#if anybody wants to write any of these ideas in fic form feel free!

[uraichievents]

Welcome to this year's UraIchi Prompt Challenge! For our 8th PC, we will be focusing on crossovers!

Like we did for a previous mini-event, this year will also have a spin-the-wheel component. For PC8, you will be spinning for at least one random fandom and creating a crossover fanwork with it. A total of 300 different fandoms were nominated in the space of a week, so you'll have plenty to choose from. For most of them, I tried to copy the fandom names straight from the AO3 tags. The only exceptions are if they're not on AO3, or if I thought a catch-all name suited it better (ie. Marvel Comics (Any) because there are just too many of them, and this way you can pick whichever Marvel comic/movie/etc. you want). But overall, all fandoms that were nominated have been included in one of the wheels.

Before we get into that though, here are the rules for PC8:

1) Fanworks must be UraIchi-centric and complete. Obviously, this year, they must also be crossovers in some shape or form. UraIchi can be romantic or platonic (lovers, friends, family, enemies, etc.), so long as you can stick a / or an & between them, and they and their interactions are the main focus. 2) Any kind of fanwork is allowed if you can pull it off (fic, art, vid, gifset, etc.). There is no word limit for fics. 3) Poly ships are fine so long as UraIchi is in there somewhere. 4) The general definition of a crossover is a fanwork where two or more fandoms are combined in some way. For the purpose of this event, dimension travel, fusions, isekai, reincarnation, and resurrection would all count so long as your work includes at least one other fandom outside of Bleach. Likewise, Bleach must obviously be one of the fandoms. Basically, so long as Bleach and 1+ Other Fandom(s) are combined in some way, starring UraIchi as the main characters, then you should be good. If you are unsure whether your idea of a crossover counts, you can always send in an ask to check.

Post Date:

The due date for this event is December 31st, 2023, and the AO3 Collection will open at 12am (PST). I’ll reblog this post with a link to the collection closer to the date.

Tags:

If you’re posting your work (or a link to your work) as a post on Tumblr, you can tag it #uraichi prompt challenge 8 in the first five tags so I can reblog it here.

And finally, what you've all been waiting for:

As I mentioned before, I used Wheel Decide to make the wheels, but each wheel has a limit of 100 items, so since we ended up with 300 fandoms, I've had to split it into 3 wheels.

There's no specific theme or category for each wheel. I threw everything into a random choice generator, and then threw the results onto each wheel in batches of 100, so it's all random, and you can play this in a number of ways. You could just pick one wheel, spin, and get your fandom that way. You could also spin two or three wheels, and then pick your favourite out of the fandoms you get. Or you could spin all three wheels and write a four-fandom crossover like a crazy person. The point is, there's pretty much no wrong way to go about cobbling together your crossover.

If you want to submit more than one fanwork, feel free to spin for as many as you want to write/draw/etc. (of course, they should all be complete). And yes, you can spin more than once if you're really stuck on the fandom you get, or you just don't know the fandom at all.

I think that's about it, if anybody has any questions, please don't hesitate to send in an ask. Then, without further ado, here are the wheels:

WHEEL 1

WHEEL 2

WHEEL 3

Have fun!

[ageless-aislynn]

Last line tag game

Tagged by @thephaeronsforge aka @sarnakhwritesthings Thanks so much! ❤

Kai smiled.

"Recreation" chapter 3, allllmost done but not quite there. 🤞😣🤞

Since that was so small, literally almost not able to even be much smaller, lol, I thought I'd turn to its sibling fic "15 Minutes" chapter 7 also in progress and

"There's no such thing," you muttered.

Yep, also pretty short sooooo how do you feel about the opening to the original fic that's also part of my Camp NaNo? Yeah, hardly a last line, I know, but well... It's never going to see the light of day in any form so I thought it would be fun to share it here. 👀🤷‍♀️

It began as an idle idea for a very AU Mass Effect: Andromeda reader fic that I knew I'd never actually write and post because it was simply pulling waaaaay too far away from the source, dumping all of the lore and such, so what was the point? Then I realized, hey, that's means it's FREE REAL ESTATE for making it my own thing, right? 😛

However, for this purpose, I put the ME:A names, references, etc. back in and made it a reader fic again. It also seems to read kinda like a Halo hybrid because that's what ya girl's been writing over in Fanficville so...? 🤷‍♀️😉

Under a read more because of the length. I'll also mention here so it's not necessary to click through that I'm tagging anybody who'd like to do this. *boops your nose politely* 😉 Definitely let me know if you do, though, 'cause I'd love to read it! 🤗

The first thing you noticed was Alec Ryder standing ramrod-stiff at attention, awaiting your arrival as if you were a five-star general and he was a cadet worried he hadn't shined his boots properly enough. "Ma'am," he said, his tone stern but polite. He offered his arm as if he really didn't want to. Interesting. Had you read his file wrong? He'd been out here alone far longer than he should've been allowed to be. The prospect of bare fingertips brushing the back of his hand should've had him quivering in anticipation. You'd heard of others having to actually stun-stop their Pathfinders at their initial meeting. It had never happened to you but… It was part of your training to know it could. But clearly not here, not today. You'd worn your gloves, just in case. You stepped out of the shuttle with your lone rucksack in one hand and put the other on the sleeve of his forearm, letting him assist you down as if you were royalty. Your dead implant flared in the back of your brain despite the double barrier of fabric between you. He was shielding hard but this was what you did, what you were, and wisps of emotions were leaking through. He was… anxious. "Welcome to Heleus," he said, adding your title and last name. You thought about correcting him with your first name but sensed he preferred the formality so merely said, "Thank you." He broke contact as soon as politeness allowed, folding his hands behind his back. "I'm afraid I can't give you a tour right now, I have duties to attend to. But Sam can guide you to your room, give you the lay of the land. Most of the station is still in shutdown but he'll turn the lights on for you if you'd like to look around." "Ah, all right then," you said but you were saying it to the crisp, neatly-pressed back of his black and red uniform as he gave a quick nod and strode away. You were supposed to be ready for anything but you decided to allow yourself a short but heartfelt thought of What in the actual hell? Then you tucked it away and went looking for Sam. Maybe he would be glad to see you? It would be nice if someone was.

Alec Ryder for visual reference. 😎 Andromeda has a LOT of character types that I love but this particular idea felt like it paired SO nicely with Mr. Emotionally Repressed Pathfinder Sr. so I, um, yoinked him out of canon and, you know, repurposed him. As one does. 😐😂

[fusionfanatic]

would you ever write any gone fics about penny? your thoughts on her are so interesting!

Hey, anon. Sorry that it took me this long to get back to you! I have thought about your question a lot ever since you sent it - it's just difficult for me sometimes to articulate my ideas in a way which makes sense in written form, hence why it's taken me this long. It also doesn’t help that it can take me up to a billion years to write a few sentences. However, I’ll try my best.

I’m happy to hear you find my thoughts on Penny interesting. There are times where I lament the fact that the gone fandom is so small because I just so desperately want more Penny discourse. Although discourse is not really prevalent (or at least not as prevalent as I’d like it to be lol), I've definitely found that opinions on Penny today are much more nuanced than they were in, say, 2011 or something. Penny is such a fun and interesting character to explore and she’s easily my favourite character in the entire series! The thing about Penny which I find most interesting is the ways in which her upbringing and childhood has influenced the actions she takes throughout her appearances in the series, if that makes sense. I discuss this in a little more detail in this reblog.

Penny is one of the only few major female antagonists in the series outside of Diana and it’s a huge shame that she’s usually reduced to being thought of as just the female version of Drake. Let me tell you right now that as a cis male, I find Penny to have infintely more depth and relatability than most, if not, all of the male villains in the entire series. Penny’s experiences with feeling physically and emotionally inadequate has, strangely enough, provided me some comfort and understanding as I grapple with my own struggles with those types of feelings. Perhaps other Penny fans have similar experiences with her character, I don’t know lol. Penny is certainly my comfort character, at least.

Do I have any fics planned for Penny? I mentioned this in a previous ask, but my current big writing project is my crossover au, where Penny is one of the main characters. This is probably the last time you’re going to hear me talk about it though because I highly doubt anybody would actually give a sh*t about it, to put it bluntly. The au is a completely personal project fuelled pretty much entirely by self-gratification (I just want to see my problematic faves from across the different fandoms I’m in come together and bond lol). It’s just something you’d have to find on your own if I ever were to put it out on the internet, sorry. As for more “canon-compliant” Penny-centric fics, I don’t have any plans, unfortunately. @mewhiphand has a great post about some fic ideas about Penny bonding with some of the other FAYZ girls like Astrid and Diana which sounds so unbelievably cute! My main headcanon for Penny has always been that she finds some good female friends who are willing to support and empower her. I’m eagerly waiting for those fics to be written if they’re ever written.

Thanks for sending the ask, anon! I love talking about Penny, and to me these questions feel like the best excuse for me to do so. Please feel free to send more my way. I promise I won’t take months to get back to you!

[thecollectionsof]

Hello this is treebird_3 from ao3 (I write crygi fics) and I was curious to know if you knew of any fic ideas you or anyone else would like to see. I’ll listen to any ideas. Fully formed plots or just an AU idea you’d like to see! I’m trying to gauge some audience ideas without revealing my identity so this is the only way I could think of doing so! Thank you!

xoxo Birdie

hiya birdie!!!! of course i know who you are, you wrote that really cute college roommate au, right?

but you came to the right place my friend, i have so many thoughts and not enough brain to write them (under the read more because i don't want this post to be too long)

here's one:

seamstress au: crystal keeps commissioning gigi, a small business designer and seamstress, for… weird things, to say the least. gigi starts getting desperate to see the person behind the commissions, whoever’s asking her to make all this stupid shit that she thinks would look bad on anybody despite gigi putting good effort into each one—especially since this person, this “crystal methyd”, tips extraordinarily well

and another:

tictac has been missing for three days. crystal is going out looking, putting up posters, etc. gigi sees her practically have a breakdown over one of her handmade posters and offers to help her look. they look together, and eventually find out that she accidentally locked tictac in the shed. (based on the Bday Show story on @getdustedparty on insta)

i get wanting to stay anonymous, but if you ever want to talk about crygi or get some more fic ideas, feel free to reach out!!! i have so many ideas but i don't want to make this too long lol (or even reach out if you just want to say hi <3<3)

[fialleril]

Oh man I would watch the SHIT out of all of those JLA/JLU sequel shows you pitched. But I have to know: will John Stewart's terrifying landlady be making an appearance? (Also you reminded me of just how much I desperately wanted J'onn's human wife's backstory. Or like, even a name?)

(Original post is here for those just joining in.)

John’s terrifying landlady would be a recurring character. At least once per season she would get to wail on a supervillain or five, but there would also be a running gag where she keeps beating on other members of the Justice League. At one point John even introduces her to Flash, but she still whacks him over the head with her broom the next time he comes by and John isn’t home. Once she even beats up Batman.

I keep thinking that J’onn’s wife was named Ming, and then remembering that was just fanon… But yeah, I would really love to know the story of how they got together. I’m imagining a situation where they’ve been dating for months and J’onn has been agonizing over how to tell her the truth about who he is and finally after some harrowing adventure or other he just kind of blurts out, “I’m an alien,” and to his shock she just pats him on the hand and says, “I know, dear.”

Other things that definitely happen at some point on these hypothetical shows:

Remember the Flashmobile? Wally’s…very expressive van? Yeah. Wally, John, and Shayera absolutely go on a road trip in the thing. John complains about the van the entire time. Shayera genuinely likes the leopard print cushions. At some point Wally installed a karaoke machine, and John very much lives to regret this. Shayera sings death metal, which honestly isn’t that surprising. Wally also sings death metal, which…kind of is. John insists that he doesn’t sing, but eventually the other two wear him down and he does a decent riff on Ray Charles.

One time Queen Audrey is taken hostage by a Kasnian nationalist group that wants to see the country leave the World Assembly and rebuild their military might. Diana for some reason can’t get to her for most of the episode, so the plot is just Audrey playing her captors to keep herself and the other hostages alive until Diana can show up and punch some fascists.

Shayera still gets a lot of hate and distrust as a result of the Thanagarian invasion, and although she tries to ignore it, sometimes it still gets to her. In one episode she’s sunk particularly deep in self-hating thoughts, so Wally decides that she’s gonna spend the day with him in Central. She’s not really interested in socializing but he’s insistent and weirdly excited about the idea and it’s kind of impossible to say no to that puppy face, so she goes along. And then the whole episode is just about how the people of Central City absolutely love Shayera. Like they’re stopping her on the street to say thanks, asking for selfies and autographs, kids are shyly giving her pictures they drew of her looking badass and saving the day. It’s wild. Finally she just straight up asks a woman why everybody is being so nice, and the woman looks at her like she can’t imagine why they would be anything but nice and just says, “Well, you brought Flash back from that vortex, after all that business with Brainiac. Of course we love you.”

One time John gets called back to Oa for a couple of weeks and the Guardians send Guy Gardner to cover for him on Earth. It’s a two part episode and half of it is John being a badass and fighting off an invasion of Oa, and the other half is just…people on Earth dealing with Guy Gardner. Like nothing momentous happens on Earth at all. It’s just…Guy Gardner.

The Glorious Godfrey tries to make a big TV comeback by announcing that he’s discovered the Flash’s secret identity. Wally spends half the episode worrying about this but there’s not much he can do. Then Godfrey’s big moment comes and he reveals that the Flash is, in fact…Bruce Wayne! The evidence is all there. They’re both fun-loving playboys, and the fact that Wayne lives in Gotham obviously wouldn’t be an obstacle for the fastest man alive. Wayne’s vast wealth would also explain how the Flash can afford to keep himself fed with that outrageous metabolism, and as the Flash is a founding member of the Justice League, that also answers the question of how the League could afford to build not one but two incredibly advanced space stations, not to mention all the other tech they have. And, says Godfrey, it explains why the other founders continue to hold Flash as an equal even though he’s clearly not on their level - because he’s bankrolling them!

Batman is completely disgusted by this entire production. Wally assumes it’s because Bats feels insulted, and Bruce lets him think that, but tbh he’s most annoyed that Godfrey would say Flash isn’t on the same level as the rest. He will never admit that, though.

Wally, meanwhile, finds the whole thing absolutely hilarious, and gleefully tells Bruce that there’s an obvious corollary here: Batman’s secret identity must be Wally West! After all, he is a detective.

In one episode of John and Shayera’s show, there actually is an alien that sucks out people’s brains. It’s finally stopped by John’s landlady and her broom.

About a week after J’onn finally settles into an identity and an apartment for good, Agent King Faraday moves into the apartment just down the hall. It’s an open question for the whole of the show’s run whether Faraday knows J’onn’s true identity or it’s just a really wild coincidence. This question is never resolved. King Faraday and Jon Jones become friendly acquaintances and every now and then they stop to chat in the hallway about their respective days. Faraday talks about what J’onn knows to be his work with the League as if it were a humdrum office job. J’onn talks about his retirement as if he had retired from an equally dull office job. Neither is ever sure if the other knows they’re lying.

There’s a Batman and Flash crossover episode in which the Joker and the Trickster team up to do something nefarious, so Flash and Bats have to stop them. Flash doesn’t seem at all worried about it, though, and Bruce knows Wally well enough by now to get curious rather than annoyed. In the end it turns out that Trickster was working with Flash all along, solely for the joy of seeing Joker’s face when he reveals the trick.

Aquaman appears for a cameo once per season on every show. Every time he’s riding on the back of an increasingly enormous and terrifying sea monster. He says something suitably badass, and then returns to the ocean.

Diana takes Audrey home to Themyscira to meet her mother and sisters. Audrey is suitably impressed with everything except the party scene, which is pretty nonexistent. She sets about fixing this. Hilarity ensues.

Lex Luthor somehow gets out of his happy fun anti-life adventure time with Darkseid and is pretty pissed about once more being denied godhood. He shows up in Central looking for revenge on Flash for the Brainiac incident (not to mention that time they switched bodies). But it turns out Flash isn’t even home, and the whole episode is just the residents of Central kicking Lex to the curb.

Several old Cadmus files that were meant to be destroyed are stolen and sold on the black market, and there’s a massive crossover finale where all of our heroes have to team up with Amanda Waller to get the data back and undo as much of the damage as possible. Aquaman shows up at the climax riding on the world serpent.

[8bitscarlet]

Feeling Special

Summary: All anybody on the team wanted to do for Halloween was have a night on the town where no one recognized them. All you wanted was a certain witch to recognize you as something more. Request

Pairing: Wanda x Reader

Genre/Warnings: Fluff (cussing, alcohol consumption)

Word Count: 3.7k

A/N: Halloween fic for y'all during this Halloween Week! This was a really fun one to write and just threw a buttload of characters in here 😂. Happy Reading!

*please do not repost or translate my material or claim as yours. reblogs, comments and likes are always appreciated!*

________________________

"So, that's my plan." Sam concludes by placing the last beer bottle, respectively named Steve, onto the table. Your eyes glaze over the layout of bottles placed around as if he was planning out a tactical mission.

"That won't work, Wilson! If he walks in there," Barton slurs out as he jabs across the table towards Tony, knocking over all of Sam's hardwork, "everyone's going to be all up on us in that club!"

"Sam..." you say, waiting for him to glance up at you as you extend your hand that holds tightly onto new beers between your fingers, "You're good with constructive criticism? I don't want you crying or something."

He blows air out through his lips as he snatches a bottle from your fingers, "No, no, go ahead. I wanna hear this."

"Well firstly," passing off the last beer to Carol, you wave your now free of beer hand over his whole mock-up, "it fucking sucks."

There's a snort from your side, Carol pressing against her lips to try to keep the drink she just took inside of her mouth. Tony isn't as lucky, as his hand slaps against his face, his drink comes spraying out from behind it. Steve shouts out as he bolts up to his feet and tries to get out of the splash zone. Yelena is right behind him, hiding behind his body and yelling every Russian expletive she can.

Sam barely notices any of the anarchy happening around him as he stares out at his fallen bottles, "That's not... that's not constructive criticism, Y/N."

Grunting as you plop back to your place on the floor, you hold up your arm with a beer bottle in hand. A cold hand comes from behind you and takes it from your grasp, fingers just skimming yours.

"Hol' on, I have an idea!" Barton hiccups, trying to sit himself up in the armchair he fell in and never got up from.

You roll your eyes, feeling a slight knock against the back of your shoulders. Glancing over your shoulder, your brows raise when emerald eyes lock to yours. She gives a tight grimace to you, mouthing an apology as she tries to find a comfortable position. Leaning back, you feel the cushion fall as she leans forward, her breath running over your neck. As you clutch the bottle tighter in your fingers, you hope she doesn't notice the goosebumps that rise as you whisper,

"Watch yourself, Maximoff. Don't want you getting as drunk as Barton."

Wanda chuckles, eyes locked on yours as she lounges back into the couch and a small grin that has you pulling in a sharp breath. Resting your arm up onto the cushion to try and play it cool, you can feel the slight pressure of her leg pressing against you. You try your best to keep a clear mind, thankful she can't see just how fast your pulse is beating in your chest.

"That's a horrible idea, Clint." Legs knock into your other side without an apology as Nat stands up and starts to stumble towards the bartop for another drink.

Clint blinks around at everyone, confused why he's being shot down when he's still trying to form his words, "I didn't even say anything?"

"Look," you start, hugging your knees gently, "I have an idea. What if... we all just dress up as ourselves to the party?"

The silence that hits the room is deafening. You swear as you take a drink, everyone can hear you swallow. Sam looks your way, brows clenched with drunken anger towards your previous evaluation of his plan.

"Do you take constructive criticism?" his mocking voice comes through the room and as you flash a grin his way, he leans back with a huff of air knowing he isn't getting you back in this condition.

"Absolutely not. Look, we go out to a thrift store or something and make some cheesy ass costumes." You chuckle when you see Yelena nodding excitedly and jabbing an elbow into Carol, "Come on, who would think genius, billionaire, playboy-"

"Philanthropist." Tony adds to the end of your phrase quickly, waving for you to continue when you raise your brows to see if he has any more adjectives for himself.

"Philanthropist," you speak out slowly, "Tony Stark would show up to a party with a red sweater and a cardboard arc reactor taped to his chest?"

Nat slaps your shoulder, spilling half of her drink onto you and sending a grimace across your face as you feel her accidentally press into the pressure point in your shoulder as she sits back down.

"Now, that's a great idea!" She shouts out and riles up the group with her sister, the sound of buzzing excitement and clinking drinks filling the room.

Glancing over to Barton, you see him talking with Sam, frowns on their faces, "That's what I was gonna say."

Clinking your bottle against Yelena's, there's a softer touch from behind you this time. A hand rests against the back of your neck, a thumb just barely moving as it traces against your skin. You try to hold the shiver inside of you, not wanting Wanda to figure out just how much you crave her touch.

Every hi-five after a job well done, goodbye and reunion hugs after long missions and every second she laid close to you during team movie nights, you had to remind yourself to keep breathing. You couldn't blame her for all the lingering touches. After losing her family, you knew she needed to make absolutely certain that all of you were still there. You weren't special.

That's what you had to tell yourself. You saw how she'd lounge with her legs across Steve's lap or how she'd let Yelena braid her hair.

You were just the one unlucky enough to grow addicted to her touches. To want them every hour of every day. You were the one who decided it was a good idea to catch feelings.

"I think it'll be an absolute disaster if we all go shopping together," Wanda tells you, her fingers now starting to trace absentmindedly against the nape of your neck.

You clear your throat, trying to get out a chuckle that didn't sound like you were choking on a hairball, "Like the time we all tried ordering at the drive-thru?"

As Wanda's laugh hits your ears, you feel the heat grow inside of your body and you try to run the sweating bottle across your skin.

"Let's go tomorrow. Don't tell anyone, it'll be better with just us two."

_____________________

Not special.

That's what you had to keep telling yourself as Wanda pulled you down aisle after aisle of the stores. The two of you spent hours cruising the town and searching through every second-hand store and even stopping in places that both of you knew wouldn't have what you needed.

An arcade for a few hours. A hole in the wall restaurant that had the cheesiest pizza. A flower shop where Wanda told you all about how she was going to have the grandest garden when she stopped playing superhero.

And every second of those moments, you could feel yourself being pulled closer and closer into her. The arcade game reflecting off of her emerald eyes as she held out her hand for more tokens, not wanting to lose her concentration. How you two tried to see who could pull their melting cheese the furthest. You couldn't wipe away the wide smile on your face as you watched the way she stared off towards the distant future of a life of peace and flowers.

The day had to come to an end though, there was a party to prepare for. As you pull on hastily made bracers and stick colored duct tape on your jeans, you shake your head when you catch sigh of how you look in the mirror. If there was one thing you wanted to do today, it was to just ask Wanda to sit down and watch cheesy horror movies with you.

Unfortunately, you put this idea in motion and Nat isn't going to let you sit out. With a groan, you hang your mask off of your neck and stomp heavily in your boots down the stairs. Yelena comes from the hallway behind you and holds up a hammer with a large smile.

"Are we building a treehouse?" You ask, clenching your brows as you start to notice her outfit.

Aluminum foil covering a flattened box tied to her chest, with a crooked piece of red fabric hanging behind her like a cape.

She rolls her eyes at you, "Do you think they'd let me take this into the club?"

"First of all, I think that's considered a weapon. Especially for you. Second of all, you're supposed to dress up as yourself."

Yelena groans, tossing the hammer onto the couch and pulling out a cardboard hammer cutout from her backpocket. You bite against your lip, your chin quivering as you try to hold in the laughter at the coloring job. It was as if a kid had colored it. And even though Cassie was running around the Compound right now, her coloring skills surpass Yelena's.

"I'm not a famous Avenger," Yelena smirks, "And well, I have blonde hair. I am sexy. And I can make a powerful, booming voice."

You cross your arms as you nod, "By all means,"

Yelena grins, clearing her throat as she takes on a heroic pose. "I am the mighty Thor! I have come for my adopted brother, Loki! Observe! My worthiness to wield..." Yelena's voice rises back to her normal tone as she stares down at the cardboard hammer, "What is this thing called again?"

By this point, a crowd has formed a half-circle to watch this Shakespearean play. Eyes flick back and forth between all of you, lips trying to contort to saying Thor's hammer's name. Cassie comes sprinting by dressed up in an oversized Spider-Man costume with Scott running right behind her,

"It's called Jonathan!" He shouts, nearly slipping on his too long cape as he snatches up Cassie's trick-or-treat bucket.

Yelena shouts back a thank you and continues on her play, jumping here and there as she reenacts one of Thor's many battles. A hand pulls you away from the free entertainment and you glance over at Wanda with her robe tightly wound around her body.

"Have you seen- what is Yelena doing?"

You chuckle and look back, shaking your head as you see Carol pretending to be a dead Loki, "She decided to be Thor."

"Right..." Wanda clenches her brows with a humored look on her face before she looks back at you, "Do you have my tights?"

"Oh! Yeah, they should be in the bag on my bed."

Watching as her eyes light up with excitement, she leans up onto her tiptoes as she grips your arm tightly and presses a quick kiss against your cheek. She leaves you there, staring at nothing as your mouth hangs open and her kiss burns into your cheek.

You don't know how long you stand there, your mouth dry by the time Nat comes and shakes you out of your haze to start pregaming. Except, she doesn't shake you. You stay halfway inside of that haze, your fingertips tracing where Wanda's lips touched you. They were as soft as you had imagined.

As a shot came your way, you quickly shook that thought from your head and tried to focus on the good time right in front of you.

Half of the crew was ready to go and the other half was still trying to get their costumes in order. The half of you that were ready shouted out that they were leaving and for the other half to just finish getting ready in the car.

"There's not enough room!" Yelena shouts as she shoves Nat's ass out of her face and into the back of the SUV.

Stark had told Happy to bring the limo. The limo had to be serviced, so that meant Happy brought an SUV that did not have enough seats for everyone.

You were one of the lucky one's to actually get into one of the seats as everyone is shouting for where they're going to sit. Tony's in the front seat arguing with Happy, the Black Widow sisters are trying to get the back seats up and Steve just looks like he wants to go back into the ice.

"Everyone shut up! We're just going to make room! Lay down in the back and I can get back there. You two, go sit on a lap!" Sam was not going to miss an opportunity to go to the club, so he was taking charge as he shoves Barton and Wanda forward.

"Hey, keep it PG you two, no lap dances." Barton teases as he sits between the two bucket seats where you and Steve sit.

Wanda climbs in first, your arms wrapping around her waist as she nearly trips over Barton's legs. She widens her eyes as she tries to talk over the ever rising volume of the car. You shrug and shake your head, you have no idea what she's saying but really you just want her to sit down. The faster you get to the club the faster you can start hyperventilating about her sitting down on your lap. Carol climbs in after her, slamming the car door shut and telling Steve she was getting the seat on the way back.

"Hey uh," you clear your throat, "you found the tights!"

Wanda chuckles, gripping your arms a little tighter when Happy hits a pothole. Everyone in the back screams and starts to cackle in laughter as Tony and Happy start to yell back and forth about whether or not he's paying attention to the road.

"Well, I wouldn't be going if I didn't." She chuckles and you catch the quiver in the way she laughs. Is she nervous?

As you open your mouth to ask if she wants to bet on who's getting hammered first, Yelena shouts from the back,

"Stark! If you don't start playing some jams, I'm coming up there and punching you in the face!"

The rest of the drive is just horrible singing and nearly blown speakers, no room anywhere to get a conversation in with Wanda. You just sit there, her fingers gripping onto your wrists as you try to keep her steady on your lap.

Wanda moves quickly to open the door once Happy hits the brakes and climbs out of the SUV, giving a quick glance back to you, an important stare in her eyes. Before she can reach out to grab you out of the car, Yelena jumps out from the trunk and pulls her towards the club, yelling that she can hear the song that's playing inside and they need to be on the dance floor now.

An arm rests heavily on your shoulders as you shove your hands in your pockets and kick a rock. Glancing over, Sam is there and you let out a loud groan.

"You know how you can win that girl over?" Sam wiggles his brows with a playful grin.

You shove him away, "We are not having this conversation again. You are not being my wingman again. Steve's a better wingman and he called it 'courting' last time."

Sam holds up his hands, "I was going to say swallow some liquid courage, but damn! You need to get out on that dance floor!"

Whether you liked it or not, you were going to be following that advice. The club is practically bursting at the seams with every costume imaginable. The sexy costumes, the costumes that weren't really costumes and those who went full out with their costumes. Your plan worked thankfully. No one recognized that the actual Avengers were waltzing into the club dressed like the Avengers. Whether it was because the plan was brilliant or because people were too drunk to care, shots made their rounds again and again in celebration.

Holding out your arms as you stumble your way to the bar, you hold up two fingers to the bartender as you lean against the counter. You had gotten away from the dancing circle when Nat said she needed another drink. Anything to get out of all that fake smoke and sweating to another round of 'Monster Mash'.

A flash of red comes from beside you and catches your eye. Glancing over as you bob your head to the beat of the song, you nearly choke on the water you grabbed.

"Hey, where've you been? I lost you after that spell song came on."

The bartender hands you your drinks as Wanda pulls out her phone and starts to swipe into it. You start sipping on Nat's vodka cranberry, distracted by the concerned look on her face.

"I didn't want to bring this up earlier and get you embarrassed or anything."

Your jaw clenches as you try and think of anything that was embarrassing in your room. You're pretty sure you had put your laundry away and the evidence of a late night binge fest was thrown away. A bright light shines up through the dark club and you squint, trying to figure out what she's showing you.

"Why do you have this?"

Your eyes widen when you see that white box with a bobblehead inside of it. Through its clear plastic in front of the box, there's a clear view into who that bobblehead is supposed to be.

"Shit..." you breathe out, tipping the rest of Nat's drink into your mouth and holding up a finger to the bartender to refill it.

Wanda looks at you, rubbing your forehead as you try to figure out a non-creepy way to explain why you have a bobblehead in the likeness of her. The stupid box has her name right there on the front, you can't even say it just looked cool.

"I mean, they did a great job at matching my hair color." Wanda zooms in, laughing and glancing up at you, "I didn't even know they made these!"

You miss how excited and happy she looks when her eyes glance up towards you. You're practically pacing, running your shaking hands through your hair as you start to sputter out any words you can think of,

"Oh, well you know. All the fans have 'em. I mean... Well, I saw it y'know. Eventually I was gonna go out and get everyone's. Not just yours and uh... and well,"

Wanda grabs your shirt and brings you back to the bar. She bites against her bottom lip as her hand slides down your chest and grips your wrist to make sure you stay put,

"It's cute."

You swallow roughly, the jitters in your body at an all time high now that she's touching you, "Not weird?"

She glances back down at her phone, "I mean, having an action figure thing is kind of weird but... this is cute. You're cute, Y/N."

"Like..." you breathe out carefully as you grip onto the bartop to keep your knees from buckling, "like action figure cute?"

Wanda laughs, her finger running over yours and watching you slowly release your iron vice grip. As you do, she slowly flips over your sweating palm and intertwines her fingers with yours,

"Y'know, I can hear when you're telling yourself to stop thinking about how attractive you find me over and over again, right?"

"Ugh!" You groan out as you lean your head against the bartop, "I thought I was playing it cool."

"It's okay," a cool hand runs through your hair and you open your eyes and see Wanda leaning with you, "I was doing the same thing. And you don't even read minds."

You chuckle when you realize that after all this time worrying, you are in fact special. Wanda's brow ticks up, hearing that thought form in your head. Her fingers squeeze yours tightly as she starts to walk back towards the dance floor,

"Come on. I can show you just how special you are."

"You seriously want to dance right now?" You smile at the way she's already halfway dancing as people try to walk around her.

"We are at a party. In a club. We can get down to the nitty gritty of what it means for you to have a shrine for me."

You roll your eyes but let her lead you right back onto that dance floor. Wanda's arms wrap around your neck as you feel the booming bass hit your chest, nearly in time with your beating heart. You feel her wrist turn and your hands are whipped up to her hips, pulling a grin from you.

"You're a witch."

She raises her brows, feeling your shoulders start to sway to the music, "It is Halloween, babe. Let loose, what've we got to lose?"

You laugh out into the air as your feet start to step to the beat, "Oh, I can think of a few things we can lose."

Wanda bites against her lip, scrunching her nose playfully as she waits for you to tell her.

"This bar, these lights. Our friends. We could lose all track of time and maybe a little sleep, too."

Her cool hands rest on your face and as she rests her lips on yours, you know she agrees with you.

__________________________

Stepping slowly back into your room, you rub your eyes as you gently close the door behind you. Kicking the bed softly as you lean forward, you watch as Wanda's eyes squeeze hard as she tries to stay asleep just a while longer.

"Hey," you whisper out, "Wanda."

She lets out a tired hum, rolling over as she wraps her arms around your pillow and hikes her leg up and over the blanket.

"You sleeping?"

With her face half pressed into the pillow she mutters out, "No. I'm clearly fighting crime."

You chuckle, your eyes grazing across her body. Still in the red tights and leotard, her crown lost and forgotten somewhere in the club, "Oh yeah, your outfit is a dead giveaway."

Wanda smiles, reaching out and grabbing your hoodie pocket to yank you back into the bed. You crawl back beneath the covers, pressing a soft kiss against her forehead. Closing your eyes to give in to the exhaustion in your body, there's a sharp buzz beneath your ribs.

With a sigh, you lift yourself up and reach under for the buzzing phone. You glance down at the screen and feel your blood freeze as you read the notification on the lock screen. Wanda's opened her eyes by now and sees how your face falls, her hand caressing your cheek.

Slowly, you turn the screen her way and watch the humor reappear in her eyes, as well as a deep blush on her cheeks.

"Surprise!" she exclaims as she hugs you close and hides her face in your chest. You're frozen in place, the picture of the online order for one of those bobblehead figurines on her phone. You barely feel the kiss she presses beneath your chin, "They make one of you, too!"

Groaning, you fall back onto your pillow-less side of the bed and look down at a proud Wanda, "Gross. Now we're that couple who has a gimmick."

As Wanda lets out a hum, her legs wrapping around yours and you stare down at that figurine, you feel a smile grow on your face. Maybe you were a little a special.

______________________

Taglist: @iliketozoneout @lostandsearching @rooskaya-yelena @yeeterthekeeper @aos22 @sxfwap @women-am-i-right @marie45019 @lucydiibi @raincloudtoyoursunshine @olsensnpm @cristin-rjd @idkbubs @yeetus-thyself @hello-mtf @royalityofmultifandom @nfatale05 @onceattwice @cyberbonesworld @madamevirgo @thewandaromanoff1 @juuliettee @333hhm @when-wolves-howl @ethanwoods1 @evilcr0ne @007giu @uno-x-uno @pnsteblnme @witchmaximoffs @pinkytoecrust @harleyswanda @yuhloversxx @chaekhan @chasethemoon @dopeyouth @spongebobtentacles @temptationsbrew @evenbeingcrazy1998 @tastefulsecrets @themarvelprince @marvelwomen-simp @nuianced-tck-enby @tastetherambeau @ashrito13 @lavi-27 @didujustcallmedumb @theoowo @imtheflash @lynxwhispurrs @imagine-reblog @wandas-slut-heart @romanoffomixam @xxromanoffxx

[stopeatingwhales]

the 1995 brits x damon albarn & liam gallagher

hhhiiii I'm here with a very cute little fic about the brits!! the idea of writing something with Damon and liam fighting over someone was requested quite a long time ago (sorry it’s taken so long omg) but I loved the idea!! I do hope you all enjoy it as I enjoyed writing it a lot hahah xx

Pairing: 90s damon albarn & 90s liam gallagher x reader

Warnings: nothing, just a little bit of bickering n dat

Word count: 3.057

Requested by anon x

༉‧₊˚✧

Being a part of the madness that adapted the name ‘Britpop’ was truly an experience. Paparazzi at every corner you turn, equipped with the brightest, flashiest cameras, also having the most annoying click noises to the point that after one image you’ve earned yourself a migraine that would last the entirety of the day; parties that would last entire nights, bearing millions of different kinds of drugs - some that hadn’t even been given a name yet, but you’d still give a try anyways, since you’re so high and drunk that you simply lose the intellectual capability to construct decisions, you say fuck it, and get so high to the point that you’ve blacked out in a booth in a bar, with the owner asking you to get out since you’ve been inside for one too many hours after closing time; as well as constant press coverage. With your name plastered over literally every newspaper and music magazine known to man, as well as having your entire life consistently dictated for the entire nation to read about every Sunday morning and indulge themselves into as a form of entertainment, it was what being famous delivered, right on your doorstep at 7 in the morning. Any earlier and you’d feel rude not to give them a cup of tea as a form of dignity and respect towards their sublime dedication to the job. Although it was fun being associated with it all, my band in particular gaining a different form of calidity due to it being a female fronted band, by the time that the entire nation was hooked on this ‘Blur vs. Oasis’ rivalry, it was as if every other britpop band had been washed away from existence, due to eight boys arguing as to whom had the better music. And the better looks, according to Liam Gallagher.

Tonight was the night of the Brit awards, perhaps the most prestigious awards ceremony for music. To be awarded a Brit was probably the largest achievement possible in British music in the form of an award, and it was definitely either going tonight to either Blur or Oasis. The chances that another band, say Pulp, were to get the award, would not only be extremely amusing to see the reactions of the two biggest names in the Britpop game, but would also cause the largest uproar in the nation. It’s either Blur or Oasis. “Their drama is so silly,” laughed Emily, the guitarist in our band whilst flicking through the latest edition of the Sun, the cover of the newspaper being, of course, Liam Gallagher. “They’re literally bickering about who looks the best. How do people find this interesting?”

“Because of how silly it is, people never leave their secondary-school-like selves. Just a bit of fun I guess.” I replied, fixing up my hair in the mirror in front of me. We were currently getting ready to go to the award show, and needing to look your best was an expectation. Though I wasn’t dressed in anything that would result in jaw’s dropping, it was important that I at least appeared somewhat admirable - the entire nation always had their eyes on us, but tonight they were going to see us all, live. Perhaps the reason why bands like Oasis and Blur are so obsessed over nowadays, since all they’ll do is turn up in some flimsy Adidas t-shirt and call that fashion. I suppose scruffy was the new elegant.

“Who do you think they’ll give the award to?” she questioned, still aimlessly flicking through the recycled pages of the magazine. “I think Oasis. Their music is so much better than Blurs.”

“Really? I’d say Blur. They won on top of the pops, so the likelihood of them winning the Brit award is highly likely,” I answered, shuffling away from the strong reflection of myself towards Emily, my eyes quickly scanning the page that she had her eye on currently. “Gosh Liam’s so full of himself.”

“He’s got his eye on you, you know,” She said, shoving the paragraph she had just read in my face of Liam boasting about his little crush he had supposedly gained from watching our latest performance on top of the pops. “Thinks you’re ‘well fit’.”

Scoffing in response, I mumbled back to Emily. “If he thinks that he’s sleeping with me, he’s very deluded.”

By the time we had arrived at the venue, you weren’t able to walk into the entrance without at least 50 cameras blinding your eyes and the shouts of so many begging for you to quickly turn your head and grin - the price for the photo would reach the many thousands. Once walking in, it was less crowded, only having select people by the ground floor, dedicated for musicians and bands, with the occasional interviewer walking past to every circled table, adorned with white cloth and champagne glasses, asking questions about how they’re feeling, who they think may win, and what they thought of the music throughout the past year. What was nice was that people didn’t have that much interaction with one another, just with their groups. It created a sense of formality in the space, which made me feel a bit at ease from the idea of some random row happening in the middle of the floor, most likely between Liam and Damon. The past year in music was truly something. Britpop was at its peak the entirety of the year, with songs like Parklife and Supersonic pouring out of every radio station in Britain that by the end of the year, you had ditched casual radio music and began blasting the classical station. It was a nightmare. Since the fall of grunge subsequent to Cobain’s death the previous year, the talk of any other genre in Britain apart from Britpop didn’t occur. It was as if we were living on this mystical island, miles away from any other music and culture, whilst adorning and obsessing over our own. What was nice about Britpop was that it was a pure celebration of English culture, whether it be a simple Sunday roast, or going to school, they all carried the same ambience of nostalgia and pride - also disregarding whichever band wrote what song.

“Free champagne… Yes please,” said Madeline, the secondary guitarist of the band, whilst heading to the first seat she could sit on, then quickly indulging herself with the first taste of the rich drink. “Oh my gosh it’s heavenly!”

Laughing at her reaction, the rest of the band took a seat around the table and took their first sips of the champagne, which we would all come to find to be indeed heavenly. Small talk was shared here and there with the rest of the group, but overall I stayed silent. In all honesty I found attending award shows was quite boring because if you didn’t end up getting an award, you would essentially be sitting there for two hours doing nothing. Even if you did win an award, it’s simply a minute of glory with the speakers blasting your music, and another minute of all eyes piercing into your soul as you make sentences about your gratitude towards those who had helped you along the way to earn such an achievement. I doubt anybody genuinely liked attending shows like these.

“The champagne is good, yet we don’t get enough for our table,” I complained, grasping my now empty champagne glass and waving it around in the air. “I’m gonna head to the bar to get a refill, anybody want anything?”

After receiving a handful of nos from the rest of the band, I took myself out of my seat and wandered over to the bar, which was empty, perhaps due to the venue not yet being completely filled with all the artists that were set to attend the night. “Just a refill of the champagne, please.” I asked politely, handing the bartender the used glass I had kept in my hand. Whilst waiting, I noticed that Damon was on the other side of the bar, who also didn’t notice me there, until he caught eyes with me.

A grin broke out on his face as I walked over to him. “You alright?” He asked me, quickly thanking the bartender for his drink and turning back to look at me. The height difference between us was evident, but it wasn’t the case of something so dramatic that he was the height of the empire state building and me, just a measly common tower in the city. He looked quite content, his hair scruffy yet neat, along with his outfit being just as I had assumed: a white shirt with jeans, a used pair of Adidas for shoes.

I smiled back at him and nodded. “Suppose you have high hopes for the award tonight.” I said, simultaneously receiving my refill of the beverage I had ordered, followed by my thanks. We stood adjacent, although there was enough distance between us to establish our relationship - mutual acquaintances whom had met every now and again, since they’ve both been dragged into this wormhole of madness. He was quite the opposite in comparison to his rivals, though he himself could be quite bothersome occasionally, he still had a grasp to what those may call sensibility.

“Oh well we’re better than them, aren’t we love?'' He chirped, his head now cocked to the side in a teasing manner. “I’ve heard that you’re rooting for us this year.” He added, a little smirk pasted on his face.

“Do you read every paper you see?” I questioned, my face turning away from him in slight embarrassment. Between us, there was no shared intention for a relationship to stem, though there was definitely a flirtatious tension that followed between us wherever we had met. Whether it be a random photoshoot for a magazine double-spread, or backstage at top of the pops, we always managed to share a chat with one another, and nothing else followed on from then. It was quite sad, because once you’ve established a connection between something you either both disagree or agree with in terms of societal views, something in the press, or life in general, you’re instantaneously cut off and asked to hop onto stage to record a meaningless three-minute performance with fake, plastic instruments which practically mean nothing.

“Well it was nice seeing someone else's face on the papers for once.” He replied, downing his drink, then ushering at the bartender for another. A thing that we both realised was that, between our conversations, we indirectly indicated that we were both there for each other, because we both had a complete understanding towards what may be happening to the other person. It was stressful being in the limelight constantly, and for someone who was the frontman of a band so large, with his face plastered on every magazine cover imaginable, things were bound to be stressful.

Sighing, I turned to face him again. Despite the fact that before I had the ability to respond, our conversation was cut short from a voice shouting my name from behind. “Well if it isn’t bloody Y/N.” the voice said, and from then I instantly knew it was Liam’s. Turning my face away from Damon’s, I locked eyes with Liam. As always, he was dressed in the usual: a parka, with casual jeans. Oh, and don’t forget the Adidas shoes. Even though he and Damon practically hated each other’s guts, they always seemed to have similar fashion senses, but I could never picture Damon in a parka. And I don’t think I even want to.

“How’ve you been love?” He asked, swinging his arm around my shoulder in a warm, but nonchalant manner. Me and Liam had a similar relationship to that of mine and Damons, simply just minusing the sentimentality of it. We were friends, and had come across each other at random parties, which opened the gateway for us to drink and get high together many a time. While he was quite the idiot, he was also a very fun guy to be around, but I knew Damon would never understand that. “And why’re you letting this twat chat to you?”

A laugh escaped Damon’s throat. “I think you’re the only twat here, Liam,” he began, a sigh leaving my mouth as I was trapped in a situation that I could only pray didn’t gain much traction from the rest of the attendees. “Me and Y/N are friends, don’t suppose we’re getting jealous are we?”

Liam’s grip on my shoulder tightened as I stared at his reaction to Damon. I felt quite small in this situation, due to me needing to tilt my head a good amount to properly look at Liam, and knowing if I left it would just erupt chaos and make it worse. “No need for me to be jealous when I know that she wouldn’t want to spend a minute with you in bed you bastard.”

“And you’re so sure about that are you?” Damon replied, amusement laced in his words. “Because you’ve totally spent a minute with her haven’t you?”

“Well I’ve got my arm around her haven’t I? And she’s not stopping me,” Liam argued back, a smirk entwined on his lips. Reaching for my hand, Liam grasped it lightly, then then brought it to his lips, kissing it, before holding it gently. Method of intimidation, perhaps, and though it was sweet, there was a time and place. And this was definitely neither the time, or place. “Who’s the jealous one now, eh?”

“The last I recall, she had hoped that we were winning this year, not you,” He boasted, moving the contents of his drink around whilst grasping it firmly. Whilst it would be something that would offend Liam, he was simply the type of person to not take criticism regardless of whomever it was coming from. I respected him for that. “So much so for a healthy relationship.” Damon mocked, staring into my eyes as a small laugh escaped my lips.

Granted that I had found the argument shared between the pair of them to be extremely silly, it was good entertainment as the time passed before the award show would begin. Watching them both, attempting to throw insults at one another, each one trying to cut a little deeper than the one previous, made me almost laugh at the both of them right there. “You know, it’s so silly that you both think you know me so well to think which one I’d pick from the both of you,” I said, detaching myself from Liam’s embrace and snatching my half-empty glass of champagne. “At this point, it’s neither of you.”

Walking back to my band’s designated table, I quietly took my seat as the show began. “Saw you chatting to Damon,” Emily whispered, raising her eyebrows. “Also saw you grinning like a madwoman.”

“Oh shut up you,” I replied, looking back at the bar to notice that both parties had left, assuming back to their places. “There’s nothing going on between me and Damon- Liam too in fact.”

~~~

As the ceremony went on, the boredom got to us. Even the amount of drinks I had didn’t entertain me, but what could we do, we were stuck in the middle of an award show celebrating music, even though I had largely doubted that the majority of those attending were enjoying themselves. I had no clue who the awards were going to be handed out to, and whether that somebody may be us in a category, but we all knew Blur were going to win something. Yes, Oasis had gained a lot of fame and had become one of the most famous bands in the music scene at the minute, but by the way things had gone for Blur after the release of Parklife, things only seemed to go further up from there. And that was only proven to be truthful, after Blur had left with four different awards.

After Blur had received their fourth award for best British group, we all knew that there was nothing left for Oasis. “They’ll get it all next year, they only debuted this year you know.” I said to the table, who were staring at the four smiley boys on stage as they trotted up to receive their award. I admired Damon as he said his speech, then also turning to look over at Liam, who looked quite evidently pissed off. He was practically drooling in anger from the sight brought to him at that particular moment, and I couldn’t blame him - their band hadn't gone home with one award that night, but neither had ours. “They’ve taken four awards home, isn’t that like, the most anybody has ever taken?”

“Indeed it is,” Madeline replied, taking a sip from her drink. “Must be a good year for them then, eh?”

As I watched the band leave the stage in absolute glee, I stared at Damon as he walked back to his designated seat for the short remainder of the evening. Despite the fact that my band had been sat in our seats the entire evening in complete boredom, just like Oasis and so many other acts that had been nominated for pointless awards, it would be a lie to say that I wasn’t proud of how far Blur as a whole had come and evolved through their music, and especially Damon. From beginning as young, bowl-cut boys only charting so far on top of the pops, to creating songs and melodies that could unite our entire nation, it was impressive.

Damon was the face of Britain at this very moment, and a very good looking one. Once I watched him sit down, he scanned the room for a while until he was able to find where I was sitting, which was parallel to his seat, merely a couple metres away. He connected eyes with me as soon as he found me, also accompanied with a small smirk painted on his expression as he raised his eyebrows and sent me a wink. I simply smiled back at him in response before turning away abruptly, disrupting the little moment we seemingly shared, and though I felt my heart flutter a little, he’s definitely not winning me that easily.

[lovelybarnes]

god- l. laufeyson (part 2)

pairings: loki laufeyson x reader, platonic!tony stark x reader, mentions of nick fury warnings: language and minor angst about: part 2 to god a/n: i apologize for taking so long to post it, i was having trouble coming up with the little details and honestly just writing overall but it’s up!! and another bucky fic will be up tomorrow or saturday!!

loki is suspicious after you leave. in the- admittedly short- time he’s been shoved away and locked in a cage to rot, he had seen you all of two times, and he was enthralled. flabbergasted, too, surprised that a simple mortal managed to stay hidden in the deep parts of his brain and refuse to leave. you were… interesting, just as you had described him: not as a villain, or evil, or horrendous, but captivating; unbelieving that he would do anything for no good reason.

whether that was true or not was still up for debate, so he had yet to decide if you were incredibly intelligent or the simple, stupid mortal he thought you all to be. nevertheless, he found himself slightly disappointed when you left, waving goodbye to him and tucking your book under your arm. while he tried to dissolve the sensation, tony stark came bounding in, standing as close as he could to the glass barrier. stark barked words that loki didn’t care much for, ignoring the man. he could see you wince from inside the elevator, a sliver of your face still available from the closing doors.

“hey, hey!” stark barked, snapping his fingers at loki. the god tilted his head at him, “yes?” he asks, voice dripped in more annoyance than usual. “that girl who just came out of here?” stark started, while loki took a minute to examine his words, “girl,” was she not an accomplished avenger? he thought tony of all people would show the respect that loki thought none of them deserved. “if you even think about doing anything to her, i will bring in the big guy to slam you around some more. you remember him? or do you need a refresher?”

loki nearly scowls at the mention of hulk, body reminding the strange ache that was left after the oaf slammed him into the floor. he only chuckles lowly, though, “how much do you distrust a fellow avenger to believe they cannot handle themselves?” loki muses. tony scoffs, shaking his head, “i really don’t think you’re in a position to question me.”

“i’m a god. i am always in the position i wish to be in,” loki reminds, making tony roll his eyes, “you’ll never see her again if i can help it. and i can,” he says. “oh, but i like her!” loki rebuts, riling tony up, “so sweet, don’t you think?” tony freezes, abruptly turning around and slamming a hand against the glass, “you will not lay a hand on her. i’ll make sure of it.”

“i seem to remember midgardians can usually do as they please,” loki replies smoothly. “and you really think she’ll want to spend time with a monster?” tony questions. loki smirks, “i suppose i simply have a feeling.”

-

tony is seething when he comes to your lab, having switched with steve to come talk to you. you’re humming along to a song he doesn’t bother to recognize. “you’re in a good mood,” tony observes. at the sound of his voice, you turn, taking your earbuds out and grinning at him. you press what he assumes is the pause button on your phone, “tony! i’ve actually been meaning to ask you something,” you begin. tony raises an eyebrow to tell you to continue. “it’s about loki,” you continue, anxious about his reaction. the man pauses, exhaling softly, “oh. i know what you want to- i’m so sorry for doing that to you, y/n. i promised that i wouldn’t put you with him and we should’ve been more prepared. it won’t happen again.”

the confusion is clear on your face, vocally affirming it with a “huh?”

“that’s what you wanted to talk about, right? babysitting loki?”

“well, yes, but no, it actually wasn’t bad, i wanted to bring up the idea of maybe allowing him books? or maybe music or something, i can’t imagine going from having any book at your fingertips to none at all. also, he’s not getting enough food and i wanted to talk to you abou-” tony stops you with a raised hand, “what?” you recognize the conversation won’t end too well, so you try to phrase your words in a way that tony won’t get too angry at. “i just- when i was watching him, i thought we could be a little less… cruel.”

“with the guy who tried to take over earth?” tony retorts, you sigh softly, already beginning to feel resigned. “he still deserves to eat,” you defend weakly, “come on, tony, please? i’ll watch over him myself when he’s listening to music or reading or eating and i’ll take it back when i have to leave.” tony shakes his head, “someone will always be watching, and it won’t be you.” you frown, “why? don’t you trust me? i’m an avenger, tony. i’m not weak or useless, it’s just watching over someone who is literally in a cage. he can’t even escape.” tony’s about to say no again, so you press, “how come nick fury- man who doesn’t trust- trusts me enough to do that but you don’t?”

tony’s fingers squeeze the space between his eyebrows, eyes closed. he contemplates the effects if he refuses, no doubt ending in the thinning-by-the-minute thread that is your trust in him completely snapping.

“fine,” he finally agrees, and your frustrated frown melts back into a relieved small smile, “but everything you give him has to go through someone else first. i don’t care if it’s fury or hill or romanoff or me, but it has to be approved.” you nod quickly, “yes, of course.” tony raises a finger, “and, you will watch him the whole time. you got yourself into this, kid. i trust you can protect yourself from him if you ever need to.” you agree, “absolutely, and, uh-” you reach into your bag, pulling out the book finnegan’s wake, and your old ipod, equipped with a single downloaded song and earbuds plugged in. “i actually have already chosen a book and a song that i think he would appreciate during the time he tells me himself what he would like and while it gets approved, and um,” you push the objects toward tony, a surprised look lining his features, “since you have time now… the ipod has only that one song and i doubt he can do anything with either of the items, although i’ll be here if he does.”

“you picked these out for him?” tony questions, and you nod again, “i don’t really know him, i doubt anybody does, but i thought james joyce was a good guess considering.” tony looks from the objects in your hand back to you, before sighing and grabbing them. “i want to break free?” he asks, holding up the ipod. you feel your cheeks heat, “music is hard, i went for the obvious.”

tony exhales, looking down at the book, “fine, both are approved.”

“what, you’re not gonna check to see if i carved out a hole into the book and put the tesseract in there so he could escape?” you ask sarcastically, taking back the items while he rolls his eyes. “no, i trust you.” you grin, “you better. there’s no reason for you to not,” tony agrees with you softly, genuinely feeling bad while he kisses your cheek in goodbye. “steve was just called on a mission and needs a replacement, so you better get down there. bowser isn’t in a good mood today.”

you huff out a light laugh at the nickname, cradling your dear books and tangling your fingers in the cords of the earbuds while you walk to the elevator. you catch your bottom lip between your teeth while you watch the numbers blink above the elevator doors, nerves from your choices finally making a home in the pit of your stomach and making your grip tighten on the items. you really don’t know him, and one of the few things that you do know about him is that he isn’t the nicest- although you think it probable that it was warranted- which begins the inkling of regret of your carefully-picked choice to form. you try your best to push past it though, attempting to reassure yourself through the fact that loki’s reading options are limited, and as evil as everyone (including him) claims he is, you suspect (hope) that there is something in him that can’t simply disregard kind gestures. you suppose that theory is from what thor has told you about frigga. you hope it’s correct.

the elevator dings, knocking your thoughts off their destructive railroad and your attention to the shield guard wearily eyeing you and what you carry. “hey, wally,” you greet, shooting him a smile as you walk over to him, pulling your id card from your pocket. “what’cha got there?” he asks, sitting up straighter in his chair to look closer at you. “a- already approved by tony stark- book and song for loki. you know how much he had access to in asgard?” you question. he shakes his head, and you sigh, “me neither. but i imagine it’s a lot, and i don’t think he’s been introduced to our books yet.”

wally stares at you for a few seconds, before pursing his lips, “already approved by stark?” he checks, “already approved by tony,” you repeat. “just no ear things. don’t want him to choke somebody,” he instructs, holding out his hand. you oh quietly, hurriedly pulling off the headphones and putting them in his hand. wally only nods then, trusting you enough to not ask for any more reassurance, and pressing a button next to him to allow you into another elevator. the ride is much shorter, and you bounce on your heels, fidgeting with the edge of the book.

you barely recognize when the doors part, the slick-haired god already examining you. “in asgard, it is strongly discouraged to damage books like you are doing,” loki states. you stop your picking, dropping your hand and walking inside. “hello to you too, loki.” the god ignores you, instead focused on what is in your arms. “i thought any pleasantries for you weren’t allowed down here,” he says, eyes focused on your ipod. “ah, not if you ask nicely,” you reply, standing next to the chair, “and, these aren’t for me.”

you set your own book down on the floor- a very cliche wuthering heights, but it was either that or romeo and juliet, and you’d prefer not get caught reading about a forbidden romance while watching a villain- and hold up the one for him, grinning. “so i don’t know much about asgard or its books because thor hasn’t budged yet on taking me, but from what i can gather, you have little to no media from here, right?” loki ducks his chin suspiciously in response. “so i can imagine you haven’t read shakespeare, or james joyce, which reminds me a lot of you, so…”

you offer no more explanation, putting the book on your chair and showing him the ipod, walking closer to the glass. “this is an ipod. it’s used to play songs offline, and i picked one out for you. i don’t know if you’ll like it because i don’t really know what type of music you like or if you like it at all-” you pause, finally recognizing how long it had been since he’d talked. “but, uh, i hope you do.”

you look up at him then, unsurprised to find him already staring back at you. “you did this for me… why?” he queries skeptically. “i told you before; i imagine it’s difficult to go from everything to nothing in a day. and i think it must be boring to be trapped in there all day with nothing to do.”

loki still looks distrustful, but you grab the book, pulling out the key card to open his food slot. “i can’t leave these in here after i leave, but i’ll stay until you finish both,” you assure, pushing the book through the small gap. your ipod is still in your hands as you walk back near him. he looks at you for a few moments longer before his eyes flick to the book. “and there are no… explosives? poison of some kind in that?”

you shake your head, “no, of course not.”

loki narrows his eyes at the paperback anyways, walking towards it apprehensively. “when you want me to, i can teach you how the ipod works and you can listen to the song. it’s by a rock band called queen,” you babble, watching as he slowly observes the book before picking it up at an even more leisurely pace.

“i’m going to go sit over there now. just let me know if you need something,” you can’t seem to stop talking, so you focus instead on your legs moving you back to your seat, picking up your novel before sitting. you’re about to ramble on about something else again, until you notice the publication in loki’s hands, slightly panicking at the immediate rush of satisfaction and happiness it gives you when he opens the first page.

you try to avoid the sound of turning pages when you stay stuck on the same sentence, too concerned about why your neck decided to warm when the god accepted your favor.

“you can play it,” loki voices suddenly, almost as if reading the loud thoughts about your decision on the song. he looks up at you, “reading is usually accompanied by light music, but i suppose i could listen to rock.”

you nod, pressing a button on the small device that makes the beginning notes bounce off the walls of the room. your fingers gently tap along to the beat on the edge of your page without your noticing, too used to the melody to not react. you try not to look too hard at loki to watch for his reaction, too interested if he’ll like it or not.

after the first minute passes by and he doesn’t object to the sound, you count this as a win, allowing yourself to relax into your chair and actually read the words lined on the page, discovering them to make a lovely combination. you only notice when the song ends when loki speaks up, “it is okay,” he compliments, “i enjoyed it. i think i’d enjoy your so called queen.” you chuckle softly, “i thought you would. do you have any favorites here so i can add them for next time?”

“no,” loki responds, not taking his eyes off the page. “i’ll find some for you, then,” you promise, then press play on the ipod again, not missing the tiny quirk of loki’s lips, making you way too giddy than you should be.

-

after it has been over six hours and loki has barely finished finnegans wake, you’re completely sure he took extra time to read it; whether it be to absorb it better or simply have more time with it in his hands, you don’t care, pride swelling up in your chest because you did something right for him. he hadn’t complained about the repeated song, and you can’t blame him. the sounds are a lot more entertaining than the cold silence that usually occupies the space where he resides.

you ask loki more about what he thought, attempting to coerce him into telling you his preferences, until tony is calling you up.

you’re about to leave, both books and ipod in hand when you pause.

“y/n,” loki starts, and you realize it is the first time you’d hear your name out of his mouth. you decide you like how it sounds in his voice, not disregarding how you shouldn’t. “yes?” you answer instead, meeting his eyes. “thank you.”

you swallow, surprised at the genuinity in his voice while you nod, “it was no problem.”

loki finds it disturbing how much he dislikes seeing you walk away.

[heytherejulietx]

Surprise ~ Jughead Jones

Masterlists

Requests are OPEN (for Bughead only)

Read on AO3 here.

Notes - Okay so this is the fic I promised you guys at Christmas. Yes I know it took forever and I’m so sorry but I’m so so so glad it’s out now you have no idea!!!! I really hope you enjoy it please let me know if you do! Thank you to @lathyrusodorxtus to helping me write Bret and help me make him a douche, ily lee.

Warnings - Slight sweating.

Word count - 3k.

Riverdale tag list - @bucky-j-barnes @adorably-sweet-hufflepuff @kpopgirlbtssvt @booksmusicteaandanimals @happy-puff @teenloves

Fic tag list - @typicaljuggie

Fill out this form to join my tag list.

Her fingertips lightly brushed over the checkered blue and white quilt cover that covered his bed as she sat waiting for him to arrive. Whilst she had been in the space that her boyfriend essentially lived in before, it still was new to her. His side of the room wasn’t messy, as she had expected from her boyfriend, who had created quite a mess in Archie’s bedroom when he had been staying with his best friend. He had some stacks of different books on his desk that she could only guess were reading materials for his class, and some different drafts piled beside them, though it was all neat. She couldn’t say the side for his roommate's side of the room, which was littered with different scrunched up balls of paper and even some clothes on his nightstand and the floor.

Jughead had been at the school for only a few weeks, though she hadn’t seen him since he had moved in. He had been busy with his studies and she had been occupied with other things back in Riverdale, and they just hadn’t had time to see each other. Though after multiple calls from Jughead explaining how he felt like an outsider there, and multiple times she had almost cried because she missed him; it was enough to buy a train ticket to meet him at his school.

Stonewall Prep had a sort of atmosphere to it that she didn’t like. It was cold, for a start. The corridors and halls were all freezing cold, unlike the warmth that came from most of the buildings in Riverdale, and the only warmth she did have was in Jughead's dorm after she had turned on the small heater in the corner of his dormitory. Though the people there were making it worse. She had walked past a few of his classmates on her way into the private school, and they seemed to all have the same cold stare that made her a little uneasy. Jughead had told her that his classmates weren’t the nicest of people, and she could see why very clearly.

Though anything negative had been cleared from her mind as soon as she heard the doorknob turning and the creak of the old wooden door as it was pushed open, revealing the person who she’d been missing terribly for weeks. It was like she was walking through a desert and he was her oasis; he was so beautiful. His signature beanie was sat atop of his head as usual, light raven curls peeking out from underneath the grey wool which caused her to smile. The red tie that was a part of his uniform was loosened and his top button was undone, his collarbones barely peeking out from the white fabric. And the sleeves of his blazer were rolled up slightly, exposing his olive-toned forearms. In usual Jughead fashion, he walked into the bedroom juggling two books, his laptop case, and a cup of coffee; which she could see was still hot by the steam rising from the mug. She smiled softly when seeing he was using the mug that she had gotten him for the previous Christmas that they had shared together. It had been a dumb joke present that had a literary pun that read “Why are writers always cold? Because they’re surrounded by drafts.” And whilst Jughead had groaned about how bad of a pun it was, he’d taken it to Stonewall with him anyways.

It only took a second for him to spot her. She was practically beaming as she watched his gaze drift upwards from the floor to land on her, and if it were possible her smile widened at the sight of his blue eyes lighting up and a smile quickly taking over his expression.

“Hey,” He breathed out through the grin, quickly emptying his arms of his belongings to a free spot on the nearest unit as she stood up from his bed. “What’re you doing here?”

“I wanted to come and surprise you.” She beamed and crossed the small space of the dormitory that was between them, before she giggled as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her so tightly that her feet lifted off of the floor slightly as he’d lifted her up.

Her arms locked tightly around his shoulders as he did around her waist, and she melted into his touch with a warm smile and a sigh of content. It had been weeks without his touch, his warmth; and she had never known such torture as not being able to be held by her beloved. Through all of the sleepless nights and the tears she shed over not being able to be with him, in that moment she felt it was all worth it by being able to see him then. She pressed her face into the material of his blazer and inhaled deeply, relaxing more in his arms as the familiar smell of old books and coffee beans washed over her senses. She used to hate the smell of coffee, when she’d started dating him she complained all the time, though now she couldn’t get enough of it, because coffee smelt like him.

“I missed you so much.” Jughead murmured into her hair, his arms subtly tightening around her frame as he spoke.

“I missed you too.” She whispered as she smiled softly. “Sorry I didn’t come down any sooner. I wanted to but I’ve just been so caught up with everything. And I know you have too.”

“No, don’t apologise darling.” Jughead flattened his palm against her back and gently rubbed it through the soft material of her jumper. “You’re here now and that’s all that matters.”

Her eyes fluttered open and looked up at him when she felt him move back slightly, and couldn’t help but smile brightly when she met his eyes and the smile that he was wearing too. It had been too long since she’d seen that smile in person. Video calling each other was fine, but it was never enough. It could never make up for not being able to see the real thing.

His hand moved from her back and her smile softened a little when his palm cupped the side of her face and tilted it up slightly, before he leaned down and met her lips with his in a soft kiss.

When was the last time she had kissed him? She couldn’t even picture it, though she knew for a fact that whatever she had remembered kissing him like was nothing compared to the real thing. Butterflies rose up in her stomach as she melted into his touch, her hands resting on his chest as he pulled her closer by a hand on her lower back. She hadn’t felt so warm and euphoric since the last time she had seen him; and in that moment she couldn’t imagine anything better than kissing Jughead Jones.

Though before either of them could pull away from the kiss, the noise of the door creaking open behind them filled the room, before a quiet chuckle followed. “Sorry, I’m not interrupting am I?”

Jughead looked visibly annoyed as he pulled away and sighed as he turned to face the person at the door, reaching for her hand in the process. She turned to look at who was standing at the door and smiled politely, not recognising who was there. He was taller than Jughead, though only by a little, wearing the same uniform though his was a little more presentable; his tie on properly and his sleeves not rolled up. In his hand he carried a laptop bag that looked a little like the one Jughead had, though it was a lighter brown in colour instead. Was this the roommate Jughead was constantly complaining about?

“Nope.” Jughead answered him a little stiffly, and upon looking up at him she could see his jaw was clenched, in - what she guessed was - annoyance. This was definitely his roommate.

“Good, I’d hate to intrude.” The guy at the door chuckled quietly again, before he shifted his gaze from Jughead and onto her with a lift of his eyebrows and a slight smirk.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you around before.” He mused, and she couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy under his gaze. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Y/N.” Jughead answered for her, and as he spoke he let go of her hand to move an arm around her waist instead. It wasn’t often that Jughead got jealous or protective, though she could definitely tell when he did. Her hand lifted to lightly rub his arm, and once he had glanced down at her she shook her head slightly, as if to tell him it wasn’t worth getting mad over.

“Y/N huh? A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” The guy smirked slightly, and this time she didn’t mind at all once Jughead had tightened his arm around her slightly. “Bret Weston Wallis, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Tell me, doll, what’re you doing with someone like him?” Bret eyed Jughead for a moment before his gaze locked with hers once more. “Charity work?”

A frown quickly formed over her features when she felt Jughead stiffen at her side, and she glared at Bret as the frown quickly turned into a scowl. She knew more than anybody else that Jughead was insecure of his past. He had asked her a few times about why she chose him, of all other people. Why choose the kid from the broken home instead of the put-together kid from a happy one? And although she knew Jughead understood her feelings completely, after almost three years together, she could tell comments like that still hurt him. And truthfully they hurt her too.

“Because I love him, you dick.” She shot back, though he just chuckled at her again which got on her nerves even more. It was like he was mocking her

“Easy there, I’m just letting a beautiful girl like yourself know your options. You don’t know what you’re missing out on until you experience it, sweetheart.” He winked at her and she scowled.

She could tell Jughead was itching to say something by the way he kept his jaw clenched and his hands in fists, his knuckles turning white under the pressure. Though she simply rubbed his arm to let him know it was okay as she stood up a little straighter in front of Bret. It definitely wasn’t the first time Y/N had gotten into an argument with someone taller and stronger than her; back in her sophomore year she had gotten into constant arguments with people like Reggie Mantle for picking on Jughead among others, so it wasn’t new for her. She wasn’t someone who enjoyed conflict, though she would never stand for someone being nasty. Especially not towards herself or her boyfriend.

“Trust me, I’m not missing out on anything. I’ve experienced it.” She glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest, only growing more aggravated when Bret had simply laughed and looked back up at Jughead instead with an irritating smirk.

“She’s feisty. I like that.”

Bret’s words had her face twisting in disgust as she glared at him, feeling Jughead fully tense at her side before he let go of her to step forwards and lightly push him towards the door. “Okay, Bret, go and find Donna or someone.” Jughead spoke stiffly, clearly trying to keep his anger in check as he opened the door and nudged Bret to walk out of the room.

“Okay okay, I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. I can see you want to be alone,” He rolled his eyes and went to leave the room, though at the last moment turned back to face Y/N as he leaned against the doorframe. “You know where to find me if you're ever looking for an,” He paused as he turned to look at Jughead, very clearly giving him a once-over, before his eyes returned back to Y/N. “...upgrade.”

Her expression twisted into an angry scowl and she opened her mouth to say something, though before she could Jughead slammed the door in his face, still clearly tense.

“Your roommate is an asshole.” She frowned as she moved back over to him, sighing as she moved her arms around his waist to hug him. Y/N couldn’t imagine how much worse Bret might be when she wasn’t around, and the thought made her frown. Jughead stayed at Stonewall Prep five days a week, and for the majority of his time that was what he had to deal with? It just wasn’t fair.

“I know,” Jughead sighed as he moved his arms back around her, dropping a kiss to her hair before he rested his head on top of her’s, swaying them slightly as he gently held onto her. “I don’t like him on an average day, but I definitely don’t like him talking to you like that.” Jughead huffed and his hold on her tightened subtly.

“I’m sure he won’t bother us again, and if he does I’ll punch him.” She joked and giggled quietly, smiling once Jughead had pulled back enough to look at her.

“Oh yeah, I’ve got no doubt about it. You’re extremely threatening, all four feet of you.” He cracked an entertained grin as she gasped in mock offence, lightly smacking his chest.

“Hey! I’m way taller than four feet, you’re so mean. I’m not even short.”

“Oh yeah?” Jughead challenged and raised his eyebrows a little, smirking slightly. “Kiss me then.”

Y/N scowled playfully as she leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss him as challenged, though without him helping her by leaning down slightly she could only just about reach to press her lips against the underside of his jaw.

“You got it, short stack?” Jughead teased.

She just huffed and moved her hands to the side of his neck to pull him down so she could kiss him properly, causing him to chuckle quietly against her lips as his hands found her waist, holding her against himself as he walked her backwards until the backs of her knees hit the edge of his bed, causing her to sit down.

“I’m not short.” She playfully glared at him, though her expression changed to a more fond smile when his hands tilted her head up slightly to look up at him.

“Mhm, I’m sure you’re not.” He responded teasingly before he just leaned down to kiss her again as she knocked his beanie off of his head to thread her fingers through his soft hair to pull him closer to her.

Just over an hour later she sighed as she felt his fingers gently moving through her hair, brushing any loose strands from her face. They were laying across his bed with the sheets just about up to their hips so they didn’t overheat underneath the extra material. All she was wearing was his white button-up that he had been in earlier as she rested her head against his shoulder, her fingers tracing invisible shapes and lines across his bare chest as he held her against himself.

“I’m sorry we don’t see each other more often.” Jughead spoke softly into her hair.

Y/N glanced up at him and shook her head as she smiled softly. “You don’t need to apologise, baby,” She said softly, her hand moving to his side again so she could run her thumb lightly over his ribs. “I’d rather you stay here and take this amazing opportunity with your writing then stay somewhere that won’t help you at all,” Y/N leaned up to gently kiss his jaw. “Your roommate might be a dick and so might your classmates, but it’s not like they’ll kill you.”

“Don’t jinx it.” Jughead mumbled jokingly and she giggled quietly as she felt him press a kiss to her forehead softly. “Are you sure you’ll be okay without me there the whole time? I worry about you, y’know.” He sighed.

She couldn’t help but smile softly as he moved his hand from her hair to gently rest it along her jawline instead, the pad of his thumb running along her cheek. Of course she missed him whilst he was away, but Stonewall Prep was important. It was a chance for him to enhance his already amazing writing skills and take his talent even further than what he had. She couldn’t get in the way of that. They would have all the time in the world when he was finished, but for now it was important he kept at what he was doing.

“I’ll be fine, Jug,” She said softly. “This is important for you, and if I do ever need you I’ll call you.”

“You promise?” Jughead raised his eyebrows a little.

“I promise.”

He sighed though accepted her answer nonetheless, a soft smile painting over his lips as he leaned down to press his lips against hers softly for a long moment before he pulled back to look at her.

“I’m going to miss that beautiful face, though.” He smiled fondly, his thumb circling her now pink cheek.

“And I’ll miss yours.” Y/N giggled, kissing him again for a long moment before she pulled away to lean her head against his shoulder again.

“I love you so much.” Jughead said softly, his fingers combing through her hair again as she relaxed into him a bit more.

“I love you, too,” She smiled and turned her head to gently kiss his jaw again before she nuzzled her face into the side of his neck, enjoying the peaceful moment with her boyfriend in his arms.

[princecharmingmendes]

Heart by Heart | Chapter III | Raul Mendes

                                               *secret agent AU*

Y/N and Raul have been friends ever since they could remember. And falling in love with your best friend can be pretty tricky and messy 99% of the times, add that to the fact they're constantly risking their lives side by side on the field since they're both secret agents, and the best team that's ever existed. Perfect recipe for disaster.

Hi, this is the third chapter of this series, you can find the first one here. Please read the warnings on this one, if you don't feel comfortable with the contents listed on the "warnings" section, please read something else, there are a lot of other works on my masterlist and on the "fic rec" hashtag on my blog. Please give me some feedback and I hope you guys like. Happy Reading!

                                 previous chapter | masterpost | next chapter

*Word Count: 4.1K+

*Warnings: cursing, probably wrong tips about physical fighting (I'm sorry, I know shit about it!),  therefore mentions of physical fight (only training though), jealousy if you squint.  

Please don’t read it if any of this subjects make you uncomfortable, feel free to check my masterlist for other writings. 

*Posted: July 15th, 2021.

                                                   -*-

Y/N wishes she could punch Raul’s perfectly aligned teeth and annoying smirk away. 

Ever since their mission was announced a couple of days ago, Raul made her work out hard, harder than she’s been doing for a while. It’s not like she was in a bad shape, she couldn’t exactly avoid training being constantly sent on field missions. But since she normally stood on a far safe distance, she didn’t need to run 10 miles everyday on the treadmill or on the streets -which was her best friend’s preferred spot since the terrain was irregular and they had to be alert every single minute so they don’t end up being hit by a car. And that’s precisely what he made her do. 

They had to be at work at 8:00 a.m. every day, so Raul picked her up at 5:30 so they could have breakfast before their run, she’d then curse him on the way back to her apartment so they could get ready. He would only laugh at her, promising it would be worth it. Then they’d go into a meeting to discuss final details with the people they picked to form their team. After a long meeting arranging mostly details and cover up stories, they’d go to lunch, only to come back and train using the new gear, shooting and physical fight. The group had to be ready to face pretty much everything imaginable, the risk of this mission was like no other Y/N could remember, so they had to be the best of the best. 

So yeah, maybe Raul was just being careful, but she was sure he was only finding new ways to torture her. 

That’s why the team consisted on Raul as the captain, or co-captain as she liked to tease, and Y/N as the responsible for the strategy. There was Jack who was picked to be Raul’s right hand on the field, he was an experienced agent and has worked with him on many occasions, meaning their chemistry on the field was great. He was a huge, strong man with the sweetest and kindest heart, always laughing out loud and making jokes around. Then there was Celine. Celine’s past is a mystery no one was able to figure out, at least not yet. She was not a person of many words, always quietly watching everyone and everything, ready to shoot the first one that comes her way. Despite being Daphne’s cousin, who was all soft touches and pastel colors, Celine was brutally honest and even a little blunt, but had a great soul with good intentions, maybe just not the best person skills on the team.

And despite all that, she seemed to like Y/N for some reason, wasn’t the biggest fan of Raul, but she didn’t deny he was a great agent. So Y/N picked her cause she trusted her with her life, knowing she would do anything necessary to finish their mission. And then there was Thomas. Tommy as Raul liked to tease, was a newly turned full agent (three month ago to be precise) and still lacked a bit of that intuition only time and experience could give you, nonetheless he was a suggestion the boss made herself. Thomas was a great agent, with fresh ideas and still a bit naive, but he was quick at thinking, new a lot about tech and was a great field agent high made him a lot more complete than older ones. And with that, the team was closed and all worked out together after lunch until their bodies gave out. 

And to make it simple, the beginning was hellish, the end of the week was just like the beginning. 

The first day they started training physical combat, she was paired with Celine, which she was sure was attempted murder. Five minutes fighting she was on the floor, unable to move and breathing hard. Raul quickly climbed on the ring, helping her to get up as he told Celine to replace him with Tom. He moved her to sit on the little bench and brought her a bottle of water as she shook her head. 

“You know I can walk and do this myself, right?”

Raul huffed an amused laugh and nodded, sitting beside her “of course I do, doll, just taking care of my girl, yeah?”

Y/N rolled her eyes playfully, bumping his shoulder with hers as she chugged the water down “maybe I’m way worst than I originally thought”

“No, you’re not bad” he said shaking his head and she let out an annoyed breath “I mean it, you’re just rusty, this is not your field anyway, and you can’t use any weapons on the ring, so it’s harder, come on, you just need to activate muscle memory”  Raul said patting her back as he got up. 

“Wish I could believe in myself like you do” she giggled sadly as she took his bigger outstretched hand, letting him pull her up.

“Me too, but don’t worry, we’ll get there, that’s why you have me, silly” he pinched her cheeks “now come on, you’ve got a lot to remember”

He took her to the punching bags, grabbing a pair of gloves for him to wear for her to punch. Then proceeded to bark orders and different combinations of moves, and surprisingly, she remembered most of them, not necessarily executing them perfectly, but it was a start. He then got rid of the gloves before carefully wrapping her hands and moving her to a punching bag. 

“Here’s the thing, doll, you know what you’re doing, you just need to do it better” He placed his hands on her shoulders straightening her position, one hand sliding down her right arm to correct the movement “try it now” he said, his warm breath on her ear, making her suppress a shiver and forcing her to focus on the bag in front of her. 

Y/N tried and it definitely improved, but it still wasn’t what she remembered doing, something felt off “okay, yeah, thanks”

“Good, now fix your legs, you’ll be fighting someone who possibly knows how to fight back, so rearrange your feet to gain more balance in case they come for you” he instructed, hands still on her shoulders as he used his own feet to fix hers in the floor “yeah, that’s it, now the strength” his gently glided down her arms, only for them to stop at her waist and stomach “this is where you have to focus on, contracting abdominal muscles will help the movement and impact of your punch, this is what you’re missing”

She knew he wasn’t necessarily teasing her or anything, this was just Raul trying to help her in his very touchy way, but that didn’t stop Y/N from becoming a bit speechless, not trusting her own voice to respond, she only nodded her head. To which he just laughed stepping back.

“Relax your shoulders and don’t forget how to breathe, doll” he said crossing his arms above his chest as he watched her finally letting go of her breath, taking a deep one before punching a few times

It wasn’t perfect, but it was almost there.

Raul knew she was good and completely capable of taking anyone down within seconds, her grades on every test they ever took serving as even more proof for them. She just needed to remember it a bit and he wanted her to be completely ready to face anything, he couldn’t afford her getting hurt on anybody’s watch, specially his. So he would do anything he possibly could to avoid that. 

“Good, now give a few more, try a few kicks” he said and she looked back at him to nod, her breathing a bit elaborate  “I’ll meet on the ring later, sweetheart” Raul added with a wink before turning around to see the rest. 

“Fuck you” he heard her mumbling before turning back to her task at hand, making him chuckle lightly as he moved around the gym. 

Raul walked around helping as he could, wrestling with Jack for old time’s sake, adjusting a few of Tom’s moves and helping Celine with the new guns they’re given. He even managed to train a bit himself, before he decided it was time to take her to the ring before Y/N gave up on him and moved to something else. So he walked up to find her talking to Jack, he couldn’t hear much, but he heard enough to know it was time to intervene. 

“-yeah, Adrian keeps asking me about you, I think he wants to take you out, you should go, he’s a great guy and word around he’s good in what he does, if you know what I mean” he teased wiggling his eyebrows at Y/N, making her giggle “you should go out with him, really, you’re both single”

“He can ask her out when we’re back, the only date she’s having for now is on the ring, come on, doll” Raul cut the conversation before he could listen to her reply. 

“Jealous, cap?” Jack asked with a lopsided smile on his lips as she just laughed.

“Of Y/N? All the time, a pretty girl like her always has everyone’s attention, you should see whenever we go out to eat something or whatever”

Y/N rolled her eyes “oh please, shut up, both of you”

“I mean it, doll, now come on, let’s see how you improved” he said cracking his knuckles “and you, haven’t you got anything better to do than gossip?”

“Of course not, I’m all done” Jack replied.

“Done of getting your ass beaten today, you’ll only be ready whenever you’re able to take me down” Raul said as he draped his arm around Y/N’s shoulder. 

Jack only threw a middle finger at Raul as both of the boys laughed. 

Y/N and Raul climbed on the closest ring, with her stretching a bit as he did the same, both in some sort of staring competition. Everything with them could easily become a competition -who drank water fastest, little races to get to a certain place, who could count the most amount of super specific cars on a road trip, but the most common and their personal favorite, staring competition. And that was a recurring thing ever since they’re basically babies. And they both hated loosing and would try as hard as they could to beat the other. 

Raul’s mind was racing. He wanted to ask if she was actually interested in someone at if she’d say eyes to whoever wanted to ask her out, or even if she actually looking for a date or maybe even if she didn’t want a serious relationship for now. All that while he had this beautiful sparkling with excitement eyes staring into his soul, leaving him bare for her to read. Meanwhile, she was only trying to concentrate on what was about to happen and also on trying to keep her heart at a normal pace, knowing full well she was about the get really close to her best friend. Also having the other stare at her so intently it was making it hard for her to breathe properly.

“Ready?”

Raul only smiled at her “Was born ready, doll”

Y/N then surged forward, getting him by surprise with her punch landing on his shoulder, and he had to admit, her punch was good. With the element of shock on her favor, she tried hitting him again, clearly avoiding his face. Raul then stepped forward regaining his composure and cornering her slowly, only blocking her attempted attacks, without fighting back. He then was kicked hard on the thigh, a surprised yelp leaving his lips with the painful sensation spreading through his muscles, and just as she was about to hit him in his chest, he grabbed her hand, the other being quick to join his grasp on his right hand. 

“Not so bad, sweetheart” he said with a triumph smile on his lips but she was quick to get her left hand loose moving around to get out of the space he guided her to limit her space.

Then she started her series of punches and kicks again, him dodging most of them, but still being hit a few times making him proud but at the same time breath heavier on the pain spreading on his abused skin. When her hand came to hit him in the chest again, he grabbed it, already bringing the other one to join, before bringing her to the floor and immobilizing her with his own body. Y/N stopped struggling quickly, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to do much to get out of his grasp. She was panting heavily, but it was worth it, cause she was able to make him sweat and be a little less composed than when they started. 

“Bet your secret admirer would be proud” Raul said still unmoved on top of her.

“Bet he would” Y/N sassed back and Raul chuckled, dropping his head to her collarbone and she swear her heart skipped a beat, her breath hitching on her throat. 

Raul got up, offering a hand to her, which she gladly took “are you going out with him?”

“I don’t know, I don’t even know if that’s true or the guy, maybe? I think this is not the moment, so maybe i’m the future, who knows?” she shrugged, grabbing her water bottle and drinking before offering it to him.

“Yeah, you’re probably right” he said closing it again, pulling the ropes for her to step out.

Y/N turned around to face Raul, and as she waited for him she asked “what about you?”

“Me? What about me?” Raul stared at her, noticing the others were already gone.

“Are you proud?” she asked with a teasing smirk, voice playful, but deep down, that was all that mattered to her. Not Adrian or anyone else.

“I’m always proud of you, doll” he smirked at her and she only shook her head giggling “but yes, you’re good at it, just a bit more practice, you’re a natural”

                                                  -*-

“Come on, sweetheart, climb up here and I’ll let you all go so you can get ready for tomorrow” Raul said as he was propped up by the hopes on the ring, a smirk on his lips as everyone started gathering around. 

It was the last day of preparing before they left the next morning. They’ve spent the whole week perfecting their skills and cover ups until it rolled out smoothly off their tongues. Y/N and Raul started a routine, they decided to set camp on his living room since it was a lot bigger than hers, so they would wake up already on his place, grab breakfast, run for a while before going straight to work. Then they’d meet their teammates for a brief discussion, after hitting the gym until their limbs gave out. When it neared 6 p.m., they’d leave for his place where they’d shower and order takeout or cook something simple, before talking until they fell asleep, most nights on the living room.

And despite she remembered as clear as day she fell asleep on the couch, she would wake up on his bed, wrapped on a heavy duvet, with the sound of water droplets hitting the ground from his bathroom. They never talked about it, both acting as if this routine was normal and settled for years now. And it was shocking how well they fit the role of this whole domestic situation. And Peter was loving it, always throwing knowing looks at her whenever she went to visit his lab area. 

Y/N only rolled her eyes at him and Celine bumped her shoulder on Y/N’s, a feline smile gracing her sharp gorgeous features, and then  she turned to the six feet man standing at the edge of the ring “fine, but you’re buying me dinner”

“Whatever you want, and if you’re able to win, I’ll even buy sushi for you and give you a back massage” he offered as he pulled the ropes to help her climb, bowing his head trying to hold back a chuckle.

She climbed on as he let the rope snap back into its place “And what would I have to do if I loose?” she teased, knowing full well she was going to take the offer only to have a chance to rub his smirk on the dirty and sweaty ground beneath her feet.

“Pack my bag and say I’m the most beautiful man you’ve ever laid your eyes on” he stated simply. And honestly, it wouldn’t be such a hard thing to do, but first, she wouldn’t want to add it to his already over inflated ego, second, she didn’t know if she would be able to say it without blurting out some other compromising feelings. 

But Y/N stares at him and smiled lazily, like she wasn’t bothered at all  and truly contemplating his offer “tempting”

“Come on, babydoll” he mockingly pouted at her and she playfully sighed rolling her eyes, cracking her knuckles and rolling her head. 

“Alright, but you better be ready to order from my favorite place and get me dessert” she added with a pointed look and he nodded eagerly. 

“You make the rules” he winked before walking backwards to his designated spot “ready?”

“Yeah, let’s get this over it so you can buy me dinner” she teased, watching from the corner of her eyes as her teammates and even Peter gathered around to watch “or we can just stay here all night watching you brag about yourself and being all talk no action”

Raul laughed before shaking his head and a more concentrated look latch onto his eyes “don’t hold back, sweetheart”

“Not my thing” she said before taking a deep breath and trying to remember all she learned this week, making her first move.

Raul blocked her relatively easily, and then their movements flowed in an intricate rhythm. With only a few days of training, the improvement on her technique was obvious as she maneuvered a lot more gracefully than before. Her hits a lot more consistent, her defense was up and she was able to notice her opponents weakness so she could plan the next move. Y/N was also able to notice patterns on their tactics and predict their next move. 

And he was a bit shocked. In a good way, but shocked nonetheless. 

He knew she was good, Raul’s seen her training before, saw all her tests and grading throughout the years. Hell, he even taught her a lot of tricks he picked up over the years, so he knew how she behaved on a physical fight, knew her favorite moves and her worst ones like the back of his hand. But she surprised him with a few new hits and tricks he hasn’t seen her doing before. And that’s what caught him off guard and made her hit him hard a couple of times. That made Raul proud. Sure, he would loose the bet, but giving her a back massage, buying her food and seeing her happy after defeating him was priceless. 

He didn’t make it easy for her, he never would. He wanted her to be the best of the best, always. So he hit back, avoiding her head or going to strong, she had to be whole for the other day. But that didn’t stop him from trying to take her down, but she was quick, she wasn’t too strong, but her agility made up for it.

“Come on, we have an audience, we should put on a show”

Y/N shook her head, concentration never leaving her determined eyes “I’m not an actress to entertain a crowd, nor a clown like you, baby”

“Hey!” he sounded offended, grabbing her fist in his bigger hand “rude”

She just shrugged, pulling her hand back before going back into action and it couldn’t be even more exciting. The teasing, the meaningless banter and still great performance on the wrestle was enough to put an ease on Raul’s heart. She could do it. Of course she could, but now there would be less collateral damage. 

So when he felt her kick him to the ground, quickly pinning him to the rubber type material floor, immobilizing him in a way he wasn’t even able to move his arms if she didn’t let go. Y/N was sat on his stomach, face hovering centimeters above his, breath on frantic rhythm, as he panted on her face, feeling the slow pain crippling on his back and limbs where it collided with the floor. Raul couldn’t help but smile at the surprised and amused glint on her eyes as she was slowly processing she was able t take him down. The cheerful screams around them were only white noise as they stared at each other’s eyes, and he already felt like his heart was going to burst with pride and happiness, that until he heard the gleeful flightless leaving her lips as realization finally hit her, her forehead hitting his clavicle as she laughed, pure joy coursing through her veins.

He ended up laughing with her, his cheeks hurting from the smile stretched across his face. Y/N nuzzled her face on his neck still buzzing happily as she laughed. Raul turned his head lightly, only enough to press a kiss to her temple as she recovered her breathing. 

When she finally did, she untangled her legs from his, getting up from his torso and offering a hand at him, which he gladly took as he stood up, facing his colleagues as they still laughed and cheered at her. Celine climbed up to meet her with a quick, sharp, strong hug in congratulations before dragging her down with her. Jack was quick to pat Raul on the back as he chuckled, mumbling a ‘good luck with your girl, dude, she’s a badass and you’re gonna need it’. When he finally met her eyes again, he offered her his hand and Y/N automatically took it, letting him pull her closer until she was in his arms. 

“That was insane, doll, shit, you did so good” he said, arms loosely looped around her waist and she beamed proudly at him. 

“I did work hard for that” Y/N shrugged trying to play it coy but he was only able to chuckle.

Raul nodded “yeah, I noticed, and I’m so fucking proud of you for that, and many more reasons, but that?! You’re the fucking best, you know?” he praised and she felt her body heating up. 

“Actually” she said softly, looking down at his silver necklace “Celine’s the best, she showed me a few new tricks that I combined with the ones you taught me and the ones I already knew, so yeah”

“When did that even happen?” he didn’t try hiding his initial shock. They’ve been basically around each other 24/7, how did he not notice her training with someone else the past week?

“Well, to be fair you’re too cocky for your own good” Y/N had that pointed look in her eyes as she poked him on his broad chest “so I kinda asked her to show me how I could take you down and we’ve been doing it in secret, mostly when you went down to meet with Peter or to practice shooting”

“So it was a whole scheme just to try to embarrass me and knock me out?” he’s tone in a playful accusation as his brows shot up in evident disbelief.

“To sum it up, yeah, pretty much” she shrugged innocently as Raul threw his head back laughing.

“That's fucking awesome, you’re amazing” he said letting go of her waist, only to turn to face their team, dropping his arm around her shoulders “alright, guys, it was a hard week but I believe it paid off. We learned a lot with each other and I believe we’re a lot better now. This is still a fucked up mission, but I think we’re ready to face it and as long as we keep on working together and communicating well, we’ll be alright and coming back home as soon as possible, yeah? Think we should call it a day and test tonight”

“Okay, cap” Tom replied eagerly making Y/N chuckle before shaking her head. 

“So what do you say, cap?” Y/N asked teasingly as the others laughed.

Raul smiled down at her as he shook his head “Think we’re ready, doll”

                                                   -*-

*Please reblog or like this post if you liked it so I’ll know.

*I’m sorry if there are any spelling mistakes.

*Please do not repost this without giving me the credit, this is a completely original piece and I do not give permission to copy this!

*Hope you guys enjoyed it!

*xoxo

-🌙

@mariamuses

[romanianseba]

Pretty Dresses

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Bucky Barnes, you, and the way you love your dresses throughout the seasons.

Warnings: some angst, mentions of death, major fluff. A very, very smitten Bucky.

Word count: 6.9k

A/N: This is very special for me and I’m so proud of it, loved writing it sooo much. ‘Everybody but them knows they like each other and they don’t even think about the possibility of being liked back’ kinda fic. Enjoy!

—

winter~

Your focus goes from Bucky to the man in front of him. You study the man’s expression, analyze his body language and the speed in which he talks to Bucky through the lens of your weapon. Not a hint of suspicion in his features. What an idiot, you smirk satisfied. Bucky’s very good at this, you think proudly.

“Who’s gonna listen to my ideas from now on? Yep, Tony Stark. You better thank me properly, Anthony.” You whisper to yourself as your eyes flicker from Bucky and the guy to the small classic diner behind them and you’re relieved to see that there’s barely five people inside.

The guy seems to have no suspicion at all up to now but you never know. So you feel thankful to find the place as empty as you wanted it to be. And, as far as you can see from your position, there aren’t any other cars around besides the one your target came in. Good, he came alone. Because you’re here just in case he didn’t.

The guy you’re aiming at is about three inches shorter than Bucky, hair that reaches his ears and slightly built but not even close to match the size of a super soldier. He’s a member –a low range member, you believe, but a member nevertheless– of the criminal gang Tony and Steve had been trying to track down for almost four months. They’ve been trying to find where they hide, following them from a distance but never coming close enough. The gang is credited with about twelve innocent deaths in the past months.

Tony was desperate, until you came up with a not so original plan. Really, you didn’t understand how nobody came up with the undercover concept before.

Although you were elated that your idea was taking the form of a plan, your eyes went wide open with disbelief when Tony suggested Bucky would be the one doing the undercover part.

He would try to infiltrate and pretend to want to be part of a criminal group. Your heart raced. Pretend enough for them to allow him into their places. Your stomach churned.

Do you think he is capable? One hundred percent. Are you still terribly afraid something really bad could happen to him? One hundred and fifty percent.

I’m in. You had said determined when Tony asked who wanted to be covering Bucky’s back in this one. Haven’t done that job in a while. You shrugged when all heads on the table turned towards you, realizing only then how immediately you throw yourself into it. I want him to get comfortable with all members of the team. You should go with him next. You lied to Natasha with a sweet smile when she smirked at you knowingly after that meeting. She didn’t believe a word you said.

The dirty roof of an old, abandoned warehouse is were you lay over your stomach, across from that diner you can’t tear your eyes away from.

You smile when you see a young couple sharing a pink drink over the red table by the window. A woman in her forties sips from her coffee cup on the other side of the counter, newspaper in hand and glasses over her nose. She wears an uniform that matches the diner’s paint inside. You wish for it to stay that way as you keep an eye on Bucky and your aim on the target. You hope you won’t have to shot anybody nearby those shiny windows.

It’s an enchanting diner. You haven’t seen one in ages. It has some old 80’s vibes to it; soft blue, white and red tones, and it seems to be taken care of very well. It’s parking spot is where the team decided the first step of this mission was going to take place.

You had always wanted to own a diner like this one. Yeah, you just remembered now. Own a diner and a much more simple life. But not everything is as easy as you think it is, right? As aunt Marlize used to say. She also happened to be the reason you wanted to own a diner. That woman was the owner of the one you used to go to as a kid -every Sunday at around 11 a.m. for late breakfast of lazy Sundays.

You also remember aunt Marlize complaining about how much she hated it. Evey time I sit down to finally have my lunch because is dead empty around here, someone walks in right away. This job. It’s gonna make me die sooner, she would say. But aunt Marlize would complain just about everything really. There, that’s what made her die sooner, you think as you watch Bucky making his way back to your hiding spot once he is sure the target has left.

Your muscles relax immediately. Bucky is okay. This step was successful. You didn’t have to shot anybody and that diner will remain pretty and peaceful. Letting out a sigh you stay in position, you don’t want surprises, you watch Bucky’s back all the way until he’s by your side; all body parts where they belong.

“Hey,” Bucky lifts his left hand as he climbs the ladder to get to where you are. “You can put it down. It’s me.”

“Yeah,” You chuckle, peeking over the edge. “I’m just watching your back.”

“Thank you, doll. I felt very protected over there.” He says once he is on top and smiles at you, that million dollar smile of his. Lord, he’s beautiful.

“It is my duty to ensure your safety, Sargent.”

He laughs, “You can rest now, loyal guardian.” He swallowed the word wanted to say the most. He wanted to say my loyal guardian. Because Bucky wanted you to be his.

“Here, let me hold that for you.” He reaches and takes the heavy weapon from your hands.

"Let’s get out of here, that rat smell only gets worse every second.” You wince, shaking the dust off the front of your black dress.

Yeah, you’re wearing for this mission. You love dresses. So much. Way too much. Your mother loved dresses, your grandma loved dresses, even aunt Marlize loved dresses. Dresses feel right to you, they feel familiar, they feel like home. Naturally, you wear dresses most of your days. Comfortable, loose, flowy, colorful sundress, but also neutral sundress, dresses with an old vibe to them. It was a strange connection to you mother that you felt through the dresses you wear.

This avenger job, if you can call it a job, a responsibility maybe? It doesn’t allow you to wear them every day but you take advantage of it when you’re able to. Like today.

Today, hopefully, you were not going to fight bad guys. Today you weren’t going to get blood all over. Today your clothes weren’t going to get ripped. Today, oh pretty please, you weren’t going to run towards saving someone’s life. Today you could wear a dress for work. So you did. Of course you did. It stops just above your knee and it blows with the late evening breeze. Dark thick tights underneath because it’s the first week of winter. Combat boots, the only remaining of your official on-duty suit. And Bucky’s jacket. Because he couldn’t decide what to wear for his undercover rol, so he had thrown a bunch of his clothes in the backseat of the car that drove you here and asked you to help him look appropriate. He handed you one of the many jackets he brought when you stepped out of the car and into the chill wind in only the thin three-quarter sleeves of your dress.

“You know, I just remembered,” You tell Bucky, walking by his side as the two of you make your way to the car you were given instructions to leave a couple of miles away.

Guess this’ll have to be your workout for today, the one you avoided this morning because it’s Monday, you told Steve when he looked disapprovingly at you at breakfast.

“I always wanted to own a diner when I was a little kid,” You make a pause, “Hmm, maybe just work in there, I’m not really a boss lady.”

Bucky smiles, and it hurts. Whenever you’re the reason smiling always hurts for Bucky because he can’t control how long it stretches on his cheeks.

“It’d match your style.” He says after a moment.

“My style?”

“Yeah, the way you dress.”

You laugh at that and Bucky frowns.

“What?” His eyes meet yours with amusement and wonder.

Pretty blue eyes hold yours for a second until you shake your head and look away, faint flush painting your cheeks and a small smile lingering in your lips. “Didn’t think you notice.”

Bucky noticed. Yeah he does. He does every day. Bucky notices when you’re wearing a new dress and he knows which one you’ve had since he moved to the compound.

He remembers the dress you were wearing when he met you- and oh, how he wishes you wore it more often. He loves that baby blue dress you wear in the summer. He knows how many floral dress you have, because it’s his favorite imprint on you. It makes him feel lighter, brighter, it makes him remember picking up his mother’s favorite flowers in a spring field, it makes him feel happy.

He knows which one is your favorite because he can talk about all the times you’ve worn it in the last three months. It’s on the days that are the most special for you; the days that you look particularly happy. And if he were to buy you a dress, he knows, Bucky knows you would love it because of how much he has noticed your style. He knows the colors, patters and what lengths you usually go to. Yes, Bucky does notice.

“Why?”

You shrug. “Well, men never notice those things. It’s a miracle when they do once in their whole life. No offense.”

“Not that,” Bucky laughs, the corners of his eyes wrinkle. “Why did you want to work there?”

“Oh! You know, free strawberry milkshakes and fries.” An adorable giggle bubbles from your mouth and you shake your head when Bucky narrows his eyes playfully. “It’s just a cute place in my opinion, Bucky.”

Bucky nods.

“Do you feel like having a strawberry milkshake now?” Closing the driver’s door, Bucky has finally gathered enough courage to ask.

Silence fills the car momentarily and he rushes to believe he has crossed a line until he risks looking your way. A big grin and brighter eyes look back at him from the passenger seat. “Absolutely.”

–

spring~

“You alright, doll?”

You wanted to believe he caught you because it’s you. No, he would do it for anybody. He would. But you wanted to believe he caught you extraordinary fast because he was watching you. No, it’s just the serum running in his veins. The serum had nothing to do with that. He caught you fast because it’s you. He caught you as fast because he was watching you, your every move, since the moment you stepped out of the elevator that brought you here from your bedroom.

The way the skirt of your yellow sundress swayed as you walked. The way you were smiling at your friends, so genuine, no restrictions; your smile was as big as it naturally wanted to be, Bucky noticed, and you weren’t trying to hide it. The way your eyes lit up as they took on everything around you, decorations that Bucky thought matched your being; colorful, simple, beautiful, lighter. A flower. Like those little spring wildflowers covering the grass around the compound. The way you kept coming closer and closer to were this spring party was being held, at the spacious compound’s yard. Closer to were he was, sitting on one of those expensive looking outdoor chairs. The way your eyes stayed a little longer in the chocolate cake in the middle of the room. The way you drank your strawberry drink- which was now stained on your pretty dress. The way you looked like an angel.

Yes, an angel.

“Careful there, darling,” Tony, who was nearby when you stumbled with God knows what, walks past the two of you as Bucky balances you to your feet. “Thank God we have super soldiers around here.” He says over his shoulder, stopping in his tracks when one of his guests abruptly comes to stand right in front of him and starts talking in a smug millionaire voice.

Strange faces with expensive looking clothes and fancy mannerisms. The place is full of people that Bucky doesn’t know. And, judging by the way he has watched him exchanging barely three sentences with every person he comes across, he doubts even Tony Stark himself actually knows any of them.

Bucky didn’t really understand the actual reason or intention behind this outdoor party. He only remembers Tony’s annoying reminders for the team that Friday delivered daily for an entire month and he remembers little of the simple explanation Steve tried to give him while he was busy trying to find you in the crowd before you even arrived down here.

“Thanks, Bucky.” Your embarrassed mumble is almost not even there and Bucky thinks the flush in your cheeks is the prettiest pink he has ever seen.

God, you’re considered to be part of the earth’s mightiest heroes and you almost crashed face first onto the neatly trimmed grass if it weren’t for Bucky’s quick reaction because you were not paying attention to what was in front of you.

“Hey,” He exhales softly. “Like Tony said, thank God I was around.”

You can’t help the grin that reaches your eyes. It made you happy, the way he no longer referred to Tony as Stark, now he calls him Tony. Now he feels more comfortable. It’s been almost three years. The team is no longer a group of strangers for him. He wants to know them. He wants to go out with them and get close. He knows he can trust this people. He has noticed how this people trust him. Now he knows he belongs.

Yes, yes, Bucky. Thank God you’re around.

“I got a little distracted and…” Words die in your tongue as you squint at the hem of his dark grey shirt. “God, it got to your shirt, too. I’m so sorry, Bucky.”

Looking down he spots a faint red stain but he doesn’t care one bit, he’ll remember this moment and how adorable embarrassed you look whenever he wears it.

“It’s fine. It’ll wash off.”

“If it doesn’t, you know where to find me. I’ll take the responsibility.”

He chuckles. “Don’t worry about that, doll.”

“Well, I think I’m gonna need another drink,” You look down to your dress. “And a change of clothes.”

“That’s a good color on you.” It escapes his mouth before he can think it over as he usually does.

And it’s only then, when his deep husky voice falls right over your ear, that you realize how close he is and, looking up, everything you see is baby blue. You smile at him, all teeth and rosy lips and bright eyes that reflect the sun and Bucky swears he’s dreaming.

“You think so?” A sweet, sweet and nervous laugh falls from your lips and it’s angelic; Bucky thinks the sound is angelic.

“Yeah.” He sounds almost out of breath.

And you have to tear your eyes away from him because it feels like you are about to drown in his intense blues.

“I think you would rock yellow, Bucky. I’d love to see that.”

Bucky always hated to wear yellow. Were man even allowed to wear yellow? He doesn’t care. Because now he would stand to wear it, as long as he sees you smile about it the same way you’re smiling at him now. He would wear yellow every day if it meant you were going to smile like that for him.

“Welcome, welcome, everyone! It’s a wonderful afternoon and we’re just getting started…” Your heads turn to where Tony is standing holding a mic when his energetic voice is heard through the entire place.

Bucky groans inside. Just getting started? Been here for about an hour already.

But then you face him again, sweetly smile up at him and suddenly Bucky doesn’t care how much longer he’ll have to stay.

–

summer~

“Where do you get all these cute doll dresses from?”

It comes out unexpected amongst the chaos in the kitchen over breakfast. Unexpected for you. For the whole team bumping against each other, taking turns to make their individuals breakfast. Unexpected for Bucky, the owner of the voice that just made that question. Muttered but clear, loud enough for everyone to hear. Did he intend to say that out loud? Was it just a casual thought that escaped his grasp way too fast? It was debatable; for you, for Bucky, for everyone now exchanging discreet knowing looks and badly hidden half smiles across the kitchen.

It is questionable in Bucky’s mind whether he had wanted to say that out loud. But he is positively aware about the one unquestionable truth; the connection between mind, thought filter and speaking was inexistent when you are near him.

And you are. Delicately setting pieces of your sandwich together right beside him at the adjacent side of the counter. You are pretty close to him and he can’t help his thoughts about you ever, but especially when you are this close.

Damn Sunday mornings when everybody feels like spending a ridiculous amount of time and effort making breakfast, gathering all enormous shoulders and muscle in the relatively spacious kitchen -but enormous shoulders and muscle-, all at the same time, ridiculously early for a Sunday morning because everyone in this house seems to have a permanent hen-like biological clock.

Bucky’s cheeks turn pink the moment you lay your eyes on him; eyebrows high, wide eyes, mind processing what you just heard, mouth open but nothing comes out, cheeks equally flushed because damnit if you’re not internally struggling to chill. Was that a compliment? From Bucky? Bucky? Buc-

“Uh, I-” You swallow, lick your lips nervously, “Do you-” Inhaling to regain some sort of maturity. Dang it, how old am I? “Do you like my dresses,” It’s more of a statement than a question.

Bucky shifts awkwardly on the counter stool, “Yeah, I-” Clears his throat, looks down at the oatmeal bowl in front of him.

“Do you think they’re cute?” A smile starts forming on your lips when his eyes lift to yours again.

Sam groans from the stove, dramatically rolling his eyes, “You idiots, stop acting like you’re not in lov- ouch!” He whines when Wanda pinches his bicep.

“Not your business,” She hisses.

“It’s so obvious, are they blind-”

“Shut up,” Natasha demands with a grin, washing her vegetables in the sink while Sam glares at the back of her head.

It doesn’t matter because whatever everyone else is doing or saying is muffled in the back of your lovesick minds.

The smile tugging on Bucky’s lips eventually matches the size of yours as he answers, “I mean… yeah. They look good on you. And you have your own style, that’s… pretty cool actually.”

He shrugs slightly. As if he weren’t affected by it everyday, as if he didn’t love it so much.

“Well I-,” You go back to your unfinished sandwich with shaky hands because he’s doing that thing again when he stares like you’re the only person in the room. Like you are an exotic discovery that must be put under scrutinized inspection. And you can’t breathe properly when he does. “I buy them online, or-”

“Wow, really?”

You laugh at his amazed tone. “Yeah.”

“How do you know they’ll fit?”

“It’s a process, Bucky. But it’s fun! I also go out there to see what I can find. And I’ve made some of them myself.”

“Are you for real?” He sounds amazed. It’s adorable. Absolutely astonished.

“I can teach you,” You laugh playfully.

He laughs along, “That’ll be fun.”

“For real, I will teach you.”

“Doll, I’m in.” Bucky beams as he watches you place thin sliced tomato over lettuce. “You like them so much, don’t you?”

“Dresses?” You catch his nod by the corner of you eye. “I do a lot.”

“Why?” He asks with nothing but curiosity and you smile bigger.

“It’s a special connection with my mother. She’s not here anymore but that’s how it feels when I wear them.”

When your eyes find his again, Bucky notices the light in your eyes is brighter and his heart goes fast. He can see right through them; the sincerity and how much you mean what you said. And God, do they shine so beautiful.

“That’s amazing, doll.” He whispers with genuine interest.

You stare dumbly at each other for a moment until you look back down shyly, flushed cheeks, timid smile; Bucky looks down at the same time, clears his throat again as if stepping out of a trance and hides his equally timid smile with a spoon full of oats and berries.

After a minute, you speak again, “Also, it’s so easy to put one on, and you don’t really have to think about combinations. You’re done when you throw a dress over your head,” You chuckle, “So, emotional value but also practicality. And comfiness, let’s never forget you can move around with liberty.”

And Bucky doesn’t care how crowded the kitchen is on Sunday mornings, or the overwhelming smell of all sorts of different dishes when you beam at him warmly, like the sun outside.

-

It’s one of those days. All he wanted was to stay home. There are various steps of progress, just as there are steps back. Trauma isn’t something you can move on from easily. It takes years. If it actually even comes to an end before death reaches for you first. Sentiments of unworthiness plagued him once in a while. Not as often as it used to, but they’re there. Days like today. Mentally and physically exhausting missions adding to it all this time around. One after another during the last two weeks.

Bucky’s eyes squint with the summer sun as watches everyone from afar. People he wants to get to know better when it’s not a day like today. He hears the laughs, the bantering, but his eyes keep coming back to you. Sunlight hitting your face gives you rosy cheeks, wide smile matching the light of that infinite light, half of your hair tied up messily, the sound of your sweet laugh as you chat with Wanda standing on wet sand, water covering your feet when a new wave crashes against the seashore. Bucky thinks you’re as bright as the sun, small embroidered flowers covering the white dress that stops bellow your knees, a walking ray of sunshine.

You look pure and innocent and so, so sweet. Sweet, like the coconut water you were drinking a few minutes ago. And he finds himself wondering how someone so sweet can be so lethal when required. His minds travels for a second to your sparring sessions with Steve, the confidence and strength you show on missions.

“Man, you have to stop just looking at her,” Sam leans down beside him to bury his beer in the sand. “You’re wasting time over here.”

It provided reassurance for Bucky. Words he didn’t know he desperately needed to hear. Some sort of confirmation outside his mind that he is allowed to fall in love and receive that kind of love back at this point in his life. It’s possible, it’s still wanted, it’s needed and deserved. It is not too late.

His heart aches when he thinks about how he’s been a little distant with you since that Sunday breakfast conversation you both had a week ago. You’ve noticed the exhaustion in his eyes, deciding it was good to give him some time and space; unaware of the actual reason behind his exhaustion. Forget about tough missions. Undeserving thoughts plague him specially right after getting a bit closer to you. His heart flutters and he believes and he hopes. And then, he’s not good enough, and you’re too good for him.

Giving Bucky one last glance and a smirk, Sam runs to join the rest, splashing salty water all over Wanda when he gives it a hard kick with his foot.

Pushing away wet hair sticking over her face, Wanda stands still, staring down in disbelief as your hands rush up to cover your mouth, attempting to suppress your laughter.

Still from a distance, watching everything with a grin on his face, Bucky leans down to bury his own beer right when the beach chair next to him lights up in a reddish tone, floats on its own and goes flying in the blink on an eye towards Sam, who crouches down with his arms tightly wrapped over his head just in time for the manipulated chair to fly over him and land on the water. Bucky’s eyes go wide, seeing nonliving stuff floating around by control of Wanda’s hands always takes him by surprise.

“Guys, can you stop acting like first graders?” Tony shouts from further away, his head being the only part of his body visible outside the water. Natasha floating peacefully on her back behind him.

The chair crashes against Sam’s side repeatedly when Wanda makes it slide over the surface pulling an exaggerated groan out of its victim. “Hey! Okay, I’m sorry! Wan!”

Shaking your head at such displays of affection of your friends for one another, you turn around, smiling indeed as bright as the sun when your eyes find Bucky’s and waving hello from afar. His mouth mirrors yours as he waves back. Eyes stay connected while both of your overthinking minds debate whether it’s a good idea to approach the other or not.

You win first against yours. Heart drums at a fast speed inside his chest when you approach him slowly, your white dress creating moving shadows on the sand.

“Come, Bucky,” You say sweetly when you reach him, leaning down to grab his hand in yours. “The water is so nice.” You add, tugging at it for him to stand up. “Wanda won’t throw things your way as long as you don’t bother her.”

A sweet laugh falls from your lips as you hold his hand all the way back to the seashore. Not letting go even after fresh water crashes against Bucky’s feet and goes up his ankles.

“Close your eyes, Bucky. Feel everything that is around you.” You whisper next to him. Hands still clasped together.

Feel everything that is around you

Eyes closed, he does what he’s told; the weight of your hand around his, fine sand under his bare feet, refreshing water covering his feet, sunlight touching his heated skin, sea breeze ruffling loose strands of hair that fell from his bun, an entire awe-inspiring ocean in front of him. And Bucky only feels you.

_

autumn~

Ice cream cones, dogs, pineapples and stars imprints. The dresses you wear started to get very peculiar by the end of the summer and through the few first weeks of autumn.

It’s like a door was opened and I have new endless possibilities before me. You said enthusiastically one time Sam asked about your current dress situation.

Until you stopped wearing them.

Bucky is aware you don’t wear dresses every single day of your life. There’s this particular week every month that it’s actually not that comfortable, nor convenient to wear a dress, Bucky. You had told him with a tender smile dancing on your lips at his curiosity when he –pre- rehearsed, pre-meditated and over-considered– had asked you casually why you weren’t wearing any dresses during a certain week a few months ago. And with flushed cheeks, once Natasha had illuminated him with what you meant by that, Bucky nodded. And he got it. He understands.

The thing is, you haven’t in four weeks. Three of which were spent at the compound. Three weeks at home, one week on a mission overseas. Three weeks off duty and you haven’t worn a dress. For three weeks. At home. Where you’re free to wear them anytime you want.

“No, Bucky. It doesn’t. For the hundredth time, it doesn’t last three weeks.” Natasha groaned during breakfast today when he asked her again if your time of the month could last that long.

Over and over again, for all the time you’ve been acting weird, Bucky has been going to her with the same question; ~but what if… ~Nat, you sure there’s not a chance… ~would Wanda know better… -to which Natasha had sent him daggers in the form of a glare- ~why would it be three weeks? ~is she okay? ~haven’t you talk to her? ~but why…

Because not only were you not dressing the way you loved, you had also lost that optimistic attitude and that joyful behavior that lights up every room. And lastly, Bucky noticed sadly, the light in your eyes was gone.

“She’s acting the same way, are you really that sure?” He pushed desperately that morning, absently moving the cereal inside the bowl in front of him. “Looks like the same symptoms, only so much worse.”

Natasha sighed in defeat, talking slowly, “She’s going through a hard time right now. And I’m only telling you this because I hope so profoundly that you will stop asking the same question every single day. Bucky, I appreciate you a lot, but you are driving me crazy. It is not my place to tell you how she feels right know. Only she decides what she wants to share with each one of us, I’m not taking that away from her. I know it’s not easy for her right now and that’s all I’m gonna give you. And no, it’s not because of that time of the month so please stop it.” She begged exasperated.

Looking into his uneasy blue eyes, her expression softened.

“Look, I know she trusts you and she feels comfortable around you. Why don’t you just ask her what’s going on?” She had encouraged him with tender eyes. “She’ll have a better answer to how she’s feeling than I ever will.” Sending a wink his way, the redhead jumped off the stool beside him, dropped a dirty bowl by the sink and walked out the kitchen door.

And that’s what he does. At least, in a way. In his way.

Leaving out a shaky breath, Bucky stares at your closed door, sweaty hands holding the envelope tightly.

He decided wrapping a gift rather than throwing it into a gift bag or a box would give more intention and meaning to it.

It turned out neatly done, a brown-ish ribbon going around and tied on top. Wanda helped when she found him cursing the red tutorial app on the screen of his phone, balls of ruined gift wrap on the floor all around him. I think she’ll love it. She had said. You don’t know who this is for. Bucky replied. Right… I don’t, right? She smirked knowingly.

Looking down at the note he wrote attached to the ribbon, Bucky sighs one more time and places the envelope gently on the floor in front of your door.

I hope the reason you don’t wear them anymore is because you ran out of them; and not because you’ve grown tired of them.

Bucky.

This was Bucky’s way. A silent reminder that he cares about you.

Questions like how are you feeling? can I do something for you? do you want to talk about it?, those didn’t really worked for him. When he was new into this word, those questions didn’t help. He needed space and time, not a constant reminder that something was wrong with him.

And so he was grateful every time you would do something for him, no words spoken. Just little actions that showed him you were there, and that you cared and appreciated him being around.

No pity. Not being sensitive around him. Actions that showed him you were not afraid. Pouring a cup of coffee for him in the mornings. Making space for him on the couch without looking. Normal. He felt normal when you did things like that. Like he didn’t need to be treated a special way. Eyes weren’t on him the whole time to see his every move when you were the only one in a room with him.

Bucky didn’t want to come up to you with those questions. He didn’t want to make you feel like you had to share something with him when you weren’t ready. A dress is what he bought for you. A silent reminder; I’m here for you. I notice, and I care.

It takes you some time to find him, but you finally spot him by the tall bare trees around the compound. Hundreds of dry, colorful, autumn leaves covering the ground, creaking under your feet. And, if you weren’t in such state of mind, you would be laughing and throwing handfuls of fallen leaves into the air. Autumn is such a wonderful time of the year.

His back is to you and his hair looks messy, and curly, and so soft; makes you want to get your hands on it.

“Bucky.”

“Hey, doll.”

Bucky takes you in when he turns around. Dress or not, you’re beautiful. Sweatpants, an oversized shirt. Always beautiful.

“Hi.”

He smiles fondly, “Hi.”

“Thank you. For the…” Your lip trembles and Bucky isn’t sure, but he thinks he sees your eyes get watery before you bolt forward, surprising him when you wrap your arms around him tightly. “Thanks, Bucky,” Your voice is muffled against his hoodie. “It means a lot to me.”

He exhales, his smile grows, his heart drums happily. Unsure of how much he should hold you, his arms go around your shoulders lightly, even when his whole body wants to hold you so close until it is impossible to know whether there are two bodies or just one.

“I thought it would cheer you up,” He whispers, his breath tickling your scalp at the top of your head. “I don’t know what you’re going through. It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it. But I’m here. If you need me. I’ll do anything for you.” He speaks slowly as his flesh fingers squeeze your shoulder gently and you pull away with a smile; though, he notices, it doesn’t reach your eyes.

“I know you would.” And he knows you’re being sincere when you hold his gaze.

Taking a deep breath, you walk past him. Facing him again after a minute when you lean your back against a big tree catching a yellow leaf as it falls, twisting its little stem between your fingers. He watches you cautiously.

“Remember when I told you about what dresses mean to me?”

Bucky blinks and then nods, smiling. “I do. It makes you remember your mother.”

“Yeah,” Your voice cracks a little and his smile falls. “My whole family actually. Dad always loved them,” Your eyes are on his shoes as your continue. “He loved seeing mamma, me and my little sisters wear them.” Bucky watches one side of your mouth slightly twitching upwards. “It was tree years ago… when I lost them all.”

You finally look up and Bucky sees tears pooling your eyes.

“I guess I had deprived the grief before because I was always busy and we never stopped working after what happened,” Your voice is totally trembling now and tears are falling free down your cheeks. “I pushed it aside for so long, and I’m truly just now processing everything, and my younger sister,” You choke a little and Bucky clenches his fists because he wants to hold you so tight and wipe the hurt away. “Little Lyla, she would- would have turned four two weeks ago and it’s just so much, Bucky. She was- she was just a baby.”

Both of your hands cover your mouth as you sob, full of years and shaking violently. And Bucky can’t take it anymore, he strides towards you hastily and cages you in his arms. Tight.

“Oh, sweetheart. I’m so sorry,” His metal hand cradles your head against his chest and there are tears in his own eyes as he mumbles against the top of your head, “So sorry, baby.”

He has heard about what happened with your parents, in the New York attack; but he never knew you had little sisters.

“I’ve protected so many people and I couldn’t keep them safe. The most- the most important for me.” Your fingers grip the fabric on his back.

“No, doll. No,” Bucky closes his eyes, jaw clenched, tears covering his cheeks, pained to the core. “It was not your fault, not your fault.”

He wants to shatter the guild and grief that you’re feeling and protect you from it forever.

“My parents would have been twenty five years of being married yesterday and it was mom’s biggest dream to celebrate it, she would talk about it all the time and I don’t know what to do, Bucky.” You sob against him, letting everything out.

“It’s okay, I’m here.” His fingers stroke your hair soothingly.

And he just hold you for a moment and you let him; you need it. More leaves slowly falling all around you. It would be magical and romantic in different circumstances.

“Sorry.” You cry, throat dry and it hurts and Bucky’s heart falls in pieces.

How someone so sweet can be so broken.

“Hey,” He says softly. “No, you don’t have to apologize about anything.”

“I was so distant…”

“It’s okay, doll. It’s okay.”

“That’s why I didn’t- I couldn’t wear anything that remind me… I would see them all if I- if I put a dress on I would see my family,” You sob. “I miss them a lot.”

“I know. I know. I’m sorry,” He whispers. “I’m sorry if I made you remember. I didn’t know.”

“No, Bucky,” You shake your head firmly. “I love it. Thank you. Thank you so much. It made me feel so much better. I love it.”

Bucky holds you some more, until you’re not shaking and your breath is almost even.

“I want to try it on,” Your voice is raspy. Pulling away, the back of your hands go up to sweep against your cheeks. “I want you to see it first.” A small smile graces your tear stained face as you look up at him shyly.

“Okay.”

His hand outstretches to you and you take it without a second thought, letting him lead the way back to the compound.

Anticipation running hot in his veins, and he feels the excitement in his belly when he waits patiently outside your bedroom door. Bottom lip trapped between his teeth because all he can think about is how you’ll look with that dress and he’s grinning so hard.

The enhanced ear catches every little shuffle inside and he arranges his hair and straightens his posture when he catches the soft paddle of your feet approaching the door. And the air is kicked out of his lungs as soon as you open it and he takes you in.

“What do you think?”

“I think it was made just for you.”

“I really love it. It’s my favorite now. Just wanted to let you know I’m gonna wear it a lot.”

Bucky chuckles; smiling so big because the scene in front of him is so much better than image he had in mind. “Can’t wait.”

“It’s the best thing I have ever been given,” You look down, running your hands over the soft fabric of the beautiful green dress. “Thank you again, Bucky.”

“I’m glad you still like them, you know,” He shrugs.

“Of course.”

And, taking a leap of faith –and courage–, Bucky steps closer. One step. Then, another one, slower and more hesitant than the first. Your breath hitches when your shoes touch the tip of his, and you find his eyes when his left hand touches your cheek. The cold metal a welcoming temperature to your flushed skin.

“You look beautiful,” Thumb gently strokes under your eye, “And– you’re so strong. I’m proud of you,” His voice is so gentle, his eyes even more, they hold so much sincerity and tenderness, looking at them makes your heart believe what others have told you. “You’ve made it this far. So many would have given up long ago. I’m so proud.”

Bucky doesn’t miss the way your eyes lit up the longer he holds you. Eyes that compete with the stars look up at him; hopeful, bright, wanting. And Bucky jumps, the leap of faith, erases the distance that keeps you two apart. Tender lips pressed to yours, soft and lovely.

He met you wearing a dress. He fell for you wearing a dress. He hold your hand first time when you wearing a dress. Kissed you for the first time when you were wearing a dress. Loved you wearing a dress. Made love to you for the first time, a floral dress rucked up around your waist. He wanted to marry you, and you would be wearing a dress. Bucky wanted to grow old watching you wear pretty dresses for the rest of his life.

[detectivejay-chuckles-halstead]

30 Days // Jay Halstead x Reader // Pt 3:6

Description: 30 Drabbles of Jay and Reader’s life together

Words: 2385

Warnings: Canonical Violence, FLUFF

Pairing: Jay x Reader

A/N: The third installment. I am simultaneously working on this, a new upcoming long fic, and requests. Not to mention I get to go back to work for the first time in 6 weeks (YAY!) So my posting may be out of wack, or only maybe once or twice a week. Hope you all enjoy!

Doing Something Together

“Why do you always insist that you can beat me?” Jay asked as the two of you walked into the firing range. Yes, your boyfriend had been an expert marksman as a Ranger, worked as Intelligence’s sniper when needed. That didn’t mean that one of these days you wouldn’t beat him when it came to target practice. 

“Because one day, someday, it’s going to happen. And today is going to be that day,” you answered with a smile, Jay just shaking his head with a laugh. It was like this every time the two of you went to renew your certification for work. 

It didn’t take long to sign in, being sent to your respective areas. You both put on the protective eye-wear and earmuffs. As the targets were sent back, you took out your gun and took a wide stance. One clip was all that you were firing that day. 

“You may begin,” the evaluator stated, the two of you firing your guns multiple times until no bullets were left. You holstered at that point, taking the earmuffs off as you looked at Jay with a smile on your face. This had to be it, right? This was going to be your day! The targets were brought up for evaluation

Most of your hits were along the 8 and 9 marks just to the left of the silhouette. When you looked at Jay’s target, at first you thought it was a joke. There was no way he only hit the target once dead center. Until you took a look at it again, realizing he’d hit the same spot multiple times. 

“Good job. We will see you guys back next year,” the evaluator then told you, writing down his comments before walking away. 

“One day, babe,” he assured you as you pouted. 

“Maybe next time, I just need to distract you,” you suggested, walking away from him with a sway to your hips. 

In Formal Wear

Voight had more or less ordered the team to go to this fundraiser that the CPD was hosting. Not that you minded, but you knew Jay hated these events. He said he felt paraded around. Which definitely wasn’t a lie, though none of you had a choice. If Voight said to jump, the answer would be ‘how high, sir?’

“Stop fussing with your tie,” you scolded for the fifth time since the two of you had arrived, swatting his hands away to fix the fabric. He huffed, letting you do your thing as he looked around the room. “We’ll be here an hour, two tops.”

“I will complain the entire time,” he assured you with a smirk, getting a chuckle from you. “You look gorgeous by the way.”

He’d been left speechless when you’d walked out of the bedroom in the black, low cut, tulle gown. Not like you saved it for special occasions or anything. You realized that Jay had never seen you dressed up like that before. And you’d never seen him in such a crisp, form-fitting suit before. 

“If you behave, maybe I’ll even let you take it off me,” you whispered as you leaned in, hands pressed to his chest. The glimmer of hope in his eyes was enough for there to be an understanding. All he had to do was put up with the event. That was all. 

A waiter walked around, Jay grabbing two champagne glasses off the tray like a pro. You couldn’t help but lean into him slightly as the two of you walked around the room, mingling with all the important names. As much as you loved the dress, you hated the heels. 

“Don’t you two look like a handsome couple,” Voight mentioned as you neared the huddled group of Intelligence officers. You couldn’t help the blush forming across your cheeks.

“Thank you, Serge,” Jay said softly as Kim and Vanessa pulled you into their conversation. Your eyes would meet Jay’s occasionally, wanting to just get lost in him until one of the other women would pull you back. Maybe you needed to go to these events more often. 

Dancing

“Why does this song sound so familiar?” you asked Jay as the two of you were cooking dinner, the tune on the radio bringing back clouded memories that you couldn’t quite place. 

“Really?” he countered, looking a bit hurt. Though you weren’t sure why. “Don’t you remember this was the song that was playing at Molly’s the first time we kissed.”

“How could I forget that?” You weren’t sure how to answer your own question, feeling crappy about not remembering. But you were a bit surprised that Jay remembered. There was no doubt that you would have remembered if you hadn’t been as drunk as you were that night. 

“Dance with me?” he asked, holding his hand out for you. There wasn’t even a second of hesitation as you took his hand, letting him pull you close to him before the two of you began gently swaying in the kitchen. He looked at you with complete love and adoration -- a look nobody else had ever given you before. 

It felt right, being with Jay. This moment was the moment you realized that he was the one for you. He was the one that you’d never let go. The one that you'd move Heaven and Hell for. You and Jay were endgame. You’d never been more sure about anything in your life. 

In Battle Side-by-Side

The case you’d all been working on for the better part of a week --the one that had already made most of the team shed sweat, blood, and tears -- had led you all to an abandoned factory on the south-side of Chicago. Everybody’s cars were huddled in a parking lot a block away, out of sight of the building to keep from blowing the whole operation. The team stood together as Voight spoke. 

“We bring this guy in dead or alive. Got it?” Everybody agreed with a ‘yes Serge.’ “Halstead, you and Y/L/N take the north entrance. Rojas and Atwater take the south entrance. Ruzek, you’re going to cover the north entrance in your vehicle. Burgess, you and me with the south. Nobody goes in or out once we start this except us.”

Jay helped you secure your vest over your shirt before grabbing his gun out of the trunk. His pistol remained holstered on his thigh. As much as you loved your job, it was moments like these that made you hate it. More like, you hated working in the same unit as your boyfriend. If things went south...you didn’t let yourself think of it, Jay pulling you out of your thoughts with a smile, handing you your own gun.

“I love you,” he told you softly, squeezing your free hand. You sighed, looking at him as everybody got ready.

“I love you too.” 

It was a go. You and Jay walked to the north entrance, your boyfriend in front of you as your hand rested on his shoulder, following right on his heels. Why a lone offender would be hiding out in an abandoned factory was the real question you were asking yourself, but you didn’t mention it to anybody else. As long as you got this guy, that’s all that mattered. 

The two of you silently breached the door, moving slowly and methodically. You’d done this a thousand times before, no different. He came to a T in the hallway, motioning for you to go left. There was no hesitation as you stepped to the side of him, hugging the wall as you went down the hallway while he walked the other direction. 

The only sound you could hear was the sound of your breath and your heart beating in your ears. The further you got away from Jay, the less you were able to hear his footsteps until they disappeared. You were on edge, creeping down this hall, taking turn after turn. Was this a factory or a maze? The second you heard any type of movement, you froze in place before slowly looking around. 

It was a bit of a scare when you found yourself looking down the barrel of a gun, releasing your breath when you realized it was Jay. The look on his face matched yours. Confusion.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” he said softly, getting you to nod in agreement as you continued down the new hallway. Eventually, the hall opened up into a large room. As you looked around, you noticed Vanessa and Kevin at the other end, about twenty-yards ahead of you. As far as you knew, nobody had seen an entrance to a second floor, realizing you missed something. There was no second floor, but there was clearly a window to the right as well as a door. 

“Jay,” you whispered, motioning for him to look. As soon as he started to turn his head, you heard clattering. 

“Flash grenade!” he called out, pulling you to the ground with him, trying to shield you from the flash. 

Your ears were ringing, feeling Jay’s body weight on you as you tried to assess what was going on. Shots were the next thing you heard, seeming to miss everything besides the walls. It sounded like it was only coming from one gun, which meant your offender was indeed working alone. 

“Stay down,” Jay told you softly. “Don’t key your radio.” Fear flooded over you. There’d only be one reason he’d tell you not to key your radio. 

“You think there’s a bomb.” There was no question about it. That’s exactly what Jay was thinking. “Vanessa and Kevin!” 

“Right now, we have to move,” he interjected, getting off you so that you could crouch. There was nowhere to take cover. No boxes, no equipment. The room was empty. The only way to get out was the way you came. The two of you looked over at the other pair who seemed to have the same idea.

“Jay, we leave, this guy will be in the wind,” you snapped as he grabbed your arm, ready to drag you out of that building. “Trust me.” 

He hesitated before nodding, the two of you pressing against the wall before moving quickly towards the corner. Kevin and Vanessa seemed to get the memo, mimicking your movements. The other pair waited, not daring to cross in front of the window as the offender stopped firing. Most likely out of confusion due to there being no active targets he would be able to see. 

Jay nodded at you as you busted in the door before firing a single shot at the offender, the man falling to the ground. Quickly, you kicked his gun away from his reach, though you knew it wasn’t necessary. A single headshot. Kneeling down, you felt for a carotid pulse, feeling nothing. He was dead. 

You sat down next to him, elbows on your knees as you rested your head in your hands. It was over. It was finally over. Nobody keyed their radios still, not until the bomb squad got there to do a search of the building to ensure there weren’t any extra surprises. 

“Nice work,” Voight told you when you finally exited the building. It didn’t feel like good work. You knew the order was to bring him in dead or alive...but never did you think it would be your gun that killed the man -- your shot, your decision. 

“Let’s go get this paperwork done, then go home,” Jay suggested softly, kissing your temple as you silently agreed. 

On A Birthday

“You know, all I want to do is just relax at home with you for my birthday,” Jay told you as you walked out of the precinct to the car. 

“Okay, promise not to get upset?” You’d waited until he was securely in the passenger seat of your car before you’d asked him. “The guys planned a surprise party that I’m supposed to be taking you to. I told them it was a bad idea, but can you just go for an hour at least to please them?”

“One hour, then just us,” he agreed. 

This was the third birthday you’d spent with him, still not getting a clear answer on why he never wanted to celebrate. The first year, you practically had to force a piece of cake into his mouth. He’d opened the present you got him the day after his birthday. The second year went smoother, but he still resisted nearly every idea to actually celebrate. This year though, it wasn’t your doing. You’d finally given in, still forcing him to get a cake at least and always getting him a present. Birthdays were a big deal for you growing up, family always making it a big deal. 

You pulled up in front of Molly’s, his arm hooked around your shoulder as you reminded him to ‘act surprised.’ Which he did, smiling as friends came up to wish him a happy birthday. He drank some beer, had some laughs, but as soon as that clock hit the hour mark, he excused himself from the party, ensuring everyone promised they’d keep it going for him. 

You followed close behind as the two of you stepped into the cool Chicago night air. When he suddenly stopped, you nearly walked into him before he turned to look at you with a smile, small box in his hand. 

“You’re the one who’s supposed to be getting presents today, silly,” you reminded him before he kissed you.

“I know, but I think you deserve this,” he countered, flipping the top of the box open to reveal an engagement ring, shock evident on your face. “You know I don’t really like celebrating my birthday. My mom was the only one who ever made a big deal of it, and after she died, I didn’t really find a reason to celebrate. Then, I spent two birthdays in Afghanistan...I was going to wait to do this, but I wanted a reason to be able to be happy on this day again. You’ve tried so hard the past few years...my mom,” he sighed softly, “she would have loved you. And she would have told me to keep you forever. So, Y/N...Will you marry me?”

[smol-and-trashy]

Another JJBA vore fic? It’s more likely than you’d think (Vento Aureo)

A/N: I was going to write more, but died in the process. There might be another chapter after this... let’s see. Here’s some giorno vore because i hate myself ahah. It’s super OOC. GioGio’s canon fave food is chocolate and pudding sooooo….sorry for writing this. :) 

___________

Guido Mista was a man who preferred to live life stress-free. While betraying the mafioso boss wasn’t exactly the definition of living a peaceful life, when had his life since joining the Passione been totally easygoing? Ultimately, he trusted Bruno’s decision and followed suit. 

However, waking up in the dark amidst a sea of stickiness was more than he bargained for. Mista tried shifting his arms, but with each bit of movement, the substance would get heavier. His thick brows furrowed; whatever he was trapped in looked like mud, but... he sniffed. It had a cloyingly sweet aroma to it, almost chocolatey. That didn’t make sense though, did that punk the boss sent have a Stand able to turn liquid into food and then use it to trap their opponents? He couldn’t recall. Normally, he would prefer to not think of such troubles, deeming them as unnecessary worries, but being alone in strange terrain can do a number to a person’s mental state.

From what he could remember of the fight, the man they fought had some kind of defensive Stand. It shot some sort of unscented gas in his face before proceeding to punch him each time he tried getting near. He must’ve been off that day because even his Sex Pistols kept missing the man, he tried redirecting them, but they landed in various areas, everywhere but his target. Narancia was having the same problem, which made Mista begin to believe that this man had some kind of bullet defensive Stand instead. The only people who were able to get a solid hit on the user were Buccellati and Giorno. Though, for the life of him, he couldn’t remember who made the final blow. Was I knocked out? Mista remembered bleeding from his head and shoulders but never actually slipping unconsciousness. Shit, he must’ve been more formidable than I thought! Least we got him though! 

However, when Mista attempted to reach a hand to check if he were still bleeding or to at least wipe the crusted blood off, he found himself still unable to move his arms. They were submerged in the depths of the chocolate mud, he tried to at least wriggle his fingers, but the substance was unyielding. 

“Yo! Buccellati? Narancia? Giorno? Trish? Anybody?” he tried shouting but received no response. If he listened carefully, he could hear muffled voices around him, but no one was actively trying to break open his prison. Maybe they’re working on it? Or maybe I’ve been captured, and it’s one of the boss’ men around me? C’mon guys, where are you?

Suddenly, something metallic came from the sky and ripped the dark ceiling off. Mista’s heart jumped to his throat at the sight of a gigantic white-clothed table with various dishes surrounding his now broken prison. He could hear something shuffle from far above, and Mista looked up, way up, obsidian eyes comically widening as he caught a glimpse of a familiar pink suit and golden hair: everything began to click. 

Above was Giorno Giovanna, under ordinary circumstances, he would’ve welcomed the sight of his friend, but the young blond before him appeared to be reaching monstrous heights. 

His breath hitched as the metal spoon came closer, slowly digging near his shrunken body. How he wanted to maintain his cool, pretend like he wasn’t in any danger, and that Giorno would notice him with ease, but even for him, that was unrealistic. The teen’s sea blue eyes glazed over him, focusing more on a conversation from above than his dessert. Mista’s stomach turned, for someone as overly cautious as Giorno, especially after betraying the boss, he had to let his guard down at the worst possible moment. Mista couldn’t help but to let out a bitter bark of laughter, he could always count on his stroke of luck to get him into the strangest situations. 

“Oi Giorno! Look down!” While his hands were glued to his sides from the thickness of the pudding, he still had his voice. However, Giorno showed no indication of hearing him, not even taking a moment to look down as he took another truck-sized scoop of the pudding, thankfully missing Mista. 

“Watch it! This isn’t funny, man!” he snapped, desperation swirling with fear while his heart thrummed against his chest. How Giorno couldn’t see his blue hat contrasting with the creamy brown of the pudding was beyond him. 

“C’mon Giorno, please look down! I don’t wanna die!” 

He received no response from above, only the spoon coming back down. This time catching Mista and dragging the terrified gunslinger above. Time slowed down as Mista was brought up, moving past the teenager’s partially open chest and finally halting in front of slightly parted lips. 

Mista prayed that one of the other team Buccellati members could see his pathetic wriggles on Giorno’s spoon. Both Buccellati and Giorno had always been absurdly perceptive; they had to notice that Mista was amiss. Even though the latter was about to unintentionally kill him, they had to notice something was off!

While he couldn’t see much beyond the oversized blond and globs of pudding, his prayers were answered from a deep, familiar voice nearby: 

“Has anyone seen Mista?” Bruno inquired, and Mista thanked God, finally someone had noticed his absence! 

“Oh! He’s still passed out on the couch like a baby!” Narancia interjected. 

“In the turtle?” 

“Yeah—!”

There was a long pause, and Giorno thankfully lowered the spoon back down. Mista assumed one of them was peering inside the turtle’s pocket dimension. 

“Oh, it does look like he’s sleeping there. Giorno, you weren’t able to heal all of his wounds?” 

“He was badly beaten, he should be fully recovered in about an hour.” Giorno sounded apologetic, while the tiny brunette was about to have another panic attack.

What?! How could he be inside the turtle when he was clearly stuck in Giorno's pudding? 

The spoon shifted and rose up again, Mista’s blood froze. He was really going to die, and no one would notice he was gone. While he would be stewing away inside Giorno, they would believe he was healing from the previous fight. How could this happen? 

Unwittingly trapped in his increasingly negative thoughts, Mista didn’t even notice he was already pressed up to Giorno's lips. His eyes shot wide, cruelly brought back to his unfortunate reality. Before he could even utter a scream, he was promptly shoved inside the humid maw, darkness flooding his vision. 

As the light closed in, framed by rows of teeth and strings of saliva, Mista felt his stomach turn over. The sopping, crowded cavern of Giorno’s mouth was an experience Mista would rather die than relive. He was tossed and thrown about inside the stuffy mouth; trying to avoid sharp teeth from chewing him to bits but it seemed like the more he tried to struggle, the more soaked in saliva he got. Eech, this is so freaking disgusting! 

The tongue beneath him shifted and threw Mista towards the back of the throat along with the rest of the chewed-up muck. With a simple flick of the tongue, Mista was sucked down the crushing throat. 

He felt like a tube of toothpaste, squeezed until there was nothing left in him. The powerful muscles of Giorno’s esophagus were relentlessly crushing his tiny form. There was no room to squirm, so his cheeks were squished to the slimy, contracting walls. As Mista descended further down into the teen’s chest, he could hear a heavy, even heartbeat causing thumping vibrations all around him like an internal bass. 

For what seemed like hours, Mista was slowly descending down the tight gullet. He could hear the groans and grumbles of the acid pit below, and as he was about to let out a yell in retaliation, he found himself released from the suffocating constraints of the esophagus. 

Mista struggled in mid-air, one hand grasped on his hat while the other flailing about before dropping into a dark sea of stomach juices and masticated mush. Not taking a second to process his new environment, Mista swam to the nearest wall, banging and pleading to be released. The hot juices splashed at his bare midriff, while the walls constricted around him, unsure what exactly to do with him. He was thrown to the other side of the stomach, gasping for air, clean air, as he clawed onto the nearest wall, trying to maintain some balance, but failing as the stomach lurched unexpectedly and he fell face-first into the juices. 

“C’mon man!” he cries out, hoisting himself up and unsuccessfully trying to wipe off the gastric juices.

Mista sharply inhales, the creeping feeling of disgust cried under his skin, but he shoved it down; there had to be a way to get Giorno’s attention. He was not going to go down like this. 

Dark eyes nervously avert to his gun, his hands waver over the weapon. He didn’t want it to come down like this, but if there was no release in sight, and Giorno still had no idea where he was—what if he doesn’t realize by the time I become a pile of bones? Swallowing heavily and raising his gun, he takes a deep breath and finally pulls the trigger. Sorry, Giorno. 

“Sex Pistols!” 

—-

Pressing a hand to his flat stomach, Giorno paused, trying not to let his anxieties spike. If there were Stands who could spread viruses, produce mirror worlds, or even shrink themselves and others, surely there was a possibility that someone’s Stand may have infiltrated his own body. Giorno’s lips curled in revulsion. Activating Golden Experience, he tested for another soul. He knew the rest of the team were now shooting him perplexing looks and whispers at the notion of him bringing out his Stand, but right now, he didn’t care, he had to focus. Sure enough, he detected another life inside him. Giorno swallowed hard, trying to contain both his fear and anger into a mask of passive indifference. Useless, how could I let my guard down? It was an extreme invasion of his privacy and he wanted nothing more but to get this thing out as soon as possible. Now, it was more a matter on how to go about removing the Stand. He knew nothing about it other than it was currently inside him and wreaking havoc on his insides. Giorno had no idea if it was planting any explosives or plotting mind control from within. 

He looked up, finally facing the confused, worried faces of his comrades.

“…Is everything okay, Giorno?” Buccellati finally broke the silence, calm, slightly concerned blue eyes stared into Giorno’s uneasy blues. 

[onyourzeus]

• beat of my heart | ydw

ykcyj ➝ arskyh

title: beat of my heart  pairing: yoon dowoon (of day6) & you genre: fluff, non-idol!au, college!au words: 4.3k

author’s note: finally, a dowoon fic that i thoroughly enjoyed writing (hence how long it is) it went on a different track than planned, but isn’t that how most of my fics are turning out to be? lol. please do enjoy!

this dot fic is part of the falling asleep on the bus scenario i intend to write for each day6 member. check out the others: wonpil (currently only have 2/5 completed)

any requests? check my pinned post if i’m accepting any at the moment, thanks!

there isn’t a lot that occupies dowoon’s mind. he gets classified as an introvert by people who have known him for years but this doesn’t mean too much for him

sure, he likes to keep to himself and only open up to people he’s trusted for a while which… is the kind of life he wants to lead

with that being said, other things that goes under Dowoon’s Approved Interests would be: playing the drums, playing a ton of games, and… animals 

upon entering college, he wondered if he’d have the free time to care for animals just like when he was younger, volunteering at the nearest animal shelter in which everyone who worked there knew who he was

and always regarded him as the shy little boy but also borderline an animal whisperer. it gave dowoon lots of fun memories to look back on his childhood, and for a moment he considered studying veterinary science to continue his passion for loving dogs cats and everything in between

but another love of his life was introduced in first year high school, and that is the drums. as his social circle expanded (as much as he permitted it to, so not by a lot), so did his club activities in music and even playing as a filler in different bands became his priority (next to academics) 

he still visited the shelter from time to time, it wasn’t something he could just drop so easily; bonding with stray-turned-angelic pets waiting for their forever family was his form of therapy, in a way, when music got too complicated at times or when he’s struggling with a class

and then there’s playing league or overwatch or pubg to release stress in a more high-energy fashion

so when the time came that he needed to choose a major, the first thing that came into mind was music theory. he wanted to get better at playing drums, understanding notes, and improving his performance skills overall

he’s experienced frustration over figuring out the rhythm for certain songs he liked to play before, so this is what made him decide that music is the type of interest he’d want to pursue as a career

and bonding with animals… well, would be just that. this way, he doesn’t get burnt out with the one hobby he feels much peace with. his happy place, if you will 

so imagine dowoon’s surprise when he learnt of a volunteering organization on campus that caters to helping out local animal shelters on the weekends. literally what he has been doing since he was a wee lad

it was perfect timing to have passed by the club booth during intro week, he already planned on auditioning for the established bands on campus (day6 sounds like a perfect fit for him, tbh) but he hadn’t reached that level of confidence with his drumming skills yet

distracting himself with going to the shelter every so often would help him leave the dorm for a bit (his roommate ha subtly asked many a times for him to ease off of the mouse clicking during the late hours of the night and shouting, “gg” over and over) 

the first few times he went to the org’s events at the shelter, it was… a little awkward

one, he didn’t know anybody and two, he isn’t exactly the cute little shy 10 year old he once was that knew every auntie and uncle in his small town. 

and everyone else in the event… already seems to know each other. dowoon recognizes the guy who handed him a flyer talking to the animal shelter coordinators up in the front. he had been lost in the crowd of his peers that he has no idea what’s going on

he just wants to pet sum dogs and play laser pointers with cats, is that too much to ask for?

suddenly, everyone had dispersed into groups and apparently you choose where you want to be included in

great, dowoon is just smiling awkwardly to himself as he feels the tips of his ears blush bright red

“hi! dowoon, right? do you have a group to join?” he whips his head to the sound of your voice, just a few feet ahead of him. he’s confused as to why you knows his name, so he points to himself and feels the flimsy paper nametag attached by double-sided tape on his shirt

oh, duh. they had the new prospective members do it a while ago 

he sees your name too, and remembers it in the back of his head like a prayer

dowoon shakes his head, perpetually shy and blushing hard now. you feel a sense of guilt singling him out like that in the crowd, so you approach him more closely and signal to follow you

“i’m part of the board members, and we don’t have enough people in our group so you can come join us!” as publicity chair, it is your duty to make others feel comfortable and welcomed in the org. and this is your time to shine

“we’re looking at some bigger doggos today, do you have any pets, dowoon?” you try to make polite introductions as you lead the group to where you’re assigned. like a lost puppy on his own, dowoon follows suit. he’s grateful for some guidance, and actually seeing the animals calm him down for a moment

and it doesn’t feel like everyone’s staring at him anymore as he hears chit-chatting surrounding the place

so he focuses his attention on you instead, and he somewhat regrets it

he’s not those guys who don’t have girl friends, but most of the friendships he’s formed with them are due to the fact that he was introduced by a mutual friend

so dowoon is, how do you say it, entranced by the way you talk about your first big dog in the house 

and the two that followed after, and how you stopped playing with your friends from the neighborhood

because all you needed in life were your golden retrievers and newfoundland

dowoon finds himself sharing his own childhood experiences of spending time at a shelter, but never having a dog of his own

“family allergies,” he shrugs and you pout for him in frustration 

wow, he’s never seen someone so invested by the fact that he never got to own a pet for himself 

“well, dowoon,” you tell him as you’re approaching the section of big dogs, “i hope you enjoy your time here. this is one of the biggest shelters near campus, and fortunately a lot of dogs and cats get adopted every month!” 

your enthusiasm for #adoptdontshop makes dowoon feel excited again, he’s just itching to be back doing what calms him down in a therapeutic sense

you instruct the other members to join in a pair or a trio to assist the shelter coordinators with grooming some of the dogs and going for their scheduled walks

this makes dowoon suddenly panic inwardly again, why does everything have to be done in groups?

“want to come with me?” you ask him in the middle of his inner monologue. you’re met with a look of surprise similar to how he reacted when you called out his name just a few minutes prior

“me? you’re not partnering with anyone else?” you shake your head, “as you can tell, they’ve already made up their minds. you’re one of the only new people i saw come to our event today, so i’ll be glad to show you around!” and you genuinely are. it’s rare to see a newbie look so obviously excited to be here, let alone by themselves

usually the people you’ve come to know who join your events are just there for the instagram stories or a pseudo-date of some sorts. you’re happy they’re helping out the shelter with taking care of the pets even for a few hours in the day, but their intentions lie far and beyond with what you have in mind joining the org

however, having approached dowoon and giving him your usual spiel on your love for dogs— he was actually listening and nodding along to the right moments!!! it was so refreshing, especially with the way he’s just excitedly tapping his feet right now awaiting where you’ll lead him next 

“oh, let’s hang out with lady! she’s actually going to be adopted soon, but i want you to meet her,” you lead dowoon to one of the bigger stalls on the right where lady was. you call out to her, and immediately you see a tail of a fawn colored pitbull sway back and forth

she comes near you first, sniffing and licking at your petting hands. lady senses dowoon standing idly by your side, and you’re about to tell him how to approach the dog when dowoon does it for himself

he bends down to her level, lifts up a loosely closed fist and lets lady smell her first. “hi lady, nice to meet you. my name is dowoon,” he coos at her, finally lady lets him in her space as her tail wags even faster

“that’s amazing,” you point out, “we had a really hard time teaching her to trust new people” 

dowoon shrugs, grinning while he’s at it and you can tell how modest he’s trying to be. but the way he’s rubbing lady’s belly and chuckling at her snorts make you believe that dowoon knows what he’s doing. and he’s enjoying it to the fullest 

“thank you for trusting me, miss lady,” dowoon tells the dog who has completely fallen in love with him too. you just watch him, in awe of the scene before you until dowoon looks your way

he catches you having a weird, goofy smile and so you fake cough your way as an excuse and tuck a hair beneath your ear. “does she need to go for a walk?” he asks you, tone inquisitive and hands busy petting lady much to her delight

“we can, y-yeah,” you find yourself a little out of breath, so out of the ordinary for you. but you comply to his wish and ask the coordinator for lady’s leash and the record book. 

and that’s kinda how you and dowoon started hanging out a lot on the weekends. after that first event you met him, you’re quick to tell him about the incoming ones the org has for the following weeks (albeit some were supposed to be a secret, you couldn’t resist) and that you’ll be really happy if he came

for the pets, of course

dowoon had informed you that he’s trying to join a band on campus, so he might not be at every event you described. although he’ll do his best, for all the other dogs and cats he hasn’t met yet. you become curious about the guy, but not enough confidence to ask about this band or anything other than his love for animals

so for the next few weeks of the semester, whenever you get to lead an event you’re always looking for a shy boy in the crowd. and 80% of the time, dowoon comes through

there are instances when the other board members ask you to proceed with a diff group or a diff task, and before they can sweep dowoon away from your group…

“ah, actually he’s interested in becoming my intern, so i think it’s best to keep him under my wing!”

“we’re doing interns??? now?? i thought we canceled that—”

“he’s just interested, nothing too serious or finalized but yep— ah, dowoon, over here!” 

what a save, and gladly dowoon didn’t hear

he’s actually formed a few acquaintances within the returning members, and it makes you proud to see him come out of his shell a lil

even if you don’t know much about him yet, just his major and the band he’s trying out for (which is looking very good, in his terms) as long as dowoon voluntarily wants to attend the events, it’s a success to you

“who are we meeting today chief?” dowoon would tease you once the event has started, and it’s becoming a running theme in your guys’ greetings

hmm, you decide, major,” is what you’d call him (as you squeal and squirm involuntarily inside) “bathing ole’ mister winston or trying to teach tiny toffee how to sit and stay for more than two seconds?” 

dowoon visibly shudders, remembering the time the english mastiff mister winston slobbered him so much as a form of thanks for keeping him squeaky clean, and you basically laughed at his face for 15 seconds straight

“let’s teach toffee some tricks today,” he relents as you already knew the answer but wanted to see reactions of his flashbacks 

you’re not sure if any one of the board members have noticed your particular liking to dowoon. if they did no one said a word because the whole point of the organization is

to have fun with animals and prepare them well for their furr-ever home, which is what you and dowoon love doing together. there’s a kind of synergy that you feel being with dowoon and working with one dog

dowoon knows more techniques on how to calm down anxious dogs than you’ve ever learned being in the org

you have to admit sometimes you’re still skittish, jumping from loud sounds or yelping in response to mister winston pawing at you (and his paws are bigger than your face) 

or maybe it’s the fact that dowoon is there teasing you instead, intentionally hiding from you when you need a helping hand only to return with a handful of kittens in his embrace. “sorry, they were calling out to me and i couldn’t resist.” 

you’d roll your eyes and attempt to get upset, but the way his own shines and his shy giggle coming out of him when the kittens fight their way to nuzzle against his cheek— it’s harder than you thought

anyway, you tell yourself that you’re keeping dowoon by your side because the two of you learn a lot together, and the back and forth coordination you have with tougher to care for dogs makes the job easier, it’s really that. it really is

or maybe it’s more… because as the weeks go by and dowoon couldn’t come round the shelter on the weekends, he asks if you want to see him practice with the band he’s joined

unfortunately, a lot of the times clash with your events or other school related activities, so dowoon insists on sending you videos of him playing the drums

it was a wild ride of messages, to be honest, because at first the camera would just be showing the ceiling, and then it would be recording his shoes, then just the surface of a drum until the vibrations shake it off of wherever dowoon was putting his phone against

nevertheless, you’d listen to how he plays the instrument he truly loves, and it was another side of him that got you feeling enamored 

the day has come that there was no event at the shelter, and dowoon alongside other day6 members were having a busking session on campus grounds

“i’ll record you this time, dowoon, you don’t have to rely on faulty angles and physics anymore,” you tell him minutes before the gig started. you’ve seen dowoon give off a positive, excited aura in the shelter, but being with his bandmates and sitting in front of his drums— you’re observing a different side of him

and it’s addicting. to watch

“oh, guys by the way, she’s the one i was telling you all about,” you hear dowoon tell his members while you stand on the side. a question mark pops in your head, what does he mean by that???

soon after, everyone introduces themselves to you and shakes your hand. and you’re stunned, having known their names before (courtesy of dowoon) but not really associating a face with it 

“you didn’t tell me your friends are good looking,” you tease dowoon, “you’re hanging out with the right crowd,” you add, poking him on the side to watch his reaction

and you get what you wanted, ears blushing and hands shoving you away playfully 

around you, a crowd has started forming and you notice people from the org watching on the sidelines too

posters fill up the air with names of the members— and even dowoon

huh, why does that hurt a little inside (maybe you should have made a poster too? you glance at dowoon to see him gazing upon the cheers of the crowd and perhaps his name in sharpie, enclosed in hearts by his supporters)

that hurt a little more too

you shake away the weird feeling, and remind yourself that you’re here to record him for the first time, and to listen to him play live

when they finally begun their performance, you became more speechless than you thought. you’ve gone to indie music gatherings before and have watched a couple of up and coming bands do their thing

but day6 is something else— and most especially, you know the drummer

the ones those girls behind you are screaming your ear off for 

he’s a god with the drums, eyes closed in parts that require careful and soft beats but you see the fiery look in them once the song comes up to its peak 

it was thrilling, it was a sight to behold. dowoon in his other element, another side of dowoon you’d love to get to know more of

you resist from screaming his name so that your recording doesn’t sound ugly (you’re sending it to him after all), but that doesn’t mean your heart isn’t beating as loud as the rhythm of his drums 

a few times during the performance, you catch him looking at your direction, but you’re not sure so you just raise a thumbs up with one hand while the other holding your phone feels strained as they go on

it’s ok, it’s all for dowoon

an hour later, their set ended with a bang and girls and guys alike flock to the members to get a poster signed or something else of theirs (dowoon had already given you a pre-signed poster. friendship benefits?) 

you didn’t want to leave without congratulating him for a very successful first gig, so you sit by the benches. a little farther away from the platform where they performed to give yourself fresh air, and understand why your heart continues to pound so hard and so fast

and the cheers for dowoon’s name playing back in your mind

it’s the after show adrenaline, you tell yourself, rewinding the footage you recorded to pass the time

your mistake since it was all just dowoon

there were times when you “accidentally” zoomed it in his face, and kept it there. for minutes on end

god why does he smile like that, stop you’re hurting my HEART

“someone’s a fan,” a low, litling voice creeps up behind you

and your first instinct is to punch the invader of your personal space

which you did (albeit not as strongly as you wanted) but when realizing who received said punch…

“dowoon holy shit WHY WOULD YOU GO BEHIND ME LIKE THAT” 

“I DIDN’T KNOW YOUR REACTION WOULD BE SO VIOLENT”

so uh, there you suddenly are

in the college’s nurse office

with the drummer of what seems to be a rising band on campus, dowoon

getting his bloody nose (literally) checked out, and asking him serious questions without you in the room

“did she really think i’d punch you like that???”

“i think it was really nice of her to look out for me, you know,” dowoon smirked, and the two of you had already come out of the office and you were ready to actually punch him for real this time

but you decline your desires because you still feel a bit guilty 

a part of you knew it was dowoon, the voice was a dead giveaway, but you’re “logical reasoning” says you didn’t want him, nor anyone, to see you admiring his face on video. playing it on loop 

“i’m sorry,” you finally say, cringing at the turn of events tonight “can you still make it to the band’s after dinner party? can you still eat with your nose like that?”

“you’re so weird,” dowoon replies, pinching the bridge of his nose as he elicits a short “ow” of pain, and you can’t help but feel so terrible

“ughhhhhh dowoon pls say i didn’t break your nose or else your fangirls will hate me”

“what” 

“you heard me don’t make me say it again”

“say what again :)” at this point he’s just messing with you, his nose doesn’t look crooked anyway and he definitely knows there were girls fawning over him!!

“c’mon, i’ll pay for the uber to take you to the restaurant,” you urge, it’s the least you can do for physically hurting the person who seems to be confusing you what draws the line between being a friend and… potentially liking them more than that 

dowoon doesn’t respond, just shakes his head no and walks alongside you

“what do you mean no???” you’re baffled, why would he decline such a good offer?? 

“no i’m not going to the dinner, it’s fine i get to see them every day,” he reasons out. he stretches his arms and evokes a yawn. “besides i’m pretty beat from the gig, so i’m just gonna crash back at the dorm”

you’re not convinced, what if he’s just pretending to be sleepy so he doesn’t bother you anymore? biting your lip, you contemplate on persuading him to go but buying his dinner (you’re not sure how that will work) until he stops in his tracks and

pinches your cheeks

to stop you from thinking as your eyes land on his

dowoon huffs, eyebrows creased with concern as he says, “you look like one of the dogs we fed last week who wanted more food in his bowl, but he doesn’t know he’s on a diet.” 

he.. really compared u… to a dog???? 

“what do you mean by that,” you counter, cheeks heating up from the sensation of his fingers pinching at them. not too painful, but enough to consciously feel the pressure of his touch on your face

not to mention his focus is all on you

“you’re upset because i won’t give in to your apology gift,” he explains further. “but really, i’m fine. you didn’t break any bones, and you aimed for my nose. if it were my hands that got hurt then it’ll be a different story”

you groan outwardly, not knowing how to best him out of his logic

“c’mon the bus is coming soon, let’s call it a night,” he says, releasing your cheeks from his grasp and instead, tugging at your hand to follow his lead this time

you don’t let it go

once you enter the bus, dowoon finds an empty two seater and slides right in by the window seat, patting the one next to him. you reluctantly take the spot, still reeling from the way he held your hand so effortlessly, still confused about how you feel about him, still wanting to make it up to him

“is there an event tomorrow?” dowoon asks, escaping you out of your reverie. you churn your brain to think as this is a good opportunity to divert your attention somewhere else

“i believe so. i’m not leading the event, but it’s basically adoption day at the shelter. did you want to come?”

“of course, if you are”

“oh,” that caught you off guard… he can always come to events even if you aren’t, he’s a member now and he’s good friends with the other board members…

“if you’re not, then are you busy doing something?” he yawns again, eyes becoming droopier by the minute as the bus takes it leave

“not really… we can go… together,” you attempt to string coherent sentences together, but the sight of dowoon dozing off at the electric hum while the bus moves entrances you

his pale soft skin contrasts the tiredness in his voice, trying to keep himself away by answering you

“mm. yeah, i’d like to go with you...anywhere… with you,” he starts mumbling, head dangerously close to colliding against the window

silently, you chuckle. and admire the hardworking effort you’ve seen dowoon achieve so far, it makes you momentarily forget about figuring out your feelings

cause it’s kinda obvious with the way you’re seeing him right now, usually you’d tease him, take a picture for blackmail or even feel slightly awkward sitting in the bus next to each other

but right now, you admire him. and wish you can talk to him more about the band, about his dreams, about going to events “as long as it’s with you”

you hear him continuously mumble string of phrases that are incomprehensible at this point, and instead of making fun of the guy (you’ve done enough damage to his nose), you gently tell him, “sleep, dowoon. i’ll wake you up when your stop is here.”

“mmkay,” he gives in, breathes out heavily and

leans against you

resting his head on your shoulder, even making himself more comfy by nuzzling his cheek by the junction of your neck

in a way it sets your heart aflame

but on the outside, you feel at ease. that he can easily take the hit with his nose just mere moments ago and willingly let his head, and his mind rest for a little right by your side

you don’t have to wonder about your feelings anymore

you’d want this to happen more in the future, and hopefully

you’re just wishing upon a star here, that dowoon feels the same

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

OC Master List

Obviously if you’ve followed me for any length of time you will know that I have a really nasty habit of making characters of my own design. I love to be creative and make my own realities through this medium. It’s actually one of my favorite things to do. I’ve wanted to make this for a while because my friends sometimes get confused as to which OC that I’m talking about so this is the master list for everybody. 

My Hero Academia: If I have any fandom where most of my OCs go it’s into the MHA fandom. I have currently five OCs in this show so let’s talk about them one by one. 

Mitsuki Haruka: My first OC that I truly ever created and invented with the knowledge of doing it. Mitsu has a really special place in my heart because she was the first and the one that I work for the most in this fandom usually. Her comfort character is Katara from Avatar The Last Airbender. Her quirk is water. She can pretty much do anything with water. She can heat it, freeze it, glide around on it, whip it out of her and use something that I stole from Fairy Tail called waterlock where she locks a person inside of a body of water. Her canon partner is Tenya Iida my favorite square boi. I often talk about her with her adopted brother and my amazing friend @bio-hazard0us OC Kaku. 

Violet Katsuragi: Violet is one that I don’t really talk about in great detail a whole lot because every time I try to I cry. Her family is a massive shit show and I always feel so bad for making it that way.  I’m always like “My poor baby who is making you suffer so much-oh yeah it’s me sorry about that babe.” She is my “villain” OC. She is really only a member of the league so that she can stay close with her boyfriend and love of her life Twice (Jin). Her quirk is that she can control the plant tattoos that are on her arms by summoning them and using them in combat. Her comfort character is Mary Poppins because it reminds her of her older brother. Violet is an actress for a local community theater once the league disbands quietly. She and Jin also adopt Toga (a younger member of the villain league) as their own daughter to give her a second chance at life. I love her even though she’s the saddest backstory one that I have to work with it’s also the most fulfilling when I write fluff for her. 

Shizuko Kanade: Another absolute baby with a crappy home life. I’m sorry that I made it that way hun but it gets better for you I promise. Shizuko is my quirkless OC and my genius tech girl. She lives below her best friend and brother in arms Denki Kaminari and they’ve been best friends since they moved into the same building together. Her comfort character is PJ from the Goof franchise especially from Goof Troop that was her favorite show to watch with her aunt when she was growing up. She starts off really chubby, the cute kind of chubby but starts drastically dropping pounds in order for her parents to love and accept her. When they still don’t Denki has enough and talks to his mom and they decide to call the police and foster Shizuko into their own home. They get a restraining order against her biological family and my best girl gets a happy home. She wants to be the first quirkless hero to rely completely on support items. (She is also partnered with Shoji if anybody is curious.)

Arashi Mitsuha: This absolute baby, I love them. Ari is my gender fluid OC that I made who started off as just your everyday cis male but then I had an idea that spiraled from Ari in eyeliner to Ari in a skirt and then we wound up with the gender fluid absolute icon that they are today. Ari has a weather quirk. Basically anything involving weather they can do it with their eyes closed. Thunder and lightning storms, tsunamis, tornados but also snow and sunshine. They’re really OP and hella versatile it makes it more fun to write their fighting style. I paired them up with Denki in your stereotypical meet-cute scenario. In terms of backstory they just had a really bad ex-boyfriend before Denki came into their life like a literal speeding bullet. Their comfort character is Hedwig from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. 

Litzy Diaz: My last and FINAL MHA OC I promise you. Litzy is from a small town in Mexico and transferred to UA giving herself a second chance to start anew with her new friends and away from her toxic parents. She is fostered by Aizawa and Present Mic who have already adopted Shinsou so they are brother and sister in every way but blood. Her quirk was very heavily inspired by my love of Dr Facilier in Princess And The Frog. She can control shadows, shadow travel through things such as walls and she can control her friends on the other side basically demons from the underworld. Present Mic sees her as his long lost daughter and basically worships the ground that she walks on. He loves her more than anything in the entire world. Her comfort character is Miguel from Coco and La Muerte from Book Of Life. Her canon partner is Juso from Class B. 

DuckTales: I only have one DuckTales OC (thank the Gods) but she’s very special and important to me. I love the reboot of this show even if I’m way the hell behind on it (I promise I’ll catch up after Gravity Falls Donuts!!). 

Sabrina Duck: Sabrina is a sister for Huey, Dewey and Louie!! She shares the title of oldest quadruplet by thirty seconds and often took over the motherly role for her siblings when their mom wasn’t there. She was always reminding them to do their homework, regulated who got TV time and who was in charge of the delegated family movie night. This resulted in a rift between her and her brother Dewey that only got bigger overtime. School was really hard for her to deal with. She was never the best at paying attention during her classes and had a really bad sensory overload one day. She was really close with her uncle Ludwig though and he offered to teach her. They have a really special bond between the two of them that I love writing for. Sabrina was the person that grounded Ludwig to not think up as many crazy inventions. She also knits!! She loves knitting sweaters for her friends and family around the holidays. I am partnering her up with Gosalyn eventually. 

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil: To be perfectly honest with you guys, I have not seen the entire show. It’s really hard for me to get into it. Because when you only really love one character in the entire thing it gets harder to keep coming back for more. Especially because in the first two seasons you don’t get a whole lot of him and I’m stuck on season 2. 

Allania (Nia) Alvez: I feel like out of all my OCs I am the most like Nia. She’s a half elf-half mortal princess that isn’t allowed to live with the elves so they sent her to live with her mortal father. Her dad’s run a bakery in town and she works there as an assistant baker when she isn’t preparing for her next drag show. She grew up in this family full of love and acceptance and grew excited about one day having a relationship just like her parents. Her first brush with love left her broken by the side of the road even though no relationship came of it. A lot of my feelings for my ex-best friend went into Nia’s personality. However, there is a bright side! Of course with every one of my fics so far there is a bright side that comes in the form of my favorite character Tom who gives her the love that she deserves. 

Animaniacs: Of course this is me we’re talking about so there has to be an Animaniacs OC on this list! This is actually the first character that I ever made on my own free will! She has changed a lot throughout the years that I’ve had her mostly because my tastes have changed.  

Elizabeth Martin: Lizzy is a member of the scene crowd, I was inspired by my best friend and what she wears every day. For the modern au that I have her in her and Yakko are dance partners in a musical theater style school. For the regular fic she’s cast as his love interest. I love this girl so much. To me she is everything that I want to be even now. Her strength and confidence to get through every situation, even the ones that she is afraid to deal with speaks volumes to how I want to be one day. One of the few things that we have in common is that we both did martial arts! She stuck with it for longer than me though and is currently a green belt in kempo karate. Her favorite musical is Fun Home because it’s the one that she relates to the most through the eyes of the mother Helen Beckdal. Her parents basically had three other kids and went here take care of these it’s your job. Every time I listen to Days and Days I think of how much she had to go through just to make sure that everything was going according to plan. 

Looney Toons: Who doesn’t love Looney Toons?! We all have our personal favorite characters, mine has always been the schemer Daffy Duck. I thought that he was a combination of the funniest and had the most personality other than Bugs. I love his antics and get rich quick schemes and I thought to myself one day “How cute would it be if he had an adorable little niece who loved space?!” 

Daniella Duck: This began the creation of one of the best ideas that I personally think that I have ever had. So Daniella is the only one out of all my OCs that does not have aspergers. Instead I looked at Daffy’s elongated tongue and was like “Hm something inside of me thinks that she would have down-syndrome...” At first she was just going to have a little bit of her uncle’s speech impediment but this is what happens when I get ideas when I’m working out. Daniella lives with her uncle on the warner movie lot in the show fic. I love writing for her and her uncle’s relationship because it’s soft Daffy (it’s very similar to writing for soft Grunkle Stan and I LOVE BOTH). Daniella also has an uncle figure in Bugs and Porky of course. I gave her canon partner to Wakko because I just thought that they would be SO cute together. He helps her work on her self confidence and working her way around her speech impediment. In the modern au that I have she has a brother Ding Dong (@oo-fabooo02 OC). She goes to school with Wakko, loves Ed, Ed N Eddy, helps her uncle on his podcast because Daffy is a comedian in this au and she helps him write his script for the episodes. She loves space in both aus but in the modern au she actually is able to become an astronaut! 

Teen Titans\Promare: I have the same OC for both Teen Titans and for Promare but she’s more for Promare right now. What started off as just a happy au that she could have with her comfort character from the TT fic sort of spiraled into this whole other au. 

Keiko Katsuragi\Fotia in the Promare au: Keiko is a really special OC in my heart. She’s adorable, fun loving, sweet and just an all around amazing girl. In the Teen Titans au she’s a lot more damaged emotionally. Her father gave her powers through a serum that she didn’t even really want (she thought that he was joking) and it caused her house to burn down. When she left Japan she was homeless until the Teen Titans found her. Keiko is a member of the decora community and loves cutesy, girly things (especially Pokémon, Sanrio characters, Spongebob, Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears). Her collection of stuffed animals is immense and intimidating. Her canon partner is Beast Boy. I’ve had Keiko since I was six and only just started to refine her and make her into an official OC. Promare au Keiko still has BB as her partner but I made him into a fire fighter for this au to work. She started off in a poly relationship with Meis and Gueira but I changed my mind. Writing the Promare au gave me the chance to make a happy unscarred Keiko. Her comfort character in this au is Dot. 

Princess And The Frog: If you forced me to pick a favorite Disney movie this one would be one of the two answers that I gave to you. I have a very big soft spot for this movie in particular. It is one that changed my life when I sat there as a young child and watched the movie unfold in front of my very eyes. Every time I rewatch this movie I am reminded of how much of my childhood I spent loving hand drawn Disney animation. 

Rhiannon (Rae): Rae is the daughter of Tiana and Naveen. I named her after Raymond the firefly. If you knew what a big comfort character my favorite cajun firefly is for me and my mom then her name will come as no surprise. She is the baker and pastry chef for Tiana’s Palace. Rae is a multi musically talented young girl she plays the ukulele, trumpet and accordion. When I first started writing for her I knew that I wanted her to be bisexual. So I turned to one of my favorite animation fun facts that I know. When Jim Cummings was first auditioning for Raymond they had him sing a song. This song that he sang is by Leon Russel and it’s called Cajun Love Song. It is also the song that he sings when he is untying Tiana and Naveen’s tongues. The song is about a girl named Alice. And part of my brain that makes these connections went perfect! That’ll be the name of her girlfriend. Rae is mostly a daddy’s girl. The relationship between her and Naveen was really what helped me refine her personality. Her comfort character is Rabbit from Winnie The Pooh. She is a gardener in her free time and that’s where she gets a majority of her fresh fruits and vegetables for her pastries and desserts. She isn’t really the best at being a princess. In fact she hates when she has to go and visit Maldonia. She doesn’t feel at home there and they won’t let her cook or bake anything at all because it’s not seen as ladylike. This is when she mostly feels like something is wrong with her. Why can’t she just do this one seemingly simple thing for her dad? When he does so much for her why can’t she do this? She learns that even though she isn’t perfect she is so very much loved that it’s ridiculous. Her family loves her so much and they’re willing to move hell or high water for her to be comfortable. 

Gravity Falls: My most recent obsession (I did not have cable when the original show was being released please don’t kill me). I have recently been binging this show on Disney+ and have just started the second season. I hope to be done with it within the next week or so because I love it so much. My favorite character so far is definitely Grunkle Stan. I love his growth and development from a power hungry greedy old man to somebody that clearly loves the kids that are put under his care. Watching his adorable relationship with mother and the father son relationship with Dipper is something that is really close to my heart.

Twilight Pines: My most recent OC!! Twilight is the older sister of Mabel and Dipper and has been visiting Grunkle Stan for years prior to the start of the show. She’s used to his money scheming antics by now but she still loves her favorite Grunkle. Growing up, Twilight had a nervous stutter. She was shy, nervous a lot, socially awkward and was never really the best at dealing with other people. This made her comfort character Piglet from Winnie The Pooh. Her stutter is still there but it’s gotten a lot better!! She spent the year before the show starts at drama camp trying to get over her stutter. While it’s not gone completely it was a lot of progress. She has a really strong relationship with her caretaker for the summer because of the years that she’s spent with him in the past. Up until Mabel went with her for the summer she thought that she would be the only niece in his heart. See, after Mabel was born she took up a lot of the attention. Everyone wanted to look at the cute one instead of the nervous one. It’s just the way that life is. But during the summer she got to spend it being the favorite relative of somebody. When she notices how close Mabel and Stan are getting that’s when she knows that it’s over. She was naive to ever think that somebody would pick her as the favorite. Not when Mabel existed alongside her. It’s not that she doesn’t love Mabel because she clearly does. It’s just that well sometimes she wants to be loved and appreciated by her parents instead of constantly being sidelined. That’s why her summers with her Grunkle were so important to her. It was just three months out of the year. But for those three months working at the Mystery Shack and having all kinds of chaotic fun were the highlight of her year. She has to learn that she has her own values too. One’s that while don’t oversell her sister are still her’s and they are still beautiful. She learns that her parents love and care about her just as much as her sister. It’s just hard to be a show stealer in this house let’s be honest. Twilight is a pansexual and her canon partner is Wendy. 

[bigskydreaming]

I’m literally in love with the way you write Dick and Jason’s dynamic

Thanks, glad to hear that! Personal preferences aside, I honestly do think it just opens up SO many more potential stories if you go with the idea that they did have a brotherly relationship before Jason died, just they didnt get together around Bruce because Dick was still hoping Bruce would make the first move in reaching out to him. Rather than just stick with the usual assumption that because it wasn’t seen on the page, they had barely any interactions and both resented each other for various reasons.

But those reasons all trace back to Bruce, and if you look at them as two people who are united by the common experience of being fish out of water, adapting to the same environment after coming from DRAMATICALLY different origins, able to connect over that and understand each other in a way nobody else really can because nobody else has ever really had to straddle two worlds as definitively as Dick and Jason had to in their formative years....

Like, the big sticking point for me in the Dick vs Jason: The Grudge theory was just that....at the end of the day, these are two boys who grew up with very few loved ones to start with, or having had to deal with the loss of those loved ones.....

But one way or another......are these two specific characters really ones that make sense as wanting to reject the possibility of more family?

They’re connected through Bruce, like it or not, that was never going to change even from before they ever met......and the idea that Dick Grayson and Jason Todd would each be content to waste literal YEARS never even TRYING to connect with the person who was probably most like him and who by all accounts was already his brother in most ways just by way of Bruce...not even to see if maybe they COULD actually be brothers? To have family beyond just Bruce and Alfred? 

Me @ every fic or headcanon that says Dick had Only Child Syndrome and resented Jason because of that: right because Dick Grayson of all people is anti-family. He’s full up with that one guy whose legal guardianship of him has been expired for a couple years and who he hasn’t spoken to since long before then.....nah, why would he want any more or any other family beyond that?

I mean, I absolutely believe that Dick was upset and hurt that Bruce adopted Jason while he’d never even offered to adopt Dick......but Dick has never been one to pass around blame instead of focusing it on its true point of origin. That’s his and Bruce’s issue. And honestly, there are TONS of reasons for Dick to be upset about that, without making it about Jason at all. 

There’s literally no reason for Dick to take it out on Jason ever, if his biggest issue or grievance is that like....it feels like Bruce was just so done with Dick and considered him so out of his life, something like “just added a new kid to the family” didn’t seem like relevant information he should pass on to Dick despite the tenseness between them. When you have to find out from the NEWS that your old family unit just full on up and adopted this kid you’ve never heard of before now without even so much as a phone call.....there’s plenty of cause to feel like this is a message that you’re not really considered part of that family unit anymore, so why would you need to know?

Or like, the fact that Bruce didn’t consider hey I’m thinking of adding another kid to my family that consists of me and the kid I’m so afraid to tell I think of him as a son in case he doesn’t feel the same way, that I’ve sat back and let things get this bad between us and fester.....hey maybe before I issue adoption papers for a second kid, I should think about putting in an equivalent effort at fixing things with my first kid first?

Or why not write Bruce thinking: “Hey if I can’t even fix things with the kid I raised for almost a decade and think of as my own no matter how long its been since I talked to him.....what on Earth makes me think I’m qualified to take on a SECOND child?”

Like....Bruce was the one who held all the power and all the options, Dick had no other option but to go along with whatever Bruce decided Bruce was going to do, and neither did Jason really.....so there’s no real reason in my head that should be a point of contention between them or a reason to resent each other instead of just stressing to them the importance of having significant family ties beyond just Bruce because history clearly showed even at that point that best intentions aside, the man is fallible.

If anything, that should have been common ground!

I think there was like, an initial negative reaction of maybe one night, the first time they met and Dick even though he was prepared for it still had to adjust to the reality of actually seeing this stranger he was irrevocably connected to now by both his names, even if neither was technically his anymore....like to actually SEE him standing there in his old role....that’s gonna hit anybody hard.

But he also would have clearly been able to see that whatever else he may have been, this twelve year old Robin was still a kid, and one who hadn’t had a lot of time to ever be a kid in the first place.....which again, instant camaraderie, because boy could Dick relate.....remember, Dick may have had a happy childhood with his parents before they were murdered but it was also a childhood where he WORKED. He loves being an acrobat, he loved being in the show, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t WORK, that his childhood didn’t consist of training as long and as regularly as any adult acrobat while everyone else his age was running around playing outside and making friends. And after Bruce took Dick in, most of Dick’s free time was spent being Robin, training as Robin, etc?

Which IMO would have made him take one look at this kid in his old costume, literally standing where he had once stood, stepping into his old shoes.....and I think Dick’s real honest reaction once he brushed aside any kneejerk feeling of pain or bitterness the way he brushes aside all the physical pain he feels when out as Nightwing but refuses to let get in the way of him doing what he has to, doing what’s right....

Nah, Dick would have taken one look at this tiny kid full of fire and bravado but also so clearly eager to please, to be praised, to be told he was doing a good job and even without that he was worth something, his life had value, the world was better just because he existed......

And I think Dick’s bitterness about the situation would have crystallized into him resentfully thinking well B’s not exactly the best about dishing out affection or praise so I’m gonna make sure this little Mini-Me standing there in my old colors looking just as young and small as I must have looked then even if I didn’t realize it at the time....I’m gonna make sure I keep him supplied with a steady diet of “Nice Words and Gestures That Kids Should Grow Up Receiving Regularly.”

Dick has always been a firm believer that the best way to make sure something gets done is to do it yourself.

So yeah, I honestly do think that back during those days, Dick and Jason were thick as thieves when their schedules allowed for it, with it being simultaneously painful and unspoken that they had to like....work around Bruce’s presence so Dick could avoid him, but somewhat softened by the challenge and thrill of two brothers scheming to pull one over on the Big Bad Batdad every time the older brother wanted to take the little brother to go somewhere or do something, like, even just to spoil him rotten.

Cuz really....isn’t that a lot more interesting than ‘oh they barely ever even met back then and it wasn’t great, that’s it, the end’? There’s so much you could do with even just that, from them sneaking Jason out for a fun adventure that’s layered with just a hint of poignant angst because of the unspoken why of him needing to sneak out instead of them just saying hey Bruce, we need some bro time, Jason’s hanging with me this weekend? Or you dial up the angst and layer it with lightness or literally anything between those two points on a spectrum.

There’s so much Secret History potential buried back in those years....adventures they had together and never told anyone about, secrets shared between brothers they never shared elsewhere.....maybe Dick opening up to Jason more than he usually likes to, but here felt it might be the only way to get Jason to do the same, with Dick thus offering up some painful tidbit from his past that he never told even Bruce or Alfred for some reason, if he thinks Jason’s upset about something and needs to vent but will just keep insisting he’s fine unless Dick leads by example and goes first.

There’s so much potential for in-jokes that only the two of them know and everyone else is ENDLESSLY curious about, because everyone always forgets that those two have so much history because it was literally kept out of sight, out of mind, so they could keep it free of the friction that was bound to come of adding Bruce to the mix before their father cleared the air with his eldest first.

So its an easy thing to forget about or overlook, especially since it rarely comes up....but everytime it does rear its head via some private joke only they know or a reference to some event back then that everyone else is kept boxed out of having any context for....that’s the kind of stuff that would drive a family of detectives craszy, because they want to know! What’s the joke??

And yet its likely they’d never ask, because as curious as they are to hear about the mysterious missing years of the first two Wayne children, back when there was literally nobody else present to ask for details.....they never can figure out HOW to ask those questions, not when they’re equally aware of the swiftly hidden expressions of pain or bitterness that flash across the two eldests’ faces after each unearthing of some long-buried treasure they shared between them. Unable to ever escape the fact that each of those treasured moments would forever be followed with an inevitable reminder of why there were so few of those moments, in the end. 

Why those years ended far earlier than they should have, and why their reunion upon Jason’s return was hindered and complicated by Dick’s obligation to other siblings Jason hurt while dealing with Pit after-effects and the lack of a strong support system while swayed to League sympathies...

And of course, ultimately there’s the reality that after the Adventures of Young Dick and Tiny Jason were cancelled far ahead of schedule, and that several year long intermission....by the time everything else was gotten out of the way, the stars of those earlier adventures were as long gone as the adventures themselves. Dick and Jason were both entirely different people by now.....still containing within each of them enough of who they were back then that those memories are kept carefully protected and hidden away, all the more valuable for how few and sparse they are, and how rarely they’re brought out to look at and enjoy.....

But with those vaults buried deeply enough within who Dick and Jason both are these days, that there’s a lot of blood and loss and pain you have to cut through just to reach that vault. There’s no retrieving anything from it without a cost. A cost worth paying, given that they can’t help themselves from calling back to it every now and then, even though they know the inevitable result is going to be end negative and not end positive. But still high enough to give them pause before actually doing so....holding back sometimes so the toll is doled out sparingly and over time. Getting greedy and trying to bring out/back/up too much too fast is far more daunting than either can afford to pay at the moment.

So that’s how I like to view the two of them and their dynamic back during and because of those early years before Jason’s death. Bittersweet and shaded by nostalgia.....temptation and warning both, in how much they want to revisit it but how much they fear ruining what they’ve managed to cobble together now by bringing the past too much into the light, comparing past and present too clearly and risking that being reminded too strongly of the brothers they were back then, will just make it impossible to ever be content with anything but that bond replicated in full and they’re not sure it can be, are both too afraid too much has happened since then and trying too hard, putting too much pressure on the dynamic they’ve built now could risk shattering the relative fragile bond completely.

Pretty much everything I write with the two of them, unless I specifically state otherwise via context, is generally written through that lens, with me viewing that as the backstory for their dynamic that I’m running with.