#my vision is being fucky again too.

[nostalgicfornothingmp4]

.

[aimmyarrowshigh]

What are your thoughts on Kamala taking lead with the Young Avengers?

In the MCU? I like it -- I feel like her fandom of Carol and the Avengers makes it fit to have her go out and try to create a new superhero team of other young heroes, because she would be the one sitting there thinking about it and going, "The Avengers are gone, but the world still has problems. I can't solve them all on my own/learned teamwork with Monica and Carol/can honor Monica by being a hero/love other nerds who love superheroes," you know?

And especially given Secret Invasion, it wouldn't make any sense to have Fury be the one to put together the Young Avengers. Although the timeline with him is fucky because they switched the release dates of The Marvels and Secret Invasion, so whatever.

And in the comics, Kamala was the leader of the Champions, so it totally makes sense that she'd lead the MCU Champions/Young Avengers crossover team (because they're not going to have both, let's be real. There's also so many fucking movies/shows). Billy and Tommy are currently too young AND have THE most confusing backstory in comics, so putting either of them in charge wouldn't make the most sense. Cassie is on the West Coast. Kate is, as she tells Kamala, a bit older, and also Hawkeyes tend to be pretty solitary workers. Skar is... whatever the fuck is going on there that I'm pretending isn't going on over there. Peter is busy trying to eke out a living on his own in this universe, so he's probably both busy AND too traumatized to make new connections this soon. Eli hasn't made his heroic debut yet, although we've seen him. Yelena's a Thunderbolt. Love Thorsdottir is way too young. Phyla-Vel is in space. Toussaint/T'Challa and Morgan are too young. I feel like Kamala's the only one who COULD do it in a reasonable way, you know?

I feel like I'm forgetting someone. RIRI! Riri could do it, but again, she's older in this universe (college) and my insane "the MCU could make sense if they would do [X]" brain keeps insisting that she's going to be MJ's roommate at MIT in Ironheart or SM4. BECAUSE THEY'RE BOTH AT MIT. AND MIT CAN'T BE *THAT* BIG. IT WOULD MAKE SENSE, MARVEL. PLEASE MAKE SENSE.

I want the Young Avengers to be so good that it knocks me on my ass. I want it to be so good that it knocks Trendy MCU Haters on their asses. And I want Kamala to get to have that. Iman is SO wonderful and Kamala is SO great, and I want people to love her the way she deserves, dammit.

Also, if VisionQuest isn't canceled (which, who the fuck knows) -- I want it to be exactly Vision (2015), which is just exactly WandaVision but this time Vision's the one who created a fake family out of heartbroken madness. And I want Viv Vision in the MCU. I love Viv Vision so fucking much.

Also, I want My Blorbo Nadia! It could happen!!! Hank banged a lady named Linda while Janet was boinking Bill Murray in the Quantum Realm, so Hank could TOTALLY have a daughter that was in the Red Room (WHOM NATASHA AND YELENA FREED??? IN BLACK WIDOW??? MY HEART?!!?) and is a science genius who comes to find the Pym/Van Dynes and is just like, "Hello, I am here now, I love you, family!"

I don't know how they can reasonably have Hulkling after the MCU's version of Secret Invasion AND how the MCU Kree are so unilaterally evil. But also, the MCU is homophobic af so they probably won't have Hulkling anyway. >:(

Just... ::exhale:: There are so many fucking threads open within the MCU thOH MY GOD I FORGOT AMERICA CHAVEZ ALSO THERE ARE SO MANY OPEN THREADS AND I'M TRYING TO TIE THEM TOGETHER ON MY RED STRING BOARD AND THEY WON'T TIE TOGETHER, HOLLIE, THEY WON'T TIE TOGETHER.

I just want. The MCU. To be cohesive. And make sense. And close its plotholes in ways that are narratively satisfying. And also, Steve is on the moon.

[x-atlas-x]

"This is all your fault." "I hope so." for the prompt game 🦭❤️

Well, my friend, I hope that this is the angst you were looking for! :) Thank you for the ask <33

Warning: Mentions of death, suicide, and slight hint at self harm. Please don’t read if you aren’t comfortable with those topics.

Yugi wasn’t expecting to return home to his and Atem’s apartment and finding that it was completely trashed.

For a brief moment, he thought someone might’ve broken in and robbed them. He was frozen by the front door, his hand still on the knob in case he needed to turn and run.

His heart sank when he heard sobbing, though, and then he closed the door fully, stepping away when he heard it click into place. He dropped his bag on the floor and didn’t bother changing shoes as he made his way through the living room.

The one responsible for the destruction sat in the middle of the kitchen, knees hugged to his chest and a knife sitting not too far away from him.

Much to Yugi’s relief, it was clean—but that wasn’t enough to soothe the other emotions bubbling up inside of him.

He cleared his throat, “Atem.”

Atem’s head snapped up, eyes wide as they took in the sight of Yugi standing in front of him. He quickly leapt to his feet and gulped, “Yugi, I’m—“

“What? You’re sorry?” Yugi interrupted, his hands balling into fists at his sides. “You always say that, and you know what that means? This is all your fault.”

In a matter of seconds, Atem’s fearful expression morphed into one of pure anger. He rolled his eyes and scoffed, “Gods, I hope so. Maybe it’ll finally give me an excuse to leave this fucking place.”

“Please, don’t do this,” Yugi groaned, trudging over and throwing the knife in the sink. “Not today.”

“Why not today?” Atem leaned into Yugi’s line of vision. “Are you finally getting sick of this? Are you tired of dealing with me?”

“Atem—“

“You are,” Atem forced out a laugh and shook his head as he turned away. “I knew it! I knew everyone would get annoyed with me at some point! But, nobody would listen! Nobody ever fucking listens!”

Yugi wanted to punch himself for saying that, but he was tired—not of Atem, but of work. The work was neverending and he hated coming home to Atem, who was going through so much shit that he didn’t understand. He couldn’t even begin to understand why the Gods would torment his mind in such a way.

Why bring him back if only to let him suffer more?

Yugi was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Atem wandering out of the kitchen. He quickly trailed behind him, worried as to what he might do next.

“I mean, honestly, what’s my reason for being alive? I’m a burden to all of you and I contribute nothing except despair, and sadness, and cause each of you stress,” Atem rambled as he entered their shared bedroom. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come back…”

“Atem, please,” Yugi begged, pausing in the doorway. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that—“

Atem cast a glare at him, “Right then? When were you going to say it, then? You were clearly thinking it, so it was going to slip at one point or another,” He huffed and ripped open one of the drawers to their dresser, “You just didn’t want to hurt my feelings because I’m such a fucking charity case that you have to take care of.”

Yugi didn’t know what to say anymore. What was the right thing? Was there a right thing? What words wouldn’t set Atem off? Was there anything that would calm him down, or fix what he said before?

“I need to end this… I need to put an end to all of this,” Atem said, bordering on the risk of hyperventilating as his breathing grew erratic and unsteady. “I can’t stand this anymore, I can’t fucking stand this! I can’t do it, I can’t do anything right, I’m fucking awful and—and…”

Tears blurred his vision as he watched Atem tear clothes out of their dresser. He was frantic and his lips continued moving, his endless stammering never coming to an end. It became more slurred and practically gibberish as he started crying again.

“I’m useless. I’m a fucking mistake,” Atem choked out. “Why am I alive?” He stopped and looked at Yugi, whispering, “Why am I alive?”

For once, Yugi had no good answer other than: “I don’t know.”

And it hurt both of them, cutting them deeper than any blade ever would.

Yugi’s heart ached as he watched what little bit of hope was drained from him. A flip had been switched and the tears suddenly stopped streaming down his cheeks. Atem blinked rapidly as the last few escaped, but no more came after that.

He glanced around at their bedroom that had been spared from most of his havoc, save the dresser that he had just started on. He swallowed thickly, his gaze drifting to the ground.

Yugi was supposed to be his saving grace; the light that guided him through the darkness that surrounded and trapped him. He was meant to illuminate his path and bring Atem happiness that he deserved.

How had he failed so terribly?

The final piece of the puzzle was snapped out of place when Atem brushed past him.

Yugi didn’t follow. He didn’t react or turn when he heard the front door slam.

This was what they deserved; Yugi alone in retribution and Atem forever in distress.

As Yugi dropped to his knees and let out a scream that would surely earn him a noise complaint, he came to one last painful conclusion.

Atem had given Yugi his own penalty game to solve.

(Prompts)

[wheeler-beretta-harwood]

Today I am doing nothing but watching tv and ordering Chinese food because I have the worst sunburn. I know your not a beach girl, so let’s pretend you and your date were invited to Trent’s and mine tropical beach wedding. 😂 The two of you decide to make a mini vacation out of the trip and day 1 you are covered in sunburn. How are they taking care of you and what are they doing so the vacation is not totally ruined?

Best girl, I hope you didn't expect this to be short, like you did with the period one. Cause 'Oops, I did it again', I went over the top with my sweet boy. No regrets.

"Ouch!" I whine, sprawled out on the bed in our hotel room. From the bathroom, I hear a muffled laugh...He tries his best to hide his amusement. Yesterday we, well he, decided we spent the whole day at the beach. And while Cash seemingly had the time of his life, I worked on my skin cancer. Today, I am all around red. My skin burns, and I can't fucking move without being in pain.

It will forever be a mystery how he had talked me into extending Trent's and Christine's wedding into a weekend vacation for the two of us. I don't like going to the beach. The few times we spent at the beach in Florida, I always got a sunburn. I hate sand. It gets fucking everywhere. Cash always laughs when I tell him I hate it when my ladyparts get all dusty. Have I mentioned I ALWAYS get a sunburn?!

After a few minutes, Cash returns from the bathroom, and looks all over my body. The grin plastered on his face pisses me off beyond measure. I scowl and turn my head away from him...it's the only movement I can do that doesn't hurt.

"Oh come on, Buttercup. It can't be that bad!" He moves around the bed to come back into my vision and smiles down at me before sitting at the edge of the bed. I watch in horror as he moves his hand up to run along my thigh. As soon as his fingertips touch my skin, I wince. He still hasn't understood that I'm not being dramatic, and squeezes my thigh. I yelp before I try to move my body away from him, to no avail.

"What the fuck, Cash? Is this a joke to you?! I didn't know you were a sadistic little fucker."

Finally, it dawns on him that I am not messing around. And although he usually is a tease and loves pushing all my buttons, he feels bad now. "I'm sorry, Babygirl. I didn't mean to cause you any pain." He looks at the floor and fumbles with his fingers.

"It's okay, Love. Why don't you go down to the pool and have some fun? It'll definitely be more entertaining than staying here with me."

I can see he's trying to suppress a grin, and I just KNOW there's a smart remark spinning in his head. He keeps it to himself, though. Good for him.

"Okay, maybe I'll go down for a drink and swim a bit. I'll try not to flirt too much with all the ladies..." He says as he raises an eyebrow.

I can't help but find his teasing adorable. If there is one thing I know for sure, it is that Cash would never do anything that could slightly be considered cheating. And I also know for a fact that ever since he's gotten his mullet, his confidence rose to a new level. My shy boy is finally comfortable in his own skin, and it's only good when people other than me show him he's an attractive man.

"Flirt all you want, Baby. Let the ladies pay for your drinks. No holds barred. You know the rules." He's a bit disappointed I didn't fall for his trap and gets up from the bed now hovering over my face.

"Yeah, yeah. No touchy, no kissy, no fucky. I know."

I smile up at him as he moves his face closer and closer to mine, mindful not to touch any of my skin. Then he lightly pecks my lips. "I love you, Buttercup."

"I love you too, Baby." With that, he turns to leave. When he is through the door, I let out the sigh I've been holding in.

This is not how I wanted this vacation to go down...

After about 20 minutes, the door to our room opens again and Cash returns, a huge bag in hand. He finds me just the way he left me; I haven't moved an inch.

"Cash? I thought you wanted to go swimming and flirt the life out of the thirsty bitches at the pool...?"

"Yeah, well, I thought about the rules...and to be honest, I was hoping for lots of touchy, kissy, and fucky." He states as he sets down the bag and starts rummaging. When he finds what he's been looking for, he smiles down at me.

"What's that?" I ask looking at the plastic bottle in his hands.

"Sunburn lotion. It's with hydrocortisone, vitamin e, and zinc. Helps the healing process and reduces pain." He reads the label, then looks down at me while opening the bottle and pouring a small amount into his hand. "Pharmacist said if we apply this every hour, you're gonna be all good tomorrow...still red, but not in pain anymore." He explains further while covering my shin with the fluid. It immediately makes my skin feel cooler. And the way he so tenderly touches me, as if I'm made of glass, makes me moan. As he continues to take care of me, I think about what he just said.

"Wait, so instead of enjoying one of your rare vacations, you decided to go to the pharmacy to buy this for me?" He doesn't react, but continues spreading the lotion on my skin.

"Cash."

He sighs, and finally looks at me. "Yeah, I went to the pharmacy. Blame it on the wedding, but I got a little emotional and wanted this to be a romantic getaway for us. Fancy dinners, walking on the beach, watching the sunset. Romantic stuff, ya know. This was supposed to be about us."

How the hell did I end up with this man? He's too precious.

"Come here, Baby." I say as I wrap my arm around his neck and pull him down for a passionate kiss. My skin still hurts, but I couldn't care less. He deserves all the love I can give right now.

He, however, is well aware that I am still in pain and pulls away from me way sooner than I would've thought. "Easy now, Babygirl." He snickers when he sees me pouting.

He finishes the first of the hourly lotion sessions and gets up to wash his hands in the bathroom. My eyes follow him until he is out of sight, and then fall on the HUGE bag sitting next to the bed. "What else did you buy?"

"Don't laugh, I may have gone over the top. But I bought a fan to keep you cool, some painkillers if you need 'em, and apparently there are blankets that cool down your skin. Got you one of these too. Oh, and a new sunscreen because the one we used yesterday obviously wasn't strong enough for your delicate skin." He yells from the bathroom.

"Yeah, you may have gone over the top JUST A TAD." I retort while giggling.

"Just promise me one thing, Cash."

"What's that, Buttercup?" He questions, still out of my sight.

"We are NOT getting married at the beach." I let out a nervous breath, knowing I might have opened Pandora's box. We have NEVER talked about marriage before.

His head pokes back inside from the bathroom, his eyes bigger than I've ever seen them. Yeah, I probably went too far.

"What did you just say?" I can't reply, I feel like a complete idiot, and the fucking sunburn makes it impossible to run away from the situation right now.

"Are you serious? You want to marry me?" He starts again, and a cheeky grin spreads across his face.

"No. Yeah. Maybe. Hypothetically." I ramble, closing my eyes because I'm too afraid to look at him now.

I feel the bed dip and soon, his breath is hitting my neck. "Babygirl."

A soft sigh leaves my mouth before I finally admit it. "Yes, I want to marry you, Cash." I turn to look at him, and he smiles brightly at me.

"Good. Because I'm so gonna make you my wife." He replies before pressing his lips on mine.

[onewomancitadel]

I'm not really sure how to articulate it, and I need to think about it more, but I had a 'oh, of course' moment which went like this:

Shades of people in the underworld ->

Oh, Ruby did see shades of people in the 'underworld' (monomythically speaking, in the structure of the story), but they were illusory ->

Illusory shades in the illusory world ->

So where are the 'real' shades ->

Oh, Shade Academy - anthropogenic desertification to boot

which kind of makes sense why a vision of Raven showed up in the illusory world which itself 'freed' Ruby but if she does return (see my Raven anabasis theory tag), um, it might make more sense to be Vacuo. I'm so confused now, I assume Vacuo must be some sort of other deadworld spiritworld analogue, but I guess it does make sense because both the Yellow Brick Road and Ever After were the 'descent' to the underworld, or at the very least Ever After is a sort of subversion/spin on the traditional katabasis model. Since it's R/WBY, it's probably both, much to my consternation.

On the other hand, it's very possible that Vacuo is made green again in some fashion, so they might be doing an intentional spin on it all; it's an unnatural underworld, in that Ever After was illusory.

But then also, if Vacuo is read as an underworld, the possibility of Summer's return timed to this makes a lot of sense, too.

It's still fermenting, my feelings aren't fully clear yet because it is structurally a bit weird, but they already demonstrated breaking the Hero's Journey (the mentor, Qrow, survives, and Ozpin reincarnates) so I guess the tentpole of the monomyth being played with makes a lot of sense, especially once you introduce the Heroine's Journey with Ruby.

What occurred to me is that 'shade' is both a play on the death sense, but it's also a place of respite in the sun. So I kind of like that duality and it might be what they're always, ceaselessly, going for.

It's just making me think things because we did get the Dark Hour of Ruby's soul, and the awakening to spiritual aridity, but... is that aridity literally represented through physical dryness. Are they fucking with me?

It also makes me think about the contrast between fairytales and the real world in Ever After, because clearly some parts of it are valuable (fairytale ethics aren't totally rejected) and some parts of it aren't. Most of what Jaune goes through is being caught up in an illusion, and he's physically freed from it.

Meanwhile the Blake and Yang kiss is literally True Love's Kiss which wakes them both up from the Crossroads, which Jaune has deconstructed to the point of not understanding the emotional resonance of it. There is actually a lot going on and I'm thinking about what to take seriously. Like Ruby's vision of Summer and Raven - after the fairytale is told - is what wakes her up.

Of course what this means to expect about Vacuo is really weird because it's a place of unnatural death where ostensibly dead people might show up (Summer) and the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, might also return (Raven) and yeahhhh. I don't mean to try to make my theories fit to form, but Raven is coming back at some point, and I was sort of right in the sense that Raven was related to freeing Ruby, just... much more abstract than I thought lol. Anyway, take that out and it still seems like fucky shit is going to go down in Vacuo.

But I also think Vacuo has the potential to be restored or that idea to be set up. So it's clearly not straightforward katabasis but there is still an Elixir of Life involved somewhere.

Much to think about.

[finsterhund]

I take my ADHD meds, this morning, why? Idk I forgot that my doctor said I should only take them when I want to focus on something.

I take weed gummy evening because it is too hot and I thought that it might improve my heat resistance but I stupidly forgot it also does things to my brain. I want to chew things so bad.

I extrapolate the radial perimeter of the possible area where my grandparents farmhouse could be located based on silly little personal anecdotes and geological survey information and by manually cut-copy-pasting the scale index from a map until I get the length I want because I cannot do math. I google the furthest distance the human eye can see before needing to account for the curvature of the Earth. This is the absolute furthest distance that someone in optimal conditions on the open prairie would be able to see. I google the conversion of that into meters because they fucking told me miles for some goddamn reason and because I cannot do math. I make sure the copypasted scale index is that length. Approximately though, because I cannot do math. In order to achieve this I made the map scale index pieces into sizeable chunks that I could keep track of the totaling length of by continuing my trick of cut copy and pasting them in equal length pieces. I put a piece of masking tape on my screen and measure it out so it is that length because I stupidly decided to do all of this in MS paint and I can't rotate my special furthest-human-vision-distance scale index line on an angle. My roommate interrupts me because he wants me to buy doordash and I clench my jaw so hard my teeth make a popping sound. The piece of tape makes it way harder to order from doordash and he changes what he wants after I've already selected it. I take the tape off. I accidentally throw the tape away but not before I fucking cropped my screenshot of the map out of the larger size of screenshot that I no longer need to worry about. I have the goddamn radius. And have a rough estimate of the full radial of possible land. Technically I only need to worry about south and west areas of this circle. not north and east. Because I know that it can only be west or southwest of the one landmark. I now have one quarter of radial section of land where the farmhouse could be located. It is shaped like a piece of pie. Or like the captain health circles from the HUD of Pikmin.

I then derail my entire brain because I'm looking at the map and "hahahaha road go brrrrrrrrrr" and my brain DEMANDS on VIBES ALONE that the little homestead right off of the road (when it go brrrrrrrrr) MUST be the place. Why? I don't fucking know. The Force? Subconscious memory? The Spot Power?

It falls inside the fucking radial quarter though. Jesus fuck. But then my fucking browser crashes and I loose all 38 of relevant tabs containing five different maps. Fucking screaming crying throwing up. I still had my fucking little mspaint documents though thank fuck. So I manually find it all again right at the spot where I was. Then I go to the place where road go brrrrrrrr

So I zoom in and

YEAH FUCK BRO DUDE I THINK ITS THE FUCKING HOUSE IT LOOKS LIKE A HOUSE AND IT HAS TREES WHERE I REMEMBER BEING TREES AND I SWEAR TO FUCK. I MEAN I CANT FUCKING FLY SO I DONT HAVE STRONG MEMORY OF BIRDSEYE VIEW OF THE HOUSE I THINK I SAW A PHOTO OF IT FROM THE AIR LIKE FUCKING ONCE BUT BASED ON THIS TINY ASS GRAINY LITTLE SATELITE IMAGE I FUCKING THINK THATS IT. IM NOT GOING TO ASSUME I KNOW THIS WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT BECASUE THE UNIVERFSE LIKES TO FUCK ME SO IM GOING TO TRY AND GIVE FAIR ASSESSMENTS TO OTHER POSSIBLE SITES IN THE DERMINED AREA BUT MAN. HOLY SHIT.

My fucking browser keeps fucking crashing as I write this but turns out the only good thing about Tumblr site updates is that the auto draft feature seems to work. Sometimes. On desktop.

There is food here now but I am focusing 👀👀👀

I really need to eat though I fucking bought this with money not even technically in my bank yet I fucking deserve this wait a minute why the fuck didn't my roommate pay for the food? Also going camping on Monday.

So I think I may have finally found the farmhouse. 🥺🥺🥺🥺

I drew it on my phone because my computer crash again

[ddarker-dreams]

FINALLY SOMEONE SAID THE TRUTH.

I admit that i enjoyed act 3 but it feels like really rushed i have so much complain with that.

The build up until act 2 was so good it give us so much premise but the final blow si meh. Sorry that i want to share thing long rant with you

1. Why the final talk is with yae, no offense to her but we need ei to explain not to mention she witness khaenriah downfall so she can give us more information, i feel like they do it for the plot armor so they can just keep dragging this

2. So many things that quite inconsistant, the shogun is show no mercy to anyone that even did a little thing outside what she think its right, how come she can still have a talk with signora, when sara is falling like that, and also there is no clarification about sara right now.

The traveler was so done at first they refuse to help thoma and ayaka at the beginning. But they seem so happy and forget everything how come they are not RAGE ( okay maybe this is to bias and personal) when this nation provide nothing about our siblings information and also why they are not mention anything about their problem in ei stroy quest. Its nonsense! She is right in front of youu, ask about your siblings, ask about khaenriah, ask about ukmown god!!. How come they can just forget like that. Also mihoyo really waste the potential about twin things i thing ei will give us so much help bcs of the sympathy that we both rn lost our twin but noooo.

3. Kokomi seem lost some brain cell, she make a very succesfull grand intro but she become meh in act 3, how come a great strategist like her let the sus sponsorship slip just bcs they are desperate, not to mention her screen time is really small and her role seem so unsignificant and it feels lile she is a plain npc.

4. The awesome world quest that we have done doesnt get any mention at all! Inazuma owe us so much with cleansing sakura, thunder sakura, tatarigami, obarashi quest. It has so much potential that yae or ei or anyone else aknowledge what traveler has been done but nooo.

cracks knuckles... i suppose it's time for my promised dissertation. interestingly enough, you touched on a lot of the main issues i had with chapter III.

i think that if i had to pin the main issue, it's a lack of overall cohesiveness? we were jumping all over the place without the chance to ever flesh things out. inazuma is a smaller cast, but i feel like we didn't get to see any of them shine. since i'm most interested in the genshin characters, i'll break down my problems by going over everyone and their (lack) of impact on the story.

was ayaka not questioned or placed under suspicion for being close to thoma before his escape? i wanted to see her broken up over her duties as they relate to the yashiro commission, paired with having someone she genuinely cares about in danger. it would've been an interesting struggle if she was forced to choose one or the other. instead she just kinda took a back seat.

speaking of thoma, i don't even have anything to say, because he just... was there? for .0001 seconds. said "lol this sucks ig" and that's about it. i know we're going to get a story for him in the future since he's a 5* but i'm not getting my hopes up 😭 then in the raiden shogun's character story, man is peachy keen! be upset with the raiden shogun! have some inner conflict! even if it's just using loaded language because he's under surveillance for going against the raiden shogun, that'd be so cool. saying something like,

"Traveler, what's with that expression? Oh please, there's nothing to worry about. We're under the Statue of the Omnipresent God's protection. Nothing bad has ever happened here." *wink*

i also don't know what to say about gorou. he was... there....... i think. what is he fighting for? what are the stakes for him? what makes him place so much trust into kokomi? i'm out of things to say about him because i don't remember anything he did or said.

kokomi... oh kokomi... i was so hyped. so excited. i thought that maybe we could see a foil to the raiden shogun. that she'd have a moment where she's forced to realize, just like her opponent, sacrifices must be made that will hurt people who will never understand why she made them. or maybe something to show her military prowess. but instead she just accepts a mysterious patron's help (?), sees her people aging like the grateful dead from JJBA, and goes oh well. that sucks. what can ya do. oh bye traveler i guess, good luck with that. ????????????? HUH... similar case to thoma where she's gonna get a character story but like. she won't be the leader of the resistance anymore. that was her whole shtick. they took her shtick away. also she forced me to interact with more NPCs whose names i've already forgotten so i'm tilted about that still.

KUJOU SARA... AN INJUSTICE. A DISGRACE. a slap to my woman loving face. the build up was there. yae miko's comments about sara probably knowing the tenryou commission is involved in shady dealings, but is choosing not to think about it. sara being forced to confront reality and challenge her adopted father with the truth. being able to blaze a new path for herself in the process. when she started running to the raiden shogun i was ultra hyped up. sara, a devotee to the shogun for so long, was about to see her god interacting with the same people who led inazuma to this awful state. how would she react? would she stay ignorant, like yae miko so coyly said, choosing to look away in favor of following her god's footsteps? or would she be forced to recognize the raiden shogun isn't as divine as she once thought, and challenge her belief system?

we open the door to see the raiden shogun. the loading screen ensues. the camera pans to the ominous room, clouded in darkness, hinting at the ominous confrontation that is to come. the music takes a serious timbre. and then...

well fuck that potential character arc i guess. (we still don't know what sara made of any of this since she poofed out of existence from the story at this point)

kazuha also was handed a similar treatment. we've been with him for a while longer now. he is our introduction into inazuma, the one who first gets us emotionally involved by regaling us with the bittersweet tale of friendship that led him to becoming a wanted criminal. a kind soul who loves nature yet was dealt a cruel hand by fate, forced to watch his home nation turn into a hostile place, where his dear friend ultimately perished as a result. we get the scene with his friend's vision lighting back up. he parries a block from the raiden shogun, in the same area where his friend was killed by her. the parallels. the drama. except this time, he wasn't too late. he protected the traveler where he "failed" to protect his friend in the past. did he feel redemption at this? or was it a bittersweet reminder of what could've been?

WELL i guess we'll never know because we didn't get to talk to him again 😭 idk who got a bait and switch worse, him or sara. jesus christ mihoyo.

then we have signora. why is the raiden shogun talking to her? does she know about the gnosis being taken, and if she doesn't, what was her plan to get it from the archon? what does she think about scaramouche? and oh, okay, we're fighting here now. good fight + god tier music. pog pog. okay, now we've beaten her up, and raiden shogun wyd— wait no not signora her lore is still on CUPS not YET raiden shogun and— ah she's dead. okay. non nerds who didn't read artifact lore are going to know nothing about her. signora has such an interesting story, and yet... well. ok.

then we get raiden shogun redemption (?) arc. i was hype for this as well, though at that point, idk why i bothered being hype. i knew they were gonna do a cute power of friendship something or another, and i'm good with that, so long as it's executed well. what i was envisioning was like seven different buffs to correspond with the seven different visions, the dreams of those whose ambitions were stolen serving as the spear to penetrate the raiden shogun's heart of stone. maybe a hydro vision giving us extra healing for a time, with the voice acting over it being like,

"Even if the rest of the world forgets us, let our will carry you through this one final time. Succeed where we couldn't, Traveler."

so on and so forth.

but instead we got— you get the idea at this point. why bother spelling it out anymore.

at that point i was surprised the raiden shogun didn't go "oopsie woopsie!! we made a fucky wucky!!!" because that was the vibe i was getting. i love ei, don't get me wrong, but i wanted to see her challenged with what she had done to inazuma in the past year. maybe meeting NPC #2345259 who lost her sister to the vision decree or something, reminding ei of the love she held for her sister... being forced to come to terms with the extent of what she's done in pursuit of eternity.

anyway. please for the love of god mihoyo hire better writers for the main story. that is all i ask. thank you.

[silkylious]

Limbo (Bakugo Katsuki x Fem!Reader)

Pairing: bakugo katsuki x female reader warnings: heavy angst, eventual tiny bit of fluff at the end

omf this request is so nice i feel so bad that my writing is literally garbage in this, but thank you sm for requesting this!! <3 and im so sorry if i didn’t do your request justice (i legit hate my writing here :’))

To say the state of your relationship was unbearable would be the euphemism of the century.

Your thoughts often ran amuck, always hopelessly crawling back to that one despaired curiosity; wondering if he shared the same sentiment about your wishy-washy “friends” status as you did. He probably didn’t. That’s the seemingly unshakable brick wall that would inevitably dead-end your lovesick daydreams, each and every time. Though when his roughed-up hands linger on your skin a millisecond too long, when his steeled stare melts, hard rubies morphing into blazing lava pits, threatening to mar your very heart and soul with their scorching intensity –you’re not exactly certain you’d mind that– that’s when a flicker of something ignites within you. Hope, longing, doubt. Whatever it is, it terrifies you. Because you’re agonizingly aware of what that entails. He’s got you hook, line and sinker, but torturously he refuses to do anything with that. Almost like pulling someone in for a hug then abruptly and without explanation stopping midway, he keeps you at arm’s length. Not too far, not too close. And how that cycle destroyed you.

Katsuki was the type to jump into action and ask questions later. Except a lot of the times when these questions pertain to his own emotions, he didn’t even try to answer them, opting to shove them to the corners of his psyche, collecting dust, steadily accumulating until they become too much to ignore and he (sometimes quite literally) explodes. It’s a vicious loop that he could never break away from, he’d even come to find a sordid comfort in it. His coping mechanism was by no means healthy, far from it, but he’d grown familiar to the toxicity.

Katsuki couldn’t make heads nor tails of his feelings for you. Whenever he impulsively threw himself into the lion’s den that was your affection, caught in the moment, in the glimmer of genuine adoration in your eyes, he never came back the same. A piece of his heart would irreversibly split off and reside in the palm of your hand, he was scared that nothing would be left of it, that he wouldn’t be able to regain his bearings until it was too late. You so effortlessly juggled with his feelings, all with a single smile, it scared him that you had so much power over the fluttery sensation in his chest and yet, in the moment, it felt good. It felt so good to indulge in whatever fucky feeling was messing with his head, to let you hold him in the depths of obscurity with all prying eyes shut and what little words exchanged hushed. It felt so alleviating to feel skin on his own (for once not in battle), gentle, comforting but not coddling. It was unspoken between you that you were both more than friends. You knew it, he knew it. Neither of you ever mentioned it. What neither of you knew, however, was how far the other’s feelings ran.

But as high as your silent love made him feel, he crashed back down into the concrete when he was left to his own devices. Without your intoxicating scent, distracting touches fogging his rationality, Katsuki had all the time in the world to overthink. And overthink he did. His pride picked apart the delicate flowering in his heart, ripping it petal by petal until nothing was left but a garden of beautifully withered leaves, a condemnation to what he considered a weakness.

Katsuki was a taker by every sense of the word. Basking in your wispy adoration, only to brush you aside in favor of focusing on academics once he’d had his fill of your love. It was sickening.

Maybe it was the fact that you hadn’t outright confessed to him, maybe that’s what soothed the overbearing guilt that crawled up his throat whenever he saw that dejected face of yours, the one you made because of him. If your feelings for him ran deep, surely you would have said something by now, at least that’s what he thought. Or more precisely, that’s the excuse his mind conjured up in hopes of easing his conscious, trying to convince himself that self that yes, he was hurting you, but at least he wasn’t hurting you that bad. He was infinitely aware that this doesn’t put him in any sort of moral high ground, nor does it justify his actions, but, again, it was a last-ditch effort to relieve his anguish if just by a little bit, even if he knew that excuse was bullshit.    

Surely he knew, there’s no way in hell someone as hawk-eyed as him didn’t notice the tyranny he held over the porcelain pitter-pattering of your heart, didn’t notice the fleeting, love-filled glances you sent his way. This was getting ridiculous, you were starting to believe he was taking some twisted sense of pleasure from your heartache, but he wouldn’t do that, right? He didn’t derive some sick kick out of having you indefinitely under his thumb, at his beck and call… right? A few months ago, you would have answered those uncertainties with a resounding “No!” defending his cruel behavior till the bitter end. But now…

Now you weren’t so sure.

And yet you still found yourself in his dorm, on his bed. It was supposed to be another study gathering, but one thing was glaringly missing. Y’know… the gathering. Kirishima was out training and he hadn’t bothered to invite the rest of his brain-dead, self-proclaimed squad. And that’s how you found yourself alone. With your best friend and secret crush. Just dandy.

Your hands were restless. Pulling at the seams of his blanket, cracking your own fingers, picking up your pencil for a brief moment of concentration, answering one or two questions only to drop it back on the mattress again and fidget some more. Katsuki wasn’t fucking blind, and your unease was ticking him off. Though he surprisingly hadn’t said a thing about it just yet, he was clearly nearing his wit’s end. His silence didn’t prevail for much longer, the meek sigh and not so subtle glance you chanced his way being his tipping point.

“What.” It came out as a statement, a demand rather than a question. What was he demanding? He hadn’t thought of that yet, his temperamental limbs already taking the wheel and pressing on the gas without a destination in mind, just being short fused for the sake of it. Was it even his place to be making demands in this situation? Katsuki knew the answer to this one like the back of his hand, a solid no.

“What…?” You really had no idea what Bakugo was expecting with a question like that. He still had the audacity to roll his eyes.

“The hell’s got you so jumpy?”

“It’s nothing…” It was a lot more than nothing, that’s for sure.

“Don’t lie to me, (name). What the fuck is up with you?” Ah, there it is again. That look. His words were as cut-throat as ever, and his mouth was still pulled into that seemingly permanent scowl. But his eyes conveyed something that was whole worlds asunder from his harsh tone. Golden brows furrowed as they usually were, though unusually upturned just the slightest bit. You despised that look. It ensured that you’ll forever be caught in his grasp, forever there for him when he never spared you the time of day.

Your lungs constricted by a force of gorgeously wretched agony. Katsuki wasn’t fair when he bared his soul to you like this, it filled you with such fervent euphoria that torrefied its way through your being, singeing your veins with luminous infatuation. And it hurt. Because you knew he’d cage himself right up as soon as the moment of vulnerability perished.

A crystalline sheen permeated your vision. This wasn’t going to end well.  

“I said it’s nothing,” Your voice raised. You hadn’t meant for the words to be as frosty as they came out, but it seemed like your subconscious was utterly done with the tedium of heartbreak he keeps putting you through.

“What is fucking wrong with you? I was literally just asking why you were being so goddamn obnoxious today and then you go and make a big fuckin’ deal out of nothing!”

“Well, maybe I’m just fucking tired of giving you everything I have and getting nothing in return, Katsuki!”

Your chest rose and fell with each scalding breath that entered your lungs. The blood through your veins was pumping. Never had you been confrontational, and your sudden outburst wasn’t exactly welcome to your system. You wanted to vomit. This was not how you wanted things to turn out, you absolutely needed to leave, distance yourself from the emotional strain he was inflicting on you.  

Without taking notice of the panicked glint in the cherry red of his irises, you bolted out of the suddenly claustrophobic room, leaving Katsuki to stare at his agape door before flickering his unfocused attention to your supplies still laying on his bed.

Katsuki erupted time and time again, with you being as patient as a receiving end could ever be. It’s specifically because of your godly patience that he never considered what he would do once you erupted.

With your back sliding down your dorm room door, and little friction stopping your descent, you wondered and maybe even wished he’d call after you, come banging on your door with bristling apologies on the tip of his tongue. However, the jarring reality was very clear to you. You’d decided on that day, with your head buried in your tear-stained pillow, that these were the last tears you’d ever shed on him, that you were going to put him through the same wringing hell he’d put you through.

You were going to ignore Bakugo Katsuki’s existence just like he’d periodically ignored yours.

The following week had been bleak at best and excruciatingly bitter at its worst for the both of you. It was so strange having to adjust to the absence of the other, even if your company more often than not had been a quiet one, it was company nevertheless. The most grueling part though, was your shared friend group. They’d noticed that something was obviously awry, but since neither of you said a thing about it, they decided it would be best if they didn’t either. The awkward dead silences during lunch were still purgatory to behold. But after a few more slow paced days, the sun seemed to shine bright again. For you, that is.

You didn’t realize how much of your schedule revolved around Bakugo until he was completely out of it. How much time you spent with him, dreading him, thinking about him… him, him, him. He’d consumed your thoughts from the first sparks of dawn till the hallows of dusk. You had so much free time now that he was out of the picture, it was crazy. The more time you spent on yourself, on your hobbies, getting to know other classmates outside of your immediate friend circle, the duller the ache in your chest. Until it was but a static buzz. Yet you couldn’t deny that, with time, your fury had mellowed out, leaving behind a cold loneliness you couldn’t elude whenever your aimless stare landed on him, almost like it was drawn to him by muscle memory.

He was the exact opposite.

You’d think the throbbing within him whenever you finally gazed his way then instantaneously looked in the opposite direction would knock come modicum of sense into his stubborn head. But nope. And seeing you thrive without him only cemented what he already knew. He really was no good for you. So much so that it barely took anytime for you to readjust to the lack of him in your life, and not only did you adjust, you were the best he’s ever seen you both mentally and academically. In the first week of you ditching him completely, his bruised ego kept him for reaching out to you, but now, seeing that elated grin on your face –the one that had been gradually dwindling over the past few months– he didn’t want to take your newfound happiness away, he’d figured he’d done you more than enough harm already.

Heart heavy with reluctance, Katsuki made the decision to give up on your relationship. Deciding to wordlessly cheer you on from the sidelines and watch you bloom, flourishing into the person he robbed you of being for a chunk of your life, though whenever your spring hit, it would be without him. Until some day in the future where his pride wasn’t as suffocating, where he could genuinely, wholeheartedly repent his grievances and only hope for your forgiveness.

Kirishima never took Bakugo for a quitter, hell would freeze over before he even thought such a thing. So this was certainly a shock. What was even more shocking ­– and overwhelmingly concerning– was the fact that Katsuki had willingly, on his own accord confided in him, and he’d, in his own roundabout way, taken accountability for being a gigantic douche to you. As much as the redhead respected his friend’s decision to stay clear of you, he couldn’t help but wish you’d just talk to one another for once. Kirishima really was a saint, having to listen to two idiots ramble about how much they miss the other.

“Listen, man. I know you feel bad and all that, but maybe you should just talk to her? I’m sure she’d like some closure on this just as you do, even if that doesn’t mean things will go back to the way they were.” Eijirou tried to reason, praying to whatever higher being out there that Katsuki would just get the fuck over himself and communicate with you.

“Fuck no. That’s not fucking happening, shitty hair,” Kirishima rolled his eyes at the oh so affectionate nickname, thoroughly done with his best friend’s melodrama. Welp, I guess there’s only one thing left to try. He heaved internally, mentally and physically preparing himself for Bakugo’s tantrum.

“Well, you know that if you won’t talk to her, others will, right? I heard some guys saying they’re gonna ask her ou–”

“Shut the fuck up! I don’t give a rat’s ass who asks her out!” He definitely did. Eijirou hid his smile. Checkmate.

“Whatever you say, dude.”

Later that day, three distinctly powerful knocks woke you up. Needless to say, you didn’t think that night would end up with you and Katsuki staring each other down, seated on your bed at one in the morning. Words got stuck in his throat, so he just… noiselessly watched your face, as if trying to telepathically ram his constipated emotions into you, in hopes that you’d make sense of them. Obviously, that didn’t work.

“Did you come banging on my door at one in the morning just to stare at me, Bakugo? I mean I know I’m pretty but still–”

“Shuddup.” Not really the best thing to say to you after weeks of radio silence. You were about to make another salty remark, but he opened his mouth first.

“I fucked up,” The fact that he was acknowledging he was at fault was… something. But that wasn’t nearly enough to pay off the debt off turmoil he’d caused you.

“No shit.” You replied without missing a beat. The ice that tinged your words caught him off guard, but he really shouldn’t have been surprised. He sighed, knowing he’d have to strip himself of everything, including his pride (especially his pride) down to his very core, to have a go at a second chance.

And so, he did.

He poured his everything out for you to observe, without an ego film distorting his words. Syllables reeked of muted agony, he really had rid himself of anything and everything that wasn’t his deepest soul. He finally offered you himself just as you had done countless times before. Katsuki swore that his heart would –and always has been– explicitly yours, he’d roar that fact at the constellations above if you so wished him to. And while it would take a while to heal from coruscating blisters he’d inflicted, you were more than content mending and welting your heart with his.  

[horansqueen]

one shot request: y/n is watching Niall working out and seeing him all sweaty really turns her on and he helps her out after his workout (based on workout Niall 🥵)

okay so, 2.5k. im supposed to be sleeping because i work tomorrow. but i just had to post this first. i hope you guys enjoy! SMUT. the usual warnings i guess? so i added the pics or Niall and a few gifs because visuals are always good. so here it is. let me know what you think!

I've always loved summer days, and that feeling had really increased this year. I always had the habit to get on the terrace to sunbathe or read a book (or both) but this summer, my boyfriend had started working out right next to me. He said he wanted to enjoy the sun, and that it was more motivating, but one night, when he was very drunk, he had admitted that not only did enjoy spending more time with me, but he also liked the way I was looking at him when he worked out. It surprised me slightly since I thought I was clever and subtle about it but I couldn't deny that I enjoyed watching him work out next to me.

I thought we would be used to each other after over a year of dating and spending all that time together but it seemed like I would never get enough of him. Mentally and physically. He didn't need to work out, he was already perfect the way he was, but there was something sexy in watching him sweat, and that something couldn't be compared to anything, except maybe when he'd sweat and groan while being on top of me. The thought made my eyes flutter behind my sunglasses and I turned my head slowly and slightly to look at him. I couldn't do much since he was zooming with his coach but I just enjoyed the view, not able to focus more than two seconds on the book I was reading.

When he finally stopped, he got up and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off is forehead and looked back at my book, pretending to read. I felt his body move closer to mine and suddenly, my sun was blocked by his shadow, making me move my sunglasses up on my head to look at him.

"Can I help you?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, as I saw a smirk draw itself on his lips.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." he replied, the left corner of his lips raising up slightly more. "I could feel your eyes on me the whole time I was working out." he added, crossing his arms on his chest.

My eyes wandered on one of his arms for half a second before moving back to his face. "I have no idea what you're talking about." I just said with a shrug.

"You're a good actress Y/N, but you can't fool me." he added with a chuckle. "Besides, you've been reading for over an hour and you haven't flipped a page."

This time, I grimaced and he laughed some more, taking a step back and taking his towel again to place it around his neck. Slowly, I got up and tilted my head to stare at him.

"It's just because I was lost in my thoughts."

"Lost on my chest, you mean, but it's okay, you can look all you want." he let out, half-joking, raising his eyebrows and sending me a cocky smile.

"Oh you're hot alright." I admitted, taking a step closer. "But can you really please a girl? That's the real question, Horan."

He placed both of his hands on the sides of the door frame and I held my breath, my eyes immediately moving to his armpits. Why was this so fucking hot? Why did this sight totally turn me on?

"I'd be offended that you ask... if you didn't scream my name and shake in my arms every single time I fuck you."

My eyebrows raised and my lips parted at how bold he was but I couldn't really deny his words and I just licked my lips, moving again his way. The closer I was getting the more his smile was growing and when I was so close that I could feel his body heat hitting my skin, I inhaled deeply, staring into his eyes. Was it wrong to enjoy his post-workout smell and the sight of sweat falling on his forehead?

"I can bet you anything you want that I can keep quiet the whole time you fuck me."

He chuckled and shook his head, his eyes never leaving mine, and his hands gripped the door frame more. "Bullshit." he replied, clearly teasing me. "You start whimpering as soon as my hands get on you. It only takes a fingertip and those beautiful eyes of yours just close while your lips part. And the way you moan petal, that's totally worth it."

He was right, and I knew it, but it was a challenge I was ready to try. "What do you want to bet?" I proposed, tilting my chin up and licking my lips.

He glanced at my mouth and when he looked back in my eyes, his smirk was even bigger. "How about if you lose, I get to fuck that pretty dirty mouth of yours whenever I want for the next week?"

'Whenever I want', for Niall, literally meant 'whenever I want'. It could be three times in an hour, or randomly while driving to the grocery. Sometimes, I would even wake up in the middle of the night with the tip of his dick between my lips. He knew what 'owning' was all about and he enjoyed it. I did too, and he was well aware of it.

"And if I win?"

He bent down more and his lips were almost touching mine but I didn't budge. My heart was beating so hard in my chest though that I was wondering if he could hear it.

"If you win, I'll spend two hours between your legs every day for a week."

"With your mouth?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Mouth, tongue, lips, nose, my whole face if you want."

"Oh, I want." I admitted with a small smile, bringing one of my hands up and brushing my thumb on his bottom lip. "Very very bad."

"It's a deal, then." he whispered. "And we're starting now."

Without giving me a chance to protest, he crashed his mouth on mine and I had to stop myself from whimpering as my heart jumped in my chest. He tasted so good and when he pushed his tongue in my mouth, I shut my eyes tight. Quickly, he turned us around and walked my way, making sure I'd step back inside as his hands found my waist. I broke our kiss and grabbed the bottom of his shirt, pulling it over his head quickly and throwing it away. I didn't know if going faster was going to make it easier for me, but the thought of him eating me out for two hours while I came over and over on his face was strong enough to make me want and try to win this bet.

"You're so impatient and you think you can actually win this, pet?" he chuckled low. "This is impossible for you, I know you too well. I know exactly what to do to make your heart race, your pussy throb, and your body shake."

I knew it was true but I simply let my lips run on his neck, ignoring his words. His skin tasted salty due to the sweat and somehow, that turned me on even more. I swallowed the moan that threatened to escape and felt his hand slip under my shirt.

"Like when I play with your tits, and run my thumbs on your nipples." he continued, doing exactly what he was saying and making my eyes flutter. "I'm impressed, petal. Didn't think you could keep quiet with that. Now let's try something else."

He took a small step back and worked on my pants, unzipping them and pulling on them. I held my breath and looked down at him as he got on his knees and helped him take my pants off before he threw them farther. The left corner of his lips raised again and slowly, he moved closer to me, his gaze still stuck to mine. I held my breath when his lip pressed against my panties but it didn't take long until he pulled them on the side to run his tongue on my slit. I immediately reached for his hair and let my eyes roll back as my head fell on my shoulders. What exactly did I get myself into? Niall knew me by heart. I was definitely going to lose.

He slipped his tongue inside me and I pressed my lips together as one of my hands reached for his hair, pulling on it hard and pressing his face more in my pussy. I knew it was going to be even harder to keep my moans in but I couldn't resist. I started grinding on his face and when he moaned against my pussy, I started feeling dizzy.

"You can't do that." I pointed out in a whisper, making him laugh.

He got up and I blinked a few times as my vision was getting clearer. He was close to me and my eyes dropped to his glistening lips. "I can do what I want. I'm not the one who can't make any noise, you are."

Suddenly, he moved closer and his hand wrapped around my neck, making my heart skip a few beats and I held my breath again. Slowly but a bit roughly, he brought me to the couch and made me lie down on it before laying on top of me. With his free hand, he snapped the side of my panties off and my eyes got bigger but I had a hard time focusing on anything else but his fingers pressing on my throat.

"You make me so hard, petal. I'm so horny. I'm gonna fuck you so hard it'll be impossible for you to keep quiet." he added before I felt his cock press on my inner thighs, realizing he had pulled his shorts down quickly. "But I'll help you a bit." he finally let out with an other smirk, choking me slightly more. "Not easy to moan with my hand on your throat, right darling?"

"Fuck you." I whispered as my lips parted, making him laugh again.

"Fuck me? No fuck you, that's what I'll do."

Without waiting, he moved his hips against mine, making his dick fill me completely in half a second. My eyes opened wide and it was a miracle I didn't let out any sound, but I spread my legs more to feel him as deep as possible.

"Look at you, all fucked under me. Don't you wish you could moan my name?" he chuckled. "You know what I'll do darling? I'll allow you to moan my name once. Just once. When you cum. How's that? What do you say to your amazing boyfriend?"

"Fuck you." I repeated with a smirk, making him raise his eyebrows.

"I was thinking more something like, 'Thank you, your dick is massive and I can't wait until you fuck my mouth multiple times a day for a week'... but it'll do."

If he hadn't started to thrust in and out of me at this moment, I would have laughed and replied something smart, but the way he was moving completely out of me before pushing himself back deep inside me over and over again was making me dizzy.

After fucking me for a while, he let go of my throat and I breathed in deeply to catch my breath. He moved back on his knees and grabbed my waist, pulling me up and turned me around. I felt my palms sink in the cushions of his couch but the way his hands ran on my back and until my ass made me close my eyes again. He spread my cheeks and pushed his cock inside me again but slowly this time, and I could feel myself throb around him.

"Fuck, my love, you feel so fucking good." he groaned low, slipping one of his fingertips in my ass. "I miss your moans though, why don't you let out a few whimpers for me?"

I didn't answer and he just let out a low 'Alright then!' before thrusting in and out of me again, pinching and slapping my ass whenever he wanted. He ended up with his chest leaning against my back, his damp skin rubbing against mine as he held himself on his couch with one hand while the other was running on my breasts quickly.

"You make me want to cum deep inside you." he murmured as his hand brushed on my stomach to reach between my legs. "I want to feel you clench around me, first. I want to hear you moan my name as you cum."

Two of his fingertips started rubbing my clit as he fucked me harder and I knew it was close. I tensed beneath him, shutting my eyes tight, and despite myself my body quivered and a low moan escaped my lips. He didn't mention it and his thrust became unsteady. He kept pushing himself harder and deeper inside me, making it harder for me to keep my balance and without any warning, I felt an orgasm hit me.

"Oh my god, Niall, fuck!" I let out louder than intended as I started shaking.

It only took him half a minute to started coming too and the grunts he let out as he kept fucking me to ride both our orgasms made me see spots behind my eyelids.

We ended up both panting as he peppered kisses on my shoulders, making me shiver, and after a while, we both lied down on the couch, facing each other.

"I heard it, you know."

My eyes fluttered open and I started nibbling on my bottom lip, sending him an innocent look and making him laugh. "Heard what?"

"I heard you moan before you came." he explained, totally aware that I knew what he was talking about. "I won."

I raised my nose up and groaned. It had been tough and I couldn't believe I had lost like that. I was so close to win.

"But you put up a good fight." he added, his smirk turning into a fond smile. "How about we both do what we said we'd do if we lost?"

I raised my eyebrows at him and my lips curled. I brought my hand to his cheek and brushed my thumb gently on his cheek, watching a few drops of sweat fall off his forehead.

"That's nice of you."

"Hey, I'm a nice guy." he chuckled, moving closer to peck my lips.

"And... I did stare at you the whole time you worked out." I admitted, trying to hide my smile. "It's just so hot, I can't help it."

This time, he laughed and his nose raised up in the cutest way possible. "If my work out sessions can always end like this, pet, I would never complain."

[komunyeong]

Safety Pinless (Moon/Mun) It’s Okay to Not be Okay

Genre- Pure smut

Pairing- Moon Gang-tae/Ko Mun-yeong

Warnings- Unprotected sex, bit of struggle for dominance, some exhibitionism if you squint, your general warning that this is smut so...

Word Count- 3527

Summary- Gang-tae can only let go in his dreams. Set the morning after the drunken night Gang-tae gave Mun-yeong Mang-tae.

A/N: SORRY SORRY SORRY! I know this took a while but life got fucky yesterday and I didn’t get to work on this. This is completely unedited because I wanted to get it posted. I’ll be pinning this until I write more; then I’ll make a Masterlist and pin that. Requests will be attempted, but I can’t promise to write them all.

It had to be the alcohol. Sure, Gang-tae  had experienced wet dreams before. He was human. He still had urges, no  matter how deep he tried to bury them. But never had they been this  visceral, this real, this... messy. With a grimace he kicked the sheet  off of himself and realized that he was on the couch, still dressed in  the same clothes from the night before, only now there was a sticky spot  in his pants and wrinkles in his shirt. The jacket he’d worn was draped  over the back of the couch. Clearly, he’d not been able to sleep in the  room he shared with Sang-tae after his attack of memories, and given  his current condition, he was glad for it.  

It wouldn’t have been the  first time he’d had the soul-crushingly embarrassing experience of  having Sang-tae  hear him, as they’d shared rooms ever since... well. Ever since. But he  knew his very honest and forthright brother would have no qualms about  telling Mun-yeong about what he’d heard and that was the last thing  Gang-tae  needed. It was difficult enough to resist with her constant teasing;  she’d make it unbearable if she knew he’d dreamed about her as she’d  teasingly told him she’d dreamed of him.  

Adjusting  his hips with a groan, he knew he needed to get up and deal with the mess he’d made of himself, but his face pressed into the back of the couch was too comfortable, and the headache he knew was coming was lurking too close to the surface. Plus, the longer he laid there, the longer he could let the dream linger, the more he could allow himself the smallest escape as he relived the vision of Mun-yeong  pressed against the cushions below him as she writhed to his  ministrations. With a low moan, he rolled over, knowing it would do him  no good to dwell on a dream he would never allow to become reality.  

An answering moan sounded from near him, and Gang-tae  shot up, wincing as his eyes flew open, the sunlight sending jagged  shards of pain through his head. It took a moment for his eyes to focus  enough to find Mun-yeong  herself, sitting in a chair by the couch, her legs crossed under the  flowing skirt of her nightgown, a feline smile gracing her lips. As he  was trying to decide whether he was still dreaming or about to lose one  more bit of his dignity, Mun-yeong leaned in, her smile growing wider.

Her eyes closed, and she moaned in a deep voice, “Mun-yeonnnnnng... so good...”

Not a dream, then.

Fantastic. Great. Closing his eyes with a deep breath, he shoved aside the shot of lingering lust at the sound of her moans. This morning couldn’t get anymore mortifying.

He was proven wrong by the sound of Sang-tae walking through the room, saying, “Nocturnal emissions are a spontaneous orgasm during sleep. 83% of men experience nocturnal emissions sometime in their life. Moon Gang-tae is not hurt, it is a normal part of-”

His voice faded as he entered the kitchen and Gang-tae considered what force it would take to snap his own neck. Hearing a snicker from the direction of the chair Mun-yeong sat in, he knew that he was going to have to open his eyes again at some point. Inhaling steadily, he reached back to slowly pull his jacket off the back of the couch, only opening his eyes once it was draped over the prominent damp spot in the front of his pants. It had been too long since he’d even allowed himself to jerk off, and it showed in the copious amounts of cum filling his underwear.

There was a momentary silence, then his eyes flew open as the jacket was ripped from his lap. Heart leaping to his throat, he found Mun-yeong standing over him, looking down with a hungry curl to her lips at the wet spot in his lap. The heat in her gaze had his dick stirring, and he quickly placed his hands over his crotch, averting his eyes. How the hell could she be so bold? No one had trampled his boundaries in the way she had, and he was powerless against the draw of her. Even after all these years...

He felt the couch next to him dip, and he tried not to turn to her, knowing that Mun-yeong now sat next to him. But his resolve crumbled after a moment, his eyes drawn to her face in a way that even his iron will couldn’t control. Finding her giving him that salacious smile once more, he swallowed, dropping his eyes. Mistake. He now saw the tent in his sticky pants, the scent of Mun-yeong and her nearness bringing the blood to his groin again, the memory of the dream he’d had still far too fresh in his mind. As he groaned under his breath, he tried his hardest to shove away the memory of the dream, which of course only led him to thinking about it more.

It hadn’t started out as anything other than the usual weird dream. He’d been running through the woods, chased by some indescribable something, when he’d stumbled between two trees and found himself in the cursed castle. Mun-yeong had stood before him on the steps, wearing a dressing gown. As he’d walked closer, drawn by the gravity she emitted specifically for him, she had pulled the tie around her waist open, the dressing gown slipping open to show that she wore nothing below it. Dream-Gang-tae had stopped for a moment, then rushed forward, grabbing her hips. All control abandoned, he’d dove his mouth to her neck, hearing her husky voice moan into his ear, her hands tangling in his hair.

The feeling of his hair being tugged had released something feral in Dream-Gang-tae, and he’d slid his hands back from her hips to cup her ass, lifting her and turning to carry her to the same couch they both now sat on. He felt the red in his face deepen as he remembered the sensation of her slim legs wrapping around his hips, pressing his straining cock against her core. While the memory of this dream would fuel many of his future sessions alone in the shower, this was doing nothing to abate the raging storm building in his already ruined pants right now.

His struggle was interrupted by Mun-yeong’s low, controlled voice near his ear, asking, “Are you thinking of me again?”

Taking a controlled breath, Gang-tae tried to regain some form of control, turning his flushed face to find hers far too close. The words he had prepared died on his lips as hers were mere centimeters away. Her intense, predatory gaze had his dick twitching before she softened it, giving him her eye-crinkling smile that ruined him every time. His eyes flicked to her lips for what felt like the millionth time since she had reappeared in his life. And just like every other time, he felt the driving urge to kiss her. But he had 30 years of practice in abating his urges, so he simply sat, watching her reach out to lay a hand on his thigh, far higher up than was decent.

She leaned her smile closer to his lips, driving his heart rate even higher, and asked in her teasing murmur, “You didn’t have to hump my couch. You could have come to my room. I would make you moan my name better than that.”

His mind short circuited for a flash of a moment, picturing himself climbing into her bed and doing the things he’d dreamed of. The way she would tear at the sheets, her head throwing back as he would delve his tongue between her folds... and this was not at all helping. Nope. Abort. Back off. His dick was already fully erect and leaking more into his underwear. Time to get away before she broke through the tight control she’d been chipping away at. Shower. He needed a shower. A cold one. Now.

He scrambled to his feet, wincing as his cock strained against his pants, and he stumbled towards the stairs, hearing her behind him, “Where are you going?”

He kept going, leaning forward a bit to ease the pressure on his dick as he stumbled up the stairs, groaning as he heard Mun-yeong’s soft footsteps following him. His steps quickened, and so did hers. He reached the bathroom, rushing in and closing the door, leaning back against it and taking a deep breath. Hearing her feet come to a halt outside the door, he dropped his eyes closed, leaning his head back against the door as he tried his hardest to regain his composure. She’d very nearly pulled his safety pin. Panting softly, he pressed a hand to his groin, moaning at the pressure, his hips thrusting slightly of their own volition, seeking another release. Taking a steadying breath, he straightened, stepping towards the shower as he pulled his shirt over his head.

The door handle turned, and Mun-yeong stood, arms crossed, in the opening. Gang-tae cursed his libido, wincing as he realized he’d been to lost in his lust to think to lock the door. Mun-yeong sauntered into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and sizing him up, her lips still curled into a smile that had his breath speeding. He stood frozen as she swayed closer, her eyes now glued to his bared chest. He felt her gaze slide lower to the substantial bulge tenting his pants, and her focus narrowed, the acquisitional gleam entering her eyes that she always got when she saw something she wanted. Her hand raised, moving towards his body, and Gang-tae felt his heart pounding as he remained frozen, torn between being absolutely terrified and wanting to feel her hand on him.

“Wow...” she murmured, her hand now nearly to his groin and he finally snapped, grabbing her wrist and pushing her back against the wall, the wrist in his hand pinned above her head as he leaned in, panting.

“Mun-yeong...” he growled, biting back a moan at the feeling of her body pressed between his and the wall, his hips rutting against her without his permission, “You cannot just take everything you want.”

Her eyes showed triumph as she turned her teasing gaze up to him and pressed herself harder against him, retorting, “I can. You want this too. Take it.”

To prove her point she reached her free hand up, gripping the back of his hair, pulling his head backwards as she ground herself against his erection. A long moan escaped him, unbidden, and he arched against her, the fist in his hair setting a fire within that his control could not put out immediately. He rolled his hips, thrusting against her movements, and a deep growl formed in his chest as he felt himself pull away. His body demanded that he return to her, that he rip her nightgown off of her, bend her over the sink, and fill her with his seed. Never had he wanted a woman the way he wanted Mun-yeong. But his shell of cold control was not broken yet. His safety pin was dislodged, but not pulled. He needed to get in that cold shower before she broke him entirely.

Hearing her scoff as he tugged away, turning to lean his hands on the counter, dropping his head to catch his breath, he said in a strained voice, “Mun-yeong. I need to shower. This isn’t appropriate.”

There was a pause, and he turned to see her straighten from the wall, composing herself. The glimpse of her undone, the momentary view of her eyes closed, lips parted as she caught her breath against the wall very nearly undid him. This was too dangerous. He was too close to letting himself take her, and as much as he wanted to sink himself into her, he had to be responsible. He was so fucking sick of being responsible.

Turning to the shower, he reached in, turning on the water, but she spoke behind him once more, “Appropriate? What is inappropriate about doing what you want? You want me and I want you. Should we fuck in the shower? It’s a bit awkward, but if that’s what you like-”

He cut her off, turning and clamping a hand over her mouth, his eyes hard as he intoned, “Stop. Please. I...”

He but back a huff of frustration, then met her eyes, saying, “I am going to shower. Alone.”

He then turned, opening the door and standing in wait for her to leave. She stood her ground, her eyes sending a challenge to him, his groin beginning to ache with need as he noticed that her hair was mussed and pink tinted her cheeks, reminding of her arching beneath him in his dream. Moaning out a curse, he stepped forward, sliding a hand over her hair to smooth it, asking her with his eyes to take pity on him. She sighed, placing her hand squarely over his dick, meeting his eyes.

“This will belong to me,” she said, her gaze direct and firm as she held his eyes, then she strode out, closing the door behind her.

Gang-tae nearly sank to the floor in frustration and confusion. Swaying back against the wall, he screwed his eyes shut tight, catching his breath. He felt his hips jerk as he fought the urge to go slam her against a wall and thrust into her until he’d wrung every bit of pleasure from them both. Wrenching his pants open, he peeled his ruined underwear down, freeing his cock finally. His hand wrapped around the base, squeezing as a whimper sounded from him. Kicking his pants and underwear away, he stroked himself slowly, stepping into the shower. The warm water enveloped him, and he gave in. No cold shower today. He was too far gone for that. His forearm slammed into the shower wall as he leaned forward, resting his head on the wall just below his fisted hand, his other hand working his length in long, tightly gripped strokes.

Eyes closed tight, he sank into the memory of the dream, his breathing stuttering as he pictured it once again. He’d laid Dream-Mun-yeong back on the couch, positioning himself over her, his hips dancing between her thighs, thrusting against her bare core with his clothed cock fighting to free itself and sink into her. Her hand had still been fisted in his hair, and he still felt the tingle of pain from her doing just that moments ago in this bathroom. His breath stuttered and his hand sped. Dream-Mun-yeong had pulled his mouth from her neck, dragging him in for a kiss that had his head spinning. Her lips finally met his, her tongue sliding past them almost immediately. She took control of the kiss, her other hand coming up to join the one fisted in his hair.

He had cried out into the kiss, and she took the moment to pull him back, her eyes meeting his. The unspoken connection between them had intensified and she’d thrown her head back, arching as she moved his mouth to her chest. He panted, stroking himself harder as he remembered the feel of her soft breasts against his lips, the sound of her cries as he wrapped his lips around her nipple and bit down. He slowed his hand as he felt his climax approaching, wanting to enjoy this, wanting to relive the entire dream. She had bucked, squirming as his mouth had worked across her chest, paying equal hungry attention to each breast. But all too soon, the grip in his hair had begun to push him further down.

He had left marks of his hunger across her skin as he worked his way down, kneeling between her thighs, and finally finding himself breathing his heavy breaths into her core. His head had turned, sucking deep bruises into the skin of her inner thighs as she’d tried to guide his mouth to her opening. Her voice crying out, first commanding, then begging for him to give her what she wanted had brought his desire to a throbbing ache in his groin, and he had finally relented, moving to slip his tongue up her opening. Her back had arched hard, presenting herself up to him, and he’d taken her offering, fully. His tongue had explored her fervently, sliding inside and reaching for every corner before moving to flatten against her clit. Closing his lips to create suction around her, one of his hands had come up to slide a finger into her, slipping in with ease.

Her hips had trembled as he curled his finger inside of her, swiping his tongue over the clit he had sucked hard between his lips. Feeding in another finger, he had began to press them up into her, working his tongue on her in response to every moan and tug she gave him. Too soon she was ripping him away from her, her hips shaking hard as his fingers kept working, and she pulled him back up harshly to give him a rough kiss, his lips still slippery with her juices.

“Stop,” she’d rasped out, moving a hand to still the wrist still working between her legs, “I want to cum with you inside me.”

That had been the final blow to his control, and once more he had to slow himself in the shower, his cock twitching hard in his hand as he very nearly came undone at the memory of her dreamed words. Dream-Gang-tae had snapped, yanking his fingers from her and kissing her hard, breaking her hold on his hair before wrapping an arm around her and lifting, slamming her back against the wall of the sitting room. He’d pressed his body against hers, kissing her wildly, ignoring her gasp of shock and pressing himself tight between the legs she had wrapped around his hips once more, instinctively. He’d pulled away only long enough to rip open his pants, taking out his leaking cock and stroking his hand over once before pressing to her once more, lifting her as his lips took her once more.

Her legs had encircled his hips once more and he had slid his length along her folds, growling deep into the kisses he worked over her throat and shoulders. Her small body had writhed and struggled against his, her hips trying to catch his, trying to slide him into her. He had pulled his hips back, removing his mouth to hold her gaze as he thrust hard into her, seating himself fully. Her head had thrown back, a long cry erupting from her as he froze, then began to roll his hips, thrusting slow and hard into her, one of his hands gripping her ass and the other fisted against the wall above their heads. In the shower, Gang-tae began to tremble, his hips slamming into his hand in mimicry of how he had fucked Mun-yeong in his dream.

As he felt his climax rising once more, he let his memory languor over the moment in the dream that Mun-yeong had slid a hand down her own body, her fingers finding her clit. She had tightened around him, her walls clamping down as her body had bowed, her orgasm stealing his breath as he had thrust steadily, riding it out, watching her head thrash, gritting his teeth against thrusting faster, wanting to finish her before he finished himself. A long moan rumbled up from his chest as his thrusts stuttered, hard streams of his cum splattering the wall of the shower as he sank into the memory of the dream, Dream-Mun-yeong having fallen still and wrung limp in his arms, catching her breath as she clenched in waves around his cock, milking him into a climax that had him burying himself deep in her, grinding his hips hard as he had filled her with hot spurt after spurt of thick cum.

Finally his shoulders dropped, his hand still clamped tight around his cock, his body drained as he played the last bits of the still vivid dream through his mind, sinking into the sweet relaxation he only felt after a release. Dream-Gang-tae had leaned into Dream-Mun-yeong’s arms as they had slipped up around his neck. He had slowly wrapped trembling arms around her waist, not disconnecting their bodies, and carried her to the couch once more, laying her back on it and only sliding from within her to lay beside her on the couch, pulling her body flush against his and closing his eyes. Taking a long, deep breath, Gang-tae groaned as he straightened, turning to put his face under the hot water, trying to wash away the memory now that he had allowed himself to indulge.

Wiping the water from his face, he turned to grab the shampoo, and froze as his eyes found the door open once more, Mun-yeong standing in the doorway, her eyes sharp, her teasing smile replaced by a hunger that Gang-tae hadn’t seen from her before.

Shit.

[redstainedsocks]

A Little Comfort

Warnings: box boy universe, dehumanization, memory loss mention, vaguely fucky thought processes, people as pets. Mostly nice things this time though!

Word count: 2,255

Tag list: @haro-whumps, @theycomeinthrees, @whumpthisway, @samanddeaninpanties, @teachunks, @draganies, @pepperonyscience, @whump-it, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @untilthepainstarts, @galaxywhump

Kit has a nice evening!

It had been a strange evening. Emile, for the first time ever, had agreed to let Libby close up shop and make sure all the store pets and Kit were secure for the night. She’d chosen to stay through the evening, something Kit could not comprehend. Didn’t she have a home? Somewhere better to be than the mostly bare room where he lived in the upstairs apartment?

He’d offered to cook for her, but found the cupboards relatively bare. With a wince he’d apologised and explained that Emile hadn’t restocked his supplies yet. She’d frowned in concern and he’d worried he’d made her mad until she asked what he wanted to eat, saying she would go get take-out food from one of the restaurants a few streets over. When he couldn’t tell her what food he liked from any of them, having no memory of ever having tried their various cuisines, her face lit up and she’d bought a small selection of her favourite dishes. All for him to try. All for him.

And they’d sat at the table, together. She’d talked to him, told him some things about her life, her studies. He knew her favourite colour now—peach. Her favourite shade of lipstick—dark red. He knew she liked butterflies and wanted a tattoo of one, and he’d only shivered for a moment at the ghastly idea of letting someone like Brandon mark her skin.

It was all very strange. He felt a little overwhelmed, if he was honest. In a good way, like he’d been full up of good things and didn’t know how to hold it all inside himself.

But now… now she was saying he didn’t have to do what Emile expected, and he was confused because she seemed annoyed about it. He’d said she should leave, that his routine was boring for the rest of the evening but she’d elected to stay anyway.

“Um, no I, I have to. I just have to do this, I’ll be quick, I can be quick. I’m sorry, please, I have to.”

Libby’s face softened into a smile, and she lightly touched his arm. “Sure, alright, you don’t need to apologise. Can I sit with you, then?”

“If you want to.” You’re a free person, he thought, do what you want. He frowned at the thought, wondering where it came from. All people were free, that was just the order of things.

He settled onto his knees, and clipped the metal rod between his collar and the wall and closed his eyes. Libby made a short strangled huff but he couldn’t turn to look at her. “It doesn’t hurt,” he said, hoping it might be some comfort.

“Well, no, but it’s not nice. I didn’t know you had to do this kind of thing.”

“What kind of thing?” He asked, eyes opening. She settled down next to him and he felt her warmth, and then the waterfall of her hair filled the side of his vision as she sat with her back to the wall, close enough he would have been able to see her if he could turn his head.

“This, stupid pet stuff. Dominance stuff. I thought… I don’t know, maybe that he just left you alone? That at worst you were lonely.”

He resolved not to tell her about the punishments, about all the times he screwed up and Emile had to hurt him. Or about all the times Brandon liked to play with him, and Emile just let it happen. He didn’t want to distress her more. “But I am a pet?” He replied instead.

“I know,” she said quietly and moved to grip his hand where it rested on his thigh. She squeezed once and he startled, but then squeezed back.

“He... Sir only does what he needs to do… for me to know what I’m supposed to do. It’s okay.”

“If you say so.”

His thoughts turned in strange circles, wondering what she was really having a problem with. Maybe he just looked bad, and she liked it when he looked better than this?

“I’ll be done soon,” he whispered.

“Do you just sit here or is there chanting or something?”

“I’m just supposed to think about things. Uhh, Emile says it’s to ‘remember my place, and be grounded in what I am’.”

“What are you thinking about now?”

“Um.” Usually, he wouldn’t answer a question like that honestly. Usually he’d lie and say the right thing, what the person asking wanted to hear. The thing was, he couldn’t tell what Libby wanted to hear. “I’m just, I wonder why I’ve upset you? If you tell me, then I’ll know not to do it again.”

“You haven’t upset me. You’ve done nothing wrong, Kit.”

“Oh. Good?” He swelled with pride to hear someone say that. He felt warm, on the inside, he felt good. “Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

“For sharing nice things, for staying with me, for bringing me food and letting me—I sat at the table with you and you talked to me. It… that doesn’t happen much.”

Her hand slowly came into view and unclipped the restraint tethering him where he was supposed to be. He gasped and stiffened. “No, wait—”

“Kit, look at me.” She placed both palms on the sides of his face and his eyes went wide. She turned his head, gently. “You are very welcome, but those are just normal things, you don’t have to thank me for treating you nicely.”

He shuffled backwards so he could look at her properly and she dropped her hands. “But. See, but, you treated me like a person? And I’m not—I’m not—”

“Not what?” A small crinkle appeared between her eyebrows. “Not allowed?”

He nodded, and hummed, twisted his mouth while he thought about it. He always felt so much less sure of himself around her, like the world was in tumult because everything he thought he knew was challenged. Everything he was trained to expect seemed to be ignored. “Not allowed, or not supposed to, but that wasn’t what I was going to say. It’s silly.”

She only smiled, and raised her eyebrows. “Sillier than us sitting on the floor when there’s perfectly good furniture around?”

“Furniture is for people.”

“Yes?”

“And you treat me like one, sometimes. But I’m not. I’m-not-a-person.” He said it in a rush, each word blending into the next. It was a silly thing to say, because of course he wasn’t a person, he knew that, everyone knew that.

“What do you think you are, Kit?” She looked suddenly serious, her eyes intently boring into his.

“I’m a pet,” he said simply, and smiled. The truth was easy. The truth didn’t hurt. The truth didn’t batter down on blurry memories or wrong thoughts until his head ached. The truth just… was.

She crinkled her nose in a frown and moved to sit crossed legged. He copied her. “Right. I mean, yes. But, where do you think pets come from?”

“The trainers,” he said with a shiver, his eyes flicked to the corners of the room, like one might materialise, like they might be summoned by the mere mention of them.

“And before that?”

“There is no before that.”

“Really? Do you really believe that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Stop… stop asking me. I don’t, don’t want to remember, the… it hurts. Please?”

“Sorry, right. Uhh, let’s focus on now. You look like a person, you sound like a person, don’t you? Do you see any difference?”

His hand moved automatically to his collar, and he swallowed. She was asking him all the things he asked himself, on the days he had time and clear thoughts to manage it. She was poking at things he tried hard to understand, and still always came up short.

“You have a collar, yeah.” she nodded, “Someone put it on you. If I put one on, would I stop being a person?”

“No, because you are a person. The collar would just be something you wore. But don’t! Don’t do that, someone might see, and think the wrong thing and take you away. You shouldn’t, it… Libby it would be bad.”

“I’m not going to. I just wondered if you thought about it, about what the difference is. Calm down, it’s alright.”

His shortened breaths whistled through his nose, and he twitched his lips to feel the scar tissue stretch and pull. She breathed with him, until he settled. She wasn’t going away, she wasn’t going to try and pretend to be a pet. “I think about things all the time,” he admitted in a strained voice. “I’m not supposed to, I don’t think, but there isn’t much else to do.”

She looked around the mostly bare apartment, eyes landing on his meagre pile of belongings and thin pet bed. She grunted. “Yeah, you got that right.” She sighed and leaned back against the wall. “So, the collar is what makes you not a person?”

He thought about it, the constriction around his throat was always present in the back of his mind. It was there, but what it represented went deeper. “No, it’s… I don’t know what the word is. It’s a… a, it just shows what I am, on the inside?”

“A symbol?”

That sounded right, so he nodded. He hated when he couldn’t find words, when he knew what he meant but had no way to say it.

“So what makes me a person, and what makes you… not?” She sounded sad, but when he glanced up she looked curious, focused.

“I don’t have people things,” he said quietly. “People have…” he trailed off. Swallowed against a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach, like he was missing something and it hurt. “People have lives. Homes and possessions, and jobs, and—and friends and families, and… and memories. I just have—” he gestured around the apartment, and up at his throat. “I can’t be a person. I’m not the same, I don’t have any of those things.”

“And you think that makes you a pet, like an animal?”

He scrunched up his face in distaste. “Not an animal. Something else. Just not like you.” People were mean, they were cruel, and thoughtless. They looked down on him, sneered at him like they were better than him and the pets in his care. Or they were too sweet, smothering and cloying and too close, wanting to touch and pet and stroke. He was never like that, so he couldn’t be a person. Libby wasn’t like that either, usually, not most of the time. “Not like them,” he amended, “you’re nicer than them, too.”

“Oh, Kit.” She moved in one fluid motion and wrapped her arms around him. “You’re so much smarter than anyone gives you credit for.”

He smiled against her shoulder, happy in the embrace, until the clock on the cooker beeped at him. He stiffened. “I have to go to bed.” He extricated himself and turned off the alarm.

She gathered up her things and turned to leave. “I guess, I have to lock you in right?” She bit her lip, looking nervously between him and the door. “It doesn’t seem very safe, locking you up here.”

He shrugged, it’s what always happened.

“And you’re just going to go right to sleep? Alone?” Her eyes flicked to the thin bed on the floor and she scowled.

“Well, I…” he smiled a little. “I haven’t watched any T.V yet today, because you were here. And I’m allowed some every night, Sir has it on a timer. I’ll probably watch until I fall asleep. And then it goes off all by itself.”

“Oh, that sounds… nice?”

He nodded. “I thought we might have watched together, umm, I could show you what I like. But I do have to go to sleep.”

She gently placed her things on the table. “I can stay and watch with you until you fall asleep, I don’t mind that.”

So that’s exactly what they did, once he cleaned up in the small bathroom and changed into the loose sleep pants, he curled up on his bed with his head pillowed on his arm, and let the television play softly on the opposite wall. She sat next to him, her arm resting lightly on his hip.

He smiled tentatively at her and her eyes lit up in reply, but she focused mostly on the screen on the wall. And the smaller screen she gripped in her hand, too. She kept flicking her eyes between the two, chewing on her lip.

“Libby, is everything okay?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes.” She soothed his arm with one hand and then typed a short message on her phone. “Just something I had to decide about, it’s fine. Don’t worry.”

People things, then. Not for him to know. He turned back to the television and closed his eyes. The blue light flickered behind his eyelids in the otherwise dark room, Libby was warm beside him, he was full of food, and any nerves over their conversation slipped away. Sleep came easily, and he pretended he didn’t wake up and notice when the television switched off and the room went silent, when Libby sighed and quietly stood. He pretended he didn’t hear the door open, close, and be locked from the outside. He pretended he was still asleep and it was all a dream; that he wasn’t trapped, or alone, that Libby was still beside him, and the evening hadn’t ended.

[barnesthesarge]

Here For You (4)

Bucky X Enhanced!Reader

Summary: The Avengers have a new enhanced on their radar when they run into you during a HYDRA extraction mission.

Warnings: swearing, violence

A/N: I FUCJING HATE WRITING THE WORD SUIT BECAUSE I ALWAYS WRITE SHIT FIRST

TAGLIST: @ellaorelizabeth @dreamyalienz

“Y/N, I’m sure you’ve tried on your suit?” Tony had his eyebrows up expectantly.

You gave him a funny look, “Tony Stark gives you a new sick-ass suit and you expect that I didn’t try it on as soon as I was alone?” You teased and he grinned.

“Good, you’re going on a test run today, I’m sending you with Wilson and Barnes, data collect. You’ll be briefed in an hour on the Quinjet, be ready.” You grinned, your very first mission.

“I will, thank you Tony.” Tony patted your shoulder and left on the elevator, Bucky snuck up around you and grabbed the coffee pot, purposely getting in your space.

“Hey doll.” He greeted, “excited for today?”

“Hell yes I am.” In turn you got in Bucky’s space to grab sugar for your coffee, shoving your side into his.

“D’ya mind?” He smirked and jabbed your side, and threw his metal arm around you before you could even scram. “I’m excited to see how your training has paid off. You kicked my ass before you even had training, I can’t wait to see what you can do now.”

“Two weeks of training isn’t much, Fucky.” He side-eyed you.

“You better watch yourself.” He threatened playfully.

“Why? You just said I could kick your ass.” You turned and booped his nose, squirming out of his arm to drink your coffee at the table.

Steve put his newspaper down, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, “So, you two..” Bucky sat down beside you with his eyebrows raised, then shaking his head at Steve. “I’m just saying be safe and watch each other’s backs, Y/N this is your first mission, I have a feeling Bucky is your backup and Sam is gonna watch from above. Don’t be too nervous but don’t go in cocky, alright?” He winked at Bucky. “Watch her back punk.” He went back to his newspaper and Bucky looked at you with a funny face.

“Truth, honor..” he mouthed at you, you smacked his arm as Sam walked in to make his own coffee. “You’ll do great doll, if you can kick my ass, you can kick anyone’s ass.”

Sam perked up, “The ability to kick your ass is easy Barnes.”

You raised one eyebrow, “Sounds like a challenge, you trying to start something?” Sam smiled at that.

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not, we’ll just have to see how much your combat has paid off, newbie.”

“I wouldn’t do it Sam, Y/N is kinda tough.” Bucky coughed.

“Yeah but I can kick your ass Tin Man. Easy.”

“Tin man?” You giggled, and Bucky groaned.

“Don’t give her anymore bad nicknames, Bird, I’ll end you.”

———————————————————————

The mission was easy, data extraction, get in get out. You’d done more at a HYDRA facility alone, without a map, and without a fancy suit. Your new suit was made of thick material that was somehow still good on mobility, even though it was tight. It came with boots fitted perfectly for your running capabilities. Tony had even gone the lengths to get you eyewear that was like Sam’s, showing you threats and anything else you could need.

The suit was all black and beautiful, you loved the way it looked, it was sleek and fitting. Bucky sat next to you on the Quinjet and listened to you talk about it for ages.

“It does look really cool doll.” He said, “Makes you look badass.”

“You guys are gross.” Sam chided and you raised your eyebrows.

“What are you saying.” You crossed your arms and he chuckled.

“If I knew I’d be third wheeling the whole time I would’ve made Vision go.” Bucky tensed.

“We aren’t a couple.” You informed and Sam looked at Bucky weirdly.

“Then quit acting like it, I’m talking to you, Terminator.”

“We’ve arrived.” FRIDAY spoke over the intercom, you slipped in the comm you were given and smiled at Bucky.

“See you soon Sam-I-am.” You winked and ran alongside Bucky into position.

Sam made his rounds from up above and confirmed it was safe to proceed, Bucky ran slower to make sure you could keep up. You made a staircase so neither of you had to climb the fence. You’d also opened the door and took out for the first wave of agents.

“Jeez Doll, you gonna let me do anything?” You flashed him a grin and gasped when several agents started down the hallway with big guns.

You threw a shield between you and them, looking to Bucky, “We need to get down this hallway, the room is just to the right..wait! I just remembered!” You formed a gun out of your powers, something your personal coach taught you.

“Yeah that’s great and all, but that pistol isn’t gonna get us through those guys, and something tells me more are coming.” Bucky chuckled and you nodded.

“This is gonna be gross.” You used your powers to slice the agent’s in half, all falling down and becoming nothing instantly, “come on.” You grabbed Bucky’s hand and built a bridge up, pulling him into the room.

You shut the door and gave Bucky the flash drive, “Alright, be my Yoda. Where do I put it?” Bucky raised an eyebrow.

“Doll I haven’t watched Star Wars.” You rolled your eyes and shoved him forward and watched Bucky plug it in. The computer began flashing and doing all the work for you.

“Hey, heads up guys, FRIDAY says the self destruct on the building is activated, you have five minutes.” Sam was in the middle of fighting too, you hoped he was good on his own.

“Oh fun, I love time limits.” Bucky grunted, the flash drive was only 33% complete. Bucky pulled out his gun. “And someone’s coming.”

“Shit, here!” You blocked the door off and Bucky sighed.

“No no, that doesn’t eliminate the threat, let me go kick ass.” You nodded and Bucky stepped outside, you heard gunshots in the hall and prayed that they were only from Bucky’s gun.

“Three minutes.” Sam said just as the flash drive finished. You unplugged it and shoved it into a pocket.

“The flash drive is done, Bucky let’s get out of here.” You threw open the door and went towards the gun shots, helping Bucky finish someone off. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Lead the way Dollface.” You didn’t run into any more agents as you both used your staircase over the fence again, running back to the jet. Once you were inside, the whole place exploded, flames rising in the sky, smoke billowing. The sounds of the building structure groaning and collapsing loud and prominent.

The Quinjet started immediately and flew away, “How’d it go?” Sam asked, a sense of proudness in his voice, it made you feel good.

“Y/N kicked ass! I barely had to do anything!” Bucky jabbed at your side excitedly, “You were so awesome out there.”

You shrugged it off, “the training paid off, I couldn’t have done it without that.”

“Psh, I’ve seen you do it without training.” Bucky winked and you flushed.

“Sounds like you kept Barnes occupied with nothing, Bucky can I get a word in the medbay really quick?” Sam dragged Bucky into a separate room so you walked across the room and got a water.

You could get used to this.

———————————————————————

Bucky kept thinking about what Sam said. Sam pulled him into the medbay, “Bucky please tell me you asked out Y/N already.”

“What?” Bucky was shocked, “Why would I do that?” He chuckled, trying to act cool.

“Because you like her? And she obviously likes you back?” Sam rolled his eyes.

“Y/N sees me as a friend, that’s it.” He paused, “And so do I about-towards her.”

“Don’t be stupid Bucky, a girl like that doesn’t come around often, and a girl like that doesn’t always like you back. Ask her out, and if she’s not into it just say you meant it in a friendly way.” He scolded and then left the room.

Bucky now raised his fist and knocked on your door, “Come in!” You yelled. He opened the door and sat on your bed, both of you freshly showered.

“Hey Y/N.” He greeted, he watched you type away furiously on your laptop.

“One sec Buck, I’m almost done with my report.” You typed for another thirty seconds and then stopped, “There we go.”

“I finished mine in like two minutes because you did everything.” Bucky grinned at you proudly, it was amazing to see the way you focused when using your powers.

“Oh shut it. You’re being modest.” He rolled his eyes and pinched your cheek, you swatted his hand away.

“Anyways Doll, I was thinking..to celebrate a successful mission, why don’t we go out together and grab dinner, just me and you.” You raised your brows.

“Just us? Sam was there too y’know.” You giggled.

“Do you like him or something? I think he’s a bit of a punk.” Bucky teased, but suddenly nervous.

“Sam’s cool, I just figure if we’re celebrating a mission we should invite the people involved, plus I need more friends.” You shrugged.

“Oh well let me rephrase it, I want to celebrate how much of a good team we make.” He saw you frown, “there’s always plenty of time to make friends with everyone else.”

“Alright sure, yeah we can go out.” He saw a thoughtful look in your eyes, “Just me and you.”

———————————————————————

“Bucky this place is a bit fancy.” You chuckled nervously, he had an arm linked with yours as your waiter brought you to your table. It was in the back of the restaurant, a restaurant that was rather fancy for two friends celebrating success.

Bucky again pushed your chair in for you, and sat down across from you, in the center of the table was a candle. “Tony suggested it doll, and I figure why not? Only the best for you.” He winked, flashing you a million dollar smile.

Bucky looked handsome tonight, his hair in a low-hanging bun, and a nice three-piece suit. He had a red tie to match your dress, he told you it mattered that you both match. “That’s awfully sappy for you, Fucky.”

“Sappy? Aw man, I was hoping you were into that.” He chuckled, the waiter came back with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

You took a sip of your wine, “Since when do you care what I’m into?”

Bucky’s brows furrowed, “Well I figure since you’re staying in one place you might wanna find someone.”

“Oh?” You blurted, Bucky’s face looked panicked.

“Yeah because—um—maybe I might know someone you’d..like?” He spit out.

“No thanks Buck, I don’t wanna date any of your friends.” You bit your cheek.

“What if I know someone who likes you?” Bucky just about whispered, he was leaning across the table now, two strands of hair on each side poking out.

“Like..someone I know?” You felt stupid.

“Yeah you know him..he’s just really scared.” You frowned.

“Like how scared? Do I even talk to him?” You barked a laugh.

“Doll yes, why don’t you just tell me your type and I’ll let you know if you’d be into him.”

“You think I have a type?” You cocked a brow.

“There’s gotta be something?” Bucky’s cheeks heated up.

“What’s your type?” You were trying to change the subject.

“Y/N, my type doesn’t even matter in this situation.”

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” You excused yourself without another word. You felt stupid leaving because the conversation was steering somewhere uncomfortable. You felt even dumber realizing that Bucky didn’t like you the way you liked him.

When you returned, there was dinner rolls at the table. “Hey doll, I ordered for you.”

“Thanks.” You sat back down and drank the rest of your glass of wine. “Did you see that the live music just arrived?”

“I did actually, maybe we should go dance before our food comes. It’ll be a bit.” He suggested.

“Dance?” You turned your head to see a bunch of couples slow dancing on the floor in front of the live music.

“Yeah doll, what do’ya say?” He stood up and held his hand out to you.

“Sure.” You took his hand, trying to avoid awkwardness. Bucky brought you over to the makeshift dance floor and put one hand on your waist, his metal one holding yours as he led you.

You swayed with him slowly, he pulled you a bit closer, “you know somethin’ doll?” He chuckled and moved closer to whisper in your ear, “You still didn’t tell me your type, I’m trying to be a hype-man here.” You felt chills crawl up your spine.

“Bucky..” you looked at him softly, “I don’t know who you’re trying to set me up with, but I promise you there’s only one guy I’ve had my eyes on and he doesn’t feel the same.” He raised his eyebrows.

“Who?” You rolled your eyes, “No I’m serious, it might be the same guy I’m talking about.”

You looked away from him, a huff escaping your mouth, “I don’t want to talk about this. If I wanted you to know about my nonexistent love life, you would.”

The rest of the dance was silent, when the song ended you pulled away and went back to the table. Bucky tried to get your chair but you shot him a glare. He sat back down across from you.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” He mumbled guiltily.

“It’s whatever.” Food was set down in front of both of you and the waiter came back with more wine. Dinner was awkward and quiet, neither of you wanted to stay for dessert, and when you finally got home you didn’t even thank him for dinner, instead you went into your room and shut the door, locking it behind you.

You felt like garbage, Bucky wasn’t interested in being anything more than friends, and you were sure of that now. You hated that he wanted to match, it didn’t matter. Between the two of you was nothing more than a friendship, you felt so stupid for thinking otherwise.

———————————————————————

Y/N hadn’t talked to Bucky in days, he hated that you instead spent your free time in the gym with earbuds in, or spending time with Sam. He hated that he was jealous of Sam even though you weren’t as nearly close to him as you were with him.

He watched now as you threw your head back and laughed about something he said. He couldn’t even tell if you were mad or upset, either way he couldn’t help but think about how stupid he was to try and confess his feelings over dinner. He couldn’t stop bringing it up no matter how uncomfortable you looked. He just wanted you to know, and he felt like he was screaming out into the void about it right now. Hearing your laugh directed at someone else was debilitating.

He couldn’t take it, he stepped into the dining room, interrupting Sam, “Y/N can I talk to you about something, please?”

You looked up at him, a frown on your features, it stung like poison. “Yeah I guess. I’ll see you later Sam.” You were wearing a sundress and sandals, were you going somewhere?

You followed him into his room, he turned the light on to reveal an unmade bed, and books scattered around his bed. “Sorry about the mess, I-I’ve just been lonely.”

“You’ve survived an entire year without me, don’t be so dramatic.” Bucky laughed at that.

“It’s one thing to not see or hear from you over the course of a year, and another to have you at an arms reach and feel like you’ve never been farther.” You shook your head at him.

“You could’ve talked to me. It’s not like I told you to fuck off or anything.” Bucky scoffed.

“You would’ve!—Not my point. Look there’s something I wanted to tell you, and I was trying to tell you at dinner but I went about it the wrong way and I’m sorry for making you so uncomfortable.” You crossed your arms.

“You’re still trying to pry into my love life? What is the deal Bucky? It’s not like it’s your business?” He sighed and shut his eyes.

“Doll please liste—“ you stopped him.

“You know I actually asked FRIDAY what that stupid pet name means right?” He opened his eyes and stared at you dumbfounded, had you figured out his feelings? Were you mad? “I’m not your girl Bucky. And honestly it’s not cool to tease people about their feelings. I thought you were my friend at the minimum. I don’t even think a decent person would tease someone else like tha—“

“Y/N listen to me! Please!” His arms shot out and you stopped moving. “I don’t even know in the slightest what you’re going on about. I’ve never once teased you about anything except for when I flirt with you, which brings me to my main point of what I’ve been trying to say but failing badly. I..I like you Y/N.” It was like the world around him stopped, but you shot him a weird look.

“Are you pulling my leg?” You asked him seriously.

“No doll I’m not pulling your leg. I’ve had a stupidly large crush on you since we first met in that stupid HYDRA facility.” He stopped talking for effect, “Having you away from me for a year might’ve made it deeper.”

“God you should’ve seen my newspaper collection of articles about you.” You blurted suddenly, “Or maybe I should tell you I thought about you every day, and sometimes that you were my only tether to sanity. You got under my skin and never fucking left.”

“Wait is this a confession on your part too?” Bucky had an amused expression on his face, “Please don’t stop talking about your secret shrine of me.”

You opened your mouth to say something snarky but began to laugh instead. You leaned your forehead into his shoulder, “You did such a horrible job trying to tell me over dinner.”

“Don’t remind me doll.” He kissed your hair, “I want nothing more than to go back and smack myself, or maybe just tell you.”

You looked up to him finally, his lips were just inches from yours. He closed the distance between the two of you and kissed you slowly. He pulled away too soon and studied you carefully.

“Want to go on a real date tonight?” He questioned.

You raised your eyebrows at him, “Yes..yeah!” You broke into a grin, “I’d love to go on a date.”

———————————————————————

Bucky found himself in Tony’s office, looking smug. “What do you need Barnes? Calibration off in your arm again?”

“I have a date tonight.” He smirked as Tony turned around, looking shocked.

“Who’s the unlucky lady?” Tony asked, making Bucky beam even prouder.

“Y/N.” Tony dropped his tool on the floor and choked on nothing.

“WHAT!”

———————————————————————

You danced with Bucky comfortably, him whispering jokes into your ear. You grinned up at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Am I allowed to tell you how handsome you look?”

“Depends.” Bucky had chosen a much better restaurant this time, it was smaller and less fancy, which made you feel less self conscious.

“On what?” You gave his metal hand a squeeze and saw a quick upturn of his lips.

“If I get to tell you that you look beautiful.” You rolled your eyes at him, still having a hard time not smiling at him.

“You’re the worst, I’ll start calling you Yucky.” Bucky barked a brief laugh and started bringing you back towards the table where food was arriving.

“Only if I get to be your Yucky Bucky.” Your eyes widened as he helped you with your chair again.

“That’s the most terrible-horrible-grossest thing you’ve ever said to me.” You started, “I hate it so much. I think my phone is ringing for an unknown emergency so this date is gonna have to end.” You teased.

“Jeez Doll, I thought you were serious for a moment.” Bucky started cutting his steak.

“I was.” You winked at him. “Can we get ice cream after this?”

“It’s pretty late darling.” You pouted, groaning exasperatedly.

“Well if I knew I was going on a date with a grumpy old man, I would’ve taken Sam instead. I bet Sam would take me to ice cream.” You held back a laugh when Bucky almost spit his food out in horror.

“Fine we’ll get ice cream!”

———————————————————————

“There’s an enhanced on the radar, it’s gotta be her.”

“Shut the fuck up Scott, I’d hope that was obvious. Everybody get ready, she’s coming.” You burst into the room and put a shield between yourself and every armed soldier.

“Are you guys talkin’ bout me? My ears are ringing?” You chuckled and Bucky came in through the backdoor and took out every soldier with his large gun.

“See I told you it was a good idea!” Bucky beamed at you, dropping his tough-guy act in seconds.

“I still stand by the fact I could’ve done it quicker. And it wouldn’t waste ammunition.” Bucky rolled his eyes and pulled out his flash drive, downloading needed data while you kept watch.

You took out a helicopter trying to escape, watching as it landed harshly in the woods in front of the HYDRA facility and erupted in flames.

“Remind me to never piss you off.” Bucky bit his lip and put the flash drive in his pocket. “Shall we finish this?” You nodded, heading off in the opposite direction of him.

By the time you were finished with your mission, three giant enhanced soldiers were knocked out and taken in a separate jet to Bruce, and Bucky looked more exhausted than you.

“Goodness, you break a hip or something?” You patted his shoulder and handed him a water bottle while FRIDAY brought you both back to the compound.

“Doesn’t that come later?” He wiggled his eyebrows at you suggestively.

“I can’t believe you just tried to seduce me by accepting an old-man joke.” Bucky gasped.

“Is it not working?” A frown appeared on his face.

“No it is.” You winked at him and pressed a firm kiss to his lips.

“God I love you.” He stood up to go back to kissing you.

“I love you too.”

———————————————————————

A/N: I think I’m done with this? Idk maybe I’ll come back and write a longer ending but yeah I hope you all enjoyed!

[mindfulwrathwrites]

The Luminiferous Aether

Another prompt-based snippet, this one for the prompt: “Write a genre blend of high fantasy and science fiction”

Words: 1,041 Warnings: None

Heimlich thundered down the stairs to where Killian and Rhokax were double-checking the star chart. He pulled up with a crisp salute. The steel heels of his dwarven boots spat a spark as they crashed together.

"Cap'n," he said. "Our sensors are picking up a region of turbulent aether ahead."

"Too large to navigate around?" Killian asked.

"Aye, Cap'n, unless we want to lose three days on the shipment."

Rhokax took out a red illumined pencil and poised it inside the chart. Heimlich rattled off the coordinates of the turbulence, and Rhokax colored in a sprawling volume. Killian scratched xyr jaw, coarse with stubble. Xe drummed xyr fingers on the table, staring (most appropriately) into space.

"How turbulent?" xe asked.

"Difficult to say, Cap'n," said Heimlich. "The sensors say it's a Class 2, at worst, but Sylgwyn reckons it looks buggerish."

"Do we have visual?"

"Barely, Cap'n."

Killian put on xyr helmet and straightened up. "Lieutenant Theldal, get to charting us a course through the edges of the region. We can weather a Class 2 if it means we only lose one day instead of three."

"Can we afford to lose one day, Captain?" Rhokax asked, raising a brow ridge.

"I'd rather lose a day than a ship, Lieutenant."

She inclined her head. Her tongue flicked out to wet her eyeballs. "Understood."

Together, Heimlich and Killian tromped up onto the deck. The current was fast, bright, and strong, scintillating against the sails and drenching the ship in light. Killian pulled the visor on xyr helmet down, cutting the glare by half.

"You'll be needing to put that back up to see it, Cap'n," Heimlich told xem. He had to raise his voice over the roar of the aether. "We're still a few leagues off, and it's no all that bright."

"When I'm looking for it, Heimlich, I'll be sure to do that," xe said.

"Ah, right ye will, then. It's a bit off the starboard bow, be easier to see if we've nae got the sails shining on us."

They made their way to the bow of the ship, where flecks of light splashed onto the deck like embers. Heimlich pointed to a spot about ten degrees to starboard. Killian squinted, shaded xyr eyes, lifted xyr visor and looked again.

"I still don't see it," xe said to Heimlich.

"Be honest wi' you, Cap'n, no more do I," he said. "Sensors see it right enough, though, so I thought it was just my dwarven eyes."

"Take heart, then; my human eyes are having just as much trouble."

"Must be just the elf eyes, then, 'cos Sylgwyn says it's plain as day, and the other elves agree wi' her."

Killian averted xyr eyes to stare straight over the bow. In xyr peripheral vision, a faint splotch appeared. As soon as xe looked right at it, it vanished, but because it only appeared on the right, there was a good chance it was real.

"I'll go and talk to Commander Sylgwyn about it, then," said Killian. "Thank you, Dr. Heimlich, that will be all."

He gave xem another crisp, clattering salute and forged off through the spray of light. Killian remained at the bow, watching the turbulent region. They were approaching it at a reasonable clip, and it was growing steadily brighter and larger with every passing minute. Chewing xyr lip, xe moved to the stern and up to the wheel, where Sylgwyn had one eye on the turbulence, too. Most elves looked young well into their first millennium, but Sylgwyn had spent so much time sailing the aether that she had weathered like wood left out in the sun. She gave Killian a nod of acknowledgement as xe approached.

"Commander Sylgwyn," Killian said. "Dr. Heimlich tells me you have some misgivings about this turbulence we're coming up on. His exact wording, I believe, was buggerish."

"I never said buggerish," Sylgwyn croaked, hoarse as a raven. "I said fucky."

"Our sensors are indicating minimal fuckiness," said Killian.

"Our sensors were cooked up by pointy-hatted poindexters with less sense than a headless chicken," Sylgwyn retorted. "I've seen a dozen storms like that, and it's fuckier on the inside than the out."

"Could we skirt through the edges, where it's only a Class 2?"

Sylgwyn shook her head. A gust of aether flashed across the deck and thumped the mainsail. Sylgwyn tipped the wheel a touch to port, never taking her eyes off the turbulence. It was quite visible now, a tangled knot of light, flickering like a torch. Concussions of darkness burst in its depths, the extinctions from where two opposing currents of aether collided. The part Killian had seen first looked to be a rip or outflow of some kind. The main body of the thing lay dead ahead, stretching out in all directions.

"Would you care to elaborate, Commander Sylgwyn?" Killian asked.

"Once we've hit it, we'll lose our current," Sylgwyn said. "We'll have no way of picking up speed and no way of steering, save where the aether takes us. It'll take us deeper in. We won't come back out."

Killian chewed xyr fingernail, noticed xemself doing it, and stuck xyr hand in xyr coat.

"If we were to go around, can you find a way to get us back to the Prime Material on time?"

"On time? No. But I can get us there alive."

Killian nodded. Xe looked over the turbulence, swelling and swirling ahead of them. Being late with a shipment would mean a significant pay cut, for Killian and the rest of the crew. If xe minimized xyr own cut, xe could get the rest of them closer to fair pay, but things had already been thin for so long. . . .

Killian took a deep breath and clapped Sylgwyn on the shoulder.

"Take us as close around it as you can, Commander Sylgwyn," xe said. "I'll have Rhokax see what corners we can cut further on—or maybe Heimlich and his poindexters can conjure a speed boost. I trust your expertise to know what distance is permissible."

"Aye, Captain," said Sylgwyn, tilting the wheel back. The mainsail flickered as the bow pitched down through the aetheric current. "And that's why you've still got a ship."

[pointy-hat-witch]

Title: Through Fire Show: Boku no Hero Academia Pairing: Kirishima/Bakugou Summary:  Kirishima is a firefighter and Bakugou’s real life hero. :D A/N:  Here I am, once again, not writing on my other fics but starting new ones. When do I learn? (spoiler: never) Hope you have fun with this small fic I just had the urge to write! :D

You can read it on AO3 if you want to! :)

His head was pounding with a stabbing pain as Katsuki woke up. The pain stung behind his eyes and he took in a deep breath to somehow relieve some of the tension that scrunched up his face. But as soon as he sucked in the air, his lungs constricted. He convulsed, groaning and coughing. The air was hot and heavy and not at all refreshing. Rolling over on his chest, Katsuki buried his face in the crook of his arm, somehow trying to shield his face from the sudden heat that engulfed him.

Like a wrecking ball, his memories sprung to the front of his mind, causing another groan. Fucking great. Katsuki tried to make a mental note to kick Deku’s ass into the next century.

-- 5 hours earlier --

Katsuki checked his phone for what felt like the tenth time, sending another text to Midoriya to ask where the fuck u at because he was waiting for at least 20 minutes and he was already fed up with it. He had only agreed to meet up with Midoriya and Uraraka because they promised to pay for all the food they were getting and Katsuki was going to make that count. What he didn’t sign up for was to be left twisting in the wind. He was fuming.

“Kacchan!” Midoriya’s overly sweet voice rang through the masses that slowly trickled from and to the shopping center Katsuki was standing in front of.

“About fucking time.” He growled as soon as Midoriya was in hearing distance.

“I’m, ha, I’m so sorry!” Midoriya doubled over, leaning on his knees as he caught his breath. Not a step behind was Uraraka, out of breath as well but not nearly as pathetic. She fanned some air into her face with her hands and grinned at Katsuki.

“Sorry, my bad.” Still grinning, she patted Midoriya’s back with a little too much force, causing him to cough.

“Fucki-“, Bakugou scowled, burying his hands deep into his pockets, trying to compose himself. “If you run the fuck late, have some decency to fucking text me. Isn’t that hard, is it?”

“We, we wanted to!” Midoriya finally collected himself enough to not wheeze, pressing his hands together in an apology. “But then the train came and it was packed and we were almost there and then we just ran.”

“And here we are!” Uraraka punched Katsuki’s arm, either oblivious or ignorant of the deeply etched scowl on his face. “Let’s hit the mall!” Uraraka locked both her arms with them, dragging them inside through the masses and Katsuki was already regretting agreeing to this stupid meet up on a fucking Saturday during the fucking holidays.

Yanking his arm free, Katsuki opted to trail behind the other two, shoulders hunched and taking deep breaths whenever someone ran into him, which, in fact, was a lot. His patience was being tested on a completely different level and God knows he didn’t have much. Whenever Midoriya and Uraraka decided to enter one of the too many stores, Katsuki was adamant to wait outside, searching for the emptiest corner and zoning out on his phone.

They repeated this procedure often enough until Katsuki finally snapped. His stomach was demanding food. Now. With a way too pleasant grin, both Midoriya and Uraraka led Katsuki to the topmost floor where most of the restaurants where situated.

“Take a pick.” She spread her arms when they reached the floor through the escalator, presenting him his choices. A smirk formed on Katsuki’s lips, a soft oh formed on Midorya’s lips, already calculating the costs.

Katsuki elbowed Uraraka out of his way and with a new found motivation stalked along the various food stands, stores and restaurants until he reached the far end with one of the most expensive menus in the mall. He threw both of them a victorious grin over the shoulder before entering the restaurant.

They were sat down right in the middle of the room. Not the most relaxing position, but Katsuki deemed it good enough since he was going to eat until he was exploding, making the most of their deal. If he had to go outside, so he socialized then they had to pay the price. Literally.

They were half-through their meal, Katsuki huffing out a laugh after making Midoriya try his extra spicy Curry, Uraraka ignoring Katsuki’s advances to coax her to try it as well and Midoriya fruitlessly trying to wave down a waiter for some milk since water didn’t quench the spice in his throat when it happened.

Katsuki didn’t know what happened first. There was a loud sound, maybe an explosion, screams, people running around, heat. Everything happened so fast it all was a blur. Through the explosion about half the tables were blown away, chairs scraped over the floor and people running for the next exit without paying any mind to their surroundings.

Scrambling to his feet, Katsuki shook his head trying to get rid of the ringing in his ear. He saw Uraraka crouching over Midoriya who lay motionless on the ground. Gritting his teeth, he kneeled down on the other side of him, checking him for any obvious injuries. The ringing finally subdued and he heard Uraraka muttering frantically to either Midoriya or herself.

“Hey.” Katsuki growled, snapping his fingers to get her attention. Her eyes were blown wide, tears threatening to spill when she looked over to him. “’s probably nothing, so stop freaking out.” Katsuki surprisingly carefully tugged his arms under Midoriya’s knees and around his shoulders to swoop him up in one fluid motion, slightly pressing the other boy against his chest. “He probably just hit his stupid head the wrong way.”

Uraraka stood up on wobbly knees, brushing mindlessly the dirt away from her legs, rubbing her face so she wouldn’t cry and smudging make-up and grime all over herself. “Alright.” Uraraka was many things. Too much in his business, nosy, stubborn and moody to just name a few. But she wasn’t weak, far from it. She took the lead, pushing away the chairs and tables in their way so Katsuki could maneuver easily around them.

The restaurant and other stores were already empty when they finally reached the hallway again. The first thing they saw was the smoke. Still small but threatening grey, blackish puffs of smoke were forming from the floor beneath them. Their first instinct was to run to the escalators for the shortest route outside but as soon as they reached them, the heat slabbed them in the face. They stumbled backwards when the first flame flickered over the ground right over the metal stairs.

“Staircase.” Katsuki grunted, only moving until he saw Uraraka nodding. They reached the nearest staircase in record time, Uraraka almost kicking the door in. Katsuki was only a few steps behind but then the building shook, making him stumble. Uraraka gripped against the doorframe, jerking around in alarm.

“Wha-“

“Shit!” Katsuki clenched his teeth, jaw set as he saw the unstable structure above him. His eyes darted around for just a second, assessing the situation, before he made a small jump, thrusting Midoriya at Uraraka who stumbled backward. The next moment, the ceiling collapsed.

Katsuki remembered screaming at her to run as he jumped backward to avoid the debris but of course he couldn’t calculate everything, so it didn’t surprise him when he felt a pang of pain against the back of his head. His last thought was that he really didn’t like going out to the mall.

-- present --

His lungs burned with each inhale he took, his eyes were watering through the prickling pain all over his body. Katsuki had half the mind to yank his shirt above his head and pressed it against his face to at least not breath in all the smoke. Staying low on the ground, Katsuki crawled away from the staircase entry which was completely collapsed. His next option would be finding another staircase. Easier said than done since he couldn’t even see enough through all the smoke that was hanging in the air and the almost unbearable heat that was lapping at him filled his mind with dread. He could see a few flames flicker in some of the stores, so he thought the main fire wasn’t spreading at his location. For now.

A slim film of sweat accumulated on his body, making each pull of his arms over the ground slippery and he had to push extra with his feet to drag ahead. Katsuki already felt his strength swindling after a few minutes. The lack of oxygen made his mind fuzzy and the extra strain on his body burnt through his adrenaline pretty fast. Katsuki furrowed his brows, slamming a fist to the ground. As if he would give in so easily. His body was his to command and if he wanted to crawl out of this building alive, it fucking hat to follow his order.

Pushing himself over the limit, Katsuki ignored the cuts on his forearms and the small burns in his chest as he pushed and dragged over the ground. He didn’t know how long he was crawling, it felt like forever but he didn’t make much progress when a distant voice reached his ears.

“-gou?! Bakugou?!”

For a second, Katsuki was convinced he was starting to hallucinate. Why would someone he didn’t know call out his name? Still, the voice came closer accompanied by heavy footsteps and Katsuki let himself hope.

“He-“, his voice cracked, his throat was already filled with smoke and the burning rasp forced him into another coughing fit.

“I’ve got you, man.” The other person was suddenly right by his side, pulling a mask over his face. The first inhale of fresh smoke-free air felt like heaven. Katsuki felt his eyes focusing properly again even though he still couldn’t see much. The smoke was heavy around them, he could barely see a few feet ahead and the mask limited his vision significantly. Nevertheless, when he yanked his head up, he was greeted by the most ridiculous sight he would never forget.

A firefighter in their yellow attire, firetruck red hair styled to the back in numerous spikes, which were hanging down sadly due to heat and sweat of said firefighter, and the brightest smile Katsuki had ever seen. If it weren’t for these circumstances, Katsuki would have laughed.

“You with me?” His voice easily carried over the cracking of the fire and the noise of his own breath, still, Katsuki could only nod, not trusting his voice.

“Alright, man. Can you stand up?” The firefighter was already standing up again, dragging Katsuki upwards on his elbow before awaiting an answer. They pulled their heavy jacket over their nose and pulled Katsuki with them.

“We gotta hurry, man. The building is about to collapse.” Muffled through the fabric of the jacket, the voice still reached his ears and finally freed him from his reverie. Katsuki yanked his arm free and growled.

“I can fucking walk on my own.” He heard his own voice still straining against the rasp in his throat, but he was awarded another grin, even if he could just see the corner of their mouth darting upwards.

“That’s what I wanted to hear.”

Katsuki threw him a glare but due to the lack of reaction, the firefighter either didn’t see it through the mask or just ignored it. They walked the same way back, the firefighter came from but they abruptly stood still, one arm shooting out to his side so Katsuki was held back. About to protest, Katsuki swallowed down a few curses as he saw the fire leaping from the staircase.

“Goddammit.” The firefighter cursed, which Katsuki could only second, but was interrupted by a small cough. Only then Katsuki realized that they only had one mask which he was currently wearing.

“Fucking, godda-“ Katsuki ripped the mask from his face and pushed it into their face, glaring at them to even dare to protest. At first confused, the firefighter blinked owlishly at Katsuki but soon enough their face relaxed and they nodded, taking a few deep breaths.

“To the rooftop.” Was all they said before strapping the mask back over Katsuki’s head. “Don’t.” They just said when Katsuki was about to protest and grabbed him by the wrist. Probably, hopefully, knowing where to go, they pulled Katsuki along who just stumbled blindly after them, following the screaming red hair.

The smoke got even thicker, more and more black so Katsuki almost couldn’t see the person in front of them, making him grateful that they didn’t let go of his arm, he would have been instantly lost.

“Almost there!” The grip around his wrist tightened as they rounded a corner. There were flames everywhere, lapping at everything that was willing to burn, rising high to the ceiling. The firefighter stopped and pulled Katsuki behind their back to shield them the tiniest bit from the heat.

“Alright, listen to me.” They turned around, facing Katsuki. It was almost hilarious that Katsuki recognized a small scar on their right eyelid in that moment, concentrating on it with furrowed brows. “We need to make a leap of faith here, you hear me? Just a small jump through there”, they gestured to the wall of flames, “and then we’ll be right in front of the emergency exit. You good with that?”

Swallowing down all the sudden fear to literally jump through fire, forcing his racing mind to a standstill so he wouldn’t overwhelm himself with emotions, Katsuki grunted. “Do I have a choice?”

“Well, you always have, but this is your safest bet to come out of here alive.” The firefighter had the gut to grin at him as if they weren’t about to maybe burn alive like pigs on a stick. Taking another deep breath, Katsuki ripped the mask off his face and shoved it at the firefighter. They inhaled two times sharply before strapping it back over Katsuki’s face.

“Thanks, man.” Their arm looped around his waist disregarding any form of protest and just ran. They held one arm in front of their face, body angled to shield Katsuki as best as possible and with a firm grip held onto Katsuki as they jumped over some rubble through the flames. Katsuki gave in to his instinct to press his eyes shut, holding his breath. He felt the heat on his naked torso, felt a few stinging singes on his skin but it was over almost immediately.

Inhaling sharply, his eyes sprung open to see that they were, as the firefighter said, right in front of a door. A green neon light indicating the universal exit sign and Katsuki never knew that this everyday sign could make his heart sore with relief.

The firefighter pushed at the door which opened without any hesitation and they entered the small staircase. The fire didn’t reach that far yet, still it was filled with smoke. The firefighter didn’t wait for another second and pulled Katsuki with them upstairs. Fortunately, they already were on the highest floor, so it was just a small flight of stairs to reach the rooftop. Of course, the door was locked but with a heavy kick, the firefighter pushed the door open and they were blinded by the sun.

Katsuki yanked off the mask and inhaled deeply as soon as they were in a safe distance from the smoke that rose from the staircase they came from. For the first time, the firefighter let go of his wrist and jogged over to the edge, waving his arms above his head.

“Over here!” His voice roared over the sound of fire, collapsing debris, sirens and other voices. Katsuki slowly walked over to take a peek over the edge, seeing other firefighters pulling a huge jumping cushion over to them. His eyes widened, not believing what his mind was already telling him they had to do.

Right that moment, the firefighter turned around, squeezing at his shoulders with one hand and gave him a reassuring smile. “You good with that? Won’t feel a thing when you land, don’t worry.”

“Shut up, I’m not afraid.”

“Didn’t say so, man.” They grinned, patting his shoulder. “Take a deep breath and just jump. I’m right behind you.”

They threw another glance over the edge to confirm the jumping cushion was in place and nodded at Katsuki.

“Enjoy the flight.” They laughed and slapped his back, making him huff out a cough and he glared at them.

“Fucking, stupid-“ shaking his head, Katsuki didn’t think any further about what could happen if he didn’t land on the jumping cushion and pushed himself from the roof with a spirited kick. The air was ringing in his ears, his stomach made a somersault as he plummeted right toward the ground and then it was already over. He landed featherlight on the cushion, the rough texture surprisingly smooth and not rubbing on his skin. He rolled over and hands were on him immediately, pulling him off the cushion, examining his well-being. He heard voices, maybe directed at him since the faces were looking at him, but he couldn’t hear anything except for the ringing sound in his ears. His face was schooled in his default scowl and due to his lack of response, first aiders pulled him wordlessly to one of the many ambulances. His head jerked around, and he just saw the firefighter plunge from the roof and landed safely where he just lay seconds ago. Then he was pulled farther away, and he couldn’t find the strength in himself to protest.

For minutes, a pair of hands were on him, checking for any external and internal injuries, an oxygen mask was pushed over his nose and mouth, and cool water washed away the ash and felt heavenly over his low degree burns. His hearing slowly returned, filtering through the shouts and noises around him. The paramedic looked up from under their purple hair. Did all first responder had some freakish hair?

“You hear me again?” Their voice was calm, almost soothing, ushering Katsuki to jerk a nod at him.

“Great. Can you tell me if you’re hurt somewhere?”

Katsuki slowly moved his hands and legs, bend a little to the left and right and rolled his head. He shook his head with a grunt, pulling down the mask to cough since his throat still burned.

“Alright.” They gently pulled the mask above his nose again. “It seems you only have minor burns and lacerations, nothing serious. But we need you to come with us to the hospital to get a look at your lungs. You inhaled too much smoke, maybe even burnt your throat or inflamed your lungs.”

“Wa-“ Katsuki’s voice broke in another coughing fit. His eyes darted around, searching for the firefighter with the red hair. Nothing would stop him from at least say thank you. It was their job, of course, but still. He was alone in a burning building, how-the-fuck-ever they had found him and hell if he wouldn’t be a decent human being.

His eyes zoomed in on them as they found them next to one of the fire engines, jacket pulled down to his waist, black tank top clinging to them caused by all the sweat and pouring water over their head. The paramedic followed his gaze and nodded at him.

“You’ve got two minutes then we have to go.”

Katsuki jumped to his feet, throwing the mask to his side and sauntered over to the firefighter. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides when he was finally in hearing distance but no words came out of his mouth.

The firefighter finally noticed his presence and blinked through the small water droplets that clung to their eyelashes. After a second, recognition washed over their face and a smile split their lips.

“Hey, man. You all good?” Their voice was soft, completely different when they were shouting in the fire. It made Katsuki feel warm inside but in a good way.

“I-“ His voice broke again but this time it wasn’t because of the burn in the back of his mouth but a sob shook through his body. Eyes widen in shook they both stared at each other. Katsuki felt the adrenaline sag down in a matter of seconds and reality finally caught up with him.

He was in a burning building with his friends who he didn’t know where they were. If they made it outside. The building was burning, his body was aching, his lungs were still filled with smoke. The building was burning when he tried to crawl outside not knowing if he could make it, if he would come out of there alive. His body moved on his own as he slung his arms around the broad shoulders that guided him outside of the burning building, he had been trapped in. His eyes filled with tears which he finally shed as another sob tore through his chest.

“I’ve got you, shh, everything’s alright.” Their arms wrapped around him, on arm around his waist holding him close, the other over his back with their hand in his neck. Katsuki never felt safer in someone's arms.

“Thank you.” He chocked out, biting his lip and burying his face in the crook of their neck.

“You’re welcome.” They hushed right next to his ear. “You’re safe. You’re alive.”

Their arms didn’t let go of him for as long as he held onto them. After what felt like an eternity, Katsuki slowly relaxed, tears smeared the grime under his eyes and snot was dripping from his nose. He wiped it away with the back of his hand as he finally let go, already missing the warmth of their embrace.

“You hurt somewhere?” The firefighter held one of their hands on his shoulder firmly and Katsuki’s mind provided the unwanted and unnecessary conclusion that they maybe didn’t want to let go as much as he.

Katsuki shook his head, sniffed one last time and glared at the ground. Great. He made a fool out of himself in front of them.

“You know, you were amazing in there.” His eyes shot up to find himself staring in red eyes which looked at him with warmth and adoration.

“We couldn’t have made it out of there if you weren’t so brave and strong. So, thanks to you, too!” A row of sharp tooth grinned up to him, squishing their cheeks so high their eyes were small slits. Katsuki felt his chest constrict again, swallowing the lump down that formed inside his throat.

“Wanna grab a coffee sometime?” His voice was barely a whisper, graveling and raspy. His cheeks tinted a dark red as soon as his head caught up what he was saying, mouth already open to take that back or to apologize.

“Yeah.” The firefighter coughed. “I mean, yes, gladly.”

“Good.” Katsuki nodded sharply.

“Wait a second.” The firefighter jerked around to jump up into the driver’s cabin of the fire engine and stepped out just a few seconds later, holding out a piece of paper.

“You, uh, could text me. I mean, you should get checked out at the hospital and I’ve got stuff to wrap up as well. So, uhm, y’know?” Their hand scratched at their neck a little awkwardly, kicking the dirt in front of them.

Katsuki snatched the paper unceremoniously but holding on to it with a tight fist.

“I will.” He turned around before he could embarrass himself even more and glanced at the paper out of the corner of his eye.

Kirishima Eijirou – xxx xxx xxxx

The first smile for what felt like forever crept onto his lips and breathing finally was getting easier.

[chokememrstark]

Don’t Worry // WinterIron

This is very random and based on something stupid I said after watching The Winter Soldier, so enjoy a slightly angsty, slightly funny and hopefully cute ficlet.

Word count: 1,4k

Warnings: worrying, exhaustion, light angst, otherwise: fluff

[read on AO3]

“Friday, Mission report,” Tony groans and rubs his eyes slowly.

“No change since you last asked me ten minutes ago, sir,” Friday sighs and pulls up several security camera screens. “Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes have not left the facility yet.”

“Dammit,” Tony sighs. He pushes himself up to get another coffee, he lost track how many he had already today. 20? 30? Somewhere close to this, he supposes.

“Give me an update as soon as you have one,” he orders eventually.

“May I suggest getting some sleep in the meantime, sir?”

“No, you may not,” Tony huffs, already turning back to the project he occupied himself for the last days with. The sleep he got over the last three days amounts to two hours at most and those weren't contiguous, but rather ten to twenty minute naps whenever his body gave up.

It's five hours later and almost midnight already when Tony finally gets the alert on his screen he's been waiting for. He lets out a shaky sigh of relief.

“Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes are on their way back to the compound, sir.”

“Medical check-ups,” Tony orders but Friday doesn't do anything yet.

“Sir, they won't be very accurate, you should wait until -”

“Medical check-ups, now, Friday!” Tony says in a sharper tone and Friday finally obeys. If she could roll her eyes, she would do it.

“Minor injuries and bruises, no broken bones, no major damage. They are alive and talking. One hour until arrival.”

Tony paces his lab for the whole duration of the hour and as soon as he gets the notification that they arrived he rushes to his rooms, completely ignoring the fact that he’s swaying on his feet and that his vision is starting to get blurry around the edges from his lack of sleep. He barely manages to turn on the lights when the door opens.

“You’re back!” Tony sighs with utter relief and only seconds later basically throws himself into the other’s arms, exhausted sick from his worry and too glad it’s over now.

“Slow down, doll,” the other man chuckles and wraps an arm around Tony as he’s being kissed almost desperately. “I told you I’d come back.”

Tony knows, he remembers and he had tried for a whole hour to not worry, before doing it anyway. “You said two days...” Tony almost whines, his hand shaking as it holds onto the cold metal in front of him. “It’s been almost four.”

There’s a sigh and then Tony is picked up as easily as if he weighs nothing, which is probably true in comparison. “Let’s get you to bed, doll,” the other chuckles and presses a kiss onto Tony’s head. “Sorry for worrying you, we ran into more trouble than we expected.”

“Sorry, Bucky…” Tony mumbles, clinging to the other’s chest and leaning against his shoulder.

Tony gets extremely clingy when he’s this tired, but he doesn’t notice it himself. At first, this had been a problem, but over time, as routine settled in, Bucky figured out ways to deal with it. All Tony needs is a gentle but firm hand and the reassurance that nothing is wrong, that he’s not mad at him for not sleeping and that he’s safe. Tonight, though, Tony’s exhaustion is a bit worse than what he’s used to.

Bucks gently puts Tony down on the bed and pulls back to get out of his clothes, but Tony won’t let go of him.

“Need you,” he mumbles, his voice weak and dry, unlike his eyes that have clearly teared up at some point. “Don’t… go…”

“Tony, I won’t go,” Bucky says and carefully takes Tony’s hand off his arm. “I’ll get out of this and come to bed, you just wait. I won’t ruin the sheets with blood.”

Tony lets out a whimpering noise, but doesn’t try to stop him at least, which is good. Bucky thinks he might just pass out before he even makes it to the bed, but two minutes later when he crawls in, Tony is still awake and immediately scoots closer to him.

“Missed you so much,” he purrs, starting to kiss Bucky again and again. “Don’t leave again, stay… no more missions…”

“Come with me next time,” Bucky suggests, running his metal fingers through Tony’s hair, a touch that is chased immediately. “You won’t worry and we work well together.”

“I will,” Tony agreed without hesitating, wrapping his arms around Bucky’s waist. “Don’t want you to get hurt. Need you…”

“If I get hurt, you fix me,” Bucky chuckles and kisses Tony’s cheek softly. “That’s how we do it, right? Always coming back to you, no one could stop me.”

Tony snuggles against him, sighing contently as he nods and Bucky believes he’s finally ready to sleep. It’s clear how exhausted Tony is, not only because of how clingy he is, but also because how hot he feels against him and how quiet and weak his voice sounds.

For the next few minutes, Bucky carefully draws circles into Tony’s lower back, knowing it’s something that always soothes him, but his hopes falter rather quickly when Tony starts kissing his jaw and neck.

“Doll, you need rest,” Bucky sighs. Normally, he loves how needy Tony is and how much he enjoys this, but he feels bad about his state and doesn’t want him to get hurt.

“Want you, please,” Tony mumbles between kisses, his hands holding Bucky tight so he can’t leave.

With a groan, Bucky grabs Tony’s hips and spins them so he’s on top of him, pushing himself up with his arms. Tony’s eyes immediately light up, but Bucky can see the dark circles beneath them and just how close to collapsing Tony is. This is a bad idea.

“Tony, you know I love it when you are feisty and beg, but you need to sleep,” he says firmly and gives him a strict look.

“Come on, please!” Tony whines and grabs Bucky’s arms. “Just… just buck me, Fucky, please, I- I mean fuck, Fucky… Argh! -- Shit, forget it...”

Bucky can’t help but grin, Tony’s desperation in articulating himself just too cute and amusing. He leans down and kisses him softly before pulling him back into his arms and rolling to the side.

“Don’t worry, doll,” he chuckles. “I’ll buck you first thing tomorrow, but you need to sleep and your Fucky needs to sleep too, so be good and close your eyes for me.”

Tony doesn’t look happy when he drops his head onto Bucky’s chest and huffs. “You’re laughing about me,” he pouts and in response, Bucky actually does laugh.

“Oh, I would never laugh about you, doll,” he tells him, pressing his lips against the crown of his head. “You’re cute, that’s all, but I really need to sleep. I spent the last four days alone with Steve and bullets all around us, I’m tired and just want to hold you.”

“You better buck me good tomorrow then,” Tony mumbles and Bucky grins against his hair.

“Best buck you ever had, promised,” he says before finally turning off the lights and closing his eyes. “Now sleep, or I have to use my super secret assassin knock out technique on you to make you.”

“Don’t even try,” Tony mumbles and yawns. “I know the vulcan nerve pinch, so you…” He yawns again and his voice becomes almost a whisper. “You better watch out…”

Bucky chuckles, but doesn’t say anything as Tony is already drifting away by the sound of his voice. Maybe he will really go on his next mission with Tony. Because despite how cute he can be when he’s exhausted, he hates seeing him like this and knowing he didn’t sleep because he was gone and he had worried so much. One day, this worry would go away, but until then, Bucky will make sure it doesn’t get this bad again.

Of course, Bucky keeps up to his promise in the morning - or rather, around noon after they finally wake up - when Tony is much less tired and a lot better at getting the words out. Still, he can’t stop himself from teasing Tony every once in a while after that, asking if he’s up for a quick buck, as much as Tony can’t stop himself from calling him ‘Fucky’ occasionally to mess with him. Overall, there could have been a much worse ending to this far too long mission and both of them are very glad they didn’t experience it.

[creideamhgradochas]

Thanks to the lovely @marvelmom for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about her, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

A woman never tells her (fanfic) age ;)

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I can't honestly say that I prefer one over the other since I've never written a fic for an OC.  I guess my style of writing is better suited to allowing readers to insert themselves into the narrative. I like the challenge of writing a character that allows the reader to flesh out in their own image but still have some substance on their own within the story.

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

Is smut considered a genre? LOL.  Seriously though, I love humour so you'll find most of my stories have an underlying comedic thread.  I have a really dark sense of humour and I'm sarcastic af so I love when people respond favourably to it in my writing.

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

Wow, this is a really good question!  I think it would probably be the very first fic I wrote called "Marked."  I wrote it for a friend when I was deep in the Cumberbatch fandom.  She was complaining about the lack of Khan fics so I wrote one for her.  It's on Ao3 and every now and then I get a kudo and I cringe.  The writing seems so basic and stilted compared to my newer works.  If anything it shows how much I'm improving.

5) When is your preferred time to write? 

I find I do my best work late at night.  I'm a single mom with a full time job and busy teenagers so I don't usually get to sit down at my computer until after 11pm.  I love being able to leave the day behind and just focus on my writing without any interruptions.  I typically go until 2am.  It's a little crazy but writing relaxes me and helps me sleep better.  And it inspires some really great dreams ;)

6) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Most my inspiration comes from real life, my experiences and passions like music, film and literature.  I like to daydream and I find I'm constantly having conversations with characters or constructing scenes in my head.  I'm a little crazy I guess lol

7) What’s your favorite scene that you’ve written?

Another great question...let me think.  I have one in my head that I haven't written yet that I know will eventually be my favourite but at this very moment it's the scene in Chapter 10 of The Contest where Bucky and the reader are dancing in the antique store and they finally kiss. It was the very first scene that came to me when I started to think about this story and to finally get to write it was incredible.  But man did I stress over it...I wanted it to be perfect.  Exactly like I had pictured it in my head.

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Hasn't happened yet.  I'm very stubborn and it would take a lot for me to deviate from the vision I have playing in my head. My muse won't let me rest until I've captured a scene note for note on paper.

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why?

Bucky!  I can't seem to get him out of my head.  For me, Bucky is the most fascinating character in the MCU.  His story arc has brought him from one end of the spectrum to the other and back again in so many facets and I love exploring these layers of his personality,

10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?

Thor but only because I stress over his speech patterns when I'm writing his dialogue.  I want to make sure I'm doing his character justice and capturing him accurately on paper.

11) How do you come up with the titles for your stories?

For one shots, I usually wait until I'm done and then riff on a major theme in the story or what inspired my to write it in the first place. The title for "The Contest" series came from the Seinfeld episode of the same name that inspired the story.

12) What do you think is the best idea you’ve had for a story so far?

Considering that The Contest is my very first Bucky fic (and series) I would have to say this is my best story idea so far.  More to come I hope ;)

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Thankfully none yet!  I find that when story pops into my head I can't move on until I get it down on paper and out in the wild.

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I get a lot of requests for part 2 of "Three Creams, No Sugar".  Everyone wants that shower scene ;)

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Yes, Infinity War. Oh wait....do you mean one of mine?

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Oh wow, there are so many incredible writers in this fandom that it's hard to pick just a few.  I'm grateful to have fallen in with amazing writers such as @evansrogerskitten, @Thewife101 and @avenger-nerd-mom on Twitter.  Their support and guidance are the reasons I gathered up the courage to start posting my fics on Tumblr.

Writers like @unicorns-and-fairy-dust-blog own my emotional ass....Dre is the master of angst.  I love the wit and humour in  @tilltheendwillIwrite 's stories - I think it's a Canadian thing born out of bitter cold winters and ketchup chips.  @lovelynemesis has such a great style of writing, very flowing and descriptive.  The depth of talented creators in this fandom is insane.  There are just too many to mention!

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Definitely "Marked"

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

Complete silence.  If I have music or Netflix playing I start to daydream and boom, a whole new story.

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Not while writing but as I listened to a song and imagined a Bucky one shot to the words.  I was ugly crying by the end.  I may get around to writing it one day..

20) Which part of your fics have been the hardest to write?

I would say the first few starting paragraphs of a new story or chapter.  I take way too long with the beginning sections.

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

I pretty much have the whole story plotted out before I get started. "The Contest" has been in my head from beginning to end for over a year now.

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction?

I wish I had known about Tumblr to be honest.  It's a great outlet for fanfic and the source of so much inspiration and support.

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I'm always in awe of the fact that people want to read my stories period so I appreciate every single note, comment and message whether it's 4 or 400 :)

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?   

I'm always in awe of the fact that people want to read my stories period so I appreciate every single note, comment and message whether it's 4 or 400 :)

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Not so much characters but personality traits.  I find that I project my style of humour and sarcasm (plus my lack of filter) onto characters all the time.

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

I must be the slowest writer in this fandom.  I seriously don't know how you all put up with me.  I've had so many incredible compliments but it always amazes me to hear readers tell me that a new chapter was worth the wait.

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten? 

One that really stands out is someone telling me that I was going to lose all my followers if I didn't update my fics faster.  That one really hurt because like most writers here, I really beat myself up knowing that I can't turn around stories or chapters as quickly as I would like.

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

I have a few writers here that I talk to regularly and we feel comfortable enough to share our ideas.  Some of my favourite messages have been from other writers wanting to talk through an idea or ask for some help with a scene or ask for some help with a scene or some dialogue.

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction? 

Aside from a few twitter mutuals I have met, no one in my "real life" knows I write fanfic. Though I think my kids may have their suspicions...I have a writing degree and my friends and family are always telling me that I should write more.  If they only knew LOL

30) What’s you favorite minor character you’ve written?

I can't tell you because they are about to make an appearance in the next chapter of "The Contest" and I'm excited to write their scene.

31) What spurs you on during the writing process? 

The incredible feedback and messages I get from readers like you (I live for your chapter summaries....seriously), pictures of Sebastian Stan, reading all the amazing fanfic out there, Bucky's thighs, Marvel, eating chocolate....eating chocolate off of Bucky's thighs.... (Need to add that to my list of future fics)

32) What’s your favorite trope to write? 

Definitely slowburns.  I love the flirting, the teasing, the witty dialogue as the sexual tension builds....it's delicious.

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

This is going to date me....please no judgment.  It was a 'NSYNC fic. Wish I could remember the name but it was a JC x reader.  I was obsessed with JC back in the day...ok, stop laughing.

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? 

SMUT with my fucky Bucky and my side boo Sebby ;)