want to kiss anyone else for a long, long time. 
The tip of Indrid’s cock bumps his ass and he groans at what that suggests about it’s size. 
“I’m, I’m takin this fuckin perfect thing all the way before I go.” He bucks his hips harder to make his point, “gonna let you fuck me open on it, fill me up, wanna know what it’s like to cum with you inside me.”
“Oh gods” Indrid whimpers, hiding his face in Ducks neck as he squeezes his thighs together. 
“And, and you’re gonna be a dutiful fuckin husband and fill me however I say, ain’t you?”
“Yes, yesofcourse, goodness Duck I, I’m-”
“Heh, you like that, mr high and mighty seer likes bein bossed around. Well, lucky you, because now that I know just how fuckin good you are at fuckin me, gonna have you doin it ever, fuckin, day.” He jerks his hips hard, three times, and Indric cums with a cry, cock pulsing as he sinks his teeth into Ducks shoulder. Duck doesn’t let up, chases his orgasm over the bumps and ridges until he nearly whites out with pleasure, clinging to Indrid tighter as his body gives up on supporting him. 
After his cock retracts Indrid, still holding Duck up with ease, swims to the button that orders a cleaning cycle on the pool and deposits the human back on the stone. 
“I dearly hope your team finds what you need on this planet so that I may see you beyond these few weeks.”
“Sex was that good?” Duck teases, petting Indrid’s hair as he lays his head in his lap.
“No. Or, well, yes, but more than that you are so, so very wonderful. I wish to get to know you more, to show you even more of my world and my skill in bed.”
Duck kisses the top of his head, “I hope so too.”
-----------------------------------------
Communication log between leader of Amnesty Mission at Astrobotanist Duck Newton. 
Mama: Got some promising leads. Will be back to pick you up in three days. 
Duck: Glad to hear it. But take your time, no need to rush only my account. 
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Text
Lost In Time (2)
SUMMARY: This is the prelude to Lost in Time, answering the question, How did the Avengers lose one of their own? 
Word Count: 2,224
The italics is present day for the Avengers. Also this picture is my background lmao. 
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Accepting that you were supposed to work with the Avengers was mind boggling. It was weird, and yet not totally out of your element. In a weird way you felt at home here. There were people who could do crazy things, the same way you and others at Camp could.
Right now you were following Strange, Steve, and Tony to the common room. Taking in the advancement in technology made your head hurt. And you wondered if you would remember this when you were sent back. 
"So how exactly did you "lose" me?" You asked, sitting on one of the chairs in the common room. 
"Well," Tony started, stopping to collect himself. The room grew tense with silence. Steve looked angry and sad, and all of that left you feeling uneasy. 
You were so excited; it was your first day off in months. Being an Avenger was extremely time consuming. 
You were practically bouncing off the walls of the compound, you were so excited. You had made plans with Annabeth to go visit Chiron at Camp Half-Blood. Between being a demigod and an Avenger, the Avengers got 98% of your time. It’s not like you were complaining, you were so over being the gods little pawn. Still, you missed your friends and the sentiment of Camp. 
You said a quick farewell to your team as you stepped into the elevator with Annabeth, “Don't get in too much trouble without me!” You called as the doors closed. 
The ride to Long Island was full of laughter and catching up. You haven't really talked to anyone outside of your mom and the Avengers in almost a year. Anyway, Percy and Annabeth decided they were going to get married despite Hera. And you, well you were in New York fighting the battles so no one else had to. Approaching Half-Blood Hill you pulled the car off to the side of the road.
After greeting your old friend Peleus (The dragon that guards the fleece), you stepped through the barrier. The smell of the strawberry fields, the warmth of the sun, the sound of arrows hitting their targets, and swords clashing, kids laughing. It all brought you right back to being a 17 year old half-blood, when nothing was more important than making the most of the summer. The faint music from Apollo cabin drew you in for a second. Looking over at the cabins made your chest bubble with pride. You and your friends, your family even, fought so hard for this. For once, you felt truly at peace standing next to those strawberry fields. You were home, you grew up here, and all at once the weight of your influence stole your breath. You helped rebuild this place, and against all odds you were alive at 30 to appreciate it. 
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Annabeth said, standing next to you. She was doing the same thing. Reminiscing, allowing her walls to come down in the safe place that is Camp Half-Blood. 
“Yeah,” you laughed breathlessly. “This is amazing.” You looked at her. “Let’s go see Chiron.” You and Annabeth made your way over to the Big House, where Chiron was standing talking to some campers. You guys stood back until he was finished, but their constant glances your way made him turn. 
“Annabeth, Y/N,” He said with a huge smile. “Welcome back!” He turned his attention back to the campers. “Michael, Kya, give these two the full tour. Then bring them to Cabin 11” Chiron said, The two older kids, whom you assimes were counselors, nodded, leading the two smaller boys away. 
“Is it just me or do they look strikingly like Percy?” You whispered to Annabeth. She nodded, looking just as perplexed as you felt. You figured Poseidon was no longer under oath, but you actually weren't expecting him to have any more demigod children. Meanwhile, a glance over at Cabins 1 had you biting your tongue. New campers poured in and  out of Zeus’ cabin which was pretty on brand for Zeus, you thought. 
“Walk with me ladies,” Chiron said. “A lot has changed since you’ve been gone.” So, the two of you walked with Chiron through the mess hall, where dozens of new tables stood. When you walked over to admire the renovated cabins, a boy, not much older than 12 maybe 13 ran up to you. 
“You’re Y/F/N Y/L/N right?” He asked. The kid had sandy brown hair and excited blue eyes.
“I am,” you smiled at him. 
“No way! I’m Dean, I’m in Apollo cabin. You’re like a legend! And you’re an Avenger! That’s so cool.” Figures. Most of these kids were from New York, and the majority of them knew who the Avengers were. 
“Nice to meet you Dean. Listen, I’ll swing by the archery range later, the hour before dinner. Maybe I’ll see you there.” You ruffled his hair and nudged him along. 
The time flew by, and before you knew it, it was time for Dinner. You were walking with the Apollo cabin over to the Dining pavilion. The day was spent with Annabeth and Chiron walking around camp, meeting and training campers, and hanging out with the Apollo kids. Lacy Partick was head counselor these days, nice girl. As you sat for your last meal at Camp, you were with Chiron and Annabeth. Your phone rang, interrupting your conversation. 
“Work calls?” Chiron asked. 
“I don’t know, Excuse me for a second.” You said, walking away from the noise of the pavilion. 
“Hello?” You answered. The call was from an unknown number. 
“Y/N?” A woman called from the phone. 
“Speaking, who is this?”
“My name Is Jenna McAllister, I work with S.H.I.E.L.D. We need you to come in ASAP.” She said, the urgency in her voice made you tense with worry. 
“Okay. Give me a minute,” You said, putting her on hold. You ran back to Annabeth. “I have to go, I’m so sorry.” You said. Luckily, being an Avenger meant these things happen, and being a demigod/demigod trainer Annabeth and Chiron were more than familiar with last minute quests. 
“Go,” Annabeth said, “I’ll call Percy.” You nodded and looked at Chiron.
“It was great to see you, Chiron. The Camp is absolutely amazing. I’ll be back soon, I swear” You said. 
Chiron laughed, “I’ll hold you to that dear. Go.” he said, waving you off. So you ran. You ran down the hill into your car. Starting the car you took Jenna off hold. 
“Alright McAllister, what’s going on?” 
“Our sources are telling us the Avengers are being held captive somewhere in Boston.” 
“Hold on, you mean to tell me every one of them is out of commission?” You asked, in disbelief. 
“That’s what we think. None of them are responding, it’s been hours.” She said. No, no, no, no, nonono, you thought. No them, not your family. “We’re sending in a team, we were hoping you would lead it.” 
“Of course, have a jet ready, I’ll be there in 20.” 
“Yes ma’am.” She said, “We’ll have all of your weapons ready to go as well.
“Thank you,” You said. The call was over, but your mind raced as you took the fastest way to the compound. Speeding through New York might not have been your best choice, but at this point it was all you could do. You had managed to reach the compound in 15 minutes, going 90 through the city and on the rural roads leading up to the building. 
You were met in the hangar with a team dressed in combat gear, guns strapped and ready to go. 
“Y/N!” You recognized Fury’s voice. Your suit and weapons are all on board. You have a team of 14 of our top agents. There’s a box on top of your suit, it’s an earpiece in it. Wear it. You’re in charge, Bring 'em' home, whatever it takes.” You nodded. 
“See you soon boss,” You said, waving the team into the jet. 
Landing in Boston you were suited up and ready to go. You were going to split the team in two, enter the building from both entrances and meet in the middle. The “Building” was an inconspicuous Brown Stone in the middle of Boston. That meant you had to walk to the building as discreetly as possible in an attempt to attract as little attention as possible. 
Your half of the team was going in through the front door, the other was going through the side. Kicking in the door you cleared the first three rooms as quickly as you could. Looking for any signs of the Avengers.
It wasn’t long before you came across the disaster that was the basement. There were holes in the walls from Clint's arrows, repulson beams, Steve’s shield, bullets, everything you could think of marked these walls. The blood splattering the walls and floor was what got to you. Who or What had the power to take down the Avengers. Hand on your comms you asked the other team how it was going. The “Captain” of that team had nothing but family pictures and soccer schedules. “Come down to the basement. We’re searching every inch of this place until we get an answer.” “Spread out, take pictures, document everything. Then Fuck it up. Push on the walls, look for anything unusual and run with it. You find ANYTHING, you let me know. Got it?” You said in your most commanding voice. You were trained for this, but this was the most high stake mission you’d ever been on. 
Surveying the room, you noticed a faint glow behind one of the bricks. It was a faint golden hue, much like that of Celestial Bronze. Reaching toward the brick you pushed it. To your amazement, the surrounding bricks pulled apart harmoniously to reveal a pathway. It was buried into the ground, and had to be about 10 feet deep, but at the end the golden hue was brighter.
 “Okay,” You whispered. “Whatever’s down there is not going to be friendly. We need to be quiet. Our main goal is to get in, find the team, get them out. Who wants to come?” No one raised their hand. And you couldn't blame them. You didn’t want to go down the tunnel either but your friends were down there. 
“Alright, you three, you’re staging here to cover us. Anything goes down, or comes up, deal with it. The rest of you follow me.” You turned, putting your bow on your back and pulling out your knife of Celestial bronze. Leading the team through the tunnel you listened for any signs of monsters. You had a bad feeling about this. This was pure “Mythology” and you weren't happy about it. Reaching the end of the tunnel you caught sight of Steve’s shield. Peeking around the corner, you saw the team, in a cage of whatever was strong enough to keep them there. Signaling the S.H.I.E.L.D. team to wait for you, you went over to the Avengers.
 “Y/N,” Nat whispered. 
“Hey guys, what are we dealing with?” You asked. 
“It’s some kind of dragon,” Tony said. “Nothing we threw at it worked. And it’s got little minions.”
You had an idea of who they were talking about. One of Apollo’s greatest enemies was Python. A dragonesque snake. In the last war against Gaia you had slain Python again and again, until he finally stayed dead. 
“I think he wants me.” You said. 
“Y/N, whatever you're thinking, stop it.” Natasha said. 
You had grown closer to Natasha than most of the other Avengers. She was like a sister to you, and that’s why it was so easy for you to make the decision. 
“I’m sorry Nat,” you whispered. 
“Python!” you yelled. “Come out here. Let’s make a bargain.” You said, looking at Natasha the whole time. 
“Y/N stop it!” She yelled. The booming footsteps alerted you of Python’s presence. 
“We meet again.” Python said. He spoke in a combination of a hiss and a growl. It was unnerving to say the least. 
“Python, release these people.” You demanded. 
 Python laughed, a bone chilling sound that you swore on your life you never wanted to hear again. 
“Why would I do that?” He asked. 
“Because you can have me. Release them and you can do whatever you want with me. They have nothing to do with this.” You said, glancing at the team behind him still in the tunnel. 
Python laughed again, “Very Well.” Reaching out, he grabbed you in one of his giant claws. Moving over to the cage he wiggled you in front of them. Natasha covered her mouth to contain her sob. Steve, Tony and Clint looked at Python with searing rage. “One wrong move and she dies tonight.”  He opened the cage and walked away with you to the depths of his lair. 
Taking their confiscated weapons, the Avengers met the S.H.I.E.L.D. team in the tunnel. On their way up they heard the sound of chains, and your screams. But they knew there was nothing they could do right then. They just had to move quickly. 
“You saved us,” Steve said. His head down. “You saved all of us.”
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missmonsters2 · 4 years
Text
About You || Part VIII
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Gif by: giuliacommissions (please check her out if you’d like to commission her for gifs and other work 💞)
PAIRING: Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader/OFC
Summary: Wanda had never known loss like she has until she lost Pietro. It’s debilitating. She can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t even leave her house. Life is fading fast, and she’s not sure if she even wants to hang on. Enter you, a stranger that reconnects her to the daily things that makes life beautiful.
Warnings: Deals with loss & grief and the spectrum of emotions and depression that comes with it. Please note there is no glorification in any of this. Loss, grief, and depression are nothing beautiful. Also, please don’t hesitate or reach out for help if you are in a dark place. Love you, lovelies 💘
Genre: Angst & Romance
NOTE: Okay two more chapters and you finna be shook.
PART I || PART II || PART III || PART IV || PART V || PART VI || PART VII
PART VIII of X
Count: 1520
⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷
"So, you're dating now?"
Wanda smiles as Steve asks the question again, but this time, she won't lie.
"Yes," she tells him and watches him smile widely.
"Exclusivity is beautiful, isn't it?" Steve laughs while Wanda tries to not roll her eyes at his veiled words of 'I told you so.'
"She is beautiful, and she's mine," Wanda softly smiles.
"Are you scared?" He asked.
"Absolutely petrified," she admits, "but I want her more."
⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷
"How was your day?"
The days have been coming to a quiet end, and the evenings after dinner are becoming Wanda's favorite. 
There's something about being full of a warm homecooked meal, and settling on the couch with a fuzzy blanket that excites Wanda.
There's cuddling, hands sneaking under their shirts, and quiet kisses.
"I've got a commission for a painting," Wanda shares the good news which has you smiling.
"That's amazing considering you've been inactive for a year," you rub her back.
"I am amazing," she nods.
"And so humble," you laugh, pressing a kiss to her brow.
Wanda hums, sighing against the gesture of affections.
It's quiet, nothing but the TV playing mindlessly in the background as you enjoy each other's company.
"Do you ever miss your brother? Or the other guy?" Wanda asks, playing with the ends of your shirt.
"I think about them often, but I don't always miss them," you explain to her. 
It was something Wanda feared. All she had left of Pietro were memories, and if she didn't miss him all the time, then what becomes of the memories?
You trace a line down Wanda's back, eliciting a shiver.
"We are not always grieving, and we are not forgetting. Growing means we can appreciate the past in the new light."
⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷
"Where is she?" Natasha asks, digging into her salad while Wanda is painting.
"She's back at work," Wanda replies as she dips her brush into more water.
"And you're painting again," Natasha notes.
"Inspiration hits at the oddest times," Wanda smiles.
Natasha had seen Wanda shift many times. The hardest was seeing the girl grieve. There was nothing that could describe how she felt watching the life fade from her friend's eyes, the weight she has lost, and the trashed canvases. 
But she had seen Wanda shift again when you came. It was slow, and Natasha is sure Wanda was barely tolerating your presence at first. But it was small and steady. The eating, the curiosity, and the waiting Natasha saw were wonderous. 
"Do you still think about Pietro?" Natasha asks softly.
"Yes," Wanda admits, "All the time."
"Does it still hurt?"
"No," Wanda slowly answers.
She doesn't say much else, but Wanda can tell that Natasha wants to ask her why. 
It was only something that Wanda had discovered over the last few days. 
Wanda dips her brush in more water.
"Have you ever read the Children's Book, 'The Invisible String'?" Wanda asks, hearing Natasha hum in return.
"Pietro read to me all the time as a kid, especially after our parents died," Wanda dipped her brush in some blue paint. "I thought my string with Pietro was cut because I kept tugging on it, and I didn't know if Pietro could feel it."
"And?" Natasha asked.
"I think the string got so tangled with me constantly pulling on it that I forgot that the string still exists because I still feel the tug of it," Wanda stares at her painting. "You know what I think?"
"What?" Natasha asks with a smile.
"I think the string exists as long as I exist."
Natasha is happy with Wanda's answer. She finishes her salad before she watches her friend finish painting.
"You like watercolor?"
Wanda dipped her brush in water, looking at the lines that she drew underneath the paint.
"Yeah, it's truly a work of art."
⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷
The sheets shuffled around as you felt Wanda get out of bed. 
It turns out, Wanda gets the best hit of motivation and inspiration just as the sun comes up. She leaves to go to her studio to start painting but always makes sure to come back to wake you up with a kiss and tea.
You feel a tug on your left hand, and something cool being pressed across, before a rush of cool air being blow. But for the sake of Wanda, you keep your eyes closed.
When you wake up, you see a thin, red, squabbly circle painted around your wrist.
Then across your forearm, there was a scribbled message.
Your string leads to mine, should I show you?
⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷
"How do you know mine leads to yours?" 
You're sitting together at the counter with Wanda, tea, and coffee in hand before going to work.
"Because when you miss me, I feel it tugging on my heart," Wanda smiles sleepily.
"And when you miss me?" You ask with a tilt of your head and a grin.
"Then, I'm vigorously sending my love through the string until it tugs on your heart."
You can't help but smile wider because Wanda has such a way with words, and she's so honest and endearing. 
Wanda sets her cup down, opening her arms until you come to settle into her arms, leaning on her.
You kiss the crown of her head, running your fingers through her unruly hair, laughing when it doesn't quite make a difference.
"I love the mornings with you," Wanda mumbles.
"You didn't before?"
"I couldn't stop thinking about how it was all temporary before, that eventually, you would leave and I would be alone."
"We're not always together, though," you remind her, brushing her hair slightly to the side.
"Even when we're apart, I think about how you'll come home to me," Wanda licks her lip.
You swallow, your heart feeling a little too full, and the only way to manage it is to press your lips to Wanda's. 
They're in the privacy of their own home, but it felt scandalous to feel your hand underneath Wanda's shirt, your warm palm pressing between her bare shoulder blades.
You watch as Wanda's eyes flutter.
"What are you thinking about?" You ask against Wanda's lips.
"I'm thinking about how I'm in love with you."
⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷
Days off were rare, but Wanda loved every time she got to laze around with you at 2PM on a Thursday.
You were currently on the couch, hoarding her right hand, grinning as you saw the same painted thin, red, squabbly circle. 
There have been talks about tattooing it, but for now, Wanda diligently draws them on every day.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't move," you whine.
Wanda watches you with a slow smile as she feels scribbling on her arm.
When you finish, you give her a kiss right smack on her lips before going to grab late lunch. Or early dinner.
Wanda looks to see what you've written.
наша любовь это произведение искусства.
⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷
Steve watched with happiness as Wanda chopped the vegetables. 
"How's the painting going?"
"It's going," Wanda shrugs. Inspiration comes and goes, but she's close to finishing it.
"You should open your own gallery," Steve says. "I'll threaten people to come to opening night."
Wanda lets out a laugh knowing Steve would actually be politely handing out flyers. Steve closes his eyes, a joy from being about to hear such a sound from his friend again.
"How are things with her?" Steve asks, watching the way Wanda's eyes light up ever so subtly.
"She wants to find a new place with me," Wanda smiles.
"Why doesn't she move here?" Steve asks.
Wanda tilts her head, looking down at her vegetables.
"It takes her forever to get work. I want to be able to give her something too for all that she's done."
Steve settles into a soft smile, his eye catching something on Wanda's forearm. 
"Is that Russian?" He asks.
Wanda catches him staring at her arm and flushes slightly.
"Yes," she tells him.
"What's it mean?"
"It means our love is a work of art."
⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷⋆⊶⊷⊶⊷⊶⊷
"Wanda...Wanda..."
Wanda wakes up groggily to see you hovering over her with a frown.
"What's wrong?" She asks as you lie your head back down on the pillow facing her.
"What if...what if our string gets tangled or breaks?"
Wanda can tell you've had a bad dream. 
And for once, she's the courageous one, ready to offer you reassurances.
She rolls over, pushing you on your back, hovering over you with her body pressed to yours as her fingers slide against your jaw.
"Our string can get tangled, it can be pulled on, it can even get lost," Wanda says, her breath on your lips. "But it will never break because as long as we exist, we will always find a way to each other."
Tears spill over your eyes as Wanda kisses you deep and slow.
That morning when you wake up, surprised to have slept through Wanda waking up. 
You see the diligently painted red thin circle around your wrist, and the words this morning makes you cry.
If anyone could show me life is worth living, it is you.
PART IX
415 notes · View notes
vs-redemption · 4 years
Text
Crime is Common. Logic is Rare. (ch.20)
Chapter twenty: meeting two bosses (HawksxGN!Reader)
Plot summary: You thought your hands were full as a regular quirk geneticist, but then you meet Hawks and things get even more exciting!
Warnings:  
⚠️This story contains spoilers from the manga.
⚠️Some events and plot points have been altered from the original manga
Tag List: @gayforkeigo @marshmallow-witch @redflannel @toyo-shiro @elsasshole @astronomyturtle @iambashfulperson
Next Chapter : Chapter Guide 
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” the president of the Hero Public Safety Commission says while giving a slight bow. She was smiling, but it somehow seemed forced and distant. You weren’t sure if there was truly something off about her greeting or if you were just biased knowing everything she’d put your boyfriend through. This was the woman who had forced Hawks to endanger himself by infiltrating the villains. The same woman who had decided it was worth it for Best Jeanist to die and for Hawks to become a murderer. But she didn’t know that you knew all of that, so you had to be pleasant.
“Likewise,” you say, trying to match her level of cold politeness.
“I meant to go out to the lab and meet you when you were studying the nomus there, but I never got the chance,” the woman tells you. “I was curious about the person our Hawks had suddenly taken an interest in. It was the first time he’d ever asked a favor of the commission, so of course we were intrigued.”
“Aw boss, stop it!” Hawks groans playfully from next to you, “You’re embarrassing me.” To anybody else it probably appeared that the winged hero had a very close and comfortable relationship with his boss to speak to her this way, but you had known him long enough now to be able to tell when he was faking that incredible charisma and when it was genuine. Being able to read Hawks wasn’t the only way to know the true nature of the relationship though. It was made very clear by the irritated scowl Hawks received from the president. She didn’t appreciate his theatrics. You didn’t feel sorry for her, but you could admit to yourself that it was most likely a difficult job trying to manage a person like Hawks, especially when he didn’t want to be managed.
“Well, I don’t want to keep you guys from important hero stuff,” you say while reaching into your bag and pulling out a plastic bento box filled with rice, vegetables, and fried chicken. “I was just swinging by to drop off Hawks’ lunch on my way to work.”
“You made me lunch?!” you boyfriend raises his feathery eyebrows, pretending to be surprised even though you’d discussed the idea a few days prior. He was so busy now that it was nearly impossible for you to meet up in private. It was also difficult to discuss things secretly in public. So, it was decided that you would start to bring him lunch with whatever news you had for him written on a napkin inside. It was a little risky, but as long you always delivered the bento box directly into his hands things should be okay. The only problems were coordinating when he’d be at Commission headquarters and finding a way for him to respond to your messages. The only solution for the former was for Hawks to quickly drop his used lunchbox back off with you in between his hero and villain duties. It was a hectic lifestyle, and you hoped it wouldn’t have to continue for very long.
“Of course I did,” you flash a smile at the president before leaning into Hawks’ side. “He works so much, I have to make sure he eats something to keep up his energy.” You send your boyfriend a stern glare, “Something at least mildly healthy.” He wraps an arm around you presses his lips to your cheek.
“I think it’s actually just an excuse for you to come see me,” he teases and you acknowledge that there was some truth to that. Hawks’ boss was starting to look uncomfortable and impatient so you thank her for taking the time to meet you, say goodbye to Hawks, and then make your way to catch the next train to Jaku hospital.
Dr. Garaki was much stricter with you now that you knew about his second secret lab. He not only had you leave all your belongings in a locker now, but also had you go through a metal detector to check for any hidden devices you might have on your person. He was very apologetic about it every time, but you assured him that you understood the need for such precautions. You now had access to all his nomu research and he wanted to keep the secret contained as much as possible. It was already a bit stressful for him knowing you had the knowledge that he had been close friends with All For One and was now working directly with the League of Villains by providing them with Nomus.
“I’m going to introduce you to someone today,” the doctor tells you as you step into the elevator together. “It’s the person we’re going to be giving All For One’s quirk to.”
“Oh,” a knot of dread forms in your stomach. “But we’ve only just started doing simulations for that experiment. We’re nowhere near ready to do human trials.”
“There’s no time for all that,” the doctor sighs while taking off his glasses to rub his eyes warily. “Of course we want the highest chance of success possible though, so we’re going to be doing a few test runs with just his DNA before we go ahead with the real procedure.”
You wanted to object for so many reasons. You had a decent understanding now of how the nomus had been created even though it made you sick knowing how Dr. Garaki had fused the corpses of random people in excruciating detail. Thanks to your quirk, you’d identified some of the issues that were causing the fused DNA to look so mutated. This was hopefully going to improve the nomus ability to function more like a human with complete independence rather than mindless monsters. There hadn’t been a chance to test this theory though since the nomus took so long to finish. Sure, you might be able to get a living person’s DNA to merge with All For One’s, but there was no guarantee that the person would still be themselves or even be human for that matter.
The elevator doors slide open and you walk into the familiar lab where you’d done all of your quirk training until now. It didn’t take long for your eyes to land on the figure of a scrawny person hunched over one of the lab tables, tapping a finger impatiently against the smooth black surface. He had a head full of messy white hair that fell down to his shoulders. You didn’t want him to turn around, but knew it was inevitable.
“It’s about time, Doctor.” The man’s voice comes out dry with a slight whine that sent chills up your arms and neck. “You know I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
“I was only gone a few minutes,” the doctor seemed unaffected by the person’s creepy presence which only intensifies the moment he turns to face you. He had blood red eyes surrounded by rings of flaking dead skin. His color was sickly pale, and his lips were dry and scabbed. He looked like a walking corpse.
“This is Tomura Shigaraki,” Dr. Garaki points both hands at the man as if her were a prize being revealed from behind a curtain. That was not a prize you wanted anything to do with however. Not even Hawks had been allowed to meet this man, yet here he was standing just a couple feet away from you. You’d rather not have the so called honor.
“The leader of the League of Villains,” you do your best to sound confident. “I never imagined I’d ever meet you. I’d shake your hand but…” Shigaraki narrows his eyes but his chapped lips pull up into a slight smirk.
“You’re going to be doing more than shaking his hand today,” The doctor actually laughs. He goes over to one of the cabinets and takes out some supplies. “You’re going to be drawing his blood and running a few other tests.”
You had no idea why you had to do this. Surely the doctor was quite capable of getting all the samples he needed by himself. There was no reason for you to have to get so up close and personal with a guy who’d demolished an entire city with just the touch of his hand. You knew his quirk allowed him to disintegrate anything he touched with all five of his fingers, and you wanted to stay as far away from that as humanly possible. The only explanation was that the doctor was testing you to see if you were still willing to stay neutral about his research even after being faced with a daunting situation like this. You muster up your courage and take the supplies from him.
“This will be easier if you sit down,” you tell Shigaraki who raises the skin above his eyes. There was no hair there so you were hesitant to say eyebrows. You point to a stool and he takes a seat.
“If you hurt me in any way, I won’t hesitate to kill you,” his raspy voice sent another wave of fear through you but you only frown at him in response.
“I hope you’re not afraid of needles then,” you hold out your hand as a signal for him to give you his arm. “Or else I’m in big trouble.” The doctor chuckles at your humor but Shigaraki just scowls.
After about an hour of tests, the doctor was finally satisfied with the amount of information you’d gathered. You were surprised when he allowed you to go home early. You wondered how Shigaraki got in and out of the building without being seen as the doctor walked you back to the elevator. He had to make sure you didn’t leave with anything important. Even though it was a relief to be out from under that horrible glare of Shigaraki, you couldn’t help but feel a little paranoid as you made your way home. You weren’t sure you could fit enough napkins in Hawk’s lunchbox to describe the terrifying experience you’d just had.
32 notes · View notes
crushzone · 3 years
Note
Hi Nin! I know this might be weird of me to ask because you are an artist yourself, but I am rather new here and was wondering if you have any other artists you'd recommend? If not that is ok!
Hi there, not weird at all! I LOVE supporting fellow artists, I find their wonderful talent and dedication incredibly inspiring, seeing their beautiful works on my feed constantly reminds me to take a step back from my exhaustion and to simply remember why I love to draw to begin with: because it’s fun.
I’m usually really picky about artists I follow and their style, but when I find the ones that I enjoy, I go ALL OUT with my support. So without further ado, the following artists listed are those I am not only in love with, but those who I genuinely look up to. 
So make sure you stop by their page to show them some love and appreciation for their hard work (because hard work extends beyond the individual pieces they’ve made, it’s also for the countless hours they’ve spent on practicing and perfecting their craft, constantly challenging themselves to learn new techniques). 💛
👇🏼👇🏼 Nin’s Artist Recommendation👇🏼👇🏼
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@aku-jumbi - HQ!!, Various, You all had seen me share a BUNCH of their works on my blog, but it’s just because their art is so SOOOOOOOOO good. Your style leans toward photorealism, while still maintaining its painting-like quality, so if you had ever wondered how your favorite characters may look like irl, they’ve got you!!! Watching your speed painting is so fascinating, idk how you do it, but you’re always killing it every time (Like our process is so different, so it was really interesting to see how you approach your works you know?). This piece of Kei Tsukishima and Oikawa Tooru are two of my favorite works you’ve done!
@achieve-the-sun - HQ!!, Various, Let me start off by saying that I love Morghy’s art so much, that they are the first and only person I had ever commissioned from so far. They drew Keishin and I sooo adorably, it brings me so much joy to look at it on the daily. Your style reminds me of freshly baked cookies, or the warmth of bakeries, I can’t help but feel a sense of coziness whenever I look at your adorable artworks. This piece you did of Kageyama and Hinata was what had drawn me to you. Everything from your color choices, fluid gestures, and expressions are such a delight to look at!
@chaotickatts - HQ!! I am so in love with Katts, you all. I had never seen anyone draw like this, her style is really unique. I can go on forever about why I love your art, but one of the biggest things that drew me to your style is the way you draw bodies. I like the variation and realistic details you include, for instance, I absolutely adore the way you gave Sakusa more moles on his body, and the way you drew dad bod Osamu. Idk, I think there’s so many different types of body shapes and details out there, and it brings me joy to see you being so inclusive of them in your art.
@namusw - Hunter x Hunter. Was drawn to their Hunter x Hunter works and I don’t even watch/read that manga. Honestly, just check them out, I love everything about their works, they are also a killer at both traditional and digital styles. This piece of Hisoka, Illumi, and Chrollo was the one that made me fall in love.
@cranbearly - HQ!! I really adore the way they draw expressions and their coloring style (inspired me to attempt some flat coloring). This piece of Oikawa and Iwa made me follow them instantly. Expressions are so difficult to nail, and you’ve done such an amazing job conveying every emotion the characters are feeling, I’ve learned so much just from looking at your works, so thank you for blessing us with your craft.
@a-zebra-was-here - HQ!! Their art has a very carefree type of vibe and their coloring style brings me so much joy. I’ve really enjoyed your drawings of the Miyas’, this piece of the twin was what got me, and this other piece, the first image of young Miyas’ was so SO well done, I am in love with the way you colored that. 😻 
@erionmakuo - Various, dude....I want to cry, I don’t even know what to say, EVERY SINGLE PIECE of your artworks just BLOWS ME AWAY. The way you color your art is just so ethereal, the color schemes you had chosen, the way you mix the color of your lighting, textures, and everything in general, I can go on about this all day but just hop on to their blog and you will know exactly what I mean. I don’t have a particular piece that drew me in because I was blessed by all your works at once.
@uranarino - HQ!!, Your artworks bring me so much joy. If I have to describe your style like an experience in life, I would say it reminds me of how it’s like to fall in love with someone for the first time, if that makes sense. That sudden overwhelming feeling you get when you’re doing the most mundane things with someone you care about, only for time to stop as you realize how in love you are with them? Yea, your art captures that really well. These two pieces of Kuroo returning home with his groceries and of him taking a day nap with his cats was what had drawn me to you.
@queenoftheantz - HQ!!, Various, Their style is really unique, it kind of reminds me of an adventurous graphic novel or something you would see on Cartoon Network (idk, I thought of Chowder, but please, I really mean it as a compliment, I just really love the fun cartoon style you have.) They also do some animations! I really love this piece of Kyotani you did, the landscape and colors look SOO GOOD!!
@noodlemanjpg - HQ!!, Various, love LOVE your style and the way you draw expressions. I also really love how you color, your works “appear” effortless, but I know a lot of knowledge and precision is put into crafting it. This piece of Kuroo x Yaku being all cozy at the couch was what had drawn me to your blog, it makes me smile every time I look at it. Kuroo’s smitten expression is just...ahsdl;adjs I can’t help but smile with him.
@diabolism666 - HQ!!, c’mon, you can’t be in the HQ!! fandom without at least seeing one of their artworks. In fact, I had seen your art even before I’ve gotten into this show, and it was love at first sight, lemme tell ya. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. you had drawn are so good, it doesn’t even matter if it’s a more simplistic drawing or elaborate one, I am just always staring at it in awe. Thank you for being so incredibly active about it too, idk how, but you’ve produced so many amazing drawings and we’re just incredibly grateful for it. You draw some of best Tendou, Reon and Toshi out there. Your works have so much range, I really feel like you can draw ANYTHING hahaha.
@viria​ - Various, Viria *sobs* your works are so good. The way you draw faces and affection just gives me butterflies. I don’t even watch Fullmetal Alchemist, but this piece you did of Edward and Winry made me fall so deeply in love with your works. Your style has a certain softness to it, even when it is of an angry character, and I love it.
@nipuni​ - Various, another artist that I am incredibly nervous to tag because your works are just out of the world. You also seem so so nice and is always incredibly helpful whenever anyone sends you an ask. Just...I have the biggest crush on you and your works. EVERYTHING you had drawn is so stunning, and I mean it. The details, pose, composition, and coloring, it is just so perfect, I could pull up particular artworks, but I was really blessed by it all at once. If you are into fantasy-esque realistic looking portraits, check her out, she exudes so much knowledge and talent.
@hinamihere - HQ!!, Your artworks are soo stinkin adorable. Your color choices, expressions and the way you draw hair is just so cute, your art always bring the biggest smile to my face. This piece you did of Akaashi and Bokuto was what drew me to you, when I saw it, I “awhhh”ed so loudly, my hubby had to ask me what’s up, and when I showed it to him, he had the same reaction, even if he’d never seen Haikyuu!!
@oxxuri - BNHA, so SO good, the way you color, light, and draw is so beautiful. Every single detail, down to every lashes and strands of hair is so beautiful. You draw some of the most attractive faces I had ever seen, these drawings of Aizawa and Midoriya brings me so SOOOO much joy, and I don’t even know anything about BNHA.
@amezure - HQ!!, their comic strips always make my day, I was giving their blog a peep so I can pull up specific examples and my statement is instantly confirmed when I stumbled across their newest comic art of Kuroo and Bokuto and started laughing HAHA. 😂 Your self study sheets are incredibly informative and I find myself referencing them often, it’s so nice to see my favorite artists continue to polish their craft through endless amounts of studying, practice, and analysis. It serves as a constant reminder for myself to do the same. I love the way you draw people (check out this piece of Bokuto x Akaashi), but I ESPECIALLY love the way you draw animals. (Specifically anything that has to do with lil owl Bo and Akaashi 🥺)
@obobro - Avatar the Last Airbender, HQ!!, I am absolutely in love with the way you color and draw portraits. Your drawing and detailing has so much range; you have a series of hand drawings, and that alone already displays so SO much range. I was really drawn in by this drawing of Tsukki, Zuka + Azula, and of Sokka + Katara, you can really tell they were related and I love it so much. Your art has so much life to it, it’s truly fascinating. 
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I have a couple more artists to recommend, so if you’d like a part 2 to this, please lmk.
But yes, I genuinely stand by my recommendations, these guys are so SO good at what they do and I am currently sweating because the thought of tagging all my artist crushes in one post is actually kinda scary lol.
Hope this helps! ✌️ 
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itsbrandonkelly · 3 years
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📲 all of them / any that you want because they all seem amusing to imagine from brandon
😃 : a happy text
[text] Jae! Thank u for helping me with the bouquet ur one of the real ones babe i’m gonna have 2 treat u to thank u properly
😍 : a loving text
[text] hey hon. just thought about ur cute lil kitten face and how glad I am 2 no ur cute lil kitten face. no bt really i’m glad we r friends Jae ur one of the real ones i basically just wanted 2 check in and see how u r bt reading this back its v mushy and thats gross lmao quick send me a hot selfie before this gets all feelingsy (totally saved it) do love u tho bt dont tell anyone i have a rep to keep 😘
🤓 : a nerdy text
[text] JAE. BUDDY. i’ve been commissioned for a floral dress and i fuckin love floral work but idk much about the flowers they asked for so ya girl needs to pick ur smart lil flower brain. i’ll pay obvs and treat u to lunch? lmk if u can and when ur free i’m so hype for this
🤪 : a goofy text
[text] babe i just saw a jacket that would look 🥵🥵🥵 on u bc it’s 🔥🔥🔥 let me dress u up pretty pls
😞 : a disappointed text
[text] can’t believe u didn’t send me at least 1 shirtless collar selfie after everything i haven’t done for u smh this relationship is v 1 sided id totally send them 2 u ☹️☹️☹️
😔 : a sad text
[text] Hey. I know I said I’d be over first thing for those flowers for me but can I pick them up later instead? Everything’s just fucked at work right now and I am TIRED. Sorry that’s not your problem I know but I’d appreciate if you kept hold of them for me. I’ll swing by before you close, I promise x
😒 : an unamused text
[text] u really not gonna laugh at my top quality meme? Smh why do I think ur hot again?
😟 : a worried text
[text] Hey kit. I saw you on my way to work this morning and you didn’t look like you were in a good mood. Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about it or need a distraction? I have some horrible jokes if you do. Or we can grab lunch? You don’t have to text back if you’re not feeling it just let me know how you are when you can. x
🥺 : a pleading text
[text] hey r u free for a rant date today. i’ll provide dinner I just need a good bitch sesh bc u don’t put up with my shit 🥺🥺🥺
😠 : an angry text
[text] What the actual fuck do you think you’re playing at?? You really thought you could get away with stealing my shit?? I gave you a job and welcomed you into the team and you’re really trying to pull this fucking stunt?!
😳 : an embarrassed text
[text] found my phone! was in the back of the cab. i can’t believe i gave ur address I’m so embarrassed 😰😰😰 thank u for not kicking me out i’ve ordered u a gift basket ur one of the real ones Jae truly i’m home now and will not be makin eye contact with u for at least 5 months thnx
😨 : a scared text
[text] Kit, are you up? Sorry for texting so late. I went to grab some things from the office and I don’t feel great walking home by myself. Can I call?
🤔 : a pensive text
[text] do u think wed still b friends if i wasnt so annoyingly persistent about being in ur life? sometimes i wonder if we would and sometimes i think were 2 hot not 2 b friends. 😫 srsly tho what do u think??
🤥 : a lying text
[text] i didnt order u a cool jacket so if u get one dont try 2 bring it 2 me 2 return thnx
😯 : a surprised text
[text] YO I CANT BELIEVE HOW SOFT U LOOK AROUND FLOWERS WHEN U CAN KILL A MAN WITH UR BARE HANDS WTF 😭😭😭
🤫 : a secretive text
[text] Am I allowed to talk to you about something serious? I need advice but I need it to stay between us.
🥱 : a sleepy text
[text] just got off the plane and i am ready for death💀💀💀i need a weeks work of beauty sleep
🥴 : a drunk text
[text] YO BROSKI REMEMBER WHEN I WAS TELLING U WHAT UD LOOK SUPER HOT IN? ID LIKE TO ADD TO THE LIST. MY BED AGAIN BUT ALSO TATTOOS?? LIKE 🥵🥵🥵 this guy in the club has a sleeve and a bad attitude wish me luck 🥴🥴🥴
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popculturebuffet · 4 years
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Mission Hill Review: Plan 9 From Mission Hill or I Married a Gay Man From Outer Space!
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Commission for @weirdkev27​. Hallowen Havoc marches on! For my first commission ever, I take a look at the cult classic mission hill’s final produced episode and one of it’s most loved. Kevin’s visit to an x rated movie pays off less with boobs and more with a friendship with his elderly gay neighbor and film buff wally and a new appreciation for cinema, only for this new friendship to nearly end over Kevin’s good natured attempt to spotlight Wally’s only film, the man from pluto. Gay spaceman, a touching gay love story, and a surprisingly likeable guy with a neckbeard insue. Spoilers and full recap FROM PLUTO, under the cut. 
Well this was a nice suprise. After the utterly draining process of my review of “Let’s Get Dangerous”, it was a nice suprise to find out one of my handful of fans had tried to comission me a while back and I hadn’t realized it, and I was happy to oblige him. I was even happier when I found out what his commission was: Plan 9 From Mission HIll, an episode i’d planned to cover for pride but got squeezed out due to how little i’d planned the month out in advance, a lesson I still REALLY need to learn. Regardless not only was it a nice, funny, and heartwarming ep to cover after the sheer amount of analysis and recapping the last one took, I realized it ended up fitting the spooky season, as there’s just as much fun to be had in truly fantastic horror movies like “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Get Out”, “Child’s Play”, “Tales from the Hood” and “The Thing” as there is from so bad it’s great horror films like “House (The Japanese one), C.H.U.D. II: Bud The Chud, Terror Toons and House Shark. Seriously watch House Shark i’ts hilarious. Hell I fully plan on watching the Gary Busey film Hider in the House tomorrow. I mean it’s a film about hollywood’s favorite nutball  living in the walls and attic of someone’s house. What’s not to love? Maybe it might be entirely boring but that’s the risk you sometimes take to find so bad it’s gold filmaking. Plus cheeestastic films like these are the reason we have the classsic and incomprable mystery science theater 3000 and it’s succesor rifftrax. So while I need to watch more of them, I have a spot in my likely overtaxed heart for this kind of film, and as a result this episode resonated with me on rewatch in a way it didn’t the first time around, even if it was still my faviorite. 
Backing up a bit as usual I like to give my history with a show first time covering it: Mission HIll was one of a handful of shows picked up by Adult Swim in it’s early days. Since most of Adult Swim’s early originals were 11 minutes at a time when this was still a new and radical thing they were doing having 11 minute shows that weren’t sold as half hour pairs of 11 minute episodes, they likely needed more shows to fill up the air and clevelry simply bought the rights to several shows that had only had one season, along with Family Guy and Futurama which as history would bear out both made the shows into huge names in the animation industry but brought both back.. though in Family Guy’s case sometimes dead is better. Point is, several shows got a second life thanks to Cartoon Network if sadly not more seasons, with the sole exception of the utter classic Home Movies which I really need to talk about at some point, and thus are really more associated with Adult Swim than their original networks. Hell before doing this review I genuinely didn’t know what Mission HIll’s original networks. But now you know the framework this show came out in what IS Mission Hill anyway? 
MIssion Hill was a cartoon from the wonderful brains of Bill Oakely and Josh Weinstein, no relation to the MST3K one who due to this confusion now goes by J. Elvis Weinstein instead, who showran the simpsons and did some great episodes, my faviorte of there’s being $pringfield, aka the casino one. 
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The show was about Andy, a 24 year old slacker whose happily lazing about after college in his loft with his friends Jim, a stoic but friendly stoner played by Brian Posehn, and Posey, a sensitive hippie. However when he goes to pickup his childhood dog he ends up with an unexpected roomate: His nerdy, sheltered and neurotic brother Kevin, who has a love of sci fi, a type a personality and a habit of going bling blong to focus when studying or just whenever. He’s also voiced by future robin and future psychopath claming to be robin Scott Mellinville. Also in the building are Carlos and Natalie, an unemployed artist and college professor and their baby Nameless.  I forgot they existed.  And of course saving the best for last we have the brother’s neighbors, and a very early gay couple for animated television Wally and Gus, played by the legendary Tom Kenny and Nick Jameson who hasn’t done much of note but does a great job anyway. Wally is a fastudious, Gus is angry and very brooklyn, but the two genuinely love each other, makeout frequently, with their first showing off the two as a gay couple, and are an adorable but very beliviable couple. It’s part of WHY I wanted to spotlight them. The late 90′s/early 2000′s, the show originally aired in 99 and into 2000 and aired on adult swim in the early 2000 for the curious, were not a great time to be gay in animation with most gay characters used as punchlines and hardly any queer stories. Not only that but just a year earlier will and grace had to have one overly camp chracter and one “regular” gay character in order to get made. Granted that show has it’s issues but still, the point stands having a gay couple that plays fairly realistically, is shown to both be sexually active and love each other and who’ve been together for decades was a hell of a step for a medium where Family Guy around the same time had a joke with the punchline “Whoa transvestite back off!” Granted Family Guy would do far worse to both the gay and trans communities, but we’ll get to that someday. Or sooner if you commission me, but I swear if you do I will pull a gary busey on your house. Point is not only is it INCREIDBLY forward for it’s time but it holds up even now. There’s a reason the creators are working on a spinoff/revivial focused on the two and a reason these two tend to be one of the most talked about elements of the show. That and frankly their hilarious having realistic banter.. and also having one episode where Gus has a knife in his head for a whole episode. It helps that this episode, their spotlight one and the last one produced, is also one fo the series best. So with all that build up let’s take a look shall we? 
We open with Kevin passing a theater showing x rated movies and are shown, over a bunch of times of him passing it him condeming it publicly but his tone clearly telegraphing the classic battle between a teenage boy and his dick. Dick wins and Kevin heads inside and gives us... this. 
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.... If you will excuse me, please enjoy the musical stylings of the late great Zorak while I go shower the “EeEEEEEEUUUUGGggggggHHHhhuuuuuuggghhhhhhhhewwwwuuuuugggghhhhggooooodddddddwwwyyyyyy” off me. 
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God rest his soul. Okay i’m good now. Thankfully this isn’t an episode about Kevin getting addicted to x-rated theater, and they already did an episode about him masturbating. No really it actually had a good message as Kevin was so embarassed about the incident, he nearly let two other guys, granted not remotley good people who were stealing from there anyway, take the fall. Andy even ends up giving a great speech coming to his defense
“People, you mock this boy, but it's your fault he's here today. Your hypocrisy has made this boy a prisoner, terrified of his own sexuality. So much so that he'd rather send two relatively-innocent men to prison than admit he looks at pornography! He thinks his natural urges are filthy and perverted, and why? Because of your conspiracy of silence! Nobody dares admit the truth - that you're all just like him!”
IT’s a damn good moment and a good message. That sadly is still relevant as America still views sex as worse than violence for some weird reason. At least he has the internet now. Anywho when Kevin goes to see what’s up he runs into Wally who explains the confusion: He’s just showing old “X-Rated films”. Now some of you are probably wondering “Wait non-porn films used to use that?” Or “Wait what’s an x-rating?” Well while I knew some films did used to do that I was honestly curious myself as to why it was retired and why porn films got to use it and took a quick hop to google to find out reading both the wikipedia article for the rating and this vulture article on the subject to get a slightly deeper look at it. 
It’s actually quite intresting as I genuinelly also didn’t know when the MPAA ratings started for films: When the rating’s board started in 1968 there were four raitings: G, GP (Later flipped to PG), R and X. X was the modern equivlent of today’s R really, and films like Last Tango in Paris, Midnight Cowboy and a Clockwork Orange, with Orange even having a poster up at the cinema in this episode and Midnight Cowboy being part of the plot very soon. We’ll get to that in the moment. Point is it allowed filmakers to push the envelope break barriers all that good stuff and makes me curious about those very films, which is a good thing as i’ll admit to not being exactly a film buff.  But as Kevin’s confusion here shows, eventually the porn industry took a hold of it, using the X as a way to get sex movies into regular cinemas and have an air of legitimacy, hence why Debbie Does Dallas was a mainstream hit.. and yes that’s an actual film that I only know about thanks to I Love the 70′s. If your wondering why the MPAA just couldn’t you know, tell them to know or why they didn’t take over other ratings it turns out for some weird reason why the G and R ratings were owned by them, and later PG , they forgot to trademark X and by the time they even thought of it it was too late. Hence terms like XXX rated and what not or the ungodly stupid XXX porn parodies. Just.. just give them actual names and slap “A porn parody” ont he end if you want to avoid a lawsuit.  Naturally the film industry struck back and X soon went from a way to have daring, interesting films.. to basically a threat by the MPAA that your film wouldn’t be carried by any major distributors if it had one, with Dawn of the Dead having to just go unrated just to get distributed. The 80′s brought the killing stroke: With the rise of big theater chains, mall theaters with restrictions I wasn’t aware of, and big home video outlets like blockbuster that didn’t carry porn, the x rating was well and truly dead and the MPAA lukewarmly added NC-17 which serves the same bullshit purpose as theaters still refuse to carry them and the MPAA still uses it for essenitally the same reason. Nothing changed! If your wondering why people sometimes have problems with the MPAA, yeah there’s your answer, as they could’ve campaigned harder for NC-17 but clearly enjoyed having a raiting to hold over films heads. 
So yeah if you don’t know, know you know bud, let’s move on. So yeah Wally explains the confusion and decides to educate Kevin on film by showing him Midnight Cowboy, with John Voight “Before his head looked like a radish” and Dustin Hoffman. Also Andy brings up Sphere.. a film I also know nothing about. Hang on... checking Letterboxd and okay. It’s a Dustin Hoffman starring Sci-Fi film about a research team investigating a mysterious sphere at the bottom of the sea. Huh.. I prefer Cube myself but to each his own.  But once Kevin clams up he really enjoys it. Will grant the episode lays it on a tad thick, with Kevin comparing the film to , of all things, Armageddon. I mean I get MIcheal Bay is a good metric for crowd pleasing schlock but still, even nerds have standards. My standards aren’t very high at times mind as I still want to watch this sometime today. 
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But I still think even awkward teens have better standards. Then again one of my faviorite films at the time was Saving Silverman which while I can’t hate it due to nostalgia , having watched it from 5th grade well into my teens, I can see was not very good. Though it did have R. Lee Ermy being both really funny and turning out to be gay so that was awesome. 
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And he does make a good point that heroes like Ratzzo Rizzo don’t go well on Taco Bell cups.. though it also feels weird to me in 2020 where while not big sellers films with deep stories and unlikeable heroes are some of the biggest on tv and one of them was one of the greatest animated series of the last decade, so things must’ve been pretty damn bleak in 1999. The two also run into Gus who wants dinner and a fight ensues between the couple about the fact Gus owns a restraunt, could just bring his lunch etc. It’s hilarious and as I said I like how they feel like a couple you’d meet in real life. Sadly I don’t have an elderly gay couple in my neighborhood but here’s hoping. Or maybe i’ll be the neighborhoods wally when I grow up who knows. Also Tom Kenny’s delivery is great. 
Kevin later relays his fun day to his loftmates, with Andy expressing genuine suprise at Wally’s job and love of art house cinema, as none of them knew what he actually did. Andy’s genuinely shocked and mildly appalled they’ve lived near Wally for so long but having no idea what he does.. but really I had a sweet old lady, Delores who lived next to me for almost my entire life before she moved to be closer to her family, visited her house frequently pet her cats, went to her house after school at one point.. and I cannot tell you what he did, so it’s incredibly relatable. However in a scene that’s both hilarious but also really, really sweet, the three relate that they do know him well and due to being neighbors after all and know Gus and Wally’s morning routine: They wake up at 8, Wally brews the Coffee, Gus reads him the funnies, then they shower together while singing college fight songs, and then, with Jim saying this part so picture it in Brian Posehn’s voice please you won’t regret it, argue or have gay sex and then it’s off to work. It’s really sweet, both in showing off their well worn dynamic with each other, and the fact that the loftmates really DO know these two even if they dont’ know everything and they are close in their own way. Kevin can only give out a “Hm” in response... which is probably the closest he can get to saying touche without breaking into nerdy giggles. 
Cue the good times montage as Wally introduces Kevin to Ingmar Bergman, who I have heard of even if i’ve never seen any of them, and some director I never heard of who made old timey comedies apparently. IT’s a really nice sequence. Kevin also shows 2001: A Space Oddesy to his friends, who are bored to tears by it while Kevin’s enraptured. Which I would say was another heavy-handed swipe at late 90′s cinema but being a teen myself who had mostly watched things like Star Wars, I did not gel with 2001 and need to rematch it at some point, so I totally relate to his friends utter boredom and confusion with it given it’s rep. It’s a visually stunning film. I will however stand by not liking Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as that film TRIES to be 2001 but is instead just really, REALLY boring. 
But naturally things can be entirely good natured bonding between an elderly gay man and , as Wally puts it in the best line of the episode “The son god never wanted me to have”, as Kevin notices a film coming up that Wally apparently made, and looks to star gus. Wally panics and shoos his young protégé away... which yeah he could’ve just you know told him he doesn’t like the film or anything else and prevented this episode but then we wouldn’t of seen the gay equilvent of plan 9 from outer space so fair enough. 
At the Gus’ Diner, the loftmates and their neighbors I mentioned earlier look over the poster, and we find out from Gus that that is him, and he starred in a movie.. and naturally Wally explained never showing it to his husband in the simplest way possible: By claming a shark ate it. You know while I watched the show I didn’t quite get it when I was younger and it’s probably why it took me decades to revisit it.. but I wish I had sooner this show is REALLY damn funny and i’m really looking forward to that spinoff with Wally and Gus. 
Wally continues to dodge Kevin, so Kevin, trying to find info about the film and it being lost, goes to the video store.. back when those existed. Something I have to give the show is honestly the use of vhs, visits to video stores, and the movies Kevin mentions are the only things that really date this film. While swapping another Dustin Hoffman film in proved impossible, it is plausible Kevin would see it streaming somewhere. and it’s easy enough to swap Armageddon for Rise of Skywalker given that film’s just as good.. Last Jedi was excellent though. Point is this story REALLY holds up, which is the sign of a good story: where even if some elements are stamped to the time, the story itself could easily be told again with few changes. It’s also why i’m not AGAINST Reboots, as my coverage of ducktales makes obvious: As long as stories can still be told or you can retell a story in a unique and intresting way, it’s fine to reuse something. I do think hollywood overdoes it, but I’ve never thought there was genuine harm in it or reviving old franchises. It’s all in how you do it.  But yeah while the local video store dosen’t help at all, Andy happens to know just the man for the job, though Jim and Posey nope out of going with them. Also something to note is the series animation: It’s animated like an old 30′s cartoon or a comic strip, modernized a bit in color and realisim, but still having comic strip stuff like shaking head lines, heat lines coming off coffee that sort of thing.  I really love it. 
Anyways the brothers head off to a funky out of the way video store, I wish there were more hole in the wall used media stores where I lived. We mostly have chains like Vintage Stock and Half-Priced Books, though I genuinely love both of those stores and VIntage Stock is the modern equilvent of places like blockbuster honestly. Anyway after Beardo confuses Kevin for an Employee kevin asks him about the man from pluto which Beardo reveals he knows about but is very rare and has few prints. I like Beardo.. he’s a neckbeard who seems more liable to complain abotu some reboot on the fact their rebooting it again rather than “gasp” women are involved. I prefer my neckbeards just a tad pretentious rather than you know, sexist, homophobic, deranged assholes with nothing better to do. I mean i’m still living at home and didn’t get out much before the pandemic either but you dont’ see me bitching every time a franchise gets a female lead. 
Anyway, Kevin is inspired by that and with help from everyone gets the word out about the film. As you’d expect though this can’t end well, as Wally tries avoiding the premire entirely (And we get a great bit where Jim happens to see him trying to flee down the fire escape and Wally’s expression is priceless) 
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Huh.. I bet that’s what Rob Reiner when North had it’s premire. As you can probably guess the showing dosen’t go well: The film itself is a hilarious combination of the day the earth stood still (the general plot as we’ll find out more in a second) and Plan 9 From Outer Space (A cheestatic no budget film with a hulking man brute who can’t act as the lead), and in catching the feel of a b-movie it’s utterly perfectly done. This film would go perfect on MST3K and the audience’s howls of laughter agrees with me. 
Wally however is utterly humiliated and doesn’t want to speak to Kevin which.. yeah is about the only issue I have with an otherwise marvelous episode. While I get Wally’s humiliation was Kevin’s fault.. Kevin GENUINELY meant well. While Kevin is book smart at his core he’s a dumb kid who didn’t know any better and didn’t realize Wally hated his film and it’s Wally’s own damn fault for not telling him.  Sure Kevin should’ve picked up the hint, but given the kid is oblivious and didn’t even know what an x raiting is it’s clear he’s not the sharpest crayon in the box when it comes to life experince. Wally had every opportunity to just explain his story but didn’t. And I put most of the blame on Wally when he’s you know, the adult. He’s a 60 or so year old man. He should know better. But it really doesn’t take away from the episode entirely.  But the loftmates clearly love the film and are quoting bits from it, with jim having a fishbowl on his head, when they run into Wally, though Wally is fine with them admitting it’s crap and he knows it is. We then get what REALLY makes the episode and really makes me primed for a spinoff: Wally and Gus’ backstory, which also makes it obvious the crew was probably going to use the two more had the series got another season. 
Anyways it was the 50′s, Archie Andrews was an average teen and not shredded both in muscle and by a bear that one time, Fonzie was out and about and eyying, and Wally was a first unit director given a shot as the studio asked him for a script having utter faith in him. HIs script was a day the earth stood still esque parable on the Cold War.. until he met Gus who, naturally for Gus, was outrunning a ton of police having stumbled on set and likely defeated them all bare handed because Gus is as incredible as the hulk and likely also comes back through a glowing green door when he dies.  So Wally made the tragic mistake of mixing his love life with his career, and lost both Kurt Douglas, who he bumped down from lead for Gus, and Charleton Hesston who just walked off and they got a dinkier stage and worse actors as a result. The resulting film ended Wally’s career but he was able to sell the rights to cinemas to make enough for them to start over in mission hill and buy the diner.. and at least they had each other. It’s a really great story that explains why it upsets Wally so much: This was his baby and while he dosen’t even for one second regret meeting gus or the life they’ve had, he regrets that his one film was a total trainwreck and goes off to the theater to mope as he plays his film for laughing crowds, as it was naturally held over. I mean when you get the next plan 9 from outer space, this was a bit before the room mind you, you hold onto that shit. 
Kevin, who heard the whole thing, goes to mope by watching what is likely a MIcheal Bay film, who was a target even then folks. Oh you poor poor fools you knew not how much worse it could get... i.e. robot testicles. Just.. robot testicles. And their MAKING A DELUXE MOVIE DEVISTATOR. Why. Just.. why who wanted this after that scene. He’s sworn off good movies as he feels he no longer deserves them. Andy however bluntly tells him to cut the pity party, while he’s moping his friend really needs him and when you love somebody, you put your pants on for them. When you love somebody you see it to the end, when you love somebody the conclusions forgone when you love somebody you put your big boy pants right onnnnn! ... I’ll put the song at the end. Point is Kevin goes to help his friend, and as Wally is moping in the projection booth and wonders what he was thinking Kevin tells him the obvious truth: He was thinking of how far he’d go.  “You taught me the best films are personal stories.. and this film is your valentine to Gus” While Wally starts to break a little, he does point out it doesn’t make it good.. but Kevin rightly counters that he’s not so sure of it. Wally sees the audience enjoying the film and goes down, with all of them carrying red light bulbs like the one gus has to show when he’s mad in the film. And Wally finally realizes waht I got to in the beginning: It doesn’t matter if a film’s good or bad, what matters is someone enjoys it. A film can be utterly terrible, and still be good. It can be a mess and still have merit. And Wally finally realizes it doesn’t matter if it’s the film he wanted, it’s the film he made for his future husband, it’s a film that brings laughter and sticks in people’s heads and really  brings them a godo time. It’s a film worth remembering and Wally finally accepts that and his film as his own.  Later that night Kevin and Wally exit the theater, with Wally no longer mad at him and the two still friends or as Wally puts it in the second best line of the episode “As close as an elderly gay man and a straight boy can be” Awwww. The two depart and we get a touching final scene as Wally comes home and finds a bottle of wine and a note from gus saying he has a suprise for him> Turns out Gus put on his old space helmet.. but fell asleep in it. So we get a really nice tender moment as Gus takes the  helmet off, smooches his husband on his bald head and smiles brightly as the episode ends.
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Final Thoughts on The Man From Pluto or I Married a Gay Man From Outer Space: Before you ask each episode had two titles for funzies, the first one to get past the censors and the second for fun and likely what they would’ve gone with if they could. As for this episode.. it’s spectacular. It holds up well even 20 years later, it’s touching, sweet and really damn funny and makes me want to rewatch the show as a whole again. I highly recommend seeking it out and hope mission hill is eventually made officially available somewhere. Till then you can find the whole series including this episode on YouTube and despite being the last one you could easily watch this one first if you want and it’s a decent enough intro to the show as a whole. I highly recommend it, an utter pleasure to watch.  If you liked this review, you can comission your own by PMing me on this very blog, just mention you want to do a comission and we can talk it out. As this review proves, it dosen’t have to be a show i’ve done before or even one that’s remotely recent. Hell i’d gladly do Fonz and The Happy Days gang, the animated happy days spinoff that’s like dr. who but with the Fonz. Yes really. Whatever you want i’ll do it as long as it’s not porn for just 5 bucks an episode and 10 for a movie. YOu can also join my patreon, and for 2 dollars a month get acess to my discord (that i’ll start once I get patreons) and once I get enough patreons exclusive polls or 10 bucks for all of that and a review of your choice each month. You can find said patreon right here. And even 1 buck a month would be apricated if you can spare it and if not simply reblog this and share it around.  You can also follow this blog for weekly ducktales, loud house and amphibia coverage as they come out.  I’d also personally thank WeirdKev27 for both being a long time fan of this blog and for the comission. 
Until we meet again say safe, wear a mask, check your atttic for Gary Busey and happy Halloween! Play us out Mr Heere!
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drakesroyalromance · 4 years
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I’m the Bad Guy (duh)
Summary: Emma has an accident the morning after her engagement to Drake in the safehouse that turns everyone’s world upside down. Nothing will be the same, no matter how hard Drake tries.
Catch up here!
Pairing: Drake x MC (Emma Barnes), Liam x MC
Rating: Let’s say R.
Author’s note: Firstly, even though this isn’t related to the fic per se, @mind-reader1 and I wanted to tell you guys that we are currently not playing Choices. Neither of us are okay with the way they’ve been acting in regards to BLM and how they treat characters of colour in general. Both of us have also messaged Choices in-app and told them that we want concrete action or we stop supporting them. We encourage you to do the same. Here’s a post that can help. You can also message either of us if you want some help on deciding what to say. Here are the links to a few people who’re doing great work by providing art in exchange for donations - x, x, x. Please tag me in any art you commission by donating, especially if it includes Drake lol. Additionally, if you want to be a better ally, then do yourself a favour and message @mind-reader1. She’ll provide you with some excellent resources. And she’s a trained counsellor, so trust me when I say she knows what she’s talking about.
Secondly, a reminder that this fic deals with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI.) If this is triggering for you, please don’t read this fic. This is the last time there’s going to be a TW for this.
If you’re just here for the fic and had to skim through all of that, I’m sorry. Without further ado:
Tag list: Drake x MC: @aries-light
@notoriouscs
This fic: @marshmallowsandfire @twinkle-320 @ravenpuff02 @ac27dj @silverofdreams @katedrakeohd
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Chapter 5, part 1: Bad reputation
Drake really didn’t want to ask Maxwell for help, he felt terrible, emotionally and physically, and Maxwell was a lot to handle at times. Drake wasn’t sure when the last time he had eaten was. Not that it mattered - he’d thrown it all up at the hospital and palace. He was determined to do something though and Maxwell felt like the best option.
They approached his door and heard Maxwell singing along to a collection of sad ballads, apparently Emma had crushed him when she didn’t like his welcome home balloons. Drake had warned him that Emma wasn’t the same, but Maxwell was ever optimistic and hopeful, and got his heart crushed.
“Maxwell?” Liam knocked and cautiously opened the door. Maxwell was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, a wad of tissues surrounding him.
“Emma hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you Maxwell, you’re one of her best friends.” Drake tried to reassure him but it felt like a lie. Emma very well could hate Maxwell now, he had no idea.
“I think she was just overwhelmed, Maxwell.” Liam also made an attempt to comfort him. Maxwell sniffled.
[[MORE]]
“Listen, Maxwell, I, um. I need your help.”
Maxwell sniffled again, sitting up to look at Drake.
“Why? She’ll think anything I come up with is stupid and childish!”
“Maxwell, this isn’t you. The Maxwell I know would do anything to help his best friends be happy again. You were Emma’s first friend here, you were her biggest supporter during the social season. You even made Drake, the biggest grump of them all, one of your best friends. The Maxwell I know wouldn’t give up so easily.” Liam offered a small smile to accompany his words and Maxwell nodded, jumping off the bed.
“You’re right! I’m Maxwell Beaumont! What do you need help with Drake?”
Drake was relieved Maxwell bounced back so quickly, he truly had high hopes for Maxwell’s ideas.
“Emma..she doesn’t love me anymore.” He felt his throat closing up, he was choking on the words, they felt acrid on his tongue. He could see Maxwell trying to contain his emotions, he appreciated it.
“What?”
“When she hit her head, the doctor said there might be changes. It’s like I told you before we got here. I guess that’s one of the..changes.” Drake cleared his throat, watching Liam as he awkwardly looked at the floor.
“Okay,” Maxwell paused, looking pensive. Then suddenly his face lit up. “The Vow!”
“The what?”
“Have you ever seen The Vow?” Both Liam and Drake shake their heads.
“How are we friends? We’re having a movie night and watching it ASAP.”
“Maxwell, focus.” Drake says impatiently.
“Right. Okay, so, this couple is in a car accident. When his wife wakes up, she doesn’t remember anything about him.”
Drake interrupts, “Emma remembers everything, Maxwell. She just doesn’t care!”
He wished that she didn’t remember, the idea that she had forgotten felt less painful than Emma changing her mind, then Emma falling in love with his best friend just hours after agreeing to marry him.
“Okay.” Maxwell kept his voice even and soft, “It’s the same idea though, right? In The Vow, Channing Tatum makes Rachel McAdams fall in love with him all over again.”
Drake groaned and dragged a hand down his face. “This isn’t Hollywood Maxwell, this is our real lives!”
“The Vow is based off of a true story! It has to work, Drake! You and Emma have a beautiful love story, it’s gonna work. You just have to make her fall in love with you again. Let’s recreate some of your best romantic moments! Start thinking! When did you really begin to fall for Emma?”
Maxwell’s idea actually had some merit. Despite pushing Emma away, she’d managed to fall in love with him, so it should be easier when he’s actually trying. Right?
“What do you need from us Drake?” Liam broke him out of his thoughts. He was looking Drake right in the eye. He could see how much it hurt Liam too, but here he was, willing to help.
“Well, the first moment I can think of happened in the Beaumont study.” Drake didn’t want to share more details, he didn’t want to make Liam uncomfortable, but Maxwell probed, “what? In our house? What happened there?”
“We had our first kiss there,” Drake reluctantly shared.
“You had your first kiss the same day I took her on our first date?” Liam asked. Drake awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
���We can’t get her to the estate without it seeming suspicious, would Liam’s study work?” Maxwell suggested, changing the topic for which Drake felt grateful. Drake could see Liam repress a flinch, probably imagining worst case scenarios. Neither Emma nor Drake had the heart to tell him just how long their..affair had been going on behind his back, but the cat was out of the bag now.
“I couldn’t.”
“It’s fine with me. Will it work, Drake?” Liam’s voice was strained, his jaw tight. Drake just nodded.
“Then let’s get to work!” Maxwell grinned.
//
Emma was getting ready for the day when there was a knock on the door, followed by Maxwell poking his head in.
“Oh, good, you’re already up, little blossom. This dress somehow accidentally found its way to my room. It was the one you wore to the Beaumont Bash. You should wear it today!”
Emma raised her eyebrow at him, something about his behavior felt off. Besides, Maxwell never suggested Emma re-wear a dress.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“I was just feeling nostalgic is all.”
She narrowed her eyes at him but took the dress and decided to wear it, Maxwell did have great taste.
“Thanks.” She was expecting him to leave but she could sense him hovering in the doorway. “Is there something else?” she snapped.
“I think there was something about paperwork that needed to be signed for your duchy. It’s probably in Liam’s office if you want to see.”
She nodded and Maxwell slipped out.
//
Drake paced back and forth in Liam’s study, waiting for Emma to arrive. He was terrified, his stomach twisting and turning in knots. There was no reason Emma wouldn’t show up. Whether she would stay or not, however, was debatable.
Minutes felt like hours. Maxwell promised he would send Emma over. Their plan was pretty hard to screw up, but it was Maxwell.
Just as he had this thought, he heard her soft knock on the door and mentally apologized to Maxwell. He sucked in a breath. She was here. He needed to calm down, he couldn’t look like a blubbering idiot, she’d tear him apart. Breathe.
“Come in.”
She swept into the room and Drake lost his breath again. She was wearing the same dress as that night. No doubt Maxwell’s doing. Drake wasn’t prepared for that though, he could feel himself being wrenched back in time.
“I thought I was here to sign papers? What is this?” Her voice was cold and just like that, Drake was back in the present. He cleared his throat.
“Um, yeah, right here. Liam’s busy.”
She walked over to the desk and Drake came up behind her, his breath hot on her neck as he leaned over to show her where to sign. He could see the goosebumps rise on her skin, at least she still had some kind of a reaction to him.
“Do you remember that night in the Beaumont study together?”
She turned to face him, her lips just inches from his. His body trembled, aching to touch her.
“We found the money for Savannah.” She whispered.
“And I had a hand on your waist like this.” He slowly placed his hand on her waist, giving her time to move away if she wanted to. Pressing her body to his, he prayed she couldn’t feel the tremble. Drake could see her chest stop rising and falling. She was holding her breath, so he continued.
“Then I tangled my hand in your hair and you did the same.” He did just that, tilting her head back so all he needed to do was close the distance between them. Her hands snaked into his hair and Drake’s heart soared. It was working.
“You told me that it was a bad idea. That there was no us.” She breathed out.
“And then you said ‘what about what I want?’ That was it, I was done for, before our lips even touched.” He whispered against her lips before committing to it. He tightened his grip on her waist, adjusting his hand in her hair so his lips fit perfectly against hers. He moaned as she tightened her grip on his hair, but then it was rough, too rough.
She yanked his head back by his hair, forcing him away from her. He involuntarily twisted to loosen her grip on him. She let go and smoothed out her dress. Crossing her arms and popping out her hip, she stared at him. If looks could kill, Drake would be dead right then and there. It was somehow scarier than any look Olivia had ever given him.
“Was this your big idea? Try to seduce me with memories of us? Hope that true love’s kiss would somehow make me fall madly in love with you and we’d live happily ever after?” She mocked.
“You said it yourself that night, there is no us. You had it right the first time, Drake,” she continued.
Drake could have sworn he saw the venom leave her lips with every word. She’d played him for a fool, a lovesick fool.
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bigskydreaming · 4 years
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Thank you again and still for all the help and support! I really truly can not imagine making it through the past couple days without it, considering I spent most of it awake and in the bathroom puking from the constant migraines that come with your head not being happy about its bones not being in the right place. Stress aggravates them, or at least my awareness of them, and because of how little work there is currently and how expensive being broke and disabled in LA is, let’s just say, there’s been stress, lol.
I’m feeling a bit better today, or at least I’m making myself pretend that and act like that since I’ve got another appointment at that clinic where I get my juicy and tasty IV bags of nutrients pumped into me since I barely even CAN eat, physically, which combined with the lack of sleep and the nausea, like, also not a great combination.
So, I mean it when I say your donations and support have absolutely been invaluable, everything from a couple dollars to an anonymous message, like, its all amazing and appreciated and invaluable. Yeah. I already said that, whoops, anyway, BUT I DIGRESS.
That’s about all of an update I have there, lol, so in other news, I should be around more today since like I said, I’m feeling a bit better and have possibly plateau-ed on this latest pain level. (My super-annoying superpower....ever since I was a kid I’ve been able to adapt to increases in pain like a pro. As in, being able to manage/function despite it. Course, I still feel it, but give me a day or two to adjust to a new norm in how much my body hates me currently, and then I can power through).
So, like I said, I should be around more today, and I’ll probably be random as hell. Like I’ve mentioned before, my blog is where I spew literally everything from inane thoughts to fandom feels, since its like.....my only social outlet these past couple years and the only way I get to interact with people who aren’t doctors. Expect no pattern in topics until I find whatever sticks and keeps me focused on it enough to serve as a distraction from, y’know, the broke body and broke bank account.
SO! Absolutely feel free to hit me up about anything and everything. ESPECIALLY if you’ve made a donation or sent me something. Like, I know some people who have sent money don’t even follow me or know me at all and are just generous spirits who saw my post somewhere, but for any of you who have sent any kind of support just cuz you like, like me and my rambles, lol, totally feel free to drop into my messages even on anon and say what kind of posts or content from me you really engage with and would love to see more of. I can’t make any promises or guarantees, unfortunately, given I didn’t expect or plan on crashing so hard these last couple days, bleh, and just....literally, like, writing more of the kind of stuff or posts people who have helped me stay alive is pretty much the only way I have of kinda giving at least something back, so I mean, I am happy to pounce on anything in that direction. 
Again, just can’t make any guarantees given how unpredictable my life is and depending on how many people send requests or prompts or messages, etc, but I don’t delete anything of that nature and I usually get back around to stuff EVENTUALLY. For instance, I’m REALLY hoping to finish up two one-shots today, one that’s focused on Duke, Dick and Cass from that prompt you sent me a couple weeks ago, @zee-gee, and the other uh.....that umm, TW/X-Men fusion you commissioned way longer ago than my pride will allow me to admit in public @camelotpark, lol. And like, those posts you see me making to @russianspacegeckosexparty about the changelings project I talk about a lot, like.....Adam basically just sends me random thoughts and prompts about it all the time, and its like a running thread that’s easy for me to pick back up and sink into whenever I see a new one in my inbox and I’ve got enough spoons at the moment to dig in.
Also have a couple other things I want to respond to today while I have the energy and a destined-to-be-longer-than-it-needs-to-be meta about Dick’s positioning in narratives with various other characters and WHY I think it so usually works out that way, and I’m aiming to keep that more like....musing-esque than rant-errific, but uh, let’s see how that actually goes, lmfao.
Anyway, that’s what I have in mind for today, aside from my going to get my IV buffet at ten and emailing and calling people from listings about rooms to rent, but tbh, I might just end up being even more random and sporadic than usual, if I can’t focus on any of those long enough to stay sufficiently distracted today. (Like, my other annoying superpower as long-time followers have heard before, is my ridiculously fast metabolism. I know, “oh no, I’m so skinny, poor me,” but like....its never been about weight gain or loss for me, its about how fast my body processes various medications, meaning pretty much every painkiller I’ve ever tried is largely useless to me, or at most wears off in a couple hours.....whereas my ADHD meds actually provide me MORE relief from the pain than any of them. Basically, they let me actually focus on something OTHER than pain and not get interrupted/distracted by the occasional pain spike that likes to remind me its there and wants my attention......so I mean, I still feel everything that comes with my head being physically out of whack, but for the hours vyvanse is working for me, coupled with some heavy duty pain meds, I can like.....just sorta....not care about it for awhile. Like, it hasn’t gone away but its more shoved to the back of my mind at least. And all of that, I’m happy to stuff in a closet whenever I can, lol).
And that’s enough rambles for this post, I think. LOLOLOL, as if I have a quota. But yeah. Just wanted to express how much your support has meant and continues to mean, and like.....I’m still here and alive and crossing fingers that I’ll hear about an actual surgery date soon, but in the meanwhile like......I’m kinda stuck in a perpetual Limbo, one that’s largely confined to whatever is in hobbling distance from my bed of the day, and as much as donations help me physically, in remaining able to at least stay that way, just, any and all interactions on here help by keeping me engaged with the world on at least some level, and make it so I have stuff to think or talk about beyond my own situation and how I’m not a super huge fan of that.
(Okay, I shouldn’t say any and ALL interactions are appreciated, since I have my fun little runs of anon hate in my inbox, but I mean, all of the above is why they’re not really a big deal to me and never have been. Its like, dude, my own body has been trying to take me out for the past three years, and you think a few insults from an anonymous stranger are gonna do the trick? LOLOL, please. Tbh, the only real negative effect anon hate has on me is that it makes me a bit more snappish and quick to assume the worst than I’d like, when people @ me in a way that I misread as aggressive or in bad faith. I’m aware that my day-to-day temperment is a lot more irritable and open to fights than I usually like to be, as self-control is kinda a big deal to me, and my situation and stress and other shit kinda keep me constantly operating at a level best described as itchy, and none of that is an excuse for any times I read an interaction wrong and go for the throat. I just mean like.....I’m a very blunt and straight-forward person, and I do appreciate when people take a similar approach to me as it really helps keep those misreads to a minimum. Any time someone wants to engage with me in some way, I promise I am SO much easier to talk to if you just....put it out there, whatever it is. Its the games people play online (and in real life) that just frustrate the hell out of me and...yeah. Again, I’m not saying any of that as an excuse or a request for a free pass any time I fuck up an interaction or cross a line, I’m just saying, if anyone’s held back on interacting with me because they think I might snap at them or mistake it for them trying to start a fight, like......just be direct with me. Honestly, thats just....always gonna be more productive when it comes to me.)
But yeah. So that’s the current state of me and all that jazz. Again, I so appreciate everything everyone’s done to support me, not just these past couple days but over the course of these past three years as well. I notice and remember all of it, and its why even though I rant and complain and am critical about so much in society and fandoms and all that.....I really truly am a believer in the idea that there’s more good in people and the world than bad, and the bad just tends to be louder is all. It was especially loud for me the last couple days, the volume got way jacked up, but the goodwill from you guys has been more than enough to drown it out and give me some reprieve.
Alright, shutting up now. All done. The end.
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50shadesofmittens · 4 years
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So this is the previous Rapunzel-inspired thing, but edited. I decided not to put it on ao3, so you lot get it here. Enjoy.
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At the base of the silver Tower, on the back of a rented camel, one lone Custodian disguised as a mutant Tzeentch worshipper (read: wearing a paper-mache mask over his helmet and a T-shirt over his armor that proclaims “I <3 Change”) sat planning the next step of his daring assault.
Then a red lasso grabs him and yanks him up to the highest floor, in through a hole in the liquid-solid walls that closes as soon as the Custodian is deposited on the floors.
“Are you absolutely, completely, burn-your-soul-out, bugger-all to fuck-world and back insane?”
“Nice to see you too, Magnus.” The Custodian groaned as he got up from the floor.
“Do you realize what will happen if even a single daemon finds you here? I’ve found you here! Tzeentch has to know by now, and if you’re still here that means this is all one of his ‘plans.’ Probably to end with your humiliating death or corruption!”
“Was that a hair-lasso you grabbed me with?”
“Don’t change the subject! And yes, shapeshifting is the easiest spell for me to cast if I don’t want to be seen.” Magnus replied, his hair rapidly shortening back to its usual length. “Not that it works completely- there are some forces which can, if they/she/it/whatever the squid is right now choose so, can see everything I see. And since I’m on probation/house arrest, again, I’m being watched fairly closely right now.
“Which would be obvious to anyone or moderate intelligence who thought things through for more than thirty seconds, and I know you’re well beyond moderate intelligence, so we’re back to the ‘insane’ theory. Gods only know what disasters might’ve already been put in motion just from you coming here- and Gods knowing is exactly the problem.”
The Custodian sighed. “Rest assured, I do have a plan. A very… flexible one, yes, but I didn’t just come in, guns blazing. And if needs be I can throw it out the window and work with what I have to improvise. You know I can.”
Magnus shook his head. “That’s exactly what I’m worried about. This place, and everyone on it, belongs to the lord of plans- whatever you have in mind, he’s already well aware of. So if we’re going to get you off planet alive-”
“We’re not leaving the planet.” Magnus startled as the Custodian continued, “We’re staying here, and taking this planet out of the Warp.”
“And I’m now reverting to my original theory: you have gone completely mental.” Magnus barked out a laugh. “I should’ve known when you thought it was a good idea to come out here, alone, with just yourself and- was that a camel?”
“Right behind you.” Sure enough, the camel had followed its rider up the tower. This rider gave her many head-pats and good oat snacks. She liked head-pats.
“The fuck- how did that thing even get in here? Without exploding?”
“According to the sales pitch, she’s a specially commissioned used camel with warp-terrain capabilities and double-Primarch capacity.” The Custodian shrugged. “If that makes any sense to you then you understand her better than I do. I have no clue what she’s capable of.”
Magnus shook his head. “Never mind. The point is, you have to go, before whatever scheme you have in mind gets too complicated for me to pull you out.”
“And what if sending me away is the scheme? Hm?” The Custodian shrugged. “It’s not like you can prepare for every plan Tz- that one has. Weren’t you the one who decided that it was better to just work with what we had, than to think too hard about how to win?”
“That was a very different scenario. Besides which, I’m not trying to win- I’m just trying to get by. For now,” Magnus added hastily, “once I’m in a better position I can-”
“Stop. Just- before you tell me what your long-term goals, are tell me this: how do you plan to get into this ‘better position’ in the first place?”
“I’ll work with what I have, exactly what you yourself just said you planned to do!”
“So, what, Tzeentch mentions he wants this subsector conquered, you work on it, get further into his good graces, and just keep going until he’ll let you be free?” The Custodian shook his head. “We both know it’s not going to work like that.”
“I don’t expect my privileges to go that far. I just need enough leeway to make things… better.”
“You’re mixing your goals up. You’re planning too far ahead where you should be thinking about the now, and you make your immediate plans where you should be thinking about the long-term.”
“At least I’m doing something.” Magnus snapped. “Isn’t that enough? I used to just wait, wait, wait, planning every step and making every choice based on a thousand pre-existing factors, until I got too lost in my own head. You helped me break out of that- and I’m grateful, really, I am. I’m so, so glad I met you.
“But please,” and Magnus took the Custodian’s gauntlets into his own hands, “don’t destroy yourself trying to save me. You already have- in more ways than you’ll ever know. If I’m to live with the memories of you as my guide, don’t make one of those memories be your death. That’s not how I want to repay you.
“Go home, [R E D A C T E D]. The other Custodes need their Captain General, and the Imperium needs its leader. Don’t throw all that you’ve accomplished away. I’m not worth it.”
“I’d debate you on several of those points,” the Captain General said, “but for now, I’ll settle on this question: are your sons worth it? Are your people?”
“Don’t.” Magnus pulled away, and he turned away. “Don’t ask that. You don’t tell me to choose- between the one thing that’s led me to be someone I’m proud to be and the duty that I’ve only just really started to love again.”
“You love them?”
Magnus hesitated, but he nodded. “Ever since I got back, I keep seeing all the amazing things I knew before but kept missing or mistaking for something worse. ‘We humans have a peculiar ability to turn the worst, stupidest dystopian situation into stuff we can laugh grimly at, I appreciate that.’”
“Quote from the-nothing-maker, early second millennium assorted internet. Volume, Tumblr.” The Captain General said, “I read you that one.”
“You use my words against me, I use your quotes against you.” Magnus said, though there was no bite in his words. “You know, in the few times I haven’t been alone here, everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy. That you were tricking me into neglecting my kingdom so it’d fall into disarray, or were going to tell me to burn it all down so we could start over later.” Magnus sniffed. “It’s all rubbish. There might’ve been some downturns while I was gone, but the working infrastructure hasn’t exactly collapsed without me. Which is more than most daemon planets could say. Besides which, it’s not like I’ve been doing much governing since I got back.
“And when I see you again the first offer you make is to save the planet- though if you were a daemon or another Tz-“ The Captain General made a loud noise of protest to keep Magnus from saying the whole name, “-follower, I could believe that it’s some plan to destroy the planet, but… that’s not you. That’s the farthest thing from you. That’s why I- I can’t sit by while you’re destroyed.”
“That’s not-”
“No just-” Magnus swallowed hard and looked the Captain General in the eye. “Just listen to me. Please. Let me finish.
“It- it’s crazy but… if I died there would be another war, big fucking whoop it must be Tuesday, but… if you died, I think the galaxy would become a little colder. Because every time I look at you and try to decipher what sort of man you are, I find something wonderful there. Every time. And you can be petty, hypocritical, and cowardly, but even when you are those things that… kindness, that spark that makes you shine is still there. It doesn’t shine consistently, but it never vanishes completely. And… there’s nothing else I’ve seen or heard of in this galaxy that can match that. Not the Gods, not my Father, and certainly not me.”
“Magnus…” Against the speaker’s intentions, the word came out as a whisper.
“I know you still think, somewhere deep down, that you’re not worth it, or that you could be replaced. But I’m telling you, you can’t.”
“Magnus.” The Captain General said, louder now, but something scratchy in his voice as though he was holding back tears. “I didn’t come here to die. I know you think- that the place you’re in and the person you are makes it impossible to get out but- you keep forgetting one key thing, in the way it most counts. Who you are.
“You’re the person who saved hundreds of thousands of entire civilizations worth of culture and history- through negotiation and diplomacy, and just giving them respect. If it wasn’t you, someone else would’ve done it, and they wouldn’t have been anywhere near as kind. We both know by now that the kindest thing would’ve been to have left the galaxy alone, but that wasn’t gonna happen, so you made it happen your way. No matter what anyone else said, or did, or how they mocked you for it- you did what you thought was right. Just like in the Heresy, your sons were kept from the war because you fought back against the poison in your soul, and kept them as far from the madness as you could.
“You’ve done a lot of evil, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you otherwise and I’m never going to lie to you about that, but you’ve got a lot of drive to do good- and you’ve done a lot of good, over and over, from the moment you got the chance. What you did for me, during [REDACTED INCIDENT]
“[REDACTED INCIDENT]
“[REDACTED INC-] But you showed me that you want to go farther- and you are going farther, from the twisted paths that came before. You managed to hold out longer than any of your brothers (exceptmaybeMortarionI’mnotclearonthetimeline) when it came to corruption.”
“You...” Magnus said, with a small smile, “are the only person in the galaxy who truly believes that intentions have any value.”
“Maybe that’s because the galaxy doesn’t value people’s hearts enough. That life is so disposable nobody bothers trying to help the hurting. I think that’s bullshit. And Magnus, you stood up with me against the indecisive squid once before, and with your help I won. Now, I’m asking you to stand with me once again.
“Please.” The Captain General held out his hand, “trust me?”
And Magnus closed his eye, sighed deeply, shook his head, opened his eye, then reached out and took his hand. “Okay.” He said, voice breaking, “Okay. What must I do?”
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