#or worse! actually go into the field! fuckin hell

[lazaruspiss]

wonderful insight past me, thank u

[babygirl-riley]

Lies

He was suppose to be dead…so how is Simon fucking Riley standing in front of you?

A/N: Guys these tik toks make my mind RUN! So her is another idea from this tik tok! Lost of heartache and angst so enjoy! 💙

“A broken heart is all that’s left.”

Warnings: ANGST, heartache, trauma, depression, mention of suicide, violance, swearing

simon x reader guide

simon x reader fluff/angst list

pt. 2

Months. Months you sat crying in the shower. Screaming into your pillow. Hell you fucking slapped Soap because of this. Because Simon Riley died. Died when he promised to come home, you didn’t eat or sleep right. Price would eventually pull you aside to take a holiday. Clear your mind.

You did and all you did was drink and smoked the left over cigarettes of his. To eventually go shop for more and pretend he was smoking them. You drank all his whiskey and your wine. Your parents came over to make sure you weren’t dead, that you decided to pull a Romeo and Juliet bullshit. You wouldn’t do that, you wouldn’t have taken your life.

Instead you drank until you didn’t feel the numbness. The sadness. The memories of both you and Simon. Simon plagued your mind, wanting his laugh to burst in the air. His voice. His hands. His kiss. Anything. So why not drink until you don’t remember the next day. You did this until going back into work.

Gaz would make sure you would be alright. Soap tried to make you laugh. Price made sure you wouldn’t run into the field killing yourself. Yet this was so much worse.

Price sat all of the task force down for a debriefing. Yet when the door opened it was him. Simon. Simon fucking Riley. Everyone froze, not because of him being alive, because they knew. They knew he would be alive. Nothing was said for a moment as you stared at him, waiting for him to say or move anything.

“Y/n,” Soap said closing the door behind him. You haven’t turned to him yet looking over the paperwork you had. “Do ya have a minute?”

You rolled your eyes, smirking. “John I am not doing your paperwork. Ghost already mentioned…”

“It’s not that Lass,” Soap mumbled playing with his hands. Soap argued that it would be not a smart idea. However, with the rat in the ranks it would convince that he was dead. “It’s Simon.”

You perked from that, you gave him a confused look. “What about him?” You knew after that, after Soap used Ghost’s name. The one you would say when you laughed, cried, moaned.

“They…they tried to get him out but…” The world flipped, you yelled at Soap and pushed him. Telling him to shut up but you also didn’t know that Simon was listening in. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want you to be the one not to know. Price convinced him due to the rat falling for the trap.

Simon heard you yell until the deafening slap echoed through the halls. You slapped him hard, you gritted through your teeth that he was a liar. You said that if his body is not here then it isn’t true. However, he knew that they convinced you that he was too burned to actually see him. His true form. Not a burnt crisp. They led you to the body, left small hints that it would have been his body.

He thought about you crying above the body. Screamed until you couldn’t. Held the bastards hand. Everything was suppose to not to happen. It shouldn’t have been months. He hoped that it wouldn’t. Price would give him updates on how you were doing. It didn’t sound good. He wished he could leave and get to you, hold you, and apologize for everything but he couldn’t.

Now he stands right here in front of you. Hate. Hate is the word the best describe your eyes. “Did you all know?” You voice said in the room. The quiet room. It was filled with venom. It was quiet.

No one said anything until you stood up and slammed your hand on the table. “Who fucking knew!” You snapped your head to Price.

“It was to pull Samson out.” Price said watching your move.

“Bring Samson out,” You repeated shaking your head, looking over at Simon. “You fucking bastard. You fucking bastard.”

No one expected the next thing, you walked over to him and pushed him hard. Slamming your fist into his chest. “You know how long I fucking grieved! How long my heart has been in pieces! You fucking just let this happen! Let me be in pain!”

Simon let you slam your fists into his chest. He deserved it. “You fucking promised! You promised! And it’s broken! It’s been fucking broken!”

Price told everyone to leave besides Simon, you, and Price. As everyone huddled out Simon grabbed your shoulders. “I had no choice.”

“Everyone has a choice!” You said pushing him one last time before facing away.

Price shook his head. “He didn’t, I wanted to tell ya but we couldn’t. We had to make it believable to bring him out.”

You shook your head. “I don’t care, you know what I’ve done the last couple of months? Did you know that empty feeling? Or the nights where I thought ending it all would have me not suffer?”

“Dove,” Simon mumbled reaching out to you. “It’s fucked up and I am sorry it happened. But I’m here now.”

You wanted to lean into him and let him hold you. There was just so much anger. Resentment. You just couldn’t believe that he would do that to you. You made the choices to drink and make yourself miserable sure but the feeling you had. The darkness that pulled you away from anything and anyone.

His hand burned your arm as he gently grabbed it. You ripped your arm away. “Fuck both of you,” Price face dropped to give more reassurance. “We are suppose to be a team.”

Simon knew that was a jab more for him. You both have been secretly running together until he had to fake his death. It was easy when he first did it, making sure that everyone knew he was dead so he could kill all the men that killed his family. Once Price came up to him and asked he declined it.

“No.” Simon firmly said and reaching for the door of Price’s office.

“Simon this would be the best route for the team,” Price explained standing up. “Why the hesitation?” Price knew. Simon knew that Price knew. He just wanted Simon to state it. Confirm Price’s suspicions. “It’s her isn’t it?”

Simon held the knob of the door tighter. All he did was nod his head. He couldn’t lie to Price even if he wanted to. “A year,” Price nodded, he didn’t know it was that long. “I can’t do it to her.”

Price sighed and walked over to place a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t either but…we have to. It will unfortunately be the best time and convincing.”

It felt like a poison came out of Price’s mouth. He didn’t want to do it to his team, didn’t want to hurt nobody. Why everyone got to know? Do they could take care of you. Simon didn’t want that. It wasn’t fair ok your part. He promised to protect you no matter the cost. “Johnny tells her.” He spoke softly.

Price nodded in agreement. “I already assumed that.”

Couple of weeks later was when he wasn’t suppose to be there. Wasn’t suppose to hear your scream. The wail. The heart break. He had to contain himself not to run in there to hold you. Tell you it was some sick joke. “Simon.” Price warned.

Simon stared at him for a moment. His own heart shattering, before Simon could say anything the rat came running in. Anger boiled through his body as he watched him run in the shadows. Why does he get to comfort you? While he stood and watched the heart break unfold. He had to peel himself out of the building, Price sneaking him out and leave. Never had he cried before but after being dropped off at the solitary home, he cried for hours. Wishing that he could have done something better.

“Y/n.” Simon whispered. His heart shattering. Not looking at you. Not hearing you. Nothing was coming around.

It felt like hours of you not talking. Price didn’t want to say anything neither did Simon. They wanted you to speak. Thoughts ran wild in your mind. How could they? Why would they? You knew why it was beneficial for the mission. But was it for you? Was all the heartache and not working especially worth it? You can’t do this over and over again. The pain was too hard. You closed your eyes and shook your head.

You’re tired. You are mentally. Emotionally. Physically tired. You can’t deal with this again if it happens. Your heart is still broke and broke even more of that could be possible. You could feel the water more and more drowning you, you’ve been trying to come back for air. But now this? It went back to what it was.

“I’m done.” You said ripping your patch off and placing it on the table.

[duckymcdoorknob]

If you don't mind me requesting a second one... 👉👈 may I please have a ribbon-decorated box containing marbled white and milk chocolate (dabi x hawks), square shape filled with almonds and lemon creme? No pressure! Thank you!!

HI FLAME THANKS FOR THE REQUEST

Yes I did them out of order. Oopsies!!

I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS THO!!! I AM ABOUT TO BULLY TF OUT OF THIS BIRDIE MAN.

This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever written and I’m SO here for it.

Big shoutout to dada @volleeball-bo for the cake idea bc my brain is but a barren field. 😭

CW UNDER THE CUT: This do have some tickles in it NGL. There is a lot of cursing, but it fits. D3ath mention. illy timed your mom jokes.

Number two, Pro Hero, Hawks. Quirk: Fierce Wings. A Rank member of the League of Villains, Dabi. Quirk: Blueflame. Two of the most dangerous and vengeful men alive, working under the same roof.

So why the hell were they dead-set on baking a birthday cake?

When Twice and Toga had happily shared their newly discovered information, the two males knew they’d somehow be sucked into the abyss. They had learned that Shigaraki’s birthday was the next day, and appointed the two to make him a cake.

Who could say no to Twice and Toga? After all, if they weren’t killing anyone, Hawks was happy.

What’s the worse that could happen?

Now in the kitchen of Hawk’s tiny apartment, the two males were arguing incessantly about the process.

“I assure you, Dabi, you HAVE to add salt into it. Everything has salt. This is a literal teaspoon, you won’t even taste it!” Hawks argued for the nth time.

“It’s salt, dumbass. Salt is going to make the cake taste, oh, you know, fucking salty?” The villain growled in reply.

If Hawks could bang his head on a wall, he would. “Dabi I swear t- FINE! Here!”

The blonde stomped over to his pantry, retrieving a sleeve of pre-packaged cookies. He opened the package, took out two cookies, and offered one to his partner. “Eat it.”

“What’d you do to it?” Dabi teased with a scoff.

“I spit on it and put poison in it, obviously.”

“Sounds delicious.”

The two ate the cookies in silence, with Hawks glaring daggers at his black-haired friend. “So?”

“So?”

“Does it taste sweet?” The winged-hero inquired.

“Yeah? Why are you asking me, Feathers?”

“Aha!” The hero chimed in triumph, snatching the sleeve off of the counter, “Look at the ingredients! Read it and weep, bitch!”

Dabi pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation as Hawks breathed down his neck. “It seems you’re actually correct for once.”

“Oh what’s this?” The blonde asked coyly, “Dabi was wrong? Wow, what a world.”

“Shut up, let’s get back to the task at hand, please.” The flame villain grumbled, returning to his position near the mixing bowl.

With a proud smile, Hawks strode to the cabinet to grab his salt container, and a set of measuring spoons. God, he was too cocky for his own good.

As Hawks was lining up to pour the salt into the teaspoon, the villain pinched his sides. The man jumped with a yelp as about a tablespoon worth of the ingredient fell into the batter.

“Oh, you dick!” Keigo was immediately on the defense, eyes ablaze with rage, “Now we have to start all over!”

“Oh no! You dropped some! What happened?” Dabi faked innocence.

“You are a quarter second away from being punted out of my goddamn window.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It fuckin’ should be.”

“Well, I don’t understand why this is such a big deal? I thought the cake needed salt? What did you do wrong?”

“Your fucking mom.” The male grumbled absentmindedly.

“That’s it!”

With a look of horror, Hawks took off from the kitchen. His socked feet bounded around his apartment, clearing corners with the help of his slippery momentum. “I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it! It was a natural reaction!”

“I know for shit sure that you meant it, Feathers!” Dabi called in reply, hot on Hawks’ heels.

“I really didn’t! It slipped oUT-“ tripping on his own ottoman, Keigo smacked his face onto his loveseat, subsequently falling onto it.

“You fucking idiot.” Dabi said through a fit of laughter. “How do you not see the furniture that you set up yourself?”

Holding his forehead, the winged-hero stuck his tongue out. “How do you take offense to a your mom joke?”

Neither knew how it happened, but the villain’s body moved faster than his brain did. Before he knew it, the black-haired male had sat on his partner’s waist, and held his wrists over his head with one hand.

Dabi wore a menacing smile, as Hawks wore a look of terror. Was this how he died? Was he going to be killed in cold blood over a your mom joke?

Instead, he felt a single finger trace around his stomach. Not expecting the long-forgotten feeling, giggles bubbled from his throat.

“Ohoho this is rich, Birdie!” The villain teased, “As if you couldn’t get even more interesting!”

“Dabi, don’t you dare.” Hawks hissed, eyeing the wiggling fingers that dared to come in close contact with his torso. “Do not fucking t-touch me- nohohoho!”

“Aww, you’re so precious!” The villain cooed as he gently pinched at his partner’s sides.

“Dahahabihihi! Dohohohont!”

“Don’t? But this is so much more fun than baking a cake for the boss.”

“C’monohohon! Thihihis ihihisnt lihihihike yohohou!”

The black-haired male beamed at the laughing hero beneath him. Oh what a power play this was. “To put my enemy into submission? This is totally like me.” He moved his hand up to spider under Hawks’ arms.

“NGH- DAHAHABI!” Keigo’s eyes were squeezed shut, face flushed from embarrassment. He couldn’t exactly hide his face in his hands, since he was a little… trapped. “PLEHEHEHEHEASE!”

“Please what? Keep going? Move spots? Stop? You have to be very specific with what you want, Birdie.”

“IHIHI DOHOHONT KNOHOHOW!”

“You don’t know what you want? Maybe I just need to help wake your brain up!” With that, the villain brought his hand down to ever-so-gently prod at his partner’s ribcage.

“DABIDABIDABI-DAHAHAHABIHIHI! NOHOHOHO! NOHOHOT THEHEHERE! MOHOHOHOVE SPOHOHOHOTS!”

“Oh dear, Feathers, you’re so ticklish here!”

“PLEHEHEHEHEASE!”

“Am I embarrassing you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this worked up!” Dabi chirped, adding the slightest amount more pressure.

“OKAHAHAY! OKAY OKAY! THAHAHATS ENOHOHOHOUGH!”

“Are you sure?”

“YEHEHES! PLEHEHEHEHEASE! STAHAHAHAP!”

When the magic word was uttered, Dabi released his victim instantly. “You okay, kid?”

“I… I am… I’m only a y-year… younger-“ the hero sputtered through panting breaths. “You, dick.”

“Ah, you’re back.” The villain chimed, “I didn’t kill ya’, did I?”

“Nah. Just… glad you stopped when you did.”

“Running out of stamina? Some hero you are.” Dabi scoffed.

“And your revenge tactic was to tickle the shit out of me. Some villain you are.”

With a cocky smile, the black-haired male looked fondly upon his partner. “Any last words?”

Keigo inhaled sharply, closing his eyes. He reflected on how vulnerable of a position he was in, ultimately giving up on survival. Oh well, he’s lived long enough.

With a hushed whisper, he uttered “Your mom.”

And as the winged-hero predicted, Dabi’s hand lowered back onto his ribs and showed no mercy; cake long forgotten as Hawks’ frantic laughter echoed off of the walls.

After all, no good joke shall go unpunished…

❣︎𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒’𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑜𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡❣︎

—————♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎—————

[12pt-times-new-roman]

OK WOW IT'S THE BREAK, THAT WAS A HELL OF A FIRST HALF JESuS FUCK

I have 10 minutes to collect my thoughts so let's fuckin' go

Dusk's name is Yu. They're a hexblade warlock (so the rapier is probably their pact weapon) and an Oath of Conquest paladin.

Birdie is a rogue, and has access to Invisibility (through either the Arcane Trickster subclass, the Magic Initiate feat, or the Fey/Shadow-Touched feat).

Fearne is Ruidus-born, and Ruidus has been appearing in the feywild "where/when it shouldn't be."

Yu mentioned the Keeper of the Moontides by name, and claims that both courts and the Keeper will be hunting the Calloways for the Moontide Crown. This directly connects the Arcana Pansophical and Allura to this campaign, since a Pansophical spy was the first one to report the Keeper and promptly went missing after that

"You don't know what you're doing!" "Elaborate!" Ashton my beloved

The Bead of Imprisonment is broken & unusable

Oh, this party's flaw is going to be that they're too trusting. Got it. (Travis is giving me huuuuge C2E70 vibes right now and I don't know how I feel about it.)

YEAYEAYEA

Ruidus doesn't appear in the Feywild, only Catha does, but it started appearing about seven years ago. Ollie had visions and no one believed them — he saw "something about this red moon tearing through and leaving devastation in its path. And in the center of it, he kept seeing you [Fearne]." That's why they didn't take Fearne with them.

Birdie directly knows the Nightmare King and called him Ira, and she specifically mentioned that she had seen him after he fought the Hells.

The Unseelie were working with "some Exandrian folk" (my bet is on the Paragon's Call) to try and put something together, something arcane that was going to help "further their boons from the red moon." At the center of that construction was the Moontide Crown, so the Calloways took it to stop them. The crown has strong ties to the Moonweaver and Catha, and Birdie is unsure who the Unseelie were working with and what the crown actually does.

The Calloways were working with Ira to try and figure it out. "Corrupted" versions of the Unseelie are contained within a mirror and sent out to assassinate whoever the mirror is pointed at, and Ira constructed it. Sounds a lot like the assassins who attacked the Lumas twins and Zephrah.

The Nightmare King was doing work with Treshi to raise funds for this project.

"Something big is coming... we're trying to build a device to discern the true nature of Ruidus, and why everything's overlapping. We have about a month until [an apogee solstice on Fessuran 21-23]... [Ira] sees in his own weird way the dangers of what might be coming."

Their device is missing a couple things. They're working with Hanvir, who works with the Grim Verity.

"Your ignorance is going to be the end of it all."

ah

Ira reached Morri to get one of these missing pieces. And Morri said that she'd send something along. Like the little gem that Fearne is carrying around.

The gnarlrock is in the Feywild, and "everyone always ends up returning to it, for better or for worse." Yu doesn't know what it does, just that it's a powerful artifact.

Ira's work with the werewolves wasn't actually his "work," he was just working for Treshi to make some money for the machine.

Are they building a spelljammer helm???

FCG casts Identify on the gem from Fearne.

"It looks like a green glass disc. It's rough on the edges, but it's like a deep emerald lens. It has a slight rainbow flash across it... it isn't a known magical item. The best term you can come to is a weave lens. You glance through it, and you look through it at everyone around you— every piece of magical equipment your friends are wearing seems to be giving off a glow. You focus on the glow, you're not sure of the nature of it but there's letters and symbols across each of them. You look at Ashton's hammer, and you see the magical magnetic fields across it, and you look at the patterns for a second and it looks like script."

Laudna has Eyes of the Runekeeper, which allows her to identify the language on Yu's sword as an ancient elven language "used for pressing ideas and philosophies and truths onto weapons as part of an enchantment... it tens to be about creating shadow and banishing shadow in the same stroke." That tracks with it being a pact weapon, so.

Birdie got a couple more arcane batteries from Imahara.

Birdie also took Yu's tracking ring! Fearne takes after her mother :)

Ruidus started acting weird seven years ago, which precisely aligns with when the Mighty Nein freed Cognouza. (we all thought the chains breaking across the city was it being freed. but was Cognouza some kind of lock? was it one of Tharizdun's fanes? was it keeping something at bay like the Tree of Names was??)

An apogee solstice is approaching, about a month from now — so Ruidus' zenith is most likely going to coincide with that, since EXU:C confirmed that both of the moons play a part in producing an apogee solstice.

anyway my take away from this half is that all you fuckers who said Calamity 2: Electric Boogaloo were hit with Apollo's dodgeball. "your ignorance will be the end of everything"? "there'll be nothing left, it'll all burn"? massive bureaucracy trying to take advantage of things far bigger than them that they don't understand just because they think they can? yeah. Exandria had its Calamity eight hundred years ago — so maybe it's the Feywild's turn.

[littledreamling]

Things my history professor has said in the past few weeks that I can imagine Hob Gadling saying in lectures:

(Context: we’re studying Humanism, Renaissance politics, Protestant Reformation ans Catholic Reform, and Wars of Religion, focusing (for now) on the Italian Renaissance)

“Word of advice: don’t kidnap the Pope. In fact, don’t kidnap and beat up any 70 year olds.”

“It’s really hard to bring wealth into the city you’re fighting over if you keep fighting over it.”

“Big Dog don’t fuck around.” (in reference to Mastino II della Scala, the ruler of Verona)

“Where are wars fought in the pre-modern world? In fields. Where does the majority of Padua’s wealth come from? Agriculture. In fields.” And then, in the next lecture: “where are wars fought again? Oh yeah, FIELDS. STOP FIGHTING IN MY FUCKING FIELDS! THATS HOW YOU GET FAMINES!” (referencing the Great Famine from 1315-1320 and the 100 Years War that started in 1337 that weakened the immune systems of all of Europe right before the arrival of the Black Plague)

“Everything was going to hell and somehow it got worse.” (talking about the arrival of the Black Plague)

“Oh, it’s the tomb of King Henry the third, he’s in the parking lot of an Aldi.” (commenting on the fact that historical figures are often found in the most mundane of places in Europe, especially Great Britain)

“What’s the Pope doing? He’s in France, he’s gotten in bed with the French King.” (summing up the Avignon Papacy rather well)

“Well, the plague might get me tomorrow, let’s go on a bender.” (summing up the mindset of Middle Ages peasants when faced with the Black Plague… coincidentally, also the mindset of many Americans during the first wave of Covid)

“In Florence, you have a lot of people running around praying who are worried about death, they’re just constantly worried about their souls, and then there are some who are just fuckin’ lit from 7am until bedtime, they just get up and party and like, they’re just getting drunk and having sex because they’re like ‘whatever!’” (see previous bullet point)

“Sometimes, life gets worse.” (discussion how, once the Black Plague receded, life got, somehow, worse for a lot of peasants)

“It’s fucking creepy, but it’s a work of art.” (on Transi Tombs… look them up, they’re cool as shit for real)

“Happy Wednesday. Halfway through the week. A moment ago, I was like ‘how the fuck is it only Wednesday?’” (Same professor, same)

“The Papacy needs to exert power and the most ineffective way to do that is to pray on it… Praying is not going to defeat the Visconti.” (Renaissance Italian Popes knew what modern white American republicans don’t: praying doesn’t do shit)

“It’s easy to look backward and say ‘well the French figured it out and built France, the fuck was wrong with the Italians?’” (in reference to Italy remaining divided into different states and having no sense of belonging to one nation for much of history)

“The Papacy also had a legitimacy crisis after the Avignon Papacy and the Great Western Schism—they needed to prove that they were not the corrupt, worldly, ineffective office that they had become. Unfortunately, the only way to do that was to become corrupt, worldly, and ineffective, but that’s neither here nor there.”

“Things will change in 1494 when, to defeat the Neapolitans, the Milanese decide to invite the French in. And then everything will go to shit.”

“If anyone’s going to law school… it sucks, but we need lawyers. Not really, [we could] do with less of them, actually.”

“Open-faced sandwiches are not sandwiches, right? It’s bread with some shit on it.” (said, apropos of nothing, in the middle of a discussion about the distinction between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and where the divide is drawn between them) (it’s roughly the 15th-century btw)

“Utopia means ‘no place’… that’s the joke.”

“Ficino was prolific. He wrote so much, like if you have an inferiority complex about your writing, do not ever read anything of Ficino because it’ll just make it worse.”

“Yeah, maybe telling princes that it’s better to be feared than loved and that it’s okay to, you know, cut your rival in half and leave him in a public square is probably not the Christian thing to do.”

He also ends every lecture with some variation of “on that note, get the hell out of my classroom. Go away! Enjoy the rest of your day, stay out of trouble and if you don’t stay out of trouble, don’t get caught. You didn’t hear that from me.”

[official-anonymous]

YOOO, I JUST WATCHED THIS CRAZY-ASS MOVIE!!!

This thing is completely batshit. Seriously. Here's a list of shit that goes down in this thing:

A fuckton of people die in the first scene. (you don't actually see bodies, but its one of those things where you just know they're dead)

A woman gets eaten by an alien rock

Timeskip to: Some nerd giving a lecture......to his pet fish......in the depressing as hell basement where he works (he's basically a janitor)

A group of Mr. Monopoly cosplayers talk shit about someone

A guy chases down a MOVING CAR and JUMPS ONTO THE FUCKING HOOD just to tell his asshole boss he's quitting (boss responds by being more of an asshole)

A woman cut power to and broke into a guy's apartment and waited in the dark in a thunderstorm for him to come home.......but she didn't kill him or bang him.

An old dude flashes another dude while doing yoga

There's a Cap'n Crunch cosplayer.

GIANT FUCKING ROBOT LOBSTER FUCKS SHIT UP WITH MOUTH PHASERS!!!! (A bunch of people die)

A grown-ass man plays with a car horn while grinning like he's four years old.

Someone drinks an explosives propellant.....and is not affected at all.

A guy says digging is his pleasure in a voice that sounds like he's talking about kinky sex

There's fuckin snow. In a cave. (no, this isn't either of the Frozen movies)

People dump their unfinished meals onto a fire and create a mushroom cloud

("🎶 We didn't start the fire!🎶") Bugs did......but they didn't go after any humans (except, apparently, one. Who then announces that someone will have to suck his ass.)

A clumsy doofus is suddenly a frickin ninja when he chases after a pretty girl.

Old-ass falling apart rope bridges missing boards somehow support two trucks and a bunch of people

There's some weird half fish, half pterodactyl bird things.

A blind guy somehow knows the person he's talking to has a gun, even though no one has told him that in any way.

Two people discover an ancient hovercraft........and total it in less than five minutes (and no one else ever notices this going on)

A guy just grabs a random child that runs by and puts them on his shoulders......and the parents invite this rando and his friends in for a meal.

Arson bugs again! (But they're not committing arson now)

Guy who can't read ancient writing at all somehow knows the document he stole is about a treasure he's looking for and not just a review of some amazing dish the writer had at a party

Someone merges with an alien rock that may actually be an AI

More hovercraft are discovered (and a second one is almost totaled)

A dude who can't drive a car can suddenly fly like he's Top Gun Maverick or something

Shit-ton of shooting......from guys with worse aim than Stormtroopers. Shit-ton of ammo wasted.

The hovercraft have phasers

Dumbass stick person tries to fight a guy who looks like The Hulk (he loses, of course)

Someone escapes death......by turning their would-be killer into a mutant demon-looking thing, then sending the thing into what's basically a giant Salad Shooter.

A person doesn't get killed or even burned to a crisp.....even thought they're inside an erupting volcano (there's other people inside it, but this one was deeper inside it than anyone else.

There's giant robot Iron-Giant-looking things creating a force-field

The one who merged with the possible AI goes back to normal

The characters concoct an elaborate cover up for everything that happened in the movie.

This was some kind of unhinged insanity but I loved it.

[littleladymab]

FebruarOC - Calanthe

My field researcher druid, Calanthe! She premiered in the prequel session we played for Sagas, "Dishonored Guests", which was my first time playing Pathfinder! And HEY, wow perFECT TIMING I SWEAR I DIDN'T PLAN THIS, you can now check out @sagasofthesunlessreach where you can find our brand new personalized podcast feed! There's a lot of excitement in this paragraph!!

Anyway. 

For the Sagas one-shot, she was part of a group tasked to investigate a location called Grandelodge where there are some suspicious Goings On. I'm not going to spoil it, because y'all should go listen to it, but she does end up starting her frog collection here. She works out of the major university as largely a research specialist instead of a professor/teacher and her specialty is: poisonous plants! She loves them. They are her babies. She has probably eaten nightshade, for science (shoutouts to Dianne, this one's for you). 

She adds poisonous frogs to the mix, but that's just a hobby not part of her actual research. 

She has a leshy familiar which is a strand of bougainvillea that twines around her arm. It's got a single bud, with bright pink bract and two little flowers that are its eyes, if you were to give it a face. His name is Reginald. 

When I get back to doing Mutiny project, the thing I want to do with her is use it as a chance to expand on granular world building in my own way. In game the crew only came across one noticeable plant (I was using bits from Tomb of Annihilation at that time because we were still in DND) and actually now that I think about it, Calanthe would love to get her hands on that flower... she'd just become another version of the scientist who developed the poison. The world truly isn't ready for her. But I digress. 

Mutiny (the world is called Assalia) is my favorite sandbox, as it is the world I have the grandest and clearest scope of that I have created. So, naturally, it would make sense that I can just go hog wild on world building details and create flora for all the different regions. Do I need to? Absolutely not. Do I want to? Hell fuckin yeah!! I blame Dianne! I'm just going to make it worse by also getting Calanthe a geologist rival. Does this mean I have to start learning things about science so i can properly utilize these characters? Hmmm.... consequences of my actions. 

As she was created for a one-shot, I don't have much figured out about who Calanthe is as a person just yet. The bulk of her character in this setting is just... researcher at the university. Who occasionally goes out into the world to cause problems (not on purpose) (okay sometimes maybe rarely on purpose but she has friends that are SO much better at that than she is i'm looking RIGHT AT YOU APRICUS "SET SEVERAL PEOPLE ON FIRE" THE LUMINARY). Whenever I sit down to write her field journal for Mutiny, I'll work on fleshing her out a lot more. Does anyone have any good solo journaling games that have to do with being a field botanist? No? Is that too specific a subject? Hmm. 

You can see the art that Buddy did for me! and the pin board I made to give Buddy inspo is here :) 

If you want to see what her character sheet looks like, it is over on my patreon!

[purplesurveys]

1779

What was the last upsetting thing that happened to you? I got sick, again...that's two very high fevers in the short and sweet span of 1.5 months and I can almost certainly tell you it's because of work. Bright side is it's putting everything in a much clearer perspective and it'll probably be the first thing I'll raise to Trina the next time she has a check-in with me.

What was the last thing you ordered from Starbucks? I think it was their iced brown sugar blahblah espresso (why does it have to be such a mouthful?) and my favorite off their menu, the chicken barbecue sandwich.

Do you trust your doctor? I just have natural trust for all doctors in general because they're supposed to be experts at their field. It's just a matter of whether they're an asshole/condescending or not.

Do you ever question if your mother loves you? Sometimes. Last week she and dad got into an argument but made sure the rest of the household was put through hell in the most childish way you can imagine a 50 year old throwing a fit. I will never understand that about her.

Do you ever feel scared or unsafe around your dad? Not at all.

Do you have a pastor you can trust and talk to whenever you need to? Nope.

Do you have a best friend who always has your back? Yes. Just last Wednesday I had a bit of a scare because my car wouldn't start while I was stranded in the middle of BGC, and the first two people I called were Angela and Hans because I knew they'd have my back in an instant and would know how to help me. :(

What is missing in your life? Career fulfillment. I'm making good money but ugh am I miserable and getting more and more physically unwell. Two fevers in less than two months is ridiculous and I know damn well this has little to do with the flu bug that's been going around.

What color shirt are you wearing? It's white with some pink accents.

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? The delivery rider assigned to me for a work-related booking.

Who is your least favorite doctor you’ve been to? I'm not even sure if they were a doctor but it was that psychologist(?) or therapist(?) or whatever the hell she was who was doing a mental health check on me as part of my college admissions. She was just very rude and seemed very judgmental from the get-go, so I said nothing about my depression because I knew she was 100% going to make it worse and more embarrassing.

Who is your least favorite nurse? I don't think I've had encounters with bad nurses.

What is your favorite type of Lunchables? Idk what those are. I mean I have a vague idea of them, but I didn't grow up with them.

What gives you migraines? My job, and every itty bitty thing about my job.

What is the worst medication side effect you’ve ever had? Not a medication, but I've always gotten horrible fevers from all my Covid vaccines and boosters.

When was the last time you remember your life being good? My horrible day-to-day at my job notwithstanding, my life is pretty fuckin sweet right now given that CM Punk has returned to WWE. Anyone here know me since 2013/14? HAHAHAHA THAT ROBYN IS BACK AND HOPEFULLY SHE'S HERE TO STAY FOR A WHILE

What makes you forgetful? Stress or trauma, I would say.

Do you block stupid, ignorant people on Facebook? I'll sometimes block actual profiles, but most of the time if I see something I don't like I either just pettily report the thing or have the post hidden from my feed.

What is your favorite magazine to read? I have not read one in yearsss, and the only exception is if a magazine covers BTS or one of the BTS members and does a profile feature on them. Sometimes the stories come out great and sometimes they are ass.

What is your favorite thing to order at Taco Bell? I just get the first burrito I see on the menu. I've never been familiar with their items. I'm not a Taco Bell regular because there's only like 3 of them here and all of them are too far and I'd never go out of the way just for some foreign fast food hahaha.

What was the first color you dyed your hair? Ash brown. I wanted to go all-in off the bat and tried to ask for green, but the salon was super protective of my soon-to-be-bleached virgin hair hahaha and insisted I go a mild shade first, so ash brown it was. I never did get around to dyeing my hair green.

Do you trust your parents completely? No.

Do you have someone you feel completely safe around? Sure.

What church do you go to? My family attends Sunday mass at our local parish.

Have you made a lot of mistakes? Is there anyone who would actually say no to this?

Do you take risks often? Eh, not really. I don't have a lot of safety nets in the first place, so it's smarter for me to play it safe for the most part.

Who was the last person you called on the phone? The aforementioned delivery rider.

What color is your favorite whiteboard marker? I don't use markers much.

[cblgblog]

Hand to hand, who wins in a fair (as it can be) fight Peggy Carter or Abby Anderson?

Why they gotta fight, man? Why you gotta make me choose between my children?

So my default response to most things is Peggy wins everything, Peggy always wins everything, Peggy could’ve beat fuckin Thanos if she’d been there. And to an extent, this will always be the case, Peggy can beat everyone cuz she’s Peggy, goodbye, the end.

BUT, let’s look at this.

So Abby and Peggy are both fairly simple fighters, yeah? There’s no fancy kung fu, Matrix shit, they both are very much just, take whatever you have in hand and weaponize it. Both will fight dirty without hesitation if it means coming out the other side, there’s no rules of honor or the like, no ‘I cannot hit someone who’s back is turned.’ Nope, both of them go in to every fight with the intent to win, that’s the only rule.

So the super obvious difference is the strength factor. Because, you know. Abby. Arms. Yeah. Huge arms, huge advantage there. But hey, we’ve seen Peggy fight people stronger than her all the time and come out the winner. She usually ends up getting a little bit strangled first, maybe thrown violently against a wall a time or three first, but she ultimately wins. She’s used to fighting people who have more physical strength than her. But Abby routinely fights clickers and worse, so she’s no slouch there either.

Assuming then that both are in their physical prime, I think it would honestly depend on environment. Like, if it’s just an empty room, or an empty field, something where there’s nothing at hand that either of them can use as an improvised weapon? Yeah, Abby could win that. If Abby could get those hands/arms around Peggy and keep them there, and Peggy doesn’t have anything at all to fight back with, and there’s no incoming assist from Rose or Jarvis or anyone? Yeah she could lose that, we’ve seen a few times where she’s been very much on the ropes and could’ve lost if some form of backup hadn’t arrived.

BUT.

Put her in an environment where there’s stuff around—like anything she can get in her hand at all stuff—that’s potentially a different story. Because while both have a similar use everything to your advantage fighting style, I think Peggy might be better at actually using everything. She’s taken on a Black Widow, multiple times, and at least made it to a draw, if not won outright. I think it’s what, a scarf that she uses against Dottie in the season 1 finale? I think scarf, may be wrong, I know it was some sort of tiny piece of cloth, okay?

I don’t think Abby thinks to use a piece of cloth as a weapon.  She’s got those arms. If she saw something like that, she’s more likely to not even register it as a weapon and here, I’m just gonna kill you with my magnificent arms. She’s used to being physically stronger than most humans she encounters, and what’s she gonna do with a scarf when a Clicker shows up, throw it at them? Thing wouldn’t even make any noise, what’s the point?

Peggy’s similar to Ellie as far as their lack of brute strength. Both are more reliant on speed to make up for that, and size, to a certain extent. And Abby had trouble with Ellie in the theater. She clearly won, but you had Dina and Lev in on that fight too, which made a difference. The second fight, while one on one, you can’t really judge based on that because both characters were way below 100%, but especially Abby. So it’s not really a fair comparison but pretending it was…Abby clearly had trouble there too. She would’ve lost if Ellie hadn’t, you know, stopped being a fucking idiot at the last minute (I say with love because Ellie my sweet, demented murder child, you’re doing amazing sweetie). Now, if Abby hadn’t been all emaciated and tortured and generally jacked the hell up during that fight, she would’ve beaten Ellie, I believe, but Ellie wouldn’t have made it easy on her. And if you take away Ellie’s trusty knife and just go hand to hand, I’d argue Peggy is definitely the better fighter hand to hand between those two, no question. So if Peggy could definitely beat Ellie hand to hand, and Ellie in any scenario would at least give Abby trouble, at least give her pause, then Peggy could definitely win, under certain conditions.

Can you tell I’m not actually any good at these/don’t watch enough of those who would win analysis vids on Youtube? Yeah, you can tell.

Anyway, if there’s just a completely empty room and Abby gets her hands on Peggy and gets leverage that Peggy can’t break out of? Abby wins. But if there’s stuff around, then Peggy’s got a better chance because she’ll turn anything into a weapon, where Abby would be more likely to use mostly her strength, which is what most of the guys Peggy fights hand to hand end up doing, and they have a tendency to lose. So, depends on circumstances.

BUT, could Abby fight with such perfectly choreographed timing that matches the ‘40’s era Peggy Lee hit that’s playing in the background while she kicks ass? No, no she could not. Could Abby lift Thor's hammer? No, no she could not, and Peggy definitely could, change my mind.

Lev could definitely lift the hammer though, just saying.

[cesium-sheep]

yeah alright I finally figured out where I put this fucking book on my shelf after we moved since the goop’s been a-bubblin, and the obsession with the concept of “healing fantasies” is reeeeally grating on me now. it’s strange, early in the book there’s a lot of genuinely good solid validating writing, but as it goes on it gets more and more into shit that absolutely does not line up in the slightest with my own experience of the world.

it seems like it’s gradually backslid? into writing for people who are completely new to the idea that maybe their upbringing wasn’t good? and chapter 8 in particular is about like, how to deal with the parent (they advise some of the same strategies as captain awkward), but one in particular is actively strongly encouraging detachment, and it’s like. oh. oh you’re gonna imply to me that none of your emotionally neglected/abused patients have a history of depersonalization as a coping method for this exact reason? well that smells fuckin fishy. frankly I don’t fuckin buy that.

and again, I recall feeling positive about the book for the first few chapters, but it has completely soured on me. most of my notes were bitter laughter or just straight up “that is false”. like they’re obsessed with the concept that an emotionally neglected child surely is still trying to win their parent’s affection even once they’ve reached adulthood, right? and it’s like. yeah some people take a long time to come around to the idea that maybe their parents are kinda garbo! god knows it took my brother a lot longer than it took me even though he had an awareness of many of the discrete events. like. my dude. I had long stopped trusting my mother by the age of like 13 or whenever the hell it was. I had a deeply robust ability to dissociate and depersonalize the moment someone started getting uppity with me by the time I was 17, probably earlier than that. and guess what!!! it didn’t fucking save me shit!!!

one of the “concerns” in a weird little q&a-esque segment was essentially “but I don’t wanna constantly think like that!” and it’s like damn bitch you’re not already??? do you just go in and get blindsided every time like that basic bitch glass joe from punchout?

like. I always had it repeatedly enforced that it’s incredibly rude to treat your knowledge or skills as exceptional without like, accolades to back it up, but I feel like every time I actively try to interact with the knowledge other people deem good enough to publish and give doctorates for I find myself disappointed. so either they’ve all coincidentally been exceptionally bad, or I’m exceptionally knowledgeable about my shit. and given my, what. 17+ years now of experience? I frankly believe it is the latter at this point, even though I feel like I’m going to be challenged every time I suggest the idea. even at the age of 15 people on the receiving end were praising my technique, I have the records to prove it. (when they weren’t bitching me out for not being emotionally open with them, anyway.)

and it’s just like. damn. shit. I really thought maybe this one was actually meant for me for once. but they started where I was and inexplicably walked backwards. and it’s so bitter to be told over and over and over “this is for you! this is meant to help you!” and just find little to nothing (or worse).

either I’m not exceptional which is what I’m supposed to believe and the whole field is just a bunch of fucking failures, or I am exceptional and it’s lonely at the motherfuckin top.

idfk bro it just sucks. would love for someone to be able to help me the way I’ve helped others hundreds of times! apparently never gonna happen tho cuz apparently no one’s skilled enough to reach beyond what I can simply do for myself!

[seasonschange-butpeopledont]

The Last of Us: Part II

Pairing: Frankie Morales x F!Reader / Santiago “Pope” Garcia x F!Reader 

Warnings: Language, threats of violence, guns, blood and injury, a post-zombie apocalypse world ripped straight out of The Last of Us, first aid medical stuff (kind of?)

Word Count: 1,644

Author’s Note: The Triple Frontier Zombie Apocalypse AU no one asked for.  

Summary: After Frankie is injured, the boys find themselves in need of your help. 

Part I - Taglist Form - Masterlist - Part III

The gunshots outside your window set heart racing. Not an entirely uncommon sound in the world you lived in now, but the quiet of the last few days had given you the illusion of peace. 

That fantasy was promptly shattered when a large blonde man kicked your door in, covered in blood and carrying a metal pipe as a weapon. 

“Get him inside!” He ordered, speaking to someone you could not yet see. You’d been hiding behind the counter of the bar since the shots rang out, but it wouldn’t be long before these strangers discovered you there. Careful not to move too suddenly and make the old wooden floors creak under the shift of your weight, you craned your neck to peek around the corner. 

You watched two more men follow behind the first, carrying an unconscious man through the doorway. The metallic scent of blood hit you immediately. Someone had been injured. 

“Goddamnit,” The youngest blonde swore. “Where the hell did they come from?”

“Must have been following us,” One of the men reasoned. “Caught Fish in the back.” 

“You thinkin’ they were hunters?”

“Nah,” The first man shook his head. “That was amateur. Probably just desperate for some supplies.” 

“Right, and we aren’t?” The young blonde snorted. “This whole fuckin’ plan was stupid. Never should have come this far into the city.” 

“C’mon, Benny, quit complaining and help me move that jukebox in the corner. We’ve gotta barricade this door.” 

“With noise like that, we’ll be lucky if a damn horde ain’t at our doorstep in a few minutes,” The man, Benny, you presumed, grumbled as he began pushing the heavy machine across the floor. “Fuckin’ scavengers.” 

The third man was knelt on the ground, assessing the unconscious man’s wounds. 

“How bad is it?” The first man called. 

“I’ve seen worse,” He replied, placing his hands against the wound and applying pressure as best he could. He looked around the room in search of supplies, his gaze landing on the bar top. You shrank back, but you knew it was useless. He was on his feet and heading towards the place where you hid in the blink of an eye. 

When he came around the counter, he spotted you immediately, still crouched down on the floor. He was shorter than the rest of the group, with tan skin and greying curls. There was a fierceness in his eyes that told you he meant business. 

“Looks like we’ve got company, boys,” He called. 

You were ill-prepared for the confrontation, clutching the neck of a broken bottle as a makeshift weapon. If it came down to it, you doubted it would do you any good. You weren’t much of a fighter. 

“You know anything about this?” He demanded, unholstering his weapon and training it on you. He pointed to the injured man with his free hand. 

“What? No, I– I don’t know anything,” You shook your head, fumbling for a defense, caught off guard by how absurd the accusation seemed to you. “You broke into my bar, remember?” 

“Could be a trap. You sure you don’t have a buddy in the back that’s about to come shoot at us?” He countered evenly, the gun in his hands lowering slightly so that it was no longer pointed between your eyes. 

“If I was planning a robbery, don’t you think I’d be armed with something a little better than,” You paused, looking at the label of the bottle in your hand, “Peppermint schnapps?” 

At this, the man raised an eyebrow and looked towards his companions, seeming to ask for their assessment of the situation. The two men flanked him, watching you carefully. 

“She ain’t gonna hurt anybody,” The young blonde spoke up. Benny, you remembered. “Look at her, Pope. Poor thing’s scared to death.” 

You glared at him, clearly indignant at his observation. The man with the gun nodded finally, holstering the weapon before retreating towards the injured man to check on him once more.

The older blonde stepped in, holding out a hand to help you up off of the floor. You accepted it, pulling yourself to your feet. “Hey there,” He said with a calmness in his voice as he introduced himself, “I’m Will, and that’s my brother, Benny. Over there, that’s Pope– He’s a little spooked right now, so you’ll have to forgive his manners.” 

He pointed towards the man they’d dragged into the building, currently sitting on the floor with his back against one of the booths by the front wall. Pope was beside him, pressing a bloodied shirt against the wound at his friend’s shoulder. “And that’s Catfish. Look, we aren’t here to cause any trouble, but we could really use your help.” 

You gave him your name in a voice just above a whisper, your attention held by the wounded man. He wore a hat that shadowed his face, but something about his slumped figure tugged at your heart. His friends clearly cared about him deeply. That wasn’t something you came by often in this world, not anymore. These days, it was every man for himself. 

Your grip on the bottle loosened, and you put it away. “I have a first aid kit upstairs,” You informed them, turning back to Will and Benny. “I’ll go get it for you. There’s some clean dish rags under the sink to help stop the bleeding.” 

Relief washed over Will’s face. “Thank you,” He told you, his sincerity clear in his tone.

“Mind if we take this?” Benny asked you, holding up a bottle of whiskey. “I think it’s going to take a little more than those tiny antiseptic wipes to get that thing good and clean.”

“Go ahead,” You confirmed, heading towards the store room to grab the first aid kit off the shelf. Back in the bar, you could hear muffled groans of pain as the men poured the liquor to sterilize the wound. The agonizing sound went straight to your heart, making your stomach twist painfully. It’s been months, but you didn’t think you’d ever acclimate to the suffering you’d witnessed since the beginning of the outbreak.

“Thanks,” Pope murmured when you returned, handing the first aid kit to him. Benny and Will had taken up arms by the door, watching through the cracks in the boarded up windows for any signs of oncoming hordes. 

“Mind putting pressure on that for me?” He requested, taking his hands off of the wound to sift through your meager medical supplies. Your hands replaced his, pressing down on Catfish’s shoulder. His breath was coming out in short, even puffs. The bleeding seemed to be slowing, and a thin layer of sweat covered his face, dampening the hair that curled against his forehead. If the situation were different, you might have found him handsome. 

You looked back to Pope, watching him work. His eyes were focused on threading the needle to begin stitching, and you discovered that his fingers were trembling. It surprised you; these didn’t seem like the type of men who cracked under pressure. This Catfish fellow must have meant a lot to them. 

“Is he going to be okay?” You inquired softly. Pope swallowed hard, nodding slowly. 

“I think so. The bullet went straight through. If we can stitch it up, it’ll be fine, as long as there’s no infection. We should probably think about getting some food in him soon.” 

“That’s good,” You replied, trying to keep your tone optimistic. Infection was as big of a threat as anything these days, but you thought you thought he stood a good chance. A bottle of whiskey and some clean bandages were still miles better than the field medicine most people received. 

When Pope failed to thread the needle for the third time, you held out your hand to him expectantly. “Let me take over. I used to do a lot of sewing with my grandmother. Steady hands.” 

You offered him a reassuring smile, and he reluctantly relinquished the needle and thread to you. 

“Have you been here long?” He asked absentmindedly, sitting back on his heels as you worked. Your eyebrows drew together in concentration. 

“A while. The bar is pretty well stocked, all things considered.” You got the thread through the eye easily, carefully securing it before nudging Pope’s hands aside. You removed the dish rag and took out one of the antiseptic wipes, clearing away some of the remaining blood before you set to work on stitching the wound closed.

“Riding out the apocalypse at the bar,” Pope snorted softly. “Sounds like a nice plan. Wish I would have thought of that one.” 

“I used to live in the apartment upstairs, actually, before everything…” You trailed off, not eager to rehash the beginning of the end. “Well, you know what happened. When the QZ fell apart a few months later, I didn’t really know where else to go, so I ended up back here. I guess the owners of this place didn’t make it, but it seemed safe enough and there are plenty of supplies, if you don't mind beer nuts and pretzels. I’ve been hiding out here ever since.”

“Really? All by yourself?” He frowned. You seem to hesitate, swallowing a lump in your throat before answering. 

“Believe it or not, you and your friends are the first people I’ve spoken to in about two months.” 

“No kidding?”

You shook your head. It was a lonely existence you led these days, so different to the one you had when the city was full of life. 

“That’s too bad,” Pope told you, unable to ignore the pit that formed in his stomach when he noticed the sadness in your eyes. “I don’t think we made the best first impression. 

“That’s okay. It’s nice to meet you, Pope,” You said softly, trying off the final stitch. “Even under the circumstances.”

General Taglist: @theravenreads​​ @marshmallowtraver​​ @computeringturtle​​ @pascalisthepunkest​​ @supernaturalcat7​​ @maythxthirstbxwithyou​​ @artsymaddie​​

Pedro Characters Taglist: @coldlilheart​​ @fuck-goes-on​​

Frankie Morales Taglist: @freeshavocadoooo​​ @fangirl-of-randomness​​ @darnitdraco​

[admiringlove]

“did you bring me here to die?”

— welcome to sam’s brewery, where we commemorate reaching 500 customers! this event lasts for one week, and will only take up to twenty orders(as above that can become quite overwhelming).

+order: HI SAM!! This is such a cool concept. but let me just tell u that when I saw ur event post, all dialogue I‘be ever heard/read left my brain. But after some thought, I came up with “did u bring me here to die?!” + atsumu. I feel like he’d do some stupid shit like that lmao!! I can’t wait to see what u come up with for this event!! 💗 [submitted by @bubblingclementine​]

+word count: 0.6k

+author’s notes: erin, i'm sorry but this is just crack lmaooo. to anyone who wants to send a prompt, here is the link to the event masterlist so you can know which shows you can request from!

Miya Atsumu did not like camping as a child.

He hated the idea of being away from the comfort of his own home—especially in the middle of nowhere, with tents or a cabin as his only alleviation and a stupid fire to roast marshmallows on.

Why would any sane person willingly give up their own state of ease to go stay in the wild for a few days? Unless they were delusional, that is.

So when you, his long-time best friend and also partner, suggested a camping trip, he freaked out. He, with wide eyes and a scared expression, said, "What if a bear eats me? Even worse, what if my marshmallow is contaminated? I'd rather live in my house and watch Disney movies with you than go in a jungle!"

You had laughed in his face for that, but he kept his word. And when you came up with the next best thing(which was a big cabin in the middle of the woods), he really couldn't say no to those pleading eyes of yours. Little did he know, that you were only faking being sad.

And what Atsumu hated more than camping, was camping during winter. Being in a cabin while it snowed like a bitch outside was the worst idea possible in his mind. He hated this trip already, now his poor car is getting swarmed with evil white particles. You arrived in his field of vision not long after, so his mind calmed down a bit.

"Here's your hot chocolate," you smiled, sitting on the couch with him as the fire in front of you burned. The lights were still on, but you had insisted that the fireplace be lit.

(Atsumu still doesn't understand how the two of you had become friends. Even though he was a professional athlete, you still managed to surprise him with your bizarre yet somehow exciting ideas.)

He hated this trip, but he hated it a little less when he was with you.

"Ya know, I still don't like that it's snowing and we're in the middle o' nowhere," he grumbles, before sipping from his mug. You chuckle smally, leaning on the nape of his neck as you mumble, "It's okay. I'm happy you agreed to come along."

"Look, [Y/N], if the lights run out or somethin', I'm callin' the cops," he says. You laugh this time, a voice melodious to his ears. Your cheeks are tinted carmine, as you hug him just a smidge tighter.

And just as you do that, the lights turn off.

"Holy fuck!" he yells, the half-empty mug almost falling out of his hands. He places the drink on the coffee table and clutches the blanket a little closer to him. You laugh again, clutching your stomach this time as you tease, "You're such a baby."

"What the hell?" he frantically rants, "I literally just said somethin' about the lights turnin' off and it actually happened! This place is already creepy, and now the lights are gone!"

"We still have the fireplace, 'Tsumu. Don't worry- oh."

"Did you bring me here to die?! That thing's out too! This place is haunted, I'm tellin' ya. I've always hated camping. The thought itself is so dumb. Why would anyone want to stay in a fuckin' forest for a day? We were idiots to come here. C'mon, let's go back home," he picks up his phone and turns on the flashlight, only to get scared again.

You were laughing. Again. And to Atsumu, your laugh was like the ripples in a pond after throwing in a rock. It slowly radiated towards other parts of the water before fading, and he let this sound live in his mind and heart forever, because you, were his solace. He shakes himself out of his thoughts, because this is not the time to be hopelessly in love with you. This is the time to be frantic and call the cops because your cabin might seriously be haunted.

"This is not funny!"

"It..pfft-" you break out into another fit before finally regaining your composure as you say, "I-it is."

"Why?"

"Because there's a blizzard outside, and the trains have been cancelled so we have to wait at least a day till we can go back home."

“This is why people don’t like camping-”

© all works belong to admiringlove on tumblr. plagiarism is strictly prohibited.

[milkacchan]

Request for anon: If it's not too much to ask, can I have headcanons for omega Shouto with an alpha s/o? Nsfw or sfw is up to you! Love your writing, love! 💞💞💞

I've been waiting for this moment for fucking W E E K S

Thank you 😌

And this is gonna be HELLA long :)

SFW-

• Sof boy

• He's quiet and can have an intimidating demeanor but he's a baby and he WEAK for you

• I mean the first day he saw you, he felt something

• At first he thought you were another omega

• You were shorter than him and the smile you sported the first day had him fooled

• It wasn't long before he realized you were an Alpha

• You and a few of the other Alpha females of the class were particularly protective of the omega females

• specifically you and Mina

• It came as no surprise that you ended up in the Bakusquad later on

• You didnt exclude the few omega males either

• When he first meets you, like actually meets you, is when he realizes you're an Alpha, based on smell alone

• You smell like Sandlewood and Chai and he LOVES it

• It makes his knees weak

• and you're just so soft?

• Like you have that calm that good Alphas posses and you use it often

• And when you use it for him one day, because he was freaking out, he thinks he's gonna pass out

• It took him WEEKS to realize the pangs in his chest werent physical

• He liked you

• and he doesn't feel like waiting around so he courts you instead and when you look surprised he isnt sure what to feel

• And then regret and dread fill him and he wishes he could just be normal with social cues and interactions

• And you realize he's zoned out a little, shaking and it looks like he's going to cry and you use that stupid Alpha thing on him

• You coo softly and pull him into your chest, telling him it was okay

• And he feels like he's gonna die again but he loves it so much and he's SO relieved when you accept his courting

• When you hugged him he realizes just how touch starved he is

• Anyway that's hour the powercouple of 1-A began

• He's not a big fan of PDA but he's not opposed to holding your hand

• Or sometimes he's had a bad day or he's not feeling the best mentally and he won't care he just wants to be with you

• Will 100% walk into bakusquad hang out in the common room just to hide his face in your shoulder

• Or sit next to you quietly

• You'll wrap an arm around him and press a kiss to his temple while you continue your conversation with Sero and Denki

• Listen they think it's the CUTEST fucking thing

• Because it is. It really is.

• Bakugou pretends it grosses him out but it really doesnt

• He honestly thinks it's a lil cute too and mentally swears that if his BF dont treat him the way you treat yours he dont want him

• Yall will help eachother study

• Because he's good at math but you're good at english

• So it balances out

• And training. Lots of sparring.

• You're also the one to calm him down

• Todoroki tends to beat himself up a lot over his 'daftness'

• He doesn't always pick up on social cues or know how to keep a conversation

• And he hates that because he feels that sometimes it makes people feel uncomfortable and they're his friends and he doesnt want that

• So it'll get to him and sometimes if he over thinks it too much he'll start to panic

• You told him that whenever he felt like that, he came to see your it he called you

• He feels like it's a burden but when he see's the look of love in your eyes and the way you hold him and kiss his cheeks, he doesnt feel like that anymore

• He's so happy with you???

• and he loves you so much

• Y'all are just so disgusting

• Sappy as fuck but also the right level of completely roasting eachother

• It's nice:)

• He cooks for you no doubt

• You make him Soba when he's sad

• When you're sad he'll hold you against his chest and whisper in your ear to counter whatever you had just said

• If you ever feel mediocre it less than him he'll tell you why you're absolutely not less than him

• Ys fights aren't really super serious but it can still get a little heated, it never ends it break ups though

• It usually ends in taking a few hours to calm down (Todoroki refuses to let either of yall go to sleep angry with a problem unresolved) then talking it out and at least TRYING to come to a compromise

• Usually it's about wellbeing matters (overworking and being reckless and what not)

• Going full Alpha if someone fucks with him in battle 🤪

• Going full Alpha if you see him hurt on the field 🤪

• Snapping at Endeavor that one time 🤪

• Him going feral that one time you and Bakugou got SNATCHED 🤪

• Oops 🤪

• LISTEN

• You show him memes and Vines and junk and you teach him about them and one day he just makes a reference but he's completely deadpan about it and you're laughing so hard you fall out of your chair because HOLY SHIT

• He grins a lil

• His alpha laughed at his joke🥺

• S c e n t i n g

• Todoroki loves smelling like you

• He'll steal your hoodies (the oversized ones you have anyway)

• OR he'll have you scent some of his things because he's gonna smell like you dammit

• also gives you a box of your things that he's scented and you dont even mind because Todo smells so good and it's gonna make him happy so hell yeah

• For him Scenting can either be really calming or erotic

• To wind down he'll sit on your bed and you'll be on his lap, scenting him and it just makes him feel so calm

• Will fall asleep

• When he gets really comfortable with kissing he'll be constantly pecking your lips and kissing the nape of your neck when no ones is paying attention

• Once while you were on the couch with Bakusquad, he was walking by with dekusquad to go out and do whatever nerd shit they do

• And he stopped where you were, moved your hair to the side and pressed a soft kiss to the back of your neck and then just. Walked away.

• needless to say you short circuited

• and he does that often

NSFW-

• I once read about Sub/Bottom Todoroki and

• I can't stop thinking about it bc it lowkey works so well

• I feel like he'd be a switch though

• Like somedays he want to be wrecked by his Alpha

• But sometimes he wants to see you squirming and breathless underneath him

• He'd probably prefer to sub/bottom tho

• As I said before scenting can either be really calm for him or it can be erotic and like an immediate turn on for him

• So when it is like sexy time, and you're scenting, this man doesnt stand a chance

• He's whimpering and he's so hard it hurts

• He's got his neck bared for you and his face is read

• It smells like pure sex in the room, its really strong and you both LOVE it

• One time he gets hit by a heat inducing quirk

• And you help him with that because it so much worse than regular heat and you can tell its hurting him

• And he smells so fucking good

• Before he really lost all sense he managed to put a collar on you you couldn't mark him, your Alpha wasn't pleased with that

• Anyway Todoroki gets fucked into the mattress repeatedly, mewling and crying out and he's so fucking pleased with your hips rutting into his

• he feels so full and his omega is fucking KEENING because if the attention he's getting

• You're either leaning over him or you've got your hands on his waist

• He's never been more thankful for the stretching you've made him do so he wouldn't pull muscles

• After a week of the two of you going MIA, the two of you timidly return to 1A

• At some point the teachers (and endeavor) had found out.

• But what were they going to do? You two weren't on school grounds, you weren't breaking any rules

• Endeavor sure as hell isn't going to interfere

• I feel like even Endeavor would understand the gravity of the situation and that the only way to help his son was let him and his Alpha take care of it

• and as long as he's not officially marked by the end of it, he doesn't care

• Shouto does, however, have a shit ton of hickies and scratches and bruises. Everytime he looks at them his omega keens again and he loves it

• Like, Hickies on his jawline. Hickies on his arm and the back of his neck, on his thighs and stomach

• Bruises on his wrists and hips and thighs

• Like all this shit is visible

• He reassured you after you apologized profusely for like 2 hours that it was FINE and he LIKED it

• His class had a fuckin stroke

• especially Deku

• Bakusquad is lowkey impressed bc holy fuck YOU did that???

• 'You seemed so Vanilla'

• Lmao sikeee

• Todoroki learned a lot about what he liked during that

• He likes having his hair pulled

• He likes being praised and told how good he is

• He likes being DENIED what he wants until he's BEGGING for it in short and broken gasps, moans, and sobs.

• He likes Sharp and rough sex followed by something sweet and slow

• He probably wouldnt be on board with being degraded really, which is fine bc I cant imagine anyone who would want to degrade this boy

• From then on you do tend to help him with heats they just dont last as long

• He really likes grinding

• Just like all forms of it

• Making out? He's going to have you grinding on him while you're sitting on his lap

• He's horny and you're busy? He'll ride your thigh while you're doing work on the computer

• He felt like Domming today? He's going to grind himself on you while he's still got pants on.

• Laying in bed? He'll hump and grind against your thigh while you smile and kiss him.

• He just really loves it

• /Thourougly/ enjoys foreplay

• one of his favorite parts about sex

• When he doms- he starts out a little nervous unless he's in a mood but he'll quickly fall into it

• His voice is just so suited for being a Dom like wtf

• He'll lean down and whisper in your ear

• 10/10 dirty talk

• Uses his body as sex appeal to make you squirm

• will cuff you

• Will tie you up

• He'll not let you touch until your like really close

• He likes to see you come undone underneath him

• He thinks you're so pretty when you've got drool dribbling down your chin with your eyes lidded and face red

• He thinks your moans are the best

• I don't see him as being particularly loud in bed until he's actually a mess

• so it starts off as quiet groans and silent moans but as it goes on he'll get louder

• in heat though he's VERY loud

• Let's say you're in the middle, it depends on what's happening

• Y'all have the perfect balance of absolute filth and it's never boring :)

[yamchaas]

Welcome back to Jessie Yamchaas drink and episode reviews- Today we will be reviewing- Episode 71 of Dragon ball Super and Green Tea topped with whipped cream cheese concoction I saw in a youtube video late last night that disturbed me, keep reading if either of these intrigue you-

First things first, I had to make my drink to accompany my episode rewatch, here he is in all his glory:

Looks wise? Not the prettiest drink, slightly “shreks swamp after the honeymoon” vibes, but looks don’t matter- it’s about the taste. Taste wise? This shit disgusting, what in the actual fuck- Janice, girl, you said this was nice in your video what is this- The whipped cream cheese sits on top of the bitter tea so your first sip is straight up just this weird cream cheese and then you get bitter tea and its fuckin bad- 0.5/5, won’t make again.

Okay now we have that horror out of the way lets move on to something less terrible, surely- Yamcha playing baseball :)

Okay, first things first- animation. WHERE THE HELL IS YAMCHA’S CAKE? WHERE HE FUCKIN THIGHS AND HIS BUTT AT? BASEBALL TIGHT PANTS ARE WONDERFUL BUT WHERE ALL THE MEAT GONE?? YAMCHA ALWAYS HAD MEAT BRO, HE ALWAYS HAD JUICY THIGHS BRO 😭- Okay but with that out of my system there no other glaring issues with the animation in this episode, sure some of the distant shots are funky but I’m not bothered too greatly by that, it’s actually fairly well done- I especially appreciate the scenes where they focus on Yamcha’s technique and of course the cool wolf shot sings to me so all and all no complaints beyond Yamcha being too small.

As for plot, Champa and Beerus are having a “friendly” match between universes 6 and 7, hijinks ensue- This is filler, there’s not much plot to speak on.

Utterly in love with the line from Yamcha that he left Tien and Chiaotzu behind, super funny and a nice little throwback to the Res F movie- Also, they’re married <3 But I do just have to say it does utterly flummox me that Tien is not included in this episode, there’s genuinely no reason for him not to be here and I can’t help but to imagine how fun the episode could have been if Tien was on the universe 6 team to even out the numbers- They never gave us the Yamcha/Tien rematch at the tournament so it could have been a fun way of giving us some kind of rematch and banter all these years later, but sadly they just didn’t take the opportunity- Also no Tien Baseball Tight pants 😭😭 Disappointing.

Whis and Vados look nice :) Vegeta being obsessed with topping Goku once more, nothing new here. Gohan’s a sweety, also nothing new here.

Now some positives: Yamcha being so encouraging and a good team leader is very sweet to see, love that actually. I also love that they made these amazing warriors not very good at something that isn’t fighting, like it’s comical but it’s also nice in a way? Like yes, Goku is unbelievable in so many ways but he struggles to learn baseball- Its nice to be reminded these characters have flaws and struggle in different aspects of life, just like regular people do too- Really like that.

Love them incorporating Yamcha’s use of spirit control into his baseball skills, it’s just fun and cool, no complaints from me at all.

Piccolo being good at baseball is cute and I like it.

Now on to everything else-

This episode truly hurts my feelings, it’s so unnecessarily mean for no reason and I know people might say “but doesn’t he technically win? and wasn’t he better than everyone?” Those are the only scraps he gets- Literally Yamcha speaks in a total of 10 super episodes and this is the only episode that we could even vaguely call a Yamcha episode and it’s just a joke on him 90% of the time-

18 questioning if Yamcha should be captain and being nasty about his skills truly fucks me off- Like he’s been the best baseball player on earth for 20+ years, the show acts like Yamcha is completely useless and it just grates on me- Yamcha trained with King Kai, he can hold his own against the ginyu force- He’s not weak. He’s just plainly not!! Sure he’s not Goku level, or even Piccolo, but that’s okay, because he is human!! He’s still an amazing martial artist and baseball player and he’s also a good friend with a kind heart. The show playing into the useless pathetic Yamcha memes is cheap. It’s just cheap.

As for the he weird, kinda implied Bulma/Yamcha stuff in this ep HATE HATE MALICE BITE KILL- Actually fuck off. The blush pisses me off so bad-  Like Yamcha has never acted hung up on Bulma, he was a bit annoyed when Trunks was a tiny baby, which was fair! But other than that he just treated her like a regular friend, no unrequited love. Also I’m pretty sure this is the nicest Bulma has ever been to Yamcha... Ever. In like the entire series as a whole. So... That’s telling.

Also supers insistence that Yamcha’s this cocky, smarmy guy will never cease pissing me off! The Yamcha we leave in Dragon Ball Z has been remarkably chill and humble for years, so why now is he suddenly a dickhead again? This is more prevalent in other episodes but does feature here too. Bad writing- Bad characterization. Bad.

And it ends on the dead fucking Yamcha meme pose- Because of course it does. Because it’s cheap and it’s nasty and that’s all there is to it. They took a character that used to be a main character. A loved character. And they played into the dudebro, abridged series, meme-ifcation to get cheap laughs rather than give this character the dues he deserves. They literally couldn’t even give him one (1) episode. This is actually worse than the fucked cream cheese green tea drink- By a large margin.

NOTABLE, QUOTABLE:

“C’mon let’s see some pep in your step!”

“Wow- It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Yamcha this fired up!” 😭😭 Dude seeing Yamcha confident and excited and Goku being so happy makea me 😭😭

“Let the Yamcha show you what it’s like to dominate on the mound-” I’ll let The Yamcha dominate on my moun- *Comically large hook snatches me by the neck, pulling me and my computer chair off stage*

“The wolf fang pitching fist ball-” Tien, I need you to kiss this man on his dumb mouth, please.

“Yeah for a washed up fighter that’s not bad.” 18 I GOT MAD LOVE FOR YOU BUT IMMA THROW HANDS WITH YOU BITCH IF YOU KEEP THIS UP- “But Jess she’s a powerful android and you’re some chick-” Yeah but don’t you know the power of love is the strongest force in the world? Also I grew up in the country and have reserved farm strength so 😤

“It’s an honour to have this of bat” Cabba I dont know what the fuck this means but I’m fuckin happy to see you mate- You a good boy!! “Watch closely master, I’m going to hit this and prove I’m worthy of your teaching-’ stupid lil bitch ass vegtea don’t deserve this sweety 😤

“What are you even doing here, I’m totally out of my league, at this rate I’d be lucky to walk off the field alive... C’mon Yamcha, keep your head in the game, we are going to win this.” TIEN IF YOU DONT GENTLY AND SWEETLY BRUSH THIS MANS CHOPPY MULLET FROM HIS FACE AND SWEETLY KISS HIS LIPS ON GOD-

Winning shot of the epsiode:

Thanks for tuning in to my review of drink and episode uhhhhhh see you again uhhhhhhh if someone gives me a drink and a episode to watch :)

[sohotthateveryonedied]

Chaos and Bloodshed Already Haunt Us

Read here on AO3!

Summary:

Tim and Jason get kidnapped by Black Mask. Jason is too sacrificial for his own good.

Tim has been waking up tied to chairs in strange places since he was thirteen, to the point where he has been kidnapped more times than he’s been to Chuck E. Cheese. When you’re a Wayne kid and a batkid, you learn to accept regular kidnappings as a part of life, just like taxes. Is it so unreasonable that Tim would prefer to wake up in his own bed, for a change? First things first: take stock. Assess the situation. Go from there. Before he’s even opened his eyes, Tim feels for what he’s pretty sure is regular rope keeping his hands tied behind him. Unfortunately, even rope can hold a bat when said bat has no weapons to bail them out, which Tim doesn’t. His utility belt and bandoliers are missing, and any spare tools he has hidden on his person are impossible to reach with the way his arms are wrenched behind him. His fingertips are already tingly, going on numb. “Red? You up?” Tim opens his eyes at the familiar voice. Jason is tied to his own chair across from him, a mirror of Tim’s own situation. The room itself is small—gray walls, cement floor, unmarked crates stacked along the walls. Jason’s helmet is off, exposing the domino he wears underneath. Tim’s mask hasn’t been touched either. “Do you remember what happened or do you need the recap?” Jason asks.

It’s blurry at best, but Tim remembers enough. “Intel mission on Black Mask, right?”

“Started out that way. We got here and I figured out that Sionis was selling weapons to Intergang so we blew the whole shipment to hell.” “You figured it out?” That doesn’t sound right, as fragmented as Tim’s memories are. From the throbbing in the back of his head, he must have been hit pretty hard. “You calling me a liar?” “I ain’t calling you a truther,” Tim mutters, fiddling with the rope that’s been cutting off circulation in his hands for what must have been at least an hour. He can’t get Jason and himself out of here in this condition. “Did you—" “Already signaled him.” Good. Bruce will send someone to bail them out of this in no time. They just have to hold out until then. “Oh, good, you’re awake,” a chilling voice speaks from behind Tim. “You have no idea how bored I was waiting for the party to start.” Fingers touch Tim’s shoulder and he jerks away. Jason, unbothered by the newcomer, snorts. “This is what you consider a party? You need some fucking friends.” Sionis ignores the jab. He passes Tim and goes straight for the camera set up near the left wall, just far back enough to fit both Tim and Jason in frame. Very, very bad sign. He turns it on, the red light blinking. “You making a movie?” Jason says. He’s snarky, but Tim can see the fear lurking behind his eyes. Roman ignores him and adjusts the camera so it points at himself. “Hello, Batman.” Tim’s eyes snap up to meet Jason’s. “In case you were wondering, this is a live feed you’re getting now. And don’t try tracing it, you’ll just waste your energy. You’re not the only one who has talented technicians on his side.” He leans in closer to the camera, his mask nearly touching the lens. “In the spirit of clarity, let me be clear: this, right now? This is a gift. This is my warning to you to stay the hell out of my business, otherwise you and your precious lackeys will have to answer to me.” He moves out of the frame and zooms in on Tim’s masked face, then Jason’s. “Lucky for me, I found a couple of your birds messing with my shipment, and they so graciously volunteered to help me set an example.” He steps aside and gestures to a tray of tools, each one more horrible than the last. Most of them are still coated in blood from his last victim. Tim gulps. Sionis peruses his collection, which gives Tim the chance to catch Jason’s attention. He jerks his head toward the camera, mouthing, Tell them where we are. Jason nods, and Tim looks back at Sionis. “You think I haven’t been tortured before? This is just a workout.” Is it true? No. He’s terrified, actually. But Jason needs time to signal Bruce through the camera, so Tim will stall for as long as he can. “Bold words, kid.” Sionis picks up a knife, tracing the edge of it with his fingertip. “Just makes it more fun for me when you break.” He comes closer and grabs Tim roughly by the chin, pressing the knife against his cheek uncomfortably close to his eye. “I’ll bet I can make you cry.” “Hey, Blackie,” Jason calls, ripping their focus away. His eyes are narrowed, mouth twisted. “Did you hear the one about the rich dude who wore blackface?” Sionis tightens his grip on Tim’s face. “Do tell.” Stop talking, Tim tries to convey telepathically. Don’t make this worse. “It was universally agreed that he was a piece of shit.” “You should learn to keep your mouth shut when someone’s holding a knife to your baby brother’s face.” To prove his point, Roman digs the knife in, slicing a thin line down all the way to Tim’s jaw. Tim inhales sharply at the sting. “Baby brother?” Jason repeats. “You really are an idiot.” He doesn’t look at Tim, keeping his glare solely on Roman. “I barely know the guy. He follows me around, thinking I walk on water or some shit, but trust me. He’s a pain in the ass. You’re doing me a favor, really.” Sionis pulls the knife away from Tim’s face. Tim releases a breath. Sionis approaches Jason now, his knife still raised with Tim’s blood staining the steel blade. “Someone’s mouthy today.” “If you think this is mouthy, you should have heard your mother last night.” Sionis plunges the knife into Jason’s knee. Jason locks a scream behind his teeth, his face contorting in pain. “Try walking on water now,” Sionis hisses. He yanks the knife out, blood splattering on Jason’s legs and the floor. Tim looks nervously at the camera, its red light blinding ominously. Is Bruce watching this from the other side, agonizing over having a front-row seat to this display? Or is he already gone, on his way to rescue them? Tim hopes it’s the latter. “You think—think I haven’t been stabbed before?” Jason pants, his teeth gritted through the pain. “That was child’s play.” “Is that right?” Sionis looks over his shoulder at Tim. “Then maybe we should get a second opinion. What do you say, kiddo? Want to match your brother over here?” “Thank god,” Jason says. “Go over there and stay, if you wouldn’t mind. Your breath smells like dog shit. But I guess you are what you eat, so.” Roman punches Jason in the face so hard Tim can hear his teeth clank from here. He does it again two, three times, until blood streams from Jason’s nostrils and spills over his lips. Tim pulls frantically on the ropes binding him, tries to do anything, but he’s held tight. “Now, that,” Jason says, spitting out a mouthful of blood and what looks like a tooth, “was better. Still amateurish, but at least you’re not a fuckin’ sissy about it.” “Hood,” Tim snaps. “Please, shut up.” Why are you doing this? “Why should I listen to you? You’re the one who got us into this mess in the first place, replacement. This is your fault.” Jason’s words are snarls and his eyes burn with a tangible hatred, all directed at Tim. But Tim knows him too well. Not everyone wears a literal mask like Sionis does. Roman reaches for his tray and picks up a new blade, this one with large, jagged teeth. “By all means, keep talking, Hood. See where that gets you.” “What, are you going to stab me? Go ahead. The little shit deserves to feel guilty.” Sionis poises the blade at Jason’s shoulder, digging the tip in until Jason hisses. He leans in close, grabs Jason’s jaw with his other hand. “I know you’re not stupid. You think that if you act like a big enough asshole, you can save the runt from me.” He pushes on the knife, slowly sinking it into Jason’s flesh, ridge by ridge. “I’m very okay with that.” Roman twists the knife and Jason screams. Tim closes his eyes but he can’t cover his ears; he can’t tune out his brother screaming in agony, and he almost wishes that he were in Bruce’s position, watching this through a video feed. At least then he could turn it off. “Stop, please,” Tim begs. “He didn’t do anything, it was all me. It was my idea to blow up your shipment. I ruined your business, not him. Just—hurt me, take it out on me. Not him.” Sionis releases the blade, leaving it sticking out of Jason’s shoulder. “Told you I could make the little bird cry.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tim has never felt so powerless in his life. It feels like it goes on for hours, the blood and the screaming and the sickening sound of torn flesh. It only gets worse when he escalates to the snapping of fingers, the crackle of knife through bone. He hits Jason so many times there’s more purple riddling his face than clean, unmarked skin. And every time Sionis so much as looks at Tim, Jason does something new to pull his attention back like a wasp on a string. He provokes the sadistic bastard with vulgar comments, snotty complaints that belong more in Damian’s mouth than Jason’s. And Tim can’t do anything but watch. He doesn’t know how long it’s been when something crashes behind him, which he assumes is the door. Roman barely has time to drop the blowtorch he’s holding before a batarang strikes him in the center of his mask, knocking him out cold. Jason doesn’t react. He hasn’t lifted his head in so long it puts Tim on the edge of panic, just quiet groans and grunts through every new injury inflicted on him. “Tim!” Dick is at Tim’s side in an instant, already working on the ropes binding him. “Are you okay?” Bruce is tending to Jason, putting a field dressing on one of his many open wounds while he talks to Alfred through his earpiece. He’s telling him to call Dr. Thompkins and tell her it’s an emergency. As soon as his hands are free Tim is lunging up from the chair, only for Dick to grab him by the shoulders and force him back down. “Hey, hey, slow down. Where are you hurt?” Dick lightly prods around the cut on Tim’s face, which is undoubtedly going to need stitches, but Tim couldn’t care less. He doesn’t take his eyes off of Jason, who lets out a groan when Bruce accidentally jostles his broken arm. Tim shakes his head, swallowing thickly. “He didn’t—he didn’t do anything to me. He didn’t touch me at all. Only Jason.”

[not-close-to-straight]

Lost and Found (Seventeen)

Get some tissues ready, folks. 

MASTERLIST HERE

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

It had been three days. 

Three days of calling Tony and the phone going right to voicemail, three days of reconnecting with Stevie, three days of pre- war memories coming back sometimes in a trickle that made James smile, sometimes in a shock wave that sent the soldier to his knees with a migraine. 

Three days, and James’s head spun trying to keep it all together, trying to keep it all straight, trying to piece together all the parts of who he had been and who he was now and how it all reconciled with the nightmares and horror that came back full force without Tony by his side. 

Three days, and sometimes James wished he could lose track of time like he used to so each and every second wouldn’t be so crystal clear, so clarifying and so real.

Three days and sometimes it was already too much. 

Three days and sometimes the moments were so good they hurt.

“I still can’t believe it’s actually you.” Three days and seventy damn years and Steve was proving he hadn’t ever lost the habit of lurking in James’s door, hands in his pockets and eyes wide as he watched the brunette clean up in the bathroom. “Holy hell, Buck. I looked for you for so long. And you were just hanging out with Howard’s kid? Three days ago Tony Stark walked into my apartment with a picture of you and just like that, here you are. I can’t believe it.” 

“Can’t believe it either, Stevie.” James rinsed the shaving cream off his face and smoothed his right hand over the trimmed-but-not-quite-shaved stubble. It had only been three days since Tony had dropped him off and left without a word. Three days of a lot of wondering and a lot of worrying and a lot of disbelief because it was Stevie--- “How did I miss your star spangled ass getting pulled outta the ocean and set loose overseas again?” 

“Well, you weren’t around to see me go in the ice the first time, so I guess it makes sense you missed me coming back this time around.” The smile slid from Steve’s face, his mouth pulling down at the corners. “Listen, Buck I dunno what you heard about all that. About the Valkyrie and the Red Skull and what I did at the end of the war but--”” 

“I heard enough to know you’re overdue for an ass whoopin’.” James retorted and see? This was good enough to hurt, easy enough to almost be instinct. Threatening Steve with bodily harm cos the punk hadn’t learned any lessons back when he was all of four fuckin’ feet tall and he certainly hadn’t learned them after they juiced him up and sometimes the brash blond just needed a reminder to chill the hell out? 

Easy. 

James could do this all day. 

“What the hell were you thinkin’, putting the damn plane in the ice anyway.” He teased. “Everyone knows your scrawny ass can’t swim.” 

Instantly predictably Steve straightened up and set his jaw and snapped, “Hey! I know how to swim! I am an excellent swimmer!” 

“You know how’ta drown.” James corrected and then oofed theatrically loud when he was yanked out of the bedroom and into a wrestling match. 

It was easy and it was good and none of James’s more scary instincts came forward when Steve got him into a headlock, the urge to break didn’t show up overwhelming when he tossed the blond halfway across the room then jumped over and pinned him to the floor. 

“Say Uncle.” James ordered and he was laughing, not counting how many pounds of pressure it would take to crumble Steve’s bones between his fingers. “Damn you, Stevie. Say Uncle before I gotta hurt you!” 

“I’m goddamn--” Steve was huffing and puffing trying to get James off of him. “Captain America-- I don’t cry Uncle-- good god, why do you weigh so much?-- to any one!” 

“Sure you don’t.” James grinned and lay harder on his best friend. “Y’know what this reminds me of?” 

“If you say it’s like the time I tried to beat up the alter boy--” 

“--it’s just like th’time you tried to beat up the alter boy.” James confirmed, batting away Steve’s hand when the blond made a grab for his throat. “In fact, I feel like I sat on you exactly like this to keep ya from gettin’ your butt beat with a hymnal.” 

“Damn it.” Steve wheezed a few times, then finally managed the leverage to shove James off and to the side. “Why are you so heavy? Last time we wrestled I destroyed you.” 

“Last time we wrestled you were super juiced and I was still a good ol’ boy from the poor end of Brooklyn.” James jumped to his feet and hauled Steve up next to him. “Least now the playing field is even.” 

“I guess.” Steve went for a beer and tossed one to James. “I hate that it’s the case though. M’glad to see you, but I hate seein’ you like this, you know?” 

“Don’t.” James tore the top off the beer and shook his head. “I don’t wanna talk about it yet, Stevie.” 

“Alright.” Steve took a sip of his beer and nodded like ignoring the elephant of the Winter Soldier in the room wasn’t making him half insane. He should just be happy to have Bucky back, he should just be happy to have his friend back, they didn’t have to talk about everything bad yet. “Alright, well have you heard about World Wrestling Entertainment on TV?” 

“World Wrestling…” 

“WWE?” Steve’s goofy grin almost split his face. “They dress up in funky costumes and wrestle each other with all these fancy moves. I watch it on Saturday nights. We could watch it and drink beer and yell at the TV and then try the moves on each other!” 

James fought and lost against an equally goofy grin. “That’s what Captain America does on Saturday night? Watch fake wrestling and drink beer?” 

“When I’m not out blowing buildings up and hurting people until they told me how to find you.” Steve took a long drink of his beer, blue eyes glittering with a flash of anger. “But I found you, so now I get to watch bad television and try to get drunk with my best pal.” 

“Sounds like a good time.” James raised his bottle in a cheers, and when Steve turned to head towards the living room, James picked up his phone and sent a quick message to Tony. 

From James: Three days with Stevie has been great, Tony but I sure wish you’d call me back. Pep says you’re probably just giving us space but I don’t want space from you. Call me back.

“Buck!” 

“Comin’, Stevie.” 

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

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

79%

The sunrise from the top of the Eiffel Tower was incredible to see and Tony watched it while munching on possibly the freshest, most delicious croissant he could have ever imagined eating ever. 

He’d been to France a hundred times, he’d even been to Paris and the Eiffel Tower specifically a hundred times but he’d never broken the sound barrier while coming in for a landing that had him on very tip toes at the very tip top so he could test the absolute balance of the suit while eating a breakfast he’d bought with a Rolex for since he never had any cash on him.

The croissant was worth the Rolex though, the look on the vendor’s face when Iron Man landed in front of his stall completely priceless and the view of the sun coming up over the city would have only been worth more if someone had been there to share it with. 

“Sir, the hotel is calling. They want to know if you will be staying another night.” 

“Tell them no.” Tony shook his head and crammed the last bite of croissant into his mouth. “Three days in France is enough, I saw the coast and the city and the countryside so it’s time to move on. I read in a pamphlet that there are something like twenty thousand castles in Germany, is that true?” 

“Most have been converted to hotels and museums by now, but yes sir, there are several thousand that you could visit if you wanted.” 

“I want.” Tony decided. “Let’s get a map and go sight seeing.” 

“Sir, the effort of assembling and disassembling this particular suit--” 

“Yeah, I know.” Tony interrupted. “It stresses my system too much. But I’ve never just traveled for the sake of traveling and the best way to do that is at some number with Mach in front of it. Plug in some coordinates and let’s go.”  

“And the phone calls from Sergeant Barnes and Ms. Potts?” 

“Send Pepper a message and let her know I’m just fine.” The sun lit up the grounds below the Tower and Tony took a deep breath of early morning air. “I’ve disappeared for longer doing much worse than sight seeing, let her know this isn’t anything like the last time I did a tour around Europe.” 

“And Sergeant Barnes?” 

“Tell James--” Tony closed his eyes and swallowed. “Tell Bucky that I hope he’s enjoying his time with Captain Rogers and that I’ll get in contact with him when I return home.” 

“An estimated return date, sir?” 

The face plate snapped down and locked and Tony blinked a few times as the display screens filled in, the numbers uploaded from the blood toxicity monitor bright red along the bottom right hand side. 

79%

“A couple weeks, maybe.” he muttered, and then louder, “No, don’t bother with a return date. Just tell him I’ll call him when I’m home again.” 

“Yes sir. To castles, then?” 

“To castles.” The suit powered up with a roar, and Tony offered a quick salute to the crowd gathered down below with their phones and cameras out. “Maybe we’ll ever get lucky and find a dragon.” 

“I think you’ve fought enough battles for one life time, sir” 

Tony’s smile was a little melancholy. “You’d think so, huh?” 

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

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

From James: Got the message from JARVIS and I hope you’re back home soon. I’m feeling more like myself every day, all my memories coming back. Some days it feels incredible and some days it feels like I’m living a strangers life, but me and Stevie are figuring it out together. 

From James: Do you ever watch WWE? Stevie loves it and has a bunch recorded...or TV’ed? I dunno. Anyway. He says he would be Hollywood Hulk Hogan if he ever went into the ring and I told him there’s no way he could grow a mustache like that, then he punched me. 

From James: The dude’s a punk whether he’s pint sized or full sized. 

From James: Miss ya, sweet thing. 

“The best thing about this century is the food.” Steve said around a mouthful of deep dish supreme pizza. “Not only can I eat everything without getting sick, but everything is so damn good. Deep dish pizza in two dozen flavors. Chocolate milk-- have you had chocolate milk yet, Buck? And mozzarella sticks? They just deep fry cheese! Just deep fry it and then serve it to ya with a bunch of sauce. The other day I ate about a hundred of them and didn’t get a stomach ache. Incredible. And oh man donuts.” 

The big blond picked up another piece and folded it in half so he could take a big bite. “Have you had donuts yet? So many flavors. All of them delicious.”

“Tony took me to get donuts a few weeks ago.” James checked his phone again and then one more time. It had been nine days now since he’d last seen Tony, his text messages going unanswered and phone calls dumped to voicemail. Nine days and even though every second spent with Steve gave James something of himself back, every second spent away from Tony cost him something too and it was a delicate balance between wanting and losing and James hated it. 

“We ate them up inside that big donut down by the pier in Malibu.” he continued and Steve mumbled interested around a glob of cheese. “It was uh-- it was his birthday and he said he’d always wanted to sit up in the donut so I boosted him up. It was a good day.” 

“Tony knows about the super serum.” Steve ventured and James made a vague ‘I guess’ motion. “Did he know about it before all this?”

“Don’t think so, or at least he never said nothing.” James picked off a bunch of pepperoni and tossed it away, then smiled begrudgingly when Steve immediately scarfed it up. “You still eat like you’re starvin’, Stevie. You used’ta do that all the time.” 

“Yeah, and you used to pretend like you were never hungry so there was always more for me.” Steve helped himself to the rest of the pepperoni on number two of their three large sized pizzas. “Even after I got all Captain’d up. You doing that now?” 

“Maybe I’d eat my fair share if you’d stop eatin’ so fast.” James scowled and slapped Steve’s hand away from another piece. “M’hungry too, you know!” 

“Sorry.” Steve put both hands up peacefully, then lightning fast snatched at the last of their two dozen bread sticks. “Okay, now I’m sorry. I swear. Tell me more about Tony though, you don’t talk much about him. Is he a lot like Howard?” 

“No.” James said shortly. “No, he’s nothing like Howard.” 

He was quiet after that and Steve chewed through a bite slowly and took his time to swallow before asking, “Buck, should we talk about--” 

“When did you start feeling like you fit in?” James cut in and Steve took it for the hint it was. Bucky did not want to talk about Tony yet and Steve didn’t really know why but he knew better than to push. “When did you start feelin’ like you weren’t just pretending to be normal?” 

“About a week ago when you walked through that door.” Steve didn’t hesitate to answer as he pointed towards the apartment entryway. “The second I saw you I stopped feeling like I had to keep up some sort of appearance and I could just be me again. Not Captain Rogers, certainly not Captain America. Just Steve. Stevie. Didn’t have to check my strength to hug you, didn’t have to pretend I didn’t want to cry for finding you again, don’t have to act like everything’s okay when it’s not.” 

He said the last sentence pointedly, meaningfully. “You’re my best friend, Buck. You saved my ass that first time I didn’t need it at all in elementary school and every time after. You were there the first time I tried to kiss a dame, coached me through the uh--” he coughed. “--mechanics the first time I was with a dame. Dunno how that all worked though, seeing as how you weren’t ever interested in what was up their skirts.” 

“I found my way up there a time or two.” James smiled a tiny bit remembering those first awkward, fumbling times with the girls around the neighborhood. He’d been young and fuckin’ horny and even though he found himself looking at the fellas more often than not, the girls sure liked his blue eyes and swagger so that’s the direction James had leaned. A learning experience for sure, one that taught him how to please a dame and that dames weren’t the ones he wanted to be pleasing all in the same swoop. 

“Well either way, I could always be myself around you.” Steve finished with a half hearted shrug. “And it’s the same now. I’ve been outta the ice for three years and this is the first time I’ve felt like I wasn’t pretending. Right here with you.” 

“Three years, huh?” James’s heart sank thinking about years of never feeling normal outside of time with Steve and Tony, years of catching himself before acting, years of dealing with internal dialogue that rang like hollow commands and the instinct to first destroy and then run from anything that made him uncomfortable. “M’real sorry about that, Stevie.” 

“It’s alright.” Steve put the pizza down and wiped his hands. “I never fit in back then anyway, Buck. Not when I was skinny and scrawny and orphaned after Ma passed, not when I was super charged and wearing tights. At least in this century I’m not the biggest guy in any room, there’s entire sports teams my size and bigger. No one outside of SHIELD knows I can bench press a helicopter, but I’ve been called one of those ‘corn fed midwestern boys’ at least a half dozen times and I’m not sure what exactly it means, but it sounds All American and normal so I’ve been letting it go.” 

“Sure, I gotta pace myself on my morning runs so no one gets suspicious, and I’ve gotta be careful shaking peoples hands. I nod and smile through a lot of conversations cos I dunno what a tweet is or why JT brought Sexy Back or why it left or nothing. but hell Buck.” Steve grinned again, all boyish charm and nearly unbridled enthusiasm just like he’d always been. “If that’s the worst I gotta do to get by as normal? Then it’s fine by me.” 

“And with you I just don’t gotta pretend even that amount, so it’s nice.” Steve tapped at his chest, right over his heart. “It’s like being able to take a full breath in after battlin’ a cold all season.” 

And after a pause, “Don’t you feel like that with me?” 

James shoved most of his pizza into his mouth just to avoid answering for a minute, unsure how to tell his best friend that every time he heard the words Captain America something went tense and tight inside him, a trigger like a warning, like a mission, like an objective that had blared loud the first time they spoke. The reaction had been almost impossible to ignore at first, but had finally started to ease the in the last few days and it made him sick to his stomach. 

He didn’t understand why Stevie of all people would make him itch. This was his best friend, his best pal, and James shouldn’t feel anything but happy around Steve. Comfortable. Home. Not having to fight the instinct to go of the offensive every time he saw that damn shield. 

It was frustrating and disheartening and even thought it waned a little more every day, James still hated it. It was just another reminder that he wasn’t Bucky anymore, that there were parts of him Steve would never know and never understand. 

Tony knew those parts though.

Tony knew him. 

Tony knew James. 

“Buck?” Steve asked, soft and a little hurt but trying hard to hide it. “Do you feel like that with me?” 

“I don’t have to pretend with you, Stevie.” James clenched his left fist just to prove it and the beer bottle shattered in his palm, spilling glass all over. “Don’t gotta be careful when we wrestle or worry about sayin’ the wrong thing or keeping up on all the technology. But--” 

“--but there’s a whole bunch about you I don’t know anymore.” Steve finished resignedly. “And a lot about me you don’t know anymore. What happened after you fell changed me and what happened while I was in the ice changed you and I’ve been living one life for three years while you’ve still been putting pieces together…” 

He nodded. “I get it. It’s okay. It’s okay.” 

“Sorry, Stevie.” James closed his eyes and wished and wished and wished that he was still Bucky. Just Bucky. Just good ol’ boy Bucky who pulled Steve out of back alley fights and hid stolen kisses from nameless faces in the dark. 

Life was so much simpler back then...

...simpler and hidden and filled with so much less laughter and love.

James didn’t want to be hidden anymore. Not now that he knew what it felt like to be found. 

From James: Tomorrow Stevie wants to take me to a baseball game, turns out the Yankees still play so we’re gonna get hot dogs and cracker jacks and boo the visiting team like we used to. Would be more fun if you were there. 

From James: Miss ya, sweet thing. 

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

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

86% 

“Tony.” Pepper looked up in outright shock along with every other board member who had never seen Tony Stark on time for anything much less for a quarterly board meeting. “Um. Hi?” 

“Don’t mind me, Ms. CEO.” Tony slid into the chair next to Pepper and patted at her knee. “I just figured I could make an appearance for once. As the on-staff mechanic for Stark Industries I am very interested in board meetings. Please continue, don’t let me interrupt.” 

“Al...right.” Pepper blinked at least a thousand times, then cleared her throat and mentioned for the person at the front of the conference room to keep talking. “Sorry for the interruption, please continue.” 

The meeting droned on, and Tony lasted all of two minutes and four seconds before patting at Pepper’s knee again and whispering, “Hey. You’re allergic to strawberries.” 

“Yes.” she whispered back. “Yes, I am but what does that have to do with why you’ve suddenly decided for once in your life to show up for a board meeting?” 

“Because every year I get you something strawberry themed for your birthday.” he leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “Because all I manage to remember is there is something important to you about strawberries but this year, I remembered that you’re allergic and that’s why you always do that cute scrunch nose that means you’re pissed off but trying to be polite.” 

“...you are one hundred percent correct.” 

“And I am one hundred percent sorry for taking like fourteen years to figure it out.” Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, pressed it into Pepper’s palm beneath the table. “But I couldn’t resist buying you one last strawberry.” 

“One last strawberry?” she muttered and Tony nodded. “So this will be the last time you buy me something I’m incredibly and ugly-allergic to? You promise?” 

“I promise this will be the last time--” the very last time. “--I buy you something you’re incredibly allergic to.” Tony swore. “And by the way? You’re never ugly. Not once in your entire life have you been ugly.” 

“I feel like you’re sucking up to compensate for being gone for two weeks with no word.” Pepper hissed, then raised a hand apologetically when several heads swiveled their way. “And another damn strawberry isn’t going to make up for the fact that I’ve been worried sick for-- Holy shit, is that real?!” 

Whispering forgotten, Pepper clapped her hand over her mouth when she cursed out loud in the meeting over the sight of this particular strawberry. “Tony Stark what the fuck?!” 

“Uh, forgive us guys.” Tony laughed and put a hand over Pepper’s mouth too. “And I’m just now realizing how embarrassing it is that I don’t know any of your names considering you’ve been my board members for the past twenty years, but you’ll have to excuse the new CEO. Apparently there are some things that do rattle the always unflappable Ms. Potts.” 

“Yeah!” Pepper blurted. “Like when I’ve got my hand on a ridiculously big--” Tony snorted a laugh and Pepper jumped to her feet to drag him out of the board room while calling apologies over her shoulder. 

“Tell me, Ms. Potts.” Tony asked once they were in his her office. “What ridiculously big thing do you have your hand on?” 

“Tony, what is this?” Pepper opened the box again and held up the beautiful huge ring. “Is this a pink diamond? Why--” 

“This is the Strawberry Pink Diamond.” Tony took the ring and slipped it onto Pepper’s middle finger. “It’s out of Brazil. Do you like it?” 

“The last strawberry thing you’re going to buy me is a strawberry diamond?” Pepper’s voice was still doing that high pitched squeaky thing. “Tony, what is this for?” 

“It’s because I love you.” he said simply, and tossed the box onto her desk. “And because the ring was ridiculously over priced which meant I had to have it and I couldn’t think of anyone else who would look half this pretty wearing it.” 

“It’s so big.” For all her practicality, Pepper couldn’t help gaping at the arrangement, at the beautifully pink center diamond and the contrasting blue gems around it. “Tony, seriously what the hell, it’s so big. It’s like an iceberg! I can’t even see where the Titanic hit it! What is this, four carats?” 

“Almost exactly.” Tony smiled to himself watching Pepper smile so big. “Do you like it?” 

“Well I can promise to never complain about strawberries again if this is what you mean!” Pepper flushed in pleasure, holding her hand up to the light to watch the sun sparkle off the stones. “And I’ll also never complain about you disappearing if you always bring me back sparkly things.” 

“The next time I disappear, I’ll bring you back sparkly things.” Tony promised, swallowing around the grief clawing up his throat. “Now how about you step off those sky scrapers you call shoes and give me a kiss so I can go home and shower. The trip back from Brazil was a sweaty one.” 

“You’re disgusting.” Pepper laughed softly and bent down to kiss Tony very gently on the lips. “And I take off my heels for no one, Mr. Mechanic. Not now that I’m the CEO.” 

“That’s my girl.” Tony laughed right back, then picked up her hand and kissed her palm. “The ring looks better on you than it ever did on display in that jewelry store. Keep it. Wear it all the time.” 

“Thank you.” Pepper pulled Tony in for a tight hug. “I’ve been worried about you, are you okay? After you got James together with Captain Rogers you just fell off the map. I’ve been worried.” 

“Well I’m just fine now that I’m squished in your boobs.” Tony mumbled and Pepper jabbed at his side with a quick, “Oh shut up, you don’t even like boobs.” 

“Pepper, everyone likes your boobs.” He countered and she huffed and pushed him away. “How late are you in meetings tonight?” 

“At least another couple hours.” Pepper smoothed the wrinkles from her suit. “And don’t think I don’t see you dodging the question about James. Dinner tonight and we can talk about it?” 

“I owe Rhodey a grossly big steak, but we can have breakfast tomorrow?” 

“Of course. I’ll make you something delicious.” 

“You’ll have donuts with me and not complain when the cream filling splooges on your blouse.” He countered and Pepper sighed. “Love you.” 

“I love you too.” Pepper paused at the board room door and blew him a kiss. “I’m glad you’re home again, Tony.” 

“Me too, Pep. Me too.” 

86%

****************** 

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

James woke screaming-- 

--James woke trying to scream, shredding the blankets between his fists and arching up off the bed and then something pinned him down and he tried to scream louder--

“Bucky!” Steve was shouting at him, grabbing at his arms and laying all his not inconsiderable weight across the other soldier. “Bucky! Wake up! It’s a nightmare, bud! It’s a nightmare, just wake up!” 

It was cold and James was scared. It was cold and he was falling. It was cold and it hurt so bad when they took his arm, when they cut torn tendons and sawed away splintered bone and it was cold when they shoved him into a container and it was cold cold cold as the ice climbed the window and silenced his scream and--

“Bucky.” 

James jerked awake, surged forward and grabbed for Tony, “Tony?!” 

“Hey hey hey, it’s me. It’s Stevie. It’s me.” 

It was blue eyes not dark brown. Blonde hair not soft curls. Mouth set in a grim line instead of lips parted laughing. 

It was Steve, not Tony.

“Stevie.” James fell forward and collapsed into Steve’s arms, let his friend take his weight and soothe his shaking. “Jesus Christ.” 

“What is it?” Steve ran his hands through James’s hair, across the broad shoulders, skittering away from the hard edge of metal to press at James’s back instead. “What was that? Was it like--” he swallowed. “--was it like after Azzano when you had nightmares? About what they did to you at the camp?” 

“No.” 

“Winter Soldier stuff then.” Steve nearly whispered, and James nodded almost imperceptibly into his shoulder. “The-- the chair they kept you in? The cryo chamber?” 

“Fuckin’ cold, Stevie.” 

“Yeah.” Steve felt around for a blanket and drew it up around James’s shoulders. “Yeah, I know how that feels.”

They hadn’t really talked about it, about James’s time with Hydra. Steve had confirmed only enough to explain the flashes James got, the tactical knowledge and the way he could measure potential injuries with just a glance. Steve had mentioned the chair, which explained the panic attack in Tony’s lab. He talked about the memory wipes and the cryo freeze and the way they’d used James for decades which is why his memory and concept of time was all over the place. 

Steve hadn’t talked about the missions. He swore on the Bible, on puttin’ flowers on their Ma’s graves, on the time they’d gone on the Cyclone and Stevie had barfed for hours-- he swore he hadn’t read the files, promised Natasha had burned them all the ash, told James over and over that it wasn’t about what he’d done as their prisoner, as their captor. It wasn’t even about what had been done to James, it was about him being safe and about him being home. 

So no, they hadn’t really talked about it, nothing more than a few confirmations of James’s fears and then the topic had been dropped. 

Why dwell on the past when they both somehow had a new future? Why stress about all the things they couldn’t control when they finally had the chance to move on?

No, they hadn’t really talked about it, nothing more than just enough to bring James’s nightmares back and Steve felt guilty about it every time. 

“I shouldn’t have told you.” he started and James shook his head, “I needed the answers, Stevie. Needed them. It’s okay.” 

 “You want some hot chocolate?” 

“Want some cheeseburgers.” James grunted. “Want a damn cheeseburger.” 

“Okay where from--” 

“I got a guy.” 

From James: Happy, I need a burger.

From Happy: I’m already a glass of wine deep into my evening and watching my Downton Abby, what in the hell am I supposed to do about that?

From James: I need a CHEESEburger.

From Happy: I’ll call a guy who knows somebody. Give me an hour. 

An hour later there was a polite knock at Steve’s apartment door, and the fanciest dressed delivery guy either of them had ever seen smiled, handed over a greasy bag of cheeseburgers from James’s favorite franchise, then turned on an expensive heel and stalked away. 

“Uh Buck?” Steve held up the bag in confusion. “Why did we get cheeseburgers delivered by some guy in a penguin suit?” 

“Happy knows a guy who knows somebody.” James was freshly showered and feeling better, but he felt better better when he could flop down on the couch and tear into the food. “Have one Stevie, they’re so good.” 

“...what’s with the cheeseburgers?” Steve sat down slowly and reached for one of the paper wrapped sandwiches. “Why does it seem like a big thing?” 

“It’s Tony’s thing.” James explained, wiping ketchup from his mouth. “Or Happy’s thing for Tony, I dunno. Something about how any time Tony’s having a hard time, he wants cheeseburgers and it’s Happy’s job to get them. Pep has a bad day, Happy grabs some cheeseburgers. Rhodey--” 

“Rhodey. You mean Colonel James Rhodes?” 

“--Rhodey.” James nodded. “Rhodey even gets them, and the first time me and Happy hung out, he got ‘em for me too. They make me feel better.” 

“Alright.” Steve took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. “Buck, you don’t ever talk about Tony. I mean, you talk about him but you never come right out and say anything real. Why not?” 

“Why does it matter?” 

“Cos I watched you hide for years.” Steve said bluntly, and James flushed. “I watched you sneak out way late at night to meet someone and then see the same person in the daylight and act like you’d never seen them before. I watched you dance with the dames just so you didn’t have to stand alone at the wall. I watched you hide and now we’re both here in a time where you don’t have to hide…” 

Steve let the sentence dangle, but James didn’t answer. “M’just sayin’ Buck. The man that showed up here cared an awful lot about you, and I can see it your eyes you care about him. I sorta thought you’d have a damn wedding ring on your finger when you came in, or figured I’d get a hug then you two would run off into the sunset. So why don’t you talk about him?” 

A beat of silence, and Steve added awkwardly, “Is it-- I mean, you ain’t ashamed, are you? You don’t have to be ashamed, Buck. I know the neighborhood fellas were real assholes back in the day but it’s okay now, you know? People are okay with all of that now, with fellas liking fellas and-- girls-- you know.” 

He spread his hands vaguely. “Or anyway, most people are, and we can just punch the ones who aren’t.”  

“M’not ashamed, Stevie.” James denied. “Just uh-- “ he chuckled softly. “You know how I used to punch you if you’d come and try to talk to me about Peggy? Figure you’d do the same thing if I told you about how me and Tony get in bed.” 

“I definitely don’t want to hear how you and Howard’s kid are in bed.” Steve immediately objected, and then softer, “But I loved Pegs and I feel like what you and Tony have got is more along those lines too, yeah? So why haven’t you talked to me about him?” 

“Stevie.” James bit at his tongue until it bled-- and then healed-- as he tried not to think of the dozens of messages he’d sent in the last weeks, the phone calls that hadn’t been answered, the way Pepper had texted to let him know Tony was in Malibu but was buried in some project in the lab and barely talking to anyone, not to take it personally. 

But James was taking it personally because he physically ached to get Tony back in his arms. Because every morning he woke up in Steve’s spare bedroom instead of Tony’s bed felt awful. Because he felt like he was hiding away again instead of being free in the pure sunshine that was Tony’s smile. 

He was miserable and maybe even a little heart broken and missed Tony until he hurt from it. 

Steve was his best friend but Tony had found him.

“He found me, Stevie.” James whispered and the Captain stilled next to him. “Tony he-- he found me. I was nothing and I was nobody and Tony saw me from across the room and found me. I didn’t even know my last name or how long I’d been homeless or what the hell I was doing in D.C. and Tony didn’t care. He found me and he saw me. He saw me.” 

“He gave me a home.” James opened and closed his left hand, silver fingers gleaming. “Put me back together. My body, my heart-- hell Stevie, I think he gave me my mind back.” 

“So why haven’t you talked about him?” Steve pressed. “Buck if he found you and gave you a home why aren’t you two goin’ after a happily ever after together? Been long enough in the making, don’t you want it?” 

“Course I want it, but Tony hasn’t talked to me since he brought me here.” James tightened his fingers into a fist. “He’s not answering my calls, he’s not getting my texts and I don’t know what’s going on. Sure seems like what I want and what he wants are different things.” 

“No way.” Steve denied. “No way. He probably just figured we’d need the time to catch up. Seventy years apart makes for a lot of conversation, Buck. Maybe Tony thinks he’s doing you a favor or is bein’ subtle so it’s not awkward if you decide you want to stay here or whatever.” 

“There’s nothing subtle about Tony.” James disagreed. “Nothing subtle or tactful or-- or anything like that, not when he’s being funny, not when he’s being nice. Hell Stevie, the first time we were together he sat me down and just told me he wanted to take me to bed, or wanted me to take him to bed, whichever I preferred. He told off some high and mighty politician who looked at me wrong and I-- I know he’s sick.” 

“I know he’s sick.” James finished on a sigh. “That’s why I’m so worried. He’s probably at the doctors at the hospital and ditched me here with you so I wouldn’t have to see him go through it. He lied to me about it all the time and I can’t even be made about it cos he was doing it so I wouldn’t worry. Me and Ms. Potts and Rhodey and Happy.” 

“So he’s not being subtle about letting you stay here, he’s being pretty damn obvious that you should stay here.” Steve clarified. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s it.” James’s pale eyed dimmed in distress. “Half of me thinks I should show up and force him to talk to me. The other half knows I should let him work through it how he wants. I’m just worried. I had enough of watchin’ you almost die every winter Stevie, I don’t want to do it with Tony too.”

"...exactly how sick is Tony?” Steve asked slowly. “Cos I over heard Fury and Natasha talking about him the other day and they sounded worried too.” 

“I don’t like Fury, Steve. He’s got too many secrets.”

“Yeah, even his trench coat’s got secrets, I know.” Steve pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “And I dunno why he was talking about Tony, but let’s just call and ask. No worries. We’ll figure it out.” 

No worries, Steve said like there wasn’t anything strange about a man like Fury talking with a woman like Natasha about Tony. 

No worries, Steve said like James could ignore the uncomfortable that had crawled down his spine the first time Fury had shown up and looked him over with his one good eye and made an unimpressed noise in his throat while patting at his gun with his free hand.

No worries, Steve said like James had been able to sleep at all the last several  weeks knowing Tony was out there who knows where and alone and ignoring calls and messages--

“Captain Rogers. I thought you’d be too busy with your boyfriend to report in for duty.” 

“I’m not reporting in for duty.” Steve said blandly, and then almost belatedly, “Oh and Buck isn’t my boyfriend. Sheesh. No we wanna know why you and Nat were talking about Tony the other day. Bucky hasn’t heard from him in a few weeks.” 

“No one has heard from Stark in a few weeks.” Fury answered shortly. “The guy’s been finalizing his will and naming beneficiaries and spending the last couple weeks sight seeing everything the world has to offer. You can’t expect a dying man to keep up on text messages.” 

Silence in the apartment, and Steve turned wide, horrified eyes to James. 

“...what did he say.” James whispered in disbelief. “What did he say about Tony dying?” 

“Director can you repeat--” 

“Romanov gave him a shot in the neck the day he barged into your life, but it wasn’t meant to last long term. You telling me the world’s best soldier and your best friend Mega Scary Assassin didn’t notice the black lines all over his chest and crawling up his neck?” 

“Tony is dying?” 

“Palladium poisoning thanks to that battery in his chest.” Fury had the good grace to at least sound somewhat apologetic about dropping the news so unexpectedly. “Rogers, Barnes, I really thought you two knew. Figured you were giving him space to die in peace.” 

Silence silence silence and then the sound of something breaking and Fury waited a beat before asking, “You still there?” 

“I need transportation to Malibu for Buck!” Steve sounded like he was running now, breathing hard as he pounded down the stairs and out of his apartment building. “I need it now! Something fast!” 

“Pick up location?” Fury asked over the noise of horns honking and someone screaming in alarm. “Rogers? Where are you and Barnes?” 

“Bucky took off running down the goddamn freeway.” Steve shouted. “He’s going too fast for me to keep up--” 

“--Shit, I didn’t think anyone could outrun your spangled ass--” 

“--I need a craft for pick up as soon as possible! Give me an ETA!” 

“I can have something airborne from HQ in two minutes. What’s his current position?” 

“Running along the top of the bus past the bridge at fourth?” 

“Oh motherfuck--” 

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

************* 

“Sir?” 

Tony’s hands were shaking as he picked up the blood monitor, and he hissed in pain when his nearly fried nerves lit up in agony over the tiny prick. 

“Sir, if I could interrupt?” 

“Jesus Christ.” Tony’s legs gave out and he slumped back into a nearby chair, one hand over his heart, the other clutched tight around the monitor. “J-- what-- what--” 

He was panting, sweating, hardly able to take a breath without his chest seizing, the black lines at the reactor and his neck trailing down his arms and almost to his fingers now. His vision went blurry if he stared for more than a few minutes, he was constantly thirsty and damn near dehydrated and the little bit of food he’d managed the last few nights had ended with him stumbling back to the bathroom and vomiting until stars burst behind his temples. 

He was so scared. 

“J--” 

“Sir, Sergeant Barnes is on his way up the drive.” 

“...what?” 

“A distinctly non civilian air craft dropped him off in the street and he is up the steps and nearly at the door. Should I allow him in?” 

“Please…” Tony’s head lolled back as he tried to breathe. “J, please--” 

“Tony?” A shout from upstairs and pounding footsteps as the soldier ran down the stairs to the lab. “Tony? Sweet thing?” 

“Thank god.” Tony managed only a glimpse of pale blue eyes and silver fingers before his vision went black. “James--” 

“Tony!” 

...The blood monitor slipped out of Tony’s hand and fell to floor flashing a steady ninety-one percent.

...91% and when James reached for Tony, the beautiful brunette was too cold, too still, barely breathing.

...“Tony?” 

91%

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

Chapter Notes: 

Tony sits still for 2 mins and 4 seconds because the IM2 run time is 2 hours, 4 mins. 

I didn’t want to skip the strawberry part of the movie, but I like my version better. THIS is Pepper’s ring and honestly, I totally want one. 

I grew up watching WWF/WWE and I will probably watch it till the day I die. 

We made a purposeful decision to avoid any CACW related angst in this fic. The idea that who James/Bucky IS will always be more important than who he was, what was done to him/what they made him do and I think everyone deserves to be seen as a person first and foremost instead of their list of past mistakes and/or trauma. 

That being said, 91% is a reference to 1991, the year the MCU WS ruined Tony’s life but in this verse, the number where James comes to his rescue. 

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHAPTER!

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

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