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#jesus christ when i did i write so many fics. how has this happened.
metalheadmickey · 1 year
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thank you for the tag, @energievie @gardenerian @gallawitchxx @squidyyy23 !! 💜
Rules: post the first lines of your last 10 fics/chapters posted on AO3 (if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics) and try to draw some conclusions.
It's a beautiful day, one of the first nice days of the year. - golden
Moving out of the apartment couldn't have happened a moment too soon, in Mickey's opinion. - ligature
He got himself into this. - make the yuletide gay, or whatever
He's on his side, comfy in their bed, lips parted, eyes closed. - lush
Mickey's brain comes back online some time later, and as it does so, his mission becomes clear. - fulfillment
It's become a problem. These new builds are nice, but they're cheap, right? - kinktober collection
Mickey's lucky, he thinks. - and i'm your warm receiver
In retrospect, Ian's not sure why he'd thought renting furniture for the apartment would have been a good idea. - cinematic
It's not like he doesn't remember what it's like. - watching
He wakes up, and he knows it's early. - peace comes dropping slow
conclusions: first of all, i know i cheated by sharing more than one line for one of these. but, like mel, a bitch is succinct. more than one of these open with four fucking words alksflhgl. i tend to start with really short declarative statements that hopefully make readers interested in what's going on, but i don't know how engaging it actually is. hm!
i'll tag @howlinchickhowl @ardent-fox @whatthebodygraspsnot @whatwouldmickeydo @crossmydna @thisdivorce @celestialmickey if you guys feel like playing! 🖤
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mikalei · 11 months
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————————— Murder in My Mind +18
Killer!Husband!Scaramouche x Fem!reader
Modern AU
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Synopsis: your work as a detective was never easy; you have been assigned to another murder case and was tasked to find and apprehend this killer, but what if it was someone you never expected—what if it was someone closer to you than you think…
tw: ya’ll thought it was fluff at first but it’s not lol, eventual smut, mentions of death, killings, knife, blood, violence, psychotic behavior, weird obsessive behavior,; contains: sexual activity, vaginal sex, oral sex, creampie, vaginal fingering, shower sex, rough sex, marking, biting, tit sucking, cunnilingus, and many more!..
cw: no use of Y/n, implied female reader, Scara calls reader “darling, my love,gorgeous, and my wife”, Scara is secretly a psycho but we still love him, not proofread.
part ii: prev ; masterlist ; ??
A/n: based on a c.ai bot made by Haniyyah (click hyperlink to visit their tt page, don’t forget to follow them!). If you’re reading this, I love how you write your bots. The prompt and idea was all from their Killer Scaramouche bot, this fic is based solely on what I encounter while using it. (Also I didn’t add the twins part in this story, I don’t want traumatised childrens on my fic just yet). Also sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes, I haven’t written anything for 2 years, I’m still getting the hang of it.
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I woke up at the the smell of freshly brewed coffee coming from outside of the bedroom, it took me a second until I come to my senses and realize the event that happened when I got back from work, blood rushed to my cheeks as I now notice a red hand print on my waist and thighs.
“jesus christ, does he really need to be so rough to me during sex?“ I thought to myself. As I examine myself more, I just realized that I’m still naked. I look for something to cover my body, I’m not really in the mood to put some clothes on but I can’t just walk around butt naked in my house.
Soon, I successfully grabbed one of my husband’s black hoodie after limping towards his drawer—due to how sore my legs are after what happened, and put it on after looking for a fresh pair of panties.
I looked at the clock in our room as it states that it is already an hour past twelve. “Good thing that today’s my day off.”. I then head to the kitchen, still limping to which I assume where my husband is and I was right. There he was shirtless, wearing only his gray sweatpants and and apron as he puts some bacon into the pan.
His toned back is facing towards me he seem to be focused on the food that he is cooking. I just stand there, leaning on the table for support since I have a hard time walking let alone standing up. As I admire his body, I start to notice the red scratch marks he has on his back.
“Did I do that? Holy hell, that must sting so bad…” I thought to myself once again when I got interrupted by Scara speaking.
“My love, if you keep staring at me I might just melt” he chuckles as he turn off the stove and put the bacon and coffee on the table. He took off the apron he is wearing and hang it to the rack, before walking to me, pulling me in for a hug.
“Good afternoon, darling. I just woke up a few hours ago” he said as he kissed my forehead. I buried my head on to his neck as I lean in more to the hug. Being with him really gives me a sense of comfort. “You smell like bacon” I mumble to him to which makes him chuckle.
He picked up the chair that’s tucked in the table and let me sit there before pushing it closer back to the table ,then sitting on the chair across mine. We start to eat the breakfast he served.
While eating, he decided to spoke up once again. “Oh by the way, Hun, your boss was calling you earlier, but you’re still asleep and won’t wake up even with how irritating your phone’s ringtone is” he said the last part jokingly, to which I act like I was offended but then laughed it off. “My boss? You mean my manager?” I asked. “Not sure, I think the caller’s id was Gunnhildr?” He said as he take a sip of his coffee.
“Huh? That’s weird she won’t usually call me directly, most of the time she’ll just contact our manager if ever she wants to relay a message to me” I said as I look for my phone. I opened the contacts and listen to the voicemail her assistant left.
“Hello, this is President Gunnhildr’s office, I’m sorry to inform you that the head of your department has unfortunately passed away, his body was seen in an alley way near a bar and another detective is handling the case right now. The president wanted to offer her condolences to his family, friends and co-workers. She understand that you may also be grieving at his death so she’ll let you take some time off to properly grieve at his loss, as we look for someone who will take his place. We’ll keep you updated if we found a new replacement for him.”
The voicemail then ends, as I feel my blood run cold from the news I received. Scara looks at me concerned about what happened. He reached out his hands to hold mine to grab my attention. “Baby? What’s wrong? You’ve gone pale. Is everything alright at work?” Scara looks so concerned, he stood up from his seat and hugged me from behind.
“Remember the manager I was talking about last night? He was found dead in an alleyway earlier this morning…” I whispered, almost like there was something blocking my throat that stops me from speaking in a normal voice.
“Oh my… I’m sorry to hear that my love, it must be so devastating.” Scara turned me around so I can hug him too. But while I was nestling my face at the crook of his neck, a satisfied smirk in planted on husband’s face. Hearing about his work makes him so happy, and he knows deep down, you also feel some sort of relief knowing that there’s no one going to harass you on your work any longer.
Scara cleared his throat before breaking the hug. “So…uhm, what else did the voicemail said? Do you have to go to work today? Did they assign you to more work?” Scaramouche switches back to an empathetic look as he cups my cheeks on his large hands.
“No, my boss said that I can take a few days break because of what happened.” And with that my husband’s face almost lit up. He was again wearing that same dorky grin he has when he wants to do something he has in mind.
“What’s with that face?” I looked at him as he continues to wear a wide grin. “You know… I remembered we haven’t got the time to celebrate our wedding anniversary a few weeks ago because you’re always busy…” He implies, “…and I have been saving up for this really fancy date on a fancy private beach house that I rented on a fancy island…”
My eyes went wide when I heard what he had done. “You what?! Are you serious?!” The thought of my manager’s death instantly left my mind. “How long have you’ve been planning this?” I was still shocked at how he managed to those things, not that it’s the first time that we went on a fancy date but what he just said is way more fancier than the dates we used to have.
“I’ve been making all the arrangements for more than a month ago and coincidentally, the beach house is available right now and I’ve already bought the plane tickets for the both of us.” By this time I was speechless, how could he do all of this in such a short notice? I was just staring at him, mouth slightly open and still shocked with all of this.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Did you not like it?” He asked, I can sense him pouting already. “No no no, I was just…surprised… wow, I mean, you really did all of that?” He just gave me a nod and I just swooned over him. I pressed a ton of kisses around his face while muttering “i love you so much” and “you’re amazing”
Scara just chuckled at my reaction “glad you like it, now the trip last for 5 days, and we can get on a flight tomorrow evening, why don’t we prepare today, maybe buy something for the trip?” He suggested, to which I agree. I almost ran to our bedroom to get change when I remembered that my body is still aching from last time.
My husband just looks at me with a smirk, “oh what’s the problem darling? Can’t walk properly” he teased as he now take in the sight in front of him: red marks are plastered all over my neck down to the cleavage of my breast. He looks so proud at his work before a playfully hit him. “You did this” I said to which he only reply with a chuckle, “and I will do it again” he smirked as he picked me up in a bridal style as he walk to our bedroom.
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A few moments later, after we finally got dressed, we head on to the mall to buy the stuff we need. As we are walking, browsing from store to store, one had caught my attention. The lingerie shop. I grinned as a fun thought came to mind.
“Oh shoot, babe I think I left my phone at the car, can you go and get it for me? My shopping list is on my notes” It was a lame excuse but knowing my husband for more than eight years and being married to him for three, he will definitely do what I’ll ask even if it doesn’t make sense. Of course I would do the same for him.
“Ok, wait for here, I’ll be back shortly” he left after leaving a kiss on my cheeks. Once he has fade in the crowd, I immediately walked in to the shop.
I look in between the aisles, searching for something that will definitely surprise my husband, and indeed I saw the perfect one, this is way different than the ones I buy but since my dear husband made so much effort for this vacation, I ought to repay his kindness right? I giggle to myself as I pay for the lingerie. I hid it in my purse so he wont see it. It’ll be my gift for him once we arrived at the vacation.
After a few moments, I called Scara over the phone, I have it with me all these time, though I feel guilty for making him run to the car and look for my phone but again I’ll repay his efforts later.
After explaining to him that the phone was actually in my bag, and apologizing to him, he came back to the mall and we went on and buying the stuff we need.
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Once we got back home, we started packing our things and soon get ready for bed. I was brushing my teeth at the bathroom’s sink when I felt a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, I looked at the reflection in the mirror to see my husband is clinging onto me.
“Yes? May I help you” I asked but all I can hear was mumbling as he hid his face in the crook of my neck. I finished brushing my teeth and that’s when my husband decided to start trailing kisses on my neck. Soon he found the spot that makes my legs quiver and starts to abuse it.
“Hun…you’re gonna leave a mark again-ah!” I squeal, his hands is now groping my breast—I wasn’t wearing any bra now since we were about to sleep. He is playing with my now hardened nipples through my shirt as he continues to suck on my skin.
“What has gotten-nggh hah- into you?” I tried to speak but he just continue his ministrations getting harsher and harsher each second. I’m starting not too like this. “Scara…scara…stop!” And just then he finally listened to me. I looked at him confusedly. “ ‘m sorry darling, I-I just…” he kept silent, he looks down at his feet before leaving the bathroom after giving me a kiss on the cheeks.
Now I felt bad, he looks so sad after I stopped him. I don’t usually mind it when he suddenly does something like that but somehow tonight was different. I finished preparing for bed, I saw a newly placed red mark over the hickeys that he also gave me from our last intimate moment. I went to our shared bedroom. There I saw him, sitting at the edge of the bed, his head still hung low.
I slowly approach him and sat next to him, I put a hand on his back and when I saw him flinch from my touch, I felt like my heart drops to my stomach. “Oh, darling… look I’m sorry about earlier… I was just stressed, my boss told me I need to go to work tomorrow even if I already told them we’re going to a vacation. You know how busy I’ll get when I’m at work and I might go home very late and I don’t want to miss our flight tomorrow night.” He kept rambling to me as I listen to him.
After he stops, I just pulled him into a hug “hey, it’s okay. You can go to work tomorrow, I don’t really mind.” He tightens the hugs as he puts his head again on my shoulder. “But our vacation, I planned the whole thing and you rarely have time for vacation, this is a once in a lifetime chance!” He rambles, “hey hey it’s okay, I’m okay with it my love. If it’s an urgent matter then you should go.” I said as I pulled away from the hug.
He still looks so stressed over his work so I decided to distract him. I pulled him once again for a kiss, a long passionate one. He was surprised at first but soon he returned the kiss, although he is still quite tense as I climbed on his lap.
“B-but… I thought… you don’t want to-mmph” he said as he tried to pull away from the kiss. “Shh, just relax. Do you want to do this?” I asked him, he stopped for a moment before giving me a small nod. “Words my dear, use your words” I lift his chin to make him look directly into my eyes, he looks so desperate. I can already feel his cock going hard under me-almost feels like he’s not wearing anything under his shorts.
“Yes, please~” he whines, I immediately crash my lips back to his as I slowly grind on his hardened dick while his hands are placed on my waist. I move my kisses to trace his jawlines down to his throat, as I start to suck on his neck, he kept whimpering. My mind was set on pleasuring him tonight, making sure he is free from any stress.
“D-darling nggh~” He released a loud moan as I start to palm his cock through his damp shorts, now I’m 100% sure he doesn’t wear anything under his shorts as his shorts is now wet with his pre-cum. “Yes yes, just relax baby~ I’ll take care of you tonight. Let me take away all your stress.” I stepped down from his lap and kneel in between his legs. He looks at me with desperation and lust on his eyes.
I trail kisses on his clothed bulge, before pulling down his shorts and freeing his cock that hits his belly. He takes a sharp breathe when I start to pump his dick. I start giving the tip a few licks before taking half of his dick in my mouth. His head was immediately thrown back when I started sucking him, his hand is tangled on my hair, pulling it up like a ponytail before trying to push my head down to take all of him.
I looked up at him as he breathe heavily while moaning my name, I can see his eyes roll back every time I bobbed my head down. “Darling-hah oh yes! God you’re mouth feels so great mhmp” he whines more, I feel his dick start twitching in my mouth indicating that he’s close. He is now thrusting his hips to gain more friction, fucking his dick in to the back of my throat, he is already lost in the pleasure as I feel the wetness dripping from my cunt.
“Shit shit shit-aah fuck! ‘m coming! Can I come in your-hah mouth d-darling?” He said to which I just bobbed my head faster, chasing his high. Soon, he cums down my throat with a loud moan while pushing my head deeper, his dick is hitting the back of my throat as he releases more of his load.
After finally calming down from his high, he pulls out his dick from my mouth. He looks at me while he holds my cheek with one hand, I swallowed his cum and pulls out my tongue to show him. He just smiled at me and help me stand up.
Just as he thought I was finished, I pulled down my panties, before sitting down back on his lap and grinds on his cock once again. “Shit…” I muttered as the tip of his dick grind on my clit. I adjusted myself before inserting his dick inside me, which made him moan once again.
“Oh fuck! So good~” I moaned as I felt his cock hit the spot that makes me see stars. I started to ride him slowly, bouncing on him as his hands are on my hips, guiding me. “Mmhm i love you-hah, i love you so much… my darling wife hnngh” he kept whimpering as he now controls the pace, thrusting his hips harder as he makes me ride him.
I pulled him once again to a kiss, my hand is on his shoulder for support while the other one is tugging on his hair, which makes him whimper in to the kiss. “I love you so much… baby~ aahh nghh” I couldn’t help but feel the ecstasy overflowing me as he kept pounding on that same spot. Sooner or later, we both ended up cumming on the same time, before laying down on the bed. He still hasn’t pulled out yet as some of his come drips down my thighs.
We are both breathing heavily, we pulled each other for one last kiss before sleep engulf us.
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Extra notes!:
Another part done! First, I’d like to apologize for not uploading earlier, our vacation started last week but there are still a lot of things we had to do, especially the preparation for our recognition that happens today (I was one of the honor students so yay!). Secondly, this part might seem rushed especially the smut scene, don’t worry, I will get back at the next part. Lastly, I still don’t know how I will end this story, I don’t really have a story board for this, I just wrote it after I enjoyed the c.ai bot version of this. So I’m not sure how much part this will have.
Oh and also I’m accepting request, I still don’t have any rules regarding it, but you can still send in your requests already, I’m fine with writing whatever you want as long as it doesn’t mention incest, underage sex, or any particular trauma like SA.
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simplespacedust · 15 days
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hey so i'm gonna talk about pro-shippers because i feel like none of you have critical thinking skills.
please, if you are going to read this, read to the end because there are multiple parts to my argument.
SOMETHING IMPORTANT: i don't think it is okay to doxx, harass, or send death threats to people on the internet! if you send death threats to people, you are awful! if you go out of your way to harass people when they tell you to leave them alone, you are awful! if someone says something you don't like, talk with them like a normal fucking person jesus christ! if you repeatedly harass a pro-shipper, you are not helping them get any better!
firstly, in terms of "problematic" stuff in mainstream media, most component people can recognize when a piece of media is commenting on something with the use of a relationship/something problematic as a metaphor. just because something exists on-screen doesn't necessarily mean the message of the media endorses it. this is why you never (hopefully) see anyone getting upset about murder in movies. the piece of media is not saying murder is good. it is using it to make a commentary/characterize someone/etc.
now that we have set that precedent, we can move on to pro-shipping in fandom spaces. pro-shipping in fandom spaces if often fundamentally different between than the more general category of just "relationships in media." in fandom spaces, the tendency when creating art, writing fics, posting headcannons, etc. is for the purpose of personal/audience enjoyment. this is why pro-shipping is more often problematic within fandoms. if a person did want to create/add to problematic ships for a purpose other than getting off to it, that would be a different story! thats fine!
unfortunately, however, many pro-shippers do not proship for the literary merit/symbolism/characterization etc. many of them do it because they find the idea of parent-child or sibling-sibling relationships attractive. this is where the problem is. they symbol itself is not the problem, its the message/purpose of the work/art/headcannon itself.
i hear a lot of people talking about how pro-shipping is often a coping mechanism for dealing with trauma a person has experienced. my response to that? KEEP IT TO YOURSELF AND GO TO THERAPY!!!! if you are having to resort to jacking off to fictional incest to cope, then clearly you need the help of a professional to work through your issues! if you cannot for whatever reason, still keep it to yourself!
it is well understood that people are influenced by the opinions of people around them/what they see and interact with. putting out bullshit on the internet that portrays problematic relationships as desirable can one, create a pedophile safe space, and two, unintentionally (or maybe even intentionally!) expose children to these types of relationships and make it seem normal in their brains, which could cause them to not speak up about it if something bad does actually happen to them! even if a person shouldn't be in a space, they are! it doesn't harm you to not post the porn you wrote of that one kid and his dad from south park. and that only talks about adult only spaces, i have seen a shit ton of pro-shippers on tiktok, a platform marketed towards minors.
ANOTHER SIDE NOTE (i have a lot to say and am terrible at organizing my thoughts srry) is that a lot of times pro-shippers infiltrate general fandom hashtags. a child who is scrolling though a bluey hashtag on tiktok should not have any risk of running into someone on the internet describing how bluey's dad would r4p3 her!
you may think that because you are only talking about fictional characters and "its a coping mechanism" its okay, but it is most certainly not! not all coping mechanisms are healthy and what you post on the internet most CERTAINLY has a real effect on people. this is basic media literacy and critical thinking, guys. stop posting child/sibling smut headcannons on the internet! it is absolutely vile!
with all of that being said, (i said this at the beginning but i am going to say it again) i still dont think it is okay to doxx, harass, or send death threats to people on the internet! if you send death threats to people, you are awful! if you go out of your way to harass people when they tell you to leave them alone, you are awful! if someone says something you dont like, talk with them like a normal fucking person jesus christ! if you repeatedly harass a pro-shipper, you are not helping them get any better!
(im gonna put a bunch of proshipper hashtags at the bottom of this to reach the targeted demographic, i am NOT a proshipper, i am NOT an "anti anti" and i do NOT believe proshippers are valid, again, this is just for reach just to be clear)
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mccn-bcys · 8 months
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First Date - Javier Peña
pairing: javier peña x fem!reader summary: connie has a new friend in Columbia and she sets her and javi up on blind date. javi gets nervous, but over dinner he finds that he really likes her and wants to see her again. warning: nervous javi, this is my first fic since my break so please go easy on me. author's note: I know this fic was supposed to go out in february but I've been in a bit of a rut for a while but I've missed writing so I wanted to start trying to get these feb stories out. I really hope you all enjoy it!
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To say that Javier Pena was nervous was an understatement. He was many things right now.
“A fuckin’ mess is what I am,” he bitterly says as he looks over his outfit in the mirror. It’s the fifth outfit he has tried on and he still doesn’t think it looks good. Why did his clothes suddenly not look good on him? He practically rips his clothes off himself as he heads back to the closet to find something else.
How did he even get here in the first place?
Oh, that’s right. Steve fucking Murphy. Well, his wife, really, but still. Connie had decided to try and play matchmaker with Javier and her friend that was new in town. And before Javier could say “no”, Connie had already set up the blind date.
He didn’t really want to do this. It’d been a long time since he’d been on a date. But he couldn’t help but feel nervous, a bit excited. For some reason, he wanted to make a good first impression, even if it never went past this first date.
Connie had said that the girl was nice, sweet. Why the hell Connie thought that a girl like that would be good for Javier, he had no idea. His life was too dark, dangerous, unexpecting. A girl as sweet, as kind, as good as you didn’t really seem to fit into his life. But a strange, demented part of him wanted to give it a shot. To see if there really was a chance for him to love again.
After what happened with Lorraine, he didn’t think he deserved love, not real love. The last time he had a chance for love, for happiness and sharing it with another person, he had fucked it up. He had left a woman at the altar. What kind of man does that? He doesn’t deserve another chance at love.
But here he was, trying anyways. He shrugs on this new shirt he’s pulled from the closet, deciding that it will just have to do as he finishes getting ready quickly. He grabs stuff and hops in his car and drives to the restaurant that Steve told him to meet at. Javi sits in his car for a moment, just calming himself. This is fine, he tells himself. It’s just a first date, nothing serious has to come from it. He’s gone on plenty of dates before. He can do this. Taking a final deep breath, he climbs out of his car and makes his way inside.
When he gets inside, he expects to learn that he is the first to arrive, but as he’s escorted to the table, he learns that you had beaten him there. He stops a few feet away, taking a second to look at you as you sit, fiddling with your napkin.
You’re beautiful, he thinks. You dressed up a lot nicer than he had, not that that mattered; he was sure you looked just as beautiful in a T-shirt and sweats. Fuck, now he just has to not make a fool of himself. Should be easy, right?
“Javier?” Nope, this would not be easy. Not if you kept saying his name like that.
“Yeah, hey,” he says, approaching the table cautiously. You smile, standing up and reaching out your hand to him. He looks at it for a moment before realizing you mean to shake his. Jesus Christ, Pena, at least try to act like you’ve interacted with people before. He meets your hand with his and gives it a small shake. God, your hand was so small in his.
“Hey,” you say softly, introducing yourself, keeping your hand in his for a moment, perhaps a moment longer than necessary. He repeats your name quietly, testing how it sounds rolling off his tongue. Obviously, you like how it sounds because your smile grows. “I went ahead and ordered some wine, I hope you don’t mind,” you say shyly as you take your hand back and sit down.
“Not at all. I hope you haven’t been waiting long.” He’d kick himself if you’d been here awhile by yourself.
“Oh, I only got here a few minutes ago. They just asked if I wanted anything and I was scared if I said I was waiting for someone, they’d assume I was going to get stood up or something,” you chuckle nervously, brushing your hair behind your ear. For a brief moment, he wonders if your hair feels as soft as it looks.
“If I’m honest, I almost did. Stand you up, I mean,” he admits almost shamefully.
“If I’m honest, I almost did, too,” you say in return shyly. His eyebrows furrow a little. He hadn’t been expecting that.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I was so close to turning my car around on my way here a couple of times.”
“Why?” he asks, as if he hadn’t almost done the same.
“I don’t really do blind dates. They freak me out,” you say, laughing a little. Javi can’t help but laugh too as the sound of yours is melodic and contagious.
“They freak you out?”
“Mhm. I could be set up with a murder or something. The person could be a psycho and I’d have no idea because I wouldn’t know who it is before I got here,” you explain. “Also, if you don’t know who you’re meeting, how’re you supposed to know if the other person got there or not. If Connie hadn’t put the reservation under Steve’s name, I probably wouldn’t have known if you’d gotten here or not,” you add on, before flushing as you realize you’re rambling a bit.
“Sorry, I tend to ramble when I get nervous,” you say softly, fiddling with your napkin again.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s cute,” Javi smiles at you, making your cheeks hot. “But you’re right. I don’t think I would’ve known I was supposed to meet you if they hadn’t made the reservation.”
“Well, I suppose we have at least that to thank them for,” you shrug with a soft chuckle. “Perhaps if this goes well, we’ll have more to thank them for.”
After that, the date flies by. You two laugh, talk, laugh some more and just get to know one another. Javi realizes he opened up to you more than he usually does with dates. You’re just so easy to talk to. And before he wants to, he finds himself walking you back to your car.
His hands are stuffed in his pockets as you stand in front of him, softly biting you lip – which drives him crazy – trying to find anything else to talk about to extend this date as much as you can. And when you do run out of ways to stall, you both just stare at each other before Javier finds himself asking: “Can I kiss you?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” you smile, a gesture that returns, relieved to hear your answer in the positive.
Stepping in, he softly cups your cheek, looking down at you for a moment before he finally leans in, his lips meeting yours. You both swear the world stops spinning as your lips seem to fit together so perfectly. He can taste the wine on your lips, getting intoxicated by the taste of you mixed with the drink. He could kiss you all night. But you both need air and eventually have to pull away to breathe, foreheads pressing together as you catch your breath.
“Can I see you again?” Javi asks quietly, surprising himself.
“Absolutely,” you answer, making him smile wide, leaning in to kiss you again. When you pull away, the two of you exchange phone numbers, promising to call when you’ve made it home to talk about setting up another date, hopefully soon.
He sees you into your car, making sure you drive off safely before going back to his car, a goofy little grin on his lips as he sits behind the wheel. He hasn’t felt these butterflies in his belly since … ever. Maybe Connie knew what she was doing after all.
The whole drive home, Javi can only find himself thinking about you and your date and your future dates. And when he gets inside, he heads straight to the phone, catching the voicemail that you’d made it home. He’ll call you back in just a moment, knowing there’s another phone call he needs to make first. He dials the number, waiting as it rings until he hears the “Peña?”
“Tell your wife I said thanks.”
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silenthillmutual · 2 months
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my buddy @doomednarrative tagged me in a fic writer's ask game so ^_^ let's do this!
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
on my current account i have 154. being unemployed and hypomanic during lockdown will do that to you.
2. What is your AO3 wordcount?
895,907. i can't tell if that's a normal distribution for my fic count or not.
3. What fandoms do you write for?
at the moment: silent hill, bloodborne, and pathologic. most of what i have up there is for pathologic. i've got other fandoms up there though.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
eight, thirty-one - 1899 kudos (danganronpa)
to quote mika, age 35, of beirut, lebanon: "where have all the good (gay) guys gone?" - 1066 kudos (danganronpa)
(they long to be) close to you - 1021 kudos (mob psycho 100)
all jotaro wants for christmas is kakyoin (and he screws that up) - 810 kudos (jojo's bizarre adventure)
anticlimax - 796 kudos (danganronpa)
5. Do you respond to comments?
i've responded to most comments i've gotten, though it's always months late because i tend to read the e-mail first thing in the morning, head to work, and completely forget to respond. responding feels more personal. i know i'd be more likely to comment on someone's fics if i knew they appreciated it, so i try to make the effort, even if i struggle to know what to say.
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
god this is old as hell but probably life in technicolor/the end of all things. they're life is strange style aus for one punch man and genos dies at the end of one of them, and at the end of the other the city is destroyed. the fics are connected, but i won't say how.
7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
so tired, so tired, my heart and i (pathologic) is probably the sappiest i've ever written a fic so i'm guessing that one!
8. Do you get hate on fics?
occasionally. i got transmisogynist hate for when you finally get inovlved, face to face for writing chihiro as a trans girl, and it made me stop writing for danganronpa altogether. i got a guest user on some burakhovsky nsfw i posted (idr which one) who said "jesus christ, tag your trans shit". and someone who went off on me years ago called vita in motu (pathologic) "borderline mpreg" and they very much meant it derogatorily. so if i seem a lil paranoid about interacting w people there's a reason why lol.
9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?
i do! i actually write more smut than i post because i am not showing everyone my oc/canon smut. like some friends will be able to see it but i'm not brave enough to show the whole world that. also a lot of au smut recently that has no context and i'm not posting it to ao3 without context.
10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?
i did moreso in the past than currently. we're not gonna talk about the craziest one though<3 love and light
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
nah. i've had people write fic very inspired by stuff i've written but not copy-and-paste stolen, to my knowledge
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
people have asked but as far as i know it never happened. always thought it would be cool!
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
yes!! w my buddy dj :) also published rps in the past that i shaped up into fics.
14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?
mulder/scully is The Ship Of All Time to me. the blueprint.
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
oh there's a few!!
a rebel without a case rewrite that i started because i wanted to fix what i saw as timing issues in the film.
an akira/mob psycho 100... crossover? au? both? i had some real ideas for that one but it's not going anywhere
a silent hill au for mob psycho 100 that apprently someone was interested in enough to try and make their own while referencing mine. it was an audience participation fic and i'm honestly upset that i lost steam on this one because it was a lot of fun!
a magnus archives statement from artemy burakh. the idea behind that one was that he saw daniil die, and then be replaced by another actor... but artemy's the only one who noticed the different actor.
literally dozens of pathologic fics that i have started like you have no idea just how much i have started for that stupid game.
16. What are your writing strengths?
i'm not sure! my partner says i do vagueness well, and the unease that comes with that. i think i do decent at introspection in general
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
action for sure. i tend to do better with thought than with action, so i can write really long scenes where absolutely nothing hapens. kind of an issue!
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
i don't really do it because i only know like...extremely basic german and i feel it'd be a disservice to other languages to just google translate. i will occasionally describe characters using sign, but again... not knowing it, i don't feel comfortable just saying shit, you know?
19. First fandom you wrote for?
i wrote something like fanfic as a like, eight year old? for a book series i can no longer remember. but for first published fanfic it was either bones or soul eater. those fics might still be out there, who knows!
20. Favorite fic you’ve written?
i don't really have one! i'm still really proud of o tempora, o mores (pathologic), vita in motu (pathologic), and my mind has changed my body's frame (bloodborne) <- less sure of that one bc not much feedback but y'know!
who shall i tag.... @stvlti, @brodyliciousbooty, @loudmound, @go-go-devil, @shogoakuji and anyone else who writes, consider yourself tagged :P !
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cirrus-grey · 11 months
Text
I have now finished watching Good Omens Season 2
If you haven't already, please block the tag "good omens spoilers" - I won't post anything else until Friday night at the earliest, but after that all bets are off.
@albertinesimonet, I did not manage a full liveblog but I did jot down my reactions after watching each episode, and those are compiled under the cut :)
(SPOILERS!)
Episode 1:
Holy flipping fuck are they actually making the ineffable husbands canon???
Okay.
Look.
I saw that it was trending alongside Supernatural and OFMD. I suspected it was going this way, and the season had ended with some sort of confession/immediate separation.
That did not prepare me for the season to open with Crowley saying "hello gorgeous" to a nebula and Aziraphale being disappointed that Crowley wasn't talking to him. Or for Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy to be playing while Crowley rushed to Aziraphale's aid, like-
This is a fanfic. This is a motherfucking fanfic, and I am pleased to say that my brain is processing it as such, a well-written but ultimately non-canon fanfic (*puts on my "I still have book!omens brainrot" shirt*) that just so happens to have been written by one of the original authors.
Anyway, outside of my snorting disbelief that the first ship that I ever shipped is apparently going canon in one 'verse, I do actually have some legitimate theories, which run as follows:
A. I know this season is the plot-bridge between the original novel and what would have been the sequel, and B. I know the sequel was going to involve the second coming of Christ, therefore C. I suspect this Resurrectionist group that kept getting hinted at in the promos is trying to bring Jesus back, Gabriel found out and tried to stop it, and that's why he lost his memories. I'm a tad bit surprised Heaven as a whole doesn't seem to be involved in the return of their special boy, but I guess we'll see how that plays out as the season goes along.
Episode 2:
Oh hey, I've read this one before! "It's ancient Biblical times and Crowley and Aziraphale are angsting about their orders and finding solace in each other's company" may have never gotten its own tag, but there are certainly enough fics about it that it could.
"Can I be a blue one?" Weird kids are the best.
So the Resurrectionist is a pub, not a group. Still think they have something to do with the second coming, but I'm open to being proven wrong.
Gotta say, I didn't expect Every Day to be plot-relevant. I knew they had it for the soundtrack, but I'm really liking this sort of spooky-mystery-music-mixup they've got going with it - love the way its incorporated into the end credits, too.
Totally down for master-thief Jane Austen, btw.
How many people are writing fics about Crowley and Aziraphale getting caught in a rainstorm and hiding under an awning even as I type...
Episode 3:
How to run a bookshop, a guide by A.J. Crowley: Carry large stacks of books around aimlessly and then toss them on the floor when you get bored.
I'm honestly surprised his awning plan nearly worked. Curses be upon weak awnings, I suppose.
I do like that the Bentley recognizes that it has to play nice with whichever one of its dads is in the driver's seat lol
Okay so they keep drawing attention to the fact that there's flies in the bookshop, and now Beelzebub is acting off. Are the flies like... telepathically communicating Gabriel's worldviews to them? Is that how they figured out he was there?
That bit he said when Crowley mentioned tempests is definitely from the Revelations. I unfortunately don't know enough about the Revelations to draw any new conclusions from this. I know they deal with the apocalypse and the antichrist, but that was S1 stuff so there must be something else...
(That bit definitely sounded like Rapture stuff though, just saying)
Lotta talk about people coming back from the dead, here. It's doing little to dissuade me from my idea that this is all related to the second coming. Their "little" miracle was strong enough to bring 25 people back? Okay. How did Gabriel add his own power to it... and who did he bring back? (Does 1 Jesus = 25 normal people?)
...Okay yeah I just googled it and the second coming (and the rapture) is definitely in Revelations. Apparently the appearance of the antichrist is its herald. *insert 'oh yeah it's all coming together' gif here*
...
Several-hours later addition: When they were talking about gravity Gabriel seemed upset that the book didn't stay where it was put, "it goes down." And that flies go up.
...did he "go down," turning into a human, and is Beelzebub "going up," and that's why they're so worried about finding Gabriel? Figure out what happened to him, so it doesn't happen to them as well? Hmm...
Episode 4:
"The rumors that you two are an item..." Yeah holy fuck they're actually doing this. I don't know why it keeps catching me by surprise??? I guess it's not like, the forefront of the plot, so every time it comes to the front it feels a bit like a new thing, but still.
Aziraphale's smug fucking little eyebrow raise at that "I didn't think you were his type." He's like yeah, and what do you know, hm?
Did not expect the entire episode to be backstory, but that was very cute, especially given how much people fixated on the church scene in S1. That little showcase of their trust, both of them worried it'll go wrong but still willing to try because they feel safe with each other. I like that they managed to keep the tension of the setting, that "I'm pointing a gun at my best friend and this could go horribly wrong" feeling, even when it's well-established that the worst that could happen is paperwork.
Also, Crowley trying really, really hard to give Aziraphale positive feedback on his magic tricks even when he knows they suck. That's true love, right there.
Another showcase of people coming back from the dead. We've had the kids getting "brought back" from shape-shifting, the "resurrectionists" digging up dead bodies, and now actual honest-to-god zombies. I am Sensing A Theme.
...are the zombies still around? What's-is-face the demon did say eternal undeath...
Aaaaaand there's going to be an army of demons dropping in on the local business association meeting. I hope Aziraphale has enough tea cakes for everyone.
Episode 5:
SEAMSTRESSES SHOUTOUT ITS A FUCKING DISCWORLD REFERENCE
I know most people are probably going wild over the Dr. Who references but. It's the seamstresses guild...
I'm sure Mrs. Sandwich and Rosie Palm would get along famously.
In other news wow they're just being blatant about the ineffableness of these husbands now, aren't they? The great thing about that is I'm watching it with my parents and I don't think either of them have clicked that it's going canon - like, they're just interpreting it as a running bit, 'haha isn't it funny that everyone keeps mistaking them as a couple' kind of thing. The same thing happened when I showed them OFMD, neither of them realized Ed and Stede were actually going to be a real canon thing until the kiss. I mean, maybe they've worked out that this is going somewhere by now? But I don't want to ask in case they haven't, because I'd love to see their reaction if it blindsides them.
I am Not Normal about the dancing. Aziraphale's giddy little grin when he drags Crowley to the floor? The fucking. Hand presses. I've probably read too much Jane Austen if I'm going this insane about them just pressing their palms together.
And just... that whole fucking scene. The amount of queer people - either queercoded or just flat-out obviously queer - is making my heart feel full. When Aziraphale referred to the magic shop owner's partner using 'they' before we met them I thought it was just, you know, being polite, he'd never met them and didn't want to assume, but then they showed up in person and folks were still using they and they were so obviously giving a huge middle finger to gender norms I just-
Man I need to watch more queer shows I love this feeling.
And the army of demons is more of a large crowd but, well, still threatening. I like the use of masks to hide demonic traits, clever costuming detail there.
But. My dudes. Don't split up, what the fuck are you doing? You've been here for all of human history, you know how stories go, surely you know things always go wrong when you split the party??? I love protective!crowley, I do, but my dude taking off to bring this mess to heaven's attention is not the way to go about saving your angel. And Aziraphale, buddy, I don't know what you're planning to summon there but I really don't think it's going to go well.
...Maybe he's planning to teleport himself, Gabriel, and the humans up to heaven, too, to get them away from the demon crowd. It would be funny if Crowley and what's their name, Muriel, step out of the elevator and Aziraphale is just. There already.
(I don't think that's gonna happen though. I think everything is just gonna get Worse)
Anyway sidenote Lottie if you've read this far, when Gabriel started talking about feeling like a house I immediately thought of you, I know that's a theme you like ♡
Episode 6:
Jesus Christ!
(Called it!)
So I got a lot of the details wrong, but I was spot on with my two big predictions from the beginning. (Hey that ending reminded me of OFMD and Supernatural, I've got a great idea, why don't we all blog about the three of them and get them trending together-)
Gotta say, I'd only given a passing thought to Gabriel and Beelzebub being a Thing, their shippers must be going wild.
I knew there was a reason they kept drawing attention to that fly.
*Spots fire extinguishers* "Hey is that a Magnus Archives ref-" *Is brutally murdered with a lead pipe before I can finish*
I actually kind of love that Nina and Maggie didn't get together at the end of it all? I had felt like it was all going a bit too fast for them and I'm so glad they acknowledged that. They've got time, now, to work things out, and I love that they left it with the certainty that they'd be there for each other in the future... but not quite yet.
Oh! Oh! Oh! And they fit in the halos-used-as-lethal-frisbees-sequence! That was fabulous, I want to see more exploding headgear.
...anyway I think that's all the little bits I wanted to mention before getting to the Main Event.
I'm actually... not all that devastated about that ending? Like, okay, my heart was breaking watching it, the miscommunication and assumptions leading to a dramatic separation, it's tragic and angsty and oh my god my ship kissed my first ever ship kissed they did it they did the thing-
But. Two seconds after the credits started rolling my mind was already flying to, "oh thank goodness, they've got a Source On The Inside now and they might actually have a shot at stopping the end of the world instead of, you know, being blindsided by it because no one in heaven or hell is talking to them"
Like, sure, major breakup here, Crowley's gonna be pissed and Aziraphale might have to do their silly little "I'm sorry" dance three or four times before they can actually get down to business, but I don't think there's a question that both of them still trust each other immensely and know they can rely on each other to help out in a pinch. They'll be walking on eggshells for a bit, but it's pretty obvious that Aziraphale wouldn't have taken the promotion if he'd known Crowley wasn't going to come with him and as soon as he manages to properly communicate that fact they'll be fine.
(Sidenote, this, right here, exemplifies the difference between Book!Aziraphale and TV!Aziraphale. Book!Aziraphale is way more cynical about the whole heaven-and-hell system, he'd never say "heaven's still the good guys," and he'd be very, very suspicious of a sudden promotion landing in his lap after such a tumultuous sequence of events. TV!Aziraphale might not be the sweet little innocent bean fandom makes him out to be, but damn is he naive compared to his book counterpart. Makes me wonder how much of the hypothetical sequel has to change to work with this plotline - I'd bet my ass he wasn’t an archangel in that one.)
Can Crowley... hear the soundtrack? "No nightingales" like how does he know that's significant? Sir you are breaking the fourth wall-
(And how powerful is he? He's a nobody in hell but he keeps stopping time and could access classified documents up in heaven, something made his and Aziraphale's miracle blow up and apparently it wasn't Gabriel, and he also just brought a whole ass dude back from the dead??? Maybe those "Crowley is Raphael" theorists from S1 had a point)
Anyway, to cap it all off: my current predictions for S3 are the aforementioned ineffable husbands makeup and subsequent spy shenanigans as they scramble to try to stop Apocalypse 2: Jesus Boogaloo; they fail and Jesus comes back, but instead of following the Great Plan he instead chooses to side with "all of humanity against all of heaven and hell" (maybe Adam shows up too to help out?); and Crowley, despite his repeated protests, actually does end up running a bookshop because he doesn't trust Muriel to do it properly.
I summation, yes I am still alive, and very excited for the next season, whenever it happens. Also I need gifsets of the dance scene and that kiss ASAP please and thank you.
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pilichainartandmemes · 4 months
Text
Malevolent fic - Big Fat Taco
They had reached the terminus, enemies on the plateform and on their tail. His aim cannot be trusted and his eyes stutter at mirages. So down, down, down it goes.
I just think that if you won’t dig into a guy with your bare hands for your apocalypse rock, you don’t deserve it. ;) The idea would't leave me and so here is the result of four intense days of writing before the season four finale comes out later today(well tomorrow in my case). Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did putting it together!
Warnings: Canon typical violence, gore, non consensual platonic touching, major character death and choking.
Cross posted on AO3
“ I… I think we’ve built enough distance between us and them… Care to explain what I’m supposed to do with this rock now”, panted Arthur leaning against the wall absolutely lost. The faster they got rid of it, the sooner they could leave this blasted place. Because of course Noel had to find out at the worst possible time about John’s past. Of course they lost the bloody gun while escaping the detective and the cultists. Of course Larson found out where Oscar was the same way he did for Daniel and-
“ -thur! Arthur! What is the point of me explaining if you don’t fucking listen? We are going to open a portal. Just like how we dealt with Scratch.”
“ … That’s it," laughed Arthur weakly, "the grand end to the order of the fallen star comes down to throwing a rock into whatever hell we find. Then we hope whatever’s on the other side can’t use it? What if we unleash whatever power is inside the Black Stone? Exactly just like what happened with Scratch!”
“I don’t hear YOU coming up with any ideas! We still need to escape this place and k- clearly many cultists so we might as well… jump in?”
“Jesus fucking christ, John... I didn’t miss taking very literal leaps of faith into the unknown with you.”
“Likewise but with our luck it was a matter of time.”
“Indeed it was. Shame we don’t have the pages but I assume you wouldn’t propose this if you didn’t remember. Am I right, John?”
“Of course I do! Now let me focus… Sed obscuratus nox quaeso mundenetis…”
“Sed obscuratus nox quaeso mundenetis…”
“Impertus meter amicum allundem num.”
“Impertus meter amicum allundem num.”
“Depli mon faenis de tua quae… quae frequens? No. Frenusculi ? No it wasn’t that either !”
“John! I thought you said you knew the incantation!”
“YES I KNOW IT! Damnit Arthur, you say that as if you don’t forget to keep our eyes open for me every day!”
“Fine! Fine! For both our sakes think quickly!” And yet as he retorted back, Arthur began to calculate their odds. From past experiences those bouts of amnesia seemed temporary so they could still manage to open the portal. However with the delay and more people seeing where the stone went, just a throw would not work. Would the cultists even hesitate at the idea of entering the portal? If those madmen didn’t, they would have to fight for every second. Okay so they needed protection or at least something to keep their opponents at bay.
Tuning out John’s frustrated cusses at the Latin language itself, he patted their bag and pockets. Starting a fire was a last resort and could wait until they had an actual escape window. The bestiary wouldn’t be of help against humans. That left them with their unlucky dagger, regardless of John’s insistence to get rid of it. The weapon wouldn’t win against a gun or more than two cultists. But it was their also very last resort…  Should they lose it in the scuffle or…
What if Arthur missed again? It wouldn't be the first time his shoddy aim betrayed them when it mattered the most. They would not have another chance to get the stone and he doubted John would accept retreat after dragging them all the way to New York for it. The moment they lost sight, ha, of the rock was the moment Larson won. They needed a hiding place or at least somewhere the cultists would not think to look into…
“Oh. John no matter what continue trying to remember the spell. I just found the smartest way to get the black stone into the portal! Trust me!”
“- tua quae frenae! FRENAE! It was frenae! Wait... What do you mean smartest?” His friend asked cautiously but he didn’t have enough time to react as Arthur grabbed the rock from their pocket and shoved it down their throat.
Neither John or Arthur’s body were keen on the plan. The Black Stone burnt as he could feel it move past his throat into his… veins? Evidently the cursed object didn’t care for human biology and would go wherever it pleased. If he could just… nudge it towards… THERE!
“Arthur, are you out of your goddamn mind?! Spit it out! Come on!”
“ We’re fine… absolutely fine! Now,” just as he said that a tremor shook their spine and it took all their combined focus to not fall face first, “NOW we don’t have to worry about cultists with deft hands.”
“Do you really think given how we first met him he would stop at taking your life to get his hands on the Black Stone?” His partner growled, and yet beneath it worry laced into his every word.
“Larson? He did hurt many people but it was always through others. Like the butcher or the creature in the mines.” He retorted, confused and wondering not for the first time who scared his friend more than the King or their current enemies.
“Of course! Who else would be after us? This building is crawling, I mean, full of cultists. Surely this kind of... miscreants would have no issue going through us for this artifact.”
“Miscreants… Really, John? Anyway it doesn’t matter!” One more time. If Arthur could ignore the elephant in the room between them one more time, they would actually be fine.
They did not even finish the first sentence of the spell before a shot rang out and a sharp pain took over their right leg. Head and knee promptly were introduced with the wall that would have housed their gate. Shame Larson didn’t account for the headache or John’s yelling before starting to gloat. Another spasm coursed through as he tried to turn around. Its tango with their new wound left the duo a heap of limbs on the floor. Hopefully the view was still better than the wall. The heat that had been building behind their eyes flared and Arthur bit down hard to keep them open, inhaling sharply.
“Well it seems whatever tricks you had in mind backfired in more ways than one. Arthur, did you truly think you waltz your way into my domain unscathed?”
“Oh, yeah! Definitely! But maybe you never went back to Addison? I could always give you a refresher.” He could stall. Get the dagger out, have John could carve the incantation and smear it with blood. Surely they could skip the spoken part that way. Just needed to create a blind spot for them.
Evidently however, unlike Arthur, Larson did see the move coming and stomped on the left half of it. Ignoring his partner’s shouts, he awkwardly flipped on his side. Holding on tight to Larson’s ankle, he sliced at the heel. Shoddy aim and his body complaining every step of the way didn’t leave a deep enough wound. Regardless it was enough for the prick to retreat out of range. Maybe the floor was okay for now as their two functional limbs were split fifty-fifty. Well if you didn’t count the shoulder on the same side getting shot the day before. Speaking of bullets, another lodged itself into the carpet right by his ear as he jolted at the noise and ringing that followed.
“You appear to be the one in need of a reminder of the current situation apparently. Now stop staring at the barrel and tell me where the Black Stone is?”
“For once luck is on our side: Larson didn’t witness your crowning act of idiocy. Keep. Him. Talking! Every bullet in the floor is a bullet that isn’t in our body.”
“Now that’s a bit of a wild guess! Why would little old me have any idea… what that is? I figured I could crash whatever party you had in town, as you know, a payback. It has been… quite a busy week.” Arthur laced that last sentence with all the venom which had piled up over the last few days. It hadn’t even been a full fortnight since the Dreamlands for fuck’s sake.
“Your strange habit of pausing at odd times remains, how queer”, pondered Larson while his enemy attempted to stand again, less graceful about it than a fish on dry land, “I assume you do not need further help emptying your pockets.”
“Listen. Why don’t I smash your head in? Shot you. Step on your hand. THEN you can see how easy it is to focus.”
“I’m afraid I’ll pass the offer…. what is all THIS junk?” Larson asked in disdain as Arthur tried to open the bag with one hand only for the contents to spill out. Fantastic! Turns out he had been holding it upside down!
“The glass, the stone, the mask, the books, the tooth, the coin, the wallet and hooks, the kit of course to help him shave are all in Arthur's bag today. But don’t forget the dagger, the flute, the keys and the lighter that keeps the darkness at bay.” The familiarity of matching a series of notes calmed him down just a little. It didn’t matter that the source of that particular song had been fresh out of a bloodbath.
“What the hell is wrong with you?! Shooting the lock and letting that creature at the crowd to get the stone was genius compared to this. And why did you have to bring him up? Wait- there’s someone coming up around the corner!  
“… No matter. Unlike you, I have all night, my wits about me and only friends here.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
“Arthur, it’s Noel! He managed to get past our distraction and is holding Larson at gun point. His shoulder seems to be injured. His sleeves are torn with large dents matching the claws of that thing. If we could somehow turn them against each other, there may enough time to run. Or at least get the portal open.”
“Are you sure about this, detective? It would be poor etiquette as Arthur’s plus-one to have him killed.” Replied Larson as if this entire ordeal was nothing more than an argument at the local pub.
“That won’t be a problem. The plan isn’t to arrest him. Dreadful accidents happened with that many candles in smaller establishments. At the same time, testimonies of assault on the treasurer of another sect, maiming and murder have been connected to him.”
 Of course John decided that was the right moment to needle his partner about the decision to give his name to the secretary.  As if they had anyone else beside Daniel to be introduced to the freemasons. Surely Oscar or his father would vouch for Arthur’s character… at least for some of these accusations.  Not that it would amount to much if they didn’t make it out alive. Still he feared being wanted in a big city would make it harder for him to move around the States or to leave them.
“Cults like these prey on people facing hard times and get them to commit atrocities in the name of some big guy above or below. Nobody wants to believe their parent, friend or tenant would choose to be involved in shady stuff. If they can’t look at the evidence, they can bother some PI looking to make ends meet this month.” Noel finished, exhaustion slipping into that last sentence. No doubt the detective had to explain cases like these to clients both in Arkham as a private investigator then as a policeman in New York.
“That’s quite the story you wrote there! Have you ever considered becoming a playwright? Addison may not be a high production stage but you’ll have a captivated crowd and the support of a patron of the arts.” Larson drawled while he slowly drew his gun away from the thief. Although one didn’t need sight to guess he wasn’t about it.
“No thanks. I dealt with enough theater obsessed lemon suckers a few years ago. Then again this crony here is the reason I’m here tonight. Take out those cartridges and kick the weapon away… Jesus, my grandmother would have done better than that.”
“And Wallace is old enough to have met her in her heyday. He just had to throw his daughter at the monsters for that privelege! Clearly he’s the biggest threat here, Charlie. Everything you see at my feet is what I had on me tonight. There is no stupid rock!”
“Oh please, we all saw you leave with it! Would you quit acting like you care about the wellbeing of children anymore than respecting the divine or your elders. If that were true, she would still be here. Your precious little Fa-”
Arthur wasn’t about to let him finish. Compared to the Butcher or the ghoul, Larson was a lightweight. They didn’t need a knife. He would choke the life out of the piece of shit, one-handed if he had to. The monster didn’t get to speak her name.
Someone grabbed for his collar and yanked. He trashed hoping to grab onto his first opponent for stability. Unfortunately their body was acquainted yet again with wall, this time shoulder firsts. The shock didn’t have time to settle in before a punch in the gut had him hitting bedrock.
“Jesus fucking Christ… Do not call me that ever again. As if his highness would tell some guy his grand plan. He stole that name, that voice and is now using it to drag you around wherever he likes. This thing isn’t your friend.”
 “You know nothing! You humans act so high and mighty pretending kindness is inherent to living from the very moment of your birth. Care to guess what happened at mine? I was shoved into a hell worse than you could possibly imagine where neither time nor death has meaning. So yes! More often than not I lie rather than put my trust into people who have earnt it. I go for the throat when I feel even a little cornered. Everyone here has done that so stop fucking pretending any of you are gentle souls!” John’s truth burnt and yet his head felt clearer than it had since swallowing that rock. In the trail of that shooting star, Arthur just had to speak it all out loud for the rest of the world to hear. “Besides I can’t even get him to walk into a movie theater and sit still for fifty minutes.”
Nobody else said anything for a long while. Arthur could feel the fever chewing at his brain as they both caught their breaths from having pushed too far their limits. In the rare moment of quiet, he took notice of something familiar. Back with Parker, they had to look inside a freezer for clues and for lack of adequate clothing got forced to take turns. The cold current from back then it crawled the exact same way in the gap between his socks and his pants at his ankles. Out of damning curiosity he reached out and-
“Oops, thank you, totally missed by cue there. You gotta understand, detectives! I was so captivated by all those twists, turns and delightful noises, I got… distracted Man, I am going to miss not knowing the plot ahead of time. With that said, great surprise party everyone!”
“… it’s him”, John all the bravery snuffed out like a candle, “he’s squatting on our left, barefoot like back in the dreamlands. Ah. He’s what happened to our distraction. I can see its iridescent blood shining eerily against the black of his suit. In his hand there is a very large flat bread folded in two. There is so much garniture; you could not it around without half of the ingredients falling off. No it’s more than that. The sauce, a few drops hang by a thread as if they won’t fall unless he wills it.”
“Damn. Someone get an oxygen mask! This guy just wrote a spiel about a big fat taco.”
Without thinking Arthur flung himself in the opposite direction and despite the pain crawled as fast and as far as he could. Suddenly his brain connected the dots on the topic and person John had been avoiding to speak of this past week. Of fucking course it had to be that guy! He rasped out every word of the incantation he could remember, hoping John would follow suit. Unfortunately for them that distance didn’t mean very much I practice as clearly Kayne had no issue reeling them back so close he could feel the entity’s breath on his neck.
“Fuck, I’m sorry Arthur! Don’t say more, I- I can get us out of this!”
“Aww, you didn’t have to wrap up my present like that!  At this point it’s not just pretty paper and a bow… I can’t simply tear it up with how much love was put into this.” Singsonged the devil flicking back and forth his prey’s damaged earlobe.
Okay that was way too much: the uncomfortable heat beneath his skin and in his head, John’s apologies as he tried to grab their captor’s attention, the strange texture of the definitely non-human hands. He needed out now!
“How does it feel to be New York’s most wanted catch? You got quite a number hooked, ha! Hooked, get it? It’s the only reason you’re still alive after all!” Kayne asked flipping their body to so the three were face to face, one arm wrapped around their waist and the other holding their chin. Arthur bit down on the ‘hand’.
Everything went white as a chorus of complaints and cheers flooded his ears. Slowly he could make out Parker’s voice questioning his partner’s sanity in taking on that eating competition even with that big of a price at stake. Distant and muffled as if coming from under water or maybe he was the one below the surface. His suit must have been an absolute mess if his loudest detractor was to be believed. Thick black ink, blood or possibly both, dripped heavily and slowly like licorice down his jaw onto the shaky floor of the caboose. The fresh liquid cooled his brain boiled by the black sun. Broken skin was good. Broken skin meant he could break this down one bite at a time. Experimentally he twisted the flesh beneath his teeth and pulled. Yet the other end refused to snap clean. Instead it extended like cheese on pizza. Instinctively he opened his mouth and attempted catch the falling strings with his teeth.
“I know I’m the most special treat but I’m afraid I need your head not twenty leagues in the gutter.” Finger snapped and his jaws snapped down on empty air. His mind flailed around for the right frequency to reconnect with his senses.
“Let’s make a new deal! No stone as long as you don’t let us go. Or I-I take it with Arthur to the Dark World!” John’s weak bargain and threat was met with derisive laughter.
“Now why would I ask for something I already hold in my own hands? No, no, no! I’m going to enjoy this all-in-one King’s cake, hot and cold, treasure hunt. This time you can even call a friend instead the usual back-seaters. Much faster and less chances of cheating if you ask me!” The devil muttered something about being forced to write a C option to A or B conundrum. “Though really I guess it’s fifty-fifty: the other day there was that guy. I knew him from head to toe. Not you two. I see other people. Like I said! Every line of his silly little life! Urgh middle school production level, at best. And still! Still he managed to surprise me!”
Two hands clapped together as if to put a close to that intermission. The next moment Arthur was back on the floor and he didn’t like how his brain almost let out a sigh of relief at that sensation. The less was said, the less fun Kayne would have. Bar was low, even for them, but so was the ground. The devil said something about first tries removing obvious options before driving a hand into their stomach. Arthur shouted, violent shivers rocking his spine as their body fought vainly to twist out of the way on pure reflex. Unfortunately their digestive tract refused to admit defeat and heaved to expel the unknown intruder back up his throat. Shame malevolent entities didn’t care for the laws of physics and thus he was left coughing bile. Some of which came straight back down his throat.
“Now that the dud is out of the way, am I warm or icy?”
“Fuck you!” Arthur spat out.
“Uh… Cold?”
“Well fuck you too, John!”
“Do you think I’m happy about this?! I was the one sewing this shit back up while you took a bloody nap!” His partner snapped, spewing the vitriol at Arthur since he was too afraid to do the same towards Kayne. Sensing aggression would only have his partner push back, John tried to put himself down as the reasonable one. Hilarious if you asked Arthur given they had left sanity back at his office in Arkham. “Shut up and tell me where the stone is. Please!”
“Not three hours ago we walked into this… rat hole because YOU said we couldn’t leave a bloody rock into their hands! Now you’re telling me! That the doomsday device of the week would … Christ… safe in Kayne’s hands?”
“Artie, you’re such a worrier! No truly. Think of it as, hmmm, the battery of Mister Universe’s alarm clock. The grey part is sort of its casing and I like to picture the red one as a fog horn. Really the world popping out of existence is not even part of the equation. I mean do YOU think about all the bugs crushed setting up picnics? Of course you don’t! Hahaha that would be stupid, am I right? Anyyyway it’s time for take two, gentlemen and entities!”
Take two in fact involved exploring his intestines and accidentally popping their appendix like a cherry. Of course the only apology he got was a ‘whoospie-daisy’ and a quip about John being lucky the book didn’t land him there. “I mean what would have happened at the first argument? Sending the guy straight to the hospital cause you exploded on him?! … actually that would be funny to see I should check before waking Daddy up.” Arthur still tried to slap or push back Kayne’s hands. Totally useless of course but it was better than licking boots the way John did. Especially when the devil clearly wasn’t interested in bargaining. He would like to not be the reason the world ended, thank you very much. The third strike at their lungs yielded as many complaints and yet the stone remained missing. While Arthur could still feel Kayne was merely playing, he wasn’t sure how much longer that would last.
“Your train friend – what did he call himself again, the butcher – wasn’t wrong you know? About the music analogies! It’s all about hitting the right keys. A bit of tuning might be needed with how battered this body is though. Hopefully I won’t have to hit the entire board to find my gift. I really, truly, deeply”, and with each word pressing his fingers right into the still fresh bullet wound, “would hate for it to be lost in all the wrapping!”
“Maybe… you’re just… bad at looking…” Wheezed Arthur inbetween coughs. Even as they remained on the floor he was struggling to stay afloat. Their boiling head had apparently decided to keep all the heat for itself instead of sharing. It left him both shivering and sweating bullets enough to turn Larson into swiss cheese had they been actual ammunition.
“Actually you’re right… It is time to call a friend! Let’s get to it, we have candidate number one: Wallace Larson from the quaint little town of Addison, here to retrieve the sacred artifact for the Order of –what was it again – the shooting star? Who cares! And candidate number two, Arthur’s plus-one-turned-nemesis, detective Noel from the New York Police Department! Who will take a shot at retrieving the Black Stone and earn the ultimate mystery price?! I for one cannot wait to find out!” The devil announced loudly before finishing in a false hushed tone. “Candidate number three having yet to manifest himself shall remain anonymous… for now.”
“Absolutely not! I’m not putting my hands in that!” Shouted Larson as if the very scenario was a personal offense to his character. There was a long pause until he threw a retort at… someone? John had said there were only three people in this corridor aside from them both…
“Oh I’ll take a shot, alright.” Noel’s voice derailed his theory that he was the universe’s chew toy tonight in particular. Then Arthur heard several rounds attempt to drown out Kayne’s rising laughter.
“Noooooo! What could poor little old me do against… human ingenuity. And so I die… To our hero’s quick draw and wit! ARGh!” A confused John told his partner about the performance as the devil had dropped to his knees, grasping his torso in overly exaggerated agony then met face first with the floor.
Athur felt it before it happened: the change of pressure in the air, how they were leaving the eye of storm and about to meet the worst of it. He just needed to do one thing right tonight, just one little thing! Turn what little energy he has left past his throat into a shout to run, to live, to save Noel.
“SURPRISE!”
He startled as several party poppers and blowers went off. Blood spattered everywhere. Propping himself self up for that warning proved to have been a mistake as projectiles collided with their chest. Some small and hard but others squishy and much more wet. He went back down with hiss, head swimming as his mind slipped
Down,
Down,
Down.
“Fuck. FUCK! Noel! His head! It exploded! It’s all over the floor. Kayne… he… popped out of Noel’s neck. His old body has melted into the carpet. It has left a deep black imprint, the edges fizzling but not catching fire. Larson is throwing up beside the left wall. It’s not just the blood... I can identify… parts. An entire eye landed into our chest earlier! It rolled by our side now. There are also a few teeth lodged into our right shoulder. What I thought were confetti in the air were actually fragments of skin. I’m sorry Arthur. I don’t know… I don’t know how to salvage this.”
No trip to England. No letter to Marie. No night at the movie theater. John’s misshaped hand clutched their chest. Their heart was still beating. It didn’t care for gods, grief or pain. It just was.
“What a blast, am I right?! One down, two to go. UNLESS! Our main attraction wishes to open up at last. The hand you were dealt with was pretty bad but you pulled through! Atta boys! Who cares about the finish line? It’s all about the journeyyyyy! So come on, there’s no need to be a sore loser.”
They couldn’t win. Not by a country mile. But..
It didn’t mean Kayne had to.
“Well, they can’t say I didn’t try. But guess what! It seems the final guest sorted himself out as well… Everyone welcome the prince in rags! The phony few had the patience for! The bastard thrown aside as the once and future king made his return! Our mystery candidate number three! Go on, banana peel. Introduce yourself.”
“I- in yellow.”
“Pretty sure even us folk in the front didn’t catch that. Try again your majesty. Put your whole belly into it!”
“I AM THE KING IN YELLOW!”
“Noooow that wasn’t so hard, was it? One could almost believe all the shaking is from a royal tantrum! Penny for your thoughts on the whereabouts of my lucky charm?”
“Carmichael! Bet me on me!”
“Huh. Kinda already am to be honest… But no. That’s not what you want.”
“If I retrieve the Black Stone, I… can keep the rest of him.”
“NO! Kayne, our deal isn’t broken!” Yelled John desperately trying to lift them both up and prove they were still in the game. “Arthur, please! Just tell him! I can’t- I can’t lose you again.”
“Should have thought about that earlier, turncoat! Regardless this tortilla’s got it baaaaad. Never thought you’d want all thorns English Rose back after what he did to you.”
“I want to win.”
“Oh please! You want him back! Hmmm the irony of YOU coming on top… YES that’s it! Okay! Okay. We’re all ears.”
There was a brief silence as Yellow took a deep calming breath. John whispered at Arthur pleading, promising that a fake wouldn’t have pulled him back from the brink in Addison. At the end of his rope his partner brought her up. Somehow not even that worked. Arthur’s thoughts only concerned the monster just a few feet away. One born out of his grief, his misguided love, his bad temper, his selfishness.
“Arthur has the stone inside him,” and immediately the devil cut in with a sarcastic comment but Yellow continued on, “if you searched the lungs then fingers or toes must be valid options as well. No, limbs are easy to separate from the rest. Too big a risk…”
“That it would. I’m so sorry John! The portal closed on us and your arm with the stone is on the other side! Now that would be anticlimactic.”
“John doesn’t know, the entire time he didn’t fight back against you. That leaves out the left foot. As well as his forearm and…”
Strangely Arthur felt a twinge of pride as Yellow broke down his thought process the way an investigator would. He admitted it was a bit self-centered to assume the entity got it from him in their short time together. Maybe at the end he wanted at least one person to understand his choice, the logic behind it.
The gap between the three of them was closed in seconds. A cool sensation spread across his forehead and desperate for the contact to last he leaned deeper and deeper. Ocean waves scratched at his skin as the seagulls laughed and laughed. Taking turns they dug in. The waters trashed around pulling Arthur under. The birds didn’t care and followed after, their cries now clamored for their prey to stop wriggling around. The best lock in the world would not keep Davy Jones’ loot safe for long against someone with both the right tools and determination.
The moment the foreign fingers scratched against their prize, a flash of lucidity cut through. Arthur curled around the stone so tightly he no longer knew where it ended or where he began. Hooks dug into his soul, prying him closer and closer to the surface. Gold strings fiercely yanked him back towards the abyss. Then as a last resort stitched themselves hastily into the searing patchwork.  
“Ding, ding, ding! And we have a winner!”
The slap on his back had Yellow hunching forward, closer to the hands cupping the Black Stone. It throbbed in unison with his own body. Every shadow, every color glistened in a blinding contrast. The very same way Addison had looked that morning after the clouds had parted, leaving only clear skies and the brilliant snow. His heavy breaths were woven into brush strokes painting this vista, one last gift to Arthur before this entity swallowed the entire world. Then he fixed his gaze onto Kayne holding the rock out, waiting for the devil to keep his end of the deal. Everything went sideways and Yellow landed on his ass. It was disorienting as fuck but he felt more at home than he ever did inside Larson’s head. He grazed his fingers across the new scars he was not present for with slight irritation. No matter he would demand the stories later. None seemed to compare to the three from the boat anyway. Wait the boat-
“I give you a ten out of ten. Stellar work truly! So here’s the tip: you remember everything. Honestly I didn’t expect you to be that useful after driving Artie to the brink. Fascinating really how the carrot he had no trouble following after all this time disgusted him when I served it grated. Since he was so difficult I switched to a slightly different brand and you’ll never guess what… He swallowed it hook, line and sinker! Convinced I had indulged his whimsies. It was hilarious!”
His stomach sank as his memories clicked back into place: the office, the hospital, the city under the hotel, the pits, Lily and the sight of Arthur’s dying body falling out of his reach while the King laughed at his naivety. What had followed despite Kayne’s meddling was their own handiwork. It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise considering their argument in front of his mural. The bigger threat was never the creatures they encountered down the line but their own stubbornness.
The stone’s power rose into a crescendo sending shivers down his spine. The corridor twisted from the tension it wasn’t made to withstand. No, even had they been out in the open the artifact would have bent the world in the same way. Slowly his ears began to parse out the melody underneath: a wail accompanied by a piano and the sound of rushing water.
“Oh darling, thar tickles! Looks like Daddy’s clock will have a vibrate option, truly a testimony of human progress don’t you think? Huh. Don’t stare at me like I drowned your goldfish. It’s not MY fault you didn’t account for stowaways before handing it over! Anyway time’s up. Farewell Jonagold!”
He didn’t care about the difference between them, the purpose of the stone or how this was the consequences of everyone’s choices. No one took what was his! Not even the Crawling Chaos itself!
The reason he failed and grasped nothing but empty air was ironic: the pathetic leftover vessel who had refused to get his hands dirty.
How stupid! How shocking! How splendid! His roar of laughter bounced off the walls of the blood-stained corridor. It was a stage equal to the basement of 58 Pelican Lane. However he still had to make his own debut.
The malevolent entity wrapped his hands around the man’s throat
and
squeezed.
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aromantic-enjolras · 4 days
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20 questions for 20 writers!
Thank you @pumpkinspice-prouvaire for the tag! Let me see what I can do with this...
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
Holy fu- Fourty-four??? When did that happen????
2. What’s your total AO3 word count?
122,025. One third of yours, pumpkin!
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Currently Les Mis and Jesus Christ Superstar. I used to write for Cats a few years ago, and I wrote Sherlock and Harry Potter once upon a time. I also wrote Stranger Things once, but that was a gift for @p-trichor and I don't think I will again (writing about characters from a show you've never watched is stressful!)
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Rumour Has It (Les Mis, ExR Prof AU). Good Enough To Eat (Stranger Things, vampire Steddie). Merlin (TV) according to Ao3 (Merlin, not technically a fic). Ne m'aime pas (Les Mis, aro!Enjolras). Sleepy Love (Harry Potter, Wolfstar). my beloathed, so happy it's almost out of the top 5
5. Do you respond to comments?
I try to!! I love getting comments, so I do like getting back to people. Though sometimes someone leaves a comment so elaborate and so kind I freeze at how to make a good enough response and I never do. So... @buffintruder I promise I cherish every single one of your comments please don't be hurt if I don't answer!!!
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Uuuuuh.... I guess depends on your definition. If we're going for implications, it would be "A Kiss With a Betrayal (Is Better Than None)". Nothing that bad happens, but it's the setup of Judas' betrayal of Jesus, and shit gets daaark after that. If you go with actual sad ending, "I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship" would have to take it. Enjolras cries so much in that one.
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
"Curiosity Trapped the Cat", probably. It's just so cute!
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Not anymore, thankfully! When I was a fandom youngster I got a very angry comment on a Jily (Harry Potter) fic from someone who was enraged Lily didn't end up with Snape, and someone who ripped me a new one for using a word that turned out to be perfectly neutral in my native language and a slur in English.
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
I do! Not often, but I have a PWP on Ao3, actually. For some reason I only do it as a collaborative effort, though: the Courfjolras PWP on Ao3 is a joint fic with @pumpkinspice-prouvaire and I have two Courfjoltaire WIPs with @shamedumpster (called "In the Middle (While you two get along)" and "Skip the awkward (come undone)" ^^).
10. Do you write crossovers?
Same as pumpkin here. I don't do crossovers, but I do love myself a good AU!
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that I know of!
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Does it count if I was the one doing it? My first fic, the Jily one I was saying, I wrote in my native language and then translated to English. The two versions are on ff.net!
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
Yep! Apart from the aforementioned Courfjolras PWP, I wrote a cute fluffy ExR with @pumpkinspice-prouvaire for the Ace!Enjolras series. Also depending on how you see it the Jesus Christ Superstar is a joint effort with @shamedumpster, even if we are writing separately each bit.
14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?
Why don't you ask me to choose a favourite child? Might be easier!
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
A rockstar AU where Courf is an aromantic Bowie stand-in and Marius is his main guitarist and fuckbuddy who gets too invested. I love it, but it's a longfic and I'm not good at sticking to those. (And also it's a Sad Ending rarepair fic. Who is going to read it?)
16. What are your writing strengths?
I think I'm good at keeping people in their POVs and not slipping into omniscient narrators. Descriptions, too.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
I get stuck on logistics. Sometimes you just have to handwave shit, you know? People don't need to know when they put the cup down or the position of every guard.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
As someone who is always reading in a language that isn't mine, if I can read an entire fic in English, you can read two sentences in another language and their translation if it works for the character. My caveat to that is in Les Mis fics: do not suddenly have characters say five words in French if they're already all French. It just breaks the illusion that they were speaking French the whole time.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
And posted? Harry Potter. In general? Percival Christopher Wren's "Beau Geste". I hated the ending so much I wrote an entire Fix-It ending.
20. Favorite fic you’ve written?
"Still Crazy After All These Years", a Courferre second chance romance fic I wrote last year. It's a little more involved than I usually do, with a non-linear narrative and a non-linear writing process, and I think it turned out really well. I feel like the nuance of the situation was pretty well done, too.
Tagging @buffintruder, @quillsand, @shamedumpster and @enjolraspermettendo!
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transillusionisms · 3 months
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Wow. Just wow. I have never seen somebody defend something literally so much that they seem this delusional, to infer that just because CSA is about power that it’s somehow less than or that it somehow has less of an effect is disgusting, literally atrocious. How dare you make a comment like that, it is one of the most ignorant things I have ever fucking seen. You aren’t special or cool for having a radical view especially not when it’s about something as serious as sexual assault. You are not a psychiatrist, you are not a psychologist, you are not the end all be all when it comes to final says about assault or adults having inappropriate thoughts or behaviors towards children who can’t consent and don’t even fully comprehend exactly what that means. And that isn’t to say children don’t know about sex, they do, that’s not the problem. The issue is that children- especially young children- aren’t able to fully wrap their heads around the emotional and mental effect that it can have. Absolutely fucking horrific the way you speak about this. Please get some help, Jesus fucking Christ.
look. i don't know how to tell you this. but i never once said csa is good. i've said it's bad, several times! i can see why, especially if you're a csa survivor, why you would see me defending people who are attracted to kids as me defending people who sexually abuse kids.
but those are not the same circles.
when i said csa is about power, i didn't meant "so it's actually fine to abuse kids", and i don't know how you read it as that. what i meant is that not all people attracted to kids will abuse them and that not all people who commit csa are attracted to their victims.
learning that those are separate circles, that overlap sometimes, instead of one circle, helps csa survivors. you wanna know why?
a fair few of csa survivors develop pedophilia as a paraphilia they have, due to their trauma. people will demonize and dehumanize them less for their paraphilia if they can understand that attraction ≠ action.
it removes a defense that CSAers have, in their own heads, and outside of it. "i couldn't help myself, they were just so attractive" is outed, rightly, for the lack of validity it has. when one could point to several famous pedophiles, as in attracted to kids, that don't abuse them, it removes a defense that people who sexually abuse kids have.
it will give people better outlets for their attractions. if someone does not abuse kids, does not even Wish to abuse kids, and does their best to protect the children they come across...if that same person happens to offhandedly mention their attraction, they could get police called on them and even locked up or killed, for something that in itself is harmless. (it's the same reason that so many boys fall into the alt right pipeline. if you are kind and good and have morals, but people treat you like shit anyway, you're gonna stop wanting to be so kind or good or moral.)
other things:
- when i said kids know about sex, i was arguing with the last anon, who iirc said that they don't.
- like i said in the last post, people who tell kids they're attracted to them in any way or interact with them romantically or sexually is BAD. people who are attracted to those kids but do things like ageplay with their partner, read/write fic, etc, are NOT.
if you cannot separate people attracted to kids from people who abuse them, i can't help you.
(also, apologies if you were scrolling the csa survivor tag or smth and saw this and got triggered. that sucks. if you did, i hope you've recovered from that.)
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lovecolibri · 1 year
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All the BNFs over the last few seasons going “you just don’t understand long form storytelling” about other fans, when really it was KR who doesn’t understand long form storytelling…
Here's the thing. I think THEY understand long form storytelling. I don't always appreciate the attitude *some* people have about everyone else being stupid when many of those people are just trying to engage in fandom how it works for them (ie not getting their hopes up and trying to stay realistic etc). But at the same time at every turn this fandom as a whole has churned out fun AND angsty fic and spec in SPADES at every crumb and come up with 100 ways something could go and every single one of them was better and more well thought out than the basic, tired, boring shit KR did. People have taking absolute BONKERS shit and turned it into something deep and meaningful but the BIG thing for me is, IT'S ALREADY THERE! It's ALREADY FUCKING THERE in the fabric of the show and the previous seasons laying the groundwork. They aren't (at least not always) pulling thinks out of thin air. There's always some thread that ties into the heart of the show, and gives spec/fic/meta posts this air of reality because it's so grounded in what this show always did so well and what we can EASILY pull from canon to inform things about these characters. It's not THEIR fault KR is fucking bad at her job, hates writing plots, and HATES Buddie enough to tank two fan favorite characters (not just fanDOM but general audience faves too) arcs just to be petty about it. It's not their fault they thought the show was building up to something because it was THERE in the threads the show pulled and the lines that were delivered and the way Buck and Eddie continued to be exactly what the other was looking for even while being force-fed LI's by KR. She couldn't *completely* undermine their story because the foundation is already there. It's why I enjoy reading spec/fic/meta (though after the fact this year because I couldn't allow my brain to even think too hard about what we COULD get knowing what we were GOING to get) because from a FANDOM perspective there is SO much goodness there that you don't even have to work very hard to tease out of canon it's SO right there. But I was never of the mind it was going to happen this season because KR made herself pretty damn clear. 🤷🏻‍♀️
ANYWAY, yes, it's Kristen who doesn't understand how to tell a story. We been knew but Jesus H. Roosevelt CHRIST, now we fucking KNOW.
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aintgonnatakethis · 8 months
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Thanks for tagging me @judgeverse ❤️️
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
16
2. What's your total AO3 word count?
108,855, almost all of that coming from this year as I spent the last few months of last year getting back into writing by telling myself 'I'm just going to write. I won't post, so I don't need to worry how good they are'.
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Stargate Universe because those guys are in my brain and I'd die for them, but my next fic I'm posting is going to be Stargate Atlantis. I also have 2 WIPs from Durham County as my brain went 'hey the SGU fandom is pretty small... You know what would be really funny?'
Back in the day on ffnet (*checks* 15 years ago jesus christ!) I wrote for Doctor Who, Torchwood, Star Trek: TNG, Blakes 7, Invasion, X-Men: The Movie, Demons, House, NCIS, Prison Break, and Being Human. 87 stories with 169,449 words. I'll have a quick look through them and see if there's anything worth reposting, but I doubt it. 14 years olds aren't usually very good, ya know? Though I do look at Reviews: 220 and think yikes, I did not have social anxiety when I was that age did I?
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
down here they call us animals has 32, but the rest of them are single digits because SGU is such a small fandom.
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Always, love talking to people about my fics and it's not going to encourage people to keep commenting if they get no response from the author. Sometimes it takes a while because my spoons can get funky.
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
so i bite my tongue and hope for blood, where Telford gets sexually assaulted by a drugged Rush, then goes on a killing rampage with none of the recovery (if there even is any beyond pretending it never happened) shown and nothing is really resolved.
there was a devil in my soul i think we activated, set during 2x07 The Greater Good, extends the scene aboard the derelict spaceship between Young and Rush. Young has a ton of trauma about Carmen, David, Riley, and P2S-569, and ends the fic in a pretty suicidal place.
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
This was a bit tougher to answer as I usually have some angst hanging around, but i'm a stolen car in a parking garage, where at the end Rush and Telford are bantering back and forth, sharing-time is happening, and they also have their first kiss in this fic, after having been fucking for a while.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Nah, it's much better than it was back in the day. At least in the fandoms I frequent.
9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?
Oh, do I! 😄 Every gay kind that takes my fancy, from vanilla to super kinky. There are of course a few kinks I avoid reading/writing about as I'm sure everyone does, but if anyone has a specific kink they'd like to see me write hit me up and we'll talk!
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?
I'm afraid not. I'm just not that into them. 🤷‍♂️ (The fact that if I filter out crossovers on the SGU AO3 page I lose ~400 fics is a crime!)
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
I don't think so.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
No.
13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?
Back in the day me and a friend wrote many hundreds of thousands of words RPing the 10th Doctor and the Master. RPing isn't allowed on ffnet so I received a warning and they deleted the fic. Thankfully I still have every single one of those fics due to being anal about backing stuff up on memory sticks, so if you'd like them @chosennightmares let me know. ❤️️
14. What's your all-time favourite ship?
Telford/Rush, if I have to pick just one, though I could chuck Young in there and go through every combination possible and still be very happy.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?
Nothing currently posted as due to having a lot of unfinished fics on ffnet I'm adverse to posting things without at least having an ending in mind. But there's an SGU fic titled Your Own Worst Enemy which was started in August last year and delves into rape recovery for Rush, Young, Telford, and Destiny herself. I need to be in the right headspace to write it and despite having 8 chapters of it completed I don't know how it's going to end up.
16. What are your writing strengths?
Developing different versions of Rush, Young, and Telford and have all of them still be in character despite being so different.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Getting the end of the fic written, knowing how to sign things off. The promised SGA fic sat 95% completed for fucking ages where all I could do whenever I scrolled to it was stare.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
Knowing the state Google Translate is in, I probably wouldn't risk it, no. It does annoy me when I'm reading and I'm told to scroll to the author's notes at the bottom of the fic to see what's been said and then having to scroll all the way back up, potentially losing my place. Much prefer people using the HTML hover text option.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Doctor Who. My mum was involved in putting together Who Cons when I was a kid, so I grew up watching the classic series.
20. Favourite fic you've ever written?
a memory, a distant echo I really enjoyed writing it, fleshing out David's character, and really digging into his psyche. It's a tough read, but I'm very proud of how it turned out.
tagging @thestorieswesay @no-more-pawn @chosennightmares @galadhir @sga-owns-my-soul
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privateraelle · 2 years
Note
your honest thoughts on the motherland finale?
oh boy jsdfks i knew this ask was gonna come up one way or another so i guess i might get it out of the way now. that finale was bad. disappointing. i've never said a single bad thing about motherland. like. ever. i've always trusted the writers and eliot to handle things like they did with s1 and s2 and even though s2 was a bit messy, it was good. but what happened last night was one big messy clusterfuck. i was sad, mad, on the verge of tears because of how bad it was. i've always been the biggest "trust the writers" idiot and i kinda wanna eat my hand now cause sdjfkds i trusted the writers and they fucked me over but it's okAY i'm fine i'll get over it cause someone whom i adore very much can write me a fix fic. anyway this show has been my comfort show for 2 years and it has given me one of the best experiences i've ever had. it has also introduced me to people that are everything to me and i won't ever forget how good it has made me feel, always. so, this is just constructive criticism of something i love.
so, my thoughts, no specific order, just things that won't leave my mind and won't let me and my brain process how stupid everything was:
no closure for any character. like. at all. it's literally an open ending and i know eliot was maybe hoping he would have more chances for the show to get picked up by another network but??? what the fuck was that. there are so many questions that stay unanswered and so many things that make no sense AT ALL and for what. what happened after everybody became a witch? did they end conscription? if that's not the case, why would raelle and scylla go back to the army willingly knowing they wanted to escape? leaving those things to the imagination of the audience is not good storytelling mister, it's bad writing and it's so unserious. when tally got her sight back, they could've shown the audience the characters' future instead of doing whatever they did in that final scene. they should've provided a solid conclusion to the show, they knew it was their last season and they didn't deliver.
so many unnecessary scenes of silver and hearst and his fucking sister which surprise!! is still out and didn't make a final appearance. she was introduced as a new character and her purpose was what exactly? being a mean sister? yeah, okay i guess. unnecessary. they wasted so much time on useless scenes of the camarilla being bad™ when it added absolutely nothing to the plot (hearst singing???? jesus fucking christ what was eliot on), instead of giving us things we genuinely care about. like haha the main fucking couple they forgot existed til ep 8.
that's the next thing i'm gonna talk about. raylla was done so fucking dirty this season. i know all about tay's accident and i'm so glad she healed completely but there was no reason to keep them apart for so many episodes after she was back to filming?? i wasn't mad about raelle reuniting with the unit first, like, not at all. i loved it. but scylla being kidnapped for no reason at all and them not reuniting til next episode was a big dick move and again, unnecessary. their reunion was spoiled in the actual trailer of the season which made it even more anticlimactic and dull, thank god amalia and taylor put their whole souls into them or i wouldn't have felt a single thing. don't get me started on how they have butchered raelle and how they took a lot of fucking liberties with her character. you're telling me raelle was okay with not knowing where scylla was for a whole ass WEEK and she was just straight up chillin' and not losing her shit? nah, i don't think so. anyway, their scenes are cut short and have the length of a tiktok video. when was their last meaningful conversation as a couple?? idk probably in s2 cause they haven't had those in s3, not even in the first episodes where all they gave us were lil amalia/taylor touches n glances. the proposal and the wedding felt rushed, ridiculous and like something they did to shut people up. "they got married what more do you want?" an on-screen relationship with actual fucking scenes that show how the characters feel towards each other, maybe, idk could be wrong. they were not treated like the main couple this season and it's been a hard pill to swallow but it's true. the finale was just scylla holding raelle and carrying her around and that's it. gregorio and tally, a couple that got together LAST EPISODE got a kiss and a worried hug and we got!! nothing!! haha yeah. not even an ending for them. the setup was there. the lighthouse, raelle and scylla running together and living near the beach. instead we got them standing next to each other like they're best buds. welp, at least they're not dead, right?
scylla's treatment was also bullshit. they did an exceptional job on making her part of the unit just to throw her under the bus last minute and sideline her character at the end. that last scene felt empty without her. i know the show's always been about the unit, i agree. but scylla's part of the unit now. she should've been there. instead, she just carried raelle around, and did nothing. what a waste. amalia knows her way around stunts, they should've made her fight and show us what she's actually capable of. but whatever.
anacostia's death pissed me off so much. it was anticlimactic and pretty avoidable if you ask me. i remember last night when watching the ep, i didn't even react to her death because it felt so ??? stupid?? that i was like "haha dude she's not dead". and she was? what the fuck eliot. it didn't make sense for the plot, it was just a big fuck you to us all and a stupid attempt at pulling a plot twist. it wasn't a plot twist, it was absurd. the audience didn't even have time to mourn her. if they wanted to kill someone and make the audience feel something, they should've gone for petra. i know miss ashley would've delivered a performance. but anacostia's death was pointless and mister sterling what's his name wasn't the person she should've died for. if they wanted to kill her so bad, she should've died protecting the unit.
can someone explain to me how making everyone a witch solves the world's problems? what was eliot thinking? forcing everyone to be the same, erasing their identities and differences and giving the camarilla (remember!! bad people who hate witches!!) actual power to fight them and kill them seems pretty stupid to me. also the big epic moment didn't feel like one. it felt pretty dull.
okay, some positive feelings:
i really missed arlen's nicte. i'm really glad she made a last appearance. nicte is my bestie i love her.
the whole raylla/adigail convo about the lighthouse and the ocean. beautiful.
raelle healing scylla and refusing to let anything happen to her.
izadora is a fucking beast i'm so glad she's not dead. the scene of her laughing in alban's face. GOLD.
abi being the last steward <3
and that's pretty much it. i'm sure i'm leaving sooo many things behind but this is as much as i can think of right now. i'll be mad for a few days and then i'll start giffing to numb the pain i guess sjfds.
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zhongrin · 2 years
Note
OKAY MY GOD HELLO I'M BACK FROM REPLAYING THE P5 VN I NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT DETAILS SO I GUESS I SHOULD PUT A SPOILER WARNING??? FOR THOSE WHO DECIDE TO PLAY??? IDK HOW LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE YOU RELEASED THE GAME BC I FOUND OUT YESTERDAY LMAO
//spoiler warning for the P5, P5R and fanmade visual novel//
I'm still a bit giddy so forgive me for my crappy attempt of explaining my feelings properly lol (but then again, it's kind of your fault for making such an amazing game 🥹)
First things first, thank you so much for your GOD-SENT walkthrough 🙌
There were so many parts that I had to pull up the settings menu just to recompose myself LMAO I didn't even have to touch my cheeks to know they were about to go up in flames from Ren's smooth flirty lines 🙈
That scene???? That we go to the post cultural event??? I LITERALLY HAD TO GET UP AND GO TO THE BATHROOM TO SPLASH MY FACE WITH WATER BC I WAS LOSING MY DAMN MIND OVER HAND HOLDING???? AND REN'S BLUSHING HAPPY FACE AFTER WE TIGHTEN THE HOLD OF HIS HAND???? I READ SO MANY NASTY NSFW FICS AND YET I'VE NEVER FELT SO EMBARRASSED OVER HAND HOLDING 🙈🙈🙈
DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT SCENE WHICH REN KISSES OUR HAND AHSYYDUEHSBBS I FELT SMOKE COMING OUT OF MY EARS 😩
AND THEN IT SHOWED HIM SAYING "You're going to be the death of me" 🫠🫠🫠 I'M SO WEAK AT SMOOTH FLIRTY GUYS LOSING THEIR COOL BC OF HIS CRUSH 😩😩😩
AND THE FACT THAT THIS GAME ISN'T EVEN VOICED AND YET HE HAD SUCH AN EFFECT ON ME?? THE POWER OF YOUR WRITING JESUS CHRIST
During the time of his disappearance, even though I knew Ren was gonna come back this time , I still cried like I did in the bad ending 🥲 and during their first reunion as well 🤧
I absolutely loved the affection heart thingy (I forgot the name lol) and how each day the description changed! When it showed "You're down bad for him. So bad." I related to that in my soul 😆
Playing your game was quite a ride bc I've never played Persona 5/P5R, only watched some gameplays (and not even of the full game since atlus has that weird rule 🤡), so many things at the end were a big surprise for me (like that whole alternative dimension thing and the red haired girl). That didn't affect my enjoyment tho! On the contrary, it's making me consider buying the P5R now that it's released on switch 😆
Throughout my gameplay today, each day that passed and scene that happened, I kept thinking "please don't end here, I want more 🥺". Don't get me wrong, the ending was so cute and sweet 🤧 I'm just really addicted to this vn and don't want to leave RenRen 😆 I can't wait to play the GE2 tomorrow!
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i am sobbing. crying. laying on the floor. i wanted to hoard this ask so bad but that wouldn't be fair to you. ironically, even as a writer, i can't express this feeling in words. so have all these instead:
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simmonsized · 2 years
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Hehe it’s okay, I expected that to happen since it just came out.
Anyway, wanna give us a Bro Strider relationship status update with people he has interacted with so far in this fic?
(WARNING FROM FUTURE ME: this post is VERY long. I'm SO sorry.)
LFKSFJ:IJF:OWIJW:O THE WAY YOU HAVE WORDED THIS IS SO FUNNY
i honesty don't know where to start with this guy LOL ummmm i will be honest we could be here literally all day. it's kind of hard to get into the idea of explaining this without stating exactly how far we've come but it really has come from "my god if only i could be alone for five fucking years wow what a world" to "my god if only i could be alone for five fucking seconds jesus christ" SO. not that much of an improvement but. an improvement!
i'm going to do this in bullet points slap-dashed real quick and dirty like bc there are SO many of them (<- second note from future me this was my hubris talking) (ps i got bro meta all mixed up in there i'm so sorry)
PREFACE: i think a lot of what comes across as "gentle" early bro strider stems from like, well u know all the fucked up shit with his soul, kind of slowly reanimating from Machine to Human Again, Dirk Strider (Bro Strider) with a Purpose, a single-minded idea of how things Have to Be, to a place where "i shouldn't be here i was supposed to be done and now i'm not sure how to proceed"
not to quote my own fic but this is a lot of our starting point:
"Your technique was a major shit show.” “Yeah, I’m starting to realize that now.” “Kinda surprising you didn’t realize it sooner.” It’s not, really. “Yeah, I--” He cuts himself off and you tense up, watch the lines of his shoulders for movement. “I don’t know.”
The point here was never, "Bro Strider is an Irredeemable Monster", but it was also never going to be "Bro Strider feels bad about what he did" because to start, he most definitely fucking doesn't. LOL. I think he saw the way he raised Dave as a necessity, and that it was the most logical path to follow, and that it never mattered if either of them liked it (i don't think bro liked much of anything back then, except for puppets lmao) because it was the path of least resistance with the highest likelihood for success. (I will not get into the way homestuck sets us up like it's a master-apprentice anime joke only to shit on people about it later, because i already made that whole post abt bro and dave and shit u know.) I see him very much the way we see early Dirk Strider, before his disaster with Jake, back when he really thought that pushing his friends to be their "Best Selves" was doing them a favor. Take that as you will.
From here we see Bro change from Before (purpose) to After (lack of purpose, no sense of self) and this influenced a lot of the way i ended up writing him. Which! basically he starts defaulting to how he raised Dave before training because he has. Absolutely no fucking clue how to handle Dave now that they're not strifing anymore, now that there's no game to train for. (Bro would rather he was not anything, anymore but. we won't get into that.)
ANYWAY
Dave(no-longer-a-sprite): a lot of their relationships started as ultra guilt-based on both ends. not from the past, but really just centering the part both of them played in Bro's death. i know we don't have canon proof of bro dying for davesprite but it's my world and i say he did bc it rly does make a weird amount of sense and follows my Guardian's Obligation to Keep Their Player Alive at All Costs. yes even doomed offshoots of their kid. ANYWAY. the two of them have benefited (yikes) from Dave's struggle with depression and his desperation not to let Bro's death be his fault (even though obviously it wasn't) and just their mutually weird "i was supposed to die but now i'm here. what do i do?" Dave didn't have the same revelation as Dave about all his shit with Bro, and he never had an outlet. He just internalized. But this also leads to our first apology! wow so early on and yet there are 50+ chapters that trail after it. It's almost like I believe that saying sorry is the first step or something! Basically their relationship went from revolving around death and a lack of purpose to the first kind of tentative, actual attempt at something of a familial relationship. I can't call Dave a trial run, because that's not fair, nor is it accurate, but Dave(sprite) is a more forgiving figure due to his isolation, and is more likely (not good) to forgive Bro his slip-ups than the other Dave. Also Dave says some alarming ass shit to him and I think that was probably something of a wake-up call for him, like a call to arms or somethin'. Basically, they are trying their best. Or I think they are! :)
Dave (not a sprite and never has been, this is why we call them apple and orange fellas): His relationship takes more effort and more time. Dave has a relationship with Dirk now, that is more positive than whatever he had with Bro (obviously) and it's not like he doesn't NEED Bro, because fuckssake they're still kids (you left a good ask about this but i forgot to answer because i'm a mess) and they need guardians but they're like. These two are the EPITOME of the concept of "you can love someone and want a relationship with them even if they hurt you so bad you can never forgive them." That is their baseline. It permeates every interaction. Dave is almost never not thinking about who Bro used to be, versus the way he's changed. He's jealous of Dave(sprite, for simplicity), he's jealous of Dirk, he's jealous of Old Dave, but he doesn't know how to ask for... whatever it is he wants! Not to mention Dave now has his own personal experience with Bro dying right in front of him, or preventing his death (sort of twice, i s'pose) and having a direct hand in that gave him a weird kind of catharsis, some kind of choice he never got to make as a thirteen-year old (and wouldn't have, anyway, as he confesses at some point). They are genuinely working some shit out. I just think it'll take more time.
Mom: Wow! His best friend from a past life where he was cruel and awful but also at one point may have had feelings and emotions and could have been a person but never so much as he wanted to be, and he's definitely jealous of her, and he also knows that she is imperfect, the same way all guardians tend towards a lack of perfection, but they balance each other out. They are both what I would call "opposite sides of the extreme" if u know what I mean. He is the most comfortable with her because he does not have to pretend, and does not have to be gentle, and she will take his shit because she wants to, and he doesn't want her to, but he can sort of.... She is the first person Bro Strider trusts again, I think. Or he wants to. I think he's just now starting to realize that maybe it's not all bullshit, when people believe in him.
Nanna Egbert (and Hass I spose): Resentment for a life that he was always supposed to leave vs the first adult who ever showed him kindness vs growing up mean and crooked vs the way that she forgives, so so easily, too easily. But he wants her to be proud of him but no he doesn't but yes he does. He would probably bend over backwards for Nanna to make her smile. He would also let Hass put him in a chokehold but only as long as it would take to fucking suplex him into a table. He would never admit to these residual attachments because they are all mixed up in who he used to be, and he doesn't know yet how to separate them from who he is trying to be now.
Dirk: I am not getting into my dirk vs bro vs dirk meta but it went from: This is just me and he is not a real person because he's me so who cares what i say to him -> He is me but now i see that he is also a person who reflects who i used to be and i don't like that -> i'm embarrassed -> I understand him and he understands me to a point and i REALLY don't like that -> beginning to see Dirk as his own person mixed up with "sometimes he's Dirk, sometimes he's you". Dirk meta. we could go all day.
Rose: I already made a whole post about Bro and Rose LOL. Rose wants something from Bro. Bro feels obligated because she's related to Roxy, but it's also maybe the first outside relationship where someone knows who he is from the start and still... appears to want to know him?
Roxy: Mom Lalonde Jr. Feels weirdly comfortable with her. Or at least less likely to snap at her. Thinks she's funny. Doesn't really know how to deal with kids sometimes but he tries, with her. She's kind of the only one (outside of u know).
Alpha Rose: Absolutely Not.
The other Guardians: Amused but tolerant. Annoyed but intrigued. Willing to put up with their bullshit from a sense of obligation he cannot explain and that frustrates him (it's just because they remind him of Nanna and Hass, he swears)
Alpha Dave (flavor: Pacific Cooler): Wow. We could be here for LITERALLY all day. No one has asked for my Bro vs Alpha Dave meta. I'd rather not get into it but alpha Dave was built as a reflection of Dave's worst traits but also as more of a direct parallel to Bro. They understand each other. They don't want to understand each other. Bro has basically gone from "wow who the FUCK is this douchebag it has been so long since i have met another adult who would probably kill someone without blinking" to "i guess he's okay." That is where we are, and doesn't that speak a thousand words.
Hal: It is not Hal's fault that their first interaction went so poorly. I know we don't talk about Cal as a juju but man fucked up ARquiussprite was all mixed up in there right. What the fuck. ANYWAY i think he has reached exasperation on a Dirkesian level with Hal, but also perhaps the beginnings of "oh he's a kid" and thus we have. Gestures to all of the black text in the new chapter. Bro thinks of himself as so far removed from the identity of "Dirk Strider" that he sometimes makes decisions other people would find "bad" and "not very good". Still, Hal is a kid. He knows Hal is a kid. He can kind of tell he's a lonely kid, even if he won't admit it (because Bro was a lonely kid, once upon a time.) I think he thinks Hal is annoying. Has no qualms about blocking him without a second thought. But he won't stop him from pestering him, either! :)
THIS IS UM. TOO LONG?????????????????? This is all i can think of i am sure i am missing someone but fuck me what a cast am i right.
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khoicesbyk · 1 year
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The Royal Romance.
Love Everlasting.
A/N: I had a different name and plot for this fic over a year ago. But after being in the RP community for more than a year, I've decided to write the current Royal Life of my favorite OTP.
Rated: Mature (at times can and will be Explicit. I'll be sure to change the rating when and if that happens). | Contains sexual content and strong language. (You know? The usual. Y'all should be used to this from me by now 😁) | Bolded and/or italicized words are conversations and thoughts of the characters. | Main Characters: King Marquise Rys (LI) and Queen Shanelle Miller-Rys (MC) | All Characters and names: (except MC and original characters created by me and/or other authors [their characters have been mentioned and/or used in the story with their permission] ) are property of Pixelberry.
Current Word Count: 50K words. (may be slightly more or may be slightly less. Look, I stop counting after editing and re-editing and driving myself insane. 🤷🏾‍♀️)
If you’d like to be added to my tag list. Just reblog or dm me and I will gladly add you! 😁😘
This series is rated Mature and/or Explicit. It is NOT reading material that is safe for those under 18. Reader discretion is STRONGLY advised!
Missing a chapter or want to read a chapter again? I got you covered! Click ——> Here!
Tag List: @choicesficwriterscreations
TW: Mentions of Cancer. Reader Discretion is STRONGLY ADVISED!
Matrimony. Part 4.
That night, after an entire day of revelations and interviews, Shanelle had so many questions for Marquise as they stood on his balcony. 
“Okay first question, when did Connie develop cancer?” Shanelle asked.
Marquise took a sip of his whiskey.
“About a year and a half ago. He was getting treatments and chemo quietly but they weren't working, so his Oncologist suggested surgery to remove the tumors. He had his surgery 11 weeks ago. But it didn't take. Cancer has spread throughout his body but it metastasized itself to his liver where it's inoperable and that makes it terminal.” he replies.
“Jesus Christ. How do you feel about it?” she asked.
Marquise shrugged.
“Honestly, I don’t care. I know I should but I don't. His cancer is his karma for everything he's done to people.” he replied before taking another sip of his whiskey.
‘Marquise…”
“You sound like mom.”
“Does she know?” Shanelle asked.
“Yes. A very small circle of people know. And we are all forbidden from speaking about it.” he replies.
“I’m sure that's hard for you.”
“Not really. Far as I’m concerned the sooner he dies the better the world will be.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. 
“Positive,” he replied.
“Okay. I won't pry.” 
Marquise sighed deeply. 
“I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound like that.” 
She kissed his cheek.
“I know you don't mean it…mostly.”
He smiled softly at her as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.
“Thank you for understanding my mood. I'm not trying to pile on you. I swear.”
“That's why I'm here. I want to relieve whatever stresses you.”
“You are my Superwoman.”
“I think you mean I’m your Kryptonite.”
“That too.”
They watched the stars above for several minutes before heading to bed. The rest of the week went by in a blur of interviews and internal eye rolls. By Friday afternoon the couple were in a train car making their way to Princess Naya’s duchy of Arnaud. Which is in the northeastern part of Cordonia. 
“Just so we're clear, I won't have to kill the Princess this weekend right?” Shanelle asked.
“Yes. She'll be too busy trying to appease her husband. I spoke to him shortly after she left my office and he was not happy. He read the article and saw the footage Donnie put out and couldn't apologize enough. He swore to keep her in check this weekend.” Marquise replies.
“Good. Because I'm not trying to embarrass her again
 even though I will.”
“Down Crusher! No embarrassing her! Because I won't be tempted to stop you.”
Shanelle snickered. 
“So tell me more about The Grand Hunt. Mr. Master Of The Hunt.”
Marquise threw her a cocky grin.
“Basically it's a skills competition. Archery, skeet shooting, axe throwing that sorta thing. It harkens back to the Cordonia of old. But the main event is groups of 4 will go along into the woods looking for a rabbit that has been tagged. First one to find it wins. And by the first one to find it wins, I mean me.” 
“So who's in our group?” Shanelle asks.
“It'll be you, me, Drake, and Maxwell,” he replies.
“So I'll finally meet your two friends?” she asks.
“Yes. And we might even do a little diverting from everyone else.” 
“By diverting you mean we'll be cheating?” she asked 
“It's only cheating if you get caught.”
“You are so bad!” 
Marquise shrugged.
“Just the way you like it.”
They arrived at Naya’s estate later that night. Once they were settled in their room, Marquise was called away which gave Shanelle time to check in with the girls.
“Wait! So you’re at that floozie’s house?” Aly asked.
“Yup. Have to be here for the Grand Hunt. Marquise and I have our own room.” Shanelle replied.
“Girl! Be careful! She might have booby-trapped the room or she'll try to have your food poisoned!” Rob said.
“A.) the guards have been doing a security sweep of this room at my request all week. and B.) the palace kitchen staff is doing the cooking. So I'm good.” Shanelle replied. 
“You sure?” Nina asked.
“Yes, babe. I'm sure. I'm safe.” Shanelle replied.
“So what are you actually doing this weekend?” Bron asked.
“I'm going rabbit hunting,” Shanelle replied.
The girls all stared at Shanelle.
“Deadass! I'm getting on a horse and I’m going rabbit hunting.”
“I'm calling it now, you will be on your ass,” Nina said.
Shanelle rolled her eyes.
“Whatever.” 
Nina snickered.
“I'm not you Miss Keane. I know how to ride a horse. And a man.”
The girls shared a laugh, just as there was a knock at Shanelle’s door.
“Now who could that be?” Dee asked.
“I don’t know. Give me a sec.” Shanelle before calling out to the door, “Come in!”
Naya walked in and when Shanelle got a look at her face, she died laughing.
“Bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!” 
The girls on the phone were confused. 
“What is it?” Rob asked.
“Yeah, what's so funny?” Nina asked.
“Take a look for yourselves,” Shanelle said as she turned her camera around to show Naya’s face. The girls fell out laughing. 
“Daaaaaaaaammmmmmmnnnnnnnnnn!!!!” Rob piped up. 
“We fucked her ass up!” Nina said with a cackle. 
“Yoooooooo!!!” Bron said. 
“We did all that?” Aly asked smugly.
“We! Did! ALL! That!” Dee and Chut said in unison.
“Indeed we did ladies. Now let me deal with this and I'll call y'all back.” 
“Byeeeeeee!” the girls said before they hung up. 
Naya crossed her arms.
“Are you finished?” Naya asked.
“Nope. Nowhere near,” Shanelle replied. 
“I came here to ask if you like your accommodations, Your Regency.” 
Shanelle smirked.
“You mean your husband sent you here to offer an olive branch? But to answer your question, no, actually I don't like these accommodations. You have zero taste in interior design and it shows. Even more than that bruise under your eye that your makeup is doing a terrible job of hiding.” 
Naya took a deep breath.
“Look, I'm just trying to get through this weekend.”
“You mean you're trying to salvage your damaged name and reputation. I bet your husband was on your ass when he came home.” 
Naya set her jaw.
“You had all that attitude and bravado last weekend when you challenged me and lost. And now you look like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. As a matter of fact, I have all weekend to be on your ass. And it's exactly what you deserve.”
“You're lucky that you–” Naya started to say before Shanelle cut her off. “Sweetie, let me stop you right there. Because you know you can't fight. You proved that last weekend. But anytime you want a round two. I got time for you.”
Naya just stood there fuming.
“So happy we could have this conversation, Princess. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Have a nice night.” Shanelle said as she dismissed Naya. 
Naya looked at Shanelle one last time before leaving the room. 45 minutes later Shanelle was coming out of the bathroom when she saw Marquise laying on the bed with his arms behind his head.
“You are a menace. You know that right?” he said to her. 
“Why Your Regency! I have no idea what you mean.” Shanelle said in mock innocence. 
“You don't like our accommodations, my love?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.
Shanelle looked at him with a smirk.
“Did Naya tell you that? Did she bat her eyelashes as she shed her crocodile tears?” she replied.
“No. She ran to her husband and cried about you being mean to her when all she was trying to do is be a good hostess. So I had to tell him that you were only joking.”
Shanelle rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically.
“Oh, the poor Princess! Someone was mean to her.” Shanelle said with a cackle.
Marquise shook his head with a smirk.
“Again, you are a menace.”
Shanelle sat down and started applying her lotion.
“Yeah yeah. I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat.”
“Okay. I hope you like venison. This part of Cordonia is known for it.” 
Shanelle made a face.
“What?” Marquise asked.
“I've never had venison. Sounds kinda weird. And bougie.”
“It's deer. And it's also a local delicacy.”
“Whatever happened to good old pizza and wings?” Shanelle asked.
“My love, we're not in New York but, I can have that made for you. How about Pizza Bianca with Prosciutto, shaved Fontina, and aged Balsamic Vinegar, plus wings?” he asked.
“Garlic Parm. All drums,” she replied.
“I prefer flats.”
Shanelle made another face.
“God! You are so weird!”
Marquise snickered before putting in a call to have room service delivered.
“This Pizza Bianca is fucking incredible! I love everything about it,” she said as she took a bite of her slice. 
“Mmhmm. And these wings are amazing. Compliments to the chefs.” 
“You know you could've told me no right?” she asked. 
“I know. But my job is to make sure you are as comfortable as possible.” he replied.
“Yeah but that doesn't mean just hand me whatever I want.”
“Are you saying that I’m a doormat?” he asked.
“I'm saying that you don't have to always hand me the world on a silver platter Marquise,” she replies.
“First of all, I would never hand you the world on a silver platter. That is beneath me. What I would do instead is, I would hand you the world on a diamond-studded, gold-plated Sterling silver platter. Second, they'll more than likely serve venison tomorrow at the reception dinner. And lastly, this is how I show my love to and for you. By reminding you that you are deeply loved and greatly appreciated by me.”
“Even if it inconveniences you?” she asked.
“Especially then,” he replied as he tucked her hair behind her ear. “When it comes to you, nothing will ever inconvenience me.”
She smiled at him before kissing him softly.
“You have garlic breath,” he teased.
“So do you, Blacula.” 
“Blah! Blah!” 
The two laughed before they finished their food. 
The next day, they were walking to the stables after Marquise had won the archery and axe throwing and Shanelle won the skeet shooting competitions to see the horse they would be riding for the hunt. 
“Are you ready for today?” Marquise asked her. 
“As ready as I can be. We're not actually gonna kill a rabbit, are we?” she replies.
“No. They stopped killing rabbits 40 years ago. It'll be released back into the wild.” 
“Okay good. So let's go find me a horse.”
“Way ahead of you.”
When they got inside the stables Drake and Maxwell were standing with three horses. 
“Is that Marabelle’s Dream?” she asked.
“Yes. I had her brought here from your duchy,” Marquise replied. 
“And these two jackasses must be Drake and Liam,” Shanelle said, pointing to Drake and Maxwell.
They winced. 
“Lord Maxwell Percival Beaumont, master of all things dance, shimmy, shake, rattle and roll. Good times and all. At your service, Your Regency.” Maxwell said with a flourish.
“Is he?” Shanelle asked.
“Always.” Marquise and Drake replied.
“Okay then…”
“Does she know?” Drake asked Marquise.
“Everything,” Marquise replies.
Shanelle crossed her arms.
“Yeah, so start talking.”
The two looked at each other before they launched into an explanation of what happened and the parts they played in the blowing up of her relationship with Cassian. At the end of their explanation, Shanelle shook her head.
“You two are something else. However, I can forgive the two of you as long as you two swear to stay the hell from Cassian. Got it?” she said to them.
“Yup,” they replied.
“Good. Now I’m no mathematician but there are only three horses and four humans.”
“Ask him.” Drake and Maxwell said, pointing to Marquise.
“Where's your horse?” Shanelle asked Marquise.
“Marabelle’s Dream is my horse,” Marquise replied.
“No. She's MY horse. And her name isn't Marabelle’s Dream.”
“It's not?” Marquise asked.
“Nope. This noble steed with all her beauty will now be known as Midnight Wander.”
Marquise shook his head with a smirk.
“You and that damn book.”
Shanelle shrugged.
“So go find your own horse.”
“Nope. You and I are riding together.”
“I don't wanna ride with you!” Shanelle protested. 
“Too bad!”
Shanelle sucked her teeth.
“Like you'd pass up the opportunity to throw our relationship in Naya’s face.”
The idea did intrigue Shanelle.
“Well…when you put it that way…”
“Exactly. Now get up there.”
Shanelle climbed into the saddle with Marquise right behind her. When he wrapped an arm around her and grabbed the reins, she felt her heart race.
“You ready?” Marquise whispered to her.
Shanelle nodded her head.
Marquise pulled at the reins and led their group to where the hunt would be starting. Once everyone was gathered, Tariq gave his opening remarks.
“Good afternoon everyone and thank you all for joining my wife and I at this year's Grand Hunt. We are grateful to be able to host and have you all. To their former Majesties, it is always an honor to have the four of you attend. And to their Regencies, my wife and I look forward to you both attending. Especially when you become King and Queen.” 
Many in the crowd cheered and clapped politely. As Tariq continued on with his opening remarks, Shanelle noticed Naya sitting stiffly in her saddle next to Tariq.
“Your ex does not look happy,” Shanelle whispered to Marquise. 
“She'll get over it,” Marquise whispers back. “All I need now is for the signal to be given and we'll be off to the races.”
Just as Tariq closed his opening remarks a cage with a rabbit was brought out. Everyone watched as the rabbit was released.
“And so, let the hunt begin!” Tariq announced.
“Is this–” Shanelle started to say before Marquise grabbed the reins and urged their horse on. Soon they were galloping down the route. She was realizing why Midnight Wander was the Derby winner.
“So is there a plan here?” she asked Marquise.
“Yep. Hang on and let me do the driving.” he replied.
“Oh, God! I'm gonna die!” 
They rode deeper into the woods following the trail. And when they were far enough ahead, Marquise purposely veered off with Maxwell and Drake behind them. When they finally came to a stop and dismounted, Shanelle was still trying to catch her breath. 
“I almost died! You tried to kill me!” Shanelle said to Marquise. 
Marquise rolled his eyes.
“You did not almost die. I did not try to kill you.” he replies.
“I mean you were riding kinda fast.” Maxwell quipped.
“Yeah. We know this trail. She doesn't.” Drake added.
“See?! Even they know that you tried to kill me!”
“Quiet! Before I leave you to get lost out here!”
Shanelle stuck her tongue out at him again. Marquise smirked before he turned to Drake and Maxwell.
”You two got everything ready?” Marquise asked. 
“Yup,” Maxwell replied.
“And what about the distraction?” Marquise asked.
“As soon as you give the word, the rest of those lazy nobles will get the scare of their lives,” Drake replies.
“Distraction?” Shanelle asked.
“Just watch,” Marquise replied before nodding to Drake. “Go for it.” 
Drake smirked before pulling a small remote from his pocket and pressing the button on the front of the remote. Soon, shouts, shrieks, horse whinnying, and screams could be heard in the distance. Marquise and his two friends died laughing. 
“What in the world?” Shanelle asked. 
“A little distraction. I had Drake and Maxwell plant cherry bombs around the route. Not enough to hurt anyone but enough to spook their horses and throw everyone off course. And maybe have some of them thrown into the mud along the way.” Marquise replies.
Shanelle shook her head while laughing. 
“And you have the nerve to call me a menace,” Shanelle said to Marquise. 
“You are a menace. I just have fun at the nobles' expense. Now we have a rabbit to catch.” Marquise replied.
Everyone mounted their horses and took off. But Shanelle had one question.
“How do you know where the rabbit will be?” Shanelle asked.
“The one they released? I don't. That poor thing is probably long gone. But! I did get one that is identical to the one they released. Same tag and all. Oh, and it was microchipped. So I know how to track it.” Marquise replies.
Shanelle shook her head.
“I'd like to reiterate: you’re. Cheating!” 
“It's either I win or you deal with having to hear your uncle brag about his wife winning. Because her father was an avid hunter.”
Shanelle winced.
“Good point.”
“Glad you see things my way.” 
They rode until they got to a clearing where a trap was set up. Once everyone dismounted, the men went to work setting up for when everyone else arrived. 
“Alright! Flare gun?” Marquise asked.
“Got it!” Maxwell replied.
“Food to lure the rabbit out?” Marquise asked.
“Right here,” Drake replies.
“Perfect! Max, you stay here with Shanelle and ready the trap. Walker, let's go find Roger.” 
Shanelle watched Marquise and Drake disappear into the woods, before turning to see Maxwell struggling to set up the trap.
“Need a little help?” Shanelle asked.
“Me? Nah! I got it. I have everything under con–” Maxwell started to say before the trap fell apart. 
Shanelle stifled her laugh.
“Y’know maybe I could use an extra set of hands.” 
Shanelle walked over and started to help Maxwell set up the trap. She even took the time to find out a little bit more about her fiance.
“How long have you known Marquise?” Shanelle asked.
“Me? Maybe 15-20 years. Drake has known him longer. They met when Drake’s dad Jackson joined the King’s Guard and was assigned to the Royal Family. Jackson was Connie’s lead guard.” Maxwell replies.
“That's a very long time to know someone.”
“Yeah. He's a good guy. Loyal, firm, stern, fair, understanding of the people around him, caring, and he's protective of everyone and everything that he cares about. His mother Eleanor was the same way. He tries his hardest to be just like her.” Maxwell replies.
“So I've heard. So he's nothing like his dad?” she asked.
Maxwell took a deep breath.
“No. At least not in the way you may think. He and Connie are like night and day. Except for when and if you are stupid to piss him off. Marquise tries his damnedest to never be anything like Connie. But not even he can run away from who he is. No matter how hard he tries to.” Maxwell replies.
“Why don't they have a relationship?” she asked.
“Because Connie feels like Marquise is only here to haunt him. Marquise looks a lot like his mother and Connie can't stand it. He feels like Marquise is a constant reminder of the one true love he lost. So he's always taken whatever he’s feeling out on him. Especially when he's drunk.” Maxwell replies.
“Jesus Christ!”
Maxwell nodded solemnly.
“Marquise doesn't like to talk about it. And I really think I shouldn't have told you. But at the same time, you deserved to know.”
Shanelle nodded.
“Thank you, Maxwell.”
“You're welcome. And call me Max.”
Shanelle smiled at him.
“Oh! Look! We did it! We got the trap set up!” Max triumphantly exclaimed.
“Yeah, we did.” Shanelle agreed.
“Teamwork high-five!” Maxwell said to her.
“Teamwork!”
The two high-fived just as Marquise’s voice rang out.
“MAX! GET THE TRAP READY!”
Maxwell and Shanelle scrambled to their feet just as the rabbit came darting out of the woods, with Marquise and Drake hot on its heels.
“NOW!” Marquise and Drake yelled.
“Push the button, Max!” Shanelle said to Maxwell.
“Pushing the button!” 
Shanelle watched as the trap sprang and they caught the scared rabbit.
“Woohoo! We did it!” Max cheered.
“Nice going! You did it!” Drake said as he congratulated Marquise.
“HAH HAH! I win again! The title of Grand Master is MINE!” Marquise said triumphantly.
“Congratulations handsome. You won. Even though you cheated.”
Marquise gave her a cocky smile.
“Beats the alternative.”
“Fair enough. So what happens now?” Shanelle asked.
“Max send up the flare,” Marquise instructed. 
Max grabbed the flare gun and then handed it to Shanelle.
“Why don't we let her do it?” Maxwell asked.
Marquise shrugged. 
“Okay. Send up the flare love.” 
Shanelle sent the flare signal and within 15 minutes the rest of the nobles began making their way to the group. Including a very disgusted-looking Queen Genevieve. 
“It seems His Regency has won the competition. By winning 5 years in a row, he is now Grand Master Of The Hunt!”
Many of the nobles cheered and congratulated Marquise, who had a firm arm around Shanelle’s waist. Directly in the sight line of his jealously seething ex.
“Thank you, everyone. I appreciate you all and I couldn't have done without this one at my side. Oh and Max and Drake too.”
Many in the crowd laughed.
“And to her former Majesty who was looking to regain the title of Master Of The Hunt, better luck next year. Assuming I don't win again.” Marquise said to a fuming Genevieve before throwing her a cocky grin. 
“Now if His Regency will do the honors of releasing the animal into the woods,” Tariq said.
“Actually if you all don't mind, I’d like Her Regency to do the honors,” Marquise said.
“Very well,” Tariq said to Marquise before turning his attention to Shanelle, “Your Regency if you will.”
Shanelle had Maxwell set the trap down before she opened the door of the cage and pulled the rabbit out and set it down on the ground.
“There you go, little one. You’re free.” Shanelle whispered to the rabbit.
Everyone watched as the rabbit hopped off into the woods. 
“Now that the Grand Hunt has been completed, let us all head back to the main estate and get ready for the reception dinner,” Tariq announced. 
As people began to head back to the estate, Connie rode up to his son.
“Congratulations my son. You managed to keep your title. While gaining a new one.” 
Marquise rolled his eyes.
“I'd tell you to go to hell, but you'll be there soon enough.”
Connie’s face soured before looking at Shanelle.
“Does she know?” Connie asked Marquise. 
“Yes, she knows. Everything.” Marquise replies.
Constantine gave Shanelle a haughty expression.
“I take it you feel the same way as he does,” Connie said to her.
“Let's just say that whenever your time comes, I won't cry at your funeral.” Shanelle spat at him.
“Petulant child!” Connie sneered.
“That's Her Regency to you. Now if you'll excuse us.” Shanelle said to Connie before she and Marquise left.
After returning to the estate and taking a long hot shower, the couple was ready for the reception dinner.
“You look beautiful my love,” Marquise said to her as they walked to the dining room.
“And you look like a King. Very official yet dapper.”
Marquise brought the back of her left hand to his lips for a small kiss.
“Thank you, my love. Now let's make our debut.”
Soon the herald made the official announcement.
“All rise for Their Regencies, Marquise Rys and Shanelle Miller!”
As they walked in, all eyes were on them. 
“Wait until they announce us as Their Majesties,” he whispered to her.
“Ooh! Your ex will hate that,” she whispered back.
“Believe me when I say I don't give a fuck.”
They walked to the center of the room where Naya and Tariq were standing. 
“Thank you all. Please be seated as we present His Regency with his official trophy.” Tariq announced to those in attendance. 
Shanelle watched as the staff walked with a beautiful bronze statue.
“Nice! How many of these do you have?” Shanelle whispered to her fiancè.
“Including this one? 5 all together. The other four are at the main house of my Duchy,” he replied.
“Your Regency, I present you this statue as a token of your victory today,” Tariq said to Marquise.
“Thank you, Lord Tariq. I humbly accept your token.” Marquise replied to him as the two shook hands before posing in front of the statue. Marquise turned to Shanelle with a grin. 
“Join me?” he asked.
She stepped next to him as Tariq stepped away and the couple snapped a few pictures together. 
“Now that His Regency’s trophy has been presented, dinner can be served.” Tariq announced. 
Before they took their seats Tariq pulled Shanelle and Marquise to the side.
“Again I’d like to congratulate you on your win, Marquise,” Tariq said to him.
“Thank you, Tariq. It's an honor to win and it's a privilege to be able to stick it to Queen Genevieve for another year.” Marquise replies.
“Indeed.”
Tariq turned to Shanelle with a polite smile.
“And to you Your Regency, I would like to formally apologize for my wife’s heinous and atrocious actions toward you. She has had no right whatsoever to belittle or demean you. And she certainly had no right to attack you. And for that, I am horrified and do humbly apologize to you for any harm my wife has caused.” Tariq said to her. 
Shanelle nodded politely. 
“Thank you, Lord Tariq. I appreciate your kind words and I accept your apology.” Shanelle replied.
“You're quite welcome, Your Regency. Now, I believe my wife has something she’d like to say.”
Shanelle internally rolled her eyes and braced herself.
“Shanelle, I'd like to sincerely apologize to you for my behavior. I let my jealousy cloud my judgment and I took it all out on you. I am…appalled by my actions. Especially when I'm a married woman. I had no right to do that. And for that, I do apologize.” 
Shanelle looked at Naya with an eyebrow raised.
“I want to believe you but I know you don't mean any of what you just said. But, for the sake of the kingdom and peace within it, I will be a bigger person and accept your apology.”
Naya nodded.
“Thank you, Your Regency.”
“Now that apologies have been given. I believe it is time we took our seats.” Tariq said. 
They took their seats and dinner was served. Instead of serving her venison, Marquise had one of her favorite dishes prepared, Spaghetti Alla Vongole (Linguine and Clams).
“Mmm! So good!”
“I'm happy you like it, my love.” 
“I am curious though,” she said to Marquise.
“Hmm?”
“Not that I’m not grateful but why am I eating this and not venison like you?” she asked.
“I told you why. Venison is a bit adventurous for you so we can try it another time when it's just us. I want you to always be comfortable. But if you want to try it now, you can always steal a bite of mine,” he replies.
“You're impossible.”
He winked at her.
“Here. Try it,” he said as he offered her a small bite of his venison.
“Okay. It's not bad but I think I prefer my pasta with clams, olive oil, and Parmesan Cheese.” 
“Told you.”
After dinner, it was drinks, dessert, and dancing. Everyone in attendance watched as the couple gracefully twirled and glided around the dancefloor. 
“Well, whaddya know? You do know how to do a proper Cordonian Waltz. I guess that private lesson in your bedroom paid off after all.” he teased her.
“Shut up before I step on your foot!” 
He snickered as they continued to dance. By the end of the evening, Shanelle’s feet were barking and she was ready to crash but she soldiered on as she stood in the receiving line with her fiance. Many of the people the couple received were friendly and most pledged their support for the new Monarchy. Including Maxwell’s brother Bertrand.
“Hello, you two!” Maxwell said in greeting, “Shanelle, I’d like you to meet my older brother, Bertrand Archibald Beaumont. The Duke of Ramsford.” 
Bertrand bowed to Shanelle.
“Good evening, Your Regency. It is a pleasure and honor to meet you.” Bertrand said to her.
“The pleasure is mine, Duke Ramsford,” Shanelle replied.
“I am here to formally give you and His Regency, Duchy Ramsford’s full support to the new Monarchy.”
“Thank you, Bertrand. I always knew I could count on you.” Marquise replied.
“Of course Your Regency. Ramsford has always been about progress, growth, and change for Cordonia. And with you and Her Regency at the helm of that change, I know we are all in very good hands.” 
Marquise nodded politely.
“And besides, anyone better than King Constantine is a win in my book,” Maxwell added.
“I knew I liked you, Max.” Shanelle said to him.
“Quite. Now we shall take our leave but we do wish you both the best. Come along now Maxwell.” Bertrand said as they left.
When the couple got back to their room, Shanelle was thankful the night was finally over. 
“You did it, my love. You survived your very first state dinner. Without so much as an hors d’oeuvre needing to be thrown at someone.” 
Shanelle snorted.
“Shut up and rub my aching feet.”
“Gladly.”
Shanelle melted into the foot massage. She deserved it for all she had to endure that weekend. 
“How are you so good at this?” she asked him.
“You already know why, my love,” he replies.
“Y’know if this whole ruling a kingdom thing doesn't work out, you could make good money giving out foot massages.”
Marquise snickered. 
“Unless the money is coming from you for services rendered then I don't want it. You are the only woman I would do this for.”
“I can live with that.”
“So how would you rate this weekend, my love?” he asked.
“Not too bad. I know it won't always be like this but it wasn't too bad for my first experience. And I didn't have to kill your ex. So that's a win.” she replied.
“Yes. I'm proud of you for showing restraint. It's never easy with her. Even though I wouldn't have stopped you if you did decide to clock her.”
“You’d let me get away with murder if you could.”
Marquise cleared his throat.
“Your words not mine.”
“So what happens now?” she asked.
“Don't you have a wedding to plan?” he replies.
“Seriously?! I can start planning?” she asked.
“Yes. Your official Royal Business here is over. So you’re free to plan the wedding of your dreams.” he replied.
“Does that mean?” 
“If you want to head back to Boston or New York you’re free to do so.” 
Shanelle’s face lit up.
“I gotta call mama! I gotta call the girls! We have a wedding to plan!” Shanelle squealed. 
“Indeed you do.” Marquise agreed. 
“Is there anything you want before the girls and I go crazy?” she asked.
“What are the colors?” he replied.
“I know the official colors of Cordonia are Royal/Navy Blue and Gold but I was thinking of Purple, White, and Silver.” 
“I can live with that.”
“Anything else?” she asked.
“I want a VERY PRIVATE penthouse suite for after we get married,” he replies.
“You got plans for that suite?” she asked.
“I got plans to fuck you all over that suite, my Queen,” he replied with a wolfish grin.
Shanelle snickered. 
“Then I better get a move on.”
“Yes, you should.”
After traveling back to the palace the next day, Shanelle grabbed Ozzie and headed to the airport. She was on her way home.
“I'm gonna miss you,” she said to Marquise.
“No worries. Besides, the next time I see you will be in a church at the altar.” he replies.
“What are you gonna do while I'm gone?” she asked.
“You have a wedding to plan and I have coronations to plan,” he replies.
 “Oooh!”
“Exactly.” 
With a sweet kiss, it was time to say see you later.
“I'll see you soon, my Queen.”
“See you soon handsome.”
With that Shanelle boarded her flight home to Boston. When she finally touched down at Logan Airport that night, she was happy to be back on U.S. soil.
“It's good to be home, isn't Ozzie?” she said as they got into the car that was waiting. 
When she got to the brownstone and set her bags down, she noticed two giant vases sitting on the island counter. One was full of red roses and the other full of white carnations with a handwritten note from him in front of them.
Welcome home, my love. Soon, you'll be my Queen.
She couldn't help but smile and blush at the note. After taking one last look at the flowers, she headed up the backstairs and went to bed. The next afternoon Shanelle was on a FaceTime call with Nina and her mother. 
“Alright, you two! I trust the two of you to be the main voices of reason while I plan this wedding.”
“You mean while WE plan this wedding.” Shantel corrected her. 
“What she said!” Nina added.
“Yeah yeah. So here's the plan mom, you and I will handle the wedding. Nina, you and the girls get to go crazy on planning the Bachelorette Party and Bridal Shower.”
Nina rubbed her hands together. 
“Oh, yessssss!”
“Nina, don't you have my daughter and the girls doing something crazy.” Shantel warned. 
“Yes, mom,” Nina replied. 
“Now I will handle the catering, flowers, and decorations. Also, what are the colors?” Shantel asked.
“Purple, white, and silver,” Shanelle replies.
“And who's officiating?” Nina asked.
“My dad,” Shanelle replied.
“Awwww! Pop is gonna dust off his preacher suit!” 
Shanelle snorted and Shantel cackled. 
“And what about the venues?” Shantel asked.
“Well, they have to be big enough to host at least 300 people,” Shanelle replies.
“Hmmm…the only place I can think of that can accommodate that many people is St. Francis.” Shantel said. 
Shanelle and Nina groaned. 
“The Catholic Church off 87th?” Shanelle asked.
“Nobody wants to go into that mausoleum!” Nina quipped. 
“No. The Baptist Church off 129th. The presiding Elder’s granddaughter is in my class this year. I'll talk to him and his wife.” Shantel replied. 
The girls let out a sigh of relief.
“Now, what about the venue for the reception?” Shantel asked.
“I want either the Marriott Marquis in Times Square or the Waldorf Astoria Hotel,” Shanelle replies.
“Well, you can rule those two out. Their capacity limits are max 200 people each. The only other place big enough to hold that many people is the Consulate.” Shantel said. 
“Fineeeeeee! I guess I'll just pick the penthouse suite of Marriott Marquis.”
“What are you gonna do with the penthouse suite?” Nina asked.
“It's not what I’m gonna do. It's what I’m gonna do.” Shanelle replies.
Nina snickered and Shantel groaned. 
“Well, that takes care of the venues. As I said, I'll work on catering. Do you know what you want to eat?” Shantel asked.
“Yup! I had a sample menu in Cordonia. I'll text you the menu.” Shanelle replied.
“And what about the cake?” Shantel asked.
“Surprise me,” Shanelle replied.
“Very well. Well since I have all I need to do, I'll let you girls talk. Just remember, we're going dress shopping in LA this weekend.” Shantel said.
“We won't forget. I'll talk to you later.” Shanelle replied.
“Bye, mom!” Nina piped up.
“Bye, girls.” 
“And then there were two!” Nina said after Shantel hung up.
“Exactly. Now, what do you have planned in that head of yours as far as my Bachelorette Party and Bridal Shower are concerned?” Shanelle asked.
“I'm not telling you! It's a surprise!” Nina replies.
“For the record, I am not going to Vegas for my Bachelorette Party!”
“What's wrong with going to Vegas?” Nina asked.
“Besides the fact that Vegas is basic? Nina, I am marrying a man who is to be King. The last thing I want to do is spend my last days as a free woman staring at Fat Elvis impersonators,” Shanelle replies.
“You know you’re a brat right?” Nina asked. 
“Spoiled rotten. And it's all your fault.” Shanelle replied.
“Okay fine. Where would you like to go?” Nina asked. 
“Somewhere that screams, exotic, chaotic, and erotic,” Shanelle replied.
“Once again, you are a brat.” 
“And it's all your damn fault. What's your point?” Shanelle asked.
Nina tapped her fingers in thought. 
“Yeah…I got nothing.”
“You got all that intelligence and beauty and can't think of anywhere else?” Shanelle asked.
“First off, thank you and secondly, you shot down my Vegas idea so no,” Nina replies.
“I gotta do everything my damn self. I have three places in mind.” 
“Okay, what are they?” Nina asked.
“Monaco, Ibiza, and lastly Milan,” Shanelle replied.
“Okay. Maybe you were right. Vegas does sound basic.”
“Thank you.”
Shanelle took a piece of paper, tore it into three pieces, wrote down the names, and then threw them into an empty cup.
“Okay gimme a drum roll.”
Nina gave her a drum roll.
“That's a terrible drum roll.”
“Shut up and pick!”
Shanelle snickered before pulling out a name.
“Pack ya bags and grab ya passport baby! You, me, and the girls are going to Ibiza!” Shanelle announced.
“Looks like Bron will get her Spanish Prince after all.”
The two friends cackled.
“Alright. I'll send out the text and I'll see y'all this weekend.”
“Yup yup.” 
“Uh huh. Uh huh.”
Nina rolled her eyes.
“Bye Princess!”
“Bye bestie!”
If there were two people that Shanelle could always count on it was Nina and her mother. That Friday Shanelle, her mother, Nina, Chut, Robin, and Dee were all on a jet headed to LA. Aly was filming a movie there and Bron was finishing her clinical residency. They all went out to dinner at Spago when they touched down. 
The next day the girls were visiting a custom bridal shop on Rodeo drive. 
“Shantel!” the shop owner called to Shanelle’s mother.
“Hello, Ingrid! It's been far too long.” Shantel said in greeting. 
“Indeed it has my dear. I was so happy when you reached out about needing dresses for both of your daughters.”
The girls looked at each other.
“Daughters?” Shanelle asked.
Shantel smiled and took her and Bronwyn by the hand. 
“This is my oldest daughter Shanelle and my youngest daughter Bronwyn. Ingrid, I want you to spare no expense and make sure both look stunning at their weddings.” 
Ingrid nodded.
“Of course! Of course! I will make sure your daughters look like Princesses. After all, they will be wearing Ingrid Kozlov originals. Now let me gather a few things and we'll get started.” Ingrid replied before going into the back of her shop.
The girls all looked at Shantel completely stunned.
“Mom?” Shanelle asked.
“Yes?” Shantel replies.
“You're buying my dress?” Bron asked Shantel.
Shantel gave her a motherly smile.
“Yes. A mother always buys her daughter’s wedding dress. So when and if you have a daughter, you can buy her wedding dress. Besides, it's the least I can do for the beautiful smart young woman who is marrying one of the two boys that always ran through my house.” 
Bron looked at her with tears in her eyes.
“But…”
Shantel took Bronwyn’s hands in her own.
“I can not replace your mother. I would never even try. But that doesn't mean I can't treat you like you are my daughter.” 
“You don't have to do this, Mrs. Miller.”
“My students call me Mrs. Miller. You call me Mom. Got it?” she asked.
Bronwyn nodded tearily.
“Yes ma'am,” she replied. 
“Mom.” Shantel corrected her.
“Yes, mom,” Bronwyn said. 
“Good. Now you girls have dresses to get fitted for.” Shantel said as Ingrid returned. 
“Now to my brides and mom, step this way and I'll get your measurements. The rest of you ladies, please feel free to browse around. My shop is open to you.” Ingrid said to everyone. 
The girls spent the rest of the day browsing around the bridal shop. When they left Shanelle and Bronwyn had their custom-made wedding dresses as well as their bridesmaids' dresses ordered. Later that evening, while Shantel was at her spa appointment, the girls were lounging around the pool at the Cordonian Consulate in LA.
“I'm still trying to process this. Shanelle, your mom bought my wedding dress. Lo and I don't even have a date set.” Bronwyn said.
“Yup. She did. And think of this as one thing crossed off your list of things to do.”
“Did you know?” Bron asked.
“Nope. Otherwise, I would've warned you.” Shanelle replies.
“I love her. She didn't have to do it.”
“I've been trying to tell you for months that she loves you but you wouldn't listen.”
“I'm sorry I didn't listen. I should have.”
The girls laughed. 
“Shan, I can't believe your mom knows Ingrid Kozlov. She's one of the best in the fashion business.” Aly said.
“I mean to be fair this is the same woman who used to fuss at us whenever we went through her jewelry,” Dee added.  
“Well, that's only because we never put it back correctly.” Nina quipped. 
The girls laughed as a staff member came out with a box in his hands.
“Pardon the interruption, Your Regency, but this was just delivered for you,” he said as he set the box down.
The girls all looked at each other before looking at the box.
“So you gonna open it, Princess?” Nina asked.
“No. I don't know what's in there!” Shanelle replies.
“Maybe it's not that bad,” Robin says.
“Okay well, then you open it.”
“It's not addressed to any of us Nelle. So open it.” Chut quipped.
Shanelle looked uneasily at the box before gingerly lifting the lid with her eyes closed. 
“We're still alive right?” Shanelle asked.
“Yeah, we're still alive,” Nina replies.
“Good, that means this wasn't a bomb.” 
“Yeah, yeah whatever. Now, hurry up and look inside so the rest of us can open our eyes.” 
Shanelle looked inside and when she did her jaw dropped.
“OH. MY. GOD!” Shanelle exclaimed. 
The girls quickly opened their eyes. 
“What is it?” Rob asked.
Rather than answer Shanelle reached into the box and pulled out a surprise.
“WHAT?!” Rob and Dee said in unison.
“No way!” Bron said in shock.
“Oh my!” Aly said.
“Wow!” the cousins said together. 
“It's a tiara,” Shanelle said in shock.
The girls stared at the tiara sitting on a pillow in Shanelle’s hands.
“Are those real diamonds?” Nina asked.
Shanelle numbly nodded her head yes. Robin looked in the box and pulled out a card.
“I think this is yours too, babe,” Robin said holding the card. 
Shanelle gingerly set the tiara down and took the card from Robin before reading it out loud. 
“This is the first of many. My Queen. I love you.” 
Shanelle covered her mouth with a hand. When she looked up at her girls there were tears in her eyes.
“Marquise for the win!” Dee said.
Shanelle slowly sat down and broke down into tears.
“Awww babe! Don't cry.” Nina said as she wrapped her arms around her.
She knew the girls were there and they were super supportive but all she could hear was her heartbeat. She couldn't believe he would send her a tiara. But he did and she was just overwhelmed. She took a deep breath and dried her eyes.
“Thank you, babies. I appreciate it. I just…I just got a bit overwhelmed.” she said to her girls. 
“We get it. You're getting married to a man who's about to be a King. And it's a lot. But I promise you we will send you off right and we'll always be there.” Robin said to her. 
Shanelle laid her head on Robin’s shoulder. This is why she was thankful to have her girls. They have her back and she has theirs.
“She's right, you know,” Shantel said as she stepped outside. “They'll always be there for you. And so will I butterfly.”
Shanelle smiled at her mother. 
“Thank you, Mommy.” 
Shanelle was thankful for her tribe.
“Now I don’t know about you girls but I do believe we have a Bridal shower to get ready for.” her mother announced.
“Yay!” Shanelle cheered.
“Quiet girl! You don't get a say. This is between me and the girls.” Shantel said to her.
Shanelle pouted and Shantel rolled her eyes.
“Oh, girl bye! That face stopped working on me when you turned 7.” 
Shanelle made a face as the girls cackled. 
“Poor Princess. Shut down by THE Queen.” Nina teased.
Shanelle sucked her teeth.
The next day Shanelle, her girls, and her mother were celebrating her Bridal Shower. Her mother had rented out the South Coast Botanical Gardens for the occasion. Shanelle felt nothing but love from her crew and her mother. There was food, presents, and giggles. Lots of giggles. Even a few groans.
“What is this?” Shantel asked as she dangled a flogger. “And what are you supposed to do with it?”
The girls just looked at Shantel.
“…mom?” Shanelle asked. 
“Yes, my dear?” Shantel replied.
“Stop dangling the flogger, please.” 
Shantel smirked before swinging the flogger.
“Why? Is there a reason why I should stop swinging this?” Shantel asked.
“Because it's creating a mental scar none of us need. Least of all me.” Shanelle replies.
“But I like swinging this thing. It's a whole lot of fun!” 
“MOM STOP SWINGING THE DAMN FLOGGER PLEASE! THANK YOU!” Nina said.
Shantel cackled.
“You girls are no fun.”
The girls looked squeamishly at Shantel who was still laughing. 
“I want it put on the record, your mama is mean!” Robin says.
“Duly noted.” 
Shantel rolled her eyes with a smirk.
“But I do hope you girls have had a great time.”
“We have!” the girls replied.
“Good. That was the plan. And Bronwyn.”
“Yes, mom?” Bron replied.
“I can't wait to hear about how beautiful you'll look in your dress.” 
Bron got up and hugged Shantel.
“Thanks again, mom.”
“Always honey. You girls are family to my daughter. Which means you’re family to me too.”
“Since we're family mom…can I get some brownies?” Dee asked.
“When you come back from Ibiza,” Shantel replies.
“Thank you!” Dee squealed.
“What about us?” Chut asked.
Shantel shook her head.
“Get your orders in.”
The girls clamored at once.
“One at a time!” Shantel told the girls.
“Logan would cry if I didn't ask for your jerk chicken,” Bron said to her.
“I would love a strawberry cheesecake,”  Chut said.
“Your lasagna rolls,” Aly said.
“Curry Chicken!” Robin said.
“Curry Fish with Green stew!” Nina said.
Shantel died laughing.
“Nina, you and your brother are the green stew eatingnest people I know.”
Nina shrugged.
“It's your fault that I love it so much.”
“Fair enough. Okay, girls. When you all get back from Ibiza, we'll have a big family meal before the wedding with all of your favorites.”
The girls cheered. 
“Thanks, mom!” they answered. 
Shantel smiled at the girls.
“My pleasure. Now let's finish up because we all have flights to catch tomorrow.”
The next week went by in a blur. Before Shanelle knew it, she and the girls were off to Ibiza for a weekend of Bachelorette debauchery. They couldn't wait to touch down in Spain that Thursday. Marquise had put them up at a high-rise condo that had a rooftop pool and bar. With a 360° view to die for. The girls were gonna live it up that weekend.
“Take it all in, ladies! Because this weekend we will conquer Ibiza!” Shanelle said as she toasted her bridal party.
“Hell yeah!” the girls replied.
“Operation: Babes, Bodies, Bachelorette Party is in full effect!” Nina announced.
“And who knows? Maybe we'll find Bron’s Spanish Prince while we're here.” Rob teased.
“Whatever! Can we drink now?” Bron asked.
Shanelle popped a cork. 
“Drink up girls! We have an island to conquer!”
The girls cheered before downing their wine and going out to a local club. They spent the night dancing, laughing, club hopping, and winning three wet t-shirt contests thanks to Nina. 
The next morning, Shanelle came stumbling out of her room into the common area, hungover with a giant migraine. She took a seat at the bar in the kitchen and was soon joined by her crew. Who were also hungover as hell.
“Dude! What did we do last night?” Dee asked massaging her temples.
“Ask me that question when I have the mental capacity. Because right now, I ain't got it,” Nina replies.
“Ugh!” the girls groaned collectively.
Shanelle laid her head down on the counter with a loud thud.
“The room is spinning,” she whined.
“Princess, what's in that pitcher in front of you?” Robin asked.
Shanelle looked up to see a pitcher and a note.
“Hair of the dog,” Shanelle said as she read the note. 
The girls groaned again.
“Anything but THAT!” Aly whined.
Shanelle poured herself a small glass.
“You're not actually gonna drink that are you?” Chut asked Shanelle.
“It's either drink it or we look like shit for the rest of the day,” Shanelle replies. 
Shanelle shook her head and squared her shoulders. 
“Down the hatch as they say,” Shanelle said before she pinched her nose and downed the drink in one gulp. The girls squirmed as they watched. When Shanelle set the glass down she started to seriously question her life choices.
“Well, how bad was it?” Bron asked.
“Terrible. But it's working. My head isn't splitting like it was when I hobbled my ass outta my room.” Shanelle replied.
The girls looked at the pitcher suspiciously.
“Maybe it won't be so bad?” Robin asked.
“Speak for yourself!” Nina replies.
“Maybe Rob has a point? I mean what else do we have to lose?” Dee asked.
“Our dignity maybe?” Nina replies.
“I thought we did that last night?” Shanelle asked.
The girls laughed.
“Okay fine. But I’m not trying it first!” Nina replies.
“I'll try it,” Bron said.
“My baby for the win!” Shanelle cheered.
“Don’t cheer for me! Because if this shit tears up my stomach I'm fucking you up! Princess or not.” Bron replies.
“Duly noted.”
Bron chugged her glass back and made a face when she was done.
“Who the hell thought this was a good idea?” Bron asked.
“Not I, said the spider to the fly,” Shanelle replies.
“Nope. I'm not drinking it!” Nina protested. 
“Shut up and chug Keane!” Shanelle said to Nina.
Nina rolled her eyes as she poured herself a glass. The rest of the girls followed suit.
“Bottoms up,” Shanelle told the girls. 
She watched as they drank and looked disgusted afterward.
“Instant regret!” Nina said. 
“Never. Again.” Robin said as she put her glass down.
“That shit is nasty!” Chut quipped.
“It tasted like death warmed over!” Aly said.
“That should be illegal!” Dee added.
“Should be but ain't. How y'all feeling?” Shanelle asked.
“Starting to feel better for the most part,” Nina replies.
The girls nodded their heads yes. 
“Good. Now I can ask the question, Nina, what happened to the guy you brought back with you?” Shanelle asked.
Before Nina could answer, each of the girl's bedroom doors opened, and out walked SEVERAL half-naked men. The girl's jaws dropped. 
“I'm gonna ask again, what the hell did we do last night?” Dee asked.
The girls burst out laughing. They spent the rest of that Friday hanging around the rooftop pool. The next day was a big day. It was Shanelle’s Bachelorette Party. The girls got dressed and went out to an amazing restaurant to celebrate Shanelle’s final days as a free unmarried woman.
“Here's to my beautiful, smart, amazing, incredible, bestest best friend ever. You, me, and Chut have been together since kindergarten. Then we met Dee in the 6th grade. And Aly in 8th. And of course the last two of our crew. But you and I have had each other’s backs for years. And we always will. You have fought for me. You have fought over me. You have protected me. You have defended me. And I am so happy for you. I am happy that you found your literal Prince. You found your happily ever after. I can't wait to see you in your wedding gown. I can't wait to celebrate your marriage. I can't wait to celebrate you becoming a Queen. Here's to you bestie.”  Nina said in her toast to Shanelle.
Nina was right. Nina and Shanelle have been through it all together and have remained at each other's side. 
“I love you, baby. So goddamn much. I would not be where I am in life without you by my side. Without all of you really. I rely on all of you so much. You are my rocks. My loves. My best friends. My sisters. My everything. I could never do what I do without any of you. I love you girls so much. Each of you deserves true love and unbridled happiness. That is my hope, my wish, and my prayer for each of you.” Shanellw said with tears in her eyes.
“We love you!” the girls said to her.
Shanelle dried her eyes as their food was delivered to the table. They had a full spread delivered to them.
“Now THIS is how you spend your last days! Damn good alcohol! Damn, good friends! And damn good food!”
The girls dug into their food and alcohol. As they ate, a small gift box was delivered to Shanelle with a note attached.
“What's in the box?” Dee asked.
Shanelle shrugged.
“Open it.” Aly piped up.
Shanelle unwrapped the box and looked inside before dying of laughter.
“What? What's so funny?” Rob asked.
Shanelle reached in and pulled out a box of condoms and a note. The girls died laughing.
“What the hell? Who would send you a box of condoms?” Robin asked while laughing. 
Shanelle just shook her head.
“What's the note say?” Bron asked.
“There's a surprise waiting for you at the penthouse.” Shanelle read out loud.
“Ooh!” the girls said in unison.
Shanelle rolled her eyes.
“So what are you gonna do, Princess? Are you going to see what this surprise is or are you going clubbing with us?” Nina asked.
Shanelle sat and thought for a few, looking between the box of condoms and her friends then made her decision.
“Y’all go ahead and go party. I'm gonna take these and see what this so-called surprise is,” she said to her crew.
“Okay,” Nina replied.
“And no more than two random guys per person. I won't be able to explain any number higher than that to people.” Shanelle said to the girls.
The girls laughed before finishing their food and going their separate ways. When Shanelle got back to the condo it was quiet. And after looking around and not seeing anything she headed up to the rooftop pool. 
That's when she saw the last person she'd ever expect to see sitting at the bar. Her ex.
“What in the hell are you doing here Cass?” she asked.
“Enjoying a drink and the view. How did you score a place like this anyway?” he replies.
Shanelle sat at the bar next to him. 
“How did you get in here?” she asked.
Cassian reached into his pocket and pulled out a keycard that was identical to hers. 
“This and directions to this place were mailed to me last week. Then I got assigned to a prisoner transport team here,” he replied before pouring himself another drink.
“A prisoner transport? The Marshals don't do prisoner transports.” 
“I know. But apparently, I came highly recommended so here I am.” he said as he finished his drink, “damn this bourbon is good. What's the name of this brand?”
“La Couronne Du Roi,” Shanelle replies.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“It's French. It means The King’s Crown,” she replies.
“How do you know?” he asked.
“Because I've had it before,” she replied.
Cass rolled his eyes.
“Of course, the Princess has had this before. The Princess has had everything before.”
“Shut up before I take that bottle and crack it over your head.” she sneered. 
“Threatening a Federal Agent is against the inst law Princess.”
“It would be if we were back in America. But we're not. You are however a Federal Agent in a foreign country where you have no jurisdiction, jackass.”
“I have never been able to figure out how you do that.”
“Do what?” she asks.
“Always get away with it,” he replies.
“I've always been the smart one between the two of us.”
Cass rolled his eyes.
“Whatever,” he said before pouring another drink.
“Poor Golden Boy. You never did like hearing the truth.” 
“What makes you think you’re smarter than me?” he asks.
“Well for starters, I've never been arrested for breaking into our principal’s home. Nor have I ever failed World Studies 3 years in a row,” she replied.
“First of all, I got arrested because of you! It was your idea!”
“It was a suggestion you idiot! But you and your hero complex took it too far. You’re lucky she never pressed charges.” 
“And secondly, it's not my fault that Mr. Griswald’s voice puts people to sleep!” 
“Funny how you were the only student that went to sleep in his class. The rest of us seemed just fine.”
Cass let out a frustrated sigh.
“Why are you so infuriating?” he asked.
“Is it the fact that I’m infuriating or is it the fact that I’m the only person in the world that has ever held you accountable for your own actions because everyone else lets you slide because of those green eyes?” she replied.
Cass went quiet as Shanelle propped her chin on her left hand with a smugly satisfying smirk.
“Well, Hotshot. You gonna answer the question or not?” she asked.
Cass mean mugged her.
“I don't like you.” he sneered.
 She leaned in closer.
“You're right. You don't like me, you love me,” she said as she snatched the bottle of bourbon away from him.
“Hey! I wasn't finished with that!”
“Yes, you are. You’re not about to drink up all my alcohol boy.” 
“Give it back!”
“No.”
“Shanelle, do not make me chase you over a bottle.” 
“You couldn't catch me even if you wanted to.”
“Is that a challenge Princess?” he asked.
A slow smirk bloomed across her face.
“I don’t know Hotshot, you tell me,” she replied.
Cass shook his head.
“Stubborn brat.”
Shanelle scoffed. 
“Pot. Kettle.”
And with that, the chase was on.
The two ran around the poolside area, with her evading him at every chance she got. It was just like old times when they were kids. He’d run after her on the blacktop until they were both out of breath and laughing. Like now. 
“You give up yet?” she asked him.
“Never,” he replied, trying to catch his breath.
“You alright over there? You look a little outta breath kiddo.” 
“I'm fine! Or at least I will be once I catch you.”
Off they went again. Running around the pool area again. They missed this. They missed the friendship between them. They ran around until they no longer could.
“Now do you give up?” she asked.
“You know what? Fine! Keep your stupid bottle.” he replied completely out of breath.
“Poor Golden Boy. He can catch America’s most dangerous but can't catch little ole me.”
Cass glared at her.
“How are you not out of breath?” he asked. 
“Well, for one thing, I ran track for 10 years. Secondly, because I ran track I know how to breathe while I run. And third, you can't run correctly because of your chicken legs.” she replied.
Cass groaned. 
“You just had to get that dig in.”
Shanelle shrugged innocently.
“You know me.”
“All too damn well.”
She shook her head before tossing him the bottle.
“Took you long enough,” he said to her. 
“Had to make you work for it.”
Cass took the top off the bottle and knocked it back.
“Tell your boyfriend to send me a bottle of this.”
“Get a pair of balls and ask him yourself.”
“I have balls!”
“And yet his are bigger than yours.”
“Careful Princess. I do have a pair of cuffs on me,” he warned her. 
“Look at you trying to be kinky. And failing miserably.”
“I know you're into all that weird shit.”
Shanelle rolled her eyes.
“If you’re scared, Golden Boy just say so.”
“I'm not scared. I'm Casssian Keane. I can do anything.”
“Except keep up with me.”
“I can keep with you.”
“You always were a terrible liar,” she said before turning to head back inside. He chased after her.
“Where you going Princess?” he asked.
She tossed him the box of condoms.
“Had to grab those,” she replied.
0 notes
shurisneakers · 3 years
Text
harmless (ix)
Summary: Bucky volunteers to go stop a small time villain, but nothing can prepare him for what exactly he has to deal with. (Bucky x villain!reader, drabble series)
Warnings: cursing, sex jokes, frustrated bucky, dramatic reader, anxiety
Word count: 3.9k
A/N: a lot of requests came in last week, so cool and thank you for sending them in!! i’ll try my best to write them if they weren’t originally what i had planned for this series bc they’re so cute kfjdghdf. also hey shoutout to @i-reblog-fics-i-like​ for suggesting the backstory thing! 
here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333
Additional Scene   || Previous Part  || Series Masterlist
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Hot single in your area! 😈  Find your solemate! 
Somehow it bypasses Bucky’s spam folder and is in his primary email. SHIELD tech is too advanced to let fake mails like this reach him and this doesn’t make sense. Unless it was one of the stupid dating websites he signed up for.
Leaving aside the obvious typo in the subject, he clicks on it, hoping it doesn’t unleash a virus onto his computer. 
He’s instead greeted with a poorly Photoshopped picture of you at a bar with a martini in your hand. He doesn’t have to look too hard to see that the martini is, in fact, an emoji. Off to a terrible start already. 
Right beside it is an even worse image, an imitation of an early Internet chat box.
Harbinger of Doom just sent you a message! 
Come to the empty lot near lair. Bring goggles. 😩💦
Decline/Accept
He wants to strangle you. 
______
“Why did you curse my eyes so early in the morning?” He spots you at the top of the lair, speaking loudly so that it hopefully reached you. 
“What?” you yell back down instead. “If you’re saying something, I can’t hear you.”
He rolls his eyes. He pulls his phone from his pocket and presses on your contact. 
He watches the look of confusion morph into one of slight surprise when you reach into your pocket and pull out your call.
“Don’t ever send an image like that to me again,” he says directly.
“If that one image is too much for you, how will we ever make our sex tape?”
His mouth opens and shuts like goddamn fish.
He can hear your laughter even without the phone.
“First of all- stop laughing- first of all, a sex tape is never going to happen. Second of all, I have a debriefing to go to, we need to make this quick.”
He holds up a finger when he sees you begin to say something. By the look of trouble painted all over your face, he knows it’s going to be a dumb innuendo. 
“Thirdly, why are you standing there?”
“I watched The Last Airbender,” you say once your cackling dies down.
“I like that show.” He did. Peter sometimes watched it when he came over and Bucky more often than not joined in.
“I know, you told me.”
Oh. 
“Okay, what now?” 
“Put your goggles on.” You take one step towards the ledge. 
“What are you doing?” The goggles don’t do anything to shield him from the sun, considering that they’re not tinted. Maybe he could invest in those.
You send him a smile, taking a step further. His walk towards the building turns into a jog, then a sprint when you’re basically standing on the edge.
You spread your arms out like Jesus Christ himself before flinging yourself off the building. His stomach drops.
His phone falls to the ground, discarded to the side as he sprints to break your landing. 
It never comes. 
Instead, a gust of wind smacks him in the face, forcing him a few steps backwards. 
“I am now an air bender.” your eyes shone. “Kind of.”
Just like that, the show was ruined.
He wipes the dust on from his glasses that he now understands why you made him wear. Considerate, for a person who nearly just gave him a heart attack. 
“Why.” It’s not even a question, just a statement. 
“You know how the Tower has a giant ‘A’ on the side?” 
He stares at you. 
“I‘m gonna spray paint ‘asshole’ on the side of it.”
Pepper would not like that. 
“That’s not even evil.”
“Yeah, but it’d annoy your super friends,” You do a flip midair, testing out the repulsors that were tied around your palms, “and I’m the voice of the people.”
You’re too high for him to reach. He doesn’t have his tools, or anything useful on him considering that he never had to use them before. He couldn’t even launch himself at you from the side of the building because you’d just move out of the way. He could jump really high but it would just have the same consequence.
He could talk and keep you distracted but that worked once, it wouldn’t again. At least not for long. 
Fuck, he really had only one option. 
He leaves you to do your somersaults and turns, walking over to where he dropped his phone. It’s an upgrade from the brick he was using a while ago, but not a high end Stark model. A smartphone, but barely.
He sighs, punching in the number and holding it up to his ear.
“Who are you calling?” you yell from above him. 
“Go back to your shitty aerobics,” he yells back.
You pause for a second. “Was that a fucking pun, James Bar-”
The dial tone ends when someone picks up. He diverts his attention back to the call.
“Hey man, I-
“No.”
“You didn’t even let me finish.”
“It’s probably something stupid,” Sam doesn’t even sound annoyed, just uninterested.
“I need your wings.”
“I was right. Bye.”
It was a long shot anyway.
“Fuckin’ hold on a second.” He sees you disintegrate a concrete block by having it drop from the air. “You come here and fix this, then. She’s air bending now.”
“...like Avatar?” Sam unsurprisingly got the reference. 
Peter’s interests were usually shared by everyone in the Tower, just because they had to compensate for the teasing he had to endure. It led to a lot of geeky documentaries and occasional musicals. Bucky wouldn’t be caught dead humming songs from Thoroughly Modern Millie under his breath. 
“Yeah.”
“You want me to come and fight your girlfriend,” he says slowly. 
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Bucky urges, “and yes, I need help. Can’t exactly reach her when she’s twenty feet above me.”
“We have a briefing in 30 minutes. Why did you even go there today?”
He doesn’t know how to answer that. Just looks up at you smacking one of the repulsors against your thigh when it sputters for a second. It’s tradition. 
“Well?” Bucky ignores his question.
“Fine,” Sam’s voice is distant for a second as he agrees. “Clint’s asking if he can come too.”
“Fuck no.” One of them was more than enough and Sam was way better at negotiation. 
He hears a faint profanity from who he assumed was Clint before the call cuts.
He takes a seat on the ground and waits.
“You’re not going to make any effort to stop me?” You have your arms pressed to your side, palms pointed downwards to keep you afloat.
 “I could just throw things at you again.” He makes a mention towards the small pebbles.
“I will fuck you up if you even try,” you warn. He lifts his arms in surrender. “So that’s it. You’re just going to sit there.”
“To be honest, I couldn’t care less if you painted the building,” he says with the least amount of interest he could muster, not that that was very hard.
“Do you not like your team?” 
“I do.” He isn’t lying. “But they’re little shits.”
“I can draw a couple of dicks on their window, no problem,” you say offhandedly.
He looks up at you through his fingers. “That won’t be required.”
Although it was appreciated. 
“Cool, so then I’m gonna go.” You make a mention of the utility belt on your waist. He looks at the many spray cans that decorate it. 
“What colour are you going with?” he interrupts quickly. Fuckin’ Sam. What was the point of wings if he couldn’t get here in 2 minutes?
“Red, probably.” You look down. “I got purple and white just in case.”
“Building’s dark, red is good.”
“You really don’t care, do you?” You lower yourself down to the ground, a few feet ahead of him. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” For fucks’ sake, Sam. “You really don’t like superheroes, do you?”
“I don’t have anything against them.”
“Then why do you do this every week?”
This was wading into personal territory and he did not like it. 
“Well.” Your eyebrows knit together. “Because I want to. It’s fun.”
“No other reason?”
“Do I need to have another reason?” You push your palm downwards, sending you back up into the air. “Can’t I just be evil because I want to?”
“Sure,” he says. He’s heard worse reasons. “Why not?”
“Besides, if you think I don’t like superheroes then you should meet Jake.”
“Who’s Jake?” He hadn’t ever heard you mention him before because he’d remember if you had.
“My roommate.” 
“I didn’t see him when I came over.”
“That’s because we’re not conjoined at the hip.” It takes you a second to stabilise. “Besides, he grabbed the water while I got the bracelet but he refused to come say hi.”
Bucky looked down at his wrist. It was still there. He found himself fidgeting with it more often than not.
“He hates superheroes?”
“He has a valid reason.” Your eyes widen in worry when your head suddenly dips. 
“What is it?” He knows the height at which you’re at isn’t very dangerous but if need be, he’s close by. 
“Come find out.” Your eyes shone mischievously. “But yeah, no reason for me to be evil.”
“Not even a tragic backstory?” 
“None. But if you want it, I can give you one, Barnes.” You test the waters, seeing how long you can lie horizontally. “Can’t promise you’ll like it though.”
“Try me.” He has time to kill. He’s a good listener.
“Well, it all started with my family- a troop of gorillas.” You flip over to lie on your back. “They practically raised me, they did. Until my gorilla mother died and I was all but consumed by grief and-”
“Your mother was a gorilla?” He entertains the notion. 
“Or was it my father?” you ask thoughtfully. “I don’t know, I don’t remember. Anyway, I met a-”
“Just to clarify, none of this is real, right?” he interjects. 
You stare at him. He stares at you.
“Bucky, that’s the plot of Tarzan,” you say slowly, “or at least whatever I remember of it... which I’m beginning to realise isn’t much.”
“Just clarifying.” He leans back again.
“Anyway so then when my mother, the deer-”
“Gorilla.”
“Whatever. Was killed, I escaped to some place-”
“Where?”
“Somewhere. And I stayed with these seven men-”
“Why seven?” He actually remembers watching this movie with his sister when it came out. An early memory, a bit faded. He remembers how long he saved up for the ticket.
“Because character development. And then I realised the reason my life was so weird was because there was a rat controlling me by pulling on my hair-”
“What the fuc-”
“If you ask any more questions, I’m going to stop.”
Bucky blinks at you. “So that’s your backstory.” 
“Raw and uncut, baby.”
“Just to get this straight, your mother, the gorilla deer-”
“Witch.”
“Huh?”
“She was a witch who stole my hair.”
“Wha-”
He’s interrupted by the giant shadow cast by something that flies overhead. 
Fucking finally. 
He doesn’t even have to look up. Sam does a small glide to the ground, landing gracefully beside him.
Bucky finds you speechless but straightened up from your earlier posture.
“Buck,” Sam greets him.
“Sam,” he says in return, getting up from his place. 
A grin spreads across your face. “Mr. Sam Wilson. No way.”
“You’re Y/N, I’m assuming?” Sam offers, posture relaxed. He clearly wasn’t here to fight. 
“The one and only.” You tear your eyes away from Sam to glare at Bucky. “Barnes, if you had told me we were expecting guests, I would have dressed better.”
Bucky furrows his eyebrows in suspicion at you. You’d dress up for Sam. 
You dressed up like a suburban tourist dad for him. He was feeling the offence incoming. 
“Can’t count on him to be useful in any situation.” Alright, he did not call Sam just to have the both of you team up against him. 
“Normally I’d agree with you but he did just invite you here, so...” you trail off, looking at Sam expectantly. 
What the shit.
Sam smirks. Bucky switches rapidly back and forth between the both of you.
“I see why Buck keeps coming back every week.” It doesn’t take long for him to catch on, enlisting a feeling of triumph from you. 
“I can’t see why he doesn’t just stay at home everyday if this is the view.” You gesture to him.
This is not what Bucky wanted.
“Okay,” Bucky interrupts, “what is going on here?”
“Pure chemistry, I’d say.” You’re half tempted to bite your lip to seal the deal.
“I agree.” Sam just nods, completely and utterly serious. 
You think that you’ll give him a gift basket just for playing along despite meeting you for the first time at that moment. 
“Get a room.” Bucky rolls his eyes.
“Maybe we will.” You tap your finger against your lip in thought. “How do you feel about Indian food, Sam?”
“Very positively.” 
Bucky grits his teeth. “If you’re not planning to spray paint the Tower, can you just hand over the repulsers so we can go home for the day?”
You let out a small tsk in disapproval. “See what I have to deal with?”
“Can’t imagine how you do it every weekend,” Sam says dryly, not wasting a second in replying. 
“Hello?” Bucky waves his arm around. “She’s the villain here.”
“Your face is the villain here.” You tear your eyes away from Sam only to glare at him. “He won’t even wear a cape. Why am I the only one who brings their A-Game every week?”
“Sam just get the damn-”
“You should wear a cape, man.” Bucky’s absolutely sure that even Sam knows it’s a ridiculous idea.
“I’m not wearing a fuckin’ cape,” he grumbles. 
“What are your thoughts on swords, then?” Your finger finds a place under your chin in deep contemplation. “You’d look great with a sword.”
Bucky buries his face in his palms. “Sam, for the love of God.” 
“Okay, alright.” Sam finally gives in with a small chuckle. He runs a few steps to get a small head start before launching himself into the air, whizzing past your levitating figure. He does a neat little flip midair before matching your height.
Showoff.
“How difficult are you gonna make this, Wilson?” you ask, a smirk on your face.
“Jesus Christ.” Bucky exhales, looking at the both of you through his goggles. 
“What’s your play here?” Sam calls out loudly.
“Was gonna spray paint ‘asshole’ on the side of the Tower.”
“After the ‘A’?”
“After the ‘A’,” you confirm. 
“Now that’s too small,” Sam tutted. “You gotta think bigger. Paint the whole Tower.” 
“Sam!” Bucky looks horrified. 
“Hmm.” You look like you’re considering it. “Don’t have enough paint for that though.”
“You’re an evil genius, right?” Sam casts a small glance at Bucky. “At least that’s what he tells me.”
“You talk about me?” You grin at the disgruntled man on the ground. 
“I don’t,” he mutters, shaking his head. A lie.
“Yeah, so build something,” Sam points out. “Get some more paint. I’ll even tell you the best vantage points to spill it.”
“No, he won’t,” Bucky shouts from below. 
“He’s just cranky because he didn’t get his prune juice this morning, ignore him,” Sam dismisses him.
Prune juice? He was a young 100, not ancient. 
“What’s your favourite colour, Falcon?”
“I like red.”
As annoyed as Bucky is right now, he stores that away in his memory for later. He also knows Sam loves seafood and a good pair of shoes. 
“A couple of gallons of red paint it is, then.” You lower yourself to the ground, Sam slowly follows suit until he lands beside Bucky.
“You know we can’t let you go without taking those, right?” Bucky tilts his head towards your invention.
You narrow your eyes at him. He doesn’t budge.
“I’ll tell ya what,” Sam pipes in instead. “I’ll keep them until you finish getting the paint and once you’re done, we’ll make an evening out of vandalising the Tower.” 
Bucky may not enjoy his company all that much but he admires Sam’s diplomacy. Of course, you would never make it this easy while reasoning with him.
“That a promise, Mr. Wilson?” You raise your eyebrow at him questioningly but are already in the process of removing the things from your hand. 
“Wouldn’t ever lie to you, doll.” He holds up his hand in a mock swear.
You walk towards Bucky and him, rotating your wrists to get rid of the soreness. “Bold claim for a man who met me ten minutes ago.”
“Feels like it’s been longer.” He sends you a wink and you can’t stop the laugh the escapes from you finally. 
Bucky holds his hand out for the gadgets. You shrink away from him with a click of your tongue.
“Technically, he takes this round.” You send a nod towards Sam, dropping off the repulsors into his hand. “So he gets it.”
Bucky rolls his eyes.
“You gonna keep ‘em safe?” you ask Sam, this time a little more earnestly. 
“Guard it with my life,” he says seriously, pressing his lips together in a line to avoid smiling. 
“You’re both ridiculous,” Bucky cuts in.
“You’re going to be late.” Sam tucks the devices into his pocket safely. “You know how Steve gets when people walk in on his speeches. Do you even have a ride?”
“Got the motorcycle.” 
“See you there.” Sam nods. 
“Save me a place,” Bucky says to him.
“No.” He doesn’t even hesitate. “Y/N. It was a pleasure.”
“Still holding you to that evening, Sam.” You send him a smile.
“I’m countin’ on it.” He gives you a small three finger salute before taking off, leaving you staring after his retracting figure. 
When the dust settles, Bucky awkwardly clears his throat. “Right. So that was that.”
“Dude,” you let out an exhale. “he’s so hot.”
He murmurs something unintelligible. It vaguely sounds like a series of threats but mostly a list of complaints.
“Don’t you have a meeting to get to?” You turn your attention back to him.
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t you going to be late?” You glance at the clock on your phone.
“I’ll just tell them I was on a mission.” Well, sort of. “Besides, what are they gonna do? Kick me out?”
“Fair enough.” You shrug. “Have a safe ride back.”
From what he knows of you and Sam, the both of you were kidding around. But he could never be too sure. He can’t even ask if you were serious about the entire thing because it’s none of his business. 
Were the implications of having his mortal nemesis and other mortal nemesis date important enough to overrule that? 
“Are you planning to skip your meeting, or?” you ask when he remains freezes in his spot, eyes glazed over like he’s thinking about something. “Because if you are, I know this great Thai place-”
“Don’t do that again,” he says instead, shaking his head to jolt him out of his thoughts. 
“What?”
“Flinging yourself off roofs like that.”
“Why?” Because it scared the hell out of him, for one.
“Just don’t.”
“Oh please, like you’ve never done dangerous shit like that before.” You narrow your eyes at him, reading his face. “Are you telling me you care about me?”
“No.” His nose twitches. “Just don’t throw yourself off buildings when I’m around.”
“What about when you’re not?”
“As long as I’m not there to witness it.” He shrugs, spinning on his heel to leave. Technically he preferred if you didn’t do things like that at all. 
“Fine. I’ll just have my clone try out all the dangerous stuff for me.”
 He stops in his tracks. “You have a clone?”
“Well,” You squint, “no. But I’m working on it.”
He scoffs, shaking his head. “Bye Y/N.”
“You know, it sounds an awful lot like you’re saying we’re friends.” Your whole demeanour changes and he already knows what’s coming.
“I never said that,” he argues vehemently. “All I said was that I can’t have your murder on my hands.”
“Thus implying that we’re friends. In a fucked up, enemies kind of way.” You positively beam at him. “Aw, Barnes, that’s adorable.”
Adorable? Adorable?
“I hate you.”
“I love you, too, bestie,” you gush, dumb grin on your face. “I’ll make us friendship rings next time. What are your thoughts on matching tattoos?”
He wants to cry. 
______
By the time Sam walks into the meeting room, the session’s already begun. He shoots an apologetic look to a monologuing Steve before taking his place at the nearest chair available. 
Something sharp pokes his thigh. His wings are off and in the backpack beside him, but then he remembers your little inventions that were still in his pocket.
He tries not to make much of a noise while he pulls them out, giving them a look over to make sure they’re not broken.
“Watcha got there, Big Bird?” Tony asks lowly from beside him.
“Something that Barnes’ enemy made.” Sam holds it up slightly. 
“The one he’s been rendezvousing around town with every weekend?” 
“That’s her.” He’s about to put it in his backpack when Tony stops him.
“Pass that here for a second.” He recognises it immediately for what it is, interest piqued. 
Sam hands one of them over while he puts the other back in the bag. It’s a metallic circle, not bigger than Tony’s palm, with a thick leather strap to tie it around your palm.
“She made this?” 
“Why don’t you ask him?” Sam mentions towards Bucky who silently slips into the conference room, standing in the corner near the potted plant since there were no more chairs left.
“The balance has gotta be off on this thing,” he mutters to himself, wholly ignoring the brooding man standing in the corner like a Christmas tree.
“She seemed to be manoeuvring it fine,” Sam catches the eye of a lower ranking agent who makes the mistake of glaring at him for talking while the meeting was going on. A few seconds later the agent hastily looks away and doesn’t turn around for the rest of the hour. 
“Could be better.” He uses a much more intricate model for his suits, although this isn’t even half-bad for a homemade version. “Do you know how long she took to make this?”
“Buck says she comes up with a new one every week, so I’m guessing that long.” 
It had a few glitches but it was incredibly refined for a week’s worth of work.
“Interesting.” He gives it a quick overlook before handing it back to Sam who drops it into the bag.
He casts a swift glance at Bucky, noting how he wasn’t even paying attention to the meeting but rather to whatever he had tied around his metal wrist, fidgeting with it with his thumb. 
Tony has an idea. 
And that was generally bad news.
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